News Story not available This story has been published on: 2022-10-28. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. This story is no longer available on our site. 23 2021 , 3 2021 2022 ". GREEN BAY, Wis., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE: ASB) ("Associated") today announced that it is calling for redemption on September 15, 2016 (the "Redemption Date") of all of its outstanding depositary shares (NYSE: ASB PR B) representing a 1/40th interest in a share of Associated's 8.00% Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series B (the "Depositary Shares"). As of today, there are 2,356,137 Depositary Shares outstanding. The Depositary Shares will be redeemed at a redemption price of $25 per Depositary Share, plus an amount equal to any declared and unpaid dividends to the Redemption Date. A notice of redemption and related materials will be mailed to holders of record of the Depositary Shares on July 26, 2016. The Depositary Shares are held through The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") and will be redeemed in accordance with the procedures of DTC. Payment to DTC will be made by Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., in accordance with the Deposit Agreement among Associated, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. and the Holders from Time to Time of the Depositary Receipts Described Therein, dated as of September 14, 2011. Questions related to the notice of redemption and related materials should be directed to Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as Associated's redemption agent (the "Redemption Agent"), at 1-800-468-9716. The Redemption Agent's address is Wells Fargo Shareowner Services, Attn: Corporate Actions Department, P.O. Box 64858, St. Paul, MN 55164-0858. ABOUT ASSOCIATED BANC-CORP Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE: ASB) has total assets of $29 billion and is one of the top 50 publicly traded U.S. bank holding companies. Headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Associated is a leading Midwest banking franchise, offering a full range of financial products and services from over 200 banking locations serving more than 100 communities throughout Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota, and commercial financial services in Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Texas. Associated Bank, N.A. is an Equal Housing Lender, Equal Opportunity Lender and Member FDIC. More information about Associated Banc-Corp is available at www.associatedbank.com. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS Statements made in this document which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This includes any statements regarding management's plans, objectives, or goals for future operations, products or services, and forecasts of its revenues, earnings, or other measures of performance. Such forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "plan", "estimate", "should", "will", "intend", "outlook", or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on current management expectations and, by their nature, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Factors which may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements include those identified in the Company's most recent Form 10-K and subsequent SEC filings. Such factors are incorporated herein by reference. Investor Contact: Teresa Gutierrez, Senior Vice President, Director of Investor Relations 920-491-7059 Media Contact: Jennifer Kaminski, Vice President, Public Relations Manager 920-491-7576 SOURCE Associated Banc-Corp Related Links http://www.associatedbank.com TOKYO, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Tokyo-based Atonarp Inc., an innovative developer of advanced spectroscopic instruments, announced that it has raised up to $16 million in capital led by Innovative Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) with participation from Walden-Riverwood Ventures and Innovative Venture Fund Investment. The funds will be used to commercialize Atonarp's first generation of Smart Spectrometers. Please visit the investor websites listed below. "The company's innovative technology and product performance is creating a groundswell of customer support; some are referring to our products as 'game changers' in their industry and they are keenly anticipating the introduction of our first generation Smart Spectrometers", said Prakash Murthy, Chief Executive Officer. "This funding will allow us to ramp into unit volume to meet our customer's production schedules." Atonarp's miniaturized Smart Spectrometer is revolutionizing molecular analysis. The traditional instrument componentry in the Atonarp spectrometer has been miniaturized and optimized for an ultra small form factor. At the core of Atonarp's Smart Spectrometer technology platform is powerful processor coupled with proprietary software algorithms, which deliver speed, sensitivity, resolution and accuracy. The result is a highly configurable, flexible, real-time data analytic tool, which has the versatility to be used across a wide variety of applications. Atonarp's first Smart Spectrometer introduction will focus on industrial gas process analytics applications in the energy, pharmaceutical, petrochemical and semiconductor industries. Using the same Smart Spectrometer technology platform, Atonarp will follow with a spectrometer for molecular compositional analysis of liquids and solids targeted at the medical and food and beverage industries. About Atonarp Inc. Established November 2009 Business Outline Development, manufacturing and sales of analytical equipment Headquarters Minato-ku, Tokyo CEO, CTO & Founder Sreedhar Prakash Murthy URL http://atonarp.com Atonarp is a scientific instrumentation company that designs & manufactures Smart Spectrometers. About Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) Established July 2009 Headquarters Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo President and COO Mikihide Katsumata URL http://www.incj.co.jp INCJ was established in July 2009 as a public-private partnership that provides financial, technological and management support for next-generation businesses. INCJ specifically supports those projects that combine technologies and varied expertise across industries and materialize open innovation. INCJ has the capacity to invest up to 2 trillion Japanese yen (approx. US$20 billion). INCJ's management team is drawn from the private sector with diverse experience in investment, technologies and management. Through its Innovation Network Committee, INCJ assesses investment opportunities that contribute to industrial innovation in Japan in line with criteria set by the government. About Walden Riverwood Ventures Established 2014 Headquarters San Francisco, California Founders Nicholas Brathwaite, Michael Marks, Lip-Bu Tan URL http://www.wrvcapital.com Walden Riverwood Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on investing in core technology companies globally. The firm's partners provide its portfolio companies with unique access to deep industry knowledge, relationships and management experience. Walden Riverwood Ventures leads early stage investments in companies developing core technologies that have the potential to create new product categories or benefit multiple industry verticals. About Innovative Venture Fund Investment Limited Partnership Established 25 April 2012 Headquarters Tokyo, Japan Management Companies NEC Capital Solutions Limited (General Partner) SMBC Venture Capital Co., Ltd. (General Partner) URL http://www.necap.co.jp/english/service/innovative Innovative Venture Fund is the venture capital fund that is jointly managed by NEC Capital Solutions Limited and SMBC Venture Capital Co., Ltd. It aims to invest in technology venture companies oriented towards changing market paradigms through groundbreaking innovation or breakthroughs in the world market. Contact: David Zimpfer, [email protected] SOURCE Atonarp Inc. Related Links http://www.atonarp.com SAN FRANCISCO, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ava, a medical technology company focused on innovations in women's reproductive health, today announced the official launch of its first productthe Ava bracelet, a fertility tracking wearable that uses new technology to detect a woman's fertile window. Ava fertility-tracking bracelet Ava is only worn at night Ava is the first fertility-tracking device to identify the fertile days during a woman's cycle in real-time. Since Ava's bracelet sensors collect data continuously throughout the night, it accurately detects in advance an average of at least five fertile days per cycle without the hassle, messiness, and invasiveness of other methods like ovulation sticks and BBT thermometers. A user simply wears the Ava bracelet while sleeping and syncs it with the Ava app in the morning. An FDA-approved Class One medical device, the Ava bracelet was proven in a recently concluded clinical study at the University Hospital of Zurich to detect an average of 5.3 fertile days per cycle with 89 percent accuracy. The year-long study was conducted under the leadership of Prof. Brigitte Leeners, a world-renowned expert on the mathematical modeling of menstrual cycles. Results will be published in a major medical journal later this year. "Women spend so much time and emotional energy trying to accurately track their cycles, often using multiple methods in tandem," explains Prof. Leeners. "Timing intercourse around ovulation is critical for conceiving, but the current options for doing so are inadequate. We're long overdue for a device like Ava that detects the fertile window precisely and easily." Each night, Ava's sensors collect three million data points around physiological parameters including pulse rate, breathing rate, sleep quality, heart rate variability, temperature and more that correlate with the rise in reproductive hormones estradiol and progesterone. With this information, Ava is able to detect a woman's entire fertile window. "After a lifetime spent trying to avoid pregnancy, couples who begin trying to conceive often don't realize how difficult it can be to get pregnant. For most women, there are only about six days per month where there is any possibility of conceiving, and only three days per month where it is likely," explains Ava Science CEO and co-founder Lea von Bidder. "Even under the most favorable conditionsa young, healthy couple having frequent unprotected intercoursethere is only about a 25 percent chance of getting pregnant in a given month." According to most experts, for many couples, the odds are even lower. "Even if you're tracking your periods to try to optimize your timing for conception, only about 30 percent of women have fertile windows that fall entirely within the time that clinical guidelines predict," explains von Bidder. "That's why an accurate, reliable way to detect the full fertile window is such a breakthrough. Ava can cut the time it takes to get pregnant in half." Ava is available now at AvaWomen.com for $199. About Ava Founded in Switzerland in 2014 by industry leaders in wearable technology, women's health, and data science, Ava is a medical technology company dedicated to bringing innovation to women's reproductive health. The Ava bracelet is the company's first consumer product. It uses new technology to precisely detect a woman's entire fertile window in real time. The company is planning further clinical studies to refine its algorithms for use in both pregnancy recognition, pregnancy monitoring, and possible use as a non-hormonal contraceptive device. Backed by $2.6 million in funding, Ava's US headquarters are in San Francisco. Media Contacts: Aimee Grove, (415) 706-1906 Email Lindsay Stevens, (213) 200-9638 Email Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160726/392905 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160726/392906 SOURCE Ava Related Links http://www.avawomen.com "Giving back to the community is a part of Bacardi's DNA. This is something we've always done going back to our founding in Cuba in 1862 and we continue this legacy with what we do out in the communities where we live and work," says Ed Knutel, commercial planning and activation manager, for Bacardi in the United States. Since beginning this environmental sustainability initiative with American Forests, Bacardi has planted more than 75,000 trees throughout the United States, and will continue to have an impact as part of its "Good Spirited" environmental sustainability efforts. "What we are doing here with Bacardi is not just about pretty aesthetics, it's about community well-being, environmental justice and human and ecological health," said Ian Leahy, director of Urban Forest Programs, with American Forests. "There is a lot of science that shows the positive health impacts from planting trees in local communities." "What Bacardi employees are doing in South Florida is an example of how a few people can make a huge difference in a community," adds Patrice Gillespie Smith, manager, Million Trees Miami. "Miami-Dade's trees remove nearly 5,500 tons of carbon from the air each year, improving air quality. Trees can also add up to 15% to the value of your home by making neighborhoods more attractive, quieter and cooler." To learn more about Bacardi Limited and its "Good Spirited: Building a Sustainable Future" environmental initiative for sourcing, packaging and operational efficiencies across the entire Bacardi family of premium spirits and wine brands, visit http://www.bacardilimited.com/good-spirited. About Bacardi Bacardi, the largest privately held spirits company in the world, produces and markets internationally recognized spirits and wines. The Bacardi brand portfolio comprises more than 200 brands and labels, including BACARDI rum, GREY GOOSE vodka, DEWAR'S Blended Scotch whisky, BOMBAY SAPPHIRE gin, and MARTINI vermouth and sparkling wines. Founded 154 years ago in Santiago de Cuba on February 4, 1862, family-owned Bacardi manufactures its brands at 29 facilities and sells in more than 160 countries. Bacardi Limited, headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, refers to the Bacardi group of companies, including Bacardi International Limited. www.bacardilimited.com About American Forests American Forests restores and protects urban and rural forests. Founded in 1875, the first national nonprofit conservation organization in the country has served as a catalyst for many key milestones in the conservation movement, including the founding of the U.S. Forest Service, the national forest and national park systems as well as leading literally thousands of forest ecosystem restoration projects and public education efforts. Working in forests in all 50 states and in nearly 50 countries, American Forests planted its 50 millionth tree last year. The impact has resulted in cleaner air and drinking water, restored habitat for wildlife and fish, and the removal of millions of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. www.americanforests.org About Million Trees Miami Million Trees Miami is a community-wide effort to plant one million trees by 2020 in order to achieve a 30% tree canopy cover for Miami-Dade County. The campaign was developed by the Miami-Dade Neat Streets Miami Board and was born of the idea that a healthy and sustainable urban forest provides significant social, economic, and environmental benefits that fosters a high quality, livable, vibrant, and beautiful community. http://milliontrees.miamidade.gov Media Contact Amy Federman, +1.441.294.1110, [email protected] ENJOY RESPONSIBLY. 2016 BACARDI BACARDI, THE BAT DEVICE AND OTHER MARKS OF THE BACARDI GROUP PRODUCTS ARE TRADEMARKS OF BACARDI & COMPANY LIMITED OR OF OTHER SUBSIDIARIES OF BACARDI LIMITED. Video - http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/PRNA/ENR/Good-Spirited-Tree-Planting_MULTIVU.mp4 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140218/NY66998LOGO SOURCE Bacardi Limited Related Links http://www.bacardilimited.com BOCA RATON, Fla., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Biotest Pharmaceuticals Corporation (BPC), a leading manufacturer of immunological biotherapeutic products, is pleased to announce the addition of its newest plasma collection center located at 500 Old Greenville Hwy Clemson, South Carolina. The 15,400 square foot state-of-the-art facility officially opened its doors for business on July 25, 2016 and brings the total number of BPC's plasma collection centers to twenty. "The opening of our 20th center further reinforces our continued commitment to the expansion of our existing network of plasma collection centers. We are fully dedicated to better serve the thousands of patients worldwide who rely on plasma- based therapies," said Ileana Carlisle, BPC's Chief Executive Officer. BPC has invested approximately $2.0 million in the construction of this facility. The Company expects to add over forty jobs to the Clemson's local economy and currently has employment opportunities available for medical personnel and phlebotomists. In addition to supporting the local economy through employment opportunities, the Clemson Biotest Plasma Center is actively recruiting local residents to donate plasma. Plasma donors not only contribute the source material for these plasma-derived therapies which save the lives of thousands of patients but are also compensated for their donations. About Biotest Pharmaceuticals Corporation Biotest Pharmaceuticals is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Biotest AG, a German global provider of plasma products. The Company researches, develops and manufactures biotherapeutic plasma protein products, with a specialization in immunology and hematology and is a leader in the collection of source plasma. Biotest Pharmaceuticals owns and manages plasmapheresis centers across the United States and operates a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Boca Raton, Florida. We are committed to serving the thousands of patients worldwide who rely on plasma-based therapies. Biotest Pharmaceuticals' team of over 1000 employees is part of Biotest AG's global workforce of more than 2,300 associates worldwide. To learn more about Biotest Pharmaceuticals, our Plasma Centers, and the difference we make in the lives of patients and the healthcare community, please visit us at www.biotestpharma.com and www.biotestplasma.com. SOURCE Biotest Pharmaceuticals Corporation Related Links http://www.biotestpharma.com FLINT, Mich., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- C3 Venture Flint LLC, a privately held company that manufactures interior plastic automotive components, will move into the Riverview Industrial Park in Flint and hire nearly 400 new employees. C3 Venture will invest $9.68 million to acquire the 17.69-acre site in industrial park on James P. Cole Boulevard where it will manufacture plastic parts for Tesla Motors. The company will initially occupy the 16,000-square-foot office building and a 19,600-square-foot industrial building, where it will install injection molding machines and tooling to manufacture parts. Work at the site is expected to begin this fall. The company will initially employ about 50 people in the first year and grow to nearly 400 employees, as operations expand at the site. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation today awarded C3 Venture a $5.7-million performance-based loan, which may be converted to a grant if the company meets job-creation milestones. "This is work currently being done in China and we're moving it to Flint," said Bob Schaffer, Chairman and Founder of C3 Venture. The company also considered sites in Indiana and California. "Flint is a manufacturing town. Manufacturing is embedded in Flint's heritage and the work ethic here is strong. For those reasons, you could say that Flint chose C3." The company intends to begin moving and setting up equipment in September after it closes on the property next month. Production is expected to ramp up in early October, said company officials. C3 Venture will work with GST Michigan Works! as the company looks to add employees at the facility. Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce CEO Tim Herman applauded today's announcement, adding that the project will help Flint exceed its goal of creating 1,000 new jobs here. "The 380 jobs that C3 has committed to are part of a broader jobs goal announced earlier this year by Mission Flint," said Herman. "In addition, we're seeing a valuable piece of industrial real estate being returned to productive use. And that's a strong indicator that Flint is, indeed, open for business." C3 Venture which has diversified holdings, including real estate, manufacturing and others is more than a plastics company, said Schaffer. "C3 stands for: Clean Air. Clean Water. Clean Soil," he said. "Producing parts for zero-emission electric vehicles is central to our mission. Our drive to be good environmental stewards extends to our manufacturing process." About the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce Serving the community for over 100 years, the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce is a premier business membership organization unlike most chambers of commerce. In addition to traditional member services, our responsibility includes serving as the lead economic development agency for Flint & Genesee, marketing tourism, youth and business training, and a Shared Services Center. For more information, visit www.flintandgenesee.org. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. SOURCE Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce Related Links http://www.flintandgenesee.org More than 3,250 people from 32 countries registered for July 21-22 auction; 1,600+ items sold LETHBRIDGE, AB, July 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Records were smashed in Lethbridge last week, as Ritchie Bros. sold CA$24+ million (US$18+ million) of equipment in two dayswith 67 percent (CA$16+ million) selling to online buyers. Traditionally the company's southern Alberta site has focused on agriculture auctions, but this month's sale featured more construction and transportation assets than ever before, resulting in more choice and bigger crowds on auction day. On July 21 - 22, 2016, Ritchie Bros. sold 1,600+ equipment items and trucks at its largest-ever Lethbridge auction. More than 3,250 people from 32 countries registered to bid. Out-of-province buyers from as far away as Quebec, Texas and Australia purchased 31 percent of the equipment. Every item was sold without minimum bids or reserve prices "It's clear from the number of bidders we had onsite and online that our customers appreciated the increased variety and selection of equipment in this auction," said Simon Wallan, Vice President, Ritchie Bros. "We sold hundreds of agricultural equipment items, but this auction helped us showcase our ability to sell equipment for every sector here in Lethbridge. We would like to thank all of our consignors, bidders and buyers and look forward to seeing them again at our next auction here in November." Ritchie Bros. sold equipment for 240+ companies in last week's auction, including a complete dispersal for Calgary area farmer George Jackson and a major realignment for Omega Transport Services of Brooks, AB. "Ritchie Bros. took care of everything," said George Jackson. "I sold 162 items in the auctionbig items and small pieces. I brought it all down from my farm just east of Calgary because I knew at the end of the auction, when I leave here, I will have nothing left to deal with. This was my first time selling with Ritchie Bros. It was a very good experience." AUCTION QUICK FACTS: LETHBRIDGE, AB (JULY 21 22, 2016) Total Gross Auction Proceeds CA$24+ million (US$18+ million) * New site record CA$24+ million (US$18+ million) * Amount sold to online bidders CA$16+ million (US$12+ million) * New site record CA$16+ million (US$12+ million) * Total registered bidders (in person and online) 3,250+ * New site record 3,250+ * Registered online bidders 2,250+ * New site record 2,250+ * Total lots sold 1,600+ * New site record 1,600+ * Number of sellers 240+ *New site record Ritchie Bros. will hold a number of auctions in Alberta over the next few months, including Grande Prairie (July 28) and Edmonton (Sept. 7-9), as well as four on-the-farm auctions in early August in Grimshaw (Aug. 3), Elmworth (Aug. 4), Valleyview (Aug. 5), and Peace River (Aug. 9). The next Lethbridge auction will be held on November 15to sell equipment in the auction contact the site at +1.403.327.4933. Visit rbauction.com for full auction and equipment details. About Ritchie Bros. Established in 1958, Ritchie Bros. (NYSE and TSX: RBA) is the world's largest industrial auctioneer, and one of the world's largest sellers of used equipment for the construction, transportation, agriculture, energy, mining, forestry and other industries. Ritchie Bros.TM asset management and disposition solutions include live unreserved public auctions with on-site and online bidding; EquipmentOneTM, an online auction marketplace; MascusTM, a global online equipment listing service; private negotiated sales through Ritchie Bros. Private Treaty; and a range of ancillary services, including financing and leasing through Ritchie Bros. Financial Services. Ritchie Bros. has operations in 19 countries, including 44 auction sites worldwide. Learn more at rbauction.com, EquipmentOne.com, mascus.com, rbauction.com/privatetreaty and rbauction.com/financing. Photos and video for embedding in media stories are available at rbauction.com/media. SOURCE Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Related Links www.rbauction.com NEW YORK, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, a leading counselor to global financial institutions and businesses, has strengthened its position atop the mid-year Commercial Mortgage Alert MBS tables. The firm is again rated number one in both the "Top Issuer Counsel" and "Top Underwriter Counsel" rankings through June 30, 2016. Cadwalader has held the top position in the issuer counsel category for 17 consecutive years. Commercial Mortgage Alert notes that Cadwalader advised issuers on 37 of the 55 U.S. offerings floated in the first half of 2016, representing 67 percent of such representations, up from 56 percent. Cadwalader also advised CMBS underwriters on 26 transactions, which represents 47 percent of the available assignments, up from 36 percent. The firm's longstanding client relationships are a key factor behind its continued dominance, despite the recent dislocation in the credit markets. Cadwalader's deal count remains essentially unchanged over the past year while many firms have seen a sharp decline in activity. The firm's Capital Markets Group, led by partners Michael Gambro and Stuart Goldstein, is a leading global securitization practice which handles a broad range of public and private securitization and structured finance transactions, including CMBS, CLOs, ABS and other complex securitization and structured finance transactions. The firm's practice has also played a vital role for clients in the residential mortgage-backed securities market as the non-agency RMBS market continues to rebound. The firm has approximately 140 securitization and structured products attorneys worldwide. Earlier this month, Jeremy Cross joined Cadwalader's Capital Markets team as a Fund Finance partner in the firm's London office. Formerly at King & Wood Mallesons, Cross expands Cadwalader's cross-border capabilities in subscription credit facilities and other fund finance products. About Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, established in 1792, serves a diverse client base, including many of the world's leading financial institutions and businesses in more than 50 countries. With offices in New York, London, Charlotte, Washington, Houston, Beijing, Hong Kong and Brussels, Cadwalader offers legal expertise in antitrust, banking, corporate finance, corporate governance, energy, environmental, executive compensation, financial restructuring, health care, intellectual property, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, private wealth, real estate, regulation, securitization, shareholder activism, structured finance, tax and white collar defense. For more information, visit www.cadwalader.com. Contacts: Kara Fitzsimmons +1 212 504 6708 [email protected] Kimberly Brooks +1 212 504 5652 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160726/392938LOGO SOURCE Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP Related Links http://www.cadwalader.com WASHINGTON, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned a deadly hostage-taking at a Catholic church in France, in which one priest was killed and another person was injured. The attack was reportedly committed in the name of the terror group ISIS. In a statement, CAIR said: "This heinous attack on a house of worship and on a man of God must be condemned and repudiated by people of all faiths worldwide. The apparent goal of the cowardly murderers is to create divisions between faiths and to breed hostility between the followers of different faiths. We must not allow the terrorists to achieve their twisted goal." CAIR said it condemns all such attacks on places of worship and religious gatherings, including a recent ISIS suicide bombing that killed dozens of people during a peaceful demonstration by a minority group in Afghanistan. The Quran, Islam's revealed text, states: "Had not God repelled some people by the might of others, the monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which God's praise is celebrated daily, would have been utterly demolished. God will certainly help those who help His cause." (The Holy Quran, 22:40) In the past, CAIR has condemned similar attacks on other houses of worship. SEE: CAIR Condemns Attack on Jerusalem Synagogue http://bit.ly/2aoaZiX CAIR and other American Muslim organizations have consistently and repeatedly condemned terrorism in all its forms. SEE: CAIR's Condemnation of Terrorism http://www.cair.com/about-us/cair-anti-terrorism-campaigns.html CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding. Become a Fan of CAIR on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/CAIRNational Subscribe to CAIR's Email List http://tinyurl.com/cairsubscribe Subscribe to CAIR's Twitter Feed http://twitter.com/cairnational Subscribe to CAIR's YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/cairtv To request legal assistance from CAIR's Civil Rights Department, fill out the intake form at: https://www.cair.com/civil-rights/report-an-incident/view/form.html CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected] SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Related Links http://www.cair.com NASHVILLE, Tenn., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Captain D's, the leading fast casual seafood restaurant, announced today award recipients from its annual convention who were recognized as top performers whose ability to lead and manage teams in their restaurants led to high sales volume throughout the year. Additionally, franchise owners of five locations were named to the President's Club for achieving the highest sales revenue in the system. "Our franchisees continue to do an outstanding job providing unparalleled service to the customers they serve and have shown guest-focused leadership as they've led their teams to great success over the past year," said Phil Greifeld, chief executive officer and president of Captain D's. "It's because of their commitment that Captain D's achieved record-breaking success in 2015 and is seen as an industry leader. We're incredibly proud of our entire team and award recipients across the nation and look forward to celebrating their continued success as we prepare for another prosperous year." In 2015, Captain D's showcased its seafood expertise and product innovation with the introduction of new menu items including the Parmesan Crusted Tilapia, Homestyle Fish Tenders and Creamy Shrimp Scampi. Through strategic rollouts of new products and limited-time menu promotions system-wide, the brand established an all-time system-wide AUV record, marking Captain D's third consecutive year of AUV record growth. President's Club award winners include: Robbie Copenhaver , Sandy Haury , Newton Cannon Scottsboro, Alabama , , David Simmons , Mike Tidwell , Wes Cummings Milledgeville, Georgia , , David Simmons , Mike Tidwell , Roy Williams Greenville, Mississippi , , Mark Sweeney , Robert Weedon , Dave Ludlow Fredricksburg and Richmond, Virginia Captain D's also named Ben Patel, Jim and Val McClure, and Brian Smith and Rodney Coats as Developers of the Year, and honored John Murphy, Ronnie Newell and Rob Gassel with the Mission and Values Award. The second quarter of 2016 marked Captain D's 19th consecutive quarter of system-wide growth, generating a 3.1 percent system-wide same store sales increase, along with a surge of new franchise and corporate growth. Coupled with its ongoing menu innovation, Captain D's credits its new restaurant design with contributing to the brand's compounding success. To date, 47 percent of all restaurants have been reimaged to the brands new vibrant, coastal design, with another 50 locations to be remodeled by the end of this year. With these efforts, Captain D's has remained true to what it does best serving high-quality seafood with warm hospitality at an affordable price in a welcoming atmosphere. With 512 restaurants in 21 states, Captain D's is the fast-casual seafood leader and number one seafood franchise in America ranked by average unit volume. The company is currently seeking single- and multi-unit operators to join in the brand's rapid expansion. For more information about franchise opportunities, visit http://www.captaindsfranchising.com or call 800-550-4877. ABOUT CAPTAIN D'S Headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., Captain D's has 512 restaurants in 21 states, plus military bases around the world. Captain D's is the nation's leading fast casual seafood restaurant and was named the #1 seafood chain in the QSR 50, ranked by AUV. Founded in 1969, Captain D's has been offering its customers high-quality seafood at reasonable prices in a welcoming atmosphere for more than 46 years. Captain D's serves a wide variety of seafood that includes freshly prepared entrees and the company's signature hand-battered fish, which is cooked to order. The restaurants also offer premium-quality, grilled items such as shrimp, and surf and turf, as well as hushpuppies, desserts and freshly brewed, Southern-style sweet tea, a Captain D's favorite. For more information, please visit www.captainds.com. Contact: Andie Biederman Fish Consulting 954-893-9150 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160202/328742LOGO SOURCE Captain D's Related Links http://www.captainds.com TAMPA, Fla., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnahan Group, a strategic healthcare consulting firm, launches FMVMD, a sophisticated fair market valuation platform. FMVMD instantly analyzes simple and complex physician compensation arrangements alike, determining clinical, medical director, on-call, administrative and academic compensation for fair market value and commercial reasonableness. The platform's algorithms assess historical factors, productivity, proposed hours and total compensation to ensure maximum compliance and protection against potential compensation stacking issues. "The days of waiting weeks and months to get physician compensation valuations are now over! FMVMD provides rapid and compliant results. Our cloud-based platform was designed for scale, speed, affordability, and compliance. Furthermore, our team of highly qualified valuation professionals standby to support FMVMD. We are empowering healthcare executives to get physician deals done with a click of a button," states Chris Carnahan, President of Carnahan Group. Each submission produces color gradient sliders: red, yellow, and green to illustrate the various compensation components analyzed. Green indicates "go" and you can instantly print an FMV opinion letter from your desk. Yellow requires additional inquiry and feedback from Carnahan Group and is delivered within three business days. Red requires further attention to implement changes and/or qualitative factors, which will be delivered in five business days. "FMVMD finally puts compensation compliance at my fingertips. We are now able to get fair market valuations for deals where it would have been otherwise cost prohibitive. 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Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160726/393051LOGO SOURCE Carnahan Group Related Links http://www.carnahangroup.com ZURICH, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Chubb Limited (NYSE: CB) today reported net income for the quarter ended June 30, 2016, of $726 million, or $1.54 per share, compared with $942 million, or $2.86 per share, for the same quarter last year. Operating income was $1,058 million, or $2.25 per share, compared with $788 million, or $2.40 per share, for the same quarter last year. Operating income excluding catastrophe losses was $1,369 million, or $2.91 per share, compared with $894 million, or $2.72 per share last year. The property and casualty (P&C) combined ratio for the quarter was 91.2%. Book value and tangible book value per share increased 2.7% and 6.1%, respectively, from March 31, 2016 and now stand at $101.56 and $57.14, respectively. Book value and tangible book value per share were favorably impacted by unrealized gains in the company's investment portfolio in the quarter of $706 million, after tax. Chubb Limited Second Quarter Summary (in millions, except per share amounts) (Unaudited) (Per Share - Diluted) 2016 Legacy ACE 2015 Change 2016 Legacy ACE 2015 Change Operating income, net of tax $ 1,058 $ 788 34.3% $ 2.25 $ 2.40 (6.3)% Chubb one-time integration and merger-related expenses, net of tax (71) NM (0.15) NM Amortization of fair value adjustment of acquired invested assets and long-term debt, net of tax (66) NM (0.14) NM Adjusted net realized gains (losses), net of tax (195) 154 NM (0.42) 0.46 NM Net income $ 726 $ 942 (22.8)% $ 1.54 $ 2.86 (46.2)% For the three months ended June 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively, the tax expenses (benefits) related to the table above were: $212 million and $136 million, for operating income; $(27) million for Chubb one-time integration and merger-related expenses; $(29) million for amortization of fair value adjustment of acquired invested assets and long-term debt; and $(1) million and $7 million for adjusted net realized gains and losses. For the six months ended June 30, 2016, net income was $1,165 million, or $2.53 per share, compared with $1,623 million, or $4.91 per share, for 2015. Operating income was $2,077 million, or $4.51 per share, compared with $1,533 million, or $4.64 per share, for 2015. Operating income excluding catastrophe losses was $2,592 million, or $5.63 per share, compared with $1,679 million, or $5.08 per share, last year. The P&C combined ratio for the six months ended June 30, 2016 was 90.6%. Book value per share increased 13.1% from December 31, 2015 reflecting the impact of The Chubb Corporation (Chubb Corp) acquisition, including the issuance of 137 million common shares totaling $15.2 billion and $323 million of equity awards related to the transaction. Tangible book value per share decreased 20.9% from December 31, 2015, reflecting $15.4 billion, net of tax, of goodwill and other intangibles related to the Chubb Corp acquisition. Book value per share and tangible book value per share were favorably impacted by after-tax unrealized gains in the company's investment portfolio of $1.5 billion and favorable foreign currency movement of $393 million. Chubb Limited Six Months Ended Summary (in millions, except per share amounts) (Unaudited) (Per Share - Diluted) 2016 Legacy ACE 2015 Change 2016 Legacy ACE 2015 Change Operating income, net of tax $ 2,077 $ 1,533 35.5% $ 4.51 $ 4.64 (2.8)% Chubb one-time integration and merger-related expenses, net of tax (177) NM (0.38) NM Amortization of fair value adjustment of acquired invested assets and long-term debt, net of tax (125) NM (0.27) NM Adjusted net realized gains (losses), net of tax (610) 90 NM (1.33) 0.27 NM Net income $ 1,165 $ 1,623 (28.2)% $ 2.53 $ 4.91 (48.5)% For the six months ended June 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively, the tax expenses (benefits) related to the table above were: $413 million and $255 million, for operating income; $(76) million for Chubb one-time integration and merger-related expenses; $(53) million for amortization of fair value adjustment of acquired invested assets and long-term debt; and $(5) million and $8 million for adjusted net realized gains and losses. Evan G. Greenberg, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Chubb Limited, commented: "Chubb produced very good operating results in the quarter despite a greater level of industry natural catastrophe losses globally than has occurred in recent years, though industry insured losses appear in line with longer-term historical averages. After-tax operating income of $2.25 per share was down 6.3% over prior year and included $0.66 of after-tax catastrophe losses. For illustrative purposes, excluding the catastrophe losses, operating EPS for the quarter was up 7% from prior year and up 11% for six months, demonstrating the underlying health and earnings power of the new Chubb and depicting the accretive nature of our merger. "Our earnings were driven in particular by strong underwriting margins as reflected in the published P&C combined ratio of 91.2%, or 90.2% excluding purchase accounting and other temporary merger-related items. The P&C current accident year combined ratio excluding catastrophe losses was 88.9% versus 88% when comparing results as if we were one company last year. Our six-month results include an annualized operating ROE of circa 10% and book value per share growth of over 13%. "Premium revenue in the quarter was impacted by foreign exchange, more competitive market conditions and underwriting actions that we took on select portfolios of business. These underwriting actions, including greater use of reinsurance, impacted net premium growth in the quarter by about 1.5 points while improving our risk-reward profile. "Concerning the merger, our integration efforts, both growth and expense-related, are on track and going well. In fact, the strength of the new Chubb, including cross-selling and the introduction of our total product portfolio to an expanded distribution base, is receiving greater attention and, while early days, the efforts are beginning to contribute to revenue growth." Operating highlights for the quarter ended June 30, 2016, were as follows: Legacy As If (1) ACE Chubb Limited (in millions of U.S. dollars except for percentages) Q2 2016 Q2 2015 Change Q2 2016 Q2 2015 Change Consolidated Net premiums written $ 7,639 $ 4,784 59.7% $ 7,639 $ 8,108 (5.8)% Net income $ 726 $ 942 (22.8)% P&C Net premiums written $ 7,112 $ 4,284 66.0% $ 7,112 $ 7,584 (6.2)% Net premiums written constant-dollar $ 4,213 68.8% $ 7,463 (4.7)% Net premiums written constant-dollar excluding Fireman's Fund non-recurring transfer $ 3,961 79.5% $ 7,211 (1.4)% Underwriting income $ 609 $ 478 27.5% $ 675 $ 898 (25.0)% Combined ratio 91.2% 87.7% 90.2% 87.1% Current accident year underwriting income excluding catastrophe losses $ 698 $ 449 56.0% $ 764 $ 836 (8.7)% Current accident year combined ratio excluding catastrophe losses 89.9% 88.4% 88.9% 88.0% Current accident year combined ratio excluding catastrophe losses and Fireman's Fund non-recurring transfer 89.7% 88.7% Global P&C (excludes Agriculture) Net premiums written $ 6,737 $ 3,905 72.5% $ 6,737 $ 7,205 (6.5)% Net premiums written constant-dollar $ 3,834 75.7% $ 7,083 (4.9)% Net premiums written constant-dollar excluding Fireman's Fund non-recurring transfer $ 3,582 88.1% $ 6,831 (1.4)% Underwriting income $ 595 $ 457 30.3% $ 661 $ 877 (24.8)% Combined ratio 90.9% 87.1% 89.9% 86.8% Current accident year underwriting income excluding catastrophe losses $ 670 $ 421 59.7% $ 736 $ 808 (8.9)% Current accident year combined ratio excluding catastrophe losses 89.8% 88.2% 88.8% 87.9% Current accident year combined ratio excluding catastrophe losses and Fireman's Fund non-recurring transfer 89.5% 88.6% (1)Note about "As If" results: 2016 "As If" results do not include the unfavorable impact from purchase accounting adjustments related to the Chubb Corp acquisition of $66 million pre-tax in P&C underwriting income. 2015 "As If" results include Legacy ACE plus Legacy Chubb historical results. Refer to the Non-GAAP Financial Measures section of the Financial Supplement for a reconciliation of these measures to pro forma measures calculated in accordance with SEC guidance. Global P&C net premiums written increased 72.5%, or 75.7% in constant dollars. Excluding the non-recurring Fireman's Fund transfer, Global P&C net premiums written increased 84.4%, or 88.1% in constant dollars. On an "As If" basis, Global P&C net premiums written decreased 6.5%, or 4.9% in constant dollars. Excluding the non-recurring Fireman's Fund transfer, Global P&C net premiums written decreased 3.1%, or 1.4% in constant dollars. Consolidated net premiums earned increased 69.8%, or 73.0% in constant dollars reflecting the acquisition of Chubb Corp. On an "As If" basis, consolidated net premiums earned decreased 1.3%, or increased 0.3% in constant dollars. P&C net premiums earned increased 81.1% in constant dollars reflecting the acquisition of Chubb Corp. On an "As If" basis, P&C net premiums earned decreased 1.4%, or increased 0.1% in constant dollars. Current accident year P&C and Global P&C underwriting income excluding catastrophe losses and the non-recurring Fireman's Fund transfer in 2015 increased 75.0% and 80.6%, respectively. On an "As If" basis, current accident year P&C and Global P&C underwriting income excluding catastrophe losses and the non-recurring Fireman's Fund transfer in 2015 decreased 3.0% and 3.1%, respectively. The P&C expense ratio was 31.6%, compared with 28.8% last year. On an "As If" basis, the P&C expense ratio was 30.6%, compared with 30.3% last year, or 31.1% excluding the non-recurring Fireman's Fund transfer. Total pre-tax and after-tax catastrophe losses were $390 million (5.7 percentage points of the combined ratio) and $311 million , respectively, compared with $124 million (3.2 percentage points of the combined ratio) and $106 million , respectively, last year. On an "As If" basis, total pre-tax and after-tax catastrophe losses for the second quarter of 2015 were $274 million (3.9 percentage points of the combined ratio) and $203 million , respectively. (5.7 percentage points of the combined ratio) and , respectively, compared with (3.2 percentage points of the combined ratio) and , respectively, last year. On an "As If" basis, total pre-tax and after-tax catastrophe losses for the second quarter of 2015 were (3.9 percentage points of the combined ratio) and , respectively. Total pre-tax and after-tax favorable prior period development were $301 million (4.4 percentage points of the combined ratio) and $241 million , respectively, compared with $153 million pre-tax (3.9 percentage points of the combined ratio) and $128 million after-tax last year. On an "As If" basis, total pre-tax and after-tax favorable prior period development for the second quarter of 2015 were $336 million (4.8 percentage points of the combined ratio) and $248 million , respectively. (4.4 percentage points of the combined ratio) and , respectively, compared with pre-tax (3.9 percentage points of the combined ratio) and after-tax last year. On an "As If" basis, total pre-tax and after-tax favorable prior period development for the second quarter of 2015 were (4.8 percentage points of the combined ratio) and , respectively. Adjusted net investment income, which excludes a purchase accounting adjustment not included in operating income, was $816 million , which is slightly lower than previously estimated due to lower than projected private equity distributions. , which is slightly lower than previously estimated due to lower than projected private equity distributions. Net realized and unrealized gains pre-tax totaled $831 million , including unrealized gains of $1,027 million and net realized losses of $196 million . Net unrealized pre-tax gains comprised primarily unrealized gains of $945 million in the investment portfolio and unrealized foreign exchange gains of $81 million . Adjusted net realized losses included $12 million in the investment portfolio, realized foreign exchange losses of $22 million and $159 million from derivative accounting related to the company's variable annuity business. , including unrealized gains of and net realized losses of . Net unrealized pre-tax gains comprised primarily unrealized gains of in the investment portfolio and unrealized foreign exchange gains of . Adjusted net realized losses included in the investment portfolio, realized foreign exchange losses of and from derivative accounting related to the company's variable annuity business. Operating cash flow was $1.1 billion . . Net loss reserves increased $269 million , or $200 million adjusted for foreign exchange. , or adjusted for foreign exchange. Book value per share increased 2.7% to $101.56 from $98.85 at March 31, 2016 and increased 13.1% from $89.77 at December 31, 2015 . Book value per share was favorably impacted by income, net realized and unrealized gains and favorable foreign currency movement. from at and increased 13.1% from at . Book value per share was favorably impacted by income, net realized and unrealized gains and favorable foreign currency movement. Tangible book value per share increased 6.1% to $57.14 from $53.83 at March 31, 2016 and decreased 20.9% from $72.25 at December 31, 2015 . Tangible book value per share benefited from income, favorable foreign currency movement, and net realized and unrealized gains. The year-to-date decline of 20.9% reflected $15.4 billion , net of tax, of goodwill and other intangibles related to the Chubb Corp acquisition. Details of financial results by business segment are available in the Chubb Limited Financial Supplement. Key segment items for the quarter ended June 30, 2016, are presented below: Legacy As If ACE (in millions of U.S. dollars except for percentages) Q2 2016 Q2 2015 Change Q2 2016 Q2 2015 Change North America Commercial P&C Insurance Net premiums written $ 3,245 $ 1,428 127.4% $ 3,245 $ 3,253 (0.2)% Net premiums written constant-dollar $ 1,424 128.0% $ 3,249 (0.1)% Combined ratio 89.5% 84.6% 88.0% 83.4% Current accident year combined ratio excluding catastrophe losses 89.7% 88.6% 88.3% 88.1% North America Personal P&C Insurance Net premiums written $ 1,231 $ 547 125.1% $ 1,231 $ 1,550 (20.6)% Net premiums written excluding Fireman's Fund non-recurring transfer of $252 million $ 295 317.3% $ 1,298 (5.2)% Combined ratio 90.1% 70.6% 87.6% 84.3% Current accident year combined ratio excluding catastrophe losses 83.0% 65.5% 80.5% 77.5% Current accident year combined ratio excluding catastrophe losses and Fireman's Fund non-recurring transfer 83.5% 81.7% Overseas General Insurance Net premiums written $ 2,031 $ 1,669 21.6% $ 2,031 $ 2,136 (5.0)% Net premiums written constant-dollar $ 1,602 26.7% $ 2,020 0.5% Combined ratio 90.9% 89.2% 91.3% 89.5% Current accident year combined ratio excluding catastrophe losses 91.5% 89.8% 92.0% 90.7% Overseas General Insurance: The 2015 "As If" combined ratio benefited by 1.3 percentage points from favorable short-tail large loss experience and a non-recurring reinsurance benefit. North America Agricultural Insurance: Net premiums written decreased 1.2%. The combined ratio was 95.9%, compared with 93.6%. The current accident year combined ratio excluding catastrophe losses was 91.6%, compared with 91.4%. Global Reinsurance: Net premiums written decreased 11.9%, or 11.6% in constant dollars due to market conditions. The combined ratio was 79.8%, compared with 65.7%. The current accident year combined ratio excluding catastrophe losses was 78.9%, compared with 79.6%. Life Insurance: Segment income was $74 million compared to $78 million . International life insurance net premiums written increased 9.2%, or 15.3% in constant dollars. Please refer to the Chubb Limited Financial Supplement , dated June 30, 2016, which is posted on the company's investor relations website, investors.chubb.com, in the Financials section for more detailed information on individual segment performance, together with additional disclosure on reinsurance recoverable, loss reserves, investment portfolio and debt and capital. Chubb Limited will hold its second quarter earnings conference call on Wednesday, July 27, 2016 beginning at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. The earnings conference call will be available via live webcast at investors.chubb.com or by dialing 800-946-0719 (within the United States) or 719-325-2210 (international), passcode 4137143. Please refer to the Chubb website under Events for details. A replay of the call will be available until Thursday, August 11, 2016 and the archived webcast will be available for approximately one month. To listen to the replay, please click here to register and receive dial-in numbers. About Chubb Chubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. With operations in 54 countries, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. As an underwriting company, we assess, assume and manage risk with insight and discipline. We service and pay our claims fairly and promptly. The company is also defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb maintains executive offices in Zurich, New York, London and other locations, and employs approximately 31,000 people worldwide. Additional information can be found at: new.chubb.com. Regulation G - Non-GAAP Financial Measures In presenting our results, we included and discussed certain non-GAAP measures, including company measures on an "As If" basis. These non-GAAP measures and combined company measures, which may be defined differently by other companies, are important for an understanding of our overall results of operations and financial condition. However, they should not be viewed as a substitute for measures determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Throughout this document there are various measures presented on a constant-dollar basis (i.e., excludes the impact of foreign exchange). We believe it is useful to evaluate the trends in our results, exclusive of the effect of fluctuations in exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the currencies in which our international business is transacted, as these exchange rates could fluctuate significantly between periods and distort the analysis of trends. The impact is determined by assuming constant foreign exchange rates between periods by translating prior period results using the same local currency exchange rates as the comparable current period. "As If" company measures presented throughout this section are prepared exclusive of the impact of the unearned premium reserves intangible amortization and the elimination of the historical policy acquisition costs as a result of purchase accounting in order to present the underlying profitability of our insurance business. We believe this measure provides visibility into our results and allows for comparability to our historical results and is consistent with how management evaluates results. We have discussed our results on an "As If" basis for both the current and prior year periods, which are defined as follows: 2016 "As If" results: The 2016 and 2015 As If underwriting results do not include the impact of purchase accounting adjustments (i.e., impact of the unearned premium reserves intangible amortization and the elimination of the historical policy acquisition costs as a result of purchase accounting related to the Chubb Corp acquisition). 2015 "As If" results: Legacy ACE plus Legacy Chubb historical results after accounting policy alignment adjustments, including reclassifying certain legacy Chubb Corp corporate expenses to administrative expense and redefining Chubb Corp segment underwriting income by allocating the amortization of deferred acquisition costs to each segment. Adjusted net investment income is net investment income excluding the amortization of the fair value adjustment on acquired assets. We believe this measure is meaningful as it highlights the underlying performance of our invested assets and portfolio management in support of our lines of business. Adjusted net realized gains (losses), net of tax , includes net realized gains (losses) and net realized gains (losses) recorded in other income (expense) related to unconsolidated subsidiaries, and excludes realized gains and losses on crop derivatives. These derivatives were purchased to provide economic benefit, in a manner similar to reinsurance protection, in the event that a significant decline in commodity pricing impacts underwriting results. We view gains and losses on these derivatives as part of the results of our underwriting operations, and therefore realized gains (losses) from these derivatives are reclassified to adjusted losses and loss expenses. The P&C combined ratio includes adjusted losses and loss expenses in the ratio numerator. Underwriting income, P&C underwriting income and Global P&C underwriting income are calculated by subtracting losses and loss expenses, policy benefits, policy acquisition costs and administrative expenses from net premiums earned. P&C underwriting income also includes gains (losses) on crop derivatives. We use underwriting income and operating ratios to monitor the results of our operations without the impact of certain factors, including net investment income, other income (expense), interest and income tax expense and adjusted net realized gains (losses). Current accident year underwriting income excluding catastrophe losses is underwriting income adjusted to exclude catastrophe losses and prior period development (PPD). We believe it is useful to exclude catastrophe losses, as they are not predictable as to timing and amount, and PPD as these unexpected loss developments on historical reserves are not indicative of our current underwriting performance. We believe the use of these measures enhances the understanding of our results of operations by highlighting the underlying profitability of our insurance business. Segment income (loss) includes underwriting income adjusted net investment income, and other income (expense) -- operating. Operating income, net of tax, excludes adjusted realized gains and losses, Chubb integration and related expenses, and the amortization of the fair value adjustments of acquired debt and invested assets related to the Chubb Corp acquisition. We believe this presentation enhances the understanding of our results of operations by highlighting the underlying profitability of our insurance business. We exclude adjusted net realized gains (losses) because the amount of these gains (losses) is heavily influenced by the availability of market opportunities. We also exclude Chubb integration and related expenses related to the acquisition due to the size, complexity, and volume of this acquisition, which may not be indicative of such future costs. We believe that excluding the Chubb integration and related expenses facilitates the comparison of our financial results to our historical operating results. These costs include legal and professional fees and all costs directly related to the integration activities of the Chubb acquisition including pre-acquisition interest expense on the $5.3 billion senior notes issued in November 2015. The interest expense on the $5.3 billion senior notes was included within operating income subsequent to the acquisition close (i.e., after January 14, 2016). Operating income should not be viewed as a substitute for net income determined in accordance with GAAP. In addition, we disclose operating income excluding the impact of foreign exchange in order to adjust for the distortive effects of fluctuations in exchange rates. P&C combined ratio excluding catastrophe losses and PPD and current accident year P&C combined ratio excluding catastrophe losses exclude impacts of catastrophe losses and PPD. We believe this measure provides a better evaluation of our underwriting performance and enhances the understanding of the trends in our property and casualty business that may be obscured by these items. Global P&C performance metrics comprise consolidated operating results (including corporate) and exclude the operating results of the company's Life Insurance and North American Agricultural Insurance segments. We believe that these measures are useful and meaningful to investors as they are used by management to assess the company's global P&C operations which are the most economically similar. We exclude the North American Agricultural Insurance and Life Insurance segments because the results of these businesses do not always correlate with the results of our global P&C operations. International life net premiums written and deposits collected, is adjusted to include deposits collected on universal life and investment contracts (life deposits). Life deposits are not reflected as revenues in our consolidated statements of operations in accordance with GAAP. However, we include life deposits in presenting growth in our life insurance business because new life deposits are an important component of production and key to our efforts to grow our business. Operating return on equity (ROE) or ROE calculated using operating income and operating return on tangible equity are annualized financial measures. The ROE numerator includes income adjusted to exclude after-tax adjusted net realized gains (losses), Chubb integration and related expenses, and the amortization of the fair value adjustment of acquired invested assets and long-term debt. The ROE denominator includes the average shareholders' equity for the period adjusted to exclude unrealized gains (losses) on investments, net of tax. In addition, for the six months ended June 30, 2016, the denominator was adjusted to account for the weighted-average impact of the $15,527 million issuance of common shares and equity awards related to the Chubb Corp acquisition on January 14, 2016. Operating ROE is a useful measure as it enhances the understanding of the return on shareholders' equity by highlighting the underlying profitability relative to shareholders' equity excluding the effect of unrealized gains and losses on our investments. Measures excluding Fireman's Fund non-recurring unearned premium reserve (UPR) transfer . We acquired Fireman's Fund high net worth personal lines business in April 2015 and recognized as written premium at the date of acquisition non-recurring unearned premiums reserves of $252 million and underwriting benefit of $49 million. Due to the size of the non-recurring transfer, we believe that excluding this non-recurring benefit in 2015 will allow for comparability when assessing trends in our business. Tangible book value per common share is shareholders' equity less goodwill and other intangible assets divided by the shares outstanding. The intangibles related to the Chubb Corp acquisition are excluded from the tangible book value per share calculation net of tax. We believe that goodwill and other intangible assets are not indicative of our underlying insurance results or trends and make book value comparisons to less acquisitive peer companies less meaningful. In addition, we disclose per share measures for book value and tangible book value that exclude the impact of foreign currency fluctuations and the acquisition during 2016 in order to adjust for the distortive effects of fluctuations in exchange rates. Other income (expense) operating excludes from consolidated Other income (expense) the portion of net realized gains and losses related to unconsolidated entities and gains and losses from fair value changes in separate account assets that do not qualify for separate account reporting under GAAP. Net realized gains (losses) related to unconsolidated entities are excluded from operating income in order to enhance the understanding of our results of underwriting operations as they are heavily influenced by, and fluctuate in part, according to market conditions. Chubb integration and related expenses include legal and professional fees and all costs directly related to the integration activities of the Chubb acquisition as well as the pre-acquisition interest expense related to the $5.3 billion senior notes issued in November 2015 to finance a portion of the Chubb acquisition. We exclude this pre-acquisition interest expense from operating income because the operations for which the debt was issued were not part of our operating activities prior to the completion of the acquisition. Effective with the close of the Chubb acquisition (January 14, 2016), the interest on this debt was considered a cost of our operations and is included within operating income. See reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures on pages 41-49 in the Financial Supplement. These measures should not be viewed as a substitute for measures determined in accordance with GAAP or with SEC guidance under Article 11 for pro forma measures, including premium, net income, return on equity, adjusted net investment income, and effective tax rate. NM - not meaningful comparison Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Forward-looking statements made in this press release, such as those related to company performance, including 2016 performance and growth opportunities; integration activities and expected expense savings; other expected benefits of the ACE and Chubb merger; and our plans, expectations and intentions and other statements that are not historical facts, reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial performance and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially including without limitation the following: competition, pricing and policy term trends, the levels of new and renewal business achieved, the frequency of unpredictable catastrophic events, actual loss experience, uncertainties in the reserving or settlement process, integration activities and potential complications or disruptions related to them, the performance of acquired companies, loss of key employees or disruptions to our operations, new theories of liability, judicial, legislative, regulatory and other governmental developments, litigation tactics and developments, investigation developments and actual settlement terms, the amount and timing of reinsurance recoverable, credit developments among reinsurers, rating agency action, possible terrorism or the outbreak and effects of war, economic, political, regulatory, insurance and reinsurance business conditions, potential strategic opportunities including acquisitions and our ability to achieve and integrate them, as well as management's response to these factors, and other factors identified in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the dates on which they are made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Chubb Limited Summary Consolidated Balance Sheets (in millions of U.S. dollars, except per share data) (Unaudited) June 30 December 31 2016 2015 Assets Investments $ 99,846 $ 66,251 Cash 1,011 1,775 Insurance and reinsurance balances receivable 8,532 5,323 Reinsurance recoverable on losses and loss expenses 13,235 11,386 Goodwill and other intangible assets 22,923 5,683 Other assets 14,656 11,888 Total assets $ 160,203 $ 102,306 Liabilities Unpaid losses and loss expenses $ 60,819 $ 37,303 Unearned premiums 15,229 8,439 Other liabilities 36,929 27,429 Total liabilities $ 112,977 $ 73,171 Shareholders' equity Total shareholders' equity 47,226 29,135 Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $ 160,203 $ 102,306 Book value per common share $ 101.56 $ 89.77 Tangible book value per common share $ 57.14 $ 72.25 Book value per common share excluding cumulative translation losses (1) $ 104.05 $ 94.51 Tangible book value per common share excluding cumulative translation losses (2) $ 58.98 $ 75.30 (1) Cumulative translation losses were $1.2 billion in 2016 and $1.5 billion in 2015 (2) Cumulative translation losses were $299 million in 2016 and $550 million in 2015 Chubb Limited Summary Consolidated Financial Data (in millions of U.S. dollars, except share, per share data, and ratios) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30 June 30 2016 2015 2016 2015 Gross premiums written $ 9,274 $ 6,504 $ 16,663 $ 11,826 Net premiums written 7,639 4,784 13,634 8,860 Net premiums earned 7,405 4,360 14,002 8,287 Losses and loss expenses 4,254 2,417 7,928 4,539 Policy benefits 146 153 272 295 Policy acquisition costs 1,560 727 2,973 1,434 Administrative expenses 829 578 1,601 1,132 Net investment income 708 562 1,382 1,113 Net realized gains (losses) (216) 126 (610) 37 Interest expense 153 71 299 139 Other income (expense): Gains (losses) from separate account assets 3 6 17 Other 26 32 1 56 Amortization of purchased intangibles 5 55 12 85 Chubb integration expenses 98 246 Income tax expense 155 143 279 263 Net income $ 726 $ 942 $ 1,165 $ 1,623 Diluted earnings per share: Operating income $ 2.25 $ 2.40 $ 4.51 $ 4.64 Net income $ 1.54 $ 2.86 $ 2.53 $ 4.91 Weighted average diluted shares outstanding 471.2 328.7 460.5 330.2 P&C combined ratio Loss and loss expense ratio 59.6% 58.9% 58.5% 58.0% Policy acquisition cost ratio 20.6% 15.7% 20.9% 16.5% Administrative expense ratio 11.0% 13.1% 11.2% 13.5% P&C combined ratio 91.2% 87.7% 90.6% 88.0% P&C underwriting income $ 609 $ 478 $ 1,221 $ 880 Chubb Limited Consolidated Supplemental Segment Information (in millions of U.S. dollars) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30 June 30 2016 2015 2016 2015 Gross Premiums Written North America Commercial P&C Insurance $ 4,041 $ 2,070 $ 7,045 $ 4,049 North America Personal P&C Insurance 1,369 835 2,343 981 North America Agricultural Insurance 545 566 681 694 Overseas General Insurance 2,494 2,212 5,010 4,467 Global Reinsurance 268 292 481 584 Life Insurance 557 529 1,103 1,051 Total $ 9,274 $ 6,504 $ 16,663 $ 11,826 Net Premiums Written North America Commercial P&C Insurance $ 3,245 $ 1,428 $ 5,547 $ 2,725 North America Personal P&C Insurance 1,231 547 2,102 680 North America Agricultural Insurance 375 379 439 467 Overseas General Insurance 2,031 1,669 4,072 3,463 Global Reinsurance 230 261 431 534 Life Insurance 527 500 1,043 991 Total $ 7,639 $ 4,784 $ 13,634 $ 8,860 Net Premiums Earned North America Commercial P&C Insurance $ 3,148 $ 1,419 $ 6,044 $ 2,799 North America Personal P&C Insurance 1,140 269 2,164 415 North America Agricultural Insurance 327 321 350 385 Overseas General Insurance 2,093 1,644 4,048 3,281 Global Reinsurance 185 220 387 446 Life Insurance 512 487 1,009 961 Total $ 7,405 $ 4,360 $ 14,002 $ 8,287 Segment income (loss) North America Commercial P&C Insurance $ 810 $ 479 $ 1,637 $ 924 North America Personal P&C Insurance 164 87 236 77 North America Agricultural Insurance 19 26 77 78 Overseas General Insurance 342 321 661 639 Global Reinsurance 104 154 218 291 Life Insurance 74 78 135 153 Corporate (72) (95) (147) (150) Total $ 1,441 $ 1,050 $ 2,817 $ 2,012 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160113/321965LOGO SOURCE Chubb Limited Related Links http://new.chubb.com DOVER, Del., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Yesterday, a founding member of Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware, Timothy Holland in his capacity as a private citizen, filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court Southern District of New York against Andre Bouchard, the Chancellor in the Chancery Court of the State of Delaware and Robert Pincus, Custodian of TransPerfect Global. The lawsuit, filed on July 25th, seeks "declaratory judgment against [a] judicial officer for due process and First Amendment violations." The First Amendment violations include, but are not limited to, a court order, which allowed for Pincus to obtain and search all employee private communication devices without regard to whether they would be subject to Delaware Jurisdiction and the search of TransPerfect's email server for communication related to Holland and Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware. "We launched this campaign to make sure that no successful, profitable company could ever be sold off again. We never anticipated the court would attempt to limit our members' right to free speech and to expressing themselves. We hope yesterday's federal lawsuit, brought personally by one of our co-founders will end the practice of the court attempting to silence our members," Chris Coffey, Campaign Manager said. "Our members have the right to march, to speak up, and to fight for what they believe in. We hope to have that right affirmed in Federal Court." Holland's case against Bouchard asserts that Bouchard attempted to stifle employee efforts to advocate on behalf of their own interests, on their own time, and that Bouchard strongly implied that Holland's "employment could be at risk if Citizen's efforts did not cooperate with attempts to stifle employee activities and his TransPerfect employment [was] at risk as a result of his participation in speaking out against the Order compelling the involuntary sale of TransPerfect and in petition the Delaware State Legislature." The proposed order, the lawsuit indicates "attempts to choke off any reasonable opportunity for employees to obtain judicial redress by directing that all actions by employees could only be brought before Chancellor Bouchard." Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware, a group made up of more than 1,700 members including employees of the global translation services company TransPerfect, as well as concerned Delaware residents, business executive and others, was formed in April of 2016 to focus on raising awareness with Delaware residents, elected officials, and other stakeholders, to ensure they understand the consequences the Court's ruling would have on the state and its underlying economy. The multifaceted campaign includes mailers, newspaper ads, field, lobbying, and more. Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware is at the Delaware State Fair in Harrington for the remainder of the week and continues to raise awareness about the lawsuit and the economic ramifications of this case. Go to DelawareForBusiness.Org for more information. Contact: Julijana Englander (Tusk Strategies); 212-259-0586 SOURCE Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware Related Links http://delawareforbusiness.org KIRKLAND, Wash., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Serving the 11th largest metro-area in the United States, Community Care Collaborative (CCC) selects Bridge Patient Portal as its singular portal solution for secure online medical record access, outcome improvement and helping engage patients as the CCC works to manage the healthcare needs of the safety net population in Travis County, Texas. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392882LOGO Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392737LOGO The CCC is a public/private partnership between Central Health and Seton Healthcare Family that purchases services from healthcare providers who serve underinsured and uninsured residents in Travis County, Texas. Its healthcare delivery system is comprised of more than 20 healthcare partners and affiliates, and the CCC purchases services for more than 100,000 patients annually. After an extensive market analysis, the CCC chose Bridge Patient Portal, a leading enterprise patient portal provider, for four primary reasons. Advanced Spanish translation. Patient-centered engagement across a continuum of care. Responsive mobile design. Ability to connect to Nextgen and other disparate Electronic Health Record (EHR) environments with a single portal solution. The CCC's largest healthcare provider, CommUnityCare, is the first healthcare partner to complete Bridge Patient Portal implementation. With 24 locations, CommUnityCare serves nearly 90,000 patients each year. In addition, 60 percent of its uninsured or underinsured community is Spanish-speaking. "The CCC's healthcare delivery system is being studied by clinicians and administrators across the country," said CCC Medical Director Mark Hernandez, M.D. "Implementing Bridge Patient Portal is a key element in helping us engage patients as part of the care team while improving outcomes by focusing on prevention and wellness." Bridge Patient Portal provides patients with the ability to securely access their medical records 24/7, including a list of their prescription medications, lab and test results, and care plans. Mobile Responsive Design With the proliferation of inexpensive mobile phones, technology adoption for people who fall in the safety net is almost always performed on mobile devices. The CCC wanted to ensure its patient population would have a positive experience while easily and securely accessing the patient portal from mobile devices. Bridge Patient Portal's responsive mobile design renders similarly on all devices. Enrollment Success Patients enjoy the simplicity of a singular, secure login to access medical information from a continuum of care (i.e., primary care physician, dermatologist, cardiologist, women's specialty, etc.) across multiple locations. Enrollment in the patient portal has been highly successful to date. "More than twice as many patients are enrolling in Bridge Patient Portal than the average national enrollment data reflects for patient portals," said CommUnityCare Director of Operations and Performance Improvement Mark Steiger. "Adoption and engagement were our biggest goals in this process. We needed a customizable product that provided a high-level Spanish interface and converted seamlessly on mobile platforms. Bridge Patient Portal not only provided the best value, but they delivered a perfectly tailored portal for our patient population." "The ability to communicate in your own language on any device increases a patient's knowledge and ability to have a collaborative relationship with their caregivers," said Bridge Patient Portal CEO John Deutsch. "By implementing Bridge Patient Portal, the CCC's healthcare partners can engage their patient population in a meaningful way, while improving health outcomes, improving care coordination, and increasing operational efficiencies." According to the CCC's Mark Hernandez, M.D, implementation of Bridge Patient Portal with CommUnityCare was highly successful, and now it will be systematically rolled out to various CCC partners. Bridge Patient Portal has already begun implementation with El Buen Samaritano and is slated to begin implementation with Austin Travis County Integral Care later this year. To ensure health information is safe from unauthorized access, Bridge Patient Portal uses encrypted connections and data storage, employs strict authentication and access controls, and can provide HIPAA compliant hosting. Bridge Patient Portal is also 2014 ONC EHR-Modular Meaningful Use certified. For a demo or to learn more information about Bridge Patient Portal's features and pricing, visit http://www.bridgepatientportal.com or call (866) 838-9455. About Bridge Patient Portal Bridge Patient Portal is an enterprise portal platform that provides a superior experience for healthcare organizations and its patients. The Bridge Patient Portal platform is ideal for organizations seeking to replace their existing EHR portals or connect to disparate EHR environments with a single, EHR-agnostic patient portal platform. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, Bridge Patient Portal has installations in more than 50 physician practices, hospitals and health systems nationwide. About Community Care Collaborative The Community Care Collaborative is a public/private partnership between Central Health and Seton Healthcare Family designed to better manage the healthcare needs of the safety net population living in Travis County, Texas. The Community Care Collaborative works closely with partners such as local federally qualified health centers, the Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin, Seton Healthcare Family, and the local mental health authority, Austin Travis County Integral Care. The Community Care Collaborative's goal is to develop a high-quality, cost-effective and person-centered local healthcare system that improves patient outcomes by seamlessly connecting them to a spectrum of primary care, specialty care, hospital and social service providers. About CommUnityCare With 24 locations in Travis County, CommUnityCare health centers provide services to more than 88,000 individual patients. CommUnityCare services include outpatient primary healthcare, dental care, limited specialty care, lab, radiology including mammography, a full service pharmacy, and behavioral health services. CommUnityCare is committed to improving the health and well-being of its community. CommUnityCare works closely with a number of agencies and organizations in Travis County to pool resources, share ideas, and develop and implement programs to benefit Travis County residents. Bridge Patient Portal Media Contact Laura Luthi Email 503-341-7785 SOURCE Bridge Patient Portal Related Links http://www.bridgepatientportal.com BRISTOL, Tenn., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Contura Energy, Inc. today announced its acquisition of certain core coal assets from Alpha Natural Resources in connection with Alpha's successful restructuring. Formed and majority-owned by a group of Alpha's first lien lenders, Contura is a well-capitalized entity, created to acquire and operate Alpha Natural Resources' core operations in Northern Appalachia, the Powder River Basin and Central Appalachia. Specifically, Contura has acquired all of Alpha's operations and reserves in Northern Appalachia (including the Cumberland mine complex) and the Powder River Basin, along with three Central Appalachian mining complexes (the Nicholas mine complex in Nicholas County, West Virginia, and the McClure and Toms Creek mine complexes in Dickenson and Wise Counties, Virginia). Contura also purchased Alpha's interest in the Dominion Terminal Associates coal export terminal in eastern Virginia. This acquisition was effectuated as part of Alpha's Chapter 11 process, completed in under a year, involving holders of over $3.9 billion of debt obligations, various federal and state government entities, surety providers, union employees, pension beneficiaries, trade creditors, and others. Terms of the acquisition are detailed within the Asset Purchase Agreement previously filed with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on June 22, 2016 and available via Alpha's restructuring website at www.kccllc.net/alpharestructuring. Other initial financial information about Contura Energy, Inc. can be found at www.conturaenergy.com. Contura will be led by Kevin Crutchfield as Chief Executive Officer, with a workforce of over 2,200 former Alpha Natural Resources employees. "Today marks the successful culmination of a complex and arduous process, made possible by the tireless work of countless employees, collaboration among a diverse stakeholder group, and the unwavering commitment of Contura's management team and owners to achieve a positive outcome," said Crutchfield. "The result is the creation of a strong operational asset base, well-positioned to serve unique customer needs in today's challenged coal market." Contura also announced today the formation of its Board of Directors. Appointed Directors include: Crutchfield; Albert E. Ferrara, Jr., Retired Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of AK Steel Corporation; Jonathan Segal, Managing Director at Highbridge Capital Management, LLC; and Neale Trangucci, Principal at NXT Partners, LLC. Additional Board Members may be announced upon appointment. The buyers were advised by Ducera Partners LLC and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. Alpha Natural Resources was advised by Rothschild & Co and Jones Day. About Contura Energy Contura Energy is a private, Tennessee-based company with affiliate mining operations across multiple major coal basins in Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming. With customers across the globe, Contura Energy reliably supplies both metallurgical coal to the steel industry and thermal coal to generate power. For more information, visit www.conturaenergy.com. Forward-Looking Statements This news release includes forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on Contura's expectations and beliefs concerning future events and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. These factors are difficult to predict accurately and may be beyond Contura's control. Forward-looking statements in this news release or elsewhere speak only as of the date made. New uncertainties and risks arise from time to time, and it is impossible for Contura to predict these events or how they may affect the Company. Contura has no duty to, and does not intend to, update or revise the forwardlooking statements in this news release after the date it is issued. In light of these risks and uncertainties, investors should keep in mind that the results, events or developments disclosed in any forwardlooking statement made in this news release may not occur. SOURCE Contura Energy, Inc. Related Links http://www.conturaenergy.com PALO ALTO, Calif., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On the afternoon of August 9, 2016, CPI International Holding Corp., the parent company of CPI International, Inc. (CPI), plans to file its Form 10-Q for the third quarter ended July 1, 2016 with the Securities and Exchange Commission and to issue a press release regarding its financial results for the quarter. At 11 a.m. (EDT) on Wednesday, August 10, 2016, CPI will hold a telephonic conference call in conjunction with this release that will be Web cast simultaneously on the company's Web site. Joe Caldarelli, chief executive officer of CPI, and Joel Littman, chief financial officer, will host the call. Topics discussed on the call will include the company's recent financial performance and the status of its business. To participate in the conference call, please dial (800) 649-5127, or (253) 237-1144 for international callers, enter conference ID 54500822 and ask for the CPI International Third Quarter 2016 Financial Results Conference Call. A replay of the call will be available for one week following the live call. To access the replay, please dial (855) 859-2056, or (404) 537-3406 for international callers, and enter conference ID 54500822. To access the Web cast of the live call, please visit http://investor.cpii.com on the morning of the call and click "Events." Interested parties should allow extra time prior to the call to visit the site and download the streaming media software required to listen to the Web cast. After the live call, the online archive of the Web cast will remain available on the site for one year. About CPI International Holding Corp. CPI International Holding Corp., headquartered in Palo Alto, California, is the parent company of CPI International, Inc., which is the parent company of Communications & Power Industries LLC and Communications & Power Industries Canada Inc. Together, Communications & Power Industries LLC and Communications & Power Industries Canada Inc. develop, manufacture and globally distribute components and subsystems used in the generation, amplification, transmission and reception of microwave signals for a wide variety of systems including radar, electronic warfare and communications (satellite and point-to-point) systems for military and commercial applications, specialty products for medical diagnostic imaging and the treatment of cancer, as well as microwave and RF energy generating products for various industrial and scientific pursuits. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20060426/CPILOGO SOURCE CPI International Holding Corp.; CPI International, Inc. Related Links http://www.cpii.com OSAKA, Japan, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 26, 2016, Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd. entered into an agreement to establish a joint venture with WHA Corporation PCL (WHA), a Samutprakarn Province, Thailand-based leading built-to-suit developer of logistics facilities and factories. Under the accord, WHA Daiwa Logistics Property Co., Ltd. will be founded on July 27, 2016. From July 27, WHA Daiwa Logistics Property will take part in the planning of the Laem Chabang Project and Bang Na Project, which are under development with WHA, and carry out the development, operation, management and leasing of logistics facilities. Additionally, we will combine management resources held by our Group, including know-how related to investigations, design, and construction for the development of logistic facilities, and the management and operation of buildings. In line with this, we will make efforts to attract Japanese-owned companies and global companies looking for logistics facilities overseas. - Laem Chabang Project Laem Chabang Project (site area: approximately 78,400 m2) is in Laem Chabang District, Chonburi Province, approximately 14.7 km from Laem Chabang Deep Seaport, Thailand's largest trading port. The location encompasses routes for domestic and overseas distribution. A large-scale industrial park occupies the surrounding area, and numerous major Japanese-owned companies are planning to set up operations there. (Photo1: http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M000427/201607252798/_prw_OI1fl_o10zW698.jpg) - Bang Na Project Bang Na Project (site area: 123,200 m2) is in Bang Phli District, Samutprakarn Province, approximately 35 km from downtown Bangkok, 10 km from Suvarnabhumi Airport, and 30 km from Bangkok Port. The distribution site is attracting much attention, and has good accessibility to Bangkok city and nationwide. (Photo2: http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M000427/201607252798/_prw_OI2fl_abZwkTz7.jpg) 1. Objectives of establishing joint venture In conjunction with Japanese companies and a Vietnamese company, we are currently developing Long Duc Industrial Park in the Long Thanh District of Dong Nai Province in the south of Vietnam. Additionally, in cooperation with an Indonesian company, we are supporting the overseas expansion of Japanese-owned companies in the ASEAN region by developing Daiwa Manunggal Industrial Park in Cikarang Barat, Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia, and developing and leasing our first overseas logistics facilities. Thailand, where we are now expanding, has a large number of Japanese-owned companies among the ASEAN states. Its logistics market is brisk, and we anticipate that such companies will have multiple needs as distribution tenants. Since we can expect future business developments in the region, we decided to establish WHA Daiwa Logistics Property as our second overseas logistics facility development. 2. Outline of joint venture Trade name: WHA Daiwa Logistics Property Co., Ltd. Location: Samutprakarn Province, Thailand Founding date: July 27, 2016 Description of business: Development, operation, management and leasing of logistics facilities Equity ownership: Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd.: 49% WHA Corporation PCL: 51% 3. Thailand Thailand is an emerging nation with 2015 GDP of approximately 395.3 billion US dollars, and the scale of the economy second to Indonesia in Southeast Asia. Affiliated members of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, Bangkok, stood at 1,715 companies as of the end of April 2016. Many companies are considering expanding into Thailand to take advantage of growth in Asian and other countries. (Photo3: http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M000427/201607252798/_prw_OI3fl_2jhsYl8Y.jpg) - Outline of WHA Corporation PCL Trade name: WHA Corporation PCL Representative: Ms. Jareeporn Jarukornsakul Location: Samutprakarn Province, Thailand Founded: 2003 Description of business: A fully integrated industrial and logistics facility developer in Thailand Paid-in capital: about 4.7 billion JPY Net sales: about 37.7 billion JPY (2015 consolidated) Term-end: December 31 of each year *1 THB=3.3 JPY About Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd. Head office: Osaka, Japan President and COO: Naotake Ohno SOURCE Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd. RARITAN, N.J., July 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted a Breakthrough Therapy Designation to the immunotherapy daratumumab (DARZALEX) in combination with lenalidomide (an immunomodulatory agent) and dexamethasone, or bortezomib (a proteasome inhibitor [PI]) and dexamethasone, for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior therapy, Janssen Research & Development, LLC announced today. This marks the second time daratumumab has received a Breakthrough Therapy Designation, which is intended to expedite the development and review timelines of potential new medicines to treat serious or life-threatening diseases, where preliminary clinical evidence shows that the medicine may provide substantial improvement over existing therapies.1 Multiple myeloma is an incurable blood cancer that occurs when malignant plasma cells grow uncontrollably in the bone marrow.2,3 "Despite tremendous progress in the past 15 years, multiple myeloma remains a highly complex and difficult disease to treat, with most patients relapsing or becoming resistant to therapy," said MMY3003 (POLLUX) lead study author Meletios A. Dimopoulos, M.D., Department of Clinical Therapeutics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Medicine, Alexandra General Hospital, Athens, Greece. "Daratumumab has already shown pronounced activity as a monotherapy in heavily pre-treated patients. This designation underscores the potential of daratumumab in combination with either a proteasome inhibitor or an immunomodulatory agent to provide much-needed benefit to patients with at least one prior therapy." Breakthrough Therapy Designation was granted to daratumumab based on data from two Phase 3 studies: The MMY3004 (CASTOR) clinical trial evaluating daratumumab in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone, compared to bortezomib and dexamethasone alone, in patients with multiple myeloma who received at least one prior therapy. Overall, the daratumumab combination therapy demonstrated a reduction in the risk of disease progression or death. These results were presented at the 52 nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in June 2016. More information can be found at www.ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02136134). The MMY3003 (POLLUX) clinical trial evaluating daratumumab in combination with lenalidomide and dexamethasone, compared to lenalidomide and dexamethasone alone, in patients with multiple myeloma who received at least one prior therapy. Overall, the addition of daratumumab reduced the risk of disease progression or death in these patients. These results were presented at the 21 st Annual Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA) in June 2016. More information can be found at www.ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02076009). "We are pleased that the FDA has granted a second Breakthrough Therapy Designation to daratumumab. This is an important recognition of the transformative potential of daratumumab and its possible benefit as a backbone therapy in combination with two of the most widely used regimens for multiple myeloma," said Craig L. Tendler, M.D., Vice President, Late-Stage Development and Global Medical Affairs for Oncology, Hematology and Supportive Care, Janssen Research & Development, LLC. "We look forward to working closely with the FDA throughout the review process and remain committed to exploring the full clinical benefit of this promising compound for multiple myeloma patients who are eagerly awaiting new treatment options." In November 2015, daratumumab (DARZALEX) was approved by the FDA for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least three prior lines of therapy, including a PI and an immunomodulatory agent, or who are double-refractory to a PI and an immunomodulatory agent. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on response rate. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in a confirmatory trial.4 In May 2013, daratumumab received Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the FDA for this indication. In May 2016, the European Commission (EC) granted conditional approval to DARZALEX for monotherapy of adult patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma, whose prior therapy included a PI and an immunomodulatory agent and who have demonstrated disease progression on the last therapy. About DARZALEX (daratumumab) DARZALEX (daratumumab) injection for intravenous use is the first CD38-directed monoclonal antibody (mAb) approved anywhere in the world.4 CD38 is a surface protein that is highly expressed across multiple myeloma cells, regardless of disease stage.5 Daratumumab is believed to induce tumor cell death through multiple immune-mediated mechanisms of action, including complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC), antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP), as well as through apoptosis, in which a series of molecular steps in a cell lead to its death.4 Daratumumab is also believed to induce tumor cell death through immunomodulatory effects, according to a study recently presented at the 57th Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Society of Hematology (ASH).6 DARZALEX is being evaluated in a comprehensive clinical development program that includes five Phase 3 studies across a range of treatment settings in multiple myeloma, such as in frontline and relapsed settings. Additional studies are ongoing or planned to assess its potential in other malignant and pre-malignant diseases in which CD38 is expressed, such as smoldering myeloma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and a solid tumor indication. DARZALEX was the first mAb to receive regulatory approval to treat relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.4 In August 2012, Janssen Biotech, Inc. and Genmab A/S entered a worldwide agreement, which granted Janssen an exclusive license to develop, manufacture and commercialize DARZALEX. DARZALEX is commercialized in the U.S. by Janssen Biotech, Inc. For more information, visit www.DARZALEX.com. About Multiple Myeloma Multiple myeloma is an incurable blood cancer that occurs when malignant plasma cells grow uncontrollably in the bone marrow.7,8 Refractory cancer occurs when a patient's disease is resistant to treatment or in the case of multiple myeloma, patients progress within 60 days of their last therapy.9,10 Relapsed cancer means the disease has returned after a period of initial, partial or complete remission.7,11 Accounting for approximately one percent of all cancers and 15 percent to 20 percent of haematologic malignancies worldwide, multiple myeloma is designated as an orphan disease in both the U.S. and Europe.11 Globally, it is estimated that 124,225 people were diagnosed, and 87,084 died from the disease in 2015.12,13 While some patients with multiple myeloma have no symptoms at all, most patients are diagnosed due to symptoms which can include bone fracture or pain, low red blood counts, fatigue, calcium elevation, kidney problems or infections.14 Patients who relapse after treatment with standard therapies (including PIs or immunomodulatory agents) typically have poor prognoses and few remaining options.3 DARZALEX (daratumumab) Important Safety Information Professional CONTRAINDICATIONS - None WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS Infusion Reactions DARZALEX can cause severe infusion reactions. Approximately half of all patients experienced a reaction, most during the first infusion. Infusion reactions can also occur with subsequent infusions. Nearly all reactions occurred during infusion or within 4 hours of completing an infusion. Prior to the introduction of post-infusion medication in clinical trials, infusion reactions occurred up to 48 hours after infusion. Severe reactions have occurred, including bronchospasm, hypoxia, dyspnea, and hypertension. Signs and symptoms may include respiratory symptoms, such as cough, wheezing, larynx and throat tightness and irritation, laryngeal edema, pulmonary edema, nasal congestion, and allergic rhinitis. Less common symptoms were hypotension, headache, rash, urticaria, pruritus, nausea, vomiting, and chills. Pre-medicate patients with antihistamines, antipyretics, and corticosteroids. Frequently monitor patients during the entire infusion. Interrupt infusion for reactions of any severity and institute medical management as needed. Permanently discontinue therapy for life-threatening (Grade 4) reactions. For patients with Grade 1, 2, or 3 reactions, reduce the infusion rate when re-starting the infusion. To reduce the risk of delayed infusion reactions, administer oral corticosteroids to all patients the first and second day after all infusions. Patients with a history of obstructive pulmonary disorders may require additional post-infusion medications to manage respiratory complications. Consider prescribing short- and long-acting bronchodilators and inhaled corticosteroids for patients with obstructive pulmonary disorders. Interference with Serological Testing - Daratumumab binds to CD38 on red blood cells (RBCs) and results in a positive Indirect Antiglobulin Test (Coombs test). Daratumumab-mediated positive indirect antiglobulin test may persist for up to 6 months after the last daratumumab infusion. Daratumumab bound to RBCs masks detection of antibodies to minor antigens in the patient's serum. The determination of a patient's ABO and Rh blood type are not impacted. Notify blood transfusion centers of this interference with serological testing and inform blood banks that a patient has received DARZALEX. Type and screen patients prior to starting DARZALEX. Interference with Determination of Complete Response - Daratumumab is a human IgG kappa monoclonal antibody that can be detected on both, the serum protein electrophoresis (SPE) and immunofixation (IFE) assays used for the clinical monitoring of endogenous M-protein. This interference can impact the determination of complete response and of disease progression in some patients with IgG kappa myeloma protein. Adverse Reactions - The most frequently reported adverse reactions (incidence 20%) were: infusion reactions (48%), fatigue (39%), nausea (27%), back pain (23%), pyrexia (21%), cough (21%), and upper respiratory tract infection (20%). Serious adverse reactions were reported in 51 (33%) patients. The most frequent serious adverse reactions were pneumonia (6%), general physical health deterioration (3%), and pyrexia (3%). DRUG INTERACTIONS - No drug interaction studies have been performed About the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies At the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, we are working to create a world without disease. Transforming lives by finding new and better ways to prevent, intercept, treat and cure disease inspires us. We bring together the best minds and pursue the most promising science. We are Janssen. We collaborate with the world for the health of everyone in it. Learn more at www.janssen.com. Follow us at www.twitter.com/JanssenUS and www.twitter.com/JanssenGlobal. Cautions Concerning Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding product development and the potential benefits of daratumumab. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of future events. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the expectations and projections of Janssen Research & Development, LLC and/or Johnson & Johnson. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: challenges and uncertainties inherent in product research and development, including the uncertainty of clinical success and of obtaining regulatory approvals; uncertainty of commercial success; competition, including technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges to patents; manufacturing difficulties and delays; changes in behavior and spending patterns or financial distress of purchasers of health care products and services; changes to applicable laws and regulations, including global health care reforms; and trends toward health care cost containment. A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties and other factors can be found in Johnson & Johnson's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2016, including in Exhibit 99 thereto, and the company's subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of these filings are available online at www.sec.gov, www.jnj.com or on request from Johnson & Johnson. None of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies or Johnson & Johnson undertakes to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information or future events or developments. 1 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration. "Expedited Programs for Serious Conditions." Available at: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/UCM358301.pdf. Accessed July 2016. 2 American Cancer Society. "Multiple Myeloma Overview." Available at: http://www.cancer.org/cancer/multiplemyeloma/detailedguide/multiple-myeloma-what-is-multiple-myeloma. Accessed July 2016. 3 Kumar, SK et al. Leukemia. 2012 Jan; 26(1):149-57. 4 DARZALEX Prescribing Information, November 2015. 5 Lin P, Owens R, Tricot G, Wilson CS. Flow cytometric immunophenotypic analysis of 306 cases of multiple myeloma. Am J Clin Pathol. 2004;121:482488. doi: 10.1309/74R4TB90BUWH27JX. 6 Krejcik, J. et al. Immunomodulatory Effects and Adaptive Immune Response to Daratumumab in Multiple Myeloma. Available at: https://ash.confex.com/ash/2015/webprogram/Paper79122.html. Accessed July 2016. 7 American Cancer Society. "Multiple Myeloma Overview." Available at: http://www.cancer.org/cancer/multiplemyeloma/detailedguide/multiple-myeloma-what-is-multiple-myeloma. Accessed July 2016. 8 Kumar, SK et al. Leukemia. 2012 Jan; 26(1):149-57. 9 National Cancer Institute. "NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms: Refractory." Available at: http://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms?expand=R. Accessed July 2016. 10 Richardson, et al. "The Treatment of Relapsed and Refractory Multiple Myeloma." ASH Education Book January 1, 2007 vol. 2007 no. 1 317-323. 11 Becker N. Epidemiology of multiple myeloma. Recent results in cancer research. Fortschritte der Krebsforschung. Progres dans les recherches sur le cancer. 2011;183:25-35. 12 GLOBOCAN 2012: Estimated Cancer Incidence, Mortality and Prevalence Worldwide: Number of New Cancers in 2015. Available at: http://globocan.iarc.fr/old/burden.asp?selection_pop=224900&Text-p=World&selection_cancer=17270&Text-c=Multiple+myeloma&pYear=3&type=0&window=1&submit=%C2%A0Execute. Accessed July 2016. 13 GLOBOCAN 2012: Estimated Cancer Incidence, Mortality and Prevalence Worldwide: Number of Cancer Deaths in 2015. Available at: http://globocan.iarc.fr/old/burden.asp?selection_pop=224900&Text-p=World&selection_cancer=17270&Text-c=Multiple+myeloma&pYear=3&type=1&window=1&submit=%C2%A0Execute. Accessed July 2016. 14 American Cancer Society. "How is Multiple Myeloma Diagnosed?" Available at: http://www.cancer.org/cancer/multiplemyeloma/detailedguide/multiple-myeloma-diagnosis. Accessed July 2016. Media Inquiries: Kellie McLaughlin Phone: 1-908-927-7477 Mobile: 1-609-468-8356 Satu Kaarina Glawe Mobile: +49 172 294 6264 Megan Farina Phone: 1-215-325-6861 Investor Relations: Lesley Fishman Phone: 1-732-524-3922 U.S. Medical Inquiries: 1-800-526-7736 SOURCE Janssen Research & Development, LLC Related Links http://www.janssen.com SANTA CLARA, California, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Elastifile, the enterprise software-defined storage and elastic data services company, today announced it is building its global sales and marketing engine with two key appointments to its executive management team. Dan Beal has joined as Executive Vice President of Global Sales and Andy Fenselau has joined as Vice President of Marketing. Both bring proven experience in driving extraordinary growth and market leadership across a range of enterprise storage and software businesses. To support this new phase of the company's growth, the executive appointments are accompanied by an expansion to Elastifile's Silicon Valley office. With over 20 years of Sales leadership, Dan Beal joins Elastifile from Oracle where he was Group VP of the Infrastructure Cloud team and responsible for over $500M in contract bookings. Prior to Oracle, he helped drive the growth of Cleversafe from pre-revenue through global growth, eventually concluded by Cleversafe's acquisition by IBM. Dan also drove success in earlier roles at EMC, NetApp, and HDS. As EVP of Global Sales, Dan is building the direct and indirect sales organization to deliver Elastifile's customer success globally, including the initial teams in North America and Europe. "Looking at the trends across the industry, I am excited to join the team that is solving the toughest challenges for distributed global file systems, cloud-scale SDS, and hybrid cloud services," said Beal. Andy Fenselau brings 20 years of marketing success leading transformational enterprise solutions to #1 market positions across storage, databases, software and SaaS, including XtremIO, Delphix, and Veritas/Symantec. Most recently, Andy led all marketing for EMC XtremIO, enabling it to become the fastest growing product in Enterprise IT history, hitting $1 billion in sales in just over 18 months. At Elastifile, Andy leads market strategy and all marketing and sales enablement for its global ramp. "Elastifile is not only delivering the most compelling SDS solution, but it is addressing the final roadblock to seamless hybrid cloud data services and integrated application workflows," said Fenselau. "I'm thrilled to help bring this to our customers for unified data and workflow access for all their environments." Amir Aharoni, Elastifile's CEO and Co-Founder, said "We picked Dan and Andy because of their proven leadership, their experience delivering aggressive global customer and sales success, and their innovation in driving new markets and use cases - all essential for Elastifile's mission to bring customers truly elastic data services across their private, public, and hybrid clouds." About Elastifile Elastifile is redefining the way data is stored and managed, enabling seamless deployment of private and hybrid cloud solutions. With enterprises and service providers increasingly looking to support both on-premises and cloud infrastructure, Elastifile delivers a revolutionary software-defined storage solution that unifies these environments within the single global namespace of a global file/object system. The easy-to-manage and easy-to-deploy, elastic, scale-out architecture intelligently shares the resources across all environments, providing the optimal solution for enterprise data and related application services. Elastifile was founded in 2013 and is backed by seven market leaders from across the data center and storage industries, Battery Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Elastifile's founders and leadership team includes a powerful mix of experience across enterprise storage, virtualization, applications, and flash to help transform its customers' hybrid cloud workflows. Contacts Elastifile Yael Paz [email protected] +972-9-54-2520729 SOURCE Elastifile MOSCOW, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ElcomSoft Co. Ltd. updates Distributed Password Recovery with enhanced Mac OS X forensics, Amazon EC2 cloud support and double the speed of ZIP/RAR password recovery. The new release breaks passwords to OS X user accounts, encrypted DMG images and FileVault 2 volumes. "We're constantly working on extending our products with new data formats while improving performance for existing ones", says Vladimir Katalov, ElcomSoft CEO. "This time we are targeting Mac OS X, allowing experts to break into encrypted FileVault 2 volumes, accessing encrypted DMG files and recovering OS X account passwords. Coupled with a bunch of performance and architectural improvements, Elcomsoft Distributed Password Recovery becomes one the fastest and most comprehensive solutions on the market." Read an article "NVIDIA Pascal: a Great Password Cracking Tool" http://blog.elcomsoft.com/2016/07/nvidia-pascal-a-great-password-cracking-tool Read a complete press release: https://www.elcomsoft.com/PR/edpr_160726_en.pdf NVIDIA Pascal Architecture NVIDIA's latest GPU architecture code-named Pascal gives a significant performance boost compared to NVIDIA's past flagship. GTX 1080 boards are 1.5 to 2 times faster breaking passwords compared to GTX 980. Office 2013: 7100 passwords per second (GTX 1080) vs. 3800 passwords per second (GTX 980). https://www.elcomsoft.com/images/benchmarks/EDPR_23062016_2.png RAR 5: 25300 passwords per second (GTX 1080) vs. 13200 passwords per second (GTX 980). https://www.elcomsoft.com/images/benchmarks/EDPR_23062016_1.png Mac OS Forensics The new release attacks FileVault 2 and DMG passwords and breaks Mac OS X user passwords. FileVault 2 is unlockable with the user's account password. Elcomsoft Distributed Password Recovery delivers GPU-accelerated recovery for OS X passwords, enabling quick dictionary attacks along with accelerated brute force. ZIP and RAR Enhancements The improved algorithm doubles the speed of breaking ZIP and RAR passwords. Amazon EC2 Support Amazon EC2 support enables enterprise customers building high-performance clusters for attacking passwords in Amazon cloud as opposed to maintaining a dedicated data center. Amazon EC2 can easily scale to match even the most demanding requirements, and can be scaled back when not in use. Elcomsoft Distributed Password Recovery running in an Amazon cloud is a perfect solution for occasional password recovery tasks and one-off jobs. ElcomSoft Co. Ltd. Founded in 1990, ElcomSoft Co.Ltd. develops state-of-the-art computer forensics tools, provides computer forensics training and computer evidence consulting services. Since 1997, ElcomSoft has been providing support to businesses, law enforcement, military, and intelligence agencies. ElcomSoft tools are used by Fortune 500 corporations, multiple branches of the military, foreign governments, and all major accounting firms. SOURCE ELCOMSOFT Co. Ltd. NEW YORK, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Elton John AIDS Foundation, its founder Sir Elton John and Chairman David Furnish attended a series of sessions, site visits and private meetings during the course of the 21st International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, which ended on Friday. Their goal was to raise awareness of the continued need for funding and action in the fight against AIDS, to champion those most at risk of being left behind in the global response and to launch new initiatives that will provide HIV testing and treatment to thousands on the African continent. One such initiative is a new $10m LGBT Fund, in partnership with the Office of the Global Aids Coordinator and the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), to support LGBT communities in multiple African countries. Two organizations, The International HIV/AIDS Alliance (Alliance) and the Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) were announced at the conference as the inaugural recipients of the LGBT fund. Sir Elton John also joined Prince Harry for a special session focused on the needs of HIV-youth in Africa. Alliance, an organization that supports community groups in countries that are most affected by the global AIDS crisis and MSMGF, a non-profit that advocates for equitable access to HIV prevention, care, treatment, and support services for gay men, were the first organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa to receive grants to help address stigma, discrimination and violence against LGBT people, and to expand their access to HIV care and prevention. At the conference, EJAF also announced an initial start-up grant it will be providing to the International AIDS Society to launch its 'Me and My Healthcare Provider' campaign. This campaign celebrates doctors, nurses, and other frontline healthcare workers, who deliver quality, integrated HIV prevention, care, and treatment services to key populations, including gay men and transgender people, often in the face of discriminatory laws, traditions, and belief systems. "Supporting LGBT people in the US, the UK and internationally, has been at the heart and soul of our Foundation's mission from the very beginning," said David Furnish, Chairman of the Elton John AIDS Foundation. "By partnering with PEPFAR to award the inaugural LGBT Fund recipients, and by supporting the International AIDS Society's new 'Me and My Healthcare Provider' Campaign, we are building on that commitment and expanding this lifesaving work to places where it is needed most. Places where LGBT people are much more likely to be living with HIV and far less likely to receive the essential services they need to stay healthy and alive. We believe these global campaigns will bridge the gap between LGBT communities and their service providers, which is essential for ending AIDS." Sir Elton also participated in a special session with Prince Harry, where the two men discussed the harmful consequences of stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa, particularly among youth and adolescents. To achieve an AIDS-free world, both men stressed the need for education, access to testing and medical care, and support for young people worldwide. "Empowered young people, from all walks of life and all circumstances, have always urged us to push past the status quo and reach for a dream that is BIG and BOLD, " said Sir Elton John, Founder of the Elton John AIDS Foundation. "Fifteen years ago, when the International AIDS Conference was last held in Durban, 1,000 South Africans were dying of AIDS each day nearly 1 every minute. Today, HIV medicine costs as little as 3 rand 20 cents -- a day. The rate of new HIV infections here has been cut in half; almost all babies here are being born HIV free; and 3.5 million people here are now on treatment and living full and productive lives. That is some serious progress, and it's because young, new voices demanded that people everywhere have access to lifesaving treatments, not just those in living in rich countries. If we want HIV programs to work for young people, we can't tell them what to do or think, we need to nurture their voices. We need to listen to them and we need them to tell us what skills and services will help create the AIDS-free generation we all dream of." During their time in Durban, Sir Elton and EJAF Chairman David Furnish visited LGBT people, outreach workers, and staff at the Gateway clinic in Umlazi township alongside the South African health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi. Sir Elton and the Minister discussed the issue of providing pre-exposure prophylaxis medication or 'PrEP' to LGBT persons to protect them from acquiring HIV. The South African government has already approved the use of PrEP for sex workers another high risk group for HIV. The Gateway Clinic is one of over 100 clinics in South Africa whose staff have been trained to support LGBT clients under a grant from the Foundation to the NGO Anova. Over 1 million HIV tests will be given to LGBT clients during the course of the programme. Sir Elton and David also visited HIV-positive adolescents at KwaZulu-Natal Children's Hospital where he emphasized the importance of helping young people overcome their disease and stigma by expanding their access to treatment and care. Since 2013, EJAF has provided over $14.4 million in support for LGBT communities in Africa, Asia and Europe, and has invested $3.4 million to support its youth-based campaign "Young Survivors" in Harare (Zimbabwe), Kampala (Uganda), Kisumu (Kenya), Lusaka (Zambia) and Beira (Mozambique). Click here to watch an exclusive video of Elton and David in Durban. Since 1992, the Elton John AIDS Foundation has raised more than $350 million to combat stigma, prevent infections, provide treatment and services, and motivate governments to end AIDS. We believe AIDS can be beaten. Visit www.ejaf.org and join us! Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150909/265158LOGO SOURCE Elton John AIDS Foundation Related Links http://www.ejaf.org PLANO, Texas, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Epsilon, an Alliance Data (NYSE: ADS) company, today announced that it has been named agency of record for Del Monte Foods, one of the nation's largest producers, distributors and marketers of premium quality, branded food products, following a five-month competitive review process. Epsilon's Chicago-based team will spearhead marketing across traditional, digital and retail channels to increase product sales and drive operational efficiency for Del Monte brands including Del Monte and College Inn. Founded in 1886, Del Monte Foods' brands consistently hold majority or second place market share in fruit, vegetables, tomato and broth categories, collectively representing approximately $1.7 billion in annual sales. Privately-owned, the company is headquartered in Walnut Creek, California. Under the terms of the new agreement, Epsilon will develop an overarching multi-channel creative campaign and communications plan, which will be extended across College Inn products, Del Monte plastic Fruit Cup products and Del Monte vegetable products. Epsilon will also oversee traditional advertising, shopper marketing and digital marketing. "At Del Monte Foods, we are committed to delivering category-leading innovation and integrated marketing plans. Our deep understanding of consumer and shopper needs, married with Epsilon's unique ability to oversee strategy, creative, insights and execution will enable us to drive strong relationships with customers through high-quality marketing communications," said Jen Reiner, Senior Director, Marketing Activation & Shopper Marketing at Del Monte. "The competitive review process proved Epsilon and their agency leadership to be highly innovative, focused on driving positive outcomes for our business through a unique understanding of the consumer and personalized marketing execution." "Today's complex consumer-driven economy demands enterprise-level integration across all parts of the business, especially marketing communications," said Andy Frawley, chief executive officer at Epsilon. "We're excited to work closely with Del Monte Foods to develop a strategic and creative approach by leveraging insights that will drive strong consumer engagement across all touch points." About Del Monte Foods Del Monte Foods is one of the country's largest and most well-known producers, distributors and marketers of premium quality, branded food products for the U.S. retail market, generating approximately $1.7 billion in net sales in fiscal 2015. With a powerful portfolio of brands, Del Monte products are found in six out of ten U.S. households. Brands include Del Monte, Contadina, S&W, College Inn and other brand names. The Company also produces and distributes private label food products. For more information on Del Monte Foods, visit the Company's website at www.delmontefoods.com. About Epsilon Epsilon is a global leader in creating connections between people and brands. An all-encompassing global marketing company, we harness the power of rich data, groundbreaking technologies, engaging creative and transformative ideas to get the results our clients require. Recognized by Ad Age as the #1 World's Largest CRM/Direct Marketing Network, #1 Largest U.S. Agency from All Disciplines and #1 Largest U.S. Mobile Marketing Agency, Epsilon employs over 7,000 associates in 70 offices worldwide. Epsilon is an Alliance Data company. For more information, visit www.epsilon.com, follow us on Twitter @EpsilonMktg or call 1.800.309.0505. About Alliance Data Alliance Data (NYSE: ADS) is a leading global provider of data-driven marketing and loyalty solutions serving large, consumer-based industries. The Company creates and deploys customized solutions, enhancing the critical customer marketing experience; the result is measurably changing consumer behavior while driving business growth and profitability for some of today's most recognizable brands. Alliance Data helps its clients create and increase customer loyalty through solutions that engage millions of customers each day across multiple touch points using traditional, digital, mobile and emerging technologies. An S&P 500 and Fortune 500 company headquartered in Plano, Texas, Alliance Data consists of three businesses that together employ more than 16,000 associates at approximately 100 locations worldwide. Alliance Data's Card Services business is a leading provider of marketing-driven branded credit card programs. Epsilon is a leading provider of multichannel, data-driven technologies and marketing services, and also includes Conversant, a leader in personalized digital marketing. LoyaltyOne owns and operates the AIR MILES Reward Program, Canada's premier coalition loyalty program, and Netherlands-based BrandLoyalty, a global provider of tailor-made loyalty programs for grocers. Follow Alliance Data on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. Forward Looking Statements This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements give our expectations or forecasts of future events and can generally be identified by the use of words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "project," "plan," "likely," "may," "should" or other words or phrases of similar import. Similarly, statements that describe our business strategy, outlook, objectives, plans, intentions or goals also are forward-looking statements. We believe that our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions. Forward-looking statements, however, are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the projections, anticipated results or other expectations expressed in this release, and no assurances can be given that our expectations will prove to have been correct. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, factors set forth in the Risk Factors section in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year, which may be updated in Item 1A of, or elsewhere in, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed for periods subsequent to such Form 10-K. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and we undertake no obligation, other than as required by applicable law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, subsequent events, anticipated or unanticipated circumstances or otherwise. Contact: Alliance Data Epsilon Tiffany Louder Investor Relations Jessica Nable Media Alliance Data 917- 270-3293 214.494.3048 [email protected] [email protected] Steve Calk FTI Consulting 212-850-5611 [email protected] Shelley Whiddon Media 214.494.3811 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20051024/ADSLOGO SOURCE Alliance Data Systems Corporation Related Links http://www.alliancedata.com WOODLAND HILLS, Calif., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Farmers Insurance, one of the nation's largest insurer groups, announced changes designed to provide new opportunities for several senior leaders to continue advancing the group's customer-centered, agent-powered strategy. Tim Madden, current president of Bristol West, will take on a new role as personal lines chief product officer for Farmers, where his 40 years of industry experience will serve as a strong foundation as he continues to innovate and drive initiatives to maintain profitable growth and raise customer retention. In his new role, Madden will report to Roy Smith, president of personal lines at Farmers. Sharon Fernandez, head of service operations for Farmers, will step into Madden's role as president of Bristol West. Fernandez has been with Farmers for eight years, building on her previous 20 years of insurance and financial services experience. In her new role, she will leverage her experience delivering improved customer experience and efficiency through continuous improvement for the Bristol West enterprise to further the brand's efforts in this area. Fernandez will report to Steve Boshoven, president of the Foremost brand. Chanda Sperry, leader of the service operations strategy team, will use her 10 years as an outstanding service operations leader to offer new insight as she assumes the role of head of service operations for Farmers, replacing Fernandez. Sperry's commitment to customer satisfaction will help her drive continued success in leading customer experience enhancements at Farmers. She will report to David Travers, chief operating officer for Farmers. About Farmers Insurance "Farmers Insurance" and "Farmers" are tradenames for a group of affiliated insurers providing insurance for automobiles, homes and small businesses and a wide range of other insurance and financial services products. Farmers Insurance is proud to serve more than 10 million households with over 19 million individual policies, across all 50 states, through the efforts of more than 48,000 exclusive and independent agents and approximately 21,000 employees. Farmers Insurance Exchange, the largest of the three primary insurance insurers that make up Farmers Insurance, is recognized as one of the largest U.S. companies on the 2016 Fortune 500 list. For more information about Farmers Insurance, visit Farmers.com, Twitter and Instagram, @WeAreFarmers, or Facebook.com/FarmersInsurance. Contact: Farmers Media Relations 818-965-0007 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130731/LA56061LOGO SOURCE Farmers Insurance Related Links http://www.farmersinsurance.com SEATTLE, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Fexy Media today announced that comScore's Media Metrix June 2016 report now ranks its sites in the top 10 Lifestyle-Food media properties in terms of audience. Fexy Media reaches an audience of 11 million monthly visitors through the company's flagship brandsSerious Eats, Simply Recipes, Roadfood and Relish. "Fexy is committed to supporting the industry's most creative and authentic digital food talent and programmers, with the results producing a large and growing audience," says Cliff Sharples, co-CEO of Fexy Media. "We are eager to collaborate with innovative brands that desire a meaningful connection with our readers and viewers." Fexy Media has made six acquisitions since Lisa and Cliff Sharples, and their co-founder Ben Sternberg, founded the company in 2014. The company's expanding portfolio of brands delivers digital programming around eating, cooking, discovering and exploring for a food-obsessed culture. Central to Fexy's strategy is assembling a team of tastemakers and food experts that drive personal connections for the brands they are building. Those experts are helping drive a primarily millennial audience, to the personalities, digital properties and content Fexy develops. Serious Eats was founded by, Ed Levine, who is a 2016 James Beard Foundation Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America Inductee. In addition, the site has received two James Beard Awards, being recognized as the gold standard for online journalism by the prestigious culinary not-for-profit. The company's Managing Culinary Director, Kenji Lopez-Alt, has also contributed significantly to the site's success and recognition in the food community. In 2016, he received the James Beard Award for General Cooking and published his first cookbook, The Food Lab: Better Cooking Through Science . The cookbook is a New York Times best-seller, winner of the 2016 IACP Cookbook of the Year Award and Amazon's Cookbook of the Year. Simply Recipes, was founded by Elise Bauer, who has won numerous awards over the more than 10-year history of the site. She is also celebrated as one of the most successful independent food bloggers in the business, and is a frequent speaker at food blogging conferences. Bauer started Simply Recipes in 2003, after having spent more than 15 years in Silicon Valley, as a strategy and marketing consultant and Internet startup executive. Under her guidance, Simply Recipes grew to become one of the most respected food blogs in the country and is now the number one cooking blog for women ages 25 to 49. Bauer is a founding officer of the Sacramento California chapter of Les Dames d' Escoffier International, a philanthropic society of women culinary professionals, and a founding board member of the Food Literacy Center, a non-profit delivering after school food education programs to elementary school children. Bauer holds a B.S., M.B.A, and Masters in Food Research from Stanford University. Roadfood is celebrating its 40th year of delivering the best food experiences that typify regional culture through local dishes. Jane and Michael Stern are the recipients of five James Beard Awards, have appeared in almost every major food and lifestyle magazine, and are the pioneers of the food travel phenomenon that is gaining so much momentum today. Recently, Jane and Michael have been featured in TIME , Outside Magazine, O, The Oprah Magazine, PopSugar, Parade and The Paris Review. They tour the United States sampling American cuisine, speaking at events and hosting meet-ups. In addition to launching a mobile-first Roadfood experience at Roadfood.com, the 10th Edition of Roadfood will hit stores in Spring 2017. About Fexy Media Fexy Media was founded in Mercer Island, Washington in 2014 by digital media veterans Cliff and Lisa Sharples and investment professional, Ben Sternberg with private equity backing by Tritium Partners. Fexy Media includes a brand portfolio focused on digital experiences for millennials spanning today's food culture, including recipes, cooking how-to resources, travel experiences and restaurant discoveries, with over 10 million monthly unique visitors. Fexy Media includes Fexy BrandsSimply Recipes, Serious Eats, The Food Lab, Roadfood, and Relish; Fexy Studiosa digital video production studio focused on creating and distributing expert-driven content; and Fexy Labsoffering proprietary technology, marketing analytics, industry-leading insights and measurement solutions for Fexy's brands and advertising partners. For additional information on Fexy Media, visit: http://www.fexy.com/ SOURCE Fexy Media Related Links http://www.fexy.com Finn Partners operates as an extension of the marketing and communications teams for both Appthority, the global leader in enterprise mobile threat protection, and LogRhythm, the security intelligence company, whose unified platform enables the rapid detection, response and neutralization of advanced cyberthreats. Finn Partners' efforts include a broad range of media relations and thought leadership initiatives including messaging development and enhancement, corporate and product PR, content development and social media support. As one of the fastest growing PR agencies in the cybersecurity space, supported by a top-tier team with deep domain expertise across security disciplines, Finn Partners specializes in educating audiences on global cybersecurity challenges and their impact on nations, economies and businesses worldwide. Specific services span public affairs, social trending and analysis, research, executive counsel, traditional media relations and thought leadership, and well beyond. As a result of its expertise and momentum in the cybersecurity sector, Finn Partners will host an exclusive networking event featuring executives from across its roster of security clients on Monday, July 25 at the agency's new San Francisco office at 101 Montgomery Street. As cybersecurity continues to make headlines, leading tech security executives will share their insights on the key business, consumer and national security issues facing businesses and consumers every day. Participants will include: Domingo Guerra , Appthority , Appthority Chris Webber , Centrify , Centrify Andy Grolnick , LogRhythm , LogRhythm Dwayne Hall , Opaque Communications , Opaque Communications Ray Rothrock , RedSeal Finn Partners' U.S. security business is led by Jeff Seedman, partner, San Francisco while its European team is led by Claire Ayles, managing partner, Technology, Europe. Global oversight is provided by Finn Partners' Technology practice leader, Sabrina Horn. "Security has become a key focal area for Finn Partners in San Francisco and beyond, and represents one of the fastest growing sectors for our technology practice," said Seedman. "Security has also become such a critical area of focus in the boardroom, at the C-level and across organizational disciplines. The San Francisco Bay Area is a global hotbed for security technology innovation and we're proud to be working with such a great roster of clients." Finn Partners has helped a wide range of cybersecurity companies educate their audiences on the importance of rethinking broken security models; taking a cohesive, multi-faceted approach to guarding assets and identities; and mastering pre- and post-response techniques to optimize business resilience. The firm has a long history in the security sector and has also represented other clients such as Absolute Software, AVG, BitDefender, FireEye, Norse Corp, PGP Corporation, Sophos and WhiteHat About #FPTech Finn Partners, now including Horn Group in the U.S. and Johnson King in Europe, is changing the technology communications landscape with its integrated campaigns, deep tech expertise, relationships, and service approach to help clients achieve their business goals. Finn Partners Technology works with both emerging and established market-leading companies in cybersecurity and mobile, IoT and consumer tech, healthtech and edtech, and enterprise cloud applications like analytics, marketing, supply chain and HR. About Finn Partners, Inc. Finn Partners was launched in late 2011 to realize Peter Finn's vision to create a leading communications agency dedicated to shaping a bold new future in which innovation and partnership are strong brand drivers. Finn Partners specializes in the full spectrum of public and corporate affairs services, including digital and social media. Practice areas include arts, consumer, CSR, education, health, technology and travel & lifestyle. Since inception four years ago, Finn Partners has received six agency awards that are indicators of client and cultural leadership: "Best Midsize Agency" in 2015, "Best Agency to Work For" in 2013 and "Best New Agency" in 2012 from the Holmes Report and "Midsize PR Firm of the Year" in 2015 and "Top Places to Work in PR" in 2013 from PR News. Headquartered in New York City, the company has approximately 500 employees, with offices in Chicago, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Jerusalem, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Nashville, Paris, San Francisco and Washington D.C., and offers international capabilities through its own global network and PROI Worldwide. Find us at www.finnpartners.com and follow us on Twitter @finnpartners. Contact: [email protected] 212.715.1600 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140723/130030 SOURCE Finn Partners The Park City, Utah-based company is a long-standing family-owned business with a strong record of success and innovation tracing its roots back to 1982, when current CEO and Co-founder Joel Clark sold his family's recipe in brown paper lunch sacks, with handwritten instructions by his mom, out of his red wagon to neighbors. The brand appeared on ABC's Shark Tank two years ago and turned down offers to continue building the business on their own. Since appearing on Shark Tank the brand has subsequently grown sales by over ten times. Kodiak Cakes uses 100% whole grains and infuses protein into the mixes, transforming a once indulgent meal into a healthy one while also satisfying increased consumer demand for higher protein, better-for-you alternatives to traditional foods. "Kodiak Cakes has been a family-run business for over 20 years. We feel well positioned to capitalize on increasing consumer demand for high-protein meals, and feel that Sunrise's deep strategic experience in scaling businesses will be crucial in this next phase of growth for the brand," said Joel Clark, CEO & Co-Founder of Kodiak Cakes. "Our great tasting, high-protein product makes Kodiak Cakes truly revolutionary in the category. I'm looking forward to leveraging the Sunrise team to continue to develop the momentum we are seeing at Kodiak Cakes." "Kodiak Cakes is an award winning and unique product that delivers protein to categories that are struggling to appeal to millennial consumers. The high-protein benefit resonates strongly with the younger consumers that these categories are working to attract," said Steve Hughes, CEO and Co-Founder of Sunrise Strategic Partners. "Kodiak Cakes is one that Shark Tank let get away. The Sunrise Team is excited to lean in with Joel and his team to help Kodiak Cakes reach its full potential engaging young consumers as a multi-category brand." The investment from Sunrise will enable Kodiak Cakes to accelerate growth by increasing distribution to new channels, supporting innovation and expanding the Kodiak Cakes team. This marks the fourth investment for Sunrise, an investment vehicle that provides growth capital and expertise to early stage health and wellness brands to support their development, add strategic value and share guidance on tactical priorities. About Kodiak Cakes Kodiak Cakes is a producer of premium, better-for-you, breakfast items including high-protein pancake/waffle mixes, flapjack/muffin cups, and syrups. Based in Park City, Utah, Kodiak Cakes has been selling 100% whole grains and high-protein mixes dating back to 1995. For more information on Kodiak Cakes, visit www.kodiakcakes.com. About Sunrise Strategic Partners Sunrise Strategic Partners, LLC ("Sunrise"), based in Boulder, Colorado, provides growth capital and expertise to emerging brands in the healthy, active and sustainable living space that resonate with millennials, have a strong proof of concept and have reached approximately $10-$20 million in revenue. The Sunrise team is deeply experienced in scaling brands and supports these investments by adding strategic value and guidance on tactical priorities. Sunrise Strategic Partners was founded by Steve Hughes, founder of Boulder Brands, in partnership with Trilantic North America, a leading private equity firm. For more information, visit www.sunrisestrategicpartners.com About Trilantic North America Trilantic Capital Management L.P. ("Trilantic North America") is a private equity firm focused on control and significant minority investments in North America. Trilantic North America's primary investment focus is in the business services, consumer, energy and financial services sectors. Trilantic North America currently manages four private equity fund families with aggregate capital commitments of $5.9 billion. For more information, visit www.trilantic.com. Logo- http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160328/348635LOGO Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392851LOGO SOURCE Sunrise Strategic Partners Related Links http://www.sunrisestrategicpartners.com SAN DIEGO, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Service Strategies Corp., a leading provider of service improvement programs, today announced that Fresenius Kabi, a global healthcare company that specializes in lifesaving medicines and technologies for infusion, transfusion and clinical nutrition, has achieved certification under the prestigious Service Capability & Performance (SCP) Standards for the eighth consecutive year. "Fresenius Kabi continues to demonstrate a strong commitment to service excellence," said Greg Coleman, vice president of strategic programs for Service Strategies. "The strong quality management and service delivery processes in place within the Field Services & Support organization represent best practice and are a key to ensuring that customers can realize maximum value from their investment in Fresenius Kabi products." The SCP Standards quantify service effectiveness based upon a stringent set of performance criteria and represent the best practices in the industry. The SCP Standards represent the benchmark of service excellence and are used by leading technology companies around the world. "Retaining our certification again this year by meeting the extensive requirements set forth by SCP is an honor and reflects the commitment by all Fresenius Kabi employees to deliver service excellence for our customers in everything we do," said Ryan Snellings, vice president, Field Services & Support at Fresenius Kabi USA. "We are grateful for the opportunity to support our customers in their lifesaving work. Their continuous feedback makes us better." The SCP Standards are designed to improve the quality and effectiveness of technology service operations. Service Strategies Corp. and a consortium of leading technology companies created the internationally recognized standards, which define best practices for delivering worldclass service and support, quantify performance levels and establish a framework for continuous improvement. Certified companies must continue to demonstrate their commitment to excellence through annual certification audits. About Fresenius Kabi Fresenius Kabi (www.fresenius-kabi.us) is a global health care company that specializes in medicines and technologies for infusion, transfusion and clinical nutrition. The company's products and services are used to help care for critically and chronically ill patients. The company's U.S. headquarters is in Lake Zurich, Illinois. The company's global headquarters is in Bad Homburg, Germany. About Service Strategies Corporation Service Strategies advances service excellence by helping companies deliver the highest quality service and support to their clients. The world's leading service providers have adopted Service Strategies' Service Capability & Performance (SCP) Standards as their roadmap to service excellence and benchmark measure of success. In addition, thousands of service professionals around the world have enhanced their skills through participation in the company's training and certification courses, while its strategic advisory and consulting services are helping service organizations optimize business operations and achieve substantial performance gains. For more information visit www.servicestrategies.com or email [email protected]. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150310/180786LOGO SOURCE Service Strategies Corporation Related Links http://www.servicestrategies.com PITTSBURGH, July 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Geospatial Corporation (OTCIQ Symbol "GSPH") announces the long awaited passage of the PIPES ACT of 2016. The bill, recently signed into law by President Obama, empowers the Pipeline Hazardous Material Safety Administration ("PHMSA") to require various certifications, data management, testing and mapping of all types of the more than 3 million miles of buried energy pipelines across the USA. "Geospatial is perfectly positioned to benefit from the new PHMSA regulations," said Mark Smith, Chairman and CEO of Geospatial Corporation. "The Oil and Gas markets are a major part of our current and future business and recently we have clients giving serious attention to accuracy and completeness of their asset mapping in anticipation of the new regulations. The PIPES ACT impacts all segments of the industry, including gathering systems, transmission and distributions systems." As a Google Maps Technology Partner, Geospatial is uniquely positioned to provide management capabilities, technology, software and data management processes to owners of critical underground infrastructure located across the USA in compliance with this important piece of legislation. About Geospatial Corporation Geospatial Corporation utilizes integrated technologies to determine the accurate location and position of underground pipelines, conduits and other underground infrastructure data allowing Geospatial to create accurate three-dimensional (3D) digital maps and models of underground infrastructure. Our website is www.GeospatialCorporation.com. The Company manages this critical infrastructure data on its cloud-based GIS portal called GeoUnderground, our proprietary GIS platform custom designed around the Google Maps API. About GeoUnderground GeoUnderground, designed around the Google Maps API, is Geospatial's cloud-based GIS platform that provides clients with a total solution to their underground and aboveground asset management needs. (www.GeoUnderground.com). Please feel free to download a free trial from this website. Geospatial is a Google Maps Technology Partner Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1993 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and is subject to the safe harbor created by those laws. These forward-looking statements, if any, are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that are subject to significant uncertainties that involve known and unknown risks, many of which are beyond our control and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual outcomes and results could materially differ from what is expressed, implied, or forecasted in any such forward-looking statements and any such difference may be caused by risk factors listed from time to time in the Company's news releases and/or its filings or as a result of other factors. SOURCE Geospatial Corporation Related Links http://www.GeospatialCorporation.com NEW YORK, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Goldman Sachs and Tim Leissner, the former Goldman Sachs Managing Director at the center of the 1MDB scandal, have been sued by a shareholder of a former Goldman Sachs client for alleged fraudulent misrepresentations and breaches of fiduciary duties. According to a lawsuit filed in New York State court today, Goldman Sachs and Leissner "fraudulently induced the Board of EON Capital (the seventh largest domestic bank in Malaysia) to retain it as financial advisor in connection with a takeover bid by Hong Leong Bank, another Malaysian Bank," by concealing "its close relationship and incentive to curry favor with the Prime Minister of Malaysia, who, in turn, had close family and business ties with HLB and others with an interest in the success of HLB's bid for EON Capital." The lawsuit alleges that the Malaysian Prime Minister's personal ties to HLB included the fact that one of his brothers served on the Board of Directors of HLB and another of his brothers was the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of CIMB, the investment firm advising HLB on its offer to acquire EON Capital. According to the lawsuit, Goldman Sachs was the key advisor to the 1MDB, the Malaysian-government investment fund established by the Prime Minister, "before, during and after the time it acted as advisor to the Board of EON Capital," and Goldman Sachs used the engagement with EON Capital to "secretly curry favor with the Prime Minister by using the [EON Capital] Board's confidential information to conspire with and position HLB to submit a successful bid to acquire EON Capital, which Goldman Sachs convinced the Board was fair, even though Goldman Sachs knew that the bid in fact was well below the fair intrinsic value of the Company." The lawsuit alleges that "Goldman Sachs's egregious misconduct here apparently was part of a broad pattern of corruptly winning favor with the Prime Minister in order to further Goldman Sachs's business opportunities in Malaysia." The lawsuit alleges that Goldman Sachs initially advised the EON Capital Board that the HLB takeover bid was "unfair and below the fundamental value of EON Capital" but reversed course just weeks later, providing the Board with "a new, much lower valuation and advis[ing] the EON Capital Board that the HLB offer was fair." As a result, the price at which HLB acquired EON Capital was hundreds of millions of dollars below fair value, the lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit was brought by Primus Pacific Partners, a private equity firm that was the single largest shareholder of EON, with a 20% stake. According to the lawsuit, "Primus became aware of Goldman Sachs's fraud only in March 2016 from press reports that revealed previously unknown business and personal relationships and extensive dealings between Leissner, on behalf of Goldman Sachs, and the Prime Minister" in connection with the 1MDB scandal. The lawsuit, filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York in the County of New York, says Goldman Sachs' misconduct cost Primus $170 million. Primus is seeking to recover the $170 million as well as $340 million in punitive damages. SOURCE Primus Pacific Partners DETROIT, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In a flurry of activity led off by the historic action of the State of Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget (DTMB), quickly followed by Met Life, Delphi and the bases clearing announcement of Kroger naming the National Veteran Business Development Council (NVBDC) as the accepted certification body for our fellow Service Disabled and Veteran owned businesses (SD/VOBs), it has been a great month for Veteran business owners. DTMB is the primary purchasing arm of the State of Michigan. "We want to encourage the veteran community to compete for state contracts. In an effort to assist veteran businesses competing for government contracts, the Department of Technology, Management and Budget will now accept the National Veterans Business Development Council (NVBDC) certification when determining eligibility for the state's service-disabled veteran-owned business pricing preference," said DTMB Director David Behen. MetLife is a leading global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs with over 145 years of integrity, social responsibility and financial leadership. MetLife was founded with a mission to support Civil War soldiers and sailors, and maintains their long-standing support of the military community to this day. MetLife understands the value that veterans can bring to their supply chain, honoring the discipline, ability to lead, and passion for service of those who have served or continue to serve their country. "We welcome MetLife to our growing list of corporations that accept our certification and want to work with Veteran Owned Businesses," said Keith King, President of the NVBDC. Delphi Automotive is one of the world's largest automotive parts manufacturers. As a global company, transcending race, culture, ethnicity, sex and age demographics is important to their business. With a complexity of people around the world that Delphi both employs and serves, diversity is one of their strongest core values. From a supplier perspective, Delphi is committed to purchasing 5 percent of their United States contracts from Minority Business Enterprises (MBE) and Women Business Enterprises (WBE). "We are looking forward to Delphi adding Veteran Businesses to their purchasing considerations and truly appreciate their support of the NVBDC," said King. Kroger completed the grand slam by naming the NVBDC as one of the accepted certification bodies for Service Disabled and Veteran Owned Businesses (SD/VOBs). "The Kroger Co. is pleased to support the National Veteran Business Development Councils (NVBDC) efforts to certify Veteran and Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses. We are proud to be a part of this necessary certification of Veteran business owners who have served our country with honor, through their military service," said Denise Thomas, Director, Corporate Supplier Diversity. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151012/276254LOGO SOURCE National Veteran Business Development Council CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hellas Direct, one of the fastest growing car insurance companies in Greece, and Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT), a leading global telematics technology and service provider, launched a new mobile app and first-of-its-kind driving competition in Greece. The app is available to all WIND mobile customers in Greece, and the top rated drivers can win prizes including a VIP trip for four to the F1 Grand Prix in Monaco. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392539 The WIND Driving Challenge app runs in the background, automatically measuring driving data including speed, acceleration, hard turning, harsh braking, and phone distraction while driving. At the end of each trip, users can view their driving habits, including a one to five-star trip rating, a map of their route, and an overall driving score. Interactive leaderboards and achievements in the app show users their ranking among other drivers in Greece. Drivers can also invite friends and family to compete and use the app. According to the Global Status Report on Road Safety assembled by the World Health Organization in 2015, over 1.25 million people die from traffic-related accidents each year, with millions more sustaining serious injuries. In Greece alone, there are an estimated 9.1 road traffic fatalities for every 100,000 people annually. Because of this major issue, improving driver safety is a primary goal for both organizations. "We continuously strive to offer services and products to our customers that will assist them in being better drivers," said Alexis Pantazis, Executive Director of Hellas Direct. "Partnering with Cambridge Mobile Telematics brings us closer to achieving this goal by equipping our customers with the latest technologies to increase their safety while driving." Cambridge Mobile Telematics has developed several behavior-based technology solutions for major insurance providers across the world. "Our vision at Cambridge Mobile Telematics is to make driving a safer experience for everyone," said Hari Balakrishnan, Chief Technology Officer of Cambridge Mobile Telematics. "Building on our successes with similar programs in other countries, the WIND Driving Challenge competition puts our technological advances in mobile sensing, machine learning, and behavioral science directly in the hands of drivers and encourages substantial improvement through awareness and incentives." About Hellas Direct Since 2012, Hellas Direct has been one of the fastest growing car insurance companies in Greece, leading the way with high service standards, state of the art innovation, and great products and prices. Hellas Direct is changing the way car insurance companies service their clients believing the Greek consumer deserves a better customer experience and fairer insurance. Hellas Direct specializes in car insurance, selling products directly via the web and over the phone. For more information, please visit hellasdirect.gr. About Cambridge Mobile Telematics Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) makes roads and drivers safer around the world. CMT's patented intellectual property and technologies, highlighted in its flagship DriveWell offerings, are embedded in multiple popular mobile applications. DriveWell, a smartphone application, and DriveWell Plus, an App+Tag solution, are triggering big improvements in driving behavior and changing the global insurance market. For more information, please visit cmtelematics.com and follow on Twitter @cmtelematics. Media Contact: Cambridge Mobile Telematics James Penswick +1 508 274 9820 [email protected] Media Contact: Hellas Direct Marilaura Cambanis +30 212 2229995 [email protected] This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com. SOURCE Cambridge Mobile Telematics Related Links http://cmtelematics.com ESTERO, Fla., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Rick Frecker has been appointed executive vice president and general counsel for Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: HTZ). Frecker has served as the company's acting general counsel since April. "Rick has performed exceptionally throughout his eight years with the company and is held in high regard throughout our organization," said John Tague, Hertz Global Holdings president and chief executive officer. "Heading our general counsel office over the past several months, Rick has proven himself extremely capable, leading complex transactions, such as the separation of our equipment rental business, while also providing valued counsel to the senior leadership team. I am very pleased to see Rick take this next step at Hertz Global Holdings." Frecker, who joined the company in 2008, previously served as vice president and deputy general counsel. In that role, he was responsible for all corporate securities matters and served as head legal counsel on Treasury and Corporate Development activities together with responsibility for corporate compliance. Additionally, he has had responsibility for legal activities related to the company's franchise agreements. Frecker received his legal degree from the Fordham University School of Law and a bachelor's degree in business administration from Western Michigan University. About Hertz Global Hertz Global operates the Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty car rental brands in approximately 10,000 corporate and franchisee locations throughout North America, Europe, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Hertz Global is one of the largest worldwide airport general use car rental companies, and the Hertz brand is one of the most recognized in the world. Product and service initiatives such as Hertz Gold Plus Rewards, NeverLost, Carfirmations, Mobile Wi-Fi and unique vehicles offered through the Adrenaline, Dream, Green and Prestige Collections set Hertz Global apart from the competition. Additionally, Hertz Global owns the vehicle leasing and fleet management leader Donlen Corporation, operates the Hertz 24/7 hourly car rental business in international markets and sells vehicles through its Rent2Buy program. For more information about Hertz Global, visit: www.hertz.com. SOURCE Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. Related Links http://www.hertz.com CHERRY HILL, N.J., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- New research from TD Bank reveals that millennials are more conservative with their money than their youth would suggest. In fact, nearly two-thirds are saving cash in order to buy their first home. Nearly three-quarters of millennials (74 percent) say that saving for a down payment still represents the most significant hurdle to achieving the American dream, according to TD Bank's second annual First-Time Home Buyer Pulse, which polled more than 1,000 Americans looking to purchase a first home within the next five years. "It's encouraging to see millennials thoughtfully prepare to enter the housing market," said Scott Haymore, Head of Pricing and Secondary Markets at TD Bank. "With today's affordability programs, owning a home doesn't have to be a dream, it can be a reality." Millennials have their Home Buying Priorities Straight The top three priorities for millennials before purchasing a home include saving for a down payment, paying off debt and having a steady job One-fifth of millennials (19 percent) plan to supplement their savings for a home with financial assistance from friends and family, and 65 percent plan to have a spouse or partner as a co-signer Millennials want to pay off their mortgages quickly, with one-third (33 percent) planning to pay off their loan over a 15-year period Move-in ready homes continue to be the most popular choice for busy millennial home buyers (78 percent) The top three features millennials seek in a home include attractive design, a nice backyard or pool and proximity to schools or childcare Low Mortgages Rates Triumph over Monthly Budgets Among all respondents polled, 77 percent cited mortgage rates as the most important factor when purchasing a home Seventeen percent of first-time buyers have not set aside money for unexpected repairs and costs, which is probably why nearly half (44 percent) of millennials incurred up to $5,000 in unexpected costs during the mortgage process (according to TD's recent Mortgage Service Index Survey). "The costs of running a household can be a shock to new home owners," Haymore said. "Monthly expenses for utilities, homeowner's association fees, cable and internet, can add up quickly. Factoring these in at the beginning of the mortgage process can help borrowers assess their overall budget and determine a realistic monthly mortgage payment." Clearing the Down Payment Hurdle Sixty-five percent of all consumers indicated that saving for a down payment is delaying their first home purchase More Americans (one-third) are putting less than 20 percent down on a home; the percent was even higher among millennials (35 percent) Thirty-seven percent of first-time buyers will take advantage of mortgage affordability programs "For many consumers, a 20 percent down payment is a major barrier to homeownership," Haymore said. "It's often difficult to save this much cash, especially for young adults saddled with substantial student loan debt. First-time buyers are shopping for low-down payment mortgage programs, which allow buyers to put as little as 3 percent down." Additional highlights from TD Bank's second annual First-Time Homebuyer Pulse are available at https://mediaroom.tdbank.com/homebuyerpulse2016. Survey Methodology This study was conducted from June 21 June 26, 2016 among a nationally representative group of consumers who are not currently homeowners and are considering purchasing a home in the next five years. The sample size of 1,002 has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent. Data has been weighted by age and gender to reflect the populations. The survey was hosted by research company MARU/VCR&C. About MARU MARU/VCR&C, formerly the Research & Consulting division of Vision Critical, is a professional services firm dedicated to improving its client's business outcomes. We deliver our services through teams of sector-specific research consultants that have technology in their DNA, specializing in the use of Insight Community and Voice of Market technology. Our research drives decision making across all aspects of customer experience, including innovation, product, branding, commercialization and communications. About TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is one of the 10 largest banks in the U.S., providing more than 8 million customers with a full range of retail, small business and commercial banking products and services at more than 1,200 convenient locations throughout the Northeast, MidAtlantic, Metro D.C., the Carolinas and Florida. In addition, TD Bank and its subsidiaries offer customized private banking and wealth management services through TD Wealth, and vehicle financing and dealer commercial services through TD Auto Finance. TD Bank is headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J. To learn more, visit www.tdbank.com. Find TD Bank on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TDBank and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TDBank_US. TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is a member of TD Bank Group and a subsidiary of The Toronto-Dominion Bank of Toronto, Canada, a top 10 financial services company in North America. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges under the ticker symbol "TD". To learn more, visit www.td.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131120/MM21057LOGO SOURCE TD Bank Related Links http://www.TDBank.com OAK BROOK, Ill., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hub Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HUBG) today announced financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2016. Hub Group reported net income of $20.7 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2016 compared to $18.5 million in the second quarter of 2015. Hub Group's diluted earnings per share was $0.61 for the quarter. Earnings per share increased 20% when compared with the prior year period. Hub Group's revenue decreased 5% to $856 million due primarily to lower fuel revenue. The Hub segment's revenue decreased 6% to $649 million due primarily to a decrease in fuel revenue. Second quarter intermodal revenue decreased 6% to $438 million. Intermodal volume decreased 2%. Truck brokerage revenue decreased 11% to $83 million this quarter. Second quarter Unyson Logistics revenue decreased 1% to $127 million. The Hub segment's operating income was $27.2 million, an increase of 24% compared to the prior year period. The Mode segment's revenue decreased 1% to $232 million. Operating income was $7.1 million compared to $7.5 million in the prior year period. Hub Group ended the quarter with $164 million in cash. CONFERENCE CALL Hub Group will hold a conference call at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 to discuss its second quarter results. Hosting the conference call will be Dave Yeager, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Also participating on the call will be Don Maltby, President and Chief Operating Officer, and Terri Pizzuto, Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer. This call is being webcast and can be accessed through the Investors link on Hub Group's Web site at www.hubgroup.com. The webcast is listen-only. Those interested in participating in the question and answer session should follow the telephone dial-in instructions below. To participate in the conference call by telephone, please register at http://www.yourconferencecenter.com/r.aspx?p=1&a=UVdYOgtaldUyqs. Registrants will be issued a passcode and PIN to use when dialing into the live call which will provide quickest access to the conference. You may register at any time, including up to and after the call start time. On the day of the call, dial (888) 771-4384 approximately ten minutes prior to the scheduled call time; enter the participant passcode and PIN received during registration. The call will be limited to 60 minutes, including questions and answers. An audio replay will be available through the Investors link on the Company's Web site at www.hubgroup.com. This replay will be available for 30 days. ABOUT HUB GROUP: Hub Group, Inc. is a transportation management company that provides multi-modal solutions throughout North America, including intermodal, truck brokerage and logistics services. As a publicly traded company with over $3.5 billion in revenue, Hub Group's organization of over 2,500 employees delivers innovative, customer-focused solutions and industry leading service to help customers better control supply chains and their costs. For more information, visit www.hubgroup.com. CERTAIN FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: Statements in this press release that are not historical, including statements about Hub Group's or management's intentions, beliefs, expectations, representations, projections, plans or predictions of the future, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and subject to risks. Such statements should be viewed with caution. Actual results or experience could differ materially from the forward-looking statements as a result of many factors. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include the factors listed from time to time in Hub Group's SEC reports including, but not limited to, our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 and our report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2016. Hub Group assumes no liability to update any such forward-looking statements. HUB GROUP, INC. UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (in thousands, except per share amounts) Three Months Six Months Ended June 30, Ended June 30, 2016 2015 2016 2015 Revenue $ 855,557 $ 899,513 $ 1,661,416 $ 1,735,454 Transportation costs 741,067 797,784 1,438,539 1,544,597 Gross margin 114,490 101,729 222,877 190,857 Costs and expenses: Salaries and benefits 43,602 38,837 87,465 78,313 Agent fees and commissions 18,360 16,686 35,262 31,512 General and administrative 16,083 14,763 32,727 28,834 Depreciation and amortization 2,148 1,967 4,283 3,927 Total costs and expenses 80,193 72,253 159,737 142,586 Operating income 34,297 29,476 63,140 48,271 Other income (expense): Interest expense (857) (720) (1,767) (1,461) Interest and dividend income 120 19 181 25 Other, net 216 261 1,152 (1,143) Total other expense (521) (440) (434) (2,579) Income before provision for income taxes 33,776 29,036 62,706 45,692 Provision for income taxes 13,105 10,569 24,069 16,949 Net income $ 20,671 $ 18,467 $ 38,637 $ 28,743 Basic earnings per common share $ 0.61 $ 0.51 $ 1.12 $ 0.80 Diluted earnings per common share $ 0.61 $ 0.51 $ 1.12 $ 0.80 Basic weighted average number of shares outstanding 33,944 35,986 34,541 36,071 Diluted weighted average number of shares outstanding 34,027 36,075 34,575 36,122 HUB GROUP, INC. UNAUDITED FINANCIAL INFORMATION BY SEGMENT (in thousands) Three Months Ended June 30, 2016 Hub Mode Inter-Segment Elims Hub Group Total Revenue $ 648,523 $ 231,924 $ (24,890) $ 855,557 Transportation costs 565,448 200,509 (24,890) 741,067 Gross margin 83,075 31,415 - 114,490 Costs and expenses: Salaries and benefits 39,787 3,815 - 43,602 Agent fees and commissions 13 18,347 - 18,360 General and administrative 14,226 1,857 - 16,083 Depreciation and amortization 1,830 318 - 2,148 Total costs and expenses 55,856 24,337 - 80,193 Operating income $ 27,219 $ 7,078 $ - $ 34,297 HUB GROUP, INC. UNAUDITED FINANCIAL INFORMATION BY SEGMENT (in thousands) Three Months Ended June 30, 2015 Hub Mode Inter-Segment Elims Hub Group Total Revenue $ 686,451 $ 233,847 $ (20,785) $ 899,513 Transportation costs 614,289 204,280 (20,785) 797,784 Gross margin 72,162 29,567 - 101,729 Costs and expenses: Salaries and benefits 35,288 3,549 - 38,837 Agent fees and commissions 14 16,672 - 16,686 General and administrative 13,194 1,569 - 14,763 Depreciation and amortization 1,647 320 - 1,967 Total costs and expenses 50,143 22,110 - 72,253 Operating income $ 22,019 $ 7,457 $ - $ 29,476 HUB GROUP, INC. UNAUDITED FINANCIAL INFORMATION BY SEGMENT (in thousands) Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 Hub Mode Inter-Segment Elims Hub Group Total Revenue $ 1,263,751 $ 440,755 $ (43,090) $ 1,661,416 Transportation costs 1,101,522 380,107 (43,090) 1,438,539 Gross margin 162,229 60,648 - 222,877 Costs and expenses: Salaries and benefits 79,883 7,582 - 87,465 Agent fees and commissions 27 35,235 - 35,262 General and administrative 28,948 3,779 - 32,727 Depreciation and amortization 3,644 639 - 4,283 Total costs and expenses 112,502 47,235 - 159,737 Operating income $ 49,727 $ 13,413 $ - $ 63,140 HUB GROUP, INC. UNAUDITED FINANCIAL INFORMATION BY SEGMENT (in thousands) Six Months Ended June 30, 2015 Hub Mode Inter-Segment Elims Hub Group Total Revenue $ 1,329,894 $ 447,369 $ (41,809) $ 1,735,454 Transportation costs 1,194,547 391,859 (41,809) 1,544,597 Gross margin 135,347 55,510 - 190,857 Costs and expenses: Salaries and benefits 70,948 7,365 - 78,313 Agent fees and commissions 29 31,483 - 31,512 General and administrative 25,392 3,442 - 28,834 Depreciation and amortization 3,265 662 - 3,927 Total costs and expenses 99,634 42,952 - 142,586 Operating income $ 35,713 $ 12,558 $ - $ 48,271 HUB GROUP, INC. CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (in thousands, except share amounts) June 30, December 31, 2016 2015 (unaudited) ASSETS CURRENT ASSETS: Cash and cash equivalents $ 164,150 $ 207,749 Accounts receivable trade, net 399,207 379,987 Accounts receivable other 3,917 10,344 Prepaid taxes 3,339 362 Deferred taxes - 8,412 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 15,071 17,756 TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS 585,684 624,610 Restricted investments 19,991 21,108 Property and equipment, net 381,532 374,847 Other intangibles, net 12,491 13,139 Goodwill, net 262,485 262,594 Other assets 4,287 4,848 TOTAL ASSETS $ 1,266,470 $ 1,301,146 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY CURRENT LIABILITIES: Accounts payable trade $ 251,815 $ 230,432 Accounts payable other 24,841 21,495 Accrued payroll 22,883 33,020 Accrued other 38,005 38,733 Current portion of capital lease 2,648 2,608 Current portion of long term debt 35,430 32,409 TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES 375,622 358,697 Long term debt 94,968 100,895 Non-current liabilities 21,536 20,233 Long term portion of capital lease 11,962 13,299 Deferred taxes 159,319 160,182 STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY: Preferred stock, $.01 par value; 2,000,000 shares authorized; no shares issued or outstanding in 2016 and 2015 - - Common stock Class A: $.01 par value; 97,337,700 shares authorized and 41,224,792 shares issued in 2016 and 2015; 33,567,862 shares outstanding in 2016 and 35,633,961 shares outstanding in 2015 412 412 Class B: $.01 par value; 662,300 shares authorized; 662,296 shares issued and outstanding in 2016 and 2015 7 7 Additional paid-in capital 169,229 174,285 Purchase price in excess of predecessor basis, net of tax benefit of $10,306 (15,458) (15,458) Retained earnings 699,395 660,758 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (231) (178) Treasury stock; at cost, 7,656,930 shares in 2016 and 5,590,831 shares in 2015 (250,291) (171,986) TOTAL STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY 603,063 647,840 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY $ 1,266,470 $ 1,301,146 HUB GROUP, INC. UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (in thousands) Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 2015 Cash flows from operating activities: Net income $ 38,637 $ 28,743 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: Depreciation and amortization 21,426 17,526 Deferred taxes 7,777 2,489 Compensation expense related to share-based compensation plans 4,245 4,110 Gain on sale of assets (255) (60) Excess tax benefits from share-based compensation 132 (33) Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Restricted investments 1,117 (295) Accounts receivable, net (12,826) (11,407) Prepaid taxes (2,977) 13,284 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 2,685 3,030 Other assets 561 216 Accounts payable 24,740 15,132 Accrued expenses (14,031) 8,943 Non-current liabilities 1,211 (1,226) Net cash provided by operating activities 72,442 80,452 Cash flows from investing activities: Proceeds from sale of equipment 1,148 136 Purchases of property and equipment (25,217) (23,716) Net cash used in investing activities (24,069) (23,580) Cash flows from financing activities: Proceeds from issuance of debt 13,274 18,548 Repayments of long term debt (16,180) (10,938) Stock tendered for payments of withholding taxes (2,379) (2,877) Purchase of treasury stock (85,000) (13,419) Capital lease payments (1,297) (1,243) Excess tax benefits from share-based compensation (359) 89 Net cash used in financing activities (91,941) (9,840) Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents (31) (21) Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents (43,599) 47,011 Cash and cash equivalents beginning of period 207,749 109,769 Cash and cash equivalents end of period $ 164,150 $ 156,780 SOURCE Hub Group, Inc. Related Links http://www.hubgroup.com ALBANY, New York, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Investing in emerging economies and setting up hybrid power systems and rural electrification programs in the remote areas of Asia Pacific and the Middle East and Africa are key growth strategies for players in the hybrid power systems market, observes Transparency Market Research (TMR). For instance, Borg Energy invested a heavy sum in India in January 2014 in several projects centered on rural electrification and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC). Likewise, Guangzhou HY Energy Technology Limited Corp., in 2011, supplied a wind-solar hybrid street light system in Tabriz, Iran and in 2012, installed a number of wind-solar hybrid systems for a telecom station in Mongolia. "New product development and innovation is also an effective strategy adopted by a number of players," a TMR analyst states. The hybrid power systems market is extremely inviting to new players despite the high initial investment required to manufacture as well as assemble these systems. Thanks to government and other regulatory institution clearances and the provision of various subsidies, the competitive landscape of the global hybrid power systems market is likely to witness constant change over the coming years. Increasing Focus on the Use of Energy-efficient Technologies One of the major advantages presented by hybrid power systems, which is also a key driving factor for the global market, is the ability of these systems to reduce carbon emissions. "Controlling carbon footprint is among the top priorities of most energy producing companies and factors such as climate change and growing social responsibility have contributed toward these companies focusing on using energy-efficient technologies in their networks," the author states. Get Research PDF for more Professional and Technical Industry Insights: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=12884 In April 2016, Vodafone Qatar announced its plans to roll out several hybrid power systems across its sites in the country as part of its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and improve the company's energy efficiency measures. On the down side, however, high installation costs and initial investments deter companies from the setting up of hybrid power systems. "Building the infrastructure for hybrid power plant, especially solar-wind-diesel systems, is immensely expensive," a lead analyst at TMR finds. "Moreover, these systems have a much longer return on investment (ROI) period compared to conventional sources of energy." This threatens to hamper the growth of the hybrid power systems market. TMR Predicts Surge in Upcoming Hybrid Power Projects The global revenue generated by the hybrid power systems market is anticipated to rise from US$411.7 mn in 2015 to US$703.5 mn by 2024 at a 6.1% CAGR therein. By type, wind-solar-diesel hybrid power systems held the dominant share of over 45% in 2014 and this segment is likely to retain its lead throughout the forecast period. The others segment, comprising wind-hydro-diesel hybrid, solar thermal, and hybrid-solar biomass, is projected to expand at the fastest pace from 2016 to 2024. Browse Research Report with ToC & Free Analysis: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/hybrid-power-systems-market.html "Only a fraction of companies in the renewable power industry are presently involved in the generation of power via hybrid power systems for rural electrification," the analyst states. "However, an increasing number of upcoming power projects across the globe is likely to spur the demand for hybrid power systems." This review is based on the findings of a TMR report titled "Hybrid Power Systems Market: Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016-2024." Wind-solar-diesel Hybrid Power Systems to Maintain Lead through 2024 Hybrid power systems combine renewable energy sources such as wind and solar and energy produced by conventional means such as diesel generators. By type, hybrid power systems include wind-solar-diesel hybrid, PV-diesel hybrid, and others such as wind-hydro-diesel hybrid, solar thermal, and hybrid-solar biomass. In 2015, wind-solar-diesel hybrid power systems dominated the overall market and although this segment is predicted to lose a slight share in the market by the end of the forecast period, it will retain its dominance over other segments. Over the past few years, wind-solar-diesel hybrid systems for rural electrification have been enormously developed by various stakeholders across developing countries such as Indonesia, India, China, and South Africa. PV-diesel hybrid systems have also been attracting significant funding from various agencies of late. Browse Research Press Release: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/hybrid-power-systems-market.htm Government Mandates on Rural Electrification Gives Africa Market a Boost The global market for hybrid power systems has been geographically segmented into North America, South and Central America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and Europe. Asia Pacific held the largest share in the global in 2015 and is projected to continue its dominance throughout the forecast period. Players in Asia Pacific can avoid transmission costs by setting up hybrid power systems as standalone mini-grids. The integration of renewable energy production with the electricity mix also reduces the cost of transporting fuel to remote areas in the region. Japan is the leading contributor in the APAC hybrid power systems market, with the surge in utility-scale and commercial projects expected to drive demand in the coming years. Over the past few years, the country has witnessed a rapid increase in the number of companies registering to sell retail power. This has further driven the hybrid power systems market in Japan. The Middle East and Africa region is the second largest market for hybrid power systems, fueled mainly by the rapid progress in South Africa. The mandatory implementation of the national policy on rural electrification across national electricity companies, regulatory agencies and commissions, rural electrification funds, and rural electrification agencies across Africa has served as a major driving force. In addition to this, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Africa fund various hybrid power projects for the implementation of PV arrays in existing diesel power plants. Browse Regional Market Research: http://www.europlat.org/hybrid-power-systems-market.htm Global Hybrid Power Systems Market: Type Analysis Wind-Solar-Diesel-Hybrid PV-Diesel-Hybrid Others Global Hybrid Power Systems Market: End-Use Analysis Residential Rural Facility Electrification Others Global Hybrid Power Systems Market: Regional Segment Analysis North America U.S. Canada Mexico Europe Turkey Kazakhstan Russia Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China Japan Australia Indonesia Rest of Asia Pacific Middle East and Africa (MEA) South Africa Tanzania Egypt UAE Rest of MEA South and Central America (SCA) Brazil Chile Rest of SCA Browse Other Research Report: Solar Wind Hybrid System Market : http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/solar-wind-hybrid-system-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/solar-wind-hybrid-system-market.html Bladeless Wind Turbines Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/bladeless-wind-turbines-market.html About TMR: Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The company's exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend 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. TMR's 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 Transparency Market Research State Tower 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany NY - 12207 United States Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Blog: http://www.tmrblog.com/ SOURCE Transparency Market Research PUNE, India, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- RnRMarketResearch.com adds "EpiCast Report: Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis - Epidemiology Forecast to 2025" to its store providing overview of the risk factors, comorbidities, and global trends for IPF in the seven major markets (7MM) (US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, and Japan). It includes a 10-year epidemiological forecast of the diagnosed incident and diagnosed prevalent cases of IPF segmented by sex, age (in five-year increments beginning at 18 years and ending at =85 years), and severity in these markets. Complete report on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis market epidemiology forecast to 2025 of 55 pages with 15 tables and 13 figures is now available at http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/epicast-report-idiopathic-pulmonary-fibrosis-epidemiology-forecast-to-2025-market-report.html . Epidemiologists forecast that the diagnosed incident cases of IPF will increase from 53,139 cases in 2015 to 62,258 cases in 2025, at an Annual Growth Rate (AGR) of 1.72%. The US will have the highest number of diagnosed incident cases of IPF among the 7MM throughout the forecast period, while Spain will have the lowest. The diagnosed prevalent cases of IPF will also increase from 118,943 cases in 2015 to 137,984 cases in 2025, at an AGR of 1.60%. The US will have the highest number of diagnosed prevalent cases of IPF among the 7MM throughout the forecast period, while Spain will have the lowest. The American Thoracic Society (ATS) defines IPF as a chronic, fibrosing interstitial pneumonia of unknown cause, which occurs primarily in older adults. IPF is characterized by variable degrees of inflammation and scarring and is associated with a histologic or radiologic pattern of usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP). IPF is the most common form of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia, having the worst prognosis, and only three to five years of median survival. IPF is more common in men and the incidence and prevalence of IPF typically increases with advancing age. Epidemiologists used data from large comprehensive healthcare databases and country-specific studies published in peer-reviewed journals to estimate the diagnosed incident and diagnosed prevalent cases of IPF in addition to sources that provided data for cases confirmed through both biopsy of the lung and HRCT. Diagnosed incident and diagnosed prevalent cases were further segmented by age and sex to provide more detailed characteristics regarding the diseased population. The use of studies with consistent methodology across the 7MM provides a significant measure to compare the underlying burden of IPF across the 7MM. Additionally, GlobalData epidemiologists provided the diagnosed incident and diagnosed prevalent cases of IPF in the 7MM, except Japan, segmented by severity (mild, moderate, and severe) based on GAP index, which can be of importance for predicting the prognosis and course of treatment. Order a copy of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis - Epidemiology Forecast to 2025 market research report at http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/contacts/purchase?rname=629934 . Another newly published market research titled Pulmonary Embolism - Pipeline Review, H1 2016 to its database. The research provides comprehensive information on the therapeutics under development for Pulmonary Embolism, complete with analysis by stage of development, drug target, mechanism of action (MoA), route of administration (RoA) and molecule type. The report also covers the descriptive pharmacological action of the therapeutics, its complete research and development history and latest news and press releases. Additionally, the report provides an overview of key players involved in therapeutic development for Pulmonary Embolism and features dormant and discontinued projects. Companies Involved in Therapeutics Development are Accu-Break Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. Complete report on Pulmonary Embolism Pipeline market research report of 54 pages is available at http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/pulmonary-embolism-pipeline-review-h1-2016-market-report.html . Explore more reports on Pulmonary therapeutics market at http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/reports/life-sciences/pharmaceuticals/therapeutics/pulmonary-therapeutics . About Us: RnRMarketResearch.com is your single source for all market research needs. Our database includes 500,000+ market research reports from over 100+ leading global publishers & in-depth market research studies of over 5000 micro markets. With comprehensive information about the publishers and the industries for which they publish market research reports, we help you in your purchase decision by mapping your information needs with our huge collection of reports. Connect with Us: G+ / Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/104156468549256253075/posts Twitter: https://twitter.com/RnRMR Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/RnR-Market-Research/413488545356345 RSS / Feeds: http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/feed Contact: Ritesh Tiwari UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune - 411013 Maharashtra, India. Tel: +1-888-391-5441 [email protected] SOURCE RnR Market Research Opened in January 2016 in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood, Momofuku Nishi is part of the Momofuku Group of restaurants founded by world renowned chef David Chang. "Impossible Foods is honored to have a chef of David Chang's talent and vision as our anchor chef in New York," said Patrick O. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., founder and CEO of Impossible Foods. "Under David's skilled hand, the Impossible Burger is moving to the next level of taste." The Impossible Burger looks, cooks, smells, sizzles, and tastes like conventional ground beef but is made entirely from plants. Among the breakthroughs that make the Impossible Burger unique is the discovery that a molecule called "heme" is the magic ingredient that makes meat look, cook and taste gloriously meaty. While heme is exceptionally abundant in meat, it is a basic molecular building block of life on Earth, including plants. Impossible Foods uses a plant-based heme protein to give the Impossible Burger its irresistibly meaty taste. "I was genuinely blown away when I tasted the burger," said chef and founder of Momofuku, David Chang. "The Impossible Foods team has discovered how to re-engineer what makes beef taste like beef. We're always looking to support people who are making the best products in the best ways possible and to me, the Impossible Burger is one more example. First and foremost, we think this makes a delicious burger." Momofuku's first restaurant on the West side of Manhattan, Momofuku Nishi, will serve a limited number of Impossible Burgers during lunch, brunch and dinner service starting Wednesday. The 'Nishi Style Impossible Burger' is topped with romaine, beefsteak tomato, pickles and special sauce and served on a Martin's potato roll with shoestring fries. Guests may also add cheese upon request. Impossible Foods's mission is to produce delicious, nutritious, affordable plant-based foods with a lower environmental impact than raising animals for food. Producing the Impossible Burger requires approximately a quarter of the water used to produce the same burger from a cow, a twentieth of the land, and only an eighth of the greenhouse gas emissions, according to a lifecycle analysis conducted by Impossible Foods. "Two factors have made the Impossible Burger as good as it is," said Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen and other works about food science and its history. "One is Impossible Foods's ambition to make a plant-based burger that's just as delicious as a beef burger, with the same satisfying flavors and textures. The other is its pursuit of a deeper scientific understanding of meat itself, and how cooking makes it delicious. This research effort has generated major new insights into the flavor of meat, and continues to drive the innovations that put the Impossible Burger in a category of its own." The Impossible Burger's key ingredients are water, wheat protein, coconut oil, potato protein and leghemoglobin (i.e., heme) plus natural flavors and micronutrients. The Impossible Burger delivers comparable protein and iron to conventional beef but contains no cholesterol, hormones, or antibiotics. Later this year, the Impossible Burger is also expected to become a regularly featured menu item at select restaurants in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The company plans to expand to additional restaurants in the U.S., followed by grocery stores and overseas markets as production capacity rises over the coming several years. Impossible Foods expects the price of the burger to decline as it scales up production, until it is at or below the cost of commercial ground beef. The company's technology can be used to produce virtually any animal-based food, from steaks and chops to chicken and fish and dairy foods. "The burger is only the beginning," Brown said. "With its introduction at Momofuku Nishi, we have begun the movement to build a new kind of global food system, one that creates new markets for farmers, supports a more resilient food supply, and offers consumers new choices for the meat and dairy products they know and love ones that are equally delicious but made from plants." About Impossible Foods Based in Redwood City, California, Impossible Foods gives consumers a better choice: delicious, healthy, affordable meat and dairy foods made directly from plants. Impossible Foods extracts specific proteins from plants and combines them with simple, natural ingredients like fats, amino acids and vitamins to create raw meat from plants that delivers the irresistible taste, texture and aroma of conventional beef while using far less of the Earth's finite resources. Impossible Foods is a private company funded in part by Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, Google Ventures, Horizons Ventures, UBS, and Viking Global Investors. The company was founded in 2011 by Patrick O. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., a medical doctor, research scientist and formerly a professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Stanford University. More information at impossiblefoods.com, www.twitter.com/impossiblefoods and www.facebook.com/impossiblefoods About Momofuku Nishi Momofuku Nishi opened in January 2016 and is Momofuku's first restaurant on the west side. Located in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood, guests can choose from a la carte offerings for lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch. Nishi's Smoked Bo Ssam, Lobster Chow Mein, and Fried Chicken large format meals are meant for sharing and served during dinner. Walk-ins for lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch are encouraged. For more information, please visit nishi.momofuku.com. About Momofuku Established by chef and founder David Chang in 2004 with the opening of Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuku has grown to include restaurants in New York City, Sydney, Toronto and Washington, DC. Momofuku has a total of twelve restaurants (Noodle Bar, Ssam Bar, Ko, Ma Peche, Seiobo, Noodle Bar Toronto, Daisho, Shoto, Fuku, Fuku+, CCDC, Nishi), a bakery established by award-winning pastry chef Christina Tosi with multiple locations throughout New York City, Washington, DC, and in Toronto (Milk Bar), two bars (Booker and Dax, Nikai), and a Culinary Lab. Momofuku is also composed of Lucky Peach along with a product and equipment development company called Booker and Dax. More information at: www.momofuku.com Twitter: @momofuku Instagram: @momolongplay Facebook: www.facebook.com/luckypeach Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392870 SOURCE Impossible Foods Inc. Related Links http://impossiblefoods.com BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Influential, a Data-First influencer marketing platform, announced today that it has raised a $5M Series A round of funding with lead investor, Capital Zed, an Australia-based disruptive technology investor, bringing the overall total of funding raised by Influential, to date to $9M. Influential is a technology platform and social media influencer network that is fueled by the cognitive computing power of IBM Watson. Influential works with more than 7,000 top influencers on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Vine and YouTube, representing more than 4.4 billion followers. "This Series A round, under the direction of Capital Zed, represents a significant step forward for Influential, as we continue to build our enterprise-level technology for brands and agencies, with a hyper-focus on unstructured data," said Ryan Detert, CEO and Co-Founder of Influential. "We are ramping up hires and allocating resources towards our developers, data scientists and data partners, as we continue to change the market with our demographic and psychographic data approach." Influential brings structure and measured results to a previously unstructured social marketing arena. Influencers are activated via Influential's patent pending app to run brand campaigns with 100 percent guaranteed unique in-demographic impressions, and brand-safe messaging. Influential creates conversations that can make a brand or product the most popular topic in the world, and targets age, gender, interests, ethnicity, and more than 60,000 data points, making it possible to make a true media buy on social. In early 2016, Influential co-built a technology and became a developer partner of IBM Watson, utilizing its cognitive technology and relying on the Personality Insights service to analyze large volumes of unstructured natural language data from social media profiles, across multiple channels. This cognitive-powered platform identifies personality traits for brands and agencies, based on semantic data pulled from an influencer's social media feeds. Clients can now choose the most relevant influencers, based on how they are perceived, in terms of over 50 traits including adventurousness, intellect and altruism. This platform, coupled with Influential's third-party demographics data partners, makes for the most robust and data-driven influencer identification system on the market. "We are proud to have led the Series A Round for Influential. We believe that the company, under the leadership of Ryan and his talented management team, are visionaries in the space. Alongside their vision, passion and energy is a technology platform built to deliver an enterprise-grade experience to agencies and brands, as well as the fast growing influencer community," said Zac Rosenberg, Founding Partner of Capital Zed. Participating institutional investors in this fundraising round include ROAR, Paradigm Talent Agency, Europlay Capital Advisors, Ace Fund and MSMCi, which is led by Doug Barry, original investor in Pandora. Participating angel investors in this fundraising round include Alex Welch, Co- Founder and former CEO of Photobucket, Michael Tedesco, former Global Head of Technology M&A at Citigroup, Chris Varelas of Riverwood Capital and Ivan Brockman of Blackstone. About Influential Influential is a Data-First influencer platform with enterprise technology and a patent pending app on the hip pocket of more than 7,000 of the most highly engaged influencers on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Vine and YouTube. Influential allows brands and agencies to make a digital media buy on social, via an in-demo impression guarantee, which mirrors traditional or digital media spends. Influential conducts all campaigns through a brand-safe gateway and provides robust recaps via third party analytics partners. Influential works with Fortune 500 brands like Hershey's, Coca-Cola Company, NBC Universal, Nestle, General Mills and Sony Pictures. In 2015, Influential became a developer partner of IBM Watson and tapped into its cognitive computing power to match brands including KIA Motors America with the most relevant influencers by personality traits and archetypes. Influential has offices in Beverly Hills, New York City and Las Vegas. www.influential.co CONTACT: Tori Thompson, Zeno Group, [email protected], 1-650-801-0943, www.influential.co Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392618LOGO SOURCE Influential Related Links http://www.influential.co WHEELING, Ill., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- James Bell, CEO of Protect-A-Bed, the industry leader in mattress products, today announced John Rachid as the company's President effective September 1, 2016. "After a comprehensive executive search process, I am very pleased to name a proven leader and highly qualified individual of John's caliber to be the Protect-A-Bed President. John is a well respected industry executive with a winning track record. He has a solid history of building strategic relationships with retailers and a proven ability to develop high-performance teams. We are confident that his expertise in these key areas will add significant value to our retail partners and Protect-A-Bed." John Rachid has more than twenty four years of experience in the bedding and furniture industry. He spent most of his career as Group Vice President of National Accounts for the Serta brand and most recently as Executive Group Vice President of Sales at Serta Simmons Bedding. At SSB, John was instrumental in establishing and growing several key channels of distribution and maintaining a number one market share position for his brands in these channels. "Protect-A-Bed is an outstanding company with great innovative products, vision and leadership. For years, I have been very impressed with James Bell's focus on building strong brands, his passion and the relationships he has developed with retailers based on vision and value," said Mr. Rachid. "I am honored by James' confidence in me as the next leader of this innovative company and I look forward to working with the entire Protect-A-Bed team to build upon the company's strategy and drive continued growth with long-term value for the benefit of all our retailers." Mr. Rachid, would like to thank the SSB team and owners for the support and relationships since joining the company from Sealy in 1998. Rachid will stay in his current position at SSB until August 15th to help with transition. About John Rachid: Before being named President of Protect-A-Bed, John Rachid was a Group Executive Vice President at SSB. Prior to serving as Group EVP, Mr. Rachid was Group Vice President of National Accounts for Serta, Inc. Before joining Serta in 1998, Rachid worked for Sealy, Inc. Mr. Rachid earned a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. About Protect-A-Bed: Protect-A-Bed offers consumers a complete line of protective bedding products because "Every Mattress Needs Protection." With more than 30 years of experience in bedding protection product development, 320 products in 40 categories, and a presence in 48 countries, Protect-A-Bed is recognized as a worldwide leader in mattress protection innovation. Protect-A-Bed products help create a dry, hygienic, bedbug free and anti-allergy sleep zone while also protecting the mattress warranty. For more information, visit www.ProtectABed.com. About REM-FitTM REM-FitTM is an active lifestyle brand that launched in January 2014. It includes four product categories: REST, ENERGIZE, MOTIVATE and SLEEP Collections, with a selection of bedding, adjustable pillows, sleep and activity trackers. It's designed to help active people recover from exercise to reach fitness goals and improve overall well-being. REM-Fit is part of the overarching Protect-A-Bed brand, and it's available in select stores and online at www.rem-fit.com. CONTACT: Shandi Huber, (513) 271-7222 ext. 12, [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160726/393069LOGO SOURCE Protect-A-Bed Related Links http://www.protectabed.com ATLANTA, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Landis+Gyr, a global leader in shaping how energy is delivered and consumed, announced it is participating in a ground-breaking energy storage project in partnership with E.ON Climate and Renewables and Tucson Electric Power (TEP). E.ON was one of two companies selected by TEP to provide capacity and availability from a 10 megawatt (MW) energy storage system. Working with E. ON, the prime developer for the project, Landis+Gyr will supply a containerized Li ion energy storage system that integrates Toshiba's SCiB lithium titanate oxide batteries. The technology was chosen by Landis+Gyr because of its superior cycle life, high power density and rapid charge capabilities. In total, TEP is adding 20 MW of energy storage capacity through two projects that will help balance load and regulate frequency on its distribution system, while also deferring capital investments in spinning reserves. "The TEP storage project is driven by the growing need for rapid response to changes in energy supply and demand," said Mike Cooper, General Manager of Distributed Generation and Energy Storage solutions at Landis+Gyr. "This battery solution will allow E.ON to provide a flexible, high availability service to TEP for maintaining high quality and reliable power delivery in its territory." The storage facility and accompanying 2 MW solar array, located at the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park southeast of Tucson, is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2017 The storage system will also help TEP study how to integrate a growing portfolio of renewable generating resources. The utility has a goal of generating 30 percent of its power from renewable resources by 2030, which amounts to about 1,200 MW. In the case of solar generation, storage systems can rapidly replace sudden losses of generation that occur throughout the day without overstressing slower ramping conventional generation. Landis+Gyr's energy storage offering supports its broader Energy and Capacity Optimization System (ECOS), which combines communication, control and data management technologies into a flexible solution to monitor and manage the distribution network and enable optimal utilization of existing and new distributed energy resources. Capabilities include DC and AC storage solutions, distributed generation management software, solution design and application analysis along with 24/7 monitoring and maintenance services managed from its remote operating centers worldwide. About E.ON E.ON is an international privately-owned energy supplier and will in future be focusing entirely on energy networks, customer solutions and renewables. In the 2015 financial year, more than 56,000 employees based in many countries in Europe as well as in North America generated sales of around EUR 116 billion. Around 33 million customers purchase gas and electricity from E.ON. Within the global renewables segment E.ON is a leading company and will continue to expand the share of renewable energy in E.ON's power generation portfolio. The company has already invested more than 10 bn and operates nearly 5.2 gigawatts of renewable capacity. E.ON is headquartered in Essen, Germany. About Tucson Electric Power TEP provides safe, reliable electric service to approximately 417,000 customers in Southern Arizona. For more information, visit tep.com. TEP and its parent company, UNS Energy, are subsidiaries of Fortis Inc., which owns utilities that serve more than 3 million customers across Canada and in the United States and the Caribbean. To learn more, visit fortisinc.com. About Landis+Gyr Landis+Gyr is the leading global provider of integrated energy management solutions for the utility sector. Offering the broadest portfolio of products and services to address complex industry challenges, the company delivers comprehensive solutions for the foundation of a smarter grid including; smart metering, distribution network sensing and automation tools, load control, analytics and energy storage. Landis+Gyr operates in 31 countries across five continents as an independent growth platform of the Toshiba Corporation (TKY:6502) and is also 40% owned by the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ). With annualized sales of more than US$1.5 billion, the company employs 5,700 people with the sole mission of helping the world manage energy better. More information is available at landisgyr.com SOURCE Landis+Gyr Related Links http://landisgyr.com ATLANTA and WASHINGTON, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- LexisNexis Risk Solutions today announced a new Special Investigative Unit (SIU) to help its government agency customers better use its identity intelligence to fight fraud, ensure program integrity and keep communities safe. The SIU provides agencies with a highly trained team of experts dedicated to helping its customers understand and experience the full value of how its solutions can address their critical needs. "There is nothing more important than helping our customers meet their agency missions and program goals by providing them with the best insights available from our solutions," said Haywood Talcove, CEO, Government, LexisNexis Risk Solutions. "Our focus is on big data and identity intelligence, while our customers' focus is rightly on their programs. The SIU will leverage our strengths and help our customers make sense of the data. In doing so, we will continue to exceed our customers' expectations through our technical expertise and technology solutions." The SIU will be headed by Monty Faidley, Director of Health and Human Services and Special Investigative Unit. The new organization brings together an expert team of analyst and solutions consultants focused on the federal and education markets, the state and local government markets and the law enforcement market. The SIU will collaborate with customers in these markets to provide better investigative solutions to curtail public assistance program fraud; reduce abuse of public funds; improve tax compliance; and keep communities safe from crime, terrorism and cyber threats, among many other applications. "Our identity intelligence solutions make a difference: they help law enforcement find missing persons, keep tax refunds out of the hands of organized crime and ensure public assistance goes to those who need it most...just to name a few," said Faidley. "While we had seen strong results from our previous structure, this new approach creates a centralized team of cross-trained analysts with the skills, tools and expertise to delight our customers and better solve their problems." About LexisNexis Risk Solutions LexisNexis Risk Solutions is a leader in providing essential information that helps customers across industries and government predict, assess and manage risk. Combining cutting-edge technology, unique data and advanced analytics, LexisNexis Risk Solutions provides products and services that address evolving client needs in the risk sector while upholding the highest standards of security and privacy. LexisNexis Risk Solutions is part of RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. http://www.lexisnexis.com/risk/ Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160120/324390LOGO SOURCE LexisNexis Risk Solutions Related Links http://www.lexisnexis.com/risk BOSTON and DENVER, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- HawkEye 360, Inc., a subsidiary of Allied Minds (LSE: ALM), and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) are collaborating to apply HawkEye 360's radio frequency (RF) detection and mapping technology in new markets. HawkEye 360 plans to deploy a constellation of small satellites in low-Earth orbit at less than 600 km (383 miles) from the Earth's surface, to identify, locate and analyze RF signals globally. Pending various regulatory approvals of this system and its capabilities, Lockheed Martin and HawkEye 360 will work to apply the space-based RF data and analytics capabilities in new mission solutions, potentially extending the adoption of this technology across multiple customer segments and new markets. "We are delighted that Lockheed Martin has chosen to collaborate with us as we build one of the world's first privately funded global RF signal monitoring systems," said Chris Silva, Allied Minds chief executive officer. "Their relationships across multiple customer domains will be invaluable to help accelerate the commercial use of HawkEye 360's RF monitoring data and analytics." "Combining Lockheed Martin's expertise in satellite systems with HawkEye 360's approach to space-based radio frequency detection offers an innovative solution to some of the big challenges facing our shared customer base," said Dave Markham, vice president of Strategy for Lockheed Martin Space Systems. "We look forward to working with HawkEye 360 to help advance this exciting technology." HawkEye 360's envisioned constellation, once operational, could enable significant commercial applications such as allowing government and corporate customers to dynamically monitor transportation networks across air, land and sea. For government regulators, telecommunications companies and satellite broadcasters, HawkEye 360's system is being designed to monitor RF spectrum usage to identify areas of interference. The envisioned system could also be used to play a crucial role in the detection and location of activated emergency beacons, improving response times that are critical in life-threatening scenarios. HawkEye 360's technology complements Lockheed Martin's leading expertise in this field. In the past 50 years, Lockheed Martin has built over 800 satellites and 310 payloads and extends its experience through the RF Payload Center of Excellence, which collocates RF development, assembly and test for a variety of spacecraft types, from cubesats to human spaceflight. About Allied Minds Allied Minds is a diversified holding company focused on venture creation within the life science and technology sectors. With unparalleled access to hundreds of university and federal labs across the U.S., Allied Minds forms, funds, and operates a portfolio of companies to generate long-term value for its investors and stakeholders. Based in Boston, with a nationwide presence in Los Angeles and New York, Allied Minds supports its businesses with capital, central management, and shared services. For more information, please visit www.alliedminds.com. About HawkEye 360 HawkEye 360 is developing a constellation of small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) to generate reports on wireless signals that can be used to track and monitor global transportation networks, assist with emergencies, as well as other data analytics services. The company seeks to provide highly accurate maritime situational awareness, collecting information about vessels to create a wealth of current and historical data useful for commercial planning and monitoring, as well as emergency response. Similar data will be available for airborne and land-based transportation and logistics industries. HawkEye 360's data processing technology was originally developed at Virginia Tech's Hume Center for National Security and Technology. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 125,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. Allied Minds Forward-Looking Statement This press release contains statements that are or may be forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to the company's future prospects, developments and strategies. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from current expectations, including, but not limited to, those risk and uncertainties described in the risk factors included in the company's regulatory filings. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding the present and future business strategies of the company and the environment in which it will operate in the future. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as at the date of this press release. Except as required by law, regulatory requirement, the Listing Rules and the Disclosure and Transparency Rules, neither the company nor any other party intends to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Media Contacts: Lockheed Martin Mark Lewis, +1 (408) 742-3516; [email protected] HawkEye360 Christine Dunn, ArcPoint Strategic Communications, +1 (617) 484-1660 x101, [email protected] For additional information, visit our websites: http://www.lockheedmartin.com http://www.he360.com SOURCE Lockheed Martin Related Links http://www.lockheedmartin.com SALT LAKE CITY, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- LSK BioPharma (LSKB) today announced the successful completion and positive outcome of an End-of-Phase 2 (EOP2) meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for apatinib, an investigational drug for treatment of solid tumors. The FDA had no major objections to LSKB's global phase 3 pivotal-trial study design for apatinib in patients with advanced gastric cancer. The Company believes the plan to conduct a single phase 3 clinical trial will be sufficient to support an accelerated development pathway and NDA submission. "We had a good, collaborative meeting with the U.S. FDA," said Dr. Sung Chul Kim, President of LSK BioPharma, "we received valuable guidance that we expect will help us to quickly bring apatinib to market and provide a much needed therapy to support cancer patients worldwide." LSKB is now finalizing the global phase 3 pivotal trial-study design and expects to start as quickly as possible. The phase 3 design is a randomized placebo-controlled study examining the safety and efficacy of apatinib in advanced gastric cancer patients to be conducted in the U.S., Europe, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. About Apatinib Apatinib is the first successful small-molecule angiogenesis inhibitor in gastric cancer. It has been approved in China (advanced gastric cancer, Dec 2014) by the Chinese-territory license-holder Jiangsu Hengrui. LSK BioPharma, which holds the global rights (ex-China), has completed phase 1/2a clinical studies under a U.S. FDA IND and is planning to initiate multiple late stage clinical trials in gastric cancer (global pivotal trial), colorectal cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma. LSKB has partnered development and marketing in Korea with Bukwang Pharma. Apatinib acts by inhibiting angiogenesis in solid tumors. Angiogenesis is a critical process in cancer growth and proliferation, as tumors cannot grow beyond 1-2mm3 without sufficient blood supply. Apatinib acts by selectively inhibiting VEGFR-2 which is primarily responsible for tumor-mediated angiogenesis. Apatinib has been tested in almost 1,000 patients worldwide and has demonstrated efficacy in numerous cancers including gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, HCC, NSCLC, breast cancer, mesothelioma, and neuroendocrine tumors. About LSK BioPharma LSKB is a privately-held biopharmaceutical company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Company specializes in the early clinical development of promising therapies for unmet medical needs in cancer. LSKB is developing two exciting drug candidates; a small molecule angiogenesis inhibitor with potential to treat a variety of solid tumors and a BTK/JAK3 inhibitor with the potential to treat hematologic malignancies and rheumatoid arthritis as an immunosuppressive agent. LSKB can be found on the web at www.lskbiopharma.com. Contact: Angie Price [email protected] SOURCE LSK BioPharma Related Links http://www.lskbiopharma.com TAMPA, Florida, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MagneGas Corporation ("MagneGas" or the "Company") (MNGA) a leading technology company that counts among its inventions a patented process that converts renewable and waste liquids into MagneGas2 fuel, announced today that the Company has become an authorized distributor for Global Calibration Gasses (GCG). Global Calibration Gases, LLC is a premier supplier of calibration gases and custom specialty gas mixtures based in Florida. The calibration gases will be distributed through the Company's wholly owned gas and welding supply distributor, ESSI, Inc. This distributorship will now allow the Company to expand its revenue potential by providing customers with GCG's calibration gases and custom specialty gas mixtures. Through ESSI, the Company has developed relationships with major clients in the technical rescue, auto manufacturing and utility markets. Now those clients can buy both MagneGas2 and these specialty gases from one source via ESSI. Ermanno Santilli, CEO of MagneGas Corporation stated, "Because we have been steadily building a sizeable distribution network based upon our sales of MagneGas products, the addition of Global Calibration's superb line of calibration gases and custom specialty gas mixtures, is a natural fit and allows our larger customers to get all their needs from one supplier, increasing our usefulness to them and creating larger revenues from our existing distribution channel." About Global Calibration Gasses, LLC Global Calibration Gases, LLC is a premier supplier of calibration gases and custom specialty gas mixtures. The industries they serve include chemicals and pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, natural gas, and petroleum refineries, medical diagnostics and research labs, and air quality monitoring. They specialize in multi-component hydrocarbon mixtures, low ppm and ppb volatile organic compound mixtures, and a complete line of EPA Protocol gases and NIST Traceable gas mixtures. Global Calibration Gases LLC was founded in March of 2009 and has become a premier manufacturer of precision specialty gas mixtures to independent distributors of industrial, medical, and specialty gases in the US and worldwide. From its 10,000 plus square foot production and laboratory facility in Sarasota, FL a complete line of certified gas mixtures are made serving various industries including; pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, agricultural chemicals, petroleum refineries, natural gas, energy, medical, aerospace, semiconductor, fiber optics, air and water quality, and a wide variety of research facilities. The most prominent of their core competencies is in the manufacture of NIST Traceable calibration gas standards in accordance with the latest EPA Traceability Protocol for Assay and Certification of Gaseous Calibration Standards. Its state-of-the-art analytical laboratory is ISO 17025:2005 accredited for calibration and testing (Certificate #69191) and its scope of proficiency is specifically related to the EPA Protocol. For more information on Global Calibration Gasses, LLC, please visit the Company's website at http://globalcalibrationgases.com. About MagneGas Corporation MagneGas Corporation (MNGA). The Company owns a patented process that converts various renewable and waste liquids into hydrogen based fuels. These fuels can be used as a replacement to natural gas or for metal cutting. The Company's testing has shown the fuels are faster, cleaner and more productive than other alternatives on the market. They are also cost effective and safe to use with little changeover costs. The Company currently sells MagneGas2 into the metal working market as a replacement to acetylene. The MagneGas2fuel production systems can be set-up locally using various types of feedstock. The Company believes this flexibility can give them an advantage as fuels can be manufactured on site from raw materials found locally and eliminates the time and expense of shipping to the specific end user location. The Company is planning to sell the equipment or establish joint ventures with third parties to construct these supply facilities. The Company also sells equipment for the sterilization of bio-contaminated liquid waste for various industrial and agricultural markets. In addition, the Company is developing a variety of ancillary uses for MagneGas2 fuels utilizing its high flame temperature for co-combustion of hydrocarbon fuels and other advanced applications. For more information on MagneGas, please visit the Company's website at http://www.MagneGas.com. The MagneGas IR App is now available for free in Apple's App Store for the iPhone or iPad http://bit.ly/AfLYww and at Google Play http://bit.ly/Km2iyk for Android mobile devices. To be added to the MagneGas investor email list, please email [email protected] with MNGA in the subject line. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined within Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements relate to future events, including our ability to raise capital, or to our future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond our control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects our current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. We assume no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. The Company is currently using virgin vegetable oil to produce fuel while it configures its systems to properly process waste within local regulatory requirements. For a discussion of these risks and uncertainties, please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Our public filings with the SEC are available from commercial document retrieval services and at the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. Investor Contact: KCSA Strategic Communications Philip Carlson +1-212-896-1233 [email protected] SOURCE MagneGas Corporation DALLAS, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mike McKool, a founder and Chairman of McKool Smith, and firm principal Sam Baxter have been recognized as "Legends of the 500" by Lawdragon based on their inclusion in the Lawdragon 500 listing of the "Leading Lawyers in America" for 10 consecutive years. Mr. McKool and Mr. Baxter are two of only 41 lawyers who are recognized as Lawdragon Legends this year. The Lawdragon 500 covers all practice areas and geographic regions, including lawyers from private practices of all sizes, businesses, governments, law schools and public interest organizations. Selections are primarily based on Lawdragon's own editorial research, though submissions from law firms and other organizations, and votes through an online form are contributing factors as well. According to the publication, the Legends are "a dazzling array of law firm leaders, plaintiff icons, Supreme Court justices, corporate counsel and public interest attorneys." As Chairman and a Founder of McKool Smith, Mike McKool is largely responsible for creating what The Wall Street Journal describes as "one of the biggest law firm success stories of the past decade." Over the course of his 40-year career, he has tried more than 100 jury trials and developed an enhanced understanding of the psychology that governs how juries decide cases. Mike is consistently recognized as one of the country's leading trial lawyers by legal directories such as Chambers USA, Chambers Global, The Legal 500, and Benchmark Litigation, among others. In May 2016, he was named an "Icon of IP" by Law360 for his role in shaping today's IP landscape and making an "indelible mark" in the area of intellectual property litigation. Last year, Mr. McKool was also profiled in Law360's "Trial Aces" special feature, which recognized his "reputation as one of the country's top trial lawyers." The article notes that he is "one of the best closers in the business" and "clients bring him in when a trial appears inevitable and they can't afford to lose." He is also described as having "unrelenting focus and preparation in the run-up to a trial, which is rare in its intensity." Also, in 2015, Mr. McKool received the Texas Lawyer Lifetime Achievement Award for "Professional Excellence." He was included in Benchmark Litigation's listing of the "Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America," and received the "Outstanding Alumnus Award" from the University of Texas Law Alumni Association for outstanding contributions to the legal profession. He is the recipient of the 2014 Texas Lawyer "Top Verdicts Hall of Fame" Lifetime Achievement Award and the Dallas Bar Association "Trial Lawyer of the Year" award. Sam Baxter's unique ability to connect with jurors and skillfully cross-examine witnesses has helped him secure significant verdicts for clients, including four verdicts which have been recognized in The National Law Journal's annual listing of "Top 100 Verdicts." He is consistently recognized among the top lawyers in his field by many of the country's leading legal publications and rankings, including Chambers USA, The Legal 500, and Lawdragon. In January 2016, he was recognized as an "Icon of IP" by Law360 based on his reputation and success in high-profile patent infringement disputes. Last year, Mr. Baxter was profiled in Law360's "Trial Aces" special feature, which recognized the Top 50 trial lawyers in the United States. The publication noted that Mr. Baxter has a "charm" and an "ability to touch the hearts of jurors." This same year, he was awarded 2015 "Outstanding IP Litigator - Texas" by Managing IP, and included in Benchmark Litigation's listing of the "Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America." Law360 has recognized Mr. Baxter as one of the "10 Most Admired Intellectual Property Attorneys" in the country, and he was recently named the 2016 Best Lawyers patent litigation "Lawyer of the Year" in Tyler, Texas. With more than 180 trial lawyers across offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Marshall, New York, Silicon Valley, and Washington, D.C., McKool Smith has established a reputation as one of America's leading trial firms. Since 2006, the firm has secured nine nine-figure jury verdicts, and ten eight-figure jury verdicts. The firm has also won more VerdictSearch and The National Law Journal "Top 100 Verdicts" over the last ten years than any other law firm in the country. Courtroom successes like these have earned McKool Smith critical acclaim and helped the firm become what The Wall Street Journal describes as "one of the biggest law firm success stories of the past decade." McKool Smith represents clients in complex commercial litigation, intellectual property, bankruptcy, and white collar defense matters. For additional information, please contact Michael R. Coston at 212-402-9450 or [email protected]. SOURCE McKool Smith Related Links http://www.mckoolsmith.com DALLAS, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MetLoop, the severe weather monitoring technology company, is interrupting the status quo of weather forecasting by utilizing a military grade weather system; turned enterprise. The key feature of the software system is its ability to provide severe weather alerts at specified locations. The Dallas based company is also providing consumers, government agencies, local municipalities and businesses with an on-call meteorologist service that pinpoints real-time weather forecasting (30-60 minutes in advance) to any mobile device. Leading the charge is tech mogul, David Carlson, MetLoop's co-founder and newly elected CEO. The site-specific U.S. meteorological data will be available for both consumers and resellers using a rapid-deployment cloud based software-as-a-service (SaaS) business model. The new alert-based software will be provided across multiple mobile devices, scaling opportunities across multiple market verticals. The invaluable data boasts a 95% accuracy being developed from MetLoop's Weather Command Center, in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. MetLoop is launching a new consumer-friendly initiative utilizing an intuitive platform in order to inform its subscribers about any case of severe weather. This includes providing the information across all commercially available IoT (internet-of-things) devices. CEO, David Carlson, says: "We are providing severe weather alerts, that are not currently available through the National Weather Service, to the consumer and a safe network where we can actually track people via their phone, via their car, and even within their homes to give them as much advance warning if a tornado is coming. Our goal, is ultimately to save lives." MetLoop's team of software engineers and meteorologists has cross-market expertise, integrating across cloud-based software, big-data computing, weather satellite technology, wireless communications, and IoT devices. Leading the advanced integration is CTO, Richard McGee, previously VP of New Product Development and Global Operations at Qualcomm. MetLoop rolls out three new subscription-based software product lines in fall 2016, including a mobile app, customizable desktop software, and enterprise interfaces. MetLoop is working to provide the market with content on new types of technology and its implementation required to secure transmission of time-sensitive weather data. MetLoop's team has the reaffirmed mission of becoming the most advanced weather company in the world, made available in the palm of your hand. For more information on this topic or to schedule an interview, please contact Dominique, at 1(800)946-8188 or email [email protected]. SOURCE MetLoop NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Modere, the first social retailer to create a safe and forward-thinking approach to overall wellness, today announced that it has become the first company in the world with an EWG VERIFIED oral care line as part of a global partnership with The Environmental Working Group ("EWG"), a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting human health and the environment by producing cutting-edge research to empower people to make informed choices when purchasing consumer products. "Modere has been committed to providing safe and effective, clean-label personal care, household and health and wellness products for over 25 years, and we believe that our partnership with EWG will further help provide consumers around the globe with an easier way to identify products with the highest safety profile," said Vic Catalfamo, Chief Marketing Officer of Modere. "We are proud to now display the EWG VERIFIED mark on several Modere products, including the first oral care line in the world, with many additional EWG VERIFIED products planned. This is an important step toward our goal of fueling a 'Live Clean' lifestyle movement for consumers worldwide by offering product education and providing the opportunities to make healthier choices on their everyday essentials." Today's modern shoppers are more informed than ever before. They expect the products they use each day to be safe and free from harsh chemicals. According to a 2016 Mellman Group survey, 75% of Americans believe chemicals in personal care products, including toothpaste and mouth rinse, pose a serious threat. Yet every day, EWG says, women use an average of 12 personal care products, being exposed to up to 168 chemicals. These products are often under-regulated, with many containing the potentially harmful chemicals consumers want to avoid. EWG's mission is to empower people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. With groundbreaking research and education, it drives consumer choices and civic action. It is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting human health and the environment. All products bearing the EWG VERIFIED mark meet rigorous criteria, including compliance with strict ingredient standards, manufacturing transparency and robust labeling. In addition to the oral care line, Modere's facial cleanser and exfoliant have been EWG VERIFIED globally. "EWG believes that companies can and should make healthier products and be transparent in the process about what is in these products, values that are equally important to Modere," said Ken Cook, co-founder and president of the Environmental Working Group. "That is why we are so excited that Modere has become our first company with EWG VERIFIED oral care products to show its commitment to leading the marketplace and providing consumers with healthier choices." Modere, a portfolio company of Z Capital Partners, L.L.C., the private equity management arm of Z Capital Group, offers a category-leading portfolio of "Live Clean" lifestyle essentials. Its offerings include safe and effective products for beauty, personal care, health, wellness and household, which are distributed through an innovative social retail model. Modere products are offered online at www.modere.com and other Modere websites worldwide. About Modere Modere (www.modere.com) offers a category-leading portfolio of "Live Clean" lifestyle essentials beauty and personal care, health and wellness, and household products that are equal parts safe, high-performing, and beautifully designed. At Modere, we create more than just products; we create meaningful experiences. We believe modern health involves "Live Clean": pure nutrition, a clean environment, and safe ingredients across all products: consumable, topical and household. Modere brings a holistic approach to well-being and its products reflect a commitment to excellence and innovation, with tested formulas proven around the globe for more than 25 years. Modere is headquartered in Springville, Utah and its Marketing Center of Excellence and Public Relations is located in Newport Beach, California. About Z Capital Partners Z Capital Partners, L.L.C. is the private equity management arm of Z Capital Group, L.L.C (together with its subsidiaries, "Z Capital"), a leading global alternative investment manager with approximately $2.3 billion of regulatory assets under management with offices in New York, NY; Lake Forest, IL; and Zurich, Switzerland. Z Capital manages opportunistic, value-oriented private equity and credit funds. Its investors include prominent global sovereign wealth funds, endowments, pension funds, insurance companies, foundations, family offices, and other institutions in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. For more information, please visit www.zcap.net. About The Environmental Working Group EWG empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. With breakthrough research and education, we drive consumer choice and civic action. We are a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting human health and the environment. Learn more about EWG VERIFIED at http://www.ewg.org/ewgverified. Contact Jonathan Keehner / Aura Reinhard Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher 212-355-4449 SOURCE Modere Related Links http://www.modere.com Nearly 50 percent of new Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultants are ages 18-34. More than 50 percent of new Independent Beauty Consultants are Latina, Asian or African American. More than 150,000 new Mary Kay independent businesses have been started in the first half of 2016. "For more than 50 years now, our unparalleled business opportunity coupled with the long-standing success of our irresistible beauty products have appealed to women of every age and demographic," said Darrell Overcash, President of Mary Kay Inc.'s North America Region. "As we welcome women from every corner of the United States for our annual U.S. Seminar, we are thrilled to see new faces as well as members of our independent sales force who return to celebrate with us year after year." From personalized in-home customer service to instant access online, Mary Kay is making it easier than ever for Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultants to operate a Mary Kay business by expanding the beauty company's digital showcase. As one of the largest direct sellers of quality skin care and color cosmetics in the world, the Mary Kay digital platform includes a wide variety of tools and technology including the newly launched myCustomers+ app which turns an Independent Beauty Consultant's smart device into a fully functional mobile office. "At Mary Kay, we are dedicated to providing superior, personalized customer service whether it's in-person or online while also continuing to provide a variety of modernized tools and technology for our independent sales force," said Sara Friedman, Vice President of U.S. Marketing for Mary Kay Inc. "With nearly 85 million visits a year, marykay.com and Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant Personal Websites continue to give consumers a personalized, dynamic and engaging shopping experience." The Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates Mary Kay Seminar will pump $34.4 million into the North Texas economy and contribute to 2,000 jobs in the Dallas area. Seminar celebrates the success of the company's independent sales force while also providing recognition, education and motivation for the year ahead. During the event, more than $5 million in recognition prizes will be awarded including world-class travel and the coveted Mary Kay pink Cadillac. For more information about Mary Kay's company timeline, positive community impact, rewarding opportunity and irresistible products, click here. 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/20160724/392421 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160724/392422 SOURCE Mary Kay Inc. Related Links http://www.marykay.com NEW YORK, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Researchers at Montefiore, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Columbia University Medical Center, have been awarded nearly $3 million from the National Institute of Mental Health to increase the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) a medication that reduces the risk of contracting HIV. The intervention will integrate PrEP into Montefiore primary care practices throughout the Bronx, a borough with one of the highest HIV rates in the nation. "Primary care providers are essential to ending the AIDS epidemic because they regularly reach people before they are infected," said Laurie Bauman, Ph.D., co-principal investigator on the study and director of the Preventive Intervention Research Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "Our goal is to address reservations providers might have about prescribing PrEP, which include their own lack of training and their concerns about patient adherence." The selection of Montefiore Medical Group's Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) for this intervention highlights Montefiore's expertise in developing models for treating diseases on a population basis, and its ongoing collaboration with the New York City government to end the AIDS epidemic. The randomized trial will involve six Montefiore Medical Group FQHCs; three will receive the intervention, which will address diverse barriers to PrEP by: Training Montefiore primary care providers to prescribe and manage PrEP Developing a PrEP Eligibility Tool that will help providers identify high-risk individuals who might be eligible for PREP Making it simple for providers to use the electronic medical record to screen, prescribe, monitor and communicate with patients and other clinicians about PrEP Appointing PrEP "champions" at each site to serve as role models to support provider colleagues in talking with patients about their sexual health Identifying high-risk individuals in collaboration with BOOM!Health, a Bronx -based community organization that conducts HIV testing and outreach. It will link people to primary care providers who can offer PrEP. Increasing access to prevention methods in primary care is how you lower the viral load of a community and decrease everyone's risk," said Joanne Mantell, M.S.P.H., Ph.D, co-principal investigator and professor of Clinical Psychology (in Psychiatry) at Columbia University Medical Center. "The intervention will use, evaluate and enhance existing resources to achieve the greatest possible prevention impact by making programs transferable to other primary care sites." To evaluate the intervention, researchers will use electronic health record data to track the number of people screened and new PrEP prescriptions. They will also assess the effectiveness of each intervention component with qualitative studies of providers and patients who both embraced and opted not to initiate PrEP. More than 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV, including 156,300 (12.8%) who are unaware of their status. The HIV prevalence rate in the Bronx is 1.7%, one of the highest in the United States. In 2013, more than 27,000 Bronx residents were living with HIV. About Montefiore Health System Montefiore Health System is one of New York's premier academic health systems and is a recognized leader in providing exceptional quality and personalized, accountable care to approximately three million people in communities across the Bronx, Westchester and the Hudson Valley. It is comprised of 10 hospitals, including the Children's Hospital at Montefiore, Burke Rehabilitation Hospital and close to 200 outpatient care sites. The advanced clinical and translational research at its' medical school, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, directly informs patient care and improves outcomes. From the Montefiore-Einstein Centers of Excellence in cancer, cardiology and vascular care, pediatrics, and transplantation, to its' preeminent school-based health program, Montefiore is a fully integrated healthcare delivery system providing coordinated, comprehensive care to patients and their families. For more information please visit www.montefiore.org. Follow us on Twitter and view us on Facebook and YouTube. About Albert Einstein College of Medicine Albert Einstein College of Medicine is one of the nation's premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. During the 2015-2016 academic year, Einstein is home to 731 M.D. students, 193 Ph.D. students, 106 students in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program, and 278 postdoctoral research fellows. The College of Medicine has more than 1,900 full-time faculty members located on the main campus and at its clinical affiliates. In 2015, Einstein received $148 million in awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This includes the funding of major research centers at Einstein in aging, intellectual development disorders, diabetes, cancer, clinical and translational research, liver disease, and AIDS. Other areas where the College of Medicine is concentrating its efforts include developmental brain research, neuroscience, cardiac disease, and initiatives to reduce and eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities. Its partnership with Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein, advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments and therapies that benefit patients. Through its extensive affiliation network involving Montefiore, Jacobi Medical CenterEinstein's founding hospital, and three other hospital systems in the Bronx, Brooklyn and on Long Island, Einstein runs one of the largest residency and fellowship training programs in the medical and dental professions in the United States. For more information, please visit www.einstein.yu.edu, read our blog, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook , and view us on YouTube . SOURCE Montefiore Medical Center Related Links http://www.montefiore.org TUSCALOOSA, Ala., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Trucker Buddy International has selected Will Moon and Delia Moon Meier as well as all the employees for the Iowa 80 Group to receive the 2016 Gary King Memorial Award presented at the latest Walcott Trucker's Jamboree in Walcott, Iowa. Presenting the award was Randy Schwartzenburg of Trucker Buddy. The award is given to people whom have had an impact on the trucking industry and Trucker Buddy International. The Gary King Memorial Award is awarded each year at the Walcott Trucker's Jamboree and named for the Founder Gary King of Trucker Buddy. The Moon family has been involved in the trucking industry for many years beginning with their father Bill Moon who started Iowa 80 in 1964. Over the years Iowa 80 has grown into a major player with the addition of multiple truck stops and the popular Cat Scale system. The Iowa 80 Group has supported Trucker Buddy not only financially but provided the leadership of Heather DeBaille, the Marketing Manager at Iowa 80 Group / CAT Scale Company as a valuable board of director member for Trucker Buddy. "Thank you so much for honoring us with the Gary King Memorial Award! What a giant surprise for us. We've always loved the Trucker Buddy program as we think it is important to tell kids about how important truckers and trucking is to each one of us, to explain to kids that the economy is actually them, it isn't just on TV or just in Washington. It is also fun. Every kid wants to be a trucker at some point and the opportunity that Trucker Buddy gives them to actually know a trucker and see an actual semi is just really cool. One of my favorite things is to show off the Iowa 80 Truckstop. It is so fun to see their minds change and open up to us, I can only image how rewarding it is for truckers to be able to share their lives with a classroom of kids. I wish you many more years of success as you continue this important program. Thank you." - Delia Moon Meier and Will Moon, Iowa 80 Truckstop Group. Link to Moon Family's Announcement with Pictures Trucker Buddy International Trucker Buddy International, an independent, non-profit 501(c) (3) organization, often called the number one trucking image campaign in North America, has helped educate schoolchildren and introduce educators to the trucking industry. This gives them the world through the eyes of a professional truck driver. The Trucker Buddy program helps to educate and mentor schoolchildren via a pen pal relationship between professional truck drivers and children in grades K-8 as supervised by their teachers. After an extensive screening process, the professional truck drivers are matched with a class and as directed by the teacher, drivers share news about their travels with their class. Students write letters and send pictures to their drivers. Students' skills in reading, writing, geography, mathematics, social studies, and history are enhanced and learning is made fun. Since 1992, Trucker Buddy International has helped educate over a million schoolchildren and introduced them to caring, compassionate men and women, professional truck drivers. The on-going success of the program is due to driver volunteers, participating teachers and the contributions of sponsors. There is no cost to the drivers or teachers to participate in the program. The Trucker Buddy program is funded entirely by sponsorships and donations. If you would like to make a donation, click here. Trucker Buddy press releases are provided by ACS Advertising Inc and the American Trucking Association. SOURCE Trucker Buddy International Related Links http://www.trucking.org HOUSTON, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Presentation to InterOil shareholders regarding XOM Proposal posted on website in advance of conference call scheduled for 8:15 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 . on . Shareholders and others invited to submit questions for call via email The founding shareholder, former chairman and Chief Executive Officer of InterOil Corporation ("InterOil" or the "Company") (NYSE: IOC), and founder of Petroleum Independent & Exploration, LLC, Mr. Phil Mulacek, announced today that he has posted on www.ConcernedInterOilShareholders.com a presentation to InterOil shareholders and media in connection with the proposed bid by Exxon Mobil Corporation. Mr. Mulacek invites all interested persons to join a moderated conference call in which he will discuss the presentation and proposed solutions. The call will be held Tuesday, July 26, 2016, at 8:15 a.m. EDT. The toll-free number to dial in is 1 (800) 983-0345. The conference ID is 56354833. Participants are invited to submit questions in advance by email to [email protected]. Please review Mr. Mulacek's presentation, available at www.ConcernedInterOilShareholders.com. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward -- Looking Statements: This press release contains forward - looking statements. All statements contained here that are not clearly historical in nature or that necessarily depend on future events are forward - looking, and the words "anticipate," "believe," "expect," "estimate," "plan," and similar expressions are generally intended to identify forward - looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of Mr. Mulacek and currently available information. They are not guarantees of future performance, involve certain risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, and are based upon assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate or may be under the control of unrelated third parties. Mr. Mulacek does not assume any obligation to update any forward - looking statements contained in this press release. Information Contact: For additional information on this press release please contact Mr. Mulacek at +1 (832) 510-7028, or by email at [email protected]. SOURCE Petroleum Independent & Exploration, LLC Related Links http://www.ConcernedInterOilShareholders.com FT. MYERS, Fla., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NeoGenomics, Inc. (NASDAQ: NEO), a leading provider of cancer-focused genetic testing services, today reported its results for the second quarter of 2016. Second Quarter 2016 Highlights: 159% increase in consolidated revenue to record $63.1 million 158% increase in clinical genetic testing volume (1) Net income of $413,000 versus net loss of $176,000 in Q2 2015 281% increase in Adjusted EBITDA (2) to $9.2 million Diluted EPS of ($0.07) per share and Adjusted Diluted EPS(2) of $0.04 per share Consolidated Revenue for the second quarter was $63.1 million, an increase of 159% over the same period last year. Clinical genetic test volume(1) grew 158% driven by the inclusion of Clarient's results as well as a 32% year over year increase in base(3) NeoGenomics genetic test volume. Average revenue-per-test for clinical genetic tests decreased by 5% year over year to $385, primarily due to the inclusion of Clarient's lower average reimbursement rate per test in the combined test mix. Consolidated gross margin for the quarter was 45.3% as compared to 44.4% in last year's second quarter. Gross margin improved due to a 4.4% reduction in average cost-of-goods-sold per clinical genetic test ("Cost per Test") compared to the second quarter of 2015. Consolidated selling, general and administrative expenses increased by $15.6 million, or 145%, from Quarter 2 2015, primarily as a result of the Clarient acquisition. Non-cash amortization of intangibles related to the Clarient acquisition and non-cash stock-based compensation expenses accounted for $2.5 million of this increase. Interest expense for the quarter increased by $1.3 million from the second quarter of 2015 as a result of the bank debt incurred to finance the Clarient acquisition. Cash provided by operating activities was $5.0 million during the quarter. Net income before allocation of non-cash preferred stock charges in Quarter 2 was $413,000, versus a net loss of ($176,000) in last year's second quarter. Non-cash "deemed preferred dividends" and non-cash amortization of the "beneficial conversion feature" related to preferred stock held by GE reduced net income attributable to common stockholders by $5.6 million, which resulted in net loss attributable to common stockholders of ($5.2 million) in Quarter 2 2016. Earnings per share attributable to common stockholders was ($0.07) in Quarter 2, versus ($0.00) per share in last year's second quarter. Adjusted EBITDA(2) was $9.2 million in the second quarter, an increase of 281% over the prior year. Adjusted Net Income(2) was $3.7 million, a 577% increase over the second quarter of 2015. Adjusted Diluted EPS(2) was $0.04 per share, versus $0.01 per share in Quarter 2 2015. Douglas M. VanOort, the Company's Chairman and CEO, commented, "We are very pleased with our second quarter performance. Market share gains continue to drive excellent performance in the base NeoGenomics business, and Clarient test volumes have stabilized nicely. Overall, we are pleased that our revenue growth has been so strong even as we are in the midst of significant integration activities." "In addition, our Bio Pharma business grew by 30% on a pro forma basis compared with Quarter 2 last year as we work on innovative projects with many of the world's leading pharmaceutical firms. The combined capabilities of Clarient and NeoGenomics are making us a more attractive partner for BioPharma clients and their oncology-focused clinical trials. We are excited about the long-term prospects for this business, which now represents over 10% of our total revenue." Mr. VanOort continued, "Our teams are executing integration plans in a disciplined manner, and we are making good progress with the integration of Clarient. Although we have not yet implemented significant efficiency-related initiatives, we were able to grow Adjusted EBITDA by 281% and increase Adjusted EBITDA margin to 14.5% of revenue. We expect to realize additional cost synergies later in the year and especially in 2017 as a result of advances in our laboratory information system, adoption of best practices, consolidation of testing facilities and other integration activities currently being executed." Mr. VanOort concluded, "The acquisition of Clarient is clearly providing our company with many more opportunities. Clients are responding well as client retention remains strong, and the pipeline of new potential clients continues to be robust. Our ability to provide the best service offerings from each of Clarient and NeoGenomics to our combined client base should provide excellent growth potential as we complete our integration. We believe this, combined with our continual investments in new products and services, will allow us to continue our strong growth." Full-Year 2016 Financial Outlook: NeoGenomics also today reiterated the guidance for fiscal year 2016 that was released with its Quarter 1, 2016 Earnings Release on April 27, 2016. The Company reserves the right to adjust this guidance at any time based on the ongoing execution of its business plan. Current and prospective investors are encouraged to perform their own due diligence before buying or selling any of the Company's securities, and are reminded that the foregoing estimates should not be construed as a guarantee of future performance. Conference Call The Company has scheduled a web-cast and conference call to discuss their Q2 2016 results on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 at 11:00 AM EDT. Interested investors should dial (877) 407-8035 (domestic) and (201) 689-8035 (international) at least five minutes prior to the call. A replay of the conference call will be available until 11:59 PM on August 9, 2016 and can be accessed by dialing (877) 481-4010 (domestic) and (919) 882-2331 (international). The playback conference ID Number is 10043. The web-cast may be accessed under the Investor Relations section of our website at http://neogenomics.com/ or http://investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=175124. An archive of the web-cast will be available until 11:59 PM on October 26, 2016. About NeoGenomics, Inc. NeoGenomics, Inc. specializes in cancer genetics testing and information services. The Company provides one of the most comprehensive oncology-focused testing menus in the world for Physicians to help them diagnose and treat cancer. The Company's BioPharma division serves pharmaceutical clients in clinical trials and drug development. Headquartered in Fort Myers, FL, NeoGenomics operates CLIA certified laboratories in Aliso Viejo, Fresno, Irvine, and West Sacramento, California; Tampa and Fort Myers, Florida; Houston, Texas and Nashville, Tennessee. NeoGenomics serves the needs of pathologists, oncologists, academic centers, hospital systems, pharmaceutical firms, integrated service delivery networks, and managed care organizations throughout the United States. For additional information about NeoGenomics, visit http://neogenomics.com/. Forward Looking Statements Certain information contained in this press release constitutes forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including the information set forth in the "Full-Year 2016 Financial Outlook". These forward looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward looking statements as the result of the Company's ability to continue gaining new customers, offer new types of tests, integrate its acquisition of the Clarient business, and otherwise implement its business plan, as well as additional factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 15, 2016 as amended on April 18, 2016. As a result, this press release should be read in conjunction with the Company's periodic filings with the SEC. In addition, it is the Company's practice to make information about the Company available by posting copies of its Company Overview Presentation from time to time on the Investor Relations section of its website at http://ir.neogenomics.com/. Forward-looking statements represent the Company's estimates only as of the date such statements are made (unless another date is indicated) and should not be relied upon as representing the Company's estimates as of any subsequent date. While the Company may elect to update forward-looking statements at some point in the future, it specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, even if its estimates change. NeoGenomics, Inc. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Unaudited, in thousands) ASSETS June 30, 2016 December 31, 2015 Cash and cash equivalents $ 21,786 $ 23,420 Accounts receivable (net of allowance for doubtful accounts of $9,197 and $4,759, respectively) 53,513 48,943 Inventory 5,545 5,108 Other current assets 6,665 4,889 Total current assets 87,509 82,360 Property and equipment (net of accumulated depreciation of $33,858 and $26,534, respectively) 33,575 34,577 Intangible assets, net 84,164 87,800 Goodwill 146,179 146,421 Other assets 129 129 TOTAL ASSETS $ 351,556 $ 351,287 LIABILITIES, PREFERRED STOCK AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY Accounts payable and other current liabilities $ 29,616 $ 26,055 Short term portion of capital leases and senior debt 5,337 14,003 Total Current liabilities 34,953 40,058 Long-term Liabilities: Long term portion of capital leases and senior debt 56,986 57,376 Deferred income tax liability, net 16,249 15,741 Total long-term liabilities 73,235 73,117 TOTAL LIABILITIES 108,188 113,175 Series A Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock 39,735 28,602 Total Stockholders' equity 203,633 209,510 TOTAL LIABILITIES, SERIES A REDEEMABLE CONVERTIBLE PREFERRED STOCK AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY $ 351,556 $ 351,287 NeoGenomics, Inc. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (in thousands, except per share amounts) (Unaudited) For the Three Months Ended June 30, For the Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 2015 2016 2015 Net Revenue Clinical testing $ 56,316 $ 24,055 $ 110,936 $ 46,894 BioPharma & research 6,813 315 11,896 502 Total Revenue 63,129 24,370 122,832 47,396 Cost of revenue 34,524 13,557 67,055 27,040 Gross Profit 28,605 10,813 55,777 20,356 Operating expenses: General and administrative 18,779 7,075 36,785 13,598 Research and development 1,306 803 2,752 1,471 Sales and marketing 6,327 2,907 12,127 5,821 Total operating expenses 26,412 10,785 51,664 20,890 Income (Loss) From Operations 2,193 28 4,113 (534) Interest expense 1,448 189 3,040 384 Income (loss) before taxes 745 (161) 1,073 (918) Income tax expense 332 15 505 19 Net Income (Loss) 413 (176) 568 (937) Deemed dividends on preferred stock 1,840 3,680 Amortization of preferred stock beneficial conversion feature 3,727 7,453 Net (Loss) Attributable to Common Stockholders $ (5,154) $ (176) $ (10,565) $ (937) Loss per Common Share: Basic $ (0.07) $ (0.00) $ (0.14) $ (0.02) Diluted $ (0.07) $ (0.00) $ (0.14) $ (0.02) Weighted Average Shares Used in Computation of Earnings per Common Share: Basic 77,448 60,425 76,758 60,352 Diluted 77,448 60,425 76,758 60,352 NeoGenomics, Inc. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited, in thousands) For the six months ended June 30, CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES 2016 2015 Net income (loss) $ 568 $ (937) Adjs. to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash provided by operating activities: Depreciation 7,329 3,249 Amortization of debt issue costs 358 - Amortization of intangible assets 3,636 190 Non-cash warrant and stock based compensation 2,337 1,020 Provision for bad debts 5,434 1,303 Changes in assets and liabilities, net (7,567) (2,928) NET CASH PROVIDED BY OPERATING ACTIVITIES 12,095 1,897 CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES Purchases of property and equipment (3,425) (1,180) NET CASH USED IN INVESTING ACTIVITIES (3,425) (1,180) CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES Repayments to revolving credit facility, net (10,044) - Repayment of capital lease obligations, loans (2,611) (1,833) Issuance of common stock 2,532 379 Payments of equity issue costs (181) - NET CASH USED IN FINANCING ACTIVITIES (10,304) (1,454) NET DECREASE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS (1,634) (737) CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, BEGINNING OF PERIOD 23,420 33,689 CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, END OF PERIOD $ 21,786 $ 32,952 SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURE OF CASH FLOW INFORMATION: Interest paid $ 2,691 $ 417 Income taxes paid $ 222 $ 20 SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURE OF NON-CASH INVESTING AND FINANCING INFORMATION: Equipment acquired under capital lease obligations $ 2,585 $ 3,400 Use of non-GAAP Financial Measures The Company's financial results and financial guidance are provided in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP) and using certain non-GAAP financial measures. Management believes that presentation of operating results using non-GAAP financial measures provides useful supplemental information to investors and facilitates the analysis of the Company's core operating results and comparison of core operating results across reporting periods. Management also uses non-GAAP financial measures for financial and operational decision making, planning and forecasting purposes and to manage the Company's business. Management believes that these non-GAAP financial measures enable investors to evaluate our operating results and future prospects in the same manner as management. The non-GAAP financial measures do not replace the presentation of GAAP financial results and should only be used as a supplement to and not as a substitute for the Company's financial results presented in accordance with GAAP. There are limitations inherent in non-GAAP financial measures because they exclude charges and credits that are required to be included in a GAAP presentation, and do not therefore present the full measure of the Company's recorded costs against its net revenue. In addition, the Company's definition of the non-GAAP financial measures below may differ from non-GAAP measures used by other companies. Definitions of non-GAAP measures Non GAAP Adjusted EBITDA "Adjusted EBITDA" is defined by NeoGenomics as net income from continuing operations before: (i) interest expense, (ii) tax expense, (iii) depreciation and amortization expense, (iv) non-cash, stock-based compensation expense, and if applicable in a reporting period (v) acquisition related transaction expenses and other significant non-recurring or non-operating (income) or expenses. Non GAAP Adjusted Net Income "Adjusted Net Income" is defined by NeoGenomics as net income available to common shareholders from continuing operations plus: (i) non-cash amortization of customer lists and other intangible assets, (ii) non-cash, stock-based compensation expense, (iii) non-cash deemed dividends on preferred stock, (iv) non-cash amortization of preferred stock beneficial conversion feature, and if applicable in a reporting period (v) acquisition related transaction expenses and other significant non-recurring or non-operating (income) or expenses. Non-GAAP Adjusted EPS "Adjusted EPS" is defined by NeoGenomics as Adjusted Net Income divided by Adjusted Basic Shares (Adjusted Basic EPS) and Adjusted Diluted Shares outstanding (Adjusted Diluted EPS). Adjusted Basic Shares and Adjusted Diluted Shares include the weighted average number of common shares that would be outstanding if the preferred stock were converted into common stock on the original issue date based on the number of days such common shares would have been outstanding in the reporting period. In addition, If GAAP Net Income is negative and Adjusted Net Income is positive, Adjusted Diluted Shares will also include any options or warrants that would be outstanding as dilutive instruments using the treasury stock method. Basis for Non-GAAP Adjustments NeoGenomics basis for excluding certain expenses (income) from GAAP financial measures, are outlined below: Amortization of intangible assets The intangible assets that give rise to this amortization expense relate to acquisitions, and the amounts allocated to such intangible assets and the terms of amortization vary by acquisition and type of asset. NeoGenomics excludes these items to provide a consistent basis for comparing operating results across reporting periods, pre and post-acquisition. The intangible assets that give rise to this amortization expense relate to acquisitions, and the amounts allocated to such intangible assets and the terms of amortization vary by acquisition and type of asset. NeoGenomics excludes these items to provide a consistent basis for comparing operating results across reporting periods, pre and post-acquisition. Stock-based compensation expenses Although stock-based compensation is an important aspect of the compensation paid to NeoGenomics employees, the related expense is substantially driven by changes in the Company's stock price in any given quarter, which can fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and result in large positive or negative impacts to total operating expenses. The variable accounting treatment causing expense to be driven by changes in quarterly stock price is required because many of the company's full-time Physicians reside in California and are classified as consultants rather than employees due to State regulations. GAAP provides that variable stock based compensation treatment be applied for consultants but not for employees. Without adjusting for these non-cash expenses, the Company believes it would be difficult to compare financial results from core operations across reporting periods on a consistent basis. Although stock-based compensation is an important aspect of the compensation paid to NeoGenomics employees, the related expense is substantially driven by changes in the Company's stock price in any given quarter, which can fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and result in large positive or negative impacts to total operating expenses. The variable accounting treatment causing expense to be driven by changes in quarterly stock price is required because many of the company's full-time Physicians reside in and are classified as consultants rather than employees due to State regulations. GAAP provides that variable stock based compensation treatment be applied for consultants but not for employees. Without adjusting for these non-cash expenses, the Company believes it would be difficult to compare financial results from core operations across reporting periods on a consistent basis. Deemed dividends on preferred stock GAAP accounting for the unique structure of NeoGenomics' Series A Redeemable Preferred Stock requires the Company to assume that such preferred stock will be outstanding for its entire ten year term. In addition, GAAP requires that the escalating preferred dividend rate over time be accelerated for accounting purposes and amortized on a straight-line basis over the ten-year life of the instrument, irrespective of the minimal contractual requirements for "paid in kind" stock dividends in the early years. Since such implied dividends are not paid in cash, and since the Company believes that such preferred stock will be redeemed within the first three years it is outstanding, before any significant dividends have accrued under the contractual terms, the Company believes these non-cash expenses are not meaningful in evaluating the operating performance of the Company and it would be misleading to not adjust for such expenses across reporting periods. GAAP accounting for the unique structure of NeoGenomics' Series A Redeemable Preferred Stock requires the Company to assume that such preferred stock will be outstanding for its entire ten year term. In addition, GAAP requires that the escalating preferred dividend rate over time be accelerated for accounting purposes and amortized on a straight-line basis over the ten-year life of the instrument, irrespective of the minimal contractual requirements for "paid in kind" stock dividends in the early years. Since such implied dividends are not paid in cash, and since the Company believes that such preferred stock will be redeemed within the first three years it is outstanding, before any significant dividends have accrued under the contractual terms, the Company believes these non-cash expenses are not meaningful in evaluating the operating performance of the Company and it would be misleading to not adjust for such expenses across reporting periods. Amortization of preferred stock beneficial conversion feature This significant non-cash expense is also a direct result of the complex GAAP accounting requirements for our Series A Redeemable Preferred Stock. The Company believes this expense is not meaningful in evaluating the operating performance of the Company, distorts comparisons across reporting periods, and that it would be misleading to not adjust for such expenses across reporting periods. NeoGenomics, Inc. Reconciliation of GAAP Net Income to Non-GAAP EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA (Unaudited, in thousands) For the three months ended June 30, For the six months ended June 30, 2016 2015 2016 2015 Net Income (Loss) (per GAAP) $ 413 $ (176) $ 568 $ (937) Adjustments to Net Income (Loss): Interest expense 1,448 189 3,040 384 Income tax expense 332 15 505 19 Amortization of intangibles 1,610 97 3,636 190 Depreciation 3,744 1,663 7,329 3,249 EBITDA 7,547 1,788 15,078 2,905 Further Adjustments to EBITDA: Non-cash stock based compensation 1,634 619 2,337 1,020 Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP) $ 9,181 $ 2,407 $ 17,415 $ 3,925 NeoGenomics, Inc. Reconciliation of GAAP Net Income Available to Common Stockholders to Non-GAAP Adjusted Net Income and GAAP Earnings per Share to Non-GAAP Adjusted Earnings per Share (Unaudited, in thousands) For the Three Months Ended June 30, For the Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 2015 2016 2015 Net income (loss) available to common stockholders (GAAP) $ (5,154) $ (176) $ (10,565) $ (937) Adjustments to Net Loss: Amortization of intangibles 1,610 97 3,636 190 Deemed dividends on preferred stock 1,840 3,680 Amortization of preferred stock beneficial conversion feature 3,727 7,453 Non-cash stock based compensation expenses 1,634 619 2,337 1,020 Adjusted net income (non-GAAP) $ 3,657 $ 540 $ 6,541 $ 273 Net loss per common share (GAAP) Basic EPS $ (0.07) $ (0.00) $ (0.14) $ (0.02) Diluted EPS $ (0.07) $ (0.00) $ (0.14) $ (0.02) Adjustments to Loss per Share: Amortization of intangibles $ 0.02 $ 0.00 $ 0.05 $ 0.00 Non-cash stock based compensation expenses $ 0.03 $ 0.01 $ 0.03 $ 0.02 Deemed dividends on preferred stock $ 0.02 $ 0.05 Amortization of preferred stock beneficial conversion feature $ 0.05 $ $ 0.10 $ Adjusted net income per common share (non-GAAP): Adjusted Basic $ 0.04 $ 0.01 $ 0.07 $ 0.00 Adjusted Diluted $ 0.04 $ 0.01 $ 0.07 $ 0.00 Weighted average shares used in computation of adjusted earnings per share: GAAP Basic Common Shares outstanding 77,448 60,425 76,758 60,352 Weighted Avg. Preferred Shares (as converted) 14,667 14,667 Adjusted Basic Shares outstanding 92,115 60,425 91,425 60,352 Diluted Common Shares (GAAP) 77,448 60,425 76,758 60,352 Options and warrants not included in GAAP Diluted Shares (using treasury stock method) 2,297 2,826 1,951 2,609 Weighted Avg. Preferred Shares (as converted) 14,667 14,667 Adjusted Diluted Shares outstanding (non-GAAP) 94,412 63,251 93,376 62,961 Supplemental Information on Clinical Genetic(1) Requisitions Received, Tests Performed, Revenue and Cost of Revenue (unaudited, in thousands, except test & requisition data and per test & per requisition data) For the Three-Months Ended June 30, For the Six-Months Ended June 30, Consolidated 2016 2015 % Change 2016 2015 % Change Requisitions received (cases) 90,795 34,147 165.9% 179,619 65,244 175.3% Number of tests performed 140,822 54,632 157.8% 275,726 103,748 165.8% Average number of tests/requisition 1.55 1.60 (3.1%) 1.54 1.59 (3.5%) Total clinical genetic testing revenue $ 54,249 $ 22,118 145.3% $ 106,999 $ 42,615 151.1% Average revenue/requisition $ 597 $ 648 (7.8%) $ 596 $ 653 (8.8%) Average revenue/test $ 385 $ 405 (4.9%) $ 388 $ 411 (5.5%) Cost of revenue $ 29,153 $ 11,832 146.4% $ 56,921 $ 23,415 143.1% Average cost/requisition $ 321 $ 346 (7.3%) $ 317 $ 359 (11.7%) Average cost/test $ 207 $ 217 (4.4%) $ 206 $ 226 (8.5%) Supplemental Information on PathLogic Requisitions Received, Tests Performed, Revenue and Cost of Revenue (unaudited, in thousands, except requisition data and revenue & cost per requisition) For the Three-Months Ended June 30, For the Six-Months Ended June 30, PathLogic 2016 2015 % Change 2016 2015 % Change Requisitions received (cases) 14,177 17,039 (16.8%) 27,833 33,700 (17.4%) Total testing revenue $ 2,066 $ 1,937 6.6% $ 3,937 $ 4,280 (8.0%) Average revenue/requisition $ 146 $ 114 28.2% $ 141 $ 127 11.4% Cost of revenue $ 1,941 $ 1,673 16.0% $ 3,618 $ 3,500 3.4% Average cost/requisition $ 137 $ 98 39.5% $ 130 $ 104 25.2% (1) Clinical genetic tests exclude tests performed for BioPharma customers and tests performed by PathLogic. (2) NeoGenomics has provided adjusted financial information that has not been prepared in accordance with GAAP, including "Adjusted EBITDA", "Adjusted Net Income", and "Adjusted EPS". See Company's explanation of and tables for reconciliations to GAAP net income and GAAP EPS. (3) To facilitate year over year comparisons, base NeoGenomics figures exclude the impacts from the consolidation of the PathLogic and Clarient acquisitions. SOURCE NeoGenomics, Inc. Related Links http://neogenomics.com VANCOUVER, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Nevsun Resources Ltd. (TSX:NSU) (NYSE MKT:NSU) (the "Company" or "Nevsun") announces that its 60%-owned subsidiary Bisha Mining Share Company ("BMSC") will be increasing its total land package of exploration licenses to 814 square kilometers, up 1,891% from 41 square kilometers in Eritrea's Bisha Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide (VMS) District. The increased exploration license area consists of two highly prospective land packages (see map attached): 184 square kilometers surrounding the existing BMSC mining licenses ("Tabakin Exploration License"), providing continuous coverage for 15 kilometers over the Bisha mine favourable stratigraphy; and 630 square kilometers in the vicinity of the Bisha mine over highly prospective geology, combining new and previously relinquished property and the current Mogoraib River exploration license that hosts the Hambok, Asheli and Aderat deposits ("New Mogoraib Exploration License"). "The Bisha VMS District remains vastly under-explored. Expanding our exploration land package has been a high priority that required a negotiation with the Ministry of Energy and Mines for extended and improved license terms. BMSC now has ownership of all of the exploration land in the Bisha district", stated Cliff Davis, President and CEO of Nevsun. "With greater access to additional high-priority targets and increased time to evaluate results, we have added another key element to our strategy to deliver shareholder value through exploration in this prolific mining district. We are proud leaders in the Eritrean mining industry and believe BMSC's exploration efforts will deliver mining for decades to come in the Bisha District." The Tabakin Exploration License includes the highly prospective area between the Bisha and Harena mining licenses. Given the prospectivity and proximity to the existing process plant and the Bisha Mine, BMSC will be permitted to hold the land for ten years before any partial relinquishments. A number of untested geophysical and geochemical anomalies are present on this property and evaluation will begin immediately. The New Mogoraib Exploration License provides a fresh start on the relinquishment terms for the entire 630 square kilometer land package and will be subject to the existing relinquishment regime for exploration licenses (three years of no relinquishment followed by two one-year renewals with a 25% annual area reduction beginning after year three). This additional land package will ensure BMSC has sufficient time to fully test the exploration potential using the successful exploration techniques of airborne geophysical surveys followed by systematic ground and borehole geophysics which have led to the exploration success at Harena and Asheli. BMSC management have already identified one specific high-priority target where drilling will begin in H2 2016. Nevsun has funded its share of these newly acquired exploration licenses via a reduction in the amount receivable from the Eritrean National Mining Corporation (ENAMCO). This transaction, in addition to $12.5 million collected during Q2 2016, has reduced the amount receivable from ENAMCO to $10 million at June 30, 2016. ENAMCO has agreed to pay the remaining amount in two installments of $5 million, in each of October 2016 and March 2017. In exchange for this commitment, Nevsun will no longer be charging interest on the receivable. As a reminder, the receivable from ENAMCO arose in 2011 when ENAMCO agreed to a $254 million price for the acquisition of a 30% interest in BMSC. The Company has collected the principal and interest (total interest since 2011 is $15 million) from ENAMCO over the past five years. The collection of this receivable is a good example of the State of Eritrea demonstrating that it is a reliable jurisdiction for foreign direct investment. The additional investment by Nevsun in this exploration land package demonstrates our belief in the Bisha district, our confidence in operating in Eritrea and our strong relationship with the State of Eritrea. Quality Assurance Mr. Peter Manojlovic P.Geo., Nevsun's Vice President of Exploration, a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed the technical content of this press release and approved its dissemination. About Nevsun Resources Ltd. Nevsun Resources Ltd. is the 60% owner of the high grade Bisha Mine in Eritrea. Bisha has nine years of reserve life, generating revenue from both copper and zinc concentrates containing gold and silver by-products. Nevsun has a strong balance sheet with over US$200 million cash, no debt and pays a peer leading quarterly dividend. Nevsun is well positioned to grow shareholder value through exploration at Bisha and the newly acquired Serbian assets that include the high-grade copper-gold Timok Project. Forward Looking Statements The above contains forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimated," "potential," "possible" and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions or results "will," "may," "could" or "should" occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are statements concerning the Company's current beliefs, plans and expectations about the future including but not limited to statements relating to the business, prospects and future activities of, and developments related to the Company, anticipated developments in operations, commercial production, estimated future production, future costs of production and capital expenditures, mine life of mineral projects, the timing and amount of estimated capital expenditures, costs and timing of exploration and development and capital expenditures related thereto, operating expenditures, and related cash flows, success of exploration activities, estimated exploration budgets, currency fluctuations, requirements for additional capital, government regulation of mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses, title disputes or claims, limitations on insurance coverage, the timing and possible outcome of pending litigation, the timing and possible outcome of regulatory and permitting matters, goals, strategies, future growth, planned future acquisitions and explorations activities, the adequacy of financial resources and other events or conditions that may occur in the future, and are inherently uncertain. The actual achievements of the Company or other future events or conditions may differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements due to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including, without limitation, the risks that: (i) any of the assumptions in the historical resource estimates turn out to be incorrect, incomplete, or flawed in any respect; (ii) the methodologies and models used to prepare the resource and reserve estimates either underestimate or overestimate the resources or reserves due to hidden or unknown conditions, (iii) exploration activities or the mine operations are disrupted or suspended due to acts of god, internal conflicts in the country of Eritrea or Serbia, unforeseen government actions or other events; (iv) the Company experiences the loss of key personnel; (v) the Company's operations or exploration activities are adversely affected by other political or military, or terrorist activities; (vi) the Company becomes involved in any material disputes with any of its key business partners, suppliers or customers; (vii) the Company is subjected to any hostile takeover or other unsolicited attempts to acquire control of the Company; (viii) the Company is subject to any adverse ruling in any of the pending litigation to which it is a party; (ix) Reservoir's PEA is preliminary in nature and it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves; and other risks are more fully described in the Company's Annual Information Form for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, which are incorporated herein by reference. The Company's forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, expectations and opinions of management on the date the statements are made and the Company assumes no obligation to update such forward-looking statements in the future, except as required by law. For the reasons set forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. Further information concerning risks and uncertainties associated with these forward-looking statements and our business can be found in our Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2015, which is available on the Company's website (www.nevsun.com), filed under our profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and on EDGAR (www.sec.gov) under cover of Form 40-F. NEVSUN RESOURCES LTD. "Cliff T. Davis" Cliff T. Davis President & Chief Executive Officer Revised Exploration Licenses held by Bisha Mining Share Company SOURCE Nevsun Resources Ltd. David Schejbal, dean of Continuing Education, Outreach and E-Learning in UW-Extension, says, "What we know from our industry advisorsrepresentatives from such diverse organizations as the Wisconsin Department of Health to Kimberly-Clark Corporationis that health care laws, financial reporting, and policy issues are growing increasingly complex. Candidates are seeking master's degrees to remain competitive in this continuously developing marketplace." Michaela Conley, CEO of HPCareer.Net, and an industry leader that provided input into the design of the new degree, says, "As founder of HPCareer.Net, a health promotion industry-centric career advertising resource, and HPLive, an unbiased professional continuing education provider, I'm uniquely positioned to observe the cutting edge trends in our industry. A master's degree from the University of Wisconsin provides candidates with a distinct competitive advantage in our increasingly expanding and evolving profession." According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the projected job growth for the health and wellness industry from 2014 to 2024 is 13 percent, a faster rate of growth than most other fields. Opportunities for qualified health and wellness management professionals exist in virtually every sector of the workforce: service industries, manufacturing, community agencies, the insurance industry, healthcare systems, educational institutions, and more. The University of Wisconsin online curriculum prepares people for positions as corporate wellness administrator, director of fitness/wellness, wellness program manager, community health and wellness director, health management consultant, and health promotions adviser. The new master's degree, approved by the Higher Learning Commission, complements bachelor's degrees in community health, health education, kinesiology, exercise science, nutrition, health promotion, recreation management, and human resources. The curriculum focuses on program budgeting, legal and policy issues and employee behavior changes through courses in persuasion skills, strategic management, wellness law, finance and wellness. The GRE is not a requirement for admission. Prospective students seeking more information about the University of Wisconsin Health and Wellness Management program are encouraged to visit http://hwm.wisconsin.edu, call 1-877-895-3276, or email [email protected]. About the University of Wisconsin-Extension Continuing Education Division The University of Wisconsin Master of Science in Health and Wellness Management joins a growing list of online degree and certificate programs offered in collaboration with UW-Extension and UW System campus partners, including the existing bachelor's degree in Health and Wellness Management; bachelor's, master's, and certificate programs in Sustainable Management; a master's degree in Data Science; a bachelor's degree in Health Information Management and Technology; bachelor of science in Nursing (RN to BSN) programs; and nine additional degree and certificate programs offered in the self-paced, competency-based UW Flexible Option format. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160722/392321 SOURCE University of Wisconsin-Extension Related Links http://hwm.wisconsin.edu DALLAS, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NexPoint Residential Trust, Inc., ("NXRT" or the "Company"), (NYSE: NXRT) today announced that the Company is scheduled to host a conference call on Tuesday, August 9, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. ET (10:00 am CT), to discuss second quarter 2016 financial results. The conference call can be accessed live over the phone by dialing (800) 524-8950 or, for international callers, (416) 260-0113, and using passcode 9512554. A live audio webcast of the call will be available online at the Company's website, http://www.nexpointliving.com (under "Investor Relations"). An online replay will be available shortly after the call on the Company's website and continue to be available for 60 days. A replay of the conference call will also be available through Tuesday, August 16, 2016, by dialing (888) 203-1112 or, for international callers, (719) 457-0820 and entering passcode 9512554. The Company plans to issue a press release with second quarter 2016 financial results before market open on Tuesday, August 9, 2016. About NexPoint Residential Trust, Inc. NexPoint Residential Trust, Inc. is a publicly traded REIT, with its shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "NXRT," primarily focused on acquiring, owning and operating well-located middle-income multifamily properties with "value-add" potential in large cities and suburban submarkets of large cities, primarily in the Southeastern and Southwestern United States. NXRT is externally advised by NexPoint Real Estate Advisors, L.P., an affiliate of Highland Capital Management, L.P., a leading global alternative asset manager and an SEC-registered investment adviser. More information about NXRT is available at http://www.nexpointliving.com. For Further Information: Investor Relations Marilynn Meek 212-827-3773 SOURCE NexPoint Residential Trust, Inc. Related Links http://www.nexpointliving.com WASHINGTON, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The threat of devastating tar sands spills did not end when President Obama rejected the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline last November, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is warning today in a report that lays out TransCanada's reckless Plan B. That scheme calls for building a pipeline to transport the dirtiest fuel on the planet across Canadian prairies and then shipping it by tanker down the Atlantic Coast to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. NRDCwhich has called on the president to ban such tankers from U.S. waterswarns that TransCanada's plan to ship daily at least 900,000 barrels of tar sands oil would threaten our coasts from Maine, beginning near Acadia National Park, to Texas, after crossing the Gulf of Mexico, with tar sands spills that are impossible to clean up and add grievously to the carbon pollution fueling dangerous climate change. "TransCanada is back with a vengeance. Its new and equally misguided proposal seeks to build a pipeline carrying tar sands oil from Alberta to the East Coast of Canada and then shipping it via tankers to U.S. refineries on the Gulf coast for processing and export," said Anthony Swift, director of the Canada Project at NRDC. "Each tar sands-bearing tanker would be a floating catastrophe waiting to happen. "The fact is we simply do not have the tools to contain or clean a tar sands spill along our coastlines. And yet this threat is not being considered by regulators in either the U.S. or Canada. For the sake of our climate, communities, commercial fisheries and marine life up and down the eastern U.S. seaboard, this pipeline should not be built. And President Obama can send a clear message by preemptively barring such hazardous tar sands tanker traffic from U.S. waters." NRDC released its report "Tar Sands in the Atlantic Ocean: TransCanada's Proposed Energy East Pipeline," during a telephone press conference held the day after the 6th anniversary of the Enbridge pipeline tar sands oil spill in Michigan's Kalamazoo River. Even after spending $1.2 billion to try to clean up the most expensive onshore oil spill in U.S. history, miles of the Kalamazoo River remain polluted. Equally troubling, since 2010 no spill cleanup technological breakthroughs have emerged. That means that tar sands oil spillsbe they in rivers, lakes or oceanscurrently cannot be fully cleaned up. The report notes that the surge in tanker trafficadding as many as 280 tankers a yearwould send tar sands oil along a "shipping route notorious for its extreme tides, dense fogs and treacherous weather," including hurricanes. So, exposing hundreds of miles of U.S. coastline to possible tar sands tanker spills would put communities all along the U.S. Eastern Seaboardmany of which depend on tourism and commercial fishing at an enormous and unacceptable risk, NRDC concludes. In the crosshairs are the Gulf of Maine, Acadia National Park and the Florida Keys, as well as billion dollar commercial fisheries on the East Coast, including New England and Atlantic Canada's lobster and sea scallops fisheries. In addition, the report warns, sonic noise and potential ship strikes from the estimated 280 tar sands tankers plying the Atlantic each year also could harm the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale and the Fin Whale, the second largest species of whale, in addition to dolphins, sea turtles and other marine life. Finally, locking in new pipeline infrastructure for at least 50 years would enable expanded production of tar sands oil, generating hundreds of millions of tons of climate-damaging carbon pollution each year. Currently, the proposed Energy East pipeline is under a two-year regulatory review in Canada. As proposed, the 2,580 mile pipeline would carry approximately 35 percent more tar sands oil than the Keystone XL pipeline, and would be the largest and longest pipeline in Canada. The pipeline would connect to an ocean port in Saint John, New Brunswick, where tar sands oil would be loaded onto enormous ocean tankers and shipped at least 2,500 miles to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. Over the course of a single year, the report notes, these tankers could carry 328 million barrels of tar sands oil down the East Coastenough oil to fill more than 20,000 Olympic pools. The report cities a 2016 study by the National Academy of Sciences, which determined that tar sands oil, or diluted bitumen, is different from crude oil; it's heavier and there are no effective strategies to remove it from water. That led the NAS to conclude that the "properties of diluted bitumenput such spills in a class by themselves" and that emergency responders do not have the tools to clean up a tar sands spill. "TransCanada's Energy East proposal is truly Keystone XL on steroids. It's all risk and no reward for millions of Canadians and Americans, iconic landscapes, valuable fisheries and our climate," said Joshua Axelrod, a co-author of the report and NRDC policy analyst. "The first step in stopping this dangerous project is to put our oceans off limits to tar sands tankers, and the president should do that now." The report is here: https://www.nrdc.org/resources/tar-sands-atlantic-ocean-transcanadas-proposed-energy-east-pipeline The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 2 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Chicago; Bozeman, Montana; and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC. SOURCE Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington D.C. Related Links https://www.nrdc.org AURORA, Colo., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly 80,000 qualified applicants are turned away from nursing schools each year, according to The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) due to a shortage of nurse educators to train future nursing professionals. As a result, nursing education is an in-demand career that offers a high-level of job security, opportunities for advancement and great personal reward. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392639 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392638LOGO Online nursing schools, like American Sentinel University, help prepare nurses to earn the credentials needed to teach the next generation of nurses. "Nurse educators often feel a calling and are highly satisfied with their work and find the interaction with students quite rewarding. Most take pride in the role they play in preparing nurses to care for their patients," says Karen Whitham, Ed.D., MSN, RN, CNE, and Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Nursing Programs at American Sentinel University. Whitham is also a certified nurse educator and a member of Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI), Honor Society of Nursing. When Jessica Bezotte, BSN, RN, of Kenosha, Wis., landed her dream job in 2011 and began working with cancer patients at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America on the medical oncology ward, she knew more education was a requirement to advance her career. Bezotte worked as unit shift lead and says what she loves best about her job is that she gets to lead the staff, but she still gets to care for patients, "I love helping my staff figure things out, helping them determine how to do their jobs better." When her employer announced its initiative to have 80 percent of its nursing workforce become BSN educated or higher, Bezotte immediately started exploring her options. "As soon as my youngest child started kindergarten, I decided it was time," says Bezotte. With the support of her husband, she approached her boss, who was a student at American Sentinel University. "American Sentinel came highly recommended and I got a great impression from the start," she says. Jessica enrolled in the RN to BSN/MSN program at American Sentinel University. Getting it Done In January 2013, Jessica started the program. As a student, wife, mother of four, and full-time nurse, it was no small feat, but she was focused and determined. In addition to her role at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, she is a PRN nurse in the intensive care unit of Wheaton Franciscan, working a shift a week to stay current on clinical areas outside of oncology. "I worked very hard to stay organized and on top of it all," she says. In March 2016, Jessica graduated from the MSN, nursing education specialization with a 4.0 GPA. Reaching Goal: Nursing Educator Bezotte pursued the MSN, nursing education specialization to lay the groundwork to return to the place where it all began for her. "I had a great experience at Gateway Technical College, and I would love to become a first- or second-semester nursing instructor one day," she says. While her children are young, she plans to continue to work the night shift so she can be available for them after school, but in the next several years, she would love to start teaching. "I think as a new nursing student, the instructors can make such an important difference for you. Those students are eager and excited, and I would love the opportunity to teach them during that important part of their lives." Whitham notes that most nurse educators have extensive clinical experience, and many choose to continue to care for patients after becoming educators. "Nursing education is the perfect choice for nurses who like to collect knowledge and want to play a critical role in healthcare by serving as a role model for future nurses to help strengthen the nursing profession." Better From the Experience As a nurse who is committed to keeping her skills up to date, Bezotte says that the MSN was an eye opener. "There is so much happening in healthcare today, and this program gave me a perspective from many different vantage points," she says. "I think the biggest thing I've learned is the importance of research and data." Bezotte also feels grateful that her children have watched her pursue her goal. "One unexpected benefit of going to college in adulthood is that your children see you doing it," she says. "It's an opportunity to be a role model. I'm excited that they were able to be a part of this." Learn more about American Sentinel University's online Master of Science Nursing Education Program at http://www.americansentinel.edu/nursing/m-s-nursing/m-s-nursing-nursing-education About American Sentinel University American Sentinel University delivers accredited online degree programs in nursing (BSN, MSN, and DNP) and healthcare management (MBA Healthcare, M.S. Information Systems Management, and M.S. Business Intelligence and Analytics). Its affordable, flexible bachelor's and master's nursing degree programs are accredited by the Commission for the Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), of One Dupont Circle, NW Suite 530, Washington, D.C., 20036. The DNP program is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) of 3343 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 850, Atlanta, Ga., 30326. The University is accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission, DEAC, 1101 17th Street NW, Suite 808, Washington, D.C. 20036, (202) 234-5100, www.deac.org For required student consumer information, please visit: www.americansentinel.edu/doe Contact: Renee Hewitt Hewitt PR for American Sentinel University 845.382.9152 Email SOURCE American Sentinel University Related Links http://www.americansentinel.edu "We want to make a difference in the communities where our advisors and investors live and work by collaborating with local philanthropic groups as part of our Distribution Symposium," said John McDonough, Head of Distribution at OppenheimerFunds. "We are excited to partner with Boston Cares to strengthen our team while building a meaningful connection with the local community." Boston Cares helps children who are transitioning out of shelters and into homes or whose families are unable to afford basic furnishings. The organization mobilizes more than 25,000 volunteers annually in support of Greater Boston schools and nonprofit agencies. Boston Cares is a member of the HandsOn Network, an alliance of volunteer organizations working to transform individuals and communities through service and civic engagement, with affiliates in 250 U.S. and international locations. "OppenheimerFunds' focus on empowering young people creates a natural alignment with Boston Cares," said Kacey Sanfilippo, Associate Director at Boston Cares. "Both Boston Cares and OppenheimerFunds aim to provide programs and resources to help students reach their potential." OppenheimerFunds' corporate philanthropy includes a partnership with The National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath), which provides exhibits and programs that engage students to make math more fun and less intimidating and prepare them for careers that rely on it. The firm sponsors classes from Title I schools to experience MoMath's hands-on activities, and employees volunteer as guides. The firm also works with the Boys and Girls Club to provide engaging math experiences for students. Employees volunteer abroad as well through the firm's partnership with Cross-Cultural Solutions, which provides meaningful and sustainable service opportunities in locations around the world. OppenheimerFunds employees also make a difference through the Volunteer Time-Off Program, through which they spend one workday per year volunteering with a philanthropic organization of their choice, and the Matching Gifts Program, which doubles the impact of any donation an employee makes to a qualified organization. To learn more, visit the firm's Philanthropy & Community page. OppenheimerFunds Distribution Symposium Volunteer History Date Location Organization Activity Amount Donated January 2011 Dallas, TX Dallas Children's Hospital Created murals for hospital walls $10,000 August 2011 Chicago, IL Chicago Cares to benefit Woodson South Elementary School Fixed up the local school $10,000 January 2012 Fort Worth, TX USO Dallas Assembled and donated backpacks for troops $10,000 August 2012 Salt Lake City, UT Boys & Girls Club of Greater Salt Lake Built and donated bicycles $10,000 January 2013 New York, NY Breezy Point Relief Fund Assembled and donated care packages $10,000 August 2013 Laguna Nigel, CA Las Palmas Elementary School Fixed up the local school $10,000 January 2014 Dallas, TX Flood victims Provided various types of assistance $10,000 August 2014 Washington, DC Boys Town Fixed up the campus, organized donated items, created backpacks, fixed kitchens to facilitate cooking $10,000 January 2015 Atlanta, GA USO Council of Georgia Assembled and donated care packages for troops $10,000 August 2015 San Diego, CA Support the Enlisted Project (STEP) Assembled 75 wheelchairs for donation $10,000 August 2015 San Diego, CA Ronald McDonald House Stuffed approximately 100 bears for children $10,000 January 2016 Atlanta, GA Hands On Atlanta Assembled 600 snack packs and hygiene essential kits $10,000 July 2016 Boston, MA Boston Cares Assembled 30 toddler beds, 100 blankets, and 100 superhero capes $10,000 About OppenheimerFunds OppenheimerFunds, a leader in global asset management, is dedicated to providing solutions for its partners and end investors. OppenheimerFunds, including its subsidiaries, manages more than $217 billion in assets for over 13 million shareholder accounts, including sub-accounts, as of June 30, 2016. Founded in 1959, OppenheimerFunds is a high conviction asset manager with a history of providing active, innovative investment strategies to its investors. The firm's 14 distinct, collaborative investment management teams specialize in equity, fixed income, alternative, multi-asset, and factor-weighted-ETF strategies. OppenheimerFunds and its subsidiaries offer a broad array of products and services to clients, who range from endowments and sovereigns to financial advisors serving individual investors. OppenheimerFunds provides advisory services to the Oppenheimer mutual funds, and OFI Global Asset Management offers solutions to institutions. For more information, visit oppenheimerfunds.com. Shares of mutual funds are not deposits or obligations of any bank, are not guaranteed by any bank, are not insured by the FDIC or any other agency, and involve investment risks, including the possible loss of the principal amount invested. Before investing in any of the Oppenheimer funds, investors should carefully consider a fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. Fund prospectuses and summary prospectuses contain this and other information about the funds, and may be obtained by asking your financial advisor, visiting oppenheimerfunds.com, or calling 1.800.CALL OPP (225.5677). Read prospectuses and summary prospectuses carefully before investing. Oppenheimer funds are distributed by OppenheimerFunds Distributor, Inc., 225 Liberty Street, New York, NY, 10281 2016 OppenheimerFunds Distributor, Inc. All rights reserved. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160726/392968 SOURCE OppenheimerFunds Related Links http://www.oppenheimerfunds.com BETHESDA, Md., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Parenteral Drug Association (PDA) proudly announces the appearance of more than 25 U.S. FDA officials as speakers and moderators for the Silver, 25th Anniversary PDA/FDA Joint Regulatory Conference at the Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel, September 12-14, 2016. The 2016 PDA/FDA Joint Regulatory Conference will be "celebrating 25 years of addressing global regulatory strategy" with a mix of presentations by U.S. FDA officials and the corresponding industry perspectives by high-level pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical leaders. The following FDA centers and offices will be represented: Office of the Commissioner Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Center for Veterinary Medicine Center for Devices and Radiological Health Office of Regulatory Affairs "For 100 years, U.S. FDA regulations have been a central consideration in manufacturing pharmaceutical products for the U.S. market, and around the world. Over the last 25 years, the PDA/FDA Joint Regulatory Conference has grown into the key forum for manufacturers around the world to learn how to navigate these requirements," said PDA President Richard Johnson. The 2016 conference is themed, "Aligning Manufacturing Goals with Patient needs through Successful Innovation and Compliance." The two-and-a-half day meeting features several plenary sessions, break-out sessions, breakfast sessions and special PDA Interest Group sessions. Interested members of the press can request a press pass. About PDA Connecting People, Science and Regulation The Parenteral Drug Association (PDA) is the leading global provider of science, technology and regulatory information and education for the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical community. Founded in 1946 as a nonprofit organization, PDA is committed to developing scientifically sound, practical technical information and resources to advance science and regulation through the expertise of its 10,000 members worldwide. Go to http://www.pda.org/footer/about-pda to learn more. Media Inquiries: Walt Morris, 301-656-5900, x. 148; [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130226/DC66667LOGO SOURCE Parenteral Drug Association Related Links http://www.pda.org ST. LOUIS, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Peabody Energy announced today it reached agreements with three state regulatory agencies regarding financial assurances in support of coal mine restoration. Superpriority settlement agreements have been reached with Wyoming, New Mexico and Indiana, states in which Peabody has self-bonding obligations. These agreements, which are subject to bankruptcy court approval, would provide the relevant state authorities with the ability to receive cash first in priority as additional assurance for Peabody's performance before distribution to any lender or other pre-petition creditor, up to the full amount of the company's $200 million bonding accommodation facility. Each state is entitled to a percentage of the company's $200 million bonding accommodation facility based on a proportion of self-bonding relative to the company's total obligation as of April 12, 2016. Peabody's $800 million Debtor-in-Possession financing facility, which includes the bonding accommodation facility, provides financing for up to 18 months during the Chapter 11 process as described further in the company's SEC filings on Form 8-K on April 13 and May 24, 2016. "Peabody is continuing our actions to restore coal mined lands using best-in-class practices, and we are committed to our reclamation as we have been for decades," said Peabody President Americas Kemal Williamson. "We are pleased to reach agreements that provide additional security toward our reclamation obligations and look forward to ongoing discussions regarding Peabody's reclamation bonding long term." In addition to providing supplemental financial assurances to these states, the company has agreed to, among other things, quarterly reclamation activity status meetings as well as targeting reductions in the amount of bonds outstanding with the states. Motions for the agreements are expected to be heard by the court in August and are available online at http://www.kccllc.net/Peabody. Land restoration continues to be an essential part of the coal mining process. Over the past decade, Peabody has spent approximately $185 million to restore 48,000 acres. As of June 30, the company had approximately $1.14 billion of self-bonding and $320 million of surety bonds supporting reclamation activities outstanding. Due to the conservative nature of bonding estimates, the total amount of required reclamation bonding in the United States for Peabody exceeds the related financial-statement liability by approximately $1 billion. Self-bonding amounts are calculated based on a reclamation scenario that assumes the company's current personnel, equipment and expertise do not exist; the coal mines immediately shut down and third parties step in to complete the reclamation, without taking into account the expected lifespan of the coal mine. On the other hand, accounting practices require companies to account for the estimated financial liability based on the projected lifespan of individual mine plans and future costs to complete final reclamation. Based on these estimates, the company's GAAP financial statements reflect U.S. asset retirement obligations of approximately $450 million, with recent typical annual cash outlays of approximately $20 million. In addition to paying for every dollar of its own coal mine restoration, the company has paid nearly $560 million in the past decade to the Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) program, and contributed more than $45 million in 2015. AML, which has an unappropriated balance of $2.5 billion, is intended for the restoration of lands that other coal producers operated, does not reclaim any Peabody lands and was due to sunset years ago. Peabody Energy (OTC: BTUUQ) is the world's largest private-sector coal company and a Fortune 500 company. The company serves metallurgical and thermal coal customers in 25 countries on six continents and has earned more than 90 environmental honors since 2000. For further information, visit PeabodyEnergy.com. CONTACT: Stephanie Weiler (314) 342-7798 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120724/CG44353LOGO SOURCE Peabody Energy Related Links http://www.peabodyenergy.com PUNE, India, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Vitreous china segment of plumbing fixtures market is projected to dominate the raw material industry for plumbing fixtures & fittings while increasing demand in Asia-Pacific due to rapid urbanization, building renovations due to disasters and upgradations and rising construction activities in emerging economies is forecast to keep the growth steady. Complete report on plumbing fixtures & fittings market spread across 245 pages, profiling 11 companies and supported with 193 tables and 52 figures is now available at http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/634197-plumbing-fixtures-market-by-material-vitreous-china-metal-plastics-product-bathtub-shower-fixtures-and-fittings-sink-fixtures-fittings-toilet-fixtures-fittings-application-renovated-new-buildings-end-use-forecast-to-2021.html . Vitreous china as a raw material is projected to be the largest plumbing fixtures market segment in the next five years. The most common and most economical material for domestic fixtures such as toilet bowls, urinals, and washbasins is vitreous china. One of the main advantages of vitreous glaze is its ability to resist spills and staining as a result of which modern manufacturers use the glaze owing to its advantages in the wet bathroom environment. It can also be used on larger stand-alone tubs and kitchen fixtures. The various key plumbing fixtures market companies and fittings providers profiled in the report include Geberit AG (Switzerland), Kohler Co. (U.S.), Jacuzzi Inc. (U.S.), Masco Corporation (U.S.), LIXIL Group Corporation (Japan), Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc. (U.S.), TOTO Ltd (Japan), Roca Sanitario, S.A. (Spain), Reynolds Group Holdings Limited (New Zealand) , Elkay Manufacturing Company (U.S.) and MAAX Bath Inc. (Canada). Asia-Pacific region is expected to witness healthy growth during the forecast period. The Asia-Pacific market is projected to be the fastest-growing market during the forecast period. Increasing population and rising income is increasing in this region, which in turn is accelerating the per capita spending on construction. The plumbing fixtures market of China and India are projected to be lucrative due to their rising middle-class population and rising consumer spending on plumbing products. Order a copy of "Plumbing Fixtures Market by Material (Vitreous China, Metal, Plastics), Product (Bathtub & Shower Fixtures and Fittings, Sink Fixtures & Fittings, Toilet Fixtures & Fittings), Application (Renovated, New Buildings), End-Use - Forecast to 2021" research report at http://www.reportsnreports.com/purchase.aspx?name=634197 . In the process of determining and verifying, the plumbing fixtures market size for several segments and sub segments gathered through secondary research, extensive primary interviews were conducted with key people. In Tier 1 (35%), Tier 2 (30%) and Tier 3 (35%) companies were contacted for primary interviews. The interviews were conducted with various key people such as C-level Executives (65%) and Manager Level (35%) from various key organizations operating in the plumbing fixtures market. The primary interviews were conducted worldwide covering regions such as North America (30%), Europe (30%), Asia-Pacific (20%) and RoW (20%). On a related note, another research on VRF Systems Market Global Forecast to 2022 says, the global variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems market was estimated to be worth $11.08 billion in 2015 and is expected to reach $24.09 billion by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 11.4% between 2016 and 2022. The commercial building segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The North American market for VRF systems to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period. Companies like Daikin industries Ltd. (Japan), LG Electronics (South Korea), Mitsubishi Electrical (Japan), Midea Group (China), Fujitsu General Corporation (Japan), Johnson Controls, Inc. (U.S.), Lennox International Inc. (U.S.), Toshiba Corporation (Japan), Ingersoll Rand Plc. (Ireland), and United Technologies Corporation (U.S.) have been profile in this 189 pages research report available at http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/627408-vrf-systems-market-by-system-type-heat-pump-and-heat-recovery-system-application-commercial-retail-stores-healthcare-hotels-restaurants-educational-institutions-residential-by-component-and-geography-global-forecast-to-2022.html . Explore more reports on Manufacturing & Construction market at http://www.reportsnreports.com/market-research/manufacturing/ . About Us: ReportsnReports.com is an online market research reports library of 500,000+ in-depth studies of over 5000 micro markets. Not limited to any one industry, ReportsnReports.com offers research studies on agriculture, energy and power, chemicals, environment, medical devices, healthcare, food and beverages, water, advanced materials and much more. Connect With Us: Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ReportsnReports/ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/reportsnreports Twitter: https://twitter.com/marketsreports G+ / Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/111656568937629536321/posts RSS/Feeds: http://www.reportsnreports.com/feed/l-latestreports.xml Contact: Ritesh Tiwari UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune - 411013 Maharashtra, India. +1 888 391 5441 [email protected] SOURCE ReportsnReports WASHINGTON, July 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC (Steward), an employee-owned, full service independent partnership, associated with Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. (member FINRA/SIPC) announced today that financial advisor Keith Barberis has joined Steward Partners as director and partner. Barberis, formerly of UBS Wealth Management, where he managed some $100 million in client assets, joins Steward's Bethesda, Maryland office and three former Legg Mason colleagues, Connie Miner, Tom O'Bryon, II and Amy Sachs. "Keith is a quality advisor with a growing business," says Steward's Divisional President, Jeff Gonyo. "He treats his clients like family. This is a common trait of the advisors and teams who have joined Steward since its launch back in 2013. Keith also joins former Legg Mason alumni who collectively oversaw nearly $550 million and produced nearly $4 million at their prior firms. Steward and Raymond James are delighted to welcome Keith to the Bethesda team." Barberis said, "I have been watching the growth of Steward Partners here in Bethesda over the past year and was intrigued by the model. Going independent was something I had thought about; however I was not interested in taking time away from my clients to oversee a variety of office and managerial duties. The combination of Steward Partners and Raymond James gave me everything I needed to provide my clients with concierge level service as well as entertain business growth ideas suitable for my practice. Finally, rejoining former Legg Mason colleagues, Connie, Tom and Amy was another welcome addition to my decision of becoming a Steward Partner." Greg Banasz, Steward Partners Head of Business Development added, "Keith is another in a string of quality advisors who continue to see value in being a Steward Partner. We have an amazing pipeline of activity that simply grows each and every day. Our partners are advisors who are seeing opportunity in our model versus running from a firm they were unhappy with. As a result, we've welcomed new partners each month so far this year." About Steward Partners Global Advisory Headquartered in Washington, DC, with additional offices in Andover, MA, Portsmouth, NH, Manchester, NH, Bethesda, MD and New York City, Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC is an employee-owned, full service independent partnership catering to family, institutional and multi-generational wealth. For more information, visit us at www.stewardpartners.com. About Raymond James Financial Services Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. is a financial services firm supporting more than 3,600 independent financial advisors nationwide. Since 1974, Raymond James Financial Services Inc., member FINRA/SIPC, has provided a wide range of investment and wealth planning related services through its affiliate, Raymond James & Associates, Inc., member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC. Both broker/dealers are wholly owned subsidiaries of Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE-RJF) a leading diversified financial services company with approximately 6,700 financial advisors serving in excess of 2.8 million client accounts in more than 2,800 locations throughout the United States, Canada and overseas. Total client assets are approximately $528 billion. Steward Partners Holdings and Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC maintains a separate professional business relationship with, and our professionals offer securities through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. 1776 I Street, NW, Suite 700, Washington D.C. 20006 - Toll Free: (844) 801-8268. Press Contact: Gregory Banasz 202-930-6008 [email protected] SOURCE Steward Partners Global Advisory LLC Related Links http://www.stewardpartners.com PHILADELPHIA, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Leader Nancy Pelosi Good evening! In 1776, here in Philadelphia, our founders established this country. Ninety-six years ago, America's women first won the right to vote. Twenty minutes ago, we all witnessed history as we nominated the first woman for president. We are preparing to shatter the highest, strongest marble ceiling in our country by electing Hillary Clinton President of the United States. Hillary Clinton knows that this moment is not just about one woman's achievement, but about what a woman president will mean for generations to come for the dreams and hopes and aspirations of every woman and every girl and boy all across our land. The Democratic Women of the House are leading the way to unleash the power of America's women and working families in our economy, in our society, and in our democracy. Nothing is more wholesome for America than the increased participation and leadership of women in government and politics. Here, tonight, are women leaders who personify the integrity, imagination, and idealism and, indeed, the courage that will build a stronger America for hard-working families. Like Hillary Clinton, they have spent their lifetimes fighting for women and children. And in November, we will affirm the great truth of our country: when women succeed, America succeeds! Rep. Doris Matsui I'm Congresswoman Doris Matsui of California. Today, the success of women is more important than ever to the strength of working families. Women are fueling the future of the American economy. That's why House Democrats created the economic agenda, When Women Succeed, America Succeeds. We have four keys to unlock the full potential of women and working families: fair pay raising the minimum wage and ensuring equal pay for equal work; paid leave empowering women and men to balance the responsibilities of work and family; affordable, quality child care; and strengthened retirement security for women to enter their twilight years with confidence and dignity. We will fight Republican attempts to weaken Social Security. Hillary Clinton stands with us. And we stand with her on every one of these commitments. Together, we will build a stronger America for all our families. Rep. Jan Schakowsky I'm Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky from Illinois, the birthplace of Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton and House Democrats believe a stronger America means protecting women's rights and expanding women's opportunities. Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have other priorities: meddling in women's most intimate decisions; jeopardizing women's health; even criminalizing women's choices. When it comes to the issues between women and their doctors, House Republicans misrepresent, they intimidate, and they undermine. In this Congress alone, they've voted 14 times to attack women's health. Republicans continue to attack the Affordable Care Act while it provides newfound health security to millions of Americans. Because of health care reform, no longer can insurance companies charge you more just because you're a woman. And for the first time in history, no longer is being a woman a pre-existing condition! Democrats are fighting back against the Republicans' anti-women crusade. It's 2016, and America's women are not going back. We are moving forward! Rep. Nydia Velazquez I'm Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez of New York. America's small businesses and entrepreneurs have always been at the heart of our economy and the true engine of job creation in our communities. And today, more women are starting small businesses than ever before. Women-owned and women-operated small businesses are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in America today. Women of color and women veterans are quickly transforming the face of entrepreneurship in our country. Women entrepreneurs are building a stronger America every day. They need the capital to grow and the tools to thrive. Hillary Clinton has a plan that will ensure all of America's small businesses can compete and succeed in the global economy. Because Hillary sides with empowering America's entrepreneurs, that's why I'm with Her. Rep. Suzan DelBene I'm Congresswoman Suzan DelBene of Washington. Before coming to Congress, I was an entrepreneur. I know that innovation is at the heart of who we are as Americans and it is essential to keeping American workers, American products, and American ideas number one in the 21st century. A decade ago, House Democrats enacted the first Innovation Agenda. In the majority, we made revolutionary investments in clean energy development, in affordable, world-class STEM education, and in expanding broadband to rural families. And House Democrats will work with President Hillary Clinton to sustain America's lead in innovation creating good-paying jobs, powering our economy, and driving bold solutions to the challenges facing our climate and our communities. A strong America an America that's "Stronger Together" will lead the world in entrepreneurship, innovation, and clean energy. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman I'm Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey. House Democrats believe America is strongest when we have an economy that works for everybody, not just for those at the top. If you're willing to work hard in our country, you deserve a secure financial future and a strong foothold on the American Dream: buying a home, sending children to college, and real retirement security. We should be creating jobs by upgrading our roads, bridges, broadband, transit systems, energy grids, and water infrastructure. And we can pay for this progress by closing loopholes and making big corporations pay their fair share. Democrats, led by Hillary Clinton, know that we must make college more affordable and lift the crushing burden of student debt that weighs on the futures of many young Americans and their families! America is stronger when everyone has a chance to succeed. Rep. Lois Frankel I'm Congresswoman Lois Frankel of Florida. I'm the proud mother of a United States Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our men and women in uniform, our veterans, and our military families give everything to our country. They embody our highest ideals: service, selflessness, and bravery. We owe them a debt of gratitude we can never fully repay. As Democrats, we believe we have a responsibility to ensure every veteran gets the support, the health care, the education, and the job training he or she needs to succeed. And we're proud to stand behind Hillary Clinton, a candidate with clear plans to improve the lives of our veterans. Our veterans fought to protect our freedom and our security. We are a stronger America because of their sacrifice, and we owe them a strong future of honor and opportunity. Rep. Katherine Clark I'm Katherine Clark of Massachusetts. We stand here tonight because generations of Americans, across our history, stepped forward to defend and advance our democracy. In a democracy, it is the voices of the people not the checkbooks of the privileged that must drive our politics and our policies. We want the democracy Hillary Clinton believes in, one that fights to make sure America works for everyone, not just the well-connected and the wealthy. The special interests shouldn't be able to buy themselves a louder voice than America's hard-working families! Together, with Hillary Clinton by our side, we will cut the cancer of secret money out of our democracy and overturn Citizens United. What does this mean for American families? It means a stronger America that is free from the grip of the gun lobby. Ninety-one Americans are killed by gun violence every day. Republicans and the big money gun lobby shouldn't be blocking common sense legislation to keep guns out of the wrong hands! We held a sit-in, but now it's time to stand up and stand together to demand change. Rep. Stephanie Murphy I'm Stephanie Murphy, and I'm running to represent Florida in the House alongside these remarkable women! After 9/11, I left a job in the corporate world to become a National Security Specialist for the Secretary of Defense. Democrats know a stronger America means confronting the threats around the world without blinking and without undermining our values. Democrats are strengthening our fight against terror by working with our allies, not abandoning them. Democrats know we need to be strong and smart to destroy ISIS and protect America, not reckless and rash. Democrats are ensuring our military has the resources they need to do their job. And our military knows how to do their job better than anyone else in the world! Rep. Val Demings My name is Val Demings, and I'm running for Congress in the great state of Florida. I spent 27 years on the Orlando police force and had the honor of serving as Orlando's first woman chief of police. I know firsthand the tragedy that gun violence inflicts on families in America. And after 49 people were murdered at a nightclub in Orlando last month, let me tell you: our city takes it personally that Congress refuses to disarm hate. You don't need to be a police chief to know that our communities are less safe when criminals and suspected terrorists can walk into gun shops or gun shows and leave with a weapon. On issue after issue, it's the leadership of women that makes a stronger America. With Hillary Clinton in the White House and these strong House Democratic women, together with women and families all across our nation, we will show the world what this statement really means: When Women Succeed, America Succeeds! Media contact: [email protected] Phone: 215-398-5252 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160420/357779LOGO SOURCE 2016 Democratic National Convention Committee Related Links http://www.demconvention.com PHILADELPHIA, July 25, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Welcome to Philadelphia, the place where American independence began, where our Constitution was born, and home to the national champion Villanova Wildcats. Since the time of William Penn, Pennsylvania has been a commonwealth of creators. Of makers. Of builders who, every day, invent the future. My father, Governor Casey, believed that we must never forget that "the sweat and blood of working men and women who built Pennsylvania forged the industrial revolution in our country and out-produced the world." With family roots in Scranton and her many visits to the state over the years, Hillary Clinton understands this. And she will work every day to build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. But what about Donald Trump? Donald Trump says he stands for workers and that he'll put America first, but that's not how he conducted himself in business. Where are his "tremendous" Trump products made? Dress shirts: Bangladesh; furniture: Turkey; picture frames: India; wine glasses: Slovenia; neckties: China. Why would Donald Trump make his products in every corner of the globe, but not in Altoona, Erie, or here in Philadelphia? Well, this is what he said: "outsourcing is not always a terrible thing." Wages in America "are too high." And then he complained about companies moving jobs overseas because "we don't make things anymore." Really? Well, tell that to the union workers at All-Clad in Canonsburg, who make the pots and pans found in many of our kitchens. Tell that to the employees of K'NEX in Hatfield, who create toys that teach our kids about engineering and architecture. Tell that to the robotics students at Carnegie Mellon, who are building 21st century robots and cars that will drive themselves. Donald Trump hasn't made anything in his life except a buck on the backs of working people. If he's a champion of working people, I'm the starting center for the 76ers. The man who says he wants to make America great doesn't make anything in America. And it's insulting that he has no plan to support the men and women who are manufacturing products here at home. All he has are empty promises, like so many he's made and failed to follow through on before. If you believe that outsourcing has been good for working people and has raised incomes for the middle class, then you should vote for Donald Trump. I'm voting for Hillary Clinton. She believes that we need an economy that works for everyone, not just Donald Trump and those at the top. We need to commit ourselves to making good-paying jobs here at home, so that everyone who works hard can get ahead and stay there. That's why in her first 100 days in office, President Hillary Clinton will put forward the largest investment in good-paying jobs since World War II. As President, she'll reward businesses that share profits with their employees. She will slap a new "exit tax" on companies that move overseas while rewarding companies that invest here at home. And she will strengthen our economy by investing $10 billion in new advanced manufacturing jobs that can't be sent overseas. This November, we have a choice. You can choose a candidate who's only out for himself, who wants to get rid of the federal minimum wage, and who would cut taxes for the richest Americans at the expense of the middle class. Or you can choose Hillary Clinton a leader with a proven track record of fighting for an economy that works for ALL of us. If you're with her like I am, go to hillaryclinton.com and donate right now. Thank you. About the Democratic National Convention The 2016 Democratic Convention will be held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia July 25-28, 2016. Working in partnership with the Philadelphia Host Committee, the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, our goal is to make this the most engaging, innovative and forward looking Convention in history. The 2016 Democratic National Convention will leverage technology to take the Convention experience well beyond the hall in an effort to engage more Americans than ever before in the event. With the birthplace of American Democracy as a backdrop, the 2016 convention in Philadelphia will highlight our shared Democratic values and help put the Democratic nominee on a path to victory. The Democratic Convention is the formal nominating event for the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President. At the Convention, the Democratic Party also adopts the official Democratic Party platform as well as the rules and procedures governing party activities including the nomination process for presidential candidates in the next election cycle. The CEO for the 2016 Democratic National Convention is Reverend Leah D. Daughtry. The official website of the 2016 Democratic National Convention is www.demconvention.com. Media Contact: [email protected] 215-398-5252 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160420/357779LOGO SOURCE 2016 Democratic National Convention Committee Related Links http://www.demconvention.com PHILADELPHIA, July 25, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Two hundred forty years ago, our forefathers gathered in this city and declared before the world that we would be a free and independent nation. Today, we gather here again, in challenging times, in this City of Brotherly Love, to reaffirm our values, before our nation and the world. Our purpose is not to start a great nation, but to ensure that we continue in the best of our traditions, and with humble homage to generations of patriots before, we put forth two great Americans our nominees for President and Vice President: Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine! Our founding documents were genius. But not because they were perfect. They were saddled with the imperfections and even the bigotry of the past. Native Americans were referred to as savages, black Americans were referred to as fractions of human beings, and women were not mentioned at all. But those facts and other ugly parts of our history don't detract from our nation's greatness. In fact, I believe we are an even greater nation, not because we started perfect, but because every generation has successfully labored to make us a more perfect union. Generations of heroic Americans have made America more inclusive, more expansive, and more just. Our nation was not founded because we all looked alike, or prayed alike, or descended from the same family tree. But our founders, in their genius, in this, the oldest constitutional democracy, put forth on this earth the idea that all are created equal; that we all have inalienable rights. And upon this faithful foundation we built a great nation, and today, no matter who you are rich or poor, Asian or white, man or woman, gay or straight, any religion or none at all you are entitled to the full rights and responsibilities of citizenship. In this city, our founders put forth a Declaration of Independence, but also made a historic declaration of interdependence. They knew that if this country was to survive, we had to make an unusual and extraordinary commitment to one another. I respect and value the ideals of rugged individualism and self-reliance. But rugged individualism didn't defeat the British, it didn't get us to the moon, build our nation's highways, or map the human genome. We did that together. This is the high call of patriotism. Patriotism is love of country. But you can't love your country without loving your countrymen and countrywomen. We don't always have to agree, but we must empower each other, we must find the common ground, we must build bridges across our differences to pursue the common good. We can't devolve into a nation where our highest aspiration is that we just tolerate each other. We are not called to be a nation of tolerance. We are called to be a nation of love. Tolerance says I am just going to stomach your right to be different. That if you disappear from the face of the earth, I am no better or worse off. But love love knows that every American has worth and value, no matter what their background, race, religion, or sexual orientation. Love recognizes that we need each other, that we as a nation are better together, that when we are divided we are weak, we decline, yet when we are united we are strong invincible! This understanding of love is embodied in the African saying: "If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together." This is one reason I'm so motivated in this election. I believe it's a referendum on who best embodies the leadership we need to go far, together. Donald Trump isn't that leader. We've watched him try to get laughs at others' expense; try to incite fear at a time when we need to inspire courage; try to rise in the polls by dragging our national conversation into the gutter. We've watched him cruelly mock a journalist's disability. We've watched him demean the service of my Senate colleague. "He's not a war hero," Trump said. "He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured." We've watched him, with a broad and divisive brush, say that Mexican immigrants who came to America to build a better life are "bringing crime, they're bringing drugs." He says many of them are "rapists." He said that an Indiana-born federal judge can't be trusted to do his job because of his Mexican ancestry a statement that even fellow Republicans have described as racist. We've watched and heard him call women demeaning and degrading names. "Dog." "Fat pig." "Disgusting." "Animal." It's a twisted hypocrisy when he treats other women in a manner he would never, ever accept from another man speaking about his wife or daughters. In a nation founded on religious freedom, he says ban all Muslims, don't let certain people in because of how they pray. Trump says he would run our country like he has run his businesses. Well, I'm from Jersey, and we have seen the way he leads. In Atlantic City, he got rich while his companies declared multiple bankruptcies. Yet without remorse, even as people got hurt by his failures, he bragged, "The money I took out of there was incredible." Yes, he took out lots of cash but he stiffed contractors many of them small businesses, refusing to pay them for the work they'd done. America has seen enough of a handful of people growing rich at the cost of our nation descending into economic crisis. Americans, at our best, stand up to bullies and fight those who seek to demean and degrade others. In times of crisis we don't abandon our values we double down on them. Even in the midst of the Civil War, Lincoln called to the best of the country by saying, "With malice toward none and charity toward all." This is the history I was taught. My parents never wanted me to get too heady. Gratitude was to be my gravity, so they never stopped reminding me that my blessings sprang from countless ordinary Americans who had shown extraordinary acts of kindness and decency; people who struggled, sweat and bled for our rights, people who fought and paid the ultimate price for the freedoms we enjoy. I was told that we can't pay those Americans back for their colossal acts of service, but we have an obligation to pay it forward to others through our service and sacrifice. I support Hillary Clinton because these are her values, and she has been paying it forward her entire life. Long before she ever ran for office, in Massachusetts, she went door-to-door collecting stories of children with disabilities. In South Carolina, she fought to reform juvenile justice so children wouldn't be thrown into adult prisons. In Alabama, she helped expose remnants of segregation in schools. In Arkansas, she started a legal aid clinic to make sure poor folks could get their day in court. She's always fought for people, and she's always delivered. That's why we trust her to fight, and deliver, for us as President. We have a Presidential nominee in Hillary Clinton who knows that, in a time of stunningly wide disparities of wealth in our nation, America's greatness must not be measured by how many millionaires and billionaires we have, but by how few people we have living in poverty. Hillary knows when workers make a fair wage, it doesn't just help their families, it builds a stronger, more durable economy that expands opportunity and makes all Americans wealthier. She knows that in a global knowledge-based economy, the country that out-educates the world will out-earn the world, out-innovate the world, and lead the world. She knows that debt-free college is not a gift, it's not charity, it's an investment. It represents the best of our values, the best of our history, the best of our party: Bernie's ideas, Hillary's ideas, our shared ideas. Our shared values. She knows that we need paid family leave, because when a parent doesn't have to choose between being there for a sick kid and paying rent, or when a single mom earns an equal wage for equal work, it empowers the most important building block this nation has for our success the family. She knows that true security doesn't come from scapegoating people because of their religion, alienating our allies, stoking fear and pointing fingers. It comes when we band together to face down and defeat our common enemy. She knows that our criminal justice system desperately needs reform, that we need to bring back fairness to a system that still, as Professor Bryan Stevenson says, treats you better if you are rich and guilty than poor and innocent. She knows that we can be a nation that both believes that our police officers deserve more respect, support, cooperation, and love and believes that a young twenty-something black protestor deserves to be valued, that they should be listened to with a more courageous empathy, and that change is needed in our system. Hillary Clinton knows what Donald Trump betrays time and again in this campaign: that we are not a zero-sum nation, it is not you or me, it is not one American against another. It is you and I, together, interdependent, interconnected with one single interwoven American destiny. When we respect each other, when we stand up for each other, when we work together against the challenges our neighbors face be it a neighbor with a beautiful special needs child or one struggling with the ugly disease of addiction when we help them, when we show compassion and grace, when we evidence our truth, that we are the UNITED States of America, indivisible, that is when we are stronger. That is when we go from an already great America to an even greater America. When Trump spews insults and demeaning words about our fellow Americans, I think of the poem by Maya Angelou. You know how it begins: "You may write me down in history / With your bitter, twisted lies, / You may trod me in the very dirt / But still, like dust, I'll rise." This too captures our history: 240 years ago, an English King said he would crush our rebellion, but Americans from around our nation joined the fight. From Bunker Hill to the Battle of Trenton, they stood, and so many fell giving their lives in support of our daring declaration that: America, we will rise. This is our history: escaped slaves, knowing that liberty is not secure for some until it's secure for all, sometimes hungry, often hunted, in dark woods and deep swamps, they looked up to the North Star and said with a determined whisper, America, we will rise . Immigrants, risking their lives in a time of sweatshops and child labor, organized labor unions devoted to lifting the tired, and poor and huddled masses with the fiercest grit, they shouted so all could hear: America, we will rise . King pointed to a mountain top, Kennedy pointed to the moon from Seneca Falls to the Stonewall Inn, giants stood and said in a chorus of conviction that America, we will rise . My fellow Americans, we cannot fall into complacency or indifference about this election, because still the only thing necessary for evil to be triumphant is for good people to do nothing. My fellow Americans, we cannot be seduced into cynicism about our politics, because cynicism is a refuge for cowards and this nation is and must always be the home of the brave. We are the United States of America. We will not falter or fail. We will not retreat or surrender we will not surrender our values, we will not surrender our ideals, we will not surrender the moral high ground. Here in Philadelphia, let us declare again that we will be a free people. Free from fear and intimidation. Let us declare that we are a nation of interdependence, and that in America love always trumps hate. Let us declare, so that generations yet unborn can hear us. We are the United States of America; our best days are ahead of us. And together, with Hillary Clinton as our President, America, we will rise. About the Democratic National Convention The 2016 Democratic Convention will be held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia July 25-28, 2016. Working in partnership with the Philadelphia Host Committee, the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, our goal is to make this the most engaging, innovative and forward looking Convention in history. The 2016 Democratic National Convention will leverage technology to take the Convention experience well beyond the hall in an effort to engage more Americans than ever before in the event. With the birthplace of American Democracy as a backdrop, the 2016 convention in Philadelphia will highlight our shared Democratic values and help put the Democratic nominee on a path to victory. The Democratic Convention is the formal nominating event for the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President. At the Convention, the Democratic Party also adopts the official Democratic Party platform as well as the rules and procedures governing party activities including the nomination process for presidential candidates in the next election cycle. The CEO for the 2016 Democratic National Convention is Reverend Leah D. Daughtry. The official website of the 2016 Democratic National Convention is www.demconvention.com. Media Contact: [email protected] 215-398-5252 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160420/357779LOGO SOURCE 2016 Democratic National Convention Committee Related Links http://www.demconvention.com DUBLIN, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global & USA Cancer Immunotherapy Market Analysis to 2020 - Updated Edition" report to their offering. The "Global & USA Cancer Immunotherapy Market Analysis to 2020 report reveals that the cancer immunotherapy space will be a significant revenue generator (excess of $80 billion) for the biopharmaceutical industry by 2020. The market has been supported by the approval of Bristol-Myers' Yervoy drug for melanoma, BMS's Opdivo and Merck's Keytruda, . Over the next decade, immunotherapies will be the backbone of cancer treatments in 60% of cancer types. It is forecast that by 2020, Avastin, Nivolumab, Revlimid, Rituxan and Xtandi will be the top five cancer drugs. A single drug, Bristol-Myers Squibb's Yervoy, for example has earned revenues of about $960 million in 2013 and it is expected to have a market value of $1,775.2 million in 2020. Industry Experts have predicted that Keytruda and Opdivo will generate sales revenues of $2.9 billion and $4.3 billion respectively in 2019. The interest on ADCs can be seen with the recent approvals of Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) and Kadcyla (ado-trastuzumab emtansine). Currently, More than 15 companies are developing 30 different ADCs targeting both hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. ADCs represent a novel class of therapeutic agents, gaining increasing attention from both large and small pharmaceutical companies. As the ADCs carry a chemotherapy drug, they are believed to be more efficient and effective in the treatment of a disease. Due to shrinking pipelines and increasing pressure from patent expirations, big pharmaco' recognized the vaccine market as a potential resource for investors. Cancer vaccines have been found to earn a higher profit than the generic drugs, owing to the nature of the disease and the urgency in the demand for these vaccines. The global market for cancer vaccines was worth about $4.4 billion and it is likely to reach $8.4 billion in 2020. Report Scope Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) Bispecific Monoclonal Antibodies Cancer Vaccines Cytokines Interferons Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-Cell Therapy PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors Dendritic Cells Checkpoint Inhibitors Adopted Cell Therapy (ACT) IDO Inhibitors Key Topics Covered: 1. Executive Summary 2. Cancer Immunotherapy: An Overview 3. Current Status of Cancer Immunotherapy: An Overview 4. Challenges in Cancer Medicine Research: An Overview 5. Cancer Immunotherapeutic Products: An Overview 6. Available Immunotherapies for Cancer by Disease Type: An Overview 7. Cancer Incidence and Mortality: An Overview 8. Market Analysis 9. Market for Cancer Immunotherapy 10. Company Profiles 11. Cancer Immunotherapy Market Participants by Product Segment 12. CAR T Therapy 13. Regulations Pertaining to Immunotherapy Regulation in the USA 14. Regulations for Immunotherapy in Japan 15. European Regulation and Immunotherapeutics 16. Manufacturing of Immunotherapies 17. Supply Chain & Logistics 18. Pricing & Cost Analysis 19. Current Deals Within the CAR T Market 20. CAR T Therapy Company Case Studies Companies Mentioned - Ablynx NV - Activartis Biotech GmbH - Aduro BioTech Inc - Advaxis Inc - Bristol-Myers Squibb Company - CEL-SCI Corp. - Celldex Therapeutics - Cellectis - Cellectis - Cellerant Therapeutics Inc - Eli Lilly and Co. - Etubics Corp. - Galena Biopharma Inc - Genentech Inc - Genmab AS - GlaxoSmithKline - Gliknik Inc - GlobeImmune Inc - Heat Biologics Inc - Janssen Biotech Inc - Juno Therapeutics - Merck & Co., Inc - Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc - OncoPep Inc - Oncothyreon Inc - Oxford BioTherapeutics Ltd. - Pique Therapeutics - Polynoma LLC - Prima BioMed Ltd. - Progenics Pharmaceuticals Inc - Regen Biopharma Inc - Roche Holdings Inc - Seattle Genetics Inc - Wilex AG - Ziopharm Oncology Inc For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/h447mf/global_and_usa Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] 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 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com DAYTON, Ohio, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Reynolds and Reynolds Company today announced the release of the Reynolds LAW Utah F&I Library, which is a comprehensive catalog of standardized, legally reviewed finance and insurance (F&I) documents for new car dealers throughout the state of Utah. "Regulatory scrutiny will be a continuing and ever-present demand automotive retailers will have to face," said Jerry Kirwan, senior vice president and general manager of Reynolds Document Services. "In response, we've developed the LAW Utah F&I Library as one more tool dealers can use to meet compliance obligations and reduce risk. The documents in the library are regularly reviewed for compliance with the latest automotive regulations by Reynolds' industry-leading forms specialists alongside Reynolds' outside legal partners." In addition to helping to minimize compliance risk, Kirwan noted that the documents in the library are designed to streamline the car-buying process and enhance the consumer experience with the dealership. Because the documents are written in consumer-friendly language, they can help to create a clearer, more efficient F&I process for the consumer. By increasing the efficiency of the F&I process, the overall consumer experience with the dealership can be improved. The printed documents in the LAW Utah F&I Library also are available in a digital format, which can help facilitate the conversion to laser-printed transactions and e-contracting. Reynolds Document Services maintains licensing agreements with all major providers of electronic F&I (e-F&I) solutions. About Reynolds LAW Brand Documents Reynolds' LAW brand is well established as one of the most trusted brands in the automotive industry. LAW documents are available in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and have been endorsed by a number of state automobile dealers associations and leading automotive finance institutions. The flagship product of the LAW brand is the Reynolds LAW 553 Retail Installment Sale Contract, the most widely accepted document in auto finance. The Reynolds LAW 553 is available in a variety of languages and is regularly reviewed by industry experts to help keep pace with new legislative and regulatory developments. Reynolds and Reynolds was founded in 1866 as a business forms printer. Since the 1920s, Reynolds has been known as the leader in serving automobile dealerships nationwide with standard and custom business and vehicle sales and service documents to help dealers manage their operations more efficiently and serve their customers more effectively. About Reynolds Reynolds and Reynolds is a leading provider of automobile dealership software, services, and forms to help dealerships deliver better business results and transform the customer experience. The company is headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, with major operations in Houston and College Station, Texas, and Celina, Ohio. (www.reyrey.com) SOURCE The Reynolds and Reynolds Company Related Links http://www.reyrey.com TOULOUSE, France, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Moroccan National carrier Royal Air Maroc has just implemented SkyBreathe Fuel Efficiency, OpenAirlines eco-flying solution which aims to assess flight efficiency and to substantially reduce the fuel consumption of their aircraft. Royal Air Maroc (PRNewsFoto/Royal Air Maroc) (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160718/390422LOGO ) (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392450LOGO ) Thanks to Big Data algorithms, the software automatically analyses the available data of each flight, then coupled with real operational conditions (onboard weight, loading, weather forecast during flight, trajectory, imperatives of air traffic control, aircraft degradation, etc.), in order to assess flight efficiency and thus calculate the reduction in fuel use. Based on this information, airlines will be able easily to implement the most appropriate best practices to reduce their fuel consumption. The main operational actors (technical, handling, studies) and the pilots will be active contributors through a system showing detailed reports of their performance. Has the outcome of the preliminary studies carried as a part of the project, the implementation of SkyBreathe will enable the airline to ensure a reduction up to 3.5% in their fuel consumption before year 2020. Many airlines, throughout the world, have chosen Skybreathe fuel efficiency, one of the most advanced solutions in the market in terms of environmental effectiveness. This innovative software enables a reduction of CO2 emissions and fuel consumption of between 2 and 5%, a strategic expense for the airlines given that fuel accounts for some 30% of their costs. About Royal Air Maroc : Founded in 1957, the National Airline Royal Air Maroc, flies to more than 100 destination in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas, from its hub Casablanca. Thanks to a young fleet of 53 planes, the airline ensures the transport of more than 6 millions passengers each year. Royal Air Maroc places the fight for the environment among their priorities. The national airline has a huge programme of updating and re-equipping the fleet (average age 8 years) in order to offer cleaner and more efficient air travel. The fleet is equipped with silent reactors, more comfortable for passengers and more ergonomic for crews. To contribute to a cap on CO2 emissions, in accordance with European Directive (2008/101/EC), Royal Air Maroc has a Fuel Management Department which implements actions aimed at reducing fuel consumption. It launched in 2008 a huge program of transversal actions involving all the departments of the company in order to reduce the fuel consumption from 5 to 7%. About OpenAirlines : OpenAirlines was founded in Toulouse, France, in 2006 to meet the needs of airlines wishing to optimize their flight operations and reduce costs. Leveraging a team of airline specialists, it offers innovative software solutions to save fuel (SkyBreathe), manage crews (CrewIntelligence and CrewPad) and fleet (OptiFleet). Contact: Alexandre Feray - Phone: +33-531-615-210 - [email protected] SOURCE OpenAirlines CHICAGO, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ryerson Holding Corporation (NYSE: RYI), a leading distributor and processor of metals, announced that it will host a conference call to discuss second quarter 2016 results on Wednesday, August 10 at 10 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The live online broadcast will be available on the company's investor relations website, ir.ryerson.com. Ryerson will report earnings after the market closes on Tuesday, August 9. Ryerson Holding Corporation's Second Quarter 2016 Conference Call Details DATE: Wednesday, August 10, 2016 TIME: 10:00 a.m. EDT / 9:00 a.m. CDT DIAL-IN: 888-481-2845 (U.S., Canada) / 719-457-2654 (International) CONFERENCE ID: 8495461 An online replay of the call will be posted on the investor relations website, ir.ryerson.com, and remain available for 90 days. Ryerson is a leading processor and distributor of metals, with operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico and China. Founded in 1842, Ryerson employs approximately 3,400 employees in approximately 100 locations. Visit Ryerson at www.ryerson.com. SOURCE Ryerson Related Links http://www.ryerson.com RICHMOND, Va., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Unique works of art by sculptor Alison Sigethy will be on display at Chasen Galleries in Richmond, Virginia, beginning in August. Sea Core Kinetics, the sculptor's signature series, are colorful glass works created as an artistic tribute to the beauty and mystery of the sea. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392749 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392750 This link is not currently active. Sigethy's marine-themed sculptures are glass cylinders filled with handcrafted abstract glass pieces resembling the flora and fauna of the sea. Inspired by the core samples scientists take to study and monitor the oceans, the works are animated through an intricate system of light, water, and air, recalling the movement of underwater life. Each sculpture is unique, incorporating as many as one hundred pieces of different sizes, shapes, and colors in a single tube. The components inside are made from a variety of glass, some of it salvaged, and shaped without the use of molds. The cylinders that house these forms are made from high-quality extruded glass tubing imported from Germany. Each Sea Core includes a custom pedestal with light source to beautifully illuminate the glass. Sigethy was approached by Chasen Galleries President, Andrew Chasen, to display her work in the Carytown gallery and has created several works specifically for the space. The Alexandria-based artist is excited to bring her work to the Richmond area and become part of the city's rapidly expanding art scene. She says, "I've heard good things about Chasen Galleries and am very impressed with Andrew's experience, professionalism, and enthusiasm, so I'm happy to have my work there." Chasen Galleries is located at 3554 West Cary Street in Richmond, Virginia. Gallery Hours are Monday through Saturday between 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM. Sundays by appointment only. For more information, contact Chasen Galleries at (804) 204-1048 or [email protected]. About the Artist Alison Sigethy is a professional artist who works out of her studio in the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia. She graduated from Marymount University in Arlington with degrees in interior design and art history. Today, her work focuses on issues such as ocean conservation, sustainability, ecology and education. She has exhibited her work nationally, and her work has been featured in the American Craft Magazine, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Post, and USA Today. Contact: Alison Sigethy 703.980.2948 Email www.AlisonSigethy.com SOURCE Alison Sigethy Related Links http://www.AlisonSigethy.com NEW YORK, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Eaton Corporation plc ("Eaton" or the "Company") (NYSE: ETN). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980. [Click here to join a class action] The investigation concerns whether Eaton and certain of its officers and/or directors have violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. On July 29, 2014, Eaton Chief Executive Officer Alexander M. Cutler advised investors that Eaton could not feasibly divest its vehicle business until late 2017 due to tax-law restrictions related to the Company's merger with Cooper Industries plc. Cutler stated that the Company had been "well aware" of these restrictions "all along." On this news, Eaton's share price fell $6.24, or 8.13%, to close at $70.51 on July 29, 2014. 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 CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP [email protected] SOURCE Pomerantz LLP Related Links http://www.pomerantzlaw.com WASHINGTON, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of Justice's Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking (SMART) will mark the 10-year anniversary of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act (AWA) of 2006 at the 2016 National Symposium on Sex Offender Management and Accountability today through July 27, in Kansas City, Missouri. "In 10 short years, we've come a long way toward building a comprehensive sex offender registration and notification system," said Office of Justice Programs Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason. "Inspired by the memory of one amazing little boy who was taken from us much too soon, we've created something that has the potential to protect countless people across the country." More than 650 law enforcement personnel, probation officers, tribal representatives, prosecutors and SORNA registry personnel are attending the Symposium, focusing on a wide-range of sex offender management topics. The topics include: research; sexual violence prevention; campus sexual assault prevention; education and treatment; sexual violence in Indian Country; enforcing federal requirements; tracking, monitoring and registering sex offenders; and prevention, education and treatment of sex offenders. Designed to protect children and vulnerable adults from sexual exploitation and violent crime, the AWA established the SMART Office, the first and only federal office devoted solely to sex offender management-related activities, and comprehensively revised the national standards for sex offender registration and notification. The AWA also honors the memory of Adam Walsh, a 6-year-old boy who was abducted and murdered on July 27, 1981, along with other victims. "The Adam Walsh Act has helped dozens of jurisdictions build the infrastructure for managing sex offenders within their borders," said SMART Office Director Louis E. deBaca. "The SMART Office will continue to give our state, tribal, and territorial partners the support they need to keep their citizens safe." In the last 10 years the SMART Office has made great progress in implementing effective practices to register and manage sex offenders. For example: It has helped 17 states, 100 tribes and three territories substantially implement the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), which is Title I of the AWA, with many of the remaining jurisdictions adopting key aspects of the law and continuing to work towards implementation. It has improved information-sharing among states, tribes, and territories through the creation of the SORNA Exchange Portal, in which registration personnel can share information about sex offenders relocating between jurisdictions. It has commissioned the development of the Sex Offender Management Assessment and Planning Initiative (SOMAPI), which serves as a roadmap for how people should view sex offender management and prevention. It also provides a solid assessment of research and practice surrounding both adult and juvenile offender management. It has developed innovative solutions to help tribes overcome obstacles with the Tribe and Territory Sex Offender Registry System (TTSORS) and the Tribal Access Program (TAP) for National Crime Information. TTSORS is an administrative registry system and a customized public website for managing sex offender information and removes technical difficulties of implementing SORNA compliant registry system for tribes. TAP provides tribes with access to national crime information databases, which allows tribes to more effectively manage and protect their citizens by the exchange of critical data. Additional information about the SMART Office can be found at www.smart.gov. The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), headed by Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason, provides federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice, and assist victims. OJP has six components: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the Office for Victims of Crime; and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking. More information about OJP can be found at http://www.ojp.gov. SOURCE Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs Related Links http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov GAITHERSBURG, Md., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sodexo, world leader in Quality of Life Services, proudly served the more than 2,000 veterans who attended Operation Stand Down from July 22 through 24 in Balboa Park, San Diego, CA. Coordinated by Sodexo's employee resource business group, HONOR, volunteers from accounts in Sodexo's Government, Healthcare, Universities and Corporate Services business segments served lunch for the attendees as well as hosted an employment table for all three days of the event. Operation Stand Down is an annual event that since 1988 had provides services to help homeless and at-risk veterans with their transition to civilian life. During the three-day event, attendees connect with services ranging from VA health care, mental health services, court services and legal aid. In addition, clothing, meals, emergency shelter, transitional and permanent housing, ID/Drivers licenses, showers, haircuts, job readiness and job placement resources and education, and a myriad of other services were available. Bringing HONOR and Jobs to Homeless and At-Risk Veterans Sodexo joined 70 agencies and businesses providing time, service and support at Balboa Park, San Diego's Stand Down location. Sodexo has been working in close partnership with Veterans Village, producers of Operation Stand Down, to provide job placement and employment counselling for veterans in Southern California. Because of this partnership, Sodexo was the first and only business organization invited to set up a table for all three days of the event. 32 Sodexo HONOR volunteers took turns staffing the table where attendees practiced interview skills, received help with resumes and job applications. In addition to employment support, the 2,000 veterans enjoyed a hot lunch of baked chicken, stir fry vegetables and rice, prepared by Sodexo Chefs and served by Sodexo volunteers. "Sodexo has always been a strong military employer, but this event allows us to improve the quality of life for our veterans in a personal way," explained Maria Martinez Gugliotti, Sodexo HONOR Co-Chair. "We feel honored and privileged to be part of this life-altering event for our veterans." HONOR is one of several Sodexo employee business resource groups and stands for Honor Our Nation's finest with Opportunity and Respect. HONOR members provide support, guidance and resources to Sodexo employees who are current or former members of the military and their families. Sodexo has been recognized as one of the nation's Top 100 Military Friendly Employers by G.I. Jobs for the eighth consecutive year. Their work with Veteran Village, Operation Stand Down, as well as their website, www.SodexoHiresHeroes.com, demonstrates their dedication to Veterans, Reservists and Active Duty Personnel looking to transition to civilian life. Sodexo delivers more than 100 services across North America that enhance organizational performance, contribute to local communities and improve quality of life. The global Fortune 500 company is a leader in delivering sustainable, integrated facilities management and foodservice operations. Learn more at the company's corporate blog, Sodexo Insights. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160330/349448LOGO SOURCE Sodexo Related Links http://www.sodexoUSA.com "These new tools are being deployed in recognition of where innovation is happening," says Michael Hoffmann, Senior Vice President for Math and Systems. "In this age of the Internet of Things, Big Data, analytics, and mechatronics it is the multidisciplinary intersections of mechanical, electrical, and control systems that provide the product and experience opportunities the marketplace is seeking for applications ranging from autonomous vehicles to wearable devices." solidThinking's new model-based development software offerings include: Compose provides engineers, scientists and product creators with a high-level, matrix-based language and a modern programming environment for all types of math operations including matrix analysis, differential equations, signal analysis and control design. Activate enables product creators, system simulation and control engineers with a block diagram environment to model, simulate and optimize multidisciplinary systems. Embed allows control engineers and embedded developers to rapidly implement multi-rate control systems on target microprocessors through its powerful diagram-to-code capability. solidThinking's Compose, Activate and Embed are available with easy access for customers through its global network of channel partners worldwide, and through Altair's patented HyperWorks licensing model. To learn more about Compose, Activate, and Embed, register here for solidThinking's Model Based Development webinar on August 23rd. Visit solidThinking.com to learn more about Compose, Activate, Embed, and more technology offerings to bring desirable products to market faster. About solidThinking solidThinking creates, develops, and markets technology that helps organizations make informed decisions and bring the most desirable products to market faster. solidThinking software is sold and supported by a global network of distribution partners and is also available as part of the Altair HyperWorks suite. solidThinking is a wholly owned subsidiary of Troy, Mich., (USA)-based Altair. To learn more, please visit solidThinking.com. 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] Europe, the Middle East, and Africa Evelyn Gebhardt +49 6421 9684351 [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160720/391520 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160720/391521 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160720/391522 SOURCE solidThinking, Inc. Related Links http://www.solidthinking.com PHILADELPHIA, July 25, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) released a selection of excerpts from the prepared remarks of speakers who will address the Democratic National Convention tonight in Philadelphia. The opening night of the Convention will highlight the clear stakes in this election: a choice between building walls and tearing people down - or a unifying vision, where we lift each other up and work together to build a stronger future for our country. On Monday night, speakers will discuss the economic challenges facing America's families and the type of leadership our nation needs to build an economy that works for everyone not just those at the top. Excerpts from select speeches from tonight's program are included below: CONGRESSWOMAN LINDA SANCHEZ (California) " Donald Trump believes that Mexican immigrants are murderers and rapists. But what about my parents Donald? Let me tell you what my parents are. They are the only parents in our nation's 265-year history to send not one but TWO daughters to the United States Congress." believes that Mexican immigrants are murderers and rapists. But what about my parents Donald? Let me tell you what my parents are. They are the only parents in our nation's 265-year history to send not one but TWO daughters to the United States Congress." "We know our children aren't born with hate or racism in their hearts. They learn it from watching the world around them and following the example of the adults in their life. Too many of our children are watching and learning the wrong lessons from Donald Trump." "We've seen it at an Indiana basketball game, where a group of white students started chanting "build that wall" to taunt players from a predominantly Hispanic high school. This is the behavior Donald Trump inspires in our youth." MAYOR MARTY WALSH (Boston, Massachusetts) "Good evening. My name is Marty Walsh , and I'm an alcoholic. On April 23 1995, I hit rock bottom. I woke up with little memory of the night before and even less hope for the days to come. Everybody was losing faith in me. Everybody except my family and the labor movement." PAM LIVENGOOD [Keene, NH - Pam and her family have been personally affected by the growing substance abuse epidemic and are guardians for their grandson because of their daughter's struggle with addiction. Pam raised the issue with Hillary while participating at a roundtable during the first trip to New Hampshire.] "For my 50 th birthday, I got a two-year old. You see, my daughter and her boyfriend had a beautiful little boy named Francis. But they got caught up in drugs. It started with the pain medication she was given after Francis was born and it just got worse from there." birthday, I got a two-year old. You see, my daughter and her boyfriend had a beautiful little boy named Francis. But they got caught up in drugs. It started with the pain medication she was given after Francis was born and it just got worse from there." "Well last year, Hillary Clinton came to New Hampshire for a roundtable at my workplace. She asked if addiction had touched any of us. And as I told my story, Hillary listened. She even took notes. And then she did something else we don't see a lot of in Washington she took action." DEMI LOVATO "Like millions of Americans, I am living with mental illness. But I am lucky. I had the resources and support to get treatment at a top facility. Unfortunately, too many Americans from all walks of life don't get help, whether they fear the stigma or cannot afford treatment." KARLA ORTIZ [Las Vegas, NV - Karla is an American citizen but her parents, including her mother, Francisca, are undocumented and live in fear of deportation. Karla met Hillary Clinton in Nevada and was featured in the campaign ad, Brave.] "I don't feel brave every day. On most days I'm scared that at any moment my mom and my dad will be forced to leave. And I wonder. What if I come home and find it empty? I want my parents to see me do science experiments and find my rare rocks in the desert. I want to grow up to be a lawyer so I can help other families." " Hillary Clinton told me that she would do everything she could to help us. She told me that I didn't have to do the worrying because she would do the worrying. She wants me to have the worries of an 11 year old, not the weight of the world on my shoulders." JARRON COLLINS "How do you tell your kids not to be a bully if their president is one? How do you tell your kids to respect their heritage if their president disparages it? How do you tell your daughters they are empowered if their president reduces women to their physical appearance?" JASON COLLINS "Before I came out to the world on the cover of Sports illustrated, I came out privately to the Clinton family. I have known their family for almost 20 years. I knew that they would accept me for who I was; and that they would help pave a path for others to do the same. I am forever grateful for their words of wisdom back then and their unconditional support. They know that my sexual orientation made no difference in my ability to play basketball, just as someone's gender makes no difference in his or HER ability to lead our nation." JESSE LIPSON "I taught myself how to build software. When I was 26, I started my company with just $100 for advertising. Today we're in more than 100 countries and we've created 800 jobs in Raleigh ." for advertising. Today we're in more than 100 countries and we've created 800 jobs in ." "Donald, I'm also a businessman. You build skyscrapers. I build in the cloud. But it's clear you don't understand something simple about business: what scares away investment is hate. Disgusting laws like North Carolina's attack LGBT Americans are costing my state hundreds of millions of dollars. And now it's cost us the NBA All-Star Game." SENATOR BOB CASEY (Pennsylvania) " Donald Trump says he stands for workers and they he'll put America first, but that's not how he conducted himself in business. Where are his "tremendous" Trump products made? Dress shirts Bangladesh . Furniture Turkey . Picture frames India . Wine glasses- Slovenia . Neck ties China . Why would Donald Trump make his products in every corner of the globe but not in Altoona , Erie or here in Philadelphia ." says he stands for workers and they he'll put America first, but that's not how he conducted himself in business. Where are his "tremendous" Trump products made? Dress shirts . Furniture . Picture frames . Wine glasses- . Neck ties . Why would make his products in every corner of the globe but not in , or here in ." "Well, this is what he said: "outsourcing is not always a terrible thing." Wages in America "are too high". And then he complained about companies moving jobs overseas because "we don't make things anymore." Really?" "You can choose a candidate who's only out for himself, who wants get rid of the federal minimum wage and who would cut taxes for the richest Americans at the expense of the middle class. Or you can choose Hillary Clinton a leader with a proven track record of fighting for an economy that works for all of us." MAYOR LUKE FEENEY (Chillicothe, Ohio) "The last think Ohioans need is a president who has crushed small businesses by not paying them for the work they did. The last thing Ohio needs is Donald Trump ." needs is ." "Hillary's dad was a small business owner. She gets it. Hillary knows America works best when it works for everyone. And she has a plan to make sure that entrepreneurs have all the tools they need to succeed." SENATOR KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (New York) "You see, Hillary Clinton's life's work has been defined by one question: 'How we help those who need it most?' Donald Trump's has been defined by a very different question: 'How can I help myself most?'" life's work has been defined by one question: 'How we help those who need it most?' has been defined by a very different question: 'How can I help most?'" " Donald Trump actually stood on a debate stage and said that wages are "too high". Hillary knows that in the richest country in the world, it's unacceptable that a mom with two kids working full-time still lives in poverty." actually stood on a debate stage and said that wages are "too high". Hillary knows that in the richest country in the world, it's unacceptable that a mom with two kids working full-time still lives in poverty." " Donald Trump says that when it comes to paid family leave, "you have to be careful of it." Hillary knows that it's long past time for guaranteed paid family leave." says that when it comes to paid family leave, "you have to be careful of it." Hillary knows that it's long past time for guaranteed paid family leave." " Donald Trump thinks that women should just work harder because and I'm quoting "You're gonna make the same if you do as good a job." Every woman in America knows that's not true! Hillary believes that women deserve equal pay for equal work. thinks that women should just work harder because and I'm quoting "You're gonna make the same if you do as good a job." Every woman in America knows that's not true! Hillary believes that women deserve equal pay for equal work. The choice in this election couldn't be clearer." SENATOR AL FRANKEN (Minnesota) "I'm Al Franken . Minnesota Senator and world renowned expert on right wing megalomaniacs: Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly , and now, Donald Trump" ANASTASIA SOMOZA [New York, NY - Anastasia, along with her twin sister, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and spastic quadriplegia when she was born and is an advocate for Americans with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Anastasia interned for Hillary Clinton in her U.S. Senate office and on the 2000 campaign for senate. Anastasia first met President Bill Clinton in 1993 at a town hall meeting for kids.] "I first met Hillary as First Lady on a visit to the White House. I was 9 years old and I listened to her and my mom discuss healthcare and early intervention for children with disabilities. Over the past 23 years, she has continued to serve as a friend and a mentor Championing my inclusion and access to classrooms, higher education and the workforce." " Donald Trump has shown us who he really is. And I honestly feel sorry for anyone with that much hate in their heart. I know we will show each other, and the world, who we really are in November when we choose genuine strength and thoughtful leadership over fear and division. Donald Trump doesn't see me, he doesn't hear me, and he definitely doesn't speak for me." EVA LONGORIA "I'm a ninth generation American from a small town in South Texas . And if you know your history, Texas used to be part of Mexico . My family never crossed a border. The border crossed us." . And if you know your history, used to be part of . My family never crossed a border. The border crossed us." " When Donald Trump calls us criminals and rapists, he is insulting American families. My father isn't a criminal or a rapist. In fact, he's a veteran" "Hillary's been fighting for us for decades. Now it's time to fight for her!" SENATOR CORY BOOKER (New Jersey) "This is the high call of patriotism. Patriotism is love of country. But you can't love your country without loving your countrymen and countrywomen. We don't always have to agree, but we must empower each other, we must find the common ground, we must build bridges across our differences to pursue the common good. We can't devolve into a nation where our highest aspiration is that we just tolerate each other. We are not called to be a nation of tolerance. We are called to be a nation of love" "We have a presidential nominee in Hillary Clinton who knows that, in a time of stunningly wide disparities of wealth in our nation, America's greatness must not be measured by how many millionaires and billionaires we have, but by how few people we have living in poverty." who knows that, in a time of stunningly wide disparities of wealth in our nation, America's greatness must not be measured by how many millionaires and billionaires we have, but by how few people we have living in poverty." "Hillary knows when workers make a fair wage, it doesn't just help their families, it builds a stronger, more durable economy that expands opportunity and makes all Americans wealthier." "She knows that in a global knowledge-based economy, the country that out-educates the world will out-earn the world, out-innovate the world, and lead the world." "She knows that debt-free college is not a gift, it's not a charity, it's an investment. It represents the best of our values, the best of our history, the best of our party: Bernie's ideas, Hillary's ideas, our shared ideas. Our shared values." " Hillary Clinton knows what Donald Trump betrays time and again in this campaign: that we are not a zero sum nation, it is not you or me, it is not one American against another. It is you and I together, interdependent, interconnected with one single interwoven American destiny." CHERYL LANKFORD [San Antonio, TX - Cheryl Lankford heads up the local chapter of Gold Star Wives. Her husband, Jonathan M. Lankford, a command sergeant major in the Army, died in Baghdad in September 2007. In 2009, Lankford signed up for Trump University to find a way to get back on her feet. She said she spent $35,000 from an Army insurance payment to learn Mr. Trump's secrets, and has nothing to show for it. She is a big Hillary Clinton supporter and called her a "hero." Her story was previously reported in the New York Times. Ms. Lankford developed a business in her husband's honor, Lankford Land Development, LLC.] "You just saw what happened to me. How Trump University cheated me out of the money I received after my husband's death. How they broke their promises. How they stopped taking my calls. How the whole thing was a lie" " Donald Trump made big promises about Trump University. And I was fooled into believing him. Now he's making big promises about America. Please don't make the same mistake." CONGRESSMAN JOSEPH KENNEDY (Massachusetts) "First day of law school. First class. The goal: escape unscathed. Three seconds in, I get the first question: 'Mr Kennedy, what is the definition of assumpsit?' 'Uhhh' 'Mr Kennedy, you realize that assumpsit was the first word in your reading?' 'Yes. I circled it because I didn't know what it meant.' 'Mr. Kennedy, do you own a dictionary? That's what people use when they don't know a word.' I never showed up unprepared for Professor Elizabeth Warren again." SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN (Massachusetts) "Trump thinks he can win votes by fanning the flames of fear and hatred. By turning neighbor against neighbor. By persuading you that the real problem in America is your fellow Americans people who don't look like you, or don't talk like you, or don't worship like you That's Donald Trump's America. An America of fear and hate. An America where we all break apart. Whites against Blacks and Latinos. Christians against Muslims and Jews. Straight against gay. Everyone against immigrants. Race, religion, heritage, gender the more factions the better. America. An America of fear and hate. An America where we all break apart. Whites against Blacks and Latinos. Christians against Muslims and Jews. Straight against gay. Everyone against immigrants. Race, religion, heritage, gender the more factions the better. But ask yourself this. When white workers in Ohio are pitted against black workers in North Carolina , or Latino workers in Florida who really benefits? are pitted against black workers in , or Latino workers in who really benefits? Divide and Conquer is an old story in America. Dr. Martin Luther King knew it. After his march from Selma to Montgomery , he spoke of how segregation was created to keep people divided. Instead of higher wages for workers, Dr. King described how poor whites in the South were fed Jim Crow , which told a poor white worker that, quote, "no matter how bad off he was, at least he was a white man, better than the black man." Racial hatred was part of keeping the powerful on top. When we turn on each other, bankers can run our economy for Wall Street, oil companies can fight off clean energy, and giant corporations can ship the last good jobs overseas. When we turn on each other, we can't unite to fight back against a rigged system. Well, I've got news for Donald Trump . The American people are not falling for it! About the Democratic National Convention The 2016 Democratic Convention will be held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia July 25-28, 2016. Working in partnership with the Philadelphia Host Committee, the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, our goal is to make this the most engaging, innovative and forward looking Convention in history. The 2016 Democratic National Convention will leverage technology to take the Convention experience well beyond the hall in an effort to engage more Americans than ever before in the event. With the birthplace of American Democracy as a backdrop, the 2016 convention in Philadelphia will highlight our shared Democratic values and help put the Democratic nominee on a path to victory. The Democratic Convention is the formal nominating event for the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President. At the Convention, the Democratic Party also adopts the official Democratic Party platform as well as the rules and procedures governing party activities including the nomination process for presidential candidates in the next election cycle. The CEO for the 2016 Democratic National Convention is Reverend Leah D. Daughtry. The official website of the 2016 Democratic National Convention is www.demconvention.com. Media contact: [email protected] Phone: 215-398-5252 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160420/357779LOGO SOURCE 2016 Democratic National Convention Committee Related Links http://www.demconvention.com NEW YORK, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Stroz Friedberg's Electronic Discovery and Disclosure business today announced significant enhancements to its Managed Services solution, a single platform that manages and automates legal discovery projects across all stages of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM). The newly released Managed Services solution fully integrates tracking legal hold and data collections efforts to the existing data processing, review and budget forecasting capabilities, bringing together the full spectrum of the EDRM process. "In-house and outside counsel struggle to manage what they cannot measure," said Stephen Whetstone, Executive Managing Director and Leader of Stroz Friedberg's Electronic Discovery and Disclosure practice. "They must deal with disparate point technologies, service offerings, and data sets, leading to unpredictable costs, missed deadlines, and critical mistakes. Our Managed Services offering tackles these issues head-on by seamlessly tracking client project data and spend across EDRM stages and technologies in real time alleviating eDiscovery's most chronic pain. No other solution manages eDiscovery data volumes and expenses like it." The new legal hold capability, delivered through a partnership with Zapproved's award-winning Legal Hold Pro, effectively improves the ability of in-house and external legal teams to identify and preserve data through automating legal hold notification, collection request tracking, and terminated employee data preservation. The new collections capability leverages Stroz Friedberg's existing expertise in digital forensics, and provides clients with the earliest possible insight into data volumes and cost forecasts for a forensics project, tracking both Stroz Friedberg-conducted collections activities and external forensic efforts. The collections dashboard provides detailed data metrics and coordinated infographics by project and custodian, and unifies that critical information with prior preservation and subsequent processing and review efforts. "We are excited to work with Stroz Friedberg in order to tap our industry leading Legal Hold Pro software to provide critical status information on litigation holds to the Managed Services platform," said Brad Harris, Vice President of Products at Zapproved. "This extensive platform will now span the EDRM, giving clients more transparency and control over their litigation response process by monitoring and auditing preservation efforts." About Stroz Friedberg eDiscovery Managed Services: Stroz Friedberg eDiscovery Managed Services is an integrated eDiscovery platform that reduces the complexity associated with multi-vendor eDiscovery, providing companies 24/7 with a comprehensive matter management resource that facilitates better and earlier decision-making. It includes real-time reporting, interactive infographics, and metrics. Global professional services are available to consult on evolving needs. Clients deploy eDiscovery Managed Services across a variety of industries including banking and finance, oil and gas, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and securities firms. Stroz Friedberg, LLC Founded in 2000, Stroz Friedberg is a specialized risk management firm built to help clients solve the complex challenges prevalent in today's digital, connected, and regulated business world. A global leader in the fields of cybersecurity, with leading experts in digital forensics, incident response, and security science; investigations; eDiscovery; and due diligence, Stroz Friedberg works to maximize the health of an organization, ensuring its longevity, protection and resilience. With thirteen offices across nine U.S. cities, London, Zurich, Dubai, and Hong Kong, Stroz Friedberg serves Fortune 100 companies, 80% of the AmLaw 100, and the Top 20 UK law firms. Learn more at www.strozfriedberg.com. Zapproved Founded in 2008 in Portland, Ore., Zapproved Inc. is a pioneer in developing cloud-hosted software for corporate legal departments. The Z-Discovery Platform returns power to in-house corporate legal teams and helps them navigate electronic discovery with minimal risk and cost, and it sets new standards for scalability and intuitive design. The company's flagship product, Legal Hold Pro, is widely adopted by Fortune 500 and Global 2000 corporations and has earned recognition as the Best E-Discovery Legal Hold Product at the 2015 and 2016 Legaltech News Innovation Awards, in the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Best of the National Law Journal and the 2013 and 2014 Best of Legal Times. Zapproved was recognized in the 2014 Inc. 500 as one of the fastest growing private companies in the U.S. and was named as a "vendor to watch" in the 2015 Gartner Magic Quadrant for E-Discovery. Notes to Editors: Stroz Friedberg Managed Services 1.0 Managed Services solution 1.0, released in early 2016, enabled enterprises and law firms to track and monitor highly variable legal discovery data sets across multiple matters, in real time on a dashboard. Managed Services solution 1.0 also enabled clients to model data processing and review cost scenarios, and measure actual results against estimates. Stroz Friedberg Managed Services 1.5 The new Managed Services solution 1.5 includes additional dashboard to enable tracking of legal hold and data collections efforts across multiple matters, bringing together the full spectrum of the EDRM process. Stroz Friedberg has partnered with Zapproved to integrate Legal Hold Pro directly into the Managed Services dashboard. Contact: Stroz Friedberg Carolyn Vadino [email protected] +1-646-524-8454 SOURCE Stroz Friedberg Related Links http://www.strozfriedberg.com BETHESDA, Md., July 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Concerned about Brexit, a tepid domestic economy and continued sluggishness in the global economy, American companies in the second quarter of 2016 returned to accumulating cash at a fast pace, according to the AFP Corporate Cash Indicators (AFP CCI). In fact, American firms accumulated short-term corporate cash balances at a far quicker pace during the second quarter of 2016 than in the previous quarter. The quarter-over-quarter index surged 9 points to +8, signaling a significant softening in organizations' business confidence. The year-over-year indicator increased by 4 points to +14, suggesting that organizations continue to focus on building their cash reserves. For any media queries, please contact Melissa Rawak at [email protected]. To access the CCI for this quarter and analysis please visit www.afponline.org/CCI. Published each fiscal quarter by the Association for Financial Professionals, the AFP CCI measures changes in corporate cash holdings quarter-to-quarter and year-over-year, as well as the expected change in short-term investment and cash accumulation in the coming quarter. Finance professionals anticipate that cash accumulation will continue at an accelerated pace through the summer. The forward looking indicator measuring expectations for changes in cash holdings during the third quarter of 2016 increased from a reading of +7 to +16, the highest reading since July 2011 and the second highest reading since AFP began tracking this data in January 2011. "The July CCI shows that corporates have stepped on the brakes amid growing economic and political uncertainty and are expecting to accumulate more cash in the quarter," said AFP President and CEO Jim Kaitz. "Unless there is a clear opportunity, organizations will remain reluctant to deploy their cash." The CCI measure for short-term investment aggressiveness indicated a slightly more conservative investment posture as compared to last quarter, decreasing from a reading of +1 to -1 during the second quarter of 2016. July 2016 AFP Corporate Cash Indicators ------------------------------------------ Change in cash and short-term investment holdings (over past quarter): 2Q16 v. 1Q16 = +8 Change in cash and short-term investment holdings in the past year: 2Q16 v. 2Q15 = +14 Expected change in cash holdings during 3Q16 = +16 Aggressiveness of short-term investments = -1 The indicators measure recent and anticipated changes in corporate cash balances by calculating increase percentage minus decrease percentage. Each quarter, AFP asks select members representing a broad cross section of U.S. businesses the same questions: whether their company's short-term holdings increased or decreased in the past year and past quarter; whether investment selections for those holdings changed; and whether they expect cash holdings to increase or decrease in the coming quarter. Participants manage their companies' cash and short-term investment portfolios and are fully aware of their companies' liquidity needs and business strategies. Since corporate decisions to grow/shrink the size of cash and short-term investment portfolios reflect their business outlook and direction, changes reported by this broad group of companies are indicators of economic activity. AFP began collecting quarterly data in January 2011 and has now collected 23 data sets. See www.afponline.org/CCI for answers to frequently asked questions. The next set is slated to be published October 31, 2016. ABOUT AFP Headquartered outside Washington, D.C., the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) is the professional society that represents finance executives globally. AFP established and administers the Certified Treasury Professional and Certified Corporate FP&A Professional credentials, which set standards of excellence in finance. The quarterly AFP Corporate Cash Indicators serve as a bellwether of economic growth. The AFP Annual Conference is the largest networking event for corporate finance professionals in the world. SOURCE Association for Financial Professionals Related Links http://www.AFPonline.org BELOIT, Wis., July 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- FatWallet.com, the savings resource for millions of online deal hunters, announced results of its annual Back-to-School Survey (*Survata), which reveals 9 in 10 parents plan to spend the same or more than last year when shopping for back-to-school items. More than half of parents said they will shop for back-to-school needs online versus in-store, and 4 in 10 said lowest price is the most important factor when buying school supplies. Nearly two-thirds of parents said back-to-school prices are best in July and August, but more than 2 in 10 said prices are best after school starts. Most notably, 70% of parents said they now buy more, or most, K-12 school supplies compared to years past due to increasing budget cuts at their children's schools. 2016 Back to School Shopping Survey reports parents' spending habits and concerns - via fatwallet.com Key Survey Results : Up from 2015, 91% of parents will spend the same or more on their children's school needs this year, and 52% will buy back-to-school items online (11% from retail web sites, 13% from deal and coupon sites and 28% from online marketplace sites like Amazon and eBay). More than half of parents (57%) will use their smartphones to shop for back to school, 32% will make mobile purchases, while 25% will use their smartphones to just research and compare prices. 4 in 10 said "lowest price" is the most important factor when buying school supplies, 26% said "product quality" was most important, 18% said "wide selection" and 15% said "available discounts and coupons." Nearly two-thirds of parents said back-to-school prices are best in August (42%) and July (22%), while more than 2 in 10 (21%) said the best back-to-school deals happen after school starts. Compared to past years, 70% of parents said they now buy more, or most, of school supplies (40% said they now buy "a little more supplies" and 30% said they now buy the "majority of school supplies"). 28% of parents will buy new laptops and/or smartphones this year for their children, while only 20% of parents said schools do not supply some form of laptops or tablets in the classroom (32% said they're supplied in all grades). FatWallet has launched a Back to School buying guide that aggregates hundreds of the best deals for school supplies, kids clothing and student computer needs from dozens of top retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, Dell, Microsoft, Office Depot and Verizon. The deal site will also provide comprehensive resources to help parents find the biggest back-to-school savings opportunities, including a 2016 Tax Holiday schedule, a comprehensive laptop buying guide, 2016 student discounts guide, 2016 teacher discounts guide and a special Twitter Chat event on July 27 that will connect parents from across the country. "Families are feeling the pinch of taking on more school supply expenses, so every savings opportunity can be a windfall," stated Brent Shelton, online shopping expert with FatWallet. "The team at FatWallet is focused on providing smart resources to help parents vet out these opportunities so they can quickly make the good purchasing decisions." See FULL RESULTS of 2016 Back-to-School Shopping Survey, including an INFOGRAPHIC and shopping behavior and concerns for parents planning to purchase laptops and smartphones for their kids. Back to School Shopping Resources : About: FatWallet is a smart resource for millions of online and mobile shoppers to find and share thousands of current coupons and deals from more than 2,000 retailers, like Kohl's, Amazon, Walmart and Ebay. The much-celebrated FatWallet forums represent the pulse of an evolving online and mobile marketplace where the savviest deal hunters in the world gather to share and learn about ways to save money on everyday needs, wants and personal finance decisions. *This survey was commissioned by FatWallet and conducted online by Survata. Survata interviewed 1001 American adults with children in school (K-12) in July 2016. Additional methodology can be found at survata.com/methodology. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160724/392397 SOURCE FatWallet NEW YORK, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Susquehanna Financial Group, LLLP (SFG), the institutional broker-dealer member of the Susquehanna International Group of Companies (SIG), announced today that Ali Faghri has joined the firm as the senior analyst covering the Hardline Retail industry. Mr. Faghri will be based out of SFG's New York office. "Ali's years of research experience in the automotive sector gives him a unique perspective relative to hardline retail that has differentiated him in the marketplace and we look to build on that foundation here at SFG," stated Nick Wood, SFG's Co-Head of Equities. "This expands our consumer vertical and will serve to extend our client reach." "Ali is quickly establishing himself in the retail hardline sector and we think his approach and energy fit our department well," said Akir Gutierrez, SFG's Director of Research. Ali was most recently at Sterne Agee CRT where he launched as Senior Analyst on the Automotive Retailing sector in 2014, and was part of the Automotive sector coverage team since 2011. Prior to that he was a financial analyst at S.A.C. Capital Advisors; and associated with Tudor Investment Corporation; and General Electric. Ali earned his B.S. in Biological & Environmental Engineering from Cornell University. About Susquehanna Financial Group, LLLP Susquehanna Financial Group, LLLP (SFG), a member of the Susquehanna International Group of Companies (SIG), is an innovator in global finance, servicing the needs of clients worldwide in the areas of sales, fundamental research, and market intelligence. Building upon SIG's command of the options marketplace and its quantitative trading capabilities, SFG has cultivated a robust service offering that provides liquidity, industry-leading insights, and execution services. SIG employs approximately 1,800 individuals located in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT www.sig.com SOURCE Susquehanna Financial Group, LLLP Related Links http://www.sig.com STAMFORD, Connecticut and LUCCA, Italy, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Second Quarter Sees Continued Cloud Expansion and Revenue Growth In North America, DACH, and Asia-Pacific Regions Tagetik Logo (PRNewsFoto/Tagetik) Tagetik, a visionary leader in global performance management software solutions, announced today a profitable second quarter for 2016 and the addition of 40 new corporate customers. The quarter also saw continued revenue growth in North America and record revenues for two new Tagetik operations in the DACH and Asia-Pacific regions. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140625/694014 ) Serving Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, Tagetik GmbH led revenues for Tagetik's regional operations. Among its second quarter wins were an expanded enterprise agreement with a major German multi-national automotive corporation and a new customer agreement with a major multi-national provider of products and systems to the construction and energy industries. Tagetik's Asia-Pacific operation doubled its revenues for the first half of 2016 compared to those from the same period in 2015 and signed an agreement with its first Japanese corporate customer, a provider of consulting and facility management services for customers throughout Asia-Pacific. Other representative new customers include Eni Gas & Power Belgium, Kelvion, Mundipharma, Qingdao Hisense Electronics, Keystone Industries, and MP Biomedicals. "We're very pleased with second quarter results. Our cloud business continues to grow and investments in North America and other regions are paying off with increased revenue and market share," said Manuel Vellutini, Tagetik co-CEO. "Additionally, the recent Brexit vote is generating heightened interest in our solution's ability to support sophisticated planning and forecasting. Our sustained profitability allows us to make the ongoing research and development investments needed to stay ahead of volatile market conditions and the needs of our customers." Tagetik's Financial Performance Platform[TM] enables organizations to unify financial and operational planning, financial and management reporting, cost allocation and profitability analysis, and regulatory and disclosure reporting in a single solution. Tagetik was positioned in the visionaries quadrant of Gartner's 2016 Magic Quadrant for Financial Corporate Performance Management Solutions[1] and 2016 Magic Quadrant for Strategic Corporate Performance Management Solutions[2] . For more information, visit http://www.tagetik.com. About the Magic Quadrants 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 Gartner's 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. [1] Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Financial Corporate Performance Management Solutions, Christopher Iervolino,and John E. Van Decker, 31 May 2016 [2] Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Strategic Corporate Performance Management Solutions, Christopher Iervolino and John E. Van Decker, 31 May 2016. About Tagetik Tagetik understands the complex challenges that face the Office of Finance and translates that knowledge into intuitive, enterprise-scale performance management software solutions that drive business results. With Tagetik, companies get the simplicity of the Cloud and the power to unify financial and operational planning; shorten the consolidation and close process; immediately analyze results, model and compare full financial statement impact of business scenarios; adjust strategic plans; seamlessly update rolling forecasts; produce formatted and auditable financial statements and management reports; collaborate on business reviews, and automate disclosure and board reporting. Tagetik has built-in financial intelligence so that CFOs, finance managers, and operations executives can orchestrate multiple or all processes in one software solution. More than 850 customers across 35 countries count on Tagetik to improve efficiency, reduce risk, save money and deliver results. For more information, visit http://www.tagetik.com. We get Finance. You get results. Follow us on social media: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Google+ YouTube Blog Media Contacts: Linda Galloway insidHR Communications +1 303 863 8620 office +1 203 733 7446 mobile [email protected] SOURCE Tagetik Retailers, buyers and avid collectors can look forward to a massive selection of fine jewellery from over 200 international exhibitors which will be available at wholesale prices. Exhibitors at the fair will showcase luxurious jewellery collections to everyday wearable pieces by internationally-acclaimed jewellers from Austria, Belgium, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, USA, Singapore and other parts of the world. The Singapore Jewellery & Gem Fair has grown significantly in terms of visitors as well as buyers over the years. In 2015, the fair attracted 10,018 buyers and achieved approximately S$16 million in onsite sales. Southeast Asia is an emerging market with over US$50 billion worth of jewellery in the region. "We have seen an increase in the number of trade buyers attending the Singapore Jewellery and Gem Fair, including Poh Kong Jewellery from Malaysia, Pesona Fine Jewelry from Indonesia, as well as local retailers such as Aspial-Lee Hwa Jewellery, Sookee Jewellery and Poh Heng Jewellery. We believe it is important for retailers to source a wider variety of designs to cater to the different needs and demands of their customers. At the same time, retailers can also take the opportunity to learn about and adapt new technologies which help them to expand their offerings with cost reduction," said Paul Wan, Managing Director, UBM Exhibition Singapore Pte Ltd. This year, the Singapore Jewellery & Gem Fair will debut the Tools & Equipment pavilion where visitors will be able to learn more about the latest jewellery making techniques and witness the technology behind it. The theme of this pavilion is aligned with the Singapore government's initiatives to encourage retailers and jewellers to adopt technology such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Augmented Reality, Virtual Try-ons and 3D-printing to improve customer experience and expand their business offerings. The Singapore Jewellery and Gem Fair is organised by UBM Exhibition Singapore Pte Ltd, a member of UBM Asia, the organiser of the world's leading jewellery event -- the September Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair. It is the only event that is endorsed by the Singapore Jewellers Association and the Diamond Exchange of Singapore. Pre-registration for the Singapore Jewellery & Gem Fair is now open. To register, click here. About Singapore Jewellery & Gem Fair Exclusively endorsed by the Singapore Jewellers Association and the Diamond Exchange of Singapore, Singapore Jewellery & Gem Fair is the largest fine jewellery event in Singapore and the region. In 2015, the event attracted more than 200 exhibitors from 28 countries, targeting the region's fastest growing high-net-worth population. The fair is organised by UBM Exhibition Singapore Pte Ltd, a member of UBM Asia, the organiser of the world's leading fine jewellery event, the September Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair. About UBM Asia (www.ubmasia.com) Owned by UBM plc listed on the London Stock Exchange, UBM Asia is the largest trade show organiser in Asia and the largest commercial organiser 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 presence in 24 major cities with 31 offices and 1,300 staff. With a track record spanning over 30 years, UBM Asia operates in 20 market sectors with 230 dynamic face-to-face exhibitions and high-level professional conferences, 21 targeted trade publications, 18 round-the-clock online products for over 2,000,000 quality exhibitors, visitors, conference delegates, advertisers and subscribers from all over the world. We provide a one-stop diversified global service for high-value business matching, quality market news and online trading networks. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392439 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392440 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392441 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392442LOGO Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121014/HK92339LOGO-d SOURCE Singapore Jewellery & Gem Fair 2016 Related Links http://www.singaporejewellerygemfair.com REDWOOD CITY, Calif., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Tidemark, the market-leading provider of modern cloud business planning and enterprise analytics apps, today announced the completion of a new investment from Marlin Equity Partners, a global investment firm with over $3 billion of capital under management. The additional capital from Marlin will be used to accelerate expansion into new geographies and markets, building on Tidemark's success to date with over 30 new go-lives and annual recurring revenue growth of over 100% in the last year. "We sought a global firm that has a history of supporting companies with industry changing, first-to-market technologies," said Christian Gheorghe, Founder and CEO of Tidemark. "Marlin shares our vision of helping companies better manage their businesses through innovative, next-generation technology. We couldn't be more pleased to find such a complimentary partner." With scalable, high-performance computing capabilities that serve as the foundation for big data finance and predictive analytics, Tidemark leads the next-generation of enterprise performance management (EPM) for global enterprises such as Acxiom Data Corp., Stanford University, Veolia and Bluelink (an Air France-KLM Company). Offering the industry's only non-cube oriented, pure-cloud platform that can transform an organization's financial and operational planning processes by enriching FP&A, the company's apps handle in-memory calculations 10x faster than other solutions in the market due to the platform's advanced architecture and modeling engine. "This was a unique opportunity to partner with an exciting company in a complex and fast-moving market. Marlin has gained significant experience and success to date investing in the EPM space, and we are excited to support Tidemark and work together to accelerate this new phase of growth," said Shawn McMorran, a partner at Marlin. "Large enterprises are undergoing massive change in how they make decisions about their businesses, and we believe Tidemark offers an unparalleled solution for its customers around the globe." About Tidemark Tidemark is a new breed of enterprise performance management (EPM) software with its modern cloud and mobile-first design. Innovative brands like ENGIE Group, Valspar, La Quinta Holdings, AAA, Brown University, and HubSpot rely on the Tidemark platform and advanced analytics cloud to sharpen decision-making, reduce risk and improve business performance. Using Tidemark's unique, intuitive apps, decision-makers across the organization gain access to valuable data, deep analytics capabilities, real-time collaboration, and actionable visualizations from any device. To learn more about Tidemark, please visit www.tidemark.com or follow us on Twitter @TidemarkEPM. About Marlin Equity Partners Marlin Equity Partners is a global investment firm with over $3 billion of capital under management. The firm is focused on providing corporate parents, shareholders and other stakeholders with tailored solutions that meet their business and liquidity needs. Marlin invests in businesses across multiple industries where its capital base, industry relationships and extensive network of operational resources significantly strengthen a company's outlook and enhance value. Since its inception, Marlin, through its group of funds and related companies, has successfully completed over 100 acquisitions. The firm is headquartered in Los Angeles, California with an additional office in London. For more information, please visit www.marlinequity.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150406/196821LOGO SOURCE Tidemark Related Links http://www.tidemark.com NEW YORK, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Tiger Capital Group, LLC today announced an agreement to provide special project financing for a high-volume program focused on refurbishing and reselling all of the display and returned televisions of one of the nation's largest brick and mortar retailers. The recipient of the capital infusionTTP, LLCis a subsidiary of Wood Dale, Ill.-based Hyper Microsystems, a privately owned specialist in reverse logistics. "In addition to providing asset appraisal and disposition services to a broad range of industrial and consumer products clients, Tiger is always looking to leverage its substantial capital resources to forge new partnerships," said Bob DeAngelis, Tiger Capital Group Executive Managing Director. "Hyper Microsystems' low-volatility retail program processes a substantial volume of refurbished consumer electronics annually. It has a solid return profile and is a nice strategic fit for our firm." The partnership is timely given national retailers' growing need for informed and sophisticated approaches to the sale of display goods and returned merchandise, said Hyper Microsystems founder Gregory Yurovsky. "The top chains are no longer content to auction returned merchandise and unboxed shelf display products," he explained. "Increasingly, they are looking for high-bandwidth specialists who know the industry inside and out, and are well-capitalized. This is precisely why we at Hyper Microsystems are so pleased to embark on this partnership with Tiger Capital Group." "Any time a consumer purchases a corded product and later brings it back for a return, a retailer cannot simply put that product back on the sales floor. High-ticket items such as televisions are subjected to a refurbishing program in which they are tested, verified, repackaged and assigned a new UPC code," explained Andrew Babcock, Tiger Capital Group's Director of Transition Advisory Services. "These items, as well as unboxed shelf displays, tend to retain excellent aftermarket value. We appreciate Hyper Microsystems' broad experience in running efficient processes in this space. We know this because we have worked with the company for years in both the acquisition and disposition of wholesale products." The partnership illustrates Tiger's ability to provide strategic infusions of capital to a broad range of businesses under the correct circumstances, noted DeAngelis. "In a given year, Tiger appraises and monetizes over $30 billion in assets across the globe," he said. "Our knowledge of the true, bottom-line value of assets enables us to commit capital, through both debt financings and equity investments, to a wide range of industries and businesses." About Tiger Capital Group Tiger Capital Group provides asset valuation, advisory and disposition services to a broad range of retail, wholesale, and industrial clients. With over 40 years of experience and significant financial backing, Tiger offers a uniquely nimble combination of expertise, innovation and financial resources to drive results. Tiger's seasoned professionals help clients identify the underlying value of assets, monitor asset risk factors and, when needed, provide capital or convert assets to capital quickly and decisively. Tiger's collaborative, straightforward approach is the foundation for its many long-term 'partner' relationships and decades of success. Tiger maintains domestic offices in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco, and international offices in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, and Brisbane, Australia. To learn more about Tiger, please visit www.TigerGroup.com About Hyper Microsystems Inc. Hyper Microsystems Inc. is a privately owned company that focuses on reverse logistics, asset recovery and the remarketing and distribution of new and refurbished consumer electronics and IT equipment. The company specializes in turnkey reverse logistics solutions and operates multiple locations throughout the United States. SOURCE Tiger Capital Group, LLC Related Links http://www.TigerGroup.com HOUSTON, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Trafigura Trading LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Trafigura Group Pte Ltd successfully renewed its North American Borrowing Base Credit Facility. Despite a strong oversubscription, the company decided to slightly reduce the two year facility from USD3.5 billion to USD3 billion because of a lower financing need in the lower priced commodity environment. The facility supports Trafigura Trading's energy trading, logistics and merchant activities in North America. This includes its crude and condensate supplies from the Eagle Ford and Permian basins and related to its interest in the Buckeye Texas Partners terminal in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160726/392893LOGO ) Trafigura Trading's North American Chief Financial Officer, Rodney Malcolm, said: "The Trafigura Group is pleased to have had another successful refinancing with the facility being oversubscribed. This allows us to continue to meet the working capital needs of our growing business. The continuing commitment from our banking partners allows us to continue to secure market opportunities and grow our energy-related assets." Acting as Lead Arrangers and Joint Book-runners were MUFG (also acting as Administrative Agent), Natixis, New York Branch and SG Americas Securities, LLC. Notes to editors Founded in 1993, Trafigura is one of the largest physical commodities trading groups in the world. Trafigura sources, stores, transports and delivers a range of raw materials (including oil and refined products and metals and minerals) to clients around the world. The trading business is supported by industrial and financial assets, including 48.8 percent owned global oil products storage and distribution company Puma Energy; global terminals, warehousing and logistics operator Impala Terminals; Trafigura's Mining Group; 50 percent owned DT Group which specialises in logistics and trading; and Galena Asset Management. The Company is owned by over 600 of its almost 5,300 employees who work in offices in 37 countries around the world. Trafigura has achieved substantial growth over the last ten years, growing turnover from USD12 billion in 2003 to USD97.2 billion in 2015. The Group has been connecting its customers to the global economy for more than two decades, growing prosperity by advancing trade. http://www.trafigura.com SOURCE Trafigura Trading LLC HOUSTON, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, Boudreaux Hunter & Associates, LLC, a family law firm located in Houston, Texas, has launched. Because the legal team at the firm is made up of compassionate, seasoned, and aggressive lawyers, the firm is dedicated to providing top-tier legal representation through every step of the legal process no matter what a client's needs may be. The firm came about when Attorney Shannon L. Boudreaux and Attorney Kevin D. Hunter decided to join forces to create a highly skilled and experienced team. As certified mediators, the legal team at Boudreaux Hunter & Associates, LLC is backed by ample amounts of experience and handles a wide range of family law matters, including the following: Adoption Divorce Paternity Post-marital agreements Child custody Mediation Spousal maintenance Modifications Pre-Marital Agreements Pet Custody About Shannon L. Boudreaux Before co-founding Boudreaux Hunter & Associates, LLC, Ms. Boudreaux served as a family lawyer for another family law firm, which she also co-founded, in the Houston area. Prior to committing her life to judiciary work, she attended the University of Houston-Clear Lake where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Sociology and Criminology. She moved on to obtain her Masters of Science in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University. Due to her passion for helping others, she enrolled at South Texas College of Law where she obtained her Juris Doctorate in 2003. Since then, she has been dedicated to improving the futures of others by streamlining all types of family law related cases. About Kevin Hunter Prior to joining forces with Ms. Boudreaux, Mr. Hunter acquired a wide range of skills, experience, and knowledge in various careers, all of which help him craft strong legal strategies for his clients. Before committing his life to working as a family lawyer, Mr. Hunter attended Wayland Baptist University where he completed his undergraduate degree. Following the completion of his undergraduate coursework, he enrolled at South Texas College of Law where he earned his Juris Doctorate. During his time in law school, he was selected as an Officer for the Board of Advocates. In addition, Mr. Hunter is a United States veteran who served in the Air Force. If you are moving through a family law related matter and would like experienced legal guidance throughout the process, get in touch with a Houston family lawyer at Boudreaux Hunter & Associates, LLC today! Public: Boudreaux Hunter & Associates, LLC (713) 766-6283 http://www.bhlawtexas.com SOURCE Boudreaux Hunter & Associates, LLC WASHINGTON, July 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Upside today kicked off its national advertising campaign with a full-page ad in USA TODAY. The campaign, which will include ads in the Wall Street Journal in the coming days, will reach millions of business travelers prior to the launch of Upside in mid-September, giving them an opportunity to sign up to become the first consumers to turn small amounts of flexibility on any business trip into both free gift cards and company savings. "We intend to have an aggressive and comprehensive advertising campaign in the coming weeks as we move to launch Upside," said Jay Walker, Upside's founder and CEO. "Today's ad is the first of a multi-million-dollar campaign using traditional media such as newspapers, magazines and radio, along with web-related digital and social media platforms." Walker continued, "The purpose of our campaign is to introduce Upside's better deal in business travel directly to our potential customers and to offer them the opportunity to sign up for our pre-launch VIP program that enables them to be our first customers and provides $150 in free gift cards to major brands for each travel package purchased during 2016." In a little more than one month since Upside was first publicly announced, business travelers from more than 5,000 companies have signed up for the Upside VIP program. Travelers learned about Upside through news, business and travel-related stories on Fox Business and Bloomberg Business, in Fortune Magazine, The Economist, USA TODAY, Skift, BTN Daily, One Mile at a Time, View from the Wing, Tnooz, and a number of local market radio and newspaper stories and other web-based publications. Upside's ad campaign significantly expands customer awareness of the company's soon-to-be launched product. "Business travelers' enthusiastic reception of Upside, as well as the attention we have received through the media, demonstrate that the $300 billion a year U.S. business travel industry is ready for real change," said Walker. "Upside is a new company with a truly innovative and exciting product that brings new benefits to travelers, companies and travel suppliers alike. Our goal is to rapidly scale our business by reaching the millions of business travelers who make their own travel decisions. And we have the resources to enable us to achieve this goal. Soon, there will be a new Upside on every business trip." About Upside Upside makes it possible for business travelers to turn small amounts of flexibility on flights and hotels into hundreds of dollars of free Gift Cards at stores of their choice, while creating travel savings for their companieswithout affecting the requirements of their trip in any way. Upside accomplishes this with a new class of software, the world's first "Flexibility Engine," which powers Upside.com and the free Upside iOS App, available later this summer. Upside is led by a proven team of travel industry innovators who pioneered a travel pricing revolution at Priceline.com, including Priceline Founder Jay Walker; former Priceline CTO Scott Case; and former President, Priceline Europe, Tim Brier. Upside is headquartered in Washington, DC. For more information, visit: www.upside.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Press Contact: Shana Lee 347-407-2529 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160620/381369LOGO SOURCE Upside Related Links http://www.upside.com "Being included on USA TODAY's '10Best' list is a testament to the Union Pacific Railroad Museum's diverse and engaging exhibits, outreach activities, and its impressive collection of artifacts and photography," said Patricia LaBounty, museum and collections manager. "We welcome tens of thousands of guests each year, and hope this recognition further expands awareness of the museum, expanding its reach beyond the many that already know and love it." USA TODAY travel experts selected the top 20 nominees in contests in areas such as food, lodging, destinations and travel gear, and then conducted nationwide online surveys to determine winners in each category. The museum's three primary exhibits include: America Travels by Rail, bringing to life the travel destinations Americans enjoyed from the 1930s through 1970s; The Lincoln Collection, celebrating the life of President Abraham Lincoln , who upon signing the Pacific Railway Act became Union Pacific's founding father, forever connecting and uniting the nation; and, , who upon signing the Pacific Railway Act became Union Pacific's founding father, forever connecting and uniting the nation; and, Building America, which uses immersive design and cutting-edge technology to educate guests about frontier life, the monumental work required to construct the railroad and the communities that were created along its route. The Union Pacific Railroad Museum's robust education program reaches more than 7,000 adults and students annually, with affordable tours and programs, as well as scholarships that cover program fees for schools unable to do so. The programs include exciting hands-on tours, workshops and in-classroom options to engage students of all ages. Lectures and additional learning opportunities are offered annually on a variety of railroad history topics. The Union Pacific Museum Association, a 501 (c) 3, operates a patron program whose contributions go directly towards educational programs and exhibits offered at the museum, making it possible to offer free admission to the museum and affordable educational tours and programs. Information on becoming a financial supporter of the patron program is available online: http://www.uprrmuseum.org/museum/about_us/memberships/details.shtml The Union Pacific Railroad Museum is located at 200 Pearl Street in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and is open Thursday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. Please visit www.uprrmuseum.org or call 712-329-8307 for more information. ABOUT THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD MUSEUM The Union Pacific Railroad Museum is housed in a historic Carnegie Library building in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where visitors will discover an extensive compilation of artifacts, photographs, documents and equipment from more than 150 years of our nation's most ambitious endeavors including constructing the transcontinental railroad and settling the West. Among the most popular museum exhibits are "America Travels by Rail," which celebrates the height of passenger travel; the Lincoln Collection, featuring artifacts from President Abraham Lincoln's rail car and funeral; and an exhibit that features the technology and innovation that sustain Union Pacific as a railroad industry leader. The Union Pacific Railroad Museum's mission is to promote a sense of connectedness that's shared by generations of people whose personal and family histories have been touched by the railroad. ABOUT UNION PACIFIC Union Pacific Railroad is the principal operating company of Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE: UNP). One of America's most recognized companies, Union Pacific Railroad connects 23 states in the western two-thirds of the country by rail, providing a critical link in the global supply chain. From 2006-2015, Union Pacific invested approximately $33 billion in its network and operations to support America's transportation infrastructure. The railroad's diversified business mix includes Agricultural Products, Automotive, Chemicals, Coal, Industrial Products and Intermodal. Union Pacific serves many of the fastest-growing U.S. population centers, operates from all major West Coast and Gulf Coast ports to eastern gateways, connects with Canada's rail systems and is the only railroad serving all six major Mexico gateways. Union Pacific provides value to its roughly 10,000 customers by delivering products in a safe, reliable, fuel-efficient and environmentally responsible manner. www.up.com www.facebook.com/unionpacific www.twitter.com/unionpacific Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160726/393035 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110304/LA59497LOGO SOURCE Union Pacific Related Links http://www.up.com Volunteers of America National President and CEO Mike King said, "Jay Martin is a remarkable businessman and an incredibly generous philanthropist. Jay, Juice Plus+ and its associated companies and foundations have supported Volunteers of America, both financially and through gifts of the company's products, for many, many years. They have helped countless people served by our organization nationwide, and I am tremendously proud and honored to present him with the 2016 Booth Award." Volunteers of America presents the Booth Award each year to individuals who demonstrate distinguished service to humanity. The award is named after Ballington and Maud Booth, who founded Volunteers of America with a promise to "go wherever we are needed and do whatever comes to hand." Previous winners include Ambassador Andrew Young, country music superstar Glen Campbell, Nancy Reagan and Gen. Eric Shinseki. "I'm extremely honored to receive the 2016 Ballington and Maud Booth Award," Martin said. "Volunteers of America's commitment to helping those in need live healthy, happy and productive lives is one reason why I've continued to stay involved for more than 25 years. I'm humbled to join the list of remarkable people who have received this award over the years and I'm looking forward to continuing the great work moving forward." Juice Plus+ has been a strong supporter of Volunteers of America since 1988, helping to deliver community programs that deal with today's most pressing social needs, including child daycare, homeless outreach and low-income housing. Juice Plus+ also has organized and encouraged volunteer initiatives for their employees to provide direct volunteer services in local communities. About Volunteers of America Volunteers of America is a national, nonprofit, faith-based organization dedicated to helping those in need live healthy, safe and productive lives. Since 1896, our ministry of service has supported and empowered America's most vulnerable groups, including veterans, seniors, people with disabilities, at-risk youth, men and women returning from prison, homeless individuals and families, those recovering from addictions and many others. Through hundreds of human service programs, including housing and health care, Volunteers of America helps almost 2 million people in over 400 communities. Our work touches the mind, body, heart and ultimately the spirit of those we serve, integrating our deep compassion with highly effective programs and services. Learn more at www.voa.org. About Juice Plus+ Juice Plus+ is whole food based nutrition, including juice powder concentrates from 30 different fruits, vegetables and grains. It helps bridge the gap between what you should eat and what you actually eat every day. Not a multivitamin, medicine, treatment or cure for any disease, Juice Plus+ is made from quality ingredients carefully monitored from farm to capsule to provide natural nutrients your body needs to be at its best. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392705 SOURCE Juice Plus+ Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150505/213919LOGO WESTERN GAS PARTNERS, LP Net income (loss) available to limited partners for the second quarter of 2016 totaled $83.0 million, or $0.55 per common unit (diluted), with second-quarter 2016 Adjusted EBITDA(1) of $250.6 million and second-quarter 2016 Distributable cash flow(1) of $199.3 million. WES previously declared a quarterly distribution of $0.830 per unit for the second quarter of 2016. This distribution represented a 2% increase over the prior quarter's distribution and an 11% increase over the second-quarter 2015 distribution of $0.750 per unit. The second-quarter 2016 Coverage ratio(1) of 1.22 times was based on the quarterly distribution of $0.830 per unit and was calculated by dividing the quarter's Distributable cash flow(1) by quarterly distributions declared payable to the general partner and common unitholders. Inclusion of $9.9 million(2) of the expected recoveries under WES's business interruption insurance in Distributable cash flow(1) would result in a ratio of 1.29 times. (1) Please see the tables at the end of this release for a reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP measures and calculation of the Coverage ratio. (2) Represents the midpoint of WES's anticipated range of $10 million to $15 million in reimbursable amounts for the quarter, less $2.6 million of proceeds received during the quarter which are included in Adjusted EBITDA. "In addition to delivering another solid financial quarter, we reached several important milestones in the Delaware Basin. We resumed full service at Ramsey III, and also completed Ramsey IV on schedule," said Chief Executive Officer, Don Sinclair. "Furthermore, Ramsey V and related facilities are due to come online at the end of the third quarter." Total throughput attributable to WES for natural gas assets for the second quarter of 2016 averaged 3.9 Bcf/d, which was 2% above the prior quarter and 12% below the second quarter of 2015(2). Total throughput for crude/NGL assets for the second quarter of 2016 averaged 187 MBbls/d, which was 2% above the prior quarter and 1% above the second quarter of 2015(2). Capital expenditures attributable to WES, including equity investments but excluding acquisitions, totaled $116.3 million on a cash basis and $118.9 million on an accrual basis during the second quarter of 2016, with maintenance capital expenditures on a cash basis of $21.1 million, or 8% of Adjusted EBITDA(1). WES is adjusting its outlook ranges for full-year Adjusted EBITDA(1) to $930 million to $970 million(3), and for total capital expenditures (including equity investments but excluding acquisitions) to $490 million to $530 million. WESTERN GAS EQUITY PARTNERS, LP WGP indirectly owns the entire general partner interest in WES, 100% of the incentive distribution rights in WES and 50,132,046 WES common units. Net income (loss) available to limited partners for the second quarter of 2016 totaled $88.9 million, or $0.41 per common unit (diluted). WGP previously declared a quarterly distribution of $0.43375 per unit for the second quarter of 2016. This distribution represented a 2% increase over the prior quarter's distribution and a 19% increase over the second-quarter 2015 distribution of $0.36375 per unit. WGP received distributions from WES of $96.0 million attributable to the second quarter and will pay $95.0 million in distributions for the same period. The excellent performance of WES's portfolio has reduced its need for additional equity, and WGP's 2016 distribution growth rate will therefore be 19% to 21% depending on the size and timing of additional WES equity issuances, if any. (1) Please see the tables at the end of this release for a reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP measures and calculation of the Coverage ratio. (2) Financial and operational information for the second quarter of 2015 has been recast for the acquisition of Springfield. (3) This press release contains a forward-looking estimate of the range of Adjusted EBITDA projected to be generated by WES in its 2016 fiscal year. A reconciliation of such estimated range to net cash provided by operating activities and net income is not provided because the items necessary to estimate such amounts are not reasonably accessible or estimable at this time. CONFERENCE CALL TOMORROW AT 11 A.M. CDT WES and WGP will host a joint conference call on Wednesday, July 27, 2016, at 11:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time (12:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) to discuss second-quarter 2016 results. Individuals who would like to participate should dial 844-836-8745 (Domestic) or 412-317-5439 (International) approximately 15 minutes before the scheduled conference call time. Pre-registration is available through the investor relations page at www.westerngas.com. Pre-registrants will be issued a personal identification number to use when dialing in to the live conference call, which will enable the participant to bypass the operator and gain immediate access to the call. To access the live audio webcast of the conference call, please visit the investor relations section of the Partnership's website at www.westerngas.com. A replay of the conference call will also be available on the website for two weeks following the call. Western Gas Partners, LP ("WES") is a growth-oriented Delaware master limited partnership formed by Anadarko Petroleum Corporation to acquire, own, develop and operate midstream energy assets. With midstream assets located in the Rocky Mountains, the Mid-Continent, North-central Pennsylvania and Texas, WES is engaged in the business of gathering, processing, compressing, treating and transporting natural gas, condensate, natural gas liquids and crude oil for Anadarko, as well as for other producers and customers. Western Gas Equity Partners, LP ("WGP") is a Delaware master limited partnership formed by Anadarko to own the following types of interests in WES: (i) the general partner interest and all of the incentive distribution rights in WES, both owned through WGP's 100% ownership of WES's general partner, and (ii) a significant limited partner interest in WES. For more information about Western Gas Partners, LP and Western Gas Equity Partners, LP, please visit www.westerngas.com. This news release contains forward-looking statements. Western Gas Partners and Western Gas Equity Partners believe that their expectations are based on reasonable assumptions. No assurance, however, can be given that such expectations will prove to have been correct. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the projections, anticipated results or other expectations expressed in this news release. These factors include the ability to meet financial guidance or distribution growth expectations; the ability to safely and efficiently operate WES's assets; the ability to obtain new sources of natural gas supplies; the effect of fluctuations in commodity prices and the demand for natural gas and related products; the ability to meet projected in-service dates for capital growth projects; construction costs or capital expenditures exceeding estimated or budgeted costs or expenditures; and the other factors described in the "Risk Factors" sections of WES's and WGP's most recent Forms 10-K and Forms 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in their other public filings and press releases. Western Gas Partners and Western Gas Equity Partners undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. WESTERN GAS CONTACT Jonathon E. VandenBrand Director, Investor Relations [email protected] 832.636.1007 Western Gas Partners, LP Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measures Below are reconciliations of (i) WES's Distributable cash flow (non-GAAP) to net income (loss) attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP (GAAP), (ii) Adjusted EBITDA attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP ("Adjusted EBITDA") (non-GAAP) to net income (loss) attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP (GAAP) and to net cash provided by operating activities (GAAP), and (iii) Adjusted gross margin attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP ("Adjusted gross margin") (non-GAAP) to operating income (loss) (GAAP), as required under Regulation G of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Management believes that WES's Distributable cash flow, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted gross margin, and Coverage ratio are widely accepted financial indicators of WES's financial performance compared to other publicly traded partnerships and are useful in assessing its ability to incur and service debt, fund capital expenditures and make distributions. Distributable cash flow, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted gross margin and Coverage ratio, as defined by WES, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. Therefore, WES's Distributable cash flow, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted gross margin and Coverage ratio should be considered in conjunction with net income (loss) and other applicable performance measures, such as operating income (loss) or cash flows from operating activities. Western Gas Partners, LP Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measures, continued Distributable Cash Flow WES defines Distributable cash flow as Adjusted EBITDA, plus interest income and the net settlement amounts from the sale and/or purchase of natural gas, condensate and NGLs under WES's commodity price swap agreements to the extent such amounts are not recognized as Adjusted EBITDA, less net cash paid (or to be paid) for interest expense (including amortization of deferred debt issuance costs originally paid in cash, offset by non-cash capitalized interest), maintenance capital expenditures, Series A Preferred unit distributions and income taxes. Three Months Ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, thousands except Coverage ratio 2016 2015 (1) 2016 2015 (1) Reconciliation of Net income (loss) attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP to Distributable cash flow and calculation of the Coverage ratio Net income (loss) attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP $ 164,521 $ 132,343 $ 280,581 $ (24,150) Add: Distributions from equity investees 24,491 25,902 49,130 47,572 Non-cash equity-based compensation expense 1,246 1,163 2,549 2,275 Interest expense, net (non-cash settled) (2) (15,461) 4,190 (10,924) 5,610 Income tax (benefit) expense 326 12,246 6,959 24,516 Depreciation and amortization (3) 66,650 67,904 131,089 136,231 Impairments 2,403 1,620 8,921 274,244 Above-market component of swap extensions with Anadarko 9,552 16,365 Other expense (3) 56 56 Less: Gain (loss) on divestiture and other, net (1,907) (2,539) (6) Equity income, net affiliates 19,693 18,941 36,507 37,161 Cash paid for maintenance capital expenditures (3) 21,085 11,992 39,982 26,105 Capitalized interest 1,482 2,693 3,331 5,787 Cash paid for (reimbursement of) income taxes 67 (138) Series A Preferred unit distributions 14,082 15,969 Other income (3) 68 122 137 Distributable cash flow $ 199,349 $ 211,674 $ 391,287 $ 397,252 Distributions declared (4) Limited partners common units $ 108,458 $ 214,951 General partner 54,369 106,781 Total $ 162,827 $ 321,732 Coverage ratio 1.22 x 1.22 x (1) In March 2016, WES acquired Springfield Pipeline LLC ("Springfield") from Anadarko. Springfield owns a 50.1% interest in an oil gathering system and a gas gathering system, such interest being referred to as the "Springfield interest." Financial information has been recast to include the financial position and results attributable to the Springfield interest. (2) Includes accretion revisions related to the Deferred purchase price obligation - Anadarko associated with the acquisition of DBJV. (3) Includes WES's 75% share of depreciation and amortization; other expense; cash paid for maintenance capital expenditures; and other income attributable to Chipeta. (4) Reflects cash distributions of $0.830 and $1.645 per unit declared for the three and six months ended June 30, 2016, respectively. Western Gas Partners, LP Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measures, continued Adjusted EBITDA Attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP WES defines Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP, plus distributions from equity investees, non-cash equity-based compensation expense, interest expense, income tax expense, depreciation and amortization, impairments, and other expense (including lower of cost or market inventory adjustments recorded in cost of product), less gain (loss) on divestiture and other, net, income from equity investments, interest income, income tax benefit and other income. Three Months Ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, thousands 2016 2015 (1) 2016 2015 (1) Reconciliation of Net income (loss) attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP to Adjusted EBITDA attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP Net income (loss) attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP $ 164,521 $ 132,343 $ 280,581 $ (24,150) Add: Distributions from equity investees 24,491 25,902 49,130 47,572 Non-cash equity-based compensation expense 1,246 1,163 2,549 2,275 Interest expense 12,883 27,604 44,919 50,564 Income tax expense 326 12,246 6,959 24,516 Depreciation and amortization (2) 66,650 67,904 131,089 136,231 Impairments 2,403 1,620 8,921 274,244 Other expense (2) 56 56 Less: Gain (loss) on divestiture and other, net (1,907) (2,539) (6) Equity income, net affiliates 19,693 18,941 36,507 37,161 Interest income affiliates 4,225 4,225 8,450 8,450 Other income (2) 68 122 137 Adjusted EBITDA attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP $ 250,565 $ 245,548 $ 481,664 $ 465,510 Reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP to Net cash provided by operating activities Adjusted EBITDA attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP $ 250,565 $ 245,548 $ 481,664 $ 465,510 Adjusted EBITDA attributable to noncontrolling interest 3,456 3,463 7,133 7,335 Interest income (expense), net (8,658) (23,379) (36,469) (42,114) Uncontributed cash-based compensation awards (86) (68) (158) (145) Accretion and amortization of long-term obligations, net (14,522) 4,958 (9,055) 7,070 Current income tax benefit (expense) (198) (11,673) (4,979) (18,134) Other income (expense), net (53) 71 71 142 Distributions from equity investments in excess of cumulative earnings affiliates (5,827) (5,574) (10,611) (8,538) Changes in operating working capital: Accounts receivable, net (45,800) (26,725) (33,242) (41,358) Accounts and imbalance payables and accrued liabilities, net (20,205) (8,389) (2,227) 4,407 Other (1,309) (744) 1,739 (1,854) Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities $ 157,363 $ 177,488 $ 393,866 $ 372,321 Cash flow information of Western Gas Partners, LP Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities $ 393,866 $ 372,321 Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities (952,824) (371,878) Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities 618,692 20,271 (1) Financial information has been recast to include the financial position and results attributable to the Springfield interest. (2) Includes WES's 75% share of depreciation and amortization; other expense; and other income attributable to Chipeta. Western Gas Partners, LP Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measures, continued Adjusted gross margin attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP WES defines Adjusted gross margin as total revenues and other, less cost of product and reimbursements for electricity-related expenses recorded as revenue, plus distributions from equity investees and excluding the noncontrolling interest owner's proportionate share of revenue and cost of product. Three Months Ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, thousands 2016 2015 (1) 2016 2015 (1) Reconciliation of Adjusted gross margin attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP to Operating income (loss) Adjusted gross margin attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP for natural gas assets $ 294,661 $ 293,560 $ 571,190 $ 564,806 Adjusted gross margin for crude/NGL assets 34,593 33,237 69,288 64,641 Adjusted gross margin attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP 329,254 326,797 640,478 629,447 Adjusted gross margin attributable to noncontrolling interest 4,183 4,661 8,604 9,469 Gain (loss) on divestiture and other, net (1,907) (2,539) (6) Proceeds from business interruption insurance claims 2,603 2,603 Equity income, net affiliates 19,693 18,941 36,507 37,161 Reimbursed electricity-related charges recorded as revenues 14,869 13,221 30,537 25,031 Less: Distributions from equity investees 24,491 25,902 49,130 47,572 Operation and maintenance 75,173 77,837 151,386 154,022 General and administrative 10,883 9,408 22,160 20,489 Property and other taxes 12,078 9,586 22,428 18,866 Depreciation and amortization 67,305 68,554 132,400 137,529 Impairments 2,403 1,620 8,921 274,244 Operating income (loss) $ 176,362 $ 170,713 $ 329,765 $ 48,380 (1) Financial information has been recast to include the financial position and results attributable to the Springfield interest. Western Gas Partners, LP CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (Unaudited) Three Months Ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, thousands except per-unit amounts 2016 2015 (1) 2016 2015 (1) Revenues and other Gathering, processing and transportation $ 301,136 $ 290,900 $ 595,140 $ 561,168 Natural gas and natural gas liquids sales 126,993 174,202 215,549 339,874 Other 535 891 1,116 1,957 Total revenues and other 428,664 465,993 811,805 902,999 Equity income, net affiliates 19,693 18,941 36,507 37,161 Operating expenses Cost of product 104,849 147,216 181,316 286,624 Operation and maintenance 75,173 77,837 151,386 154,022 General and administrative 10,883 9,408 22,160 20,489 Property and other taxes 12,078 9,586 22,428 18,866 Depreciation and amortization 67,305 68,554 132,400 137,529 Impairments 2,403 1,620 8,921 274,244 Total operating expenses 272,691 314,221 518,611 891,774 Gain (loss) on divestiture and other, net (1,907) (2,539) (6) Proceeds from business interruption insurance claims 2,603 2,603 Operating income (loss) 176,362 170,713 329,765 48,380 Interest income affiliates 4,225 4,225 8,450 8,450 Interest expense (12,883) (27,604) (44,919) (50,564) Other income (expense), net (53) 71 71 142 Income (loss) before income taxes 167,651 147,405 293,367 6,408 Income tax (benefit) expense 326 12,246 6,959 24,516 Net income (loss) 167,325 135,159 286,408 (18,108) Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest 2,804 2,816 5,827 6,042 Net income (loss) attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP $ 164,521 $ 132,343 $ 280,581 $ (24,150) Limited partners' interest in net income (loss): Net income (loss) attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP $ 164,521 $ 132,343 $ 280,581 $ (24,150) Pre-acquisition net (income) loss allocated to Anadarko (18,719) (11,326) (43,758) Series A Preferred units interest in net (income) loss (23,121) (25,450) General partner interest in net (income) loss (58,381) (45,971) (113,781) (83,148) Common and Class C limited partners' interest in net income (loss) $ 83,019 $ 67,653 $ 130,024 $ (151,056) Net income (loss) per common unit basic and diluted $ 0.55 $ 0.46 $ 0.86 $ (1.14) Weighted-average common units outstanding basic 130,669 128,481 129,830 128,111 Weighted-average common units outstanding diluted 163,227 139,504 153,291 139,092 (1) Financial information has been recast to include the financial position and results attributable to the Springfield interest. Western Gas Partners, LP CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Unaudited) thousands except number of units June 30, 2016 December 31, 2015 (1) Current assets $ 385,253 $ 299,217 Note receivable Anadarko 260,000 260,000 Net property, plant and equipment 5,002,144 4,858,779 Other assets 1,856,705 1,883,201 Total assets $ 7,504,102 $ 7,301,197 Current liabilities $ 241,565 $ 235,488 Long-term debt 2,932,004 2,690,651 Asset retirement obligations and other 143,159 268,356 Deferred purchase price obligation Anadarko 29,150 188,674 Total liabilities $ 3,345,878 $ 3,383,169 Equity and partners' capital Series A Preferred units (21,922,831 and zero units issued and outstanding at June 30, 2016, and December 31, 2015, respectively) $ 617,094 $ Common units (130,671,970 and 128,576,965 units issued and outstanding at June 30, 2016, and December 31, 2015, respectively) 2,613,806 2,588,991 Class C units (11,946,008 and 11,411,862 units issued and outstanding at June 30, 2016, and December 31, 2015, respectively) 729,731 710,891 General partner units (2,583,068 units issued and outstanding at June 30, 2016, and December 31, 2015) 131,842 120,164 Net investment by Anadarko 430,598 Noncontrolling interest 65,751 67,384 Total liabilities, equity and partners' capital $ 7,504,102 $ 7,301,197 (1) Financial information has been recast to include the financial position and results attributable to the Springfield interest. Western Gas Partners, LP CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited) Six Months Ended June 30, thousands 2016 2015 (1) Cash flows from operating activities Net income (loss) $ 286,408 $ (18,108) Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash provided by operating activities and changes in working capital: Depreciation and amortization 132,400 137,529 Impairments 8,921 274,244 (Gain) loss on divestiture and other, net 2,539 6 Change in other items, net (36,402) (21,350) Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities $ 393,866 $ 372,321 Cash flows from investing activities Capital expenditures $ (255,923) $ (361,798) Contributions in aid of construction costs from affiliates 3,854 Acquisitions from affiliates (715,199) (9,056) Acquisitions from third parties (3,514) Investments in equity affiliates 139 (6,770) Distributions from equity investments in excess of cumulative earnings affiliates 10,611 8,538 Proceeds from the sale of assets to affiliates 613 700 Proceeds from the sale of assets to third parties 137 22 Proceeds from property insurance claims 2,944 Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities $ (952,824) $ (371,878) Cash flows from financing activities Borrowings, net of debt issuance costs $ 530,000 $ 769,694 Repayments of debt (290,000) (520,000) Increase (decrease) in outstanding checks (1,314) (2,938) Proceeds from the issuance of common units, net of offering expenses 25,000 57,376 Proceeds from the issuance of Series A Preferred units, net of offering expenses 686,940 Distributions to unitholders (313,380) (259,247) Distributions to noncontrolling interest owner (7,460) (7,175) Net contributions from (distributions to) Anadarko (27,459) (17,439) Above-market component of swap extensions with Anadarko 16,365 Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities $ 618,692 $ 20,271 Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents $ 59,734 $ 20,714 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 98,033 67,054 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $ 157,767 $ 87,768 (1) Financial information has been recast to include the financial position and results attributable to the Springfield interest. Western Gas Partners, LP OPERATING STATISTICS (Unaudited) Three Months Ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 2015 (1) 2016 2015 (1) Throughput for natural gas assets (MMcf/d) Gathering, treating and transportation 1,508 1,920 1,553 1,942 Processing 2,320 2,465 2,226 2,362 Equity investment (2) 170 172 178 169 Total throughput for natural gas assets 3,998 4,557 3,957 4,473 Throughput attributable to noncontrolling interest for natural gas assets 128 159 132 161 Total throughput attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP for natural gas assets 3,870 4,398 3,825 4,312 Throughput for crude/NGL assets (MBbls/d) Gathering, treating and transportation 59 74 59 75 Equity investment (3) 128 111 127 109 Total throughput for crude/NGL assets 187 185 186 184 Adjusted gross margin per Mcf attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP for natural gas assets (4) $ 0.84 $ 0.73 $ 0.82 $ 0.72 Adjusted gross margin per Bbl for crude/NGL assets (5) 2.03 1.98 2.05 1.95 (1) Throughput and adjusted gross margin have been recast to include results attributable to the Springfield interest. (2) Represents WES's 14.81% share of average Fort Union throughput and 22% share of average Rendezvous throughput. (3) Represents WES's 10% share of average White Cliffs throughput, WES's 25% share of average Mont Belvieu JV throughput, WES's 20% share of average TEG and TEP throughput, and WES's 33.33% share of average FRP throughput. (4) Average for period. Calculated as Adjusted gross margin attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP for natural gas assets (total revenues and other for natural gas assets, less reimbursements for electricity-related expenses recorded as revenue and cost of product for natural gas assets, plus distributions from WES's equity investments in Fort Union and Rendezvous, and excluding the noncontrolling interest owner's proportionate share of revenue and cost of product), divided by total throughput (MMcf/d) attributable to Western Gas Partners, LP for natural gas assets. (5) Average for period. Calculated as Adjusted gross margin for crude/NGL assets (total revenues and other for crude/NGL assets, less reimbursements for electricity-related expenses recorded as revenue and cost of product for crude/NGL assets, plus distributions from WES's equity investments in White Cliffs, the Mont Belvieu JV, TEG, TEP and FRP), divided by total throughput (MBbls/d) for crude/NGL assets. Western Gas Equity Partners, LP CALCULATION OF CASH AVAILABLE FOR DISTRIBUTION (Unaudited) thousands except per-unit amount and Coverage ratio Three Months Ended June 30, 2016 Distributions declared by Western Gas Partners, LP: General partner interest $ 3,156 Incentive distribution rights 51,213 Common units held by WGP 41,610 Less: Public company general and administrative expense 1,004 Interest expense 547 Cash available for distribution $ 94,428 Declared distribution per common unit $ 0.43375 Distributions declared by Western Gas Equity Partners, LP $ 94,958 Coverage ratio 0.99 x Western Gas Equity Partners, LP CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (Unaudited) Three Months Ended June 30, Six Months Ended June 30, thousands except per-unit amounts 2016 2015 (1) 2016 2015 (1) Revenues and other Gathering, processing and transportation $ 301,136 $ 290,900 $ 595,140 $ 561,168 Natural gas and natural gas liquids sales 126,993 174,202 215,549 339,874 Other 535 891 1,116 1,957 Total revenues and other 428,664 465,993 811,805 902,999 Equity income, net affiliates 19,693 18,941 36,507 37,161 Operating expenses Cost of product 104,849 147,216 181,316 286,624 Operation and maintenance 75,173 77,837 151,386 154,022 General and administrative 11,887 10,183 24,402 22,099 Property and other taxes 12,093 9,612 22,443 18,892 Depreciation and amortization 67,305 68,554 132,400 137,529 Impairments 2,403 1,620 8,921 274,244 Total operating expenses 273,710 315,022 520,868 893,410 Gain (loss) on divestiture and other, net (1,907) (2,539) (6) Proceeds from business interruption insurance claims 2,603 2,603 Operating income (loss) 175,343 169,912 327,508 46,744 Interest income affiliates 4,225 4,225 8,450 8,450 Interest expense (13,429) (27,604) (45,568) (50,566) Other income (expense), net (36) 80 105 160 Income (loss) before income taxes 166,103 146,613 290,495 4,788 Income tax (benefit) expense 326 12,246 6,959 24,516 Net income (loss) 165,777 134,367 283,536 (19,728) Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests 76,914 46,716 112,857 (91,007) Net income (loss) attributable to Western Gas Equity Partners, LP $ 88,863 $ 87,651 $ 170,679 $ 71,279 Limited partners' interest in net income (loss): Net income (loss) attributable to Western Gas Equity Partners, LP $ 88,863 $ 87,651 $ 170,679 $ 71,279 Pre-acquisition net (income) loss allocated to Anadarko (18,719) (11,326) (43,758) Limited partners' interest in net income (loss) $ 88,863 $ 68,932 $ 159,353 $ 27,521 Net income (loss) per common unit basic and diluted $ 0.41 $ 0.31 $ 0.73 $ 0.13 Weighted-average common units outstanding basic and diluted 218,921 218,912 218,920 218,911 (1) Financial information has been recast to include the financial position and results attributable to the Springfield interest. Western Gas Equity Partners, LP CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Unaudited) thousands except number of units June 30, 2016 December 31, 2015 (1) Current assets $ 387,167 $ 301,364 Note receivable Anadarko 260,000 260,000 Net property, plant and equipment 5,002,144 4,858,779 Other assets 1,858,502 1,883,201 Total assets $ 7,507,813 $ 7,303,344 Current liabilities $ 241,706 $ 235,565 Long-term debt 2,960,004 2,690,651 Asset retirement obligations and other 143,159 268,356 Deferred purchase price obligation Anadarko 29,150 188,674 Total liabilities $ 3,374,019 $ 3,383,246 Equity and partners' capital Common units (218,922,303 and 218,919,380 units issued and outstanding at June 30, 2016, and December 31, 2015, respectively) $ 1,052,619 $ 1,060,842 Net investment by Anadarko 430,598 Noncontrolling interests 3,081,175 2,428,658 Total liabilities, equity and partners' capital $ 7,507,813 $ 7,303,344 (1) Financial information has been recast to include the financial position and results attributable to the Springfield interest. Western Gas Equity Partners, LP CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited) Six Months Ended June 30, thousands 2016 2015 (1) Cash flows from operating activities Net income (loss) $ 283,536 $ (19,728) Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash provided by operating activities and changes in working capital: Depreciation and amortization 132,400 137,529 Impairments 8,921 274,244 (Gain) loss on divestiture and other, net 2,539 6 Change in other items, net (35,581) (20,828) Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities $ 391,815 $ 371,223 Cash flows from investing activities Capital expenditures $ (255,923) $ (361,798) Contributions in aid of construction costs from affiliates 3,854 Acquisitions from affiliates (715,199) (9,056) Acquisitions from third parties (3,514) Investments in equity affiliates 139 (6,770) Distributions from equity investments in excess of cumulative earnings affiliates 10,611 8,538 Proceeds from the sale of assets to affiliates 613 700 Proceeds from the sale of assets to third parties 137 22 Proceeds from property insurance claims 2,944 Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities $ (952,824) $ (371,878) Cash flows from financing activities Borrowings, net of debt issuance costs $ 556,017 $ 769,694 Repayments of debt (290,000) (521,150) Increase (decrease) in outstanding checks (1,314) (2,938) Proceeds from the issuance of WES common units, net of offering expenses 57,376 Proceeds from the issuance of WES Series A Preferred units, net of offering expenses 686,940 Distributions to WGP unitholders (181,156) (143,386) Distributions to Chipeta noncontrolling interest owner (7,460) (7,175) Distributions to noncontrolling interest owners of WES (130,947) (112,278) Net contributions from (distributions to) Anadarko (27,459) (17,439) Above-market component of swap extensions with Anadarko 16,365 Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities $ 620,986 $ 22,704 Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents $ 59,977 $ 22,049 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 99,694 67,213 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $ 159,671 $ 89,262 (1) Financial information has been recast to include the financial position and results attributable to the Springfield interest. SOURCE Western Gas Related Links http://www.westerngas.com MUNICH, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Axiros, the technology leader in device management, TR-069, and IoT solutions for service providers, enterprises, and OEMs, today announced that it has partnered with WOW!, one of the leading broadband providers, serving residential, business and wholesale customers in the United States. Axiros is providing a comprehensive end-to-end service assurance platform solution to WOW! that addresses all of their deployment, provisioning, management, and customer experience needs in a single software solution accessible from a portal. WOW!'s more than 800,000 customers currently have access to triple-play services but the device management to date has been a challenge for the company. Several acquisitions and company/subscriber growth have exceeded the limits of the built-in DOCSIS management capabilities, limited the company's ability to expand service offerings and offer superior Wi-Fi Quality of Service/Experience (QoS/QoE). "WOW! wanted to move from reactive to proactive and found Axiros to be the perfect partner," commented Torryon Coleman, VP of Product Development at WOW! "Axiros had a simple and user-friendly solution as we were trying to get everything under one umbrella and create uniformity, as we want to effectively manage the services we deliver to the home. Our ultimate goal is to offer the best experience for our customers." WOW! is using a combination of Axiros products to make up its service assurance platform, including: AXESS.ACS is the core auto configuration server helping the operator integrate all its devices (CPEs, cable modems, STBs, etc.) into one managed set regardless of protocol. AXTRACT is a perfect complement for QoE monitoring to collect, monitor, diagnose and analyze device and network data. AXPAND acts as a "glue software" integrating legacy devices (non-TR-069 such as SNTP and SNMP found in their network) into the managed set of devices and making all fall under the umbrella especially important for WOW! as the acquisitions have brought many types of new and different equipment into the network. AXPLORE for event management and alarming to let WOW! know if and when there is an event in the ecosystem that needs attention. Wi-Fi Optimization Module to improve Wi-Fi services for end users and customers. "We are thrilled to partner with WOW! as they expand their focus to service assurance in 2016," commented Kurt Peterhans, CEO of Axiros. "In the last three years, Axiros has solidified its position in North America with several major account wins, including Verizon, HP, COX, ADTRAN, and Viasat. Now, WOW! is a perfect example of a cable MSO that has recognized the importance of customer experience. As Axiros continues to expand in the region, service providers like WOW! will benefit from integration of the Axiros platform, and devices in the field will be supported for the years to come as WOW! moves beyond triple-play into IoT and more." Axiros has made waves in the device management, M2M and IoT space this past year. It was recognized as one of five global 2015 Cool Vendors in IoT by Gartner, cited a Gartner Top 10 IoT Technology for 2017-2018, listed in the Gartner Market Guide for IoT Platforms, was chosen by CIOReview as one of its 20 Most Promising M2M Solution Suppliers, and was shortlisted for the Broadband World Forum 2015 Awards for The Most Innovative Internet of Things Solution Award. For more information about Axiros or its products, please visit the company's website. About WOW! WOW! is one of the United States' leading broadband providers, serving residential, business and wholesale customers in Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas, Maryland and the Southeast. With an expansive portfolio of advanced services including high-speed Internet, data, voice, cloud and cable television services, the company is dedicated to delighting customers with friendly, quality service at affordable prices. http://www.wowway.com About Axiros The Axiros AXvantage: Any protocol, any device, any service any time. Axiros is a global leader in IoT, M2M, TR-069 and device management, providing software solutions and platforms to service providers and equipment manufacturers worldwide to manage and IoT-ize devices. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Munich, Axiros has sales and service offices and development centers worldwide, so as needs change, Axiros will always be close by to deliver. http://www.axiros.com @axiros1 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150224/177373LOGO SOURCE Axiros Related Links http://www.fuelpublicrelations.com Mammootty's Rorschach hits all the right notes, except in the end | Movie Review Rome, July 21 : Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has confirmed that he has rejected an offer of 60 million euros ($66 million) to sell Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain to Atletico Madrid foortball club, in exchange for two or three other players from the Rojiblancos. In a press conference on Wednesday, Laurentiis dismissed recent speculation about the future of the Argentine striker, and stressed the only way for him to leave is to meet his exit clause, which is worth 97 million euros ($106 million), reports Efe. He also dismissed the possibility of Higuain joining Juventus even if the Italian side agree to pay the penalty clause, and if so, Higuain himself must agree to the deal. De Laurentiis went further and said even if the Argentine signed for Juventus, he would be betraying himself. New Delhi, July 23 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday condemned shooting rampage at a mall in the German city of Munich on Friday night. "We are appalled by the horrific incident in Munich. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the deceased and those injured," Modi tweeted. Ten people were killed, including the gunman who opened fire near Olympia-Einkaufszentrum shopping mall in the Moosach district of Munich. The 18-year-old Iranian origin attacker killed himself whenhe encountered police and was likely a lone shooter. Hyderabad, July 24 : Two labourers were killed and eight others injured as a building being built without permission from authorities collapsed in upscale Jubliee Hills here on Sunday. Police booked four persons including engineer for culpable homicide. Rescue workers have almost completed the clearing of debris by Sunday evening and no more bodies were found. Earlier, some labourers were feared trapped under the rubble. The deceased have been identified as Anand (24) and Ansar Sheikh (30), both from West Bengal. The accident occurred in Film Nagar, where the three-storey building was being built as part of the expansion of Film Nagar Cultural Centre, a hub of Telugu film celebrities. Cement-concrete slabs for two floors were laid. Eight injured persons rescued by locals soon after the collapse around 12.30 p.m were shifted to the nearby Apollo Hospital. Police, fire services, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) carried out the rescue operation. A GHMC official said no permission was given for constructing the building as the land's ownership was disputed and the case was pending in the court. Greater Hyderabad Mayor B.Rammohan announced compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the families of the deceased. He said the poor quality of the construction and negligence led to the tragedy. On a complaint by a GHMC official, police booked president and generation of Film Nagar Cultural Club, engineer and contractor for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Mumbai, July 25 : Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Monday admitted to a virtual breakdown in communication with the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) national leadership. He attributed this mainly to a "generational shift" in the BJP -- with which the Sena is allied both in the central and Maharashtra governments. Seasoned BJP leaders have been replaced by a younger lot, he said. "The generation changed and the new dispensation got power very quickly. But after stabilizing in office, they should look for open dialogue," Thackeray said. In the second of a three-part interview published on Monday in the party mouthpieces Saamana (Marathi) and Dopahar ka Saamana (Hindi) ahead of his 56th birthday on July 27, Thackeray spoke at length with Executive Editor and MP Sanjay Raut. There was a time when then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee used to regularly call up and discuss issues with the late Shiv Sena President Bal Thackeray, he said. "Then, there were Pramod Mahajan and Gopinath Munde who continued to connect with the Sena and BJP at the centre. Such great individuals are no more," Thackeray rued. He pointed out that the elder generation in the BJP - comprising people like Vajpayee, Advani and others - was out of politics. The Sena chief, however, added that he enjoyed a rapport with Maharashtra Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis. The almost three decades long ties between the BJP and Sena broke down on the eve of the 2014 Maharashtra assembly elections. The Sena sat in the opposition benches briefly before joining the ruling BJP - with the avowed claims of keeping the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party out of power. Elaborating, Thackeray said instead of concentrating on a "Congress-free" India vide political misadventures like in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh, the BJP would do better to "free and get back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir or Chinese-occupied Arunachal Pradesh - the nation will be forever indebted to BJP". Warning the BJP not to take the people for granted, he referred to 1980 when the voters threw out the Janata Party government and brought back Indira Gandhi to power. "Don't make the mistake of writing off the Congress so soon. That party is well-entrenched in India since before independence. See the recent outcome of local body elections in Gujarat where it came up trumps. So, avoid taking the Congress so lightly," Thackeray said. Thackeray referred to the economic situation and said though Prime Minister Narendra Modi "appears to be doing a lot", the changes the people expected in two years have yet to materialize. "All these 'achhe din', Make In India, Skill India, Start-up India, which were launched with much fanfare, when will they take off and start bearing results?" he asked. To a question on bringing back black money stashed abroad, he said the assurance "definitely helped the BJP in elections - then what? Merely issuing large media advertisements won't help in the long run". Asked to name five major achievements of the NDA, Thackeray said: "Modi has done a lot of things. So it would be difficult to name just five." New Delhi, July 25 : The Rajya Sabha was disrupted on Monday over a private member's bill on giving special status to Andhra Pradesh, which could not be taken up in the House on Friday due to pandemonium. The protests stalled the post lunch proceedings and the bill for compulsory afforestation could not be taken up. The Congress, which raised the issue on Monday morning as well, disrupted the proceedings post-lunch over the issue, with its leader Anand Sharma saying they will not allow business unless the Andhra Pradesh special status bill is discussed. "It was done by design ... disrupt the House and do injustice to the state. Now we want the Andhra matter to be discussed officially. We will not discuss anything unless it is discussed," Sharma said. Deputy Chairman P. J. Kurien, however, said the bill can be taken up only on Friday this week, as on that day the private members' resolutions would be taken up. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi also said private members' bills cannot be taken up except on Friday. Congress member Madhusudan Mistry, however, pointed out that there was a provision of changing the day for private members' business. Congress' Jairam Ramesh slammed the government for "smuggling in" the bill on compulsory afforestation on Thursday after Congress had walked out of the House. Kurien then gave a ruling and explained that the day for private members' bill cannot be changed immediately, and even if the process is initiated it will not mean the bill on Andhra Pradesh would be taken up immediately. Congress members continued raising slogans, after which the house was first adjourned for 15 minutes, and then till 3 p.m. The scene was no different when the house met again at 3 p.m. and Kurien then adjourned the house for the day. New Delhi : Title: How the French Won Waterloo - or Think They Did; Author: Stephen Clarke; Publisher: Arrow Books/Penguin UK; Pages: 304; Price: Rs 499 Waterloo has become a byword - at least in the English-speaking world - for a decisive, career-ending defeat. Most people know that Napoleon, Emperor of France, lost this battle at this small Belgian settlement, near Brussels, in June 1815, and his eventful reign ended in ignominious defeat. Historical fact? Try convincing the French. British journalist-cum-novelist Stephen Clarke says Napoleon "had gambled everything on one great confrontation with his enemies, and he had lost. The word 'lost', in this case, having its usual meaning of 'not won', 'been defeated, trounced, hammered', etc". And everyone acknowledges it but the French - for over two centuries now. It is not only Napoleon's soldiers or die-hard supporters that have a different view, but also historians and experts down to our own times, he says. Waterloo veteran, Captain Marie Jean Baptiste Lemmonier-Delafosse may, in his memoirs, well say: "It wasn't Lord Wellington who won; his defence was stubborn and admirably energetic, but he was pushed back and beaten", but what about French historian Jean-Claude Damamme, who, in a 1999 book, says: "For the English, Waterloo was a defeat that they won" and former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin (2005-07), in a recent book about the Emperor, who contends: "This defeat shines with the aura of victory." Then, as Clarke tells us, a visit to the Waterloo memorial will leave many confused as to who had actually won, given the preponderance of Napoleon and his French army among the exhibits and presentation. This, he says, "provokes two main questions: Who exactly is behind this rewriting of history that has been going on ever since the battle ended? And why do they feel the need to indulge in such outrageous denial?" The answers are "fascinatingly complex". Part of the answer to the first, says Clarke, lies in presence of a "belligerent battalion of French historians who refuse to associate Napoleon's name with anything as shameful as defeat". "To achieve this feat of historical acrobatics, they will use any argument they can muster: at Waterloo, they contend, Napoleon might have lost to Blucher but he beat Wellington; the British cheated by choosing the battlefield; Napoleon's generals disobeyed him; traitors revealed his plans; the French government prevented him from mustering another army and fighting on;etc, etc.." As he seeks to explain why Napoleon has such a continuing hold on the French psyche and influence in its national life, Clarke takes us on a incisive but witty journey through the Emperor's eventful life, right from his rise in the aftermath of the French Revolution, his glorious period of conquests and ascendance (save against Britain which continued to fight on), the reverses in Russia, the defeats and the first abdication, the return and the new battles culminating in Waterloo. And this desperate struggle on which the fate of a continent rested is the high point and vividly recounted, before which Napoleon's eventual - but shameful - treatment seems only a piquant footnote But also key is the discussion on Napoleon's legacy, both good and bad, and how it still permeates French life, while liable to crop out unexpectedly in various parts of Europe. Clarke is well-suited for his task. He is not only the author of six satirically comic novels about a Briton's experience in France from "A Year in the Merde" (2004) to "Merde in Europe" (2016) but also "Talk to the Snail" (2006), an ironical survival guide to the French way of life, and "1000 Years of Annoying the French" (2010), his unique take on a millennium and more of British-French history. The same typical British humour, comprising satire, irony, hyperbole, and bathos, permeates the latest work, but don't get taken in by its flippant approach. At the core are not only a valuable insight into Napoleon, but into the role and use (and abuse/misuse) of history, the contribution of exceptional individuals, and how abiding legacies can be crafted. (26.07.2016 - Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in ) New Delhi : As someone with first-hand experience of how babudom (bureaucracy) functions in India, I am often amused, and at times distressed, by people's assessment of how to cure the many ills of our bureaucracy. It is understandably difficult for the outside observer to pin down the crux of the problems - of corruption, lethargic decision-making and general inertia that are evidently keeping this institution from delivering. It is clearly frustrating for the average Indian to pay taxes to sustain this huge, apparently useless institution whose members seem to only abuse power and enjoy perks and do no good, or not enough, at any rate. Various analysts have narrowed down the problem to low salaries, fear of the vigilance and audit machinery, lure of post-retirement jobs, general lack of ethics in society and the like. The difficulty is that there is no easy formula to tackle these problems. I heartily agree with Anja Manuel that India needs "a comprehensive ethics and education campaign in schools and the news media would shift cultural norms away from seeing graft as an inevitable part of life." This brings me to the next oft-touted solution. I agree, only partially, with those who blame the 3Cs (Comptroller and Auditor General, Central Bureau of Investigation and Central Vigilance Commission) for the resident inertia of the Indian bureaucracy. The truth is that we desperately need these institutions to do their job well. The trouble is that more often than not, the resources of these bodies are being misused to settle scores and wreak revenge. Very often decisive bureaucrats, who are the epitome of diligence and honesty, are subject to malicious inquiries (initiated by unscrupulous and the dishonest) to teach them a lesson and to reign them in or even as convenient scapegoats. It is up to the government to rehaul these bodies and to severely punish those found to have abetted the harassment of upright bureaucrats, either deliberately, or because of their sheer indifference or carelessness. A little digging would often reveal crooked fellow bureaucrats behind bogus complaints or audit paras and the complicity of the staff of these bodies lies at the root of the manipulation of the 3Cs. The careful selection of officers who man these bodies must be given utmost priority. The need for a genuine understanding of policy and programme implementation rather than a pedantic, hyper-technical or policing mindset is of utmost importance if these bodies are to concentrate on curtailing dishonesty. Only when this happens will this country set free the bright, honest bureaucrat who truly wants to serve his/her country and is willing to work day and night to deliver. One idea of giving bureaucrats the option of branching into the regulatory stream after the age of 55 is a good one. He has stated that "those interested in regulation should be allowed to continue till 65 years, while others follow the direct line operations till 60 or, in exceptional cases, 62 years". However, how this will solve the "malleability" of regulators is not clear. In a liberalized market economy, the professionalism and autonomy of the regulator is critical and regulators who are at the end of the day political appointees may necessarily exhibit these traits. What is needed is more transparency and accountability in regulation. The actions of a number of regulators are still cloaked behind an opaque or at least translucent wall that hides regulatory capture and worse. The public should have a right to know the rationale for all government and regulatory decisions. One of the ways of achieving this is proper enforcement of the RTI, including the requirement of proactive/suo moto public disclosure which is only being given lip service so far. The public too needs to wake up and demand more from the government. Further, they must stop paying speed money and using political patronage to manipulate the system. In general, Indians need to practice what they preach as desirable conduct from their fellow Indians in the bureaucracy. Not easy? Blame the system? It is a chicken-and-egg dilemma, indeed! Bringing in lateral entrants at higher levels of bureaucracy can instil fresh ideas and professionalism provided one can ensure the integrity and autonomy of these experts. This too leads right back to all of the above. Finally, there is a need to pay well to attract talent. It has been rightly said that, "if you throw peanuts you will get monkeys" This country does not need a bunch of rapacious monkeys to manage its affairs. The paring down of the lower level bureaucracy and digitalization of government services must be coupled with a large enough higher level bureaucracy consisting of the country's best brains, who are rewarded well for work. The Singapore model, where the government selects and trains the best students for bureaucratic positions on a renewable contract basis, is one worth emulating. They also punish severely for corruption, which acts as an effective deterrent. All these issues are intricately interlinked and difficult, but not impossible, to tackle provided, that is what Indians really want. (26.07.2016 - Archana G. Gulati is a civil servant. The views expressed are personal. She can be contacted at archanagg14@gmail.com ) Washington, July 26 : US space agency NASA will launch a spacecraft in September to a near-Earth asteroid known as Bennu to harvest a sample of surface material and return it to the Earth to scan for signs of life. NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will measure the spectral signatures of Bennu's mineralogical and molecular components. Ideally, the sample will come from a region in which the building blocks of life may be found. Known as OVIRS (OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer), the instrument on board will measure visible and near-infrared light reflected and emitted from the asteroid and split the light into its component wavelengths, much like a prism that splits sunlight into a rainbow. "OVIRS is key to our search for organics on Bennu. In particular, we will rely on it to find the areas of Bennu rich in organic molecules to identify possible sample sites of high science value, as well as the asteroid's general composition," explained Lauretta, principal investigator for the OSIRIS-REx mission at University of Arizona in Tucson. OVIRS will work in tandem with another OSIRIS-REx instrument -- the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES). While OVIRS maps the asteroid in the visible and near infrared, OTES picks up in the thermal infrared. This will allow the science team to map the entire asteroid over a range of wavelengths that are most interesting to scientists searching for organics and water. In the visible and infrared spectrum, minerals and other materials have unique signatures like fingerprints. These fingerprints allow scientists to identify various organic materials, as well as carbonates, silicates and absorbed water, on the surface of the asteroid. The data will actually allow scientists to make a map of the relative abundance of various materials across Bennu's surface. "I can't think of a spectral payload that has been quite this comprehensive before," said Dennis Reuter, OVIRS instrument scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. As the spacecraft approaches Bennu, OVIRS will view one entire hemisphere at a time to measure how the spectrum changes as the asteroid rotates, allowing scientists to compare ground-based observations to those from the spacecraft. Once at the asteroid, OVIRS will gather spectral data and create detailed maps of the surface and help in the selection of a sample site. Despite its capabilities to perform complex science, OVIRS is surprisingly inexpensive and compact in its design. The entire spectrometer operates at 10 watts, requiring less power than a standard household light bulb. Unlike most spectrometers, OVIRS has no moving parts, reducing the risk of a malfunction. "We designed OVIRS to be robust and capable of lasting a long time in space," Reuter said in a NASA statement. The team also had to plan for another major threat: water. Immediately after launch, the team will turn on heaters on the instrument to bake off any water. The heat will not be intense enough to cause any damage to OVIRS, and the team will turn the heaters off once all of the water has evaporated. Chennai, July 26 : Want to turn nostalgic about tasty home-cooked lunch out of the round-shaped stacked and coupled stainless steel containers? Then it is time to visit the Ayna restaurant at the Hilton Chennai. "Having food in the afternoon out of lunch boxes seems to be an age-old practice in India. Though traditionally the lunch boxes were round in shape, now they come in several shapes and sizes. But what goes inside the box has not changed - home-cooked food," Achal Aggarwal, Executive Chef at Hilton Chennai, told IANS. While sipping a pina colada, the "Tiffins of India" menu came to the table but did not list out the dishes and their prices. Instead, each page has a different story -- some are moving -- centred on the food and weaving in the names of the dishes that a guest can relish. "The stories will kindle the memories of our guests, a reliving of their yester days and sharing them with others. There will be lively discussions over the table," Aggarwal said. As to the absence of starters in the menu, Aggarwal said: "In real home-packed lunch boxes there won't be starters. At this point of time, the ringing of a bicycle bell was startling. More surprising was a person dressed like a Mumbai dabbawala pushing it towards our table with several coloured bags containing the lunch boxes hanging from the handle bar. "We wanted to give our guests an entirely different dining experience. Hence we give a touch of Mumbai's dabbawala," Aggarwal remarked. The dabbawala started to serve from the lunch box aromatic saffron rice, mutton keema, adraki gobi and palak ka raita on the plate. The wafting aroma of saffron-mixed basmati rice was great to inhale and the mutton keema was an ideal match for that. The adraki gobi also was tasty. "The food served in the lunch box is not from our regular menu card. We offer eight non-veg and four veg choices," Aggarwal said. By this time small portions of chicken chettinad, lemon rice, aloo podimas, cucumber raita and malabar parantha arrived at the table. As in all home-cooked food, the masala in the food was not heavy. "For all our dishes, the masala is prepared using the needed ingredients. The only difference is that the quantity used is less, as in our homes," chef de cusine Pauljoe told IANS. Meanwhile small portions of mutton korma, khuska pulav, bhuna ghost, tawa parantha and basmati rice arrived on the table -- truly, the chef excelled. While the lamb curry in Andhra style was tasty, there are other options for non-vegetarians as well: chicken stew with puri, steamed rice, chicken dhansak, berry pulav or the Mangalorean chicken curry, ghee chapathy and the like. For vegetarians, govind gatta curry, Jaipuri bhindi and missi roti is a good combination. But what one should not miss out is the oondhiyoo -- a Gujarathi dish that has wonderful mixed flavours on offer with other Gujarathi dishes -- but which also goes well with saffron or chole biriyani or puri. Aggarwal said that guests can mix and match the dishes mentioned in the menu. "We have not included any seafood dish in the lunch menu. At homes, mothers do not pack seafood for lunch as it will get spoilt by the time it is consumed," added Director of Operations Ruban Das. For the sweet tooth, the crunchy apple halwa, delicious bebinca and others are there to be indulged in. FAQS What: Tiffins of India Where: Hilton Chennai at J.N.Salai, Guindy When : 21st July to 4th August Timings: Lunch 12 noon to 3 p.m.; Dinner 6.30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Price : Non-Vegetarian Rs.1,699; Vegetarian Rs. 1,499 (Venkatachari Jagannathan visited Ayna at the invitation of Hilton Chennai. He can be contacted at v.jagannathan@ians.in ) Philadelphia, July 26 : Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was booed by his own delegates after calling on them to support presumptive presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on the opening day of a Democratic National Convention (DNC) here on Monday evening. Sanders lamented his 2016 primary loss but insisted that "Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the US", NBC News reported. "This election is about which candidate understands the real problems facing this country and has offered real solutions - not just bombast, fear-mongering, name-calling and divisiveness," Politico quoted Sanders as saying. "We need leadership in this country which will improve the lives of working families, the children, the elderly, the sick and the poor. We need leadership which brings our people together and makes us stronger - not leadership which insults Latinos, Muslims, women, African-Americans and veterans - and divides us up." "By these measures," he continued, "any objective observer will conclude that - based on her ideas and her leadership - Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close," Politico reported. The former presidential hopeful received a rousing round of applause, and also some "Bernie!", "We want Bernie!" and "Take it to the floor!" chants from his nearly 1,900 characteristically enthusiastic supporters. Sanders supporters' cheers and applause drowned out the Vermont Senator for several minutes when he first took the stage at the DNC for a prime time address. Several supporters appeared to have tears in their eyes during Sanders' appearance. Sanders addressed his "disappointed" supporters, who have been a vocal presence throughout the first day of the Convention, NBC News said. They booed and jeered outgoing DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz earlier on Monday. During a speech, they even booed Sanders when he mentioned Clinton by name. The Vermont senator also hit on the major themes of his campaign, including income inequality and Wall Street malfeasance, money in politics and universal health care. "Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president, and I am proud to stand with her tonight," NBC News quoted Sanders as saying. According to a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, 76 per cent of Sanders supporters said they would vote for Clinton against Republican rival Donald Trump. According to CNN, Sanders spent much of Monday making a last-ditch effort to quell the anger among his backers, including texting supporters asking them not to "engage in any kind of protest" on the floor. "Our job now is to see that platform implemented by a Democratic Senate, a Democratic House and a Hillary Clinton presidency - and I am going to do everything I can to make that happen," Sanders said while concluding his speech. The DNC which opened on Monday night will last until Thursday evening. Delegates from 50 states on Tuesday will officially select Clinton as the first female presidential nominee of one of the country's two biggest parties. Clinton will formally accept the nomination on Thursday evening with a speech closing out the convention after being introduced to the assembled delegates by her daughter Chelsea. New Delhi : Bandipur National Park (Karnataka): For someone whose cow -- valued at Rs 20,000 ($300) -- was killed by a tiger in August 2015, Mahadeva Gowda is calm, as is Shiva Murthy, whose sugarcane crop was trampled by elephants in July 2016, the fifth such pachyderm raid over the past year. Gowda and Murthy are the latest beneficiaries of a new programme called Wild Seve, or wild service, which deploys specially trained locals called "field agents" who hand-hold villagers to navigate formidable government compensation procedures. What once took up to 15 days -- if farmers bothered to apply at all -- now takes as little as four days. In doing so, Wild Seve -- run by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), a nonprofit that works with the government's forest departments in 284 villages in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu -- helps soothe the tension and violence evident between India's rising human population and falling population of wild animals. "Earlier it was difficult to interact with villagers when there was wildlife conflict, as they used to get aggressive. From the time Wild Seve started, it has educated them about the importance of wildlife and sustainability," said a forest official, who asked not to be named, as he is not authorised to talk to the media. "It has brought a sense of calmness in villagers while dealing with our department." In Murthy's village of Chillakahalli and Gowda's Vadeyannapura on the bucolic outskirts of south Karnataka's largest national park -- as on populated forest fringes nationwide -- human-animal conflicts are a growing issue, as IndiaSpend reported in May 2014. Gowda received Rs 9,000 as compensation for his cow, but he is satisfied. "Previously, we had to pay money to get compensation," he said. "First, we had to hire a photographer to take photos of crop raids or cattle kills. Then we had to travel by bus to the forest department, and there was no guarantee we would find them (officials)." Murthy used Wild Seve's toll-free number when elephants destroyed his sugarcane crop. Field agent Mahadevaswamy -- who also attended to Gowda's call -- informed and brought along a forest official to validate and document the claim. Photos must be taken and official documents filled, all of which are handled by field agents. Mahadevaswamy said he gets a call a day -- if not more -- for crop raids and more occasional cattle or poultry kills. His jurisdiction extends to 70 villages within a 20-km radius of Bandipur's forests, and he attends to a call within eight hours of receiving it. Since its launch last year, Wild Seve's team of seven field agents has helped file claims for 3,261 incidents of crop and property damage by elephants and other herbivores, 148 cases of livestock predation by big cats and wild dogs, 11 cases of injury and two human deaths. Of these, 2,998 toll-free calls came from Bandipur and 422 from Nagarahole. Until July 2016, nearly 1,000 families have either received or are about to receive compensation. The hope is that as villagers receive compensation for their losses quickly and clearly, they will be more willing to live with wildlife. "The compensation is now coming in good time, and so it has built a sense of relief and confidence in us," Gowda said. "Even if the crop is raided several times, we believe it will be compensated." In the absence of easy compensation, many species are attacked. There have been reports of villagers retaliating by poisoning tigers or forcing the government to shoot big cats. Krithi Karanth, the scientist behind Wild Seve In 2014, conservation scientist Krithi Karanth found that between 74 per cent and 86 per cent of households around five areas in Karnataka (Nagarhole, Bandipur, Dandeli, B. R. Hills, Bhadra) and one each in Madhya Pradesh (Kanha National Park) and Rajasthan (Ranthambore National Park) reported conflicts with wildlife. Her previous research found that less than a third of villagers who lost crops, livestock, property and family to such conflict received government compensation. "Along with mitigation, compensation has a role to play, as conflict will continue to occur," said Karanth. "My research showed that although people were trying multiple mitigation measures -- fences, guarding fields, noise (firecrackers or drums) -- very few measures worked. Hence, the solutions have to include both pre- and post-conflict assistance to people." Using her data and research, Karanth, in July 2015, in collaboration with the WCS, launched Wild Seve, now running in 284 villages around Bandipur and its contiguous area in Tamil Nadu, the Nagarhole National Park. Wild Seve is challenging because compensation procedures vary across forest ranges in Bandipur and Nagarhole. Some require a certificate from a veterinarian, confirming that cattle were indeed killed by wild animals. Others ask for proof of land ownership. Field agents now take care of these procedures, which often deterred villagers from seeking compensation. Recently, Wild Seve distributed identity cards with unique identification numbers to villagers who face repeated wildlife conflicts. Every conflict is now recorded against this number, building a conflict database, which allows easy tracking and follow-up of the compensation processes "Basically, Wild Seve has helped in simplifying the logistics and cutting down bureaucracy," said Ghanshyam Iyer, project coordinator of Wild Seve and a WCS member. Back in Chillakahalli village, near gently swaying saplings of sugarcane and cotton, women chat as they harvest tomatoes, aware that they share space with tigers, leopards, wild dogs and elephants and that, at some time, damage from visiting animals might set off a burdensome compensation process. As Gowda said, "Now, all it takes is one phone call." (26.07.2016 - In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform. Deepa Padmanaban is a Bangalore-based journalist who reports on environment and energy. The views expressed are those of IndiaSpend. The author can be contacted at respond@indiaspend.org) Chennai, July 26 : India has lost its arbitration case in an international tribunal against the Bengaluru-based Devas Multimedia Private Ltd. for cancelling the space/satellite contract with the government-owned Antrix Corporation, Devas said on Tuesday. In a statement, Devas said: "A Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) tribunal has found that the government of India's actions in annulling a contract between Devas and Antrix Corporation Ltd., and denying Devas commercial use of S-band spectrum, constituted an expropriation." The ruling on Monday was the second by an international tribunal arising out of the cancellation of the Devas-Antrix contract, the statement added. The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration tribunal (PCA) also found that India breached its treaty commitments to accord fair and equitable treatment to Devas's foreign investors. Antrix is the commercial arm of Indian space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The PCA regularly administers cases involving states, including investment treaty claims brought under the arbitration rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), said Devas. According to Devas, the unanimous decision included the arbitrator appointed to the tribunal by India. In an earlier decision, an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) tribunal in 2015 found unanimously that Antrix's repudiation of the Devas-Antrix contract was unlawful, and awarded Devas damages and pre-award interest of approximately $672 million, plus post-award annual interest accruing at 18 per cent until the award is paid in full. The courts in the United Kingdom and France have recognised the ICC award and held it to be enforceable. According to Lawrence Babbio, Chairman of Devas, with the PCA award, two international tribunals have now unanimously agreed that financial compensation should be paid after annulment of Devas's rights. "Other courts in France and the United Kingdom have agreed that the award against Antrix ought to be enforced. We prefer a mutually agreeable resolution of this matter. But until that occurs, Devas and its investors will continue to press their claims before international tribunals and in courts around the world," Babbio was quoted as saying in the statement. The PCA tribunal unanimously found that by annulling the contract in 2011 and denying the commercial use of S-band spectrum, the Indian government expropriated the investments of Devas's foreign shareholders and also acted unfairly and inequitably, thus making it liable to pay financial compensation. Antrix entered into an agreement with Devas in 2005 for the long-term lease of two ISRO satellites operating in the S-band. However, the then United Progressive Alliance government cancelled the controversial contract in February 2011, invoking sovereignty and decided to use the advanced satellite for the country's strategic use. Under the annulled deal, Antrix was to lease satellite transponders to Devas for allowing it to offer digital multimedia services using the S-band wavelength (spectrum), reserved for strategic purpose. Incidentally, the space agency launched the GSAT-6 on August 27 from its spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, about 90 km north of Chennai, as a communication satellite, using a heavy rocket. S. Rakesh, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Antrix Corporation Limited, was not available for comments. In June 2016, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had issued a notice to Devas for alleged violation of foreign exchange laws involving around Rs 1,200 crore. According to a government statement, Devas Multimedia is suspected to have received foreign direct investment of Rs 578.54 crore between May 2006 and June 2010 from various overseas investors, including CC Devas Mauritius Ltd, Telecom Devas Mauritius Ltd, Deutsche Telkom Asia Pvt. Ltd. and Devas Employees Mauritius Pvt. Ltd. in violation of the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act. The ED said the share subscription agreements entered by Devas Multimedia with the investors contained clauses relating to settlement of disputes in courts other than those in India and applicability other than Indian laws in matters of dispute. As a result, the ED said, the FDI received by the firm was contrary to the conditions specified in the approvals granted by Foreign Investment Promotion Board. The extent of contravention on the said count is Rs 578.54 crore, the ED said. The ED also charged Devas Multimedia with contravening the FDI regulations under FEMA for assuring foreign investor an annual eight per cent priority dividend in addition to other dividends on cumulative basis. The investments received by the Indian company with such assured returns is Rs 571.72 crore, the statement said. According to the ED, Devas, for one tranche of receipt of funds, issued a security akin to an External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) promising higher returns than the ceiling fixed by the Reserve Bank of India. The extent of violation on this count is Rs 67.50 crore, the ED said. According to the probe agency, a show cause notice has been issued to the Indian investors, the persons responsible in the Indian company, including its directors and foreign investors. The ED has initiated the adjudication process. In case the alleged contravention is proved in the adjudication proceedings, the noticees are liable for penalty under FEMA, which may be imposed up to thrice the sum involved in such contravention. New Delhi, July 26 : American on-demand streaming website Netflix and 20th Century Fox Television Distribution on Tuesday announced their first global SVOD (Streaming or Subscription Video on Demand) licensing agreement. Netflix will be the exclusive global streaming home for FX's "American Crime Story". "We are excited to evolve our relationship with FOX and to bring their lauded content to our members around the world," Sean Carey, Vice President of Global Television, said in a statement. "Given the popularity of the first season of 'American Crime Story', we are thrilled to offer this acclaimed drama series to our members," Carey added. The first season of the franchise will be available globally on Netflix, excluding Canada, in 2017 with all seasons made available after their respective broadcast windows. The 22-time Emmy nominated first season, "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" concluded its 10-episode run as cable's most watched new series of 2016. Gina Brogi, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Pay TV and SVOD, 20th Century Fox Television Distribution, said: "We are extremely pleased to continue our relationship with Netflix on this groundbreaking deal." "We are very proud of the first instalment of this franchise, 'The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story', which has received extraordinary critical acclaim and perfectly captured the cultural zeitgeist," Brogi added. From executive producers Ryan Murphy, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski and Brad Falchuk, "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" stars John Travolta, Cuba Gooding Jr, Sarah Paulson, David Schwimmer, Courtney B. Vance, Sterling K. Brown, Nathan Lane, Kenneth Choi, Christian Clemenson and Bruce Greenwood. The limited series is produced by Fox 21 Television Studios and FX Productions. Latest updates on International Emmy Awards 2019 Thiruvananthapuram, July 26 : The Congress in Kerala is not impressed with Gita Gopinath who has been appointed the economic adviser to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Gita Gopinath is a professor at the Harvard University, but her appointment has surprised the Congress. Reacting to 38-year-old Gita Gopinath's appointment, Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said: "This appointment is surprising. People of Kerala would like to know why development economist and Finance Minister Thomas Issac was being ignored. The Marxists speak against new liberal economic policies, but they have appointed an expert (Gita Gopinath) in this field as the Chief Minister's adviser." Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy also expressed his surprise. "It's surprising that the Chief Minister's economic adviser will operate from the USA," Chandy told IANS. Finance Minister Issac declined to comment despite repeated questions from the media persons here. Meanwhile, top leadership of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist also has expressed displeasure over Gita Gopinath's appointment, sources told IANS. After assuming charge, the Chief Minister has been appointing advisers in different fields. However, one such appointee -- M.K. Damodaran -- decided not to take up the position of legal adviser as it was alleged he had been counsel of entities that filed cases against the government. Gurgaon, July 26 : A 40-year-old trader from Tamil Nadu was on Tuesday found shot dead in an upscale hotel here, police said. He had been killed overnight. The deceased was identified as Sameer. He hailed from Tiruppur near Coimbatore. Police said the textile businessman checked into The Fern Residency in Sector 29 on July 24. He reportedly wanted to purchase property in Gurgaon and carried a lot of cash. "The victim had one bullet on his forehead. He was shot from close range. The victim died on Monday night," Deepak Mathur, a senior doctor who conducted the autopsy, told IANS. An unlicensed 7.6 mm pistol was found near the body. "At this stage, it is was not clear if it was murder or suicide," police officer Surender Singh Phogat told IANS. No suicide note was found. Imphal, July 26 : Irom Sharmila, who had long been on a hunger fast against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, on Tuesday surprised people with her announcement that she will end her fast on August 9, the next date of her court hearing. Making the announcement in the court of the chief judicial magistrate, Imphal west, L. Tonsing, she further said that she will marry and contest the Manipur assembly elections next year as an independent candidate. The 42-year-old activist, known as the Iron Lady of Manipur, termed a Prisoner of conscience' by Amnesty International and recipient of various prizes, has declined food or drink for the last 16 years, seeking repeal of the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. She is on forcible nose feeding. Sharmila began a hunger strike in November 2000, following the killing of 10 civilians by security forces. She was arrested by the Manipur government in 2000 under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, which prohibits an attempt to commit suicide. However she has been denying she was trying to commit suicide saying that she is using the fast as a weapon. The prosecution could not prove the charge and for the second time the chief judicial magistrate had ordered on February 29, 2016 to release her as she was not guilty of the charge. However she was rearrested on the same charge as she continued the fasting. A court in Delhi, had also acquitted her of the same charge. For a long time she has been appealing to all sections of the people to extend support to her cause, but to no avail. Except for some reporters, there has been nobody to meet her in the court where she is produced every 15 days. New Delhi : The Indian Foreign Service lost one of its best and brightest on July 26 -- Arundhati Ghose or "Chuku" as she was popularly known. She grew up in Mumbai and studied at Cathedral and John Connon School. She graduated from Lady Brabourne College in Kolkata and went on to study at Visva-Bharati University in Shantiniketan, before joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1963. Chuku came from a prominent Bengali family. She was the sister of Ruma Pal, a former Supreme Court judge, and of Bhaskar Ghose, a former Chairman of Prasar Bharati. As a young officer, she served in the newly-opened mission in Dhaka following the liberation of Bangladesh. As a Joint Secretary she specifically requested to be assigned to the Africa Division in the period prior to the historic changes in South Africa. As Additional Secretary dealing with Economic Relations in the early 1990s, she laid the foundations of India's economic diplomacy as we know of it today. Her other assignments included Ambassador to Egypt, South Korea and finally Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations offices and other international organizations in Geneva. Chuku's professional contributions did not end with her superannuation from the Foreign Service. She served on several disarmament panels post retirement and as a member of the UPSC. I had the privilege of working with her as a young Director dealing with multilateral economic work when I returned after a stint on deputation to the United Nations in Geneva in 1991. Those were the days when the contours of our Look East policy, of our engagement with countries of the Indian ocean region and intensified economic interaction with the countries of the Asean were being laid. Economic diplomacy, taken for granted now as an indispensable segment of India's foreign policy was then in early stages of being conceived and implemented. Chuku deserves a large measure of the credit of fashioning the MEA mindset of projecting India from an inward to an outward looking country embracing the results of trade liberalisation then embodied in the not so popular Dunkel draft. A thorough professional, she resented any suggestion that lady officers be accorded special consideration. She had both the ability and capacity to pursue her brief even in the most difficult negotiating environment. It was perhaps the stint in Geneva when as Permanent Representative she was assigned to the Conference on Disarmament (CD) which will define her legacy. She immersed herself fully in the negotiations of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) where she led the Indian delegation upfront. The fact that we had a Foreign Minister then who made opposition to the CTBT a central talking point with all his interlocutors, no matter what the occasion, provided the political support which an Ambassador requires to convert a professional task into a passion. Chuku was married to her work. She will be remembered not only for her professional contributions in the shaping and execution of India's foreign policy but also as a warm and kind human being. Her presence in the Capital's intellectual discourse will be sorely missed. (Hardeep S. Puri is a former Indian diplomat. He can be contacted at hardeepsinghpuri@yahoo.com) New Delhi, July 26 : Indian Railways on Tuesday said it plans to add 30,000 bio toilets on its trains during this year. According to Railways Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Indian Railways have so far provided more than 40,000 bio toilets and plans to add 30,000 during the current year. The minister spoke at an event here in which the Indian Railways entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for green rating and studies on energy efficiency of its production units. Prabhu said that the association with CII will enable the Indian Railways to weigh its green initiatives against the global standards. CII said the intent of the MoU is to implement CII Green Company (GreenCo) rating for all Indian Railways factories and workshops. "CII GreenCo rating system is the first-of-its-kind in the world and is a robust evaluation process which rates the degree of environmental performance of the company," the CII said in a statement. "As part of the MoU, ICF Perambur, DLW in Varanasi and a workshop in Perambur will be considered for GreenCo rating in 2016." The GreenCo rating system evaluates the companies on 10 broad performance parameters and also enables in development of long term green growth strategy and introduction of global best practices in operations. "As part of the MoU, an initial set of activities on capacity building, engagement with technology suppliers and energy efficiency awards for Indian Railways units will be undertaken during 2016-17," the statement added. "Interactions with engineering and auto companies in the private sector will also be organised in the form of meetings and missions, to facilitate learning from peers." Thiruvananthapuram, July 26 : The Congress in Kerala on Tuesday expressed "surprise" at the appointment of Harvard University professor Gita Gopinath as the economic adviser to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Reacting to 38-year-old Gopinath's appointment, Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said: "This appointment is surprising. People of Kerala would like to know why development economist and Finance Minister Thomas Issac was being ignored. The Marxists speak against new liberal economic policies, but they have appointed an expert (Gita Gopinath) in this field as the Chief Minister's adviser." Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy also expressed his surprise. "It's surprising that the Chief Minister's economic adviser will operate from the USA," Chandy told IANS. Finance Minister Issac declined to comment despite repeated questions from media persons. Reacting to the criticism, Gopinath said in a statement that her position is just honorary and she is not moving to Kerala and will not be involved in economic policy decisions. "I will respond to any requests from the CM for advice on the impact on Kerala's economy of global, national and state events and policies. I hope to play a convening role to connect various state departments to knowledge leaders from around the world in sectors relevant to Kerala," said Gopinath, whose parents hail from Kannur district. The top leadership of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist has also expressed displeasure over Gopinath's appointment, sources told IANS. New Delhi, July 26 : There is an unanimous agreement among the states about no dual control on businesses with an annual turnover below Rs 1.5 crore and the decision has been conveyed to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the head of the empowered committee of state Finance Ministers said on Tuesday. The committee is working out a consensus on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, which is pending in the Rajya Sabha. The Lok Sabha has already passed the legislation. "It was a unanimous decision of the states that dual control should be only when the turnover is above Rs 1.5 crore turnover. The decision of the state finance ministers has been conveyed to the Union Finance Minister," committee chairman Amit Mitra, who is also the Finance Minister of West Bengal, said after the panel's meeting here. "The dual control issue needs to be resolved for the GST to happen," he said. If small businesses with a turnover below Rs 1.5 crore are placed under dual control, they will have two overseeing authorities -- one representing the Centre and the other the state concerned. Mitra said a broad consensus has been worked out on the GST and all are of the opinion that taxes on the common man need to be reduced. At the same time, there is a need to ensure that the trend of revenue collection continues, Mitra added. "It is very important that tax on the common man is significantly reduced. At the same time we need to safeguard the taxes going to the state exchequer," he said. "We will work towards this so that small businesses do not suffer. It has to be through a consensus for the GST to happen," Mitra added. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi earlier told the Rajya Sabha that the GST Bill will come up for discussion in the first week of August. The GST was first mooted by the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government. It is pending in the Rajya Sabha, where the National Democratic Alliance government lacks a majority. Berlin, July 26 : A gunman killed himself after shooting the doctor at a clinic in Berlin on Tuesday, police said. "No evidence of other injured people and more perpetrators was found," Xinhua news agency quoted the police as saying. "We have currently no evidence of a terrorist background indeed," he said, asking public not to spread rumours. The gunman was a patient of the doctor in that clinic. Germany is shocked by the violent attacks that happened last week in the southern part of the country. On Sunday, a 22-year-old Syrian refugee armed with a machete killed a pregnant woman in the city of Reutlingen, and injured two others. The same evening, a 27-year-old Syrian blew himself up and wounded at least 15 persons outside a music festival in Ansbach, a city in southern German state of Bavaria. On July 22, an 18-year-old German-Iranian man holding dual citizenship fatally shot nine persons in a Munich shopping mall, and injured 35. Earlier, on July 18, a 17-year-old Afghan attacked passengers with an axe aboard a train near Wurzburg, injuring four before being shot by security men. New Delhi, July 26 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation on the 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas on Tuesday in paying glowing tributes to the martyrs of the 1999 Kargil War with Pakistan. Paying tributes to the soldiers, Modi said: "The country will never forget the fearlessness with which they gave a befitting and unforgettable reply to the intruders." In a series of tweets, he also lauded the firmness demonstrated by the then political leadership (National Democratic Alliance government) which ensured the victory in Kargil. "We recall with pride, the firmness demonstrated by India's political leadership in 1999, which ensured a decisive victory in Kargil," tweeted Modi. "On Kargil Vijay Diwas, I bow to every valiant soldier who fought for India till the very last breath. Their heroic sacrifices inspire us," the Prime Minister said. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, along with the three Service chiefs -- Army chief General Dalbir Singh, Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, and Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba -- paid homage to the martyrs at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at the India Gate here. Congress President Sonia Gandhi also paid homage to the soldiers who laid down their lives during 'Operation Vijay', which culminated on this day in 1999. "Their spirit of nation-above-self continues to inspire an entire generation," the Congress leader said. Indian and Pakistani armies fought the Kargil War in May-July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). India launched 'Operation Vijay' to clear the Kargil sector of infiltration by Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants on the Indian side of the Line of Control. On July 26, 1999, India successfully retook the high outposts lost to Pakistani intruders to end the Kargil War. The nearly week-long 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas celebrations began under the aegis of the army's Fire and Fury Corps on July 21. Army chief General Dalbir Singh paid homage to the martyrs of 'Operation Vijay' at the historic Kargil War Memorial at Drass in Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday. Chennai, July 26 : Rajinikanth-starrer Tamil action drama "Kabali" on Tuesday entered the Rs 200 crore club worldwide and an elated superstar thanked fans and everybody else associated with the film for the grand success. "It's the fastest south Indian film to rake in over Rs 200 crore at the box-office worldwide in just five days. As on Tuesday, 'Kabali' has grossed Rs 205 crore and this includes the three languages in which the film was released," trade analyst Trinath told IANS. In India, in its opening weekend, the film minted over Rs 100 crore. "In the domestic market, the film collected a whopping Rs 128 crore from the opening weekend. It's the best ever opening for a south Indian film," he said. Directed by Pa. Ranjith, "Kabali" narrates the story of a gangster's shot at redemption and how he fights for equal pay rights for Tamils in Malaysia. In a handwritten letter, Rajinikanth extended gratitude to fans, producer Kalaipuli S. Thanu, director Ranjith, theatre owners and distributors, for the grand success of his latest outing. "My heartfelt gratitude to all those who made 'Kabali' successful. From the producer to director to fans and to the media, I thank each and every one of them," Rajinikanth said. In the letter, he also wrote about his US sabbatical. "Since I was working non-stop on 'Kabali', and Shankar's '2.o', I was required to take mental and physical rest. Hence, I went on a two-month long trip with my daughter, Aishwarya Dhanush, and during which time I had undergone a few medical tests," he said, and added that he feels revitalized and motivated now. Although Rajinikanth heard about the success of "Kabali" in the US, he said: "To see and experience in person gives me immense happiness." Kolkata, July 26 : The Kolkata Police on Tuesday continued to look for answers to the mysterious death of a teenager at the apartment complex parking of well-known writer Amit Chaudhuri even as chorus continued to grow demanding justice for the youth. Aabesh Dasgupta, 17, was found lying in a pool of blood in the ground floor car park of Chaudhuri's apartment complex in south Kolkata's Ballygunge where he had gone to attend a birthday party. Police also recovered the blood soaked neck of a broken bottle from the spot. While the police have registered a murder case, the sleuths are yet to arrive at a conclusion whether the injuries that caused Aabesh's death were accidental or intentional. "As per the post-mortem report, the death was caused due to ante-mortem injuries. We will get further details about the matter once the visceral report arrives," Joint Commissioner of Police Vishal Garg said. "We are yet to arrive at a conclusion whether the incident is homicidal or suicidal or otherwise," added Garg. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) questioned several of the minors present at the birthday party on Saturday as well as Chaudhuri at the city police headquarters. The sleuths also visited a city club where the teenagers had gone for partying before coming to Chaudhuri's apartment to celebrate the birthday of his daughter. The investigators are also accessing call details and social media activities of Aabesh from his mobile phone to figure out the circumstances leading to his death. Aabesh's friends, family members and neighbours have dismissed suggestions that his death might be an accident and have started a campaign demanding justice. Besides creating a Facebook page "Justice for Aabesh", an online petition has been made urging West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to "ensure the investigation to be fair and transparent". They also took out a candlelight vigil in the city. National Award winning actress Rituparna Sengupta too lent her voice to the chorus for justice. "I have urged the administration to look into the matter diligently and ensure that justice is done to Aabesh," said Sengupta after visiting the bereaved family. Islamabad, July 26 : At least two soldiers of the Pakistani army were shot dead by unidentified gunmen on Tuesday afternoon in the country's port city of Karachi, officials said. The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), Pakistani army's mouth piece, said that two soldiers embraced martyrdom in a terrorist attack on a military vehicle which was on routine duty near the MA Jinnah Road area of Karachi. The incident took place when two unidentified gunmen riding on a motorcycle opened fire at the vehicle, which was moving beside a parking plaza near the road, XInhua news agency reported. Additional Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Mahar told media that a security forces personnel was killed on the spot while the other sustained injuries and was taken to Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre where he died from his injuries. According to an eyewitness, one of the attackers opened fire at the driver side of the vehicle with a pistol and they fled from the scene after the attack. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the incident and instructed the intelligence and security agencies for immediate action against the perpetrators of the attack, Xinhua news agency added. In December last year, two soldiers of the Pakistan army were killed after their vehicle was fired upon by unidentified gunmen at the MA Jinnah Road of the city. New Delhi, July 26 : Six members of an inter-state gang of robbers were arrested and arms and ammunition seized from their possession, the Delhi Police said on Tuesday. "We seized a foreign-made 7.65 mm pistol and two countrymade .315 pistols, six cartridges and a robbed Toyota Fortuner SUV," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said. The Special Cell identified those arrested as gang leader Islamuddin, 41, Saleem, 25, Surender, 32, Mohammad Sabir, 24, and scrap dealers Mohammad Irshad, 25, and Mohammad Irfan, 29. Islamuddin was arrested along with his two associates from the Nangloi area of west Delhi on Monday, when the three arrived to meet other gang members, police said. Sabir was arrested near Mundka Metro station and a robbed Honda City car was seized from his possession, a police officer said. Irshad was arrested from east Delhi's Akshardham area on Tuesday. A car and seven cartridges of .765 mm were seized from him, police said. On June 30, the gang had snatched a Swift car from a Haryana Police Inspector, posted at the DLF Sector 29 police station in Gurgaon. The gang was involved in more than 34 cases of robbery and dacoity reported in Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the police said. The gang mainly targeted trucks transporting copper wires from godowns. They later sold the robbed copper to the arrested scrap dealers. Yadav said the gang comprised 15 members. Islamuddin, a resident of Mewat in Haryana, was first arrested in 2001 in a kidnapping-murder case, police said. He is allegedly involved in more than 40 cases of murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and carjacking. He has been declared a proclaimed offender in more than five cases. The police also seized fake Aadhaar cards, driving licences and voter ID cards, registration and insurance certificates of vehicles along with 19 mobile phones and about 25 SIM cards. Mumbai, July 27 : Superstar Salman Khan's brand Being Human will enter the jewellery industry from next month, said his sister Arpita Khan. Present at an event for the Retail Jeweller India Awards 2016, Arpita said: "I'm here because we are launching Being Human jewellery next month and that's really close to our hearts. So I decided to come out and support this as well." Actor Esha Deol and director Divya Khosla Kumar were also part of the event as jury members on the awards panel. Arpita added: "The Being Human jewellery basically is affordable to all the consumers. It's 70 per cent ladies' collection and 30 per cent the men's. It basically is based around the values of the brand, which is share, care, love and joy." Being Human brand consists of its clothing line, as seen with Salman wearing T-Shirts from the brand. The brand also has a charitable foundation and a percentage of the profits from the clothing line goes into the charitable causes of the foundation such as education and healthcare of the underprivileged. About Salman recently getting acquitted in the case against him for the 1998 killing of protected antelopes or chinkara, Arpita said: "I would just like to thank his fans and his well-wishers and that's about it." New Delhi, July 27 : A special court here on Tuesday extended the judicial custody, till August 9, of LIC agent Anand Chauhan, accused of instrumental in laundering disproportionate assets of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. Special Judge Vinod Kumar extended the judicial custody of Chauhan after he was presented before it on expiry of his earlier 14 day judicial custody. The court fixed August 2 to hear further argument on his bail plea. Earlier Enforcement Directorate (ED) prosecutor Navin Kumar Matta has argued that if Chauhan is freed on bail, he may try to interfere the ongoing proceedings by attempting to conceal, destroy and transfer the proceeds of crime involved in the offence. Chauhan is accused of investing Virbhadra Singh's "tainted" money of Rs 5 crore in LIC policies purchased in Virbhadra's name and those of his family members, including wife Pratibha Singh. The ED arrested Chauhan on July 8 from Chandigarh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). This is the first arrest by the ED in the money laundering case against the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister. The ED reportedly found that Virbhadra Singh had accumulated assets worth Rs 6.03 crore in his name and in the name of his family members, which were disproportionate to his known sources of income, during his tenure as the Union Steel Minister from 2009 to 2011. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is also investigating the case. More than half of tenants in the UK would move or consider moving to a different town or city in order to buy a home, according to a new poll of private renters. The poll from the National Landlords Association (NLA) found that some 27% of tenants would relocate in order to buy a house and a further 29% would consider doing so. However, 44% of tenants said they would not move to another town or city even if it meant being able to afford to buy their own place. Tenants in London were the most open to the idea with 87% saying they would relocate or consider relocating in order to buy a home. However, tenants in the East Midlands were the least receptive to the idea with just 14% willing to relocate. The research also shows that 47% of those surveyed said they were unable to afford a deposit for a new home with 22% unable to access mortgage finance to buy. The findings come as the latest English Housing Survey shows that more private rented homes now meet the decent homes standard than ever before, with fewer overcrowded properties and a larger proportion of energy efficient properties. Home ownership is out of reach for so many people, so the idea of upping sticks and moving to a new town or city in order to buy their own home is becoming more and more appealing, said Richard Lambert, NLA chief executive officer. I think people are looking at the costs of buying, especially in high demand areas like London and the South East, and realising what they could get for their money elsewhere. Relocating is never an easy decision to make as it will often involve leaving behind friends and family. Then there are all the other considerations, not least whether youll be able to find the employment to make a move possible, he pointed out. In the meantime, the private rented sector remains a key part of the UKs housing mix and its essential that tenants can rely on it. The latest findings from the government are encouraging but more must be done to improve conditions for the minority of tenants who have a bad experience of renting privately, he added. With so much critical enterprise data, intellectual property, and payment card data residing in DB2, real-time DB2 monitoring is essential for an effective cross-platform IT security strategy. CorreLog, the leader in multi-platform IT security event log management, today announced its latest release of the dbDefender Database Activity Monitoring (DAM) Agent for IBM DB2 will be a featured solution at SHARE Atlanta. SHARE Atlanta will take place July 31st through August 5th at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, and will focus on education to help enterprise IT professionals expand their knowledge, enhance skills and increase organizational efficiencies. SHARE Atlanta will feature more than 500 technical sessions and CorreLog will present or co-present at two of them. Mainframe security auditing has only recently begun to be included into distributed SIEM (Security Information & Event Management) tools, and DB2 security continues to lag farther behind in SIEM adoption, said George Faucher, president and CEO at CorreLog, Inc. Organizations are just now understanding that auditors want to see mainframe data included in their Security Operations Centers (SOC) for compliance. With so much critical enterprise data, intellectual property, and payment card data residing in DB2, real-time DB2 monitoring is essential for an effective cross-platform IT security strategy. Product Launch Details for dbDefender DAM Agent for z/OS at SHARE Atlanta IBM DB2 databases contain the majority of personally identifiable information (PII) and payment card data for most financial services organizations. CorreLog dbDefender DAM Agent provides privileged user monitoring, auditing of all valid and invalid access attempts, and auditing of system level objects, among other real-time z/OS DB2 auditing features for security and compliance with mandates such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, and many others. At SHARE Atlanta, CorreLog will be located in booth #215 and will hold demonstrations of dbDefender DAM Agent and its mainframe system security product SIEM Agent for z/OS throughout exhibit hall hours. The exhibit hall at the Marriott Marquis will be open for three days during SHARE Atlanta Monday, August 1st through Wednesday August 3rd. Expo hours and show-floor layout can be found on share.org. Attendees visiting the CorreLog booth (#215) will have an opportunity to register for an Amazon Echo, a wireless and voice-controlled media streaming device, as part of CorreLogs participation in SHAREs Passport to Prizes program. Visitors to the booth will also receive an 8GB flash drive (limited supply available) with whitepapers and other documents detailing CorreLog products. CorreLog will be participating in two educational speaking sessions at SHARE Atlanta. Session 1: A Holistic Approach to Mainframe and Enterprise Security Charles Mills, CorreLogs Director of Advanced Projects, will deliver a technical breakout session to enhance attendees understanding of the highly-effective network security tools their enterprises already own, and how to use them to protect their mainframes as well. Real-time security event notifications are essential in distributed SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) consoles for a complete, cross-platform security and compliance strategy. 1. When: Monday, 8/1/16, 12:30pm 2. Where: Room L601 | Atlanta Marriott Marquis 3. Speaker: Charles Mills, CorreLog Director of Advanced Projects 4. Details: share.org/atlanta Additionally, CorreLog will co-host a breakout session with partner Vanguard Integrity Professionals, Inc. to educate conference attendees on what the new PCI DSS standard, version 3.2, requires for compliance. Details below: CorreLog/Vanguard Joint Speaking Session 2: What is PCI DSS and How Does It Affect Me with PCI 3.2 Being Moved up? CorreLogs Director of Advanced Projects, Charles Mills, in conjunction with Vanguard, will present the implications of the most recent version of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS version 3.2). What does v. 3.2 mean for organizational compliance especially when it comes to the mainframe? Get help interpreting PCI DSS as it relates to preparing auditing, and reducing the scope of what PCI DSS is concerned with regarding z/OS. 1. When: Monday, 8/1/16 at 3:15pm 2. Where: Room A601 | Atlanta Marriott Marquis 3. Speakers: Vanguard and CorreLog 4. Details: share.org/atlanta About SHARE: SHARE is an independent volunteer-run information technology association that provides education, professional networking, and industry influence. SHARE is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and more information about SHARE can be found at share.org. About CorreLog: CorreLog, Inc. is the leading independent software vendor (ISV) for cross-platform IT security log management and correlation. Our solutions provide the best-in-class, real-time event log management across both distributed (Windows/UNIX/Linux) and mainframe platforms (IBM z/OS). Event Log management is ready-format for any name brand enterprise SIEM (Security Information & Event Management). CorreLogs flagship product, SIEM Agent for z/OS, is the first real-time z/OS event monitoring solution available, converting mainframe security events such as RACF, ACF2, Top Secret, and DB2 accesses into syslog events compatible with enterprise SIEM systems. CorreLogs SIEM Agent has been designed to comply with standards set forth by PCI DSS, HIPAA, IRS Pub. 1075, SOX, GLBA, FISMA, NERC, and many other regulatory standards. For more information on CorreLog products, please visit http://www.correlog.com. Copyright 2016, CorreLog, Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks and registered trademarks used herein are the properties of their respective owners. $99 Social Acquired by Wired Wired Investors sees $99 Social and its social media systems as an ideal complement to our portfolio, and an excellent candidate for impressive future growth. Founded in 2014 near Phoenix, Arizona, $99 Social is a category leader in providing affordable, comprehensive social media management to small business owners worldwide. Cofounded by Tara Vosse and John Holling, $99 Social began with the goal of offering an honest, simple solution for entrepreneurs overwhelmed by the prospect of developing and executing critical social media campaigns. Joined by partners Adam Toren, Matthew Toren, and Karen Nowicki, all of whom played an integral role in the companys strong, rapid growth, Vosse and Holling built a social media system streamlined enough to offer at a rate any small business can afford. Because Wired Investors negotiates big deals for company acquisitions of web properties, cofounders Hayden Miyamoto, George Do, and Deven Soni see countless businesses for sale. They only purchase a few of those companies. Seeing enormous potential for growth, Wired Investors prepares to take $99 Social to new heights of service, reach, and profitability. Tara Vosse expresses her pride in the company she helped to found, grow, and ultimately sell. When we first launched $99 Social, we began with this end in mind: to create an amazing company that assists small businesses, grow it into something strong, thriving, and vibrant, and exit only if and when we could be acquired by a team whose goals and vision for the future matches our own. After 2 1/2 incredible years, this vision has become a reality. I know I speak for our entire team when I say: We couldn't be happier with this outcome, and every member of the team is looking forward to seeing $99 Social continue to thrive and achieve even greater heights. Wired Investors sees $99 Social and its social media systems as an ideal complement to the portfolio, and an excellent candidate for impressive future growth. About $99 Social: Founded in 2014 and based near Phoenix, AZ, $99 Social is a social media marketing company that provides affordable social media marketing services to small business owners worldwide. About Wired Investors: Wired Investors specializes as a high-end broker, a resource for savvy internet investors and also as investors with our own portfolio. This combination means that they have a wealth of experience that makes them the most well-rounded broker, with one of the best teams in the world. Contact: John Holling Co-founder, 99 Dollar Social john(at)99dollarsocial.com ### Award-winning Americana, Folk and Bluegrass artist Mary Beth Cross "My latest project includes cover songs that are part of the tapestry of my upbringing in Wisconsin, as well as originals that reflect my current home in Colorado." Award-winning Americana-folk-bluegrass artist Mary Beth Cross has released an eight-song bluegrass EP that celebrates the importance of home in the lives of average, everyday Americans. "Feels Like Home" includes original songs, as well as classics written and/or performed by legendary artists such as Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Garry White, Van Morrison, George Gershwin, and Dubose Heyward. The recording spotlights Cross's soaring, pure-tone soprano vocals. It was produced by veteran banjoist Chris Pandolfi, who joins nationally respected musicians Jeremy Garrett on fiddle, Tyler Grant on guitar, and Adrian Engfer on bass. The EP is dedicated to her late nephew, Christopher Chmiel, who died unexpectedly in 2015. The EP and the Paul Simon cover "Kathy's Song" are climbing the Top 40 on five separate record charts compiled by Roots Music Report. Folk DJ ranked it number 31 for radio airplay shortly after its release. "My latest project includes cover songs that are part of the tapestry of my upbringing in Wisconsin, as well as originals that reflect my current home in Colorado," said Cross, whose last project, "Beyond Good and Evil", was named "2014 Folk-Country CD of the Year" by the National Traditional Country Music Association. "We went with less is more, taking an approach that feels live, acoustic, down-to-earth, and not too far from home. Good memories or sad memories are evoked by some of my favorite songs." "Feels Like Home" debuted at number one on the APD Americana/AAA Albums chart. To download selections from the EP, visit https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/feels-like-home-ep/id1097215219. Cross recently celebrated "Feels Like Home" with a concert at Baur's listening room in downtown Denver. She will perform a second concert at Denver's Swallow Hill Music Association in October after attending the IBMA Conference and Bluegrass Ramble in Raleigh, N.C. Among the covers on the EP are "Kathy's Song", a classic written and recorded by folk-pop legend Paul Simon, and "Long Long Time", a hit song for Linda Ronstadt. "My favorite original on the project has to be 'Threshing Time'," Cross added. "It's a true story about my grandparents that was narrated to me through my father's memory. When he was a little boy, he always looked forward to working together with relatives and neighbors at threshing time. After a long, hot summer day in Wisconsin, they would return from the fields to enjoy a spread of homemade chicken, corn, salads and desserts. To quench their thirst, there was cold lemonade and homemade beer and wine." The artist said she was especially pleased with "Kathy's Song", a cover that features "soft, tender and lovely" guitar by Grant and banjo by Pandolfi. Other songs on the project are her original "Cottonwood Creek"; the Doc Watson classic "Shady Grove"; and "The Medley", an eight-minute performance featuring Heyward and Gershwin's "Summertime", Van Morrison's "Moondance", and Cross's "Pas De Deux". Cross praised the contributions from her fellow musicians, who helped her transition from the Americana-folk sound she has long been known for to a down-to-earth bluegrass presentation that evokes memories of home in Wisconsin, Colorado, Tennessee and other parts of America. "Capturing a truly live feel in the studio takes experience and commitment, but it always brings the music to life," said Pandolfi, a banjoist/producer known for the Trout Steak Revival project, "Brighter Everyday". "Mary Beth went for it on this project, and she did an amazing job with both her original material, as well as meaningful takes on a few classic songs." Guitarist Tyler Grant added, "Mary Beth Cross is not just a fine musician and songwriter. She is also a wonderful person with an honest and authentic spirit that shines through her music. It was a great pleasure to work with her and Chris on this album." Cross received national exposure in 2013 with release of her fourth CD, "Beyond Good and Evil". That project, which was produced by Dave Bechtel, landed a top-five ranking on Airplay Direct. Critics around the world praised the album, with Country Music News International calling it worthy of "Americana CD of the Year". Ive discovered that people are yearning to find acceptance and solace in a dizzying world of pressure-filled expectations, Cross said. People long for an authentic, non-formula approach. An accomplished vocalist and tunesmith, Cross moved to Denver in the 1980s to pursue a nursing career. Her music is influenced by the rural farmland and forests of her Wisconsin upbringing and the Rocky Mountains where she now resides. She carefully chooses acoustic instrumentation to bring her story-driven songs to life. Her music represents a few of the cultures that have contributed to American music today. To learn more about Mary Beth Cross or her music, call (303) 842-1587, send an email message to MaryBeth@MaryBethCross.com, or visit http://www.MaryBethCross.com or http://www.reverbnation.com/marybethcross . ### With our deep restaurant expertise, dedication to client service and passion for developing the most advanced technologies, Beyond Takeout is the centerpiece of what we do as a company on a daily basis for each client," David Schofield, CEO of RRT. Restaurant Revolution Technologies, Inc. (RRT), a leading provider of order management, call center and technology solutions for restaurants helping them to manage and optimize their off-premises orders, announces new Beyond Takeout marketing strategy designed to position the company and its solutions to support the unique and powerful solutions that RRT provides to the industry. The Beyond Takeout strategy: Supports RRTs strategic positioning within the industry of handling 100% of off-premise opportunities for its clients, going well beyond the mere focus of online and mobile takeout ordering. Provides six unique service lines, which include call center support, online ordering, mobile ordering, the handling of larger catering orders, outbound business development services and offering a customized loyalty platform. Uses the most advanced technology within the industry with its patented Order Management software and fully integrated solutions to greatly improve the customer experience while providing a strong ROI to RRT clients. Binds RRTs current solutions and services within the same marketing umbrella offered both ala carte or as a fully integrated suite. Reinforces RRTs ceaseless devotion to client service that delivers an enhanced guest experience for off-premise takeout guests. Underscores RRTs commitment to innovation by delivering superior hi tech and hi touch solutions designed to increase revenue for restaurants that are revolutionary to the industry. Our new Beyond Takeout strategy is a strategic plan of action and not simply a marketing tagline, said David Schofield, CEO of RRT. With our deep restaurant expertise, dedication to client service and passion for developing the most advanced technologies, Beyond Takeout is essentially the centerpiece of what we do as a company on a daily basis for each client and with every project we undertake. A key objective with this new positioning is to clearly address our differentiation within the industry, compared to the overabundance of online and mobile providers who only address a small portion of the full off-premise opportunity. Beyond Takeout will roll out in various stages throughout the latter part of 2016, including: A new corporate website All new digital marketing, social media and email campaigns All new sales resources The announcement of the new Beyond Takeout strategy coincides with the launching of the new RRT corporate website which includes the new Beyond Takeout branding and marketing message. Simultaneously, RRT owns the beyondtakeout.com domain and is proceeding with a trademark for the Beyond Takeout brand. The new website provides a modern look and feel, as well as up-to-date enhancements including optimized SEO architecture and the ability to view the site from all devices (desktop, mobile or tablet). Our newly launched website with our new Beyond Takeout strategy is one of the many exciting marketing changes we are pursuing to augment our visibility and validate our standing within the industry, Schofield added. For years, we have put the bulk of our resources into our client projects and technology development at the sacrifice of our own website and other marketing initiatives. But as a technology company, we understand and value the importance and the effect of how our marketing message and profile, especially a fresh and modern looking website and robust social media presence, substantiates what our clients and partners already know. About Restaurant Revolution Technologies Restaurant Revolution Technologies, Inc. (RRT) provides the most advanced order management solutions within the restaurant industry, supported by its call center, online and mobile ordering platforms, along with its customer loyalty and catering solutions, for popular restaurant chains nationwide. RRT integrates directly into restaurants POS and other systems and operates as a virtual waiter for its clients, resulting in a seamless series of solutions enabling restaurant operators to offer takeout customers a consistent, positive experience and providing a very positive ROI. The patented suite of solutions reduces operational costs, increases off-premise business and provides a greatly improved customer experience. For more information, please visit http://www.rrtusa.com. MeritKapital LTD MeritKapital UK Ltd is pleased to announce the approval of its FCA license (license # 720609) to act in its capacity as a matched principal broker in the United Kingdom. MeritKapital UK Ltd is affiliated with CySEC-licensed MeritKapital Ltd (#77/06, Cyprus) by means of common shareholders. The management team of MeritKapital considers this expansion opportune due the advantages that a large capital markets center such as London has to offer. These benefits include the wide network of buy-and sell-side counter-parties, the wider pool of talent that an FCA licensed firm can attract and the firm's ability to capitalize on London's sophisticated financial infrastructure. Following the recent Brexit developments, the company is now secured with the necessary SEC permits to operate both within the EU passporting space as well as the UK. MeritKapital will maintain its focus in the fixed income sphere, particularly within emerging markets, where it has established a strong niche presence. This is evident through the relationships that MeritKapital has cemented with large, international buy side funds. Moreover, a regionally specific achievement to note was when MeritKapital acted as a lead manager on the first Kazakh Eurobond issue that was settleable in Kazakh tenge on both euroclear and clearstream platforms. The issuer was KAZTRANSGAS AYMAK JSC, an indirect subsidiary of the sovereign wealth group. Lastly, another innovative development within the high-yield fixed income space, was when the firm acted as a broker of the first structured trade in Bank of Cyprus restricted deposits subsequent to the banks bail-in by the Troika. Subsequently, the firm became the biggest proprietary trader of such claims on the island and acted as a liquidity catalyst to the local economy, which, at the time, was strapped by capital controls. The management team is confident that the FCA venture will support MeritKapitals continued innovative growth. Fishbowl Prizes Captures Email Addresses from Mobile Visitors Our first drawing pulled over 14,000 opt-in email addresses inside of 30 days! Fishbowl Prizes today announces the introduction of a new marketing/promotion app. This site embedded platform is designed to gather qualified consumer email addresses, as well as create a worldwide online community. Retailers can now gather opt-in email addresses from users across shopping demographics, expanding their reach and capturing potential customers. Fishbowl Prizes models itself after the classic retail concept of drop your business card in the fishbowl. Adapted for online business, websites utilize a virtual fishbowl widget to gather consumer email addresses through simple giveaways. Businesses from across the web are then linked by the platforms social media-inspired Marketplace. Once a Fishbowl drawing goes live, the merchants giveaway is showcased in the Fishbowl Prizes Marketplace. The Marketplace allows consumers to find new businesses across the web and register for as many prize drawings as they desire. Consumers can also share and repost the giveaway through social media to increase their chances to win, allowing contests to go viral while merchants collect even more valuable opt-in email addresses. This viral cross-marketing allows merchants to grow their email lists at an exponential rate while targeting specific consumers. Fishbowl Prizes works on all web platforms and is currently available to merchants thru the companys website, fishbowl prizes.com. Fishbowl easily integrates with MailChimp to keep your email lists synced, allowing merchants to be instantly responsive when coordinated with automated real-time campaigns. The Fishbowl Prizes app can also be found in the Magento, Shopify, Weebly, and BigCommerce app stores. Drew Beeson, Marketing Director of Dean Zelinsky Guitars says, Fishbowl Prizes has been an incredible marketing tool. Our first drawing pulled over 14,000 opt-in email addresses inside of 30 days. We combined a recent Fishbowl giveaway with a Facebook campaign using a highly targeted look-a-like list and collected 11,000 valuable email addresses within two weeks. We then use Fishbowls MailChimp Integration and quickly convert these new leads into sales, drastically boosting our ROI. Beeson summed it up with these words: It costs a lot of money to get people to come to your website. And if they leave without converting, all you can do is spend more money retargeting them or finding new potential customers. We capture those leads with Fishbowl, instantly send them an email offer and convert many This is where Fishbowl Prizes excels and clearly outperforms other platforms on the market. Villa Alfieri in Tuscany, Italy For many visitors, attending the Palio is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and we want to help guests make the most of their vacation by customizing their experience and allowing them to get a real feel for the citys history and culture. VillaRental.com, a full-service luxury villa rental and destination experience company as part of World Travel Holdings, is sharing the top five ways visitors to the Palio di Siena can create a luxury getaway and become immersed in Sienas local culture while enjoying the horse races. The Palio, a bareback horse race and Italys most famous annual cultural event, takes place twice a year, on July 2 and August 16. Ten of the citys 17 contrade, or districts, are represented by a horse and jockey in each race. The seven districts that didnt race in the previous year compete against three randomly selected repeat contrade. The Palio is one of the most exciting times in Italy, said Margherita Bilenchi, managing director for VillaRental.coms Italy division, and born and raised in Siena. My fellow managing director, Saffo Martelli, and I are always looking for new outlets to share our knowledge and expertise about the country we love, and about the Palio. We want people to understand all of the options available to them when visiting during this premier event so that they can have the most memorable and unique experiences. Martelli added, For many visitors, attending the Palio is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and we want to help guests make the most of their vacation by customizing their experience and allowing them to get a real feel for the citys history and culture. 1. Stay In A Luxury Villa. Here are two recommendations that are within close proximity to Piazza del Campo, the square where the Palio race is held. The five-bedroom Villa Alfieri in the heart of Tuscany is located just five miles away from the medieval-walled city of Siena. This unique, restored country house is majestically positioned on a hill overlooking a stunning panorama of the Tuscan hills. After lounging by the outdoor swimming pool with a waterfall and enjoying the Tuscan breeze, guests can enjoy a typical Tuscan cuisine prepared by a local chef. Surrounded by the hills and vineyards of Tuscany, near the quaint village of Sovicille and only 15 minutes away by car from the historic center of Siena and its Piazza del Campo, Villa Allegra can hosts up to eight guests. This villa is described as an intimate haven with breathtaking views of Tuscan vineyards and hills. Its interior decor features antiques coupled with a very stylish and sophisticated atmosphere, while the exterior reflects the best of Tuscan design and uses local stone. The Day Before The Race 2. Relish in the Citys History. Visitors wont want to miss the opportunity to stroll along Sienas cobble-stoned, narrow streets on a guided tour with a local art historian learning the medieval history and the anecdotes behind the Palio during the centuries. 3. Enjoy the Early Evening Rehearsal and Dinner. With the actual race being only 75 seconds long, visitors who want to see even more of the horses can attend the early evening rehearsal from their reserved seats. The rehearsal is followed by dinner in one of several contrada locations. Fans gather to share the anticipation of the next day and cheer for their favorite jockey. The Captain of the contrada hosts the festive dinner and everybody participates in the event with chanting and applause. The Day Of The Race 4. Attend the Benediction of the Horse. An art historian will meet guests in the early afternoon on race day to attend the benediction of the horses in a church of one of the several participating contrade. Guests can then go to the Piazza of the Cathedral to watch the preparations of the Historical Parade that takes place prior to the horse race. All contrade are represented in medieval costumes, drums are played and flag-shows performed. 5. Get The Best Seat. VillaRental.com has exclusive access to some of the best seats in Piazza del Campo or in one of the prestigious residences overlooking the square with a magnificent view of the Historical Parade and horse race. There is also an opportunity for visitors to have dinner in the square in an exciting atmosphere, surrounded by candlelight on the palazzos, where the winning contrada celebrates the victory. On July 2, 2016, the Contrada of Lupa won the Palio after 27 years. It was an incredible and breathtaking race that saw Lupa starting with a third position and heading to first position only at the last turn. The people from Lupa are still celebrating in the streets of Siena with their flags and in their medieval costumes. When a contrada has not won for the most years, it gets the title of Nonna (grandmother). Lupa has been a nonna for many years; as its last victory was in 1989, it has passed now the torch to Aquila, which has not won since 1992. For more information about attending the 2017 Palio or a villa vacation in Italy, visit our destination experts at http://www.VillaRental.com or call 800-281-6879. About VillaRental.com VillaRental.com, as part of World Travel Holdings, is a full-service villa provider dedicated to crafting authentic, unique getaways in a selection of handpicked destinations around the world, including Italy, Mexico, and the Caribbean. With experienced agents, local experts, and full-service concierge team, the company helps travelers create memorable experiences through incredible properties, unparalleled insider advice, customized excursions, and tailored amenities. http://www.VillaRental.com. Blue Nectar Tequila (http://www.bluenectartequila.com), the hand-crafted, super-premium Tequila focused on agave-forward flavor profiles, celebrates its five year anniversary by announcing the launch of an integrated communications campaign. The campaign will support sales growth in the U.S. market of their four Tequila expressions Silver, Reposado Extra Blend, Reposado Special Craft, and Anejo Founders Blend. To execute the integrated communications campaign, Blue Nectar Tequila has retained Colangelo & Partners, a wine and spirits integrated communications agency with offices in New York and San Francisco. The campaign will include media relations, social media, trade outreach and events. Father-and-son duo, BN Bahadur and Nikhil Bahadur, co-founded Blue Nectar Tequila out of a birthday tradition of swapping bottles of Tequila that ultimately led to several trips to Mexico in search of the best producers and suppliers. Their passion and quest ultimately led them to create their own Tequila and partner with another family-owned company to be their grower and distiller. After nearly two years of experimentation, Master Blender Guillermo Garcia-Lay, a former Bacardi Master Blender, has helped BN and Nikhil achieve the best combinations of distillation, aging, and blending methods. Blue Nectar Tequila is distinguished by its unique blends and infusions: Blue Nectar Reposado Special Craft is infused with essential oils and a hint of agave nectar; the Blue Nectar Reposado Extra Blend is blended with three year old extra anejo; and the Blue Nectar Anejo Founders Blend is blended with five year old extra anejo. The results are small-batch, specially-crafted Tequilas from the valley of Jalisco with a unique flavor profile compared to the more common highland Tequilas found today. Colangelo & Partners integrated communications program will not only focus on generating buzz about the brand in the media and on social media, but will also educate consumers and trade about the spirit and its origins. By working in partnership with Colangelo & Partners, we strive to introduce consumers to Tequilas that stay true to tradition, yet are unique in their own right. Our four Tequilas are distinct, yet well-balanced with an agave-forward, earthy body, which comes from the rich volcanic soils of the valley, said Co-Founder and COO Nikhil Bahadur. For more information about Blue Nectar Tequila, please visit http://www.bluenectartequila.com. Join in the conversation with Blue Nectar on Facebook at /bluenectartequila and follow @bluenectartequila on Instagram and @TrueBlueNectar on Twitter. About Blue Nectar Tequila: Founded by father and son BN and Nikhil Bahadur, Blue Nectar Tequila is a small-batch, super-premium Tequila focused on agave-forward flavor profiles indicative of the terroir of el valle or the valley of the Tequila producing region. Using estate-grown blue agaves from el valle, Blue Nectar skillfully crafts and bottles its Tequilas in Amatitan, Mexico, widely recognized as the birthplace of Tequila. Since its launch in 2011, Blue Nectar has garnered numerous industry accolades in both the United States and Mexico, including 97 points and a Chairmans Trophy award for Best Reposado Tequila in 2014, 2015 and 2016 by the highly-esteemed Ultimate Spirits Challenge. Current production includes Silver, Reposado Extra Blend, Reposado Special Craft and Anejo Founders Blend Tequilas. About Colangelo & Partners: Colangelo & Partners (http://www.colangelopr.com) specializes in premium food, wine, spirits and lifestyle brands, and has long established relationships with the key press that drive these business categories and help determine the industry leaders. Agency principals have years of experience in retail and distribution as well as communications, a rare combination that gives Colangelo & Partners invaluable insights into consumer purchasing behavior. The agency focuses on 'closing the loop' between creative communications programs, distribution, promotion, publicity and the consumer in order to maximize the efficiency of its communications programs and deliver measurable results. Founded in 2006, Colangelo & Partners was honored as one of the years top integrated communications firms at the 2013 Agency Elite Awards and for one of the best digital marketing campaigns at the 2014 Digital PR Awards. Using NFC on Farming Equiptment "Near Field Communication (NFC) has so many uses and when pairing it to TapLive, it provides a revolutionary customer experience. We are proud to work with Nutrient Control Systems and together, promote innovative solutions." - COO Purple Deck Two leading organizations, Nutrient Control Systems (NCS) and Purple Deck Media are forming a new partnership to offer innovative solutions for farmers. NCS specializes in agricultural waste management and nutrient control. The company began development of their system in the early 1990s and its pioneering research is revolutionizing manure management and nutrient control practices in dairy, swine, poultry and beef packing operations. They have very creative and innovative solutions for the environment and farmers! Click here to see their green bedding showcase video. NCS was interested in partnering with an innovative company that could assist them in having their message of improved farm profitability, while being environmentally sustainable, and spread to a larger audience. Additionally, they wanted a way to reach the younger generations of farmers, who are not beginning to take over family farming operations. Purple Deck Media helped NCS accomplish this goal. With their state-of-the-art mobile platform, MobileDeck, they increased both recognition and awareness of NCS through a mobile application that is available for both iOS and Android. This along with other specialized content campaigns, which focus on mobile have ignited into something much bigger. Purple Deck Media is an all-in-one solutions provider that specializes in a cloud based software that bridges the gap between the physical and the virtual world. With their mobile delivery system powered by a combination of mobile applications and near field communication (NFC), they help companies like NCS reach their goals. Nutrient Control Systems is in the initial planning and pilot phases of using near field communication technology. This technology is revolutionary and connected to the TapLive management platform, Nutrient Control Systems can connect their physical items to the virtual world. NFC allows smart phone users to use a system that requires no application to launch content. Customers simply turn on near field communication (NFC) and tap the N-Mark symbol on the product. From there, customers can reorder, directly contact support, access training materials, and much more. NFC allows for a more rapid and seamless approach to accessing information. Farmers cannot afford to take time to research and find resources. With NFC, the information is as close as their smartphone. Using specialized tags that do not have interference with metal is crucial in this type of usage. Th industrial NTAG 213 asset tag is perfect for this project as it works on metal devices and can endure high heat and other environmental changes. Presently there is no company like Nutrient Control Systems in the USA implementing this solution, which shows that they are on the cutting edge of technology for the benefit of their customers. NCSs products are so innovative that they need an innovative solution to compliment the products and take them to the next level, said Nathan Neil, COO at Purple Deck Media. Alyson Kemp, Marketing Coordinator at Nutrient Control Systems, stated that, We are excited to begin the next phase of this growth with Purple Deck Media and look forward to showcasing our usage of NFC at our upcoming tradeshows. Nutrient Control Systems will be showing off the technology at the 2016 North American Manure Expo on August 3rd and 4th in London, Ohio. They will also be at the World Dairy Expo, October 4-8, 2016. Bartender at VIVE! Bar, Hotel Le Marais, part of the New Orleans Hotel Collection A collection of splendidly authentic hotels in Americas favorite city has banded together to host the second annual New Orleans Hotel Collection Sake Hop to benefit the Southern Food and Beverage Museum. This year's event has grown, taking place on Tuesday, August 16th at 5:00 p.m. to coincide with the citys Happy Tuesday internet campaign. Sake Hop will enlist the assistance of regional television news personalities as celebrity hosts, offering up delightfully cooling cocktail creations created especially for the event by bartenders of the Collection. In addition to sake tastings, specialty cocktails will feature Big O Ginger Liqueur, a sponsor of the event. The participating French Quarter bars are: 21st Amendment at the Hotel Mazarin; Vive! Bar at Hotel Le Marais; Bourbon O! at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel; May Bailys Place at the Dauphine Orleans; and Patricks Bar Vin at the Hotel Mazarin, where the event will conclude. The cocktail journey starts at any of the participating bars. where participants may also receive a Sake Hop passport which will be validated at each visited location. Participants who turn in a completed passport will be entered into a drawing for great prizes including a two-night stay at one of the New Orleans Hotel Collections hotels. To be eligible for the drawing, completed passport cards must be submitted at Patrick's Bar Vin no later than 8:00 p.m. The drawing will be held promptly at 8:00 p.m. Participants will stroll through the French Quarter while enjoying complimentary sake tastings at each of the five featured bars and chatting with celebrity bartenders. Sip specially created, Asian-inspired cocktails featuring the Big O Ginger Liqueur available for sale at each location. Great door prizes will be offered to participants - including hotel stays, by visiting each location and getting the Sake Hop passport stamped. Additionally, Sake Hop participants may vote for favorite bartenders - the top voted bartender will be named the Sake Hop Champion and receive a prize. Sake Hoppers may visit http://sakehop.com to review the Collections hotels and locations, and reserve accommodations for exceptional direct-booking hotel room discounts. Callers to the Collections central reservations number (855) 978-6642 may ask for the beverage special to reserve discounted hotel rates or other vacation packages. Four of the top ten TripAdvisor rated hotels in New Orleans are among the New Orleans Hotel Collection properties. The Hotel Le Marais was recently selected from over 150,000 hotels worldwide and awarded the coveted Insider Select award from Expedia. The Bourbon Orleans Hotel of the Collection was named a Conde Nast Top Ten Hotel for 2015/16. Hotels of the Collection reflect the unique feel and charm of New Orleans while providing a high-level of personal service. All hotels offer valet parking, as well as the following complimentary amenities: Wi-Fi, local phone calls, newspapers, in-room bottled water and coffee, and fitness and business centers. Some offer complimentary daily breakfast, and a welcome beverage. Hotels are located in the French Quarter, the Arts District, and adjacent to Louis Armstrong International Airport (MSY). About the New Orleans Hotel Collection The New Orleans Hotel Collection is a group of six fine hotels in the New Orleans metropolitan region owned by local investors. Comprised of the Whitney Hotel, Bourbon Orleans, Dauphine Orleans, Hotel Mazarin, Crowne Plaza New Orleans Airport and Hotel Le Marais, these are boutique and small upscale meeting hotels in prime locations throughout the city. For more information, visit the New Orleans Hotel Collection website at http://www.neworleanshotelcollection.com. Fidelis Education, an online learning platform used by over 100,000 students at 50 colleges and universities, today launched a new feature that allows colleges and universities to friend companies that might hire their graduates. Friends have benefits including sharing content, mentorship, and work opportunities. With the support of employer-mentors, students on the Fidelis platform can access real-time guidance to inform their path from coursework to career. For many students, successful transition from college to the workforce hinges as much on their ability to navigate out-of-class resources and relationships that lead to a career as it does on the core academic experience, said Tom Bowling of Frostburg State University in Maryland. The Fidelis platform helps bridge the gap that often exists between academic success and career success, and enables us to strengthen relationships with the potential employers of our graduates. New features on the Fidelis platform respond to demand from colleges and universities under increasing pressure to demonstrate workplace outcomes for students and employers frustrated with the capabilities of recent graduates. In addition to career counseling, the Fidelis Community incorporates a Likelihood of Mutual Benefit (LOMB) algorithm designed to help students select mentors with similar interests, geographic locations, and likelihood of meaningful and beneficial collaborations. Founded by former Marine Officer, Gunnar Counselman, the Fidelis platform was originally designed to support the transition of returning veterans into higher education. I learned first-hand that all students -- veteran or otherwise -- are more likely to succeed if they can develop skills that arent learned in a physical classroom, said Counselman. Together, colleges and corporations can demonstrate this for students by helping them identify the experiences they need to qualify for their dream career. Using the Fidelis Partnership feature, companies and colleges become friends or partners, enabling them to share resources and networks. The platform includes functionality (1) for employees, who can identify access content and courses at the university and (2) for college students who can now easily access corporate training opportunities from their schools partners. Corporations can also share career opportunities, and colleges can promote teaching or tutoring jobs related to the companys expertise. For more information, please visit http://www.fideliseducation.com. About Fidelis Education Fidelis designs intuitive technology that makes it easy for students to discover, navigate, and take advantage of the student success services colleges and universities already offer and introduce best practices that keep them coming back. Higher education institutions implement our software, which is used by over 100,000 students each year, to coordinate and measure the impact of student services, including academic tutoring, mentoring, and career planning. For more info, please visit http://www.fideliseducation.com. Executive Energy Management proudly announces a brand partnership agreement with Gas and Power Technologies, a Southern California-based provider of data management services, to provide best-in-class solutions to the energy industry. The addition of a back-office data exchange provider with extensive experience in utility and power grid interface adds a crucial element to the Executive Energy Management suite of offerings. Executive Energy Management provides strategic planning, business development and operational guidance to a variety of independent companies serving the energy industry. Available services include telephone and door-to-door sales, inbound customer service, third party verification and customer contact data compliance. Gas and Power Technologies (GPT) has been serving energy retailers since 2004, and its proprietary CIPHER Enterprise system sits at the core of its service capabilities. Billing and accounting, customer enrollment and EDI transfer, renewable energy tracking and big data analytics are all offered to clients through a single, web-based platform. Gas and Power Technologies is simply the best at what they do, Executive Energy Management President Matt Judkin said. I have been in the energy sector for the last 15 years and have seen a lot of data management providers. GPT delivers a superior product, and the clients that use them are extremely happy. Were thrilled to add them to our brands under management. Executive Energy Management will provide strategic consulting and business development opportunities to GPT, working in concert with other EEM brands to provide complementary services to mutual clients. One business line where the partnership will benefit clients is through Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), specifically in California but ultimately nationwide. CCAs allow municipalities to essentially act as their own utilities, an arrangement that can bring renewable energy options and savings to residents, but one that requires complex implementation. GPT has unique data solutions to handle the multiple data streams required of CCA. Adding the inbound customer service expertise of EnergyCare, an EEM brand, provides a turnkey solution that covers all CCA requirements. It is extremely rare to find an organization that has deep industry expertise, advanced technology, and attention to customer service all available from a single team of management professionals and unique brands, GPT President Marc Estrada said. Combining our CIPHER Enterprise platform with other energy services will certainly provide increased opportunities for our clients and drive our business forward. -- About Executive Energy Management: Executive Energy Management, LLC, is a privately held management company located in St. Petersburg, FL., and Las Vegas. The brands under management include AGR Group, EnergyCare, Teamworks Marketing and All Global Resources. http://www.executiveenergy.com About Gas and Power Technologies: Gas and Power Technologies, Inc., provides customer information systems, billing services, advanced data exchange and key metrics reporting to the clients in the energy industry. The company is located in Mission Viejo, Calif. http://www.gasandpower.com The 2nd Generation VIS-Shine polishing machine. We strive to provide our customers excellent service and our new VIS-Shine machine delivers just that. This streamlined unit will make our customers lives easier, which is our end goal. Vehicle Inspection Systems, the front runner for heavy duty vehicle, truck and bus safety in the trucking and transportation industry for more than 20 years, has announced the next generation of the VIS-Shine polishing machine. The new VIS-Shine can polish wheels of all sizes from a 19.5 to a 24.5 wheel. The unit is fully assembled with everything a customer could need to shine multiple sized wheels. The patent-pending system was developed due to overwhelming demand since the introduction of the original VIS-Shine. Customers asked for a machine that could polish all wheel sizes, and with dealer input and feedback, VIS is pleased to launch the new product manufactured in the USA in our Orlando facility. Our customers asked for a versatile machine and we listened, Mark Keegans, Vice President of VIS said. The unit will put a shine on the wheel while the wheel is still on the truck. The maintenance tool will help preserve the shine of both new and refurbished wheels. The unit has one bracket that does not need to be removed at any stage of the process. The bracket simply needs an adjustment. The original VIS-Shine machine had a big drum that fit over the hub with multiple brackets that technicians would need to move around. Vehicle Inspection Systems is offering customers with the original VIS-Shine machine an adapter kit so everyone can experience the updates. We strive to provide our customers excellent service and our new VIS-Shine machine delivers just that, Mark said. This streamlined unit will make our customers lives easier, which is our end goal. VIS has been providing inspection and rim safety equipment for more than 20 years, and our customers know they are getting a reliable, durable product with the new VIS-Shine. For more information regarding the new VIS-Shine machine or the adapter kit for the original unit, visit our website at vischeck.net or call us at 866-847-8721. Sengenics today announced five new applications of its patented Immunome Protein Array platform at the Immunomics & Proteomics Symposium event being held in Singapore and Brunei from 25-29th July. The event is being co-hosted by Sengenics, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), A*STAR, Singapore and Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD). Keynote speakers at the symposium include world renowned experts in the field of proteomics such as Professor Jonathan Blackburn, Sengenics Chief Scientific Advisor and Immunome Technology Inventor, Professor Hanno Langen, Global Head of Proteomics, Roche, Switzerland, and Professor Peter Nilsson, Head of Atlas Protein Array group, KTH, Sweden. The ingenious surface technology of Immunome protein array makes it superior to those of its competitors, as it is able to identify biomarkers missed by other platforms and gives excellent signal-to-noise ratio. Every protein on the array is correctly folded and hence functional, making it ideal for a wide variety of proteomics applications, such as protein-protein and protein-DNA interaction profiling, on-array drug assays as well as monitoring adverse drug reactions in cancer immunotherapy clinical trials, said Professor Jonathan Blackburn." Recent publications using the Immunome protein array platform have highlighted its application for discovery of autoantibody biomarkers across many important diseases including melanoma, lupus, prostate cancer, Parkinsons and malaria. We are delighted and honoured to co-host this landmark event with Sengenics that brings together distinguished international experts in proteomics to share their knowledge and expertise with the local community. We hope everyone who attends will benefit from this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interact and discuss their own research ideas with such an eminent field of experts, said Dr Joyce Teo Siew Yean, Acting Vice Chancellor, UBD. Sengenics collaborators have successfully filed co-patents based on novel biomarker findings using the Immunome platform. The aim is to roll out these findings into new clinical tests to enhance the accuracy of prognosis and diagnosis of diseases as well as applications relating to patient stratification and precision medicine in drug trials. About Sengenics Sengenics is a genomics and proteomics-based research and diagnostics company, with a range of patented technologies and products that are marketed to pharmaceutical companies, scientists and hospitals. Its flagship technology is the patented Immunome auto-antibody profiling platform which was spun out from research that was commercialised as a joint collaboration between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in 1996. It also has additional patented and proprietary products for Human diseases that use the ThalaSURE and Genoverse brand names. In any business, performance matters. And, we believe OPERACARE delivers significant performance benefits to HHAs. ChartaCloud Technologies LLC today announced its agreement with OPERACARE Inc. to introduce and offer its CMS OASIS claims, pre-submission claims and proactive OASIS analytics software and services. OPERACARE will be offered via ChartaClouds ChartaCares health care services business. OPERACAREs design and development was led by an experienced CMS/State OASIS Coordinator skilled in claims data monitoring and OASIS Analytics as utilized by CMS/MAC auditors to oversee payment claims validity and fraud detection programs. The software and supporting review service enables home health care providers to have their CMS claims reviewed by a third party, submit accurate health care episode documentation, manage re-certifications and provide accurate pre-claim submissions in an era of increasingly aggressive CMS/Auditing protocols. In addition, OPERACARE provides the basis for identifying opportunities for enhanced billing and providing outcomes data monitoring used to enhance HHA growth and financial stability in the new era of value based purchasing/payments for HHA services. Health care providers and their compliance officers are quite aware of the increasingly aggressive nature CMS MAC (Medicare Administrative Contractor) and RAP (Resource Allocation Plan) audits. Skilled home care service providers are being increasingly subjected to audits driven by claim inaccuracies, whether being done purposefully, inadvertently or inaccurately. While avoiding an audit is the first priority, profitably surviving in an industry under intense consolidation is a strategic imperative. Bottom line to both challenges is that claims have to be accurate, prepared in a timely manner and correctly coded, said Michael McGowan, CEO, OPERACARE. With CMSs increased MAC attention on expanding HHA audits and the pushing of MACs to be more aggressive, hundreds of preventable desk review risks are in play. Our policy which has been built into our system and service, is straight forward, dont submit what you cant defend. If we detect a concern we will call the provider, he concluded. We are of course very excited about the expertise and the power found in OPERACARE to not only help our HHA customers submit accurately prepared claims but also with OPERACAREs ability to help transform the business models of health care service providers to what is needed to survive, achieve financial stability and to grow new business. Having a system that enables resource allocation plan (RAP) submissions within 2-4 hours of a start/statement of care (SOC) visit and transitioning to a value based purchasing model to grow their businesses were very significant elements in our choice to offer OPERACARE, said Rob Schimmel, COO, ChartaCloud. In the end and as in any business, performance matters. And, we believe OPERACARE delivers significant performance benefits to HHAs, he added. More on OPERACARE can be found at http://www.chartacloud.com. About ChartaCloud ChartaCloud Technologies offers an end-to-end, full service approach to help business and educational institutions select, implement, and excel at the adoption of digital solutions proven to deliver organizational efficiency and profitability. Specializing in field services, education and healthcare, we help our customers to define and deploy solutions to become leaders in their industry and achieve their stated goals and vision. Our core technologies are designed to help our customers secure a competitive advantage in the era of digital transaction management, mobility, and humanoid robotics. Visit ChartaCloud at http://www.chartacloud.com. About ChartaCares With a focus on advancing ongoing HIPAA compliance and quality of care, ChartaCares provides ACOs, hospitals, VNAs and home care service providers, skilled nursing facilities, emergency clinics, and specialty medical practices, physical therapists, behavioral health centers, and dentists foundational secure health IT systems, robotic assistive medical care, and advanced health care predictive analytics to reduce hospital re-admissions and manage preventable admissions. See http://www.chartacares.com. About OPERACARE OperaCare Inc. headquartered in San Antonio, New Mexico specializes in CMS/MAC Claims review auditing. Service for home care agencies include OASIS ANALYTICS for value based payment out comes modeling and patient re-certification management. Led by an experienced State/OASIS Coordinator the companys mission is to protect HHA provider revenues, enhance business growth and increase financial stability. Blood Like Wine - The New EP from Angie and The Deserters An action packed opening single like Country Radio can only mean great things from the upcoming EP release. Bruyere is throwing down the gauntlet here and announcing herself as a vital, formidable force to be reckoned with from hereafter. Americana and Alt-Country band, Angie and The Deserters are set to release their new Blood Like Wine EP and their second single The Gift this summer. The six- song collection was released on all digital stores including iTunes and Amazon through Topanga Canyon Records. The band includes Angie Bruyere, Kyle Stevens, Danny Hulsizer and Chris Lawrence. This EP is a follow up to the groups debut full- length release, West of The Night in 2015. The album turned heads at Fender who offered Angie a sponsorship that featured her as Fenders artist of the month which was then followed by two Fender Sessions. Angie showcases her talented and poetic song-writing skills in the Americana record, Blood Like Wine. At the root of the album, Angies collection of intimate poems bloom into a distinctive alternative country landscape that is joined with gliding strings and western riffs. The six-song release reveals Angies raw and raspy vocals that bring truth and realism to her lyrics. Blood Like Wine includes the bands lead track Country Radio which highlights a possible love affair between a female country fan and her idol. The band recently released their new music video for Country Radio which was filmed in Joshua Tree, California and directed by Mike Bruce (Black Mountain, Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher, & The Dandy Warhols). The six-song release also features the second single The Gift. This track emphasizes a dying love story of a lover who begins to lose hope in their partners compassion and desire in their relationship. Angies cryptic and haunting vocals accentuate the lyrical message of the song as she begs the question would you die for me, too? Angie and The Deserters 2016 summer release will be followed with an additional EP that will be distributed later in the year. This second EP will include the second half of Angies Nashville recordings that were created in the famous Castle Recording Studios with well-known country producer, Jeff Huskins (Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Clint Black, Shania Twain). On each record, Bruyere was able to work with renowned musicians such as; Troy Lancaster (Loretta Lynn, Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift), Aubrie Haynie (Blake Shelton, Hank Williams Jr., Merle Haggard), Scott Sanders (Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift, Alan Jackson), John Willis (Johnny Cash, Van Morrison, Kenny Rogers), Kevin Swine Grant (Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, Toby Keith), Fred Eltringham (Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban, Sheryl Crow), Evan Hutchings, Dave Doran and mastered by legendary and Grammy Winning, Bob Ludwig (Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix). The bands efforts have not gone unnoticed, already Angie and the Deserters have been featured in Maverick magazine in addition to receiving significant airplay and glowing reviews for their single Country Radio. Band Blurb mentioned Angie Bruyere has chosen her collaborators wisely, but her vocals and lyrical talents are the undisputed star of the show. Indie Music told its readers, An action packed opening single like this can only mean great things from the upcoming EP release. Bruyere is throwing down the gauntlet here and announcing herself as a vital, formidable force to be reckoned with from hereafter. View the video for "Country Radio" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HAMMYf-LFc Ambassador Lily Hsu Tours FS-Elliott's Manufacturing Facility The FS-Elliott and Fusheng Group story serve a wonderful example of a mutually beneficial collaboration between businesses in Taiwan and the United States. FS-Elliott Co., LLC, a leading manufacturer of oil-free, centrifugal air and gas compressors, recently welcomed Director General Ambassador Lily Hsu along with key officials of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York (TECO) to their headquarter office. The goal of the visit was to learn more about the successful relationship between FS-Elliott, based in the United States and their parent company, The Fusheng Group based in Taiwan. Ambassador Hsu and her team met with senior officials at FS-Elliott to review the companys history including the acquisition of the PAP Plus compressor line by The Fusheng Group, forming FS-Elliott in 2003 as well as recent initiatives and achievements. Due to the rapid growth over the last 13 years, the group was interested in hearing about the FS-Elliott and Fusheng formula of success and how it could be applied to other Taiwanese companies. The FS-Elliott and Fusheng Group story serve a wonderful example of a mutually beneficial collaboration between businesses in Taiwan and the United States. We look forward to seeing more success stories like FS-Elliott, stated Ambassador Lily Hsu, Director General of TECO in New York. As part of the visit, the Ambassador toured the ISO 9001-certified manufacturing facility where FS-Elliotts centrifugal, oil-free air compressors are built and tested. Members of the manufacturing team demonstrated the five-axis milling machines responsible for producing and customizing impellers to meet a customers specific aerodynamic needs. The tour continued through each step in the manufacturing process and concluded with a visit to the testing facility where each unit is carefully inspected and tested before being packaged in-house or shipped to one of FS-Elliotts global packaging facilities. Speaking for all of us at FS-Elliott, it is an honor to have welcomed Ambassador Hsu and members of TECO to our facility and present the technology and the organizational structure that led to our success over the years, added Paul Brown, CEO. We have a strong backing from The Fusheng Group and value their commitment to FS-Elliott and manufacturing in the United States; we are eager to use that partnership to help strengthen relations between both countries. About FS-Elliott Co., LLC FS-Elliott Co., LLC, is a leading manufacturer of oil-free, centrifugal air and gas compressors with sales, service, and manufacturing locations around the world. First introduced to the market over 50 years ago their energy-efficient machines incorporate the latest aerodynamic and control system technologies to ensure optimum performance. For more information, visit http://www.fs-elliott.com. A new day is beginning in EM and it is great to have GSEP as the inaugural member of the AAEM-PG. This represents the first important step towards countering the increasing corporate control of our profession. The American Academy of Emergency Medicine Physician Group (AAEM-PG) is proud to announce Greater San Antonio Emergency Physicians (GSEP) will be joining AAEM-PG as the inaugural physician group. AAEM-PG was founded in late 2015 with the goal of putting values that have guided AAEM for over 20 years: fairness, transparency and unyielding dedication to the welfare of the individual emergency physician, into direct action. GSEP Joins the Team GSEP is an independent and democratic association comprised of over 75 emergency physicians serving six hospitals and over 200,000 patients per year in San Antonio, Texas. GSEP President, Bob Frolichstein, MD FAAEM, is excited about the new venture. GSEP is thrilled to be the first emergency medicine group to partner with AAEM-PG. The Academy has a long and storied history of supporting fairness and transparency, traits that mirror the ideals of our group and many other independent democratic groups throughout the country. Our practice has been searching for a solution to compete with organizations that continue to grow at the expense of the individual physician. AAEM-PG is the answer. The depth of resources and experience truly levels the playing field and ushers in a new era in emergency medicine. A New Era in Physician Group Management AAEM-PG seeks to improve the marketplace for emergency medicine (EM) physicians and their patients by creating a large, national group that adheres to the values of AAEM. EM physicians under the AAEM-PG umbrella practice in a setting based on equal partnerships of professional colleagues where each member is an owner. This will allow them to more fully enjoy the practice of EM and be more able to endure its inherent stresses. The patients in turn will be better served by these more professionally satisfied physicians. As AAEM-PG CEO, Robert McNamara, MD FAAEM, notes: A new day is beginning in EM and it is great to have GSEP as the inaugural member of the AAEM-PG. This represents the first important step towards countering the increasing corporate control of our profession. AAEM firmly believes that its members, the patients and the hospitals we work at are much better served when physicians own their practices and remain free of influence from for-profit lay corporations. We hope to expand this model across the country and encourage other groups with a similar vision to examine what the AAEM-PG has to offer. Top-Tier Practice Support AAEM-PG will be supported by Intermedix, an organization with more than 35 years of experience serving the emergency medicine specialty. Intermedix will provide AAEM-PG member physicians with a comprehensive infrastructure of analytics, practice management and revenue cycle technology and services. We are committed to the welfare of emergency physicians by offering those who wish to remain independent a viable means to do so, without sacrificing their ability to compete in the changing health care landscape, said Joel Portice, CEO of Intermedix. It is an honor to support AAEM-PG with a full breadth of specialized services that will allow its members to focus on practicing medicine while we ensure their financial success. ### AAEM-PG is a national physician group that adheres to the values of AAEM and fosters a management setting based on fairness and transparency where each is an owner. AAEM-PG supports independent practices with financial and management resources. AAEM-PG believes the brightest future for EM physicians is when they own their practice. Invitation Homes names G. Irwin Gordon Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer Invitation Homes, the nations leading provider of single family rental homes, today announced the appointment of G. Irwin Gordon as executive vice president and chief revenue officer. We are pleased that Irwin has formally joined Invitation Homes as our Chief Revenue Officer. His proven ability to turn consumer facing ideas into concrete actions is unique in our sector, said Invitation Homes chief executive officer John Bartling. Irwin has both the executive management and marketing expertise to further differentiate our brand, product offering, and the design and implementation of programs that will help ensure our residents have frustration-free experiences in our houses, their homes. By driving these customer-focused strategies through our organization, we will continue to build on our preeminent leadership role in the single family rental industry. Gordon joined Invitation Homes earlier this year as chief marketing officer. In his new role as chief revenue officer, Gordon will develop and execute partnerships and programs that expand Invitation Homes service offering, drive revenue growth and add value to the customer experience of Invitation Homes residents. His span of responsibility will include all marketing strategy and execution, customer care call center operations, lease administration, and public relations and communications. Gordon is a seasoned corporate executive, with more than 30 years both leading organizations as CEO and leading their marketing efforts. Prior to joining Invitation Homes, he founded The Trion Group, which provides marketing and strategic management consulting services. Prior to that, he was president and chief executive officer at Gruma Corporation, the global leader in corn and flour tortilla products under the brand Mission Foods. Previously, he served as president and chief operating officer of Suiza Foods (now Dean Foods) and also as Suizas chief marketing officer. Earlier in his career Gordon served as president and general manager of several international Frito-Lay companies before becoming senior vice president of marketing, sales and technology for Frito-Lay. Before joining PepsiCos Frito-Lay, he served in various capacities at the Kellogg Company. He currently serves as an independent director of Heska Corporation. Gordon holds a bachelors degree in education from the University of British Columbia and a management certificate from Stanford University. Based in Dallas, Invitation Homes is the nations premier choice in home leasing. The company has a portfolio of nearly 50,000 homes, serving approximately 120,000 residents in 14 markets across the country. Sean Keliiholokai, Executive Director, Visit Dana Point The Board of Directors for Visit Dana Point today announced the appointment of Sean Keliiholokai (Kay-lee'-ee-hoe'-low-kye) as Executive Director for the newly-formed destination marketing organization Visit Dana Point. Mr. Keliiholokai will be charged with growing the local tourism industry through visitor attraction and retention, lodging offerings and meetings and groups initiatives. He will assume his duties in mid-August. Previously Director of Sales and Marketing for the Greater Ontario Convention and Visitors Bureau, Mr. Keliiholokai has worked in the tourism industry leading teams for Hyatt Regency Orange County and in sales management for multiple organizations including, Marriott International and Disneyland Resort. Jim Samuels, General Manager of Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort and Spa and Chairman of the Board of Directors for Visit Dana Point, remarked, We are very enthusiastic about having Sean onboard. With his record of accomplishments in his previous positions, we look forward to working with him to promote Dana Point as a premier destination for visitors and to enhance our local tourism economy." Mr. Keliiholokai, a Certified Hospitality Sales Professional (CHSP), holds a Masters of Hospitality Administration (MHA) from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a B.S. in Business Administration from Biola University. He is married with a one-year-old son. Other elected officers on the Board of Directors of Visit Dana Point include Secretary, Ian Pullan, General Manager, Monarch Beach Resort; and, Treasurer, Bruce Brainerd, General Manager, The Ritz Carlton, Laguna Niguel. Dana Point is located along South Orange Countys extraordinary Coastal region halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego with easy access via air, ocean or major freeways. Known as the whale watching capital of the west, Dana Point Harbor, the Marina and the Ocean Institute provide for world-class boating, marine science education experiences and interactive water adventures. http://VisitDanaPoint.org Mohan enjoying some cover shortly after release, July 23, 2016 We hope that this breakthrough in attaining Mohans long-overdue freedom sets a precedent of zero tolerance for illegal ownership of elephants. In what Wildlife SOS cofounder Kartick Satyanarayan called the longest wildlife-rescue operation mounted by his wildlife-conservation organization in its 20-year history, an emaciated and ailing elephant named Mohan was taken from illegal custody. The grueling 20-hour ordeal took place in the early hours of July 21, 2016, and involved more than 50 police and Forest Department officers as well as representatives from Wildlife SOS. The 55-year-old male elephant had been labelled the unluckiest elephant in the world by animal welfare activists because repeated attempts to rescue him have failed, and legal proceedings to win his freedom have been postponed and delayed repeatedly. However, years of persistence and efforts by the Forest Department with assistance from Wildlife SOS finally saw a breakthrough, and with it came a change of fortune for this unlucky elephant. The District Court in Pratapgarh issued an order (Case No. 495/2014) last week to the police to immediately file a first information report (FIR) against those holding the elephant in illegal custody, then seize the elephant within three days. The rescue operation itself lasted more than 20 hours and involved stiff resistance from supporters of the elephants owners, who were intent on thwarting the rescue attempt. The presence of a large force from the Pratapgarh Police Department helped maintain safety for the rescue team. According to the Times of India (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/agra/Unluckiest-elephant-in-the-world-rescued/articleshow/53366110.cms), the elephants handler (or mahout), Ghulam, was "arrested and sent to jail." The Times also reported that supporters of the elephants owner damaged one vehicle. Prataphgarh District Forest Officer Y. P. Shukla told representatives from Wildlife SOS, The elephant Mohan was transferred to custody of Forest Department in Pratapgarh, where he will be provided medical care for the time being. According to the Business Standard (http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/beggar-elephant-rescued-after-years-of-efforts-116072400675_1.html), Pratapgarh District Magistrate Dr. Adarsh Singh told Indian news agency IANS, "The elephant was in such a location where vehicles cannot reach. The nearest road was about five km away." Singh also told members of Wildlife SOS, We complied with the directions of the court to ensure the safety of this elephant. A medical examination of Mohan conducted by three veterinarians from the Government Veterinary Hospital after his rescue revealed that the elephant was in very poor condition, likely the result of prior abuse. The medical report, dated July 23, 2016, confirms that the elephant is thin and emaciated from malnutrition. It also mentions that wounds on Mohans body and ears confirm beatings and poking by sharp objects, and describes foot injuries that will lead to permanent joint disorders if not treated properly and immediately. The elephants dung indicated severe round-worm infestation. Satyanarayan said, We hope that this breakthrough in attaining Mohans long-overdue freedom sets a precedent of zero tolerance for illegal ownership of elephants, and gives hope to elephants across the country that are held in illegal captivity and suffering abuse and neglect at the hands of their captors. For more information, please contact Wildlife SOS USA Communication Officer John Pecorelli. Cell: 801 / 750-0301. Email: john(at)wildlifesos(dot)org. About Wildlife SOS: A non-profit organization, Wildlife SOS is one of the largest rescue and conservation charities in South Asia, operating 10 wildlife rehabilitation facilities across India, including the worlds largest sloth bear rescue center and the recently established Elephant Conservation and Care Center, which is the first in India and currently houses 22 rescued elephants. Wildlife SOS runs a tribal rehabilitation project that aims to create an alternative livelihood for poachers and other indigenous communities that once depended on wildlife for a livelihood. We also run a leopard rescue center, a wildlife hotline in New Delhi and Agra, and Forest Watch, which is an anti-poaching wildlife crime enforcement unit. More information about the organization can be found at http://www.wildlifesos.org. The U.S. branch of Wildlife SOS is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, ands received 501(c)3 charity status in 2005. George Carey, Founder & CEO of The Family Room As the millennial moms cohort shows, the moms market is always changing, growing and expanding. Truly knowing todays moms and getting better marketing to moms results is why brand execs attend M2Moms. Millennial moms are really different than previous generations of moms. Theyve grown up digital, theyre better educated and they approach motherhood and respond to advertising very differently, according to Lauren Sweeney, producer of M2Moms - The 12th Annual Marketing to Moms Conference. Thats why this years M2Moms focuses specifically on millennial moms. After all, the oldest millennial moms are in their thirties. They have teenage kids, and are faced with purchasing decisions in categories that go way beyond baby food. Of course marketing to new moms is always a huge segment of M2Moms, and millennial moms are having lots of babies. But M2Moms is designed to teach brand marketers and ad execs how to build more business with every mom. M2Moms will be held October 4 & 5, 2016, New World Stages, NY, NY. This years M2Moms opens with a keynote from family marketing guru George Carey, Founder & CEO of The Family Room, Millennial Moms Passion Points: A New Approach For Marketing To A Modern Moms Heart. Additional marketing to millennial moms sessions include: E-Commerce & The Evolution of Todays Mom Shopper Kelly Palmisano, Vice President of Client Strategy, Influence Central Lorianne Lacey, Vice President of Client Strategy, Influence Central Multi-Cultural Millennial Latinas: Winning the Heart of Mama Verena Thompson, Chief Strategy Officer, Conill Research Premier: Millennial Moms Whats Now and Whats Next Josh Himwich, VP Product for XO Group, The Bump The Play Factor: Playing up Parenthood - Keys to Connecting with Todays Generation of Playful Moms Amy Henry, SVP Strategic Planning, Strottman International Shopper Marketing Insights: Moms Social Media Behavior - Impact on In-Store Purchase Decision Holly Pavlika, SVP, Marketing & Content, Collective Bias Allisha Watkins, Shopper Marketing Team Lead, Mars Inc. Attitudes & Behavior: What the Ef is She Thinking?!?! Robbin Chaber Allen, VP Strategic Alliances, Mom365 Influencer Marketing: The Six Essentials To Winning Influencer Marketing Myra Braselton, VP Sales & Business Development, Acorn Influence Katie Duke, Director Client Services, Acorn Influence New Research: Moms & Social Media - Twitter Moms Know Best: The Most Influential Mothers on Social Media Diana Bach, Industry Marketing Group Manager, Twitter, Inc. Raising Digital Natives: Technology Is Todays Jungle Gym Kristen Campolattaro, VP Brand Marketing, Sprout Understanding moms lives, especially millennial moms and their aspirations, challenges, stresses and purchasing motivations is key for every marketer whose brand future depends on selling to moms, Sweeney explained, As the millennial moms cohort shows, the moms market is always changing, growing and expanding. Truly knowing todays moms and getting better marketing-to-moms results is why brand execs attend M2Moms. They know that M2Moms gives them not only the latest research but also up-to-date know-how, case studies, peer-to-peer learning and networking. M2Moms literally delivers everything brand marketers and their agencies need to keep up with todays ever evolving, demographically changing moms. Every year, Sweeney continued, M2Moms is attended by a really comprehensive and diverse list of brands including Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Evenflo, IKEA, Abbott Nutritionals, GM, Allstate, Heinz, Symantec, Hasbro, BBC, NBA, Procter & Gamble, Wyeth and Coca-Cola. M2Moms attendance typically sells out. 2016 M2Moms sponsors include Associate Sponsors: Mabels Labels, Conill, The Family Room, and Twitter; Showcase Sponsors: NBC Universal/Sprout, Ibotta, Influence Central, Ipsos, Lake Group Media, Parent Society, C+R Research, Acorn, Strottman, Social Media Link, Collective Bias, C Space, Mom 365, LiquidPCH, and The Bump. Video Content Resource Sponsor: Snippies. For M2Moms information: http://www.m2moms.com or 860.724.2649 x11. M2Moms is produced by PME Enterprises LLC, 912 Silas Deane Hwy., Suite 101, Wethersfield, CT 06109. ### Dynalog makes college bookstores mobile for the Millennial shopper. - Richard Linevsky, Catalogs.com Catalogs.com, the Internets most respected catalog shopping authority, is expanding the merchant base for the Dynalog dynamic catalog via college bookstore retailers. The highly interactive, responsive digital platform, with its elegant mobile interface, is perfectly suited for college bookstores to engage students, parents and relatives, faculty and alumni. Dynalog features an interactive discovery shopping solution that increases page visits and product views, resulting in higher sales. Over the past few months, Dynalog has gained traction among college bookstores, including University of Colorado Boulder, University of Utah Bookstore, Auburn University, and University of California - Davis, because it is simple to update, mobile friendly, and increases sales. Mobile marketing is critical for retailers, especially those whose demographic skews young. Industry studies show Millennials and others who drive commerce with their purchasing power in the U.S. spend 51 percent of their time browsing on mobile devices. Jason Lorgan, director of UC-Davis Stores, observes that the Dynalog digital catalog is an integral component in the university bookstores multi-channel marketing strategy. Dynalog enhances our ability to engage in and enhance school spirit and also provides our customers with a unique, enjoyable opportunity when they visit our webpage, says Lorgan. Dynalog exceeds the expectations of students and alumni - I dont think its something they expect to see, and it makes a positive impression. With hundreds of retailers across a number of verticals, Catalogs.com continues to expand its presence and ROI-generating prowess to campus bookstores. Catalogs.com is making a push for the back to school retail season. The Dynalog platform with its super contemporary interface and trendy interactive design, is especially appealing to retailers who need to reach and engage tech-savvy Millennials and Gen Next shoppers online and these are the target audience of college bookstores, says Richard Linevsky, president of Catalogs.com. Interactive mobile and high-impact visual experiences key features of Dynalog - are a quintessential piece of the back to school season for university students who are buying dorm decor, electronics, books, school supplies and spirit gear. In the sixth annual Back to School Trend Report on college market trends, PMX Agency found that online behavior has become mobile-dominant, particularly with Millennials a generation spanning college students to [young] parents of small children. Linevsky projects that implementing a Dynalog during the busy back to school retail season can be a game changer for university bookstores. Catalogs.com has been concentrating creative and development efforts in the Dynalog platform, continually refining it as is a versatile add-on to a retail website and a shift from outdated print catalogs, according to Linevsky. The Dynalog can be updated as new merchandise is added. Shoppers instantly discover and engage with a perpetually current mobile-friendly catalog. About Catalogs.com Catalogs.com has connected shoppers with the brands they love and the products they need since 1996. With the companys newest innovation, the Dynalog, Catalogs.com provides easy, accessible and interactive shopping experiences for over 700 major and specialty retailers via mail, online and mobile platforms. Our Science and Innovation Modules offer middle school teachers free resources to support STEM education in their classroom. Teaching Channel, in celebration of The Boeing Companys 100th Anniversary, has launched 10 newly revised Science and Innovation modules to help teachers guide students in becoming problem solvers and critical thinkers for the 21st century. Our Science and Innovation Modules offer middle school teachers free resources to support STEM education in their classroom. says George Lichter, CEO of Teaching Channel. Teaching Channel is proud to help Boeing celebrate an important anniversary and with their help inspire the next generation of budding engineers, designers and innovators Co-created by Boeing engineers and teachers to demonstrate the engineering design process, the modules have been field-tested by educators and align with Next Generation Science Standards. The Teaching Channel curriculum comprises part of a collection of K-12 education resources designed for The Boeing Companys 100 Days of Learning campaign. The 10 modules include exciting and engaging topics like: Alternative Energy, Satellites, Polymers, Spy Gliders, Bio Suits, Space Flight, Mars Missions, High Energy Impacts, Lighting, Acoustics and, Composites. To learn more about the modules. Visit: http://www.teachingchannel.org/engineering-curriculum-boeing About Teaching Channel: Teaching Channel is a thriving online community where teachers can watch, share, and learn diverse techniques to help every student grow. For more information Visit http://www.teachingchannel.org. The Uniform Outlet, known for offering brand name scrubs at outlet prices, opens their new location in the Gurnee Mills shopping center on Friday, August 5th. Doors open at 10:00am. The store carries many well-known brand names such as Cherokee, Dickies, HeartSoul, Littmann, and more, including their exclusive line, Sanibel Scrubs. Fitting rooms are available and a highly encouraged resource for those customers looking to purchase a new style or brand. "Each brand, line, and style has a unique fit, feel and look, so it is important to try on the merchandise before making a purchase," explains Kristi LaVoie, regional manager. This new store addition is the third store location opened in 2016, and the first location in Illinois. This location will offer the area hospitals, medical clinics, dental offices, and veterinary services a nearby resource to purchase their work uniforms, footwear, and accessories. Tim Wenzel, managing member, has had the oversight of all of the store openings in the companys history. We look forward to joining the Gurnee Mills shopping center. Their mix of tenants continually improves, and we are excited to be a part of that. We are excited to serve the medical professionals from the surrounding counties, and they will find great values in our outlet store. The Uniform Outlet is a medical apparel company that is committed to providing customers with brand name scrubs, uniforms and accessories at outlet prices. In sixteen years, the company has expanded to almost 80 locations across the United States. For more information regarding the company or locations please visit http://www.theuniformoutlet.com. Aladtec, Inc., the popular provider of an online employee scheduling and workforce management system for the Public Safety Sector, has recently achieved two significant milestones. With nearly 1,700 Public Safety Sector customers, Aladtec now serves more than 100,000 individual users through their Cloud based Software as a Service (SaaS) system. In addition, their customers have scheduled over a half-billion shift hours through Aladtec. The online software was developed in 2002 to help Wisconsins Ellsworth Area Ambulance Service with their scheduling issues by creating a system that was available via the Internet. Fast forward, and today Aladtec has become a powerful and valuable tool for hundreds of agencies throughout North America. Many organizations still use outdated administrative methods to run their departments, often due to budgetary constraints. Even though Public Safety budgets are typically tight, agencies report the subscription based Aladtec is well worth the investment. This is due to a number of factors, including: tremendous time savings; reduced overtime; reduction in errors; moving to a paperless office; better communication; improved efficiency and improved employee morale. The Aladtec online software system is much more than just an employee scheduling tool - the system provides: Mobility - The system is accessible 24/7 from any computer, smartphone or mobile device with Internet access Forms Create, submit, review and store forms within the system to track vehicle maintenance, inventory, etc. Employee Data Management - Easily store and access contact information, certifications, etc. Event Calendar - Post training sessions, meetings and public appearances Library - Share documents, training videos and meeting notes with staff Payroll Integration - Export work hours to various payroll software systems Reporting Capabilities - Create custom reports with any data within the system Messaging - Email or text message individuals, groups or all employees immediately Discussions - Engage staff in conversations and relay information System Log - Keep track of all activities within the system - no more he said she said Sync Calendars - Sync personal and work calendars into one Time Clock - An add-on option for time and attendance verification Aladtec also offers customers a dedicated support team to provide free training and ongoing system support. Software updates and optimizations are always complimentary as well. In addition, the company offers a free demo for potential customers to make sure Aladtec is a good fit for their organization. SUPPORTING QUOTES: "Because we are a smaller volunteer service we really value the amount of time Aladtec saves us. I save as much as 20 hours a week now. It used to take me hours and hours to create the schedules, balance shifts and figure out who was available when. This online crew scheduling system is great for morale, its easy to navigate, its user friendly, it provides great assistance in seeing a snapshot of what is going on, and its a huge communication improvement for our department." -Eric Strout, Director, G&H Ambulance Service, Glenburn, ME I like using the mobile app because I can send out a page remotely. The crew can see who has which shifts, or detail assignments, and they can request swaps from home or from anywhere. -Rob Browne, Captain, Goffstown Police Department, Goffstown, NH "Aladtecs Event Calendar has been a great help to us. We now have all our public education on the calendar along with our training schedule. In the past, a lot of paper was used to print this out with updates coming almost every day. And, I believe all our fire department members use the mobile app to be able to see their days off, work, and receive text messages about trades. Lastly, payroll has become a lot easier. Im told that over two hours worth of work for payroll has gone down to forty-five minutes using reports from the Aladtec system." -Paul Gardner Jr., Deputy Chief, Berwyn Fire Department, Berwyn, IL "What we like about Aladtec is: the ability to set-up repeats and rotations; the ability for staff to enter in time off; their ability to pick-up shifts with little management involvement; and the ability to access our schedule through the Internet from anywhere at any time." -Carl Homa, Operations Manager,Temple Health System Transport Team, Philadelphia, PA "Because it's subscription based, it was definitely a factor in my decision to choose this system as the company includes tech support and upgrades are free. When I have a question, I simply ask support and don't have to worry about being charged a fee for it. Since 9-1-1 is a 24-hour operation, and tends to have some pretty funky shifts, this program is perfect for us. -Sherri Lovett, 9-1-1 Coordinator, Office of Emergency Services, Elk County 9-1-1, Ridgway, PA About Aladtec: They proudly provide online employee scheduling and workforce management software to nearly 1,700 organizations, primarily within the Public Safety Sector. These customers count on Aladtec every day to help them save time and improve efficiency. For information about their affordable industry specific options, or to try a free demo, please visit http://www.aladtec.com. ### CONTACT INFORMATION: Aladtec, Inc. 387 Arrow Court River Falls, WI 54022 (888) 749-5550 Toll-Free (715) 690-2300 Phone (801) 406-5550 Fax mellissa(at)aladtec(dot)com info(at)aladtec(dot)com http://www.aladtec.com 2016 has already brought major changes at the federal and state levels, and more changes are on the horizon, said Manta CEO John Swanciger. Entrepreneurs are trying to figure out how to remain profitable amidst the growing costs of compliance. The fast-approaching presidential election is not the only government issue on the minds of small business owners this summer. Between changes in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), local minimum wage increases and employee overtime rules, small business owners are facing a triple whammy of regulatory changes, making the task of compliance more challenging. To gauge the small business landscape, Mantas Semi-Annual Wellness Index asked small business owners to evaluate their businesses and share what regulatory issues are the most difficult to understand and comply with. Government regulations and red tape can be a tremendous barrier to small business growth, and many owners (41%) believe their business has been negatively impacted by recent national and local regulatory changes. More than half of owners (51%) feel they do not receive enough warning ahead of regulatory changes. Perhaps thats why 40 percent of owners say they spend between one and five hours a week dealing with regulatory issues. Another 10 percent spend between six and 10 hours, and 11 percent spend more than 10 hours a week. 2016 has already brought major changes at the federal and state levels, and more changes are on the horizon, said Manta CEO John Swanciger. Entrepreneurs are trying to figure out how to remain profitable amidst the growing costs of compliance. Those who can be resourceful and stay nimble in the process will better position themselves for success. Regulatory Challenges Hitting Owners on a National and Local Level Nationally, tax regulations were cited by one in three (33%) small business owners as the most confusing rules to understand. This was closely followed by the Affordable Care Act (21%), new SEC crowdsourcing rules (15%) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations (7%). On a state level, entrepreneurs listed taxes (36%), licensing (30%) and labor rules (16%) as the most difficult to comply with. When looking across states, New York and California small business owners were the most likely to cite regulations in their respective states as being difficult or very difficult to comply with (52% and 50%). This contrasts sharply with states like Texas, where only 29 percent said it was difficult or very difficult to comply with state regulations. To better understand regulatory changes, many small business owners (27%) turn to professional advisors, online small business communities (22%) and the news (19%). Only about 11 percent turn to their local government for help. Candidates View on these Issues Could Affect Small Business Votes Interestingly, state and national regulations are not only affecting the way small business owners are running their companies, but also who theyre voting for in the upcoming presidential election. A recent Manta poll found 37 percent of small business owners believe Donald Trump is the best candidate for small business. Although Hillary Clinton trails with 28 percent of the vote, 36 percent remain undecided, indicating that a sizeable number of small business votes are still up for grabs. As a small business owner, and the son of a small business owner, I've learned first-hand how state and federal regulation has stymied opportunities for entrepreneurs, said Nick Braun, CEO and founder of PetInsuranceQuotes.com, a comparison website for pet insurance. Unnecessary taxes, lending restrictions and reporting requirements favor big business and create headwinds for small business owners who are trying to grow and prosper. I don't agree with everything Donald Trump says regarding social issues, but when it comes to business sensibility, he's a breath of fresh air in today's age of career politicians. Tips for Dealing with 2016s Triple Whammy of Regulations 1. Figure out where you can go to for support. More than a third (38%) of entrepreneurs rated the level of support their business receives from the local governments as poor. Given this low rating, its important for entrepreneurs to know what other community resources are available them. The Small Business Administration (SBA) has local offices throughout the country that provide counseling and training programs around compliance. Local chamber of commerce offices also offer resources to help with federal and local compliance. 2. Join community organizations and industry associations. Getting involved in online or local business and industry organizations can help you stay abreast of changes specific to your area or industry. Many of these groups provide affordable resources for dealing with compliance. One such online resource is Manta Academy, which offers free educational courses to help small business owners grow and manage their businesses. 3. Implement training programs around compliance. Mantas poll showed that 36 percent of small business owners are planning on hiring new employees during the second half of 2016, up from 28 percent in the first half of the year. To make sure all employees comply with new regulatory changes, owners should implement training programs on the new rules and any procedural changes their business has made. ### About Manta Manta empowers small business owners to succeed on their own terms by helping them stand out, connect with customers and grow their companies. Our solutions include a small business directory with millions of unique monthly visitors, valuable content and a suite of products to manage critical business needs. We strive to inform and inspire through learning opportunities, proprietary research, and a robust online community for dialogue and collaboration. Thousands of business owners join Manta each month. Visit manta.com to learn why. Red Fox Outdoor Equipment, the biggest outdoor manufacturer of technical mountaineering equipment and clothing in Eastern Europe, recently announced plans to open a new store in Boulder, CO mid-July. The company currently operates a flagship store in Lyons, CO where they offer an assortment of high-end and durable outdoor apparel and gear. Outdoor adventurers throughout Northern Colorado will be able to visit the new Red Fox store in downtown Boulder on July 18, 2016, located at 1218 Pearl Street. Northern Colorado customers can expect to find the same premium quality and unique assortment of mens and womens outdoor clothing and technical gear at Red Foxs new Boulder location. The store showcases a diverse selection of high-quality, functional tents, backpacks, clothing and accessories, catering to a variety of outdoor enthusiast. Red Fox provides essentials for the hiking, camping, climbing, backpacking, mountaineering, running and traveling fanatics alike. In addition to expanding their brick-and-mortar store locations, Red Fox also operates a successful eCommerce store, enabling outdoor enthusiasts everywhere to experience their top-quality outdoor products with just the click of a button. Shoppers can browse Red Foxs roster of popular outdoor gear and apparel through their website at us.redfoxoutdoor.com. Individuals interested in learning more about Red Fox Outdoor Equipment can visit their retail store locations in Lyons and Boulder, CO, or visit their website for more information. About Red Fox Outdoor Equipment Red Fox Outdoor Equipment, the biggest outdoor manufacturer of technical mountaineering equipment and clothing in Eastern Europe, has made exceptional outdoor clothing and technical gear since 1989. Their diverse selection of high-quality, highly functional tents, backpacks, clothing and accessories are perfect for a variety of outdoor activities, including hiking, camping, climbing, backpacking, mountaineering, running, traveling and more. For more information, please visit us.redfoxoutdoor.com. Accountex Accountex USA announced a new course aimed at educating on the keys to effectively consult with non-profit organizations, Profiting from Non Profit Consulting. The session will focus on some of the following key areas: reasonable compensation, excess benefit transactions, intermediate sanctions, offsite controllership, good governance policies, Form 990, bylaw requirements, and customized chart of accounts. Taught by Robert M. Lauzon, a certified public accountant; attendees will leave with multiple templates and checklists to get them started in building a business around non-profit consulting. Accountex USA provides a four-day learning experience that focuses around the technology that moves accounting forward as well as the business processes and organizational success needed in the marketplace. As an independent conference, the content offers more than a single perspective on solutions. The accounting technology expo brings together the largest selection of solutions and offers professionals face-to-face time to learn about the latest upcoming trends available from cloud accounting innovators. The conference is the premier event of the year for the accounting and financial professionals and the add-on developer community. Sponsorship opportunities are enhanced through the AccountingWEB and Accountex partnership to provide maximum engagement with decision makers. Keynote speakers include: David Kotz, former Inspector General of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and Managing Partner at Berkeley Research Group, Debbie Rich-Walker, Senior Finance Manager at Home Depot, Dave Kerpen, Founder and CEO of LikeableLocal and a New York Times Best-Selling Author, Doug Sleeter, Founder of The Sleeter Group, Joe Woodard, Founder of Woodard Events and Consulting, and Geni Whitehouse, CEO at Even a Nerd. Accountex will be held at the Mirage Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada November 15-18, 2016. About Accountex Accountex is the leading independent expo and conference focusing on accounting technology. Accountex USA focuses on the technology that moves accounting forward as well as the business processes and organizational success needed in the marketplace. It is an independent conference meaning that it offers more than one viewpoint of solutions. Accountex features the most accounting technology solutions at one major event, plus latest trends and the traditional technologies that still dominate, without any focus on a singular suite of products. http://www.accountexusa.com. ### Bringing these brands together allow us to leverage our strength in small group escorted tours by combining the best of Travcoa and Zegrahm, said Van Perry, President of Zegrahm Expeditions. Travcoa, one of Americas most iconic luxury tour operators with more than 60 years of experience in pioneering travel and opening doors to many exotic destinations around the globe, will move operations from Los Angeles to Seattle and expand its portfolio of luxury offerings by partnering with sister companies TCS World Travel and Zegrahm Expeditions, creating a more robust category of luxury and experiential travel. For the last 25 years both TCS World Travel and Zegrahm Expeditions have become known as experts in private jet and expedition ships, respectively. TCS is the leader in travel by private jet with around-the-world itineraries spanning the worlds most interesting destinations in the most convenient and luxurious style. Zegrahm Expeditions, a company of explorers and adventurers sharing a passion for unique experiences, offers the world's most inspiring and remote destinations, on all seven continents, with one-of-a-kind itineraries. The combined team among these three brands have developed world-class, personalized travel experiences in more than 150 countries. We share a common DNA and appeal to travelers who are immensely curious about the world they live in, according to Shelley Cline, Managing Director of TCS World Travel. The Private Travel team, comprised of both Private Journeys and Custom Journeys, will double in size when Travcoa and TCS World Travel teams join, offering even more tailored experiences and increased buying power. The growth of Travcoas Private Journeys, which includes more than 100 pre-designed yet flexible itineraries will serve as the foundation of our increasing portfolio of Custom Journeys for the bespoke traveler, Cline continued. We now have an increased competitive advantage on rates and response time in crafting unique experiences in even more destinations. The small group Luxury Escorted Journeys offered by Travcoa and Overland Adventures operated by Zegrahm complement each other and are uniquely differentiated from other tour operators. Bringing these brands together allow us to leverage our strength in small group escorted tours by combining the best of Travcoa and Zegrahm, said Van Perry, President of Zegrahm Expeditions. Our brands have talked for many years about a more collaborative relationship to better showcase our compelling programs to past guests, prospects and travel agents, while at the same time, keeping recognition of each brand name. We now have a robust shared technology platform that creates a virtual environment for our staff with opportunities for future growth, according to Jerre Fuqua, President of Travcoa. Travcoas operations will move to Seattle, Washington in October 2016, where both TCS World Travel and Zegrahm Expeditions are headquartered. For more information, please contact anne.kerker(at)tuinas(dot)com *** Travcoa, TCS World Travel, Zegrahm Expeditions, International Expeditions, and Quark Expeditions are a part of Travelopia, a portfolio of 50 brands owned by TUI Group. Based in Hanover, Germany TUI Group owns 1,800 travel agencies and leading online portals, six airlines with more than 130 aircraft, over 300 hotels with 210,000 beds, 13 cruise liners and countless incoming agencies in all major holiday destinations around the globe. This integrated offering provides 30 million customers with an unmatched holiday experience in 180 regions. Applied Systems today announced that it has expanded its relationship with Citrix to offer its ShareFile Plugin for Microsoft Outlook to North American insurance agencies and brokerages utilizing Applied TAM. Through this collaboration, agencies and brokerages can further automate document management through easy, secure email without the use of usernames and passwords, in addition to the sharing and storing of documents in the cloud without having to leave Outlook. This addition to the Citrix partner program offerings builds on the previously released integration of RightSignature with Applied Epic, which has seen rapid adoption since its release in April. Secure and simple document sharing continues to grow in demand as the pace of business increases, said Nate Spilker, vice president, ShareFile SMB at Citrix. We are excited to expand our relationship with Applied to further automate agency and brokerage operations by enabling quick, secure large file document management and encrypted email, ultimately saving time and money. ShareFile is a file sync and sharing service that enables independent agency and brokerage staff to send encrypted emails and files securely. With ShareFile, agents and brokers can securely send out policies, audits, certificates of insurance, brochures and endorsements with just a click of a button. Recipients can download files instantly no software or account needed. ShareFile also provides an electronic signature solution so agents can quickly and easily send documents, such as applications, that can be filled-in, signed and returned, reducing the application process timeline by more than 90 percent. Applied TAM, the worlds most widely used cloud-based agency and brokerage management system, provides agencies and brokerages the ability to automate daily operational processes, management of client policy information and connectivity with insurers. Through an automated and easy-to-navigate interface, Applied TAM offers greater visibility into clients and day-to-day agency and brokerage operations to reduce time spent on administrative tasks, decrease errors and omission risk, provide a seamless employee onboarding and training experience, and better respond to client needs. Applied TAM enables more independent insurance agencies and brokerages to be more productive and focus on their core business of client relationships and selling insurance than any other agency or brokerage management system. The changing insurance industry and technology landscape are driving increased collaboration among key stakeholders to fuel growth and profitability, said Michael Howe, senior vice president of Product Management, Applied Systems. We continue to see immense value in our Partner Program for our customers, and the ShareFile collaboration is a prime example of how offering best-in-class capabilities with an Applied solution can enable agencies and brokerages to better manage day-to-day tasks and deliver a more connected client experience. About Applied Systems Applied Systems is the leading global provider of cloud-based software that powers the business of insurance. Recognized as a pioneer in insurance automation and data exchange between brokerages, insurers and their clients, Applied is the worlds largest provider of agency and brokerage management systems, serving customers throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. By automating the insurance lifecycle, Applied enables millions of people around the world to safeguard and protect what matters most. Photo source: STFOLD ENERGI Natural Power has delivered an independent energy yield assessment (EYA) for financing purposes on behalf of SunEdison Norway Holdings B.V for Tellenes Wind Farm. The energy generated by the project has been purchased by Google for a 12-year period to supply its European data centres. The 160 MW project is located near Sogndalis, Norway, and comprises 50 Siemens SWT 3.2-113 turbines. Lauren Wheatley, Natural Powers Director of Technical, said: Energy yield estimates are the cornerstone of wind power financial models and the accuracy of these is therefore imperative. We are delighted to have completed this recent EYA on behalf of SunEdison as we continue to develop new innovations and learn from our assessment and operational experience to confirm the accuracy of our work. Earlier this year, Natural Power released the results of its latest validation study an evaluation of pre-construction wind energy yield predictions by comparison to operational production demonstrating analysis 1.1% median bias ensuring an accurate assessment of long-term wind farm generation A finance grade (often referred to as bankable) independent energy yield assessment can be relied upon by lenders or other parties with a financial interest in a wind project. It is a robust and defendable energy yield analysis and uncertainty study. It aims to predict the long-term wind resource and average energy production of a wind farm over its lifetime and quantify the associated uncertainty inherent in these predictions. An independent energy yield assessment is an essential element in securing project funding and aims to provide owners and investors with the confidence to make well-informed financial decisions. Over its 20-year history, Natural Power has provided wind analysis services on over 60 GW of wind and technical due diligence on over 40 GW of wind and solar projects. It currently operates over 150 projects in four countries (UK, US, France, and Ireland). As thought leaders and pioneers in several areas, including the development of wind-specific computational tools, furthering industry understanding of remote sensing in wind assessments, and application of computational fluid dynamics to complex wind projects, Natural Power has pioneered new technologies, methodologies and best-practices to tackle the most complex and challenging issues. Throughout this history, the business has conducted multiple assessments to evaluate and improve its energy yield methodology. To find out more about Natural Powers EYA service, please contact Sarah Lancaster sarahla(at)naturalpower(dot)com About Natural Power Established in the mid 1990s, Natural Power is a leading independent renewable energy consultancy and products provider. The company offers proactive and integrated consultancy, management and due diligence services, backed by an innovative product range, across the onshore wind, offshore wind, wave, tidal, renewable heat, solar pv and hydro sectors, whilst maintaining a strong outlook on other new and emerging renewable energy sectors. Natural Power has been at the heart of many groundbreaking projects, products and portfolios for more than two decades, assisting project developers, investors, manufacturers, research houses and other consulting companies. With its iconic Scottish headquarters, The Green House, Natural Power has expanded internationally to work in 32 countries, and now employs over 320 renewable energy experts. This project experience spans a portfolio of 69GW which is equivalent to powering 4.7m UK homes. http://www.naturalpower.com https://twitter.com/Natural_Power https://www.linkedin.com/company/natural-power ENDS Contact details: Jane Maher PR and Media Natural Power T: 07887 995 589 E: janem(at)naturalpower(dot)com IDC shares the grief of the people of France, the Catholic Church, and the global community today, as we mourn the brutal murder of Father Jacques Hamel by ISIS terrorists in a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy, France this morning. The 86-year-old priest was beheaded while two nuns and two parishioners were held by assailants who raided the church, before being gunned down by police. At least one of the hostages, a Catholic nun, is reported to be fighting for her life in a local hospital. This morning IDC Executive Director Kirsten Evans stated: The particular targeting of clergy, both priests and nuns, by radical Islamic terrorists is now as familiar as mass shootings. It has been a characteristic of the violence of ISIS, Al Qaeda, and their affiliates from Iraq to Syria to Yemen -- and now France. "It is no accident that priests and nuns have become a special target. Clergy are non-violent servants of their communities, Christian and Muslim, around the world. The goal of ISIS and their affiliate violent extremists is to frame the current struggle as one between Muslims and Christians. It is, on the contrary, a struggle between people of good will and these violent extremists, purveyors of evil and hatred. "This unspeakable act of barbarism is still another example of why the Islamic State must be destroyed swiftly by the community of civilized nations. And ideologies of hatred of violence must be rooted out at their sources, ideological and financial." IDC offers its deepest condolences to the families and communities of the victims and stands in solidarity with all communities targeted for violence by Islamic terrorism because of their faith, ethnicity, nationality, or way of life. http://www.northwest-roofing.com/ Helping people is what I do, and we instill that value into our company culture and the communities we serve, says Paul Reed, Managing Partner at North West Roofing. North West Roofing (NWR) is dedicated to giving back to the community through support, mentorship, sponsorships and donations. Managing Partner Paul Reed and the North West Roofing team host a monthly dinner for the Denver Childrens Home, providing children with a time of laughter, love, and delicious and nutritious meals. Denver Childrens Home provides a comprehensive therapeutic and educational continuum of care for abused, neglected and traumatized children and their families. Reed also volunteers at Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, and mentors recovering drug addicts and alcoholics with their sobriety. Owner Tom Brown recently hosted a surprise dinner for the Denver Police Department, and provided police officers with pizza and sub sandwiches as a thanks for their duty. The North West Roofing staff also sponsor the Center for Relationship Education, a non profit that trains people to live, love, and lead well. North West Roofings mission is to educate property owners on maintenance, repairs, and how to best protect their investments, their homes and businesses, and the company carries that mission into the community. Founded in 1963, North West Roofing provides commercial and residential property owners with roof repairs, roof replacements, hail damage repairs, emergency services, roofing maintenance programs and free inspections. I have contractors from all over the nation call me to inquire about shingle types, installation questions, and proper systems to better serve their customers. Helping people is what I do, and we instill that value into our company culture and the communities we serve, says Paul Reed, Managing Partner at North West Roofing. With over 25 years of experience in the industry, Reed is an advocate for community giving and educating property owners. Reed adds invaluable experience and expertise to the North West Roofing team including roof installation, roof inspections, and expert knowledge of all roofing systems. In 2015, Reed helped a homeowner in Jefferson County who had been scammed by a non-local fraudulent company. Reed quickly stepped up and provided a free roof replacement with the North West Roofing team. About North West Roofing Founded in 1963, North West Roofing provides expert roofing repairs, replacements emergency services and maintenance programs to residential and commercial property owners throughout Colorado and Kansas. As a leading expert in the industry, North West Roofing proudly holds prestigious accreditations including Owens Corning Platinum Preferred Contractor, CertainTeed Master Shingle Applicator, Gaco Western Qualified Applicator, Certified GenFlex Roofing System Installer. North West Roofing holds an A+ rating with the BBB and is a proud Platinum Preferred Contractor with the National Insurance Restoration Council (NIRC). Learn more at http://www.NorthWest-Roofing.com. Media Inquiries: Vera Anderson Elev8 Consulting Group Ph: 386.243.5388 Web: http://www.elev8cg.com Roundworms (C. elegans) with a disabled eri-1 gene experience variable expression from high-copy DNA (green) but not from low-copy DNA (magenta) in their intestinal cells. Credit: Antony Jose Cells can look the same and behave the same, but how? Weve now proposed an answer that could help advance our understanding of age-related diseases. - Antony Jose, UMD Cancers arise in skin, muscle, liver or other types of tissue when one cell becomes different from its neighbors. Although biologists have learned a lot about how tissues form during development, very little is known about how two cells of the same tissue stay identical for an animals entire lifetime. A University of Maryland research team is the first to discover that a regulatory protein named ERI-1 helps ensure that all cells in a tissue remain identical to one another. The work involved collaboration between developmental biologists and computer scientists, with the latter contributing their expertise with machine learning analysis. The finding could bring biologists one step closer to understanding some cancers and other age-related diseases. The study, which is the first of its kind conducted in a whole animal (the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans) instead of cultured cells, appears in the August 1, 2016 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology. The researchers approach reveals one important mechanism that animals use to maintain uniform patterns of gene expression. The teams use of machine learning software proved essential for quickly and clearly identifying complex patterns in the data. Cells can look the same and behave the same, but how? The liver is full of liver cells and doesnt have any heart cells, for example. Theres so much that needs to happen to maintain a tissue, said Antony Jose, an assistant professor in the UMD Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics and senior author on the study. Its a fundamental question thats been hiding in plain sight. Weve now proposed an answer that could help advance our understanding of age-related diseases. The results suggest that long sections of repetitive DNA can be read differently from cell to cell. The researchers found that, in healthy tissues, ERI-1 normalizes these differences by ensuring that each cell expresses their genes at the same levels. When the researchers turned off the gene that produces ERI-1 in C. elegans, an abnormal patchwork of gene expression appeared in the worms intestines. To understand these processes, we needed to measure single-cell differences in a whole animal, Jose said. We had to know which cell was related to which others and simultaneously measure various properties in all cells within a tissue. Technically, achieving this is very difficult. But you cant adequately answer these questions outside the context of the whole animal. To achieve this complex analysis, Jose and his colleagues formed an unexpected collaboration. Lead author Hai Le (B.S. 13, biological science), an undergraduate researcher in Joses lab who is now a student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, presented a poster at UMDs Bioscience Day conference in 2012. Future collaborator Michael Bloodgood, an associate research scientist at UMDs Center for Advanced Study of Language, stopped by to discuss Les work. The two researchers quickly recognized the potential for machine learning to help facilitate Le and Joses analysis. Linguists use machine learning to compare blocks of text to identify nouns and verbs, analyze sentence structures and determine average word length, for example, Jose said. Hai and Michael recognized that we could use the same technique to analyze gene expression in intestinal cells. Machine learning software can reveal complex patterns that the human eye cannot see. As the name implies, the software can be taught to look for specific patterns and can also learn from experience, becoming more efficient with each subsequent analysis. Using this approach enabled the researchers to quickly make objective comparisons that would have been all but impossible using other methods. The researchers chose C. elegans because it is a simple organism that can easily be studied at the level of a single cell while it is still alive. Jose notes that their technique is broadly applicable, and could be modified to work with other genes and different tissues as well. If others adopt the teams whole-animal methodology, Jose believes it could signal a shift in the way cell biologists approach their experimental design. The effect of cancer drugs is often examined in cultured cells. Our work suggests that studies on cells outside an animal could miss many things. For example, cultured cells can show differences in gene expression that are eliminated in a whole animal, Jose said. I believe our results could lead to some shifts in thinking about how to imitate a whole animal in cell culture conditions. In addition to Jose, Le and Bloodgood, authors on the study include Monika Looney (B.S. 16, biological science, psychology) and Benjamin Strauss (B.S. 12, computer engineering) who were undergraduate researchers when the study was conducted. The research paper, Tissue homogeneity requires inhibition of unequal gene silencing during development, Hai Le, Monika Looney, Benjamin Strauss, Michael Bloodgood and Antony Jose, appears in the August 1, 2016 print edition of the Journal of Cell Biology. This work was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Institutes of Health (Award Nos. R00GM085200 and R01GM111457). The content of this article does not necessarily reflect the views of these organizations. Media Relations Contact: Matthew Wright, 301-405-9267, mewright@umd.edu University of Maryland College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences 2300 Symons Hall College Park, MD 20742 http://www.cmns.umd.edu @UMDscience About the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland educates more than 7,000 future scientific leaders in its undergraduate and graduate programs each year. The college's 10 departments and more than a dozen interdisciplinary research centers foster scientific discovery with annual sponsored research funding exceeding $150 million. BlackArch Partners (BlackArch) is pleased to announce the sale of CTS Engines (CTS or the Company), jointly owned by Palm Beach Capital and Neff Capital Management LLC, to Platte River Equity. CTS is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with testing operations in Jupiter, Florida. The Company provides a full spectrum of maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services for established engine platforms, and performs developmental testing on next generation engines. The Company serves leading cargo, passenger, military and OEM customers. Acquired in 2010 by its CEO Brian Neff, CTS has grown to be a world leader in mature jet engine maintenance and operates the worlds largest independent jet engine test facility. Brian Neff, CEO and owner of CTS, commented: BlackArch did a phenomenal job managing the process from start to finish. This was a transaction with a lot of moving parts, and BlackArch was able to navigate the deal to a successful conclusion with an outstanding new partner for us. In addition, Nate Ward, Founder and Co-Managing General Partner of Palm Beach Capital, said: The team at BlackArch did a great job finding a buyer that will be very supportive of CTS as it continues to grow and expand into the premiere mature engine MRO provider in North America. BlackArchs strong industry expertise led to a great outcome for Palm Beach Capital and we look forward to working with them again. BlackArch was retained by Brian Neff and Palm Beach Capital to serve as the Companys exclusive financial advisor. The transaction continues BlackArchs strong momentum in the aerospace, defense & government services (ADGS) sectors and is representative of the firms focus on providing unique M&A advisory services to market-leading, founder-owned and sponsor-backed growth businesses. Transaction Highlights CTS was jointly owned by Neff Capital Management LLC and Palm Beach Capital In 2010, Neff Capital Management LLC acquired CTS from its original owners Palm Beach Capital invested in the Company in 2013 Brian Neff, CEO, and Vesa Paukkeri, COO, will continue to lead the business for Platte River Equity About Palm Beach Capital Founded in 2001, Palm Beach Capital is a private equity investment firm investing out of its third fund that partners with management teams in middle market recapitalizations and growth equity investments. With offices in both West Palm Beach and Tampa, Florida, the firm focuses on high growth investment opportunities. Since its inception, Palm Beach Capital has made investments in 42 platform companies. For more information, please visit the firm's website at http://www.pbcap.com. About Platte River Equity Based in Denver, Colorado, Platte River Equity is a private equity firm that invests in lower middle market operating companies with enterprise values generally between $20 million and $250 million. The firm focuses on targeted industry sectors where it has deep operating and investing experience including aerospace and transportation; energy and industrial products and services; and chemicals, metals, minerals and agriculture. Platte River Equity has raised funds with committed capital in excess of $700 million. About BlackArch Partners BlackArch Partners is a leading middle-market investment bank offering a full spectrum of advisory services to financial sponsors, private companies and diversified corporations. BlackArch addresses the needs of owner-operators, founders and shareholders of private companies with specialized services that include M&A advisory, strategic advisory and private capital solutions. Headquartered in Charlotte, NC, with offices in Houston, TX, BlackArch features a total of 12 industry-focused practices that cover all sectors of interest to middle-market investors; BlackArch professionals have closed more than 350 transactions in 16 countries on four continents. Please visit our website, http://www.blackarchpartners.com, for more details. Securities offered through BlackArch Securities LLC. Member FINRA and SIPC. Testimonials may not be representative of the experience of all clients. Testimonials are not a guarantee of future performance or success. The new data center is prepared to deliver for both Sunesys and QTS customers as demand for connectivity and bandwidth continues to increase across the Chicagoland market. Sunesys, LLC, a leading provider of premium bandwidth services and private fiber optic networks, today announced it is one of the first carriers to deploy a diverse Dark Fiber (SunDF) network solution in QTS Realty Trusts (NYSE:QTS) new downtown Chicago mega data center. Sunesys already has established a presence in QTS data centers in Princeton, NJ, and Jersey City, NJ. Sunesys supports QTS entrance into Chicago by enabling a dedicated, dark fiber ring connecting QTS new Chicago data center to 350 E. Cermak, providing secure, private diverse paths to the Chicago area. QTS customers can access Sunesys premier Dark Fiber, Ethernet, Wavelength and IP services for the K-12, Enterprise and Carrier verticals in the Chicago area, as well as QTS broad portfolio of cloud and hosting solutions for enterprise and government organizations. QTS operates an interconnected global platform delivering a hybrid suite of cloud computing and infrastructure services ranging from data center outsourcing, colocation, managed hosting and private cloud, managed storage, server virtualization, backup, replication, and managed security services. QTS has just completed Phase 1 of a highly secure 317,000 square foot mega data center in Chicagos downtown corridor, which opened July 1st. QTS offers a national platform of integrated IT solutions ranging from wholesale to complex hybrid cloud solutions for enterprise and government customers, said Sunesys Vice President, Alan Katz. With the exponentially increasing needs of these customers for high-bandwidth WAN solutions and private, secure connectivity, we are pleased to be one of the first network providers for one of Chicagos newest and largest data centers. Sunesys is a very important network provider as QTS enters the Chicago market with previously unseen levels of capacity and connectivity, particularly in the downtown area, said Dan Bennewitz, Chief Operations Officer, Sales and Marketing - QTS. Our new data center is prepared to deliver for both Sunesys and QTS customers as demand for connectivity and bandwidth continues to increase across the Chicagoland market. Companies interested in discussing the connectivity benefits of collocating in QTS are encouraged to schedule a meeting with Bill Winsininski, Director of Sales QTS Chicago. Contact him at Bill.Winsininski(at)Qtsdatacenters(dot)com. About QTS QTS Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: QTS) is a leading provider of secure, compliant custom data center solutions, colocation, hybrid cloud and fully managed services. QTS features the nations only fully integrated technology service platform providing flexible, scalable enterprise solutions for the federal government and financial, healthcare and high tech industries. QTS' Critical Facilities Management (CFM) provides increased efficiency and greater performance for third-party data center owners and operators. QTS owns, operates or manages more than 5 million square feet of data center space and supports more than 1,000 customers in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit http://www.qtsdatacenters.com, call toll-free 877.QTS.DATA or follow us on Twitter @DataCenters_QTS. About Sunesys, LLC Sunesys is a leading provider of premium bandwidth services and private fiber optic networks. We own, operate, and maintain our own high density fiber optic network in major metropolitan areas across more than 30 states in the U.S. Sunesys offers a comprehensive suite of tailored, high capacity, facilities-based network services coupled with superior industry expertise, service, and support. For more information or to be contacted about Sunesys services, please visit http://www.sunesys.com. A student from Centura College donates blood at the campus's most recent blood drive. Here at Centura College, we are dedicated to the health and well-being of our students, staff, faculty and surrounding community. - Ashley West, Campus Executive Director at Centura College Chesapeake On Tuesday, August 2, Centura College will be partnering with the American Red Cross for a blood drive and wellness fair at its Chesapeake campus from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. In addition to the blood drive, the event will also feature complimentary wellness checks from Centuras Medical Assisting students, live demonstrations of its health care programs, campus tours, and much more. Here at Centura College, we are dedicated to the health and well-being of our students, staff, faculty and surrounding community, said Campus Director Ashley West. We are all impacted by the shortage of blood, so opening our doors to the American Red Cross for a blood drive in a time when they need it the most is both our pleasure and our responsibility. Centura Colleges Chesapeake campus is located at 932 Ventures Way, Chesapeake. For more event information or to schedule an appointment to donate blood, call 757-549-2121, or visit the Facebook event page at https://www.facebook.com/events/1145943138801946/. About Centura College Centura College has been part of an organization dedicated to helping men and women develop careers since 1969. By training working adults in healthcare, technology, business, legal studies and trades, they connect communities with some of the fastest growing career fields in todays marketplace. Currently, Centura Colleges Chesapeake campus is enrolling students to train for careers in business, medical assisting, massage therapy, information technology, paralegal law and phlebotomy. The school offers professional facilities, knowledgeable instructors, day or evening classes, financial aid for those who qualify, job placement assistance and is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC). To learn more, visit http://www.CenturaCollege.edu or like them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/centura.edu. # # # Sage 100 currently allows for readily-accessible inventory quantities, but with the addition of Multi-Bin Management, users can now find out where items are located in the warehouse. DSD Business Systems, a leading value-added reseller of business management and accounting software, today announced the release of a new Sage 100 software enhancement, called Multi-Bin Management. The Multi-Bin Management solution provides advanced features for warehouse inventory management and is considered to be an easy-to-use, easy-to-install location management solution. DSD Business Systems, a top developer of innovative accounting software modules, collaborated on the creation of this software solution with ScanForce, a leading provider of warehouse and sales automation solutions. We are excited to finally release this fully-featured module, said Jon Reiter, Development Division President at DSD Business Systems. Sage 100 currently allows for readily-accessible inventory quantities, but with the addition of Multi-Bin Management, users can now find out where items are located in the warehouse. When you also add in the scanning capabilities of ScanForce, you have a fully-automated warehouse solution. The new warehouse management solution provides detailed information of where items are located in the warehouse, which is paramount to managing inventory effectively. Multi-Bin Management features include Smart Bin Location Number creation, Auto Allocation and ScanForce Allocation of Items to Bins, Dual View Inquiry and Reporting (by Item and by Bin), Quick Bin Transfer, Advanced Picking Sheets and Physical Counts, and Bin Replenishment. In addition to providing accounting and business management software consulting, DSD Business Systems creates specialized software enhancements for Sage 100, such as Multi-Currency, Cash Management and InstaDocs. Headquartered in San Diego, California, with office locations throughout North America, the company has created over 400 enhancements and extended solutions for Sage 100. DSD Business Systems has over 30 nationwide office locations to assist with the implementation of Multi-Bin Management. About DSD Business Systems: Founded in 1984, DSD Business Systems is a national award-winning Enterprise Software Solutions Provider. Serving the needs of small- to medium-sized companies, DSD Business Systems specializes in a service-oriented approach to integrating accounting and business management systems. By automating our customers business processes, we help growth-oriented companies turn disconnected data into reliable information. DSD Business Systems not only implements ERP systems, but as a Sage Gold Developer Partner of the Year, DSD has developed widely used product enhancements and custom programming expertise. DSD Business Systems has been a Sage Presidents Circle award winner for two decades and is perennially recognized by industry media firms as a top performer. For more information, visit http://www.DSDinc.com. "Fractional CO2 laser skin resurfacing is a safe and effective method to rejuvenate the face and hands. The results are much more dramatic than can be achieved with other technologies" Steven J. Covici, MD, FACS, a facial plastic surgeon specializing in cosmetic and reconstructive surgeries of the eyelids and face, is excited to offer a new anti-aging skin procedure called Fractional CO2 Laser Resurfacing to his practice. This procedure can reduce mild to severe wrinkles and significantly improve the skins tone, texture and appearance. CO2 lasers are the cutting-edge technology for aesthetic skin resurfacing of the face. Laser skin resurfacing is designed to remove superficial wrinkles around the eyes, lips, forehead and cheeks seen in aging skin while the deeper frown lines and grooves are softened. Fractional CO2 Laser resurfacing can also reduce or remove darker areas of skin pigmentation, yielding a more uniform and even skin color. This new laser technology produces a softer, smoother, more youthful appearance while minimizing the patients recovery time. This laser technology is also utilized to perform eyelid lifts and eyelid surgery. The added precision of the laser allows for a shorter recuperation time, minimizing bleeding, bruising and swelling with little to no discomfort. In addition to rejuvenating the face, the CO2 laser can be used for hand rejuvenation by gently removing fine lines, wrinkles and age spots. "Fractional CO2 laser skin resurfacing is a safe and effective method to rejuvenate the face and hands. The results are much more dramatic than can be achieved with other technologies," stated Dr. Covici. "We always try to offer our patients the safest and most effective treatment modalities, and we are very excited about the addition of our new, state-of-the-art CO2 laser." Patients interested in learning more about fractional CO2 laser skin resurfacing can visit Dr. Covici's website at http://www.drstevencovici.com. Patients can also call the facial plastic surgeon at (413) 737-7300, or visit the doctor's office at 3640 Main St, Suite 203 in Springfield, Mass. 01107. Facial Plastic Surgeon Dr. Covici has just marked two years as the Chief of the Division of Ophthalmology at Baystate Medical Center. Covici also holds a position as an assistant professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and the Department of Surgery at Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Covici is the author of numerous academic and scientific articles in his field. Recent statistics from the American Med Spa Association (AmSpa) are indicative of the continued growth of the medical spa industry in the United States. AmSpa, an organization created to provide comprehensive, relevant and timely legal and business resources for medical spas and medical aesthetic practices throughout the United States, has experienced significant increases in both membership and traffic during the first six months of 2016. The AmSpa organization has experienced a 20% growth in its memberships, as well as a 32% increase in its web traffic since December of 2015, says AmSpa founder and director, Alex Thiersch, JD. This surge of interest in AmSpa is indicative of the expansion and advancement of the aesthetics industry as a whole. New technology, younger patients and a desire to avoid surgery, among other motivations, have led to an explosion of new consumers in the medical spa industry. Thiersch also indicates that this boost in consumer interest has resulted in an industry on track to reach new levels in the coming months. Were seeing hundreds of millions of dollars from entrepreneurs, non-core physicians, and investors pouring into the industry. The number of medical spas and laser centers grows every day, with entrepreneurs from many disciplines wanting a piece of the pie, says Thiersch. The medical spa industry isnt like most other cash-and-carry businesses, however. Medical spas are considered medical entities and, as such, it is critical that they operate both legally and safely while still appealing to clients and bringing in profit. Because medical spas are a specialized business type, according to Thierch: These new market entrants need significant training. This is where AmSpa comes in. As the No. 1 leader in medical spa and medical aesthetics education and resources, one of AmSpas core missions is to keep business owners up to date with the information they need to succeed in a legal, compliant and profitable way through its nationwide boot camps and workshops. Not only do we strive to provide a solid business foundation for new and existing medical spas, our main goal is to ensure the industry is compliant and safe, explains Thiersch. Attendees of our boot camps will not only leave with the necessary tools to build and operate a profitable medical spa, theyll also know how to do it the right way. AmSpa will host two medical spa boot camps this fall featuring crucial information for those in the medical spa and medical aesthetics business. Known for offering the latest, cutting-edge education, AmSpa workshops are sought out over the country as top industry events to attend. Early-bird registration is now available for AmSpa's two-day boot camps in San Jose, California and Dallas, Texas. Secure your spot early and save even more when you become an AmSpa Member! AmSpa Medical Spa Boot Camps: A Step-By-Step Guide to Building a Profitable Medical Spa When: September 19-20, 2016 Where: Hyatt Place San Jose/Downtown 282 Almaden Blvd. San Jose, CA 95113 Early bird pricing ends August 19th! A Step-By-Step Guide to Building a Profitable Medical Spa When: November 7-8, 2016 Where: Dallas, Texas Hotel information TBA! THE AGENDA* The Plan Who is your client? How to draft a business plan for a medical spa or aesthetics facility The Build How to create a profitable floor and retail area Top 5 tips for a successful expansion The Team Commission structures and plans Investing in education for your team The Books What is the best corporate structure for your business? Common tax write-offs and deductions The Launch Marketing and cross-marketing Is advertising worth it? The Law - OSHA and HIPAA 7 common areas where OSHA will get you Common HIPAA liability exposures The Law Overview of region's rules and regulations affecting the medical spa, medical aesthetics and laser industries Commissions: The fee-splitting conundrum - is it legal? Is Groupon fee-splitting? The Infrastructure Working with vendors who will work with you When to buy vs. when to lease The Long-Term How to build on initial success Setting measures for success The Lessons 25 habits of highly successful medical aesthetic practices and medical spas AmSpa's two-day medical spa boot camps are limited to the first 30 who sign up! Register for San Jose, California and Dallas, Texas today! About the American Med Spa Association (AmSpa). The American Med Spa Association (AmSpa) was created for the express purpose of providing comprehensive, relevant and timely legal and business resources for the medical aesthetic industry throughout the United States. For more information and to become a member, log on to http://www.americanmedspa.org. About 60% of the 2.3 million U.S. inmates are incarcerated because of drug offenses. After being approved by both the United States Senate and House of Representatives, the Presidents recently signed the Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Act of 2016 (CARA) into law. This new law provides immeasurable benefits for individuals who are struggling with addiction. The bill was initially introduced as a method of combatting the recent and devastating uptick in Opiate-related deaths. As drugs, such as prescription painkillers, Heroin, and Fentanyl, continue to cause fatal overdoses, the professionals at Serenity Recovery Center of Marne, Michigan hope that the new law will curb this destructive trend and change the way addiction is viewed by society. Under this new law, minor drug offenders (such as individuals who are arrested for possession) can be given the option of treatment, as opposed to incarceration. With that in mind, addiction can begin to be seen as the public health issue that it is, as opposed to simply being viewed as a crime. As the Opiate epidemic continues to devastate communities, the justice system and prisons have become overwhelmed with minor drug offenders. Not only does this cost the government tens of thousands of dollars per offender, it also does nothing to help addicts achieve long- term sobriety. While incarcerated, addicts have minimal to no access to addiction treatment programs. What programs do exist are typically poorly run and shockingly underfunded. Serenity Recovery Center supports the aspects of this new law that give addicts the opportunity to gain sobriety in a professional, clinical setting. Not only will this new law provide minor drug offenders with enhanced treatment options, it will also increase resources and educational opportunities for addicts and their families. Additionally, it will enhance prescription drug monitoring programs and increase the availability of Naloxone throughout the United States. According to Serenity Recovery Center, this law will help change the perspective of the many Americans who view addicts as criminals, as opposed to individuals with a treatable illness. Treating addiction as a public health issue makes sense for all parties involved. On its most basic level, treating substance abuse as a public health issue and not a crime will help to greatly reduce government expenditures in this area When inmates do not receive the treatment they need while in prison (or in lieu of prison), they are more likely to reoffend, which results in the need for additional funding. When this progressive new law is supported by industry experts, such as Serenity Recovery Center, individuals can begin to see the benefits of its provisions. Not only will it save money, it will also help save lives of addicts who would otherwise languish in the prison system. In addition, the families and communities of these individuals will experience fewer collateral consequences of incarceration as a result. Each addict costs the government approximately $30,000 per year. About 60% of the 2.3 million U.S. inmates are incarcerated because of drug offenses. On a practical level, if individuals who commit minor, non-violent drug crimes are offered treatment in lieu of a prison sentence, prisons are bound to require significantly less funding. Additionally, if treatment options are provided, recidivism will be reduced, effectively stemming the cost of incarceration. On a more personal level, increased resources for addicts and their families will help improve communities throughout the country that have been negatively impacted by substance abuse. Though the perspective on drug and alcohol addiction is slow to change, the new CARA law is certainly a giant leap in the right direction for individuals who suffer from addiction. All parties involved will benefit when addiction is treated as a public health issue instead of a crime: the government will save funding, addicts have increased opportunities to achieve sobriety, and loved ones and communities will benefit from the presence of a healthy and productive member. The professionals at Serenity Recovery Center know the positive impact that this law will have throughout the country. With a more comprehensive understanding of addiction, fewer individuals will fall into its devastating trap and those who do will be afforded greater opportunities for recovery. For more information, please visit the Serenity Recovery website, or call them at 1-855- 218-3775. Tanaza and Infrawise, a Tanaza Authorized Partner in Brazil, are providing managed Wi-Fi networking solutions to restaurants, gyms, and clubs. A cloud-based management tool like Tanaza is a must-have for companies that are installing networks in multiple locations, because Tanaza allows MSPs to provision, troubleshoot, configure and monitor their infrastructure remotely. Infrawise (INFRA|WISE Solucoes em Tecnologia da Informacao), a Brazilian IT company that offers innovative solutions to SMBs, and Tanaza s.r.l., the leader in multi-vendor Wi-Fi cloud management, announce a partnership that will provide state-of-the-art social Wi-Fi networking services to small and medium businesses throughout Brazil. We are proud to partner with Tanaza, said Marcos Reis, CEO at InfraWise. At this time, the Brazilian economy and politics are in crisis and companies are prioritizing their investments, but for our customers, Tanaza is a high-ROI investment that provides very useful insights about their clientele. With its complete set of tools for social hotspots and wifi-based marketing, Tanaza is being very well accepted in restaurants, gyms, clubs, and shops." With more than 117 million Internet users, Brazil is the seventh country in the world for Internet usage and the sixth most populous. In less than three years, the countrys number of Wi-Fi hotspots has rapidly increased from 158.000 to more than 1 million. "Tanaza is rapidly expanding in Brazil and Latin American countries, thanks to its extremely valuable feature set" said Sebastiano Bertani, Tanaza CEO. "A cloud-based management tool like Tanaza is a must-have for companies that are installing networks in multiple locations, because Tanaza allows MSPs to provision, troubleshoot, configure and monitor their infrastructure remotely." Our life became easier thanks to Tanaza declares Marcos Reis, CEO at InfraWise. We have drastically reduced the need for on-site support and this has made us more efficient and made our job much easier. Tanaza has now more than 250 authorized partners in over 80 countries and is already being used by more than 19 million users worldwide. --- For more information about the Tanaza Partner Program, please visit: https://www.tanaza.com/tanaza-reseller-partner-program/ About Tanaza Tanaza is the unique owner of a cloud-based solution designed to manage Wi-Fi networks of multi-vendor access points. Tanaza Cloud platform is a cost-effective and time-saving solution for ISPs and MSPs. The key features of Tanaza software are: simplicity: zero-touch deployment, easy configuration and remote monitoring of the APs from a single web interface scalability: no limits in the number of simultaneous connected clients, splash pages, coupons freedom: supports a wide range of brands and models of APs With Tanaza comes also the hotspot management, which includes: Captive portal (redirects to the Tanaza splash page or to another one) Branded, fully customizable splash pages Social login (Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and many more) Dashboard for advanced analytics Multi-role Couponing System Thousands of Tanaza Powered access points are already giving internet access to small and medium businesses, schools, colleges, hotels, hospitals, public venues, offices, shopping malls, shops and many other users worldwide. The Tanaza partner program is open to ISPs and MSPs and helps them generate recurring revenue streams, save costs and reduce on-site maintenance. --- INFRA|WISE is an IT service company dedicated to offering innovative solutions that meet the demands of specific businesses. We develop and manage infrastructure projects, virtualization, databases and a cloud to help our clients maximize the value of their investments in technology, ensuring a competitive advantage and accelerating their business growth. For this reason, we have developed a extremely adherent solutions portofolio in partnership with some of the principal technology manufacturers. The Studstill Firm, LLP has completed their move into a new state-of-the-art facility located at 4352 Kings Way in Valdosta. The office space was designed to provide a comfortable, relaxing and private environment for prospective clients as well as individuals and families currently represented by the firms accident attorneys. Creating a pleasant experience for the firms clients and visitors was one of the primary goals set by the firms partnership team. Our attorneys are all family members and we wanted our law firm to have that same feeling of family to everyone who visits our office, said partner Haynes Studstill. We also feel that comfort and ease of access is even more important because our clients are frequently struggling with injuries sustained in serious accidents. Located in the heart of Valdosta near the intersection of Old US 41 and Valdosta Rd, the office also incorporates the very best in technology to prepare cases for trial and maximize the value of client claims. Partner Justin Studstill explained, We have earned a reputation for taking on big businesses and insurance companies, a task which requires the very best resources. Our new building is equipped with the latest technology so we can maximize our productivity and effectiveness on our clients claims. The new law office building boasts two large conference rooms suitable for depositions, mediations and trial preparation, as well as a full kitchen for catering and meals. The Studstill Firm, LLP will host a grand opening celebration and ribbon cutting on August 25th at 10:00 a.m. sponsored by the Valdosta-Lowndes Chamber of Commerce. About Studstill Firm, LLP: With offices in Valdosta, Macon, and Nashville, Georgia, the Studstill Firm, LLP is uniquely positioned to provide convenient legal services throughout the state. The firms three attorneys have earned a reputation for obtaining excellent results on behalf of clients who have been involved in serious car, truck, and motorcycle accidents, as well as those with wrongful death and workers compensation claims. The firm is AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has been providing high quality legal services in Georgia since 1980. All of our associates are eager to explore the new capabilities and production options. VisiMax Technologies, an Ohio-based optical coating company serving the commercial and industrial markets, has upgraded their coating facilities with the addition of a new chamber, a Buhler SYRUSpro 1350. This industry-leading system brings optical monitoring capabilities, which will expand VisiMaxs product offering to include higher precision optical coatings. The new chamber also provides high accuracy and high yield levels for precision optics, which will allow VisiMax to deliver on uninterrupted, 24/7 volume production of optical filters. The new equipment arrived from Germany on July 25 and has been installed in the companys 18,000 square foot facility which holds elite, computer-controlled, high-volume coating systems. Acquired by new leadership in 2010, VisiMax has promised a renewed focus on customer commitment and consistency in order to improve and perfect their processes. The investment in the new chamber supports the company's dedication to providing customers with economical, durable and effective optical coatings. The company looks forward to the new opportunities the Buhler SYRUSpro 1350 will bring, including partnerships with instrumentation, optical systems, display and lighting designers and manufacturers. We are thrilled to be adding the Buhler chamber to our lab. All of our associates are eager to explore the new capabilities and production options," VisiMax Owner Brian Murphy said. While testing needs to be completed and full operation isn't likely until the fall, the company is excited to work with the new chamber and look forward to seeing how it fits into their processes. About VisiMax Technologies Founded in 1999, VisiMax Technologies (http://visimaxtechnologies.com/) serves companies in commercial and industrial markets who specialize in instrumentation, lighting design and manufacturing, display, and optical systems. As a company driven by three principles single focus, expert execution, and best-in-class facilities VisiMax is dedicated to customer success as much as they are their own. From prototype to high volume manufacturing, the VisiMax team works closely with its customers to understand their performance requirements every step of the way. Their tailored process provides the difference customers are looking for and makes them an ideal coating partner. If you are new to iQ you can schedule a demo and learn more about this opportunity. PSFK iQ - Where Innovators Turn for Research. Our professional-grade research platform is designed specifically for Retail and CX leaders who want to know whats next. Whether youre staying current on trends or need a real-time research partner to help you get ahead, count on PSFK iQ to deliver the info you need to make your next move. Cookies What are cookies ? How do we use cookies? How to control cookies? 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You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed.Most browsers allow you to:If you chose to delete cookies, you should be aware that any preferences will be lost. Also, if you block cookies completely many websites (including ours) will not work properly and webcasts will not work at all. For these reasons, we do not recommend turning cookies off when using our webcasting services. Martin Levin, whose many industry roles included publishing executive, mergers and acquisitions guru, and author, died July 25. He was 97. Levin first entered the book industry after getting out of the Army in 1950, joining Grosset & Dunlap where he rose to senior v-p. He was recruited in 1966 by Times Mirror to create a publishing arm. During his 17 years there, he acquired companies ranging from law and medical publishers to the then-paperback house, New American Library. As he neared retirement, Levin enrolled in New York Law School and was admitted into the New York Bar in 1984 at age 65. With his acceptance to the bar, Levin joined the law firm Cowan Liebowitz & Latman, where he helped arrange more than 100 mergers and acquisitions in the book field. In 2011, at age 92, Levin wrote All I Know About Management I Learned from My Dog, which was published by Skyhorse. A follow-up was published a year later. During his time as an executive, Levin was chairman of the AAP and led publishing delegations to both Russia and China. In 1999, he was presented with a lifetime achievement award from the AAP. Levin also spent many years teaching about publishing at both New York Law School and the Stanford University Publishing Course; when Stanford ended its program, Levin played an instrumental role in ensuring that Yale took over the course. A family service is planned for Friday in Sarasota, Fla. A memorial service in New York will be held sometime in the fall. No one really wants to think about it, until they must. Yet the success of recent bestsellers such as Being Mortal and When Breath Becomes Air points to a cultural moment for facing our own mortality and the deaths of our loved onesperennial topics in religion and spirituality. This fall and 2017 bring more titles in a genre that might be called end-of-life books, about confronting a terminal illness, grieving the loss of a loved one, and glimpsing the hereafter through a near-death experience (NDE). Is There Life After Life? Books such as 90 Minutes in Heaven (2004), Heaven Is for Real (2010), and Proof of Heaven (2012)memoirs by those who believe they have died, seen what heaven is like, and returned to the land of the livinghave sold millions of copies and stayed on bestseller lists for weeks, months, even years. Interest in the topic may have cooled a bit, but some publishers hope there is still reader fascination with what might lie beyond. In March 2017, WaterBrook will release Life After Heaven: How My Time in Heaven Can Transform Your Life on Earth by Steven R. Musick and Paul J. Pastor. While serving in the U.S. Navy, Musick writes that he died of a reaction to a vaccine, met Jesus in heaven, and returned to life. Now a financial planner, Musick travels the country telling others what he saw. Though he did not have an NDE, Presbyterian minister Peter Deison writes in Visits from Heaven: One Mans Eye-Opening Encounter with Death, Grief, and Comfort from the Other Side (W, Nov.) that after losing his wife to suicide, he was consoled by dreams and visions that convinced him individual humans continue to exist beyond death. Training a wide-angle lens on such beliefs is Mark Mirabello, a professor of history at Shawnee State University in Ohio. In A Travelers Guide to the Afterlife: Traditions and Beliefs on Death, Dying, and What Lies Beyond (Inner Traditions, Oct.), he examines the teachings and traditions surrounding death and the afterlife in cultures around the world and throughout history. Mirabello also is the author of the Pulitzer-nominated novella The Cannibal Within. Jeffrey Long, author (with Paul Perry) of Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences (2011), expands on the topic in God and the Afterlife: The Groundbreaking New Evidence for God and Near-Death Experience (HarperOne, Aug.). In his work at the Near Death Experience Research Foundation, Long has collected more than 3,000 accounts of NDEs that have remarkable similarities. He believes those accounts make a case for life after death and offer evidence of the existence and nature of God. For Those Who Grieve The prospect of a happy next life can be comforting, but in A Buddhist Grief Observed (Wisdom, Aug.), Guy Newland finds a different solution when he calls upon his Buddhist beliefs after the death of his wife. Traditional Buddhist cultures around the world believe there is no eternal, permanent self or soul, that life is a stream or continuum that flows, Newland says. Buddhism teaches that the basic condition of life is anguish and pain, so we dont try to avoid or deny it by seeking consolation in religion. We come to the moment of death knowing we dont know what comes next, but feeling at one with all of humanity. Still, Newland notes the bereaved must grapple with loss in the here and now. The Way of Letting Go: One Womans Walk Towards Forgiveness by Wilma Derksen, foreword by Malcolm Gladwell (Zondervan, Feb. 2017), recounts Derksens struggle to forgive her daughters killera key step in her grieving process. She describes 15 misconceptions about grief she had to overcome and tries to help readers do the same. Derksen was featured in Gladwells David & Goliath. Neuropsychologist Michelle Bengtson seeks meaning through both faith and neuroscience in Hope Prevails: A Doctors Personal Journey Through Depression, coming from Revell in August. She examines grief and anxiety through the lens of both her discipline and her own experience of depression, prompting readers to consider the role of brain chemistry in their emotions, while showing how those emotions can be overcome by relying on God. There also are practical resources for those who have suffered the loss of a loved one. Rabbi Simeon Schreiber, author of From Mourning to Morning: A Comprehensive Guide to Mourning, Grieving, and Bereavement (Urim, Nov.), says that the ritual of the shivah call is important for the mourners because it gives them the opportunity to open up and express their innermost feelings about the deceased. He adds, Shivah helps with the grieving process because it provides a cathartic release of emotions that must be expressed rather than repressed. When Is Buddy Coming Home? Helping Children Understand the Death of a Pet by Gary Kurz (Citadel, May 2017) aims to help parents explain death to children. Other guides to navigating the grieving process include Daily Reflections in Times of Loss: Praying Every Day for Healing and Peace by Beryl and Steve Schewe (Twenty-Third, Nov.), Forever in My Heart: A Grief Journal by Tanya Carroll Richardson (Ulysses, Nov.), and 30 Days Toward Healing Your Grief: A Workbook for Healing by Danielle DeBois Morris and Kristen N. Alday (Church, Mar. 2017). When Illness Strikes Other books describe how authors faced their own deaths. In Struck: One Christians Reflections on Encountering Death (IVP, Mar. 2017), Russ Ramsey writes, When my doctor told me I was dying, I came alive. He had contracted a bacterial infection that destroyed a heart valve, resulting in heart failure and emergency open-heart surgery. As he faced the possibility he could be dying, Ramsey wrestled with fear, anger, depression, and loss, but found succor in his Christian faith and managed to survive, transformed by his suffering. In On My Way Home: A Hospice Nurses Journey with Terminal Cancer (Ave Maria, Apr. 2017), Joyce Hutchisonwho was Iowas first hospice nurse and an expert on care of the dyingwrites that she was stunned when diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer: I have worked in oncology, hospice, and palliative care for 35 years. It makes no sense for me to have cancerespecially terminal cancer. Sustained and inspired by her faith, Hutchinson decided to write the book (with Joyce Rupp) to assist those in... the most difficult stage of life; she died in 2016. Tyndale Houses entry in this genre is Peace in the Face of Cancer (Apr. 2017) by Lynn Eib, who through her own illness became an advocate for cancer patients. Eib tells her story, as well as those of other sufferers around the world, encouraging cancer patients and their loved ones to believe a good life is possible even after a life-threatening diagnosis, and to find peace through their faith. Taking Good Care There also are books for and by those who care for the dying. Childrens book author and artist Marissa Mosss Last Things: A Graphic Memoir of ALS (Conari, May) not only tells but shows how she dealt with her husbands devastating illness while caring for three young sons. Her husband, Harvey, died in 2002. A lauded author of childrens and YA books, Moss has sold more than five million copies of Amelias Notebook series. The dying can offer insights into the afterlife, Lisa Smartt writes in Words at the Threshold: Investigating What We Say When Were Nearing Death (New World Library, Mar. 2017). When her skeptic father was dying, he spoke of angels and of peering into a supernatural realm. That led Smartt to cofound the Final Words Project with pioneering NDE researcher Raymond Moody (Life After Life), collecting other accounts of the words of the dying to form this book. The words of loved ones and caregivers to those with a devastating illness matter enormouslyeven when we think they cant hear us, writes Gary Chapman, author of the perennial bestseller The 5 Love Languages. Chapman applies his insights about how to communicate love in different ways in Keeping Love Alive as Memories Fade: The 5 Love Languages and the Alzheimers Journey by Chapman and Ed Shaw, with Debbie Barr (Moody, Oct. 2017). Doulas help women prepare to give birth, and now there are death doulas to guide the dying and their families physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Henry Fersko-Weiss, a nurse and licensed clinical social worker, pioneered the concept and now heads the End-of-Life Doula Program. In Caring for the Dying: The Doula Approach to a Meaningful Death (Conari, Mar. 2017), Fersko-Weiss writes, A new approach to dying is emerging, one that encourages a dying person and their loved ones to face their fear, break through denial, and engage in an honest, open exploration of death and dying. Increased security was the word at this years San Diego Comic-Con International. Held July 20-25 at the San Diego Convention Center, the annual pop culture summit was marked by an increased police presence in light of recent world events, and a new RFID system for badges which resulted in far fewer counterfeit badges. The new badges, which required attendees to tap in and out of the show floor each day, cut down drastically on the number of fake badges meaning perhaps as many as 10,000-15,000 fewer people were on the show floor. This was one reason cited for what many thought was a calmer, less frantic showa comment expressed by many exhibitors--than in recent years. Many exhibitors reported lighter sales and crowds than in past years. While the expulsion of fake badge holders was one reason for the relative calm, another frequently cited culprit was the ever increasing proliferation of off-site events which required attendees to stand in line for hours to see things like a Mr. Robot VR adventure, a South Park art exhibit or a Suicide Squad jail habitat, located outside, but near, the convention center. The show floor sales downturn was far from universal however. IDW launched a larger booth that now incorporates Top Shelf. Sales were up sharply from last year, according to v-p, marketing Dirk Wood, and IDW was riding high on Rep. John Lewis Eisner winning March Book Two, and a new Bloom County collection, Episode XI: A New Hope from Berkeley Breathed. Oni Press also said sales were up from last year and used the show to launch a reformatted 6-inch x 9-inch print editions of Bad Machinery, UK cartoonist John Allisons mystery webcomic/print series, for younger readers. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund also reported their biggest sales ever. Kuo-Yu Liang,v-p Diamond Book Distributors, which distributes 50 comics houses to the book trade, said sales so far in 2016 are, ahead of last year when sales were "outstanding." He credited strong books, more retail outlet and libraries, and expansion into new international markets. DBDs parent company, Diamond Comics Distributors (which services a national network of comics shops) revealed midyear statistic at its retailer-only luncheon, and they reflect slowing in sales in comic shops for the year. Overall sales for the year (combined graphic novels and periodicals) were down 5.9% through June (following sales troubles for DC and Marvel Comics), with periodicals down 3.8% and graphic novels are up 6.6%. However, Diamond noted that 2016 sales still remain up 6.8% compared to 2014 and recent comics events DCs Rebirth and Marvels Civil War II sparked a boom in June, with the biggest initial orders since 1996. As PW previously reported, the comics category (graphic novels and periodicals) is on a growth curve with more than $1 billion in sales in 2015, led by a 23% sales growth for book format comics. DCs sales rebound has been led by graphic novels (which are credited with bringing in new readers). The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland, the classic 1988 graphic novel that marks the Jokers origin, sold "hundreds of thousands of copies," DC copublisher Jim Lee said. Marvels Civil War II series has sold more than 425,000 copies of issues #1. In another example of a robust comics marketplace, new comics imprints at Papercutz (Charmz), S&Ss Gallery Books (Gallery 13), IDW (Its Alive) were announced in the run up to Comic-Con. St. Louis-based comics publisher Lion Forge, launched in 2012 as digital publisher only, announced about six hires on the eve of this year's Comic-con, including Rich Johnson, a former DC v-p, who was named Lion Forge v-p of sales, marketing and business development. Lion Forge is ramping up to be a full service publisher. Were looking for original creator-owned material, media licenses and foreign licenses, Johnson said. Girl power continued to be a dominant theme in sales and in attracting new readers. DC used the show to promote the 75th Anniversary of Wonder Woman as well as a dizzying assortment of Wonder Woman publications, graphic novels and promotions. The publisher also held a massive signing for the hot Super Hero Girls line. Other companies have also had big girl focused hits: Boom! Studios v-p Filip Sablik reported that they have sold more than 500,000 copies of their popular Lumberjanes series in various formats. Manga sales also continue to rebound. Viz Media marketing v-p Kevin Hamric said Viz sales were up 20% in 2015 and sales in the first quarter of 2016 are 8% over the same period in 2015. He pointed to the Tokyo Ghoul and One Punch Man series, the top selling manga titles and to the Pokemon Go craze which is driving sales of Pokeman manga, published by Viz. The Pokemon manga are the first book titles, Hamric said, let along manga titles, to go on sale in Nordstrom. Digital distribution continues to grow in retail and libraries. Viz publishing director Leyla Aker said the library response to manga launched on OverDrive has been tremendous, librarians are thrilled. Of the 6,000 titles in our backlist, 3,000 are now available in digital. Acclaimed Canadian author Margaret Atwood was perhaps the brightest star at the fest, as she promoted her Angel Catbird series (Dark Horse)an animal lovers informational source disguised as an eccentric superhero adventurewhile wearing cat ears. As always, there was controversy as well: a screening and panel for the new Killing Joke animated film led to a confrontation between writer Brian Azzarello and a journalist who heckled him over the films depiction of a sexual encounter between Batgirl and Batman shown in the film. Many consider the scene a further demeaning of the Batgirl character in a story where the Joker cripples her in an effort to taunt Batman. While Hollywoods presence at Comic-Con has shrunk a bit in recent years, both Warner Bros. and Marvel presented star-studded panels on Saturday; in addition to the Wonder Woman trailer, footage from the first Justice League movie showcased a more light-hearted tone, much to the relief of many who found director Zack Snyders Batman v Superman too dark. And Marvel showcased the Black Panther film cast and confirmed that Brie Larson will play Captain America in a future film, and showed some footage from Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Additional Reporting by Deb Aoki and Brigid Alverson This memoir by a designer and cartoonist is topping the charts on Amazon in Italy, and has sold to publishers in five countries. Most recently a deal closed with Penguin Random House's Tarcher Perigee imprint in the U.S. The book's agent, Laura Ceccacci, says the author initially got traction for the book via Facebook. Book title: Notti in bianco, baci a colazione / Sleepless Nights, Kisses for Breakfast First published by: Einaudi on May 24 Format: Paperback Author: Matteo Bussola is lives in Verona, with his wife Paola, and their three daughters. He regularly share his family's adventures on social media, especially Facebook, and his posts have gained a following for highlighting the sublime in everyday realities. Acquiring editor: Rosella Postorino How Its Done: The book has sold in Germany (Penguin Verlag), France (Editions Kero/Hachette), Spain (Aguilar/Penguin Random House), and the U.S. (Tarcher Perigee/Penguin Random House). It reached #1 on Amazon in Italy and, according to Ceccacci, who has an eponymous agency, it has sold approximately 30,000 copies since it was published two months ago. Why They Think Its Working: Ceccacci said Bussola's Facebook posts helped him establish a fan base. His posts capture the overlooked beauty in everyday moments that people can relate tohe reminds readers how they can cultivate happiness, she said. The book also got people talking at the most London Book Fair. Ceccacci said she closed three deals at the fair, all at auction, with international publishers latching onto the book as "an invitation to hope and lightheartedness." French Debut Sells Abroad Pre-Pub Monsieur Origami by Jean-Marc Ceci has sold to SeixBarral/Planeta in Spain and Salani/Mauri-Spagnol in Italy, ahead of its September release in France. Gallimard is publishing the book in France, and controls all rights to the novel. The novel is about a Japanese origami artist who travels to Italy to find the Italian woman he fell in love with, but fell out touch with. The novel mark Ceci's first book; he is a legal theorist who currently lives in Belgium. Singaporean Writer's Novel Sells in the States Rainbirds by Clarissa N. Goenawan has sold to Soho Press in a world English rights deal. The Pontas Agency, which controls all rights to the book, said it combines elements of literary fiction and magical realism. Set in Japan in 1994, it follows a young man who moves to the small town where his sister was murdered. Once there, he takes a job as a teacher--at the same school she worked at--and befriends a troubled student. Italian Novel Draw French Interest Salvatore Striano's Sasas Tempest, which is a fictionalized account of the actor's life, has sold to Albin Michel in France, in a preempt. The book has also been acquired by Alma Littera in Lithuania. Striano was a gang member in his youth, and wound up in prison before the age of 30. In the book, he recounts how he had a hopeless future ahead of him, until he discovered books, in particular the work of Shakespeare. The author has had several acting credits, including at the Berlin festival. Rights to the book are controlled by Carmen Prestia at the Alferj e Prestia Literary Agency. French Author's Novel Moves to Germany A French novel about a military officer who returns from Afghanistan with PTSD has sold in Germany. LInsouciance by Karine Tuil has sold to Ullstein, in a deal brokered the book's French publisher, Gallimard. Set to be released in France next month, the novel follows the officer as he begins an affair with a journalist, only to learn that she is married to the son of a French minister. The authors previous book, The Age of Reinvention, was published by Simon & Schuster last year. Purdue facility is part of a national $250 million DOE supported manufacturing innovation initiative WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. More than 300 people and about 20 Indiana composite materials companies celebrated the opening of the $50 million Indiana Manufacturing Institute, based in the Purdue Research Park of West Lafayette. The institute will house the Center for Composites Manufacturing and Simulation where Purdue researchers and graduate students from the Purdue College of Engineering and Purdue Polytechnic Institute will conduct research and development on composite materials to increase energy efficiency for the vehicle production, wind, aerospace and other industries. Purdues Product Lifecycle Management Center and the Indiana Next Generation Manufacturing Competitiveness Center, or IN-MaC, also will be located in the institute. The three centers will occupy 30,000 square feet of the 62,000-square-foot institute. The institute's remaining 32,000 square feet will be used for public or private enterprises interested in collaborating on composite materials research with Purdue University. "Purdue is a recognized international leader in composite materials research and the opportunity and demand for research partnerships between Purdue and industry is great," said Suresh Garimella, Purdue's executive vice president for research and partnerships and the Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering. "The opening of the Indiana Manufacturing Institute will enable us to increase these research collaborations and advance our composite materials research for even greater impact." The Center for Composites Manufacturing and Simulation is part of a $250 million U.S. Department of Energy initiative to support President Barack Obama's National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. The DOE project, called the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, or IACMI-The Composites Institute, is a five-year public-private collaboration that includes a federal commitment of $70 million and over $180 million pledged by industry, state economic development agencies and universities. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is the lead institution in the collaboration that includes public and private agencies in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Colorado. R. Byron Pipes, the John Leighton Bray Distinguished Professor of Engineering, leads Purdue's Design, Modeling and Simulation Enabling Technology Area to be housed in the institute. It is through closer exchanges of knowledge that both industrial and academic enterprises benefit from the assets of the other in order to accelerate the development of their competitive positions." Pipes said. "The Indiana Manufacturing Institute will provide an innovative venue for academic and industrial stakeholders to join together for rapid transfer of technology to societal prosperity. As a national manufacturing institute, IACMI links the Indiana composites manufacturing efforts with our five state partners in Tennessee, Michigan, Colorado and Ohio to build the next generation manufacturing technology for the vehicle, wind and compressed gas application areas. Advanced manufacturing represents 25 percent of the Indiana economy, according to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. "The state of Indiana has a strong background in composite materials research, development and manufacturing with about 50 companies across the state contributing to this sector," said Victor Smith, Indiana Secretary of Commerce. "There is little doubt that our state's economic leadership in composite materials has a direct impact on the fact that Indiana continues to grow its national reputation in advanced manufacturing job growth." In conjunction with the dedication of the Indiana Manufacturing Institute, IACMI-The Composites Institute is holding its semi-annual members meeting in Indianapolis Tuesday through Thursday (July 26-28). "We alternate hosting our meetings within our partner states and intentionally chose the Indiana location for this meeting to coincide with the Indiana Manufacturing Institute dedication," said Craig Blue, CEO for the IACMI-The Composites Institute. It showcases our institutes growing base of capabilities and pays homage to our supporting state partners. Members from across the country have an opportunity to see the facility in person and connect with Purdues faculty and partner organizations. About10 faculty researchers and 20 graduate students will conduct research in the Center for Composites Manufacturing and Simulation. "The most important endeavors for the Purdue College of Engineering are to educate future engineers and develop technologies to improve our global society. The Indiana Manufacturing Institute helps us achieve both of those goals," said Leah Jamieson, John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering. "Our students will have even greater education, internship and career prospects through their involvement in the institute. The research conducted in the institute will create new opportunities for translating research to practice." Gary Bertoline, dean of the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, concurred. "Purdue offers a number of aeronautical engineering technology and aviation degrees from flight technology to professional flight," Bertoline said. "We are always looking for new ways to advance the educational experience of our students and expand the research opportunities for faculty. The Indiana Manufacturieng Institute is an important addition for Purdue students and faculty." In partnership with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, an expenditure of almost $35 million in research equipment and materials in the institute is expected over the next five years, funded through a cooperative agreement with the DOE. Purdue Research Foundation invested $11 million in the construction of the building, which is at the corner of Challenger Avenue and Yeager Road on property that was, in part, donated by the City of West Lafayette Redevelopment Commission. The foundation already owns the remainder of the land for the development. "The City of West Lafayette and Purdue University have a strong, collaborative partnership, and the development of enterprises such as the Indiana Manufacturing Institute is an excellent example of the benefits that arise from this important relationship," said West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis. "Coupled with the State Street Redevelopment Project and the Purdue Innovation District, the future is bright for the entire Greater Lafayette area." About Purdue University Founded in 1869 in West Lafayette, Indiana, Purdue University serves its state as well as the nation and the world. Purdue is a major research institution supported by top-ranking disciplines in pharmacy, business, engineering and agriculture. More than 39,000 students are enrolled here. All 50 states and 130 countries are represented in its student population. About Purdue Research Park The Purdue Research Park of West Lafayette is the largest university-affiliated business incubation complex in the country. The park is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2014 Incubator Network of the Year from the National Business Incubation Association for its work in entrepreneurship. For more information about funding and investment opportunities in startups based on a Purdue innovation, contact the Purdue Foundry at foundry@prf.org About IACMI-The Composites Institute The Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), managed by the Collaborative Composite Solutions Corporation (CCS), is a partnership of industry, universities, national laboratories, and federal, state and local governments working together to benefit the nations energy and economic security by sharing existing resources and co-investing to accelerate development and commercial deployment of advanced composites. CCS is a not-for-profit organization established by The University of Tennessee Research Foundation. The national institute is supported by a $70 million commitment from the U.S. Department of Energys Advanced Manufacturing Office and over $180 million committed from IACMIs partners. Find out more at IACMI.org. Media contacts: Cynthia Sequin, 765-413-6031, casequin@prf.org Abby Gras, 317-232-8845, agras@iedc.gov Robin Pate, Rpate@IACMI.org Sources: Suresh Garimella, 765-494-6209, sureshg@purdue.edu Byron Pipes, 765-494-5767, bpipes@purdue.edu Craig Blue, blueca@IACMI.org Leah Jamieson, 765-494-5346, lhj@purdue.edu Gary Bertoline, bertoline@purdue.edu John Dennis, mayor@wl.in.gov According to a recent study by the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, six in 10 patients prescribed painkillers say they have leftovers after their treatment. Its a growing concern for health officials and law enforcement at a time when opioid overdoses are skyrocketing. Those in the pharmaceutical industry say disposing of leftover medications is an important step in reducing opioid addiction. Overdoses now kill more Americans than car crashes and gunfire. In 2014, the latest year for which data was available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 47,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, with about 30,000 of those due to opioids. These drugs include things like OxyContin, Percocet, Codeine and Fentanyl (Duragesic), and can come in the form of tablets, capsules or liquid. While these prescriptions can benefit patients who need them for pain, they can be addictive and are frequently abused. In March 2016, the CDC urged doctors to avoid prescribing these medicines without due diligence, saying that for most people the risks of the drugs outweigh the benefits. Alene Kennedy-Hendricks, leader of the study and assistant scientist at Bloomberg, says despite the increasing awareness about opioid addiction, there has been little attention on disposal of such drugs. Hendricks says there is other research that indicates many people who use these drugs for non-medicinal purposes report getting them from family or friends. She says while a patient may receive up to 30 Oxycontin after a dental procedure, they often use less than that. The survey found that one in five patients said they shared their prescription pain relievers with friends while more than 60 percent said they were keeping their medications for future use. Fewer than 10 percent of respondents reported throwing out leftover medication in the trash using a safe method. Its concerning that people are sharing their leftovers and that theres an excess supply of (these drugs) in peoples homes and the community, Hendricks says. John Norton, director of public relations for the National Community Pharmacists Association, says when throwing away opioids, place them in a plastic bag with an unpalatable substance like cat litter or coffee grinds. Hendricks says patients also can bring their prescriptions to drug take-back programs at participating pharmacies or police stations. For the most part, its OK to flush medications down the toilet. While theres often news about the increasing amount of prescription medication being dissolved into drinking water, Raanan Bloom, Ph.D., an environmental assessment expert at the FDA, says drug residues mainly enter the water system after being naturally passed through peoples bodies. Hendricks says the data indicates the medical community and policy makers need to do a better job of encouraging patients to properly dispose of their leftovers. When prescribing these medications, she says physicians should discuss the appropriateness of sharing and how to safely store and dispose of them. We dont make it easy for people to get rid of these medications, says Hendricks. We need to do a better job so that we can reduce the risks not only to patients, but to their family members. DAVENPORT -- The River Music Experience will host The Appleseed Collective on Friday for a night of music, high-energy and theatrics outside at their courtyard. The band's sound is a mix of genres from the member's varied musical backgrounds in bluegrass, Irish fiddle, Motown, dixieland, funk, rock and Indian Classical music. "It's if Bill Monroe, Django Reinhardt and Tom Waits got together for lunch and decided to start an indie band," guitarist Andrew Brown described. In reality, the band is made up of four guys who "travel around in a van together and like to party," he said. It started with Brandon Worder-Smith, The Appleseed Collective's violin and mandolinist, performing with one of Mr. Brown's friends. According to Mr. Brown, he stepped in for a song or two and Mr. Worder-Smith immediately knew "this is the guy I want to start a band with." The pair was soon joined by Mr. Brown's friend, percussionist Vince Russo. Eric O'Daly rounds out the band, having replaced the previous bassist two years ago. Mr. Brown said the band doesn't fit a distinct genre, and people often have trouble placing them in one. Once the audience thinks they know what kind of band The Appleseed Collective is, they play something completely different. "We like to keep our mystery," he said. The band had its first tour on the East Coast in 2011, where they were only paid for one of four or five gigs and made a living performing on the street between shows. "That first tour was sort of a crash test," Mr. Brown said. He said the band ended up earning enough on the street to cover gas, hotels and food. They even had a bit extra when they got home. That amount of success performing on the street convinced them they had a chance and should continue to pursue music. "We knew what we were doing was really awesome," Mr. Brown said. The Appleseed Collective recently released "The Tour Tapes", a five song EP. Mr. Brown said the band wanted to release something, but wasn't ready for another full studio recording. The songs were recorded live at different venues during their 2015 tour, which was Mr. O'Daly's first as an official member of the band. "This is music best served alongside a roaring campfire, but that also has the ability to challenge the rafters of any grand arena," according to Joshua Pickard, a writer for Beats Per Minute. That flexible sound that defies genre will soon fill the RME Courtyard, and Mr. Brown promises it will be a unique experience. "Our goal is to really connect to people and have that space to create that emotional experience," he said. "There's something inherently theatrical about it." The free concert starts at 5 p.m., 129 Main St., Davenport For more information about the band and to purchase the new EP and previous CDs, visit appleseedcollective.com. COLONA Mayor Rick Lack announced Monday that the Colona police union has filed a grievance and is requesting to go to arbitration. A special closed session meeting was set for 6 p.m. Thursday to review the request. Water/sewer deposits will be raised from $100 to $150 following council action Monday. The committees initial recommendation was to raise deposits for Willowhaven trailer court residents. Ald. Lories Graham, 2nd Ward, explained the city has had a problem with billing there when residents move and the city isnt aware of it. Maybe $100 is not enough to cover the bill, she said. The city bills Willowhaven residents individually; the owners are billed at the other trailer courts. Ald. Dale Hillman, 1st Ward, suggested making the ordinance apply to any deposit for water and sewer that is required, not just tenants in Willowhaven, noting it could apply to people renting throughout Colona. Dont put anyones name down, he said. If it is in town and Im renting (it should apply). Aldermen voted 7-0 to switch health insurance from Blue Cross Blue Shield to the Intergovernmental Personnel Benefits Cooperative (IPBC) as of Jan. 1, 2017 when the organization is forming a new pool. An IPBC representative explained the plan would be essentially the same for employees, and the city would have a 1.9 percent increase over its current rates in January rather than a possible 7 percent hike, plus the prospect of a refund at the end of each year. Office manager Kathleen Palmer said the council is not locked in with their vote. Mr. Hillman also reported the Henry County Economic Development Partnership is asking all communities in the county to join, but the Colona committee notes the city is 45 days into a 90-day contract with Retail Strategies of Texas. At the end of 90 days, well get a report, he said. The council voted 7-0 against partnering with the county group at this time. The council also approved a business license and extended the existing TIF agreement for the new owners of Lavender Crest Winery. Mayor Lack congratulated Martin Belshause and Ron Belshause, brothers at Mondays meeting who are two of the five owners. Were looking forward to working with you guys, he said. I think youll do a fine job. Ashley Wood, 13, died of an apparent assault causing blunt-force injuries at her familys home in Rocklin, northeast of Sacramento, on July 19, police said. The state attorney generals office confirmed this week that it filed a single count of murder Thursday against her older brother. A spokeswoman said he denied the allegation in a closed hearing in Placer County Juvenile Court. Brenda Gonzalez, the spokeswoman, said that Harris office also filed legal motions to ask a judge to determine whether the older brother is unfit for the juvenile justice system and should be tried as an adult. A hearing is set for Sept. 9. The brother isnt being identified by The Sacramento Bee because he remains charged as a juvenile. If convicted as an adult, he could face 25 years in prison, although he would remain in a juvenile facility until he was 25. If tried and found guilty as a juvenile, he could only be held until he was 25. Robert Weisberg, a professor of criminal law at Stanford University, said courts generally will certify teens 14 and older for trial as adults when the prosecutor and judge think this is a real threat to public safety because the kid (charged) seems like a conscious predator. He cited examples such as gang members or other juvenile suspects with histories of violence. However, Weisberg said, a fatal event inside a family home may be viewed in a different light by a judge and result in the case being kept in juvenile court. In a case like this, I imagine the authorities are more likely to view the killing as a situational event, Weisberg said. Thats not to say that it was justified but that there may be some family dynamic where there was greater empathy for the kids situation. John Myers, a McGeorge School of Law professor specializing in juvenile justice, said a key question for the court to answer is whether the 14-year-old brother is amenable to treatment in the juvenile court system and whether the judge believes its therapeutic approach can help this child reform and not turn into an adult criminal. Even so, Myers said, the judge can certify him as an adult based on the seriousness of the crime, even if the youth is deemed capable of rehabilitation in the juvenile system. Last Thursday, the Placer County District Attorneys Office said it was unable to handle the case because the father of the children, Jeff Wood, is a supervising deputy district attorney with the office. The case was referred to the state attorney general. With the attorney general handling the criminal case, it will allow our office to focus on giving Mr. Wood and his family the same love and support that he has given to crime victims during his 18 years of service to our county, a district attorneys office news release said. The statement added: Words cannot express our appreciation for the kind and caring words offered in support of our friend and colleague as he and his family attempt to cope with this tragedy. Officers found Ashley Wood dead in her bedroom in the familys large home in a new subdivision Tuesday morning after receiving several calls reporting a disturbance. Police declined to describe the weapon or object that caused the girls fatal injuries. The girls mother found her body, officers said. A neighbor told the Bee she heard a woman screaming for help the morning of July 19 and called 911. The boy fled the home and was later found in a field about a mile away, police said. He was taken to the Placer County Probation Juvenile Detention Facility in Auburn. Marshall Hopper, the Placer County chief probation officer, said the older brother has since been moved to the juvenile detention facility in neighboring El Dorado County. Hopper said he will be housed there and shuttled to court proceedings in Placer. Press release submitted by Rebecca Buckrop (Milan, IL) The Rock Island County 4-H Teen Hunger Ambassadors invite the public to a free meal on Wednesday, July 27 from 11:30 a.m. 1 p.m. at University of Illinois Extension, 321 W 2nd Ave. Milan. Each month 4-H teens help address food insecurity in their local community by preparing a free meal. They also provide an annual food packaging event and donate the meals for distribution by RiverBend Food Bank. They received support for the program from the Junior Board of Rock Island and the Wal-Mart Foundation. On Wednesday the teens will prepare the meal in the morning, serve the free lunch and then package additional meals for local distribution. They will package backpacks with nutritious and easy-to-prepare foods that will help sustain those in need for times when they dont have enough to eat. The teens will then distribute the packages to local areas not currently served by backpack meal programs including sites in Galva, Hillsdale and several in the metro Quad-Cities. The Teen Hunger Ambassadors is one of several programs where teens are putting 4-H community service and leadership lessons into practice. Throughout the summer 40 teens ages 13 to 17 were involved in the 4-H Teens as Teachers program. They attended a local training in June to learn how to teach and prepare healthy recipes and snacks. They then volunteered to lead those lessons at 15 different sites throughout the summer. They worked with 4-H educators and staff from the University of Illinois Extension SNAP-Ed (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) to teach the lessons which included making the recipes through hands-on cooking lessons with youth at day camps held at local churches, schools, the Boys and Girls Club, the Martin Luther King Center and other community partners in Rock Island, Mercer and Henry counties. The program is now in its third year, Diane Baker, 4-H educator, said, Its so rewarding to see how much the teens grow in both their leadership skills and in their knowledge of nutrition through their involvement in 4-H Teens as Teachers. One of the best ways to learn is to teach. They take their responsibility as role models to the younger children seriously. Its a great example of how 4-H helps todays youth grow into tomorrows leaders. Any teens interested in getting involved in the 4-H Teen Teacher, Teen Hunger Ambassadors or other 4-H programs should contact Diane Baker at University of Illinois Extension: 321 W 2nd Ave. Milan; 309-756-9978, or email bakerd@illinois.edu. CALDCs Halloween Celebration A Real Treat! The Central Astoria LDCs 7th annual Batty Over Halloween Celebration held on Sunday, October 23rd was a real treat for everyone who came out. Despite... Meng Brings NASA Astronaut To Queens On October 17, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens) brought NASA astronaut Dr. Jonny Kim to Queens where he met and spoke with students at Francis... Celebrating Columbus The Federation of Italian-American Organizations of Queens (FIAO) held their annual Columbus Day parade in Astoria, on Saturday, October 8, during Italian Heritage Month. The... 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! The Valley line is expected to open in October. The $US 1bn project includes the construction of five new stations and uses part of the alignment of the 1050mm-gauge Hedjaz Railway, which was abandoned in 1951. One project involves the construction of 30km double-track line from Afula, on the Valley line, to Tiberias on the Sea of the Galilee. The line will include several tunnels and bridges, and a freight terminal near Tiberias. A journey time of 1 hour is envisaged from Tiberias to Tel Aviv. Katz is now pushing for the Valley line to be upgraded to double track to match the Tiberias line. The second new line will be an extension of the Acre - Carmiel line, which is due to open in July 2017, to Kiryat-Shmona in Upper Galilee near the Lebanese border. The scheme will include two 11km tunnels under the city of Tzefat and a 400m bridge. The line will have a station at Miron which is visited by thousands of pilgrims in May each year - this year a fleet of 7000 was needed to transport the pilgrims. Construction of the Shekels 7.4bn ($US 1.9bn) line, which will be electrified and have a maximum speed of 160km/h, is expected to take up to five years. Journey times from Kiryat-Shmona to Carmiel of 26 minutes and two hours to Tel Aviv are envisaged. The local Government of the Colombian capital Bogota has initiated the ETB privatisation process. The public IPTV and fibre telecom operator has started searching for an investment bank to control the process to look for potential buyers, even though some other private telcos operating in Colombia and Latin America have already stated their interest.The first step is to hire an investment bank and establish who would be the companys potential clients both national and internationally, stated Beatriz Arbelaez, secretary of treasure at Bogotas city council, according to local media sources. The sale of ETB is likely to take place during 2017.According to Arbelaez, the first meeting with investment banks has already taken place in New York. The first task of the selected bank will be to carry out a market analysis and assess the company, he said.However, legal issues and conflict with the unions are far from being solved. Since the beginning of the year the companys new direction has led to a cut in the budget and the laying off of workers, which has caused protests and several legal complaints against the dismissals. An offer received by Internet search giant Baidu in February to buy its stake in online video subsidiary iQiyi has been withdrawn, the Chinese company has announced. Baidu said that the potential buyers had not been able to reach an agreement on a purchase price of the independently run video-on-demand ( VOD ) company, despite negotiations.Baidu chairman and chief executive Robin Yanhong Li and iQiyi chief executive Yu Gong had proposed to acquire Baidus 80.5% stake in the digital video platform, based on an enterprise valuation of US$2.8 billion for the entire company. iQIYI now counts over 20 million people as subscribers to its streaming service in China, with paid subscribers doubling between December 2015 and June 2016. To provide a much needed increase in quality of service, UK telecoms regulator Ofcom is proposing that BTs Openreach division, which runs the nations broadband networks, should operate as a distinct company. Stopping short of calling for an entire split from its parent company, Ofcom believes that a more independent Openreach would offer greater choice of broadband networks, including fibre connections to homes and offices; better quality of service across the whole industry; and better broadband and mobile coverage for people and businesses.The proposal comes five months after the regulator first announced that it was putting Openreachs operations under the microscope . Openreachs current structure was introduced by Ofcom in 2005 and it currently develops and maintains the UKs main telecoms network used by telephone and broadband providers such as Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and BT Consumer. Yet even though Openreach has legal obligations to offer the same products to all customers on the same terms, BT still retains influence over its significant decisions. Ofcom noted that BT has an incentive to make these decisions in the interests of its own retail businesses, rather than BTs competitors, which can lead to competition problems.In Ofcoms proposed model Openreach would be a legally separate company within BT Group, with its own articles of association. Openreach and its directors would be required to make decisions in the interests of all Openreachs customers, and to promote the success of the company.Ofcom added that Openreachs chief executive should be appointed by, and accountable to, the Openreach board not the BT Group and that there should be no direct lines of reporting from Openreach executives to the BT Group, unless agreed by exception with Ofcom.In terms of performance, Ofcom further proposes that Openreach should own its physical network. This, it believes, would allow the Openreach board to make decisions that depend on investing in, and looking after, Openreachs assets.Yet in a barb at BT, Ofcom made it clear that if Openreach cannot achieve decisions for the good of the wider telecoms industry and its customers, it will reconsider whether BT and Openreach should be split into two entirely separate companies, under different ownership. MOSCOW, July 26 (RAPSI, Oleg Sivozhelezov) Hearings in the criminal case over the murder of prominent opposition politician Boris Nemtsov will be conducted by a jury, a lawyer for the accused Temerlan Eskerkhanov, Anna Byurchieva, told RAPSI on Tuesday. Earlier, lawyers defending five men staying charged with the murder of Nemtsov had lodged a petition asking for a trial by jury. Jury selection is set for August 24. At the end of June, Vladimir Markin, the Russias Investigative Committee official spokesperson, said that Investigation into the case of Zaur Dadayev, Anzor Gubashev, Shadid Gubashev, Temerlan Eskerkhanov, and Khamzat Bakhayev standing charged with a contract murder in the composition of an organized gang, and of illegal acquisition, transportation and possession of firearms, has been completed. According to investigators, in late September 2014, Ruslan Mukhudinov, a former officer in the Chechen Interior Ministry, and some unnamed persons offered the five accused to murder Nemtsov for 15 million rubles ($230,000). The Investigative Committee spokesperson said that the accused had thoroughly prepared to commit this crime: they studied Nemtsovs schedule, spied upon him, prepared suitable weapons, vehicles and communication equipment. On the day of the murder, 28 February, after following Nemtsov from his home, at about 11.31 p.m. Dadayev, having received a signal from Anzor Gubashev and Shavanov that the situation was suitable for the murder, shot Nemtsov at least six times as he walked across a bridge near the Kremlin. Nemtsov, 55, died at the scene succumbing to injuries. The criminal case of the five accused, according to Markin, has been waiting for the approval of indictment. The investigation into Mukhudinov, the alleged mastermind behind this high-profile murder, who has been on the international wanted list since 2015 and other unidentified persons, is still going on, the Committee spokesman noted. Court to examine Cypriot firm appeal against dismissal of $690,000 lawsuit MOSCOW, July 26 (RAPSI) The 9th Commercial Court of Appeals had set the examination of a claim lodged by Cyprus-based company UCF Partners Limited seeking to recover 461.4 million rubles (about $690,000) from OOO Edil-Import (Internet store Holodilnik.ru) as a compensation for infringement on exclusive rights for audiovisual works for August 22, the Tuesday court records read. The Cypriot company has appealed against the Moscow Commercial Court decision of April 13 to reject its claim. The Court of Appeals has found that in order to determine the relevant proof it was necessary to subpoena OOO Kontrapunto as a non-party in the dispute. According to the plaintiff, it is the owner of rights for audiovisual works in the form of 5-second-long advertising clips. As the plaintiff has noted, the defendant placed these clips for airing on various Russian TV channels in the period from July to November of 2013 in the framework of an advertisement campaign of Holodilnik.ru online retailer. The defendants counsel has maintained that the Cypriot firm had failed to prove that it was the exclusive owner of rights for disputed clips, and the fact that the defendant had placed the disputed advertisements on federal TV programs. The defendant also insisted that the plaintiff failed to present documented information on the number of times the clips had been aired, thus rendering it impossible to calculate the amount of compensation. Yet another argument put forward by the defense was the fact that the founder of the company participating in the creation of the disputed clips, which is a third party in the case, is the spouse of the UCF Partners Limited general representative in Russia; therefore, according to the defendants counsel, the claim was an abuse of rights on the part of the plaintiff. The defendant believes that by lodging the claim the plaintiff has attempted to recover compensation for the alleged infringement on the rights for disputed clips, for the placement of which a third party (founded by the spouse of the plaintiffs representative in Russia) was responsible in accordance with an agreement made with the defendant. Investigators have raided Russian Customs Service over illegal alcohol deliveries MOSCOW, July 26 (RAPSI, Diana Gutsul) Officers of the Russias Investigative Committee had carried out searchers in the Federal Customs Service (FCS) in the framework of a probe into illegal large-scale deliveries of alcohol beverages and neglect to pay mandatory customs duties, Vladimir Markin, the Committees spokesperson, told RAPSI on Tuesday. On Tuesday, the searches were carried out, among other places, in the offices of Andrey Belyaminov, the FCS Head, his deputies Davydov and Strukov, as well as in Belyaminovs apartment, according to Markin. Besides, investigators raided the office and apartment of Sergey Lobanov, CEO of Arsenal insurance company and founder of no less than 15 firms, whose activities are closely related to the FCS. The Investigative Committee has informed that in the framework of this criminal case charges were pressed against billionaire Dmitry Mikhalchenko, CEO of Forum Holding Company, and several other suspects. Mikhalchenko, CEO of Forum Holding Company, has been charged with alcoholic products trafficking and arrested yet on March 29. According to media sources, searches have been repeatedly conducted at the billionaire's office and country house. However, operational procedures have been held in connection with embezzlement at Russias Ministry of Culture. Forum Holding Company established in 2011 is one of the largest multibusiness companies in Saint-Petersburg. The company has united several dozens of the citys enterprises and organizations. Forum Holding consists of industrial enterprises, such as "Spinning Mill named after S.M. Kirov", oldest textile industry enterprise in Russia, "Izmeron" factory, one of technological leaders of Russian downhole equipment market, according to the companys website. 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. The government's pension insurance company, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), is broke. Because its creditors can't demand their money immediately, it won't have spent its last dollar for "a significant number of years" yet (maybe ten) -- but its liabilities of $164 billion are nearly twice its assets of $88 billion: there is no way it can honor all its obligations. The PBGC has two programs, one insures single employer pensions and the other multiemployer, union-sponsored pensions. Both are insolvent, but the multiemployer program is in far worse shape: it is well and truly broke. Its liabilities of $54 billion are 27 times its assets of $2 billion. There are on top of that "reasonably possible" losses of another $20 billion. The PBGC was supposed to be, according to its charter act, financially self-supporting: obviously it isn't. Also according to the act, its liabilities are not obligations of the United States government: but it couldn't continue to exist even for a minute except as part of the government. Will the taxpayers end up paying for its losses-or if not, who? A month ago (June 17, 2016), Labor SecretaryThomas Perez, who chairs the PBGC board, wrote disingenuously to the Congress, that the board wants to work with Congress "to ensure the continued solvency of the multiemployer program." A forthright statement would have been: "to address the disastrous insolvency of the multiemployer program." In the background of the PBGC's huge net worth deficit are a large number of deeply underfunded multiemployer pension funds. "Overall," Perez's letter admitted, "plan assets in the multiemployer pension system are now less than half of earned benefits." You could call that underfunding with a vengeance. An instructive example is the Central States plan (formally, the Teamsters union's Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund). The financial stress of this large and utterly insolvent multiemployer plan brings the inescapable problems into sharp focus. As an officially "critical and declining" multiemployer pension plan, Central States was able under the Kline-Miller Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014, to submit a plan, which ran to 8,000 pages, to reduce its pension obligations to a level more in line with its assets and income. The reduced pensions under this proposal, consistent with the 2014 act, would still have been higher than if the fund went into the PBGC. The U.S. Treasury Department rejected the proposed plan, pointing out various technical shortcomings and the hard fact that even with the pension reductions, the proposal did not fix Central States' long-term insolvency-which is indeed a requirement included in the 2014 act (put in, apparently, at the insistence of the Democratic legislators). This has the ironic result, as the Washington Post editorialized, that "if Central States collapses and the PBGC takes over, retirees would, by law, get even less than they would under the just-rejected proposal." And that is assuming that the PBGC itself can pay its obligations over time, which it can't. Some observers have suggested that the Treasury's motivation was political rather than technical. In other words, that the incumbent administration could not afford to approve any reduction, even if a better deal than the PBGC would provide, in the pension benefits of a union-sponsored pension plan, no matter how broke that plan is. Of course, the Treasury's action leaves Central States just as broke as it was before, the multiemployer pension system just as hopelessly underfunded as it was before, the PBGC's multiemployer program just as broke as it was before, and the overall PBGC the same. Let's consider the fundamental truths. The money needed to pay the pension obligations of Central States was simply not put into the pension fund, so it's not there to pay them. The money needed to pay the pension obligations of the multiemployer pension system as a whole was simply not put into the funds, so it's not there to pay them. The insurance premiums needed to make the PBGC able to honor its insurance obligations were not set at the necessary levels and were therefore not collected, so it is not there to pay them. The resulting deficits are huge and real. Someone is consequently going to suffer the losses which are unavoidable because they have already happened. Who is that someone? There are multiple candidates for taking or sharing in the losses: 1. The pension beneficiaries who have claims on insolvent pension plans. Their pensions could be reduced, as in the Detroit bankruptcy, or if they are still working, their own contributions to the pension plans significantly increased, or both. Also, they might start paying individual insurance premiums to the PBGC, just as government-insured mortgage borrowers pay individual premiums to the Federal Housing Administration. 2. The employers who unwisely committed to pension plans whose benefits have proved unpayable. They could make much bigger contributions to funding the plans, or pay vastly higher insurance premiums to the PBGC, or both. 3. The union sponsors of the multiemployer plans. They could be removed from any control of insolvent multiemployer plans, in effect putting such plans into PBGC receivership, as in a normal insolvency proceeding and as with failed single employer pension plans. There is no reason for multiemployer plans to be different. But as it is now, the PBGC merely pays the tab for failed multiemployer plans. 4. The creditors of employers. The deficit of a pension plan is an unsecured creditor's claim on the employer. That could be made a senior claim, just as deposits were made senior claims on banks after the financial crisis of the 1980s. This would force some of the burden on to other creditors of failed employers. 5. Taxpayers. It is inevitable that a taxpayer bailout will be proposed, despite the pious statutory assurance that PBGC's debts are not government obligations. Against this proposal, it will be fairly asked why people with no pensions themselves or who don't have defined benefit pensions should pay for those who do have them-a good question. On the other side, the hardship of existing pensioners of insolvent pension funds will be sincerely urged. 6. Some combination of the above. Needless to say, whoever ultimately has to take the unavoidable losses will not like it. Consider this striking historical parallel to the probable fate of the PBGC's multiemployer program: the decade-long descent into humiliating failure of the government's deposit insurer, the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC). This government insurer, along with the savings and loan industry whose obligations it guaranteed, sank into a sea of insolvency in the 1980s. When this finally had to be publicly confessed, FSLIC became notorious. It certainly seems that the PBGC is the new FSLIC. The damage from this failed coup will continue to put pressure on Turkish institutions, including the military. The recent events suggest that the Turkish armed forces are deeply divided, and these divisions will hamper readiness, morale, and effectiveness moving forward. Tom, who died on Saturday, was a loquacious man, with a slightly receding hairline and a subtle sense of humor. He had grown up in Scotland before moving to the United States for graduate work in animal science. He spent more than a quarter century teaching animal husbandry and genetics at Colorado State University, and became a naturalized American citizen, but he spoke with the lilting Scottish burr of his early years. He still had a kilt, and loved to find a reason to quote Robert Burns. In 1983, he took a leave from Colorado State to become the dean of agriculture at American University, which was known as the Harvard of the Middle East until the civil war broke out. Jean, an earthy Midwesterner who loved to laugh at her husband's humor, taught English. They still believed in the innate goodness of people; I didn't. As the United States struggles mightily to navigate its way through a broken, fragmenting, and largely dysfunctional Arab world, the non-Arab states in the Middle East pose significant challenges as well. Turkey, Iran, and Israel -- perhaps the three most functional and consequential states in the region -- have much in common, even though they remain at odds on key issues. All are relatively stable domestically, and although the recent coup attempt in Turkey rattled the reigning Justice and Development Party, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is rapidly reasserting control. All of these states are led by determined leaders who have long survived; all have tremendous economic potential; all are highly functional in ways that key Arab states are not; and all have the capacity to project their power overtly and covertly in ways that can both help and hinder U.S. policies in the region. Even before the failed coup, Turkey has been an important but problematic partner for the United States. Since his first election as prime minister in 2003, Erdogan has become increasingly authoritarian, and has sought to gobble up more power. He has arrested journalists, removed judges, and tried to manipulate the system in order to amend the Constitution and increase his power as president. Abroad, Erdogans efforts to burnish his credentials in the Arab and Muslim world through support for Hamas, Qatar, and the Palestinians have alienated Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. His refusal to effectively monitor the border with Syria, and his opposition to U.S. efforts to support the Syrian Kurds against the Islamic State, has also created the image of a leader more focused on defeating the Kurds and preserving his own Islamist credibility than on defeating the jihadis. It is clear that the failed coup attempt will only feed Erdogans political ambitions at home and increase his drive for power. The coup attempt has already produced worrisome signs of tensions with the United States. Anti-American rhetoric has increased in Turkey, with government ministers accusing the United States of fomenting the coup and lamenting Americas harboring of one of Erdogans key enemies, Pennsylvania-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he wants extradited to Turkey. In the weekend following the coup attempt, Turkey cut power to the U.S. air base at Incirlik and grounded American flights. Those have now been resumed. But its clear that Erdogan may use his role in supporting U.S. efforts against ISIS as leverage in trying to get Washington to move on Gulens extradition. That, Erdogans opposition to U.S. support for the Syrian Kurds, and his crackdown at home will ensure that Turkey remains a difficult and potentially troublesome partner for the United States. If Turkey has been problematic, Iran has launched a determined effort to oppose key U.S. policies in the region. Tehran is adhering to its strict obligations under the nuclear agreement reached with global powers in July 2015, and in some ways, Iran and U.S. interests coincide on thwarting ISIS. But in many other ways, including Irans repressive human rights policies; its support for insurgencies in Yemen and Bahrain; its support for the murderous policies of the Assad regime in Syria and its backing of Shiite militias in Iraq, Tehran is showing its determination to ensure that its influence remains paramount, and Americas constrained. The reality is that Iran is likely to remain one of Americas most obstinate adversaries in the region, leaving very limited space for serious cooperation, let alone for a rapprochement outside the bounds of the nuclear accord. As a close ally of the United States, Israel belongs in a different category. It is the only one of the three non-Arab states with which the United States shares values and interests, and the only one where there is broad public support for the countrys relationship with the United States. However, divisions have grown on some key issues -- particularly on how to deal with Irans nuclear program; Tehrans expanding influence in the region; and on the Palestinian issue. These gaps are unlikely to be closed during this administration, and probably during the next. Still, given the special character of the U.S.-Israel bond, theres clearly a better chance that those differences will be muted, and managed in a way that separates the U.S.-Israel relationship from Washingtons ties with governments in Turkey or Iran, where there is little coincidence with U.S. values and interests as well as little public support. For America, the Middle East is getting to be a very lonely place. Not only is the United States stuck in a region it cannot transform or leave. But it is dealing with imperfect partners whose interests on many issues do not coincide with its own. Nor is this challenge likely to abate anytime soon. Indeed, for the foreseeable future, Washington will likely face Arab and non-Arab partners increasingly determined to pursue their own interests at home and abroad in a turbulent region with little regard for those of America. And the politically inconvenient reality is that there may well be little Washington can do about it. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada. Search Real Estate Property details: Lehigh Acres, Florida Canal Front Lot near Gorgeous Florida Beaches! $99 down and $99 doc fee is all that is due now. Then you will assume a loan of $8900 with payments of only $125.79 per Month! 5% interest over 7 years. This property was sold for $23,000 in 2004!!! ABOUT LEHIGH ACRES Welcome to Lehigh Acres, a diverse community of approximately 80,000 residents. Just 12 miles east of Fort Myers, Lehigh Acres boasts ponds, lakes and canals. With 175 miles of canals and 16 well-stocked lakes... Price: $ 99 Seller State of Residence: California Property Address: 651 Hawthorne Ave S State/Province: Florida City: Lehigh Acres Type: Homesite, Lot Zoning: Residential Zip/Postal Code: 33974 Location: , Lehigh Acres, Florida You will be redirected to eBay Nearby 33974 HOME > The Bachelorette > The Bachelorette 12 'The Bachelorette' recap: JoJo Fletcher breaks Luke Pell and Chase McNary's hearts, narrows suitors to Robby Hayes and Jordan Rodgers By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 07/26/2016 star ADVERTISEMENT The broadcast picked up right where last week's episode had left off, with Luke getting ready for the Rose Ceremony in Los Angeles immediately after telling JoJo he was in love with her. Although JoJo had been waiting to hear those words from Luke, she decided to give her three roses to Chase, "This was not supposed to happen. I feel like a person who just got hit by a train," Luke said in his final words. "I would've been ready to propose to her today. I was in love with her but I never got the chance to love her, and that's, I think, what hurts the most. I barely got to say it and then it was too little too late." Later on, JoJo eliminated Chase mid-Fantasy Suite date. After he also finally confessed his love to the Bachelorette, she realized she didn't feel the same way and therefore sent him packing. "I get a Fantasy Suite card and then I get sent home," Chase said following his ouster. "That's like, 'Pull your pants down and kick me in the nuts.' So many highs turned out to be such a low, all because I said, 'I love you.' I shouldn't have said that. Why did I do that? I'm embarrassed and I'm heartbroken." Going back to the beginning of the episode, JoJo said she struggled to know where Luke stood throughout the process, so she felt the need to let him go. Luke looked stunned and so upset, saying he had dreamed of their future together. JoJo cared so much about him, and Luke was kicking himself for not saying or doing more. Luke thought JoJo could tell how he felt through his actions all along. When JoJo hugged Luke goodbye, she was bawling and said she was going to miss him. Luke admitted he missed her already. "I'm sorry," Luke told her as he stepped into the limo. "I did not know what this was going to feel like and he just thought I knew!" JoJo cried to the cameras afterward. "Like what if that was a mistake? That scares me. I miss him! I miss him already." JoJo, Chase, Robby and Jordan then took off to Thailand for the week of overnight Fantasy Suite dates. JoJo woke up that morning feeling better about her decision because she felt extremely confident in the three relationships she had left. She was getting to the point of being in love and hoped the overnight dates would bring her some clarity. Robby's date was up first. Although she hadn't expressed her love, Robby was convinced JoJo loved him because of their passion and the way they interacted with one another. For their date, they walked through a local market, and Robby continued to fall harder for her. Robby's end-goal was to propose, and he was ready for that. RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW 'The Bachelorette' Couples Now: See whom each Bachelorette and their final bachelor ultimately ended up married or engaged to! (PHOTO GALLERY) At dinner that night, Robby gave JoJo a letter addressed to him from his father. His dad told Robby not to worry about the situation regarding his ex-girlfriend because it's old news, also acknowledging how clear it was that Robby has found true love. Robby promised JoJo he wouldn't "comp out" and walk away from her, and JoJo could really envision a future with him. Robby accepted the Fantasy Suite invitation and was thrilled to sleep next to JoJo and dream with her. "I want to be that guy who's late to work because he doesn't want to get out of bed with her and the guy who rushes home early from work because he can't wait to get back to her," Robby told the cameras. Meanwhile, JoJo was also crazy about Robby. "I am so sure of how I feel. There's a way he looks at me that just lets me know what he's saying is true and I trust him and I believe him. I feel ready to want to be intimate with Robby and have that time with him. At this point, I know I love Robby and I know I'm ready to take that next step," JoJo explained in a confessional, adding that she felt wanted and loved and appreciated by him. JoJo was absolutely in love with Robby at this point and wanted to tell him, however, JoJo planned to say, "I love you," when she knew she wanted to be with that man -- without a shadow of a doubt -- for the rest of her life. The following day, JoJo and Jordan embarked on a tough hike. She was definitely falling in love with him as well. At the end of their tough climb, the couple found a cave, and at the bottom, there was a sacred temple. The pair talked in the temple, but kissing wasn't allowed, which was hard for them considering they had intense chemistry. ADVERTISEMENT Jordan then explained to JoJo that his only reservation in this whole process is the fact her father might not believe he's the guy who will protect and love his daughter. Jordan would want her father to believe that. It was easy for JoJo to envision a life with Jordan, but she still wondered if he was too good to be true. JoJo feared getting her heart broken again, but she hoped those doubts would go away. During their date, JoJo asked Jordan what the next year of his life looks like, clearly hoping he'd say something about an engagement and being with her. However, Jordan simply replied, "I don't know what it's going to look like actually," which made JoJo really nervous. She wants a stable life with a guy and acknowledged how much Jordan travels. Jordan assured the Bachelorette that while he doesn't have or need a homebase right now, he'd be wherever she needed him to be. JoJo knew two different lifestyles can ruin a relationship, so she just wanted to make sure Jordan would make her a priority. Jordan promised his future belonged to her, and JoJo just needed to trust it. JoJo then asked how Jordan knew she was the one, and he said he was a better person with her and had a feeling he never had before. He also said he's a much different person than the guy who thought he was in love for the first time. Jordan insisted when he pictures an engagement and a woman walking down the aisle towards him on his wedding day, that person is definitely JoJo. JoJo felt amazing after their discussion because she got every answer she wanted. Jordan later accepted the Fantasy Suite date invitation. "I am here because I am so in love with JoJo and she is exactly what I want in my wife. Our attraction to each other, how much fun we have together, I can be myself with her, I can see her walking down the aisle, and I can see a future. I want her to trust my intentions that this is going to be a team effort," Jordan told the cameras. "It's so exciting for me to know that at this point, Jordan and I both love each other. He may not know that because I just know I am not ready to tell him that I love him," JoJo explained. "It's so crazy to think back on that first night and knowing that I gave Jordan the First Impression Rose, and to be sitting here now at the overnight date, just being here and knowing that I love him. We have fun together but we also have that passion and that chemistry, and I feel so happy." When the couple woke up the next morning, Jordan said he couldn't stop smiling and believed everything was right. "We took a big step last night in a really exciting direction, and now I'm so confident in me and JoJo and what we have," Jordan said in a confessional. JoJo was concerned about being in love with two guys at once. She later called it "cruel, twisted irony" since she didn't think it was possible for Ben to truly love two women at once -- herself and With that said, Chase's date was up next. Chase missed JoJo and couldn't wait to spend the day with her. He said the real magic was when he felt JoJo falling in love with him back. ADVERTISEMENT Chase and JoJo then spent time together on a private beach. This journey had allowed Chase to be more vocal and open, so he was thankful for that. They had a perfect day and JoJo didn't want it to end. They were both very excited about the night portion to come, and Chase felt no hesitation about the fact JoJo would be the girl he gets down on one knee and proposes to. "I am absolutely in love with JoJo and I am so excited to tell JoJo how I feel. And there is really no better time than now," Chase told the cameras. However, Robby arrived at JoJo's hotel when there was a break in her date with Chase. Robby just gushed about how ready he was to marry JoJo and be her husband. He couldn't stop thinking about her and what their lives would look like together. He said he wanted kids with her, and JoJo loved how Robby always managed to surprise her. At JoJo's dinner with Chase that night, he told the Bachelorette that love is security and protection and he wanted to be the man to provide that for her. Chase then accepted the Fantasy Suite date invitation and intended to confess his love, which he assumed would excite her. "I want to say that I'm 100% in love with you," Chase told JoJo in the Fantasy Suite. "It's wild because I've never told anybody that first, and I know the burden that sentence -- that phrase -- carries. But I'm ready to carry that and I'm ready to carry that for you." JoJo thanked him for telling her that because she had been pushing him to open up all season long. Hearing those words, however, JoJo was filled with "an overwhelming fear of doubt." She realized she didn't feel the way she should when a man confesses his love. As Chase gushed about how he couldn't envision his world without her in it, JoJo told him she needed to leave the room. She went outside and cried because she knew what she had to do. JoJo felt sick to her stomach, and it broke her heart to think about saying goodbye to Chase. She really wanted to fall in love with him and didn't want to hurt him. "I care for him, but I know where my heart stands in those relationships that I have with Robby and I have with Jordan, and I think my relationship with Chase is maybe a little bit behind. Our relationship just isn't where it needs to be," she told the cameras. Once JoJo returned, she broke the bad news to Chase. Her heart wasn't in the same place, and JoJo explained that she never thought they'd get on the same page. "I don't know if spending this night together would change that feeling, and I almost feel like it would be unfair. And I don't even know if this is making sense right now," JoJo said. "Oh, I get the point," Chase snapped before taking a big gulp of wine. ADVERTISEMENT "You 100% have made me regret saying that," Chase vented to JoJo. "So now love equals, 'Get the f-ck out?' That was so f-cking terrifying for me to say and now look at where I end up. You never gave it a chance." Chase asked JoJo what was missing, and she said nothing other than the fact she wouldn't be able to say, "I love you," in a week. JoJo said she was trying to be fair and didn't want to blindside Chase or not be honest. "You kind of just did all that," Chase blurted out. JoJo told Chase that if she had met him outside of the show and her other relationships, they'd have a great one and she'd be so happy and lucky to be with him. JoJo noted if they spent the night together, his elimination would just be harder on the both of them. JoJo hated making Chase feel bad, and as they were sitting there talking, Chase looked like he was about to cry. Chase quickly gave JoJo a half-hearted hug and took off. She ran after him crying, but Chase was angry and obviously didn't want to talk anymore. JoJo, justifying her feelings for him, asked why she'd even give him a Fantasy Suite invitation if she was just planning the whole time to send him packing. "Well, you did," Chase said. Chase then cracked a beer, got in a van, and headed off to the airport. The next day, JoJo expressed how saying goodbye to Chase solidified her feelings for Jordan and Robby. She loved them both but needed to figure out whom that "forever love" was going to be with. At the Rose Ceremony, Chase surprised JoJo and asked to speak with her. While Jordan and Robby anticipated he was going to ask for a second chance, Chase just wanted to talk things out and apologizing for behaving so hastily. Chase didn't want things to end the way they did. He insisted he was proud of her and impressed by her. Chase reiterated how his love was real and even pointed out that if things don't work out with the man she chooses, his heart would still be open for her. Chase said he wasn't mad and wanted what's best for her -- although he was certain it was him. JoJo then handed out roses to Jordan and Robby. ADVERTISEMENT About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON GOOGLE NEWS star JoJo Fletcher eliminated Luke Pell and Chase McNary , determining her Final 2 suitors, during Monday night's broadcast on ABC.The broadcast picked up right where last week's episode had left off, with Luke getting ready for the Rose Ceremony in Los Angeles immediately after telling JoJo he was in love with her. Although JoJo had been waiting to hear those words from Luke, she decided to give her three roses to Chase, Robby Hayes and Jordan Rodgers "This was not supposed to happen. I feel like a person who just got hit by a train," Luke said in his final words. "I would've been ready to propose to her today. I was in love with her but I never got the chance to love her, and that's, I think, what hurts the most. I barely got to say it and then it was too little too late."Later on, JoJo eliminated Chase mid-Fantasy Suite date. After he also finally confessed his love to the Bachelorette, she realized she didn't feel the same way and therefore sent him packing."I get a Fantasy Suite card and then I get sent home," Chase said following his ouster. "That's like, 'Pull your pants down and kick me in the nuts.' So many highs turned out to be such a low, all because I said, 'I love you.' I shouldn't have said that. Why did I do that? I'm embarrassed and I'm heartbroken."Going back to the beginning of the episode, JoJo said she struggled to know where Luke stood throughout the process, so she felt the need to let him go. Luke looked stunned and so upset, saying he had dreamed of their future together.JoJo cared so much about him, and Luke was kicking himself for not saying or doing more. Luke thought JoJo could tell how he felt through his actions all along.When JoJo hugged Luke goodbye, she was bawling and said she was going to miss him. Luke admitted he missed her already."I'm sorry," Luke told her as he stepped into the limo."I did not know what this was going to feel like and he just thought I knew!" JoJo cried to the cameras afterward. "Like what if that was a mistake? That scares me. I miss him! I miss him already."JoJo, Chase, Robby and Jordan then took off to Thailand for the week of overnight Fantasy Suite dates.JoJo woke up that morning feeling better about her decision because she felt extremely confident in the three relationships she had left. She was getting to the point of being in love and hoped the overnight dates would bring her some clarity.Robby's date was up first. Although she hadn't expressed her love, Robby was convinced JoJo loved him because of their passion and the way they interacted with one another. For their date, they walked through a local market, and Robby continued to fall harder for her. Robby's end-goal was to propose, and he was ready for that.At dinner that night, Robby gave JoJo a letter addressed to him from his father. His dad told Robby not to worry about the situation regarding his ex-girlfriend because it's old news, also acknowledging how clear it was that Robby has found true love. Robby promised JoJo he wouldn't "comp out" and walk away from her, and JoJo could really envision a future with him.Robby accepted the Fantasy Suite invitation and was thrilled to sleep next to JoJo and dream with her."I want to be that guy who's late to work because he doesn't want to get out of bed with her and the guy who rushes home early from work because he can't wait to get back to her," Robby told the cameras.Meanwhile, JoJo was also crazy about Robby."I am so sure of how I feel. There's a way he looks at me that just lets me know what he's saying is true and I trust him and I believe him. I feel ready to want to be intimate with Robby and have that time with him. At this point, I know I love Robby and I know I'm ready to take that next step," JoJo explained in a confessional, adding that she felt wanted and loved and appreciated by him.JoJo was absolutely in love with Robby at this point and wanted to tell him, however, Ben Higgins ' love admission crushed her once he decided to pick another girl at the end of his The Bachelor season. JoJo didn't want any of her guys to be in that position down the road.JoJo planned to say, "I love you," when she knew she wanted to be with that man -- without a shadow of a doubt -- for the rest of her life.The following day, JoJo and Jordan embarked on a tough hike. She was definitely falling in love with him as well. At the end of their tough climb, the couple found a cave, and at the bottom, there was a sacred temple. The pair talked in the temple, but kissing wasn't allowed, which was hard for them considering they had intense chemistry.Jordan knew they were continuing to write their love story. She wanted to connect with him, however, on the same emotional level as they had on a physical level. She needed to discover if they could spend forever together.Jordan then explained to JoJo that his only reservation in this whole process is the fact her father might not believe he's the guy who will protect and love his daughter. Jordan would want her father to believe that. It was easy for JoJo to envision a life with Jordan, but she still wondered if he was too good to be true. JoJo feared getting her heart broken again, but she hoped those doubts would go away.During their date, JoJo asked Jordan what the next year of his life looks like, clearly hoping he'd say something about an engagement and being with her. However, Jordan simply replied, "I don't know what it's going to look like actually," which made JoJo really nervous. She wants a stable life with a guy and acknowledged how much Jordan travels.Jordan assured the Bachelorette that while he doesn't have or need a homebase right now, he'd be wherever she needed him to be. JoJo knew two different lifestyles can ruin a relationship, so she just wanted to make sure Jordan would make her a priority. Jordan promised his future belonged to her, and JoJo just needed to trust it.JoJo then asked how Jordan knew she was the one, and he said he was a better person with her and had a feeling he never had before. He also said he's a much different person than the guy who thought he was in love for the first time. Jordan insisted when he pictures an engagement and a woman walking down the aisle towards him on his wedding day, that person is definitely JoJo.JoJo felt amazing after their discussion because she got every answer she wanted. Jordan later accepted the Fantasy Suite date invitation."I am here because I am so in love with JoJo and she is exactly what I want in my wife. Our attraction to each other, how much fun we have together, I can be myself with her, I can see her walking down the aisle, and I can see a future. I want her to trust my intentions that this is going to be a team effort," Jordan told the cameras."It's so exciting for me to know that at this point, Jordan and I both love each other. He may not know that because I just know I am not ready to tell him that I love him," JoJo explained."It's so crazy to think back on that first night and knowing that I gave Jordan the First Impression Rose, and to be sitting here now at the overnight date, just being here and knowing that I love him. We have fun together but we also have that passion and that chemistry, and I feel so happy."When the couple woke up the next morning, Jordan said he couldn't stop smiling and believed everything was right."We took a big step last night in a really exciting direction, and now I'm so confident in me and JoJo and what we have," Jordan said in a confessional.JoJo was concerned about being in love with two guys at once. She later called it "cruel, twisted irony" since she didn't think it was possible for Ben to truly love two women at once -- herself and Lauren Bushnell -- at the time of The Bachelor. She was confused and worried to fall in love with three men.With that said, Chase's date was up next. Chase missed JoJo and couldn't wait to spend the day with her. He said the real magic was when he felt JoJo falling in love with him back.The couple walked around a marketplace together and had so much fun. Chase brought joy to JoJo's life, and she noticed he was more playful and silly than ever, which she loved. It was clear Chase's walls were down and he was fully invested in the process. The pair then took a little boat ride and Chase made her feel so special. Chase loved her personality and sex appeal, calling her "unstoppable."Chase and JoJo then spent time together on a private beach. This journey had allowed Chase to be more vocal and open, so he was thankful for that. They had a perfect day and JoJo didn't want it to end. They were both very excited about the night portion to come, and Chase felt no hesitation about the fact JoJo would be the girl he gets down on one knee and proposes to."I am absolutely in love with JoJo and I am so excited to tell JoJo how I feel. And there is really no better time than now," Chase told the cameras.However, Robby arrived at JoJo's hotel when there was a break in her date with Chase. Robby just gushed about how ready he was to marry JoJo and be her husband. He couldn't stop thinking about her and what their lives would look like together. He said he wanted kids with her, and JoJo loved how Robby always managed to surprise her.At JoJo's dinner with Chase that night, he told the Bachelorette that love is security and protection and he wanted to be the man to provide that for her. Chase then accepted the Fantasy Suite date invitation and intended to confess his love, which he assumed would excite her."I want to say that I'm 100% in love with you," Chase told JoJo in the Fantasy Suite. "It's wild because I've never told anybody that first, and I know the burden that sentence -- that phrase -- carries. But I'm ready to carry that and I'm ready to carry that for you."JoJo thanked him for telling her that because she had been pushing him to open up all season long. Hearing those words, however, JoJo was filled with "an overwhelming fear of doubt." She realized she didn't feel the way she should when a man confesses his love.As Chase gushed about how he couldn't envision his world without her in it, JoJo told him she needed to leave the room. She went outside and cried because she knew what she had to do. JoJo felt sick to her stomach, and it broke her heart to think about saying goodbye to Chase. She really wanted to fall in love with him and didn't want to hurt him."I care for him, but I know where my heart stands in those relationships that I have with Robby and I have with Jordan, and I think my relationship with Chase is maybe a little bit behind. Our relationship just isn't where it needs to be," she told the cameras.Once JoJo returned, she broke the bad news to Chase. Her heart wasn't in the same place, and JoJo explained that she never thought they'd get on the same page."I don't know if spending this night together would change that feeling, and I almost feel like it would be unfair. And I don't even know if this is making sense right now," JoJo said."Oh, I get the point," Chase snapped before taking a big gulp of wine.JoJo wanted to talk to him, but Chase was furious, saying he had jumped over a huge hurdle in telling her that he loved her. Chase said confessing his love left him "skewered" and "shattered.""You 100% have made me regret saying that," Chase vented to JoJo. "So now love equals, 'Get the f-ck out?' That was so f-cking terrifying for me to say and now look at where I end up. You never gave it a chance."Chase asked JoJo what was missing, and she said nothing other than the fact she wouldn't be able to say, "I love you," in a week. JoJo said she was trying to be fair and didn't want to blindside Chase or not be honest."You kind of just did all that," Chase blurted out.JoJo told Chase that if she had met him outside of the show and her other relationships, they'd have a great one and she'd be so happy and lucky to be with him. JoJo noted if they spent the night together, his elimination would just be harder on the both of them. JoJo hated making Chase feel bad, and as they were sitting there talking, Chase looked like he was about to cry.Chase quickly gave JoJo a half-hearted hug and took off. She ran after him crying, but Chase was angry and obviously didn't want to talk anymore. JoJo, justifying her feelings for him, asked why she'd even give him a Fantasy Suite invitation if she was just planning the whole time to send him packing."Well, you did," Chase said.Chase then cracked a beer, got in a van, and headed off to the airport.The next day, JoJo expressed how saying goodbye to Chase solidified her feelings for Jordan and Robby. She loved them both but needed to figure out whom that "forever love" was going to be with.At the Rose Ceremony, Chase surprised JoJo and asked to speak with her. While Jordan and Robby anticipated he was going to ask for a second chance, Chase just wanted to talk things out and apologizing for behaving so hastily.Chase didn't want things to end the way they did. He insisted he was proud of her and impressed by her. Chase reiterated how his love was real and even pointed out that if things don't work out with the man she chooses, his heart would still be open for her. Chase said he wasn't mad and wanted what's best for her -- although he was certain it was him.JoJo then handed out roses to Jordan and Robby.Both guys were extremely confident and secure, which bothered JoJo a little bit because she knew one of them would end up devastated. admitted she had the "toughest decision" she'd ever make next week. THE BACHELORETTE 12 THE BACHELORETTE SPOILERS MORE THE BACHELORETTE 12 NEWS << PRIOR STORY Sharon Osbourne on reconciliation with Ozzy Osbourne: I forgive him, but he's a dirty dog and will pay! NEXT STORY >> 'So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation' ousts Sheaden Gabriel Get more Reality TV World! Follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook or add our RSS feed. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Page generated Fri Oct 28, 2022 3:14 am in 1.0558269023895 seconds By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 07/26/2016 ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. star JoJo Fletcher said after a "whirlwind" week, her date with Chase McNary was the tipping point of emotional stress.Prior to McNary and Fletcher's date in Thailand, the Bachelorette met his family in Colorado and McNary confessed he was falling in love."Chase is someone I've had a strong connection with since the beginning. I know for him, opening up carries a lot more weight. But this man is one in a million, and I was so excited to see where this day was going to take us," Fletcher wrote in her People blog.The only problem was that Fletcher's feelings had already been solidified for Jordan Rodgers and Robby Hayes -- she truly loved them both. The cards were stacked against McNary at this point, but Fletcher acknowledged the possibility of being in love with three men at once.While she said the idea of loving three men simultaneously would be "crazy," she wasn't going to "rule it out.""The second I saw Chase my heart lit up! It had been about a week since I had spent time with him, and I really missed how playful and affectionate he is with me. This date with Chase was incredible, and I was so excited to see where it would go," Fletcher said.However, Fletcher and McNary's date was interrupted by Hayes, who stopped by the Bachelorette's hotel room to talk more."The moment Robby came to my door was such a surprise. It's not really shown in the show that often, but there is time between dates where we go our separate ways, shower, interview, eat and then meet back up for our second half of our date. I was just hanging out, getting ready for an interview when the knock came," Fletcher explained."I was shocked to see Robby since this was my day to be with Chase, but it was a nice surprise! And honestly, it's gestures like this that make me feel so loved and cherished by Robby. And it confirms my love that I have for him too."Despite the roadblock, Fletcher was excited and optimistic to spend the night portion of her date with McNary."But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that a lot was weighing on my mind. I was already in love with two men who loved me back. I kept thinking, Will Chase get there with me? Will I be able to get there with Chase?" Fletcher confessed."Giving Chase that Fantasy Suite card was me needing more time with Chase, more time to explore where our relationship could go."In the Fantasy Suite, McNary poured his heart out to Fletcher. McNary -- whose parents went through a brutal divorce when he was younger, which resulted in his guard being up in relationships -- told Fletcher he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her."When Chase told me he was in love with me, I felt an immediate wave of confusion. I was overloaded with emotions of happiness, regret, fear and sadness," Fletcher said, which is clearly a reaction McNary wasn't expecting."Don't get me wrong, it felt wonderful to hear Chase tell me those words. Words I know are hard for him to say. But it was a terrible feeling to still feel confused after hearing something I've been longing to hear for some time. I knew in that moment that something didn't feel right."Fletcher couldn't think of anything her romance with McNary was missing except for the fact it was a little behind her relationships with Rodgers and Hayes."I realized that all I needed was time. I still needed more time. But I decided that one night wouldn't be enough," the Bachelorette revealed.Fletcher therefore dumped McNary , and since he had just confessed his love, he was furious and baffled."Breaking up with Chase was excruciating. I didn't want to say goodbye. But I felt like it would have been unfair to spend the evening with him when I didn't think that things could change for me overnight," Fletcher admitted."Watching this back, seeing how much pain I caused Chase, it fills me so much sorrow. It still remains one of the hardest moments of my life."Heading into the Rose Ceremony that took place at the end of Monday night's episode, Fletcher was apparently still reeling from her split with McNary."I was still pretty emotional from sending Chase home... Knowing I was heading into it with two roses and two men gave me comfort in the fact that I wouldn't have to have a sad goodbye. So when Chase surprised me and showed up at the Rose Ceremony, I was shocked," Fletcher said.But McNary wasn't looking for a second chance. Instead, he just wanted to apologize for how he left things and assure Fletcher he still viewed her in a positive light."Watching it back, I feel bad for how confused Robby and Jordan must have been. After Chase spoke with me, I felt so much more at ease because I hated how terribly we left things, but it was still sad. This journey isn't easy, love is crazy and in this experience there are no rules," Fletcher wrote in the blog. The recent addition to the Creature Comforts Brewing Co. community brings a new meaning to its name: the brewery is now home to its very own c Margaret Pfohl has never voted in an election, but she has had the chance to report on one up close and personal. Gwen Hirsch, a local volunteer at the Athens Area Humane Society, handles a kitten in one of the rooms designated for young cats. Shot at the Athens Area Humane Society on July 25, 2016, in Athens, Georgia, which had recently seen a great influx of kittens over the summer season. (Photo/Henry Taylor: htaylor@randb.com) Hirsch: ghirsch@uga.edu Female faculty in the room, including Yager, said they would not have passed a student if they had turned an assignment using in the methodology from the equity study performed by the ERS Group. Since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December, gun control debates especially banning certain guns or high capacity magazines have arisen. In response to proposed bans, gun enthusiasts have begun buying ammunition in bulk, resulting in a shortage. SHARE This book cover image released by Knopf shows, "Heroes of the Frontier," by Dave Eggers. (Knopf via AP) By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) The latest stop on Dave Eggers' long-running fictional tour: Alaska. Eggers' "Heroes of the Frontier," which comes out July 26, tells of a single mother from Ohio who flees to Alaska with her young son and daughter in the wake of financial and personal disaster. Josie is a dentist forced to sell off her practice after being sued by a former patient. Meanwhile, the father of her children is increasingly unreliable and she is haunted by guilt for encouraging a young patient to join the Marines, only to have him be killed in the war in Afghanistan. "Heroes" is a story of both escape and entrapment. Josie may dream of being "reborn in a land of mountain and light," an adventure worthy of Jack Kerouac, but will instead confront a landscape of fear and menace and learn that she "didn't need to find humans of integrity and courage. She needed to make them." The 46-year-old Eggers is a resident of the Bay Area, the setting for his acclaimed memoir and debut book "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," but has traveled the world and placed the characters in his fiction everywhere from Saudi Arabia ("A Hologram to the King") to northern and eastern Africa ("What is the What") to Costa Rica (the story collection "How We Are Hungry"). In a recent email interview with The Associated Press, Eggers discussed the settings for his books, some common themes and how the American past connects to his current book, and to Donald Trump. Q: How did the basic narrative develop and why set it in Alaska? A: With 'Heroes of the Frontier,' I started taking notes about Josie back in 2011. I knew I wanted to write about a dentist who had two kids, the father of whom was more of a useless appendage than a man. Somewhere down the line, maybe two years into the note-taking process, I had the idea of putting her in Alaska. There's an unspoken assumption, I think, that Alaska is full of strong, self-reliant, plain-spoken people frontier people and Josie wants to be among people like that. She wants to be among steel-spined people who won't let her down. In general, I'm inclined to putting characters in new situations, new places. I like motion. In 'Heroes' in particular, I wanted Josie and her kids to be repeatedly challenged by their surroundings, and to get stronger as a result. Q: The book has classic American themes of flight and adventure but at times also seems like a dark and frightening take on life on the open road. Your thoughts? A: Because Josie is alone with two very young kids, she's often facing dangers real and imagined. There's also a hundred or so wildfires burning throughout the state, so there is some very real peril for a person meandering through the state without a plan and without a friend. Q: For novels, do you often travel to places with the conscious thought of writing about them or does that decision usually happen in retrospect? A: I spent some time in Alaska about three years ago, without any intention of writing about it. But I had this Josie character in my head at the time, and eventually it made sense that a character setting out on an epic journey would find herself in Homer. Q: Do you see your work as a kind of continuing series about life worldwide in the 20th/21st century? Do you see a thread running through? A: In some ways, I was hoping with 'Heroes of the Frontier' to examine the American psyche, and our connection if there still is one between our pioneer past. Josie and her kids don't seem to have anything in common with the heroes of the frontier of the past, but then again, maybe they do. Maybe there's something in the blood barbarian blood, I think that connects an American dentist with the explorers, thieves, cowboys, settlers, winners and losers in American history. Q: You recently wrote a piece (for The New Yorker) on Donald Trump and his appeal. A: My very subjective view is that Trump's popularity has less to do with his xenophobia and more to do with his presumed business acumen, his status as a reality-TV star, and his candor. But the fear we live with as Americans is very real unnatural and irrational fears are stoked in the television media every day, and lead to assumption that we all need to be armed and ready to stand our ground. We're so civilized and progressive in so many ways, but our gun culture is barbaric, paranoid, and puzzling to the rest of the world. Marco Osby SHARE By Joe Szydlowski of the Redding Record Searchlight A man who allegedly stabbed a Redding Taco Bell cashier in a credit card dispute and later posted his $25,000 bail was taken into custody at his court hearing after the judge hiked his bail to $1 million. Marco Vincent Osby, of Chico, sat in silence, alternatively staring ahead and shaking his head after a marshal handcuffed him at his arraignment Monday morning in the Shasta County Superior Court. Through an appointed public defender, he pleaded not guilty to assault with a deadly weapon, with four enhancements, for allegedly stabbing an employee at the downtown Taco Bell. But the attack would be considered a third strike, which could mean life in prison. So prosecutors sought a $1 million bail, said Brandon Storment, deputy district attorney, whose request Judge Lee Felice granted. Osby has said he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and needed medication at the time. Felice appointed him a public defender, who argued Osby had appeared in court of his own free will and thus the court didn't need to hike his bail and incarcerate him. Storment, however, brought up the victims, a previous attack and Osby's being from out of town. "He jumped over the counter, stabbed (Jessie Ramos) and when (Ramos) tried to run, he stabbed him in the back," Storment said. "The victim is still suffering." Police have said Osby was eating there when he accused staff of keeping his credit card. Officers said he attacked employees Ramos, 21, and Justin Allan Smith, stabbing Ramos. Two days before that, he'd been released from jail after an arrest on suspicion of punching a man who'd refused to give him change, Storment said. His two previous strikes involved robbery and discharging a firearm with gross negligence, both out of Butte County. Osby faces a charge of assault, which he also pleaded not guilty to, and one of battery in connection to the panhandling attack, electronic court records show. Felice set Osby's next hearing for Aug. 3, with a preliminary hearing for Aug. 4. SHARE By Joe Szydlowski of the Redding Record Searchlight A Redding man accused of sparking a panic by wearing a tactical vest and empty holster at a movie theater saw the case against him dismissed Monday morning in Shasta County Superior Court. John Brentley Casiday, 31, had faced a charge of carrying a concealed dagger but Judge William Gallagher granted a motion by prosecutors to dismiss the case, according to electronic court records. "It didn't appear to me that a violation occurred and the (prosecutor) agreed," said John Kucera, Casiday's defense attorney. Casiday, a U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran who suffers from post-traumatic-stress disorder, wore the vest and holster to a showing of "The Conjuring 2" at Cinemark Movies 14 June 17. Family said he wore the vest, which isn't bulletproof, because it calms him. But his appearance scared several patrons, some of whom feared an attack was taking place and called authorities. "He's sitting watching a movie and the lights come on and three barrels are pointed at his head," Kucera said. "He thought they were terrorists and going to kill him." Police did not find any guns on him, bud did find two small knives. They arrested him on suspicion of carrying a concealed dirk or dagger and took him to the Shasta County Jail, where he was held five days until retired judge James Ruggiero ordered his release. Monday's ruling comes about a month after that release. Gallagher also ordered that Casiday have all his property returned. He was "super happy, really happy and relieved" after the ruling, Kucera said. Nathan Solis/Record Searchlight Red Bluff City Manager Rick Crabtree, left, and Tehama County District Attorney Gregg Cohen hold a press conference on the arrest of city council member Suren Patel. SHARE Suren J. Patel By Nathan Solis of the Redding Record Searchlight Red Bluff City Councilman Suren Patel had been the subject of an investigation that started last year and ended with his arrest in Florida this weekend when he tried to flee the country, Tehama County District Attorney Gregg Cohen said in a news conference on Monday. Patel, 43, owner of the America's Best Value Inn in Red Bluff, faces several charges, including workers' compensation fraud, perjury and conspiracy to commit welfare fraud, Cohen said. Patel also faces charges for not paying taxes to the city and fraud. Cohen said Patel did not pay taxes he owed to the city as owner of the American Best Valley Inn. Patel is in jail Brevard County, Florida, on $250,000 bail. He could face extradition to California, said Cohen. Patel is also being investigated for embezzlement in connection to a complaint filed by a guest at the hotel who said her credit card was charged $6,000 after she stayed there, Cohen said. If convicted on the charges of misappropriating public funds, Patel would never be able to hold office again. Each of the charges carries possible sentences of two to four years in prison. Authorities opened the investigation against Patel in March 2015 and in May of that year the District Attorney's Office took computers, cell phones and business records from the hotel. During the investigation, the DA's Office learned Patel had not paid workers' compensation insurance and was committing welfare fraud by getting two employees benefits. Patel was appointed to the City Council in December 2014 by a 3-1 vote to fill the vacancy left by Ray Eliggi, who resigned due to health reasons. Patel's term on the council will expire this December and will be open on the November ballot. Cohen said the investigation into Patel's activities began with a look into his payment of workers' compensation, but soon grew to include the other charges, including theft from the city of Red Bluff. Red Bluff City Manager Rick Crabtree said Patel told officials he was no longer the owner of the hotel, but that was not confirmed by the DA's Office. Patel did tell city officials he was still living in Red Bluff and gave a local address, but officials were not able to verify that. "It's a sad circumstance to be in," Crabtree said. "Allegations that a council member has been literally stealing money from the city. It is obviously not a circumstance we're happy about. It's disappointing." Cohen said he would seek restitution from Patel, including the money taken from the customer. Crabtree said as a result of this case the city has changed how it will collect taxes from hotel owners and conduct more audits. The DA's Office filed its charges against Patel in June, but when they went to find him he was not in Red Bluff and was arrested on Saturday in Florida. "This has been a long-standing investigation," Cohen said. "It is good to be moving on. I'm anxious to get this started and get it finished." A picture of Kaylee Sawyer is displayed on a screen as Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel speaks during a press conference Tuesday at the Deschutes County Courthouse in Bend, Ore. Edwin Lara has been implicated in the death of 23-year-old Sawyer. Meanwhile, the city of Yreka was rocked by a shooting, kidnapping and carjacking Tuesday, all allegedly committed by Lara, who led police on a high-speed chase before he was captured in Tehama County. (Joe Kline/The Bulletin via AP) SHARE Edwin Lara By Sean Longoria of the Redding Record Searchlight A central Oregon man wanted in connection with the killing of a woman also kidnapped a woman in his home state, shot a man and stole a car with three people still inside early Tuesday in Yreka before California Highway Patrol officers arrested him in southern Tehama County, police said. The shooting, carjacking and chase coincided with authorities announcing they'd found a body matching that of Kaylee Sawyer, the central Oregon woman that Edwin Enoc Lara, 31, of Redmond, Oregon, is accused of killing. Officers booked Lara at the Tehama County Jail on Tuesday after a short chase ended in his arrest just before 7 a.m. on southbound Interstate 5 near Sour Grass Road, about six miles south of Corning. A CHP officer spotted Lara speeding on southbound I-5 near Red Bluff and tried to stop his vehicle. Lara, however, sped off, police said. The CHP, along with Corning police farther south, gave chase, reaching speeds of more than 100 mph for a stretch of about 10 miles, the agency said. Lara pulled over and officers arrested him on suspicion of attempted murder, kidnapping, burglary and other charges, police said. Officers also took his passenger into custody, named Aundrea Elizabeth Maes, 19, of Salem, Oregon, though they later released her after learning Lara allegedly kidnapped her, according to Portland news station KOIN. Two hours earlier, about 5 a.m., Lara shot a man in the abdomen at the Super 8 Motel in Yreka, Police Chief Brian Bowles said. The man was in critical and unstable condition Tuesday morning at Rogue Valley Medical Center in Medford, Oregon, police said. Just a few minutes after the shooting, police said Lara stole a Honda Accord from a nearby gas station with a mans family inside. The man phoned from the gas station, saying his car had been taken with his wife and two sons still inside. "The man had come out of the gas station to see his dog running around and his car gone," Bowles told The Associated Press. Bowles said Lara forced one of the man's sons to drive at gunpoint. The mother and sons were dropped off about 5:40 a.m. at a rest stop on northbound I-5 near Weed, police said. They called 911 and police brought them back to Yreka, Bowles said. Dispatchers Tuesday morning notified officers to be on the lookout for Lara, who was wanted by Redmond, Oregon, police in connection with the murder of 23-year-old Sawyer, the Yreka shooting and the carjacking. Around 6:30 a.m. they reported pinging his cellphone on I-5 near Gibson Road about 35 miles north of Redding. Police in Redmond, Oregon, which is about 120 miles southeast of Portland near Bend, had said Lara was a person of interest in the disappearance and death of Sawyer, who was last seen Sunday, the department said. Sawyers family reported her missing Sunday evening after she vanished just after midnight the same day near Central Oregon Community College in Bend, according to Portland news station KOIN. Lara works at the college part-time as a campus safety officer, police said. Investigators late Monday said the case is now a homicide investigation, according to news reports. Police earlier Tuesday announced they'd found the body of a woman matching Sawyer's description after Lara hit her with his car and dumped her body, KOIN reported. Lara's wife, Bend Police officer Isabel Ponce-Lara, reported him Monday as possibly connected to Sawyer's disappearance, according to the Bend Bulletin. Ponce-Lara is a recent hire to the Bend Police Department and isn't suspected of involvement with the Sawyer case, the Bulletin reported. Bend police headed to Yreka on Tuesday for a follow-up investigation, Bowles said. America Segura SHARE By Bartholomew Sullivan USA TODAY PHILADELPHIA Bernie Sanders made a surprise appearance before the California delegation to the Democratic National Convention Tuesday, telling the breakfast crowd that Donald Trump is a demagogue who does not believe in the Constitution. As goes California, so goes America, he told the shouting, hooting crowd that at times drowned out his message with chants of Bernie, Bernie! Sanders remarks were largely an eight-minute reprise of his Monday night keynote speech to the convention, hitting on income inequality, Wall Street greed and defeating the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. He told delegates to hold their elected representatives to the policies set in this years Democratic Party platform. Republicans dont win elections. Democrats lose elections, he said of efforts to get out the vote. Democrats lose elections when people dont come out to vote. The Vermont senator said Trump's positions on traditional Republican Party policies are nothing new. What is new is that this man is a demagogue who does not believe in the Constitution of the United States. He said it was the delegations duty to defeat him. Tuesdays lineup of speakers at the delegation's breakfast was strong before the unscheduled Sanders' appearance. Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, one of two Muslims in Congress, started it off with praise for Californias same-day voter registration and urged delegates to encourage the state legislature to make Election Day a holiday. He listed off-platform positions such as ending the death penalty and private prisons, then added: Demonstration without legislation leads to frustration. Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken addressed the 551 delegates and their guests in the cavernous fifth-floor ballroom of the Downtown Marriott. Klobuchar praised fiirst lady Michelle Obamas speech and her takedown of Donald Trump without mentioning his name. My goal is to keep my speech 70 minutes shorter than Donald Trumps last week, she joked. Franken called Trump a pathological liar and dangerous, then devoted much of his speech to retelling a story about former Somali-Minnesotan and hijab-wearing Senate page Muna Abdulahi, whose graduation in Willmar, Minn., he attended in June. Her class composition 15 percent Somali, 25 percent Latino - showed the states diversity, he said, adding, This is America. America is great. Civil rights hero and Georgia Rep. John Lewis told the crowd the Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act, calling the right to vote the most powerful, non-violent tool we have. He concluded his remarks in a grave tone. We must defeat Trump, he said. If we fail to do it, history will not be kind to us. California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who is seeking to succeed retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer, told the crowd that if their predecessors hadnt marched and shouted, they might not be in Philadelphia this week. Afterward, America Segura, 40, of Covina, a registered nurse and Sanders' supporter, said she was disappointed his presidential bid ended but that the cause continues. Its not about the presidency, she explained. Its about getting our points across. As a registered nurse, my biggest concern is Medicare for all. Its about us continuing to fight for the issues. Clinton delegate Robby Boparai, 23, a recent graduate of U.C.-San Diego contemplating medical school, said Sanders visit was important. California had a lot going on last night, he said. Sanders was here to get us united. I really appreciated that. Jenny Espino/Record Searchlight Shasta College welding instructor Jay Davis, left, looks at the Henderson Phoenix with student Karin Freiberg. The steel bird sculpture is being made from recovered parts of the Free Bridge. When finished, the sculpture, a tribute to the areas history and the work of volunteers to reclaim the open space, will be displayed at Henderson. SHARE Jenny Espino/Record Searchlight Shasta College welding instructor Jay Davis, left, looks the Henderson Phoenix with student Karin Freiberg. The steel bird sculpture is being made from recovered parts of the Free Bridge. When finished, the sculpture, a tribute to the area's history and the work of volunteers to reclaim the open space, will be displayed at Henderson. By Jenny Espino of the Redding Record Searchlight Nearly a year after the conversation started with Redding officials, Dignity Health is preparing to buy land north of Henderson Open Space for its $50 million wellness campus. City Manager Kurt Starman on Monday said the parent company of Mercy Medical Center and his staff are finalizing a purchase and sale agreement. The tentative deal for more than 3 acres off Cypress and Hartnell avenues could be presented to the City Council on Aug. 3. "The final product is very consistent with what the City Council directed," said Starman, describing the talks over the past several months as professional and collegial. Under negotiation is part of a parcel owned by the city and three parcels owned by its Successor Agency, which is disposing the defunct Redevelopment Agency's properties. All four total 3.54 acres and have been valued at $552,000, according to the city's appraisal. They would be part of the 12.5 acres Dignity is eyeing for its proposed 120,000- to 140,000-square foot campus and a 200-car parking lot. Dignity also appraised the land and has agreed to pay the higher of the two appraisals. The final purchase price is contingent on how much land Dignity acquires. Dignity could buy about 1.8 acres of a 2.84-acre parcel near the Sacramento River or acquire an easement from the city at fair market value. The square footage may change slightly by the time negotiations are complete, Starman said. Mark Korth, Dignity Health North State president, is on vacation this week and was unavailable for comment on Monday. Also nearing completion is the Henderson Phoenix public art project that Shasta College students are welding with 3,000 pounds of recovered pieces of steel from the Free Bridge. The bird sculpture will get its wings and head over the next few weeks. "The head will be the last bit," said Karin Freiberg, the student who designed the Phoenix in spring 2015 and has stayed with the project. She aims to wrap up work with other students in September. "Her vision is coming through real well," said Jonathan Garcia, a second-year welding student who worked on the bird's talons. Though the talks between Dignity and city go back to last summer, negotiations didn't start until January. Additionally, Dignity has talked about acquiring seven parcels owned by Sandy and Jeri Campbell of Campbell Properties. Vice Mayor Brent Weaver looked forward to seeing dirt turn in the area. "It's a great project for Dignity Health and it adds value to the community for generations to come," he said. "I'm real excited." Korth has said groundbreaking may begin in 2017 or 2018, with the campus creating 120 to 180 jobs and $9 million to $14 million in annual salaries by the time it is completely built. Meanwhile, the city still has two state grants totaling $726,940 for native plants and a lot with about 40 parking spaces to a kayak launch. Because the latter for $350,000 must be used by March 1, 2017, it is the subject of a request for a one-year extension. Starman talked about parking lot boundaries possibly changing because of the deal with Dignity and vehicle access moving to the west closer to the river. Randy Smith, a conservationist who has led cleanups at Henderson, said he is hopeful the Phoenix will land at the shared margin of the city and Dignity parking lots. "The pylons are where the bird should be installed," he said and noted that it could serve as both a symbol and marker. "The Phoenix rising from the ashes of neglect tell the story of what volunteers can accomplish. (Visitors) can say, 'meet me at the bird.'" A group of Chicago activists has staged a demonstration since Friday near a controversial West Side police facility, vowing not to leave until the City Council formally scraps a proposed ordinance that would make attacking first responders a hate crime. Members from several organizations, forming the Let Us Breathe Collective, set up their encampment in a vacant lot at Homan Avenue and Fillmore Street, across the street from the Homan Square police building. The demonstration went through the weekend's searing heat and drenching rain. Advertisement Demonstrators said they focused their protest on the Homan Square facility that has been at the center of multiple police misconduct allegations over the years. They said designating police officers as a class of people who require hate crime protections would essentially silence people opposing the Police Department. "It was created as a way to counter a social movement that has bubbled over in the past couple of years," said Damon Williams, who also is a member of Black Youth Project 100. "It threatens protesters in the name of protecting the most protected group." Advertisement The idea of a longer-term sit-in grew out of a protest last week. Dozens marched from the Douglas Park home of Dante Servin, who was acquitted of manslaughter after fatally shooting Rekia Boyd in 2012, then chained themselves together to block the intersection at Homan and Fillmore. About 10 people were arrested. Many in the group then gathered at the vacant lot and dubbed it Freedom Square. Williams said the group was not prepared to stay at the time but returned Friday with tents, food, water, sleeping bags, a barbecue grill and other supplies. "We have to resist these kinds of oppressive tactics," said Immanuel Sodipe, 19, who is among activists opposing the legislation. Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, introduced the proposal to expand hate crime protections to emergency responders on June 22. In addition to police, the statute would apply to current or former firefighters and paramedics and would increase the potential fine for such assaults from $500 to $2,500. The current law bans assaults, harassment and similar attacks against people motivated by their race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, ancestry, sexual orientation, or mental or physical disability. The law was amended last year to also include current and former military personnel as a protected group. Also sponsoring the proposed law are aldermen Patrick Thompson, 11th; Derrick Curtis, 18th; Matthew O'Shea, 19th; Willie Cochran, 20th; Christopher Taliaferro, 29th; Nicholas Sposato, 38th; and Anthony Napolitano, 41st. "Each day police officers and firefighters put their lives on the line to ensure our well-being and security," Burke said in a statement last month. "It is the goal of this ordinance to give prosecutors and judges every tool to punish those who interfere with, or threaten or physically assault, our public safety personnel." Such legislation is becoming increasingly popular in the wake of several high-profile shootings of police officers this summer, particularly in Dallas and Baton Rouge, La. Those attacks came amid nationwide demonstrations against police violence, specifically the fatal shootings of two black men in Baton Rouge and suburban St. Paul, Minn. Advertisement Many leaders in politics and law enforcement contend that a growing anti-police sentiment is making law enforcement officers a target for violence. Louisiana passed its "Blue Lives Matter" bill in late May, which includes firefighters and paramedics. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President Dean Angelo said he supported Burke's proposal. "It's not something that should be argued about," Angelo said Sunday at a prayer vigil for fallen officers. "For too long now, we've been one of the only voices out there supporting the police. We've witnessed too many funerals lately." The measure is pending in the council's Public Safety Committee but was not called for a vote or discussion during the most recent meeting this month. Beyond their stance against the hate crime proposal, demonstrators said their protest is intended to be a mechanism for community outreach. They said residents and kids are invited in to eat, sit and talk, dance to the music and play. Early Monday morning, organizers passed out grilled chicken, bratwurst and coffee to locals passing by the camp. "Direct action often involves marches and blockades, but those aren't necessarily communicative," Sodipe said. "This is a direct entry point for the people to come in and start a dialogue. We want them to know that we care about them, that they notice they're not the only ones who feel like this system doesn't care about us." Advertisement cdrhodes@tribpub.com Twitter @rhodes_dawn Deepest brown color, low and dimpled. Smells artificial, sweet and bland. Plain, tasteless, a bit of an off taste; does not hold up to burger. 8 count, $1.99 (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune) For all the burger recipes out there that detail the kinds and cuts of protein, ratios of lean to fat, and so many hacks, almost all focus on the patty but say nothing on what can make up much of your burger: the bun. Available in just about any neighborhood grocery store, sold in eight or four packs, they're beckoningly beautiful, bakery fragrant, slightly sweet, soft yet sturdy, and meld your burger elements together as one. Advertisement But what's the best? We challenged the chefs behind some of Chicago's biggest, craziest, messiest burgers to eat the monsters they've created. Read the story behind the video here. (Chicago Tribune) We picked eight locally available brands of what I call plain Jane burger buns (as opposed to fancy Nancy buns). Plain Jane buns have no seeds, are made of white bread and label themselves as burger or hamburger buns (instead of, say, pretzel or brioche buns). In alphabetical order, they were: Aunt Millie's, Bimbo, Butternut, Rudi's, S. Rosen's Mary Ann, Udi's Gluten Free, Whole Foods Market and Wonder. Advertisement RELATED: PREFER FANCY BUNS? SEE OUR FIELD GUIDE Purchased at Mariano's, Whole Foods and Pete's Fresh Market in Chicago, they were all rushed into our test kitchen the same afternoon to make sure they were fresh. I then invited our Food & Dining team to taste test the buns straight out of the bag and what I call "burgerfied" to test their "burgerbility," that is, how well they hold up as burgers. Our test kitchen chef made classic home-style burgers according to the following specifications: bun bottom (toasted in a regular toaster, light), then onion (raw, sliced thin), beef patties (grilled on a stove-top, double-burner cast-iron griddle to medium rare), American cheese, yellow mustard, dill pickles and mayo spread under the burger top. Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > We found that as different as they looked side by side, they all smelled similar, and most had good flavor and burgerbility. The worst plain Jane bun we tasted was by Bimbo, baked locally by the Mexico-based multinational company Grupo Bimbo. Our best plain Jane bun was by a brand you may never have heard of, if you're like me: Aunt Millie's. The company is based in Fort Wayne, Ind., but the buns we bought and tasted in Chicago were baked in Sidney, Ohio. We did discover some big surprises, most notably with the Wonder buns. One tester ranked them second best, writing in tasting notes "perfect McDonald's clone" for the very same reason that another tester ranked them second worst, "like a McDonald's replica." So remember, your own taste memory may rank the best burger bun for you. See our final rankings in the photo gallery above, from worst to best, with tasting notes. Advertisement lchu@tribpub.com Twitter @louisachu I knew the era of the double cheeseburger had officially arrived when I encountered the burger at the downstairs bar of Maple & Ash, a glitzy Gold Coast steakhouse that opened in October. Most steakhouses serve stoic oversized burgers, with imposing beef patties. But this bawdy newcomer had the gall to forgo all of that nonsense and serve a greasy, messy double cheeseburger so unwieldy I needed to wrap one of the bar's cloth napkins around my neck to prevent staining my clothes. I loved it. (To be clear, when I say the era of the double cheeseburger, I'm talking about the modern era of the double cheeseburger. We'll get into that distinction in a minute.) Advertisement Chicago has always loved burgers, but for many years the trend has been for them to get bigger and fussier. Sure, there is something primally satisfying about digging into a 10-ounce patty of beef, like the kind you score at Kuma's Corner in Avondale, where they go so far as to put entire bratwursts on top of the beef. But this arms race ignored the very essence of a burger, trading the simplicity of beef and cheese for an excuse to add unnecessary, froufrou ingredients and ridiculous, ill-suited buns. We challenged the chefs behind some of Chicago's biggest, craziest, messiest burgers to eat the monsters they've created. Read the story behind the video here. (Chicago Tribune) The embrace of the simple double cheeseburger by the kind of trend-aware restaurant you may expect to follow the Kuma's model has been happening over the past few years. It's hard to say where it started Edzo's, the beloved Evanston burger shop, opened in 2009 with a simple double cheeseburger (made, of course, from locally sourced, sustainable meat); M Burger, built into the side of posh restaurant Tru, hit Chicago proper in 2010 with a double on its menu but one can argue it was West Loop diner Au Cheval, opened in 2012, that began to push the two-thin-patties model into the spotlight. Advertisement The Au Cheval burger: the one that influenced it all. (Kevin J. Miyazaki ) Au Cheval's burger is currently the most acclaimed in Chicago, with nods from the Food Network, Bon Appetit, Travel + Leisure, Time Out, USA Today, Zagat and this publication, among many others. After its burger blew up, you started seeing the double cheeseburger everywhere. Yet, for all the praise, this style of burger is, at its heart, a straightforward diner classic. "It's not a revolutionary idea," says Au Cheval owner Brendan Sodikoff. "I don't think we pioneered the idea of a double cheeseburger. I think In-N-Out was doing it, McDonald's has done it, every other fast casual diner and burger joint in the country has done it." History Which brings us back to the distinction I promised. This is the new era of the double cheeseburger, but the style has been around for a long time 70 or even more years, depending on whom you ask. George Motz, author of "Hamburger America," the definitive work on burger history and culture in this country (currently in its third edition), believes the double cheeseburger came about almost accidentally. "In the very beginning, there was only one size of burger," says Motz, "If you wanted more burger, the cooks would add two balls to make a bigger patty." The change, he believes, came when ground beef started to be sold pre-pattied, to help streamline the burger-making process. This regular size made it much easier to stack. Bob's Big Boy is credited with serving the first double cheeseburger in 1937. But any burger connoisseur knows that something else lurks in that burger an extra bun. Between the two patties is third bun, which is the same blueprint that McDonald's swiped when it created the Big Mac. While Motz notes that the extra bun does help soak up some juices, turning pleasingly soft and saturated, he thinks the extra slice had more to do with economics: "The bun is cheap filler." A real double cheeseburger needs no filler. While it's hard to know who figured it out first, one restaurant that really helped popularize the style was In-N-Out. The much loved California chain launched in 1948 with a double double, which features two beef patties and two slices of cheese, along with lettuce, tomato, onion and a pink-hued sauce, labeled "spread" on the menu, that is very reminiscent of Thousand Island dressing. Steak 'n Shake, a classic purveyor of double cheeseburgers, was founded in Illinois in 1931. (Kevin Pang / Chicago Tribune) Of course, other chains produced top-quality double cheeseburgers at the same time too. Steak 'n Shake (founded in Illinois in 1931) specialized in burgers smashed on a griddle until thin and well browned. While the single steak burger works, the real magic happens with the double. Another classic double cheeseburger option that also happens to be native to Chicago is the Big Baby, a specialty of the Southwest Side. Along with two patties, a slice of cheese, ketchup, mustard and pickles, each burger gets a tangle of richly caramelized onions. Advertisement Thanks to these restaurants and many noble joints like them, the double cheeseburger never truly went away. But the American populace became distracted. We subjected ourselves to all manner of trendy burger mishaps: gorging on oversized patties, losing ourselves in topping craziness, and falling prey to years of subpar fast food in the name of cheapness. Until now. If you haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet, it's time. The double cheeseburger not only has a lot of great history behind it, but I can prove it's more delicious than the standard oversize burger. Burger science Why does a double cheeseburger taste meatier than most larger burgers? Because double cheeseburgers are the height of ground beef engineering. When beef interacts with a hot griddle, it develops a beautiful dark brown color. While helping to make the exterior crispy, the heat also develops the Maillard reaction (named for the French physician who first identified the reaction in 1910). This process is responsible for the complex, meaty flavors associated with roasted meats and, if you're catching my drift, delectable burgers. Advertisement Try this: Cook a 1/2-pound patty on a griddle, and you get two nicely browned sides. But if you cook two 1/4-pound patties, you have the same amount of beef but now you suddenly have four browned sides, effectively doubling the Maillard reaction of each bite. As Motz also reminded me, if each patty is salted on both sides (as it should be), you'll also have twice the amount of seasoning. Adding two slices of cheese instead of one further adds fuel to the savory bomb. Proportion matters If a double cheeseburger bests a single, what stops a triple cheeseburger from taking the crown? This gets to the issue of proportion. The best burgers ensure that you get all the components in each and every bite. If too large, you run the risk of the dreaded burrito distribution dilemma the sad fate of a poorly constructed burrito when all the components are unevenly spread, leaving you with a bite that is all sour cream. Keeping things compact helps avoid this problem. You can't talk about the double cheeseburger without talking about In-N-Out Burger, although there are sadly no locations in Chicago. (Karen Tapia / LA Times) I posed this question to Motz, and he brought the conversation back to In-N-Out. "The double double is pretty perfect," admits Motz, noting that the proportion of bun to meat is ideal. Plus, he adds, "it's still very manageable." Sometimes he can't help himself, however. "The triple (cheeseburger) isn't manageable, but it is satisfying." Enjoy this day and age. Who knows what the next burger trend will bring. Could be kale patties, ramen buns or some other nonsense. Regardless, none has any chance of being as delicious as an old-fashioned double cheeseburger. Great double cheeseburgers in Chicago, old and new: Advertisement Single cheeseburger (actually a double) at Au Cheval, 800 W. Randolph St., 312-929-4580, www.auchevalchicago.com Downstairs burger at Downstairs at Maple & Ash, 8 W. Maple St., 312-944-8888, www.mapleandash.com Double steakburger at Devil Dawgs, 2147 N. Sheffield Ave., 773-281-4300, www.devildawgs.com Double cheeseburger at Edzo's, 1571 Sherman Ave., Evanston, 847-864-3396, www.edzos.com Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > Double Fatso with cheese at Fatso's Last Stand, 2258 W. Chicago Ave., 773-245-3287, www.fatsoslaststand.com Double cheeseburger at Johnny's Grill, 2545 N. Kedzie Ave., 773-278-2215, www.thejohnnysgrill.com Advertisement Chicago double at M Burger, various locations, www.mburgerchicago.com RHR double burger at Redhot Ranch, 3057 N. Ashland Ave., 773-661-9377 Big Baby at Nicky's The Real McCoy, 5801 S. Kedzie Ave., 773-436-6458, www.nickys58kedzie.com Big Baby at Nicky's Hot Dogs, 6142 S. Archer Ave., 773-585-3675 nkindelsperger@chicagotribune.com Twitter @nickdk Acquisition of stressed infrastructure assets has pushed Adani group's debt to over Rs 1 lakh crore, highlighting concerns about its growth strategy, says Jyoti Mukul. IMAGE: Adani chairman Gautam Adani with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photograph: Reuters When it comes to the infrastructure sector, companies are looking to dispose of as many assets as possible to help their balance sheets. The GMR group, which has marquee airport projects in its kitty, is selling its energy business, Lanco Infratech is looking to sell assets to raise upwards of Rs 15,000 crore by 2018, the Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance group has put its cement, airport and road businesses on the block and GVK has divested its stake in the Bangalore airport. All the big companies that accumulated projects from the government during the economic slowdown of 2008-09 have over-leveraged balance sheets and they are now desperately trying to wind down their presence in the sector. The two outliers to this this trend are the Ahmedabad-based Adani group and Sajjan Jindal-promoted JSW. While JSW has stuck to mainly bailing out brother Naveen Jindals power business, the Adani group has not only spread itself across the Indian coastline buying and setting up new ports, but has also added power generation and transmission to its empire through buyouts. It acquired the Dhamra Port from Larsen & Toubro and Tata Steel, a power plant in Udupi from Lanco and another power plant in Korba from the Avantha group. The acquisitions have resulted in the groups debt reach a new high of Rs 105,142 crore, as it took over the liabilities of the target companies. However, it isnt just Chairman Gautam Adanis proximity to the ruling dispensation at the Centre that is fuelling the groups aggressive stance. While a detailed questionnaire sent to the group remained unanswered, an insider says the aim is to create a mammoth $100-billion enterprise by 2025, with investments of Rs 1 lakh crore over the next five to seven years. The group is simultaneously consolidating and optimising its existing businesses, and integrating supply chain, he says. Rapid strides Dismissed as a Gujarat company until recently, the Adani groups geographical footprint outside the state is most evident in the port sector in India and port-cum-railway linked coal projects in Australia. It has set up greenfield ports and port infrastructure in Mundra, Tuna Tekra (Kandla port), Dahej and Hazira in Gujarat, Mormugoa in Goa, Vishakapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, and Ennore in Tamil Nadu. Dhamra in Odisha is the only port acquired inorganically. However, the acquisitions have started to weigh on the groups future. We will not be bidding for any new projects as of now and will be focusing only on executing the existing ones, Karan Adani, chief executive officer (ports), told reporters recently. In a May report on Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Abhishek Tyagi, vice-president and senior analyst at Moodys Investor Service, revised the companys outlook from stable to negative, mainly due to lower coal cargo, and an increase in capital expenditure and financial leverage. The sharp decline in coal cargo for Adani Ports due to reduction in coal imports by India, together with some state-owned utilities shifting their cargo to the government owned ports, is likely to have material impact on the growth trajectory of the company, he says, adding, such a decline reduces the companys ratings headroom. This trend was visible in FY16 when Adani Ports overall cargo growth grew only 5 per cent year-on-year mainly due to 8 per cent decline in coal handled by its ports. The tepid volume growth in FY16 was accompanied by higher debt due to increase in capex and loans and advances. Adani Ports credit metrics will likely remain under pressure in the year ending March 31, 2017, given its substantial capex plans, Moodys said. While Adani Port plans to focus more on the container business to offset the decline in coal volumes, the change in strategy entails a degree of execution challenge. Sunrise segment In the energy segment, renewable power has emerged as Adani Enterprises key focus. It recently commissioned 440 Mw at a plant in Tamil Nadu. With a total generation capacity of 648 Mw, the plant will be one of the worlds largest solar power units in India. The company also has a pipeline of over 1,200 Mw of wind and solar projects in different stages of implementation. To integrate with its generation capacity, the group is building a solar photovoltaic manufacturing facility with a capacity of 1.2 GW cells and modules. The plant is scheduled to be commissioned in December 2016. The ambition is to become one of the largest renewable players and for that it recently signed a joint venture agreement with the Rajasthan government to commission a 10,000 Mw solar park by 2022. The group claims the assets acquired by it in power sector will help improve its return on equity, as these plants are not rate-constrained. The integration of the 600-Mw Korba plant, for example, which it acquired from Avantha, would be beneficial as it already has power purchase agreements with distribution companies in place. The group believes its ability to execute projects quickly in sectors that directly benefit the economy, such as energy, infrastructure and transport will create value for stakeholders in the long run. Meanwhile, to reduce interest costs and finance new projects, it plans to raise Rs 25,000 crore through overseas bonds. This follows a restructuring of its flagship Adani Enterprises, which has created focused businesses in ports, power, transmission and mining, with the objective of reducing the companys debt. The group hopes its aggressive stance will score over a more prudent growth approach. POWERING AHEAD Acquisitions made by the Adani group over the past five years ADANI ENTERPRISES May 25,16: Adani Wilmar and Ruchi Soya join hands to create one of Indias leading FMCG companies Jan 12,15: Signs MoU with Australia's Woodside Energy for energy cooperation Jul 18,14: Enters into agreement with POSCO E&C to build rail line in Galilee Basin, Queensland ADANI PORTS & SEZ Nov 09,15: Signs a pact with Larsen & Turbo to oversee operations of Kattupalli Port in Tamil Nadu May 16,14: Acquires Dhamra Port Jul 04,14: Partners with CMA CGM Group of France to set up a fourth container terminal at Mundra Nov 27,13: Signs MOU with Belgian Port of Zeebrugge Jul 02,13: Enters into JV with MSC Mediterranean Shipping to operate a new container terminal in Mundra Jun 02,12: Signs pact with Kandla Port Trust to develop bulk terminal at Kandla Jun 01,11: Completes Abbot Point acquisition ADANI POWER Apr 21,15: Completes acquisition of Lanco Infratechs Udupi Power plant ADANI TRANSMISSION Jul 01, 16: Announces plan to pick up stake in Maru Transmission Services and Aravali Transmission Services Limited of GMR Energy Govt wants to auction foreign flying rights as much of bilateral capacity is being unused The much-awaited National Civil Aviation Policy got delayed multiple times as incumbent carriers furiously opposed a proposal by the civil aviation ministry to auction bilateral rights. The reason the government wanted to auction foreign flying rights was because it was concerned about the unutilised bilateral capacity by Indian carriers. Data show domestic Indian airlines such as Air India, Jet Airways, SpiceJet and IndiGo offer almost 50 per cent fewer seats than foreign airlines operating in India. The data on foreign bilateral utilisation is compiled by the ministry of civil aviation. As of June, domestic carriers were offering 242,365 seats on flights to and from India, compared with 432,456 seats by foreign airlines. A senior official in the aviation ministry said: On most international routes, capacity utilisation of Indian carriers range between 30 and 40 per cent. "We are reviewing bilateral rights allocated to different airlines. Those not utilising these rights are being asked to surrender the same as we do not want our own airlines to lose out traffic share to foreign carriers. He added with easing of 5/20 norms and new carriers such as Vistara and GoAir launching international operations, utilisation of seats will improve. The 5/20 rule allows only those Indian airlines which have a 20-aircraft fleet and have operated in the domestic sector for five years to fly abroad. The data also show Indian carrier do not fly to 67 out of the 109 countries India has bilateral agreements with. For instance, not a single Indian carrier flies to any of the five African countries with whom the country has bilateral seat-sharing agreements. India has signed air service agreements with Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius and Seychelles. On the contrary, Ethiopia flies 9,016 seats a week, which is 81 per cent of the total entitlements. According to a senior airline executive, carrying out foreign operations becomes difficult for Indian carriers as there is low demand. The demands from those countries are not enough for a carrier to start a new route for us, the gestation cost will be too high, he said. According to sector estimates, it takes at least six months to develop a route. But, a closer look at the data will reveal that even in high-volume routes such as West Asia, foreign carriers have utilised their traffic rights more efficiently. For instance, of the 51,000 weekly seat entitlements to Abu Dhabi, Indian carriers fly only 20,144 seats -- a mere 39 per cent of the total seat entitlements. In contrast, their foreign peers have exhausted 82 per cent of their entitlements as of June 2016. The case is similar for Qatar where Akbar-Ali-Baker, chief executive of Qatar Airways, has sought more traffic routes and seats from India. Qatar has exhausted their entire seat entitlements. According to another airline executive, Indian carriers do not get preferred slots in foreign airports. Getting slots at the correct time is essential for the operation to remain profitable; Indian carriers hardly get those, he said. The Federation of Indian Airlines, the lobby group representing private carriers IndiGo, SpiceJet, Jet Airways and GoAir, had recently written to the aviation ministry about non-availability of slots in overseas airports. Image: An Air India aircraft. Photograph: Reuters Some of the prominent PSUs in the index are Bharat Petroleum, Bharat Electronics, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Power Grid, Coal India, Engineers India, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, GAIL, Indian Oil and NTPC. Government-owned companies have their issues but stocks of public sector undertakings are likely to be the next hunting ground for bulls and bargain hunters on Dalal Street. The National Stock Exchange's index of these entities, the Nifty PSE, is trading at nearly half the valuation of its benchmark Nifty 50 on a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple and price-to-book value basis. The Nifty PSE is currently trading at 13 times its trailing 12-month earnings, significantly lower than the Nifty 50's trailing P/E multiple of 23 times. PSUs are even cheaper on price to book value. The PSE index is currently trading at 1.76 times its book value, around half of the Nifty 50's corresponding valuation of 3.5 times (see chart). Historically, the Nifty PSE has always traded at a discount to the benchmark index but the gap has widened in recent years, as the economic slowdown has had a bigger impact on PSU finances. The analysis is based on the trailing valuation ratio of the Nifty PSE and Nifty 50. Some of the prominent PSUs in the index are Bharat Petroleum, Bharat Electronics, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Power Grid, Coal India, Engineers India, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, GAIL, Indian Oil and NTPC. There are no banks. Government-owned companies are also more generous in rewarding their shareholders with dividends. At their current value, every Rs 100,000 of investment in the Nifty PSE will yield a dividend income of around Rs 3,000 a year. A similar investment in Nifty 50 would yield a dividend income of only Rs 1,220 a year. This, analysts say, will attract bargain hunters looking for value buys in an increasingly expensive market. "PSU stocks have become relatively attractive, as the valuations of the broader market have become increasingly expensive. "This has made it tough for investors to make long-term investments, as higher valuations raise the downside risk in a market fall," says G Chokkalingam, chief executive, Equinomics Research & Advisory. At current levels, the Nifty 50 valuation is near a 52-week high and only a shade lower than its 2015 high P/E of 24 times its trailing earnings. The pull factor could also work for PSU stocks, as most of them are available on a par with their book value (or net worth), beside sitting on a reasonable amount of cash. "PSUs are out of favour because of the impact of the global decline in commodity prices last year, besides balance sheet issues in government-owned banks. "But, many of the non-bank PSUs have a strong balance sheet, with minimal or no debt and a large amount of cash on their books," adds Chokkalingam. Some investors seem to have taken the cue, leading to bargain hunting in cash-rich PSUs such as MOIL, Engineers India and Container Corp. These stocks were up 50-80 per cent from their 52-week low in the recent rally. Even stocks of oil marketing companies like BPCL, Hindustan Petroleum and IOC have reached new highs. Others, however, warn investors about the growth risk facing many PSUs. "In the banking space, for instance, private sector players seem to be growing at the expense of government-owned banks. There is little visibility of this changing anytime soon. Given this, investors might still prefer private sector banks and non-bank finance companies, even if richly valued," says Dhananjay Sinha, head of institutional equity at Emkay Global Financial Services. Also, the fortunes of many non-financial PSUs, such as BHEL, Engineers India, NMDC and Container Corp are closely tied to the domestic industrial cycle. This has shown no sign of turning around in a hurry. However, if it does turn around, they could be one of the biggest beneficiaries, given their strong balance sheet and a diversified product portfolio. Image: Bombay Stock Exchange. Photograph: Sahil Salvi for Rediff.com Over its entire mission, Solar Impulse 2 cruised at altitudes of up to 9,000 metres and at an average speed of between 45 and 90 km per hour. A solar-powered aircraft successfully completed the first fuel-free flight around the world on Tuesday, returning to Abu Dhabi after an epic 16-month voyage and demonstrating the potential of renewable energy. The plane, Solar Impulse 2, touched down in the United Arab Emirates capital at 0005 GMT (0405 local time) on Tuesday. IMAGE: Solar Impulse 2, the solar powered plane, piloted by Swiss pioneer Andre Borschberg is seen during the flyover of the pyramids of Giza on July 13, 2016 prior to the landing in Cairo, Egypt. Photograph: Reuters It first took off from Abu Dhabi on March 9, 2015, beginning a landmark journey of about 40,000 km (24,500 miles) around the globe and nearly 500 hours of flying. IMAGE: Solar Impulse 2, a solar-powered plane piloted by Bertrand Piccard of Switzerland, flies over the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco, California. Photograph: Jean Revillard/Reuters Unfavourable weather at times hindered smooth flying, causing the plane to be grounded for months in some countries. IMAGE: German test pilot Markus Scherdel steers the solar-powered Solar Impulse 2 aircraft over the Lake Neuchatel during a training flight at its base in Payerne, Switzerland. Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters Swiss explorers Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, Solar Impulse founders and pilots, took turns piloting the aircraft with a wingspan larger than a Boeing 747 and weighing only as much as a family car. IMAGE: Swiss explorers Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, Solar Impulse founders and pilots, took turns piloting the aircraft. Photograph: Reuters The Swiss team is campaigning to bolster support for clean energy. IMAGE: A bird flies along with the Solar Impulse as it approaches the runway for a landing following a test flight at Moffett Field in Mountain View, California. Photograph: Robert Galbraith/Reuters The propeller-driven aircraft's four engines are powered exclusively by energy collected from more than 17,000 solar cells built the plane's wings. IMAGE: Excess energy is stored in four batteries during daylight hours. Photograph: Reuters Excess energy is stored in four batteries during daylight hours to keep the plane flying after dark. Over its entire mission, Solar Impulse 2 cruised at altitudes of up to 9,000 metres and at an average speed of between 45 and 90 km (12.5 and 25 miles) per hour. IMAGE: German test pilot Markus Scherdel steers the solar-powered Solar Impulse 2 aircraft with the Mont-Blanc in background during a training flight at its base in Payerne. Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters The plane had 16 stopovers along the way including in Oman, India, Myanmar, China, Japan, the United States, Spain and Egypt. Abu Dhabi's green energy firm Masdar is the official host partner of Solar Impulse 2. Oil-rich Abu Dhabi is investing billions in industry, tourism and renewables to diversify its economy away from oil. Police on Tuesday foiled another mass attack bid in Bangladesh, reeling under a wave of deadly terror assaults, by killing nine Islamist militants during a pre-dawn raid at their hideout. The hour-long raid was launched at 5:51 am (local time) at Jahaz building in Kalyanpur area by special police units. The militants, aged between 20 and 25 and suspected to be members of Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, opened fire on police during the operation. From police intelligence sources we learnt that they were planning to carry out a major incident. We conducted the operation to foil any such incident, national police chief A K M Shahidul Hoque told reporters. Police said the men wore the same clothing and backpacks as the group that carried out the Bangladeshs worst terror attack at a cafe in Dhaka. The Islamist gunmen wearing black tunics exchanged fire intermittently throughout the night and shouted Allahu Akbar (God is the Greatest). Two more presumed extremists, including one with bullet wounds, were arrested from the scene, he added. Rakibul Hasan alias Rigan, a militant activist who sustained bullet injuries during the operation, was missing since last one year. He claimed to be a member of the Islamic State, reports said. Police recovered 13 handmade grenades, one sword, one pistol, seven magazines and bullets from the den Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the militants killed were preparing to launch terror attacks. She said that the country had averted a fearful situation, as police busted a hideout in Dhaka. Hasina praised the law-enforcers, saying, Police have conducted the operation successfully. It was clear that they were fully prepared for a terror attack. The country averted a fearful situation because of the raid. Bangladesh is reeling under a wave of deadly attacks by Islamist extremists. Twenty two people, mostly foreigners including an Indian girl, were killed by suspected Islamic State militants inside a cafe popular with expats in the diplomatic zone in Dhaka in the worst terror attack in Bangladesh before commandos launched an assault, killing six attackers and capturing one alive. Around 30 people were injured in the attack for which dreaded Islamic State group claimed responsibility through its Amaq news agency, nearly four hours after the hostage crisis unfolded. The government, however, maintains that the home grown militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen was behind the attack. Days after the cafe siege, gunmen attacked the countrys largest Eid prayer gathering, killing at least three people. Image: Security personnel leave the site after a police operation on militants on the outskirts of Dhaka. Photograph: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters A Delhi Court on Tuesday dismissed the bail plea of Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan, arrested for allegedly threatening a woman after she visited his residence to raise the issue of power cuts, and sent him to judicial custody. Metropolitan Magistrate Manisha Tripathi, who sent the Okhla MLA to judicial custody till August 9, rejected his bail plea on the ground that he may influence witnesses and hamper investigation. "The inconsistencies pointed out by the counsel of the complainant are a matter of evidence and trial. The co-accused in the case are yet to be identified and apprehended. "Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the nature of allegations and material on record, I am of the opinion that the accused might influence witnesses and hamper investigation if released on bail at this stage. Accordingly the application for bail is dismissed," the magistrate said. Special Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan said that the probe into the case was still under progress and the complainant was constantly being threatened and harassed at the behest of the accused and he may influence witnesses and hamper the investigation. Khan was produced before the court after the expiry of his police custody and the police requested the magistrate to send him to judicial custody. Advocate Madan Lal, who appeared for Khan, sought bail for his client, contending that the accused is also the chairman of Delhi Waqf Board which earned him wrath of various political opponents. "The present case is an attempt to falsely implicate him," the counsel said, alleging that the complainant had leveled false allegations against Khan at the behest of Station House Officer. Khan was first detained for questioning and then arrested, a day after he alleged in a press conference that the woman was "pressurised" by the police into giving a false statement against him. According to the police, on July 22, the woman had recorded her statement before a magistrate under Section 164 of CrPC. She had alleged while she was returning from the legislator's residence, a vehicle tried mowing her down and Khan was sitting in it. Prior to that, she had on July 19 filed a complaint with police alleging that at the AAP MLA's residence in Jamia Nagar, a youth had on July 10 abused her and threatened that she would be killed if she did not stop politicising the matter. An FIR was subsequently registered in this regard under section 506 (criminal intidation) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of IPC. After her statement to the magistrate, Section 308 was added to the FIR, a police officer said. The woman, a resident of Jasola, had last week in a police complaint said she had telephoned Khan on July 10 and later went to his Batla House residence to raise the issue of power cuts with him. Khan had, however, said he did not even know if the woman came to his residence. Meanwhile, the Delhi police have registered a fresh case under non-cognisable offences against Khan on a complaint by some protesters in his constituency. The case has been registered against Khan under Section 506 (punishment for intimidation) of IPC which is a non-cognisable offence, on the complaint of a group of protesters, a senior police officer said. The complainant Syed Tanveer Ahmad, a resident of Shaheen Bagh in Okhla, said he, along with others, was protesting against civic woes and alleged underdevelopment of the constituency under the AAP government on July 16. He alleged Khan reached the venue on the night of July 16 "with his men and threatened" them to call off the protest. Tanveer alleged the MLA intimidated him saying he would "cut him into pieces and throw in Yamuna" if he did not comply. Based on the complaint of Tanveer and other protestors, including Sultan Ahmad and Syed Abdul Ali, a non-cognisable offence case was registered July 24 at Jamia Nagar Police station. Ahead of the commencement of the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Bernie Sanders held court in Philadelphia before a large group of supporters in an appearance that showed the party still has a steep hill to climb in uniting. Bernie Sanders urged reluctant supporters to vote for his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in order to bar Donald Trump's path to the White House, slamming the Republican as a "demagogue." IMAGE: Bernie Sanders made a last-ditch effort Monday to quell anger among his supporters against party leaders and Hillary Clinton, as the Democratic convention opened amid new threats to party unity . Photograph: Bryan Woolston/Reuters "We have got to defeat Donald Trump. We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine," the Vermont senator told a rally held hours before the opening of the Democratic National Convention. "Trump is a bully and a demagogue," said Sanders whose call to support party nominee Clinton in November was met with loud jeers and cries of "We want Bernie!" from the fired-up crowd. When Sanders offered an explicit endorsement of Clinton, his supporters weren't happy with the call, loudly booing as he said, "We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine." As the jeering lingered, Sanders waved a hand, calling the supporters, "brother and sisters," and continued to speak, underscoring his thoughts on Trump as a "bully and a demagogue." IMAGE: Senator Bernie Sander was booed by his electoral delegates gathered at the Convention Center during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Photograph: Bryan Woolston/Reuters The four-day confab in Philadelphia got off to a rocky start following a major internal row over leaked emails that showed party leaders sought to undermine Sanders in the party primaries. Many of the die-hard Sanders supporters who descended on Philadelphia loathe the party flag bearer Clinton so much they are unwilling to back her -- even if the cost is a Trump presidency . IMAGE: Senator Bernie Sander looks on at the crowds at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Photograph: Bryan Woolston/Reuters Sanders has officially endorsed his rival and has been offered a prime speaking slot later on Monday at the convention, during which he will stress that the party mission is to prevent Trump from becoming the 45th president of the United States. He hammered home that message to his supporters. "Trump has made bigotry and hatred the cornerstone of his campaign. Throughout this campaign he has insulted Mexicans and Latinos. He has insulted Muslims and insulted women and African Americans. "It is not just my opinion. That is what many conservative Republicans believe. Trump is a danger for the future of our country and must be defeated. "And I intend to do everything to see that he is defeated." Congress member of Parliament K V P Ramchandra Rao on Tuesday moved a breach of privilege notice against Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi for allegedly letting ruling members to go into Well of the House and disrupt proceedings. During Zero Hour, Rao said he has given a notice under Rules 187 and 188 against Naqvi for allegedly allowing Bharatiya Janata Party members to troop into the Well of Rajya Sabha on Friday to stall proceedings and committing breach of privilege. Rao was piloting a private members bill for implementation of a special package for Andhra Pradesh, which got stalled due to ruckus created by the ruling side over the controversial filming of Parliament by Aam Aadmi Party MP Bhagwant Mann. The House was the adjourned for the day and the bill was not taken up. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said Raos notice has been received and it will be examined by the chairman who will convey a decision on it. The Congress had on Monday threatened not to cooperate with the government on legislative business unless the private members bill on special package for Andhra Pradesh was taken up, while several other parties including the Telugu Desam Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist strongly objected to the disruption by the BJP. The family of Mohammed Akhlaq, who was lynched by a mob in Dadri last year for alleged cow slaughter, on Tuesday said it would move the Allahabad high court against a recent court order directing a police case be filed against them for storing and consuming beef. "The family will move a petition as soon as possible seeking stay on arrest," counsel of Akhlaq's family Asad Hayat told reporters. National President of Rashtriya Ulama Council, Maulana Amir Rahsadi Madni alleged that evidences in the infamous Dadri lynching case were "tampered" and raised questions over reports of Dadri and Mathura lab reports on the sample of meat sent for examination. "First of all, the meat recovered was more than 150 metres away from Akhlaq's house," he said. The court order that a police case be filed against them came 10 days ago following a petition by a neighbour in their village Bisada. The petition was backed by those accused of Akhlaq's murder. The neighbour has claimed that on September 26 last year, Akhlaq and his son Danish were seen beating the calf. Later, a villager saw Akhlaq holding down the calf while his brother killed it, the petition said. Akhlaq's son Sartaj, working with the Indian Air Force, told mediapersons in Lucknow there were many loopholes in the recent forensic report, after which the petition demanding legal action against the family was filed. He said his family was being treated like criminals instead of victims. "We have already met the chief minister once and if needed we will meet him for the second time," he said. "First of all, the meat recovered from the spot was more than 150 metres away from Akhlaq's house," Madni said. He claimed that only two kg meat was sent to Dadri lab, but the report suggested at the quantity of meat was four to five kg, implying that there was some amount of tampering somewhere. Residents of Bishada village in Dadri had met the Gautam Budh Nagar SSP on June 5 to press their demand for filing of an FIR against Akhlaq's family for alleged cow slaughter. Judicial Magistrate Vijay Kumar then ordered investigation and lodging of an FIR of cow slaughter against Akhlaq's family. Beef eating is not a crime in Uttar Pradesh but cow slaughter is a non-bailable offence which carries a punishment of up to seven years in jail. Dadri lynching victim Mohammad Akhlaq's son, Mohammad Sartaj during a press conference in Lucknow. Photograph: Nand Kumar/PTI Democratic Party bosses have apologised to Bernie Sanders for "inexcusable" emails aimed at undermining his White House bid, as they tried to patch up an embarrassing party feud. "We want to offer a deep and sincere apology to Senator Sanders, his supporters, and the entire Democratic Party for the inexcusable remarks made over email," the Democratic National Committee said in a statement on the opening day of the party's convention set to nominate Hillary Clinton for the presidency. "These comments do not reflect the values of the DNC or our steadfast commitment to neutrality during the nominating process," read the statement issued in the aftermath of WikiLeaks dump of DNC leaders email. The statement was issued by interim party leader, Donna Brazile, and six other officials but was not signed by DNC outgoing chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. On Sunday, Wasserman Schultz announced she would step down from her job following the controversy. And on Monday, the party announced she wont open her partys convention as previously planned. Earlier in the day, Wasserman Schultz was booed at a pre-convention Florida delegation breakfast in Philadelphia. The DNC is facing questions about whether it could have done more to limit the damage done by hackers suspected of working for Russian intelligence. Federal investigators tried to warn the DNC about a potential intrusion in their computer network months before the party moved to try to fix the problem, US officials briefed on the probe told CNN. IMAGE: Supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders hold up a "Feel the Bern" banner as they protest on the floor during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US. Photograph: Mark Kauzlarich/Reuters Eminent diplomat Arundhati Ghose, who was Indias ambassador to the United Nations and played a decisive role in Indias negotiations on Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, passed away late on Monday night at the age of 76. She was suffering from cancer and breathed her last at around 12:30 am at her residence in Palam Vihar in West Delhi, a family member said. During her illustrious career, Ghose had served in a number of positions including in Indian Missions in Austria, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, South Korea and Egypt. She was also the first Indian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Offices in Geneva. Ghose was head of Indian delegation to the conference on the CTBT in Geneva in 1996 and she is hailed for strongly outlining Indias position in opposing the treaty. At the conference, she had talked about the discriminatory treaty and famously said, India will not sign this unequal treaty. Not now, not ever. Vice President Hamid Ansari, condoling the passing away of Ghose, said she will be remembered for her services to the nation, including for her role as head of the Indian delegation at the CTBT negotiations. Ghose was born on November 25, 1939 in a prominent Bengali family and grew up in Mumbai. She graduated from Lady Brabourne College in Kolkata and went on to study at Visva-Bharati University, in Shantiniketan, before joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1963. She is sister of Bhaskar Ghose, former chairman of Prasar Bharati and aunt of Sanjay Ghose, a social worker who was abducted and killed by United Liberation Front of Assam militants in Assam in 1997. Ghose had retired from diplomatic services in November 1997. She was a Member of the Union Public Service Commission from 1998 to 2004. Ghose was also a member of the UN Secretary Generals Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters from 1998 to 2001. She was also a member of Task Force on non-proliferation and Disarmament set up by the Ministry of External Affairs in 2007. Photograph: @IndiaUNGeneva/Twitter An expert team, headed by a Joint Secretary in the Union Home Ministry, was on Tuesday constituted to explore possible alternatives to pellet guns, amidst strong criticism against their frequent use in Jammu and Kashmir for crowd control. Besides Home Ministry Joint Secretary T V S N Prasad, who will head the team, other members of the expert committee are Atul Karwal, inspector general, Central Reserve Police Force, Srinagar, Rajeev Krishna, IG, Border Security Force, Rajesh Kumar of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Tushar Tripathy of Indian Ordnance Factory Board, Manjit Singh of Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory, Chandigarh and Naresh Bhatnagar of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Many youths have been injured in the last fortnight when CRPF personnel used pellet guns to control violent protesters in the wake of killing of Burhan Wani, a top terrorist of Hizbul Mujahideen. The paramilitary force has received widespread criticism for the use of this category of non-lethal weapon, prompting Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to announce in Parliament that a committee will be set up to review use of pellet guns and find an alternative to it. A Home Ministry spokesperson said the expert committee will submit its report within two months. The home minister had said one person died due to injuries caused by pellet guns while 53 suffered injuries in eyes. The central government had also sent a team of doctors to Kashmir Valley to treat youths injured due to firing by pellet guns. Director General of CRPF K Durga Prasd on Monday expressed regret for injuries caused to youths due to firing of pellet guns in the Kashmir Valley and said it would continue to use this least-lethal weapon but only in extreme situations. Everybody feel bad when youngsters get hit. But still, we will have to use it (pellet guns) in extreme situation as of now. We hope that any (extreme) situation does not arise (in future), the CRPF chief said, ahead of the forces 77th raising day on Wednesday. Prasad said the CRPF is already experimenting with the other options under the less lethal weapon category available globally. IMAGE: A man who was injured in clashes between police and protesters sits inside a hospital in Srinagar. Photograph: Danish Ismail/Reuters As many as 54 supporters of dreaded terror group Islamic State have been arrested in the country, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday. Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir said the National Investigation Agency and state police have registered various cases with respect of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or Islamic State phenomenon in the country. "As per the information received so far, 54 Islamic State supporters or sympathisers have been arrested before they could carry out any terrorist attack in the country," he said in a reply to a written question. The minister said a few incidents of unfurling of flags of Islamic State by some misguided youth were noticed on different occasions in Jammu and Kashmir in the recent past and the state government has been asked to take appropriate action against such elements as per law. 'Similarly, he is against Dalits, forgetting that the only way to get rid of poverty is to empower poor people.' IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi releases the New Mandate of Ministry of Panchayati Raj at the Panchayati Raj Sammelan in Jamshedpur, April 24. Photograph: pmindia.gov.in Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar is upset at media reports that the Narendra Modi government plans to close down the panchayati raj ministry and turned into a department under the ministry of rural development. Aiyar, who once headed the ministry and helped formulate and implement the massive programme of decentralisation at the grassroots level, explains to Rashme Sehgal how this will be a further setback for democracy. The ministry of panchayati raj has been devalued by the central government amidst strong rumours that it might be forced to shut shop completely and become a part of the ministry of rural development. First and foremost, the present government sees the ministry of panchayati raj as being a Congress scheme and therefore want to devalue it for petty political reasons. By doing so, they want to undermine the Centre's role in a Constitutional amendment. If they were to close down or devalue the ministry, it would confirm one's worst fears about this government's hypocritical approach to grassroots democracy in order to ensure grassroots development. This 73rd Amendment, passed virtually unanimously by both Houses in December 1992, was a significant step taken to ensure democracy blooms at the grassroots level. But a government focused on centralisation (of powers) will find it difficult to understand decentralisation. The Gujarat government under Modi took the very reactionary step of financially rewarding any panchayat that did not hold elections. According to Modi's development model, the panchayats are to be brushed aside in order to grab the land and give it to the Adanis. Rajasthan and now Haryana have followed suit by placing regressive restrictions on less educated and poorer candidates, particularly Dalit women from even contesting panchayat elections. I must point out to you that Modi was the only chief minister to refuse me entry into Gujarat when as the first-ever Union minister during the first UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government. I was trying to chalk out state-specific action plans to be implemented for every state. Modi wanted to develop a model where panchayats could be brushed aside and land be handed over to corporates. Let me emphasise that by doing so, he is also reversing the Land Acquisition Act of 2013 which makes panchayats central to the entire process of acquisition. It is also anti-people because he has failed to appoint a separate minister for the panchayati raj in 2014. It is obvious he fails to understand that panchayati raj cannot be limited to just rural development schemes. He also fails to understand what the 73rd Amendment sought to do was a radical reorganisation of last-mile delivery of public goods and services to the panchayats. Don't you think you are being excessively harsh in your assessment of the prime minister? The man is personally a hypocrite. He wants to personalise his government. He wants to make everyone feel that he is all that matters. He believes all credit must go to him and if there is a debit, it should go to the others. He does not want equal partners. He is against the women of India. Downgrading this ministry is a very retrogressive step because panchayati raj is aimed at empowering women. Similarly, he is against Dalits, forgetting that the only way to get rid of poverty is to empower poor people so they can run their own affairs. Modi wants to project himself and therefore does not allow people to project themselves. The number of people participating in panchayati raj is unprecedented. As against around 5,000 elected MPs and MLAs, there are about 28 lakh (2 million) rural and about 4 lakh (400,000) urban representatives, with about 14 lakh (1.4 million) rural and urban women who have been elected. We have more elected women in India alone than in the rest of the world put together. Representation has also been given to SCs, STs and OBCs. This has been a tremendous achievement and it explains why this programme has been the engine for political and social revolution. Modi has no sympathy for these people. He is a budding fascist dictator, not a deeply democratic person like Rajiv Gandhi who was committing to devolving power because he genuinely believed that the system of power brokers must be done away with to give way to inclusive growth. There have been allegations of non-performance and misuse of funds by elected members of panchayats. Who ran the most expensive election campaign in 2014? It was funded by large capitalist houses who Modi has gone on to assist. He had declared that he would abolish corruption. Panchayats have been made responsible to gram sabhas in order to reduce despotism and in end corruption. This de-democratisation of local self-government would be aggravated if a Cabinet minister for panchayati raj was not available to advocate this cause with chief ministers and others in the states. We had gone on to prepare a five volume, 1,500 page report titled the 'Expert Committee on Leveraging Panchayats for Efficient Delivery of Public Goods and Services,' which was released in 2013. I doubt whether Modi is aware that this report exists. Were you the only full-fledged minister to head this ministry? It's bad enough that in the UPA government, the ministry of panchayati raj got devalued. I was the only independent minister. Montek (Singh Ahluwalia) and P Chidambaram were not in favour of it remaining under an independent minister and I did not enjoy the full cooperation of then prime minister Manmohan Singh. Congress President Sonia Gandhi remained completely supportive of our initiatives. To place this huge engine of social change to a minister of state is a disgrace. To achieve its objectives, it needs to become an independent ministry preferably under an influential minister. But the fact of the matter is that this remains a grossly undervalued ministry. It has to remain a crucial element of governance across the board. Establishing it meant establishing a third tier of governance. It meant devaluation of power on a large scale and called for a systemic overhaul of district and sub-district administration. How is the Congress poised to tackle all the challenges that you have alluded to in your interview? Nothing in politics is permanent. If we succeed in re-organising our party and establish a mahagathbandhan (grand alliance), then the Modi era will come to an end in 2019 and I am confident this will come to pass. The United States Democratic Partys deep divisions were on full display on a raucous first day of its convention on Monday, with Bernie Sanders portraying Hillary Clinton as a fellow soldier in his fight for economic equality while his supporters booed the mere mention of her name. On a dramatic first night of the Democratic convention, Michelle Obama brought the house down with an emphatic endorsement of Hillary Clinton. The first lady said she was the person most qualified to be president, and Im with her. Other Democratic headliners, including Senators Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren, sought to make the case to Sanders supporters that a Donald Trump presidency would be so dire that they must vote for Clinton. The most important political moment of the night came when Sanders delivered the full-throated endorsement that the Clinton campaign had longed for. Here are the highlights from Day 1 of the convention. BERNIE SANDERS IMAGE: Former Democratic US presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders thrusts his fist in the air as he arrives to speak during the first session at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders lost the presidential race well over a month ago, but on Monday, he ended months of animosity when he proudly endorsed Hillary Clinton, saying she must become the next US president as the choice between her and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is not close. Based on her ideas and her leadership -- Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close, 71-year-old Sanders said in his address to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. In these stressful times for our country, this election must be about bringing our people together, not dividing us up. While Donald Trump is busy insulting one group after another, Hillary Clinton understands that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths, he told his cheering supporters. Yes. We become stronger when black and white, Latino, Asian-American, Native American -- all of us -- stand together. Yes. We become stronger when men and women, young and old, gay and straight, native-born and immigrant fight to create the kind of country we all know we can become, he said. Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her here tonight, said the senator from Vermont who during the primary election season gave some sleepless nights to the former Secretary of State by winning as many as 23 primaries. MICHELLE OBAMA IMAGE: US First Lady Michelle Obama acknowledges the crowd after delivering a powerful and noteworthy speech. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images US First Lady Michelle Obamas convention speech Monday night began as a pleasant story about her teenage daughters who arrived at the White House as children. The niceties soon turned into a political attack on the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, who Obama did not name as she directed her ire at him. This country is great, Obama said at one point, while firmly stating, Im with her, to back Democrat Hillary Clinton. I am here tonight because in this election, there is only one person who I trust with [the responsibility of the presidency,] she said. Only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States. And that is our friend, Hillary Clinton. IMAGE: After initially being booed for her support for Clinton, she won the crowd over with many even suggesting on social media that 'FLOTUS could be POTUS'. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images Obama was not immune from boos. Sanders supporters booed and began chanting Bernie! Bernie! as Obama endorsed Clinton. Obama seemed to acknowledge them, saying that when Hillary Clinton lost against her husband in 2008, she didnt get angry or disillusioned. Hillary did not pack up and go home, because as a true public servant, Hillary knows this is so much bigger than her own desires and disappointments. But Obama managed to unify the arena by taking on big themes, by portraying the United States as a country that strives to better itself, as country still on the ascent. That is the story of this country. The story that has brought me to this stage tonight, Obama said. The story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done, so that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves -- and I watch my daughters -- two beautiful, intelligent, black young women -- playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters -- and all of our sons and daughters -- can take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States. SARAH SILVERMAN IMAGE: Senator Al Franken and comedienne Sarah Silverman. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters Amid speeches made by politicians, several celebrities also turned up on the first night of the convention. Amongst them was actress Sarah Silverman. A proud Sanders supporter, she praised Clinton and said, I will proudly vote for her. She said she would continue to be inspired by Sanders and his movement. Silvermans remarks were followed by chants of Bernie, Bernie. She told the Bernie or bust people they were being ridiculous. EVA LONGORIA IMAGE: Actress Eva Longoria waves to the crowd after delivering remarks in which she slammed Donald Trump. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Actress Eva Longoria took the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia Monday night to speak out against Republican nominee Donald Trump. The Desperate Housewives star threw her support behind presumed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton before talking about her familys background. Im from a small town in South Texas, and if you know your history, Texas used to be part of Mexico, the star said. Im ninth generation American. My family never crossed a border; the border crossed us. Longoria made a clear reference to Trumps June 2015 statement that Mexican immigrants are bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. She said, When Donald Trump calls us criminals and rapists, hes insulting American families. My father is not a criminal or a rapist, in fact, hes a United States veteran. The situation in flood-ravaged Namsai and East Siang districts of Arunachal Pradesh continued to be grim on Tuesday even as water level of several rivers in other affected areas showed a receding trend with an improvement in weather condition. The flood situation at Namsai, the worst-affected district, worsened with reports of fresh areas being inundated by Noa Dehing, Tengapani and Jengthu rivers which were flowing above the danger mark. Most of the roads have been severely damaged and several areas were cut off due to washing away of culverts. Supply of electricity was snapped as electric poles were uprooted by soil erosion in Lekang circle. Movement of vehicles on NH-52 has been suspended due to flood water which has weakened two culverts. Around 3,500 hectares of agriculture field, 115 fish ponds were totally submerged and damaged by flood water in the district. Around 250 cattle, 400 pigs, 200 goats and 2,000 poultry birds have died or washed away, an official report from Namsai said. Over 3,500 houses were completely damaged and the residential areas were still inundated. In the past three days, Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein and Namsai MLA Chau Zingnu Namchoom have visited the flood-affected areas of the district and took stock of the situation. The district administration, with the help of National Disaster Response Force and Central Reserve Police Force, has intensified relief operation and rescued around 260 people. A total of 28 relief camps accommodating around 6,000 inmates, mostly in Lekang circle, were operational. Meanwhile, the deputy chief minister, who visited flood-hit areas of Changlang district on Monday, assured the affected of all possible help from the state government. Terming flood as major problem which hits Diyun area in Changlang every year, Mein suggested plugging of river in the lower banks to avert its recurrence. According to a report from East Siang district, the flood situation continued to remain grim in Pasighat. Torrential rain has thrown life out of gear and submerged different parts of the century-old township. Sibokorong and Siang rivers were flowing above the danger level. The week-long rains have also left a trail of devastation in Lohit district, even as the rivers namely Asapani, Sukha,Denning, Tezu Khola and Dhura have started receding after improvement in weather condition since Monday. The Dhura river had caused damage to roads and entered part of Changliang village, which still remained cut-off. The complete diversion of the Dhura river after entering the village also damaged culverts and NH-13. The deputy chief minister had on Monday said, There will be no shortage of basic necessary items for the flood victims who have taken shelter in relief camps. The state government will try its level best to bring permanent solution to the recurring flood in Diyun area caused by overflowing of Noa Dehing river, he said and directed the executive engineer of the Water Resources Development to submit a detailed report and estimates to the government immediately for a durable flood protection measures. Earlier in the day, local MLA Nikh Kamin informed Mein that river erosion has rendered about 200 families landless while about 1,000 people were affected by flood in the area. As India celebrates 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the firmness demonstrated by the National Democratic Alliance government in 1999 ensured a decisive victory in Kargil as he saluted the soldiers who laid down their lives for the country. IMAGE: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar along with the Chief of Army Staff, General Dalbir Singh Suhag, Naval Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba and Chief of the Air Staff and Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha pays homage at Amar Jawan Jyoti in New Delhi. Photograph: Kamal Singh/PTI In a string of tweets, Modi said, "We recall with pride, the firmness demonstrated by India's political leadership in 1999, which ensured a decisive victory in Kargil." "India will never forget the fearlessness with which our courageous soldiers gave a befitting & unforgettable reply to the intruders," he tweeted. IMAGE: Manohar Parrikar and Defence Forces Chiefs salute martyrs. Photograph: Kamal Singh/PTI The prime minister said, "On Kargil Vijay Diwas I bow to every valiant soldier who fought for India till the very last breath. Their heroic sacrifices inspire us." IMAGE: Jawans pay homage to Kargil war martyrs in Patna. Photograph: PTI The battle took place between India and Pakistan during May-July, 1999. The conflict was triggered after Pakistani soldiers managed to occupy key positions on the Indian side of the Line of Control in Kargil sector. It had officially come to an end on July 26, 1999. IMAGE: School students celebrate Kargil Vijay Diwas in Jalandhar. Photograph: PTI The Chief of Northern Army Command, Lt Gen D S Hooda also paid homage to the martyrs of 'Operation Vijay' at the war memorial in Jammu and Kashmir's Drass sector. IMAGE: Sudarsan Pattnaik creates a sand art to salute brave soldiers. Photograph: Sudarsan Pattnaik /Twitter Celebrations to commemorate the victory of Indian troops over Pakistani intruders in the 1999 war, started with great fervour and enthusiasm under the aegis of Leh Corps on July 21. IMAGE: Army Commander, Northern Command Lt Gen D S Hooda pays tributes at the Kargil war memorial at Drass in Jammu and Kashmir. Photograph: PTI Hooda was accompanied by General Officer Commanding of Ladakh-based Fire and Fury Corps Lt Gen S K Patyal, the spokesman said, adding, he also interacted with the 'veer naaris' (wives of the slain soldiers), awardees and relatives. IMAGE: School students celebrate Kargil Vijay Diwas in Bikaner. Photograph: PTI Speaking on the occasion, Gen Hooda paid glowing tributes to the sacrifices and expressed his gratitude to the slain soldiers, their next of kins and wives. IMAGE: Kargil war martyr Ganesh's family members pay homage to the martyrs at Kargil Chowk in Patna. Photograph: PTI A memorial service which included prayers by religious teachers and lighting of lamps was organised at the War memorial last evening. The week long celebrations, ending Tuesday, included many events involving the local citizens, especially the youth and children from Drass and Kargil regions. The attacker believed that 'all disabled people needed to be killed'. A 26-year-old former employee of a care facility in Japan killed 19 people and injured 25 others, 20 seriously, in a knife attack on Tuesday. Nine women and 10 men were among those killed at the Tsukui Yamayuri En (Tsukui Lily Garden) care facility in Sagamihara, south of Tokyo, by Satoshi Uematsu. Shortly after executing the worst mass killing in Japan since the end of World War II, the 26-year-old surrendered to the police saying, 'I did it'. He also reportedly told the police about wanting to kill disabled people. 'It is better that disabled people disappear,' media reports quoted police sources as saying. CCTV footage played on TV news programmes showed a man driving up in a black car and carrying several knives to the Tsukui Yamayuri-en facility in Sagamihara, 50 kilometers west of Tokyo. The Tsukui Yamayuri Garden facility is set in extensive grounds with separate living quarters for men and women. It cares for people with a wide range of disabilities and had about 150 residents at the time of the attack, according to local officials. IMAGE: An unidentified person is seen inside a facility for the disabled, where the deadly attack took place, in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters The victims were aged between 18 and 70, the Kyodo news agency said citing the Sagamihara City Fire Department. Twenty-nine emergency squads responded to the attack, Kyodo reported, with those wounded taken to at least six hospitals in the western Tokyo area. A woman who said she used to work at the facility said many patients were profoundly disabled. "They are truly innocent people. What did they do? This is shocking," she told Japanese television station TBS. IMAGE: Police officers stand guard outside the facility for the disabled. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters At a hastily-called news conference Tuesday morning, Kanagawa Governor Yuji Kuroiwa offered 'sincere condolences and an apology' to the victims and their families, as the prefecture oversees the facility. The prefecture will do whatever it can to support the families and come up with measures to prevent a recurrence, Kuroiwa said. The man broke in by shattering a window at 2:10 am (local time), according to a prefectural health official, and then set about slashing the patients throats. Details of how he did that, and if the victims were asleep or otherwise helpless, were not immediately known, although a letter he sent to Japans Parliament in February gave a peek into Uematsus dark turmoil. He worked at the Tsukui Yamayuri-en facility from 2012 to February this year and knew it well. He knew that there would be fewer staffers in the wee hours, Japanese media reports said. Uematsu, who once dreamed of becoming a teacher, somehow started thinking that disabled people needed to be killed. In February, he tried to hand deliver a letter he wrote to Parliaments lower house speaker, demanding all disabled people be put to death through a world that allows for mercy killing, Kyodo news agency and TBS TV reported. Uematsu boasted in the letter that he had the ability to kill 470 disabled people in what he called was a revolution, and outlined an attack on two facilities, after which he said he will turn himself in. He also asked he be judged innocent on grounds of insanity, be given 500 million yen (Rs 33.5 crore) in aid and plastic surgery so he could lead a normal life afterward. IMAGE: A police officer stands guard near the facility for the disabled. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters Mass killings are rare in Japan, which has extremely strict gun control laws. In 2008, a man drove a truck into a packed shopping district at Akihabara in Tokyo, before climbing out and randomly stabbing people. Seven people died, the BBC reported. That attack occurred on the same date that a man with a history of mental illness stabbed eight children to death at an Osaka primary school in 2001. A revision to Japan's Swords and Firearms Control Law was introduced in 2009 in the wake of the Akihabara attack, banning the possession of double-edged knives and further tightening gun-ownership rules. Members of a doomsday cult killed 12 and made thousands ill in 1995 in simultaneous attacks with sarin nerve gas on five Tokyo rush-hour subway trains. An 86-year-old priest had his throat slit by two knifemen who cut his throat after bursting into a French church and taking nuns and worshippers hostage before being shot dead by police. The Islamic State has claimed the responsibility for the attack, saying two 'soldiers' from the group carried it out. Five people, including the priest, two nuns and two parishioners were held by the assailants who raided the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy on Tuesday. IMAGE: A policeman reacts as he secures a position in front of the city hall after two assailants had taken five people hostage in the church at Saint-Etienne-du -Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy. Photograph: Pascal Rossignol/Reuters The clergyman, named as Jacques Hamel, is believed to have been beheaded during the attack while another hostage is hovering between life and death in hospital. Frances interior ministry spokesman said the church was surrounded by Frances anti-gang brigade the BRI, which specialises in kidnappings, and that the two assailants came out and were killed by police. Three of the hostages were freed unharmed, and another was fighting for their life, he said. The building is being searched for possible explosives. Pope Francis has expressed his pain and horror at the incident with a spokesman saying the Pontiff was appalled by the barbaric killing because it happened in a sacred place. IMAGE: Police and rescue workers stand at the scene after two assailants had taken five people hostage in the church at Saint-Etienne-du -Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy. Photograph: Steve Bonet/Reuters Anti-terrorist judges immediately opened an investigation in to Tuesdays attack, as President Francois Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve attended the scene. Hollande appealed for unity in France, where political blame trading has poisoned the aftermath of the truck attack, the third major strike in the country in 18 months. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls tweeted that he was horrified at the barbaric attack adding: All France and all Catholics are bruised. France is currently on high alert after an attack in Nice on Bastille Day July 14 that killed 84 people and a string of deadly attacks last year claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 147 others. France is also under a state of emergency and has extra police presence in the wake of the Nice attack in which a man barrelled his truck down the citys famed Promenade des Anglais, mowing down holiday crowds. Britain on Tuesday ordered a scoping review into the police handling of hate crimes after a sharp rise in such cases in the wake of the Brexit vote last month.. Britain's new home secretary, Amber Rudd announced that Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary will analyse how forces in England and Wales respond to such crimes after recent figures showed there have been more than 6,000 reports of hate crime to police since June 23, when Britain voted to leave the European Union. The review will also look at how hate crime and abuse is handled in schools. It is part of a package of measures that ministers say will improve how hate crime is tackled. "This government is determined to build a Britain that works for everyone," she said. "Those who practise hatred send out a message that it's ok to abuse and attack others because of their nationality, ethnicity or religious background. That it's ok to disregard our shared values and promote the intolerance that causes enormous harm to communities and individuals. "Well, I have a very clear message for them. We will not stand for it. Hatred has no place whatsoever in a 21st century Great Britain that works for everyone," said the home secretary, appointed by British Prime Minister Theresa May earlier this month. "We are Great Britain because we are united by values such as democracy, free speech, mutual respect and opportunity for all. We are the sum of all our parts -- a proud, diverse society. Hatred does not get a seat at the table, and we will do everything we can to stamp it out," she added. Rudd has commissioned HMIC to carry out a "scoping study" into forces' understanding of and response to hate crime of all types, including crimes against the disabled. "That will help to give confidence, to give reassurance, and also to make sure communities who feel they're experiencing too much hate crime are able to get that confidence back from the police that it's being addressed,"she said. A 2.4-million-pounds fund is also planned for security measures at places of worship around the country. Figures released last week hard revealed that the daily rate of hate crimes peaked at 289 on 25 June, the day after the referendum result was announced. Crown Prosecution Service figures released earlier this month showed it was prosecuting a record number of 15,442 hate crimes in 2015-16 -- a 4.8 per cent rise on the previous year. Two activists with the European Union flag and Union Jack painted on their faces kiss each other in front of Brandenburg Gate to protest against British exit from the EU, in Berlin, Germany. The sign reads, "A kiss against hate". Photograph: Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters Azerbaijan: compulsory military service, including requirements and exemptions; penalties for evasion or desertion (2011-May 2016) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 2 June 2016 Citation / Document Symbol AZE105538.E Related Document(s) Azerbaidjan : information sur le service militaire obligatoire, y compris les exigences et les exemptions; les sanctions imposees aux conscrits refractaires et aux deserteurs (2011-mai 2016) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Azerbaijan: compulsory military service, including requirements and exemptions; penalties for evasion or desertion (2011-May 2016), 2 June 2016, AZE105538.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57974d494.html [accessed 28 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. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa 1. Overview The Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan provides the following directives regarding service in the armed forces: Article 76. Defense of Homeland. Defense of Homeland shall be the duty of every citizen. Citizens shall serve in the armed forces according to the order specified by the Law. If serving in the armed forces runs counter to a Person's convictions then active military service can be replaced by an alternative one in the cases specified by the Law. (Azerbaijan 1995) A 30 December 2014 article from the Azeri Press Agency (APA), an Azerbaijan-based independent information agency (APA n.d.), indicates that there is a "law on military duty and military service" and that according to the Chairman of the Parliament's Defence and Security Committee, this law, amended on 30 December 2014, includes "improvement of military registration" and "articles on persons not to be recruited into the army and those ineligible for military service" (APA 30 Dec. 2014). Translated excerpts of this law are attached to this response. Sources indicate that Azerbaijan requires men between the ages of 18-35 to perform military service (Radio Free Europe 21 Feb. 2012; US 16 May 2016). Sources indicate that the duration of compulsory military service is 18 months, and 12 months for "university graduates" (ibid.; EBCO n.d.b). The European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO), an umbrella organisation for national associations for conscientious objectors which serves to lobby "European governments and institutions for the full recognition of the right to conscientious objection to military service" (EBCO n.d.a), indicates that conscription is enforced in Azerbaijan (EBCO Oct. 2015, 35). Sources report that President Ilham Aliyev issued conscription orders in September 2014 (Trend 10 Sept. 2014); in May 2015 (APA 29 May 2015); and in March 2016 (Report News Agency 1 Apr. 2016). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. In its annual report on conscientious objection to military service, EBCO states that according to the Military Balance 2015 [1], information on the number of conscripts in the Azerbaijani military was not known in 2015 (EBCO Oct. 2015, 39). Further and corroborating information on the numbers of conscripts in the Azerbaijani military could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 1.1 Registration for Military Service A 2014 APA article states, [a]ccording to article 28.6 annexed to the law [on military duty and military service], military cards are given to citizens drafted to active military duty, citizens registered as [ineligible] for active military service in both peacetime and wartime, [and those] transferred from active military duty to reserve under the decision of the military commissariat (APA 30 Dec. 2014). For further information, see the translation of Article 28.6 of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Military Duty and Military Service attached to this response. In its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015, the US Department of State reports that in Azerbaijan, men of draft age are legally required to register with military authorities before traveling abroad (US 13 Apr. 2016, 24). Further and corroborating information on procedures and documents required to register for military service could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 2. Alternative Service for Conscientious Objectors In a submission to the UN Human Rights Committee in 2014, Azerbaijan notes that the constitution allows for alternative civilian service for those whose beliefs do not allow them to serve in the military in "cases prescribed by the law," however, such a law "has not been adopted so far" (Azerbaijan 22 Dec. 2014, 38). In the same submission, Azerbaijan indicates that, given the absence of legislation regulating alternative service, conscientious objectors are conscripted (ibid.). Amnesty International (AI) states that "while Azerbaijan's [c]onstitution provides for alternative service, no appropriate legislation has been enacted to ensure the enforcement of the right to conscientious objection" (AI 14 May 2013). Similarly, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom's (USCIRF) Annual Report 2015 indicates that when Azerbaijan became a member of the Council of Europe in 2001, it promised to adopt a law on alternative service within two years, but that this law has not been enacted (US 30 Apr. 2015, 141). EBCO states that in Azerbaijan "there is no right to conscientious objection" (EBCO, n.d.b) and that there is no alternative civilian service available (ibid. Oct. 2015, 38). Azerbaijan's submission to the UN Human Rights Committee in 2014 notes that "in accordance with established practice in [the] Armed Forces," conscientious objectors are appointed to positions that are "not related to arms or military equipment within the Military Unit" (22 Dec. 2014, 38). An article in News.az, a Baku-based online agency that seeks to raise awareness of Azerbaijan in the world (News.az n.d.), quotes a member of the parliamentary Security and Defence Committee, as telling journalists that "alternative service [can] not be considered until [there is] resolution of the conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh," and that "there [is] no need to make changes to the rules for conscription" (News.az 16 Feb. 2012). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 3. Deferral and Exemptions 3.1 Deferral Country Reports 2014 indicates that there is no legal recognition ofment of military service for graduate or undergraduate studies, but that military draft boards "commonly granted suchments upon presentation of proof of enrollment" (US 25 June 2015, 24). However, article 18 of the Law on Military Duty and Military Service states the following: Article 18. Deferment from the conscription 18.1. Deferment from compulsory conscription is given with the decision of regional, city, and state call-up commission under the following bases: 18.1.3. to continue education (Azerbaijan 2011). Freedom Now, a U.S.-based non-profit organization that "works to free individual prisoners of conscience" (Freedom Now n.d.a), notes thatments for military service are "made available for men [who are] enrolled in higher education programs" (ibid. n.d.b). In contrast, an article in Today.az, an Azerbaijan-based English news portal (Today.az n.d.), indicates that a clause onral of military service for students pursuing graduate studies was excluded when a "law on science" was altered, quoting the "parliamentary committee chairman on the issues of science and education" as stating that "it is inappropriate to allow for postponing military service while the country is under war conditions and [a] peace agreement is not signed" (ibid. 17 May 2016). Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. For further information onral, including on other grounds forral than education, see the translation of Chapter V of the law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Military Duty and Military Service, attached to this Response. Information on implementation of grounds forral could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 3.2 Exemptions Regarding the possibility of paying a fee for exemption from conscription, in correspondence with the Research Directorate, a representative of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR), a global network of non-violence organizations (IFOR n.d.), who regularly provides briefings to the UN Human Rights Committee on issues of military service and conscientious objection, indicated that he has not heard of such an option (IFOR representative 24 May 2016). Further information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. For further information on grounds for exemption, see the translation of Chapter V, Article 23 of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Military Duty and Military Service, attached to this Response. Information on implementation of the law regarding exemptions, and procedures surrounding exemptions could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 3.3 Corruption Country Reports 2015 states that in 2015 "there was a widespread belief that a bribe could [result in] a waiver of the military service obligation" and for a smaller bribe one could "buy assignments to easier military duties" (US 13 Apr. 2016, 28). In February 2015, Turan Information Agency, a Baku-based independent news agency (Turan n.d.), reports that a Deputy Chief doctor of the Sabirabad Central District hospital, who is also the head of the military medical commission tasked with conscription, was arrested for corruption, including allegedly taking bribes for deeming men unfit for military service (Turan 4 Feb. 2015). Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 4. Evasion of Military Service The Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan (2000) states the following regarding the evasion of military service: Article 321. Evasion serving in military 321.1. Evasion without the lawful grounds from next appeal on military service or from an appeal on mobilization, with a purpose of evasion from serving in military - is punished by imprisonment for the term up to two years. 321.2. The same act committed in wartime - is punished by imprisonment for the term from three up to six years. Article 335. Evasion from military service by causing harm to health or in different way 335.1. Evasion of a military man from military service by causing any harm to health or feigned illness, forgery of documents, or other deceit, as well as refusal from implementing duties of military service - is punished by restriction on military service for the term up to one year or maintenance to disciplinary military unit for the term up to two years. 335.2. The same acts committed in wartime or fighting conditions - is punished by imprisonment for the term from three up to five years. (Azerbaijan 2000). The law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Freedom of Religious Belief" further states: Article 4. Legal Equality of Persons Irrespective of their Religious Beliefs No one shall have the right to refuse or decline to fulfil obligations determined by the law for his/her religious beliefs. Changing performing one duty by another for religious motives is permitted only in cases stipulated by the legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan" (ibid. 1992). 4.1 Response to Evasion of Military Service by Authorities EBCO states that conscientious objectors in Azerbaijan are "prosecuted, imprisoned and ill-treated" (EBCO n.d.b). Similarly, according to the European Association of Jehovah's Christian Witnesses (EAJCW), a charity "that assists the adherents of the faith of the Jehovah's Witnesses in various areas of the world" (EAJCW 17 Dec. 2015, 2), "Azerbaijan continues to harass, prosecute, and imprison" conscientious objectors (EAJCW 17 Dec. 2015, 13)[2]. Without providing further information, the IFOR representative indicated that there is "a trickle of cases of imprisonment and repeated imprisonment of conscientious objectors" but that the practice seems "haphazard" (IFOR 24 May 2016). Information on the ability of the Azerbaijani authorities to track military service evaders and statistical information on the number of people convicted for draft evasion could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 4.2 Cases of Enforcement of Penalties for Military Service Evasion Sources report the following cases whereby people have been punished for evasion of military service: Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, an activist and former parliamentary candidate, was sentenced to two years in prison for draft evasion on 18 May 2011 (The New York Times 18 May 2011; IWPR 19 May 2011; Freedom Now n.d.b). Sources indicate that he had told authorities that he wanted to perform alternative service (ibid.; EBCO n.d.b). Freedom Now indicates that his appeals were rejected, that his requests for parole were denied on three occasions, and that he was released early by order of the Supreme Court for good behaviour on 4 June 2012, after serving 15 months in prison (Freedom Now n.d.b). Sources further indicate that he was beaten and threatened with rape (ibid.; EBCO n.d.b). Sources indicate that he was arrested because of his involvement in the organization of an anti-government protest (Freedom Now n.d.b) or "on charges [that were] politically motivated" (IWPR 19 May 2011). Sources report that Fakhraddin Mirzayev was sentenced to one year in prison (EAJCW 17 Dec. 2015, 14; US 30 Apr. 2013, 4). According to USCIRF, the Jehovah's Witness was given the sentence in September 2012 (ibid.). The EAJCW notes that he was convicted under article 321.1 of the Criminal Code (EAJCW 17 Dec. 2015, 14). The Norwegian Helsinki Committee, a Norway-based human rights organization (Norwegian Helsinki Committee n.d.), indicates that he lost two appeals, but was amnestied as part of a large prisoner amnesty in May 2013 (ibid. 2015, 54). Sources indicate that Kamran Mirzayev received a nine month prison sentence for military service evasion on 12 March 2013 (ibid.; EAJCW 17 Dec. 2015, 14). According to the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Mirzayev was a Jehovah's Witness (Norwegian Helsinki Committee 2015, 54). The same source notes that his appeal was rejected but that he was released on 20 June 2013 (ibid.). According to EAJCW, his release was part of a "general amnesty" (EAJCW 17 Dec. 2015, 14). According to the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Kamran Shikhaliyev [Shikhaliev], a Jehovah's Witness, was conscripted against his will in October 2013 (Norwegian Helsinki Committee 2015, 54). The US International Religious Freedom Report 2014 states that he was sentenced to a year of service in a military disciplinary unit (US 14 Oct. 2015, 7). According to the same source, he lost his court appeal of the sentence in August 2014 (ibid.). According to Forum 18 News Service (Forum 18), a Christian initiative that "provides original reporting and analysis on violations of freedom of thought, conscience and belief" (Forum 18 n.d.), Shikhaliev was maltreated after his forced conscription, and "forcibly conscripted and then punished" for evading military service (ibid. 19 Nov. 2015). The same source indicates that Shikhaliev was convicted first in 2014, and again on 18 August 2015, and his appeals were rejected (ibid.). The IFOR representative also noted that Shikhaliev received a sentence of one year in a disciplinary military unit for evasion of military service under article 335.1 of the Criminal Code in April 2014, and received a repeated sentence in 2015 (IFOR 24 May 2015). AI reports that Jabbar Savalan, a university student and political activist who had earlier been imprisoned on "fabricated drug charges," was conscripted on 30 April 2012, without a medical examination or the required 10 day notification of conscription (AI 3 May 2012). Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. In December 2014, Turan Information Agency reported that, in spite of having been declared unfit for military service, Miraga Abbasov, a political activist, was arrested for 25 days on charges of resisting arrest and evading military service (Turan 19 Dec. 2014). Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 4.3 Penalties for Desertion The Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan states the following: Article 334. Desertion 334.1. Desertion, that is autocratic absence of a military man from military unit or places of service, or not returning (absence) to a place of service for over three months, as well as autocratic absence from military unit or places of service, or not returning (absence) to a place of service with a view of evasion from serving in military, irrespective of duration - is punished by imprisonment for the term from three up to seven years. 334.2. Desertion with a weapon, supplies or explosives entrusted on service, without purpose of their plunder, as well as desertion committed by group of persons - is punished by imprisonment for the term from five up to eight years. 334.3. The acts provided by articles 334.1 and 334.2 of the present Code, committed in wartime or fighting conditions - is punished by imprisonment for the term from five up to ten years. NOTE: The person who for the first time has committed acts, provided by articles 334.1 of the present Code, can be released from a criminal liability if of these acts was committed on consequence of confluence of heavy circumstances. (Azerbaijan 2000) Information on statistics on conviction for desertion, or cases of desertion and treatment of deserters could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. Notes [1] The Military Balance is an "annual assessment of global military capabilities and defence economics" (IISS n.d.a), produced by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), an independent organisation focused on promoting "the adoption of sound policies to further global peace and security" (IISS n.d.b). [2] Based on their beliefs, Jehovah's Witnesses "do not go to war" (Jehovah's Witnesses n.d.) References Amnesty International (AI). 14 May 2013. "Right to Conscientious Objection Still Not Guaranteed in Europe." [Accessed 10 May 2016] _____. 3 May 2012. "Jabbar Savalan Conscripted into Army." [Accessed 18 May 2016] Azeri Press Agency (APA). 29 May 2015. "Azerbaijani President Issues Order on Conscription." [Accessed 24 May 2016] _____. 30 December 2014. "Azerbaijan Makes Amendments to Law on Military Duty and Military Service." [Accessed 19 May 2016] _____. N.d. "About Company." [Accessed 25 May 2016] Azerbaijan. 22 December 2014. Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 40 of the Covenant; Fourth Periodic Report of States Parties due in 2013: Republic of Azerbaijan. [Accessed 24 May 2016] _____. 2011. The Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Military Duty and Military Service. Excerpts translated by the Translation Agency of Ontario. [Accessed 20 May 2016] _____. 2000. Criminal Code of the Azerbaijan Republic. [Accessed 19 May 2016] _____. 1995. Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan. [Accessed 19 May 2016] _____. 1992 (amended 2011). Law on Freedom of Religious Belief. [Accessed 26 May 2016] The European Association of Jehovah's Christian Witnesses (EAJCW). 17 December 2015. Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee Prior to the Adoption of the List of Issues - Azerbaijan. [Accessed 18 May 2016] European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO). October 2015. Conscientious Objection to Military Service in Europe 2015. [Accessed: 16 May 2016] _____. N.d.a. "About EBCO." [Accessed 19 May 2016] _____. N.d.b. "Azerbaijan." [Accessed 16 May 2016] Forum 18. 19 November 2015. Felix Corley. "Azerbaijan: Conscientious Objector (Again) One of 20 Current Prisoners of Conscience." [Accessed 24 May 2016] _____. N.d. "About." [Accessed 25 May 2016] Freedom Now. N.d.a. "Our Mission." [Accessed 19 May 2016] _____. N.d.b. "Bakhtiyar Hajiyev Azerbaijan." [Accessed 19 May 2016] International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR). 24 May 2016. Correspondence from a representative to the Research Directorate. _____. "About IFOR." [Accessed 25 May 2016] _____. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 25 May 2016] Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR). 19 May 2011. Idrak Abbasov. "Azerbaijan: Anger at Jailing of Opposition Activist." [Accessed 25 May 2016] International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). N.d.a. "The Military Balance." https://www.iiss.org/en/publications/military-s-balance/issues [Accessed 1 June 2016] _____. N.d.b. "About Us." [Accessed 1 June 2016] Jehova's Witnesses. "Why Don't Jehovah's Witnesses Go to War?". [Accessed 1 June 2016] News.az. 16 February 2012. "No Alternative Military Service Until Karabakh Resolution - MP." [Accessed 19 May 2016] _____. "About." [Accessed 25 May 2016] The New York Times. 18 May 2011. Ellen Barry. "Azerbaijan: Court Sentences Activist to Two Years on Draft Evasion Charges." [Accessed 19 May 2016] Norwegian Helsinki Committee. 2015. "Azerbaijan: Behind the Tolerance Facade Freedom of Religion or Belief Restricted." [Accessed 19 May 2016] _____. N.d. "About the Norwegian Helsinki Committee." [Accessed 26 May 2016] Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 21 February 2012. "Azerbaijan to Reform Military Conscription." [Accessed 19 May 2016] Report News Agency. 1 April 2016. "Azerbaijan Starts Next Conscription." [Accessed 24 May 2016] Today.az.17 May 2016. Nigar Abbasova. "Parliament Approves New Amendments." (Factiva) _____.N.d. "Advertising." [Accessed 24 May 2016] Trend. 10 September 2014. "Azerbaijani President Issues Order on Conscription." (Factiva) Turan Information Agency. 4 February 2015. "Politics." (Factiva) _____. 19 December 2014. "Politics." (Factiva) _____. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 25 May 2016] United States (US). 16 May 2016. Central Intelligence Agency. "Azerbaijan." The World Factbook. [Accessed 26 May 2016] _____. 13 April 2016. Department of State. "Azerbaijan." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015. [Accessed 10 May 2016] _____. 14 October 2015. Department of State. "Azerbaijan." 2014 International Religious Freedom Report. [Accessed 10 May 2016] _____. 25 June 2015. Department of State. "Azerbaijan." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014. [Accessed 10 May 2016] _____. 30 April 2015. US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). "Azerbaijan (Tier 2)." Annual Report 2015. [Accessed 10 May 2016] _____. 30 April 2013. US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). "Azerbaijan (Tier 2)." Annual Report 2013. [Accessed 25 May 2016] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: Azerbaijan - Embassy in Ottawa; European Bureau for Conscientious Objection; War Resisters' International. Internet sites, including: Agence France Presse; Azerbaijan - Ministry of Justice; Azerbaijan.az; Azernews; Azerbaijan International; Azerbaijannews; Azerbaijantoday; AZTV; BBC; Council of Europe - European Court of Human Rights; "Doctrine" Journalists' Military Research Centre; ecoi.net; Eurasianet; European Union - PRADO; Factiva; Freedom House; Human Rights Quarterly; Human Rights Watch; International Crisis Group; IRIN; Jane's Intelligence Review; Journal of Refugee Studies; Keesing's Document Checker; Metbuat; Milli Majlis [Parliament]; News.az; Norway - Landinfo; Post-Soviet Armies Newsletter; Radio France Internationale; Transparency International; United Nations - Development Program, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, UNHCR, Refworld, Reliefweb; War Resisters' International. Attachment Azerbaijan. 2011. The Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Military Job and Military Service. Excerpts translated by the Translation Agency of Ontario. [Accessed 20 May 2016] Azerbaijan: Information on the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (APFP), including its membership, structure, activities, involvement in demonstrations prior to and after the elections of 1 November 2015, including police and government response; treatment of members by the police and by government (January 2015-May 2016) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 16 May 2016 Citation / Document Symbol AZE105517.E Related Document(s) Azerbaidjan : information sur le Front populaire de l'Azerbaidjan (Azerbaijan Popular Front Party - APFP), y compris sur ses membres, sa structure, ses activites et sa participation a des manifestations avant et apres les elections du 1er novembre 2015, de meme que la reponse de la police et du gouvernement; traitement reserve aux membres par la police et le gouvernement (janvier 2015-mai 2016) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Azerbaijan: Information on the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (APFP), including its membership, structure, activities, involvement in demonstrations prior to and after the elections of 1 November 2015, including police and government response; treatment of members by the police and by government (January 2015-May 2016), 16 May 2016, AZE105517.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57974e5d4.html [accessed 28 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. 1. Overview According to the European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity [1], the APFP [in Azerbaijani Azrbaycan Xalq Cbhsi Partiyasy (Researcher 28 Apr. 2016)] emerged from the Popular Front movement for Azerbaijan's national independence (European Forum 5 Nov. 2015). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a researcher affiliated with the Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University who specializes in Azerbaijani political activism stated that the Popular Front "started as a national movement after independence bringing together academics, university students, and dissidents" (Researcher 28 Apr. 2016). Sources report that the movement re-established itself as a party in 1992, and, in the same year, won the Azerbaijani national elections (ibid.; Sultanova Jan. 2014, 17). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a lecturer with the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, who specializes in non-democratic regimes in post-Soviet Eurasia, stated that upon winning the elections of 1992, the leader of the Popular Front, Albufaz Elchibey, was declared President of Azerbaijan (Lecturer 6 May 2016). In 1993, the Popular Front was removed from power in a coup which marked the beginning of the rule of Heydar Aliyev (Sultanova janv. 2014, 17-18; European Forum 5 Nov. 2015). According to sources, Heydar Aliyev is the father of Azerbaijan's current president Ilham Aliyev (ibid.; Sultanova Jan. 2014, 23). Sources indicate that after the death of Elchibey in 2000, the APFP split into a "classical" wing, led by Mirmahmud Miralioglu, and a "reformist" faction, led by Ali Karimli [Kerimli] (ibid., 20; Researcher 28 Apr. 2016). According to sources, in 2004, another faction, led by Gudrat Hasanguliev, split off and established itself as the Whole of Azerbaijan Popular Front Party [also referred to as Whole Azerbaijan Popular Front (Lecturer 6 May 2016) or United Popular Front (Instructor 28 Apr. 2016)] (Lecturer 6 May 2016; AECR n.d.). Sources stated that Hasanguliev's party has been described as a "puppet" opposition party; it is suspected to have been established by the government in order to "confuse voters" and to secretly support the current regime's agenda (Researcher 28 Apr. 2016; Lecturer 6 May 2016). Sources describe the current position of the APFP, led by Karimli, as "one of two main opposition parties" (Researcher 28 Apr. 2016) or "the most prominent [opposition party] in Azerbaijan's politics" (Lecturer 6 May 2016). According to the researcher, Karimli's party is the "heir to Elchibey's party and is the one we refer to as Popular Front Party today" (Researcher 28 Apr. 2016). In a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, an instructor at the Department of Political Science of the University of Toronto Mississauga, who has written on the political situation in Azerbaijan, stated that the classical wing "has no broad base of support" (Instructor 28 Apr. 2016). However, the same source indicated that Karimli's APFP is a "legitimate opposition party" that remains "one of the most important opposition parties in Azerbaijan" (ibid.). 1.1 Program According to the Lecturer, [p]arties in Azerbaijan are best understood not in terms of their ideological or programmatic goals, but rather in terms of the degree to which the party leadership supports or opposes the current regime. The Popular Front is described as a "radical" or "hard" opposition party. Their opposition to the current government is rooted in the belief that they themselves were ousted from power in 1993 through illegal and illegitimate means. The Popular Front does not officially recognize the legitimacy of the current government and more frequently has engaged in public demonstrations and contentious politics to contest political power. (Lecturer 6 May 2016) The researcher stated that "even though opposition parties like Popular Front do exist, they cannot in reality act as such. Instead, their work is similar to that of other, non-party, actors fighting for democracy" (Researcher 28 Apr. 2016). The Instructor stated that the APFP can be described "as a moderately nationalist, with very strong pro-Western views (i.e., strengthening ties with the US, EU, NATO, instead of of Russia)" (Instructor 28 Apr. 2016). Citing the APFP's blog, the researcher noted that the goals of the party are as follows: We intend to establish a functional democracy in our country. Azerbaijan has a resourceful populace, and we can and must decrease our nation's dependence on oil. We must break the economic monopolies controlled by corrupt officials. Our goal is to establish a free, market-based economy. We want Azerbaijan to integrate into the Euro-Atlantic community of nations, ending its status as a satellite of autocratic Russia. (Researcher 28 Apr. 2016) 2. Structure According to sources, the APFP is described as an opposition party centered on the persona of Ali Karimli (Lecturer 6 May 2016; Instructor 28 Apr. 2016). The Instructor described Karimli as the "strongest opposition leader in Azerbaijan" (ibid.). Without providing further detail, the Instructor stated that the party used to have a functioning internal organization in the 1990s, including a central committee and local units, but that the government has been closing down those offices and it is difficult to confirm which ones are still operating (ibid.). According to the rsearcher, "it is also almost impossible" for the APFP "to find venues to hold a party congress. Many business owners are afraid to be seen as supporting them" (Researcher 28 Apr. 2016). The Instructor similarly indicated that the party has a constitution and a somewhat "democratic internal organization" that calls for a party conference to be held every 4-5 years, but that it has not been able to hold the conference in over 10 years, as even renting out a conference room is too difficult due to the government's control (28 Apr. 2016). 3. Membership Sources indicate that it is not possible to estimate the number of members of the APFP (Lecturer 6 May 2016; Instructor 28 Apr. 2016). According to the Instructor, "it is impossible to say how many members the party may have, but it could be estimated at 5, 000- 7, 000 active members" (ibid.). The Lecturer stated that the membership "is understood to be very small and limited to long-time party insiders and disaffected intellectuals and [is] concentrated in urban areas (i.e., Baku)" (Lecturer 6 May 2016). The Instructor similarly noted that the members can be described as "very educated people, for example, students, high school teachers, mostly living in urban centres or in the 'regions,' i.e., semi-urban dwellings" (28 Apr. 2016). According to an opposition politician that the Lecturer interviewed in 2008 and 2009, the APFP is "only supported by people on the fringes of society who are really unsatisfied" (Lecturer 6 May 2016). Information on the requirements and procedures for becoming a member of the APFP could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 4. Treatment by Authorities According to the Lecturer, "there has been an ongoing crackdown on dissent within Azerbaijan over recent years, during which time numerous journalists and civil society activists have been imprisoned" (Lecturer 6 May 2016). The Instructor stated that members of the APFP are "constantly persecuted" by the government; he said there have been instances in which party affiliates have been beaten by the police and arrested on "fake charges" (Instructor 28 Apr. 2016). A 2016 Human Rights Watch report on the situation in Azerbaijan states that the ruling government's practices of "politically motivated prosecution" based on false charges "reached a peak in 2015" and included the imprisonment of an APFP member, Murad Adilov (Human Rights Watch 2016, 92). According to the researcher, the APFP faces both "formal restrictions on freedom of speech, assembly and organization" and its members are subject to "informal repression through, for example, negative public relations in state media, [and] various threats against them and members of their families to make them stop their work" (Researcher 28 Apr. 2016). Sources indicate that Karimli's passport was confiscated and that the government is known to organize demonstrations against him outside of his house (ibid.; Instructor 28 Apr. 2016). According to sources, the APFP has operated without a head office for several years (Researcher 28 Apr. 2016; AI 30 Oct. 2015). Sources further indicate that its latest headquarters were demolished in an explosion in March 2014 (ibid.; US 25 June 2015, 28). Amnesty International (AI) indicates the incident was not "effectively investigated, and those responsible have not been identified" (AI 30 Oct. 2015). The US Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014 further states that the APFP chairman, "Ali Kerimli, accused authorities of deliberately trying to force the party from its office" (US 25 June 2015, 28). Country Reports 2015 for Azerbaijan indicates that in 2015, "[a]t least 13 opposition figures were considered to be political detainees, including [the] Popular Front deputy chairman" (ibid. 13 Apr. 2016, 27). According to a list of political prisoners in Azerbaijan prepared by human rights NGOs and published on the website of the Europe Without Political Prisoners campaign of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee[2], the following members of the APFP remained in detention as of 17 March 2016: deputy chairman of the APFP, detained since 8 December 2015; advisor to the chairman of APFP, detained since 30 September 2015; advisor to the Head and member of the Presidium of the APFP Supreme Assembly, detained since 25 December 2014; member of APFP, detained since 11 February 2015; member of APFP, detained since 8 January 2015; activist of APFP, detained since 17 November 2015; activist, detained since 15 November 2015. (NHC 17 Mar. 2016, 18-25) The report also provides a list of "political hostages," including a brother-in-law of Ali Karimli, who has been detained since 27 March 2012, and a brother of the APFP's press secretary, who has been detained since 11 August 2014 (ibid., 70-72). 4.1 Treatment Since the 2015 Elections According to sources, opposition parties, including the APFP, boycotted the November 2015 parliamentary elections (EPDE 13 Nov. 2015, 24; Lecturer 6 May 2016). Academic sources stated that they were not aware of any major demonstrations taking place around the time of the elections (ibid.; Researcher 28 Apr. 2016; Instructor 28 Apr. 2016), which, according to the Instructor, were met with a general indifference on the part of the population (ibid.). The Instructor added that there were no major demonstrations in Baku around the November 2015 elections, but "there were some riots in the regions caused by the worsening economic situation" and that the APFP was likely in attendance (ibid.). The researcher stated that the APFP's activists assisted in vote-monitoring during the election, "and as such it is possible that they faced harassment from police, as it is rather common" (Researcher 28 Apr. 2016). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. The Lecturer stated that, to her knowledge, the most recent, and significant, protests of a "social/political nature" in Azerbaijan took place in January 2016 (6 May 2016). A January 2016 article by Public Radio International (PRI), a Minneapolis-based "global non-profit media company" (PRI n.d.), reports that "hundreds of people across Azerbaijan" have been gathering at government buildings to protest against price hikes and unemployment in the country (PRI 19 Jan. 2016). The article cites Azerbaijani media sources as indicating that the chief of APFP was detained during the protests in Lankaran, adding that, "in addition to opposition leaders, some prominent members of the opposition parties were also detained. Despite their pleas of innocence, detainees were sentenced to up to a month in jail, for taking part in unlawful protests" (ibid.). EurasiaNet, a New-York-based news portal focusing largely on the Caucasus and Central Asia countries (EurasiaNet n.d.), similarly reports that there were "protests over declining living standards" and incidents of arrests, including 55 persons who were detained between January 12 and 13, 2016 in Siyazan [a town 64 kilometers north of Baku] (Eurasianet 19 Jan. 2016). According to the same source, the government blamed the APFP and Musavat Party for organizing the January demonstrations (ibid.). Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. Notes [1] The European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity is a platform bringing together 12 political foundations and 20 parties which are founded on "social democratic" principles and "aim to contribute to the development of (social-) democracy in Eastern & Southern Europe and the Caucasus" (European Forum n.d.). [2] The Europe Without Political Prisoners campaign website is powered by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) and provides information about political prisoners in Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia, including court case information (NHC n.d.a). The NHC is an NGO that monitors, reports, supports and educates the public on human rights to ensure they are "respected in practice" (ibid. n.d.b). References Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR). N.d. "Our Members." [Accessed 12 Apr. 2016] Amnesty International (AI). 30 October 2015. "Critical Human Rights Situation in Azerbaijan Further Worsening Ahead of 2015 Election." [Accessed 2 May 2016] EurasiaNet. 19 January 2016. Durna Safarova and Islam Shikhali. "Azerbaijan: Wielding a Stick While Searching for Carrots." [Accessed 6 May 2016] _____. N.d. "About EurasiaNet." [Accessed 6 May 2016] European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity. 5 November 2015. "Azerbaijan." [Accessed 28 Apr. 2016] _____. N.d. "Organization." [Accessed 12 May 2016] European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE). 13 November 2015. Final Report: November 1, 2015 Parliamentary Elections, Republic of Azerbaijan. [Accessed 28 Apr. 2016] Human Rights Watch. 2016. "Azerbaijan." World Report 2016. [Accessed 12 Apr. 2016] Instructor, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto Mississauga. 28 April 2016. Telephone interview. Lecturer, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. 6 May 2016. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC). 17 March 2016. Europe Without Political Prisoners. The List of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan. [Accessed 6 May 2016] _____. N.d.a. "About the Campaign." [Accessed 10 May 2016] _____. N.d.b. "About the Norwegian Helsinki Committee." [Accessed 10 May 2016] Public Radio International (PRI). 19 January 2016. Arzu Geybullayeva. "In Oil-rich Azerbaijan, People Protest. The Government Responds with Arrests." [Accessed 6 May 2016] _____. N.d. "About PRI." [Accessed 6 May 2016] Researcher, Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Uppsala University. 28 April 2016. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. Sultanova, Shahla. January 2014. "Challenging the Aliyev Regime: Political Opposition in Azerbaijan." Demokratizatsiya. Vol. 22, Issue 1. [Accessed 23 Apr. 2016] United States (US). 13 April 2016. Department of State. "Azerbaijan." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015. [Accessed 28 Apr. 2016] _____. 25 June 2015. Department of State. "Azerbaijan." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014. [Accessed 6 May 2016] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: European Platform for Democratic Elections; European Stability Initiative; Human Rights Watch; independent human rights activist; professor, Department of History, University of Massachusetts Amherst; research associate, Foreign Policy Institute. Internet sites, including: Council of Europe; Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum; ecoi.net; European Union - European Parliament, External Action Service; Factiva; Federation internationale des ligues des droits de l'homme; Freedom House; Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe; Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Trend News Agency; United Nations - Human Rights Council, Refworld; United States - Central Intelligence Agency. 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. Iraq: Security situation in Dohuk [Dahuk], including ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham) [Islamic State (IS), Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Daesh] activities and targeting of Christians; treatment of Christians by Kurdish authorities in Dohuk, including state protection (2014-March 2016) Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa 1. Overview According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Dohuk is "the northernmost governorate of Iraq with a total population of 505,491" and, "[a]long with Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, it composes the area administrated by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)" (IOM 30 Apr. 2015). In a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, an official at the Representation of the KRG in the US stated that the city of Dohuk is approximately 35 km away from the closest ISIS-occupied territory (KRG 4 Mar. 2016). Similarly, in correspondence with the Research Directorate, a research fellow at the French Institute of the Near East (Institut francais du Proche-Orient, IFPO [1]) in Erbil, who has published several articles on the history of the Kurdish people, stated that the city of Dohuk is approximately 30 km away from the ISIS front line and 40 km away from Mosul [a city controlled by ISIS (US 4 Dec. 2015)] (Research fellow 24 Feb. 2016). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a freelance journalist based in Erbil who has worked for several media organizations, including Al Jazeera, and who has written articles on the situation of Kurds in Iraq, Syria and Turkey, stated that the ISIS front lines are approximately "within ... a one hour drive" of Dohuk (22 Feb. 2016). According to data published by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there were 405,846 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Dohuk governorate as of 6 February 2016 (UN 6 Feb. 2016). 1.1 Security Situation In a February 2016 update of its website, Global Affairs Canada advises "against non-essential travel" to Dohuk (Canada 16 Feb. 2016). The governments of both Canada and the UK warn that the security situation in the Kurdistan region of Iraq could "deteriorate quickly" (ibid.; UK 21 Dec. 2015). On its Iraq travel advice webpage, the UK government states that "[w]hile the Kurdistan [r]egion has a different security environment to the rest of Iraq, Daesh controls territory nearby" (ibid.). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a representative at the UNHCR office of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Director in Amman stated that [t]he current frontlines of conflict in northern Iraq remain very close to the major strategic communication and administrative centers of Erbil, Dohuk and Sulaymaniyah. A breach of the frontline by ISIS would pose a very serious threat to the civilian population in the [Kurdistan region]. (UN 9 Mar. 2016) In contrast, when asked to comment on the security situation in the Dohuk governorate, sources contacted by the Research Directorate described it as "relatively safe" (Scholar 23 Feb. 2016) or [translation] "satisfactory" (Research fellow 24 Feb. 2016). The freelance journalist stated that the proximity of the front lines with ISIS "does not affect the city of Dohuk" (22 Feb. 2016). In a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, an independent journalist and scholar at Harvard University, with experience reporting on the war against ISIS in Iraq's Kurdistan region, indicated that "the current security situation in the ... Dohuk governorate is relatively stable" (Independent journalist 23 Feb. 2016). According to the same source, the front line "has not changed much over the past year" (ibid.). Sources stated that, apart from ISIS, no other Muslim fundamentalist groups are active in the Dohuk governorate (ibid.; KRG 4 Mar. 2016; ISHR 2 Mar. 2016). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center [2], who is also a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge and whose research focuses on Iraq, Iran and Kurdish affairs, reported that there is increased radicalization in the Kurdistan region (i.e., Kurds who are associating themselves with the idea of an Islamic State). Although these forces remain relatively small, [they are] increasing. (Scholar 23 Feb. 2016) However, the freelance journalist stated that while some Kurds initially joined Jihadist groups and fought against Peshmerga forces [3], today, "most" Kurdish members of ISIS have been killed (22 Feb. 2016). According to the English-language online newspaper Iraqi News, in late September 2015, a KRG official announced the killing of "more than 250 Kurdish militants within the ranks of ISIS" and claimed that "only 100 armed Kurds remain within the ranks of the organization" (Iraqi News 30 Sept. 2015). Sources report that, in July 2015, Turkey began to launch airstrikes against alleged positions of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq (The New York Times 25 July 2015; AI 11 Aug. 2015). Further sources indicate that airstrikes also occurred in the province of Dohuk (Rudaw 18 Sept. 2015; Iraqi News 13 Dec. 2015; PressTV 4 Feb. 2016). Amnesty International (AI) reports that, on 1 August 2015, Turkish airstrikes on the village of Zergele [in Erbil governorate] "killed eight residents and injured at least eight others" (AI 11 Aug. 2015). 1.2 Threat Posed by ISIS According to the freelance journalist, "[ISIS's] threat was very big in August 2014, when [it] attacked [the Kurdistan region]. But now there are frequent US coalition airstrikes, and the region is safe" (22 Feb. 2016). Similarly, in a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, the President of the Iraqi Society of Human Rights - Canada (ISHR), a non-profit organization registered in Toronto dedicated to "helping Iraqi Displaced Persons (IDP) and raising awareness of the threat of ISIL and other extremist groups" (ISHR n.d.), stated that "Dohuk is safe from ISIS" thanks to the presence "in the area" of Kurdish fighters from both Iraq and Syria and of the international coalition (ISHR 24 Feb. 2016). The official at the KRG Representation in the US stated that "ISIS does not represent a danger for Dohuk governorate" because of the control exerted by Kurdish security forces, specifying that, in the whole Kurdistan region, "130,000 Peshmerga forces are stationed along a [240 km] border with ISIS territory" (KRG 4 Mar. 2016). However, according to the ISHR President, "[t]here is always the risk of a terrorist attack inside the territory" (24 Feb. 2016). In a similar way, the independent journalist noted that "the attack in Erbil in April 2015 showed that ISIS are able to work within the borders" of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, adding that "[a]ttackers seemed to enjoy a certain freedom of movement within Kurdistan" and that "[i]n Dohuk, there seems to be little control against people coming into the city with weapons" (Independent journalist 23 Feb. 2016). According to the same source, the existence of small ISIS groups within the Kurdistan region of Iraq is likely (ibid.). 2. Incidents and Attacks by ISIS in Dohuk (2015-March 2016) The official at the Representation of the KRG in the US stated that no terrorist attack has occurred in Dohuk since the beginning of 2015 (KRG 4 Mar. 2016). Similarly, three sources contacted by the Research Directorate said that they were not aware of any terrorist attacks occurring in the Dohuk governorate since the beginning of 2015 (Freelance journalist 22 Feb. 2016; Independent journalist 23 Feb. 2016; ISHR 24 Feb. 2016). The Carnegie Middle East Center scholar said that "[t]here have not been major 'terrorist' attacks" in Dohuk since 2015 (23 Feb. 2016), while the freelance journalist stated that "[i]n general, there are not many incidents that could be considered very serious" (22 Feb. 2016). On its "Iraq Travel Warning" webpage, the US Department of State indicates that [t]errorist attacks within the Iraqi Kurdistan region (IKR) occur less frequently than in other parts of Iraq, although the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), U.S. Government facilities, and western interests remain possible targets, as evidenced by the April 17 [2015] bombing in the public area outside U.S. Consulate General Erbil. (US 4 Dec. 2015) 3. Economic and Political Crisis When asked to comment on the security situation in the Dohuk governorate, sources referenced the current economic and political crisis in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, which they described as a security threat (ISHR 24 Feb. 2016; Research fellow 24 Feb. 2016). Sources stated that the economic crisis is characterized by: near-bankruptcy of the region (Reuters 9 Oct. 2015); very low investments (ISHR 24 Feb. 2016); and non-payment of public sector employees' salaries for several months (Research fellow 24 Feb. 2016; Scholar 23 Feb. 2016), and salary cuts (ISHR 24 Feb. 2016). According to media sources, there is unrest in the Kurdistan region due to a political crisis around the succession of the president of the KRG, Massoud Barzani, whose term ended in August 2015 (Middle East Eye 20 Nov. 2015; Al Monitor 28 Aug. 2015; Reuters 9 Oct. 2015). The ISHR President said that "[s]hootings related to the political situation happen ... sometimes in Dohuk" (24 Feb. 2016). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. On its "Iraq Travel Warning" webpage, the US Department of State "strongly" urges US citizens "to avoid protests and large gatherings" in the whole country because of "the potential for political protests and demonstrations to become violent" (US 4 Dec. 2015). 4. Treatment of Christians in Dohuk (2014-March 2016) 4.1 Overview The official at the KRG Representation in the US stated that "[a]ll Christians remaining in Iraq are in the [Kurdistan region], with the exception of a few Christians who live in Baghdad" (KRG 4 Mar. 2016). Sources stated that Christians live safely in the Kurdistan region (CNEWA 4 Mar. 2016; ISHR 24 Feb. 2016; Iraqi Christian Relief Council 4 Mar. 2016). The ISHR President said that, to his knowledge, no major incidents targeting Christians have occurred in Dohuk since 2014 (24 Feb. 2016). The official at the KRG Representation in the US said that there are no "systematic incidents" targeting Christians in Dohuk (KRG 4 Mar. 2016). In a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, a representative of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council, a humanitarian and advocacy NGO based in the US that aims to "support and protect persecuted Assyria[n] Christians" in Iraq and in other countries of the Middle East (Iraqi Christian Relief Council n.d.), stated that "Christians can practice their faith freely" in Dohuk, adding that "Kurds allowed a lot of missionaries to [work] in the Kurdistan region" (ibid. 4 Mar. 2016). The IFPO research fellow similarly stated that churches are [translation] "well established" in Dohuk (24 Feb. 2016). The ISHR President said that Christians in Dohuk "enjoy good relations with Kurds" (24 Feb. 2016). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. The IFPO research fellow noted that the Christian population in Dohuk has significantly increased as a result of ISIS's invasion in other regions of Iraq (24 Feb. 2016). In a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, a representative of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) [4] specified that, over a year-and-a-half, 120,000 persons, including 100,000 Christians, arrived in the Kurdistan region, the majority of whom arrived over the course of a few days in August 2014 (4 Mar. 2016). The ISHR President explained that Christians in Dohuk governorate who fled ISIS reside in refugee camps or in houses provided by the church (2 Mar. 2016). According to the independent journalist, Christians "tend to be quite well received" (23 Feb. 2016). However, oral sources stated that the arrival of a large number of IDPs in a short period of time created some social unrest and triggered some incidents, such as thefts (KRG 4 Mar. 2016; CNEWA 4 Mar. 2016). Without providing details, the CNEWA representative stated that some attacks took place in 2014-2015, though he specified that when a Christian is victim of an attack by a non-Christian, this does not necessarily mean that the attack is due to their religious or cultural identity, but rather that it may be related to their status as a [translation] "vulnerable person" (ibid.). The same source highlighted that, in his opinion, Christians arriving from other regions of Iraq are vulnerable and thus more likely to be [translation] "exploited" [than the average inhabitants of Kurdistan] (ibid.). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. Sources highlighted that, for IDPs in general, a lack of Kurdish language skills can represent a barrier for integration (Scholar 23 Feb. 2016; CNEWA 4 Mar. 2016), including access to employment, education and housing (ibid.). 4.2 Treatment by the State The Carnegie Middle East Center scholar affirmed that [t]he KRG's policy has been to accommodate for minorities in an attempt to show its international (namely Western) allies that it can be a beacon of hope and a safe haven for minorities. (Scholar 23 Feb. 2016) Similarly, the IFPO research fellow stated that, [translation] "in general, authorities try to mitigate tensions [between certain local Muslims and Christians] and avoid any discrimination" (Research fellow 24 Feb. 2016). However, without providing further details, the CNEWA representative stated that the KRG claims that Christians are welcome in order to make a good impression on the international community, but that, [translation] "in fact, the situation is different" (CNEWA 4 Mar. 2016). The Iraqi Christian Relief Council representative, who recently met representatives from all Christian communities in Dohuk, except for the Catholic bishop, affirmed that "Christians are discriminated against, not because of their religion, but because they are a separate ethnic group" [5] (Iraqi Christian Relief Council 4 Mar. 2016). The US Department of State's 2014 Report on International Religious Freedom states that, compared to the rest of the country, "[t]here were relatively fewer reports of official abuse and discrimination based on religious affiliation in the [Kurdistan region], but similar reports based on ethnic affiliation" (US 14 Oct. 2015, Sec. II). Sources affirmed that the KRG has "confiscated" (Iraqi Christian Relief Council 4 Mar. 2016) or "tr[ied] to take" parcels of land belonging to Christians (ISHR 24 Feb. 2016). The Iraqi Christian Relief Council representative said that "[t]he head of the Kurdistan region's parliament has acknowledged to the Iraqi Christian Relief Council that land has been grabbed illegally. A case has been filed by Christians against the KRG" (4 Mar. 2016). Further information on land confiscation could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. Sources report that the KRG discriminated against, or was reported to discriminate against, certain groups of people, including Christians, in providing humanitarian assistance (US 14 Oct. 2015, Sec. II; Iraqi Christian Relief Council 4 Mar. 2016). According to the Iraqi Christian Relief Council representative, "[a]ny NGO that brings aid to Kurdistan has to abide by KRG instructions as to where aid is distributed. The Assyrian Aid Society is the only one that managed to distribute aid where they decided" (ibid.). She added that "[t]he KRG favors those allied with [the ruling] KDP [Kurdistan Democratic Party]. Many Christian organizations are not affiliated with" this party (ibid.). However, other sources reported on foreign organizations who have been able to send humanitarian assistance directly to the organizations in the Kurdistan region that they wish to help, without going through the KRG (CNEWA 4 Mar. 2016; Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council 7 Mar. 2016). The Iraqi Christian Relief Council representative stated that the KRG has built new schools for Christians recently, but that, after a few months, it has moved the students out to smaller schools "that are falling apart" (Iraqi Christian Relief Council 4 Mar. 2016). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. The Iraqi Christian Relief Council representative further stated that history taught in schools, including Christian schools, is Kurdish history only and that Christians can only teach their own history in churches or cultural centres (ibid.). In its 2014 Report on International Religious Freedom, the US Department of State specified that "[t]he KRG [Ministry of Education] funds Syriac-language public schools (elementary and high school) in its territory, and the curriculum does not contain religion or Quranic studies" (US 14 Oct. 2015, Sec. II). The Iraqi Christian Relief Council representative stated that businesses established after 2014 are not allowed to have a name in the Assyrian language (Iraqi Christian Relief Council 4 Mar. 2016). In contrast, a representative of the Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council, a political organization that currently occupies two seats in the Kurdistan Parliament (KRG n.d.) and maintains "excellent relations with the KDP," said in a telephone interview with the Research Directorate that businesses are now obliged by law to have a Kurdish "as well" (Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council 7 Mar. 2016). Regarding access to employment, the Iraqi Christian Relief Council representative stated that Christians cannot reach a "high level" in their profession, unless they belong to the ruling KDP (Iraqi Christian Relief Council 4 Mar. 2016). She gave the example that, in practice, it is not possible for a Christian teacher to become the principal of a public school or for a Christian to become a judge (ibid.). In contrast, the Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council representative affirmed that "there are Christian principals, even in some Kurdish schools" and that "[t]here are a few Christian judges" in the Kurdistan region (Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council 7 Mar. 2016). When asked whether it is possible for a Christian to become a judge in the Kurdistan region, the KRG official replied that [j]udges need to know the Koran and Sharia law because the legislation is based on Islam. For example, the legislation regarding divorce is based on Islamic law, which makes it difficult for Christian judges. However, there are Christian judges in Kurdistan ... [who deal with] Christian matters, such as Christian divorces. (KRG 4 Mar. 2016) The same source stated that in his opinion, Christians face no particular obstacle in "climb[ing] the social ladder," adding that "[t]here are ministers, generals, or director generals in the government who are Christian" (ibid.). This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. Notes [1] IFPO is a research centre under both the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development and the French National Centre of Scientific Research (Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) (France 21 Mar. 2014). [2] The Carnegie Middle East Center is "an independent policy research institute" located in Beirut (Carnegie Middle East Center n.d.). [3] The Peshmerga are the Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq (BBC 12 Aug. 2014). [4] The CNEWA is a "papal agency" that provides "humanitarian and pastoral support" in various regions of the world, including in the Middle East; its website indicates that it "works for, through and with the Eastern Catholic churches to identify needs and implement solutions" (CNEWA n.d.). [5] According to the New York Times, "[m]ost of Iraq's Christians call themselves Assyrians, Chaldeans or Syriac, different names for a common ethnicity" (22 July 2015). References Al Monitor. 28 August 2015. Mohammed A. Salih. "KRG Parliament Speaker: Barzani's Term Extension 'Against the Law'." [Accessed 4 Mar. 2016] Amnesty International (AI). 11 August 2015. "Fresh Evidence of Casualties Underscores Need for Impartial Investigation into Turkish Airstrikes in Kandil Mountains." [Accessed 10 Mar. 2016] British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 12 August 2014. "Profile: Who Are the Peshmerga?" [Accessed 8 Mar. 2016] Canada. 16 February 2016. Travel.gc.ca. "Country Travel Advice and Advisories - Iraq." [Accessed 2 Mar. 2016] Carnegie Middle East Center. N.d. "About Carnegie Middle East Center." [Accessed 2 Mar. 2016] Catholic Near East Welfare Association - Canada (CNEWA). 4 March 2016. Telephone interview with a representative. _____. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 4 Mar. 2016] Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council. 7 March 2016. Telephone interview with a representative. France. 21 March 2014. France Diplomatie. "Un ouvrage de l'IFPO a recu le prix Gustave Schlumberger (21 mars 2014)." [Accessed 2 Mar. 2016] Freelance journalist, Erbil. 22 February 2016. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. Independent journalist. 23 February 2016. Telephone interview. International Organization for Migration (IOM). 30 April 2015. "Iraq: Dahuk Governorate Profile April 2015." [Accessed 7 Mar. 2016] Iraqi Christian Relief Council. 4 March 2016. Telephone interview with a representative. _____. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 4 Mar. 2016] Iraqi News. 13 December 2015. Amre Sarhan. "Turkish Warplanes Bomb Sites Belonging to PKK North of Dohuk." [Accessed 10 Mar. 2016] _____. 30 September 2015. Abdelhak Mamoun. "Kurdistan Announces the Death of 250 Kurdish Militants Within ISIS Ranks." [Accessed 10 Mar. 2016] Iraqi Society of Human Rights - Canada (ISHR). 2 March 2016. Correspondence from the President to the Research Directorate. _____. 24 February 2016. Telephone interview with the President. _____. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 2 Mar. 2016] Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (KRG). 4 March 2016. Representation in the US. Telephone interview with an official. _____. N.d. "The Kurdistan Parliament." [Accessed 9 Mar. 2016] Middle East Eye. 20 November 2015. Galip Dalay. "Regional Implications of Iraqi KRG's Presidency Row." [Accessed 4 Mar. 2016] The New York Times. 25 July 2015. Ceylan Yeginsu. "Turkey Attacks Kurdish Militant Camps in Northern Iraq." [Accessed 10 Mar. 2016] _____. 22 July 2015. Eliza Griswold. "Is This the End of Christianity in the Middle East?" [Accessed 10 Mar. 2016] PressTV. 4 February 2016. "Turkish Warplanes Bomb Northern Iraqi Village." [Accessed 10 Mar. 2016] Research fellow, Institut francais du Proche-Orient (IFPO) in Erbil. 24 February 2016. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. Reuters. 9 October 2015. "Protester Killed in Unrest in Iraq's Kurdistan Region." [Accessed 4 Mar. 2016] Rudaw. 18 September 2015. "Turkish Warplanes Bomb PKK Targets in Kurdistan's Dohuk Province." [Accessed 10 Mar. 2016] Scholar, Carnegie Middle East Center. 23 February 2016. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. United Kingdom (UK). 21 December 2015. "Foreign Travel Advice - Iraq." [Accessed 2 Mar. 2016] United Nations (UN). 9 March 2016. UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Office of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Director in Amman. Correspondence from a representative to the Research Directorate. _____. 6 February 2016. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Iraq: Humanitarian Snapshot (as of 6 February 2016). [Accessed 2 Mar. 2016] United States (US). 4 December 2015. Department of State. "Iraq Travel Warning." [Accessed 2 Mar. 2016] _____. 14 October 2015. Department of State. "Iraq." 2014 Report on International Religious Freedom. [Accessed 9 Mar. 2016] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: Assyrian Aid Society of America; Assyrian Society of Canada; ekurd.net; Human Rights Watch; International Committee of the Red Cross; International NGO Safety Organisation; journalists, The Los Angeles Times; journalists, Reuters; journalists, Rudaw; journalists, Shafaq News; journalists, The Wall Street Journal; Professor of Kurdish Studies, University of Exeter; United States Institute of Peace. Internet sites, including: BBC; ecoi.net; Factiva; Freedom House; Human Rights Watch; Institute for the Study of War; Institute for War and Peace Reporting; International Crisis Group; IRIN; Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq; Minority Rights Group International; Nalia Radio and Television; Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; UN - Refworld, ReliefWeb, UN Development Programme; US - Commission on International Religious Freedom, Department of State. Iraq: Security situation in Sulaymaniyah; activities of muslim fundamentalist groups, including ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham) [also known as Islamic State (IS), Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Daesh] (2015-February 2016) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 3 March 2016 Citation / Document Symbol IRQ105447.E Related Document(s) Iraq : information sur la situation en matiere de securite dans la region de Souleimaniye; les activites des groupes fondamentalistes musulmans, y compris le groupe EIIS (Etat islamique en Iraq et en Syrie, ou Etat islamique d'Iraq et d'al-Cham) [aussi appele Etat islamique (EI), Etat islamique en Iraq et au Levant (EIIL) ou Daech] (2015-fevrier 2016) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Iraq: Security situation in Sulaymaniyah; activities of muslim fundamentalist groups, including ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham) [also known as Islamic State (IS), Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Daesh] (2015-February 2016), 3 March 2016, IRQ105447.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57976df64.html [accessed 28 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. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa 1. Overview Sulaymaniyah governorate is located in the northeast of Iraq, on the border with Iran; its population in May 2015 was 1,893,617 persons (IOM 1 July 2015). Together with Erbil and Dohuk governorates, it composes the Kurdistan region of Iraq (ibid.). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a research fellow at the French Institute of the Near East (Institut francais du Proche-Orient, Ifpo) in Erbil [1], who has published several articles on the history of the Kurdish people, stated that the city of Sulaymaniyah is approximately 80 km away from the front with ISIS and 200 km away from Mosul [a city controlled by ISIS (US 4 Dec. 2015)] (research fellow 24 Feb. 2016). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a freelance journalist based in Erbil who has worked for several media organizations, including Al Jazeera, and who has authored articles on the situation of Kurds in Iraq, Syria and Turkey, stated that the frontlines with ISIS are approximately "within ... a one hour drive" from Sulaymaniyah (22 Feb. 2016). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. On its webpage updated in February 2016, Global Affairs Canada advises "against non-essential travel" to Sulaymaniyah (Canada 16 Feb. 2016). The governments of Canada and the UK warn that the security situation in the Kurdistan region of Iraq could "deteriorate quickly" (ibid.; UK 21 Dec. 2015). The UK government further explains security conditions on its Iraq travel advice webpage, stating that "[w]hile the Kurdistan [r]egion has a different security environment to the rest of Iraq, Daesh controls territory nearby" (ibid.). When asked to comment on the security situation in the Sulaymaniyah governorate, sources described it as "relatively safe" (scholar 23 Feb. 2016) or [translation] "satisfactory" (research fellow 24 Feb. 2016). The freelance journalist stated that the proximity of the frontlines with ISIS "does not affect the city of ... Sulaymaniyah" (22 Feb. 2016). In a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, an independent journalist and scholar at Harvard University with experience reporting on the war against ISIS in Iraq's Kurdistan region, indicated that "the current security situation in the Sulaymaniyah governorate is relatively stable" (independent journalist 23 Feb. 2016). According to the same source, the frontline "has not changed much over the past year" (ibid.). Sources stated that, to their knowledge, apart from ISIS, no other Muslim fundamentalist groups are active in the Sulaymaniyah governorate (ibid.; ISHR 2 Mar. 2016). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center [2], who is also a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge and whose research focuses on Iraq, Iran and Kurdish affairs, reported that there is increased radicalization in the Kurdistan region (i.e., Kurds who are associating themselves with the idea of an Islamic State). Although these forces remain relatively small, [they are] increasing. (scholar 23 Feb. 2016) However, the freelance journalist stated that while some Kurds initially joined Jihadist groups and fought against Peshmerga forces, today, "most" Kurdish members of ISIS have been killed (22 Feb. 2016). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 2. Incidents and Attacks by ISIS in Sulaymaniyah (2015-February 2016) Three sources contacted by the Research Directorate said that they were not aware of any terrorist attacks occurring in the Sulaymaniyah governorate since the beginning of 2015 (freelance journalist 22 Feb. 2016; independent journalist 23 Feb. 2016; ISHR 24 Feb. 2016). The Carnegie Middle East Center scholar said that "there have not been major 'terrorist' attacks" in Sulaymaniyah since 2015 (23 Feb. 2016), while the freelance journalist stated that "[i]n general, there are not many incidents that could be considered very serious" (22 Feb. 2016). Sources indicated that terrorist incidents are more likely to occur in Erbil (scholar 23 Feb. 2016; independent journalist 23 Feb. 2016; ISHR 24 Feb. 2016), which is the centre of the Kurdistan region of Iraq's investments, parliament and government (ibid.). For information on the security situation in Erbil, refer to Response to Information Request IRQ105417. The Government of Canada's travel advice and advisories for Iraq state that [a]reas under [the Kurdistan Region Government, KRG] control have been less affected by violence and terrorism than other parts of Iraq, but nonetheless remain vulnerable to the impacts of both regional instability and internal tensions. Extremist insurgents led by ISIL are responsible for attacks on KRG-controlled areas, including towns southwest of Erbil. (Canada 16 Feb. 2016) Similarly, on its "Iraq Travel Warning" webpage, the US Department of State indicates that [t]errorist attacks within the Iraqi Kurdistan region (IKR) occur less frequently than in other parts of Iraq, although the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), U.S. Government facilities, and western interests remain possible targets, as evidenced by the April 17 bombing in the public area outside U.S. Consulate General Erbil. (US 4 Dec. 2015) According to the freelance journalist, "[ISIS's] threat was very big in August 2014, when [they] attacked. But now there are frequent US coalition airstrikes, and the region is safe" (22 Feb. 2016). However, in a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, the President of the Iraqi Society of Human Rights - Canada (ISHR), a non-profit organization registered in Toronto dedicated to "helping Iraqi Displaced Persons (IDP) and raising awareness of the threat of ISIL and other extremist groups" (ISHR n.d.), stated that "[t]here is always the risk of a terrorist attack inside the territory" (ISHR 24 Feb. 2016). In a similar way, the independent journalist noted that "the attack in Erbil in April 2015 showed that ISIS are able to work within the borders" of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, adding that "[a]ttackers seemed to enjoy a certain freedom of movement within Kurdistan" (independent journalist 23 Feb. 2016). According to the same source, the existence of small ISIS groups within the Kurdistan region of Iraq is likely (ibid.). The BBC reports that, on 19 January 2016, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) [3] announced on its website that Iraqi Kurdish security forces have arrested "several members" of the Islamic State group ... who worked as part of an "underground cell" to carry out deadly "terrorist" attacks in the city of Sulaymaniyah .... The arrested IS cell included both Arab and Kurdish jihadists, who had planned to bomb crowded places in central Sulaymaniyah as well as the city's only Shi'i mosque, the Husayniyah Mosque. (BBC 19 Jan. 2016) Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 3. Economic and Political Crisis When asked to comment on the security situation in the Sulaymaniyah governorate, sources referenced the current economic and political crisis in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, which they described as a security threat (ISHR 24 Feb. 2016; research fellow 24 Feb. 2016). Sources stated that the economic crisis is characterized by: near-bankruptcy of the region (Reuters 9 Oct. 2015); very low investments (ISHR 24 Feb. 2016); and non-payment of public sector employees' salaries for several months (research fellow 24 Feb. 2016; scholar 23 Feb. 2016), and salary cuts (ISHR 24 Feb. 2016). According to media sources, there is unrest in the Kurdistan region due to a political crisis around the succession of the president of the KRG, Massoud Barzani, whose term ended in August 2015 (Middle East Eye 20 Nov. 2015; Al Monitor 28 Aug. 2015; Reuters 9 Oct. 2015). Media sources report that violent demonstrations related to the consequences of the economic situation took place in Sulaymaniyah in October 2015 (Reuters 10 Oct. 2015; Iraqi News 11 Oct. 2015), with both demonstrators and the police resorting to violence (ibid.). According to sources, buildings of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) [which is part of the KRG (Reuters 10 Oct. 2015)] in Sulaymaniyah were attacked (Iraqi News 11 Oct. 2015; Reuters 9 Oct. 2015). Reuters reports that five persons were killed during the demonstrations (ibid. 10 Oct. 2015). The Ifpo research fellow similarly indicated that protests regarding the non-payment of salaries have [translation] "sometimes degenerated into riots against headquarters of the KDP" (24 Feb. 2016). In February 2016, sources reported that protests in the Sulaymaniyah governorate continued and intensified (RFI 10 Feb. 2016; Reuters 9 Feb. 2016), after the government announced new austerity measures (ibid.). According to the ISHR president, "[s]hootings related to the political situation happen a lot in Sulaymaniyah," and violent protests against the government "could happen again anytime" (24 Feb. 2016). On its "Iraq Travel Warning" webpage, the US Department of State "strongly" urges US citizens "to avoid protests and large gatherings" in the whole country because of "the potential for political protests and demonstrations to become violent" (US 4 Dec. 2015). In addition, sources stated that the presence of a large refugee population can be considered a potential source of tension (research fellow 24 Feb. 2016; independent journalist 23 Feb. 2016). According to figures published by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there were 164,448 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Sulaymaniyah governorate on 6 February 2016 (UN 6 Feb. 2016). 4. State Protection in Sulaymaniyah Without providing further details, sources stated that security forces in the Sulaymaniyah governorate are effective in protecting citizens against ISIS (freelance journalist 22 Feb. 2016; ISHR 24 Feb. 2016). According to the scholar affiliated with the Carnegie Middle East Center, "[i]n general, the security services, both the Peshmerga and the Asaiyish (intelligence service), are effective in combating Islamic State cells quickly, usually before an incident can occur" (scholar 23 Feb. 2016). However, concerning the political unrest in Sulaymaniyah, and in reference to the October 2015 demonstrations specifically, Reuters quotes a local member of the KDP as stating that the number of police officers was "insufficient to ... control the situation" and "to protect" the party members targeted by the protesters (9 Oct. 2015). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. Notes [1] Ifpo is a research centre under both the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development and the French National Centre of Scientific Research (Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) (France 21 Mar. 2014). [2] The Carnegie Middle East Center is "an independent policy research institute" located in Beirut (Carnegie Middle East Center n.d.). [3] The PUK is part of the coalition of political parties forming the KRG (KRG n.d.). References Al Monitor. 28 August 2015. Mohammed A. Salih. "KRG Parliament Speaker: Barzani's Term Extension 'Against the Law.'" [Accessed 1 Mar. 2016] British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 19 January 2016. "Iraqi Kurdish forces arrest Islamic State 'underground cell' in Sulaymaniyah." (Factiva) Canada. 16 February 2016. Travel.gc.ca. "Country Travel Advice and Advisories - Iraq." [Accessed 25 Feb. 2016] Carnegie Middle East Center. N.d. "About Carnegie Middle East Center." [Accessed 2 Mar. 2016] France. 21 March 2014. France Diplomatie. "Un ouvrage de l'IFPO a recu le prix Gustave Schlumberger (21 mars 2014)." [Accessed 29 Feb. 2016] Freelance journalist, Erbil. 22 February 2016. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. Independent journalist. 23 February 2016. Telephone interview. International Organization for Migration (IOM). 1 July 2015. Iraq Mission. "Sulaymaniyah Governorate Profile, May 2015." [Accessed 1 Mar. 2016] Iraqi News. 11 October 2015. Abdelhak Mamoun. "Demonstrators Threw Barzani Party Building with Stone East of Sulaimaniya." [Accessed 29 Feb. 2016] Iraqi Society of Human Rights - Canada (ISHR). 2 March 2016. Correspondence with the President. _____. 24 February 2016. Telephone interview with the President. _____. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 29 Feb. 2016] Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). N.d. "Fact Sheet: About the Kurdistan Regional Government." [Accessed 3 Mar. 2016] Middle East Eye. 20 November 2015. Galip Dalay. "Regional Implications of Iraqi KRG's Presidency Row." [Accessed 29 Feb. 2016] Radio France internationale (RFI). 10 February 2016. Oriane Verdier. "La grogne monte au Kurdistan irakien." [Accessed 29 Feb. 2016] Research fellow, Institut francais du Proche-Orient (Ifpo) in Erbil. 24 February 2016. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. Reuters. 9 February 2016. "Protests Intensify in Iraqi Kurdistan Amid Economic Crisis." [Accessed 29 Feb. 2016] _____. 10 October 2015. Isabel Coles. "Three Killed in Violent Unrest in Iraq's Kurdistan Region." [Accessed 29 Feb. 2016] _____. 9 October 2015. "Protester Killed in Unrest in Iraq's Kurdistan Region." [Accessed 26 Feb. 2016] Scholar, Carnegie Middle East Center. 23 February 2016. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. United Kingdom (UK). 21 December 2015. "Foreign Travel Advice - Iraq." [Accessed 24 Feb. 2016] United Nations (UN). 6 February 2016. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Iraq: Humanitarian Snapshot (as of 6 February 2016). [Accessed 1 Mar. 2016] United States (US). 4 December 2015. Department of State. "Iraq Travel Warning." [Accessed 24 Feb. 2016] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: Al Arabiya News; ARA News; Bloomberg View; British International School of Sulaymaniyah; Ecole francaise de Sulaymaniyah; ekurd.net; Human Rights Watch; International Committee of the Red Cross; International NGO Safety Organisation; International School of Choueifat; journalists, Los Angeles Times; journalists, Reuters; journalists, The Wall Street Journal; Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq Representation in the US; Professor of Kurdish Studies, University of Exeter; Rudaw; Shafaq News; United States Institute of Peace. Internet sites, including: Amnesty International; BBC; ecoi.net; Factiva; Freedom House; Human Rights Watch; Institute for the Study of War; Institute for War and Peace Reporting; International Crisis Group; IRIN; Minority Rights Group International; Nalia Radio and Television; Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Rudaw; UN - Refworld, UN Development Programme; US - Congressional Research Service, Department of State's Crime and Safety Report, Religious Freedom Report, Trafficking in Persons Report. Guinea-Bissau: Treatment of members and leaders of the Democratic Party for Development (Partido Democratico para o Desenvolvimento, PDD) by the authorities, including the treatment upon returning to the country of Guinea-Bissauans from the diaspora who are PDD members (2014-March 2016) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 16 March 2016 Citation / Document Symbol GNB105466.FE Related Document(s) Guinee-Bissau : information sur le traitement reserve par les autorites aux membres et aux dirigeants du Parti democratique pour le developpement (Partido Democratico para o Desenvolvimento - PDD), y compris sur le traitement reserve, a leur retour au pays, aux Bissau-Guineens de la diaspora qui sont membres du PDD (2014-mars 2016) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Guinea-Bissau: Treatment of members and leaders of the Democratic Party for Development (Partido Democratico para o Desenvolvimento, PDD) by the authorities, including the treatment upon returning to the country of Guinea-Bissauans from the diaspora who are PDD members (2014-March 2016), 16 March 2016, GNB105466.FE, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57976ea94.html [accessed 28 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. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa Information on the PDD was scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. The majority of the content of this Response comes from two oral sources, in correspondence with the Research Directorate: The Vice-President of the Guinean League for Human Rights (Liga Guineense dos Direitos Humanos, LGDH) (LGDH 22 Feb. 2016). The LGDH is an NGO in Guinea-Bissau that was founded in 1991 and is established both nationally and internationally (Insight on Conflict July 2015); A researcher at the Center for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra, in Portugal, who specializes in peace studies, including in Guinea-Bissau (Researcher 1 Mar. 2016). 1. THE PDD According to the Vice-President of the LGDH and the researcher, the PDD is a [translation] "small" political party and has existed since 2013 (ibid.; LGDH 22 Feb. 2016). The Vice-President of the LGDH stated [translation] "that a group of young leaders discontent with the political, social and economic situation in the country" had created the PDD (ibid.). According to the researcher, the PDD is led by young people (Researcher 1 Mar. 2016). Sources state that the president of the PDD is Policiano Gomes (LGDH 22 Feb. 2016; IZF.net n.d.). According to the radio station Guinee-Bissau Bombolom-FM, Vladimir Vieira Fernandes is the [translation] "secretary general" of the PDD (Bombolom-FM 18 Nov. 2014). An article published by the German media Deutsche Welle (DW) states that Vladimir Vieira is a spokesperson for the PDD (DW 17 Mar. 2014). The Vice-President of the LGDH stated that the president of the PDD and other members of his leadership team live in Bissau, where the party is based (LGDH 22 Feb. 2016). Further information on the PDD leaders or members, or information on the PDD members who live outside Guinea-Bissau, could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. The Vice-President of the LGDH stated that the PDD has [translation] "no parliamentary representation" (ibid.). In a DW article published in March 2014, the Supreme Court of Guinea-Bissau [translation] "refused" the PDD's application to the legislative elections in April 2014, as well as the applications of six other "small parties" (DW 17 Mar. 2014). 2. Treatment by the Authorities The Vice-President of the LGDH stated that his organization did not currently have any information about [translation] "threats" or acts of "harassment" toward "members of an opposition political party in Guinea-Bissau" (LGDH 22 Feb. 2016). He stated that the PDD carried out its activities [translation] "without hindrance or harassment" (ibid.). He added that no cases of persecution against PDD members had been reported to the organization since the party was founded (ibid.). Further and corroborating information concerning the treatment of PDD members by the authorities could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. References Bombolom-FM. 18 November 2014. "SG do PDD diz sentir inconformado com situacao de incerteza que envolve o ano lectivo 2014-2015." [Accessed 1 Mar. 2016] Deutsche Welle (DW). 17 March 2014. Braima Darame. "Justica guineense invalida oito candidaturas as presidenciais." [Accessed 25 Feb. 2016] Insight on Conflict. July 2015. "Liga Guineense dos Direitos Humanos." [Accessed 25 Feb. 2016] IZF.net. N.d. "Partis politiques : Guinee-Bissau." [Accessed 17 Feb. 2016] Liga Guineense dos Direitos Humanos (LGDH). 22 February 2016. Correspondence sent to the Research Directorate by the Vice-President. Researcher, Center for Social Studies, University of Coimbra. 1 March 2016. Correspondence sent to the Research Directorate. Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: Conseil pour le developpement de la recherche en sciences sociales, Senegal; Institut d'etudes de securite; Parti democratique pour le developpement; Professor of political science, Uppsala University, Sweden; Rencontre africaine pour la defense des droits de l'homme; Sweden - former consul in Guinea-Bissau. Internet sites, including: Africa Confidential; Africa Time; Afrik.com; Afriquinfos; Agence de presse africaine; AllAfrica; Amnesty International; BBC; Bissau Digital; ecoi.net; Federation internationale des ligues des droits de l'homme; Freedom House; Gazeta de Noticias; Guinea-Bissau - Assembleia Nacional Popular, Comissao Nacional de Eleicoes, Governo da Guine Bissau; Human Rights Watch; International Crisis Group; International Foundation for Electoral Systems; Inter-Parliamentary Union; IRIN; Jeune Afrique; Lusotopie; Pan African News Agency; Political Handbook of the World; TV Guine-Bissau; United Nations - Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Refworld; United States - Department of State; La Voix de l'Amerique; World Organization Against Torture. Democratic Republic of the Congo and Republic of the Congo: The Bangolo and Mungala ethnic groups, including treatment by society and authorities (1997-January 2016) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 28 January 2016 Citation / Document Symbol ZZZ105420.FE Related Document(s) Republique democratique du Congo et Republique du Congo : information sur les peuples bangolo et mungala, y compris sur le traitement qui leur est reserve par la societe et les autorites (1997-janvier 2016) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Republic of the Congo: The Bangolo and Mungala ethnic groups, including treatment by society and authorities (1997-January 2016), 28 January 2016, ZZZ105420.FE, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579770054.html [accessed 28 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. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa Information on the existence of the Bangolo ethnic group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) or the Republic of the Congo could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 1. Background Sources indicate that "Bangala" is the plural of "Mungala" and that the term is used to designate individuals who live in the province of Equateur (ASADHO 6 Jan. 2016; CODHO 7 Jan. 2016), a former province of the DRC (ibid.). In a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, the President of the Committee of Human Rights Observers (Comite des observateurs des droits de l'homme, CODHO) - an organization located in Kinshasa that focuses on improving access to justice and combatting impunity in relation to acts of torture - added that the inhabitants of [translation] "part of the former province, Orientale [of the DRC] [1] (part of the former district of Tshopo)" are also known by that name (ibid.). In a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, the national President of the African Association for the Defence of Human Rights (Association africaine de defense des droits de l'homme, ASADHO), an NGO founded in Kinshasa in 1991 (Alternatives n.d.), stated that the Bangala do not constitute an ethnic group and that they consist of [translation] "members from several tribes" (ASADHO 6 Jan. 2016). The Presidents of ASADHO and CODHO both indicated that the Bangala people speak Lingala (ibid.; CODHO 7 Jan. 2016). The President of CODHO noted that [translation] "strictly speaking, [the Bangala]-basically the Gbandi , Ngbaka and Libinza people - are traditionally speakers of Lingala" (ibid.). Sources indicate that Mobutu Sese Seko, former president of the DRC, was originally from the former province of Equateur (ASADHO 6 Jan. 2016; CODHO 7 Jan. 2016) and, more specifically, the new province of Nord-Ubangi (ibid.). According to the President of ASADHO, during the Mobutu era, some Bangala held [translation] "high-ranking positions" in the army and security services (ASADHO 6 Jan. 2016). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 2. Treatment of the Bangala in the DRC 2.1 Treatment by Society According to the CODHO President, [translation] "the Bangala do not experience any particular type of treatment in Congolese society" (CODHO 7 Jan. 2016). According to the ASADHO President, the Bangala do not experience discrimination and are not [translation] "victims of violence" at the hands of society (ASADHO 6 Jan. 2016). Further information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 2.2 Treatment by Authorities 2.2.1 1997-2003 The CODHO President stated that after [translation] "the Mobutu regime was overthrown" in 1997, the Bangala were "systematically targeted" by law enforcement and that "the repression worsened" in Kinshasa after the creation of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (Mouvement de liberation du Congo, MLC) and while "a large part of the former province of Equateur and part of the [former] Orientale province [was occupied] between 1999 and 2003" [2] (CODHO 7 Jan. 2016). The CODHO President stated that during that time in Kinshasa, some Bangala, including civilians, police officers and military personnel, were subjected to [translation] "arrest, arbitrary detention, torture, killings, forced disappearance and gang rape committed by military personnel" because of their presumed allegiance to the MLC (ibid.). Corroborating information for the period of 1997-2003 could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 2.2.2 2006-2015 The ASADHO President provided the following information on the treatment of Bangala by DRC authorities between 2006 and 2015: [translation] Between 2006 and 2013, the Bangala had many difficulties because Jean-Pierre Bemba, originally from the province of Equateur, spoke out against President Kabila. They had many problems because they belonged to Jean-Pierre Bemba's political party, or because they were from the province of Equateur. There was a witch hunt against the Bangala. Many were arrested and [a large number] of Bangala with positions in the army [were dismissed]. The situation of the Bangala improved between 2013 and 2015. Many Bangala have been appointed to positions in the government, army and police (ASADHO 6 Jan. 2016). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. For additional information about the MLC and Jean-Pierre Bemba, see Response to Information Request COD104040. According to the CODHO President [translation] "Enyele insurgents," who launched an insurgency in 2009 and are also known as members of the Allied Movement for Independent Liberation (Mouvement de liberation independante et allies, MLIA), "accused the [DRC] government of persecuting the Bangala from the [province of] Equateur" (CODHO 7 Jan. 2016). The same source added that [translation] "several" supporters of Honore Ngbanda, a Mungala close to Mobutu who was [translation] "suspected [of supporting] the Enyele," were arrested in Kinshasa and in the province of Equateur in 2011 because of their presumed allegiance to the Enyele (ibid.). According to the same source, they [translation] "benefitted from enforcement efforts" involving the 2014 amnesty law regarding "acts of insurrection, acts of war and political offences"; in addition, 14 "Enyele" were released in November 2014 under the same law (ibid.). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. For additional information about Honore Ngbanda and the MLIA insurrection, see Response to Information Request COD103696. The CODHO President of CODHO stated the following: [translation] the systematic persecution [of Bangala] has decreased since the 2014 amnesty law has been enforced. However, there are individuals who are still in prison even though they were arrested after that amnesty law started to be enforced. Some are being secretly detained in the prisons of the National Intelligence Agency (Agence nationale de renseignements, ANR). Others are in the five provinces that make up the former province of Equateur. These detainees are still being held because they are suspected of being members of an insurrectional movement [whose name has not been disclosed by the authorities] (ibid.). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 3. The Mungala and Bangala in the Republic of Congo In correspondence sent to the Research Directorate, the Executive Director of the Congolese Observatory of Human Rights (Observatoire congolais des droits de l'homme, OCDH), an NGO created in 1994 with headquarters in Brazzaville (IRRI n.d.), stated that [translation] "there are no ethnic groups known as Bangala and Mungala in the Republic of Congo" (OCDH 5 Jan. 2016). Further information on the Bangala and Mungala in the Republic of the Congo could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. Notes [1] Sources indicate that in July 2015, the provinces of Equateur and Orientale were divided into five and four new provinces respectively (ADIAC 13 July 2015; Radio Okapi 13 July 2015). [2] The Political Handbook of the World 2015 (PHW) indicates that the MLC was created in 1998 in the province of Equateur by Jean-Pierre Bemba, a "Mobutist" (PHW 2015, 327). Originally a "rebel group," the MLC became part of the DRC's transitional government in 2003 (ibid.). References Agence d'information d'Afrique centrale (ADIAC). 13 July 2015. Alain Diasso. "Decoupage : l'Equateur et la Province orientale officialisent leur demembrement." [Accessed 19 Jan. 2016] Alternatives. N.d. "Association africaine de defense des droits de l'homme (RDC)." [Accessed 19 Jan. 2016] Association africaine de defense des droits de l'homme (ASADHO). 6 January 2016. Telephone interview with the national president. Comite des observateurs des droits de l'homme (CODHO). 7 January 2016. Written correspondence sent to the Research Directorate by the president. International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI). N.d. "L'Observatoire congolais des droits de l'homme (OCDH)." [Accessed 19 Jan. 2016] Observatoire congolais des droits de l'homme (OCDH). 5 January 2016. Written correspondence sent to the Research Directorate by the executive director. Political Handbook of the World 2015 (PHW). 2015. "Democratic Republic of the Congo." Edited by Tom Lansford. Washington, DC: CQ Press. [Accessed 27 Jan. 2016] Radio Okapi. 13 July 2015. "Nouvelles provinces en RDC : la Province orientale et l'Equateur demembres." [Accessed 19 Jan. 2016] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: Professor of anthropology, Universite de Pau, France; professor of sociology, Universite Marien Ngouabi, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo; Research Director, Pole Institute. Internet sites, including: AllAfrica; Amnesty International; BBC; Cairn.info; Centre quatoria; Commission africaine des droits de l'homme et des peuples; Congo-Site; ecoi.net; Encyclopdia Britannica; Ethno-Net Africa; Factiva; Freedom House; Heritiers de la justice; Human Rights Watch; Insight on Conflict; International Federation for Human Rights; Irenees.net; Minority Rights Group International; Radio France internationale; Syfia Grands Lacs; United Nations - High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Refworld; United States - Department of State; World Organisation Against Torture. South Africa: Whether the travel document issued to refugees is valid for travel to the country from which the person fled persecution, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2014-June 2016) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 20 June 2016 Citation / Document Symbol ZAF105543.E Related Document(s) Afrique du Sud : information indiquant si le titre de voyage delivre aux refugies est valide pour les deplacements vers le pays que la personne a fui par crainte de persecution, y compris la Republique democratique du Congo (2014-juin 2016) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, South Africa: Whether the travel document issued to refugees is valid for travel to the country from which the person fled persecution, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2014-June 2016), 20 June 2016, ZAF105543.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579771b64.html [accessed 28 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. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa For information on travel documents (passports) issued by South African authorities to refugees, including circumstances under which they are issued, appearance, and information contained in the passports, see Response to Information Request ZAF105274. In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a representative of the Immigration Services branch of the South African Department of Home Affairs stated, without providing further information, that "the condition on the travel document issued to all refugees in South Africa is that they should not travel to the country of origin" (South Africa 13 June 2016). The Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA), a South Africa-based non-profit organization that seeks to promote and protect the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants (CoRMSA 12 June 2008), indicates on their website, which provides information on applying for refugee status in South Africa, that the travel document issued to refugees by South African authorities cannot be used for travel to the country of origin of the refugee, as this "will be interpreted to mean that [the refugee] can be protected by [their own] country, and [the refugee] could lose [his/her] refugee status" (ibid. 29 May 2009). Similarly, in 9 and 15 June 2016 correspondence with the Research Directorate, an associate attorney of the Refugee Rights Centre, a centre within the law clinic at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University that provides pro bono legal services and representation to asylum seekers and refugees throughout the Eastern Cape in South Africa (Associate Attorney 9 June 2016), provided the information in the following paragraph. Recognized refugees, who are those in possession of an (S)24 permit [1], can apply for and use the refugee passport from the Department of Home Affairs for travel abroad. This South African-issued refugee passport is valid for travel abroad, including to the country of origin. However, as individuals apply for refugee status based on fear of persecution in their country of origin, returning to their country of origin indicates to the South African authorities that the refugee no longer fears persecution and is therefore no longer in need of protection, and it is "likely that [the person] will lose refugee status" in South Africa. If the refugee status is revoked, the refugee passport is also revoked. This applies to all refugees, including refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. In 4 June 2016 correspondence with the Research Directorate, an attorney who works on asylum issues with the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), a South Africa-based human rights organization with offices in Johannesburg, Durban, Grahamstown, and Cape Town (LRC n.d.), provided the information in the following paragraph. South Africa issues travel documents to refugees. If a refugee returns to their own country, this "usually" amounts to the refugee voluntarily accepting the protection of their country of origin, which is inconsistent with being a refugee or asylum seeker. Some refugees from the DRC have used their DRC passport or have travelled without documentation, for example, to bury a parent or recover a child in danger "without falling foul of the availability of protection principle." When a person abandons their refugee status and voluntarily returns to the DRC, they could use either their DRC passport or the South African refugee travel document, but doing the latter would make them vulnerable to persecution by the DRC authorities who mistreat those who have sought refugee status. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. Note [1] A Section 24 permit (also known as a "Refugee Permit") is provided to people whose asylum applications have been approved, and it officially recognizes them as refugees (South Africa n.d.). References Associate Attorney. 9 June 2016. Refugee Rights Centre, Centre for Law in Action, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. _____. 15 June 2016. Refugee Rights Centre, Centre for Law in Action, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. Attorney. 4 June 2016. Legal Resources Centre. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA). 29 May 2009. "Applying for Refugee Status in South Africa." [Accessed 10 June 2016] _____. 12 June 2008. "Who We Are." [Accessed 10 June 2016] Legal Resources Centre (LRC). N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 16 June 2016] South Africa. 13 June 2016. Department of Home Affairs. Correspondence from a representative to the Research Directorate. _____. N.d. "Asylum Seeker and Refugee Permits." [Accessed 14 June 2016] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: Coordinating Body of Refugee and Migrant Communities; Democratic Republic of the Congo - Embassy in Ottawa; Lawyers for Human Rights; Refugees Ministries Centre; Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town; South Africa - High Commission in Ottawa; University of Witwatersrand - African Centre for Migration and Society. Internet sites, including: Amnesty International; ecoi.net; Human Rights Watch; IRIN; South Africa - Department of Home Affairs; United Nations - Refworld, UNHCR; United States - Department of State. Ukraine: Articles 303 to 308 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, both before and after the new Code came into force in November 2012; implementation of the Criminal Procedure Code by police in the Chernihiv and Kyiv regions (2006-July 2014) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 2 October 2015 Citation / Document Symbol UKR105304.E Related Document(s) Ukraine : information sur les articles 303 a 308 du Code de procedure penale de l'Ukraine, avant et apres l'entree en vigueur du nouveau code en novembre 2012; l'application du Code de procedure penale par la police dans les regions de Tchernihiv et de Kiev (2006-juillet 2014) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ukraine: Articles 303 to 308 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, both before and after the new Code came into force in November 2012; implementation of the Criminal Procedure Code by police in the Chernihiv and Kyiv regions (2006-July 2014), 2 October 2015, UKR105304.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5797728a4.html [accessed 28 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. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa 1. Articles 303 to 308 of the Ukrainian Criminal Procedure Code 1.1 1960 Code According to the website of the Ukrainian Supreme Council (Verkhovna Rada), the Ukrainian Criminal Procedure Code of 1960 was valid until 19 November 2012 (Ukraine n.d.a). Sources indicate that a new Criminal Procedure Code was introduced in the Ukraine in April 2012 (AI Apr. 2013; Lawyer 28 Sept. 2015) and came into force on 20 November 2012 (ibid.; AI Apr. 2013; The Ukrainian Week 31 Mar. 2013). Articles 303 to 308 of the 1960 Code, last amended in 2012, are titled as follows: [translation] Article 303. Examination of a witness Article 304. Additional examination or re-examination of a witness Article 305. Right of the witness to use notes Article 306. Witness' testimonies read in court Articles 307. Examination of an underage witness Article 308. Examination of the victim (Ukraine 1960, Art. 303-308) A translation of these articles is attached to this Response (Attachment 1). 1.1.1 Amendments Made Between October 2006 and November 2012 According to the website of the Ukrainian Supreme Council, Article 303 was amended as follows: pursuant to Act 2395-VI (2395-17) of 1 July 2010, [translation] to complete part three with the following words 'as well as the defence counsel invited by him/her'; in part six, to replace the words 'or the witness him/herself' with the words 'the witness him/herself or the defence counsel invited by him/her'. (Ukraine 2010) pursuant to Act 3388 (3388-17) of 19 May 2011, [translation] "in part three of article 303, to remove the words 'and the people's jurors'" (ibid. 2011). 1.2 New 2012 Code The website of the Ukrainian Supreme Council provides a link to the 2012 Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (Ukraine n.d.a). Chapter 26 of the new Code, which includes Articles 303 to 308, contains provisions regarding the right to appeal against a decision, action or inaction of pre-trial investigative authorities or the prosecutor during a pre-trial investigation (ibid. 2012, c. 26(1)). A translation of Articles 303 to 308 from the new Code is attached to this Response (Attachment 2). 1.2.1 Amendments Made Between November 2012 and July 2014 Pursuant to Act 314-VII of 23 May 2013, Articles 303 and 305 of the new Criminal Procedure Code were amended as follows: [translation] 27) in part one of article 303: to complete paragraph 1, after the words "his/her defence counsel or legal representative," with the words "representative of a legal entity which is the object of the proceeding"; to complete paragraph 2 with the words "[by the] representative of the legal entity which is the object of the proceeding"; to reformulate paragraph 4 as follows: 4) the decision of the prosecutor to terminate a criminal proceeding and/or a proceeding with regard of a legal entity - by the claimant, the victim, his/her representative or legal representative, the suspect, his/her defence counsel or legal representative, the representative of the legal entity that is the object of the proceeding"; 28) in subparagraph two of part two of article 305, to replace the word "fifth" with the word "sixth". (ibid. 2013) In addition, pursuant to Act No. 767-VII of 23 February 2014, under part one, Article 303(9) was removed (ibid. 2014b). Article 303(9) stated the following: [translation] 9) a decision of an investigator or prosecutor on conducting a criminal proceeding in absentia - by the suspect, his/her defence counsel or legal representative, the victim, his/her representative or legal representative. (ibid. 2014a) 2. Implementation of the Code In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a criminal lawyer from Kyiv stated that the Criminal Procedure Code is implemented by police in all regions of Ukraine, including in the Chernihiv and Kyiv regions (Lawyer 28 Sept. 2015). Further and corroborating information on the implementation of the Code by police in the Chernihiv and Kyiv regions could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. According to the lawyer, cases with completed pre-trial investigations received by the courts on or before 19 November 2012 are processed under the old Criminal Procedure Code (ibid.). According to the same source, cases with completed pre-trial investigations received by the courts on or after 20 November 2012 are processed under the new Code (ibid.). The lawyer further explained that cases with pre-trial investigations that had not been completed as of 19 November 2012 are processed and "investigated further" under the new Code (ibid.). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. References Amnesty International (AI). April 2013. "Ukraine: Don't Stop Halfway." EUR 50/004/2013). [Accessed 18 Sept. 2015] Lawyer, Kyiv. 28 September 2015. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. Ukraine. 2014a. Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. Excerpts translated by the Translation Bureau, Public Works and Government Services Canada. [Accessed 23 Sept. 2015] _____. 2014b. Act 767-VII of 23.02.2014. Excerpts translated by the Translation Bureau, Public Works and Government Services Canada. [Accessed 23 Sept. 2015] _____. 2013. Act. No. 314-VII of 23.05.2013. Excerpts translated by the Translation Bureau, Public Works and Government Services Canada. [Accessed 23 Sept. 2015] _____. 2012. Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. Excerpts translated by the Translation Bureau, Public Works and Government Services Canada. [Accessed 22 Sept. 2015] _____. 2011. Act No. 3388-VI (3388-17) of 19.05.2011. Excerpts translated by the Translation Bureau, Public Works and Government Services Canada. [Accessed 23 Sept. 2015] _____. 2010. Act No. 2395-VI (2395-17) of 01.07.2010. Excerpts translated by the Translation Bureau, Public Works and Government Services Canada. [Accessed 23 Sept. 2015] _____. 1960 (amended 2012). Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. Excerpts translated by the Translation Bureau, Public Works and Government Services Canada. [Accessed 22 Sept. 2015] _____. N.d.a. Verkhovna Rada. The Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine. [Accessed 22 Sept. 2015] The Ukrainian Week. 31 March 2013. Andriy Skumin. "The First Impressions from the New Code." [Accessed 18 Sept. 2015] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: criminal lawyers in Chernihiv and Kyiv; Ukraine - Embassy of Ukraine in Ottawa, Ombudsman, Prosecutor General's Office. Internet sites, including: ABC News; American Bar Association; Amnesty International; Argumenti i Fakti; BBC; Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW); Centre for Research on Globalization; Democratization, Human Rights and Civil Society Development Praxis Portal; Deutsche Welle; ecoi.net; EUObserver; Euromaidan Press; European Centre for a Modern Ukraine; Factiva; Freedom House; Human Rights Watch; The Independent; Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, Carleton University; Interfax - Ukraine; International Crisis Group; Interpol Kiev; Kyiv International Institute of Sociology; Kyiv Post; Minority Rights Group International; The Moscow Times; The New York Times; Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe; Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Reuters; RIA Novosti; RT.com; School of Russian and Asian Studies; Sputniknews.com; Ukraine - Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ombudsman, Prosecutor General's Office, State Border Guard Service; The Ukrainian Weekly; Ukraine Today; Ukrinform; United Nations - Refworld, UN Office on Drugs and Crime; United States - Department of State, Library of Congress; The Voice of Russia; World Affairs; World Intellectual Property Organization. Attachments 1. Ukraine. 2012. Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. Excerpts translated by the Translation Bureau, Public Works and Government Services Canada. [Accessed 22 Sept. 2015] 2. Ukraine. 1960 (amended 2012). Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. Excerpts translated by the Translation Bureau, Public Works and Government Services Canada. [Accessed 22 Sept. 2015] Ukraine: Party of Regions, including mandate, leaders, power base, structure, membership and membership cards; whether the party is still active or dissolved into other parties; whether authorities are able to identify Party of Regions members; state protection available for members targeted by militias or other forces Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 11 September 2015 Citation / Document Symbol UKR105289.E Related Document(s) Ukraine : information sur le Parti des regions, y compris sur son mandat, ses dirigeants, sa base politique, sa structure, ses membres et les cartes de membre; information indiquant si le parti est encore actif ou s'il s'est morcele en d'autres partis; information indiquant si les autorites sont en mesure d'identifier les membres du Parti des regions; information sur la protection offerte par l'Etat aux membres pris pour cible par les milices ou d'autres forces Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ukraine: Party of Regions, including mandate, leaders, power base, structure, membership and membership cards; whether the party is still active or dissolved into other parties; whether authorities are able to identify Party of Regions members; state protection available for members targeted by militias or other forces, 11 September 2015, UKR105289.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5797736f4.html [accessed 28 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. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa 1. Party of Regions Overview The Political Handbook of the World (PHW) 2014 states that the Party of Regions (Partiya Rehioniv, PR) was formed in March 2001 and was a merger of five centrist parties: the Labor Party of Ukraine (Partiya Pratsi Ukrainy, PPU), the Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine (Partiya Rehionalnoho Vidrodzhennya Ukrainy, PRVU), the Party "For a Beautiful Ukraine" (Partiya "Za Krasyvu Ukrainu", PZKU), the "All-Ukrainian Party of Pensioners" (Vseukrainskoi Partiya Pensioneriv, VPP) and the "Party of Solidarity of Ukraine" (Partiya Solidarnosti Ukrainy, PSU) (PHW 2014, 1497-1498). According to Global Security, a website that provides news on defence, intelligence and security (Global Security n.d.), the PR was created to "represent the interests of Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the south and east of the country" (ibid. 26 June 2014). The PHW 2014 states that in the 2004 presidential elections, the PR "advocated 'strong ties' to the EU but opposed NATO membership. Yanukovych [the PR leader] also pledged to pursue official language status for Russian[s] and improvements in relations with Russia in general" (PHW 2014, 1498). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. Global Security indicates that the PR has held a parliamentary majority since 2007 (Global Security 26 June 2014). Election Guide, which is published by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, an international non-profit organization "dedicated to strengthening electoral democracy" (Election Guide n.d.), indicates that the PR won 175 of 450 parliamentary seats to the Supreme Council (Verkhovna Rada) in the 2006 and 2007 elections (ibid. 26 Mar. 2006; ibid. 30 Sept. 2007). Sources indicate that the PR secured 185 seats to the Supreme Council in the October 2012 election (ibid. 28 Oct. 2012; PHW 2014, 1498; Professor of history 28 Aug. 2015). During these three elections, Election Guide notes that Viktor Yanukovych was the leader of the party (Election Guide 26 Mar. 2006; ibid. 30 Sept. 2007; ibid. 28 Oct. 2012). The PHW notes the following leaders for the PR in 2013 and 2014: 2013 - Viktor Yanukovych (President of Ukraine, Party Leader, and Former Prime Minister), Mykola Azarov (Prime Minister and Leader of the Party), and Oleksandr Efremov (Chair) (PHW 2013, 1506). 2014 - Viktor Yanukovych (President of Ukraine and Honorary Party Leader), Mykola Azarov (Prime Minister and Chair of the Party), Oleksandr Yefremov (Parliamentary Leader), and Volodymyr Rybak (Speaker of the Supreme Council) (ibid. 2014, 1498). Sources indicate that in February 2014, Yanukovich reportedly fled Ukraine (The Guardian 23 Feb. 2014; Global Security 26 June 2014), after anti-government protests took place in the country in February 2014 (ibid.). According to information published on the PR's website in March 2014, the party's Congress approved Yanukovych's resignation from the party and expelled the following members from the party: Mykola Azarov, Serhiy Arbuzov, Oleksandr Klymenko, Eduard Stavytskyi, Andriy Shyshatskyi and Valeriy Konovalyuk (PR 29 Mar. 2014b). According to the PR's website, the new members of the Presidium of the PR's Political Council are the following: Oleksandr Vilkul, Volodymyr Rybak, Mykhailo Dobkin, Oleksandr Yefremov, Borys Kolesnikov, Vadym Novinskiy, Mykola Levchenko, and Oleksandr Ledida (ibid. 29 Mar. 2014a). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a professor at the School of Political Studies of the University of Ottawa, whose research focuses on politics in Ukraine, Russia and Moldova, indicated that before February 2014, the PR had control over most regions of Ukraine, specifically all regions in the East and South. The governors and local councils of these regions [were] dominated by the Party of Regions. Since the overthrow in February of 2014 of the national government controlled by the Party of Regions, this party lost control of all regions, since all their governors (heads of regional administration) were replaced. The Party of Regions is now de facto disintegrated. The party is prohibited in many regions of Western Ukraine and its local branches there are closed. (Professor of political science 28 Aug. 2015) In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs of the University of Ottawa, who has written for international media on political issues and has conducted research on Russian history, military history and defence policy, similarly stated that the PR, which operated throughout all of the Ukraine, is now "defunct, having fallen apart following the overthrow of President Yanukovich in February 2014. It is not in control of any part of Ukraine" (Professor of international affairs 30 Aug. 2015). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a professor of history at the University of Alberta, who is also the Director of the Stasiuk Program on Contemporary Ukraine at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta and whose research focuses on Ukraine and Belarus, likewise stated that the PR is now disintegrated (Professor of history 28 Aug. 2015). Sources indicate that some PR members joined other parties (ibid.; Election Guide 26 Oct. 2014). The Washington Post reports that some of the former members of the PR joined the Party of Development of Ukraine, the Industrial Ukraine party and the Strong Ukraine party (6 Sept. 2014). According to sources, the Opposition Bloc party has been described as a rebranded Party of Regions (Election Guide 26 Oct. 2014; Kyiv Post 24 Oct. 2014) with most of its support from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions (ibid.). The Professor of political science stated that the PR, now de facto disintegrated became transformed into the Opposition Bloc, which represents an alliance of major factions of this party and several smaller parties. The October 2014 parliamentary elections and public opinion polls show that this bloc has most support in the Eastern and Southern regions, but at lower levels compared with the Party of Regions before February 2014. (Professor of political science 28 Aug. 2015) Kyiv Post, an English-language newspaper in Ukraine, similarly reports that the Opposition Bloc "comprises parties consisting of former Party of Regions members and parties associated with the Yanukovych regime" (Kyiv Post 24 Oct. 2014). However, the Professor of history noted that the Opposition Bloc "contains some former [Party of] Regions members. But it is not made up exclusively of them" (Professor of history 1 Sept. 2015). According to Election Guide, the Opposition Bloc secured 29 seats to the Supreme Council in the October 2014 election (Election Guide 26 Oct. 2014). The website of the Opposition Bloc lists the following individuals as the party's members: Yuriy Boyko, Alexander Vilkyn, Yuriy Voropaev, Sergey Levochkin and Evgeniy Bakulin, among others (Opposition Bloc n.d.). For additional information on the PR, see Response to Information Request UKR104895. 2. Party of Regions Membership Without providing details, the Professor of historystated that PR members used to have membership cards and paid membership fees, however, the PR does not presently maintain its membership structure (Professor of history 28 Aug. 2015). The Professor of political science said "it is not clear if the Party of Regions now maintains its membership structure, membership cards and membership fees" (Professor of political science 28 Aug. 2015). According to sources, the PR's website has stopped posting any new information (ibid.; Professor of history 28 Aug. 2015). Further information on membership cards and the membership structure of the PR could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 3. Ability of Authorities to Identify Party of Regions Members Without providing detail, sources indicated that members of the PR could be identified by government officials, militia, pro-government sources and the police, based on their public identification as members of the PR in the media and during the elections (Professor of history 28 Aug. 2015; Professor of political science 28 Aug. 2015). The Professor of history expressed the opinion that prominent members of the PR, such as former members of Parliament or business people, could be identified, but that ordinary members of the PR cannot be identified (Professor of history 28 Aug. 2015). Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 4. State Protection Sources indicate that some former leaders of the PR face "criminal investigations" in Ukraine (Professor of history 28 Aug. 2015; Professor of political science 28 Aug. 2015), "primarily on charges related to support[ing] separatism and corruption" (ibid.). According to the Professor of political science, [m]ost of [the PR's former leaders] fled to Russia after [Yanukovych was] overthrown in Ukraine in February 2014. Many of the former or nominal Party of Regions leaders and leading activists were subjected, since February 2014 to violent attacks by far right organizations, such as the Right Sector. The police generally did not interfere during these attacks and did not detain the attackers or prosecute them. (ibid.) The Professor of international affairs similarly indicated that [f]ollowing the overthrow of Yanukovych, there were a number of cases of offices of the Party of Regions being ransacked or burnt, of council members who were party members being forced by armed gangs to resign etc. Others were beaten up. Others are subject to legal prosecution, or to lustration - a process by which those associated with the former government are deprived of their jobs. The situation was worse immediately after Yanukovych's overthrow. (Professor of international affairs 30 Aug. 2015) The Professor of international affairs further stated that in his opinion, he would not expect the police to be much help, given that there are armed militias in Ukraine who heavily outgun the police, and also given that the police are undergoing a large scale restructuring with big turnover of personnel, meaning that they are not at present well placed to fulfill many duties. (ibid.) According to sources, a number of former PR leaders committed suicide (Professor of history 28 Aug. 2015; Professor of international affairs 30 Aug. 2015; Professor of political science 28 Aug. 2015) in the beginning of 2015 "because of government investigations of their activities" (ibid.). The Guardian, a UK-based daily newspaper, reports that "many" of the PR members were facing "trials for corruption, extortion, abuse of office and even murder" (The Guardian 23 Mar. 2015). Media sources report that the following members of the PR committed suicide: Mikhail Chechetov, Stanislav Melnik, Alexander Peklushenko (The Guardian 23 Mar. 2015; RTL andAFP 14 Mar. 2015; Itar-Tass 13 Mar. 2015), Nikolay Sergiyenko, Alexey Kolesnik, Sergey Valter and Alexander Bordyuga (ibid.). According to CNN, an Opposition Bloc media office stated that the deaths were "politically motivated" (CNN 17 Apr. 2015). The Guardian reports that [t]here is no evidence to back theories that there may be foul play involved in the spate of suicides, but opposition MPs say the trend points to a wave of intimidation at the very least. Members of the party who remain in Ukraine are feeling scared and reluctant to talk about the cases against them in public. "Everyone's afraid. They don't want to have to jump from windows, shoot themselves - or be helped," said one former Party of Regions member who has moved to the Opposition Bloc. (23 Mar. 2015) Sources indicate that a former member of the PR was assassinated in Kyiv in April 2015 (Gazeta.ru 16 Apr. 2015; The New York Times 18 May 2015; Professor of political science 28 Aug. 2015), "after publicly reporting in the media that he received death threats" (ibid.). According to the Professor of political science, the "police generally ha[ve] not reacted in this and other cases of such threats" (ibid.). The New York Times reports that an investigation was initiated into the case, but prosecutors did not believe that the killing and the party suicides were connected (18 May 2015). According to CNN, the police were investigating the death of the former PR member as a murder (CNN 17 Apr. 2015). Further information on the results of the investigation could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. According to sources, the majority of ordinary former or nominal members of the Party of Regions are not subjected to violence or threats (Professor of history 28 Aug. 2015; Professor of political science 28 Aug. 2015). According to the Professor of history, ordinary members of the PR could face threats in Western parts of the country (cities such as Lviv, Ternopil) from militant nationalistic groups. If a Party of Regions member faces violence or threats, he or she can turn to the police. However, the police would be more reluctant to help members of the Party of Regions in Western regions of the country where there was little support for the Party of Regions. (28 Aug. 2015) Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. For further information on state protection available for PR members, see Response to Information Request UKR104895. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. References Cable News Network (CNN). 17 April 2015. "Who's Killing Allies of Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych?" [Accessed 3 Sept. 2015] Election Guide. 26 October 2014. "Ukraine - Election for Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council)." [Accessed 2 Sept. 2015] _____. 28 October 2012. "Ukraine - Election for Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council)." [Accessed 2 Sept. 2015] _____. 30 September 2007. "Ukraine - Election for Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council)." [Accessed 2 Sept. 2015] _____. 26 March 2006. "Ukraine - Election for Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council)." [Accessed 2 Sept. 2015] _____. N.d. "About Election Guide." [Accessed 8 Sept. 2015] Gazeta.ru. 16 April 2015. "Ubit organizator kievskogo anti-maydana." [Accessed 3 Sept. 2015] Global Security. 26 June 2014. "Ukraine Political Parties." [Accessed 21 Aug. 2015] _____. N.d. "Company History." [Accessed 2 Sept. 2015] The Guardian. 23 March 2015. Katya Gorchinskaya. "Ukraine's Former Ruling Party Hit by Spate of Apparent Suicides." [Accessed 21 Aug. 2015] _____. 23 February 2014. Shaun Walker. "Ukraine's Former PM Rallies Protesters After Yanukovych Flees Kiev." [Accessed 2 Sept. 2015] Itar-Tass. 13 March 2015. "Former Governor of Ukraine's Zaporizhia Region Found Dead in his Home. Member of 'Party of Regions'." [Accessed 31 Aug. 2015] Kyiv Post. 24 October 2014. Oleg Sukhov. "Opposition Bloc Boosts Rating by Distancing Itself from Yanukovych Era." [Accessed 31 Aug. 2015] The New York Times. 18 May 2015. David M. Herszenhorn. "Ukraine Mired in Political and Economic Chaos Long After Revolution." (Factiva) Opposition Bloc. N.d. "Deputies." [Accessed 2 Sept. 2015] Party of Regions (Partiya Rehioniv, PR). 29 March 2014a. "Party Statute was Amended at the Party of Regions Congress." [Accessed 2 Sept. 2015] _____. 29 March 2014b. "Party of Regions Congress Delegates Satisfied Request of Viktor Yanukovych for Resignation from the Party and Recalled Him from Position of Honorary Leader." [Accessed 2 Sept. 2015] Political Handbook of the World 2014 (PHW). 2014. "Ukraine." Edited by Tom Lansford. Washington, DC: CQ Press. < [Accessed 2 Sept. 2015] _____. 2013. "Ukraine." Edited by Tom Lansford. Washington, DC: CQ Press. < [Accessed 2 Sept. 2014] Professor of history, Department of History and Classics, University of Alberta. 1 September 2015. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. _____. 28 August 2015. Telephone interview with the Research Directorate. Professor of international affairs, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa. 30 August 2015. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. Professor of political science, School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa. 28 August 2015. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. RTL and Agence France-Presse (AFP). "Ukraine : mysterieuse epidemie de suicides chez des ex-prorusses." [Accessed 3 Sept. 2015] The Washington Post. 6 September 2014. Erik Herron and Nazar Boyko. "Ukraine's Next Electoral Challenge." [Accessed 2 Sept. 2015] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: Attempts to contact the following were unsuccessful within the time constraints of this Response: academics at Baylor University, Harvard University, The New School in New York, Oxford University, University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, Western University; Party of Regions. Internet sites, including: ABC News; Amnesty International; Argumenti i Fakti; BBC; Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW); Centre for Research on Globalization; Deutsche Welle; EUObserver; Euromaidanpr.com; Factiva; Freedom House; Human Rights Watch; The Independent; Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, Carleton University; Interfax - Ukraine; International Crisis Group; Interpol Kiev; Kyiv International Institute of Sociology; Minority Rights Group International; The Moscow Times; The New York Times; Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe; Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Reuters; RIA Novosti; RT.com; School of Russian and Asian Studies; Sputniknews.com; Ukraine - Ministry of Internal Affairs, Prosecutor General's Office, State Border Guard Service of Ukraine; The Ukrainian Week; The Ukrainian Weekly; Ukraine Today; Ukrinform; United Nations - Refworld; United States - Department of State, Library of Congress; Voice of Russia; World Affairs. Ukraine: Military service, including information on military service notices, who issues them, their contents, and physical characteristics; whether notices have a warning regarding refusal or evasion of military service; information on penalties for refusing or evading military service (2014- May 2015) Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 1 June 2015 Citation / Document Symbol UKR105186.E Related Document(s) Ukraine : information sur le service militaire, y compris sur les avis de conscription, les autorites qui delivrent de tels avis, leur contenu et leurs caracteristiques physiques; information indiquant si les avis comportent une mise en garde au sujet de l'insoumission ou du refus d'accomplir le service militaire; information sur les sanctions pour ceux qui refusent d'accomplir le service militaire ou s'y soustraient (2014-mai 2015) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ukraine: Military service, including information on military service notices, who issues them, their contents, and physical characteristics; whether notices have a warning regarding refusal or evasion of military service; information on penalties for refusing or evading military service (2014- May 2015), 1 June 2015, UKR105186.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5797743e4.html [accessed 28 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. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa 1. Military Service Notices Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine "On Military Duty and Military Service" indicates that the "[d]efence of the Motherland, the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine is the Constitutional duty of citizens of Ukraine" (Ukraine 1992, Art. 1). The law refers to a military service notice as a "call-up paper" (ibid., Art. 14(6)). Call-up papers are issued by the city (regional) military commissariats (ibid., Art. 15(8)). Article 14(6) of the same law states that "[i]n order to register with an enlistment office, citizens of Ukraine are obliged to report in person to a military regional (city) commissariat by a date specified in call-up papers and present necessary documents, a list of which is established by the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine" (ibid.). Information about the types of documents required could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a senior program officer for Europe and Eurasia at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a US-based private non-profit foundation "dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions" globally (NED n.d.), said that notices for compulsory military service in Ukraine take the form of a piece of paper, instructing citizens to go to the commissariat for further instructions and to undergo a medical check-up (ibid. 20 May 2015). The same source further indicated that the notices are hand-delivered and require the signature of the recipient (ibid.). She noted that, as is the case with all official Ukrainian documents, the military service notice "almost certainly has a seal/stamp" (ibid.). Corroborating information could not be found among sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. Further information on the characteristics and contents of call-up papers, as well as whether or not they are consistent between regions, could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. 2. Penalties for Military Service Evasion Chapter XIX of Ukraine's Criminal Code entitled "Criminal Offenses Against the Established Procedure of Military Service (Military Offenses)," provides the following information regarding penalties for desertion and military evasion: Article 408. Desertion Desertion, that is the absence from a military unit or place of duty without leave for the purpose of avoiding the military service, or failure to report for duty upon appointment or reassignment, after a detached service, vacation or treatment in a medical facility for the same purpose, - shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of two to five years. Desertion with weapons or of a group of persons upon their prior conspiracy, - shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of five to ten years. Any such act as provided for by paragraph 1 or 2 of this Article, if committed in state of martial law or in a battle, - shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of five to twelve years. Article 409. Evasion of military service by way of self-maiming or otherwise Evasion of military service by a military serviceman by way of self-maiming or malingering, or forgery of documents, or any other deceit, - shall be punishable by custody in a penal battalion for a term up to two years, or imprisonment for the same term. Refusal to comply with the duties of military service, - shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of two to five years. Any such acts as provided for by paragraph 1 or 2, if committed in state of martial law or in a battle, - shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of five to ten years. (Ukraine 2001, Art. 408-409) The Senior Program Officer at NED indicated that military service notices contain a warning regarding refusal or evasion of military service (20 May 2015). Further and corroborating information could not be found among sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. Sources report that in February 2015, Ukraine's parliament passed a law authorizing commanding officers to "use physical force against army defectors" (GlobalSecurity.org 20 Mar. 2015; RT 5 Feb. 2015). Sources note that the new provision, Article 22(1), which was added to the charter regulating military service in the Ukraine, states that "commanders 'have the right to personally use physical force, special means, and weapons when in combat' against soldiers who commit 'criminal acts'" (ibid.; GlobalSecurity.org 20 Mar. 2015). Further information on Article 22(1) could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. For further information on military service in Ukraine, see the full text of the Law of Ukraine "On Military Duty and Military Service" attached to this Response to Information Request. This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. References GlobalSecurity.org. 20 March 2015. "Ukrainian Military Personnel." [Accessed 22 May 2015] National Endowment for Democracy (NED). 20 May 2015. Correspondence from a senior program officer for Europe and Eurasia to the Research Directorate. _____. N.d. "Home Page." [Accessed 22 May 2015] Russia Today (RT). 5 February 2015. "Ukrainian Parliament Passes Law Allowing Army Deserters to Be Shot." [Accessed 22 May 2015] Ukraine. 2001 (Amended 2010). Criminal Code of Ukraine. [Accessed 22 May 2015] _____. 1992 (Amended 2013). Law of Ukraine "On Military Duty and Military Service." In The Security Sector Legislation of Ukraine: Second Edition, by Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies and Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, 2013. [Accessed 22 May 2015] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: The following were unable to provide information for this Response: Ukraine - Consulate General in New York City, Embassy of Ukraine in Ottawa, Embassy of Ukraine in the Netherlands, Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, D.C.; associate fellow, Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria; associate professor, Department of Political Science, Carleton University; chancellor professor, Institute of European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, Carleton University. The following were unable to provide information within the time constraints of this Response: Deputy Director Ukraine, American Bar Association Rule of Law Inititative. Attempts to contact the following were unsuccessful within the time constraints of this Response: assistant professor, Center for International and Comparative Law, Saint Louis University School of Law; associate professor, McGill University; Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto; Canadian International Council; Chair, Ukrainian Studies, University of Ottawa; Director, Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage, St. Thomas More College/University of Saskatchewan; Institute of World Policy; Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe. Internet sites, including: Bloomberg Business; Council on Foreign Relations; ecoi.net; Factiva; Foreign Policy; Free Republic; Global Research News; Infowars; Institute for War and Peace Reporting; International Committee on the Red Cross; International Crisis Group; The Jamestown Foundation; The Moscow Times; People's Voice; Reuters; Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity; SPUTNIK Online Media; Ukraine - Embassy in Ottawa, Embassy in Washington, DC; UN - Refworld; US - Central Intelligence Agency; War Resisters International. Attachment Ukraine. 1992 (Amended 2013). Law of Ukraine "On Military Duty and Military Service." In The Security Sector Legislation of Ukraine: Second Edition, by Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies and Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, 2013. Ukraine: Police summons, including issuance procedures, methods of delivery to the affected person, description of the document and the information it contains, including whether the police include the reasons why the person is summoned on the document and whether the police include the relevant legislative provisions of the Ukrainian Criminal Code; whether the person has a right to counsel for attendance; prevalence of fraudulent police summonses Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 21 May 2015 Citation / Document Symbol UKR105175.E Related Document(s) Ukraine : information sur les sommations delivrees par la police, y compris sur la procedure de delivrance et les methodes de signification a la personne concernee, la description du document et les renseignements qu'il contient, y compris si la police precise sur le document les raisons pour lesquelles la personne est sommee de comparaitre et les dispositions legislatives applicables du code criminel de l'Ukraine; information indiquant si la personne a droit a un avocat lorsqu'elle se presente; information sur la frequence des sommations frauduleuses Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ukraine: Police summons, including issuance procedures, methods of delivery to the affected person, description of the document and the information it contains, including whether the police include the reasons why the person is summoned on the document and whether the police include the relevant legislative provisions of the Ukrainian Criminal Code; whether the person has a right to counsel for attendance; prevalence of fraudulent police summonses, 21 May 2015, UKR105175.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/579774d64.html [accessed 28 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. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa 1. Overview, Including Issuance Procedures According to Section 133(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, during a "pre-trial investigation," the investigator and the public prosecutor have the right to summon suspects, witnesses, victims or other participants for an interrogation "or participation in other procedural actions" [1] (Ukraine [2012], Sec. 133(1)). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, the Director of Kyiv-based YurViddil Law Firm similarly indicated that "pre-trial investigation authorities" are provided powers through statutory provisions that enable them to take "investigative (search) actions to ascertain certain circumstances" that will be proven during further criminal proceedings (Director 30 Apr. 2015). He stated that "[p]arties involved in criminal proceedings shall be advised of an investigative (search) action based on invocation or invitation by an investigator or a prosecutor" (ibid.). Section 133(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code provides that the investigator and public prosecutor have the right to summon a person "if there are sufficient grounds for a belief that such person can give testimonies that are important for criminal proceedings, or his participation in a procedural action is mandatory" (Ukraine [2012], Sec. 133(2)). The Director of YurViddil Law Firm elaborated on the reasons provided under Section 133(2) upon which an individual may be called to take part in an investigative (search) action: where the investigator or prosecutor reasonably believes that such person may provide evidence essential for the criminal proceedings in question; or where the relevant investigative (search) action requires involvement of such person. (30 Apr. 2015) According to Sections 3(5) and 3(6) of the Code, a pre-trial investigation is the stage of criminal proceedings between "the moment information on a criminal offence is entered ... [and the] closure of the criminal proceedings or ... submission to court of an indictment, ... [or] a motion on discharge of the person from criminal liability" (Ukraine [2012], Sec. 3(5)-(6)). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a representative of the Center for Political and Legal Reforms (CPLR), a non-profit NGO that elaborates and promotes reforms of the constitution and the judicial system in Ukraine (CPLR n.d.), stated in contrast that only investigators have the power to make a police summons (ibid. 7 May 2015a) and that investigators are not prosecutors (ibid. 7 May 2015b). He further explained that investigators are "special public officials" who work in an investigative division within the "police," the "tax police," the "SBU (secret service)" or the "NABU (anti-corruption body)" (ibid.). According to Section 3 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, an investigator is "an official of a body of internal affairs, security agency or agency supervising compliance with the tax legislation, [or] a Ukrainian State Bureau of Investigations' unit authorized within his competence specified by the present Code, to conduct pre-trial investigation of criminal offences" (Ukraine [2012], Sec. 3(17)). The CPLR representative stated that "other police officers" do not have the power to make a police summons (7 May 2015a). 2. Delivery Procedures for a Police Summons The Director of YurViddil Law Firm indicated that individuals involved in criminal proceedings "shall be invoked to take part [in] an investigative (search) action in the manner contemplated by Article 135 of the Ukrainian Code of Criminal Procedure" (30 Apr. 2015). For information on the delivery procedures for a police summons, see Section 135 of the 2012 Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, which is attached to this Response (see Attachment 1). The Director of YurViddil Law Firm explained that Section 135(1) provides for the "following ways of invocation": 1) service of a summons; or 2) sending of a summons by post, by e-mail or by facsimile; or 3) advising of invocation over the phone or by telegram (30 Apr. 2015). The Director also explained that "a summons shall be handed over or delivered to an addressee by a postal worker, officer of law enforcement authorities, investigator or prosecutor (ibid.). Similarly, in a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, an attorney-at-law working at Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm in Kyiv noted that the summons can be delivered in person by a postal worker, an investigative authority or a police officer to the individual's home or work address, or over the phone or by mail (Attorney 4 May 2015). The same source notes that Section 136(2) of the Code provides that the summoned individual must provide their email address or fax number before the investigator or prosecutor can email or fax the police summons (ibid.). Sources indicated that when the police summons is delivered, the summoned individual must provide their signature as proof of receipt (ibid.; Attorney 4 May 2015) and will be asked to show their ID (ibid.). The Director of YurViddil Law Firm stated that Sections 136(1) and (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code provide designated ways to confirm an individual has received a summons, including a receipt of confirmation by email, a video recording of the delivery, other data confirming the delivery or review of the summons (Director 30 Apr. 2015). He added that [a] summons shall be sent by investigators, prosecutors and delivered by postal workers in the way and manner contemplated by the Postal Service Regulations applicable to summons/subpoenas and approved by Decree No. 270 passed by the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers on March 05, 2009. A summons shall be delivered and handed over to the relevant addressee, or, if such addressee is unavailable, to his/her adult family member, or, where neither the addressee nor adult members of his/her family are available, a notice of such summons shall be left in the mailbox of the addressee (pursuant to Clause 99 of the Regulations referred to hereinabove). (ibid.) Similarly, the attorney stated that parents, relatives and an attorney are able to receive the summons on the individual's behalf (Attorney 4 May 2015). The same source noted that if a summons has to be delivered to an attorney's office, the investigator must go in person; the attorney cannot receive it by mail or email (ibid.). The attorney further stated that when a person receives the summons on the individual's behalf or the summons is delivered over the phone, it is not possible to prove that the summoned individual received the document (ibid.). The Director of YurViddil Law Firm stated that the Criminal Procedure Code provides for "numerous exceptions" to delivering a summons upon receipt of the individual's signature, which take into account the individual's age, legal mental capacity and current location (Director 30 Apr. 2015). If an individual is not present at their permanent address, the summons will be handed over, against signature, to any adult family member or other person living in the same premises, or to a representative of the utilities authority/entity at the place of such person's residence, or to a management representative at the place of such person's employment. A convicted person shall be invoked by sending of a summons to the administration of the place of conviction/jail. A summons is served on a person living in a foreign country in the way and manner stipulated in the applicable international legal facilitation treaty approved to be binding by the Ukrainian Parliament, or, where no such treaty is available, through the relevant diplomatic or consular mission. (ibid.) 3. Format and Content of the Police Summons Sample copies of police summonses sent to the Research Directorate by the attorney and YurViddil Law Firm are attached to this Response (Attachments 2 and 3). YurViddil Law Firm also provided an English translation of Attachment 3 (see Attachment 4). According to sources, the format of police summons is standard across Ukraine (Lawyer 5 May 2015; Attorney 4 May 2015). The attorney explained that according to Ukrainian law, all national, provincial and local Ukrainian investigating authorities must provide the same information on a police summons (ibid.). Aside from the name of the citizen being summoned (ibid.), he stated that the summons contains the individual's status (witness, suspect, etc.), the criminal case number and the date the summons was issued (ibid. 30 Apr. 2015). He also indicated that the signature of the investigating authority and the stamp of the local, provincial, or national authority issuing the summons are placed on the summons to ensure the security and authenticity of the document (ibid.). He added that the address of the individual being summoned is not included in the summons (ibid.). In contrast, the translated sample of a summons provided by YurViddil Law Firm contains a section labelled "Resident at:" (Ukraine 15 Jan. 2015). The sample also contains references to Sections "133, 135, 138 and 139" of the "Ukrainian Code of Criminal Procedure" (ibid.). Section 138 of the Code provides the "[v]alid reasons for non-compliance with court summons" and Section 139 of the Code provides the "[c]onsequences of non-appearance on summons" (Ukraine [2012], Sec. 138, 139). 4. Failure to Appear According to sources, it is mandatory for an individual to comply with a police summons (Director 30 Apr. 2015; Attorney 4 May 2015). The attorney explained that if the summoned individual does not appear, the police must go to court and present evidence that the appropriate procedures were followed and that the summoned individual failed to attend; the court will then make a decision on what actions the police may take, depending on the circumstances of the case (ibid.). The attorney also noted that the court can oblige a suspect to appear, issue a search warrant and/or an arrest warrant, as well as change the summoned individual's "measurement of custody" to bail, house arrest or police custody (ibid.). The Director of YurViddil law firm stated that Section 140 of the Criminal Procedure Code provides the manner of forced escort that shall be applied to a suspect, defendant or witness (30 Apr. 2015). 5. Right to Legal Counsel For information on the rights of suspects, accused, acquitted, convicted, victims and witnesses to legal counsel and to be informed of why they are being summoned, see Sections 20(1), 20(2), 42(3), 56(1) and 66(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, which is attached to this Response (see Attachment 1). According to the Director of YurViddil Law Firm, any evidence provided by witnesses, victims or suspects can only be taken through interrogation, including video conference questioning, as provided by Sections 95(1) and 232 of the Criminal Procedure Code (30 Apr. 2015). The attorney stated that the police summons does not include the relevant legislative provision, the subject, or any information in regards to the case or the crime that was committed, nor are the police obliged to inform the person of the reason why they are being summoned (Attorney 4 May 2015). He stated that during the interrogation, the police would provide the summoned individual with "brief" information regarding the crime and their status in the case (witness, suspect, etc.) (ibid.). Information on whether, in practice, an individual is told why they are summoned could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. The attorney stated that summoned individuals have the right to legal counsel and, in practice, the attorney "always" attends the questioning (ibid.). According to information on the website of the US Embassy in Kyiv, asserted that anyone, including foreigners, has the right to have an attorney be present at every interrogation that is conducted by an investigator; however, in practice, this is "often overlooked" with regard to interrogations involving detained individuals (US n.d.). 6. Forgery of Police Summons Information regarding falsified police summons was scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. According to the attorney, one way to check the authenticity of the information on the police summons is to call the investigating authority and provide them with the number of the criminal proceeding, which is on the police summons (Attorney 4 May 2015). The investigating authority will have a record regarding the case, and if any of the information on the summons is different, then the summons may be false (ibid.). This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request. Note [1] This unofficial translation of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine was found on the website of the Center for Political and Legal Reforms (CPLR). According to the CPLR representative, this version of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine was last amended in 2012 (CPLR 7 May 2015c). He stated that Parliament made some amendments in 2014 and 2015; however, the amendments were not "radical" (ibid.). Sections 133 and 135 have not been amended since 2012 (ibid. 7 May 2015a), nor have Sections 20, 66 (ibid. 8 May 2015) as well as Section 56 (ibid. 12 May 2015a). He added that Section 42(1) was amended in 2014 in regards to "in absentia" proceedings (ibid. 12 May 2015b). References Attorney-at-law, Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm. 4 May 2015. Telephone interview with the Research Directorate. _____. 30 April 2015. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. Center for Political and Legal Reforms (CPLR). 12 May 2015a. Correspondence from a representative to the Research Directorate. _____. 12 May 2015b. Correspondence from a representative to the Research Directorate. _____. 8 May 2015. Correspondence from a representative to the Research Directorate. _____. 7 May 2015a. Correspondence from a representative to the Research Directorate. _____. 7 May 2015b. Correspondence from a representative to the Research Directorate. _____. N.d. "About CPLR." [Accessed 12 May 2015] Director, YurViddil Law Firm. 30 April 2015. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. Lawyer, YurViddil Law Firm. 5 May 2015. Correspondence with the Research Directorate. Ukraine. 30 March 2015. Holoseievski District Police Department, Kyiv. "Police Summons." Sent to the Research Directorate by an attorney at the Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm, 30 April 2015. _____. 15 January 2015. Obolon District Police Department, Kyiv. "Police Summons." Translated by YurViddil Law Firm. Sent to the Research Directorate by a lawyer at YurViddil Law Firm, 5 May 2015. _____. [2012]. Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. Unofficial English translation. [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015] United States (US). N.d. "Information for U.S. Citizens Arrested in Ukraine." [Accessed 11 May 2015] Additional Sources Consulted Oral sources: The following were unable to provide information within the time constraints of this Response: Interpol - Ottawa; T&O Buyanovskaya Law Firm. Attempts to contact the following were unsuccessful within the time constraints of this Response: American Bar Association; Interpol - Ukraine; Legal Consulting Center; Salkom law firm; Tarasov & Partners; Ukraine - Ministry of Internal Affairs; Ukrainian Bar Association for Foreign Affairs. Internet sites, including: Amnesty International; Association of Corporate Counsel; Council of Europe; ecoi.net; Factiva; Global Security; HeinOnline; Human Rights Watch; International Law Office; Interpol - Ottawa; Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group; Kyiv Post; Legal Aid Reformers Network; Legislation Online; MacEwan University; Novostimira; Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe; Rule of Law; Ukraine - Ministry of Internal Affairs, Prime Minister's website Verkhovna Rada; Ukraine Pravda; Ukrainian Week; United Kingdom - British Embassy in Kiev; United States - Library of Congress; United Nations - Refworld, ReliefWeb, UNHCR, World Intellectual Property Organization Attachments 1. Ukraine. [2012]. Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. Unofficial English translation. [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015] 2. Ukraine. 30 March 2015. Holoseievski District Police Department, Kyiv. "Police Summons." Sent to the Research Directorate by an attorney at the Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm, 30 April 2015. 3. Ukraine. 15 January 2015. Obolon District Police Department, Kyiv. "Police Summons." Sent to the Research Directorate by a lawyer at YurViddil Law Firm, 5 May 2015. 4. Ukraine. 15 January 2015. Obolon District Police Department, Kyiv. "Police Summons." Translated by YurViddil law firm. Sent to the Research Directorate by a lawyer at YurViddil Law Firm, 5 May 2015. UN agency condemns Israel's closures in Hebron as 'collective punishment' Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 25 July 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN agency condemns Israel's closures in Hebron as 'collective punishment', 25 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57977add411.html [accessed 28 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. 25 July 2016 - The United Nations relief agency charged with the well-being of Palestinian refugees has said that a closure imposed by Israeli authorities in Hebron district is creating serious challenges for humanitarian access, including the delivery of medical supplies, the removal of refuse, and the daily movement of the agency's staff working inside refugee camp. The closure was implemented following a series of violent incidents that took place before the end of Ramadan in which two Israelis were killed. It has particularly affected the Fawwar refugee camp, impacting approximately 9,500 refugees. I condemn the closure as it collectively punishes the Fawwar camp residents, said Scott Anderson, West Bank Field Director at the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), in statement issued by the agency today. Echoing the UN's repeated statements condemning violence against civilians, I call upon the Israeli authorities to refrain from collectively punishing innocent people for the acts of others, he added. UNRWA highlighted that the closure has impacted the population both socially and economically, as well as placed an increased health risk for camp residents. The main entrance is closed to vehicles, hampering the residents' ability to report to their work outside the camp. While pedestrians can still use the entrance, the extra distance that many have to travel incurs additional expenses that further affect their already bleak financial situation. It further noted that disruptions to the supply chain are increasing the costs of basic commodities inside the camp. Mr. Anderson visited the area on 19 July and was granted exceptional access through Fawwar main entrance only after coordination with the Israeli authorities. This is all the more disturbing when Fawwar camp residents a refugee couple were the first to respond to the Israeli family following the drive-by shooting incident, providing them with first aid before the arrival of the ambulances, he said, referring to one of the violent attacks. The statement further underscored that the UN, including Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has repeatedly condemned, in the strongest terms, all such attacks and violence impacting Israeli and Palestinian civilians. UNRWA said that will continue to liaise with the Israeli authorities to request passage of medical supplies in the camp in order to ensure their continuous supply for its health clinic. Recalling the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a party and which applies to occupied territories, the agency called upon the Israeli authorities to end the closures and to ensure unimpeded access for its staff and humanitarian assistance across the West Bank. Syria: UN aid chief calls for weekly, 48-hour humanitarian truce in Aleppo Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 25 July 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Syria: UN aid chief calls for weekly, 48-hour humanitarian truce in Aleppo, 25 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57977b21411.html [accessed 28 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. 25 July 2016 - Citing the alarming humanitarian conditions across Syria, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator today urged fresh momentum and action to protect civilians and ensure sustained aid access before it's too late, including through the establishment of a weekly, 48-hour pause of the fighting in eastern Aleppo, where food supplies are expected to run out next month. The international community has shown unity of purpose before and must show it again, before it's too late and we face the prospect of losing another generation of Syrians to conflict and misery, Stephen O'Brien, who is also the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said in his briefing to the Security Council. He stressed the importance of rebuilding the momentum created in the first half of the year, in particular by the humanitarian task force of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) consisting of the UN, the Arab League, the European Union and 18 countries that have been working on a way forward since late last year. This must include, he said, a restoration and consolidation of the cessation of hostilities; all necessary action from the parties and their supporters to ensure safe, sustained, unhindered and unconditional access; and an immediate end to the sieges which still collectively punish hundreds of thousands of civilians mercilessly. Across Syria, around 5.5 million people are trapped in hard-to-reach and besieged areas with little physical protection and limited access to basic life-saving assistance, he said. Humanitarian aid has reached over one million people in besieged and hard-to-reach areas, but the enormous access challenges still exist, he stressed. The conflict generated gargantuan levels of suffering for civilians, and words are not adequate to depict the grim and gruesome reality for the people of Syria today, he said. Since 7 July, civilian, humanitarian and commercial movements in and out of eastern Aleppo city have come to a halt. Castello Road, the last remaining access route in and out of the east of the city, has now been cut off due to fighting. Food in east Aleppo is expected to run out by the middle of next month. While medical supplies are available for a longer period, the continuing attacks on medical facilities in eastern Aleppo would have a devastating multiplier effect, not only killing people and destroying facilities, but leaving thousands unable to get even basic care at a time when they need it most. The international community simply cannot let eastern Aleppo city become yet another and by far the largest - besieged area, he said, warning that the clock is ticking and urging the parties, and those with influence, to act now to establish a weekly, 48-hour humanitarian pause for eastern Aleppo city so that the UN and partners have safe, regular and sustained access to the quarter of a million people trapped behind the front lines. This must be a full United Nations call not just from me as the UN's humanitarian chief this has to come from you, the Security Council, he said. Mr. O'Brien also highlighted alarming reports of deteriorating humanitarian conditions and urgent medical evacuation needs in Madaya, Foah, Zabadani and Kefraya, where over 62,000 people are trapped. Despite approvals granted by the Government, the UN and humanitarian partners have not been able to access the towns because of tension among parties to the agreement, heavy aerial bombardment in Idlib, and shelling on Foah and Kefraya, he said. Security Council extends mandate of UN Iraq Mission for one year Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 25 July 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Security Council extends mandate of UN Iraq Mission for one year, 25 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57977b4440c.html [accessed 28 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. 25 July 2016 - The United Nations Security Council today adopted a resolution extending the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) for another year, until 31 July 2017. In the resolution, the Council also decided that, at the request of the Government of Iraq in particular, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for eth country, Jan Kubis, and UNAMI will continue to exercise their mandate set out in Council resolution 2233 (2015). Recognizing that security of UN personnel is essential for UNAMI to carry out its work for the benefit of the people of Iraq, the 15-member body also called on the Government of Iraq to continue to provide security and logistical support to the UN presence in Iraq. In that vein, the Council welcomed the contributions of Member States in providing UNAMI with the financial, logistical and security resources and support that it needs to fulfil its mission, and called on Member States to continue to provide UNAMI with sufficient resources and support. Emphasizing the importance of the stability and security of Iraq for the people of Iraq, the region, and the international community, the Council reiterated its grave concern at the current security situation in Iraq as a result of the continuing presence of and threat by terrorist groups, particularly the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da'esh) and associated armed groups. The Council also noted that the presence of ISIL on Iraq's sovereign territory is a major threat to Iraq's future. In that regard, it underscored that the only way to address the threat is for all Iraqis to work together by addressing needs in the security as well as the political realm. In addition, the Council strongly emphasized the urgency of addressing humanitarian challenges confronting the Iraqi people. It also emphasized that all parties should take all feasible steps to ensure the protection of affected civilians, including children, women and members of religious and ethnic minority groups, and should create conditions conducive to the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of refugees and internally displaced persons or local integration of internally displaced persons, particularly in areas newly liberated from ISIL, including up to 90,000 people displaced from Fallujah since May. The Council also requested Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to report to the Council every three months on the progress made by UNAMI in fulfilling all of its responsibilities. Somalia: UN envoy strongly condemns terrorist attack near Mogadishu airport Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 26 July 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Somalia: UN envoy strongly condemns terrorist attack near Mogadishu airport, 26 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57977b6d40b.html [accessed 28 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. 26 July 2016 - The United Nations envoy for Somalia has strongly condemned today's terrorist attack in the vicinity of Mogadishu International Airport that killed at least a dozen people. According to the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), suicide bombers detonated two vehicles laden with explosives near the perimeter of the airport enclave this morning, and no UN personnel are among the confirmed dead. Condemning the attack in the strongest possible terms in a statement to the press, Michael Keating, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia, said that a ruthless attack was carried out once again by the Al-Shabaab insurgent group. The overwhelming majority of Somalis have rejected such terrorist tactics and the use of violence to achieve political objectives, he said. This horrific incident is a fresh example of the extremists' desperate attempts to disrupt political progress but neither the Somali authorities nor the UN will be deterred from moving forward, he stressed, noting that limited franchise elections are due to be held later this year. Also in the statement, Mr. Keating, on behalf of the entire UN community in Somalia, extended heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the deceased and wished a speedy recovery to the injured. UN envoy condemns Israel's decision to continue settlement expansion in occupied West Bank Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 25 July 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN envoy condemns Israel's decision to continue settlement expansion in occupied West Bank, 25 July 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57977c98239.html [accessed 28 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. 25 July 2016 - The United Nations senior official coordinating efforts toward the peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict today strongly condemned the recent decision by Israeli authorities to advance plans to build some 770 housing units in the settlement of Gilo, located on occupied Palestinian land between Bethlehem and East Jerusalem. He said he was also concerned about repeated efforts by a number of families to rebuild the Israeli outpost of Mitzpeh Avichai near Hebron in the Occupied West Bank. Such moves raise legitimate questions about Israel's long-term intentions, said Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, in a statement. Some Israeli ministers have called for the full annexation of the West Bank, or said that there should never be a Palestinian state, he added. This decision to expand Gilo comes only three weeks after the Middle East Quartet the United States, the Russian Federation, the European Union and the UN called on Israel to cease the policy of settlement construction and expansion, Mr. Mladenov said. He reiterated that settlements are illegal under international law, urging the Government of Israel to cease and reverse such decisions. Continuing on the current trajectory entrenches a one-state reality of perpetual occupation and conflict that is incompatible with realizing the national aspirations of both peoples, he said. Reading, math scores down in 1st test since COVID. How Indiana did. Rita Ikeler is experiencing the 2016 Texas State 4-H Horse Show at the Taylor County Expo Center through a different set of eyes and ears this year. Ikeler, who graduated from Jim Ned High School in 2010, competed in the 4-H show starting at age 12. This year, she is experiencing the show as a student who is less than a year from graduating with her doctoral degree in veterinary medicine. 'This is a rare opportunity for us,' said Ikeler, who is one of four, fourth-year students who got to accompany the attending veterinarian to the show to respond to calls. 'This is often referred to as the 'week of the year' among fourth year students; I'm really glad to be here, helping out and seeing the show from this side of the stall.' Ikeler was accompanied at the 4-H by fellow students Marilyn Connor, of Flower Mound; Brittany Newshan, of Magnolia; and Stephanie Massey, of Leonard. All four women are in their final year of study at Texas A&M's College of Veterinary Medicine. 'We are all either on a mixed (animal) or equine track at school, so the experience we get here in evaluating, diagnosing and treating (under the doctor's supervision) is fantastic,' said Ikeler, who noted she has wanted to be a veterinarian since she was a little girl. 'It's super exciting to get the call, and then to have Dr. Martin here to discuss the presenting problem and ideas for treatment.' Dr. Mark Martin, equine field service clinician, and associate professor at A&M's Large Animal Teaching Hospital, has been the attending veterinarian at the 4-H show since 1980, and enjoys bringing students along for the experience. 'We bring anywhere from four to six students each year,' said Martin, who is a 1968 A&M graduate, and has been on faculty at the school for 39 years. 'Effectively, this environment mirrors a primary acute care practice; what these girls will see during the course of the show is both a variety of situations, but it is also is a great opportunity to practice and demonstrate their diagnostic and treatment skills.' Martin said the opportunity for the students to interact with show management, exhibitors, parents and students is something they won't often get a chance to do in private practice. 'Everyone is very welcoming of the students,' he said. 'They are closely supervised, but by this time in their training, they have also demonstrated competency to do exams and provide treatment.' Ikeler said she is part of an Aggie family; her parents, Nina and Dwayne Day of Tuscola, are both A&M alumni; her younger sister, Savanna, is about to graduate from A&M's nursing school; and her youngest brother, Conrad, is currently an A&M student, majoring in nuclear engineering. Ikeler said her experience with the 4-H show has also helped her interact with parents and students whose animals need treatment. 'We had a situation this morning where one of the horses hit his head on a fence and got a bloody nose,' said Ikeler, who is married to her Jim Ned high school 'sweetheart,' Eric, who currently serves as a firefighter in Conroe while his wife finishes school. 'Because I had been at the show several years, I was able to talk with the little girl (whose horse it was) about other things, which helped redirect her attention away from the injury. That helped her calm down a little at a time when she would have otherwise been pretty upset.' Ikeler said she will likely return to the Big Country to practice after graduation, in part because her parents, and her husband's entire family live in Tuscola. 'I don't think I will have too much trouble finding a job,' she said. 'I want to work in a mixed (animal) clinic, and am willing to work in a rural area; that's an area there is high need for vets right now.' Ikeler said she looks forward to graduation, and hopes to be the kind of veterinarian who 'has concern and strives to be on the same level as my patients and owners. I don't ever want anyone to think I'm 'above' them; we are all trying to do what's best for the animal.' The worlds of education and business will come together at the fourth E3 Summit presented by the West Texas Energy Consortium Aug. 10 and 11 at the Abilene Civic Center. The E3 Summit began in 2012 to bring Big Country professionals together to discuss regional issues such as energy, economic development and sustainability. The conference's theme this year is 'Powering the Economy 2016' and is one that WTEC Executive Director Katherine Stokes said was chosen because of its relevancy. 'We have quite a few cities in the Big Country that have really looked at strategic plans on how they could connect educational institutions to business and community partners,' she said. Instead of just looking at whether schools meet state performance standards in reading, writing and math, Stokes said, these cities are looking at 'how to marry those applications and foundations to what employers in this region are looking for as far as future workforce and employees.' The first day of the conference will cater to K-12 educators and will feature exhibits and interactive demonstrations, including a demonstration from NASA, as well as sharing new methods of teaching and learning. History teacher Patrick Adams from Comanche will share his teaching method involving live action role playing. Adams' students will be telling about World War II as soldiers from that era. 'This can't work for every teacher, every subject, every lesson, all the time, but it is working here and now,' Adams said. 'The point is not so much to copy what I am doing but to copy the intent and emotion behind it.' The second day of the conference will cater more to academic administrators and business leaders who will discuss a more global perspective on education, Stokes said. 'They are going to be looking at education from that 25,000-foot view,' Stokes said. 'They will look at what they think is going to happen in the nation, what that means for Texas and what that means for the Big Country.' To register for the conference, visit wtxec.org/stem-conference-expo. Attendance to the conference is $50 for the first day, $75 for the second day or $120 for the entire conference. The first 50 registrants can win a family pass to NRH2O or Hawaiian Falls Water Park, and the first 180 K-12 educators who register can receive a free ticket to the first day of the conference. For more information, call 325-795-4206. SHARE TUESDAY 4-H horse show The Texas State 4-H Horse Show will continue with general riding at 6 a.m. at the Taylor County Expo Center. Precision riding will begin at 9 a.m. Other events include western pleasure semi-finals and finals and western horsemanship finals. For more information, including a full schedule, go to http://animalscience.tamu.edu/livestock-species/equine/state-4h-show. Young Audiences series As a part of the Young Audiences of Abilene summer show series, Betty Hukill and Barry Smoot will present an interactive program featuring stories and characters from the Children's Art and Literacy Festival at 10:45 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the Abilene Public Library, 202 Cedar St. Admission is free for children age 7 and older. Genealogy workshop A two-part genealogy workshop will begin with a session from 6-9:30 p.m. at the Abilene Public Library, 202 Cedar St. The second session will be 6-8 p.m. Thursday at The Grace Museum, 102 Cypress St. Admission is free. Square dance workshop TYE The Wagon Wheel Squares will conduct a square dancing workshop at 6:30 p.m. at the Wagon Wheel. Other ... Mission on the Move Soup Kitchen, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Southwest Drive Community United Methodist Church, 3025 Southwest Dr. Abilene Southwest Rotary Club, noon, Beehive Restaurant, 442 Cedar St. High Noon Al-Anon, noon, Southern Hills Church of Christ, 3666 Buffalo Gap Road (south end; follow the yellow signs). Stroke/Aphasia Recovery Program support group, 1:30-2:30 p.m. West Texas Rehabilitation Center boardroom, 4601 Hartford St. 325-793-3535. Alzheimer's Association support group, 4 p.m., 301 S. Pioneer Drive. Libby, 325-672-2907. Dystonia Support Group, 5:15-6:15 p.m., Not Without Us, 3301 N. First St. Suite 117. Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS), 5:30 p.m., Brook Hollow Christian Church, 2310 S. Willis St. 325-232-7444. Legacies Al-Anon Family Group, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Open Door Building, 3157 Russell Ave. 325-280-7584. Family (of Mental Health Consumers) Support Group, 6-7 p.m., Mental Health Association in Abilene, 333 Orange St. 325-673-2300. Stroke Club, 6-7 p.m., West Texas Rehabilitation Center boardroom, 4601 Hartford St. 325-793-5475. MHAA Bipolar/Depression Peer Support Group, 6-8 p.m., Ministry of Counseling & Enrichment, 1502 N. First St. 325-673-2300. Free certified nurturing parent class (pregnancy to toddler), 6-8 p.m., Mission Church, North Third and Mockingbird streets. 325-672-9398. Abilene Star Chorus, 6:15 p.m., First Baptist Church, 1333 N. Third St. 325-829-1470. Overeaters Anonymous, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Exodus Metropolitan Community Church, 1933 S. 27th St. Al-Anon Parents Group, 7 p.m., Hillcrest Church of Christ, 650 E. Ambler Ave. Use Church Street entrance. Al-Anon, 7 p.m., Doug Meinzer Activity Center, Knox City. 940-658-3926. Abilene Society of Model Railroaders, 7-8:30 p.m., 2043 N. Second St. Unity Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, 8 p.m., Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, 602 Meander St. WEDNESDAY 4-H horse show The Texas State 4-H Horse Show will continue with general riding at 6 a.m. at the Taylor County Expo Center. Cutting will begin at 11 a.m. Other events include stock horse pleasure prelims and hunt seat versatility prelims and finals. For more information, including a full schedule, go to http://animalscience.tamu.edu/livestock-species/equine/state-4h-show. Other ... Overeaters Anonymous, 8 a.m., Hinds Square Building, Room 112, 100 Chestnut St. Blood drive, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Betty Hardwick Center, 2626 S. Clack St. Abilene Cactus Lions Club, 11:45 a.m., Cotton Patch Cafe, 3302 S. Clack St. Abilene Wednesday Rotary Club, noon, Abilene Country Club, 4039 S. Treadaway. $12 for lunch. Jo Ann Wilson, 325-677-6815. Kiwanis Club of Abilene, noon, Abilene Country Club, 4039 S. Treadaway Blvd. Clearly Speaking Toastmaster Club, noon, Westgate Church of Christ, 402 S. Pioneer Drive. 325-795-5570. The Alzheimer's Association Brownwood Support Group, 2-3 p.m., Redstone Park Retirement & Assisted Living, 2410 Songbird Circle, Brownwood. 325-643-9056. Free swim class for people with multiple sclerosis, 5:30 p.m., YMCA, 3250 State St. Veterans Peer Support Group, 6 p.m., 765 Orange St. 325-670-4818. Mid-week Al-Anon Family Group, 6-7 p.m., Open Door Building, 3157 Russell Ave. 325-698-4995. Advanced Square Dancing, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Wagon Wheel. Al-Anon, 7 p.m., First United Methodist Church, 1501 N. Broadway, Ballinger. 817-689-2810 or 325-977-1007. DivorceCare support group, 7 p.m., Hillcrest Church of Christ, 650 E. Ambler Ave. 325-691-4200. THURSDAY 4-H horse show The Texas State 4-H Horse Show will continue with general riding at 6 a.m. at the Taylor County Expo Center. Working cow horse prelims and hunter showmanship prelims will begin at 8 a.m. Other events include hunter showmanship finals, stock horse horsemanship prelims and both prelims and finals for team roping, breakaway roping, calf roping, hunter under saddle and hunt seat equitation. For more information, including a full schedule, go to http://animalscience.tamu.edu/livestock-species/equine/state-4h-show. Book signing Charlie Dromgoole, president of the Abilene Chamber of Commerce from 1988 to 2002, will sign copies of his book, "Chamber Stories That I Can Tell (and some that I probably shouldn't!)," from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Texas Star Trading Company, 174 Cypress St. Genealogy workshop A two-part genealogy workshop will conclude with a session from 6-8 p.m. at The Grace Museum, 102 Cypress St. Admission is free. Run for the Blue The Run for the Blue, benefiting the families of police officers killed and injured in Dallas, will begin at 7 p.m. at Nelson Park. Registration will begin at 6 p.m., and is by donation. Dance COLORADO CITY The Mitchell County Senior Citizen Dance will be 7-10 p.m. at the Colorado City Civic Center, 157 E. Second St. Admission is $5. Participants are asked to bring a covered dish. Other ... Chronic Pain and Depression Group, 11 a.m. to noon, Mental Health Association of Abilene, 333 Orange St., 325-673-2300. Abilene Founder Lions Club, 11:30 a.m., Al's Mesquite Grill, 4801 Buffalo Gap Road. Kiwanis Club of Greater Abilene, noon, Beehive Restaurant, 442 Cedar St. 325-695-0092. Mental Illness Open Support Group, 1-2 p.m., Mental Health Association of Abilene, 333 Orange St. 325-673-2300. Blood drive, 1-6 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, Baird. Abilene 42 Club, 6 p.m., Rose Park Senior Center. Teen Recovery Group, 6-7 p.m., Mission Abilene, 3001 N. Third St. Free certified nurturing parent class (all ages), 6-8 p.m., Mission Church, North Third and Mockingbird streets. 325-672-9398. Take Off Pounds Sensibly, 6:30 p.m. Brook Hollow Christian Church. Weigh-in begins at 5:30 p.m. 325-665-5052. Free swim class for people with multiple sclerosis, 6:30 p.m., YMCA, 3250 State St. Gambler's Anonymous, 6:30 p.m., Unity Spiritual Living Center, 2842 Barrow St. 325-338-2575. Round Dancing, 7 p.m., Wagon Wheel. 325-829-1517. South Pioneer Al-Anon Group, 8 p.m., 3157 Russell Ave. Unity Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, 8 p.m., Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, 602 Meander St. FRIDAY 4-H horse show The Texas State 4-H Horse Show will continue with general riding at 6 a.m. at the Taylor County Expo Center. Stock horse showmanship prelims will begin at 8 a.m. Other events include stock horse showmanship finals, ranch sorting, stock horse trail and working cow horse finals. For more information, including a full schedule, go to http://animalscience.tamu.edu/livestock-species/equine/state-4h-show. Other ... Blood drive, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Abilene State Supported Living Center, 2180 Maple St. Abilene Chinese Corner, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Abilene Christian University library. lld09a@acu.edu. Mid-City Al-Anon, 7 p.m., First Christian Church. 325-670-4304. WEDNESDAY 4-H horse show The Texas State 4-H Horse Show will continue with general riding at 6 a.m. at the Taylor County Expo Center. Cutting will begin at 11 a.m. Other events include stock horse pleasure prelims and hunt seat versatility prelims and finals. For more information, including a full schedule, go to http://animalscience.tamu.edu/livestock-species/equine/state-4h-show. Other ... Overeaters Anonymous, 8 a.m., Hinds Square Building, Room 112, 100 Chestnut St. Blood drive, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Betty Hardwick Center, 2626 S. Clack St. Abilene Cactus Lions Club, 11:45 a.m., Cotton Patch Cafe, 3302 S. Clack St. Abilene Wednesday Rotary Club, noon, Abilene Country Club, 4039 S. Treadaway. $12 for lunch. Jo Ann Wilson, 325-677-6815. Kiwanis Club of Abilene, noon, Abilene Country Club, 4039 S. Treadaway Blvd. Clearly Speaking Toastmaster Club, noon, Westgate Church of Christ, 402 S. Pioneer Drive. 325-795-5570. The Alzheimer's Association Brownwood Support Group, 2-3 p.m., Redstone Park Retirement & Assisted Living, 2410 Songbird Circle, Brownwood. 325-643-9056. Free swim class for people with multiple sclerosis, 5:30 p.m., YMCA, 3250 State St. Veterans Peer Support Group, 6 p.m., 765 Orange St. 325-670-4818. Mid-week Al-Anon Family Group, 6-7 p.m., Open Door Building, 3157 Russell Ave. 325-698-4995. Advanced Square Dancing, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Wagon Wheel. Al-Anon, 7 p.m., First United Methodist Church, 1501 N. Broadway, Ballinger. 817-689-2810 or 325-977-1007. DivorceCare support group, 7 p.m., Hillcrest Church of Christ, 650 E. Ambler Ave. 325-691-4200. THURSDAY 4-H horse show The Texas State 4-H Horse Show will continue with general riding at 6 a.m. at the Taylor County Expo Center. Working cow horse prelims and hunter showmanship prelims will begin at 8 a.m. Other events include hunter showmanship finals, stock horse horsemanship prelims and both prelims and finals for team roping, breakaway roping, calf roping, hunter under saddle and hunt seat equitation. For more information, including a full schedule, go to http://animalscience.tamu.edu/livestock-species/equine/state-4h-show. Book signing Charlie Dromgoole, president of the Abilene Chamber of Commerce from 1988 to 2002, will sign copies of his book, 'Chamber Stories That I Can Tell (and some that I probably shouldn't!),' from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Texas Star Trading Company, 174 Cypress St. Genealogy workshop A two-part genealogy workshop will conclude with a session from 6-8 p.m. at The Grace Museum, 102 Cypress St. Admission is free. Run for the Blue The Run for the Blue, benefiting the families of police officers killed and injured in Dallas, will begin at 7 p.m. at Nelson Park. Registration will begin at 6 p.m., and is by donation. Dance COLORADO CITY The Mitchell County Senior Citizen Dance will be 7-10 p.m. at the Colorado City Civic Center, 157 E. Second St. Admission is $5. Participants are asked to bring a covered dish. Other ... Chronic Pain and Depression Group, 11 a.m. to noon, Mental Health Association of Abilene, 333 Orange St., 325-673-2300. Abilene Founder Lions Club, 11:30 a.m., Al's Mesquite Grill, 4801 Buffalo Gap Road. Kiwanis Club of Greater Abilene, noon, Beehive Restaurant, 442 Cedar St. 325-695-0092. Mental Illness Open Support Group, 1-2 p.m., Mental Health Association of Abilene, 333 Orange St. 325-673-2300. Blood drive, 1-6 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, Baird. Abilene 42 Club, 6 p.m., Rose Park Senior Center. Teen Recovery Group, 6-7 p.m., Mission Abilene, 3001 N. Third St. Free certified nurturing parent class (all ages), 6-8 p.m., Mission Church, North Third and Mockingbird streets. 325-672-9398. Take Off Pounds Sensibly, 6:30 p.m. Brook Hollow Christian Church. Weigh-in begins at 5:30 p.m. 325-665-5052. Free swim class for people with multiple sclerosis, 6:30 p.m., YMCA, 3250 State St. Gambler's Anonymous, 6:30 p.m., Unity Spiritual Living Center, 2842 Barrow St. 325-338-2575. Round Dancing, 7 p.m., Wagon Wheel. 325-829-1517. South Pioneer Al-Anon Group, 8 p.m., 3157 Russell Ave. Unity Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, 8 p.m., Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, 602 Meander St. FRIDAY 4-H horse show The Texas State 4-H Horse Show will continue with general riding at 6 a.m. at the Taylor County Expo Center. Stock horse showmanship prelims will begin at 8 a.m. Other events include stock horse showmanship finals, ranch sorting, stock horse trail and working cow horse finals. For more information, including a full schedule, go to http://animalscience.tamu.edu/livestock-species/equine/state-4h-show. Other ... Blood drive, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Abilene State Supported Living Center, 2180 Maple St. Abilene Chinese Corner, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Abilene Christian University library. lld09a@acu.edu. Mid-City Al-Anon, 7 p.m., First Christian Church. 325-670-4304. SATURDAY 4-H horse show The Texas State 4-H Horse Show will continue with general riding at 6 a.m. at the Taylor County Expo Center. Stock horse pleasure finals will begin at 11:30 a.m. Other events include stock horse horsemanship finals and reining finals. For more information, including a full schedule, go to http://animalscience.tamu.edu/livestock-species/equine/state-4h-show. Car show LAWN A car show benefiting On the Way Home Ministries will begin with registration from 8-10 a.m. in downtown Lawn. Registration is $20 in advance or $25 on the day of the event. To register, call 325-201-2108. Swimming for dogs Doggie Splash Day will be open from 10 a.m. to noon at the Rose Park Pool, 2642 S. Ninth St. Admission is $3 per dog. Sinatra tribute A presentation of 'Dave Halston's Tribute to Frank Sinatra' will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre, 352 Cypress St. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $25, and proceeds will go to the West Texas Rehabilitation Center. For tickets, or for more information, go to WestTexasRehab.org or call 325-793-3512. Dance Under the Stars The Friends of Abilene State Park will conduct 'Dance Under the Stars' at 7:30 p.m. at Abilene State Park. Muddy Creek will perform. Admission is $5 for adults and free for children 12 and under. 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' A shadowcast of 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'will open with live music at 8 p.m. at Play Faire Park, 2300 N. Second St. A costume contest and ceremonies will begin at 10:45 p.m., with the film starting at 11 p.m. Admission is $8, with a $5 cooler charge. Participants are encouraged to bring lawn chairs. Other ... Overeaters Anonymous, 10 a.m., Shades of Hope, 402A Mulberry St., Buffalo Gap. 800-588-4673. Abilene Society of Model Railroaders, 10 a.m. to noon, 2043 N. Second St. SHARE By Staff Report The Northeast Texas Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will host a CF Foundation Update, featuring a representative from the national office, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Aug. 4 at The Grace Museum. Angela Lynn from the foundation's national office in Bethesda, Maryland, will present information on the status of the foundation's drug development pipeline, recent CF drug approvals by the FDA, the newly launched COMPASS patient assistance program and new advancements in CF research and care. Attendees will also learn about current opportunities to become involved with the CF Foundation. To attend, please contact Sam Swanson, development director at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation at 214-871-2222 or sswanson@cff.org, by Aug. 2. "We are very pleased to have Mrs. Lynn speak in Abilene about the latest CF developments. Not only is she extremely knowledgeable about CF, but she is an inspiring speaker and a mother to a CF son. I believe this is the first time Abilene has had a senior member of the CF Foundation speak in town. This is an outstanding opportunity to learn more about this genetic disease," said Judy Godfrey, Abilene resident and grandmother to a CF patient. Cystic fibrosis is a life-threatening genetic disease that affects 30,000 adults and children in the U.S. and 70,000 people worldwide. The disease is caused by a defective gene that makes the body produce a thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and leads to infections. More than 10 million Americans are symptomless carriers of a defective CF gene. On Oct. 1, the CF Foundation will host its annual fundraising walk, Great Strides, at Redbud Park. Great Strides raises funds to support the foundation's mission to help people with CF live longer, healthier lives while a cure is sought. Incident reports released by the Abilene Police Department Monday: Theft, 5200 block of Hartford Street, Sunday A man reported that his ex-girlfriend took $2,400 in furniture from his residence without his permission. Criminal mischief, 2000 block of North Mockingbird Lane, Sunday A known suspect caused $200 in damage to a privacy fence on the victim's property. Theft, 1700 block of Mockingbird Lane, Sunday The victim reported that he woke up to find his keys missing and his car gone. The car was located in Sweetwater, left abandoned at an accident scene. The vehicle was damaged and could no longer be driven. Theft, 800 block of North Judge Ely Boulevard, Sunday A woman reported a relative entered her home and took $400 in prescription medicines. Criminal mischief, 800 block of Bowie Street, Sunday A woman reported that someone had slashed all of her vehicle's tires and had scratched the hood. Total damage was $1,000. Improper photography, 4300 block of Buffalo Gap Road, Wednesday A woman was using a public restroom when she noticed an odd-shaped pen on the floor. She went to wash her hands when an unknown man ran out of the next stall and with the pen. The woman believed the object was a recording device and reported the incident to police. Criminal mischief, 3100 block of Elm Street, Monday A man reported his front door was damaged and had pry marks. Damage was $125. Criminal mischief, 1500 block of Shelton Street, Sunday Someone broke out two front windows and glass of a home's front door. The victim's car windows were smashed several days ago. There are no known suspects. An Abilene man was charged with three felonies following a vehicle crash at the intersection of South 8th and Butternut streets Saturday evening. According to the police incident report, Timothy Pequeno, 26, was charged with failure to stop and render aid, evading arrest/detention with a vehicle, and possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), all felonies. He was also charged with misdemeanor evading arrest/detention. Police said that an APD patrolman attempted to stop Pequeno's vehicle, a 2001 Land Rover, for an expired registration at South 11th and Jeanette streets. Pequeno, according to the report, attempted to evade police and ran a stop sign on South 8th Street during the chase, causing the crash. He then fled on foot and was captured in a backyard in the 800 block of Elm. A passenger in Pequeno's car, David Brooks, 23, was arrested on an outstanding warrant. The driver of the other car, a woman, was sent to the hospital with injuries that were not considered to be serious. Pequeno and Brooks also were taken to the hospital for evaluation and were sent to Taylor County Jail after being released from the hospital. An accident report was not available in the police department's database Monday evening. Before March, Brenna Windham knew little about Esther, either the woman or the book of the Bible named for her. Today, Windham IS Esther. She learned on the fly, reading the Old Testament book over and over, getting a sense of the story and the person, revered as a heroine for saving the Jewish people from destruction when they were in exile in Persia. 'Now,' Windham said, 'I could tell it over and over.' And, she is doing just that in the musical version of 'Esther: For Such a Time As This,' the main feature of Vacation Bible School at Southern Hills Church of Christ. The musical is being presented in three segments. The first was Sunday evening, the second Monday, and the third at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The show is free and open to the public. Even people who missed the first two installments will enjoy the music, written by church members April and Chris Brannan, the script, written by member Ann Hurst (also the director), the costumes and the staging. This is the fourth year that the church has staged a musical as part of VBS. This year was different, in that everything was home-grown, from lyrics to script to props. Windham and her husband, John, are raising six foster children ages 1 to 16, leaving little time for Brenna to learn her part for the show. She auditioned in March and got the part. She had performed in musicals in high school in Wichita Falls and is a character in the local Queen B productions, which features characters who perform at children's gatherings. A 2006 graduate of Abilene Christian University and member of her church's praise team, Windham is no stranger to the stage. But this part was different. The phrase, 'For such a time as this,' is from Chapter 4, verse 14 of Esther, who is queen to King Xerxes. Esther is Jewish and she is told by a relative, Mordecai, that the evil Haman, a member of Xerxes' court, is plotting to destroy the Jewish people. Mordecai tells Esther of the scheme and advises her that, 'Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for such a time as this.' That phrase stuck with Windham as she learned about Esther for her role. She got from the story what children and family minister Ryan Maloney, hopes everyone gets. 'She was unafraid to stand up for what she believes in,' Windham said. Of course, every good story has a bad guy and Haman is a really bad guy. He plots to have Mordecai killed because Mordecai refuses to bow to him. But, in the end, Haman is hanged on the very gallows he had constructed to execute Mordecai. Playing the role of Haman is David Connor, owner of Vintage Craftsman remodeling business. He has performed in church musicals before, including two at Southern Hills. But this role is quite different. 'This is my first time being somebody this bad,' Connor said. Connor was familiar with the story of Esther before auditioning for the role. He grew up learning stories from both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, but he gained a new insight from being in the musical. 'When they're brought to life,' he said of the stories, 'it puts a new perspective on it.' IF YOU GO: What: Final installment of 'Esther: For Such a Time As This,' a musical When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday Where: Southern Hills Church of Christ, 3364 Buffalo Gap Road Admission: Free, public invited Details: The musical, with original script and music by church members, is presented as part of Vacation Bible School. Family activities are held 6:30-7:30, followed by the musical at 7:30. The first two parts were presented Sunday and Monday nights. Taylor County Commissioners enacted a 90-day burn ban and heard information about the county's tax rate at their regular meeting Tuesday. The 2016 effective tax rate would be .5120 cents per $100 of taxable value, including debt service. 'The effective tax rate takes our current revenue in this year's budget and adjusts the rate so that we are receiving the same amount of revenue coming year to current year,' said county auditor Bridget McDowell. The figure allows commissioners to compare 'apples to apples,' she said. The number gives them a place to start discussion once budget talks begin next week. 'Because we had increased tax values county-wide, that rate is adjusted based on those values,' McDowell said. 'Because your assessed value went up, your rate needs to go down to bring in that amount of money.' The county's current maintenance and operation tax rateis .5214 cents per $100 of value. In other business, commissioners enacted a 90-day ban on outdoor burning, given reports from throughout the county of dry conditions. 'I have heard from all of my fire chiefs for a little over a week now, and they've all wanted a burn ban,' said Commissioner Kyle Kendrick. 'We've actually had a few fires along the interstate and some of the farm and market roads. We actually had one this morning not too far away from our county barn where some pasture caught on fire.' Commissioners Chuck Statler said that he had similarly heard from rural fire chiefs in Potosi, Lawn and Buffalo Gap, in addition to the chair of the area's rural fire committee supporting a ban. 'All of those individuals have responded or been part of mutual aid for small grass fires,' he said. 'They've been able to suppress that. Their encouragement for the commissioner's court is to initiate an order banning outdoor burning as we have in the past.' There is a chance for rain in the next few days, but County Judge Downing Bolls noted that it takes three-quarters of an inch of rain to penetrate overgrowth meaning the ban wouldn't be lifted 'just because you get a little local shower.' 'It's going have to be a pretty good local little shower because of the evaporation the next couple of hours,' he said. Commissioners also: Ratified an agreement with Erath County for inmate housing for overflow Taylor County prisoners. The agreement was considered for approval at an emergency meeting July 14. Approved an interlocal agreement with Jack County for inmate housing for overflow of Taylor County female inmates. Inmates will be housed at a cost of $45 a day. Received a yearly report from CareHere regarding the county's employee clinic. Betsy D'Acierno, director of Texas operations with CareHere, said that the report which represents the period of July 2015 to June 2016 showed that county employees were using the benefit the clinic to help improve and maintain their health. A total of 481 patients, around 82 percent of county employees, have visited the clinic at least once. The clinic has 94.7 fill rate of appointments, leading to a discussion of perhaps adding more hours. D'Acierno said that the clinic sees patients for about $66 per visit, compared to $99 for a visit to an outside physician's practice. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below This just in... Cambodians jam the streets during a funeral procession in Phnom Penh for Kem Ley, a Cambodian political analyst and pro-democracy campaigner who was shot dead in broad daylight on July 10 at a convenience store, July 24, 2016. As mourning for popular pundit Kem Ley draws to its close, the investigation into his murder turns up no new leads, and key witnesses and supporters go into hiding, Cambodia appears to be following a script that should now be familiar to all Cambodians. This is not the first time intellectuals, patriots, and activists who fought to rescue our country have been slain, Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) President Sam Rainsy said on RFAs Special Discussion Show. I have noted that the slaying of activists follows the same well-orchestrated style set by the authorities. While Sam Rainsy didnt directly accuse Prime Minister Hun Sens government of carrying out the fatal attack, he recited a litany of killings that he claims all have similar hallmarks. These killings would be impossible to carry out with official cover, he said. Those include the grenade attack [on an opposition political rally] on March 30, 1997; the killings of well-known union leader Chea Vichea, and two other union leaders, namely Ros Sovanareth and Hy Vuthy; as well as Chut Wutty and the recent case of Dr. Kem Ley, he said during the July 23 broadcast. At least 16 people were killed and more than 150 injured in the 1997 grenade attack that came as Sam Rainsy and his supporters gathered in a park across from the National Assembly in Phnom Penh to denounce the Cambodian judiciarys lack of independence and its corruption; Chea Vichea was the leader of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC) when he was shot in the head and chest early in the morning while reading a newspaper at a kiosk in Phnom Penh in 2004; Hy Vuthy, a senior leader of the FTUWKC, was gunned down by two men on a motorcycle while heading home from a Phnom Penh garment factory at the end of a night shift in February 2007; Ros Sovannarith, a labor activist at a major textile factory, was killed in 2004 when unidentified gunmen shot him twice as he rode his motorbike near Phnom Penh University; Chut Wutty, founder and Director of the Natural Resource Protection Group, was shot dead in 2012 near a protected forest in Koh Kong Province, where he had repeatedly attempted to expose illegal logging rackets that involved military officials; On July 10 Kem Ley was gunned down at a convenience store where he stopped to talk with friends. Just days before, hed discussed on RFA a report by the British NGO Global Witness detailing the extent of the Hun Sen familys wealth. A Cambodian court charged a former soldier named Oeuth Ang with premeditated murder for the execution-style killing. Authorities have said that Kem Ley was killed over an outstanding $3,000 debt to Oueth Ang, who gave his name as Chuob Samlab, a Khmer name meaning meet to kill. In such cases the authorities have always failed to find the real perpetrators. Scapegoats are always hired or threatened to cover up their mess, Sam Rainsy told RFA. Only those who have the highest authority would be the ones who ordered such killings. A pair of witnesses to the killing of Kem Ley are seeking asylum in a third country because they fear for their safety, one of the witnesses told RFA. Chum Huor and Chum Huot, twins who were close to Kem Ley, became afraid after they posted criticisms about the investigation on their Facebook pages and gave accounts of Kem Leys murder to the U.S. embassy. They filed their application for asylum with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Chum Huot said. While authorities have a suspect in custody, they told RFA they have hit a dead end. I have learned that the perpetrator is very stubborn, said Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak. He now doesnt even recognize his own mother. Because he is uncooperative, our investigation is difficult. Senior CNRP lawmaker Eng Chhai Eang told RFA it is time to get outside help in the investigation. Given the location of the crime scene I dont think the investigation should be that difficult, he said. When the murderer is uncooperative, the authorities should not rely only on him for answers. They should look into other relevant sources of evidence. He added: If they were really facing difficulties, why didnt they seek assistance from experts in such criminal investigations? I believe that if the authorities were of genuine will, they would ask for help from foreign friends. Smelling a rat But Buntenh, president of the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice and a member of the Kem Ley Funeral Committee, told RFA that he feared for his safety after authorities went to his home village searching for his identification documents. The threat is significant, he said in an RFA Today interview, saying local authorities had asked his parents for his ID without his knowledge. My parents then smelled a rat, he said. They rushed to the village office to seek some answers. The village officials told them that they took the documents so that they could make the identification card for me. I take that as a threat, for no third person is allowed to act on my behalf to make my ID card. Sam Rainsy was believed to be the target of the 1997 grenade attack, but he was spared when his bodyguard, Han Muny, shielded him from the blast. Han Muny was among those who died. While Sam Rainsy stayed in the country then, he later went into self-imposed exile following his removal from parliament in November 2015 by Hun Sens Cambodian Peoples Party because of a warrant issued for his arrest in an old defamation case. Kem Leys killing has gripped Cambodia, with an estimated two million people turning out on Sunday to view his funeral procession as it moved from Watt Bodhiyaram in the capital of Phnom Penh to his home village in the southwestern province of Takeo. While the government claims his death came over a debt, few in Cambodia believe that. Who would benefit from Kem Leys death? And while the average Cambodian doesnt believe the authorities, government-aligned news outlets say they know who is to blame the CNRP. Over the past few days CPP-aligned media have offered up a new script for the slaying, insinuating that the CNRP and the partys deputy leader Kem Sokha are behind Kem Leys death. The question isin this situationwho is it that would be happy with the result? said an article on Kem Leys death posted to the popular and CPP-aligned Fresh News website early this week. Theres only the opposition party, because they have gathered together to squeeze and put a vise on the government [by saying] that because of poor control of public order, a homicide easily happened in the city. Authored by A Special Group, the piece was quickly shared on Facebook by Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan. It argued that Kem Leys slaying had only caused problems for Hun Sen, and that acting CNRP leader Kem Sokha had grown suspicious of the analyst. While Hun Sen ordered a thorough investigation into the killing and announced a large-scale campaign to strengthen security and social order in the aftermath of the murder, his own remarks seem to have anticipated the report in the CPP-friendly media. This is a loss. It badly affects the reputation of the government, he said on July 11. Who will benefit from such a thing when the government is talking about peace and security? Ill rhetoric Sam Rainsy dismissed the pro-CPP reports and the prime ministers remarks, telling RFA they also follow an old script. Im so accustomed to the ill rhetoric by the Hun Sen government, he said. The government even accused me of throwing the hand grenades to kill myself because I wanted fame. I was accused of hiring people to throw the grenades at me! Its the same with Kem Ley, he added. Likewise, as in Kem Leys murder case, they are trying to cover up their mess by blaming the CNRP for the killing, he said. Thats a very absurd and cheap tactic. It appears that the CPP wants to plant the idea that Kem Sokha had Kem Ley killed because he feared being usurped within the CNRP. (While both men have a similar name in Khmer, they are not related.) Kem Sokha was named the CNRPs acting president after Sam Rainsy left the country. Divide and conquer Its a notion that Sam Rainsy has disputed, saying Hun Sen and the CPP are seeking to divide the opposition. On June 3, 2016, Kem Ley and his wife met with Kem Sokha at the CNRP headquarters, Sam Rainsy said. He said we shared the same values. We loved our country and people. We therefore needed to work together for the next elections. This made the others worry. For this reason, they killed him. Once again, he said, this follows the old Hun Sen script, recalling a conversation in mid-2015 in which Hun Sen tried to get Sam Rainsy to break with Kem Sokha. Hun Sen approached me and said I was a person whom he found easy to work with, he said. He said he didnt like working with Kem Sokha. He said if I disposed of Kem Sokha, I would be safe and sound and get everything I wanted. After Sam Rainsy spurned the offer, Hun Sen made a similar appeal to Kem Sokha, he said. He has reached out to Kem Sokha and asked him to dispose of me if he wanted to be safe and sound, Sam Rainsy explained. Hun Sen asked Kem Sokha to kick me out in the form of a coup within the party. However, Kem Sokha told Hun Sen that he wouldnt do that. He has treated me as his life-and-death partner to rescue our nation. Kem Sokha has not followed what Hun Sen wanted. Although unable to turn the two opposition figures against each other, Hun Sen has still managed to keep Sam Rainsy out of Cambodia and has bottled up Kem Sokha. Kem Sokha has been under virtual house arrest after heavily-armed police attempted to apprehend 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. Without directly mentioning his name, Hun Sen warned in a speech last month that the government could arrest Kem Sokha at any time. It is just not the [right] time yet, Hun Sen said during a speech at the Cambodian customs department. You said that Hun Sen is afraid of losing the election, but you are in jail forever. You have no way out. I am telling you, the prisoner, do not be too insolent! Sam Rainsy accused the government of fabricating the charges. Kem Sokha has also been persecuted over fabricated and alleged personal issues, he said. The CPP is trying to jail both of us. Magazines about Chinese politics are displayed in a bookstore in the Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong, Jan. 5, 2016. A court in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen on Tuesday jailed two veteran journalists from neighboring Hong Kong after they sent their political magazines to subscribers across the internal border in mainland China. Wang Jianmin was sentenced by Shenzhen's Nanshan District People's court to five years and three months' imprisonment. Fellow defendant Guo Zhongxiao, a former editor at the weekly news magazine Asiaweek, was jailed for two years and three months on the same charge. The sentences come amid an ongoing crackdown by Chinese authorities on the media and publishing industry in the former British colony. Both men, who pleaded guilty at their trial last November, had edited and published New-Way Monthly and Multiple Face magazines, which were published in Hong Kong, but had some subscribers in mainland China. Hong Kong-based veteran journalist Ching Cheong said the sentences come amid a concerted campaign by the Chinese government targeting "banned" publications that began with the jailing of 79-year-old Hong Kong publisher Yiu Man-tin for 10 years after he edited a book highly critical of President Xi Jinping. "Starting with Yiu Man-tin, they have been using such charges to refer to any activities linked to what they regard as banned books," Ching said. "We have seen this so many times that we are used to it now." "But this is an attack on freedom of speech and publication in Hong Kong, because it is a direct threat to the exercise of our freedoms," he said. Jimmy Pang, who heads the alternative news site Subculture, called on the court to make public the evidence used to prosecute Wang and Guo. "Otherwise, people in the Hong Kong publishing industry will be very worried, because they won't know which actions are considered to be a crime," Pang told RFA. "If we don't know what constitutes a criminal action ... how will we take decisions in future?" he said. Promises, promises Under the terms of its 1997 handover to China, Hong Kong was promised the continuation of its existing freedoms of press, publication and assembly for at least 50 years. But the cross-border detentions last year of five Hong Kong booksellers accused of selling "banned books" to customers across the internal border in tightly controlled mainland China have rocked the once-freewheeling city. Wang, who holds a U.S. passport, was also found guilty of two other chargesbid-rigging and bribery. The two magazines were both published by the Hong Kong-registered company National Affairs Ltd., while Wang and Guo had permanent residency in the city. They often carried exposes of factional strife and internal power struggles at the heart of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Local media reported that the magazines only had eight subscribers in mainland China, while the defense team argued that they were legally published in Hong Kong, and that the impact of their mainland Chinese sales was too small to constitute such an offense. According to the defense, Guo edited the magazines, and had nothing to do with the business side of their operations, nor did he know about the mainland Chinese subscribers. Guo's shorter sentence means that he may soon be up for release, as he has already spent two years and two months in pretrial detention. The court also handed down a one-year suspended sentence Wangs wife Xu Zhongyun, who helped send the magazines, and a two-year suspended sentence to freelance writer Liu Haitao. None of the defendants plans to appeal, according to the Hong Kong-based Initium news site. Booksellers detained Under the terms of the handover and the city's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, China has promised to allow Hong Kong to continue with its existing way of life until 2047. The "one country, two systems" policy pledged to allow the city to continue as a separate jurisdiction for law enforcement and immigration purposes, and with wide-ranging freedoms of expression and association. But the detention of Causeway Bay Books publisher Gui Minhai at his Thai holiday home last October, followed by the detentions of four of his colleagues, prompted a public outcry. Store manager and British passport-holder Lee Bo, 65, went missing from his workplace in Hong Kong on Dec. 30, while general manager Lui Bo (also spelled Lui Por), and colleagues Cheung Chi-ping and Lam Wing-kei were detained after they crossed the internal border into China from their usual base in Hong Kong. The U.K. government has said in an official report that Lee was "involuntarily removed" from the city, while the U.S. State Department said in its Hong Kong Policy Act Report in May that the booksellers' detentions "have raised serious concerns in Hong Kong and represent what appears to be the most significant breach of the one country, two systems policy since 1997." Earlier this month, the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) called on the city's government to do much more to protect press freedom, citing a "grave threat" to its traditional freedoms of expression and association. In a report titled "One Country, Two Nightmares," the Hong Kong Journalists' Association (HKJA) said the city's government should take a "much more robust approach towards the protection of press freedom and other rights integral to Hong Kongs success." Reported by Hai Nan for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Almost 40 percent of young people in Hong Kong favor independence for the city in 2047, when existing arrangements with China expire, a recent opinion survey has found. Nearly two out of five people in the 15-24 age group said they want the city to go its own way when the "one country, two systems" policy, promised under the terms of the city's 1997 handover to China, ends. The findings appeared in a recent survey by public opinion researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), who interviewed 1,010 people aged 15 and above between July 6 and 15. Across the whole age range, 17.4 percent said they favor independence post-2047, compared with 39.2 percent of the 15-24 age group. However, nearly three in 10 expressed no preference, while less than four percent said they believe independence is a possibility for the former British colony. A university student surnamed Yip said the survey rang true for him, as around half of his friends are in favor of independence. "I think a lot of young people are very disappointed in the Chinese government, or the [ruling] Chinese Communist Party," Yip said. "Also, a number of events in recent years have changed people's views about Hong Kong's future." "The picture isn't looking very good. For example, the Chinese government has refused to allow us to hold fully democratic elections," he said. "Everything is now controlled by a handful of people in the political and financial elite." Unity pledge demand The survey comes amid a row over forthcoming elections to the city's legislature, where candidates have been asked for the first time in the city's history to sign a form pledging to uphold the principle that Hong Kong is "an inalienable part of China." A number of pro-independence candidates have announced their bids to run in the Sept. 4 Legislative Council (LegCo) elections. But the city's Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) announced on July 14 that all candidates must sign the additional declaration, warning that those who refuse could be disqualified. Two LegCo hopefuls, League of Social Democrats chairman Avery Ng, and Edward Leung, leader of the pro-independence group Hong Kong Indigenous, applied for a judicial review on Monday to challenge the powers of the election watchdog in vetting candidates. Hong Kong was promised a "high degree of autonomy" under the terms of its 1997 handover to China, while Article 26 of the Basic Law guarantees the city's residents the right to vote in and stand for elections. Chan Ho-tin, LegCo election hopeful and leader of the pro-independence Hong Kong National Party (HKNP), said the EAC had recently emailed him asking for clarification of his views on independence, in spite of having received his declaration. "The email had as an attachment a bunch of press cuttings in which I had made various comments, as if to prove my stance on Hong Kong independence," Chan told RFA. "The other attachment was a letter which ... asked me to clarify my views on independence, even though I did sign the declaration," he said. Chan, who has sworn an oath to protect the Basic Law, said he wouldn't reply. "There is no basis in law for this," he said. "Rather, I would like to ask them on what [legal] basis they are investigating my political views." The judicial review applications will be handled in an urgent hearing on Wednesday, court officials said. Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Lam Kwok-lap for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Myanmar nationals and migrant workers work on a fishing boat in waters off Ban Nam Khaem village in southern Thailand's Phang-nga province, Dec. 3, 2014. Fourteen Myanmar migrants forced to work on an Indonesian fishing boat returned to Myanmar on Tuesday after their government and an international organization arranged their release, the government said. Government officials and officers from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) welcomed the migrants after they arrived at the airport in the commercial city Yangon, according to a post on the Facebook page of Myanmars Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The 14 men were part of a larger group of 19 trafficked Myanmar migrants rescued on July 10 from slave-like conditions on a boat moored off the southern Thai city of Pattani, near the Thailand-Malaysia border. The ministry did not mention the status of the other five migrants. The Myanmar Association in Thailand (MAT), a Myanmar nongovernmental organization that helps migrant workers, and the Anti-Human Trafficking Division (AHTD) of the Royal Thai Police had found the men locked inside the boat. The men range in age from 13 to 34 and are from southern Myanmars Mon and Tanintharyi regions and from western Rakhine state, said MAT director Kyaw Thaung in a previous RFA report. Thai authorities have arrested two traffickers, a Thai businessman and a Myanmar woman from Mon State. The woman had promised some of the migrants factory jobs in Pattaya, a resort city on the Gulf of Thailand, but instead transported them to Pattani, the online journal The Irrawaddy reported. Thailands fishing industry relies heavily on trafficked and forced labor, especially from Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, according to a 2014 report issued by the Environmental Justice Foundation, a U.K.-based nonprofit organization that focuses on protecting the environment and defending human rights. Many of the estimated 200,000 migrants from Thailands neighboring countries have been trafficked and forced to work in appalling conditions with no pay and subjected to brutal control, the report said. Migrants in Malaysian camps In a related development, the Myanmar government said Tuesday that it will bring 3,000 Myanmar migrant workers back from detention camps in Malaysia starting in August. Thein Swe, minister of labor, immigration and population, told reporters after a parliamentary meeting that the migrants had already served their terms for illegally entering Malaysia. The workers are from Kyauktaw township in the Sittwe district of western Myanmars Rakhine state, he said. Nearly 2,000 migrant workers from Myanmar are being held in camps in Malaysia for various reasons, including immigration violations, according to a recent report in the Myanmar Times. More than 300 have already served their sentences but they are unable to return to Myanmar because they have no money, the report said. More than 60 Myanmar workers left the camps and returned home earlier this month after authorities confirmed their citizenship status, it said. Many Myanmar migrant workers in Malaysia and Thailandespecially those in the country illegallyare at risk of being trafficked as sex workers or for slave-like labor on fishing boats, experts warn. Reported by Win Ko Latt for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Soe. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. The map shows Kyauktaw township in western Myanmar's Rakhine state and Taunggyi township in eastern Myanmar's Shan state. One hundred farmers from a village in eastern Myanmars Shan state appeared in court on Monday after the national army filed a lawsuit against them for planting on confiscated land in a move that runs counter to the government's efforts to return land that the military previously grabbed from locals during the countrys junta era, a villager said. The armys Eastern Command confiscated 2,000 acres of land in Ye Pu (Hot Water) village in the states Taunggyi township in 2004, during the rule of a military junta that controlled the country for 50 years until 2011, said villager Maw Maw Win. From 2010 to 2015, the command allowed local farmers to plant on the land if they paid an annual fee of 10,000 kyats (U.S. $8.40) per acre, he told RFAs Myanmar Service. In May, army officials asked the farmers to sign documents saying that the land belonged to the military, he said. About 100 farmers from Ye Pu village refused to sign the documents and continued planting on the land, prompting the army to file the lawsuit charging them with trespassing, Maw Maw Win said. In early July, the Shan state government said it would return more than 40,000 acres of land confiscated by the Myanmar military to farmers. Soe Nyunt Lwin, Shan state minister for planning and finance, also said the military would return more land to its original owners in the near future. Fees for Rakhine farmers In a similar case, the Mro National Democracy Party based in western Myanmars Rakhine state requested on Monday that the state government ban the national army from collecting fees from farmers who want to plant crops on lands that soldiers had previously confiscated in Kyauktaw township, the partys chairman said. The party was formed two years ago to represent the Mro ethnic people in Rakhine and in western Myanmars Chin state. The Myanmar armys light infantry battalion No. 374, members of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), and other government organizations based in Kyauktaw township confiscated 200 acres of land from residents in three villages under General Than Shwe, the strongman politician who ruled Myanmar from 1992 to 2011, said party chairman Oo Mya Tun. The soldiers allowed villagers to plant crops for an annual fee per acre during that time, he said. But now the army is still keeping 40 acres of land although other organizations have returned confiscated land farmers, he said. Righting past wrongs Former landowners in various parts of the country have long appealed to government leaders to return property seized decades ago under the military junta, and the new civilian government under de facto national leader Aung San Suu Kyi is trying to right this past wrong. Some landowners recently inundated Myanmars parliament with thousands of complaints about farmland seizures. A parliamentary committee on confiscated farmland is responsible for dealing with land disputes and puts pressure on relevant government ministries to return appropriated land or compensate the rightful owners. Farmers in south-central Myanmars Bago region staged a protest on July 6 demanding that the army return more than 4,000 acres of land it confiscated from them 25 years ago. RFAs Myanmar Service reported in May that Myanmars government would return 2,500 acres of confiscated land to farmers in Tant-Se township in the countrys northwestern Sagaing region, more than 35 years after it was taken. The Burma Socialist Programme Party, formed by the regime led by military commander Ne Win that seized power in 1962, confiscated nearly 4,000 acres of the townships land in Shwebo district for a government farm project named Wet Toe in 1980. Reported by Thiri Min Zin and Min Thein Aung for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Soe. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. A second Tibetan has been arrested and sent to prison in Chinas Sichuan province for his involvement in a social media chat group celebrating last years 80th birthday of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, RFAs Tibetan Service has learned. Argya Gya, formerly a monk at Kirti monastery in Sichuans Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) county and now a layman, was taken into custody on Nov. 18, 2015, a Tibetan living in the area told RFA. He is currently being held in a prison in Lunggu [Wenchuan] county, RFAs source said. Gya, who had previously served a three-year term in Sichuans Mianyang prison in connection with the self-immolation in 2011 of another Kirti monastery monk, now joins at least one other prisoner in Lunggu, a monk named Lodroe, over their involvement in the online WeChat group. News of Gyas arrest was delayed in reaching outside contacts due to communications blocks imposed by Chinese authorities in Tibetan areas. Hundreds of Tibetans gathered at monasteries in western Chinas Qinghai and Gansu provinces last year in defiance of Chinese bans to celebrate the birthday of the Dalai Lama, burning incense and offering prayers in honor of the exiled spiritual leader, sources told RFA in earlier reports. The celebrations were held despite widespread efforts by officials across Tibetan-populated regions to warn against observances of the politically sensitive event and to block public gatherings that could be linked to it. Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijings rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008. A total of 145 Tibetans living in China have now set themselves ablaze in self-immolations since the wave of fiery protests began in 2009, with most protests featuring calls for Tibetan freedom and the Dalai Lamas return from India, where he has lived since escaping Tibet during a failed national uprising in 1959. Reported by Kunsang Tenzin for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney. This photo shows the main part of Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa's steel mill in Ky Anh district, in the central coastal province of Ha Tinh, Dec. 3, 2015 The owners of the Formosa Ha Tinh steel mill have accepted responsibility for a chemical spill that devastated the fishing industry along Vietnams central coast, but questions still remain over how the Taiwan firm's industrial project and its faulty pollution controls won government approval. Vietnamese lawmaker Vo Kim Cu, a key figure in Ha Tinh province where the plant is located, broke his silence over his role in approval of the plant as he spoke to the local media for the first time this week. I was really surprised about the spill, he told Tuoi Tre newspaper. We insisted that Formosa strictly follow Vietnamese law and environmental protection standards, and we thought they would do so, given their huge investment in the project. Cu was reportedly a strong backer of Formosa in 2008, when he was deputy chairman of the Ha Tinh administration and head of the management board of the Vung Ang Economic Zone. According to local media reports, he granted a license to the company giving it permission to operate in Vung Ang for 70 years. Layers of approval Cu told Tuoi Tre that he is only partially responsible for the scandal, insisting that his approval of the Formosa project was in line with regulations, [and] the violations are totally the business of Formsa. He insisted that any blame for the actions of the steel company following his approval should be directed at the competent agencies of the government. Vietnam Breaking News.com quoted Cu as saying that the proposal for the Formosa project was reported to the government, reviewed by 12 specialized ministries, and approved by the prime minister. Finally, the government allowed Ha Tinh to license the project, Cu said. Nguyen Quang A, former director of the disbanded think tank IDS, told RFAs Vietnamese Service that there is more than enough blame to go around. Cu breached the law when granting a 70-year license to Formosa, he said. According to the laws, he could only give 50-year licenses at maximum. After that, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung ordered Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai to accept that, so both Nguyen Tan Dung and Hoang Trung Hai broke the law, because they had no such authority. Not everyone thinks Cu should share in the blame. In a Facebook post, blogger and environmental activist Nguyen Anh Tuan warned against making Cu a scapegoat. Party responsibility If we cant prove what Cu said is wrong, then it is not right to make him take the whole responsibility for the Formosa scandal because it is a sign of a cover-up by some individuals, and the organizations above him, he said. We know they are ministers, the prime minister, and the politburo of the party. Nguyen Quang A agreed with that assessment. The whole problem of Formosas operations is the partys responsibility, he said. The head of the party is Nguyen Phu Trong, so he is the final one. He holds the ultimate power in this country. A Vietnamese government investigation into the April spill determined that the release of toxic chemicals including cyanide from the plant caused the fish kill, and the companya subsidiary of the Taiwanese Formosa Plastics Groupapologized for the spill and offered $500 million in compensation. The spill caused an estimated 70 tons of dead fish to wash up on the shores of Vietnams central coast starting in early April. An untold number of people were sickened when they ate the fish, and the disaster sparked rare protests across Vietnam, drawing a harsh crackdown from the communist government. Civil society groups say that both Formosa and the government failed to address the question of how the disaster happened, and whether Vietnamese officials abetted the Taiwan companys skirting of environmental rules and standards. Some say the $500 million compensation package is too little, while others fear it will be pocketed by corrupt officials. Reported by Cat Linh for RFA's Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. Turkey on July 26 widened its crackdown after a failed coup by detaining the top Turkish military generals that are serving as part of NATO forces in Afghanistan. Turkish media reports said Major General Mehmet Cahit Bakir and Brigadier General Sener Topuc were detained by authorities at Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates on suspicion of having links to the July 15 attempted coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Bakir is the commander of Turkeys task force in Afghanistan. Topuc is the chief of the Appointment Department for Turkish Land Forces. Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency said their detentions were the result of cooperation between Turkish intelligence and U.A.E. authorities. Anadolu said the two were being transported to Turkey on July 26. A spokesman for NATO forces in Afghanistan said on July 26 that the Turkish contingent continues its mission," without further comment. Based on reporting by AFP and Anadolu Russian investigators said on July 26 that they have searched the office and home of the country's top customs official in connection with a smuggling case, the second high-profile security services action against another government agency in a week. The federal Investigative Committee said in a July 26 statement that its agents searched the office and home of Andrei Belyaninov, head of the Federal Customs Agency, and the home of his former adviser, businessman Sergei Lobanov, earlier in the day. The committee, Russia's analogue to the U.S. FBI, said the searches were conducted in connection with a criminal case involving alcohol smuggling that led to the arrest of three businessmen in St. Petersburg in March. The action suggests that behind-the-scenes tensions may be mounting between some Russian government agencies, which have regularly been locked in fierce competition for resources and turf since President Vladimir Putin's rise to power 16 years ago. Many of these clashes are assiduously shielded from the populace, though they have occasionally boiled over into public view with arrests of officials by rival agencies. Gazeta.ru on July 26 published photographs taken during the search of Belyaninov's home, one of which showed the customs chief standing next to a table covered with stacks of cash that the popular news portal said were discovered in shoeboxes at the residence. The state-run TASS news agency cited an unidentified source as saying that investigators found various currencies totaling some $850,000 at Belyaninov's home. The Kremlin-friendly television network Ren-TV cited an anonymous source as saying that the customs chief explained that the cash is his family's savings. Several Russian media outlets reported that agents from the Federal Security Service (FSB), the country's main domestic security agency, also took part in the searches. The Russian customs sector has long been rife with corruption, with officials controlling the lucrative passage of goods across the border. There was no immediate statement from investigators indicating that Belyaninov, who has served as head of the Federal Customs Agency since 2006, is facing charges. Several Russian media outlets cited unidentified sources as saying that he had tendered his resignation several months ago. Neither the customs agency nor Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed reports that Belyaninov had earlier offered to step down. I don't know, Peskov told reporters when asked on July 26. The search of Belyaninov's home and office comes a week after the FSB arrested three powerful Investigative Committee officials over allegations that included taking bribes from a crime syndicate. With reporting by Gazeta.ru, RBK, Kommersant, Dozhd, TASS, and Interfax The world's rowing federation announced on July 26 that it has rejected 22 of the 28 rowers that Russia entered into the Olympics over their previous use of performance enhancing drugs. It said none of the athletes had tested positive for doping in the last five years, but were being banned under strict new rules imposed against Russia in connection with an alleged government-sponsored doping program. The development means that more than 100 athletes from Russias 387-member Olympic team have been barred so far from the 2016 Olympic Games in connection with Russias doping scandal. The number of Russians banned from the competition in Rio de Janeiro could grow further as further rulings are issued in the days ahead. The vast majority of Russians banned for using illegal performance enhancing drugs -- a total of 67 athletes -- are in track and field. That ban was upheld at the Court of Arbitration for Sport last week. International federations in canoeing and modern pentathlon announced on July 26 that seven Russians were being banned -- including an Olympic gold medalist. There also have been rulings against Russian swimmers. Some appeals are likely. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on July 24 ruled against a blanket ban on Russian athletes in 2016, leaving the decision about athletes' participation to the international federation of each individual sport. But the July 24 IOC ruling set strict standards that have led to the banning of Russian athletes previously found to be doping. Based on reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters Authorities in Azerbaijan say two people were killed by an explosion at a munitions factory on July 26 in the town of Shirvan, about 100 kilometers from the capital, Baku. A statement from Azerbaijans Defense Industry Ministry said both of the people who died in the explosion were employees at the Araz plant. The ministry, which manages the facility, named the victims of the blast as Agamir Mamedov and Ilhama Nuriyeva. RFE/RLs Azerbaijani Service reported that at least 20 people were injured and that explosions continued to rock the city and its surroundings for hours while a fire raged at the facility. Initial reports suggested that the explosion involved munitions that were being loaded in an area where finished products are stored. With reporting by AP, TASS, and Interfax Russian President Vladimir Putin says the world faces the most dangerous decade since World War II and predicted that the historical period of the West's "undivided dominance over world affairs" is coming to an end. Speaking on October 27 at a conference of international policy experts in Moscow, Putin said the decade ahead is "probably the most dangerous, unpredictable and, at the same time, important...since the end of World War II." 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. Putin laid the blame for the situation at the feet of Western countries, which he said have cast aside the norms of international affairs in order to maintain dominance and hold down countries they see as "second-class civilizations." The Russian leader also said he had no regrets about sending troops into Ukraine and sought to explain the conflict as part of the efforts by Western countries to secure their global domination. Putin claimed in his speech to the Valdai Discussion Club, a think tank, that the West had helped incite the conflict and also seeks to stoke a crisis over Taiwan in an attempt to enforce global dominance. Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, triggering the biggest military conflict in Europe since World War II and driving relations with Western countries that back Ukraine and its drive to be part of the European Union and NATO to their lowest depths since the Cold War. Putin cast the conflict in Ukraine as a battle between the West and Russia for the fate of the second-largest Eastern Slav country. It is partly a "civil war," he said, as Russians and Ukrainians are one people. Kyiv has flatly rejected both of those ideas. The goal of what Russia refers to as a "special military operation" is to take the eastern Donbas region, Putin said, adding that in his view the region would "not have survived" on its own had Russia not intervened militarily in Ukraine. WATCH: A local official told Russian conscripts "You are not cannon fodder" in a video published online recently. The men responded by angrily shouting that, actually, that's exactly what they are. But the war has gone far beyond the Donbas region, with Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure, residential buildings, and other nonmilitary structures, killing tens of thousands of Ukrainians across the country. Putin used the speech largely to rail against the West, saying it has nothing to offer to the world "except its own domination," and the goal of globalization "is neocolonialism to dominate the world." He said Russia is only trying to defend its right to exist in the face these Western efforts. Putin also asserted that more and more nations refuse to follow Washington's demands and Russia will never accept the West's attempts to dominate the world. Citing gay pride parades and the acceptance of transgender people in Western countries, Putin also defended "traditional values" and said "nobody can dictate to our people how to develop and what society we should build." He also said Russia has never considered the West an enemy and has many things in common with it but will continue to oppose the diktat of Western neoliberal elites. U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Putin's speech presented no new ideas. "We don't believe that Mr. Putin's strategic goals have changed here. He doesn't want Ukraine to exist as a sovereign, independent nation state," Kirby said. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Putin's speech can be described as "for Freud," referring to psychoanalysis founder Sigmund Freud. "The person who invaded a foreign country, annexed its land, and committed genocide accuses others of violating international law and the sovereignty of other countries? One truth: The person who started a wind will get a storm. The storm is coming," he said on Twitter. Answering questions from journalists after his speech, Putin reiterated the Kremlin's assertion that Ukraine plans to use a so-called dirty bomb on its own territory. The claim has been dismissed as false by Ukraine and its allies, who say Russia may have raised the matter because it plans to use such a bomb in Ukraine as a pretext for escalation. "It was me who ordered [Defense Minister Sergei] Shoigu to inform by phone all his colleagues about it," Putin said, adding that Russia does not need to use dirty bombs in Ukraine. Putin also said he supported plans by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to visit Ukraine's nuclear power plants for inspections. "It must be done as soon and as openly as possible because we know that Kyiv authorities are now working to cover up such [dirty-bomb attack] preparations," Putin said, without giving any exact information proving the claim. Ukraine invited IAEA inspectors to visit its nuclear facilities after the Kremlin made its unsubstantiated claim about the preparation of a dirty bomb -- which would use the explosion of a conventional warhead to spread radioactive material or chemicals over a wide area. Ukraine said it would welcome inspections because it had "nothing to hide." According to Putin, Russia has never talked about the use of nuclear weapons in the war with Ukraine despite his own promise to defend Russian territory with any means at our disposal" and saying his words were "not a bluff." "We see no need for [using nuclear weapons in Ukraine]," Putin told reporters. "There is no sense for that, neither political, nor military." Armenian Health Minister Armen Muradyan on July 27 was blocked by police from trying to meet with a group of gunmen who are occupying a police building in Yerevan and have taken four medics hostage. Muradyan's spokeswoman Anait Aitayan said the minister "wanted to resolve the situation and familiarize himself with the situation on the spot but was not allowed to." A health ministry spokesman said later on Facebook that one of the medics had been freed. "Three other health professionals, two doctors and a nurse, are still being held," he said. Police told reporters the decision to prevent Muradyan from entering the occupied building was made for safety reasons. The medics had entered the building overnight to treat two gunmen who were injured in a shootout with police late on July 26 and refused to go to hospital. Armenian police spokesman Ashot Aharonian confirmed on July 27 that Pavel Manukian, the leader of the armed group, and his son Aram Manukian were also wounded in the overnight shoot-out -- which reportedly began when police tried to move inside the grounds around the occupied building. Manukian and his son, who both face charges of seizing buildings and possessing illegal weapons, were taken to a hospital with severe leg injuries. Lawyer Inessa Petrossi said Arman Manukian was remanded in custody for two months after a court on July 27 approved a request for his detention by the investigative department of Armenia's National Security Service. Investigators also have demanded the arrest of Pavel Manukian. But it was not clear when the court would hear his case. He was receiving artificial lung ventilation at the intensive care unit of Yerevan's Erebuni medical center on July 27 after undergoing surgery overnight. Those remaining inside the building said on June 27 that they would release the medics in exchange for doctors who are able to perform surgery on the wounded gunmen. The armed group -- supporters of jailed opposition leader Zhirayr Sefilian from the Founding Parliament movement -- are members of a faction called Sasna Tsrer. Most are veterans of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the late 1980s and early 1990s. As veterans of that war, they are considered heroes by many Armenians. They are demanding the resignation of President Serzh Sarkisian over the way he has handled the long-running conflict concerning Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory that both Yerevan and Baku claim. They are also demanding the release of Sefilian, who was arrested along with six of his supporters on June 20 on illegal weapons charges. The gunmen stormed the Erebuni regimental police headquarters on July 17, killing one officer and taking several more hostage. All of their initial hostages were released by July 23 but the gunmen have remained holed up inside the building surrounded by security forces. Thousands of supporters have been staging daily protest marches to urge authorities not to launch a deadly raid against them. With reporting by AFP and Interfax 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." U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said that he raised the issue of the hacking of Democratic Party emails in a July 26 meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. "I raised the question and we will continue to work to see precisely what those facts are," Kerry told reporters. Lavrov dismissed has dismissed the allegations from U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign that Russia was behind an embarrassing leak of Democratic e-mails. Lavrov, at the start of talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on the sideline of an Asian foreign ministers meeting in Laos on July 26, was asked whether Russian hackers had leaked the Democratic National Committee e-mails showing that top party leaders had favored Clinton over her campaign rival Bernie Sanders despite their purported neutrality in the White House race. Clinton aides have charged that Russia was behind the leak, which outraged Sanders supporters on the eve of the Democratic convention, because the Kremlin favors her Republican rival Donald Trump, who has talked glowingly of improving relations with Russia as president. Lavrov suggested a proper response to that allegation would involve using vulgar language. He replied in English: "Well, I don't want to use four-letter words." Trump also called the charge "one of the weirdest conspiracy theories"he's heard on July 25. Based on reporting by AP and Reuters Russian investigators said on July 26 that they have searched the office and home of the country's top customs official in connection with a smuggling case, the second high-profile security services action against another government agency in a week. The federal Investigative Committee said in a July 26 statement http://sledcom.ru/news/item/1056642/ that its agents searched the office and home of Andrei Belyaninov, head of the Federal Customs Agency, and the home of his former adviser, businessman Sergei Lobanov, earlier in the day. The committee, Russia's analogue to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, said the searches were conducted in connection with a criminal case involving alcohol smuggling that led to the arrest of three businessmen in St. Petersburg in March. The action suggests that behind-the-scenes tensions may be mounting between some Russian government agencies, which have regularly been locked in fierce competition for resources and turf since President Vladimir Putin's rise to power 16 years ago. Many of these clashes are assiduously shielded from the populace, though they have occasionally boiled over into public view with arrests of officials by rival agencies. Gazeta.ru on July 26 published photographs taken during the search of Belyaninov's home, one of which showed the customs chief standing next to a table covered with stacks of cash that the popular news portal said were discovered in shoeboxes at the residence. The state-run TASS news agency cited an unidentified source as saying that investigators found various currencies totaling some $850,000 at Belyaninov's home. The Kremlin-friendly television network Ren-TV cited an anonymous source as saying that the customs chief explained that the cash is his family's savings. Several Russian media outlets reported that agents from the Federal Security Service (FSB), the country's main domestic security agency, also took part in the searches. The Russian customs sector has long been rife with corruption, with officials controlling the lucrative passage of goods across the border. There was no immediate statement from investigators indicating that Belyaninov, who has served as head of the Federal Customs Agency since 2006, is facing charges. Several Russian media outlets cited unidentified sources as saying that he had tendered his resignation several months ago. Neither the customs agency nor Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed reports that Belyaninov had earlier offered to step down. I don't know, Peskov told reporters when asked on July 26. The search of Belyaninov's home and office comes a week after the FSB arrested three powerful Investigative Committee officials over allegations that included taking bribes from a crime syndicate. With reporting by Gazeta.ru, RBK, Kommersant, Dozhd, TASS, and Interfax Ukraine's military says Russia is massing troops on the right bank of the Dnieper River as both sides appear poised for what could be a key battle for the city of Kherson in Ukraine's south. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on October 28 that Moscow has sent in up to 1,000 recently mobilized soldiers to make up for personnel losses suffered at the hands of an ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive in Kherson region. 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. "The command of the Russian occupying forces, in order to avoid panic among the personnel, is trying by all means to hide the real losses of servicemen.... There is a strengthening of the enemy group on the right bank of the temporarily occupied territory of the Kherson region with mobilized servicemen numbering up to 1,000 people," the General Staff said in a statement. It said that civilians continued to be moved from Kherson city on the right bank of the Dnieper onto the left bank. Ukraine has pushed ahead with an offensive to reclaim the Kherson region and its capital of the same name, which Russian forces captured during the first days of the war. Ukrainian forces were surrounding Kherson from the west and attacking Russias foothold on the right bank of the Dnieper River. However, tough terrain and bad weather held up the Ukrainian Army's main advance in Kherson, officials said. Kherson, one of four partially occupied provinces that Russia proclaimed to have seized last month, controls the only land route to the Crimean Peninsula that Russia illegally annexed in 2014 and the mouth of the Dnieper that bisects Ukraine. Russia-appointed officials in Kherson said on October 27 that more than 70,000 people have left the city, including members of the Moscow-installed regional administration. The Ukrainian military said on October 28 that forces had killed 44 Russian soldiers in the past 24 hours, adding that its forces had destroyed an ammunition depot and a hangar with equipment. The claim could not be independently verified. However, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said 23 of his soldiers were killed and another 58 wounded in a Ukrainian artillery attack this week in Kherson. The comments were unusual as pro-Moscow forces have rarely admitted to major battlefield losses. WATCH: A local official told Russian conscripts "You are not cannon fodder" in a video published online recently. The men responded by angrily shouting that, actually, that's exactly what they are. The incident, in the Ardatovsky district some 360 kilometers east of Moscow, followed a stream of videos in which Russian conscripts complain of old equipment and poor training. In the eastern region of Donetsk, Russian shelling killed four local residents, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the region's military administration, said on October 28. Russian air strikes, drone attacks, and shelling of Ukraine's energy infrastructure were forcing electricity cuts in the capital, Kyiv, and other places, officials said. A drone attack on October 27 hit an energy facility in the capital, causing a fire, said Oleksiy Kuleba, governor of the Kyiv region. The latest attacks inflicted very serious damage, he said. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainians will not be cowed by such tactics. "Shelling will not break us -- to hear the enemy's anthem on our land is scarier than the enemy's rockets in our sky," Zelenskiy said in his regular video address on October 27 as he stood outside in the dark next to the wreckage of a downed drone. WATCH: Ukrainian troops are targeting Russian-launched drones, fighter planes, and helicopters, using Soviet-era antiaircraft systems with limited radar capabilities. They also use Western-supplied, shoulder-launched missiles like the Stinger, but factors such as the weather can have a major impact on their effectiveness. Meanwhile, U.S. officials quoted by Reuters and the Associated Press said the United States is preparing a new $275 million package of military assistance for Ukraine to bolster its counteroffensive against Russian forces. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there are no major new weapons in the U.S. package, which is expected to be announced as early as October 28. Instead, the U.S. aid is largely aimed at restocking thousands of rounds of ammunition for weapons systems already there, including for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, known as HIMARS, which Ukraine has been successfully using in its counteroffensive against Russia. White House national-security spokesperson John Kirby declined to confirm details of the package in a CNN interview, saying only that a new tranche of weaponry for Ukraine would be announced "very, very soon." With reporting by AFP, BBC, Reuters, and guardian.co.uk ON MY MIND If, as the circumstantial and forensic evidence available seems to suggest, Russia was indeed behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee's e-mail servers, it should come as no surprise. In recent years, state-backed Russian hackers have attacked targets including a French television station, a German steelmaker, the Polish stock exchange, Estonian banks and government offices, the U.S. House of Representatives, the State Department, and the White House. Why not the DNC too? And if, as many suspect, the hack was part of an effort to intervene in a U.S. election, it would be very disturbing (and this would be true regardless of which party or candidate they were attempting to help or harm). But what this would not be -- despite suggestions to the contrary -- is unprecedented. Russia has been using various tools of intervene in Western countries for some time. It uses media stealthily backed by the Kremlin to poison public discourse in various European countries. It gave moral support to the Brexit campaign in the United Kingdom. If has provided loans to Marine Le Pen's National Front in France and backed extremists across the continent. It has manufactured scandals, like the infamous Lisa case in Germany, to turn the public opinion against governments the Kremlin finds inconvenient. As Max Fischer notes in a piece in The New York Times featured below, this is all part of Russia's hybrid war on the West. And as Miriam Elder argues in a piece in BuzzFeed (also featured below), it means that the Kremlin is taking the black PR tactics it has long used to smear opposition figures into the international arena. It's not unprecedented. It's been happening for years. And we shouldn't be surprised. IN THE NEWS U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says he hopes to announce in early August details of a U.S. plan for closer military cooperation and intelligence sharing with Russia on Syria. Kerry also said that he raised the issue of the hacking of Democratic Party e-mails in a July 26 meeting with Lavrov. Lavrov, meanwhile, brushed aside allegations that Russia was involved in hacking the Democratic National Committee's emails. A United Nations council overturned a move by Russia, China, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, and other countries to block accreditation for media freedom watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists. The FSB has conducted a search on the office of the head of Russia's Federal Customs Service. Three Russian rowers and seven swimmers have been banned from next month's Summer Olympics in Rio for doping. The Telegraph is reporting that the Russian Olympic team in Rio could be reduced to just 40 athletes. Patriarch Kirill is scheduled to lead prayers for the Russian Olympic team today. WHAT I'M READING Unpacking The Hacking There is no dearth of material out there looking at the allegations that Russia was behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee's e-mail server. Motherboard has a highly technical -- but extremely informative and very disturbing -- piece arguing that "all signs point to Russia being behind the DNC hack." And Bloomberg reports that other cyberexperts agree. Writing in The Atlantic, Patrick Tucker, technology editor of Defense One, evaluates the evidence pointing at Russia. In The Washington Post, Andrew Roth looks at five more hacks Western officials have linked to Russia. Writing in Politico, Nahal Toosi looks at how suspicions that Russia hacked the DNC are harming U.S. efforts to work with Russia in Syria. In BuzzFeed, Miriam Elder puts the DNC hack in the context of traditional Russian black PR. In The New York Times, Max Fischer puts it in the context of hybrid warfare. In The Guardian, Trevor Timm claims it is still premature to blame Russia for the DNC hack. And Meduza takes a look at how the Russian state media covered the allegations. Theft And Incompetence Writing in bne Intellinews, Mark Galeotti, a senior research fellow at the Institute of International Relations in Prague and a visiting fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations, argues that Russias new rules dictate "steal a bit less, do your job a bit better." "There is emerging a gradual awareness that the Kremlin, if not changing the social contract with the elites, is at least 'editing' it," Galeotti writes. "Put at its most basic, the new line is that you can be corrupt (within certain bounds) and you can be incompetent (but not so much so as to embarrass the Kremlin). However, the acceptable levels of corruption and incompetence have been gently and quietly reduced. More to the point, it is impermissible to be both." Gangsters In The Spotlight And, in a commentary for the European Council on Foreign Relations, Galeotti says security concerns are putting Russian organized crime back on the agenda. "Russia is engaged in a geopolitical struggle with the West but lacks the economic and soft power of its adversary. As such, it must take advantage of covert and unconventional tactics to make up this deficit. From this perspective, criminal networks are an obvious asset," Galeotti writes. Ukraine At 25 Writing in the World Affairs Journal, Alexander Motyl, a professor at Rutgers University-Newark, looks at a quarter century of Ukrainian independence. "Ukraines biggest achievement since independence in 1991 is to have confounded its critics, ill-wishers, and the Kremlin by surviving as a democratic state," Motyl writes. Why Novorossiya Failed Andre Hartel, a professor at Kyiv Mohyla University, has a new report out for the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) titled: Where Putins Russia Ends 'Novorossiya' and the Development of National Consciousness in Ukraine. "In early 2014 the existence of an independent Ukraine hung by a thread. Russia had annexed the Crimean Peninsula, and with the 'Russian Spring' a 'hybrid' war in eastern Ukraine was initiated. At this moment the watchwords of 'Novorossiya' and Moscows 'reconquering' of South-Eastern Ukraine gained popularity," Hartel writes. "Ultimately, the failure of the idea of a 'Novorossiya' is attributable mainly to developments within Ukraine that involved a renegotiation not only of ethno-national allegiances, but also of national and political loyalties since 1991." KYIV -- Ukraine's interior minister has ordered police to bar a major religious procession from entering the capital on foot after police said explosives were found planted along the planned route. Arsen Avakov said on July 26 that participants in the procession would not be allowed to march into Kyiv because of security concerns after two grenades and several fake mines were found on the marchers' route in the Svyatoshinsky district on the western outskirts of Kyiv. "The fake mines and real grenades discovered this morning made it clear for us that the threats and provocations are real," Avakov said on his Facebook page. "The safety of citizens is more important than religious rituals," he said. Authorities said the participants would be ferried from Svyatoshinsky to their destination on buses. More than 1,000 people, divided into two columns, have been marching since the beginning of the month toward Kyiv from the country's west and east in processions led by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate -- an affiliate of the Russian Orthodox Church and a rival of a major Kyiv-based church. The two columns plan to meet at Volodymyr Hill in Kyiv later this week for what is being celebrated as the 1,028th anniversary of Kievan Rus's acceptance of Christianity. The holiday has been promoted by Patriarch Kirill, the Moscow-based head of the Russian Orthodox Church, as a day of Russian religious unity. Ukraine's Orthodox Christian majority is split between three major churches: The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. Russia's interference in Ukraine over the past two years has aggravated tension among them. Some Ukrainian officials have said authorities say they suspect the marches are merely a facade for a Kremlin-orchestrated plot to stir unrest and prove that the rights of Russians, Russian speakers, and members of the Moscow-based church are under threat in Ukraine. Moscow used such claims to justify its takeover of Crimea from Ukraine and its backing of pro-Russian separatists in the country's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where Kyiv and NATO say Russia has sent thousands of troops during a war that has killed more than 9,400 people since April 2014. On July 25, some 150 Ukrainian nationalists and veterans of the war in the east temporarily blocked the column coming from the east outside Boryspil, some 35 kilometers southeast of Kyiv, calling them "agents of Moscow." With reporting by Interfax, AP, and Unian A United Nations council overturned a move by Russia, China, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, and other countries to block accreditation for media freedom watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists. The UN's Economic and Social Council granted the journalism group consultative status and access to UN events in a 40 to 5 vote on July 25, overturning a previous move to block the group by the UN's Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations. China and Russia, who had led the campaign to block the group in May, voted to maintain the blockade and said there was no reason to revisit the earlier decision. But U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power argued that the committee's rejection was "outrageous" and "undermined the UN's credibility when we call on governments to respect the rights of civil society within their own countries." "In recent years...we have seen the committee systematically abuse its authority to delay the applications of qualified organizations," Power said. "As in the case of CPJ, often times these organizations seem to be delayed simply because their work is critical of governments." Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP The United States on July 25 approved the release of a former Red Army ballet dancer who has been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for nearly 14 years. Ravil Mingazov is the last of nine Russians held at the U.S. prison in Cuba to be freed. He was deemed eligible for release by a task force set up by the Obama administration to evaluate whether prisoners can be released without endangering U.S. security. Authorities accused Mingazov, 48, of fighting with the Taliban against the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. A Pentagon profile said he also was believed to have links to an Islamic group in Uzbekistan with ties to Al-Qaeda. The ethnic Tatar was captured in Pakistan at a safe house associated with Abu Zubaydah, a "facilitator" for the terrorist organization who is also detained in Guantanamo. Mingazov, who denied any involvement in terrorism, was never charged with a crime. In announcing his release, the U.S parole board said it had "some concern with the detainee's failure to demonstrate sufficient candor" about activities before he was detained, but nevertheless determined he did not pose a risk because he had been a "low-level fighter" who does not "espouse anti-U.S. sentiment." His lawyers have asked the government to resettle him in Nottingham, England, where his son and ex-wife live under political asylum. The parole board did not say where Mingazov would be sent or when he would be released. The U.S. has held about nine Russian citizens at Guantanamo since it opened in January 2002. The Russian government has criticized Mingazov's confinement and said he should be returned to his homeland. But the Pentagon profile said Mingazov does not want to return to Russia, possibly because he fears facing criminal charges there. Mingazov has told officials he left Russia because of the treatment of Muslims there. Mingazov "maintains a strong disdain for the Russian government and does not want to be repatriated, claiming his treatment in Guantanamo is better than the treatment he received in Russia," the Pentagon profile said. With reporting by AP and Miami Herald Ha Tinh finds more Formosa waste illegally dumped Authorities in Ha Tinh Province have found five more places in Ky Anh township where waste of Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation (Formosa Ha Tinh) was dumped without prior permission. According to a report by Ky Anh, 100 cubic meters of waste was found buried at Ky Trinh Ward. In Ky Long Commune, 100 cubic meters of construction debris from Formosa Ha Tinh was dumped at two farms and 20 cubic meters of coal ash and wood debris on another site. In Ky Loi Commune, 40-50 tons of soil and scrap cloth was found. Pham Van Hung, head of natural resources and environment of Ky Anh township, told Lao Dong newspaper that the waste was illegally buried in the 2011-14 period, before Formosa Ha Tinh test ran its huge steel mill. The waste is mostly domestic trash from Formosa Ha Tinh employees and local households, he said. A firm has been assigned to transport the waste to a treatment plant in Ky Tan. Environment officials will monitor the process and take samples for testing to see whether it is harmful or not, according to Hung. Earlier hundreds of tons of waste from Formosa Ha Tinh was detected at various sites in the province, including over 100 tons of solid waste at a farm allegedly owned by the director of the Ky Anh Township Urban Environment Company which was hired by Formosa Ha Tinh to handle its waste. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Blog | Personal Finance Is Diversification a Good or Bad Investment Strategy? Why you may want to reconsider what true diversification is When it comes to investing, the so-called experts preach to the masses with this advice: Invest in a diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Why would they give this advice? It comes from good intention, no doubt. The thinking behind the conventional advice on diversification is that if one part of your portfolio is hit by bad market conditions, then youll be able to hedge with other parts of your portfolio. Seems like good advice then, doesn't it? What could possibly be wrong with spreading your risk among a number of different investment vehicles? In that context, diversification is the easiest way to help people who have no financial education manage their risk. Diversification is really good advice for financial idiots. As well see later in this article, it actually exposes them to even greater risk. And if you want to be really rich, you need to understand why diversification (at least how its popularly talked about in the financial world) is a bad idea. Why diversification is bad advice First things first, what most people consider as diversification isn't really diversification. Rather, it is spreading your money across one asset class. Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds are all part of the same asset class-paper assets. A 401K that invests in primarily index funds is an investment vehicle that simply spreads money across one type of investment: stocks. That is not true diversification. That is actually specialization, and if youre doing it blind, youre exposed to great risk. In the event of a total collapse of the paper asset sector (i.e., a deep recession or depression), all your assets will sink. And if the timing is bad, it can be devastatingjust ask the retirees who went through the Great Recession. Why understanding true diversification is important There are actually four asset classes: paper, real estate, commodities, and business. A truly diverse portfolio would have stakes in all or most of these. If youre planning on using diversification as a hedge strategy, at least do it right and make sure youre diversified over all four asset classes, not just in paper assets. That at least will protect you much better from a total loss of your wealth should one asset class crash. But at the end of the day, diversification is a zero-sum game. Gains in one class offset losses in another. Sure, it can be safe, but rarely does someone become rich by diversifying. As Warren Buffet says, Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing. Diversification, systemic risk, and non-systemic risk The reason diversification is a high-risk way to invest becomes clear when you consider systemic and non-systemic risk. A number of years ago, British Petroleum suffered a major oil spill. During that time the companys stock dropped by over 50%. This did not impact the market, however, and things carried on as if nothing happened in other stocks, the real estate market, etc. That is an example of non-systemic risk. If you had all your money in BP stock, you would have been hurt, losing half your wealth. But it would be isolated to that one company. The rest of the market investors would be fine. Amateur investors try to manage the type of risk that would come from focusing on one stock, in this case BP, by diversification across the stock market. The problem is that they then get exposed to systemic risk, which is much riskier. An example of systemic risk is the subprime mortgage meltdown. Brokers handed out mortgages like candy, approving zero down, stated income, no documentation loans. When millions of people who lied to get a house they couldnt afford stopped paying those loans, the entire system was impacted. The S&P 500 index dropped by over 50%. When it comes to systemic risk, diversification wont help you. And systemic risk is always a matter of not if, but when. If youre lucky, it hits when you still have time to recover. If not, well then youre screwed. Its a big gamble when there are other strategies you can put into place that will not only protect you better but also make you far richer...if you have the financial education needed to execute on them. Diversification vs. unfair advantage My friend and Rich Dad Advisor, Andy Tanner, is a master at paper assets. Hes also incredibly tall. At 68, Andy naturally became an accomplished basketball player in his younger years. Andy shared with me a story about his younger brother, who is eight inches shorter than him. They often played basketball together in their driveway. Andys younger brother never once beat him. Its not fair! Andys brother would howl. Youre right, Andys parents would say. Life isnt fair. When it came to basketball, Andy had an unfair advantage over his brother. His natural height helped him dominate the game. He wasnt cheating. He still followed the rules, but he used his unfair advantage to win every time. The most successful investors don't diversify. Rather, have an unfair advantage over amateur investors. They focus, specialize, and insure their investments against risk through contracts. They get to know the investment category they invest in and how the business works better than anyone else. For example, when investing in real estate, some investors focus on raw land while others focus on apartment buildings. While both are investing in real estate, they are doing so in different ways. They then use contracts, like a rental contract, to guarantee income for twelve months and insurance to protect them from loss, to lock in their unfair advantage and make money even if the markets go up or down. The secret that the rich know is that you can insure any investment in any asset class, even in stocks. It takes financial intelligence to know how to do this, and if you want to learn more, I encourage you to explore our learning options in Rich Dad Workshops. When diversification is good advice So, again, given what weve discussed here, why do financial advisors recommend diversification when the world's greatest investors choose not to diversify their portfolio? In short, they do it to protect the ignorant...or, again, what I call financial idiots. There are pro and amateur investors. Warren Buffett is a pro investor. Most people are amateurs. A pro investor, for instance, would know that an oil spill for BP would mean it would be time to hedge against loss. An amateur investor would make a move after he had lost too much money. Pro investors should focus. Amateur investors should diversify. The real question is: Do you want to become a professional investor or remain an amateur? If you choose to remain an amateur then, by all means, diversify. Diversification keeps you from putting all your eggs into one basket, so if one stock collapses, as BP did, only a portion of your portfolio will be affected. If, however, you decide to become a pro investor, the price of entry is focused dedication, time, and study. Warren Buffett dedicated his life to becoming the best investor he could be. That is why he focuses and does not diversify. He does not need to protect himself from ignorance simply because he has invested time and money to understand what he is doing. Intense focus, intense rewards In Hawaii, there is a great organization known as Winners Camp. It teaches teenagers the attitudes and skills required for success in life. Winners Camp uses the word focus as an acronym, standing for Follow One Course Until Successful. I believe all children should be taught to focus, as should any investor who wants to be a rich investor. Escape the Rat Race! Get CASHFLOW click here If you look at anyone who has achieved great success and wealth, they have all focused intensely in order to win. Rather than practice diversification, I encourage you to practice focus. In the process you will take control of your financial future in ways that amateurs simply cannot. Richmond police Chief Gerald Smith resigned Tuesday after a 27-month tenure that included calls for his resignation from some of the departments rank-and-file and an ongoing controversy over his comments regarding an alleged mass shooting plot at Dogwood Dell. One month after Petersburg sought assistance from the governors office to help the financially troubled city sort out its books, state auditors will present a first assessment on what may have caused the citys budget gap to widen. The team of auditors, headed by Chesterfield Countys former deputy county administrator, Sheryl D. Bailey, will update the council in a special meeting Aug. 3. Petersburg at the end of June closed the fiscal year with a $7.5 million deficit that is expected to rise to $17 million in the coming months. The budget crisis began earlier this year when an audit found overspending of the total general fund budget by $1.8 million. As a consequence, the council fired City Manager William E. Johnson III in March, and City Attorney Brian K. Telfair stepped down the same day. Finance Director Irvin Carter departed in April. Last month, the council approved interim City Manager Dironna Moore Beltons formal request to seek help from state. The assistance is coordinated by the office of Virginia Secretary of Finance Richard D. Ric Brown. The state aid would help with whatever we may need in order to shore up some of the processes and behaviors that we may have in order to get outcomes that refine our liabilities and obligations and helps us to move forward, Belton said at the time. Earlier this month, the City Council voted to cut the salaries of city employees by 10 percent while exempting themselves and council appointees from this measure. Following a public blowback, the council last week reversed that decision to expand the 10-percent cut to include their own members and council appointees who make less than $55,000. The remaining three appointees, who are making more than $100,000, will get a 20 percent cut. DINWIDDIE Capital murder defendant Russell E. Brown III told investigators three hours after his arrest that God had scripted the fatal shooting of state trooper Junius A. Walker, and that God didnt allow him to feel bad for pulling the trigger, according to a videotaped interview with Brown played during the 11th day of his trial. What do you think ... that the police officer did to you? asked James Lyons, who was a Virginia State Police special agent during the March 7, 2013, interview of Brown at the Dinwiddie Sheriffs Office. He didnt do nothing, Brown responded. He was already signed. My dad had this. You cant know who I was talking about. It was predestined? Special Agent Kenny Morris, who also was interrogating Brown, interjected. Brown replied, I did not have control. The script had been written? Morris asked. The script was written, said Brown, whose comments swung wildly from a semi-rational account of his actions to incomprehensible gibberish during the 75-minute interview introduced Monday by his defense team. Brown, 31, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The footsteps is ordered, Brown said. It is happening now. None of you all can do anything about it. I am letting you know because I care about you all because I know where yall work. ... And he sent me here to show I already know there are some good cops. Everybody is not bad. You might be ignorance is bliss, but at the same time he has mercy for yall. Understand? Later in the interview, Brown told his questioners that it was no accident that his car broke down along Interstate 85 in Dinwiddie County, which led to Walker pulling up alongside Browns car to see if he needed assistance. Who controls your car? Lyons asked. God, Brown said. He decided for your car to break down? Lyons added. He stopped my car, replied Brown, adding, The car aint driving. It does what it wants to do. Throughout the interview, Brown can be heard suggesting it was Gods plan to have him stop along the interstate and kill the trooper, and that he had no choice but to act. He drove his whole car right up there in front of me, not past me, Brown said of Walker. I am parked on the side. He drove all the way up there to my front window. No cop does that. So I knew it was God. I had the rifle sitting right there, Brown added. I didnt even have to get out of the car. He (Walker) didnt waste no time, just (a) straight beeline right at me. The officer just stared right at me like he was expecting to die, Brown said at another point. It was like a straight video game. He sat right there so I would keep shooting him. Although his statements frequently appeared irrational if not delusional, Brown seemed to be aware that his actions were at least legally wrong. First of all ... please stop insulting my intelligence, he told his interviewers at one point. You kill a cop in the state of Virginia it is execution, period. I know the law. Dont try to change it up for me. Near the end of the interview, Lyons and Morris challenged Browns responses, suggesting he might have shot Walker because he did not like police. What if we called you a liar? they asked. Brown acknowledged that he did not particularly like police, but then shifted again to his mission for God. But you say there is a cop and I dont like cops so I am going to kill him, Lyons asked Brown. That sounds like a perfect motive, dont it? Brown replied. I am asking you if that is the truth? Lyons added. That is the worldly motive, Brown said. Said Morris: This man today, he said nothing to you. He didnt hurt you or harm you and yet you killed him. I know, Brown said. Do you feel bad about killing him? Lyons asked. He dont allow me to feel bad, Brown responded. God doesnt allow you to feel bad? No, if you are doing it for the right reason, Brown said. If you dont understand it yet. Lyons, who is now sheriff in Northumberland County, and Morris asked Brown several times during the course of the interview whether he took, or has taken, any prescription medication or received any psychological or psychiatric help. As for the medication, Brown said, No, why would I? and I dont need any medication. At the end of the interview, the officers can be heard saying that Brown seemed unstable. Browns lawyers began the day by calling more than half a dozen of his friends, relatives, acquaintances and the woman he was living with at the time of the killing. Each of them described a man whose demeanor and mental health seemed to take a precipitous turn for the worse in just a few short months. The peaceful, soft-spoken and laid-back barber with a penchant for neatness became a manic, unkempt compulsive talker who gave away all his possessions as his obsession with God and the apocalypse took root. Former girlfriend Elizabeth Rasheed testified how she accompanied Brown to the wilderness of North Carolina with few provisions for a spiritual journey about a month before Walkers slaying. The plan had been to live in the woods for 40 days and 40 nights, like Jesus, surviving on rice, tuna and crackers, and whatever fish they could catch. Their excursion ended less than two weeks later after a local pastor whose rundown cabin they briefly occupied advised they had been discovered and needed to leave. Alarmed, Brown said we got to bug out, Rasheed said. The Colorado-based sculptor hired by the city of Richmond for a riverfront art installation is proposing building and installing a series of 17-foot-tall rings hes titled The Path Untraveled. Joshua Wiener, to whom the city has awarded a $200,000 commission for the project, designed the work to cut through the southern terminus of the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge, which is under construction and will offer a pedestrian pathway from Browns Island to Manchester. In his proposal, Wiener said he hopes the work will suggest new perspectives through the landscape, inspired in part by the bridge it will adorn, which he called a significant accomplishment for access to nature. An artwork of new paths, uncharted territory and flow will honor this legacy of pathways, he writes. The artwork laces through the transition zone from civilization to nature, riding the edge of nature, dancing between the built and the wild. I was drawn to create a playful connection between nature and our civilized world. The proposal shows 10 rings, each made of a foot of tubing, tracing a meandering line over a ridge leading to the bridge from Manchesters SunTrust building. The city awarded the project to Wiener in February. The Public Art Commissions site team for the riverfront will review the proposal at a meeting today. Its starting to feel as though the campaign T-shirts, hats and buttons typical of an election year should be replaced by sackcloth, ashes and The End Is Near sandwich boards. President George W. Bush recently said he is worried he will go down in history as the last Republican president. Donald Trumps speech at the Republican National Convention left the impression that he was the only thing standing between America and its total destruction. Trumps ghostwriter recently said if Trump gets access to the nuclear codes there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization. The Washington Post ran a full-page editorial the other day warning that Trump presents a unique threat to American democracy. State Sen. Richard Black says the same thing about Hillary Clinton. In a recent interview with the Loudoun Times, the Republican lawmaker said: If we do not win this election, Hillary Clinton is going to appoint three to five Supreme Court justices, and they will be hard-core Marxists, leftists. They will not be judges in any respect. They will be politicians. I really believe this will be the last opportunity that we ever have to have an open vote as a republic. Anybody who thinks, well, well stand out of this and four years later, well come back were not going to have another chance. This is it either we win or its all over. Elections always see over-the-top rhetoric. Every opponent is always the most liberal ever or the most conservative ever. Every election is the most important election in our lifetime. Every jab and dig is a new low. Cynics who point this out are told that this year, its really true; this year is different. Thats true in at least one respect: This year the apocalyptic rhetoric has started even before the conventions have concluded. It is often difficult to speak on challenging subjects. Yet we are in the midst of difficult times that all of us are thinking or talking about. As an African-American male, whom most would consider middle-class, I have experienced on more than one occasion the sinking feeling of a not-so-routine traffic stop. Would one of these stops include my last breath? At each encounter I thought about the advice of police remain calm, be compliant and stay polite. I followed the Caucasian officers instruction. Still, my palms did sweat, my blood pressure rose, and I had an enhanced heartbeat. I survived (yes, that is the right descriptor) each of those incidents. Too often those of a similar heritage have not met with the same outcome. I am not a police officer. I know the work is highly pressured and dangerous, and often with inadequate compensation and training. I can never know what the officers felt or were thinking during each of my traffic stops. I can only imagine the same sweaty palms, increased blood pressure, and hearts slamming against the chest wall. What I suspect is that those on each side of the encounters had the same goal: to go home to family and loved ones. In the cases of my routine stops, we did. In our nation this month, young men of color died from police shootings in Baton Rouge and St. Paul; five police officers lost their lives protecting peaceful protesters in Dallas, and three more officers were gunned down in Baton Rouge. With these lost lives we have pulled back the curtain on one of our rawest issues. We must find the space to honor Black Lives Matter and to recognize that the police are often trapped in situations that offer impossible life and death choices. Our emotions are volatile. Some of us will internalize and others will be externally expressive. We may be angry; we might cry; we may be asking why, and when or can it be stopped; we may blame someone, some group or some system. We may consider the violence the result of race or economics. Each of these considerations is likely embedded in the complexity of the truth and the answer that will cease the violence and death. Community conversations are a great starting point and can serve as bridges for us to talk openly, honestly and sometimes with great fear and trepidation. Yet we know the status quo is not correct; we must change. We must consider, hear and internalize the opinions and perspectives that may be foreign in order to find the practices and policies that move us to betterment. We must face these issues acknowledging there is right and wrong in almost every perspective. These recent deaths add to the lives we have mourned over the years in Baltimore, Bristol, Chicago, Columbine, Ferguson, New York, Orlando, Sandy Hook, St. Louis, Virginia Tech, and other places across our country. Our community of Greater Richmond is not spared the tragedy stemming from the senseless violence that steals lives too early. Local deaths may not rise to national attention, but the pain and grief associated with each is tremendous. We should keep the families of all of these victims in our hearts, thoughts and prayers. They will not have the pleasure of seeing their loved ones alive again. One important group not to be forgotten is our children. Like many of our community partners, ChildSavers sees the effects of this violence on children. Every day our staff is out in our community. Our crisis intervention therapists respond to scenes of violence and crisis where children are witness to or experience trauma. Equally exposed and committed are our child care professionals who are visiting early care and education sites, many serving children who have been subjected to violence and trauma. Our outpatient mental health clinicians are constantly hearing the stories of children from families under stress. The weight of this work can be unsettling and at times overwhelming. Yet we keep at it each day, and much of our work to support children and families is achieved in partnership with local police departments. I am proud that ChildSavers plays a vital role to help when violence and trauma hit. I wonder what our community would be if we were not needed. One can dream. I hope you share this dream with me and reach out to one another, across divides and differences, to continue the community conversations we need to have. It looks like nothing was found at this location. Maybe try a search? Search for: Search A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. This story originally ran on July 12, 1987 after murderer Richard Lee Whitley was executed in Virginia's electric chair. Tim Kaine had represented Whitley on appeal. When the state sent 2,500 volts through the body of murderer Richard Lee Whitley on Monday night, a little bit of Timothy Kaine died, too. It's not that Kaine, Whitley's lawyer, thought his client was innocent. Whitley had a long criminal history and had confessed to the 1980 murder and sexual assault of an elderly Fairfax County neighbor. "His crime was a terrible crime. It was a tragedy. I don't have any doubt about that," said Kaine. But just before Whitley died, the young lawyer stepped outside the prison at 500 Spring St. to face the media, and he hurt. Carrying a Bible, Kaine offered the television cameras a prayer for what he said was a society that would execute a brain-damaged man who had a diminished ability to see that murder is wrong. But it wasn't even that perceived injustice that bothered Kaine so much. Two days earlier, while waiting for word on Whitley's last chance for a stay of execution, Kaine said, "If Spring Street wasn't there and the chair wasn't there, you can still look around Richmond and see an awful lot of pain. "For somebody who has a view like mine" about life, said the 29-year- old Harvard University law graduate, "the pain is a very real thing. ... Something personal in me will die, too," when Whitley dies. "There are a lot of little deaths in that way every day." Kaine's commitment to Whitley led to more than two years of trips to the Virginia and U.S. supreme courts, U.S. District Court and the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. The trips were, for the most part, exercises in frustration. In the 48 hours before an interview a week ago, Kaine had lost efforts in three courts and failed to win a commutation of sentence from Gov. Gerald L. Baliles. On Monday, four hours before the execution, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Whitley's last chance. "It's been hard," Kaine said. "It's been hard, these setbacks. It's hard to keep going back and giving bad news to your client." Kaine was not optimistic as he neared the end of about 1,000 hours of largely free legal work on the case. Kaine has been practicing only since late 1984 and Whitley has occupied a substantial part of his career. Psychologically, said lawyer Dennis Balske, the demands of a capital case are traumatic. "It's even more psychologically draining to be coming down to the execution wire trying to save your client's life. "It's a very frustrating experience. So much so that it's almost impossible to get lawyers who have done it to do it again," said Balske of Montgomery, Ala. He is a legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Balske also has represented clients in capital cases. "Everyone is mad at you. The judges are mad at you. The public is mad at you. The attorney general is mad at you. Everybody feels that you are the bad guy," said Balske. Instead, Balske believes lawyers such as Kaine are "the unsung heroes of the day. All that they're doing is seeing that their client's constitutional rights are being enforced." "A capital case is not just another case," agreed David E. Boone, a local lawyer who has represented nine clients facing the death penalty, a half-dozen of them as a court-appointed attorney. "It's a different animal. You're pretty much devoting your life," said Boone. "I don't care about money, I don't care about the time spent when I take the case. I become totally devoted to that client. I don't even know what day it is. "He might be the worst person in the world and you might despise him, but by God, when you take his case, you take his life on your shoulders." Unlike Kaine, who has represented Whitley in post trial matters only, Boone began handling capital murder cases at the trial level in 1974. None of his clients got the death penalty. "I've been lucky," said Boone. "I guess the (Alvin E.) Alley case was probably the toughest I've had," said Boone. Aside from the gravity of the Alley case, in which a Henrico County policeman was murdered, and the hundreds of hours of work it required, Boone also had to contend with threats, some left on his home answering machine. "During the Alley case, I literally had to turn that thing off for about four months. I got death threats. I got threats against my children, threats against my wife," he said. "I guess that goes with the territory . . . but you worry about your family and your children. There's some real loonies out there." Kaine, originally from Kansas City, contacted the American Civil Liberties Union when he moved here in 1984 with his wife, who is also a lawyer. He volunteered to assist in post trial constitutional questions for death row inmates. Instead of assisting, however, Kaine at first became Whitley's only lawyer. His previous lawyer, also a volunteer, had to drop the case because she moved to another state, said Kaine. Although he normally handles civil cases, he volunteered his services because of his opposition to the death penalty. That opposition stems, he said, from "my fundamental belief about life. There's a lot of pain and suffering and evil everywhere in the world (and capital punishment) is one example of it. "I think it's a religious perspective. I spent a year in Central America working in a Jesuit mission and saw an awful lot of hunger and infant deaths caused by malnutrition. "The essence of human life is probably suffering and pain. . . . The thing that redeems that is the presence of God in every person," he said. "What the public generally doesn't understand about (execution) delays is that they think it's only some lawyer out there doing something" aimed at delaying it. "The reason there's a delay is because the U.S. Supreme Court has set up a system of a lot of protections for persons facing execution. And that is to protect against society imposing the death penalty" in an unfair way. "The reason it takes time is not because somebody out here, like me, is doing this, although the fact is, if he didn't have an attorney he probably would have been executed in 1983," Kaine said. "All we're doing is saying the U.S. Supreme Court has set the rules and we're just playing by the rules. I think society has an interest in that. "I know that makes people mad, but the alternative is to just have immediate executions and then what you end up with is innocent people being executed," said Kaine. "People's anger and fear really ought to be addressed to the Supreme Court -- and that's not, at this point, a real radical, liberal body. These are conservative justices who still believe that certain protections have to be allowed to make sure that it's done fairly." The principle injustice in the death penalty in Virginia, he said, is that, "Nobody, as far as I know, is on death row in Virginia who had enough money to pay an attorney. If you had enough money to pay an attorney like David Boone . . . you're not going to get the death penalty." Kaine said he did not wish to criticize Whitley's original trial lawyers, but, "In Whitley's case, his (court-appointed) attorneys never investigated his background. "They didn't know that he had been diagnosed as completely clinically incompetent when he was an adolescent. They didn't know that he had a long history of childhood head injuries, that he had organic brain damage, that he had psychiatric disorders, that he had a borderline retarded IQ. "They didn't know his childhood was about the worst possible childhood that anyone could ever imagine. "All of that stuff, in my mind, is critically relevant to a jury in terms of what they might want to do . . . the difference between life and death frequently weighs on exactly those factors." Yet, because of state rules, Kaine said he never could argue an issue such as Whitley's mental health during the appeals because it never was raised as an issue in the trial. Also stacking the odds against those on death row, Kaine said, is that the state will not pay for lawyers raising post trial constitutional claims. "It's just shockingly unequal," he said. "That is one of the real frustrating things about doing these cases. "In my case . . . most of my work in the 2 1/2 years (with Whitley) has been trying to get courts to consider claims that had never been considered and at each stage I'd get turned down." With only one exception, "I've never gotten a court . . . to look at the substance of his constitutional claims. "It adds an element of sort of existential absurdity to be spending your whole time arguing whether the court should even consider" the real issues. A lawyer's biggest fear when a death sentence is handed down against a client, said Boone, is that "I'm going to wonder the rest of my life if there was something I could have done." Boone said the feeling must be like those of a person with a loved one who has committed suicide. "You always feel guilty, even though you did not have anything to do with it. "My beard was not gray before I took the first capital murder case but it was gray after I finished," said Boone. "I will not hold myself responsible for having lost," Kaine said. "The facts are facts, the law is the law and the judges are the judges. I can't control all those factors. "I'll feel bad when it happens. . . . I think it's a tragedy to execute somebody who had the kind of background that he has had. His crime was a tragic crime, but executing him would only compound that tragedy. "And I'll also feel bad just because I think it's outrageous that there is the death penalty. It's not the biggest outrage in the world, but it's one of a number of outrageous (things) where people don't appropriately value the sanctity of human life," Kaine said. "I feel confident that I've worked as hard as I can on it and I think (Whitley) feels confident, too. "While I may feel some twinges and while maybe I'll wake up a year from now and think, `You know, wait a minute, there's an argument there I could have made,' " Kaine said, "it's not me that's killing him. I'm trying to do everything I can to stop it. "I felt like there is one way that I could lose the case and that is if my client felt like I did not do everything for him that I could. That, then, is a loss and I have to avoid that at all costs. "He has to know that there is at least one person out there who really fought for him," said Kaine. "There's something therapeutic in that, even for somebody who is going to be executed." In his first post-convention campaign event, Donald Trump headed out to U.S. Sen. Tim Kaines home turf Monday and flogged Kaine as a political hack and lousy governor. Weird little dude there, he said at one point of the Virginia senator who was just announced as Hillary Clintons running mate three days earlier. Trump, riding a bump in his polling numbers following last weeks Republican National Convention, arrived at the Hotel Roanoke on Monday afternoon for a town hall with his own running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. Casey: Trump melts down in the Hotel Roanoke, literally The Republican nominee apparently suffered greatly under the stage lights in a packed ballroom. Besides blasting Hillary Clinton, Tim Kaine and Elizabeth Warren, he repeatedly criticized the hotel's air conditioning. Really? Taking the stage amid cheers and whistles from the crowded hotel ballroom, Trump declared, I love Virginia, and we are going to win Virginia. Im going to go over some of the statistics when Tim Kaine was governor, he added. Theyre not pretty. Over the course of the hourlong event, Trump sprinted through a series of topics ranging from trade to immigration to the fallout over the DNC email leak that forced Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to announce her resignation Sunday. They said, Debbie, youre fired! said Trump, clearly relishing the tumult besieging the Democratic Party as it kicked off its own convention in Philadelphia. Democrats had hoped the event would highlight party unity and stand in contrast to the tensions seen at the Republican convention. I have to say, the Republican National Convention was such a success, Trump said. It was so great. I mean, we had a couple of people that I think probably destroyed their careers, but who knows? he added in an apparent dig at Ted Cruz who was booed for not endorsing Trump in his convention speech and instead urging people to vote their conscience. Taking aim at Kaine, Trump said, Hillary Clinton has bad judgment. She shouldnt have picked this guy. Because he is the exact opposite of what all of the Bernie people want. You know, she could have had party unity. Instead, they have thousands and thousands of people going crazy because she didnt pick somebody representative. She didnt pick somebody representative of whats going on. Again, shes got bad judgment. Sanderss supporters had hoped for a more liberal pick like Sen. Elizabeth Warren for the VP slot. Trump has sought to capitalize on that division, describing Kaines appointment as a slap in the face to progressive Democrats. In his appearance in Roanoke, Trump turned his attention to Kaines record as governor, ripping him for being at the helm during a period when Virginia saw its unemployment rate double and GDP stagnant. Kaine was governor from 2006 to 2010 during the great recession. But Ill tell you, if Mike Pence or me was running Virginia, wed do great, said Trump, referencing Pences record in Indiana and his own business enterprises in Virginia. This guy did a lousy job, he said of Kaine. You know why? Hes a political hack, thats why. Trump pointed to tax increases that Kaine proposed as governor, including making an apparent reference to an unsuccessful 2006 proposal to raise a variety of car taxes, fees and ticket fines to raise about $1 billion a year for transportation. Critics of the plan described it as a $4 billion tax hike, given that Kaine, whod just taken office, was going to be there for the next four years. Less than a week after Tim Kaine became the governor of Virginia, one week, he proposed a nearly $4 billion tax increase, Trump said, repeating for emphasis, Four billion. Do we want this as president? he asked as the enthusiastic crowd shouted no. Hopefully, we wont have to worry about it. In a statement Monday, the Clinton-Kaine campaign noted that Virginia was rated as the best state for business, best-managed state and best state for children during Kaines tenure. During the worst recession since the Great Depression, Virginia maintained one of the lowest unemployment rates in America under Kaines leadership, read the statement emailed by a campaign aide. Tim Kaines record stands in stark contrast to Donald Trumps me-first approach to getting rich at the expense of his workers and their families, and his proposed policies that would benefit billionaires at the expense of hardworking families. Trump, in his own remarks at the Hotel Roanoke, told the crowd that a Clinton presidency would mean a massive, massive tax increase. Because what shes proposing, youre going to pay for, very simple, he said. In the days leading up to Mondays town hall, Trumps camp had lambasted Kaine as corrupt, citing gifts he accepted while in state office. The gifts accepted while Kaine was governor and lieutenant governor were legal and publicly reported as required in Virginia. The issue recently earned Trump a Pants On Fire rating from PolitiFact after he asserted on Meet The Press that Kaines gift haul dwarfed that of his successor, Bob McDonnell, who was mired in a two-year-long legal battle over a gift scandal. Bob McDonnell took a fraction of what Kaine took, Trump said in the TV interview. And I think, to me, its a big problem. Now, how do you take all these gifts? McDonnells gift acceptance actually outpaced that of Kaines, PolitiFact found. Kaine accepted gifts totaling $195,165 during his eight years in state office, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Kaine reported a little over $160,000 in gifts during his first seven years in state office, according to a tally kept by VPAP. He reported another $34,132 during his last year as governor, making for a total of $195,165, according to an updated count posted by VPAP about two weeks after Trumps stop in Roanoke. The new national interest in Kaine since he joined Clintons campaign led VPAP to realize it had never requested his final years report. Kaines office provided copies of the documents, and they were posted Aug. 5. McDonnell reported $275,707 during his time as governor and attorney general. He also accepted about $170,000 in unreported gifts that touched off the scandal. Trump didnt broach the gifts issue in his remarks Monday, but said in an interview that hes not backing off of it. He took $160,000 worth of gifts while he was governor of Virginia and lieutenant governor, and I think its ridiculous, he said of Kaine. When asked about the PolitiFact rating, Trump initially defended his remarks, but then brushed it off and put the focus back on Kaines total. I dont know what McDonnell took, he said. Its been reported that he [Kaine] took over $160,000 worth of gifts while he was the governor and lieutenant governor of Virginia. And he also raised taxes through the roof, so. Trump gives Clinton's power naps a bad rap Republican candidate Donald Trump on Monday called his opponent, Democratic candidate Hillar As the town hall wound down Monday afternoon, Trump fielded a few questions from the audience. Does he stand by Israel? 100 percent, he said. When will the border wall be built? That wall will go up so fast and be so big and powerful and as good-looking as we can make it, that your head will spin. He mentioned his campaign is delving into the issue of student debt and working on a plan now. Theyre choking on debt, he said of college students. They havent started life yet, and some of them are giving up before theyve started because they see no way. Jesse Connors, who got the fifth and last question, proposed to lead the room in prayer for Trump and Pence. Both of you are champions and patriots, said Connors, of Lynchburg, a self-described evangelical Christian who said he believes in Trumps authenticity and faith. Trump had made a direct appeal to evangelicals during his speech and touted his desire to repeal the Johnson Amendment that bars churches and other tax-exempt entities from engaging in political campaigns. [Evangelicals] get it. Theyre smart, he said. They know Im not perfect. Im not perfect. But they know that I love them, and they know Im going to fight for them and Im going to fight for other religions. Im going fight for people to be able to speak. After Connors prayer, Trump said, Wow, now I feel better, yes. Thats a great way to end things. #drug crimes Coast Guard launches investigation team to fight maritime drug crimes The Coast Guard has launched an investigation team dedicated to fighting a sharp increase in maritime drug smuggling, drug use by maritime workers and other drug crimes on the sea,... #BTS BTS' Jin makes solo debut with 'The Astronaut' Jin, a member of K-pop juggernaut BTS, debuted as a solo artist through a collaborative single with British rock band Coldplay on Friday. The vocalist simultaneously released "T... RE Rotherham Armed Forces Day and Freedom of the Borough parade by the Yorkshire Regiment June 25. A big thank you to everyone who organised and helped to make this day special for Rotherham, many thanks to all who visited and donated money for a poppy at our Royal British Legion poppy appeal stall. 300.24 was raised for this very worthy cause. Linda Bishop, Rotherham, Parkgate and Rawmarsh Royal British Legion Branch Singapore's industrial production decreased for the first time in four months in June, defying economists' expectations for an increase, preliminary figures from the Economic Development Board showed Tuesday. Industrial production fell 0.3 percent year-over-year in June, reversing a 0.8 percent climb in the previous month. It was expected to rise by 0.5 percent. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output advanced by 2.4 percent. Among components, the transport engineering cluster's output plunged the most by 17.2 percent annually in June, followed by output of the the biomedical manufacturing cluster with 10.2 percent decline. The chemicals cluster's output dropped 5.1 percent and those of general manufacturing industries cluster logged a fall of 4.5 percent. At the same time, the electronics cluster's output surged 19.7 percent on year and output of the precision engineering rose by 4.3 percent. Monthly, industrial production dipped a seasonally adjusted 2.5 percent in June, faster than the 1.4 percent drop expected by economists. It was the second consecutive monthly decline. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Economic News What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more. Anglo American plc (AAUKY.PK,AAL.L) Tuesday announced that it has restructured management team in South Africa. Anglo American appointed Themba Mkhwanazi as CEO of Kumba Iron Ore limited following Norman Mbazima's decision to step down after four years to focus on his role as Deputy Chairman of Anglo American South Africa. July Ndlovu, Executive Head of Processing Operations at Anglo American Platinum since 2007, is appointed CEO of Anglo American's Coal in South Africa, to replace Mkhwanazi. The company noted that Mbazima will remain a member of the Group Management Committee and will have oversight of the processes to restructure and divest Anglo American's non-core assets in South Africa, including its interests in the Kumba and thermal coal businesses. The Kumba Board's appointment of Mkhwanazi as CEO and Anglo American's appointment of July Ndlovu as CEO of Coal South Africa will take effect on September 1. Both roles will report internally to Seamus French, CEO of Anglo American's Bulk Commodity business. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Sweden's producer prices declined further in June, though at a slower pace than in the previous month, figures from Statistics Sweden showed Tuesday. Producer prices in total fell 1.9 percent year-over-year in June, following a 4.5 percent decrease in May. The measure has been falling since July 2015. On a monthly basis, producer prices climbed 1.5 percent in June, after showing no variations in the prior month. Import prices dipped 5.3 percent annually in June, while it rose 1.7 percent from the preceding month. Prices for domestic supply, combining domestic and import , slid 2.8 percent yearly and went up 1.3 percent, month-on-month. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Economic News What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more. Shares of Orange SA (ORAN) declined around 3 percent in the morning trading in Paris after the French telecom major reported Tuesday weak restated EBITDA, a key earnings metric, in its home country in the first half, as well as weak EBITDA margin. Group restated EBITDA, however, increased with higher revenues, and the company posted significantly higher net profit, benefited by the sale of its U.K. joint venture EE. Further, the company confirmed its fiscal 2016 objective for restated EBITDA growth, citing positive momentum. For the first half, net income attributable to equity owners was 3.17 billion euros, 188.3 percent higher than 1.10 billion euros a year ago. The significant increase in net income reflected mainly discontinued operations relative to the sale of EE which occurred in January 2016. Operating income, meanwhile, declined 5.4 percent to 2.14 billion euros. The results reflected higher amortisation and depreciation, linked in particular to the acquisition of Jazztel and the full consolidation of Medi Telecom, and the recognition of an impairment related to Egypt. First-half restated EBITDA was 5.913 billion euros, 2.1 percent higher than last year. On a comparable basis, restated EBITDA edged down 0.6 percent. Restated EBITDA declined 2.3 percent in France to 3.24 billion euros. The restated EBITDA margin was 29.4 percent, a decline of 0.3 percentage points compared to the prior year. In the second quarter, restated EBITDA rose 0.1 percent after falling 1.6 percent in the first quarter. Group revenues for the first half were 20.08 billion euros, 2.7 percent higher than 19.56 billion euros last year. Revenues edged up 0.3 percent on a comparable basis. In the second quarter, revenues were stable, while growth accelerated in Spain. In Europe, was driven by the very high-speed fixed and mobile activities. As of June 30, there were 22.7 million 4G customers in Europe and 2.5 million fibre customers. In one year, the company has doubled both fiber customer base as well as 4G customer base. In France, there were 9.4 million 4G customers and net additions of mobile contracts were almost four times higher than sequential quarter. Looking ahead, for the full year 2016, Orange confirmed that restated EBITDA will be higher than in 2015 on a comparable basis. This objective will be supported by continued commercial momentum, investment and efforts on the cost structure. Further, the company said it plans to propose the payment of a dividend of 0.60 euros per share for 2016. An interim dividend for 2016 of 0.20 euros per share will be paid on 7 December 2016. In Paris, Orange shares were trading at 13.98 euros, down 2.58 percent. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News U.K. shares held steady in lackluster trade Tuesday as investors digested mixed earnings reports and looked ahead to key central bank meetings in the U.S. and Japan. The Federal Reserve kicks off its two-day policy meeting later today, with looking for clues to future action. The Bank of Japan is due to announce its monetary policy decision on Friday. Sterling struck a 2-week trough after Martin Weale, a member of the Bank of England's rate-setting committee, reportedly dropped his opposition to stimulus, spurring speculation that the Bank of England could announce new measures to stimulate growth next month. The safe-haven Japanese yen strengthened against rivals and gold ticked higher after Japanese finance minister Taro Aso said the government was yet to decide on the size of a recently announced economic stimulus package. The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 20 points or 0.29 percent at 6,729 in midday trading after declining 0.3 percent in the previous session. BT Group soared 4.5 percent after British regulator Ofcom said its Openreach network can become a legally separate company within the telecoms group. Mondi shares climbed almost 4 percent. The packaging and paper group said its underlying operating profit for the half year ended June 30 would be above that of the comparable prior-year period of 490 million euros. Anglo American traded marginally higher. The miner named Themba Mkhwanazi as chief executive officer of Kumba Iron Ore Ltd with effect from September 1, following Norman Mbazima's decision to step down to focus on his role as deputy chairman of Anglo American South Africa. BP Plc shares dropped 2.5 percent as the oil major posted its third straight quarterly loss. Brewer SABMiller slid half a percent after receiving an increased takeover bid from Anheuser-Busch InBev NV. Victrex tumbled 3 percent as the high-performance polymer company reported a 6 percent fall in its third-quarter Group revenue. Hedge fund firm Man Group fell 3.5 percent after its first-half pretax profit slumped 66 percent from a year earlier. On a light day on the economic front, data from the British Bankers' Association showed that U.K. mortgage approvals declined to a 15-month low in June, reflecting the uncertainty that was felt ahead of the EU referendum. . For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Afghan Government has claimed that 122 Islamic State militants,including key commander Saad Emarati, were killed in military operations in eastern Nangarhar province. Afghanistan's interior ministry said in a statement Tuesday that 20 other suspected militants were arrested with some amount of light and heavy round ammunition in clearance joint operations conducted by Afghan National Security Forces in Achin and Kot Districts during past 24 hours. Several IS sanctuaries were destroyed by joint forces. The operation still continues against terrorists in Achin and Kot Districts, it added. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Political News Keith Urban welcomed actor Miles Teller to the stage for a rendition of the 1960's classic "My Girl" at a recent stop in Albuquerque, New Mexico on his current Ripcord World Tour. The two traded off verses and choruses of the timeless Temptations classic with Teller improvising "What can make me feel this way? Keith Urban!" Soon after, Urban responded, "Talkin' bout Miles Teller!" Urban clearly enjoyed his time onstage with the Whiplash actor, later posting "Albuquerque!!! We had an AWESOME night tonight. Huge shout out to Miles Teller for getting up on stage and singing tonight! It was very cool!!! - KU #ripCORDWorldTour #MilesTeller," on his official Instagram. The Ripcord World Tour will continue through the end of November in the U.S. before heading overseas. Carrie Underwood and Buchanan will serve as supporting acts when the tour hits New Zealand and Australia. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Entertainment News It was only recently that Mercedes-Benzs upcoming W223 S-Class (2021MY) was spied in full with minimal camouflage Earlier this week, online automotive communities had heated discussions on two topics relating to the coming year: Sebastian Vettel leaving Scuderia Ferrari and W223 S-Class. The 2021MY Mercedes-Benz S-Class (identified as the W223 pre-facelift generation) has been in the works for quite some time. Over the months, it was spotted in heavily disguised prototype avatars on multiple occasions across different parts of the world. However, it was only a few days back that a clear set of production-ready W223 S-Class images hit the internet. Originating from some sketchy location in China, the images gave a good idea of the benchmark saloons exteriors and interiors. Gordon Wageners lines seem to have taken a shift from the S we know and love but it is still an elegant-looking product albeit not in traditional Merc standards. The interiors follow a completely different approach even though there is no shortage of technology or opulence. Yet, many argue that the popular Germans (Audi, BMW and Mercedes) have had a Korean influence in their latest designs. Though the initial batch of interior images was clear enough for a spy shot, a new video has emerged on Instagram showing a glimpse of the dashboard with the car turned ON. Being in the dark, all the buttons (mostly soft-touch with haptic feedback) are lit up alongside the digital instrument cluster and large portrait touchscreen. This could be the very same car previously spied in full. With each sweep of the near 10-second video, one can take note of almost all the features available to the driver. Notable highlights include steering-mounted cruise control and driver assist systems (on the left), ambient illumination, new MBUX interface, on-screen climate controls, vertical AC vents with touch-adjustable fan speed, etc. The instrument console is reportedly a retractable unit like in the McLaren 720S. However, the most important catch in the video is the EQ logo inside the tachometer dial. In other words, the W223 S-Class variant you see here is a plug-in hybrid (most likely based on a 3.0-litre straight-six). Look closer and you would also find a check-engine light ignorable since this is an early-production model and after all a German car. Thanks to appreciable sales figures, Mercedes-Benz India would most likely launch the flagship saloon within a short span from its global debut. In the Indian market, the current W222 facelift S-Class is available in three formats: S 350d diesel, S 450 petrol and AMG S 63 coupe. The S 350 d was the first car in India to meet BS6 emission norms. Millennial Moms Review: 2022 Acura MDX is pretty close to the perfect family car I dont know if perfect is attainable, especially considering weve got the world of options when it comes to modern vehicles. Were spoiled and, as such, we have very specific needs and wants. Driving-wise, the 2022 Acura MDX is one of my favourite ... The nightlife in Apia and surrounding areas is slowly but surely changing. Just in the past few weeks, two of Apias well-known water holes have closed. First there was Thirsty Geckos at Vailoa and then last weekend, Sheeshas Cocktail Bar at the Marina closed. But the closure of the two bars doesnt mean the capitals range of possibilities for having a drink is limiting at all. Rather, it is undergoing a change, as Marina Keil, former owner of Thirsty Geckos Bar & Grill believes. Of course theres bars closing down at the moment, but there are also heaps of places opening up as well, she said. As a well-experienced owner of a gastronomy business for more than eight years in the surrounding area of Apia, Mrs. Keil knows the situation of the businesses very well. Theres the new Aitutaki Bar that just opened up, or the Black Nose, as well as Tuxx to name only a few, so I dont think one could say that theres a certain decline in the number of bars in town. In the case of Thirsty Geckos Bar & Grill, the reason behind the closing is a rather personal one. The bar was just there to fill up the space, she said. We had actually planned to close the place down a while ago, but it was just a matter of time. For the places future, Marina Keil could confirm that there wont be a bar located any longer in the facilities of Thirsty Geckos. It wont be a bar anymore but I have something new in mind to utilise the place, so it will undergo a fair bit of renovation. The former owners decision of running a bar where Thirsty Geckos Bar & Grill was placed also has changed over the years. If I were to open a bar, I would definitely move to a place which is closer to town. Right now, this is more of a residential area. Its starting to grow, but I dont think it really is suitable for a bar, maybe in a few years from now. With the mentioned closings, Apias range of bars currently is undergoing a change. But the fact that new places are opening up as well should be reason enough for the towns night owls to be open to new possibilities for enjoying a decent drink in the future. When you bend a piece of stick hard and long enough, it will eventually break. Just as whatever goes up must come down, life is a bit like that. We reap what we sow. Looking at some of the challenges this country is confronted by in this day and age, whether its political, economical, spiritual, cultural or whatever, its hard to ignore that principle with the thought that perhaps with a few key changes we did not make, the outcome might have been different. But because we didnt, we are all paying a hefty price for them now. Indeed, the government has certainly had to learn about the chilling reality of not learning those lessons with the skyrocketing foreign debt and all the problems associated with its inability to effectively deal with corruption and the millions wasted through its reckless spending on white elephants we see around us. The point we want to make here is that we need to deal with the danger from within. We believe our leaders should be reminded again about how imperative it is that they deal with corruption, abuse and misuse of power hurting the most vulnerable people of this country. To say life is tough is an understatement. Life is more than tough; it is atrocious for many people. Look at the state of farmers, mothers and their poor children and what they have to go through every day just to make a tala or two in Apia and Salelologa. Look at the growing number of Samoans of all ages - who are being enslaved to run all over town to sell pins, cans of soda, twisties and air fresheners while their foreign masters sit in the shade and collect their handsome cash. Think about the basic cost of living and basic services. What percentage of those increases is the result of negligence, corruption and mismanagement by the public service? Think about how taxes are hurting everybody, especially when they are being taxed to the bone every day. Isnt it downright cruel then that when we are taxed everywhere we turn in this country today, and yet we find that the cost of living, the cost of basic services and the cost of basic utilities continuing to show no mercy on the downright depleted soul? Ladies and gentlemen, somebody or some people - are responsible for this suffering. And the government should take a large chunk of the blame because of their lack of care and absent-mindedness about doing what is right to help people. What we find especially shameful is the attitude of apathy thats being shown towards these problems by some public officials whom judging by their comments in public show total disregard for peoples suffering. These are the same officials who took an oath to do whats right in the eyes of man and his God, to protect the best interest of the people they exist to serve. Today, there is reason to believe they are failing those very people. We say this because as ordinary members of the public struggle to get by on a daily basis including businesses and the thousands of employees depending on them the government just doesnt seem to accept that somewhere along the line, its behaviour, or misbehaviour if you prefer, has played a big part in this struggle. Lets not forget the abuse, overspending and the misuse of millions of tala that otherwise could have been spent to help people highlighted by the Controller and Chief Auditor in his report to Parliament for 2009 and 2010. The findings in this report were clearly confirmed during an investigation by the Officers of Parliament Committee who recommended that legal action be taken against the officials implicated. We are talking about millions of tala by the way. And some of these failed projects are staring us in the face everyday, as if its a reminder about the need for justice to be served. What is this government waiting for? When will they stop these political games and get on with what needs to be done for true justice to be achieved? Would we have had the recent embarrassment with Lauititi Tualima had a portion of those funds identified in the Chief Auditors report been used to build a simple fence? Come to think of it, why do we jail the average Joe who steals 50 tala and yet allow the ones who misuse millions to walk freely? In Samoa today, there is an elephant in the room and as long as that is not addressed, we can never move forward as a country. We know the truth, you know the truth. Only an idiot cannot see whats really happening. And you wonder why weve got so many problems? You wonder why weve got so many social and economical challenges. Dont we live in an age where every penny counts? And what has happened to the governments favourite catch cry of transparency, accountability and good governance? Weve said this before and we will say it again here. There are people who are saying that we should just wear our Christian hats, forgive and forget about the past and move forward. This is utter rubbish. There is a time for everything. Besides, God Almighty certainly does not condone wrongdoing, especially when it enslaves his precious people. God is one of justice and he does care about the truth. Lets not forget that. Dear Editor, Re: Concerned about Samoas State When I read the article Concerned about Samoas State, I feel very sad. In fact, most Chinese doing business in Samoa cant speak English. Facing the blame, they cant defend themselves though they feel a sense of grievance. They even dont know there is so much blame on them in the newspaper. What they can do is just to be silent. However, their silence only leads to more and more blame and rumours. The latest rumour is the usage of dog and cat meat in an Asian restaurant which is mentioned in Ms. Moe Lei Sams article. Many Samoans who read this unconfirmed report from Facebook feel it is disgusting. As a result, hatred towards Chinese businessmen has been spreading in the society. The Ministry of Health carried out an investigation two months ago. They discovered this is not true at all. It is just a rumour. I think Ms. Moe Lei Sam should read this report: Cat and Dog Meat In restaurant Denied in Newsline (June 22). Because of this rumour, all the Chinese are blamed. It is unfair. As for a Chinese shop owner who said business is going well because Samoans eat everything, I want to say these words are from the opinion section of a letter to the editor published in the Samoa Observer. Any one can say anything in this edition regardless of what they say is true or not. This is another unconfirmed quote. If it is true, please tell us the name of the Chinese shop owner. We can scold him. But we cant direct our anger at all other innocent Chinese who didnt say that and reject that at heart. It is unfair. I agree that the government should protect the local businessmen and needs to do more. In fact, the government has taken many measures to restrict Chinese businesses. For example, if a Chinese businessman hires a Chinese worker, he has to hire at least three Samoan workers under the law. Chinese supermarkets are usually blamed for hiring too many Chinese. In fact, most Samoans dont realize that. What I disagree with is to help local businessmen by inciting racial hatred and attaching labels onto Chinese businessmen. It cant solve any problems but only leads to tragedies. There have been many lessons. A hundred years ago, when Ms. Moe Lei Sams father came to Samoa from China, he was lucky because Samoans accepted him and no one tried to incite hatred towards him. Today, many Chinese businessmen come to Samoa and try to assimilate into Samoa. They become a member of the Samoan extended family. Their sons or daughters will become another Ms. Moe Lei Sam. I hope they will still be lucky. Sam Sam Dear Editor, Re: Moe Lei Sams concerns What Ms. Lei Sam is talking about and her concerns mentioned in the article about the state of Samoa, have been discussed many times. And its true what she said, that nothing has been done about the concerns till this day. When people first discussed these concerns way back, P.M. Tuilaepa, his H.R.P.P and their blind followers denied them and said all these concerns were just assumptions. Well, those assumptions manifested into reality from a long time ago and are still here today. One of Ms. Lei Sams concerns was that there are more and more Chinese coming to Samoa. Remember that list of Chinese Demands? This was one of the demands and Number 9 on that list Samoa Government shall agree to admit 30,000 workers in the whole range under the general project, who shall enjoy the same national treatment as local residents. Now according to Ms. Lei Sam, a Chinese business owner said, Business is going well because Samoans eat everything. This Chinese is a smart man and hes sending a message to the Samoan people because he knows that there will be more and more Chinese arriving in Samoa soon, and they will take over town (Apia) and push more and more Samoans out of town and in the rural areas. He also knows the Samoans will one day soon be desperate for food theyd end up eating anything. He also knows that when the Chinese govt put forth their demand for 30,000 Chinese to come here, it must be fulfilled and he knows they will get equal rights to everything (including land) just the same as the Samoans. Hes sure too that P.M. Tuilaepa and H.R.P.P cannot do anything about it as they owe about 67-70% of the loan from Exim bank, which is owned by the Chinese govt. Ive written a lot of threads about the increase of the cost of living as it was predictable from way back. The raising of prices/the cost of living had nothing to do with the health of the people as they made it out to be but all to do with the govt. being desperate for money to pay off this H.R.P.Ps debt and corruption. To me, its broad daylight robbery of the poor, the sick and the weak of this nation. Also according to Ms. Lei Sam, nobody is doing something about those grievances. Well these grievances are not new. Here is the reason why those grievances will never be dealt with and solved. The Prime Minister and his party are not one for the people. Ms. Lei Sam also shared her concerns about much violence and rape. This is evidence that P.M. Tuilaepa is not for the people. The mother of crime is poverty and poverty in Samoa is increasing every year. Of course, whenever H.R.P.P increase the cost of living (almost every year), then so too does crime. Ms. Lei Sam stated that in other parts of the world, people are taking it to the streets to complain about what is wrong. She then asked, Why cant we do the same? The people of Samoa will not take to the streets because the people cannot see any better. The lack of education and understanding of how things work contribute to that reason. They cannot see that the social problems theyre facing today are consequences born out of corruption. As for church leaders and the matai in the villages, most of them have been bought already by P.M. Tuilaepa and those leaders dictate the masses in the villages. Remember, last year P.M. Tuilaepa promised the nation that the corruption highlighted in the Chief Auditors report and the Office of the Parliamentary Committee (O.P.C.) reports, would be tabled way before the elections. Now the elections are over and the reports still have not been tabled and are ignored and probably gathering dust under his desk. There is enough evidence of corruption included in those reports enough to prosecute some of the H.R.P.P members. P.M. Tuilaepa and H.R.P.P., the nation is still waiting for those reports to be tabled. Mebahel Raguel Members of an outfit called the Samoa Tourism Industry Alliance (S.T.I.A.) gathered for their second meeting at the Sheraton Samoa Aggie Greys Hotel in Apia yesterday. The group looks at ways to further develop the tourism sector in Samoa. The membership includes representatives from the private sector and the government. The Samoa Tourism Authority (S.T.A.) acts as the groups secretariat. Chairperson, Adele Kruse, believes the initiative is crucial for the development of tourism in Samoa. S.T.I.A. is an organization or a gathering of people to come together to work on building tourism in Samoa, she said. This initiative was the brainchild of our former Minister for tourism and also the board S.T.A.; the objective is to bring the players together in tourism; those who are registered with an interest in tourism. We gather so that we can put together ideas and objectives so that we can build our tourism. The group was brought together four years ago and now pushes to meet every few months. S.T.I.A. actually started in 2012 and from there we had endeavored to have a meeting every quarter, Ms. Kruse said. When we established this in 2012 there was a hurricane which pushed things back but since then we have become stronger and hosted more meetings. So this is the second meeting this year, the other one would have been in the first quarter of this year however we had our tourism exchange at that time as well as our tourism forum. According to Ms. Kruse, the members of the Alliance began with registered members within tourism but that changed because tourism was too big a picture for a few. We needed to look at this from a holistic approach, we need the entire nation to back us up; from town to the villages we all need to understand what we need to do in order to keep our visitors happy, she said. Whilst we started out with those who are registered with a commercial interest in tourism, we are also interested with those who augmented the business in tourism. We are open to looking at whoever is interested to join this association or gathering of interested persons as long as they too can build the way forward. With S.T.A. on board, it creates a form of partnership between the private and government sector because both are needed to build tourism to its desired capacity. S.T.A. is the secretariat and as the leading tourism body to government it is very important that we get S.T.A. involved in what were doing, Ms. Kruse said. We in the private sector cannot work in a silo, we need to communicate to the government what we think should be done to assist with the building of tourism. It is a partnership; the reason why we asked S.T.A. to be the secretariat is to ensure that everything we discuss in the private sector is noted and presented to the governments consideration. According to Ms. Kruse, there have been many positive outcomes ever since S.T.I.A.s launch and they will continue to work towards a better tourism approach for Samoa. Samoa is really at a wonderful position right now because we are looking at building Samoas tourism in terms of accessibility, she said. We have been working hard with the government to look at aviation policies as well as the access into Samoa so we can have more traffic into Samoa in terms of arrivals. We have increased the number of rooms in Samoa because of what government has done to improve a way for investors to invest in Samoa. There are many things in as far as working together with various agencies and government to ensure that our products are of a quality nature as well as working with those that can help us market our properties. This is so we can not only have quality products and services but to also communicate this to the outside world. In this day and age, social media seems to be the most influential tool for pretty much anything and anyone. However, the way this tool is used is the choice of each individual. It is used by some to destroy others, promote, share, vent, meet new people and simply to gain attention. But for a young lady who goes by the name Ruta (last name withheld for security reasons), Facebook has been a tool of discovery, identity and the promotion of the Samoan Culture. Running her Alias page Afakasi Roots, Ruta has drawn in a huge following of both Samoa-based and overseas-based Samoans, all interested in seeing the Samoan culture through her eyes. Being a half-cast Samoan from Edinburgh Scotland, London, Fasitoo, Solosolo and Vaivase, Ruta began the page as a form of escape. Slowly, however, it gained attention as she continues to post about her experiences of Samoa. With her Facebook friends list filled to the brim, Afakasi Roots has become a platform for half-cast Islanders everywhere looking for a place to belong and also a place where Samoans overseas can see a piece of home away from home. The main content on my page is Samoa, Ruta tells the Samoa Observer. The culture, the traditions, the practices that are ought to be done from waking up in the morning and making breakfast for your elders to visiting the plantation during the day and ending it all with evening prayer. Contents vary dependent on what is discussed on the page; could be a business promotion or even little things like a social event. Being limited only by the number of friends Facebook allows any person to have, she found herself followed by people from all walks of life; all of which look up to Ruta as an inspiration. It does make me happy and proud that Im able to bring some form of childhood memory or reminisce to those who do miss being back in the islands. But what is the true purpose of Afakasi roots? The purpose of Afakasi Roots speaks for itself really, Ruta says. The term Afakasi to me is a representative of my background being of mixed race; Caucasian and Samoan; My roots as previously mentioned are where my two worlds collide - not in a negative way but more so intertwined which I feel is reflective of me as a person, a human being. I guess the vision I had from the start was to create a platform for those with similar backgrounds to feel that they belong within society, within their half Pacific island community, to feel accepted for being different and not as though theyre perceived instinctively hence the name of the Facebook page Representing Loud and Proud Halfcast Pacific Islanders. Although much has been achieved through her page, Ruta still has some goals. At the moment my ultimate goal is my page to continue to connect to everyone who wants to learn about Samoa, she said. That is my main focus; to display the best of the Pacific Islands and Samoan culture. As the creator of a Pacific Samoan site page on Facebook, my work is all about Afakasi Pacific Island people, Pacific Island people and my own people from my Samoan heritage bloodline and what I share, educate and advocate on the page. With saying that, all credit goes back to the people; I dont want any of it, I just enjoy that people value and appreciate my time spent promoting my home. Gaining much inspiration from her Samoan mother who taught her the meaning of cultural values, Ruta has relayed those lessons to other Islanders who have grown up in a western environment. To be here in Samoa in the flesh is also another contributing factor, Ruta said. To witness firsthand how my people live and to be able to see certain traditions being practiced right before you is a blessing - my time here so far has been amazing and Im planning on staying on the island for a while. But nothing has given Ruta the feeling of accomplishment more than to be able to connect to the Pacific Islands prominent business owners. By linking their business with my page, they are able to use my page as their own advertising platform free of charge of course, she said. Money isnt everything to me, as long as I can give back to my community; whatever makes them happy makes me happy; that makes me more proud than anything. According to Ruta, her values and standards are just like anyone elses. Im simple, and like majority of people, family and God are what I value along with culture, she said. I do like to think I have high standards but it doesnt necessarily mean I look down on people - no, not at all. Everyone is different and I guess for me, if you practice what you preach, thats standard enough. Ruta has a simple message for her people, we need to go back to where it all began. Embrace your culture and traditions, she said. Lets go back to basics because I feel were losing our touch due to modernization; It is all well and good to move up and forward with the times but at the same time, we need to ensure our own values as a nation are kept alive. You want people to feel fresh knowing our ancestors have left behind the legacies we ought to carry forward as we strive for a better tomorrow. But it hasnt been just smooth sailings for Afakasi Roots. Ive come across multiple issues and still to date those issues continue, Ruta said. Obviously where theres something good, therell always be people out there wholl try and ruin it for you; One major issue I faced a while back was dealing with the amount of trolling haters I had to endure for simply being me; Afakasi. I thank them for being part of this page as they inspire me to bring out the best in what I see through others. Im an outgoing person and I strongly feel my personality reflects the same nature; Im very open minded and I say what I feel therefore having to face the negativity coming from people who Ive never met personally almost drove me to the point of suicide and it really affected me mentally. Im not going to go into much detail of what was said but it was enough to cause me to close myself away and it is only within the last few years Ive started to feel myself again. I cant say there are no other issues but one other main one is when people become political, and that is when I back away and let the people debate amongst themselves; not that Im hiding away, but personally I dont do politics and I prefer to let everyone say what they feel is their opinion on certain topics discussed on the page. Lastly, Ruta encourages everyone to accept their identity no matter where you come from. Theres nothing wrong with being Afakasi and to those who are in my shoes and feel they are excluded from everyone else, dont let that bring you down, she said. People need to realise we are all human, our appearances may be different but we all bleed the same colour. I for one enjoy representing my bloodlines of my Ancestors - Reigning from the Realm of Scotland, England, and Samoa. The divisions among followers of certain religions are not new. And when it comes to Christianity, there is no exception. Although they are serving one God, different denominations argue over who is serving the right way and who isnt. This is something the Youth for Christ (Y.F.C.) Samoa wants to change. The need for Christians to come together in one accord is the challenge of the time. The group believes God is calling for his church to be in one, in unity. This is reflected in the motto of the National Youth Praise Festival (N.Y.P.F.) which is One nation under God united in praise. The Festival is about breaking down the barriers to allow followers of different denominations to worship as one. The event will take place from the 2nd to the 6th of August in front of the government building and will feature the Katina brothers on the last two nights; all free of charge. The initiative of the N.Y.P.F. is basically just bringing together different denominations under one banner; one nation under God, Y.F.C. Director Manasa Aloalii told Samoa Observer. The whole idea is to put aside differences in terms of religion, denominations and just come together; we want our youth to come under one banner. We all serve one God, and that is the God that Samoa is founded on and sometimes divisions through denominations become barriers in your way. But the purpose of this event is to pull everyone together and worship God. With the Katinas music being familiar in almost every Samoan household, the excitement of their visit has no bounds. According to Mr. Aloalii, getting the gospel brothers to perform anywhere is no easy task, but with their hearts for Samoa and through the grace of God, they will come. The Katinas is a group of brothers raised in American Samoa; I have heard a few testimonies of their upbringing; their Mom passed away when they were really young and that really pulled them together, he said. The Katinas have also been requested by the White House a couple of times and I know they did a fourth of July there. If you look at that, these brothers are not just your average Samoan Christian team; they are well known in the world. So for them to come and support the N.Y.P.F. is great; talking to Niel who is their Manager; he said they are very excited for this opportunity which is more for our Youth. They have been praying for an event in front of the government building for them to come and share the love of Christ. They have a special place in their hearts for the youth of Samoa which is why they will also be sharing testimonies which they dont often do; they will be sharing their personal music as well. They will also have an event at N.U.S. on Thursday the fourth of August where they will be ministering to the young people. According to Mr. Aloalii, the brothers charge high rates per night but will be coming to Samoa to perform free for their people. I have heard that Katinas charge really high rates; my brother said that just to get the Katinas to come out to their church in Los Angeles was USD$90,000, he said. That is not including their fares, so to get them for one night would normally cost about USD$150,000. But they are coming to Samoa on their break free of charge to show their heart for the people for two nights. Over 30 invitations for youth groups have been sent out to come join N.Y.P.F. but Y.F.C. have decided to open its registrations to anyone who wants to take part. You are welcome too. Three local carpenters are heading to Christchurch, New Zealand. Recruited under the Christchurch Rebuild Programme, Faleupolu Tavita, of Vaivase, Pinati Titae of Satupaitea and Aukusitino Niko of Vailuutai were chosen from a pool of applicants for the 12-month programme. Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi congratulated the men during a meeting at his office. Unlike the Regional Seasonal Employment Scheme where many locals go to New Zealand or Australia to pick fruits, the programme requires qualifications and a clean police record. Apple picking is different, said Tuilaepa. In this programme you need three things to take with you. First you must have good English, qualification in carpentry and lastly common sensea lot of people come with Bachelors and PhDs but do not have common sense. According to Tuilaepa, about 84 people applied for the opportunity. Only twenty of them were approved by Cabinet for interviews. After the interviews were conducted in English the number dropped down to five more applicants left. From that five one of them was in prison, said the Prime Minister. He was TKO from that and the other one said his wife had just given birth and couldnt goSamoa is the only country that has this sickness called homesick. The remaining three got the green light to leave next week for Christchurch. Tuilaepa reminded that people with bad police records should not bother applying as they will not be picked. The same with those who cannot speak proper English, he said. The biggest challenge we have is alcohol. Our policies are if you go overseas and do something stupid you will return home and you will forever be banned from these programmes for the sake of our country. A positive aspect of the programme would mean a little more cash in hand for the families of the new recruits. According to Tuilaepa, each carpenter will be paid about more than $40tala an hour. He pointed out that plus overtime, each carpenter will be able to get more than $2000tala a week to send over to their families. For the sake of their families in the island, Tuilaepa encouraged the men to send money over to buy cars and build two storey houses for their families rather than getting drunk and getting into trouble. The youngest of the three recruits is Pinati Titae of Satupaitea and Vailoa Palauli. At the age of 26, Mr. Titae is the leading hand carpenter for Swalger Design and Build company at Tanumapua. The former student of Vailoa College said his field of expertise is no coincidence. My father is a carpenter and so is my older brother, said Mr. Titae. The only difference between me and my father and brother is I was fortunate enough to go to school and study in this field. My father never got the chance to finish school and get a better education and the same with my brotherso this is a huge accomplishment for me and for my family. A graduate of the Australian Pacific Technical College, Mr. Titae owes his achievements to his family. They made the sacrifices for me, he said. My family invested in me and paid for my education. Being here means a lot to me knowing that their sacrifices had not gone to waste and I can carry on with my family talent. Mr. Titae is the son of Titae Taito and Taueu Faleao. Some of the works he had done while working with local construction companies include the new Don Bosco hall in Salelologa and the Saleia Bridge in Savaii. Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, is standing by his governments decision to grant a license for a second cigarette factory in the country, contradicting the governments push for a healthier Samoa. Speaking during his weekly media programme, Tuilaepa said there are no laws to prohibit the establishment of a new cigarette factory. If there was a legislation to stop the production of cigarettes and the importation of cigarettes, then that topic would be important, he said. We cannot stop people who have already made the decision to smoke cigarettes. Tuilaepa said there are more important issues to talk about. He added that the new tobacco factory would not mean cheaper cigarettes and easier access to cigarettes for members of the public. The prices (of cigarettes) will continue to increase, he maintained. The government is trying to stop it (smoking) by increasing the prices and from that the government gets more money for its development. The cigarette factory is owned by Chinese businessman and Falevao chief, Tuituioaiga Teeking Weng. He is also the owner of the Coin Save chain of stores. Last week, veteran Member of Parliament for Falealupo, Aeau Peniamina Leavaiseeta, said the government would regret its decision. Its a sad story, Aeau said. Especially at a time where they had recently done promotion on fighting against tobacco use but now they have agreed to set up a factory to manufacture cigarettes locally. Its really sad if this is the kind of development that the government is looking at (to pay debts) when these things affect the lives of our people in the long run. Aeau said that instead of leading by example the government has totally ignored what is good for our people. Its not a pathway our people should follow. The government has been preaching about bringing in doctors to deal with our N.C.Ds and cancer yet they dont walk what they preach. My disappointment is the government eyeing revenue and neglecting healthy lifestyles. Pride in thyself; family and culture is not bad but when such pride is misguided, it has devastating consequences. Such consequences are contributing to many challenges Samoa faces today. Thats the warning from a farmer, Molioo Petelo Peters, who says misguided pride in culture is bleeding our people dry. From funerals costing thousands of tala to weddings most people cannot afford, Molioo says our people need to wake up and be realistic about living within their means. He reminded that times are tough and attitudes need to change. He was particularly critical of the Samoan culture. I want to speak about our Samoan culture and how harmful it can be to a few people, Molioo told the Samoa Observer. He visited to express his concerns about what is going on today. Many people are struggling; people are trying to make ends meet but our own culture is bleeding us dry with things like funerals, he said. Many people go to funerals nowadays with the mindset of profiting or getting something out of it knowing that the hosts have too much pride to reject. People come with small gifts and then leave with a box of tinned food which is worth more; some dont even come with gifts and just want to gain from the struggling hosts. This is not love, this does not show love at all especially in situations of funerals when the family needs all the love they can get after losing someone. Many of the people work yet they come and still try and take as much as they can get from others. Molioo also feels that there is a lot of false value placed in commodities such as fine mats, which is often presented as gifts at the gatherings. It has absolutely no use, he said. It is a valuable to some but what applicable use does it have? It just gains dust on the shelves or storage room. A box of tinned food has more use because at least people can eat it and get full; to me its just a lot of rubbish useless rubbish. According to Molioo, some of our cultural practices could easily be replaced such as substituting the extravagant giving of gifts to just praising the Lord together. For me the only important thing that we should focus on is to serve the Lord, he said. Serving the Lord especially in times of hardship is what we need to do rather than try and gain worldly things; I feel that serving the Lord should replace a lot of things in our culture. We need to make changes in the way things are happening in Samoa; everyone knows the struggle of hosting gatherings for funerals so we need to think about our future generations. Our children will grow up with the same struggles we are facing now if we do not make a change. We need to stop these things; I mean if we have people coming to funerals just to give a small gift and not expect to get anything in return then thats good, he said. But right now all we get is small sympathy speeches then they want to leave with something, may it be money or even a box of tinned food. We need to display more love in our culture other than just profit. Molioos points were well supported by the Director of the Center for Samoan Studies at the National University of Samoa (N.U.S.), Leasiolagi Dr. Malama Meleisea, when his opinion was sought. It is true that our cultural activities are getting more and more expensive, he said. I say the word activities because our culture is not necessarily an expensive culture but I feel that our people are making it more expensive and theres lots of reasons why. One of which is of course pride and to become honoured (mamalu) or equate honour to whatever you give and therefore people think that the more you give then the more honour you will receive. I dont think that should be the case. People are trying to buy honour with money and that is one of the problems we have; that peoples dignity depends much more on other things. So the notion of our culture adopted over the years that the more you give then the more honour or respect you will receive; I think its a very misplaced one. Having said that, I think cultures do change and we must make allowances for that. According to Leasiolagi, there is no one to blame but ourselves. Before my father passed away some years ago, he told us not to put him in the morgue and we buried him within 24 hours, he said. Our relatives came from overseas and complained because he was already in the ground; no fuss; but there was no such activity involving boxes of tinned fish or whatever. I think that what we have now is what were sowing from our own values in our culture. What I mean by that is that we dont have anyone else to blame but us. People tend to blame culture for whats happening in the culture not knowing that they are the ones instigating what we have now. So I think the issue of honour and pride needs to be changed soon. Even the Prime Minister said that traditionally people never gave excessively, maybe one or two fine mats and that was the honour. But now people are gradually moving back to the numbers game again; the same thing with boxes of tinned fish; now people are giving twice as many as before but its all our pride. I see people who cannot afford it are the ones who are at the forefront of this. The church also has a part to play in culture, Leasiolagi said. He said he is not sure if the mindset of giving more to receive more is being enforced by the church. But according to him, the two are playing a good game of tag team. Leasiolagi added that since it is our fault we have made our culture expensive, then it is up to us to change it. Yes I think we are responsible for the change and if we want it to be less expensive then we should be at the front seat of that; there absolutely needs to be a change, he said. Nowadays I see people giving away bottles of wine, bottles of champagne, and some even whiskey which is very expensive instead of the baby coconut which is just one tala. In order to change this we need some brave people to say dont give 10 boxes of tinned fish, five is enough or even dont give $4,000, $100 is enough. Another thing is people need to know that you cannot buy honour; it depends on what you do, your persona that gives you credibility. I feel that our culture is the only thing that we have that we can identify with as people but if culture becomes too expensive and the people cannot afford it then we have a big problem. 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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) -- 07/26/2016 -- The report "Bioinsecticides Market by Type (Bacteria Thuringiensis, Beauveria Bassiana, Verticillium Lecanii & Others), Mode of Action (Predators, Parasites & Pathogens, Bio-Rationals), Mode of Application, Formulation, Crop Type, & by Region - Global Trends & Forecast to 2021", The bioinsecticides market is projected to reach a value of USD 3.18 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 18.3% from 2016 to 2021. The market is driven by factors such as increasing levels of pest attacks due to climatic change and implementation of biological technologies for pest control. Browse 114 market data Tables and 74 Figures spread through 215 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Bioinsecticides Market - Global Trends & Forecast to 2021" Make an Inquiry Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. Verticillium lecanii is projected to be the fastest-growing bioinsecticide during the period 20162021. Verticillium Lecanii bioinsecticides are helpful to the crops in a way that they detoxify the soil and fight the root diseases and provide stability to the soil system. They help in nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, iron sequestration, and phytohormone-level modulation in crops. Due to these factors, the Verticillium lecanii segment dominates the bioinsecticides market. Fruits & Vegetables Segment is the Major Crop Type Application in the Bioinsecticides market Fruits & vegetables accounted for the largest share of the crop type application of bioinsecticides in 2015. With the increasing consumption of fruits & vegetables and increasing demand for tropical and exotic fruits & vegetables in the developing countries globally, this segment is likely to witness growth by the year 2021. The others segment that includes turf & ornamental crops accounted for the second largest share in 2015. Speak to Analyst North American Region Dominated the Bioinsecticides Market in 2016 The North American region was the largest market for bioinsecticides in 2015. Countries such as the U.S., Canada, and Mexico are major producers of fruits & vegetable crops. The rise in organic & environment-friendly farming practices has increased the demand for bioinsecticides especially in the U.S. The market in Canada has been driven by the rise in the cost of fertilizers & pesticides that have led to high usage of bioinsecticides. Brazil and Argentina are also active countries for the usage of bioinsecticides. Countries in Asia-Pacific are at the growth stage in this market. China is the major country followed by India, Australia, and Indonesia. This report includes a study of marketing and development strategies, along with the product portfolio of leading companies. It includes the profiles of leading companies such as Valent BioSciences Corporation (U.S.), Syngenta AG (Switzerland), Bayer CropScience AG (Germany), E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (U.S.), Novozymes A/S (Denmark), and Koppert B.V. (The Netherlands). 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. Contact: Mr. Rohan Markets and Markets UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India 888-600-6441 Email:sales@marketsandmarkets.com Blog: http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/agriculture-industry New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/26/2016 -- Boron Minerals and Boron Chemicals Market: Introduction Boron is an indispensable element, mostly found in soil, water and rocks across the globe. The average soil boron concentration is in the range of 10 to 20 ppm, however most of the areas across the globe is boron deficient. High concentration of boron in soil has found in western part of the U.S. and area in between Mediterranean to Kazakhstan. The average sew water boron concentration is ranges from 0.5 to 9.0 ppm, while fresh water has very low boron concentration. Highly concentrated and economically feasible boron sources are generally found in the in arid areas with a history of volcanism or hydrothermal activities such as Turkey and United States. Open-pit mining method is used to mine large deposits of high grade beds of crude borax at the Kramer deposit in California and the Kirka deposit in Ankara, Turkey. Use For sample: Thinking about report: Please observe the beneath the hyperlinks to satisfy your necessities; Request for the Report sample: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11074 Boron minerals concentrates and chemicals are commercially produced and consumed worldwide. Borax pentahydrate, Borax (tincal), Colemanite, Ulexite, Boric Acid and Anhydrous borax are the important boron minerals and chemicals which widely used by chemical industry to manufacture variety of products such as detergents and laundry bleaches, glass, adhesives, agrochemicals and fire retardants among others. Boron is an essential element for plants, which help the transfer of sugar from leaves to reproductive system, and enable pollination and seed development. Boron minerals has found great application in manufacturing variety of glass such as borosilicate glass, insulation fiberglass, textile fiberglass, enamels and glazes. Borosilicate glass has more thermal shock resistance due to the presence of boron trioxide which lowers the expansion coefficient. In fiberglass, boric acid offers desirable quality drawing and improves its mechanical and chemical properties such as strength and durability. Boron is also used to treat wood, in order to protect it against delay by white/brown rots. Boron exhibits excellent metal oxide stabilizing ability and used in welding rods and fluxes. Boric acid, borates and tetraborates are widely used by pharmaceuticals industries to manufacture personal care products such as bath products, oral hygiene products and talc. Boron Minerals and Boron Chemicals Market: Market Dynamics Glass and ceramic and chemicals are two industries which accounts for major consumption of boron minerals and its compounds. Recovering construction industry especially after financial downturn in North America and Western Europe is expected to drive demand for boron composite fiberglass. Agriculture is an essential need of a community and agriculture industry is expected to grow linear with growth in population. Growing demand for reinforced materials especially in Asia Pacific will drive the consumption of boron compounds. Value added application of boron compounds in alloy and metal industry is expected to drive overall consumption of boron minerals and its compounds at steady rate. However growing regulations over use of boron in personal care products may restrain the consumption of boron and its compounds. Boron Minerals and Boron Chemicals Market: Segmentation On basis of product types, global boron minerals and boron chemicals market can be segmented as follow as; Boron Minerals Boron Chemicals Bulk Volume Boric Acid Others Borates Small Volume Elemental Boron Boron Halides Boron Carbide Borides Others On basis of application, global boron minerals and boron chemicals market can be segmented as follow as; Glass and Ceramics Insulation Fiberglass Textile Fiberglass Glass Enamels and Glazes Detergents and Bleaches Alloy and Metals Fire Retardants Agrochemicals Adhesive Other Chemicals On basis of geographies, global boron minerals and boron chemicals market can be segmented as follow as; North America Latin America Western Europe Eastern Europe Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ) Japan Middle East and Africa (MEA) Boron Minerals and Boron Chemicals Market: Regional Outlook After economic down turn in Europe and North America, construction industry is recovering slowly and it is expected that boron minerals and boron chemicals market will grow with a growth of construction industry in this region. However consumption of boron minerals and boron chemicals in APAC has been significantly increased in last five years and it is expected that it will grow linearly, owing to infrastructure development in India and China. Turkey and U.S. are collectively accounted for the largest production of boron and its compounds and global boron minerals and boron chemicals market is dominated by this geographies. Growing end-use industries such as automobile, electronics, chemicals and construction in APAC will drive the consumption of fiberglass significantly. Boron Minerals and Boron Chemicals Market: Key Players Some of the key players in the global boron minerals and boron chemicals market are as follow as; Eti Maden Rio Tinto Group American Borate Company Boron Specialist LLC Gremont Chemicals Co. Ltd. Searles Valley Minerals Inc. Orocobre Limited Rose Mill Co. The Chemical Company Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to categories such as market segments and geographies. The report covers exhaustive analysis on: Market Segments Market Dynamics Market Size Supply & Demand Current Trends/Issues/Challenges Competition & Companies involved Value Chain Regional analysis includes: North America Latin America Asia Pacific Japan Western Europe Eastern Europe Middle East & Africa The report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts, and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides an in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macroeconomic indicators and governing factors, along with market attractiveness within the segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and various geographies. Use For to: Request TOC (desk of content material), Figures and Tables of the report: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11074 Key points covered in the report 1) Report segments the market on the basis of types, application, products, technology, etc (as applicable) 2) The report covers geographic segmentation North America Europe Asia RoW 3) The report provides the market size and forecast for the different segments and geographies for the period of 2010 to 2020 4) The report provides company profiles of some of the leading companies operating in the market 5) The report also provides porters five forces analysis of the market.- About Persistence Market Research Persistence 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. New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/26/2016 -- Online advertising is likewise known as internet advertising or digital advertising which makes usage of the cyberspace to communicate the promotional marketing message to the customers. The online advertising term is broadly categorized on the basis of types of advertising which includes search engine optimization (SEO), banner marketing, search engine advertising (SEA), email marketing, online video advertising, local online advertising, social media optimization (SMO) strategies and additional types of online advertising. These online advertisings appear on the internet more often than traditional advertising media such as television and newspapers. Thinking about report: Please observe the beneath the hyperlinks to satisfy your necessities; Request for the Report sample : http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/4711 Search engine advertising and pay per click marketing are the fastest evolving advertising concepts for numerous assortments of businesses. Pay per clip is comparatively simple and effortless to carry out scalable, enormously cost efficient and in house. PPC is a huge component of effective and efficient online advertising for the business. Online advertising uses numerous tools and techniques for online marketing functions which include sales CRM, e-commerce, e-mail, marketing automation, WCM, social CRM and web analytics. All these software tools collectively facilitate an organization to develop and implement effective and efficient marketing strategies. The global online advertising market continues to rise in tandem with the global internet user base, social networking websites, income and widespread adoption of broadband. The industry is being motivated by mobile internet activity, increasing attractiveness and fame of mobile devices which includes tablets and smart phones that are proving to be beneficial. The main factors that are driving the online advertising market are increased focus on digital media, cost effective, smart phone penetration, advertising by content providers and rising numbers of advertisers on social networking sites. The main factor that is restraining the growth of online advertising are lack of skilled personnel and still use of tradition advertising factors such as television and newspapers. The main opportunity for the growth of online advertising in future would be the emergence of SAAS based solutions. The online advertising market is segmented on the basis of advertising sectors which include online classifieds, search, directories, and general advertising. In addition, the market is segmented on the basis of its mode of interaction which includes web sites, commercial online services, email providers, as well as other companies selling online advertising. Further, the online advertising is segmented on the basis of end use industry which includes BFSI and automotive industry among others. Furthermore, the market could be segmented on the basis of geography which includes North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and RoW. The North American region dominates the market of global online advertising industry and is remain the market leaders in future as well. Asia Pacific region is expected to be the biggest emerging market for online advertising because of the large customer base. Request TOC (desk of content material), Figures and Tables of the report: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/4711 Some of the major companies that are dominating in the online advertising market include IBM Corp., SAP AG, Oracle Corp., Salesforce.com Inc., Aplicor LLC, Adobe Systems Inc., ComScore Networks Inc., Ebay GSI Commerce, Lithium Technologies Inc., Demandware Inc., Attensity Corp., Microsoft Corp., LongJump CRM, OpenText Corp., StrongMail Systems Inc., Percussion Software Inc., Zoho CRM Inc., Yahoo Analytics, SugarCRM Inc., Netsuite Inc. and Sitecore Inc. among others. New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/26/2016 -- System integration (SI) enables to build computing systems for end users by combining hardware and software products from several vendors. By implementing systems integration, a company can acquire cheaper, pre-configured components of software. These small components of software help company to achieve key business goals. Otherwise the companies have to purchase customized, more expensive software; this may also require manufacturing of unique products or original programming. Creation of these information systems include designing and building a new customized applications or architecture, after building software components, they are integrated with the existing or new software and hardware packages and communication infrastructure. There are some system integrators such as SAP providing more specialized and specific applications. High investments in IT in last decade have created a huge demand for the system integration market. As the information technology developed the adoption and implementation of information technology system were high, this generated the distributed information system all over the industries and organization generating the demand for integration of the distributed systems. Thus high investment in distributed information technology system is the main driver for the system integration market. With this there are many emerging technologies supporting system integration market such as bid data and cloud. Cloud implementation and big data solutions implementation is the new trend in the information technology systems market. Thus companies are adopting the integration of their data with adoption of these technologies such as big data and cloud providing added advantages to the companies implementing it. Development in automation sector is driving system integration market, as adoption of system integration technologies is high in automation sector. Thinking about report: Please observe the beneath the hyperlinks to satisfy your necessities; Request for the Report sample :http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/4709 High implementation cost and time required for the effective implementation of system integration is resulting into less adoption of system integration technologies. With this there are very less number of international standard protocols for the communication between two or more information technology sub-systems resulting into complexities for the system integrators. If the industry previously is using legacy systems then it results into increased complexities for system integration. For system integration the network infrastructure must be standard, thus lack of network infrastructure is resulting into deferred demand for the system integration market. System integration market is segmented on the basis of system integration service type, end-use industry and geography. On the basis of type the system integration market is broadly segmented into three major types namely infrastructure system integration services, application system integration services and business consulting services. Infrastructure system integration services are segmented into network management, data center management, building management, security and surveillance management, cloud based integration management and enterprise management. Application system integration services are segmented into data integration, unified communication, integrated social software, application integration and others. Further business consulting services are segmented into business process integration, business transformation and application lifecycle management. System integration market is segmented on the basis of end-user industry into banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), defense, healthcare, telecommunication and IT, oil gas and energy, transportation, retail and others (pharmaceuticals, public sector, education and automotive). And on the basis of geography system integration market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and rest of the world (RoW). Request TOC (desk of content material), Figures and Tables of the report: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/4709 Some of the major players in system integration market are Accenture Plc., BAE Systems Plc., Capgemini S.A., Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), Fujitsu Limited, General Dynamics Corporation, Harris Corporation, IBM Corporation, Infosys Technologies, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Raytheon Company, Leidos Corporation, Tata Consultancy Service Limited and Wipro Limited. With this global players system integration market in Asia Pacific is dominated by local players, such as there are many local players in China and India dominating and holding the maximum market shares. [MANCHESTER] Glass vials, coolers and chicken eggs needed for vaccine manufacture are the first things lacking when a global pandemic breaks, so governments should stockpile them or be ready to rapidly increase their supply, a UK conference has heard. With the ongoing Zika epidemic and several dangerous flu strains on the rise, global logistics must be urgently improved to beat future mass outbreaks, said a panel at the EuroScience Open Forum yesterday. This means having stocks of the things researchers and health workers need to tackle a dangerous virus, including the equipment to develop and distribute vaccines, the conference heard. We have learned one thing from Ebola, and that is that there arent a million glass vials in the world, Andrew Witty, the chief executive officer of pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, said at the event. There also arent enough coolers to store and ship the vaccines. Governments need to take much more responsibility for the production and availability of these things. Fellow panellist Laurie Garrett, who won the Pulitzer Prize for covering the Zaire Ebola outbreak in 1996, said that sterile chicken eggs are also always in short supply when vaccine production is ramped up quickly. These eggs are needed to make vaccines against influenza strains, but it can be hard to get them to the manufacturers when airports and shipping routes are shut down to prevent an epidemic from spreading, she explained. Delays in reacting to epidemics can be disastrous for organising the response, the audience heard. Ebola, for example, was identified in Guinea in December 2013, but the WHO only declared the outbreak as an international health emergency the following August. As a result, important logistical processes to produce and ship the equipment needed to tackle the West African outbreak were delayed, the panellists said. An estimated 11,000 people died from the disease. We have learned one thing from Ebola, and that is that there arent a million glass vials in the world. Andrew Witty, GlaxoSmithKline The panellists slammed national leaders, saying that few lessons have been learned from the Ebola crisis and the ongoing spread of Zika fever. Representatives from pharmaceutical companies said governments must prepare better for future outbreaks, as businesses cannot be expected to meet the costs of storing large quantities of ingredients and materials. Governments ring us and think we can magic up drugs over the weekend, said Witty. They need to take much more responsibility for all aspects of the production cycle. Paul Stoffels, the chief scientific officer at pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, added that more efforts should be made to find long-lasting vaccines for dangerous viruses, such as Ebola and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome), to guarantee protection when these diseases reappear. This is important so we can protect health workers, he said. We must make sure that the people who first see the patients arent also the first ones to die. [NAIROBI] Adopting space technology systems such as the satellite could help Sub-Saharan Africa boost measures to combat poaching and improve biodiversity management, a workshop has heard. According to the workshop, Africa is lagging behind in wildlife conservation measures although space technologies could help manage wildlife and other natural resources such as forests. Space applications are fundamental tools for enhancing wildlife and biodiversity conservation which in turn will bring about sustainable development throughout the world. Judi Wakhungu, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) workshop on space technology and applications for wildlife management and protecting biodiversity took place in Kenya last month (27-30 June). The Workshop was organised by UNOOSA in collaboration with the Kenyan government and United Nations Environment Programme. The conference experts from academic institutions, governments and the private sector said that space science could also help the continent address development challenges, especially in education, defense and environment sectors. For instance, they said, satellites could provide data by monitoring crops in remote locations for potential diseases. They could also be used to identify crop types and crop growth stages, the extent of logging and deforestation, the availability of water, and to accurately monitor biodiversity in general. But the delegates were concerned that space science is not being used in Africa because of high costs of installation, limited capacity and insufficient awareness, with only Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa leading in space technologies on the continent. Kenyas cabinet secretary for environment and natural resources, Judi Wakhungu, told the conference that the peaceful uses of outer space could provide a powerful tool for furthering the well-being of humanity and the earth's environment. Space applications are fundamental tools for enhancing wildlife and biodiversity conservation which in turn will bring about sustainable development throughout the world. Wakhungu said. According to the experts, building space technology skills capacity is necessary for Africa to achieve UNs Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development Goals. Space science could help find innovative solutions to climate change, insecurity and poaching but there is little capacity to reap the benefits, they added. Thus, African universities were challenged to create centres of excellence especially in remote sensing, telecommunications, meteorology and navigation. Jean-Charles Bigot, an aerospace engineer from the European Space Agency, told participants that adopting space technologies could help the continent collect accurate and continuous data on environmental matters that affect biodiversity-threatening activities such as fishing and mining. Ghislain Sayer, Africas director for European space company, Airbus, added: We need to increase awareness especially to our governments on the importance of space technology in biodiversity management.In an exclusive interview with SciDev.Net, Sayer explained that awareness will help increase the adoption of satellites that could help in detecting illegal activities such as poaching, and help monitor deforestation and land degradation.Sayer also urged African countries to create space agencies to implement outreach programmes for awareness creation and increased international cooperation This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Sub-Saharan Africa English desk. The U.S. Air Force Space Command has uncovered the creation of a new type of soldier called "Space Mission Force." It aims to train soldiers to manage military satellites and weapons in respond to threats in orbit and protect America utilizing satellites. U.S. General John Hyten wrote in his eight-page white paper outlining the plan that the space forces must demonstrate their ability to react to a thinking adversary and operate as warfighters in this environment. The paper is entitled "Space Mission Force: Developing Space Warfighters for Tomorrow," according to Daily Mail. Gen. Hyten further said that adversaries have developed and fielded capabilities to disrupt and deny the space systems they operate on behalf of the United States and the allies. He added that they must organize, train and equip the space forces in a way that maintains the vigilance. As of today, there are about 1,38O satellites in orbit around the Earth, said the Union of Concerned Scientists. About 149 of these satellites are managed by the US military or have the joint use. The allies of the US are not included in the NORAD databases. On the other hand, Israel has nine military satellites in orbit, the UK has seven, Germany has seven too and France has eight satellites. The Air Force has aready Space Command squadrons that would defend the military satellites. They are still looking for the number of personnel. The airmen will have six months of training and have them work four to six months with the supervision of an experienced Space Command personnel as reported by Engadget. There are two squadrons that started their training. It is scheduled also next year the moving of space wing that mans the Air Force warning satellites to the Space Mission Force. Gen. Hyten also wrote that the training and skills that sustained their space operations for the last several decades are not the same skills they need to fight through threats and win in today's contested, degraded and operationally--limited environment. Rumors about Apple working on to develop an electric vehicle have been making rounds for quite some time now. A new report coming from Wall Street Journal claims that the tech giant is indeed serious about its plans and has reportedly handed over reigns of its secret electric car initiative, dubbed "Project Titan," in the hands of senior executive, Bob Mansfield. According to the report, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, all the senior managers and engineers working on the Cupertino's car project have already begun reporting to Mr. Mansfield. Mansfield joined Apple under the leadership of Steve Jobs in 1999 after the company acquired Raycer Graphics, where he served as vice president of engineering. During his work tenure, Mansfield has served as an adviser in Apple since stepping down from his day-to-day role on the executive team in 2013. However, he continued to work with the company on special projects. He has led hardware engineering efforts on the development of the iMac, iPad and MacBook Air and has also worked on Apple Watch. The news of Mr. Mansfield's reassignment comes months after Steve Zadesky, the Apple vice president in charge of "Project Titan," left the company back in January. The Information recently reported that the anticipated shipping date of Apple's secret electric car has been pushed back to 2021. The company originally targeted a release in 2020. While, Apple has never confirmed its secretive automotive project, there have been reports which claim that the iPhone maker has purchased several web addresses related to cars, including apple.car and apple.auto, and has around 600 employees working on "Project Titan." Back in June, the company tapped in Sinisa Durekovic, the talent behind Harman's navigation system and also invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing, a China-based ride-sharing company, in May. Apple is yet to officially confirm Bob Mansfield's appointment. The New Hampshire E. Coli incidents is being investigated by health officials in an aim of tracking down the source of the New Hampshire E. Coli outbreak that has sickened at least 12 patients. The Division of Public Health Services is working with the federal partners to investigate the source of the ground beef that caused the New Hampshire E. Coli Outbreak according to Marcella Bobinsky, acting director of DPHS. The New Hampshire E. Coli outbreak, according to authorities, has been linked to ground beef, Meat Poultry reported. However, the New Hampshire E. Coli outbreak patients have eaten the beef from several different locations. The New Hampshire E. Coli outbreak report claimed that the ground beef is a known source of E. coli that is why it is important for people to avoid eating undercooked ground beef. To avoid the New Hampshire E. Coli outbreak again, it is advised that ground beef should be cooked to a temperature of at least 160F or 70C. It is also important for consumers to thoroughly wash their hands, counters, cutting boards and utensils after touching raw meat to avoid the spread the New Hampshire E. Coli outbreak. The New Hampshire E. Coli outbreak investigation revealed that 12 New Hampshire E. Coli Outbreak patients were sickened by the same strain of pathogen after eating ground beef that caused the New Hampshire E. Coli outbreak. The strain that infected a dozen of people in the New Hampshire E. Coli outbreak is known as Escherichia coli O157:H7, which can cause severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, bloody stool and vomiting. Most people recover within five to seven days, but very young children and the elderly are vulnerable to hemolytic uremic syndrome, a potentially life-threatening complication. The New Hampshire E. Coli outbreak does not present a risk to New Hampshire residents, Nature World News reported. However, the New Hampshire E. Coli outbreak investigating health officials still recommended that consumers should strictly follow food safety best practices. A new study has found that children who do not get adequate sleep at night are at high risk of developing emotional disorders later in life. According to Candice Alfano, lead author of the study, a healthy sleep is very important for a child's psychological and emotional well-being, reported ScienceAlert. She added that children who experience continued poor sleep tend to suffer from depression, anxiety disorder and other emotional problems eventually. Alfano is a clinical psychologist and associate psychology professor at the University of Houston. The research team imposed temporary sleep restrictions in 50 pre-adolescent children aged seven to 11 to find out if there's a link between sleep deprivation and emotional health. The study found that lack of sleep in children triggered negative emotions in them and also altered their positive emotional experiences. "Sleep deprivation can create a 'perfect storm' for experiencing negative emotions and consequences," said Alfano, reported Consumer Affairs. The researchers found that children who experienced poor sleep for just two days found less pleasure in doing things which are usually considered as positive. In fact, those children reacted less to positive things and became less likely to recall details about their fun and positive experiences. Taking note of the study results, Alfano has called out parents to consider sleep as crucial as nutrition, dental hygiene and physical activity for their children's overall health. She added that parents should note signs of inadequate sleep in children, which may include trouble waking up in the morning or sleepiness during the day. This can result from late bedtimes, inconsistent sleep schedules, and non-restful sleep. The research team from the Sleep and Anxiety Centre of Houston are hoping to conduct more longitudinal studies to measure effects of poor sleep over time as children grow older. The research is being funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in the US. MamieMcClamLAKE CITY -- Funeral service for Mamie McClam will be 2:00 p m, Friday, July 22, 2016, at Wesley Chapel UMC, 112 Deep River St., Lake City, SC, directed by Green's Funeral Home.Ms. Mamie McClam entered peacefully into eternal rest July 16, 2016. She was born April 3, 1947, to the late Mr. Clyde McClam, Sr. and Mrs. Henrietta Atkinson McClam. Mamie received Christ as her personal Savior and was faithful in her service to God which was evident in the way she lived. She was an innate family and community leader who believed in the value of hard work and persevered in completing tasks to the best of her ability. Mamie was a lifelong member of Wesley Chapel UMC where she served diligently in several capacities. Over the years, she served as a member of the Young Adult Choir, Pastor Parish Relations Committee, Lay Member to the SC Annual Conference, Trustee Board, co-chair of the Wesley Chapel Anniversary Committee, the Outreach Ministry, the Nursing Home Ministry, and as secretary of the Franklin Smith Sunday School Class. Additionally, she served as President of the United Methodist Women and Children's Ministry Coordinator in which she directed the annual Easter and Christmas programs and the Children's Choir. She was a member of Willing Workers Chapter 330 Order of Eastern Star and Iota Zi Zeta Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. She was also a member of First Citizens Bank Advisory Board.Mamie attended the public schools of Florence County and was a 1964 graduate of Carver High School. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Claflin University in 1968. Afterwards, she earned a Master of Education in Elementary Education from Francis Marion University in 1977. In 1980, Mamie earned certification in educational administration from The University of South Carolina.She spent her professional career as an educator and taught in the SC public school system as an elementary teacher for 30 years. Her teaching experiences were with Marlboro County, Dillon County, Williamsburg County, and Florence County School District Three where she taught at Olanta Elementary School and the then J. Paul Truluck Elementary School. After 30 years of teaching, she entered the field of educational administration and served as principal of East Clarendon Middle School for five years. Under her leadership, a new middle school was built. Afterwards, Mamie became a principal specialist with the SC Department of Education and was assigned to lead Palmetto Middle School in Mullins, SC. Based on her outstanding performance, she was also assigned to lead Palmetto Elementary School in Mullins the following year. Mamie served simultaneously as principal specialist of Palmetto Middle and Palmetto Elementary schools. Mamie's natural authoritative style and attention to detail contributed to her success as an elementary teacher, principal, and principal specialist.She was preceded in death by a brother Clyde McClam, Jr. and a sister Beauty M. McIntosh. Those left to cherish her loving memory are her four devoted sisters: Mary Fulmore, Rona McClam, and Dr. Dorothy J. McClam, all of Lake City, SC, and Cleo Daniels of New York City; three brothers: Roy (Janice) McClam of Teaneck, New Jersey; Rev. Mack (Gwendolyn) McClam of Orangeburg, SC and David McClam of Oklahoma City, OK; a sister-in-law Queen McClam of Columbia, SC; a host of loving nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends; devoted friends: Almeta Campbell and Gloria Brayboy; and a special companion Luke Daniels. "Muslims must understand that they have to adapt to Canada and Quebec its customs, its traditions, its way of life because that's where they chose to immigrate. They must understand that they have to integrate and learn to live in Quebec. They must understand that it is for them to change their lifestyle, not for the Canadians who so generously welcomed them. They must understand that Canadians are neither racist nor xenophobic; they accepted many immigrants before Muslims. The reverse, however, is not true. Muslim states do not accept non-Muslim immigrants. Canadians are not willing to give up their identity or culture any more than the people of any other nation are. And if Canada is a land of welcome, it's not the mayor of Dorval who welcomes foreigners, but the Canadian people as a whole. Finally, Muslims must understand that in Canada with its Judeo-Christian roots, Christmas trees, churches, and religious festivals, religion must remain in the private domain." A 45% reduction from the applicable canal transit tolls, excluding other services dues, is being offered to VLCCs of over 200,000 dwt ballasting from the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and the north coast of South America to the Middle East. The new discount follows an experimental toll announced by the SCA last month which Seatrade Maritime News learned could save VLCC owner/operators in excess of $70,000 for each northbound transit from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. The canal is one of Egypt's main sources of foreign currency and the new toll is another thinly veined attempt to drum up revenue as the country confronts its $8bn bill for the expansion of the Suez Canal and renewed competition from the widened Panama Canal. The expanded Panama Canal has quickly regained some of the Asia-US East Coast container trade it lost to the Suez which was a longer distance to sail but offered a better economy of scale equation compared to the 4,000-5,000 teu vessels which could be handled in the now dated panamax days. In a fresh blow to the SCA, Maersk Line is the latest player to reconfigure its Asia-US East Coast service. Maersks is to deploy 11 of its 8,500 boxships on the new TP12 round-the-world route which transits the Suez just once (on the return leg to Asia) instead of both ways as before. An increasing number of container lines have veered clear of the Suez Canal and its tolls on the backhaul route from the US East Coast to Asia. The SCA responded in March by offering lines a 30% discount on tolls for containerships bound from US east coast ports - from New York southwards - transiting the canal with their first call in Asia being at Port Klang, Malaysia or eastwards. With no takers by May the discount was increased to as much as 65% last month. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi inaugurated the widened Suez Canal last year, a project designed to double daily traffic and increase annual revenue to more than $13bn by 2023. To qualify for the SCAs latest 45% discount VLCC operators must submit a request a minimum of 60 days before transit, subject to authorised port of origin and port of arrival documentation including ballast calculations from the former. On Monday the French container line dispatched letters of compulsory acquisition to the remaining shareholders that did not take up its SGD1.30 per share takeover offer. CMA CGMs general offer for NOL closed on 18 July with owning 97.83% of shares in the Singapore-listed container line. As result CMA CGM is able to de-list NOL and acquire all remaining shares in the company it does not already own. The acquisition of NOL is part of an ongoing consolidation of the liner shipping sector, which has seen UASC merge with Hapag-Lloyd and the merger of Cosco Container Lines and China Shipping Container Lines. However, the global terminal operator has said conditions in Australia and Latin America remain challenging while the H1 throughput at its four UAE terminals, headlined by its flagship Jebel Ali operation, dipped 6% year-on-year to 7.4m teu due to a reduction of lower-margin cargo. A DP World spokesperson this was dues to transhipment cargo that usually goes to other parts of the Middle East [and a] slowdown due to weaker GDP growth on lower commodity prices. The gross volume growth to 31.4m teu at its 77 marine and inland terminals in 40 countries across six continents is a 1.2% increase on a like-for-like basis. New volume that has come on-stream at its terminals in Prince Rupert (Canada), Yarimca (Turkey), Stuttgart (Germany) and Antwerp Inland (Belgium) contributed to the 2.5% uptick on a reported basis. While specific throughput figures were not released, DP said its London Gateway terminal had experienced a strong start to the year and general market conditions in India are positive. A third berth at London Gateway is due on line this year, delivering 600,000 teu of extra capacity. Gross volumes for its Europe, Middle East and Africa portfolio climbed 0.6% period-on-period but were dragged down by the soft UAE volumes. DP World operates seven terminals - Qasim (Pakistan), Mundra, Nhava Sheva, Cochin, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Kulpi (India) in the Indian subcontinent. The region, grouped with Asia Pacific for reporting purposes, showed 2.9% reported growth, mirrored by its like-for-like performance. Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, DP Worlds group chairman and ceo, is buoyed by the continued growth despite the challenging market conditions. We expect the second half of 2016 to show an improved performance as our new developments in Rotterdam (The Netherlands), Nhava Sheva (India), London Gateway and Yarimca (Turkey) deliver an increasing contribution, Sulayem said. We continue to focus on driving profitability by targeting higher margin cargo, improving efficiencies and managing costs. We are encouraged by the progress we have made in the first half of 2016, and we remain confident in meeting full year market expectations. Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited. Four clones of Dolly the sheep known as Nottingham's Dollies -- Debbie, Denise, Dianna and Daisy -- have just celebrated their 9th birthdays and, save for a bit of arthritis, are in good health, according to a new study that concludes clones can live long and healthy lives. Given the apparent success of the sheep cloning project, research on cell reprogramming conducted by scientists around the globe is expected to move forward, with possible applications to human reproduction, health and agriculture. The new findings, reported in the journal Nature Communications, come during the 20th anniversary year of the birth of Dolly (19962003), who was the first mammal to be successfully cloned from an adult cell. She died from a progressive lung disease at the relatively young age of 6; the average lifespan of a sheep is 1012 years. RELATED: Should Humanity Be Trusted with Cloning? The scientists believe that a number of factors help to explain why the quartet of Nottingham's Dollies is thriving, even though they were derived from the same cell line that produced Dolly. "Environment will play a big role in longevity and health," lead author Kevin Sinclair, a professor of developmental biology at the University of Nottingham, told Discovery News. "You could imagine a study where you separated identical twins at birth and placed one in an impoverished environment and the other in an enriched environment. Life expectancy and health will differ considerably. However, Dolly and the other four clones here at Nottingham were all well managed." Other possible reasons include the fact that the Nottingham Dollies have the same nuclear DNA as Dolly did, but different mitochondrial DNA because the eggs came from different donors. Epigenetic variations -- i.e., modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself -- vary between individual animals and could also contribute to health differences. Another factor is bad luck. "Dolly died because she picked up a virus that causes lung tumors," Sinclair said. He was a close colleague of the late Keith Campbell, also of the University of Nottingham, who was a leader of the initial Dolly cloning project. For the more recent work led by Sinclair, Notthingham's Dollies and other cloned sheep at the university last year underwent a barrage of medical tests. The examinations looked for obesity, hypertension, osteoarthritis, glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. The researchers also examined the heart rate, blood pressure and entire muscle/bone health of the existent cloned sheep. The tests found that all of the clones showed no sign of disease or other health problems, save for some mild cases of arthritis as well as, in Debbie's case, a more moderate form of this degeneration. The cloning technology that yielded Debbie and her sheep sisters is called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). For this process, a nucleus is removed from a healthy egg that then becomes the host for a nucleus, which is transplanted from another cell, such as a skin cell. "SCNT can and is being used in farm animal breeding in North America and Asia," Sinclair said. "It can be used to increase responses to selection for traits of agricultural importance, such as growth, milk yield, animal health (disease resistance), and environmental impact. If you work with genetically modified donor cells, then you can also produce transgenic (genetically altered) animals by SCNT -- again with improved characteristics for the aforementioned traits." SCNT has been used to generate human embryonic stem cells. These hold potential for therapeutic purposes and also for research to better understand human health issues. WATCH:Are We Finally Ready To Clone A Mammoth? Although other experts say it is now biologically possible to clone a human, the ethics and legality surrounding such a possibility are a minefield. Sinclair said, "Human cloning is banned in every country that I am aware of. I can think of no reason why you would want to clone a human and can see no benefit of it." Another problem is that the efficiency of SCNT remains low, meaning that a relatively large number of cloned embryos generated in a laboratory are required to produce cloned offspring compared to natural conception or in vitro fertilization. RELATED: Would You Eat Cloned Animal Meat? "As with natural conception and IVF there are losses throughout gestation and in the period shortly after birth; it's just that these losses are greater with cloned embryos," Sinclair said. Embryo loss, pregnancy complications and the deaths of newborns are still high as a result. Ethical concerns then remain concerning the welfare of cloned animals, despite the good health report for the Nottingham Dollies. Anecdotal evidence suggests that cloned cattle can also live long and healthy lives, once past the critical early life risks. Bruce Whitelaw, a professor of animal biotechnology at the University of Edinburgh's Roslin Institute, told Discovery News that the new information about the health of the Nottingham Dollies is "another part of the evidence that animal biotechnologies can be successfully used." All organisms alive now descended from one heat-loving survivor, LUCA, but until now scientists had little insight into how the organism managed. That bombardment "probably resulted in Earth being periodically heated to the point that the oceans were vaporized ... leading to bottlenecks in the diversity of life at the time at the time," biologist James McInerney, with the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, writes in this week's issue of the journal Nature Microbiology. The last universal common ancestor, nicknamed LUCA, lived about 4 billion years ago at a time when there was little oxygen in the atmosphere and the planet was being regularly blasted by impacting comets and asteroids. Deep-sea vents, such as this black smoker chimney named "Boardwalk", which is located 7,260 feet deep in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, illustrate where the ancestor of current life on Earth evolved. Credit: NOAA/James F. Holden, UMass Amherst The last organism to exist before life branched out had a warm, oxygen-free, mineral-rich home, an environment similar to hot springs on Earth today, a new study shows. "Given that genomes are usually well adapted to their environment, knowing LUCA's genome could lend insight into the environmental conditions in which LUCA lived," McInerney said. For the new study, scientists analyzed the evolutionary relationship of 6.1 million protein-coding genes in 1,847 bacterial and 134 archaeal genomes, aiming to get insight into the biology of LUCA. RELATED: Earth's Water was Present During Planetary Birth Madeline Weiss, with Heinrich Heine University in Dusseldorf, Germany, and colleagues found that out of 286,514 protein clusters, 355 gene families date back to LUCA, the organism from which both bacteria and archaea emerged. Extrapolating from that analysis, the scientists infer that LUCA did not need oxygen to grow, that it thrived at relatively high temperatures and that it used carbon dioxide, nitrogen and hydrogen to sustain its metabolic pathways. LUCA was also dependent on metals such as iron, and other elements like selenium, the scientists found. The presence of a thermophile-specific gene in LUCA buttress the idea that life began at hydrothermal vents, a theory that propels the search for life in ocean-bearing, outer moons of Saturn and Jupiter. RELATED: Did Life Start on Mars? LUCA's closest relatives alive today are clostridia, a group of anaerobic bacterium that includes pathogens which cause tetanus and botulism, and methanogens, Weiss and colleagues wrote. "When we look at the inferred metabolism of LUCA, we are looking at the dominant and most successful kind of metabolism on the planet before the Bacteria and Archaea diverged," McInerney said. "This new study provides us with a very intriguing insight into life 4 billion years ago." Still unknown is whether the 355 gene families identified in the study were in the same cell at the same time, or what other genes were present, he added. The thing with astronomical discoveries throughout history is that it's usually the astronomer, not the telescope, that is forever remembered. But when you visit the observatories where some of the biggest discoveries have been made, it becomes clear that the telescope is a monument in itself and a focal point for communities to be proud of. RELATED: From the Start, Pluto was a Puzzle: Timeline One such monument is near Flagstaff in Arizona that has the very proud distinction of being the telescope that was used to discover Pluto. And 86 years after it played a key role in that discovery, culminating in the NASA New Horizons flyby last year, the telescope needs some love and a Kickstarter campaign has been set up to renovate the telescope and its dome. It was 24-year-old astronomer Clyde Tombaugh who made that fateful find on Feb. 18, 1930, as he was poring over photographic plates that were taken the previous month at Lowell Observatory. The plates came from a telescope that was built with the explicit task to seek out the mysterious "Planet X" in the outer regions of the solar system. The quest was started by Lowell Observatory's founder Percival Lowell in 1909, but the search went on long after his death in 1916, resulting in the discovery of Pluto by Tombaugh 14 years later. Although it turned out that Pluto wasn't Lowell's "Planet X," it was a planet nonetheless. But in 2006, after the discovery of Eris, Pluto was controversially reclassified (or "demoted" as it was widely seen) from a "planet" to a "dwarf planet," an event that reverberates with astronomers and the public to this day. RELATED: NASA's Mission to Pluto by the Numbers "For the visitors that come (to the observatory), Pluto has been controversial for so long -- "Is it a planet? Isn't it a planet?" -- and that's not going to change I don't think," Kevin Schindler, Lowell Observatory Historian, told Discovery News. "And because of that controversy, people want to learn even more about it. "This discovery was made in America, it's often called "America's Planet" or "Arizona's Planet" or "Flagstaff's Planet," there's a certain level of community pride that comes with it. So while our visitors like to hear about the discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh, they go into whispers when they see the telescope." WATCH VIDEO: Why Did We Send a Probe to Pluto? During those pioneering years, astronomers recorded the heavens on photographic plates. To seek out any previously unnoticed planets in the solar system, a blink comparator was used to switch between plates taken on different nights. While switching between plates, distant stars would remain static, but occasionally one of those "stars" would move, revealing that it was in fact a planet. On Feb. 18, 1930, it was the young observatory assistant who saw something move in outer solar system -- it was Pluto drifting in front of the stars. RELATED: Fly With New Horizons During Stunning Pluto Encounter This discovery wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for the 13 inch "astrograph" (or astronomical camera) that imaged the sky to take the original photographs. But 87 years after its construction, the telescope and its dome are in urgent need of attention and it is hoped that, through the power of crowdfunding, the Pluto Discovery Telescope won't only be "visitor ready," it could also be used to image the famous little world once more. "We see the telescope as a major part of the visitor experience (at the observatory)," said Schindler. "It's one of the top things they want to see ... so (after repairs are made) its prime use will be availability for daytime tours. But what we'd like to do is to put it back into operation to do some periodic observing which we could not only image Pluto, but other stuff in the sky also." The Kickstarter campaign is aiming to raise $22,765 to renovate the telescope (at time of writing, the campaign had raised $11,938 with 27 days to go), but the majority of funds will go into dome renovations, said Schindler. Age-related wear and tear, weathering and rotting wood are major concerns. Also, to make it ready for tours once more, the interior will need to be refurbished, including repairs to the steps that access the dome, carpeting and paint work. RELATED: New Horizons Gets USPS Stamp of Pluto Approval As for the telescope itself, after decades of use it's really worn, particularly the scales that are used to position the telescope. "The right ascension and declination are almost illegible because the numbers have worn off over the years," Schindler added. Once renovated, it is hoped that visitors might even be able to image Pluto themselves. Though the dwarf planet will just be a faint dot in a star-filled sky, Schindler thinks that "historically it will be really neat" to see a distant Pluto through the lens of the telescope that first discovered the little world. Hundreds of mysterious spheres lie beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, an ancient six-level step pyramid just 30 miles from Mexico City. The enigmatic spheres were found during an archaeological dig using a camera-equipped robot at one of the most important buildings in the pre-Hispanic city of Teotihuacan. "They look like yellow spheres, but we do not know their meaning. It's an unprecedented discovery," said Jorge Zavala, an archaeologist at Mexico's National Anthropology and History Institute. PHOTOS: The Temple of the Feathered Serpent The Mesoamerican ruins of Teotihuacan, a World Heritage Site, represent one of the largest urban centers of the ancient world. Thought to have been established around 100 B.C., the pyramid-filled city had more than 100,000 inhabitants at its peak, but was abandoned for mysterious reasons around 700 A.D. -- long before the Aztecs arrived in the 1300s. The excavation at the temple focused on a 330-foot-long tunnel which runs under the structure. The conduit was discovered in 2003 when heavy rain uncovered a hole a few feet from the pyramid. Exploring the tunnel, which was deliberately filled with debris and ruins by the Teotihuacan people, required several years of preliminary work and planning. "Finally, a few months ago we found two side chambers at 72 and 74 meters (236 and 242 feet) from the entrance. We called them North Chamber and South Chamber," archaeologist Sergio Gomez Chavez, director of the Tlalocan Project, told Discovery News. The archaeologists explored the tunnel with a remote-controlled robot called Tlaloc II-TC, which has an infrared camera and a laser scanner that generates 3D visualization of the spaces beneath the temple. "The robot was able to enter in the part of the tunnel which has not yet been excavated yet and found three chambers between 100 and 110 meters (328 and 360 feet) from the entrance," Gomez Chavez said. The mysterious spheres lay in both the north and south chambers. Ranging from 1.5 to 5 inches, the objects have a core of clay and are covered with a yellow material called jarosite. "This material is formed by the oxidation of pyrite, which is a metallic ore," Gomez Chavez said. "It means that in pre-hispanic times they appeared as if they were metallic spheres. There are hundreds of these in the south chamber." According to George Cowgill, professor emeritus at Arizona State University and the author of several publications on Teotihuacan, the spheres are a fascinating find. "Pyrite was certainly used by the Teotihuacanos and other ancient Mesoamerican societies," Cowgill told Discovery News. "Originally the spheres would have shown brilliantly. They are indeed unique, but I have no idea what they mean." NEWS: Maya Observatory Hints at Origin of Civilization Even the walls and ceiling of both chambers were covered with a mineral powder composed of magnetite, pyrite and hematite which provided a special brightness to the place. "We believe that high-ranking people, priests or even rulers, went down to the tunnel to perform rituals," Gomez Chavez said. Indeed the archaeologists found many offerings, including pottery and wooden masks covered with inlaid rock crystal, jade and quartz -- all dating from around 100 A.D. Gomez Chavez and his team now look forward to the next phase of the project -- exploring the last part of the tunnel and three chambers which archaeologists have seen through the robot cameras. "The tunnel is in pristine condition, untouched for almost two millennia," said Ng "TC" Tze Chuen, an independent researcher who worked on the design of the Tlaloc II-TC robot. "Can you can imagine what can be found inside?" Ng, who helped create the Djedi robot that explored Egypt's Great Pyramid in 2010, believes the Mexican tunnel might lead to one of the most significant archaeological finds in Teotihuacan. "The results are very encouraging indeed," he said. According to Gomez Chavez, the tunnel was sealed twice by the Teotihuacan people. Thick walls, erected to block access, were demolished about 1,800 years ago in order to deposit something very important in the central chamber at the end of the tunnel. "Maybe in this place," Gomez Chavez said, "we will find the remains of those who ruled Teotihuacan." The Temple of the Feathered Serpent, also known as the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, is a six-level pyramid decorated with snake-like creatures. Hundreds of mysterious spheres are discovered beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, in the pre-Hispanic city of Teotihuacan, just 30 miles from Mexico City. Also known as the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, this six-level step pyramid is decorated with feathered serpent heads and snake-like creatures. It was built by the Teotihuacan people possibly between 100 and 200 A.D. The excavation focused on a 330-foot-long tunnel which runs under the structure. The conduit was discovered in 2003 when heavy rain uncovered a hole a few feet from the temple. Exploration of the tunnel, which was deliberately filled by debris and ruins by the Teotihuacan people, required several years of preliminary work and planning. A few months ago archaeologists found two side chambers near the entrance. The walls and ceiling of both chambers were covered with a mineral powder composed of magnetite, pyrite and hematite which provided a special brightness to the place and a peculiar atmosphere for the rituals that were most likely carried there. According to archaeologists, the spheres would have appeared metallic to those who placed them here. To understand where and how the tunnel ended, the archaeologists used a 3-foot-long, remote-controlled robot which was able to explore the last part of the duct. Called Tlaloc II-TC, the robot uses an infrared camera and a laser scanner to generate 3D visualization of the spaces beneath the temple. The chambers are displayed as they were plotted by the laser scanner. A historical scholar claims to have found evidence proving that the story of Jesus as described in the New Testament is a fiction, and that historical claims about Jesus were actually created by Roman aristocrats to control the poor. According to a news story in The Independent: "Joseph Atwill, who is the author of a book entitled Caesar's Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus', asserts that Christianity did not begin as a religion, but was actually a sophisticated government propaganda exercise used to pacify the subjects of the Roman Empire." Atwill's take on Jesus is of course not new. In 1844 Karl Marx famously declared religion as the opiate of the masses. History is filled with skeptics, freethinkers, atheists, agnostics and other doubters who have questioned religious doctrine and dogma. PHOTOS: Ancient Tomb Holds Jesus Mystery Atwill's claims are based on what he described as important and revealing parallels between a first-person account of first-century Judea (an ancient Roman province now part of Israel and Palestine) and the New Testament. "What seems to have eluded many scholars is that the sequence of events and locations of Jesus ministry are more or less the same as the sequence of events and locations of the military campaign of (Emperor) Titus Flavius as described by Josephus," Atwill wrote in a blog on his web site. Atwill believes that the story of Jesus was actually copied and created from the biography of the Roman emperor. Evidence for a Historical Jesus? While Atwill's thesis is intriguing, there are reasons to be skeptical. "The reality is we are unlikely ever to know the facts' about Jesus," says Ronald A. Lindsay, a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Inquiry, a non-profit educational organization. Lindsay authored an essay on the evidence for Jesus in the book "Sources of the Jesus Tradition." "There are too many different stories about him, all of which have some serious credibility problems and which are inconsistent with one another," Lindsay told Discovery News. "For the objective historian, he will always remain a shadowy figure, with little substantive biographical content. On the one hand, we have many who will take things on faith, accepting some subset of the stories as unquestionably true. On the other hand, there are those who insist that Jesus is an invented figure, a myth or a hoax. I think both of these extremes are almost equally implausible." Biblical scholars, as well as lay Christians, have long sought hard evidence of events and miracles described in the Bible, ranging from Noah's Ark to the Shroud of Turin, with little success. New claims about proof of Jesus surface every few years. People Claiming to Be Jesus For example, in 2003 a relics dealer claimed to have discovered a limestone mortuary box that held the remains of Jesus' brother. The inscription read, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." The find made international news and spawned several documentaries, including one titled "The Lost Tomb of Jesus," which aired on the Discovery Channel. Further investigation by the Israeli Antiquities Authority concluded that though the ossuary box was authentic, the inscription on it had been faked. And just last year an historian at Harvard Divinity School claimed to have found documentary evidence in the form of a fragment of Coptic writing on papyrus that Jesus was married; a later analysis by Biblical scholars suggested the writing was hoaxed. Over and over, these "discoveries" typically turn out to be far more hype than fact and are trotted out as teasers to promote a new book, TV series or film. And, of course, Dan Brown made millions from his own fictional, conspiracy-laden versions of Jesus' story - though his premise is claimed by a few writers to be based on fact. Though Atwill's claims have yet to be verified by other historians, whatever their consensus it will certainly not resolve the matter. The likelihood that any sort of real, definitive proof about Jesus will suddenly be discovered two millennia after he died (assuming, of course, that he existed) is vanishingly remote. Then again, that's why religions are based on faith. Germany recently announced a plan to significantly expand its military, a development which would have triggered worldwide alarm not too long ago. Germany's old World War II ally Japan has also made changes to its constitution, permitting its military to engage in missions other than self-defense. Why are these countries once again expanding their military forces? Jules Suzdaltsev puts the developments into historical context in today's DNews dispatch. At the end of World War Two, Allied forces occupied both Germany and Japan for several years. During that period, both countries agrees to rewrite their respective constitutions to limit future military build-up. The idea was to prevent Germany and Japan from becoming the aggressors in another war. Article Nine of the Japan's new constitution stated that the country would essentially become a pacifist nation and never again maintain "land, sea or air forces." However, when U.S. forces ended their occupation, it became immediately clear that Japan was utterly defenseless against regional aggression from neighbors like China and Russia. In 1954, Japan established a small Self-Defense Force. Six years later, the country entered into an agreement by which the U.S. would maintain military bases in Japan and defend the island nation from attack. RELATED: Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' Goes on Sale in Germany Meanwhile, over in Germany, the newly-written 1949 Constitution limited armed forces to domestic defense uses only. However, as the Cold War heated up, Germany became a front line again in a different kind of conflict. In 1955, West Germany was allowed to establish armed forces and join NATO. Gradually, the new German army expanded to 500,000 troops and provided the bulk of NATO's defensive forces in central Europe. Germany reduced its forces at the end of the Cold War and imposed a cap of 185,000 troops. But now the country is ramping up its military once again, in response to terrorism and the growing migrant crisis in Europe. The newest policies, enacted in June, will add more than 7,000 troops and $150 billion to the defense budget. In Japan, new laws passed in 2015 will allow the country to deploy troops overseas for the first time in 70 years and join allies in military operations. The new rules also bolster Japan's defense options when guarding against North Korean aggression or China's recent efforts at territorial expansion. Why are Japan and Germany are arming themselves once again? The simple answer is also the most accurate: The world is a different place than it was 70 years ago. -- Glenn McDonald Learn More: New York Times: In a Reversal, Germany's Military Growth Is Met With Western Relief Telegraph: Japan allows army to join foreign forces in action The Guardian: Germany slowly comes to terms with sending its armed forces abroad BBC: Toothless tiger: Japan Self-Defense Forces The Detroit Creative Corridor Center (DC3) wants to help figure out how best to harness the Motor City's flair for design to improve its local economy, and it's launching the Detroit City of Design initiative to make that happen."We want to build a community vision for what the designers can achieve," says Olga Stella, executive director of the Detroit Creative Corridor Center This effort comes shortly after Detroit was recognized as an UNESCO City of Design , the first and only one in the U.S. The Detroit City of Design initiative's goal is to bring together design professionals in industry, academia, policy, and community to collectively build an innovative, equitable, and sustainable city through the power of design.According to Stella, they'll ask and answer questions like, "What is unique about Detroit? What are our assets and opportunities?"The Detroit City of Design initiative will take place over 10 years. In its first year DC3 wants to lay the groundwork for creating a common vision on how design can best impact the region. Specifically, organizers want to see how such a vision can boost Metro Detroit's economy.Other cities with UNESCO City of Design designations have harnessed them for a variety of purposes. Since 2004, the creative sector in Buenos Aires has grown by 90 percent. It now makes up nearly 10 percent of the city's gross domestic product and employs nine percent (almost 150,000 people) of the city's workforce. Since 2009, Montreal has invested more than $225 million in public projects hosting 25 public design competitions that resulted in $17 million in revenue for the local design community.DC3 hopes to make similarly big gains by harnessing the UNESCO designation."For us, it's about economic development," Stella says.DC3 will host a series of events celebrating design in the Motor City throughout this year, including the annual Detroit Design Festival on Sept. 22-24. The three-day citywide celebration of design has attracted more than 100,000 people the past five years. CourtesyMexican Museum On the morning of July 19, as supporters of San Franciscos Mexican Museum celebrated the unveiling of a cornerstone for its new, $63 million facility at 701 Mission St., one key person was, sadly, absent. Peter Rodriguez, an abstract painter who set aside his career to found the museum in 1975 and lead it through its early years, died July 1, at age 90. He was remembered at the opening of the ceremony, which was attended by museum trustees and donors, and by such political figures as U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Mexican Foreign Secretary Claudia Ruiz Massieu, and state and city leaders. Mr. Rodriguez served as both executive director and curator of the Mexican Museum during its first decade. Though the financial challenges were substantial, he expanded the institutions influence through his service on the San Francisco Arts Commission and on the Museum Advisory Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts. His own art was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Haggin Museum in Stockton in 1992. A California Highway Patrol helicopter swept down and hovered over a beach near Bolinas to rescue three hikers who became trapped between a sheer cliff and rising tides, officials said Tuesday. U.S. National Park rangers called in the rescue chopper, California Highway Patrol Helicopter 32, after the three young adults hiking along the Marin National Seashore became trapped Sunday when rising tides on a small stretch of sand just north of Bolinas, CHP Golden Gate Division Air Operations officials said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A 27-year-old woman stared down at her iPhone as she strolled through San Franciscos Chinatown on Friday evening. She didnt suspect that she would get caught in a crime scene on her quest to catch digital monsters. As she attempted to wrangle the fictional Pokemon into Poke balls on her phone, a man in his 20s grabbed her smartphone and ran off with it. She was injured but did not seek medical attention, according to police. As downloads of Pokemon Go set new records, the augmented reality game, created by San Franciscos Niantic, has transformed actual reality for law enforcement. Players drop their guard and criminals have learned to prey on the unaware sometimes even using the games virtual tools to find or draw victims. At the same time, police departments are finding they, too, can make use of Pokemons runaway popularity. People are sometimes so fixated on the game that they do things they wouldnt ordinarily do, like run through neighborhoods late at night or bike while focusing on their iPhones, said Chomnan Loth, a Newark police lieutenant. Theyre clueless to whats going on around them, Loth said. For police, hating the players or the game isnt much of a choice. So Loths department hosted a Pokemon With Police event Sunday evening. It paid $10 to drop lures in the game, which made the already extant PokeStop more attractive to digital critters and hence players. The setup drew 300 to 400 people, Loth said, giving officers a chance to warn the community about Pokemon dangers in a fun, friendly way. Everybody was so positive, Loth said. It was a nice break for both police officers and the community. But the same lures the police station used to draw Pokemon players to its PokeStop are available to criminals, an alert sent last week to police departments by the U.S. Department of Justices National White Collar Crime Center warned. The report mentioned several incidents of players injuring themselves through inattention, including an instance where a girl reportedly got hit by a car in Pittsburgh after the game led her across a busy road. Pokemon Go-induced tunnel vision has led to similar incidents around the country, each seemingly competing for a Darwin award. A car in Baltimore sideswiped a police cruiser while its driver played Pokemon, the Associated Press reported. Two players in Encinitas (San Diego County) were injured after breaking through a fence and falling between 50 and 90 feet off an ocean bluff. Late-night Pokemon hunting has also startled neighbors. The Newark Police Deparment has received more calls from neighbors reporting suspicious people in their neighborhood late at night, Loth said. Last week, a Florida man fired shots at a car that sped away after two late-night players parked in front of his house to catch Pokemon at 1:30 a.m. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. The U.S. Department of Justice report mentioned another case in Missouri where armed robbers took advantage of the fixed nature of PokeStops to stake out the watering hole. The four teens lured victims and robbed them. Using Pokemon Go would allow criminals to lure players in to a specific location where armed robbery, kidnapping, or even sexual assault could occur, the report said. Jessica Floum is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jfloum@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfloum Ah, weekday lunch, the bane of the office worker. If youre a planner, you probably bring leftovers or a sensible grain bowl from home to eat when hunger strikes. But the rest of us often end up hungrily scrounging the Financial District for a healthy-ish, cheap-ish option that wont lead to a 3 p.m. food coma. Of the dozens of FiDi lunch places catering to the non-planners, few deliver on the all-important trifecta of flavor, health and affordability. Which is why theres now a line out the door every day at Sababa, the 2-month-old lunch spot on Kearny. Sababa offers fast-casual Israeli street food, like falafel sandwiches on fluffy, warm pita and protein-rich hummus bowls garnished with bright, fresh salads. Altogether, its a healthy, flavorful, light yet satisfying meal thats more or less what I always crave in a midday meal. And even if the $14 bowls are a little pricey for every day, theyre about the same as the gourmet salad places, but with more substance. If Sababa is responsible for an uptick in overall city productivity, I wouldnt be surprised. Modern Israeli cuisine is hot in the food world right now, from the Yotam Ottolenghi empire to the national acclaim of restaurants like New Orleans Shaya and Philadelphias Zahav. Sababas 25-year-old chef, Guy Eshel, isnt just cynically capitalizing on the trend, however: He spent the first seven years of his life in Israel, and still visits family there nearly every year. Eshel always knew that he wanted to be a chef, but thought hed go into fine dining. He trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York before coming to California, where he worked at upscale restaurants like One Market and AQ. At AQ, he served the Israeli food of his childhood during his Mediterranean Mondays staff meal. There it got the attention of Mercer Restaurant Group owner Matt Semmelhack, who offered to help if Eshel wanted to open his own place. A business plan, research trip to Israel and nearly a year of searching for the right location later, the dream was realized. (To set the record straight, Sababa is not a Mercer Restaurant Group restaurant like AQ and Fenix, as has been reported before; Mercer has a very small stake and Semmelhack has been a valuable adviser and friend, but this is very much Eshels solo project.) Like many of his counter-service compatriots, Eshel likes to call Sababa fine-casual rather than fast-casual and stresses that Sababa is restaurant-quality food, albeit done Chipotle assembly-line style. This distinction sometimes seems a little fussy to me, but you can see the fine-dining training in Eshels food. Instead of falling back on salt and fat to bring satisfaction, the dishes are heavy on acid and herbs, all the fresh flavors of Israeli cooking. Protein can come from meat, like the grilled, shawarma-like chicken or moist spiced kofta, but it can also come from the expertly fried falafel or from a simple hummus bowl. (In Israel, hummus is served warm as a whole dish, Eshel explains.) Theres also a wild-card protein: sabik, deep-fried, caramel-y eggplant with a 300-minute egg thats been cooked until its falling apart and nearly indistinguishable from the hummus its resting on. Its kind of one of those combos that you have to try in order to get, says Eshel. Sabik and hummus go together like ice cream and cone. But really, the secret to Sababa is the salads, and a bowl comes with up to three of them. These may include Moroccan shredded carrots, whose sweetness is tempered with feta and orange juice, or sliced roasted beets in a creamy, rose-colored sauce made with labane cheese. Tabouli, the minty Middle Eastern grain staple, is given a San Francisco makeover with quinoa. Sandwiches contain a well-dispersed mixture of pickles, sliced cabbage and a scoop of Israeli salad, made with diced tomato, cucumber and red onion. The rooms decor has a few nods to on-site diners, like a tiled wall and vintage Israeli advertisements, and there are some tables inside and out on the sidewalk. But Sababa is mostly a to-go business, and as such, the room is dominated by the assembly counter with 650-degree pita oven behind it. Its also only open for weekday lunch, but as the staff gets used to the volume (they serve about 300 people a day), Eshel hopes to open for dinner and serve people who dont work in the Financial District. In the meantime, you can also check Sababa out at Outside Lands, where it will be serving falafel sandwiches, harissa fries with feta ranch dressing, and coffee slushies spiced with cardamom. A music festival is a radically different environment than a FiDi lunch rush, but potentially serves a similar crowd: a bunch of hangry people looking for a quick, fulfilling bite to help them power through. Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. Anna Roth is a freelance writer in San Francisco. E-mail: food@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @annaroth What to order: Chicken bowl with roasted beets, Israeli salad and quinoa tabouli ($14); falafel pita sandwich ($10); hummus with sabik and Moroccan carrots ($11); frozen mint lemonade ($3.50) Where: Sababa Hot Pita Bar, 329 Kearny St. (at Bush Street), San Francisco, (415) 800-6853. www.sababasf.com When: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday SACRAMENTO Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill Monday that would have given the governor power to cancel costly special elections for open legislative seats in rare cases where only one candidate qualifies to run. Under the bill, the governor would have been able to declare that candidate the winner. Seen as a cost-savings measure by the Republican senator who authored the bill, Brown said canceling an election would exclude potential write-in candidates. This doesnt seem consistent with democratic principles that call for choice and robust debate, Brown wrote in his veto message of SB49. The bill was written by state Sen. Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster (Los Angeles County), who died July 14 of respiratory complications from scleroderma, an autoimmune disease affecting her lungs. Runner served in the Assembly and state Senate before leaving in 2012 to have a double lung transplant. She was re-elected to the Senate in a 2015 special election for a seat vacated by Steve Knight, who successfully ran for Congress. Although the only race in the special election was for Knights Senate seat, and Runner was the only candidate, state law required that the election be held with counties picking up the tab. Runners race cost Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties $1.6 million, which she said was an unneeded and escalating expense for counties as an increasing number of special elections are held. Most of those races are contested. Only three special elections since 1979 have been uncontested, including Runners bid for the Senate. SB49 passed both houses in the Legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support. Under current law, Brown has 14 days to declare a special election when a legislator leaves office before his or her term ends. In most cases, timelines set by state law do not allow for special elections to be consolidated with statewide elections. Elections are a vital part of our democratic process, but it is not always necessary to spend taxpayer dollars on an election when a single name appears on the ballot, Runner wrote after introducing the bill earlier this year. Brown vetoed SB49 while signing into law 28 other bills, including AB1769, which expands the states penalties for hoax 911 calls like those used to target celebrities. The law expands on who can be punished under state antiswatting laws, where pranksters call 911 to a fake emergency and police respond with their Special Weapons and Tactics teams. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Brown also signed AB1825 by Assemblyman Richard Gordon, D-Menlo Park, which prohibits the automatic labeling of dogs seized from dog-fighting rings as vicious. Proponents say the bill increases the chance that such dogs will be rescued because it ensures they are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. The bill overturns state law written after the 1987 death of 2-year-old James Soto, who strayed into a marijuana plot in Morgan Hill and was mauled to death by a dog trained for dog fighting. Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez Long before Queenstown earned a reputation as New Zealands adventure capital, and New Zealand gained fame from a cinematic quest for a golden ring, a 19th century gold rush brought a new sheen and a few shady characters to the South Island settlement. One gold receiver used his fortune to build an elegant villa overlooking Lake Wakitipu and Skyline Hill; after he landed in jail for embezzlement, his wife turned it into a guesthouse that eventually served other purposes. Now painstakingly restored and reopened as a boutique inn, Hulbert House hides amid all the detailed vintage-looking decor a trove of modern luxuries sufficient to make guests purr like Gollum, My precious. Setting: Just 1,500 feet from the lake and only a bit farther from the Skyline Gondola and Luge, the six-suite hotel lies a block from the shops and restaurants in Queenstowns central business district. Central Otago wineries and the private spas at Onsen Hot Pools offer indulgent alternatives to skiing, snowboarding, bungee jumping, hiking and other rugged exploits. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Marilyn Luma embarked on the trek up and down the steep hills of San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge, through Marin County and all the way back to honor the 20th anniversary of her stage four, get-your-affairs-in-order breast cancer diagnosis. Eleni Hulman made the same hike for the people she knows who have been affected by breast cancer, their names written on a piece of notebook paper that she tucked in a pouch kept close to her body. Martha Domont walked in remembrance of her sister, who died from breast cancer in 2000, and of her own battle with the same disease five years later. In all, 1,900 people laced up their walking shoes, threw on their brightest pink attire and descended on the streets of San Francisco for Saturday mornings start of the Avon 39 Walk to End Breast Cancer a 39.3-mile, two-day walk to raise money, awareness and support around the disease. The walk is not easy, said Jill Surdyka, an Avon 39 national ambassador. But we all know fighting breast cancer isnt easy either. About 1 in 8 women in the U.S., or nearly 250,000 each year, will ultimately develop breast cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. You cant talk to one person who hasnt been touched by it, Surdyka said. Thats why this is so important. The walk started at Fort Mason at 6 a.m. and sent participants on a path that wrapped through the city and over the Golden Gate Bridge to a campground in Corte Madera, where they would spend the night before making the hike back on Sunday. To participate in the walk, registrants were required to raise at least $1,800, which goes toward local and national breast cancer care and research. Raising the money is the easy part, said Luma, a 69-year-old resident of Watsonville. It was her at least eighth year of walking, she said. I feel strongly that I was allowed to survive for a reason, Luma said, taking a breather after making it up the hill to Lafayette Park, mile 6.7 of the 26.2-mile route for the day. I really feel like this is my job now. Luma first got involved with the walk after looking for an outlet to show support for others with the disease she had survived. After a not-so-successful attempt at becoming a volunteer counselor, she realized the Avon 39 was a better fit. For this years walk, Luma assembled a team of friends and family members who wore tutus and tie-dyed shorts. Together they raised over $15,000. In total, this years Avon 39 walk in San Francisco raised about $4.4 million. Hulman, a 49-year-old San Mateo resident and Avon representative, joined the event for the first time in 2006 when her cousin was diagnosed with breast cancer. Shortly after that walk, Hulman found out that two mothers from her kids preschool also had been diagnosed with the disease. Two year ago, Hulmans mother was diagnosed. She later found out her grandmother and great-aunt had at one point had breast cancer. So I decided to do the walk again, Hulman said. On Saturday, Hulman carried a list of 14 women who have fought the disease. That breast cancer is so widespread actually made raising $1,800 much easier than shed expected. When you start asking for money, you realize how many people have such strong ties to this disease, Hulman said. Its amazing how many people this touches. Domont, a 63-year-old San Anselmo resident, participated in this years walk for well over her 10th consecutive time including through her own experience with breast cancer. After losing her sister, Mitzi, to the disease, Domont was diagnosed in 2005. Through a series of surgeries and countless rounds of radiation and chemotherapy, Domont said she never gave up hope. And she never stopped walking. Ive had my thyroid removed, a double mastectomy, the whole gamut, she said. But here I am 11 years later on my 760th mile for Avon. I have kept walking and I will keep doing the walk till I cant walk anymore. Kevin Schultz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kschultz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kevinedschultz This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate An Antioch school for students with special needs permanently closed its doors Tuesday following a series of controversies that included a teachers aide striking a 9-year-old boy in an episode caught on a cell phone video earlier this year. The schools executive director, Judy Weber, announced the closure July 6 in a letter to parents that blamed false and misleading media attacks for prompting Antioch and Oakland school districts to pull out students, and thus funding, from the Tobinworld II campus. A state review, however, previously found the school wasnt following laws that govern the welfare of special-needs children. Both districts refused to fund Tobinworld II even though we are certified by the California Department of Education! wrote Weber, who couldnt be reached for comment. A spokesman retained by the school, Bernie Roswig, said he couldnt discuss the schools closure or answer questions because of pending litigation. Tobinworld continues to operate a school in Los Angeles County, but the Tobinworld II campus and its satellite classrooms in Antioch Unified School District locations have been shuttered. Tobinworld, a private institution that receives funding from public districts, teaches students ages 5 to 22 with autism or severe emotional or developmental disabilities. An investigation by state education officials last year concluded that Tobinworld failed to comply with special-education codes that ensure the health and safety of students. The review found that Webers husband, Matthew Israel, an advocate of shock therapy, had been working for the school to design behavior interventions without the proper licenses, credentials, tuberculosis test or background check. Crowded classrooms The investigations report also noted that employees without the requisite credentials were teaching and that 4 of 10 classrooms had more students than was allowed in a contract with the River Delta Unified School District in Rio Vista, which sent students to the Antioch campus. The state Department of Education suspended the schools certification in August 2015, preventing it from enrolling students until it took several corrective actions, which it did, said Peter Tira, a spokesman for the department. In January, a series of videos circulated on social media that showed a teachers aide fighting with a 9-year-old boy, striking his face and tackling him to the ground. Antioch police stepped in and arrested the aide, Kamaljot Kaur, on suspicion of child abuse. She was charged alongside another aide, who allegedly witnessed the abuse and failed to report it. The incident mirrored other allegations of abuse the school had weathered: A 2014 lawsuit accused school officials of restraining another 9-year-old boy and telling him he couldnt eat snacks or use the restroom. The January video prompted the Department of Education and state Attorney Generals Bureau of Childrens Justice to launch an investigations into the school. State officials once again yanked the schools certification and outlined steps the school had to take to get it back. Tira said Tobinworld II took those steps and had its certification restored. 1 probe incomplete The probe by the Bureau of Childrens Justice, announced by state Attorney General Kamala Harris, is still in its early stages, said Kristen Ford, a spokeswoman for the attorney generals office. According to AUSD Superintendent Stephanie Anello, Tobinworld officials in March held a meeting with parents of students in the satellite campuses in an attempt to persuade them to send their children to Tobinworld II. Pitch to parents Doing so, they said, would be a better educational experience but, according to Anello, Tobinworld stood to gain more than $1 million by having the students at Tobinworld II rather than the satellite classrooms. School district officials were not allowed into the meeting but heard the details from parents, Anello said. We were told by the director that the meetings were closed and we were not welcome, she said. Parents were told Tobinworld had an attorney they could use if we tried to block students from moving. The secret meeting, coupled with the video of alleged abuse, prompted the Antioch school district to pull out 44 students from Tobinworld. Oakland Unified School District, which also sent students there, took out eight others, according to Webers letter, depleting the school of funds to continue operating. Students who had attended Tobinworld II will now go to Spectrum Center in Pittsburg or the Sierra School of Solano County, according to KRON, which first reported the schools closure. Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov How a rising Internet star gradually fell from grace Stanford grad students Jerry Yang and David Filo create a Web guide, soon changing the name to Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle, abbreviated as Yahoo. 1995 Yahoo incorporates, raises its first $1 million in venture capital and hires Tim Koogle as CEO. 1996 Yahoo has its IPO at a split-adjusted price of 54 cents per share. 1999 Yahoo buys Mark Cubans Broadcast.com for $5.7 billion. 2000 Yahoos stock peaks at a split-adjusted $125, giving the company a market value of about $130 billion. 2004 Yahoo drops Google as its search engine provider. Later in the year, Google goes public. 2005 Yahoo buys a 40 percent stake in Alibaba Group for $1 billion. It still owns about 384 million shares, worth about $32 billion. 2008 Microsoft offers to buy Yahoo, eventually raising its bid to $47 billion. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer abruptly rescinds the offer after Yang demands more money. 2009 Yahoo names longtime technology executive Carol Bartz as its new CEO. Bartz negotiates a deal to run Yahoos search engine on Microsofts Bing technology for the next decade. 2012 After a CEO shuffle, Yahoo persuades Marissa Mayer to defect from Google. 2013 Mayer buys Tumblr for $1.1 billion, in the biggest deal of her tenure. 2016 Verizon agrees to buy Yahoo for $4.83 billion. Ian Hespelt must also take 16 weeks of anger management and pay more than $1,800 in restitution as a condition of his sentencing, according to the district attorneys office. He has already served six days in jail as part of the sentence. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate For the second time this year, San Francisco Unified is abuzz over the possible departure of its sought-after superintendent. Richard Carranza, 49, is among the finalists for the superintendents job in Houston. And according to sources familiar with the search, hes the leading contender. Were aware that Superintendent Carranza has been recruited by Houston, and that he is a finalist, San Francisco school board President Matt Haney said Tuesday. The Board of Education has met, and we are prepared with a plan in the event that he leaves. The school board in Houston, which presides over the seventh-biggest district in the country, is expected to select a finalist or narrow down finalists Wednesday. Texas requires a 21-day waiting period prior to a second vote confirming a selection. In January, Carranza was among the contenders for the top job in Los Angeles, but withdrew from consideration before the school boards selection. He said then that he wanted to stay in the Bay Area because he has more on his to-do list, including a revamp of the controversial student assignment system. Yet Tuesday, he indicated hed had a change of heart. I was recruited to apply for the Houston Independent School District superintendent position and agreed to be considered, Carranza said, noting that he loves San Francisco and the talented district staff. However, he said, the Houston district is four times the size of San Francisco ... so there is tremendous potential to benefit a lot of students. School board members in San Francisco have scrambled this week to address his possible resignation just weeks before the start of the school year, holding an emergency closed session Sunday evening and another Tuesday afternoon. If Superintendent Carranza chooses to serve in another district, the Board of Education will work together to ensure a smooth transition, Haney said. We have a strong foundation, a newly refreshed strategic plan, tremendous leadership in our schools and our district, and we are confident our progress will continue. Carranza has held the top position in San Francisco for four years and has spent nearly eight years in the district. The average tenure for a superintendent is about three years. During his time in the city, Carranza has made a national name for himself as a young superintendent, bringing a blue-collar, English-learner background and fluency in Spanish. He is also a well-regarded Mariachi musician. He previously held leadership roles in the Tucson and Las Vegas school districts before following former Superintendent Carlos Garcia to San Francisco. Carranzas tenure has been largely free of controversy, although he recently butted heads with the school board over his support of Teach for America teachers to fill vacancies in the midst of a shortage. Ericka Mellon of the Houston Chronicle contributed to this report. Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker As the Democratic National Convention kicked off in Philadelphia, the presumptive and soon-to-be Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, released a mobile phone app. The iOS-only application is a tool for volunteers, supporters and organizers. It appears the tech-savvy campaign is also using the app to spread as much information as possible about Clinton, her platform and the election with quizzes and online competitions. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of 3 In August 1966, a group of drag queens, hustlers and trans women rioted at an all-night diner in San Franciscos Tenderloin district after police had harassed them one too many times. The event, dubbed the Comptons Cafeteria Riot, is not nearly as well known as the riots at New York Citys Stonewall Inn three years later, but still stands as an important piece of queer history. The Tenderloin and GLBT History museums are planning a series of events to commemorate the 50th anniversary, starting with a queer history walking tour of the Tenderloin, followed by a reception at the Tenderloin Museum on Thursday, July 28. The Giants spoke with the Yankees about Aroldis Chapman in the days leading up to the All-Star relievers trade to the Cubs on Monday. The Yankees settled on a four-player package featuring highly regarded 19-year-old shortstop Gleyber Torres, which the Yankees apparently felt the Giants couldnt match. The Cubs got a good one, a real good one, manager Bruce Bochy said. I wish they made that trade three days earlier. Chapmans Yankees beat the Giants two of three games over the weekend, and Chapmans Cubs will face the Giants on Sept. 1-4 in Chicago. The Cubs are a possible playoff foe of the Giants, who say its not about countering the Cubs move as much as concentrating on their objective of pursuing their own difference-making reliever. The trade deadline is Aug. 1. Our focus is on what we can control and getting ourselves better, general manager Bobby Evans said. The fact that clubs are getting better around you is expected. You cant let that distract you or change your focus. Our goal is to do everything we can to win this division, and thats our primary focus right now. Bochy added, You cant ever be concerned with what happens outside your club, whether its inside or outside your division. You have no control over it. If it happens, it happens. You deal with it. I try not to get caught up with what other teams are doing. Were looking to do whats right here. Evans said hes getting more clarity on what clubs involved in trade talk are seeking in return. With the encouraging progress of Hunter Pence, Joe Panik and Matt Duffy, Evans can focus almost exclusively on beefing up the bullpen. You expect a lot teams to make some moves to make their teams better, first baseman Brandon Belt said. Chapmans a good pickup in the back of their bullpen, for sure. Overall, to me, its not something to focus on. The objective is the same. Anybody you face in the back of a bullpen is going to be good. John Shea is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jshea@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnSheaHey The Giants spoke with the Yankees about Aroldis Chapman in the days leading to the All-Star lefty relievers trade to the Cubs on Monday. The Yankees settled on a four-player package featuring a top prospect, Class A shortstop Gleyber Torres, 19, which the Yankees apparently thought the Giants couldnt match. The Cubs got a good one, a real good one, manager Bruce Bochy said. I wish they made that trade three days earlier. Chapmans Yankees beat the Giants two of three games over the weekend, and Chapmans Cubs face the Giants, Sept. 1-4 in Chicago. The Cubs are a possible playoff foe of the Giants, who say its not about countering the Cubs move as much as concentrating on their objective of pursuing their own difference-making reliever. The primary trade deadline is next Monday. Our focus is on what we can control and getting ourselves better, general manager Bobby Evans said. The fact that clubs are getting better around you is expected. You cant let that distract you or change your focus. Our goal is to do everything we can to win this division, and thats our primary focus right now. Bochy added, You cant ever be concerned with what happens outside your club, whether its inside or outside your division. You have no control over it. Were looking to do whats right here. Evans said hes getting more clarity on what clubs involved in trade talks are seeking. Encouraging news: With the progress of right fielder Hunter Pence, second baseman Joe Panik and third baseman Matt Duffy, Evans can focus on beefing up the bullpen. Panik (concussion) will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Sacramento on Tuesday. Hell join Pence (hamstring) for the opener of the four-game series at Reno. Pence has played well in four rehab games, going 5-for-12 with a homer and two doubles. The Giants want him to get roughly 30 plate appearances and, according to Bochy, could activate him in a week. Panik could be activated a couple of days earlier. Duffy (Achilles strain) could begin minor-league games next weekend. John Shea is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. On deck Tuesday vs. Reds 7:15 p.m. CSNBA Reed (0-4) vs. Cain (1-6) Wednesday vs. Reds 12:45 p.m. CSNBA Straily (5-6) vs. Bumgarner (10-5) Thursday vs. Nationals 7:15 p.m. CSNBA Roark (9-6) vs. Samardzija (9-6) Leading off Regresamos: The Giants Spanish radio broadcasts returned Monday on a new channel, KKSF (910AM) ESPN Deportes with Erwin Higueros and Tito Fuentes. John Shea This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The sprawling landscape of a state as big as Texas piqued the curiosities of a New Jersey native and prompted him to explore elusive whereabouts frame by frame. Walter Las, who now lives in Round Rock, said his hobby of traveling through Texas ghost towns started about four years ago, but was fed by a life-long curiosities conceived during road trips to visit family. RELATED: Then and now views of downtown prove San Antonio's everlasting history "There were times when we would drive from spot A to spot B, but a lot of spaces were empty," he told mySA.com on Friday. "I wondered what they were like when they were busy, they were important to someone at some point. The 47-year-old decided he would feature these spots people usually pass through as his destinations in a photos series. Las said he scouts his next project by searching through maps and towns with peculiar names usually catch his attention. He then uses the Texas State Historical Association website to research each town, then spends his weekends as a shutterbug, capturing dilapidated structures and imagining what they may have been like in their heydays. RELATED: 12 eerie Texas ghost towns to visit this summer So far, Las has captured seven cities. "Some of them are pretty far out, in the middle of nowhere, like Noack," he said of the town about 36 miles north of Austin. He explained the theme of his photography series as taking pictures, of "old buildings" in forgotten places. "Some of them where towns at one time, but were absorbed into the closest city," he explained. "Some aren't really on their own anymore, but still manage to hold their own identity." RELATED: A part of Texas pop culture in Big Bend Ranch State Park could be demolished soon Next on his schedule: Panna Maria, about an hour south of San Antonio. "Not much" Las said of what he expects to see when he gets there, but said he wants to go because of its Polish history. According to Las, and the Texas State Historical Association, the town is distinguished as the oldest Polish settlement in the U.S. Click through the gallery above to see some of Las' discoveries. mmendoza@mysa.com Twitter: @MaddySkye Courtesy of the artist Amados, the custom tailor, cobbler and intimate performance space on Valencia Street (formerly Viracocha), brings live music back to the basement with Melody Parker and Mark Allen-Piccolo this weekend. Both musicians are celebrating adventurous new releases. Parkers is called Archipelago and features her finely detailed compositions that pull together rich harmonies, complex rhythms and a touch of vaudeville. WASHINGTON The White House warned Tuesday of a revolution of computer-generated threats to the U.S. stoked by growing cyberaggression by traditional U.S. foes like Russia and North Korea, and issued a color-coded response plan for the federal government to use after major cyberattacks. Lisa Monaco, President Obamas homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, said while Russia and China grow more assertive and sophisticated online, Iran has attacked U.S. banks and North Korea is showing a willingness to attack companies and countries alike. She also warned that nongovernmental actors, like the Islamic State group and hacktivists, are finding it easy to advance their goals through the Internet. CHARLOTTE, N.C. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump repeatedly attacked his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, drawing cries of Lock her up! from the audience at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention in Charlotte. The crowds reaction was a sharp contrast to Monday, when Clinton faced the same group, receiving a polite but noticeably quieter reception. In a 25-minute speech, Trump also said he would root out government corruption, overturn the rigged system, improve VA health care and establish a 24-hour hotline in the White House for veterans to call and voice complaints about the service. This could keep me very busy at night, folks. This could take the place of Twitter, Trump said of the hotline, which he said he would personally respond to if complaints werent addressed. Trumps visit to Charlotte followed his Monday evening campaign rally in Winston-Salem, and a July 5 event in Raleigh. Clinton, who received her partys nomination Tuesday in Philadelphia, visited Charlotte July 5 for a joint rally with President Obama. Both candidates repeated visits highlight the states electoral importance: North Carolina is a battleground that could go to Democrats or Republicans in November. Clinton and Trump are virtually tied in North Carolina, polls show. Trump entered the Convention Center hall to warm applause with his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who spoke first after an introduction by Trump. Our military is too small, and he will rebuild it, Pence said about Trump. Our VA is broken and this builder (Trump) will fix it. Despite his mostly warm reception, some in the crowd said they cant support Trump, in particular because of comments he made that Sen. John McCain isnt a war hero because he was captured and held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Im not sure what he could ever say that could make me a supporter because of that comment, said Dewey Riehn, a veteran from Missouri. Trump spent much of his time attacking Clinton and the Democratic Party. He set a darker tone than Clinton, who said on Monday that she doesnt understand people who trash-talk America and that she wont be the candidate of fear and smear tactics. You know her name: Crooked Hillary Clinton. And believe me folks, she is crooked, Trump said of Clinton. It was another sharp difference from Clintons approach Tuesday: She didnt mention Trump by name once in her 30-minute address. In a very true way, they really established (the Islamic State), because of weakness, Trump said of the results of American foreign policy under Clinton as secretary of state in the Obama administration. The terror group grew out of al Qaeda in Iraq, which sprung up following the 2003 American invasion of that country under the Bush administration. PORTLAND, Maine American fishermen are digging in for a fight over a congressional proposal to send a message to the rest of the world by shutting down the vestiges of the U.S. harvest of shark fins, prized for soup and traditional medicine in Asia. The traditional finning of sharks in which they are pulled out of the water, have their fins sliced off and are discarded into the sea, often still alive but unable to swim is already illegal in the U.S., but fishermen are still allowed to hunt sharks and have their fins removed during processing on land. A bill backed by Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, and others promises to ban the sale and possession of shark fins to ensure U.S. fishermen and seafood dealers no longer participate in the global fin trade. Supporters say the bill would close loopholes left open by measures passed in 2000 and 2010 to protect sharks. America can become a global leader by shutting down the domestic market for shark fins, Booker said. Fins from as many as 70 million sharks end up in the worldwide fin trade every year, and completely removing the U.S. from the industry would tell the world that it needs to stop, Booker said. Lora Snyder, campaign director for the conservation group Oceana, has compared shark fins to the trade of elephant ivory and rhino horn. She said the legislation to ban the trade is a step toward saving sharks. But some commercial shark fishermen and fish processors say the effort is wrongheaded and will harm industry more than it protects sharks. The U.S. shark fishery was worth about $2.5 million in 2014, Bookers office said. The worldwide trade is worth hundreds of millions. In the U.S., sharks are processed for their meat, as well as the fins, most of which are sold to Hong Kong. There are more than 400 permitted shark fishermen in the U.S., with the largest concentrations in Florida and Louisiana. Fishermen brought more than 600 metric tons of sharks to land in states from Maine to Texas in 2014. Jeff Oden, a former North Carolina shark fisherman who left the business about 10 years ago to focus on other species amid mounting regulatory pressure, said the legislation is well intentioned but wont stop international finning, and could actually increase pressure on sharks. Other countries that are less likely to be as sustainable as us will fill our void, Oden said. The bill would still allow fishermen to harvest sharks for their meat, though some in the industry say it wouldnt be worth the cost of business, because much of the value is in the fins. WASHINGTON The FBI said Monday it is investigating how thousands of Democratic National Committee emails were hacked, a breach that Hillary Clintons campaign maintains was committed by Russia to benefit Donald Trump. A statement from the FBI confirmed that it is investigating a cyber intrusion involving the DNC, adding that a compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously. WikiLeaks posted emails Friday that suggested the DNC was favoring Clinton over her rival Sen. Bernie Sanders during the primary season. Clintons campaign pointed to a massive hacking of DNC computers in June that cybersecurity firms linked to the Russian government. Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta added fuel to the debate Monday, saying there was a kind of bromance going on between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump. The Clinton campaign says Russia favors Trumps views, especially on NATO. Trump on Monday dismissed as a joke claims by Hillary Clintons campaign that Russia is trying to help Trump by leaking thousands of emails from the Democratic National Committee. The new joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNC e-mails, which should have never been written (stupid), because Putin likes me, Trump wrote as part of a series of tweets. Hillary was involved in the e-mail scandal because she is the only one with judgement (sic) so bad that such a thing could have happened. The hacking enraged die-hard Sanders supporters who have long claimed that the DNC had its finger on the scale throughout the primaries. The disclosures prompted the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz on the eve of the partys convention in Philadelphia, where Clinton is expected to officially accept the nomination for president. It wasnt immediately clear how WikiLeaks received copies of the internal Democratic emails. Democratic Party officials learned in late April that their systems had been attacked after they discovered malicious software on their computers. A cybersecurity firm they employed found traces of at least two sophisticated hacking groups on the Democrats network both of which have ties to the Russian government. Those hackers took at least one years worth of detailed chats, emails and research on Donald Trump, according to a person knowledgeable of the breach who wasnt authorized to speak publicly about the matter. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has said U.S. officials have seen indications of foreign hackers spying on the presidential candidates, and that they expect more cyberthreats against the campaigns. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov would not comment on allegations that Russia is behind the leaked emails, instead pointing to statements by Trumps son, Donald Trump Jr., dismissing the claims. The White House declined to point the finger at Russia, and said it would be up to the FBI to determine whether to publicly name the culprit after the investigation. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he couldnt confirm assessments by private cyberexperts accusing Russia that Clintons campaign has cited. Clintons campaign stood firmly behind their claims of Russian involvement Monday. There is a consensus among experts that it is indeed Russia that is behind this hack of the DNC, Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon told CNN. On Sunday, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said that it was concerning last week that Donald Trump changed the Republican platform to become what some experts would regard as pro-Russian. Trumps senior policy adviser Paul Manafort called statements by the Clinton campaign pretty desperate. Its a far reach, obviously, Manafort told reporters. To lead their convention with that tells me they really are trying to move away from what the issues are going to be in this campaign. Its pretty absurd. Trump told the New York Times last week that he would decide whether to protect Americas NATO allies against Russian aggression based on whether those countries have fulfilled their obligations to us, hinting that he might pivot away from the decades-old agreement. Some Republicans opposed to Trump have indeed sought to cast him as pro-Putin, a position that would put him at odds with both Republican and Democratic foreign policy and also diverge from the current GOP party platform adopted at the convention last week. Trump supporters succeeded in preventing a reference to arming Ukraine from getting into this years platform, but the manifesto itself is demonstrably not pro-Russia. It accuses current officials in the Kremlin of eroding the personal liberty and fundamental rights of the Russian people. Alden Ehrenreich landed what promises to be the role of a lifetime as the young Han Solo in the new Star Wars flicks, and by the looks of this tape made public by the fearless journalists at Team Coco, it wasnt easy. Or maybe, actually, it was. A-listers such as Melissa McCarthy, Will Arnett, 50 Cent, Jeff Goldblum and Jodie Foster all gave their best shot to step into the younger boots of Harrison Ford, but perhaps they all didnt do their best research. SACRAMENTO Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill Monday that would have given the governor power to cancel costly special elections for open legislative seats in rare cases where only one candidate qualifies to run. Under the bill, the governor would have been able to declare that candidate the winner. Seen as a cost-savings measure by the Republican senator who authored the bill, Brown said canceling an election would exclude potential write-in candidates. This doesnt seem consistent with democratic principles that call for choice and robust debate, Brown wrote in his veto message of SB49. The bill was written by state Sen. Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster (Los Angeles County), who died July 14 of respiratory complications from scleroderma, an autoimmune disease affecting her lungs. Runner served in the Assembly and state Senate before leaving in 2012 to have a double lung transplant. She was re-elected to the Senate in a 2015 special election for a seat vacated by Steve Knight, who successfully ran for Congress. Although the only race in the special election was for Knights Senate seat, and Runner was the only candidate, state law required that the election be held with counties picking up the tab. Runners race cost Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties $1.6 million, which she said was an unneeded and escalating expense for counties as an increasing number of special elections are held. Most of those races are contested. Only three special elections since 1979 have been uncontested, including Runners bid for the Senate. SB49 passed both houses in the Legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support. Under current law, Brown has 14 days to declare a special election when a legislator leaves office before his or her term ends. In most cases, timelines set by state law do not allow for special elections to be consolidated with statewide elections. Elections are a vital part of our democratic process, but it is not always necessary to spend taxpayer dollars on an election when a single name appears on the ballot, Runner wrote after introducing the bill earlier this year. Brown vetoed SB49 while signing into law 28 other bills, including AB1769, which expands the states penalties for hoax 911 calls like those used to target celebrities. The law expands on who can be punished under state antiswatting laws, where pranksters call 911 to a fake emergency and police respond with their Special Weapons and Tactics teams. Brown also signed AB1825 by Assemblyman Richard Gordon, D-Menlo Park, which prohibits the automatic labeling of dogs seized from dog-fighting rings as vicious. Proponents say the bill increases the chance that such dogs will be rescued because it ensures they are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. The bill overturns state law written after the 1987 death of 2-year-old James Soto, who strayed into a marijuana plot in Morgan Hill and was mauled to death by a dog trained for dog fighting. Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez A low-income Latino teen from Chicago took to Facebook after his dentist belittled his acceptance to Stanford University. In an open letter that's going viral with over 35,000 likes, Guillermo Camarillo (who uses the last name Pomarillo on Facebook) says his dentist expressed shock over him going to a prestigious university and questioned his competence because he comes from a poor background. The dentist asked the teen his ACT score, and when he learned Camarillo's was slightly lower than his daughters, he implied this was unfair. The dentist shared his daughter didn't get into Stanford and ended up at University of Michigan. Camarillo writes in his letter that the dentist went on to say: "Well when you have kids from neighborhoods like THESE, like you know, ENGLEWOOD. It's easy for them to get into Harvard or Stanford with a (states my score)." The dentist continued, according to Camarillo, "You know, when kids go to schools around here. (AKA public schools in minority neighborhoods) It's easier for them to get into schools like Stanford. My daughter goes to a school where like 20 kids get perfect ACT scores." Camarillo shares on Facebook that he grew up in a household with parents who are undocumented illegal immigrants and speak only Spanish. His family is poor and he recalls times in his childhood when they didn't have enough food for the week. He grew up in a neighborhood where kids don't typically go on to attend college, but through hard work he defied the odds. "You feel entitled to say that I got 'lucky' and that 'because of where I come from' I got into Stanford," he writes in his letter to the dentist. "Little do you know that at a young age I excelled in classrooms. My mother kept transferring me schools every time we moved to a new, cramped apartment. But I excelled. I went to a high school 7 miles from my house to be able to be pushed more. I attended one of the best high schools in Chicago." Camarillo also got into Princeton, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, and Washington University, and he was waitlisted at Tufts, Penn, and Columbia The name of the dentist hasn't been shared and reported in the media. SFGATE reached out to Camarillo and Stanford University for comment and hadn't heard back at the time of publishing this article. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Journalists covering the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janerio will find their living arrangements come with some dark history. That's because Barra Media Village, where journalists will stay, is reportedly built on the grave site of African slaves, according to the newspaper The Guardian. SEE ALSO: 11 Days before the Rio Olympics, athletes are refusing to move into the 'uninhabitable' Olympic Village The Guardian reports that a community of descendants of runaway slaves, known as a quilombo, said some of the land where part of Barra Media Village lies is where their ancestors are buried. The group considers the land sacred, according to the newspaper. According to The Guardian, the quilombo is entitled to claim the land they have historically occupied under Brazil's current constitution. Residents in the developing areas told the newspaper that developers often tear down areas with historical value to descendants of slaves. The Guardian also reports that more than 600,000 slaves came to Brazil in the early 19th century. Archaeologists are recovering many items from that time period at slaves' grave sites that have been unearthed since 2010, the newspaper reports. SEE ALSO: 5 things entrepreneurs can learn from Rio's preparation for the Olympics The physical building that is believed to be sitting on the mass slave graveyard is the third media village, which is a "nine-building residential condominium" that will have a "swimming pool, sauna, fitness center, a restaurant, 24-hour-food options as well as a 24-hour convenience store," according to the Summer Olympics' press accommodation guide. The media villages will be sold to private buyers after the Summer Olympics are over, The Guardian reports. A newly signed California law acknowledges the unhappy reality to which many estranged couples can attest: You can share the same address and still be living separately. Under SB1255, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday and effective in January, a married couples date of separation will be defined as the date that a complete and final break in the marriage has occurred, even if the couple continue living in the same home. The court will consider the stated intention of one or both spouses to end the marriage and whether their behavior toward each other shows they have broken up. The states community-property law requires spouses to share their income and their jointly acquired property until they are found to be living separate and apart, at which point they can keep their own earnings. The state Supreme Court ruled unanimously in July 2015, in a case from Alameda County, that a couple living under the same roof could not be considered separate and apart, regardless of physical or emotional alienation. SB1255 will assist families as they enter a highly transitional time, both relationally and financially within the family unit, state Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa, the bills author, said in a statement. He said the court ruling, which the new law will overturn, has made divorce proceedings even more trying on families by discouraging spouses from staying in the same house to reduce costs or co-parent their children while they prepare for divorce. The court case involved a Castro Valley couple, Sheryl and Keith Davis, who married in 1993 and became estranged after six years and two children. In mid-2006, Sheryl Davis told her husband their marriage was over, took him off her credit card and took a job in Los Angeles, where she spent three to five nights a week. She filed for divorce in December 2008, but continued to live at the Castro Valley home until July 2011. Lower courts ruled that the couple had legally separated in 2006, entitling Sheryl Davis to keep her income through 2011 rather than sharing it. But the states high court, in an opinion by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, said the language of the law requiring spouses to share their income until they start living separate and apart referred to physical separation as well as emotional distance. Moorlachs bill won bipartisan support in the Legislature, with backing from legal groups, including the State Bars Family Law Section. Often, one spouse cannot afford to move to a separate residence, and can only afford such a move once a divorce is finalized, the Family Law Sections executive committee said in a letter to lawmakers. This bill would remedy this situation, ensuring nobody is forced to either continue in a bad marriage, or face being forced out of the residence. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko A stubborn wildfire ablaze in the wooded canyons and ridges south of Carmel in Monterey County one of several fires burning around the state grew to 23,5000 acres late Tuesday and is only 10 percent contained, firefighters said. The Soberanes Fire continued to scorch the steep and drought-stricken terrain near the picturesque Central Coast, where flames have consumed 20 homes and forced the closure of several popular Big Sur state parks since igniting Friday. The infernos in Big Sur and in Los Angeles County prompted Acting Governor Tom Torlakson to declare a state of emergency. The declaration directs officials to determine if local government assistance for Monterey County is appropriate. After burning strong for five days, the infernos effects have reverberated into nearby towns and through the popular hiking and camping destinations around Big Sur. Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park in the forest along the coast is closed indefinitely as the fire continues to burn. So are Andrew Molera and Julia Pfeiffer Burns state parks. Point Sur Lighthouse State Historic Park, Pine Ridge Trail to Sykes Hot Springs and Mount Manuel Trail are closed until further notice as well, California State Parks officials said. The Henry Miller Memorial Library on Highway 1 near the state parks will stay open, but events on Thursday and Saturday night were postponed due to the fire, library representatives said. The blaze is the first major wildfire near the Bay Area this fire season as California braces for what officials predict will be a particularly destructive year around the state. In Southern California, the 59-square-mile Sand Fire in Los Angeles County was 25 percent contained Tuesday. Armed with hose lines, shovels and chainsaws, firefighters attacked the Soberanes Fire Tuesday along the winding and steep roads branching off Palo Colorado Road, protecting remaining homes in the rural communities where residents were forced to flee after walls of flames raged through over the weekend. The fire grew Tuesday to 19,311 acres. Teams of firefighters The fire may increase, but we have more resources out there, Capt. John Clingingsmith with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire, said Tuesday after a marine layer that had given firefighters some relief in the morning cleared up by the afternoon. Crews, he said, are attacking the fire with a multipronged approach. Teams of firefighters are focused solely on protecting homes, while others cut control lines along the burn areas growing edge. From the air, six planes and 14 helicopters were cleared for attack as the day heated up and visibility for the pilots improved. On Monday, marine fog helped suppress the fire but kept aircraft grounded for much of the day. The fire started Friday morning in Garrapata State Park near Carmel Highlands but gained momentum in the late afternoon, sweeping south toward Big Sur and sending residents scrambling, Cal Fire officials said. Many folks only had moments to grab essential items before the fire pushed into their property. For the 300 people forced to evacuate, its now a matter of waiting until they learn the fate of their homes. To see these people go, it hurts, Mid-Coast Fire Brigade Chief Cheryl Goetz said of the evacuees. Goetz lives in the area and has been defending her neighborhood with other volunteer firefighters from the small agency since Friday. We rely on our community and were really, really sad, she said. Evacuations and warnings The Red Cross set up an evacuation shelter at Carmel Middle School, and on Monday evening, officials held a meeting at Carmel River School packed by hundreds of anxious community members eager for updates on the firefight. Residents along Palo Colorado, Old Coast, Rocky Creek and Bixby Creek roads were forced to evacuate while those on the south end of Carmel Highlands were warned to be ready to go at a moments notice. Late Tuesday, additional evacuations were ordered for the Santa Lucia preserve area. Cal Fire officials said 1,650 homes remained threatened by the fire. For the 2,305 firefighters hacking away at the blaze, weather continued to be a challenge. High temperatures and low humidity are fueling the fires spread, sending flames racing up the nearly vertical hillsides in the burn area. Brown smoke hovering over the usually scenic havens of Carmel and Big Sur, has seeped north into the Bay Area. Haze from the fire filled the skies around the South Bay. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued a Spare the Air alert for Tuesday and Wednesday due to unhealthy stagnant air, high temperatures and smoke from the Soberanes Fire. While the Soberanes Fire continues to pose challenges for crews, the more than 3,000 firefighters in Los Angeles County have made progress battling the Sand Fire. Many of the estimated 20,000 people evacuated in the Santa Clarita Valley mountains were allowed to return home Tuesday. One person was found dead in the fire area and 18 homes have been destroyed since the fire started Friday. Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky A Twitter user caught staunch Bernie Sanders supporter Susan Sarandon with a look of apathy on her face at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night. Ian McKenna of NowThis News captured video footage of the "Thelma and Louise" star shaking her head slowing and closing her eyes as the audience around her clapped wildly. Gree aims to diversify for growth Updated: 2016-07-26 09:11 By Qiu Quanlin(China Daily) Gree employees produce air conditioner parts at the production line in the company's plant in Zhuhai, Guangdong province. [Photo/China Daily] Air conditioner maker broadens its product range to smartphones and new-energy vehicles Gree Electric Appliances Inc, one of China's major air conditioner makers, has developed an ambitious plan to diversify its business to sustain its market growth in the near future, according to its president. Dong Mingzhu, Gree's president, said the company's business will range from its backbone air conditioners and white goods to smartphones, new-energy vehicles and intelligent equipment. "The diversified businesses are based on Gree's already-developed core technologies, especially in the smart electronic areas," said Dong. Dong made the remarks during a seminar featuring China's manufacturing industry, over the weekend in Beijing. "Only if China's manufacturing industry is integrated with smart technologies and focuses on quality will it succeed in the global market in the near future," Dong said. Citing the company's newly launched second generation of smartphones, Dong said Gree will attach the utmost importance to quality and technology when developing new products. "In addition to the introduction of a series of high-tech components, the phones will allow customers to control wirelessly connected household appliances, such as air conditioners and refrigerators, helping make their lives more convenient," she added. Gree launched its second generation of smartphones in June, after a nearly one-year trial operation of its first batch, which were only sold to employees for testing purposes. According to Dong, Gree has self-developed two processing lines of smartphones, with daily production capacity of no more than 1,000. "We are not achieving big sales of smartphonesat this time, we are more concerned with product quality," Dong told China Daily. Dong said she wants the daily sales of the second-generation phones to eventually reach 100,000 units. "We will achieve the goal in the near future, but not at this time. For Gree, the success of making smartphones is to win customers' recognitionwe will do our best to make it the best (product) both in brand and quality," Dong said. Gree, which is an official supplier to the upcoming Rio Olympic Games, realized a year-on-year increase of 0.56 percent in sales in the first quarter of 2016, amid a slowdown in global demand for home appliances. "Smart equipment will be a key area for Gree's future development as we have already invested up to 20 billion yuan ($2.99 billion) in the sector since 2012," said Dong. "We have developed core technologies in numerical control machines, which will provide services for numerous manufacturers in the future," Dong said. Xu Lin, director of the National Development and Reform Commission's department of development planning, said: "Gree has turned itself from simply being a traditional maker of air conditioners to a manufacturer of various electric home appliances. By focusing on advanced technologies, the company will likely develop into a high-end service provider to China's traditional manufacturing business." Ride-hailing app Yidao Yongche user accounts hacked Updated: 2016-07-26 09:33 (ecns.cn) [Photo/VCG] Car-hailing company Yidao Yongche said it could be facing malicious competition after users complained their account balances were hacked and money stolen. One user, Mr Lu, said about 3,000 yuan ($449) of his account balance at Yidao Yongche disappeared and that his account name was also changed without his consent. Another woman surnamed Yang, who lived in Beijing, also complained that her account balance was tampered with. "Someone hailed a car in Chongqing and another time in Shanghai," Yang said. "They completely drained my balance while I stayed in Beijing. I didn't order a car." Such fraud could be caused by criminals or malicious competitors, according to the risk control team at Yidao Yongche. Most users who experienced problems had exposed their accounts on other websites. The company will compensate those who suffered a loss, Yidao Yongche said, adding that it has reported the case to public security authorities. Uber Technologies Inc, one of Yidao Yongche's major competitors in China, has also complained about account security problems. TrendMicro, one of the world's leading providers of anti-virus and Internet content security software, said user information at Internet companies such as Uber, PayPal and Netflix is more valuable than credit card accounts because the information can be sold at higher prices by criminals. Users should avoid logging in at illicit websites to download apps on their mobile phones or disclosing their user names or accounts on other websites, said experts at Qihoo 360, China's largest computer security software provider. Various Ministries launch 13th Five-Year Plans Updated: 2016-07-26 15:24 By Zhu Lingqing(chinadaily.com.cn) Vehicles move slowly in a traffic jam on a street in Beijing, February 23, 2016. [Photo/IC] China's Ministry of Transport released the 13th Five-year Plan for Urban Public Transport on Wednesday, outlining priorities for the nation's urban public transport development. According to a report by chinanews.com, several ministries including the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce have announced their respective 13th Five-year Plans related to peoples livelihood. Ministry of Transport: aiming to reduce traffic congestion In the 13th Five-year Plan for Urban Public Transport, a traffic congestion charge will be explored and promoted at an appropriate time on the basis of traffic conditions. It also suggests a prudent attitude on adopting policies for vehicle purchases and use restrictions, to avoid the normalization of restriction policies. Yang Chuantang, minister of transport, said during the two sessions this year that several countries have already introduced congestion taxes. "Some provinces and cities have proposed and promoted congestion charges, and the decisions made by them are based on the actual local situations," he said. However, in Beijing, a city which has a serious problem of frequent traffic jams, the possibility of bringing in a congestion charge has been met with vigorous debate. While opponents questioned a congestion charges effectiveness on reducing traffic jams and thought it might just increase individuals burdens, supporters believed reducing congestion needs to come from multiple solutions. Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security: raising basic pensions and adjusting basic salaries A reasonable adjustment mechanism for basic pension insurance benefits covering all insured persons will be gradually established, according to the 13th Five-year Plan for Human Resources and Social Security Development released by Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. It emphasizes that the basic pension level for retired enterprise employees and urban and rural residents will be lifted to an appropriate range. While the basic pension for pensioners from enterprises, government agencies and public institutions has been raised by 10 percent from 2014 to last year, reaching 2270 yuan ($339.9) monthly per capita, it was raised by 6.5 percent in 2016. An official of human resources and social security said pension adjustments should protect retirees livelihood as well as consider affordability. As pensions for enterprises, government agencies and public institutions employees started to merge last year, basic salaries for government agencies and public institutions employees also saw adjustments. The basic salary level for employees from government agencies and public institutions were adjusted at the end of July, 2015, increasing 300 yuan monthly per capita in terms of a national average level. In the 13th Five-year Plan for Human Resources and Social Security Development, a normal adjustment mechanism for the basic salary level of government agencies and public institutions will be implemented, including regularly adjusting the basic salary level and gradually improving a basic salarys proportion to full wage. Ministry of Civil Affairs: establishing an adjustment mechanism for subsistence allowance standards Setting up the linkage between subsistence allowance standards and price increases, a dynamic adjustment mechanism for subsistence allowance standards will be established, according to the 13th Five-year Plan for Civil Affairs Development. It will gradually raise the subsistence allowance standards in accordance with the level of economic and social development, to narrow the gap between standards for urban and rural residences and to ensure all the standards in rural areas are not lower than the national poverty alleviation line. First Xiamen Airlines flight touches down in N America Updated: 2016-07-26 17:14 (Xinhua) VANCOUVER - Vancouver International Airport (YVR) celebrated the inaugural flight of China's Xiamen Airlines to North America here on Monday evening. The new year-round, non-stop, Boeing 787 service will operate three times weekly between Vancouver and Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport (XMN). "We're delighted to welcome Xiamen Airlines as our fifth airline from mainland China," said Craig Richmond, president and CEO of the Vancouver Airport Authority. "It's no surprise that this very successful airline chose YVR as its first North American destination - our city has close ties with Fujian province, while our northwest location and world-class facility make YVR the best gateway to North America for any Asian airline." The new Chinese service originates from Xiamen Airlines' namesake city, which has a population of more than 3.8 million people. Located in Southeastern China, Xiamen boasts a warm climate, tropical scenery and tree-lined beaches. It has long been a popular stop for Chinese tourists, but the city is now welcoming more and more foreign travelers. Next to serving Canadians and Americans whose destination is Xiamen, the new route will be bolstered by a 72-hour visa-free stopover program. Xiamen Airlines has been operating for 32 years and for the past three years, it has received the highest honor for service and won the China Quality Award in 2016. The new route to Vancouver was added as part of a rapid intercontinental expansion, and is operated on a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 4 First class, 18 Business class and 215 Economy class seats. Flight MF806 will depart Vancouver at 1:40 am local time (0840 GMT) and arrive in Xiamen at 5:30 am local time the following day (2130 GMT on the previous day). The westbound flight, MF805, departs Xiamen at 9:30 pm local time (1330 GMT) before crossing the International Date Line to arrive in Vancouver at 6:40 pm local time (0140 GMT on the following day). China ratifies UN TIR Convention to boost trade Updated: 2016-07-26 17:24 By ZHAO YANRONG(chinadaily.com.cn) China has become the 70th country to ratify the United Nation's Transports Internationaux Routiers Convention, the global standard for international freight customs transit. As the only universal customs transit system for moving goods across international borders, TIR has been supporting trade and development for more than six decades. TIR is governed by the United Nations TIR Convention, overseen by UNECE, and managed by the International Road Transport Union. "I'm delighted to welcome China into the TIR family of nations. This is an important step in harmonizing standards and boosting transport, trade and development across the Eurasian landmass," said Umberto de Pretto, Secretary General of the IRU, after China ratified the convention on Tuesday. "IRU has been a strong supporter of China's Belt and Road Initiative, and we will continue working closely with the Chinese government and business community as we turn our attention now to implementing the TIR system." TIR-operating countries around China, including Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia and Tajikistan, are also set to experience a boost to transport and trade when the system becomes operational in China. Pakistan is also implementing the TIR after its own ratification of the convention last year. "China's accession to the TIR Convention will open new efficient and faster transport opportunities and transport routes between China and Europe. It can become a real game changer for international trade and is a strong contribution to the Chinese vision for the Belt and Road Initiative," said UNECE Executive Secretary Christian Friis Bach. "We warmly welcome China to the TIR Convention and look forward to working closely with China and all TIR contracting partners to turn this decision into strong opportunities for trade, transport and economic growth." The United Nations Secretary General has confirmed that the TIR Convention will come into force in China on January 5 next year. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Emotions ran high at the opening of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Monday night. First lady Michelle Obama got a little choked up during her prime-time speech, which touched on how the next president will shape children's futures, including her daughters'. "I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves," Obama said, holding back tears. "And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters can take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States." WHO'S WHO: 16 famous faces you'll see at the DNC After Bernie Sanders came on stage for his keynote address, TV cameras often cut to the crowd, some of whom had tears running down their faces. Many of his supporters expressed disappointment that it's Clinton, and not Sanders, on the Democratic presidential ticket. COMIC STEALS THE SHOW: Sarah Silverman tells Sanders supporters 'you're being ridiculous' After rousing applause, Sanders called for a strong leader who will stand up for the American people. However, he didn't mention Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, until midway through his address. Of course, Republican nominee Donald Trump did not remain quiet Monday night. Trump targeted both New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who also spoke at the convention, and Sanders. "If Cory Booker is the future of the Democratic Party, they have no future!" Trump tweeted. "I know more about Cory than he knows about himself." Less than 10 minutes after he left the stage, a Sanders post told Trump to "never tweet" . Trump didn't target the first lady after her speech, and Twitter didn't hesitate to point that out. FULL COVERAGE: See the latest DNC developments This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR Walking a few blocks here can be dangerous. Gangs control a patchwork of territories in the capital of El Salvador, and rigorously patrol their borders. Gang lookouts question those entering their neighborhoods, search them for tattoos and check their IDs sometimes at gunpoint. Crossing one of those invisible lines to go to work or school can be deadly. Economic problems and violence have created a new wave of migration that has driven up Border Patrol apprehensions from all-time lows and resulted in the opening of two controversial family detention centers near San Antonio. The San Antonio Express-News went to El Salvador, one of the most dangerous countries in the world, this spring to report on this new migration. Last year, this city of little more than 6 million had more than 6,600 homicides. That rate of 108 homicides per 100,000 residents is the highest in the hemisphere. Read the full special series here: In the traffic-choked capital of San Salvador, children take back alleys to school to avoid gang lookouts, criminal groups have the ability to shut down public transportation and people are gunned down in broad daylight. Once-quiet rural communities are the new frontier for El Salvador's gangs. The MS-13 and 18th Street Gangs, facing police pressure in the country's cities, have expanded their reach into the countryside, extorting and recruiting in their newly conquered territory. jbuch@express-news.net Twitter: @Jlbuch In cultural reversal, European royals turn to Chinese Updated: 2016-07-26 07:57 By Fu Jing(China Daily) Kungfu lovers perform martial art at a square during an activity held by Palacky University in Prague of Czech on Sept 24, 2014, to celebrate the Day of the Confucius Institute which falls on Sept 27. [Photo/Xinhua] The Dutch seem pleased with a recent announcement that King Willem-Alexander's daughter Amalia, the 13-year-old heir to the throne, will learn Chinese during the upcoming school semester. Some have even called it the royal family's "smartest investment" given the deepening relationship between China and the Netherlands. The Dutch royalty is not alone in embracing the Chinese language. In neighboring Belgium, Princess Elisabeth, the first child of King Philippe born in 2001, was already studying Chinese in a Dutch-medium school in Brussels. When King Philippe acceded to the throne in 2013, the princess became the duchess of Brabant, a title reserved for the heir apparent, which means she could become a Chinese-speaking queen of a European country. In fact, the older generations of royal families in Europe have had an interest in Chinese culture for long. Although Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, who celebrated her 90th birthday this year, doesn't speak Chinese, she has enormous interest in Chinese philosophy, especially Taoism. This month, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, partly supported by Britain's Royal Family, established the Academy of Sinology with the aim of encouraging doctorate students to study ancient Chinese religions, texts, language and history. The Danish monarchy, too, has shown keen interest in Chinese language and culture. Apart from Danish, French and English, the royal family's website has been using Chinese since 2014. Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and King Philippe of Belgium have already visited China after Xi Jinping became China's top leader. And in return, Xi has visited the Netherlands, Belgium and Britain. Studying Chinese is becoming popular across Europe. When I was interviewing parliamentarians in Greece during the country's sovereign debt crisis, one of them even arranged for his 16-year-old daughter, who was learning Chinese at the time, to be present during our conversation. Bryan Bedder/Getty Images To follow Joel McHales career is to be worried for his health. It seems as if he always has five jobs at once, whether its his comic side on TVs The Soup and Community, movie appearances or memorable cameos in series such as The X-Files and Sons of Anarchy. Oh yes, and he travels as a stand-up comedian. McHale is headlining two nights at the San Jose Improv in downtown San Jose. His popularity may stem from the fact that he views Hollywood and pop culture as absurd, just like most of his cynical fans. Hes also confident enough to criticize names that are bigger and more powerful than him often to their face, as hes done on Talk Soup, at the ESPY Awards on ESPN and at the White House Correspondents Association dinner. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate PHILADELPHIA The dominant word through most of the first day of the Democratic National Convention: Booooooo! Starting at 8:45 a.m. Monday, when Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee was jeered at the typically sleepy California delegation breakfast for mentioning Hillary Clintons name and continuing with the hoots aimed at the evenings speakers who praised Clinton, many of the delegates pledged to Sen. Bernie Sanders piled their frustrations onto the presumptive Democratic Party nominee and the primary process that chose her. They even booed Sanders when he told many of those 1,846 delegates Monday afternoon that immediately, right now, weve got to defeat Donald Trump. Weve got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine, Sanders said. He paused, then said, Brothers and sisters, this is the real world that we live in. Later Monday, Sanders capped his speech he spent much of his time reviewing the issues that his campaign had made part of the conversation in the Democratic Party with his strongest appeal for unity: Hillary Clinton must become the next president ... and I am going to do all I can to make that happen. Angry resistance But some of his most fervent supporters werent ready to go there yet. On the streets near the convention center Monday, more than 1,000 Sanders supporters demonstrated, with a few picking up the anti-Clinton chant heard at last weeks Republican National Convention: Lock her up. Outside the Wells Fargo Center on Monday, pro-Sanders supporters held a banner that read: Scandal Free: Choose Bernie. The question for Clinton: Was Mondays vitriol a sign of a serious split in the party or just the last gasps of a primary-season Democratic family squabble that will dissipate by the time the balloons drop after her acceptance speech Thursday night. Appropriately Monday, Paul Simon sang Bridge Over Troubled Water because Clinton needs one. Shortly after Simon finished, the boos finally dissipated, as the Democrats tried to counter the dark, dystopian tone of last weeks Republican gathering with humor and aspirational messages. In between the speakers, the audience saw short video clips that used Trumps own words to lampoon him. Comedian Sarah Silverman, who backed Sanders in the primary, delivered one of the best pitches for migrating support to Clinton by aiming directly at Sanders delegates: Not only did Bernie wake us up, he made us understand what is possible and what we deserve. And Bernie showed us that all of Americas citizens deserve quality health care and education, not just the wealthy elite, Silverman said. I know, it sounds so obvious, who wouldnt agree with that? But its not whats been happening. She got a standing ovation, then offered the most recalcitrant Sanders supporters some tough love: To the Bernie or Bust people: Youre being ridiculous. First ladys speech And in a deeply personal speech that revolved around what type of president she wanted for her daughters, first lady Michelle Obama followed up with praise for Clinton as the type of leader who has the guts and the grace to keep putting those cracks in that glass ceiling. ... Because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters, and all of our sons and daughters, take it for granted that a woman can become president of the United States. Regardless of the support for Clinton, Sanders supporters said the resistance is likely to continue throughout the week. The strife comes at a critical time for Clinton, who wants to show that her party is more unified than the Republicans were last week, when several of Donald Trumps primary foes offered him lukewarm support. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz pointedly refused to endorse him, getting booed off the convention stage. Quietly, some Clinton supporters worried about an analysis Monday by statistician Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com, who correctly predicted each states result in the 2012 election. Silver said Trump got a small to medium poll bounce from last weeks GOP convention, enough to put the race into a dead heat. If the election were held today, Trump would be a narrow favorite, with a 57 percent chance of winning the Electoral College, Silver wrote. The long term still favors Clinton, however, Silver said. While Trump has a real chance at becoming president, and although Clinton is still favored, shes already had a bumpy ride. And the Sanders die-hards likely will continue to cause her some turbulence. Unfriendly breakfasts Sanders delegates roiled Mondays California delegation breakfast, a normally tepid affair where a parade of elected and party officials drone on as the delegates slug down bacon and eggs. But Mondays breakfast turned angry when delegates booed every mention of Clintons name, nearly drowning out speakers like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and California Secretary of State Alex Padilla. Afterward, Pelosi shrugged off the boos as typical of campaign season passion, saying she has seen similar outbursts at past conventions. You know what its the Democratic Party. We have never been a monolith, Pelosi said. Weve always tried to reach a consensus, but unanimity is an impossibility for any party. The booing was even more intense at the Florida delegations breakfast. The scorn was directed at Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who resigned as the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee after the disclosure that emails from DNC staffers appeared to characterize them as favoring Clinton in the primaries. Christian Palacios was among the Florida Sanders delegates who booed during the breakfast. It was an organic dislike in response to the news that came in this weekend said the 34-year-old network engineer. All we wanted is to be fairly treated by the Democratic Party. Joe Garofoli is the San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli Online extras: video House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi not concerned about booing: http://bit.ly/2apGdJq Bernie Sanders supporters protest: http://bit.ly/2aoC9aE Live spotlight on Democrats Chronicle senior political writer Joe Garofoli will discuss the convention live from Philadelphia at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday on KTVU. Maldives celebrates 51st Independence Day Updated: 2016-07-26 04:47 By Xie Fang(chinadaily.com.cn) On July 26, the Republic of Maldives will celebrate the 51st anniversary of its independence. Fifty-one years ago, President Ibrahim Nasir signed a historic agreement with the British government, securing full independence for the Maldives after years as a British protectorate. Since its independence, the Maldives has been transformed into one of the most dynamic economies in South Asia, driven by its tourism industry. In the early 1980s, with a population of 156,000, the Maldives was one of the 20 poorest countries in the world. Today, the countrys population is over 350,000; it is a middle-income country with a per capita income of more than $6,300. The Maldives also has some of the best social indicators in the region and is one of the highest ranked in terms of human development in South Asia. Under Abdulla Yameen, who assumed the presidency in 2013, the Maldives has embarked on a historic and ambitious project of economic transformation and nation-building. The transformation will be driven by young people, enterprising businesses and facilitative government policies. The aim is to diversify the countrys economy, harness the potential of the Maldives strategic location and make it an economic giant of the Indian Ocean. The ultimate goal is to double the nations per capita income and lift up the hundreds of thousands who call the island nation home. The government has instituted liberal investment policies, including a Special Economic Zones Act to attract foreign companies. As the president noted during his Golden Jubilee address to the nation in 2015, economic prosperity is a prerequisite for the people to reap the fruits of independence. Social harmony, peace, and prosperity cannot be achieved without economic self-determination and improved standards of living, he said. Maldives Ambassador to China, Mohamed Faisal The Maldives has maintained exceptional relations with the global community. Foreign policy respects the laws and traditions of neighbors and friends, as well as their territorial integrity and sovereign rights. The country is also creating friendly and mutually beneficial ties with every country that respects independence and sovereignty. In 1972, seven years after its independence, Maldives signed an agreement with China establishing diplomatic relations, a relationship that has grown dramatically. Today, China is one of the Maldives closest development partners, and the special relationship has been enhanced by commercial and trade links. The China-Maldives Friendship Bridge project and the Airport Expansion Project, two of the largest infrastructure projects the country has ever started, are being financially assisted by China. Maldivians hold the values of independence and freedom as the essence of identity. They look to harness youthful energy and the wisdom of elders and take lessons from previous generations to reach a new level of development. Maldives Ambassador to China, Mohamed Faisal, contributes to the story. KABUL Following a massive attack in Kabul, the Afghan military has launched a major offensive against the Islamic State group in the countrys far eastern region near the border with Pakistan, Afghan and U.S. officials said Tuesday. The offensive began over the weekend in Nangarhar province, where Islamic State has had a presence for the past year, said Dawlat Waziri, spokesman for the Defense Ministry. The offensive, part of the governments Operation Shafaq or Dawn in Pahsto started hours after an Islamic State suicide bomber killed at least 80 people who were taking part in a peaceful demonstration in Kabul on Saturday. It was the deadliest attack to hit the Afghan capital since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. President Ashraf Ghani gave the orders for the offensive, which Waziri said will consist of air strikes and ground attacks, including those by special forces. Cleanup operations aimed at ensuring that Islamic State loyalists do not return to the area would follow, he added. The offensive marks a new chapter in Afghanistans war against insurgents. Until now they have been a largely defensive force, and have struggled to take the lead on the battlefield since the withdrawal in 2014 of most international combat forces. The head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, has pledged to transform the Afghan military into an offensive force so they can take the fight to the insurgents, and reclaim battlefield initiative. While the main fight is against the Taliban who have been battling to overthrow the Kabul government for 15 years this counterterrorism operation against the Islamic State will enable Nicholson to implement an aggressive new strategy, working closely with the Afghan military and using more air strikes against the enemy, analysts say. President Obama recently expanded the conditions for U.S. troops to support Afghan offensive operations. MOGADISHU, Somalia Two suicide bombers detonated explosives-laden cars Tuesday outside the office of the U.N.s mine-clearing agency and a Somali army checkpoint in Mogadishu, killing 13 people, including seven guards, Somali police officials said. The blasts occurred near the African Union base in the area of the Mogadishu airport, Somali police chief Gen. Mohamed Sheikh Hassan said. Somalias Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabab, claimed responsibility, according to the groups Andalus radio station. Unlike previous attacks by the al Qaeda-linked al-Shabab, gunmen did not accompany the suicide bomber, said police Capt. Mohamed Hussein. The first suicide bomber tried to speed through the barrier at the U.N. office but guards shot at the car, he said. The guards were from a private security firm, said a police official, who insisted on anonymity. The deputy spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, Farhan Haq, told reporters that if the guards had not stopped the car from entering the U.N. premises, there would have been considerably more damage and loss of life. A second suicide blast targeted a checkpoint manned by Somali security forces near the African Union base in Mogadishu, said Hussein. Casualties there remained unclear. Al-Shabab is waging an insurgency against Somalias weak U.N.-backed government with the goal of establishing an Islamic emirate, ruled by a strict form of Islam. More than 22,000 peacekeepers serve in the multination African Union force. Al-Shabab opposes the presence of foreign troops in Somalia. Although al-Shabab was ousted from Mogadishu in 2011, it continues to wage a deadly guerrilla campaign. Al-Shabab militants have carried out multiple attacks in Somalia in recent weeks, including a deadly assault on a military base about 30 miles from Mogadishu and the storming of a hotel in the center of the capital. Al-Shabab is desperately seeking relevance and will do anything to keep in the news headlines, the African Union special representative for Somalia, Ambassador Francisco Caetano Madeira, said in a statement. Somalia has grappled with chaos and violence since the collapse of its central government in 1991. Since then, the country has been convulsed by clan-based violence driven by a battle for resources and power and widespread destruction. The government now controls a limited amount of territory, and it has long struggled just to maintain security in the capital. The New York Times contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BERLIN German officials vowed tighter security and called for tougher controls of asylum-seekers Tuesday in the aftermath of four attacks in the country in the span of a week, two of which were claimed by the Islamic State extremist group. The attacks left 10 victims dead and dozens wounded and have rekindled concerns about Germanys ability to cope with the estimated 1 million refugees registered entering the country last year. The Islamic State is waging a brutal war of aggression ... against our way of life, said Joachim Herrmann, the top security official in Bavaria, where three of the attacks took place. In the most recent attack claimed by Islamic State, a Syrian man on Sunday blew himself up outside a crowded music festival in the Bavarian city of Ansbach, injuring 15 people. The man had unsuccessfully tried to find asylum in Germany and was awaiting deportation. In the other attack, a 17-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker wounded five people with an ax before being killed by police near the Bavarian city of Wuerzburg. In the deadliest attack in the past week, the 18-year-old son of Iranian immigrants went on a rampage at a Munich mall, killing nine people and wounding dozens. Authorities say he was undergoing psychiatric treatment. And on Sunday hours before the Ansbach attack, a Syrian man killed a woman with a knife in the southwestern city of Reutlingen before being captured by police. Herrmann said changes need to be made to laws to allow for quicker deportation of people like the Ansbach attacker. while authorities need to investigate how Mohammad Daleel was able to collect enough material to make at least two bombs in his room in an asylum-seeker home. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SAINT-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, France The Islamic State group crossed a new threshold Tuesday in its war against the West, as two of its followers targeted a church in Normandy, slitting the throat of an elderly priest celebrating Mass and using hostages as human shields before being shot by police. It was the extremist groups first attack against a church in the West and fulfills longstanding threats against crusaders in what the militants paint as a centuries-old battle for power. One of the attackers had tried twice to leave for Syria; the second was not identified. To attack a church, to kill a priest, is to profane the republic, French President Francois Hollande told the nation after speaking with Pope Francis, who condemned the killing in the strongest terms. The Rev. Jacques Hamel was celebrating Mass for three nuns and two parishioners on a quiet summer morning in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray when the attackers burst in and forced the 85-year-old priest to his knees before slicing his throat, according to authorities and a nun who escaped. The nun described seeing the attackers film themselves and give a sermon in Arabic around the altar before she fled. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said the other hostages were used as human shields to block police from entering. One 86-year-old parishioner was wounded. The two attackers were killed by police as they rushed from the building shouting Allahu Akbar, Molins said. One had three knives and a fake explosives belt; the other carried a kitchen timer wrapped in aluminum foil and had fake explosives in his backpack. One of the assailants was identified as Adel Kermiche, a 19-year-old who grew up in the town and tried to travel to Syria twice last year using family members identity documents, but was arrested outside France and handed preliminary terrorism charges. Kermiche was put under house arrest with an electronic surveillance bracelet after a judge overruled prosecutors and agreed to free him, Molins said. However, the bracelet was deactivated for a few hours every morning as part of the surveillance agreement, Molins said hours that corresponded to the time of Tuesdays attack. A statement published by the Islamic State-affiliated Amaq news agency said Tuesdays attack was carried out by two soldiers of the Islamic State. SAGAMIHARA, Japan A young Japanese man went on a stabbing rampage Tuesday at a facility for the mentally disabled where he had been fired, officials said, killing 19 people months after he gave a letter to parliament outlining the bloody plan and saying all disabled people should be put to death. When he was done, Kanagawa prefectural authorities said, 26-year-old Satoshi Uematsu had left dead or injured nearly a third of the almost 150 patients at the facility in a matter of 40 minutes in the early Tuesday attack. It is Japans deadliest mass killing in decades. The Fire Department said 25 were wounded, 20 of them seriously. The suspect calmly turned himself in about two hours after the attack, police said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Chiaki Tsukumo/AP Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Eugene Hoshiko/AP Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Uematsu had worked at the facility from 2012 until February, when he was let go. He knew the staffing would be down to just a handful in the wee hours of the morning, Japanese media reports said. The facility employs more than 200 people, including part-timers, with nine of them working the night of the attack, a government official said. All those killed were patients. Not much is known yet about his background, but Uematsu once dreamed of becoming a teacher. In two group photos posted on his Facebook page, he looks happy, smiling widely with other young men. It was so much fun today. Thank you, all. Now I am 23, but please be friends forever, a 2013 post says. But somewhere along the way, things went terribly awry. In February, Uematsu tried to hand deliver a letter to parliaments lower house speaker that revealed his dark turmoil. It demanded that all disabled people be put to death through a world that allows for mercy killing, Kyodo news agency and TBS TV reported. The parliament office also confirmed the letter. Uematsu boasted in the letter that he had the ability to kill 470 disabled people in what he called was a revolution, and outlined an attack on two facilities, after which he said he will turn himself in. He also asked he be judged innocent on grounds of insanity, be given $5 million in aid and plastic surgery so he could lead a normal life afterward. My reasoning is that I may be able to revitalize the world economy and I thought it may be possible to prevent World War III, the letter says. The letter was delivered before Uematsus last day of work at the facility, but it was unclear whether the letter played a role in his firing, or even if his superiors had known about it. The letter included Uematsus name, address and telephone number, and reports of his threats were relayed to local police where Uematsu lived, Kyodo said. Kanagawa Gov. Yuji Kuroiwa apologized for having failed to act on the warning signs. GENEVA Syrian government forces on Tuesday called on opposition fighters in Aleppo to drop their weapons and surrender to authorities as they captured new ground on the northwestern edge of the city, tightening the siege on rebel-held parts of the metropolis where 300,000 people live, activists said. The push in which troops captured large parts of the citys Layramoun area came as state TV reported that the General Army Command informed residents of rebel-held parts of Aleppo via telephone text messages that the army has created several safe passages and makeshift centers for whoever wants to leave those areas. The military warning comes days after the army fully encircled Aleppo, setting the stage for a prolonged siege aimed at eventually forcing the surrender of rebels holed up in the eastern parts of the city. Once Syrias thriving commercial center, Aleppo has been divided since 2012 between government- and rebel-controlled districts. Dozens of people have been killed in the past few weeks amid intense fighting. Grim scenes of people trapped under the rubble of buildings have emerged, and food shortages have been reported. The U.N. humanitarian chief, Stephen OBrien, told the Security Council Monday that Aleppo risks becoming the largest besieged area in the country. Food supplies are expected to run out in mid-August and many medical facilities continue to be attacked, he added. In Geneva, the U.N. envoy for Syria said he plans to call a new round of talks between government and opposition representatives in Geneva toward the end of August. Staffan de Mistura said he wants to see the outcome of steps agreed upon in Moscow last week between the United States and Russia, in order to make these talks particularly fruitful and hopeful before setting a precise date. The U.N. envoy spoke to reporters Tuesday after a closed-door meeting in Geneva with high-level U.S. and Russian diplomats. Syrian government forces and their allies have been on the offensive around Aleppo, Syrias largest city, for weeks. The army on Tuesday said it will keep providing Aleppo residents with basic necessities, but called on all those living in rebel-held parts of the city to kick out mercenaries and foreign fighters. Baraa al-Halabi, an opposition activist in Aleppo, described the army claim about safe passages as nonsense and said he was not aware of any telephone messages sent to residents. Earlier Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that recent U.S.-Russia discussions should encourage moderate Syrian opposition groups to leave areas occupied by al Qaedas branch in Syria, thus helping to implement a truce. Lavrov spoke to Russian news agencies after talks in Laos with Secretary of State John Kerry, who visited Moscow earlier this month. Moscow and Washington have differed over the role of the local al Qaeda branch known as the Al-Nusra Front, with Russia calling the group terrorists and the U.S. asking Russia not to target them for fear of hitting the moderate opposition. The U.S. has offered Russia a military partnership in Syria that includes intelligence and target sharing and even joint bombing operations. The pipeline of new Auckland housing will underpin a longer construction boom for the country, making up for an overestimation in the amount of commercial work in the pipeline, says the 2016 National Construction Pipeline Report. Prepared by the Building Research Association of New Zealand and Pacifecon, a construction industry consultancy, the report shows building work is now expected to peak in 2017 at $37 billion, a year later than previously thought. That's because Auckland's need for new residential property more than makes up for less commercial work than anticipated. Auckland is expected to dominate construction work over the six years to 2021, peaking in 2018 at $17 billion and hovering above $16 billion through to the end of the period. "The growth in residential activity in Auckland is particularly encouraging as it forecasts that next year more homes will be built in Auckland than ever before," Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith said in a statement. "The scale of this growth is unprecedented and equates to Auckland growing by the equivalent of Whangarei every three years." New building consents in Auckland have been lagging behind population growth, meaning the country's biggest city hasn't been able to bridge the gap between a shortage of housing and increased demand. That's seen as the primary driver behind a sustained lift in Auckland house prices in recent years, prompting the Reserve Bank to impose mortgage lending restrictions to try to cool the market. The report estimates 94,200 new dwelling consents will be issued in Auckland between January 2014 and December 2021, the same number estimated in last year's report for the period spanning 2013 to 2020. Total annual consents aren't expected to breach the 34,000 record set in 2004, "but is projected to remain at a high level of 25,000 to 30,000 per year for the duration of the forecast." The 2015 report forecast a 14 percent increase in all building work that year, though the actual gain was only 4 percent. That could "mostly be attributed to less than expected non-residential building activity." The 2016 report now forecasts the total value for all construction to be 3.7 percent higher over the period to 2021 than last year's report, with increased residential work offsetting non-residential work, which is seen growing more slowly and with a later peak. BusinessDesk.co.nz Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: SKO - FY23 Interim Results Announcement Date - 23 November 2022 Downer awarded $490 million road maintenance contract SKC - 2022 ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS AND TRADING UPDATE TCL - Result of AGM TradeWindow secures U.S. footprint with FoodChain ID October 28th Morning Report October 25th Morning Report Mainfreight Investor Day / Market Update GFI - Greenfern - Offer closes 27th Oct MCY - Quarterly Operational Update The size of the mortgage books of New Zealand's banks hit a new high of $227.7 billion in the three months ended March 31, an increase of $8.4 billion or 3.9 percent on the previous quarter. The figures, from KPMG's Financial Institutions Performance Survey, come despite bank margins being squeezed by the fierce battle for home loans, with just Bank of New Zealand able to maintain its lending margin of 2.21 percent in the quarter. BNZ had a particularly strong three months. Its mortgage book showed the fastest growth, at 2.24 percent or $1.57 billion and it reported the largest fall in funding costs, down 30 basis points. The report says BNZ's success is being put down to its re-entry into the broker market and the expansion of its mobile mortgage workforce. Author John Kensington said BNZ had also been focusing on profitability. "Previously they did a bit of volume at lower margins. I think theyve stopped doing that. I think theyve just really tightened up their game. Industrywide, margins on lending fell to 2.17 percent from 2.21 percent in the December quarter. Margins have now fallen by 14 basis points since the 2.31 percent reported in the June 2015 quarter. Kiwibank saw the largest drop in its margin, down 9 basis points to 1.98 percent, followed by Westpac Banking Corp, which fell 6 basis points to 2.11 percent. All banks reported that their funding costs had fallen, with the average liability now 3.21 percent in the March quarter, down from 3.5 percent in the December quarter, mainly driven by the lower rates on offer to savers and depositors. Kensington said concerns were starting to emerge about deposits flowing away from savings accounts as term accounts mature. Anecdotally as deposits come due, theyre not being redeposited, some are being transferred into funds, but a lot of it is being used to buy real estate," he said. "Theres a very real concern that the banking system cannot go on funding mortgages on one side of its book unless there are deposits. Homeowners and buyers are increasingly adopting one-year mortgages, with 39.75 percent of home loans in the quarter being for a term of just 12 months. The Reserve Bank is expected to cut the official cash rate further in August from its current record low of 2.25 percent. Two-year fixed mortgages made up 26.47 percent of the market while floating rates made up 23.17 percent. All the banks reported their loan books had increased, with gross loan and advances increasing by $6.6 billion in the quarter. That reflects a property market running hot in Auckland and regional markets such as Hamilton and Tauranga. Heartland Bank, which focuses on business, rural, and auto lending, achieved the highest growth rate of any of the banks, at 3.02 percent or $89 million. Despite reporting the highest funding costs, at 3.95 percent, it also reported a margin of 4.58 percent. That compares to 1.98 percent at Kiwibank and 2.61 percent at Southland Building Society and Cooperative Bank. New Zealand's banks saw profits rise by just under 8 percent in the three months to the end of March 2016, rising to $1.2 billion from $1.11 billion in the previous quarter, although this mainly reflects the revaluation of assets and derivatives. Since the period covered in the FIPS report, the Reserve Bank has proposed a minimum deposit of 40 percent for loans to property investors across New Zealand in a bid to tackle the booming market. Last week David Hisco, the chief executive of ANZ Bank New Zealand, the country's largest lender, argued the bank should have gone further and increased it to 60 percent. Kensington praised Hisco's contribution to the debate, saying "I think he's bringing probably the most balanced view to it. This is everybody's problem. It's town planners, it's builders, it's council's, it's the government. And I think everybody has got a bit of a wake-up call." BusinessDesk.co.nz Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: SKO - FY23 Interim Results Announcement Date - 23 November 2022 Downer awarded $490 million road maintenance contract SKC - 2022 ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS AND TRADING UPDATE TCL - Result of AGM TradeWindow secures U.S. footprint with FoodChain ID October 28th Morning Report October 25th Morning Report Mainfreight Investor Day / Market Update GFI - Greenfern - Offer closes 27th Oct MCY - Quarterly Operational Update New Zealand fruit exports have been the shining star of commodities over the past year, countering a weak period for exports of dairy products. The country's merchandise exports advanced 2 percent to $49.34 billion in the 12 months ended June 30, Statistics New Zealand said. Fruit, the country's fourth-largest export commodity, jumped 31 percent to $2.63 billion, while dairy exports, the largest group, declined 7.3 percent to $11.16 billion, the agency said. Fruit exports are going through a purple patch as previous investment in developing markets and varieties starts to pay off. The $617 million gain in annual fruit exports eclipsed a $250 million rise in forestry product exports and a $237 million increase in meat exports. The increase in annual fruit exports was led by kiwifruit, which set a new record, up 41 percent to $1.7 billion, while apple exports increased 23 percent. ANZ rural economist Con Williams said the apple industry has developed new trademarked varieties that are favoured by higher returning Asian market, and the kiwifruit industry is more weighted towards the golden varieties which face less competitive pressure and are preferred in Asian countries for the sweeter taste, helping lift price premiums. That contrasts with the countrys dairy and meat industries, which have tended to position themselves as lower-cost producers, he said. The data show annual merchandise imports advanced 2.5 percent to $52.65 billion, resulting in an annual trade deficit of $3.31 billion, in line with a Reuters poll of economists. That's wider than the $2.98 billion annual deficit a year earlier. For the month of June, exports rose 2.6 percent to $4.26 billion from the same month a year earlier, as fruit exports gained 30 percent, Statistics NZ said. Kiwifruit led the rise as the value increased 47 percent and the volume rose 32 percent. Gold kiwifruit rose 65 percent in value and 49 percent in quantity, while green kiwifruit lifted 28 percent in value and 21 percent in quantity. Imports in the June month declined 4.6 percent to $4.13 billion, led by a 12 percent drop in intermediate goods. Processed industrial supplies, such as fertiliser, soya bean oil cake and palm oil cake, dropped 3.7 percent; primary industrial supplies excluding food and beverages, such as calcium phosphates, dropped 37 percent, while crude oil declined 24 percent, Statistics NZ said. The trade surplus for the month was $127 million. BusinessDesk.co.nz Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: SKO - FY23 Interim Results Announcement Date - 23 November 2022 Downer awarded $490 million road maintenance contract SKC - 2022 ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS AND TRADING UPDATE TCL - Result of AGM TradeWindow secures U.S. footprint with FoodChain ID October 28th Morning Report October 25th Morning Report Mainfreight Investor Day / Market Update GFI - Greenfern - Offer closes 27th Oct MCY - Quarterly Operational Update Three New Zealand research organisations have signed up to become members of the Medical Research Commercialisation Fund, Australias largest life science venture fund. Otago University, the Malaghan Institute, and Callaghan Innovation are joining the funds collaborative structure which includes more than 50 Australian medical research institutes and research hospitals, the Australian federal government and five state governments. The A$200 million fund managed by Australian venture capital firm Brandon Capital includes backing from four of Australias largest industry superannuation funds AustralianSuper, HESTA, Statewide Super, and Hostplus. Since 2007, the firm has already fully invested two other smaller funds and supported the development of 27 start-ups developing biotech or medical device technologies originating from members. A couple of investment successes include Spinifex Pharmaceuticals which was sold last year to Novartis for US$725 million and Fibrotech Therapeutics which netted US$557 million when sold to Shire in 2014. In February the New Zealand government paid A$500,000 to become a member, the same amount as Australian states. That paved the way for other New Zealand members to join and their research to be considered for investment by the third fund. Brandon Capitals new New Zealand investment manager Duncan Mackintosh was most recently chief executive of Waikatolink, the University of Waikatos commercial arm. He said Brandons previous life science funds didnt allow for investment outside Australia whereas this one has added New Zealand in like another state. The MRCF funding helps promising technologies bridge the current market failure, the so-called Valley of Death, enabling them to progress beyond grant funding to a point where they have achieved clinical or prototype proof of concept and/or market validation. Brandon managing director Chris Nave said New Zealand ranks highly in terms of its medical innovations internationally and the latest fund had the capacity to support the best research opportunities from across Australasia. Around A$50 million of the fund will go to seed investment and the remainder is reserved to support the most promising of these and existing portfolio companies through to mid-stage clinical trials. Early stage opportunities can receive up to A$3 million to support preclinical development, with those progressing to the next stage able to receive a further A$17 million, and that can stretch to A$30 million. The superannuation investors can also individually invest as the start-ups mature. The fund has first right to invest in discoveries from its hospital and university research partners. In exchange, the partners get a small share of any profits from successful commercialisations which incentivises them to help competitors succeed. Pete Hodgson, chief executive of Otago Universitys commercialisation arm Otago Innovation, said it was an obvious choice to sign up even though the university understood deal flow is always dependent on the quality of the science and that its a numbers game. Over the course of the next year or so Otago University IP is sufficiently deep that we anticipate one or more investment opportunities, he said. These guys are strong and have a longer track record than anyone in New Zealand. The fund runs an investment committee, similar to Auckland Universitys Return on Science, which members can attend and the best research ideas submitted for funding are considered. Mackintosh said it can take up to six months from a project being put forward to a final funding decision, given the number of competing projects and the return thresholds required. Key investment considerations include whether it is world-class science, a significant breakthrough in its field, the potential market size and need, competition, and the strength of the intellectual property. It has proven difficult in New Zealand to access the capital required to commercialise this type of high-risk, high-reward projects that require a well-funded investor, said Mike Zablocki, chief operating officer for the Malaghan Institute. The medical research institute is focused on finding cures for cancer, asthma and allergy, multiple sclerosis, and infectious diseases and Zablocki said it has some IP worth trying to develop. A key advantage to membership was the opportunity to network and assess the capability of the Australian members regularly as he said its not that easy getting that many of them in the same room at once. Callaghan Innovation national technology network manager for biotech, Kim Jordan, said membership acts as a bridge to the fund for client companies and to become part of a larger Australasian network focused on creating wealth and high-value jobs from life science technology. It will also give Callaghan Innovation visibility over focused, specialised, and deeply experienced biomedical venture assessment, development and management skills that are not readily available in New Zealand, she said. BusinessDesk.co.nz Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: SKO - FY23 Interim Results Announcement Date - 23 November 2022 Downer awarded $490 million road maintenance contract SKC - 2022 ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS AND TRADING UPDATE TCL - Result of AGM TradeWindow secures U.S. footprint with FoodChain ID October 28th Morning Report October 25th Morning Report Mainfreight Investor Day / Market Update GFI - Greenfern - Offer closes 27th Oct MCY - Quarterly Operational Update CHANDIGARH: Australia has placed India at the forefront of its international relationships and both are working together more closely than ever on security cooperation, Australian High Commissioner to India Harinder Sidhu said here on Monday. She also announced to equip India's workforce to meet the demands of the expanding economy. "Australia and India are working together more closely than ever on security cooperation," she told reporters. "We had our first joint naval exercise last year (2015), and we think the bilateral security relationship will go a long way. Our civil nuclear cooperation agreement has entered into force, enabling the export of uranium to India," Sidhu, who is on her first visit to Punjab, the state from where her family has its roots, said. Given the strategic alignment, the envoy said: "India and Australia are well placed to work together on challenges in the Indian Ocean region." She said the two-way Prime Ministerial visit in 2014 was a milestone, setting out an ambitious forward agenda. "Last year we saw new or expanded maritime, cyber, terrorism and transnational crime dialogues between our nations." "It will be important to build and strengthen institutions and norms in the region which can help manage tensions. From Australia's strategic perspective, the East Asia Summit is the regional institution which has the highest priority and the most potential to promote consultation to resolve regional issues peacefully." The economic front is on a solid footing, she said. "In 2015, two-way trade between Australia and India was valued at AUD 20 billion. India is now Australia's ninth largest trading partner and fifth largest export market. And trade is growing steadily." She said: "Equipping Indians with the skills to participate in the economy underpins so many of the Modi government's flagship policies, from 'Make in India' and 'Start-Up India' to the Smart Cities initiative." "We see ourselves as a natural partner for India as it seeks to meet its challenges across the education sector, whether this is in schools, higher or vocational education, or research." In higher education, Sidhu said Australia has some of the world's best institutions and academics. "Already, we are sharing teaching and learning expertise between India and Australia." "Beyond this, we are starting to expand our work on delivering vocational and skills training to equip India's workforce to meet the demands of the expanding economy. This training is in fields as diverse as welding, plumbing, fitness, health and aged care." The envoy, who felt that Chandigarh looks just like her hometown Canberra, said Punjab and Haryana send a significant number of students to Australia, especially in vocational training. "We are also looking at centres of excellence and training within Punjab and Haryana, for example in training for excellence in sports." To strengthen India's rural economy, Sidhu, who was born in Singapore but migrated to Australia with her family as a child, said using advances in technology, genetics and farming practices, an Australian cow produces on average five times as much milk as an Indian cow. "Australia is hosting International Dairy Week in January 2017. It will focus on every aspect of dairy farming: Cattle genetics, services and technologies," she said, adding, India is the world's largest dairy producer in terms of high number of cows. On Smart Cities, she said her country could make contributions on road safety. An Australian company UraP International is working on a World Bank-funded project in Punjab to assist the government with road safety audits on state highways, she said. It's an important project aimed at saving lives and reducing the risk of road injury -- one of the top 10 killers in India, said Sidhu, whose parents are of Punjabi origin. Read Also: Vodafone Foundation, Nasscom Launch 'Mobile For Good Awards' Indian-Origin Architect Unveils Bamboo Structure Design In Aus NEW DELHI: The countries under the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC) have called for imparting urgency to the initiative for the sake of integration and connectivity in the southeast Asian region. "The ministers endorsed the SOM (Senior Officials Meeting) report and emphasised that collaboration under MGC must be given a sense of urgency since it actively supports the initiative for Asean (Association for South East Asian Nations) integration, and the master plan on Asean connectivity, that helps the narrowing of the development gap, and contributes towards the implementation of the Asean Community Vision 2025," a joint statement issued at the end of the Seventh Mekong Ganga Cooperation Ministerial Meeting held in Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic, on Sunday said. The meeting was preceded by the Senior Officials Meeting on Saturday. "The ministers appreciated India's contribution to capacity building and human resource development in the CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam) countries, including over 900 annual scholarships under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme," the statement said. "The ministers agreed on the need for effective utilisation of these scholarships including those granted to study at Nalanda University (in India)." The meeting was attended by V.K. Singh, India's Minister of State for External Affairs, Prak Sokhonn, Senior Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia, Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Myanmar, Don Pramudwinai, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, and Pham Binh Minh, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam. According to the statement, the ministers welcomed the suggestion by India that scholarships be utilised to train faculty members for the Centres for English Languages Training (CELTs), Entrepreneurship Development Centres (EDCs) and the Vocational Training Centres (VTCs) established by India to provide them long term sustainability. It said the ministers welcomed the completion of construction by India of the MGC Textiles Museum in Siem Reap, Cambodia, thanked all partner countries on its operationalisation and decided to jointly collaborate on the promotion of the museum as a popular tourist attraction through effective ways. "The ministers appreciated the short documentary film on the museum commissioned by India," it said. It stated that the ministers recognised the significance of ensuring food security for the citizens of the MGC countries. "They acknowledged that despite rice being the most important crop in MGC countries, rice production continues to face many challenges and also the need to cooperate among others, in research and development on production of quality seeds, short duration and stress-tolerant varieties," the statement said. "The ministers welcomed the concept note on project of rice production and downstream processing circulated by India after the 6th MGC MM and tasked the SOM to identify a list of potential cooperation activities." The participating countries also concurred with the concept note circulated by India after the 6th MGC Ministerial Meeting and instructed the Senior Officials Meeting to consider the establishment of an MGC joint working group on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) to review and monitor cooperation in the SME sector, including the participation of the private sector, wherever applicable, and promote exchange of best practices. "The ministers noted that the guidelines for the utilisation of the India-CLMV Quick Impact Projects Fund were circulated by India and that 20 projects have been identified for the fund (five for Vietnam, 10 for Cambodia, three for Lao PDR and two for Myanmar)," the statement said. "Five projects in Cambodia and five in Vietnam are already under implementation. The ministers committed to kick start project work in 2016-2017." The statement also said that the countries welcomed the consultation between Asean Connectivity Coordination Committee and India and agreed to discuss the extension of the Trilateral Highway through Cambodia, Lao PDR and the new highway to Vietnam. "In this regard, the ministers agreed to step up efforts towards enhancing connectivity between India and the Mekong sub-region," it said. The ministers also agreed to enhance tourism cooperation among MGC countries through jointly conducting tourism marketing and promotional activities, exploring tourist destination for outbound tour operators and media of MGC countries and developing Mekong tours for Indian tourists. Read Also: SBI, IOC Link Up To Empower Farmers NASA Astronauts Train Underwater To Mimic Mars Mission BENGALURU: Is CBD legal? Cannabis derivates such as weed, hash and bang were pretty legal in India until 1985, when the Rajiv Gandhi government supposedly imposed a ban on it by categorizing it under other potentially harmful chemical drugs. There is quite a little conspiracy revolving around The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 which goes by the claims that the liquor lobbyists did not want a direct competition to alcohol. For the record, the Hemp plant (a variety of cannabis) is believed to have over fifty thousand and benefits ranging from paper products, body care, essential oils and nutritional supplements. Besides, weed is believed to be less harmful and addictive to the human body than alcohol or other chemically made drugs. It is also said that India during the time, who, was under pressure from the US govt. for that matter. Devils harvest as popular media tagged them became outcast in the eyes of the law. However, according to legend, even Lord Shiva embraced it and it carried out so as a religious tradition by Naga Sadhus. Many Indians had been accustomed to marijuana usage since generations. With that being said, although the act was passed, it appears the country in general is tolerant towards possessing marijuana. While peddling is no-do-dont-you-dare as far as enforcement is concerned, many states like West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa Tripura, and the North East have their own laws allowing cannabis. Uttarakhand may soon be the first state to legalize cannabis cultivation. And here are some pretty sweet tourist spots where one could relatively easily get hands of this not-so-legal herb. (Ha, as if it is not easily available the countrys major cities or villages.) Allow us to also be clear on our stance: we do not intent to promote use of cannabis and other related substance in any way. After all, we are just reporters doing our jobs; which precisely is: telling you stuffs that are going around. Kodaikanal The word in Tamil language means gif of the forest and is often referred to as Princesses of Hill Stations. And guess what shes got under her sleeves? The auto-rickshaw-wallas knows best. But you have been warned of fake products, robbery and conviction so approach at your own risk. Read Also: Get Foreign Vibes In These Seven Exotic Islands Of India List of Famous Autobiographies of Bollywood Actors PHILADELPHIA: Economy and job creation would be top priority for her administration if voted to power in the November general elections, Hillary Clinton has said on eve of start of Democratic National Convention here. "I want an economy that creates more jobs... And that's a lot of jobs. I want an economy that gets back to raising incomes for everybody. Most Americans haven't had a raise," Clinton told '60 Minutes' of CBS in an interview along with her vice presidential running mate Tim Kaine. "I want an economy that's going to help lift millions of people out of poverty, because given the Great Recession, we have fallen back in the wrong direction," she said, adding that for this she would rely on her husband and former president Bill Clinton and outgoing president Barack Obama. Clinton said she has a positive agenda. "We have our agenda. We have a very positive agenda. You'll hear a lot about it in Philadelphia this week," said Clinton, who would become the first woman of a major political party to be a presidential nominee. "People make fun of me sometimes, because I do have plans. I think I have this old fashioned idea that when you are asking people to vote for you, it is kind of like a big job interview, and you ought to tell people what you think you can do for them," she said. "I think we can create more economic opportunity, I think we can improve education, make college affordable, deal with the myriad of issues that we confront," she asserted. Responding to a question on ISIS, Clinton called for more intelligence sharing between US allies. "When it comes to terrorist killings, ISIS inspired or other radical jihadist inspired, we need an intelligence surge. We have got to be much more connected from the local, to the state to the national level with international sources of information," Clinton said. Joining the interview, Kaine called for strengthening of relationship with allies. "We got to have a stronger world through stronger alliances. So when Donald Trump says, maybe we need to kind of pull our head back in our shell, and we don't need to have the alliances. Why do we need them? Why do we need to rely on them? He's actually potentially cutting off exactly the kind of intelligence sharing that's going to be necessary to stop these kind of random attacks," Kaine said. "So these alliances matter. They weren't about yesterday. They matter probably more today and tomorrow than they mattered yesterday," Kaine added. Read Also: Indian-American To Raise $2 Mn For Trump, Hold Mega Rally Trump Vows To 'Put America First', Restore Law And Order Source: PTI french.jpg Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (Associated Press) PARIS -- Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. Another person inside the church was seriously injured and is hovering between life and death, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. French President Francois Hollande is suggesting that the Islamic State group is behind the attack. Hollande called it a "vile terrorist attack" and said it's another sign that France is at war with IS, which has claimed a string of attacks on France. "We must lead this war with all our means," he said in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, where two attackers took hostages on Tuesday before being killed by police. Hollande expressed support for all France's Catholics but said the attack targets "all the French." The identities of Tuesday's attackers are unclear. Police managed to rescue three other people inside the church in the small northwestern town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Brandt told reporters, and the two attackers were killed outside the church. Brandet said the RAID special intervention force was searching the perimeter of the church ahead of entering for possible explosives and terrorism investigators had been summoned. "The investigations are ongoing. There are still unknowns," Brandet said. "There are dogs, explosive detectors and bomb disposal services and as long as there are still unknowns, the judicial police cannot get inside the site. It's a dramatic situation." Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen has confirmed the identity of the priest as 84-year-old Father Jacques Hamel. In a statement from Krakow, Poland, where Pope Francis was visiting, Lebrun says "I cry out to God, with all men of good will. And I invite all non-believers to unite with this cry ... The Catholic Church has no other arms besides prayer and fraternity between men." Pope Francis has condemned in the strongest terms the attack. Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said in a statement Tuesday that the attack hits particularly hard "because this horrific violence took place in a church, a sacred place in which the love of God is announced, and the barbaric murder of a priest and the involvement of the faithful." Lombardi called the attack "more terrible news, that adds to a series of violence in these days that have left us upset, creating immense pain and worry." The pope, he said, has expressed "pain and horror for this absurd violence, with the strongest condemnation for every form of hatred and prayer for those affected." The Vatican expressed its closeness to the Roman Catholic Church in France and the Archdiocese of Rouen, as well as to the affected communities and the people of France. It was the first known attack inside a French church in recent times. One was targeted last year, but the attack never was carried out. The anti-terrorism division of the Paris prosecutor's office immediately opened an investigation. France is currently on high alert after an attack in Nice on Bastille Day -- July 14 -- that killed 84 people and a string of deadly attacks last year claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 147 others. France is also under a state of emergency and has extra police presence after the Nice attack, where man barreled his truck down the city's famed Promenade des Anglais, mowing down holiday crowds. Islamic State extremists have urged followers to attack French churches and the group is believed to have planned at least one church attack earlier. new vests and helments.jpg Two officers at the 84th precinct in Brooklyn try on the new ballistic vests and helmets the NYPD has purchased. (Staten Island Advance/Anna Sanders) CITY HALL -- NYPD officers will be equipped with new heavy duty helmets and ballistic vests after recent attacks on police across the country. The city ordered 6,000 vests and 20,000 helmets for about $7.5 million last week. Officers are expected to begin carrying them in patrol cars by the beginning of September. "It's so important to recognize the threats our officers face and to act on them immediately," Mayor Bill de Blasio said at the 84th precinct in Brooklyn. Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said he wanted to upgrade equipment after recent fatal attacks on police in Baton Rouge, La. and Dallas, TX. Last Wednesday, a Hoax bomb was tossed through the open window of a police van in Times Square. Officers were also shot at in Flatbush last week. Bratton also recently watched a video of two officers being fired on responding to a shooter within the 94th precinct in Brooklyn. "There's not a police department in America that is spending as much money, as much thought and interest on this issue of officer safety," Bratton said. The helmets will cost $5 million and the vests will cost $2.5 million The equipment will not be paid for with city tax levy funding, the mayor's office said. Federal grants will pay for $1.5 million and $3.5 million will come from assets seized by the NYPD. Another $2.5 million in asset forfeiture funds will come from the mayor's office. Bratton said the roll-out of the vests and helmets could take a couple months, and more may be ordered if necessary. NYPD Chief of Department James O'Neill will decide which precincts will be prioritized. O'Neill said that two ballistic vests will be put in 3,000 patrol vehicles in all precincts, transit districts and police service areas. Twenty thousands cops will be given the helmets, which weigh about seven pounds and are similar to those worn by American combat soldiers. The vests would be worn over the traditional bulletproof vests that cops already must wear beneath uniforms. "This will be even greater protection," O'Neill said. Officials said the new gear would be worn only when needed, like when police respond to active shooters. "These types of vests would not be routinely worn by our officers," Bratton said. "They're not intended for long-term wear." The new equipment was called a half-measure by Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch, who represents rank-and-file officers. "The ballistic vests and helmets in patrol cars can provide immediate protection for police officers, but without long rifles to counter the immediate threat of the shooter, the officers and the public they are sworn to protect will remain in great danger," Lynch said. De Blasio spokesman Austin Finan said that Bratton "knows the needs of our police department best." "He raised the issue, and the mayor delivered -- just like he's always done," Finan said. William Bratton,Bill deBlasio FILE - Jan. 12, 2016 file photo, New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton, left, speaks during a news conference in New York's City Hall, as New York Mayor Bill de Blasio listens. On Monday, July 25, 2016, Bratton, 68, said he will not remain commissioner of the department past 2017. In response to a New York Times report about his future Bratton told reporters that he would not stay beyond de Blasio's first term as mayor. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) (Richard Drew) NEW YORK -- Law enforcement heavyweight William Bratton confirmed on Monday that he will not remain head of the New York Police Department past the end of Mayor Bill de Blasio's first term in 2017. "I do not intend to stay into a second term," the police commissioner told reporters at an unrelated news conference with the mayor. The 68-year-old Bratton made the remarks in response to an interview with The New York Times where he talked about seeking new challenges beyond the NYPD after the end of next year. He offered no specific timetable on Monday for leaving the helm of the nation's largest police department. "When I find the right time, that's when there'll be a consultation with the mayor," he said. "I'm not worried about getting kicked out of the place, fortunately." With the city's crime rate mostly holding at historic lows and shootings down nearly 20 percent so far this year, Bratton has been credited with helping bolster the de Blasio administration's public safety record. The mayor downplayed news of Bratton's plans, calling it "very premature." He said that on his watch, Bratton could run the NYPD for as long as he wanted. Bratton's resume is unmatched in local law enforcement. A career that began as a patrolman in Boston in 1970 has seen stints as the head of departments in Boston, Los Angeles and New York. His current tenure at the NYPD is his second. In the first one under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the early 1990s, he was credited with driving down crime with a widely copied data-driven crime-fighting strategy before his brash style made him an annoyance to the mayor, who forced him out. Though de Blasio was elected as a sharp critic of the police tactic known as stop-and-frisk, he picked Bratton as a sign that he would balance reforming the police department while trying to further drive down crime. On Bratton's watch, the NYPD has drastically scaled back stop-and-frisk but stepped up enforcement against of so-called "quality of life" offenses -- an approach critics say still unfairly targets minorities and came into play in the police chokehold death of Eric Garner during his arrest for allegedly selling loose cigarettes on a Staten Island block. As tensions between the police and minorities have grown, the mayor, were he to be re-elected next year, will likely be under pressure by his liberal allies to select a more progressive candidate, and likely a commissioner of color. Bratton hasn't directly addressed the question of a successor. But he's recently heaped praise on the commander he installed as the top chief of the NYPD, James O'Neill, who's white. Nws Rose Councilwoman Debi Rose, a Hillary Clinton delegate, shows her support while a few rows from the stage on day one of the DNC, Monday night. (Staten Island Advance/Rachel Shapiro) PHILADELPHIA - Staten Island Councilwoman Debi Rose witnessed history being made in 2008, when Barack Obama was selected as the Democratic nominee, becoming the first black presidential candidate, and later, the first black president. Now, she will witness history being made again when Hillary Clinton is selected as the first female to run at the top of the ticket, and of course hopes to see her as the first female president. Sitting just a handful of rows from the stage Monday night, Rose, a Clinton delegate, got a great view of the litany of A-list Democrats who stood behind the podium. First Lady Michelle Obama, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Cory Booker and Sen. Bernie Sanders all gave speeches, overall a "phenomenal" evening, Rose said. "Everybody on the bench was a hard hitter," the councilwoman said, beaming with excitement. A 360-degree view of the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, site of the Democratic National Convention. #DNCinPHL #DemsInPhilly Posted by Staten Island Advance on Monday, July 25, 2016 "It was electric in there." While tension between Sanders and Clinton supporters was palpable, with "relentless commotion from Bernie supporters ... it was amazing they all coalesced in the end," Rose said. In the arena, Michelle Obama seemed to bring people together, but outside, Sanders supporters continued to protest and chant, indicating they had no intention of backing Clinton. With Sanders having input in the party platform, Rose is hoping that will satiate the most ardent supporters into backing the nominee. The speeches helped. They articulated the Democratic agenda, Rose felt, a move that itself should bring unity. As for the highlights of the evening, Michelle Obama "electrified the air ... she sent currents of love," Rose said. "She really is inspirational; I really idolize her." Booker "articulated our moral compass" Rose said, with the senator quoting from poet Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise." "He is the GPS to our moral highway," Rose said. "He laid a moral framework for the direction our party should go and is going in." The councilwoman was glad to see Warren -- "a pit bull" -- take on Trump. "She can go toe-to-toe with Trump," Rose said, keeping Trump at bay. Still, as much as she enjoyed the lineup of speakers, Rose, the first black elected official on Staten Island, is eager to see something she never thought she would. "I never thought I would see a black president in my lifetime and I didn't think I would see a woman," she said. The councilwoman believes sexism plays a role in the opposition to Clinton, but says it's a good game plan for the former secretary of state not to acknowledge it. "It's the elephant in the room," Rose said. "And she's smart not to sound like a victim, because then she's perceived as weak." When the delegates cast their votes tonight, New York will be the state to push Clinton over the edge required to secure the nomination. Rose is hoping that while Sanders supporters will give their votes for the Vermont senator, they won't bring more attention to the disunity than they already have, and instead realize "there really is strength in numbers." STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, is on the agenda to appear Tuesday, day 2 of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Garner, a 43-year-old father of six from Port Richmond, died in police custody in Tompkinsville on July 17, 2014. NYPD officers were attempting to arrest him for allegedly selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. Carr will appear with the group "The Mothers of the Movement," consisting of mothers of black sons around the country who died at the hands of police, as part of the Day 2 convention theme "A Lifetime of Fighting for Children and Families." Carr had endorsed presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton with a written statement on Clinton's campaign website in January. She said that Clinton's apparent commitment to developing strategies for decreasing gun violence and fighting injustice earned her support. "Hillary seems to be the only candidate right now who's talking about how we can be strategic in trying to solve this problem. That's why I'm endorsing her for president," she wrote. Eric Garner was killed two years ago today. Here's how his mother, Gwen Carr, is advocating for reform: https://t.co/C2II9Lvb9H Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 18, 2016 Carr, in an interview with CNN Tuesday morning, said Clinton had reached out to her after her son's death, and the two met in a private meeting. She said Clinton listened and took notes as she spoke. "It was genuine; I could feel it was genuine." "She listened to our stories," Carr said. "She listens with compassion. She took notes, not her cabinet, not her press people. She didn't even have press with her." Carr said Clinton understands that community policing is one of the solutions to problems and tensions between African-American communities and law enforcement. "You should always know the people you are policing. If you form a relationship, there would be less violence," she said. "We have to get more respect, more consciousness in the neighborhood," she said. Two "Mothers of the Movement," moms of Jordan Davis and Eric Garner, explain why they're supporting Hillary Clinton. https://t.co/oBqg7c7zoi New Day (@NewDay) July 26, 2016 Other mothers joining her at the DNC are Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin; Maria Hamilton, mother of Dontre Hamilton; Lucia McBath, mother of Jordan Davis; Lezley McSpadden, mother of Michael Brown; Cleopatra Pendleton-Cowley, mother of Hadiya Pendleton, and Geneva Reed-Veal, mother of Sandra Bland. More CO2 wont help northern forests or stave off climate change Posted on 26 July 2016 by Guest Author Noah Charney, Postdoctoral Research Associate of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Weve heard the predictions of how greenhouse gas emissions will drive changes in the temperatures and precipitation people experience. But how these changes affect the worlds forests has broad implications for the future as well. Could warmer winters, and thus longer growing seasons, cause trees to grow faster? If so, perhaps faster tree growth could slow the pace of climate change, since trees suck carbon out of the air as they grow. Or perhaps hotter summers will mean more drought-like conditions, thereby hampering trees' ability to grow and thus cause deterioration of our woodlands. In a recent paper, my colleagues and I set out to make a map of how climate change might influence tree growth across the entire continent of North America. To do this, we dug into historical records of tree growth over the period 1900-1950 collected by many dedicated field ecologists over the decades and deposited in the International Tree Ring Data Bank. What we found was that the daily life of trees across much of North America will become more challenging, despite the potential benefit that rising carbon dioxide concentrations may have for trees. This is contrary to some scientists' hopes that climate change will strongly benefit northern latitude forests. How trees respond to climate The first hurdle in predicting future tree growth is to understand how trees in different ecosystems respond to climate fluctuations. You might guess that in cold northern forests, a little heat might help trees grow, whereas more heat in the desert Southwest is likely the last thing trees there want. This observation motivated previous scientists to formulate a boreal greening hypothesis that global warming will cause northern boreal forests to grow faster and help mitigate climate change. We used the historic tree ring data to map the relationship between regional climate and tree growth. Matching each growth ring to the weather patterns in the corresponding year, we can get a sense for how trees respond to climate fluctuations. For instance, we saw that above-average June temperatures caused faster tree growth in places with climates similar to Fairbanks, Alaska, but slower growth in Phoenix-like climates. akgypsy37/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND As the climate changes, we might expect the response of trees to change as well. For example, in Fairbanks, our models actually predict that, in the future, above-average June temperatures will be bad for tree growth there, which is opposite of the historic relationship. Why? Fairbanks warms up so much that it shifts to a new climatic zone in which additional warming is now a detriment. Other researchers have actually started to see such a shift occur on the ground in Alaska. Once we characterize how trees respond to changes in climate across the continent, we can use the forecasts from the U.N.s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to predict the corresponding change in tree growth across the continent. For each pixel on our map of North America, we projected how forests will change based on both sets of information the growth-climate relationship we established through the tree ring analysis and the projected changes in climate in the continent. Carbon fertilization There is one more wrinkle to this puzzle that we examined. The changing climate is driven largely by a buildup of additional carbon dioxide, and plants use carbon dioxide to photosynthesize. Just as we breathe in oxygen to live, plants breathe in carbon dioxide to live. Thus, increased amounts of carbon dioxide might directly speed up tree growth. This is known as carbon fertilization because its like we are adding fertilizer to the plants through the air to help them grow. Scientists are deeply divided about whether carbon fertilization of this type will actually cause increases in growth, and if so, how much. In our paper, we did not attempt to settle this debate. Instead, we just included multiple different possibilities for the strength of carbon fertilization. To simulate carbon fertilization, we used a neat little trick suggested by Professor Graham Farquhar of Australian National University. The trick relies on the fact that as plants breathe in carbon dioxide, water escapes. Think of the pores on leaves as little mouths that open and close to breathe. The more plants need to open their mouths to breathe, the more water escapes. So plants try to keep their mouths as tightly closed as they can. michaelpwilson, CC BY-NC If the concentrations of carbon dioxide floating around in the air are very high, plants need open their mouths only a little bit for a small gulp of air without losing much water. Thus, as we fertilize the plants with carbon in the air, this directly decreases the amount of water the plants are able to retain with more CO2, the leaves' pores will absorb the gas more efficiently and in the process lose less water. Instead of trying to simulate more free carbon floating around in the air, we can just pretend that the plants receive more rainwater. The ultimate effect on growth should be essentially the same, because carbon uptake and water retention are directly linked. In deserts where water is at a premium and plants are highly motivated to keep their mouths shut, a little carbon fertilization (or a little extra rain) should go a long way toward helping plants grow. By contrast, in rainforests where plants can keep their mouths wide open with little cost, carbon fertilization (or extra rain) might not do much to help the plants. In our study, we simulated carbon fertilization by simply adding more future precipitation into our models. To satisfy those scientists who strongly believe that carbon fertilization will pan out, in some simulations we added extra water in proportion to the amount of extra carbon that is projected to be released into the atmosphere. To satisfy the nay-saying scientists who dont believe the carbon fertilization effect will pan out, we also ran simulations without any increased water. And we ran simulations at all levels in between. Our models predictions At the end of the day, our maps of how tree growth might respond to climate change are alarming. Across much of the west and central parts of the continent, we see massive decreases in tree growth rates, with trees growing up to 75 percent slower by the second half of this century. However, in some areas near the continents coasts, such as the Pacific Northwest, western Canada and the southeastern United States, we saw some local increases in tree growth rates. On average, without the carbon fertilization effect, our models project growth rates across the continent to fall by almost 20 percent under the worst-case climate change scenario put forth by the IPCC (this scenario has 6 degrees Celsius of warming forecast across the continent). We found that it would take a very large carbon fertilization effect (unrealistically large, according to the opinion of several of our studys co-authors) to offset this slowdown. And across much of the continent, our models projected slower growth rates no matter how large the carbon fertilization effect. Also, we did not see a large increase in cold northern forest growth rates in our simulations. So, on average, we saw no boreal greening. If anything, we saw a slowdown of these forests. This is largely driven by the shift in how trees respond to climates in places like Fairbanks. What it means The implication of our analysis is that forests do not seem poised to save us from climate change. Our models suggest that most of our forests will be growing more slowly in the future. This will, of course, have direct impacts on all the ways we and other species rely on trees. But it will also feed back into climate change itself. As global warming causes trees to absorb less carbon, there will be more carbon left in the air to cause faster warming, thus creating an accelerating cycle. Furthermore, many sustained years of bad growth in trees will likely deplete the resources they need to survive, making them susceptible to severe droughts or insect outbreaks. This may mean that what we project as slower growth may translate into widespread tree death. In other words, the forest picture may be even gloomier than our models suggest. In our models, we dont take into account the way forests are changing due to changes in logging practices or forest management. In many areas, forests are regrowing faster simply because we stopped logging them recently. Such factors should be thought of as another layer to add on top of our projections. This study, like any of its kind, is really our best guess at approximating the future. I think of such forecasts not as hard-and-fast predictions of what will happen, but as reasonable possibilities. There are so many unknowns involved, including the fact that future climates will likely be quite different from any we have seen in the past. And of course the biggest unknown is how much willpower our human community will bring to the cause of clamping down on greenhouse gas emissions. 03:05 Dutton calls for Indigenous abuse inquiry Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has called for a Royal Commission into Indigenous child sex abuse. 00:22 Football star Pablo Mari stabbed in Milan attack Arsenal defender Pablo Mari is among five people stabbed in a supermarket in Milan. 07:27 NDIS needs to be fair and sustainable Greens finance spokesperson Barbara Pocock says the National Disability Insurance Scheme needs to be sustainable and fair to deliver... 07:31 Labor needs to come up with some answers as to how Australians will pay for services Assistant Treasure Stephen Jones says Labor are "going to have to come up with some answers as to how Australians are going to pay for services.... 11:05 Industrial relations bill will bring our country to its knees Shadow Employment Minister Michaelia Cash says a bill to give Australians higher wages and create more jobs is not the way to do it and... Id like to be included: Frustrated flood victim left out of $800 million scheme Flood victim Andrew Barker said his home is now unliveable and he is tasked with the massive job of repairing it after the property was inundated for the second time in recent months. 03:30 The budget was about implementing our plan for a better future: Albanese Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has discussed the newly announced budget at a media conference in Parramatta, NSW on Friday. 04:42 Energy markets are absolute havoc Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the energy markets are "absolute havoc and the government will have to do more by working with regulators... 09:46 Labor pushing out message of restraint with budget The Australians Federal Political Reporter Sarah Ison says the Albanese governments budget was a message of restraint with Labor... 03:04 Hawkesbury River flood victims not included in buy back scheme Lower Macdonald resident Andrew Barker says those living in his area would like to be included in the flood buy back scheme after his home... 00:28 Medibank risks multi-million dollar loss Analysts have predicted health insurer Medibank could pay up to $150 million as the company exposes itself to potential class actions. 16:12 Big part of Liberal history has been to clean up Labor messes: Dutton Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says he expects he'll have to "clean up a big mess" left by the Labor party in three years' time. 03:24 Weather To Watch Get ready for some wild weather as a bomb cyclone drives wild winds, severe storms and a winter-like pulse of cold air. Meteorologist Rob Sharpe... 16:12 Dutton: Coalition determined to win in 2025 Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says his team is united and determined to win the election in 2025. Worst budget reply in my time: Albanese slams Peter Duttons speech The Prime Minister said Peter Dutton's budget reply fell flat in bringing forth any new policies and failed to outline a clear plan for Australia's future. 43:34 Paul Murray Live Our Town: Port Pirie | 27 October Paul visits the seaport town of Port Pirie, South Australia. Discover how Port Pirie is the city of opportunity. Listen to the Federal Hotels... 01:56 Show the footage: Albanese accused of bullying MP Liberal MP Michelle Landry has accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of bullying her in parliament. By clicking Agree, you consent to Slates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our iOS app to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw consent. Agree Former breakfast radio host Mark Parton has reversed his support of poker machines in the casino to join the Liberal election team. As an independent candidate at the 2008 ACT election, Mr Parton had a policy to support pokies in the casino, saying "they are a must if the casino is to compete on a level playing field and get back to being a profitable venture". Mark Parton: An about-turn on poker machines in the casino. Credit:Jay Cronan In 2010, he wrote a blog post on the issue, which is published on Casino Canberra's blog. In it, he said he had never understood why the casino didn't have poker machines. "You think about the Melbourne couple who are holidaying in Canberra. They decide to go to [the] casino for a Friday night. He wants to play the tables, she going to have a go on the pokies. They don't get it once they get here and for some reason there are not machines," he wrote, blaming the ACT's reliance on income from the Labor Club's poker machines. The RSPCA has criticised the ACT Liberals for announcing they would not immediately ban greyhound racing in Canberra if elected in October. Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson said on Monday his party would first hold an independent, locally-focussed inquiry into greyhound racing, to establish whether mistreatment of animals is occurring in Canberra. RSPCA ACT Chief executive Tammy Ven Dange has criticised the ACT Liberals decision not to ban greyhound racing until a local inquiry can be held. Credit:Jamila Toderas If such evidence is found, the Liberals would end greyhound racing. An extensive inquiry in NSW has already found considerable evidence of dog mistreatment and misconduct, and the RSPCA and ACT government say the territory's industry is inextricably linked with questionable NSW trainers. The Greater Western Sydney Giants want to stamp themselves as Canberra's third team and hope they can capitalise on their high-flying season with another sell-out at Manuka Oval on Saturday. Giants chief executive David Matthews said the club would be "comfortable" playing AFL finals in the capital as it closes in on a maiden play-off berth. The GWS Giants return to Canberra on Saturday. Credit:Rohan Thomson But the Giants' immediate focus is turning their remarkable AFL success into a big crowd in Canberra for their third and final regular-season game at Manuka Oval. The Giants are targeting a sell-out crowd for their clash against Richmond on Saturday, with more than 12,000 fans expected at the venue. Finance ministers from the world's 20 largest economies descended on the Chinese city of Chengdu over weekend to talk about their common problems. In particular, most of them are grappling with a tax dilemma: How do they improve the health of their budgets in a way that won't upset already fragile economies? For Treasurer Scott Morrison, the meetings must have made a welcome change from the hostility he faces from his own party over a $6 billion package of planned superannuation changes. That is because while many Coalition MPs remain stridently opposed to winding back generous super tax breaks, this is exactly the sort of move being suggested at international economic talkfests like the G20. The group which owns Canberra Airport has taken out top honours in the 2016 Telstra ACT Business Awards. Capital Airport Group was named the overall winner and also won the medium business award at a black-tie event at the National Gallery of Australia on Tuesday night. Canberra Airport will offer flights to Singapore and Wellington from September. Credit:Rohan Thomson Fyshwick-based iSimulate, which develops medical simulation technology, won the micro-business award, while Relkin Engineering was named best new business. The Rehabilitation Specialists, which aims to help clients return to work, was named small business of the year for its services helping clients return to work. Selling public assets has created unregulated monopolies that hurt productivity and damage the economy, according to Australia's consumer and competition tsar, who says he is on the verge of becoming a privatisation opponent. In a blistering attack on decades of common government practice, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims said the sale of ports and electricity infrastructure and the opening of vocational education to private companies had caused him and the public to lose faith in privatisation and deregulation. ACCC chairman Rod Sims says privatisation is hurting productivity. Credit:Vince Caligiuri "I've been a very strong advocate of privatisation for probably 30 years; I believe it enhances economic efficiency," Mr Sims told the Melbourne Economic Forum on Tuesday. "I'm now almost at the point of opposing privatisation because it's been done to boost proceeds, it's been done to boost asset sales and I think it's severely damaging our economy." Nike awarded chief executive Mark Parker $US47.6 million ($64 million) in compensation for fiscal 2016, almost triple the level of the previous year, after stock grants buoyed his pay. Mr Parker's salary remained $US1.55 million in the period, which ended on May 31, the Oregon-based company said in a regulatory filing. But his stock grants, which had been valued at $US3.5 million, zoomed to $US33.5 million - lifted by awards meant to keep the executive at the company until 2020. Since becoming CEO in 2006, Mark Parker has steered the company to more than $US32 billion in sales. Credit:AP The soaring compensation underscores the board's desire to keep the 60-year-old executive at the helm of the world's biggest sporting-goods maker. Since becoming CEO in 2006, Mr Parker has steered the company to more than $US32 billion in sales, more than double the level when he took over. He also was named chairman this year, succeeding company co-founder Phil Knight. In 1991, as a callow youth, I sat in the Alice Springs police station giving a statement after a man had detained me in my own home, punched me repeatedly and held a knife to me threatening to kill me unless I drove him home. I escaped. Later, the police officer to whom I gave my statement casually looked at me and said: "You know they should all be hit over the head at birth." He thought for a moment. "Maybe not the women." I later complained to the NT Police. The only thing that happened was that police officer harassed me for the remainder of my short time in the Alice. Let's not pretend that politicians, public servants and many Northern Territorians did not know that illegal abuse of children was occurring in detention centres. It's just that too few people cared enough to stop it. The Herald welcomes the leadership of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in calling a royal commission just hours after shocking footage was seen by millions of people beyond the Territory. But Mr Turnbull should be seriously concerned about the performance of his Indigenous Affairs Minister, Territory senator Nigel Scullion already under pressure to hold his position in the recent ministerial reshuffle. His unsatisfactory response to the revelations, and his failure to recognise and intervene against the abuses much earlier, at the very least call into question his capacities as a minister in this most crucial of portfolios. Attorney-General George Brandis has rightly acknowledged that not every mass murder is terrorism, and that great caution is needed when attributing motives to culprits before the facts are clear. His statement is especially reassuring because last year he wanted to legalise hate speech and said Australians had the right to be bigots. The Munich mass murder exposes the risks in jumping to conclusions as to the motives of culprits. Credit:Getty Images Of course, people will make innocent mistakes when seeking to explain attacks in an environment of fear, given atrocities and arrests of suspected terrorists are so frequent. But the more that people like new British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Queensland Coalition MP George Christensen get it wrong each blamed the Munich mass murder on Islamic extremism before knowing the facts the more peace-loving Muslims become unjustified targets of hate. And the more chance the small minority of Muslims sympathetic to terrorist causes or just angry with the world will lash out. Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull's announcement of a royal commission into the abuse of children in Northern Territory jails gives an insight into his instincts on human rights. Turnbull said he was "deeply shocked" and "appalled" by the footage aired by Four Corners and acted swiftly in calling the inquiry. It was decisive action that shows the potential Turnbull has to lead on human rights more broadly. The reality is, from marriage equality to refugee policy, Turnbull has a golden opportunity to make progress, despite divisions in his own party and a complex Senate to navigate. In fact, it's precisely these challenges that create opportunities for more constructive, practical outcomes. Where his predecessor Tony Abbott took a polarising approach, Turnbull can build consensus. Australian democracy suffered under Abbott. Press freedom went backwards, secrecy flourished, whistleblowers who spoke out in the public interest were aggressively pursued, the Australian Human Rights Commission was attacked, NGO advocacy was stifled and the rule of law was undermined. Turnbull can make progress here, in line with his party's stated aim of achieving an intelligent, free and liberal Australian democracy. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has won praise from incoming Queensland senator Pauline Hanson after what she described as a constructive meeting between the pair on Monday night. The One Nation leader has previously criticised Mr Turnbull for his comments during the federal election campaign that she was "not a welcome presence" in Australian politics. On Tuesday she released a video telling supporters she had Mr Turnbull's respect after the pair discussed policies at the meeting in Sydney. Ms Hanson said her office has been inundated with calls and emails since her July 2 election victory. Teenagers tortured on Australian soil. Cruel, degrading and inhuman punishment. Luckily there are international laws to prohibit such abuse, for all the good they did. Let's get back to that word "torture" in a moment, because by the letter of the law, strict definitions matter. But legal experts agree the abuse revealed in harrowing footage at a youth detention centre in the Northern Territory almost certainly leaves Australia in breach of obligations the country has signed up to respect. Stripping teenagers naked, covering their heads with hoods, firing tear gas in a confined space, extended solitary confinement - all are practices likely to run afoul of international human rights standards. "Garments are technical but eyewear is another level of engineering," Ellery says. Credit: Darren McDonald She added: "Over time we are constantly trying to think of ways to create a lower price point in the collection", but it won't come at a risk to the environment. "It's about being responsible. I have watched some really interesting documentaries on how fast fashion can be damaging to the environment and how it is the dirtiest polluter in the world next to mining, so people do need to start thinking differently when they are buying things from H&M or wherever," she said. "She's the most successful model export that we have ever produced," Ellery says of Ward. Credit:Specsavers "Our mindset is about creating things of quality that will last generations." Ellery is certainly making her name be known on the fashion circuit. A model showcases designs by Ellery at the David Jones AW16 Fashion Launch in Sydney. Credit:Getty She is only the third Australian label in a century to be granted official recognition by the Federation Francaise de la Couture du Pret-a-Porter des Couturiers et des Createurs de Mode the body that controls Paris Fashion Week. The Federation has previously invited only two Australians onto its official schedule, Collette Dinnigan and the Paris-based Martin Grant. Celebrities, such as Kim Kardashian West, Cate Blanchett, Chrissy Teigen, Rihanna and Solange Knowles to name but a few, are also lapping up her treasured designs, but the energetic mastermind, who works seven days a week, won't stop until she reaches world domination. First stop: Paris. "As of January, I have been over there setting up an operation and I am in the process of getting residency. "Over 90 per cent of our sales are from the northern hemisphere, so it's really difficult to run that size of business from the opposite time zone. "It will be a sister company to the Australian company, so that we can dominate the world," she laughed. She will continue to fly between Sydney and Paris for work, but she plans to base herself full-time in the French capital where she now owns an apartment. "Personally, I want to be in France to be able to grow the brand, keep it in that luxury league, and work towards that so that has been really exciting," she said. "Australia is our home and we are proud of our heritage and we will continue to be based here, but to grow a global company we need to have multiple offices." She had read in some media publications that she has opened offices in Los Angeles and New York, but she said that isn't true just yet. "We will one day but that's not on the agenda for this financial year," she said with a laugh. It has been claimed that Ellery has snubbed Australian Fashion Week since landing a coveted spot at Paris Fashion Week in September 2013, but she said that couldn't be further from the truth. She explained the Paris shows are "a big commitment", as well as "timing" has meant it is not possible to do both However, an Australian show is in the pipeline. "We are celebrating our 10-year anniversary next year and we are talking about doing an event during Fashion Week," she said. After missing the last two shows, Ellery plans to attend next week's spring/summer 2016 David Jones launch the store she defected to in 2012 from Myer, which resulted in a bitter legal battle in the Supreme Court of Victoria. Ellery's Specsavers collection is her second venture into the world of eyewear, her first came in 2010 when she collaborated with designer friend, Graz Mulcahy. But she says she still found it challenging because "garments are technical but eyewear is another level of engineering". A mix of styles, including a retro, cat eye, oversized and round means there's a piece for every face shape and, of course, every frame will match perfect to any Ellery ensemble. "We created a line that has architectural silhouettes, a colour palette that is very neutral with hints of colour here and there, so it was very much the same approach as the clothing collection," she said. Fellow Perth star Gemma Ward was "the perfect fit" to model the range. "We talked about a face that would really embody the brand," Ellery said. "She felt like a very natural fit so we were thrilled when she was available. "She's older for a model, very accomplished, she's a mother and they are all things that I love and admire. "She's the most successful model export that we have ever produced." Ellery's next big project is working on her spring 2017 ready-to-wear collection for Paris Fashion Week. "October 4, 1.30pm at the Palais de Tokyo," she rhymes off, as if the time, date and location are embedded in her mind. "There are 180 stockists we have to see in a week to sell the collections to. "How many is that a day in seven days?" she asks. "Around 25," she answers herself. Loading Credit:Matt Golding But she's heartened by the number of people willing to engage with such issues. "They are all at different stages but it's gaining momentum and I think that's a really exciting thing if we're all working towards that individually then we'll see a bigger change." Like Lauren, a growing number of people are making choices to consume with their eyes wide open. In 2015 global research by Nielsen showed "significant increases in the number of consumers who say that they want products from sustainable companies and they are willing to spend more to get them" in the past two years. It found commitment to the environment has the power to sway product purchase for 45 per cent of consumers surveyed. Commitment to social value (43 per cent) and the consumer's community (41 per cent) are also important purchase drivers. There are plenty of apps and public campaigns to guide people wanting to make more ethical shopping choices. Shop Ethical produced its first print guide seven years ago and its first app five years ago. Shop Ethical's Nick Ray says to date about 140,000 people have bought the print guide. He suggests people start by looking at the key issues attached to the products they are already buying. "The product label is the place to start. So for example, country of origin labelling talks about where the item is transformed or put together and also often it's connected to where ingredients come from but people often don't really get the complexities of that," he says. "You try to make ethical decisions where you're at and you build on the information you had before," he suggests. Thinking about where we shop is important, too. "If I go to a food co-op they've done some of the hard work for me or a local grocer that I can talk to instead of a check-out person." Other information sources include Greenpeace consumer guides on palm oil; canned tuna and sustainable seafood; and Choice campaigns on free-range eggs and palm oil. In April Choice launched an app for consumers to use in the supermarket so they can identify "free range" eggs from hens stocked at 1500 hens per hectare rather than 10,000 hens per hectare. As consumers vote with their wallets companies are forced to change. Baptist World Aid Australia produces the annual Australian Fashion Report, which grades 308 fashion brands on the systems they have in place to protect the workers in their supply chain from exploitation, forced labour and child labour. Baptist World Aid Australia advocacy manager Gershon Nimbalker says consumers can actively preference companies that are doing more protect their workers and write to those they are boycotting. "Consumers have a lot of power to drive change and we've seen that increasingly through company responses," he says. "The worst labour rights abuses usually occur where facilities, factories and farms are unknown by the companies therefore they are unmonitored." Since it released its first report in 2013 the proportion of companies tracing their supply chain to that second tier has risen from 48 per cent to 78 per cent. "The amount of companies that are paying living wages or at least monitoring to see whether they are paying wages significantly above the minimum has substantially increased as well," he adds. The perception that it will cost more to stand by their values can discourage people, according to QUT Business School senior lecturer marketing Gary Mortimer. "Often that tends to be one of the big barriers between intentions and behaviours this perception that it's going to cost me a lot more money if I buy a sustainably produced product or a more locally produced food product," he says. Mr Gooda said the footage proved little had changed in the Northern Territory despite a royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody 25 years ago, an inquiry into child protection in the Northern Territory 10 years ago and three separate investigations into the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre. An emotional Mr Gooda spoke of his horror at seeing teenage boys being sprayed with tear gas and hooded and restrained at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in Darwin. The Australian Human Rights Commission has cautiously welcomed an inquiry into juvenile detention in the Northern Territory but Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commissioner Mick Gooda fought back tears as he questioned what it might achieve. Emotional: Mick Gooda Credit:Peter Eve/Yothu Yindi Foundation "Our people have known about things like this . . . to see it laid bare in front of us must be a wake up call to everyone in Australia that something has got to be done about the way in which we lock our people up in this country, particularly the way we lock our kids up," he said. "What we have to do now is make sure this makes a difference." The minister in charge of corrections, John Elferink, was dumped from that post on Tuesday but Mr Gooda warned further abuses would occur unless the Northern Territory government to start listening to its indigenous population. "The modus operandi of the Northern Territory government is this: shoot the messenger, discredit the report and demonise the kids so people think it's OK for that treatment to occur," he said. "Well, I'll tell you right now, it's not OK for that to happen to any child in this country. Enough's enough. Start listening to us. If they don't we'll see more repeats of this happening." Mr Gooda said he hoped a royal commission would lead to an overhaul of the youth justice system to ensure the protection of children's rights. Labor's Innovation Minister has been forced to defend the spending on a hallmark policy from one of her own colleagues, as Jo-Ann Miller continues to skewer her former Cabinet colleagues with her targeted budget estimates hearing questions. Leeanne Enoch was the latest to be hit by fire from a supposed friendly, when she was queried on the cost each of the 148 direct jobs the government's foundation $180 million policy, Advance Queensland, a policy Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is personally invested in, had created over the past 15 months. Jo-Ann Miller. Credit:Chris Hyde "That works out, so far, to approximately $405,000 per job," she said. "That seems awfully expensive. Would you like to comment on that?" When most Australians think of drug addiction, Jessica Khachan, from Sydney, is not the type of person who springs to mind. The 42-year-old lives a comfortable life in Ryde with her husband and two children. Her first so-called "hit" came from an innocuous prescription for codeine - a pharmaceutical opioid - to cope with the after-effects of minor surgery to remove her wisdom teeth. "I look back now and I think: 'I wasn't really in much pain. I could have done without it.' I had no idea [codeine] was addictive," Ms Khachan said. Johnson's doctor was baffled. The usual instructions to patients to lose weight made no sense in this case. "He said, 'I don't think I can help you,'" she recalled. She ended up in the office of an endocrinologist, Dr Maria New, who also was stumped but determined to find answers. She measured Johnson: 170 centimetres (5 feet 7 inches). She weighed her: 54 kilograms. New spent years asking specialists at every medical conference she attended about Johnson. One day in 1996, she was giving a lecture at the National Institutes of Health and posed her usual query: Did anyone know what might be wrong with her skinny patient? Dr Simeon Taylor, who was chief of the diabetes branch at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, popped up from his chair. He had seen several patients like Johnson. They have lipodystrophy, he said, a rare genetic disorder that is characterised by an abnormal lack of fatty tissue. Taylor and his colleagues had been studying people with the disorder "as a curiosity," he told New. He was interested in insulin resistance, the cause of Type 2 diabetes, and had assumed it resulted from obesity. But people with lipodystrophy had the most severe insulin resistance he had ever seen, and they were far from obese. He was hoping to start a study with a new drug, a synthetic version of a hormone called leptin, that might help the patients. The study began in 2000 with Johnson as one of its first participants. Leptin is released by fat cells and travels through the blood to the brain. The more fat on a person's body, the more leptin is released. When fat levels are low, leptin levels in the brain are low, and the brain responds by increasing the person's appetite, prompting the person to eat and gain weight. For someone like Johnson, who has almost no fat cells to signal the brain, the brain gets almost no leptin. To the brain, it seems as if she is starving. As a result, she receives continuous signals to eat. With leptin treatment, Johnson's brain was tricked into responding as though she had abundant fat. Her insatiable hunger vanished. Fat disappeared from her liver, her blood glucose became normal, and so did her cholesterol and triglyceride levels. But why did she and other lipodystrophy patients have these conditions in the first place, and why did they vanish? What was going on? A couple of studies involving mice produced some clues. Dr Marc Reitman, chief of the diabetes, endocrinology, and obesity branch at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and his colleague, Dr Charles Vinson, of the National Cancer Institute, genetically engineered mice to have lipodystrophy. The mice, like Johnson, had almost no fat tissue. And like her, they developed all of the conditions associated with obesity. What would happen, the researchers asked, if the mice had a bit more fat tissue? They transplanted fat tissue into the rodents, and two weeks later, the mice had normal levels of glucose, insulin and triglycerides. Their livers and muscles went back to normal, too. If that worked, the scientists wondered, could a limitless amount of fat tissue prevent the syndrome, even if copious amounts of fat were stored in that tissue? Philipp Scherer, director of the Touchstone Diabetes Centre at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre in Dallas, and his colleagues tested the idea. They engineered mice that could make an almost limitless amount of fat tissue. As a result, there was no end to the amount of fat the animals could store. They were, Scherer said, "the fattest mice under the sun, the mouse equivalent of an 800-pound (362 kilo) human being." The fat mice were metabolically normal. Now, with years of research, the picture has become clear. And so has a new view of the role of fat itself in causing the medical problems of obesity. At the heart of all these conditions and what is known as "metabolic syndrome," or having at least three of the conditions associated with obesity, is an inadequate ability to store fat. (Dr C. Ronald Kahn, chief academic officer of the Joslin Diabetes Clinic, said two German physicians called the syndrome "metabolic" nearly 40 years ago. Conditions like elevated cholesterol, diabetes and even high blood pressure appear to be linked through disruptions in metabolism, in this case the abnormal storage of calories.) The body turns excess food into fat and tries to store it in fat tissue. If there is not enough fat tissue, the fat is stuffed into other organs, like the liver and the heart, as well as the muscles and the pancreas. There it poisons the body, causing metabolic syndrome. Fat people develop metabolic disorders because their brain is driving them to eat more food than their bodies can store as fat. Their fat tissue has reached its limit. People with lipodystrophy have so little fat tissue that they, too, cannot store the fat their body makes to store extra calories from the food they eat. This is also why some people find that their metabolic disorders improve with just a small weight loss - they are eating less and their fat tissue can respond properly. "People traditionally thought of adipose tissue as this inert storage, this white amorphous blob," said Dr Sam Virtue of the University of Cambridge. In fact, he said, "it is a very dynamic organ." It also explains why 10 to 20 per cent of obese people never develop metabolic disorders, Scherer said. These healthy obese are like his fat mice, with an unusual ability to expand their fat tissue to store calories. Researchers have moved on to the next phase of the investigation, trying to identify the poison in fat that is causing all these problems and find a way to block it. At least two chemicals seem to be involved. Dr Gerald I. Shulman, a Yale professor of medicine and co-director of the Diabetes Research Centre there, and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has focused on diacylglycerol, produced from fatty acids - made from the food a person eats - and deposited in places like the muscles and liver instead of fat tissue. With diacylglycerol, Shulman found, insulin cannot signal cells. The result is insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes. "Diacylglycerol is the culprit," he says. One sure way to get rid of it in liver and muscle cells is to lose weight - to stop providing the body with more calories than its fat tissue can handle, he notes. That is not so easy. "Every patient I see, I say, 'Let's lose some weight and increase activity.' They all nod their heads. 'That's a great idea.' Maybe one in 100 does it, and even when they are successful, we know how easy it is to gain the weight back." Shulman is exploring another route, developing benign new variants of a toxic drug that he hopes will be safe and will reduce levels of fat and inflammation in the liver. The drug, dinitrophenol, was once widely used as an over-the counter medication for weight loss, but the Food and Drug Administration took it off the market in 1938 after a few people taking it dropped dead from severely high body temperatures. He and his colleagues have modified dinitrophenol so, at least in rats, it does not raise body temperature or cause weight loss. But it lowers diacylglycerol levels in the liver and cures Type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and other metabolic problems associated with obesity. The problem will be developing it for humans. Would people want to be in a clinical trial using a variant of a drug that originally had potentially lethal side effects? "This is a proof of concept," Shulman says. "I do think this is a way forward." Others are focusing on another class of compounds, called ceramides. Scherer, who is studying them, says they are produced from fat floating in the blood and are unable to get into fat tissue for storage or degradation. They, too, cause insulin resistance. Ceramides can also kill cells if their levels become high and can bring on inflammatory responses. And inflammation, Scherer adds, is a hallmark of obesity. He and others are looking for the best drugs to stanch the activity of enzymes used to make ceramides. Like Shulman, he finds that he can show that his idea works in mice. But, he says, "that's easy to do in a mouse." All of this raises a provocative question. "It is so accepted that obesity is bad for you, but why is it bad for you?" Virtue says. "If I put a 50-pound (22 kilo) weight on your back and asked you to walk around all day, you would be a superhealthy person." And that, says Dr Rudolph Leibel of Columbia University, is the beauty of the work on lipodystrophy. People like Johnson have shown a pathway that leads to the diseases of obesity. Four years after 18-year-old Thomas Kelly was senselessly killed in a one-punch attack in Sydney's Kings Cross, the Kelly family have experienced another devastating loss. Thomas' younger teenage brother and best friend Stuart Kelly, 18, was found dead on Sydney's northern beaches on Monday. His death, which is not being treated as suspicious, comes almost three weeks after the fourth anniversary of Thomas' death. Stuart was 14 when the older brother he greatly admired and saw as his closest friend was killed during a night out in Kings Cross. Christian Democratic Party leader the Reverend Fred Nile says he is willing to move an amendment to electricity privatisation legislation to prevent workers from being sacked by power companies Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy. The move, which would pass the upper house with the support of Labor and the crossbench, would present the government with a dilemma when it reaches the lower house. Supporting the amendment would potentially complicate the impending lease of 50.4 per cent of Ausgrid, which may be worth more than $10 billion. Rejecting it would risk souring the government's relationship with Mr Nile, whose support it routinely counts on to get legislation through Parliament. "The most painful goodbyes are the ones that are never said and never explained." With those few but powerful words, the father of Thomas and Stuart Kelly has expressed the unbearable sadness he and wife are enduring, yet again, after the death of their second son. Ralph Kelly posted the crushing message on Facebook on Tuesday night after his son, Stuart, 18, was found dead on Sydney's northern beaches on Monday. Stuart's death, which police said was not being treated as suspicious, came less than a month after the fourth anniversary of his older brother Thomas' death from a one-punch attack in Kings Cross. Queensland will "co-operate fully" if the Turnbull Government decides to broaden the Royal Commission into youth detention concerns in other states, Attorney General Yvette D'Ath said on Tuesday. "The Royal Commission is a matter for the federal government," Ms D'Ath said. Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath says there is no need to extend a Royal Commission into youth detention centres to Queensland. Credit:Cameron Atfield "But if they want to broaden the scope of the inquiry underway in Northern Territory then Queensland will co-operate fully," she said. Queensland's director of the Youth Affairs Network Siyavash Doostkhah said the Royal Commission should come to Queensland to investigate the use of "both chemical and physical restraints." Gerard Baden-Clay High Court appeal to be heard in Brisbane Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Were working to restore it. Please try again later. Dismiss Facebook has confirmed it removed graphic footage from ABC's Four Corners program of children being assaulted and mistreated at a Northern Territory youth detention centre. The vision, which aired on Four Corners on Monday night, showed a teenage boy being handcuffed and hooded and strapped to a mechanical chair. Four Corners' producer Sally Neighbour said on Twitter she was "flabbergasted" to learn Facebook had censored the videos. A new task force will be established to tackle the rising crisis of homelessness and rough sleeping in Melbourne. Housing Minister Martin Foley announced the taskforce after a meeting between the government, police, housing agencies and Melbourne City Council on Tuesday morning. Mr Foley said he would also approach the federal government, together with Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, to establish a "genuine partnership" to deal with homelessness and reinstate the goal of halving rough sleeping by 2020. Mr Foley said the state government had allocated an extra $1.6 million in recent weeks to fighting homelessness. The state government is also conducting a review of housing affordability, which is expected to be made public next month. Among them was Jim Shugg, an arborist, who prunes and removes trees for a living. A group of local residents and protesters huddled on the footpath nearby clutching cups of tea, their voices muted by the sound of the chainsaw. Limb after limb fell with a thud onto the asphalt roadway, violently flicking fragments of bark up into the winter air. Tree loppers start cutting the tree down. Credit:Joe Armao But he said there were some jobs that he'd never take on, and this was one of them. Instead he was one of four people arrested by police on Tuesday as he stood between the cherry picker and the National Trust listed gum on Flemington Road in Melbourne. For months the enormous lemon-scented gum on the median strip in Parkville has been at the centre of battle between the government and grassroots campaigners. On one side was VicRoads, which said removing the tree was the only safe way to realign the road to make way for the CityLink Tulla widening project. On the other side were neighbours and heritage and environmental advocates who argued the authorities had not properly considered all options to preserve the gum. Police are urging members of the public to help identify a man at the centre of a vicious bashing that took place on a Melbourne train last month. The assault occurred at 9.45pm on Wednesday 29 June, shortly after the train left Camberwell station. The victim was slapped in the face, before having his head slammed into the carriage window. The aggressor then got off the train at Canterbury railway station, but immediately reboarded - running at the victim and punching him in the face. Better access and services for the booming Asian tourist market underpins an Andrews government plan to bolster the state's economy by $13 billion over the next decade. The government will on Tuesday release an ambitious target to raise the amount of visitor expenditure in Victoria to $36.5 billion in 2024-2025, up from $23.1 billion in 2014-15. The ANdrews government wants to encourage more overseas visitors to spend time in regional Victoria. Credit:Paoli Smith Attracting people from both Australia and overseas to regional Victoria will be central to growth. A major push will be to capitalise on Asia's booming middle class by providing better infrastructure and tourism services for people from "emerging markets". The rapid removal of three level crossings during a round-the-clock construction blitz in Melbourne's south-east has led to serious injuries of workers on the site. The John Holland Group is removing level crossings in Bentleigh, McKinnon and Ormond, as part of a half-billion-dollar project also involving removal of a fourth set of boom gates in Glen Iris. To complete the three Frankston line level crossing removals, the railway has been shut for 37 days, and will open again next Monday, August 1. Trains are being substituted with buses while an estimated 250,000 cubic metres of soil is removed from the railway line and new infrastructure is built. Thanks to the power of social media several pieces of Russian Fedor Konyukhov's record-breaking hot-air balloon - taken as souvenirs - have been returned to their rightful owner within 24 hours. Nine News Perth reporter Caitlin Barr said eight people had already contacted Konyukhov, offering to return items they took as memento when he triumphantly broke the world record for circumnavigating the globe in a hot-air ballon by two days and landed near Northam on the weekend. On Monday Konyukhov appealed to spectators to hand in their new souvenirs, no questions asked, and now it appeared all items were on their way to be dropped off in Northam or in the process of being picked up in Perth. "Unfortunately in their enthusiasm the souvenir collectors got a little carried away and many parts of the balloon were removed," the appeal read. A worker has died at a mine in the state's Goldfields, the Department of Mines and Petroleum has confirmed. St John Ambulance was called to Central Norseman Gold Mine on Tuesday at 10.50am. The Department of Mines and Petroleum was informed of the death on Tuesday morning. Credit:Bloomberg Ambulance officers took the worker, a man in his 60s, to Norseman District Hospital but he could not be saved. His injuries were caused by the "collapse of a bridge from the top of a settling tank", safety director Andrew Chaplyn said. Jakarta: A joint statement by south-east Asian nations on the South China Sea has highlighted the "powerlessness" of ASEAN and the "significant divide" between countries in the region, as China continues to exert pressure on some members over the issue, an expert says. After days of talks at a meeting in Laos and a deadlock over what they would publicly present, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations released a joint statement with China late on Monday, saying all parties had undertaken to "exercise self-restraint" and resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes in the waters by "peaceful means". It's the first time the foreign ministers have met since the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration handed down its decision into the dispute between the Philippines and China, dismissing the latter's "historic rights" to vast areas of the South China Sea. Monday's joint statement referred to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and freedom of navigation. But Australian National University defence and strategic expert John Blaxland said it was not the acknowledgement by China of the recent ruling that some countries had wanted. What do the critics make of Bill Clinton's speech in support of his wife? Most agree it was an extraordinary event: A former president supporting his spouse to become the next president - and the first female - of the United States. There were others who hated everything he said, denouncing him as "a snake oil salesman" and as someone who could sell ice to eskimos. The Washington Post reported that Clinton was doing more than delivering another convention speech, something he has done often enough over the years. "This was a larger moment for the former president, and it was a long time coming. In this one speech, he was essentially making good on a marital and political promissory note by employing the full measure of his rhetorical skills to boost his wife's history-making week as the first woman to become a major party nominee." "In the spring of 1971 I met a girl," Clinton said, and he was off, telling the story of how they had met at Yale and how gobstruck he was by her from the first time he saw her in class, an imposing young woman wearing big glasses and no make-up, with what he called a "strength and self-possession I found magnetic". This was the beginning, he said, of a lifetime relationship that endured "through good times and bad, joy and heartbreak". The quality of the rhetoric aside, there has never been a speech quite like the one Clinton delivered in Philadelphia. A husband speaking on behalf of his wife - that has been done before. A former president speaking in support of a prospective president is also nothing new, The Washington Post wrote. "But the combination of the two is unprecedented. A former president who wants to be first man extolling the virtues of a former first lady who wants to be president. Only the Clintons." "Only the Clintons" applies in so many ways. Only the Clintons have been hanging around together at the top of American politics for a full quarter century. Only the Clintons can excite and then exasperate their fellow Democrats with such dizzying predictability. "Only the Clintons (or maybe now President Barack Obama) can send the Republicans into paroxysms of rage and the deepest, darkest pools of conspiracy theorising. "Only the Clintons can keep going and going no matter what obstacles others or they themselves throw in their way along their long and winding path." London: A classic car owned by John Lennon could sell for up to 265,000 ($466,754) when it goes up for auction. The late Beatles star bought the 1956 Austin Princess limousine in August 1971. He used it the following year in a film to promote his album Imagine. The footage featured Lennon alongside his wife Yoko Ono. John Lennon's 1956 Austin Princess goes to auction on September 7. Credit:Sotheby's The car still features five airplane seats that were added by the musician. The buyer will also receive the original vehicle registration and title document, complete with Lennon's signature from the original purchase. One day before he tried to hand a letter to a top Japanese MP offering to kill hundreds of disabled people, the suspect in Japan's worst mass killing in decades tweeted: "I don't know if it's right, but action is the only way." Less than six months later, Satoshi Uematsu, 26, was arrested on suspicion of stabbing 19 people to death and wounding dozens of others as they slept at a centre for the disabled where he had worked for more than three years until February. Police have yet to comment on the motive for Tuesday's killing spree, which has shocked a nation with one of the lowest crime rates in the world and where mass murders are rare. Information about Uematsu is still emerging, but interviews with neighbours and posts on his Twitter account paint a picture of an outwardly polite young man who became obsessed with the people being cared for at the Tsukui Yamayuri-En facility for the mentally and physically disabled in Sagamihara town, about 40 kilometres south-west of Tokyo. Before the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris in January 2015, Adel Kermiche was a cheerful, music-loving and devout French teenager. But that terrorist atrocity, and the suspicion-filled aftermath, "acted like a detonator", his mother said. Soon his greatest wish was to travel to Syria to join the so-called Islamic State, which his mother said had "bewitched" him on social media. On Tuesday, Kermiche was identified by prosecutors as one of the young men who slit the throat of a Catholic priest during mass in a church in northern France. He was shot dead by police with an accomplice after they entered the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray church near Rouen on Tuesday morning, cut the priest's throat and seriously injured another parishioner. Kermiche was a local teenager, born in 1997, who had tried to join IS in Syria, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said though he failed in two attempts and instead served jail time in France. Beijing: The Australian government has issued a strong joint statement with the United States and Japan calling on China to abide by a Hague tribunal's ruling on the South China Sea. The three countries issued the statement late on Monday at the conclusion of the trilateral strategic dialogue held between Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop and her US counterpart John Kerry and Japan's Fumio Kishida, on the sidelines of a South-east Asian regional security conference in Vientiane, Laos. A Chinese H-6K bomber patrols the islands and reefs in the South China Sea. Credit:Xinhua/AP The statement, tellingly, went further than a cautious joint statement produced by then 10 ASEAN member nations, meeting for the first time after the July 12 arbitration which came down overwhelmingly in favour of the Philippines, and against China. The ASEAN statement failed to directly mention the ruling, highlighting the divide between countries in the region as Beijing continues to exert both diplomatic and economic pressure. In contrast, the direct language and coordinated nature of the trilateral statement from Australia, Japan and the United States is likely to further antagonise China which has already lashed out at the respective countries' support of the Hague ruling. Beijing sees such statements as proof of US-led outside interference and evidence that it and its strategic allies are motivated by a desire to contain China's rise. A fisherman in the US has captured the dramatic moment when a big tiger shark takes a bite out of a hammerhead in Louisiana waters. Originally posted on Instagram, the footage has gone viral since being placed on the Facebook page of US TV fishing show, Gulf Outdoors. The post has been viewed more than a million times and shared more than 5500 times. The tiger shark makes its move on the hammerhead Credit:Youtube: Ryan Willsea Amateur fisherman Ryan Willsea filmed the encounter while hunting for tuna on a Pelagic Adventures tour. He'd initially hooked the 2.5-metre hammerhead, only for the 450-kilogram plus tiger shark to intervene. "Here's the 40 second clip of a 7-8 foot hammerhead being eaten off my line by a 1000+ pound tiger shark while I was out tuna fishing," Mr Willsea's post said. The Hague, The Netherlands:--- Incumbent Kingdom Ambassador the Hon. Mr. Jeroen Roodenburg, who was previously stationed in Baghdad, Iraq will be taking up his new post in Colombia within short, visited the Cabinet of the Minister Plenipotentiary accompanied by Mrs. Jacinda Hofland from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.. He was received by the Cabinets Director, Perry Geerlings and acting Director of the Cabinet, Margie van Gijn. Mr. Roodenburg proceeded to give a brief overview of the causes he will be championing during his four year stint in Colombia. At the same time he took inventory of the present influences the political situation in Colombia specifically has in Sint Maarten. His interest was mainly to find out what policies Sint Maarten has in place in the relationship with Colombia. Focus also being placed on the Medical sector, cultural exchanges and economic investments from Colombia to Sint Maarten and vice versa . Mr. Geerlings explained that Sint Maarten has a history of visiting tourists from Colombia in the past when mainly the well-off visited our Island and that the growth and strengthening of this market is a focus of our government. The Ambassador committed himself to be of service to the Government of Sint Maarten in order to look into a possible expansion of tourism to and from Colombia to the Dutch Caribbean, where he envisions positive results when marketed correctly. An important area the Ambassador wishes to address is the participation of the Kingdom countries in the Caribbean in submitting to him their areas of corporation the wish to see enhanced or established with Colombia. Also to Mr. Roodenburg, Mr. Geerlings suggested to convene periodical meetings between the Kingdom Ambassadors in the region and the Three Caribbean countries of the Kingdom. Mr. Geerlings furthermore suggested to the Ambassador once in office to contact the Directorates of Foreign Relations and Kindom Relations on Sint Maarten and request them to provide him with so-called Multiannual Interdepartmental Policy papers (MIBs) and supply these to the various posts in the region. This will surely help the various Kingdom Embassies to be more effective in their assistance to Sint Maarten in the region. This suggestion was well received by Mr. Roodenburg. At the conclusion of the meeting the Director and all present at the meeting wished the Ambassador well in his new post and reiterated the willingness of Sint Maarten to render assistance in the gathering and dissemination of relevant information to help him representing Sint Maarten more adequately, whilst the Ambassador assured us to be visiting Sint Maarten very soon. PHILIPSBURG:--- A message of hope permeated the air as DP and UPP family and friends commemorated the birthday of the late Dr. A. Claude Wathey, co-founder of the DP. The annual wreath laying at the statue of the late Dr. A. Claude Wathey was held on Sunday, July 24th in commemoration of what would have been the late Dr. A.C. Claude Watheys 90th birthday. As is customary, representatives of the Democratic Party and the United People's Party laid wreaths along with Dr. Francio Guadeloupe of the University of St. Maarten, Mrs. Valerie Giterson of the Claude Wathey Educational Foundation and family members of Claude. Supporters of both parties attended the brief ceremony, which was led by Erno Labega, the son of the other DP founder, the late Clem Labega. Speaking briefly at the gathering were the 2 party leaders of the UPP and DP respectively. Party leader MP Sarah Wescot-Williams reminded the gathered crowd that every year regardless to what the circumstances may have been, on July 24th we have always presented ourselves at the commemoration of Claude Watheys birthday. With all of todays challenges, the fact remains that this island has grown in leaps and bounds and that is in no small measure because of Claudes contributions. That legacy can never be taken away from him or from the Democratic Party", Wescot-Williams said. The MP, in acknowledging that there is more that unites than what divides us as a St. Maarten people, said that for far too long we have been solely focusing on the division but if we would focus on what unites us then we could make St. Maarten strong again. This was paraphrased by the MP: Make St. Maarten strong again, alluding to the need to get all noses pointed in one direction. MP Wescot-Williams closed with the thought that she could remember the days of Claude and Clem and that things were indeed more simple, and approaches were therefore simple as well. With the phenomenal growth the island has witnessed, current and future generations need to now take up the mantle with the same vigor and determination as those who have gone before us. Global Warming Fans Say I told You So; But is Southern California more like "The End," or "The Rapture?" The Sand Fire has burned an area the size of Manhattan. The 1,500 families who have been evacuated no doubt find this very real, and if they didn't subscribe to climate change theories in the past, they certainly do now. Like a Hollywood film about the Apocalypse, the huge fire North of Los Angeles has caused an exodus of people, death, destruction and hand wringing. I don't mean to make light of this tragedy, and I'm hardly a religious person. But even I see a few interesting similarities between the biblical view of the apocalypse, and recent events. Consider the following comparisons: 1. "As of midday Sunday, the Sand Fire had grown to 22,000 acres (34 square miles) - roughly the same size as the island of Manhattan - and was just 10 percent contained. In nearby Los Angeles, the fire prompted frequent references to the Apocalypse this weekend, as the large smoke plume dropped ash and blotted out the sun." The Sand Fire in Santa Clarita Offers Omens of a Fiery Future: https://psmag.com/the-sand-fire-in-santa-clarita-offers-omens-of-a-fiery-future-e142811ed90e#.id0ln616r Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt-darkness that can be felt." So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else or leave his place for three days. - Exodus 10:2123 2. Wildlife Waystation evacuates lions, tigers and bears (oh, my) amid Sand Fire | 89.3 KPCC: Jess Pelaez began working at 4 a.m. Saturday morning in the pitch black, lit by nothing except the eerie red glow of a not-so-distant brushfire. By that point, the Sand Fire had been burning for 26 hours and was ringing nearly half of the Wildlife Waystation, a 160-acre exotic animal sanctuary in Sylmar. "You could see fire tornadoes forming in the clouds of the smoke," Pelaez says. "The flames would twist on themselves. You would hear lions starting to call to each other as the sun was beginning to rise. Then you would hear the chimps shrieking to each other and it just echoed around the canyon. It was completely surreal." Tigers in the truck. Tigers. #tigers #bigcats #sandfire #sunlantujunga #bigcats #wildlifew... http://ift.tt/2aklQ08 - Sarah Stone (@sarahstonearts) 3:01 PM - 23 Jul 2016 Biblical comparison: Noah loaded the animals onto the Ark, two by two . . . . According to Sanhedrin 108B, Noah was engaged both day and night in feeding and caring for the animals, and did not sleep for the entire year aboard the ark. The animals were the best of their species, and so behaved with utmost goodness. They abstained from procreation, so that the number of creatures that disembarked was exactly equal to the number that embarked. 3. "The fire behavior was some of the most extreme I've seen in the Los Angeles area in my career," said Stuart Palley, a wildfire photographer based in Southern California. "The fire was running all over the place. ... It was incredible to see." There were multiple reports of flames 50 to 100 feet high on Saturday, which is unusual for fires in the region. Simply put: Extreme weather and climate conditions have helped produce this fire's extreme behavior. Firefighters won't catch much of a break from the weather all this week. Smoke from the fire, burning through parts of the Angeles National Forest just north of Los Angeles, is visible from the city and cast a pall over the entire region this weekend, prompting sinister scenes. Ash rained down on cars and beaches. The sun appeared as a smoky red ball in the sky in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, and the fire was a trending topic on Twitter. Smoke from the fire has reached as far as Las Vegas. The Sand Fire in Santa Clarita Offers Omens of a Fiery Future: https://psmag.com/the-sand-fire-in-santa-clarita-offers-omens-of-a-fiery-future-e142811ed90e#.id0ln616r In the Hebrew Old Testament some pictures of the end of the age were images of the judgment of the wicked and the glorification of those who were given righteousness before God. In the Book of Job and in some Psalms the dead are described as being in Sheol, awaiting the final judgment. The wicked will then be consigned to eternal suffering in the fires of Gehinnom, or the lake of fire mentioned in the Book of Revelation. Anyway, you get it. I don't really believe that this is the end of Los Angeles. Even if the weather is getting warmer. The world has been here a long time, and will probably be here for a long time to come. Encouraged by Trump's Success, Duke Wants to Defend the Rights of "European Americans" It sounds like satire, but it's not. David Duke, former KKK Grand Wizard, founder of the National Association for the Advancement of White People, and Holocaust Denier, sees the GOP nomination of Donald Trump as a sign that America finally wants his brand of politics. "My platform became the GOP mainstream," he said. "I'm overjoyed to see Donald Trump and most Americans embrace most of the issues that I've championed for years." Duke, who calls himself a "racial realist," said on July 22 that he would be running for US Senate in his home state of Louisiana. Trump's campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks almost immediately announced that Trump "has disavowed David Duke and will continue to do so." The Presidential Nominee received some backlash earlier in his campaign after Duke publicly endorsed him. When CNN's Jake Tapper asked Trump on "State of the Union" if he would disavow the support of Duke and other white supremacist groups, Trump responded, "Just so you understand, I don't know anything about David Duke, OK?" Many Americans were shocked that Trump seemed unwilling to distance himself from hate groups. The next day, Trump claimed that he had misunderstood the question because of a "bad earpiece." Like Trump, the National Republican Senatorial Committee leadership quickly said that they would not support Duke's run "under any circumstance." The Republican Party of Louisiana chimed in, too, saying Duke's history of "hate" causes them to oppose his candidacy. "David Duke's history of hate marks a dark stain on Louisiana's past and has no place in our current conversation," the group said. Duke isn't new to politics, having run for various offices at both the state and federal level, first as a Democrat, then as a Republican. He won a seat in the Louisiana House in a special election in 1989, where he served for three unremarkable years before failing to be reelected. He now affiliates with the Tea Party movement. Duke supports the preservation of what he considers to be Western Culture, including Christian Family Values, Constitutionalism, abolition of the IRS, voluntary racial segregation, and white separatism. On the surface, he seems to be in agreement with many of the radical right voters who have launched Trump into the nomination, but his views on racial separation push him far into the extreme. He wrote in his 1998 autobiography "We desire to live in our own neighborhoods, go to our own schools, work in our own cities and towns, and ultimately live as one extended family in our own nation. We shall end the racial genocide of integration. We shall work for the eventual establishment of a separate homeland for African Americans, so each race will be free to pursue its own destiny without racial conflicts and ill will." As Grand Wizard in the 70's, Duke insisted he had modernized the KKK by allowing women and Catholics into the group. He said they were not "anti-black," but "pro-white" and "pro-Christian." David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American white nationalist, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, politician, and former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. The Anti-Defamation League has called Duke anti-Semitic, a charge he denies, though he has said he objects to the "promotion of homosexuality" by Jews. Very early in his career, he would sometimes appear in public wearing a Nazi uniform. Duke has been convicted of felony tax fraud, for which he served 15 months in prison and paid a $10,000 fine. He was deported from the Czech Republic in 2009 for denying the Nazi genocide and for promoting movements that seek to suppress human rights. A general residency ban, issued by Switzerland, now prevents him from living in any European Union country. That's right: other countries have banned David Duke, while one of our major political parties has nominated Duke's preferred candidate to become the leader of the free world. Now, after decades of being scorned and shunned, Duke believes that he, too, can be elected on a platform of racism and hatred. Oh, GOP, what have you done? Media Alert: TechCodes U.S. Accelerator to Host First Demo Day, Showcasing Startups Working With Artificial Intelligence SAN FRANCISCO, CA (Marketwired) 07/25/16 , a global network of startup incubators and entrepreneur ecosystems TechCode is hosting its first Demo Day for its new U.S. accelerator. All nine startups in TechCodes inaugural cohort will be available to provide demos and interact one-on-one with attendees. The Demo Day will highlight TechCodes artificial intelligence and hardware startups, which range from connected car technology to smart glasses and robotics. Startups also have opportunities to partner with China Fortune Land Development (CFLD) on its China plans. CFLD is the largest industrial city operator in China and a strategic partner of TechCode. Additionally, TechCode will welcome the regional round of the , which will also feature some of the startups in TechCodes U.S. accelerator. TechCodes Global CEO Erica Huang will be present at both events and is available for in-person interviews. Please contact the press contact listed below if you are interested in scheduling an interview. To learn more about TechCode, visit . To learn more about the Shenzhen competition, visit . Tuesday, July 26, 2016 5:30-9:30 p.m. PT TechCode Headquarters 1172 Castro Street Mountain View, Calif. 94040 Focusing on incubator operation management and technology startup cultivation, TechCode is committed to building the worlds leading entrepreneurship ecosystem. Integrating a wide range of global resources, TechCode has established incubators in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guan, Silicon Valley, Seoul, Tel Aviv and Berlin to help get its startup members on their feet and grow rapidly. Janice Gebhardt Uproar PR for TechCode 312-878-4575 ex. 244 ZoomerMedia Limited Announces Stock Option Grant TORONTO, ONTARIO (Marketwired) 07/25/16 ZoomerMedia Limited (the Company or ZoomerMedia) (TSX VENTURE: ZUM) announces it has granted 3,100,000 stock options to various officers, employees and consultants. The options are exercisable at $0.10 per share, one-third vest on July 25, 2017, one-third on July 25, 2018 and one third on July 25, 2019. The options have a term of five years. The granting of all options remains subject to regulatory approval. About ZoomerMedia Limited ZoomerMedia is a multimedia company that serves the 45plus Zoomer demographic through television, radio, magazine, internet and trade shows. ZoomerMedias television properties include; Vision TV, Canadas only multi-faith specialty television service; ONE: Body Mind Spirit Love Channel, offering programs on exercise, meditation, yoga, natural health and living a planet-friendly lifestyle; JoyTV in Vancouver, Victoria, Surrey and the Fraser Valley, and the newly rebranded HOPETV (formerly JoyTV11), a lifestyle television service out of Winnipeg devoted to broadcasting Christian programming and is available in approximately 6 million Canadian homes. ZoomerMedias radio properties include CFMZ-FM Toronto The New Classical 96.3FM, CFMX-FM Cobourg The New Classical 103.1FM, CFMO-FM Collingwood The New Classical 102.9FM, Canadas only commercial classical music radio stations serving the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), eastern Ontario and Collingwood, CFZM-AM 740 Toronto and CFZM-FM 96.7FM Toronto Zoomer Radio, Torontos Timeless Hits Station. ZoomerMedia also publishes Zoomer Magazine, the largest paid circulation magazine in Canada for the mature market. ZoomerMedia is Canadas leading provider of online content targeting the 45plus age group through many properties, the key one being . ZoomerMedia also has trade show and conference divisions that produce the ZoomerShows, annual consumer shows directed to the Zoomer demographic and ideaCity, an annual Canadian conference also known as Canadas Premiere Meeting of the Minds. Cautionary note on forward looking statements Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The statements made in this press release include forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. These statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect managements current expectations and assumptions. A number of factors could cause actual events, performance or results to differ materially from the events, performance and results discussed in the forward-looking statements, such as the economy, generally, the demand for ZoomerMedias products and services and the availability of funding. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and ZoomerMedia does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events or results could differ materially from ZoomerMedias expectations and projections. Contacts: ZoomerMedia Limited George Kempff Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (416) 607-7735 CellStop Announces Change of Directors Posted by Publisher Software VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA (Marketwired) 07/25/16 CellStop Systems Inc. (CellStop or the Company) (NEX: KNO.H) announces that Mr. Gerald Tuskey has resigned as a director of the Company to focus on his other business interests. The Board expects to appoint a new director in the near future to fill the vacancy. The Company wishes to thank Mr. Tuskey for his years of service and wishes him the best in his future endeavors. The board of directors of CellStop is now comprised of Michelle Gahagan, Michael Curtis and Virginia Olnick. Neither the NEX nor the 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: CellStop Systems Inc. Michelle Gahagan President and CEO (604) 639-4450 Alphinat Announces a Profit of $104,183 for the Third Quarter MONTREAL, QUEBEC (Marketwired) 07/25/16 Alphinat Inc. (TSX VENTURE: NPA) announces a profit of $104,183 for the quarter ended May 31, 2016. The current fiscal year is characterized by the results of the development plan that management started implementing a year ago. For the 3-month period ended May 31, 2016, the Company recorded total revenue of $417,460 compared to $499,075 (restated) for the same period in 2015. For the 3-month period ended May 31, 2016, operating expenses amounted to $274,996 compared to $365,150 in 2015. The earnings for the period ended May 31, 2016 amounted to $104,183 compared to earnings (restated) of 86,673 for the 3-month period ended May 31, 2015. For the 9-month period ended May 31, 2016, earnings amounted to $182,138, a $431,338 improvement as compared to the 9-month period ended May 31, 2015 where a net loss of $(249,200) was registered. Alphinats financial statements and Managements Discussion and Analysis for the quarter ending May 31, 2016 can be found on SEDAR, at . About Alphinat Alphinat is the creator of SmartGuide, a next generation application development and deployment productivity toolset providing agility to leverage existing IT assets and lower costs for a one-stop delivery tool of Web and mobile enterprise applications from any back-end system. Alphinat has been appointed by technology company peers to associate member at the Smart Cities Council(). Alphinat technology is also used in the healthcare, banking, insurance, telecommunications and other sectors, in modernising, automating and rendering cost-effective a number of business processes at a fraction of the cost associated with conventional customized solutions. For more details about Alphinat or its software suite, please visit . Forward-looking statements Certain statements in this document, including those which express managements expectations or estimations with regard to the Companys future performance, constitute forward-looking statements as understood by applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are, of necessity, based on a certain number of estimates and hypotheses; while management considers these to be accurate at the time they are expressed, they are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and risks on the commercial, economic and competitive levels. We advise readers that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other known and unknown 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 in these forward-looking statements. A number of factors could cause significant differences between actual results and those described in forward-looking statements. These include, but are not limited to, the Companys capacity to increase acceptance of its products on the market, and to penetrate new markets; the potential existence of defects or undetected problems in the Companys products; the Companys ability to manage its growth; the Companys ability to compete with others; potential commitments; maintaining the Companys intellectual property rights and defending against litigation putting those rights in question; the Companys reliance on the knowledge of its key personnel; and the Companys access to sufficient capital to finance its future needs. This is a partial and non-exhaustive list of factors that could bear on any of our forward-looking statements. Investors are advised to not rely unduly on the forward-looking statements. This advisory applies to all forward-looking statements, whether expressed orally or in writing, attributed to Alphinat or to any individual expressing them in the name of the Company. The Company is under no obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events, or other circumstances. Risks and uncertainties that bear on the Company are described in greater detail in the Companys Annual Report. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: Mr. Philippe Lecoq Chief Executive Officer Alphinat Inc. (514) 398-9799 ext 222 Mirantis Collaborates With Intel and Google to Enable OpenStack on Kubernetes Posted by Publisher Hardware MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA (Marketwired) 07/26/16 Mirantis, the pure-play OpenStack company, today announced a collaboration with Google and Intel to evolve the architecture of the leading purpose-built lifecycle management tool for OpenStack, Fuel, and related OpenStack projects, to enable for use of Kubernetes as its underlying orchestration engine. The companies will work with the OpenStack community to package OpenStack into Docker containers to be managed by Kubernetes. The companies will jointly discuss the details of this collaboration at the upcoming on August 9-10. The resulting software will give users fine grain control over the placement of services used for the OpenStack control plane and the ability to do rolling updates of OpenStack, make the OpenStack control plane self-healing and more resilient, and smooth the path for the creating of microservices-based applications on OpenStack. With the emergence of Docker as the standard container image format and Kubernetes as the standard for container orchestration, we are finally seeing continuity in how people approach operations of distributed applications. Combining Kubernetes and Fuel will open OpenStack up to a new delivery model that allows faster consumption of updates, helping customers get to outcomes faster. Mirantis CMO, Boris Renski Leveraging Kubernetes in Fuel will turn OpenStack into a true microservice application, bridging the gap between legacy infrastructure software and the next generation of application development. Many enterprises will benefit from using containers and sophisticated cluster management as the foundation for resilient, highly scalable infrastructure. Google Senior Product Manager, Craig McLuckie Combined open source leadership of Intel and Mirantis will be instrumental in bridging the OpenStack and Kubernetes communities. Our joint efforts will marry two complementary and powerful open source communities, making it simpler for enterprises to manage private clouds. Intel VP & GM, Software Defined Infrastructure Group, Jonathan Donaldson To further support Kubernetes on OpenStack, Mirantis will become an active contributor to the Kubernetes project, aiming to become a top contributor over the next year. Mirantis has also joined the , ?a Linux Foundation project and organization dedicated to advancing the development of cloud native applications and services, as a Silver member. Learn more: Read Intels blog, . Sign up for the webinar, on August 23 at 11 am. PT. Join Google, Intel, and Mirantis in discussing the convergence of the OpenStack and Kubernetes communities at . , delivering all the , , , and support needed for running OpenStack. More customers rely on Mirantis than on any other company to get to production deployment of OpenStack at scale. Mirantis is among the top three companies worldwide in contributing open source software to OpenStack, and has helped build and deploy some of the largest OpenStack clouds in the world, at companies such as AT&T, Saudi Telecom, Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Symantec, Telstra and Volkswagen. Mirantis is venture-backed by August Capital, Dell Ventures, Ericsson, Goldman Sachs, Intel, Insight Venture Partners, Sapphire Ventures, Siguler Guff & Co., and WestSummit Capital, with headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. Follow us on Twitter at . Sarah Bennett Mirantis PR Manager Natasha Woods The Linux Foundation iNetSec VA From PFU, a Fujitsu Company, Achieves VMware Ready(TM) Status SUNNYVALE, CA (Marketwired) 07/26/16 PFU, a Fujitsu company and provider of network access control and security technology, today announced that its iNetSec V3.0L30 Virtual Appliance (iNetSec VA) has achieved VMware Ready status. This designation indicates that after a detailed validation process iNetSec VA has achieved VMwares highest level of endorsement and is supported on VMware vSphere 6 for production environments. We are pleased that iNetSec VA From PFU, a Fujitsu Company, qualifies for the VMware Ready logo, signifying to customers that it has met specific VMware interoperability standards and works effectively with VMware cloud infrastructure. This signifies to customers that iNetSec VA can be deployed in production environments with confidence and can speed time to value within customer environments, said Howard Hall, senior director, Global Technology Partner Organization, VMware. By using iNetSec VA with VMware vSphere 6, organizations can obtain advanced network visibility and access control with exceptional ease of deployment, scalability and economy, said Miguel Llerena, director, Technology Alliances, PFU. The iNetSec VA readily supports both smaller and very large, distributed enterprise environments and, because it is not restricted to specific hardware, trial deployments are now made even easier with a solution recognized as exceptionally easy to install. The VMware Ready program is a co-branding benefit of the that makes it easy for customers to identify partner products certified to work with VMware cloud infrastructure. Customers can use these products and solutions to lower project risks and realize cost savings over custom built solutions. With thousands of members worldwide, the VMware TAP program includes best-of-breed technology partners with the shared commitment to bring the best expertise and business solution for each unique customer need. iNetSec VA From PFU can be found within the online VMware Solution Exchange (VSX) at . The is an online marketplace where VMware partners and developers can publish rich marketing content and downloadable software for our customers. PFU, a Fujitsu company PFU Limited is a $1.2 billion global enterprise that designs, develops, manufactures, sells and maintains award-winning computer hardware, peripheral products, enterprise software and systems and network security solutions. Founded in 1960, it was named PFU in 1987. As of April 1 2010, PFU Ltd. is wholly-owned subsidiary of Fujitsu iNetSec Virtual Appliance The iNetSec VA Network Access Controller Virtual Appliance delivers: Endpoint Visibility Discovers all networked wired and wireless devices. Network Access Control Onboarding policies and blocking of unwanted/rogue/compromised devices. Applications Management Control over network resources by device and application. APT Malware Detection by Traffic Behaviors Rapid, reliable, not signature based. Agentless Non-intrusive, with no ongoing update management burdens. Out-of-Band Rapidly installs without network disruption, downtime, bottlenecks, or latency. VMware, vSphere and VMware Ready are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. Contacts: Carmine Clementelli PFU, a Fujitsu Company 408.992.2944 Sage Builds on the Office 365 Platform to Empower Accounting Professionals Around the World CHICAGO, IL (Marketwired) 07/26/16 Sage, a market leader in cloud accounting software, today announced at Sage Summit 2016, the worlds largest gathering of entrepreneurs and business builders, an extension to its existing partnership with Microsoft. As part of the extended relationship, Sage will integrate Sage 50 with Microsoft Office 365. The new solution also allows customers and the joint ecosystem to grow, extend and innovate on top of the combined solution. Sage has also become an Office 365 reseller and first-line support provider under the Microsoft Cloud Solutions Provider (CSP) program. As a CSP partner, Sage will be one of the first global ISVs to bundle Office 365 with their own solution and resell it to small business customers around the world. By integrating Sage 50 with Microsoft Office 365, Sage has enhanced the power of its business solution with greater mobility, analytics and cloud capabilities. Now customers can manage their businesses with Sage 50 and Office 365, across multiple devices and multiple locations with confidence that their information is live and up to date. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who joined the Sage Summit via a video message, said, Together, with partners like Sage, were focused on empowering professionals to get more out of every moment and for small and medium businesses to grow and seize the opportunities ahead. As well as improving productivity and helping customers shift to a mobile first, cloud first world, the Sage 50 and Office 365 solution will allow businesses to: Track business performance and history, work with customer and supplier records and transactions on the go as they collaborate across all devices. Instantly see available credit position and trading history, see how much money is owed and make important business decisions using information from Sage 50 and Office 365. Make sense of data quickly, with powerful interactive Microsoft Excel reporting and business performance dashboards. Share contacts, schedules, and more without switching between Sage 50 and Office 365. Store business documents in a secure environment and transactions received electronically. Photos of receipts or invoices can also be stored and accessed along with all records, from Sage 50, Outlook and OneDrive on your favorite smartphone device. Speaking live from Sage Summit, Sage CEO Stephen Kelly, said: Working together with Microsoft we are reinventing Sage 50, one of the worlds best-loved business applications. With the rapid growth of the Office 365 user base, the opportunity for future innovation on the Office 365 platform is incredibly exciting. We want to put the power of Sage and Microsoft behind more than 72 million Small & Medium Businesses around the world to liberate them from time-consuming tasks, and super-charge their productivity. Sage 50 with Microsoft Office 365 will be available in all Sage 50 countries, starting with the US, Canada, UK and Ireland this winter and extending to other Sage 50 countries through 2017. For those not attending Sage Summit 2016, all of the keynotes and more can be viewed at the virtual event Sage is the market leader for integrated accounting, payroll and payment systems, supporting the ambition of the worlds entrepreneurs. Sage began as a small business in the UK 30 years ago and over 13000 colleagues now support millions of entrepreneurs across 23 countries as they power the global economy. We reinvent and simplify business accounting through brilliant technology, working with a thriving community of entrepreneurs, business owners, tradespeople, accountants, partners and developers. And as a FTSE 100 business, we are active in supporting our local communities and invest in making a real difference through the philanthropy of the Sage Foundation. Sage a market leader for integrated accounting, payroll and payment systems, supporting the ambition of the worlds entrepreneurs. The Taste of OTR is presented by Elm & Iron , and is sponsored by various organizations in the community. This year, anyone who enjoys Washington Park during the summer can enjoy the Taste of OTR for two days instead of just one. More than 15,000 people are expected to attend the event on Aug. 26 and 27.The charitable event, which is returning for its fourth year, is hosted by Tender Mercies , one of Cincinnatis nonprofit organizations that helps homeless adults with mental illnesses.The Taste of OTR was created as a way to celebrate growth in Over-the-Rhine, says Jackie Baumgartner, Tender Mercies development director. We really wanted to provide a way for the community to come together and enjoy our beautiful Washington Park with the backdrop of Music Hall.Attendees can enjoy music from Junior Brown and Maps and Atlases , local craft beer, and food from local restaurants and food trucks.The two-day event will also feature more family-friendly activities than ever before, such as a kid zone with face painting, balloon animals and a coloring contest.There is an incredible amount of energy on the lawn," Baumgartner says. "It really speaks to Over-the-Rhine and Cincinnati, especially because it attracts people from different walks of life. Its everyone. Thats the best way to describe it. Its a great way for people to experience all that our area has to offer. Attend the Taste of OTR , Friday, Aug. 26 from 5 to 10 p.m., and Saturday, Aug. 27 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Washington Park. Admission is free. If you're interested in volunteering, contact Jackie Baumgartner at 513-639-7021 or by emailing [email protected] Learn more about Tender Mercies and its mission. Solar Novus Today Has Been Integrated With Novus Light Technologies Today Visit Novus Light Technologies Today to see all the cutting-edge stories and products that you have come to enjoy on Solar Novus Today. In addition, you will find more information on related light-based technologies. Get the latest solar and renewable energy news delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for the Green Technologies newsletter CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR GREEN TECHNOLOGIES NEWSLETTER Kauf und Ubertragung einfach und sicher Uns vertrauen Kunden weltweit Pittsburgh police are investigating a shooting in Mt. Washington at almost 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 24. Units from Zone 3 were sent to the 400 block of Norton Street for a report of three people shot. According to the police, a group of people were at a parklet on the corner of Norton and Sandwich Street arguing. A man approached the people and fired several shots. A 24-year-old man was shot in the hip and is in stable condition at UPMC Mercy Hospital. A 43-year-old man was shot in the stomach. He was treated and released from Mercy. A 27-year-old woman was grazed by a bullet and taken to Allegheny General Hospital where she was listed in stable condition. The investigation is ongoing. According to the police, a description of the male suspect wasnt available. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Pittsburgh Police Violent Crime Unit at 412-323-7161. Colts locker room 'shocked' by QB change from Matt Ryan to Sam Ehlinger Nearly every Colt expressed surprise at the team's decision, support for Ryan and a desire to rally around Ehlinger. Solar Impulse 2 is a solar-powered airplane. It has a greater wingspan than a 747 but only the weight of a car. This morning, it landed in Abu Dhabi, completing a flight around the world without using a drop of fuel. It wasnt exactly a nonstop flight its taken a year and five months to finish the trip. (Its had a couple of breakdowns, it must fly in calm weather, and its top speed is 55 miles an hour.) Nonetheless, the project shattered all kinds of records and, in the end, fulfilled its real missionto highlight the promise of clean technologies. Yesterday, CBS Sunday Morning aired my interview with the two men who created and flew the plane (you can watch it online here). But as always, the interview was much longer and richer than TV has time for. So here, for your pleasure, its my edited interview with Andre Borschberg (left) and Bertrand Piccard (right) a fascinating conversation about disruption, technology, common wisdom, and the future. David Pogue: What was the aviation industrys reaction to the idea of this plane? Andre Borschberg: They told us that it is impossible. Bertrand Piccard: Its completely normal that the aviation world didnt believe in it. They have learned to make specific airplanes, to reproduce what they have done all their life. Its not the people who were selling candles who invented the light bulb. AB: You know, when you want to make a disruption, you have to look for different solutions. I want to give you an example. We knew that the structure had to be built in carbon fibers. So I looked for the company with the best knowledge of the material. And it was a boat builder! Not any kind of boat the guys who designed and built the boats that won the Americas Cup for Switzerland in 2003 and 2007. Very innovative, extremely good knowledge about carbon fibers. But when I brought this company to my team, my engineers said, Are you crazy? These guys dont understand anything about aviation! Story continues And on the other side, the boat builders told me, Your engineers are great, but they have no idea about carbon fibers. This will never work! It took me more than two years to create a bridge between the two teams. DP: But neither of you had ever built a plane, had you? AB: No. But its an advantage in this situation. Because we were not bounded by the solutions that we knew. We could be open to anything. BP: If you are told its impossible, the people you attract to the team are creative people. If its a conventional project, you bring conventional people. DP: Its great that youre outsiders. But that might also have meant that it cant work! BP: Of course we questioned ourselves. We had doubts, we had setbacks. But this is exploration. Exploration is not when you wave the flag of victory. Exploration is when you go into the unknown, you have no idea whats going to happen, and you try to use the doubt to stimulate your creativity and your imagination process. The Mission DP: At its heart, Solar Impulse is meant to be a demonstration of clean technologies, right? BP: Yes. If you take all the challenges that Andres engineering team had to build a plane, its exactly the challenges that our world has to be cleaner: insulation, LED lamps, intelligent use of energy like in smart grids. And all this could, today, already, cut in half the energy consumption and the CO2 emissions of the world. DP: But you understand, dont you, that there are people watching you right now going, Oh, blah blah blah, climate change, these liberal European guys. Theres no climate change! Or if there is, its all natural. BP: Im not here to say that climate-change deniers are right or wrong. Im just saying that even if there was no climate change in this world, it would make perfect sense to replace the old polluting devices like combustion engines, old insulation of houses, inefficient heating, and all that with efficient technologies, because its a new industrial market. People will make profit. They will make job creation. They will sustain economic growth. A Tour of the Cabin Piccard gave me a tour of the planes cockpit. BP: In some ways, you fly the plane like any plane, except that it has a lot of inertia, lot of adverse yaw. So its quite challenging when its turbulent. Its not easy to fly. DP: How do you go to sleep? BP: You put the seat back like this here [it folds backwards, flat]. You switch on the autopilot. You tell the team that the plane works well. You set the alarm clock for the 20 minutes. And I lie down like this. DP: Wait. 20 minutes? BP: Yeah. Twenty minutes at a time. DP: Why only 20-minute naps? BP: Because we thought that 20 minutes is the best to avoid going into very deep sleep that is difficult to get out of. And, if its only 20 minutes, even if the autopilot disconnects, you dont drift too much. DP: And you can do that for four or five days? BP: Yeah. What helps is self-hypnosis. You just try to dissociate yourself from the outer world. I use a way where I focus on the fingernail of my thumb until I see nothing else. Then I take a big breath, I roll my eyes and I go back. DP: And what about exercise? BP: Its very important that you can keep the blood circulation correctly in the body. The best thing to relax is to put the feet up there like this [leans back, puts his feet on the ceiling]. DP: Yeah. I tried that on Delta once. They didnt like it. BP: They dont like it? (LAUGH) DP: Theres actually a lot of room in here. BP: Yes, yeah. Its a little house. In addition to flying, you cook your food, you go to the toilet, you brush your teeth, your sleep. DP: Wait you cook your food how? BP: We have some special Nestle packages that have a chemical reaction in the package. So when you add a little bit of water, the chemical reactions makes heat, and it heats up your curry chicken, your rice with mushrooms, your potato. DP: And forgive me, but you did say you somehow go to the bathroom? BP: Absolutely. You have a toilet bag here under your seat [it hinges open]. DP: Oh, I see. So youre basically sitting on a toilet for five days? BP: Youre sitting on a toilet. You can see it this way. (LAUGH) But you can also say that you have the best view in the world from the toilet. And you dont need to pull the curtains for privacy, because nobodys flying next to you. DP: And what about the in-flight movies? BP: The in-flight movie is not on the screen. Its the view outside. So when Im flying, Im not going to try to find a distraction. I want to enjoy it. I want to be aware of it. DP: Is there a lot to do technically? BP: At sunrise, you switch on the solar panels. You receive all the briefings from the mission control center in Monaco. Then its the morning. You eat breakfast, this is beautiful. Cereals, pour the milk, you add some water, fruit. And then you have a little bit of time for interviews and for the gym. As soon as you need to climb, you have to put the oxygen mask. You test it completely. Then you climb. You have all the checks through the different altitudes. You arrive at 28,000 feet. I take notes. I dont read anything, because I dont want to be distracted, but I write a lot of things for the book that were preparing with Andre. Then as soon as the sun starts to decline, you need to manage your energy very carefully. Because if you leave the throttle too high, you start to discharge your batteries. And then you start to glide for four hours, with its engines idle. And then you arrive 5,000 or 6,000 feet at about 11 at night. And you know that you are at this altitude for the next eight or 10 hours, and then you try to sleep. I take a lot of pictures also. Because you think that its only sky, water and clouds, but actually thats not true. Sometimes you see some rain around you or below you. You have the sky you cannot imagine what the sunrise looks like. Its fully black, and then you have a silver line coming, and then the top becomes pink. And suddenly you have the sun coming, and it brings all the colors to everything below. Its beautiful. DP: What kind of contact are you in with Monaco [mission control] and the rest of the team? BP: Monaco, its a hot mic. If Im taking my breakfast and the milk is falling on my flight suit, and I say, Oh, sh**, what happened? They say, Uh, be careful. There are 2 million people listening live on internet. Watch your language. DP: Do you have a parachute? BP: Yeah. You wear the parachute all the time. DP: And then how would you get out? BP: Just push the door open with your foot, and you jump. DP: Wow. Well, thank you, Captain Piccard. BP: You know Captain Picard from Star Trek is named after the twin brother of my grandfather. DP: Really? Oh, so thats not just a coincidence? BP: No, no. My grandfather made the first stratospheric flight ever. And then his twin brother, who lived in the U.S., made the first stratospheric flight in the US. And he got very famous also in the U.S. And the creator of Star Trek took him as model for the Captain Picard of the enterprise. DP: Thats very cool. But he misspelled it. BP: He did it on purpose. He explained to my cousin that he took only one C instead of two Cs not to have any legal problem with the family. (LAUGH) And we told him, Well, you could have spelled it right! Theres no problem. Its an honor. A Tour of the Plane Andre Borschberg, the engineer, walked me around the planes exterior. AB: Everything is designed to save energy. Thats how we fly a week, potentially maybe a month. Its almost a hybrid system, altitude and battery. So during the day, we charge the batteries and climb to 28,000 feet. Altitude is another way to store energy. Altitude is potential energy. When Im very high, I can glide down. I dont need the engine. After four hours, then I use the energy from the batteries. But flying up high also takes you above bad weather, brings you above high mountains. And maybe you hold for awhile, to let bad weather pass by and continue. So again, no dependence on electric energy. The wings have a structure made of layers of carbon fibers, like our bones. One layer weighs a third of the weight of a sheet of paper. The solar cells are not glued to the surface they are the surface. Again, thats how you make it extremely extremely light. DP: How do you land? AB: We have one single main landing gear [wheel]. So when we land, we have to be well balanced. When we stop, we have people on electric bicycles. They ride up to the plane as we slow down on the runway and grab the airplane on each side the wingtips. Interestingly, in fact, this wheel can turn [relative to the plane]. So if we have cross-wind, the airplane can land at a crab angle. We dont have to de-crab. We just roll down the runway at that angle, which is quite strange as a pilot. But this solution works extremely well. DP: Whats the top speed? AB: So the best speed is 24 knots [27 mph]. But this is at sea level. It goes faster when you are higher, because the air density diminishes. The maximum seed is about 50 knots 55 miles an hour. DP: This thing only goes as fast as a car? AB: Twenty-four hours a day. You dont have to go down to refuel. You just keep going. The goal is not how fast you go to the destination. Its how you get to the destination. The Partners DP: Tell me about your relationship. Is it like a marriage? Is it like old buddies? Do you fight? BP: Sometimes we fight, but not very often. I think in the 13 years that weve worked together, maybe we screamed at each other four or five times. But we very often disagree, which is the source of our creativity. We are so different. Hes an engineer, Im a medical doctor. Hes a jet fighter pilot, Im an explorer. Andre comes with one vision of the world. I come with another one. And when we combine our visions of the world, we have a third one. So its a relation where one plus one equal three. AB: Ill give you one example. Bertrand is a person who will wait until the last minute to make a decision, because he wants to incorporate every possible opinion. Which is great, but it makes it difficult for the people who work with him. Im on the other side. I will prepare strategy, prepare a plan, of course, share it with the team maybe with the risk of missing certain inputs. But if you combine both the plan, the strategy, the thinking, the intuition, then you have an optimum solution. Its not easy. Dont think its easy. I mean, we need to what I call clean the tank you know, share frustration or disagreement from time to time. So we say, Okay, lets take an hour or two hours, and we discuss in a corner. And then, you know, we explain to each other, we share our feelings, and then we come a clean situation which allows us to continue. DP: So whats the next step? AB: Our next project is an unmanned plane, which would be so much lighter that it could fly six months nonstop, so high that it will be above the clouds. That could be ready in about three three to four years. DP: Why an unmanned plane? AB: It could replace satellites in a more flexible, sustainable way. You can bring these up in down, change the equipment. You can position it any way, any time, instead of satellites rotating all the time and not being at the right place at the right moment. BP: Maybe they will be soon airplanes that can transport two or three people on solar energy. DP: So youre saying this is only the first step? BP: Thats the first step. The Wright brothers, they also had a single-seater flying very slowly in good weather. And 66 years later, there were two men on the moon. DP: You have a point. (LAUGH) BP: I make the bet with you that in less than ten years time, we have electrical airplanes transporting 50 people for 1,000-mile trips. And this will happen. And you know why? Because they will be able to land in the cities or very close to cities at night, disturbing nobody with no noise and no pollution. DP: Youre willing to make that bet? BP: Yeah. I make that bet. Absolutely sure. DP: All right, here we go. Ten years right back here? BP: Yes, yes. (LAUGHS) David Pogue is the founder of Yahoo Tech; heres how to get his columns by email. On the Web, hes davidpogue.com. On Twitter, hes @pogue. On email, hes poguester@yahoo.com. He welcomes non-toxic comments in the Comments below. Dolly Video 123 When Dolly the sheep died of lung disease and severe arthritis in 2003 after a relatively short seven year life, many scientists speculated that perhaps cloning had something to do with it. Could cloning an adult mammal, they wondered, make the clone adult-like right from birth. Maybe clones were not meant to live very long. It appears that is not the case. Scientists at the UKs University of Nottingham just released a study showing that clones can lead long, healthy lives after all. It is the first long-term study of the health effects of cloning in a large animal. As the video above shows, the scientists followed the lives of 13 cloned sheep, four of which were actually cloned from the very same cells that Dolly came from. The sheep range in age from seven to nine, and were given a battery of tests to determine their susceptibility to various age-related, non-communicable diseases, particularly those like osteoarthritis, that affected Dolly. With the exception of one sheep that did show signs of moderate osteoarthritis, the sheep are perfectly healthy. The scientists involved with the study say that these results could have significant impact on our views about the safety of cloning and its long-term effects on animal health. Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news. More stories from Quartz: Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. (Adds pricing confirmation, details throughout) By Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Paula Arend Laier SAO PAULO, July 26 (Reuters) - Energisa SA priced an offering of new stock near the upper end of a suggested range on Tuesday, signaling an upbeat industry outlook and strong investor demand bolstered plans by Brazil's No. 6 power distributor to cut debt. According to data obtained from securities industry watchdog CVM, Energisa sold 61.5 million units, and placed 22.52 million units in supplementary and additional allotments at 18.50 reais. Energisa sought to price the units, comprised of one common share and four preferred shares, between 16 reais and 20 reais. The offering was the first for any Brazilian power firm in three years, underscoring the extent to which the image of a sector long marred by erratic policy moves and a deep recession has changed in recent weeks. Investors placed bids worth almost 8 times the amount of Energisa units on offer, three people familiar with the deal told Reuters earlier in the day. An index grouping power utilities trading in the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange has gained 69 percent over the past six months. Robust demand for the Energisa deal could open room for more similar transactions over the coming months, asset managers consulted by Reuters said on Tuesday. Taking advantage of the newfound interest in the sector, Energisa's controlling Botelho family envisioned the deal as a re-IPO, by which a company boosts trading volume by increasing shares outstanding, the people said. A recent wave of takeovers is fanning hopes that utilities will soon emerge stronger from Brazil's worst recession in eight decades. Energisa declined to comment, citing a quiet period related to the transaction. The company had hired the investment-banking units of Citigroup Inc, Bank of America Corp, Grupo BTG Pactual SA, Banco Bradesco SA and Banc Santander Brasil SA to advise on the transaction. Excluding the supplementary and additional allotments, Energisa raised 1.137 billion reais ($348 million) from the deal, according to Thomson Reuters calculations based on the watchdog's data. The company will use proceeds from the offering to cut debt, which totaled 7 billion reais in March. Story continues The offer is the largest for any Brazilian power firm since AES Eletropaulo SA fetched 1.345 billion reais in a so-called primary offering in Sept. 2006. A primary offering usually helps companies attract money that they can only use for their projects. Energisa's units traded unchanged at 20 reais on Tuesday. The stock has jumped 37 percent over the past three months. ($1 = 3.2683 Brazilian reais) (Additional reporting by Tatiana Bautzer and Luciano Costa in Sao Paulo; Editing by Paul Simao and Bernard Orr) Milwaukee-area runners, teams to watch at girls state cross-country A look at the top area competitors chasing titles as Saturday's WIAA state girls cross-country championships. Welcome to SwanseaOnline - your home for the best news, sports and what's on coverage of the city. Never miss a Swansea story with our daily newsletter Sign up to comment on our stories here Follow us on Facebook and Twitter | Swansea City news | Ospreys news | InYourArea A view of Ceres largest well-preserved 170-mile (280-km) impact crater, Kerwan, near the limb. The color coding indicates elevation (blue: low; red: high) exaggerated by a factor of 3. Ice volcanoes on Ceres might help solve the mystery of why large craters seem to be missing on the dwarf planet's surface, a new study shows. With a diameter of about 585 miles (940 kilometers), Ceres is largest member of the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter. Large portions of Ceres' surface are "saturated" in craters that are about 37 miles (60 kilometers) wide or smaller, likely created by meteorites crashing into the dwarf planet's surface, according to the new study. However, the largest confirmed impact crater on Ceres is only about 175 miles wide (280 km). Prior work that analyzed pockmarked Vesta, the second largest asteroid in the asteroid belt, suggested that Ceres should have at least six to seven craters that are 250 miles (400 km) in diameter or larger. Similarly, earlier research that modeled the evolution of planets from planetesimals the building blocks of planets suggested that 10 to 15 craters greater than 250 miles (400 km) wide should have formed on Ceres during its lifetime of about 4.55 billion years. [The Dwarf Planet Ceres: Amazing Photos] Astronomers have previously found that the largest craters on many asteroids are often as large as the asteroids themselves; for instance, the largest crater on 325-mile-wide (525 km) Vesta is about 310 miles (500 km) across. As such, the conspicuous absence of large craters on Ceres was a mystery. A view of Ceres largest well-preserved 170-mile (280-km) impact crater, Kerwan, near the limb. The color coding indicates elevation (blue: low; red: high) exaggerated by a factor of 3. (Image credit: Southwest Research Institute/Simone Marchi.) To help solve the puzzle of Ceres' missing craters, the researchers used data from the NASA Dawn mission, which began orbiting Ceres in April 2015. They used the data to model how the asteroid (which is actually large enough to be considered a dwarf planet) might have evolved over time. The researchers ran about 1,000 computer simulations of collisions that Ceres might have experienced over its lifetime, assuming that it held its current position in the asteroid belt over the past 4.55 billion years, according to the paper. (The best current estimate for the age of the solar system is 4.56 billion years, and the researchers estimated that Ceres formed within 1 million to 10 million years after the solar system was born.) Unexpectedly, the scientists found that Ceres not only lacks giant craters, but is also missing craters that are only slightly smaller. Their simulations predicted that Ceres should have 90 to 180 craters that are each more than about 65 miles (100 km) wide, but Ceres appears to only have about 40 such craters. In addition, the simulations predicted that Ceres should have 40 to 70 craters that are each more than about 95 miles (150 km) across, but Ceres has only about 20 such craters. Small craters on the surface of Ceres, near the equator, captured by the Dawn probe. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA) The Dawn space probe is getting humanity's best view yet of the tiny survivor from the solar system's earliest days. See what we know about the dwarf planet Ceres in this infographic (Image credit: By Karl Tate, Infographics Artist) All in all, the models predicted that the chances of Ceres having so few craters was less than 2 percent. "The lack of large craters was an absolute surprise. This is in stark contrast with other asteroids for example, Vesta," study lead author Simone Marchi, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, told Space.com. "Thus, it points to something special about Ceres, something that we could not have guessed." The researchers suggested that many large craters on Ceres have been obliterated beyond recognition. Researchers had several potential explanations for how this could have happened; for instance, the surface of Ceres may have simply relaxed over time and become less crinkly. Another explanation may be ice volcanoes. Whereas regular volcanoes on Earth erupt molten rock, ice volcanoes, which are also known as cryovolcanoes, are thought to spew out plumes of water-ice and other frozen molecules. Recent work suggests that Ceres may consist of up to 25 percent water- ice by mass (in its interior), and so may experience cryovolcanic activity. The scientists proposed that cryovolcanic eruptions might have dramatically transformed the surface of Ceres, erasing many craters. For instance, the researchers found faded evidence of one or possibly two craters about 500 miles (800 km) in diameter. Large craters would have mostly formed on Ceres early in its history, when there were more big rocks careening around the solar system. Over time, most of these rocks would have collided with other objects and gotten smashed to bits, leading to smaller and smaller craters on Ceres. Cryovolcanism may have been more common on Ceres during its earlier years, when its interior was warmer, and the volcanoes may have eliminated many of the larger craters. As cryovolcanism on Ceres died down, more and more craters would have survived, leaving behind mostly smaller ones, Marchi said. "We will try to nail down what the obliteration process was," Marchi said. "There [may even be] other processes that we have not thought of." The scientists detailed their findings online July 26 in the journal Nature Communications. Follow Charles Q. Choi on Twitter @cqchoi. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. A new company aims to provide the communications capacity required for the ongoing private spaceflight revolution. Around Aug. 1, California-based Audacy plans to close a Series A fundraising round of at least $15 million to begin creating three satellites and two Earth stations. The goal is to raise four major rounds of funding, build the ground stations and get the satellites launched by 2019. All told, the plan will cost about $750 million $250 million in funding and $500 million more in government-backed debt, Audacy representatives said. The three satellites could support perhaps 2,000 tiny cubesats, all working at the same time, anywhere in Earth orbit. Alternatively, Audacy could have up to 12 high-capacity customers and perhaps 1,000 smaller ones sharing the bandwidth simultaneously. [CubeSats: Tiny, Versatile Spacecraft Explained (Infographic)] If all goes well, the company hopes to break even in 2023. In the future, if the demand is there, Audacy's infrastructure could also support some moon missions, because the ground stations could reach that far. (On average, the moon is about 240,000 miles, or 390,000 kilometers, from Earth.) According to Audacy CEO Ralph Ewig, this capacity will let the company help Earth-observation companies (such as Urthecast or Planet Labs) send back data to customers, help spacecraft-launching firms keep a better eye on their rockets or help internet service providers keep track of large constellations of satellites. "There will be a large number of LEO [low Earth orbit] spacecraft in the next couple of years," Ewig told Space.com, adding that there will be anywhere from 2,000 to 6,000 satellites launching in the near future. Ewig's goal is to provide a network similar to NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system, which was built for the space shuttle and is now used for the International Space Station (ISS) and for supporting robotic cargo ships, such as SpaceX's Dragon capsule. Contracts are coming The contractors for the satellites and ground stations aren't settled yet, but Ewig hopes to have them in place by the end of 2016. (Audacy is considering Space Systems Loral and Boeing as possible builders for the satellites, he said.) The first customers should then sign on shortly afterward, Ewig said, provided that customers are assured that the satellites are being built, that there's a rocket to launch them on and that radio regulations are being cleared with the Federal Communications Commission. Audacy plans to build the ground stations in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southeast Asia, which should provide almost constant communications with the planned satellites. Eventually, a third ground station could be built in Europe. Ewig first thought of this idea when he had access to TDRS, as a mission operations engineer for SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. TDRS doesn't have the capacity to support hundreds of new launch providers, and neither does the existing network of geosynchronous satellites, Ewig said. So he thought about making an alternative. He went on to take on senior positions at Aerojet and Aerojet Rocketdyne, and then took a timeout to go to business school. At Stanford University, Ewig met two other people who helped him sketch out a vision of Audacy. (The name comes from the word "audacious," which someone used to describe their company plan, as well as the word "odyssey," which Ewig associates with Stanley Kubrick's famous film "2001: A Space Odyssey" and the adventures of the mythical Greek hero Odysseus.) Millions raised already Then, about 18 months ago, Ewig and his associates, James Spicer and Sam Avery, co-founded the company. They raised $2 million last August in seed funding from several investors, led by Europe's Metatron Global Fund and StartX (a Stanford accelerator fund.) Ewig is considering some ideas for partnerships with the Department of Defense and other agencies. If those partnerships bear fruit, Audacy could connect spacecraft so that a smaller cubesat, for example, could relay news of an interesting event on Earth to a big satellite with better cameras. In addition, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) the nonprofit that manages U.S. experiments on the ISS could use Audacy's data services to increase its capacity to send information to scientists, Ewig said. Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebookand Google+. Original article on Space.com. The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. 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Get complete PC optimization and extend the life of your PC with these must-have software tools. Addis Ababa, (Ethiopia) July 25, 2016 (SPS) - The African Union Commission seeks to clarify that the Kingdom of Morocco did not attend or address the 27th Assembly of Heads of State and Government that was held on 17-18 July 2016, in Kigali, Rwanda. However, President Idriss Deby Itno, President of the Republic of Chad and current Chairperson of the African Union informed the Chairperson of the AU Commission, H.E Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, that he had received a correspondence from the King of Morocco, H.M. Mohammed VI, regarding the intention of Morocco to join the African Union (AU). This issue was neither an agenda item of the Summit nor a subject of discussion during the proceedings of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government. In this regard, the AU Commission wishes to recall Article 29 of the Constitutive Act of the African and relating to "Admission to Membership," which states that: 1. Any African State may, at any time after the entry into force of this Act, notify the Chairman of the Commission of its intention to accede to this Act and to be admitted as a member of the Union. 2. Chairman of the Commission shall, upon receipt of such notification, transmit copies thereof to all Member States. Admission shall be decided by a simple majority of Members States. The decision of each Member State shall be transmitted to the Chairman of the Commission who shall, upon receipt of the required number of votes, communicate the decision to the State concerned. In addition, the AU Commission wishes to recall that the AU Constitutive Act does not have any provision for the expulsion of any Member State of the Union.SPS 125/090 Like most grocery stores, Trader Joe's offers free samples. But not every store allows its employees to tear open a bag of kale chips if a customer wants to try them. It's just one of the fun secrets that make the California-based store unique. RELATED: 17 shopping secrets that save time and money at Trader Joe's Nearly two weeks after China rejected The Hague's ruling on the South China Sea, the ball is now in the Philippine's court to resolve the matter. And despite having previously threatened to jet-ski to the disputed islands to stake his country's claim, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is widely expected to adopt a cautious attitude. Duterte holds his first National Security Council meeting, a key government forum for foreign policy issues, on Monday and the South China Sea is widely expected to feature prominently on the agenda. Manila has long contested China's territorial claims in the resource-rich zone, home to the world's busiest shipping lanes, and its argument now has validation from international courts. On July 12, a tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that some of China's expansionary tactics in the South China Sea were illegal, leading Chinese President Xi Jinping's administration to declare the ruling "null and void." China's adamant refusal to acknowledge The Hague's decision introduces a dilemma for 71-year-old Duterte. Fresh off a landslide election victory, it's unlikely he wishes to risk economic ties with the world's number two economy , but his nationalist pride is at stake, especially after he ran a campaign that promoted his ability to preserve Philippine national interests against both Washington and Beijing. Such a tough-talking image has earned him the nickname of "The Punisher" and "Duterte Harry." But strategists told CNBC that Duterte will likely push for bilateral talks with Beijing in favor of a peaceful settlement, instead of escalating tensions by riding jet skis to Chinese-owned reefs, as he's previously threatened to do. "President Duterte is likely to choose negotiations with China, including the possibility of a resources-sharing arrangement for the disputed territorial claims, rather than triggering a confrontation with Asia's military superpower," explained Rajiv Biswas, Asia-Pacific chief economist at IHS Markit. Story continues Washington, which has expressed its desire for a multilateral solution, will be closely watching these talks. President Barack Obama's economic and military pivot to Asia is set to become one of his legacy policies and there's a chance Duterte could undermine that. "When Duterte went into office, Washington's main worry was that when Duterte said he wasn't afraid to talk with China, they were really worried he was this demagogue with no grasp of foreign policy who would easily give up Philippine interests in the South China Sea in exchange for a couple of economic concessions," Stratfor's East Asia analyst Thomas Vien said in an e-mail. Ultimately, however, those fears may be overblown. Duterte is shrewder than he is given credit for and his administration would likely require China to first accept the Hague ruling before making any deals, according to Vien. "At the end of the day, what he really wants is for both China and the U.S to be forced to take the Philippines and its interests seriously, and to this end he will avoid both unconditional support for Washington's agenda and acceptance of China's conditions." If Duterte can negotiate a fishing deal at the Scarborough Shoal - a major flash point in the territorial dispute - or another resource sharing agreement in areas disputed bilaterally by China and the Philippines, he would gain U.S. support, Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said. Uncertainty about future U.S. foreign policy in the case of a Donald Trump victory could also favor a prudent approach by Duterte, according to Biswas. Coinciding with Monday's National Security Council meeting is a summit of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Laos. The Philippines and Vietnam, which also has claims to parts of the South China Sea, wanted the official ASEAN communique to refer to The Hague's decision but Cambodia, an ally of China, wished to block any reference of it, Reuters reported over the weekend. Indeed, Monday saw the ministers release a statement that made no mention of the July 12 arbitration ruling. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. More From CNBC Donald Trump vows that if elected, he will seek from Congress a declaration of war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). He says that such a declaration would lay the way for eliminating ISIS from existence. His doing so would be in the tradition of the fourth president of the United States, James Madison. President Barack Obama has responded to increasingly frequent and violent ISIS attacks on American and other targets with repeated public statements downplaying the significance of this entity, which he once analogized to a jayvee team. That seems an odd way to refer to a state with territory in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Libya. Odder still has been Obamas decision to dispute the religious correctness of ISISs caliph, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. While King Abdullah of Jordan, a descendant of the Islamic founder Muhammad, has referred to the struggle with ISIS as a war inside of Islam, Obama repeatedly has insisted that Al-Baghdadis movement is not really Muslim. Obama thus has become not just the first American president to lend his authority to one side in a Muslim theological dispute, but the first to undertake to define the limits of Islam authoritatively. King Abdullah has not publicly responded to Obamas correction. Far from calling for a full-on American campaign to eliminate this significant regional player, Obama has instead taken pains to tweak concerned Americans by publicly disputing whether ISIS is actually Islamic. For years, he refused to refer to terrorist acts by ISIS as Islamic terrorism, and he recently publicly stated that he did not want to be understood as leading a war against all of Islam. As this public relations effort proceeded, Obama has dispatched dozens of American Special Forces personnel and numerous air assets to attack ISIS formations. The administrations hope is that eventually, the American effort in coordination with substantial Iraqi military assets will eliminate ISIS. Until then, he has said, America can absorb periodic ISIS and ISIS-inspired attacks. This position that an avowedly hostile foreign powers attacks on American civilians will be endured indefinitely is unprecedented in American history. Contrast President James Madisons June 1, 1812 special message to Congress. Madison had for decades been devoted to a policy of substituting economic coercion for military coercion. Certain that Europeans needed American foodstuffs more than Americans needed European goods, he thought and he persuaded his predecessor Thomas Jefferson that trade sanctions would do armies job at far less economic and constitutional cost. By 1812, the United Kingdom had been leading anti-French coalitions for many years. It refused to recognize American trading rights, instead seizing American ships and selling them and their cargoes. Short of manpower and dependent upon their navy, the British occasionally stopped American ships at sea, interrogated the sailors, and forced some of them into the Royal Navy on the spot. Where they were determined (sometimes wrongly) to be British deserters, they were hanged. As Jeffersons secretary of state in 1807, Madison persuaded Jefferson to respond to one flagrant act of British naval aggression with the Embargo. Since neither France nor Britain would meet Americas demands, America would cut off all trade with the outside world. Like Obamas feckless non-response to ISIS, the Embargo failed. Ultimately, Jefferson conceded the point, signing its repeal into law as he left the White House. To play out the string would be up to his successor and friend and failed counselor James Madison. Madisons allies, still in control of Congress, accepted his various proposals to persuade Napoleon or the British to let America trade freely with most of the world. None worked. So finally, Madison wrote to Congress. He enumerated the many ways in which the British had offended Americans sense of their rights. He described the insults, the impressments, the naval attacks, and the various rejections of proffered peace with which the British had met American initiatives. Reading this document, written by a cerebral man of peace to a country that had repeatedly wanted war, one is reminded of the long list of King George IIIs infractions against Colonial rights in the longest section of the Declaration of Independence. Finally, Madison gets to the point: We behold, in fine, Madison said, on the side of Great Britain, a state of war against the United States, and on the side of the United States a state of peace toward Great Britain. It was up to Congress under the Constitution to decide whether the United States shall continue passive under these progressive usurpations and these accumulating wrongs, or, opposing force to force in defense of their national rights, shall commit a just cause into the hands of the Almighty Disposer of Events. Like James Madison in 1812, Trump now believes his country has taken enough. He offers it the stark decision between bearing more, indefinitely, and letting slip the dogs of war. Unlike Madison, Trump forthrightly casts his policy as a refutation of his predecessors. Dr. Kevin R. C. Gutzman is the New York Times best-selling author of five books, including the forthcoming Thomas Jefferson Revolutionary: A Radicals Struggle to Remake America. Gutzman is professor and chairman in the Department of History at Western Connecticut State University. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NORWALK Charles Roy isnt sure what the secret to a long life is, but he knows keeping hate out of his heart definitely helps. The only time people really get sick is when they think a lot of evil things, Roy said. Youd be surprised how your thoughts control your body. Sometimes people are rude to me and I just try to keep smiling and be nice to everybody. If you hate, itll make you sick eventually. Its that positive attitude thats made Roy a fixture at the Norwalk ShopRite on Connecticut Avenue, where a dozen co-workers and another two dozen customers gathered to celebrate his 95th birthday Monday morning. Happy Birthday played over the loud speakers and Roy cut cake to share with those who came to celebrate. Roy has worked at ShopRite for 23 years, bagging groceries on Checkout Aisle 1 five days a week. Anyone who shops between 7 and 11 a.m. Sunday through Thursday has probably come in contact with Roy and his infectious positivity. Hes been a model employee for 23 years, said manager Bill Myers. Hes loved by all the customers. Theres 35,000 customers here, they all love him. Born and raised in Norwalk, Roy began working at ShopRite two decades ago after a 27-year career at the former Norwalk-based Burndy Corporation, a maker of electronic and electrical connecting devices. He is also a World War II veteran. He served in China, Burma and India, transporting supplies to the front line by truck. Roy said working at ShopRite is like working with family and has no plans to retire anytime soon. He rarely misses a day of work, reporting for duty every day at 5:30 a.m., and said hes fortunate to be in good health, which he attributes to avoiding drugs and alcohol and keeping a smile on his face. Its just a friendly place to work at, Roy said. Im a guy that I dont mind working. Ive worked all of my life, it makes me feel good. I think working for the ShopRite company and the family there, theyre really nice people to work for. This isnt the first time Roys coworkers and customers have surprised him with a party either. A similar group gathered five years ago on his 90th birthday. It made me feel good, Roy said. It makes you feel like its worth working for people like that. Its not a job where you go to work and thats it. KKrasselt@scni.com; 203-354-1021; @kaitlynkrasselt T he takeover of brewer SABMiller, the biggest acquisition of a British company, was thrown into turmoil today after one of its top shareholders rejected a sweetened offer from suitor AB Inbev. Aberdeen Asset Management, the companys third-biggest independent shareholder, said a final 1 boost to AB Inbevs original 44-a-share offer taking the value of the deal to 79 billion was unacceptable. This leaves the carefully structured deal on a knife edge. Shareholders like Aberdeen and a range of smaller activist investors had been lobbying Grolsch owner SABMiller to push AB Inbev for better terms because SABs top two shareholders, who own 40%, are getting more money fthe deal. Aberdeen said the revised deal, which boosts the offer for other shareholders to 45 a share, both undervalues the company and continues to favour SABMillers two major shareholders. In the absence of an improved offer we would be more than happy to remain committed long-term shareholders in SABMiller, the funds group added. SABs top two shareholders, US tobacco firm Altria and the Santo Domingo brewing company, will get cash and shares worth 51.31 per share under the new terms, a tax-bill cutting ploy designed to win their support for the deal. The brinkmanship puts pressure on SABMillers board, led by Jan du Plessis, who will have to smooth over bitter shareholder division and renegotiate with AB Inbev if it wants to clinch the deal. Relations between the two sides will not have been helped by AB Inbevs out-of-the-blue offer, which SABMillers board learned about only today. The last-minute headache has been driven by a band of activist investors, who bought small stakes in SAB and threw a spanner in the works by calling for a higher offer. US hedge fund Elliott Advisors, Chris Hohns The Childrens Investment Fund and Sandell Asset Management led the charge against the offer, which was worth 71 billion and agreed to November. Liberum analyst Alicia Forry said the 1 increase from AB Inbev was a way of shutting down the activists. This is AB Inbev throwing a small bone to the activists. Theyre making it clear theyre not going to get any more. The plunge in sterling since Brexit has radically altered the relative value of the AB Inbev offers since November. The 44-a-share cash offer was originally worth more than the cash-and-share deal for Altria and Santo Domingo, which worked out at about 41.85 per share. In dollar terms it was worth about $67 in November when sterling was at $1.54. Todays offer is worth about $59. Mohd Rasfan | AFP | Getty Images. Goldman Sachs is being sued by a shareholder of one of its former clients over alleged fraudulent misrepresentations that involve links to the prime minister of Malaysia. Goldman Sachs (GS) has been sued by a shareholder of one of its former clients over alleged fraudulent misrepresentations that involve links to the prime minister of Malaysia . Primus Pacific Partners, a private equity firm and the largest shareholder in Malaysian bank EON Capital, filed suit against Goldman for $510 million for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty, according to a statement released Tuesday. The suit claimed that Goldman Sachs concealed a conflict of interest involving Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak while the investment bank was acting as financial adviser to EON, which was weighing a takeover bid by Hong Leong Bank. Talks on the deal reportedly began in 2009, but the bid was held up until 2011 as Primus fought the offer in Malaysia's courts. One of the prime minister's brothers, Nazim Razak, was a director at Hong Leong Bank, while another brother, Nazir Razak, was chairman of CIMB Group, which advised Hong Leong Bank on the bid. At the same time as it was advising EON, Goldman was an adviser to 1Malaysia Development Berhad, also known as 1MDB, a development fund established by the prime minister, the lawsuit noted. Primus claimed that Goldman first called the Hong Leong bid "unfair," only to reverse course weeks later. According to the suit, the final price of the merger was "hundreds of millions of dollars below fair value," but the reversal may have furthered Goldman's role as adviser to 1MDB. The original complaint can be read here. In a statement in response to the suit, Goldman Sachs pointed out that Primus had already failed to block the deal. "This plaintiff previously lost its challenge in the Malaysian courts seeking to stop a transaction involving a Malaysian company, which was then approved by shareholders," the investment bank said. "We will vigorously contest this misguided additional lawsuit in New York court." After the court decision in 2011, Dow Jones reported that Primus faced a "significant loss on its investment" in EON if the takeover by Hong Leong Bank took place. Story continues The office of Malaysia's prime minister and 1MDB did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment. The suit comes as 1MDB faces international regulatory scrutiny over accusations that its funds were misappropriated. U.S. prosecutors sued last week to seize more than $1 billion in assets they said were tied to a scheme to launder money stolen from the fund. Questions about movement of funds from 1MDB gained attention about a year ago, when The Wall Street Journal reported that in 2013 nearly $700 million had flowed from the fund to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's personal bank account. Najib has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and, under pressure from the outcry caused by the WSJ report, said the funds were not from 1MDB but were a private donation from a Middle Eastern country he declined to name. He has denied benefiting personally from the funds. CNBC's Kate Kelly contributed to this report. More From CNBC O il major BP has taken another axe to investment plans as the blue-chip companys profits took another beating on low crude prices and squeezed refining margins. Profits for the April-June quarter slumped by 45% on last year to just $720 million (550 million) $120 million below City hopes and driving the shares down 6.15p, or more than 1%, to 434.25p. Chief executive Bob Dudley said BP expects the environment to remain challenging. He added that full-year capital expenditure would come in below the $17 billion target that had previously been given. BPs margins per barrel of oil are down by a third on last year while the average cost of a barrel of Brent crude was $47.03 over the quarter compared with $63.50 in 2015. The results also included a charge of $5.2 billion over the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, which killed 11 workers. The total costs of the disaster have now been largely capped at $62 billion. We are very pleased to have finally drawn a line under the material liabilities for Deepwater Horizon. We will always be mindful of what we have learned from that tragic accident, Dudley added. The pressure the oil industry is under after two years of low prices was underlined today as 400 staff working for oil and gas engineer Wood Group went on a 24-hour strike on seven Shell North Sea rigs in protest at planned cuts to pay and conditions. Further strikes are planned in the first industrial action of its kind in the offshore oil and gas sector for almost 30 years. B usiness borrowing fell for the first time this year in the lead-up to the Brexit referendum, new figures have shown. The British Bankers Associations latest data revealed a 526 million slide in borrowing taken on by non-financial companies amid signs of nervousness over the big vote the first monthly fall in 2016. The drop will heighten worries at the Bank of England about a slowdown in business investment across the wider economy which could even tip the UK back into a potential recession. Governor Mark Carney loosened capital requirements for lenders in the week after the Leave vote, potentially allowing banks to pump an extra 150 billion in lending into the economy. BBA chief economist Rebecca Harding said the figures reflected the uncertainty that was felt ahead of the EU referendum although it was too early to rush to judgment. She added: Overall, business confidence was clearly fragile in anticipation of the outcome of the vote, but these results are not a verdict on the health of the economy post-Brexit. We wont start to see that data come through until the autumn and any trends before then should not be over-interpreted. L ondon MPs in boroughs where failed chain BHS is due to close its doors have thrown their weight behind calls for former owner Sir Philip Green to tackle the retailer's 571 million pension deficit. The demands from Bermondsey & Old Southwark MP Neil Coyle and Ealing Centrals Rupa Huq came a day after Green was labelled the unacceptable face of capitalism in a report from MPs. Topshop tycoon Green is working with the pensions regulator to achieve an outcome. Coyle told the Evening Standard that staff at Surrey Quays were right to be furious with the way they have been treated. He added: Green should provide greater help to store staff to find new work and should repay the pension scheme in full as soon as possible. Huq said: Green must accept personal responsibility. The 163-stores chain collapsed in April- 13 months after it was sold for 1 to Retail Acquisitions, led by serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell. Green yesterday said: With the benefit of hindsight, clearly Retail Acquisitions and Mr Chappell were a very bad choice as purchaser on many fronts and I feel badly let down. B erlin is the new London. Or so I was told when in the German capital just before the referendum. It would be especially so if we voted Leave. If we did that Germany would not just be the leading nation in Europe but Berlin would become its capital city. I smiled politely. I like Berlin. I like the way it has married former East and West Germany into an urban whole yet not wholly merged them. I like its liberal tolerance of all-comers. I therefore admired the welcome Berlin gave to Syrian refugees fleeing through southern Europe, when a narrow-minded Brexit-panicked British Government slammed its door. That said, I dont for a minute believe Berlin will overtake London, whether as Europes commercial centre or its cultural melting pot. It lacks the infrastructure, the epic diversity, the buzz-in-depth of London. But being capital of anywhere brings burdens and obligations. Germany has become the destination of choice for much of the worlds refugee flows. It has lately yielded a grim harvest of atrocity, as one immigrant after another has run amok with murderous consequences, mostly recently last weekend in Ansbach. Similar atrocities have afflicted Brussels, Paris and Nice, and could well afflict London. All have been random attacks on Europeans by non-native Europeans. All have turned a spotlight on the stress that immigration imposes on a booming city, in a continent that has long prided itself on its welcome to those in distress. There is nothing that can be done to defend a city against the horrors of the car bomb, the crazed knife-wielder or the determined suicide attacker. The police and intelligence services must accept restraints imposed by a free society. The crowd has no protection against a madman in its midst. We cannot ban car bombs any more than we can ban guns, knives or crowds. The perpetrators of urban terror are mostly characterised by loneliness and a search somewhere, even if on the internet, for a friend or a cause, even a spurious allegiance to Islamic State. Loneliness is an affliction as old as cities, one that is beyond modern therapy to cure. The internet is newer. Sooner or later I am convinced that it must be better regulated and policed. We can argue until we drop that newcomers can be fitted in but electorates will not stand for it, as Brexit and opinion polls across Europe indicate When we try we make London hyper-safe we only make it look ridiculous and afraid. This is evident from the ugly concrete tank traps around Parliament Square to silly train announcements to report anything suspicious to a member of staff. I know of no European city with more guns on display and sirens screaming than London. Automatic weapons are toted by policemen in Tube stations, or guard the Blairs and the Camerons in their Bayswater and Notting Hill hideaways. Apart from the obscenity of such spectacles, it is like painting a bulls-eye on a target. Almost all terror attacks, including those in Germany, reflect some ethnic or religious antagonism. As such, they feed hostility to immigration, which feeds reverse violence from immigrants themselves. German Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a severe xenophobic backlash to her open door to Syrian refugees. Whatever the pros and cons of Britains EU membership, public opposition to immigration (outside London) moved a large part of the Brexit majority. Liberals can deplore the publics aversion to too many foreigners as much as they like, as Londoners excoriated Brexiters as being ignorant provincials. Ultimately all must accept that people in a democracy are individuals, entitled to their views and their votes even if London differs. When I look at a London school playground, visit a Mile End A&E department or tour Newhams slum housing with a rent inspector, I am amazed that London copes. But I cannot pretend that I am the chief victim of besieged public services. Whether in Berlin or London, inward migration brings benefits but also imposes pressure on housing, schools, doctors and hospitals, which they also run. In some German cities a third of school entrants are Muslims, mostly Turks. We can point out that Muslims not the same as immigrants in France, Germany and Britain comprise less than six per cent of the population. Yet their exclusivity and conspicuousness, their concentration in certain areas, breeds undeniable stress and resentment. It is hard to stop desperate people from fleeing hardship. We would if we were them. The British Government was stupid to pretend it could bring immigration down to tens of thousands. Politicians also loved to claim migration can be solved by promoting wealth in the countries of origin. These are all fantasies. Demographers predict that Europe may face a truly massive population migration over the coming century, moving out of Africa and Asia as a result of climate change and political and religious instability. The numbers could be in the tens of millions. Europes democracies are not ready for this. We can argue until we drop that newcomers can be fitted in somewhere. But electorates will clearly not stand for it, as Brexit and opinion polls across Europe clearly indicate. The wider question of how we regulate, greet and treat newcomers to London remains urgent The concept of the nation state defined at least in part by border protection will sooner or later have to acquire a new urgency. Cities such as London and Berlin can take thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, but not millions. There is nothing special about Germanys affliction. It could and may happen to London. We must take terrorist horror in our stride, like other unavoidable accidents of life, given that it in no way threatens Londons security. But the wider question of how we regulate, greet and treat newcomers to London remains urgent. Already a third of its citizens were born abroad, and a quarter of a million new foreigners arrive each year (only half of whom leave). I may find this inflow invigorating and enriching. I also know that Britons outside the capital and Germans outside theirs increasingly do not. Do I acknowledge this opinion, or merely ignore it? L ondon should have more control over its taxes and public spending. The EU referendum result told us, among other things, that Londoners vote differently from the rest of the country. This is hardly surprising as the capitals residents differ in many ways from their cousins in the rest of England and Wales. The British Survey of Social Attitudes has long suggested Londoners feel differently about many issues. Yet London voters have far less control over the taxes they pay and over how public services are run than in comparable cities overseas. New York, Tokyo, Berlin and Paris all make it possible for local voters to influence the quality of services such as health, housing, the environment and skills provision. But in London, the Mayor and the boroughs must go to Whitehall for permission to do many things which in other cities would be decided by the city itself. Scotland and Wales, with a combined population of less than Londons, have control over the NHS, education and most other domestic policy. A number of taxes, including income tax, are to be devolved to Edinburgh and Cardiff. Yet in London, the citys government has access only to council tax. Even then that is subject to ministerial control. Allowing Londons government to control more of the taxation generated here and to spend it more wisely would not (and this is worth stressing) mean higher taxation. Indeed, if more services and taxation were handled within London, there would be a big opportunity to deliver efficiencies in health, social care, education, skills training and the management of assets. At present, management and ownership is fragmented and thus less efficient than it could be. I am therefore delighted that Sadiq Khan and London Councils have asked me to update the London Finance Commission report into which extra powers London government should be granted. The first London Finance Commission in 2013 set a direction of travel for devolution to the capital but we clearly need to be even more ambitious in the aftermath of the EU referendum. At present, management and ownership is fragmented and thus less efficient than it could be If Londons government had direct control over more of its own tax and spend, what would be the benefits for Londoners? First, the people making decisions (the Mayor and the boroughs) are easier to access than ministers in Whitehall. Second, Londons government has a recent history of delivering good services. National Audit Office reports about waste in government relate to central departments. Third, the needs of London residents and businesses are different from those in the rest of the country. Housing, pollution and transport needs are different in London than in, say, Yorkshire. Of course, the reverse is also true. Greater Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Birmingham, the North East and other city regions will elect their own mayors next May and will be given more devolved power. Rightly so. These cities also need greater freedom to match their local resources to local needs. In the coming years, national politicians and civil servants will spend most time haggling with Europe. The Mayor of London and the boroughs could, with more powers, concentrate on ensuring Brexit does not undermine the citys capacity to generate jobs. More control by Londoners over taxes and spending would mean power to the people. If the EU referendum result was about anything, it was surely about that. A major European art dealer set to open his first gallery in London next year says the citys booming art market could do even better after the Brexit vote. Thaddaeus Ropac, who runs galleries in Paris and Salzburg, said he was very upset by Britains vote to leave the EU but had no hesitation going ahead with his plans for 2017. He said: I have seen London rise like a phoenix from the ashes 20 years ago with young artists coming through. It wasnt Londons politics that did that, it was the artists, the culture it came from the underground. It is all about being the sort of place where the artists feel inspired and London is definitely that. Mr Ropac, who describes himself as staunchly European, said he thought leaving the EU might bring some trade back from sellers who went to New York to avoid the droit de suite levy a European law which gives an artist or their heirs the right to a payment every time their work is re-sold up to 70 years after their death. He said: I think actually London may profit from this in that complicated regulations may be removed. The Austrian-born dealer said he did not expect a serious challenge to Londons position in the art world. He said: It is true that Berlin is great for artists and is a cheap place to live, but you cant compare the infrastructure there with London. Tate Modern is still the most important museum in the world for contemporary art. London is a central part of the art world and Brexit will not change that. His Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac is set to open in Mayfairs Ely House next spring, with four galleries spread across five floors of the building in Dover Street. Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout " In Cuba, if you are an amazing dancer then you can find the best men at the party, says choreographer Nilda Guerra with a smile. They think you are the most beautiful woman because Cubans have an admiration for people who dance really nicely. Every Cuban mother loves to dance, and they show their children how to do it. There is singing and dancing in every house. It is in our DNA. Thats how Guerra explains the extraordinary vitality of dance in Cuba the energy that forms the basis of the new show Vamos Cuba!, which begins a month-long run at Sadlers Wells Theatre tonight. The production is Guerras follow-up to the popular Havana Ratakan and shares with its predecessor a mixture of social dance styles, from salsa to rumba and all points in between. It isnt just the type of dance that interests Guerra but what it shows about the person dancing. You have to wear dance like your dress. You have to pick up the movement and put it inside you, so that it shows you as a character. In Cuban society, everything is about men manipulating women it is normal in our culture. All the popular dances are like that. What I am interested in is keeping the energy of the dance but finding a conversation between the couple. Dance has been Guerras life ever since she was a child. She grew up in the Granma province of Cuba, running alongside the horses in the fields. I was very active, and though really small I had big muscles, she says, with a giggle, that makes the flower perched elegantly in her hair shake a little. We are talking in a shady cloister at the Hotel Nacional in Havana, fabled one-time host to mobsters and movie stars and more recently the Revolutions venue of choice for foreign guests and diplomats. Its a fitting place to look back on Guerras life shaped by the aspirations of the country in which she was born. I was a wild one, and my mother didnt know what to do with me. So she put me into dance school. I remember I had to dance with an orange on my head and a knife stuck through it, as a witch in a folkloric dance from South America. Her talent was quickly spotted as part of a government initiative to help talented people from the countryside to train in art, dance, drama and music and she won a place at the Escuela Vocacional de Arte in Santiago. Three groups of students from all over the country were invited. We had never experienced city life and it was a big opportunity, she explains. This is the good part of the Revolution; they push you to learn even if you live in the end of the world. Her own interests extended into all forms of dance from folk, through the social dances such as rumba, mambo, salsa and son, to contemporary. I loved communicating with my body. I didnt know why at the time but I loved it. During her training, she encountered Cubas most famous dance export, Carlos Acosta. I remember seeing him dance salsa when he was maybe in his teens and I loved the way he moved, Guerra says. Then someone told me he was a classic dancer, because normally the classic dancers arent allowed to move like that. The teachers in the school of ballet dont want you to. But Carlos is special. He is an artist who puts his talent and body on the spot. He has achieved so much for himself and for our country. And he has the most amazing heart. She laughs again. Shes a warm and expansive character herself, a human dynamo whose vision and energy led to the founding of Ballet Rakatan, and who now single-handedly runs this company of more than 100 dancers, coping not only with the creative demands of making new work but with the administrative and organisational burdens too. She takes her responsibilities seriously. My dancers have to look after many families. Each member of Rakatan has to earn money to buy clothes, shoes and food for their whole family. And in my family, my mother has 17 brothers and sisters and my father 25. So theres a very practical need. It was never her intention to be a director or to run her own company. But after years working for Teatro Lirico de La Habana, and various cabarets as a dancer, she began to feel she had something to contribute. I feel the director mentality is so closed. They dont let you shine. I hate that. I decided that I had to have a company and everybody has to feel really cool and good and they have to enjoy what they are doing. All her beliefs came together in Havana Ratakan, which became a success wherever it played. People loved it, she says. The dancing was really expressive and mad. When you dance you are floating, you feel emotion, both happy and sad. We worked for years to arrive at the point we wanted. We created the way we wanted to move. We just hear the music. We just feel it. Working in Cuba, even when you are an established company with an appreciative audience and government support, is not always easy. Everything, from finding shoes and costumes for dancers to wear, to getting time to rehearse in the theatre, is a struggle. It is complicated to try to create, says Guerra. You have to fight a lot. She is undaunted, and Vamos Cuba! is a show that very much expresses her love for her country but also about the need for change. It is a show that tries to express the hopes and dreams of young people in Cuba today, she says. This appetite for change has been building in the hearts and souls of the younger generation for some time. It is not just political; we want to believe in the change that is coming and we want to believe it wont only affect big businesses but that it will be for us too. She chose to set Vamos Cuba! in an airport in order to capture the sense of possibility that has been growing ever since Cubas relations with the outside world began to improve. All Cubans have this great urge to travel it is about growing, not standing still. But at the same time it is a time when the rest of the world wants to come here and discover Cuba. So there is interest on both sides. It is a moment of transformation for us. Vamos Cuba! is at Sadlers Wells, EC1; sadlerswells.com Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout Review at a glance H epatitis C, breast cancer, a fractured sacrum, a broken hip, assorted debilitating infections and, last month, a broken toe: the past decade has not been overly kind to Marianne Faithfull, although its seen some of her finest work. Last night, she made her Ronnie Scotts debut at the age of 69 (a lifetimes dream, she declared), shuffling onto stage with the aid of a walking stick. Just over an hour after it began, the evening was cut short: I have to stop now or Ill fall over. Im just too tired, she confided. Faithfulls body may be betraying her, but Mick Jaggers ex is still razor-sharp. Exuding the faded imperial grandeur of long-defenestrated European royalty, what she lacked in mobility and vocal power, she made up for with presence, whether she sat or stood. She rattled off anecdotes, made even more delightfully scurrilous by being delivered in her trademark posh growl and if she didnt remember all the words to all the songs, Give My Love To London and Vagabond Ways had bile to spare. Even so, this was a contemplative set which focused on rue and mortality. Her take on As Tears Go By can still break hearts after half a century and the audience including Keith Richardss ex Anita Pallenberg cooed along; The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan was as empowering as its always been, although Broken English lost a soupcon of its threat when she admitted she refers to it as Broken Biscuits. Before her hasty exit, Faithfull contemplated retirement. I made the mistake of seeing Rudolf Nureyevs final tour, which he shouldnt have done. Afterwards, I said to myself be careful. Its not the end for me just yet, but its coming Hopefully, shes wise enough to know when the time to bid farewell has come. Marianne Faithfull plays Ronnie Scotts tonight (sold out) Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout I f youve already packed the car ready to head to Burnham Market, aka Chelsea-on-Sea, change your Sat Nav to five miles east of your destination and youll find a seaside spot just as pretty but less populated by out-of-towners. Wells-next-the-Sea might not boast William and Kate as locals, or the famous Hoste pub that attracts celebrities and London weekenders alike, but its having an 'in the know' moment of its own. Heres everything you need to know about visiting this low-key staycation spot. The lowdown: A pretty port town on the North Norfolk coast of England, with a population of just over 2,000 people. The city of Norwich lies 32 miles to the south-east and, as well as Burnham Market, nearby villages include Blakeney, Burnham Thorpe, Holkham and Walsingham. So up-and-coming is this seaside spot that the Sunday Times even named it the runaway winner of their first Beach of the Year award. What is there to do? Take in the sights. One of the biggest lures of Wells-next-the-Sea for Londoners is its shire-like charm. Theres a spectacular sandy beach fringed by pine woodland, a peaceful harbour with clusters of small fishing boats gently bobbing on the surface and a beautiful town peppered with fine Georgian houses, quiet pubs and quaint independent shops. Make sure to book a beach hut in advance - the line of Instagram-friendly wooden shacks on the seafront are must for famlies. Each colourful hut is different, but inside you'll find everything from deckchairs and winbreaks to a table and stove for al fresco dining. Well's Harbour / Alamy Stock Photo Take a dip in the Run - the channel linking the harbour to the open sea thats often frequented by an inquisitive colony of local seals. Or book a boat trip to Blakeney Point to see them swimming and sunbathing in their natural habitat. Norfolks prettiest town is also a must-visit for history lovers. As well as being one of east Englands major ports in Tudor times, the area also boasts Holkham Hall and Estate - a grand Palladian mansion designed by William Kent in the 18th century. The sweeping driveway and ornate fixtures are sure to please any Austen or Downton fan. For a truly one-of-a-kind experience you can also become an alpaca trekker for the day by taking a group of alpacas for a walk along the coastal path with a local tour operator. Treks can be from one to four hours in duration and you can even bring a picnic to enjoy along the way. Dog-owners will love treating their pooches to a weekend in Wells - theres plenty of green open spaces for country walks, or head to the beach for a bracing coastline ramble with a bucket and spade. You can then finish it all off with a well-earned pint at the terrace of the quayside Golden Fleece pub. Where to stay? Sworn urbanite favourite Bang in Wells is a stylish B&B and coffee shop on fashionable Staithe Street. Located in one of the town's oldest and most historic Georgian buildings, owners Chris & Johanna have lovingly refurbished this Grade II listed building to include four Scandi-inspired guest bedrooms and a south facing courtyard. Theres a wood burning stove to enjoy a coffee in front of as well as a south facing courtyard where you can take in the good weather on a warm day. Best of all? Theres not a naff pair of lace curtains or floral bedspread from the eighties in sight. Rooms from 100 per night. banginwells.co.uk Bang in Wells is the only place to stay / Bang in Wells Where to eat? Seafood lovers will love Wells. There's Sands Restaurant which serves smoked fish and local crab thermidor as well as a good selection of wines and has the most brilliant panoramic view across the harbour. Or there's Wells Crab House - one of the coastline's tastiest treasures that serves up everything from mackeral patte to swordfish steak. If you don't want to stray too far from the beach, dine al fresco on the Beach Cafe's sunny terrace and enjoy a tasty snack or a light meal alongside an ice cream or two. Head further afield to The Victoria Inn in Holkham for the best venison, beef and game dishes in the area. When to visit? Visitors flock to Norfolk throughout the year, after all, its is only three hours away by car. Make the most of it by driving up in August when the weather is warm and you can really make the most of the beach. As ever, pack an umbrella. Make the most of the summer weather and visit in August / Alamy Stock Photo How much does it cost? Expect out of London prices. A pint will cost you around 3.20, while a three-course meal for two (excluding drinks) will set you back around 40. You should visit here if Youre yearning for fresh, seaside air. Picture research by alamy.com Follow Liz Connor on Twitter: @lizconnor_ A geography teacher has been cleared of raping a pupil three times in a classroom at an all-girls school in London. Kato Harris, 37, a head of department at the school, was accused of attacking the 14-year-old in autumn 2013 during lunch breaks. The teenager was said to have been so traumatised by the ordeal that she was treated by a psychiatrist in New York every week for a year and moved schools. After she told her family she had been raped they sought advice from Sue Akers, the former deputy assistant commissioner for the Metropolitan Police. But jurors found Mr Harris, from Richmond, not guilty of all the charges at his trial at Isleworth Crown Court in west London on Monday. A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said: "The CPS thoroughly reviewed this case and decided there was sufficient evidence to bring the case to court, and that it was in the public interest to do so. "It is not for the CPS to determine the guilt or innocence of a suspect, but to bring cases to court which meet the code for crown prosecutors. "The evidence in this case was put before a jury and we respect their decision." wework founders Labor issues continue to plague $16 billion co-working startup WeWork. WeWork, which aims to build "beautiful, shared office spaces" with a community mindset, is now facing a formal complaint from the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB, which investigates unfair labor practices throughout the U.S., is asking an adminstrative law judge to order WeWork to change policies that ban its employees from filing class action lawsuits. The complaint is a result of a case brought against WeWork by a former employee, Tara Zoumer. Zoumer alleges that she was fired after refusing to sign an arbitration agreement. Zoumer also filed a lawsuit against WeWork in San Francisco Superior Court, which was ordered into arbitration in New York. According to a person with knowledge of the situation, that arbitration is still ongoing and is a separate process. WeWork declined to comment on the NLRB's complaint, but a WeWork spokesperson provided this statement to Business Insider in June: "This charge has no merit. Our employees are our lifeblood and we firmly believe our policies are fair and lawful." The labor board complaint comes days after WeWork filed a lawsuit against a former employee who leaked data that showed the firm falling short of its financial goals. While the NLRB has brought a formal complaint, WeWork has not yet had the opportunity to present its case. A hearing in front of the judge has been set for September 7 in Oakland, Calif. The case Zoumer worked for WeWork from March to November 2015, as an associate community manager, during which time she alleged violations of California's labor code, including a lack of overtime and meal breaks due to a misclassification. When she brought these issues up with her managers at WeWork, she was told to not talk with her coworkers about them, and then asked if she wanted to resign, Zoumer says. After Zoumer spoke with her WeWork superiors, she claims they made all US employees sign new employment documents, which included what she and her attorney characterize as an "unlawful mandatory arbitration agreement." Story continues Zoumer says she was fired by WeWork after refusing to sign this agreement, which would have waived certain rights, including her right to a class-action claim. These kinds of arbitration agreements, especially those that strip class-action rights, are controversial. The NLRB considers them to be in violation of the National Labor Relations Act, but there have been conflicting rulings from the courts. A person close to WeWork, who asked not to be identified discussing a legal matter, said that though the majority of federal courts were on WeWork's side in favor of these arbitration agreements this fight could eventually go to the Supreme Court because of the differences in lower court rulings. What does that mean for WeWork? In June, Zoumer's attorney, Ramsey Hanafi, said that he expected an NLRB complaint to be issued. At the time, the NLRB responded to Zoumer's charges, notifying her of those they found to be with and without merit. These were included in an email to Zoumer, from NLRB Field Attorney Lelia M. Gomez: The Employer violated Section 8(a)(1) of the Act by terminating the Charging Party because of her protected concerted activities, including her refusal to sign the Employers Employment Dispute Resolution Program and Invention, Non-Disclosure, and Non-Solicitation Agreement.MERIT The Employer violated Section 8(a)(1) of the Act by terminating the Charging Party because of her protected concerted activities, including her activities attempting to enlist other employees in pursuing a wage class lawsuit.NO MERIT The Employer violated Section 8(a)(1) of the Act, when on October 21, 2015, West Coast Director Chia Donati instructed employees that they could not discuss their rights, wages, and/or other terms or conditions of employment.MERIT The Employer violated Section 8(a)(1) of the Act by maintaining an Employment Dispute Resolution Program that includes a class/collective action waiver, prohibits access to the National Labor Relations Board; and includes a confidentiality provision that precludes employees from discussing their wages, hours, and or other terms/conditions of employment.MERIT The Employer violated Section 8(a)(1) of the Act by implementing an Employment Dispute Resolution Program in retaliation for the Charging Partys protected concerted activities.NO MERIT The Employer violated Section 8(a)(1) of the Act by maintaining an Invention, Non-Disclosure, and Non-Solicitation Agreement that includes a confidentiality provision that classifies personnel data as proprietary information.MERIT. Those charges with merit are included in the latest NLRB complaint. Now that the complaint has been filed, WeWork has 10 days to file an answer. NOW WATCH: How to Snapchat from over 20,000 feet as told by the Everest climbers that just did it More From Business Insider A teenager who knifed another man to death following an argument in a south London Park has been found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey today. Darnell Martin, 19, of the Fitze Millennium Centre, Sylvan Hill, SE19 was found guilty of the murder of 21-year-old David Darko. The jury heard how Mr Darko had arrived in South Norwood Recreational Ground on Saturday, January 23 to meet Martin and another man. An argument broke out between the men in the Croydon park, and Mr Darko was stabbed. Martin then fled the scene, while his unresponsive victim was found by a member of the public moments later. Victim: David Darko, 21, was stabbed in a Croydon Park / Metropolitan Police Mr Darko had celebrated his 21st birthday soon before his death. Paying tribute to him at the time of his death, an aunt of Mr Darko said: He was a wonderful boy and we will all miss him so much. "He had lots of friends and was much loved. We are all too sad to speak much at the moment. Police and the London Ambulance Service (LAS) were called just after 7.45pm, but despite the best efforts of paramedics, Mr Darko was pronounced dead at the scene an hour later. A post-mortem examination held on the day after at Croydon Mortuary, gave the cause of death as a stab wound to the abdomen. A police investigation was launched, and Martin was arrested on Friday, January 29 at his home address. During a search of the property detectives found the coat he was wearing at the time of the murder, which matched witnessed descriptions provided at the scene of the crime. Martin was then charged with murder. During the trial, he admitted stabbing David but claimed it was in self-defence. His claim was dismissed by the jury as he was found guilty of murder. DI Pete Timms from the Homicide and Major Crime Command said: "This was not a chance encounter between David and Martin. "The meeting was pre-arranged and somewhere along the lines there was a turn of events, I believe an intended robbery, which has led to David's death. "I am pleased with the result that has been handed down today and I hope that this provides a small measure of comfort to David's loved ones." Martin is due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey tomorrow. A man is seriously injured after being attacked with an axe in Stockport. The 39-year-old was found with serious head injuries in Heaton Chapel in the early hours of this morning. He is this evening in a serious but stable condition in hospital. A 41-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of assault after the attack which happened at around 5am. He is currently being held by police. Sergeant David Chambers, from Greater Manchester Police, said: "We do not believe there was any threat to the wider public and this was isolated incident. "Our investigation is in the early stages and we are still trying to ascertain the circumstances behind this attack. "We currently have one man in custody who is helping us with our inquiries but I would still appeal to the public for any information. "If you witnessed this incident or have any information about the attack then please call us." Anyone with any information should call 101. Alternatively contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. A man was rushed to hospital this afternoon after he was stabbed near to a betting shop in East Dulwich. The man was stabbed in the leg following an altercation outside a branch of William Hill in Grove Vale just after 2pm today, police said. The incident happened just yards from East Dulwich railway station. The man, who is believed to be in his 20s, was taken to hospital as a priority, but his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "We were called at 2.10pm to reports of a man in his 20s being stabbed. "He had stab injuries to his leg but his condition is not believed to be serious, he has superficial wounds. "No arrests have been made at this time." A London Ambulance Service spokeswoman added: We were called at 2.07pm today, 26 July to reports of a stabbing on Grove Vale, East Dulwich. We sent an ambulance crew and a single responder in a car to the scene. We treated a man for a stab wound and took him as a priority to a hospital in south London. P olice have added six new faces to a list of people they are hunting after revellers trashed a McDonalds restaurant during a night of violence in London. Video posted on social media showed chaotic scenes at the Marble Arch store just after 1am last Tuesday. Terrified staff, who claimed they were worried about people forcing their way into the store if they tried to close, had to hide themselves away for safety. Footage appeared to show people clambering over the counter to swipe burgers while others filmed the melee on their phones. Police want to trace these people / Metropolitan Police Violent scenes ensued after a water fight on the banks of the Serpentine, in nearby Hyde Park, turned hostile on the hottest day of the year. Three people, including a police officer, were knifed in the incident. Further scenes of violence broke out when police tried to shut down an unlicensed rave in Stamford Hill and at a second water fight in Burgess Park, Peckham. CCTV images of six men have been added to a gallery of suspects already wanted in connection with the chaos. Anyone who knows the identity of those pictured is asked to call the Investigation Team on 020 8785 8244. Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. A bodybuilder who won this years Mr Scotland competition has been found stabbed to death near his home. Police launched a murder probe after the body of Michael Musk OHanlon, 45, was discovered at an industrial estate in Stevenston, Ayrshire, yesterday at around 12pm. It is claimed the 45-year-old had become involved in an altercation before his death, the Daily Record reported. A nearby resident described utter mayhem afterwards as emergency services descended on the scene. They told the paper: I heard a woman shout, Oh no! Hes been stabbed! CID were on the scene very quickly and began interviewing people in our street. I saw a police helicopter overhead. Police have now launched a murder inquiry and say they are following a "definite line of inquiry". Mr OHanlon, who had just won the Mr Scotland title again, 23 years after he first triumphed in the same competition, ran a fitness supplement company called Musclebox with partner Eileen Kirkwood. Paying tribute on Facebook, friend Mark Paterson wrote: "RIP Big man, will never be forgotten. An inspiration to me and many! Absolutely numb." A n organiser of a pool party where a man was shot and killed has described the "frightening chaos" of the aftermath. Summerlyn Farquharson, who goes by the name The Female Boss Krissy, denied the event was a "sex party" and said she did not know the victim. Detectives are continuing to question two people arrested after the 34-year-old man was shot dead and a 36-year-old woman suffered a gunshot wound to her leg in the attack at a mansion with a swimming pool in Headley, Surrey. Surrey Police said one person had been arrested on suspicion of murder and a second on suspicion of assisting an offender, but the gun used in the shooting had not yet been recovered. Party organiser: Summerlyn Farquharson, who goes by the name The Female Boss Krissy Ms Farquharson was listed as one of the organisers, along with reggae dance hall artist Braintear Spookie, 21. Spookie, whose real name is Jason White, and originally from Kingston, Jamaica, posted adverts for the party on his Instagram account. An aerial photograph shows the debris-strewn lawn after the party / Eddie Mitchell Ms Farquharson said that she had rented the house, in a small road between the church and a pub in the quiet village, for the past four years and had held similar parties twice before without any trouble. She told the Press Association: "Before the shooting everything was nice and then it was chaos. We have never had problems before and we have done the party on a yearly basis. "At about two o'clock the crowd was getting unruly, I am not sure if it was the alcohol but by the time I got to the security I heard a gunshot, I saw people running, people were trying to get into the house. An online flyer advertising the 'Big Mansion' pool party where someone died / Instagram "People weren't allowed in the house as it was a pool party but they were banging on the door. "I opened the door to let Spookie in, people were shouting to call the police, saying someone was shot, so I called the police and locked us in. "We don't know who was shot, we don't know why it happened, we have no clue, we don't know who it is." Ms Farquharson said the organisers had received abusive messages following the attack. "It was frightening and damaging to Spookie's career, getting all this bad publicity," she said. "It was an innocent party, it was not a sex party, Spookie was going to showcase some of his material but because of the chaos that didn't happen, we never planned for this to happen. "We are also getting lots of hurtful messages, for him to be sent back to Africa, we aren't from Africa, we are British like anyone else, we have the right to be here." Neighbours described hundreds of people gathering for the party, which had been advertised on social media, and complained of loud music going on into the early hours of Monday when the shooting happened. Broken glass and rubbish were left strewn around the property the following morning. Temporary Detective Superintendent Bex Smith said the weapon was thought to have been a handgun, which has yet to be found. She said: "This was a shocking turn of events at what had been billed as a private pool party and would have been witnessed by a number of people." Ms Smith asked for anyone who attended the event or had phone footage of what happened to come forward. She also asked for information about a white and black Mini car which left the scene. P olice have dismissed fears that violence could marr a march to commemorate the death of Mark Duggan who was shot by police five years ago. Despite reports that officers would be on alert over possible gang clashes at the event on August 6 five years on from the fatal shooting Haringeys Borough Commander has blamed concern over the anniversary on rumours. Chief Superintendent Helen Millichap said the Met is not expecting problems over the coming weeks particularly on August 6. She added: We are in contact with the organisers to facilitate a peaceful commemoration, and neither the organisers or us are expecting disorder. We are focused on the safety of the local community and those involved in the event. Mr Duggan, 29 was a passenger in a minicab travelling along Ferry Lane, Tottenham, when the vehicle was stopped by police. His inquest heard he died within 10 heartbeats when he was shot by a Scotland Yard firearms officer known as V53. Two days later, relatives of Duggan, accompanied by local residents, marched to Tottenhams police station, demanding answers about the killing. After a confrontation with riot officers, cars and buses were torched. Looting then began as police stood back and over the next two days the disorder spread across the country, leading to five deaths and 200 million of damage. Chief Supt Millichap also confirmed that officers would be present at the march to ensure it is peaceful and to provide reassurance to local communities. Initial warnings came after a series of violent incidents rocked the capital last week. Five police officers were injured as trouble flared at unlicensed gatherings in Hyde Park, Stamford Hill and Burgess Park. Following the chaos, a police source told the Times that Met officers had been warned over possible violence at the Mark Duggan anniversary march. The Met declined to comment on the claims at the time the report was published in the media. A flyer being circulated by campaign groups Tottenham Rights and the Mark Duggan Justice Campaign says the day of action, remembrance and community healing will end with a protest outside Tottenham Police Station. P risoners who have completed their minimum sentence should not have to prove it is safe to release them before leaving jail, a parole chief has said. New Parole Board chairman Professor Nick Hardwick said some inmates on indefinite sentences are "festering" in prison because they cannot meet the requirements of proving they no longer pose a danger to the public. He was speaking about Inmates on Imprisonment for Public Protection, introduced by Labour in 2003 for criminals whose crimes were not serious enough for a life sentence but who were still considered a danger to the public. It was originally estimated that 900 serious violent and sexual offenders would be subject to them but, instead, the number swelled to 6,000, some for relatively minor offences. Ken Clarke abolished the indeterminate sentences as Justice Secretary in 2012 - calling them a "stain" on the justice system. But in March this year, 3,347 remained imprisoned despite having served their minimum terms. Prof Hardwick said that procedural delays, problems accessing offending behaviour courses and finding suitable accommodation meant prisoners found it difficult to meet the threshold. He told the BBC: "Some of them are stuck, festering, in prison long after the punishment part of the sentence," he told the BBC's Today programme. "Once it gets to that point, they stop making progress and they start going backwards. "So this is, I think, a blot on the justice system and I'm very keen we can do something about it." He wants to be allowed to change the criteria prisoners must meet before they can be released. Prof Hardwick, who wants to be put in charge prisoner release criteria, said: "It's certainly an effective way of reducing some of the pressure on the prison system, which I think everybody is agreed needs to happen." He went on: "It's a real problem, I think, if people are in prison not because of what they have done but because of what they might do." Additional reporting by the Press Association. A caller demanding a Big Mac and a man claiming his pants were on fire are just two of the most ridiculous hoax calls the London Fire Brigade have been forced to take. Fire crews have revealed 10 of the most ludicrous calls to blight emergency control centres in a bid to put-off pranksters over the summer break. One joker called the brigade claiming to be the Prime Minister and reported a fire at 10 Downing Street. And curious youngsters called 999 because they wanted to see firefighters. One spicy food fiend dialled the emergency services after eating a hot chilli, claiming his mouth was on fire. Confused Londoners also appear to believe that fire crews can cure their phobias, with one woman calling to say she was scared of spiders and another hoping crews could deal with a scary dead cat. London Fire Brigade releases collection of hoax calls LFB received 6,820 malicious hoax calls to its control centre last year, averaging almost 20-a-day. Control officers challenged 5,504 such calls and deemed them to be hoaxes, meaning fire fighters did not attend. London Fire Bridgades top 10 most ridiculous hoax calls 1.Caller said he was eating a hot chilli and his mouth was on fire 2.Man saying his pants are on fire 3.Caller claiming there's a fire at the Statue of Liberty 4.Caller complaining of a barking do 5.Woman calling to say she is scared of spiders 6.Caller stating she is scared of a dead cat outside 7.Person wanting a Big Mac 8.Children calling because they want to see firefighters 9.Caller asking for the Queen 10.Caller saying he's the Prime Minister and reporting a fire at No. 10 Downing Street Assistant Commissioner Tom George said: "This summer holiday were asking parents to talk to their children about why it's a bad idea to dial 999 and make hoax calls. "Sometimes children don't understand the implications of making hoax calls or that they're wasting precious emergency service time by doing so. "Some of the calls we receive are remarkable, people say some really bizarre things. "I understand that some have health issues or genuine phobias which may impact on how they deal with certain situations, but many of the callers are simply messing about. In a bid to stop time-wasters, call operators are alerted if several 999 calls are made from the same number. This can lead to phones being cut off and may alert the police are involved, sometimes resulting in prosecution. LFB also operates a call challenge policy, when suspected hoax callers are asked if they are making a hoax call and are given the chance to admit to it and hang up. Call handlers are also able to view the location of people calling from mobiles, making it easier to determine whether false locations are being given. Calls made from landlines are also traceable. C hurches across London should look to the heavens and harness solar power to give thousands of homes cheap energy, Green campaigners said today. The call comes after community groups won planning permission to install solar panels on the sloping roof of a Grade II listed church in Highgate. St Annes, an 1850s-built church where late poet Sir John Betjeman was baptised, worked with Power Up North London to secure permission from Camden council for 60 grey panels that will match the buildings grey slate. It is anticipated the panels will generate more than 16,000 kilowatts, or double the churchs energy requirements, and save about eight tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year. Power Up North London is a volunteer-run group that helps residents to create their own sources of clean energy. Its business model works by paying for the panels and asking local people to buy shares in them, earning interest on any extra energy generated. Green Party London Assembly member Caroline Russell said the orientation of churches meant they were ideally positioned to absorb sunshine. She said: Churches tend to be aligned east to west, which means they have a south-facing roof slope. A lot of churches open up their buildings to community groups and homeless people when theyre not being used as places of worship so it makes sense to be generating electricity to cover all their activities. Theyre not rich institutions so this is energy thats available just from the sunshine. She added: London is so hopeless compared to the rest of the country. In the North-East of England one in 30 homes has solar panels, whereas in London its one in 195 homes. Ms Russell urged Mayor Sadiq Khan to forge ahead with his manifesto pledge to make the most of the citys roofs, public buildings and land owned by Transport for London for energy generation. A north London mother who has been detained for more than 100 days in Iran is so weak she can barely walk and is losing her hair, according to an appeal for her release. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been held by Iran's Revolutionary Guard for over three months, having to endure solitary confinement and being separated from her young daughter and husband. A letter to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson claims conditions in the jail have led to extreme weight loss and severe deterioration of her health, leaving her struggling to walk. The letter, written on behalf of her husband Richard Ratcliffe urged Mr Johnson to take on this "harrowing and urgent matter". Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Richard Ratcliffe on their wedding day in 2009 / Azadeh Fatehrad The charity worker, from West Hampstead, has been accused by the IRG of participating in the "design and implementation of cyber and media projects to cause the soft toppling of the Islamic Republic" - an accusation her husband branded "crazy". Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has duel Iranian-English citizenship, was arrested in April whilst travelling with her two-year-old daughter Gabriella to visit family. Gabriella, had her passport confiscated at Imam Khomeini airport and is being looked after in Iran by her grandparents who speak little English. She turned two in June and spent her birthday without either of her parents. Gabriella has had her passport confiscated / Azadeh Fatehrad Mr Ratcliff has been unable to see either of them for the last three months. His letter to Mr Johnson reads: "We appreciate that you have just taken over the role as Foreign Secretary and will be facing many competing pressing demands. "But the plight of Nazanin is of utmost urgency and cannot continue to be ignored. She has been subjected to the harshest of injustice, and it is critical that she now receives the full immediate support and attention from the highest levels of Government. Detained: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been held in solitary confinement "We ask you to do all in your power to secure the freedom of this entirely innocent and increasingly frail and desperate young woman, who is a citizen of London with (dual) British nationality, and to bring her and her two-year old British daughter back to England." Mr Ratcliffe previously claimed his wife was being held as a "bargaining chip", after Iranian officials said they are holding her to pressure the UK government into an agreement and would close her case if this was reached. He previously delivered letters to David Cameron and Theresa May before the latter took over as Prime Minister. Nearly 800,000 people have signed a Change.org petition in support. Speaking about his last telephone conversation with Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe around a month ago, Mr Ratcliffe said: "She was just really sad and it was quite emotional: she cried and I cried. She said she was exhausted about how long it had gone on for and just 'please do what I could'." It will be their seventh wedding anniversary on August 14 which is traditionally associated with wool and Mr Ratcliffe plans to highlight his separation from his wife by attaching a padlock and knotted wool to a London bridge. He said there had been some positive signals recently but he had "learnt not to get his hopes up too much". Earlier in July, the Foreign Office updated its advice warning dual Iranian-British citizens that there was a risk of their being "arbitrarily detained" in Iran, and noting "serious concerns that the subsequent judicial process falls below international standards". P olice placed a section of the City on lockdown as businesses were evacuated during a gas leak today. Emergency services were called just after 4pm after the leak was reported near the Moorgate junction of London Wall. The busy road runs close to both Moorgate and Liverpool Street stations, as well as the Barbican. A City of London Police spokesman said the majority of London Wall was closed and officers had started evacuating nearby buildings from 4pm. Witnesses said they had been told there was an "absolutely massive" gas leak and that a section of the road may have to be dug up to deal with the situation. London Wall Street evacuated Eyewitness Aniel Patel said on Twitter: "Security personnel are doing a good job keeping people safe". A London Fire Brigade spokesman said the alarm was raised a 3.56pm, and fire crews were on scene. He said fire crews were called to reports of a gas leak from a cellar of a coffee shop and are standing by in case they are needed while engineers work to rectify the problem. Matt Harris, 42, who owns Fox Fines Wines, which is based in the building of the famous old umbrella shop on London Wall, said his customers and staff had been forced to leave the building when the alarm was raised. Evacuation: Staff from Fox Fine Wines had to leave the building / Matt Harris He told the Standard: "My staff are sat outside drinking from plastic cups, waiting to see whether we can open again. "It's unfortunate because it's a time when people are leaving offices and going for a drink after work, and now they can't get anywhere near us. "We had quite a few people in, it's annoying because one group had just cracked a bottle and were about to get stuck in for the afternoon. "We had a star in there too, Mary Beard came to have a glass of wine." Cordon: Police on the scene in the City / @gn0me Mr Harris said emergency services at the scene had said the leak was "absolutely massive". He told the Standard: "They're telling us it's an absolutely massive gas leak in the sub-basement of an office building on London Wall, near the Moorgate junction. "They said they're going to have to dig the street up to get the gas out." Mr Harris said there was little panic as City of London Police told customers they had to leave the building. "We're next door to the pub and we're a wine bar, so people were less panicked," he said. Closed: City of London Police sealed off London Wall / Phil Parson "They were asking 'can I finish my drink first?' "In fact people were quite measured, quite calm. "People were looking, thinking, wondering whether something more serious was going on, but they formed an orderly queue and moved in the direction they were meant to be going in. "London Fire Brigade and the police are not running around in panic mode, they seem to be waiting for the right people to come out to do what they've got to do." A 25 metre cordon is in place and City of London Police said approximately 500 people were asked to leave buildings. Officers said there were no reports of any fatalities or injuries. People are advised to avoid the area with delays to be expected. TFL Traffic News tweeted that London Wall is shut eastbound at Wood Street and westbound at Blomfield Street, adding that the closures are expected to be lifted within a couple of hours. L ondoners Marna Gilligan and Sean Purdy had not seen their beloved black and white cat for more than eight years. So when an email arrived last month, claiming their pet had been found, they didnt get their hopes up especially as it said she was not in London, or even the UK, but more than 200 miles away in Paris. We just couldnt believe it, Ms Gilligan said. We thought, it cant be her not after all this time. Somehow Moon Unit, the domestic shorthair they had named after Moon Unit Zappa, the actress daughter of musician Frank Zappa, had crossed the Channel and ended up in the French capital. Last Friday her owners, who are no longer a couple, set off on their own journey to Paris to fetch her. We dont know what happened to her or where she has been but she wouldnt have survived if shed been a stray for eight years, said Ms Gilligan, 39. We never thought we would see her again. Sean Purdy with his cat who went missing for eight years They adopted Moon Unit more than a decade ago despite her tendency to bite and scratch after spotting her hanging around Mr Purdys work in east London. The cat, then about five months old, moved into their Bermondsey home and soon gave birth to kittens. But, after a New Years Eve party in 2008, she vanished. Ms Gilligan and Mr Purdy launched a desperate search, handing out flyers and calling animal shelters. We searched for months and had numerous tip-offs but they were never her. We moved on eventually, and she was just part of our memories, Ms Gilligan said. The Londoners brought Moon Unit back by Eurostar More than eight years passed, until last month they received an email from UK microchipping database Petlog. A Parisian shelter, Lassociation dAide et de Defense des Animaux en Detresse, had taken in a cat found wandering around a suburban French railway station, which had a chip linked to the Bermondsey address. In disbelief, they exchanged photographs and instantly recognised Moon Units distinctive nose markings. They travelled to Paris by Eurostar to be met by two women from ADAD, who handed the cat back. She was, said Ms Gilligan, the same but a bit more mellow, and had lost all her teeth. She and Mr Purdy brought her back on Saturday via ferry. Since Ms Gilligan, a programmer who now lives in Gravesend, had kept one of Moon Units kittens, Roswell, they decided she should stay with Mr Purdy, 46, in Deptford. He said: I was anxious about having a cat again, because I havent looked after one for a couple of years. Moon Unit was quite ferocious in her youth. But, he said, shes been a perfect sweetie, following me around all day purring. The pair have set up a crowd-funding page to raise money for ADAD. Mr Purdy, who works in IT, said: ADAD have been amazing tracking us down, with difficulty, from out-of-date microchip information, sorting out vet care and a pet passport for little Moon Unit. Y oung people from a south London estate descended on Parliament to grill their MP on politics, jobs and education. The group of about 15 from Angell Town in Brixton arrived yesterday to ask how they could campaign for better services and opportunities. The visit was set up by My London, established by Brixton mum Kamika Nathan to take young people on field trips and broaden their horizons. Ahead of meeting MP Helen Hayes, Ms Nathan added: The idea behind My London is that we are just 10 minutes away from Parliament. As you come on the bus and you get off at Westminster theres a lot of wealth that people see around, but why is it then that in Angell Town every day we just see concrete? These guys dont even have a place to meet. I see them in the cold, standing there when its freezing. She started the group, which has worked with the Standards The Estate Were In programme, when she took her children to the Science Museum several years ago and noticed others on her estate wanted to come. Angell Town has 4,000 people but few community facilities, with some residents rarely venturing off the estate. Ms Nathan added: Sometimes if we dont talk and try and bridge that gap as well, you just stay there and you wont get help. So thats why its important to come out and make that link. This is our London as well. There is no them and us. Our parents have worked hard, weve come through. Were British too. This is ours. Before a tour of the Houses of Parliament the group asked Dulwich and West Norwood MP Ms Hayes what she could offer the estate. Addressing the group the MP said: Id never worked in Parliament before last year. You come here and its quite an overwhelming building, its not like any other regular office. One of the things I hope you see is that, while its pretty distant from everyday life and people think its quite out of touch, all of the big beneficial changes that have been achieved here were passed here because of campaigns that happened outside this place. The Estate Were In scheme aimed to maximise the potential of people living on Londons housing estates. It began as a pilot backing Angell Town residents and groups trying to transform their surroundings and then asked groups across London to apply for grants to tackle problems on their estates. T heresa May would storm to a landslide victory if a general election were held tomorrow, according to a new poll. The ICM survey put the Conservatives on 43 per cent, Labour on 27 per cent, Ukip on 13 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on eight per cent. The findings show that the new Prime Minister is enjoying a honeymoon period since taking over at No 10 earlier this month. Labours score, which is believed to be the lowest in an ICM poll since October 2009, is a blow to Jeremy Corbyns bid to stay on as the partys leader. Challenger Owen Smith will be able to seize on the poll to reinforce his argument that he and not Mr Corbyn could become Prime Minister, as well as Labour leader. ICMs Martin Boon said: The relative calm associated with the handover of power from David Cameron to Theresa May, allied to the current Labour leadership challenge, weighs heavily on electors minds. The survey could increase pressure on Mrs May to try to hold a snap election. But she is severely restricted from doing so by the Fixed Term Parliament Act and has also all but ruled out such a move. Theresa May meets Angela Merkel in Berlin during first foreign visit as Prime Minister Meanwhile Mr Smith today pledged to give hope to Londoners struggling to buy or rent a home. He stressed that while the capital is a fantastic city, too many people felt it just doesnt work for them, with huge wealth divides and many people facing financial difficulties. House prices making getting hold of a secure home seem like a distant dream, wages not keeping up with prices, and parents worried about the future for their children... this cant go on and I pledge to do something about it, he said on a visit to Croydon. He promised that Labour under his leadership if he wins would demand concrete answers to Londons challenges, including through a 200 billion British New Deal to build homes that people can afford, improving the transport network, and new workers rights to drive up pay. With London having voted to Remain in the EU, Mr Smith is also calling for a second referendum or a general election to sign off the final Brexit deal. Polls suggest that Mr Corbyn is favourite to win the leadership contest. But Mr Smith has gone on the offensive and last night questioned Mr Corbyns patriotism, suggesting it is not part of his make-up. He also claimed that Mr Corbyns metropolitan politics were at odds with Labour traditions about national identity. Mr Corbyns patriotism has been questioned before, including after he refused to sing the national anthem at a Battle of Britain memorial service. Mr Smith, who said he would meet the Nato target of spending two per cent of GDP on defence, renew Trident and be prepared to push the button to launch a nuclear strike if he was in No 10, said: One of the weaknesses we have had recently is that people worry that Labour isnt serious about security, that it is a lesser issue for Jeremy. Im not sure thats right, but he has certainly got a different perspective on some of those things on patriotism if you like and on security, on defence I think I have got a more traditional Labour perspective on that. Labour donor Michael Foster was today bringing a High Court case against the partys national executive for automatically including Mr Corbyn in the leadership ballot without nominations from MPs. A senior employee at the British Council is under investigation after an angry attack on Prince George was posted on Facebook. Angela Gibbins, director of global estates at the organisation which promotes Britain's culture, has been accused of posting unsavoury comments about the three-year-old Prince on social media. The 52-year-old made the remarks beneath a photo meme, which criticised Prince Georges appearance and described him as a f****** d***head, according to The Sun. The newspaper reported that, Ms Gibbins, from Walthamstow, north London, wrote: White privilege. That cheeky grin is the innate knowledge hes royal, rich, advantaged and will never know ANY difficulties or hardships in life. The Prince celebrated his third birthday on Friday. New photographs of the Prince were released on Friday to celebrate his birthday / Matt Porteous/Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Ms Gibbins' employer said the comment did not represent the views of the British Council and that it would be investigated as the highest standards are expected from staff. Other Facebook users were said to be outraged by her comments with one describing her as a total idiot, while another said: You need some time off the internet. Ms Gibbins is alleged to have responded: I'm sound in my socialist, atheist and republican opinions. The British Council, whose patron is the Queen, works to promote UK culture in more than 100 countries and is sponsored by the Foreign Office. It receives 154.9million of taxpayers' money each year about 20 per cent of its total income. Prince George's biggest life moments so far Prince George - In pictures 1 /10 Prince George - In pictures Having a ball Prince George makes little friends on tour Playtime Prince George mixes with the baby masses Family portrait The Cambridges are snapped in an informal setting Standing tall An adoring Kate helps Prince George get up on his own two feet Touchdown The Duchess of Cambridge is a hands-on mother William in 1983 Charles and Diana were surrounded by staff Going solo Prince William keeping himself occupied during the royal tour in 1983 William in 1983 Prince William was often in the arms of his nanny Prince Charles is its vice patron. The council says its scope is to connect millions of people with the UK through programmes and services in the English language, the arts, education and society. A British Council spokesman said: This comment was made on a private social media account. It has absolutely no connection to the British Council and does not represent the views of the British Council. That said we expect the highest standards of our staff and we will be investigating the matter further. T he British Council has today launched disciplinary action against a senior director who is alleged to have posted an angry rant about Prince George on Facebook. Angela Gibbins, director of property at the organisation which promotes Britain's culture, has been accused of writing unsavoury comments about the three-year-old Prince on social media. The 52-year-old posted the remarks beneath a photo meme, which described him as a f****** d***head, according to The Sun. Ms Gibbins, from Walthamstow, north London, allegedly claimed in her comments that Prince Georges smile showed he knows he is royal, rich and advantaged and will never know any difficulties or hardships in life. When she was criticised by other Facebook users, Gibbins is said to have responded: Im sound in my socialist, atheist and republican opinions. New photographs of the Prince were released on Friday to celebrate his birthday / Matt Porteous/Duke and Duchess of Cambridge I dont believe the royal family have any place in a modern democracy, least of all when they live on public money. Thats privilege and it needs to end. The British Council, which promotes the UK and the English language in more than 100 countries and is sponsored by the Foreign Office, pledged to investigate the comments. It later confirmed it had opened disciplinary proceedings. A spokesman for the council said: The British Council expects the highest standards of our staff and in accordance with our code of conduct we have started disciplinary procedures with the individual concerned. Prince George - In pictures 1 /10 Prince George - In pictures Having a ball Prince George makes little friends on tour Playtime Prince George mixes with the baby masses Family portrait The Cambridges are snapped in an informal setting Standing tall An adoring Kate helps Prince George get up on his own two feet Touchdown The Duchess of Cambridge is a hands-on mother William in 1983 Charles and Diana were surrounded by staff Going solo Prince William keeping himself occupied during the royal tour in 1983 William in 1983 Prince William was often in the arms of his nanny This comment was made on a private social media account. It has absolutely no connection to the British Council and does not represent our views and values. The British Council has a royal charter and its patron is the Queen. It receives 154.9million of taxpayers' money each year about 20 per cent of its total income. The Standard attempted to contact Ms Gibbins but did not receive a reply. T he devastated father of a teenager who drowned on a family trip to the seaside today told of his disbelief at his death. Gustavo Silva Da Cruz, 19, who was visiting his father in Croydon on a summer holiday from his home in Brazil, was dragged out to sea by a rip current off Camber Sands, near Rye, at noon on Sunday. His body was found following a six-hour search involving helicopters, lifeboats and the coastguard. His father Gutenberg Cruz, who joined the frantic search for his son, told the Standard: My oldest son came to London and drowned on the beach and died. It is so soon, I cant believe it. Gustavos friends and family are now raising money to transport his body back to Sao Paulo, where he lives with his mother and grandparents. Drica Santini, a friend who was with the party on the beach, launched a fundraising effort to help pay for the victims repatriation which reached nearly 9,000 in less than 24 hours. She said: What was supposed to be just a fun day at the beach, unfortunately has ended in tragedy. The son of our dear Gutenberg died after drowning in one of the beaches here in England. Please I ask you all to help this father to send the body of his son to Brazil so that Gustavo can have the funeral along with their family. Friends and family are appealing to raise money to send the body back to Brazil Donations have flooded in from friends and holidaymakers who witnessed the horrific scenes unfold. Two other people, a father and son from London, who also got into difficulty while swimming in the strong current, today remain in a critical condition in hospital. Justin Pervoki, a 42-year-old techno producer, was in the water with his children when he noticed the tide change and the tragic accident unfold. He said: For the past 10 years Camber Sands has been a place dear to my heart - its a simple but wonderfully beautiful place, far removed from glitzy tourism - a quite bleak but totally beautiful place. I was in the sea with my kids and we noticed the tide suddenly rushing in. Both my kids left the water. A rescue worker is lowered to the water to try and help the victim I stayed in the rough surf and suddenly saw huge police and coastguard activity. Two people were airlifted to hospital but unfortunately a 19-year-old boy from Brazil was unable to swim to shore. It was a deeply upsetting scene. A Sussex Police spokesman said the death was not being treated as suspicious and the coroner has been informed. He added: The other two people, not connected to Gustavo, a 35-year-old man and his 17-year-old son visiting from London, remain critical but stable. R enowned jockey JT McNamara has died at the age of 41, three years after a fall left him paralysed from the waist down. The top rider, whose full name was John Thomas, hailed from Croom, Co Limerick, and had victories in the Cheltenham Festival before his accident on the track in 2013. It is understood he suffered complications in recent days and spent time in hospital before returning home to Springfield Stables. Adrian McGoldrick, senior medical officer for the Irish Turf Club, said he passed away peacefully during the night. Frankie Ward, regional secretary of point-to-points in Limerick, knew the jockey from a young age and followed his career from ponies to racecourses. She said: "He was a hero, there's no doubt about it. He was a legend in his own lifetime even though it was a short one. "We will all miss him desperately." String of wins: McNamara on Garde Champetre / David Davies/PA Wire A skilled jockey and trainer, he was regarded by contemporaries in the weighing room as a horseman as good as virtually any professional. His fall, while riding Galaxy Rock, came at the first fence in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Chase for amateur riders on March 14 2013. It was said to have come as he was contemplating retirement. He was 37 at the time and spent months in hospitals in Britain and Ireland before returning home to Limerick where he required round the clock care. Ms Ward said McNamara had undoubtedly left his mark on the racing world. "His colleagues at Galway today will be devastated but let's celebrate his wonderful life because that's what we should be doing," she told Newstalk radio in Ireland. "And I'm sure God has probably got him as first jockey up there this morning." He had a record at Cheltenham of 16 wins overall at the track including four at the festival on board Rith Dubh in the 2002 National Hunt Chase, Spot Thedifference in the 2005 cross-country chase, Drombeag in the 2007 Foxhunter Chase and Teaforthree in the 2012 National Hunt Chase. JT McNamara is survived by his wife Caroline and children Dylan, Harry and Olivia. Q atar Goodwood Festival is set for a 50m investment in the next four years as it seeks to secure the mantle of the worlds most prestigious racing meet. Organisers hope a major expansion of the festival will allow it to compete with Epsom and the Kentucky Derby to become the largest racing meet on the planet. The event, which got underway on Tuesday and was previously known as Glorious Goodwood, was renamed the Qatar Goodwood Festival in 2014 after an historic 10-year sponsorship deal. Now, those sponsors say they will plough 50m of funding into the event by 2020. Vintage swing group Elle and the Pocket Belles attend Goodwood Festival on the opening day / John Walton/PA A portion of the funds will be spent on prize money in a bid to help Goodwood compete with the worlds other major racing meets. The Qatar Sussex Stakes, due to be held tomorrow, has seen its prize money hiked to 1m after the sponsorship deal making it the sixth 1m race in the British calendar. Money will also be invested in improving catering and bar facilities in the iconic Sussex stand. At the time the sponsorship deal was announced, Qatar Equestrian Federation president Hamad Al Attiyah said: The sponsorship demonstrates Qatar's further commitment to British racing. "With such huge prize-money on offer, we hope it will help to attract international runners from all over the world as well as continuing to see the best in Britain, France and Ireland." T here will be no hard border separating Northern Ireland from the Republic when the UK leaves the European Union. Theresa May also vowed to maintain "the closest possible relationship" between the UK and the Republic following Brexit. Prime Minister Theresa May and leader of the Republic of Ireland, Taoiseach Enda Kenny agreed against creating a post-Brexit string of customs posts across the island during talks today. Outside Downing Street Mr Kenny insisted he had come to an agreement with Mrs May and said: "I do not favour, and would not agree to, a hard border with a whole range of customs posts, and neither does the prime minister. REUTERS/Stefan Rousseau/Pool "There will be no hard border from Dundalk to Derry in the context of it being a European border, and by that I mean customs posts every mile along the road. "We are both agreed very firmly there will be no return to a hard border as existed," Mr Kenny said to reporters outside Number Ten following the meeting. Mrs May agreed there was a "strong will" to preserve free travel across the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic and suggested this could involve a common approach to the use of data on passengers arriving from outside the British Isles. "I recognise that one of the biggest concerns for people is the common travel area. We benefited from a common travel area between the UK and the Republic of Ireland for many years before either country was a member of the EU. British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers a statement to the press along side Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny (out of picture) / EPA "There is a strong will on both sides to preserve it and so we must now focus on securing a deal that is in the interests of both of us. "Alongside this, we should continue our efforts to strengthen the external borders of the common travel area; for example, through a common approach to the use of passenger data." The outcome of last month's Brexit referendum will not undermine the peace process in Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister insisted. Mrs May said: "It is in all our interests to work together to safeguard our national security and the outcome of the referendum will not undermine it. "We are both fully committed to working together in support of the Northern Ireland Executive to build a better, stronger, safer future for the people of Northern Ireland. "Indeed, it is vital that we keep up the momentum on tackling paramilitary groups and building a shared future. "And today we have reaffirmed our commitment to establishing a new Independent Reporting Commission by the end of this year, which will support these efforts." At the joint briefing, Mr Kenny said: "We both recognised that Ireland is the only EU member state that shares a land border with the UK. "We are in agreement that we don't wish to see any return to the borders of the past on the island of Ireland." A doctor at a Berlin hospital has died after being shot by a gun-wielding patient this afternoon. The gunman launched his attack at around 1pm local time at the Benjamin Franklin hospital campus in the Steglitz district of the city. A doctor was critically injured in the shooting and taken to intensive care where he was later pronounced dead. Local media reported the shooting took place at a fourth floor dental surgery where the doctor was a senior physician. Special police stand outside the clinic / REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke After the shooting, the gunman then killed himself, Berlin Police said. German newspaper Bild reported an anti-terrorist unit and special police task force were sent to the scene. Bild reported witnesses heard several shots and some staff were told to stay in their rooms and lock the doors. The shooting happened at the Benjamin Franklin hospital campus / Jorg Kantel But police said this afternoon there were "no signs at all" of a terrorist link to the shooting and there was no evidence of any other injured people or perpetrators. Todays shooting follows a spate of violent incidents in Bavaria which have shaken Germany. On Sunday, a failed asylum seeker who pledged allegiance to Isis blew himself up after being turned away from a music festival in Ansbach, injuring 12 people. That attack came after a shooting massacre in Munich on Friday and an Isis-inspired axe rampage on board a train in Wuerzburg two days earlier. A man accused of hacking to death 19 people and seriously injuring 25 others in Japan told police he wanted to get rid of the disabled, it has been claimed. The people were killed as they slept in a facility for the disabled in Sagamihara, near Tokyo, last night, described as the countrys worst mass murder since World War II. Police have arrested Satoshi Uematsu, 26, a former employee at the facility, a Kanagawa official said. Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported the suspect told police: I want to get rid of the disabled from this world. Shimbun had also been hospitalised early this year after expressing a willingness to kill disabled people if the government approved, a city official said. Investigation: At least 19 people were killed / REUTERS He was committed to hospital on February 19 after trying to present a letter to the speaker of the lower house of Japan's parliament. He was discharged two weeks later. Staff called police at 2.30am local time to report a man armed with a knife on the grounds of the Tsukui Yamayuri-En facility. A woman who lives opposite the centre told NHK: "I was told by a policeman to stay inside my house, as it could be dangerous. Then ambulances began arriving and blood-covered people were taken away." Chikara Inabayashi, who lives near the site of Tuesday's attack, said he was shocked such an outrage had happened in the quiet, semi-rural area near Mount Takao, a mountain popular with hikers. "I never imagined such a horrible thing happening," he said. "I was astonished, that's the only thing I can say." Scene: Police officers stand guard / REUTERS People living nearby described the centre as a friendly place whose staff and residents joined in community events. Akie Inoue said her teenage daughter Honoka knew the suspect from events at the centre when she was at primary school. "I was surprised to hear that the culprit was a person from this neighbourhood," she said. Loading.... "My daughter knew the culprit, I mean, they were acquainted. They would greet each other when they would meet and she tells me that he was a very kind person. "We are all very shocked." Honoka said: "He had a cheerful impression. He was the kind of person that would greet you first." Loading.... Japan's top government spokesman, chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga, said: "This is a very tragic and shocking incident where many innocent people became victims. "I sincerely pray for peace for the souls of those killed and extend condolences to the bereaved families as well as those wounded." He said police and the government would work hard on the investigation "to grasp the whole picture". Additional reporting by the Press Association T he middle-class terrorist dubbed Jihadi Jack has said he has no plans to return to England in his first interview since travelling to Syria. Oxford born Jack Letts, 20, travelled to Syria for religious studies after converting to Islam and was said to have joined terrorist group, ISIS. In an interview from Syria with Channel 4 News, Mr Letts said he isn't worried about dying in Syria, adding that he missed some small home comforts like donuts and kebabs. He also claimed he narrowly survived a bombing on an IS stronghold earlier this year. He told Channel 4 news: I am not worried, everyone is going to die in their day whether its by drone strike, whether you drown, a Muslim understands that his life is between the hands of Allah. Letts parents, who claim he had mental health issues, are due to stand trial this year over sending him 1700 for terrorist activity, a charge which they deny. Letts said: I dont plan on going back to England, if my parents are going to get put in prison for sending me a bit of money then if I came back to England I dont think Id be very welcome. But I dont plan on coming back anyway, I dont want to come back. But Letts did confess to missing small things from his life in England. He added: Not big things, small things like kebabs and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts but other than that not really. M ichelle Obama has backed Hillary Clinton to be the USs first woman president in a rousing speech at the Democratic National Convention. The First Ladys emphatic endorsement of Mrs Clinton heralding her as a role model for her two daughters calmed jittery nerves at the conference in Philadelphia, amid a crisis that threatened to derail the former secretary of states campaign. The eve of the four-day event had been marred by the leak of emails from party chiefs discussing how to thwart the campaign of Mrs Clintons rival Bernie Sanders. However, after the First Lady spoke, Mr Sanders delivered the full-throated backing for Mrs Clinton that she desperately needs ahead of her presidential election battle with Donald Trump. Endorsement: Mrs Obama addresses the crowd / REUTERS In her speech, Mrs Obama condemned the billionaire but did not name him. To applause, she declared: Dont let anyone tell you that America isnt great. This right now is the greatest country on earth. The First Lady listed the Republican candidates actions as examples of things she and Barack Obama have told their daughters not to do. Ignore those who question their fathers citizenship or faith, she said, adding that she often reminds her children that hateful language from public figures on TV does not represent the true spirit of this country. Applause: Ex-President Bill Clinton listened to the speech / REUTERS/Mike Segar She added: In this election there is only one person I trust with that responsibility... Hillary Clinton. "When you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military at your command, you cant make snap decisions, you need to be steady. Loading.... Mrs Obama said she woke every morning in a house built by slaves ... I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. "And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters all of our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States. Loading.... Party leaders will be hoping antagonism between the Clinton and Sanders camps will now be laid to rest. Michelle Obama dances to Beyonce in Carpool Karaoke with James Corden Delegates in Sanders badges and T-shirts were vociferous in their opposition to Mrs Clinton. But the Vermont senator said that based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president. Loading.... If you dont believe this election is important... think about the Supreme Court justices Donald Trump would nominate and what that would mean to civil liberties and equal rights. A migrant was hacked to death and another six badly wounded today when a fight broke out among UK-bound refugees in the so-called Calais Jungle. The bloodbath took place in the early hours of this morning as gangs fought running battles in the giant shantytown, and by the A16 motorway nearby. The deceased was described by the French authorities as a 37-year-old Ethiopian who had been hoping to claim asylum in Britain. Two fights broke out close to the camp between African migrants and Afghans between 2am and 4am, said a source at the local prefecture. Knives and batons were being used, causing one death and leaving six other Ethiopians seriously hurt. The murder victim who has not been formally identified was rushed to hospital by an activist with the No Borders protest group, said the source. The Ethiopian died from the wounds, the source added, adding that riot police immediately sealed off the scenes of the fighting and began appealing for witnesses. A murder inquiry has been launched, said a local police spokesman, saying that detectives were also examining roadside CCTV footage. The 200 suspects directly involved in the fighting all came from countries such as Eritrea and Sudan, as well as Afghanistan. It came after aid workers warned of a pressure cooker about to blow as the French authorities began tearing down cafes and restaurants in the Calais Jungle. Charity groups fear that the entire refugee camp in the French port town is about to be destroyed, leaving the migrants with nowhere to stay while they wait to get across the Channel. T he Pope has spoken of his sorrow and horror after a French Priest had his throat slit in front of a congregation of worshippers. The Vatican issued a statement paying tribute to Father Jacques Hamel, who was murdered in Normandy today, as religious leaders call for solidarity across all faiths. The Vatican said: "We are particularly struck because this horrible violence has occurred in a church - a sacred place where we pronounce God's love - with the barbaric murder of a priest and worshippers affected." Pope Francis was one of a number of world and religious leaders to speak out after the brutal murder today. Pope Francis spoke of his sorrow following the murder / EPA/Tiziana Fabi The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: "Evil attacks the weakest, denies truth and love, is defeated through Jesus Christ. "Pray for France, for victims, for their communities." The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby / PA Wire The Archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, who cut short a visit to Poland to return to his diocese, said: "I cry to God with all men of good will. "The only arms which the Catholic Church can take up are prayer and brotherhood between men." Suleman Nagdi from the Federation of Muslim Organisations called on people of all faiths to join together in the wake of the attack. He said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Rouen and France as they come to terms with yet another barbaric attack. The 85-year-old Priest was murdered during a morning service / AFP/Getty Images The Federation of Muslim Organisations condemns this most incomprehensible and reprehensible act of murder. "Christians and Muslims have a shared history. Our beloved prophet (pbuh) drafted the constitution of Medina which gave rights to all. Values of responsibility, hard work, charity, compassion, humility, and love are shared by people of all our faiths and those of other beliefs. The church where the attack took place / Diocese de Rouen via Reuters These values underpin so many aspects of the liberal democracy which we cherish today. "People of all faiths and none must come together, united in condemnation of such vile hatred. "In doing so we strengthen our resistance against the terrorists and ensure these attempts to divide our communities only makes us stronger." Prime Minister Theresa May also called for a united front to win against the terrorists who she accused of trying to destroy our values. Pascal Rossignol/Reuters Speaking in Downing Street, Mrs May said: "We all face a terror threat. If you look at the national threat level here in the United Kingdom, it is at severe. That means that a terrorist attack is highly likely. "What is necessary is for us all to work together, and stand shoulder to shoulder with France. We offer them every support we have in dealing with this issue and this threat that they, and the rest of us, are facing. "But on one thing, I think, we are all absolutely clear, and that is the terrorists will not prevail. "They are trying to destroy our way of life. They are trying to destroy our values. We have shared values and those values will win through and the terrorists will not win." T wo Islamic State knifemen who brutally murdered a Catholic priest forced him to kneel as they filmed themselves murdering him. A nun who escaped the attack at the church in northern France told reporters the men filmed as they slit the 85-year-old's throat during a morning service. The attack took place at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray which was discovered on an Islamic State hit list by French by police last year. Clergyman Jacques Hamel was killed before the two men were shot dead by anti-terrorist police. The men stormed a morning service at the church / Diocese de Rouen via Reuters Another person has also been detained by French prosecutors as President Francois Hollande vows to fight the "war" declared on France by the militant group. The church, in the northern French town, was one of a number of Catholic buildings, including Sacre-Couer basilica in Paris, listed by a suspected terrorist arrested last April. Clergyman Jacques Hamel was murdered by the soldiers / AFP/Getty Images Sid Ahmed Ghlam, 24, arrested in 2015 after shooting himself in the leg, is suspected to be a terrorist planning imminent attacks in France on the instructions of Islamic State. He is currently in a high-security prison awaiting trial for murder, attempted murder, association with criminals with a view to commit crimes against people and other crimes connected to a terrorist organisation. Francois Hollande vows to take fight to IS after priest killed in church attack The computer student, born in Algeria, was also charged with the murder of a 32-year-old mother, who was found shot dead in the passenger seat of her burning car after his arrest. Investigators found an arsenal of weapons in Ghlams car and at his student accommodation including Kalashnikovs, a police-issue pistol and a number of bullet-proof vests. Sacre-Coeur was on the list of targets / AFP/Getty Images Documents found at his flat and on his computer and phone suggested Ghlam was in contact with a French speaker in Syria who had ordered him to carry out attacks on churches. These included the one in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray targeted today. Anti-terrorist judges immediately opened an investigation in to todays attack, as President Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve attended the scene. Loading.... President Hollande said Islamic State had declared war on France and the state should "use all its means" within the law to fight the militant group. The president called it a "dreadful terrorist attack" and told reporters the attackers had pledge allegiance to IS. The IS news agency Amaq confirmed two of its "soldiers" were involved. "The threat remains very high," Hollande said. He added: "I have met with the family of the priest and I have spoken to the people kept hostage who expressed their pain and sadness as well as a wish to comprehend what has happened." According to eyewitnesses, the two attackers seized the priest, two sisters from a local order, and two parishioners. "A third nun escaped and raised the alarm, and anti-terrorists officers were on the scene within minutes," said a source who lives locally. "It appears that the priest who was celebrating the service was attacked first, and had his throat cut. The area around the church was sealed off, and then armed officers appeared with their weapons. Police and rescue workers stand at the scene in Normany / REUTERS "I heard at least a dozen shots." The siege officially ended at around 11am, following the shooting of the two attackers. Units attending including the elite RAID, the anti-terrorist unit that was heavily involved in the Paris attacks last year, in which almost 150 people were murdered. French Interior Ministry Pierre-Henry Brandet attended the scene in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, northern France / AFP/Getty Images The attack was the latest in a string of deadly assaults including the mass killing in Nice, southern France, on Bastille Day 12 days ago and four incidents in Germany, most recently a suicide bombing at a concert in Ansbach on Sunday. Islamic State has called for its supporters to take action with any available weapons targeting countries that it has been fighting. T wo men armed with knives were today shot dead after murdering a parish priest and holding nuns hostage in a church in northern France. They rushed into the place of worship at Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, in Normandy, during a morning service, soon after 9am. A parish priest was killed by the two assailants at the church, said a spokesman for Frances Interior Ministry. The clergyman, who has not yet been named, had his throat cut with a knife, the spokesman added. A second of the five hostages was critically wounded. Normandy hostage situation church / Sky News Shots were fired by police a few minutes after the assailants entered the church and, according to local police sources, both men have now been killed. They had entered the church by the back entrance, and took five hostages, added a local police source. Loading.... Those held included the priest, two sisters from a local order, and two parishioners, said the source. He said that a third nun had escaped and raised the alarm. Video footage has emerged of emergency services personnel rushing an unidentified person on a stretcher into an ambulance. French President Francois Hollande and Frances Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve are said to be travelling to Normandy following the seige. France's anti-terrorist prosecution unit is leading the investigation into the attack. A security official said the identities of the attackers and motive for the attack are unclear. Saint-Etienne du Rouvray has a population of 30,000 and is around seven miles from Rouen. France church siege: Location map France is currently under a State of Emergency following a succession of terrorist attacks. Loading.... It is the latest incident to shock France following the Bastille Day lorry massacre in Nice on July 14 when 84 people were killed and hundreds more were seriously injured. A nti-terrorist police shot two knifemen dead today after they murdered a priest by cutting his throat during a siege inside a church in northern France. Todays bloodbath unfolded in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, close to the Normandy city of Rouen. The clergyman, named as Jacques Hamel, 84, had his throat cut, said a spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Paris. He said the two men rushed into the church via a back entrance during a morning service, soon after 9am. The Islamic State terror group has since taken responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out by two of its "soldiers". A man was later arrested in connection with the killing, French prosecutors said. French President Francois Hollande travelled to the scene of the slaughter and said the attackers were "two terrorists who claimed to be from Isis". Police officers close off a road near the scene in Normandy / AP The two men seized the priest, two sisters from a local order, and two parishioners, said the spokesman "A third nun escaped and raised the alarm, and anti-terrorists officers were on the scene within minutes," said a source who lives locally. "It appears that the priest who was celebrating the service was attacked first, and had his throat cut. The priest killed was named as Jacques Hamel, 86 "The area around the church was sealed off, and then armed officers appeared with their weapons. "I heard at least a dozen shots." Eglise Saint Etienne / Google StreetView The siege officially ended at around 11am, following the shooting of the two attackers. Units attending including the elite RAID, the anti-terrorist unit that was heavily involved in the Paris attacks last year, in which almost 150 people were murdered. Loading.... Anti-terrorist judges immediately opened an investigation in to todays attack, as President Francois Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve attended the scene. Mr Hollande said: "I have met with the family of the priest and I have spoken to the people kept hostage who expressed their pain and sadness as well as a wish to comprehend what has happened". It follows a spate of attacks that have seen scores of people killed across the country, and in other parts of Europe, by attackers linked to Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. It comes after 84 people were killed by a lorry in Nice on Bastille Day. Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel murdered 84 people using a 19-tonne lorry on July 14 before being shot dead by officers. Loading.... Five suspected accomplices - four men and one woman, aged between 22 and 40 - appeared in court last week charged with carrying out a range of terrorist crimes linked to the lorry attack. P iers Morgan has slammed Jennifer Aniston for speaking out about self-doubt and body insecurities. The journalist and presenter told viewers that the A-lister needed to get a grip after breaking down in a video at the Giffoni Film Festival in Italy this week. Speaking on Tuesdays Good Morning Britain, Morgan said that the former Friends star had put herself out there on magazine covers, so had no right to complain. If it's going to upset you, don't put your body out there and do hundreds of magazine covers, he said. You do have a choice. Nobody forced her to do naked magazine shoots. When you put your body out there like that, you're making your body a commodity and everyone can have a slice of the pie. He added: Nobody has to post a picture on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook. Nobody in Hollywood is legally compelled to do naked magazine covers. If you choose to for those things you can't go 'Oh poor me'. Get a grip! "Remember, half the world is starving. There are people out there who have no money, no mansion, no Ferrari, no handsome Hollywood husband like Jennifer. Speaking out: Jennifer Aniston at the Giffoni Film Festival / Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Giffoni Film Festival That's my take on this. Get a grip, Jennifer. Co-host Susanna Reid was more sympathetic to Aniston, saying that there will be girls out there who can relate. I think she is someone who is trapped by eternal judgement and she's held to this standard on the way she looks, she said. There will girls out there who put pictures on Instagram who can relate to Jennifer's instagram. But I do get your point Piers, if you don't want this, don't post. Mother's Day Premiere 1 /16 Mother's Day Premiere Julia Roberts arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Mother's Day" at the TCL Chinese Theatre Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP Jennifer Aniston arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Mother's Day" at the TCL Chinese Theatre Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP Bailee Madison and Jennifer Aniston at the 'Mother's Day' film premiere Rex Actress Julia Roberts attends Open Roads World Premiere of "Mother's Day" at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX Getty Images Actress Julia Roberts arrives for the world premiere of 'Mother's Day' at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX in Hollywood, California Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images Jennifer Aniston arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Mother's Day" at the TCL Chinese Theatre Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP Julia Roberts arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Mother's Day" at the TCL Chinese Theatre Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP Model Kara Del Toro attends Open Roads World Premiere of "Mother's Day" at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images Stephen Belafonte and actress/singer Mel B attend Open Roads World Premiere of "Mother's Day" at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images Jack Whitehall arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Mother's Day" at the TCL Chinese Theatre Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP Cast member Shay Mitchell attends the premiere of "Mother's Day" in Los Angeles Phil McCarten/Reuters Perrey Reeves arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Mother's Day" at the TCL Chinese Theatre Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP Aniston was responding to the questions of a teenage fan at the film festival who asked if she ever woke up and felt like she didnt know who she was. There are not enough fingers and toes in this entire room to count how many times that moment has happened to me, Aniston responded. We're all human beings at the end of the day, whether we're a waitress or a baker or a student or whatever we are, at the end of the day you kind of can hit walls and think I can't go any farther. Or this is too much. My heart can't take it or the pain is too great, or am I good enough? Will I survive?" She added: I think we need to empower women to not just be about dresses and beauty and selfies. We need to start having conversations and put our phones down and get out of social media, take social media breaks. S imon Cowell has hinted that hes not happy with One Directions Liam Payne after he signed to a rival record label. The music mogul, who still represents the boys as a band, has spoken out about which of the group he thinks are loyal. Discussing the band on Americas Got Talent, Cowell praised Niall Horan, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson for being incredibly loyal, but appeared to forget about Payne. You know what, we're talking to all of [the 1D guys] at the moment, he said. You know what the great thing about these boys are, well not all of them, just most of them, they're incredibly loyal. And you don't always expect that. Niall, Harry, Louis are amazing. Payne recently revealed that he had signed his own record deal as he begins to work on his solo material. But while bandmate Horan is rumoured to have signed an independent deal with Cowells company Syco, it seems that Payne decided to go elsewhere. The X Factor 2015: One Direction's last performance 1 /13 The X Factor 2015: One Direction's last performance One Direction One Direction with Simon Cowell on The X Factor 2015 Syco/Thames/Corbis/Dymond One Direction The four-piece performed for the last time before their hiatus on The X Factor final 2015 Syco/Thames/Corbis/Dymond One Direction sing on Series Finale of The X Factor 2015 Syco/Thames/Corbis/Dymond One Direction sing on Series Finale of The X Factor 2015 Syco/Thames/Corbis/Dymond One Direction sing on Series Finale of The X Factor 2015 Syco/Thames/Corbis/Dymond One Direction sing on Series Finale of The X Factor 2015 Syco/Thames/Corbis/Dymond Liam ITV Niall ITV One Direction ITV Liam and Louis ITV Confirming the news on his Twitter account on Thursday afternoon, the 22-year-old wrote: Happy to have signed to @CapitolUK. They have an amazing history of artists, I hope I can follow in their footsteps. One direction will always be my home and family but I'm very excited to see what this chapter brings. Tomlinson has recently appeared alongside Cowell as a guest judge on the current season of Americas Got Talent. S ir Roger Moore has been left heartbroken after his stepdaughter died, aged 47, following a battle with cancer. The James Bond actor announced the tragic news on Twitter and told followers that his beautiful daughter Christina Knudsen passed away surrounded by her family. Our beautiful daughter Christina (aka Flossie) lost her battle with cancer 25 July at 10am. We are heartbroken, he posted. We were all with her, surrounding her with love, at the end. Moore was inundated with messages from fans including Joan Collins who tweeted her condolences. "I am so sad for Kristina and Roger Moore's loss of their lovely daughter Christina," she posted. Knudsen was the daughter of Moore's fourth wife, Kiki Tholstrup. Her father, Hans Christian Knudsen, committed suicide after he was accused of tax evasion. Almost 20 years later, her stepfather, millionaire industrialist Ole Tholstrup, died from alcoholism. In an interview with the Evening Standard in 2014 she opened up about the tragedies and credited Moore for helping her to turn her life around. Of course I was very affected by these events and I probably didnt have the most positive outlook on the opposite sex," she said. "I think I didnt know myself that well when I got married and felt pressurised by society. I wasnt yet able to listen to who I was and what I really wanted. I was in difficult relationships but all that changed when my mother met Roger. Follow @StandardShowbiz for more news. A Star Wars production company has admitted to safety breaches which lead to Harrison Ford breaking his leg on the set of The Force Awakens. Foodles Productions LTD, which is owned by Disney, has pleaded guilty to two criminal charges over the on-set accident, which took place back in June 2014. After pleading guilty to the charges at Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court, the company will be sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court on 22 August. Ford, 74, was hit by a hydraulic door, which was the weight of a small car while filming a scene on board the Millennium Falcon at Pinewood Studios. Prosecutor Andrew Marshall told the court that Ford had walked through the door during filming before pressing a button. Believing the set was not live and the door would not close, he began to walk back through it. But the door was being remotely operated by someone else and it hit Ford in the pelvic area and pinned him to the ground. Mr Marhsall said that there was a risk of death. It could have killed somebody. The fact that it didn't was because an emergency stop was activated. Star Wars: The Force Awakens - in pictures 1 /32 Star Wars: The Force Awakens - in pictures Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd Lucasfilm Guarded secret: Harrison Ford with Chewbacca in the seventh episode Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Villainous: Adam Driver as Kylo Ren with Stormtroopers Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd Seeing stars: Londoners Daisy Ridley and John Boyega both have major roles in the new Star Wars film Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd The Force Awakens: John Boyega as Finn in the latest Star Wars trailer Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd Lucasfilm Lucasfilm A spokesperson for Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought the prosecution, said that Ford was badly injured after he became trapped under a rapidly closing metal-framed door. This was a foreseeable incident." "Foodles Production (UK) Ltd has accepted it failed to protect actors and staff and HSE welcomes the firms guilty plea. Two other charges were withdrawn. china yuan crocodile For those who have been following Asian markets for some time, Taiwan and China are looking awfully similar. Back in the late 1980s, the stock and futures markets in Taiwan were highly driven by mom-and-pop investors. Property prices climbed and stock prices shot up more than tenfold to a record high in early 1990, thanks to credit expansion and financial deregulation. Then, the government imposed stricter credit controls to cool down the markets, sending the stock market plunging nearly 80% in September 1990. It isn't any easier to navigate the topsy-turvy world of Chinese markets these days, Edward Misrahi, founder and chief investment officer of Ronit Capital, told Raoul Pal of Real Vision TV. He said: "The market reminds me when we're both at Goldman in the '90s it's a little bit of Taiwan. Retail crazy market. Crazy, I mean, literally. You probably heard of all these things that happened in the last few months regarding the futures on, I don't know, eggs, all kinds of things. I mean, it's just mind-boggling what happens. As a result of that, as an investor it's a tricky environment to invest when you can get caught in manias, up and down, driven by things that you have no relation to. Because no one can understand the average retail investor in China. And you know what happens in China it's like 6 million retail investors decided to buy this thing." These retail investors seem unperturbed by the roller-coaster ride in the markets, and still have a "want it all" mentality. That is to say, they want high returns but without any of the risk. That isn't possible. While there are some gloomy predictions out there, Misrahi thinks that China will muddle through. Here he is again: "We think that countries get in trouble when there are two particular big weaknesses: a system that doesn't allow financials to unleash, which unfortunately China has a little bit of that because of the currency. We think that the more they relax capital controls, the more likely they'll have a crisis. My guess is they aren't going to relax capital controls that quickly, because they don't want to lose that ability. What they don't have, the financial sector, although their NPLs are much greater than what they report, they still have a very profitable banking system. Which means that as long as they don't have to mark to market tomorrow, they can continue to little by little clean up the system over time. We think they can muddle through." Story continues Misrahi was a partner of Goldman Sachs in New York before he cofounded hedge fund Eton Park. He then left the firm to start Ronit Capital, a London-based firm that focuses on emerging markets. NOW WATCH: Step inside Shanghai Disneyland the 3.8 billion park that just opened with Disney's largest castle More From Business Insider This page is archived. Data published after 5 April 2022 can be found on the renewed website. Go to the new statistics page Published: 26 July 2016 Record low number of children were born in Finland in early 2016 According to Statistics Finland's preliminary data, 26,517 children were born in Finland in January to June 2016. This is the lowest figure during Finlands independence. Despite the fall in the number of births, the country's population grew by 6,269 persons during the first half of 2016. The reason for the population increase was migration gain from abroad: the number of immigrants was 7,022 higher than that of emigrants. The excess of births was negative as the number of births was 753 lower than that of deaths. Finland's population was 5,493,577 at the end of June. Population increase by month 20132016* From January to June Finland's population increased by 414 persons more than in the corresponding period in one year previously. The biggest reason for the growth in population increase was the increased migration gain received from abroad. Migration gain for immigration was 1,853 higher than the year before. Natural population increase went down by 1,439 persons from one year earlier. According to the preliminary statistics of June, a total of 26,517 children were born during the first half of 2016, which was 912 fewer than in the corresponding period in 2015. The number of deaths was 27,270, which is 527 higher than one year earlier. Altogether, 13,698 persons immigrated to Finland from abroad and 6,676 persons emigrated from Finland. The number of immigrants was 1,136 higher and the number of emigrants 717 lower than in the previous year's January to June. In all, 3,565 of the immigrants and 4,455 of the emigrants were Finnish citizens. According to preliminary data, there were 122,672 intermunicipal migrations between January and June. Compared with the previous year, the decrease was 2,380 migrations according to the municipal division of 2016. According to preliminary data by region, the population grew only in Uusimaa, Pirkanmaa, North Ostrobothnia, Aland, Paijat-Hame, Central Ostrobothnia and Varsinais-Suomi in the early part of 2016. The population grew most in absolute numbers in Uusimaa, where it went up by 10,253 persons. The next largest increase in population was seen in Pirkanmaa, 931 persons. Relative to the population, population increase was highest in Aland, 6.9 per mil and in Uusimaa, 6.3 per mil. Relative population growth was third largest in Pirkanmaa, 1.8 per mil. Population loss was highest in absolute numbers in the region Central Finland that lost 765 persons of its population. The population of Lapland decreased by 755 persons, which was the second biggest population loss. Relative to the population, the biggest population loss was found in South Karelia, 4.9 per mil. Most migration gain from intramunicipal and international migration was collected by Uusimaa, 7,641 persons and Pirkanmaa, 775 persons. Most migration gain in relative terms based on total net migration was attained by Aland, 7.0 per mil and Uusimaa, 4.7 per mil. In absolute numbers, migration loss from total net migration was biggest in the region of Ostrobothnia, 543 persons. In the region of Central Finland the loss was 522 persons. In relative terms, the migration loss from total net migration was also biggest in the region of Ostrobothnia, 3.0 per mil of the population. During the first half of 2016, migration between regions numbered 55,427. The highest gain from migration between regions was seen in Uusimaa, Paijat-Hame, Pirkanmaa and Aland. In absolute numbers, the highest gain from migration between regions was received by Uusimaa, 4,779 persons. The relative migration gain was also highest in Uusimaa, 2.9 per mil of the population. Migration loss from migration between regions was biggest in absolute numbers in the region of Ostrobothnia, 900 persons. Migration loss from migration between regions was biggest in relative terms in the region of Ostrobothnia, 5.0 per mil of the population. Source: Preliminary population statistics, Statistics Finland Inquiries: Matti Saari 029 551 3401, Miina Keski-Petaja 029 551 3240, info@stat.fi Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma Publication in pdf-format (288.8 kB) Updated 26.7.2016 Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Preliminary population statistics [e-publication]. ISSN=2243-3627. June 2016. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 28.10.2022]. 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To help you find what you are looking for: Enter Search Term(s): Still cant find what youre looking for? Send us a message using our contact us form. To report a broken link or other problems with the website, please include the URL. Thank you for visiting state.gov. By Huw Jones and Guy Faulconbridge LONDON (Reuters) - Luxembourg will not seek to lure away British financial firms anxious about keeping a foot in the European Union after Brexit, the Grand Duchy's government said on Monday, saying it aimed instead to work with them for mutual benefit. The UK financial sector and Luxembourg have long had close ties, especially in managing Europe's trillions of euros in pension investments, and both countries are advocates of a liberalised market in financial sectors. Britain's decision to leave the EU in last month's referendum has sparked hopes on the continent that parts of the UK's lucrative financial service sector, Europe's largest, would migrate to maintain access the bloc's huge single market. French President Francois Hollande said clearing in euros, a niche dominated by London, must shift to the euro zone. Germany hopes UK financial technology firms will up sticks to Berlin while some insurers are eyeing a base in Dublin. Luxembourg officials said they saw a more nuanced approach. "I hear the French say they would roll out the red carpet -- but they are always on strike," Etienne Schneider, the Grand Duchy's deputy prime minister, told Reuters. "We are not here to take your companies back to Luxembourg." While the government is aiming to diversify the economy into biotech or even deep space mining -- the exploitation of raw materials found in space -- it is also keen that its financial services sector, which makes up a quarter of the economy, is not derailed by Brexit in any way. It worries about losing a market-friendly ally once Britain has left the EU, and what that could mean for the tenor of future financial regulation in the bloc. Luxembourg is a major centre for listing mutual funds, many of whose assets are managed from London, a profitable symbiotic relationship both sides would want to keep. "We are very interested to assure our collaboration will be possible after Brexit. Can we be their partner on the continent to develop their activities, thinking about the European passport and so on?" Schneider said. Story continues Many financial firms have long served the continent from their London base through "passporting" rights granted under EU rules that may no longer apply once Britain exits the bloc. Some bonds have already been delisted in London and relisted in Luxembourg since the UK referendum. What becomes of passporting rights hinges on UK-EU trade talks that could take years to finalise. "Luxembourg as a financial centre and London are partners, very complementary, and we want to continue that relationship, Luxembourg finance minister Pierre Gramegna told Reuters. But he cannot see Britain being allowed full access to the single market without accepting that EU citizens can work in the UK under existing EU freedom of movement rules. "There is quite a lot of common denominator in the EU-27 that you cannot do cherry-picking," Gramegna said, repeating a phrase used by German Chancellor Angela Merkel of the position of the other 27 members of the EU club. Even if Britain were not to obtain full passporting rights, that does not mean there won't be business between the UK and EU, Gramegna said. Yet he said UK financial firms wishing to use Luxembourg as a beachhead into Europe won't get away with having a letter box for an empty shell there. Crackdowns across Europe on tax avoidance will mean that firms operating from Luxembourg would need a "credible" amount of staff, capital and investment to show there was "added value" locally, Gramegna said. While not overtly drumming up business, government officials said there was available office space in the Grand Duchy. It is also expanding its international schools and will offer the International Baccalaureat in English in state schools to make expatriates and their families feel more at home. (Editing by Mark John) Tuesday, 26 July 2016 23:31:44 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo Chinese miners are demanding an AD investigation over the imports of iron ore from Brazil and Australia , the worlds top providers for the commodity, a media report said this week. Citing a statement from the Metallurgical Miners' Association of China Reuters said more than 20 Chinese miners called for tougher measures for the imported commodity coming from Brazil and Australia The association said a huge volume of low-priced imported iron ore has severely impacted the domestic mining industry and represents a big challenge for the security of the local steel production. According to the local Chinese association, capacity from major producers has continued to increase and requires a massive Chinese market to absorb their great excess. Imports have accounted for some 85 percent of China s total iron ore consumption, leading domestic miners in China to shutdown or diminish capacity utilization. The association also accused Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton for dominating the global iron ore trade defying and expanding the market, despite prices being low, since their strategy is to use low-priced dumping to crowd out higher-cost miners. In June this year, China s import volumes of steel bars, angles/channels, steel plate , and steel pipes and hollow sections amounted to 100,000 mt, 30,000 mt, 970,000 mt, and 30,000 mt, up 13.4 percent, down 27.9 percent, down 2.9 percent and decreasing by 2.5 percent, respectively, year on year, as announced by the Chinese customs authorities. Tuesday, 26 July 2016 23:30:55 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau , through its Dominican Republic subsidiary Gerdau Metaldom, has opened a cut-and-bend rebar mill in the city of Santo Domingo, the company told SteelOrbis on Tuesday. The DOP 120 million ($2.61 million) mill is Gerdau s third facility at its complex in Santo Domingo, and is expected to supply clients domestically as well as in Central America and in the Caribbean. Were convinced that with this new cut-and-bend plant were contributing to have a stronger and more competitive civil construction sector, guaranteeing the quality required by local authorities and global standards regulators, the companys president, Carlos Valiente, told local media. The start-up of the new mill is part of Gerdau s strategy to become Central Americas and the Caribbeans No. 1 steelmaker, the company said. Gerdau Metaldom produces flats and longs , and has a 1 million mt/year installed capacity. Tuesday, 26 July 2016 14:54:10 (GMT+3) | Istanbul The Ministry of Economy of the United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) is considering imposing an export tax of AED 250/mt ($68/mt) for scrap shipments, according to market sources. UAE -based sources tell SteelOrbis that they believe the proposal for the scrap export duty will likely become official, though the implementation date is yet to be announced.The products to be subject to the export duty are classified under Customs Tariff Statistics Position Numbers 72045000, 72044900, 72044100, 72043000, 72042900, 72042100 and 72041000. Tuesday, 26 July 2016 14:18:43 (GMT+3) | Istanbul According to market sources, shredded scrap offers from Kuwait to Pakistan are currently at $225/mt CFR Qasim port, while buyers' firm bids are at $215/mt CFR. However, market sources report that Kuwaiti sellers are unwilling to accept buyers' firm bids. On the other hand, demand for ex- Kuwait scrap in the export markets is now at low levels. Malcolm Gladwell, the best-selling author, is a UK-born Canadian citizen who considers the US his home. But that could change come November. He may move to Canada if Donald Trump becomes the next US president, and he encourages Americans to do the same. Would I be totally psyched for Canada if we got a couple hundred thousand Americans after a Trump presidency? Totally. I would love that, Gladwell told Yahoo Finance at Ozy Fusion Fest. Back when George W. Bush ran for president, disenchanted Americans often threatened to move to Canada if he got elected. That (often empty) threat has resurfaced during Trumps campaign. Google searches for how can I move to Canada spiked 350% in four hours on Super Tuesday, according to Google data editor Simon Rogers. Recently, companies have begun to capitalize on the sentiment that Americans would decamp for Canada if Trump were voted president. Theres a dating app called Maple Match (with the tagline make dating great again) that says it will help Americans find love in Canada, and Spotify even made a catchy commercial of a dad and daughter driving their tiny home on the highway while jamming to Flo Ridas My House. The caption reads: If you choose Canada this November, let My House be your soundtrack. In his interview with Yahoo Finance, Gladwell says he has the utmost respect for Americans fleeing intolerable conditions. Gladwell noted that American colonists known as the United Empire Loyalists remained loyal to the British monarchy during the Revolutionary War and exiled themselves to British North America (aka Canada) as early as 1775. Around 70,000 Loyalists fled the 13 colonies; roughly 50,000 went to the British North American Colonies of Quebec and Nova Scotia. Fast forward to the 1960s and 1970s, when as many as 100,000 American men dodged the draft by moving to Canada. My high school history teacher was a draft dodger. There were tons of them. Theyre fantastic, Gladwell says. Story continues Canada would welcome Trump dodgers with open arms, according to Gladwell. In fact, he believes the country would benefit from liberal Americans transplanting themselves. We filled up our country with people so principled and so moral that they would rather leave their country than fight a war they didnt believe in, Gladwell says. Who doesnt want that person? With the latest FiveThirtyEight poll suggesting that if the election were held this week, Trump would have a 57% chance of winning the Electoral College, the quip about moving to Canada may become a reality for some Americans. When asked whether he himself would move back to Canada he retorted, I have a Canadian passport. I could move in a heartbeat. NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - July 26, 2016) - NewYork-Presbyterian has announced the rollout of NYP OnDemand, a new suite of digital health services designed to improve and expand patient care, while also extending access to the clinical expertise of NewYork-Presbyterian's physicians to their peers throughout the Hospital's vast healthcare network. NewYork-Presbyterian is one of the largest, most comprehensive medical institutions in the nation and the only one on this scale to implement an enterprise-wide, comprehensive digital health portfolio. The project was catalyzed by the visionary support of Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser, NewYork-Presbyterian's longtime philanthropic partners. This most recent gift builds on the couple's previous investments in telehealth infrastructure, further elevating the Hospital's ability to connect patients and clinical staff in new and innovative ways. "At NewYork-Presbyterian, we are looking to redefine the intersection of technology and healthcare and our new digital health platform is our way of strengthening traditional telehealth services," said Dr. Steven J. Corwin, president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian. "I would like to extend our deepest thanks to Rita and Gustave Hauser, for providing support for this platform. Together with ColumbiaDoctors and Weill Cornell Medicine, we are using data and technology to provide the very best care and treatment outcomes for our patients -- wherever they may be -- as well as seamless peer-to-peer access for our physicians across the entire organization." NYP OnDemand is comprised of telehealth services for both patients and providers, available on the NewYork-Presbyterian website and mobile app, and will ultimately include these key areas of service: Digital Second Opinion : NewYork-Presbyterian specialists from both ColumbiaDoctors and Weill Cornell Medicine can now offer their world-class clinical expertise for second opinions to patients around the country -- and eventually, the globe -- through an easy-to-access online portal. Patients are walked through the entire process without having to wait for an in-person appointment. Inter-hospital Digital Consults : Connecting patients at NewYork-Presbyterian's Regional Network Hospitals to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital specialists, Inter-hospital Digital Consults provide greater access to advanced, specialty care for patients across the New York City metro region and facilitate real-time communication between providers. Digital Emergency and Urgent Care: As part of a new pilot program, visitors to the Lisa Perry Emergency Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell now have the option of a virtual visit through real-time video interactions with a clinician after having an initial triage and medical screening exam. This will be done in a private room with a webcam/monitor, significantly reducing time spent in the Emergency Department. For any non-emergency conditions that require expedited treatment, patients will eventually also be able to access a separate virtual urgent care service from NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell doctors from the comfort of their home via the NYP OnDemand smartphone application. Digital Follow-Up Appointments: Launching in fall 2016, Digital Follow-Ups will provide patients a virtual follow-up option, instead of asking patients to come back to the office in person. The service offers a more convenient way to access care without another trip to the doctor. Story continues "When patients visit ColumbiaDoctors at NewYork-Presbyterian, they know they will see outstanding physicians who will combine the latest technologies with highly personalized care and caring. This new suite of digital health services will help to maintain and enhance that experience," said Dr. Lee Goldman, dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine and chief executive of Columbia University Medical Center. "NYP OnDemand extends the reach of our world-class doctors beyond their offices, ensuring that patients receive quality healthcare when and where it's most convenient for them," said Dr. Augustine M.K. Choi, interim dean of Weill Cornell Medicine. "We are proud to join NewYork-Presbyterian and ColumbiaDoctors in offering these vital telehealth services to our patients." Among the first services available for patients is NYP OnDemand Second Opinion. Launched earlier this summer in collaboration with ColumbiaDoctors and Weill Cornell Medicine, the service connects patients from anywhere in the country seeking a second opinion on their diagnosis from clinical experts at NewYork-Presbyterian. After a patient initiates the process online, they are assigned a care coordinator matched with the best physician for their condition, resulting in a written second opinion to the patient -- all without having to leave the comfort of home. Equipped with the second opinion, the patient can then make a more informed decision about their treatment plan and, if they choose, opt to receive care at NewYork-Presbyterian. To date, NYP OnDemand Second Opinions are offered by over 300 physicians in 80 medical specialties. In addition to the patient access services, NYP OnDemand also facilitates real-time peer-to-peer physician consults within the nine hospitals that are part of the NewYork-Presbyterian system. The NewYork-Presbyterian Telestroke Initiative, which has been deployed at NewYork-Presbyterian/The Allen Hospital and NewYork-Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital, uses video conferencing and data sharing to allows 24/7 coverage for acute stroke care with rapid evaluation by a neurologist with stroke expertise. To date, the telestroke service has resulted in improved door-to-treatment times, which has been shown to improve overall patient outcomes. In the coming months, additional digital consult services such as behavioral health, emergency medicine, and pediatrics will also be established. The NYP OnDemand suite of services was developed by NewYork-Presbyterian's Innovation Center, launched in 2014 to deliver both clinician- and consumer-facing solutions to enhance care delivery. For more information on NYP OnDemand, visit www.nyp.org/ondemand. NewYork-Presbyterian NewYork-Presbyterian is one of the nation's most comprehensive healthcare delivery networks, focused on providing innovative and compassionate care to patients in the New York metropolitan area and throughout the globe. In collaboration with two renowned medical school partners, Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, NewYork-Presbyterian is consistently recognized as a leader in medical education, groundbreaking research and clinical innovation. NewYork-Presbyterian has four major divisions: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is ranked #1 in the New York metropolitan area by U.S. News and World Report and repeatedly named to the magazine's Honor Roll of best hospitals in the nation; NewYork-Presbyterian Regional Hospital Network is comprised of leading hospitals in and around New York and delivers high-quality care to patients throughout the region; NewYork-Presbyterian Physician Services connects medical experts with patients in their communities; and NewYork-Presbyterian Community and Population Health features the hospital's ambulatory care network sites and operations, community care initiatives and healthcare quality programs, including NewYork Quality Care, established by NewYork-Presbyterian, Weill Cornell and Columbia. NewYork-Presbyterian is one of the largest healthcare providers in the U.S. Each year, nearly 29,000 NewYork-Presbyterian professionals deliver exceptional care to more than 2 million patients. For more information, visit www.nyp.org and find us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. ColumbiaDoctors ColumbiaDoctors, the faculty practice of Columbia University Medical Center, includes more than 1,700 physicians, surgeons, dentists, and advanced nurse practitioners, offering more than 230 medical specialties and subspecialties. All ColumbiaDoctors are affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian, ranked No. 1 in New York. Weill Cornell Medicine Weill Cornell Medicine is committed to excellence in patient care, scientific discovery and the education of future physicians in New York City and around the world. The doctors and scientists of Weill Cornell Medicine -- faculty from Weill Cornell Medical College, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, and Weill Cornell Physician Organization -- are engaged in world-class clinical care and cutting-edge research that connect patients to the latest treatment innovations and prevention strategies. Located in the heart of the Upper East Side's scientific corridor, Weill Cornell Medicine's powerful network of collaborators extends to its parent university Cornell University; to Qatar, where an international campus offers a U.S. medical degree; and to programs in Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria and Turkey. Weill Cornell Medicine faculty provide comprehensive patient care at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital and NewYork-Presbyterian/Queens. Weill Cornell Medicine is also affiliated with Houston Methodist. For more information, visit weill.cornell.edu. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/7/25/11G107928/Images/iReach_PRNewswire_Second_Opinion_800x800_300dpi-44eb3e7a0a79b9df9b32cc1edec3aa31.jpg Combining Yahoo and AOL would have been a blockbuster deal back in the late 1990s. Now, the deal is being greeted more with shrugged shoulders than loud applause. Verizon, having acquired AOL off the scrapheap last year, is buying the core parts of Yahoo for $4.8 billion. This is a business that was briefly worth $140 billion during the dot-com bubble. It was an early leader in email, search, photo sharing and other technologies that todays internet users take for granted. Instead of being remembered as a pioneer, Yahoo will become a business-school case study of squandered advantages, missed opportunities and old-fashioned bloat. The missed opportunities include two huge ones: Talks to buy Google in 2002 and Facebook in 2006 fell apart over price. In hindsight, Yahoo could have paid double what the sellers were asking and still had a couple of historic bargains. When Yahoo did make acquisitions, it overpaid. This year, it has written off $712 million of the $1.1 billion it paid for blogging site Tumblr in 2013. They spent about $3 billion on acquisitions in the last four years, and its really hard to see how any of them benefitted Yahoo shareholders, says Eric Jackson, managing director at SpringOwl Asset Management in New York. Jackson created a blistering slide presentation last year in which he criticized Yahoo for missing the mobile computing revolution. As a percentage of revenue, he pointed out, Yahoo spends more than Google on research and development but has little to show for it. Jackson also criticized Yahoo for having too many employees, for overpaying Chief Executive Melissa Mayer, and even for the free food it provides to staffers. At a time when other shareholders were pushing the company to sell its core business, he said the company could turn itself around by slashing costs and focusing on a few content areas, such as finance and sports. Yahoos board chose to sell, but Jackson isnt disappointed. Considering where they were, its better that they sold now rather than keep floundering, he said Monday. Yahoo will continue to exist, under a different name, as a holding company for stakes in Alibaba, a Chinese internet company, and Yahoo Japan, along with some patents. The Asian assets account for most of Yahoos current market capitalization of $37 billion. That number brings to mind another missed opportunity: Microsoft offered to buy the company in 2008 for $45 billion. Yahoo said no. Chief Executive Jerry Yang, a Yahoo co-founder, quit a few months later, and the company has had three CEOs since then. Norman Conley, chief investment officer at JAG Capital Management in Ladue, thinks the turnover was damaging. Repeated CEO changes usually connote some sort of problem with the board, some sort of disagreement on strategy, he said. Each boss had a vague idea of what Yahoo should be a media company, an e-commerce site or, under Mayer, simply a company that addressed peoples daily habits. None of them succeeded in turning around a company whose revenue peaked eight years ago. Verizon will try, probably by cutting costs and making it easier for advertisers to spend money across its portfolio of sites, including AOL. Yahoo has a lot of strength of assets, says Roger Entner, an analyst at Recon Analytics in Dedham, Mass. It just does an extremely poor job of monetizing them. Despite its prominence, Yahoo was the internets perpetual adolescent. It never figured out what it wanted to be when it grew up. Now the grown-ups at Verizon will decide for it. Consol Energy Inc. has spent several years transitioning from being a coal miner to a natural gas producer. Now it plans to spend $44 million to speed up the process. The Canonsburg, Pa.-based company has agreed to sell its Miller Creek and Fola thermal coal complexes in West Virginia to Southeastern Land, a subsidiary of Booth Energy. Under the deal, Kentucky-based Southeastern will assume $103 million in liabilities for the mines, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Monday. Consol, meanwhile, will pay Southeastern $27 million at closing, and an added $17 million over four years. Miller Creek consists of two surface mines, two underground mines and a preparation plant. The facility produced 2.1 million tons of coal in 2015, Consol spokesman Brian Aiello said in an email. The Fola site is idled and last produced 1.3 million tons in 2012. Both facilities will lose money this year, said David Khani, Consol's chief financial officer. "From a Consol perspective, this will actually help our leverage ratios and operating cash flows and such," Khani said in a telephone interview. The deal marks Consol's exit from Central Appalachia, the country's most storied coal-mining region but one that's suffered the most in the industry's recent years of downturn. Consol is retaining its stake in three Pennsylvania coal mining sites that are operated by CNX Coal Resources, the master-limited partnership it created last year. United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams said on Tuesday that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has assured him she would renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement if she is elected president. Williams' comments come as Clinton is under pressure on international trade deals from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and supporters of her former Democratic rival Bernie Sanders. Clinton has previously said she wanted to rework NAFTA. Her campaign on Tuesday declined to comment on the meeting with Williams. Williams said he met with Clinton one-on-one prior to the union's endorsement of her in May, when Sanders was still in the race to be the Democratic party's nominee. The UAW has more than 400,000 members. "She's committed to me that not only would (she) dig into NAFTA but she made every indication that she would sit down and try to redo NAFTA," Williams told reporters during a telephone press conference from Philadelphia, where he is attending the Democratic National Convention. Williams said Clinton "recognizes that NAFTA was not the success that it was supposed to be," when her husband, Bill Clinton, pushed for it as president two decades ago. Stephen Miller, senior policy adviser to the Trump campaign, said Hillary Clinton "will never renegotiate Bill Clinton's NAFTA." The Trump campaign adviser said, "You can be certain when she was personally getting paid millions and millions by Wall Street and big banks to deliver secret speeches she wasn't breathing a word against globalist trade pacts." NAFTA, which eliminated most tariffs on trade between the United States, Mexico and Canada, was promoted as a way to support economic growth by eliminating barriers to trade. Opponents say it has robbed Americans of jobs because it makes it easy for U.S. companies to move operations to Mexico where wages are much lower. Williams said he hopes that an updated treaty would help foster stronger worker unions in Mexico, where many auto manufacturers have factories. "She told us all that," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in an interview, referring to Clinton's assurances to labor unions that she would rework NAFTA. The AFL-CIO, a federation of unions which includes the UAW, stayed neutral during the Democratic primary but endorsed Clinton in June once it was clear she would become the party's nominee. The UAW endorsed Clinton in May. Williams said that support among UAW members for a Trump presidency has fallen to about 19 percent from 28 percent last year, before Trump said that new automotive industry jobs could be placed in states without strong union support at lower wages than those earned by UAW members. Additional reporting by Amanda Becker in Philadelphia. NEW YORK Verizon Communications said Tuesday that a strike by 40,000 employees hurt its results in the second quarter, and the company's revenue fell short of analyst projections. The largest U.S. cellphone carrier's profits were hurt by a series of costs. One was a seven-week strike by around 40,000 employees that began in April. It was one of the larger strikes by U.S. workers in recent years and Verizon said it cut into profits from its wireline business. Verizon said its net income after paying dividends on preferred stock fell to $702 million, or 17 cents per share. Excluding one-time costs related to the strike, charges related to the early redemption of debt, and other items, Verizon said it earned 94 cents per share. Its revenue fell 5 percent to $30.53 billion. Analysts expected Verizon to report earnings of 93 cents per share on $31.12 billion in revenue, according to Zacks Investment Research. The earnings report came a day after the New York company said it has agreed to buy Yahoo's internet business for $4.83 billion. It will combine Yahoo with AOL, which it bought last year for $4.4 billion. On Tuesday, Verizon said the two businesses will give it a valuable group of online properties and mobile applications with more than 1 billion views per month. Shares of Verizon declined 20 cents to $55.67 in premarket trading about 30 minutes before the market open. The stock has climbed 21 percent in 2016, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed 6 percent. Investors have snapped up telecommunications companies like Verizon and AT&T because of their attractive dividend payments. Earlier this month the stock hit its highest price since 2000. This story is part of our special Craft Beer Guide, publishing Sunday in the Post-Dispatch. Chris Rahn Title: Co-owner and brewmaster, Stubborn German Brewing Co. Age: 33 Hometown: Waterloo Family: Rahn co-owns the brewery with his wife, Tammy What is the first beer you tried? Anheuser-Busch beers when he turned 21. After 6 months, I was already bored. What is the first beer you loved? Shiner Bock and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Where do you drink on your day off? Civil Life Brewing Co. You cant go wrong. You can throw a dart at the menu, and the beer will be great. What do you drink that isnt beer? If its not beer, its usually bourbon. When the Stubborn German Brewing Co. opened in April, it was the culmination of a journey that had begun for Chris Rahn as it had for many other brewers: with a love for beer and a Mr. Beer brand homebrewing kit. Rahn remembers brewing three batches at a time. Id pour two down the drain and drink one, he says. And the batch he deemed a success? It still wasnt good. Rahn persisted. He joined the St. Louis Brews homebrewing club. He became a certified beer judge for national homebrewing competitions. Meanwhile, as a full-time occupation, Rahn and his wife, Tammy, operated (and continue to operate) Rahns Hometown Auto Repair. The couple faced a dilemma. Should they grow this business? Or would everything that growth entails more garage bays, more employees, more and bigger headaches undercut their philosophy? We want to be a diamond in the rough, Rahn says. Instead of expanding the auto-repair business, they decided to turn Rahns homebrewing hobby into Waterloos first entry into the regions craft-beer boom, which over the past couple of years especially has been expanding from St. Louis proper into its Metro East suburbs and exurbs. Hahn remembers their thought process at the time: Why hasnt anyone ever done this? I guess well do it. With the help of family and friends, the Rahns renovated a building on Waterloos South Main Street into Stubborn German Brewing Co. The space features light wood fixtures, exposed brick and numerous Edison bulbs. The brewhouse itself certainly fits the diamond-in-the-rough ethos. A three-barrel operation, it occupies only a modest corner of the tasting room. (The tasting room, in turn, doesnt include a kitchen; visitors are welcome to bring in food from area restaurants.) Stubborn German is an obvious nod to Rahns and Waterloos German heritage. The beers, too, draw on Germanys brewing tradition: a kolsch, an Oktoberfest, a hefeweizen, a Munich dunkel cheekily named Schitzengiggles. (In an evitable nod to Americas craft-beer renaissance, theres also an IPA.) The emphasis on German styles reflects Rahns preferences. He wants to brew beers with good, clean, malty profiles. For the time being, trying Stubborn German beers will require a visit to Waterloo. Any short-term plans for distribution will probably be restricted to other venues in town, Rahn says. As it is, hes worked to make his brewing process even more efficient to keep pace with pent-up demand from his fellow Waterloo residents. It was to the point I was going to run out of beer if I didnt do something, he says. What Stubborn German Brewing Co. Where 119 South Main Street, Waterloo More info 618-504-2444; stubborngermanbrewing.com On Tuesday, following a bit of ferret carnival at a school in Meeteetse, Wyoming, biologists plan to release 35 black-footed ferrets raised in captivity on two local ranches. The release will complete the circle of a story that began in 1981, when a ranch dog named Shep brought home a dead black-footed ferret and let the world know the species wasn't extinct after all. Five years later, biologists captured the area's remaining wild ferrets for a successful captive-breeding program that since the 1990s has released hundreds of ferrets. Now, those descendants of Meeteetse's ferrets will return to Meeteetse at last. "It's only fitting that we bring ferrets back to the place where they were last discovered," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Ryan Moehring said Monday. "This is a reintroduction unlike any other." The Fish and Wildlife Service breeds black-footed ferrets at a facility near Fort Collins, Colorado. There, the young ferrets go through a "boot camp" where they learn how to catch prairie dogs. Ferrets have been released at 24 sites in Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, South Dakota, Arizona and Kansas, as well as Canada and Mexico. Recent release sites include the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge near Denver last fall. In Wyoming, black-footed ferrets were reintroduced in the sparsely populated Shirley Basin in the southeast part of the state in 1991. They've been released in the basin several times since. This will be the first ferret release in Wyoming in almost a decade. Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated all of Wyoming as a zone for "experimental, non-essential" populations of black-footed ferrets. Ask Eddie Roth how the city of St. Louis is going to succeed in taking over from controversial televangelist Larry Rice in providing overnight shelter to the homeless in downtown St. Louis, and Roth offers a pithy bit of circular logic. The way to do better than Larry Rice, said Roth, the citys director of human services, is to do better than Larry Rice. Roths point is that if the citys new Biddle House fulfills its promise as a one-stop shelter that quickly connects the homeless to services and housing, then the longstanding loitering and crime problems connected to Rices shelter downtown near Washington Avenue will simply go away. Its a hopeful thought from my former editorial page colleague, who as a writer and a person leans toward optimism every chance he gets. Unfortunately, a series of summer stumbles has the citys dream of being better than Larry Rice seem at times out of reach. There was Police Chief Sam Dotsons announced crackdown on panhandlers after a series of high-profile crimes, most of which had nothing to do with the homeless. Dotson brought a PR nightmare upon himself when he tweeted about the citys new crime apps leading to a panhandling arrest. Turns out it was a trespassing case, but the damage was done. Then Alderman Jack Coatar filed a poorly worded bill that, if passed, would criminalize the very act of feeding the homeless, or in certain circumstances, even handing them a bottle of water on a public sidewalk. Rice, as he is wont to do, held a news conference denouncing the proposal. The bill awaits debate. The citys changing plans and pressure from downtown neighbors led to the early closure of The Bridge, the nonprofit that had been providing downtown meals and daytime shelter to the homeless. It closed a month before Biddle House was scheduled to open to replace it. Then last week happened. After months of rushing to get the citys new full-time day and overnight shelter opened on North Tucker Boulevard, Lewis Reed, the president of the Board of Aldermen, decided at the 11th hour to stand in the way. At the meeting of the three-member Board of Estimate and Apportionment, Reed suddenly voiced his opposition to awarding the final contracts to two area nonprofits to run the Biddle House, scheduled to open Aug. 1. Reed had already supported the Biddle House project in at least three different votes going back to January. But that was before Mayor Francis Slay announced he wouldnt seek a fifth term and Reed made it clear he wanted the job. It was before Reed received $5,000 in campaign donations in June from the Stone, Leyton & Gershman law firm. Thats the firm where attorney Daryl Piggee works. Piggee is representing the Carr Square Tenants Association, which represents a neighborhood of mostly African-Americans just west of Biddle House, some of whom are opposed to the homeless shelter locating there. So when the final vote to approve the Biddle House shelter came to pass, Reed gave a speech about how hed be a better mayor than Slay, and then he voted no. Comptroller Darlene Green, who had also supported the Biddle House in previous votes, decided to abstain, leaving Slays yes vote meaningless. Slay got in a verbal tit-for-tat with Reed, and blamed the delay on everybodys favorite punching bag these days, NorthSide Regeneration developer Paul McKee. This is no way to do better than Larry Rice. The entire episode reminded me of the title of a 70s comedy album by Steve Martin: Lets Get Small. In a city that has big dreams, its elected leaders are often small. It is an internecine problem prevalent in St. Louis politics and it gets in the way of progress over and over again. Reed said he was just speaking up for constituents who convinced him their voices hadnt been heard. He said that he regretted his previous votes in favor of Biddle House and that the campaign donation had nothing to do with his decision-making. Why the hell would a $5,000 donation from Steve Stone make a difference to me? Reed told me. Whatever Reeds motivations, on Friday, cooler heads prevailed or at least one of them did and the E&A board approved the Biddle House contracts, lest it find itself in default of the loans from the Missouri Housing Development Commission it had already voted to accept. Green voted with Slay; Reed was the lone no vote. On Monday, I toured the Biddle House, which a week from now is supposed to have its 96 beds for men open, and a full lunch room and other services ready to get the homeless connected to housing quickly. The beds and chairs have been delivered. The outdoor fencing to provide privacy (to the homeless, or neighbors, or both) is up. The facility is taking shape. It looks at first glance like it will be the clean, modern facility Roth is promising. Providing services to the homeless is a difficult task in the best of circumstances. On Aug. 2, Biddle House will (probably) open a new chapter in how St. Louis treats its homeless population, with the city more invested than its ever been. Lets hope Larry Rice doesnt have the last laugh. ST. LOUIS The St. Louis medical examiners office has confirmed that a body recovered from the Mississippi River Saturday is that of a kayaker who disappeared in the river two days earlier. Dalton S. Bast, 29, of Humboldt, Iowa, went missing around 4 a.m. Thursday when he fell out of his kayak and didnt resurface. Lt. Matthew Considine of the Coast Guard said a body was found in the Mississippi early Saturday morning near mile marker 165, which is about 2 miles south of the Jefferson Barracks bridge. The medical examiner confirmed it was Bast, but the exact cause of death is pending an autopsy. Basts body was found about 10 miles downstream from where he went missing, Considine said. Workers on a barge Thursday saw Bast kayaking between two barges near Gasconade Street when he hit a tow line and went into the water. Workers tried throwing a line out, but werent able to get him. The kayak and Basts personal items were found downstream about an hour after he went missing. Authorities searched for hours for Bast but weren't able to find him. EAST ST. LOUIS Demerous E. Foxworth of Centreville has been sentenced to more than 11 years for arranging customers for prostitutes, including a 16-year-old girl. Foxworth, 25, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court here to 135 months in prison and 10 years of supervision after his release. He pleaded guilty in April of sex trafficking of a minor and of interstate commerce to promote illegal activities. A federal grand jury indicted him in January. He admitted working as a pimp for the girl beginning in summer 2014. He also recruited five adult women, advertised for prostitution over the internet and arranged travel and accommodations for a cut of the prostitutes' fees. A photo of Foxworth was not available. A group representing several municipalities in the St. Louis area has filed a lawsuit challenging a requirement that they report revenue from traffic fines. The suit, filed Monday by the Municipal League of Metropolitan St. Louis in St. Louis County Circuit Court, claims the rule for reporting traffic fines revenue to the state auditor is overly cumbersome and at odds with state law. Last year, as part of a municipal court reform bill, Gov. Jay Nixon signed a law that reduces the amount of revenue a city can keep from minor traffic violations to 20 percent of its general operating revenue. In St. Louis County, the limit was set lower, 12.5 percent, but the lower limit was later thrown out by a circuit judge in Cole County after a challenge by several municipalities. The state crackdown on municipal courts was aimed at municipalities, many of them in St. Louis County, that had turned traffic enforcement into a cottage industry. The law required municipalities to report court revenue to the state auditor every year, but said the auditor should allow for reasonable opportunity for cities to show they are complying with the law without requiring unduly burdensome calculations. Some municipalities are already under the cap when all of their court revenues are counted, the lawsuit argues, so teasing out the minor traffic violations is an unduly burdensome calculation. The cities argue that law doesn't clearly define minor traffic violation. A speeding ticket is a minor traffic violation, for example, but tickets in school zones are not. In a letter to the Missouri Department of Revenue last year, attorney Carl J. Lumley argued the law did not sufficiently define the term to help cities determine whether cities should count revenue against the cap. For example, if a driver receives a citation for following too close with an accident and no injuries, and the driver provides proof that all damages have been paid for, and prosecutor agrees to amend to a no-point violation, is it still an excluded violation because there was an accident? The lawsuit asks that the court find the law invalid and allow for cities to demonstrate that total court revenues are below the cap without requiring them to calculate the percentage of minor traffic offenses. A spokeswoman for Galloway said the auditor's office would not make any comments while the lawsuit was pending. A man who was sentenced to 56-years in prison for repeatedly raping and fondling a 10-year-old Swansea girl while she was bound with zip ties was found dead in his prison cell. Gary M. J. Mikel Grodin, 33, began serving his sentence June 29 at the Menard Correctional Center in Chester. Three weeks later, on July 20, he was found unresponsive in his cell, Illinois Department of Corrections spokeswoman Nicole Wilson said. Randolph County Coroner Randy Dudenbostel said Grodins death does not appear to be from natural causes. The death is under investigation by the Illinois State Police, Menard Correctional Center and my office, Dudenbostel said. Results of the investigation are expected in six to eight weeks. St. Clair County States Attorney Brendan Kelly called Grodins crime one of the most disturbing and heartbreaking cases of child sexual assault in recent memory. An Oklahoma resident called police after they received a Facebook message from Grodin, who said he was in Illinois. He discussed a sexual relationship with a 10-year-old girl. Swansea police went to Grodins home and seized four cellphones and a tablet. A search of the electronic devices uncovered dozens of photographs and videos of the girl being raped by Grodin. Prosecutors said the sexual assaults occurred from December 2014 to June 2015. After he was questioned by police, Grodin fled to Tulsa, Okla., where he was arrested and extradited to Illinois. Grodin pleaded guilty June 28 to four of the 31 child pornography and predatory criminal sexual assault charges he faced. As part of a plea arrangement, Chief Judge John Baricevic sentenced him to 56 years. The victim, who is now 11, continues to go to counseling, authorities said. ST. LOUIS The partner of a former city police officer charged with murdering a drug suspect has been granted immunity from prosecution after refusing to answer a grand jurys questions, court documents say. That cleared the way for Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer to order the ex-partner, Brian Bianchi, to testify in the case against Jason Stockley for the shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith after a high-speed pursuit almost five years ago. Bianchi may have had the best vantage point. A police dashboard camera recorded the event, but its view was obscured by air bags that deployed in Smiths car when the two vehicles collided. Court documents show that Bianchi appeared before a grand jury July 7 and cited his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to respond to questions. That prompted Assistant Circuit Attorney Cynthia Copeland to demand his testimony under immunity. The immunity does not protect Bianchi from charges of perjury if he is found to lie or give misleading statements under oath. It remained unclear whether things he says under immunity from state prosecution might still be used against him in a federal court. Bianchis attorney, Jim Towey, said Tuesday his client plans to cooperate with the order, but that his story wont differ from the original statements he made to the FBI and U.S. attorneys office that Smith pointed a gun at him and his partner before being killed. Towey said Bianchi fully cooperated with federal investigators during the original investigation. The lawyer said he had advised Bianchi not to testify before a grand jury earlier this month because Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce said her office had new evidence in the case, but not revealed what. He said he had then told Bianchi, If they want you, they can give you immunity. Bianchi has not been accused of any crime in the incident. He did not fire at Smith but has said he yelled Gun! to Stockley in an encounter they had with Smith before the chase. Stockley quit the department in 2013 and moved to Houston; Bianchi remains on the force. Stockley, now 35, was charged May 16 with first-degree murder in the killing of Smith on Dec. 20, 2011. He is at liberty on $100,000 bail. The incident started, police said, when the officers saw Smith, 24, in a suspected drug deal on the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant. Smith maneuvered away in his car, leading a pursuit. After a crash, Stockley confronted Smith, who was shot to death while sitting in the drivers seat of his car. Stockley has said he fired in self-defense. Court documents say Stockleys DNA was on a gun recovered from Smiths car and that Stockley was heard saying to Bianchi, presumably on audio from the dashboard camera during the chase, that he was going to kill Smith. Towey, who represents Bianchi and Offciers Michael Anderson, Colin Rumpsa, William Clinton and Denise Johnson, is seeking to quash a June 24 grand jury subpoena for any written or recorded statements they made to criminal or internal affairs investigators related to Smiths killing. The motion argues that all statements to internal affairs investigators are closed under Garrity v. New Jersey, a U.S. Supreme Court case. That decision held that while officers could lose their jobs for refusing to answer questions for an internal investigation, their answers were still protected against use in a criminal prosecution by their Fifth Amendment rights. A hearing on the motion is set for 4 p.m. Aug. 3 in front of Judge Michael K. Mullen. Christine Byers of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. UPDATED at 9 a.m. with hearing rescheduled. CLAYTON A St. Louis County judge will decide next month whether to increase the $500,000 bail for a St. Louis man charged with shooting and paralyzing a Ballwin police officer. St. Louis County assistant prosecutor Jason Denney will argue that bail for Antonio Taylor, 31, on charges of first-degree assault of a law enforcement officer, armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a weapon should be increased. A hearing on the matter was set for Wednesday, but has been rescheduled for Monday to give Taylor's public defenders time to prepare for the hearing. Ballwin Officer Michael Flamion was paralyzed after being shot in the neck during a traffic stop on New Ballwin Road, police have said. Police said Taylor shot Flamion with a .22-caliber pistol. A ventilator was helping Flamion breathe after the shooting. Flamion's "injuries are indicative of the danger the defendant poses to the victim and the community and should be considered by the court," Denney said in a court filing Thursday. Taylor's address is listed in court records as being in the 1200 block of Tower Grove Avenue in St. Louis. He is being represented by public defenders Kayla Williams and Beverly Hauber. Taylor's criminal history in Missouri includes 2011 convictions of unlawful possession of a firearm and resisting arrest. In those cases, he was given a two-year prison sentence. He served prison time in Oklahoma for robbery from November 2006 to January 2009. After getting out of prison, court records say, police say Taylor was stopped by officers in Beckham County, Okla., in July 2009 for faulty headlights and was found with a loaded .22-caliber rifle lying on the floor of the car. The rifle had been reported stolen out of St. Louis. Taylor was later sentenced to federal prison for 30 months for a conviction of being a felon in possession of a gun. He was released last year. The Jefferson County prosecuting attorney wont be pressing charges against Dianne Critchlow, the former superintendent of the Fox School District who a state audit found misused hundreds of thousands of district dollars for personal use. Forrest K. Wegge, the countys prosecuting attorney, issued a statement earlier this month that said his office would turn the matter over to federal investigators because it has become clear that Missouri criminal statutes are insufficient to accomplish the level of accountability the taxpayers of Fox C-6 deserve. In May, Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway released a report that revealed Critchlow racked up about $100,000 in questionable expenses on three school district credit cards for things such as iTunes gift cards, shampoo, watches, wedding gifts and a garlic press over two years ending in 2014. She manipulated her own salary without board approval, the audit states, by drawing up contract adjustments and signing them with the boards electronic signature to net about $20,000 over two years beyond what the Fox School Board had agreed to pay her. And Critchlow double dipped, the report continues, by requesting and receiving reimbursement for some of the personal purchases made on the district credit cards essentially paying herself with district money for the goods she was getting for free. Critchlows attorney, Brandy Barth, criticized the audit as a one-sided and biased account filled with inaccuracies, half information and misleading statements. Galloways office turned over the findings to Wegges office. A six-week criminal investigation by the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office, in collaboration with the FBI, followed. After discussions with the United States Attorneys Office, this matter is being referred to their office for potential federal prosecution, Wegges statement says. As the criminal investigation continues, this office will also continue to work closely with law enforcement and stay in communication with the United States Attorneys Office to ensure that any individuals better suited for State prosecution are brought to justice in Jefferson County. Wegge said he would not comment further because of the continuing investigation. Renee Rueter, who leads the Jefferson County Council, requested weeks ago that Wegge release the findings of his review. Parents and district staff are still angry, hurt and frustrated by Critchlows actions, she said. She added that shes hopeful Critchlow will be held accountable. This was a huge betrayal of trust, Reuter said. Its going to take a while to rebuild it. My hope is that we get something more useful out of the U.S. Attorneys Office. ST. LOUIS A California venture capitalist is suing John Brunner, one of four candidates for governor in next Tuesday's Missouri Republican primary, alleging Brunner defamed him during a recent political debate by calling him "the owner of a teenage sex slave. Silicon Valley investor Michael Goguen has donated $1 million to one of Brunner's opponents, Eric Greitens. Goguen subsequently made national news when a female acquaintance filed a lawsuit against him alleging years of sexual abuse. Goguen has denied the allegation, and has filed a counter-suit against her alleging extortion. Greitens' three GOP campaign opponents, including Brunner, have turned the issue into a political hammer, repeatedly calling on Greitens to return Goguen's money. Brunner took it a step further during a heated exchange with Greitens on stage during a debate in St. Charles on July 13, saying: (I) refuse to be lectured by a guy who took $1 million from the owner of a teenage sex slave. The woman's suit against Goguen doesn't claim she was a teenager during her interactions with him, and she hasn't referred to herself in the suit as a slave, Goguen's lawyers state in the suit against Brunner. They also allege that Brunner's comments left the false impression with the public that Goguen has been criminally charged. The woman made her allegations in a breach-of-contract civil suit that she is pursuing against Goguen, but there have been no criminal charges. John Brunner has dragged Plaintiff Michael Goguens name and reputation through the mud in a transparent effort to score political points in his campaign for the Republican nomination for Governor of Missouri, alleges Goguen's suit, filed Tuesday in St. Charles Circuit Court. Mr. Brunner has knowingly and maliciously spread demonstrable lies about Mr. Goguen, falsely accused him of heinous acts and crimes, and defamed him simply because he donated money to one of Mr. Brunners political opponents. Brunner didn't use Goguen's name when he made his "sex slave" comment though Goguen is the only donor who has given Greitens $1 million, and the sex-abuse suit against him had been widely reported. "[T]he statement by Mr. Brunner was understood by the audience and reported in the media to specifically relate to Mr. Goguen," states Goguen's suit. In a written response to the Post-Dispatch, Brunner's campaign called Goguen's suit "a desperate attempt by Eric Greitens' California political benefactor and friend" to divert attention from the fact that Greitens is a former Democrat. Brunner, a retired St. Louis businessman, and Greitens, a former Navy SEAL, have been sharply acrimonious with one another for months on the campaign trail. The other two GOP candidates are former Missouri House Speaker Catherine Hanaway and Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder. The winner of Tuesday's Republican primary will go on to the Nov. 8 general election, likely facing Democrat Chris Koster, who is currently Missouri's attorney general. With a week remaining until the Aug. 2 primary, the Democratic candidates running for the 1st Congressional District seat are making their final push to convince voters to send them to Washington. Incumbent Rep. William Lacy Clay is making the pitch that his advocacy on behalf of low-income Missourians, his efforts to redevelop north St. Louis and his track record of bringing federal dollars back to Missouri, make him worthy of a ninth term in Congress. His main challenger, state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal is campaigning on the idea that persistent challenges, including socioeconomic inequality, health concerns related to radioactive waste and a lack of quality education choices for district residents have gone unanswered for too long. A long shot in the race, St. Louis School Board member Bill Haas considers himself the candidate with the most ambitious ideas, therefore the most likely to bring about sweeping change. His platform includes improving third-grade reading levels, brokering a lasting peace in the Middle East and ending animal cruelty on factory farms. The 1st District is heavily Democratic, so the winner of this three-way race is expected to have a clear path to victory in Novembers general election. The district spans St. Louis, north St. Louis County and parts of the central corridor. On the Republican ballot, Steven G. Bailey, a business professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, is facing off against Paul Berry III, a bail bondsman and consultant. So far, Clay looks to be well-positioned to win a seat hes won eight times. On Monday, he secured a coveted endorsement from President Barack Obama. The president won St. Louis which makes up a large part of the 1st District by 82 percent of the vote four years ago. Obama is also currently enjoying an approval rating hovering near 50 percent. Money matters In more good news for Clay, his fundraising has dwarfed his opponents. He started this election cycle with more than $300,000 in his campaign accounts. Over the last 19 months, hes added nearly $500,000. After operating costs and other expenditures, Clay is approaching next weeks primary with more than $400,000 in campaign cash. Meanwhile, Chappelle-Nadal, started this cycle with no money in the bank. Since then, shes raised $67,000 and spent $40,000. By mid-July, she had $26,920 in campaign dollars. Even with a clear financial disadvantage, Chappelle-Nadal believes this is the year of the anti-establishment candidate. With the rise of Donald Trump and the better-than-expected showing by Bernie Sanders, Chappelle-Nadal said there was proof that establishment candidates could no longer coast into office solely on name recognition. When is Congressman Clay ever in St. Louis? she asked. When people were out in the streets of Ferguson, no one knew where he was. Theres no playbook or script on how you respond to a human disaster, you just show up. The congressman didnt show up. The charge that Clay was absent during the Ferguson protests is one that has dogged him since the police killing of Michael Brown in August 2014. Clay bristles at that attack. He maintains that he did show up in Ferguson, but more importantly, he was a force behind the scenes pushing the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Browns death. That investigation, he said, has changed the way Ferguson and its police force operate today. My political opponents see a tragedy like the death of Michael Brown, and they try to make political hay out of it, he said. I find that kind of rhetoric does not match my record of service to this community. Last week, as temperatures inched near 100 degrees, the congressman canvassed North County, chatting with undecided voters at strip malls and talking up his political achievements. Speaking to a reporter, Clay pointed to his seat on the House Financial Services Committee where he worked on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform before later helping create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He also spoke about working with the Obama administration to secure $500 million for Missouri as part of the 2009 stimulus program and also pushing to keep the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in St. Louis. Clay said he was also proud of his efforts to get St. Louis named as one of 22 national economic promise zones in which the federal government works with local leaders to boost job growth and reduce crime. All anyone has to do is look at my record, he said. After that, I would ask them if they think there is a better person running in this election to go to D.C. and be a voice for the people in this community. The challengers As for Chappelle-Nadal, shes been striking out on foot every morning for months, wearing her neon green campaign shirt, hoping a persistent door-to-door campaign will pay off. She mostly talks about the radioactive West Lake landfill, the burning Bridgeton landfill and a number of other lesser-known underground waste-dumping sites that she says are leading to cancer-clusters. She has dozens of stories memorized, reciting off the top of her head peoples names, what kind of cancer they have, when they contracted it and where they live. The same silence that allowed Ferguson to occur has allowed Bridgeton to occur, she said. This is my crusade. It is inhumane that nothing has been done. This is something our elected officials should have been fighting for a long time ago. Chappelle-Nadal believes shes earned a reputation as a fighter. I scare some people, but I get a lot done, she said. There are a lot of people who tell me to be quiet, but thats what the oppressive system wants. I am not going to apologize for who I am. Also unapologetic is Haas, the third Democrat in the race. He estimates thats hes run for office 20 times in the last 28 years, winning five races. Its given him his own type of name recognition, he said. If you give up on your dream of public service because winning is too difficult, then you must not want it very much, he said. Haas sees improving early childhood reading levels as the most pressing issue facing the community. It solves your crime problem and at the same time youre training the employees of the future, he said. Job development and rebuilding cities all stems from having an educated workforce. Although conventional wisdom says Haas doesnt have much of a chance, the candidate said he couldnt forgive himself if he didnt run he has ideas he needs to share. I run for public office because I believe I have a contribution to make, he said. Im not going to die with my song still inside my heart. All candidates are expected to participate in a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Christ Church Cathedral, 1210 Locust Street. JEFFERSON CITY Democrats in the Missouri House say Republican-led efforts to improve the ethical atmosphere in the capital city will be squandered if GOP leaders fail to expel a St. Charles County lawmaker who moved out of his district last month. In a letter to House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, Democratic leaders say the lack of action against Republican Rep. Ron Hicks casts a pall of illegitimacy over the entire House of Representatives. In June, Hicks moved from his home in St. Peters to Dardenne Prairie, putting his new home an estimated 10 miles outside of the borders of the 107th House District. When a state lawmaker moves out of his or her district, the Missouri Constitution says the seat must be declared vacant. Hicks earlier said he still wants to serve his constituents for the final six months of his term and was hoping to avoid any blowback from his colleagues. But House Minority Leader Jake Hummel, D-St. Louis, and Assistant House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty, D-Kansas City, say it is Richardsons duty as speaker to convince Hicks to step down. In the time since you became speaker more than a year ago after your predecessor resigned in disgrace, you have made great efforts to improve the standards for ethical and honorable behavior in the House. Each day Rep. Hicks unlawfully remains in office undermines your hard work to restore trust in state government, the two page letter notes. Further, the two Democrats say if Hicks refuses to quit, Richardson should take the lead on initiating expulsion proceedings against Hicks when the House returns for the fall veto session Sept. 14. Hicks, who has served in the House since 2012, is not seeking re-election. He has not returned multiple messages over the past two weeks. Payroll records show he has been paid at least $3,000 since moving and is on pace to earn a total of $35,000 for the year if he stays in office through December. His office in the Capitol was open Tuesday, but he wasnt there. Richardson said his office is taking the matter "very seriously." "I am going to be very deliberate in this matter, depriving 37,000 taxpaying Missourians from the representation they elected is not something that I am going to take lightly," Richardson said in a statement Tuesday. In their letter, Hummel and McCann Beatty said they dont believe Hicks decision to stay in office is motivated by ill-intent. But, they wrote, For the good of the institution, we simply cant set the precedent for House members to openly flout the constitution without fear of facing the harsh consequences that it imposes. Richardson spent much of his first session as speaker pushing to clean up the Legislature after he was elevated to the post when former Speaker John Diehl resigned after having inappropriate relations with a college intern. Among ethics laws put on the books were a six-month cooling off period for lawmakers wanting to become lobbyists and banned lawmakers from serving as paid political consultants. "A key part of my agenda as speaker has been to restore order and trust to Jefferson City and make the people proud of the government that represents them and I remain committed to that goal," Richardson said. PHILADELPHIA Its been logistical chaos trying to get around town during the first two days of the convention. The streets of this old city are narrow anyway, and with the massive crowds and continuing protests by Bernie Sanders supporters, convention buses and cabs have had trouble moving around the Wells Fargo convention center. It took us two hours Monday to traverse the six miles from our hotel. Of course, there has been plenty of political chaos as well, though theres a feeling there that that situation is getting better now. The overriding issue on the convention floor during the day Monday was the Sanders supporters fury at the DNC and Hillary Clinton. If youve been watching the news coverage, you know that Sanders himself got booed by his own supporters at one point on Monday while calling for unity. On the convention floor, the Sanders supporters were altering the pro-unity signs that were being handed out, to make them pro-Bernie signs. Some of them put tape over their mouths for the television cameras, to illustrate their allegation that the party is trying to silence them. There are quite a few people who are still really hurting. Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays, Sanders wrote in an email to his supporters on the floor, appealing for unity. Thats what the corporate media wants. Thats what Donald Trump wants. But thats not what will expand the progressive movement in this country. Those of us (like me) who are Clinton delegates are trying to keep lines of communications open. Of course, Clinton was in exactly Sanders situation eight years ago. This is how democracy works. The speeches Monday night helped, especially Michelle Obamas speech praising Clinton. It felt like a turning point to a lot of people. We got a surprise at our daily Missouri delegation breakfast meeting Tuesday morning: Sanders himself stopped in to talk to us. He spoke for a few minutes about unity and some of the other points from his speech the night before. He was well received all around. Everyone wanted pictures with him. At this writing, were bracing for Tuesday nights floor vote on the nomination. Most agree its a good thing that Sanders supporters will be able to cast their votes for him, instead of having Clinton nominated by acclamation, but the potential for more conflict is certainly there. Well see. Missouri delegate Amanda Kelley of St. Charles is sharing her thoughts from the floor of the Democratic National Convention this week. She is a St. Charles County Democratic committeewoman. WASHINGTON Rep. Billy Long is heavily favored to win a crowded Republican primary in his District 7 congressional race next week, and if successful, he would face no serious opposition to be re-elected in November. Long has more than $624,000 in his campaign account. But the Springfield, Mo., Republican is planning a star-studded campaign finance weekend Sept. 30-Oct. 3 in hopes of adding more. According to an invitation, it boasts a concert by Celine Dion and an appearance by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. It will take place in fabulous Las Vegas, the invitation says, at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel on the strip. Fundraising is a perpetual motion machine for many in Missouris congressional delegation, where recent competition at the ballot box has been scarce, but coffer-building churns on. Its both symptomatic of, and instrumental in, the culture of incumbency that has made a vast majority of congressional elections in the United States virtual walkovers this year. All eight members of the U.S. House for Missouri are heavily favored for re-election this year, yet five of the eight have raised more than $1 million with three lucrative months to go. Several have campaign accounts much larger than that, money that could be significant if one of the six Republicans in the delegation emerges as a challenger to Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., in 2018. McCaskill spent $21.6 million to get re-elected in 2012. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin, who faces in Democratic state Sen. Bill Otto potentially the toughest general election challenger in November, has raised more than $1.75 million during this election cycle and had more than $2.4 million in her campaign accounts as of July 13, according to the Federal Election Commission. Otto has raised $273,000 and showed just over $83,000 in the bank as of mid-July. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth, has raised over $1.5 million and had $1.9 million in the bank. His closest money contender, Constitutional Party candidate Doanita Simmons, had raised $1,662 and had $897 left as of July 13. Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, has outraised his Democratic primary opponent, state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, by more than 7-1, and has more than $400,000 in the bank, compared with about $27,000 for Chappelle-Nadal. The lopsidedness spans the state. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Tarkio, who flirted with running for the Senate in 2012, has raised nearly $1.2 million and had $878,000 in the bank on July 13. Democrat challenger Travis Gonzalez has raised $221 and spent nothing. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Cape Girardeau, has raised almost $1.3 million. Two Republican primary opponents, Hal Brown and Todd Mahn, have taken in less than $50,000 between them. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, in mid-July had an almost 100-1 cash advantage over top Democratic challenger Gordon Christensen and outraised him $716,000 to roughly $130,000 And in Kansas City, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat, has raised $736,000 to the $1,350 recorded by Republican challenger Michael Burris. Why continuously raise money and press even greater financial advantages? A Long spokesman described it as part of the job, and said the fact that he is the only member of the Missouri delegation to serve on the Energy and Commerce committee makes him, in some respects, a statewide figure on key issues for Missouri. People just appreciate the member of Congress that he is, said Royce Reding, a campaign spokesman for Long. Just the work that he is doing on the committee that he represents just a lot of people who want to support him and look forward to supporting him, Reding said. Mary Byrne, co-founder of the Missouri Coalition Against Common Core, is one of seven Republicans challenging Long next week. She has raised less than $25,000 and had $1,528 in her campaign accounts on July 13. She says that while Long has flooded the southwestern Missouri district with campaign ads, billboards and roadside signs, she and volunteers have gone door-to-door, and believes that can win her the nomination Tuesday. The anti-Washington sentiment is palpable, she said, and she portrayed Longs Las Vegas fundraiser as symptomatic of why that is so. He is supposed to represent them in Washington, Byrne said. What the consensus is that he is representing Washington to us. She added: He is capitulating to the high rollers who congregate in Vegas. JEFFERSON CITY Nurses trained to conduct forensic sexual assault examinations will soon perform them on-site at 22 facilities in the Missouri Department of Corrections as part of a new cost-cutting program. Nurses often perform a basic medical exam on sexual assault victims to make sure they are physically okay and to check them for serious injuries. But sexual assault nurse examiners, or SANE-certified nurses, can conduct forensic examinations to collect evidence. With SANE-certified nurses performing those examinations at the prisons themselves, it eliminates the need to transport incarcerated offenders to a hospital, said David Owen, a spokesman for the department. Owen said on-site examinations will begin in August. The departments contracted medical provider, Corizon Health, held training sessions in April and May for 22 participating nurses. Training entails 40 hours of online instruction as well as an on-site training program, where candidates practice clinical exams with live or artificial models, Owen said. Corizon spokeswoman Martha Harbin said Missouri would be the first state to have nurses providing this type of on-site care throughout their prison system. "There are some jails and individual prisons around the country that may have SANE nurses, but not on a statewide basis," she said. She also said minimizing movement of offenders in the local community is far safer. Health care advocates argue that having nurses perform sexual assault examinations leads to less trauma for victims and better and more timely evidence collection. SANE-certified nurses in prisons will also make the state more compliant with federal law that requires states adopt a zero tolerance policy against all forms of offender sexual abuse and make its prevention a top priority. Most nurses dont undergo any forensic training in nursing school, and Missouri doesnt have a statewide training program, leaving hospitals to make their own policy and nurses to pursue their own certification. In St. Louis, the local YWCA partners with the St. Louis University Hospital to conduct training sessions, but similar opportunities arent available statewide. The intensive training is just one reason why SANE-certified nurses have been hard to come by in Missouri, said Jennifer Carter Dochler, public policy director for the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence. The work can also be traumatic, she said, and many people haven't even heard of them, mistakenly believing only doctors can perform such examinations. She praised the idea of putting SANE-certified nurses into correctional facilities. This is wonderful, especially in a time where our state has a shortage of SANE nurses, Carter Dochler said. It definitely reduces barriers. Youre not having to try to take people to a different facility. Carter Dochler said she hopes to see similar efforts in the future as more longtime SANE nurses begin to retire, pointing to rape crisis centers her organization has spoken to that have spent hours trying to find someone to perform an examination on a victim. JEFFERSON CITY A state law that capped unemployment benefits for laid off workers at 13 weeks has been found unconstitutional by the Missouri Supreme Court. In a 4-3 decision, the high court found that the Republican-led Legislature incorrectly approved the change, which slashed the maximum number of weeks of jobless benefits to one of the lowest levels in the nation. The controversial measure moved through the Republican-led House and Senate in the spring, but was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon, who said the reduction would be unfair to people who were out of work. The House overrode the governors veto in the spring, but the Senate didnt act on the override until the September veto session. The court court said the Senate missed its constitutional window to act. Allowing the veto override to stand would encourage the Legislature to engage in gamesmanship, delay, and dilatory conduct that would harm the people of Missouri by failing to enact legislation in a timely manner," noted the 13-page majority opinion written by Justice George Draper. The people of Missouri are entitled to the efficient, orderly conduct of legislative business during the General Assemblys session, Draper wrote. Nixon praised the decision and said the Missouri Department of Labor will work to make sure people get their jobless benefits. The judges ruling clarifies the law limiting when the legislature may vote to override a Governors veto and is good news for thousands of Missourians who were wrongfully denied the unemployment benefits they had earned," Nixon said. Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard slammed the decision, saying it "tramples" on the respect for a co-equal form of government. Todays Supreme Court decision is just another example of an activist judiciary overstepping its constitutional authority. The Legislature is the voice of the people of Missouri and with todays decision the Court has substituted its own voice for theirs," said Richard, R-Joplin. The measure enacted one of the nations toughest limits for receiving unemployment benefits. It would cap benefits at 13 weeks if the statewide unemployment rate remains below 6 percent. The court's decision means the benefit cap now returns to its previously length of a maximum of 20 weeks, said attorney James Faul of the St. Louis law firm of Hartnett Gladney Hetterman. "I think this is a big win for working families," Faul said. Even by restoring the cap to 20 weeks Nixon said Missouri's benefits remain among the lowest in the nation. Only eight other states pay less than the national norm of 26 weeks, while only about one third of Missourians who apply for unemployment insurance benefits actually receive them, Nixon said. House Minority Leader Jake Hummel, D-St. Louis, said the courts ruling helps repair a gaping hole in the states social safety net. With todays Supreme Court decision, we hope GOP lawmakers have finally learned that claiming to be a constitutional conservative requires one to obey the constitution, Hummel said. Republicans said the shorter time period, as well as other changes included in the law, would ensure the states unemployment benefits system is solvent in the future. Dan Mehan, president of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the ruling was disappointing. "This common-sense measure was designed to protect Missouris unemployment insurance system from economic downturns that have repeatedly thrown Missouris fund into insolvency over the last decade, Mehan said. Joining Draper in the majority were Justices Laura Stith, Paul Wilson and Richard Teitelman. In a dissent, Justice Mary Russell said the court should not trespass on the proceedings of the legislative branch. Joining Russell in the dissent were Chief Justice Patricia Breckenridge and Justice Zel Fischer. FERGUSON For nearly two years, Ferguson City Council meetings have featured gag gifts, props, banners, shouts, rants, curses and unwelcome physical contact. To restore order, the City Council unanimously approved a Code of Conduct ordinance last month. The three-page, 1,140-word law prohibits props, obscene language and approaching the dais without permission. It limits the size of signs and banners to 18 inches by 18 inches and forbids attendees from putting their feet on seats to block the aisles. It also bans knitting during meetings. On Tuesday evening, the ordinance will be put to the test for the first time. Ferguson city leaders say they had to do something to address the lack of respect and dignity after several residents black and white complained that the unruly meetings made them uncomfortable. We had one meeting where Councilwoman (Laverne) Mitchom was trying to say something, and people in the audience were yelling and screaming back at her, said City Manager DeCarlon Seewood. It was just getting out of control. But without disruptive protests, including those at council meetings, after the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in August 2014, Fergusons Police Department would still be ticketing impoverished residents to keep City Hall afloat, activists said. Federal judge approves monitor for Ferguson consent decree Squire Patton Boggs, a law firm based in Cleveland, was picked to ensure reforms are adequate in the St. Louis suburb. This is how we forced change, said Emily Davis, a member of the Ferguson Collaborative group. And (they) are doing everything in (their) power to shut down peoples ability to make change. Some activists said that the Code of Conduct would provoke the very behavior its intended to suppress and that provisions in the ordinance seem to target individual protesters. One activist often wears a clown nose when she speaks to the council. Another often asks Mayor James Knowles III and other council members direct questions. And yet another sits in the audience and knits during council meetings. The new ordinance forbids anything but writing materials at the podium where citizens address the council. It says comments should be directed at the entire council, not just the mayor, and places knitting needles among a long list of items not allowed in the councils chambers. I am purposely bringing my biggest, bulkiest, non-threatening knitting that Im currently working on, said resident Angelique Kidd. Are they going to arrest me for knitting? ... They are literally making the same mistake over and over again. The ordinance also stipulates that anyone in the audience will refrain from creating, provoking or participating in any type of disturbance involving unwelcome physical contact. Some activists have interpreted the provision to mean that they would be guilty of a violation if they say something that provokes someone else to hit them. Seewood said that was not the case. Despite the ordinances specificity, its unlikely that it was drafted with particular Ferguson protesters in mind. In fact, cities and other organizations across the country have adopted virtually identical versions of it as far back as 2008. The ordinance specifically says the council may place restrictions on the time, place and manner for interactions between the public and City Council, echoing language in Supreme Court decisions over the past half century, said Ken Paulson, president of the First Amendment Center and dean of the College of Mass Communication at Middle Tennessee State University. Time, place and manner is a honored phrase in First Amendment law, Paulson said. Although we are always free to say what we wish, the time, place and manner in which we say it can be controlled if government has an overriding and rational public interest in doing so. Paulson said Fergusons new ordinance contained restrictions already established under the First Amendment. The conduct ordinance is just to make sure that everybody feels that they can come to their City Council meeting and get information, be part of the process, speak if they want to speak without feeling intimidated, Councilwoman Laverne Mitchom. Its not to violate anybodys First Amendment rights. ... Whether we disagree on something or not, we need to come together. ... Ferguson is trying to heal and move forward. The council will consider two amendments to the ordinance on Tuesday. One changes a prohibition on using cellphones during meetings to only requiring residents to silence them and refrain from taking calls. Another repeals a restriction on clapping. Seewood said the council may consider allowing knitting needles as well. He also said that Gerry Jasper, the activist who addresses the council wearing a clown nose, could continue to do so, because it was part of her presentation. Jasper turns 65 on Tuesday. She plans to celebrate her birthday at the meeting and to bring more than just the red nose. Shell take cupcakes along with Q-tips symbolizing the command Quit Taking It Personal wrapped in bows to pass out, she said. If thats thought of as a weapon, Ill be in trouble, she said. I think Ill be fine. Well find out. Lezley McSpadden, the mother of slain Ferguson teen Michael Brown, appeared at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday as part of the group "Mothers of the Movement" women who have lost their children in encounters with police or to gun violence. McSpadden didnt speak, but other women in the group did, including Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teen shot to death in a 2012 encounter with neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman. Hillary Clinton has the compassion and understanding to comfort a grieving mother; she has the courage to lead the fight for common-sense gun legislation, Fulton said. And she has a plan to repair the divide that so often exists between law enforcement and the communities they serve. This isn't about being politically correct. It's about protecting our children. The mothers fanned out across the stage and at one point McSpadden appeared to wipe a tear from her eye. Their inclusion, without a presence of relatives of fallen police officers, upset local and national police groups. Brown was shot and killed by then-Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson in 2014. A St. Louis County grand jury declined to indict Wilson in the shooting, and an investigation by the federal Justice Department concluded that Wilson fatally shot Brown while reasonably fearing for his own life. The women spoke after former Attorney General Eric Holder, whose Justice Department cleared Wilson of civil rights violations. The Justice Department later forced a consent decree on the city of Ferguson aimed at improving the citys police department and courts. There should be no tension between protecting those who valiantly risk their lives to serve and ensuring that everyone is treated fairly by police, said Holder, the brother of a retired police officer. Police organizations criticized convention organizers for shunning families of police officers killed in the line of duty. "We were hoping that Hillary Clinton could be as good for law enforcement as Bill Clinton, but we've now seen that's not the case," said Jeff Roorda, business manager for the St. Louis Police Officers' Association and St. Louis County Police Association. "This is such a big wedge issue and the Democratic Party is on the wrong side of that issue." Missouri Fraternal Order of Police president and Lee's Summit police Sgt. Rick Inglima said the announcement that McSpadden would appear made police "very concerned" and they "hope this is not going to perpetuate a message of hate that we've seen so often by some of the current movements." "We certainly wish there was a place on the DNC stage for the families of the police officers who died doing what they loved, protecting their communities," he said. PHILADELPHIA We arrived in Philadelphia on Sunday morning, excited about kicking off the Democratic National Convention on Monday in a show of party unity. Im still confident that well ultimately be able to do that. But my first hours on the ground in Philly illustrated that its going to take some work. The story broke Friday about the leaked emails that showed members of the Democratic National Committee disparaging Bernie Sanders, and by Sunday morning it was the talk of the town here. The bus that was to take us from the airport to our hotel in downtown Philadelphia ended up stopping about a block and a half short of the destination, blocked by a protest march of Sanders supporters, and we had to walk the rest of the way. Im a Hillary Clinton delegate, and I was wearing some Clinton paraphernalia. One of my fellow passengers wore Sanders name on a sash. We walked together through the protesters with no trouble. Still, theres no denying the discord here, though it does seem to be worse in some other state delegations. We Missourians are a little battle weary, after Ferguson and some other things. There are some of our people on Bernies side who are very upset but still ready to talk. Some other states delegations arent where we are on that. One thing that both the Clinton and Sanders factions of our delegation seemed to agree upon was that DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz should resign her post now, right away, and not wait after the convention, as she had already announced. (And by the end of the day, thats exactly what happened.) This was the sense from all sides during our first delegate breakfast meeting Monday morning and that was even before we heard that Wasserman Schultz had been booed and jeered that morning at her own Florida delegation breakfast elsewhere in Philly. Our breakfast was calmer. U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., a Clinton supporter, spoke to the group, and turned immediately to the Bernie people in the room and said she was here to represent them, too. Robin Smith, candidate for Missouri secretary of state, told of her brothers experiences registering voters in the South during the Civil Rights era, which is an issue we could all get behind. Michael Eric Dyson, the Georgetown sociologist and radio host, talked to us about the importance of unity. Thats what were hoping for as we head into the first night of the convention unity but theres still some work to do. Missouri delegate Amanda Kelley of St. Charles is sharing her thoughts from the floor of the Democratic National Convention this week. She is a St. Charles County Democratic committeewoman. God weeps, Pope Francis said during his visit to Philadelphia last September. The topic was the churchs sad response to the sexual abuse of children by priests. I commit to the careful oversight to ensure that youth are protected. Some careful oversight should be directed to the U.S. District Court in St. Louis. There a priest charged in 2014 with the sexual abuse of a minor has gone on a fishing expedition. To try to prove that Father Xiu Hui Joseph Jiang is a victim of an elaborate conspiracy, his lawyers are seeking emails that could identify victims in unrelated cases. The lawsuit was filed against the city and two city police officers who investigated the claims of a boy who said Jiang had abused him on two occasions in 2011 and 2012. Jiang was charged in April 2014 with two counts of statutory sodomy, but 14 months later, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce dismissed the charges without explanation. She said her office remains hopeful that charges will be refiled in the future. Jiang filed his lawsuit shortly after the charges were dismissed. Also named in the lawsuit were the boys parents; the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests; and two of SNAPs local officers, David Clohessy and Barbara Doris. Because the city is a defendant, the suit was filed in federal court. Thats where things get tricky. A state court ruled in a different case that SNAP may qualify as a rape crisis center and is entitled under state law to keep certain communications with its clients private. But federal evidence rules are different. U.S. District Judge Carol E. Jackson ordered SNAP to disclose records about the boys claims against Jiang as well as emails between SNAP and attorney Ken Chackes, who frequently represents clerical abuse victims. Jiangs attorneys want to know how much money Chackes has donated to SNAP over the years, suggesting that SNAP is steering clients to him. Oddly, Jiang didnt sue Chackes. If hes getting rich suing the church, youd think hed be part of the alleged conspiracy. The problem, SNAP says, is that those emails include the names of victims not associated with the Jiang case. Three of them filed a motion Friday asking Jackson to keep their identities secret. Jiang, who came to St. Louis with his mentor, Archbishop Robert Carlson, in 2009, had well-publicized issues with a teenage girl in Lincoln County 2012. That case was dropped, too. In the current suit, he is being represented by religious liberty activist D. John Sauer, not archdiocesan lawyers. But Carlson remains Jiangs boss. He can put his friend first, or he can consider whether the popes pledge to ensure the protection of children would be served by outing victims and harassing their advocates. If Larry Kay, head of the Missouri Veterans Commission, could walk away from his job with a golden parachute like Fox News Roger Ailes, commissioners might find it easier to force his resignation. Alas, $40 million parting gifts are unknown in the public sector. So the commission is dithering instead of doing what it should following a Cole County jurys $2.8 million verdict last week against Kay for sexual discrimination and harassment of a former employee. The Ailes and Kay cases are different in specifics, but otherwise similar. Ailes, 76, is accused of harassing women in a sexual way. Kay, 55, is accused of discriminating against and harassing a woman in a job performance way. The common point is that they both showed a pattern of discrimination against women that is unfathomable and illegal in 2016. It brings to mind a celebrated 1981 case in Kansas City, in which TV news co-anchor Christine Craft, then 37, was demoted after a focus group said she was too old, too unattractive and wouldnt defer to men. At the time there was only one woman over 40 anchoring a network-affiliated newscast. Thirty-five years later, there are plenty of women older than 40 anchoring the news. But Ailes was still hitting on women and threatening their jobs. The Murdoch family, controlling owners of Fox News parent company, moved to oust Ailes after several women alleged sexual harassment. Closer to home, there is Kay creating a hostile work environment and harassing a 56-year-old woman. The jury found he showed favoritism to men and younger employees. The Veterans Commission has nine members appointed by the Missouri House, Senate and governor. Its job is to manage the states seven veterans homes and four veterans cemeteries. There are many such commissions in state government, many offering plum patronage openings that can be used to return political favors. The commission seldom makes headlines. It should make one now by dismissing Kay. Sen. Scott Sifton, D-Affton, is the only commissioner who has called for his resignation. Otherwise, Missouri women can only wonder what century it is. Kay was sued by Pat Rowe Kerr, the commissions former senior adviser of veterans outreach. Kerr charged that she was fired in 2009 because Kay has a problem with older, successful women and created a hostile work environment. Kay said he fired Kerr because of budget cuts. Kay, a brigadier general in the Missouri National Guard, was career military for 31 years. Originally from California, Mo., he joined the commission in 2006 and was promoted to executive director two years later. He makes $105,300 a year. Veterans, men and women alike, have served our nation well. They deserve to know that the states veterans commission is run on the values they fought to preserve. LONDON MARKET CLOSE: Pound ebbs; ECB talks tough on inflation Thursday, October 27, 2022 - 17:15 London's FTSE 100 nudged cautiously higher on Thursday, as the pound's momentum finally waned, while European equities closed mixed as traders digested a rate hike by the European Central Bank. The FTSE 100 index, stacked with firms that count their earnings in dollars, closed up 17.62 points, or 0.3% at 7,073.69 on Thursday. The pound was quoted at $1.1573 at the London equities close Thursday, down from $1.1612 at the close on Wednesday. A weaker pound is a tailwind for the FTSE. The FTSE 250 ended down 23.97 points, or 0.1%, at 18,081.92. The AIM All-Share closed down just 0.21 of a point at 809.46. The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.4% at 707.04, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.2% at 15,534.37, and the Cboe Small Companies ended up 0.3% at 12,385.01. In European equities on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended down 0.5%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended up 0.1%. The European Central Bank on Thursday lifted its benchmark interest rates by 75 basis points, as expected. The ECB is keen to keep a lid on inflation, which "remains far too high". Inflation will stay above its 2% target for "an extended period", the Frankfurt-based central bank warned. Thursday's three-quarter point hike takes the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility to 2.00%, 2.25% and 1.50%, respectively. The ECB said it expects to lift rates further to ensure a "timely" return to an inflation rate in line with its target. The euro fell back below dollar parity, taking some shine off what has been a decent week so far for the single currency. The euro stood at $0.9984 at the European equities close Thursday, down against $1.0064 at the same time on Wednesday. Stocks in New York were mixed at the time of the London equities close, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.0%, the S&P 500 index down 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite down 1.0%. The US economy grew at a faster pace than expected in the third quarter, according to the latest estimate from the US National Bureau of Economic Research on Thursday. Gross domestic product grew by 2.6% annually in the third quarter of 2022, growth coming in higher than FXStreet-cited consensus of 2.4%. The figure shows the US economy is coping with high interest rates better than the market had expected, and strengthens the case for more US Federal Reserve rate hikes. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP145.90 late Thursday, lower compared to JP146.50 late Wednesday. In the FTSE 100, Shell added 5.2% to close as the best performer on Thursday. The oil major swung to a net profit in the third quarter of the year, but reported that profit fell behind the second quarter as it warned of volatility in global energy markets. Net profit totalled $6.74 billion in the third quarter, after oil prices surged, improving from a loss after tax of $447 million the previous year. The profit was far lower when compared with its second-quarter net profit of $18.04 billion, however. Shell blamed the drop on a slump in refining margins. In a positive read across, BP and Harbour Energy climbed 3.3% and 2.6%, respectively. Airtel Africa sank to the bottom of the FTSE 100, plunging 15%. The Africa-focused telecommunications firm said its profit was held back by the devaluation of certain African currencies. Pretax profit fell 9.1% to $516 million from $567 million, as the firm recognised $358 million in net finance costs, compared to $169 million a year before. Net finance costs included foreign exchange and derivative losses of $184 million, compared to $24 million a year before. Anglo American dropped 2.1% after it reported mixed quarterly production performance, with most commodities declining amid a challenging operating conditions. For the third quarter that ended September 30, rough diamond production increased by 4% and steelmaking coal production rose by 28%. Copper output, however, was down 6% and nickel production fell by 4%. Production in platinum group metals fell by 6%, hurt by electricity loadshedding in South Africa, infrastructure closures at Amandelbult and lower grade at Mogalakwena. Mining peers Rio Tinto and Glencore fell 4.0% and 2.5%, respectively, in a negative read-across. In the FTSE 250, Renishaw fell 3.5% despite saying it was confident of its long-term strategy after seeing revenue growth across all business sectors in its financial first quarter. Reinshaw is a Gloucestershire, England-based provider of manufacturing technologies, analytical instruments and medical devices. For the three months ended September 30, the company reported pretax profit of 38.6 million, down 2.0% from 39.3 million a year prior. Total revenue for the period was 179.9 million, up 14% from 157.8 million. Renishaw noted, however, that general market sentiment was becoming more cautious, as evidenced by a weakening in order intake from the semiconductor and electronics sectors. Brent oil was quoted at $94.75 a barrel at the London equities close Thursday, up from $93.93 late Wednesday. Gold was quoted at $1,662.60 an ounce at the London equities close Thursday, lower against $1,665.70 at the close on Wednesday. In Friday's UK corporate calendar, Glencore and International Consolidated Airlines publish third quarter results. The economic calendar has GDP readings from Germany at 0900 BST, before the personal consumption expenditures inflationary gauge from the US at 1330 BST. Core PCE is the Fed's preferred inflationary measure. Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. 26 July 2016 It's time for Angola to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions An opinion piece by Michael P. Moore Michael P. Moore is just back from a visit to Angola where he gained fresh insight about the country's position on cluster munitions. A researcher for the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, Michael also authors the blog Landmines in Africa. Walking near a minefield in Malanje province. (c) M.P. Moore 2016 In the years since Angola's civil war ended in 2002, many memoirs and histories of the conflict describe the use of cluster munitions by one or more actors in the battles. Consider this description of use by Cuban MiG fighter jets in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale in 1987-88: The MiGs could drop cluster bombs, which were the most feared by [South African Defence Force] soldiers as the bomblets were small enough to get into foxholes. The cluster bomb could clear an area of about fifty meters with no vegetation left higher than knee level height These bombs were normally parachute retarded when dropped from high altitude, so the SADF troops could watch to see which direction they would fall, taken either by the wind or the release trajectory. This method of release bought them time to decide best cover in the furthest foxhole away from the bomb site or inside a Ratel with consequent limitation on casualties. "The Last Hot Battle of the Cold War" by Peter Polack, p. 156-157 Angola was one of nearly 100 countries to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions on December 3, 2008 in Oslo, Norway. This was the first day on which countries could sign the Convention. In the eight years since then, Angola has made several statements in support of the Convention, but has not yet ratified it. Based upon what I saw and heard during my recent visit to Angola, I am certain that Angola's ratification of the Convention is long overdue. In addition to reported use at Cuito Cuanavale, reports from South African pilots suggest that cluster munitions were used in bombing raids on Cassinga in 1978.1 In the central province of Huambo, Angola recorded at least 345 cluster munition victims - Huambo being the only province where cluster munition survivors have been recorded.2 In addition to noting the number of victims, Angola noted that the lack of information about the extent of cluster munition contamination from its four decades of conflict has delayed the process of ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.3 Clearance operations find a lot of mines in Angola, but few if any cluster munition remnants. (c) M.P. Moore 2016 In my conversations with mine action operators in Angola, I came to the conclusion that the extent of cluster munition contamination in the country is minimal. When asked, each of the representatives of the HALO Trust, Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) told me that they simply don't perceive a cluster munition contamination problem in Angola. Out of nearly 100,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance cleared by the HALO Trust during Explosive Ordnance Disposal call-outs, not a single cluster munition remnant was found. In over 20 years of clearing landmines and explosive remnants of war from several provinces, DanChurchAid, HALO, MAG, MgM and NPA have found and destroyed 383 cluster munition remnants.4 At the moment, ongoing survey efforts to identify the extent of landmine contamination in the country should provide any necessary information about cluster munition remnants. Landmine clearance activities would also clear any cluster munition remnants found. Angola is planning to clear all antipersonnel landmines by 2025 in accordance with the Mine Ban Treaty.5 If Angola can meet this target, it would also meet the clearance requirements of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Angola still has to make an official announcement confirming that it no longer holds a stockpile of the weapon. Eight years after signature, one would hope that the stockpile verification is now complete and that Angola would be in a position to confirm this. Cassava cultivated in a former minefield now cleared of any hazards. (c) M.P. Moore 2016 In terms of the victims of cluster munitions, I spoke with representatives of the government's Intersectoral Commission on Demining and Humanitarian Assistance (CNIDAH) about the survey that identified 354 victims. They said that the survey, which they commissioned, was not intended to identify cluster munitions victims. As it relied on self-reporting and did not even include "cluster munitions" as a possible cause of injury, such high numbers of victims are suspect, especially when combined with the fact that there are not cluster munition remnants in sufficient quantity in Huambo province to cause so many injuries. Independently, the HALO Trust conducted a desk exercise to identify every reported victim of landmine or explosive remnants of war from the public records and HALO's survey records. In a report that spans forty years, HALO did not identify any cluster munition victim.6 This indicates that more clarity in who has been affected and how is still needed, as in many other countries. As a party to the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Angola has already made commitments to providing victim assistance services in a non-discriminatory manner which would fulfill the victim assistance requirements under the Convention on Cluster Munitions. In 2013 Angola indicated that its ratification was at a "very advanced stage." During my time in Angola in June I met with representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence and they both said that Angola was likely to ratify soon, maybe in 2017. Based on what I saw and heard I am certain that Angola can ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions without any further delay. It's past time, Angola. Fulfill the pledge you made in 2008 when you signed the Convention, and ratify. ****** [1] Norwegian People's Aid desk assessment, 5 February 2016 [2] See Cluster Munition Monitor, Angola report on casualties, 2016 [3] Statement of Angola at the 4th Meeting of States Parties to the Convention, September 2013 [4] Norwegian People's Aid desk assessment, 5 February 2016 [5] As announced at a CNIDAH meeting with mine action partners, 17 June 2016, [5] Mine/ERW Accident Report: Angola 1975-2015, The HALO Trust Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (NYSE: FCAI) announced the following on Tuesday: Recent press reports have raised questions about the manner in which FCA US reports vehicle unit sales data on a monthly basis. These reports have mistakenly suggested that potential inaccuracies in the monthly data somehow impact the integrity of FCA's reported revenues in its financial statements. This note is intended to explain how FCA US's monthly sales reporting process has worked, recognizing the limitations inherent in a process that collects sales data entered by some 2,600 dealers until midnight of the last reporting day of a month and releases the aggregate data typically within 8 hours of the final data entries. FCA US believes that its current process has been in place in more or less the same form for more than 30 years, with reporting previously being made every 10 days and eventually evolving into monthly cycles. The vehicle unit sales data reported by FCA US is comprised of three main components: (a) sales made by dealers to retail customers; (b) sales of vehicles shipped directly by FCA US to fleet customers and (c) other retail sales including sales by dealers in Puerto Rico, limited deliveries through distributors and a small number of vehicles delivered to FCA employees and retirees and vehicles used for marketing. Dealer Sales Retail sales data is collected from the dealers (through a reporting system called the New Vehicle Delivery Report, or NVDR). This system is primarily designed to capture the time of a retail sale for two purposes. First, the date of sale recorded in the NVDR system begins the retail customer's warranty coverage on the vehicle. Second, the recording of the retail sale in the NVDR system triggers FCA US's obligation to make any manufacturer's incentive payments to the dealer. These incentives may be based on the particular model sold, the number of certain models sold in the period and the achievement of certain overall dealer volume objectives. These retail sales are made by dealers out of their own inventory of vehicles. This inventory was purchased by the dealers from FCA US before any retail delivery to the customer. Consistent with other automakers' practices, it is this initial sale -- by FCA US to the dealer -- that triggers revenue recognition in FCA US, and not the ultimate sale of the vehicle by a dealer to a retail customer. It is for this reason that the process of reporting monthly retail unit sales has no impact on the revenue reported by FCA in its financial statements. It is possible for a dealer to "unwind" a transaction recorded in the NVDR system and return the vehicle to the dealer's unsold inventory. This "unwind" results in the return by the dealer of any incentives paid by FCA US to the dealer for the sale and it cancels the beginning of the warranty period. These unwinds may, and in fact do, occur for a number of reasons including: inability of the retail customer to finalize financing for the purchase or a change in customer preferences, among others. It is admittedly also possible that a dealer may register the sale in an effort to meet a volume objective (without a specific customer supporting the transaction). There is, however, no obvious economic incentive for a dealer to do so, since FCA US's policy is to reverse all incentives due or paid to a dealer that resulted from the unwound retail sales transaction. When reporting monthly retail sales in the morning of the first day of the following month, a manufacturer cannot know which, if any, transactions may be unwound after the data is released. Because FCA US believes that most unwinds are recorded shortly following the time the initial sale is registered in the NVDR system, FCA US has not historically reflected either unwinds or the subsequent sales of these vehicles in its sales reporting. As a safeguard against double reporting, however, FCA US blocks the vehicle identification number (VIN) in its NVDR files to ensure that a subsequent retail sale of the vehicle does not enter into any tally of reported sales in any future month (i.e. a vehicle cannot be counted twice as a retail sale by the dealer). Fleet and Other Retail Sales The other component of the monthly reported unit sales has been vehicles that FCA US delivers directly, principally to fleet accounts, and retail and other sales consisting of limited deliveries through distributors and a small number of vehicles for company and marketing uses. Sales by dealers in Puerto Rico have also been included in other retail sales. It has been a matter of historical practice (going back many years before 2009 bankruptcy) for FCA US and its predecessors to maintain a "reserve" of vehicles in this category that had been shipped but not been reported as "sold" in the monthly sales reports. While the origin of this practice is unclear and is being looked into, FCA US believes that it was probably originally designed to exclude from the reported sales number vehicles that were in transit to fleet customers, as well as vehicles that were not yet deployed in the field (because, for example, they were being tailored by the fleet customer or a third party to the fleet customer's specifications). The rationale for this exclusion, we believe, was to introduce some level of conformity in the reported monthly numbers, since the sales data was intended to reflect vehicles put in use during the month. This "not-in-use reserve" has ranged in size from month to month, and resulted from a subjective assessment at month-end. A review of the data suggests that the reserve has always been positive, such that FCA US has always, in the aggregate, reported fewer sales than the aggregate number of shipped units on a running basis. Nevertheless, there appears to be no objective methodology for establishing and maintaining such a reserve and thus several plausible values exist for such a reserve. To the extent that the methodology historically used does not yield a unique value, the outcome is inherently arbitrary. Our Evaluation of Past Practices and a Way Forward Our review of industry practice has not revealed a standard reporting practice among OEMs in the U.S., although we believe that FCA US's competitors have used broadly similar approaches in compiling monthly sales data. The complexity of this compilation task is unique to the U.S. In Europe, for example, automakers generally report data generated by the national vehicle registration offices on the basis of the number of vehicles licensed by government agencies in a given month. The data is thus verified by a third party and is not subject to interpretation by the automakers. Due to the nature of the U.S. registration system involving 50 states with diverse recording and reporting practices, applying a registration-based system in the U.S. has never been thought to be feasible. FCA US has seriously considered simply ceasing to report this sales data on a monthly basis, and to rely only on published quarterly financial statements as a gauge of improvement or deterioration in our U.S. activities. We understand the sales data are used by some market followers, the automotive press in particular, to opine about the state of the industry and we accept that our decision to suspend monthly reporting would impact those constituencies and possibly may impair their perception, and in turn the public perception, of FCA US. FCA US has therefore decided to continue monthly sales reporting with a revised methodology. Total sales will be comprised of Dealer reported sales in the U.S.; Fleet sales delivered directly by FCA US; and Retail other sales including sales by dealers in Puerto Rico. Dealer reported sales (derived from the NVDR system) will be the sum of All sales recorded by dealers during that month net of all unwound transactions recorded to the end of that month (whether the original sale was recorded in the current month or any prior month); plus All sales of vehicles during that month attributable to past unwinds that had previously been reversed in determining monthly sales (in the current or prior months). Fleet sales will be recorded as sales upon shipment by FCA US of the vehicle to the customer or end user. Other retail sales will either be recorded when the sale is recorded in the NVDR system (for sales by dealers in Puerto Rico and limited sales made through distributors that submit NVDRs) or upon receipt of a similar delivery notification (for vehicles for which NVDRs are not entered such as vehicles for FCA executives and employees). The objective of this new methodology is to provide in FCA US's judgment the best available estimate of the number of FCA US vehicles sold to end users through the end of a particular month applying a consistent and transparent methodology. It continues to include some level of estimation in respect of, for example, unwound transactions that straddle a month end and fleet deliveries, which may be placed into service at various times after shipment and delivery. FCA US believes, however, that the consistency in application and transparency of this new methodology provides the most appropriate data for the limited uses to which the monthly vehicle unit sales data should be applied. FCA US has prepared unit sales reports going back to the beginning of 2011 using this approach, and has included the results in the attached Exhibit. The Exhibit also compares the data derived under this new methodology with previously reported US monthly sales data. This comparison yields the following results. 1. FCA US in March of this year last commented specifically about a "streak" of year-over-year monthly sales improvements since April of 2010. Applying this new methodology, during the periods presented below, year-over-year monthly sales would have declined in September 2013 (-3%), August 2015 (-1%) and May 2016 (-7%). The so called "sales streak" would have stopped in September 2013 (after 40 months) and would have had three additional periods of sequential year-over-year improvements of 22, 8, and 1 month(s). 2. Annual sales volumes under the new methodology for each year in the 2011-2016 period are within approximately 0.7% of the annual unit sales volumes previously reported. 3. The monthly adjustments to previously reported sales as a result of the adjustment to deduct sales later unwound and add back sales attributable to previously unwound sales over the period January 1, 2011 to June 30, 2016 are a mix of positive and negative numbers which did not exceed 0.5% of the reported data in any month. The maximum numerical reduction from previously reported data was 770 units (0.5% of the month's volume) in May 2015 and the maximum numerical addition to previously reported data was 437 units (0.4%) in September 2014. The total over the 2011 to 2016 period representing unwound transactions previously reported as sold for which vehicles remain in dealer stock at June 30, 2016, is approximately 4,500 vehicles, or 0.06% of the total volume reported over the period (7.7 million cars). FCA US will report its July 2016 sales using the new methodology. PDF - http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/PRNA/ENR/FCA-US-Sales.pdf Police officers and rescue workers are seen in a facility for the disabled, where at least 19 people were killed and as many as 20 wounded by a knife-wielding man, in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 26, 2016. Mand By Elaine Lies and Kwiyeon Ha SAGAMIHARA, Japan (Reuters) - A knife-wielding man broke into a facility for the disabled in a small town near Tokyo early on Tuesday and killed 19 patients as they slept, authorities said, Japan's worst mass killing since World War Two. At least 25 other residents were wounded in the attack at the Tsukui Yamayuri-En facility for mentally and physically disabled in Sagamihara town, about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Tokyo. "This is a very heart-wrenching and shocking incident in which many innocent people became victims," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular news conference in Tokyo. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later told a gathering in Tokyo: "The lives of many innocent people were taken away and I am greatly shocked. We will make every effort to discover the facts and prevent a reoccurance." The suspect was a 26-year-old former employee of the facility who gave himself up to police. The man, Satoshi Uematsu, said in letters he wrote in February that he could "obliterate 470 disabled people", Kyodo news agency reported. He said he would kill 260 severely disabled people at two areas in the facility during a night shift, and would not hurt employees. "My goal is a world in which the severely disabled can be euthanized, with their guardians consent, if they are unable to live at home and be active in society," Uematsu wrote in the two letters given to the speaker of the lower house of parliament, Kyodo reported. Uematsu was committed to hospital after he expressed a "willingness to kill severely disabled people", an official in Sagamihara told Reuters. He was freed on March 2 after a doctor deemed he had improved, the official said. Uematsu lived near the facility, and a neighbor described him as a polite, young man who always greeted him with a smile. "It would be easier to understand if there had been a warning but there were no signs," said Akihiro Hasegawa, 73. "We didn't know the darkness of his heart." The suspect apparently began changing about five months ago, said Yuji Kuroiwa, the governor of Kanagawa prefecture, where the facility is located. "You could say there were warning signs, but it's difficult to say if this could have been prevented," he told reporters. "This was not an impulsive crime ... He went in the dark of the night, opened one door at a time, and stabbed sleeping people one by one," Kuroiwa said. "I just can't believe the cruelty of this crime. We need to prevent this from ever happening again." Staff at the facility called police at 2.30 a.m. local time (1730 GMT Monday) with reports of a man armed with a knife on the grounds, media reports said. The man wore a black T-shirt and trousers, the reports said. The 3-hectare (7.6 acre) facility was established by the local government. Surrounded by tree-covered mountains and on the banks of the Sagami River, it cares for people with a wide range of disabilities. The facility's website said the center had a maximum capacity of 160 people, including staff. "IT MAKES YOU WEEP" Japan has one of the lowest crime rates in the world and residents of Sagamihara said they were in shock. The last murder in the area was 10 years ago. "This is a peaceful, quiet town so I never thought such an incident would happen here," said Oshikazu Shimo, one of many residents of the town who gathered near the facility. Taxi driver Susumu Fujimura said of the attacker: "He said 'we should get rid of disabled people' but he's the worthless one." "That kind of person can't defend themselves," Fujimura said, referring to the victims. "That's why so many died. It makes you weep to think of somebody just murdering them." The dead ranged in age from 19 to 70 and included nine males and 10 females, Kyodo said. Police had recovered a bag with several knives, at least one stained with blood, a Kanagawa prefecture official said. At least 29 emergency squads responded to the attack, Kyodo reported, with those wounded taken to at least six hospitals in the western Tokyo area. Such mass killings are extremely rare in Japan and typically involve stabbings. Japan has strict gun laws and possession of firearms by the public is rare. Eight children were stabbed to death at their school in Osaka by a former janitor in 2001. Seven people died in 2008 when a man drove a truck into a crowd and began stabbing people in Tokyo's popular electronics and "anime" district of Akihabara. A revision to Japan's Swords and Firearms Control Law was introduced in 2009 in the wake of that attack, banning the possession of double-edged knives and further tightening gun-ownership rules. Members of a doomsday cult killed 12 people and made thousands ill in 1995 in simultaneous attacks with sarin nerve gas on five Tokyo rush-hour subway trains. (Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko, Minami Funakoshi, Linda Sieg, Chang-Ran Kim, Olivier Fabre and William Mallard in TOKYO, Eric Beech in WASHINGTON and Jon Herskovitz in AUSTIN; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Sandra Maler, Grant McCool and Paul Tait) NETANYA, Israel, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE: CEL) (TASE: CEL) (hereinafter: the "Company"), announced today that it will be releasing its financial results for the second quarter of 2016 on Wednesday, August 10, 2016, before the US markets open. The Company will be hosting a conference call at 9:00 am Eastern Time (6:00 am Pacific Time, 14:00 UK time, 16:00 Israel time). On the call, management will review and discuss the results and will be available to answer questions. To participate, please call one of the following teleconferencing numbers. Please begin placing your calls at least 10 minutes before the conference call commences. If you are unable to connect using the toll-free numbers, please try the international dial-in number. US Dial-in Number: 1-866-744-5399 UK Dial-in Number: 0-800- 917-9141 Israel Dial-in Number: 03-918-0687 International Dial-in Number: +972-3-918-0687 at: 9:00 am Eastern Time; 6:00 am Pacific Time; 14:00 UK Time; 16:00 Israel Time The conference will be broadcast live on the investor relations section of the Company's website: http://investors.ircellcom.co.il. After the call, a replay of the call will be available under the same investor relations section. About Cellcom Israel Cellcom Israel Ltd., established in 1994, is the largest Israeli cellular provider; Cellcom Israel provides its approximately 2.813 million cellular subscribers (as at March 31, 2016) with a broad range of value added services including cellular telephony, roaming services for tourists in Israel and for its subscribers abroad and additional services in the areas of music, video, mobile office etc., based on Cellcom Israel's technologically advanced infrastructure. The Company operates an LTE 4 generation network and an HSPA 3.5 Generation network enabling advanced high speed broadband multimedia services, in addition to GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks. Cellcom Israel offers Israel's broadest and largest customer service infrastructure including telephone customer service centers, retail stores, and service and sale centers, distributed nationwide. Through its broad customer service network Cellcom Israel offers technical support, account information, direct to the door parcel delivery services, internet and fax services, dedicated centers for hearing impaired, etc. Cellcom Israel further provides OTT TV services (as of December 2014), internet infrastructure (as of February 2015) and connectivity services and international calling services, as well as landline telephone communication services in Israel, in addition to data communication services. Cellcom Israel's shares are traded both on the New York Stock Exchange (CEL) and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (CEL). For additional information please visit the Company's website http://investors.cellcom.co.il/ Company Contact Shlomi Fruhling Chief Financial Officer [email protected] Tel: +972-52-998-9755 Investor Relations Contact Ehud Helft GK Investor & Public Relations [email protected] Tel: +1-617-418-3096 SOURCE Cellcom Israel Ltd. TULSA, Okla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: CELP) announced today that the board of directors of its general partner declared a cash distribution for the second quarter of 2016. The cash distribution is $0.406413 per limited partner unit. This amount remains unchanged from the first quarter of 2016 and reflects a 4.88% increase over the target minimum quarterly cash distribution of $0.3875. The distribution will be payable on August 12, 2016 to all unitholders of record on August 5, 2016. Our sponsor, Cypress Energy Holdings, LLC (CEH), and its affiliates are aligned with our common unitholders, with an approximate 65% ownership interest in CELP. As a result of this alignment, CEH has continued to support the unitholders with temporary relief of the administrative fee paid to CEH pursuant to the Omnibus Agreement, which would have charged $1.0 million to CELP this quarter as well as providing significant other forms of temporary relief from various expenditures during the quarter. This temporary relief will likely continue until the end of 2016 or such earlier time that our business results improve, as determined by CEH. CELP also reported it will host an earnings call on Friday, August 12, 2016, at 11:00am EDT (10:00am CDT) to discuss its second quarter 2016 financial results. Analysts, investors, and other interested parties may access the conference call by dialing Toll-Free (US & Canada): (888) 567-1602 or International Dial-In (Toll): (862) 255-5346. An archived audio replay of the call will be available on the investor section of our website at www.cypressenergy.com beginning at 10:00am EDT (9:00am CDT) on August 16, 2016. This press release includes forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts included or incorporated herein may constitute forward-looking statements. Actual results could vary significantly from those expressed or implied in such statements and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. While CELP believes its expectations as reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, CELP can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that affect operations, financial performance, and other factors as discussed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Other factors that could impact any forward-looking statements are those risks described in CELPs Annual Report filed on Form 10-K and other public filings. You are urged to carefully review and consider the cautionary statements and other disclosures made in those filings, specifically those under the heading Risk Factors. CELP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements except as required by law. About Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. is a growth-oriented master limited partnership that provides midstream services including pipeline inspection, integrity and hydrostatic testing services to energy, E&P, public utility companies and midstream companies and their vendors throughout the U.S. and Canada. Cypress also provides saltwater disposal and other water and environmental services to U.S. energy E&P companies and their vendors in North Dakota in the Williston Basin, and West Texas in the Permian Basin. In all three of these business segments, Cypress works closely with its customers to help them comply with increasingly complex and strict environmental and safety rules and regulations and reduce their operating costs. Cypress is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This release is a qualified notice under Treasury Regulation Section 1.1446-4(b). Brokers and nominees should treat 100% of Cypress Energy Partners L.P.s distributions to foreign investors as being attributable to income that is effectively connected with a United States trade or business. Therefore, distributions to foreign investors are subject to federal income tax withholding at the highest applicable effective tax rate. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726006544/en/ Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. Les Austin, 918-748-3907 Chief Financial Officer [email protected] Source: Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mill Steel Co., one of the nation's largest distributors of flat-rolled carbon steel, is pleased to announce the addition of Chad Hull as its Sales Manager of Architectural and Standing Seam Products. Hull will be key in directing Mill Steel's expansion to the painted architectural and standing seam markets within the company's Building Products Division. Hull comes to Mill Steel with over 20 years of experience in the pre-painted coil and standing seam industry. With an impressive history of managing commercial activities and relationships, Hull demonstrates the ability to consistently deliver the high-touch customer service Mill Steel prides itself on. In addition, he brings extensive knowledge and expertise in the manufacturing equipment, roll-forming and specifications of the architectural panel and standing-seam coated metals industry. Equally as valuable is Hull's reputation of mentoring and relationship building, which correlates perfectly with Mill Steel's people first culture. Two of Hull's personal mottos, reliability and accountability, are key values Mill Steel centers its business around. Mill Steel Building Products Sales Manager, Heath Buller, comments, "We are very excited to welcome Chad to the team. He brings a wealth of knowledge in this industry to Mill Steel and there is no doubt in my mind that he will excel at taking our Building Products Division to new heights." Along with this growth into new markets, Mill Steel will continue to support its current customers with the Valspar, PPG and AkzoNobel paint systems. Furthermore, Hull's expertise coupled with Mill Steel's in-house slitting capabilities, vast North American distribution network and well established reputation for quality products, will enhance its ability to provide quality products and service to the markets it serves. ABOUT MILL STEEL CO.: Founded in 1959, Mill Steel Co. is one of North America's premier flat-rolled steel suppliers. Serving some of the world's most demanding industries; the business has grown over the past 57 plus years. Headquartered in Grand Rapids, MI, Mill Steel operates five service centers locations including Grand Rapids and Melvindale (Detroit), MI, Jeffersonville, IN, Birmingham, AL, and now Anderson, IN. Mill Steel continues to grow by sticking to its founding principles: Reliability. Accountability. And doing what they say they will, and then some. We've organized our company around those values, investing in new technologies and markets along the way. For more information about Mill Steel Co., visit www.millsteel.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160208/330546LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mill-steel-co-hires-seasoned-commercial-expert-chad-hull-to-expand-into-new-painted-market-segments-300304005.html SOURCE Mill Steel Co. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 07/25/16 -- Saturn Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: SMI)(FRANKFURT: SMK) ("Saturn" or the "Company") is pleased to announce a flow-through financing as follows: 5,500,000 flow-through units at a price of $0.09 per unit (the "FT Unit"). Each FT Unit consists of one flow-through common share (the "FT Shares") and 0.3636 non flow-through share purchase warrants (the "FT Warrants"). Each FT Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one additional non flow-through common share, exercisable at a price of $0.15 per share for a period of 18 months from the date of issue of the FT Warrant. The FT Shares will entitle the holder to receive the tax benefits applicable to flow-through shares, in accordance with provisions of the Income Tax Act (Canada). The FT Warrants are subject to an accelerated expiry if, at any time after an initial 4 month hold period expires, the closing price of Saturn's common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") exceeds $0.20 for any 20 consecutive trading days, in which event the holder will be given notice that the Warrants will expire 30 days following the date of such notice. The Warrants may be exercised by the holder during the 30-day period between the notice and the expiration of the Warrants. All securities issued will be subject to a four-month hold period. The offering is subject to the approval of the TSXV. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Upon closing the Company will pay a finder's fee of $29,700.00 to EMD Financial Inc. for their services in connection with the private placement. Proceeds from the Private Placement will be used for to advance Saturn's Saskatchewan oil & gas properties. About Saturn Minerals Inc. Saturn Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: SMI)(FRANKFURT: SMK) is a junior Canadian energy company advancing a portfolio of oil and coal properties in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Company exclusive oil & gas rights in Saskatchewan and is advancing a number of oil exploration projects. Saturn has also made three shallow bituminous coal discoveries since 2009 with coal seams ranging in continuous vertical thickness from 9 to 89 meters. Saturn has a strategic ownership in Inowending Exploration & Development Corp., a First Nations owned exploration and development company co-founded by Saturn with a consortium of Saskatchewan First Nations active in Canada's prairie provinces. On Behalf of the Board of Directors SATURN MINERALS INC. Stan Szary Chief Executive Officer 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: Saturn Minerals Inc. +1 (604) 685-6989 www.saturnminerals.com Source: Saturn Minerals Inc. Mobile Powering Increasing Number of Energy, Water and Sanitation Projects DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The GSMA Mobile for Development Utilities programme (M4D Utilities) released a new report outlining progress in using mobile technology to deliver energy, water and sanitation services to underserved communities. The latest M4D Utilities annual report, Unlocking access to utility services: The transformational value of mobile, was published today at the GSMA Mobile 360 Africa event being held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 26 28 July. Billions of people in emerging markets still lack access to essential utility services such as energy, clean drinking water and basic sanitation, said Mats Granryd, GSMA Director General. A new wave of innovative mobile technology can improve and increase access to these basic utility services, while at the same time stimulating markets, empowering small businesses and even saving lives. The mobile industry is dedicated to creating commercially sustainable partnerships that can harness these emerging technologies. Mobile technology can unlock new service models, such as mobile money for affordable and remote bill payments, mobile services to communicate with customers, and machine-to-machine connectivity to remotely monitor distributed services. These innovations in service delivery make essential utility services accessible, affordable and reliable for underserved communities. The GSMA M4D Utilities programme, launched in 2013 with the support of the UK Department for International Development (DFID), has awarded grants to 34 organisations that offer mobile-enabled utility services, which have directly benefited almost 2 million people. The innovative trials funded to date have resulted in grantees raising an additional 40.5 million in private-sector investments, underlining the commercial viability of the projects. The programme has funded projects and studies in 24 global markets in total, the majority (15) in Africa. This work makes strong contributions to GSMA and the mobile industrys support for the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals1, addressing Goal #6 (ensuring access to water and sanitation) and Goal #7 (ensuring affordable energy). The new report examines the mobile-enabled utility sector in depth and identifies the following trends: Mobile is unlocking rapid growth of PAYG utility services Approximately 650,000 mobile-connected pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar home systems have been delivered worldwide, with over 30 companies operating in at least 32 countries. Mobile channels are enabling this and other prepaid/PAYG models to flourish, attracting significant investments in the energy sector and enabling business models to emerge in the water sector. The Internet of Things is transforming utility models The Internet of Things is already key to some off-grid energy models and connected infrastructure is set to change the landscape for centralised and decentralised utility systems, with several pilots already underway. Challenges remain in powering telecom towers as an anchor business for community power Off-grid energy companies, particularly micro-grid providers, may seek to anchor their businesses to powering telecom towersa viable way to power surrounding businesses and communities. Community Power from Mobile models are seeing traction in some markets, but aligning the incentives of all parties remains a challenge. Mobile-enabled water services are advancing while sanitation models are still nascent Water and sanitation businesses have grown less rapidly than those in the energy sector, but there are signs that information about service delivery and new payment mechanisms are driving new business models and government partnerships. Partnerships with MNOs are growing Many service providers have partnered to leverage MNO assets such as mobile payment platforms or sales outlets to enhance their efficiency, extend their reach and offer new services. Via these partnerships, MNOs benefit from increasing uptake of mobile services and improved brand perception. Furthermore, with the growing appreciation of the opportunity, some MNOs are taking the lead in utility services. Investment in PAYG energy is accelerating The market opportunity for energy, especially PAYG energy, has attracted the attention of investors with nearly $295 million awarded to PAYG energy companies so far, mainly in Africa. However, levels of private capital into the water and sanitation sectors have been weaker, highlighting the continued critical role of grants in funding innovative business models, where the risk of investing in early stage enterprises remains high. The GSMA M4D Utilities programmes annual report, Unlocking access to utility services: The transformational value of mobile, is available to download at: http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/programme/m4dutilities/unlocking-access-utility-services-transformational-value-mobile -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. 1 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/20160725005074/en/ GSMA Charlie Meredith-Hardy +44 7917 298428 [email protected] or David Ntwampe Maila + 27 72 015 4702 [email protected] or GSMA Press Office [email protected] Source: GSMA SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., July 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE: UTI), the leading provider of automotive technician training, announced today that it will report its financial results for the fiscal 2016 third quarter ended June 30, 2016, on Thursday, August 4, 2016, after market close. UTI will host a conference call at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on the same day to discuss its fiscal 2016 third quarter financial results and operating performance. The conference call will feature chairman of the board and chief executive officer Kimberly McWaters and president and chief financial officer Eugene Putnam. To participate in the live call, investors are invited to dial (412) 317-6790 or (844) 881-0138. A live webcast of the call will be available via the Universal Technical Institute investor relations website at http://uti.investorroom.com/. Please go to the website at least 15 minutes early to register, download and install any necessary audio software. The conference call will also be archived for 60 days at http://uti.investorroom.com/ or the replay can be accessed through August 16, 2016 by dialing 412-317-0088 or 877-344-7529 and entering passcode 10090455. About Universal Technical Institute, Inc.: Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE: UTI) is the leading provider of post-secondary education for students seeking careers as professional automotive, diesel, collision repair, motorcycle and marine technicians. With more than 200,000 graduates in its 51-year history, UTI offers undergraduate degree and diploma programs at 12 campuses across the United States, as well as manufacturer-specific training programs at dedicated training centers. Through its campus-based school system, UTI provides specialized post-secondary education programs under the banner of several well-known brands, including Universal Technical Institute (UTI), Motorcycle Mechanics Institute and Marine Mechanics Institute (MMI) and NASCAR Technical Institute (NASCAR Tech). For more information visit www.uti.edu. Contact: John JensonVice President, Corporate ControllerUniversal Technical Institute, Inc.(623) 445-0821 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/universal-technical-institute-schedules-fiscal-2016-third-quarter-earnings-release-and-conference-call-300303648.html SOURCE Universal Technical Institute, Inc. DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain prosecutors said on Tuesday scores of people will stand trial next month on charges of setting up a "terrorist organization", espionage and armed attacks on police officers. The case pertains to Bahrain's allegation last year that Iranian Revolutionary Guards helped fugitives from the Western-allied Gulf kingdom join forces to set up a Shi'ite militant group called the Zulfiqar Brigades to destabilize the state. Bahrain's Sunni Muslim monarchy survived an uprising in 2011 mainly by majority Shi'ite Muslims demanding democratic reform. But the island state has witnessed a series of bomb attacks since that the government says has killed nearly 20 police officers, as well as continued, sporadic Shi'ite unrest. Bahrain, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based, has also been waging a crackdown on large Shi'ite opposition groups and rights activists, a campaign that has drawn international rebuke. In a statement posted on social media, the public prosecutor's office said it had completed an investigation into the Zulfiqar Brigades and transferred the case to court. Zulfiqar is named after a sword used by Imam Ali, the Prophet Mohammad's cousin who is the second most revered figure in Shi'ite Islam after the Prophet himself. Bahrain accuses government-sanctioned groups in Iran, the Middle East's Shi'ite big power, of supporting militants trying to topple its kingdom, a charge the Islamic Republic denies. The prosecutor's statement said a total of 138 suspects had been referred to courts on various charges, including contacts with a "foreign power" - an allusion to Iran, possession of weapons and attacks on security forces. It said that 86 suspects were in custody while the rest were on the run in either Iraq or Iran. A criminal court is due to start hearing the case on Aug. 23, the statement said. Tensions have risen in Bahrain following a series of government security moves including the dissolution of the main opposition al-Wefaq group and the arrest of rights campaigner Nabeel Rajab over tweets he allegedly made about the Gulf Arab kingdom's prison system and its involvement in the war in Yemen. Bahrain has also since revoked the citizenship of the spiritual leader of the country's Shi'ites, Ayatollah Isa Qassim, and charged him with collecting funds without a permit and money laundering. Isa Qassim denies the charges. His trial is due to start on Wednesday. (Reporting by Sami Aboudi; editing by Mark Heinrich) SAN JOSE (Reuters) - Costa Rica will temporarily receive migrants at risk of persecution in Central America, an official with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Tuesday. The UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration will cover the costs, said the official, Carlos Maldonado. Maldonado added there would only be up to 200 people at a time in Costa Rica under this status. (Reporting by Enrique Andres Pretel) Northern League leader Matteo Salvini gestures during the "Europe of Nations and Freedom" meeting in Milan, January 28, 2016. REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo ROME (Reuters) - The outspoken leader of Italy's anti-immigrant Northern League party drew a chorus of criticism on Monday for comparing the woman speaker of the lower house of parliament to an inflatable sex doll. While Matteo Salvini addressed the crowd at a rally near the northern city of Cremona on Saturday, a blow-up doll was held up by supporters behind him. "Boldrini's clone is here on the stage," Salvini said, referring to lower house speaker Laura Boldrini. He gave no explanation why he made the comparison. The remark was greeted with raucous laughter among the crowd but roundly condemned by politicians from across the political spectrum after appearing on YouTube and social media on Monday. The Northern League leader often targets Boldrini, who comes from a small left-wing party, because of her appeals for humane treatment for immigrants. Before being elected to parliament, she was Italy's spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). "Salvini misses no opportunity for insults and vulgarity but with this rally he has passed every limit of decency," said Emanuele Fiano, a prominent deputy for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD). Maria Elena Boschi, minister for constitutional reforms, accused Salvini of "squalid sexism" which she said offended not only Boldrini but all Italian men and women. According to recent opinion polls, the right-wing Northern League is Italy's third most popular party, with about 13-14 percent of voting support, behind the PD and the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, both on around 30 percent. Asked by Sky Italia television if he planned to apologize, Salvini replied: "You must be joking, it's Boldrini who should apologize because she is a racist towards Italians." Earlier on Monday he tweeted that Boldrini should resign and, in clear reference to the blow-up doll, launched the hashtag "deflate Boldrini". (Reporting by Gavin Jones; Editing by Philip Pullella and Tom Heneghan) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) greets Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov during a bilateral meeting at the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Vientiane, Laos July 26, 2016. REUTERS/Jorge Silva By Lesley Wroughton and Stephanie Nebehay VIENTIANE/GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it hoped to announce in early August details of planned military cooperation and intelligence sharing with Russia on Syria, and a United Nations envoy said he would also aim to resume peace talks next month. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington and Moscow, which support opposing sides in Syria's five-year-old conflict, had made progress in recent days towards working more closely together. The proposals would have the two powers share intelligence to coordinate air strikes against the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front and prohibit the Syrian air force from attacking rebel groups labeled as moderate. Efforts to bridge the divide between the United States and Russia and bring Syrian government and opposition forces back to negotiations come after pro-government forces have effectively put rebel-held districts of Aleppo under siege. Concern is growing for at least 250,000 people who have been trapped in rebel-controlled eastern Aleppo since early July, and the U.N aid chief asked on Monday for weekly 48-hour pauses in fighting to allow food and aid to be delivered. Syrian state television said on Tuesday the army had sent text messages to residents and fighters in eastern Aleppo, saying it will grant safe passage to whoever wants to leave and asking militia to put down their weapons. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said 25 people, including three women and eight children, were killed in the last 24 hours in the Mashhad quarter of rebel-held Aleppo, when it was hit by barrel bombs thrown from helicopters. In Geneva, U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said he aimed to convene a new round of peace talks toward the end of August, quietly scrapping a previous Aug. 1 deadline to reach agreement on a framework for a political transition. "Our aim, let me say very clearly, is to proceed with a third round of intra-Syrian talks towards the end of August," De Mistura told reporters after meeting U.S. Syria envoy Michael Ratney and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov. De Mistura said he strongly hoped Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would make concrete and visible progress because that would improve the situation on the ground and the environment for the peace talks, although such progress was not a precondition for talks. The U.S. State Department said in a statement after the Geneva meeting that Washington and Moscow had urged the United Nations to prepare a proposal for political transition - based on Security Council resolutions and input from Syrian parties - which would serve as the starting point for future talks. The statement said Washington had emphasized the need to restore "compliance with the terms of the cessation of hostilities - particularly in Aleppo city - as well as the need to improve humanitarian access, as positive progress in these areas would significantly improve the prospects for successful talks". U.S. SCEPTICISM Kerry has defended the proposal despite deep scepticism among top American military and intelligence officials, including Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford, over working with Russia. "My hope is that somewhere in early August we would be in a position to stand up in front of you and tell you what we're able to do with the hopes it can make a difference to lives of people in Syria and to the course of the war," Kerry said after meeting Lavrov. During the discussions, he and Lavrov outlined the next stage of implementing the plan, including a series of technical-level meetings to address concerns by the U.S. military and intelligence officers. Kerry's State Department and White House allies say the plan is the best chance to limit the fighting that is driving thousands of Syrian civilians - with some trained Islamic State fighters among them - into exile in Europe, and preventing humanitarian aid from reaching tens of thousands more. A senior Western diplomat said the lack of transparency of the U.S.-Russia talks was frustrating and - with what the diplomat said was increased targeting of civilians and hospitals on the ground - it was hard to foresee any deal. "The Americans are risking a lot for a deal that is as unlikely to be honored as previous engagements the Russians have made," the diplomat said. Another diplomat said it was unlikely De Mistura would meet his new target of resuming talks in August. "In reality it means there will be nothing in August, it means September," the diplomat said. "The window of opportunity is extremely limited after that ... Military cooperation has become a pre-requisite,(peace talks) wont advance without it". "HORRENDOUS" SITUATION Syria's government said on Sunday it was ready for further peace talks with the opposition and that it was intent on a political solution to the conflict. Basma Kodmani, a member of the main Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee, said the HNC was "open to going back to Geneva to discuss options" but added that there must be a reduction in the current level of violence. "The situation is absolutely horrendous at this moment," she told Reuters. "What Mr De Mistura is probably hoping is that the agreement between Russia and the U.S. will result in a halt to the regime's raids, and Russian air raids as well." Russia's military intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad last year helped to turn the tide of the war after the government had lost ground to rebel fighters in the west of the country. On Sunday Syrian government air strikes put four hospitals in Aleppo province out of action, while several people in the government-controlled ancient quarter of Damascus were killed when a mortar bomb hit a restaurant. International humanitarian groups have condemned the tightening siege on rebel-held parts of Aleppo city. "Food there is expected to run out over the next few weeks," a joint statement from international aid groups including Oxfam and Mercy Corps said on Tuesday. "A food warehouse was also targeted with almost 10,000 food parcels destroyed, while fuel ... is dangerously low," the statement said. The United Nations said a 48-truck convoy of international aid organizations was heading to the besieged areas of Talbiseh in northern Homs province, carrying food aid for 40,000 people. (Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva and Dominic Evans and Lisa Barrington in Beirut; Editing by David Stamp and Bill Rigby) Pope Francis gestures during his Sunday Angelus prayer in Saint Peter's square at the Vatican July 24, 2016. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi By Wiktor Szary and Tadeusz Kolasinski WARSAW (Reuters) - When Polish bishops issued a letter inviting Catholic youths to attend an international gathering to be held in Poland this week, the name of its host, Pope Francis, was conspicuously absent. Instead, the bishops spoke about John Paul II, the late Polish-born pontiff who holds an iconic status in Poland for his role in inspiring the nation to stand up to communist rule. John Paul, who died in 2005, was made a saint in 2014. While the bishops say Francis - and not the ghost of his predecessor - will be the centerpiece of World Youth Day events, the omission reflects a sense of disquiet among senior clergy about his calls for a more inclusive and merciful Church, a message that contrasts with the preaching in many Polish churches. Poland remains one of Europe's most Catholic and conservative nations, with about 90 percent of citizens declaring allegiance to the Church. Its government openly calls for Christian values to be present in daily life and politics. "I am absolutely convinced the meeting between Francis and the Polish Church will be challenging for both sides," said Jaroslaw Makowski, a liberal Polish theologian. "When he was invited to Poland in 2013, he was unknown ... But after a few months it became clear he isn't what was expected ... but someone who wants to shake up the Church and push it off the path familiar to the Polish Church." The Vatican expects hundreds of thousands of young people from all continents to turn out to see the pope during his five-day visit that starts on Wednesday in the southern city of Krakow, where John Paul was archbishop before he became pope in 1978. Privately, Vatican officials said they expect Francis to wow young people in Poland just like he did at the last World Youth Day in Brazil three years ago. However, although direct criticism of the Argentine-born pontiff is rarely heard, Polish Roman Catholic bishops publicly disagree with his views on issues such as homosexuals and divorce, in an echo of conservative concerns elsewhere that he threatens to dilute Church teachings. A conservative Polish commentator, Tomasz Terlikowski, said the popularity of John Paul in Poland was driven, at least in part, by the late pontiff's adherence to doctrine. "The World Youth Day, like any previous meeting between John Paul II and young people, serves as ... proof the Church in the West is losing them ... because of what it offered them," Terlikowski wrote in DoRzeczy weekly this week. "The young have been leaving the Church because what it offers them is equal to that of (the secular) world, only veiled in incense," he wrote. "Will Francis be able to inspire the youth the way John Paul did? It will depend on what he requires of them," he said. The World Youth Day events are an effort by the Vatican to inspire Catholics at a time when rival denominations, secularism and sexual and financial scandals continue to lead some to abandon the Church. ENCROACHING MODERNITY Poland has undergone a significant shift in its political landscape since the Euroskeptic, conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party in October ended nearly a decade of secular-minded government. Its leaders tapped Poland's brand of patriotism infused with Catholic piety to build up popularity among voters and ensure the backing of the clergy, influential across provincial Poland. "Poland is an oasis of freedom in the world, where values that form our identity are being destroyed," Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said during a religious ceremony this month. "We have a foundation in Poland, where the words 'God, honor and homeland' have guided us for centuries." Despite being rooted in Christian values, her government disagrees with Francis on issues such as refugees and the environment. It opposes mandatory European Union quotas for accepting migrants and promotes as coal as an energy source. Church leaders, in turn, have sought the support of conservative politicians to enshrine their view of society in law, liberal observers say, mindful that encroaching modernity is shrinking the ranks of churchgoers. Since PiS came into power, Catholic officials have pushed for a further tightening of Poland's already restrictive abortion laws, for example. "The Church has forged an alliance with the government because, using law, it can exert more control," said Makowski. The Polish Catholic Church is nonetheless divided and many secular theologians, priests and churchgoers would welcome Francis' message that the Church should be more compassionate toward "imperfect" Catholics, such as remarried divorcees. Divorce rates in Poland are close European averages, and regular mass attendance has fallen by almost 10 percentage points in the last decade to about 40 percent. More than 70 percent want access to contraception, even though Warsaw Archbishop Henryk Hoser has said using it introduced an "element of disease" into a woman's body. Nearly 80 percent of Poles say in-vitro fertilization should be accessible for infertile couples, whereas bishops have said lawmakers who voted for a law to regulate IVF should be denied communion. Polish bishops have made it clear any talk of watering down church doctrine was unacceptable. "All should avoid a divorce mentality. Every separation of spouses offends God; moreover, it causes much harm," they said in a document published ahead of last year's gathering of bishops in the Vatican to discuss the issue. The Polish Bishops' Conference spokesman, Father Pawe Rytel-Andrianik, said the letter inviting young Poles to this week's gathering in Poland was one of many documents issued about the event. "The pope is an intrinsic part of the World Youth Day," he said. (Additional reporting by Justyna Pawlak, Marcin Goettig and Philip Pullella; Writing by Justyna Pawlak; Editing by Alison Williams) DUBAI (Reuters) - A Saudi court sentenced two men it said were al Qaeda followers to death on charges of decapitating a Saudi intelligence service colonel in 2007, local media reported on Tuesday. The men attacked Colonel Nasser al-Othman at his farm near the city of Buraidah in northern Saudi Arabia, tied him up and severed his head because they viewed him as an apostate, online news website sabq.org said, citing the court ruling. Between 2003 and 2006, al Qaeda carried out a campaign of attacks in the kingdom against Western and Saudi targets that killed hundreds of people. Since stamping out the insurgency, Saudi Arabia has convicted and sentenced hundreds of people to prison or death for militancy. It executed dozens on Jan. 2. In Tuesday's verdict a third man was sentenced to 30 years in jail for attempting to kill the commander of emergency forces in Saudi Arabia's northern Qassim region, Dubai-based al-Arabiya television channel said. The court ruling, published by al-Arabiya on its website, did not identify the three convicted men. A Justice Ministry spokesman confirmed the court verdict was an initial ruling which was subject to levels of appeal before it can be implemented. Death sentences must be signed by the king before they are carried out. Human rights groups say Saudi Arabia's justice system is flawed and that its campaign against Islamist militants has also been used to suppress peaceful dissent. Saudi Arabia says the system is fair and independent. Since 2014 Islamic State, like al Qaeda a predominantly Sunni hardline group, has carried out attacks in the kingdom that have killed dozens and led to hundreds of arrests. (Reporting by Mariam Abu Bakr and Abeer Abu Omar, editing by Sami Aboudi) By Julia Edwards and Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration announced a broad expansion on Tuesday of a program to let people fleeing violence in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras enter the United States as refugees, and said Costa Rica agreed to temporarily shelter some of those with no other recourse. Under the plan, Costa Rica will host up to 200 applicants at a time deemed too vulnerable to remain in their homelands while the U.S. Department of Homeland Security evaluates them for possible resettlement, which could take up to six months. The United States will also expand a program for child refugees and allow some people to apply for refugee status in their home countries. The steps, after months of criticism of President Barack Obama's handling of the crisis, are modest in comparison to plans announced by Secretary of State John Kerry in January to open several refugee processing centers in the region. "Our current efforts to date have been insufficient to address the number of people who may have legitimate refugee claims," Amy Pope, deputy homeland security adviser at Obama's National Security Council, told a telephone briefing for reporters. Many details, including how the program would be financed or how many people might be eligible, were unavailable. Advocates said they were pleased the administration was moving to provide the migrants, especially children, with an alternative to staying home with their lives at risk or relying on smugglers for the dangerous journey through Mexico. "It's really the way the program should have been established from the start, but even belatedly we're happy to see that this is the direction that they're taking it," said Bill Frelick, director of the refugee rights program at Human Rights Watch. Since October, nearly 80,000 children and families from the three countries have been apprehended at the U.S. border with Mexico. The crisis has fueled heated debate on the campaign trail over whether to welcome migrants fleeing violence or build a wall to keep them out, a centerpiece of Republican Donald Trump's run for president. Republican Representative Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, called the plan an abuse of the law. "Today's expansion of the Obama Administrations policy is simply a continuation of the government-sanctioned border surge," he said in a statement. The program also met resistance in the region. Guatemalan government officials rejected the description of those seeking to leave the country as refugees. FAMILY REUNIFICATION The administration also will expand its Central American Minors program, which allows those under 21 with a parent in the United States legally to seek refugee status. The program will now allow siblings, care givers or another parent to do so. Only 267 minors have entered the United States since the program began in December 2014. Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said 2,880 applicants have been approved and are awaiting resettlement. The New York Times reported in January that the United States planned to admit up to 9,000 Central American refugees. Costa Rican Minister of the Presidency Sergio Alfaro told a news conference in San Jose the government reserved the "explicit right" to ask for more information if there were doubts about those granted the six-month humanitarian visas. Carlos Maldonado of the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said the UNHCR and International Organization for Migration would handle costs incurred as applicants were processed in Costa Rica. If approved, they would most likely head to the United States, but could go to Canada, Sweden, Argentina, Brazil, Chile or Uruguay. Convincing countries to host a center has been difficult amid concern slow processing would lead to a backlog of people with nowhere to go, U.S. sources said. Nearly 8,000 Cubans migrating to the United States were stuck in Costa Rica recently when neighboring Nicaragua closed its border. Costa Rica's location is also a challenge. Salvadorans, Hondurans and Guatemalans seeking to move to the United States must travel south, across Nicaragua, to get there. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Julia Edwards; Additional reporting by Enrique Pretel in San Jose and Richard Cowan in Washington; Editing by James Dalgleish) SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549 FORM 6-K REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-16 OR 15d-16 UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 July 26, 2016 Commission File No.: 1-34455 Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (Translation of registrants name into English) Belgium (Jurisdiction of Incorporation) Brouwerijplein 1, 3000 Leuven, Belgium (Address of principal executive offices) Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F: Form 20-F u Form 40-F Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1): Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7): Indicate by check mark whether by furnishing the information contained in this Form, the registrant is also thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Yes No u THIS REPORT ON FORM 6-K SHALL BE DEEMED TO BE INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE IN EACH OF THE REGISTRATION STATEMENTS ON FORM F-3 (FILE NO. 333-208678), FORM S-8 (FILE NO. 333-172069), FORM S-8 (FILE NO. 333-171231), FORM S-8 (FILE NO. 333-169272), FORM S-8 (FILE NO. 333-165566), FORM S-8 (FILE NO. 333-165065), FORM S-8 (FILE NO. 333-178664), FORM S-8 (FILE NO. 333-188517), FORM S-8 (FILE NO. 333-192806), FORM S-8 (FILE NO. 333-201386) AND FORM S-8 (FILE NO. 333-208634) OF ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV SA/NV AND TO BE A PART THEREOF FROM THE DATE ON WHICH THIS REPORT IS FURNISHED, TO THE EXTENT NOT SUPERSEDED BY DOCUMENTS OR REPORTS SUBSEQUENTLY FILED OR FURNISHED. EXHIBIT INDEX Exhibit Number Description 99.1 Press release dated 26 July 2016 SIGNATURE 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, thereunto duly authorized. ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV SA/NV (Registrant) Dated: July 26, 2016 By: /s/ Jan Vandermeersch Name: Jan Vandermeersch Title: Global Legal Director Corporate Exhibit 99.1 THE ENCLOSED INFORMATION CONSTITUTES REGULATED INFORMATION AS DEFINED IN THE BELGIAN ROYAL DECREE OF 14 NOVEMBER 2007 REGARDING THE DUTIES OF ISSUERS OF FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS WHICH HAVE BEEN ADMITTED TO TRADING ON A REGULATED MARKET NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION THE FOLLOWING ANNOUNCEMENT IS AN ADVERTISEMENT AND NOT A PROSPECTUS OR PROSPECTUS EQUIVALENT DOCUMENT AND INVESTORS SHOULD NOT MAKE ANY INVESTMENT DECISION IN RELATION TO NEWCO SHARES EXCEPT ON THE BASIS OF THE INFORMATION IN THE TRANSACTION DOCUMENTS WHICH ARE PROPOSED TO BE PUBLISHED IN DUE COURSE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 26 JULY 2016 REVISED AND FINAL OFFER FOR SABMILLER PLC BY ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV SA/NV Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev) has decided to announce the following revised and final terms of its offer to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of SABMiller (the Transaction). Except as otherwise stated in this Announcement, all of the terms and conditions of the Transaction, including the Pre-Conditions and the Conditions (set out in Appendices 1 and 2 to the 11 November 2015 Announcement (11 November 2015 Announcement), respectively), remain as announced on 11 November 2015. Pursuant to the revised and final terms of the Transaction, each SABMiller Shareholder will now be entitled to receive: For each SABMiller Share: 45.00 in cash (the Cash Consideration) The revised Cash Consideration represents an increase of 1.00 per SABMiller Share over the 44.00 Cash Consideration set out in the 11 November 2015 Announcement. The revised Cash Consideration further represents: a premium of approximately 53% to SABMillers closing share price of 29.34 on 14 September 2015 (being the last Business Day prior to renewed speculation of an approach from AB InBev); and a premium of approximately 39% to SABMillers three month volume weighted average share price of 32.31 to 14 September 2015. 2 Pursuant to the revised and final terms of the Partial Share Alternative, SABMiller Shareholders will now be entitled to elect to receive: For each SABMiller Share: 4.6588 in cash (the cash element) and 0.483969 Restricted Shares (the exchange ratio) in lieu of the full cash consideration to which they would otherwise be entitled under the Transaction (subject to scaling back in accordance with the terms of the Partial Share Alternative as set out in the 11 November 2015 Announcement). The revised Partial Share Alternative is equivalent to a value of 51.14 per SABMiller Share on 25 July 2016. The stated value of the revised Partial Share Alternative is calculated before taking account of any discount for the unlisted nature of the Restricted Shares and the restrictions on transfer that will apply to them (as set out in the 11 November 2015 Announcement and as will be described in more detail in the Transaction Documents). The revised Partial Share Alternative represents, as at 25 July 2016: a premium of approximately 74% to SABMillers closing share price of 29.34 on 14 September 2015 (being the last Business Day prior to renewed speculation of an approach from AB InBev); and a premium of approximately 58% to SABMillers three month volume weighted average share price of 32.31 to 14 September 2015. The Transaction values SABMillers entire issued and to be issued share capital at approximately 79 billion, as at 25 July 2016. AB InBev confirms that this offer is final and that it will not further increase the Cash Consideration or the cash element or the exchange ratio of the Partial Share Alternative. As AB InBev has announced separately, regulatory approvals have been obtained in the EU, in the US and in South Africa, comprising satisfaction of each of the Pre-Conditions to the Transaction other than the clearance from MOFCOM in the Peoples Republic of China (as set out in paragraph (c) of Appendix 1 to the 11 November 2015 Announcement) which remains outstanding as at the date of this Announcement. AB InBev has now obtained approval in 22 jurisdictions. Clearance decisions, with or without conditions, have now been obtained: in North America (US and Canada); in Asia-Pacific (Australia, India and South Korea); in Africa (Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa); in Europe (the EU, Albania, Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine); and in Latin America (Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay and Mexico). In the remaining jurisdictions where regulatory clearance is still pending, AB InBev will continue to engage proactively with the relevant authorities to address their concerns in order to obtain the necessary clearances as quickly as possible. AB InBev has irrevocable undertakings from Altria Group, Inc. and BEVCO Ltd., the largest shareholders in SABMiller, to vote in favour of the SABMiller Resolutions proposed at the 3 UK Scheme Court Meeting and the SABMiller General Meeting (or to consent to be bound by the UK Scheme) and to elect for the Partial Share Alternative in respect of their entire beneficial holdings of 430,000,000 and 225,000,000 SABMiller Shares respectively, representing in aggregate approximately 40.38% of SABMillers issued share capital at the close of business on 30 June 2016. In the event that elections for the Partial Share Alternative would require more than 326,000,000 Restricted Shares and 3,138,153,064 in cash then such elections will be scaled back pro rata to the size of such elections (or as near thereto as AB InBev in its absolute discretion considers practicable). Further details of these irrevocable undertakings and other irrevocables obtained in relation to the transaction are set out in paragraph 19 and Appendix 4 to the 11 November 2015 Announcement, including the circumstances in which the irrevocable undertakings cease to be binding. The Belgian Offer and the Belgian Merger will each require the approval of the AB InBev Shareholders. The AB InBev Directors consider the Belgian Offer and the Belgian Merger to be in the best interests of AB InBev and the AB InBev Shareholders as a whole and intend unanimously to recommend that AB InBev Shareholders vote in favour of the AB InBev Resolutions to be proposed at the AB InBev General Meeting which will be convened in connection with the Transaction. AB InBev continues to focus on completing the combination as quickly as practicable. The AB InBev Directors have received financial advice from Lazard in relation to the Transaction. In providing its advice to the AB InBev Directors, Lazard has relied upon the AB InBev Directors commercial assessment of the Transaction. AB InBev intends to finance the cash consideration payable to SABMiller Shareholders pursuant to the Transaction from existing cash resources and third party debt. In accordance with Rule 2.7(d) of the City Code, Lazard, as lead financial adviser to AB InBev, is satisfied that sufficient resources are available to AB InBev to satisfy in full the cash consideration payable pursuant to the terms of the Transaction. Further information on the financing of the Transaction will be set out in the UK Scheme Document. In accordance with Rule 32.2 of the City Code, if any dividend or other distribution is announced, declared, made or paid in respect of the SABMiller Shares on or after the date of this Announcement and prior to the UK Scheme Effective Date, other than a Permitted Dividend, or in excess of any Permitted Dividend, AB InBev shall reduce the Consideration by the amount of all or part of any such excess, in the case of a Permitted Dividend, or otherwise by the amount of all or part of any such dividend or other distribution. In calculating the amount of any such reduction, the value of a Restricted Share shall be calculated by reference to the value of 0.483969 of an AB InBev Share (as at the close of business on the last Business Day prior to any announcement of a reduction in Consideration) and the amount of any dividend not denominated in sterling shall be converted into sterling at the prevailing exchange rate (as quoted from Bloomberg at 4.30 pm BST on the same date). This Announcement should be read in conjunction with the full text of the 11 November 2015 Announcement (including the Appendices). The Transaction is subject to the Pre-Conditions and the Conditions and certain further terms set out in Appendices 1 and 2 to the 11 November 2015 Announcement, and to the full terms and conditions which will be set out in the Transaction Documents. Appendix 1 to this Announcement contains 4 sources and bases of certain information contained in this Announcement. Appendix 7 to the 11 November 2015 Announcement contains the definitions of certain terms used in this Announcement. Transaction Microsite Further information, including all documents related to the Transaction can be found at: www.globalbrewer.com. English, Dutch and French versions of this press release will be available on www.ab-inbev.com. Enquiries: AB InBev Media Marianne Amssoms Tel: +1 212 573 9281 E-mail: [email protected] Karen Couck Tel: +1 212 573 9283 E-mail: [email protected] Kathleen Van Boxelaer Tel: +32 16 27 68 23 E-mail: [email protected] Investors Graham Staley Tel: +1 212 573 4365 E-mail: [email protected] Heiko Vulsieck Tel: +32 16 27 68 88 E-mail: [email protected] Lauren Abbott Tel: +1 212 573 9287 E-mail: [email protected] 5 AB InBev Financial Advisers Lazard Lead Financial Adviser Alexander Hecker / Mario Skoff Tel: +1 212 632 6000 William Rucker / Richard Shaw / Marcus Taylor / Charlie Foreman Tel: +44 20 7187 2000 Deutsche Bank - Financial Adviser and Corporate Broker Tel: +44 20 7545 8000 / +27 11 775 7000 Bruce Evans / Bob Douglas / Simon Denny Andrew Tusa / Ben Lawrence / Simon Hollingsworth Barclays Financial Adviser Tel: +44 207 623 2323 Wilco Faessen / Gary Posternack / Mark Todd BNP Paribas Financial Adviser Tel: +44 20 7595 2000 Eric Jacquemot / Bjorn De Carro Merrill Lynch International Financial Adviser Tel: +44 20 7628 1000 Federico Aliboni / Michael Findlay / Geoff Iles Standard Bank Financial Adviser in relation to Africa matters Tel: +27 11 721 8119 Fradreck Shoko / Ian Carton / Clive Potter AB InBev Communications Adviser - Brunswick Steve Lipin (Brunswick Group US) Tel: +1 212 333 3810 E-mail: [email protected] Richard Jacques (Brunswick Group UK) Tel: +44 20 7404 5959 E-mail: [email protected] Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and Clifford Chance LLP are retained as legal advisers to AB InBev. Important notices relating to financial advisers Lazard is acting exclusively as lead financial adviser to AB InBev and for no one else in connection with the Transaction and is not, and will not be, responsible to anyone other than AB 6 InBev for providing the protections afforded to clients of Lazard, or for providing advice in connection with the Transaction or any other matters referred to in this Announcement. Neither Lazard nor any of its affiliates owes or accepts any duty, liability or responsibility whatsoever (whether direct or indirect, whether in contract, in tort, under statute or otherwise) to any person who is not a client of Lazard in connection with this Transaction, any statement contained herein or otherwise. Lazard & Co., Limited is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority. Deutsche Bank AG is authorised under German Banking Law (competent authority: European Central Bank) and, in the United Kingdom, by the Prudential Regulation Authority. It is subject to supervision by the European Central Bank and by BaFin, Germanys Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, and is subject to limited regulation in the United Kingdom by the Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority. Details about the extent of its authorisation and regulation by the Prudential Regulation Authority, and regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority, are available on request or from www.db.com/en/content/eu_disclosures.htm. Deutsche Bank AG, acting through its London branch (DB), is acting as financial adviser and corporate broker to AB InBev and no other person in connection with this Announcement or its contents. DB will not be responsible to any person other than AB InBev for providing any of the protections afforded to clients of DB, nor for providing any advice in relation to any matter referred to herein. Without limiting a persons liability for fraud, neither DB nor any of its subsidiary undertakings, branches or affiliates nor any of its or their respective directors, officers, representatives, employees, advisers or agents owes or accepts any duty, liability or responsibility whatsoever (whether direct or indirect, whether in contract, in tort, under statute or otherwise) to any person who is not a client of DB in connection with this Announcement, any statement contained herein or otherwise. Barclays Bank PLC, acting through its Investment Bank (Barclays), which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority in the United Kingdom, is acting as financial adviser exclusively for AB InBev and no one else in connection with the matters referred to in this Announcement and is not, and will not be responsible to anyone other than AB InBev for providing the protections afforded to clients of Barclays nor for giving advice in connection with the matters referred to in this Announcement. BNP Paribas is incorporated in France with limited liability under registration no. 662 042 449 RCS Paris and has its Registered Office at 16 boulevard des Italiens, 75009 Paris, France. 662 042 449 RCS Paris. BNP Paribas is lead supervised by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Autorite de Controle Prudentiel et de Resolution (ACPR). BNP Paribas London Branch is registered in England and Wales under no. FC13447 and has its Registered Office at 10 Harewood Avenue, London NW1 6AA. BNP Paribas London Branch is authorised by the ECB, the ACPR and the Prudential Regulation Authority and is subject to regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority for activities carried out in and from the United Kingdom. Details about the extent of such authorisation and regulation by the Prudential Regulation Authority, and regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority are available on request. 7 Please note that BNP Paribas is acting exclusively for AB InBev and no one else in connection with the subject matter of this Announcement, and will not be responsible to anyone other than AB InBev for providing the protections afforded to clients of BNP Paribas or for providing advice in relation to the subject matter of this Announcement. Merrill Lynch International, a subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation (Merrill Lynch International), which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the FCA and the Prudential Regulation Authority in the UK, is acting exclusively for AB InBev and no one else in connection with the Transaction and will not be responsible to anyone other than AB InBev for providing the protections afforded to its clients or for providing advice in relation to the Transaction or any other matters referred to in this Announcement. The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited (Standard Bank) is authorised under South African Banking Law and regulated by the South African Reserve Bank. Standard Bank is acting as financial adviser to AB InBev only in relation to certain Africa related matters arising in connection with this Announcement and, in particular, is not advising AB InBev in relation to compliance under the Takeover Code. Standard Bank is not acting for anybody else in connection with the matters referred to in this Announcement. Standard Bank is not and will not be responsible to any person other than AB InBev for providing any of the protections afforded to clients of Standard Bank, nor for giving any advice in relation to any matter referred to in this Announcement. Neither Standard Bank nor any of its subsidiary undertakings or affiliates (including the subsidiary undertakings and affiliates of its holding company), nor any of its or their respective directors, officers, representatives, employees, advisers or agents owes or accepts any duty, liability or responsibility whatsoever (whether direct or indirect, whether in contract, in delict, in tort, under statute or otherwise) to any person who is not a client of Standard Bank in connection with this Announcement, any statement contained or referred to herein or otherwise. Further information This Announcement is for information purposes only and is not intended to, and does not, constitute or form part of any offer or invitation, or the solicitation of an offer or invitation, to purchase, otherwise acquire, subscribe for, sell or otherwise dispose of, any securities or the solicitation of any vote or approval in any jurisdiction pursuant to the Transaction or otherwise nor shall there be any sale, issuance or transfer of securities of AB InBev, Newco or SABMiller pursuant to the Transaction in any jurisdiction in contravention of applicable laws. The Transaction will be implemented solely pursuant to the terms of the Transaction Documents, which will contain the full terms and conditions of the Transaction, including details of how to vote in respect of the Transaction. Any decision in respect of, or other response to, the Transaction should be made only on the basis of the information contained in the Transaction Documents. This Announcement does not constitute a prospectus or prospectus equivalent document. AB InBev reserves the right to elect (with the consent of the Panel and subject to the terms of the Co-operation Agreement and the irrevocable undertakings described in paragraph 19 to the 11 November 2015 Announcement) to implement the first step of the Transaction by way of a UK Offer and to make any necessary consequential changes to the Proposed Structure. In such event, such UK Offer will be implemented on the same terms, so far as applicable, as those which would apply to the UK Scheme, subject to appropriate amendments to reflect the change in method of effecting the Transaction, including (without limitation and subject to the consent of 8 the Panel and the terms of the Co-operation Agreement and the irrevocable undertakings described in paragraph 19 to the 11 November 2015 Announcement) an acceptance condition that is set at 90 per cent. (or such lesser percentage, as AB InBev may decide): (i) in nominal value of the shares to which such UK Offer would relate; and (ii) of the voting rights attached to those shares, and that is subject to AB InBev and/or (with the consent of the Panel) any members of the AB InBev Group having acquired or agreed to acquire, whether pursuant to the UK Offer or otherwise, shares carrying more than 50 per cent. of the voting rights normally exercisable at a general meeting of SABMiller, including, for this purpose, any such voting rights attaching to SABMiller Shares that are unconditionally allotted or issued before the UK Offer becomes or is declared unconditional as to acceptances, whether pursuant to the exercise of any outstanding subscription or conversion rights or otherwise. Information relating to SABMiller Shareholders Please be aware that addresses, electronic addresses and certain other information provided by SABMiller Shareholders, persons with information rights and other relevant persons for the receipt of communications from SABMiller may be provided to AB InBev during the UK Offer Period as required under Section 4 of Appendix 4 of the City Code. Overseas jurisdictions The release, publication or distribution of this Announcement in jurisdictions other than the United Kingdom may be restricted by law and therefore any persons who are subject to the laws of any jurisdiction other than the United Kingdom should inform themselves about, and observe any applicable requirements. In particular, the ability of persons who are not resident in the United Kingdom to vote their SABMiller Shares with respect to the UK Scheme at the UK Scheme Court Meeting, to execute and deliver forms of proxy appointing another to vote at the UK Scheme Court Meeting on their behalf or to hold or vote Newco Shares, may be affected by the laws of the relevant jurisdictions in which they are located. This Announcement has been prepared for the purpose of complying with English law and the City Code and the information disclosed may not be the same as that which would have been disclosed if this Announcement had been prepared in accordance with the laws of jurisdictions outside the United Kingdom. Unless otherwise determined by AB InBev or required by the City Code, and permitted by applicable law and regulation, the Transaction will not be made available, directly or indirectly, in, into or from a Restricted Jurisdiction where to do so would violate the laws in that jurisdiction and no person may vote in favour of the Transaction by any such use, means, instrumentality or form within a Restricted Jurisdiction or any other jurisdiction if to do so would constitute a violation of the laws of that jurisdiction. Accordingly, copies of this Announcement and any formal documentation relating to the Transaction are not being, and must not be, directly or indirectly, mailed or otherwise forwarded, distributed or sent in or into or from any Restricted Jurisdiction and persons receiving such documents (including custodians, nominees and trustees) must not mail or otherwise forward, distribute or send them in or into or from any Restricted Jurisdiction. If the Transaction is implemented, among other steps, by way of a UK Offer (unless otherwise permitted by applicable law and regulation), the UK Offer may not be made directly or indirectly, in or into, or by the use of mails or any means or instrumentality (including, but not limited to, facsimile, e-mail or other electronic transmission, telex or telephone) of interstate or foreign commerce of, or of any facility of a national, state or other securities exchange of any Restricted Jurisdiction and the UK Offer may not be capable of acceptance by any such use, means, instrumentality or facilities. 9 The availability of the Initial Shares and/or the Restricted Shares under the Transaction to SABMiller Shareholders who are not resident in the United Kingdom or the ability of those persons to continue to hold such shares may be affected by the laws or regulatory requirements of the relevant jurisdictions in which they are resident. Persons who are not resident in the United Kingdom should inform themselves of, and observe, any applicable legal or regulatory requirements. The Cash Consideration and the cash element of the Partial Share Alternative are priced in pounds sterling. However, SABMiller Shareholders on the South African register will, as required, receive any cash consideration due to them under the terms of the Transaction in South African Rand. The Transaction Documents will include further details in relation to this currency exchange. Further details in relation to SABMiller Shareholders in overseas jurisdictions will be contained in the UK Scheme Document. Additional US information The Transaction relates to the shares of a UK company and a Belgian company and is subject to UK procedural and disclosure requirements and Belgian law requirements that are different from those of the US. Any financial statements or other financial information included in this Announcement may have been prepared in accordance with non-US accounting standards that may not be comparable to the financial statements of US companies or companies whose financial statements are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the US. It may be difficult for US holders of shares to enforce their rights and any claims they may have arising under the US federal securities laws in connection with the Transaction, since AB InBev, Newco and SABMiller are each located in a country other than the US, and some or all of their officers and directors may be residents of countries other than the United States. As a result, it may not be possible for investors to effect service of process upon such persons or to enforce against them a judgment obtained in US courts. Original actions or actions for the enforcement of judgments of US courts relating to the civil liability provisions of the federal or state securities laws of the United States may not be directly enforceable in Belgium or elsewhere outside the United States. Investors should be aware that AB InBev or Newco may purchase or arrange to purchase SABMiller Shares otherwise than under any takeover offer or scheme of arrangement related to the Transaction, such as in open market or privately negotiated purchases. The first part of the implementation of the Transaction is intended to be carried out under a scheme of arrangement provided for under English company law (which requires the approval of the SABMiller Shareholders). If so, it is expected that any Initial Shares to be issued pursuant to the UK Scheme to SABMiller Shareholders would be issued in reliance upon the exemption from the registration requirements of the US Securities Act, provided by Section 3(a)(10) thereof. The first part of the implementation of the Transaction may, in the circumstances provided for in this Announcement, instead be carried out by way of a takeover offer under English law. If so, any securities to be issued under the first part of the Transaction will be registered under the US Securities Act, absent any applicable exemption from registration. If the first part of the implementation of the Transaction is carried out by way of UK takeover offer, it will be done in compliance with the applicable rules under the US Exchange Act, including any applicable exemptions provided under Rule 14d-1(d) thereunder. 10 Investors are urged to read any documents related to the Transaction filed, furnished or to be filed or furnished with the SEC because they will contain important information regarding the Transaction and any related offer of securities. Such documents will be available free of charge at the SECs web site at www.sec.gov and from AB InBev at www.ab-inbev.com. Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements This Announcement, oral statements made regarding the Transaction, and any other information published by AB InBev, SABMiller and Newco, contain certain forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of AB InBev, Newco and SABMiller and their respective Groups, and certain plans and objectives of AB InBev and Newco with respect to the Combined Group. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are prospective in nature and are not based on historical facts, but rather on current expectations and projections of the management of AB InBev, Newco and SABMiller about future events, and are therefore subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this Announcement include statements relating to the expected effects of the Transaction on AB InBev, Newco and/or SABMiller, the expected timing and scope of the Transaction and other statements other than historical facts. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as plans, expects or does not expect, is subject to, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, should, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Although AB InBev, Newco and SABMiller believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, AB InBev, Newco and SABMiller can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include the satisfaction of the remaining Pre-Condition and the Conditions; the ability to realise the anticipated benefits and synergies of the Transaction, including as a result of a delay in completing the Transaction or difficulty in integrating the businesses of the companies involved; the ability to obtain the regulatory approvals related to the Transaction and the ability to satisfy any conditions required to obtain such approvals; the continued availability of financing; any change of control provisions in agreements to which AB InBev or SABMiller is a party that might be triggered by the Transaction; the impact of foreign exchange rates; the performance of the global economy; the capacity for growth in beer, alcoholic beverage markets and non-alcoholic beverage markets; the consolidation and convergence of the industry, its suppliers and its customers; the effect of changes in governmental regulations; disruption from the Transaction making it more difficult to maintain relationships with customers, employees, suppliers, associates or joint venture partners as well as governments in the territories in which the SABMiller Group and the AB InBev Group operate; and the success of AB InBev, SABMiller and/or Newco in managing the risks involved in the foregoing, as well as additional factors, including the risks relating to AB InBev described under Item 3.D of its Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on 14 March 2016. Other unknown or unpredictable factors could cause actual results to differ 11 materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements should therefore be construed in the light of such factors. None of AB InBev, Newco or SABMiller, nor any of their respective associates or directors, officers or advisers, provides any representation, assurance or guarantee that the occurrence of the events expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements in this Announcement will actually occur. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this Announcement. None of AB InBev, the AB InBev Group, SABMiller or the SABMiller Group undertakes any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this Announcement. All forward-looking statements contained in this Announcement are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section, AB InBevs most recent Form 20-F, reports furnished on Form 6-K, and any other documents that AB InBev or SABMiller have made public. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. For a discussion of important factors which could cause actual results to differ from forward-looking statements relating to SABMiller and the SABMiller Group, refer to SABMillers Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2016. These risk factors expressly qualify all forward-looking statements contained in this Announcement and should also be considered by the reader. Rounding Certain figures included in this Announcement have been subjected to rounding adjustments. Accordingly, figures shown for the same category presented in different tables may vary slightly and figures shown as totals in certain tables may not be an arithmetic aggregation of the figures that precede them. No forecasts or estimates No statement in this Announcement (including any statement of estimated synergies or costs savings) is intended as a profit forecast or estimate for any period. No statement in this Announcement should be interpreted to mean that earnings or earnings per AB InBev Share, Newco Share or per SABMiller Share for the current or future financial years would necessarily match or exceed the historical published earnings per AB InBev Share, per Newco Share or per SABMiller Share. Disclosure requirements of the City Code Under Rule 8.3(a) of the City Code, any person who is interested in 1% or more of any class of relevant securities of an offeree company or of any securities exchange offeror (being any offeror other than an offeror in respect of which it has been announced that its offer is, or is likely to be, solely in cash) must make an Opening Position Disclosure following the commencement of the offer period and, if later, following the announcement in which any securities exchange offeror is first identified. An Opening Position Disclosure must contain details of the persons interests and short positions in, and rights to subscribe for, any relevant securities of each of: (i) the offeree company and (ii) any securities exchange offeror(s). An Opening Position Disclosure by a person to whom Rule 8.3(a) applies must be made by no later than 3.30 pm (London time) on the 10th Business Day following the commencement of the offer 12 period and, if appropriate, by no later than 3.30 pm (London time) on the 10th Business Day following the announcement in which any securities exchange offeror is first identified. Relevant persons who deal in the relevant securities of the offeree company or of a securities exchange offeror prior to the deadline for making an Opening Position Disclosure must instead make a dealing disclosure. Under Rule 8.3(b) of the City Code, any person who is, or becomes, interested in 1% or more of any class of relevant securities of the offeree company or of any securities exchange offeror must make a dealing disclosure if the person deals in any relevant securities of the offeree company or of any securities exchange offeror. A dealing disclosure must contain details of the dealing concerned and of the persons interests and short positions in, and rights to subscribe for, any relevant securities of each of: (i) the offeree company and (ii) any securities exchange offeror(s), save to the extent that these details have previously been disclosed under Rule 8. A dealing disclosure by a person to whom Rule 8.3(b) applies must be made by no later than 3.30 pm (London time) on the Business Day following the date of the relevant dealing. If two or more persons act together pursuant to an agreement or understanding, whether formal or informal, to acquire or control an interest in relevant securities of an offeree company or a securities exchange offeror, they will be deemed to be a single person for the purpose of Rule 8.3. Opening Position Disclosures must also be made by the offeree company and by any offeror and dealing disclosures must also be made by the offeree company, by any offeror and by any persons acting in concert with any of them (see Rules 8.1, 8.2 and 8.4). Details of the offeree and offeror companies in respect of whose relevant securities Opening Position Disclosures and dealing disclosures must be made can be found in the Disclosure Table on the Takeover Panels website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk, including details of the number of relevant securities in issue, when the offer period commenced and when any offeror was first identified. You should contact the Panels Market Surveillance Unit on +44 (0)20 7638 0129 if you are in any doubt as to whether you are required to make an Opening Position Disclosure or a dealing disclosure. Time All times shown in this Announcement are London times, unless otherwise stated. 13 Appendix 1 SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND BASES OF CALCULATION In this Announcement: 1. All references to SABMiller Shares are to SABMiller ordinary shares of US$0.10 each. 2. The aggregate value of the Transaction of approximately 79 billion is calculated based on the fully diluted share capital of SABMiller of 1,657,262,457 SABMiller Shares, assuming that Altria and BEVCO elect for the Partial Share Alternative in respect of their entire beneficial holdings of 430,000,000 and 225,000,000 SABMiller Shares respectively and all other SABMiller Shareholders elect for the Cash Consideration. 3. The value of the Partial Share Alternative of 51.14 in respect of each SABMiller Share is calculated by reference to the value of 46.48 per Restricted Share (based on the value of 0.483969 of an AB InBev Share valued at 114.80 as at the close of business on 25 July 2016 and GBP:EUR exchange rate of 1.1954 which was derived from data provided by Bloomberg as at 4.30pm BST on 25 July 2016) and 4.6588 in cash. The stated value of the Partial Share Alternative is calculated before taking account of any discount for the unlisted nature of the Restricted Shares and the restrictions on transfer that will apply to them (as set out in the 11 November 2015 Announcement). 4. The fully diluted share capital of SABMiller of 1,657,262,457 SABMiller Shares is calculated on the basis of: (A) SABMillers issued share capital as at the close of business on 30 June 2016 of 1,622,117,877 SABMiller Shares (excluding 57,976,623 treasury shares); and (B) 46,228,377 SABMiller Shares (excluding 51,645 cash settled options and stock appreciation rights) which may be issued on or after the date of this Announcement on the exercise of options or vesting of awards under the SABMiller Share Plans, netted off against 11,083,797 SABMiller Shares held in SABMillers Employee Benefit Trust as at the close of business on 30 June 2016. 5. Unless otherwise stated, all prices quoted for SABMiller Shares have been derived from the Daily Official List of the London Stock Exchange and represent closing middle market prices on the relevant date. 6. Unless otherwise stated, all prices quoted for AB InBev Shares have been derived from Bloomberg and represent closing middle market prices on the relevant date. 7. Unless otherwise stated: (A) historical financial information relating to AB InBev has been extracted or derived (without material adjustment) from the audited financial statements of AB InBev contained in AB InBevs Annual Report and Accounts and Form 20-F for the financial year ended 31 December 2015 or from AB InBevs management sources; and 14 (B) historical financial information relating to SABMiller has been extracted or derived (without material adjustment) from the audited financial statements of SABMiller contained in SABMillers Annual Report and Accounts for the financial year ended 31 March 2016. 8. Certain figures included in this Announcement have been subject to rounding adjustments. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 FORM 6-K REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-16 OR 15d-16 UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the month of July 2016 Commission File Number 001-12284 GOLDEN STAR RESOURCES LTD. (Translation of registrants name into English) 150 King Street West Suite 1200 Toronto, Ontario M5H 1J9, Canada (Address of principal executive office) Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F. Form 20-F Form 40-F x Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1): Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7): Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information contained in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Yes No x If Yes is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the registrant in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 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, thereunto duly authorized. Date: July 26, 2016 GOLDEN STAR RESOURCES LTD. By: /s/ Andre van Niekerk Andre van Niekerk Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer EXHIBIT INDEX Exhibit No. Description of Exhibit 99.1 Press Release dated July 26, 2016 - Golden Star Announces Pricing of Private Offering of US$65 Million of 7.0% Convertible Senior Notes due 2021 Exhibit 99.1 Golden Star Announces Pricing of Private Offering of US$65 Million of 7.0% Convertible Senior Notes due 2021 TORONTO, July 26, 2016 /CNW/ - Golden Star Resources Ltd. (NYSE MKT: GSS; TSX: GSC; GSE: GSR) ("Golden Star" or the "Company") announces the pricing of US$65.0 million aggregate principal amount of 7.0% convertible senior notes due 2021 (the "Notes") pursuant to applicable U.S. and Canadian private placement exemptions. As part of the offering, the Company has entered into exchange and purchase agreements with two holders of its 5.0% convertible senior unsecured debentures due June 1, 2017 to exchange approximately US$40.0 million principal amount of the outstanding convertible debentures for an equal principal amount of newly issued Notes (the "Exchange"), with such principal amount being included in the total aggregate principal amount of the offering of the Notes. The Company will not receive any cash proceeds from the Exchange. The Notes offering is expected to close on August 3, 2016, subject to customary closing conditions. The Notes will be senior unsecured obligations of the Company, will bear interest at a rate of 7.0% per annum, payable semi-annually on February 1 and August 1 of each year, beginning on February 1, 2017, and will mature on August 15, 2021, unless earlier repurchased, redeemed or converted. The Notes will be convertible at any time at the option of the holder, and may be settled, at the Company's election, in cash, common shares of the Company, or a combination of cash and common shares. The initial conversion rate of the Notes will be 1111.1111 common shares of the Company per US$1,000 principal amount of Notes, which is equivalent to an initial conversion price of approximately US$0.90 per common share. The initial conversion price represents a 20% premium to the price per common share in the concurrent public offering of the Company's common shares described below. The conversion rate will be subject to adjustment upon the occurrence of certain events. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering of approximately US$22.7 million, together with the net proceeds from a concurrent public offering of US$30.0 million, or 40,000,000, of its common shares, of approximately US$28.0 million (subject to an over-allotment option to increase the gross proceeds of the public offering by up to US$4.5 million, or 6,000,000 common shares,) (the "Equity Offering") to strengthen its balance sheet by retiring certain of its outstanding indebtedness, including through the repurchase of its 5.0% convertible senior unsecured debentures in privately negotiated transactions and the repayment of its secured medium term loan facility with Ecobank Ghana Limited, and will use any remaining funds for general corporate purposes. The Notes are only being offered in the United States to qualified institutional buyers in accordance with Rule 144A under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") and to non-U.S. persons outside the United States in reliance on Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act. The Notes are only being offered in Canada to accredited investors pursuant to exemptions from the prospectus requirements of applicable Canadian securities laws. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall it constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale is unlawful. The Notes and the common shares issuable upon the conversion of the Notes have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act and may not be offered or sold absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act, and in Canada will be subject to a four month restricted period from the issue date of the Notes. The Company has applied to list the common shares to be issued pursuant to the Equity Offering and the common shares issuable upon conversion of the Notes on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") and the NYSE MKT. For the purposes of TSX approval, the Company intends to rely on the exemption set forth in Section 602.1 of the TSX Company Manual, which provides that the TSX will not apply its standards to certain transactions involving eligible interlisted issuers. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This press release contains "forward looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Golden Star. Generally, forward-looking information and statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words and phrases (including negative or grammatical variations) or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation thereof. Forward-looking information and statements include, but are not limited to, the completion of the Notes offering; the completion of the exchange; the anticipated pricing and completion of the Equity Offering; the planned use of proceeds for the Notes offering; the planned use of proceeds from the Equity Offering; and the planned reliance on the exemption set forth in Section 602.1 of the TSX Company Manual. Forward-looking information and statements are made based upon certain assumptions and other important factors that, if untrue, could cause the actual results, performances or achievements of Golden Star to be materially different from future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Forward-looking information and statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Golden Star to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information and statements, including but not limited to: risks related to international operations, including economic and political instability in foreign jurisdictions in which Golden Star operates; risks related to current global financial conditions; risks related to joint venture operations; actual results of current exploration activities; environmental risks; future prices of gold; possible variations in Mineral Reserves, grade or recovery rates; mine development and operating risks; accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities and risks related to indebtedness and the service of such indebtedness. Please refer to the discussion of these and other factors in our Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2015. Although Golden Star has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information and statements, 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 information and statements. Forward-looking information and statements are made as of the date hereof and accordingly are subject to change after such date. Golden Star does not undertake to update any forward-looking information and statements that are included in this press release except in accordance with applicable securities laws. SOURCE Golden Star Resources Ltd. %CIK: 0000903571 For further information: please visit www.gsr.com or contact: Katharine Sutton, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs, +1 416 583 3800, [email protected] CO: Golden Star Resources Ltd. CNW 07:58e 26-JUL-16 FORM 6-K SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 Report Of Foreign Private Issuer Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 For the month of July 2016 Commission File No. 000-55032 Kelso Technologies Inc. (Translation of registrant's name into English) 13966 18B Avenue, Surrey, British Columbia V4A 8J1 (Address of principal executive office) Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F. Form 20-F [X] Form 40-F [ ] Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1) [ ] NOTE: Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1) only permits the submission in paper of a Form 6-K if submitted solely to provide an attached annual report to security holders. SUBMITTED HEREWITH 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, thereunto duly authorized. KELSO TECHNOLOGIES INC. /s/ James R. Bond James R. Bond Chief Executive Officer Date: July 26, 2016 NEWS RELEASE Kelso Technologies Inc. (The Company or Kelso) July 26, 2016 Canada: TSX: KLS United States: NYSE MKT: KIQ NEW PRODUCT KELSO TECHNOLOGIES INC. EMERGENCY REPONSE KIT Vancouver, British Columbia and Bonham, Texas, Kelso Technologies Inc. (TSX: KLS) (NYSE MKT: KIQ) (Kelso or the Company) reports that the Company has successfully completed initial commercial testing of its new emergency response kit known as the Kelso ERK (ERK). This specialized equipment is used by first responders to cap and contain chemical leaks in the field that originate in a HAZMAT rail tank cars valve assembly or its connections located on the top of the tank car. The ERK is specifically designed to be implemented quickly and safely to reduce potential dangers to human life and environmental harm to communities during emergency events involving hazardous materials. The ERK was developed in partnership with hazardous materials specialists from a Class 1 Railroad company. It has numerous advantages for its users over current competitive designs: Compact the Kelso ERK fits in two containers which is a reduction from the three containers currently used. The ERK takes up less space on emergency response vehicles and allows handling by one person. Built with lightweight materials - the ERK is half the weight of existing products providing easier deployment and operation of the ERK by emergency responders. No additional application tools are required, which reduces kit weight and complexity of operation. Color-coded valve caps aid first responder in selecting proper valve cap under emergency conditions. Friction reduction system lowers torque needed to apply the valve cap. This reduces the number of tools needed to effectively apply the ERK, reducing the potential effects of human error and potential injury to first responders. The ERK is designed for both pressure tank cars which include commodities such as chlorine, liquefied petroleum gas and anhydrous ammonia and non-pressurized tank cars. The Kelso ERK is the only emergency kit in the market that is designed to handle general service tank cars. The ERK meets the design requirements of many first responder stakeholders in North America. These stakeholders include the National Hazardous Materials Response Team and their 13 regional response centers; six Class 1 railroads; 700 Class 2 and 3 railroads; and training organizations like the Transportation Technology Center, Inc (TTCI) - a division of the American Rail Road Association and TRANSCAER which provides a voluntary national outreach effort that focuses on assisting communities prepare for and respond to a possible hazardous material accident event. Both TTCI and TRANSCAER have direct influential relationships with the many first responders in North America. James R. Bond, CEO of the Company comments that The ERK represents a new diverse multi-million dollar market for the Company. Kelso has completed all required design specifications in collaboration with our Class 1 railroad partner and is now prepared to begin distribution of the ERK to first responder organizations. We are proud of the new benefits engineered into the ERK on behalf of our stakeholders and all first responders. Our reputation for innovative design continues to grow in markets beyond rail tank cars, providing new revenue streams for the Company. About Kelso Technologies Kelso is a railway equipment supplier that designs, produces and sells proprietary tank car service equipment used in the safe handling and containment of hazardous materials during transport. Products are specifically designed to provide economic and operational advantages while reducing the potential effects of human error and environmental harm during the transport of hazardous materials. The Company is recognized as a reliable supplier of AAR approved railway equipment that addresses the regulatory concerns about railroad safety in North America. For a more complete business and financial profile of the Company, please view the Company's website at www.kelsotech.com and public documents posted under the Companys profile on www.sedar.com in Canada and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov in the United States. For a more complete business and financial profile of the Company, please view the Company's website at www.kelsotech.com and public documents posted on www.sedar.com . On behalf of the Board of Directors, James R. Bond, CEO and President Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are indicated expectations or intentions. Forward-looking statements in this news release include that the ERK represents a new diverse multi-million dollar market for the Company; and that the Company has completed all required design specifications in collaboration with a new Class 1 railroad partner; that we have new revenue streams beyond rail tank cars, and that Kelso is now prepared to begin distribution of the ERK. Although Kelso believes its anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements and information are based upon reasonable assumptions and expectations, they can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. The reader should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information as such statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Kelso to differ materially from anticipated future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and information, including without limitation the risk that the Companys products may not provide the intended economic or operational advantages; or reduce the potential effects of human error and environmental harm during the transport of hazardous materials; or grow and sustain anticipated revenue streams. Our products may not sell as well as expected, and competitors may offer better or cheaper alternatives to our products. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend to update the forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this news release. For further information, please contact: A Verizon sign is seen at a retail store in San Diego, California, U.S. on April 21, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo By Malathi Nayak and Aishwarya Venugopal (Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc disappointed Wall Street on Tuesday by reporting a smaller-than-expected subscriber gain for its main wireless business, while its CEO gave few details about plans to increase revenue from its planned purchase of Yahoo Inc's internet assets. Shares of the No. 1 U.S. wireless company, which had risen about 21 percent this year, fell 2 percent shortly after midday. Verizon is focused on combining the media and advertising technology assets of Yahoo and AOL, which it acquired last year, Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said in an interview. "This is about scale, this is about building viewers, which drives advertisers, and we believe there is a lot of revenue synergy here," Shammo said. Verizon had said on Monday that it would buy Yahoo's core internet properties for $4.83 billion to expand its digital advertising and media business and compete with Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google. The company is looking for new revenue by distributing content and selling ads as its wireless business matures. On a call with investors, Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam said advertisers and content partners such as the National Football League were already expressing interest in distributing video to millions of AOL and Yahoo users who visit sites such as the Huffington Post and Yahoo Finance. The company will disclose details on cost savings from the Yahoo acquisition before the deal closes in the first quarter of 2017, McAdam added. "All we need to do is take more than our fair share of the growth of the market, and this will be a success for us," McAdam said. "And we certainly expect to do better than that." Some analysts were less optimistic, however. "The core growth engines of the business are sputtering," MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett said. "Their wireless revenue growth is negative, the wireline business hasn't been a growth engine for a decade, and they've just acquired Yahoo, whose revenues are shrinking double-digits." Story continues Verizon added a net 615,000 wireless retail postpaid subscribers in the second quarter. Analysts on average had expected 784,000, according to market research firm FactSet StreetAccount. Total operating revenue fell to $30.53 billion from $32.22 billion a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected $30.94 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Verizon cited a nearly seven-week strike by 40,000 network technicians and customer service representatives at its Fios high-speed internet, telephone and television services. The work stoppage ended in June. Net income attributable to Verizon fell to $702 million, or 17 cents per share, from $4.23 billion, or $1.04 per share, a year earlier. The strike reduced earnings by about 7 cents per share, the company said. Excluding special items, earnings of 94 cents per share exceeded the analysts' average estimate of 92 cents. (Reporting by Malathi Nayak in New York and Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn) In a world of new horrors Annes latest book reminds us not to forget View(s): By Adilah Ismail Four things I need / to live complete: / Friends to share / The fragile mood; / A passionate love. / Knowledge pursued / And the luxury / of solitude reads the title poem which adorns the cover of Anne Ranasinghes latest collection of poetry. The book brings together a selection of the well-known writers poetry along with some German translations and was launched at an intimate ceremony at the writers residence last week. The evening was filled with dialogue and poetry readings, interwoven with music while the soft-spoken writer looked on with evident pleasure at the gathering of friends, family and well-wishers in her living room. Annes poetry was bought to life with skilful readings by Ashok Ferrey, Lianne Houben, Ramya Jirasinghe, Petra Morhard, Hasitha Pathirana, David Rose, Rajiva Wijesinha and Myrle Williams. Performances by Hasitha Pathirana and Surekha Amerasinghe segued both classical music and poetry, providing a fitting postscript to the evening. The book, sponsored by the German Embassy, was nine months in the making and brings together selected poems chosen by the author from a vast corpus of writings.The author conveyed her gratitude at the books genesis through a speech delivered by a friend. Addressing the gathering, German Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Juergen Morhard, spoke about the importance of Annes work. Presenting a token of appreciation to the writer, he added that Annes poetry was more relevant than ever before in a world filled with unimaginable horror and new atrocities.Reconciliation means remembering, emphasised Morhard, noting that Annes writing was important not just for the current generation but also for the next. Memory and remembrance is a recurrent trope in the writers poetry It is evil to forget / It is necessary to remember / For memory is our only shield, notes the author in one of her poems. The launch of the book was a fitting occasion to honour the celebrated poet while bidding adieu to Morhard, who completes his diplomatic posting in Sri Lanka this week. Morhard highlighted the poets influence on him personally, smilingly acknowledging that without Anne, he would probably not have read much poetry over the last four years.I think you still have a lot more to tell the world, said Morhard. Born Anneliese Katz in Germany and the only child of Jewish parents, 13 year old Anne was sent by her parents to England to escape the horrors of Nazi Germany. Marrying a Sri Lankan professor, she moved to Sri Lanka and became a Sri Lankan citizen in 1956. Her first collection of poetry And the Sun That Sucks The Earth to Dry was published in 1971. Since then, she has published several short stories and essays which have been translated into nine languages across 17 countries. Tribute to a great lawyer, teacher and legal academic View(s): R. K.W GOONESEKERE Oration delivered at the Law and Society Trust in December 2015 By Sriyan de Silva I will not touch on Rajahs life as a practising lawyer and the contribution he made in that capacity. Other members of the bar and judges would be better placed to assess that aspect of his life. Instead, I will speak about Rajah, my lecturer in Law at the University of Peradeniya from 1959 to 1962, his personal attributes which endeared him to many, and Rajah as a role model to me all based on my personal experiences with him. However, since it is connected to Rajahs academic life, I would like to mention in passing (though it is not within my personal experience) that he made a substantial contribution to the development of the Law College when he was its Principal, as many have said. This is not surprising given his abiding interest in legal education and teaching and education in general, and in the development and training of the minds of the countrys future legal professionals. While the content of his lectures was outstanding, there were other features that distinguished him as a teacher. Consequently, I myself aspired to be a lecturer, and was able to use some of his teaching methods when my friends the late Justice Mark Fernando, Priya Amerasinghe and I helped Father Peter Pillai to set up the Department of Law (the first of its kind outside the University) at Aquinas College. Rajah compelled us to think for ourselves by encouraging us to challenge even legal principles enunciated in decided cases if we believed that any of them were wrongly decided. He did not want his students to slavishly follow them as being correct statements of the law. He also encouraged us to think, in appropriate cases, about ways in which the law should be reformed or changed. In that spirit he would give us the names of two or three Supreme Court decisions to study and analyse for the next lecture. We were expected at the next lecture to debate among ourselves as well as with him our views on these cases, thus engaging in interactive discussions. Thinking back on it after leaving the university, I realised that he was actually training us to be legal practitioners. In fact, he said that legal academics could benefit substantially by having experience in the courts of law. He was an avowed enemy of rote learning, which is the plague of much of our education system and teaching. Another benefit students derived was Rajahs implied message and this is my own perception or interpretation that the law teaches us that quite often there are two or more sides to an issue. This is a lesson that should be carried over to other aspects of our lives. A third key contribution Rajah the teacher made to our lives was to teach us to think conceptually. This is one of the great contributions the study of the law can make, and explains why more than perhaps a half century ago at universities such as Cambridge and Oxford, the combination of subjects such as law and mathematics, or law and the classics, was not uncommon. As is well known, Mr. H. V. Perera, the greatest lawyer Sri Lanka has had, perfected the art of conceptual legal thinking. I believe he first graduated in mathematics. This aspect of Rajah was most evident in his lectures on jurisprudence, as a result of which it became one of my favourite subjects. His lectures on the subject contributed to an understanding of how several aspects of jurisprudence helped in improving ones understanding and application of jurisprudential principles (if I may so call them) to certain branches of the law. It is perhaps the conceptual clarity and the similar skills of judges such as Mark Fernando and Ranjit Amerasinghe that helped to create a significant jurisprudence on public law in this country. Another feature of Rajah as a teacher was that he did not mark students on the basis of giving weightage to how the answers accorded with his own views on the subject. As an illustration, in the early 1960s there was a long and animated debate between Lord Devlin, one of Englands greatest judges, and the well-known jurist and Austinian, Professor H. L. A. Hart, on the subject of law and morals which had even entered the public domain. Rajahs fascination with this debate transferred itself to Mark Fernando, another who greatly respected Rajah, and to me. Quite certain that this would be a question at the final examination, we decided that each of us would take a different view on the subject in answering the question. We were confident that neither of us would be given higher marks simply because Rajah agreed with one particular view on this very controversial issue. Later, Rajah said that he had given each of us equal marks because he found both our presentations equally meritorious, and that there was no question of a clearly right or wrong answer. Here was another hallmark of a great teacher. I would next like to touch on some of Rajahs personal attributes. Rajah did not leave a space or distance between him and his students, and it is no accident that many students continued to interact with him in later life. This enabled him to really know his students as individuals and have empathy with them. An illustration based on my own experience was a certain event which I cannot detail, which occurred at the university for which a group of students was responsible. This matter was investigated without a result. About forty five years later he referred to this incident and asked me whether I had been involved. When I admitted that I had been, he responded that he had had some suspicions at the time, thus indicating that he knew me only too well. His egalitarianism was an endearing trait. His interest was not a persons family background, but rather in who a person was in terms of integrity, values and qualities which result in him or her earning them the respect of fellow-beings. Just as much as Mark Fernando worked tirelessly to break what I consider the class barrier in the legal profession for instance, by enlarging the opportunities for students without connections to satisfy the apprenticeship requirement, so did Rajah in equal measure. This indeed was a formidable combination which helped to make the profession itself more egalitarian or equal than it was. Lawyers are no doubt aware of the case he won on equality, which has had positive consequences well beyond the rights of the child for whom he fought in this case. Rajah despised all forms of inequality be it based on race, religion, caste or class. Another of his admirable traits was his almost extreme sense of modesty. He told me to stop referring to him as my mentor as I had done in one of my publications as also to a few individuals in his presence, much to his embarrassment. I replied that I could not agree to this because he was a seeker of the truth, and what I had said was the truth. He said touche and could barely stop laughing! Another relevant example was when the late Sithy Tiruchelvam gave me a copy of Rajahs oration titled The Arm of the Law. After I read it I told her that I thought it was brilliant and that it should be published. She felt that I might be able to influence Rajah who had so far refused to permit it to be published. She asked me to speak to him about it which I did. He finally gave in after many protests, though on condition that I went through it again and provided him with any ideas as to how it may be improved and to even make suggestions to improve its presentation. I replied that it would be difficult to sit in judgement on my mentor, but I would nevertheless do so considering the condition he had imposed. There was however, nothing I could contribute to improve it. I might add that I mentioned to him that the last section of his oration deserved a separate and detailed treatment by him. He explained why he could not do so at his time of life, though he agreed that it would be worthwhile. For many years he also resisted attempts by Mark and me, and I believe also by his friend and mine, the late Justice Ranjit Amerasinghe, to persuade him to publish a book on a certain subject. What I have said does not mean that Rajah and I agreed on everything. If we did our relationship would not have been as interesting to each other as it in fact was. Rajah enjoyed debate which is not personalised but is based on the merits of an issue. It is unfortunate that when we look around us today there is an increasing number of people who seem to engage in acrimonious debate. In our conversations together, Rajah and I used to reminisce about the past, and mourn the fact that while the world today (and of course Sri Lanka) consists of many clever people, there is an increasing disconnect or gulf between cleverness on the one hand, and integrity, values and wisdom on the other hence the difficulty for youth to find role models. We felt that among other things, education is probably failing in one of its primary objectives. We decided that if anyone were to overhear our conversations on this topic, he/she would probably think that we were two dinosaurs talking. In a nutshell, I would describe Rajahs life as A life well lived which is the title of the appreciation of him I wrote to the newspapers when he passed away. The Singarasa case Reproducing an article published in the Sunday Times of October 22, 2006 By R.K.W. Goonesekere The recent judgement of the Supreme Court seeking to invalidate Sri Lankas accession to the Optional Protocol of the ICCPR has led to questions as to how this judgement came to be given. Yes, there was a case, and as a Senior Counsel I would like to explain the circumstances in which it came before the Supreme Court. An application was made to the Supreme Court in 2005 for the exercise of the Courts inherent power of revision of a conviction and sentence in 1995. This was after the views of the United Nations Human Rights Committee had been conveyed to the State, that Singarasa should be released or retried as his right to a fair trial had been breached. Singarasa had petitioned the UN Human Rights Committee by virtue of the right given to him by an international agreement or treaty entered into by the Sri Lankan State, namely the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Supreme Court constituted a Divisional Bench of five judges to hear the application, and it became known as the Singarasa Case. The legality of the constitutionality of Sri Lankas accession to the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR did not arise in this case, was not raised by the Court and was never argued. Indeed the time given to make oral submissions was limited and an application on behalf of the petitioner for further date of hearing was ignored. The Supreme Court could have in passing the judgement raised the question of the treaty ratification process and left it to be decided in a suitable case, after hearing the Attorney- General on behalf of the Head of State and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who takes the initiative and is responsible for registering the instrument of ratification or accession in the UN. Singarasas application to Court was not an application to enforce or implement the views expressed by the Human Rights Committee (HRC) of the UN on an individuals communication in terms of the protocol. It is a matter of common knowledge that the views of the HRC are not decisions binding on national courts. All that Singarasa did was to ask for a revision or review of the decisions of the Supreme Court and other courts given earlier. This is possible in our law. The views expressed by the HRC were relied on solely to seek to persuade the Court to take a fresh look at the facts and the law in Singarasas case. The Supreme Court was invited to reconsider the conviction and sentence of 50 year imprisonment (reduced in appeal to 35 years) in the light of HRCs views as to the requirement of a fair trial, which is a right guaranteed in our constitution. Unfortunately the Supreme Court has seen it only as an attempt to substitute for the decisions of our courts the views of the HRC and, without looking at the facts or the law on confessions to the police, pronounced on the constitutionality of the States accession to the Optional Protocol in 1997. This also explains why the Court said the application was misconceived and without any legal base. There could be no misunderstanding in the minds of the judges that the petitioners substantive case was that there has been a grave miscarriage of justice in his conviction, and a number of reasons were given in the petition which were totally independent of the views of the HRC. There is no reference in the judgement to these other arguments and they have not been considered. As stated above time was not given for full argument even though judgement was delivered after many months. In its views communicated to the State the HRC of the UN had recommended that the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) provision, which cast on the accused the burden of proving that a confession made to the police was not voluntary, should be amended. Singarasa had been convicted, after the confession was held admissible, for not leading any evidence to show that the alleged attacks on army camps (which formed the basis of the charges) had not taken place or that he was not involved in them. It was a golden opportunity for the Supreme Court to have emerged as the true guarantor of the rights and freedoms of people by including in a judgement- even a judgement refusing the application- a recommendation to this effect. Singarasa was a Tamil youth of 19 or 20 who had no schooling and spoke only Tamil. His conviction was solely on the basis of a confession which was denied by him at his trial. The evidence was that he made the confession in Tamil to a police officer who understood Tamil but could not write Tamil: his confession was translated into Sinhala and written down by the same police officer. At the end of Singarasas statement the police officer read out to Singarasa in Tamil what he had written in Sinhala before taking his thumb impression on the record. This was all done in the presence of the senior police officer to whom a confession under the emergency regulation of the PTA had to be made. This officer understood only a little Tamil and the translation into Sinhala was also for his benefit. The Supreme Court could also have commented on the undesirability of a procedure that permitted a police officer to record a statement confessing to committing serious crime, in Sinhala, when it was made in Tamil. Had the Supreme Court done only this we would have been disappointed but satisfied that the cry for justice by Singarasa, sentenced to prison for 35 years, had been heard. It is responses like this that have made the Supreme Court of India the highly respected body it is. Nowhere in our constitution is it said that the Supreme Court is supreme; It is but another court exercising the judicial power of the people who are sovereign. It is the peoples right to say that the Supreme Courts pronouncement taking away a valuable right conferred on the people was per incuriam and in excess of the Courts jurisdiction. A treaty solemnly entered into by the State in the exercise of the executive power and in terms of international law as reflected in the Vienna Convention on Treaties is not, it is submitted with respect, subject to judicial review. There is a procedure in the protocol for a state party to denounce the protocol, but until this is done, the protocol is in force in the country. It must not be forgotten that Sri Lankas accession to the Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was one of the major accomplishments of the late Lakshman Kadirgamar during his distinguished career as Foreign Minister. Both bench and bar, at the unveiling of his portrait at the law library, paid tribute to Kadirgamars eminence as a lawyer and to his outstanding contribution to the country as Foreign Minister. RKW Memorial Programme for Law Students The RKW Gooneskere Memorial Programme on Law and Justice will be launched on July 29 at 5.00pm at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute Auditorium. Law students from four state universities and the Law College will be selected on a merit criterion biannually for the programme. The idea is to bring them together, make a link between the university law schools and the professional law schools, and provide opportunities for intellectually stimulating interaction with each other and academics and professionals, on issues of law and justice in the community. Each law school will conduct the programme by rotation and the Faculty of Law at the University of Colombo will coordinate the programme. Getting up early on a foggy frosty Waikato morning for calving is quite a change for nine Indonesian farmers in New Zealand this winter for Fonterras Dairy Development programme. These farmers, who would normally work in hot and humid 31 degree temperatures, are now rugged up to spend four weeks in New Zealand as part of their 12 week scholarship programme with Fonterra. The Prime Minister must sack Todd McClay for failing to do his job as Trade Minister and be on top of a significant potential threat to some of our biggest exporters, Opposition Leader Andrew Little says. Todd McClay is clearly out of his depth. The lapse is so serious he cannot credibly continue to be Minister of Trade. The Ministers bizarre press release today, apologising to the Prime Minister for failing to get on top of a potential crisis for our exporters, is nothing short of embarrassing for the National Government. Todd McClay has had three contradictory positions about possible trade retaliations from China inside a week. First, he said there was no indication of any concern from China. Second, a day later he said officials had told him a week earlier about the concerns while he was in China. And third, today he admits the issue has been discussed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for months. A Minister who does not appreciate the seriousness of possible retaliatory action by our biggest trading partner against some of our biggest export industries simply should not be in the job. New Zealand needs to examine closely if cheap steel has been dumped in New Zealand and back the workers and companies in our steel industry if this is the case. At the same time we need ministers who are managing the fallout at the other end. If John Key wont sack Todd McClay, the Minister should do the right thing for New Zealand and resign. John Key also has questions to answer. It defies belief that an issue of this significance that has been going on for so long would not have reached the Prime Minister. If that is true then there is a serious breakdown in his Government, Andrew Little says. SOURCE: Office of Andrew Little With the second round of public consultation beginning, Kiwis are being encouraged to give their feedback on the first draft of the disability strategy. Disability Issues Minister Nicky Wagner says since the current Disability Strategy was released in 2001, theres been fundamental shifts in the way New Zealand, and the world, look at disability. Hearings on the submissions to the Draft Waste Management and Minimisation Plan will be held Thursday, July 28, at the Tauranga City Council Chambers on Willow Street. Council received 323 submissions on the draft plan which sets out a way forward for managing the citys waste. It is the largest number of formal submissions council has received to date on waste management projects and staff are now in the process of reviewing all of the submissions. Resource and recovery manager Rebecca Maiden says council is pleased with the number of responses it received on the draft plan. The level of feedback shows how just much Taurangas residents care about the way our waste is being managed, and that they want to influence what the future looks like, says Rebecca . In total, 42 submitters requested to be heard, so it will be a long day for everyone involved. Members of the community are welcome to come along to chambers on Thursday to watch and listen to the submitters, says Rebecca. We expect there to be a wide variety of views presented, including one submission from a local primary school group. Following the Hearings, a deliberations report will be prepared to summarise all of the issues. In mid-August councillors will meet to discuss the submissions and advise on whether council is to proceed with the draft plan in its current form, or if changes are needed to the approach proposed. For more information visit the Tauranga City Council website or call 07-577-7000. Pats previous experience in supreme award winning, is his pie sales increase by 500 per cent with each win. He normally sells 200 pies per day and this increases to 1200 per day for 5 weeks after winning each award. This amount of pies means working 18 hour days, seven days a week, but hes happy to do it. According to the national Pie Awards judges, it is the Patricks Pie Group Gold Star Bakery recipe we should all be chasing for the classic bacon and egg pie. The Bethlehem bakery served up an impressive bacon and egg pie. NZ Bakels managing director Brent Kersel says the winning pie looked impressive even before tasting. "The flavour and moistness of the bacon and egg combination was mouth-watering," says Brent. Chief judge Tim Aspinwall says the Patricks pie has wow factor, evenly cooked golden pastry, great aroma and flavour and it says, "eat me". "Patricks winning bacon and egg pie ticked all these boxes." Patricks has won five Supreme Pie Awards since 2003, and 56 other awards in the competition. The bakery also took home a silver award for its steak and cheese entry and a highly commended for its fruit pie - Cointreau pear, apple and cherry cheesecake flavour. Patrick took out the Supreme Pie Award in 2003 and 2004, then repeated this in 2009 and 2010. Apart from winning his four supreme pie awards, Pats Pies has since won 11 gold; 15 silver; 12 bronze and 10 high commended. This makes Gold Star Pats Pies the highest pie award winner in the country. Cambodian born, Patrick, with his wife, two sons and daughter, began baking in 1997 in an Auckland lunch bar then moved to Rotorua to own his own bakery. Hes since moved to Bethlehem, Tauranga, obviously perfecting his craft over time. A real family affair, his wife and children help out after school and during the weekends. Pats cooking is influenced by his culture as well as what he has picked up by living in Australia and New Zealand. His pie flavours are varied and made with high quality ingredients. He comes up with them all, such as sweet lamb curry and his 2015 bronze winning gourmet fruit pie, Contreau Pear & Apple Cherry. He now sells 28 different pie flavours in his bakery, the majority are his winning pies, and hes running out of room to house them all. The best steak and cheese pie went to another Tauranga bakery, Baker Bobs, and best mince and cheese went to Panmure Bakehouse in Auckland. Baker Bobs also picked up a string of bronze medals for gourmet meat; venison, mushroom, bacon and cheese. Vegetarian; spinach pumkin and kumara, and Potato top. This years awards also attracted some more unusual entries. Fish pie has a tendency to divide opinion. Some love it, some hate it, and some people were force-fed it by their well-meaning grandmothers. The gold award in the Cafe Boutique flavour section went to a Smoked Warehou and Terakihi pie from Riwaka cafe, Ginger Dynamite. Celebrity chef Mark Southon said the range of pies on offer was incredible. "We saw some interesting skills and flavours, such as alpaca and kimchi; braised lamb shank and butter chicken. "There were nostalgic and Kiwi heritage pies like creamed paua, smoked fish and the addition of kumara to some pies." A panel of 21 judges spent 10 hours judging the pies. The awards received over 5,000 entries from more than 500 entrants. Previous supreme winners have included a mince and cheese, a potato top pie and a lamb cutlet and kumara mash entry from Carterton. For those wanting to taste them all, here is the full list of award winner for 2016: Mince and gravy Gold: Angkor Wat Kiwi Bakery and Cafe, Hawkes Bay Silver: Pak n Save Petone Bronze: Blagdon Bakery, New Plymouth Highly commended: Eurobake Espresso, Auckland Steak and gravy Gold: Counties Bakery, Auckland Silver: Fresh Bun Cafe, Auckland Bronze: Bakehouse Cafe Ngaruwahia Highly commended: Food for Thought, Thames Chicken and vegetable Gold: Savans Bakery, Auckland Silver: Greenland Bakery and Cafe, Auckland Bronze: Hillpark Bakery, Auckland Highly Commended: Fresh Bun Cafe, Auckland Gourmet Fruit Gold: Dairy Flat Bakery, Auckland (Blueberry, spiced apple and apricot) Silver: Havelock North New World (Caramelised walnut, Black Doris Plum) Bronze: Bakers Oven, Auckland (apple) Highly Commended: Patricks Pie Group Gold Star Bakery, Tauranga (Cointreau pear, apple and cherry cheesecake) Gourmet meat Gold: Pak n Save Petone (steak and mushroom) Silver: Bakers Oven, Auckland (mushroom, bacon and cheese) Bronze: Baker Bobs, Tauranga (venison, mushroom, bacon and cheese) Highly commended: Beaut Bakery, Taupo (steak, mushroom and cheese) Vegetarian Gold: The Bakery, Queenstown (Broccoli, pumpkin and carrot) Silver: Better Quality Pies Ltd, Rotorua (Potato, pumpkin and kumara) Bronze: Baker Bobs, Tauranga (Spinach, pumpkin and kumara) Highly commended: Rushgreen Bakery and Cafe (Carrot, peas and corn) Bacon and Egg Gold: Patricks Pie Group Gold Star Bakery, Tauranga Silver: Greenland Bakery and Cafe, Auckland Bronze: Bakehouse Cafe Ngaruawahia Highly commended: Hillpark Bakery, Auckland Mince and cheese Gold: Panmure Bakehouse Silver: Julias Bakery, Auckland Bronze: Jacksons Bakery, Havelock North Highly commended: Nanas Bakery, Auckland Steak and cheese Gold: Baker Bobs, Tauranga Silver: Patricks Pie Group Gold Star Bakery, Tauranga Bronze: Fast and Fresh Bakery, Taupo Highly Commended: Mairangi Bay Bakery, Auckland Potato top Gold: Pak n Save Petone Silver: Corner Bakery, Auckland Bronze: Baker Bobs, Tauranga Highly Commended: Bakers Oven, Auckland Commercial wholesale mince and cheese Gold: Couplands Bakeries Silver: Dads Pies Bronze: Ponsonby Pies Highly Commended: Goodtime Foods Cafe Boutique Gold: Ginger Dynamite, Riwaka (Smoked Warehou and Terakihi) Silver: Replenish Cafe, Timaru (Cream of chicken, leek, carrot, celery, ham and cheese) Bronze: Warkworth New World, Auckland (Pork, kumara and apple) Highly Commended: Bosco Cafe, Te Kuiti (Venison, mushroom, ales, red wine and juniper berries) SUPREME: Patricks Pie Group Gold Star Bakery, Bacon and Egg. There are certain books that everyone has to be able to say they've read as a sort of right of passage in life. This summer, why not organize a book club with friends and check some of these classic novels off your bucket list? Curling up with a good book isn't just entertaining, it's also beneficial to senior health. We know that proper memory care means engaging in activities that stimulate the mind. Reading is one of these activities as it forces the brain to recall words, learn new ones and opens the imagination to create a mental picture of the story. Certain conditions such as bad eyesight or joint pain from arthritis might make it a challenge for some to enjoy a good book. Fortunately, there are audiobooks which allow seniors to listen along. Agingcare.com noted that listening comprehension has similar benefits to physically reading. S not sift through some of these classic plots and see which you'd like to add to your summer reading list: 1. "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald A classic among classics, "The Great Gatsby" is a literary masterpiece that captures the thrill of life on Long Island during the Roaring '20s. This tale unfolds through the eye of West Egg newcomer, Nick Carraway, as he observes the mysterious background of millionaire Jay Gatsby and his unequivocal love for his married neighbor, Daisy Buchanan. Though there are several movie adaptations, the book paints a story that could never truly see justice on the screen. 2. "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee It's the 1961 Pulitzer Prize winner and another must-read option for your book club. "To Kill a Mockingbird" is Lee's charming yet thought provoking story about model lawyer and father Atticus Finch who is tasked to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who has been accused of raping a white woman. Meanwhile, his children, Jem and Scout try to unveil the identity of their house-ridden neighbor and local spook, Boo Radley. This book still sells about a million copies each year! 3. "Animal Farm" by George Orwell George Orwell's famous "Animal Farm" was a novel reflective of his criticism of Russian leader Joseph Stalin, and his depiction of the events that led to the Russian Revolution. Its political satire is masked as Orwell uses farm animals as his main characters. The ring leader, a pig named Old Major, ignites the movement, "All animals are equal," and the plot of their overtaking unfolds from there. If you haven't read this book since you were a child, you might want to give it a re-read, as you might find it more insightful than the charming story of farm animals that you once believed. 4. "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck ENotes explained that Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" is a masterpiece reflective of the struggle during the Great Depression. Convicted murderer Tom Joad sets out on the great adventure to find his family who have packed up and moved to California in hope of finding work. He is joined by former preacher Jim Casy who he used to know from childhood. With lots of twists and turn on their journey, this book is perfect for thoughtful conversation with your friends. 5. "Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien Looking for some good fiction? "Lord of the Rings" is it. This epic fantasy weaved by Tolkien sucks you into a world in which the fate of civilization relies on the missing One Ring, and Frodo Baggins seemingly impossible task to find it. This is another book that was adapted into a movie - although Tolkien's novel could not possibly be adequately represented in one film, hence why you need to read it to catch all the details that were left out of the film for yourself. I think its been a brilliant weekend, said Sir Ben Ainslie, the skipper of Land Rover BAR. For us to race in Portsmouth, in front of our home crowd with the weather playing its part and two cracking days of racing, as a home team to win in front of our home crowd is the best thing we could do. Sundays winds gave the teams the fuel they needed to foil the AC45F boats and showcase exactly what the Americas Cup is all about; the speed and grace of a historic gentlemans sport, watched by tens of thousands on the ground. British team Land Rover BAR took an early lead in race one, with ORACLE TEAM USA chasing close behind. With the other teams fighting forward, home water knowledge and the crowds furious cheers carried the British team to victory at the close of race one. Those shoreside for race two saw ORACLE TEAM USA seize an early advantage, leading Softbank Team Japan and Land Rover BAR at the first mark. Jimmy Spithills US crew lead the pack left Emirates Team New Zealand, Land Rover BAR and Softbank Team Japan to fight for second while Team Artemis and Groupama Team France stayed in fifth and sixth respectively. Race two closed with Land Rover BAR in second, Softbank Team Japan in third, Emirates Team New Zealand in fourth, Swedens Artemis Racing in fifth and Groupama Team France again in sixth. The third leg would be no easy call between the Americans and the British, as Land Rover BAR only required victory over day two winners ORACLE TEAM USA to seal a win. In the last race today we were very aware of the fact we only had to finish within one place of ORACLE TEAM USA to win the regatta, so that was what we were focused on, explains Ben Ainslie of Land Rover BAR. ORACLE TEAM USA took the lead off the starting line, just ahead of Land Rover BAR with Emirates Team New Zealand close behind. As the race progressed, the gap began to widen between the Americans and Land Rover BAR as the British defending second place from Emirates Team New Zealand. Second place was all Land Rover BAR needed to cement victory overall at the Louis Vuitton Americas Cup World Series Portsmouth event, beating ORACLE TEAM USA by only one point. On Saturday BAR had a fifth and we had a sixth and that's the one point that would have made the difference, but it was still great racing, explains Jimmy Spithill, Skipper of ORACLE TEAM USA. The guys did a good job of fighting all the way through to the end. In the last two races today, we hit Ben every time we could, but we just couldn't push him back far enough to let a third boat through. Despite that, the guys should hold their heads up. We sailed very, very well today but we have to take our hats off to Ben and congratulate his team. The win also put the British team into first place on the overall Louis Vuitton Americas Cup World Series leaderboard, overtaking Emirates Team New Zealand who drop to third with ORACLE TEAM USA in second, Softbank Team Japan in fourth, Artemis Racing fifth and Groupama Team France in sixth. After a lifetime working at the Carlos Haya hospital, this specialist says people are looking after their skin much better than they used to :: Francis Silva Francisco Sanchez Fajardo. Dermatologist and venereologist He has been working at the Carlos Haya hospital in Malaga since 1978 and still attends his clinic there despite becoming Emeritus a few months ago. Francisco Sanchez Fajardo is a dermatologist and venereologist. He is straightforward and not pessimistic, although he is of course conscious of the increase in melanomas and venereal diseases in recent years. A member of the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (AEDV) and the Ibero-Latin-American College of Dermatology (CILAD), he says that in his profession we deal with unusual cases, so we learn something new every day. If the face is the mirror of the soul, is our skin the mirror of health? I dont think the face is the mirror of anything, and the skin can be a mirror of health sometimes, and sometimes not. There are people who look lovely outside and are awful inside, and vice versa. Do you feel that we dont really bother much about our skin? No; on the contrary, nowadays people look after their health and their skin better than they used to. In Malaga, though, we tend to toast ourselves which can have serious consequences especially if we sunbathe without protection. Like everything in life, the sun has its advantages. It is not good to abuse it, but nor is it good not to use it enough. The sun is this planets greatest source of energy and is good for some cutaneous and non-cutaneous illnesses. For example, it is essential for the absorption of vitamin D, and a lack of that can cause rickets. Ive read that according to dermatologist Lola Bou, the skin has a memory and every time it burns, even when you are a child, it can lead to cancer later in life. Is that correct? The skin obviously does have a memory, but you cant go through your whole life thinking that you are definitely going to have skin cancer in the future. It is more likely if you have suffered from sunburn, which is why you should try to avoid burning by using protection and only exposing your skin to the sun when the rays are not perpendicular, in other words, by making sure that the shadow which protects your body is longer than you are, which is in the early morning or in the evening. OK, but there is a statistic that in recent years melanoma has increased in both men and women. That is becoming evident. I think numbers are similar, but it is being diagnosed earlier. People are more aware, there are campaigns at a local, national and international level, and people now go to a doctor if they are worried, they are treated earlier and the consequences are less severe. Why, when we get older, do we get more marks on our skin, and warts? Youre referring to the seborrheic keratoses and other benign degenerative processes of the skin. People live longer now, and they expose their skin more, but there is no real evidence that these are more frequent than in the past. With regard to warts, we dermatologists see them as an infection of the human papiloma virus and it is possible that they are on the increase because there are more social relations nowadays, such as public swimming pools, gymnasiums, nursery schools etc. So, it is difficult to prevent them Yes, very, because we live in collective environments. Research on vaccines is being done at the moment, and there are already some against papiloma and other viruses, but it is doubtful how effective they are. In a society in which relationships are more interchangeable, has there been an increase in venereal infections? Yes, there has, it seems that young people are losing their fear of sexually transmitted diseases, including Aids. Promiscuity has increased, and that is a factor in the growth of these health problems. It is most important to emphasise the need for prevention: use condoms, monitor the health of prostitutes etc. What are the most common infections these days? It is complicated to draw up statistics, because many people dont consult a doctor, some treat themselves, some infections dont give any symptoms so people dont know they have them... At the moment, there seem to be more viral infections: warts and genital herpes, for example. Then fungal infections, especially candidas, and finally bacterial ones such as syphilis, which are often discovered when patients consult their doctor for something else. And there are now a great many experts thanks to the Internet. There are some people who act in good faith, and others who are only interested in money. They both cause a degree of social damage. REMAX HQ Denver.JPG RE/MAX LLC headquarters in Denver. The real estate company has reacquired the master franchise for New York. (Courtesy of RE/MAX LLC) Syracuse, N.Y. Don't be surprised if you start seeing more RE/MAX yard signs around New York now that the real estate company's parent has reacquired its master franchise rights in the state. RE/MAX LLC recently acquired the franchise rights in the state from Pierre Titley, owner of RE/MAX of New York since 1987. Terri Bohannon, region vice president for RE/MAX LLC, said the company plans to increase its presence in the state with more offices and agents. RE/MAX currently has 60 offices and 850 sales agents in New York, including four offices and 45 agents in the Syracuse area. "You'll start to see more RE/MAX branding," said Bohannon. "Hopefully, you'll see it in the next 12 months. This is a very competitive landscape." RE/MAX offices are independently owned and operate under franchise agreements. Those agreements were with Titley until Feb. 22 and are now with Denver-based RE/MAX LLC, which describes itself as one of the world's leading franchisors of real estate brokerage services with 100,000 agents in nearly 100 countries. Martin Carpenter RE/MAX has been reacquiring master franchise rights in many parts of the country. California, Hawaii, North and South Carolina, and Florida were reacquired in 2007, the Mountain States in 2011, Texas in 2012, and the Central Atlantic and Southwest regions in 2013. The competition has been getting bigger, too. RealtyUSA, the largest residential real estate broker in New York, recently merged with Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, the biggest broker in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Martin Carpenter, who owns RE/MAX offices in Clay, Fayetteville and Skaneateles, said he expects the greater resources available from such a large franchisor as RE/MAX LLC will help him grow his business. Those resources include knowledge of sales trends throughout the country and access to new technology, marketing materials and campaigns, he said. Home buyers and sellers likely will not notice a major change in the business, except for more advertising by RE/MAX brokers, he said. "RE/MAX is going to be really concentrating on building awareness in the whole of New York," he said. RE/MAX, which is short for "Real Estate Maximums," was founded in 1973 by Dave and Gail Liniger and says it has been the top seller of residential real estate in the U.S. since 1999. Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148 Celebrity deaths in 2016 Miss Cleo, whose real name was Youree Harris, was best known for appearing on the Psychic Readers Network TV ads. (Video still) Famed TV psychic Miss Cleo is dead at 54, her rep announced Tuesday. TMZ reports the former '90s icon, best known for her "Call me now!" catchphrase, died Tuesday morning in Palm Beach County, Florida. She had been hospitalized recently after a battle with colon cancer that spread to her liver and lungs. A rep told the celebrity gossip site she was surrounded by family and friends and remained a "pillar of strength" during her illness. Miss Cleo, whose real name was Youree Harris, was born in L.A. and rose to fame as her Jamaican character in ads for the Psychic Readers Network, a telephone service that charged callers for Tarot card readings. She also voiced a character in the "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" video game, contributed to Fuse TV and appeared in used car commercials. 20520611-mmmain.jpg The home of Mark Fanfarillo in Rome, where his baby son was found dead inside his car on June 7. (Photo by Patrick Lohmann) UTICA, NY - No charges will be filed against Rome police officer Mark Fanfarillo in the death of his baby son, who died after being left in his father's car on a hot summer day, according to Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara. Michael Fanfarillo, the 4 1/2-month-old son of Mark Fanfarillo and his wife, Jessica, died after being left in his dad's car in the driveway of their residence for about 8 1/2 hours, according to McNamara. McNamara said in a news release the facts and evidence in the case do not rise to the threshold required for criminal liability. Case law and prior cases have shown that to sustain a conviction in cases like this, the parent has to have knowingly left the child in the car. The father voluntarily submitted to alcohol and drug tests but they came back negative, the DA's news release said. In this case, Mark Fanfarillo left his son in the the car all day after forgetting to drop him off at day care, according to the DA. On that morning, he drove his older son, Brandon, to day care in Whitesboro. He carried sleeping Michael into the center in his car seat to drop Brandon off, the DA said. Mark Fanfarillo then drove home, forgetting his sleeping baby was in the back. When Mark Fanfarillo got home, he did some chores and then fell asleep. When the baby's mother, Jessica, went to pick up their infant son at day care at 4:20 p.m. that day, she was told the child had not been dropped off that day, the DA said. She then called her husband at home, who then realized he had forgotten to drop Michael at day care that morning, the district attorney said. The infant had been in the car in his car seat all day, the DA said. When Mark Fanfarillo got the call from his wife, he ran out to the car "and found his son's lifeless body in the car," the DA said. He tried to resuscitate him, but his efforts and those of medical personnel responding to the call for help were fruitless, the DA said. The temperatures that Monday ranged from 65 to 77 degrees during the day in Rome, according to National Weather Service data collected by Weather Underground, an online weather site. At 70 degrees, the temperature inside a car can rise to more than 100 degrees in 30 minutes, according to research done at San Francisco State University. The baby died of hyperthermia, McNamara said. McNamara said to be criminally negligent, a person must fail to perceive that a substantial risk will result from their conduct - and a memory lapse doesn't meet that requirement. The law distinguishes between someone who leaves their child in a car knowing the child is there but not realizing the risk, and someone who walks away from the car after forgetting the child is in it, the DA said. Mark Fanfarillo didn't customarily take his young son to day care, and he had just started going there, the DA said. McNamara said Mark Fanfarillo had never done this before, had no evidence of substance abuse and no evidence of ever neglecting a child in the past. "There is no evidence to suggest this is anything more than a tragic accident,'' McNamara said. "Unfortunately prosecutors see tragic accidents all the time that do not arise from criminal conduct and therefore do not result in homicide prosecutions." GRANBY, N.Y. -- Police and firefighters were called to two fires in less than an hour Monday in Oswego County. Someone called 911 to report the first fire at 1:08 a.m. Monday at 312 county Route 85 in Granby. The mobile home was vacant and engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, according to 911. Granby, Hannibal, Cody, Oswego Town, Minetto and Volney volunteer firefighters, and the Oswego County Sheriff's Office responded to the mobile home fire. One person was transported from the fire scene to a local hospital for a medical issue, 911 reported. No other information was immediately available. The second fire was reported at 1:47 a.m. Monday at 240 Butterfly Shores in New Haven. New Haven, Scriba and Mexico volunteer fire departments, as well as state police responded. Both homes were destroyed by the fires, 911 officials said. 2000 - 2022 24 .- . focus-news.net, () . 24 . 24 . . 24 . SHARE TUESDAY'S SPECIAL EVENTS Stop the Financial Insanity Course: Michael Burleigh, financial expert will teach the course. 6-7:30 p.m. July 26. Indian River State College, Wolf High-tech Center, 2400 Salerno Road, Building C, Room C102, Stuart. Reservation: 888-710-1002; www.peakcapital.fixedincomecounsel.com. TUESDAY'S RECURRING EVENTS ART/CRAFTS Alizarin Crimson Art Studio: Over 30 years of Fine Art Instruction Painting Classes-All Levels. 9:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Cedar Point Plaza, 2611 S.E. Ocean Blvd., Stuart. All ages. 772-287-7030; Alizarincrimsonstudio.net. Professional Teaching Staff: Georgia Abood, Kate Wood & Jennifer Pollack. All Ages Oil Painting: Individually tailored oil painting classes with Kate Wood. Join anytime. 4:30-6:30 p.m. Alizarin Crimson Studio, 2611 E. Ocean Blvd., Stuart. All ages. $25. Register: 772-287-0835; katewoodartist@comcast.net. Art Classes: Learning to paint for beginners or improve existing skills. 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m./1-4:30 p.m. Kane Center, Salerno Road, Stuart. Adults. $25/$20 members. Register: 772-221-7640; brendaleigh737@gmail.com. Painting Class: For Beginner Students. 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Kane Center, 900 S.E. Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 50+. $20/$25. 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. Painting Class: For Experienced Students. 1-4:30 p.m. Kane Center, 900 S.E. Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 50+. $20/$25. 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. Peggy's Art Studio: Enjoy 3 hours of uninterrupted painting. Noon-3 p.m. MCP&R Log Cabin Senior Center, Langford Park, 2369 N.E. Dixie Highway, Jensen Beach. Multigenerational. $3. 772-334-2926; zcarter@martin.fl.us. CHILDREN/TEENS Family Story Time: 10 a.m. Ages: 0-12 months. Hoke Library, 1150 N.W. Jack Williams Way, Jensen Beach. 772-463-2870; library.martin.fl.us. Family Story Time: 11 a.m. Ages: 1-4 years-old. Hoke Library, 1150 N.W. Jack Williams Way, Jensen Beach. 772-463-2870; library.martin.fl.us. Family Story Time: Weekly story time designed for families. 10-10:30 a.m. Robert Morgade Library, 5851 S.E. Community Drive, Stuart. Ages: 0-3 years and up with parent. 772-463-3245; library.martin.fl.us. "Music & Movement": Parent/child classes designed to enhance child's growth and development. Ages: 19-26 months. 9-10 a.m. Florida Arts & Dance Studio, 938 S.E. Central Parkway, Stuart. 772-288-4150. "Music & Movement": Parent/child classes designed to enhance child's growth and development. Ages: 27-60 months. 10:15-11:15 a.m. Florida Arts & Dance Studio, 938 S.E. Central Parkway, Stuart. 772-288-4150. "Music & Movement": Parent/child classes designed to enhance child's growth and development. Ages: 3-11 months. Noon- 1 p.m. Florida Arts & Dance Studio, 938 S.E. Central Parkway, Stuart. 772-288-4150. "Music & Movement": Parent/child classes designed to enhance child's growth and development. Ages: 12-18 months. 1:15-2:15 p.m. Florida Arts & Dance Studio, 938 S.E. Central Parkway, Stuart. 772-288-4150. Preschool FUNdamentals: 10:30-11:30 a.m. Peter and Julie Cummings Library, 2551 S.W. Matheson Ave., Palm City. Ages: 3-5 years. 772-288-2551; library.martin.fl.us. DANCE Adult Summer Dance Camp: Classes and Social Parties for Ballroom, Latin, Swing, Country Dance. 4-10 p.m. Jensen Beach Ballroom, 881 Jensen Beach Blvd., Jensen Beach. Ages: 18+. $100 to $300 per month per person. Register: 609-356-2973; gloriana@jensenbeachballroom.com. Ballroom Dance Class/New Season: 6:30 p.m. 2369 N.E. Dixie Highway, Jensen Beach. Ages: 16+. $9 pp. per class. Register: 772-529-3325; sdancer516@aol.com. Dance Classes: Ballroom, Latin, Swing, Country and Club group and private classes. 1-9 p.m. Jensen Beach Ballroom, 881 N.E. Jensen Beach Blvd., Jensen Beach. Discounts available. Register: 609-356-2973; www.JensenBeachBallroom.com. Group Dance Lessons: Ballroom, Latin, Swing, Country. 6 p.m. Jensen Beach Ballroom, 881 N.E. Jensen Beach Blvd., Jensen Beach. $10 per person. 609-356-2973; jensenbeachballroom.com. EXERCISE/health Basic Yoga for Inner Peace: One hour basic yoga poses and half-hour of guided meditation. 10-11:30 a.m. Unity of Stuart, 211 S.E. Central Parkway, Stuart. Adults. $10. Register: 772-214-0892; www.unityofstuart.org. Gentle Chair Yoga: Gentle Chair Yoga. 11 a.m.-noon. Kane Center, 900 S.E. Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 55+. $8/$10. 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. Gentle Yoga: 1-2 p.m. Kane Center, 900 S.E. Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 50+. $8/$10. 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. Hip Pop Fitness: Dance your way to fitness. River Walk Center, 600 N. Indian River Drive, Fort Pierce. 6:30 p.m. Ages: 18+. 772-224-4506; chrystalismoments16@gmail.com. Zumba Gold: 5:30-6:30 p.m. Kane Center, 900 S.E. Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 50+. $4/$6. 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. OTHER Carpro Autospa Night Car Show: 6-8 p.m., weather permitting. Lowe's Stuart, 3620 S.E. U.S. 1, Stuart. 772-285-3320. Hobe Sound Toasters: Public Speaking. 7-9 p.m. Hobe Sound Bible College, 11298 S.E. Gomez Ave, Hobe Sound. Ages: 18+. 772-5464724; hobesoundtm@gmail.com. Lip Reading Classes: 1-2 p.m. Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, 1016 N.E. Jensen Beach Blvd., Jensen Beach. Ages: 18+. $45 nonmembers/$35 members. Register: 772-468-0123; speechreader1@gmail.com/www.treasurehearing.org. Piano Instruction: Beginners to concert level. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Shirley Heifetz, Jensen Beach. Ages: 8+. Registration: 772-934-6812. Seniors Vs. Crime: Group to assist senior citizens. 9 a.m.-noon. St. Lucie West Courthouse Annex, 250 Country Club Drive, Port St. Lucie. 772-871-5350; SeniorsVsCrimePSL@gmail.com. WEDNESDAY'S SPECIAL EVENTS Coffee With A Cop: McDonald's and the Martin County Sheriff's Office are hosting. 8-10 a.m. July 27. Jensen Beach McDonald's, 3546 N.W. U.S. 1, Jensen Beach. Alzheimer's Association Caregiver Education: 2:30-4 p.m. July 27. Mayes Center Treasure Coast Hospice, 1201 S.E. Indian St., Stuart. 800-272-3900; dtrue@alz.org. Candidate Forum: Mix & Mingle with Congressional and State Representative Candidates. 5:30-7 p.m. July 27. Location TBA. $10 per person, includes 2 drink tickets and light hors d'oeuvres. RSVP required: www.hobesound.org. Meet & Greet with Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch: Campaign for Martin County Commissioner. 5:30-7:30 p.m. July 27. Harry and the Natives, 11910 U.S. 1, Hobe Sound. RSVP: 772-287-5272; jordan@fireflyforyou.com. "Rockin' 4 The Waters": A benefit concert for the organizations working for the betterment of our ocean, our marine life, our beaches, and our people. Special Acoustic Performances by Jasin O'Neil Todd of Shinedown fame. Through music we will add our voices to help carry the message, SAVE OUR WATERWAYS. There will be a silent auction. 9 p.m.-1 a.m. July 27. The Stillery, 2196 S.E. Ocean Blvd., Stuart. $7 at the door. Portion of proceeds will be donated to 2 nonprofit organizations working for the waterways. WEDNESDAY'S RECURRING EVENTS ARTS/CRAFTS Alizarin Crimson Art Studio: Over 30 years of Fine Art Instruction Painting Classes-All Levels. 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Cedar Pointe Plaza, 2611 S.E. Ocean Blvd., Stuart. All ages. 772-287-7030; Alizarincrimsonstudio.net. Professional Teaching Staff: Georgia Abood, Kate Wood & Jennifer Pollack. Imaginative Drawing Class: 4:30-7:30 p.m. The Artists Nook, 43 S.E. Kindred St., Stuart. Ages: 15+. $30-$360. paradigm_shiftin@mac.com. Rendering in Mixed Media: Learn to Draw colorfully with more than just a pencil. 7:30-10:30 p.m. The Artists Nook, 43 S.E. Kindred St., Stuart. Ages: 16+. $30-$360. paradigm_shiftin@mac.com. Watercolor Classes: 9 a.m.-noon. Hobe Sound Fine Arts League, Winn-Dixie Plaza, Bridge Road, Hobe Sound. Register: $20. 772-341-9332. CHILDREN/TEENS Family Story Time: 10:30 a.m. Ages 1-3 years. Peter and Julie Cummings Library, 2551 S.W. Matheson Ave, Palm City. 772-288-2551; library.martin.fl.us. Family Story Time: 11:30 a.m. Ages: 0-12 months. Peter and Julie Cummings Library, 2551 S.W. Matheson Ave, Palm City. 772-288-2551; library.martin.fl.us. DANCE Adult Summer Dance Camp: Classes and Social Parties for Ballroom, Latin, Swing, Country Dance. 4-10 p.m. Jensen Beach Ballroom, 881 Jensen Beach Blvd., Jensen Beach. Ages: 18+. $100 to $300 per month per person. Register: 609-356-2973; gloriana@jensenbeachballroom.com. Ballroom Dancing: 4-5 p.m. Kane Center, 900 S.E. Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 50+. $8/$10. 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. Broadway Style Tap Dance Classes: 10 a.m. Dance Academy of Stuart, 333 Tressler Drive, Stuart. 772-286-9671; rbetteboo@aol.com. Dance Classes: Ballroom, Latin, Swing, Country and Club group and private classes. 1-9 p.m. Jensen Beach Ballroom, 881 N.E. Jensen Beach Blvd., Jensen Beach. Discounts available. Register: 609-356-2973; www.JensenBeachBallroom.com. Dancing and Karoke: Music and Dancing at the Elks with Permanent Affair, open membership night. 6-10 p.m. Stuart-Jensen Elks Lodge 1870, 1001 S. Kanner Highway, Stuart. Ages: 21. 772-287-0277; elks1870@bellsouth.net. Group Dance Lessons: Ballroom, Latin, Swing, Country. 6 p.m. Jensen Beach Ballroom, 881 N.E. Jensen Beach Blvd., Jensen Beach. $10 per person. 609-356-2973; jensenbeachballroom.com. EXERCISE/health Aerobic Sitting Exercises: 9-10 a.m. MCP& R Log Cabin Senior Center, Langford Park, 2369 N.E. Dixie Highway, Jensen Beach. Ages: 50+. $2. 772-334-2926; zcarter@martin.fl.us. Yoga: For caregivers, family, cancer survivors hosted by How Big is Your Brave. 6-7 p.m. 2026 S.E. Ocean Blvd., Stuart. Reservation: www.howbigisyourbrave.org/programs. Zumba Gold: 9-10 a.m. Kane Center, 900 S.E Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 50+. $4/$6. 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. OTHER Citizenship Class: Free citizenship application assistance and preparation for the citizenship test. 6-8 p.m. Robert Morgade Library, 5851 S.E. Community Drive, Stuart. 772-463-3245; library.martin.fl.us. Life Skills Discussion Group: Have you got something you would like to discuss? 1-3 p.m. MCP&R Log Cabin Senior Center at Langford Park, 2369 N.E. Dixie Highway, Jensen Beach. Multigenerational. $2. 772-334-2926; zcarter@martin.fl.us. Lighthouse Sunset Tour: View the spectacular sunset atop the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse. Time varies by sunset. Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum, 500 Captain Armour's Way, Jupiter. Children must be at least 48" to climb. $20 or $15 for Members. Reservation: 561-7478380; www.jupiterlighthouse.org. Piano Instruction: Beginners to concert level. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Shirley Heifetz, Jensen Beach. Ages: 8+. Registration: 772-934-6812. LOOKING AHEAD Coffee With A Cop: McDonald's and the Martin County Sheriff's Office are hosting. 8-10 a.m. July 28. McDonald's, 2900 S.W. Martin Downs Blvd., Palm City. What's In Our Wetland?: Program exploring the preserve area. 10:30 a.m. July 29. Peter & Julie Cummings Library, 2551 S.W. Matheson Ave., Palm City. 772-288-2551; www.library.martin.fl.us. The Jiggleman Show: The Jiggleman show is high-energy and fun for all ages. 3 p.m. July 29. Blake Library, 2351 S.E. Monterey Road, Stuart. Dog Foster/Adoption Showcase: Foster or adopt; dogs of all sizes ready for love. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. July 30. Pet Supermarket, 2595 S.E. U.S. 1, Stuart. 772-203-7485; nalasrescue.org. Community Dinner: Free dinner, free personal care items, free laundry supplies, worship. 5 p.m. July 30. Trinity United Methodist Church, 2221 N.E. Savannah Road, Jensen Beach. 772-334-3404; www.trinityjb.org Sensory Friendly Day: 10 a.m.-Noon. July 31. The Children's Museum, 1707 N.E. Indian River Drive, Jensen Beach. 772-225-7575. AUGUST Bankruptcy and Fair Debt Collections Know Your Rights: Clinics on Bankruptcy and Fair Debt Collections. 6 p.m. Aug. 1, Sept. 6, Oct. 4, Nov. 7, Dec. 5. Port St. Lucie Civic Center, 9221 S.E. Civic Center Place, Port St. Lucie. Register: 772-466-4766; www.FRLS.org. Line Dancing: 5-6 p.m. Aug. 3. Kane Center, 900 S.E. Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 50+. $30/$36. Register: 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. Photography Class: Photography Class. Noon-1 p.m. Aug. 4. Kane Center, 900 S.E. Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 21+. $90-$100. Register: 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. Writing Artist Statements, Bios and More: Part of Arts Council Summer Series for Artists. 9:30 a.m.-noon Aug. 5. Court House Cultural Center, 80 S.E. Ocean Blvd., Stuart. $20 for Arts Council members; $25 for nonmembers. Reservation: 772-287-6676; www.martinarts.org. Dinner/Dance Fundraiser: Dinner/Dance Fundraiser for Adult Day Program. 5-7 p.m. Aug. 5. Kane Center, 900 S.E. Salerno Road, Stuart. $12. Ticket: 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. Back to School Bash: The festivities will include video game demos, a dance performance, goody bags with samples and offers, giveaways, and a variety of vendors providing service. Noon-4 p.m. Aug. 6. Treasure Coast Square, JC Penney Courtyard, 3174 U.S. 1, Jensen Beach. Great Back Pack Give Away: Free fully stocked back packs for children K-8. 8-11 a.m. Aug. 6. St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 5150 S.E. Railway Ave. Cove Road A1A, Port Salerno. Back To School Fair: 400 free Backpacks, Lunch, Kid's Haircuts, Eye Exams, Clothing, etc. 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Aug. 6. Trinity United Methodist Church, 2221 N.E. Savannah Road, Jensen Beach. 772-334-3404; www.trinityjb.org. Back-to-School Bash: Noon-4 p.m. Aug. 6. Treasure Coast Square, 3174 N.W. U.S. 1, Jensen Beach. Pup Crawl: Begins at Spoto's and then heads to Sneaki Tiki, Crafted Keg and then ends at Terra Fermata; dogs must remain on lead. 5:30 p.m. Aug. 6. Spoto's Oyster Bar, 131 S.W. Flagler Ave., Stuart. $20. Ages: 21. Benefits the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast. 772- 600-3211. 2nd Annual Pup Crawl: Pup Crawl to benefit HSTC Shelter Pets. 5:30-10 p.m. Aug. 6. Downtown Stuart starting at Spoto's Oyster Bar, 131 S.W. Flagler Ave., Stuart. Ages: 21+. $20 per person. Ticket: 772-600-3211; czanetti@hstc1.org. Barn Theatre Auditions: Barn Theatre Auditions for "The Haunting of Hill House". 7 p.m. Aug. 7, 8, 9. The Barn Theatre, 2400 S.E. Ocean Blvd., Stuart. www.barn-theatre.com. Biologist Beach Walk: Public insight into LMC's research department. 6:45-8:30 a.m. Aug. 8.-Sept. 30. Loggerhead Marinelife Center, 14200 U.S. 1 Juno Beach. Ages: 8+. $12. Ticket: 561-627-8280; www.marinelife.org/beachwalk. Backpack & School Supplies Distribution: Free Backpacks and School Supplies. Noon-2 p.m. Aug. 10. The Salvation Army of Martin County, 821 S.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Stuart. Grades: K-8. 772-288-1471; Maria.McGowan@uss.salvationarmy.org. Jazz Dance Class: 1-2 p.m. Aug. 10. Kane Center, 900 S.E. Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 50+. $30/$35. Register: 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. Coffee With A Cop: McDonald's and the Martin County Sheriff's Office are hosting. 8-10 a.m. Aug. 11. McDonald's, 3600 S.W. U.S. 1, Wedgewood Commons, Stuart. Tales from the Archives: Learn historical research & new findings from our Museum's collection. 6:30-7:30 p.m. Aug. 17. Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum, 500 Captain Armour's Way, Jupiter. RSVP: 561-7478380; www.jupiterlighthouse.org. Estate & Long-Term Care Planning: Estate & Long-Term Care Planning. 3 p.m. Aug. 18. Kane Center, 900 S.E. Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 60+. RSVP: 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. Furry Friends Adoption, Clinic & Ranch: Hang 20 Surf Dog Classic Pre-party and fundraiser. 5 p.m. Aug. 18. Guanabanas Waterfront Restaurant, 60 N. Highway A1A, Jupiter. Donation. RSVP: 561-737-5311; www.furryfriendsadoption.org. Lighthouse Moonrise Tour: View the Full Moon from atop the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse. 7:15 p.m. Aug. 18. Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum, 500 Captain Armour's Way, Jupiter. Children must be at least 48" to climb tower. $20 or $15 for Members. Reservation: 561-747-8380; www.jupiterlighthouse.org. Beach 2 Beach 5k: Run/walk to benefit South Fork High's cross country team. 6:45 p.m. Aug. 19. Jensen Sea Turtle Beach, 4191 N.E. Ocean Blvd., Jensen Beach. $18-$25. Register: 772-521-3548; www.active.com/jensen-beach-fl/running/distance-running-races/beach-to-beach-5k-2016?int. Hearts at Home: Hearts at Home, Congestive Heart Failure-Focused Care. 10:30 a.m. Aug. 22. Kane Center, 900 S.E. Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 60+. RSVP: 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. Hearing Health Event: Get your free hearing checked out by an expert. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Aug. 23 & 25. Professional Audiology Associates, 1045 Southeast Ocean Blvd., Ste. #4, Stuart. Reservation: 772-220-8354; www.hearinghealthusa.com/event/free-hearing-health-event-stuart-fl/. Human Trafficking Coalition of the Treasure Coast and Okeechobee: Guest Speaker: Representative Gayle Harrell. 10-11 a.m. Aug. 23. Martin County Sheriff's Office, 800 S.E. Monterey Road, Stuart. Brain Boosting Workshop: Four Week Brain Boosting Workshop. 3-4 p.m. Aug. 24. Kane Center, 900 S.E. Salerno Road, Stuart. Ages: 60+. RSVP: 772-223-7800; www.kanecenter.org. Club Scrub River Paddle II & The End of Summer: Fundraiser that will benefit JDSP Camp Murphy Mountain Bike Trails. 8 a.m. Aug. 27. Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Swim Beach River Area, S.E. U.S. 1, Hobe Sound. Clubscrub.org. Treasure Coast Yard Sale: Community yard sale & auction. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Aug. 27. Martin County Fairgrounds, 2616 S.E. Dixie Highway, Stuart. All Ages. $0-50. Register: TreasureCoastYardSale.com. SHARE Sabrina Johnson, 34, 7900 block of Hibiscus Road, Fort Pierce; warrant for violation of probation, warrant for second amended violation of probation, retaliate against witness, victim or informant. Gerles Terry, 52, 1300 block of Southwest Idol Avenue, Port St. Lucie; warrants for burglary of a structure, criminal mischief. Michael Roach, 41, Oregon, Ohio; warrants for dealing in stolen property, giving false information to a pawnbroker. Sami Elias, 58, Lexington, Kentucky; out-of-county warrant, petty theft. Sandra Cooper, 50, 5700 block of Northwest Cleburn Drive, Port St. Lucie; aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill. Clotaire Joseph, 44, 2000 block of Oleander Boulevard, Fort Pierce; driving while license suspended, habitual offender. Aubrey Goings, 19, 2300 block of Southeast Marseille Street, Port St. Lucie; possession of marijuana over 20 grams; possession of marijuana with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver. Christopher Staiano, 50, 1300 block of Southwest Herald Road, Port St. Lucie; warrant for court order to revoke bond, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, criminal mischief. Kayla DeJesus, 20, 1000 block of Southwest Barbarosa Avenue, Port St. Lucie; possession of marijuana over 20 grams; possession of marijuana with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver. Calvin Paige, 19, 600 block of Ixoria Avenue, Fort Pierce; larceny/grand theft; passing a forged/altered instrument. Robert Craig, 43, 2100 block of 28th Avenue, Vero Beach; warrants for grand theft of a motor vehicle, organized fraud. Cedric Maynor, 45, 4100 block of Mantanzas Drive, Fort Pierce; possession of cocaine. Margaret Lynn, 10000 block of South U.S. 1, Port St. Lucie; warrant for violation of probation, burglary of a dwelling with an assault and battery. Arrested in Indian River County. Operation Hope's annual school supply giveaway begins at 1 p.m. Aug. 6 at Operation Hope, 2285 County Road 512, Fellsmere. (FILE PHOTO) SHARE By Janet Begley, Special to Treasure Coast Newspapers FELLSMERE-- With its annual giveaway little more than a week away, Operation Hope still needs backpacks and school supplies. The organization, which helps low income families throughout the area, assembles more than 500 backpacks each year so local children can start the school year on the right foot. "We have some organizations and churches that come through for us every year, "said Operation Hope founder and President Jesse Zermeno. "But it seems like it is getting harder and harder to supply all of the items teachers are putting on their school supply lists." Zermeno said he still needs backpacks, notebooks, pencils, crayons, markers, folders and binders for the Aug. 6 event. He's also looking for help from the local community to load the backpacks. He estimates each one is filled with about $50 worth of supplies. "When it comes to things like school supplies, those are the things that can make or break your budget," said Zermeno. "Costs for everything are going up and for poor families, it's a burden to make sure their children have what they need for school." Even pre-schools send home supply lists with items such as construction paper, glue sticks, crayons and tissues. The higher the grade, the more complex and expensive the supply lists can be with items such as flash drives, calculators and copier paper. Last year, Operation Hope volunteers distributed more than 500 backpacks in about an hour, some to families who came from as far away as Palm Bay, Melbourne, Okeechobee and Fort Pierce. People start lining up at 10 a.m. for the 1 p.m. backpack giveaway, with families being issued a number upon their arrival to receive the backpacks on a first-come, first-served basis. Zermeno said he's hoping that backpacks and school supplies begin making their way to Fellsmere over the next week. "We're grateful for any help we can get from the community," said Zermeno. "If someone doesn't have the time to shop, we'll accept their donation and we'll order school supplies. We want to make sure our kids are ready for a successful school year." The Gifford Youth Achievement Center at 4875 43rd Avenue in Gifford also is having its annual backpack and school supply giveaway on Aug. 6, starting at 9 p.m. The center, along with its community partners, has been collecting supplies since June. Last year, about 800 backpacks packed with school supplies were distributed at the event. Army Staff Sgt. Justin Meinelschmidt signals his squad to more forward during a platoon live fire exercise in Thies, Senegal. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY STAFF SGT. CANDANCE MUNDT) SHARE Army Staff Sgt. Justin Meinelschmidt is a squad leader with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY STAFF SGT. CANDANCE MUNDT) Senegalese Brig. Gen. Francois Ndaiye (left) discusses training with command team of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY STAFF SGT. CANDANCE MUNDT) By R. Norman Moody, Florida Today Training with Senegalese Army soldiers is a little different than what Army Staff Sgt. Justin Meinelschmidt, of Sebastian, expected before going to Senegal for the three weeks of African Readiness Training 16. As a squad leader with the 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, he went to help train, but found well before completing the training that he learned a lot from and about the Senegalese as he taught them. Meinelschmidt, 28, who served two tours of duty in Iraq, said that the training in Senegal has been a great eye-opening experience. "The Senegalese Army has been very accommodating," he said in a telephone interview from Senegal. "We're training with each other. I've actually learned from them. They are very intelligent. They know up to three languages." The live fire, tactical infantry training, from July 7 through July 27, is the first partnership with Senegal. The exercise focuses on increasing the capacity of African partners and Army readiness to better prepare to work together if the need arises for a crisis response. The exercise is part of strengthening U.S. partnerships with African nations and build a network to combat common threats and challenges. Lt. Col. Theodore Leonard, commander of 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, said that both armies share fundamentals about discipline, suppressive fire and how to be accurate with weapon systems. "Both armies are identifying some weaknesses in their training and current proficiency levels," he said. Leonard said the exercise has built readiness through live fire and platoon situational training. "Live-fire is the culminating event," he said. "So, we talk a lot about training on the fundamentals, shoot, move, communicate, and medical. A live-fire is one of those areas where you can bring all four of those together and train." Meinelschmidt said that while he saw the training as very valuable to increasing his readiness, while also helping prepare the Senegalese soldiers, he will take away much more than military training. "I think it makes me more resilient," he said. "The training has increased my readiness." Meinelschmidt, a graduate of Sebastian River High School, said the experiences of interacting with the Senegalese will remain with him. "It has been great," he said. "They are very polite. These people are really rich in culture." R. Norman Moody is a staff writer at Florida Today. Contact him at 321-242-3651 or nmoody@floridatoday.com. Florida delegate Rachelle Litt checks her phone as she arrives at Wells Fargo Arena before the start of the second day session of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Tuesday. (AP Photo/John Locher) SHARE By Michael Collins, USA TODAY PHILADELPHIA People watching the Democratic National Convention from home don't need to work hard to spot Florida's delegates. They're right up front, just feet from the stage and directly in the line of sight of the keynote speakers and the TV cameras. Floor space at national conventions is doled out based on a state's importance. Florida is a key battleground state in the upcoming presidential election, so its delegates have been rewarded with prime real estate on the floor of the Wells Fargo Arena. Their location means prime-time television exposure, as Scott Arceneaux, executive director of the Florida Democratic Party, gently reminded delegates during their morning breakfast Tuesday. "You're on television," he said. "What you do gets beamed to millions of people." TWITTER SENSATIONS Bernard Jennings of Miami and his infant, son, Ethan, are Twitter sensations. Jennings, a Hillary Clinton delegate at the convention, was holding young Ethan in his arms on the convention floor Monday night when someone presumably with Clinton's campaign snapped their photo. Dad was captured smiling and holding a sign that read, "Love trumps hate." Ethan, just 1 year old, pacifier in his mouth, gazed into the distance. Clinton's campaign tweeted out the black-and-white shot with the message, "Let's make sure our future is in the right hands." By Tuesday morning, the tweet had been seen more than 35,000 times. Jennings said he and his wife, Rosie Soroka, were deluged with calls from well-wishers from all over the country. LOOK WHO CAME TO BREAKFAST Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders isn't the only high-powered lawmaker showing some love to Florida's delegates at the convention. In addition to Sanders, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Minnesota Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar all stopped by the delegation's breakfast Tuesday morning. Nelson spoke highly of Clinton's running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, whom he said is one of his best friends in the Senate. "He's humble, he's not flashy, but he is exceptionally competent," Nelson said. Pelosi reminded delegates the eyes of the country are again on Florida this year because it's an important battleground state that could help elect the first female president. Franken, a comedian before he got into politics, said people often ask him whether being a senator is more fun that appearing on "Saturday Night Live." "The answer is of course it's not," he said. "Why would it be? But it's the best job I've ever had." Florida delegate Dr. Maureen McKenna shows off a Hillary button on her hat as she arrives at Wells Fargo Arena before the start of the second day session of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/John Locher) SHARE Florida delegate Flore Lindor Latortue, center, cheers with her fellow delegates during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Monday, July 25, 2016. (AP Photo/John Locher) By Michael Collins, USA TODAY PHILADELPHIA Make no mistake, Patricia Byrd is with her. The retired social worker from Panama City is ready to see Hillary Clinton become the next president and not just because Clinton is a woman. "It's because I'm a woman and what I've gone through most of my life," said Byrd, a Clinton delegate to this week's Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. "My whole life, women have been left behind men. We're always one step behind or two steps behind. Our salaries never catch up. We never get that next promotion. Those are things I had to go through." Clinton, she said, stands for "the people who have always been left behind, left out, gone unnoticed." Women in Florida's convention delegation say they feel a special kinship to Clinton, who will make history Tuesday night when she becomes the first woman to win a major party's nomination for president. She will accept the nomination in a speech on Thursday night. In many ways, they say, the challenges Clinton has faced in her life and her career mirror the struggles they have faced in their own lives. In many ways, they say, her victory is their victory, too. "This is such a significant event to show that finally finally! the ultimate glass ceiling has been broken," said Terrie Rizzo of Boynton Beach, a Clinton delegate and chairwoman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party. Women have been working for years to get one of their own elected president because they know such an achievement is important to advance the cause of women's rights and other issues, Rizzo said. More than three-quarters of the volunteers working on Clinton's campaign in the Florida Panhandle are women, said Dianne Krumel of Pensacola, a regional coordinator for the campaign. "We've been at it for a very long time to build a grass-roots volunteer group, which we have been very successful at doing," she said. "That's how we turned out the votes to get those delegates for Hillary in the Panhandle." Not only is Clinton the most qualified candidate for president, she's the one most ready to step into the job on day one, Krumel said. "I'm a firm believer that women can multitask and do a million things at one time, and she has proven that," Krumel said. "I just think she's awesome. And I'm thrilled to be part of history." Marilyn Mordes, a registered nurse and community volunteer from Stuart, said many of the issues Clinton has devoted her life to "align with what I have been involved with my entire life, such as health care, women's rights, etc." "I've waited a long time for this," Mordes said. "Because in many jobs and roles in society, it's not balanced out with male vs. female ratio." Ghazala Salam, a Clinton delegate from Fort Lauderdale, was born in India, where Indira Gandhi was prime minister in the 1980s. She said it's past time for a woman to become president. Salam, president of the American Muslim Democratic Caucus of Florida, said Clinton's victory in the Democratic nomination race is a proud moment for her, "as a woman and an American Muslim." When you look at the Republican agenda, "it's everything against women," she said. "It's about taking away our rights and our choices, the freedom to make those choices. For me, it's personal because my community is being bashed every single day by the Republicans. And I feel like they are being very divisive between genders." Clinton's success in the political arena is especially important for young women, Salam said, because it drives home the point they can do anything they want. "This shows young women, 'Yes, I can it's not just talk,'" she said. "This sets an example that nothing is impossible." Vero Beach Municipal Power Plant (FILE PHOTO) SHARE By Colleen Wixon of TCPalm VERO BEACH Florida Power & Light Co. on Tuesday more than doubled its offer for the Indian River Shores portion of Vero Beachs electric system to $30 million, city officials said. The entire $30 million, however, might not come from FPL coffers. Indian River Shores might kick in money for the deal, but how much was unclear Tuesday, a company spokeswoman said. FPL previously had offered $13 million for the 3,500-customer portion of the Vero utility. The company made its latest offer during an hourlong meeting with officials from Vero Beach and the Shores. The offer still seems low, Vero Beach City Manager Jim OConnor said, but he plans to present it to the City Council on Aug. 16. The new offer is about $17 million higher than what FPL offered last August. It also proposed last year paying $25,000 a month to use Veros transmission system for more than two years the time between the sale and completion of transmission upgrades. Vero Beach had valued the Indian River Shores portion of its operation at $42.4 million, and discussions ended. The city also has to consider about $5 million in contingencies, such as a change in the price of gas or if something happens to the Florida Municipal Power Agency projects, he said. The FPL offer is about $17 million short, OConnor said. I just want to make sure our customers are held harmless, he said. Vero Beach electric counsel Robert Schef Wright echoed OConnors sentiments about the offer being low. Five people with a lot of experience in this kind of work analyzed (the value of Vero electric) very carefully, he said. Pending further analysis, I think the number is low. FPL spokeswoman Sarah Gatewood said she was unsure how much Indian River Shores might contribute. We truly believe this is a win for all parties, Gatewood said. Shores Mayor Brian Barefoot, in a text message, called FPLs offer generous, and said Indian River Shores potential contribution toward the purchase would be discussed by the Town Council on Thursday. As part of a purchase, FPL also wants additional transmission capacity such as a transmission line in the south part of the county to help it integrate Shores customers into its system and reduce future capital expenses, Gatewood and OConnor said. The two municipalities have been embroiled in legal battles for years. Indian River Shores has sued Vero Beach, claiming the city has no legal right to force Shores residents to be on its electric grid after the towns franchise agreement with Vero Beach ends in November. For its part, Vero Beach has claimed the state Public Service Commission has given it authority to set its service area boundaries. Last month, the Indian River Shores Town Council agreed to drop its lawsuit against Vero Beach, expressing hope that an agreement could be reached on a settlement and partial sale. Vero Beach City Council, in turn, agreed to drop its countersuit. BY THE NUMBERS 3,500: Number of Vero Beach electric customers living in Indian River Shores $30 million: Florida Power & Light Co.s offer for that part of the system on Tuesday $13 million: FPLs August offer $42.5 million: Vero Beachs estimated value of the Indian River Shores portion of its electric system Port St. Lucie City Hall. (FILE PHOTO) By Nicole Rodriguez of TCPalm PORT ST. LUCIE The city has finalized an employment contract with its new city attorney, who starts the job Sept. 1. The City Council on Monday unanimously voted to approve the contract with Reginald Osenton, of Brandon, with little discussion. He will be paid a base salary of $190,000. "Welcome aboard," Vice Mayor Linda Bartz said. Osenton's agreement is similar to that of former City Attorney Pam Booker, who was fired in February for poor performance. In 2014, Booker's starting pay as city attorney was approximately $185,000 a year, according to her contract. She earned $190,591 last year. Osenton, a former town attorney for Man, West Virginia, will be eligible for a 5 percent raise a year into the job, depending on his annual performance review. The city will pay $5,000 toward his relocation and 10 percent of his base salary to his retirement fund. According to the contract, if Osenton is fired in good standing or resigns at the urging of the City Council, he is entitled to 20 weeks pay and unused sick and vacation time, just as Booker was. Osenton, who was in attendance, told City Council he's ready to "hit the ground running." Osenton, who has been in private practice for 27 years, manages his own firm, Osenton Law Office, on the Gulf Coast, where he lives with his two children. He's licensed to practice law in Florida, West Virginia, the District of Columbia and Virginia, according to his resume. Osenton previously was the mayor of Mitchell Heights, West Virginia, and represented the Logan County Board of County Commissioners in West Virginia and the state of West Virginia in civil and criminal cases, including economic-development issues, eminent-domain and municipal annexations. Osenton was chosen as city attorney earlier this month from a pool of 56 applicants. For her part, Booker recently was hired as the interim city attorney for the newly incorporated city of Westlake located in Palm Beach County which has a population of five. She's making $276,000, which is 45 percent more than she made in Port St. Lucie. SHARE By Martin County Taxpayers Association (Don Pickard, President) We were extremely disappointed Tuesday when the Martin County Commission approved a two-year extension to its current contract with the International Association of Firefighters that was not due to expire until October 2009. This new agreement was reached in a closed executive session with the commission July 24, approved by a two-part union membership vote July 31 and Aug. 2, and entered as a "consent" item on the commission's Aug. 5 agenda with virtually no media coverage. Objections by one commissioner opened the subject to debate. The one-sided debate was somewhat heated and tended to focus on arguing individual provisions of the agreement along with emotional discussion on the value of our excellent Fire/EMS service. Most of this missed the big picture and the real points of our objection. First, we are very concerned the county committed to a 5 percent raise, plus a negotiated, cost-of-living, across-the-board raise every year until 2011 with knowledge of the coming budget challenges, which appear ominous. Second, at a time when well over a hundred county administration and sheriff's office jobs are cut, and services to some of our most needy residents are curtailed, they are giving a significant increase in pay and benefits to a large number of individuals making more than $100,000 per year for two, 24-hour shifts per work week. The cost per household for fiscal year 2009 is budgeted to be approximately $270 per person. Multiply that by the average of 2.2 persons per household (as used in county calculations for schools and impact fees) and it equals approximately $600 per household for 2009. Third, these pay raises and concessions cause serious management problems for all county supervisors, particularly the sheriff, school superintendent and administrator, who are also facing tough union negotiations. Their employees will either blame their unions for not being aggressive enough or management for not taking care of their employees. Either way (maybe both) it is not good for the efficiency or effectiveness of their organizations and the vital services these employees provide. Why was this done? The professed reason was that in June the IAFF requested that the contract be reopened so they could help the county's budget problems by voluntarily giving up half of their Oct. 1 10 percent pay raise. It now appears more likely that it was the county's escalating budget problems and perception that a better deal could be had prior to the coming elections. At the time we applauded the initiative and wrote a column June 28 centered on thanking the union for the estimated $1.5 million "give-back." Shortly thereafter the strings attached began to be pulled. The union wanted a say as to whom would replace the retiring director of emergency services ? and how he would be replaced. They wanted two new ambulances. They wanted nine firefighters and two new administrative personnel. The final straw was that they wanted an extension to 2011, a guaranteed 5 percent plus COLA increase to be negotiated every year, and a contract that cannot be changed for any reason without union approval. Why was this questionable contract extension negotiated so quickly more than a year before the old one expires? Why are additional management prerogatives being given away? The short answer to both are that our commissioners insist on acting as the county's negotiator(s) with an extremely talented and politically savvy union ? during an election year ? while they are running for office. We have recommended for years that all union negotiations with the county be accomplished by outside professionals. It was the top item on our wish list for the new administrator two years ago. The effort appeared successful and there was an attempt to hire a consultant for this purpose last year. It was killed by commission vote. This latest IAFF agreement is now consummated, but you still need to be fully aware of the problems with it. The impact of this agreement will be felt for years, and there are always other union negotiations just ahead. Maybe increased voter awareness will make the new commission be more astute in handling the county's "negotiations." admin@mctaxpayers.org Dolores Korf; Joe Smith, Clerk; and Rhonda Blakey SHARE By Joseph Abreu Deputy clerks at the St. Lucie County Clerk's office donated $600 to the Treasure Coast Food Bank, helping to provide 4,800 meals to families in need. As part of the Clerk's office ongoing charitable giving initiatives, more than 50 Deputy Clerks and their loved ones volunteered at the Treasure Coast Food Bank. They inspected, sorted and packed 14,000 pounds or 11,666 meals. "Helping our customers goes beyond assisting them inside our office," Smith said. "Charitable giving is part of the culture at the Clerk's office, and we are grateful for the opportunity to give back to our community and help those in need." Other charities benefiting from the Clerk's charitable giving this year include Learn to Read of St. Lucie County, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and the St. Lucie County Education Foundation. The funds are raised through employee activities. To learn more about the Clerk's charitable giving, visit StLucieClerk.com. For more information about the Treasure Coast Food Bank, visit StopHunger.org. 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. Facebook last week carried out the first full-scale test flight of Aquila, a high-altitude solar-powered unmanned aircraft designed to provide Internet access to remote regions. The company had flown a one-fifth scale version of the airplane for several months. The full-sized craft has the wingspan of a Boeing 737 46 yards but reportedly weighs less than 900 pounds fully laden, thanks to the carbon fiber materials used in its construction. The goal of last weeks test flight was to verify Facebooks operational models and the overall aircraft design. The flight originally was scheduled to run 30 minutes, but its successful performance allowed engineers to extend it to a 90-minute run. The ground crew was able to verify several performance models and components, including aerodynamics, batteries, control systems and crew training. In our next tests, we will fly Aquila faster, higher and longer, eventually taking it above 60,000 feet, said Jay Parikh, global head of engineering and infrastructure at Facebook. When complete, Aquila will be able to circle a region up to 60 miles in diameter at a height of more than 60,000 feet. It will use laser communications and millimeter wave systems to provide connectivity. Facebook Connectivity Lab researchers have proposed using an optical detector coated with fluorescent materials for free-space optical communications. They demonstrated a detector that achieved data rates of up to 2.1 Gbps. The companys plan is for the Aquila drones to fly over remote regions and deliver connectivity for up to three months at a time. This will require significant advancements in science and engineering to achieve, Parikh noted, adding that the current world record for a solar-powered unmanned flight is two weeks. Facebook will have to work closely with operators, governments and other partners to implement the program. The company reportedly wants to have a fleet of about 10,000 Aquila aircraft flying to areas where and when they are needed. Theyd need a lot of traffic controller work, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. The drones will fly at heights of more than 60,000 feet in order to avoid commercial aircraft, according to Facebook, but military planes especially spy planes fly higher, and they dont have traffic controllers either, he told TechNewsWorld. Further, with a fleet of 10,000 planes, a one-in-a-thousand chance of failure would give us 10 failures, on average, Enderle estimated. Command and control for 10,000 craft would be a problem, said Michael Jude, a program manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan. To put this in perspective, 10,000 drones are more than all the militaries of the world are currently flying, he told TechNewsWorld. The Economics of the Plan Some of the economic aspects of Facebooks plan also raise questions. Considerable engineering and scientific work needs to be done, as Parikh acknowledged, which means Facebook likely will have to invest millions of dollars in getting Aquila to the point where it can remain in the air reliably for three months at a time. It also will have to spend lots of time and money negotiating with governments, regulatory authorities and commercial partners, and it will have to obtain all the necessary permits. Im still trying to figure out how they will convince governments these arent really spy planes or flying ballistic deathtraps, Enderle said. Not all countries have been on board with Facebooks Internet access plans up to now. India and Egypt banned Free Basic, the low-cost Facebook service that Aquila airplanes will enable. Whether Facebook can recover the costs from its target customer base largely people with little discretionary income remains in doubt. This does seem improbable, said Frosts Jude. This is one of those ideas that sounds interesting on the surface but becomes less compelling the closer you look. The FBI on Monday confirmed it has opened an investigation into allegations that the Wikileaks email dump of nearly 20,000 Democratic National Committee emails over the weekend might be linked to the Russian government. Hackers connected to Russian intelligence agencies allegedly have been working to help tilt the United States presidential election. Hillary Clintons campaign manager, Robby Mook, made a bombshell allegation on Sunday, claiming that the hack of thousands of DNC emails that revealed efforts to undermine the Bernie Sanders campaign was the work of Russian intelligence. DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced she would resign her post after the convention ended, succumbing to pressure following the leaks. The FBI is investigating a cyber intrusion involving the DNC and is working to determine the nature and scope of the matter, the agency said in a statement provided to TechNewsWorld by spokesperson Jillian Stickels. A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously and the FBI will continue to investigate and hold those accountable who pose a threat in cyberspace. The Wiki Dump The Clinton campaign was informed that the release of the emails to Wikileaks, which published the files on Friday, was part of an effort to aid the campaign of Republican nominee Donald Trump, who is seen as being more favorable to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mook told CNNs Jake Tapper. Cybersecurity experts linked the email hack to a number of Russian groups connected to past attempts to infiltrate several U.S. government agencies and private think tanks, Mook said. The most damaging of the leaks involved Brad Marshall, the CFO of the DNC, suggesting in a May email that the party plant a story in Kentucky or West Virginia that questioned whether Sanders was an atheist or embraced his Jewish heritage. Trump campaign Chairman Paul Manafort on Sunday denied the allegations that it was working with Russia, calling the charges absurd on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Donald Trump on Monday joked about the alleged Russian connection in a tweet. The new joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNC e-mails, which should never have been written (stupid), because Putin likes me Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2016 Russian government officials told TechNewsWorld that the allegations were groundless. As per your request, we see the flood of inadequate and inappropriate allegations that has inundated the U.S. media, said Yuri Melnik, press secretary of the Embassy of Russia in the USA. One can only be surprised by such childish, groundless accusations that are far beyond reality. Other indications that Russia might be orchestrating hack attacks against the DNC surfaced last month, when CrowdStrike reported that two groups linked to Russian intelligence were behind breaches of the DNC system. Guccifer 2.0, a hacker believed to be connected with Russia, had claimed credit for the breach and posted documents claiming to be from the DNC. Lions, Tigers and Bears Although the Guccifer 2.0 postings might have been part of a disinformation campaign, CrowdStrike stood by its original analysis. After the DNC called on the firm to investigate the suspected breach, it immediately identified two adversaries Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear that had gone after other CrowdStrike customers in the past, according to the firms CTO Dmitri Alperovitch. In fact our team considers them some of the best adversaries out of all the numerous nation-state, criminal and hacktivist/terrorist groups we encounter on a daily basis, he wrote. Their tradecraft is superb, operational security second to none and the extensive use of living off the land techniques enables them to easily bypass many security solutions they encounter. Cozy Bear, which is also known as CozyDuke or Apt 29, in the past has accessed unclassified sections of the White House, State Dept., U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and targeted companies in the defense, financial, energy and other industries. The groups usual approach is through a broadly targeted spearphishing campaign with Web links to a malicious dropper, according to CrowdStrike. Fancy Bear, also known as Sofacy or Apt. 28, has been active since the mid-2000s and gone after entities in the aerospace, defense, energy, government and media sectors, with victims in numerous countries around the world, including the U.S., Western Europe, Brazil, Canada, Japan, South Korea and others. Fancy Bear often targets defense ministries and may be affiliated with GRU, the leading Russian military intelligence service. It is known to register domains that look very similar to the legitimate organizations being targeted. Among known victims are the German Bundestag and Frances TV5 Monde. The Cozy Bear intrusion at the DNC dates back to the summer 2015, while the Fancy Bear breach occurred in April of this year, according to CrowdStrike. However, no evidence exists of collaboration between the two groups. The DNC attack is most likely part of an ongoing set of attacks from the same group, suggested Kevin OBrien, CEO of GreatHorn. So-called advanced persistent threats attacks that are highly targeted, occur over long periods of time, and which bypass traditional security are on the rise, he told TechNewsWorld. There has been a drastic increase in these kind of cyberattacks over the past 90 days, particularly in the financial services sector, OBrien said, noting that GreatHorn has analyzed more than 75,000 mailboxes. Emails are an attractive target for hackers, he noted, because they have a combination of high-value data and near-universal user adoption, including by people who may not be aware of how these threats manifest themselves and who may be using systems with weak native security. Uber just celebrated its two-billionth trip in a 147-way tie, according to CEO Travis Kalanick, who shared the information in a Monday post on Facebook. Each of the drivers and riders who began their trip at 4:16 a.m. GMT on Saturday, June 18, got a US$450 gift from Uber the number is significant because Uber now operates in 450 cities across the globe, Kalanick said. The companys growth trajectory is impressive. It took five years for Uber to notch its first billion, the CEO noted, but just another six months to hit the 2-billion ride mark. Ubers billions can be counted in other ways than by rides, though. The company has raised close to $15 billion in cold cash and has a market valuation of $68 billion. The French Disconnection Despite its successes, Ubers road to success has not been entirely smooth. The company has faced severe opposition from local labor unions in Europe and many U.S. markets, as well as severe scrutiny from local governments that are concerned about the long-term impact of the new ride-sharing business model. A criminal court in France last month fined uberPop about US$900,000 (800,000 euros) for operating an illegal ride-sharing service. The court also fined two executives of the service, which was shut down last summer after violent protests erupted in France over what local taxi drivers considered unfair competition. We stopped uberPOP last summer and we are disappointed by this judgment, an Uber spokesperson said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by company rep Manon Guignard. The European Commission has just published guidelines that support such services. Heetch, a rival ride-sharing service that targets late night partygoers, faced almost identical charges, the company noted. The judgment in France followed a court decision that banned uberPop in Frankfurt, Germany, earlier this year. Uber had appealed a 2015 ruling against its German low-cost operations, which reportedly were shut down after a complaint was filed by rival service Taxi Deutschland. Uber last fall shut down its ride-sharing service in Frankfurt after 18 months of operation. It also shuttered its services in two other German cities, Dusseldorf and Hamburg, after two years of operating in those markets. Both the French and German cases targeted certain unlicensed Uber services, noted Bruegel scholar Georgios Petropoulous. The company itself has developed licensed services that operate without problem, and in fact they became more popular after such court decisions, he told the E-Commerce Times. Uber itself has the capacity to accommodate such decisions and adjust its business model so that it will minimize the potential damage. Although the judgment against uberPop had no bearing on Ubers current French service, which connects more than 12,000 professional drivers with 1.5 million passengers, the company said, it nevertheless planned to appeal. Growing Pains Ubers global ambitions mean that the company faces the same fundamental challenges that any business deals with as it expands into foreign markets, noted Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. The company must navigate complex legal, cultural and social issues at it enters new territories with their own local politics and historical relationships between business and government, he told the E-Commerce Times. The problem is that the company hasnt shown much talent so far for effectively dealing with these situations. The fact that Uber is operating with a new business model that throws out traditional forms of job security, service delivery and community relationships has led local governments to cast a wary eye toward the company. A lot of judges are concerned about jumping in and supporting a disruptive industry like Uber, Kelley Blue Book Senior Analyst Rebecca Lindland told the E-Commerce Times. The Home Front Uber has faced a series of labor and legal challenges in the U.S. in recent months. Local officials in Austin, Texas, essentially blocked the major ride-sharing services from operating there. In New York, local drivers won the right to organize into a guild affiliated with the International Association of Machinists. The legal setbacks apparently have not seriously inhibited the companys rapid expansion and new development. Uber reportedly is in negotiations with Fiat Chrysler and possibly other auto makers to establish a partnership involving self-driving cars. A deal could be completed by the end of the year. A number of technology companies and major auto makers, as well as ride-sharing fleets, have been in hot pursuit of self-driving vehicles. Self-driving cars are a potentially lucrative market for ride-sharing services to transport seniors, disabled persons, or other people who can not drive. The potential market could be huge if self-driving cars should become convenient alternatives for customers who dont want to own a vehicle, for whatever reason. All photos in this post are courtesy of TP Friend Charles Quiachon who spotted this unit at a CM authorized retail outlet in SM North EDSA CyberZone. But what makes Flare J2 a true stand-out in its price bracket are its technical specifications Android 6.0 Marshmallow is one of the more updated versions of Google's mobile operating system. Visually, it's very sleek because of its Material design interface. It's also more energy efficient compared to earlier versions of the OS, which results in improved device uptime Earlier this month, top-selling Pinoy handset companyquietly released several new Android handset models targeted at budget-conscious consumers - including students and yuppies - who are finally thinking about upgrading to their first smartphone.Of the bunch, I findparticularly interesting. I mean, looking at its specs-sheet and considering the fact that it sells for just, I think it offers great bang for the buck.In terms of design, there's nothing particularly special about this model. Frankly, it looks rather simple as it lacks lush metallic accents compared todevices.For such a wallet-friendly price, you already get a full-fledged smartphone sporting a 5-inch HD IPS display, 13 MegaPixel autofocus rear camera with LED flash, 5 MegaPixel selfie cam in front, Full HD video recorder, Dual SIM Dual Standby capability (dual microSIM), and 3G HSPA+ mobile connectivity support. I kind of wish its battery capacity was higher than 2,000 mAh but it's given the phone's price tag, it's hard to complain.Under the hood, Cherry Mobile Flare J2 runs its Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS with a 1.3 GHz Quad Core MediaTek MT6580 chipset that has four ARM Cortex A7 cores and a Mali 400 MP2 GPU, has 1GB of RAM, and comes with 8GB of expandable storage.This great-bang-for-the-buck back-to-school Android handset is out now at all CM Concept Stores, kiosks, and official retail stores across the country. Sony Xperia X Performance, the early 2016 flagship smartphone of the legendary Japanese company Sony Mobile hasn't even been launched in many key markets around the world -- but photos of the purported follow-up model to that is already starting to circulate online.According to various sources (one of which being this Croatian site),- shown in these images - will be the Japanese tech giant's new top-of-the-line model for the latter part of this year and it could very well be unveiled come September at IFA in Berlin.When it comes to looks, this particular model appears still have its predecessor's Omnibalance design identity but it appears to have a re-positioned LED flash for the rear cam as well as a physical home button in front, which is absent on all current Xperia handsets.As for its technical specifications, it is said that the new flagship will feature a 5.1-inch display (which is slightly bigger than the 5-inch screen of Sony Xperia Performance -- hopefully, it's now Quad HD), 4K video recording capability for both front and back cameras, 3.5mm audio jack, USB Type C port, and Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor.As many of you know, I'm a big Sony fan so I'm really rooting for the company and wishing their mobile business the best in era when powerhouse competitors are coming from practically all corners of the world. Tesla doesn't have the monopoly on electric vehicles; many large automakers have already gotten in on the electric car market, with Audi previously announcing its intention to ramp up production by releasing one EV every year starting in 2018. Last Wednesday, company CEO Rupert Stadler outlined these plans to release three electric vehicles by 2020 to managers at a closed-door conference in Munich, reports Reuters. Audi expects electric cars to make up 25% to 30% of all its annual sales by 2025, putting it in direct competition with Tesla. Based on current figures, that would equal around 450,000 cars per year. Audi's decision to invest a third of its R&D budget into electric cars, an area that is still losing money for many vehicle manufacturers, is partly a result of the emissions-test cheating scandal that damaged the reputation of its parent company Volkswagen. The German company is also looking to challenge the likes of Tesla and Google in another area: autonomous vehicles. Audi will set up a subsidiary called SDS that will produce the firm's first self-driving car. "This is about a robot car that may not even need a steering wheel or pedals, so it's ideal for urban traffic," Stadler said, adding that Audi was still looking for partners to help develop the technology. Lastly, Audi is looking at implementing fuel cell tech into its cars, but it says this is a long-term plan as the lack of charging stations won't make these vehicles a viable option until at least 2020. Speaking about the demand for fuel cell cars, Stadler said: "That is less a question of technology, we are already quite good at that. It's rather going to be a question of infrastructure." As Audi moves more resources into these technologies, the company will "reduce complexity" in other areas. Google recently made some visual changes and additions to its popular mapping application designed to make it a bit easier on the eyes and user-friendly. Zhou Bailiang, UX Designer, Google Maps and Mark Li, Software Engineer, Google Local, explain that it starts with a cleaner look. For example, they've removed non-essential elements like road outlines and improved the typography of street names, points of interest, transit stations and so on to make them more distinguishable from other items on the map. The cleaner canvas, they said, opens up the possibility to highlight areas of interest through subtle orange shading that is determined via an algorithmic process. In high-density areas like New York City, however, Maps also relies on some human intervention to highlight the most active areas. When you see a shaded area, you can zoom in further for more information about venues in that area. Last but not least, Google has implemented a subtle color scheme designed to help users easily differentiate between things like man-made or natural features as well as schools, hospitals, freeways, bodies of water and so on. The updates are all part of the latest version of Google Maps for Android, iOS and on the desktop. The new look may be a bit surprising to some, especially if they aren't anticipating it, although I don't think it'll take too long for everyone to get acclimated. Arguably one of the worst parts of traveling is lugging heavy luggage around the airport if travelers decide not to check their bag while also running late for their flight. Then, once their flight lands, the jet-lagged passenger has to drag their belongings slowly around to reach the exit, only to wait in a long line to catch a cab. However, now, lazy or tired travelers no longer have to worry about getting around the airport with their luggage. That's because there is now a rideable piece of carry-on luggage that will get the traveler to their gate on time and have them out in the city they land in quicker than ever. Introducing Modobag, the smart piece of luggage that features motorized technology so that the traveler can actually ride it around the airport. Modobag can be used as a normal piece of luggage, complete with wheels and an expandable handle to roll around as the customer walks. However, if a traveler wants to ride on the Modobag, they can do so by laying the luggage flat on its side. They can then sit on the memory foam seat scooter-style and put their feet up on the quick-release footpads. In this mode, the smart bag has telescoping handlebars with thumb action throttle for navigating around with indoor and outdoor settings, along with a brake for sudden stops. The Modobag is equipped with a belt-driven, high torque 150-watt electric motor that allows the luggage to go up to eight miles per hour, which helps people get to their destination three times faster than simply walking. This is ideal for people off all ages, including business travelers in a rush, older people whose bodies may be too tired to carry their bag and walk to their gate, or even college students who want to speed off to class when running late. The Modobag can go over six miles on a single charge, with the ability to reach 80 percent full battery in just 15 minutes when plugged into any standard outlet. The bag features a digital battery capacity gauge so the user knows when it's time to charge the lithium batteries, as well as illuminated dual-USB charging ports so that the traveler can charge their smartphone and other devices before boarding the plane or during layovers. The Modobag includes stow pockets to hold tablets and smartphones when charging on its side, along with a crush-proof laptop compartment. The bag itself only weights 19 pounds and can hold the weight of a rider at the max of 260 pounds. It's the perfect size to be placed in overhead bins in an aircraft and is compliant with TSA, FAA and IATA regulations. The Modobag also has an accompanying app which uses its GPRS-GSM, tracking and proximity features that allows the traveler to help track it so that they don't lose their bag while traveling. This motorized piece of smart luggage is the brilliant idea of Chicago entrepreneur Kevin O'Donnell. However, he is asking the public to help fund this invention, launching a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. The Modobag has already reached its goal of $50,000, with almost $150,000 raised with one month more still to go. The smart luggage is available for the super early bird price of $995 plus shipping and is expected to start shipping in January 2017. Source: Indiegogo 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Netflix is no stranger to being the home for addicting series that viewers just have to finish in a weekend's worth of binge-watching. Any pop culture or Netflix fan can rattle off a few titles from the top of their heads, like House of Cards, Orange is the New Black and Daredevil. However, it's actually a brand new series that is taking over the platform by storm. According to Parrot Analytics, the data science company that has tools that measure the demand for TV content, Netflix's Stranger Things was named the most popular digital original series in the U.S. from the week of July 17 to 23. Parrot Analytics data found that, in just the first week after its July 15 release, the new Netflix original sci-fi show became more popular than OITNB, with over three times the demand. Stranger Things was even more popular than BoJack Horseman, the fan-favorite animated series that just released its season 3 over the weekend. Those who have seen the new series won't be surprised by this at all. Stranger Things has the ability to hook the viewer early on and take them on this interestingly twisted ride that is a combination of E.T. meets Carrie meets Silent Hill just to spit them out and leave them feeling empty and wanting more when it finally reaches a monstrous conclusion. There are a few reasons why the show is so captivating. At its core, it's a thriller that is about a mother's (played by Winona Ryder) endless search to find her 12-year-old son Will (Noah Schnapp) who goes missing in their small town in Indiana in 1983. That means it's a mystery series and remains feeling mysterious up until the very end, and even after all the events are over. As Will's mom, Joyce Byers, begins to work with local police, including Jim Hopper (David Harbour), Will's three best friends are also on the hunt to find out what happened as they all begin to uncover details about a mystery that involves top-secret government experiments and the supernatural abilities of a little girl known as Eleven (Mille Bobby Brown). Its plot alone will have viewers curious to find out what is really going on in the town and who or rather what is kidnapping children. Finding things out along the way just contributes to making Stranger Things creepy, even more mysterious and yes, strange. Another reason why this series is such a hit is because it feels familiar. Stranger Things brings on the nostalgia factor with '80s hairstyles and high school fashion, walkie talkies and a time when kids used to ride their bikes throughout their neighborhoods. Following these boys in their suburban town in their quest can't help but have the viewer thinking of The Goonies, whereas the more supernatural parts seem to pay a homage to classic alien films not to mention having a Freddy Krueger type living in the walls of the house. Despite feeling familiar, the series is still fresh. The series feels like it takes pages from John Carpenter and Stephen King, while still being unique in its own right. Its story and characters are original, interesting and just straight-up entertaining, while paying homage to the greats across the horror and supernatural genres. Before long, the viewer will be a few episodes in and won't be able to stop watching. Stranger Things is the hybrid series for any crime, mystery, thriller, alien, monster movie and supernatural fan. It successfully features other dimensions, a haunting creature and telepathic abilities all in one storyline without it seeming unbelievable. Not once does it feel corny, nor is it afraid to really go there and take the audience into a dark world. Also, just wait until the viewer sees what the "monster" looks like. When the viewer finishes the series, they are left feeling like it's just not fair that this season is over and they will have to wait another year for the story to continue. However, Stranger Things creators, writers and directors Matt and Ross Duffer (better known as the Duffer Brothers) do have plenty of ideas for season 2 of the series that might answer some lingering questions. Although Netflix has not officially announced more episodes, there are lots of details that the Duffer Brothers have ready to go the next time around. This includes the possible connection between what Hopper really knows when it comes to Eleven and their future interactions after dealing with his guilt, as well as what the Upside Down is really like and how it really affects those who come back. There is hope that, with its growing popularity, Stranger Things will make a comeback soon. In the meantime, don't be the only person not streaming the series. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The number of young children in Colorado who ended up in the emergency room after accidentally ingesting pot-laced goodies has increased since 2014, when the state green-lighted the legalization of recreational marijuana. Colorado and Washington became the first two states in the country to legalize recreational pot two years ago, but shortly after legalization, Colorado saw a sharp increase in the number of kids younger than 10 who became sick after being exposed to pot mostly from edibles such as cannabis-laced cookies, brownies and candies. In a study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics on July 25, researchers found that two years prior to legalization, the average rate of pot-related hospitalization was only 1.2 children per 100,000. This rate increased to 2.3 children per 100,000 two years after legalization. The regional poison control center serving Colorado saw more than fivefold rise in cases of children who fell sick from pot exposure. In 2009, the number was only nine, but this increased to 47 last year. The average increase in calls made to poison centers statewide also nearly doubled compared to that of the rest of the country. "Almost half of the patients seen in the children's hospital in the 2 years after legalization had exposures from recreational marijuana, suggesting that legalization did affect the incidence of exposures," study researcher Genie Roosevelt, from the Denver Health and Hospital Authority, and colleagues reported in their study. Roosevelt explained that the reason kids are drawn to edible marijuana products is that they look very much like regular candy and baked goods. Children who are exposed to pot become very sleepy or experience loss of balance or coordination. Some children, however, suffer from more serious symptoms that require medical attention. Children who accidentally ingest marijuana edibles, for instance, can become too sedated it affects their ability to breathe. The researchers noted the importance of keeping pot away from children, citing that people have become careless at storing their marijuana after it was legalized for recreational use. The researchers, however, said that the decriminalization of weed is also more likely the reason why adults become more willing to disclose the cause of children's illness. "In 2009, we didn't know what was wrong with these kids, and we did all kinds of work-ups," Roosevelt said. "Now, after legalization, more people are saying, 'Oops, I left my brownie out, and my child ate it.' That's not great, but it's helping us to manage these patients." 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. To train for deep space missions, NASA doesn't have to go very far. On July 21, an international crew of astronauts have donned underwater suits and transformed into aquanauts for an intensive deep sea water training that will prepare them for future deep space missions. Undersea Training For Space Known as NEEMO 21 or the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 21, the 16-day undersea training requires aquanauts to dive down to the Aquarius Reef Base located in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, just below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. According to NASA, the NEEMO undersea crew will carry out research both inside and outside the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary during the simulated space mission. Aquanauts will perform simulated spacewalks underwater while evaluating mission tools and techniques. Inside the underwater habitat, the NEEMO crew aims to try out a mini DNA sequencer, which will be tested by NASA astronaut Kate Rubins once it is sent to the International Space Station, a medical telemetry device and HoloLens operational performance. Aquanauts will gather samples for geology and marine biology research, test software for operations and participate in a project focused on coral restoration. Throughout these tasks, the crew will also analyze potential communications delays those that would be encountered by scientists on a journey to Mars. Bill Todd, project leader of NEEMO, says the crew will pioneer complex tasks on the seafloor, which uses the most advanced navigation tools meticulously engineered to mimic a Mars exploration mission. Todd says equipment can fail, tasks can go on longer than expected, other tasks can go unplanned and communication can be difficult, but all cases are "equally beneficial." He believes that it is how astronauts learn so that they are prepared for the unexpected as they traverse the Martian surface someday. Astronaut Reid Wiseman will lead the first eight days of the NEEMO project. In 2014, Wiseman had flown in space as part of Expedition 40 and 41. He spent 166 days aboard the ISS. Before joining NASA in 2009, he was a test pilot and naval aviator. The second part of the NEEMO mission will then be commanded by astronaut Megan McArthur, who will live in the habitat for the entire two-week duration. In 2009, McArthur flew on the STS-125 mission and served as Mission Control spacecraft communicator for space station and space shuttle missions. Before joining the space agency, McArthur worked on her doctorate in oceanography at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Watch the video below. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Tesla Motors, according to the Wall Street Journal, is "scrambling" to complete the construction of its $5 billion Gigafactory years before the expected date to be able to meet the expected demand for the company's Model 3 electric vehicle. The electric vehicle manufacturer has doubled the number of workers on the construction of the massive factory, which is located on more than 3,000 acres of land near Reno, Nevada. There are now 1,000 workers on site, building the factory seven days a week with two shifts. Tesla Motors is looking to have the Gigafactory up and running to manufacture lithium-ion cells by late this year, in advance of the planned launch in 2017 of the $35,000 Model 3 electric vehicle. The sedan, which features a base price of about half compared with the Model S, saw strong demand upon the opening of reservations earlier in the year. The overwhelming demand for the Model 3 also saw Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk move the company's sales target of 500,000 units a full two years forward to 2018. "We have to be ready with cell and pack production well ahead of vehicle production," said Tesla co-founder and chief technical officer JB Straubel, who confirmed the acceleration of the construction of the Gigafactory and the ramp up of the production of battery cells at the site. The Gigafactory, however, will not solely be focused on the production of lithium-ion batteries for the Model 3, as Musk said that it will also be providing batteries for new types of vehicles that the company is planning to develop. Tesla Motors recently raised funding of $1.7 billion in a stock offering, which will be used to speed up the production of batteries for electric vehicles, which is expected to decrease the associated cost of the components. Currently, the size of the Gigafactory is a mere one-sixth of what its final size is expected to be. Already finished, however, is a four-story structure containing floor space of 1.9 million square feet where battery packs for the energy storage business of Tesla Motors are being built. Recent photos of the Gigafactory that surfaced in May revealed that the facility was 14 percent finished, and that it will be constructed in sections to allow battery production to commence even before the entire Gigafactory is completed. Musk recently shared the master plan of Tesla Motors, which will add new vehicle categories and a car-sharing platform to the company's business. Musk said that projects for heavy-duty trucks and urban transportation are in the starting stages of development while underlining the company's commitment to autonomous driving. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Health authorities in Spain have confirmed the first Zika-related microcephaly birth in the country. This marks the first birth defect case related to the mosquito-borne virus in Europe. While there had been many reported cases of Zika infections in Europe, mostly reported by people who recently traveled to countries with local transmission of the virus, the case in Spain marks the first European birth of a baby born to a Zika-infected mother. Spain has a total of 190 reported cases of Zika infections to date. About 189 of these cases have been linked to recent overseas travels and one was believed to be sexually transmitted. According to regional health officials in Catalonia, the woman received the diagnosis in May when she was 20 weeks into the pregnancy. Apart from Zika, she had also been infected with dengue, another mosquito-borne disease, during her travel to Latin America. The woman decided to keep the baby who was then born in Catalonia after 40 weeks of pregnancy via Caesarean section. The infant is currently under the care of the Barcelona-based Vall d'Hebron hospital, and tests confirmed that the circumference of the infant's head was "smaller than normal." However, doctors said the baby's condition is "stable." Felix Castillo, the hospital's chief of neonatal care unit, added that the infant is being monitored and doesn't require any respiratory support. Elena Carreras, the hospital's head of obstetrics, also said the mother is doing well and both the infant's parents were very excited about their baby's birth. The mother's identity, the baby's gender and the exact location of her recent overseas travel have not been disclosed due to privacy reasons. The virus has led to over 1,500 cases of birth defect reports, a majority of which were reported in Brazil where the epidemic started last year. The case in a report would have been Europe's second case of Zika-related microcephaly birth if not of the Slovenian mother who decided to get an abortion after learning that her fetus showed symptoms of the birth disease. Zika In The News The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed last April that the mosquito-borne virus causes not just microcephaly but also many other birth defects. The virus is primarily transmitted by infected Aedes aegypti mosquito, and preventing mosquito bites appears to be the best prevention against the infection while waiting for an approved vaccine against the virus. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler recently sent out a letter to the CEOs of major telecommunications companies urging them to take action in making robocall blocking technology available to customers. Robocalls are automated telephone calls that are often used by scammers and telemarketers. The FCC has ruled that service providers are allowed to offer robocall blockers to consumers, but the companies have incorrectly stated that they do not have the authority to do so. Wheeler's letter is followed by the question on whether telecommunications companies will finally make efforts in addressing the robocall complaints that are still being received by the FCC, despite various regulations in place that prohibit the practice. AT&T is apparently the first company to answer Wheeler's call, with the carrier claiming that it is prepared to take the leadership role within the telecommunications industry to develop solutions for the persistent problem. In a blog post by the carrier, it revealed that CEO Randall Stephenson has agreed to lead a Robocalling Strike Force that will look to hasten the creation and implementation of solutions and tools that will be used in the fight against robocalls. In addition, the strike force will be sending recommendations to the FCC on what the government can do to help in the fight. The Consumerist pointed out the fact that Stephenson once made the erroneous statement that the FCC prevented AT&T from addressing the robocalling issue. However, his involvement in the Robocalling Strike Force shows that the CEO has changed his stance on the matter, and is ready to finally tackle the problems that has plagued consumers for years. In addition to the robocalling issue, the letter that Wheeler wrote also includes a push for the industry to create a "Do Not Originate" list, which will block robocalls before they reach users. The list will contain the numbers of entities, including private companies and government agencies, whose telephone numbers are frequently being used by robocalls that often originate from overseas. Telecommunications companies who see calls coming from these numbers but originating from outside the United States can then block the highly likely robocall right away. The Robocalling Strike Force will also be working together with standards bodies and players in the industry to populate this "Do Not Originate" list, which will further improve the measures against robocalls. With such a list, agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service would be able to make calls, but scammers from other countries pretending to be from the IRS would not be able to get their calls through. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Amazon is making progress with its drone-related endeavors, teaming up with the UK government for further drone testing. Together with the UK government, Amazon wants to explore the necessary steps to make drone parcel delivery a reality, enabling its Prime Air program. Through this partnership, the company will expand its drone testing to experiment new methods. Amazon now has the green light to explore three essential innovations: operations beyond line of sight in suburban and rural areas, testing sensor performance to ensure the drones can detect and avoid obstacles and flights involving one person operating several highly automated drones. Paul Misener, Amazon VP of Global Innovation Policy and Communications, highlights that the UK is a force in drone innovation, and the partnership brings Amazon closer to achieving its goals of delivering parcels quickly and securely, in just 30 minutes, via drones. Through this new partnership, Amazon and the UK Government should be able to better understand how to safely and reliably use drones in the logistics industry. At the same time, the work will also help figure out what safety regulations and operating rules are necessary to boost the drone industry. Misener further points out that using small drones to deliver parcels will not only enhance the customer experience but will also create employment opportunities in a growing industry as well as pave the way to new delivery methods. The UK's support to enable innovative drone technologies "will benefit consumers, industry and society," says the executive. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), UK's aviation safety regulator, will be "fully involved" in the testing, and the work will help with the development of future policy and regulation to safely use drones beyond line of sight. CAA Policy Director, Tim Johnson, notes that the agency wants to safely integrate drones into the aviation system, highlighting that Amazon's tests in the UK will help the CAA chart its policy and future approach. Figuring out how to safely use drones beyond line of sight is crucial. Recent FAA regulations in the United States, for instance, don't leave room for drone delivery services because they only allow line-of-sight operations, among other limitations. Amazon could not operate a commercial drone delivery service under such regulations, which is why the company is looking to test its technology in other countries. The UK division of Amazon Prime Air has been testing drones in the country for a while now, and this new partnership only strengthens the company's chances of making drone delivery a reality. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Astronomers from the College of Literature, Science and the Arts at the University of Michigan have discovered that the Milky Way's gas halo not only spins but is doing so at a dizzying speed. It was earlier presumed that the galaxy's disk was the only one spinning while the hot gas reservoir surrounding it stayed in place. In a study published in the Astrophysical Journal, however, the astronomers showed that the hot gas halo is not only also spinning, but it's doing so at a speed similar to the disk's. The NASA-funded study used archival data from the XMM-Newton, a telescope by the European Space Agency (ESA). Motion creates a shift in light's wavelength and the astronomers used this shift, measuring them to show the halo spinning in the same direction as the Milky Way's disk at about 400,000 mph. The disk moves at 540,000 mph. "The rotation of the hot halo is an incredible clue to how the Milky Way formed. It tells us that this hot atmosphere is the original source of a lot of the matter in the disk," said Edmund Hodges-Kluck, assistant research scientist for the study. Now that astronomers know about the rotation, the discovery can be used to explore how the Milky Way was formed, and eventually what will happen to it. According to the New World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness, a third of the world can no longer see the Milky Way from where they are, including 80 percent of North America. Western Europe is one of the parts of the globe most heavily affected by light pollution, but Spain, Scotland, Sweden, Norway and Austria are still dark enough to view the galaxy. The most light-polluted skies belong to South Korea, Italy and Saudi Arabia, while the darkest skies were observed over Germany and India. Fortunately, unlike other forms of pollution, light pollution is reversible. According to the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), light pollution can be reduced by using energy-efficient light bulbs and drawing blinds at night to keep interior light from seeping out. The organization also urges people to only use light when necessary, switching off lights when not in use or installing motion detectors and timers to avoid unnecessary use of artificial lights. Communities can also experiment with technologies like full cutoff lighting, which helps prevent light flashing up into the sky. Light pollution makes it difficult to observe the skies, but it also affects human health by interfering with the body's circadian rhythm and contributing to sleep problems. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Nvidia recently unveiled a new and intimidatingly powerful GPU aimed at designers and scientists who require over-the-top visuals for their work. Meet the Nvidia Quadro P6000, a beastly GPU that is built on the company's revolutionary Pascal architecture and which delivers ultimate performance thanks to its 3,840 CUDA parallel-processing cores. The Quadro P6000 packs no less than 24 GB of GDDR5X GPU memory, which in turn can output 12 teraflops of FP 32 performance. To put it in perspective, the previous top-of-the-line graphics unit from Nvidia, the new Titan X, delivers only 11 teraflops. With great power comes great responsibility and apparently, hefty electricity bills too. As would be fit for such high numbers, the P6000 is very demanding when it comes to power and its top consumption of 250W of power makes no compromises. To run the power-intensive GPU on your rig, you will need PCI Express 3.0 as well as 16 slots on the PC mainboard. Looking at the P6000's display output, we find a single DVI-D port, an optional stereo port and four DisplayPort 1.4 ports. It should be noted that the card is not fitted for compact rigs, as it measures 10.5 inches in length and 4.4 inches in height. Nvidia targets the extremely capable card at compute problem resolution and scientific visualization. Additionally, the card will be well prepared to face the high demands of VR design. The OEM will showcase both the beastly P6000 and its smaller variant, the P5000, at Siggraph 2016. Technical specs of the Quadro P5000 show the graphics card has 2,560 CUDA cores and 16 GB of GDDR5X memory. The GPU can output up to 8.9 teraflops of FP 32 performance, and it requires less power than its larger sibling. The P5000 runs on 180W of power but packs the same dimensions and video outputs as its larger variant. The company did not disclose the price points for the two pieces of hardware, but we can only assume that "pricey" does not even begin to cover it. Steve May, chief technology officer at Pixar Animation Studios, explains how such a GPU might help his team achieve better results. He says it is not uncommon for 3D artists to work with datasets of 50 GB or more. "The ability to visualize scenes of this size interactively gives our artists the ability to make creative decisions more quickly," May says. He concludes by underlining that by embedding Pascal architecture into Pixar's workstations, he expects the benefits in workflow to surge. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Upcoming Two Nokia smartphones to have Snapdragon 820 processors, 2K displays and run on Android Nougat Ever since the first press renders of Nokia P1 Android smartphones were leaked, the tech world is eagerly awaiting more news about them. And we have some good news. Nokia is making not one but two smartphones which will run Googles latest Android Nougat operating system. According to the latest reports, two Nokia Android smartphones will be made by Finlands HMD Global. The reports suggest that the smartphones might be available to buyers before the end of this year. The reports also suggest that Nokia will bring out two versions, one with 5.2-inch display and the other with 5.5-inch display. Both the Nokia Android smartphones will sport 2K resolution (QHD) displays and will come with IP68 certification, which effectively means they will be highly resistant to water and dust on the similar lines to phones like the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and Galaxy S7. Another report by Gizmo China suggests that both the Nokia Android smartphones will be powered by Snapdragon 820 chipset and will come with Z-Launcher System UI based on the latest Android 7.0 Nougat. What will impress most buyers awaiting the Nokia Android smartphones is that the upcoming smartphones will have an all metal body and feature an OLED screen. Both the smartphones will also have fingerprint scanners. The report says that the sensors on these two smartphones may be most sensitive ever and will be based upon Nokias extensive research on wonder material graphene. Nokia Power User websites says that both the Nokia Android smartphones will be available towards the end of 2016 but adds that their launch date will be dependent on testing and development of the phones and might move to first quarter of 2017. Readers may remember that in May this year, Nokia said that it has granted the newly-established HMD Global, the exclusive global license to create and sell Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets for the next 10 years. Nokia was the erstwhile king of smartphone and mobile business and looking at the features, the upcoming smartphones sure look to regain that top spot for Nokia again. 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. In an open letter entitled "Letter to the Brazil of tomorrow," former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2011) promised on Thursday that if elected, he would... | Read More The World Bank is raising its 2016 forecast for crude oil prices to $43 per barrel from $41 per barrel due to supply outages and robust demand in the second quarter. Oil prices jumped 37 percent in the second quarter of 2016 due to disruptions to supply, particularly wildfires in Canada and sabotage of oil infrastructure in Nigeria. The revised forecast appears in the World Banks latest Commodities Markets Outlook and takes into account a recent softening of demand and the recovery of some disrupted supply. We expect slightly higher oil prices for the second half of 2016 as oil market oversupply diminishes, said John Baffes, Senior Economist and lead author of the Commodities Markets Outlook. However, inventories remain very large and will take some time to be drawn down. Most commodities are expected to decline this year Despite the recovery of oil and many other commodity prices in the second quarter of 2016, most commodity indexes tracked by the World Bank are expected to decline this year. This trend is due to persistently elevated supplies, and in the case of industrial commodities which include energy, metals, and agricultural raw materials weak growth prospects in emerging market and developing economies. However, most of the declines are projected to be smaller than expected in the April outlook. Energy prices, which include oil, natural gas and coal, are due to fall 16.4 percent in 2016, a more gradual decline than the 19.3 percent drop anticipated in April. Non-energy commodities, such as metals and minerals, agriculture, and fertilizers, are expected to ease 3.7 percent this year, a more moderate contraction than the 5.1 percent retrenchment forecast in the previous outlook. Metals prices are projected to fall 11 percent in the coming year, a sharper decline than the 8.2 percent drop forecast in April, reflecting weak demand prospects and new capacity coming on line. Agriculture prices are forecast to fall less than projected in April as a result of reduced harvests in South America and plateauing demand for biofuels. Because energy constitutes more than 10 percent of the cost of agricultural production, movements in energy prices have been a major factor in the path of food prices, a special feature of the Commodity Markets Outlook says. Both energy and agricultural commodity exporting countries need to step up economic diversification efforts to bolster resilience to commodity price fluctuations. Energy prices fell 45 percent in 2015 and are projected to drop again this year. About one-third of the likely 32 percent drop in prices of grain commodities and soybeans from 2011 through 2016 is due to energy price declines. Lower energy prices have also eased pressures to produce biofuels as an alternative energy source. Biofuels production has been an important driver of demand growth for food commodities in the past decade. Energy exporting emerging and developing economies have struggled to adjust to persistently low prices, said Ayhan Kose, Director of the World Banks Development Prospects Group. Partly because of the strong linkages between energy prices and agricultural commodities prices, agricultural producers can expect lower prices in an era of depressed energy prices. Most of the pledged investment capital were for the real estate, trading, manufacturing and processing sectors. Photo credit: Quoc Hung/Saigon Times Online Foreign direct investment (FDI) pledges in Ho Chi Minh City between January 1 and July 15 dropped 65.2 percent from the same period last year to US$863.6 million, according to new data. A report from the city's statistics department said 448 new projects were licensed in the period with committed capital totaling $638.1 million. Another $225.5 million was added to 78 existing projects, it said. Most of the funds were for the real estate, trading, manufacturing and processing sectors. Cayman Islands was the top investor among 42 countries and territories with $230.5 million, or 36 percent of the pledges. Japan came second with $96.1 million, followed by Singapore with $87.2 million. The two mothers in Binh Phuoc Province with their biological daughters in a photo taken on July 25, 2016. Photo: Tieu Thien Two girls accidentally switched at birth three years ago were returned to their parents in the southern province of Binh Phuoc on Monday. The hospital responsible for the mistake now faces possibilities of a lawsuit. Local authorities have pledged to help both families change relevant identity papers for their children. Vu Dinh Khien said he had been waiting to get his daughter back, but added that he would continue to support the other child. Hoang Van Thanh, director of Binh Long Town General Hospital, have apologized to the two families. The mistake caused serious consequences and the hospital would offer each family VND20 million (US$890) and cover fees for previous DNA tests, he said. Both families have rejected the offer, without specifying their demand. The other father, Hoang Van Tuan, said t he meager amount is insufficient for the damage caused to both families in the past years. I will file a lawsuit against the hospital, he said. On January 10, 2013, Khiens wife, Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, and Tuans wife, Thi Lien, gave birth to two baby girls at the hospital. Both weighed three kilograms and were mistakenly handed to the wrong mother. In May, 2016, Trangs father visited a nearby village and saw a baby who looks exactly like his daughter. Both families then filed complaints to the hospital after learning the truth. Khien admitted that he had doubted his wifes faithfulness over the past years because the baby girl that they came home with has no resemblance to his family. The X-ray scan shows the iron nail in the boy's stomach. Photo: Nguyen Mi Doctors at a Ho Chi Minh City hospital on Saturday said they had removed an iron nail accidentally swallowed by an 18-month-old boy. Pham Trung Dung of Childrens Hospital No. 1 said the boy hailing from the Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau was rushed in after he cried for hours and vomited. An X-ray scan showed the 4.5-centimeter-long iron nail in his stomach. Doctors then successfully removed it. They said there was some damage but it was still lucky that he was taken to the hospital in time. The boys family said his father carelessly gave him two iron nails to play with and left the scene to do something. When the father came back, he saw the boy crying and vomiting. He found only one iron nail left and suspected the boy had swallowed the other one. So he rushed the boy to hospital. Doctors in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang removed a two-centimeter nail from the stomach of a two-year-old boy on Monday. The boys family said he accidentally picked up the nail and swallowed it. He was rushed to An Giang General Hospital where doctors found the nail inside his stomach. Later the same day the doctors successfully removed it. If the nail was not detected as early, it may have pierced the toddlers small intestine, according to the doctors. Photos of sex workers in a ring run by Trinh Van Chuong. Photo credit: HCMC Police Department Ho Chi Minh City police have arrested two men accused of running two separate sex rings since 2015. Police said Duong Van Thanh, 38, launched two websites in early 2015 to advertise illegal sex services. He hired some people to post photos of the sex workers online, receive calls to the hotline, and collect money for him. The man lives in the southern province of Tien Giang, where he also owns a restaurant. Police had been watching the ring since early this year. They caught six sex workers with their clients in two hotels in Ho Chi Minh City on July 21. Thanh was arrested in his hometown on the same day. Thanh confessed he charged each client VND1.5 million (US$67), from which he earned VND500,000. In the second case, Trinh Van Chuong, 29, used to w ork for a massage parlor in HCMCs District 10 and knew many employees who also did sex work. In July 2015, he created various accounts on Zalo and Wechat mobile chat services and posted sex workers photos. He charged each client VND1.6 million and took VND500,000 from the amount. Police are looking for a procurer in District 4 who allegedly worked with Chuong. The director of a fertilizer plant in Ho Chi Minh City was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for his role in an explosion that killed three workers in 2014. The People's Court of HCMC on Tuesday convicted Huynh Van Hai, 46, of violating regulations on workplace safety and hygiene and endangering a densely populated residential area. Three workers, two of them mother and daughter, aged between 19 and 36, died in the explosion which utterly destroyed Hai's fertilizer plant in Dist. 12 on Oct. 17, 2014. The massive blast also injured five other people and partially ruined 86 houses in the neighborhood, causing a VND8 billion (US$359,000) worth of damages. Rescuers search for victims at the fertilizer factory in Ho Chi Minh City where a blast occurred on October 17, 2014, killing three workers. Photo: Doc Lap Investigators found that the workers were mixing chemicals to produce a liquid fertilizer, and they often used a small gas stove to seal finished products. Hai, who was not present at the facility when the explosion happened, said he had been aware of their wrongdoing and had scolded the workers "many times." He claimed the workers, who were his relatives, did not take his warnings seriously. The court also banned Hai from producing chemical fertilizers for two years after completing his jail term. A court in Hanoi on Tuesday handed down a death sentence to a man for stabbing to death two people who caught him breaking in their house last year. Nguyen Van Ky, 46, was convicted of killing Nguyen Luong Chuan, 59, and his son Nguyen Luong Chinh, 29, in Thach That Dist, Hanoi on Dec. 6, 2015. He was also convicted of robbery. According to the indictment, Ky broke into the victims' house that night, armed with a knife, when their family of four was sleeping. Ky claimed he brought the knife to break door locks, not with the intention to murder. "If I'd wanted to kill [the victims], I'd have done it while they were sleeping," he told the judge at the People's Court of Hanoi. After stealing two mobile phones, Ky was about to escape when Chinh woke up and saw him. Chinh shouted for help, and with his father tried to overpower the burglar. However, Ky stabbed Chinh in the stomach, and Chuan in the head. As Chuan tried to wrestle him, Ky continued to stab him multiple times before fleeing. He was arrested two days later. A police officer was injured in what is said to be an accidental firing from another officer at a traffic control unit in southern Vietnam this afternoon. According to Tien Giang province police, Capt Nguyen Van Thu was checking his pistol before his patrol shift when it accidentally discharged in the Trung Luong traffic control station. The bullet hit Capt Nguyen Thanh Phong, who happened to pass by at the moment, in the stomach. He was rushed to a local hospital where doctors said his injury was not life-threatening, and he is recovering. Other officers at the same unit said Thu and Phong are friends and there was no conflict between them. The officer points at the driver in the video posted online. Ho Chi Minh City police have suspended a traffic officer who was filmed assaulting a car driver on the street. Lieutenant Vo Nguyen Minh Khoa, 25, will have to submit a report on the case, police said. The incident occurred at around 7:20 a.m. last Saturday on the Hanoi Highway near the popular theme park Suoi Tien. It was filmed and the video emerged on social media soon later. According to Khoa, he had been sent to a nearby traffic accident and was returning to a checkpoint when he saw the car driver changing lane without signaling. After being pulled over, the driver attempted to keep driving before being stopped by several people there. The driver produced his driving license. However, he then managed to snatch it back from the officer after several attempts. Khoa apparently lost his temper and hit the driver before leaving without filing the drivers violation, he said. Police are looking for the driver and the one who filmed the incident. Huynh Thi Kim Hanh, 58, was sentenced to 20 years for drug possession on July 25. Photo credit: Minh Bang/Tuoi Tre A Ho Chi Minh City court on Monday sentenced a 58-year-old woman to 20 years in prison for the illegal possession of 400 grams of heroin and 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine. Huynh Thi Kim Hanh was found guilty of illegal stockpiling of narcotics." According to the indictment, District 4 police were patrolling on Ton Dan Street on July 28, 2014 when they caught Hanh with 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine. They checked her house and seized another 400 grams of heroin. Hanh claimed that Tran Van Dung, a local man, had borrowed VND1.3 billion (US$58,300) from her and left the drugs as security for the loan. Police have been looking for Dung to verify her claim. In Vietnam, the production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is punishable by death. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine also face the death penalty. Customers enjoy a meal at the 'Jamban Cafe' in the city of Semarang on Indonesia's Java island, a small eatery where a handful of diners sit on upright toilets around a table where food is served in two squat toilets A toilet-themed cafe where customers dine on meatballs floating in soup-filled latrines may not be everyone's idea of haute cuisine, but Indonesians are flocking to become privy to the latest lavatorial trend. Guests at the "Jamban Cafe" sit on upright toilets around a table where food is served in squat loos. On a recent visit to the venue, in Semarang on Java island, traditional Indonesian "bakso" -- a type of meatball -- bobbed in a murky soup in one toilet, while a second contained a brightly-coloured, alcohol-free cocktail. For those who found the whole experience too nauseating, there was a sick bag hanging by the entrance. Other places, such as Taiwan and Russia, are home to similar themed restaurants, but Indonesia's modest version has a key difference -- it aims to educate people about sanitation and encourage the increased use of toilets. "I was disgusted at first, but I eventually ate some of the food out of curiosity," said customer Mukodas, a 27-year-old who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name. "I think the idea is pretty interesting because if you try to have a campaign without a gimmick like this, the information won't stick." Another customer, 15-year-old Annisa Dhea, conceded she initially found the toilet treats "a bit unappealing" but felt somewhat reassured after "the owner told me that the food was clean and hygienic". The cafe, whose name 'Jamban' means toilet in Indonesian, has been open since April and currently only welcomes small groups who book ahead. The cafe -- whose name "Jamban" means toilet in Indonesian -- has been open since April and currently only welcomes small groups who book ahead. Owner Budi Laksono, a public health expert who used to work for the local government, hosts discussions with customers and shows them videos as he seeks to encourage people to use dedicated facilities for their bodily functions. Millions of Indonesians live below the poverty line and the country has one of the world's highest rates of open defecation -- defecating outside and not in a designated toilet -- a practice blamed for spreading disease. "This cafe serves as a reminder that many people in Indonesia still do not have toilets," said Laksono, 52. However he admitted that his unusual approach had sparked some controversy in the Muslim-majority country. "Many critics say the cafe is inappropriate and against Islamic law," he said. Thien Nga (Swan) Islet after the top part of its structure collapsed. Photo: Can Dinh Loan Do Thi Yen Ngoc was not surprised when the Swan (Thien Nga) Islet, a famous limestone pinnacle resembling the elegant waterbird, collapsed recently in the bay of Bai Tu Long. We had studied the islet thoroughly and checked its cracks. Then w e identified collapse threats, said the geologist at the Vietnam Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources. Her institute conducted a two-year research project that concluded in 2012 about the risks of losing 11 popular islets in Ha Long and Bai Tu Long bays, including the Swan. The bays, close to each other, are known worldwide for thousands of limestone islets and karsts in various shapes and sizes, but there seems to be a lack of efforts to preserve them. Can Dinh Loan, a photographer, told the media last week that he found out about the collapse of the Swan during a trip to the bay in June. The islet, rising about 15 meters above the water, has lost the part resembling the swans neck and head. Ho Tien Chung, another geologist from the institute, said the islet was formed by limestone layers of 10-20 centimeters thick stacking on top of one another. The layers were affected by waves, wind and plants' roots and gradually came apart, he said, blaming the collapse to natural erosion. He said the institutes scientists have proposed general solutions, including strengthening the foundations of the islets or building breakwaters to keep strong waves from directly hitting them. Tran Tan Van, director of institute, said lesser-known islets have partially collapsed but not many people are aware of them. Among them was the islet numbered 649 in Ha Long Bay, he said, adding that it collapsed in 2013. Van proposed drilling through the remaining limestone layers of the Swan and fastening them together. The important thing is that whether relevant agencies are determined to take action and how much they want to invest in the work, he said. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday ordered an inquiry into the treatment of children in detention after the airing of video showing prison guards teargassing teenage inmates and strapping a half-naked, hooded-boy to a chair. Turnbull said it was clear that mistreatment had occurred after the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) aired CCTV footage late Monday of inmates in a Northern Territory juvenile detention center being stripped naked, thrown by the neck into a cell, and held for long periods in solitary confinement. "Like all Australians, I've been deeply shocked shocked and appalled by the images of mistreatment of children," Turnbull said on ABC radio as he announced a Royal Commission, Australia's most powerful, state sanctioned inquiry. "We're going to move swiftly and decisively to get to the bottom of this," said Turnbull, who announced the Royal Commission within hours of the video being aired. The CCTV footage in the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in Darwin was shot between 2010-2014, according to the ABC. A report into some of the incidents by the Northern Territory Children's Commissioner in 2015 found fault with the guards' behavior, but the findings were disputed by the then head of prisons and not acted upon, said the ABC. The video showed guards mocking inmates, carrying a boy by the neck and throwing him onto a mattress in a cell, and covering a teenager's head with a hood and shackling him to a chair with neck, arm, leg and foot restraints. "If one of us were to have been found to have treated our children in this way we would probably be charged with a criminal offence and the children would be taken away from us," said Australia's Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs, who backed the inquiry. Turnbull said the inquiry into children in detention would examine both the abuse in the Northern Territory and why authorities failed to reprimand prison officials sooner. His office said the full terms of reference for the inquiry, including whether it would be restricted to the Northern Territory and juvenile detention centers, would be released after further discussions with authorities. "There are many issues of concern here and we will get to the bottom of it and we will appoint a very thorough, meticulous examiner of this," said Turnbull, declining to say whether the particular institution involved in the abuse would be closed. A Philippine flag flutters from BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated Philippine Navy ship that has been aground since 1999 and became a Philippine military detachment on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, part of the Spratly Islands, in the South China Sea March 29, 2014. Photo: Reuters/Erik De Castro China's foreign minister has asked the U.S. secretary of state John Kerry to support the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea, following a ruling against Beijing over the dispute earlier this month. China did not participate in and has refused to accept the July 12 ruling by the U.N.-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration, in which U.S. ally Manila won an emphatic legal victory. Meeting in the Laos capital Vientiane on Monday during a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Kerry that China and ASEAN had agreed the dispute should get back onto the "correct" track of being resolved by direct talks with the parties concerned. China "hopes the United States side talks actual steps to support the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines, and support the efforts of China and ASEAN to maintain regional peace and stability", Wang said, according to a foreign ministry statement released on Tuesday. China has repeatedly blamed the United States for stoking tensions in the South China Sea and of taking sides in the dispute, charges Washington denies. Competing claims with China in the vital shipping lane and resource-rich sea are among the most contentious issues for the 10 members of ASEAN, who are pulled between their desire to assert their sovereignty while fostering ties with an increasingly assertive Beijing. China's foreign ministry said Wang again urged Tokyo not to intervene in the South China Sea, saying Japan was not a claimant in the disputes and should avoid interfering in up the maritime spats. "The China-Japan relations are still vulnerable and unsatisfactory," Wang told Fumio Kishida, Japan's minister for foreign affairs. Japan and allies Australia and the United States issued a joint statement voicing their "strong opposition to any coercive unilateral actions" in the South China Sea and calling on both the Philippines and China to abide by the legally binding ruling. China scored a diplomatic victory on Monday as Southeast Asian nations dropped any reference to the court ruling in a joint statement in the face of resolute objections from Cambodia, China's closest ASEAN ally. The Democratic Party's deep divisions were on full display on a raucous first day of its convention on Monday, with Bernie Sanders portraying Hillary Clinton as a fellow soldier in his fight for economic equality while his supporters booed the mere mention of her name. On a night designed to showcase party unity, Sanders supporters repeatedly disrupted convention proceedings, chanting for him and jeering Clinton supporters. But by the end of the night, Sanders, liberal favorite U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and first lady Michelle Obama offered stirring endorsements of Clinton as the party tried to push through the discord and find common ground. "Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her here tonight," Sanders said as his supporters and Clinton's offered competing chants. The angry uproar in Philadelphia was a setback to Democrats' hopes their convention would be a smoothly run show of party unity in contrast to the volatile campaign of Republican nominee Donald Trump. First Lady Michelle Obama smiles as she takes the podium. It was also a bitter reminder of the bruising months-long primary battle between Sanders, 74, a U.S. senator from Vermont, and Clinton, 68, a former secretary of state, who this week will become the first woman nominated for president by a major U.S. political party. Michelle Obama linked the historic nature of Clinton's campaign with her husband's own role as the first black U.S. president. "I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters, two beautiful and intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn," Obama said. "And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States." The tumult began before the convention opened, as Sanders drew jeers from his own supporters when he urged his delegates to back the White House bid of his former rival, Clinton, and focus on defeating Trump in the Nov. 8 presidential election. "We want Bernie!" they shouted in anger at both Clinton's victory in the race for the Democratic nomination and emails leaked on Friday suggesting the party leadership had tried to sabotage Sanders' insurgent campaign. "Brothers and sisters, this is the real world that we live in," he said, adding: "Trump is a bully and a demagogue." Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks. Members of the crowd screamed back: So is Hillary. "She stole the election!" someone else shouted. In the convention's first hours, party officials struggled to carry out business as angry Sanders supporters roared their disapproval, drawing a deafening response from Clinton delegates. 'Act like Democrats' "We're all Democrats and we need to act like it," U.S. Representative Marcia Fudge of Ohio, the convention's chairwoman, shouted over the uproar. Sanders tried to head off the disruptions, sending an email to delegates as the convention opened urging them not to interrupt the proceedings. "Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays. That's what the corporate media wants. That's what Donald Trump wants," Sanders said in the email. Several speakers pleaded for peace between the Democratic factions. Comedian Sarah Silverman, a Sanders supporter, said she would support Clinton "with gusto" and admonished the Sanders fans. Senator Al Franken from Minnesota and comedian Sarah Silverman speak. "To the 'Bernie or Bust' people, you're being ridiculous," she said, drawing a roar from the crowd and another round of competing cheers between Clinton and Sanders supporters. She and U.S. Senator Al Franken of Minnesota then introduced Paul Simon to sing his 1970 classic "Bridge Over Troubled Water." Trump gloated at the Democrats' opening day disorder. "Wow, the Republican Convention went so smoothly compared to the Dems total mess," he wrote on Twitter. As the convention opened, the Democratic National Committee issued "a deep and sincere apology to Senator Sanders, his supporters, and the entire Democratic Party" for the email flap and said it would take action to ensure it never happens again. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned effective at the end of the convention over the controversy. At a morning gathering of Florida delegates, Sanders supporters booed Wasserman Schultz, who they accuse of trying to sabotage the campaign of the democratic socialist. The emails exacerbated the distrust of Clinton among some Sanders supporters who view her as a Washington insider who is only paying lip service to their goals of reining in Wall Street and eradicating income inequality. Actress Eva Longoria arrives onstage. But U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the only senator to endorse Sanders during the primary, told the convention that supporters of the two former rivals had plenty in common. "Whether you spent this year feeling the Bern or you spent this year ready for Hillary, all of us are ready for an America that rejects discrimination and embraces diversity, that celebrates voter empowerment not voter suppression, that creates opportunity for all of us, not just the lucky few," he said. A Trump lead While Sanders has endorsed Clinton, the former first lady faces a difficult task winning over his backers in the fight against Trump. The New York businessman pulled ahead in at least one opinion poll on Monday, after lagging Clinton in most national surveys for months. A CNN/ORC opinion poll gave Trump a 48 percent to 45 percent lead over Clinton in a two-way presidential contest. Trump was formally nominated for president at a chaotic Republican convention in Cleveland last week. Bill Clinton reacts to the speech by first lady Michelle Obama as former Attorney General Eric Holder and Representative John Lewis (D-GA) applaud. Ed Mullen, 49, a delegate from Illinois, said he supported Sanders but would vote for Clinton in November. He said the protesters at the convention had a right to stay. "Democracy is messy, people have disputes with how the DNC has managed this campaign," Mullen said. The cache of leaked emails disclosed that DNC officials explored ways to undercut Sanders' insurgent presidential campaign, including raising questions about whether Sanders, who is Jewish, was an atheist. The Clinton camp questioned whether Russians may have had a hand in the hack attack on the party's emails in an effort to help Trump, who has exchanged words of praise with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Republicans dismissed the suggestion as absurd. The FBI said on Monday it would investigate the nature and scope of the hack. Supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders chant his name as they protest on the floor during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 25, 2016. Supporters of Bernie Sanders disrupted the first day of the Democratic convention on Monday, repeatedly chanting and booing mentions of Hillary Clinton's name as the party's hopes for a show of unity dissolved into frequent chaos. Speakers in the convention's first hours struggled to carry out business as angry Sanders supporters roared their disapproval, drawing a deafening response from Clinton delegates. "We're all Democrats and we need to act like it," U.S. Representative Marcia Fudge of Ohio, the convention's chairwoman, shouted over the uproar. Before the convention opened, Sanders drew jeers from his own supporters when he urged his delegates to back the White House bid of his former rival, Clinton, and focus on defeating Republican Donald Trump in the Nov. 8 presidential election. "We want Bernie!" they shouted in anger at both Clinton's victory in the race for the Democratic nomination and emails leaked on Friday suggesting the party leadership had tried to sabotage Sanders' insurgent campaign. The angry uproar in Philadelphia was a setback to Democrats' hopes the convention would be a smoothly run show of party unity in contrast to the volatile campaign of Republican nominee Trump. It also was a bitter reminder of the bruising months-long primary battle between Sanders, 74, a U.S. senator from Vermont, and Clinton, 68, a former secretary of state, who this week will become the first woman nominated for president by a major U.S. political party. Sanders tried to head off the disruptions, sending an email to delegates as the convention opened urging them not to interrupt the proceedings. "Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays. That's what the corporate media wants. That's what Donald Trump wants," Sanders said in the email. Several speakers pleaded for peace between the Democratic factions. Comedian Sarah Silverman, a Sanders supporter, said she would support Clinton "with gusto" and admonished the Sanders fans. "To the 'Bernie or Bust' people, you're being ridiculous," she said, drawing a roar from the crowd and another round of competing cheers between Clinton and Sanders supporters. Bernie Sanders supporters stand with tape over their mouths at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 25, 2016. She and U.S. Senator Al Franken of Minnesota then introduced Paul Simon to sing his 1970 classic "Bridge over Troubled Water." Trump gloated at the Democrats' opening day disorder. "Wow, the Republican Convention went so smoothly compared to the Dems total mess," he wrote on Twitter. 'Sincere apology' As the convention opened, the Democratic National Committee issued "a deep and sincere apology to Senator Sanders, his supporters, and the entire Democratic Party" for the email flap and said it would take action to ensure it never happens again. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned effective at the end of the convention over the controversy. At a morning gathering of Florida delegates, Sanders supporters booed Wasserman Schultz, who they accuse of trying to sabotage the campaign of the democratic socialist. Sanders, speaking later to his delegates in Philadelphia, also drew jeers and catcalls when he urged supporters to help defeat Trump by backing Clinton and her vice presidential running mate, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia. "Brothers and sisters, this is the real world that we live in," he said, adding: "Trump is a bully and a demagogue." Members of the crowd screamed back: So is Hillary. "She stole the election!" someone else shouted. The emails exacerbated the distrust of Clinton among some Sanders supporters who view her as a Washington insider who is only paying lip service to their goals of reining in Wall Street and eradicating income inequality. But U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the only senator to endorse Sanders during the primary, told the convention that supporters of the two former rivals had plenty in common. "Whether you spent this year feeling the Bern or you spent this year ready for Hillary, all of us are ready for an America that rejects discrimination and embraces diversity, that celebrates voter empowerment not voter suppression, that creates opportunity for all of us, not just the lucky few," he said. A supporter of former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders approaches the podium with a Sanders campaign sign as others hold up "Love trumps hate" signs towards the podium during the report of the Rules Committee at the first session of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 25, 2016. While Sanders has endorsed Clinton, the former first lady faces a difficult task winning over his backers in the fight against Trump. The New York businessman pulled ahead in at least one opinion poll on Monday, after lagging Clinton in most national surveys for months. A Trump lead A CNN/ORC opinion poll gave Trump a 48 percent to 45 percent lead over Clinton in a two-way presidential contest. Trump was formally nominated for president at a chaotic Republican convention in Cleveland last week. Sanders was among those due to speak on the first evening of the Democratic convention. Other scheduled speakers included President Barack Obama's wife, first lady Michelle Obama. Ed Mullen, 49, a delegate from Illinois, said he supported Sanders but would vote for Clinton in November. He said the protesters at the convention had a right to stay. "Democracy is messy, people have disputes with how the DNC has managed this campaign," Mullen said. The cache of leaked emails disclosed that DNC officials explored ways to undercut Sanders' insurgent presidential campaign, including raising questions about whether Sanders, who is Jewish, was an atheist. Sanders supporters were already dismayed last week when Clinton passed over liberal favorites like U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to select the more moderate Kaine as her running mate. The Clinton camp questioned whether Russians may have had a hand in the hack attack on the party's emails in an effort to help Trump, who has exchanged words of praise with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Republicans dismissed the suggestion as absurd. The FBI said on Monday it would investigate the nature and scope of the hack. "The UKs actions in Libya were part of an ill-conceived intervention, the results of which are still playing out today." Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) and vice presidential candidate Mike Pence pray at a campaign event in Roanoke, Virginia, U.S., July 25, 2016. Republican nominee Donald Trump said on Monday that if elected U.S. president he would weigh an alliance with Russia against Islamic State militants but rejected any suggestion Russian President Vladimir Putin might be trying to help him win. Speaking at a rally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Trump dismissed any suggestion that Putin's intelligence services might have had a hand in hacking the Democratic National Committee's email system. Emails leaked last week disclosed that some party officials had been in favor of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton winning the Democratic presidential nomination over U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and sought ways to thwart Sanders. The uproar over the WikiLeaks revelations prompted Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign as DNC chairwoman, and Trump eagerly injected himself into the controversy. Trump dismissed a charge from Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook that Russian hackers might have stolen the emails and leaked them to embarrass Democrats and help Trump defeat Clinton in the Nov. 8 election. "I don't think it's coincidental that these emails were released on the eve of our convention here, and I think that's disturbing," Mook told CNN's "State of the Union." Trump dismissed what he called "one of the weirdest conspiracy theories" he said he had heard. He said he had never met Putin. But over the course of his year-long campaign, Trump has praised the Russian leader and one of his top foreign policy advisers, retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, had dinner with Putin last December. "When you think about it, wouldn't it be nice if we got along with Russia?" Trump said. "Wouldn't it be nice if we got together with Russia and knocked the hell out of ISIS?" he added, using another name for Islamic State. As it happens, skeptics in the U.S. government, European allies in the anti-Islamic State coalition and the main Syrian opposition, distrustful of Russia's intentions, are questioning Secretary of State John Kerrys own latest proposal for closer U.S.-Russian cooperation against militant groups in Syria. Trump assails air conditioning Trump, kicking off a three-day campaign swing with his vice presidential running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, returned to his freewheeling style after giving a scripted speech on Thursday accepting the Republican presidential nomination. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is pictured at a campaign event in Roanoke, Virginia, U.S., July 25, 2016. During an earlier event in Roanoke, Virginia, Trump labeled Clinton "low-energy," the same characterization he lobbed at Republican rival Jeb Bush; attacked her running mate, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia; and complained about the air conditioning in the hotel ballroom where he spoke. "I think the ballroom and the people who own this hotel ought to be ashamed of themselves," Trump said. Trump made light of Democratic disunity as party loyalists gathered in Philadelphia on Monday to anoint Clinton as their nominee this week, after a week in which Republicans struggled to unite behind Trump at their convention in Cleveland. Trump waved away Republican disunity as essentially isolated pockets of resistance and made an apparent reference to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, who was booed in Cleveland when he would not endorse Trump after losing to him in a bitter primary race. "We had a couple people who probably destroyed their career, but who knows," Trump said. "Look what's going on in Philadelphia. ... We had no riots, no nothing. It was unbelievable. I'll never forget it as long as I live." On Twitter, Trump added, "Wow, the Republican Convention went so smoothly compared to the Dems total mess." A Philippine flag flutters from BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated Philippine Navy ship that has been aground since 1999 and became a Philippine military detachment on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, part of the Spratly Islands, in the South China Sea March 29, 2014. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday he supported the resumption of bilateral talks between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea, following a ruling against Beijing over the dispute earlier this month. China did not participate in and has refused to accept the July 12 ruling by the U.N.-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration, in which U.S. ally Manila won an emphatic legal victory. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi had asked Kerry to lend his support for talks to restart between Manila and Beijing in a meeting between the two in the Laos capital of Vientiane on Monday. "The foreign minister said the time has come to move away from public tensions and turn the page," Kerry told a news conference. "And we agree with that... no claimant should be acting in a way that is provocative, no claimant should take steps that wind up raising tensions." Kerry said he would encourage Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to engage in dialogue and negotiations with China when the two meet in Manila on Wednesday. Kerry is due to travel to the Philippines later Tuesday. China's dismissal of the court ruling as illegitimate presented a challenge, Kerry said. The international community, including the United States, sees the ruling as legally binding and a matter of law, he added. "So we still have a task ahead of us, a challenge, which is to try to work going forward to make sure that we are resolving the issues through diplomacy and the rule of law," he said. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. China has repeatedly blamed the United States for stoking tensions in the region and of taking sides in the dispute, accusations Washington denies. In a meeting on the sidelines of a gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Wang told Kerry that China and ASEAN had agreed the dispute should get back onto the "correct" track of being resolved by direct talks with the parties concerned. China "hopes the United States side takes actual steps to support the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines, and support the efforts of China and ASEAN to maintain regional peace and stability", Wang said, according to a foreign ministry statement released on Tuesday. Competing claims with China in the vital shipping lane and resource-rich sea are among the most contentious issues for the 10 members of ASEAN, who are pulled between their desire to assert their sovereignty while fostering ties with an increasingly assertive Beijing. China scored a diplomatic victory on Monday as ASEAN dropped any reference to the court ruling in a joint statement in the face of resolute objections from Cambodia, China's closest ASEAN ally. Speaking to reporters in Vientiane, Philippines Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay said the dispute was not a fight between China and the United States but between China and the Philippines. "We would like to pursue bilateral relationships in so far as the peaceful resolution of the dispute is concerned that is between the China and the Philippines. The others are not concerned with that dispute," Yasay told reporters. China has also accused Japan of interfering in the dispute. China's foreign ministry said Wang again urged Tokyo not to intervene in the South China Sea, saying Japan was not a claimant in the disputes and should avoid interfering in up the maritime spats. "The China-Japan relations are still vulnerable and unsatisfactory," Wang told Fumio Kishida, Japan's minister for foreign affairs. Monique Merren walked into police headquarters in New Orleans on June 13 to undergo a routine background check for an apartment she had lined up. What followed, as Merren describes it, was nine days in hell. Merren, 41, was escorted to Central Booking, where she was fitted with orange jail scrubs and detained on a 17-year-old warrant. Records show that in 1999, she failed to appear in court to pay $2,200 in restitution and fines related to a guilty plea on a felony theft charge her lone criminal blemish, she said. Merren could not remember the details of what went on 17 years ago, but she figured it wouldnt take long to clear up. "I thought, 'I'll be home tonight or in the morning,' " she said. Instead, she spent more than a week behind bars, pleading for the chance to see a judge and unable to access her medication. Merren, who walks with a cane, suffers from lupus and is prone to brain seizures and strokes. She recently underwent brain surgery. She suspects the extended period without her blood thinners may have aggravated her condition. "Every day I asked, 'When am I going to court?' I filed five grievances, she said. Nobody knew what my court date was. I feel like I got lost in the system, and nobody could tell me anything." As it turns out, Merren did get lost. It took days before her sister-in-law in Pittsburgh could track down legal help and get a judge to release her and set a court date. Defense advocates say the snafu that left Merren idling behind bars is far too commonplace and that perhaps hundreds of suspects in Orleans Parish end up languishing behind bars without so much as a chance to go before a judge. Attorneys are now seeking to add Merren as a plaintiff in a pending federal lawsuit that alleges Criminal District Court judges, individually or through the court's Collections Department, have routinely issued illegal warrants for the arrest of people for failing to pay fines and fees without a hearing on whether they can afford it. The result, they argue, is a modern-day "debtors' prison." Merren's story involves a slightly different twist. She is accused of skipping a court date in 1999, which would make the arrest valid. What wasnt legal, lawyers argue, was the lengthy detention without any opportunity to see a judge. Either way, the case amounts to another failure of the court system to ensure that poor people are not incarcerated because of their poverty," the attorneys said in a recent court filing. They are hoping her story will convince U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance to reconsider an earlier ruling that dismissed the city and the Sheriff's Office as defendants in the lawsuit. The attorneys argue that those agencies are "municipal actors" in a system prone to losing people like Merren behind bars. Federal lawsuit claims Orleans Parish judges create 'debtors prison' by illegally jailing people for failure to pay fees and fines without hearing A group of people convicted of crimes in Orleans Parish lodged a federal class-action lawsui "Somebody didn't get that information. Something didn't happen here," attorney Anna Lellelid said of Merren's case. "This is routine. They get arrested ... they sit in jail for days and sometimes weeks." The law requires that new arrestees get to a courtroom within 72 hours, and a recent local court protocol says people such as Merren who are arrested on old warrants that don't automatically plant them on the court docket should be placed on the jail list for a court appearance within 48 hours. Merren slipped through the cracks. "The system picks up a fair number of really poor people, throws them in jail and does not bring them before a judge so their circumstances can be discussed and resolved," said Loyola Law School professor William Quigley, who also is involved in the federal suit. A Sheriff's Office document shows that deputies notified the court of Merren's arrest the following day, June 14. But somehow her case never made it to the court's daily docket. "It's an inefficient system that needs to be improved," said Blake Arcuri, an attorney for Sheriff Marlin Gusman. "We are working on our part to improve that process and ensure defendants are brought to court in a timely manner." Arcuri described a paper system that leaves much to human error and has resulted in similar troubles in the past. Like other officials, he said it's unclear how many arrestees have sat in jail under similar circumstances, and there may be no way of knowing. "I don't know of anybody who's been lost for an extended period of time. I don't know of any of these that have lasted more than two weeks," Arcuri said. "There may be some defendants who don't raise that as an issue. It makes the numbers difficult to track." Clerk of Criminal District Court Arthur Morrell said he wasn't sure why Merren's case never reached a court docket. According to a recent legal filing by the Criminal Court judges, seeking to keep Merren from joining the federal lawsuit, Merren was left in jail "because a deputy clerk of court decided not to put her on the docket until the criminal record was recalled from off-site storage."" Rob Kazik, the court's judicial administrator, described the system as "a little antiquated. We're working on a better policy with the sheriff right now. We're trying to improve the policy between the clerk and the sheriff to get it on the docket quicker." Kazik said the court also is reviewing hundreds of arrest orders that were issued by the court's Collections Department for convicts who failed to pay fines and fees the issue at the crux of the federal lawsuit. Merren's warrant wasn't found in the Collections Department system because it was issued directly by former Judge Sharon Hunter, on Feb. 1, 1999, according to the judges. In the aftermath of the federal complaint, the court has suspended the practice of issuing arrest warrants for a criminal convict's failure to pay fines and fees, which advocates say is illegal without providing a chance to plead poverty. The judges, however, contend that when convicts agree to pay a fine as part of a plea deal, their failure amounts to a "willful disregard," making them subject to arrest. The 13 judges remain as defendants in the lawsuit, which was filed last September. Quigley said there's no indication Merren ever received a subpoena to show up to court to pay her outstanding debts. "If there is a clerk somewhere who says Ms. Merren needs to be making payments, the response is to serve her with a subpoena," he said. "That's not what happened." Merren said she's been disabled since 2009. She said she has no problem getting on a payment schedule, if that's what it takes to avoid another jailing. "It was so long ago, I don't know if I paid them all. I have no idea," she said. "If I'd have known, I sure wouldn't have gone down there to get a background check." Merren, a mother of three, said she never got her prescribed blood thinner while in jail, and it took its toll. Two days after her release, paramedics carried her downstairs from her home. She had suffered another seizure that she blames on her lack of medication while behind bars. "I told a deputy that when I start feeling like this, I immediately call an ambulance. She said, 'Not in here.' I said, 'So what's going to happen?' She just shook her head," Merren said. "That was the worst nine days of my life." Lilia Young, her sister-in-law, said Merren's health concerns had her thinking the worst. At the time, Merren's teenage daughter was staying with Young in Pittsburgh, she said. She called the Orleans Parish Public Defenders Office, where a lawyer put her in touch with Lellelid, the attorney. By then, Young said, Merren was experiencing numbness and tingling, early signs of another seizure. "I said, 'That's how it begins. You're kind of on the clock now,' " Young said. "I was afraid it was possible she was gonna die. That's where I was with it. I was just thinking she was going to pass. .. I was starting to line up things, for if I had to get guardianship." Merren said her guilty plea stemmed from a 1998 arrest for forging money orders from a drugstore where she worked. That was 1998. She was 23. "I spent two days in jail then," she said, "And I said, 'I will never do this again.' " The body of the gunman who killed three law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge has been released to his family. Shane Evans of the East Baton Rouge Parish coroner's office says Gavin Long's body was claimed by his mother, Corine Woodley, and released Monday morning to a Covington funeral home. Evans said an Arkansas funeral home is handling arrangements for Long's family, but the body had to be released to a funeral service licensed in Louisiana. The coroner's office performed an autopsy on Long's body last week. A SWAT officer gunned down Long, a 29-year-old from Kansas City, Missouri, after he killed three officers and wounded three others during a shootout outside a convenience store on July 17. The last funeral for the three officers killed in the ambush was held Monday. Baton Rouge residents turned out in droves Monday to support a fundraising campaign at local restaurants and bars for law enforcement officers that were killed and wounded in a devastating ambush two weekends ago. More than 140 eating and drinking establishments participated in #25onthe25th, pledging a quarter of their sales to funds that help the families of police officers killed and wounded in the line of duty. Its amazing how many people came out, said Metro Councilman John Delgado, who helped organize the campaign. Monday is typically slow. Delgado said six bars and restaurants that he knows of raised more than $30,000. That includes two of his downtown bars. Im really proud of the people who were participating in this worthy cause. The proceeds from #25onthe25th are still being tallied, and some restaurant and bars that are closed on Mondays are holding events later this week. Participating restaurants reported big crowds on Monday that were more in line with Valentines Day or Cinco de Mayo instead of a day in late July. Customers were waiting up to two hours for a table at Superior Grill. Does Eat Place was still seating diners at 8:30 p.m. Ian Vaughn, the co-owner of Lava Cantina, said the rock n' roll-themed Mexican restaurant in Perkins Rowe did about three times as much business as the typical Monday evening. "It definitely took us by surprise on how successful it was," Vaughn said. About $2,000 was raised between Lava Cantina and Vaughn's other Perkins Rowe business, Rock N Pops, which sells gourmet frozen treats. Walk-On's Bistreaux & Bar, the popular sports bar chain that was one of the first restaurants to sign up for #25onthe25th, estimates it raised more than $10,000 at its three restaurants and Happy's Irish Pub, said Ladd Biro, a spokesman for the restaurant. That's double what Walk-On's co-founder Brandon Landry said he hoped to contribute. Newk's Eatery raised $3,324 for the campaign at its two Baton Rouge locations, said spokeswoman Callie Smith. +6 BR restaurants to donate proceeds to officers' families today; see full list More than 100 popular local restaurants and bars are pledging to donate a quarter of their p Contributions to #25onthe25th are being channeled toward the Baton Rouge Area Foundations East Baton Rouge First Responders Fund and the Capital One Fallen Heroes Fund. In a Facebook post Tuesday morning, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation said more than $140,000 has been contributed to its fund. To donate to the fund, click here. Proceeds from the event will go to the families of Baton Rouge Police officers Matthew Gerald and Montrell Jackson and East Baton Rouge Sheriffs Deputy Brad Garafola, who were killed in the July 17 shooting. Deputy Nicholas Tullier, who remains in critical condition after the shooting, also will benefit from the First Responders Fund, along with Deputy Bruce Simmons, who was released from the hospital last week, and a police officer who was wounded and released. Baton Rouge Police officer Montrell Jackson was one of three law enforcement officers killed July 17 by a lone gunman. Friends and fellow officers at Jackson's funeral Monday remembered him as the embodiment of the word hero. Here are five of the most memorable quotes from Jackson's funeral. Close East Baton Rouge Parish Superintendent Warren Drake on Monday said the school system will be ready by Aug. 10, the first day of school, to address concerns that returning students might have over the recent high-profile shootings in Baton Rouge. When our kids come back to school, they are going to have questions and we need to able to answer those questions, Drake said. On July 5, a Baton Rouge policeman, checking out a report that a man selling CDs at a convenience store pulled a gun on a homeless man, shot and killed Alton Sterling, 37, when the officer said Sterling reached for a gun as he struggled with two officers trying to handcuff him. On July 17, two Baton Rouge policemen, Montrell Jackson and Matthew Gerald, and an East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputy, Brad Garafola, were shot and killed and three other officers were wounded by gunman Gavin Long, 29, who targeted the officers. Speaking to the Press Club of Baton Rouge, Drake detailed a multi-faceted plan of action, focusing on school culture, leadership, instruction and law enforcement. He said he was moved in part to take action because many of the victims of the recent killings have connections to the school system. He said Sterlings aunt is a bus driver in the school system and Jackson was a graduate of Istrouma High. Drake said Garafola attended and graduated from Broadmoor High School during the time that Drake served as assistant principal there, and the deputy went on to become a school resource officer at Woodlawn High School. This hits very close to home, Drake said. He unveiled a draft of a Community Response Plan at Thursdays meeting of the parish School Board. He described it as a way to heal our kids and make this community stronger. We are going to have opportunities to listen, to ask question, and learn and respond, Drake said. A lot of the plan involves training for administrators and teachers. For instance, Sue Weinstein, associate professor of English at LSU, is heading up an effort to develop a curriculum to allow for conversations between students and educators about the shootings, and to deal with other concerns students might have. Weinstein is known within the school system for her work with the Humanities Amped program at McKinley High School, where students discuss and conduct research on a wide variety of hot-button topics. Drake also said existing character education programs in the school system will continue, noting its important for students to learn values such as honesty and respect. We are not always going to agree, but we need to respect each other, he said. He urged educators to lead by example, saying they should model the positive behavior they want to see in their students. We have to be and we have to do what we want our kids to do, Drake said. Keep close tabs on children after police shootings, experts say Parents and guardians should carefully monitor their children's behavior after the slaying o The Community Response Training will cost at least $85,000, which is the price of the training that Weinstein oversees, said Adonica Duggan, a spokeswoman for the school system. Duggan said the school system is also working with Southern University education professor Lisa Delpit to look at ways to improve school culture, build relationships, celebrate diversity while at the same time setting high standards for student learning. Louisiana's nationally low scores on a test of college readiness rose slightly this year, according to figures released Monday by the state Department of Education. The average composite figure on the ACT statewide is 19.5, up from 19.4 last year. A perfect score is 36. The ACT measures how public and private school students fare in English, math, reading and science. How the state ranks nationally will be released next month. However, students here typically finish near the bottom among 50 states. In a prepared statement, state Superintendent of Education John White stressed that the number of seniors who earned a college-qualifying score rose again. A total of 25,144 students scored an 18 or higher on the ACT, which means they are eligible for a two- or four-year college without the need for remediation. It also means 462 more students got a college qualifying score this year over last year. "The results demonstrate once again that our state's plan to raise expectations is working," White said. "While more students than ever before are qualifying for universities and community colleges, too many are entering college only to withdraw later," he said. "We must continue to raise expectations, equipping every student with skills they need to succeed in education after high school." The number of students who earned college-qualifying scores has risen 37 percent since the year before all seniors were required to take the ACT. Louisiana officials sharpen focus on key group in latest bid to improve scores Louisianas latest push to improve student achievement will focus in part on why some of the For the second consecutive year the St. Tammany Parish School District finished with the top score in the state at 21.5. The West Feliciana Parish school system finished second at 21.4 with the Zachary Community School District at 21.3. The East Baton Rouge Parish School District scored 18.7; Jefferson, 19.3; Lafayette, 19.9; Orleans, 18.8, Ascension, 20.4 and Livingston, 20.4. More students are qualifying for some sort of college in part because of a change in state policy. In 2013 Louisiana began requiring that all students take the ACT, which is unusual nationally. Ruston attorney and former Louisiana legislator Rick Gallot was chosen Tuesday as the newest president of Grambling State University, a mere 26 days after the former president resigned. The quick turn around was met with mixed reviews by a crowded room of Grambling State alumni, some who traveled from out of state and as far away as Chicago to attend the University of Louisiana System Board meeting, where the decision was made. Throughout my years of public service, I have developed a skill set and reputation for being a consensus and coalition builder," Gallot said in the interview. "One of my first goals is to engage our various stakeholders to harness our energy, ideas, love and commitment to our university. While a few alumni said they were supportive of efforts by the board to quickly fill the leadership position, many others were frustrated that the board would seemingly put so little time and energy into selecting the president for Louisiana's second largest public historically black university, particularly because the institution has had a revolving door of presidents in the past two decades. Tyrone Davis, the 1975 Grambling State class president, told the board of supervisors that they bore responsibility for the instability at the university for failing to select a leader who can endure. He called it "unacceptable" that the board would rush the selection of a new president and abandon regular protocols that typically call for a national search. "There's not another university in the country where you can show me an example of where this has happened," Davis said. "This board should take 75 percent credit for the failures of this university." Just recently, the UL System Board filled the position of Peter Fos, former president of the University of New Orleans. Fos announced his plans for retirement at the end of last August, and officially retired in January. His successor, John Nicklow was selected in late March. Former president Willie Larkins stepped down June 30 after a scheduled job performance review with the Board of Supervisors. He spent less than one year at the helm of the school. Marva Nichols Griffin, a Grambling alum who flew in from Chicago to attend the meeting, said her daughter is currently a senior at the university. "Every year she's been at Grambling, she's had a new president. How did we get to this point?" she said. "How did we get to the point where we're in this much desperation?" Interim UL System President Dan Reneau said there have been 10 Grambling presidents in the past 25 years, which includes some interim presidents. He acknowledged the turnover has caused instability at the university, which is located outside of Ruston. Reneau suggested that the reason for the quick turn around in selecting a new president was because of an urgency to provide leadership for the university, which has suffered from loss of dollars and dwindling enrollment. He said the last national search was conducted a year ago, and the board opted to use findings from the previous search, while opening up the position to new candidates in the last month. "Grambling is in serious trouble," Reneau said. "It's had leadership problems, there have been 10 presidents in 25 years. That's not stability ... To me, a long drawn out process of a national search firm over the past years has not worked." Gallot did not apply a year ago and was not vetted by the search firm. But the other finalist considered on Tuesday, Gilbert Rochon, a former president of Tuskegee University, was a finalist last year. Rochon presented himself as the more traditional academic leader. Tuskegee is also a historically black college, and when Rochon was there he increased both enrollment and the university's endowment. He also was a faculty for more than 18 years at Dillard University. In total the board received 18 applications, and entertained 11 nominations. What Grambling State University needs now, more than anything, is stability. I know the Grambling community, and the community knows me, Gallot said. Gallot is an alum of Grambling. His current law practice is located in Ruston and he told the board he has many ties to the school and the community. His mother, Mildred, once was a member of the Grambling State University and University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors. He served 12 years in the Louisiana state House of Representatives, where he was floor manager for Gov. Bobby Jindal's ethics bills, and four years as a state senator. He touted his political connections and relationships, and his ability to navigate the politics of higher education funding and policy as one of his strengths. Gallot received unanimous approval from the Board of Supervisors. The Gallot family has a long history with GSU and we think Rick is the strongest choice to be its next leader, Board Chair Beau Martin said in a statement. He is passionate about the university and we hope the students, faculty, staff and alumni rallies behind him with support as he takes the helm. Gallot's start date, salary and length of contract have yet to be negotiated. LAFAYETTE -- The state should take a new look at its public school testing policies, the value of letter grades for schools and how teachers are assigned to troubled classrooms, parents and educators said Tuesday. The comments were aired during a two-hour hearing at Lafayette Middle School on how Louisiana needs to change its public school rules to comply with a new federal law called the Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA. "We are here to talk about the children of Louisiana," said state Superintendent of Education John White, who led the discussion. "We are here to talk about their successes, we are here to talk about their challenges," White told the more than 100 parents, superintendents and lawmakers who attended. Whether the state's 720,000 school students are tested too much was one of the key topics. Kathleen Espinoza, a parent, was one of those who raised the issue. White said he has mixed views on what direction the state should go. He noted that ESSA is, in part, a civil rights law aimed at ensuring that all students get an education. "We are going to shine a light on whether they are making progress," White told the group. But he said there is too much duplication of tests in public high schools, and decisions have to be made on yearly testing for social studies in grades 3-11, which is not required by the federal government. "That is a question I am frankly wrestling with," White said. Scott Richard, executive director of the Louisiana School Boards Association, has complained previously about the number of tests given students in Louisiana. "I am glad you pointed out Louisiana law requires more tests than the feds require," Richard said. The hearing in Lafayette was the first of eight statewide on how education regulations should be changed in light of the 2015 federal law, which replaced No Child Left Behind. Education officials agree, new federal law to replace No Child Left Behind, gives flexibility to improve public schools Education officials, who often clash, agree that a new federal law to replace the No Child L A session in Baton Rouge is set for Friday, and gatherings next week in Covington and New Orleans. Bid to trim student testing may spark political tug-of-war A push is underway to cut testing in public schools, and the issue is shaping up as a possi The state has to submit its plan to the U.S. government next year, with changes taking effect for the 2017-18 school year. One area that needs attention -- a national topic -- is how teachers are assigned to troubled public schools, said Sandra Hutson, an educator nearing retirement in Iberia Parish. Hutson said inexperienced teachers are routinely sent to public schools with the most needs. "I want to know what is going to happen to my kids after I retire," she said. Jody Duhon, principal of N.P. Moss Preparatory school in Lafayette, made the same point. Duhon said her new teachers undergo a one-year mentorships with veteran educators when they enter the classroom. She said she was not prepared for her first school after she did her student teaching at a high-performing school. Debbie Meaux, president of the Louisiana Association of Educators, said she is concerned about a state law that requires the state to issue letter grades to public schools annually. "I believe that it does not tell us as parents what we need to know about our schools," Meaux said. Louisiana Democrats at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Tuesday cheered on the state as one that can't be defined by events like Hurricane Katrina or the deadly officer shooting that rocked Baton Rouge a week ago. "We will not be defined by any natural disaster nor will we be defined by any act of senseless violence because we are one Louisiana," said state Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, the state party chairwoman, during the traditional DNC roll call of states. "Louisiana knows that love trumps hate." Peterson, before announcing the vote tally (45 votes for Hillary Clinton, who would go on to win the Democratic nomination and become the first female presidential nominee of a major party, and 14 for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who had already conceded the race), also managed to plug Cajun and Creole cultures, Louisiana's distinct cuisine, hunting traditions and Mardi Gras celebrations. Included in the crowd of delegates around the large Louisiana marker were New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu; former U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu; state Reps. Pat Smith, Denise Marcelle, Ted James and Marcus Hunter; and state Sen. Troy Carter, among others -- nearly all cheering and waving signs. The roll call is one of the more colorful parts of the political conventions, which are held every four years to formally select the parties' presidential nominees. Delegates often take the time to point out trivia about their home states or promote their views and causes. During last week's Republican National Convention in Cleveland, delegates from Louisiana's GOP plugged the state as the "Sportsman's Paradise" before casting its votes in favor of Republican nominee Donald Trump and his one-time rival U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. +2 Louisiana's Republican delegation casts votes at GOP Convention Louisiana status as the "sportsman's paradise" was touted during the roll call at the GOP Co Gov. John Bel Edwards, who serves as a superdelegate to the DNC, didn't appear to take a center position during the state's roll call on Tuesday. The state Democratic Party posted a photo Tuesday morning of Edwards casting his ballot. Edwards, a Democrat who took office in January, said during the run up to Louisiana's primary that he was supporting Clinton's candidacy. During breakfast Tuesday morning, the delegates heard from South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn, Delaware Senator Chris Coons, journalist Melissa Harris-Perry and Mary Landrieu, who lost her re-election bid to the Senate in 2014. Landrieu sent a fundraising plea to supporters via her "Friends of Mary Landrieu" campaign list on Tuesday urging them to donate to Clinton's campaign. "The stakes could not be higher. We cant risk the possibility of a Trump presidency. He is dangerous, divisive, and temperamentally unsuited to be President of the United States," she wrote in the email blast, which linked to the Clinton campaign's donation page. "Having worked with closely with Hillary for many years, I know firsthand that she is tough enough to take on a bully like Trump and compassionate enough to unite our country." Advocate staff photo by PATRICK DENNIS --Logan Brooks , 14, right, and his brother, Landon, 13, left, fill up the reservoirs in their super soakers in the Main Library branch fountain as they beat the heat with water balloons and super-soakers at the Main branch Library's Teen Water Wars event Monday afternoon. Water balloons and super-soakers were supplied by the library. In regard to Saturday, July 23, edition of all the candidates on the ballot for U.S. Senate why did you put David Duke's picture in the paper? Observers credit interim DNC chair Donna Brazile as steady hand with roots in La. politics Observers credit interim DNC chair Donna Brazile as steady hand with roots in La. politics St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office Deputy Edward Stone and Lex, a 3-year-old Dutch shepherd, have been together for only a few months, but t Chief Minister Andrew Barr has written to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to urge him to reconsider plans to move public servants to Armidale. Mr Barr has also asked Mr Turnbull to boost defence investment in Canberra, and has signalled he will soon take the ACT government's plans for an extended light rail route to the Commonwealth for potential funding. ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr urged the prime minister to rethink plans to move public servants to Armidale. Credit:Rohan Thomson In the letter, sent on Monday, Mr Barr offers the Prime Minister his congratulations for winning the election and forming government, before setting out the ACT government's priorities, including his concern over a plan to move hundreds of public servants away from Canberra. Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce announced during the election campaign that the Coalition would move the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority from Canberra to Armidale, which sits in Mr Joyce's electorate of New England. Flow Interrupted. Debra Jurss. Form Studio and Gallery. 1/30 Aurora Avenue, Queanbeyan. Until August 7. This is Debra Jurss' second solo show at Form Studio and Gallery. Her previous show, almost exactly 12 months ago, was characterised by a controlled palette of blues and whites that spoke powerfully of the Antarctic continent that was her subject and that she continues in her latest exhibition along with explorations of Australian river locales. Debra Jurss, section 9 and River in Flow Interrupted at Form Studio and Gallery. The Antarctic landscapes feature both in wall-based and plinth-based pieces. The former are simple rectangular glass panels minimally framed with what amounts to a simple white edge/line. These are barely present but reinforce the idea of the hidden topographies of the Antarctic in the manner in which they simultaneously stop the strong lateral thrust of the gestural flows of blue and white bands that constitute the layered surfaces while imparting a sense of the compressed energies that lay beyond the terrestrial surface. They also speak to the "Flow Interrupted" of the exhibition's title. As in her previous exhibition, the elision of surface and form is beautifully balanced and conveys something of the power and attraction of the landscapes depicted. Jurss' understanding of place is clearly conveyed here. The pictorial or even "painterly" language of the above is moved to the sculptural in the plinth-based works. These make literal the topographic implications of the wall works. Mountains, ridges and other landforms are given the jagged edges and uneven organic rhythms of their real sources. The jagged edges cut into the space around the works and imbue each piece with intimations of the unruly and uncontrollable powers of the natural world as evinced in Antarctica. The flow of movement, so contained in the wall pieces is now given "free" rein, a "freedom" nevertheless contained by the artist's controlling eye, and always neatly directed back into the work to further evoke the powerful beauty of the Antarctic world. Streets of Papunya at ANU Drill Hall Gallery presents the new generation of painters from the epicentre of Western Desert art. Until August 14. Calling all Dr Who fans, a Canberra collector is trying to break the Guinness World Record with his collection. The Bigger on the inside: Collecting Dr Who is on at the Canberra Museum and Gallery until November 20. Free entry. The ultimate foodie festival, the Canberra Region Truffle Festival continues for another year until August. Come to the National Archives and explore exquisite garments, sleek fashion shoots, designers, retailers and bloggers in Faith, Fashion, Fusion - Muslim Women's Style in Australia. Until September 4. Touch or click through for more David Pope Today: Partly cloudy, morning showers becoming less likely later this morning. Max 11. Tomorrow: Partly cloudy. Areas of morning frost and patchy fog in the early morning. Slight (20%) chance of a shower, light winds . Min -1, max 12. Friday: Cloudy, light winds. Min 1, max 12. Saturday: Partly cloudy, light winds. Min 0, max 14. Sunday: Partly cloudy, slight (20%) chance of a shower. Min 3, max 14. A 13-year-old boy has been rushed to hospital after being struck by a vehicle at Holt. One man who witnessed the scene said the crash may have involved a truck. ACT Ambulance Service was alerted to the incident at the corner of Hardwick Crescent and Flack Street, near Kingsford Smith school just after 8.30 am on Tuesday. The boy was assessed on scene by paramedics and taken to The Canberra Hospital in a stable condition with a fractured arm and facial injuries. An inquest into the death of Indigenous inmate Steven Freeman will not look at the time he was bashed in his cell, a court has heard. Instead, it will focus on the period between his access to the prison's methadone program in April 2016 and his death a month later. Inquest: Steven Freeman. Inquest hearings are scheduled to begin on December 5. Freeman was beaten to within an inch of his life while housed in the Alexander Maconochie Centre on charges of disqualified and drink driving, and possessing an offensive weapon. Ten people have been charged after Canberra police seized drugs and froze millions of dollars worth of assets as part of a major drug trafficking investigation. ACT Policing said officers nabbed nearly three kilograms of illegal drugs with an estimated street value of more than $640,000 under a six-week crackdown on the manufacture, trafficking and sale of illicit drugs. Police seized more than $600,000 in cash. They also seized 55 cannabis plants with a street value of more than $250,000 and hydroponic systems when they uncovered a clandestine grow house in Fraser. Police restrained two residences and seven vehicles valued at roughly $1.8 million and more than $600,000 in cash as proceeds of crime. UPDATE: The AFL has abandoned the prospect of featuring a Monday night game in round-23 following vociferous complaints from the prospective home team Adelaide and a prior commitment held by broadcaster Channel Seven. The Crows had been earmarked to play West Coast in a prime time Monday clash leading into the contentious post home-and-away season bye but had protested that a Monday night clash would hurt their scheduled fan appreciation round. Instead the Crows have been rewarded with a Friday night game, taking on the Eagles at Adelaide Oval after campaigning with the AFL. The league had hoped to stage a Monday night game in a bid to shorten the lengthy break between the final round and the first week of finals which will be punctuated by the EJ Whitten clash, a showcase women's game and several off-field events including the All-Australian team selection and the NAB Rising Star. Despite admitting that he did not "fill the dance card" at the Western Bulldogs, outgoing CEO David Stevenson insisted the time was right to depart the club. Fairfax Media revealed exclusively on Monday that Stevenson had handed in his resignation in a shock move less than a year after joining the club from Nike in the US. It is understood that a strained relationship between Stevenson and president Peter Gordon played a role in the former's untimely exit from Whitten Oval. But while Stevenson admitted to having "robust conversations" with Gordon, which he described as "healthy", he denied their relationship broke down and declared Gordon was the right man to take the Bulldogs forward. Then Guvera was banned from floating on the ASX a most unusual step for the bourse operator that tends to let nearly anything list on its boards. First he founded a music streaming company that was going to take on Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora from Australia via India and Indonesia. Inked-up Guvera founder Claes Loberg has had a busy time dealing with the press. Illustration: John Shakespeare Next, parts of Guvera went bust all while the company was mulling an overseas listing. Then, if you weren't tired enough already, Guvera's chief executive Darren Herft left the company. So it was a relief this week to see the big Swede on Twitter taking the mickey out of ... well people taking the mickey out of him. "One reporter said I'm the Jed Clampet (sic) of the business world, another said I'm the Dewey Finn character as a modern day Don Draper. Funny." Like banks and telcos before it, power companies are falling short of expectations, with most consumers believing they don't get value for money, and few holding out much hope of an improvement any time soon. This is the finding of the first detailed, nationwide survey of the satisfaction of energy users with service providers. Most consumers believe they are not getting value for money. Credit:Paul Harris "Most consumers believe they are not getting value for money for their energy services," Rosemary Sinclair, the chief executive of Energy Consumers Australia, said. "A high proportion of consumers do not believe the energy market is working for them and they do not expect value for money to improve in the future." The comments came as the competition tsar, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission head Rod Sims, said he was on the verge of becoming anti-privatisation because the sale of electricity companies had created unregulated monopolies. Starwood Hotels and Resorts group plans to treble the Australian footprint of its 4.5-star Aloft hotel series, laying the groundwork for expansion by signing a deal to open its first Melbourne venue in South Yarra. Just weeks after announcing it will open a new Four Points by Sheraton at Parramatta to take advantage of the growth in Western Sydney, Starwood said it had signed an agreement with developer Spotlight Group to build a new 176-room hotel Aloft hotel at 402 Chapel Street. Starwood said it had signed an agreement with developer Spotlight Group to build a new 176-room hotel Aloft hotel at 402 Chapel Street. Starwood owns and manages the Sheraton, Westin, Four Points by Sheraton and Aloft brands. The expansive group is on target to open a Four Points by Sheraton in Melbourne's Docklands next year and will add another hotel to the portfolio when Aloft in South Yarra is completed early in 2019. One of the odder traits of Australian national life is that whenever the spotlight falls on the plight of indigenous Australians mired in the criminal justice system and it occurs frequently because of their over representation our political leaders respond in tones of shock and outrage. The latest politician to have the scales fall from his eyes is Malcolm Turnbull, who after viewing disturbing footage on the ABC's Four Corners program on Monday of torture and abuse at Darwin's Don Dale youth detention centre, announced a royal commission into the territory's corrections system. "Like all Australians, we are shocked by the report deeply shocked," the prime minister intoned on Tuesday. "We need to get all the facts out as swiftly as we can. We need to expose the cultural problems, the administrative problems that allowed this type of mistreatments to occur." The image of a hooded youth strapped and shackled to a chair as if awaiting execution was frightful and alarming. Mr Turnbull's expression of horror at such state-sanctioned abuse cannot, therefore, be said to be other than genuine. But his claim to be shocked by it and to "want to know how this came about" is utterly fantastical. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, the key finding of which was that the deaths under review were due to a combination of the high numbers of indigenous people being arrested and incarcerated and of police and prisons failing their duty of care. That landmark inquiry set the foundation for national efforts to "close the gap" between indigenous and non-indigenous Australia. Despite the promises of betterment and reform, progress has been slow to non-existent, unforgivably so given the monotonous regularity of wake-up calls from parliamentary committees, NGOs, academics, and interested bystanders. In 2009, for example, the Senate Select Committee on Regional and Remote Indigenous Communities recommended the "Commonwealth take a more active role in driving reform". The then Labor government responded that it was working "closely with state and territory governments to develop a comprehensive national approach". Tolstoy wrote of "epidemic suggestion" to describe those moments when humanity seems to be gripped by a kind of mass hypnosis that no force can counter. The resulting movements, like the Crusades or the 17th-century Dutch tulip craze, cannot be controlled. We find ourselves in such a moment. To imagine that the words I write, or those of countless others lamenting the world's lurch toward the politics of violence, may stem this "epidemic suggestion" is to indulge in fantasy. It is part of the infernal nature of such eruptions that everything feeds them, including outrage. The slouching beast is insatiable. Election-era street art in Lithuania purports to show the extent of the special relationship between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Credit:AP Warnings of danger are just the self-important whining of those in whose favour the decadent, soon-to-be-destroyed system has been rigged. The movement is the answer. Mendacity is the new truth. Choreography is stronger than content. The world is upside-down. Writing into such an environment is like directing a canoe into a gale. Still, here goes, while words still have some meaning. Born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1939, John Tristram discovered a love of travel and filmmaking at an early age. He would go on to produce over 100 films and television stories in the Pacific, in addition to many projects in Europe and Australia. His final project in 2012 was a film celebrating Samoa's 50 years of independence, and a lasting tribute to a country he loved. His parents came from farming stock in Warwickshire and Hereford, England. They sailed to New Zealand in the 1920s and settled first in Wellington. John's father later became a bank manager with the then Commercial Bank of Australia. They raised five children in the course of moving between various New Zealand cities. John Tristram on location filming Quest of Jimmy Pike, Great Sandy Desert, WA. Tristram went to Wairarapa College, Masterton, and Hutt Valley High School. He persuaded his father to let him leave school when he was 16 for a job in the travel industry. He took to the industry with alacrity, making the most of the opportunity to travel which included life aboard the US Matson liners, plying between NZ, Australia and California. There, according to his two elder brothers, he lived in a "sort of floating playboy club" recounting his tales of adventures on a strictly "need to know basis" on each return. At the age of 21, Tristram enthusiastically embarked on his first around-the-world journey by air to North America, Europe and Asia. He later joined BOAC (now British Airways) where he met future collaborator Ian James Wilson, newly arrived from Scotland via London. The pair struck up a friendship and discovered a mutual interest in amateur filmmaking.This involved many experimental films with a 16mm Bolex camera including an assignment filming prize sheep for the NZ Wool Board and a gig filming Miss World's visit to New Zealand, a slightly more glamorous filmmaking debut. Of all the traditional parliamentary democracies in the Westminster mould of representative government, none is so familiar with direct involvement of voters on public matters as is the Commonwealth of Australia. The Constitution, in section 128, explicitly provides for participation of voters on any amendment of an entrenched provision. Popular approval of constitutional change built upon practice followed in adoption of the Constitution itself, in the last years of the 19th century, when there was voting in most of the colonies. During the first century of the federation the voters were presented with 44 possible amendments; on eight occasions proposed changes were approved according to the requirements of the Constitution a national majority combined with majorities in a majority of the states. On five occasions, proposals winning majority support have failed to satisfy the state requirement. On a few other occasions voters have had opportunities to participate in national decision-making. During the Great War they voted twice, in 1916 and 1917, on conscription for military service overseas; on neither occasion did the proposal win a majority. "I hadn't been to Phnom Penh before and I hadn't seen poverty on this scale," says Linda. "We were a bit overwhelmed by it all." For Australian couple Linda and Geoff Foard, it was a chance to interact with local children and do their bit to help. Typically, a visit involves meeting and playing with the kids, walking through their living quarters and taking photographs. It can also include a short performance or dance routine by the children. Often there are opportunities to volunteer for anything between a few hours and a few months. The visit usually culminates with a request for donations. For the thousands of Australian tourists who visit Cambodia each year, there is one stop on the tourist trail that continues to be popular: visiting an orphanage. A visit to an orphanage in Cambodia usually involves meeting and playing with the kids, walking through their living quarters and taking photographs. In hindsight, Linda recalls a number of red flags that only later gave them pause for thought. "We were given carte blanche to wander around the orphanage and talk to the kids ... When we went out to buy some sacks of rice, some of the kids wanted to come with us. We were allowed to take half a dozen kids out of the orphanage. They had only met us an hour beforehand. We could have been anybody. They didn't know our names or anything it was crazy." The Foard's experience is typical of many Australians who visit Cambodia. Orphanages are easily accessible to tourists, with visits often advertised by guesthouses or tour companies. Some orphanages even bring their children to popular tourist areas, handing out flyers and urging tourists to visit their orphanage. An entire industry has grown out of thousands of these tourist visits. In the last decade, the number of known orphanages in Cambodia has doubled, with dozens more still being uncovered. This is despite the number of orphans in the country actually decreasing. The uncomfortable truth is, more than 75 per cent of children in Cambodia's orphanages have at least one living parent, while many more have other family members who could look after them with the right support. Why are so many parents giving up their children? Mostly it's because orphanages are promoted to poor families as a better option for their children. For families struggling to survive, this can be convincing a chance to give their children the education and opportunities they missed out on. Some of the correctional officers' words about these children are captured on camera:"I'll pulverise the little f---er." The United Nations says "most of the children who were held at the detention facility are deeply traumatised". Credit:ABC If you haven't seen it, here's a run down: children, mostly Aboriginal, are brutalised. One is stripped naked, face down, while a burly man kneels on his back. They are gassed. They are hooded. One is tied down and left alone for hours. They are deprived of psychological treatment. They are treated like animals. Monday's Four Corners was shocking. And the reaction has been swift: a royal commission, ministerial sackings and even an infrastructure project, with a new youth detention centre set to be built. The former NT Corrections Commissioner, Ken Middlebrook, gives instructions on the use of tear-gas: "Mate, I don't mind how much chemical you use." Turnbull has taken action. One commentator said he "cannot remember any prime minister ever moving so quickly to establish a royal commission". Well, it depends what you mean by "quickly". If we are looking at the incarceration of Aboriginal youth, the problem is hardly new. To speak of abuse "revealed" is disingenuous. We know all too well the appalling rates of Aboriginal incarceration. The deleterious impact of juvenile detention is well known too. And while the footage of these boys is newly revealed, the details of their suffering were on the public record last year, when former children's commissioner Dr Howard Bath detailed all of the above in his 2015 report into the incident. Dr Bath's report was widely reported late last year: even new media picked up the cause, with Buzzfeed running with the headline "Indigenous Teens Were Hooded And Gassed In NT Detention Centre". We knew if we had bothered to read the report that "tear gas was used, with the six boys being exposed for between three and eight minutes each". It took horrific images, beamed directly into our homes, to get the wheels turning. When the Youth Justice Act was passed in 1992, the Minister said that the 17-year-olds would initially be treated as adults but would be moved to the youth justice system at 'an appropriate time'. Twenty-four years have passed. The government moved a bill on June 18, 2016, which amends the act. The changes will improve the system in a range of ways. They reinstate youth conferencing and provide that victims or their representatives can be present at closed youth justice hearings. When the Youth Justice Act was passed in 1992, the Minister said that the 17-year-olds would initially be treated as adults but would be moved to the youth justice system at "an appropriate time". One has to ask: Are Queensland children somehow worth less than kids in the rest of Australia? They also roll back a change made by the previous government which was that, if you were sentenced as a child at, say, 16 and sent to a youth detention centre then, in some circumstances, as soon as you turned 17, you could be transferred to an adult prison. But they do nothing to address the big issue in the room: in our state, if you are sentenced as a 17-year old, you will generally be lumped with adults in prisons, not kids in youth detention centres. The problem isn't confined to 17-year-olds in custody: it affects all 17-year-olds who come into contact with our justice system. The children's courts have judges, police, youth workers and lawyers who have a particular skill-set in common: they divert young people away from offending behaviour and a life in custody. They see the patterns that go with youth offending broken homes, poor education, drugs and unemployment and they find ways to interrupt them. Those same specialised resources are not available in the adult system. It comes as no surprise then that, where 17-year-olds are treated as adults, there is evidence that they are more likely to re-offend. When US President Barack Obama issued a proclamation late last year on youth justice, he noted that nine American states treat 17-year-olds as adults and he said, with regret, that "This continues despite studies showing that youth prosecuted in adult courts are more likely to commit future crimes". Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion believed a culture of brutality and its cover-up in Northern Territory's juvenile detention facilities had been fixed, revealing he did not intervene because he had not seen any CCTV vision and the issue had not "piqued" his interest. The Territory-based Turnbull cabinet minister also admitted he had not watched Monday night's explosive Four Corners program about the deliberate violence against mainly Indigenous children and youths in Darwin's Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, because he was dining with the family of a staff member that night. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced a royal commission into the revelations and while the opposition has backed that swift response, a split has emerged, with Mr Turnbull declaring the inquiry would be limited to the Don Dale facility in the interests of speed, while Labor wants it to examine the Northern Territory's juvenile detention system as a whole. In a late afternoon statement, Mr Turnbull dashed those hopes and, in so doing, also overruled calls by Senator Scullion and Treasurer Scott Morrison for broader terms of reference. The Turnbull government's royal commission into juvenile detention will go beyond Darwin's disgraced Don Dale detention centre but will focus solely on the Northern Territory, Attorney-General George Brandis has revealed. Updating an earlier joint statement with the Prime Minister, Senator Brandis on Tuesday night said the inquiry's terms of reference would be "broad enough to examine the abuses and practices across the juvenile detention system in the Northern Territory". But he resisted calls to probe the issue nationally, arguing the NT was "the particular problem that has been exposed" and that royal commissions of inquiry needed to be "focused" in order to yield results. Senator Brandis told the ABC's 7.30 program he had discussed the draft terms of reference with the PM and would take that document to a scheduled meeting of the federal cabinet on Thursday. If Kevin Rudd is hoping for the likes of Scott Morrison to support his nomination as UN secretary general when it's discussed by cabinet, it appears he could be disappointed after the Treasurer suggested the former prime minister isn't qualified for the job. Mr Rudd has asked the Australian government to nominate him for the role and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will raise the nomination in cabinet. While many foreign policy experts rate the former Labor leader's chances as very low, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has called on the government to back Mr Rudd as an Australian candidate. Speaking on Sydney radio 2GB on Tuesday, Mr Morrison said Labor had been unwilling to support Howard-government treasurer Peter Costello as head of the International Monetary Fund in 2011. Dylan Voller is the boy pictured in this chair. This image was not taken in Guantanamo Bay but in a juvenile detention centre in the Northern Territory. The image, broadcast on Monday by the ABC's Four Corners program shocked Australia, from the Prime Minister down and is making headlines around the world. Dylan has penned a very moving letter thanking the community for their collective outrage, which has spurred Malcolm Turnbull to establish his first royal commission, (as foreshadowed by the NT Chief Minister Adam Giles, immediately after the program). Dylan's heartfelt letter is really worth your time. [Nick Ralston/Fairfax] While the royal commission has been welcomed, critics say it does not go far enough and should encompass more jurisdictions than just the NT. [ABC] The Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion appeared to be inviting his own sacking, admitting previous reports of abuse failed to "pique his interest sufficiently". [Fergus Hunter/Fairfax] Scullion might claim to be part of a larger apathy that hangs over Australia regarding indigenous issues. "Official government and media reports dating back as far as 2011 have identified patterns of abuse in the NT's juvenile justice system. Virtually every incident covered by Four Corners had already been publicly described, and some of the footage was available on the internet when the program aired. Several prison officers have been investigated and cleared by police or charged and acquitted at trial," writes Amos Aikman. [The Australian] In other politics news: Trade Minister Steven Ciobo will advocate that the second Sydney airport (with a flight path over predominately Labor seats) will be curfew free unlike Mascot which is closed to air traffic between 11pm and 6am. [Daily Telegraph] Junior minister Karen Andrews has lost staff on an average rate at one-per-month according to the Courier Mail. [Renee Viellaris] Former prime minister Kevin Rudd addresses the United Nations in 2009. Credit:Bloomberg Rob Harris takes a look at the perks former prime minister Kevin Rudd would enjoy in the unlikely event he is named the next United Nations Secretary-General. These include a $50 million New York mansion and a salary of $300,000. It's worth keeping in mind Mr Rudd's wife, Therese Rein, is already a multi-millionaire in her own right. [Herald Sun] The decline of the Greens could be confirmed today when the Australian Electoral Commission concludes counting for the Senate in Tasmania. At a time when the minor parties are rising across the world and in Australia, the Greens the major-minor party - could return to Parliament with three fewer senators their worst result in a decade. [Heath Aston/Fairfax] And doctors will take to the High Court today a challenge to the Coalition's draconian Border Force laws which they say threatens them with prison if they dare to speak out about conditions in the offshore detention camps. [Nicole Hasham/Fairfax] 3. Major High Court bank ruling due A decision from the High Court due on Wednesday is one to watch has the ANZ bank been overcharging customers unfair late payment fees (worth $35?) If the answer is yes - as Justice Michelle Gordon initially ruled - then six other major Australian banks will be feeling the jitters. If the High Court disagrees and upholds the full Federal Court's decision (which overturned Justice Gordon, who incidentally is now a member of the High Court) then Bentham IMF, the publicly listed litigation funder, is up for squillions comprising its own legal costs and the banks. [James Eyers/Financial Review] 4. Democratic Convention Day 2 First Lady Michelle Obama set social media ablaze with rapture as she gave a speech arguing that now is the right time for Hillary Clinton to put the final crack in that glass ceiling (unlike in 2008 when her husband, the first black American President thwarted her from achieving that goal. But who's quibbling?!) It was a beautifully written speech that moved from race to gender elegantly. [Vox] Today it's the First Lad's (seriously, what do we call Bill Clinton should the Clintons be reinstalled in the White House?) turn, with the former president set to take the stage. Interestingly, Russian media is suspiciously quiet on the claims that it was responsible for the hack of the Democratic National Committee's emails, which made their way into the hands of Julian Assange. [CNBC] 5. Amazon to start drone deliveries I'm not gonna lie. As I scoured the internet for a Midwinter Ball gown this morning I was totally excited about the idea that in the not too distant future, The Outnet might be despatching this parcel to me via drone. Amazon is set to trial on-demand as quickly as within 30 minutes deliveries. Could drones disrupt the parcel delivery industry booming because of online shopping which has killed retail bricks and mortar? I must admit, even though I can't wait for this technology it all does sound a bit too good to be true. How you would prevent theft, hacking of drones, mid-air collisions and technical failures. All your questions answered in this great explainer [BBC.] 6. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child gets rave reviews Daddy issues run deep in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Credit:Manuel Harlan I had a magical experience last week, attending a preview of the eighth instalment of the Harry Potter saga. The play is a bit of an epic, running in two parts (from 2.30pm to 5.30pm) and resuming again at 7.30pm for part two. It's a pretty much your whole day devoted to the wizarding world but the experience of diving back into the Harry and his now grown-up friends and their offspring at Hogwarts won't leave you. At times I had to remind myself I was not watching a film with CGI but a play, the magical tricks were so magnificently staged. I gave it five out of five. [My review] As did the bulk of the critics. [BBC] The play has been in preview since June and opens on July 30. My guess is that it will have a long run on the West End. As I told my girlfriend in Melbourne definitely a reason to plan a trip to London! (Although I daresay it will tour the US and UK before too long.) Urban Dictionary, the Oxford of internet lingo, defines "mic drop" as: "When a performer or speaker intentionally drops/throws the microphone on the floor after an awesome performance." A photo of First Lady Michelle Obama, on stage at the Democratic Convention, wearing a royal blue Christian Siriano dress should be used to illustrate the mic drop. A sartorial mic drop. While these conventions are not about the clothes, they have offered up many fashion moments. The most powerful so far was the outgoing First Lady. Obama's simple cap sleeve cobalt frock matched the blue backdrop, and allowed her appearance to take a back seat while she eviscerated Hillary Clinton's opponent without even mentioning his name. However, it is just the second time she has donned a gown by Siriano, a Project Runway winner who has made a career out of designing for women of all shapes, sizes and ages. The Committee for Economic Development of Australia's annual health outlook lunch is one of Jillian Skinner's favourite events on the calendar. The biggest health policy wonk in a tent of health policy wonks, it is her opportunity to disseminate the micro-detail of the government's plans to a knowing audience - her own Jilly Wonka's chocolate factory. But she arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel on Tuesday breathless, with her pendant necklace swung wildly to one side, after a morning spent defending her job over revelations that a baby had died in a medical error at Bankstown Hospital. "She found out about this a few days ago and then she frocks up to go to the theatre," the opposition leader Luke Foley cried. Footage shown on the ABC's Four Corners program showed children being mistreated. Credit:ABC What is alleged to have occurred? Four Corners obtained video footage showing several incidents of alleged mistreatment of young boys over a five-year period from October 2010. In one instance, prison guards were shown strapping 17-year-old prisoner Dylan Voller into a chair by his ankles, wrists, shoulders and neck, while a hood was placed over his head. Dylan was left in the chair for nearly two hours, the ABC reported. Other footage, taken in 2010, showed Dylan, then 13, being thrown across his cell, kneed and knocked to the ground, repeatedly stripped naked and kept in solitary confinement. In 2014, Dylan was one of six boys who were tear-gassed at the detention centre's isolation unit. The incident was described as a "riot" at the time, but CCTV vision and handy-cam recordings made by staff show that only one boy escaped from his cell after it was left unlocked by a guard. Corrections officers are shown tear-gassing the children, most of whom are in their cells, wrestling them to the ground and calling one child a "little f---er". Other footage showed children kept in solitary confinement in cells without natural light, running water or airflow and smelling of urine. Dylan, now 18, gave his permission to release the videos to Four Corners to expose his treatment in youth detention. Have there been previous reviews? The NT's corrections system has been plagued by accusations of mistreatment of offenders and a run of escapes from custody, culminating in the resignation of a former commissioner of corrections, Ken Middlebrook, in 2015. In 2014, the ABC revealed that guards who restrained and stripped Dylan naked at an Alice Springs detention centre in 2010 had been given the backing of Mr Middlebrook. After Mr Middlebrook quit, the NT's Chief Minister announced a "root and branch" review of NT corrections policies and procedures. A 2015 independent review into the NT's youth detention system found no evidence of a "systemic culture of unreasonable use of force" but did find there were "isolated cases where staff have used inappropriate force and/or have intimidated detainees". In 2012, NT Children's Commissioner Howard Bath investigated the prolonged mistreatment of one boy, but that report was never made public. The response On Monday night's Q&A program, Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs described the footage as "extremely distressing" and called for a formal inquiry. "If one of us were to have been found to have treated our children in this way we would probably be charged with a criminal offence and the children would be taken away from us," she said. Indigenous elder and shadow assistant Indigenous affairs minister Pat Dodson said it was a matter of "utter shame". Soon after the show aired on Monday night, Mr Giles released a statement saying he "like all Australians ... was shocked and disgusted by tonight's Four Corners program". "A community is judged by the way it treats its children and serious questions were raised by the ABC tonight," Mr Giles said. "Equally the Northern Territory government does not resile from its tough approach to those who don't want to respect other people's property or safety." On Tuesday, Mr Giles announced that Mr Elferink, had been sacked, adding there had been a "culture of cover-ups" within the system. Mr Giles also asked the NT Police Commissioner to investigate whether centre officers committed crimes. Royal commission Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced on Tuesday morning there would be a royal commission into the abuse of youths in the Northern Territory. "Like all Australians, I have been deeply shocked, shocked and appalled by the images of mistreatment at the Don Dale Centre," Mr Turnbull told the ABC. The royal commission's terms of reference and commissioner are yet to be decided, but Mr Turnbull said it would be set up jointly with the NT government. Mr Turnbull said a thorough inquiry was needed to "expose what occurred and expose the culture that allowed it to occur and allowed it to remain unrevealed for so long". "This centre has been a controversial one in the past, and there have been as we know, inquiries into it in the Northern Territory," he said. "And yet this evidence was not revealed in those inquiries." P-platers will have to buy expensive navigation devices to receive GPS directions while driving after the state government banned mobile phone use, including map applications, for all provisional drivers. The ban, which comes into effect on December 1, will see all provisional drivers banned from using their phone in any way while driving, including hands-free applications or in speaker mode, in a bid to reduce fatalities among new drivers. But despite its safety intentions, the blanket ban has not been wholly welcomed. Those likely to be most affected by the government crackdown include young apprentices working in blue-collar industries, who are frequently required to travel between multiple jobs in one day. The death of a newborn baby who was given the wrong gas at a Sydney hospital has exposed a "defect" in Australian laws that makes it difficult for parents to claim compensation for their loss, legal experts say. The baby son of Youssef and Sonya Ghanem died on July 13 after he was mistakenly treated with nitrous oxide instead of oxygen at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital's neonatal resuscitation unit. A second child, a girl born in June, remains in a critical condition after she was also mistakenly treated with nitrous oxide, commonly known as "happy gas". Under Australian law the parents of children who die as a result of negligence can only recover damages if they can prove they suffered a recognised psychiatric illness as a result of the death. A judge has launched an extraordinary tirade on media coverage of Harriet Wran saying intense focus, including on her family background and appearance, was disproportionate to the crime she committed. In sentencing Wran on Tuesday, Justice Ian Harrison was scathing about the "humiliating" media attention Wran had received particularly in The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph. Justice Harrison took the "sustained and unpleasant campaign" against Ms Wran into consideration when handing down a minimum two-year jail sentence on Tuesday. Wran, the daughter of former NSW premier Neville Wran, will now walk free within a matter of weeks with time served after being convicted of robbery in company and accessory after the fact to murder. An "absolute catastrophic failure" is how one of Queensland's leading koala experts describes planning by successive state governments leading to the death of 281 koalas during the Moreton Bay Rail Link project from March 2013 to June 2016. That would make the LNP and Labor state government policy failures the biggest killers of koalas in the highly-sensitive Koala Coast in the past three years. 281 koalas have died in Brisbane's northern suburbs during the project to build a rail line from Petrie to Kippa Ring. Credit:Glenn Hunt The new rail line will eventually run from Petrie to Kippa Ring through one of the most significant koala habitats in south-east Queensland - once a separate investigation into its botched signalling systems is resolved. However on Tuesday Griffith University's Professor Darryl Jones as he explained the success of a network of bridges and tunnels to protect koalas shuddered at the complete failure of the Moreton Bay Rail Link project team to protect koalas. More than 1800 houses are without power after an outage in southern Brisbane suburbs that has caused delays from Annerley to South Brisbane. The power outage was affecting Annerley, Dutton Park, Highgate Hill, Wooloongabba and South Brisbane. Traffic delays were building from Annerley through Dutton Park and South Brisbane. Credit:Paul Harris Energex had been repairing cables after a construction site worker "made contact" with the cables in Dutton Park, a spokeswoman said. There was then a secondary fault as a result of the initial contact. Despite being used by Labor as one of the reasons it was necessary to change how Queenslanders voted, the Electoral Commissioner of Queensland has been unable to answer how compulsory preferential voting will lower the state's informal vote rate. The issue was canvassed by the LNP extensively in Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath's estimates hearing last week, which included ECQ commissioner Walter van der Merwe. Queensland's electoral commissioner cannot say how informal voting will be reduced by full preferential voting. Credit:Andrew Meares Ms D'Ath has attested that compulsory preferential voting, where electors must number every square to ensure their vote counts, was necessary as it would help to lower Queensland's informal vote rate, which has increased from 1.94 per cent in 2009, to 2.15 per cent in 2012 and 2.11 per cent in 2015. The Toowoomba South by-election, where Labor did not field a candidate, held earlier this month, was the first test of the new voting system, introduced and passed by Labor without any consultation in a late night sitting of parliament in April. It's informal vote rate came in at 3.3 per cent. A Gold Coast woman stabbed in the heart by her stepfather begged her mother for help as she bled to death, a Queensland trial has heard. Raymond John Mead has admitted to stabbing Sherelle Locke, 23, in February 2014 but has pleaded not guilty to her murder. A woman cried out "help me Mum, I'm bleeding" after being stabbed in the chest, a court has been told. The Brisbane Supreme Court heard on Tuesday that Ms Locke was picking out Christmas gifts from a catalogue and watching TV with her mother Marlene Locke when she was killed. Mrs Locke said Mead just appeared in the living room, pinned her daughter down on the sofa and grabbed her by the throat. Ambulance officers will be asked if they want to be fitted with body cameras following a sharp rise in assaults including the stabbing of a paramedic on Fraser Island. Queensland's ambulance union will in the next few days directly put the question to members for the first time. Ambulance Services Minister Cameron Dick and Queensland Ambulance Service Commissioner Russell Bowles visit injured Fraser Island paramedic in hospital on Saturday morning. Credit:Queensland Ambulance Service Fac The move comes after Queensland police last week announced body cameras would be rolled out to officers across the state. United Voice Queensland secretary Gary Bullock said he personally supported body cameras but paramedics were reluctant to endorse them because of patient's concerns and privacy. A New York based start-up which has attracted a $50,000 grant from the Queensland government had already received $2 million in funding from US venture capitalists. The grant, part of the Advance Queensland "Hot DesQ" program created to attract start-ups, was designed to lure to the state TimeLooper, the developer of a smartphone app that allows people to "turn back the clock" at tourist destinations and see how they looked during key historical events. Queensland gave the app developer $50,000 but the opposition said the money could have been better spent locally. The grant will see the company relocate to Queensland for at least six months. "TimeLooper is a great example of the kind of start-up we want to attract to Queensland," Innovation Minister Leeanne Enoch said in a media release last week. A man has been charged following investigations into the attempted extortion of a Sunshine Coast business owner. Police said a Beachmere man, 30, broke into Cutting Edge Cabinets at Little Mountain on July 6 and stole a number of items including computer hard drives. A man has been charged with extortion and break and enter on the Sunshine Coast. He then allegedly contacted the business owner and demanded money for the return of the stolen property. Police searched a residence on Warne Terrace at Kings Beach the same day and searched another property in Beachmere on Monday where they uncovered items. As a new financial year begins, there has never been a better time to be an Australian exporter. While the uncertainty created by Brexit and a number of other political events may place a drag on global economic growth, there are a number of reasons why Australia's small business exporters should approach the year ahead with optimism. Positive outlook for growth Andrew Hunter, CEO of Efic, Australia's export credit agency. Recent Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures show that the total number of Australian exports of goods and/or services increased by 9 per cent between 2013-14 and 2014-15. Encouragingly, the ABS figures also show that this increase was mainly driven by small businesses exporters who were exporting less than $1m. These figures are representative of the findings of Efic's latest SME Exporter Index, bi-annual research which captures insights from small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) on current trends and issues in export markets. The research found that over a third of SME exporters are optimistic about growth for the year ahead. Small business optimism has continued to grow since we first conducted the research in March 2014, when only 25 per cent of exporting SMEs predicted their sales in offshore markets would increase in the upcoming quarter. WELLINGTON: Australian possums, long considered a pest in New Zealand, now face eradication in the country by 2050, along with with other foreign predators such as rats and stoats. Prime Minister John Key unveiled the ambitious new goal to make NZ predator free to protect native fauna. An Australian brush-tailed possum. New Zealanders consider them to be vermin. Credit:Gary Unwin "While once the greatest threat to our native wildlife was poaching and deforestation, it is now introduced predators," Mr Key said. Rats, possums and stoats, which kill 25 million of New Zealand's native birds every year and prey on other native species like lizards, will be the main targets. A Melbourne man has lost an appeal to be granted a security licence by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal after suggesting on Facebook a friend should "bash" police officers. Emad Al-Din Haddara applied for a personal security licence in April last year, hoping to one day establish a business in the sector and perhaps join Victoria Police, VCAT heard. Emad Al-Din Haddara hoped to establish his own security business. Credit:Paul Rovere VCAT member Anna Dea supported the decision made by police, and said Mr Haddara's comments on Facebook displayed antagonism and demonstrated a bad attitude. "The Facebook comments were offensive and threatening because they accused all police and Licensing and Regulation Division (LRD) of being racist and the use of the words 'bash em' supported or encouraged physical attacks on the police. Two prominent underworld figures with links to an outlaw motorcycle gang have attempted to extort money from a notorious Melbourne nightclub, which is the subject of an ongoing investigation by Victoria Police. Police raided Lonsdale Street venue, Two Floors Up, on July 15 following the arrest in April of co-owner and DJ, Jason Peter Kolbeck, 35, who was charged with trafficking a large commercial quantity of drugs, including thousands of ecstasy tablets and a large quantity of methamphetamine. DJ Jason Kolbeck at Two Floors Up. It was the third raid on the club in the past six months. Since the arrest of Mr Kolbeck and at least four other members of an alleged drug trafficking syndicate, Two Floors Up has been targeted by the standover men, who are known to police and have convictions for serious assault and gun possession. Three would-be thieves are being openly mocked by police after taking so long to manoeuvre their car during an attempted ram-raid in Melbourne's inner north that they were forced to give up. According to the police who reviewed footage of an attempted ram-raid on a supermarket in Carlton North earlier this month, the bumbling thieves first got into trouble after spending an excruciating three-and-a-half minutes slowly inching forwards and backwards in their Ford ute before finally getting into position and ramming the supermarket's front door. When the thieves were in, they raced to wrap a chain around an ATM machine to drag out with their ute but spent minutes fumbling with the chain. The men eventually conceded the task was beyond them and drove away empty handed. Police smashed the windows of a car and doused the driver with pepper spray during a dramatic arrest in Melbourne's CBD on Tuesday. The woman was left screaming on the ground after being crash tackled by police on Russell Street in front of dozens of shocked onlookers. A construction worker rushed to give police a bottle of water to pour over the woman's eyes as she continued to yell for help, while being pinned to the ground. Officers first tried to speak to the woman about 10.30am after a member of the public told them the driver appeared to be unwell. The spiritual advisers who will spend the final hours of life with those condemned to die in Indonesia's next round of executions have been told they will be carried out around midnight on July 29 to 30. Fairfax Media understands around 16 convicted drug felons could be killed including foreign citizens from China, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. Pakistani death row prisoner Zulfiqar Ali being transferred to Nusakambangan. Credit:Wagino "We were told just today of the execution date, it's the 29th of July," a source told Fairfax Media.. Amnesty International and Indonesian human rights groups have called for an urgent moratorium on the executions, and for retrials that comply with fair standards, citing disturbing incidences of torture, coercion, corruption and unfair trials in the cases of many of those on death row. Mogadishu: Suicide bombers killed at least seven people in an attack on the African Union's main peacekeeping base in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, on Tuesday police said. Twin explosions struck near the airport which is next to the headquarters of the African Union mission in Somalia, which is battling Islamist militant group al-Shabaab. Bursts of gunfire were heard after the blasts, officer Hussein Daud said by phone from the scene. Al-Shabaab, which has been trying to topple the Western-backed Somali government, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had killed more than 12 people. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Credit:AP In the midst of Monday's chaos, the bleating by Clinton supporters about the 'disloyalty' of the Bernie brigade for their inability or refusal to 'get over it,' revealed that they had short memories several polls on the voting intentions of the Sanders loyalists, show that they are falling in behind Clinton are a greater rate than her followers had switched to Barack Obama at this stage of the 2008 campaign. In which case, does it matter if they want to slug it out at the convention? Seemingly yes, because conventions by tradition are tightly scripted to send messages of unity and because this is Philadelphia brotherly love, to national TV audiences numbering tens of millions. In that equation, there's no room for booing and bitching. A supporter cries while listening to Senator Bernie Sanders speak. Credit:AP Party officials spent Monday attempting to appease the Sanders wing of the party ousting Wasserman Schultz, apologising to Sanders and his followers, elevating Sanders and his backers in the speakers' pecking order. But to no avail and on Tuesday morning they gave up after a failed effort to have Sanders formally nominate Clinton as the party's nominee ahead of the count of the state-by- state results of the primary votes. A supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders in Philadelphia. Credit:AP The problem for convention organisers and for Sanders is that the Vermont senator might no longer be in control of his movement. On Monday, when he pleaded for them to pull in their heads, they booed him too. In fact, the convention is a fork in the road for Sanders and his followers. To the extent that the party platform matters, they have pushed the party back to the left and their revolt against money and power resonates nationally. To the surprise of many pundits and players, the political revolution that Sanders demanded came alive a powerful articulation of a need to break the influence peddling between big money and big power that drives American politics, with the likes of Clinton and her ilk in charge. Read carefully some of their Monday night speech, and understand that the period for which Sanders and his chief backer, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, censure the political process includes the Obama and Bill Clinton presidencies. Warren: "I'm worried that opportunity is slipping away for people who work hard and play by the rules." Sanders fixed on "the 40-year decline of our middle class," called inequality in the US "grotesque," and argued that America was moving "toward oligarchy." But if Sanders and Warren figure that they have gone as far as they can go in this political cycle and so have endorsed Clinton in the knowledge that they live to fight another day, many in the rank and file are not with them. "As beloved as Bernie is, he's not running the show," a Sanders delegate from California explained. And the angst over democracy inside and beyond the party will be enlivened on Tuesday as the roll-call count of delegate votes shows how much support there actually was for Sanders, despite 'the system being rigged against him.' Sanders does have a significant voice on the convention floor he has a total of 1879 delegates, compared with Clinton's 2811. But close to 600 of Clinton's are the controversial super-delegates they are party officials and elected members who are not bound by the primary vote in their home state. I.E., they are the Democratic establishment. Against a whispered establishment narrative that Sanders has not been trying hard enough to quiet his followers, he tried again on Tuesday morning telling a breakfast for Californian delegates: "It is easy to boo, but it is harder to look your kids in the face" if Trump becomes president because Democrats like them didn't support the ticket. Yet at the same time, Sanders was holding Clinton and the rest of the party to adhering to the rules. Asked why he would not release his delegates, so that Clinton would be formally nominated as the first woman candidate in American history, without a protracted display of division, he was tart in his response. "Why would I do that? Madrid: A woman infected with the Zika virus gave birth on Monday to a baby with microcephaly in Barcelona, Spain, in what is probably the first case of its kind in Europe, according to the hospital where the infant was born. The woman is believed to have caught the Zika virus while travelling in Latin America, the region where Zika has spread most widely. She was not identified, and her exact itinerary was not disclosed. Babies in Brazil have been born with Zika-lnked microcephaly. Credit:Getty Images The microcephaly, a brain-damaging disorder, was diagnosed after the baby was born with a head circumference that is smaller than the norm, Dr Felix Castillo, the neonatal chief at the Vall d'Hebron hospital in Barcelona, said at a news conference on Monday. The doctor did not specify how much the circumference was below normal measurements, but for microcephaly to be diagnosed, a baby's head needs to be significantly smaller than normal. RENO, Nev.Attendees at this years STN Expo will have their first opportunity to experience Blue Birds new Vision CNG bus, along with Blue Birds newest offering, the Vision Gen 4 Propane bus. At Blue Bird, we have an unwavering commitment to be the best in passenger safety and total cost of ownership, as well as robust service and support, says Phil Horlock, president and CEO, Blue Bird Corporation, who notes that Blue Bird also is the leading OEM of alternative-fuel powered school buses. We and our partners continue to innovate and develop affordable, industry-leading products that our school bus customers want and value. The Blue Bird Vision Gen 4 Propane and Vision CNG buses are excellent examples of our spirit of innovation. Blue Birds newest offering to school bus fleets is the Vision Gen 4 Propane bus. It features Blue Birds industry-exclusive Ford/ROUSH CleanTech powertrain a modern, proven engine and transmission with a 5-year, unlimited-mile warranty. The new Type C Vision Gen 4 Propane bus exceeds stringent emission standards, with virtually zero emissions, and has better fuel economy than other propane-fueled school buses due to the bus EconoShift optimization. The propane-powered Blue Bird Vision also ranked number one in safety according to independent research, and has the lowest total cost of ownership. Sam Bailey, transportation director for Biloxi Public Schools, agrees. After evaluating their data, Blue Bird has the lowest cost of ownership, [lowest] out-of-commission time, and the longest in-service life expectancy by 41 percent over the other brands, he says. The Vision Gen 4 Propane continues to advance the propane technology found in Blue Birds previous Vision Propane buses and incorporates several enhancements: Easier serviceability thanks to repositioned sending units and pre-injector filters, along with O-ring sealed fuel lines and a new optional Euro-style fill connector. Increased reliability, with infinitely variable speed dual fuel pumps and thinner fuel rails that reduce start time up to 50 percent. Expo attendees will have an opportunity to ride the Vision Gen 4 Propane bus at the Ride and Drive event July 26 and July 27. The Blue Bird Vision CNG combines Blue Birds 25 years of compressed natural gas (CNG) Type D school buses with the superior driver visibility of its Vision bus, ranked first in safety, quality, reliability, durability and operating costs by transportation directors, service managers and contractors. The Type C Blue Bird Vision CNG bus reduces fuel and maintenance costs while meeting stringent emissions standards. With its proven powertrain delivered by Ford and ROUSH CleanTech, Blue Bird Vision CNG is supported by a dedicated team of field service engineers focused exclusively on school bus operations. Expo Ride and Drive attendees can try the Blue Bird Vision CNG for the first time on July 27. Additional Ride and Drive Offerings Also at the Ride and Drive event, attendees can experience Blue Birds new Vision Gasoline bus, which is now rolling off the production line. Designed to be highly cost-effective at both the acquisition point and in service, the Vision Gasoline bus also features the proven Ford/ROUSH CleanTech 6.8L V10 powertrain. As the newest alternative-fuel addition to our product line, the Blue Bird Vision Gasoline bus has the lowest price point of all Blue Birds engine offerings, is simple to maintain and operate, and does not require the complex emissions after-treatment systems deployed with traditional fueled-engines. Participants also can assess these additional Blue Bird and Micro Bird offerings: Cummins ISV5.0 Diesel-Powered Engine This fuel-efficient 5.0L V8 engine is exclusive to Blue Bird and paired with Allison Transmissions FuelSense technology. The engines performance sets a new noise standard for being the quietest diesel engine on the road, and its compact size makes service simple. It also offers the lowest acquisition price of all Blue Bird diesel models. Eaton Procision Transmission Powered by a Cummins ISB engine, this is the first dual-clutch, seven-speed automatic transmission introduced for Class 6-7 vehicles. The transmission ensures driver confidence by efficiently accelerating and optimizing shift points to reach the highest gear as early as possible. Micro Bird T-Series MPV The multipurpose passenger vehicle features an extra-wide body design, maximum visibility of loading zone, better fuel economy, contemporary ergonomics and design, galvanized steel structure and side impact barriers, superior insulation and standard LED lights. Micro Bird G5 with Lift The Type A bus boasts an extra-wide body design, superior insulation, double-action energy-absorbing body mounting blocks, galvanized steel structure and side impact barriers, standard LED lights and maximum visibility of loading zone. ADA-compliant lifts and wheelchair securement systems are also featured. At the Blue Bird Booth In addition to the new buses and powertrains at the Ride and Drive events, Blue Bird will highlight the following technologies in Booth B, Silver Pavilion: Allison Transmission An Allison fully automatic transmission delivers proven and reliable performance under the toughest road conditions and comes standard on all Blue Bird diesel buses. The patented torque converter smoothly delivers more power to the wheels, giving drivers greater control and wear-free launch. Allisons innovative FuelSense packages maximize fuel economy based on the vehicles weight and surface operating grade. Ford 6.8L V10 Engine This modular engine with proven durability and reliability powers all Blue Bird Vision buses. It comes with a 5-year, unlimited-mile warranty and allows bus fleet managers to train staff on just one engine platform across propane, gasoline and CNG. Hendrickson Comfort Air Rear Suspension System With SUV-like stability and handling, the system provides a superb ride, along with ease of maintenance. Blue Bird Electronic Stability Control (ESC) System Recognizing and assisting drivers in a wide range of adverse road conditions and driving situations, this full-stability system automatically activates the braking system selectively to each wheel, slowing the vehicle and avoiding skidding when a rollover or loss-of-control is detected by the system. Blue Bird is the first school bus OEM in North America to offer this system from Bendix on its Type C bus models. About Blue Bird Corporation Blue Bird is the leading independent designer and manufacturer of school buses, with more than 550,000 buses sold since its formation in 1927 and approximately 180,000 buses in operation today. Blue Birds longevity and reputation in the school bus industry have made it an iconic American brand. Blue Bird distinguishes itself from its principal competitors by its singular focus on the design, engineering, manufacture and sale of school buses and related parts. As the only manufacturer of chassis and body production specifically designed for school bus applications, Blue Bird is recognized as an industry leader for school bus innovation, safety, product quality/reliability/durability, operating costs and drivability. In addition, Blue Bird is the market leader in alternative fuel applications with its propane-powered and compressed natural gas-powered school buses. Blue Bird manufactures school buses at two facilities in Fort Valley, Georgia. Its Micro Bird joint venture operates a manufacturing facility in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada. Service and after-market parts are distributed from Blue Birds parts distribution center located in Delaware, Ohio. For more information on Blue Birds complete line of buses, visit www.blue-bird.com. CARMEL, Calif. July 25, 2016;The next chapter of Nissan's "Year of the Truck" was unveiled today with a sneak peek of the latest members of the TITAN full-size pickup family the 2017 TITAN XD and TITAN Single Cab models. The first-ever single cab offering in TITAN history, the new trucks are designed to provide an affordable and rugged entry-point in the commercial fleet/work truck market. The Single Cab is the second of three eventual TITAN body configurations, joining the current Crew Cab and future King Cab. The Single Cab models are scheduled to go on sale in late fall 2016. "Once we complete the roll-out of all TITAN cab, bed, powertrain and grade level configurations, our all-new TITAN family will cover about 85 percent of the total light pickup marketplace," said Rich Miller, director of Product Planning for Trucks, SUVs and Commercial Vehicles, Nissan North America, Inc. and chief product specialist for TITAN and TITAN XD. "More importantly, the TITAN XD and TITAN single cabs will have the power, torque, heavy duty chassis and durability demanded by today's demanding worksites including the highest towing capacities and payloads in the lineup." TITAN will ultimately be available in a total of three cabs, three bed lengths, three engines, 4x4 and 4x2 drive and S, SV, SL, PRO-4X and Platinum Reserve trim levels. The new single cab will be offered in both TITAN XD and TITAN configurations, with both versions sharing the same cab dimensions and 8.0-foot pickup beds but completely separate fully boxed ladder frame chassis. The TITAN XD Single Cab, like the TITAN XD Crew Cab, will be offered in a choice of two engines the Cummins 5.0L V8 Turbo Diesel, which is rated at 310 horsepower and 555 lb-ft of torque; and the 5.6-liter Endurance V8, rated at 390 horsepower and 394 lb-ft of torque. The TITAN Single Cab, with about a foot shorter wheelbase, will be offered initially with the new 5.6-liter Endurance V8 (a V6 engine will be available at a later date). Diesel equipped models feature an Aisin 6-speed automatic transmission and V8 gasoline engine equipped versions will utilize a 7-speed automatic transmission. Along with a choice of 4x4 and 4x2 drive configurations, two grade levels will be available with both TITAN XD and TITAN Single Cabs S and SV, along with a number of optional equipment packages. "The new Single Cab takes TITAN into new territory, bringing the innovative design and bed utility that TITAN has been known for to a wider base of commercial use buyers," added Miller. TITAN SINGLE CAB TITAN CREW CAB TITAN XD SINGLE CAB TITAN XD CREW CAB Wheelbase (in.) 139.8 139.8 139.8 151.6 Overall length (in.) 228.1 228.1 in. 231.0 242.8 in. Overall width (in.) 79.5 79.5 in. 79.5 79.5 in. Overall height (in.) 74.5 4x2 S 75.1 4x4 S 75.4 4x2 S 76.0 4x4 S 77.2 4x2 S 77.1 4x4 S 78.0 4x2 S 78.0 4x4 S Bed length 8.0 ft. 5.5 ft. 8.0 ft. 6.5 ft. Available engines 5.6-liter Endurance V8; V6 (late availability) 5.6-liter Endurance V8; V6 (late availability) Cummins 5.0L V8 Turbo Diesel; 5.6-liter Endurance V8 Cummins 5.0L V8 Turbo Diesel; 5.6-liter Endurance V8 Maximum payload (lbs)* 1,930 1,610 2,910 (gas) 2,420 (diesel) 2,590 (gas) 2,091 (diesel) Maximum towing capacity Trailer (lbs)* 9,730 9,390 11,590 (gas) 12,640 (diesel) 11,270 (gas) 12,314 (diesel) Maximum towing capacity Tongue (lbs)* 973 939 1,159 (gas) 1,264 (diesel) 1,126 (gas) 1,231 (diesel) Maximum Gross Combined Weight Rating (lbs)* 15,300 15,300 17,700 (gas) 19,450 (diesel) 17,700 (gas) 19,450 (diesel) *When properly equipped The new Single Cab models will be assembled in Canton, Mississippi with the 5.6-liter V8 gasoline engine assembled in Decherd, Tennessee. The 5.0-liter diesel engines are assembled by Cummins, Inc. in Columbus, Indiana. New TITAN XD and TITAN Single Cabs join currently available TITAN XD and TITAN Crew Cabs at Nissan dealerships in late fall - First single cab in TITAN history, offers Nissan durability and innovation in ideal fleet/work truck configuration - Equipped with choice of advanced Cummins 5.0L V8 Turbo Diesel (XD) or Nissan's new 5.6-liter Endurance V8 gasoline engines (XD and TITAN) - Available in two entry grade levels and choice of 4x2 and 4x4 drive - Integral part of Nissan's "Year of the Truck" celebration of Nissan's new TITAN lineup, Armada, Pathfinder and more throughout 2016. About Nissan North America In North America, Nissan's operations include automotive styling, engineering, consumer and corporate financing, sales and marketing, distribution and manufacturing. Nissan is dedicated to improving the environment under the Nissan Green Program and has been recognized annually by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency as an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year since 2010. More information on Nissan in North America and the complete line of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles can be found online at www.NissanUSA.com and www.InfinitiUSA.com, or visit the U.S. media sites NissanNews.com and InfinitiNews.com. About Nissan Motor Co. Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Japan's second-largest automotive company, is headquartered in Yokohama, Japan, and is part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Operating with more than 247,500 employees globally, Nissan sold 5.32 million vehicles and generated revenue of 11.38 trillion yen (USD 103.6 billion) in fiscal year 2014. Nissan delivers a comprehensive range of more than 60 models under the Nissan, Infiniti and Datsun brands. Nissan leads the world in zero-emission mobility, dominated by sales of the LEAF, the first mass-market, pure-electric vehicle. It is the best-selling EV in history with almost 50% share of the zero-emission vehicle segment. For more information on our products, services and commitment to sustainable mobility, visit our website at http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/. CHICAGO, July 26, 2016 -- Cars.com, a TEGNA Inc. company, has entered into an agreement to acquire DealerRater, the industry's largest automotive consumer review website. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions, and is expected to close by the end of August. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Reviews have become critical to the car buying process, with 79 percent of car buyers and 68 percent of service customers reporting that review sites are one of the most helpful resources when selecting a car dealership.* "We are pleased to bring DealerRater into the Cars.com family of industry-leading products and people as we create the largest dealer review platform in the automotive sector," said Alex Vetter, chief executive officer and president of Cars.com. "With this acquisition, Cars.com has solidified its position as the leader in online automotive reviews and the preeminent authority for car shoppers and owners on what to buy, where to buy and who to buy from." Since Cars.com launched its reviews in 2011, the company has maintained its transparent model for generating consumer feedback, which better serves shoppers and customers. The addition of DealerRater and its review database further strengthens this value proposition. "We are happy to be joining Cars.com and are proud to share a similar foundation," said Gary Tucker, chief executive officer of DealerRater. "DealerRater is uniquely positioned to lead the industry transition to finding not only the right dealer, but connecting consumers with the right person at the right dealer." Cars.com serves as an unbiased intermediary, helping both consumers and dealers win. Through its research and shopping tools and expert editorial content, Cars.com helps millions of people navigate one of life's biggest purchases. Cars.com also empowers local dealers to be successful by connecting them with ready-to-buy consumers and providing them with digital marketing expertise to strengthen their businesses. About Cars.com Launched in 1998 and owned by TEGNA Inc., Cars.com is an award-winning online destination that offers information from experts and consumers to help car shoppers and owners buy, sell and service their vehicles. With more than 30 million monthly visits to its web properties, Cars.com offers millions of new and used vehicle listings, expert and consumer reviews, side-by-side comparison, build and price tools, unbiased editorial content, service and repair resources, multiple options to sell a vehicle, and much more. About DealerRater Founded in 2002, DealerRater is the world's leading car dealer review website that connects consumers with the right person at the right dealership. The site offers more than 2.5 million sales and service reviews across 41,000 U.S. and Canadian dealerships, including a network of more than 5,600 Certified Dealers. More than 14 million consumers read DealerRater content across the web each month. By offering a product suite that allows qualified dealerships to manage their reputations and achieve higher SEO rankings, DealerRater supports new customer connections by growing online presence. DealerRater is majority owned by Boston-based Great Hill Partners. About TEGNA TEGNA Inc. is comprised of a dynamic portfolio of media and digital businesses that provide content that matters and brands that deliver. TEGNA reaches more than 90 million Americans and delivers highly relevant, useful and smart content, when and how people need it, to make the best decisions possible. TEGNA Media includes 46 television stations and is the largest independent station group of major network affiliates in the top 25 markets, reaching approximately one-third of all television households nationwide. TEGNA Digital is comprised of Cars.com, the leading online destination for automotive consumers, CareerBuilder, a global leader in human capital solutions, and other powerful brands such as G/O Digital and Cofactor. For more information, visit www.TEGNA.com. *Source: 2016 Automotive Social Media Trends Study by Digital Air Strike 2016 Range Rover Sport 4WD 4dr Diesel HSE Review By Steve Purdy ...the Range Rover is premium in every way. 2016 RANGE ROVER SPORT HSE TD6 Review by Steve Purdy The Auto Channel Michigan Bureau Here at the Michigan Bureau of The Auto Channel we review just about every car and light truck made. We are near Detroit where usually-flush press fleets keep us busier than a frog on a freeway trying to spend a little time with, and writing stories about, each and every vehicle you can buy. Yes, it is tough work, but someone has to do it. This week our focus is on the new Range Rover Sport HSE. The Td6 in its name means 6-cylinder turbo diesel. Being a diesel fan, notwithstanding VWs diesel emissions cheating scandal, Ive been looking forward to this one. They delivered it to the Cracker Barrel where I was breakfasting with some friends, a couple of whom are knowledgeable and enthusiastic car guys. Of course they wanted to come take a look at it as our group broke up. When I started it up none of us thought it was a diesel. We had to pop the hood and listen carefully to perceive the slow idle and characteristic tick of the compression ignition engine. We noticed right away that the window sticker shows just over 84-grand on its bottom line. That sounds like a lot, and it certain is, but the Ranger Rover is premium in every way. A cursory glance by someone not attuned to cars and trucks could mistake this for a new Ford Explorer, an SUV that moves upscale with every redesign. The profile and particularly the front styling are similar. A loaded Explorer will probably get you well over 50 grand but you wont get the heritage, prestige and some of the off-road features that are part of the Range Rover. Climbing up into this classy truck we immediately see we are in a high-end luxury vehicle. Wood, leather and metal trim dress the comfortable cabin in high style. Seats are generous, well-bolstered, heated, cooled, leather clad and vastly adjustable. The relatively conservative design of the dash, IP and sloping center stack makes for good functionality and aesthetic appeal. Ergonomics are a bit strange as many functions do no respond immediately to stimuli. For example, when we adjust the HVAC fan speed, one way or the other, it waits a full three seconds before slowly doing what we ask. Im wondering if they think that makes things feel more luxurious. Some of the functions managed on the decent sized multi-purpose touch screen are less than intuitive but, like most systems, will take just some learning and acclimating. This is a small to mid-size SUV/CUV so the rear seat offers modest but adequate space for three. A center armrest with cup holders folds out of the seatback and the seatbacks fold 60/40 easily for extra utility. The optional panoramic sunroof extends well to the rear with an effective screen when you dont want the sun or the view. Rear cargo area offers a decent 27.7 cubic-feet for our stuff and 62.2 with seatbacks folded, considerably more than the new Lexus RX. The turbo-diesel V6 under the Range Rover Sports broad hood displaces 3.0 liters and makes a substantial 443 pound-feet of torque augmenting a decent 254 horsepower. That means low-end grunt takes precedence over higher end thrust, as with all diesel engines. We noticed this early on as we put our foot into it handily getting onto a busy freeway with short ramp. But later, trying to make a quick transition from 60-mph to 80 in order to get around a dawdler, it felt a like a task beyond its will. The EPA estimates well get about 29-mpg on the highway, 22 in the city and 25-mpg combined. Our experience this week confirms those numbers are right in the ballpark. In spite of having owned a couple of dismal diesels in the 1980s Im still a fan of the oil burners. Todays diesels are as sophisticated as any powertrain in the consumer market. They are fast, clean, quiet and durable. Some with the Blue-Tec emissions system claim the air exiting the exhaust pipe is cleaner than the air going into the intake. Diesels get better fuel mileage than a gasoline engine, so, although diesel fuel costs more than gasoline the economics are a wash. Anytime diesel is less than that, like now when the fuels cost about the same, it can make economic sense to go with diesel. Driving dynamics rank with the best of luxury SUVs. Ride is firm and precise with generally good steering feedback. Youd not want to compete on a slalom course but you could lead the pack on an off-road drive and you could look as cool as anyone pulling up to the valet stand at the opera. Those without big-vehicle experience will not be intimidated by its size or handling in everyday driving. The companys new vehicle warranty covers the whole vehicle for 4 years or 50,000 miles. Yes, the Range Rover Sport is a bit pricey, even without the costly diesel powertrain and other options. Content, quality, heritage and capability will justify the cost for those who can afford one. For those without such deep pockets, and without the need for optimal off-road credentials, plenty other options exist (Find All Options and Trim Levels Below). Steve Purdy, Shunpiker Productions, All Rights Reserved The Most Independent Land Rover Vehicle Research Information Anywhere! FCA US LLC EXPLANATORY NOTE ON SALES REPORTING PROCES Auburn Hills, Mich.July 26, 2016; Recent press reports have raised questions about the manner in which FCA US reports vehicle unit sales data on a monthly basis. These reports have mistakenly suggested that potential inaccuracies in the monthly data somehow impact the integrity of FCAs reported revenues in its financial statements. This note is intended to explain how FCA USs monthly sales reporting process has worked, recognizing the limitations inherent in a process that collects sales data entered by some 2,600 dealers until midnight of the last reporting day of a month and releases the aggregate data typically within 8 hours of the final data entries. FCA US believes that its current process has been in place in more or less the same form for more than 30 years, with reporting previously being made every 10 days and eventually evolving into monthly cycles. The vehicle unit sales data reported by FCA US is comprised of three main components: (a) sales made by dealers to retail customers; (b) sales of vehicles shipped directly by FCA US to fleet customers and (c) other retail sales including sales by dealers in Puerto Rico, limited deliveries through distributors and a small number of vehicles delivered to FCA employees and retirees and vehicles used for marketing. Dealer Sales Retail sales data is collected from the dealers (through a reporting system called the New Vehicle Delivery Report, or NVDR). This system is primarily designed to capture the time of a retail sale for two purposes. First, the date of sale recorded in the NVDR system begins the retail customers warranty coverage on the vehicle. Second, the recording of the retail sale in the NVDR system triggers FCA USs obligation to make any manufacturers incentive payments to the dealer. These incentives may be based on the particular model sold, the number of certain models sold in the period and the achievement of certain overall dealer volume objectives. These retail sales are made by dealers out of their own inventory of vehicles. This inventory was purchased by the dealers from FCA US before any retail delivery to the customer. Consistent with other automakers practices, it is this initial sale -- by FCA US to the dealer -- that triggers revenue recognition in FCA US, and not the ultimate sale of the vehicle by a dealer to a retail customer. It is for this reason that the process of reporting monthly retail unit sales has no impact on the revenue reported by FCA in its financial statements. It is possible for a dealer to unwind a transaction recorded in the NVDR system and return the vehicle to the dealers unsold inventory. This unwind results in the return by the dealer of any incentives paid by FCA US to the dealer for the sale and it cancels the beginning of the warranty period. These unwinds may, and in fact do, occur for a number of reasons including: inability of the retail customer to finalize financing for the purchase or a change in customer preferences, among others. It is admittedly also possible that a dealer may register the sale in an effort to meet a volume objective (without a specific customer supporting the transaction). There is, however, no obvious economic incentive for a dealer to do so, since FCA USs policy is to reverse all incentives due or paid to a dealer that resulted from the unwound retail sales transaction. When reporting monthly retail sales in the morning of the first day of the following month, a manufacturer cannot know which, if any, transactions may be unwound after the data is released. Because FCA US believes that most unwinds are recorded shortly following the time the initial sale is registered in the NVDR system, FCA US has not historically reflected either unwinds or the subsequent sales of these vehicles in its sales reporting. As a safeguard against double reporting, however, FCA US blocks the vehicle identification number (VIN) in its NVDR files to ensure that a subsequent retail sale of the vehicle does not enter into any tally of reported sales in any future month (i.e. a vehicle cannot be counted twice as a retail sale by the dealer). Fleet and Other Retail Sales The other component of the monthly reported unit sales has been vehicles that FCA US delivers directly, principally to fleet accounts, and retail and other sales consisting of limited deliveries through distributors and a small number of vehicles for company and marketing uses. Sales by dealers in Puerto Rico have also been included in other retail sales. It has been a matter of historical practice (going back many years before 2009 bankruptcy) for FCA US and its predecessors to maintain a reserve of vehicles in this category that had been shipped but not been reported as sold in the monthly sales reports. While the origin of this practice is unclear and is being looked into, FCA US believes that it was probably originally designed to exclude from the reported sales number vehicles that were in transit to fleet customers, as well as vehicles that were not yet deployed in the field (because, for example, they were being tailored by the fleet customer or a third party to the fleet customers specifications). The rationale for this exclusion, we believe, was to introduce some level of conformity in the reported monthly numbers, since the sales data was intended to reflect vehicles put in use during the month. This not-in-use reserve has ranged in size from month to month, and resulted from a subjective assessment at month-end. A review of the data suggests that the reserve has always been positive, such that FCA US has always, in the aggregate, reported fewer sales than the aggregate number of shipped units on a running basis. Nevertheless, there appears to be no objective methodology for establishing and maintaining such a reserve and thus several plausible values exist for such a reserve. To the extent that the methodology historically used does not yield a unique value, the outcome is inherently arbitrary. Our Evaluation of Past Practices and a Way Forward Our review of industry practice has not revealed a standard reporting practice among OEMs in the U.S., although we believe that FCA USs competitors have used broadly similar approaches in compiling monthly sales data. The complexity of this compilation task is unique to the U.S. In Europe, for example, automakers generally report data generated by the national vehicle registration offices on the basis of the number of vehicles licensed by government agencies in a given month. The data is thus verified by a third party and is not subject to interpretation by the automakers. Due to the nature of the U.S. registration system involving 50 states with diverse recording and reporting practices, applying a registration-based system in the U.S. has never been thought to be feasible. FCA US has seriously considered simply ceasing to report this sales data on a monthly basis, and to rely only on published quarterly financial statements as a gauge of improvement or deterioration in our U.S. activities. We understand the sales data are used by some market followers, the automotive press in particular, to opine about the state of the industry and we accept that our decision to suspend monthly reporting would impact those constituencies and possibly may impair their perception, and in turn the public perception, of FCA US. FCA US has therefore decided to continue monthly sales reporting with a revised methodology. Total sales will be comprised of Dealer reported sales in the U.S.; Fleet sales delivered directly by FCA US; and Retail other sales including sales by dealers in Puerto Rico. Dealer reported sales (derived from the NVDR system) will be the sum of All sales recorded by dealers during that month net of all unwound transactions recorded to the end of that month (whether the original sale was recorded in the current month or any prior month); plus All sales of vehicles during that month attributable to past unwinds that had previously been reversed in determining monthly sales (in the current or prior months). Fleet sales will be recorded as sales upon shipment by FCA US of the vehicle to the customer or end user. Other retail sales will either be recorded when the sale is recorded in the NVDR system (for sales by dealers in Puerto Rico and limited sales made through distributors that submit NVDRs) or upon receipt of a similar delivery notification (for vehicles for which NVDRs are not entered such as vehicles for FCA executives and employees). 1. FCA US in March of this year last commented specifically about a streak of year-over-year monthly sales improvements since April of 2010. Applying this new methodology, during the periods presented below, year-over-year monthly sales would have declined in September 2013 (-3%), August 2015 (-1%) and May 2016 (-7%). The so called sales streak would have stopped in September 2013 (after 40 months) and would have had three additional periods of sequential year-over-year improvements of 22, 8, and 1 month(s). 2. Annual sales volumes under the new methodology for each year in the 2011-2016 period are within approximately 0.7% of the annual unit sales volumes previously reported. 3. The monthly adjustments to previously reported sales as a result of the adjustment to deduct sales later unwound and add back sales attributable to previously unwound sales over the period January 1, 2011 to June 30, 2016 are a mix of positive and negative numbers which did not exceed 0.5% of the reported data in any month. The maximum numerical reduction from previously reported data was 770 units (0.5% of the months volume) in May 2015 and the maximum numerical addition to previously reported data was 437 units (0.4%) in September 2014. The total over the 2011 to 2016 period representing unwound transactions previously reported as sold for which vehicles remain in dealer stock at June 30, 2016, is approximately 4,500 vehicles, or 0.06% of the total volume reported over the period (7.7 million cars). The objective of this new methodology is to provide in FCA USs judgment the best available estimate of the number of FCA US vehicles sold to end users through the end of a particular month applying a consistent and transparent methodology. It continues to include some level of estimation in respect of, for example, unwound transactions that straddle a month end and fleet deliveries, which may be placed into service at various times after shipment and delivery. FCA US believes, however, that the consistency in application and transparency of this new methodology provides the most appropriate data for the limited uses to which the monthly vehicle unit sales data should be applied.FCA US has prepared unit sales reports going back to the beginning of 2011 using this approach, and has included the results in the attached Exhibit. The Exhibit also compares the data derived under this new methodology with previously reported US monthly sales data. This comparison yields the following results.FCA US will report its July 2016 sales using the new methodology.FCA US LLC is a North American automaker with a new name and a long history. Headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, FCA US is a member of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCA) family of companies. FCA US designs, engineers, manufactures and sells vehicles under the Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram and FIAT brands, as well as the SRT performance vehicle designation. The company also distributes the Alfa Romeo 4C model and Mopar products. FCA US is building upon the historic foundations of Chrysler, the innovative American automaker first established by Walter P. Chrysler in 1925; and Fiat, founded in Italy in 1899 by pioneering entrepreneurs, including Giovanni Agnelli.FCA, the seventh-largest automaker in the world based on total annual vehicle sales, is an international automotive group. FCA is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol FCAU and on the Mercato Telematico Azionario under the symbol FCA. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 26/07/2016 (2285 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The RM of La Broqueries fire chief is looking to farmers and firefighters to get him rescued of the island. No, Alain Nadeau isnt a castaway on the reality show Survivor. Nadeau is a participant in STARS Rescue on the Island 2016a fundraiser that drops community leaders on a remote island and tasks them with raising $50,000 for STARS Manitoba before they can be rescued. ADRIANA MINGO | THE CARILLON Fire chief Alain Nadeau poses with a fire truck at the RM of La Broquerie fire hall. Nadeau, a firefighter for 37 years and a fire chief for 11, said he regularly sees STARS in action on the ground level. Im the first that theyve asked thats an actual firefighter and has seen STARS on scene, said Nadeau. We use STARS on a fairly regular basis and know the difference that STARS makes. STARS is about the rural areas and the Southeast, so Im basing my fundraising campaign this year on farmers and firefighters in the area, said Nadeau. Nadeau himself is both a firefighter and a farmer. Hes been farming his whole life and owns Renaissance Bison in La Broquerie. Nadeau is also the Eastman mutual aid district fire coordinator, representing 17 fire halls in the Southeast. Nadeau is challenging his fellow comrades in fire halls across the region to raise and donate $500 to his campaign. He said hell also be visiting about 30 livestock operations throughout the area to talk about his campaign. Nadeau has important reasons to focus on the two groups. One of the reasons [my campaign focuses on] farmers and firefighters is they are two of the most dangerous jobs around. Farming has been known to be one of the most dangerous jobs, said Nadeau. Also, firefighting [aspect helps] because we know the difference STARS makes for first responders. Its a great tool to have for us. I want to show that the Southeast really appreciates and values the STARS program. Rescue on the Island 2016 takes place Sept. 16. To make a donation, visit support.stars.ca/islandrescue2016. Monday morning, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump seemed to endorse speculation that the Russians were behind Wikileaks publication of some 20,000 internal Democratic National Committee emails, and suggest a motive: Vladimir Putins fondness for him: Later, Trump insisted the Tweet was a joke but why wouldnt Putin like him? The Manhattan reality-show star has been singing the praises of the brilliant, Russian strongmans praises for years, often contrasting Russias strong leader to our own weak ones. In 2013, he told Larry King that the autocratic Russian politician had done a great job outsmarting our country. That same year, Trump Tweeted his hope that Putin would show up at the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow and become my new best friend. It goes past gawking at girls, though. In an interview with Joe Scarborough last December, Trump seemed to defend Putins killing of dissident journalists, stating, at least hes a leader, unlike what we have in this country. He went on to say that our country does plenty of killing, too, Joe. Trump concluded that hes always felt fine about Putin. Hes a strong leader. Hes a powerful leader. In 2013, Trump told CNBC that Putins Op-Ed for the New York Times was tough and amazingly well-written and that it made Obama look like a schoolchild. Putins Op-Ed was a condemnation of American Exceptionalism, the very principle upon which Trump has built his entire campaign. That year he also described Putin as a real leader on twitter, asserting that the leaders of Russia and China were far smarter than American politicians. Before Obama, he used Putin to bash Bush, telling the Russian language magazine Seagull (Chayka) in 2008, I really like Vladimir Putin. I respect him. He does his job well. Much better than our Bush. Trump has seemingly even endorsed Putins militaristic leadership style, claiming that America is at a disadvantage because Obama is merely a community organizer, while Putin is ex-KGB. In another tweet, he described Putin as a big hero with all time high popularity. In a remarkable tweet posted on March 21, 2014, Trump happily predicted that Putin will continue to re-build the Russian Empire. Like Trump joked this morning, the relationship goes both ways; Putin has described Trump as a brilliant and talented person without a doubt and as an absolute leader for the 2016 election. with additional reporting by Brandy Zadrozny PHILADELPHIA Hillary's party is off to a more disastrous start than Donalds. Many observers predicted that the Republican National Convention would be a calamitywith Ohios open-gun laws and white supremacists bringing the potential for chaos. And there were certainly times where it was as advertised inside the hall: dont forget the Melania Trump plagiarism scandal, the Ted Cruz non-endorsement, and an adviser calling for the Democratic nominee to be shot for treason. But in Philadelphia, where the Democrats are now huddled to crown Hillary Clinton as their presidential nominee, the protests have been louder, the party division more deeply felt, and the daily grind more difficult to trudge through. As much as they touted unity and taunted Republicans for their disastrous convention, the Democrats clearly had just as muchif not moredisarray within their own party, It started Monday afternoon, as protesters marched down Philadelphias famed Broad Street, from city hall to the main entrance to the perimetera distance of almost seven miles. The demonstrators, many of them sporting Bernie 2016 shirts and other Sanders campaign swag, varied their chants as they marched. Their message, however, remained uniform: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump should never be president because they are both a part of the same corrupt and rigged political system that has created such anger among those on the left and right. Protesters from the group Democracy Spring, which seeks to limit the role of money in politics, marched straight up to a convention entrance to stage a sit-in, which blocked one of the convention halls entrances. Approximately a dozen were hauled off by copsto cheers from their supporters. The anger and ferocity of the demonstrations dwarfed any similar protests in Cleveland. The Republican Party, for all its division, never had thousands of members of its own party jeering passersby on the perimeter of their convention. On just the first day of the convention at least 55 demonstrators, 32 men and 23 women, were forcibly led away in handcuffs and issued code violation notices for disorderly conduct. In the entire week of the Republican National Convention, just 24 individuals were arrested. The sweltering heat and humidity in Philadelphia on Monday afternoonsoaring to nearly 100 degreesdid not deter pro-Sanders protesters, nor did it diminish their intensity. Bern the DNC! demonstrators repeatedly shouted, with the organizer clarifying to the media that the chant was not meant to incite violence. Others repeated the line, Bernie beats Trump!a reference to their belief and early polling that indicated Sanders had a better chance of defeating Trump in the general election than Clinton. There were even flashes of the Republican National Convention: demonstrators shouted Lock Her Up from outside the Democratic National Conventions perimeter fences. Others held signs that said, Hillary for Prison, a slogan first originated from the conspiracy website InfoWars. "She's the worst. Worse than Trump in my opinion. She's clearly owned by the bankers," one Bernie supporter said, wearing a 'Hillary for Prison' shirt. "She's a puppet of the military-industrial complex." As delegates and members of the media were funneled through security, protesters screamed at them from on the other side of the gates: Hell no, DNC, we wont vote for Hillary! they shouted, and You need us! We dont need you! Nearby, a woman in a Hillary Clinton mask sat silently on the curb, protesting the nominees foreign policy philosophy with a vulture marked war on her shoulder. One demonstrator waved the sign No to Debocracy!a nod to outgoing DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who resigned over a leak of her organizations emails that showed favoritism to Clintons campaign. Shortly after the pro-Sanders crowd reached the entrance to the convention perimeter, they were met by supporters of Donald Trump who were shouting anti-gay slurs at them through bullhorns and holding signs that read Homo sex is sin and Jesus is angry with you sinners. Many of them were wearing Trumps signature Make America Great Again hats. After approaching the demonstrators, the pro-Trump crowdnumbering no more than 10was quickly surrounded by a group of 15 Philadelphia police officers who were protecting them as the Sanders diehards began approaching and shouting at them. Meanwhile, reporters and convention-goers alike were visibly frustrated by the confusing logistical setup outside the arena. Getting around outside the Wells Fargo Center and the two other stadiums in south Philadelphia was a nightmare for many reporters who were attempting to exit and re-enter the perimeter. Center City, where many of the conventions parties and meetings are being held, is located three miles away from the Wells Fargo Center, where the convention is taking place. Add that to road closures, a sweltering day and the confusion of a city many delegates are not accustomed toand the result was a palpable frustration among the politicos and journalists in Philadelphia. To make things even worse, a thunderstorm moved in over the city as the convention neared prime time. A flash flood warning was issued. The press tent began to leak. Lightning threatened real danger to those outside. Demonstrators began to flee, and at one point the city even suggested that they take cover under a nearby overpass. One exasperated Philadelphia police officer appeared resigned to the logistical nightmareand the next three days of convention activities to come. Even the Pope visit wasnt this bad, he deadpanned. Shes a lawmaker who has a soft spot for dictatorial regimes. She pals around with Sheldon Adelson. Shes declined to sign onto an assault weapons ban. She opposes admitting refugees. She a frequent fixture on Fox News, where she has slammed the president over his refusal to use the term Islamic extremism to refer to terror attacks. Sounds a lot like The Donald. But Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is a Democrat, running for reelection in one of Americas most liberal districts. The Hawaii congresswomans record shows that she has bucked her own partys trendsand in the process, alienated some of her areas most dedicated progressive activists. I am little skeptical about how deep her progressive roots run, said John Bickel, treasurer for Progressive PAC, a Hawaii state organization that endorses candidates on the left. Still, he is, at the moment, supporting Gabbard for reelection. Tulsi Gabbard shows up in places and gets in front of the camera, spinning herself as a progressivebut Im not sure her record backs up what shes created as a public persona. The bizarre policy overlap between Trump and Gabbard, a Bernie Sanders supporter and rising star in her partys progressive wing, illustrates the connections between Trump and Sanderss brands of populism. Trump is hoping to capitalize on the working-class frustration that both appeal to, with explicit calls for Sanders supporters to support his campaign, as he enters the Republican National Convention. Its a temptation for rank-and-file Democrats that Hillary Clintons campaign no doubt has an eye on. Gabbard has been a favorite of Fox News, where she diverged from the typical Democratic Party line on the term Islamic extremism. Democrats such as Bernie Sanderswhom Gabbard endorsedhave stayed away from such phrases because, they argue, it suggests that the United States is at war with the Muslim religion itself. It is crazy, Gabbard said on an HBO talk show, of Democratic refusals to use the term. They do matter, words mean things, and this is what we need to look at as we look at how do we identify our enemies so that we can defeat them? Trumps views on foreign policy have overthrown a generations worth of conservative thinking on the matter: His tolerant stance on dictators like Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin shocked much of the rights national security intelligencia. But it meshed well with Gabbards thinking. In March, Gabbard was the only Democrat and one of just three members of Congress to vote against a resolution condemning violence by the Assad regime against civilian populations. Bad enough US has not been bombing al-Qaeda/al-Nusra in Syria. But its mind-boggling that we protest Russias bombing of these terrorists, Gabbard wrote in September, on the first day of the Russian intervention in Syria. Firstly, Gabbard is wrong that the U.S. has not struck al Nusra in Syriait hasand secondly, her position aligns nicely with Trumps: He called those strikes a positive thing. Russia is responsible for attacking U.S. backed opposition forces in Syria. By endorsing Bernie early and resigning from the DNC, Gabbard made clear she is vying for leadership of the next generation of left-liberals galvanized by Sanders presidential run. However, given that her and Donald Trumps foreign and refugee policies are in lock step, real progressives should be wary of her qualification for that role, said Evan Barrett, a political adviser to the Coalition for a Democratic Syria, a Syrian-American opposition umbrella group. The Hawaii congresswoman was also one of just 47 Democrats who voted for a bill that would make it all but impossible to admit new refugees into the United States. Her vote with Republicans against admitting Syrian refugees caused a lot of heartburn here. Most of the people who are drawn towards her are sweet, gentle souls so when they see her being heartless in that case, that is at odds of their idealization of who she is, said a prominent Democratic activist in Hawaii. She is the Republican right-wings favorite Democrat. I think both Trump and Gabbard appeal to a populist sensibility. And oddly enough, considering her states reliance on the tourism industry, she mirrored Trumps overreach on immigration issues by calling for European passport holders to be forced to apply for tourist visas, citing terror concerns. Europeans currently have a waiver to visit the United States for leisuremore than 143,000 European visitors traveled to Hawaii in the past year, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. But foreign policy is not the only realm where Gabbard and Trump see eye to eye: She is also wishy-washy on gun control. Trump opposes a ban on assault weapons, a flip-flop from his prior positions; Gabbard, meanwhile, is conspicuously missing from Democrat efforts to legislate the issue. Eighty percent of Democrats, including fellow Hawaii Democrat Rep. Mark Takai, are co-sponsors of a bill that would ban so-called assault weaponsGabbard is not among them. They also align on trade: Trump has called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal that is supported by many conservative economists and Republican lawmakers, insanity; Gabbard has called it disastrous and denounced it as looking like NAFTA on steroids. Both Trump and Gabbard share a common friend: billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. The Hawaii Democrat reportedly introduced an Adelson-backed bill that would outlaw online gambling. Earlier this year, Gabbard won a Champions of Freedom Award at The World Values Networks annual gala, co-hosted by Adelson. Meanwhile, the magnate has indicated his willingness to donate more than $100 million to Trumps campaign for president. Gabbards positions have attracted a challenge on the left from Shay Chan Hodges, an activist who believes the congresswoman is insufficiently progressive to represent Hawaiis 2nd Congressional district. Rep. Gabbard could very well be Donald Trumps kind of Democrat, said Chan Hodges. Assault weapons, blaming Muslims, and love of news media are three areas where Gabbard has common cause with Trump. When The Daily Beast asked Gabbards campaign about her positions on gun control, immigration, and Syria, and whether she felt they reflected the views of her constituents, her campaign responded with a list of her work on environmental policy, Wall Street reform, LGBT rights and civil liberties, among other issues. Progressive individuals like Bernie Sanders, Dennis Kucinich, and Van Jones and a number of progressive organizations including Progressive Democrats of America, Emilys List, Sierra Club, Human Rights Campaign, AFL-CIO, and more, strongly support Tulsi because of her position and record as a progressive leader, said Erika Tsuji, a spokesperson for the Gabbard campaign. When given a chance to condemn Trump, such as with this story, Gabbard avoids the topicand in the past, she has avoided harsh words for the Republican businessman. One of the many problems I see with Trump is I dont know what he believes. I dont know what he would do, Gabbard said in one such interview, before pivoting to criticism of Hillary Clinton. I have raised and continue to see concerns with Hillary Clintons foreign policy. That a Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii could have so many overlapping policies with the presumptive Republican nominee for president is perplexing. But its yet another reminder of the unorthodox campaign season that America is now undergoingand the ways in which both extremes of the Republican and Democratic parties are converging in strange ways. If there is anyone who knows what its like to have his private communications become suddenly public, it is Anthony Weiner. That made the former Democratic congressman, who is also married to one of Hillary Clintons top aides, the perfect guest for Stephen Colberts post-DNC live show Monday night. They began with Bernie Sanders attempt to unify the party with his speech on night one of the Democratic National Convention. When Weiner asserted that Sanders did great, Colbert asked, Can I trust anything youre saying, by the way, because youre married to Hillary Clintons closest advisor? What, are you going to vote for Donald Trump? Weiner said of the Bernie-or-bust folks who say they wont vote for Clinton in the fall. If they choose not to vote, he argued, thats essentially a vote for a xenophobic, narcissistic, racist, anti-Semite. And thats coming from a man who once received campaign contributions from Trump. Weiner proceeded to blame Colbert, as part of the mainstream media, for giving Trump the oxygen he needed to go this far. Things got more interesting when Colbert pivoted to the DNCs email hack, which exposed some nasty comments about Sanders and may have been committed by the Russians to sway the election towards Trump. As someone whos not a big fan of revelation through electronic media, do you think this is a fair thing for the press to be talking about? Colbert asked the man who once accidentally posted a photo of his own penis on Twitter. I dont like this trend of criminals hacking into Sony or hacking into the DNC, leaking selective things, and then we just treat it as if its regular news, Weiner said. But more than that, he said he believes the DNC itself is irrelevant because it doesnt have authority over who wins the partys nomination. Barack Hussein Obama got elected through this system so stop complaining about the system! Weiner said, getting more and more agitated. Your candidate did very well. We adopted a lot of Bernies ideas, were a better party, now were going to go on to win the election. Thats the way its supposed to work! It was the same message that Sanders fan-turned-Clinton supporter Sarah Silverman made in just three words from the DNC stage earlier in the night: Youre being ridiculous! We value your privacy. Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy. PHILADELPHIA Moments after the convention was gaveled into session, Hillary Keyes, a Bernie Sanders delegate, broke down crying. Ive never been more inspired by someone in my entire life, Keyes said as tears welled behind her glasses. Shed been asked about Sanderss endorsement of Clinton. He speaks from the heart. Hes the real deal. He hits me right in my heart. And as he said, When you hurt, I hurt. Then her voice deepened and turned ominous. She leaned in closer. Most of us here, were not going to vote for Hillary Clinton, she said. Keyes wasnt an anomaly. The first day of the Democratic National Convention went off with all the grace of a car accidentthanks in large part to emotive Bernie Sanders supporters who couldnt make peace with the fact that their guy lost. But as the night wore on, there were fewer boos and louder cheers. With it, the signs diversified from Im With Her to Michelle to Sanderss famous A Future to Believe In. When the Vermont senator addressed a jam-packed house late on Monday night, many of his backers openly weptaware their loyalty had, finally, outlasted his campaign. Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States, Sanders emphatically said. The choice is not even close. He went on to make an extensive case for why Clinton is the only acceptable choice in the race, particularly emphasizing the vacant Supreme Court seats she could fill. But as the packed house slowly poured out of the Wells Fargo Arena, it remained unclear just how many Sanders supporters would actually drink the Kool-Aid. Clinton now faces a challenge: courting as many of Bernies faithful as possible, while simultaneously reaching out to the moderate voters in swing counties that can often decide presidential elections. If tonight was any evidence, she has her work cut out for herand its going to be complicated. And the inopportunely timed leak of Democratic National Committee staffers emails has only fueled their ire. Though Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced three hours before go-time that she wouldnt gavel in the convention, Sanders supporters in the California delegation still chanted WIKILEAKS! WIKILEAKS! WIKILEAKS! when the convention proceedings were beginning. When the conventions presiding officer read Clintons name into nomination, they were especially vociferousthe California delegation, in particular, where Sanders fans yelled so loudly they nearly drowned out the speaker. Lock her up! some chanted, echoing a refrain popular at last weeks RNC. Lock her up! Some delegates knocked their wrists together over their heads. Shawnee Badger, a Sanders delegate from California, explainedbetween WikiLeaks! chantsthat this symbolized handcuffs, and signified support for Clintons incarceration. During other Democrats speeches, Bernie backers in a handful of delegations chanted, No TPP! No TPP! In one instance, this took place while Rep. Elijah Cummings was discussing his dead father. The chants rarely had any connection to the substance of the speeches they interrupted. Sanders supporters with whom The Daily Beast spoke throughout the day varied in intensityfrom potential Hillary converts to diehard Bernie-or-Bust types. A ham sandwich could beat Donald Trump, said Melissa Arab, a Michigan delegate for Bernie. And Hillary cannot beat Donald Trump. She added that she plans to vote for Sanders in November instead of Clinton. Shes crooked, she said. Nobody trusts her. Others were agnostic, including Alicia Leinberger, a Sanders delegate from Wisconsin who, like many Sanders backers, sported a green Robin Hood hat. Robin Hood! she explained. The idea is to take from the rich and spread it out. As for whether Hillary Clinton could pull off such a heist, she said she was undecided. Im going to do what Bernie tells me to do, she said, because I trust him. Statistics show that the vast majority of Bernie voters plan to back Clinton in November. In particular, Pew Research has found that 90 percent of Democratic primary voters who consistently backed Sanders say they will back Clinton. But that data didnt do much good for the convention speakersespecially during the first halfwhose speeches were augmented with boos and chants of Bernie, Bernie, Bernie! Even comedian Sarah Silverman, who backed Sanders in the primaries and took to the stage aiming to persuade his fans to support Clinton , got a dose of it. During her prime-time speech, Sanders supporters chanted Bernie! Bernie! Bernie! Thank God they can fix this in post, she said, joking that the pro-Bernie heckling could be scrubbed later on. It would be harder to scrub their chants from Sanderss speech itself . When the erstwhile candidate came onstage, they cheered and chanted for several minutes, awkwardly postponing the beginning of his speech. Tears streamed down several California delegates faces. One young woman stood stoically in the middle of the stairway with a piece over her mouth that read SILENCED BY THE DNC! A host of chants interrupted his address; at various points, delegates chanted Superpredators! and Single-payer! During Sen. Elizabeth Warrens warm-up for Sanders, some hollered, Goldman Sachs! Goldman Sachs! Goldman Sachs! Robert Shearer, a California delegate, said he loathed the idea of backing anyone other than Sanders. Im going to encourage people to vote with love and not fear, the way I encourage people to live their lives, he said. Jamar Jefferson, another California delegate for Sanders, said he plans to run for president in 2020 or 2024and that he will show more loyalty to his supporters than Sanders did. At the end of the day, if you love someone, you ride with them, he continued. You go down with them and you suffer the consequences with them, because its about the group. And he said he dreads explaining to his friends back home why Sanders endorsed Clinton. We wasted our time promising change that will never come, he said. Sanders himself, of course, disagreed. He maintained his message with astonishing discipline, emphasizing that he does not agree with Clinton on many issues but that not participating in the election this year is unfathomable. If you dont believe this election is important, if you think you can sit it out, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate and what that would mean to civil liberties, equal rights, and the future of our country, Sanders warned. And even though some of the most ardent Sanders superfans are not jumping at the opportunity to fill in Clintons name on the ballot, the looming threat of Trump did seem particularly grave. Norman Solomon, national coordinator for the Bernie Delegates Network, an organization holding daily meetings in Philadelphia to push for platform changes and even an alternative vice presidential candidate, told The Daily Beast that it made sense for Sanders to back Clinton in order to help Democrats win in November. I think its totally smart and justified, he said when asked what he thought of people who booed Sanders earlier in the day for saying they should get behind the presumptive nominee. Still, even though they were united in their common enemy, the wounds were still fresh and the delegates were not done trying to figure out a way to improve the ticket. When asked if the Bernie Delegates Network had plans to try to oust Kaine, Solomon wryly texted The Daily Beast: Stay tuned. PHILADELPHIA Bernie Sanders most ardent supporters couldnt care less about Vladimir Putins alleged role in the hack of Democratic National Committee emails that suggest the primary was rigged in favor of Hillary Clinton. Theyre fuming over the content of the emails, but seem unconcerned about how they were released to the publicapparently through an insidious Russian information operation to influence the American elections. The revelations in the emails are a scandal, to be sure. But the broader scandal is that a foreign government is seeking to influence the American electionand that its having an effect. But Berniacs are willing to turn a blind eye to this. Im really thankful to whatever the source was, said Mike Arnold, a Bernie supporter from Atlanta wearing a shirt reading, Hillary for Prison. I dont care if a man on the moon reported it, Arnold continued. I couldnt care less. The bottom line is that [Clinton] is corrupt. The FBI suspects Russian government hackers were behind the breach of the DNCs networks, as The Daily Beast reported. Allegedly, the Russians hoped that the presidential election would tilt in favor of Donald Trump, who supports cozier relations with Moscow, and has routinely heaped praise upon Putins strongman tactics. The emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee were later posted to WikiLeaks. Thousands Bernie fans who were marching on the Democratic National Convention this week were nonplussed. Instead, theyre focused on the vindication they feel over how the Democratic Partys nomination process was rigged in favor of Clinton. Sameera Khan, a political activist and former Miss New Jersey who identifies as a Bernie surrogate, told The Daily Beast that she wasnt fazed by the Russian-plot narrative. If American hacking can't do it, and if the Russian government helped us expose fraud, so be it, Khan said, emphasizing that she was not, however, endorsing or condoning the actions of Putin or the Russian government. Sanders fans have long viewed ousted-DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the DNC as plotting to maintain the Democratic Partys status quo and crush the democratic-socialist candidates chances at winning the nomination. Thousands of Bernie supporters echoed this sentiment as they marched on the convention Monday evening. Haley Rea of New Orleans, La., said that she felt equal parts heartbroken and vindicated as a result of the leaks. Its a good indicator that the DNC was behind Hillary the entire time, and didnt give Bernie a fighting chance, Rea said. Despite this, Sanders former national press secretary sent out a series of tweets Monday night in an attempt to quell the movements disruption of the convention. Andrew Martin, a 27-year-old New Yorker who was there to march and protest the DNC, said that the email hack will probably end up being good for [our] movement, referring to the political revolution that Sanders has long championed. Whether it will be a good thing for this election... Martin mused. That remains to be seen. Tuesday night will bring a pivotal moment of the presidential race when the mothers of black men and women who have been killed by gun violence or in police custody will take center stage at the Democratic National Convention. This night may not only further humanize an essential civil rights struggle, but it may also turn a distinctly anti-political movement led by Black Lives Matter into a force that engages more directly with electoral politics. Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner; Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martins mother; Maria Hamilton, Dontre Hamiltons mother; Lucia McBath, the mother of Jordan Davis; Lezley McSpadden, Michael Browns mother; Cleopatra Pendlton-Cowley, Hadiya Pendletons mother; and Geneva Reed-Veal, the mother of Sandra Bland are all scheduled to speak on Tuesday. The founders of BLM, who have chosen not to support a candidate, have not been invited to speak. In the weeks leading up to both conventions the tension surrounding the BLM movement has dramatically increased following the tragic deaths of law abiding African Americans and police officers from across the nation. The Republican National Convention spent a week demonizing, slandering, and undermining the movement by painting it as a terroristic entity that champions anarchy and harm to police officers. Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke celebrated the fact that no police officers were convicted for the death of Freddie Gray, and led the audience in cheering Blue Lives Matter. And regular renditions of All Lives Matter were cheered to the rafters at the RNC. They projected a message of BLM vs. the police and demanded an absolute, unquestionable fealty to the police in the name of law and order. The Democrats, by featuring these mothers, are clearly looking at matters from the other point of view. And not everyone is thrilled about it. The Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police has even stated that the group is shocked and saddened that these mothers have been chosen as speakers at the DNC. The dangerous, mob-like fervor of the Republican National Convention and its divisive, fear-mongering rhetoric has made the stakes of Tuesday nights speeches incredibly high. America needs to see the tragic origins of these unintended representatives of this vital movement, so that they can see beyond the GOPs destructive rhetoric. America needs to understand that all the mothers speaking at the DNC would much rather be at home with their children, who were taken too soon, rather than addressing the nation and describing their sorrows. Our society needs to grasp the fact that these women are speaking as a collective because they know that the fears theyve had for their childrens safety is a reality that they and countless other black mothers, fathers, and families equally share. This is not an isolated struggle, but a collective push for equality, justice, and advancement for black Americans. However, expanding Americas collective understanding of this struggle is not enough to bring about the change that our society greatly needs. Throughout this election cycle the BLM movement has been at odds with both political parties as they championed their belief in civil disobedience to create the change they desire. Segments of the movement such as Deray McKessons Campaign Zero have tried to engage with politicians, but BLM and their network of autonomous chapters located across the nation have consistently projected an apolitical ideology. BLM and the majority of the movement have been focused around expanding empathy through showing the humanity of black life and organizing peaceful protests following the tragedies that befall black Americans as their humanity is ignored. Remaining apolitical, and challenging each party and all of America to become more humane and equitable serves the dual purpose for BLM of maintaining a pure message that has not been sullied by political affiliation, and also expressing a disapproval of Americas entire political structure. BLM has never inspired its supporters to vote or endorsed a candidate, and some supporters have even encouraged others to abstain from voting. Yet as the tension and violence grows in our society, and pundits regularly draw parallels between our present struggle and the civil rights era of the 1960s, today is not the time for African Americans to champion abstaining from voting and shun the rights our forefathers earned for us in a previous era. Civil disobedience coupled with collective disenfranchisement will not bring about the change that America needs. Fortunately for America, and the Democrats, many supporters of the BLM movement have already seen the flaw in this agenda. During the Democratic primaries, Hillary Clinton won the lions share of the black vote, but people regularly overlooked why, where and how much of the black vote she won because it was widely anticipated that she would win it by a sizable margin over Bernie Sanders. Additionally, BLMs rhetoric and the low voter turnout for the primariesblack voter turnout dropped by roughly 14 percentmade most people, myself included, wonder if the Democrats could sustain Obama-era levels of black voter participation. However, despite the overall dip, black voter turnout actually increased in the states with a large BLM presence. In Florida, Missouri, Illinois, and New York, black voter turnout increased by 258,000 votes, or 21 percent, compared to 2008. Following the deaths of Trayvon Martin in Florida, Michael Brown in Missouri, Laquan McDonald in Illinois, and Eric Garner in New York, BLM has maintained an active presence in all of these states. And these supporters of BLM have chosen to extend their activism beyond the streets and into the ballot box. BLM has unexpectedly become a significant political movement that is propelling Clintons campaign. Tonight may be the time that this movement officially becomes political and emboldens African Americans to show up to the polls in record numbers. This transition may occur without the support of the women who founded the movement, but instead by those women whose tragedies have enraged a nation. For BLM and black voters, the most effective method of civil disobedienceespecially in the face of Republican demonization and fear mongeringis what it has always been: the act of voting. This year at Comic-Con the massive crowds spilling across downtown San Diego were peppered with shirts emblazoned with three deafening words, in a banner year for diversity at the pop culture conference: Black Heroes Matter. After spending a whirlwind weekend pressing the flesh in his first trip to Comic-Con, Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman was delighted by the grassroots geek campaign. The actor, director, and writer isnt afraid to use his own social media to highlight issues of representation in Hollywood and the Black Lives Matter movement, two causes that overlapped Saturday as thousands of people flocked to the annual confab. Hours ahead of Marvels highly anticipated MCU panel a group of creators, media, and fans assembled a BLM flash mob outside the San Diego Convention Center, where more con-goers sported the Black Heroes Matter tees designed by artist and comics creator URAEUS. That evening inside Hall H, a historic sight inaugurated a new era of diversity in superhero culture: Boseman, Creed and Fruitvale Station director Coogler, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyongo, and Danai Gurira of The Walking Dead standing triumphantly together onstage, basking in the raucous excitement for Black Panther. Catching up with him Sunday, the MCUs first black superhero was optimistic that he and Coogler, whos co-scripting the 2018 stand-alone, will be heard by Marvel brass as they help shape the groundbreaking superhero film in a climate of intense volatility in America. I dont think its an issue of telling [Marvel Studios head] Kevin Feige, but bringing things to the table that are poignant and topical and exist in the social consciousness now, I think theyre open to those thingsas long as they do no harm, Boseman told The Daily Beast. I think they have us in this position because we have an opinion and a voice, and were willing to use it. Bosemans entree into Marvels sprawling comic book franchise came this year in Captain America: Civil War, in which the rift between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark was exacerbated by the appearance of the Wakandan prince TChalla, also known as the warrior hero Black Panther. The character went over so well with audiences that it increased fan demand for his own movie, which begins lensing in January. At Comic-Con, Marvel Studios gave Boseman and Coogler the leadoff position in the most anticipated presentation of the week. Standing onstage with Jordan, Nyongo, and Gurira filling out the Black Panther squad in front of 6,500 screaming fans, they created the kind of image that makes a powerful impression and signals a major leap for diversity on Hollywoods biggest pop stage. Boseman also figures prominently in the September home video/Blu-ray release of Civil War, which features a look at how Marvel brought the hero, first introduced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1966 at the height of the Civil Rights movement, into its current blockbuster universe. He looked ahead to where the solo movie might find Black Panther. Hes moving into being king and chieftain, so youre going to see him take on that new role. I think youll see him trying to position himself as a leader and as a military leader, but also as a beneficent king and as a totem. Youll meet Wakanda through his eyes. He smiled apologetically. I cant tell you much more than that. Theres a weighty responsibility on Coogler and co-writer Joe Robert Coles (The People vs O.J. Simpson) shoulders to craft a hero and story for the audience that rarely sees lead mainstream characters that look like them, let alone superheroes of color. Does Boseman think Black Panther will speak to the concerns of black America today? Yes, in some respects I do, he said. But I think those concerns are complex, and theyre also world concerns. Hes not a president, hes a kingof an African nation. So those concerns are not necessarily just in the realm of the American political construct. Theyre concerns that date back to knowing your lineage, knowing where you come from, having a sense of heritage. I think a lot of people will hopefully connect to this fantasy, but also connect to their own actual ancestry. As part of his own preparation, Boseman revealed, hes researching history. His own history. People were brought here from various different parts of Africa, from the west coast of Africa, and very different parts of the west coast, he explained. You can find out what your actual ethnicity is from that respect. Thats part of what I have to do for this role. Im Limba, from Sierra Leone, he continued. How much of that will end up in the movie, I dont know. But it will definitely help me to have a more visceral connection. At least hes already well-versed in his Marvel comics lore. Boseman makes a distinction between TChalla's archnemesis Erik Killmonger, a fellow Wakandan and insurgent who fought bitterly against the Black Panther to destabilize and control the African nation in the comics, and the version of Killmonger that will be played by Jordan in the upcoming film. There may be similarities in their issues in some ways, but I think we live in a world that is unique to now, he smiled. So Killmonger is going to be a Killmonger [for] right now, whatever that means. Killmonger will exist, not from the 90s, not from the early 2000s, but for, you know, 2017 and 2018. The Democratic National Convention kicked off Monday in Philadelphia, with boos and shouts from Bernie Sanders supporters disappointed in Hillary Clinton as the presumptive party nominee. Saying no one else is more disappointed than myself in his second-place finish, Sanders used his prime-time DNC address to emphasize unity behind the Democratic ticket and Clinton. By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States, Sanders said. The convention opened after a contentious weekend following the release of nearly 20,000 emails showing party officials appearing to favor Clinton over Sanders, leading chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to announce she would resign after the convention. Republican nominee Donald Trump got into the action from afar, tweeting that Sanders would have won the nomination had it not been for superdelegates (a False claim). The night also heard speeches from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and first lady Michelle Obama. We took a look at what was said and how it fared on the Truth-O-Meter. Did slaves build the White House? In one of the most striking lines of the night, Michelle Obama reflected on what it was like to live in the White House given its slavery-era roots. I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn, she said. Nancy Pelosi made a similar and True statement about the Capitol. Obamas statement about the White House is also accurate. The White House Historical Associationa private preservation and educational group for the presidential residence complexfound that construction of the White House began in 1792 and initially planned to use workers from Europe, but that recruitment effort wasnt enough. Response to recruitment was dismal and soon they turned to African American(s)enslaved and freeto provide the bulk of labor that built the White House, the United States Capitol, and other early government buildings, says the web page by the White House Historical Association. Strictly speaking, the White House was built by a combination of slaves and freed people, but Obama is still right, so we rated this True. Made in America? A Funny or Die video at the convention, starring actor Ken Jeong and former White House economist Austan Goolsbee, ran through a list of Trump-brand items made overseas. We went through them one by one to see if the video made any missteps. Searching the web, we were able to find several examples of items made overseasincluding Trump shirts made in Bangladesh, ties and cufflinks from China, and vodka from the Netherlands. To put that in context, however, 97 percent of all clothes sold in the United States are made overseas, according to the American Apparel and Footwear Association. However, not all Trump merchandise is foreign-sourced. We found Trump suits made in the United States and were unable to find suits from Mexico, as the video claimedalthough other Trump clothing items have been made there. Other merchandise, like bedding, cologne, and wine, were made domestically as well. We rated the Funny or Die videos claims Mostly True. Paid family leave New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said Americas family leave policies are stuck in the past. Our policies are stuck in the Mad Men era, she said. We are the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee workers paid family leave. Many women cant even get a paid day off to give birth. This idea has been a common talking point for Democratic President Barack Obama and Sanders, and it is largely accurate. In the United States, under the Family and Medical Leave Act, employers with more than 50 employees must allow parents 12-week leave, which is typically unpaid. In contrast, mothers from 34 Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development countries and seven European Union countries average 17 weeks of paid maternity leave. On paid family leave, the United States is an outlier among industrialized nations. One report from the International Labor Organization found that out of 170 nations, only the U.S. and New Guinea dont provide cash benefits of any kind to women during maternity leave. Some statessuch as California, New Jersey, and Rhode Islandoffer paid family leave through employee-paid payroll taxes. However, some countries limit who is eligible, for example excluding migrant or home workers. With that caveat, we rate Gillibrands statement Mostly True. For more fact-checks from Day One, visit PolitiFact.com. The hacker who claims to have stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee and provided them to WikiLeaks is actually an agent of the Russian government and part of an orchestrated attempt to influence U.S. media coverage surrounding the presidential election, a security research group concluded on Tuesday. The researchers, at Arlington, Va.-based ThreatConnect, traced the self-described Romanian hacker Guccifer 2.0 back to an Internet server in Russia and to a digital address that has been linked in the past to Russian online scams. Far from being a singly, sophisticated hacker, Guccifer 2.0 is more likely a collection of people from the propaganda arm of the Russian government meant to deflect attention away from Moscow as the force behind the DNC hacks and leaks of emails, the researchers found. ThreatConnect is the first known group of experts to link the self-proclaimed hacker to a Russian operation, amidst an ongoing FBI investigation and a presidential campaign rocked by the release of DNC emails that have embarrassed senior party leaders and inflamed intraparty tensions turning the Democratic National Convention. The emails revealed that party insiders plotted ways to undermine Sen. Bernie Sanders presidential bid. These are bureaucrats, not sophisticated hackers, Rich Barger, ThreatConnects chief intelligence officer, told The Daily Beast. In blog posts and in interviews with journalists, Barger said, Guccifer 2.0 has made inconsistent remarks and given a version of how he penetrated the DNC networks that technically dont make sense. For instance, the hacker claims to have used a software flaw that didnt exist until December 2015 in order to break into the DNC networks last summer. In an interview with Motherboard in June, the hacker also refused to speak in Romanian, another indication that he wasnt who he claimed to be. ThreatConnect also found that Guccifer 2.0 was attempting to mask his true location, in Russia, by communicating through an Internet service based in France. Such masking is not uncommon in government-sponsored operations, nor is it particularly difficult to accomplish. The researchers concluded that Guccifer 2.0 is actually an apparition created under a hasty Russian [denial and deception] campaign to influence political events in the U.S. (The news site Vocativ was the first to report on these conclusions, and Vocativ reporter Kevin Collier supplied some data to the researchers.) Maintaining a ruse of this nature within both the physical and virtual domains requires believable and verifiable events which do not contradict one another. That is not the case here, the researchers wrote in a blog post. By tracing Guccifer 2.0s Internet infrastructure, the researchers concluded heor the groupis a Russia-controlled platform that can act as a censored hacktivist. Moscow determines what Guccifer 2.0 shares and thus can attempt to selectively impact media coverage, and potentially the election, in a way that ultimately benefits their national objectives. That finding matches the political motive that U.S. officials told The Daily Beast they have seen in Russias hacking of the DNC. The FBI said on Monday that it was investigating the breach, which a growing number within the Obama administration believe was designed to embarrass Democrats, exacerbate tensions between Hillary Clinton and her former rival Bernie Sandersas well as his votersand ultimately to give a boost to Republican nominee Donald Trump. On Tuesday, President Obama said that while the FBI is investigating, experts have attributed this to the Russians and that it was "possible the leak was designed to help the Trump campaign. Researchers from cyber security company CrowdStrike have publicly attributed the DNC breach to the work of two known Russian government hacker groups that have also targeted U.S. government agencies, the White House, and American universities. The tactics and techniques in those campaigns match up with forensic evidence gathered from the DNC breach. ThreatConnects findings seem to underscore the extent to which the Russian government, at least initially, wanted to obscure its role in a so-called active measures campaign designed to cause mischief in the U.S. election, said Barger, a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst. But its not clear where in the Russian government, or its sphere of influence, Guccifer 2.0 sits. WikiLeaks has not identified its source for the DNC emails, even though Guccifer 2.0 claims to have provided them. A representative of the anti-secrecy organization told The Daily Beast on Monday that they were very pleased with this great scoop in data journalism, referring to the publication of the DNC emails. Journalists at many outlets and the general public are all pitching in to understand this wonderful dataset which describes how the DNC really works. Our publication of leaked DNC emails and the many DNC hacks over the last two years are separate incidents and should not be conflated. WikiLeaks didnt respond to Guccifer 2.0s claims or to accusations from U.S. officials in recent days that the Russian government orchestrated the leak to the group. In a Skype interview Monday with NBC News, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange rejected suggestions that the Russians were behind the DNC hack, saying the partys server security was so weak, it could have been hacked by various groups. The emails that we have released are different sets of documents to the documents of those [that] people have analyzed, he told NBCs Richard Engel. PHILADELPHIA The Bernie Delegates Networka loosely organized coalition thats been holding daily press conferences at the Philly conventionhas been trying very hard to convince the press that Sanders people will still put up their dukes for a fight with Hillary that may never happen. Their latest claim: that theyre trying to block Clintons choice for a running mate, the centrist Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, by floating their own far-left VP pick. Problem is, that alternative candidate may not even exist. Pinning the Bernie Delegates Network down on even the loosest facts has been an exercise in high farce. In fact, it would appear that they are entirely disorganized, have no specific plans, and are no longer listening to marching orders from the Vermont senator at all. Norman Solomon, the activist at the head of the organization, claims that there is sincere interest from his constituencywhich he described as 300 or so delegates out of the near 1,900 total represented in Philadelphiato oust Kaine and float their own progressive VP pick. But he refused to give the name of who the alternate would be. Its a moot point, Solomon said, exasperated by the badgering press. When The Daily Beast asked if the person was in fact a real, living human, he said testily, yes. He explained that the DNC had not gotten them the paperwork quickly enough to be able to gather a consensus for a potential challenge today. If I get permission from that individual, tomorrow, Ill give you the name, Solomon said of Kaines supposed rival. He explained that the attempt to put up a more progressive candidate was symbolic and that the symbolism would be lost if the name was revealed. That is, if it came out today, at least. Or, that is, if they revealed the name without the express permission of said individual. Or, that is, if this whole thing is not a puff of smoke. All this, mind you, from the group that is angry with the DNC for lack of transparency. It wont be revealed to history for many years, Solomon said at one point. He claimed that Sanders hadnt heard about the challengeindicating the candidates approval or disapproval of his supporters actions at the convention no longer seemed to matter. Teva Gabis-Levine, a delegate from New Mexico who said he was responsible for being a whip on the convention floor, claimed he didnt even forward the message Sanders sent last night encouraging supporters not to protest during the speeches. Hours before Hillary Clinton was set to be formally nominated for the Democratic nomination, it seemed that the Sanders ship was venturing on without a captain. The idea that a foreign power might try to impact an American election sounds like a chapter ripped from a dystopian novel. Its not. Serious questions emerged this weekin the aftermath of WikiLeaks publishing DNC emails that appear to have been stolen by Russian hackers trying to help Donald Trumpabout whether Vladimir Putin is tampering with our domestic politics. The Founding Fathers saw this coming. Its why President Washington and his speechwriter Alexander Hamilton devoted much of our first presidents Farewell Address to warning against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. Heres the story: Two hundred and twenty years ago, the sweltering streets of Philadelphia were buzzing with rumors that a foreign power was trying to destabilize the American government and determine the outcome of the next election. At the executive mansion on Market Street, George Washington was preparing to kick off the first truly contested election in American history. His vice president, John Adams, represented the Federalist Party, while Washingtons former Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson was the leader of the Democratic-Republicans. While the parties broadly represented North versus South, urban versus rural interestsone might say blue states versus red statesthe underlying animosities were rooted in associations with England versus France. Each faction saw the other as a quasi-treasonous proxy for foreign nations, and each saw the other as a threat to the republican covenant created by the Constitution. This was not without reason. The English were abusing Washingtons policy of neutrality between Britain and France and they fully expected that the lost colonies would return to their rule. The new revolutionary government in France saw Washingtons neutrality as treason to the larger cause of international liberty and they dispatched an agent named Citizen Genet to destabilize the government through popular uprising. As historian Harlow Giles Unger explains, If Washingtons government refused to cooperate, [Genet] was to exploit the Jeffersonian pro-French ferment in America to foment revolution, topple the American government, and convert the United States into a French puppet state. Once under French control, the United States would become part of a French-dominated American federation of Canada, Florida, Louisiana, and the French West Indies. Jeffersons partisans were seen as useful idiots in this effort. So history and experience were anything but casu ally invoked in Washingtons parting words to his country. Nor were they new concerns, even then. The dangers of foreign influence destabilizing democracy had been top of mind to the Founding Fathers since the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787. In preparation, James Madison set about studying the mistakes previous republics had made so that America might avoid the same fate. He found history was littered with examples of republics losing their sovereignty through destabilization by foreign powers who wormed their way into domestic politics through pretend friendships and partisan alliances. One prominent case was the ancient Greek city-states that banded together to beat back a foreign invasion from Persia. But the Greeks then continued to place their loyalties in their cities, not in Greece as a whole. Athens and Sparta, Madison noted in Federalist #18, became first rivals and then enemies; and did each other infinitely more mischief than they had suffered from Xerxes, the Persian king. The final blow to their freedom occurred when King Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, infiltrated select cities with bribes dressed up as foreign aid and splintered the alliance in order to ultimately conquer it. As Hamilton later explained, ambitious Philip, under the mask of an ally to one, invaded the liberties of each, and finally subverted the whole. This lesson was reinforced during Washingtons presidency, when Poland ratified the first written constitution in Europe, attempting to press past the polarization and paralysis of its parliamentary monarchy. But squeezed between Russia and Prussia, Poland found its sovereignty systematically undermined by senate candidates who secretly served those neighboring states. With a weakened military, a series of forced partitions reduced Poland to a skeletal state. So Russias got experience in this kind of thing, even before Stalin and his admirer Putin. This fear of the enemy withinwhich has resurfaced throughout our history, often as a feature of the paranoid style in American politicshas its roots in real scars sustained in the early years of the republic. For more than a century, the fact that America was separated by the Atlantic from the contagious intrigues of Europe could mitigate those dangers. But the distance afforded by oceans was bridged long ago and now cyberspace makes a mockery of physical defenses. Putin has shown a willingness to meddle in foreign elections to pursue his interestschief among them is a destabilization of international alliances that check his own expansionist ambitions. The idea that Russia is seeking to influence Americas presidential election and propel a more admiring and compliant candidate into the White House may sound far-fetched on the surface, but a passing glance of history shows this play has been invoked to destabilize democracy for centuries. Putin is well aware of this history. And we cant say that George Washington didnt warn us. After multiple episodes of Bernie Sanders delegates booing high-profile Democrats at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this week, the Hillary Clinton campaign isnt taking any chances during the roll call of states Tuesday night, which will make her nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate official. In an email to Clintons California delegates late Tuesday morning, Dave Barnhart, a consultant to the Clinton campaign, detailed the campaigns latest plans to keep peace in the convention hallespecially in and around the California delegation which emerged as one of the most unruly groups at the convention. At a breakfast Monday, multiple Sanders delegates loudly booed House Democratic Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a longtime California Democrat whose district sits in San Francisco. Even Sanders himself got an earful when he spoke to the California delegation Tuesday morning. His supporters made it clear that while Bernie may be ready for Hillary, they are not with her, not yet anyway. Its easy to boo, but it is harder to look your kids in the face who will be living under a Donald Trump presidency, Sanders told the group, only to be met with more boos. According to the Mercury News, pushing and shoving ensued, with one Sanders supporter shouting Youre ridiculous! to the most aggressive Berniacs, and another yelling, Dont ever touch me again! In the email to Hillary delegates, which was obtained by The Daily Beast, Barnhart called floor operations for the California section HFAs top priority for Tuesday night in the convention hall, where the goal will be showing the strong, positive, energetic support that HRC carries from California delegates. He also described the ramped up whip operation that Clinton campaign will run on the floor of the convention hall. In addition to asking the pro-Clinton delegates to physically be on the floor to support her during the roll call and televised prime time speeches, the campaign is also planning to add additional people around the California section to supplement the delegates already there. Were providing more support in the form of extra bodies and supporters to cheer, bring energy, wave signs, and show positive support both within and around the California delegation section, Barnhart wrote. He also said that the campaign will more actively manage anyone who disrupts the proceedings. Were going to be stricter tonight about unruly individualsanyone who is physical with delegates, rips up their signs, or outright disrespectful with other delegates, he warned. Protest is certainly okay, but unruliness is notand were instructing whips and convention staff to tow a stricter line tonight. Barnhart thanked the delegates in advance and added, Your presence would be greatly appreciated and noted. Barnhart did not immidiate respond to a request for comment. TOKYO Japan was rocked by a horrific mass murder in Tokyo perpetrated by a 26-year-old man, Satoshi Uematsu, a former nursing home worker who stabbed to death 19 disabled residents and injured 25 others before turning himself into the police. It was the largest mass murder in Japan by an individual since the end of World War II. Yet, as horrible as the crime appears to be, it was not unprecedented. There have been other similar killing sprees dating back to 1938. They share one common thread: motive. The famous prosecutor Toshiro Igari once said there were only three main reasons for murder in Japan, Koi, Kane, Enkon. The first two, Koi (love) and Kane (money) are universal but the third word, Enkonis a complex thingmeaning hatred, envy, or a grudge. Enkon is such a powerful emotion in Japan that it is associated with ghosts, who are bound to this world because of their hatred. Enkon is the subject of a hit horror novel and movie in Japan that was remade in the U.S. as The Grudge in 2004. This most recent mass murder shows all the signs of being one man taking his grudge against society out on the easiest victims he could find. And while Uematsu appears to want to portray his rampage as an act of mercy killing (he believes invalids should be put of their misery), it is more than likely just another young man with a seething grudge that boiled over into violence. Super serious superspy Jason Bourne has lived through some fantastical government conspiracies in his onscreen outings to date, particularly for a franchise that began in relative simplicity: An amnesiac assassin wakes up in the ocean, wondering why hes got fast-twitch killer instincts and bullets in his back. But in Jason Bourne, the fourth go-round to star Matt Damon as the ex-black ops pawn with a conscience, the shadowy cinematic world of Robert Ludlums spy novels comes uncomfortably close to our increasingly scary real one. Are the movies keying into a sense of fatalistic dread thats seeping into the collective consciousness, or is life simply imitating art because the end times feel more and more inevitable? Jason Bourne reunites Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum helmer Paul Greengrass with Damon after the franchises brief flirtation with a genetically enhanced Jeremy Renner in the Bourne Legacy. The time away has served them well. That irritating, headache-inducing shaky cam aesthetic synonymous with Greengrasss earlier Bourne movies has smoothed out considerably, thank goodness. Here the director, scripting with Christopher Rouse, finally begins to lead the series wildly expansive plot tangle of secret government programs and conflicting agendas back to its more compelling roots: Who is Jason Bourne? As the film opens, the better question is: Who the heck is Nicky Parsons? The once compliant Treadstone analyst has had her eyes opened to the shady dealings of the program she once served. Now she packs a gun and a hackers arsenal of keyboard tricks, determined to expose the governments morally dubious secret programs in the name of transparency and justice. With Bourne contentedly in hiding, its Julia Stiles Parsons who kicks the film into gear nine years after we last saw her. Driven by her own righteous awakening against The Man, Nickys gone full Snowden. And amid a trove of stolen files she intends to make public shes found a clue to Bournes past. Hes been plagued by elusive flashbacks to his pre-assassin life, so its enough to tempt him out into the open for the first time in years, and they agree to meet in the only place where the CIAs goons will have a tough time taking them out: in the middle of an anti-government riot in Greeces Syntagma Square. The sequence is stunningly orchestrated. Meeting under the cover of chaos as stealthy U.S. agents close in and CIA suits watch from Washington, Bourne and Nicky weave their way through the darkened streets of Athens as the bitter unrest between police and protesters boils over into violence. Molotov cocktails fly through the air. Cops in riot gear shove back the angry crowds. Greengrass captures the cat-and-mouse chase with sparse dialogue and a maestros touch, tracking the converging paths and agendas of multiple parties at once until they collide, sending Bourne back out into the world on a mission to expose his makers. Its pure coincidence of timing that the sequence conjures fresh memories of civil unrest in America of late, where our news media has been saturated with the alarming sight of militarized police forces clashing with citizens proclaiming that Black Lives Matter. In Jason Bourne, popular uprisings of citizens against their governments are such a matter of course in a tumultuous world that the only safe space for a couple of spies is right in the eye of the storm. Greengrass introduces another thread pregnant with too-real verisimilitude, intent on grounding Bournes long-running saga in a milieu of our times. Silicon Valley tech star Aaron Kalloor (Riz Ahmed, having a breakout year) is on the verge of introducing his latest social media invention on the worlds stage, but hes got a huge problem: CIA director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones), who secretly funded Kalloors first start-up, has come to collect. Kalloor, too, wrestles with his debt to his country. Is breaching the civil liberties of individuals worth the cost of protecting national security? Sure its all a little on the nose, as thriller yarns tend to be. The late Ludlum, who died in 2001, cranked out airport novel bestsellers like no one else. Hed approve of Bourne battling his way into 2016 against colluding tech giants and authoritarian government groups, pulled back into the spy game against his will with renewed purpose. To get there, though, takes Bourne working through some newly discovered daddy issues. At least in doing so Jason Bourne gives Jason Bourne his groove back and throws new adversaries with their own complex agendas in his way. One of them, a fellow assassin (Vincent Cassel) with his own score to settle, hunts Bourne on behalf of the CIA repping yet another secret program of supersoldiers the governments cooked up on the sly. He and Bourne clash brutally, two men with twin destinies cut from the same cloth, destroying the entire Las Vegas strip in the films most brazenly staged action sequence. In him Bourne finds his best philosophical match since he and Clive Owen stalked each other in the French countryside. Bournes most compelling new adversary, however, is a womanambitious CIA agent Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander). Like all of Jason Bournes morally ambiguous baddies, Deweys millennial protege resembles a ghost from the past. Shes a steelier, younger Nicky Parsons, an ally on the inside stirred to Bournes cause even as she toes the agency line. As Jason Bourne takes its sweet time playing a familiar noteBournes struggle to remember his origins and find those responsible for his enslavement, etc.its Vikanders petite and cunning Lee who steals the spotlight. In the end its not Damons emotional journey as Bourne that you remember so much as the rightful damage hes wrought, one man doing his part to topple the schemes that threaten to undue life and liberty for others. But visceral echoes of real life accidentally make the over-the-top action feel more prescient than anyone could have intended. Greengrasss last-act car chase showstopper is the most ambitiously destructive action sequence to happen to Sin City in the movies since Con Air. But just a few hours before I watched Damon wreak carnage upon countless cars on the crowded Strip, chasing Cassel at the wheel of an armored truck as he plowed his way through traffic, a terrorist attacker with a cargo truck had plowed his way through hundreds of unsuspecting victims in Nice, France, claiming 84 lives. We got no trigger warning, no heads-up. In a real world marred by new unexpected horrors each day, those are becoming relics of much more hopeful times. Despite a wretched week for his primary opponent, Debbie Wasserman Schultzher challenger isnt happy. Tim Canova, a law professor trying to take her out in her Aug. 30 Democratic primary, has already reaped a windfall from the leaked Democratic National Committee emails that precipitated her resignation and withdrawal from all convention duties. He told The Daily Beast that he raised nearly $100,000 in the 72 hours after the emails leaked. But Canova wants more than cash. He wants blood. Metaphorically speaking. The candidate said that his lawyers are looking into filing an FEC complaint regarding potential violations of campaign finance law. Wasserman Schultz has given them a lot to work with; the leaked emails gave evidence that top DNC staffers strategized to undermine Sanders insurgent Democratic primary bid, ending any pretense of neutrality. Those revelations, in turn, gave a jolt of excitement to Canovas campaign, along with a fundraising boost. More importantly, they suggest that DNC staffers may have advised Wasserman Schultz on her primary contest. In one conversation, DNC spokesman Luis Miranda counsels Wasserman Schultzs campaign spokesman, Ryan Banfill, on the wording of a statement responding to Bernie Sanders endorsement of Canova. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was using DNC resources to monitor my campaign and to strategize on how to respond to my campaign, which certainly looks like a violation of federal law, he said. I think there should be an investigation. Larry Noble of the Campaign Legal Center said conversations like that could raise red flags at the FEC. National party committees dont typically take sides in primaries, so the rules governing their activity dont get much attention. But Noble said the parties are still subject to $5000 contribution limits to anyone running in a House primary. That includes in-kind contributions of goods and services, like lending staffers time. And if DNC staffers did enough favors for Wasserman Schultzs campaign that surpassed $5000 in value, its possible they broke the law. That would be a question for the FEC to answer. If its an in kind contribution, it would be subject to the same limits, Noble said. Theyre subject to a contribution limit, so if they gave in kind contributions to her in excess of the contribution limit, then that could be a violation. Theres a valid issue there, he added. Canova is much more worried about the content of the leaked DNC emails than about the means by which they leaked. FBI officials have expressed concerns to The Daily Beast that the Russian government is responsible to the hacks, and that they timed the emails release to do maximum damage to Clintons campaign. The release of emails just as the Democratic National Convention is getting underway this week has the hallmarks of a Russian active measures campaign, David Shedd, a former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said earlier this week. But Canova isnt stressed about that, and said it sounds like a conspiracy theory. Im glad they were disclosed, whoever was behind it, he added. It confirmed a lot of what folks had been suspecting about the DNC. A DNC spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Wow, Prince Georges third birthday turned out to be pretty rough. First came Ice-Cream Gate, in which Prince George shared some ice cream with family pet Lupo, leading to tweets for the young prince to be thrown in jail for irresponsible animal crueltyand, from a British animal cruelty charity, a warning that ice cream for dogs should be made from pet-friendly ingredients. Next, the little chapwho turned 3 on Fridaywas trolled on Facebook, as reported by the Sun, by a senior employee at the British Council, which receives almost $210 million of public money a year to promote British language and culture around the world. Under a picture taken of Prince George, Angela Gibbins, head of global estates at the British Council, wrote, White privilege. That cheeky grin is the innate knowledge hes royal, rich, advantaged and will never know *any* difficulties or hardships in life. Lets find photos of 3yo Syrian children and see if they look alike, eh? Gibbins made her comment under a picture of Prince George, used on a stamp to commemorate the Queens 90th birthday, that someone else had posted with the statement: I know hes only two years old, but Prince George already looks like a fucking dickhead. Gibbins was criticized on Facebook for attacking Prince George. To one critic, she wrote: I have a multi-faceted political opinion. Thats not hate, and I hate no human being on this planet as an individual. But I do disagree with the system that creates privilege of any sort. And I have a dedication to calling that out for what it is. To another critic, Gibbins wrote, Im sound in my socialist, atheist and republican opinions. I dont believe the royal family have any place in a modern democracy, least of all when they live on public money. Thats privilege and it needs to end. Gibbins describes herself on her Twitter account thus: Director of property globally for the British Council. Personal capacity tweets only here: socialist politics, human rights, allotments, E17. (E17 is the postcode for Walthamstow, a borough in East London.) A spokesperson for the British Council told The Daily Beast that Gibbins would now face a disciplinary procedure, looking into what actually happened. The spokesperson acknowledged that Gibbins was expressing her views in a private capacity, but the British Council took her words very seriously. The spokesperson could not say whether Gibbins would keep her job or not. In an official press statement, the British Council, which promotes Britain in over 100 countries and whose patron is the Queen, said: The British Council expects the highest standards of our staff and in accordance with our code of conduct we have started disciplinary procedures with the individual concerned. This comment was made on a private social media account. It has absolutely no connection to the British Council and does not represent our views and values. Lord Byron observed, in skewering one of his favorite poetic targets of derision, that while the English have no word so good as the French longueurs to describe tedious, uninterrupted stretches of writing, they nevertheless have the thing. Similarly, there is no proper American term for what Russian intelligence calls aktivniye meropriyatiye, or active measures, but by now most Americans really ought to be used to the thing, as it might well decide our next presidential election. As The Daily Beast reported Monday, the FBI now suspects that a year-long hacking of the Democratic National Committees emails and their subsequent publication on WikiLeaks was actually the work of Russian intelligence. The Kremlin, it is now widely believed, is trying to rob Hillary Clinton of her chance to be the next commander-in-chief because its favored candidate is Donald Trump, a mercenary authoritarian who behaves and sounds like a forbidding cross between Vladimir Zhirinovsky and a Las Vegas pit boss. Trump, like Putin, wants to eviscerate NATO, dispense with lecturing the Russians on democracy and human rights, and lift any and all diplomatic or economic penalties on Moscow for its invasion and occupation of Ukraine. Trump, like Putin, draws on a staff of consiglieri and advisers who have extensive experience in the financial and political sectors of the post-Soviet sphere, usually on behalf of those who wish the Berlin Wall had never come down. According to a mounting pile of compelling news reports, the first of which broke in The Washington Post in June, two separate agencies of Russian spy services, the domestic FSB and the military GRU, gained access, independently of each other and without the others cognizance, to the DNC correspondence beginning in the summer of 2015 (the FSB) and followed by an intrusion registered in April of this year (the GRU). Already, the leaked emails, showing the DNC cooking up ways to sink Bernie Sanderss campaign on the basis of his suspected atheism, have deepened a schism within the Democratic Party as its nominating convention gets going. DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is out of a job come Friday, and meanwhile shes busy being booed at luncheons and confabs by incensed Bernie supporters in Philadelphia. Trump is already capitalizing on these embarrassments by egging on the Bernie Bros to stand their ground and reaffirming the rigged nature of the electoral system. If Moscow Centre is indeed behind this bit of cyber skulduggery, then it represents the boldest intrusion ever by a past and present Cold War adversary into Americas political decision-making. Indeed, the style and purpose of this intrusion bears an uncanny resemblance to old Cold War tradecraft. An active measure is a time-honored KGB tactic for waging informational and psychological warfare designed, as retired KGB General Oleg Kalugin once defined it, to drive wedges in the Western community alliances of all sorts, particularly NATO, to sow discord among allies, to weaken the United States in the eyes of the people in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and thus to prepare ground in case the war really occurs. The most common subcategory of active measures is dezinformatsiya, or disinformation: feverish if believable lies cooked up by Moscow Centre and planted in friendly media outlets to make democratic nations look sinister. As my colleague Peter Pomeranzev and I discovered in researching our report on the Kremlins weaponization of money, culture, and information, some of the most famous conspiracy theories to bombinate in backrooms, basements, street corners, college dorms were actually whole-cloth inventions of the Cheka. For instance, a story suggesting that Jimmy Carter had a Secret Plan to Put Black Africans and Black Americans at Odds; that the United States used chemical weapons in the Korean War; that AIDS was an invention of the CIA; that the Jonestown massacre was by U.S. intelligence; that the United States tried to kill Pope John Paul II; that Barry Goldwater and the John Birch Society were in cahoots to mount a coup detat in Washington, D.C. Many in 1963 doubted that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in murdering John F. Kennedy; but only a precious few ever saw their paranoid Grassy Knoll explanation transformed into a Hollywood blockbuster. American researcher Max Holland found that the KGB fabricated letter that got planted in the Italian newspaper Paese Sera was the first to allege that one of the suspects for the Kennedy assassination, Clay Shaw, a New Orleans businessman, was actually an operative of Langley. The New Orleans district attorney, Jim Garrison, got hold of a copy of that letter and while he never cited it in court, his film version Kevin Costner most certainly did in the paranoid Oliver Stone movie JFK. Vasili Mitrokhin, a retired KGB archivist who defected to the West and smuggled out six enormous cases of Soviet foreign intelligence files, later recorded that the KGB could fairly claim that far more Americans believed some version of its own conspiracy theory of the Kennedy assassination, involving a right-wing plot and the U.S. intelligence community, than still accept the main findings of the Warren Commission. Mitrokhins archive also settled another long-running debate about an actual CIA provocateur, the defector Philip Agee, whose KGB code name was PONT. Agee had been an officer stationed in Latin America and was forced to quit the agency because he drank, was loose with government money and all too eager to take to bed the many wives of the many American diplomats in whose company he traveled. Then, in 1973, as Mitrokhin and Christopher Andrew recount in The Sword and the Shield, the first volume of a two-part history on the exfiltrated secrets of the U.S.S.R.s special services, Agee walked right into the rezidentura in Mexico City. He offered the Russians reams of information about CIA operations, according to Oleg Kalugin, who was then head of the KGB First Chief Directorates counterintelligence division. But the Soviets thought this too good to be true; Agee struck them as a dangle, a deep cover operative posing as a would-be defector in order to hawk faulty intelligence. So they turned him away. He next tried the Cubans, who found him legitimate. Because of Havanas close security relationship with Moscow (one that had actually been coerced by the Soviets through anti-Castro espionage and economic blackmail), Cubas own intelligence service, the DGI, shared their new asset with their KGB masters. As I sat in my office in Moscow reading reports about the growing list of revelations coming from Agee, Kalugin later wrote, I cursed our officers for turning away such a prize. Agees first act as a Soviet spy was to name names of his old American comrades in a best-selling book titled Inside the Company: CIA Diary. It was first released in Britain in 1975 and possibly curated by Agees KGB and DGI handlers. He outed 250 CIA officers and agents before he set about exposing those stationed in the capital of Americas closest Cold War ally, London, where he now took temporary residence, much like another controversial whistleblower. Agee was eventually expelled from Britain, owing to U.S. diplomatic pressure, but not before becoming a left-wing celebrity, feted and defended by a raft of Labour MPs and The Guardian newspaper. Miktrokhin and Andrew are generous in acquitting most of Agees admirers as mere useful idiots rather than duplicitous co-conspirators. Nevertheless, PONTs KGB file boasted of his stature as a putative transparency advocate and martyr of free speech, notwithstanding his clandestine and destructive work on behalf of a communist superpower: Campaigns of support for PONT, the file noted, were initiated in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Holland, Finland, Norway, Mexico and Venezuela. In 1978, Agee began publishing his own newsletter, Covert Action Information Bulletin, a WikiLeaks-style journal designed, in Agees own words, as a worldwide campaign to destabilize the CIA through exposure of its operations and personnel. The Bulletin was a KGB and DGI operation; the entire project was given the code name RUPOR (Russian for mouthpiece). Besides its internationally recognizable founder, other editors included other Americans, such as the journalist Louis Wolf, and featured contributions from other former CIA officers, although Miktrokhin and Andrew state that theres no evidence that anyone other than Agee knew which foreign governments were actually underwriting the Bulletin. As an active measure, the pamphlet was a mixture of credible stolen intelligence and dezinformatsiya. Sometimes the KGB would feed Agee real morsels from Langley; elsewhere, when these proved impossible to come by, he was instructed to seek out open-source material ranging from readers letters to crises around the world which could be blamed on the CIA, as Mitrokhin and Andrew write. This is how the Jonestown massacre became an American crime. The Russians and Cubans even set the schedule for when Western national security secrets, be they authentic or sham, were to be disgorged. Around the time of the Bulletins first issue, Agee and Wolf started handing out copies of a new book, Dirty Work: The CIA in Western Europe, which carried the names of another 700 CIA employees scattered across the free countries of the continent. The success of that volume encouraged a sequel, which was duly produced as Dirty Work II: The CIA in Africa. Its publication, the KGB and DGI jointly decided, would coincide with a Castro-hosted conference in Havana for the non-aligned nations in September 1979. Closer to our own time, following the invasion of Ukraine, we have seen the recrudescence of active measures as a form of Russian hybrid warfare. Sometimes theyre aimed at the United States, as when a phone call between Victoria Nuland, the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, and Geoffrey Pyatt, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, was suddenly uploaded to the internet and framed to show a shadowy plot to not only influence the course of Ukraines post-Yanukovych period but also drive a wedge between Washington and Brussels. (That phone call had Nuland at one point say that the UN ought to be brought in to facilitate a peace deal deal and fuck the EU.) Few doubt who intercepted this communication and posted it online; Nuland herself, in conversation with the BBC, smilingly called the tradecraft really quite impressive. A subsequent phone exchange between former Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and former European Higher Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton appeared to call into question who, exactly, did the sniping on Kievs Independence Square during the Maidan Revolutionwith the suggestion being that it was the opposition, not the Yanukovych government shooting civilians. (Paet had talked to a Ukrainian doctor who tended to the wounded on the square and had either misunderstood where she said the gunfire had come from or was just relaying to Ashton alternative theories.) Finally, everyone remembers how the NSA listened in on German Chancellor Angela Merkels private cellphone calls, a bombshell report, tied to the Edward Snowden leaks, which put a frost on U.S.-German relations. Except that it seems the entire story, first reported in Der Spiegel (and primarily written by a WikiLeaks associate, Jacob Appelbaum) was wrongeven if the vast majority of Snowdens disclosures were genuinely and self-evidently scandalous. Germanys top prosecutor, Harald Range, opened an investigation in June 2014 and closed it a year later, citing a lack of evidence. The documents published in the media so far that come from Edward Snowden also contain no evidence of surveillance of the mobile phone used by the chancellor solid enough for a court, Range said. Prior to closing the case, he had noted that the supposed gotcha document proving the NSA was listening in on an allied head of states personal conversations was in fact not an authentic surveillance order by the NSA. It does not come from the NSA database. On Monday night, conservative columnist George F. Will offered a new - to me - explanation for Donald Trump's ongoing refusal to release his tax returns. "Perhaps one more reason why we're not seeing his tax returns is because he is deeply involved in dealing with Russian oligarchs and others," Will speculated in a conversation with Fox News's Bret Baier. "Whether that's good, bad or indifferent, it's probably the reasonable surmise." The context for Will's comment is a whisper campaign from some Democrats that Russia understands Trump would be better for its interests than Hillary Clinton and, therefore, is orchestrating the leaking of hacked Democratic National Committee emails to damage her. Many experts think that Russia was indeed behind the hack. Will joins a diverse group who has tried to sniff out the real reason why Trump adamantly refuses to release his tax returns. His official explanation is that he is being audited and to release his tax returns under that cloud would be a major legal gamble or gaffe. Here's how Trump explained it to "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd on NBC on Sunday: "Every year they audit me. It's routine government. I would never give my tax returns until the audit's finished. But remember this: Mitt Romney, four years ago, was under tremendous pressure to give his tax returns. And he held it and held it and held it, and he fought it, and he, you know, he didn't do too well, okay? But he didn't do anything wrong on his taxes. When he gave his tax returns, people forget, not now." At this point, there are enough theories out there about Trump's taxes that it's worth cataloguing all of them. Here we go! 1. He has Russian ties. (See above.) 2. He is being audited. I mean, maybe. Trump could, of course, release his tax returns even while he is under an audit. Richard Nixon did it in 1973. 3. He did not pay any taxes. The scant evidence we have on Trump's approach to taxation gives this theory credence. A 1981 report by New Jersey gambling regulators showed that Trump did not pay any taxes at all for two years in the 1970s. How? Because as a developer he was able to report negative income. 4. He has mob ties. The idea that Trump has links to organized crime has been kicking around for decades. But they've come much more to the fore since he began running for president. Ted Cruz, during a late February interview on "Meet the Press," brought the accusation into the presidential race: "There have been multiple media reports about Donald's business dealings with the mob, with the mafia. Maybe his taxes show those business dealings are a lot more extensive than has been reported." 5. He donates no - or very little - money to charity. Again, this is a theory with some meat on the bone. The Washington Post's David Fahrenthold had spent weeks contacting charities in hopes of tracking down the "millions" Trump says he has donated to various organizations over the past seven years. The total amount of charitable giving Fahrenthold found? $10,000. So ... 6. He is not as rich as he says. Nailing down Trump's personal wealth is a massive challenge. He says $10 billion. Others say $3 billion. Still others insist he is worth far less than either number. Trump takes considerable personal pride in touting his net worth and using it as a blunt instrument to respond to any charge that he has ever failed in life. Tax returns are tough to fudge; they nail down exactly how much you make in a year. Just the raw numbers. It would be hard for Trump to argue his way out of a yearly salary that doesn't befit a billionaire. I'm not sure which of the theories above is the right one. Or whether the right one is even in our list. But what I do know is that Trump almost certainly is not going to release his tax returns before the November election, making him the first major-party candidate in more than four decades to refuse to do so. The Eagle Editorial Board ran an editorial on July 24 lamenting the failure of Texas "educrats" to improve our schools. A special complaint was that some 40 percent of entering college freshmen must take remedial courses. In Texas, higher education and K-12 are independent and uncoordinated. They have separate commissioners, neither elected, but rather appointed by the governor. Both entities blame the other. Higher education complains that students are poorly prepared in K-12. The K-12 educrats blame higher education for poor teacher selection and preparation. Reorganization should be accomplished in the next legislative session. The commissioners should be elected and answerable to the people. Maybe we need one commissioner in charge of all education so we can have coordination between college and K-12. The key K-12 agencies involved are the Texas Education Agency, the State Board of Education, and the education service centers. Their purpose, according to their respective web sites, is vague: Texas Education Agency -- "provide leadership, guidance, and resources to help schools." State Board of Education -- "guide and monitor activities and programs related to public education in Texas." Education service centers -- "develop high quality services that enable schools to operate more efficiently and economically." The organization chart for Texas is without clear lines of authority and responsibility: Texas Education Agency is run by the commissioner, via six deputy commissioners. State Board of Education is only advisory to the commissioner and has no direct authority. Education service centers are not shown on the organization chart, suggesting that they are autonomous and answer to no one. The administration of education service centers especially is problematic. Legislation created these entities as apparently autonomous and unsupervised. Among their abuses was to create a curriculum -- CSCOPE -- which they sold as a private marketing venture to Texas schools. A state auditor found a $6 million discrepancy in their books. The Legislature's task should be obvious: Give voters real influence over school policy. Coordinate the administration of K-12 and college. Specify with more clarity and detail what each entity is supposed to do. Clarify lines of authority and responsibility for each entity. W.R. "Bill: Klemm is a senior professor of neuroscience at Texas A&M University and the author of Memory Power 101 and Mental Biology, The New Science of How the Brain and Mind Relate. If the Hiroshima bomb represented approximately 27 freight cars filled with TNT, a one-megaton warhead would require a train 300 miles long. Each Russian RS-20V Voevoda intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) packs 10 megatons. Playing with hellfire What has made today's world more dangerous, however, is not just advances in the destructive power of nuclear weapons, but a series of actions by the last three US administrations. First was the decision by President Bill Clinton to abrogate a 1990 agreement with the Soviet Union not to push NATO further east after the reunification of Germany or to recruit former members of the defunct Warsaw Pact. NATO has also reneged on a 1997 pledge not to install "permanent" and "significant" military forces in former Warsaw Pact countries. This month NATO decided to deploy four battalions on, or near, the Russian border, arguing that since the units will be rotated they are not 'permanent' and are not large enough to be 'significant'. It is a linguistic slight of hand that does not amuse Moscow. NATO has also reneged on a 1997 pledge not to install "permanent" and "significant" military forces in former Warsaw Pact countries. This month NATO decided to deploy four battalions on, or near, the Russian border, arguing that since the units will be rotated they are not 'permanent' and are not large enough to be 'significant'. It is a linguistic slight of hand that does not amuse Moscow. Second was the 1999 US-NATO intervention in the Yugoslav civil war and the forcible dismemberment of Serbia. It is somewhat ironic that Russia is currently accused of using force to "redraw borders in Europe" by annexing the Crimea, which is exactly what NATO did to create Kosovo. The US subsequently built Camp Bond Steel, Washington's largest base in the Balkans. Third was President George W, Bush's unilateral withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the decision by the Obama administration to deploy anti-missile systems in Romania and Poland, as well as Japan and South Korea. Last is the decision by the White House to spend upwards of $1 trillion upgrading its nuclear weapons arsenal, which includes building bombs with smaller yields, a move that many critics argue blurs the line between conventional and nuclear weapons. The Yugoslav War and NATO's move east convinced Moscow that the Alliance was surrounding Russia with potential adversaries, and the deployment of anti-missile systems (ABM) - supposedly aimed at Iran's non-existent nuclear weapons - was seen as a threat to the Russian's nuclear missile force. One immediate effect of ABMs was to chill the possibility of further cuts in the number of nuclear weapons. When Obama proposed another round of warhead reductions, the Russians turned it down cold, citing the anti-missile systems as the reason. "How can we take seriously this idea about cuts in strategic nuclear potential while the United States is developing its capabilities to intercept Russian missiles?" asked Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. When the US helped engineer the 2014 coup against the pro-Russian government in Ukraine, it ignited the current crisis that has led to several dangerous incidents between Russian and NATO forces - at last count, according to the European Leadership Network, more than 60. Several large war games were also held on Moscow's borders. Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev went so far as to accuse NATO of "preparations for switching from a cold war to a hot war." In response, the Russians have also held war games involving up to 80,000 troops. The 'colossal asymmetry' between US and Russian military power It is unlikely that NATO intends to attack Russia, but the power differential between the US and Russia is so great - a "colossal asymmetry", Dmitri Trenin, head of the Carnegie Moscow Center, told the Financial Times - that the Russians have abandoned their 'no first use' of nuclear weapons pledge. It the lack of clear lines that make the current situation so fraught with danger. While the Russians have said they would consider using small, tactical nukes if "the very existence of the state" was threatened by an attack, NATO is being deliberately opaque about its possible tripwires. According to NATO Review, nuclear "exercises should involve not only nuclear weapons states ... but other non-nuclear allies", and "to put the burden of the doubt on potential adversaries, exercises should not point at any specific nuclear thresholds." In short, keep the Russians guessing. The immediate problem with such a strategy is: what if Moscow guesses wrong? That won't be hard to do. The US is developing a long-range cruise missile - as are the Russians - that can be armed with conventional or nuclear warheads. But how will an adversary know which is which? And given the old rule in nuclear warfare - use 'em, or lose 'em - uncertainty is the last thing one wants to engender in a nuclear-armed foe. Indeed, the idea of no "specific nuclear thresholds" is one of the most extraordinarily dangerous and destabilizing concepts to come along since the invention of nuclear weapons. There is no evidence that Russia contemplates an attack on the Baltic states or countries like Poland, and, given the enormous power of the US, such an undertaking would court national suicide. Moscow's 'aggression' against Georgia and Ukraine was provoked. Georgia attacked Russia, not vice versa, and the Ukraine coup torpedoed a peace deal negotiated by the European Union, the US, and Russia. Imagine Washington's view of a Moscow-supported coup in Mexico, followed by an influx of Russian weapons and trainers. In a memorandum to the recent NATO meetings in Warsaw, the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity argued, "There is not one scintilla of evidence of any Russian plan to annex Crimea before the coup in Kiev and coup leaders began talking about joining NATO. If senior NATO leaders continue to be unable or unwilling to distinguish between cause and effect, increasing tension is inevitable with potentially disastrous results." The organization of former intelligence analysts also sharply condemned the NATO war games. "We shake our heads in disbelief when we see Western leaders seemingly oblivious to what it means to the Russians to witness exercises on a scale not seen since Hitler's army launched 'Unternehumen Barbarossa' 75 years ago, leaving 25 million Soviet citizens dead." European states are getting scared - and so they should be! While the NATO meetings in Warsaw agreed to continue economic sanctions aimed at Russia for another six months and to station four battalions of troops in Poland and the Baltic states - separate US forces will be deployed in Bulgaria and Poland - there was an undercurrent of dissent. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called for deescalating the tensions with Russia and for considering Russian President Vladimir Putin a partner not an enemy. Greece was not alone. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeler called NATO maneuvers on the Russian border "warmongering" and "saber rattling". French President Francois Hollande said Putin should be considered a "partner", not a "threat", and France tried to reduce the number of troops being deployed in the Baltic and Poland. Italy has been increasingly critical of the sanctions. Rather than recognizing the growing discomfort of a number of NATO allies and that beefing up forces on Russia's borders might be destabilizing, US Secretary of State John Kerry recently inked defense agreements with Georgia and Ukraine. After disappearing from the radar for several decades, nukes are back, and the decision to modernize the US arsenal will almost certainly kick off a nuclear arms race with Russia and China. Russia is already replacing its current ICBM force with the more powerful and long range 'Sarmat' ICBM, and China is loading its ICBM with multiple warheads. Add to this volatile mixture military maneuvers and a deliberately opaque policy in regards to the use of nuclear weapons, and it is no wonder that Perry thinks that the chances of some catastrophe is a growing possibility. Conn Hallinan is a columnist for Foreign Policy In Focus, A Think Tank Without Walls, and an independent journalist. A winner of a Project Censored 'Real News Award', he lives in Berkeley, California, and blogs at Dispatches from the Edge. This article was originally published on Dispatches from the Edge. The Leave campaign understood these principles from the outset and played a much more effective and responsive game. Leave was blithely dismissive of overall expert opinion, though it recruited enough expert outliers to claim some authority for its claims. Instead it focused its messages on people's core values and identity - patriotism, independence and cultural purity. It created catchphrases that rapidly became social memes, repeated between peers at work and in the pub, about "defending our borders" and "taking back control". And it skilfully wove these into wider themes of national and cultural identity. Tell a good story The exact extent to which a change of wording can shape how people feel and act towards an issue remains the subject of intense debate. Nonetheless, it is beyond doubt that in the world of politics, language matters. Individual words can operate as powerful frames that embody complex meanings. The Leave campaign established a single word, 'control', as the dominant frame in the referendum and mobilised people around the slogan, emblazoned on posters and the battle-bus of "Let's Take Back Control". It did not seek to explain who would be in the collective 'us' which would be allowed to take control, and the line up of interests behind the slogan was hardly egalitarian. However the Leave campaign calculated, correctly as it turned out, that the frame of 'taking control' would speak strongly to a disaffected and disempowered electorate. The Remain campaign did not talk about control, but the clear implication of its elite endorsements for the status quo was "keep us in control because we know what we're doing." Finding the right language is about more than just words and slogans - these elements need to be put together into a story that people can relate to. Compelling stories are invariably built around the same formula: a struggle to overcome an external threat that leads to a restoration harmony and a validation of cultural values. The Brexit storyline was complete and compelling: our core values are under attack by foreign tribes (whether immigrants or Brussels eurocrats) but we are a strong and plucky nation and we can defend our borders and reclaim our independence. The Remain storyline was far less coherent. Like climate change, it lacked a clear external enemy. In the case of climate change the problem is caused by all of us, however hard we try to project blame onto oil companies or high carbon polluters. In the referendum the 'enemy' (opponents of Remain) were also all around them - their political colleagues, workmates, neighbours and often spouses and family members. The Leave campaign enthusiastically focused its energies on the resistance to continental and foreigner out-groups. Remain adopted the far less compelling defensive position of challenging their facts and figures. Identify messages of hope The discussion of future impacts in the referendum shows clear parallels with climate change, an issue where, like the Remain campaign, communicators hope that people can be motivated to act in anticipation of predicted future disaster. In the case of climate communications there is strong evidence that messages dependent on anticipatory fear are often rejected. Those disposed to believe them may actively ignore them in order to defend themselves against anxiety. People who are more sceptical see them as fear mongering, just as Brexit campaigners dubbed the Remain campaign 'Project Fear'. Project Fear was hardly a fair accusation: in the referendum debate both sides used fear-based messaging and were widely criticised for doing so. However, the Leave campaign incorporated fear within a more positive narrative of independence, national strength and renewal. Our research at Climate Outreach confirms that people will embrace the threats and solutions for climate change as part of a larger more positive vision of health, quality of life and new opportunity. Remain failed to create any positive vision. There are many positive reasons for staying within the EU, and Remain could have constructed appealing narratives around the frames of choice, freedom of movement, diversity, opportunity, solidarity and fairness. However, many Remain campaigners from both left and right could not bring themselves to endorse the European project. Not only did they damn it with faint praise, they praised it with faint damns - with frequent asides that the Union is feeble, flawed but probably better than nothing. Hardly inspiring. What can we learn from the EU referendum campaign? The first lesson confirms that effective communication creates narratives around people's values and identity. In particular, as Climate Outreach has always argued, political change requires mobilising support across boundaries of class and politics. Top down information-driven media cannot compete with personal contact and peer-to-peer communication. A second lesson re-iterates the importance of peer-to-peer communications for complex technical issues. Although it had the usual panoply of media outreach tools, the ultimate success of the Leave campaign was down to its ability to organise a mass movement that reached deep into neighbourhoods and communities and could initiate conversations. A third lesson is that public silence around an issue can be broken by effective communication focused around a 'moment'. The Leave campaign generated a political moment of debate and attention around an issue that had previously been of little public interest. Like climate campaigners, advocates for leaving the EU have always struggled to overcome public apathy and indifference. In a poll taken just two months before the referendum, scarcely 15% of people rated 'Europe' as a major issue facing the country. The referendum broke this silence and made EU membership a salient issue, around which people were required to have a position. Climate change is another long term issue that struggles to demand public attention or political priority. Forcing a debate is always a high risk strategy but maybe we require a similar moment of broad-based public scrutiny to break the climate silence and obtain the mandate for a truly effective response to climate change. George Marshall is Director of Projects at Climate Outreach, and author of 'Don't Even Think About It - Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change'. This article was originally published by Climate Outreach. Coming this autumn: 'Communicating climate change: five principles for public engagement', a new book by Dr Adam Corner and Jamie Clarke. The uranium enrichment programmes of both North Korea and Iran also have a UK connection. The blueprints of this type of plant were stolen by Pakistani scientist, A Q Khan, from the URENCO enrichment plant in The Netherlands in the early 1970s. (see David Albright, Peddling Peril, 2010 pp 15-28, Free Press, New York) This plant was - and remains - one-third owned by the UK government. The Pakistan government subsequently sold the technology to Iran, who later exchanged it for North Korean Nodong missiles. A technical delegation from the A Q Khan Research Labs visited North Korea in the summer of 1996. The secret enrichment plant was said to be based in caves near Kumch'ang-ni, 100 miles north of the capital, Pyonyang, where US satellite photos showed tunnel entrances being built. Hwang Jang-yop, a former aid to President Kim Il-sung (the grandfather of the current North Korean President) who defected in 1997, revealed details to Western intelligence investigators. (Levy A, Scott-Clark C Deception: Pakistan, the United States, and the Global Weapons Conspiracy, 2007, p.281, Atlantic Books) Magnox machinations Magnox is a now obsolete type of nuclear power plant ( except in North Korea) which was designed by the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) in the early 1950s, and was exported to Italy and Japan The name 'magnox' comes from the alloy used to clad the fuel rods inside the reactor. The reactors at Calder Hall on the Sellafield site - then called Windscale, and operated by the UKAEA - were opened by the young Queen Elizabeth on 17th October 1956. But it was never meant as a commercial civilian nuclear plant: the real purpose was to make plutonium for nuclear bombs. The UKAEA official historian Kenneth Jay wrote about Calder Hall, in his short book of the same name, published to coincide with the opening of the plant, referring (p.88) to "major plants built for military purposes, such as Calder Hall." Earlier, he wrote (p.80): " ... The plant has been designed as a dual-purpose plant, to produce plutonium for military purposes as well as electric power." The term Magnox also encompasses: Nuclear 'self sufficiency' on the Korean peninsula Olli Heinonen, senior fellow at the internationally reknown Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University in the US has explained how North Korea obtained its uranium enrichment capability. He wrote five years ago: "The pre-eminence of Juche, the political thesis of Kim Il Sung, stresses independence from great powers, a strong military posture, and reliance on national resources. Faced with an impoverished economy, political isolation from the world, and rich uranium deposits, nuclear power-both civilian as well as military-fulfills all three purposes. "History and hindsight have shown a consistency in North Korea's efforts to develop its own nuclear capability. One of the first steps North Korea took was to assemble a strong national cadre of nuclear technicians and scientists. In 1955, North Korea established its Atomic Energy Research Institute. In 1959, it signed an agreement with the Soviet Union to train North Korean personnel in nuclear related disciplines. The Soviets also helped the North Koreans establish a nuclear research center and built a 2 MW IRT nuclear research reactor at Yongbyon, which began operation in 1969. "Throughout the 1970s, North Korea continued to develop its nuclear capabilities, pursuing a dual track approach that was consistent with the idea of nuclear self-reliance. While engaging in discussions to obtain Light Water Reactors (LWRs) from the Soviet Union, North Korea proceeded with parallel studies on graphite moderated gas cooled reactors, using publicly available information based on the Magnox reactor design." North Korea also carried out plutonium separation experiments at its Isotope Production Laboratory (IPL), and successfully separated plutonium in the same decade. The North Koreans worked on the design of a reprocessing plant for which, the chemical process was modeled after the Eurochemic plant. Eurochemic was a research plant dedicated to the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. It was owned by thirteen countries which shared and widely published technologies developed. The plant, located in Dessel, Belgium, operated from 1966 to 1974. When negotiations to acquire four LWRs from the Soviet Union failed, North Korea had already embarked on its indigenous nuclear program. Throughout the 1980s, North Korea constructed a 5 MWe reactor, fuel fabrication plant, and a reprocessing plant at Yongbyon, with no known documented external help and with minimal foreign equipment procured. When the joint statement on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was concluded in December 1991, all three facilities had been fully operational for a number of years, with two additional (50 MWe and 200 MWe) graphite moderated gas cooled reactors under construction. Why enrich the people when you can enrich uranium? North Korea's closed society and isolationist position has made it immensely difficult to accurately gauge its nuclear activities. Pyongyang has gone to great lengths to hide much of its nuclear program, including its enrichment route. Nevertheless, there have been indications, including procurement related evidence, that point in the direction that North Korea has been actively pursuing enrichment since the mid-1990s, with likely exploratory attempts made up to a decade earlier. It is clear that North Korea received a key boost in its uranium enrichment capability from Pakistan through the A Q Khan network. Deliveries of P-1 and P-2 centrifuges, special oils, and other equipment from Pakistan to North Korea in the late 1990s were acknowledged by former Pakistani President General P. Musharraf in his memoirs, In the Line of Fire. President Musharraf also wrote that, separately, North Korean engineers were provided training at A Q Khan's Research Laboratories in Kahuta under the auspices of a government-to-government deal on missile technology that had been established in 1994. In all likelihood, North Korea also received the blue prints for centrifuges and other related process equipment from the Khan network during that period of time. In the late 1980s, North Korea acquired vacuum equipment from a German company. While such equipment was primarily meant for North Korea's fuel fabrication plant then under construction, some of the vacuum pumps could have been used for enrichment experiments. But additional attempts made in 2002 to again acquire vacuum technology after the completion of the fuel fabrication plant strongly pointed to its use for enrichment purposes. Evidence of North Korea's procurement activities in the late 1990s to the early 2000s showed its objective to achieve industrial or semi-industrial scale enrichment capacity, based on a more efficient Pakistani P-2 centrifuge design. In 1997, an attempt was made to acquire large amounts of maraging steel suitable for manufacturing centrifuges. UK contributes again - by exporting high strength aluminium In 2002 / 2003, North Korea successfully procured large quantities of high strength aluminium from Russia and the United Kingdom, another requirement in making centrifuges. A simple tally of the amounts and types of equipment and material sought by North Korea suggests plans to develop a 5,000-centrifuge strong enrichment capacity. This appears consistent with a separate earlier enrichment offer A Q Khan had made to Libya. For North Korea to have embarked on procuring equipment and materials meant for a (semi-)industrial scale enrichment facility, it is highly likely that the known Uranium Enrichment Workshop (UEW) at Yongbyon, which in reality approximates a full sized facility, is not the only one that exists. More workshops would have been needed to serve as test beds for pilot cascades of P-1 and P-2 centrifuges prior to (semi-)industrial scale enrichment operations. While we have signs of North Korea's enrichment goals, the final picture remains unclear given that the actual amount of items procured remains unknown. This problem is compounded by the fact that the North Koreans have and are continuing to source nuclear material and equipment from several parties. Moreover, there remains a high degree of uncertainty concerning the level of North Korea's enrichment technology development. In April 2009, after expelling IAEA inspectors, North Korea publicly announced for the first time that it was proceeding with its own enrichment program. To reinforce its intentions, North Korea followed up with a letter to the UN Security Council on September 3 to confirm that it was embarking on an enrichment phase. In November 2010, the North Koreans unveiled to Siegfried Hecker, a pre-eminent nuclear expert and former director of the Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory, an enrichment facility in Yongbyon with 2000 centrifuge machines similar to the P-2 version, built with maraging steel rotors. (S. Hecker, 'Redefining Denuclearization in North Korea', The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, December 20, 2010.) Implications and consequences On March 22, 2011, North Korea's official news agency, KCNA, portrayed Libya's decision to give up its nuclear weapons as a mistake that opened the country to NATO intervention following its domestic Arab Spring uprising. Such conclusions drawn by North Korea make an already difficult case to engage North Korea to give up its nuclear weapon deterrence that much harder. At the same time, the alternative of disengagement will in all likelihood bring about greater problems. In engaging North Korea, several key hurdles have to be tackled. First, North Korea shows a poor proliferation record. It was the suspected supply source of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) to Libya via the A Q Khan network - the uranium gas used in centrifuges to separate out the fissionable 235U needed in nuclear bombs from non-fissionable 238U. There is also mounting evidence that North Korea was involved in the construction of a secret nuclear reactor at Dair Alzour in Syria that was subsequently destroyed in 2007. It is plausible that North Korean personnel assisted Syria in building the reactor. ('North Korea's Nuclear Enrichment: Capabilities and Consequences', 38 North.org; 22 June 2011). Lessons of history This sorry tale has several important lessons for us today. First - and this must never be forgotten - the UK's early 'atoms for peace' nuclear power programme was specifically designed and intended to produce plutonium for nuclear bombs. And it was not just nuclear waste from Calder Hall that went for plutonium extraction at Windscale, but from other sites that were meant to be purely civilian such as Hinkley Point. The UK is therefore guilty of 'breaking the rules' that are meant to separate civil and military nuclear activities, and its complaints of other states doing the same all carry the unmistakeable whiff of ripest humbug. Second, for all its public position of seeking to restrain nuclear proliferation, the UK is actually one of the world's most egregious nuclear proliferators: providing arch-nuclear enemy North Korea with both the Magnox technology it has used to produce plutonium for atom bombs; and the high strength aluminium it has used for its uranium centrifuges. So when Theresa May stands up in Parliament and proclaims that we need the Trident nuclear missile system to see off the North Korean nuclear threat, remember: it is a threat that the UK created in the first place, providing both the nuclear reactor technology and the centrifuge materials to make it happen. And when the UK cites the nuclear threat from North Korea as a reason to spend an estimated 200 billion on the next generation of Trident, we can be sure that North Korea and other countries aspiring to their own nuclear weapons are applying precisely the same logic to the British nuclear threat. And that considering the UK's history of aggressive regime-changing interventions in Iraq and Libya, the hundreds of (up to 225) nuclear warheads in its possession, and its ability to target them accurately anywhere in the world, North Korea's fears are probably a great deal better founded than Mrs May's. Dr David Lowry is senior research fellow at the Institute for Resource and Security Studies, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. photos by MIKE LAWRENCE / THE GLEANER Blake Ellen Eblen, 9, brushes her goat, Murphy, as she prepares to show it Monday in the Henderson County Fair goat show. SHARE Spectators take photos Monday as they watch the goat show at the Henderson County Fair. This year's fair will conclude Tuesday with the hog show. Judge Matthew Morgan eyes participants as they parade their animals during the goat show. MIKE LAWRENCE / THE GLEANER Alex Roberts, 7 years-old, tries to keep his goat Brad out of mischief as he prepares to show him at the Henderson County Fair Goat Show Monday, July 25, 2016. MIKE LAWRENCE / THE GLEANER Avery Thomas keeps her eyes on the judge as she shows her goat Vanilla Ice at the Henderson County Fair Goat Shot Monday, July 25, 2016. By Tom Lovett of The Gleaner With the ride closed and pulling tractors gone, livestock took center stage Monday at the Henderson County Fair. Goats were the order of the day, with hogs set to be shown on Tuesday. Exhibitors ranged from 5-year-old Alex Roberts, who was far more excited about the time his goat stepped on his mother's toes, to Jessi Brewer, a 14-year veteran, who was showing at multiple county fairs across the region. Monday was Alex's first goat show. He said he hadn't done a lot to prepare, but had washed his goat, Brad, that morning. Brad, who stood nearly eye to eye with Alex, spent a good portion of his time in the show ring jumping up on Alex. "He was up to something," Alex said afterward. "He was in la-la land or something. He was jumping on me and stepping on my feet." The judge, Matthew Morgan of Elizabethtown, said judging really young exhibitors like Alex is more of a challenge. "The biggest thing I look for is kids who are trying and putting forth an effort. ... At that age it's more important that they're out here having fun." Alex's older brother Clay is showing pigs Tuesday. Clay said the hogs weigh around 250 to 275 pounds, so to get them to do what he wants "you kind of have to use a stick on them." After Clay shows his hogs, they're headed to auction, with the money going to his college fund. Another exhibitor, Avery Thomas, 14, of Cairo, also is planning on sending her goats to market after the show. Avery said she thinks her two goats, Vanilla Ice and Chocolate, will bring about $1,400 apiece. "The money's going to go toward my braces, then toward my car," she said. Avery and Vanilla Ice had just come out of the show ring. "I thought (Vanilla Ice) did pretty good," Avery said. "The only thing the judge said was wrong is that I grabbed her horns when I was pulling her up. You're supposed to grab her tail, but I grabbed her horns, trying to make her head stay up." She said judges doesn't really hold it against exhibitors when the goats balk, but it's better if they don't. Morgan backed up her opinion. "(Balking) is to be expected some, but ideally you want goats that are going to walk around the ring," he said. " ... That shows that the exhibitors have been working with them. When the do struggle a little bit, how the exhibitor reacts to that is very important to how they get placed eventually." Another competitor had no trouble with her goat. Jessi Brewer, 17, of Crittenden County has been showing goats since she was 3. Om Monday she and a Lamancha goat named Lemon Twist won the senior showmanship class and the overall showman grand champion. She said the secret to their success is putting in the time. "If you're going to be considered a good showman, you need to work with the goat you're going to show at least an hour a day," she said. "As you get older and you work with your goats more and your goats are more tame, your goat will just know how to walk around that ring like I taught." Jessi said in the showmanship division, the focus is on the exhibitor, not the goat. (The judge) is judging me how I interact with my goat and how I interact with him. He's not judging my goat. He's judging how I work my goat." Brewer said they've competed at seven county fairs so far "and we still have a few to go." Winter is coming. Here's what you can do to prepare. columns As previously reported and celebrated, Shannen Doherty is done with chemotherapy. But is the actress done with cancer? As Doherty herself This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NORWALK Maybe you wouldnt have thought she was smart. A lanky girl with big brown eyes and dark skin, Mackenzie Jackson was not necessarily picked for this summer program for displaying conventional academic achievement. She was picked, though, for her leadership and out-of-the-box perspective smarts of a different kind. I like when we get to play outside and get smarter, too, Mackenzie, 6, said in a kindergarten classroom at Brookside Elementary this week. She had just come back from outside, where her class jumped like bunnies, waddled like penguins and crawled like inch worms for the classs measurement unit. The classroom is one of four in Brookside for a summer program called Supporting and Promoting Advanced Readiness in Kids, or SPARK, a statewide project out of the University of Connecticut to include more underserved populations in academically talented tracks. The idea is that by giving students a jump-start through summer programming, they will be more likely to follow advanced programs later on in their academic career. Norwalk is one of four districts in Connecticut to participate in this program. The others include Manchester, West Hartford and most recently, New Haven. As the Norwalk school district looks to combat the achievement gap, this project looks to combat the achievement gap within the highest level of performance, known as the excellence gap. During the school year, teachers are instructed to pick out students in kindergarten through second grade who appear to have the potential for higher learning, though they may not be up-to-speed with their peers just yet. Those students are then invited to join the SPARK summer program, which is in its second year in Norwalk. They might still look like theyre struggling academically, but you can see that spark, said Jennifer Sweeters, Mackenzies Brookside SPARK instructor and a first-grade teacher at the school. It really helps change peoples minds about what teaching is, she said. Because to identify kids that think out-of-the-box, the teachers have to think out-of-the-box too. Who are the smart students? How are they chosen? What is smart, really? are all things, she said, that shes begun to question. In search for the gifted The University of Connecticut received federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education for the SPARK project, which is based on the Young Scholars Model, an initiative out of Fairfax County, Virginia. The model focused on uplifting advanced learners from underserved populations. They have a tendency not to get picked up and identified by gifted programs as much as other kids, said Catherine Little, principal investigator for the project. Barriers of race and class seem to be at the forefront of this discrepancy, and large determiners in childrens future academic performance. One study conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress found that between 1998 and 2007, 1.7 percent or fewer free and reduced lunch program-eligible students scored at advanced levels in eighth grade, compared to 10 percent of non-eligible students that scored at advanced levels. And a lot of that has to do with perception. One study conducted by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation said one of the most significant barriers to the development and retention of capabilities of students in academically talented programs is inaccurate perceptions held by teachers and school administrators about the capabilities of these students and the strengths of their families. National studies have also shown that standardized tests tend to favor those of a particular class and race: namely the white and wealthy. We need to look at how we identify kids for gifted programs, but we also need to look to help kids build their capacity, so when they hit the point of being identified in gifted programs, they have a better probability of being picked, Little said. Throughout the district last year, the kids involved in the summer program were 44 percent free or reduced lunch, 46 percent Hispanic, 11 percent African-American and 17 percent English Language Learners. Across the board, those numbers were higher than the percentage across districts. But the kids in the SPARK summer programs arent hand-picked simply because they come from marginalized communities, Little said. While Brookside and Norwalk as a whole were picked for its diversity, that wasnt what the teachers were looking for, and SPARK isnt limited to only those kids, she said. Were really encouraging that teachers not be comparing kids that come from very different backgrounds to each other, but are looking at students who show advanced potential given what we know and might expect from those students, she said. The curriculum they use is called M-Squared, a math model developed at UConn, fueled not by numbers but hands-on activities and group discussions. In that way, though the content is math, the students develop writing and social skills, Sweeters said. Part of the reason for choosing a focus on math, Little said, is that its more inclusive for the young English language learners, who might not have the English-speaking ability to do reading and writing-heavy curriculum. It opens things up for those students who show a high potential but are not caught up with the reading level yet, she said. Brookside Elementary was chosen for its diversity, and for a point of comparison, the Project SPARK team will be gathering student data at Tracey Elementary as well, which is called the comparison, or control school. Determining which school would be the treatment school with the summer program, provided to them for free, was done by a literal flip of a coin, Little said. In addition to hosting the summer program, Project SPARK is gathering data on student performance and also provides professional development opportunities for the K-2 teachers. For the first time, the University of Connecticut hosted a four-day institute for teachers to learn more about measuring student achievement and identifying those with potential for advanced learning. Four Norwalk teachers attended this year, Little said, including Sweeters. Young students see benefits Though data has not become available on the performance of the kids who participated last year, anecdotally, things seem to be going well. The teachers have told us the kids who participated in the summer program last summer got a lot out of that experience, benefited from it and enjoyed it, Little said. Sweeters said she could totally see a difference in the kindergarten students last summer that went on to take her first grade class. You can totally tell. And they show a great jump as well in language. Its math-based but it does apply to other areas. Because its reaching language skills, she said. This year, 56 kids are participating, compared to the 45 kids from last year, with 18 repeat students, Little said. It sets them up to be learners and boosts their confidence as well, Sweeters said. It gives experiences and language to children that otherwise might not be exposed to them And what does Mackenzie think about her summer program? It makes me happy, she said. SFoster-Frau@CTPost.com; @SilviaElenaFF Every day there is a crisis. As citizens, our first instincts are to contact the police department and send for help. However, after the traumatic events in Baton Rouge, Dallas, and elsewhere, its important for communities to return the favor. President Barack Obama sent a letter to our nations police departments on Monday, July 18, and said citizens sometimes fail to realize all that an officers job entails. In the letter, he stated, Time and time again, you make the split-second decisions that could mean life or death for you and many others in harms way. You endure the tense minutes and long hours over lifetimes of service. Every day, you accept this responsibility and you see your colleagues do their difficult, dangerous jobs with equal valor. I want you to know that the American people see it, too. . . Just as your tight-knit law enforcement family feels the recent losses to your core, our nation grieves alongside you. Any attack on police is an unjustified attack on all of us. With this in mind, Obama closed the letter with a call to action, stating, We must come together to ensure that those who try to divide us do not succeed. We are at our best when we recognize our common humanity, set an example for our children of trust and responsibility, and honor the sacrifices of our bravest by coming together to be better. After receiving the letter, Edwardsville Police Chief Jay Keeven said the support from the President is important in recognizing and understanding all that police officers encounter on a daily basis. I appreciate receiving support from any public officials but certainly from the President of the United States, identifying the fact that our national police officers actually do a very good job, each and every day protecting and working within the communities that we serve. Whats unfortunate is we dont always see that support from elected officials and we dont always see that support from our residents," Keeven said. Keeven said despite all that has occurred in the past few weeks, the community of Edwardsville and the Edwardsville Police Departments are on good terms and have been for some time. Im not the kind of person that will stick my head in the sand and say everything is always wonderful, but I do believe that we have a community that has provided tremendous support, and especially ever since the officers were murdered in Dallas and now Baton Rouge. Our department has been getting flooded with baked goods and casseroles and coupons for pizzas. People are really letting us know that they appreciate the work we do, and that goes a long way for the men and women that are out there working, knowing that even though every time they turn their television on, they see bad news, but whenever theyre in their community, they see great support. I cant stress enough how appreciative we are of that support within this community, Keeven said. With that being said, there are still precautions officers can take when on the job. Keeven said although its not likely anything will happen in Edwardsville, its important for officers to be mindful and on the lookout for the unexpected. I have reminded our officers that they need to be diligent, that they need to wear their bullet-proof vest, and that if there is a call for service and we can send two officers instead of just one, well do just that. To say we dont have concerns would be wrong or false, but I can tell you that for the most part, I truly believe we have a great working relationship with our community, with the citizens we serve. I would be very surprised if someone were to attack one of our officers. But, with that being said, Ive been surprised before, Keeven said. Support is essential in moving forward, and Keeven said the city can still expect to be protected and served accordingly, regardless of what has happened so far. We will continue to provide the level of service that our citizens have been accustomed to and what I mean by that is I think the people that we serve expect a lot from us, and in return, they get a great deal of support and respect. I think thats a positive cycle that we have within this community and Im sure we have within the many Metro East communities. In times when you turn your television on and all you see is bad news when it comes to community relations and police officers being murdered, its nice to serve in a community where people tell you thank you for doing the job that youre doing, Keeven said. Keeven said he wants the citizens of Edwardsville to know how appreciative the EPD is of their unrelenting support and hopes it continues in the future. We had an individual walk into our dispatch this morning and I spoke with him a little around 7:30. Hes an African-American man, probably about 30-years-old. He just wanted to stop in to say, Hey, thanks, I appreciate what you do. We have a nice community and I hope we keep it that way. Those kinds of supportive statements from individuals really spin our cycle in a positive manner. Our officers are appreciative of the support they receive in this community, and therefore they go out and try to provide the best service they can to the citizens of this community, Keeven said. The federal judge in a discrimination lawsuit against Madison County Treasurer Kurt Prenzler says she will be issuing an injunction that warns the treasurer against violating the Americans With Disabilities Act in the future. District Judge Staci Yandle oversaw the federal trial in February in which Prenzlers former employee, Lisa Dunnagan, accused him of firing her after she had suffered a life-threatening illness. A jury awarded Dunnagan $450,000. That fine was increased to $658,898. The recent rulings by Yandle on back pay and attorney fees could push the figure closer to $1 million, according to county officials. In a four-page order issued Monday, Yandle sided with Dunnagans attorney, Lee Barron. Barron had filed a motion seeking $80,000 in back pay for his client. Dunnagan, who had been earning $57,640 a year as the departments comptroller, testified that she had hoped to work at least two more years. After her position was eliminated, she landed a job as a part-time bookkeeper, and the difference in lost wages between those jobs, for two years, is about $80,000. In the order issued on Monday, Yandle noted that jurors had listened to all the evidence and testimony and ruled that Prenzler had discriminated against Dunnagan by constructively discharging her because she had a disability. Nothing in the record indicates that Defendants took any steps to prevent such discrimination from occurring in the future. Accordingly, the Courts forthcoming judgment will include an injunction, enjoining the Madison County Treasurers Office from taking any further actions that would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. At the trial, the defendants maintained that Dunnagan failed to mitigate her damages by refusing to accept a part-time job for $35,360. And while Yandle agreed that a plaintiff who is unlawfully discharged is required to mitigate her damages, the defendants offer of a lower-paying, non-supervisory position was not an offer made in good faith. Yandle also ruled that the $200-an-hour rate for attorney William Buchanan is reasonable. Defense attorneys had argued that the rate should be only $100 to $150 an hour because Buchanan had only been licensed for 29 months and his role in the case was limited. But Buchanan examined a witness, prepared jury instructions, and participated in the litigation in other non-trivial ways, Yandle wrote. She granted the plaintiffs petition and awarded $125, 440 combined for Barron and Buchanan, and costs of $3,368. In a statement issued Monday, Madison County Board Chairman Alan Dunstan said Prenzler should "apologize" to county taxpayers. Prenzler, meanwhile, in remarks issued Tuesday, said he believes "we have excellent grounds to appeal." A 56-year-old Collinsville man has pleaded guilty to selling oxycodone and methadone out of his home. Gerald L. Tanner, Jr. pleaded guilty in federal court last week. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of not more than $ 1 million. Last year in Madison County, 19 people died from taking prescription drugs. The pattern has continued into the first half of 2016 despite warnings from local law enforcement that such prescription pain-killers are often a stepping stone to heroin use. Tanner is alleged to have been part of a conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and methadone throughout the area, along with Ryan Koch, 34, and Lisa Marie Sue Ketterer, both of St. Clair County, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office. The release contends that the DEA used a confidential source to buy opiate-based medications from Koch and Ketterer. Those drugs, it contends, were supplied by Tanner. Koch and Ketterer allegedly sold some of those drugs and used the rest for themselves, according to the release. Koch and Ketterer pleaded guilty this spring in federal court. Koch will be sentenced Sept. 29, Ketterer Aug. 23. There has been a national proliferation of opiate drug abuse, U.S. Attorney Donald Boyce said in the news release. Sales of opiod pain relievers quadrupled between 1999 and 2010. And that proliferation has correlated strongly with an increase in heroin abuse and drug-related deaths. Opiates are causing tremendous damage in our community and the U.S. Attorneys office will continue to fight the distribution of drugs that endanger public safety. Tanner was indicted by a federal grand jury in November of 2015. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 19. The investigation is being conducted by the Diversion Investigators from the DEA. The case is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft. Members of the Glen Carbon Police Department gave a presentation at the Centennial Library to a group of children about how science, technology, engineering and math, STEM, are a vital part of modern day law enforcement. Joy Shaw, Glen Carbon Police Department evidence clerk, said police officers have to keep up with all of the technological advances that have been introduced into police work over the past decade. STEM is an important part of police work, she said. There is a lot more to this job than people are aware and without the use of science and technology we would not be able to get the job done. Shaw explained the use of biology pertaining to DNA collection to identify suspects, the use of math to measure angles and distance in regard to traffic accidents as well as blood splatter and the technological advances in evidence collection. There are whole labs full of scientists at our disposal that help us solve crimes, she said. She explained that the Illinois State Police has a crime lab in Belleville as well as Springfield and Chicago. We send evidence to these labs and the experts and the scientists help us find answers to the clues we have gathered, she said. These are state-of-the-art facilities filled with scientists. Magi Henderson, youth services director, said the program showed the participants that there were many different careers in law enforcement other than being a police officer and STEM fits right into the work they do everyday to protect society. Glen Carbon Police Officer Lt. Wayne White explained the technological advances of equipment used by police officers. He explained that the bullet proof vests are made of Kevlar, a fabric five times stronger than steel. Its a rule that every police officer in uniform has to wear a bulletproof vest to keep us safe, he explained. Unfortunately we are in a time in history that we have to wear them to keep us safe. White said the science, technology and engineering that went into the development of the material took a lot of hard work to make the products to keep officer safe. The participants also got an introduction of the radar guns used by police to catch speeders. White explained the science behind the radar guns, but the highlight was actually using it on motorists driving past the library. We generally get some surprised looks from drivers when they see the kids operating the radar gun, White said. The Glen Carbon Police Department has presented the STEM presentation at the library on several occasions. The program was part of the librarys ongoing summer programs for children. Gori Julian & Associates is again partnering with Global Brew Tap House for this years Oktoberfest taking place on Sat., Sept. 17, 2016 in Edwardsville City Park. Companies throughout the region are already signing on as event sponsors for this one-day event filled with live music, food from area restaurants, craft beer and fun. Oktoberfest begins at 11 a.m. and closes at 8 p.m., offering a little something for everyone. Not only is this a fun community event, it also raises money for a cause and organization that we are passionate about: the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, or MARF, said Caitlin Lagemann of Gori Julian. There are about 3,000 new cases of mesothelioma cancers diagnosed each year in the United States alone. Proceeds from this years Oktoberfest will again go towards mesothelioma treatment and research. Also a repeat this year, raffle tickets to win a trip for two to Germany will be available for $15 each with proceeds going towards MARF. Gori Julian and Global Brew are currently seeking sponsors for this event and fundraiser, offering plenty of promotional opportunities for businesses wanting to get involved. Sponsorship packets have already gone out, with varying levels of contributions available. For more information about sponsorship opportunities, please contact Lindy at Gori Julian & Associates at (618) 659-9833. Gori Julian & Associates has recovered more than $2 billion in compensation for those suffering as a result of asbestos exposure. Although the attorneys at Gori Julian & Associates concentrate on asbestos-related injuries, they also handle cases in occupational disease and pharmaceutical litigation. For more information on the areas of law practiced by the attorneys at Gori Julian & Associates, or to contact an attorney at the firm, visit www.gorijulianlaw.com or call toll free at 888.362.6890. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Lee Chen Chen and Lau Xin Yi (The Jakarta Post) Singapore Tue, July 26, 2016 Palm oil is a vital ingredient for many products and the industry provides a significant source of national revenue and employment for millions of farmers. Indonesia and Malaysia collectively account for 85 to 90 percent of global palm oil production. But palm oil is often associated with various controversies including the persistent fires and haze. Responding to this pressure, several initiatives have emerged to steer the palm oil industry towards more socially- and environmentally-friendly practices, such as the Indonesia Palm Oil Pledge (IPOP) made in New York in 2014. Yet, the dissolution of IPOP in July, less than two years since it was launched, did not come as a surprise to industry observers. Since its inception in 2014, IPOP had met with resistance from the Indonesian government and many local palm oil companies. Dissenters had accused IPOP of infringing on Indonesias sovereignty and causing small-scale farmers to lose market access if they could not keep up with IPOPs standards. Various interests are clearly at play here. The importance of the palm oil sector to the Indonesian economy and smallholders livelihoods means that the country prefers to be in the driving seat in setting industry standards. IPOPs disbandment is a clear sign that its members lacked sufficient engagement with these key stakeholders. It has also increased the uncertainty surrounding Indonesias fire and haze problem. Announced at the 2014 United Nations Climate Summit, IPOP was a landmark agreement among major palm oil producing companies Wilmar, Golden Agri-Resources, Asian Agri, Musim Mas and Cargill to collaborate to achieve industry-leading sustainability practices. These include banning deforestation on all forest types and working with small-scale farmers to improve their productivity. IPOP appeared even more promising when PT Astra Agro Lestari, Indonesias second largest palm oil grower, came on board in February this year. This was a significant U-turn for Astra Agro, which had previously been singled out by NGOs for deforestation and human rights violations. There were hopes that Joko Supriyono, a member of Astra Agros Board of Directors and Chairman of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI), would be able to influence other GAPKI members to adopt stronger sustainability practices. However, IPOP quickly faced disapproval from the administration. Its commitments went significantly beyond national legal requirements for sustainability, known as Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO). The Indonesian government had perceived IPOP as an infringement on its sovereignty and a possible vehicle for American interests. In addition, the government worried that IPOP could hurt local farmers, who risked having their supply excluded from the market. Aware of these concerns, IPOP established a Secretariat in Jakarta to engage relevant stakeholders, especially the relevant Indonesian ministries. Despite these efforts, Indonesias Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) claimed in April this year that IPOP had the potential to facilitate a cartel, which could lead to monopolistic practices and unhealthy competition. It was the threat of being investigated and taken to court by KPPU that eventually prompted IPOPs disbandment. What does IPOPs dissolution mean? For IPOP signatory companies, the dissolution of IPOP does not significantly affect their commitment to sustainability. After all, these companies have each adopted individual policies that largely mirror IPOPs environmental and social targets. But IPOPs dissolution has left a vacuum in that leading palm oil companies no longer have a common, forward-looking sustainability standard to push the rest of the sector towards. The ISPO standard has faced criticism for not being rigorous enough to drive the sectoral-level change needed by the oil palm industry. At the same time, demands for responsible palm oil are only continuing to increase, especially from some of Indonesias most important export markets. In December 2015, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK signed the Amsterdam Declaration to support a fully sustainable palm oil supply chain by 2020. China is also developing a Guide for Overseas Investment and Production of Sustainable Palm Oil by Chinese Enterprises, which will spur trade and consumption of certified sustainable palm oil within China. With IPOP gone, stakeholders must now turn to the Indonesian state-backed programme ISPO to drive the palm oil sectors sustainability push. To answer its critics, it is particularly important for ISPO to follow through on its stated commitment to certify small-scale farmers, who constitute 40 percent of palm oil production. Most such farmers operate independently, with little knowledge of sustainable practices and limited access to productivity-increasing technology. As a state-regulated mandatory certification scheme, ISPO has the potential to help many small farmers take the first step towards more productive and sustainable farming. To ensure that Indonesia continues leading on palm oil sustainability, we recommend the following measures: First, since 2010, the Indonesian government has maintained a roadmap for the development of Indonesias palm oil derivative and downstream industries, with the aim of improving the value of its palm oil in the export market. Incorporating sustainability goals in the roadmap will clarify the governments direction and invite different stakeholders to play a complementary role to advance the sustainability agenda. Second, local authorities and companies should come together to form voluntary multi-stakeholder groups, in order to share best practices and to address common social and environmental concerns. One such group is the Fire-Free Alliance, which is committed to sharing information, knowledge and resources to resolve the persistent problems of fires and haze arising from land clearing. These groups can also address other long-standing concerns. One example is the milling process to produce crude palm oil from oil palm fruit, which leads to massive amounts of waste, and consequently localized air and water pollution. Third, even after ISPO certification is achieved, both the Indonesian government and the private sector should continue assisting small-scale farmers to adopt socially- and environmentally-friendly measures that go beyond existing regulations. For those small-scale farmers who enjoy an exclusive supply agreement with a large company, the establishment of cooperatives offers a promising model. Such cooperatives serve to both educate smallholders about best practices and provide the necessary logistical and financial support to implement them. Ultimately, it is critical to put local communities interests at the heart of any initiative, whether private sector-or government-led. Only then can we bring about improved livelihoods for farmers, reducing the need to burn forests and making ASEANs persistent fires and haze a thing of the past. *** Lee Chen Chen and Lau Xin Yi are respectively director (policy programs) and policy research analyst (sustainability) of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA). --------------- 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. To activate the text-to-speech service, please first agree to the privacy policy below. Taipei, July 26 (CNA) The first meeting of a new dialogue on maritime cooperation between Taiwan and Japan has been postponed, after Taipei requested that the meeting, originally slated for July 28, be pushed back to allow better preparations for the wide-ranging topics to be discussed, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Bernardus Djonoputro (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26, 2016 Against the backdrop of rising concern for the fate of our cities, urbanization has become one of todays most talked about and politicized issues in government cabinets and boardrooms across the world. The future of our planet is debated as if it is centered exclusively on the issue of a rapidly urbanizing world, the primacies of great metropolitans and conurbations, and the race to create more livable spaces. The UN has clearly stated that urbanization has significantly contributed to economic growth, while fostering development and improving welfare in many locations. But urbanization also has contributed to challenges that include multi-dimensional poverty, environmental degradation and low disaster preparedness. The new Urban Agenda, a 20-year program to define the narratives and future of sustainable urban development, planning and human settlements, will be decided at the Habitat III conference in Quito, Ecuador, in October. The preparatory committee meeting hosted by Indonesia in Surabaya on July 24 to 27, will discuss suitable strategies prior to convening in Quito. Indonesia is one of the UN bureau members for Habitat III together with Chile, Ecuador, France, Germany, Senegal, Slovakia and the United Arab Emirates. Potentially the worlds fifth-largest economy in the next two decades, Indonesias role in the agenda will reflect its own preparation in embracing urbanization and sustainability issues within its own domestic context. Sadly, it is not clear how Indonesia is going to seize this opportunity to make a valuable contribution to the agenda. The introduction of what may only be described as a rather rudimentary National Report issued by Indonesia earlier this year was a disappointment. It is barely an elaboration of significant principle differences faced by bureaucrats, contrasted against an ideal development planning practice in Indonesia. In reality Indonesias relatively stable macroeconomic fundamentals are still heavily overshadowed by disparities between its regions. Its vast area impedes uniform growth and distribution of resulting prosperity. At the same time, the government has set a utopian target of 100-0-100, or 100 percent access to sanitation, zero slums and a 100 percent potable water network by 2019! This target was launched at the eleventh hour of the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration and has since been adopted by President Joko Jokowi Widodos Cabinet in its development plans. Setting such an ambitious target is not helpful to finding suitable policies to address these gaps. The government claims its water network stands at 67 percent coverage, with 60 percent accessibility to sanitation and slum areas at 12 percent. This sounds like great progress, but the real problem is how those outcomes are distributed across cities and regions. Many cities and towns are still struggling, where water is in crisis, open latrines a common view and slum areas are still dominating the landscape to varying degrees. It is consistent the world across, with the World Health Organization reporting that in 2015 only 68 percent of the worlds population had access to satisfactory sanitation facilities, and 2.4 billion people still did not have basic sanitation facilities such as toilets or latrines. Access to drinking water is defined as a water source that is less than 1 kilometer away from its place of use and where at least 20 liters can be obtained per member of a household per day. Water needs to be safe, with microbial, chemical and physical characteristics that meet WHO guidelines or national standards on drinking water quality. The Indonesian National Report fails to reflect the necessary focus on the overwhelming disparities between regions, nor does it give fair consideration to the fact that strategic and supposedly fast-growth areas are not developing rapidly enough. Vision is clearly absent in our urban development programs. Development is dictated for the most part and indeed often measured by the sprawl of cities creating conurbations and interconnections thus producing a mega-urban system. Examples include the Greater Jakarta megapolitan with a population of 28 million, the Mebidangro system (Medan-Binjai-Deli Serdang) with 5 million in North Sumatera, metropolitan Bandung with 7.7 million, Surabaya Gerbang Kertasusila with almost 10 million, and the Maminasata area in Makassar of almost 4.5 million. There is an absence of a strong national system-of-cities plan, leading to lack of coordination and imbalanced growth of metropolitans, big, medium and small cities. A sharp decline in quality of life in urban areas due to unproductive urbanization will become more dominant if local governments are lacking the political will to ensure consistency in the implementation of master plans. One of the most immediate concerns is the ongoing massive land conversion from productive agricultural land to non-agriculture, and from productive land to residential areas. There are disparities between areas within small regions and intra-island locations, such as between the east and west coastal areas of Sumatra, the north and southern coastal areas of Java, and the remote border areas with neighboring countries. Central and local governments need to implement a business-not-as-usual approach, including a focus on overwhelming common inter-region issues such as water resources, regional waste management, flood control and disaster management. And bureaucrats must stop engaging in counterproductive activities that contribute toward a high cost economy, and rather concentrate on delivering much needed regulatory reforms to accelerate infrastructure development. Indonesian cities need to identify innovative strategies to increase stakeholder engagement and boost investment. Several cities and regions have started to do so witness initiatives championed by Makassar in South Sulawesi, Bandung in West Java and governments of South Sumatra to speed up private participation in roads, public utilities and mass transportation, transit-oriented development and water supply systems. Habitat III is crucial to Indonesia and to President Jokowi if there is a desire to influence strategic direction and the global agenda. As a former mayor himself, President Jokowi is an asset, with the task of governing a strategic region of 17,000 islands with over 250 million people along the equator, addressing major disparities and creating more livable cities. The Surabaya meeting provides a platform for Indonesia to redefine its agenda. It is an opportunity for the government to renew its political engagement in the urban agenda, embracing the voices of the young through applied technologies and connecting rural communities to growth centers. Urban development needs to be measured against the need to protect and develop borders, infrastructure, productivity, environmental considerations, social inclusion, quality of life and good urban governance. It is time for President Jokowi to promote his vision to develop inclusive, livable and sustainable Indonesian cities cities for the people. *** The writer is president of the Indonesian Association of Urban and Regional Planners, and an advisory council member of the APEC Center for Urban Infrastructure Network headquartered at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. --------------- 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. A 22-year-old female university student in Mizuho Ward, Nagoya, on a bicycle had her bag snatched from the bikes front basket by a man on a motorcycle at about 3 p.m. on Sunday. She was absorbed in the "Pokemon Go" game when the man sneaked up behind her. The bag contained 2,000 yen (US$18) in cash and other things, but the woman was not injured. According to police, she was heading to a nearby park to hunt Pokemon Go monsters while looking at her smartphone. The game was released in Japan on Friday. In Teine Ward, Sapporo, a 19-year-old woman reported to local police at about 3 p.m. on Sunday that she was hit by a boy on a bicycle who was playing a smartphone game. The boy was apparently a primary school student and was reportedly playing Pokemon Go at the time of the accident. The woman was not injured. In Mino, Gifu Prefecture, a Brazilian man wandered onto the Tokai-Hokuriku Highway at about 8:45 p.m. on Sunday. According to Gifu prefectural police, the 24-year-old company employee from Kani in the prefecture was said to have been immersed in Pokemon Go when a driver found him walking on the side of the highway. In Niihama, Ehime Prefecture, a male teenage student on a bicycle bumped into a man in his 40s when the student looked at his phone to check Pokemon Go at about 8:20 p.m. on Saturday. The student was uninjured, but the man complained about mild lower back pain. Okayama prefectural police issued traffic tickets to a 34-year-old male company employee, a 30-year-old part-timer and a 22-year-old female company employee on Saturday and Sunday for violating the Road Traffic Law. They were all playing Pokemon Go while driving. Manpower Minister M. Hanif Dhakiri has asserted that illegal foreign workers and foreign workers who violate labor rules will be immediately deported from Indonesian territory. Hanif asked people to report to the local manpower offices should they find illegal foreign workers or those who are violating the rules. Further action includes sending copies of the reports to provincial-level manpower offices and the Manpower Ministry so that the ministry can directly take firm action. "If people see [illegal foreign workers or those violating the rules], please report it, and well have them deported immediately. If we ourselves in the government find illegal foreign workers, well also promptly have them sent home," said Hanif prior to a meeting with House of Representatives Commission IX in Jakarta on July 19. Hanif said the government could not stop foreign workers coming into the country as many countries around the world employed foreign workers. What is important is how the government reacts to the issue. We dont question the fact that they are coming into Indonesia; we are concerned about their being illegal or violating our rules. If they are here illegally or have violated our rules, we wont hesitate to send them packing. Its that simple, he said. The minister dismissed the notion that an influx of foreign workers, particularly as has been rumored from China, was a prerequisite for foreign investment. He said that for each business cooperation agreement each country had its own regulations. "In Indonesia we have strict rules related to foreign workers. There are competency requirements, and technology transfers, for example. Basically, only those with skills can come and work here. As long as they are here legally and conform to our law, there shouldnt be any problems, Hanif said. The minister said in the period of 2011-2016, there had been only a minor fluctuation. Data from the ministry reveals there were 77,307 expatriate workers in 2011, 72,427 in 2012, 68,957 in 2013, 68,762 in 2014, 69,025 workers in 2015. And until the end of the first half of 2016 there were 43,816 foreign workers in the country. Hanif asserted that the data the ministry had were valid and accountable and the foreign workers met the requirements, including entry and work permits. "We have complete data, along with their names. So, it is not true that 10 million Chinese workers are ready to enter the country. Even on social media, the rumors said it was only hearsay. I cannot respond to hearsay, he said. Previously Hanif also denied the rumor saying that 10 million Chinese workers were part of the commitment to cooperation between Indonesia and China. Hanif said just as with foreign workers from other countries, there was a fluctuation in their numbers each year. However, the number of Chinese workers has remained stable, between 14,000 and 16,000 people in any one-year period, or between 20 and 22 percent of the total number of foreign workers in Indonesia. Hanif explained further that foreign workers could only occupy certain limited posts with specific skills, the lowest being an engineer or a technician. Unskilled workers have no place here and having them here is a violation. And we will take action against any violation, including deportation, he said. Foreign workers wanting to work in Indonesia have to meet all requirements including having work and stay permits, and they must already have obtained all permits before entering the country. Besides, none of the permits can be obtained individually; the companies that hire them must take care of obtaining these permits. So, it is not true that there are 10 million Chinese workers entering Indonesia. Maybe the number comes from Tourism Ministry data, he said Based on the collected data, the Manpower Ministry reported that the total target of international tourists visiting Indonesia in 2016 was around 12 million people. The target will increase every year, with the target for 2017 being 15 million tourists, 17 million in 2018, and 20 million tourists in 2019. Of the total target, tourist numbers from Greater China (China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) are expected to amount to 10.7 million people, with 2.1 million in 2016, 2.5 million in 2017, 2.8 million in 2018 and 3.3 million in 2019. So, its clear that the number [10 million Chinese workers] is an insinuation or a provocative figure. Even the number of expected tourists from Greater China doesnt reach that figure, Hanif stated. This article brought to you by PR office of Manpower Ministry Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dylan Amirio (The Jakarta Post) Singapore Mon, July 25 2016 In order to handle digital threats, experts are saying that governments or companies must be able to establish their respective incident response teams with clear frameworks, as well as the ability to have access to absolutely every kind of data in a system. As Indonesia, a country where breaches are rampant, prepares to establish its own National Cybersecurity Agency (BCN) in August, observers have given recommendations about how prevention teams would be able to fully deal with particular matters. Clear frameworks in this case hinge on the aspects of proper governance, an outline to what threats are present and have occurred before and the technical methods of solving them. Observers note that such coordinated guidelines can make a difference in the way companies and governments train their response teams and yield more effective results. Sunil Varkey, the chief information security officer of Indian IT firm Wipro, elaborated that the most fundamental aspect to consider before a company or a country wants to establish a proper incident response center is to make sure that their digital network is durable enough to withstand the smallest of threats and has the human resources necessary to combat them. Regarding the human aspects, Sunil underlined that incident respond teams must also be granted the appropriate amount of access to a country or a companys digital network so that they can freely maneuver through the system to tackle threats. Response teams must be empowered enough so that they have access to all sections of an institutions system so that threat prevention can be done more easily. It doesnt help if their access is partially restricted to some data, he said at the 2016 RSA Conference in Singapore on information security. Stressing the importance of response teams having adequate authority, Wipros chief information security officer added that an incident response center would also need to operate under a clear and structured framework so that threats and solutions can be easily identified and educators are able to smoothly teach new response teams quicker. Incident response teams need hunters, pure and simple. They can be centralized or even partly outsourced it doesnt matter. The crucial aspect of it is to develop a clear framework on prevention so that these hunters can easily learn what the problems and solutions are. It will be easier for these hunters to also pass what they learned down to newer ones, he added. Indonesia itself currently has an internet incident response team (ID SIRTII) that had recently been integrated into the National Cybersecurity Agency. According to data from Microsoft Indonesia, cybersecurity attacks and breaches, especially in the banking sector, have cost the country up to Rp 33.29 billion (US$2.54 million), as Indonesia holds a 50 percent infection rate for malware viruses, the highest in Southeast Asia. About 22 percent of all crimes conducted in Indonesia in 2014 were cybercrimes, though the figure decreased to 18.26 percent in 2015. Between 2012 and 2015, the police arrested 571 individuals in connection with cybercrimes, with the vast majority 529 of them foreign nationals operating in Indonesia. Earlier in the conference, the head of consulting services at hardware manufacturer Thaless Hong Kong branch, Henry Ng, noted that the ID SIRTII should elaborate on their education guidelines in an unambiguous way so that even entry level students at academic institutions interested in the cybersecurity field would be able to understand exactly what they face. ---------------- To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ganug Nugroho Adi (The Jakarta Post) Klaten Mon, July 25 2016 Densus 88, the National Polices counterterrorism unit arrested five terrorism suspects at multiple locations in Klaten, Central Java on Saturday. They are suspected of having had roles in the July 5 bombing of Surakarta City Police headquarters. The five were identified as Abdul Basid, Agus Suharyanto, Catur Budi Setiawan, Sutanto and Winarno. They were alleged to have assisted suicide bomber Nur Rohman. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Head of the Ancient Human Site Conservation Agency (BPSMP) in Sangiran, Central Java, Sukronedi, examines the collection of ancient skulls at the Sangiran Museum in Sragen, on Saturday. The museum, which holds 40,000 human and ancient animal fossils, receives some 314,000 visitors annually.(JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi)(BPSMP) in Sangiran, Central Java, Sukronedi, examines the collection of ancient skulls at the Sangiran Museum in Sragen, on Saturday. The museum, which holds 40,000 human and ancient animal fossils, receives some 314,000 visitors annually.(JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Evan A. Laksmana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Mon, July 25 2016 The July 12 ruling by the arbitral tribunal of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), issued through the Permanent Court of Arbitration serving as a registry, has recently created a paradoxical strategic atmosphere in the region. On the one hand, some hailed the ruling as the victory of international law and for a principled, rules-based order. Observers noted, for example, how a small country like the Philippines can take on a big country like China and won. Indonesian diplomats, meanwhile, are also relieved that our long-held position on the illegality of Chinas nine-dash line is vindicated. But on the other hand, Chinas defiance of the ruling and its preceding processes declaring them null and void has generated a wave of pessimism among others in the region. After all, if Beijing can simply ignore a treaty it has ratified when it does not suit its interests, then what guarantees do we have that it will respect other international commitments, including the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, for example? to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26 2016 In a packed courtroom, before a panel of judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court, Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama defended on Monday Ariesman Widjaja from a bribery allegation that led the property executive to the defendants stand. During a bribery case hearing involving the controversial Jakarta Bay reclamation project on Monday, Ahok suggested that Ariesman, president director of property developer PT. Agung Podomoro Land (APL), did not have any strong reason to bribe city councillors as the company had paid its obligations before the case broke out. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26, 2016 Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama has stressed that he knew nothing about a telephone conversation his special aide Sunny Tanuwidjaja had with graft suspect Muhammad Sanusi, who has been accused of accepting a bribe from property developer PT Agung Podomoro Land (APL). "I don't know Sunny had that [conservation]. When I heard the tapped phone conversation, Sunny sounded very close with Sanusi," Ahok said at City Hall on Tuesday. On Monday, Sunny and Ahok gave their testimonies in a court hearing at the Jakarta Corruption Court as witnesses to the case of graft suspect Ariesman Widjaja, who was accused of bribing Sanusi. (Read also : Ahok feels he is often cornered by his subordinates) When Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutor Nurul Widiasih asked Sunny about the content of the conversation, he claimed that he did not really understand what Sanusi was talking about it. Sanusi talked in code words that I didnt understand. However, I didnt want to cut him off in the phone call, Sunny said. Previously, in the phone conversation recording played during the hearing, Sunny was heard talking about reclamation draft bills with Sanusi. He asked Sanusi why the councilors kept postponing the deliberation of the draft bills. The bribery case is allegedly related to efforts by APL to reduce the obligations of reclamation developers to the Jakarta Administration, particularly the additional contribution that was expected to be regulated in the bills. Deliberation was postponed after Sanusis arrest on March 31. Sunny also was heard asking Sanusi whether he had reported the issue of the draft bills deliberation to PT Kapuk Naga Indah (KNI) director Budi Noerwono. In the reclamation project, KNI has the rights to develop Islets A to E. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26, 2016 The head of the Jakarta Finance and Asset Management Board, Heru Budi Hartono, admitted on Tuesday about his meeting with City Council Deputy Speaker M. Taufik where they discussed, among other things, the reclamation project in Jakarta Bay. He [Taufik] only complained about the contribution amount. I deemed it as a casual conversation without much substance, Heru said on Tuesday. Heru was referring to the additional contribution that reclamation developers have to pay to the Jakarta Administration, which is calculated based on the sales value of property to be developed on the reclaimed land. In the draft reclamation bill submitted to the City Council, it stipulated a required 15 percent contribution. PT Agung Podomoro Land (APL), one of the developers in the project, allegedly sought to lower the contribution after being revealed in a bribery case involving an APL director and a city councilor. Ahok said he knew nothing about the meeting, but he accused Taufik of lobbying Heru to reduce the contribution percentage, which was denied by both Heru and Taufik. Heru told me that he met with Taufik. When I asked him about what it was about, he told me, you dont have to know, Ahok said, imitating Heru. Heru said that his meeting with Taufik was conducted earlier in March at Plaza Indonesia. The meeting went on for no more than 10 minutes. The conversation was only about sheet piling in Kamal Muara, North Jakarta, and the National Capital Integrated Coastal Development (NCICD) project. Taufik told him that some residents were worried about the project. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Su Zhou (China Daily/ANN) Beijing Tue, July 26, 2016 Surveillance video of a fatal tiger attack in Beijing has triggered heated discussion on whether zoos should be held responsible if visitors ignore safety reminders. Saturdays tragedy occurred at Badaling Wildlife World, near the Great Wall in Yanqing district. Footage released by China Central Television showed a woman being attacked and dragged away by a Siberian tiger after stepping out of a car. A man and an elderly woman, reportedly the womans husband and mother, rushed from the car and tried to help her. The mother was killed at the scene and her daughter was severely injured. The husband was not hurt. In an opinion poll conducted by Sina, one of Chinas leading website portals, by 6 p.m. on Monday about 95 percent of respondents said the responsibility lay with visitors, who were told not to leave their vehicles. The park has been suspended from business, as the tiger is still being kept there. The case is being investigated by Beijing police. No reason has been given for why the woman suddenly left the car. Wang Shuqin, a spokesman for Yanqing Bureau of Landscape and Forestry, told Beijing News that a patrol car crew had warned the woman before she stepped out of the car. But she ignored the safety reminder. The park allows visitors to drive there if they sign an agreement to keep to the speed limit, lock all windows and doors, and not feed the animals. The admission price includes insurance, but only for cars, in case animals cause damage to vehicles. In similar cases zoos have been ordered to compensate injured visitors. In 2014, a 9-year-old boy was injured by a black bear after putting his hands into the animals cage in Henan province. The zoo was told to pay compensation of more than 30,000 yuan (US$4,490). Liu Lin, a lawyer at Beijing Shuangli Law Firm, said, Despite the fact the park said there is an agreement that exempts it from taking responsibility, we cannot say whether the agreement is legitimate before we see it. In this case, the woman was fully aware of the risk and should be responsible. Hu Chunmei, an animal rights activist at Nature University, said some administrative flaws must be involved, as similar incidents had occurred previously. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26, 2016 An Australian human rights organization has organized candlelight vigils at Indonesian missions in Australia to protest the imminent executions of several drug convicts, which will be the third round of executions since President Joko Jokowi Widodo took office. "To hold a protest is allowed as it is in accordance with Australian laws on freedom of expression. But, the Indonesian Consulate General in Melbourne would ensure that the protest would not disrupt activities of the office and staff members of the consulate," Information, social and cultural affairs consul O'Conroy Doloksaribu told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, referring to the protests in the evening. O'Conroy said he had heard of the plans organized by Reprieve Australia through social media. The organization, which on its website says it provides legal and humanitarian assistance to those facing the death penalty, has promoted its plans on Twitter alongside the hashtag #SayNoToDeathRow. "It is a dreadful truth that, even as the government spends weeks speaking of imminent executions, many of those it plans to kill have not been named. Many prisoners on death row simply do not know who will be plucked out and shot," president Julian McMahaon said in a statement on its website, reprieve.org.au. Another candlelight vigil will be held in front of the Indonesian Consulate General in Perth on Wednesday. The government has yet to announce the date of the executions or a list of names of those who will face the firing squad. Authorities have beefed up security at Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap, Central Java, indicating that the executions will be conducted soon. Nusakambangan is also the location where two Australian drug convicts, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, were shot dead in April last year, despite strong protests from the Australian government and activists. (ebf) TheJakartaPost Please Update your browser Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below. Just click on the icons to get to the download page. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Tue, July 26 2016 Relations between Yogyakarta Governor Hamengkubuwono and Papua have been fairly close, with the sultan of the countrys only ruling monarchy opening his arms to people from the easternmost province, many of whom come to the city to pursue an education. Moreover, the sultan has repeatedly shown a commitment to protecting Papuan people when they are in trouble. For his inclusive, tolerant views and efforts to promote respect for diversity, the sultan earned the Pluralism Award in 2014, which was conferred to him in Sentani, near Jayapura, the capital of Papua. No doubt the sultan contributes a lot to the preservation of the countrys heterogeneity and the DNA of this nation, something that sadly eludes many other regional and national leaders. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Julie Pace and Ken Thomas (Associated Press) Philadelphia Tue, July 26, 2016 Former rivals Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders urgently joined forces Monday to tamp down dissent among his supporters, as Democrats tried to keep infighting from overtaking a convention opening night featuring some of the party's biggest stars. It was unclear whether the efforts would succeed. Chants of "Bernie" echoed through the arena, and boos could be heard at times when Clinton's name was raised. Outside the arena, several hundred Sanders backers marched down Philadelphia's sweltering streets. Signs carried messages such as "Never Hillary" and even in one case "Just go to jail, Hillary," an echo of the Republicans' "Lock her up." Much of Monday's program appeared aimed at giving Sanders' backers an opportunity to express their frustration before the convention moved on to focus on speakers who strongly support Clinton, such as first lady Michelle Obama. Sanders was delivering the night's closing address, just after Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who was expected to give a fervent address in favor of Clinton as well as denouncing Trump. For Clinton, it was a turbulent start to a historic four-day gathering that will culminate in the nomination of the first woman to lead a major US political party. It also sapped some of her energy coming out of Republican Donald Trump's chaotic convention last week and the well-received rollout Saturday of her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine. Sanders scored a major victory with the forced resignation of party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz following the release of emails showing her staff favored Clinton during the primary despite vows of neutrality. But Sanders' aides reached out to the Clinton campaign Monday afternoon to express concerns that the chairwoman's ouster wouldn't be enough to keep supporters from disrupting the convention, according to a Democratic official. The discussions between the two camps prompted Sanders to send emails and text messages to supporters asking them not to protest. "Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays," Sanders wrote. Moments after the convention opened in Philadelphia, the DNC also apologized to Sanders and his backers "for the inexcusable remarks made over email." The statement was signed by DNC leaders, though Wasserman Schultz's name was notably absent. The Florida congresswoman's resignation is effective later this week, though she also stepped down from her official convention duties. The mere sight of her on stage had been expected to prompt strong opposition from Sanders' backers. Sanders was a relatively unknown Vermont senator when he decided to challenge for the Democratic nomination. He stunned the Clinton campaign with his broad support among young people and liberals, as well as his online fundraising prowess. But he struggled to appeal to black voters and couldn't match the former secretary of state's ties to the Democratic establishment that wields significant power in the primary process. Sanders previewed his remarks during an appearance earlier Monday before supportive delegates. He implored them to vote for Clinton, generating a chorus of boos. "Brothers and sisters, this is the real world that we live in," Sanders said as he tried to quiet the crowd. "Trump is a bully and a demagogue." Clinton is promising a stark contrast to last week's Republican gathering, an often chaotic affair that featured a heavy dose of pessimism about the economy and national security. "I don't see how you run for president of the United States if you spend all your time trash-talking the United States," she told supporters at a rally in North Carolina. "We're going to have a convention this week that highlights success stories." The controversy over some 19,000 leaked DNC emails, however, threatened to complicate those plans. The correspondence, posted by WikiLeaks over the weekend, showed top officials at the supposedly neutral DNC favoring Clinton over Sanders in the presidential primaries. Clinton campaign officials blamed the hack, which is now being investigated by the FBI, on Russian military intelligence agencies. The campaign also accused Moscow of trying to meddle in the U.S. election and help Trump, who has said he might not necessarily defend NATO allies if they are attacked by Russia. Trump dismissed the suggestion in a tweet: "The joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNC emails, which should never have been written (stupid), because Putin likes me." A cybersecurity firm the Democrats employed found traces of at least two sophisticated hacking groups on their network both of which have ties to the Russian government. Those hackers took at least a year's worth of detailed chats, emails and research on Trump, according to a person knowledgeable of the breach who wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the matter. ___ Associated Press writers Kathleen Hennessey, Catherine Lucey and Kathleen Ronayne in Philadelphia, Lisa Lerer in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Jeff Karoub in Detroit contributed to this report. ___ On Twitter follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Ken Thomas at http://twitter.com/kthomasdc (**) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Catherine Lucey and Ken Thomas (Associated Press) Philadelphia Tue, July 26, 2016 Bernie Sanders tried to calm tensions among his delegates Monday at the Democratic National Convention but some weren't in a listening mood, seething over a lengthy primary campaign and a damaging email disclosure. Sanders' delegates chanted the Vermont senator's name during the start of the convention and booed lustily at any mention of rival Hillary Clinton. Behind the scenes, Sanders and his campaign tried to persuade his delegates not to disrupt the proceedings. "Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays," Sanders said in an email to the delegates, calling it a "personal courtesy" to him. He was speaking later in the evening. Yet many die-hard backers of Sanders they weren't ready to coalesce around Clinton's presidential bid despite his pleas. Their frustration was on display a day after Democratic party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced she would step down at the end of the convention. Sanders' loyalists heckled her at a Florida delegation breakfast and many expressed dismay that Clinton had given the Florida congresswoman the position of honorary chair of the campaign's "50-state program." "I'm really annoyed," said Michigan delegate Bruce Fealk. "I want to support Bernie, but I also want to voice my displeasure with the Democratic Party." Fealk said he viewed the emergence of hacked DNC emails, which suggested favoritism of Clinton, as a revelation and evidence of the party's disrespect for progressives. Others said they simply couldn't support Clinton. "No, never, not in a million years, no. I wouldn't vote for her for dog catcher," said Melissa Arab, of Shelby Township, Michigan. From the podium, however, some of Sanders' allies noted their progress in influencing the party's platform and moving to reduce the influence of superdelegates, party leaders and elected officials who help decide the nomination. "I stand with my Democratic family in making sure we win this fall," said Maine lawmaker Diane Russell, a Sanders supporter. "We are all in this together and we will all have a voice in the Clinton administration." Earlier, at a raucuous meeting with his delegates, Sanders implored them to get behind Clinton and her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, and defeat Republican nominee Donald Trump. "Make no mistake. We have made history," Sanders told the crowd, stressing that their progress would be lost if Clinton doesn't win. That appeal elicited boos and some cheers, as delegates shouted, "We want Bernie!" Aides to Clinton and Sanders met before the start of the convention to find ways to prevent an open display of dissent, prompting the Vermont senator to send text and email messages requesting that they refrain from protests on the floor. That was enough for Deborah Adams, of Cheraw, South Carolina, who served as a whip for the 14 Sanders delegates from her state's delegation. "I think every delegate should follow Senator Sanders' request," Adams said. "We've worked hard as a movement. It gives us a black eye if we don't control our emotions." __ Associated Press writers Kathleen Ronayne and Erica Werner contributed to this report. (**) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26, 2016 The government has been advised to focus on job creation in trying to alleviate poverty in the country because the existing social assistance program is inefficient at reducing the number of poor people in the country. "The government should focus more on job-creation programs instead of focusing on social assistance programs because poor people live below the poverty line because they don't have any income," Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) executive director Enny Sri Hartati told thejakartapost.com on Tuesday. According to the latest Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data on the poverty rate, there were 28.01 million people living below poverty line, 10.86 percent of the population, in March, down by 500,000 from 28.51 million, 11.35 percent, from the same period in the previous year. Sri stressed the social assistance program conducted by the government should only be a safety net in case of an economic shock in the community not as a policy to address the problem long-term. According to BPS data, Java has proportionately the largest number of people living below the poverty line, with 14.97 million people, 53.45 percent of the total poor in Indonesia. However, this figure is a decline from 15.45 million in March 2015, with Java being the second wealthiest region in Indonesia in 2016. Kalimantan is the wealthiest region. The number of people living below the poverty there is 970,000, 6.26 percent of Kalimantan's total population. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Yohanna Ririhena (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26 2016 Indonesia may have felt proud when its delegation was chosen to represent 16 like-minded countries at a UN General Assembly Special Session on the world drug problem at the UN headquarters in New York last April. For Indonesia, its selection to read a joint statement on behalf of countries that maintain the death penalty showcased trust from others in its persistence to keep capital punishment intact. But Indonesian representatives to the UN forum received boos from many among the 193 delegations attending the session. The jeers sent a message of derision for defending the death penalty as an important component of drug control policy. While 140 states, or the majority of UN members, have applied a moratorium or abolished the death penalty altogether from their legal systems, Indonesia has preserved with pride its tough enforcement of the law, particularly against drug-related crimes. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26, 2016 President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is expected to attend the closing ceremony of the Golkar Party's national leaders meeting at the Jakarta Convention Center on Thursday, when the party will officially declare its support for Jokowi in the 2019 presidential election. Golkar will hold its national leaders meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, when the veteran party will announce its stance in front of Jokowi, Golkar secretary-general Idrus Marham said on Tuesday. He said Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Cabinet ministers had also been invited to the closing event, kompas.com reported. About 700 top party officials, including those on the central executive board and from regional branches, will attend the meeting. Six commissions will hold discussions to discuss several issues, such as politics and the economy. "We want to complete our political consolidation to guarantee victory in 2019," Idrus added. The party, which is strongly identified with the late dictator Soeharto, elected a new chairman in May, the controversial former House of Representatives speaker Setya Novanto, and officially announced it support for Jokowi's administration. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26, 2016 Marguerite Afra Sapiie The government is considering an option to not put corruption convicts behind bars as the punishment has not been proven effective, as seen by the rampant corruption cases in the country, a top minister said on Tuesday. Indonesia needed a breakthrough in eradicating corruption since jailing the graft convicts had not yet created any deterrents, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said. The government would instead focus on impoverishing the corrupt officials and force them to return the money stolen from the state, plus pay a fine. The possible punishments would also include firing them from their positions. "We're still exploring the details. It's still very early to decide," Luhut told journalists at his office on Tuesday. The government has formed a team of experts to examine possible new sanctions and also study the punishments given to corruption convicts in other countries for insight. The new form of sanctions could also be another way to overcome prison overcrowding, he added. During his work trip to Medan, North Sumatra, on Monday Luhut pointed out that the idea came after seeing many corruption convicts, including state officials, who regarded their offenses lightly. Despite the government's committed anti-corruption stance, many parties had slammed Jokowi's administration for its weak efforts in corruption eradication. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26, 2016 The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has urged the government to form a team to examine the International People's Tribunal on the 1965 Crimes against Humanity (IPT 1965). "The rulings are not legally binding, but are morally binding. It won't hurt for [the government] to look into them before rejecting them completely," Komnas HAM commissioner Nur Kholis told reporters on Tuesday. The IPT in The Hague on July 20 concluded that the Indonesian state was guilty of crimes including genocide, slavery, involuntary disappearances and sexual violence that reportedly left half a million people dead, most of whom were connected to the now defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Upon receiving a copy of the tribunal's rulings from IPT 1965 coordinator Nursyahbani Katjasungkana on Monday Nur Kholis said Komnas HAM would first conduct an in-depth examination of the document before the commissioners took further action in an effort to resolve the 1965 tragedy. Komnas HAM chairman Imdadun Rahmat asserted that the national rights group would remain committed, as in accordance with the mandate given to Komnas HAM, to resolve the 1965 mass killings, a grave human rights violation in the nation's history. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26 2016 The Jakarta Police have sent a letter to the city administration inquiring about the future of a parking lot project, which has been suspended, at its headquarters in South Jakarta. The construction of the parking lot, which is funded by a private developer using contributions from a reclamation project in Jakarta Bay, was halted following a government instruction to hold all pending reclamation activities in the bay. The Jakarta Police chief [Insp. Gen. Moechgiyarto] has sent a letter to the governor regarding the continuation of the project, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono told reporters at the Jakarta Police headquarters on Monday, as quoted by kompas.com. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Aya Batrawy (Associated Press) Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Tue, July 26, 2016 The world's first round-the-world flight to be powered solely by the sun's energy made history Tuesday as it landed in Abu Dhabi, where it first took off on an epic 25,000-mile (40,000-kilometer) journey that began more than a year ago. Since its March 2015 take off, the Swiss-engineered Solar Impulse 2 has made 16 stops across the world without using a drop of fuel to demonstrate that using the plane's clean technologies on the ground can halve the world's energy consumption, save natural resources and improve quality of life. After landing the plane, pilot Bertrand Piccard was greeted outside the cockpit by his Solar Impulse partner and fellow pilot Andre Borschberg. They hugged and pumped their fists in the air. "The future is clean. The future is you. The future is now. Let's take it further," Piccard said, speaking through a microphone to applause and cheers from a crowd that included Prince Albert of Monaco. The aircraft is uniquely powered by 17,248 solar cells that transfer energy to four electrical motors that power the plane's propellers. It runs on four lithium polymer batteries at night. The plane's wingspan stretches 236 feet (72 meters) to catch the sun's energy. At around 5,070 pounds (2,300 kilograms), the plane weighs about as much as a minivan or mid-sized truck. An empty Boeing 747, in comparison, weighs 400,000 pounds (180,000 kilograms). To help steady it during takeoffs and landings, the plane was guided by runners and bicyclists. Despite its historic mission, the Solar Impluse 2's journey was far from quick or problem-free. The pilots faced a nine-month delay a year ago after the plane's batteries were damaged during a flight from Japan to Hawaii. It was also delayed for more than a week in Cairo ahead of its final flight to Abu Dhabi when Piccard fell ill, and due to poor weather conditions. Over its entire mission, Solar Impluse 2 completed more than 500 flight hours, cruising at an average speed of between 28 mph (45 kmh) and 56 mph (90 kmh). It made stops in Oman, India, Myanmar, China, Japan, the U.S., Spain, Italy, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Its North American stops included California, Arizona, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. The carbon-fiber plane is a single-seater aircraft, meaning its two Swiss pilots Piccard and Borschberg had to take turns flying solo for long days and nights. To calm their minds and manage fatigue during the long solo flights, Borschberg practiced yoga and Piccard self-hypnosis. In a statement this week, Borschberg said it is no longer a question of whether it's possible to fly without fuel or polluting emissions. "By flying around the world thanks to renewable energy and clean technologies, we have demonstrated that we can now make our world more energy efficient," he said. The pilots would rest a maximum of 20 minutes at a time, repeating the naps 12 times over each 24-hour stretch. It took 70 hours for Piccard to cross the Atlantic Ocean, which was the first by a solar-powered airplane. Borschberg's flight over the Pacific Ocean at 118 hours or what is five days and five nights shattered the record for the longest flight duration by an aircraft flying solo. Neither pilot was able to stand in the cockpit while flying, but the seat reclined for stretching and its cushion could be removed for access to a toilet. Goggles worn over the pilot's eyes flashed lights to wake him up while armbands placed underneath their suits buzzed when the plane was not at flying level. The plane also did not have a pressurized cockpit so Borschberg and Piccard could feel changes in temperature. The pilot's blood oxygen levels were monitored and sent back to ground control in Monaco. Hot temperatures in the Middle East this time of year cause thermals and turbulence that forced Piccard to fly longer periods of time with an oxygen mask as he piloted the last leg of the trip from Cairo to Abu Dhabi in roughly three nights and two days. Piccard, a psychiatrist, is the son of undersea explorer Jacques Piccard and a grandson of balloonist Auguste Piccard. In 1999, he became the first person to circumnavigate the globe non-stop in a hot air balloon. Borschberg, an engineer and graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is also an entrepreneur. He launched the Solar Impulse project in 2003 with Piccard. The project is estimated to cost more than $100 million. The UAE-based Masdar, the Abu Dhabi government's clean-energy company, was a main sponsor of the flight. There were more than 40 additional sponsors, including Omega, Belgian chemical company Solvay, Swedish-Swiss automation corporation ABB, Swiss manufacturer Schindler, Google and Moet Hennessey, among others. ___ Online: Solar Impulse: www.solarimpulse.com ___ Follow Aya Batrawy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ayaelb (**) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26, 2016 Rights watchdog Imparsial has urged the House of Representatives to pass specific regulations on the Indonesian Militarys role in counterterrorism operations, but exclude such provisions from a permanent Terrorism Law. "If we combine matters pertaining to law enforcement and war model systems into one [terrorism] law, there will be a problem. The military should have their roles covered in a separate law," Imparsial director Al-Araf said on Monday. Regarding the drafting of the specific regulations, he said, the details of the militarys rules of engagement in non-military operations should based on the mandate of Tap MPR No. VII/2000 on the roles of the military and National Police. These include the militarys role in antiterrorism operations, which was already covered by Article 7 of Law No.34/2004 on the military, he added. Al-Araf said the military's ability to be involved in counterterrorism operations had been made clear by Operation Tinombala, in which military personnel were deployed to assist the police in hunting East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT) guerillas based on the authority given by the prevailing law. Therefore, he said, there was no need for the government to include the militarys role in counterterrorism initiatives in the terrorism bill. The House of Representatives' special committee on the deliberation of the draft revision of the 2003 Terrorism Law is mulling a proposal to insert articles on the militarys role in counterterrorism measures. Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan has said the government hopes the deliberation will be finished by August. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin James Tumbuan (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26 2016 Many families in Indonesia long for a place to call home. More than just a house, a home is a safe haven for our families, a strong and stable place where our children can thrive and a solid foundation on which a family can build a better life. Sharing our homes with family members and friends is a warm Indonesian tradition. Strong and stable homes help build strong and stable communities. We recognize that a home provides strength, stability and self-reliance for people in our country. While homes vary in appearance across the nation, the need for a home is the same for everyone. Housing should be a key element in what is being called the New Urban Agenda, a United Nations-sponsored declaration of global political commitment being developed by participants worldwide and focused on the sustainable development of cities and other human settlements. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Denpasar Tue, July 26 2016 Despite mounting demands from Bali residents for the disbandment of mass organizations as a result of their involvement in acts of violence, the police are training them to help safeguard the island. The training is being held for 35 members of the islands three biggest rival gangs, namely Laskar Bali, Baladika Bali and Pemuda Bali Bersatu. Taking place at Denpasar Police headquarters, the four-day training officially started on Monday morning with classroom theory sessions. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Robert Burns and Matthew Lee (Associated Press) Vientiane Tue, July 26, 2016 US Secretary of State John Kerry said progress is being made with Russia on a potential military partnership that could strengthen a faltering truce in Syria despite grave doubts expressed by the Pentagon and joint chiefs of staff. Speaking Tuesday after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Laos, Kerry made no promises of success but said he hoped discussions with Russia could produce a tangible result in the next week to 10 days. "My hope would be that somewhere in early August the first week or so, somewhere in there we would be in a position to be able stand up in front of you and tell you what we're able to do with the hopes that it can make a difference to the lives of people in Syria and to the course of the war," he said. His comments followed remarks from Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Monday in which he said Kerry's efforts with Russia have been complicated by the fact that Russia is focused mainly on supporting the Syrian government, which he said has had the effect of prolonging the civil war. "We had hoped that they would promote a political solution and transition to put an end to the civil war, which is the beginning of all this violence in Syria, and then combat extremists rather than moderate opposition, which has to be part of that transition," Carter said at a Pentagon news conference with Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "So they're a long way from doing that." When a reporter told Carter that he sounded unenthusiastic about the Kerry effort, Carter said, "No, I'm very enthusiastic about the idea of the Russians getting on side and doing the right thing. And I think that would be a good thing if they did. I think we're a ways from getting that frame of mind in Russia. But that's what Secretary Kerry is working toward." Kerry said he appreciated Carter's words and that his talks with Lavrov, as well as technical discussions at lower levels, would be continuing "to work through to details in order to make certain that the doubts expressed by Secretrary Carter by Chairman Dunford or doubts expressed by [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin and the Russians are going to be addressed ahead of time." Kerry has been talking to Russian officials about a proposal in which the US would share intelligence and targeting information with the Russians. In exchange Moscow would use its influence with the Syrian regime to effectively ground the Syrian air force and promote a political solution to a civil war that has killed as many as a half a million people. Both Carter and Dunford said any arrangement with the Russians to coordinate military action in Syria would be transactional and not based on trust. Kerry's talks with Lavrov in Laos on Tuesday and with Putin in Moscow 10 days ago came after a leaked proposal showed the US offering Russia a broad new military partnership against IS and the Nusra Front, which is al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate. Several conditions would apply, including Russia committing to grounding Syria's bombers and starting a long-sought political transition process. Dunford denied reports that US-backed opposition forces have coordinated with Nusra in some cases. "We don't have any indication that the forces that we are providing support to in Syria are cooperating or intermingled with al-Nusra," the general said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26 2016 Unlike other government institutions, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has warmly welcomed the International Peoples Tribunals (IPT) verdict finding the state of Indonesia guilty of crimes against humanity in 1965. The verdict stated that the state committed nine crimes against humanity, including massacres, forced disappearances, enslavement and sexual abuse. The commissioners said the verdict, read out in Cape Town, South Africa, on Wednesday, had some similarities to findings of the commission, except the part about genocide. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26, 2016 The chair of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has called for the commission to be given the authority to investigate corruption in the private sector; its investigation authority is currently limited to cases involving more than Rp 1 billion (US $76,274) and implicating government officials. KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo said 23.79 percent of the 496 corruption cases the antigraft body had handled so far had involved private entities. Corruption cases involving government officials ranked first, accounting for 26.01 percent of the total. If we want to carry out a mental revolution, we need to do go all out. The rate of corrupt practices in the private sectors is also pretty high, he said during a discussion at the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) on Monday. Agus revealed that the KPK had recently conducted a visiting study to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) in Singapore, learning that around 90 percent of CPIB cases related to the private sector, and that the CPIB handled cases involving as little as 10 Singaporean dollars (US$7.36). An Indonesian domestic helper was found drunk in a subway station. A security guard demanded that she pay 30 Singaporean dollars in exchange for not reporting her to the police. She only had S$10, which she gave to the guard, who accepted it, said Agus. At home, the Indonesian worker told her employee of what had happened. Her employee reported it to the CPIB and it processed the case, he said. The KPK later found from its studies that in Hong Kong, 80 percent of corruption cases involved the private sector while in Malaysia, the proportion of corruption cases involving bureaucrats and private entities was 50-50. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26, 2016 After several delays, state steel maker Krakatau Steel (KS) has finally scheduled the groundbreaking of a US$400 million hot strip mill in Cilegon, Banten, for August. KS president director Sukandar said the mill would add 1.5 million tons to its current 3.15 million ton annual steel production. "The groundbreaking will be conducted in August and [construction] is expected to be completed in 2019," he told reporters before a meeting with lawmakers in Jakarta on Monday. (Read also : Krakatau Steel hopes to increase market share after capital injection) Sukandar further said the mill construction would be financed with a $260 million loan from Commerzbank AG, with support from the German Export Credit Agency (ECA), and $106 million internal equity, among others. The firm expects to sell more steel although the steel price has dropped, causing company losses of $62.8 million as of March this year. "The steel price has dropped by 40 to 50 percent from the price in 2008. However, our sales volume still increased by 32 percent as of March," he said. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26 2016 Indonesias oil and gas sector is facing a grim future as plunging energy prices have forced companies to curb exploration activities while the countrys proven reserves continue to decrease. Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas) chairman Amien Sunaryadi said that although the number of oil and gas fields had continued to increase, investment in exploration activities had decreased over the past years due to low prices in the global market. The latest data show that there are currently 113 active exploration sites, with only US$367 million invested in exploration activities in the first half of the year, out of a total investment of $5.7 billion in the oil and gas industry. The reluctance to commence exploration is especially worrisome due to the constantly decreasing oil and gas reserves in the country. SKKMigas estimates that Indonesias reserves decrease by around 0.65 billion stock tank barrels a year. Reserves have continued to decrease since 2000. Although the number of our oil and gas fields keep increasing, our reserves are decreasing, Amien said recently. Oil reserves refer to the amount of technically and economically recoverable oil. According to SKKMigas data, Indonesias oil reserves have dropped to 3.6 billion stock tank barrels by the end of 2015 from 3.62 billion the previous year. Meanwhile, national demand reached 1.63 million barrels of oil per day (bopd) at the end of last year. If Indonesia reaches its target production of 820,000 bopd without any new findings, its proven reserves could be depleted in little over a decade. Despite the bleak outlook, the government has not lost hope. Data from SKKMigas claims that there are around 3.7 billion stock tank barrels in potential reserves that could help the oil and gas sector back on its feet if found. The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministrys oil and gas director general, IGN Wiratmaja Puja, acknowledged that the nations depleted oil reserves were cause for concern as companies have been cutting back on exploration activities as a result of low oil prices. However, the ministry is currently brainstorming several incentives to encourage companies to increase exploration activities despite the global crunch. In particular, Wiratmaja explained, the ministry hoped to issue a regulation allowing several incentives for deepwater exploration in eastern Indonesia, which has been largely ignored for decades. We have been discussing several incentives, such as a change of plans of development from a block basis, to a national basis. Furthermore, we are hoping to implement tax-free exploration, as it is an all cash-out activity for the companies, he told The Jakarta Post on Monday, adding that the ministry hoped the regulation would be issued by the end of the year. Wiratmaja said only 20 percent of more than 60 of Indonesias oceanic basins had been explored. However, oil and gas companies have opted to invest in exploration activities abroad as Indonesias oil and gas sector was not seen as competitive as a result of the high expenses and new technologies needed for deepwater exploration and exploitation. Without massive exploration, our reserves are unlikely to increase anytime soon, he said. Indonesias newest oil wells are located in the Cepu block in East Java, which has reached peak production at between 180,000 and 185,000 bopd. Although Wiratmaja was reluctant to disclose the amount of investment needed for deepwater drilling in Indonesia, consulting firm Douglas-Westwood has estimated a total deepwater expenditure of $137 billion worldwide between 2016 and 2020. Meanwhile, ReforMiner Institute researcher Pri Agung Rakhmanto said the only way to increase investor interest in oil and gas exploration was to change current regulations, which dictated a government-to-business approach, to a business-to-business approach. There would be much more flexibility if businesses could deal directly with other businesses, unlike the current situation where they have to go through SKKMigas. Furthermore, by allowing a business-to-business approach, foreign operators would not get taxed as the government would only tax the state-owned corporations they work with, he said. For the last two years, global oil prices have been in free-fall from around $110 per barrel of Brent crude in June 2014 to around $40 recently. Indonesias energy sector has a long history of ups and downs. An increase in exploration activity at the beginning of the New Order government resulted in the discovery of new oil reserves and increased oil production from about 600,000 bopd in 1967 to 1.7 million in 1977. After reaching its peak in the late 1970s, upstream oil and gas activity in Indonesia showed a declining trend, as oil companies spending on exploration and production remained stagnant. ---------------- to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26, 2016 The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggles (PDI-P) door is still open if Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama wishes to seek the partys nomination as its candidate for next years gubernatorial election. Jakarta Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat, who is a PDI-P politician, said on Tuesday there was still a chance for Ahok to run with him in the election with the support of the PDI-P as initially planned before Ahok declared himself as an independent candidate. But Djarot stressed it was up to the party to make the decision on his candidacy. It will be the PDI-Ps decision to pair him with any candidate. I will accept the partys assignment whether as gubernatorial or deputy gubernatorial [candidate], he added. He said that his party would declare his Jakarta gubernatorial candidature in August. Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok) spokesman Singgih Widyastono said earlier on Tuesday that Ahok would make his decision on Wednesday whether to run as an independent candidate or as the nominated candidate of three political parties the Golkar Party, Hanura and the NasDem Party. PDI-P, the largest party in the city council with 28 seats, is the only party able to name a gubernatorial candidate pair in the election without collaboration with other political parties. The threshold is 22 seats for one party or a coalition of political parties to propose candidates. Meanwhile, Teman Ahok had announced that the group could accept whatever decision was made by Ahok although its volunteers had collected 1 million copies of voter identity cards, more than enough to meet the criteria to run as an independent. In March, Ahok announced his plan to run as an independent candidate and named Jakarta Finance and Asset Management Board chief Heru Budi Hartono as his running mate. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marcy Gordon (Associated Press) Washington Tue, July 26, 2016 Britain's decision to quit the European Union has elevated the risks to US financial stability, though they remain moderate, US Treasury Department experts say. The report issued Monday by Treasury's Office of Financial Research comes a day after global finance officials promised to protect the world economy from the shockwaves of Britain's "Brexit" referendum last month and to boost sluggish growth. The vote, which surprised financial markets and was a "negative shock" to investor confidence, brings in months or years of uncertainty over British finance, trade and investment, the OFR report says. Because Britain's economy and financial system are so closely connected with the US and the rest of Europe, distress in Britain could threaten US financial stability, it warned. "Brexit was a shock," OFR Director Richard Berner told reporters. "It creates uncertainty both in financial markets and among business people. ... There's still uncertainty to come." Financial markets, especially the US stock market, were rocked by the June 23 vote in Britain. Markets later recovered, and US stocks mounted a robust rally in recent weeks. But the new report warns that markets may be underestimating the risks ahead. In a "severe adverse scenario," shocks from Britain and Europe would threaten the stability of the US financial system through disruptions in trade, financial connections among the countries and in investor confidence, the report says. Officials from the Group of 20 major economies including the US, China, Britain and Germany met in Beijing over the weekend against a backdrop of a weak global recovery that was rattled by the "Brexit" vote and trade tension over Chinese exports of low-priced steel. US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said ahead of the meeting that it was not the right time for coordinated action similar to that in 2008-09 following the global crisis because economies face different conditions. "Overall, the general sense was that the outlook remains uncertain," Lew said in a statement Sunday. "There is now broad consensus that what the global economy needs is growth not austerity and the discussions here have focused on how best to achieve that outcome." Lew met soon after the EU exit vote with Britain's new Treasury chief. He has said that the recent market turmoil sparked by the British vote was within bounds and doesn't have the makings of another financial crisis. (**) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Hans Nicholas Jong (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26 2016 Indonesia, which has been dubbed as the country of baby smokers because of its high rate of childhood smoking, needs to learn from Uruguay, which has succeeded in winning a landmark lawsuit against giant tobacco company Philip Morris International (PMI). The company had sued the South American country for its strict regulations on smoking. On July 8, the World Banks International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) ruled in favor of Uruguay, a decision that sets a precedent for other countries considering implementing similar legislation to reduce smoking. The company sued Uruguay after it introduced two measures affecting tobacco packaging: that graphic health warnings cover at least 80 percent of a cigarette packet, and that tobacco companies adopt a single presentation for their brands dropping light or mild descriptions for example that could lead to smokers believing one variant was safer than another. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ruslan Sangadji (The Jakarta Post) Palu Tue, July 26 2016 The fact that the funeral of chief terrorist Santoso, alias Abu Wardah, on Saturday was attended by thousands of people, several of whom brandished Islamic State (IS) movement flags has highlighted the size of his following. Santoso, the leader of the Eastern Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT) terrorist group, was killed in a gun battle with security personnel last Monday. Residents were seen waving three IS flags when they picked up Santosos body in Tambarana village, Poso, Central Sulawesi. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Michael Liedtke and Tali Arbel (Associated Press) San Francisco Tue, July 26, 2016 Seeking a wider digital audience, Verizon is buying Yahoo for $4.83 billion in a deal that marks the end of an era for a company that defined much of the early internet but struggled to stay relevant in an online world dominated by Google and Facebook. It's the second time in as many years that Verizon has snapped up the remnants of a fallen internet star. The nation's largest wireless carrier paid $4.4 billion for AOL last year. The two brands will be rolled into the same operation. "We have enormous respect for what Yahoo has accomplished: This transaction is about unleashing Yahoo's full potential," AOL CEO Tim Armstrong said in a statement. Despite Yahoo's travails, its operations are a prize for Verizon, which wants to capitalize on the growing number of people living their digital lives on smartphones. The company already profits from the data plans that connect more than 100 million people and their devices to the internet. Now it's making plans to control more of the advertising on those devices. Most analysts expect the deal to end the four-year reign of Yahoo's Mayer, who flopped in her much-watched attempt to turn around the company that was once a titan valued at $130 billion. However, Mayer told employees Monday in an email that she intends to stay "to see Yahoo into its next chapter" without specifying for how long. In a later interview with The Associated Press, she said it's too early to know whether there will still be a desirable role for her after Yahoo and AOL are combined. "It would be premature and presumptive of me to discuss what Verizon may or may not want to do. I will be open-minded," said Mayer, who could receive a severance package valued at $55 million If she leaves following the sale. In its announcement, Verizon did not discuss Mayer's future or its long-term plans for Yahoo. Shareholders fed up with a steep downturn in the company's revenue over the past eight years pressured Yahoo Inc. to part with its email service and still-popular websites devoted to news, finance and sports, in addition to its advertising tools. The slump deepened even as advertisers poured torrents of cash into what is now a $160 billion market for digital advertising, according to research firm eMarketer. But most of that money has flowed to Google and Facebook, two companies that eclipsed Yahoo during its long slide from a sensation to a dysfunctional also-ran. The sale could result in thousands of layoffs as Verizon eliminates overlapping jobs and services in Yahoo and AOL. Mayer has already jettisoned 1,900 Yahoo workers since last September. The merging of Yahoo's online operations with AOL's sets up a potential reunion between Mayer and Armstrong, who were both executives at Google for years. Armstrong tried unsuccessfully to persuade Mayer to combine the two companies when they both still independent. "It makes a little less sense now than it did two or three years ago" when Yahoo and AOL were stronger," said Gartner analyst Andrew Frank. "But better late than never." When the sale is complete early next year, Yahoo will become a holding company for its two stakes in China's e-commerce leader, Alibaba Group, and Yahoo Japan. Those investments, made more than a decade ago, are worth more than $40 billion before taxes, making them by far the most valuable pieces of Yahoo. The holding company will drop the Yahoo name and adopt a new identify after Verizon takes control of the operating business. The name change is a strong indication that Verizon intends to retain the Yahoo brand on many services, an idea that Mayer told the AP came up in the preliminary discussions leading up to the deal. "The Yahoo brand still holds a lot of consumer-affinity" and could help Verizon overcome the lukewarm feelings that many subscribers have toward their wireless service providers, said Forrester Research analyst Shar VanBoskirk. Until the sale is done, Yahoo's users should not see any major changes in the company's mobile apps or websites. Verizon, based in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, is buying Yahoo's online operations and its real estate. The Sunnyvale, California, company also has a patent portfolio that it intends to sell, and about $7.7 billion in cash. Mayer, 41, is the latest in a succession of Yahoo CEOs who could not engineer a comeback. Yahoo's annual revenue, after subtracting ad commissions, has declined by about 20 percent from $4.4 billion before Mayer's arrival to a projected $3.5 billion this year. But Mayer told the AP she does not consider her tenure to be a failure. She pointed to a 50 percent increase in Yahoo's total worldwide audience to more than 1 billion users, including 600 million people who now visit on mobile device, three times more than before her arrival. "If you look at the state of products today, they are orders of magnitude better, more viable, better designed," Mayer said. "I am incredibly proud of all that. The next chapter is around how we can increase our relevance on mobile." Yahoo's stock fell $1.06 Monday to close at $38.32. The shares have more than doubled since Mayer became Yahoo's CEO, largely because of the rising value of the Alibaba stake. When millions of people began to flock to the internet with the advent of graphical web browsers in the 1990s, Yahoo was king. Co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo began building a web directory as Stanford University graduate students in 1994, and Yahoo quickly established itself as the online hub for tens of millions of people. It proved that internet companies could indeed be profitable as other dot-com startups burned through millions of dollars. But Yahoo strayed from internet search in an attempt to build a multimedia business, clearing Google's path to supremacy. To make matters worse, Yahoo failed to recognize the importance of social networking and was slow to make the leap into mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Yahoo attempted to buy Google and Facebook in their formative years, but it was rebuffed and then later dwarfed by them. ___ Arbel reported from New York. Associated Press Writer Michelle Chapman in New York also contributed to this report. (**) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26, 2016 The Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) has said it expects that the funds released as a result of the tax amnesty program will flow into Indonesias real sector, therefore, the agency has prepared faster and simpler procedures for the placement of the funds. BKPM chief Franky Sibarani said that to invest the tax amnesty funds in the real sector, taxpayers could choose one of two ways the board had prepared. First, they could create a new company or second, they could place them in an equity structure. After declaring his or her assets and paying the minimal penalty fees, Franky said, a taxpayer would get three months to decide where they wanted to place the money. The money could also be placed in their own domestic business, he further said. The BKPM chief claimed some taxpayers had discussed their intention to create new businesses in Indonesia with the boards officials. If it happens, we will prioritize it into nine sectors where they can have tax allowances and tax holidays. A three-hour investment license service and a green line export service will also be provided for them, he said at his office on Tuesday. However, Franky predicted there would be only a few taxpayers interested in placing their money in a new business. Instead, most of them would likely choose to make an equity placement in existing companies, he added. Echoing Frankys opinion, Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) president director Tito Sulistio said taxpayers would be eager to place money in their own companies; however, it was likely that they would rather place it in companies that had already gone public under a stock market mechanism. If they go through the stock market, the process will be simpler and safer because it goes through the custody and clearing house, Tito told thejakartapost.com at the IDX building in Jakarta on Tuesday. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Nethy Dharma Somba and Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post) Jayapura/Yogyakarta Tue, July 26 2016 Papua Governor Lukas Enembe has sent a team to Yogyakarta following an attack by a number of community organizations at a Papuan student dormitory in Kamasan, Yogyakarta, on July 15. The team will seek information and verify a call made by a Papuan student association in Yogyakarta for Papuan students in the province to return to Papua on account of a lack of security assurances from the Yogyakarta authorities over their safety. In response to developments following the attack on the Papuan student dormitory in Yogyakarta, the governor has sent a team to consolidate the Yogyakarta provincial administration, Governor Hamengkubuwono and the [Papuan] students, said Papua provincial secretary Hery Dosinaen in Jayapura on Monday. The consolidation team, which left Papua on Sunday, was led by Papua Legislative Council (DPRD) speaker Edo Kaize, deputy speaker Yanni and DPRD Commission I head Elvis Tabuni. Dosinaen said Enembe expected the students to return to campus and continue their regularly scheduled activities, and to not feel afraid or alienated because the children of Papua were Indonesians and had the right to study anywhere in the country. They dont have to return to Papua. Disagreements are common so dont leave Yogyakarta simply because of this, said Dosinaen. Enembe expressed hope that Papuans studying in Yogyakarta would be accommodated by the local administration, and that any further issues would be communicated. Papua human rights observer and Yap Thiam Hien Award recipient Rev. John Jonga said the case in Yogyakarta should be resolved by President Joko Jokowi Widodo because the separatist label attached to the Papuan students would put their safety at risk. The President should not consider the problem faced by the Papuan students as trivial, because they no longer feel comfortable there, especially with the separatist label given to them, as it puts pressure on them and makes them fearful, he said. He further said that a statement from the Alliance of Papuan Students (AMP) in Yogyakarta that they would return to Papua because they did not feel safe was a slap in the face of the Jokowi government for not being able to protect its citizens. Whats the use of coming to Papua to build if the government is unable to provide security and comfort for Papuans in other areas in Indonesia? The students are not separatists, and expressing aspirations is not treason, said Jonga. Jonga expressed concern that if the Papuan students in Yogyakarta returned to Papua, they would be followed by other students on other islands, which would eventually trigger international attention. The government must immediately address the problem in Yogyakarta so that everything returns to normal, said Jonga. Earlier, the AMP in Yogyakarta declared its plan to return to Papua in the absence of assurances over its members safety following an accusation by the Yogyakarta governor that they had been involved in separatism. We have decided to go back home [to Papua], said Roy Karoba of the AMP on Sunday. The decision was made, Roy added, following a meeting of Papuan students in Yogyakarta last Thursday. He, however, declined to mention when and how many of them would return to Papua. There are about 8,000 Papuan students studying in Yogyakarta. General secretary of the Association of Papuan Youths and Students (IKPMDP), Ruben C. Frasa, said earlier that the decision was triggered by the repressive acts of security authorities in Yogyakarta against their planned rally on July 15 in support for the United Liberation Movement for West Papuas (ULMWP) bid for membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), and also by the governors statement that there was no place for separatists in Yogyakarta. ____________________________________________ To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login obvious that we have been poking the "proverbial bear " by pushing dangerous cargo through small town Canada. As a truck driver who regular moves dangerous cargo, I am surprised that the rail lines have not been forced to set up bypass routes. Now I know that this is not possible in all cases, but it seems that the environmental parties were all about rail a few years ago, especially if it meant getting trucks off the road and reducing our carbon footprint. While the idea of moving everything by rail does lesson greenhouse gas, the question now is really about regulating what gets shipped, where it gets shipped to and the route it takes. As a truck driver, I am restricted to dangerous goods routes. These were set in place to offset the unthinkable. If my truck, loaded up with Aviation Gas, or any other combustible is involved in an accident, the potential for loss of life is reduced significantly by using these routes. That's why we don't roll past schools or hospitals unless we are delivering to that local. Lessening the dangerous goods traffic, lessens the possibility of disastrous tragedy. Lac Megantic has presented us with a very dark lesson. If we are to move dangerous goods by rail, they must be moved with the safety of the general public in mind. Engineers and Conductors, must be well rested, procedures cannot be deviated from and most of all we should be reducing routes that run through small town Canada under the cover of darkness. Our rail infrastructure is in dire need of upgrade and I would go so far to say that if companies choose to ship on these routes they should be footing the costs for upgrades and bypasses that lessen the potential of disaster. So that's it Mr Prime Minister. I hope this blog from a simple Canadian living in small town Canada finds its way to you and or your Transport Minister. To the people of Lac Megantic, aside from my friends, I along with many other Canadians are watching in sadness as you deal with this terrible tragedy. Mark aka MJ Preston Prime Minister, Lac Megantic was inevitable. Aside from the finger pointing in the media, it is Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ruslan Sangadji (The Jakarta Post) Palu, Central Sulawesi Tue, July 26, 2016 Operation Tinombala task force officers found on Tuesday an Indonesian-designed SS2 V2 assault rifle suspected to have been owned by the deceased Santoso aka Abu Wardah, leader of the East Indonesia Mujahidin terrorist group. The firearm, made by a state-owned military equipment firm, was being carried by Jumiatun Muslim aka Umi Delima, the second wife of Santoso, during a raid on July 18 in North Poso Pesisir where her husband was killed, Tinombala task force spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Hari Suprapto said. The weapon was found in the hills east of North Poso Pesisir last week. The weapon was left there because Jumiatun could not carry it. "She lost her energy and could not carry the heavy weapon," Hari told journalists on Tuesday. Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen Rudy Sufahriady had previously said that the police would bring Jumiatun to the woods to show them the location of the weapon. Jumiatun, surrendered to Operation Tinombala personnel on Saturday. Police could not yet question her as she was still being taken care of at the Bhayangkara Police Hospital in Palu. Rudy said her illness came from being too long in the woods. He also confirmed that Jumiatun is not pregnant. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Jakarta (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26, 2016 Several Transjakarta stations and buses do not have CCTVs, information screens, and proper facilities for people with disabilities, the countrys ombudsman says. Chief ombudsman Alamsyah Saragih said during a hearing at his office on Tuesday that his agency had carried out inspections of the bus rapid transit facilities along corridors 1, 2, 4, 8 and the Ragunan-Monas express corridor in April. It found that many Transjakarta stations and buses were not equipped with CCTVs, while some information screens were not functioning, he said. In some corridors, the floors heading to the stations were too steep and slippery, making them almost inaccessible for people with disabilities, he added. If the administration wants more motorists to leave their vehicles at home and use public transportation, the condition of Transjakarta stations and buses should be improved, Alamsyah said. Transjakarta Director Budi Kaliwono said the company was committed to improving its facilities, including by installing more CCTVs and installing toilets at a third of bus stations. (ary) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Associated Press) Berlin Tue, July 26, 2016 Turkey's president has accused the European Union of failing to uphold its side of a deal to stop migrants from entering Europe. Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the EU has transferred only up to 2 million of the 3 billion euros (US$3.3 billion) promised to Ankara as part of the agreement. In an interview with German broadcaster ARD aired late Monday, Erdogan urged the EU to lift visa requirements for Turkish citizens. He also justified the possible reintroduction of the death penalty in Turkey in response to a recent failed coup. Erdogan told ARD that Turkish voters want the death penalty brought back, stating that "if we are in a democratic state of law, then the people decide." Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Corry Elyda (The Jakarta Post) Surabaya Tue, July 26 2016 The new urban agenda proposed during the UN Third Habitat Preparatory Meeting (PrepCom3) currently being held in Surabaya, East Java, requires cities to have better planning in order to view urbanization as a development tool instead of a problem. The UN Habitat IIIs secretary-general, Joan Clos, said during a press briefing on Monday that the new urban agenda proposed by UN member countries during the meeting, held from Monday to Wednesday, was to take action to improve urbanization. Clos said the proposal was made in regard to the need to strengthen urban planning design, the quality of which had deteriorated over the past 20 years and needed to be fully reinstated to guarantee good and quality urbanization. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 26, 2016 Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said on Tuesday that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founder Nur Misuari would come to Indonesia to discuss the bilateral efforts to free 10 Indonesians currently held hostage by Abu Sayyaf militants. The two will see me. Let's see how it goes, Luhut said as quoted by kompas.com. He stopped short of revealing the date of Duterte and Misuaris planned visit to Jakarta, saying only that they would come "in the near future". The government has sent a negotiator to Philippines to talk to Misuari, who is believed to have access to the Abu Sayyaf group, Luhut said. The negotiator is working with Misuari to contact the hostage-takers, he added. Jakarta is unlikely to conduct a risky military operation to rescue the hostages even though Manila has given its permission, the senior minister said. The only viable option is negotiation. Misuari has major influence among Abu Sayyaf [militants]. The Philippine government has also tried to reach out to Misuari. (ary) For two years and more, it has been a lost ship, a metal container carrying 239 souls that simply disappeared one late Asian night never to be seen again. And now, the search for the remains of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 likely will become a thing of memory, too. With Friday's announcement that the meticulous ocean search for the missing jetliner will be suspended in effect, called off one of this decade's most tantalizing unanswered questions is headed toward becoming, in effect, a cold case. "I am not surprised it's coming to an end without any answers," Tony Wong, a businessman in Kuala Lumpur, said Monday. "People are slowly forgetting the incident," he said. "No one will ever know the truth." The truth may be out there. The problem is, you have to know where to look. And that's been precisely the problem all along. The Boeing 777-200ER vanished on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. Investigators believed it turned back west and then south before dropping into the Indian Ocean west of Australia, where the search has been concentrated. The Malaysian government has concluded that it was deliberately steered off course. Conspiracy theories, unsurprisingly, still abound in the vacuum of facts: Was it blown up? Steered into the sea? Diverted to a remote airstrip somewhere? Abducted by aliens? For a long stretch, it seemed the world's biggest loose end a global obsession for weeks, a niggling unsolved riddle for years. And behind the epic tale were the lost souls and the families they left behind, which expected maximum effort and, to hear many relatives tell it over the long months, a successful resolution. They were not happy at the news that the search was being suspended. To varying degrees, they have accused investigators and searchers and the governments overseeing them of disingenuousness, incompetence and nefarious political agendas. In China, relatives have roundly denounced the decision. They still don't seem ready to think about the finality of it all. "They are actually just playing with words," Hu Xiulan, the mother of a Flight 370 passenger, said Monday. "'Suspension' means termination to us. We strongly demand a re-investigation into how the plane went missing, and there is no excuse for the suspension of the search." The decision to suspend the search, which has endured through damaged equipment and punishing weather, was made jointly by the three countries conducting the operation: Malaysia, Australia and China, which lost the most people in the aircraft's disappearance. Together, they already have spent $135 million searching a 46,300-square-mile area. The governments were delicate in their language Friday they did not say outright that they were ending the search. But there is a general sense that it is unlikely to continue unless specific new evidence is found to suggest a particular location. And the search in its current incarnation will not end immediately; it could last into the winter months, officials have said. Finding the plane would not just bring emotional closure to families. It also would hand investigators and the airline industry crucial information and tools to understand why Flight 370 might have gone down and how similar occurrences might be prevented. A critical mass of actual wreckage beyond the few confirmed pieces that have turned up would also convey a sense of competence that we humans can go out and find our lost stuff in the depths of our oceans. Which in many ways, despite complex oceanographic models, we still can't. "We can send spacecraft to Jupiter and Saturn and Mars to see their surface, but we can't send a craft to the bottom of the ocean to look at our own surface," Western Australia University oceanographer Charitha Pattiaratchi said. The pressure on authorities, he said, suggests that a breather from the search might actually be the best approach. "It's probably good to pause and then take stock of things," Pattiaratchi said. "They can try again if there's some better data or better technology." In the meantime, the world goes on. The increased pace of the news cycle, the unremitting parade of minor violence and major cataclysm, pushes us away from this singular puzzle and into the more recent sad and lethal spectacles of Orlando and Nice, Dallas and Munich, Baghdad and Kabul. It is so much, sometimes, that we might fail to remember one fundamental point in the story that was, and is, Flight 370: The world we call home swallowed a giant airplane and the people aboard it and, 871 days later, we have absolutely no idea what became of them. There is an expectation, fueled by a modern world filled with technology and accomplishment, that if we want something enough, if we throw enough money and resources at it, there's nothing we can't do. And when that narrative of expectation is interrupted by something as strange and terrible as the unresolved disappearance of a giant metal machine, it doesn't go down easy. "It's all a big fabrication, a big cover-up," said Sakinab Shah, the eldest sister of senior pilot Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah. "Things just don't add up." Then she said something that echoed many people's comments in the first days after the disappearance, when the modern world's best machines and algorithms were brought to bear to find that plane and there were high hopes it would be found. "With modern-day technology," Shah said, "how can there be a mystery?" ___ Ted Anthony is the director of Asia-Pacific news for The Associated Press. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/anthonyted. Associated Press journalists Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Yu Bing in Beijing and Nick Perry in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this report. (**) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Star/ANN) Petaling Jaya, Malaysia Tue, July 26, 2016 The civil suits by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) allegedly linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) should be given the time and space it needs to ensure justice is done, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. "It should be given the space and time it needs, and those named have to clear their names," said Najib in a Facebook post on his official account on Monday night. He added that the Malaysian Government would cooperate fully in the case. "As has been frequently stressed, the Government will ensure that the rakyat's money is not misused," said Najib. This follows a similar statement by Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, who told a press conference at the party headquarters here Monday, that the DOJ's civil suits should be allowed to take their course first. "Innocent until proven guilty. Allow for due process to take place. Nothing has been proven in court," said Khairy. The DOJ filed civil forfeiture lawsuits last Wednesday to recover assets derived from alleged misappropriation from 1MDB. The assets marked for seizure are held by Riza Aziz, his stepson, businessman Jho Low, and two former Abu Dhabi government representatives. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Associated Press) Hanoi Tue, July 26, 2016 Vietnam's prime minister vowed to defend the country's sovereignty in the South China Sea as he was re-elected by the rubber-stamp National Assembly. Nguyen Xuan Phuc won 485 votes from 494 assembly deputies Tuesday. In his acceptance speech broadcast live on state television, Phuc called on parties to respect and comply with international law and not to further complicate the situation. An international tribunal two weeks ago rejected China's sweeping claims in the South China Sea in a case initiated by the Philippines. Vietnam is among the other claimants in the disputed area. The 62-year-old Phuc was elected prime minister in April by the old assembly. The assembly elected in the general elections in May is scheduled to approve Phuc's cabinet before wrapping up its first session on Friday. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The China Post/ANN) Taipei Tue, July 26, 2016 Three fishing vessels from Taiwan arrived in the vicinity of Republic of China-administered Taiping Island Monday, seeking to resupply their ships. Earlier, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) confirmed that the fishermen, who sailed from southern Taiwan on a five-day trip to the South China Sea island, would be allowed to step onto the islands pier to restock the ship. Before approaching the island, spokesman Luo Chiang-fei stated, [We] should respect government regulations since we are citizens of the R.O.C. But as a fishing vessel and coming ashore for restocking, I think this falls under the category of humanitarian aid and believe the government will not reject [the request]. The Presidential Office stated it respected the judgment of relevant agencies in determining how it chose to deal with the civilians. The Ministry of National Defense stated over the weekend that civilians intending to dock at Taiping needed to apply for permission at least 45 days in advance. They also expressed security concerns in the restricted area if Hong Kong-based journalists embedded with the fishermen were allowed on Taiping. The statement appeared to anger the fishermen, with the embedded reporters writing: The fishermen were extremely angry upon hearing this, even going as far to say the move was cold-hearted. To prevent the loss of focus, the contingent announced that one of the four ships carrying reporters would not dock. The trip began with five ships, but one ship returned to Taiwan due to technical problems. The ships are expected to begin their return trip to Taiwan on Tuesday. According to the Cabinet spokesman Tung Chen-yuan, the four vessels were later met by the coast guard patrol vessel Taoyuan at 67 nautical miles outside of the island. The government will protect [our] fishermen wherever they are. It has acted continuously with regard to positions on sovereignty, and more importantly, protecting the safety of fishermen. The coast guard will strengthen and lengthen its patrols, he added. But Tung also appeared to downplay the highly publicized move of local fishermen to proclaim national sovereignty of the island. From the international perspective, the fishermens trip to Taiping Island to proclaim sovereignty will not actually increase it, Tung said, arguing that the coast guard personnel stationed there were a more significant statement. If there were no personnel stationed there or if the government did not make moves to proclaim sovereignty over it, then there might have been a need [to make a trip], but even in that case, the task should fall to the government since civilian acts cannot achieve a declaration on an international level, he said. Fishermen 'braver than president': opposition Opposition Kuomintang caucus leader Lin Te-fu lauded the brave actions of the fishermen, as doubts lingered over whether the boats would be allowed to dock after their five-day journey. These fishermen have risked so much to defend our sovereignty and our fishing claims, and I believe they are more courageous than our president [and have] gained the peoples respect and esteem, Lin said prior to an extraordinary legislative session. Lin also attacked the administration for discouraging the fishermen from carrying out the activist action and described President Tsai Ing-wens response to a July 12 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling on the South China Sea as numbing and as making Taiwan a US vassal state. A trip to New York inspired the new Genos Italian-style sandwich shop at the corner of Hennepin and 4th St. SE in Minneapolis. Opening in a former Subway, the limited-seating restaurant features a fast-casual Italian menu in a diner ... France church attack: Priest killed in hostage-taking near Rouen Analysis - BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner After criticisms of police shortcomings over the Nice attack on 14 July, French anti-terrorist police moved with commendable speed to close down this hostage situation in a Norman church. Observers have pointed out that France and other countries are now moving more quickly towards what is called tactical intervention - overwhelming armed force aimed at minimising the period during which terrorists or armed criminals can threaten the public. The selection of a church by the attackers, whatever their motives turn out to be, crosses a new red line in the grim history of recent attacks on continental Europe. The murder of an 84-year-old priest in this attack will have further inflamed public opinion. News that one of the attackers was on the French government's terror watch-list, known as the S list, will prompt many to question its purpose if he can remain at large to carry a knife into a church. After criticisms of police shortcomings over the Nice attack on 14 July, French anti-terrorist police moved with commendable speed to close down this hostage situation in a Norman church.Observers have pointed out that France and other countries are now moving more quickly towards what is called tactical intervention - overwhelming armed force aimed at minimising the period during which terrorists or armed criminals can threaten the public.The selection of a church by the attackers, whatever their motives turn out to be, crosses a new red line in the grim history of recent attacks on continental Europe. The murder of an 84-year-old priest in this attack will have further inflamed public opinion.News that one of the attackers was on the French government's terror watch-list, known as the S list, will prompt many to question its purpose if he can remain at large to carry a knife into a church. BBC News26 July 2016A priest has been killed in an attack by two armed men at his church in a suburb of Rouen in northern France, police and French media have said.The armed men entered the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray during Mass, taking the priest, Fr Jacques Hamel, 84, and four other people hostage.Police later surrounded the church and French TV said shots were fired. Both hostage-takers are now dead.Pope Francis decried the "pain and horror of this absurd violence".French interior ministry spokesman, Pierre-Henri Brandet, said one of the hostages had been critically wounded.He said the hostage-takers had been "neutralised" after coming out of the church. Police were now searching the church for explosives.Police sources said it appeared the attackers had slit the priest's throat with a knife.The area has been cordoned off and police have told people to stay away.Mr Brandet said the motive of the attackers was not immediately clear, but the investigation into the incident would be led by anti-terrorism prosecutors.One of the men was known to the French intelligence services, French TV channel M6 has reported.French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has expressed his horror at the "barbaric attack"."The whole of France and all Catholics are wounded. We will stand together," he wrote on Twitter.President Francois Hollande has arrived in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray to be briefed by police.The Archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, who was attending a Catholic gathering in Poland, said: "I cry out to God with all men of goodwill. I would invite non-believers to join in the cry."The Catholic Church cannot take weapons other than those of prayer and brotherhood among men."A woman who works at a local beauty parlour, Eulalie Garcia, said she had known the priest since her childhood."My family has lived here for 35 years and we have always known him," she said."He was someone who was treasured by the community. He was very discreet and didn't like to draw attention to himself."There was no immediate word on the identity of the hostage-takers, but France has been on high alert since the Bastille Day attack in Nice earlier this month, when a man ploughed a lorry into celebrating crowds, killing more than 80 people.The Nice attack was carried out by Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel , who was not a known jihadist but so-called Islamic State said he had acted in response to its calls to target civilians in countries that have been attacking it.The BBC's Lucy Williamson in Paris says the French government has been under huge pressure to prevent further attacks. The mayor rejects a report showing that systemic failures within his administration caused the Rivington House fiasco. He said yesterday, It was a mistake. It shouldnt have happened. It will not happen again I dont see anything systemic in it. I dont see anything untoward in it. I think it was a situation where something got missed. [Daily News] The State Attorney General has gone to court in an effort to stop the Allure Group from buying a nursing home in Harlem. The Allure Group, of course, is the firm that sold Rivington House to luxury condo developers. [The Real Deal] In explaining the move, an assistant AG said, The Allure Groups direct involvement in the demise of the Rivington House home raises sufficient concern about the proposed purchasers suitability and fitness. [New York Post] Federal prosecutors say Sheldon Silver should not remain free while his appeal winds its way through the courts. [AP via ABC News] Puck Fair and the BP gas station on Lafayette Street have now been demolished to make room for an 80,000 sf office and retail complex. [EV Grieve] The de Blasio administration said its ahead of schedule, having created or preserved about 53,000 units of affordable housing. [New York Times] A profile of Nancy Yao Maasbach, president of the Museum of Chinese in America. [Forbes] On my recent trip to the Galapagos Islands with my family, we were joined by our friends, Jayne Hinds Bidaut and her eight-year old son, Max. Here, Max shares some of his own photos, videos and thoughts from our amazing journey. The trip was amazing. We went to over nine-Islands and made many naturalists hikes seeing endemic species of animals and plants. We also explored the very special volcanic landscapes we were walking through. We snorkeled in unique areas with beautiful fish, sea stars, rays, sea turtles, sea lions, sharks, penguins and more. We kayaked, had many panga boat rides and visited The Charles Darwin Research Center. We slept on the boat and traveled to the different islands during the night. The Galapagos Islands are a group of volcanic islands 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador in South America. They lie along the equator and the oldest island is a little over four-million years old. They are the Islands made famous by Charles Darwins visit in 1835 during his five-year voyage on the ship the HMS Beagle. There he collected animals and plants, and his observations of the endemic animals and plants, as well as the land, helped lead him to his theories on evolution and the origin of species. Have fun looking and please ask questions in the comments section! [albumid2 id="6311559483704385329"] On Sombrero Chino Island (Chinese Hat), we got to crawl through a Lava Tunnel. We loved it. It is a playground made by nature. As molten lava flows, an outer layer of the flow hardens, which insulates the still moving melted rock inside. This helps to keep the lava hot and moving along until all the lava has passed through and just a tube is left. Our guide had an accent and I thought she said Lava Tooth Tunnel, but she said Tube - oops. I swam with a Green Sea Turtle for over 15-minutes while he fed on algae! I would have stayed longer, but it was time to leave the island. We are in shallow water with waves rocking us, so I am trying hard not to touch him. He knows I am there as Sea Turtles have better hearing than dogs do and extremely good eye sight! LINCOLN (AP) Six major farm organizations have declared that property tax reform, instead of a constitutional protection for a "right to farm," should be the main priority for keeping agriculture in Nebraska strong. The Nebraska Ag Leaders Working Group said Wednesday that any effort to enact right-to-farm protections shouldn't be done in the state constitution but in state law. The proposal by Sen. John Kuehn of Heartwell would enshrine the right to "engage in farming and ranching practices" in the Nebraska Constitution if voters approve it in November. Doing so would prevent lawmakers from passing new agricultural regulations without a "compelling state interest." "We are united in our belief that protecting our members' interests and the future of agriculture isn't about a single ballot measure or initiative," said Steve Nelson, Nebraska Farm Bureau president. The group also said there are other issues more important to agriculture's "viability and growth." The statement represents a change of heart for four of the six organizations that backed a right-to-farm measure. Nebraska Corn Growers Association, Nebraska Cattlemen, Nebraska Pork Producers Association and Nebraska Soybean Association are the organizations that originally supported the measure. Kuehn said he plans to continue pushing for a constitutional amendment despite the six groups' lack of support. "We will work through the process of what seems best," Kuehn said. Taylor Gage, a spokesman for Gov. Pete Ricketts, who had backed the right-to-farm proposal this year, gave a more noncommittal response to the agricultural groups' statement. "Gov. Ricketts continues to support agriculture as an industry against outside extremist groups that oppose animal agriculture and spread misinformation about ag technology," Gage said. Gage noted that the governor has heard about the priority of property tax relief. Nelson said that attempting to pass the right-to-farm measure would take away from efforts to address property tax concerns. Americas first lady Michelle Obama stole the show on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention, as she delivered a well-aimed speech to unite the partys support behind Hillary Clinton. The start of the convention had threatened to be overshadowed by the anger of Bernie Sanders supporters following leaked e-mails suggesting the party had favoured Clinton in the primaries and general discontent that he isn't the Democratic candidate. There were several hundred people outside the convention hall marching down Philadelphias sweltering streets with signs carrying messages such as Never Hillary. Inside the hall there were even chants of Bernie while they booed Clinton the first few times her name was mentioned. But the mood settled when Sanders himself made an impassioned plea for Democrats to get behind Clintons bid to be the nations next president. Obama then took centre stage as she too endorsed Clinton and, while she has spent the majority of her eight years in the White House avoiding political fights, took numerous swipes at Donald Trump, while avoiding mentioning him by name. (Matt Rourke/AP) This election and every election is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives, she said. There is only one person I trust with that responsibility, only one person I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is Hillary Clinton. She warned that the White House could not be in the hands of someone with a thin skin or a tendency to lash out or someone who tells voters the country can be great again. (Paul Sancya/AP) This, right now, is the greatest country on earth, she said. Seeking to bridge deep Democratic divides, Sanders endorsed former rival Clinton as a champion for the same economic causes that enlivened his supporters, signalling it was time for them to support her in the campaign against Republican White House candidate Trump. Any objective observer will conclude that, based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States, Sanders declared in a headlining address on the opening night of the Democratic convention in Philadelphia. (J Scott Applewhite/AP) Sanders and Clinton aides joined forces before the convention to try to ease tension, which came after the resignation of party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz following the leaked emails. However Wasserman Schultzs departure was not initially enough to quell the anger of supporters. Clintons campaign quickly added more Sanders supporters to the speaker line-up and Sanders sent urgent messages asking them not to protest. (John Locher/AP/PA) By the time Sanders took the stage for the nights closing address, much of the anger had been overshadowed by speeches promoting party unity. He did his part, imploring his supporters to consider a country under Trumps leadership. If you dont believe this election is important, if you think you can sit it out, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate and what that would mean to civil liberties, equal rights and the future of our country, he said. Clintons husband, former US president Bill Clinton, watching from the audience, leapt to his feet and applauded, as did most of the delegates filling the convention arena. (Paul Sancya/AP) Sanders spoke just after Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, a favourite of liberals who has emerged as one of the Democrats toughest critics of Trump. Donald Trump has no real plans for jobs, for college kids, for seniors, she said in the keynote address. No plans to make anything great for anyone except rich guys like Donald Trump. Campaigning in North Carolina, Trump seemed to revel in the Democrats commotion, telling supporters that Clinton made a mistake by not choosing a more liberal running mate to appease Sanderss base. (Evan Vucci/AP) Crazy Bernies going crazy right now, he said. But in Philadelphia, delegates waved Love Trumps Hate signs and cheered as immigration supporters, gay rights advocates, and union leaders took the stage. Trump was a frequent target throughout the night, though the jabs were often more mocking than mean. The tone was a sharp contrast to the Republican convention, where the attacks against Clinton were bitingly personal, including chants of Lock her up. Michelle Obamas appearance last night at the Democratic National Convention has been all anyone can talk about. Once again the First Lady was the picture of grace, strength and intelligence as she delivered an inspiring and poignant speech that is sure to be remembered for years to come. She evoked peoples emotions: Watching @MichelleObama speech over&over. So choked up still, tears of American Pride. The message was so powerful. Thank You #DemsInPhilly Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) July 26, 2016 I'm not crying...I just got @MichelleObama's speech in my eye. Tanisha Long (@tanishalong) July 26, 2016 And inspired further Melania Trump jokes: If this Michelle Obama Showstopper is any guide, Melania Trump's next speech is going to be Amazing roger bennett (@rogbennett) July 26, 2016 I'm not gonna front, I would also steal Michelle's speech.#Goosebumps #DemsInPhilly Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) July 26, 2016 this was the Michelle Obama speech to plagiarize Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) July 26, 2016 Criticism was scarce for once: Trump has tweeted his criticism of Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren & Bernie Sanders. Oddly silent on Michelle Obama's speech. #DemsInPhilly Aisha Sultan (@AishaS) July 26, 2016 Has there been any thoughtful criticism of Michelle Obama's speech, or was it simply flawless? #DemsInPhilly Jeffrey Goldfarb (@jgfarb) July 26, 2016 And many even went as far as to support FLOTUS as a good candidate to be the next leader of the free world: Michelle Obama has my vote for President in 2020. Mark Duplass (@MarkDuplass) July 26, 2016 What are the odds on Michelle Obama becoming America's 1st female president? Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) July 26, 2016 Is America choosing the wrong First Lady as its presidential nominee? What a speech by @MichelleObama Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) July 26, 2016 But nobody enjoyed the speech more than the President himself: Two knifemen have been killed after taking hostages in a church in France, with local reports adding that one of the hostages died during the incident. A priest, two nuns and several worshippers were involved in the incident in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, south of Rouen, in Normandy. #BREAKING One hostage killed at church in northern France: police source AFP news agency (@AFP) July 26, 2016 According to unconfirmed reports, the hostage takers were shot dead by police. Local reports also quoted police sources as saying that at least one of the hostages had been killed, believed to be the priest. Later reports suggested that the priest died from a slashed throat during the incident, while one member of the congregation was seriously injured. [#SaintEtienneDuRouvray] Ne franchissez pas le perimetre de securite pr prendre des photos/videos, vous perturbez le travail des policiers. Police Nationale (@PoliceNationale) July 26, 2016 The French Police Nationale sent a Tweet urging media not to cross security tape at the scene or take pictures or video. The area around the church is cordoned off and the old town is out of bounds. (Dominique Faget/AP) President Francois Hollande and French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve are reported to be travelling to the scene. The hostage-takers entered the church armed with knives shortly before 10am local time (9am UK time), said French media sources. The police operation was completed by 11am French time (10am UK time). (Christophe Ena/AP) Officers from the elite anti-terrorist Raid squad were called in to assist local police. A number of shots were heard over a period of around 15 seconds as the incident came to an end. Newspaper Le Figaro quoted police sources as saying that at least one of the two hostage-takers had a beard and was wearing a chachia skullcap of the kind worn by some Muslims. Every year 15,000 UK students benefit from taking part in the EU funded Erasmus scheme. However, students in the UK now face uncertainty over whether they will still be allowed to participate following the vote for Brexit. Erasmus UK director, Ruth Sinclair-Jones, says the scheme cant be guaranteed after 2017. Speaking to The Guardian she admitted: We face a sad moment of uncertainty, after 30 years of this enrichment of so many lives. Anxious students worried about their future involvement in the scheme have been inundating the Erasmus organisation trying to gain clarification. A statement on the official Erasmus website reads: "We are getting many questions about the future of the Erasmus Programme. It is not clear at this early stage what the impact of the recent UK vote to leave the EU will have on the Erasmus Programme." EU negotiations for Britains exit are unlikely to begin until Article 50 has been triggered, which means we wont know what kind of relations the UK will have with the EU. On top of this its still unclear the kind of Brexit deals the government intends to try and make. This has a direct impact on the Erasmus scheme as it seems unlikely the UK would be allowed to participate in the scheme if we vote to restrict the free movement of people. I've never been a religious person. Yet I find myself here on the most pious continent on Earth, halfway down the long, rough hem of the Peruvian coast, listening keenly as a guide explains the worshipping habits of his ancestors. It's not like today, he says with a shake of his head. Only one god, and one Ive never seen. I do not call myself Catholic. Two thousand years ago, near the city that is now called Trujillo, the ancient Moche people looked to the sun, the moon, the stars for guidance. This was a civilisation richly characterised by ritual sacrifice and a furious, unwavering belief in the afterlife. They also worshipped the natural world: tangible elements they could see, interpret, and appreciate. They revered the galaxies and oceans, built temples (huacas) for the sun and the moon, and fell to their knees at the sight of a rainbow joyful at the promise of rain in this arid land. Pots of liquid gold aren't often found here; thirst would spell the eventual demise of the Moche. It didnt rain for 30 years, our guide tells us. huacas to survey the surroundings. My shoulders ache under the might of the suns rays, moving my dry tongue along my teeth. Everything is sandy stone; the sky seems never ending, a law unto itself. It could bear heat or water, depending on its mood. Untrustworthy. In the same shimmering desert heat the Moche endured, we climb to the top of one of thehuacasto survey the surroundings. My shoulders ache under the might of the suns rays, moving my dry tongue along my teeth. Everything is sandy stone; the sky seems never ending, a law unto itself. It could bear heat or water, depending on its mood. Untrustworthy. In the distance is Chan Chan, recognised by UNESCO as the largest mud brick city in the world. The city thrived for 500 years before its 12-metre-high walls lost out to the sand, gradually becoming buried under a palimpsest of desert storm debris. Stark engravings, uncovered centuries later, told the story of the inhabitants desperation: they really believed they could be saved by galaxies above, lunar mercy, falling rain. Natures deities. The simple beauty of belief in such reciprocity is overwhelming among the vast, intricate ruins which were once the people's metropolis. How the mighty can fall. 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With fewer inbound and outbound flights, these smaller airports have lost critical funds from the Federal Aviation Administrations (FAA) Airport Improvement Program (AIP). These funds help local airports to maintain basic operations, including safety and security, maintaining runways, and building new facilities. Nebraskas rural and small community airports connect our state to the rest of the nation, but these cuts have weighed heavily on the men and women who keep them running. This was reinforced at a field hearing I chaired in Scottsbluff in May. Don Overman, one of our witnesses and the chairman of Scottsbluffs Western Nebraska Regional Airport Authority Board, noted how rural airports have been vastly impacted by changes on airline pilot hours that took place in 2013, leading to a downturn in passenger traffic and a loss in AIP funds. Because of the dedication of Mr. Overman and leaders in Kearney and North Platte, I have been working with Congressman Adrian Smith over the last few years to solve this problem and restore these funds. And solve it we did. This month, Congress passed legislation to authorize the FAA through September 2017. Included in the final bill were important provisions from the Small Airport Regulation Relief Act. Congressman Smith introduced this bill in the House and I cosponsored it in the Senate. The legislation ensures small airports can continue receiving AIP funds despite downturns in air service. With funding restored beginning in 2017, airports like Scottsbluff's Western Nebraska Regional Airport, and those in Kearney and North Platte, can continue their operations. The bill also provides these airports with the certainty needed to make long-term investments in infrastructure, safety, and reliability so they can better serve travelers and businesses for years to come. Another provision included in the final FAA bill strengthens and continues the Essential Air Service Program (EAS). This program provides incentives to air carriers that offer service to rural areas. Without this funding, our local communities would have witnessed a dramatic drop in services with airlines shifting routes to major cities. Since our provision was included in the final FAA bill, small airports in Alliance, Chadron, Grand Island, McCook, North Platte, and Scottsbluff will be able to maintain their operations and continue attracting businesses. The aviation bill is a victory for Nebraskas rural and small community airports, and I am pleased to report President Obama signed it into law this month. While I understand our aviation community would have preferred a long-term FAA bill, I plan to work closely with public and private sector stakeholders in Nebraska to accomplish this critical goal next year. Commercial air service is a highway for commerce and travel. Thanks to the passage of the FAA bill, we can all take comfort knowing there are more ways to connect our state and welcome visitors to the Good Life. Thank you for taking part in our democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week. Home >Police Enforcement > Checkpoints and Stops > New Jersey Supreme Court Allows High Beams On Empty Roads A brand is a promise. Over the years, Nebraska has adopted a number of slogans and taglines which have come and gone. One phrase, however, has not only stayed on our road signs, but it has also remained near and dear to the hearts of Nebraskans. The Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED) and I announced that the State of Nebraska would be bringing back this beloved tagline. Last week, we announced the new state brand, Good Life. Great Opportunity. A key part of running an organization like a business means building a trusted brand across the entire enterprise that makes a positive impression on the customers you work to serve as well as the businesses and investors you are working to recruit. Last year, DED began to develop a new brand to help market Nebraska to businesses, investors, and job creators. As DED began this process, the vision for this new brand expanded. Right now, State of Nebraska agencies use a myriad of logos and designs, so I encouraged DED to look for a brand all state agencies could utilize to help all of them create a unified image. To this end, DED engaged a marketing agency to help gather input from Nebraskans and develop a new brand for the state. Developing a brand is a massive challenge because it needs to be something your organization and customers believe in. As John Steinbeck once wrote in East of Eden, No story has power, nor will it last, unless we feel in ourselves that it is true and true of us. To develop a brand Nebraskans would support, we listened first. Over the course of the input process, thousands of Nebraskans provided input through meetings across the state, surveys targeting key audiences, and even conversations with individuals who had moved away. In the process of developing a new state brand in the last year, we heard everywhere that more than ever Nebraskans see our state as the Good Life. While we were searching for a brand Nebraskans would embrace, we also wanted a brand that would help us highlight the many aspects of our state that make it uniquely Nebraskan. This process resulted in Good Life. Great Opportunity. Its a phrase all Nebraskans can embrace. Whether you grew up on a Sandhills ranch or work in an Omaha high rise, this brand is inspired by the men and women who grew Nebraska for our first 150 years. Growing the Good Life in Nebraska is the mission of my administration. Opportunity is the first step towards achieving this mission. From the farms and ranches that are the backbone of our number one industry to the innovative startups in Silicon Prairie and Fortune 500 company headquarters, this brand will help us highlight opportunity everywhere in our state. With the introduction of Good Life. Great, the State of Nebraska has also developed a brand that provides flexibility for each state agency to choose their own great and tailor it to their specific mission. For example, the State Patrol has selected Good Life. Great Tradition. The Department of Roads has chosen Good Life. Great Journey. as their brand. Additionally, the Department of Labor has picked Good Life. Great Connections. as the new brand for their agency. Other organizations will also have an opportunity to utilize this brand upon request. For example, the beef industry or a beef producers might choose to use something along the lines of Good Life. Great Beef. As you can see, this brand has a lot of potential to provide a more unified image for state government as we work to make the State of Nebraska more customer-focused and grow our state. In the coming weeks and months, state agencies will work to implement the brand. While you will see a lot of changes, you will continue to see the Good Life in familiar places like our road signs. To learn more about the brand and how it will be used, you can visit GoodLifeGreatOpportunity.com for more information. If you have any thoughts on the new brand or how the state markets itself, please contact my office by emailing pete.ricketts@nebraska.gov or by calling 402-471-2244. It began in Fremont and ended up in Mexico. In the beginning, Darrol and Kim Prusia and two of their four children all became black belts under the training and direction of Jim Rosenbach. With the Prusia family combining their love of martial arts and their love for Jesus, they and their teacher recently returned from Puebla, Mexico where they taught Christ, Compassion and Combat Missionary Martial Arts. The Prusias operated martial arts RWTB locations in Valley and Elkhorn and opened a missionary karate school to teach self-defense and witness about Jesus and the gospel of Christ to the people of Mexico, Rosenbach said. It was Darrol and Kims younger sons, Daythan and Donavan, who were ready to attain their black belts along with some of Darrols top Hispanic students. Darrol has been looking forward to the day that brings an instructor full circle, this is becoming a black belt instructor and then teaching and promoting his students all the way to black belt, he said. The Prusias have spent years getting their students ready to bring me in to teach a martial arts seminar and promote the students of the Prusia RWTB martial arts school. Rosenbach said the students had been wearing his T-shirts and uniforms but have never met him. This would become the perfect opportunity to give students some advanced training and let them meet the head of the organization. Six students promoted to black belt and were awarded embroidered black belts with their names on them, donated by Cassville MOs RWTB instructor and chief of RWTB operations Ernest Freeman, he said. Close to 50 students were promoted to new ranks after a four-hour martial arts advanced combat seminar hosted by the Prusia family and taught by myself. Rosenbach credits the Prusia family for doing such a great job of instructing RWTBs principles of combat. We just felt it was time to teach his students some of our advanced weapons combat and self-protective skills, Rosenbach said. Darrol and Dylan were also promoted to higher black belts levels and awarded for their continuous growth and dedication to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and RWTB which is a Christian based martial arts organization Rosenbach said despite being in a non-English speaking country, communication was right where it needed to be. There were no language barriers, Rosenbach said. Marital arts and the love of Jesus is a universal language of its own. Its all about loving, giving and training with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. If Ive learned anything from my martial arts travels it is that people are the same all over the world. 19 killed in knife rampage at Japan care home JAPAN: At least 19 people were killed when a knife-wielding man went on the rampage at a Japanese care centre for the mentally disabled late yesterday night (July 25), officials said. deathhomicideviolence By AFP Tuesday 26 July 2016, 09:18AM Keep Out police tape blocks the entrance to the Tsukui Yamayuri En, a care centre at Sagamihara city in Japans Kanagawa prefecture. Photo: AFP A 26-year-old man who said he was a former employee of the facility later turned himself in at a police station, admitting to officers: I did it. According to the Asahi Shimbun daily, he also said: The disabled should all disappear. A fleet of ambulances, police cars and fire trucks converged on the one-storey Tsukui Yamayuri-en centre nestled against forested hills in Sagamihara, a city of more than 700,000 people west of Tokyo. A fire department spokesman said that another 25 were wounded, 20 of them seriously, in the attack which ranks as one of the worst mass killings in Japans postwar history. Doctors confirmed the deaths of 19 people, the spokesman said. Kyodo news agency identified the attacker as Satoshi Uematsu and said he had been arrested. Police said they received a call from the centre around 2:30am (11:30pm Thai time), raising the alarm that a man armed with a knife had entered the facility. Public broadcaster NHK said he had broken a glass window on the first floor to get into the building before stabbing those inside. It also said police found several knives in his bag, some of which were covered with blood. Police said the assailant turned himself in shortly after 3:00am, admitting he had carried out the attack at the centre which was today (July 26) cordoned off, and draped with yellow Keep Out tape. Japan has one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the developed world, and attacks involving weapons of any kind are unusual. But the country has seen outbursts of random as well as planned violence. In 2001, eight children at a primary school in Osaka were stabbed to death. And in 2008 a man ploughed a rental truck into a crowd of shoppers in Tokyos bustling Akihabara district before he stabbed passers-by, killing seven people and injuring 10 others. After that rampage, Japan banned possession of double-edged knives with blades longer than 5.5 centimetres, punishable by up to three years in prison. Japans most notorious attack came in 1995, when members of the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas in the Tokyo subway system. Thirteen people were killed and thousands of commuters fell ill in a crime that deeply dented the national sense of security. But Japan has recently seen an increasing number of cases of attacks on the weak and vulnerable. In February, a former nursing home worker was arrested for allegedly throwing an 87-year-old resident to his death from a balcony. The former employee also reportedly admitted killing two more residents in their 80s and 90s by throwing them from balconies in 2014. There have also been cases of family members killing ailing and ageing spouses or parents suffering from dementia in Japans rapidly ageing society. EU wants reduction in trawler numbers BANGKOK: Despite expressing satisfaction with new laws to tackle illegal fishing, the European Union (EU) believes there are too many Thai fishing vessels which will deplete fish stocks if left unchecked. marine By Bangkok Post Tuesday 26 July 2016, 09:46AM According to the Fisheries Department, there are currently more than 11,000 registered trawlers and about 2,000 illegal trawlers in Thailand. Photo Bangkok Post Following a recent EU inspection of Thai measures to tackle Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, the EU said it was satisfied with the 2016 Fisheries Decree which aims to ensure the sustainable development of the Thai fishing industry, Adisorn Promthep, director-general of the Department of Fisheries, said. The EU wants to see all measures under the law successfully implemented, he said. However, the EU remains concerned about the excessive number of trawlers in the country, which threaten seafood stocks and marine ecological systems. The EU wants Thailand to reduce the number of trawlers, Mr Adisorn said. According to the department, there are currently more than 11,000 registered trawlers and about 2,000 illegal trawlers. The EU believes a more suitable number would be under 10,000. Mr Adisorn said the department has told the EU it does not want to rob fishermen of their livelihoods by revoking their licences so it has limited the number of days trawlers can fish to 220 days per year to preserve marine stocks and ecological systems. The department also has a programme to buy trawlers from fishermen and encourage them to pursue new careers. The EU agreed with us that Thailand needs more time to see its efforts achieve better results. The next meeting between Thai and EU officials will be in January next year, where it is expected further progress will be reported to the EU, Mr Adisorn said. He added that it is not clear when the EU will decide to lift the yellow card which it issued to Thailand but officials are confident the EU will not impose a ban on Thai seafood exports. We have done many things to meet required standards. If our trading partners are happy with us, we see no need to worry about an EU ban. The EU issued the yellow card in April last year and demanded Thailand bring its fishing industry in line with international standards to prevent labour abuses, as well as illegal and unsustainable fishing practices. Read original story here. Lao maid returns to fight Ying Kais charges of theft CHIANG RAI: A Lao woman accused by alleged con woman Monta Yokrattanakan of stealing gold and jewellery worth B2.9 million arrived back from Laos yesterday (July 25) to fight the case, and reported to Thai authorities. crimepolice By Bangkok Post Tuesday 26 July 2016, 08:56AM Monta Ying Kai Yokrattanakan, 58, escorted by correctional officials, steps into a van and is taken to the Central Womens Correctional Institution for detention after the Criminal Court denied her bail on July 7. Photo: Bangkok Post Ms Kabkaew, whose surname was not revealed but who previously worked as a maid for Monta, travelled with her boyfriend by ferry across the Mekong River and entered the country via Chiang Saen district in Chiang Rai yesterday morning. On arrival at the Golden Triangle permanent checkpoints pier in tambon Wiang, Ms Kabkaew reported to immigration officials, declaring she had arrived to clear her name. She was later taken to meet Col Natthakit Pinpak, chief of Chiang Saen immigration, for initial questioning pending the arrival of police investigators from Bangkok. Ms Kabkaew and another Lao woman, Thamma, whose surname is also not known, allege they were tricked into forced labour by Monta in 2011. The two women eventually quit and fled Monta's home. Soon after, Monta filed charges against them, alleging they stole valuables worth B2.9 million before they left. Monta, 58, who also previously went by the name Ying Kai, hit the news headlines after her former household staff accused her of filing false complaints of theft with police. She is currently being held at the Central Womens Correctional Institution facing several charges of laying false police complaints against former staff, human trafficking, and lese majeste for wrongful use of a royal title. Lt Gen Sanit Mahathavorn, acting commander of the Metropolitan Police Bureau and his deputy Maj Gen Jaruwat Vaisaya, head of a team investigating charges of human trafficking by Monta, were flying to Chiang Rai to question the Lao woman, Thai media reported. Read original story here. Six arrested in Phuket anti-drug and crime campaign PHUKET: Six people were arrested on Saturday (July 23) and Sunday (July 24) as part of polices ongoing anti-drug and crime campaign being carried out across the island. drugscrimepolice By Eakkapop Thongtub Tuesday 26 July 2016, 06:25PM The six ere arrested as police continue their anti-drug and crime campaign. Photo: Phuket City Police Anti-narcotics police led by Phuket City Polices Maj Rittichai Chumchuy arrested six people over the weekend who between them were found to be in possession 7.47 grams of crystal meth (ya ice), 77 methamphetamine pills (ya bah), one 9mm pistol and 40 bullets. Those arrested were named as follows: 1. Arnon Lakthan, 21 2. Ms Orawong Changleg, 27 3. Kornaphat Tipsak, 32 4. Ms Winitchakarn Nganreepreaw, 23 5. Sommart Phumi, 39 6. Kittisak Lengjaroen, 30 According to the police report, on July 23 at 3:30pm, officers arrested 21-year-old Arnon at a house in Moo Baan Poonsap in Chalong after police learned that he had been selling drugs from his backyard to people in Chalong. Police seized from him 5.12g of ya ice, 20 bullets(.38) and drug taking paraphernalia. Arnon told police he bought the ya ice from a dealer named Orawong who rented a room at the Plus Condominium in Kathu and sold the drug to people whom contacted him by phone. At 6pm on July 23, police then arrested Ms Orawong who had in her possession of .54g of ya ice, 20 bullets (9mm) and other seized items. By 11:30pm police were led to two more suspects, Kornaphat Tipsak, 32, and Ms Winitchakarn Nganreepreaw, 23. They were arrested at Thana Villa in Kathu with 1.42g of ya ice, 8 ya bah pills,one 9mm pistol and five bullets. The arrest came after undercover officers told us that the two had also been selling drugs to people in the area, and that they were in the drug network of Kamonwit Maneesri, said Maj Rittichai. The next day (July 24) after questioning these above named suspects we arrested two more people, Sommart Phumi, 39, with 70 ya bah pills and Kittisak Lengjaroen, 30 with .39g of ya ice. Arnon and Orawong were charged with possession of a Category 1 and illegal possession of firearm and ammunition. Kornaphat, Sommart and Ms Winitchakarn face the charge of possession of a Category 1 with intent to sell, while Kornaphat faces the charge of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition. Kitisak faes the charge of possession of Category 1 drug. Solar Impulse completes historic round-the-world flight ABU DHABI: Solar Impulse 2 landed Tuesday (July 26) in the UAE, completing its epic journey to become the first sun-powered airplane to circle the globe without a drop of fuel to promote renewable energy. technologyenvironmentpollutiontransport By AFP Tuesday 26 July 2016, 01:04PM The plane touched down at 04:05 local time (7:05am Phuket time) in the capital Abu Dhabi after a more than 48 hour-long flight from Cairo, the final leg in its journey which began on March 9 last year. Cheers and clapping welcomed the plane as it arrived at Al-Bateen Executive Airport, where it first launched its world tour, an AFP journalist reported. Swiss explorer and project director Bertrand Piccard was in the cockpit during the 2,763-kilometre flight from Cairo, crossing the Red Sea, the vast Saudi desert and flying over the Gulf. The flight capped a remarkable 42,000km journey across four continents, two oceans and three seas. Solar Impulse 2 took off from Cairo on the final leg early on Sunday, having previously crossed Asia, North America, Europe and North Africa. The future is clean, the future is you, the future is now, lets take it further, said Piccard as he disembarked. One thing I would like for you to remember: More than an achievement in the history of aviation, Solar Impulse has made an achievement in (the) history of energy, he said. We have enough solutions, enough technologies. We should never accept the world to be polluted only because people are scared to think in another way. Hours before landing, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed praise in a live-streamed conversation with Piccard. My deepest admiration and respect for your courage, he said. This is a historic day, not only for you but for humanity. Achieve the impossible Dubbed the paper plane, Solar Impulse 2 has been circumnavigating the globe in stages, with 58-year-old Piccard and his compatriot Andre Borschberg taking turns at the controls of the single-seat aircraft. Borschberg, 63, smashed the record for the longest uninterrupted journey in aviation history with the 8,924km flight between Nagoya, Japan and Hawaii that lasted nearly 118 hours. The adventure began 13 years ago #futureisclean, he tweeted on Monday. No heavier than a car but with the wingspan of a Boeing 747, the four-engine, battery-powered aircraft relies on around 17,000 solar cells embedded in its wings. The plane has clocked an average speed of 80kmh. The pilots use oxygen tanks to breathe at high altitude and wear suits specially designed to cope with the extreme conditions. They have had to withstand temperatures inside the tiny cockpit ranging from -20C to 35C. Piccard has said he launched the project in 2003 to show that renewable energy can achieve the impossible. His dream has taken much longer than planned. The attempt was initially expected to last five months, including 25 days of actual flying. But the aircraft was grounded in July last year when its solar-powered batteries suffered problems halfway through the trip. One less impossible thing The project has also been beset by bad weather and illness, which forced Piccard to delay the final leg. While in the air, the pilot is constantly in contact with mission control in Monaco, where a team of weathermen, mathematicians and engineers monitors the route and prepares flight strategies. Its a project for energy, for a better world, Piccard told journalists in Cairo before taking off. A psychiatrist who made the first non-stop balloon flight around the world in 1999, Piccard had warned the last leg would be difficult because of the high temperatures. Its been two hours now Im flying into high up and down drafts. And I cant even drink. Its really exhausting, he tweeted on Sunday. While the pilots do not expect commercial solar-powered planes any time soon, they hope the project will help spur wider progress in clean energy. We can hardly believe that we made it, it's still a little bit like in a dream. We have to realise that its the reality, Piccard told reporters upon landing Abu Dhabi. Now the trip around the world has been done, and there is one thing less that is impossible in the world, he added. South Dakota high school football quarterfinal schedule and scores The road to the DakotaDome continues tonight with 28 quarterfinal games in seven classes across South Dakota. In 2010 the Internal Revenue Service began targeting and abusing many citizens who were seeking nonprofit tax recognition for legitimate charitable and social purposes. This action was led by Lois Lerner. In 2012 this practice was revealed and investigations and hearings commenced. In that time it was established beyond reasonable doubt that the sole purpose of Lois Lerner and those supporting her was to stop the activities of these groups which were in political opposition to the administration. President Obama stated, The misconduct is inexcusable and the Democrat Senator McCaskill stated that, Weve got to go down the line and find every single person that had anything to do with this and make sure that they are removed from the IRS. After years of hearings, the administration took no action and made no report to Congress. Congressman Jim Jordan who led the IRS investigation at the House Oversight Committee reported that he believed this coverup was as big a threat to the freedom of our country as the targeting himself. He stated, When you have a justice department more focused on politics than justice, the country is in trouble. And there is no denying that is where we are. No action of any type was ever taken against Lois Lerner. The Clinton event follows the same pattern and they share the concern of Congressman Jordan that our country is in trouble. Most of those in Washington, D.C., make up the tail that wags the dog. These actions and inactions violate the basic principles of our country and I am tired of being wagged by the Washington insiders. Neil Schilke Fremont 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. Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., march during a protest in downtown on, Monday, July 25, 2016, in Philadelphia, during the first day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) JALALABAD, Afghanistan -- A remote mountainous district in eastern Afghanistan that was once central to efforts by the Islamic State (IS) to establish a foothold in the country appears to be back in government control. Officials in the eastern province of Nangarhar said Afghan forces have reclaimed Kot district after a weeklong military offensive that culminated with commando raids on IS leadership hideouts in the region late on July 25. Nangarhar provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani claimed Afghan forces killed more than 100 IS militants and have captured nearly 20. He said the dead included Saad Emarati, a prominent local IS leader. He was believed to be deputy military commander of the group and led the IS militants in Kot, Khogyani told Radio Free Afghanistan on July 26. Before that, he was a Taliban leader [in the southeastern province of Logar]. Afghan observers said Emarati was a significant IS leader and his killing will affect the groups operations in eastern Afghanistan. On July 26, the Afghan military took a few journalists on a brief tour of Kot, where they were shown an IS hideout and offices. The ultra-radical militant group, which now rules parts of Iraq and Syria, apparently tried to imitate its harsh rule in Nangarhar by establishing courts, prisons, clinics, and training centers. The Afghan victory comes days after IS claimed responsibility for an attack on a rally of Shiite Hazaras in the capital, Kabul. More than 80 protesters were killed in the July 23 attack, which Kabul said was carried out by two suicide bombers. Lawmaker Zabihullah Zmaray, a member of Nangarhar provincial council, said the current offensive in the province is more effective than past government efforts, which saw IS militants often returning as soon as the government forces had left. Zmaray said the combination of NATO air support and extensive ground operations by Afghan special forces is making a visible difference. President Ashraf Ghani has ordered the Afghan forces to abandon their defensive posture and get on the offensive against IS, he said. This seems to be paying off. IS, locally known by its Arabic acronym Daesh, first emerged in the region in late 2014. It swiftly overran six Nangarhar districts bordering Pakistan last year. But its atrocities -- including beheadings and blowing civilians into pieces have provoked local rebellions and operations by Afghan forces. Earlier this month, General John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said IS has endured significant losses in Nangarhar. He told journalists that the group was now present in just three districts, down from nine last year. IS perhaps faces a more existential challenge from the Taliban, who oppose its strict Takfiri Salafi interpretations and see its aim of building a transnational caliphate as a direct challenge to the revival of their Emirate -- the Taliban term for their hard-line regime that crumbled in late 2001 in the aftermath of a U.S.-led offensive against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The Taliban and IS fighters have frequently clashed across Afghanistan with the Taliban apparently succeeding in defeating the IS in the southern provinces of Helmand, Farah, and Zabul -- all bordering Iran or close to its borders. Zmaray said the Afghan authorities have learned hard lessons from their past mistakes and now intend to leave behind enough soldiers to secure the regions reclaimed from IS and build robust civilian administrations. We are determined to not create a vacuum for these extremists, he said. Zmaray and other officials are now hoping to reclaim neighboring Achin and Haska Maina districts from IS. In Kot, an Afghan Army officer, who did not give his name, told an Afghan TV channel that the victory has given them a morale boost. I want to promise the people of Nangarhar that we will eliminate every single enemy fighter here, he said. Abubakar Siddique wrote this story based on Shah Mahmood Shinwaris reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan. fg/ But the tribe has a long way to go Jammu and Kashmir is afire again. More than the crowds, it is the crowd-control method used by the Central Reserve Police Force that is drawing ire from all quarters. Though pellets are 'non-lethal', the injuries they cause may turn fatal for the victim, as seen in the valley. While the debate on whether pellets should be banned rages on, we take a look at some other crowd-control techniques across the world that were used or considered for use. Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) and Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio (MEDUSA) Though both are quite different in nature, the underlying principle is similaracoustics. LRAD can produce sound so loud that it becomes unbearable to the people in the direction it is pointed at (the sound may be over 150 decibelsthe threshold limit of a person is normally 130 decibels). Its range varies from 100m to 2km. It is used by the navy to communicate and also to scare off pirates. LRADs cause nausea, uneasiness and headache. While LRAD uses sound waves, MEDUSA puts sounds inside one's head... literally, using the microwave audio effect, in which short microwave pulses heat tissue rapidly, and produces a persistent, sound sensation inside the head, which is impossible to block out unless you are out of the range of the device. It is, as per reports, in cold storage. It may cause permanent brain damage. Dazer Laser As the name suggests, the torch-like device is designed to visually impair a person temporarily. It can 'shoot' a continuous or pulsating green beam to up to 2.4km. It might cause uneasiness and nausea, but no permanent damage has been reported yet. It has two modelsa flashlight-shaped device called the Guardian and a handgun-shaped Defender. The Personnel Halting And Stimulation Response Rifle (PHASR) also works on the same principle. Active Denial System It might look like a harmless outdoor broadcasting van but can 'turn on the heat', if you stand in its way. The vehicle-mounted ADS or the pain ray projects a focused beam of short radio waves, which heats the skin of its targetsraising the temperature up to 50 degrees Celsius. Sounds like being in a microwave oven, isn't it? It has a range of up to 500m. Overexposure might cause tissue damage including keloids and even cancer. Skunk spray An Israeli invention finds a way into this list dominated by Americans. It was first used to disperse protesters in the occupied West Bank region in 2008. The water cannons spray an foul-smelling liquid on the targets. The stench lingers in the air and on the clothes and skin for days. While the Israeli forces claim that it is a mixture of yeast, water and baking powder, the victims describe it as a concoction of rotting animal corpse, sewage water and human excrement. Taser Extended Range Electronic Projectile (Taser XREP) The taser is an effective weapon for immobilising a target but its rangeabout 15 feethas been an area of concern. But a normal 12-gauge shotgun, loaded with XERP cartridges, can bridge the gap. It gives an electric shock of 500 volts through barbed electrodes on the cartridge upon impact, and causes the person's muscles to tense, thus incapacitating him. The shotgun can shoot up to 100 feet. The first ever round-the-globe mission of Solar Impulse 2 to prove the power of clean solar energy came to a successful end in Abu Dhabi. Here's a look at its eventful journey: Long journey Beginning its journey on March 9 last year in Abu Dhabi, Solar Impulse 2 flew for 505 hours, covering 42,000km in 17 flights with breaks as it crossed Europe, North America, and Asia. The first global fuel-free flight in aviation history, it came to a successful end on July 26. Wide body The most conspicuous thing about Solar Impulse 2 is its 72-metre wide wingspangreater than the Boeing 747. Made in 2014, it has a single-person cockpit and weighs 2,300kg, one fourth of which is because of the batteries that fuel the plane. It has a length of 22.4m and a height of 6.37m. Capabilities Though the aircraft mostly flies at leisurely speeds due to inclement weather, it is capable of flying at a speed of 80kmph and can reach an altitude of 8,500m. The take-off speed is 36kmph. Source of energy The solar aircraft runs entirely on electricity generated by 17,248 solar cells fixed on its wings, which, in turn, powers the four electrical motors that rotate the propellers. During night time, the aircraft is powered by four lithium polymer batteries that stores electricity generated during the daytime. It slows down to save power as dusk sets in. Visiting India During its historic journey, Solar Impulse 2 was in India for more than week. In its second leg, the crew flew from Muscat and reached Ahmedabad on March 10. In the third leg, from Ahmedabad to Varanasi on March 18, the plane was in Indian skies for 13 hours and 15 minutes. On the same day it left for Myanmar and landed at Mandalay. Pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, the co-founders of Solar Impulse project, have been working to revolutionise aviation sector for the last 10 years. Both the Swiss pilots took turns in the cramped cockpit during this circumnavigation. Bertrand Piccard flew the plane in the last lap from Cairo to Abu Dhabi for two days and 47 minutes. Records Solar Impulse 2 set 19 official aviation records. The longest uninterrupted solo flight record now belongs to Andre Borschberg who flew an 8,924-km flight from Nagoya in Japan to Hawaii for nearly 118 hours (close to five days) in the eighth leg of the journey. Nine suspected Islamist militants were on Tuesday killed and two others arrested by Bangladeshi police during a pre-dawn raid at their hideout here, officials said. The hour-long raid was launched at 5:51am (local time) at Jahaz building in Kalyanpur area by special police units. The militants, suspected to be members of Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), had opened fire on police during an operation in the neighbourhood at midnight, Dhaka Tribune quoted a police official as saying. "All (nine) of them appeared to be militants," Dhaka's joint police commissioner Sheikh Maruf Hassan said. The Islamist gunmen wearing black tunics exchanged fire intermittently throughout the night and shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is the Greatest). Two more presumed extremists, incuding one with bullet wounds, were arrested from the scene, he added. Bangladesh is reeling from a wave of deadly attacks by Islamist extremists. Twenty two people, mostly foreigners including an Indian girl, were killed by suspected ISIS militants inside a cafe popular with expats in the diplomatic zone in Dhaka in the worst terror attack in Bangladesh before commandos launched an assault, killing six attackers and capturing one alive. Around 30 people were injured in the attack for which dreaded Islamic State group claimed responsibility through its Amaq news agency, nearly four hours after the hostage crisis unfolded. The government, however, maintains that the home grown militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) was behind the attack. Nineteen people were killed and dozens were wounded after an attack by a knife-wielding man at a facility for the disabled in central Japan early on Tuesday, media reported, in Japan's worst mass killing in decades. Police in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Tokyo, have arrested Satoshi Uematsu, a 26-year-old former employee at the facility, Japanese media reported. They said staff called police at 2.30am local time (1730 GMT Monday) with reports of a man armed with a knife on the grounds of the Tsukui Yamayuri-En facility. The 3-hectare (7.6 acre) facility, established by the local government and nestled on the wooded bank of the Sagami River, cares for people with a wide range of disabilities, NHK said, quoting an unidentified employee. Police had recovered a bag with several knives, at least one stained with blood, NHK said. No details were provided about where the knives were found. The man, wearing a black T-shirt, did not have a knife when he turned himself in at a nearby police station, other reports said. Police said they were still investigating possible motives. Asahi Shimbun reported that the suspect was quoted by police as saying: "I want to get rid of the disabled from this world." Fifteen people were initially confirmed dead, while four were said to be in cardiac arrest, media reports said. Kyodo later said the death toll stood at 19. There was confusion about the number of wounded, with reports fluctuating between 20 and 45. Twenty-nine emergency squads responded to the attack, Kyodo reported, with those wounded taken to at least six hospitals in the western Tokyo area. A man identified as the father of a patient in the facility told NHK he learned about the attack on the radio and had received no information from the centre. "I'm very worried but they won't let me in," he said, standing just outside a cordon of yellow crime-scene tape. The man, who arrived at the scene around 5am (2000 GMT Monday), said he had never heard of trouble at the facility before. NHK reported that the facility is usually locked at night but the man broke into the building by smashing a window. The facility's website said the centre had a maximum capacity of 160 people, including staff. Social media went into overdrive as news of the mass stabbing broke. "I can't stop shaking. What a terrible incident, it's just too much," one post on Twitter said. Such mass killings are extremely rare in Japan and typically involve stabbings due to Japan's strict gun laws. Eight children were stabbed to death at their school in Osaka by a former janitor in 2001. Seven people died in 2008 when a man drove a truck into a crowd and began stabbing people in Tokyo's popular electronics and "anime" district of Akihabara. Members of a doomsday cult killed 12 and made thousands ill in 1995 in simultaneous attacks with sarin nerve gas on five Tokyo rush-hour subway trains. A roundup of Capitol and state government news items of interest for Monday, July 25, 2016: RAIN HELPS EASE IOWA CONCERNS: Iowas statewide average rainfall amount this year stands at almost twice the normal average, according to a state multi-agency report issued Monday. State officials said the recent rains have improved groundwater levels across Iowa, while the National Drought Monitor shows about a third of the state still rated as abnormally dry. However, heavy rains that fell on July 19 were not reflected latest water summary, according to a report prepared by the state natural resource, agriculture and land stewardship, homeland security and emergency management agencies, the National Weather Service and the U.S. Geological Survey. Substantial rainfall during July has improved shallow groundwater conditions in central Iowa and most of southeast Iowa from slight drought to normal while a small region of southeast Iowa continues to be in slight drought conditions. Also, shallow groundwater levels in most of northwest, southwest and northeast Iowa continue to be above normal for July. In the past two weeks, the average statewide rainfall has been about 4.02 inches -- nearly double the normal amount for this period. Two-week rain totals varied from a 1.56 inches at Akron up to 9.01 inches near Red Oak. Streamflow conditions remain above normal for most of the state. For a thorough review of Iowas water resource trends, go to www.iowadnr.gov/watersummaryupdate. IOWA HEALTH LINK TRADEMARK: The Iowa Executive Council voted 4-0 Monday to retain special legal counsel to represent the state Department of Human Services in trademarking the Iowa Health Link logo being used in connection with states privatized Medicaid program. Jeffrey Thompson, solicitor general in the Iowa Attorney Generals Office, told the council it is important for the DHS to have control over the name to prevent member and provider confusion. You don't want anyone using your logo as an endorsement without having an opportunity to review its use, said DHS spokeswoman Amy McCoy, who noted there has been no trademark filing yet. This is a normal process to work to protect the logo. It can take about nine months before we hear back once filed." Thompson recommended the council approve Des Moines attorney Brett Trout who specializes in intellectual property law. The council approved the estimated $1,400 cost to prepare the trademark application and to pay Trout an hourly rate of $390 to handle the trademark issue. -- Compiled by Globe Gazette Des Moines Bureau A roundup of items of interest from the Democratic National Convention: CLINTON, SANDERS TO IOWA: A Hillary for America staffer said Iowans will have the opportunity to see Hillary Clinton in the first-in-the-nation state that gave her a razor-thin caucus win over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders soon. National Battleground State Director Meg Ansara also said Monday it is possible Clinton will campaign in Iowa with Sanders. The New Hampshire event was a huge success and an opportunity to bring people together, Ansara said about the July 12 campaign appearance where he endorsed Clinton. The Clinton campaign has been in talks with Sanders people and were very eager to do that in other places. Iowa is a place where we hope to see that happen. GETTING THE HOOK: Tuesday afternoon wont be the first time retired Sen. Tom Harkin will address the Democratic National Convention. He hopes it goes better than the first. As a U.S. House member running for the Senate in 1984, Harkin was given a speaking slot along with several other candidates at the San Francisco convention. I got to going and I kind of got going, Harkin said. And two or three minutes went to four to five minutes or six minutes. There were these potted plants along the front and I looked down and saw this guy crawling underneath the plants and reaching up on the podium and putting a piece of paper in front of me: Stop talking. Harkin said hes been budgeted four minutes Tuesday at 3 p.m. Iowa time. TOO PRICEY: Harkin expressed concern that some Democrats may have been priced out of participating in the Democratic National Convention because of the high price of hotel accommodations. It is criminal what theyre doing here, said Harking about the room rates of as much as $700 a night at Philadelphia hotels. I got a matchbox thats 600-and-some bucks a night, the Cumming Democrat told reporters. Look, I can afford it, but my God, theres a lot of people who come here who cant afford that kind of money, not just from Iowa, but Im hearing from other states, too. Delegates to the Democratic National Convention as well as the GOP national convention last week said they had to raise anywhere from $3,000 to $8,000 per person to cover travel, lodging and meals. I can imagine some people would be pretty darned hard-pressed to travel here and then to pay that kind of exorbitant rates for a hotel room. "Boy, thats tough, Harkin said. Next time, we cant let this happen. 'WORSE THAN BRANSTAD:' AFSCME Local 61 President Danny Homan has never been shy about criticizing Gov. Terry Branstad, but always with respect for the office. I disagree with our governor every day of the week, he said to applause, without calling him names in public and the press, because I have to respect the office. That was right after he warned that state employees who he represents in contract negotiations only will be able to retire with a decent pension if you can keep Branstads grubby hands off your pension. Homan warned that as bad as Branstad has been for state employees, theres someone who poses a bigger threat: Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds. Two years from now, folks, I believe you will have a choice between a Democrat and Kim Reynolds, Homan said, acknowledging there are several folks who may be looking at running for governor, including Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Andy McGuire and Sen. Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids, who were in the room. God help us all if we elect Kim Reynolds, Homan said. I believe shes even more dangerous that Branstad, if thats possible. BIRTHDAY BOY: Iowa State Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad was serenaded by fellow delegates at the delegations daily breakfast meeting Monday. An Iowa Democratic Party staffer announced it was Abdul-Samads birthday and led the group in singing Happy Birthday" to the Des Moines lawmaker who often announces the birthday of fellow representatives if they dont make the announcement themselves. IOWA SETS THE PACE: Not only is Iowa an incredibly competitive battleground state, but it sets the pace and tone in terms of momentum for Democrats with its first-in-the-nation caucuses and early voting program, which shockingly feels very, very close," Ansara told Iowa delegates Monday. Early voting in Iowa starts Sept. 29 40 days before Election Day. GOP VIEW FROM AFAR: Iowa Republicans believe their presidential candidate, Donald Trump, is being aided by the disarray that has marked the start of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said the delegate discontent during last weeks Republican convention in Cleveland paled in comparison to the deep divisions among Democrats over a bald-face rigging of the system to make certain Clinton was nominated over Sanders following leaked emails that showed party staffers sabotaging the Sanders campaign. The DNC chair has resigned the convention, the attendees have taken over the welcome party; I mean, this is significant, said Kaufmann, who characterized the Democrats gathering as descending into chaos. Gov. Terry Branstad said Iowa is a battleground state and a clear choice has emerged between Trump as an outsider offering new leadership and Clinton as the status quo voice of the D.C. establishment. The governor predicted Trump would have an excellent chance to win in Iowa. -- Compiled by the Globe Gazette Des Moines Bureau Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday, 18 Tammuz met in Jerusalem with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades. At the Start of his Meeting Mr. Netanyahu said, Cyprus and Israel are two small democracies in the eastern Mediterranean We also share common challenges, and also common opportunities in security cooperation, in gas, in emergency cooperation, commerce, tourism, many, many fields. I will never forget that in 2010, when we faced a ferocious forest fire in the Carmel Forest, the first country I called was Cyprus. If offered to send a plane. It did send it, and I was privileged to reciprocate last month when you faced a ferocious forest fire, and we sent our planes to extinguish your flames. Back in April, our two nations, along with Greece, conducted a joint fire-fighting exercise to enhance our regional cooperation in emergency situations. And thats exactly the kind of thing that friends do. They come to each others help in times of need, but also cooperate in good times or cooperate to make times better. And thats why Im particularly proud to have this opportunity to continue the dialogue we began on a tripartite basis in the Nicosia summit. Were continuing those discussions, both bilaterally but also multilaterally, and we continue to send our people. But of course we know, as leaders, that theres no substitute for the meeting of the people at the top, so in this spirit, I welcome you once again. Statement by Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades: Thank you very much, my dear friend, Prime Minister. It is a pleasure to be back in Jerusalem and to have an opportunity to discuss with you many of the important developments that have taken place in the past few months. But before I say anything else, I want to express to you and to the people and Government of the State of Israel personally my gratitude and the gratitude of all Cypriots for the indispensable assistance which you offered recently during the terrible forest fires in Cyprus. I also want to especially thank the professional men and women who came to our aid the pilots, the ground crew, the support staff and their officers, who so quickly went on alert, flew to Cyprus and helped us in our time of need. In the sadness of natural disasters, I have to point out something that gave me hope for the future: The fact that the level of mutual cooperation between Cyprus and Israel has reached the point where reaction is so swift and smooth. We know that we can rely on each other, and this is the result of a lot of work that we have been doing together during the past few years in bringing our countries closer. We are reliable partners that see eye to eye on a wide agenda of issues, reaching from energy to security to a very sincere, open and frank political dialogue. We have been tightening our areas of cooperation, from tourism to education and business, sharpening our joint training, and through continuous coordination have been forming a common language. This common language enables us to stand by each other in these very challenging times, as we are faced with so many attacks against our common rights. This is true in our immediate region, but also in many parts of the world. These frequent meetings this is actually our fifth meeting in a year our regular talks on the telephone (its another way of communication) and our transparency are essential for our partnership of strategic choice and important in understanding each others needs as peoples and states. I cannot but highlight that last week almost 80 flights took place between Israel and Cyprus. In one week, 80 flights, and todays it was the 81st flying to Israel. In this spirit, I look forward to our meeting today to discuss how to enhance more our bilateral relations in the fields of energy, security, economy and trade, to exchange views on the regional developments, to brief you on the negotiations about the Cyprus problem, and of course to prepare for the next trilateral meeting later this year with our Greek colleague here in Jerusalem, in order to continue the work which we started in Nicosia last January. Once again, thank you my dearest friend for hosting us in Jerusalem and I look forward to our conversation on the many important subjects that are of mutual concern. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) An argument erupted between Shas leader Aryeh Deri and Minister of Immigrant Absorption (Yisrael Beitenu) Sofia Landver during a meeting of the Housing Cabinet. Landver was critical of the growth of the chareidi community in Ashdod, leading to a harsh response from Deri. Landver, who is a resident of Ashdod explained she does not love the fact the chareidi community continues to grow. There cannot be so many chareidim in Ashdod. They are destroying the character of the city she exclaimed. Deri responded angrily What chutzpah, to speak like this. The chareidim are suffering due to the critical shortage in housing. The nation absorbed over one million immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in the 1990s, and found a housing solution for all. Landver responded I respect you and will not respond. It cannot be. There are entire neighborhoods being destroyed because of the influx of chareidim. You have to go there to understand. Deri pounded on the table and said This is the highest level of chutzpah. Enough! In addition to Deri and Landver, Housing Minister Yoav Gallant was present as well as Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel, Jerusalem Affairs Minister Zeev Elkin and head of the Chairman of the Housing Council Avigdor Yitzchaki. Deri reached agreement with the ministers for a plan to add 200,000 housing units for the chareidi tzibur in the next 20 years. Deri explained people are living in abhorrent conditions and there is a real crisis due to the shortage of apartments. Deri added the chareidi tzibur is expected to double in the next 20 years and it will then be almost 20% of the nations population. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) A passenger plane landed safely at Raleigh-Durham International in North Carolina after experiencing engine trouble on a flight from Tampa, Florida, to New York-LaGuardia. Spokesman Andrew Sawyer said the airport was notified about 8:30 a.m. Monday that Delta flight 2135 had developed engine problems and was going to make an emergency landing. Sawyer said the Boeing 717 landed about 9:40 a.m. after burning off fuel. There were 96 passengers and five crew members on the aircraft. No one was hurt. Sawyer said the plane was able to taxi to a gate after the landing. Delta spokesman Michael Thomas said another jet was flown to Raleigh to continue the flight to New York. (AP) [PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] After searching for more than 12 hours, a missing special-needs child was found on Tuesday at 12:00 noon. Sources confirm to YWN that he was found sleeping in the forest. He was found by a group of Hatzolah members searching the forest. Around two hours ago, the child hat was found in the woods. He is Bichasdei Hashem in healthy condition and being brought back to authorities to be checked out. Hundreds of volunteers had joined the search for the missing 15-year-old who disappeared from Camp Shaarei Chemle in Roundtop New York (Green County). The camp is part of the Satmar [Kiryas Joel] Camp network The search was coordinated by The NY State Police, NY Forest Rangers as well as Catskills Hatzolah, Kiryas Joel Hatzolah and the Misaskim Organization. A State Police helicopter assisted in the search, as well as K-9 Units on the ground. NOTE: The identity of the missing previously published has been removed from YWN. (Chaim Shapiro YWN) Sen. Bernie Sanders urged supporters to rally behind Hillary Clinton at the Democratic convention, but ardent followers who marched for hours in punishing heat Monday and planned to do so again seemed intent on keeping his upstart campaign alive. Based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States, Sanders said. The choice is not even close. Sanders encouraged his supporters to fall in line with Clinton after dozens were cited for climbing barricades outside the convention. Many pro-Sanders demonstrators expressed disgust with party leaders after leaked emails suggested they had favored Clinton over the Vermont senator during the primary race. Another series of protests and rallies was planned for Tuesday, the anger reflecting the rift inside the Democratic Party and the convention hall itself between Sanders supporters and Clintons. Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned as Democratic Party chairwoman Sunday over leaked emails suggesting that the supposedly neutral Democratic National Committee played favorites during the primaries by siding with Clinton and bad-mouthing Sanders. As Sanders supporters marched 4 miles from City Hall to the convention site Monday afternoon, they chanted Hey, hey, ho, ho, the DNC has got to go! and carried signs reading, Never Hillary, Just Go to Jail Hillary and You Lost Me at Hillary. Police moved metal fences into place as tensions mounted outside the Wells Fargo Center, and closed the nearest subway station to arriving trains. Fifty-five people were issued citations as they tried to breach police barricades at the edge of the security zone surrounding the convention, police said. Destine Madu, a protester from Maplewood, New Jersey, said it doesnt matter if Sanders is calling on his backers to support Hillary Clinton. Hes like a Moses, she said. He led us to the promised land. Deborah Armstrong, of Spokane, Washington, said she and her husband went bankrupt because of his health problems, which required a heart transplant. Im Bernie or bust, she said. Im not going to have Trump held up to our head like a gun. The demonstrators espoused a variety of causes, including economic justice, socialism and marijuana legalization. With Sanders out of the race, some of them were backing Green Party candidate Jill Stein. The four-day convention is far removed from City Hall and the skyscrapers of Center City. In contrast, the Republican convention last week in Cleveland was held in a bustling part of the city. A heavy police presence and fewer than expected protesters helped authorities maintain order. Only about two dozen arrests were made. (AP) IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-General Gadi Eizenkott has authorized the appointment of Israel Air Force Brigadier-General Tzvika Fairaizen as the militarys next Chief Education Officer. Interestingly, the appointment of a member of the kippa sruga community comes at the height of tensions between the religious community and the IDF. Current Chief Education Officer Brigadier-General Avner Paz-Tzuk, who has been under attack by the religious community for his pluralistic views, will be stepping down. During Paz-Tzuks tenure IDF Chief Eizenkott took a number of steps that significantly strengthened the Education Corps at the expense of the IDF Rabbinate, including the placement of the Jewish Consciousness Unit under the Education Corps, taking it from the Rabbinate. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo: IDF Spokesman Unit) Chareidi parties in Knesset succeeded in pushing through their mikve bill which simply circumvents a High Court of Justice ruling favoring Reform converts, permitting them to toivel in a state-run mikve. The bill is authored by MK Moshe Gafne and bans all converts from toiveling in state-run mikvaos as Gafne is aware frum converts will find private mikvaos and Reform converts will be left without a solution. The bill was passed in Knesset on Monday night the eve of 20 Tammuz. Leaders of the Reform and Conservative Movements in Israel and The Diaspora have been fighting hard against the bill along with Jewish Agency for Israel Chairman Natan Sharansky. Sharansky is proposing the construction of a number of mikvaos for Reform and Conservative Jews at the expense of the Jewish Agency. Reform and Conservative leaders reject this however, standing on principle, explaining the state-run mikvaos and their personnel are funded by the state and therefore, these mikvaos must be open to all, not just Orthodox. Rabbi Gilad Kariv, director of the Reform Movement in Israel said the passing of the bill into law breaches the clear promise of the prime minister not to legislate against the progressive denominations. He fears this will lead to a widening of the chasm between world Jewry and the State of Israel. Regev added The members of this Coalition have dealt a lethal blow to the collective future of the State of Israel and its economy. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) A Kenyan half-brother of President Barack Obama said Tuesday he supports Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and not the candidate his brother has endorsed, Hillary Clinton. Malik Obama told The Associated Press he thinks Trump has a lot of energy and is very straightforward. Clinton is not honest because she says that she did not reveal any classified information, and she did. And I dont see that kind of person being the president of the United States, he said. Also, I do not support same-sex marriage, he said. I am Muslim, its something God would not approve. The Republican Party doesnt stand for that. Malik Obama also expressed disappointment that his half-brother hasnt done more to support his Kenyan family and the country. The presidents father was Kenyan. I am upset and disillusioned. When he became president there was a lot of excitement and there was a lot of hope that he would do many things for us and the country, he said. I dont think he has accomplished that. Trump has tweeted his surprise at Malik Obamas stance: Was probably treated badly by president like everybody else! Malik Obama, 58, stirred up controversy in 2010 when he took a teenager as his third wife. He ran for governor in his home county of Siaya in 2013 and lost by a landslide. He was unhappy that his half-brother did not endorse him. The father of President Obama and Malik Obama died in a car crash in 1982, leaving three wives, six sons and a daughter. All his children except Malik and the youngest, George Obama, live in Britain or the United States. (AP) The following is via OnlySimchas.com: Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld penned the following open letter to Ramaz students: Dear Ramaz Students, Last week, over 830 of you signed a petition to Ramaz dean and spiritual leader Rabbi Haskel Lookstein to protest his decision to give the invocation at the Republican convention. In the petition, you accuse Donald trump of every social ill on the face of the earth: racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, and for good measure, Chillul Hashem. As a result of your petition, Rabbi Lookstein was forced to back out of attending the convention. My questions to you are: As a Torah organization, if you are truly concerned about Chillul Hashem, how about the Chillul Hashem of publicly humiliating a rabbi your rabbi in public? What about the Chillul Hashem of a massive rebuke to someone who could be the next president of the United States? What about the mitzvah of vhavtem es hager You must love the convert? Dont you think your actions were a public scorn of Ivanka, the Jewish daughter of the anti-Semite Donald Trump? If you are so concerned about the anti-Semitism of Mr. Trump, will you express the same concern about the Democratic convention, which will feature the virulently anti-Semitic Cornel West and James Zogby, with Mr. Zogby serving on the Resolutions Committee? Just wondering. Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld (Source: OnlySimchas.com) PHILADELPHIA Proudly, sometimes loudly and sometimes with trembling voices, Iowas 60 Iowa Democratic National Convention delegates cast their votes for a presidential nominee Tuesday morning. The delegation will officially cast its ballot during the convention roll call this evening. There were no surprises -- 30 votes for Hillary Clinton and 21 for Bernie Sanders, including super-delegates. In announcing their votes, Clinton supporters extolled her leadership, toughness and resume. Sanders loyalists cited his integrity and progressive values. Eleanor Taft of Iowa City put it bluntly: Hes not for sale. For the most part, it was Iowa nice, but there were raw emotions and, in some cases, warnings from Berners that the party was heading down the wrong path. In our view, a vote for Clinton is a vote for Donald Trump, Rebecca Mueller of Muscatine said. She expected Sanders supporters in the room to back Clinton, but others may vote for Jill Stein of the Green Party, Libertarian Gary Johnson or even Trump. My vote for Hillary Clinton is not a vote for Trump, countered Tammy Wawro of Cedar Rapids, president of the Iowa State Education Association. Its a vote for our kids, the fifth-grade teacher said. Citing a private conversation with Sanders, who he described as one of his closest personal friends, following the candidates Monday night address to the convention, retired Sen. Tom Harkin asked that regardless how they cast their roll call vote, they join him and Sanders in supporting Clinton in November. Sanders, who he counts as one of his closest personal friends, told Harkin in a private conversation Monday night that he is committed to taking this revolution as he calls it, this movement, this progressive movement in America and continuing it onward by working with Wellstone Action and other progressive groups. And he reminded delegates, many of them much younger, that he once was in their shoes. I appreciate where you are coming from, Harkin said. I was one of you many years ago when I got out of the military in 1968 and had lost too many friends in Vietnam. I supported Gene McCarthy. The Minnesota Democratic senator was sort of the Bernie Sanders of that time. Like Sanders, he didnt get the nomination, but I think we made some progress in moving the Democratic Party more towards the progressive end of the spectrum. Like Harkin, Chris Petersen of Clear Lake said he is old enough to remember those times. He supported Bobby Kennedy in 1968. This year, hes supporting Sanders. Brent Oleson of Marion cast his vote for Sanders, too, but added, In November I will vote for the winner tonight. For some Sanders backers it was not just the disappointment of losing the campaign. They were disappointed and angry about leaked emails that seem to confirm their suspicions that the Democratic National Committee may have been working for Clinton and against Sanders. David Johnson of West Branch called for a housecleaning to extend beyond the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. If not, we run the risk of losing young Democrats who will ask, What was the point? he said. Gillian Popenuk of Burlington will stay and fight to pull the party back to the left where it belongs. Clinton supporter Zach Wahls of Iowa City won applause when he acknowledged the frustration of the Sanders delegates who thought the primary system was rigged against their candidate. After reading those emails, I agree, he said. Two top accountants have been struck off over mistakes concerning a 4m loan to collapsed social housing giant Connaught. Former finance director Stephen Hill, 48, and deputy financial director David Wells, 49, were banned after a watchdog ruled they had not flagged the money as a loan. Instead, it was included in operating cash flow in the company's 2010 interim financial statement, meaning Connaught's financial position appeared much stronger than it was. The mistake skewed key information relied on by investors. Connaught borrowed the money shortly before its half-year ended on February 28 and repaid most of it between March 15 and April 29. In breach of rules, the loan was not disclosed to the firm's audit committee or external auditors. Weighed down by its debts of 220m, Connaught was eventually forced to call in administrators in September of that year. It followed the scrapping of a contract with Barnet council worth 7m annually and the resignation of two chief executives in less than a year. The company's official broker withdrew from recommending it and Royal Bank of Scotland, Connaught's primary lender, decided it would not provide more cash. Despite banning Wells and Hill the Financial Reporting Council said neither acted dishonestly. Both men accepted their conduct fell short of expectations. Hill, banned for five years, admitted he acted with a recklessness that amounted to a lack of integrity and agreed to pay 133,397 in costs. Wells, who was banned for three years and told to pay 125,198 in costs, admitted failing to act in accordance with industry principles of competence and integrity. Enforcement director Gareth Rees said: 'The outcome sends a clear message to accountants in business of their responsibility to carry out their work diligently and in accordance with professional standards. PHILADELPHIA --Although he finished second to Hillary Clinton 49.9 percent to 49.6 percent in Iowas first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has praise for Iowas caucus process. You all know that Iowa plays a unique role in the American political process, he told Iowa Democratic National Convention delegates Tuesday morning. As the first state where votes are cast, what you have done, and what impressed me, was the degree to which people in Iowa understand the unique role and are really prepared to talk and to contemplate the important issues facing our country. I want to congratulate you for that, Sanders said. His remarks followed a Monday night address to the convention in Philadelphia which Sanders used to call on Democrats, including his disillusioned supporters, to unite to elect Clinton. Sanders did acknowledged there has been criticism of the caucuses -- including some from his camp -- about the mechanics of the caucuses, such as coin flips to determine precinct caucus winners, the preference groups and the use delegate equivalents rather than count the actual numbers of caucus participants. There are things to be talked about, he said. On the other hand, Sanders said the Iowa caucuses, warts and all, say to people we live in a democratic society and youre going to have to get involved. Yes, its going to take an hour or two hours of your life to determine the future of this country. So what? The discussion the caucuses facilitate between friends and neighbors about the issues facing the nation is what we have got to do as a nation, Sanders said. He believes the more people get involved in the serious discussions facing our country, the less they are going to be voting Republican. Win or lose, Iowa was an important state for his campaign because the caucuses gave us the opportunity to tell the rest of the world that we were a serious campaign. And six months after the caucuses, Sanders still wasnt ready to completely conceded losing to Clinton by 1.8 delegate equivalents and being awarded 21 DNC delegates to Clintons 23 -- not including super-delegates. We ended up coming close to splitting the delegates, he said. I wouldnt be surprised if we ended up with a little bit more of the popular vote. DAVENPORT | In battleground Iowa, Donald Trump will be the first candidate to land. The Republican presidential nominee will make a pair of campaign stops in eastern Iowa on Thursday, the same day Democratic rival Hillary Clinton will accept her party's nomination. The Trump campaign announced the visits to Davenport and Cedar Rapids on Tuesday. Trump, who officially captured his party's presidential nomination last week in Cleveland, will be the first of the two to visit the state since their respective primary contests ended. As in past elections, Iowa is expected to be a closely contested state this fall. And while some observers didn't attach much importance Tuesday to the idea that Trump will get to the state first, his stops in some of the most Democratic parts of Iowa will put him in front of some of the kind of voters that he's appealing to elsewhere in the country. "Iowa isnt quite the Rust Belt," said Dennis Goldford, a political science professor at Drake University. "But in eastern Iowa, youve got a lot more manufacturing than you have in other parts of the country," he said. Trump, who has been critical of U.S. trade and immigration policies, has been courting Rust Belt voters, and his schedule this week reflects some of that. On Wednesday, Trump will make campaign stops in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Waukesha, Wisconsin, and Toledo, Ohio, before going to eastern Iowa on Thursday. Donna Hoffman, the head of the political science department at the University of Northern Iowa, said she didn't draw too much significance from his stops in eastern Iowa, but she added, "it is significant that he's going to be in Iowa, the week of the Democratic National Convention to try to draw attention from the Democrats in Philly. Trump will hold a 4 p.m. rally at the Adler Theatre, 136 E. 3rd St., Davenport, with doors to open at 1 p.m. After the Davenport rally, he'll head to Cedar Rapids for an 8 p.m. rally at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Cedar Rapids Convention Complex, 350 1st Avenue, NE. The doors to that event open at 5 p.m. The Mississippi River region of Iowa was friendly to Trump in the 2016 caucuses. Of the 10 counties bordering the river, Trump won all but two Clayton and Scott counties. He finished second in both counties, with his loss in Scott County coming by less than a percentage point to Marco Rubio. Trump finished third in Linn County, where Cedar Rapids is located. That said, the general election will mean a broader electorate, and Clinton already has beaten Trump to the punch when it comes to staffing up in the state and on airing television advertisements. Both Clinton and the Super PAC backing her, Priorities USA, have aired ads in the state, while Trump has not done so. Branstad did not say anything about television ads Tuesday, but he said the campaign will be making announcement about a campaign headquarters and staffing "very soon." Polls say the two candidates are running fairly evenly in the state. The RealClearPolitics average in Iowa says that Clinton is leading Trump, 41.3 percent to 40.8 percent. No poll has been conducted though since before the Republican National Convention. CLEAR LAKE Nine-year-old Vinnie Oelkers, of Garner, who has autism, wasnt sure he wanted to go sailing on Clear Lake Monday. But once he was coaxed onto a sailboat, he listened calmly as an instructor from the Clear Lake Yacht Club Sailing School talked about the boat and explained how to steer it. I want to go now, he said. Soon they left the dock and headed for the open water. This will make him feel important, said his grandmother, Carleen Oelkers, of Garner. She said Vinnie is a little apprehensive about new experiences but likes to do things other kids get to do. He likes trains. Now maybe he will switch to sailboats, she said. Vinnie and a handful of kids from the Opportunity Village Childrens Center have been participating in Sailing-tism, a joint venture with the Clear Lake Yacht Club. The first session was July 11. The third and final session is Aug. 8. Christina Maulsby, program coordinator for the Childrens Autism Center, said the center has other activities such as Ball-tism to give children with autism the same opportunities as other kids. Theres a lot of things our children dont get to experience because its too chaotic, she said. For example, it would be difficult for them to play on a crowded ball field and have a lot of rules to follow, according to Maulsby. Our kids deserve every opportunity as every other kid in North Iowa, she said. In Sailing-tism the children with autism are paired up with kids who are members of the Clear Lake Yacht Club. Of the two groups, I dont know who is more excited to be working together, Maulsby said. Kids with autism just by nature are very drawn to water and are soothed by water, she said. Maulsby said she and Amy Wegler, head of the Clear Lake Yacht Club Sailing School, began talking two years ago about having a Sailing-tism program and they are thrilled to finally see it set sail. Its exactly what we had envisioned, Maulsby said. Eight children from the autism center signed up for the class. Mondays session included some newcomers, including Vinnie. Wegler said only three sessions were planned for this summer since its a new program. We just wanted to make sure they (the children) are comfortable, she said. Shes hoping to have six sessions next summer. LaShelli Roen, of Mason City, has two sons with autism Bjorn, 10; and Thor, 7 who participated in Sailing-tism for the first time Monday. Programs such as Sailing-tism help build their confidence, according to Roen. Our kids have the same needs and desires as other kids, she said. 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. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Gina Martinez In an effort to provide free meals over the summer to underprivileged kids, Hunger Free America has collaborated with the city Department of Education. Hunger Free America is a non profit organization that helps schools through out the country feed kids. The Summer Meals program will run in three locations in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx. The program will provide free summer meals to anyone 18 years old and under. The Summer Meals Program is federally funded and run by the USDA to reduce child hunger. It will be offered throughout the summer to serve children who may solely depend on free meals from schools to eat, ensuring they dont go hungry when school is out for summer break. I like eating seven days a week, and so do low-income people, said Joel Berg, chief executive officer of Hunger Free America. This announcement ensures that now low-income children will be able eat free lunch every day of the week. Lunch will be served from 11 a.m to 1:30 p.m on weekdays and 11 a.m to 3 p.m on weekends. In addition to the three school sites, there are some parks, pools, and trucks that are also open seven days per week. City Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) was joined by some volunteers as he spoke last Friday in front of PS 20 on 142-20 Barclay Avenue, the Queens location for the program. He addressed the importance of free meals for young people who otherwise cannot afford to eat. For most kids, the summer months are a time for rest, relaxation and recuperation for the next school year, but for countless low-income youth summertime brings hunger and added stress, he said Seven-day summer meal service is an important tool in the battle against childhood hunger, and Id like to thank the Department of Education and Hunger Free America for bringing this important program to our community. He went on to say, As we know hunger doesnt wait for the weekend to be over, so we have to make sure our children in our community, no matter their income, have access to nutritious food when they need it. Koo pointed out that one in five children in the city dont have enough to eat. Breakfast and lunch will be served throughout the summer until Sept. 2. Hunger Free America said the food it will provide to kids will be nutritious and healthy. We distribute high-quality, sustainably grown, affordable produce through the Farm Fresh Community Supported Agriculture program, the group said. By Larry Penner Mayor Bill de Blasios proposal to rezone Flushing West was put on hold for very good reasons. Everyone is aware that the Flushing No. 7 subway has been running at full capacity during rush hour for years. There is no space to accommodate the thousands of new riders that would have been generated by new housing as a result of Flushing West. There are 525,000 weekday passengers, of whom 68,000 are daily riders who enter at the Main Street Flushing Station. Most Main Street-Flushing riders are transferring from the bus to subway. How could New York City Transit accommodate any additional riders without expanding the service? Flushing Main Street is the 12th busiest station citywide with the greatest number of riders of any station outside of Manhattan. With three tracks merging into two tracks between the 33rd Street and Queensboro Plaza stations, there is no space to run any additional rush hour trains. It could easily cost $5 to $10 billion to construct a third track plus a new East River tunnel west of Queensboro Plaza. This is necessary to extend express service into Manhattan. The concept is not feasible either technically or financially. In addition, the existing Corona subway yard, which is already operating at capacity, is adjacent to wetlands and has little space for expansion. Additional trains to provide service for the new Hudson Yards Station have to be stored on lay-up tracks south of the station. Completion of Communication Based Train Control, followed by implementation in 2017 may only result in increasing the number of trains per hour from 30 to 32 in each direction during rush hour. After that, the cold hard truth is that the MTA no longer has any other opportunity to increase rush hour capacity. The reintroduction this fall of the old W subway line, which ran from Astoria to Whitehall Street in Manhattan, may be good news for some. Perhaps more riders heading for Lower Manhattan may transfer at Queensboro Plaza from the 7 to the W. This might open up standing room for Hunters Point and Long Island City residents attempting to board already packed trains. Ferries serving Hunters Point and Long Island City will provide other transportation options for the thousands of new Hunters Point and Long Island City residents. There are other alternatives to explore which could provide options for No. 7 riders. NYCT could reinstate the old Q51 Flushing Express Bus. This route ran along Sanford Avenue starting at Northern Boulevard. Additional express bus service on existing or new routes serving two-fare-zone (bus to subway) communities east and north of Flushing could be created. A new fleet of 100 buses could move 5,000 rush hour riders. Many are not aware of the tremendous capital investments made by the MTA since the 1980s on the No. 7 line, just to maintain existing service. This includes over $8.1 billion by NYCT and $2.5 billion by MTA Capital Construction. Numerous subway stations have been upgraded to a state of good repair, including Flushing Main Street, 74th Street Roosevelt Avenue and Court Square. Several hundred new subway cars have also been purchased. In the recently approved MTA 2015-2019 Capital Program, funding is provided to upgrade the stations at Mets-Willets Point ($48 million), 111th Street ($16 million), 103rd Street ($18 million) and 82nd Street ($22 million) in 2018. Additional stations including 69th Street ($17 million), 61st Street-Woodside ($17 million) and 52nd Street ($18 million) are programmed for 2019. Unfortunately the amount of funding identified to upgrade the Mets-Willets Point station may be insufficient. This improvement requires significant coordination with the future new LaGuardia Air Train and existing Long Island Rail Road Mets-Willets stations. The cost for improvements could easily grow to several hundred million dollars. This is due to Gov. Cuomos desire for a seamless transfer for airport riders between the LaGuardia Air Train, No. 7 and LIRR. There is also seed money to look into the possibility of the long-forgotten Flushing Bus Terminal. Construction of a Flushing intermodal bus terminal could facilitate a smoother transfer between bus and subway. A short-term improvement could be construction of bus holding lights at bus stops. This would assist riders transferring from subway to bus when a train arrives several minutes after scheduled bus departures. Missing a bus by a minute or two during off-peak hours is frustrating. In January, all 14 members of the City Councils Queens Delegation announced their support for the Commuter Rail Fare Equalization Proposal. This would allow city residents to pay the same $2.75 fare on the LIRR or Metro North Rail Road as they do on the subway. It could have a significant impact on Queens residents who are already daily LIRR commuters. This holds true for offering the same riders a free transfer from either the LIRR or Metro North to the subway system. Neither the MTA or NYC has identified a source for $100 to $200 million in funding that would be necessary to implement this proposal. As a result, this will probably never see the light of day as an option for the 7. Another alternative to the 7 is the LIRR Port Washington branch. Unfortunately, there is little current capacity available to add new rush hour service on this line. This branch provides service in Queens from Little Neck to Woodside. The new Elmhurst Station should be open to the public by 2019. Any significant number of new riders would most likely have to stand. Virtually all existing seats on the current eight Port Washington LIRR Penn Station-bound morning rush hour trains which stop in Queens are full. There will be significant conflicts when the LaGuardia Airtrain is open for service with connections to the Mets-Willets Point subway and LIRR stations. Imagine hundreds to several thousand airport travelers with luggage attempting to squeeze in on already packed rush hour trains. Cuomo apparently never considered how this issue will be resolved when contemplating this project. While Cuomo promised that the LaGuardia Airtrain would be up and running within five years or by 2019, this probably will not occur until several years later. Opening the Eastside Access to Grand Central Terminal in 2023 will offer the LIRR ample opportunity to increase the number of rush hour trains. New services on the Port Washington branch could offer thousands of current 7 riders another way to reach Grand Central Terminal, 42nd Street corridor and adjacent neighborhoods. LIRR trains upon arrival at Grand Central Terminal will be able to make a return trip to Great Neck in approximately 30 minutes. Clearly more additional trains will be required to increase the frequency of rush hour service. Larry Penner is a transportation historian and advocate who previously worked 31 years for the USDOT Federal Transit Administration. Attachments area Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Patrick Donachie Police were seeking information about a fatal shooting that occurred in Jamaica on Monday evening, according to the NYPD. At about 9:37 p.m., police responded to a 911 call about a man being shot at 109-31 157th St., between 109th and Brinkenhoff avenues. Police from the 103rd Precinct responded to the call and found a 23-year-old man who had a gunshot wound to the back. EMS workers responded to the scene and transported the man to Jamaica Hospital for treatment, but he was pronounced dead there. The identity of the man who was shot was being withheld pending family notification. As of press time, there were no arrests and the investigation is continuing, according to the NYPD. MASON CITY Unable to find help after her car wouldnt start at Hy-Vee East on Friday, Beverly Patterson was touched when a stranger came to her rescue. A retired human resources officer, Patterson, 77, moved to Mason City from Moline, Illinois, about a year ago after suffering a stroke on the right side of her brain. Patterson mostly recovered, but now walks with the aid of a cane. After grocery shopping around 3:30 p.m., Patterson returned to her car to find it wouldnt start in the heat. With a son in Chicago and her daughter out of town in Waterloo that day, and during a day when temperatures neared 90 degrees, she feared she was out of available options. I like to give credit where credit is due, she said from her home on Monday. It was just God-sent, that was what she was. Marlo Shaw, 46, watched Patterson try to flag down help without success. I dont know how anybody could let her sit there and be ignored, Shaw said. She looked overheated. I was thinking maybe I could do something. When she couldnt successfully jump-start Pattersons car, Shaw decided to give Patterson a lift home and helped her put away her groceries. She then helped her dial a tow truck and gave Patterson a ride back to the grocery store to get her car. The tow truck attendant said she had most likely left a light on in her car, Patterson said. This lady is 77 years of age, Shaw said. It just bothered me that people were ignoring her. And I have never ignored people who have needed help. First noticing tattoos on Shaws arms, Patterson said she wasnt sure what to expect. She didnt look like the type of person who would have stopped and helped, she said. But, you cant always tell a book by its cover. Patterson said she would welcome Shaw at her home any time. Its just awesome to know that there are good people out there, Patterson said. Bangladesh police on Tuesday killed nine militants who were believed to have been plotting an attack similar to the one on a cafe on July 1 in which 22 people were killed, the national police chief said. Police said the militants were holed up in a building in Kalyanpur on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka, and they opened fire on officers as they tried to enter. The militants, who shouted Allahu akbar, or "God is greatest as they battled police, were believed to be members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a banned group that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State. "They were wearing black outfits, turbans and had backpacks similar to the outfits the attackers in the cafe had," police chief Shahidul Hoque told reporters at the scene after the militants were killed. One wounded militant was captured, he said. "They were plotting a major attack in the capital like that in the restaurant, he said. Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the cafe attack but the government has dismissed suggestions that IS has a presence in Bangladesh. Police said JMB was behind the attack by five young Bangladeshis on the upmarket cafe. Most of the 22 people killed there were foreigners and the five attackers were also killed. Hoque said the militants killed on Tuesday were believed to have been a JMB cell. "The militant who was detained claimed they were Islamic State members but we think they\re JMB," he said. Mostly Muslim Bangladesh has faced a series of attacks on liberal bloggers, academics and members of religious minorities over the past year. While authorities have blamed the violence on domestic militants, security experts say the scale and sophistication of the assault on the cafe suggested links to a trans-national network. Islamic State has warned that violence would continue until Islamic law was established worldwide, saying in a video the Dhaka cafe attack was just a glimpse of what was to come. SOURCE: REUTERS A priest was killed on Tuesday when men armed with knives seized hostages at a church near the northern French city of Rouen, a police source said. Police said they killed two hostage-takers in the attack in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, 125 kilometres (77 miles) north of Paris. A priest was killed and another hostage was "between life and death", the interior ministry said. The motivations for the hostage-taking were not yet clear, but the Paris prosecutor\s office said the case had been handed to anti-terrorism judges for investigation. The incident comes as France remains on high alert nearly two weeks after Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed a truck into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day in the French Riviera city of Nice, killing 84 people and injuring over 300. French President Francois Hollande, who is from Rouen, and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve were on their way to the scene, their offices said. Footage showed several emergency vehicles at the scene and the streets sealed off. The Nice attack was the third major strike on France in 18 months and was claimed by the Islamic State group. Two attacks in Germany claimed by the Islamic State group since then have also increased jitters in Europe. After the attack in Nice, France extended a state of emergency giving police extra powers to carry out searches and place people under house arrest for another six months until January. It was the fourth time the security measures have been extended since Islamic State jihadists struck Paris in November, killing 130 people at restaurants, a concert hall and the national stadium. The Nice massacre has triggered by a bitter political spat over alleged security failings, with the government accused of not doing enough to protect the population. Prime Minster Manuel Valls had warned earlier in the week that the country will face more attacks as its struggles to handle extremists returning from jihad in the Middle East and those radicalised at home by devouring propaganda on the internet. France has been concerned about the threat against churches ever since a foiled plot against in the Paris suburb of Villejuif in April last year. Sid Ahmed Ghlam, a 24-year-old Algerian IT student, was arrested in Paris on suspicion of killing a woman who was found shot dead in the passenger seat of her car, and of planning an attack on a church. Prosecutors say they found documents about Al-Qaeda and IS at his home, and that he had been in touch with a suspected jihadist in Syria about an attack on a church. SOURCE: AFP Hopewell Community Park remains a 'labor of love' for local community The lush green park is a product of the combined efforts of the Hopewell Township community and a symbol of decades of conservation efforts in Beaver County. Here's what to know as the annual dove hunting season approaches Lana Sweeten-Shults I dropped the youngest Chocolate Pie Eater at the Wichita Falls ISD's Math MythBusters summer camp this morning. She peeked inside the room then shot an accusatory glance at me, as if I had anything to do with it. She was dismayed and horrified and whispered to me, "Mom, I'm the only girl here!" I was hoping things would be different by 9 a.m. and a rush of math-tastic girls would come rushing through the door so she wouldn't feel so out of place. But I have a feeling that might not be the case. The youngest Chocolate Pie Eater always has been good at math. It runs in the family. Her oldest brother is in college and majoring in what else? math. After a stint as a computer science major, math seemed the obvious and easiest conversion. He had already taken three calculus classes. While the rest of us might glaze over at the thought of three calculus classes, for him, it was easy-peasy. And while journalists often come with a warning: "Caution, journalist doing math," I, too, once upon a time, knew my math. It was after the second engineering calculus class in college that I decided, no, I don't think I really want to be a civil engineer. Plus, I still didn't know exactly why I needed to know the area of a parabolic segment. Heck, I don't even like the word parabolic. Some mathematician told me one day I might need to calculate how much oil is underneath some land somewhere. I told him, no, I don't think I would ever need to know that. Of course, ask me to find the derivative of an equation these days and I don't think I could do it. I suspect my brain has since been muddled by Shakespeare, grammar and basic libel law to have much room left for sines, cosines, tangents or derivative equations. My children are always amazed when I tell them that I did, in eighth grade, write a computer program for the science fair that would do logarithm conversions. I'm amazed, too. I'm not even sure I know what a logarithm is anymore. The youngest Chocolate Pie Eater gave careful consideration to what summer camps she wanted to attend this summer theater camp, arts camp and, of course, math camp. While many kids would rather eat broccoli or spinach than waste one glorious summer day on math, she was excited about math camp that is, until she stepped into the Math MythBusters room and realized she made a choice that maybe isn't as popular with other girls. And that's a shame. Even after all this time, women are in the minority when it comes to going on to careers in math and science. It has been a long-held belief that girls just don't do as well in math and science. Actually, myth would be the more appropriate word. It's a myth Mattel got slammed for in the early 1990s by the American Association of University Women when one of its talking Barbie dolls complained how "math class is tough." Maybe for you, Barbie, but plenty of intelligent women would have words with you over that one. According to researchers from the University of New Brunswick in Canada, a review of 308 studies involving more than 1.1 million boys and girls from 30 different countries who were students from 1914 to 2011 revealed that girls have been outperforming boys in all of their classes, including math and science, and have been doing it from elementary through high school. Time magazine published an article detailing the results in April 2014 (the researchers published the results previously in the American Psychological Association journal Psychological Bulletin). While girls DO perform fantastically in math and science, they end up not going into math, science or tech careers, and that's something many organizations are working on. Of course, I still don't want to know the area of a parabolic segment. But if the youngest Chocolate Pie Eater does, I say, go for it. Show those boys how it's done. Follow Times Record News senior multimedia journalist Lana Sweeten-Shults on Twitter @LanaSweetenShul. A funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Osage with Msgr. John Hemann officiating. Inurnment will be at a later date at Sacred Heart Cemetery. There will be a gathering of family and friends from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday and a Knights of Columbus Rosary at 7 p.m. at the Champion-Bucheit Funeral Home in Osage. The family asks in lieu of flowers memorials can be given to Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Osage Knights of Columbus or a charity of your choice. SHARE Christopher Walker/Times Record News A couple held hands Friday during a prayer event held for the officesr killed and wounded in a mass shooting Thursday night in Dallas. Dallas leaders encourged everyone to hold hands and remember the officers. Mack McKendell, Wichita Falls Recently I watched a news report on a memorial service being held in front of a Dallas police station. A "protest" had been going on at the same time. After the national anthem had played and the traditional taps sounded, the protesters quietly put down their signs and walked across the street to join with the others attending the service. At that point there weren't any black Americans or white Americans there. Only Americans standing hand-in-hand, expressing their regrets and sorrow at this tragic incident. Hopefully we will see more of the same in coming news reports. TRN archives SHARE By Bridget Knight of the Times Record News One of the most heartwarming stories in recent Wichita Falls history unfolded 30 years ago this summer at Wichita Falls Municipal Airport, when a pair of Romanian refugees who had been resettled in Wichita Falls were reunited with their young son after nearly two years of anxious separation. Young Alexandru Anastase was just a few days short of his second birthday when his parents, Mihaela and Constantin, were forced to leave him behind in their homeland as they fled religious persecution in that Communist nation in 1984. Communist authorities allowed them to escape to refugee camps in Europe, but would not release the toddler, who was placed in the custody of Constantin's parents. The Committee of World Outreach of First Christian Church eventually helped Mihaela and Constantin settle in Wichita Falls, where Constantin went to work as an engineer for Washex Machinery Corp. Obviously, their efforts to secure Alexandru's release would have been ongoing, but the methods that eventually allowed the boy to fly from Bucharest to New York were not reported. What was reported was that the 3-year-old was reunited with his father on May 1, 1986, in New York, and together they flew to Wichita Falls for a full reunion that brought everyone in the airport to tears. Little Alexandru seemed confused by all the flash bulbs, reporters noted, but never let go of one parent or the other. Alexandru, by then better known as Alex, graduated from Rider High School in 2001 after making it to state in two UIL science competitions and qualifying as a commended student in the National Merit Scholarship competition. He is now a doctor practicing in Dallas. His parents still live in Wichita Falls. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany City police are seeking information on a robbery at Trustco Bank on Northern Boulevard in Albany. Albany police at around 3:15 p.m. Monday responded to the call of a bank robbery at 372 Northern Boulevard, where they later learned a man had passed a note to a teller implying he had a weapon and demanded money. The teller complied and suspect fled the scene with an unknown amount of cash, police said. The suspect is described as a black male, about 5-feet-7- to 5-feet-10-inches tall and was last seen wearing a dark colored t-shirt, sunglasses and a dark colored bucket hat. Police are asking that anyone with information regarding the incident contact the Albany Police Detective Division at 462-8039. afries@timesunion.com 518-454-5353 @mandy_fries This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Troy The second person in a trio of suspects in a fatal 2015 arson case pleaded guilty Tuesday in Rensselaer County Court to helping set the fire. Tyler Smith described how he, Abby Slaga and David Stanley gathered around a bonfire at Burden Lake and agreed to set 520 Second Ave., Troy, on fire. The motive was revenge for a fire they believed David Dubois, a tenant in the building, set that destroyed 809 Second Ave. Slaga and Stanley, who were dating at the time, once lived in the building and stored their possessions inside, Smith said. The May 1, 2015, arson in Lansingburgh led to the death of 82-year-old Grace Halpin. She suffered a heart attack during the fire. She was revived by Troy firefighters but died a month later in a Massachusetts rehabilitation center. Smith, 25, of Castleton pleaded guilty to second-degree arson and first-degree manslaughter before County Court Judge Andrew Ceresia. As part of the plea deal, Ceresia will sentence Smith to 20 years in prison on Oct. 27 after he testifies at Stanley's trial. Smith also must serve five years of post-release supervision. Smith's testimony at the Oct. 3 trial of Stanley, 23, of North Carolina, will bolster the prosecution's case, District Attorney Joel Abelove said. "We're very happy he pleaded guilty and accepted responsibility for what he did," Abelove said. Slaga, 21, of North Carolina previously pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment in return for a sentence of 2 1/3 to 7 years in prison. She also agreed to testify against Stanley. Stanley will be tried on charges of first- and second-degree murder, arson, assault, criminal mischief, burglary and 10 counts of reckless endangerment. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted on the top counts. Smith and Slaga, who faced the same charges, avoided life in prison by taking the plea deals. "It's a sad case," said Rob Molloy, Smith's defense attorney. On Tuesday, Smith, responding to Abelove's questions, admitted he and Stanley previously vandalized 520 Second Ave. Smith also described how the trio drove from Burden Lake to Cohoes to get gasoline. The men left Slaga with the car in Cohoes, and walked across the 112th Street Bridge to Troy carrying a full can of gasoline. Smith said he and Stanley went into the building, spread the gasoline and set it on fire before fleeing. kcrowe@timesunion.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders took the stage at Wells Fargo Center to accomplish a seemingly impossible two-part task: honoring the people who had taken part in the maverick campaign he called an ongoing "political revolution," while channeling their abundant energy into the more immediate Democratic effort to put Hillary Clinton in the White House or at least keep Donald Trump out of it. "This election is about which candidate understands the real problems facing this country and has offered real solutions," said Sanders. "Not just bombast, not just fear-mongering, not just name-calling and divisiveness." After Sanders listed off a number of the issues of economic inequality and social justice highlighted by Democrats, he said, "By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States." There was loud applause from the hall, which included more than 1,800 Sanders delegates. More Information On the web Follow Times Union state editor and columnist Casey Seiler for updates on the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia: Twitter: @caseyseiler Web: http://timesunion.com and at the Capital Confidential blog, http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol See More Collapse The Vermonter's rallying cry for Clinton capped a first day of the Democratic National Convention that showed Republicans don't have a monopoly on lingering intraparty rancor. When the proceedings began just after 4 p.m., a gospel chorus barely made it through "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" before a subset of Sanders' supporters began booing almost every time Clinton's name was mentioned including during the opening benediction. On paper, the program for the opening session of the convention seemed designed to allow Sanders' supporters a spotlight early, with a steadily increasing frequency of Clinton supporters as prime time approached. "We're all Democrats, and we need to act like it," scolded Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge, the new chair of the Democratic National Committee, after her speech was repeatedly interrupted. Around the same time, Sanders sent out an email respectfully asking his backers to knock it off. "Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays," he wrote. "That's what the corporate media wants. That's what Donald Trump wants. ... I would ask you as a personal courtesy to me to not engage in any kind of protest or demonstration on the convention floor." By prime time, the demonstrations had subsided considerably, but not entirely. When Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, a Clinton supporter, and comedian Sarah Silverman, a Sanders backer, appeared together on stage to support the nominee both are "Saturday Night Live" veterans Silverman's praise for Clinton prompted a resumption of the booing. "To the 'Bernie or bust' people you're being ridiculous," Silverman said, prompting a thunderous outpouring from both factions. First Lady Michelle Obama, who spoke emotionally about her family's time in the White House, boosted the nominee unreservedly. She noted that Clinton, when she lost the Democratic primary battle in 2008, didn't leave the political realm, but returned to public service as secretary of state. "Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life," said Obama, whose voice cracked as she said her daughters owed a debt to the nominee for proving that a woman can be president. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a progressive who earned the ire of many in the party's left wing by backing Clinton, lit into Trump as "a man who has never sacrificed anything for anyone." A rehearsal of sorts for the often raucous scene at the convention was offered three hours before the opening gavel fell, as Sanders addressed his delegates and supporters in a vaulted ballroom at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, a few miles north of Wells Fargo Center. "We're not fringe players anymore," he said. "We have shown the entire world that our ideas are not some crazy, wild, utopian fantasies they are ideas supported by working people from one end of this country to the other." U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand addressed the convention and praised the nominee her predecessor as New York's junior senator on women's issues. "Hillary Clinton gets it," Gillibrand said. Sanders received one of his biggest cheers when he mentioned the resignation of Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose ouster was announced Sunday in the wake of Wikileaks' release of hacked emails that revealed DNC officials attempting to undercut Sanders' campaign. (Schultz did not appear on stage at Wells Fargo Center in any role.) He didn't mention Trump until 15 minutes into his 22-minute address. When he touted the Democratic candidate minutes later, the response from the boisterous audience might not have been what he was expecting. "Immediately, right now, we have got to defeat Donald Trump, and we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine," Sanders said. The booing that ensued was tremendous. "Brothers and sisters!" Sanders said. " ... This is the real world that we live in." cseiler@timesunion.com (518) 454-5619 @CaseySeiler This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Fort Ann Hundreds of revelers spent Monday creating or reliving their glory days on Lake George at the annual Log Bay Day celebration. Notorious for its raucous atmosphere, Log Bay Day shenanigans range from topless chicken-fighting to drinking enthusiasts trying to maintain their balance on floaties. For those with strong enough livers, the festivities began around 9 a.m. when people began pouring into the normally tranquil cove by boat, car, kayak, or even inflatable raft. "We've been requesting this day off from work for over a month and a half," said Jasmine Wooddard, 23, of Greenwich. Free from work, the real fun can begin. "I like the fact that you can sit out here and float on a float and have all the beer you want and relax and camp out at the end of the night," said Chris Chiarpentiar, 28, of Glens Falls. For Mike LaMore, 32, Tricia Reilly, 33, and Robert Maggiolino, 28, all of Corinth, the biggest attraction was the chicken-fighting, where combatants sit on the shoulders of a partner and fight in the air. According to Maggiolino and Reilly, the main goal of chicken-fighting at Log Bay Day is for women to take the tops off of their opponents. "Sometimes the girls rip each other's tops off, but two years ago I saw the girls get up with their tops off because they were going to come off anyway," Reilly said. Because of its reputation, Log Bay Day drew a heavy police presence this year. The Warren County sheriff's department deployed around 10 officers, and at least 15 park rangers were patrolling the area. The Bolton fire department helped patrol the water while EMS workers, the West Fort Ann fire department and a handful of state troopers monitored the situation on land. State Trooper Luke Splittgerber said first responders are at Log Bay Day in such high numbers primarily to deal with "high level intoxication, medical issues, dehydration, slips and falls." Splittgerber said as the day progresses, problems facing first responders change, especially for police. "Later on in the evening we get some disorderly people," he said. "Around 9 or 10 o'clock at night is when the issues occur. These people have been here all day, They've been hot and they've been drinking." The biggest concern for police at this year's Log Bay Day was not the copious amount of drinking but rather problems that could result from it. "Today, one of the major concerns is that we might have some serious weather coming in this afternoon," Splittgerber said, "Everybody is out here on the boats or on the shore, and all of the sudden a thunderstorm comes rolling through, you're going to have a mass exodus and some people are going to have some issues because they've been out here drinking heavily." Mitch Beck, the chief of the West Fort Ann fire department, said his EMS crew has to be ready for almost anything when Log Bay Day comes around. "It's varied from broken limbs to somebody kicking an anchor under the water and slicing their feet up," he said. "Overintoxication and getting them out of here safely are our biggest priorities." For most partygoers, the police presence was a welcome reassurance rather than a hindrance or a burden to having a good time. "I like the police presence," said LaMore. "It's made it more enjoyable. You don't have all of the riffraff." The main attraction for those who come to Log Bay Day rests on a fine line between letting loose and staying safe. For LaMore, a veteran of Log Bay Day, the heavy police presence makes having fun more possible compared to the chaos he experienced in years past, where fights were known to break out in the water and on boats. "Last year we were hearing that a fight had started, and police ended it before it even escalated," he said. Along with the heavy police presence, Log Bay Day attendees try to party responsibly, even across generations, which made for some top-tier people-watching for the beachside Corinthian friend group. "Somewhere out there we saw a grandpa DDing (designated driving) around a boat with his grandkids and their friends," LaMore said. "Taking one for the team!" Maggiolino added before the group burst out in laughter. jlahut@timesunion.com 518-454-5414 @JakeLahutjlahut@timesunion.com 518-454-5414 Albany Gov. Andrew Cuomo's economic development ads have been criticized in the past for their cost but now a North Carolina lawyer has filed a complaint with federal authorities as well as New York's Joint Commission on Public Ethics charging the governor with violations of the Hatch Act. Robert F. Orr, a former judge in the Tar Heel state and an attorney, alleges that the ads, which talk up New York's diversity, also reference the controversial ban that North Carolina put in place against transgender people using public restrooms of their choice. That reference, said Orr, is a "transparent attempt to criticize, interfere and affect the impending North Carolina elections." The Hatch Act bans office holders from using their authority, or working in an official capacity to try and influence the outcome of an election. Orr contended that Cuomo, through the ads, is opposing North Carolina's GOP Gov. Pat McCrory who signed the bathroom bill and who is up for reelection this fall. In addition to JCOPE, Orr filed his complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. The complaints will go to a Democratic White House and New York's JCOPE. Cuomo spokesman John Kelly described it as frivolous and delusional. "The delusion of North Carolina's leadership is boundless. We reject their sanctimonious discrimination and these frivolous complaints," Kelly said in an email. Orr Fed Complaint OSC-13 Complaint for Signature by rkarlin on Scribd Orr is a former judge but not currently employed by the state although he has performed legal work for the North Carolina government, according to earlier reports. This isn't the first instance of cross-border battles over economic development ads. Texas's GOP Gov. Rick Perry in 2013 ran a series of ads urging New Yorkers to move to his comparatively low-tax state, saying "get out before you go broke." Orr's complaints were first reported in the Wall Street Journal. Troy Emma Willard School is launching a task force to review its policies and protocols around handling reports of sexual misconduct after a former student came forward this spring to report she was raped by her teacher in 1998. Kat Sullivan said her former history teacher and soccer coach at the private school bound and gagged her in his apartment and then sodomized her when she was 18. She had become involved with the teacher prior to the incident, she said during an interview Wednesday with the Times Union, adding that she felt she had been preyed upon. The teacher's behavior toward Sullivan became increasingly aggressive and culminated with the violent attack just before spring break, she said. Worse, she said, is that after reporting the alleged crime to then-Head of School Robin Robertson, she was given the option of withdrawing or being expelled, and was put on a bus to New Orleans. Attempts to reach Robertson were unsuccessful. Sullivan's story, which she revealed in June to the New York Daily News and was also reported recently by the New York Times, has reverberated across the Emma Willard community, which has alumnae around the world. Emma Willard school officials confirmed to the Times Union last month that they were investigating two separate reports of sexual abuse that may have occurred in the 1970s and 1990s, but offered few other details citing an external investigation that was underway. On Monday they offered more, adding that in addition to the incident Sullivan describes, the investigation will examine all sexual assault incidents "from any era" that may have occurred at the Troy boarding school. "We deeply appreciate Kat having come forward," said Elisabeth Allen LeFort, chair of Emma Willard's board of trustees. "A confidential supportive process has been established for other survivors to report their experiences. The intent of a broad investigation and community-wide reporting is to openly acknowledge any past sexual misconduct by any adult at the school and, as a community, to prevent any recurrence." The school retained attorneys Gina Maisto Smith and Leslie Gomez, of the Philadelphia-based Pepper Hamilton LLP, to conduct the investigation. Neither responded to requests for comment. Sullivan's attorney, Roderick MacLeish, told the New York Times he wrote a letter to school officials claiming the teacher had groomed Sullivan for sexual favors and that at least one administrator knew of the relationship and simply warned the teenager to "be careful." Sullivan, now 37 and living in Orlando, says she never reported the alleged rape to the police because school administrators convinced her she had allowed the events to happen. After reporting it to school officials, she was sent away on a bus with no offer of medical assistance or counseling, she said. School staff say Troy police were informed of Sullivan's relationship with the teacher back in 1998. The Times Union reported at the time that two teachers, in separate and unrelated incidents, had left the school following allegations they "overstepped the carefully and articulated boundaries for faculty-student interaction." Troy police at the time said they looked into the events and found no evidence of criminal activity. Sullivan told the Times Union that police never contacted her, adding that it's "hard to investigate without talking to a victim impossible actually." Troy police Capt. Daniel DeWolf said the department has looked for paperwork "concerning the complaint" and has not located any yet. He said police are not investigating the new reports of sexual assault. Although the teacher was fired in March 1998 for violating school policy prohibiting "inappropriate relationships" between faculty and students, it appears the school wrote him two letters of recommendation the following year. Susan Groesbeck, who is currently serving as interim head of school, discovered the letters in school files after hearing from Sullivan's attorney in April. LeFort said Groesbeck wrote to the recipients of those letters to formally retract them. "She did so because both she and the board felt no such letters should have been issued on behalf of a former faculty member whose employment the school had terminated for violating its policy against inappropriate relationships between faculty members and students," LeFort said. "Dr. Groesbeck and the board also felt it was important to do whatever could be done at that point to correct that action." The school also apologized in writing to Sullivan and has begun working to provide resources to assist in her recovery, she said. Sullivan disputed this Wednesday, saying she has received no apology from the school. School officials added that they are in the process of forming a special task force to conduct a "complete review" of policies and protocols for handing sexual misconduct by faculty and staff, which has "certainly been updated since 1998." "There are a range of safeguards in place," LeFort said. "But we know they can be made stronger and we are going to make them stronger." The task force will provide the board recommendations for improvement, which will be shared across the school community, she said. bbump@timesunion.com 518-454-5387 @bethanybump This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany Gov. Andrew Cuomo has directed New York state agencies to conserve electricity to help the state avoid brownouts during the ongoing heat wave. Officials will turn off unneeded lights and computers and raise thermostats, moves that are expected to reduce demand by 60 megawatts, or enough electricity to power 60,000 homes. The Democratic governor on Monday said he's also asking residents to help by turning off air conditioners, lights and other appliances when not using them. The state's peak energy load is expected to reach near-record levels as temperatures climb into the high 80s and 90s throughout the region this week. Officials say elderly residents and others with certain health conditions need to take extra caution. They encourage residents to avoid strenuous activity during the hottest hours, to stay hydrated and to check on vulnerable neighbors. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Fort Myers, Fla. With the Orlando massacre still fresh on everyone's mind, the mother of a young man who was slain at a nightclub early Monday had warned her son about what to do if there were a shooting: "hit the floor, find a table." But when gunfire erupted at the Club Blu parking lot, 18-year-old Stef'an Strawder didn't have anywhere to hide. He was killed along with a 14-year-old boy, and 17 other people ranging in age from 12 to 27 were wounded during a swimsuit-themed party for teens. "I told him to look for all the exits if any kind of shooting would go off, to hit the floor, find a table and get out of the way ... because I thought about the people in Orlando. That was a big thing," Strawder's mother, Stephanie White, told The Associated Press. Since the shooting happened in the parking lot, "He didn't have that chance," she said. Florida is again reeling from a mass shooting at a nightclub, but instead of being committed by a terrorist spouting Islamist ideology, this rampage may have started with an argument over a rap performance. Police have not yet released a motive. The shooting at a venue tucked in a strip mall also left 14-year-old Sean Archilles dead, and a state and its governor grappling with another tragedy. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany When guests at the Renaissance Albany Hotel across from the state Capitol take one of the elevators in the lobby up to their rooms, Wes Horth can't help but smile. That's because Horth is director of business development at Bay State Elevator, a Dalton, Mass., company that modernized old and installed new elevators as part of a $50 million renovation of the former DeWitt Clinton Hotel. It wasn't an easy job. The hotel, which first opened in 1927, had been vacant and decaying for years until Columbia Development stepped in to restore the landmark building to its former glory with modern updates. The same can be said for Bay State Elevator, which was founded in 1908 but has been working hard lately to expand and modernize its brand in the Capital Region where it has a large office and customer base. Horth, a fourth-generation employee who lives in Glenmont and joined the family business in 2011, has been working to raise the company's profile in the Capital Region and throughout its New York and New England territory since taking over business development two years ago. Bay State has generally kept a low profile as a distributor for German-based ThyssenKrupp elevators, a relationship that gives it a protected geographic territory for new installations. But Horth has been changing that, pushing the firm to expand its maintenance and refurbishing business beyond its traditional markets and using new marketing techniques to compete against the national elevator installation companies that dominate the local construction scene. "There's very few companies that can put in an elevator in a building" like the Renaissance, Horth said. "But with the digital age, we're trying to expand our footprint. Last year was a record year for us, and 2016 has been shaping up to be really good as well." Bay State has been growing its presence on social media and hired the local market research firm MadAddie to help reach construction managers and other potential customers online, including online "elevator pitch" videos for YouTube and new marketing materials that Horth says have gotten him and others at the company out of their comfort zones and in front of new prospects. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. "We've built a unique marketing strategy that supports their 100-year-old brand and upholds their incredible reputation," MadAddie CEO Kariann Morris said. Bay State also won contracts for recent projects by Saratoga Hospital and Wesley Community. The company, Horth said, is on track for a "strong year," although he declined to reveal revenue figures for the company, which has 120 employees in four states. Horth said he believes the record results are being driven by the local building boom fueled by a surge in new hotels and apartments. "Construction is a leading indicator on how the local economy is doing, and Albany is a strong market right now," Horth said. "And the elevator is a focal point of a new construction project." lrulison@timesunion.com 518-454-5504 @larryrulison This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany When I heard Rachael Mattice had been arrested, I thought of Asha Burwell, Ariel Agudio and Alexis Briggs. No, the Mattice and the University at Albany bus-attack cases are not perfectly analogous. But the effect is the same: They drain us of our sympathy. Mattice, as you probably know, said she was abducted by a man who looked suspiciously like Santa Claus. The 24-year-old from Johnstown explained a prolonged disappearance by claiming the bearded man kept her in a shed for two weeks. More Information Contact Chris Churchill at 518-454-5442 or email cchurchill@timesunion.com See More Collapse Police on Saturday said Mattice was lying. "It's all made up," State Police Maj. William Keeler said. It was late January when Burwell, Agudio and Briggs, three black UAlbany students, claimed to have been attacked by a white mob on a public bus and even said police were indifferent to their plight. Weeks later, police said the students were lying. "The evidence shows that, contrary to how the defendants originally portrayed things, these three individuals were not the victims of a crime," University Police Chief Frank Wiley said. "Rather, we allege that they are the perpetrators." Both cases had people whispering and wondering about their authenticity from the beginning. Both seemed to stretch credulity. Yet the claims also brought out the best in people, at least initially. Many who heard them responded with the empathy and compassion that real crime victims deserve. In Mattice's case, 400 people turned out for a candlelight vigil in her honor, and 130 officers and volunteers combed the Adirondack woods in a futile attempt to find her. Her face was plastered on posters hung across upstate New York. The response to the bus attack was also initially supportive. Most notably, there was a massive campus rally for the women and social media outrage. The president of the university, in words that would bring him grief, said he was "deeply concerned, saddened and angry" and vowed to hold the attackers accountable. If police are right and the bus allegations were completely falsified two of the three legal cases remain ongoing then the claims were certainly more sinister than Mattice's. That's because they pointed the blame at real people instead of an imaginary bogeyman, including other bus passengers, the driver and police. The women also took advantage of simmering racial tensions and may have made them worse on their campus. (The Black Lives Matter movement was quick to see their claims as part of its cause.) But false crime claims have a broader impact. They make victims of us all. They increase pessimism in a world that already has too much. They make dupes of the sympathetic and prophets of the cynical. They make us less likely to believe the claims of future victims. They also waste time and energy. Keeler on Saturday said police agencies wasted more than $100,000 searching for Mattice and investigating her story. You could see the frustration on his face. I should mention that Mattice's mother insists on the truthfulness of her daughter, who faces up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. "The whole thing pisses me off because we don't have the money to fight this," Wendy Mattice said Saturday. "But I will stick with my daughter until my grave." Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. Likewise, Burwell and Agudio pleaded innocent to assault, false reporting and harassment charges. The women, already expelled from school, face up to two years in jail. Briggs, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to helping fabricate the story. "You knew it wasn't true?" an Albany County judge asked. "Yes," she answered. What makes people do these things? God only knows. And while it's tempting to link such claims to what some see as a growing victimization culture, there certainly are similar cases from the past. Many readers wrote me linking the UAlbany case to the outrage of Tawana Brawley, who as a black teenager in the late 1980s accused four white men of rape, but you can just as easily go all the way back to the false accusations of the Salem Witch Trials. That example, and countless others, show that the situation could have been worse. If police had really and truly believed Mattice, an innocent man who looks like Santa could have been arrested and forced to face trial. "The man in the sketch does not exist," Keeler said. There's an obvious joke to be made there, but I don't want to suggest that there's anything funny about the situation. Many who believed Mattice are understandably upset, and they deserve our sympathy now. cchurchill@timesunion.com 518-454-5442 @chris_churchill THE ISSUE: New York's proposed clean energy plan includes billions in nuclear plant subsidies. THE STAKES: Is this the best way to get the state to a cleaner, greener energy future?In coming weeks, New York's Public Service Commission will consider a clean energy plan that envisions a laudable goal: to derive half of the state's electricity from clean, renewable sources. It also includes what can be fairly described as a massive subsidy for nuclear power plants. More Information To comment: tuletters@timesunion.com or at http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion See More Collapse The state argues that with energy prices low right now, nuclear plants, which provide nearly a third of New York's electricity, are in danger of closing. The state says it can't quickly develop enough wind and solar to replace the roughly 37 million megawatt hours nuclear power plants provide. Those plants, advocates note, at least produce no greenhouse gas emissions and provide thousands of jobs. But at what cost? It's one thing to keep nuclear plants running temporarily while the state transitions to green energy. It's another to hand nuclear plant operators billions of dollars that could instead be used to move New York that much more quickly to a clean energy future. The nuclear subsidies are being proposed in the state's Clean Energy Standard. The CES, also known as the "50-by-30" plan because it seeks to achieve the 50 percent clean energy goal by 2030 would shift more of the state's electricity supply to sources like wind, solar, hydropower and biomass, and away from fossil fuels. Some want nuclear power in the mix, too, but it has some not-insignificant problems the risk of an accident, and the still-unresolved question of safe disposal of radioactive waste. It's hard to see nuclear power plants as being part of an environmentally sound energy future. As a short-term bridge to that future, however, they could play a part, if they can stand on their own. Supporters say they can't in the current market. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. So the CES would include a program of "zero emissions credits" a charge that utilities and energy service companies would pay to keep nuclear plants open. Those costs are expected to start at $965 million for the first two years, rising to about $1 billion a year, paid for by, well, pretty much anyone with an electricity bill. If nuclear plants close, the state warns, even more fossil fuel plants would be needed to meet the state's energy needs plants that would likely be around for many more years. The state insists that if energy prices rise, the nuclear subsidies would go down to avoid handing the industry an unreasonable windfall. What, however, is a reasonable windfall? Just how much do these plants realistically need to stay open? Is the state fattening nuclear plant profits with money that could be used to fund more alternative energy, and more energy savings programs, and achieve the CES goals even sooner? Nuclear power is already here in New York, and it could be an inevitable bridge to a cleaner future. But New York energy customers should know what the state is getting them into before it commits them to giving the nuclear power industry billions of their hard-earned dollars. THE ISSUE: Physicians are commonly paid by drug companies to promote certain medications. THE STAKES: The medical profession needs to address the potential for conflicts of interest.If a doctor is paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by a pharmaceutical company to promote its latest drug, should that physician then be prescribing that same medication to his own patients? More Information To comment: tuletters@timesunion.com or at http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion See More Collapse It's a thorny question with no simple answer, especially if the physician is an expert in the field for which the new drug is targeted and honestly believes it would be good for the patient. But having been paid handsomely to promote the drug creates at least a strong appearance of a conflict of interest, especially if less expensive alternatives that could arguably be just as effective are available. A report by the nonprofit investigative reporting organization Pro Publica last year found drug manufacturers spend millions wooing physicians, in part by paying them for speeches and consulting services to promote their new drugs. The report documented that many of the new pharmaceuticals being promoted are often only slightly different and sometimes no better than the older drugs they are intended to replace. They usually cost much more than generic versions, translating to bigger profits for drugmakers. While paying doctors to promote certain drugs or medical devices is not new, the disclosure of these arrangements is, thanks to the Affordable Care Act. Since reporting was first required in 2014, an Albany endocrinologist, Dr. Robert Busch, has been high on the disclosure list. He received $785,000 from drug companies last year, some of it for expenses to travel to speak to groups of doctors. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. The practice raises the question of whether these payments unduly influence how physicians treat their patients. In an interview with the Times Union's Claire Hughes, Dr. Busch insisted they have no effect, saying medical decisions are tailored to the patient's situation. His lucrative side work for the drug companies, he said, keeps him educated about drugs that could benefit his patients. Perhaps so, but a medical ethicist at the Clarkson University Capital Region Campus in Schenectady is among those who disagree, saying that anyone who claims that receiving such large payments doesn't affect his practice is deceiving himself. The first remedy for this, though, shouldn't be new laws or regulations. As we have argued before on issues ranging from abortion to pain prescriptions to medical marijuana, lawmakers should leave physicians and their patients mostly free to make medical decisions. Still, the ethical implications here are troubling. The better course would be for the medical profession to heal itself. Disclosure has been a good first step, shining light on this questionable practice. Now, the American Medical Association, and the medical community as a whole, should recognize this inherent conflict, and thoughtfully devise clear, credible ethical guidelines on these relationships between doctors and pharmaceutical companies. Patients should be able to have confidence that the pill they're taking is in their best interest, not their doctor's. A large, lone bald eagle circled around the Jersey Bridge, Monday afternoon. The numbers of eagle sightings in the area have risen noticeably after decades of conservation efforts to restore the population of the nations symbol after nearly going extinct. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close [July 26, 2016] Artmotion: EU Nations Fail to Meet International Data Security Standards Businesses should be wary of hosting their data inside the European Union (EU). That's the message from a new international data privacy report from Swiss hosting company Artmotion. The report, which combines independent data from the United Nations, Transparency International and several leading privacy groups, highlights that of 28 nations making up the EU, only eight are considered truly secure for data storage. At the same time, European nations outside the EU such as Switzerland and Iceland ranked significantly higher on list, coming in first and third on a review of the 170 safest nations for data security. Germany came in 17th on the list, while Britain ranked just 23rd for data safety, falling behind Qatar and South Korea. Despite hosting nearly a third of the world's data, numerous NSA privacy scandals placed the USA 38th on the list, falling behind Uruguay, Bahrain and Oman for overall data privacy. Some major Asian nations also rated badly for data privacy, with India - which recently became home to the world's largest data center - ranking 107th on the list. This places the country just behind Iran for overall data security. Commenting at the launch of the new study, data privacy expert Mateo Meier said "More than ever, it is important for businesses and individuals to understand the impact tht location can have on the privacy and security of their data. "In the internet age, it's easy to forget that every piece of information stored still requires a physical home, and that the geographic location of that home can have a serious impact on data privacy." "In support of this point, the Data Danger Zones report examines over 3.5 trillion IP addresses in 170 countries, providing one of the most comprehensive guides ever created for assessing data safety. As the findings highlight however, it's clear that a lot of nations - including those in Europe - are not doing enough to protect privacy and individual's data rights." To download the full study or to view an interactive map of the world's Data Danger Zones, visit artmotion.eu/risk-map/ ENDS Methodology The Data Danger Zones report was commissioned by Mateo Meier, a Swiss privacy expert and CEO of data hosting firm Artmotion. The report combines analysis of five key factors for data privacy. These include: political instability, corruption, risk of natural disasters, quality of infrastructure, risk of internal conflicts, and risk of terrorism. Each of these factors were publically collected and collated from the independent research of the following bodies: United Nations University World Economic Forum Transparency International Global intake Control Risk About Artmotion Artmotion Ltd is a privately held data hosting provider, offering state of the art, highly secure server solutions for businesses of all sizes. The company provides services such as secure, high performance dedicated servers, neutral clouds to safeguard data and private mail. The data centers offer ultimate privacy, latest technology and highly efficient infrastructure. Artmotion is serving businesses in 30 countries, with customer base mostly of medium to large international clients, including Fortune 500 companies. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726005753/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 26, 2016] CB&I Announces Maintenance Award in Canada THE WOODLANDS, Texas, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CB&I (NYSE:CBI) today announced it has been awarded a five-year contract for approximately $40 million for maintenance and turnaround services for a major oil sands producer in Northern Alberta, Canada. "CB&I has long supported our customers through engineering and construction, all while maintaining a relentless focus on safety," said Chip Ray, President of CB&I's Capital Services operating group. "We are pleased to further expand our turnaround and maintenance services in Canada." About CB&I CB&I (NYSE:CBI) is a leading provider of technology and infrastructure for the energy industry. With over 125 years of experience and the expertise of more than 40,000 employees, CB&I provides reliable solutions to our customers around the world while maintaining a relentless focus on safety and an uncompromising standard of quality. For more information, visit www.CBI.com. Important Information For Investors And Shareholders This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding CB&I and represents our expectations and beliefs concerning future events. These forward-looking statements are intended to be covered by the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. When considering any statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or use or contain words, terms, phrases or expressions such as "achieve," "forecast," "plan," "propose," "strategy," "envision," "hope," "will," "continue," "potential," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "project," "estimate," "predict," "intend," "should," "could," "may," "might" or similar forward-looking statements, we refer you to the cautionary statements concerning risk factors and "Forward-Looking Statements" described under "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of our Annual Report filed on Form 10-K filed with the SEC for the year ended December 31, 2015, and any updates to those risk factors or "Forward-Looking Statements" included in our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC, which cautionary statements are incorporated herein by reference. Investors: Scott Lamb, +1 832 513 1068, [email protected] Media: Gentry Brann, +1 832 513 1031, [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130430/DA04155LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cbi-announces-maintenance-award-in-canada-300303666.html SOURCE CB&I [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 26, 2016] ClearFlow Launches FDA-Cleared PleuraFlow System for Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery ClearFlow, Inc., a medical device company based in Anaheim, California, has announced that its PleuraFlow Active Clearance Technology is now available for the treatment of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery patients. After receiving clearance from the United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) earlier this year for expanded Indications for Use with the company's patented technology, ClearFlow developed a new model of the PleuraFlow product for the pediatric market. All patients undergoing heart surgery have some degree of bleeding, and thus, all patients require chest tubes to evacuate shed blood from around the heart and lungs in the early hours after surgery. The problem is that chest tubes often clog, which can limit the ability to evacuate shed blood. This can lead to complications including retained blood around the heart and lungs. The composite of drainage-related complications that are detrimental to outcomes after cardiothoracic surgery and that may require early or late intervention to remediate is known as Retained Blood Syndrome (RBS). These clinical complications have significant economic consequences, including higher costs of care for patients, hospitals, and society at large. Inadequate drainage due to chest tube clogging is especially a problem for smaller diameter tubes required for pediatric heart surgery. When ICU care providers are concerned with chest tube clogging, they often resort to makeshift bedside techniques to strip or milk out clots, or break the sterile field and advance suction catheters or balloon catheters into the tube in an attempt to re-open them after they have clogged. These techniques are ineffective and potentially harmful. The PleuraFlow System is a medical device that removes clots from chest tubes. A clogged chest tube can lead to retained blood around the heart and lungs. The new, smaller sized options are designed specifically for pediatric applications. "We commonly hear from pediatric heart surgeons, pediatric intensive care specialists and ICU nurses that they encounter problems with chest tube clogging after heart surgery in children, and sometimes this results in preventable major complications or even fatal consequences. The older makeshift bedside techniques of stripping or milking conventional chest tubes has been shown ineffective to prevent these problems, and can even be harmful, and thus are banned in many hospitals. We are pleased to announce that children's hospitals can now adopt preventative protocols to routinely clear chest tubes of clogging with a proven, FDA cleared medical device solution," said ClearFlow CEO Paul Molloy. In a study published in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery, smaller 20 Fr chest tubes fitted with Active Clearance Technology cleared blood significantly better than larger 32 Fr chest tubes without active clearance technology. This was the first time it was demonstrated that smaller tubes can drain better than larger tubes if the lumen is preventatively kept clear of clot. The FDA recently cleared a 20 Fr System with 4 side holes, which is ideally suited for infant, preadolescent, and adolescent patients undergoing congenital cardiac surgery. This System is also available in a 20 Fr with 6 side holes, as well as 24 Fr System when needed for larger pediatric patients. "There has long been a need to facilitate patency of chest tubes in the smallest diameters used for pediatric heart surgery since the smaller the tube, the more prone it is to occlude," added cardiothoracic surgeon and ClearFlow co-founder Ed Boyle, M.D. "Expanding the product offerings to facilitate prevention of chest tube clogging in children requiring complex heart operations is an important step to meet this critical unmet need." About ClearFlow, Inc. ClearFlow, Inc. is an Anaheim, CA (News - Alert) based medical device company that has developed a patented active blood and fluid evacuation system to speed recovery, reduce complications and lower healthcare costs related to medical tube obstruction. The company has been awarded several prestigious awards, including the European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgeons Techno-College Innovation Award for worldwide innovation that has the potential to change the standard of care in heart and lung surgery, and the Innovations in Cardiovascular Interventions Award, among others. PleuraFlow and Active Clearance Technology are registered trademarks of ClearFlow, Inc. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726006404/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 26, 2016] EnergyNet Student Engagement Initiative at The Africa Energy Forum 2016 This year, EnergyNet welcomed 9 students from Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Cameroon and Mozambique to the Africa Energy Forum and on to the Student Engagement Initiative. EnergyNet to date has supported 68 students, of which 38 of these students have been placed in full time employment. We look to extend the number of students we will support this year from Zambia, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Swaziland and Lesotho. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726005153/en/ EnergyNet are committed to supporting students of Engineering, Law and Finance to further their ambitions of working in Africa's burgeoning energy sector. EnergyNet work closely with their partners, Aggreko and Norton Rose Fulbright as well as their Associate Sponsors from Ministries across Africa to place students in internship opportunities and eventual full tie employment dependent on performance. Each year, selected students are flown from their home country to attend the Africa Energy Forum, to participate in workshops and engage with industry leaders and Ministers at the forum. Each year, EnergyNet awards a student from the previous year with the 'Student of the Year Award'. To win the award, a student needs to have demonstrated an ability to challenge the sector through written reports, supporting fellow students and connecting and engaging with our sponsors and speakers and building long lasting relationships. EnergyNet are delighted to have awarded this to Kevin Gaitho. Kevin was our ESEI student in 2015 and attended the 17th Annual Africa Energy Forum in Dubai. Kevin has a real passion and desire to support the change in Kenya's energy sector in Kenya and delivering access to electricity for all. Kevin recently set up his own business, Equatorial Energies Limited, installing solar panels in hotels and rural parts of the country. This year, the students got to speak to Ministers of Energy who attended the Africa Energy Forum. The Ministers thoroughly enjoyed networking and speaking to the students and they outlined key tips to making it to the top and what is required to be a 'leader for tomorrow'. Veronica Bolton-Smith, Regional Director, EnergyNet commented on the importance of the programme 'ESEI for us is more than just an initiative, we hope to shape the next generation of leaders in Africa, we recognise that Africa has a rapidly growing adolescent population and securing job creation will be fundamental for them in years to come' View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726005153/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 26, 2016] Evolue, Kathy Kuo Home, The Land of Nod, The New York Times Store, Soludos Expand Globally with Borderfree Retail Solution from Pitney Bowes Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI), a global technology company that provides innovative products and solutions to power commerce, announced today that it is collaborating with several new retailers and brands to help them expand their global online reach to international consumers around the world. International consumers can enjoy the same easy online shopping experience with Evolue, Kathy Kuo Home, The Land of Nod, The New York Times Store and Soludos as U.S. consumers through the Pitney Bowes Borderfree solution. The technology and cross-border shipping services enable global shoppers to simply and conveniently buy items online in over 70 currencies from more than 220 countries and territories. "When we opened our doors six years ago, our goal was to become both a nationally and internationally recognized brand," says Jean Seo, CEO and Founder of Evolue. "The amazing team at Pitney Bowes provides a straightforward and functional solution to the challenging world of international ecommerce. We're thrilled to partner with them so that we can create experiences for our customers that make them feel beautiful no matter where they are." "It's our mission to provide customers access to the best and most beautiful furniture and home decor," says Kathy Kuo, CEO and Founder of Kathy Kuo Home. "We're excited to partner with Pitney Bowes to carry that mission beyond the US and help our global customers design the home of their dreams." "Soludos was founded in New York City, however, our inspiration originates from the traditional rope soled espadrilles of Spain," says Nick Brown, CEO and Founder of Soludos. We're inspired by the so many corners of the world and it's important for us to ship to our customers across the globe." When global consumers visit the online sites of these brands and retailers, they will now be able to shop and receive localized marketing, currency and order totals - including international shipping fees, customs, tariffs and taxes - so they have a shopping experience that feels familiar to their local market. Order totals are guaranteed by Pitney Bowes at the time of checkout, eliminating any unforeseen changes to shipping and importation costs so there are never any surprises for buyers when items are delivered. "We are continuing to see growing demand from online shoppers around the world to buy a variety of products from U.S. retailers that they can't access in their own markets," said Lila Snyder, Executive Vice President and President, Global Ecommerce, Pitney Bowes. "We are delighted to be collaborating with Evolue, Kathy Kuo Home, The Land of Nod, the New York Times Store and Soludos to help them expand globally and provide a seamless shopping experience for consumers." Evolue offers skincare products that are made with the most luxurious ingredients around the world. Founded in 2010, Evolue's eco-chic boutique in Beverly Hills, California is frequented by celebrities and health and beauty fans for their all-natural skincare products. A trusted online boutique, Kathy Kuo Home offers the highest quality materials, furnishing accessories and interior designing services. Based in New York, Kathy Kuo Home provides interior design consulting and hundreds of unique home decor products to clients nationwide. Headquartered in Illinois, The Land of Nod is a privately held retailer that offers safe, high quality furnishings. Since their beginnings in 1996, The Land of Nod has expanded to include 10 retail locations, a catalog and a website offering kids and baby furniture, bedding, toys and more. With a commitment to quality and safety, The Land of Nod offers a solution for customers that aren't willing to leave their design aesthetic at the door of their kid's room. Launched in 1998, The New York Times Store features unique and historical gifts. Curated by The New York Times, the vast assortment of items include rare artifacts and antiques, authentic autographs, personalized gifts, models, fine art prints and posters, photographs, commemorative newspaper reprints, custom books, crossword puzzle compilations and apparel. Soludos was founded by Nick Brown in New York City in 2010. Nick was unable to find the traditional rope soled espadrilles he had grown up wearing on holiday along the Spanish Coast. Combining the clink of a glass 'salud' and the heat of the sun 'sol', Soludos was born. Shaped by five centuries of tradition, Soludos are the perfect shoe for the beach, the city and everywhere in between. Pitney Bowes provides global ecommerce services to over 250 retailers, offers its technology and shipping services to millions of sellers, and collaborates with some of the world's largest ecommerce marketplaces, platform providers and systems integrators. Through its Borderfree Retail solution, Pitney Bowes offers end-to-end solutions and modular capabilities to help retailers enter global markets quickly with website localization, fully-landed cost calculations, compliance management, payment and risk mitigation, logistics and fulfillment coordination and customer care. The Pitney Bowes Borderfree Retail solution is an integral part of the Pitney Bowes Commerce Cloud, a commerce enabler, providing access to solutions, analytics and APIs across the full commerce continuum with speed and agility to help clients identify customers, locate opportunities, enable communications, power shipping from anywhere to everywhere, and manage payments. About Pitney Bowes Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) is a global technology company offering innovative products and solutions that enable commerce in the areas of customer information management, location intelligence, customer engagement, shipping and mailing, and global ecommerce. More than 1.5 million clients in approximately 100 countries around the world rely on products, solutions and services from Pitney Bowes. For additional information, visit Pitney Bowes at www.pitneybowes.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726005341/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 26, 2016] Hub International Agrees to Acquire the Assets of South Carolina-Based KeenanSuggs Insurance Inc. Hub International Limited (Hub), a leading global insurance brokerage, announced today that it has agreed to acquire the assets of KeenanSuggs Insurance Inc. (KeenanSuggs). Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close on August 1, 2016. With offices in Columbia, Greenville and Charleston, South Carolina, and Raleigh, North Carolina, KeenanSuggs is a provider of multi-line insurance including property and casualty, personal lines, employee benefits and risk services throughout the Southeast. Tommy Suggs, President and CEO of KeenanSuggs, will join HUB as President and CEO of the Carolinas region for Hub Southeast, and Mitch Watson, CFO and COO of KeenanSuggs, will also join Hub Southeast's Carolinas region as COO. "The addition of KeenanSuggs is a game-changing event for Hub Southeast and our Carolina presence," said Mike Chapman (News - Alert), CEO, Hub Southeast. "I look forward to working with Tommy and Mitch and welcome their great team and customers as part of the continued growth of the Southeast region." "We are excited to join Hub and combine our resources to service our customers and create opportunities for our employees. KeenanSuggs has always believed that our clients need more than insurance and built our firm accordingly. The combination with Hub is a natural progression for our firm. We are looking forward to the future," said Suggs. About Hub's M&A Activities Hub International Limited is committed to growing organically and through acquisitions to expand its geographic footprint and strengthen industry and product expertise. For more information on the Hub M&A experience, visit WeAreHub.com. About Hub International Headquartered in Chicago, IL, Hub International Limited is a leading global insurance brokerage that provides property and casualty, life and health, employee benefits, investment and risk management products and services from offices located throughout North America. For more information, please visit hubinternational.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726005159/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 25, 2016] Public Safety In-Building Wireless DAS System Market Worth 1,740.1 Million USD by 2021 PUNE, India, July 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report "Public Safety in-Building Wireless DAS System Market by System Component (Antennas, Cabling, Distributed Antenna System (DAS) Headend and Remote Unit, and Repeaters), Service (Professional and Managed), Application, and Region - Global Forecast to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, The market size is estimated to grow from USD 404.2 Million in 2016 to USD 1,740.1 Million by 2021, at an estimated CAGR of 33.9% from 2016 to 2021. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 39 market data Tables and 47 Figures spread through 125 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Public Safety in-Building Wireless DAS System Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/public-safety-in-building-wireless-das-system-market-217928419.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The implementation of safety codes such as National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the International Code Council (ICC) in buildings made mandatory by governments act as a major driver for Public Safety In-Building Wireless DAS System Market across the globe. Other drivers include growth in critical need of consistent and reliable public safety networks, growing trend towards smart cities and buildings, increase in the number of accidents in building premises, and continuous need of uninterrupted mobile communication. DAS headend and remote unit system component expected to have the largest market share The DAS headend and remote unit system component is expected to have the largest market share in the Public Safety In-Building Wireless DAS System Market during the forecast period. The reasons for this are its high-end performance and discrete carrier access & control. DAS headend and remote unit is now being modified to make it compatible with public safety communication spectrum, by eradicating traditional techniques. Direct digital interface with simplified deployment capability enables it to have the largest market share. Managed services to witness the highest growth rate The managed services segment is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period2016-2021. The managed services deliver cost-effective and backup support for technical queries and aim at preventing any downtime. Furthermore, this service offers the best technologies and equipment servicing capabilities on the market for which it is expected to spur the market growth of the whole market over the forecast period. North America expected to contribute the largest market share, Asia-Pacific to grow with the highest rate North America is expected to have the largest market share in the Public Safety In-Building Wireless DAS System Market from 2016 to 2021, due to government public safety mandate and increasing number of public infrastructures. Asia-Pacific offers potential growth in this market due to increase in the number of in-building wireless communication deployments for increasing number of smart cities and buildings over the region. Request Sample Pages - http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsample.asp?id=217928419 The major vendors in the Public Safety In-Building Wireless DAS System Market are Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T, Inc., Commscope, Inc., Ericsson, Verizon Communications, Inc., Anixter Inc., Cobham PLC, Corning Incorporated, Smiths Group PLC, and TE Connectivity Ltd. Browse Related Reports Wireless Broadband in Public Safety Market by Type (Fixed, Mobile, Satellite), by End User (Police Department, Fire Department, Emergency Medical Service Providers, Others), by Region - Global Forecast to 2020 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/broadband-64.html Public Safety and Security Market by Solution, Service, Vertical (Homeland Security, Emergency Services, Manufacturing, and Others), and Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America) - Global Forecast to 2020 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/public-safety-security-market-1024.html Know More About our Knowledge Store @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide 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. Connect with us: Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @ http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/telecom-it on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets Contact: Mr. Rohan Markets and Markets UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India 1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 25, 2016] Wireless Telecom Group Announces Second Quarter 2016 Financial Results Will Be Released August 3, 2016 Wireless Telecom Group, Inc. (NYSE MKT:WTT), a leader in radio frequency (RF) solutions, announced today it will release its second quarter 2016 financial results on Wednesday, August 3rd, 2016, after the market closes. About Wireless Telecom Group, Inc. Wireless Telecom Group designs and manufactures radio frequency (RF) and microwave-based products for wireless and advanced communications industries and markets its products and services worldwide under the Boonton, Microlab and Noisecom brands. Its complementary suite of high performance components and instruments includes RF combiners and broadband combiner boxes forin-building distributed antenna systems deployments (DAS), RF power splitters and diplexers, hybrid couplers, peak power meters, signal analyzers, noise modules, precision noise and generators. The Company serves both commercial and government markets with workflow-oriented, WiFi (News - Alert), WiMAX, satellite, cable, radar, avionics, medical, and computing applications. Wireless Telecom Group is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, in the New York City metropolitan area, and maintains a global network of Sales and Service offices for excellent product service and support. Wireless Telecom Group's website address is http://www.wtcom.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160725006330/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 25, 2016] Acronis Backup Cloud Unlocks Easy Revenue for Microsoft Office 365 and Azure Data Protection with Industry's Fastest, Most Complete Solution NEW ORLEANS, July 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Acronis, a leading provider of hybrid cloud data protection, today at HostingCon announced its latest update of Acronis Backup Cloud, a cutting-edge backup-as-a-service (BaaS) solution for service providers, hosters, and cloud resellers that provides complete data protection for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Today's SMBs have been left exposed to data loss and malicious attacks due to inadequate solutions that do not protect the full spectrum of servers and user endpoints, including mobile devices, and Cloud services and applications, such as Microsoft Azure and Office 365. Acronis enables service providers to rapidly address these new and critical SMB data protection needs with the latest release of Acronis Backup Cloud its easiest, fastest, most complete cloud backup solution ever. "Whether it's a lost mobile phone, a vulnerable cloud application, or a ransomware attack, today's SMBs are at more risk than ever to data loss, and it will only get harder to stay protected," said John Zanni, Chief Marketing Officer at Acronis. "Service providers and hosters have a huge opportunity to expand their business, and Acronis Backup Cloud gives them easy and almost instant access to this massive market." Get Up and Running with Industry-Leading Data Protection in Minutes Acronis Backup Cloud provides service providers, hosters and cloud resellers with a turn-key backup as a service solution that is so easy to use, they can be up and running within minutes. Acronis Backup Cloud protects all servers, workstations and mobile devices, and extends to cloud services and applications to provide complete protection. Acronis Backup Cloud easily plugs into the most common platforms in use by service providers and hosters today, including Linux, Virtuozzo, Azure, Docker, Open-Xchange, XEN Server, and KVM. The solution also backs up data and workloads across the full range of customer environments, including Microsoft, Amazon EC2, Windows and Office365, Linux, Mac, VMware, Hyper-V, RHEV, XEN, Oracle VM, Exchange, SQL Server, SharePoint, Active Directory, iOS, and Android. Acronis Backup Cloud also integrates with the most popular cloud management solutions to automate customer billing, monitoring, and provisioning. This includes Odin Service Automation, WHMCS, HostBill, APS Standard, LabTech, Windows Azure Pack, and Flexiant Cloud Orchestrator. Service providers can use a use a single powerful dashboard to deploy the software, manage customers, and monitor backups, all while supporting clients' distributed business environments with multiple IT tiers and administration controls for users and groups. Within hours, service providers can also deploy secure, private cloud destinations with their own storage or third-party cloud storage, and now with Acronis Software Defined Storage using commodity hardware. The new Acronis Storage option substantially lowers scale-out storage costs while overcoming the capex challenges related to traditional high-end storage offerings. Why Now's the Time to Move to Acronis Backup Cloud Powerful Cloud Automation - Simplifies the sale of BaaS by combining proven Acronis backup technology with a scalable hybrid cloud architecture that integrates with the most popular cloud management tools. - Simplifies the sale of BaaS by combining proven Acronis backup technology with a scalable hybrid cloud architecture that integrates with the most popular cloud management tools. True Multi-Tier Solution - Offers a multi-tier solution that enables cloud resellers to provide varying levels of capabilities to their customers from a single data protection platform. - Offers a multi-tier solution that enables cloud resellers to provide varying levels of capabilities to their customers from a single data protection platform. Flexible Storage - Provides flexible storage options for customer backups, including local, on-premises, service-provider hosted, Acronis-hosted, and 3rd-party hosted, including Microsoft Azure, Amazon S3, and IBM SoftLayer. - Provides flexible storage options for customer backups, including local, on-premises, service-provider hosted, Acronis-hosted, and 3rd-party hosted, including Microsoft Azure, Amazon S3, and IBM SoftLayer. Powerful Multi-Tenancy - Reduces costs and overhead by consolidating customer views and administration into one, easy-to-use, unified management console, available anywhere. - Reduces costs and overhead by consolidating customer views and administration into one, easy-to-use, unified management console, available anywhere. Unmatched Control Over Services - Allows service providers to offer a unique blend of customer self-service and white glove management to fit the needs of their customers. "The managed infrastructure market remains robust with traditional hosting and infrastructure-as-a-service growing into a $70 billion market in 2016," said Liam Eagle, Senior Analyst, Service Providers, 451 Research. "Working with technology vendors that deliver higher-order services and offer cohesive solutions for hybrid cloud IT environments are winning strategies for service providers, as they look to update their services with the latest backup and data protection." "Data protection is a top priority for virtually every organization today, and we are pleased to strengthen our relationship with Acronis and deliver the latest update of its cloud backup solution to help address this critical business need," said Tarik Faouzi, Vice President, Global Cloud Partners and Solutions, Ingram Micro. "Through the Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace, our reseller partners can quickly deliver greater value to their customers and offer a leading hybrid cloud backup solution that provides complete protection for Microsoft Office 365 mailboxes." "Our team travels from race to race all over the world, and we rely on backup to protect the hundreds of Gigabytes of data we generate every weekend. It needs to be at our fingertips both at the races and back at our team headquarters in Italy at all times," said Raffaele Boschetti, Head of IT for Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula 1 Team. "Acronis gives us the ability to protect our team and car data no matter where we are, and if ever we need to recover data for any reason we know we're backed by the fastest solution out there. We need this to be successful." For more information on Acronis Backup Cloud, click here. Acronis will be at the HostingCon event from July 25-27, visit us in Booth #633 and sign up for a FREE TRIAL of Acronis Backup Cloud. For partners and service providers that want to learn more about Acronis solutions and sign up to be an Acronis partner, click here for more information. For Ingram Micro partners, begin provisioning, selling, and managing Acronis Backup Cloud via the Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace here. Through the Cloud Marketplace, channel partners can also take advantage of 1GB of Acronis Backup for Office 365 storage at no charge. Additional Information on Acronis: Follow @Acronis on Twitter: https://twitter.com/acronis Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acronis Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/acronis Visit the Acronis Blog: http://blog.acronis.com/ About Acronis: Acronis sets the standard for hybrid cloud data protection through its backup, cloud storage, disaster recovery, and secure file sync and share solutions. Powered by the Acronis AnyData Engine and set apart by its image technology, Acronis delivers easy, complete and affordable data protection of all files, applications and operating systems across any environmentvirtual, physical, cloud and mobile. Founded in 2003, Acronis protects the data of over 5 million consumers and 500,000 businesses in over 145 countries. With more than 100 patents, Acronis products have been named best product of the year, and cover a range of features, including migration, cloning and replication. Today, Acronis solutions are available worldwide through a global network of service providers, distributors and cloud resellers. For additional information, please visit www.acronis.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150707/232950LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/acronis-backup-cloud-unlocks-easy-revenue-for-microsoft-office-365-and-azure-data-protection-with-industrys-fastest-most-complete-solution-300303593.html SOURCE Acronis [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 25, 2016] Asia's leading omni-channel CRM provider Capillary Technologies expands in China market SHANGHAI and BEIJING, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Capillary Technologies, Asia's leading CRM provider that helps retailers intelligently engage with their customers, today announced that it has expanded its presence in the China market with headquarters in Shanghai. The company is investing and rapidly ramping up its localized team and platform, in a bid to be a leading omni-channel customer engagement provider in the region. Capillary is already working with major retailers in China, including Lee, Pizza Hut, Kipling, and Eu Yan Sang. Speaking on the announcement, Amit Haralalka, General Manager, Capillary Technologies China, said, "Through our early traction, it is clear that our solutions have resonated well. China has an evolved digital and 'O2O', or online-to-offline ecosystem, and being more 'digital' equals having more data. This enables brands to engage with consumers in a highly personalized and contextual manner, via analytics and Social CRM. With a fully local China team, localized products and local infrastructure, we are making specific investments to build a leadership position in the market." Capillary's CRM platform, which can integrate into virtually any point-of-sale device, and eCommerce platform offers a one-stop solution for retail marketers to engage with their customers, by capturing and analyzing customer data, and enabling targeted customer communications. Leveraging its robust analytics engine, Capillary optimizes the relevance and profitability of personalized offers across social mdia, mobile, e-mail, online, and in-store channels, driving a significant increase in sales and customer loyalty. Last year, Capillary had raised US $45 million in a Series C round of financing led by an affiliate of private equity firm Warburg Pincus. Existing investors Sequoia Capital and Norwest Venture Partners also participated in the round. Capillary is using the capital infusion to expand its offerings to enable clients to develop an omni-channel view of their customers, both organically by broadening its product suite, as well as inorganically via acquisitions, to be Asia's leading commerce and engagement provider. Speaking on the announcement, Lynn Lin, Director, Information Technology for Warburg Pincus North Asia said, "China's retail sector is undergoing significant transformation driven by e-commerce and mobile internet, calling for a new generation of intelligent CRM solutions for the retailers to manage their customer relations. Capillary is well-positioned to meet this demand, by leveraging its solid track record and expertise in the region, as well as a highly-talented localized team and tools." Over the last couple of years, Capillary has invested in localizing its team as well as platform for the China Market. In addition, Capillary is supported by a leading locally-based call-centre services provider in China to provide a seamless Software and Services experience to its customers. About Capillary Technologies Capillary Technologies, headquartered in Singapore, is an omni-channel commerce and engagement company, which powers end-to-end customer engagement, loyalty, eCommerce and social CRM solutions for more than 200 major brands across 20,000 stores, serving over 150 million consumers primarily in Asia, across South East Asia, China, India and the Middle East. Customers include industry leaders such as Pizza Hut, KFC, Puma, United Colors of Benetton, Walmart, Unilever, Courts, Lee and Timberland. Brands have realized as much as a 10% increase in same-store sales by leveraging Capillary's solution. Capillary has been named Relationship Marketing Agency of the Year at the Loyalty and Engagement Awards, won awards at the World Brand Congress Forum 2015, Featured as a Gartner Cool Vendor; and as one of Mint/WSJ Bloomberg Businessweek's Hottest Technology Businesses 2013. Capillary is backed by Sequoia Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank and American Express Ventures. For more information, visit http://www.capillarytech.cn.com. About Warburg Pincus Warburg Pincus is a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing. The firm has over $40 billion of private equity assets under management. Since its founding in 1966, Warburg Pincus has invested over $55 billion in more than 750 companies in 40 countries. The firm is one of the largest global private equity investors in China with wide industry coverage, and has invested over $6.5 billion in more than 90 Chinese companies since it entered the Chinese market in 1994. Warburg Pincus has a strong track record in investing China's consumer, retail and services sector. The firm has invested and supported the growth of many house-hold consumer brands and companies such as Amcare, ANE Logistics, CAR Inc., China Kidswant, Mofang Apartment, Red Star Macalline and ZTO. For more information, visit http://www.warburgpincus.com. Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160722/0861607357 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 25, 2016] University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce Sets Asian New Learning Trend with Digital Hybrid Learning System BANGKOK, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC), a leading university in business education in Asia, celebrates its decade of technology in education by reinforcing its leadership in Digital Hybrid Learning System of the 21st century. The university has been recognised as Apple Distinguished School 2015-2016, reflecting a level of competency that is on par with leading universities around the world. Located in the central of Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand, UTCC, as a nonprofit institution, has a mission to continuously modernise its teaching. It has developed its information technology (IT) infrastructure and applied the IT technology to teaching with the student-centered approach since 2006, triggering a rapid change in the education sector. Today, UTCC students use teir iPad given by the university as a tool to access a collection of more than 700 UTCC lessons on the iTunes U platform. In March 2016, the collection of UTCC content was ranked second most accessed by students world wide. Associate Professor Sauwanee Thairungroj, President of University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said: "it is absolutely necessary to develop teaching methods, along with their tools, which can increase efficiency in learning. UTCC understands how important this is and has put a great effort into it by choosing appropriate advanced technology to hone skills and abilities of students." The application of technology in classes leads to a learning experience that is relevant to the ever-changing world while encouraging students to research and access information by themselves with skills to process information and set goals for their learning. More importantly, they can engage in learning anywhere and anytime. Associate Professor Sauwanee said, "The Digital Hybrid Learning System is a perfect tool for the modern lifestyle which relies on technology. It is also the best method to develop critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork and leadership to prepare students to become entrepreneurs with practical knowledge and expertise that is crucial to global competition." Recently, as Apple Distinguished School, the university expands the horizons of digital learning. It joins hands with Apple Regional Training Centre to transfer the body of knowledge to top-tier primary and high schools in Thailand. The university will help the schools develop their students' skills and attitude necessary for the education of the 21st century. "Teachers must apply both science and art to create a learning strategy that helps students achieve their goals while supporting them to pursue their individual interests," said Associate Professor Sauwanee. Currently, UTCC is providing unique learning experience to more than 19,000 students including international students from over 30 countries worldwide, such as China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Maldives, USA, etc. In 2015 QS Thailand University Rankings, UTCC was ranked first based on the ethnic diversity on campus. The university offers both Thai and international students a rich entrepreneurial culture of Southeast Asia through its strong network with Myanmar and ASEAN. For more information, please contact: University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce Marketing Communication and International Relations Department Public Relations Division Phone: +66 2 697 6781-4 Email: [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160725/8521604756 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 26, 2016] Unique Vacations, Inc., Worldwide Representative of Sandals Resorts, Partners with Duetto for its Revenue Strategy Solutions NEW YORK, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Duetto, the market leader in hotel profit optimization technology, announced an agreement to implement its Revenue Strategy solutions at Unique Vacations Inc. (UVI), an affiliate of the worldwide representative for Sandals Resorts, Beaches Resorts and Grand Pineapple Beach Resorts, bringing new insights on pricing and demand to its the award-winning resorts throughout the Caribbean. The agreement further accelerates rapid adoption of Duetto's GameChanger, a cloud-based predictive analytics platform providing hotels and resorts the ability to independently yield rates by channel, segment and room type in real time. Utilizing new consumer-centric data, including web shopping lost business, GameChanger provides actionable insight into future demand and the ability to leverage them through a powerful pricing engine. "We are very happy announce this agreement with UVI, to bring our Revenue Strategy solutions to the outstanding group of integrated resort hotels throughout the Caribbean," said Duetto CEO Patrick Bosworth. "In today's rapidly changing marketplace, Duetto's solutions bring insight and flexibility to fully optimize revenue and manage distribution complexity. We are excited to bring a new level of insight and revenue optimization to Sandals Resorts, Beaches Resorts and Grand Pineapple Beach Resorts and we look forward to a great partnership." Tammy Gonzalez, CEO at Unique Vacations Inc. said: "Sandals Resorts is the undisputed leader in Caribbean vacation experiences. We are committed to exceeding the expectations of our guests, delivering unique on-property experiences and also to innovaing in property management, Revenue Strategy and profit optimization." She concluded, "Duetto sets a new standard for excellence and innovation and we look forward to working together to continue to evolve our Revenue Strategy in the months ahead." Duetto is rapidly expanding throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. More than 1,000 hotels and casinos in more than 50 countries have partnered to use GameChanger. Most recently, Duetto announced an agreement to bring its Revenue Strategy platform to more than 120 Posadas hotels throughout Mexico. About Duetto Duetto delivers the most powerful Revenue Strategy solutions to the world's leading hotels and casinos, allowing them to better manage pricing, revenue and business-mix decisions with superior, actionable data. The unique combination of hospitality experience and technology leadership enables Duetto to provide new insights on pricing and demand as a true cloud-based software-as-a-service. With solutions that address the challenges of today's distribution landscape, Duetto's applications are a GameChanger optimizing profit and guest loyalty. Thanks to rapid marketplace adoption, Duetto is expanding in key markets throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. More than 1,000 hotel and casino properties in more than 50 countries have partnered to use Duetto's Revenue Strategy solutions. About Unique Vacations, Inc. Unique Vacations, Inc. (UVI) is an affiliate of the worldwide representative for Sandals Resorts, Beaches Resorts, Grand Pineapple Beach Resorts, Fowl Cay Resort and Your Jamaican Villas, delivering the best Caribbean vacations to every sector of the market. Fulfilling sales, marketing, public relations, creative services and web initiatives for Sandals Resorts International, UVI works to effectively showcase and grow each distinct brand among consumers, partners, media and industry professionals alike. UVI is also committed to the success of its retail travel partners, offering the most comprehensive agent education and reward and recognition programs in the industry as well as a stringent pricing policy that eliminates discounting, protects brand integrity and avoids consumer confusion. For over 30 years, UVI has continued to successfully elevate the resort portfolio of Sandals Resorts International as the World's Leading All-Inclusive Company. Contact: Michael Frenkel, MFC PR New York For Duetto (212) 808-6559 [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/unique-vacations-inc-worldwide-representative-of-sandals-resorts-partners-with-duetto-for-its-revenue-strategy-solutions-300303708.html SOURCE Duetto [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 26, 2016] ACSI: Customer Satisfaction for E-Business Rises Despite Social Media Falloff ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Customer satisfaction with e-business increases despite big drops for social media superstars Facebook and Twitter, according to new data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The e-business segment, which includes social media, search engines and information websites, and news and opinion websites, improves for a third consecutive year, edging up 0.7 percent to 74.9 on ACSI's 100-point scale. ACSI data show that advertising is the most important factor weighing down e-business customer satisfaction. "Consumers have not fully accepted advertising as a necessary cost for online services they have come to expect as free," says Claes Fornell, ACSI Chairman and founder. "There is little companies can do to change that perception beyond making sure that those advertisements are relevant and nondisruptive." The ACSI report, which is based on 5,125 customer interviews collected in the second quarter of 2016, is available for free download at http://www.theacsi.org/news-and-resources/customer-satisfaction-reports/reports-2016/acsi-e-business-report-2016. Social Media: Big Drops for Big Brands Big drops for Facebook and Twitter pull customer satisfaction with the social media category lower to 73, a decrease of 1.4 percent. Facebook declines 9 percent to 68, while Twitter falls 8 percent to 65. Both social media platforms made news for how their algorithms determine what is displayed in user news feeds, but for different reasons. Facebook changed what was highlighted on users' news feed and made headlines for potential bias in trending news. For Twitter, the issue is its departure from a reverse-chronological feed to something more like Facebook. Wikipedia matches its peak ACSI score of 78, moving up 1 percent to regain first place among major social media websites. Google's YouTube adds 1 percent to 77, a new high for the video platform. "It's impossible for global brands with massive user bases like Facebook and Twitter to make everyone happy, and both are trying to do so much," says ACSI Managing Director David VanAmburg. "YouTube and Wikipedia are different in that they provide a very specialized and focused experience. YouTube has redefined video-on-demand, whereas millions of people find Wikipedia a useful starting point for information on nearly everything." Social bookmarking website Pinterest drops 3 percent to 76 to tie with Google+. In its second year in the ACSI, Instagram falls 3 percent to 74. Professional networking patform LinkedIn loses 4 percent, joining Twitter in last place among social media websites. ACSI data show that customer satisfaction is slightly higher on mobile platforms, with mobile apps scoring 73 and mobile browsers at 72. On desktop or laptop, social media scores 71. Most customer experience benchmarks remain at par with last year, with two notable exceptions. Privacy scores 5 percent lower at 73, and advertising dives 7 percent to 69. "Advertisers are attracted to the digital platform because it allows them to hypertarget the customer, but this is only possible because of the availability of massive troves of consumer data," says Fornell. "Consumers may willingly give up some privacy and personal data in order to use these services, but it doesn't mean they're happy with the bargain." Search and Information Sites: Google Gains, Yahoo! Falls Further Behind After a big drop last year, Google bounces back with an 8-percent boost to 84, helping the internet search and information category move up 1.3 percent to 77. The biggest name in search opens up a 9-point lead over its nearest major competitor. Microsoft's Bing search engine (+4%) and MSN portal (+1%) tie for second at 75. Despite a struggle to remain relevant, Yahoo! is still one of the most visited websites on the internet, with more than 200 million monthly visitors in the United States. But these users are not greatly satisfied as the company's score slips 1 percent to 74. The trio of About.com, Answers.com, and AOL are well behind with scores of 69 that are among the lowest in e-business. "Yahoo! might be more concerned about shareholder value and a potential sale than it is in innovation and customer satisfaction," says VanAmburg. "It tried to acquire its way back into relevance but has yet to find the means to turn those acquisitions into product success." User satisfaction with search and information websites is much higher on mobile devices, with mobile apps scoring 80 and mobile browsers at 77 compared to desktops and laptops at 73. Regardless of device, consumers are the least satisfied with the amount of advertising on these websites. News and Opinion Sites: Presidential Election Is Good for Business Interest in the presidential election may be pushing up satisfaction with news and opinion websites this year. The category jumps 4.1 percent to 76, its highest score ever. Nearly every website improves, regardless of political leaning, showing that the most interesting and unpredictable election in decades has been good for the news business. FOXNews.com regains its perch alone at the top after a 4-percent increase to 79. The largest gain in the category goes to the group of smaller websites, which include BuzzFeed, Drudge Report, WSJ.com, and WashingtonPost.com. The smaller sites jump 7 percent to 77. MSNBC equals that score after moving up 3 percent. ABCNews.com, NYTimes.com, and USAToday.com match the industry average of 76, while CNN.com adds 3 percent to 75 to tie its all-time high score. HuffingtonPost.com is up 1 percent to 72, setting its new high but still at the bottom of the category. The internet is an ideal vehicle for delivering a steady stream of content in today's 24-hour news cycle, and consumers give news and opinion websites high scores for freshness of content (80). Nearly every element of the customer experience improves, including ease of navigation and information variety, both up 4 percent to 78, and overall site performance at 77. The exception: advertising, far behind other benchmarks after dropping 4 percent to 68. Follow the ACSI on Twitter at @theACSI and Like us on Facebook. No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the data and information in this release without the express prior written consent of ACSI LLC. About ACSI The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the United States. The ACSI uses data from interviews with roughly 70,000 customers annually as inputs to an econometric model for analyzing customer satisfaction with more than 300 companies in 43 industries and 10 economic sectors, including various services of federal and local government agencies. ACSI results are released throughout the year, with all measures reported on a scale of 0 to 100. ACSI data have proven to be strongly related to a number of essential indicators of micro and macroeconomic performance. For example, firms with higher levels of customer satisfaction tend to have higher earnings and stock returns relative to competitors. Stock portfolios based on companies that show strong performance in ACSI deliver excess returns in up markets as well as down markets. At the macro level, customer satisfaction has been shown to be predictive of both consumer spending and GDP growth. ACSI and its logo are Registered Marks of the University of Michigan, licensed worldwide exclusively to American Customer Satisfaction Index LLC with the right to sublicense. FOR MORE INFORMATION Chaat Butsunturn, 415-391-7900 x1214 [email protected] OR Amanda Roberts, 202-535-7800 x1114 [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160722/392322-INFO Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140822/138938 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/acsi-customer-satisfaction-for-e-business-rises-despite-social-media-falloff-300303011.html SOURCE American Customer Satisfaction Index [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 26, 2016] Bluewolf Announces its 2016 Global Customer Innovation Award Winners NEW YORK, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Global consulting agency Bluewolf (www.bluewolf.com), an IBM Company, today announced the winners of its 2016 Bluewolf Innovation Awards. These customer awards recognize leading companies that have showcased excellence in deploying a large digital initiative, cloud technology, or business process that has enabled them to get closer to their customers. To determine winners, Bluewolf's leadership team conducted an in-depth evaluation of recent customer successes that dramatically drove brand experience, customer engagement, and revenue. "Companies that rally their vision around customer success and digital transformation are better positioned to lead, and scale, their business in today's competitive landscape," said Eric Berridge, CEO, Bluewolf. "We're honored to work with these innovative teams and companies that prioritize customer and employee experiences." The winners of the 2016 Bluewolf Innovation Awards include: Next Generation Digital EngagementJames Hardie James Hardie Building Products Inc., a world leading building materials manufacturer, envisioned a better way to differentiate its brand and maintain leadership within the industry, as well as generate loyalty and advocacy directly from homeowners and its partner network. Integrating Salesforce and Marketo more effectively, James Hardie was able to develop and enact a digital marketing plan focused on lead acquisition, lead nurturing, redesigned web and mobile UI/UX, and partner advocacy. After a complete digital makeover, James Hardie was able to amplify its brand voice with a sophisticated sales and marketing engine to deliver seamless experiences for customers and scale its business. In one yar, James Hardie increased its Marketing Qualified Leads by more than 300%. Exceptional Customer ExperienceWendy's Wendy's, an international quick service restaurant chain, innovated its omni-channel customer experience by establishing its own Customer Care Team, which supports more than 6,500 franchise and company restaurants across North America , with plans to expand internationally. Wendy's implemented Salesforce Service Cloud console and transitioned to a brand new Customer Care Center, supporting its Advocates with increased visibility of the customer, knowledge deployment, computer-telephony integration, and empowering customers with email and text-to-case communication and resolution. Wendy's is focused on a more personalized customer experience anywhere the customer may be and on any channels they choose and its Customer Care Team is expected to quadruple in 2016. Cutting-Edge Sales TransformationSpirent Spirent, a multinational telecommunications testing company, knew that running its business from a mobile device wasn't just a nice-to-have; it was an industry differentiator. Making its sales teams a priority, Spirent armed them with a new CRM solution that offered anywhere/anytime access and high-level process standardization across its global business units (BUs). Replacing its antiquated on-premise CRM infrastructure, Spirent implemented Salesforce Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Apttus CPQ, and migrated its Marketo instance to improve its global sales productivity significantly, and drove greater customer focus, proactive service, and BU alignment. Relentless Employee FocusMidwest Operating Engineers Fringe Benefit Funds (MOE) MOE provides benefits to members of a labor union based in the Midwest United States. MOE modernized its community for nearly 23,000 members and their families, consolidating several disjointed systems and costly, time-consuming processes into a one-stop-shop to manage healthcare benefits and account profiles, and provide a hub of education and digital communication throughout the organization. Powered by Salesforce Service Cloud and Community Cloud, MOE's integrated employee community has helped to efficiently manage the benefits process, provide a better digital experience for members and employees, and save the organization millions of dollars annually. The State of Salesforce Global Report 2016-2017, and an opportunity to capture their innovation stories to share with customers, peers, and partners. About Bluewolf Bluewolf, an IBM Company, is a global consulting agency that builds digital solutions designed to create results. Now. We're the proven Salesforce strategic partner for a reason -- our technology-driven method combines our team's years of experience with cloud solutions that continually connect our clients with their customers. We specialize in leading cloud technologies like Salesforce, but our clients come to Bluewolf for so much more than our technical expertise. We serve a community of future-focused industry leaders dedicated to building the next generation of digital experiences. The way we see it, when business is done in real time on the cutting edge, it's always now. For more information, visit www.bluewolf.com. Salesforce and others are trademarks of salesforce.com, Inc. Media Contact: Tammy Chan Bluewolf, an IBM Company +1 415-692-4400 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392792LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bluewolf-announces-its-2016-global-customer-innovation-award-winners-300303882.html SOURCE Bluewolf, an IBM Company [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 26, 2016] UTC Announces 2016 Hall of Fame Inductees: Fraser Bullock, Carine Clark and Peter Genereaux The Utah Technology Council (UTC) (http://www.utahtech.org) today announced this year's Hall of Fame inductees. They are Fraser Bullock, Carine Clark and Peter Genereaux. The inductees will be honored on September 30 at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City at the UTC Hall of Fame Celebration, the annual gathering of the technology industry. This event celebrates UTC's 25th Anniversary. "The track record of these leaders is unparalleled," said Richard R. Nelson, president and CEO of the UTC. "These leaders have served significant roles that have been instrumental in Utah's stellar technology accomplishments. We are extremely pleased to honor them as our 2016 Hall of Fame inductees." Fraser Bullock Fraser Bullock is a Co-Founder and Senior Advisor of Sorenson Capital, a private equity firm, which has approximately $1 billion in assets under management. Bullock serves on many Boards including DOMO, Sorenson Media, Curza and Bamboo HR, and as Chairman of Health Catalyst, the Polynesian Cultural Center and DMBA. He is on the Advisory Board of Insidesales.com, is an advisor to InMoment, Salt Stack and Pluralsight, in which his firm is an investor. He served as Chairman of Omniture (News - Alert), a publicly-traded technology company that was sold to Adobe. Bullock began his career at Bain & Company, as Consultant and Manager. He then became a founding partner of Bain Capital and later served in various operating roles including CFO of a publicly-traded company and President of a transaction-processing technology company. In 1999, Bullock became Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. He continues to be active in the Olympic movement and has provided advisory services to the International Olympic Committee, the U.S. Olympic Committee and several cities hosting the Olympic Games, including Torino, Vancouver, Sochi, Rio, Beijing, and Pyeongchang. For his Olympic service, Bullock received the Olympic Order in Gold from the International Olympic Committee. In addition to his role in the Olympics, Bullock served as a member of the UTC Board of Trustees and was instrumental in helping pass the $100M Utah Fund to Funds. He also served as Chairman of the Governor's Employers Education Coalition that did a study and developed recommended strategies for education. He served as Vice-Chair of the Governor's Optimization Commission, Co-Chair of the commission that developed the initial strategies and recommendations for the formation of USTAR and Co-Chair of the Business Engagement Council for UVU. Bullock received a Bachelor's degree in economics and a Masters in Business Administration from BYU. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, in Highland, Utah and they are the parents of 5 children and 8 grandchildren. Carine Clark Carine Clark leads corporate direction and initiatives as the president and CEO of market-leading customer exerience company MartizCX. She played a crucial role in creating and executing the acquisition of Allegiance (News - Alert) by Maritz Research and in combining the two companies to create MaritzCX. Clark has decades of experience building successful software companies. Prior to MaritzCX, she was president and CEO for Allegiance. Before that she was SVP and chief marketing officer for Symantec (News - Alert), where she was responsible for global campaign and field marketing, partner and product marketing, branding and marketing communications, as well as public relations and analyst relations. As an executive at Altiris (News - Alert) and Novell, she was responsible for driving top and bottom-line company growth through fiscally accountable and operationally efficient marketing. Her leadership helped establish Altiris as one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the world, growing revenues from $62 million to $230 million during a four-year period. Throughout her career, Clark has directed and integrated diverse teams including product management, sales support, alliance, field and global marketing, events, brand and communications management. She has demonstrated expertise in bringing companies and people together through dozens of acquisitions with the exceptional ability to quickly promote best practices and to drive integrated teams toward common goals. Carine Clark has been recognized with numerous awards, including 2016 EY Entrepreneur of the Year Utah Region, and 2015 CEO of the Year by Utah Business magazine. She was ranked by ExecRank as #47 of all CMO's worldwide in 2012. She has also received the Women Tech Leadership Excellence Award, the 25th Annual TWIN Award, and the Silicon Slopes v100 Award. Clark received her bachelor's degree in organizational communications as well as a master's degree in business administration. Peter Genereaux In 1991, the Utah Information Technologies Association (UITA) was formed with Peter Genereaux as founder and CEO, which became the Utah Technology Council (UTC) in 2006. In conjunction with Governor Bangerter and his economic development team who recognized the entrepreneurial spirit and propensity for innovation in Utah, starting in 1989, Genereaux participated in conceiving the vision for an organization to attract, nurture and retain high tech companies in the state. He retired as CEO of UITA in 1999, after starting the first Hall of Fame, and now lives in Prescott, Arizona. During UITA's early years, Genereaux was also Chairman of the Council for Regional Information Technologies Association (CRITA), an organization he co-founded. CRITA, now known as TECNA, comprises some 50 technology councils to represent the IT industry at the national level. Among honors he has received, in 1975 he was invited by the President of the United States to be nominated as Secretary of the Government Services Administration, and as an Assistant Secretary in the Treasury Department. He received an Honorary Ph.D. Degree from Salt Lake Community College in 1995. His education includes Princeton University, and following his service in the U.S. Army during the Korean War period, Genereaux earned his B.S. degree in Business Administration from the University of Delaware. Later, he was selected and participated in the Harvard Business School, Executive Development Program. He devoted his first 33 career years leading technology and financial businesses and not-for-profit organizations in their startup, growth, and as a "corporate doctor" for some. This year's Hall of Fame inductees join past recipients Alan Ashton, David Evans, Philo Farnsworth, Ray Noorda, Ivan Sutherland, Bruce Bastain, John Warnock, Stephen Aldous, Edwin Catmull, Spencer Kirk, David Spafford, Thomas Stockham, Jr., David Bailey, Nolan Bushnell, James Clark, Alan Kay, Shane V. Robison, Kevin B. Rollins, Drew Major, Homer R. Warner, Jim Kajiya, Dinesh Patel, Bernard Daines, James Levoy Sorenson, H. Raymond Bingham, Theodore H. Stanley, Greg Butterfield, Peter D. Meldrum, Mark H. Skolnick, Dale H. Ballard, Gary L. Crocker, Governor Michael O. Leavitt, Mark Fuller, Stephen Jacobsen, Josh James, Fred Lampropoulos, David R. Bradford, Carl R. Kjeldsberg, John M. Matsen, III, A. Scott Anderson, Alan E. Hall, Kirk M. Ririe, Gretchen W. McClain, Will West, and Senator Orrin G. Hatch. About The UTC Hall of Fame The annual Hall of Fame event honors individuals with Utah ties who have made global contributions to the information technology and clean tech industries through new technology, innovation and leadership. The gala also headlines CEO keynotes from the world's great technology companies. The Hall of Fame celebration is the year's largest gathering of Utah technology executives. UTC invites members of Utah's technology industries, as well as business and community leaders, to join in honoring this year's inductees. For information regarding tickets or sponsorship opportunities, visit www.utahtech.org or call (801) 568-3500. About the Utah Technology Council The UTAH TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL is the state's premier professional association for more than 5,000 tech companies, representing nearly 10 percent of the state's total payroll. At its core, UTC exists to help businesses to CONNECT, LEARN and THRIVE by creating VALUABLE CONNECTIONS with members and others who offer peer experience and advice, by addressing the serious TALENT SHORTAGE faced by member companies and by assisting them to gain ACCESS TO FUNDING. Members join UTC to share insights with industry peers, counsel with government and K-20 academic leaders and receive expertise from professional service providers. Learn more at www.utahtech.org. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726005567/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 26, 2016] Andrew Turner Joins Halo Privacy Board WASHINGTON, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Halo Privacy of Chicago, Seattle and Washington, D.C. is pleased to announce the appointment of Andrew Turner to its Board. Mr. Turner currently serves as the Chief Security Officer at Vantiv, a leading payment processor and merchant acquirer, where he is responsible for developing and executing Vantiv's physical and information security programs globally. Prior to Vantiv, Mr. Turner developed and led Visa's global Cyber Security organization, protecting one of the largest brands in the world with over $7 trillion in payment card transactions processed annually. In addition to providing cyber support to the U.S. Intelligence community, Office of the President and other high-profile organizations, he has previously served in other roles including, Director of Cyber Intelligence at Microsoft and Director of Services EMEA at IOActive. In 2012, Mr. Turner was appointed by Governor Terry McAuliffe to serve on the Virginia Cyber Commission, where he led the subcommittee on Cyber Education and Workforce Development. Mr. Turner graduated from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University with a degree in Economics. He holds various security related certifications, and serves on a number of advisory and company boards. L. Kevin Kelly, Halo Privacy CEO, sad, "Andrew is one of the first people we thought of for our board. His dual experience in the private and public sector make him a natural match for us. He is helping us develop the commercial sector market for the tradecraft and tools that we have been using to support DoD and DoJ for years. Halo's philosophy includes the idea that private citizens and commercial companies should have access to the same level of privacy as government entities. Having Andrew help us navigate the two worlds has already been a tremendous benefit. I have to say, Andrew really is the 'perfect fit' for our board and I'm thrilled he's agreed to join us." Mr. Turner added, "Halo is in exactly the right space to capitalize on the democratization of strong crypto. Building out Halo's core Corona Platform in such a way that it can securely host business-friendly communications and workflow tools all the way up to Halo's government-grade One-Time Pad VPN makes it the most agile secure server platform in the market. The one-size-fits-all solutions are no longer competitive, so having a platform that is customized to each client and scaled to each use case is much more responsive to real-world requirements. I see a bright future for Halo and I'm happy to accept their offer to join the board." About Halo Privacy Halo Privacy was founded by like-minded experts with many years of experience in government and industrial secure communications who believe that genuine privacy is still possible. The Halo approach to securing privacy goes beyond just hardware and technology. A keen understanding that the greatest threats to privacy are often human, coupled with the know-how to assume an attacker's perspective, have allowed Halo to protect the most sensitive information for grateful clients in the government and private sectors. Through a combination sophisticated intelligence tradecraft, streamlined training and proprietary disruptive technology, Halo offers every client a tailored privacy solution. For customers from government entities to corporations to family offices seeking a low profile, we place a secure "Halo" around our clients' smartphones, laptops, smart homes and businesses that protects the information, intellectual property and personal privacy of everyone and everything inside the "Halo." Simple training and concierge-level staff support ensure frictionless client use of the Halo systems. In fact, anyone who can manage email and a smartphone is already savvy enough to communicate securely within the Halo. For more information, please contact: [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160308/341910LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/andrew-turner-joins-halo-privacy-board-300302912.html SOURCE Halo Privacy [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 26, 2016] Red River Ensures Highest Levels of Service and Security with SOC 2 Type 1 Certification New Hampshire-based Red River, a leading technology integrator, announced today that the company has successfully undergone a Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Type 1 audit conducted by Wolf & Company, P.C. The SOC 2 certification Red River achieved validates the company's data security and availability controls. "With our SOC 2 Type 1 certification, we can assure existing and potential customers that Red River's information systems, infrastructure, managed and professional services all meet the highest levels of service and security," said Dan McGee (News - Alert), President of Red River. The purpose of a SOC 2 Type 1 audit is to verify the security controls of an organization's systems, procedures and infrastructure. A SOC 2 Type 1 report is an internal control report on the services provided by Red River that helps customers assess and address the risks associated with an outsourced service. "We are pleased that our SOC 2 report has shown that we have the appropriate controls in place to mitigate risks associated with data processing, storage, co-location, cloud computing and more," said Richard Ackerman, Senior Director of Managed Services for Red River. Wolf & Company, PC. maintains the industry relevant certifications required for evaluating and issuing SOC reports, including Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Public Accountant (CPA). For Red River's SOC 2 Type 1 audit, the firm evaluated and followed the principles and related criteria developed by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) for use by practitioners in the performance of trust services engagements: Security. Systems are protected against unauthorized access (both physical and logical). Availability. System are available for operation and use as committed or agreed. Current and prospective customers interested in attaining a copy of Red River's final SOC 2 report, please send your request to [email protected]. About Red River Founded on the core values of hard work, honesty and integrity, Red River is a leading technology integrator. The company's technology expertise and mission-critical experience helps its customers optimize their business processes and enhance the value of their technology investments. Red River earned its reputation as a leading technology integrator by delivering best-in-class security, network and cloud solutions to military, intelligence and civilian agencies and the companies that serve them. We combine an uncommon work ethic with exceptional service to deliver performance beyond expectations to its customers, partners and suppliers. Follow Red River on Twitter (News - Alert) at @ThinkRed. For more information please call 800.769.3060 or visit www.redriver.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726006392/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] My fellow English teachers and I probably took a little more professional interest than the average citizen in Melania Trumps plagiarized speech at the Republican convention last week. The event was beyond strange, but in the light of this bizarre political season, I suspect it will soon fade into the background behind other odd episodes, like Sen. Ted Cruzs petulant refusal to endorse Donald Trump. Still, its worth thinking for a moment about what actually happened and what it means. When peculiar parallels between Melania Trumps speech at the GOP convention and Michelle Obamas speech at the 2008 Democratic convention were pointed out, the Republican reaction was understandably defensive. At the least, getting caught plagiarizing is embarrassing. Some Republicans denied that it happened. Others seemed to admit that it happened but argued that only 7 percent of Melanias text appears to have been plagiarized. Others admitted that it happened but that it was an innocent mistake. Still others said that everybody does it. Paul Manafort, Trumps campaign chairman relying on the principle that the best defense is a good offense took up the theme of the convention and blamed the controversy on Hillary Clinton: This is once again an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, she seeks out to demean her and take her down. Finally, an obscure speechwriter took the fall. She said that Melania had read to her over the phone some passages that she admired from Obamas speech and, well, somehow they made their way into Melanias text. The speechwriter offered to resign. Trump refused to accept her resignation. And there it stands. Every English teacher thinks about plagiarism at least occasionally, and some take it more seriously than others. For some its a flunking offense. But, in a world awash with electronic text and with only a loose sense of what belongs to whom, others question whether plagiarism is even a useful concept any longer. But I suspect that nearly all of them would come to the same conclusion about the correspondence between the texts of the two speeches: Its unlikely to have occurred accidentally, that is, as the result of phrases planted in the mind during the course of a phone conversation. In fact, I suspect that most English teachers would say that the near-verbatim phrases in Melanias speech could have occurred only if, as her speech was being composed, Michelle Obamas speech was very close by. How important is this, in the context of the Trump campaign? Probably not very. But heres the real problem: When students plagiarize, many English teachers chalk it up to naivete, especially the first time it happens. The problem arises if the student insists that her work is entirely her own, even in the face of essentially conclusive evidence. Of course, everyone knows that politicians and their wives rely on speechwriters. But Melania said that she wrote this speech herself, just as Donald Trump insists that he wrote The Art of the Deal. Apparently he didnt. In the current New Yorker, ghostwriter Tony Schwartz contends that Trump had much less to do with the writing of the book than might ordinarily be expected of a co-author. In fact, Howard Kaminsky, the former head of the books publisher, Random House, says Trump didnt write a postcard for us! None of this should surprise anyone. But in the case of Melanias speech it bespeaks the ineptitude of the Trump campaign. And in the case of The Art of the Deal, it testifies to its hollowness. Heres the real problem with letting other people do your writing for you: It does away with the essential experience of this art and skill, the daunting moment when a writer faces an empty computer screen armed with nothing more than what is in his head. The challenge is always that you have to have something to say. How to download iOS 16 Learn how to update your iPhone to iOS 16, to make use of all the latest and best features while ensuring your iPhone is as secure and optimized as it can be Best VPN deals in October 2022 VPN Don't want to pay full price for a VPN? These VPN deals offer huge savings on all the very best providers all you need to do is pick which one! Out On The Weekend festival is returning for another year of country, Americana, and blues. Theyve just announced an absolutely jam-packed lineup topped by the one and only Marlon Williams. The talented New Zealand troubadour is set to perform with his band The Yarra Benders, topping a bill that also boasts some of the finest local and international acts in country and Americana. Robert Ellis, Lindi Ortega, Joe Pug, Joshua Hedley, The Cactus Blossoms, Cash Savage & The Last Drinks, and All Our Exes Live In Texas will also be burning the barn down at Seaworks this October. For those that know, its a grand day of excellent sounds, good times and sparkling services and we expect to see you again. For those that dont, come join the party this October. Itll be a blast. Guaranteed, said organiser BT. Check below for all the dates and ticketing details. Out On The Weekend 2016 Marlon Williams & the Yarra Benders Robert Ellis Lindi Ortega Joe Pug Joshua Hedley The Cactus Blossoms Cash Savage & The Last Drinks All Our Exes Live In Texas Tracy McNeil & The GoodLife Bakersfield Glee Club The Stetson Family Grand Ole Twang Broadcasting Live Celebrating 20 Years of 3RRR Twang Saturday, 15th October 2016 Seaworks, Melbourne Tickets: Ticketscout Big Kansas City Company Stays Losing Kansas City Contamination Show-Me Big Money Election Fight Rock Chalk Breakfast With Bernie!!! Kansas City Trading Day inspires our Kansas City midday link look and another beautiful lesson in body acceptance for right now, take a peek:Additional update . . .and a guy was wounded badly in a. . . So stay tuned out there . . . And this is thefor the midday. Sign stealing stories and allegations are about the lowest from of campaign rhetoric out there and the equivalent of political jaywalking. "This is an incredibly weak attack from my opponent," Mr. Black said. "Look at where I'm at. I'm in my community every day talking with people about the issues that need to be addressed. The more I talk to people, the more I see that Mr. Dunn is absent from any kind of real discussion about issues. We're only seeing him on TV." The August 2nd Primary is close and campaign talk is at the forefront of the local discourse in Kansas City's urban core along with some fairly routine media coverage.For the record, and we've said this time and time again . . .To be fair, the old lady they interviewed in this story is delightful and I want to vote for her for President . . .Now, the reality here is the Derron Black has been doing as much grassroots work as any candidate in this primary and its clear that he captured the attention of Mr. Dunn if the Missouri State Rep. is going public, calling the police and playing mobile phone paparazzi just a few days before the election . . . To be fair, Rep. Dunn is a undoubtedly a smart man and this kind of MSM hit piece might be effective.Again, TKC does not make endorsements but we want to hearperspective and so we were thankful to get a brief call form Derron Black yesterday talking about this story and his campaign . . .Regarding the allegations, Mr. Black was forthright . . .Again, to be fair,seemed to shake up the incumbent.And so, that brings us to a quick juxtaposition between these two candidates for Tuesday . . .- Rep. Dunn is a clearly a media savvy politico with connections to the MSM throughout Missouri.- Mr. Black has relied on social media and face-to-face contact with his constituents to present a formidable challenge to the incumbent.- Rep. Dunn has a longstanding alliance with Councilman Jermaine Reed along with an endorsement from Freedom, Inc. . . .- Mr. Black is a former Navy man while Rep. Dunn was a high ranking executive at City Hall.- Mr. Black famously interrupted Mayor Sly's speech and since expressing some regret, he has connected with the We The People Movement and earned a wide-cross section of contacts and friendships within the Bernie Sanders campaign in KCMO . . .And all of this confirms the word of Kansas City Insiders who think this will be an important and close contest in the ongoing battle between more established East side politicos like Rep. Dunn vs. grassroots campaigners like Derron Black.You decide . . . DOUBLE TROUBLE FOR PERFECT VILLAGE AS A CRIME SPREE AND COUNTERFEIT CASH PLAGUE THE POSH SUBURB!!! Crime Spree In Prairie Village: "The merchants in Corinth Square at 83rd & Mission have been experiencing a crime spree (Well, it's relative. Its Prairie Village). "Someone is passing counterfeit bills. One of banks in the area told a small merchants that they have had a rash of fake bills deposited by various businesses in Corinth Square. "There have also been some break ins in the cars of customers. Computers, cameras, and various other electronic devices have been stolen . . ." Bad news for people trying to do business in this beloved metro bedroom community . . .Here's the word:Like it or not and as we've noted many times before . . . The KCMO crimestop at the city limits and that's why it's in everyone's interest to address the problem.Developing . . . Most fronts of the devastating wildfire that burned across the island of Chios were partially under control on Tuesday morning. Residents and authorities, however, fear a rekindling of the blaze due to strong winds. So far nearly 90% of the mastic-trees have been incinerated in the villages of Lithi, Elata and Mesta. Images from NASA illustrated the extent of the fire as smoke could be seen reaching the island of Crete. Firefighters and citizens on the island, which was declared in a state of emergency by authorities, were battling to contain the spread of the flames throughout the night. According to the latest information, the fire started from power cables in the area. Four planes and four helicopters are currently involved in the operations, while 38 firefighters, 16 vehicles, 11 land units, 40 volunteers, 21 water trucks and 2 earthmoving vehicles are contributing to efforts to contain the fire. According to a local news site politicos.gr, the fore started at between the villages of Vessa dn Lithi and quickly spread to the southwest of the island. Speaking to protothema.gr, Chios mayor Emmanuel Vrounous said it was difficult to say the wildfire had been put under control, adding that the village of Elata had ben evacuated. It all depends on the wind, he said. Meanwhile, Agricultural Development and Food Minister, Vangelis Apostolou is expected to go to Chios to assess the situation and visit the farming areas hit by the fire. Read more here. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Donald Trump made one part of Hillary Clintons job easier last week by making the braggadocios claim that he alone can cure the nations ills, a boast that sounded more like a promise of one-man rule. But Clinton faces three other big challenges at her convention in Philadelphia this week, and they wont be as easy as painting Trump as a dangerous blowhard. Her first challenge is an old one: Can she make herself seem likable enough for Americans to want her in their living rooms? People think of her as competent, Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart said recently, but they dont like her. To win the general election, he said, Clinton needs to show that shes actually easygoing and likable her friendships, her depth, all of those things. Which may not be as hard as it sounds. Bill Clinton changed voters perceptions in 1992 with a video that cast him as the Man from Hope, a poor boy who made it to the top through grit. In his wifes case, a few warm anecdotes from friends and a few sweet videos of Grandma Hillary cradling a baby (the kind of videos that seem to be missing from the Trump collection) can go a long way. Her second challenge is both more political and more difficult: In a year when most voters are deeply dissatisfied with the direction the countrys going, Clinton needs to cast herself as an agent of change. The title she doesnt want is the one GOP vice presidential nominee Mike Pence tried to pin on her last week: secretary of the status quo. Theres no question that theres a penalty for trying for a third term, Democratic pollster Mark Mellman told me, referring to the eight years the White House has been in his partys hands. And its hard for her to run as the most qualified person ever, but as an outsider, too. David Axelrod, Obamas chief strategist in 2008, said: I dont think she can plausibly campaign as the candidate of change because she has been a fixture in American politics for such a long time. Clintons answer has been to cast herself as an apostle of both continuity and change continuity for parts of the Obama legacy that are popular (economic recovery, some aspects of Obamacare) and tweaks for parts that havent worked as well (middle incomes, other aspects of Obamacare and gridlock in Congress). But even that may be tricky. Shes depending on millions of Obama voters to transfer their loyalties to her. She cant sound as if shes dismissing anything the president has done. Finally, Clinton faces a problem that some of her aides acknowledge may be insoluble between now and November: her trust deficit. A CBS News Poll last month found that most voters dont think Clinton is honest and trustworthy although about the same percentage dont think Trump is honest and trustworthy (62 percent for Clinton, 63 percent for Trump). But in a telling contrast, the same poll found that while most voters give Trump credit for saying what he believes, only 33 percent said Clinton was forthright. The Democratic nominees standoff with FBI Director James B. Comey he decided not to prosecute her over her emails but said she had made many false statements en route to her non-indictment reinforced her well-earned image as the Great Prevaricator. And she knows it. A lot of people tell pollsters they dont trust me. I dont like hearing that, and Ive thought a lot about whats behind it, she said in Chicago last month. Her answer? Political opponents and conspiracy theorists have accused me of every crime in the book, she said. None of its true. Never has been. That dismissive attitude isnt going to help. Those trust numbers are probably not going to get improved that much, said David Plouffe, Obamas campaign manager in 2008. Every candidate has strengths and weaknesses. ... Youre not going to have positives on everything. Axelrod agreed, saying, I dont think you can have a strategy to prove to skeptics that youre trustworthy. To win, Clinton may have to ask voters to overlook her greatest flaw. And she may need to rely on people like Reed Benet, a Republican businessman from Michigan, who says hes not happy with Trump and might vote for the Democrat. Im coming to the conclusion that being a liar is not a disqualifying factor to be president of the United States, he said. And I feel terrible for saying that. Greece may win over last-minute visitors scared away from tourist rival Turkey after a failed military coup but overall growth in the sector remains fragile, according to the countrys largest tourism body Greece may win over last-minute visitors scared away from tourist rival Turkey after a failed military coup but overall growth in the sector remains fragile, according to the countrys largest tourism body. Crisis-hit Greece is relying on its sun-drenched islands, sandy beaches and ancient monuments for an economic turnaround. Tourism accounts for about 17 percent of its 185 billion euro economic output and employs one in five people in work. "Turkey's share of last-minute arrivals will shrink and it will probably suffer cancellations," Andreas Andreadis, head of Greek tourism businesses association SETE, told Reuters. "Greece will gain a share, even if it is a small one." But Andreadis said he could not exclude a spillover effect from Turkey which could impact overall arrivals. "We don't like the fact that Turkey is destabilized, it could also affect Greece. We are not happy about this," he said. Tourism industry suffering Turkey's tourism industry was already suffering from a series of bomb attacks before the military coup attempt on July 15. Earlier this year, SETE projected a 5 percent rise in tourism revenues for 2016 to 15 billion euros on the back of 25 million tourists, up from 23.6 million last year, when Greece was on the verge of leaving the euro zone. The estimate hinges mainly on last-minute arrivals. Germany and Britain are Greece's biggest tourist markets. But tourist spending patterns might be worrying; Central Bank data for May showed tourism earnings down 10.4 percent year on year as visitors reined in spending. That tightening of the purse strings was most pronounced with a 29.2 percent drop in spending by Britons, where a see-sawing sterling, weakened by the referendum to leave the European Union, made holidays in Greece more expensive. Andreadis said arrivals may turn out lower than initial estimates, while revenues could grow by 1-2 percent. "This year's projection is a puzzle for advanced players. It's like quicksand." Source: reuters.com (Reporting by Renee Maltezou and George Georgiopoulos; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) Read more here. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) have signed an operating support services agreement (OSSA) for the Barakah nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The agreement was signed at a ceremony held at Enecs headquarters in Abu Dhabi in the presence of senior management representatives from both companies. Under the agreement, KHNP will dispatch experienced and qualified nuclear plant personnel to the Barakah nuclear power plant (BNPP), including main control room operators and local operators, to support Enecs operating subsidiary, Nawah Energy Company (Nawah). Mohamed Al Hammadi, chief executive officer of Enec, and Seok Cho, CEO of KHNP, confirmed the joint commitment of both companies to the safe operations of the four APR-1400 nuclear units under construction at Barakah, in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi. As part of the scope of the OSSA to contribute to safe operations and maintenance of the nuclear energy plants, an estimated 400 KHNP experts will support operations at the Barakah site every year until 2030. As per regulations of the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR), KHNP experts will be required to pass regulatory exams to be licensed to operate and manage APR-1400 technology in the UAE. Al Hammadi said: Enec continues to progress construction to the highest international standards of safety, quality and excellence. The OSSA provides the framework for KHNP to share its knowledge that it has accumulated throughout its 40 years of experience in operating 25 nuclear power plants in South Korea, with Enec. We are entering a crucial phase in the development of the Barakah plant and we are looking forward to working with the experts from KHNP to ensure the operational readiness of the Barakah plant, continued Al Hammadi. Over the next decade and beyond, the agreement will continue to build on and enhance the existing long-term nuclear energy partnership between the UAE and South Korea, added Al Hammadi. The construction of the Barakah NPP commenced in 2012, and is scheduled for completion in 2020. With four reactors online, the facility will deliver up to a quarter of the UAEs electricity needs and save up to 12 million tons in carbon emissions every year. The project at Barakah is progressing steadily. Overall, construction of Units One to Four is now more than 66 per cent complete. All four units will deliver safe, clean, reliable and efficient nuclear energy to the UAE grid, pending regulatory reviews and licensing. TradeArabia News Service Iran is set to hold talks with South Korea on boosting cooperation in the fisheries sector and plans for a joint fish farming venture, said a report. The talks will be held in Iran later this week and will involve officials from South Korea's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and their Iranian counterparts, added the Iran Daily News report, citing Yonhap News Agency. The talks will discuss follow-up measures for a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the fisheries sector signed in May during South Korean President Park Geun-hye's visit to the Middle Eastern country, it said. Officials from the South Korean ministry will also check the feasibility of a joint venture in fish farming, added the report. Opel Astra, a leading automaker, has maintained its position leading sales of European cars in Egypt between January and May, registering sales of 1,776 units worth EGP440.4 million ($49.5 million), said a report. Kia Sportage, manufactured in Slovakia, came in second with 1,366 cars sold over five months which amounted to EGP382.5 million ($43.06 million), added Daily News Egypt report. Peugeot 301 was ranked third with 975 sold units worth EGP136 million ($15.3 million), it said. Opel Insignia took the fourth spot on the list, recording sales of 937 cars valued at EGP337.3 million ($37.9 million). Skoda Octavia followed in fifth with 764 cars worth EGP145 million ($16.3 million). Opel Astra has maintained its lead over European cars since January. Between January and April, the model witnessed sales of 1,431 cars worth EGP343.4 million ($38.6 million), added the report. Saudi Arabia's National Industrialization Co (Tasnee) on Tuesday said it swung to a net profit in the second quarter, beating analysts' forecasts and ending a run of five straight losses. Tasnee made a net profit of SR103.9 million ($27.7 million) in the three months to June 30, compared to a loss of SR107.7 million ($28.7 million) in the prior-year period, according to a bourse filing. Three analysts polled by Reuters had forecast on average a net loss in the second quarter of SR1.20 million ($319,978.6). Tasnee cited operational improvements, a decrease in certain feedstock costs and a rise in other income as factors for the better performance. Those gains helped offset lower average sales prices for certain products and higher financial charges. It noted that the company's results in the same quarter of last year were also hurt by an impairment charge related to non-current assets. Tasnee reported sales in the second quarter of SR3.8 billion ($1.01 billion) versus SR4.2 billion ($1.11 billion) in the same period a year earlier. Tasnee's earnings have been hit hard by falling product prices, like many petrochemical firms in the kingdom, as they are closely tied to slumping oil prices. Saudi producers have also benefited in the past from subsidised energy and feedstock costs, so lower crude prices compress their margins. The latter is changing though, as energy subsidies are reformed by the Saudi government to help it close a substantial budget deficit. To help counter market conditions, Tasnee is undergoing a restructuring which aims to cut costs -- including job losses -- and improve efficiencies. In April, chief executive Mutlaq al-Morished said he expected to see the benefits of its restructuring soon and had a more positive outlook for the chemicals market. Reuters State-run oil firm Saudi Aramco has named Ibrahim al-Buainain as chief executive officer of its trading arm, it said in an emailed statement on Tuesday in response to a Reuters query. It said Buainain started his new role earlier this month. Buainain had held the position of head of transaction development at Saudi Aramco for less than a year, according to his Linkedin profile. Prior to that, he was president of Aramco Asia. Buainain replaces Yasser Mufti, who was named executive director of new business development in June. Reuters Solar Impulse 2 returned safely to Abu Dhabi this morning, successfully completing its historic round-the-world flight without using a drop of fuel. The first aircraft to circumnavigate the globe using only solar power, Solar Impulse 2 touched down at 04:05 to a rapturous reception at Al Bateen Executive Airport in the UAE capital, returning to the city where its historic adventure began. Prince Albert II of Monaco; Doris Leuthard, vice president of the Swiss Confederation; and Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and chairman of Masdar, Abu Dhabis renewable energy company and official host partner of Si2, led the welcoming committee of international dignitaries and VIPs. Si2 took to the skies for the last time when it departed Cairo at 03:28 Abu Dhabi time on July 24 with Swiss pilot Betrand Piccard, initiator and chairman of Solar Impulse, at the flight controls. Since leaving Abu Dhabi in March last year piloted by CEO and co-founder Andre Borschberg, the solar-powered aircraft has visited 16 cities across eight countries and four continents, with both Piccard and Borschberg taking turns at the controls, as part of efforts to gather global support for the adoption of solar energy and clean technologies. Prince Albert II paid tribute to the ingenuity of the Solar Impulse 2 project in transforming awareness of the potential of clean energy, and the role of Abu Dhabi. "It is a historic moment for Monaco and for me, because the principality has the pleasure of housing Solar Impulse's control centre and my foundation is a partner of this adventure. We have shared so many hopes and so many joys together throughout this epic journey. Solar Impulse will mark our history. And we will remember this day, which will remain the day of great victory for solar aviation, and also the day when we were given the proof that we can move towards a low carbon economy, reconciling the mobility and progress we all need, with the protection of our planet, which is our greatest duty, he said. Leuthard said: Courage, innovation and knowledge: for Switzerland, those three words will forever resonate with the year 2016. In fact, after celebrating the completion of the longest and deepest underpass in the world, the Gotthard tunnel, Solar Impulse 2 has proved to the world that by investing in education and sustainable energies, all our dreams can come true. This has been clearly shown by the instrumental role played by Swiss universities in this adventure, most notably the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne, whose technologies represent a giant step towards global connectivity, sustainability and hope for our youth. Recognising the UAE and Masdar for their contribution to the project, she concluded: Today, an idea born in Switzerland has landed in the United Arab Emirates. We hope that tomorrow an idea born in the UAE will land in Switzerland. It is because we believe in this cooperation, as well as in innovation, that Switzerland was the first country to register its participation in Expo 2020 in the UAE city of Dubai. Dr Al Jaber said Masdars leadership in delivering renewable energy projects across the world made it a natural partner of Solar Impulse 2, and Abu Dhabi the perfect location to begin and end its historic journey. We are pleased to welcome back Dr Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg after their outstanding success in circumnavigating the world using only the power of the sun. Their achievement is one that stands alongside those of the great pioneers of aviation. As a leader in developing innovative renewable energy projects and technologies, Masdar is committed to supporting ground-breaking initiatives that will inspire and deliver a more sustainable future, Dr Al Jaber added. Solar Impulse has proven just how practical the application of solar energy can be. It will also provide valuable data that will lead to critical improvements in two key areas: energy storage and efficiency. Masdar is truly excited about the endless possibilities of solar energy, and we will be part of taking such technologies to the next level. Adnan Amin, director general of the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena), headquartered in Abu Dhabi, noted that Solar Impulse 2 had changed perceptions of solar power, not least its ability to provide a reliable power source at night, as well as during the day. He said: I am delighted to congratulate Solar Impulse on their pioneering round-the-world flight fuelled entirely by energy from the sun. This remarkable achievement is not only a technological breakthrough but also a clear signal that the age of renewable power is here to stay. By demonstrating that renewable energy can provide sustainable, reliable energy today, and that innovative solutions can unlock even more potential in the future, Solar Impulse has been able to both raise awareness about the tremendous promise of renewable energy and push technological boundaries forward. Solar Impulse 2 has showcased cutting-edge technologies in lightweight materials, energy storage, and energy use and efficiency that promise dramatic cost and emissions savings if applied on a wider scale. Solar Impulse embodies the clean technology spirit of reengineering everything in life to make it more energy efficient, and to integrate renewables wherever they make sense technically and economically, said Piccard. This is not only a first in the history of aviation; it is above all a first in the history of energy. Im sure that within the next ten years well see electric airplanes carrying 50 passengers on short- to medium-haul flights. But thats not enough. The same clean technologies used on Solar Impulse 2 can be implemented on the ground in our daily lives, halving the CO emissions of our world in a profitable way. Flying one leg with a completely new type of airplane is difficult enough, but flying around the world is a real challenge, said Borschberg. More than a demonstration, its the confirmation that these technologies are truly dependable and reliable. Its not a question of whether its possible anymore; its only a question of implementation. Solar Impulse is like a flying smart grid: producing, storing and distributing energy in an efficient way. If we can make it work in an airplane, we can make it work in our cities and communities in a similar way. UAE national Hasan Al Redaini escorted Solar Impulse 2 around the world as the UAEs official representative. It has been my great honour to have represented the UAE among a team of international experts who have broken new ground in the field of aviation and renewable energy, he said. As we look to this exciting chapter in aviation and energy history as a source of inspiration and human ingenuity, its important to remember that Solar Impulse is a means, not an end. Solar Impulse 2 began its epic journey from Abu Dhabi in March 2015, with stopovers in Oman, India, Myanmar, China, Japan, the United States, Spain and Egypt. Over the course of its journey, the aircraft has set 19 world records, including the world's longest solar-powered flight in terms of both time (117 hours, 52 minutes) and distance (8,924 km). It completed more than 500 flight hours, cruising at altitudes of up to 9,000 metres at average speeds of between 45 km/h and 90 km/h. - TradeArabia News Service The Arab Tourism Experts Union has officially selected Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, as its headquarters, said a report. The union has also considered opening new ranch headquarters in a number of Arab countries, said a report in Arab News. The countries that represent the general commission of the union include Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Oman, Tunisia, Algeria, Kuwait and Lebanon. The report also noted that members of the unions secretariat general were also elected with the former Algerian minister of tourism, Abdulqader ben Graina, as chairman of the union; Khalid Al-Rasheed as his deputy; and other 20 assistant secretary generals in order to achieve the aims and objectives of the tourism union. The tourism sector in the kingdom is doing well as Saudi Arabia is ranked first in the Middle East and 36th internationally in the size of the travel and tourism investment. SPRINGDALE, Ark., July 25, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) will hold its fiscal third quarter 2016 earnings conference call Monday, August 8, at 9 a.m. Eastern (8 a.m. Central). To listen to the live webcast, go to http://ir.tyson.com. To listen live via telephone, call 888-455-8283. Outside the United States, call 1-210-839-8865. The pass code Tyson Foods is required to join the call. A recording of the call will be archived at http://ir.tyson.com. A telephone replay will be available until November 7 at 866-419-2889. International callers may access the replay at 1-203-369-0767. Replays are available approximately one hour after the call ends. The live webcast and audio replay also will be available on the companys investor relations app. To download the free app, which offers access to SEC filings, news releases, transcripts, webcasts and presentations, please visit the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android mobile devices. About Tyson Foods Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN), with headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas, is one of the world's largest food companies with leading brands such as Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Sara Lee, Ball Park, Wright, Aidells and State Fair. Its a recognized market leader in chicken, beef and pork as well as prepared foods, including bacon, breakfast sausage, turkey, lunchmeat, hot dogs, pizza crusts and toppings, tortillas and desserts. The company supplies retail and foodservice customers throughout the United States and approximately 130 countries. Tyson Foods was founded in 1935 by John W. Tyson, whose family has continued to lead the business with his son, Don Tyson, guiding the company for many years and grandson, John H. Tyson, serving as the current chairman of the board of directors. The company currently has approximately 113,000 Team Members employed at more than 400 facilities and offices in the United States and around the world. Through its Core Values, Code of Conduct and Team Member Bill of Rights, Tyson Foods strives to operate with integrity and trust and is committed to creating value for its shareholders, customers and Team Members. The company also strives to be faith-friendly, provide a safe work environment and serve as stewards of the animals, land and environment entrusted to it. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. If you're looking to settle into a smaller home, there are a lot of options out there currently. One could get a custom-built tiny home, or perhaps consider reusing a shipping container; or for the adventurous, even convert a van or retired school bus into a modern tiny home on wheels. Of course, there are also prefabricated options, which typically use high-quality materials in an efficient way, and can be pre-assembled and transported to a site within a short period of time. Netherlands-based ARK-Shelter offers their Ark structure; a lovely, modern specimen of a prefab that boasts a solemn, black-painted wood-clad exterior and a warm, well-lit wooden interior that's been covered all over with cross-laminated timber plates. The inspiration? "To go back to the basics by providing a living place within nature," says the company. ARK-Shelter ARK-Shelter ARK-Shelter The ARK can come in a variety of sizes and configurations, ranging from a single module to a longer, 300-square-foot, 9-ton double-sized module. Full-height windows and patio doors ensure an abundance of light and fresh air coming in. There is also a kitchen and bathroom and different layout options are available. Windows and doors can be shuttered up to provide extra privacy. ARK-Shelter ARK-Shelter ARK-Shelter ARK-Shelter ARK-Shelter The ARK is insulated and heated with a circular woodstove and supplementary electrical heating; it can be powered by solar or wind. A rainwater harvesting and filtration system can be added to the roof. For foundation, it requires prefab concrete blocks or screw foundations, with the amount depending on the size of the configuration. The company notes that the concrete blocks are installed one week before and the screw foundations can be installed on the day of delivery. Surprisingly, the standard ARK is not too expensive, sitting in the mid-range with its price tag of EU $60,000placing it even lower than many high-end, custom-built tiny homes we are seeing nowadaysyet the ARK looks relatively much more clean and minimalist. The ARK comes with all the furnishings, such as the custom-designed furniture, mattress, and woodstove, and is ready to use the same day of the delivery and is available for delivery in European countries. (Alas!) Studying abroad can be a disorienting experience at first: as a student living far away from the comforts of home, it can be a difficult transition if you're of a more mature disposition, and not wanting to put up with the ins and outs of living in a shared dormitory. That's the case with one art student from Biarritz, France, now studying in Paris, who was fortunate enough to be able to purchase a small apartment in the city, with some help from his family. French firm Transition Interior Design was then brought in to renovate the run-down apartment of 30 square metres (322 square feet), which initially had a poorly configured layout, old wiring, a large duct running up and jutting out of one wall, and a long, dark hallway that runs right into the kitchen rather awkwardly. ShoootinTo change things up, the designers added lighting sconces in the hall, and redid the kitchen so that it no longer blocked the passage from the hall. The kitchenette is now integrated into a more streamlined form that better incorporates a window and the air duct, now reformed as an element that separates the kitchenette from the small studying area on the other side. Modified IKEA oak veneer cabinetry and open shelving provides extra storage, and visually connects these two zones together. Shoootin Shoootin The living room features a custom-built media centre, comfortable sofa, and a rounded coffee table that gives more space to move around, without banging one's knees. Shoootin Shoootin Shoootin Shoootin The clients had one big request: to include a full-sized bed that didn't require folding up. Thus, the bedroom is at the rear of the apartment, and is separated from the living room by a glass wall. By adding this wall, the designers were able to increase the privacy and functionality of the layout -- so that there is more spatial delineation, instead of having one big open space. Shoootin Shoootin The bathroom here has been altered significantly as well: instead of a bathtub, there's now a big shower, and a floating vanity sink and toilet. Shoootin A small apartment such as this might not have a lot of space to work with, but it is amazing what a few simple changes can do to add more functionality and spaciousness. To see more, visit Transition Interior Design, on Facebook and Instagram. NEW YORK, July 25, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Labaton Sucharow LLP (Labaton Sucharow) announces that on July 22, 2016, it filed a securities class action lawsuit on behalf of its client Steamfitters Local 449 Pension Plan (Local 449) against Eaton Corporation plc (Eaton or the Company) (NYSE:ETN), and certain of its senior executives (collectively, Defendants). The action, which is captioned Steamfitters Local 449 Pension Plan v. Eaton Corporation plc, No. 16-cv-5894 (S.D.N.Y.), asserts claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act), and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, on behalf of all persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired the publicly traded securities of Eaton between November 13, 2013 and July 28, 2014, inclusive (the Class Period). The Complaint alleges that during the Class Period, Defendants violated provisions of the Exchange Act by issuing false and misleading statements regarding the Companys unencumbered ability to divest its automobile-part manufacturing business. Eaton is an Ireland-based manufacturer of engineered products marketed to customers in the industrial, agricultural, construction, aerospace, and vehicle markets. For most of its 100 year history, Eaton primarily was a vehicle component manufacturer. Since 2008, however, the Company has been making strategic shifts away from its vehicle business, while growing its electrical component businesses. In 2012, the Company engaged in a merger (the Merger) with the Irish-headquartered Cooper Industries plc. (Cooper), which reincorporated the Company in Ireland. Following the Merger, and during the Class Period, in response to questions from securities analysts about the effect of the Merger on the Companys ability to spin-off its business, Eaton executives falsely assured investors and the market of the continued feasibility of divesting the Companys automobile-part manufacturing business on a tax-free basis. This prospect was key to investors and analysts ability to value the Company. As a result, Eaton and its executives artificially inflated the price of Eaton stock. On July 29, 2014, Eaton Chief Executive Officer Alexander M. Cutler (Cutler) finally informed investors that, contrary to the Companys prior assurances, Eaton could not feasibly divest its vehicle business until late 2017 due to tax-law restrictions related to the Merger with Cooper. Defendant Cutler further revealed that the Company had been well aware of these restrictions all along. This disclosure caused a material decline in the price of Eaton stock. If you purchased or acquired the publicly traded securities of Eaton during the Class Period, you are a member of the Class and may be able to seek appointment as Lead Plaintiff. Lead Plaintiff motion papers must be filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York no later than September 23, 2016. A lead plaintiff is a court-appointed representative for absent members of the Class. You do not need to seek appointment as Lead Plaintiff to share in any Class recovery in this action. If you are a Class member and there is a recovery for the Class, you can share in that recovery as an absent Class member. You may retain counsel of your choice to represent you in this action. If you would like to consider serving as Lead Plaintiff or have any questions about this lawsuit, you may contact Francis P. McConville, Esq. of Labaton Sucharow, at (800) 321-0476, or via email at fmcconville@labaton.com. You can view a copy of the complaint online at http://www.labaton.com/en/cases/Steamfitters-Local-449-Pension-Plan-v-Eaton-Corporation-plc.cfm?cs_forceReadMode=1. Local 449 is represented by Labaton Sucharow, which represents many of the largest pension funds in the United States and internationally with collective assets under management of more than $2 trillion. Labaton Sucharows litigation reputation is built on its half century of securities litigation experience, 60 full-time attorneys, and in-house team of investigators, financial analysts, and forensic accountants. Labaton Sucharow has been recognized for its excellence by the courts and peers, and it is consistently ranked in leading industry publications. Offices are located in New York, NY and Wilmington, DE. More information about Labaton Sucharow is available at www.labaton.com. NEW YORK, July 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The worldwide reach of the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) is well known to the global plastic and aesthetic surgery community. Now the release of eagerly awaited procedural survey results shows an increase of over one million reported procedures from 2014 to 2015. The data on surgical and non-surgical treatments performed in 2015 was tabulated from a questionnaire sent to approximately 35,000 plastic surgeons in the proprietary ISAPS database. ISAPS is the only organization that collects this type of data on a global scale and the study is viewed as a valuable resource in the field of aesthetics. Of course the most awaited features of the survey are the most popular types of procedures in the world by country. Botulinum Toxin (BOTOX) continues to reign supreme for both men and women with a total of over 4.6 million procedures reported. Another popular injectable, Hyaluronic Acid, increased 6.5% from 2014 to 2015. Breast augmentation continues to be the most common surgical procedure among women with a 10.4% increase from 2014 while eyelid surgery is prevalent among men. Most Popular Surgical Procedures in 2015: Procedure 2015 2014 Percentage Breast Augmentation 1,488,992 1,348,197 10.4 % Liposuction 1,394,588 1,372,901 1.6 % Eyelid Surgery 1,264,702 1,427,451 -11.4 % Abdominoplasty 758,590 682,568 11.1 % Most Popular Non-Surgical Procedures in 2015: Procedure 2015 2014 Percentage Botox 4,627,752 4,830,911 -4.2 % Hyaluronic Acid 2,865,086 2,690,633 6.5 % Hair Removal 1,099,053 1,277,581 -14.0 % Photo Rejuvenation 568,672 - - Non-Surgical Fat Reduction 425,315 - - We are proud to share these survey results to show the growing momentum in highly practiced areas, noted Susumu Takayanagi, MD, ISAPS president. ISAPS membership includes thousands of top plastic surgeons who take time to contribute to these findings, he states. The results can be accessed on the ISAPS website http://www.isaps.org in the News section, and will be discussed during the 23rd ISAPS biennial global conference in Kyoto, Japan, October 23-27, 2016. The country with the highest number of procedures is the United States with 1.4 million surgical and 2.6 million non-surgical procedures. Brazil reported 1.2 million surgical and 1.1 million non-surgical procedures. Rounding out the list for the most procedures are South Korea, India, Mexico, Germany, Colombia, France, and Italy. The United States has the largest number of active plastic surgeons with 6,500 followed by Brazil with 5,500 and China with 2,800. Numbers by country are evidenced in the report; however, some countries did not provide required updates this year. Women had more than 18 million surgical and non-surgical procedures performed globally, 85.6% of the total. The top five surgical procedures performed on women in 2015 were: breast augmentation, liposuction, eyelid surgery, abdominoplasty and rhinoplasty. Men had more than 3 million surgical and non-surgical procedures, 14.4% of the total. The top five surgical procedures performed on men were: eyelid surgery, liposuction, gynecomastia surgery, rhinoplasty, fat grafting and ear surgery. The International Survey on Aesthetic/Cosmetic Procedures Performed in 2015 was compiled, tabulated, and analyzed by Industry Insights, Inc. http://www.industryinsights.com, an independent research firm based in Columbus, OH. About ISAPS: The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery is the premier global organization for board certified (or the equivalent) plastic surgeons. Regarded as the leading global educator in aesthetic procedures, ISAPS offers its more than 3,200 members over 30 courses, workshops and symposia each year conducted by a world-class faculty with the primary goal of teaching aesthetic best practices and ensuring patient safety. Through its rigorous membership screening, ISAPS is a guardian of patient safety internationally, making it the patient's global resource to find qualified and experienced aesthetic plastic surgeons. BELGRADE, Mont., July 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Xtant Medical Holdings, Inc. (NYSE MKT:XTNT), a leader in the development of regenerative medicine products and medical devices, today announced the expansion of its tissue processing facility in Belgrade, MT, which now includes an additional seven new processing rooms. This more than doubles the capacity of processing rooms available for production. The new processing suite will improve both production efficiency and utilization of resources, while allowing for the Company to increase its future product offerings. The rooms are equipped with the latest, state-of-the-art equipment for processing biologics, and will help Xtant Medical execute on its commitment to the State of Montana for creating new jobs. "These facilities allow for increased processing volume of our high-demand products and reduces the time required to get processing suites available for reuse," said Darrel Holmes, Chief Operating Officer of Bacterin International, Inc., a subsidiary of Xtant Medical. "We remain committed to the ideals of the Donate Life community, with deep respect for the gift of tissue donation and the benefits it can bring to donor recipients. We couldn't be more proud of this expansion and the role we play in the Circle of Life". The U.S. allograft market is anticipated to grow to $682MM in 2016, according to market data provided by BioMed GPS, LLC. About Xtant Medical Holdings Xtant Medical develops, manufactures and markets regenerative medicine products and medical devices for domestic and international markets. Xtant Medical products serve the specialized needs of orthopedic and neurological surgeons, including orthobiologics for the promotion of bone healing, implants and instrumentation for the treatment of spinal disease, tissue grafts for the treatment of orthopedic disorders, and biologics to promote healing following cranial, and foot and ankle surgeries. With core competencies in both biologic and non-biologic surgical technologies, Xtant Medical can leverage its resources to successfully compete in global neurological and orthopedic surgery markets. For further information, please visit www.xtantmedical.com. Important Cautions Regarding Forward-looking Statements This press release contains certain disclosures that may be deemed forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include statements that are predictive in nature, that depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or that include words such as "continue," "efforts," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "projects," "forecasts," "strategy," "will," "goal," "target," "prospects," "potential," "optimistic," "confident," "likely," "probable" or similar expressions or the negative thereof. Statements of historical fact also may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. We caution that these statements by their nature involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially depending on a variety of important factors, including, among others: our ability to integrate the acquisition of X-spine Systems, Inc. and any other business combinations or acquisitions successfully; our ability to remain listed on the NYSE MKT; our ability to obtain financing on reasonable terms; our ability to increase revenue; our ability to comply with the covenants in our credit facility; our ability to maintain sufficient liquidity to fund our operations; the ability of our sales force to achieve expected results; our ability to remain competitive; government regulations; our ability to innovate and develop new products; our ability to obtain donor cadavers for our products; our ability to engage and retain qualified technical personnel and members of our management team; the availability of our facilities; government and third-party coverage and reimbursement for our products; our ability to obtain regulatory approvals; our ability to successfully integrate recent and future business combinations or acquisitions; our ability to use our net operating loss carry-forwards to offset future taxable income; our ability to deduct all or a portion of the interest payments on the notes for U.S. federal income tax purposes; our ability to service our debt; product liability claims and other litigation to which we may be subjected; product recalls and defects; timing and results of clinical studies; our ability to obtain and protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights; infringement and ownership of intellectual property; our ability to remain accredited with the American Association of Tissue Banks; influence by our management; our ability to pay dividends; our ability to issue preferred stock; and other factors. Additional risk factors are listed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q under the heading "Risk Factors." You should carefully consider the trends, risks and uncertainties described in this document, the Form 10-K and other reports filed with or furnished to the SEC before making any investment decision with respect to our securities. If any of these trends, risks or uncertainties actually occurs or continues, our business, financial condition or operating results could be materially adversely affected, the trading prices of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. All forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Mumbai, July 26 Indian markets slid nearly 0.50 per cent on Tuesday as caution before key meetings of central banks of Japan and the US bogged them down. Shares of the country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki fell 1.44 per cent to Rs 4,485.25 despite a 23 per cent jump in profit for June quarter to Rs 1,486.2 crore. Drug major Dr Reddy's Laboratories plunged 4.37 per cent to Rs 3,322.85 after its consolidated net profit declined by 80 per cent to Rs 126.3 crore for the June quarter. Offloading of positions by participants on upcoming July derivatives expiry on Thursday also influenced sentiment. "With earnings season failing to sizzle so far and GST poised to face hurdles, stocks faced a confidence crunch and came off the lofty peaks seen yesterday," said Anand James Chief Market Strategist Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services. "With a string of firm US economic data and positive surprises on the earnings front, the chances of rate hike, though less likely in July, have also vastly improved, putting global equities under a cloud of caution ahead of FOMC rate decision," he added. The US Federal Reserve will conclude its two-day meeting on Wednesday. The Bank of Japan will meet on Friday. The 30-share BSE Sensex opened marginally higher at 28,121.37 but slipped into the negative zone to touch a low of 27,927.13. The index finally settled 0.42 per cent down at 27,976.52. The wider NSE Nifty also lost 0.52 per cent to end the days trade at 8,590.65. Broader markets showed a mixed trend, with BSE small-cap index falling by 0.69 per cent and mid-cap gaining 0.17 per cent. Twenty-one scrips ended in the red in Sensex. Major losers included ICICI Bank (2.64 pc), Hero MotoCorp (2.12 pc), SBI (1.46 pc), GAIL (1.41 pc), Coal India (1.38 pc), Lupin (1.18 pc), ONGC (1.17 pc), Tata Motors (1.13 pc), Bajaj Auto (1.11 pc) and HDFC Ltd (0.90 pc). However, Axis Bank rose by 2.85 per cent followed by Power Grid 1.63 per cent, Tata Steel 1.06 per cent, Infosys 0.77 per cent, Wipro 0.77 per cent and NTPC 0.54 per cent. Among BSE sectoral and industries, realty fell 1.32 per cent followed by auto 1.12 per cent, healthcare 1.11 per cent, bankex 0.73 per cent, oil&gas 0.65 per cent, industrials 0.52 per cent and energy 0.42 per cent, while IT rose by 0.38 per cent followed by teck 0.26 per cent and utilities 0.13 per cent. The market breadth turned negative as 1,660 ended lower, 1,038 closed higher while 200 ruled steady. The total turnover rose to Rs 4,138.75 crore from Rs 3,866.53 crore on Wednesday. Overseas, Japan edged lower as hopes of the government's soon-to-be announced fiscal stimulus package dimmed. Nikkei 225 Average ended 1.43 per cent lower. However, other Asian indices like China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan firmed up by up to 1.14 per cent. European markets were also traded mixed. Indices in Germany and the UK moved up by up to 0.25 per cent, while France's CAC was down 0.22 per cent. PTI Chandigarh, July 26 Australias High Commissioner to India Harinder Sidhu today visited Panjab University (PU) and met Vice-Chancellor Arun Kumar Grover. He evinced keen interest in having closer cooperation with the university and the institutions forming the Chandigarh Region Innovation and Knowledge Cluster (CRIKC). PEC Director Manoj Arora, CSIO Director RK Sinha and representatives from the CRIKC institutions like CIAB, NABI and INST also attended the meeting. At the meeting, Sidhu emphasised the need for deepening the academic relationship and stressed on collaboration for research projects between Indian and Australian institutions. She called upon the university and the CRIKC institutions to explore the possibility of having a closer cooperation with Australian institutions in the field of education and scientific research. TNS Hasan Suroor ITS a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world. This line from the 1970s British pop song might well have been written to capture the shook up mood in Britain, a month after it voted to leave the EU, triggering a bizarre sequence of events that should finally lay to rest the myth of civility and timidity in British politics. Some Machiavellian tactics and dirty tricks witnessed over the past few weeks would put our own desi netas to shame. The new accidental Prime Minister, Theresa May, meanwhile, has been settling scores with her Tory party rivals and consolidating her power base while an anxious, confused and divided nation struggles to make sense of where it is headed after the Brexit vote. The political climate is so febrile that it has been likened to that of the 1930s Germany with power slipping away from democratically elected institutions. That (old) sense of the House of Commons as our cockpit of democracy is passing away, according to writer-commentator Robert Harris, arguing that when power shifts to the streets bypassing Parliament in the name of people power such as via a referendum it creates a political vacuum ready to be exploited by psychopaths and rabble-rousers. It is this phenomenon that, critics say, is behind the reported surge in hate crime against immigrants following the Brexit win, with the Far Right using it as a licence to target foreigners. Meanwhile, May has magisterially declared Brexit means Brexit, except that nobody knows what it really means; there are as many interpretations as there are Brexiteers. Theres talk of hard Brexit and soft Brexit, and re-running the referendum. Confusion over when Britain plans to trigger the Brexit process (it may not happen until 2017, or even later) has prompted fears that the economy could fall into another recession as a result of prolonged uncertainty. Yet, if youre the sort who likes to glean a silver lining even in the darkest of clouds, there might be something to cheer about. There is much excitement over Mays message to the nation the brief speech she delivered on the steps of No. 10 after becoming Prime Minister. It has been praised for its inclusive tone, and the attempt to reach out to the working class and underprivileged Britons flagging up social injustice as a burning issue. Observers were impressed by her unequivocal pledge that her government will not be led by the interests of the privileged few, but by yours. And her candid acknowledgment of widespread racial and gender bias. She has also vowed to crack down on corporate greed and warned that it isnt going to be business as usual on her watch. Theres now even a new term for Mays brand of politics May-ism, committed to building a better and fairer Britain, promised in her Downing Street speech. It has now become clear that the Brexit vote was less about the EU; rather, it was a popular backlash a modern-day peasants revolt as some have called it against a perceived pro-rich, self-serving and cynical political system which has no time for ordinary people. The referendum became a lightning rod for millions of such people to give vent to their pent-up frustrations in a declaration of no-confidence in the mainstream political class. Mays claim to pursue a new kind of politics to reach out to the disaffected will be a step change after six years of harsh, ideologically-driven austerity and small state agenda that has left millions struggling for survival. The Left had better watch out. For, if May is really able to pull off her one nation, blue conservatism, it will banish the Labour Party further to the margins, at a time, when it is at its weakest. Her proclaimed policy platform, which reads almost like a rehash of former Labour leader Ed Milibands manifesto, is an audacious raid on Labour territory. Cameron, too, had tried to steal Labour clothes by appropriating some of its popular policies, but May has declared a full-scale war. Immigration is the only issue on which she remains a hardline Tory to the core. However, Labour itself is under intense pressure from its MPs and many of its traditional voters to rethink its immigration stance to bring it in sync with public opinion. The fact is that theres now a near political consensus around calls for controlled immigration; only the tone varies. Its still early days, but May has done well to abandon some of Camerons more regressive policies such as further austerity cuts to meet a self-inflicted target of a Budget surplus by 2020. And while about it, she sacked the man behind those policies Camerons Chancellor for the Exchequer, George Osborne, who became a hate figure for working class families a posh boy out of touch with the lives of common people. Also out is the previous governments resident intellectual Michael Gove; and Camerons key backroom adviser on social policies, Oliver Letwin. May has carried out a ruthless cull of Camerons Eton-Oxford-Notting Hill set, replacing it with men and women from more ordinary background. Most of her ministers come from working class families and went to state schools. Even Tony Blairs Labour cabinet was posher than this. Mays spin machine is suggesting that it is her profound Christian convictions (inherited from her late father who was a vicar) which have shaped her egalitarian approach. Yeah? Where does, then, her xenophobic line on immigration come from? What is that inspired by? It is always dangerous for politicians to advertise their faith. Blair famously boasted about his Catholic convictions that he claimed helped him choose between right and wrong. And then he went and bombed Iraq, triggering a human tragedy on a scale that no faith permits. May must, indeed, be a good Christian; as Ive no doubt that Blair is a good Catholic. But please spare us this evangelical nonsense. All that she has said and done so far is part of a smart tactical choreography intended to disingenuously distance herself from the Cameron government after having been at its heart for so many years; neutralise the Left; and present herself as a leader who listens to her people, and understands the message underlying the Brexit vote. Mays grand promises may ultimately go up in smoke as such pledges invariably do, but if she manages to make even the slightest dent in the status quo, Brexit might have been worth it. What a delicious irony it would be if it turns out that a cabal of right-wing Tory Brexiteers, inadvertently, ended up rolling back the last vestiges of Thatcherism. The writer is a London-based commentator Bernie Sanders Good evening. This election is not about, and has never been about, Hillary Clinton, or Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders or any of the other candidates who sought the presidency. This election is not about political gossip. It's not about polls. It's not about campaign strategy. It's not about fundraising. It's not about all the things the media spends so much time discussing. This election is about and must be about - the needs of the American people and the kind of future we create for our children and grandchildren. This election is about ending the 40-year decline of our middle class the reality that 47 million men, women and children live in poverty. It is about understanding that if we do not transform our economy, our younger generation will likely have a lower standard of living than their parents. This election is about ending the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we currently experience, the worst it has been since 1928. It is not moral, not acceptable and not sustainable that the top one-tenth of one per cent now own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 per cent, or that the top 1 per cent in recent years has earned 85 per cent of all new income. That is unacceptable. That must change. This election is about remembering where we were 7 1/2 years ago when President Obama came into office after eight years of Republican trickle-down economics. The Republicans want us to forget that as a result of the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street, our economy was in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Some 800,000 people a month were losing their jobs. We were running up a record-breaking deficit of $1.4 trillion and the world's financial system was on the verge of collapse. We have come a long way in the last 7 1/2 years, and I thank President Obama and Vice President Biden for their leadership in pulling us out of that terrible recession. Yes, we have made progress, but I think we can all agree that much, much more needs to be done. This election is about which candidate understands the real problems facing this country and has offered real solutions not just bombast, fear-mongering, name-calling and divisiveness. We need leadership in this country which will improve the lives of working families, the children, the elderly, the sick and the poor. We need leadership which brings our people together and makes us stronger not leadership which insults Latinos, Muslims, women, African-Americans and veterans and divides us up. By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close. This election is about the thousands of young people I have met who have left college deeply in debt, and the many others who cannot afford to go to college. During the primary campaign, Secretary Clinton and I both focused on this issue but with different approaches. Recently, however, we have come together on a proposal that will revolutionise higher education in America. It will guarantee that the children of any family this country with an annual income of $125,000 a year or less 83 per cent of our population will be able to go to a public college or university tuition free. That proposal also substantially reduces student debt. This election is about climate change, the greatest environmental crisis facing our planet, and the need to leave this world in a way that is healthy and habitable for our kids and future generations. Hillary Clinton is listening to the scientists who tell us that unless we act boldly and transform our energy system in the very near future there will be more drought, more floods, more acidification of the oceans, more rising sea levels. She understands that when we do that we can create hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs. Donald Trump? Well, like most Republicans, he chooses to reject science. He believes that climate change is a hoax, no need to address it. Hillary Clinton understands that a president's job is to worry about future generations, not the short-term profits of the fossil fuel industry. This campaign is about moving the United States toward universal health care and reducing the number of people who are uninsured or under-insured. Hillary Clinton wants to see that all Americans have the right to choose a public option in their health care exchange. She believes that anyone 55 years or older should be able to opt in to Medicare and she wants to see millions more Americans gain access to primary health care, dental care, mental health counseling and low-cost prescription drugs through a major expansion of community health centres. Hillary Clinton also understands that millions of seniors, disabled vets and others are struggling with the outrageously high cost of prescription drugs and the fact that Americans pay the highest prices in the world for their medicine. She knows that Medicare must negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry and that drug companies should not be making billions in profits while one in five Americans are unable to afford the medicine they need. The greed of the drug companies must end. This election is about the leadership we need to pass comprehensive immigration reform and repair a broken criminal justice system. It's about making sure that young people in this country are in good schools and at good jobs, not in jail cells. Hillary Clinton understands that we have to invest in education and jobs for our young people, not more jails or incarceration. In these stressful times for our country, this election must be about bringing our people together, not dividing us up. While Donald Trump is busy insulting one group after another, Hillary Clinton understands that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths. Yes. We become stronger when black and white, Latino, Asian-American, Native American all of us stand together. Yes. We become stronger when men and women, young and old, gay and straight, native born and immigrant fight to create the kind of country we all know we can become. Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her here tonight." The text of Sen. Bernie Sanders' speech to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 25 A large number of Congress workers led by DPCC president Ajay Maken today staged a demonstration outside the office of the State Election Commissioner against the anomalies in the draft report of the delimitation of the MCD wards. The workers raised slogans like "Nigam parisiman ki kamiyo ko door karo-door karo" and Nigam parisiman me kamiya bhari-chunav talne ki tayari" etc. They submitted a memorandum to the State Election Commissioner demanding to rectify the anomalies before taking a decision of delimitation. The election commissioner assured the delegation of removing the anomalies and a new draft report of delimitation of MCD wards will be prepared accordingly. Addressing the Congress workers, Maken said that the Congress has created a history in the recently held by-elections of 13 wards as the party vote bank has increased to 29 per cent. The Congress won five seats from the wards where it had never won earlier. Maken, citing the memorandum submitted to the commissioner, said that though the draft report has many anomalies, there are violations of criteria qua area of revised wards. Many ward constituencies carved out without application of mind. Tribune News Service Ambala, July 26 The Civil Hospital in Ambala Cantonment would have a tertiary care cancer centre, said Dr Aditya Chaudhary, Director, Health Services (Construction). Its layout plan has been prepared. A team from Centre will visit the hospital on August 5 to finalise the plan, he said. Dr Chaudhary was here today to inspect Civil Hospital buildings under construction. Cancer patients go to the PGI for treatment. Soon, the facility of the tertiary care cancer centre will be available here, he said. On June 18, The Tribune had reported that there was a proposal to set up the centre at the Civil Hospital. OPD block to miss deadline The OPD block under construction is set to miss the August 31deadline set by Health Minister Anil Vij. Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Vinod Gupta, who held a meeting with officials of the PWD and Public Health, said: The officials concerned have informed that the OPD block would be constructed by the second week of September and it will start operating by September 15, but without the facilities of an air conditioner and a lift. The new fully air-conditioned hospital is divided into three blocks. As for the other two blocks, the CMO said that because of shortage of funds, it will some more months to complte the construction. The PWDs electrical division has not received the funds for the central air conditioning chilling plant, gas-manifold system, genset, power substation and lift. Even after receiving funds, it will take about five months to get the work done. More than Rs 6.5 crore was required for the pending work, Dr Gupta said, adding the Director, Health Services, has been apprised of the situation. He assured us of providing the funds. Tribune News Service Chandigarh/Jhajjar, July 26 Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar has urged farmers and tenant farmers of Haryana not to be misled by Opposition leaders about the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and get their crops insured by July 31. In a statement issued here today, the minister said the Fasal Bima Yojana and Pashudhan Bima Yojana were the main aspects of the PMFBY. I had educated farmers about the schemes during my padyatra. Farmers welfare is governments priority. The PMFBY will safeguard their rights, Dhankar said. There are, however, voices of discontent. The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) had taken out a padyatra in Jhajjar yesterday in protest against the scheme. Ratan Singh Mann, state BKU president, had said: The scheme had nothing for farmers. It will only benefit insurance companies, as no formula has been chalked out to assess crop loss due to natural calamity. Several other loopholes have been left unaddressed in the scheme. Hitting back at the BKU without naming it, Dhankar said farmers should get their crops insured at all cost as the compensation would be awarded by insurance companies instead of any union in case their crops get damaged due to natural calamities. It is beyond understanding that why the scheme is being opposed merely for the sake of politics. If any union or political party wants to give any suggestion regarding the scheme, it is most welcome. Politics should not be played in the name of farmers interest, said the minister. After the formation of BJP government in the state, he said, it was decided compensation up to Rs 12,000 per acre would be given for the damage to crops and, in any case, the amount would not be less than Rs 500. In case of natural disaster, the government felt compensation of Rs 12,000 was not enough. So, the PMFBY was introduced. Under the scheme, an insurance company will pay compensation up to Rs 25,000 per acre to farmers, Dhankar added. Sushil Manav Tribune News Service Chandigarh, July 26 In pursuant to memorandums of understanding (MoUs) signed during the Happening Haryana summit in Gurgaon in March this year, 109 projects worth potential investments of Rs 69,713.12 crore have so far landed in the state. Construction work has already started on 13 projects worth investment of Rs 281.71 crore, while land has been allotted or purchased in the other 96 projects. As many as 359 MoUs worth Rs 5.84 lakh crore were signed in the two-day summit held on March 7 and 8. Later, 47 more MoUs were signed, making it a total of 406 MoUs worth Rs 6.41 lakh crore. Many more investors are coming forward to launch their projects for which MoUs were signed during the summit. Besides, the state government received 142 leads and proposals with potential to convert in MoUs. Once started, the projects will bring a large number of job opportunities for youth, said Vipul Goel, Minister for Industries and Commerce. Land developers and realtors count for the biggest share of investments (more than 90 per cent) the state has received so far. Among the major investors to have landed in Haryana, according to sources, are DLF with potential investment of Rs 22,808 crore and employment potential of 24,400 workers, IREO with investment of Rs 11,100 crore and employment potential of 15,600 workers and Countrywide Promoters with investment of Rs 6,123 crore and employability of 48,552 workers. Most of these developers and realtors have procured land in Bawal or Faridabad. Besides, land has been allotted by the government for several projects in Bawal, Rai, IMT Faridabad, Kundli and Faridabad. Prominent investors to have been allotted land for their projects are Mushashi Auto Parts with potential investment of Rs 428 crore and employment potential of 771 workers, Minda Kosei Wheels with investment of Rs 200 crore, Eglo India Production Pvt Limited Rs 200 crore, Hi Quality Foods and Beverages Rs 57.96 crore, Victoria Automotive Rs 30 crore, Diamond Footwear Udyog Rs 30 crore, Sneh Agri Food Rs 18.5 crore, Hi tech Ferrous and Non Ferrous India Rs 16.4 crore, Eppeltone Engineers Rs 15 crore, Modern Overseas Rs 12.85 crore and Printads Rs 10 crore. Rest of the projects where land has been allotted by the government has investment potentials ranging from Rs 90 lakh to Rs 6.9 crore. DALLAS, July 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blue Calypso, Inc. (OTCQB:BCYP), an innovator of mobile consumer activation, engagement and social advocacy solutions for manufacturers and brick-and-mortar retailers, has appointed Harold Hal Brierley, as chairman of the board of directors, succeeding Founder and CEO Andrew Levi, who will remain on the board as a director and continue as CEO. Brierley has served as an independent advisor to the board since May 2016 and now serves as its first independent chairman. Hal Brierley is currently the chairman and CEO of The Brierley Group, a loyalty consulting and venture development firm. Mr. Brierley brings to Blue Calypso more than 30 years of C-level management experience in the loyalty marketing sector with major global consumer brands. Mr. Brierleys career began after graduating Harvard Business School in 1968, where he co-founded and served as president and CEO of Epsilon Data Management, one of the nation's leading database marketing companies. In 1980, Mr. Brierley was retained as the only outside consultant to work on the design of American Airlines AAdvantage, the first frequent flyer program. In 1982, he became vice president of sales and advertising for Pan American World Airways, where he launched WorldPass, Pan Am's frequent traveler program. As Founder and CEO of Brierley+Partners, Brierley supported loyalty program design efforts for over 150 of the worlds leading loyalty programs such as Hertz #1 Club Gold, Hilton HHonors, United Airlines Mileage Plus, American Eagle Outfitters AERewards, GameStop Power-Up Rewards, JCP Rewards, MySony, 7-Elevens 7-Rewards, and many others. Mr. Brierley was inducted into The Direct Marketing Association Hall of Fame in 2012. He now focuses his interests on The Brierley Group, an innovator in the customer relationship industry designing and delivering profitable programs to creatively engage consumers in direct relationships. I am excited to take on this role as chairman of the board and will lead Blue Calypso during the next phase of its growth cycle, said Brierley. Andrew has done a great job commercializing a much needed technology solution and the time is right to bring more focus to the operational side of the business while leveraging my relationships built over 30 years in the loyalty market. The new leadership direction will solidify our current board, enhance the management team and build a solid foundation for a global rollout of our location-based consumer activation, engagement and social advocacy solutions. I would like to thank my fellow directors for placing their trust in my ability to facilitate the Companys goals while representing the interests of shareholders. Andrew Levi, CEO of Blue Calypso, added: Hal provides tremendous experience and knowledge to the board, and we are thrilled to have him in this role. He is a pioneer and visionary in the massive customer loyalty market and we believe his skills and relationships will elevate our go-to-market strategy over the next 24 months. From a corporate governance perspective, Hals 30+ years of C-level experience with Fortune 500 brands strengthens our board and provides the strategic guidance necessary to add shareholder value wherever possible. Brierley concluded: Andrew and the Blue Calypso team have great vision for the future of the customer journey for product manufacturers and brick-and-mortar retailers. Our platforms capabilities are expanding rapidly as retailers embrace new solutions to improve their ROI with todays mobile shopper. Similar to well-known loyalty programs, Blue Calypsos solution deploys a personal in-store shopping experience that delivers cost benefits and elevates the consumers experience during their path to purchase resulting in repeat consumer behavior. I look forward to working with everyone on the board of directors and the entire Blue Calypso team. About Blue Calypso, Inc. Dallas-based Blue Calypso, Inc. (OTCQB:BCYP) develops and delivers an innovative location-centric mobile shopper engagement experience for brands, retailers and consumers. The Companys KIOSentrix platform connects consumers to brands, drives local in-store traffic, increases shopper spend and shortens the consumers path-to-purchase. The Company was recently selected to Retail CIO Outlook magazines Top 10 Merchandising Solution Providers 2016. For more information about the company, please visit www.bluecalypso.com. Forward Looking Statements Statements in this press release that are not statements of historical or current fact constitute 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, as amended. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unknown factors that could cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition to statements which explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements labeled with the terms believes, belief, expects, intends, anticipates, will, or plans to be uncertain and forward-looking. The forward-looking statements contained herein are also subject generally to other risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in the Companys reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ravinder Sood Palampur, July 26 The ordeal of the families of martyrs is far from over. With the successive governments failing to keep their promises, the former have lost all hopes. Despite the fact that a large number of soldiers are from the state, a little is done for their kin. The state has lost hundreds of youths in such wars. Most of the projects announced in name of the martyrs are yet to take off. All these years, the governments have done nothing to complete the projects. In Kangra district, roads named after the Kargil War heroes are in a pitiable condition. Work on most of the stretches has been left mid-way, with requests to complete these falling on deaf ears. In Palampur, Saurabh Van Vihar named after Captain Saurabh Kalia is in a state of neglect. Though senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar has given over Rs 2 crore for the completion of the project, the state government has not contributed even a penny to date. The then chief minister, Prem Kumar Dhumal, had also announced to name Aima village after Captain Saurabh Kalia, but nothing of the sort happened. The road leading to the house of the martyr is in bad shape. Despite repeated requests, the state government has done nothing to get it repaired. Captain Vikram Batra, who laid down his life fighting intruders in Kargil, was honored with the Param Vir Chakra. The local Pragati Maidan was named after him. It was announced that a stadium would be constructed in his memory, which did not happen. The ground has turned into a pool, with garbage strewn all around. Our Correspondent Hamirpur, July 26 Former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said some wrong political decisions after independence had led to border problems. He said this while addressing ex-servicemen at Kargil Vijay Diwas function organised by district unit of the BJP at Bachat Bhawan here today. He said this had resulted in heavy loss of lives. Dhumal said in 1948 Indian Army was in a position to recapture Pak occupied Kashmir but Nehru opted for a ceasefire under international pressure. He said that even in 1971 when Indian Army had made over 90,000 Pak Army jawans surrender, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi released them without making Pakistan to withdraw from the POK. He said even in the North East at the time of the Chinaese aggression the then Indian Government failed to protect its people and borders. He said that Sardar Patel and Lal Bahadur Shastri showed their mettle to integrate the country into one. He said it was unfortunate that Shastriji went to Tashkent and died there under mysterious circumstances. He said that Prime Minister Narender Modi had announced one rank-one pension scheme, which was a long-awaited demand of the army personnel. He said Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited soldiers during the Kargil war and saluted the soldiers for their gallantry and sacrifice. He said that it was Vajpayee who made the country an atomic power. He said as many as 52 soldiers sacrificed their lives in Operation Vijay in which Pakistan intruders were liquidated. Four Param Veer Chakras were awarded in Operation Vijay and two of them were decorated on soldiers from Himachal Sanjay Kumar Sanjay and Captain Vikram Batra, he added. Azhar Qadri Tribune News Service Srinagar, July 26 At Baba Dawood Khaki bridge, one of the many connectors between Srinagars old city and Civil Lines areas, smoke from burning tyres curled into the air on Tuesday afternoon - Day 18 of the ongoing unrest. Tuesday was a litmus test to know the mood of residents of dozens of volatile neighbourhoods of the old city, aka the Downtown, as the state government lifted curfew for the first time here in the last 18 days since the unrest began. The separatists had also called for a rare relaxation in the shutdown across the Kashmir valley after 2 pm, which gave an option to the city to resume its businesses and open its shuttered shops for a few hours during daytime. However, the mood in Srinagar, the city of 1.3 million residents and states summer capital, was belligerent. We will not allow anything to open, said a protester at the bridge. Even if you cross this, the road ahead is blocked, he said. When asked about the relaxation in shutdown, called by separatists Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, the protesters at the bridge said it meant nothing to them. We dont follow any leader. This time everything will be decided by the youth, another protester said. At Barbarshah, another entry point into the old city, three protesters stood in the middle of a road and asked few car drivers and motorcyclists to turn back. A large group of protesters blocked the road further ahead. During the ongoing unrest, the city has not recorded any major confrontation between protesters and security forces like in south Kashmir, which has emerged as the new epicentre of pro-militant sentiment. The citys most volatile pockets - most of them in the old city - remained under curfew and restrictions. On Tuesday, when the city was given an option to open its markets as the curfew was lifted, the road to the downtown neighbourhoods ended at the links like Baba Dawood Khaki bridge and Barbarshah as teenagers and young men erected barricades and stopped the feeble movement of traffic. At some places, the protesters talked politely, and at other places, they reacted angrily. The protests in the old city neighbourhoods, which are covered under the jurisdiction of five police stations, began early morning across all its volatile localities, setting the scene for the rest of the day. Militant songs reverberated through the old city from loudspeakers of dozens of mosques. During the day, protesters made several attempts to march towards Lal Chowk, the citys commercial heartland. The police intercepted one such march at Baba Dawood Khaki bridge, another was intercepted at Budshah bridge, metres away from Lal Chowk as the police fired tear-smoke shells that reverberated in the area that houses the civil secretariat and the High Court. The day neared an end on a defiant note from Srinagar as reports of clashes between protesters and the police and tear-smoke shelling came from various localities across the old city. The overt expression of anger in Srinagar on a day when it was supposed to remain calm hinted towards the unrest without an immediate end. Majid Jahangir Tribune News Service Srinagar, July 26 Four suspected Pakistani militants were killed and another was apprehended in a gunfight close to Line of Control in north Kashmirs Kuwpara district. The gunfight erupted around Monday midnight when Army detected a group of militants close to the LoC in Nowgam sector, 120 km northwest of Srinagar. As the group was challenged, they opened fire triggering a gun fight. Four Pakistani militants were killed and another was apprehended in the fight, defence sources said. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The arrested Pakistani militant was identified as Bahador Ali, sources said. The affiliation of the slain militants could not be ascertained immediately. The operation is still underway. There has been a spurt in infiltration this year. According to government figures, 54 militants had infiltrated till June. As many as 35 militants had infiltrated last year. Army chief General Dalbir Singh who had visited Kashmir last week had asked soldiers to be on alert as Pakistan might push more militants due to the current situation in the Valley. Following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, the valley has witnessed protests and clashes that have left 46 civilians and two policemen dead. Majid Jahangir Tribune News Service Srinagar, July 26 Four Pakistani militants were killed and another was apprehended in a gunfight close to the Line of Control in north Kashmirs Kupwara district on Tuesday. The gunfight erupted late last night when the Army zeroed in on a group of militants whom they were tracking down for the last four days in the Nowgam sector, 120 km northwest of Srinagar. Finally, the Army was able to encircle the militants in a forest area late Monday some 15-17 km inside the LoC and when they were challenged, they opened fire. In the gunfight, four Pakistani militants were killed and a Pakistani militant who had come to receive them was arrested, a defence source said, adding that three AK rifles, two pistols and other war-like stores were recovered from the encounter site. The arrested militant, sources said, had infiltrated last month and was injured in a gunfight in the sector last month, but had managed to escape. The arrested Pakistani militant has been identified as Bahador Ali, alias Saifiullah, of Lahore, a defence official said. He is the fourth Pakistani militant to be arrested this year in Kashmir. The four slain militants were associated with the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the defence official added. This is the second gunfight in Nowgam is the last three weeks. On the intervening night of July 8-9, two militants were killed in a gunfight in the Nowgam sector. The two Pakistani militants, associated with the Albader militant group, were killed when they fired at an Army picket close to the Line of Control. There has been a spurt in infiltration this year. Official figures reveal that 54 militants have infiltrated into Kashmir till June this year. Last year, 35 militants had infiltrated into the Valley. The Army has expressed concern over the infiltration due to the current unrest in the Valley. Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag, who had visited Kashmir last week amid the unrest following the killing of Burhan Wani, had asked soldiers to be on the alert as Pakistan could push in more militants due to the current situation in the Valley following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. Majid Jahangir Tribune News Service Srinagar, July 26 As the Valley continues to remain on the boil, Northern Command chief Lt Gen DS Hooda today said Pakistan had a direct role in whatever was happening in Kashmir. There is no doubt in our mind that Pakistan has been sort of interfering in Kashmir and has a direct role in what we are calling the proxy war in Kashmir. We are seeing it every day along the border. We are seeing it from the manner in which support is being given to infiltrating groups. We have seen how sometimes ceasefire violations along the Line of Control are actually in support of people who are infiltrating inside, the Northern Command chief told reporters at Drass on Kargil Vijay Diwas today. He said Pakistan takes direct advantage of the internal disturbances in Kashmir like the ongoing unrest erupted after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. If there is an internal disturbance, Pakistan will directly take advantage of it. You have heard statements by the Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashkar-e-Toiba that they are supporting whatever is happening in Kashmir. The support is not only moral but it is absolutely physical and there is no doubt about that in our minds, Lt General Hooda said. As the demand for the ban of pellet guns increases, the Northern Command chief said it was better than using firearms or weapons for mob control. There is a requirement of non-lethal weaponry and pellet guns are classified as part of the non-lethal weaponry. Unfortunately, they have caused some casualties. Its still a better form than using firearms or weapons. There is much better non-lethal weaponry available around the world, he said. The government is looking at even more non-lethal options to control a mob. The Home Minister has said that they are going to explore whether we can get some better and more modern non-lethal weaponry, the Army officer added. The Northern Command chief said the police and the CRPF were handling the law and order situation and they were exercising restraint to handle the unrest in the region. the Army is not at the forefront of tackling the civil disturbance. Its more of the police and the CRPF which is doing it. They are doing it with utmost restraint. We are there on the ground, we are seeing it happening. The police have been dealing with the situation for the last 20-25 years and they know exactly what is to be done. They know that restraint is to be exercised and that is exactly what they are doing, Lt Gen Hooda added. He, however, said unfortunately one gets into a situation where one is forced to adopt other measures. When police stations are being looted, there is a murderous mob attacking you, weapons are being looted, your own lives are in danger, its only in those situations that the police are forced to take some more strict measures, he said. Tribune News Service Srinagar, July 26 Two days after Rajnath Singhs visit to the Valley, main opposition party National Conference today published in local newspapers the memorandum given to the Home Minister on July 24, reiterating its call for recognition of Kashmir as a political problem and warning about the dangerous consequences of ignoring the disaffection of the youth What is missing, however, is that the National Conference stops short of an all-acceptable solution. This 1920-word memorandum is full of prose, unlike the tweets of its leader Omar Abdullah which are crisp and full of meaning. That apart, the memorandum has recognised Pakistan and Hurriyat as the mentionable stakeholders with whom the Centre should hold talks. The National Conference, the premier political party of Kashmir with almost an eight-decade-old history, did not identify the political problem. Is it the widening gap between Centre and Srinagar or is it the call for independence or is it sharing the dream of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to see Kashmir becoming Pakistan or is it the revival of the slogan of the Plebiscite Front days for allowing Kashmiris to choose country of their future India or Pakistan? With a leader of Omar Abdullahs calibre who takes 10 seconds to understand what others toil for ages to grasp. This memorandum, at best, is an imperfect editorial on the current situation. The political party, which had towering leader Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah as its founder, was expected to spell out the path ahead in terms which would have gelled with Omars clarity of thoughts. There is no dispute with the fact that Kashmir should be accepted as a political problem, but in what perspective, it is not clear. Talking to Pakistan and the Hurriyat may offer hope to the common Kashmiris for a while but these experiments in the absence of a concrete follow-up action have rendered the whole exercise in the past redundant. The memorandum doesnt make it clear where this party, having supporters of all age groups across the Valley, stands on its own role. If the idea was to indict the PDP-BJP government for mishandling the situation and having differing voices on the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani, it has been successful in doing so. But the alternative way of handling the situation has not been spelled out. The way forward is not visible in the memorandum. Ludhiana, July 26 Gurmeet Singh Kular , president, Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organisation (FICO), was conferred with an accolade Award of Excellence in collective growth of industry by Anerood Jugnauth, Prime Minister of the Republic of Mauritius, during the India-Mauritius Global Partnership Conference. Congratulating Kular, Onkar Singh Pawha, chairman, Bicycle Research and Development Organization (Brado), said: His unwavering efforts and his undying support to Ludhiana and the Punjab Industry has been crowned. The positive impact on the community, of the well-deserved winners of the likes of Kular is beyond measure. Other industrialists, including Rajive Chawla, Pankaj Munjal and Manjinder Singh Sachdeva congartulated Kular on this achievement. TNS Kolkata, July 26 In the absence of any early flood warning system, villagers in Assam are banking on abnormal animal behaviour to predict and survive sudden inundation of their houses, say researchers. When insects like locust, grasshopper etc come out from their hideouts and fly randomly and enter houses, the situation suggests a sudden change in the weather condition, more occasionally flood with heavy rain, the scientists found. Similarly, when ants shift their shelter to higher places, with their eggs and food stuff it indicates a definite forthcoming flood. When a fox howls irritably at a higher place it indicates a forthcoming prolonged drier season but when it howls from a low-lying location it indicates a probability of high flood. The cry of doves and two particular species of birds are also warning signs, according to a report by Ludhiana-based Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology scientist Armaan U Muzaddadi. Toads and frogs make continuous sounds before torrential rain and devastating flood. Indigenous technical knowledge has been the key rescuer of fishermen and common people of Dhemaji district of Assam from frequent floods in the region every year, the report said. Over the centuries, local people of Dhemaji have developed their own ways and means to deal with floods based on their experience and observations. These measures and techniques are locality specific, require no external help or support and are inherently scientific, according to the scientists. The group of researchers conducted a study in the region by interviewing fishermen of three most flood-prone development blocks of the district. PTI Lucknow, July 26 Family of Mohammad Akhlaq Saifi the man who was lynched by his neighbours in Bishahra in Dadri in September 2015 over rumours of him and his family having eaten beef will move to the Allahabad High Court to seek a stay on a court order for an FIR against them for slaughtering a cow under the UP Cow Protection Act, 1955. Asad Hayat, the familys lawyer, said: We have written to the administration for more investigations into the case as so many things have emerged that have not be inquired into: particularly the possibility that evidence was fabricated. Above all, the biggest issue is that they are making forensic lab report the basis of the case. We have to say that the report is not trustworthy, because the maal' (meat) that was seized on the intervening night of September 28-29 and sent to Dadri and Mathura labs were not sealed after the recovery. If you see the recovery, it was written that about 2 kg of meat was seized, but the Dadri lab's report speaks about 4-5 kg of meat. Who increased the quantity of the meat? This is proof that there is some conspiracy afoot. Hayat also accused government authorities in Noida of carelessly handling of the recovered meat. Akhlaq's son Sartaj also questioned the authenticity of the meat sent for testing. Sartaj said: Where the meat was found; where it was sent, which meat was sent for forensic test, we are not concerned with these questions, because police found it outside. Who had kept it there and what was their motive is a subject of police investigations. They are sending a report of something that was not recovered from our house. Whatever is the forensic report says, we don't have anything to do with it. If the report confirmed it as cow, why should we be blamed for that? Sartaj claimed foul play. It's baseless and a conspiracy against us. We are going to the Allahabad High Court so that the honourable court look into the matter in its entirety and give an unbiased decision, Sartaj, who claims he was in Chennai at the time of the incident, said. Akhlaq, 55, was beaten to death and his 22-year-old son, Danish, was assaulted by some people in Bishahra in Dadri last year when rumours spread in the village that the family had taken beef for Eid. ANI PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., July 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA), a global trade association for card manufacturers, personalizers, issuers and suppliers, and the Smart Card Alliance (SCA), a multi-industry association working to stimulate adoption of smart card technology and advanced payment technology, announced today they will again co-locate their respective conferences, the ICMA EXPO and the Payments Summit, to create a synergistic experience for the industry. The 2017 ICMA EXPO and 2017 Payments Summit will be held March 27-30. The venue is the Renaissance Orlando at Sea World in Orlando, Florida. The events will include a joint exposition and opening general session, as well as separate educational tracks on card manufacturing and personalization trends and emerging payment applications and new technologies involving mobile and transportation payments. ICMA and the SCA will also hold separate networking events for attendees and organization members. "ICMA is looking forward to continuing the momentum, established in April, with our second co-located ICMA EXPO alongside our friends at the Smart Card Alliance in 2017," said Jeffrey Barnhart, executive director and founder of ICMA. "With the future in mind, our card industry members will have diverse, contemporary and unique opportunities to explore at the 2017 ICMA EXPO in Orlando." Barnhart continued, "As always, attendees will be invited to educate, learn and network while gaining valuable insight on card manufacturing and issuing trends and new technologies in security and payments as well as market forecasts." "Following on the success of last year, we are looking forward to once again co-locating the Smart Card Alliance Payments Summit with the ICMA EXPO," said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance. "Having both events in one venue brings the entire industry together and allows us to educate an expanded audience on the new technologies and applications that are moving payments forward at a rapid pace." Sponsorship and exhibiting opportunities are now available for the 2017 co-located ICMA EXPO and Smart Card Alliance Payments Summit. For details, visit www.icma.com or www.smartcardalliance.org. ### About ICMA Based in Princeton Junction, New Jersey, ICMA is a non-profit association of card manufacturers, personalizers, suppliers and related industry participants. With more than 240 members globally, ICMA acts as a resource for industry issues, including the production, technology, application, security and environmental issues of cards. More information is available at www.icma.com and www.icmaexpo.com. About The Smart Card Alliance The Smart Card Alliance is a not-for-profit, multi-industry association working to stimulate the understanding, adoption, use and widespread application of smart card technology. Through specific projects such as education programs, market research, advocacy, industry relations and open forums, the Alliance keeps its members connected to industry leaders and innovative thought. The Alliance is the single industry voice for smart cards, leading industry discussion on the impact and value of smart cards in the U.S. and Latin America. For more information please visit http://www.smartcardalliance.org. A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=40916 New Delhi, July 26 Eminent diplomat Arundhati Ghose, who played a decisive role in Indias negotiations on Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) at Geneva in 1996, passed away late last night at the age of 76. She was suffering from cancer and breathed her last at around 12:30 am at her residence in Palam Vihar in West Delhi, a family member said. During her illustrious career, Ghose had served in a number of positions, including in Indian Missions in Austria, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, South Korea and Egypt. She was also the first Indian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Offices in Geneva. Ghose was head of Indian delegation to the conference on the CTBT in Geneva in 1996 and is hailed for outlining Indias position in opposing the treaty. She had talked about the discriminatory treaty and famously said, India will not sign this unequal treaty. Not now, not ever. Vice-President Hamid Ansari said Ghose would be remembered for her services to the nation. Born on November 25, 1939, she is sister of Bhaskar Ghose, ex-chairman of Prasar Bharati, and aunt of Sanjay Ghose, a social worker who was killed by ULFA militants in Assam in 1997. Ghose had retired from diplomatic services in November 1997. PTI New Delhi, July 26 Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will on Tuesday meet his counterparts in states to discuss the proposed amendments to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill that has been passed by the Lok Sabha but is stuck in the Rajya Sabha. The proposed tax reform, the biggest since Indias independence, seeks to replace a slew of central taxes and levies in its 29 states, transforming the nation of 1.3 billion people into a customs union. Jaitley met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the weekend and has been earlier meeting the leaders of the Congress to garner support for the proposed GST) Bill. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi earlier on Friday told the Rajya Sabha that the GST Bill would come up for discussion next week. The GST was first mooted by the Congress-led UPA government. It has already been passed in the Lok Sabha but is pending in the Rajya Sabha where the BJP-led NDA government lacks a majority. The Congress has been demanding that the overall GST rate be capped at 18 per cent, as well as scrapping of an additional one per cent tax to compensate manufacturing states. Following a meeting of the state finance ministers in Kolkata last month, Jaitley announced that every state had either supported or accepted the proposed GST, except Tamil Nadu which expressed its reservations and offered suggestions. ANI Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 26 Pointing at occurrence of mid-air engine failures and defects in the airframe of the naval fighter jet the MiG-29K, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report today questioned the safety and actual availability of the plane. The twin-engined MiG-29K, imported from Russia, is the primary combat platform on the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya and is slated to be on board the under-construction carrier INS Vikrant. Forty-five aircraft and associated equipment were ordered at a cost of $2.2 billion (nearly 14,000 crore) in two tranches in 2004 and 2010. The CAG presented its report in both Houses of Parliament today, saying the aircraft was riddled with problems relating to airframe, its engine (RD MK-33) and also the fly-by-wire system. Aircraft is being technically accepted despite having discrepancies/anomalies, the report said. Serviceability of MiG29K is low, ranging from 15.93 per cent to 37.63 per cent, and that of MiG-29KUB (the trainer version), ranging from 21.30 per cent to 47.14 per cent. Serviceability implies that the aircraft is available and is not undergoing a scheduled repair or overhaul at any level. It is clear that the serviceability of MiG-29K was unsatisfactory, the report said. The CAG said the life of the aircraft was 6,000 hours or 25 years (whichever is earlier) and with issues facing the plane, the operational life of the aircraft already delivered would be reduced. As of September 2014, 65 engines (42 with 21 aircraft and 23 spares) had been accepted, it said. Since induction in February 2010, 40 engines (62 per cent) had been withdrawn from service/rejected due to design-related defects/deficiencies, the report said. Defects led to 10 cases of single-engine landings, meaning one of the engines failed mid-air and the pilot landed back on one engine. The agency also questioned the pace of construction of INS Vikrant saying it was at least five years behind schedule. The target delivery date of the ship is December 2018, but is expected to be in 2023 on realistic terms. New Delhi, July 26 The Centre is planning to keep on hold a notification that brings trustees of NGOs under the definition of public servants under Lokpal, which requires them to declare assets by July 31 or face action. With the deadline for declaration of assets nearing, MPs across the political spectrum had raised the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) D Raja, CPI parliamentarian, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had told him about a formula being worked out and the June 24 notification being kept in abeyance till further orders. Subsequently, a comprehensive amendment in the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act could be carried out. Sources said an announcement in this regard would be made in Parliament soon. The suggestion to extend deadline, too, is under consideration, they said. Raja, who was part of the MPs delegation that met the PM on Monday, told The Tribune today that many members, including Sharad Pawar (NCP) and Anu Aga (nominated), sought extension of deadline of the notification. The meeting of MPs with the PM was on the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, implementation and issues arising out of it. The government plans to refer these to the Standing Committee of Parliament since there is also a proposal to exclude spouse and dependent children of government servants from the applicability of the notification. The notification mandated that all trustees and officials of NGOs getting Rs 10 lakh as foreign contribution and more than Rs 1 crore from the government as grant should disclose their assets and liabilities as well as those of their spouse and dependent children. Failure to do so could attract criminal prosecution. Aga had raised the issue in the RS and said there was a need to address the issue on urgent basis since the detailed information about the personal and private assets would be in public domain and many trustees apprehend could be a source of harassment. Social Research and Reform Foundation (SRRF), a grouping of NGOs, today said following demands for relief under the Lokpal Act, there was a likelihood of the government extending the deadline for filing of returns under the law. The government has extended the last date seven times so far. While no one, except the government, can guarantee extension, we all hope this will be done, an SRRF statement by Coordinator Ramanuj Maurya said. Meanwhile, in the Lok Sabha the Minister of State for Home said over 33,000 NGOs registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act received over Rs 50,000 crore in the past three years. TNS New Delhi, July 26 Aam Aadmi Party Parliamentarian Bhagwant Mann has demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must be summoned before a Parliamentary committee to explain why he invited Pakistans Inter-services Intelligence to Indian Air Forces base in Pathankot, a move he said could "compromise Indias security". In his letter to Mahajan, Mann wondered if the Prime Minister's action did not leave India open to security threats. "In 2001, ISI attacked the Parliament Complex. And in 2016, it launched an attack on the Pathankot airbase. The PM invited the same ISI and took them around the airbase. ISI made maps of the airbase and left," Mann claimed, saying this made the Prime Minister a 100 times guiltier of having compromised the countrys security. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) "Does this not threaten security of the country? Is my video a threat to the security of the nation or is PM inviting ISI and taking them around the airbase is a bigger threat? "The Committee should summon the PM along with me. If I am guilty, then the PM is 100 times more guilty," he claimed. Mann claimed later that his filming Parliaments security process was deliberately given a political colour. I explained my stand to the Speaker, but she said what I did was not right and that I should apologise. So I tendered an apology in writing. I said it was unintentional and that I was only trying to make an educational video. My apology was not considered enough: the issue was given a political twist. I was told to end it, that my act could prove dangerous for the countrys security, Mann said to the press hours after he submitted his letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. Mahajan had announced on Monday that she had constituted a committee to investigate Manns action and that he would be suspended from Parliaments Monsoon Session until the panel submitted a report on August 3. The committee had given Mann, a Member of Parliament from Punjabs Sangrur, until July 28 to respond to the charges and decided to seek expert opinions. A five-member Joint Investigation Team visited the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot in March to investigate a predawn militant strike on the base on January 2. The terrorist attack left seven security men dead. Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed has been accused of having engineered the strike. PTI Mukesh Ranjan Tribune News Service New Delhi, July 26 A defiant Bhagwant Mann today continued to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly risking national security by inviting ISI to Pathankot even as a panel recorded depositions of Parliament and Delhi Police staff in the security breach issue involving the AAP MP from Sangrur. The parliamentary panel was set up by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to ascertain whether Manns act of filming the Parliament complex and posting it online compromised its security. In a letter to the Speaker, Mann alleged that the Prime Minister was 100 times guiltier than him for inviting the ISI to probe into the January 2 terror attack on the airbase that left seven security personnel dead. In 2001, the ISI attacked the Parliament complex. And in 2016, it targeted the Pathankot airbase. The PM invited the same ISI and took its staff around the base. Before leaving for their home country, the Pakistan spy agency employees even prepared maps of the airbase, the MP wrote. Sources said around 15 security personnel posted both at the iron gate of the Parliament complex and the main entrance deposed before the panel. All reportedly contended that it was impractical for them to object or obstruct an MP from doing anything on their mobile phone. Tribune News Service Chandigarh, July 26 A large number of farmers organisations today started a three-day protest in the state. The protesters are agitating in front of DC offices for various demands, including waiver of debt. Sukhdev Singh Kokri, general secretary of BKU (Ugrahan) said their main demand was that the government must ensure that all private or government loans outstanding against the farmers and labourers should be waived off. He also demanded that the compensation amount to farmer suicide victims should be Rs 5 lakh and one of their family members should be given a government job. Besides, the government should give new tube well connections and should bear the cost of installation. They also said that the government should ban the auction of land, houses and property of a farmer who fails to repay his debt. The state should confer ownership rights to cultivators, solve the problem of stray cattle and making farming a profitable venture. The farmers held protests at Sangrur, Mansa, Moga, Bathinda, Barnala, Faridkot, Muktsar, Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Patiala, Kapurthala, Nawan Shehar, Ludhiana etc. Joginder Singh Ugrahan, president of BKU (Ugrahan), while speaking at Sangrur said despite protests in the recent past, no steps had been initiated by the Badal government to waive the debt of farmers and fulfill other demands. They said they would continue their agitation till the acceptance of all their demands. Archit Watts Tribune News Service Muktsar, July 26 Just like Ganda village in Haryana which was recently renamed Ajit Nagar, there are a number of villages in Punjab with strange names such as Billimar, Kala Bakra, Jhotianwali, Kattianwali, Sappanwali, Gidderanwali, Moranwali, Kirianwala, etc. Residents of these villages say they have to face embarrassment sometimes because of these villages are named after animals. A youth of Kattianwali village in Muktsar district said, We, being the residents of the village, like its name but when we tell others, they laugh. When I got admission in a college in Chandigarh, my classmates laughed at my villages name. Similarly, an advocate from Sappanwali village said, There may be some historical importance behind the name of our village but whenever we tell people that we belong to Sappanwali village, people not just laugh but also start asking some weird questions. My sister works in a multinational company and she has never revealed the name of our village to her colleagues. Notably, some residents of Kuttianwali village in Muktsar district had approached Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. They requested him to change the name of their village, which was thereafter renamed Sheranwala in 2014. Nishan Singh, sarpanch of Sheranwala village, had at that time said, The village name was weird and especially the women objected to it. However, it took us 20 years to get the village name changed. It is further learnt that a majority of the residents of these villages were not even aware about the history behind their village names. The list of villages having funny names includes Jhotianwali, Sappanwali, Gidderanwali, Korianwali, Beganwali, Killianwali, Kirianwala and Amir Khas in Fazilka district; Billimar and Phide in Ferozepur; Chhapianwali, Kattianwali, Kolianwali, Chibbranwali, Kabarwala, Raniwala, Bhangchari and Lande Rode in Muktsar district; Moranwali in Faridkot district; Lande and Rode in Moga district; Giddar and Bhagi Bandar in Bathinda district; Kala Bakra in Jalandhar district; Muchhal in Amritsar district; Kubba in Ludhiana district; Munda and Kuttiwala in Tarntaran district. Sumeet Jarangal, Deputy Commissioner, Muktsar, said, We have got an application from an individual of Khane Ki Dhabh village requesting us to rename the village as Harkirat Singh Ki Dhabh (his relative, a former Chairman of Market Committee, Malout). I have asked the SDM Malout to submit a report in this regard. Thereafter, we will see the guidelines of the Union Home Ministry and decide whether it can be recommended or not. Tribune News Service Chandigarh, July 26 Clarifying its stand on the SYL, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today said only Punjab had full right on its river waters and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the best position to resolve the issue. Addressing the media today, AAP leaders HS Phoolka, Himmat Singh Shergill and Kanwar Sandhu urged Modi to withdraw the presidential reference to the case in the SC as it was against the interest of Punjab. They said the party had written a letter to Modi advising him to convene a meeting of the CMs of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan to sort out the issue. Phoolka said: Modi is in the best possible situation to solve the issue as the BJP government was in power at the Centre and in all states concerned. Punjab will not have a problem sharing drinking water with Delhi as it is in limited quantity and the state upholds the tradition of serving drinking water to the needy, said Sandhu. Dare Badal, Capt to resign before SC verdict The leaders asked both CM Parkash Singh Badal and Congress state chief Capt Amarinder Singh to resign before the SC order rather than reacting on the verdict. Phoolka alleged that both Congress and the SAD were indulging in political drama on the issue. It is documented that Amarinder was with the government when the digging for the canal started. Also, the land acquisition for the canal was started when the Akali Dal was in power in the state, he alleged. Meanwhile, Sandhu said Phoolka would soon be holding an important party position in the state. He said this in reaction to Phoolkas renewed interest in the partys affairs after staying away from the limelight for a few months. Cops to serve summons on Kejriwal in Delhi Amritsar: A police team on Tuesday left for Delhi to serve dasti (by hand) summons to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and AAP leaders Sanjay Singh and Ashish Khetan. A defamation case was filed against them by Revenue Minister Bikram Majithia. The court has directed them to appear on July 29. Police Commissioner Amar Singh Chahal said summons would be personally handed over to them as per the court orders. TNS DGAP-News: FinTech Group AG / Key word(s): Alliance FinTech Group and Rocket Internet launch strategic technology partnership 26.07.2016 / 19:30 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Corporate News / Frankfurt am Main, 26 July 2016 FinTech Group and Rocket Internet launch strategic technology partnership - FinTech Group and Rocket Internet are working together to create digital banking services in Europe - Rocket Internet will use liability umbrella and technical infrastructure of FinTech Group's subsidiaries XCOM AG and Bank biw AG - Rocket Internet brings expertise in digital business model acceleration Frankfurt am Main - FinTech Group AG (German securities identification no.: 524 960, ISIN: DE0005249601, ticker symbol: FLA.GR) and Rocket Internet have agreed on a comprehensive technology partnership. In a first step, FinTech Group AG is developing a digital bank for Rocket Internet. Based on the banking license of its subsidiary Bank biw AG, FinTech Group AG will provide technological infrastructure such as its core banking system as well as highly automated processes. In addition, XCOM AG, FinTech Group's IT system provider, is bringing its high-performance servers and software development services to the technology partnership. Both parties plan to develop joint banking business models at an EU level. To achieve this, Rocket Internet brings its expertise in online marketing, user experience, front-end design, internationalization, and the development of scalable business models. FinTech Group and Rocket Internet have also agreed not to disclose the details of their common European goals. "We are pleased to have found the perfect partner for creating digital banking services in Europe. FinTech Group's profile in financial services and the expertise of Rocket Internet in creating scalable, disruptive business models fit together perfectly. We will make this cooperation a success and participate mutually," says Frank Niehage, CEO of FinTech Group AG. Bank biw AG is one of the most successful white label banks in Germany and holds an EU bank passport, which allows it to offer banking services in all countries of the European Union. B2B customers range from renowned financial institution to young startups. Thanks to highly automated processes, customers can access banking services such as account management, payments, lending and trade execution quickly and simply. As a full-service bank under the supervision of the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), biw AG bank complies with the highest regulatory requirements and provides its liability umbrella to customers, which means that customers do not necessarily need their own banking license, saving time and money. XCOM AG, which recently opened a new major data center, provides cutting- edge technology and high-performance data processing capabilities. The high load capacity of the IT systems was recently proven, following the effects of Brexit on the financial market. XCOM AG also develops and provides support for bespoke software solutions for renowned German and international companies. These services can help Rocket Internet to rapidly establish innovative business models on the market with an experienced technology partner. About FinTech Group AG FinTech Group AG (WKN: 524 960, ISIN: DE0005249601, Ticker Symbol: FLA:GR) is one of the most significant innovative financial technology companies in Europe. Our B2C brands service a total of 200,000 private clients. Likewise, our B2B business lines are important technology partners for German and international banks and financial institutions. Our preliminary EBITDA 2015 is EUR 19 million. Our wholly owned subsidiary flatex GmbH has been one of the innovation leaders in the German online brokerage market for years. About 160,000 private clients both in Germany and internationally have chosen flatex' clear and transparent pricing model. XCOM AG, in which we hold a majority interest, was founded in 1988 and is a German pioneer in the area of financial technology. Today, XCOM AG is one of the most successful software and technology providers for banks and financial institutions. biw Bank fur Investments und Wertpapiere AG, which is also belongs to FinTech Group, has a full-service banking license and is the group wide backbone of our banking services. It also serves as outsourcing partner for other well-known banks ("white label banking services") and is one of the most modern online banks in Europe. FinTech Group AG is also an important partner for many young fintech companies in the up-and-coming German start-up scene, who benefit from our innovative profile. Disclaimer This release may contain forward-looking statements and information, which may be identified by formulations using terms such as "expects", "aims", "anticipates", "intends", "plans", "believes", "seeks", "estimates" or "will". Such forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and certain assumptions, which may be subject to variety of risks and uncertainties. The results actually achieved by FinTech Group AG may substantially differ from these forward-looking statements. FinTech Group assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements or to correct them in case of developments, which differ from those anticipated. Contact: Roman Kessler Roman.kessler@fintechgroup.com Head of Communications FinTech Group AG Rotfeder-Ring 5 D-60327 Frankfurt/Main +49 (0) 69 450001 041 Roman.kessler@fintechgroup.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26.07.2016 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: FinTech Group AG Rotfeder-Ring 5 60327 Frankfurt am Main Germany Phone: +49 (0) 69 450001 041 E-mail: ir@fintechgroup.com Internet: www.fintechgroup.com ISIN: DE0005249601, DE0005249601 WKN: 524960 Listed: Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange; Open Market (Entry Standard) in Frankfurt End of News DGAP News Service --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 486333 26.07.2016 Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Ludhiana, July 26 Two men riding a motorcycle shot dead a woman, who was an accused in a case of desecrating Guru Granth Sahib, at Alamgir village here on Tuesday morning. Balwinder Kaur, 45, resident of Ghawaddi village, was arrested for allegedly desecrating the holy book on October 19, 2015. She was later released on bail. Police said someone invited Kaur outside Gurdwara Manji Sahib, Alamgir, on Tuesday. She, along with her son, reached there in an auto-rickshaw, when the unidentified men riding a motorcycle fired at Balwinder. The victim died on the spot. Last year, police had arrested Kaur for the alleged sacrilege at the Ghawaddi gurdwara. Kaur had allegedly desecrated the pages of the scripture. She had been serving at the gurdwara for over two decades. She was out on bail for the past few days. Police commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh reached the spot. The body has sent to the civil hospital for post-mortem. PANDIT Balak Ram Pandya, a leading resident of Lahore and proprietor of the well known firm of Messrs. Basant Ram and Sons, Auditors of Accounts, has done a public service in publishing a book entitled "The Great War" in Hindi and Urdu for the benefit of the non-English knowing public. The object of the publication which is nicely illustrated with a number of half tone blocks, is to give the readers a right comprehension of the apparent and real causes of the War. The Hindi edition was specially opportune, as it was the first effort in that language to give an intelligent and comprehensive idea of the great issues involved. His Honour the Lieutenant Governor was pleased to convey to the writer the thanks of Government for his public spirit in producing the useful little book, which His Honour Tribune News Service Dehradun, July 26 Chief Minister Harish Rawat met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi today and sought an immediate relief of Rs 500 crore for the damage caused by recent heavy rainfall, cloudbursts and landslides in the state. The Chief Minister told the Prime Minister that according to preliminary estimates, Uttarakhand had already suffered a loss of nearly Rs 1,000 crore during the rainy season and further damage might increase the losses up to Rs 1,500 crore by September. Recompensing the losses is beyond states capability because of its limited resources. Thus, the cooperation and assistance of the Union Government is a must to reconstruct the damaged infrastructure and projects and normalise the situation in sensitive regions, he said. He informed the Prime Minister that more than 370 villages located at landslide-prone zones were vulnerable to natural calamity and an amount of Rs 10,000 crore was required for the relocation of these villages to safer zones and to mitigate the possibility of future disasters. Being a small hill state with limited revenue potential, Uttarakhand needs resources from the Central Government in this humanitarian mission. Land will be required to relocate these vulnerable villages from the areas declared unsafe. The state has 70 per cent forest cover so sufficient government land is not available for the relocation of these villages, he added. The Chief Minister requested the Prime Minister to provide forestland for the relocation of these sensitive villages and transfer the land of these villages to the Forest Department. As rehabilitating these villages is a technical and complicated task, the Central Government should constitute a committee for the purpose. The incorporating officials of the Disaster Management, Union Finance Ministry and departments concerned of the state government will examine the entire process of relocation of vulnerable villages, he said. Rawat said the incidents of heavy rainfall, cloudbursts and landslides had increased in Uttarakhand due to changes in the weather pattern in the recent years. Besides loss of human lives, the rainfall has damaged infrastructure and property in Tehri Garhwal, Pithoragarh, Uttarkashi and Chamoli districts. The Chief Minister said the state government had saved many precious lives through proactive initiatives with the active cooperation of the NDRF. Heavy rainfall had affected a large area extensively, casuing huge damage to roads, electricity, drinking water supply, agriculture, forest and other places of importance. The process was going on to assess the loss of crops and farming land. He said the state government with its limited resources was consistently working on relief and reconstruction works so immediate help of Rs 500 crore was required from the Central Government to speed up the reconstruction process favourably. The Chief Minister invited the Prime Minister to the Char Dham Yatra. According to a state government press note, the Prime Minister assured Rawat that he would visit the Char Dham regions after the monsoon in September or October with regard to strengthening the state highways. Tribune News Service Dehradun, July 26 Chief Minister Harish Rawat today paid homage to martyrs, who laid down their lives during the Kargil war with Pakistan in 1999. The nation would always remember the sacrifices of brave soldiers, he said at a function to commemorate Kargil Vijay Diwas at Gandhi Park here. Rawat said the state government was making all possible efforts to ease the lives of the martyrs family members. The victory in Kargil war is a symbol of courage and bravery. A new dimension has been set in the history of warfare. Indian Army was acclaimed globally after the Kargil victory as it was fought under adverse weather conditions, he said. He said there were sagas of several Uttarakhand soldiers in the Indian history. Brave soldiers from the state were always ready to sacrifice their lives for the country, he said. Meanwhile, the Golden Key Division organised a function at Kala ground to mark the occasion. General Officer Commanding, Golden Key Division, Major General SC Mohanty laid the wreath on behalf of all ranks of the Division. A two-minute silence was observed in the memory of martyrs. Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi paid floral tributes to martyrs at Gandhi Park and martyr Naik Rajesh Thapa at Chandmari. He said brave sons of Uttarakhand had proved their mettle in pre and post-Independence wars. It is a matter of proud for everyone that a large number of youths from the state serve in defence forces, he said. War widows honoured Kargil Vijay Diwas was celebrated in Nainital, Almora and Pithoragarh districts. Rich tributes were paid to martyrs at their memorials. Army units organised programmes in the memory of the Kargil war heroes and honoured war widows at the Pithoragarh and Nainital cantonments. At Ranikhet, Lt Gen (retd) Mohan Bhandari, while remembering the bravery of soldiers at Kargil 17 years ago, said the nation, which has such brave soldiers and a committed Army, could never be threatened by enemies. General Bhandari, who served during the Kargil war, said, The war, which began on May 4 after some shepherds saw suspicious persons at the border, ended on July 25 after Indian troops recaptured Tiger Hill. At Nainital, the tribute paying ceremony was held at the Tallital Memorial of Kargil martyr, Major Rajesh Adhikari. Besides relatives of the martyr, army officers and civilians were present in large numbers. Rajesh, who saved his companions from drowning in Indira Gandhi canal in Punjab in 1995 and won bravery award for the act from the UP government, died fighting for the Tololing peak during the Kargil war. Although the state government had named some institutions and roads after him, some of the assurances are yet to be fulfilled, said martyrs brother Shyam Sundar Singh Adhikari. In Kharau village near Almora, villagers remembered Mohan Singh Bisht, who laid down his life in the Kargil war. The martyrs memory was made immortal by his mother, late Debuli Devi, who had constructed a temple and the martyrs statue in the village where we pay tributes to the Kargil martyrs every year, Ramesh Singh, a villager. Neena Sharma Tribune News Service Dehradun, July 26 The referral programme for expectant mothers facing difficulties under the Janani Suraksha Yojana of the National Health Mission (NHM) has completely halted at the Doon Womens Hospital due to several unresolved issues, including the renewal of memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a private hospital. Since April, patients from Dehradun and other parts of the state are being forced to pay in cash for complicated pregnancies and cases pertaining to birth defect in newborns. Earlier, under the Janani Suraksha Yojana, complicated pregnancies and serious ailments in newborns that could not be treated at the Doon Womens Hospital were referred to higher medical centres. The cost of treatment was reimbursed at the CGHS rates under the NHM. The Uttarakhand Health Department had signed an agreement with the Mahant Indresh Medical College, Dehradun, and the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust, Jolly Grant, for undertaking these cases. But the government has not renewed the agreement after the Doon Womens Hospital was assimilated with the Government Doon Medical College and Hospital. Since April 2016, the administration and financial powers have passed into the hands of the Principal of Government Doon Medical College and Hospital. Not only the issue of reimbursement is pending but also a big question hangs on the future of the programme. Earlier, the Chief Medical Superintendent of the womens hospital had the powers to recommend cases on merit for reimbursement but all that has stopped now, said Tikam Singh, a resident of Chakrata. Further, after the upgrade, Doon Medical College has automatically become a higher or referral centre. But no decision has been taken whether the medical college is equipped to perform such complicated operations. In that case, the agreement will have to end. But the decision is still pending regarding the renewal or cancellation of the existing agreement with the private hospitals. As of now, we are in the dark regarding the status of the programme, said Dr Kusum Nariyal, Director General (Health). This arrangement was a boon for patients and their family members who could get the cases treated at the higher medical centres at the nominal CGHS rates under the Janani Suraksha Yojana. Recently, the Central government had reprimanded the Uttarakhand Health Department for failing to meet the target of safe deliveries. Further under the Janani Suraksha Yojana, this additional incentive was added to provide relief to patients. Dhaka, July 26 Nine suspected Islamist militants were on Tuesday killed and two others were arrested by Bangladeshi police during a pre-dawn raid at their hideout here, officials said. The hour-long raid was launched at 5.51 am (local time) at Jahaz building in Kalyanpur area by special police units. The militants, suspected to be members of Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), had opened fire on police during an operation in the neighbourhood at midnight, Dhaka Tribune quoted a police official as saying. All (nine) of them appeared to be militants, Dhakas joint police commissioner Sheikh Maruf Hassan said. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The Islamist gunmen wearing black tunics exchanged fire intermittently throughout the night and shouted Allah-u-Akbar (God is great). Two more presumed extremists, incuding one with bullet wounds, were arrested from the scene, he added. Bangladesh is reeling from a wave of deadly attacks by Islamist extremists. Twenty-two people, mostly foreigners, including an Indian girl, were killed by suspected ISIS militants inside a cafe popular with expats in the diplomatic zone in Dhaka in the worst terror attack in Bangladesh before commandos launched an assault, killing six attackers and capturing one alive. Around 30 people were injured in the attack for which dreaded Islamic State group claimed responsibility through its Amaq news agency, nearly four hours after the hostage crisis unfolded. The government, however, maintains that the home-grown militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) was behind the attack. PTI VIENTIANE, July 24 Southeast Asian nations failed to agree on maritime disputes in the South China Sea on Sunday after Cambodia blocked any mention to an international court ruling against Beijing in their statement, diplomats said. Foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met for the first time since the Permanent Court of Arbitration handed an emphatic legal victory to the Philippines in the dispute this month. The ruling by the court in The Hague denied China's sweeping claims in the strategic seaway, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes each year. China claims most of the sea, but ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have rival claims. Beijing says the ruling has no bearing on its rights in the sea, and described the case as a farce. The Philippines and Vietnam both wanted the communique issued by ASEAN foreign ministers after their meeting to refer to the ruling and the need to respect international law, ASEAN diplomats said. Their foreign ministers both discussed the ruling with ASEAN counterparts in the Laotian capital. But before the meeting, China's closest ASEAN ally Cambodia opposed the proposed wording, throwing the group into disarray. Phnom Penh supports Beijing's opposition to any ASEAN stand on the South China Sea, and its preference for dealing with the disputed claims on a bilateral basis. First deadlock since 2012 "We are still working on it," Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said after the meeting on Sunday, adding that she hoped the ASEAN members would reach an agreement. Cambodia's Foreign Minister Prak Sokhon declined to comment on his country's position on Sunday. Even after a late-night meeting of foreign ministers called to thrash out the issue late on Saturday, the region's top diplomats were unable to find a compromise. The group has given itself until Tuesday to come to issue a statement, said one ASEAN diplomat. ASEAN is facing the prospect of being unable to issue a statement after a meeting for only the second time in its 49-year history. The first time, in 2012, was also due to Cambodia's resistance to language about the South China Sea. "We have been here before and I hope they can solve it," said one official from the ASEAN Secretariat in Indonesia. "It is the same story again, a repeat of the meeting in 2012." Over the next two days, Southeast Asian nations will meet with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry and Wang are also expected to meet and discuss the maritime issues. Wang, who started bilateral meetings with ASEAN members on Sunday, said he thought the media focus on the South China Sea issue was "very strange". It was "not a China-ASEAN issue," he said, adding that disputes should be resolved among the parties involved. Japan's Foreign Minister Fumiko Kishida will also be in Laos for the ASEAN regional forum meeting. It is unclear if he will meet Wang, but China reacted angrily to Kishida saying he would discuss the sea issue if they do meet. China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, in a statement posted on the ministry's website, said the sea is not Japan's concern. "We urge Japan not to hype up and meddle in the South China Sea issue," he said. "Japan is not a concerned party in the South China Sea, and because of its disgraceful history is in no place to make irresponsible comments about China." US role The United States, allied with the Philippines and cultivating closer relations with Vietnam, has called on China to respect the court's ruling. It has criticised China's building of artificial islands and facilities in the sea and has sailed warships close to the disputed territory to assert freedom of navigation rights. But Kerry will urge ASEAN nations to explore diplomatic ways to ease tension over Asia's biggest potential military flashpoint, a senior US official said ahead of his trip. Chinese state media called for "damage control" at the meetings. A commentary published by the official Xinhua news agency on Sunday said the court ruling was a "blow to peace and stability in the region ... and only serves to increase the likelihood of confrontation and turbulence." Barack Obama is set in September to become the first US president to visit Laos, attending an annual summit hosted by the country that holds the ASEAN chairmanship. Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is also in Laos, making her debut at ASEAN meetings as the foreign minister for Myanmar. Reuters Vientiane (Laos), July 25 China scored an unequivocal diplomatic victory today, preventing Southeast Asias main grouping from criticising it for territorially expanding in the South China Sea, even though some of the blocs members are victims of Beijings actions. After hectic negotiations, the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations issued a watered-down rebuke that amounted to less than a slap on the wrist, and exposed the deep divisions in a regional body that prides itself on unity. In a joint communique released after their talks, the foreign ministers of ASEAN said only that they remain seriously concerned over recent and ongoing developments in the South China Sea. The statement did not mention China by name in referring to the developments. Most significantly, it failed to mention a recent ruling by an international arbitration panel in a dispute between the Philippines and China that said Beijings claims in the South China Sea were illegal and that the Philippines was justifiably the aggrieved party. China has dismissed the ruling as bogus, saying the Hague-based tribunal has no authority to rule on what Beijing calls bilateral disputes. China wants direct negotiations with the Philippines instead. The tribunals award amounts to prescribing a dose of wrong medicine... and it seems that certain countries outside the region have got all worked up, keeping the fever high, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, referring to the United States. Wang said about 80 per cent of that time was spent on ASEAN-China relations, and only 20 per cent on South China Sea. He joked that reporters had expended more than 80 per cent of the question-and-answer time on South China Sea. China was able to push through its stance in ASEAN with the help of Cambodia, and to some extent Laos, both of which are close friends of Beijing. ASEANs guiding principle is to make all statements by consensus, so a veto by Cambodia would have prevented a more stinging rebuke. AP SAGAMIHARA (Japan), July 26 A knife-wielding man broke into a facility for the disabled in a small town near Tokyo early on Tuesday and killed 19 patients as they slept, authorities said, Japan's worst mass killing since World War Two. At least 25 other residents were wounded in the attack at the Tsukui Yamayuri-En facility for mentally and physically disabled in Sagamihara town, about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Tokyo. "This is a very heart-wrenching and shocking incident in which many innocent people became victims," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular news conference in Tokyo. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later told a gathering in Tokyo: "The lives of many innocent people were taken away and I am greatly shocked. We will make every effort to discover the facts and prevent a reoccurance." The suspect was a 26-year-old former employee of the facility who gave himself up to police. The man, Satoshi Uematsu, said in letters he wrote in February that he could "obliterate 470 disabled people", Kyodo news agency reported. He said he would kill 260 severely disabled people at two areas in the facility during a night shift, and would not hurt employees. "My goal is a world in which the severely disabled can be euthanised, with their guardians' consent, if they are unable to live at home and be active in society," Uematsu wrote in the two letters given to the speaker of the lower house of parliament, Kyodo reported. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) Uematsu was committed to hospital after he expressed a "willingness to kill severely disabled people", an official in Sagamihara said. He was freed on March 2 after a doctor deemed he had improved, the official said. Uematsu lived near the facility, and a neighbour described him as a polite young man who always greeted him with a smile. "It would be easier to understand if there had been a warning but there were no signs," said Akihiro Hasegawa, 73. "We didn't know the darkness of his heart." The suspect apparently began changing about five months ago, said Yuji Kuroiwa, the governor of Kanagawa prefecture, where the facility is located. "You could say there were warning signs, but it's difficult to say if this could have been prevented," he told reporters. "This was not an impulsive crime ... He went in the dark of the night, opened one door at a time, and stabbed sleeping people one by one," Kuroiwa said. "I just can't believe the cruelty of this crime. We need to prevent this from ever happening again." Staff at the facility called police at 2.30 am local time (1730 GMT Monday) with reports of a man armed with a knife on the grounds, media reports said. The man wore a black T-shirt and trousers, the reports said. The 3-hectare (7.6 acre) facility was established by the local government. Surrounded by tree-covered mountains and on the banks of the Sagami River, it cares for people with a wide range of disabilities. The facility's website said the centre had a maximum capacity of 160 people, including staff. It makes you weep Japan has one of the lowest crime rates in the world and residents of Sagamihara said they were in shock. The last murder in the area was 10 years ago. "This is a peaceful, quiet town so I never thought such an incident would happen here," said Oshikazu Shimo, one of many residents of the town who gathered near the facility. Taxi driver Susumu Fujimura said of the attacker: "He said 'we should get rid of disabled people' but he's the worthless one". "That kind of person can't defend themselves," Fujimura said, referring to the victims. "That's why so many died. It makes you weep to think of somebody just murdering them." The dead ranged in age from 19 to 70 and included nine males and 10 females, Kyodo said. Police had recovered a bag with several knives, at least one stained with blood, a Kanagawa prefecture official said. At least 29 emergency squads responded to the attack, Kyodo reported, with those wounded taken to at least six hospitals in the western Tokyo area. Such mass killings are extremely rare in Japan and typically involve stabbings. Japan has strict gun laws and possession of firearms by the public is rare. Eight children were stabbed to death at their school in Osaka by a former janitor in 2001. Seven people died in 2008 when a man drove a truck into a crowd and began stabbing people in Tokyo's popular electronics and "anime" district of Akihabara. A revision to Japan's Swords and Firearms Control Law was introduced in 2009 in the wake of that attack, banning the possession of double-edged knives and further tightening gun-ownership rules. Members of a doomsday cult killed 12 people and made thousands ill in 1995 in simultaneous attacks with sarin nerve gas on five Tokyo rush-hour subway trains. Reuters Philadelphia, July 26 First lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday endorsed friend Hillary Clinton as the only one truly qualified to be the next US President even as she lashed out at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump of being thin-skinned. Even US senator Bernie Sanders, ending months of animosity, proudly endorsed former rival Hillary Clinton who he said will make an outstanding president as the choice between her and the Republican nominee was not even close. Based on her ideas and her leadership Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close, 71-year-old Sanders said in his address to the Democratic National Convention which kicked off here. Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her here tonight, said the Senator from Vermont who during the primary election season gave some sleepless nights to the former Secretary of State by winning as many as 23 primaries. Michelle made a passionate plea for the former secretary of state in front of thousands of delegates and members of the Democratic Party and hailed the power that having a first female president would bring to the country. I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States, she said. I am here tonight because in this election there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility, only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is our friend Hillary Clinton. The four-day convention, which began yesterday, would nominate Clinton as its presidential candidate. The 68-year-old former secretary of state would deliver her acceptance speech on Thursday, thus, becoming Americas first woman presidential candidate of a major political party. If elected in the final race against Trump in November, she would be the first US woman president. PTI GREELEY, Colo., July 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- JBS USA will hold its second quarter 2016 earnings conference call on Friday, August 12, 2016, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern (7:00 a.m. Mountain). The call will be open to investors in the Companys bonds and term loan, as well as lenders to the Companys revolving credit facility and prospective investors, securities analysts and market makers. More information about the call will be posted to the Companys website at www.jbssa.com. On the website, please go to the Investors page and select the JBS USA bond investors link. Financial statements and related data for the second quarter 2016 will be made available to investors on the Companys website prior to the call. JBS USA is a leading processor of beef and pork in the United States, the number one processor of beef in Australia in terms of daily slaughtering capacity, and the number two U.S. processor of chicken through its subsidiary, Pilgrims Pride Corporation. The Company processes, prepares, packages and delivers fresh, processed and value-added beef, pork, chicken, and lamb products for sale to customers in the United States and international markets. In addition to the U.S. and Australia, the Company has processing facilities in Canada (beef) and Mexico (chicken). The Company is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of JBS S.A., the worlds largest animal protein producer. Saint-Etienne-Du-Rouvray, July 26 Two assailants slit the throat of an 84-year-old priest at a church in northern France today in a hostage-taking drama that has shocked the country. The attack in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray came as France was still reeling from a massacre in the French Riviera city of Nice claimed by the Islamic State group. French President Francois Hollande condemned the cowardly murder of the parish priest by two terrorists claiming to be from Daesh, using an Arabic term for the Islamic State group. The motivations for the hostage-taking were not yet clear, but the Paris prosecutor's office said the case was being handled by anti-terrorism prosecutors. Five people were inside the church when it came under attack, interior ministry spokesman Pierre Henry Brandet said. He said the church was surrounded by Frances anti-gang brigade the BRI, which specialises in kidnappings, and that the two assailants came out and were killed by police. The priest died after having his throat slit, sources close to the investigation told AFP. The archbishop of the nearby city of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, named him as 84-year-old Jacques Hamel. Three of the hostages were freed unharmed, and another was fighting for their life, said Brandet. Pope Francis voiced his pain and horror at the barbaric killing of the priest. France remains on high alert nearly two weeks after Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed a truck into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 84 people and injuring over 300. An AFP journalist said the scene of the attack was crawling with emergency vehicles and police. French PM Manuel Valls expressed his horror at what he called a barbaric attack on a church. AFP CAIRO/ PARIS, July 26 Two attackers linked to the Islamic State killed a priest with a blade and seriously wounded another hostage in a church in northern France on Tuesday before being shot dead by French police. The attack took place during morning mass at the Saint-Etienne parish church, south of Rouen in Normandy. Five people were initially taken hostage. A police source said it appeared that the priest had had his throat slit. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) A statement by the groups Amaq news agency said Islamic State 'soldiers' had carried out the attack. They carried out the operation in response to the call to target the countries of the crusader coalition," the Amaq statement said. A source close to investigations claimed French police have arrested one person in connection with the attack. A nun who escaped the scene said the two attackers forced the elderly priest to kneel before killing him and also filmed the murdero. The nun was one of several people taken hostage by the knifemen during a morning mass at the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near the northern city of Rouen. "They forced him to kneel and he tried to defend himself and that is how the drama started," the nun who gave her name as Sister Danielle told RMC radio, adding that she fled at the moment that one of the attackers killed the priest. The attack is the latest in a string of deadly assaults in Europe, including the mass killing in Nice on Bastille Day and four incidents in Germany. Many of the attacks have had links to Islamist militants. The Archbishop of Rouen identified the slain priest as Father Jacques Hamel. The Vatican condemned what it said was a "barbarous killing". French President Francois Hollande said in a statement at the scene in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, south of Rouen, on Tuesday: Daesh has declared war on us, we must fight this war by all means, while respecting the rule of law, what makes us a democracy, using an Arab acronym for the Islamist extremist group. French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told France Info radio that the perpetrators have been killed by France's BRI, its elite police anti-crime force, when they came out of the church. He said that bomb squad officers aided by sniffer dogs had been scouring the church for any possible explosives. Prime Minister Manuel Valls branded the attack "barbaric" and said it was a blow to all Catholics and the whole of France. "We will stand together," Valls said on Twitter. Pressure The attack will heap yet more pressure on Hollande to regain control of national security, with France already under a state of emergency 10 months ahead of a presidential election. The Normandy attack came 12 days after a 31-year-old Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed his heavy goods truck into a crowd of revellers in the French Riviera city of Nice, killing 84 people. Islamic State claimed that attack. "Horror. Everything is being done to trigger a war of religions," tweeted Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a former conservative prime minister who now heads the Senate's foreign affairs committee. Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve arrived at the scene of the attack where they met with members of the emergency services. Cazeneuve has come under fire from Conservative politicians for not doing enough to prevent the Bastille Day Nice attack. French lawmakers approved a six-month extension of emergency rule after the July 14 attack while the Socialist government also said it would step up strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Reuters Paris, July 26 Two attackers killed a priest with a blade and seriously wounded another hostage in a church in northern France on Tuesday before being shot dead by French police. There were no immediate details on the identity or motives of the two assailants but the investigation was handed to the anti-terrorist unit of the Paris prosecutors office. A police source said it appeared that the priest had had his throat slit. At one point, the two assailants came out of the church and thats when they were killed by the BRI elite force, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told France Info radio, referring to Frances specialised police group. Prime Minister Manuel Valls branded the attack barbaric and said it was a blow to all Catholics and the whole of France. We will stand together, Valls said on Twitter. The attack is the latest in a string of deadly assaults in Europe. In France, the Normandy attack comes 12 days after a 31-year-old Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed his heavy goods truck into a crowd of revellers in the French Riviera city of Nice, killing 84 people. Islamic State claimed that attack. The knifemen launched their assault by taking five people hostage inside the church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, south of Rouen. Interior Ministry spokesman Brandet confirmed one of the hostages had been killed and said another was critical. French President Francois Hollande was on his way to the site of the attack. Horror. Everything is being done to trigger a war of religions, tweeted Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a former conservative prime minister who now heads the Senates foreign affairs committee. Reuters ATLANTA, July 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HAVERTYS (NYSE:HVT) (NYSE:HVT.A) reported sales for the second quarter 2016 on July 8, 2016. Havertys will release second quarter 2016 financial results on Monday, August 1, 2016, after the market closes. The company will host a conference call with investors and analysts on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at 10:00 AM (ET) to discuss the results of its operations. Havertys invites interested parties to listen to the live audiocast of the conference call at its website, havertys.com/investors. A replay will be available at the website or via telephone at approximately 1:00 PM (ET) through Tuesday, August 9, 2016. The number to access the telephone playback is 1888-203-1112 (replay passcode: 8276743). The aforementioned conference call will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The statements may be made a number of times throughout the call and may be identified by such forward-looking terminology as expect, believe, may, will, intend or similar statements or variations of such terms. Such forward-looking statements involve certain substantial risks and uncertainties including levels of sales and competitive pressures from other home furnishings retailers. These and other important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements are detailed from time to time in the companys reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You are urged to consider such factors. The company assumes no obligation for updating any such forward-looking statements. Havertys, established in 1885, is a full-service home furnishings retailer with 122 showrooms in 16 states in the Southern and Midwestern regions providing its customers with a wide selection of quality merchandise in middle to upper-middle price ranges. Additional information is available on the Companys website at havertys.com. It was a little over two and a half years ago that I got the call from Dawna Clarke. Congratulations, Aditya! Youve been accepted to the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. I packed my bags and set off to Hanover, New Hampshire with exactly zero MBAs in my professional network (I worked in my familys tea manufacturing business) and only a rudimentary understanding of what the journey would be like. Having received the coveted piece of paper just three days prior to beginning this post, in a spectacular, albeit rainy, ceremony, I feel compelled to re-live it one last time. The First Year It all started on a boat. One of my first (and most enduring) memories of Tuck is trying to sleep on a bed of oars inside a small sailboat off the coast of Maine along with nine other Tuckies and thinking, Will I be able to do this? Outward Bound was the quintessential pre-MBA, team building exercise and set the tone for my first year at Tuck. It taught me to embrace opportunities with two arms and a leg. The fall term was a blur of new experiences and I was ready; decision modeling, networking with recruiters, launching my venture, learning how terrible I am at ice hockey, and drinking Fireball at Murphys. I felt like I was being pulled in a hundred different directions at once. I recruited heavily for consulting as well as marketing. Coming from a family-owned business, this was incredible learning on how the corporate world worked. At the same time, I had linked up with three other Tuckies to launch Roots,a platform for Tuck students to share our love for tea. We automated the process of making masala chai (a source of amusement as well as appreciation) and sold it at the local coffee shopit was great fun! With outstanding courses like GEM (General Economics for Managers) and the boiler-room pressure of recruiting to keep us busy, the winter term whizzed by. Spring 2015 had in store for me two main experiences; a Global Insight Expedition (GIX) to Georgia and Armenia with 20 other Tuckies, and my First-Year Project with ConAgra Foods. These experiential endeavors represent some of my fondest memories and resulted in some of the greatest friends I made at Tuck. Summer My recruiting efforts resulted in a summer internship at General Mills Inc., the packaged food giant based in Minneapolis. Thats right, I was going from Mumbai to Minnesota. Talk about change! But more importantly, my love affair with all things food had actually become a source of $$s! Summer 2015 was one of the most enjoyable and professionally satisfying experiences Id had. I worked on two main projects. The first one involved sizing and finding opportunities to formulate snacks for the quickly burgeoning Paleo and vegan markets in the US. The second one involved leading an actual product launch of a new line of energy barseverything from ingredient sourcing to pricing and distribution. The icing on the cake was getting a full time offer to join them post-Tuck. To celebrate, I took a trip to the Salkantay Mountains in Peru for an exhilarating five-day hike and came back to Tuck refreshed and ready for second year. The Second Year If the first year was like a rock concert, the second year was like a Bach symphonycalming, reflective, and exceedingly enjoyable. With recruiting out of the way, I could take on projects, form relationships, and learn things that will hopefully live on well beyond Tuck. The first such opportunity arose at the end of fall when I was recruited to be part of the On-site Global Consulting (OGC) team for the American dairy giant Land O Lakes in Kenya. With 5 other amazing Tuckies (Habari, friends!), I spent two weeks in Kenya and we developed a market entry strategy for the company into Kenyas dairy feed industry. It was a one-of-a-kind experience. The second such opportunity was the honor and privilege of co-leading the India Fun Trek along with my buddy, Rajeev, in spring 2016. We took 32 Tuckies across six cities in India and everything about it, from the planning (which started half a year in advance) to the last beer we all had together in Mumbai, was one big party. Apart from these two projects, I spent most of my second year learning how to ski (Im proud to report that I can now ski blues), enjoying my elective classes (Negotiations with Prof. Feiler, best class ever!) and hiking the unrivaled New Hampshire wilderness. Biggest Learnings The most valuable quality I have developed in the last two years is the ability to embrace my greatest strengths proudly and acknowledge my greatest weaknesses humbly. Tuck naturally does a good job of selecting grounded individuals (for the most part), but it is equally important to be able to own what you are good at. The first few months was an exercise in imposter syndrome. Rubbing shoulders with the kind of people I can now proudly call my friends (marines, literal rock stars, entrepreneurs and yes, consultants extraordinaire) was overwhelming, especially since I was the baby of the class from an age and work experience perspective. Living and working among them, being critiqued and appreciated by them, helped me get a clear, objective understanding of my skills and deficiencies. For example, I learned that I naturally excel at creating new opportunities and establishing networks. On the flip side, I also discovered that I have a lot to learn as far as managing/growing the day-to-day. This kind of learning, the learning about oneself, requires equal parts interaction and introspection. Tucks location in the woods of New Hampshire, provided me a great natural environment for this sort of internal growth. Road Ahead With just a week left before I start my full time role in General Mills, Inc. as an Associate Marketing Manager, I am equal parts excited and nostalgic. As full and enriching as I felt my Tuck experience was, there were innumerable more skills I could have learned, resources I could have leveraged, and things I could have done in those 609 days at my disposal. However, I can take heart in the fact that I am now part of network of people that, long after the last slope has been skied and the last lecture attended, will inspire me to be the best version of myself I can be. Heres to the outstanding faculty, peers, administrators and of course, the unmatchable pancakes at Four Aces, which made my last two years in Hanover, New Hampshire, truly special. Aditya Adi Shah is a newly-minted Tuck MBA from Mumbai, India. Prior to Tuck, he worked in his familys tea manufacturing and exports business in India and Russia. He is deeply passionate about all things food, and post-Tuck will join General Mills Inc. as an Associate Marketing Manager. Screenshot via Mack Trucks Mack Trucks is offering customers a 360-degree virtual reality tour of its trucks to show what it is like to sit in the cab and ride in a vehicle while on the job. Virtual reality is a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that allows for viewer interactions. Mack used virtual reality technology to better demonstrate features and benefits of the Pinnacle, Granit and Titan models equipped with an mDrive HD 13-speed automated manual transmission. Using virtual reality headgear, Google Cardboard or a smartphone, viewers can look 360 degrees to see the cab interior in its entirety, giving a better feel for what it is like to be in a Mack truck while its operating in quarries and on the highway. Google Cardboard is a device made of cardboard that folds into a viewer that can attach to a compatible Android smartphone, turning it into a virtual reality headset. Through virtual reality, customers and the general public now have the opportunity to truly understand what its like to be in the cab of a Mack truck as it gets the job done, said John Walsh, Mack vice president of global brand and marketing. Our trucks, when paired with the mDrive HD 13-speed, are unmatched in terms of power and performance, and now we are offering everyone a unique experience to better demonstrate this. The virtual reality experience lets users virtually sit in a Mack Granite model in the mud on a job site to see how it drives up and down steep grades or on a fully loaded Pinnacle driving up and down a 15% and 20% grade. To experience Macks virtual reality, visit MackTrucks.com/VR to sign up for a free Google Cardboard device and link it to the Mack virtual reality app. The virtual videos will also be posted to the Mack website, but will not be as immersive as the Google Cardboard version. Photo: Omni Specialized Omni Holdings offshoot Omni Specialized will be in full operation after it acquired the flatbed assets of Tennant Truck Lines, the company announced. The newly formed company will be offering general commodity flatbed and over-dimensional, open deck specialized service. The Tennant Truck Lines name and authority will continue to operate, as a van carrier, under the ownership of Josh Kaburick, who's also the owner and CEO of E.L. Henderson Trucking. After a long run as the CEO of Tennant Truck Lines Inc., Aaron Tennant sold the operation to Kaburick about a year ago. However, Kaburick decided to focus on the van operations and divested the open-deck equipment. Many of the Tennant flatdeck operations' employees and drivers also moved over to Omni, according to the company. "By acquiring the flatbed assets of Tennant Truck Lines and hiring many of its office employees and drivers, we are able to immediately meet the shipping needs of customers that rely on us for quality, on time and damage-free service," explained Thomas Witt, president of Omni Specialized. Witt, an industry executive with more than 35 years of experience, will serve as Omnis president. Fellow 35-year veteran Earl Coleman will oversee financial management of the company. Omni Specialized, based in Colona, Ill., is an over-dimensional and general commodity carrier providing service with a fleet of platform, low-profile step deck and RGN double drop trailers. The company operates two terminals located in Baltimore, Md., and Wichita, Kan. In addition to Omnis asset-based open deck truckload capabilities, the company offers extensive logistics-based solutions. "This is our first step in establishing a platform from which to grow both organically and through acquisition, said Witt. Aaron Tennant remains in the trucking business. In October 2014 he purchased a trucking company, Simplex Leasing Inc., based out of Jamestown, N.D. The company has about 45 trucks and hauls agricultural and construction equipment. He also started a new business in 2015, Total Solutions Inc. in Davenport, Iowa, which provides payroll, employee leasing, IT and HR services to small-medium sized businesses. tugtechnologyandbusiness.com This Domain Name Has Expired - Renewal Instructions Tonight Insight looks at questions of fair work, fair pay and labour exploitation. SBS gathers a range of foreign workers, some now Australian citizens, who have experienced exploitation in many different industries. Around one million people in Australia are recently-arrived visa holders with work rights. Theres a high demand for cheap and unregulated workers in Australia and a ready supply of foreign workers looking to earn an Australian wage. Last year, labour exploitation accounted for about a third of all human trafficking investigations conducted by the AFP, and complaints to the Fair Work Ombudsman from migrant workers have soared in recent years. Labour hire companies, which provide workers to some of Australias biggest companies, are among the biggest culprits when it comes to rorting foreign workers. In the last year, there have been three* separate government inquiries into the industry. When does exploitation become a criminal matter? Forced labour offences were only introduced in Australia in 2013, however have not yet been tested in the courts. Many workers arent fully aware of their employment rights and for most, speaking up about exploitation while on a temporary visa isnt seen as an option. But what happens when you do? Is anyone being held accountable? And are we all benefiting from these practices? Guests include: Giri Sivaraman Maurice Blackburn Lawyers This is effectively slavery. Shes not getting paid at all, she cant go anywhere, she cant leave. Heather Moore Salvation Army The Global Slavery Index has just come out with a report estimating 4,300 people could be enslaved in Australia right now. We need to accept that we have a problem here. A/Prof. Joo-Cheong Tham University of Melbourne Its wrong morally. This is wrong legally. Natalie I thought, I have no contact with the outside world because theres no signal on my phone, theres no-one around me I was so frightened. Sandra Jenny Brockie: What were you paid for those three years of work? Sandra: Nothing, I had no pay, no money. Sunny Liu I would say 80 per cent of my international student friends are all getting underpaid. Sana Ullah Jenny Brockie: You got an order for $12,000 in underpaid wages. Have you seen any of that money yet? Sana: No. Pranay Alawala No ones hiring me so maybe Ill get deported I dont have a visa. So theres no use of coming forward. Czar Amonsot We still feel good because Australia gives us a visa that we can live here and gives us a chance to live life here. Tuesdays at 8.30pm on SBS. The 60 Minutes saga looks to be far from over if child recovery agent with Adam Whittington claiming he did not botch the exercise in Beirut. The Child Abduction Recovery International agent, who was released from Lebanon on the weekend, took to social media to say: You all will have seen that I am now home safe & sound and reunited with my family. I am feeling well and undergoing health checks as a precaution. For now my priority is having this precious family time that I dreamt of every second during my 104 day imprisonment. The media, thank you. I am receiving all your requests and I will reply shortly. I will be in Australia soon to speak to all the media so please bear with me for now so I can spend time with my family. Along with revealing the truth, I will also reveal Sallys recovery was not a botched job and the reasons why with evidence. Motivations I and those who know are still trying to understand. The world, like I was, will be shocked when you hear the truth! I would like to make it clear even though Im home there will be no celebrating until Craig, Mohammed and Khalad are free. CARI, our legal team and all the amazing people at #bringskippyhome are rallying to raise funds to help get them out of the hellish conditions. For now I ask you all to get behind helping us to bring Craig, Mohammad and Khaled home just like you did with me. Once the whole team are home, then we can celebrate. Below is a link to the go fund me page to help to donate to assist with their release. https://www.gofundme.com/ 2gfe5yjg I also ask for the continued respect of mine and my familys privacy during this time. Thank you all again, you are all simply amazing! Adam Whittington aka: Skippy Most economists in the United States seem captivated by the spell of the free market. Consequently, nothing seems good or normal that does not accord with the requirements of the free market. A price that is determined by the seller or, for that matter, established by anyone other than the aggregate of consumers seems pernicious. Accordingly, it requires a major act of will to think of price-fixing (the determination of prices by the seller) as both normal and having a valuable economic function. In fact, price-fixing is normal in all industrialized societies because the industrial system itself provides, as an effortless consequence of its own development, the price-fixing that it requires. Modern industrial planning requires and rewards great size. Hence, a comparatively small number of large firms will be competing for the same group of consumers. That each large firm will act with consideration of its own needs and thus avoid selling its products for more than its competitors charge is commonly recognized by advocates of free-market economic theories. But each large firm will also act with full consideration of the needs that it has in common with the other large firms competing for the same customers. Each large firm will thus avoid significant price-cutting, because price-cutting would be prejudicial to the common interest in a stable demand for products. Most economists do not see price-fixing when it occurs because they expect it to be brought about by a number of explicit agreements among large firms; it is not. Moreover, those economists who argue that allowing the free market to operate without interference is the most efficient method of establishing prices have not considered the economies of non-socialist countries other than the United states. These economies employ intentional price-fixing, usually in an overt fashion. Formal price-fixing by cartel and informal price-fixing by agreements covering the members of an industry are commonplace. Were there something peculiarly efficient about the free market and inefficient about price-fixing, the countries that have avoided the first and used the second would have suffered drastically in their economic development. There is no indication that they have. Socialist industry also works within a framework of controlled prices. In the early 1970s, the Soviet Union began to give firms and industries some of the flexibility in adjusting prices that a more informal evolution has accorded the capitalist system. Economists in the United States have hailed the change as a return to the free market. But Soviet firms are no more subject to prices established by a free market over which they exercise little influence than are capitalist firms; rather, Soviet firms have been given the power to fix prices. (A) refute the theory that the free market plays a useful role in the development of industrialized societies (B) suggest methods by which economists and members of the government of the United States can recognize and combat price-fixing by large firms (C) show that in industrialized societies price-fixing and the operation of the free market are not only compatible but also mutually beneficial (D) explain the various ways in which industrialized societies can fix prices in order to stabilize the free market (E) argue that price-fixing, in one form or another, is an inevitable part of and benefit to the economy of any industrialized society Show Spoiler E 2. The passage provides information that would answer which of the following questions about price-fixing? I. What are some of the ways in which prices can be fixed? II. For what products is price-fixing likely to be more profitable that the operation of the free market? III. Is price-fixing more common in socialist industrialized societies or in non-socialist industrialized societies? (A) I only (B) III only (C) I and II only (D) II and III only (E) I, II, and III Show Spoiler A 3. The authors attitude toward Most economists in the United States(line 1) can best be described as (A) spiteful and envious (B) scornful and denunciatory (C) critical and condescending (D) ambivalent but deferential (E) uncertain but interested Show Spoiler C 4. It can be inferred from the authors argument that a price fixed by the seller seems pernicious (line 7) because (A) people do not have confidence in large firms (B) people do not expect the government to regulate prices (C) most economists believe that consumers as a group should determine prices (D) most economists associate fixed prices with communist and socialist economies (E) most economists believe that no one group should determine prices Show Spoiler C 5. The suggestion in the passage that price-fixing in industrialized societies is normal arises from the authors statement that price-fixing is (A) a profitable result of economic development (B) an inevitable result of the industrial system (C) the result of a number of carefully organized decisions (D) a phenomenon common to industrialized and non-industrialized societies (E) a phenomenon best achieved cooperatively by government and industry Show Spoiler B 6. According to the author, price-fixing in non-socialist countries is often (A) accidental but productive (B) illegal but useful (C) legal and innovative (D) traditional and rigid (E) intentional and widespread Show Spoiler E 7. According to the author, what is the result of the Soviet Unions change in economic policy in the 1970s? (A) Soviet firms show greater profit. (B) Soviet firms have less control over the free market. (C) Soviet firms are able to adjust to technological advances. (D) Soviet firms have some authority to fix prices. (E) Soviet firms are more responsive to the free market. Show Spoiler D 8. With which of the following statements regarding the behavior of large firms in industrialized societies would the author be most likely to agree? (A) The directors of large firms will continue to anticipate the demand for products. (B) The directors of large firms are less interested in achieving a predictable level of profit than in achieving a large profit. (C) The directors of large firms will strive to reduce the costs of their products. (D) Many directors of large firms believe that the government should establish the prices that will be charged for products. (E) Many directors of large firms believe that the price charged for products is likely to increase annually. Show Spoiler A 9. In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with (A) predicting the consequences of a practice (B) criticizing a point of view (C) calling attention to recent discoveries (D) proposing a topic for research (E) summarizing conflicting opinions Show Spoiler B 1. The primary purpose of the passage is to(A) refute the theory that the free market plays a useful role in the development of industrialized societies(B) suggest methods by which economists and members of the government of the United States can recognize and combat price-fixing by large firms(C) show that in industrialized societies price-fixing and the operation of the free market are not only compatible but also mutually beneficial(D) explain the various ways in which industrialized societies can fix prices in order to stabilize the free market(E) argue that price-fixing, in one form or another, is an inevitable part of and benefit to the economy of any industrialized society2. The passage provides information that would answer which of the following questions about price-fixing?I. What are some of the ways in which prices can be fixed?II. For what products is price-fixing likely to be more profitable that the operation of the free market?III. Is price-fixing more common in socialist industrialized societies or in non-socialist industrialized societies?(A) I only(B) III only(C) I and II only(D) II and III only(E) I, II, and III3. The authors attitude toward Most economists in the United States(line 1) can best be described as(A) spiteful and envious(B) scornful and denunciatory(C) critical and condescending(D) ambivalent but deferential(E) uncertain but interested4. It can be inferred from the authors argument that a price fixed by the seller seems pernicious (line 7) because(A) people do not have confidence in large firms(B) people do not expect the government to regulate prices(C) most economists believe that consumers as a group should determine prices(D) most economists associate fixed prices with communist and socialist economies(E) most economists believe that no one group should determine prices5. The suggestion in the passage that price-fixing in industrialized societies is normal arises from the authors statement that price-fixing is(A) a profitable result of economic development(B) an inevitable result of the industrial system(C) the result of a number of carefully organized decisions(D) a phenomenon common to industrialized and non-industrialized societies(E) a phenomenon best achieved cooperatively by government and industry6. According to the author, price-fixing in non-socialist countries is often(A) accidental but productive(B) illegal but useful(C) legal and innovative(D) traditional and rigid(E) intentional and widespread7. According to the author, what is the result of the Soviet Unions change in economic policy in the 1970s?(A) Soviet firms show greater profit.(B) Soviet firms have less control over the free market.(C) Soviet firms are able to adjust to technological advances.(D) Soviet firms have some authority to fix prices.(E) Soviet firms are more responsive to the free market.8. With which of the following statements regarding the behavior of large firms in industrialized societies would the author be most likely to agree?(A) The directors of large firms will continue to anticipate the demand for products.(B) The directors of large firms are less interested in achieving a predictable level of profit than in achieving a large profit.(C) The directors of large firms will strive to reduce the costs of their products.(D) Many directors of large firms believe that the government should establish the prices that will be charged for products.(E) Many directors of large firms believe that the price charged for products is likely to increase annually.9. In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with(A) predicting the consequences of a practice(B) criticizing a point of view(C) calling attention to recent discoveries(D) proposing a topic for research(E) summarizing conflicting opinions US telco giant Verizon Communications Inc is acquiring Yahoo for $US4.83b, a year after it bought AOL for $US4.4b. Yahoo will be integrated with AOL under the Product Innovation and New Businesses organisation at Verizon, according to a statement by Verizon. Just over a year ago we acquired AOL to enhance our strategy of providing a cross-screen connection for consumers, creators and advertisers. The acquisition of Yahoo will put Verizon in a highly competitive position as a top global mobile media company, and help accelerate our revenue stream in digital advertising, said Verizon Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam. Seven West Media said it had various options under its Yahoo7 joint venture agreement. Seven West Media will have an opportunity, in the period between being formally notified of a transaction and final completion, to consider which options it selects or a combination as may be negotiated with the new owners of Yahoo, Inc that creates the most value for Seven West Media shareholders, it said in a statement. Until completion of any change of control of Yahoo, Inc, which Seven West Media understands may take six to nine months in the nature of large and complex transactions, it is business as usual at Yahoo7 here in Australia and New Zealand. Seven was previously partners with AOL before partnering with Yahoo in 2006. Seven West Media looks forward to discussing with Verizon Communications, the companys future plans for Yahoo, Inc in Australia and any impact these may have on Yahoo7 in Australia and New Zealand. Seven West Media has a number of positive options that will define its future development and success in digital media, building on its already highly successful development over the past few years, it continued. Seven West Media will update the market when it makes relevant decisions concerning this matter. Not even multichannels could TENs raid on ratings last night -with the network having a red hot shot of taking the week. MasterChef Australias semi final topped the night with 1.44m viewers -its biggest numbers all year. The penultimate episode, which saw Harry leave the kitchen, again topped the Demos. It was TENs biggest primetime audience in a year. Earlier Seven News and A Current Affair both won their timeslots. Love Child was down against heated competition. But it was ABCs shocking Four Corners expose that today has the nation talking with Prime Minister Turnbull announcing a Royal Commission. It ranked second in its slot. TEN network won Monday with 26.6% then Seven 26.4%, Nine 22.7%, ABC 19.6% and SBS 4.7%. Following MasterChef for TEN was Have You Been Paying Attention? (827,000). The Project drew 803,000 / 522,000, TEN Eyewitness News was 527,000 and NCIS: New Orleans was 242,000. Seven News was best for Seven with 1.24m / 1.16m then Home and Away (784,000), Highway Patrol (763,000), The Chase (728,000 / 444,000), Worlds Angriest (522,000) and Movie: The Bourne Ultimatum (521,000). Nine News (1.07m / 1.02m) led for Nine then A Current Affair (970,000), Hot Seat (602,000), Love Child (587,000 / 555,000), 20 to One (572,000). Footy Classified was 161,000 in 3 cities. ABC News (856,000), 7:30 (809,000), Media Watch (757,000), Australian Story (740,000), Four Corners (723,000) and Q&A (574,000) comprised ABCs evening. SBS was down with Michael Mosley: E-Cigarettes (200,000), Predict My Future: The Science of Us (163,000), SBS World News (131,000) and The Island with Bear Grylls (96,000). ABC2s Peter Rabbit led multichannels again with 337,000. Today: 328,000 Sunrise: 322,000 ABC News Breakfast: 91,000 / 60,000 OzTAM Overnights: Monday 25 July 2016 US actor Timothy Hutton is returning for the third season of anthology series American Crime, by writer John Ridley. He joins Felicity Huffman, Regina King and Richard Cabral who are all returning. The third season will be set in North Carolina and centre on labor issues and individual rights, but filmed in California. John and I are thrilled to have Tim return to season three, executive producer Michael McDonald said in a statement. We believe that Tims undeniable talent will be showcased in a role unlike anything we have ever seen from Tim. He will shock the audience in a darker twisted turn as a wealthy man struggling to keep his family and fortune. American Crime screens in Australia on Presto. No Ukrainian soldier was killed, but five servicemen were wounded in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone in eastern Ukraine over the past twenty-four hours. Presidential Administration Spokesperson for ATO issues Andriy Lysenko said this at a briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. No Ukrainian serviceman was killed as a result of military actions, but five were wounded, Lysenko said. y About 40,800 soldiers have already signed contracts for a military service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the beginning of 2016. Lieutenant-Colonel Oleksiy Chornobay, the official representative of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry, said this at the briefing on Tuesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "Ukrainian citizens continue to sign contracts for a military service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. About 40,800 soldiers, including 4,500 officers, have already signed contracts since the beginning of the year," Chornobay said. He also noted that, according to the regional employment centers, contract service is still one of the most competitive professions in the Ukrainian labor market. ol Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen announced on Tuesday that the city's latest affordable housing numbers prove that Mayor de Blasio's controversial Housing New York Planwhich relies heavily on providing subsidies to private developers in exchange for a percentage of below-market rate unitsis ahead of schedule. According to City Hall, the administration has created or preserved a combined 52,936 units of affordable housing since the plan's launch in 2014. The mayor's goal of 200,000 affordable units by the year 2024 only calls for 50,000 units at this stage. "Many people in the housing development and real estate fields in New York and nationally thought [this] was a fairly crazy and overly ambitious goal," Glen said on Tuesday. (Mayor de Blasio himself was absent, having traveled to Philadelphia for the Democratic Convention.) Advocates have argued that these numbers represent too little too late. Before Mayor de Blasio's housing plan was implemented, the city was short 550,000 affordable apartments for families that make less than $42,000 per year. For that income group, the plan calls for 16,000 new apartments, or less than 3% of the need. Meanwhile, NYC's population is booming. And thanks to loopholes in the existing rent laws, the Alliance for Tenant Power estimates that the city could lose 100,000 affordable units by 2019. Over the fiscal year ending in June, the city says it created or preserved 23,284 affordable housing unitsup from 20,325 units in fiscal year 2015, and the most affordable housing the city has generated since 1989. The majority of the new or preserved units are in Manhattan16,935 of them, followed by 16,507 in Brooklyn. According to HPD, they're concentrated in neighborhoods including East Harlem, Brownsville in Brooklyn, and Highbridge and Belmont in the Bronx. Here's the breakdown, by affordability: (via Mayor's office). Preservation far outstripped ground-up construction last year, in large part thanks to the city's financing on two major preservation projects: Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, between East 14th and 23rd Streets, and the Riverton Houses in East Harlem. The preservation process does not insure permanent affordabilitywhen a building is "preserved," its owner receives a cocktail of loans and tax breaks that expire after between 15 and 30 years, taking any affordability requirements with them. In the case of Stuy Town, the city helped finance a deal between the complex's then-owners and Blackstone Group, a massive international investment firm that manages some $93 billion in properties. Ultimately, Blackstone agreed to preserve the relatively affordable rents of 5,000 of the complex's regulated units. In exchange, the investor was guaranteed one million square feet of extremely valuable air rights. For city officials, Stuy Town is proof of the success of a housing plan that hinges on private investment. "Some people would have said, 'What are you doing? Why are you in the middle of private market transactions? That's not the role of the government.'" Glen said on Tuesday. "We were very clear when we came into office that we were going to be strategic and [intervene] where we could." "Blackstone is a notorious private equity company that is going to... be making money hand over fist," argued Cea Weaver, research and policy director for New York Communities For Change, a coalition of housing advocates for low-income New Yorkers. "The more we go down this path, the more we're empowering private investors to control a public resource." Reporters pointed out this week that, less Stuy Town and Riverton, the city actually preserved fewer affordable units than it did last year. Glen said that while there aren't projects the size of Stuy Town in the pipeline, the city will "work harder" in order to achieve similar numbers in the future. "I can't say that [it will be 17,000], but I'm sure it's not going to be [as low as] 11,000," she said. (Denn Ice / Flickr) Vicki Been, head of the city's Housing and Preservation Development (HPD), emphasized today that 25% of the units produced to date, 12,970 of the total, are set aside for New Yorkers who make less than 50% of the Area Median Income, or $40,800 for a family of three. Of that total, 6,817 are set aside for extremely low income families, those that make less than $24,000 per year. "These are the very hardest units to produce," she said. For context, a full third of the city's households have an annual income of less than $35,000. The Mayor's team indicated Tuesday that it is doing the best it can under the circumstances. "Land and construction costs [are high]," Glen said. "We don't have a gazillion city-owned buildings to put into the sausage maker. We have to be much more creative and work with the private sector." At the moment, there are no plans to develop deeper city subsidies for the constriction of affordable housing. "The fact that developers continue to want to do business with us and are able to make their margins work given where the subsidies are, generally speaking we don't have to raise subsidy levels right now," Glen added. Advocates have argued that the city could do a better job of documenting and assessing the vacant properties already in its control, which might be converted to deeply affordable housing at a lower cost. This spring, HPD confirmed 897 vacant apartment units in just one city-owned housing program. In 2012, the advocacy group Picture the Homeless counted more than 3,500 vacant buildings across the five boroughs. Asked if the city had plans to count and assess all of its vacant properties, Been said it did not. "When my inspectors are on the ground they're always looking for signs of vacancy, and then... we reach out to the owner and try to understand what is going on," she said. "The city does not have a registry of vacant property, but we monitor it very carefully." Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed a decree to mark the day of special operations forces of Ukraine's Armed Forces on July 29, the president's press service reports. President Poroshenko signed the decree establishing the day of special operations forces of the Ukraine's Armed Forces, the press service reports. According to President Poroshenko, the establishment of this holiday will promote further development of national military traditions, military and patriotic education of youth and its readiness to defend the native land. iy Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yury Lutsenko has ordered the prosecutors to inspect public utilities companies on claims of transferring funds through fictitious businesses, he made a statement while presenting new prosecutor of the Chernihiv region, Ukrinform has reported. "I m writing a letter to all regions, and I inform you verbally that in the near future 90 days you have to inspect the operations of all water utilities, heating generating companies, state-owned natural gas enterprises in connection with co-operation with fictitious legal entities through which, according to our estimates, they pocketed from 20 percent to 30 percent of their costs of services. Some regions have reached 40 percent of funds embezzlement," said Lutsenko. He ordered to analyze the work of utility enterprises and make legal assessment of such violations. tl Ukraine is going to cooperate with the European Union experts to establish a working group to draft an action plan for accession to the European digital community. Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said this at the Digital Economy Forum, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "We have agreed to establish a joint working group to draft our joint action plan, the objectives and requirements for Ukraines accession to the digital community of the European Union," Groysman said following the meeting with Gunther Oettinger, the EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society. According to him, Ukraine has "an extremely wide field of activity" in the system of digital economy. The Prime Minister also expressed his belief that our nation could take a lead in this field. "We face the issue of introducing comprehensive electronic management. We have to develop e-customs, e-economy, e-commerce," the Head of Ukrainian Government stressed. ol Ukraine has almost 90,000 IT professionals and thousands of companies are providing services in the digital sector at the moment, Deputy Head of Presidential Administration Dmytro Shymkiv has told a forum on digital economy, Ukrinform has reported. "Ukraine has huge potential: we have more than 90,000 IT professionals, more than one thousand companies are providing IT services", he noted. In addition, he said that almost one hundred multinational companies are working on scientific development and research, including in the IT-sphere in Ukraine. At the same time Shymkiv noted the importance of our country entering in digital community which is shared with the European Union. tl Rivne city airport plans to open new air routes to Egypt, a local travel agency released a statement, Ukrinform has reported. "A plane charter program from Rivne airport to Egypt will start on 19 October and last until May 10 next year. Tours will be made available for booking starting from mid-August," the report has said. Earlier, Ukrinform reported that Rivne airport opened its first one flight per week regular flight connection to Turkey on July 10. Technical capabilities allow the airport, according to preliminary estimates, to operate about 8-9 flights a week. tl Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has appealed to its international partners to step up political and diplomatic pressure on the Kremlin in order to stop dangerous escalation of conflict in eastern Ukraine, according to a statement released by the Foreign Ministry. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is deeply concerned about the worsening of security situation in the zone of the anti-terrorist operation. The militants backed by the Russian Federation shelled positions held by Ukrainian Armed Forces in 189 episodes during the July 22-24 period," the diplomats have noted. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry demands that the Russian Federation as a participant in the Minsk agreements urgently fulfill its obligations to withdraw its servicemen, mercenaries and weapons from the territory of Donbas, put a stop to unlawful supplies of weapons and military equipment to the militants, resume the work which is conducted by SMM OSCE. The diplomats said that "deliberate escalation of the security situation I occurring amid massive deliveries by the Russian Federation of military equipment, arms and ammunition, deployment of new mercenaries and military personnel from Russian Armed Forces in Donbas." Since the beginning of July, 19 train echelons filled with armaments and military equipment crossed the unmonitored section of the Ukrainian-Russian border from the Russian Federation. Russia delivered 19 units of T-72 tanks, three Grad multiple rocket launching systems, 2 self-propelled artillery systems, 11 armored personnel carriers and vehicles in violation of international law and its commitments to control arms exports. The diplomats also noted that "intimidation of observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine have been clearly traced, obstructing their work of monitoring and verification under a mandate which was also approved by the Russian Federation." Such Kremlins rhetoric, the Foreign Ministry says, is confirmed by the position of the Russian delegation taken at the Minsk talks, where it tries to act as an observer and advocate of the illegal armed groups in separate areas of Donbas instead of making them implement the Minsk agreements in full. Russia also demonstrates such behavior relating to agreements reached in Normandy format, avoiding their implementation or deliberately trying to distort their meaning. In particular, it relates to framework principles of pulling off troops away from the contact line that has been agreed by military advisers in this format on 15-16 June, 2016. tl We rely on your support to make local news available to all Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today Fighting in South Sudan that broke out on 8 July between rival factions loyal to Salva Kiir and Riek Machar has to date forced 37,491 people to flee the country to Uganda. To put this in context: In the past three weeks there have been more refugee arrivals in Uganda than in the entire first six months of 2016 (33,838). Yesterday (25 July) an estimated 2,442 refugees were received in Uganda from South Sudan. 1,213 crossed at the Elugu Border Point in Amuru, 247 in Moyo, 57 in Lamwo, and 370 in Oraba. Another 555 were received in Kiryandongo Settlement. The majority of arrivals more than 90 per cent are women and children. People are coming from South Sudans Eastern Equatoria region, as well as Juba and other areas of the country. Inside South Sudan the intensity of the violence has subsided since early July, but the security situation remains volatile. The new arrivals in Uganda are reporting ongoing fighting as well as looting by armed militias, burning down of homes, and murders of civilians. Some of the women and children told us they were separated from their husbands or fathers by armed groups, who are reportedly forcibly recruiting men into their ranks and preventing them from crossing the border. The situation is extremely worrying. Daily arrivals were averaging around 1,500 ten days ago but have risen to over 4,000 in the past week. Further surges in arrivals are a real possibility. The influx is putting serious strain on the capacity of collection points, and transit and reception centres, which are too small for the growing number of arrivals. During the course of the weekend, humanitarian organisations worked to decongest the collection points, as well as installing temporary shelters to increase capacities. UNHCR has deployed additional staff, trucks and buses to assist. At its peak, more than 11,000 refugees were staying in Elegu, northern Uganda, in a compound equipped to shelter only 1,000 people. Over the course of the weekend, the centre was significantly decongested, with just 300 people sleeping there last night. Many of the refugees have been moved to the Nyumanzi Transit Centre, where they are receiving hot meals, water, shelter and other life-saving assistance, while others have been taken to expanded reception centres in Pagirinya. The management and expansion of reception facilities as well as the opening of a new settlement area remain key priorities. A new settlement area has been identified in Yumbe district that looks set to have the capacity to potentially host up to 100,000 people. Temporary communal shelters are also being constructed to accommodate the continuing arrivals. The humanitarian response to the influx of South Sudanese refugees is sorely lacking due to severe underfunding. The inter-agency appeal is only funded at 17 per cent, which is constraining UNHCR and its partners to provide emergency and life-saving activities only and causing limitations to the full breadth of humanitarian assistance that can be offered. South Sudans conflict, which erupted in December 2013, has produced one of the worlds worst displacement situations with immense suffering. Inside South Sudan, some 1.69 million people are displaced internally, while outside the country there are now 831,582 South Sudanese refugees, mainly in Ethiopia, Sudan, and Uganda. For more information on this topic, please contact: Regina Keji, 54, fled to northern Uganda this month when violence erupted in Eastern Equatoria, South Sudan. UNHCR/Will Swanson GENEVA Recent fighting in South Sudan has to date forced 37,491 people to flee to Uganda. To put this in context: more refugees have arrived in Uganda in the past three weeks than during the entire first six months of 2016, when 33,838 came there in search of safety. On 25 July an estimated 2,442 refugees were received in Uganda from South Sudan. Some 1,213 crossed at the Elugu border point in Amuru, 247 in Moyo, 57 in Lamwo and 370 in Oraba. Another 555 were received at the Kiryandongo settlement. The majority of arrivals more than 90 per cent are women and children. People are coming from South Sudans Eastern Equatoria region, as well as Juba and other areas of the country. UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards told a press briefing in Geneva that the intensity of the violence that broke out in South Sudan between rival factions loyal to Salva Kiir and Riek Machar has subsided since early July. However, the security situation remains volatile. The new arrivals in Uganda are reporting ongoing fighting as well as looting by armed militias, burning down of homes and murders of civilians, Edwards said. Some of the women and children told us they were separated from their husbands or fathers by armed groups, who are reportedly forcibly recruiting men into their ranks and preventing them from crossing the border. Some of the women and children told us they were separated from their husbands or fathers by armed groups. Pascalina Juwa, 60, was among the newly arrived refugees who spoke to UNHCR in northern Uganda. This was the third time she fled to Uganda in her lifetime. She doesnt trust the current calm and escaped her hometown, Opari Payam, as soon as she could. Now we are all fighting among ourselves. Why? Pascalina said. At Pageri, there was a young boy, under 18, he came from grinding. When he was riding his motorcycle when he was going back, he was shot down. You see, these are the soldiers that are doing this to the community. UNHCR remains extremely worried about the situation. Daily arrivals were averaging around 1,500 just 10 days ago, but have risen to over 4,000 in the past week. Further surges in arrivals are a real possibility. South Sudan fighting drives surge of refugees to Uganda The influx is straining the capacity of collection points, and transit and reception centres, which are too small for the growing number of arrivals. During the course of the weekend, humanitarian organizations worked to decongest the collection points and installed temporary shelters to increase capacities. UNHCR has deployed additional staff, trucks and buses to assist. At its peak, more than 11,000 refugees were staying in Elegu, in northern Uganda, in a compound equipped to shelter only 1,000 people. Over the course of the weekend, the centre was significantly decongested, and just 300 people slept there on Monday night. Many of the refugees have been moved to the Nyumanzi transit centre, where they are receiving hot meals, water, shelter and other life-saving assistance; others have been taken to expanded reception centres in Pagirinya. The management and expansion of reception facilities as well as the opening of a new settlement area remain key priorities. A new settlement area has been identified in Yumbe district, with the capacity to potentially host up to 100,000 people. Temporary communal shelters are also being built to accommodate the continuing arrivals. The humanitarian response to the influx of South Sudanese refugees is sorely lacking due to severe underfunding. The humanitarian response to the influx of South Sudanese refugees is sorely lacking due to severe underfunding, Edwards said. The inter-agency appeal is only funded at 17 per cent, which is constraining UNHCR and its partners to provide emergency and life-saving activities only and causing limitations to the full breadth of humanitarian assistance that can be offered. South Sudans conflict, which erupted in December 2013, has produced one of the worlds worst displacement situations with immense suffering. Some 1.69 million people are displaced inside the country, while there are now 831,582 South Sudanese refugees abroad, mainly in Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda. * Michael O'Hagan contributed reporting from Adjumani, Uganda Geneva, 26 July 2016 - UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency today appealed to donors for an additional $115.4 million to fund the voluntary return and reintegration of Somali refugees from Dadaab refugee camp, Kenya. Funding is also required for relocation of refugees from Dadaab to Kakuma refugee camp, as well as related projects and infrastructure in Kenya and Somalia. UNHCR had previously appealed for $369.4 million for the Somalia situation. With this additional ask, and with some reprioritization of projects, UNHCRs total revised 2016 requirements for this response in the affected countries (Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia) is now $484.8 million. Following the Government of Kenyas announcement on 6 May of its decision to close Dadaab Camp, UNHCR presented a plan of action at the meeting of Tripartite Commission (Kenya, Somalia and UNHCR) which took place in Nairobi at the end of June and was attended by the High Commissioner, Filippo Grandi. The plan outlines a process intended to reduce the population of Dadaab currently 343,043 (326,611 Somalis) by 150,000 by the end of 2016. The $115 million requested will go towards a number of activities, including: - Relocation of 16,000 non-Somali refugees from Dadaab to Kakuma - Relocation of 15,000 Somali refugees currently in the resettlement process to Kakuma - Relocation, reintegration of an estimated 42,000 Kenyans believed registered as refugees - Verification of the Dadaab population and a comprehensive Return Intention Survey - Support for an additional 50,000 voluntary Somali refugee returns from Dadaab to Somalia UNHCR is committed to ensuring that all returns to Somalia are voluntary and carried out in dignity, safety and with the protection of refugees paramount at all times, said UNHCRs Africa Bureau Director Valentin Tapsoba. In order to do this we are requesting the international donor community to support this additional appeal so that returning Somalis can go back to their home country with the best possible opportunities to re-establish themselves and their families in peace and stability, he said. This additional funding is also required for the proposed increase in the return assistance package before departure from Kenya and upon return to Somalia. It is proposed to increase the return grant from $150 to $200 for Somalis returning by road. Those with specific needs would receive an additional $75. For the smaller number of returnees travelling by air, the return grant would be increased from $100 to $150, with an additional $30 for those with specific needs. Returnees will also be provided with a package of non-food items. On the Somalia side, donor support is sought to fund an increase in the return assistance package there. It is proposed to remove the cap of $600 per family reinstallation grant and instead offer returnees $200 per person, regardless of family size, a move which should see more large families opt to return. In order to assist with initial reintegration, each returning family will be supported with a $200 per family monthly payment for six months in order to help cover basic needs. The possibility of providing health insurance for urban returnees will also be considered. It is proposed to increase the areas of return and UNHCR presence, with three additional Way Stations to be added in Mandera/Belet Xawa, El Khalow/Ceel Wak and Anumel/Raskamboni as well as including Afmadow, Dinsoor and Belet Xawa to the existing nine areas of return. Access to basic social services is vital for successful reintegration and interventions will be focused on quick-impact (less than six months) community-based projects to create community assets in areas of return for returnees, IDPs and host community. Rehabilitation and/or extension of schools, health centres and other basic infrastructure will be implemented to sustain return, in close liaison with respective development programmes and plans. It is also proposed to establish an online job placement cross-border platform to connect job-seeking Somali returnees with prospective employers. If the donor support is received, it is proposed to increase food assistance from three months support to six, possibly even further. An education assistance grant of $25 per child per month for nine calendar months is also proposed. Shelter and non-food item support will be augmented with the possibility of monetization of the existing NFI package and UNHCR intends to support 22,500 households to construct localized permanent shelters with $1,000 per family. Localised solutions for urban returnees through rent payment will also be considered. It is anticipated that the majority of the remaining refugee population, approximately 170,000 people, would return to Somalia during the course of 2017 and possibly in early 2018. To date, over 19,000 Somalis have returned to Somalia from Dadaab since December 2014. Somalia Situation Supplementary Appeal: http://reporting.unhcr.org/node/15260 Communique of the Tripartite Commission: http://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2016/6/576ea0474/joint-communique-ministerial-tripartite-commission-voluntary-repatriation.html UNHCR Somali Refugees Data Portal: http://data.unhcr.org/horn-of-africa/regional.php Media contacts: In Nairobi, Duke Mwancha, [email protected], +254 722 207 863 For Somalia (Nairobi based), Julien Navier, [email protected], +254 732 400 044 In Geneva, Nora Sturm, [email protected], +41 79 200 76 18 Its Monday afternoon, and thousands of protesters are gearing up to sweat their way down Philadelphias Broad Street, registering their final, plaintive complaints before Hillary Clinton accepts the Democratic nomination Thursday night. But you cant hear any of that from inside El Vez, a Mexican restaurant where many of New Yorks top female elected officials have gathered for a couple hours of shmoozing, back-patting and sucking down endless free margaritas, a commodity as abundant as the icy air flowing mercifully from the vents. Hillarita? a server asks, thrusting a tray of frosty booze in my direction. Its 1:30 p.m. No thanks, I say, keeping a wistful eye on the tray as it bobs away. I learned long ago that I lack the ability to drink and work at the same time, a handicap that clearly puts me in the minority at this eventand, indeed, in politics in general. All around me, sweat-dampened delegates, elected officials and reporters grab at the skewered finger foods circulating the floor, and, of course, at the endless trays of Hillaritas. I truly believe that no one in Philly was working harder at that moment than the El Vez bartenders, dispatching platoons of servers to the floor armed with round after round after round of drinks. What is the point of this thing? I asked another reporter, who was there on behalf of a tabloid. He shrugged. Its not that the promotion for this mixer was misleading: It was, in fact, billed as a toast by New Yorks top female delegates, celebrating their girls propulsion to the White House. The Eleanor Roosevelt Conference Committee, a non-profit that provides unique opportunities to the women of New York State, was its primary sponsor, though a few moments of clicking around on the group's website left me no closer to understanding what it actually does. As Executive Director Brette McSweeney put it a short time later: The reason I founded ERCC was so we could all get together and drink margaritas. McSweeney was being cheeky, of course, but in the moment, she didn't seem far from wrong. By the time the speakers took the stage, the din in El Vez was quite nearly comparable to that outside of City Hall, where hoards of protesters gathered before heading to Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park, where around 50 would go on to get citations. But where the protesters were madlivid about Hillary, livid about Debbie Wasserman Schultz, livid about what they say was intentional, concerted effort to deny Bernie Sanders the nominationthe mood inside the hermetically sealed, climate controlled bubble of El Vez was its foil: Jovial, self-congratulatory and, dare I say, optimistic. In here, Hillary was viewed not as a bland, establishment candidate running a bland, establishment campaign which, if all goes well, will lead to a bland, establishment presidency. El Vez radiated a veneer of excited, if not somewhat contrived, female empowerment. There was genuine enthusiasm, of course, but I'm pretty sure it's because everyone was hammered. Now is not a time to be complacent, New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito told the crowd, which could not be bothered to stop talking as she spoke. We need to stand up against the bigotry, the misogyny, the sexismeverything else that exists, and that is being exhibited by the Republican side. It's ugly and theyre taking us backwards! A little girl wearing a purple sequined dress hopped up and down in ecstasy at her feet, and the crowd, previously unengaged, erupted in cheers. Shortly thereafter, Public Advocate Tish James stepped up to stage. Whats her name? she shouted into the mic, perhaps unnecessarily. HILLARY! the crowd roared back, a call and response that played out a few more times while I slowly went deaf. The girl in the sequined dress, previously exhibiting signs of fatigue, was back to hopping. McSweeney, ERCCs director, raised her glass to toast the future President of the United States, Hillary Clinton. I watched as two men at the bar, both dressed in blazers, raised their Hillarita glasses. Their eye contact with their respective phones remained perfectly, exquisitely unbroken. A Jamaican man arrested for sexually assaulting five subway commuters reportedly told the NYPD he had never seen white women before and found them so "absolutely beautiful" that he couldn't stop himself. Officers caught serial groper Damario Johnson, 19, as he allegedly chased a woman inside the Hoyt Street 2/3 station in downtown Brooklyn Monday morning and put his hands up her skirt, the Daily News reports. Johnson has been in the country for two months on a student visa. Police told the tabloid that he's suspected of groping one woman last Wednesday morning, another on Thursday night, and two more Friday. After victims filed reports with both the NYPD and MTA, transit cops used descriptions to identify Johnson yesterday at the Hoyt Street station. The Post reports that all of Johnson's victims were white women between 20 and 50 years old. NYPD Captain Zahid Williams told the paper that in some instances, Johnson managed to put his hand inside the women's underwear. Its a very distinctive crime, a very, very distinctive method of committing this crime, Williams said. Brexit is one of the most major incidents in the modern world that shook not only Europe but the whole world. On Jun. 23, a referendum was held to decide whether the U.K. should leave or remain in the European Union. The Leave votes won by 52 percent. According to BBC, the U.K. will have two years to talk about the terms of Brexit with the E.U. There are concerns that the nation leaving the group would have devastating results to its economy. Business Insider reported that Brexit may truly crush the nation's economy after a set of PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index) data by Markit released on Friday showed a "dramatic deterioration" in the economy since last month, when the U.K. chose to leave the E.U. The readings revealed that the composite output of U.K.'s economy fell to its lowest level since Mar. 2009. In a Medium post by Tobias Stone, he discussed about the possibility of a nuclear war that could be the direct result of Brexit. Stone, who has a background in history, archaeology and anthropology, noted that history has revealed a cycle where humans go into phases of mass destruction which are usually self-imposed. Moreover, a lot of people don't see the pattern because their perspectives are limited to what their parents or grandparents share to them, which is only about 50-100 years. Going beyond that would mean reading and studying history. Apparently, the possibility of a nuclear war would be because of Brexit being able to incite the same referendum for Italy or France. This would cause the European Union to be more fractured. A fractured E.U., which is a major force in suppressing Putin's military ambitions, would be weakened and may no longer be able to stop Russia's attacks on Ukraine. In addition, if Trump wins in the U.S., he would become an isolationist which would result to a weakened NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). The political chaos would definitely make it easier to go on another war. While this is purely speculation, Stone has added that we are headed for another period of destruction according to history. Hillary Clinton continues to criticize Donald Trump's vice presidential pick. Apparently, Mike Pence is not doing public education any good. Politifact reported that Hillary Clinton has compared the things that Donald Trump's vice presidential choice, Mike Pence, and her own pick, Tim Kaine were able to accomplish at a rally in Miami last week. Pence is currently the governor of Indiana while Kaine served as Virginia's governor from 2006 to 2010. "While Mike Pence slashed education funding in Indiana and gave more tax cuts to the wealthiest, Tim Kaine cut his own salary and invested in education from pre-K through college and beyond," Clinton said. However, it was revealed that Indiana did not decrease education funding under the leadership of Pence. It has risen every year since the governor took office three years ago. According to data by Larry DeBoer, who is a professor at Indiana's Purdue University, the state's spending for K-12 as well as higher education combined has hit record high through the current year. Although the rise is not as dramatic as expected, it's still there. There was backlash when last year's state budget took money from a few urban school districts and redistributed them to suburban districts. This was seen as benefiting the more wealthy students than those who actually need it most. On the other hand, Pence was able to get $15 million to fund a preschool program for poor families. Hillary Clinton claimed that her running mate Tim Kaine "invested" in education in Virginia. This implies that the former Virginia governor grew it in the state, which is contrary to data that suggests that state education spending decreased overall during his term. Politico noted that Clinton has said that Mike Pence would not be a good person to deal with public education. In a gathering in Minneapolis, she slammed Trump's running mate again. "Mike Pence is one of the most extreme vice presidential picks in a generation," she said. "And he's one of the most hostile politicians in America when it comes to public education." Apple Inc. is going back to a highly regarded senior executive who helped bring to market many of the company's signature products to oversee its fledgling automobile project. Bob Mansfield, the former Apple's Senior Vice President of Technologies, had stepped down from the role at the company a few years ago after the development of products such like the "MacBook Air," the "iMac" desktop computer, as well as the "iPad tablet," according to The Wall Street Journal. The technology company took back Mr. Mansfield to run Apple's secret autonomous, electric-vehicle initiative - which the company called it "Project Titan." Apple Inc. declined the request for a comment, the tech giant has been rather tight lipped about the details of "Project Titan," which a lot of people are all pretty sure it exists, based on the report of CNET. But, the details about the effort, which includes the discovery of a secretive facility in Sunnyvale, California, believed to be the home base for "Project Titan." The tech giant was suspected to have covered behind a shell corporation named SixtyEight Research LLC, Apple Insider reported. However, as the focus of automobile technology diverted from the internal combustion engine to machine vision, battery technology as well as software - it has offered an opportunity for companies like Apple, with an advantage from years of experience in building high-tech devices. Tim Cook, Chief Executive Officer of Apple, has predicted that a massive change will happen in the industry as software and autonomous driving become more significant. Anyway, the car project is one of Apple Inc.'s long-term collaborative enterprise that aimed at driving future growth. "Project Titan" could press the need as Apple as they suffered from a slowdown in sales for the "iPhone." The reassignment of Mansfield brings a leader with a record of giving challenging technical products to market in an effort that has been tangled up in problems. Watch The Video Here: State Teachers Receive Engineering Education at Unique UW Program Gov. Matt Mead, right, recently visited with students and faculty on a tour of the UW Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. (UW Photo) Craig Heald remembers days as a youngster when he could disassemble a television and know exactly which parts made the thing work. But, as technology advances nearly every day, the Cheyenne teacher realizes that same task wouldnt be as easy in 2016. Heald was among a group of 48 teachers from across Wyoming who descended upon the University of Wyoming campus in mid-July for the Engineering Summer Program for Teachers (ESP4T). The aim of the intensive three-day program is to build partnerships between the College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) and K-12 teachers to introduce engineering and technology into classrooms. It featured hands-on learning of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) concepts. Heald, a teacher at Afflerbach Elementary School in Cheyenne, already has introduced STEM education to his students. In recent years, he was involved with the UW Science Posse, worked with UW NASA Space Consortium and recalls when a UW group helped with a STEM project at his school in 2015. Im a self-made convert to STEM education thanks to my work with UW, Heald says. Im looking for the next level of instruction. My kids dont have a ton of opportunities to learn about it, so I rely on UW for a lot of that. ESP4T is a pilot program, established to encourage teachers to include engineering concepts as part of their curriculum and classroom teaching. Ensuring the next generation of qualified workers in the STEM fields is important, and filling that pipeline begins with teachers. They learned the basics of microcomputer technology and developing skill sets to implement electronic projects as part of classroom packs. The college will provide year-round technical support for the teachers. Jeanette Wallace teaches chemistry and physics at Wheatland High School. She came to the program with an understanding of mechanical engineering, but gained knowledge of things such as computer programming and coding. Ive gained a completely different perspective, she says. STEM education is in almost every career field. We need to change the way we educate. How do we teach each of these concepts together instead of as separate subjects? How do all these pieces fit? It was a revelation to really find out my students need to know this, she continues. There is STEM everywhere, and we can use it to understand how to make things work to make our society better. There is plenty of support for programs like this. It was made possible with financial contributions from the Tier-1 Engineering Initiative, the Wyoming Department of Education, the UW Office of Research and Economic Development, and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UW. Heald hopes to implement an after-school program soon. He believes even if his students are not interested in STEM careers, they will need to understand how the technology of todays world affects them and how to use it. As part of the program, he and the other teachers worked on developing new curriculum to introduce, which can be somewhat daunting. But, he leans on his days of disassembling televisions and encouraging his students to be lifelong learners. If you dont aim high, youll never get anywhere, he says. I think we have some great opportunities here. Counselors Visit UW In a related program, UW hosted guidance counselors from Wyoming schools July 14 for a daylong event. The program was spearheaded by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the CEAS. It featured demonstrations of the capabilities of the department, including robotics, imaging, brainwave visualizations, evolving artificial intelligence and deep learning. Jason Uitterdyk, a Laramie High School counselor, was one of the attendees at the demonstrations. Uitterdyk says Laramie High has classes that feature STEM concepts prominently in the curriculum. I think the program is awesome, he says. Im learning a lot of things to help me push students to UW and into technical career fields. Demonstrations of robots will speak to about any kid, and to be able to take that experience back to students is great. A highlight of the day was a visit from Gov. Matt Mead, who stopped by the CEAS. Mead, Sen. Phil Nicholas and Rep. Kermit Brown, both from Laramie, spent a morning at UW with faculty members and students in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the Department of Computer Science. Mead even took part in one demonstration, controlling a Jaguar robotic component on four wheels that featured a telescoping arm. It was controlled by the users body and hand movements. To me, this is such an exciting thing, because one of my pushes in Wyoming has been, How do we expand technology and become a bigger player in terms of our economy and industry? Mead says. Whether its computer technology or robotics, this all fits in. He says not everyone will go into STEM fields, but about 70 percent of the fields in the future will require some sort of STEM knowledge. If you can excite the seventh-grader or eighth-grader by being in a robotics program, they may not be in STEM, but just that process of learning and getting excited about learning -- whether theyre an English teacher or a musician or anything else that might be -- that process of getting excited about something and getting a passion and working to learn math and the science behind it, helps in whatever field youre in, Mead adds. SHARE Raspberries are displayed at a farmers market. STAR FILE PHOTO By Kathleen Wilson of the Ventura County Star About 80 seasonal agricultural workers will lose their jobs by the end of the month in the closure of a raspberry-growing operation in Oxnard, officials said in a notice. Rincon Pacific tied the closure of the operation at Santa Clara Ranch to economic reasons and the loss of a lease, according to a notice issued to the employees. The workers were told they could apply for jobs in October at the Camarillo company's strawberry operations in Oxnard, which remain in business. The announcement marks the third round of job losses announced in less than two months in the Ventura County agricultural industry, putting the total number over 900. All of the affected growers operate in the Oxnard area. Mandalay Berry Farms is closing and laying off 565 workers by the end of July because the owner is retiring, a spokesman for the strawberry producer has said. Vegetable grower Hiji Bros., plus two associated businesses plan to shut down by early August, eliminating about 260 jobs. Hiji's decision was prompted by the difficult regulatory climate in California, company attorney Rob Roy said. Roy, who also represents Rincon Pacific, said the company is facing difficult market conditions for raspberries at the same time its lease for land at Central and Santa Clara avenues is expiring. "The timing is right," he said Monday. Raspberries have surged in revenues and acreage in recent years, ranking as the No. 3 crop in the county with a value of more than $240 million in 2014. But the acreage devoted to the crop has plateaued, said John Krist, CEO of the Farm Bureau of Ventura County. "I think we have pretty much saturated the market," he said. Roy said competition from Mexico is also a factor. Growers in that country are bringing a lot of strawberries onto the market and can do it more cheaply, he said. All three growers informed employees under terms of state and federal laws requiring 60 days advance notice before plant closings and mass layoffs. In Rincon Pacific's notice to employees, an official said the company was not technically required to give the required 60 days' notice because the workers were hired with the understanding that their employment was seasonal and temporary. The company is providing more than the minimum notice to give workers the chance to find work, the notice said. The employees are not represented by a union and do not have "bumping rights" allowing them to take jobs held by someone with less seniority, according to the notice. Affected workers are employed in harvesting, irrigating, maintenance, supervision and other areas. SHARE Marijuana plants in their initial stages of growth are cultivated in one of the rooms within Surterra Therapeutics 6,000-square-foot facility. (Joe Rondone/Democrat) By Amanda Covarrubias, amanda.covarrubias@vcstar.com A parade of Fillmore residents told the City Council on Monday night that easing a local medical marijuana ban would either help patients suffering from painful illnesses or would lead to more crime and promote addiction among children and teens. Council members listened to testimony from medical and recreational marijuana advocates, law enforcement representatives and regular citizens during a 3-hour public hearing on whether they should allow the personal cultivation and delivery of medical marijuana. The council is reconsidering a ban it approved earlier this year on such activities and is scheduled to address the matter Aug. 9. But first, officials wanted to hear what citizens had to say, and about 100 people showed up at the forum, spilling into an overflow room. "Public opinion is exactly what we needed," Mayor Diane McCall said Tuesday. "It cast a light on how we as a very small community of 15,000, plus or minus, can deal with these things. It could have deep implications for us." Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean told the council Monday night that his research shows the legalization of marijuana in Colorado has led to growing crime rates and drug addiction among youth there and warned that Fillmore should not open the door to such activity. "I'm not sure if the family values that Fillmore is built on that that's what you really want to do here," he said. He cited statistics showing how the THC levels in marijuana have increased dramatically over the years and explained how users no longer just smoke it but ingest crystallized forms in "dabs" and in food, drinks and candy. "People are not in it just to help other people," he told the council. "This is a for-profit business. If people need it for medical reasons, I'm OK with it. Unfortunately, that's not the reality." Fillmore Police Chief Dave Wareham said he recently traveled to Colorado and Washington state to see the impact of legal marijuana. "If everybody follows the rules, the system works. If everybody was to follow all the regulations, we wouldn't have a problem, but the reality is there is a whole industry out there that is not going to follow those rules," Wareham told the council. "The lesson I learned is we're not ready." Fillmore resident Toni Galvez told the council she feared out-of-towners would set up shop in Fillmore to sell or deliver marijuana to locals, a sentiment expressed by other speakers. "Those of you who are coming here from out outside of Fillmore to do this business, you don't belong here," she said to applause. But resident Tiffany Grande was one of several speakers who shared stories of loved ones suffering from painful illnesses who experienced some relief by using medical marijuana. She urged the council to consider at least allowing deliveries. "I would hope you would consider looking at it piece by piece," she said. "Maybe with deliveries, people wouldn't have to drive to Santa Barbara or the San Fernando Valley to get medical marijuana. "I know the negative effects it (marijuana) can have on a youth's developing brain. But I think you also need to make sure that some of your most vulnerable citizens have the access they need to medication." State law gave cities a March 1 deadline to impose their own rules, after which the state could start licensing growers and sellers in communities where there were no local regulations. But the state lifted that deadline before it took effect. The possession and use of marijuana with a doctor's recommendation is protected under state law and cannot be banned by local authorities. But cities and counties have the power to bar or allow and regulate cultivation of both personal and commercial sales, the sale of marijuana at storefront dispensaries and the delivery of legally grown and sold marijuana. Fillmore City Manager Dave Rowlands said Tuesday the staff is recommending the council keep the blanket prohibition in place for now. "If individuals don't have a family member or a friend who can get it for them, there may be ways we can work on the situation to help them get their medical marijuana," he said. "We don't have an answer for that yet." Separately, the council voted unanimously last month to place a measure on the November ballot that would allow the city to tax marijuana sales at a rate of up to 15 percent. Fillmore is the first city in Ventura County to seek voter approval for marijuana taxes. Several other cities in California also have done so. SHARE Contributed photo Timothy Hockett, Community Action of Ventura County By John Scheibe of the Ventura County Star Tim Hockett, executive director of Community Action of Ventura County, will retire on Sept. 30, the agency said. Hockett will retire some four years after he became the nonprofit's executive director. He said on Monday that the decision to retire "was totally my initiative," adding he plans to retire in Ecuador following a recent trip to the South American nation. As to his four years at the agency, "I've loved every minute of it," he said Based in Oxnard, the nonprofit began operating in 1965 as part of the federal government's war on poverty. The Oxnard agency, along with more than 1,100 other community action agencies across the nation, help the poor achieve self sufficiency. Hockett had more than 20 years of experience in the community action network when he was hired to head the Ventura County agency in 2012. Ramon Flores, chairman of the Community Action of Ventura County's board of directors, said in a statement that the board wishes Hockett "a happy retirement and offers its gratitude for his service." Hockett was a featured speaker at Stanford University's poverty summit in March. Community action provides services across the county, including legal services, food distribution, rental and lease assistance for those risking homelessness, as well as home energy assistance and other help. As to his replacement, Hockett said he has "no doubt the board will find someone very capable." He said his replacement will deal with many of the issues facing other groups that help the poor in Ventura County. "The top one being the lack of affordable housing," he said, as well as finding ways to increase incomes for the poor. "I applaud California for raising the minimum wage," he said in reference to Gov. Jerry Brown signing a bill earlier this year that will raise the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022. Before taking the job in Oxnard, Hockett served as executive director of the Olympic Community Actions Programs in Port Townsend, Washington for 22 years. He received his bachelor's degree from Columbia Christian College and an equivalent of a master's degree from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He also pursued doctoral studies at UC Berkeley and the Graduate Theological Union. SHARE STOCK PHOTO Gavel. By Marjorie Hernandez of the Ventura County Star An Oxnard teen was sentenced to 24 years in state prison for a string of robberies and carjackings he committed last year. Maldonado Salvador, 19, appeared before Ventura County Superior Court Judge Patricia Murphy on Friday for sentencing. According to prosecutors, Maldonado on Feb. 11, 2015 approached two victims in an alley in Oxnard and brandished a shotgun and robbed them at gunpoint. Maldonado also took off in one of the victim's car, which was found abandoned three days later. On Feb. 15, 2015, Maldonado approached a 16-year old male who was walking and robbed the teen, prosecutors said. Maldonado had a shotgun and robbed the 16-year-old of his cell phone, watch and cash. About 30 minutes later, prosecutors said Maldonado approached two other victims and ordered them to drive to a location in Oxnard where Maldonado then robbed them of cash and their cell phones. Maldonado fled the scene in the victims' vehicle, officials said. Police apprehended Maldonado the next day after a high-speed chase in the stolen vehicle that reached speeds of more than 70 mph in a residential neighborhood, prosecutors said. Maldonado crashed the vehicle into a power pole and was then arrested by police. He plead guilty to the amended criminal complaint and was sentenced to a total of 24 years and 4 months for two counts of car jacking, three counts of robbery and one count of resisting arrest. Maldonado, a member of the Colonia Chiques gang, also admitted to special allegations of personal use of a firearm and a criminal street gang enhancement. SHARE CONTRIBUTED BY NRG The Mandalay Generating Station is seen in this aerial view photo. A proposal by NRG Energy Inc. calls for a new station to replace two existing facilities. CONTRIBUTED BY NRG This rendering shows what the aerial view of the Mandalay Generating Station will look like if a new power plant is approved. The proposal calls for the demolition of two existing stations and the construction of a new power plant. By Wendy Leung of the Ventura County Star Public comment period on a controversial proposal to build a new power plant in Oxnard has been extended to Sept. 15. The comment period was originally scheduled to end Aug. 4. The comment period is meant for the public and interested agencies to provide feedback on a 1,200-page report released by the California Energy Commission staff. The report details findings that show the power plant project will not pose significant health and public safety impacts that cannot be mitigated. The California Coastal Commission, city of Oxnard and other environmental groups requested an extension of the comment period in order to have the document translated to Spanish and in order to have more time to process such a large document. "It's great for the city because it gives us more time to prepare for careful comments, and for other people, too," said Chris Williamson, principal planner for the city. The decision from a California Energy Commission committee to extend the comment period follows a daylong workshop held at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center last week about the power plant project. NRG Energy Inc., which owns the existing Mandalay Generating Station, wants to build a new beachside power plant while demolishing two of three existing stations. The Puente Power Project is a 262-megawatt power plant that will have a gas-fired combustion turbine generator and a 188-foot tall exhaust stack. The state energy commission will make the final decision on the project. Extending the public comment period will push back the timeline of the approval process. Under the new timeline, the commission will receive comments through Sept. 15. The comments, including those given during last week's workshop, will be considered for the final staff report, which will be published in October. Evidentiary hearings will be conducted in the Oxnard area in December and a final decision is expected in April. To submit a comment on the Puente Power Project, visit energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/puente/ and click on "Comment on this proceeding." Written comments should cite docket number 15-AFC-01 and be mailed to California Energy Commission, Dockets Unit MS-4, 1516 Ninth St., Sacramento, CA 95814-5512. SHARE Bartholomew Sullivan/The Star San Luis Obispo teacher Mike Heyl attends the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Bartholomew Sullivan/The Star Delegate Arthur "A.J" Valenzuela, of Oxnard, participates in the Democratic National Convention. Bartholomew Sullivan/The Star California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom shakes hands with the state delegation at the Democratic National Convention Monday in Philadelphia. By Bartholomew Sullivan, USA Today PHILADELPHIA College of the Desert Board of Trustees Chairwoman Mary Jane Sanchez got to the floor of the Democratic National Convention Monday afternoon disappointed at the chaos being spread by die-hard Bernie Sanders supporters. The 48-year-old professor is acting as a whip, or organizer, of Hillary Clinton delegates, and said the Sanders' delegates were distracting from a vision of unity the Democratic Party hopes to project by week's end. "The message is peace and hope," she said. When she finds time, she's also in Philadelphia to promote the College Promise program to make college affordable. --- State Assemblyman Luis Alejo was thinking Monday afternoon that, if Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, gaveled in the first session of the convention, "that'll be a problem." The Salinas Democrat was well aware that Wasserman Schultz, widely perceived to have favored Hillary Clinton over Sanders, might get an unwelcome reception. (She was booed off the stage at the Florida delegation breakfast Monday.) But Wasserman Schultz did not appear, as planned, and Alejo, 42, chairman of the Latino Legislative Caucus, moved on to talk about what he saw on television from Cleveland last week. "When you hear the rhetoric and fear-mongering that came from the Trump people, that's not the vision we have," Alejo said. He said he's proud to have authored legislation that requires potential drivers to meet all other safety and insurance requirements but makes them eligible for California driver's licenses as undocumented immigrants. As of this week, the Department of Motor Vehicles records showed more than 734,000 people have availed themselves of the opportunity since the law took effect Jan. 1, 2015. While the Republicans stirred fears, Democrats "recognize the benefits of undocumented immigrants," he said. He said the spectacle in Cleveland reminded him of Gov. Pete Wilson's effort "scapegoating" illegal immigrants in 1994 that pushed Latino voters away from the Republican Party. "I think it will have a negative reaction among Latino voters, polarizing them in the opposite direction," he said. --- Cristina Garcia, 38, who represents the 58th Assembly District in Southeast Los Angeles County, said the controlled chaos of the first session is "what conventions are about. We want unity, not to speak with one voice." As for the Republican confab last week, "As a woman, and as a woman of color, it was pretty demoralizing. I work hard," she said. Born in the U.S. to parents who came from Mexico, she and her four siblings all are college graduates, she said. --- Education policy was on the mind of delegate John J. Griffin, 66, a lawyer and professor at CSU Channel Islands, who teaches finance and marketing. Clinton's call for universal prekindergarten and affordable college contrasts sharply with Trump University, which Griffin called "a phony school." "It is untenable that he could be president," Griffin added. --- Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom worked his way through the thicket of delegates, stopping for pictures Monday night. Asked for his assessment of the Sanders delegates' insurgency, he said: "A lot of my friends are passionate Sanders supporters so I appreciate where that passion comes from. I certainly see it demonstrated every day and again this morning at the California breakfast. Over the next few days, things will begin to simmer down and this party will unify. That said, I think in a week it will be almost forgotten and then we'll be moving on to things that really matter: these two unified parties going head-to-head in a very close general election." --- Ginny Foat was a Hillary Clinton delegate in Denver in 2008 and so she says she understands the disappointment some Sanders' delegates are feeling as he reaches the end of his run. What the Palm Springs city councilwoman can't abide is the lack of historical context that had some younger Sanders' delegates booing Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings. Nonetheless, she is enjoying her time in Philadelphia even as she finds it hard to maneuver in her motorized scooter after recent surgery. "You can't just be here and not feel the moment," she said. But her wistful tone turned sour when talk came to Trump. "I can't identify with him at all," she said. "I don't know what country he wants to make great again but it's not one I want to be living in. I can't believe my country would elect him. It's beyond my comprehension." --- In 1996, retired San Luis Obispo schoolteacher Mike Heyl attended a political action seminar organized by the teachers union on how to become a delegate to a national political convention, then went to Chicago to help nominate Bill Clinton to a second term. He's a Hillary delegate in Philadelphia. On the convention floor in Philadelphia, Heyl wasn't apologizing for the unsettled atmosphere. "As Democrats, we're very passionate about our politics," he explained. Heyl, too, checked off the specific provisions of Clinton's education plan, saying he was "quite supportive" of her ideas about aligning curriculum with arts and physical education. "The Republican nominee is unqualified," he said dismissively. --- As in Cleveland, with its celebrity chefs producing delicacies for the convention-goers, Philadelphia has some arena eateries where long lines attest to solid reputations. The Kosher Grill its sign says "Established 5776," presumably on the Jewish calendar or, less impressively, A.D. 2015 was serving $13.75 pastrami sandwiches, $10.50 pastrami dogs and $7.50 hot dogs with a line of at least 100 waiting. The Original Phillies Grill also appeared to be doing a good business. --- Bob Mulholland, of Chico, attending his 11th Democratic convention as a delegate, said conventions are like sporting events. "You have fans that cheer and fans that boo," he said. "It will be a good week, but there will be some pushing and shoving." Even when your team doesn't make the World Series, you still root for the division, he said. --- Oxnard longshoreman Arthur "A.J." Valenzuela, 24, a Sanders delegate, said it will take some time for his supporters "to accept Hillary." The UC Santa Barbara global studies major said Sanders "pulled the party further to the left," and encouraged him to fight for a $15 minimum wage and eliminating most superdelegates at future conventions. He was disappointed the platform didn't incorporate Medicare for all as he waited for Sanders to address the hall. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders waves before addressing delegates during the 2016 Democratic National Convention on Monday, July 25, 2016 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pa. (Clem Murray/Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS) SHARE Contributed photo California Attorney General Kamala Harris spoke at Tuesday's breakfast at the Democratic National Convention. By Bartholomew Sullivan, USA Today PHILADELPHIA Bernie Sanders made a surprise appearance before the California delegation to the Democratic National Convention Tuesday, telling the breakfast crowd that Donald Trump is "a demagogue who does not believe in the Constitution." "As goes California, so goes America," he told the shouting, hooting crowd that at times drowned out his message with chants of "Bernie, Bernie!" Sanders' remarks were largely an eight-minute reprise of his Monday night keynote speech to the convention, hitting on income inequality, Wall Street greed and defeating the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. He told delegates to hold their elected representatives to the policies set in this year's Democratic Party platform. "Republicans don't win elections. Democrats lose elections," he said of efforts to get out the vote. "Democrats lose elections when people don't come out to vote." The Vermont senator said Trump's positions on traditional Republican Party policies are "nothing new. What is new is that this man is a demagogue who does not believe in the Constitution of the United States." He said it was the delegation's duty to defeat him. Tuesday's lineup of speakers at the delegation's breakfast was strong before the unscheduled Sanders' appearance. Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, one of two Muslims in Congress, started it off with praise for California's same-day voter registration and urged delegates to encourage the state Legislature to make Election Day a holiday. He listed off-platform positions such as ending the death penalty and private prisons, then added: "Demonstration without legislation leads to frustration." Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken addressed the 551 delegates and their guests in the cavernous fifth-floor ballroom of the Downtown Marriott. Klobuchar praised first lady Michelle Obama's speech and her "takedown of Donald Trump without mentioning his name." "My goal is to keep my speech 70 minutes shorter than Donald Trump's last week," she joked. Franken called Trump "a pathological liar" and "dangerous," then devoted much of his speech to retelling a story about former "Somali-Minnesotan" and hijab-wearing Senate page Muna Abdulahi, whose graduation in Willmar, Minn., he attended in June. Her class composition 15 percent Somali, 25 percent Latino showed the state's diversity, he said, adding, "This is America. America is great." Civil rights hero and Georgia Rep. John Lewis told the crowd the Supreme Court has "gutted" the Voting Rights Act, calling the right to vote "the most powerful, nonviolent tool we have." He concluded his remarks in a grave tone. "We must defeat Trump," he said. "If we fail to do it, history will not be kind to us." California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who is seeking to succeed retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer, told the crowd that if their predecessors hadn't "marched and shouted," they might not be in Philadelphia this week. Afterward, America Segura, 40, of Covina, a registered nurse and Sanders' supporter, said she was disappointed his presidential bid ended but that the cause continues. "It's not about the presidency," she explained. "It's about getting our points across. As a registered nurse, my biggest concern is Medicare for all. It's about us continuing to fight for the issues." Clinton delegate Robby Boparai, 23, a recent graduate of UC San Diego contemplating medical school, said Sanders' visit was important. "California had a lot going on last night," he said. "Sanders was here to get us united. I really appreciated that." Star file photo SHARE By Michele Willer-Allred, Special to The Star The SOAR renewal measure in Simi Valley is officially on the November ballot. The Simi Valley City Council on Monday unanimously adopted several resolutions, including certifying the signature verification results of the Save Open-space and Agricultural Resources measure. In a reversal earlier this month, election officials found that a voter petition had enough valid signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot after initially finding there were too few. SOAR requires voter approval for development of protected farmland and open space in unincorporated parts of the county. Companion measures for cities, including Simi Valley, establish urban boundaries that cannot be exceeded without a public vote. Backers are seeking to renew the measures that were enacted in the 1990s and 2000s until 2050. A rival measure called SUSTAIN VC would end in 2036. It would affect only unincorporated territory. Ky Spangler, the city's deputy city clerk, said the Ventura County Elections Division performed signature verification of the SOAR petition was using a random sampling method. The proponents of the SOAR measure then contacted the city clerk's office and requested a full check of the signatures. "A full check resulted in the determination that the petition met the 10 percent threshold required to be placed on the ballot," Spangler said. The council also authorized and selected Councilmen Keith Mashburn and Mike Judge to file a written argument against the measure if they choose to do so. Mayor Bob Huber declined to write the argument. In other action, the council unanimously authorized further processing of a general plan amendment to change the land-use designation of a property at 1692 Sycamore Drive from a community park to "very high density" residential. The project site, about 13.4 acres, is the current location of the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District headquarters, which is being relocated to 4201 Guardian St. Plans for the site include 105 units of affordable senior apartments, which would be a joint venture with the county's Area Housing Authority. An additional 212-unit apartment complex is also being proposed on the site. The developer and park district officials said they are working with Sycamore BMX to relocate the raceway at the site to a new location. The council's decision does not constitute final approval of the project, which the council will consider later. The council also unanimously approved changing the city's "Level 2" water supply shortage to a "Level 1" status, which will ease water restrictions. As a result, water customers will be allowed to irrigate their lawns three days per week instead of two during the summer and fall. Irrigation will be allowed two days a week in the winter, and water leaks must be fixed in three days instead of two. Public works officials said the water supply for the district in the next three years is sufficient to meet the anticipated demand without additional conservation measures, and supplies have been assured by water suppliers. They cautioned that Southern California still remains in a severe drought and that new water regulations will be adopted by the state in January. Star reporter Kathleen Wilson contributed to this story. SHARE Re: Charles Kistner Jr.s letter July 22, Help for farmers: After watching a political convention for four days filled with half- truths and fibs, I felt compelled to respond to Mr. Kistner's letter. Is he intimating that the valuable, fertile lands of Mandalay Berry farms and the acreage of Hiji Bros. Inc. will lay fallow? It seems more probable that both farms will switch crops, move to something more profitable. We have read that the Berry crops have run into a supply and demand issue. Too much competition. If this is the case, you can see how misleading Mr. Kistner's letter is. If not, if these farmers will just be leaving their land vacant of crops, I apologize to Mr. Kistner. If these farmers are not abandoning their land, Mr. Kistner may wish to restate his original letter. J.R. 'Pat' Patterson, Ventura ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Participants in the city of Port Hueneme's Junior Lifeguard water safety program splash and play at Hueneme Beach on Friday. SHARE By Christian Martinez, christian.martinez@vcstar.com Ventura County residents shouldn't expect a respite from high temperatures anytime soon. "We're still seeing effects of the high pressure system," said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. "Temperatures should remain consistent with not much change." Inland areas of Ventura County, including Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, which have already seen days in the mid 90s, will see much of the same. The National Weather Service reported that Thousand Oaks would experience temperatures between 94 and 95 degrees through Friday with only a one or two degree drop during the weekend. The beaches will remain the place to be with temperatures in high 70s to mid 80s. Due to the high temperatures, low humidity, and gusty winds, the National Weather Service has issued an elevated fire danger warning through Monday for inland areas. Meanwhile, the Sand Fire that broke out Friday in the Sand Canyon area off Highway 14 near Santa Clarita and has burned over 30,000 acres and sent smoke into large portions of Southern California has had minimal impact on Ventura County air quality. Mallory Ham, manager and meteorologist with the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, said no local area warnings have been placed as of Monday, but they are continuing to monitor the fire. Ham said there were reports of minor ash falling in areas of Thousand Oaks. "Although were are not putting out an advisory right now, it could change day to day," Ham said. "If the wind shifts and pushes the smoke in a south west direction, it may impact our county." The National Weather Service also said there is a slight chance of thunderstorms in the mountain and desert regions of Ventura County from Friday through Sunday. Staff writer Marjorie Hernandez contributed to this report. The Golden Tiki celebrated its first anniversary on July 24 with the debut of Frank Marinos shrunken head, a performance from Bob Log III, a DJ set by Professor Rex Dart and a special appearance by The Baron of the Universe, a current contestant on Americas Got Talent (Pictured: Frank Marino (r) with fan Photo credit: Amit Dadlaney). Photo credit: Amit Dadlaney. Guests enjoyed tiki punch and magic tricks from a strolling entertainer, posed for photos with a Jack Sparrow impersonator and one lucky guest won a trip to Hawaii. Photo credit: Amit Dadlaney. Were thrilled to be celebrating our one year anniversary with Frank Marino and to be recognized as one of the best tiki bars in America, said Branden Powers, Golden Tiki managing partner. We had a great turnout and couldnt have done this without the support of the Las Vegas community and our wonderful staff. We look forward to many more years of serving our loyal guests. Photo credit: Amit Dadlaney. Powers and The Baron presented Marino with his shrunken head during the celebration. Created exclusively for The Golden Tikis cabinet of curiosities, the head was sculpted over the course of four weeks referencing photos of Marino to ensure physical accuracies. Photo credit: Amit Dadlaney. Ive been here for 30 years and theyve given me a street, a star and now a little head, laughed Marino. Im honored to be here to celebrate The Golden Tikis anniversary. Photo credit: Amit Dadlaney. Its not too late to get your ticket for country music star Gary Allans show slated for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, when he will open this years Last Chance Stampede and Fair at the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds. Known for having one of the most distinctive male voices in country music, Allan has 26 singles from nine albums that have charted on Billboards Hot Country Songs chart. Among his hits are Tough Little Boys, Man to Man and Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain). Expect to hear a lot of his hits Wednesday night, said Allan in an email interview with the Independent Record. Ever since he went to a Stevie Wonder concert in Nashville several years ago and heard two hours of all new music, Allan wrote, I walked out of the show and knew I had to change my show. The fans may love new songs, but they come to see and hear the hits. Since then, our shows have been hit heavy. We may throw in a few new songs, but we play the hits. If you are coming to my show, that is what you are going to get. While hes not promising a certain playlist, he did write about a few of his favorites: That seems to change every few months. I still love performing It Aint The Whiskey and we are getting a great reaction to some of the new songs from the upcoming album as well. One of my favorites to perform is still Watching Airplanes. As soon as those first few notes hit, the crowd goes wild. I think that will always be a favorite. As to where he gets the inspiration for songs, he wrote, I typically look at songwriting as a form of therapy. If I have something on my mind, I write about it. I wake up and ask myself if there is something I need to say or get out. If so, I put it into a song. If not, I do something else that day. He grew up listening to traditional country music, he wrote, and that is what I love, however, music evolves. It always has and it always will. I try to make sure my music has influences of what I love, but also goes along with the times. No matter what, I always want you to be able to recognize that it is me. Allan started his musical career at age 13, playing in a band with his dad and brother. My dad always encouraged us to play and never put our equipment away. He felt if it was out of sight, it was out of mind. So, it stayed out in our living room all the time. If we were not playing in a bar somewhere in Southern California, we were playing at home. Music was always a huge part of our lives. My Dad always encouraged me and never let me give up on my dreams. How he got his big break is the stuff dreams and Hollywood movies are made of. He was working in his brothers car dealership after an opportunity had fallen through and had loaned a demo tape to someone else at the lot who left it in one of the cars. A week or so later this couple comes back to the dealership and asks if it was me singing on the tape and if so, why wasnt I in Nashville. I told them I was saving to go to Nashville and record a proper demo. They wrote me a check to make it happen. I came to Nashville and that demo helped land me deal at Decca. They are amazing people and we still keep in touch." Concert tickets are $40 in advance (which includes outside gate admission) and $45 the day of for both reserved and general admission. Presale concert tickets end at midnight Wednesday. They can be purchased online at www.lewisandclarkcountyfairgrounds.com or in person at the fairgrounds administrative office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 98 W. Custer Ave. Call 457-8516 for information. Microcephaly is a rare neurological disorder that causes a baby's head to be smaller than normal and prevents its brain from fully developing AFP/Christophe Simon The mother, who has not been identified, caught the virus on a trip abroad but authorities have declined to say where. A hospital source said she was infected in Latin America, where the virus is prevalent. "The baby did not require any resuscitation," Felix Castillo, neonatal chief at the Vall d'Hebron hospital in Barcelona, told a press conference, adding that the infant's vital signs were "normal and stable". The baby's sex has not been revealed for privacy reasons. The newborn's health is being constantly "monitored" and initial tests confirm that "its head circumference is smaller than normal and that it has microcephaly", Castillo added. The baby was born by Caesarean section after 40 weeks of pregnancy. "The mother is doing well," said Elena Carreras, head of obstetrics at the hospital, adding that both parents were "very excited" about the birth. Authorities announced in May that they had detected microcephaly in the foetus, but the couple decided to keep the baby. Doctors refused to give any further information about the mother or child. A woman in Slovenia who was pregnant with a baby with microcephaly was previously found to have been carrying the virus, but she decided to have an abortion. Researchers said Monday that tens of thousands of babies may be born with debilitating Zika-related disorders in the course of the outbreak sweeping through Latin America and the Caribbean. Mathematical projections suggest about 93.4 million people may catch the virus - including some 1.65 million pregnant women - before the epidemic fizzles out, a team reported in the journal Nature Microbiology. The carrier has successfully completed the strategic sale of 8.771 per cent of its share capital to Japans largest airline group ANA Holdings in exchange for proceeds of VND2.431 trillion ($108 million). The sale follows Vietnam Airlines domestic IPO which was completed in November 2014. Citi and Morgan Stanley acted as the consortium advisors for Vietnam Airlines throughout the entire domestic IPO and strategic sale process. The strategic partnership will enable both Vietnam Airlines and ANA to share operational and management know-how to improve service quality and tap the rising demand for air services in the Asian market, especially the Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam group of countries which has significant growth potential in the region. Thanks to the advisory from Citi and Morgan Stanley, Vietnam Airlines has successfully completed equitisation process and strategic sale that creates our firm partnership with ANA, said Pham Ngoc Minh, chairman of Vietnam Airlines. Those deals have marked important milestones in Vietnam Airlines development and enhanced our brand and image internationally. The cooperation with ANA, one of the worlds best customer service airlines, will further help upgrade our fleet with newest generation aircraft, expand our international footprint and improve our service quality and efficiency. Under the partnership, ANA Holdings and Vietnam Airlines will launch codeshare arrangements which will cover 30 major domestic routes within Japan and Vietnam and 10 international routes between two countries and a shared mileage programme from the start of the 2016 winter. The two airlines also plan to combine a range of services including passenger check-in, cargo loading, ground handling services, catering, aircraft maintenance and other services at airports in Japan and Vietnam. Headquartered in Hanoi, Vietnam Airlines operates 92 routes to 20 domestic and 29 international destinations with average 400 daily flights. The airlines is operating the young fleet of 87 modern aircraft mainly including new and modern aircraft such as Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Airbus A350-900 XWB, Airbus A330, Airbus A321 and Boeing 777. Citi feels very proud and privileged to be the joint lead financial advisor for Vietnam Airlines throughout the entire process of this landmark transaction. We believe this strategic sale will bring significant values to Vietnam Airlines and help increase the airlines competitiveness in international markets, Natasha Ansell, managing director, Citis country officer for Vietnam said. It also demonstrates our strong commitment to bring the best products and services together with our over two-hundred-year expertise to support Vietnam Airlines in achieving its goal of becoming one of the leading airlines in the region. Citi, the leading global financial institution, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 140 countries. Citi in Vietnam with two branches in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and a nationwide partnership network that covers all of Vietnams 64 cities and provinces. ANA's investment in Vietnam Airlines marks a landmark transaction in the Asian aviation sector. It brings together two renowned airlines, providing ANA with access to attractive, high growth markets of Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia whilst enabling Vietnam Airlines to leverage ANAs best-in-class operations and service offerings, Gregory Thiery, managing director and co-head of Southeast Asia Investment Banking for Morgan Stanley said. Morgan Stanley is delighted to have acted as joint lead financial advisor to Vietnam Airlines. The transaction is a testament to our leading advisory franchise in the global airline sector and the Vietnamese market. Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services. With offices in more than 43 countries, the firms employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals. Up to now, the most important criterion registered abstracts has seen an impressive growth to reach 187 abstracts submitted for a spot under the limelight at the conference, a 67 per cent jump since the previous conference. In addition, five keynote lectures pertaining to the conferences five principle themes and performed by leading experts from four continents have drawn great attention from the scientific community and construction experts. On June 25, 2016, Geotec Hanoi 2016s Organising Committee sent the notification of acceptance to all the authors whose abstracts have been approved by the conferences Scientific Committee. The theme Ground improvement for infrastructure projects drew possibly the most interest, accounting for 37 per cent of all registered abstracts. This year Vietnam took the lead with 43 abstracts, an increase of 53.5 per cent compared to the previous conference. On the other side, the number of countries and territories interested in the event has also set a new record, with 33 countries and territories participating against the 27 of the previous conference. In particular, this years conference features multiple new faces, such as the US, Spain, Hong Kong, Hungary, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, and Singapore, which indicate growing interest by both internal and external experts, researchers, and scientists into infrastructure construction in general and geotechnical foundations and underground construction in particular. This once again confirms the prestige of Geotec Hanoi as one of the worlds leading conferences on geotechnics and infrastructure. Beside abstracts, Geotec Hanoi 2016 has also attracted a great number of exhibitors from domestic and international companies and organisations. As of now, 25 exhibition booths, as well as 3 gold and 1 bronze sponsors have been registered. According to the Organising Committee, the demand for building tunnels and underground spaces in Vietnam has been constantly increasing. Metro projects are in development, whereas several thousands kilometres of expressway as well as high-speed railway are going to be invested. Similarly, airport and port systems are also attracting huge investment. Many high-rise buildings are under construction to meet burgeoning urban development requirements. They all require a background of cutting-edge technologies in design, execution, and monitoring. In this context, Geotec Hanoi 2016 proves an ideal platform for companies, suppliers, consultants, and contractors to introduce their advanced technologies and find opportunities in the Vietnamese market. This opportunity is especially valuable considering the recent successive breakthroughs of the domestic infrastructure construction industry in reaching a new height with greater emphasis on technological innovations and sustainable development. Not only celebrities want to have super luxury apartments, rich businesspeople have needs, too, ones which require not only the comforts that such an apartment brings, but the status that comes with it. This is the reason the upper class is always waiting for the launch of super luxury apartments that finally befit their status. Now, D. Palais de Louis, a palace boasting of fixtures from the most famous brands, is going to attract a lot of attention from the rich and beautiful. Model of D. Palais de Louis This is the first project in Vietnam with four outer sides as well as part of the interior covered in marble tiles imported from Spain, Italy, and Brazil. The skylight, with an impressive area of 400 square metres, overlooks the marble water fountain. The project has six super fast and super quiet elevators plated with gold, made by US company Otis. This is the first time a project in Vietnam uses $300,000 elevators that leave in the dust those used in 5-star hotels. The giant skylight and the transparent gilded elevators are a highlight of the project With the 15-metre high domed ceiling, the lobby of the tower is comparable to any European kings palace. The ceiling of the lobby is covered by a fresco painted by an Italian artist for six months. There are nine types of apartments with 12 styles of interior decor, all of which provide dwellers with utmost comfort and the best conveniences. The furniture, including the leather sofas and beds, was handmade by Italian craftsmen and combines the best artistic features of North-Eastern Italy, close in proximity and style to France and Switzerland. Some apartments are equipped with tables, chairs and closets covered by crocodile skin imported from Italy. The lavish furniture comes from Europes best luxury brands Even the smallest details are picked carefully, such as the FEDE switches that are made from 10 carat gold that cost $120 per switch. With luxurious and unique interior furnishing, D. Palais de Louis, Versailles in the middle of Hanoi, is going to charm even the pickiest of customers. Hotline: 012.3333.6666 photo : Duc Thanh In his inauguration speech in front of the National Assembly, the prime minister said the country should grow fast to take advantage of the current golden population structure, which is expected to end in 10 years. He said the government is going to downsize the administrative system, reform the political apparatus and education, and take stringent measures to protect the environment. The government is not going to sacrifice the environment for growth, he said. The Formosa incident, according to the prime minister, is a lesson for the government to exercise more caution in approving and managing foreign investment projects in order not to let another Formosa happen. He said government agencies are going to review all big projects and scrutinise their environment commitments. Phuc said the countrys biggest resource is its human resources, so the government is going to spend more on education to improve classrooms, libraries, and washrooms, especially for students in remote and mountainous areas, to create equal opportunities for all children. He said that at the moment, the domestic private sector is not performing at its fullest capacity because the policies meant to encourage them are not good enough. This the government will address by creating a more conducive business environment, improving administrative procedures, removing bottlenecks, encouraging start-ups and innovation, and encouraging Vietnamese companies to be successful both in Vietnam and around the world. He also said that the whole country is going to be more disciplined and pay greater respect to the law. The government is going to increase the satisfaction of people and companies with more efficient and transparent administrative services. The prime minister said that Vietnam maintains its territorial claims in the East Sea, and asked that stakeholders respect international laws and refrain from complicating the already taut situation. Vietnam is going to be proactive in its foreign relations, to ensure national security and peace, as well as a stable environment for economic growth. Born in 1954, Nguyen Xuan Phuc was a member of the Politburo at the 11th and 12th plenums, a member of the Communist Party of Vietnams Central Committee during the 10th, 11th, and 12th plenums, and a member of the National Assembly at the 11th and 13th plenums. According to the governments website, from 1993 to 1996 he served as the director of the Danang Department of Tourism and chairman of Furama Danang Resort. From 2011 until he became Prime Minister in April, he served as deputy prime minister, and led numerous governmental committees, including the National Steering Committee on Crime Prevention, the National Steering Committee on Smuggling, Counterfeit Goods and Trade Fraud, and the governments Steering Committee on Administrative Reforms, as well as the National Traffic Safety Committee. Photo cafef.vn Ending the session, VN Index rose 1.61 points or 0.25 per cent to reach 651.48 points on the southern HCM Stock Exchange, while the HNX Index added 0.15 points or 0.18 per cent to stay at 84.22 points in the northern Ha Noi Stock Exchange. However, market liquidity remained low, with 70 million shares, worth more than VND1 trillion (US$44.7 million), being traded. Among the stocks that contributed this morning, the duo of HAGL Joint Stock Company (HAG) and Hoang Anh Gia Lai Agricultural Joint Stock Company (HNG) increased about six per cent each to reach their ceiling prices. Steel stocks also saw good trading, with stocks such as Hoa Phat Group Joint Stock Company (HPG), Nam Kim Steel Joint Stock Company (NKG), Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel JSC (TIS) and Tien Len Steel Group Joint Stock Company (TLH), besides Vietnam Italy Steel Joint Stock Company (VIS), making gains. In the morning, shares with positive earnings in Q2 were also fairly active in trading, such as Vinh Khanh Cable Plastic Corporation (VKC), Binh Thanh Import - Export Production and Trade JSC (GIL), KIDO Group (KDC) and Innovative Technology Development Corporation (ITD), besides Agriculture Printing and Packing Joint Stock Company (INN) and Dabaco Group (DBC). Tran ai Quang was sworn into office this afternoon, officially becoming the President of the Viet Nam for the next five years. VNA/VNS Photo Nhan Sang The swearing-in ceremony took place soon after the voting result came in, of which 485 out of 487 members of the newly-elected National Assembly voted for Tran ai Quang to become the next President. "Standing under the honourary national flag, in front of the National Assembly, the citizens and voters of the country, I, President of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, swear to uphold absolute loyalty to the country, to the people, and to the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam," Quang stated. The 60-year-old Quang was first voted to be President on April 2 this year to replace his predecessor Truong Tan Sang in the last two months of Sangs term. President Tran ai Quang comes from the northern province of Ninh Binh and spent most of his career in the Ministry of Public Security. He became the Minister of Public Security in 2011 through to 2016. Photo by PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Dixie Stephens, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., right, shouts support for Bernie Sanders as traffic tries to get by on Monday in Philadelphia. On the first day of the Democratic National Convention, Bernie Sanders supporters gathered around City Hall to hear speakers and rally around their candidate. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. The brutal mass killings committed at a facility for the disabled in Japan illustrates the difficulties that even nations with low crime rates, strict gun control and restrictive immigration policies face in trying to prevent attacks from seemingly deranged individuals. Japanese authorities say they are investigating the motive of the lone knife-wielding attacker who broke into the Tsukui Yamayuri-En facility for disabled people early Tuesday, killing 19 residents and wounding dozens more. But they have ruled out terrorism as the cause. "We received information from the police that there is no evidence of the attacker being related to Islamic State," said Yoshihide Suga, the Japanese governments spokesman and Chief Cabinet Secretary. Police in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, about 40 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, have arrested Satoshi Uematsu, a 26-year-old former employee at the facility, Japanese media reported. Uematsu, wearing a black tee shirt reportedly turned himself into the police and the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said he told police, "I want to get rid of the disabled from this world." The Japanese state broadcaster NHK reported that police recovered a bag with several knives, at least one stained with blood. News of the mass killings has shocked the nation. The facility cares for more than 150 people with a range of disabilities. "I just want to know why this happened, the cause of it. It is something that could happen anywhere, and these cases always have to do with human relationships, said Naomi Takano, who lives nearby. Low crime rate Japan has one of the lowest violent crime rates in the developed world. Gun related homicides in particular are rare due to the countrys strict regulations that limit gun ownership, and require gun permit applicants to undergo extensive training, criminal background checks and mental health screenings. Japan banned possession of double-edged knives longer than 5.5 centimeters after a mass killing in 2008 when a man stabbed shoppers in Tokyo after he drove a rental truck into a crowd and killed seven people and injured 10 others. Tokyos restrictive immigration policies, especially when it comes to refugees from conflict areas of the Middle East, have also isolated the country from some of the terrorism related violence affecting Europe and the U.S. Human rights groups however have criticized Japan for not doing more to help refuges and economic analysts say the country needs increased immigration to replace the countrys rapidly aging population. Disable and elderly attacks Still in Japan there have been a number of recent attacks on the disabled and elderly. In Japanese society, such murder incidents, or so called 'don't ask murders,' happen quite often involving perpetrators who are not related to the suspect, targeting disadvantaged people such as women and disabled, said Hosaka Yuji, a Japan analyst and political science professor at Sejong University in Seoul. Last year, five elderly people were stabbed to death during an attack in the city of Sumoto. In February a former nursing home worker was arrested for allegedly throwing an 87-year-old resident from a balcony to his death. Prior to Tuesday's attack, a 1995 Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system was the worst mass killing in the country since World War II. Members of a Japanese Doomsday cult killed 13 people and caused thousands of commuters to fall ill during that attack, which cause widespread fear in the country. Authorities in Afghanistan say security forces have killed more than 120 fighters of the Islamic State terror group, including senior commanders, and captured a key base for the militants in far eastern Nangahar province, bordering Pakistan. Security forces also arrested more than two dozen militants of the group during the operations, Attaullah Khogyani, a provincial government spokesman, told VOA. It is not possible to verify the official's claims. Footage on Afghan television channels and pictures released to media showed a training center and court building officials said the fighters for "Daesh," the Arabic acronym for IS, used for staging attacks in nearby areas and dispensing its brand of Islamic justice. He said the offensive was unleashed on Saturday, hours after the deadly bombing of a protest rally by in Kabul. Officials said three suicide bomber struck the demonstration of the Shi'ite ethnic Hazara community, killing at least 80 people and wounding more than 200 others. A website linked to IS claimed the group was behind the bloodshed, and said it was retaliation for what it said were Afghan fighters that were sent by Iran to Syrian to help the government of Bashar al Assad in its fight against the Islamic State. Senior IS commander reported killed Afghan officials say that Saad Emarati was among IS commanders killed in the operations in Kot, though the terror outfit has not yet commented on official claims. A former member of the Taliban insurgency, Emarati was believed to be among founders of Daeshs Afghanistan-Pakistan branch. If confirmed, his killing would be a major blow to IS trying to expand its influence in Afghanistan. Reports of his death in previous Afghan security operations have also appeared in local media. IS emerged on the Afghan scene in early 2015 when it announcement establishment of its so-called Islamic State of Khorasan Province, which consists of Afghanistan and parts of neighboring Pakistan and Iran. While claiming responsibility for Saturdays suicide attack in Kabul, the worst such incident in the city since 2001, IS warned it would carry out more attacks against ethnic Hazaras unless they stopped joining government forces in Syria fighting the terror group. Human rights groups say Hazaras among nearly three million Afghan refugees living in Iran are being recruited and trained by Iranian authorities and sent to Syria to fight alongside President Bashar al-Assad forces there. As Muslim participants arrived in Philadelphia for the 2016 Democratic National Convention, they gathered on the sidelines along with Philadelphias Muslim American Host Committee and community leaders to discuss American Muslims participation in the election and political process. The delegates and community leaders strongly urged their fellow Muslims to actively participate in the countrys political life. Muslims in America make up only 1 percent of the national vote, but community leaders believe that the Muslim vote is crucial in many communities where the Muslim population is higher than 1 percent, such as Michigan, Virginia, Minnesota and California. There are a lot of places in this country where the Muslim vote is crucial, Representative Keith Ellison, Americas first Muslim member of Congress, told VOA. 'Be a blessing' Engage, get involved, be a blessing to the community you live in, take responsibility for a stronger, better community, the Minnesota Democrat added. Ellison and Muslim community leaders believe that Muslims should be involved not only in the economic sector but also in the political process in the country, including the upcoming election. If we want to be heard ... or even feel the need to better our lives in the U.S., then our only option is to be involved in politics, Virginia artist Omar Ahmadzai told VOA. By being politically involved, we decrease chances of our community being neglected or any policies that might be detrimental to us," Ahmadzai said. If we do not involve ourselves in politics, we are doing a great disservice to our community. Some participants at the Democratic Partys convention in Philadelphia say Muslim youths should particularly get involved in social and political affairs. We [young people] are the future, so we have to be at the table and be a part of this political process and be a part of the decision-making process, political activist Saleema Sazwal told VOA. Some Muslims claim that participation in U.S. politics is un-Islamic because, according to them, some of the laws in the country contradict Islamic teachings. But the Muslim participants in Philadelphia rejected those claims. Heed the history They should really read the history of Islam. They should reread the Quran and the traditions of Prophet Muhammad, Nihad Awad, executive director of the U.S.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, told VOA. I strongly believe that if you are a good Muslim, you should be a good American. So it is that part of my faith that has given me this incentive to be a good American and to be involved, Awad added. According to Tahera Shirzay, who has been an election officer in Virginia for the past few years, some naturalized groups have rarely participated in the political process. They miss a crucial chance in the decision-making of their lives, Shirzay told VOA. Especially Muslims, who have been blamed for many unfortunate incidents, should, more than ever, get active and educate themselves on how to vote for their own good and their children's future. A Pew Research Center survey estimated that there were about 3.3 million Muslims of all ages living in the United States in 2015, and according to a 2009 poll by Gallup, U.S. Muslims had the second-highest level of education among major religious groups in the country. Police in Bangladesh say they killed nine extremists Tuesday during a shootout near the countrys capital city Dhaka. National police chief Shahidul Hoque said the group of Islamic militants believed to be members of the Islamic State-linked Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) were planning to launch an attack similar to one earlier this month at a cafe that killed 22 people. Officials said the militants were barricaded in a five-story building along the outskirts of Dhaka in the Kalyanpur area when they opened fire on police who were trying to enter the building. The extremists were heard yelling Allahu Akbar as they shot at police. "They were wearing black outfits, turbans and had backpacks ... similar to the outfits the attackers in the cafe had," Hoque told reporters after the militants were killed. "They were plotting a major attack in the capital like that in the restaurant." Along with the nine who were killed, Hoque said police captured one of the terrorists. "The militant who was detained claimed they were Islamic State members but we think they're JMB," he said. Former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is a United States senator from the northeastern state of Vermont. An independent in the U.S. Senate, he caucuses with the Democrats. He announced his presidential candidacy on May 26, 2015, and conceded to his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, earlier this month. Sanders is serving a second term in the Senate after capturing 71 percent of the vote in a landslide win in 2012. He previously served 16 years in the House of Representatives, becoming the longest-serving independent member of Congress in American history. Sanders was born in 1941 in Brooklyn, New York, to Eli and Dorothy Sanders. Bernie, his parents and older brother, Larry, lived in a rent-controlled apartment. Eli was a Jewish immigrant from Poland who lost most of his family in Europe during the Holocaust. He was a high school dropout who supported his family as a paint salesman. Bernie Sanders attended James Madison High School in Brooklyn and later attended Brooklyn College and the University of Chicago, where he graduated in 1964. He then moved to Vermont and served four terms as mayor of Burlington. He lectured at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and at Hamilton College in upstate New York. Throughout his career, Sanders has focused on the middle class and the widening income and wealth disparities in the United States. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs in 2014, Sanders passed a bill that reformed the U.S. Veterans Administration's health care system. He currently serves on the Environment and Public Works Committee, where he has worked on combatting global warming and rebuilding the nation's roads, bridges and dams. He has worked to transform the country's energy system from fossil fuels to renewable power sources as a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Sanders also sits on the Heath, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, where he has focused on affordable health care and higher-quality education programs. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary's Clinton's spouse has the unique experience of having been president himself, and on Tuesday Bill Clinton leads the list of speakers backing her campaign at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, party interim chair Donna Brazile and a group of mothers whose children have died from gun violence or in clashes with police are also scheduled to address the convention. They follow Monday's opening day where some of the party's biggest voices gave powerful calls for voters to support Clinton. First lady Michelle Obama spoke of the importance of those in the White House serving as role models to the nation's children, saying that "our words and actions matter" and that she believes Clinton is the only person qualified to be the next president. "I want a president with a record of public service, someone whose life work shows our children that we don't chase fame and fortune for ourselves, we fight to give everyone a chance to succeed," Obama said at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. "I want a president who will teach our children that everyone in this country matters." She made several apparent references to Republican nominee Donald Trump without mentioning his name, including saying a president cannot have a tendency to lash out and needs to be steady and well-informed. Watch video report from VOA's Jim Malone: "Don't let anyone ever tell you that this country is not great, that somehow we need to make it great again. Because this right now is the greatest country on Earth," she said, rebutting Trump's campaign slogan "Make America Great Again." Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who finished second to Clinton in the Democratic race, did repeatedly name Trump as he cast Clinton and her policies as the better choice in November. He said the country needs leadership that brings people together instead of insulting Latinos, Muslims, women, African-Americans and veterans. "While Donald Trump is busy insulting one group after another, Hillary Clinton understands that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths," Sanders said. He spoke about how his campaign was able to push the Democratic Party to adopt several of his proposals, including Wall Street and campaign finance reform and opposing trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Sanders expressed his disappointment in how the nomination process turned out, but said Clinton "must become the next president of the United States." Trump criticized Sanders on Twitter, saying he "totally sold out" to Clinton and that his campaign was a "waste of time." Sanders quickly fired back, "Never tweet." Trump also had comments about the night's other big speakers, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker. But absent were any words about Obama's speech, a week after Trump's wife Melania spoke at the Republican National Convention with a passage very similar to one Obama delivered in 2008. Warren said Trump and his campaign have embraced keeping the powerful on top, as well as racial hatred, bigotry and attacks on women and immigrants. "We've seen this ugliness before, and we're not going to be Donald Trump's hate-filled America. Not now. Not ever," she said. Booker, who was mentioned as a possible running mate for Clinton before she chose Senator Tim Kaine, drew huge cheers with an optimistic speech about what he sees as the country's ideals. "We can't devolve into a nation where our highest aspiration is that we just tolerate each other. We are not called to be a nation of tolerance. We are called to be a nation of love," Booker said. He described Trump as divisive and said Clinton was the better choice for president. "Hillary Clinton knows what Donald Trump betrays time and again in this campaign; that we are not a zero sum nation, it is not you or me, it is not one American against another. It is you and I together, interdependent, interconnected with one single interwoven American destiny." Two new polls Monday showed Trump edging ahead of Clinton in the days following the Republican convention. U.S. presidential candidates typically get a bump in public support after their nominating conventions and Trump showed a sizable 10-point gain in a CNN/ORC poll. The news organization's survey shows Trump with a 48 to 45 percent lead, compared to its last poll showing Clinton with a 49-42 percent advantage. A CBS News national poll showed Trump with a 44-43 percent lead. A car bomb exploded in a heavily policed area of Syria's capital, causing several injuries as well as damage to government buildings, according to Syria's state media. The explosion took place Monday in the Kafr Sousa neighborhood of Damascus, which houses many security installations. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the violence in Syria, said the blast was near an Iranian school and caused causalities, but did not give further details. Car bombings in the central part of Damascus are relatively rare. In another development Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government helicopter gunships dropped barrel bombs on residential neighborhoods in Aleppo, killing at least 12 people. Also Monday, the Israeli military said it struck a target in Syria in response to mortar fire that hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Syria's military said the Israeli missiles caused only material damage. In Washington, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said any military cooperation between the Untied States and Russia to strike targets in Syria would be transactional and not based on trust. At a news conference at the Pentagon, Carter and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said any cooperation with Russia would include measures to ensure U.S. operation security. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has proposed trying to establish closer military cooperation and intelligence-sharing with Russia to fight extremist groups in Syria. Following a meeting with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Kerry responded to comments made by Carter and Dunford by saying that he still has some concerns about whether Russia is really prepared to step up and work with U.S. forces in Syria. That's why, Kerry said, he didn't publicly announce any kind of cooperation with Russia. Because weve been disappointed in the past, he said. Kerry said "a lot of homework" still needs to be completed before either Russia or the U.S. makes any public announcements, but discussions will continue to be held "quietly." He said he hopes to make a public announcement about a plan by the first week in August. China continues to tighten its control over online speech and the internet environment as the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) prepares to implement a new set of regulations Monday to restrain the countrys fast-growing mobile apps. Analysts say the new measures are in line with Chinese President Xi Jinpings media policies and earlier calls for local media to serve the ruling Communist partys interests, but at odds with the top leaders vow in December that the countrys internet users must be free to speak their mind. The overall control (of freedom of expression) will continue and get harsher. The worst is yet to come, which we may see in the next couple of years. But its another story whether such a control will be effective, said Qiao Mu, a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University. Authorities in China will keep a close tab on sensitive speech online to clear the way for Xi to cement his grip on power ahead of next years 19th party congress, the professor added. Control over mobile apps The CACs latest regulations state that, beginning August 1, all mobile app providers in China must confirm the real identities of their users in the apps back-end platform by using their registered phone numbers. Local app operators, currently totaling four million, will also be required to create an information security and content censorship system to filter out illegal content while tracking user log information, which will be kept on file for at least 60 days. The effort follows swiftly on the heels of the regulators crackdown on eight domestic online companies, including Sina Corp and Tencent Holdings, whose news portals on Sunday were ordered to stop original news reporting. By law, they can only carry news published by licensed news organizations. As such, penalties will be imposed on these online companies because their violation has caused a serious negative influence, authorities in Beijing were quoted as saying on state media. The pace of online media control, moreover, is expected to accelerate following the promotion of Xu Lin as head of the CAC, Qiao noted. Late last month, Xu, formerly deputy director of CAC, was tapped to replace his predecessor, Lu Wei, in chairing the powerful internet control and regulatory body. Xu is widely believed to be a trusted associate of Xi after he had worked closely with the president during Xis tenure as the partys secretary of Shanghai. Xu Lin has replaced Lu Wei. One of his major responsibilities is to implement (internet) policies under the helm of the big boss (Xi). Therefore, a slew of solid action (of internet control) will surely follow, Qiao said. Liberal magazine targeted While tightening its grip over the web and information industries, Xi has also shown less tolerance over liberals even if they are from within the party, the professor added, referring to the recent closure of Yanhuang Chunqiu, a leading liberal magazine in China. Founded in 1991, the magazine is known for challenging party views on sensitive issues, such as political reform and the Cultural Revolution. With a circulation of about 200,000 copies, it has also been seen as a forum for more reform-minded officials. Shortly after its 25th anniversary, the magazines leadership, including its 92-year-old publisher, Du Daozheng, was reshuffled a move critics say is a clear violation of press freedom. Following the government-instigated management reshuffle, initiated by the Chinese National Academy of Arts, Du announced a halt to the magazines publication in a sign of defiance to the governments censorship. The academy may be the one which openly pulled the plug on the magazine and led to its closure. But Xi Jinping was the man behind the scene, who has hoped that not only the media must serve for the partys interests, but also any interpretation of Chinese history must conform to that of the party, Gao Wenqian, a senior policy advisor at Human Rights in China, told VOAs Mandarin Service. The government, in addition, is said to be considering measures to exert a more direct form of influence over online media outlets, which include taking board seats or stakes of at least one percent in those companies. But Qiao cast doubt on the governments control over the Internet, saying the new media still provides plenty of leeway for millions of netizens to freely express themselves, which will exhaust the governments efforts to stifle them. A Colombian drug kingpin was sentenced on Monday to 35 years in a U.S. prison for engaging in a multi-million-dollar scheme to manufacture hundreds of tons of cocaine that he trafficked throughout the world. Daniel Barrera Barrera, also known as "Loco" (Crazy), was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan after pleading guilty to various narcotic-related charges and to having conspired to engage in money laundering. Woods, who also fined Barrera $10 million and ordered him to forfeit the same amount, called the Colombian national a "smart, talented, maybe even gifted man" who went from working as a farm hand to heading a violent drug trafficking organization. "Simply put, the scope of the offense here is staggering," Woods said. Speaking through a Spanish translator before the sentence was imposed, Barrera said he wanted the opportunity to be released from prison someday and see his grandchildren. "I ask for my family's forgiveness for all of the suffering I have caused them," he said. Prolific trafficker According to authorities, Barrera, 48, had been one of the most prolific drug traffickers of the last two decades before his capture in Venezuela in 2012 following years in hiding. Prosecutors said that from 1998 to 2010, Barrera ran a cocaine manufacturing and trafficking syndicate that produced an estimated 5,000 kilograms of cocaine a month, resulting in more than 720 tons of cocaine being produced during the scheme. Barrera bought raw cocaine paste from the leftist rebel group FARC and processed it in laboratories in areas controlled by a now-demobilized paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, authorities said. The drug empire generated tens of millions of dollars, which Barrera laundered, and protected by dozens of armed guards and enforcers, many of whom at his direction threatened or killed individuals who owed money or posed a threat, prosecutors said. Barrera was extradited from Colombia in July 2013 to the United States, where he faced three separate indictments in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Miami. Ruben Oliva, Barrera's lawyer, in court called the sentence "unreasonable and greater than necessary." He had sought leniency given that his client attempted to cooperate with authorities, including offering information to locate a FARC bomb maker and by encouraging other drug traffickers to surrender. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Soumya Dayananda said authorities declined to extend any cooperation agreement to Barrera. "The magnitude of the defendant's violence and drug trafficking outweighed any cooperation he could provide," she said. Speaking at the Republican National Convention last Thursday, presidential candidate Donald Trump reiterated his plans to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and end trade deals that he claims favor Mexico. The Democratic Partys presumptive presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, has criticized such rhetoric and is expected to say more at her partys convention this week. And last Friday, President Barack Obama hosted his Mexican counterpart, President Enrique Pena Nieto, to underscore the good relations between the two countries. The benefits of cross-border commerce Illegal immigration and drug trafficking are the issues most associated with the border in political debates and news reports, but there is also commerce and trade that supports jobs on both sides of the line. On the border in Nogales, Arizona, cars and trucks line up all day long at the new Mariposa crossing station. Downtown, many Mexicans with visas come across to shop or work and then return across the border later. While about half of Mexicos population lives below the poverty line, and wages are far lower than they are in the United States, the country has a growing middle class that looks for better bargains on clothes, appliances, electronic devices and other goods north of the border. Economic expansion and job growth just doesnt have the sizzle that a drug bust does, but obviously we cherish the international trade that we enjoy here in Arizona and we want to do everything we can to expand that, said Mike Varney, President and CEO of the Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce. Tucson, about 100 kilometers north of Nogales, draws a large share of the Mexican shoppers because of its large stores and other attractions, according to Varney. Mexican citizens come to the Tucson area and spend about a billion dollars a year in our stores and our hotels, buying all kinds of services and products here, he told VOA. NAFTA, border commerce and the immigration backlash Even more important, according to Varney, are the cross-border manufacturing projects that have drawn corporations to establish their headquarters or regional offices in Tucson. Such economic activity has been spurred, in large part, by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which has lowered tariffs between the United States, Mexico and Canada since 1994. But the treaty has drawn fire from critics on both the left and right for displacing some American workers and failing to bring wages in Mexico up anywhere close to the level of wages in the United States or Canada. While manufacturing in Mexico has grown, it still cannot provide enough jobs for the countrys large population of mostly young workers. As a result, Mexicans have continued to cross the U.S. border illegally seeking work opportunities. In their footsteps have come thousands of people from Central America, fleeing not just poverty, but drug-related violence. Illegal immigration on the U.S.-Mexico border has created a backlash against undocumented immigrants whom critics deride for violating U.S. laws, committing crimes, taking jobs from U.S. workers and suppressing U.S. worker wages through their willingness to work for less. In Arizona, the frustration has been especially pronounced since the U.S. Border Patrol increased enforcement near major urban crossing zones like San Diego, California, and El Paso, Texas, causing more migrants to take their chances crossing over the border into Arizona. Former Governor Jan Brewer, who backed controversial laws on immigration while in office, remains engaged with the issue, saying recently, "Our borders need to be secured, and we believe in the rule of law." The most outspoken public figure in Arizona is Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who spoke in favor of Donald Trump's proposed border wall at last week's Republican Convention. Seeking balance at the border But some Arizonans reject such views and the negative effects caused by what they call the militarization of the border. Reverend Randy Mayer, an immigrant advocate from Sahuarita, Arizona, said, What happens here along the border is that commerce and business is almost stopped and what should be a multibillion dollar industry is actually suffering. Mike Varney does not paint the picture as bleakly, but he does see a need for balance between border security and the free flow of commerce. We want to keep bad people and bad things out of our country, he said, but, at the same time, we dont want to put the brakes on cross-border trade. Varney argues that there are many entangled issues at the border that require clearheaded examination, not heated rhetoric. Its a mix of politics, its a mix of trade and economy, its a mix of international relations, he said, so it is a complicated recipe and we need to pay attention to all the ingredients that go into that recipe. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy With apologies and pleas, Democrats did everything possible to turn the first day of their convention from discord to unity to emerge looking ahead to a party unified for victory in November. Late in the evening when Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders emerged, loud applause kept the insurgent candidate from even speaking for several minutes. Delegates who had booed the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency earlier in the day seemed to accept Sanders plea to support her against Donald Trump in the November election. They chanted his name and mouthed along with familiar slogans from his campaign rallies even in what seemed to be the last moment of the 74-year-olds unlikely candidacy. Any objective observer will conclude that, based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close, Sanders told the crowd. On the floor of the convention, there were cheers, but when Sanders spoke to a group of his own supporters earlier, he encountered jeers and boos as he urged that they join Clinton. Younger generation At a protest outside the convention hall, hundreds of Sanders supporters held a feisty demonstration, despite the intense Philadelphia heat. At times, the pro-Bernie rally could be mistaken for an anti-Hillary protest, with demonstrators chanting lock her up and holding signs that said No Oligarchy. Even with only one day remaining before the convention would formally nominate Clinton, many Sanders supporters were still not ready to consider the possibility. Im giving Bernie a 100 percent chance until there isn't one, said Desmond ORegan from Burbank, California. Ill cross that bridge when it explodes. In ORegans estimation, Sanders was the victim of a party establishment and broken voting system that was rigged in favor of Clinton from the start. They played to her favor and not Bernies, he said. In my heart, I believe he won every race. I really do. Many of the protesters had marched all day from City Hall near downtown and, in the muggy heat, smelled strongly of sweat and marijuana smoke. Some had come in support of Jill Stein, the Green Party presidential candidate, who appeared among protesters and whose campaign platform is very similar to Sanders. Democrats are worried that even some support for third party candidates may be enough to tilt the scales in Trumps favor. But thats a possibility that the most loyal Sanders fans are ready to accept. Im not afraid of Trump, said Pat Straker from Meadville, Pennsylvania, who was carrying a sign that read, Bernie or Jill, Never Hillary or Donald. Even he acknowledged that his vote in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania might help deliver the presidency to Trump. I dont like him, but I think Hillary is just as bad as Trump and I dont believe in choosing between the lesser of two evils, Straker said. He also dismissed any accusations that the Sanders campaign was built on unrealistic promises. Its not rainbows and unicorns. Its what we believe and fight for, he said. If we dont get it, then we dont get it. But we dont not fight for it. Convention tension In a text message shortly after the convention began, Sanders asked supporters as a personal courtesy to me to not engage in any kind of protest on the floor. I belong here, too, said one young woman sharply, holding aloft a Bernie for President sign, as she drew complaints from fellow Oklahoma delegates. Alex Hulvey, a Virginia delegate, said he was sure some Sanders supporters would leave the process. But, for him, the removal of Democratic National Committee Wasserman Schultz in the wake of leaked DNC emails was enough. Were already seeing a change in leadership, and thats exactly what we need, Hulvey said. From the ground up, changing the Democratic Party and getting in positions of leadership, so the system isn't rigged and fixing it from within. He said he would vote for Sanders on the floor, and would still not commit to supporting Clinton in November. Early in the proceedings, Democratic National Committee officials offered a deep and sincere apology to Senator Sanders, his supporters and the entire Democratic party for the inexcusable remarks made over email. Debbie is gone were already breaking the cart, you know? said Diane Lanpher, a delegate from Sanders home state of Vermont, using a colloquial phrase to describe a transformation. Hes trying to bring that unity piece because the goal from his perspective is that this is just the beginning, said Lanpher who attended the Sanders speech. She spoke approvingly of the Sanders supporters holding to their passion. I want those sparks to continue. Thats why its important that after Philly the revolution continues they need to stay engaged. We cannot have them just go. Decked out in bright blue Hillary for President regalia, Florida delegate Lucy Huyke Garner saw the days disorder as a temporary stumble. She said that some Sanders supporters would avoid voting for Clinton in the fall, "but I don't worry about them. They need to grieve. As Democrats try to contain the fallout over an embarrassing email leak, many in the party are trying to shift the focus toward a familiar foe: Russia. Top Clinton officials on Monday took the extraordinary step of accusing Russian hackers of trying to interfere in the U.S. election by releasing the Democratic National Committee emails. Some veteran party strategists and ex-Clinton aides suggest the Clinton campaign will continue to use the issue to raise questions about Trump's links to Moscow. WikiLeaks released the 20,000 DNC emails last week, just before the start of the party's national convention that got underway Monday in Philadelphia. The 20,000 emails confirmed the fears of many supporters of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who had claimed the party was tipping the scales in favor of Clinton. WikiLeaks, a transparency advocacy group, did not reveal the source of the leaked emails. But many pointed a finger at Russia, after the DNC said last month that Russian hackers had penetrated its systems. Reporters asked Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about his country's purported involvement in the hack after Lavrov met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Vientiane, Laos. While he avoided directly responding to the issue, Lavrov said that he doesn't "want to use four-letter words." Kerry told reporters that he had raised the issue of DNC email hacking with Lavrov, but didn't divulge any details beyond that. Kerry said the FBI is investigating the hack, and it would be premature to draw any conclusions before the investigation is finished. Helping Trump? Not all experts agree that Russia can be easily implicated. Yet, Clinton's campaign on Monday took it a step further, arguing that Russian hackers released the emails to help Donald Trump, the Republican nominee. "I don't think it's coincidental that these emails were released on the eve of our convention here, and I think that's disturbing," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told CNN. Speaking later on the same network, Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said, "There's plenty of reason to think there's an affinity between [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and Trump." Many Democratic strategists say they expect Clinton's team to continue to point to Trump's Russia ties, arguing it could weaken the Republican candidate in the eyes of many Americans. "It would be political malpractice not to" highlight Trump's Moscow connection, says Michael Trujillo, who served as a Clinton aide in 2008 and as a senior adviser to the Ready for Hillary Super PAC in 2012-13. Trump's Russia connections There have long been questions about Trump's relationship with Moscow. Trump and Putin have been complimentary of one another. "He [Trump] is a very flamboyant man, very talented, no doubt about that," Putin said last December. "Wouldn't it be nice if, like, Russia and us could knock out an enemy together, not us bear the full costs?" Trump asked at a rally in Iowa later that same week. The New York businessman is said to have extensive business links with many oligarchs close to Putin. Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort, worked as a public relations consultant for Ukraine's pro-Russia president Viktor Yanukovych before the Ukrainian strongman was ousted and fled to Moscow in 2014. None of that seemed to matter much in the 2016 election until last week, when several journalists began raising questions about Trump's more recent behavior toward Moscow. Most notably, Trump said if he became president, the U.S. might not back NATO nations if they were to come under attack from Russia, reversing a decades-long U.S. foreign policy stance. Trump's staff also worked to soften anti-Russian language in the Republican platform last week during the party's convention. While all of this is circumstantial evidence, and nothing points at a direct link between Trump and Putin, some Democrats say it is too much to ignore. "You know, sometimes circumstantial evidence can convict people," said Bob Schrum, a Democratic strategist and veteran of numerous presidential campaigns. Stranger than fiction "I don't want to rush to judgment, but I think the burden of proof here is on Trump to explain why he and Manafort have so many close ties to people who are around Putin," said Craig Varoga, a longtime Democratic strategist. Varoga, who has worked in Democratic politics for 30 years, says he's never seen an accusation quite like this one. "The plot here is potentially wilder than The Manchurian Candidate," he said, referring to a best-selling political thriller that came out in 1959 in the midst of the Cold War. Trump took to Twitter on Monday to dismiss the controversy as a "joke," but acknowledged in the same tweet that "Putin likes me." In an interview, Manafort called the accusations "absurd," adding "there's no basis for it." No U.S. government official has said who is behind the DNC email leaks. There have been no official accusations that Russia is behind the disclosure. The FBI said Monday it is "working to determine the nature and scope" of the hack. "A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously, and the FBI will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace," it added. While some U.S. officials, speaking off the record, have described the attack as part of a wider series of Russian cyber intrusions into U.S. political and academic systems, some cyber experts expressed skepticism. It is nearly impossible to determine who carried out such a cyberattack, says Jeffrey Carr, author of Inside Cyber Warfare. "The technical evidence can all be faked," Carr said. "When you look at a piece of malware, you're looking at what the author of the malware wants you to see. "It's like finding a gun at the scene of a shooting that was made in Russia. We don't assume it was a Russian shooter," he said. There's also a matter of language, Carr says. "We say Russian hackers, and then we immediately assume it's the Russian government." 'Disturbing' The chairman of the Democratic Party became the first casualty of the email controversy, when Debbie Wasserman Shultz announced she would step down. Trump criticized her for favoring Clinton over Sanders. "She worked very, very hard to rig the system," Trump said. "Little did she know China, Russia, one of our many, many friends, came in and hacked the hell out of us." The issue does not appear to be going away, and it's not just Democrats who want to know more about Trump's links with Russia. When asked whether he thinks Russia is interfering in the U.S. election, Eliot Cohen, a top adviser at the State Department under President George W. Bush, said it was "certainly plausible." "There's very little question in my mind they would prefer Trump to Hillary at this stage. Trump has said dangerous and reckless things, which are pretty appalling, many of which the Russians would feel pretty good about," he said. Cohen, now a professor at John Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, also said Trump has "a lot more sympathy for Vladimir Putin than is healthy." "I don't think anyone is suggesting Trump is a Russian agent," he said. "But it's very disturbing." Republicans are casting a possible Hillary Clinton presidency as another term for the policies of the countrys current President Barack Obama. The platform of party positions put forth by the Democratic Party at its convention in Philadelphia suggests Democrats would be just fine with that. Obama "still enjoys great favorability, so I think that its not that its necessarily emblematic of one person, but its of the philosophy of where the party approaches, especially on foreign policy issues, Democratic strategist Penny Lee told VOA. The foreign policy section of the platform in part reads like a list of highlights from the past eight years that the Obama White House might write. It supports the agreement the U.S. and five other world powers implemented this year to curtail Irans nuclear program in response to fears Iran was working to build a nuclear weapon. It says the U.S. would be safer in a world with fewer weapons of mass destruction, harkening back to a 2009 speech Obama gave in Prague calling for a worldwide commitment to move toward a world without nuclear arms. "As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act," he said. "We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it, we can start it. "So today, I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons." IS, Guantanamo, interrogation methods The Democrats want to confront Islamic State by leading a coalition effort against the militants, uniting the Syrian opposition and working toward a political transition in Syria. Their platform also calls for working to help innocent people who are fleeing persecution while ensuring rigorous screening and vetting. They oppose Republican Donald Trumps proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country. The party also retains its commitment to closing the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, something Obama made a priority when he took office in 2009. While many of the hundreds of detainees have been transferred to other countries, more than 70 still remain. The platform condemns Trumps statements signaling his willingness to allow the military to conduct enhanced interrogations of detainees that amount to torture. We will always seek to uphold our values at home and abroad, not just when it is easy, but when it is hard, the platform reads. Obama banned the methods, but Trump says they would be a necessary tool to gain intelligence. The Democrats also highlight climate change as a real and urgent threat to our economy, our national security, and our childrens health and futures. Clinton's influence While the Democrats feature many Obama policies, they also point to the influence of their nominee who served as his first secretary of state. I think it makes sense that the platform reflects a number of priorities of this administration because Secretary Clinton was the secretary of state in the administration, Democratic strategist Winnie Stachelberg told VOA. "I do think one key piece here on foreign policy is that Secretary Clinton has had such deep experience in the foreign policy arena as being a senator, a first lady and secretary of state that I think it is a particularly deep and compelling roadmap of how she would govern. On trade, the broad descriptions in the Democratic platform signal at least some similarity between the countrys two major parties. It says the U.S. should develop trade policies that support jobs at home and should be ready to review existing agreements. It also calls for holding countries that manipulate their currency and use other unfair trade practices accountable. Those basic ideas are in the Republican platform as well. That would be great to find some ways in which they can work together, Democratic strategist Lee said. But she was pessimistic about that actually happening, blaming Republicans for blocking work in Congress. Its really hard to make progress or get anything done when you just have an incredible loyal opposition just because they want to oppose something. Some key differences between the parties show up in the section on national defense where Democrats urge an end to wasteful defense spending, support the opening of combat positions to women and welcome anyone joining the military regardless of religion, sexual orientation or gender identity. Sanders' impact Domestic issues show the clear influence of Senator Bernie Sanders, the chief challenger to Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination. Sanders remained in the race through the final primary election and earned slots on the committee that drafted the platform. The committee agreed that the national minimum wage should be raised to $15 per hour and that work needs to be done to make college more affordable, both of which were demands from Sanders during his campaign. One would not call this a platform fight, but it is true that there were discussions and debates and meetings and conversations about the Democratic platform that people hadnt seen for decades, Stachelberg said. And the reason is because Senator Sanders stayed in the race and was able to have a say in the platform." The platform urges equal pay for women, reforms for Wall Street and tax increases on the richest Americans. It also calls for criminal justice reforms, abolishing the death penalty and supporting comprehensive changes to the nations immigration policy. The Democratic Party supports legal immigration, within reasonable limits, that meets the needs of families, communities, and the economy as well as maintains the United States role as a beacon of hope for people seeking safety, freedom, and security, the platform says. Stachelberg said the platform makes a bold statement about the partys priorities. I think that thats what this Democratic platform does in specifics when it comes to counterterrorism, when it comes to defeating ISIS, when it comes to Syria and other domestic issues. Democrats opened their national convention Monday in Philadelphia looking to put behind them a contentious primary season with some of their biggest voices uniting behind their presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who finished second to Clinton in the Democratic race, said the country needs leadership that brings people together instead of insulting Latinos, Muslims, women, African-Americans and veterans. "While Donald Trump is busy insulting one group after another, Hillary Clinton understands that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths," Sanders said. He spoke about how his campaign was able to push the Democratic Party to adopt several of his proposals, including Wall Street and campaign finance reform and opposing trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Sanders expressed his disappointment in how the nomination process turned out, but said Clinton "must become the next president of the United States." Trump tweets reaction to speech Trump criticized Sanders on Twitter, saying he "totally sold out" to Clinton and that his campaign was a "waste of time." Sanders quickly fired back. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren said Trump and his campaign have embraced keeping the powerful on top, as well as racial hatred, bigotry and attacks on women and immigrants. "We've seen this ugliness before, and we're not going to be Donald Trump's hate-filled America. Not now. Not ever," she said. Michelle Obama revs crowd, draws cheers First lady Michelle Obama drew huge cheers from the crowd as she spoke about the importance of those in the White House serving as role models to the nation's children, saying that "our words and actions matter" and that she believes Clinton is the only person qualified to be the next president. "I want a president with a record of public service, someone whose life work shows our children that we don't chase fame and fortune for ourselves, we fight to give everyone a chance to succeed," Obama said. "I want a president who will teach our children that everyone in this country matters." She made several apparent references Trump without mentioning his name, including saying a president cannot have a tendency to lash out and needs to be steady and well-informed. "Don't let anyone ever tell you that this country is not great, that somehow we need to make it great again. Because this right now is the greatest country on Earth," she said, rebutting Trump's campaign slogan "Make America Great Again." Trump slams Cory Booker, mum on Obama Trump In addition to tweeting about Sanders and Warren, Trump posted a message about a speech by New Jersey Senator Cory Booker. But absent were any words about Obama's speech, a week after Trump's wife Melania spoke at the Republican National Convention with a passage very similar to one Obama delivered in 2008. Booker, who was mentioned as a possible running mate for Clinton before she chose Senator Tim Kaine, drew huge cheers with an optimistic speech about what he sees as the country's ideals. "We can't devolve into a nation where our highest aspiration is that we just tolerate each other. We are not called to be a nation of tolerance. We are called to be a nation of love," Booker said. He described Trump as divisive and said Clinton was the better choice for president. "Hillary Clinton knows what Donald Trump betrays time and again in this campaign; that we are not a zero sum nation, it is not you or me, it is not one American against another. It is you and I together, interdependent, interconnected with one single interwoven American destiny." New opinion poll Two new polls Monday showed Trump edging ahead of Clinton in the days following the Republican convention. U.S. presidential candidates typically get a bump in public support after their nominating conventions and Trump showed a sizable 10-point gain in a CNN/ORC poll. The news organization's survey shows Trump with a 48 to 45 percent lead, compared to its last poll showing Clinton with a 49-42 percent advantage. A CBS News national poll showed Trump with a 44-43 percent lead. Bill Clinton to speak Tuesday Clinton's husband, Bill, a former U.S. president, is addressing the convention on Tuesday. Other speakers include House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, party interim chair Donna Brazile and a group of mothers whose children have died from gun violence or in clashes with police. German authorities said that a patient shot dead a doctor and killed himself at a university hospital in a southwestern neighborhood of Berlin Tuesday. Police had initially said that the doctor had received life-threatening injuries and was in intensive care. The shots were fired Tuesday around 1 PM local time at Benjamin-Franklin Hospital in the Steglitz district, police said. Police said there was no indication of a terrorist background to Tuesdays attack. A series of attacks has rocked southern Germany in the past week. A Syrian asylum-seeker blew himself up outside a music festival and wounded 15 people in Ansbach on Sunday. Another asylum-seeker attacked and wounded four passengers on a train and a passer-by in Wuerzburg on July 18. Islamic State claimed both attacks. Friday, nine people, most of them teenagers, were killed in a shopping center shooting spree in Munich by an 18-year-old German-Iranian with a history of psychological problems. A Syrian refugee killed a 45-year-old Polish woman with a large knife Sunday at a snack bar in the southwestern city of Reutlingen, in what police said was likely a "crime of passion". The most recent attacks have prompted officials to call for stricter gun laws in Germany. Watchers see Turkey's failed coup and the subsequent purge carried out by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as part of a battle among Islamists whose ultimate vision is to allow for a greater role of religion in public life. To others, that vision runs counter to the secular society established in the 1920s by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish republic. When thousands of opposition members and ruling party supporters filled Istanbul's Taksim Square Sunday to condemn the failed coup attempt against Erdogan, they illustrated the kind of people power that stopped the coup from succeeding. The display of unity was a rare sight in a deeply polarized nation that has a long history of coups. The mood was largely jovial; opponents and supporters of Erdogan celebrated the one area where they agree: a coup would bring more instability and problems than it would solve. But along with display of unity was deep apprehension, especially as Turkey embarks on a period under a state of emergency. "We are worried of course about the state of emergency because to a certain extent our freedom will be restricted," said Sermin Dalgic, an opposition supporter attending the rally. "We want a country where we can freely speak our minds and hold rallies. That's the kind of country we want to be," she said. In the short and long term, that goal appears to be in question. Entrenched secularism The rally had the full blessing of the Erdogan government, which used it to further bolster the legitimacy of his rule and, more importantly, its efforts to purge opponents, especially followers of his rival, former imam Fethullah Gulen. Erdogan accuses Gulen's massive movement of being behind the coup attempt, a charge Gulen - in self-imposed exile in the United States for 17 years - denies. Reports of torture continued to emerge on Monday; lawyers said some of the arrested soldiers have been subjected to beatings and rape. Erdogan is purging opponents and emerging more powerful - and freer to push an Islamic agenda. The Turkish leader has declared the country will raise a "religious generation" and is leading a drive to build mosques. Melda Onur, a former lawmaker with the main opposition, the secularist Republican People's Party, does not believe it will be so easy for Erdogan, and thinks the same people power that stopped the tanks the night of the coup attempt, will stop Turkey from becoming an Islamist state. But she is worried. "It is the cleansing of radical Islamic elements, but on the other hand, it is resisting not leaving its place to those who want a secular democratic republic. We do not know if it is a real cleansing, purging, or something done just to keep the position," she said. Onur, like others, says secularism is too deeply entrenched in Turkey, and believes the country's position between the Muslim world in the East and Europe in the West is a guarantee that Turks will never accept an Islamist state. "They see the situation of the countries that are not secular in this region. This country has never envied Iraq, Syria or Iran because they know what it is. But on the other hand, they have never envied European liberalism either," Onur said. On that point, some Islamists agree. Looking out her office window at the Bosphorus bridge, Hilal Kaplan, a well known writer and Erdogan supporter, reflects on how she braved bullets when she joined hundreds of others on the bridge who stood in front of the putschist tanks on the night of the coup attempt. "This bridge will never be the same for me. People died there and when I look at it, l love Istanbul, but it will never be the same for me," she said, breaking into tears. "All the people in Turkey know that coups are bad for us, so if we didn't do something about it, we knew that something worse, something very catastrophic would happen in Turkey," Kaplan said. Like many in Turkey, she sees the purges as necessary. Unlike many others, she does not see an advance toward a more Islamist society as a threat. As a devout woman who wears a headscarf, she feels freer today than just a few years ago when laws in place since Ataturk's time forbade women in headscarves from some jobs and public office. "I think women being in the work force, all kinds of women being in the parliament and other places, creates a huge solidarity among women and gaining women's rights, and this can only strengthen secularism. I don't think it's the other way around," she said. Kaplan shudders at any comparison between Erdogan's vision for Turkey and that of countries like Iran or Saudi Arabia. "We are part of the Middle Eastern world and also we are part of the European world. And when you look at Turkey, and you look at the diversity here, the interpretation of Islam here, we are an exceptional country," she said. "In Saudi Arabia and Iran you can see different styles, but they also lack the European qualities that Turkey has. Iran is a very oppressive regime, and as a head scarfed women, I am disgusted by their laws that they force women to wear head scarfs," Kaplan said. Kaplan, like Onur, is optimistic that Turkey's history and geographic placement will provide at least some guarantee of their freedoms. The Turkish government has turned its attention to journalists in the latest expansion of its purges after a failed coup July 15. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's chief of international relations, Ayse Sozen Usluer, has released a file of foreign news coverage, indicating what she says is support of or failure to oppose the uprising. Usluer says much of the foreign media failed the democracy test. "Some coverage in the media is shameful disgraceful, actually, she said. It seems they cant leave the politics aside and condemn the coup openly. The international press have shown an anti-Erdogan attitude in this matter. As evidence, she quoted some of the headlines you may find after a quick scan in the international media, including "Erdogan gained power, democracy weakened," "Coup is gift to Erdogan" and "Erdogan more powerful after the failed coup." U.S.-based Fox News featured prominently in the government file. Many of its items were tweets, including a comment by one contributor, retired Colonel Ralph Peters, declaring that "if the coup succeeds, the Islamists lose and we win." Articles from leading newspapers from around the globe were also cited. Dozens of arrest warrants issued Arrest warrants for 42 Turkish journalists were issued Monday. Among those was a warrant for prominent columnist and commentator Nazli Ilicak, who was detained Tuesday. Political columnist Semih Idiz of Turkey's Cumhuriyet newspaper says the arrest of a prominent writer like Ilicak will fuel fears that the government crackdown is extending far beyond the coup plotters. "I think the risk is very real, Idiz said. We learned that a prominent journalist, Nazli Ilicak, has been arrested today. She was always with the Islamists, and yet this thing has expanded to take her in on the assumption that she is part of the Gulen outfit. It is a very dangerous situation because we have emergency rule, which means rule by decree, in effect, and the suspension of civil liberties." Two years ago, Ilicak was fired from the pro-government Sabah newspaper for her criticism of high-level corruption. State of emergency Human Rights Watch strongly criticized Tuesday what it called the arbitrary nature of the powers under emergency rule, warning that the powers are being used beyond those involved in the coup plot. The state of emergency was introduced last week, for three months. But Erdogan insists the crackdown is aimed only at supporters of retired imam Fethullah Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States. Erdogan accuses Gulen of using his large network in Turkey to initiate the coup attempt, a charge Gulen denies. Observers say the crackdown has closed several news websites critical of the government, but with no connection to Gulen. Idiz warns that such actions threaten to isolate the government at a critical moment. To avoid that, Idiz says, the government must acknowledge that it not only got support from the opposition on July 15, but also that the opposition media that the government has been very critical [of] played a crucial role in this [support]." For example, a news network that Erdogan has been strongly critical of had broadcast his appeal for people to go into the streets to challenge the coup, a move widely seen as crucial to defeating the attempted military takeover. The U.S.-based exiled cleric accused by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of being behind Turkey's attempted coup has accused the Turkish president of "turning a failed putsch into a slow-motion coup of his own against constitutional government." Writing Tuesday in the New York Times, Fethullah Gulen called Erdogan's accusation of involvement in the attempted coup by elements of Turkey's military earlier this month "irresponsible and wrong." "My philosophy, inclusive and pluralist Islam dedicated to serve to human beings from every faith is antithetical to armed rebellion," wrote the 75-year-old cleric, a former Erdogan ally who has been living in self-imposed exile in the eastern U.S. state of Pennsylvania since 1999. Ankara blames Gulen for the uprising that left 290 people dead, and is demanding his extradition. Washington says it is considering documents Turkey sent about Gulen's alleged involvement in the failed coup, but has made no commitment to return him. In his New York Times op-ed, Gulen accused Erdogan of seeking to transform Turkey from a parliamentary democracy into an executive presidency "essentially without checks on his power." Gulen accused the Turkish president of having fired nearly 70,000 people from government agencies and further cracked down on civil society organizations, thereby "removing many of the remaining impediments to absolute power." Under a three-month state of emergency that came into force last week, thousands of private educational institutions, hospitals, clinics and associations allegedly linked to Gulen have been ordered closed. A decree issued Saturday allows judges, prosecutors and civil servants to be fired without the possibility of legal challenge, and police to detain some suspects for up to 30 days without being taken before a judge. The New-Yorked based group Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called the decree "arbitrary, discriminatory, and unjustified." Asked why she voted for Hillary Clinton in South Carolina's Democratic primary, Columbia resident Evelyn Boyd does not hesitate. "I want a woman to have a say-so in how the government is run," the African-American grandmother said. "Men have been doing it all along, and they don't do anything special." Along the U.S. presidential campaign trail this year, voices like Boyd's championing the historic possibility of an American female president seem to have been drowned out by the noise of the contentious presidential primary. In New Hampshire, young women like 26-year-old Karli Griffin see more in common with Senator Bernie Sanders than with the former secretary of state. "He is passionate about the issues that are affecting my generation," the retail worker said. For Griffin, it's not seeing a woman in the Oval Office that brings her to the polls, but the promise of free college. "A more educated populace can't hurt," the Manchester, New Hampshire, resident said. Longtime Clinton supporter Susan Donner, who is in her late 60s, takes a different view. "I support Hillary because she has more experience," Donner said. "Even though I know people don't always trust her, she has supported things important to me for many, many, many years, and that I do trust." The issue most important to this former social worker and retired associate dean at Smith College in Massachusetts is women's rights. "One of the things that impresses me most about Hillary is that she went out of here as secretary of state to really fight for women and girls around the planet, and they are more than half the planet," Donner said. Overlooking a historic moment? This generational divide in how voters view Clinton's historic nomination and the possibility of a female commander-in-chief is not surprising, says Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. "Women, particularly in their 50s and beyond, definitely have had the sense that it may not happen in their lifetime," Walsh noted. "Younger women totally expect that a woman will be president in their lifetime, and if it's this woman, fine. If not, there will be others." American women in their late teens and 20s have not lived through decades of white male presidents, instead spending a bulk of their youth with an African-American man at the helm of the United States. Many also have grown up seeing women in prominent leadership roles, including Supreme Court justices and speaker of the House of Representatives. "There is a sense out there when you look at the top tier that, oh, women have made it,'" Walsh said. "When in reality, women make up less than 25 percent of elected officials at the federal level, the state legislative and statewide elected office." And this gender inequality is not just confined to the political realm, according to Jackson Katz, the author of "Man Enough: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton & the Politics of Presidential Masculinity." "There is a lot of naivete and a lot of wishful thinking that we have already won those battles, that it's a settled issue that men and women are treated equally," Katz observed. "But we are not even close to gender parity in economic terms and social terms." Clinton's more than two decades in the public eye as former first lady, U.S. senator, 2008 presidential candidate and secretary of state also affect why many may not see the historic nature of her presidential nomination. "She is very much someone who people have opinions about already, so the fact that she is a woman has already worked its way into peoples' consciousness, even before she decided to run," said Georgetown University historian Michael Kazin. Or as Walsh puts it, "Some people sort of feel like she has already been in the White House." Angela Merkel, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Hillary Clinton? The fact is, however, no woman has ever occupied the White House as president of the United States. Around the world, the picture is different. The South Asian island nation of Sri Lanka elected the first female leader back in 1960, Sirimavo Bandaranaike. India was next with Indira Gandhi as prime minister in 1966. Israel's Golda Meir took the oath of office in 1969. Britain's Margaret Thatcher was elected prime minister in 1979. At least 63 nations have had a woman as head of state or government in the last 50 years. And whether it be Britains new Prime Minister Theresa May, South Korean President Park Geun-hye or Liberia's Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, women currently serve as heads of government or elected heads of state in 18 countries from Asia to Africa. "On every continent, there has been at least one woman head of state. We [the United States] really are in many ways playing catch up in this department," Walsh said. So why has the U.S. lagged behind the rest of the world? Many of the countries that have seen female leaders have parliamentary systems, where people usually vote for parties and not individuals. And nearly 100 nations have legislated or established voluntary quotas, setting aside a certain percentage of seats for female candidates. Political barriers Having a female president or prime minister or even quotas, though, does not necessarily mean women are equally represented in levels of government. As of August 2015, only 22 percent of national parliamentarians around the world were women, according to the United Nations. The U.S. ranks 97th in the world when it comes to percentage of women in the legislature. And currently, women comprise only 20 percent of U.S. Congress. In the United States, women face obstacles getting on the ballot, when it comes to fundraising and being recruited to run for office, says Center for Women in American Politics director Walsh. It makes for a narrower pipeline to higher office. "When you look at who runs for president in this country, it's basically state governors and U.S. senators, and we have not had that many women," Walsh said. "The pool is just that much smaller. Right now there are only six women who serve as governors, and 20 women who serve in the U.S. Senate." The challenges for Clinton and other women in politics are not just material, but also cultural, says author Katz. Hillary Clinton "has to navigate this cultural symbolism that surrounds the presidency, that defines it in such clearly masculine terms," Katz said. "The president is not just the chief executive, the president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the patriarchal figure that reassures the nation." Although the prospect of becoming the first female American president is not a main theme of her campaign, Clinton did acknowledge the historic significance of such an election during a recent interview on CBS' 60 Minutes. "I hope that it gives other women and girls the feeling that whatever their dreams might be, they can achieve them in this country," Clinton said. Extremely hot temperatures and low humidity are making it difficult for firefighters battling two major wildfires burning in drought-stricken California. About 3,000 firefighters are having a hard time bringing a blaze just outside the Angeles National Forest, northeast of Los Angeles, under control. Thermometers hit a steamy 39 degrees Celsius Tuesday in and around Los Angeles, with generally dry conditions. Authorities say the fire was just 25 percent contained Tuesday, but under control enough to let many of the 30,000 residents forced to evacuate return home. One fire-related death has been reported. Another fire has destroyed homes near the scenic Pacific coastal town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, south of San Francisco. As of Tuesday, that blaze was just 10 percent contained. A California state fire captain said Tuesday that a wildfire can change direction with little warning, and that flying embers can set off flames more than a kilometer away from the large blaze. Farther east in Wyoming, Governor Matt Mead ordered the National Guard to help fight a wildfire burning on a mountain in the Shoshone National Forest. The governor said the state needs to do all it can to make sure people are safe and property damage is limited. As the hot sun beats down, truck driver Babloo Yadav waits at a border checkpoint in Haryana state for an official to check papers for the truckload of cement he is ferrying. The 350 kilometer trip from Rajasthan to Delhi via Haryana should take no more than eight or nine hours, but long halts at state borders add many tiresome hours to the journey. The delay stems from the confusing mesh of separate taxes and duties levied by Indias 29 states. When I present my papers they deliberately find some fault, said Yadav, And they take up to $75. Shelling out bribes is only part of the problem. It is estimated that truck drivers, who transport two thirds of freight across the country, spend only half their journey traveling traffic snarls and a gigantic bureaucracy plodding laboriously through paperwork at state checkpoints consumes the rest. Ambitious game changer An ambitious tax reform measure that aims to turn India into a seamless common market could end such woes. Called the most important reform since India liberalized its economy a quarter century ago, the Goods and Services Tax (GST), once it is passed by parliament, is expected to boost manufacturing and exports and make it much simpler to do business by cutting Indias notorious red tape. Its definitely a game changer. It will make compliance of tax for the private sector much easier, said D.K. Srivastava, a former professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. Inefficiencies that are there because of fiscal barriers will all be eliminated. After being debated for nearly ten years, the measure could finally see the light of day as the government expresses optimism about breaking a longstanding political deadlock. For Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has vowed to improve Indias tough business environment, passing the GST has been top priority. But getting state governments and the main opposition Congress party on board has been tough. Although the bill was passed by the lower house a year and a half ago it has been stuck in the upper house of parliament, where the government lacks a majority, The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is optimistic that is has built a political consensus and the measure will be approved in the current parliament session. Manufacturing boost The hope is that the measure will boost the manufacturing sector at a time when the government is pushing a Make in India campaign to woo foreign investors to set up factories in India. The goal: turn the country into a manufacturing hub as costs rise in China, creating much-needed jobs in India. According to estimates, by improving business efficiencies, the good and services tax could add 1.7 percent to an economy that is already powering ahead. However economists warn that India may not see such sweeping benefits in the short run because the bill has undergone many modifications in a bid to make it politically palatable. Its a very fragmented GST that is likely to be ushered in, said Srivastava. But he adds the benefits will flow gradually. It would set up a platform for moving to the purer form of GST later. The measure is eagerly awaited by traders, manufacturers and transporters. Calling the movement of cargo a huge logistical challenge in India, co-founder of Caravan Roadways, Rajeev N. Gupta, said GST could significantly reduce the time for transporting freight. It will clean up all the mess, he said. But he said that is contingent on what shape the reform actually takes. We need to see how well those speed breakers and hindrances are removed by the GST. Observers say the hurdles being encountered in passing GST underline the massive political challenge of ushering in reforms in India. When it was championed by the Congress Party government some years ago, the BJP, then the principal opposition, opposed the measure. This time it has been held up due to strident objections from the Congress Party, which now occupies the opposition benches and which still has not committed its support. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the United States is very encouraged by statements coming from many members of the international community, including many Southeast Asian nations, that have expressed support for the rule of law and a peaceful settlement of maritime disputes in the South China Sea. Speaking at the end of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations regional forum in Laos Tuesday, Kerry said he has had candid and constructive discussions, including a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Monday, about a path forward in light of a decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration that struck down Chinas extensive claims in the sea. China has rejected the tribunal's ruling, saying it does not have the authority to hear the case brought by the Philippines. During his time in the Laotian capital, Kerry also met with Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida, and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, for the sixth ministerial meeting of the so-called Trilateral Strategic Dialogue (TSD). The three urged all sides to respect freedom of navigation and overflight in the Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean, while voicing their strong opposition to any coercive unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions. An earlier statement by the 10-member Southeast Asian regional bloc seemed compromised as a result of unyielding objections from Chinas close ally, Cambodia. The official ASEAN statement expressed serious concerns over artificial land reclamations and escalations of activities in the South China Sea, neither the Hague tribunal ruling or any single nation, including China, were mentioned. Laos, ASEANs chair this year, is also considered a close ally of neighboring China. Experts said ASEAN operates on a consensus principle that effectively gives each country a veto power when forming a stand on various issues. Next, Secretary Kerry will travel to Manila for talks with Philippine officials that are likely to include further discussions of the South China Sea issue. The brutal mass killings committed at a facility for the disabled in Japan illustrates the difficulties that even nations with low crime rates, strict gun control and restrictive immigration policies face in trying to prevent attacks from seemingly deranged individuals. Japanese authorities say they are investigating the motive of the lone knife-wielding attacker who broke into the Tsukui Yamayuri-En facility for disabled people early Tuesday, killing 19 residents and wounding dozens more.But they have ruled out terrorism as the cause. "We received information from the police that there is no evidence of the attacker being related to Islamic State," said Yoshihide Suga, the Japanese governments spokesman and Chief Cabinet Secretary. Police in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, about 40 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, have arrested Satoshi Uematsu, a 26-year-old former employee at the facility, Japanese media reported. Uematsu, wearing a black tee shirt reportedly turned himself into the police and the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said he told police, "I want to get rid of the disabled from this world." The Japanese state broadcaster NHK reported that police recovered a bag with several knives, at least one stained with blood. News of the mass killings has shocked the nation. The facility cares for more than 150 people with a range of disabilities."I just want to know why this happened, the cause of it. It is something that could happen anywhere, and these cases always have to do with human relationships, said Naomi Takano, who lives nearby. Low crime rate Japan has one of the lowest violent crime rates in the developed world. Gun related homicides in particular are rare due to the countrys strict regulations that limit gun ownership, and require gun permit applicants to undergo extensive training, criminal background checks and mental health screenings. Japan banned possession of double-edged knives longer than 5.5 centimeters after a mass killing in 2008 when a man stabbed shoppers in Tokyo after he drove a rental truck into a crowd and killed seven people and injured 10 others. Tokyos restrictive immigration policies, especially when it comes to refugees from conflict areas of the Middle East, have also isolated the country from some of the terrorism related violence affecting Europe and the U.S. Human rights groups however have criticized Japan for not doing more to help refuges and economic analysts say the country needs increased immigration to replace the countrys rapidly aging population. Disable and elderly attacks Still in Japan there have been a number of recent attacks on the disabled and elderly. In Japanese society, such murder incidents, or so called 'don't ask murders,' happen quite often involving perpetrators who are not related to the suspect, targeting disadvantaged people such as women and disabled, said Hosaka Yuji, a Japan analyst and political science professor at Sejong University in Seoul. Last year, five elderly people were stabbed to death during an attack in the city of Sumoto. In February a former nursing home worker was arrested for allegedly throwing an 87-year-old resident from a balcony to his death. Prior to Tuesday's attack, a 1995 Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system was the worst mass killing in the country since World War II.Members of a Japanese Doomsday cult killed 13 people and caused thousands of commuters to fall ill during that attack, which cause widespread fear in the country. A yellow Lamborghini rolled past the Tche Tche cafe, where men and women were lazily smoking sheesha (a syrupy tobacco mix) and drinking tea. Moments later, a large black Land Rover glided by. Looking out from the cafe, glass and concrete towers glinted in the sun. One of them is the five-star Divan Hotel where a rooftop restaurant boasts expensive champagne and sushi. This is Kurdistan, and the regional government is technically broke. Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani admits the country is experiencing a serious economic crisis. But he says the causes are largely external. In 2014, without any previous consultation, Baghdad cut our budget, Barzani told VOA in a recent interview. Baghdad says it cut the budget because the regional government was selling oil and keeping the profits, and Irbil says it started selling oil to cover its budget needs. The dispute remains unresolved. Second, the war with Daesh, Barzani continued, using the local term for Islamic State (IS). Third, the arrival of 1.5 million refugees and internally displaced persons. Those events, combined with the drop in the price of oil, have squeezed the KRG and forced it to ask for international help from the World Bank, the IMF and the United States. $17 billion in the red The World Bank recently wrote that the effects of the IS conflict has indeed put the Kurdistan Regions infrastructure under severe stress, and more than doubled the poverty rate. The United States and the United Nations are providing humanitarian assistance for the millions of refugees and displaced families scattered around northern Iraq. Recently the United States gave $415 million to boost the capacity of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces holding the front line against IS. But analysts say the root causes of Kurdistans financial hardships run much deeper. The World Bank notes the KRG is precariously dependent on oil revenues, which are 85 percent of its fiscal revenues, but only accounts for one percent of the regions employment. The region also has a bloated public sector, a dependency on imports, a weak financial system, a shrinking private sector and a largely cash-only economy. The Irbil-based Middle East Research Institute in July published a report estimating the Kurdistan Regional Governments debt at around $17 billion, and it has been struggling with its payments to international oil companies (IOCs). That has forced the companies to re-adjust their investment budgets and others to bring lawsuits against the KRG. According to MERI, the London Court of International Arbitration ruled that the KRG should pay $2 billion to the Dana Gas consortium. Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas PJSC are suing the KRG for an additional $11 billion, essentially the regions budget for a year. Negative developments in the relations between the KRG and IOCs can lead to major disinvestment that can hit current oil production and future projects on gas exploitation, and erode confidence of potential foreign investors in other sectors, MERI warned in its report. Signs of economic distress are everywhere: unfinished buildings topped by un-moving cranes, empty apartments, falling real estate prices, power cuts, water shortages, and unpaid salaries. Short-lived prosperity So, who owns the luxury cars and can afford a $250 dinner of champagne and sushi at the Divan hotel? Dara Khailany, advisor to the KRG, explained that following the liberation of Iraq from Saddam Hussein in 2003, a lot of oil money flowed into the region, and Kurdistan enjoyed a decade of prosperity and growth. Unfortunately, Khailany said, while many entrepreneurs took advantage of the money coming in, there was little knowledge on how to manage the capital inflows in order to diversify the economy, invest in sustainable development, finance needed infrastructure projects or build a robust banking sector. Instead, those with money started building gated communities, high rises, hotels, and buying high-end car dealerships. They developed lavish life styles and kept their money out of mistrusted local banks. I always compare this to a family winning the lottery and not being able to build up a long-term plan, and after 15 or 30 years the family runs out of funds from the lottery and everybody is accustomed to the money, but there is no more money coming in, Khailany told VOA. This is similar to what is going on right now, he said. Political nepotism and weak governance led to corruption, according to the Norway-based U4 Anti-corruption Resource Center, further ensuring that resources were not properly invested. Subsidies for consumption According to MERI, KRG senior economic advisor James Parks has argued one of the main structural problems in the economy is the extent to which the KRG spends oil rents, not for investment, but for consumption. Parks states the level of KRG subsidies for consumption through salary payments and electricity subsidies are the largest numbers you would find anywhere, around $10 billion a year or 40 percent of the Kurdistan Regions GDP. The public sector now employs 51 percent of the labor force. Frank Gunter, economics professor at Lehigh University, said in April the economic situation in Kurdistan is not likely to change soon, and could get worse as more youth start looking for jobs. The KRG leadership has said it is committed to righting the fiscal and economic imbalances and spurring private sector activities. Even without the challenges of hosting millions of displaced people and fighting one of the world's most lethal terrorist organizations, such a restructuring would require tremendous political will and agility. But analysts agree, the effort will have to be made if the Kurdistan Region of Iraq wants to avoid an economic meltdown. Islamic State has claimed two of its "soldiers" carried out Tuesday's attack on a Catholic Church in Normandy, France, where they killed a priest after taking him hostage at knife-point. The United States condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the "horrific" attack and offered condolences to the family and friends of the murdered priest, Father Jacques Hamel, and parishioners of the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said "France and the United States share a commitment to protecting religious liberty for those of all faiths, and today's violence will not shake that commitment." French President Francois Hollande visited the scene of the attack in the northern town Tuesday and said the attackers had claimed allegiance IS before being shot dead by police. "Daesh has declared war on us. We must fight this war by all means, while respecting the rule of law," Hollande said, using an Arabic name for IS. French security officials said the two attackers slit the 84 year old priest's throat before police were able to intervene. Hollande denounced the killing as a "vile terrorist attack." Police said another person who was taken hostage at the church is "between life and death" following the attack. Police said the identities of the attackers are not yet known. Pope condemns attack Pope Francis condemned the attack on a Roman Catholic church. Through Vatican spokesman Reverend Federico Lombardi, the pope said the attack is particularly difficult to understand "because this horrific violence took place in a church, a sacred place in which the love of God is announced." French Prime Minister Manuel Valls expressed condolences for the victims of what he called "a barbaric attack on a church." He added, "The whole of France and all Catholics are wounded. We will stand together." The church is located about 104 kilometers north of Paris, where in November members of IS killed 130 people during coordinated attacks on the city. Country targeted by militants Over the past 19 months, France has been the target of two other major terrorist attacks. In January 2015, there were deadly assaults on the offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hedbo and other public places around Paris, killing 17 people. In the southern city of Nice, 84 people were killed on July 14 by a man who drove a truck through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day while firing a handgun. As the Zika viral epidemic continues across the Americas, its projected that 93.4 million people in total could become infected before the epidemic burns itself out. According to a new model developed by U.S., English and Swedish researchers, 1.6 million women of childbearing age could contract Zika from infected mosquitoes. Experts say women who are infected with Zika during the early months of their pregnancy are at highest risk of giving birth to babies with microcephaly. Babies born with microcephaly have small heads and brains, causing mental and physical disability, seizures and sometimes death. Experts say not every pregnant woman infected with Zika will give birth to a child with severe birth defects. But Alex Perkins, one of the models developers from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, says the number of newborns born with the birth defect could nonetheless be significant. If you want to think about the numbers in terms of microcephaly and things like that, I think somewhere on the order of tens of thousands is what our numbers would suggest, he said. Since the end of June, there have been almost 1,650 confirmed cases of microcephaly in five countries. The Zika projection model, published in the journal Nature Microbiology, is the most comprehensive estimate to date for Zika spread. In developing their forecast, Perkins and colleagues used data from past epidemics of Dengue and Chikungunya. Dengue is in the same flavivirus family as Zika. Chikungunya, while in a different viral family, is also spread by mosquitoes and is endemic in the Americas. All three can cause similar symptoms of headache, muscle ache and fever. But 80 percent of people who contract Zika have no symptoms at all. Researchers also analyzed data on blood samples collected from people who have been infected with Zika so far. That gave them information to forecast the rate of transmission at the local level. Unique model The model is unique in that it also took into account a phenomenon called herd immunity, a tipping point in an epidemic when so many people contract an illness, others are protected against the disease. So really theres going to be a large proportion of the population that remains uninfected after the epidemic," Perkins said. "And the epidemic is going to extinguish itself before its able to infect everyone. Other than herd immunity, there is currently no vaccine to shield people and pregnant women against Zika, which the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency earlier this year. Colombian health officials declared on Monday that the worst of a Zika outbreak in the Andean nation had passed just 10 months after its arrival, raising questions about how the virus is affecting parts of Latin America differently. Vice Health Minister Fernando Ruiz told journalists that the number of infections in Colombia has been falling by 600 cases a week. While Zika is still circulating in the country, Colombia considers the drop-off sufficient to say it has moved into an endemic phase from the epidemic phase. "We can declare that the epidemic is ended. Colombia is the first country on the American continent to declare an end to the epidemic," Ruiz said. Zika has struck hardest in Brazil, where the outbreak was first detected last year, and has since spread rapidly through the Americas. The disease can cause the devastating birth defect microcephaly, a condition defined by abnormally small head size which can lead to severe developmental problems in infants, as well as other neurological problems. Brazil has reported more than 1,600 cases of microcephaly linked to Zika, a spike not replicated elsewhere to date. Colombia's Zika outbreak has been closely monitored by infectious disease experts to understand whether the virus will affect other countries in a similar manner to Brazil. Colombia has reported nearly 100,000 cases of infection, with 21 cases of Zika-related microcephaly. Some disease experts say they are reluctant to say the worst of the outbreak has passed in Colombia, particularly with mosquito season due to resume in the country within a few months, and the many unknowns surrounding the first mosquito-borne virus that can also be transmitted through sexual contact. "It's difficult to make predictive statements on an epidemic when the vast majority of cases go unreported," said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas. About 80 percent of Zika infections are believed to be asymptomatic. "There is a possibility that it has not taken hold in Colombia as it has in Brazil and Puerto Rico, but we're not going to know the full impact of this epidemic for several more months until we see whether additional waves of microcephaly cases are born," Hotez said. British scientists predicted earlier this month that it will take two to three years for the current Zika outbreak to come to an end in Latin America, assuming that enough people have been infected and become immune to the virus. Colombia's Health Ministry has also lifted its recommendation that women delay pregnancy because of the virus, Ruiz said, though there may be new outbreaks of the disease in future. Colombia expects that there will be an uptick of cases of microcephaly in September and October, Ruiz said, when pregnant women infected during the peak of the epidemic will give birth. The World Health Organization has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults. Colombia has reported 350 cases of the condition connected to Zika. There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya and causes mild fever, rash and red eyes in cases with symptoms. U.S. Democrats opened their national convention in Philadelphia Monday amid renewed tension between backers of nominee-in-waiting Hillary Clinton and former rival Bernie Sanders. With many of his supporters angry about leaked emails from Democratic Party leaders that seemed to show a bias in favor of Hillary Clinton, Sanders sought to heal the party rift. He urged his loyalists to support nominee-in-waiting Hillary Clinton. I served with her in the United States Senate and know her as a fierce advocate for the rights of children, women and the disabled. Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president, and I am proud to stand with her here tonight, said Sanders. Anger among Sanders supporters was visible outside the Wells Fargo Center, where hundreds of demonstrators were confronted by police, resulting in several arrests. Sanders supporter Lisa LeVally Evans remained upset about the email revelations, saying The media is in on it. Everybody was in on it. They said we were crazy. Well, look who's crazy now. But Sanders delegate Richard Cassidy from Vermont said Democrats will come together eventually because of Republican Donald Trump: I think it will be a very small group of Sanders supporters who don't vote for Hillary Clinton, because the alternative is just unpalatable." Among the opening night speakers was First Lady Michelle Obama, who also urged Democrats to support Clinton. She said Republican nominee Donald Trump is wrong in his assessment of the state of the union: Don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great, that somehow we need to make it great again. Because this right now is the greatest country on earth. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren also revved up the crowd with a forceful attack on Trump: When we turn on each other rich guys like Trump can push through more tax breaks for themselves and well never have enough money to support our schools or rebuild our highways or invest in our kids' futures. Clinton and vice presidential running mate Tim Kaine will both address the Democratic Convention later in the week. A U.S. embassy spokesperson told VOA's Burmese Service on Monday that it issued an apology after a deployed tear gas canister irritated civilians passing by the American compound in Rangoon. According to local police, residents reported hearing an explosion in the vicinity of the compound around 8 p.m., after which they noticed a foul smell wafting into the surrounding streets. Soon after, people in the area began complaining of eye irritation. Rangoon Kamayut Police Station Duty Officer Oak Soe told VOA that police initially suspected an attack, triggering rumors that drew emergency services to the scene. U.S. officials quickly explained that a tear gas canister had been used on the compound as part of a training drill. "On the evening of Sunday, July 24, the U.S. Embassy in Yangon held a routine security drill, which inadvertently inconvenienced passers-by and a neighboring business," an embassy representative said. "No one was injured and embassy operations are running as normal. We apologize to our neighbors and others who were in the area." According to reports by Agence France Presse, a series of small blasts rocked the country in October 2013 after they appeared to target tourist spots, just as the emergent nation was experiencing a flood of foreign visitors following the end of military rule. This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Burmese Service. Portions of this report are from AFP. The Solar Impulse 2 has become the first plane to complete a round-the-world trip powered only by the sun's energy. This Swiss engineered plane on Tuesday landed in Abu Dhabi, from where it first took off on an epic 40,000-kilometer journey that began more than a year ago. The solar plane made 16 stops across the world without using a drop of fuel. "Our mission now is to continue to motivate people, corporations and governments to use these same solutions on the ground wherever they make sense,'' Solar Impulse chairman and pilot Bertrand Piccard said in a statement. Piccard, after landing the plane, was greeted by fellow pilot Andre Borschberg. The two hugged and pumped their fists in excitement. "The future is clean. The future is you. The future is now. Let's take it further," Piccard said to the applause of a crowd that had gathered to greet the pilots. Solar Impulse is not much heavier than a car, but has the wingspan of a Boeing 747. It is powered by 17,248 solar cells that transfer energy to four electrical motors that power the plane's propellers. It runs on four lithium polymer batteries at night. The plane's wingspan stretches 72 meters to catch the sun's energy. "The world is moving. If we want a good quality of life today, we have to turn to clean technologies, to renewable energies. This is why it's very important to understand that [it's] more than achievements for the history of aviation, it's a success for the history of energy," Piccard said. Over its entire mission, Solar Impulse 2 completed more than 500 flight hours, cruising at an average speed of between 45 kph and 90 kph. It made stops in Oman, India, Myanmar, China, Japan, the U.S., Spain, Italy, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Its North American stops included California, Arizona, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. The carbon fiber plane is a single-seater aircraft, meaning its two Swiss pilots, Piccard and Andre Borschberg, had to take turns flying solo for long days and nights. In a statement this week, Borschberg said it is no longer a question of whether it's possible to fly without fuel or polluting emissions. "By flying around the world thanks to renewable energy and clean technologies, we have demonstrated that we can now make our world more energy efficient,'' he said. With the political rhetoric getting louder and shriller each day, it is hard to believe that so few of us actually vote in elections. The United States is the first modern democracy in the world, and yet even in our state the turnout in the last election, 2014, was a dismal 47 percent. We know here in Montana that many legislative elections are determined by only a handful of votes, but still our citizens arent voting. The League of Women Voters Montana is launching a new project, Revitalizing Democracy, to encourage more understanding and discussion of the basic tenets of our democracy. Why We Vote: Getting from Votes to Seats is the initial event in this new, free public forum at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 2, in the lower level lecture hall of the Carroll College Student Center. The event is co-sponsored by the Political Science Department of Carroll College. The forum features a presentation from Peter Miller, John Templeton Foundation post-doctoral fellow in the philosophy, politics and economics program at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Miller is a native of Billings, Montana, and specializes in the study of democracy. Dr. Millers presentation brings up some hard truths about the system we use to elect representatives and presidents in the United States. How well does our system for counting votes translate into seats? One such measure is the discrepancy between the percentage of votes a party wins compared to the percentage of seats that party wins. In 2012, this discrepancy in the US Congress was 4.79 percent. Similarly, our system for electing presidents also falls short of ensuring that the most popular candidate wins, in part because the electoral college mechanism does not always align with the popular vote. This year in particular, our method for nominating and electing our president is coming under intense scrutiny. If our election mechanisms fail to reflect the popular vote, what effect does that have on peoples willingness to vote? Is this undermining our democracy? Dr. Millers presentation considers the theory behind voting, why we vote, trends in voting behavior in recent years, and suggests an alternative way to rank and count ballots that comes closer to ensuring that the most popular candidate wins the race. What will it take to revitalize our democracy? I invite you to join the League of Women Voters Montana and the Carroll College Political Science Department, in this, the first of many conversations about democracy and issues facing our country and our state on Tuesday, Aug. 2 at 6 p.m. at Carroll College. Claudette Morton is co-president of the League of Women Voters Helena. The League of Women Voters does not endorse or oppose candidates and offers nonpartisan voter education and programs. The U.N. refugee agency reports more South Sudanese refugees have fled into Uganda in the past three weeks than in the first six months of this year. The UNHCR says more than 37,000 people have crossed the border since fighting between South Sudans rival factions erupted July 8 in the capital, Juba. The violence that killed at least 300 people has subsided, but tensions are still running high in the capital and other parts of South Sudan. The U.N. refugee agency says people have little confidence that the situation soon will improve, as evidenced by the upsurge in people fleeing the country. UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards reports daily arrivals into Uganda were averaging around 1,500 ten days ago, but have risen to over 4,000 in the past week. He says the majority of arrivals are women and children. The new arrivals are reporting ongoing fighting, looting by armed militias, burning down of homes, murders of civilians," said Edwards. "Some of the women and children told us they were separated from their husbands and fathers by armed groups, who were reportedly trying to recruit them into their ranks and preventing them from crossing the border to leave the country. The political situation took a new turn in recent days, as President Salva Kir replaced former rebel leader Riek Machar as vice president with Taban Deng Gai, who helped negotiate last years peace deal between the government and opposition. Observers say this is a sign of serious divisions on the opposition side. Edwards says he cannot comment on how these developments will impact the situation, but he tells VOA the UNHCR is profoundly worried about how to care for the newest refugees. This one is an extremely worrying one, given the limited capacities that there are," he said. Edwards says the UNHCR is straining to provide shelter and anything beyond basic life-saving assistance to the refugees. He says temporary shelters are being constructed to accommodate new arrivals, while more permanent solutions can be worked out. South Sudans President Salva Kiir has sworn in a new deputy to replace opposition leader Riek Machar, who went into hiding this month after deadly clashes between his forces and government soldiers. South Sudans new first vice president is Machars former peace negotiator, General Taban Deng Gai, who also replaced Machar as head of the opposition party last week. In his acceptance speech Tuesday, Deng said he will focus on three priorities: ending South Sudans conflict, ensuring internally displaced people (IDP) can return home, and merging government and opposition armies into one. In an exclusive interview with VOAs South Sudan In Focus program, Deng said South Sudans government of national unity must be the government for everybody. IDPs must feel confident that the police in Juba, or Wau or Malakal or Bentiu is their police, that the army which is protecting the nation is for them, he said. Deng says these forces liberated South Sudan, and it should not be difficult for them to provide services and make the people secure. How do we do it? We are going to move forward as one government. We are one government, we have one president, we are one nation, and it is our people that need services and protection, Deng told South Sudan In Focus managing editor John Tanza. South Sudan has been ripped apart by political and ethnic violence since fighting erupted between pro-Kiir and pro-Machar army factions in December 2013. Tens of thousands of people have died and more than two million have been displaced from their homes, many to neighboring countries. A peace deal between the government and opposition signed last August led to creation of a transitional government with Machar as first vice president. But the agreement was severely tested this month by several days of fighting in Juba that killed at least 300 people. Machar has not been seen in public since attending a news conference at the presidential palace on July 8. Ahead of Tuesdays ceremony, officials in the opposition, known as the SPLM-In Opposition, gave conflicting signals on whether they will accept Machars ouster and replacement. Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, the former opposition secretary for foreign affairs, said Deng has the support of the entire SPLM-In Opposition. He has been the chief negotiator. He was the one who negotiated this agreement in Addis Ababa. He is a general in the army. He also participated in the war of liberation since 1983. So he has the support of the army and also the support of the party, and he has a lot of support from South Sudanese, he said. But Goi Jooyul Yol, SPLM-In Opposition representative to Ethiopia and the African Union, said Deng does not represent the entire former rebel movement. Taban Deng Gai and Ezekiel Lol and two others went ahead and installed Taban Deng Gai to be the chairman of SPLM-IO. We have 28 members of the politico bureau of the central committee of SPLM-IO. Only four are out of Juba. How would four people decide on the leadership of an organization? Goi Yol said. Gatkuoth denied Kiir and other members of the SPLM-IO plotted to assassinate Riek Machar during fighting that broke out in early July in Juba. In fact, Gatkuoth said it was Kiir who saved Machar and other opposition leaders. Let me be categorically clear to you. There was no plan or conniving of anybody against anybody to kill anybody. I know how it started, but let me tell you, if it were not President Kiir Mayardit protecting us in J-1 or the presidential palace, I would not talk to you today. He protected me as Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth; he protected First President Dr. Riek Machar, he protected Vice President James Wani Igga who was also there, Gatkuoth said. Gatkuoth was formerly a bitter critic of Kiir, referring to the president on many occasions as a dictator. But now he said hes happy to work with Kiir since the president signed the 2015 peace agreement. After the agreement was signed we have reconciled. Yes, Ive been saying words that are harsh to him and that are harsh to others, and I have been expressing my views. After we have agreed to work together in one government - that has made me to say he has opened a new page and I must work with him. And that is when I have decided to also say you are not a dictator anymore. Youre cooperating with us; youre working with us; you are implementing the agreement with us. Let us work to implement this agreement, Gatkuoth said. The apparent disarray in South Sudans Transitional Government of National Unity comes full circle Tuesday when former rebel leader and First Vice President Riek Machar is formally replaced by his one-time chief peace negotiator, General Taban Deng Gai. South Sudan President Salva Kiir announced last week that he had fired Machar and replaced him with Deng. Machar went into hiding following clashes between the two forces earlier this month that left hundreds of people dead. Deng will be sworn in Tuesday as first vice president. Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, the former secretary for foreign affairs of the SPLM-in opposition, said Taban Deng has the support of the entire SPLM in opposition. Taban Deng Gai is known to the SPLM-SPLA-IO. He has been the chief negotiator; he was the one who negotiated this agreement in Addis Ababa. He is a general in the army. He also participated in the war of liberation since 1983. So he has the support of the army and also the support of the party, the SPLA-IO, and he has a lot of support from South Sudanese, he said. Gatkuoth said South Sudanese are tired of war and want peace and they will support whoever is interested and the government would like Machar to return to Juba so that he and President Kiir will implement the peace agreement together. But Goi Jooyul Yol, SPLM-In Opposition representative to Ethiopia and the African Union, said Deng does not represent the entire former rebel movement. Goi Yol said President Kiir is not interested in peace because removing Machar as First Vice President violates the agreement that ended two years of fighting from 2013 to 2015. Taban Deng Gai and Ezekiel Lol and two others went ahead and installed Taban Deng Gai to be the chairman of SPLM-IO. I would like to tell you that we have 28 members of the politico bureau of the central committee of SPLM-IO. Only four are out of Juba. How would four people decide on the leadership of an organization, Goi Yol said. Gatkuoth denied Kiir and other members of the SPLM-In Opposition connived to assassinate Riek Machar during fighting that broke out early July in Juba. In fact, Gatkuoth said, it was Kiir who saved Machar and other members of the SPLM-IO. Let me be categorically clear to you. There was no plan or conniving of anybody against anybody to kill anybody. I know how it started, but let me tell you, if it were not President Kiir Mayardit protecting us in J-1 or the presidential palace, I would not talk to you today. He protected me as Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth; he protected First President Dr. Riek Machar, he protected Vice President James Wani Igga who was also there, Gatkuoth said. Gatkuoth had been a bitter critic of Kiir, referring to the president on many occasions as a dictator. But now he said hes happy to work with Kiir after the president signed the 2015 peace agreement. After the agreement was signed we have reconciled. Yes, Ive been saying words that are harsh to him and that are harsh to others, and I have been expressing my views. After we have agreed to work together in one government that has made me to say he has opened a new page and I must work with him. And that is when I have decided to also say you are not a dictator anymore; youre cooperating with us; youre working with us; you are implementing the agreement with us. Let us work to implement this agreement, Gatkuoth said. Members of the SPLM In Opposition nominated Taban Deng Gai over the weekend to become South Sudan's Acting First Vice President to replace Riek Machar, who went into hiding shortly after fighting broke out in the capital, Juba, in early July. Machar's spokesman Peter Gadet condemned the nomination of Gai, and issued a statement calling on IGAD-plus (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) countries, the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission and other international bodies to reject Gai's nomination. Jok Madut Jok, a South Sudanese political analyst with the Juba-based Sudd Institute, said Gai's nomination presents a challenge to the Kiir administration, noting that some troops loyal to Machar adamantly oppose a move to replace their leader. But Jok also said he's not surprised there is a move afoot to replace Machar, President Salva Kiir's longtime adversary, since Machar cannot be found. However, Jok added, I wouldn't be surprised if the president does not issue a decree right way because there are other competing challenges, one of which is that Gai is seen as someone who does not command a lot of control or support over the forces." Jok also pointed out that Gai is seen as one of the people who has been in competition with other political families when he was appointed governor of Unity state. Machar did not respond to a 48-hour ultimatum issued by the president to return to the capital. Not a coup The five members who were present during Saturday's vote to replace Machar bypassed the rules of their party, choosing instead to follow the regulations outlined in the August peace agreement "that gives lawmakers the right to fill positions if they become vacant, for whatever reason," Jok said. Jok added that if and when Machar returns to Juba, the belief is that Gai would immediately quit his post as Acting First Vice President and give it back to Machar. "That is what they are counting on. That is, it is not a coup. That is, he [President Kiir] is simply filling a vacuum," Jok said. Because Machar is not in Juba, the only way his supporters can challenge the decision to replace him as First Vice President is to go to war, according to Jok, because they have no legal basis to challenge the move in a court of law. Jok describes Gai as a former liberation fighter, "one who is very able, a very likable field commander since he was a young person at the beginning of the SPLA in the 1980s." The United States has condemned "in strongest terms" a double bombing that took place at the main entrance of Mogadishu's airport during morning rush hour Tuesday, killing at least 13 people. A spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, Ned Price, said Tuesday that the United States "stands squarely with Somalia and our partners in the fight against despicable acts of terrorism that seek to destabilize Somalia." He said the United States remains "committed to helping Somalia progress along a path towards peace and prosperity and the defeat of terrorist groups." Al-Shabab - Somalia's al-Qaida-linked terror organization - claimed responsibility for the attack on the group's Andalus radio station. Seven of the 13 people killed were United Nations guards, the security officials said. The entrance targeted in the bombing is regularly used by employees who work at the airport and is located near U.N. and African Union (AU) buildings that connect to the airport. Residents in the area reported hearing two massive explosions just around 9 a.m. local time. According to reports from the residents, a suicide bomber tried to drive a car packed with explosives through a Somali security check point and then detonated the explosives causing casualties. Seconds later another car arrived and this time the suicide bomber detonated the car close to security forces and nearby African Union forces. A security source told VOA that private security guards charged with protecting U.N. personnel outside the AU compound were also at the checkpoint at the time of the attack. It's not yet known if any U.N. officials were preparing to leave the airport at the time of the attack. The private security detail escorts U.N. officials and vehicles outside the airport perimeter. Security sources say attackers did not breach the perimeter of the airport which partially hosts the main Headquarters of the AU as well as foreign embassies. Fishermen from three Taiwanese fishing boats set foot on the disputed Taiping Island in the South China Sea on Tuesday morning as part of a planned trip. Four boats departed for the island on July 20 to highlight Taiwans sovereignty after an international tribunal ruled that Taiping is legally a rock, not an island. The fourth vessel, carrying three reporters from Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV who were along to cover the voyage, did not dock with the other three. Also known as Itu Aba Island, Taiping Island is part of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. The island is administrated by Taiwan, but it is also claimed by mainland China, the Philippines and Vietnam. According to Taiwans Defense Ministry, one must apply for permission to land on Taiping Island 45 days in advance. Three of the four Taiwanese fishing boats that did not have authorization asked Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA) to give them access to the island for emergency shelter. On Tuesday morning, the fishermen were allowed to set foot on the pier but did not enter military-controlled areas. Troops stationed on the island provided the crew with food and 21 canisters of fresh water from island well No.5. An individual speaking on behalf of the fishermen called their symbolic trip a success because they managed to set foot on the island and get fresh water. I think this action was very successful since it attracted a great amount of attention from people at home," said Qiangfei Luo. "The online approval rate of this action is over 80 percent, so I would say this was a huge success in that it has brought attention to Taiping Island. The four fishing ships involved began their return voyages at 11 a.m. and are on schedule to arrive in Tungkang, Taiwan, this weekend. Reporters denied landing According to Qiangfei Luo, the fishermen leading the trip did not want the fourth vessel to land, so as to avoid unnecessary suspicion. Since there are criticisms out there which could distort our intentions, we took the initiative to make the sacrifice and decide not to let the boat with the reporters to enter the port," said Luo. "This is what we chose to do, not requested by the government. It is to show that, unlike what the rumors said, we are responding to the public instead of spying or mediating for the Communist party. Phoenix TV, which has financial connections with China, is the only news organization that managed to send along its reporters. Other reporters, including those from Voice of America, were denied the access because of incomplete procedures. Taiwan unsupportive The Taiwanese government has said it does not support civilian attempts to land on the island or any similar action to claim sovereignty. Taiwan government spokesperson Zhenyuan Tong said on Monday that civilian action to safeguard sovereignty may not have a positive impact on Taiwans role in the international community. If there was not any garrison on Taiping Island or official announcement made in the past, then there might be some need to claim the sovereignty," he said. "But even if there is such a need, it is the government official that should take this role. Civilian claim is not effective according to the international law. Taiwan's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that Taiping Island is not open to ordinary citizens, and that only national defense, facility management and academic research personnel can apply for a landing permit. People charged with offenses against internal security, people from mainland China who have held Taiwanese identity for less than 20 years 10 years for Hong Kong and Macau and people with dual citizenship are not allowed to land on Taiping Island, a ministry statement declared. The top U.S. military general has denounced a report by a Turkish daily alleging that a former U.S. commander had organized the failed military coup in Turkey, calling the article "absurd." The article by conservative Turkish daily Yeni Safak cites unnamed sources associated with pro-coup detainees and claims former four-star Army General John Campbell, who led NATO forces in Afghanistan before retiring earlier this year, made secret trips to Turkey and managed billions of dollars to distribute to pro-coup military personnel in Turkey. "That's an absurd report that General Campbell would be involved in something like that," General Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Monday at the Pentagon. The U.S. Army issued a statement Monday saying the retired general "categorically rejects the irresponsible assertions in the Turkish press of involvement in the recent political activities in Turkey." "There is no truth to the assertions," the statement added. Colonel Patrick Seiber, a defense official who spoke with Campbell earlier Monday, told VOA the general had not visited Turkey in his retirement and supports the U.S. government's position on Turkey. Turkey-US relations Turkey, which borders Syria and Iraq, is an important ally in the fight against the Islamic State group. The NATO ally's Incirlik Air Base houses U.S. refueling and attack aircraft used in the counter-IS campaign. More than 3,000 U.S. personnel are based in the country, as well. Commercial power returned Friday to Incirlik after operating on backup generator power since July 16, according to U.S. European Command. Dunford said his Turkish military counterpart had reached out to him twice in the past week to assure that Turkey is still committed to the counter-IS fight and to the broader U.S.-Turkey partnership. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, who spoke with his Turkish counterpart by phone last week, said Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik confirmed that his country's commitments to combating IS would "proceed unabated." The denounced report comes amid accusations by Turkish authorities that U.S.-based cleric and self-exiled opposition leader Fethullah Gulen was behind the attempted takeover of power. Last week, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkey gave the U.S. government evidence of Gulen's involvement in the failed coup. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the U.S. is reviewing documents presented by Turkey, which is demanding Gulen's extradition. Gulen, who resides in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, has denied any involvement in the military coup. Turkey targeted journalists, academics and airline workers Monday in its ongoing crackdown on people allegedly linked to the exiled Muslim cleric it says directed the failed military coup against the Ankara government. Turkish authorities issued warrants for the detention of 42 journalists, took 31 academics into custody and fired 211 workers at Turkish Airlines. Turkey also detained three fugitive soldiers on suspicion of taking part in an attack on a hotel in the Aegean Sea resort of Marmaris, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was vacationing when the putsch unfolded July 15. Erdogan has said that if he waited 15 minutes more before fleeing the hotel, he would have been killed or taken hostage. Four other soldiers are still on the run. State-run news agency Anadolu said prominent writer Nazli Ilicak is among the journalists wanted for questioning. He has been critical of Erdogan and opposed his government clampdown on followers of Fethullah Gulen, the 75-year-old cleric who has been living in the eastern U.S. state of Pennsylvania since 1999. Extradition wanted Ankara blames Gulen for the uprising that left about 290 people dead, and is demanding his extradition. Washington says it is considering documents Turkey sent about Gulen's alleged involvement in the failed coup, but has made no commitment to return him. Gulen has denied any involvement in the attempt to overthrow Erdogan. Prosecutors requested the detention of the journalists, saying it was not because of their "journalistic activities, but possible criminal conduct." The 31 academics included professors in Istanbul and four other provinces. Meanwhile, authorities detained 40 people at the Istanbul-based War Academy. Erdogan's crackdown has been extensive. The government has declared a three-month state of emergency and detained more than 13,000 people in the military, judiciary and other institutions. Turkish media last week reported that the education ministry fired 15,200 teachers across the country, while the interior ministry dismissed nearly 9,000 workers. Another 1,500 people in the finance ministry were fired, as were hundreds more in the religious affairs directorate, the family and social policy ministry and the prime minister's office.The country's higher education board demanded the resignations of 1,577 university deans. Old allies, bad blood Gulen lives on the grounds of the Golden Generation Worship & Retreat Center, an Islamic facility founded by Turkish Americans. His philosophy mixes a mystical form of Islam with staunch advocacy of democracy, education, science and interfaith dialogue. His movement operates dozens of schools in the United States. Erdogan and Gulen were once allies, but had a falling out over 2013 corruption investigations in Turkey, which the Turkish leader blamed on Gulen. The exiled Gulen has also criticized Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian rule, while the Turkish leader has carried out a broad campaign against Gulen's movement. The U.N. Security Council has voted unanimously to extend its peacekeeping mandate in the Central African Republic until November 2017, just weeks after France announced it will end its military mission in that country. The Security Council on Tuesday adopted a French-drafted resolution extending the mission, nicknamed MINUSCA, until November 15, 2017. It expresses support for new C.A.R. President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who assumed the office in March. The United Nations has a peacekeeping force of about 11,000 troops that are tasked with protecting civilians, monitoring human rights recognition and enabling the delivery of humanitarian aid. Rebels overthrew the president of C.A.R. in 2013, triggering waves of sectarian violence. France responded by sending a military mission there in December 2013. Its final 350 troops are expected to leave the country by October of this year. The U.N. mission began in April 2014, following an African Union mission, to help provide security for civilians and facilitate aid deliveries. The Security Council said in Tuesday's resolution that the security situation in the country is improving, but remains fragile because of the continued threat of militant attacks. President Barack Obamas administration on Tuesday announced efforts to stem the illegal entry into the U.S. of vulnerable people from the violence-torn Central American countries of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Costa Rica indicated it would help address the regional migration issue by agreeing with the U.S., the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration to offer temporary refuge to those in immediate need of protection. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will pre-screen people seeking protection and transfer them to Costa Rica for processing before resettlement in the U.S. or another country. Up to 200 people at a time will be held for up to six months in Costa Rica under the program. The Obama administration also announced the expansion of the Central American Minors program, which provides qualified children under 21 a "safe, legal and orderly" way to reach the U.S. The program, which is currently reviewing more than 9,500 applicants, allows a parent who legally resides in the U.S. to request refugee status for his or her children who are still in one of the three designated Central American countries. To address those who don't need immediate refuge in Costa Rica, the U.S. is creating referral programs in the three countries. Those residents will be considered for refugee protection in the U.S. after being screened by Homeland Security officials in their home countries. Efforts not 'sufficient' White House Deputy Homeland Security Adviser Amy Pope admitted to reporters Tuesday that "current efforts to date haven't been sufficient." But she said the new and expanded programs should help "promote safe and orderly immigration and border security." Pope said the administration did not know how many families and children might benefit from the efforts, but expected a steady increase in requests in the months ahead. The administration's efforts are designed to reduce the tens of thousands of illegal crossings of the U.S.'s southern border each year. Since October 2015, more than 51,000 people traveling as families and over 43,000 children traveling alone have been caught illegally crossing the Mexican border into the U.S. The Central American Minors program was launched in December 2014. More than 600 minors have moved to the U.S. since then. Nearly 3,000 children have been approved, while more than 9,500 applications are pending. BILLINGS -- Two Montana Republican legislators who wont vote for Donald Trump this election have endorsed Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. Reps. Daniel Zolnikov, of Billings, and Nicolas Schwaderer, of Superior, on Monday morning endorsed Johnson, saying the former Republican governor of New Mexico is the only candidate speaking about the national debt. The reason why third party candidates dont get enough footing is that most people dont stick their neck out and give them a chance, Zolnikov said. Johnson has made eliminating the debt at the top priority. He faults both Republicans and Democrats for debt growth to $20 trillion. The candidates odds of getting elected are extremely slim. Real Clear Politics gives the candidate 8 percent of the vote in an aggregation of six polls conducted between July 11 and Sunday. Zolnikov was co-chairman of presidential primary candidate Ted Cruz Montana campaign. He said hes spoken with a few Cruz supporters looking for an alternative to Trump. Third-party candidates have never won a presidential race, but they have altered the outcome of the state results. In 1992, Bill Clinton became the first Democrat to win the Montana general election since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. But Clinton won just 37.6 percent of the vote, to incumbent President George H.W. Bushs 35.1 percent. The spoiler was Texas billionaire Ross Perot, who as an Independent candidate received 26 percent of the Montana vote. Advocates of the two-party system say a vote by dissatisfied partisans for a third-party candidate is a throwaway vote that could decide an election. I think thats the dumbest argument, because Im voting for the actual proven track record, Zolnikov said. The reason we keep getting what we get in politics is because people are always saying, You waste your vote, youre going to get the worst of two evils. Zolnikov said he wouldnt be supporting any of the of the other Libertarian candidates running in Montana political races. Three Libertarian candidates are running for statewide office and six for state Legislature. Johnson is not recognized as a candidate yet in Montana, according the Secretary of State records. However, the Libertarian Party is a recognized major party in Montana, which means the party merely has to submit Johnson's name. There are no filing fees or signatures required. Green Party Candidate Jill Stein, who is in Philadelphia this week recruiting disgruntled Bernie Sanders voters, also isn't listed as a candidate in Montana. Stein faces more requirements because the Green Party is a minor party. Minor party candidates have until August 24 to have their campaigns certified by the Montana secretary of state. It takes 5,000 confirmed voter signatures to qualify as a minor party candidate. A few Montana Republicans have been breaking away from Trump for the past month. In early July, former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, also a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, announced he wouldn't support or endorse Trump in a letter to the Washington Post. Racicot wrote that Trump lacked the leadership and conservative principles to be GOP leader. Montana's former U.S. Rep. Rick Hill has said he won't support fellow Republican Trump, either. Hillary Clinton failed to win Montana's Democratic primary. Sanders' Montana supporters on social media are split on voting for Clinton, with some suggesting they will vote for Stein. The U.S. warned Tuesday of a "revolution" of computer hacking threats against the country from foreign governments and non-state actors like the so-called Islamic State, and it issued new guidelines to protect American interests. A White House directive outlined a five-point scale to assess the severity of new attacks, the degree to which a cyber security breach might affect national government operations, municipal utilities, private corporations or other U.S. interests. The new effort, years in the making, would assign six levels of severity to any breach, such as a level three or above incident that would be considered "significant" and trigger quick government action. The worst-case scenario was seen as one that would pose an imminent threat to wide-scale critical infrastructure in the country, the stability of the government or lives of Americans. "To put it bluntly, we are in the midst of a revolution of the cyber threat, one that is growing more persistent, more diverse, more frequent and more dangerous every day," White House counter-terrorism adviser Lisa Monaco told a cyber security conference in New York. "Unless we act together - government, industry and citizens - we risk a world where malicious cyber activity could threaten our security and prosperity," she said. "That is not a future we should accept." Monaco named Russia and China as cyber adversaries, while also noting that Iran and North Korea are capable and willing to carry out destructive attacks, as well as "hacktivists" who are not necessarily aligned with a foreign interest. The new directive comes as U.S. Democratic Party officials are claiming that "Russian state actors" hacked into nearly 20,000 emails at the party's Washington headquarters. The messages, released last weekend by WikiLeaks, showed that party leaders undermined the presidential campaign of an upstart challenger, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, in his long and eventually unsuccessful contest against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the party's nominee in the November national election. Monaco said there will be a thorough investigation of the Democratic Party security breach "and I'm sure there will be more to say later." The FBI is looking into the cyber attack, but Moscow on Tuesday rejected any contention that it was involved. A Mbare magistrate court on Tuesday remanded pro-democracy activist, Linda Masarira, and 14 others to August 11th after throwing out their application to have their matter referred to the Constitutional Court. Masarira and her colleagues were contending that their constitutional rights were violated when they were brought to court after 53 hours instead of the 48 hours required by Zimbabwean law following their arrest during the July 6th stay way that was organized by Tajamuka Sesijikile Campaign and Pastor Evan Mawarire of #This Flag. Harare magistrate, Stan Mambanje, threw out the application saying the court had ruled that they were brought to court within the required time and the defence had not opposed the ruling on its previous sitting on the matter. Attorney, Kudzai Kadzere, said he was disappointed that the court did not agree with them in this matter. Masarira was remanded in custody while her co-accused are out on bail. Kadzere said he was also disappointed the court did not entertain his application for Masarira to be transferred to Mutare Remand Prison so he could cancel her warrant of arrest which would enable her to apply for bail. The state has not yet revealed the contents of the said warrant for her arrest. Scores of pro-democracy activists, who thronged Mbare magistrate court in solidarity with Masarira and others, described todays ruling as a setback for pro-democracy activists. One of them, Proud Mukono, said they will keep up the fight. Hardlife Mudzingwa of Tajamuka, Sesijikile said they will up the tempo with more demonstrations lined up until the Zimbabwean crisis is resolved. Groups like Tajamuka, Sesijikile and #This Flag Campaign are demanding President Robert Mugabe and his government should addresses the countrys socio-economic problems or leave office. The leader of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tendai Biti, says he is happy to witness democracy at work at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, USA. In an interview, Biti, who is attending the convention said, Its very humbling to be here I think the key issue here is that democracy is a painful thing and in Africa we havent found it. In yesterdays meeting there were two opposing groups those that support Bernie Saunders and those that support Hillary Clinton They were able to clap hands together and sometimes boo each other but at the end of the day it was quite clear, particularly from the statement and speech from Bernie Sanders, that the Democratic Party will stand behind Hillary Clinton. In Africa that process would have seen, and certainly in Zimbabwe, the death of individuals, the destruction of homes (and) the destruction of villages. Biti said fear normally grips delegates attending some party meetings designed to nominate candidates for presidential elections. With the likes of (President) Robert Mugabe, Zanu PF and his terrible wife (Grace Mugabe) there is no room for discussion like this at home there. Right now as I am talking to you the regime is finding and looking for means of keeping the opposition (leaders) inside jail. (Pro-democracy activist) Linda Masarira right now has just been denied bail. So, its predatory politics, its rogue politics and we have got a long way to go before we can understand that its a democratic right to be different and that in diversity there is strength. U.S. Democrats are ready to officially proclaim former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as their 2016 presidential nominee, making her the first U.S. woman ever to become a major party standard bearer in the race for the White House. In the time-honored tradition of U.S. presidential nominating conventions, state delegations, one after another at the party's quadrennial gathering in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will cast a majority of votes for Clinton, a fixture on the American political scene for a generation. Her challenger through months of campaigning, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, is calling for his supporters to vote for him, but acknowledges he won't overtake her. He gave a rousing convention speech yesterday night endorsing Clinton. At the same time, United States First Lady Michelle Obama expressed confidence in Hillary Clinton. For perspective on the on-going Democratic convention, Studio 7 reached VOAs Harun Maruf of the Somali Service. Tensions remained high between war veterans and the Zanu PF establishment on Monday, days after the former fighters called for President Robert Mugabe to step down, calling him a dictator who has destroyed the country. The veterans of the liberation war came up with the position at a highly-charged meeting in the capital, Harare, last week where they vowed never to vote for Mr. Mugabe again. But the government has since dismissed them and launched an investigation into what its calling a traitorous and treasonable act by the freedom fighters. Government dismisses the said traitorous communique, which is treasonable in the constitutional democracy that Zimbabwe is, with utter disdain and all the contempt that it deserves, the Ministry of War Veterans said in a statement. The Ministry urges all patriotic veterans of the liberation struggle to remain loyal to His Excellency the President and to the party, to remain disciplined and principled while, at the same time being wary of the divisive machinations of Zimbabwes detractors. But political analyst Rejoice Ngwenya dismissed the government threats saying there is nothing treasonous about telling Mugabe to abdicate power. The Zanu PF leadership and some ruling party supporters in Masvingo province have warned that they will take stern measures against political commissar Francis Nhando of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association, who is said to have read a communique at a meeting last week convened by former freedom fighters that blamed President Robert Mugabe for the current economic decay in the southern African nation. The Zanu PF activists said Nhando and his colleagues, who attended the war veterans meeting in Harare, should leave the province or face public punishment. They urged the government to stop paying their pensions and repossess farms they obtained under Zimbabwes land reform program. Speaking at an emergency meeting held in Chiredzi district to deliberate on the war veterans move to dump President Mugabe, Zanu PF Chiredzi West Member of Parliament, Darlington Chiwa, said anyone who no longer wants to support Mr. Mugabe is an enemy of the people. What Nhando did is a non-starter. If a person says I no longer want Mugabe that means he no longer wants to live. Someone who gets a pension from Mugabe cannot do that. So, if you say that you have declared war. If we meet him in the street and he cannot pick a stone to defend himself then we will bite him. Lloyd Simango of Ward Five in Chiredzi said the Zanu PF Youth League is totally opposed to moves by war veterans and people like Nhando to dump war veterans. We are going to set a policy that everyone who goes against the president and has benefited something from him we will take that (from him). Masvingo provincial chairman, Amasi Nenjana, added that the local leadership has disowned Nhando. We are dissociating ourselves from him. I am the chairman of the province and a war veteran. People in Harare are pointing fingers at us for insulting and attacking the president yet all this was done by Nhando. So, we are saying we are not with him he is alone. This is not his first time to insult the president and the first lady. We dont work with him. Who is he to attack the president? Another party supporter, who spoke to Studio 7 but declined to identify himself, said Nhando was now a rebel and should be forced to leave Masvingo province. I think he has sold out. He has joined the likes of Mutsvangwa. We cannot in anyway respect any war veteran who goes and denounces the president in the press. So, as Masvingo we are saying we no longer want to see him in the province. He is a sell-out. Responding to these attacks, Nhando said he is not afraid of anyone as he fought hard to liberate Zimbabwe. I am aware of what they said at the meeting. I am not afraid of anything as I know how I survived until now as I have been in politics for too long and on the war front to liberate this country. All I said was that we are no longer in good books with President Mugabe as war veterans and we cannot go to polls in 2018 supporting him so he should appoint someone if he wants us to support the party. The development comes amid escalating tensions between the Zanu PF establishment and war veterans, who last week called for him to step down labeling him dictator that has destroyed Zimbabwe. A mother of five, Linda Masarira, who was once described by police spokesperson, Senior Assistant Police Commissioner Charity Charamba, as a hooligan soon after she was arrested on July 6th with several other people during nationwide public protests, has been in remand prison for almost a month. Masarira is facing charges of engaging in violent protests organized by Pastor Evan Mawarire of #thisflag and Tajamuka-Sesijikile Campaign. Her children are now living from hand to mouth. Masariras friends in civic society have described her as a fearless warrior fighting for democracy in Zimbabwe. But the state sees her as an enemy as she is currently languishing at Chikurubi Remand Prison following what police said were illegal protests that hit the country early this month. She allegedly violated some sections of the dreaded Criminal Law (Codification and Reform Act). Masarira, a widow and former employee of the National Railways of Zimbabwe, had no steady income when she was netted by the police for allegedly taking part in the national protests. Her friend, Mandowa Manezhu, admits that very little resources have been coming to help Masarira's children in Mutare, Manicaland province. Manezhu told Studio 7 that while Linda is a known protester, who has been arrested several times in pro-democracy peaceful marches, she claims that on July 6th when she was stopped by the police, Masarira was going for a meeting in Harares central business district. Manezhu said Masariras family is suffering without their only bread winner. The sad thing is that Linda has five kids with four of them going to school and the last born being only two years. But what is sad is that while we are looking for contributions to assist her family, not much is coming. They do not have food. During her incarceration it is her children that are suffering more Anna Kuudzadombo, who occupied Africa Unity Square during one of the protests, said Masarira has been unfairly treated by the state. I think Linda is suffering too much because it has been many days while she has been in prison. We wish her to come back so that we can continue with the struggle A local politician, Monalisa Sharara, believes Masarira is being allegedly ill-treated by the state to stop other women from engaging in peaceful protests. Masarira is set to appear in court tomorrow at Mbare Magistrates Courts. Harare urged women and all pro-democracy activists to converge at the courts to give her moral support. Last Friday, her lawyers applied for the case to be taken to the Constitutional Court after Masarira was denied bail when several other protesters were released after posting bail. Authorities claimed they needed to confirm the existence of a warrant of arrest allegedly issued against her by the Mutare Magistrates Court over an undisclosed matter before making any other moves in her case. Nasper Manyawu, who took part in the protests, vowed to continue fighting for the betterment of the future of Zimbabwe by taking government to task over issues that affect ordinary people. Manyawu said Masarira's arrest and the suffering of her family has made the protesters stronger. In Tafara high density suburbs, Studio 7 caught up with Brian Kasunzuma, one of the Occupy Africa Unity Square occupants, waving a free Masarira placard. Kasunzuma said there is no going back on the protests in which some Zimbabweans are demanding the resignation of President Robert Mugabe and the fulfillment of Zanu PFs 2013 election promises to create millions of jobs. Pamela Mawire, another activist who was incarcerated with Masarira, warned the government that arresting peaceful protesters will not resolve Zimbabwes social, economic and political crisis. Mawire said it is the desire of every Zimbabwean to get the nation working again. For Masarira life appears to be tough inside and outside remand prison as her family is now struggling to make ends meet. Amnesty International says Pastor Evan Mawarires life is at risk following protests he organized together with Tajamuka-Sesijikile campaign that shut down Zimbabwe on July 6th. In a statement, Amnesty International urged Zimbabwean authorities to ensure the safety, personal security and well-being of Pastor Mawarire of #Thisflag movement. Amnesty International further appealed to Zimbabwe to end alleged harassment, arbitrary arrest and unlawful detention of human rights defenders and activists and perceived enemies of the state. In an interview with Studio 7, Pastor Mawarire said he would return to Zimbabwe once he is assured of his safety and that of his family. "I have to ensure that my family and I are safe before I return home following President Robert Mugabe's address at the Heroes Acre where he accused me of being a fake pastor sponsored by the West," said Pastor Mawarire. He said following the president's remarks he has received numerous threatening calls while in South Africa and there have been people inquiring about his whereabouts, making him very fearful of his life. Zanu PF youth took to the streets last week to signal their support of the president and threatened to thwart Pastor Mawarire's efforts to make the government accountable. An unidentified Zanu PF youth, who participated in the peaceful march in Harare to show support for President Robert Mugabes government, threatened in a video posted on VOA Studio 7 Facebook page that they would take stern measures against the pastor. Almost 900 people have posted comments on the video, which has gone viral. Visit our Facebook page www.facebook.com/VOALiveTalk/ to view the video. The Zanu PF leadership and some supporters in Masvingo have warned that they will take stern action against political commissar Francis Nhando of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association, who read a communique at a meeting last week convened by former freedom fighters blaming President Robert Mugabe for the current economic decay in the southern African nation. Amnesty International says Pastor Evan Mawarires life is at risk following protests he organized together with Tajamuka-Sesijikile Campaign that shut down Zimbabwe. Amnesty is urging the Zimbabwean authorities to ensure the safety, personal security and wellbeing of Pastor Mawarire. Zimbabweans stage a peaceful protest outside the Mbare Magistrates Court to show their solidarity with political activist, Linda Masarira, who was arrested early this month following a nationwide stay away that shutdown Zimbabwe. The stay away was called by Pastor Evan Mawarire of #thisflag and Tajamuka-Sesijikile Campaign that are pressing President Robert Mugabes government to address social, economic and political issues affecting the country. The Zimbabwe Book Fair enters its second day with some participants saying lack of material in local languages is hampering learning processes in schools. And we will give you an update on the Democratic National Convention set to nominate Hillary Clinton as the Democrats candidate in this years presidential election. Stay tuned for these stories and more coming up on Studio 7 at 7:30 pm on 9-0-9 Medium Wave and on the 4-9-3-0, 5-9-4-0 and 1-5-4-6-0 shortwave frequencies. We also broadcast on www.channelzim.net. Please check us out on Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. This evening on Livetalk our hosts of the Connection Ntungamili Nkomo and Tatenda Gumbo will be talking with listeners about the impact of HIV-AIDS on youth, a few days after the end of the 2016 International AIDS Conference in South Africa. Participate by sending your messages on our WhatsApp number 001 202 465 0318. You can also post comments on this Facebook wall or send us your number so we can call you back. Please note that we are livestreaming on all Studio 7 Facebook pages. Stay tuned!!!!!! Tonight, we return to sweet home Indianapolis, where the warriors have never been stronger, or more adorable. An entomologist! A free spirit! A man who jumps off of buildings! A man who likes dogs! And yet, despite their many differences, they are all united by one thing: a raging thirst for victory. In honor of our return, Kristine Leahy explains the course. In keeping with tradition, we begin with our constant companion, the Floating Steps. After that, its time for the Rolling Log (a disaster waiting to happen, if you ask me), the Fly Wheels (now with fewer wheels!), the Disc Runner (but the pole is half as tall!), the Swinging Spikes (fewer spikes, further apart!), and finally, the canonical Warped Wall (still warped, still a wall). Then, theyll face four extra-special obstacles, designed push the ninjas to their physical and mental limits, and possibly induce cardiac arrest. First, a good old-fashioned Salmon Ladder! Next, the Hourglass Drop, which requires competitors to bounce off a trampoline, grab a board, and shimmy across it using the strength of their hands, and also their minds. Survivors then get a chance to tackle the all-new Circuit Board, which is a maze you must solve while hanging from your arms. Last but not least, the Invisible Ladder, which is a cross between an Olympic event and an illusion. As a side note, I like Kristine Leahys getup tonight. It is very Nancy Kerrigan. The first ninja of the night is Drew Knapp, whose brother survived childhood leukemia. Did you know that when Drews brother was in the hospital, none other than Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, brother of Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, came to visit him? He did! Unfortunately, this connection does not do much for Drew, who slips off the Rolling Log and is swallowed by the hungry waves below. That may be an omen for how tonight is going to unfold! Matt Iseman says with unsettling cheer. At five-foot-one, former gymnast Tyler Yamauchi almost didnt compete because he thought he was too short to make it up the Warped Wall. And now look at him! He zips through the first half of the course. Oh my goodness! Matt offers. Yamauchi was Gucci! Akbar raves. But then tragedy strikes: Gucci Yamauchi loses his grip on the Hourglass Drop, and into the water he goes. I get it. I am constantly losing my grip, but in a more figurative way. Three more warriors! Biochemistry student Zack Kemmerer trips on the Floating Steps! Tax accountant Kevin Hogan goes down on the log! Teacher Alex Bienz crashes on the Fly Wheels! The great thing about American Ninja Warrior is that there are so many ways to fail. It is just like real life. Eric Middleton is an entomology student who draws his ninja inspiration from the secret lives of bugs. When I need to jump, I think of being like a flea, he explains, When think of climbing, I think of an ant. His passion is very persuasive; momentarily, I feel bad about all the bugs I have murdered. He catapults himself through the first half of the course with the speed of a cockroach and the grace of a moth, but the Human Dung Beetle runs into trouble on the Hourglass Drop and flips backwards into the water. Still, I feel we have learned something tonight. Moving on! In qualifiers, optometrist John Murray Adams fell on the Swinging Spikes, but tonight, he gets another chance to show the world that optometrists are the true warriors of the medical field. Can he do it? He cannot. Yet again, the spikes do him in. Honestly, I admire his consistency. It is an underrated virtue. Next up: small-town boy P.J. Granger, who made it all the way to Vegas last year. He floats over the steps, rolls down the log, and flies through the wheels, but alas, he loses his balance dismounting the Disc Runner and slides off the course with a sickening thud. Dont worry, though, P.J. Granger is just fine. It is my heart that may never recover. Bryce Foley crashes on the Fly Wheel! Fred Thorne is undone by the Swinging Spikes! Tyler Smith is no match for the Hourglass Drop! I had such hopes for all of them, and yet all three were disappointing. It is how I imagine parenthood must feel. Lab technician Andrew Roo Yori is here not for himself, but for the many rescue dogs that need forever homes. The further I go in this competition, he says, The more exposure I can get for the dogs that are in the shelters that really need it. To prove this point, he has brought along Angus, a geriatric Labrador. Roo attacks the course with determination, but he cannot get a hold on the Hourglass Drop, and crashes down into the waves. In solidarity, Angus pants. That is the thing about Angus: He always comes through when you need him. Even more ninjas! Ben Jackson falls on the Hourglass Drop! Dan Banura also falls on the Hourglass Drop! Dan Yager probably would have fallen on the Hourglass Drop, except he falls on the Rolling Log first. By day, Ethan Swanson analyzes data. By night, he jumps off buildings, climbs up pipes, and slides down roofs. Ethan and I are different in many ways. On the course, he has all the confidence of a man who willingly leaps from buildings. He glides through the Fly Wheels, scrambles up the Warped Wall, and hoists himself up the Salmon Ladder with preternatural calm. Could Ethan Swanson be the first to beat the Hourglass Drop? I think hes going to do it! Akbar predicts, as Ethan does it. And hes through the Circuit Board! It is almost as though we should all climb skyscrapers for fun. But by the time Ethan hits the Invisible Ladder, our urban billy goat is running out of steam. Fifteen feet! Twenty feet! Twenty-five feet! And hes down, just mere feet short of victory. It is the saddest thing I have ever seen, except for the Republican National Convention. Climbing machine Ian Dory flies through the course until he reaches the Disc Runner, but he manages to save himself, which Matt says is a testament to the magic of American Ninja Warrior. Ian over the wall. Hes up the Salmon Ladder. Hes through the Hourglass Drop! Hes past Circuit Board! And though his exhaustion on the Invisible Ladder is palpable, he pushes through to victory. The buzzer buzzes. Ian yelps. Truly, it is a historic moment. Two more ninjas! Jonathan Cooley is felled by the Swinging Spikes! Then, firefighter Brandon Mears, one half of the Towers of Power, takes a tumble on the Salmon Ladder. But its not over yet! Fellow power tower Dan Polizzi is running next. Being a bro, theres someone whos got your back, Dan explains. I think our bro-tons combine, Brandon muses, drinking a bro-tein shake. He hurls himself through the first half of the course, hoists himself over the wall, up the Salmon Ladder, and maneuvers through the Hourglass Drop before his strength gives out on the Circuit Board. It is not what he hoped for, but it is enough: Dan is going to Vegas. Its not the same without my bro, though, he says, mournfully. In spite of myself, I am moved. Meaghan Martin has had no luck in past city finals, but Akbar believes that 2016 is her year. History is about to be made here, I can smell it, he announces with a certainty I have never felt about anything. And indeed, she crushes the first half of the course. But disaster strikes on the Warped Wall. Shes down once! Shes down twice! The third try is the charm: She climbs over the wall, up the Salmon Ladder, and through the lethal Hourglass Drop. Her strength is staggering; I am staggered. She falls on the Circuit Board, but who cares? Shes going to Vegas, the third woman ever to win a guaranteed slot in the finals. On that note, more ninjas! They all fall down. Another legend! Fan-favorite Brian Arnold is so confident, we dont even need to see the first half of his run. He clicks and clacks his way up the Salmon Ladder, slithers along the Hourglass Drop, and weaves down the Circuit Board. Now, all he must do is climb up a 30-foot invisible ladder using only his arms and his moxie. And he does it! Aaaaoooooo! he howls, buzzing the buzzer of triumph. Free-spirited mountain imp Jake Murray tumbles through the first leg with sprightly grace, whimsically back flips over the Warped Wall, and somersaults onto the second half with the puckish delight. He hits his head on the Hourglass Drop, but one gets the impression that Jake Murray cannot be thrown by such setbacks. He zips up the Invisible Ladder, and, beaming angelically, unseats Brian Arnold as fastest competitor of the night. Two more ninjas meet their untimely ends! T.C. Tronquet is impaled by the Swinging Spikes, while Matt Wilder is yet another casualty of the murderous Hourglass Drop. My condolences to all. We are down to the wire, my friends. Last years walk-on hero Adam Arnold careens through the course at lightning speed. Hes past the Hourglass Drop and past the Circuit Board. Though fatigue is clearly setting in, our Adam cannot be stopped. It is, hands down, the fastest performance of the night! That is the good news. The bad news is that poor Roo Yori, friend of the dogs, is now in the 15th spot, and speed-demon Lorin Ball is still to run. Oh, I am worried! I really love dogs. The moment of truth has arrived. To commemorate this occasion, Lorin performs an interpretative solo while sitting in a folding chair. Im not totally sure what this is supposed to signify, though I agree that sitting down is great. I try to do it early and often. And hes down on the Rolling Log! Matt is speechless. Roo Yori is stunned. But that is the thing about American Ninja Warrior, and also life: It is full of surprises. Photo: CW At the end of last seasons finale, Team Arrow was all but dismantled, as Oliver watched Diggle, Thea, and Quentin abandon his vigilante mission, leaving only Felicity by his side. At Comic-Con last weekend, the CW released the first trailer for season five, which centers around Olivers inevitable need to rebuild the team or, at least, a team. Here are nine things we gleaned from it. 1. Laurel is back. Wait, what? Our country is divisive enough as it is, Arrow writers. Photo: CW Good thing shes only seen in flashback form. The trailer reveals the secret words she whispered to Oliver before she died: Youre instinct is to always try and go it alone, she tells him. But, Ollie, you cant. This sentiment shouldnt be a shock to Oliver, as hes heard it from pretty much every member of his team over the previous four seasons its basically the shows unofficial motto but maybe this time itll stick. 2. Flashback Oliver joins the Russian mob Hallelujah! Flashback Oliver is off Lian Snooze and headed for Russia, where he gets initiated into Bratva, a massive crime syndicate. Olivers connection with Bratva was first revealed in season one, and fans have been waiting for this story line for a while. The trailer shows Oliver joining some kind of Russian fight club, to which I say da, please! Also, theres a new flashback wig, and it is unequivocally my new favorite cast member. Photo: CW Just look at that range! It can go straight up: Photo: CW It can swoop all to one side: Photo: CW It can even go forward. I mean, I dont know where the wig ends and Stephen Amells hair begins, which Im pretty sure is the highest compliment you can give a wig. Photo: CW Also, this Bratva sequence is the Axe body spray commercial I never knew I needed. 3. which means Anatoly is back. Bratva leader Anatoly Knyazev first appeared in season two, as one of Dr. Ivos ship prisoners. Hes the connection between Oliver and the Russian mob. Photo: CW Just look at Anatoly trying to take his eyes off Amells wig. He cant! Its impossible! 4. Theres a shortage of razors. Or at least it seems so, unless beard is just shorthand for gloomy, lost-their-way men. Quentin is sporting the look: Photo: CW As is Diggle: Photo: CW Quick, somebody shave away their sadness! 5. Thea is back in her suit, but maybe not for long. Photo: CW Thea gives vigilante life major side-eye in the trailer, telling Oliver that shes not willing to do whatevers necessary to, presumably, keep Star City safe. Photo: CW Maybe its related to the possible return of Anarky? 6. Oliver will train newbies. With Team Arrow membership dwindling, Oliver and Felicity are forced to look outside their inner circle to find new vigilante recruits. Last seasons Mini-Canary, Evelyn Sharp, newcomer Rene Wild Dog Ramirez, and Curtis all volunteer. Photo: CW Staying on brand, Oliver isnt impressed. Photo: CW 7. Theres a monstrous new villain in Star City. Photo: CW From the brief glimpse seen in the trailer, this new baddie seems like a cross between Game of Thrones the Mountain and a Jawa. Its a combination that works better than one would think. Photo: CW 8. Sleeves are in again. After much to-do over last seasons sleeveless model of the Green Arrow suit, the sleeves have reappeared and, frankly, make the Green Arrow look less turtle-y. Im not sure if the wardrobe change was made because of the chilly Vancouver weather or because Barry Allen altered the timeline, but it portends good things for season five. Photo: CW 9. Felicity is still Olivers voice of reason. Photo: CW Actually, this isnt a surprise at all. All hail Barb. Photo: Curtis Baker/Netflix This story contains spoilers for the full first season of Stranger Things. There are many things to root for in Stranger Things, Netflixs ode to 80s horror movies. There is the group of outcast nerds hell-bent on rescuing their friend who disappeared; the powerful girl with the G.I. Jane haircut on the run from shadowy government agents that want to control her; the resurrection of Winona Ryders career that might finally stick. But there is no one greater to root for than Barb, the unsung and forgotten hero of the show. Barbara Holland (played by Shannon Purser) is Nancy Wheelers best friend and a budding fashion icon. Shes only in a handful of scenes in the first three episodes before the gross, tulip-faced monster drags her into the Upside Down dimension, devours her, and leaves her desiccated corpse in a pile of green goop for her friends to discover somewhere around episode eight. And yet, despite the fact that shes forgotten so quickly, Barb makes an impression every time shes onscreen. We first see her sauntering down the halls of her high school alongside Nancy, wearing a plaid shirt with a high collar and a ruffle down the front, and a pair of mom jeans that are so maternal they came with their own stroller and yoga mat. She is obviously the first person to put the words norm and core together. Her most distinctive features are a swoop of red hair that would make Tilda Swinton jealous and a pair of Sally Jesse Raphael glasses that got left out in the sun too long. Her most distinctive outfit, however, is the bulky cerulean winter coat she wears to the small party at Steves house. We will always remember Barb in that jacket, her eyes hoisted up the stairs at Nancy, who dismisses Barb and tells her to go home so she can go to Steves room for some heavy petting. But apart from the way she looks, Barb inspires feelings of devotion because of who she is. Even in that first scene, she begs Nancy to still hang out with her even after she becomes attached to the popular and bro-tastic Steve. We are all Barb: Who wasnt that awkward teenager, worried about her station in the scholastic pecking order and trying to maintain the few friends she has even as they use her for rides in her VW and as a convenient excuse so they can sneak out for dates with boys? None of us wanted to shotgun a beer at a stupid Tuesday night party and sat cross-armed while a bunch of losers tried to steal our best friend. Lets face it: We all wanted to be Nancy, the pretty one with the good grades, stable family, and easy fashion sense, who had boys falling at her feet when she didnt even try. But know what? Nancy is a myth. Nancy does not exist in the real world, and if you think she does, you have spent too much time reading Teen Vogue and watching Gossip Girl on Netflix. Nancy is an archetype created through an evil conspiracy launched by Wes Craven, John Hughes, and Molly Ringwald sometime during the Reagan administration. Its a conspiracy more dangerous than nuclear proliferation, because everyone is still trying to be Nancy and hating who they really are: Barb. Weve been waiting for a girl like Barb to come along, and it seems the show finds her completely disposable. Nancy gets involved in the search for the monster to help find her friend while everyone around her says, We have to save Will! Nancy is like What about Barb? and theyre like, Oh, yeah. I guess her too. But no one really cares about Barb. The shadowy government agents take her car to a bus terminal and tell everyone she just ran away and everyone is like, Oh, that explains that. Seriously? The Barbs of this world (all of us) dont run away. We store up our resentment of the mainstream and then we go to college and move to a big city where we turn that resentment into creative magic in the fields of art, design, advertising, event planning, media, and possibly public relations if were not lucky. Thankfully, the fans have not forgotten about Barb. Theyve created GIFs, murals, and T-shirts in her remembrance. New York cabaret genius Cole Escola (who bears a striking resemblance to Eleven from Stranger Things) even made a funny YouTube video of how Barbs mother finds out what happened to her. Nancy, well, she finds out what happens to Barb too, but without that grounding force in her life, she ends up with dirtbag Steve at the end instead of her true love, Jonathan Byers. She and the world are worse off without Barb, and its time she finally got her due. Because most of us at home are still rooting for her, and her inevitable spinoff. Truly magnificent. Photo: Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images Incapable of not giving back to his city, Chance the Rapper has announced his latest good deed: an entire music festival of his own. The inaugural Magnificent Coloring Day will go down on Chicagos South Side at U.S. Cellular Field (where the White Sox play) on September 24. In addition to Chance himself, Lil Wayne, Skrillex, John Legend, Alicia Keys, Young Thug, 2 Chainz, Tyler the Creator, and Lil Uzi Vert are all slated to perform. Hes also teased a very special guest as host. President Obama, maybe?! Its Chances first-ever festival, but far from his first heroics: In May, just after his latest free album was released, he hosted a secret event for people in Chicago called the Magnificent Coloring World that ended up being a carnival and interactive arts fair in a warehouse. (He also recently called out Chicago amusement center WhirlyBall for being racist.) Tickets for his latest magnificent event go on general sale Friday. BILLINGS -- Three people now face first-degree murder charges for the alleged beating and burning of Roylynn Rides Horse, a Crow Agency woman, who died on June 28. Dimarzio Swade Sanchez, 18, and Angelica Jo Whiteman, 23, both pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court on Monday. The two are from Busby and Lame Deer, respectively. A third defendant, Frank James Sanchez, 18, was not named in the initial charging documents. He also entered a plea of not guilty on Monday. Each defendant faces a charge of first-degree murder, including aiding and abetting. An indictment adding Frank Sanchez to the case was filed on Friday. The same document amended the charges to first-degree murder following the death of Rides Horse. U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Ostby presided over the hearings, which were held separately but are part of the same case. According to the indictment, Rides Horse left the Kirby Saloon in a car on April 17. She was with Dimarzio Sanchez, Whiteman and four others. Three of the passengers were named in the indictment by initials and gave statements to investigators. One of them has the initials of F.S. During the drive, Whiteman and Rides Horse began arguing, according to the indictment. The altercation turned physical, and Dimarzio Sanchez drove to an area of the Crow Reservation on Highway 212. Whiteman dragged Rides Horse out of the car, beat her and tried to "strangle her to death," charges state. Whiteman started crying, believing she had killed Rides Horse. Sanchez allegedly said that Rides Horse was still alive and strangled her with a bandana, saying that, "I'm only going to show you this once," court documents state. He then asked one person, who was identified with the initials F.S., to grab a gas can out of the trunk, the indictment states. Witnesses told investigators that Rides Horse was doused with gasoline, but they weren't sure which person specifically lit her on fire. Rides Horse was left in the field. She suffered third-degree burns on 45 percent of her body, as well as frostbite. It was 14 hours before anyone found her. There were little details of the case following the discovery of Rides Horse, drawing criticism from tribal and state officials. She was flown to a burn center in Salt Lake City, where she died on the morning of June 28. A trial date has not yet been set in this case. All three of the defendants remain in detention until further notice. As the host of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, Chris Harrison typically brings a level of decorum and gravitas to the fact that dismissed contestants are about to be depicted on national television weeping hysterically while someone sings Dont Cry for Me Argentina. On Kimmel Monday night, however, Harrison spread his wings with a few new brutally honest send-offs, all of which really make you realize he might be the only one standing between our nations romantically rejected erectile-dysfunction specialists and oblivion. To state that Gucci Mane is a man of many gifts seems almost beside the point. Over the past 11 years the Atlanta rapper born as Radric Davis has created more than a prodigious body of work. When a recording artists discography consists of nine solo studio albums, three albums in collaboration, three extended-plays, a smattering of loose singles, and a mind-stopping 49 mixtapes, its safe to say that hes flowed over the limits of what even a word like prodigious can describe. If diving into other rappers catalogues can feel like voyaging into another star system, by now Guccis discography seems like a galaxy unto itself. Legend only begins to describe what he means to hip-hop culture in the South and beyond: Hes an authentic folk hero, a poet whose experiences encompass those of his people and represent them on a grand scale. As a rapper, hes naturally fluent, boundlessly charismatic, and thematically versatile; when it comes to perceiving, seeking out, and nurturing the gifts of other rappers and producers, hes unparalleled; as far as street credibility goes, hes untouchable. (To cite just one story: The rapper Freddie Gibbs, on his 2014 album Pinata, describes a scene in Atlantas Magic City strip club where Gibbs, then a part of Atlanta rapper and longtime Gucci nemesis Young Jeezys entourage of 30, sees Gucci Mane unaccompanied; individually or collectively, none of the 30 dares approach him. The reluctance to engage derives from fear, if not respect many years ago in 2005 Gucci, unarmed after being ambushed by a squad of Jeezys goons, somehow wrestled a gun away and killed one while driving off the rest.) To write about Gucci is to accept the fact that you cant capture him in full: Pick what frame you will, some part of him most of him will exceed it. So naturally, when Gucci, following two years of incarceration, exceeded (lawfully) the frame of the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute in May, the celebration among rap aficionados was unanimous, and the expectations laid on him were huge: As the panoptic title of his just-released album Everybody Looking indicates, all eyes were on him. Judging by my own initial reactions, the album is marvelous, phenomenal, all the superlatives. Thankfully, I dont have to elaborate because Craigs already done it better than I ever could. Theres no need for another review: The question of whether the album is strong has been resolved, and the Trap God hates vain repetitions. I wrote to resolve a different matter, a question more profound and facetious than that of album quality. I was interested in figuring out if its possible to prove that Gucci Mane is or is not a clone. When Gucci Mane was released from prison, it didnt take long for the attention focused on him to produce the observation that the artist, while in prison, had changed a great deal. He looked, sounded, and behaved differently. Fifty pounds of fat had vanished from his physique: The rounded belly, face, and limbs of the old Gucci had been replaced with lean, firm counterparts. The artists online broadcasts revealed that his demeanor had altered: He had cultivated a peculiar, quasi-English accent and comported himself in an eccentric manner. The artists famous face tattoo of an ice-cream cone crowned with lightning bolts was no longer as prominent. He dressed in all white and ate kale. Though the interview with a Gucci associate that first gave rise to the rumors was later proven to be fake, the rumors took hold and spread regardless: Gucci Mane had been replaced by a government clone. To mangle a precept from the Tao Te Ching, the Gucci Mane that could be seen on Snapchat was not the eternal Gucci. The artist acknowledged the rumors; at times he seemed to lend them credence. On the Kanye West single Champions, he informed his clones that Now that Guccis home its over for you Gucci clones. He released a statement on Snapchat, purring that he neither denied nor supported the allegations that he was a clone. He then seemed to support the allegations by releasing a music video for his first single out of prison (First Day Out tha Feds) where he appears beside himself, as in next to clones of himself. How interesting this is, I thought as I closed and opened tabs. The conspiracy theory seemed reminiscent of something, but I couldnt remember what. Later, trying to sleep, it struck me that the basic plot of the rumor federal government replaces man with man who seems like that man but is not, in fact, that man was the purest distillation of an X-Files episode ever formulated. I watched The X-Files, loyally, from age 11 to age 16: the fundamental premise of the show, it seemed, I now recalled, was that nothing the state, people, the natural world, facts was as it seemed. There were powers out there that could literally erase your identity, turn you into someone other than your self. That was the truth. Black fluid could crawl into your eyes and nose and control your actions, or a cancer-eating mutant could duplicate his own body. A guy with a tail could change into husbands and knock up their wives, or the government could replace human soldiers with invulnerable super-soldiers who, aside from a telltale protuberance on the back of the neck, were indistinguishable from their originals. Your younger sister could be abducted from your home only to return, many times, later on, as a series of replicants with alien genetics. Clearly the Gucci Mane is a clone scenario was what had been missing from the attempted revival of The X-Files earlier in 2016. It was the shows real season ten, true to the original spirit of earlier seasons: The janky episodes I had actually watched on Fox were pale imitations. Those episodes had forced me to recall that, somewhere during The X-Files middle seasons, the show, aesthetically, had lost its reason to exist: Imprisoned in aging tropes and a protracted mythos, its life unnaturally prolonged by its status as a profitable franchise, it had been replaced by a less interesting replica of the same name, and in the same time slot. At this point, the plot seems to thicken. It seems as if any complex entity that needs to swap components in and out can be replaced, effectively, by a clone of itself: television shows about altered identity such as The X-Files, but also television shows that are just kind of there like Happy Days, lifeforms, educational institutions, friendships, publications large and small. It is possible, at this point, to become very paranoid about authenticity, not to mention conservative: It may even be possible to run for high office by playing to fears that the real America is being replaced by an inferior, darker, younger, poorer duplicate of itself. Is being replaced by a clone anything more than an elaborate euphemism for change? Your friends from school didnt find jobs or move away they got replaced by clones. The metaphor has the potential to apply to just about everything that transforms, which is to say everything in the universe. It could mean so much that it ceases to mean anything words are made to pick things out, after all. (In that case, the metaphor, too, would have effectively been replaced by a less interesting version of itself.) Perhaps the clearer and more sane way to see things is to ask what cant be replaced by a clone of itself. There are three things, two of them rather trivial. Logically speaking, everything and nothing are immune to change, to gain and to loss, inferiority and superiority; theyre absolute categories that cant be changed without losing their names entirely. This isnt much relief from paranoia. Quite the contrary: Anyones whos had to deal with paranoiacs, whether bona-fide schizophrenics or simpleminded careerists, soon realizes how powerfully and implacably theyre driven by the terror of totality and the horror of nothingness. The third thing, thankfully, is better suited to provide relief from fear its music. Whereas everything and nothing are immutable and complete, music is relative and partial: Though nominally a noun, music exists only in a state of change. Precisely because it cant insist on any fixed or exclusive identity, music can never lose what identity it possesses. No clone-related fuckery can befall music; it eludes all allegations of false change by being nothing more or less than progression itself. Of course its possible to view music in concrete terms, to freeze it into a set of nouns genres and artists and capricious iTunes accounts and these, indeed, can be badly copied. But no one experiences music itself as a solid object; in its essence its nothing more than shifts in tone and feeling. This is why Gucci Mane can never be replaced by a clone. Unlike, say, Kanye, who orchestrates music, or Drake, who finds a way to present it, Gucci Mane is as fully submerged in music as a human being can be. Other artists have personalities that they express through music, but with Gucci, theres no sense of ego independent of the song itself: the self doesnt precede the music, but rather is created by it. Its no accident that the difficulty in writing about Guccis music is very close to the difficulty in writing about music as such. To hang external labels or narratives on an artist for whom flow (as in the Tao Te Ching) is everything, feels pointless why drop stickers in a river? When interviewed about him, his producers almost always speak of his incomparable capacity to inhabit instrumentals, to breathe them in as regularly as others breathe in air: They treat him as music incarnate, all energy and zero stillness. Theres no way to contain, much less clone, a being like Gucci Mane. Like music itself, hes a verb masquerading as a noun; hes never shown the slightest inclination to being treated as an object, and since figuratively or literally, being cloned involves consenting to being treated like an object, theres no way he could ever be a clone. This doesnt mean, of course, that we shouldnt be afraid of replacement at the hands of replicants. The X-Files idea that the government can alter your identity without your permission or knowledge remains powerful as ever in an age where smearing the victims of police brutality and drone bombings is standard, and even if you can set the state aside there are still so many ways (mostly social-media-related) to become a voided object, to cease to be yourself while continuing to be recognized as such. We can say with confidence that Guccis not a clone, but there are few others of which we could say the same. Is Gucci Mane the only indisputably authentic human on the planet? One hopes not. But he might be. Virulent racism has long been a trademark of conservative political rhetoric in the U.S. Just look at Iowa Congressman Steve King, who declared the white race the only contributors to society. But what do the people think? That is, the people at the Republican National Convention shouting and booing as theyre dressed like living Trump bumper stickers? Samantha Bee sent out a flock of Full Frontal correspondents to talk to RNC attendees specifically about the Black Lives Matter movement: What do they think about its goals? Can they even say the statement, black lives matter? Shout-out to Ashley Nicole Black: We see you doing all that emotional labor. Dr. Dre. Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images However weird your Monday was, it probably wasnt as weird as Dr. Dres: The Los Angeles Times reports that the music legend was placed under citizens arrest by a man who had parked in front of Dres Malibu home Monday morning. According to the mans 911 call, he was stopped in front of the driveway when Dre ordered him to leave and produced a handgun; when the police arrived, the former NWA member was handcuffed and issued a citation. Police say Dre denied pulling a gun and consented to a search, which found no firearms. The rapper reportedly claimed the man had parked in front of his driveway multiple times after following him home from a tense incident on the freeway. Basically, never move to L.A. Update: On Thursday, Los Angeles prosecutors announced that Dre wont be charged in the matter, citing a lack of evidence. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/2016 Getty Images Susan Sarandon, a prototypical Bernie-or-Bust Democrat, is not enjoying the Democratic National Convention, and she is not afraid to show it. While other celebrity Bernie Sanders supporters like Sarah Silverman called for party unity, Sarandon sat in the audience in Philadelphia with a miserable face. One journalist, Ian McKenna, captured the actress huffing in a GIF, and captioned the footage on Twitter, Susan Sarandon is having literally the worst time at the #DemConvention. Sarandon didnt deny the allegations, quoting the post with her signature frankness, Accurate. Susan Sarandon is having literally the worst time at the #DemConvention pic.twitter.com/Ola9Hi3y5o Ian McKenna (@Ian_McK_) July 26, 2016 Sarandon joined Bernie Sanders during his campaign, and has spoken openly about her distrust of presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton. In an interview back in June, Sarandon said she thought Clinton was more dangerous than Trump, and that she feared Clinton would lead the country into Iran in two seconds. So, we take it Sarandon isnt looking to reconcile her breakup with Hillary any time soon. *An earlier version of this post incorrectly quoted Sarandon as Agreed as opposed to Accurate. Photo: Ida Mae Astute/Getty Images Donald Trump cant always get what he wants. After both Queen and the Rolling Stones spoke out last week against the Republican presidential nominee for using their songs without permission, now a producer from Air Force One is asking Trump to quite playing the 1997 films score on the campaign trail. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, producer Gail Katz claimed that Trump never asked to use the movies soundtrack, and it was her belief that the scores writer, the deceased prolific composer Jerry Goldsmith, would not have appreciated his music being hijacked for these purposes. The epic swell of the blockbusters soundtrack has been used throughout the campaign, but most recently it backed Trumps helicopter entrance to the Republican National Convention as a means to give the politician that cool, heroic vibe of another septuagenarian, Harrison Ford. Goldsmiths agent, Richard Kraft, said, From everything I know about Jerry Goldsmiths political views, he would have been extremely unhappy with Trump co-opting his art to sell his image. Is it too late for John Olivers Usher-led supergroup to add another verse to Dont Use Our Song? U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr., who was reprimanded and sanctioned for inappropriate sexual conduct with a former court clerk, likely will run out of criminal cases and should have fewer than 100 civil cases remaining on his docket by the end of August, federal records show. Smiths docket is dwindling despite the fact that the beleaguered federal judge has scheduled cases in his Waco courtroom just one day a week for the past month and two days a week for several months before that. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judicial Council reprimanded Smith in December 2015 for groping a court clerk in his office in 1998 and trying to mislead investigators about the incident. The council stripped him from hearing new cases for a year and ordered him to undergo sensitivity training after determining he failed to grasp the seriousness of the allegations. While Smith continues to draw his annual salary of $203,100, federal Western District of Texas officials have assigned new cases filed in Wacos federal court to U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, who is known throughout the district as the I-35 judge because he also hears cases in Austin and San Antonio. Smith, 75, who has been a federal judge since 1984, declined comment Tuesday through a court employee. Smiths other responsibilities with new cases have been handled by U.S. Magistrate Jeffrey Manske and former U.S. Magistrate Dennis Green, who was called out of retirement to help fill the void left by Smith. According to Western District reports, Smith had 157 civil cases and 18 criminal cases with 21 defendants pending at the beginning of June. He disposed of 28 civil cases in June and closed out four criminal cases with a total of four defendants. Smith began May with 179 civil cases and 20 criminal cases with a total of 22 defendants. That month, he disposed of 22 civil cases and two criminal cases with one defendant each, according to federal records. Court records show that Smith has presided over three criminal trials and three civil trials since January and has two criminal trials set in August and three civil trials set in September. On average, each of the 19 U.S. district judges in the Western District, which includes Waco, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, Midland-Odessa, Pecos and Del Rio, disposed of 21 civil cases and 31 criminal cases in May and 17 civil cases and 44 criminal cases in June. Smith was reprimanded based on a complaint filed against him by former Dallas attorney Ty Clevenger, who now lives in New York. Not satisfied with the penalties imposed on Smith, Clevenger appealed the councils decision in January and called on the Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability of the Judicial Conference of the United States to review the case and recommend impeachment of Smith. If I ever get in trouble, I hope the federal government will pay me $200,000 a year to do nothing, Clevenger said. Two weeks ago, the judicial conduct committee remanded the case back to the 5th Circuit judicial council for further review, saying the council failed to adequately address all of Clevengers allegations, including claims that Smith made improper sexual advances to other women in his chambers. That renewed investigation is ongoing. I know from talking with retired law enforcement officers in Waco that the deputy marshals and federal agents cant stand Judge Smith, and for good reason, Clevenger said Tuesday. Judge Smith knows he is above the law, and he acts accordingly. How many deputy marshals or FBI agents have been found responsible for sexual misconduct and then paid almost $17,000 per month to take an extended vacation? The committee remanded the case to the 5th Circuit council with orders to undertake additional investigation and make additional findings where appropriate and reconsider the appropriate sanction if there are additional findings. A countywide tax base increase of $1.1 billion that was certified Monday has local governments looking at cutting their tax rates or building reserves for a rainy day. McLennan Countys taxable values climbed to $14.3 billion, an increase of 8.4 percent. The city of Waco saw an increase of 9.3 percent, or $722.9 million about twice the increase projected in the preliminary budget for 2016-17. County Judge Scott Felton said he feels confident the county can offer a 1-cent tax rate decrease while increasing economic development funding and bumping the overall fund balance from 25 to 27 percent. That should help protect us against any unexpected financial disaster, he said. Felton said it appears local governments are benefiting from a strong local economy. Countywide, the manufacturing and industrial side are growing at a good pace, he said, giving credit to local economic development efforts. I feel that next year on the commercial property side well see fairly good results again, because some major expansions were announced this year. Of the total $1.1 billion in tax base increase, $335.4 million about a third came from new construction, with commercial, residential and multifamily categories equally represented. Chief Appraiser Drew Hahn said the numbers reflect a boom in housing and in new retail and industrial development. All you have to do is look up and down Interstate 35 and youll see it, he said. Reappraised property values accounted for the rest of the increase. The net taxable value of a McLennan County home after exemptions increased from $105,916 to $111,636, or 5.4 percent. Even if the McLennan County Commissioners Court lowers the tax rate 1 cent to 53.5 cents per $100, the average homeowner will see the county tax bill increase from $567 to $586. Its not going to give a whole lot of relief, Felton said. But at least its not going up at a time when peoples tax values are going up. McLennan Community Colleges board of trustees will discuss Thursday whether to decrease its tax rate from just under 15 cents per $100 property valuation. Were really committed to not raising the current rate, MCC President Johnette McKown said. She said MCC raised rates slightly last year to absorb the impact of state cuts, and the board is bracing for state cuts of as much as 4 percent next year. She added that the continued showdown between the appraisal district and one of McLennan Countys largest taxpayers, Sandy Creek Power Plant, also brings uncertainty to budget predictions. In the protest process this year, Sandy Creek ended with an appraised value of about $850 million, close to last years value. But the power plant is suing over last years numbers, claiming the real value of the plant is a fraction of the appraised value, and the company is expected to sue over this years numbers, too. Meanwhile, city of Waco budget writers plan to meet Tuesday about how to handle higher-than-expected appraisal values, Assistant City Manager Jack Harper said. The preliminary budget had projected just less than $60 million in property tax revenue, but the certified rolls will result in an extra $1.6 million, Harper said. One option would be to spend less of the surplus left over from 2015-16 in next years budget. He said city staff at this point has not discussed a tax rate decrease. Downtown Waco saw unprecedented increases in both new and reappraised values, but that tax base revenue does not go into the coffers of city, school, college or county taxing entities. All new tax base revenue generated in Tax Increment Financing Zone No. 1 goes into the TIF fund, which is used for downtown infrastructure and incentives. The TIF Zone tax base increased from $322.9 million to $421.6 million, an increase of $98.7 million, or 30.6 percent. Property values for selected taxing entities Cities 2015 Cert. 2016 Cert. % Change $ Change Bellmead $381,645,967 $407,683,002 6.8% $26,037,035 Hewitt $730,586,276 $775,309,549 6.1% $44,723,273 Lacy Lakeview $309,741,602 $323,192,232 4.3% $13,450,630 McGregor $302,899,503 $330,860,633 9.2% $27,961,130 Robinson $673,460,422 $734,885,292 9.1% $61,424,870 Waco $7,762,106,337 $8,485,049,773 9.3% $722,943,436 West $144,293,984 $149,150,800 3.4% $4,856,816 Woodway $950,886,030 $995,219,209 4.7% $44,333,179 Others MCC $14,535,691,854 $15,590,136,777 7.3% $1,054,444,923 McLennan County $13,193,967,705 $14,297,877,270 8.4% $1,103,909,565 School districts China Spring $562,948,022 $625,488,688 11.1% $62,540,666 Midway $3,967,731,109 $4,158,614,909 4.8% $190,883,800 Robinson $482,773,852 $528,699,989 9.5% $45,926,137 Waco $4,347,725,375 $4,794,731,592 10.3% $26,037,035 Only a few minutes into Donald Trumps acceptance speech Thursday night, he started his familiar attacks on the media: If you want to hear the corporate spin, the carefully crafted lies and the media myths the Democrats are holding their convention next week. Go there. Casting himself as Truth Teller In Chief, he doubled down: I will tell you the plain facts that have been edited out of your nightly news and your morning newspaper, he said. And this: Big business, elite media and major donors are lining up behind my opponent because they know she will keep our rigged system in place. His words brought roars of approval in the Cleveland arena at the Republican National Convention, and the next morning they brought approving smiles from Mary Sue McCarty, a delegate from Dallas who came to the convention bound to Trump. Wearing a cowboy hat and pearls as she waited for her flight home, the vivacious car-dealership concierge told me that Trumps media criticism hits home: Somebody is finally saying what we think. If its a Republican, its investigated to death. If its a Democrat, its breezed over, she said. I pointed out to McCarty that it was the New York Times that broke the story about Hillary Clintons email misdeeds, and mainstream media organizations (including The Washington Post) also have exposed the dubious financial practices of the Clinton Foundation and the special treatment for her friends at the State Department. She shrugged that off. You didnt see the media pressing those as much. Journalists arent doing their jobs. They are protecting a certain class. And Trump hammers home that populist point. Of course, candidates including Sarah Palin (the lamestream media), Richard M. Nixon and Spiro T. Agnew (nattering nabobs of negativism) have vilified the press and gained points doing it. In 1964, Barry Goldwater got the Republican presidential nomination in Californias Cow Palace where, longtime TV journalist Ted Koppel recalled, signs proclaimed Dont Trust the Liberal Media. He said he saw similar words projected on huge screens on the streets of Cleveland. But perhaps no candidate has attacked the media as relentlessly as Trump or with as little regard for reality. The press may be vulnerable to these broadsides because trust in journalism is so low. A Media Insight Project study revealed that only 6 percent of Americans have much confidence in news organizations. That is in part the medias doing, as recently as Rolling Stones disastrously flawed reporting of an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia and the revelation that a Politico reporter agreed to show his Hillary Clinton story to a Democratic National Committee source before publication. So Trumps attacks fall on fertile ground, despite the strong and important journalism that keeps coming from the best news organizations. American citizens certainly would be much worse off without the press, but Trump and his fans never connect the dots. If these same pilloried news outlets hadnt revealed and then written article after article about Clintons email practices, Republicans would have been deprived of their most powerful talking point. The press gave blanket coverage to FBI Director James B. Comeys blistering criticism, which in turn led to a packed Cleveland arena thundering with cries of Lock her up! Trumps charge that the mainstream media has hidden Clintons misdeeds or edited out the truth from news reports is just another one of his falsehoods. Theres no more evidence of this than of the thousands and thousands of Muslims cheering 9/11 in Jersey City or of his early opposition to the invasion of Iraq. Trump has created a win-win position with the new media, Koppel told me. If the coverage is positive, he pockets it, he said. But if its negative, he plays it as a battle hes fighting to fend off the apocalypse. And as he benefits from free exposure, he attacks the messengers as dishonest and corrupt. Now thats what Id call a rigged system. Margaret Sullivan is The Washington Posts media columnist. After their own tumultuous convention in Cleveland last week, Republicans can be forgiven for taking delight in the uproar over Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, now in the hot seat over leaked emails that indicate she all along had worked against Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders when she should have been even-handed in dealing with Sanders and Hillary Clinton. When, oh when, will these Democrats learn the risks of what you put into emails, to whom you send them and what quality of server you employ? Yet Republicans are still dealing with their own fallout involving Texas junior Republican senator, Ted Cruz, and his controversial non-endorsement speech at last Wednesdays Republican National Convention. In supposedly violating his pledge to support the party nominee, Cruz instead passionately urged delegates to vote their conscience and thus drew angry boos in the convention hall. While some Cruz fans remained loyal to him when he echoed this message before Texas GOP delegates the next day, others labeled him traitorous and vowed to vigorously oppose his Senate re-election. Profile in courage? Ted Cruz? OK. Maybe. We were amused at the punditry in the Dallas Morning News excellent convention coverage last week: Its editorial board said Cruz stood for principle in shocked and suddenly hostile territory. Four pages away, Morning News columnist Jacquielynn Floyd said Cruzs gesture was self-serving, undertaken with the 2020 presidential race obviously in mind that Cruz was not standing up against The Donald. Hes just standing up for Ted. One can only guess at Cruzs real motives. None of us knows what beats in a mans heart, good or ill. We must instead look at ones deeds and actions. However, Republicans with conscience and ethics at heart should be seriously troubled about the Republican presidential nominees words last week when he suggested mounting a Super PAC to attack not only Cruz when he next runs for office the latter seeks re-election in Texas in 2018 but Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who also didnt endorse Trump. That sure should bring out the best in all Republicans. Vengeance is mine, said the Lord (Romans 12:19). So much for all that talk about Donald Trump becoming a Christian, encouraged by James C. Dobson, one of Americas prominent, so-called evangelicals (whatever those are anymore). Dobson says Trump recently came to accept a relationship with Christ. Given Trumps latest talk of political purges within the GOP when some of his earlier comments were anything but Christian perhaps the nominee should again consult his beloved Two Corinthians. Meanwhile, other Republicans who likely see Cruz as a 2020 presidential rival have begun efforts to marginalize him. They include former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who last year pronounced Trump a cancer on conservatism but in defeat cravenly began positioning himself to be Trumps vice presidential pick. Most confounding of all, Trump on Friday incredibly revived one of the spurious allegations he made against Cruz back in May that the latters father might have been involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, a strategic blunder that underscored just why Cruz refused to endorse Trump two days earlier. This newspaper finds Cruzs Senate tenure grounded in obstruction, pandering and outright lies the latter something in which only Trump eclipses Cruz. But if a politician maligned your dad and your wife as Trump did to Cruz, would you endorse the guy at the end of a political fight? Its one more question to consider as Republicans ponder whether party loyalty trumps devotion to God and country. Now draw this! The political cartoon in the July 23 Trib depicts Donald Trump as a confused individual with no consistency in foreign policy. Donald says he will surround himself with experts in all fields and utilize them to correct todays problems. I hope so. We need a lot of help. Now if the cartoonist is reading this letter, I would like for him to draw another cartoon depicting our policies over the last several years on the watch of President Obama and secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. Start with Russian tanks invading a sovereign nation just because they could. No Stars and Stripes to help. Or China claiming a strategic waterway that didnt belong to it and its continuing to build an island with runways to handle military aircraft. Chinese sent a warning to us and others that it was theirs and for all to stay clear. Again, we did little and they are still building a war machine. How about the red line in the sand? It faded and disappeared. So Russia took charge and they are still in charge. Our cartoonist needs to show Libya, too, and how proud Hillary was of her dealings there. And you have to show a consulate with a small protective wall and no Marines to protect it. All other countries decided to recall their diplomats because of security reasons. Our diplomats came home but we all know how. This is not what we think Hillary will do. She did it. Draw facts, not what you think will happen. By the way, I Iike the cartoons. Keep them coming. William Bregan, Crawford The right place It is fitting that the Democratic Party holds its national convention in Philadelphia. The party has adopted its most extreme pro-abortion platform, even calling for an end to Hyde Amendment limitations on government paying for abortions. This plank was adopted in the city where the most horrific legal case was prosecuted against an abortionist. In 2013, Dr. Kermit Gosnell was convicted on three counts of murder of babies targeted for abortion but born alive. Gosnell was also found guilty of manslaughter in the death of abortion patient Karnamaya Mongar. These tip-of-the-iceberg atrocities happened in the later years of Gosnells cruel, filthy and racist practice. In the eight years prior to the 2011 grand jury indictment of Gosnell, the governor of Pennsylvania was Democrat Ed Rendell. For all the years of the Gosnell practice back to 1979, Democrats as mayors of Philadelphia delivered hear-no-evil, see-no-evil regulation of abortion. John Pisciotta, Pro-Life Waco, Director Quite a record Why is Alton Sterlings criminal record not reported? Innocent and upstanding police officers get assassinated in his name, yet Im sure most of the country does not know his background. Took me five minutes to find. Yet the news media fails to tell both sides. Scot Collins, Waco The Departments of Justice and Education released guidance to schools explaining how federal law prohibiting sex discrimination affects schools obligations toward transgender students. Helping Schools Ensure the Civil Rights of Transgender Students is far from protecting the rights of all students. Under this directive, all thats required is a simple note from a parent for a student to be granted access to bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity rather than gender on their birth certificate. The Obama Administration is threatening to withhold federal funding from schools that dont comply. Township District 211 in Palatine disregarded student privacy and safety when it secretly opened restrooms to the opposite sex and opened girls locker room to a boy after the DOE threatened the districts federal funding. Students and parents represented by Alliance Defending Freedom have filed a lawsuit against District 211, the DOE and DOJ, regarding agency rules and school policies that unlawfully and illegitimately mandate opening of public school restrooms and locker rooms to members of the opposite sex. I was disappointed to read that a school district in our state is willfully disregarding the privacy and safety rights of students. The district is putting students at-risk by eliminating common sense privacy policies. Girls should never be forced to undress or shower in presence of boys, even those struggling with sexual identity issues. Telling girls they dont deserve a private and safe bathroom or locker room is telling girls their privacy and safety dont matter. I sympathize with children who are working through difficult personal issues, and we should seek compassionate solutions. But a soon-to-be-senior boy shouldnt be permitted to deal with those issues in settings with a 14-year-old girl. The court should uphold common sense and protect the safety and privacy concerns of all students. Mark Dodds, Decatur The Commemorative Air Forces High Sky Wing, based in Midland, Texas will begin the refurbishment of F-14A Tomcat Bu.160403 tomorrow, July 27th, 2016. Their aircraft, on loan from the US Navy, is of particular significance as it is the first Tomcat to shoot down another aircraft in combat. CDR Henry Hank Kleemann and LT David DJ Venlet of VF-41 flew her as callsign Fast Eagle 102 from the decks of the USS Nimitz during the Gulf of Sidra Incident of August 19th, 1981, shooting down the first of two Libyan fighters dispatched by the US Navy that day. The second Libyan SU-22 fell to a Sidewinder missile from another VF-41 Tomcat, Bu.160390 Fast Eagle 107 flown by LT Lawrence Music Muczynski and LTJG James Luca Anderson. Here are further details from the CAF about Fast Eagle 102s resurrection Fast Eagle 102 is the sole surviving aircraft from the air-to-air battle and shoot down of two Libyan Su-22 Fitter aircraft on August 19th, 1981. While on deployment with the USS Nimitz battle group off the Libyan coast, two VF-41 Black Aces F-14A Tomcats encountered two Libyan SU-22 Fitters while on a routine combat air patrol over the Gulf of Sidra. The VF-41 Tomcats, call signs Fast Eagle 102 and Fast Eagle 107, engaged in a dogfight with the SU-22s shooting down both Libyan jets. The dogfight between the Tomcats and Fitters marked the first Navy air combat confrontation since the Vietnam War and the first ever for the F-14A Tomcat. It was also the first time a variable wing geometry aircraft shot down another variable wing geometry aircraft. Fast Eagle 102 was credited with the first kill. The sole surviving aircraft from this engagement Fast Eagle 102 is now located at the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) High Sky Wing in Midland, Texas. On July 27, 2016, The Flight Deck Veterans Group (FDVG) will begin the much anticipated restoration project on the F-14 Tomcat Fast Eagle 102 and return the aircraft to its former glory. The FDVG members, who are eager and excited to restore the F-14, will work passionately to preserve naval aviation history. Join the CAF High Sky Wing and The Flight Deck Veterans Group at AIRSHO 2016, in Midland, Texas, for a public unveiling of Fast Eagle 102 on Saturday, August 27th with more details to follow. The FDVG is seeking volunteers and support. Please contact Michael Deacon for more information at mdeacon@fdvg.org or 308.660.8844. The CAF High Sky Wing is accepting donations to help with the restoration project on Fast Eagle 102. Donations can be made out to CAF High Sky Wing. Please send donations to CAF High Sky Wing F-14 Project, P.O. Box 61064, Midland. TX 79711. For more information contact: gena@highskywing.org or 432-528-0997 Click HERE to Support This Project S&P 500 3,807.30 DOW 32,033.28 QQQ 272.87 Be Sure You Own United Parcel Service for the Right Reasons Biden Makes DISTURBING US Dollar Move (Ad) Biden zeroes in on economic message as campaign winds down Top 10 Horror Movie Entrepreneurs Biden Makes DISTURBING US Dollar Move (Ad) Auto prices finally begin to creep down from inflated highs Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities Americans are using this FREE kit to protect their retirement accounts (Ad) Stocks gain ground on Wall Street, Facebook parent slumps US economy likely returned to growth last quarter S&P 500 3,807.30 DOW 32,033.28 QQQ 272.87 Be Sure You Own United Parcel Service for the Right Reasons Biden Makes DISTURBING US Dollar Move (Ad) Biden zeroes in on economic message as campaign winds down Top 10 Horror Movie Entrepreneurs Biden Makes DISTURBING US Dollar Move (Ad) Auto prices finally begin to creep down from inflated highs Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities Americans are using this FREE kit to protect their retirement accounts (Ad) Stocks gain ground on Wall Street, Facebook parent slumps US economy likely returned to growth last quarter S&P 500 3,807.30 DOW 32,033.28 QQQ 272.87 Be Sure You Own United Parcel Service for the Right Reasons Biden Makes DISTURBING US Dollar Move (Ad) Biden zeroes in on economic message as campaign winds down Top 10 Horror Movie Entrepreneurs Biden Makes DISTURBING US Dollar Move (Ad) Auto prices finally begin to creep down from inflated highs Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities Americans are using this FREE kit to protect their retirement accounts (Ad) Stocks gain ground on Wall Street, Facebook parent slumps US economy likely returned to growth last quarter S&P 500 3,807.30 DOW 32,033.28 QQQ 272.87 3 Roughed-Up Dividend Aristocrats with Good Long-Term Prospects New Battery Tech to Eat Lithiums Lunch? (Ad) Strong Fundamentals Make Bristol Myers Squibb Stock a Real Value Be Sure You Own United Parcel Service for the Right Reasons Get Your Money Out of U.S. Banks Immediately (Ad) Biden zeroes in on economic message as campaign winds down Top 10 Horror Movie Entrepreneurs Wall Street Legend Warns Financial Reset is Coming (Ad) Auto prices finally begin to creep down from inflated highs Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities S&P 500 3,807.30 DOW 32,033.28 QQQ 272.87 3 Roughed-Up Dividend Aristocrats with Good Long-Term Prospects New Battery Tech to Eat Lithiums Lunch? (Ad) Strong Fundamentals Make Bristol Myers Squibb Stock a Real Value Be Sure You Own United Parcel Service for the Right Reasons Get Your Money Out of U.S. Banks Immediately (Ad) Biden zeroes in on economic message as campaign winds down Top 10 Horror Movie Entrepreneurs Wall Street Legend Warns Financial Reset is Coming (Ad) Auto prices finally begin to creep down from inflated highs Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities S&P 500 3,807.30 DOW 32,033.28 QQQ 272.87 3 Roughed-Up Dividend Aristocrats with Good Long-Term Prospects New Battery Tech to Eat Lithiums Lunch? (Ad) Strong Fundamentals Make Bristol Myers Squibb Stock a Real Value Be Sure You Own United Parcel Service for the Right Reasons Get Your Money Out of U.S. Banks Immediately (Ad) Biden zeroes in on economic message as campaign winds down Top 10 Horror Movie Entrepreneurs Wall Street Legend Warns Financial Reset is Coming (Ad) Auto prices finally begin to creep down from inflated highs Closing prices for crude oil, gold and other commodities Former inmates of the Don Dale juvenile detention centre are seeking to extend their legal claims against the Northern Territory government following shocking footage aired by the ABC on Monday. Six people who served time inside Don Dale are suing the NT government, including 18-year-old Dylan Voller, who was shown hooded and strapped to a mechanical restraint chair, and Jake Roper, now 16, whose outburst prompted the tear-gassing of six children held in isolation in 2014. Procedural hearings for the six claims were heard in closed sessions of the Northern Territory Supreme Court on Tuesday, just hours after the Four Corners episode stunned the nation and prompted Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to announce a royal commission. Peter O'Brien, the solicitor acting for Mr Voller and Jake Roper, said his legal team advised the court it may seek to expand its series of claims based on the additional footage aired by the ABC that had not been previously provided by the NT government. A Perth man and a teenage boy have been arrested after sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl over two years, police claim. Police say a 36-year-old man and 16-year-old boy, both from Wanneroo, sexually assaulted the young girl who was known to them, between 2103 and 2015. A man and teenage boy have been arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a young girl. The man was due to appear in the Midland Magistrates Court on Tuesday and the teenage boy is set to face Perth's Children's Court on August 4. If you are or have been a victim of child abuse, or if you have information about someone being abused, please contact police on 131 444. DECATUR -- Crossing Healthcare doctors Dana Ray and Margaret Thomson dont want a repeat of last October. On the day the Decatur School District no longer allowed students to attend without having updated immunizations and physicals if they were required, police had to be called to Crossing to contain the traffic created by the rush. This year, with students now needing to have immunizations and physicals completed by the first day of school on Aug. 17, theres even more of a responsibility for parents to take care of it early. Last year, for the first 15 days in October, we saw 500 patients just for school physicals, and the last day was chaos: Our clinic basically came to a screeching halt to accommodate them, said Ray, Crossings medical director. Were trying to be proactive to prevent that from happening again. Coinciding with Decatur School District's weeklong registration, Crossing, 320 Central Ave., is offering free walk-in school physicals and immunizations this week from 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., with hours extended today until 6 p.m. No appointment is necessary. After this week, Crossing is offering its free walk-ins from 1 to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Fridays through Aug. 19. Physicals and immunizations are also available by appointment. Weve had walk-in school physical days available since March, but not a lot of people have taken advantage, Ray said. When the school district sent out the reminder last Tuesday, we did have an influx (more than 30 showed up), but it worries me how many people are still out there who havent had them yet. Free walk-in physicals will also be available on Saturday, Aug. 13, at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, 530 W. Mound Road, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and First Christian Church, 3350 N. MacArthur Road, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Immunizations are available at Macon County Health Department, 1221 E. Condit, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1 to 3:30 p.m., and will also be available on Aug. 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Those going to the health department should bring their medical card, health insurance or payment. Physicals are required for first-year preschool students and students entering kindergarten, sixth grade, ninth grade and college. Theyre also available for students new to the area and those needing one to play sports. Physicals are good for one year. Ray and Thomson said school physicals arent just a rubber stamp so a child can attend school. Its a chance to get kids really hooked in with a medical provider, said Thomson, a pediatrician at Crossing. We can go through to make sure theyre growing OK and their immunizations are where they should be, and it gives them a chance to ask any questions they might have -- whats this rash? How do you prevent athletes foot? How do you do a breast exam? Anything like that. Then the child has a go-to person who has their back medically from then on. Ray said its also an opportunity to address any unmet health care needs: issues such as thyroid problems, obesity, nutrition, lack of physical activity and even cardiac issues. Thomson said she recently saw a young diabetic patient with a history of heart disease who didnt have a doctor. This gives them a chance to get the care they need hooked up again with no judgment, Thomson said. Physicals are also a chance to have tough discussions, whether its about behavioral problems, bullying, abuse, sex or drugs. If birth control is needed, Crossing can provide that. We can get them the support and resources they need if there is an issue, Ray said. Crossing will provide free, required immunizations, but will also give optional immunizations such as the flu shot and HPV vaccine. Priest identified as Father Jacques Hamel (right), 84, was killed by knifemen in a church in France. He did not flag new measures to address the threat, but emphasised the existing ones would be applied to their fullest. "This war will be a long one," he said. "Our country must avoid overreaction, polemics, confusion and suspicion ... It is our unity that will give us strength." Police officers in Normandy following an attack on a church that left a priest dead. Credit:AP Mr Molins said two men carrying blades entered the church during morning Mass about 9.25am and took six people hostage - the priest, three nuns and a couple of parishioners. Witnesses told Le Figaro the attackers were armed with knives, one was bearded and one was said to have worn a chachia, a traditional woollen north African hat. French President Francois Hollande shakes hands with police and security personnel in Normandy. Credit:AP They shouted "Allahu Akbar" as they entered the church, "corroborated sources" told Le Point. Sister Daniele, a nun who was in the church, told French television she thought "that's it, it's over" when the attackers stormed in. Adel Kermiche, a younger age. Credit:Facebook "It was at the foot of the altar, they forced [the priest] to kneel and not move and then we saw the knife in their right hand," she said. "They took to the floor to speak in Arabic I didn't understand everything they said, but they shouted, 'You Christians, you are oppressing us.' " Adel Khermiche In another interview, she said: "They did a sort of sermon around the altar in Arabic. It's horrific." Sister Daniele escaped while they were attacking the priest. She did not see his murder. The church where a 84-year-old priest was murdered in an attack in Normandy, France. Credit:AP "I set off running and I stopped the first car I saw. The driver called the police and they arrived very quickly." Police tried to negotiate with the terrorists through a small side door at the back of the church leading to the sacristy. They then tried to enter but were unable to because the attackers used three hostages as a human shield to block the door, Mr Molins said. The two nuns and a parishioner then left the church followed by the terrorists, one of whom was carrying a handgun, Mr Molins said. They headed for the police crying "Allahu Akbar" and were shot down. One of the attackers had a fake explosive device on his belt and three knives. The other had a timepiece wrapped in aluminium foil in a backpack with a fake explosive. Police then entered the church to search for explosives. None were found. They found the body of the priest, who died of wounds to his chest and throat. Mr Molins said Kermiche, a local teenager born in 1997, had been identified through his fingerprints. In March 2015 he was arrested in Germany trying to get to Syria using his brother's ID. Two months later, he again tried to join IS and this time got as far as Turkey. He was remanded in custody in France, but in March a judge ordered that he instead be kept under house arrest, and he was allowed to leave home for up to four hours a day. The Paris prosecutor appealed against this decision to release him but it was confirmed by an appeal court. Sid Ahmen Ghlam, a 24-year-old Algerian student who was arrested and imprisoned after planning to attack places of Catholic worship in the Paris region had previously identified the same church as a potential target, Le Figaro reported. The attack comes with the country still on high alert after the Bastille Day massacre in Nice. "I cry out to God with all men of goodwill," said the archbishop of Rouen Dominique Lebrun in a press release issued by the Rouen diocese, in which the church lies. He said there were three victims: Father Hamel and his killers. Three other people were injured, one very seriously. He said he would return from World Youth Day in Poland and "I will be tonight in my diocese with families and the shocked parish community." He called on young people not to give in to violence but to "become apostles of the civilisation of love". On social media, the "je suis pretre" ("I am priest") hashtag began spreading. Catholics called for Pope Francis to put the slain priest on a fast track for sainthood. Roberto Maroni, president of the Lombard region, said Father Hamel was a "martyr of faith". At the Vatican, a spokesman, the Reverend Federico Lombardi, said that Pope Francis was horrified at the "barbaric killing" of a priest. Mr Hollande said the attack was a "cowardly assassination" by two terrorists. Visiting the church, he said he had spoken to the family of the dead priest and also a parishioner who had been taken hostage. He linked the "despicable terrorist attack" directly to Islamic State, saying "over the past few days and the past few years we have been facing IS, who have declared war against us". "It's not only Catholics targeted, it is all French people," he said. "We should be part of a 'bloc', a unity that nobody can divide ... the terrorists will stop at nothing if we do not stop them." He praised police and emergency services who, he said, had avoided a higher death toll with their quick intervention. Mr Hollande later met Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and Justice Minister Bernard Cazeneuve at the Elysee Palace. The attack drew statements of condemnation from across French society. Dalil Boubakeur, president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, declared that "Muslims stand together behind the government to defend France and its institutions." The Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions said that the attack "marks a new stage in the spread of terrorism in France". SPRINGFIELD Illinois lawmakers appear unlikely to answer Gov. Bruce Rauners call for a vote on a proposed amendment to the Illinois Constitution that would create term limits for elected officials. The first-term Republican governor wants the Democratic-controlled General Assembly to vote on the issue when members reconvene in Springfield following the Nov. 8 election. Rauner renewed his call for term limits Monday during a news conference in Chicago. These past 18 months have been a humbling experience for me, Rauner said. Ive learned just how entrenched the politicians holding power are. They dont want to change. Theyre focused on their own power rather than empowering people. Rauner backs proposals that would limit lawmakers to 10 years of service in the House, the Senate or a combination of the two and prohibit anyone from serving more than eight years in any executive office or combination of offices. Term limits would ensure that new faces and new ideas have a chance of entering state government, he said, noting a widespread lack of competition for legislative seats. A poll earlier this year from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University showed that 78 percent of voters, including 71 percent of Democrats and 89 percent of Republicans, favor term limits for lawmakers. Our people want term limits now more than ever, and thats why Im so committed to continue the fight to make it happen, said Rauner. The governor is a frequent critic of House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, who was first elected to the General Assembly in 1970, and other long-serving lawmakers. Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said the speaker believes term limits are unnecessary for state representatives because they have to face the voters every two years. A spokesman for Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, couldn't comment Monday. While campaigning for governor in 2014, Rauner bankrolled an unsuccessful attempt to put a term limits amendment on the ballot through a petition campaign. That effort was blocked when the courts ruled that it went beyond the structural and procedural changes to the General Assembly that can be made through a voter-driven initiative. More than a dozen term limit proposals have been introduced since the current General Assembly was seated in January 2015, but none has made it to the House or Senate floor for a vote. Chris Mooney, director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois, said that shouldnt come as a surprise. Its not just Illinois, Mooney said. Legislatures do not pass these laws. Two state legislatures that did approve term limits Louisiana and Utah did so only because more restrictive measures were coming down the pike through voter initiatives, he said. Mooney said research has shown that many claims from proponents and opponents of term limits arent borne out by the facts. For example, they dont seem to increase electoral competition as proponents argue, he said, nor do they appear to concentrate more power in the hands of lobbyists as opponents claim. The most significant impact of term limits is that theyve resulted in an increase in power of the executive branch at the expense of the legislative branch, Mooney said. Its excellent politics, he said. Its questionable for governance. The new call for a vote on term limits comes days after a Cook County judge dealt a blow to another item on the governors turnaround agenda: legislative redistricting reform. A judge ruled Wednesday that a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would take the power to draw boundaries away from lawmakers is unconstitutional on the similar grounds to Rauners earlier effort on term limits. The Illinois Supreme Court has agreed to hear a direct appeal of that decision. A WCO National Seminar on the Harmonized System was held in the headquarters of ADAU (Asociacion de Despachantes de Aduana de Uruguay) in Montevideo, Uruguay, from 20 to 22 July 2016. The Seminar was a joint initiative of the WCO, the Uruguay Customs (Direccion Nacional de Aduanas) and ADAU. It was attended by 130 participants from both Uruguay Customs and ADAU. The Seminar was facilitated by a WCO Senior Technical Officer and Mr. Daniel Cardozo, a WCO Accredited Trainer in HS matters, from Uruguay Customs. The Director of Trade Affairs in Uruguay Customs, Mr. Jaime Borgiani, highlighted the ongoing support of the WCO to meet the demands of Uruguay in its capacity building initiatives and thanked the representative from the WCO for facilitating the high level discussions on tariff classification issues. Mr. Borgiani stressed the importance of the HS as the most widely used instrument of the WCO, responsible for the correct and uniform classification of goods a key issue for Customs administrations and other relevant international trade stakeholders from both the public and private sectors. Also present at the opening of the seminar was the Vice-President of ADAU, Mr. Gabriele Gambaro, who thanked the WCO for its continuous support on the matter and stressed the relevance of the Seminar and its contribution to the effectiveness of the work carried out by ADAU. During the Seminar the group discussed the use and future prospects of the Harmonized System (HS), in particular the HS 2017 edition, and some practical cases of tariff classification in relevant areas. The HS classification model in Uruguay was also discussed by participants. The implementation and impact of the Spanish version of the HS 2017 edition (VUESA) at the Regional Level (Mercosur) and at the National Level (Uruguay National Tariff) was discussed in detail. BLOOMINGTON Sometimes, being a caregiver to a loved one with cancer feels like the world is spinning without you. "The world is spinning and you are stuck in this nightmare," observed Mike Fitzgerald, 44, who was caregiver to his wife, Elaine, who had a form of skin cancer. Elaine died on Dec. 2, 2014, at age 39. "It seems like the world is going on around you but you just don't know if you're going to get another day," said Stephanie Moore, 38, who was caregiver to her husband, Noah, who had colon cancer. Noah died on Nov. 12, 2014, at age 32. After their spouses died, Fitzgerald and Moore separately began to attend a Grief Share group at Eastview Christian Church. Commiserating over lack of sleep and single parenting turned into a mutual respect, then a friendship among the two families and love between Mike and Stephanie. "We realized that this connection we had was a gift resulting from tragedy," Mike said. They married April 30, with their children Sophie Fitzgerald, 14; Kayla Fitzgerald, 11; Ethan Moore, 11; and Eli Moore, 7 surrounding them. "I will never replace Elaine and Mike won't replace Noah," Moore said. "Even though there are six of us, we consider ourselves a family of eight. Noah Moore was a senior technician with Illinois Eye-Bank. Stephanie Moore is a respiratory therapist at Advocate BroMenn Medical Center. In November 2013, Noah began experiencing constipation and pain. Within the month, he was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. Stephanie took time off from work to be her husband's caregiver. "I bathed him, changed him, gave him his meds and everything he needed," she said. Moore told his wife that after he died, he wanted her to find someone else. Sometimes, Ethan and Eli stayed with relatives and friends. "We tried to keep their lives as normal as possible," Stephanie said. After Noah died, "the next few months were a blur," Stephanie admitted. The Fitzgeralds -- Elaine, Mike, Sophie and Kayla -- lived in Bloomington. Elaine was a social worker who assisted with patient discharge planning at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center. In early 2013, she detected what she thought was a canker sore on her tongue. A March 2013 biopsy resulted in a diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma. Despite three surgeries, cancer remained, so radiation and chemotherapy followed. For a while, she improved and went back to work. But neck pain resulted in a July 2014 surgery that included removal of a tumor in her neck. "I dressed her wounds, administered pain meds, made sure she was getting proper nutrition through her feeding tube," Mike Fitzgerald recalled. More cancer was detected in October. Elaine died in December. Mike Fitzgerald and Stephanie Moore independently heard about the Grief Share group at Eastview. Mike and Stephanie connected almost immediately because they were close in age, had been caregivers to spouses who died of cancer at about the same time and were trying to raise children of the opposite sex. They discussed their grief, not being able to sleep, going to counseling and parenting. Both families discovered that they share a love of the outdoors, have similar temperaments and cherish relatives, friends and faith. They bought a house together and married on April 30. "Blending the two families has been a lot easier than we thought," Stephanie said. "I like having more siblings. And I couldn't do anything without a mother figure because dad doesn't know anything about girls," Sophie said with a smile. "We don't have a guide book for this," Stephanie said. "We are trying to make everyone as comfortable and loved as we can." After years of facing objections and obstructions from numerous stakeholders, the start of operations for a Canadian national securities regulator has been delayed until 2018. This is according to a July 22 statement from federal and provincial finance ministers.The idea of a central regulator to which all Canadian financial service providers should report has been in the works for several years. However, because of objections raised by representatives of several provinces, as well as a 2011 Supreme Court ruling that Ottawa could not impose a common regulator on unwilling provinces, the current patchwork system of securities regulation persists.The objections forced proponents to go for a more cooperative approach, asking provinces to voluntarily submit themselves to national regulation. So far, only Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Yukon have raised their hands, bringing the tally of volunteers to 6 out of 13 jurisdictions.In their statement, the finance ministers expressed expectations that complementary federal and provincial legislation will be enacted by June 30, 2018. They also anticipate the Cooperative Capital Regulatory Authority to be operational within that same year. In 2014, Canada, Ontario, and British Columbia all said that they would get the national regulator up and running by mid-2015.That finance ministers also appointed a 15-member board to be headed by Nova Scotia businessman William Black, even though Nova Scotia has not yet joined the scheme.Alberta and Quebec have both refused to join the scheme for national regulation. By Nareg Seferian What is the plan for an endgame? Getting into a situation without knowing how to get out is a desperate act. The group calling itself Sasna Tsrer must have had some idea as to how this whole scenario would play out. It does not seem too clear, however. The demands are quite clear. But they are also very extreme. Do the members of Sasna Tsrerhonestly expect their demands to be fully met? If not, then how do they imagine this stand-off ending? Do they imagine that ending to be of some benefit to the country, to the people of Armenia? Maybe I am physically and figuratively at a distance from Erebouni, but it simply does not make full sense to me. Why are there so many people out supporting a violent, armed group? The response to this question is more clear. There is deep, deep frustration in society in Armenia. Serge Sargsian came to power following violence armed forces of Armenia killed citizens of Armenia on March 1, 2008, and justice in that regard has not been served. Moreover, the economy has not been active or accessible enough to satisfy most people who live in the country. Most significantly, elections have not been free or fair. Members of society do not feel that they have a stake in the state. The psychological and emotional impact of fraudulent elections cannot be underestimated. As a result, a number of movements have taken place on the streets in recent years, from Mashtots Park to the marshroutka rate protests to Electric Yerevan. These sorts of issues which should democratically be debated in parliament and affect the preferences of voters in regularly-held, proper elections, instead find an outlet with a frustrated citizenry blocking avenues and clashing with the police. But an armed group, storming a police compound? Indeed, this is a very extreme manifestation of that frustration. From what I understand, the people on Khorenatsi Street and Sari Tagh are there to share the sentiments of the members of Sasna Tsrer, to assure that no more violence is carried out. The emphasis on avoiding the term terrorist to describe the armed group is very telling. I hope that the authorities are paying attention to those voices on the street. Where did the voice of the government go? The authorities are perhaps listening, but one could not have known that for many days since the armed group took over the police compound. It felt so strange, so embarrassing that nobody from Baghramian Avenue or Melik-Adamian Street had any public comments or calls to make in the initial days of the stand-off (except for a few leaders of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation). Why? Whichever way you look at it, at whatever level, politics in Armenia seems so reactionary, slow to move, oftentimes inconsistent. A good, democratic system has to have components that speak and respond to one another. This current stand-off strongly indicates, if any indication were needed, that the political body of the Republic of Armenia is not in a healthy state. There are, however, at least two positive take-aways. One is that there are people out on the street. Yes, raging citizens with poorly-directed energy can do more harm than good, but political apathy is an even worse sign. People power blocking roads, hurling childish insults at the police or government officials is silly. However, the fact that there are so many and so many young people who take the trouble of going out on the streets and taking a stand is, in general, an encouraging phenomenon. Secondly, the availability of the media and technology has gone so far in Armenia. It is wonderful to see live streaming of events through a number of different websites. Those who constantly complain about the country should realise that it is only in the minority of the world that such technology exists and is used so effectively and, in some places where the technology does exist, the government does not allow it to be used or itself manipulates it. The endgame of the stand-off remains unclear. However, it finishes, it would be surprising were this the final example of the people taking to the streets in Armenia to express the sort of frustration that should be expressed at the ballot box. by Richard Coulson First published in The Tribune Insight and posted here with the kind permission of the author. Last week the US Republicans (GOP, or Grand Old Party) held their convention in Ohio, and this week our Free National Movement (FNM) will hold theirs here in Nassau. The two have one thing in common: they both mark the outs trying to become the ins. As I watched TV snippets of the Cleveland rumpus, I recalled the Republican convention of 1956 in San Francisco, where I was invited to take the big job of donning white cover-alls to wield a hose inflating balloons rising from the floor of the vast Cow PalaceI was more visible than most of the delegates. Sixty years ago America was a different world from today: complacent, tranquil, unthreatened. President Eisenhower, as promised, had ended the Korean War after 30,000 American deaths, and was now running unopposed for his second term. Not only around the convention but across the country I like IKE buttons flashed on every street. Even the Democratic candidate, the estimable Adlai Stevenson, laughed I like him too, but and went down to predicted crushing defeat. As in 1956, this years Republican convention offered no real suspense. As expected, Donald Trump was quickly awarded the bulk of delegates. Looking only at the thousands of his gleeful, shouting, stomping supporters filling the Intuit Loans Arena, one might think Trump was wildly popular throughout Americaand would be totally wrong. On the first afternoon, an unprecedented near riot erupted on the floor when the Chairman overruled anti-Trump delegates on a crucial rules issue. On Tuesday night, over700 delegates out of 2,400 voted formally for Cruz, Rubio or Kasich. The speakers list was bare of Republican luminaries like the Bush family, Mitt Romney, John McCain, Lindsay Graham, even Sarah Palin, too snug up in Alaska! Senator Mitch McConnells and Congressman Paul Ryans dutiful endorsements were lukewarm at best, and Kasich, Republican governor of the host state, gave the ultimate snub by refusing to attend. The pro-Trump speakers were slanted much more anti-Hillary: Lock her up! demanded retired General Michael Flynn, and Guilty, Guilty, Guilty declaimed New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Then on the third night Ted Cruz was cheered on to the speakers platform for his expected Trump enforcement and later booed off it when he flatly refused to say the words. Bitter spite between the two would surface soon once again. Clearly, even within the Arena the vocal enthusiasts did not represent the Republican unity that party leaders had desperately wished. And out across the nation, they lead but one faction of the fractured Republicans, the blue-collar evangelical Christian populists whose interests have been too long ignored by the fancy-pants party chieftains in Washington. And of course, they barely make a dent in the vast number of traditional Democrats, ranging from blacks, Latinos and big-city unionists to modern career women and brain workers. Donald Trumps acceptance speech on the final night, warning of national doom that only he could conquer, did nothing to heal any breaches as he was preaching to the already converted. Its hard to believe that in November the angry Trump bloc will prevail. Unpopular Hillary may be outside her little clique, grossly careless of sensitive e-mails, nevertheless I predict, perhaps rashly, that voters will prefer her. It may be a strange election, decided by cross-overs: Democrats who loathe Hillary so much that they vote for Trump, and Republicans who despise Trump enough to vote for Hillary. Here in Nassau I meet Trump supporters understandably fed up with political correctness, but how could our nation ever feel warm towards a Republican administration of old-line white Americans who, after all these years, still barely accept black people as their equals? To maintain the diplomatic civilities, one wonders who Trump would find to be his ambassador. Our imminent FNM convention is not a lock-up like what we just saw in Cleveland. We will have an open event in which the preference of the 410 delegates may not be known until the final count. We can be sure that this week they are being vigorously canvassed and stroked (I will not say rewarded) by both sides, but in the absence of the omnipresent polls that chart every US political trend (why dont we have at least one professional Bahamian poll-taker?), I have no basis for predicting between the Minnis/Tunquest team and their Butler-Turner/Sands opponents, or even a possible Papa Ingraham surprise. I have a totally un-scientific hunch that Dr. Minnis has the edge, having re-created himself as the lively Roc with Doc and overcome the smell of fish delivered by dead-beat Toggie (or is it Toogie?) Bullard. Whatever the result, the winner and the loser and The Gang of Six must bury any previous grudges and join forces to present a unified frontand look better organized than when scratching for last-minute cash to pay convention bills. The new leader cannot forget that even todays wounded PLP can call out thousands of devoted loyalists to cast unthinking ballots. That man or woman will not have any idea whom he or she will face in battling the PLP. The choice made by the so-called Peoples Party remains a multi-faced enigma that may not be resolved until their November convention. We read columnists every day who claim that Perry Christie is delusional in claiming that he is supported by young Bahamians and that national stability demands him to stay on. But columnist and their literate readers dont call the crucial shots, which are fired by the roughly 2,400 party delegates entitled to vote. Many of them are long-time stalwarts linked to Perry by his warm friendship or by steady jobs. If they stay solid, he will be hard to dislodge. But even loyal stalwarts may fade away if they sense a true groundswell of national opinion surging against their favorite, and waves of this are already emerging from the traditionally reliable over-the-hill constituencies. Mr. Christie knows how to keep his ear to the ground, and a major erosion of his power base may compel a graceful retreat suitable for this respected elder statesman. Then what? Will he simply leave the bones to be fought over by his hungry Ministers Davis, Mitchell, Wilchcombe, Gibson, and Fitzgerald? Or Mexican style will he anoint one of them by pointing a firm-fingered dedazo, possibly at his apparent favorite, the tall-but-tarnished Jerome Fitzgerald? He has made amply clear his doubts that any of them can lead his beloved PLP to victory and beyond. Maybe his dilemma will be solved by the old/new face of his friend Alfred Sears riding in like Shane to save the homestead from the bandits. Already a sure bet to retake Fort Charlotte for the PLP, smooth attorney Sears might ease Perrys path up to the pleasant sinecure of Governor-General, where he could still enjoy the pomp and circumstance of prominence without the burdens of responsibility. It would take all Sears skill to negotiate the stand-down of the dignified Dame Marguerite, particularly to a politician who delayed her ceremonial cutting of the Independence cake, but anything is possible. The next ten months will be an exciting time for Bahamian politics. As this column is published , no one knows who will lead either of our two main parties. Maybe the electorate, disappointed with both of them, will turn to the DNA or even elevate the hopeful minority outfits that seem to be springing up like weeds. This time, we will not be accused of clinging to the stodgy politics of the past. ______________________________________________ Mr. Coulson has had a long career in law, investment banking and private banking in New York, London, and Nassau, and now serves as director of several financial concerns and as a corporate financial consultant. He has recently released his autobiography, A Corkscrew Life: Adventures of a Travelling Financier. Fort Polk, LA (71446) Today Rain showers in the morning will evolve into a more steady rain in the afternoon. High around 70F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.. Tonight Rain. Low around 60F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall may reach one inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible. By West Kentucky Star Staff Jul. 26, 2016 | 11:29 AM | PADUCAH, KY Police have issued arrest warrants for an Illinois man who pulled a gun Saturday morning inside a Paducah movie theater.According to Paducah Police, 64-year-old John Grabinski of Ozark, Illinois is charged with first-degree wanton endangerment, second-degree disorderly conduct, and fourth-degree assault and menacing. The McCracken County Attorney, in consultation with the Commonwealths Attorneys Office, recommended the charges late Monday afternoon. District Judge Tony Kitchen signed the warrants Tuesday morning.38-year-old John Hempen of Paducah told police Grabinski began cursing his 14-year-old son for kicking the back of his seat at a showing of Star Trek Beyond at the Paducah Cinemark theater. Hempen said he got involved and he and Grabinski began arguing. He and several witnesses said Grabinski pushed him, and the two began fighting.Police said Hempen and other witnesses told them Grabinski was knocked to the ground, and got up brandishing a handgun. Others in the theater saw the gun, and began running for the exit. Three men theater employees and patrons escorted Grabinski from the theater and were outside with him with officers arrived.Grabinski has not yet been arrested. On the Net: Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Jul. 25, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff Jul. 25, 2016 | 06:27 PM | PADUCAH, KY A Metropolis woman has been arrested, and a Paducah woman is being sought on prescription forgery charges. A Paducah Police drug investigator was contacted July 18 by a local pharmacist, who said he had received a suspicious prescription. The pharmacist called the prescribing physicians office and learned that the prescription was a forgery. The pharmacist also reportedly learned that two previous prescriptions filled by the same person, 36-year-old Andrea Hinson, were also forgeries. Detectives said they spoke with employees of the physicians office and determined the prescriptions likely had been written by an employee at the pharmacy, 37-year-old Lisa Johnston of Metropolis. Police said Johnston admitted to forging three Oxycodone prescriptions for Hinson. Johnston also reportedly told police she had written other prescriptions in a relatives name, and had them filled at a different local pharmacy for herself. Johnston is charged with 14 counts of forgery of a prescription. She turned herself in Monday and was arrested and booked into McCracken County Regional Jail. Hinson has been charged with three counts of attempting to or obtaining a controlled substance by forgery or fraud. Police are asking anyone with information about Hinson's whereabouts to call them at 270-444-8550 or Crime Stoppers at 270-443-TELL. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Jul. 26, 2016 | FULTON COUNTY, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff Jul. 26, 2016 | 12:38 PM | FULTON COUNTY, KY Four people were arrested Monday on drug and other charges, after a vehicle pursuit in Fulton County. Fulton County Sheriff's Deputies responded Monday morning to a report of a stabbing at a home on State Route 125. The suspects had left the scene by the time deputies got there. Deputies determined that no one had actually been assaulted, but the suspects did have outstanding felony warrants. A Deputy spotted the suspects on Stateline Road and attempted to pul them over. A pursuit then began that lasted for several miles. The vehicle eventually stopped and the suspects fled on foot into a corn field. Deputies were able to capture the them after a short foot pursuit. Deputies searched the home on State Route 125 and reportedly found illegal drugs. In all, four suspects were arrested and charged with the following offenses: 39-year-old Shawn Hinrichs - operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol / drugs / etc. .08 (agg circumstances) 3rd offense, reckless driving, failure to maintain required insurance, 1st offense, fleeing or evading police, 1st degree (motor vehicle), fleeing or evading police, 1st degree (on foot), tampering with physical evidence, drug paraphernalia buy / possess, driving DUI suspended license 1st offense (agg circumstances), and a Fulton County Circuit Court warrant for violation of terms and conditions of his probation. 33-year-old Monique Holmes - fleeing or evading police, 1st degree (on foot), tampering with physical evidence, drug paraphernalia buy / possess, (2) Fulton County District Court for failure to appear, and (1) Graves County Circuit Court arrest warrant. 42-year-old Jennifer Bledsoe - drug paraphernalia buy / possess, possession of controlled substance, 1st offense (methamphetamine), and prescription of a controlled substance not in proper container. 53-year-old Randy McCullough - drug paraphernalia buy / possess, possession of controlled substance, 1st offense (methamphetamine), and falsely reporting an incident. All suspects were booked into the Fulton County Detention Center. By West Kentucky Star Staff Jul. 26, 2016 | 02:03 PM | GRAVES COUNTY, KY Graves County authorities are reporting another local phone scam. According to the Graves County Sheriff's Office, a man has been calling people and telling them there's a warrant for their arrest because they have missed federal jury duty. The man tells the victim the warrant will be withdrawn if they will send him $500. Police say the man tells the victim to go to a local Walgreens, CVS or Wal-Mart and buy a Green Dot Money Card. The victim is then instructed to call the man back with the numbers off of the Green Dot Money Card. The caller reportedly identifies himself as a deputy with the county sheriffs office. If you call the number on the caller ID, the voice mail system says you have reached the county sheriffs office but it does not state which county. Sheriff Dewayne Redmon is urging residents not to fall for this scam. He said a law enforcement agency will never call you to tell you to send them money to have a warrant or summons withdrawn. Redmon said if you receive one of these calls, simply hang up on the caller and do not call them back. Search of Mayfield home snares alleged meth trafficker and two others By The Associated Press By The Associated Press Jul. 25, 2016 | 08:13 PM | LOUISVILLE, KY If Louisville doesn't want its century-old Confederate monument, other towns are willing to take it. The Courier-Journal reports the city's Commission on Public Art held a special meeting on Monday to consider the monument's relocation. Brandenburg Mayor Ronnie Joyner told the commission that his city holds a re-enactment every two years and would be a good place for the monument. While most speakers offered suggestions for relocation, including to the Perryville Battlefield State Park, some speakers suggested it should be destroyed. Dwayne Bell, who is African-American, offered to help drop it in the Ohio River. Other speakers, like Stacy Grimm, said the monument should stay in Louisville. Grimm told the commission that preserving history is not about taking sides in the Civil War. ___ Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com By The Associated Press By The Associated Press Jul. 25, 2016 | 10:21 AM | LOUISVILLE, KY University of Louisville trustees have postponed a meeting to decide the status of school President James Ramsey. The school's board of trustees had scheduled a special meeting on Tuesday. The agenda included consideration of Ramsey's offer to resign. About an hour before the meeting, the school announced the meeting had been postponed, and the date of a rescheduled meeting would be determined soon. The school says there are no changes to the agenda. Another agenda item had called for "discussion of next steps, including transition planning and search process for next president." During his 14-year tenure, Ramsey has led successful fundraising drives and helped boost the university's graduation rate. But he came under increasing attack for embezzlement scandals and other campus embarrassments, including an investigation of a health care executive. CONGRESSMAN MEADOWS BRINGS CHAIRMAN OF HOUSE RULES COMMITTEE TO VISIT THE G.E. PLANT This morning Chairman Pete Sessions of the House Committee on Rules and Congressman Mark Meadows toured the General Electric facility in East Flat Rock, North Carolina. This facility is home to one of the largest LED plant in the world. In addition to contributing to technological advances internationally, it has created more than 500 local jobs and invests more than $10 million in the facilities annual operations. In the past eight years our economy has be strained by onerous regulations and restrictive policies resulting in the lowest labor force participation rate since I was in high school and lackluster GDP growth. It is refreshing and inspiring to see communities like East Flat Rock thriving under conservative leadership and creating jobs for hard working Americans in an environment that fosters innovation and growth. I was delighted to join my dear friend Congressman Meadows in visiting his beautiful district and learning more about the opportunities made possible because of his hard work and leadership, said Chairman Sessions. General Electric continues to set the standard for cutting edge manufacturing in our country, and Western North Carolina is privileged to host one of its facilities. I want to thank my friend Chairman Pete Sessions for going out of his way to tour one of GEs plants in East Flat Rock with me today as we received a firsthand look at some of the exciting new work occurring in the industry, said Congressman Meadows. Moving forward, we are excited to work with GE to create an environment that will allow manufacturing to thrive. Mamadou Sakho has reportedly been sent home from Liverpools pre-season tour of the United States after Jurgen Klopp ran out of patience with the French defenders attitude. According to the Telegraph, Klopp ordered Sakho to fly back to England yesterday after being infuriated by the 26-year-old centre-backs behaviour on at least two occasions, thus PLUNGING HIS LIVERPOOL FUTURE INTO DOUBT. Sakho reported late for Liverpools flight out to Palo Alto, with Klopp threatening (joking-but-not-really-joking) to leave him stranded at Alcatraz after being interrupted while filming an interview for the club website outside the famous old prison After one too many lapses in his conduct, Klopp is said to have felt there was no alternative but to take disciplinary action against Sakho. However, Liverpool have declined to comment on the incident, simply confirming that Sakho has left the tour and returned home, where he will continue to receive treatment for an ongoing Achilles problem. What larks! 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. Wasatch has partnered with ColorBlend, a specialty textile software created and tested in the heart of textile manufacturing, Como, Italy. ColorBlend was designed specifically for the textile market, giving users ultimate colour control over separated images. ColorBlend's specialty tools allow a user to create colorways, precisely match spot colours, create textile-specific profiles with the ColorBlend Profiler, and much more. "We're excited to help expand Colorblend's market beyond Como, Italy and we anticipate big benefits for our customers in the textile industry," comments Mike Ware, President of Wasatch Computer Technology. ColorBlend works seamlessly with Wasatch SoftRIP. The colorway feature makes it incredibly easy to create hundreds of colour variations from a single design while the advanced colour tools give a user precise control of their output. The ColorBlend Profiler was specifically designed for profiling textile, but its versatile feature's means it will work well with most media. Wasatch Computer Technology sells and services ColorBlend. All ColorBlend purchases include a Wasatch service contract that includes access to Wasatch's expert technical support staff. Wasatch Computer Technology http://www.wasatch.com Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 26/07/2016 (2285 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A day after the potentially devastating layoffs at the Port of Churchill, none of the key players who have a role in determining the northern communitys future did anything to keep hopes afloat. While residents in Churchill were reacting to the shock of the sudden layoff that affects more than 70 of the towns workforce, the ports owner Omnitrax was nowhere to be seen or heard. Moreover, representatives from both Ottawa and the province, who have been key partners in the communitys economic history, only relied on carefully worded statements that said little. It was a total shock, said Teresa Eschuk, regional vice-president of the Union of Canadian Transportation Employees, which represents the workers at the port. LIAM RICHARDS / CANADIAN PRESS FILES NDP MP Niki Ashton Niki Ashton, the NDP MP for Churchill-Keewatinook Aski, expressed outrage over the manner in which Omnitrax Canada is handling the situation, adding the layoffs which have effectively shut down the port are devastating for the community. Omnitrax announced last December that it wanted to leave the Manitoba market and sell the Hudson Bay Railway that runs from The Pas to Churchill as well as the Port of Churchill. Omnitrax Canada president Merv Tweed has been saying for months that talks with a consortium of northern Manitoba First Nations to acquire the assets were proceeding well, but it does not appear that a transaction is pending. I wonder to what extent Omnitrax is truly trying to find a solution, Ashton said. This is not how a company conducts itself if it wants to sell. Some observers believe the layoffs could be an Omnitrax strategy to leverage financial support from the public sector. Tweed, a former Conservative MP from Brandon, previously said the railway should be treated and subsidized as a public utility. If this is a tactic and I have heard that as well then it is a pretty sick one, Ashton said. Tweed did not return requests for interviews Tuesday from the Free Press but rumours abound as to why the action was taken. One Manitoba transportation executive who has been involved in efforts to stabilize and grow the business case of the Hudson Bay Railway and Port of Churchill said, Its a troubled file. There are so many agendas. Ashton said her communication with Omnitrax officials has been strained for some time. Omnitrax sued the former Selinger government just prior to the April 19 provincial election, accusing Selinger and his government of breaching a non-disclosure agreement in relation to the proposed deal with the First Nations consortium. But the degree to which Brian Pallisters government is focused on the Churchill Gateway has been questioned by Ashton and others. I have not seen any encouraging message from this provincial government as of yet, Ashton said. Cliff Cullen, minister of growth, enterprise and trade, said in a statement Tuesday, Manitobas new government is committed to the economic and social development of northern Manitoba. We are disappointed to learn of Omnitraxs decision to lay off a number of their employees and would like to assure impacted port workers that (government departments) are investigating all avenues of assistance available to them. He said the province has invested $29 million into the Churchill Gateway system since Omnitrax acquired the assets in 1997 and that the province is focused on attracting investment, assisting entrepreneurs and facilitating expansion of existing opportunities I wonder to what extent Omnitrax is truly trying to find a solution. This is not how a company conducts itself if it wants to sell Niki Ashton, NDP MP for Churchill Keewatinook Aski We will continue working with our partners with the Town of Churchill and all other stakeholders to provide a stronger economic future for the region, Cullen said. Last year was the second lowest volume of business on record at the port, when less than 200,000 tonnes of grain were shipped. (Average annual shipments for the past several years have been about 500,000 tonnes.) Since the wind-up of the Canadian Wheat Boards grain marketing monopoly in 2012, the federal government has provided a subsidy of $9.20 per tonne for grain shipped through the port. That subsidy is scheduled to expire after the 2017 shipping season Keystone Agricultural Producers president Dan Mazier and others said they were surprised at the decision because Omnitrax officials had indicated to them very recently that the coming season was looking good. Mazier said in a statement, This is a major blow to us, especially when there appears to be an exceptionally large crop coming. Weve had so many issues shipping our grain east and west to port, and this was an excellent option. If ever there was a case for government intervention, this is it. The federal government is believed to have been in close communication with Omnitrax and the First Nation group that has been in negotiations to buy the assets since the beginning of the year. Terry Duguid, Liberal MP for Winnipeg South, headed a group that worked to find a buyer for the asset when CN wanted to abandon the so-called Bay Line in the mid-1990s. Navdeep Bains, the federal minister of innovation, science and economic development, issued a statement late Tuesday afternoon, saying, I am disappointed in the decision by Omnitrax to close the port and issue layoff notices to its employees. My heart goes out to all the families that are affected. The community of Churchill plays an important role in the economy of Manitoba, given that it is a strategic gateway to northern and indigenous communities. I am in ongoing discussions with my cabinet colleagues and will continue to monitor the situation closely. Mazier is asking the federal government to come up with a plan that will ensure the port opens for the 2017 season, and beyond. Judy Klassen, the Liberal MLA for Keewatinook, said she was focusing on the impact of the workers. They are worried about how they are going to buy food and pay their rents, she said. Some are talking about going on welfare. Ashton, who has represented the region that encompasses all of Omnitraxs operating territory since 2008, has not had any direct communication with Omnitrax officials for years. She said the First Nations group that has been negotiating for the purchase of the railway and port told her they, too, were surprised by the news. Supplied Port of Churchill Arlen Dumas, chief of the Mathias Colomb First Nation at Pukatawagan who has been the leader of those efforts, was also unavailable Tuesday. Efforts have been ongoing for many years to diversify the portfolio of goods shipped out of Churchill to no avail. Many involved in the file over the years have expressed frustration at the lack of substantial action being taken. A high level report that came out in early 2013, called the Federal-Provincial Task Force on the Future of Churchill, concluded among other things, While many of these challenges are not new, the end of the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly and the resulting changes to the grain industry in the West have provided the impetus to explore new directions with a greater sense of urgency. The Manitoba Chambers of Commerce issued a statement on Tuesday saying time is of the essence and that its crucial to come up with a proper solution for the future operation of the port and worries that even a temporary closure will damage prospects even further. The ports viability is more than Manitobas issue alone and more than the movement of grain. It is the Gateway to the Central Arctic, and its future is important to all of Canada, the chambers release said. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 26/07/2016 (2285 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. NewLeaf Travel Companys inaugural flight arrived in Winnipeg Monday morning with a plane full of happy travellers from Hamilton. And as Canadas first ultra-low-cost air carrier touched down, its poised to shake up the air travel industry. NewLeaf flights from Hamilton and Kelowna arrived Monday afternoon at Winnipeg Richardson International Airport and were welcomed with water-cannon salutes. Theyre the first of 10 scheduled weekly flights into and out of the Winnipeg airport from NewLeaf and its carrier partner Flair Airlines. That number is expected to grow. This is an incredibly exciting and long anticipated day for the NewLeaf Travel Co. and Flair Airlines, said NewLeaf chief executive officer Jim Young. The no-frills carrier it says it sells a seat and a seatbelt offers one-way fares as low as $79 including taxes and airport fees but travellers have to pay extra for everything from carry-on luggage to a cup of coffee. The reaction from passengers arriving on the first flight from Hamilton was full of praise. It was fun. Everybody was charming, the crew was great and there was a water-cannon salute when we arrived, said Caroline Newton, who travelled to Winnipeg for a big Ukrainian wedding with her boyfriend, Michael Hryniuk. She said they saved several hundred dollars flying on the new airline. The company has scheduled flights to and from 11 destinations across Canada from Halifax to Victoria. Edmonton was added to the roster earlier this month and Young said they continue to look at additional destinations and hope to make an announcement later this summer or early fall on routes to winter vacation sunspots. Its presence in the market has already had an impact on the competition. Earlier this month, WestJet added direct flights between Winnipeg and Kelowna, and Young said competitors pricing has been coming down. We came into the market not to be the only ones to drop fares, Young said. We knew the competition would. It will benefit all Canadians whether you fly on New Leaf or the other guys. NewLeaf is clearly banking on a demand for so-called ultra-low-cost air travel in Canada, one of the last of the G-20 countries without such a service. Dan Vasilica was waiting in the departure lounge in Winnipeg with his wife and son who bought $99 tickets to Kelowna for a camping vacation. We were going to drive but for this much money it was worth it to fly, he said. It is exciting to be the first to fly with a new airline. He had to pay extra to check in the familys camping gear and the prospect of being charged for every extra was not a put off. We dont get anything extra from the other airlines either, he said. The inaugural flights was an occasion to announce new investors in NewLeaf South Beach Capital Partners, the group of seven Manitoba First Nations that owns the South Beach Casino. We see it as a great opportunity, said Jim Bear, chief of Brokenhead Ojibway Nation. We always wanted to be able to diversify our investments and we believe Canadians have an appetite for low cost air travel. Young said NewLeaf is now well-capitalized and is not looking for additional investments. The beginning of NewLeafs scheduled service comes six months after the company started selling tickets. Shortly after that it was forced to stop and refund tickets as a court challenge was filed by a consumer advocate who took issue with the arrangement NewLeaf had with its carrier, Flair Airlines. In late March, the regulator ruled indirect air service carriers such as NewLeaf do not need an air licence, as long as they do not portray themselves to the public as the ones operating the flight or the aircraft. NewLeaf buys seats from Flair Airlines and resells then to the public. Flair Airlines, which owns and operates a fleet of Boeing 737-400 jets, is licensed under the Canadian Transportation Agency. An appeal of that decision is pending but Young said NewLeaf is proceeding with its ambitious national scheduled service. From what we understand, the appeal is proceeding and we will be responding with our attorneys as the court requires, he said. Although that has created some uncertainty in the market, Newton said, We had some apprehensions and were not sure it was going to happen. We had our fingers crossed up until Monday mornings scheduled take-off. Young sounded confident about the future fortunes of the company. Those sentiments were shared by some of NewLeafs first customer on Monday morning. This is very promising for Canada, said Sandy Rodger, who drove from North Bay where she lives to catch NewLeafs first flight from Hamilton to visit her daughter in Winnipeg. She said she saved hundreds of dollars. After only one month in the market, the Winnipeg-based carrier has already sold more than 16,000 tickets, including two flights that are complete sell-outs, something that Young said rarely occurs so early in an airlines history. Barry Rempel, CEO of the Winnipeg Airports Authority, congratulated Young, saying the only way these sorts of ventures succeed is with blood, sweat and tears. Im thinking there were probably days when you werent sure this was going to happen, he said. Rempel said NewLeafs plan is to gradually add planes to the network until they get to nine. He figures the addition of NewLeafs traffic will add about four per cent to the annual 3.8 million passengers who travel through the Winnipeg airport. Rempel believes the addition of NewLeaf will stimulate more air travel especially in a city such as Winnipeg that has one of the lowest travel propensity rankings in the country thats the total number of passengers divided by the population. Winnipeg has a 5.6 ranking compared to 12.8 in Toronto. That means there is a lot of room for people to travel more often with the right pricing. he said. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 26/07/2016 (2285 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The province is seeking public input on how to make the best use of roughly $75 million in annual federal training dollars. At the first of a series of roundtables held Monday, representatives of business, labour, professional organizations, social-service agencies and others offered their ideas. Education and Training Minister Ian Wishart said the key is to balance the training needs of workers with the job needs of employers. We do have great opportunities for jobs. People have to be trained for the right job. Thats probably the challenge, Wishart said at the Manitoba Legislative Building at the conclusion of the first of four provincial forums. Chuck Davidson, president of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, said the need for skilled workers is great in Manitoba. If you go to any sector, theyll tell you they need employees, he said. Thats the reality out there. I think whether its engineering, whether its construction, whether its truck drivers, everyone is looking for employees that have a specific skill set. Davidson said better communication is needed between government and business, educational institutions and others to address gaps in the labour market. Needs vary from one part of the province to another, he said. Are we being able to train individuals quickly enough to get into the workforce? Or are we still training people for jobs that dont exist? Davidson said. Wishart said a lot of ideas were raised at Mondays meeting, which drew more than 100 people in Winnipeg. Future roundtables will be held in Thompson (Aug. 8), Portage la Prairie (Aug. 11) and Brandon (Aug. 15). We want to hear from a diverse group of organizations to ensure programs meet the needs of emerging labour markets in our province and across Canada, Wishart said. We look forward to hearing the perspectives of industry and training partners as well as organizations representing indigenous peoples, new Canadians, labour, youth, older workers and official language minority communities, he said. The province will present the result of its consultations to a forum of labour-market ministers in Quebec City in October. The discussion paper Federal/Provincial/Territorial Consultations on Labour Market Transfer Agreements can be downloaded at: wfp.to/ebe. The deadline for responses is Aug. 19 and comments can be sent to labourmarketconsultations@gov.mb.ca or Manitoba Education and Training, Room 405-800 Portage Ave., Winnipeg, MB R3G 0N4. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 26/07/2016 (2285 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. When the Winnipeg Police Service released its 2015 annual report last week, the headline and key concern it reported was obvious the crime rate had climbed for the first time in a decade. There was an equally or even more important trend hiding in plain sight on the reports first page. It was a dollar figure that, when compared with a decade of declining crime stats, put last years $261-million cost of supporting public safety through our police service in a personal perspective. In 2005, the so-called tax supported cost of policing was $195.40 per citizen. Last year, it was $363.45. Thats with a 2015 population of 718,000, and a full 67,000 citizens more to be factored into the per capita cost since 2005. Its not as if Winnipeg is the only Canadian city with a police budget problem. Three years ago, the per capita cost of policing in Toronto was $352 , about $11 less than Winnipegs this year. Ballooning police budgets Winnipegs is $280.7 million this year are a well-documented national problem. So, for that matter, is the price of the fire and paramedic service, which amounted to a $190 million allocation for this year. Last March when the 2016 budget was being debated politicians finally signalled they were ready to begin addressing the out-of-control costs of policing in our city. There was serious talk of police layoffs. No one wanted that, and with some non-core cutting $1 million for the introduction of body-cameras, for example the police budget was passed and the services 1,916 total cop and staff body count up by more than 350 since 2005 held steady. Although there was one departure of note. At the height of the looming layoffs, Police Chief Devon Clunis announced his retirement, but not without addressing the issue of the bloated cost of public safety and the burden it presents for taxpayers. Its not sustainable, Clunis said the day before the police budget got another big bump of more than six per cent. My mindset, Clunis went on to say, was always to see us get to the point where we can reduce the number of police officers within our city because the demand has been reduced. So the police chief understood something had to be done to reduce the cost of policing even something as professionally painful and politically unpopular as reducing staffing levels. There must be something else that can be done, though. But what? Coun. Marty Morantz, the cost-conscious executive policy committee finance chairman, has a go-to-guy on that subject. Christian Leuprecht is an associate professor in the department of political science at the Royal Military College of Canada. Two years ago, Leuprecht discussed the national problem in a paper he wrote for Ottawas Macdonald-Laurier Institute. It was provocatively titled The Blue Line or the Bottom Line of Police Services in Canada. In the paper he zeroed in on what most everyone except perhaps police associations believe is the single biggest driver of police costs. Consistently rising salaries that net Canadian police officers raises of about three per cent a year. Three per cent is what the Winnipeg Police Association settled on for 2016, a number that pushed the basic salary of a constable with five years experience to nearly $100,000 and a 15-year-veteran to more than $100,000. Thats before overtime, which unlike most, if not all, other police services in Canada can be added to basic salary in calculating pensions. George Van Mackelbergh, the vice-president of the Winnipeg Police Association, suggested Monday the union is, and has been, open to contract discussions on various concerns centred on the cost of public safety. He doesnt believe its primarily about police salaries. He suggests its the increased depth and hence the length of police investigations demanded by the courts and police having to attend preliminary hearings, which he believes should be scrapped because pretrial disclosure now demanded by law has made them unnecessary. Leuprecht had another view. The real question, Leuprecht went on to write, is why police who are making upwards of $100,000 a year are performing so many discretionary tasks that are not really core policing duties and have a proven track record in other jurisdictions of being delivered as more effectively, efficiently and productively through alternative-service delivery in the form of both civilian-ization and outsourcing. Thats not breaking news to most police services, including ours. For years now, the WPS has been employing lower-cost cadets to look after duties such as traffic control. Something the law in Ontario doesnt permit anyone but police officers to do. Van Mackelbergh notes it was the Winnipeg Police Association that came up with the cadet program concept, something he says the WPA caught a lot of flack from other Canadian police unions. Leuprecht has a series of suggestions of how to rein in costs, including capping staffing levels, which he says doesnt mean a freeze on hiring. He concluded this way: In the end, the responsibility lies with legislators to provide legislative framework that constrain cost escalation on the one hand, and provide greater latitude in service delivery on the other. Ive come to my own conclusion. The issue of police salaries rising at rates higher than most other Canadian public servants is rooted in a bargaining process that often goes to binding arbitration, where arbitrators are bound to base their decisions on constantly climbing settlements in other cities. Not on the citys or the citizens ability to pay. Which, to borrow Devon Cluniss words, is not sustainable. Threatening layoffs during the contract bargaining session is the only hammer cities such as Winnipeg seem to have. That and budget cuts that lead to the same undesirable end. Until our politicians summon the courage to address the problem of rising public-safety costs on all fronts capping staffing levels and trying to cap salary increases to the cost of living at most we are destined for out-of-control budgets without end, and higher taxes and/or a lowering of services. And bottomless bottom lines. gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 25/07/2016 (2286 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. She started out in 1987 with just a recipe-card filing system and a passion to give refugees a break. Three decades later, the Hospitality House Refugee Ministry that Sister Aileen Gleason founded in Winnipeg is one of the largest private sponsors of refugees in Canada. Tuesday, Gleason is being honoured on the 70th anniversary of the day she took her religious vows with Our Lady of the Missions and, at 92, is still passionate about making room for the worlds refugees who are stuck in unsafe places. Were very remiss in reaching out to people where the trouble spots are, said Gleason, who in her 70s went to serve in Nairobi, Kenya, helping to arrange the sponsorship of African refugees whod taken shelter there. She returned to Winnipeg and ran Hospitality House until her retirement in 2002. WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Sister Aileen Gleason traces her passion for helping refugees to the 1970s, when she was doing missionary work in Ethiopia at the time of a military coup. Now, at her peaceful apartment in St. Benedicts Place in West St. Paul, she worries about the tens of thousands of people attempting perilous journeys across the Mediterranean Sea to get to Europe from Africa. Those poor, poor people, she said. Why, when theres plenty of room on the Earth for all of us? Why do we have people risking their lives? Canada could probably take a lot more. This year, Canada is taking a lot more refugees 17,800 up from 6,000 the year before, and donor-funded Hospitality House is seeing record numbers of arrivals in 2016. In 2000, Hospitality House announced that during its first 13 years of operation, it had welcomed a total of 550 privately sponsored refugees. This year alone, it expects to welcome 600 by the end of July. For Watson, Sask.-born Gleason, the call to help refugees started in the 1970s when she was teaching one summer with the Canadian Teachers Federation at Haile Selassie University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Later, when she was serving with her religious order in Rome, she met refugees from Ethiopia, who fled after Selassie was overthrown by the military in 1974. The refugees from the former Italian colony went to Italy and ended up sleeping on the streets and begging for food, she said. I started befriending them. She wrote to her sisters with Our Lady of the Missions in Canada and asked them to sponsor some of the Ethiopians. When she returned to Winnipeg, her order tasked her to come up with a plan for sponsoring and resettling refugees. Hospitality House Refugee Ministry was born, and Gleason was their biggest ally and champion. Shes one of my heroes, said Marty Dolin, who ran Manitobas largest refugee resettlement agency Welcome Place until he retired in 2011. Shes sponsored more refugees than anybody else, said Dolin, who moved from the U.S. to Canada as a student in 1965 and still has a South Bronx growl. Basically she never said no to anybody. By saying yes to refugees, Gleason helped changed the face of Winnipeg, making it more diverse, he said. When I first came here, you didnt see many black faces. Now you see a lot and people are doing really well, he said. Generations of Winnipeggers with roots in the Horn of Africa newcomers and their descendants are in a safe place now thanks to Gleason, Dolin said. Theres thousands of them and Sister Aileen did it, he said. At her goodbye party (when she retired) they filled Central Park. In 1998, Gleason was recognized by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and granted the Citation for Citizenship for her outstanding work on behalf of refugees from around the world. Gleason, who was a teacher before she started helping refugees, was kind but no pushover, Dolin said. When the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Winnipeg balked at the more than 1,000 refugee sponsorship refugees applications Gleason and Our Lady of the Missions had filed what if they all came at once? she got the Anglican Diocese of Ruperts Land to take over as the sponsorship agreement holder for all new applications, Dolin recalled. Gleason knew they would never all be able to come at once because the government didnt have the infrastructure to process that many refugees. She was the person who did what she felt was right and there was no stopping her. carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba. If you appreciate that coverage, help us do more! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow us to deepen our reporting about faith in the province. Thanks! BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 26/07/2016 (2285 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The Justin Trudeau government has made much of its pledge to prioritize a new nation-to-nation relationship with Canadas aboriginal peoples. It recently moved to accept, without reservations (or objector status), the legally non-binding 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Particular mention should be made of Article 32, which deals specifically with the right of indigenous peoples to determine and develop priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands or territories and other resources. The clause also emphasizes that countries shall consult and co-operate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources. Lastly, it goes on to posit: States shall provide effective mechanisms for just and fair redress for any such activities, and appropriate measures shall be taken to mitigate adverse environmental, economic, social, cultural or spiritual impact. This, in turn, raises a host of important and thorny questions about natural-resource development in Canada, the prospects for aboriginal-corporate partnerships, the role of governments and the establishment of a new legal framework. As part of its commitment to implement the 94 calls to action of the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, the federal Liberals promised to abide by the UN declaration. But what does that mean in terms of oil and gas pipelines that cross aboriginal territory where land title is disputed or not? What are the practical implications of embracing wholeheartedly Free, Prior and Informed Consent in Canada? Moreover, what will its impact be on aboriginal communities? How will corporate Canada have to adjust to free consent? And how will all of this play itself out in terms of repercussions for Ottawa and provincial governments? Under the declaration, the centrality of aboriginal consent is unmistakeable and thus is tantamount to having veto power. While the Trudeau government is less than clear on this point, it appears to mean no pipeline projects in Canada can proceed without the approval of First Nations. Future disputes in the area of resource development could very well end up before the courts. How will Canadas commitment to the UN declaration be interpreted by judges? Will they go beyond Canadas current jurisprudence on the duty to consult and accommodate? Will free consent become a key contextual and interpretative variable? As is often the case with aboriginal matters in this country, we will have to await the various court rulings. But to avoid all of that legal wrangling and needless confrontation, resource and pipeline companies in Canada would be wise to secure aboriginal consent before embarking on any major oil and gas development projects on ancestral aboriginal lands. As in the case of the Northern Gateway pipeline, the Federal Court of Appeal was very clear in its late June ruling meaningful dialogue and consultation must first take place with aboriginal peoples. Ottawa may, therefore, need to put in place a legislative framework and decisional structure in conjunction with aboriginal governments and communities to diminish conflict and increase the likelihood of resource project approval. Furthermore, companies in Canada will need to respect aboriginal rights, cultural sensitivities and traditional knowledge, and ecology/environmental considerations in order to partner with them successfully. For their part, aboriginal peoples in Canada will need to state clearly and upfront to both governments and industry what their free and informed consent stipulations will be. Given the international trend lines and court rulings here, it does seem likely that prior and informed aboriginal consent is going to be needed before mega-resource development projects will get off the ground. That means accepting aboriginal communities and leaders as full participants and not simply add-ons in major oil and gas projects in this country. For if that new reality is not recognized and respected going forward, future progress on resource development in Canada will be nearly impossible. Peter McKenna is professor and chair of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 26/07/2016 (2285 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. VANCOUVER, B.C. If there is one big theme over this summers Facebook posts, coffee discussions, emails with friends and family and media overexposure, its the reality that its all becoming too much. Horrific Islamic State attacks, racialized police shootings and revenge ambushes, the consecutive parade of hotter and hotter months as climate change ups the ante against combustion of carbon anywhere, millennial angst over contract employment and old blue-collar white-man angst against everyone else and all of their causes. If this isnt enough, there is the divisive, infantile, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, plagiarizing Trump campaign for the most powerful office in the world. How much more of this are we supposed to take? PATRICK SEMANSKY / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses delegates at the party's national convention in Cleveland. In desperation, I recently wrote to a couple of U.S. pals Ive known since university days. Both have asked me, tongue-in-cheek, to keep a few beds ready at our house in case Donald Trump gets elected. They also send thoughtful comment on the popular sociopolitical memes buffeting their country: blue-collar revolt against progressive anything, racial angst centred on Obamas failure to create a post-racial society of equality and opportunity and terrorism in the homeland. On the topic of blue-collar angst, they wonder just how Trumpism can ameliorate any blue-collar concerns. What evidence is there he understands any aspect of blue-collar life? Or that he has a plan to recreate the jobs Middle America lost to free trade and the globalizing economy? Or can deliver on the nebulous promise to Make America Great Again? Or re-establish traditional 1950s Christian family values? Or, perversely, re-establish traditional white male privilege in a multiracial, gender-equal, LGBTTQ* world? On each of these fronts, Trump is at best a poseur. Nothing in his background suggests workplace struggle, thoughtful programs of job creation, an understanding of small-town, blue-collar life or any aspect of Christian fundamentalism. He is a trust-fund kid with multiple divorces and maximal selfishness as his core life value. At best, he could be said to represent a strong effort at buttressing the decline of white male privilege. In fact, that may be his strongest suit. The trouble is, it only fits a discordant rump of poorly educated white guys who no longer comprise a majority of anything. Trumpism aside, the persistent racial divide in the U.S. and much of the European Union is growing and festering. One of my U.S. pals says this is especially hard for people who saw in the Obama presidency a hope for the creation of a post-racial society. Obviously that hasnt happened. In fact, the current upswell of horrific U.S. gun violence underscores the persistence of old ways and deeply held racist beliefs. This doesnt mean there has been no progress, but it illustrates just how difficult it is to change perceptions and herald progress. The process for many is exhausting. And we havent even touched terrorism yet. It affects us all, even in its absence. As a Canadian who never travels to war zones or even the EU, I know two people who have lost their lives in Afghanistan and the Philippines to young men whose motivations I will never understand. I truly wonder if they even understand in human terms what they have done? Enough. We all have to learn how to cope in this emotionally exhausting time. I am channelling my grandfather right now: Capt. B.O. Robinson of the Royal Sussex Regiment. He went over the top in the Battle of Passchendaele in August 1917, and was one of a half-dozen members of his company to survive withering German machine-gun fire. He lost his right eye and suffered major facial trauma. But he lived. He spent the rest of his life, as he put it, Advancing my impossible causes! He started the first Cub pack and Scout troop in Vancouvers Downtown Eastside in the 1930s at the height of the Great Depression. He sang in the chorus of locally produced Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. He studied botany and fine arts at UBC as an 80-year-old. In short, having faced the worst mankind could offer, he soldiered on as a devotee of his enthusiasms. He never talked of Passchendaele. Instead he lived his values, and shared his passion for life. Maybe that is the best we can do now. Mike Robinson has been CEO of three Canadian NGOs: the Arctic Institute of North America, the Glenbow Museum and the Bill Reid Gallery. Troy Media Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 26/07/2016 (2285 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Now the dust has settled in Cleveland following the U.S. Republican Party National Convention, it is time for the world to start bracing for the all-too-frightening prospect of Donald Trump actually becoming the next American president. For Mexicans, this means they should start setting aside some money now to build that wall Trump insists he will install, once elected. During his acceptance speech last Thursday, Trump also set his sights on the NATO alliance, particular those countries that do not spend the arbitrarily assigned two per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on military budgets. Trump bombastically stated that such shirkers would not automatically be guaranteed U.S. military protection should he be occupying the Oval Office next January. ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Canada is one of a number of NATO members that pays less than two per cent of its GDP on defence. In particular, Trump singled out the Baltic States Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by noting he would examine their current military contributions to NATO before committing to their collective defence. Trumps statements fly in the face of Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which guarantees a collective defence against outside aggression for all member nations, with no caveats regarding individual defence spending. Canada should be particularly alarmed at the very real possibility this blowhard buffoon could soon be elected as commander-in-chief of the worlds largest military machine. At present, Canada would be considered one of the shirkers in the NATO club, as we spend a little more than one per cent of our GDP on the Canadian Armed Forces. To match Trumps demands, Canada would need to double its defence budget go from $20 billion to $40 billion annually. While this comes as welcome music to the ears of the war-mongering Col. Blimp Brigade, right-thinking Canadians will realize this would mean forfeiting $20 billion from other current government services. The additional massive expenditure would also in no way make Canada any safer. We are blessed by geography to be surrounded on three sides by natural ocean-sized moats. Our single land border is with the U.S. and, given the comparative military strengths, that boundary will remain unchallenged until such time as a future U.S. administration chooses to adjust it. Regarding the Baltic States, Canada should also pay close heed to what Trump is spouting. As part of NATOs ongoing propaganda campaign to demonize Russia, it was decided to stage a pre-emptive deterrent in the Baltic States. Contrary to all prior agreements with post-Soviet Russia, wherein non-indigenous NATO troops would not be based east of the German border, Canada will be part of a four-nation force deploying combat troops in the Baltic. As a sop to the Russians, these 4,000 soldiers, including 1,000 Canadians, will be patrolling the Baltic borders on a permanent, rotational basis. Russia has rightly denounced this new deployment as an unnecessary provocation, since, as full NATO members, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are all guaranteed collective defence in the case Russia were suicidal enough to violate their borders. That was, of course, the case until The Donald boasted that, as president, his U.S. military would be checking out defence budget receipts before picking and choosing which NATO members to protect. The 4,000 troops sent by NATO to the Baltic have been described as a trip-wire force, with keen-eyed tactical analysts predicting they would not last 60 hours in full combat with Vladimir Putins Legion of Doom. Under Article 5 of the NATO treaty, that 60-hour window should have been enough time for the Good Old U.S.A. to unleash a full-sized can of whoop-ass on these land-crazy Russkies, and this would result in a glorious Hollywood ending. In a Trump world, however, these shirkers in the Baltic which now includes an under-spending Canadian military contingent can bet the U.S. cavalry will not be riding in to save the day. These are going to be very interesting times indeed. Scott Taylor is the founder and publisher of Esprit de Corps Magazine. He is also a bestselling author and award-winning documentary filmmaker. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 25/07/2016 (2286 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Last week, when the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival was in full swing, I did something that I rarely have to do on Winnipeg sidewalks. I had to actually stop and wait until a throng of pedestrians passed me so that I could get by. I felt like I was in another city. Theres been a lot of talk as of late about transforming Winnipegs downtown into a vibrant, walkable destination that attracts locals and visitors alike. And at the centre of that conversation is the debate about whether or not to open Portage and Main to pedestrians. The issue cropped up again last week with a recent Probe Reasearch poll that showed younger people are supportive of removing the barricades that have been in place for 40 years. Sixty-one per cent of people aged 18 to 34 are in favour of taking down those hideous concrete bunkers, while 68 per cent of those 55 and older are opposed. (Perhaps it should be telling that the generation that can actually remember a time when Winnipegs most famous intersection was open to pedestrians is opposed to the idea.) I am in the 18 to 34 camp, and I am moderately supportive of the idea. Im all for people driving less. Im all for people dreaming big about what Portage and Main could be. Surveying the iconic intersection on a gorgeous July Monday, it seemed a shame that so many people would be funnelled into poorly lit subterranean tunnels instead of being able to cross the sunny street though Im sure those same office workers are very happy to have those tunnels when its minus 30. I completely understand that the underground is hard for tourists to navigate and that better signage is required. I want to see people teeming on the streets of our downtown. Phil Hossack / Winnipeg Free Press files Rush hour traffic moves through Portage and Main. But many things have to happen before Portage and Main can be transformed into the beating heart of our downtown. And one of those things is making our city, as a whole, friendlier to pedestrians. When Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi called Portage and Main the most hostile pedestrian environment hed ever seen, it made headlines even though thats not even close to being the harshest thing an outsider has ever said about our town. But heres the thing: Winnipeg is rife with hostile pedestrian environments. Setting aside Portage and Main for a moment, Ive had to wait at many pedestrian corridors while cars blow right through them. Ive had cars roll toward me while attempting to cross at four-way stops which, FYI, just makes me walk more slowly. Many neighbourhoods in this city dont even have sidewalks or have sidewalks that mysteriously end. Walking to the Free Press building in the winter means sharing the road with semis. In 2013, Manitoba Public Insurance released statistics that said 55 per cent of vehicle-pedestrian collisions happen at intersections. I dont think I would feel comfortable crossing Portage and Main as a pedestrian when crossing at Portage and Fort, which is one block west, already involves risking your life. And Im far from alone. Two of the baristas at the Starbucks in 201 Portage told me they see near-misses all the time, because drivers are more focused on getting into the correct lane than looking for pedestrians. But just as infrastructure needs to change, so, too, do dominant attitudes. This is a car-reliant town in which pedestrians and cyclists are often viewed as problems or inconveniences. Most of the pushback surrounding the opening of Portage and Main to pedestrians has been from drivers who are horrified by the idea that they may have to wait at a longer light while their fellow citizens cross the street. Its not all drivers faults, however; our city has prioritized the needs of drivers for years. Making Portage and Main a safe, walkable destination, then, will require more than just the removal of the barricades. It will require a shift in thinking. jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @JenZoratti Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 26/07/2016 (2285 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Albertas hopes of persuading other provinces to accept oil pipelines took a hit last week when Husky Energy spilled a mixture of heavy oil and diluent out of its pipeline near Maidstone, Sask., into the North Saskatchewan River. The news got worse through the weekend as the oil spread down the North Saskatchewan, threatening the drinking water of North Battleford and Prince Albert. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, since taking power 14 months ago, has been asking other provinces and the federal government to support construction of pipelines that will help bring Alberta oil sands output to seaports either in British Columbia or the Atlantic Provinces. Enbridge Inc.s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline to Kitimat, B.C., has vanished from public discussion in the face of opposition. Kinder-Morgans proposed line from Edmonton to Vancouver is still under debate. The TransCanada Corp. Energy East plan is still taking shape as a way of bringing bitumen to St John, N.B., for export. TransCanadas other plan, the Keystone XL line to Oklahoma, was vetoed by U.S. President Barack Obama. If none of these lines is built, Alberta oil producers must rely on rail shipment to haul their bitumen to market. But all of the plans involve shipping the product across other peoples land, and the other people, fearful of spills, are closely watching the news about pipeline performance. North Saskatchewan River near Maidstone, Sask. The news from Maidstone was not reassuring. Husky learned it was spilling oil when people saw the oil slick on the surface of the North Saskatchewan. By then, 200,000 or 250,000 litres had spilled, the company estimated, a small spill by industry standards. Enbridge, by comparison, spilled 20,000 barrels (about 3 million litres) into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan in 2010. Even so, Huskys containment booms were not able to stop the oil from moving eastward in the powerful current of the North Saskatchewan. North Battleford switched to ground water sources and told its people to reduce water consumption. Prince Albert laid a 30 kilometre hose across country to the South Saskatchewan River, closed all laundromats and car-washes and told its people to stop watering their lawns. Kinder-Morgan and TransCanada have to persuade provincial governments, First Nations and towns along their proposed routes their pipelines will be different from Huskys line at Maidstone and Enbridges line in Michigan. They wont rupture and they wont leak but if they do, the companies will know about it right away and turn off the flow immediately. Even if the oil keeps spilling, they know how to deploy containment booms and prevent the oil from spreading. This case will be difficult to make to people who are paying attention to Huskys experience in Maidstone. Husky posted a notice saying it was responding to the incident and that its primary focus was the safety of the public and the protection of the environment. But if that were its primary focus, it would not be operating a pipeline that contaminates the drinking water of its neighbours. Premier Notley, who has been helping the industry make its case for pipeline construction, needs to break some bad news to the industry. It is shooting itself in the foot and destroying its own argument. Until the industry improves the performance of its existing networks, it is wasting its breath asking the public to believe it has changed its ways from the bad old days of leaky pipelines. John Nichols: The delegate who has known Bernie Sanders longest is very proud to vote for his younger brother A Black River Falls man laughed and told a Sparta police officer thats what you get when the officer injured his hand after breaking the mans car window to rescue a dog locked inside a hot vehicle. The temperature exceeded 90 degrees Friday when the officer found the dog locked inside the vehicle parked at Walmart, according to police. The vehicle owners did not respond to public announcements at the store to return to the car. The officer waited 10 minutes before breaking a window and cut his hand on the glass removing the dog from the car, police stated. Vehicle owners Santana Martinez and Melissa Rincon eventually returned to the car and expressed their displeasure with the officers actions, according to police. Both were cited for animal cruelty. The city of Winona moved a step closer to adding a new historic neighborhood Monday afternoon. The citys Planning Commission voted unanimously to support the proposed Windom Park Historic District and move it forward to the State Historic Preservation Office for consideration. Commission members LaVerne Olson, Brad Ballard and Craig Porter were not in attendance. Local historic designation for the neighborhood, which would include 35 properties and Windom Park, was first proposed in February and met with positive responses from neighborhood residents. Myron White, city development coordinator, said that since Winonas Heritage Preservation Commissions two earlier public meetings they havent heard any resistance. To date weve received no negative feedback, White said. Everyone seems very encouraged and wants to move forward. The neighborhood had been proposed for historic designation in 1995 but it wasnt passed at that point. The main change, if the neighborhood receives the designation, would be how property owners could change the exteriors of their houses. The designation would affect exterior modifications or additions, like tearing down or adding on to parts of a house, or changing walkways, parking areas, lighting and other aesthetic aspects in view of public roads. Those making substantial renovations would have to present the plans to the commission for approval. The designation wouldnt affect interior renovations, or outside paint color. Mondays approval roughly marked the halfway point of the process. The state has 60 days to make a recommendation, at which point it will come back to the heritage preservation commission before going to the Winona City Council for a public hearing and final recommendation. The commission was overwhelmingly supportive of the idea at Mondays meeting. Commission member Peter Shortridge, who has been involved in remodeling historic properties like the Latsch Building downtown, said that designating the neighborhood through the city helps individual landowners, because otherwise the process is not only time-consuming but its quite expensive. There are several advantages economically that will come from it, Shortridge said, in addition to the advantage of keeping the historic neighborhood. Commission member Dale Boettcher said a renewed interest in historic buildings would make the designation a potential draw for the city. Also we have many, many famous people who came from this city and some of these homes refer to them, Boettcher said. I believe that what youre asking for is beneficial to this area. Development code update The commission Monday also heard continued updates on the citys development code. The consultants, Hoisington Koegler Group, and the commission have put aside the approved uses and downtown fringe zoning decisions to introduce their proposals for laying out procedures in the ordinance. Like the newly created tables for zoning uses, the procedures for applications, appeals, reviews and permits will be consolidated to table showing the process needed. Nothing is finalized and they will be returning in September to the planning commission. Rita Trapp, planner for HKGi, said the tabling process is continuing to simplify and layout the code in a more understandable way. It brings things into one location and its easy to find, Trapp said. They are also examining the processes themselves to see if they can be pared down, removing redundant steps or simplifying the number of commissions and boards involved. Wayne Felton didnt plan to teach a class about police shootings and racial tension this summer. The Roseville behavioral specialist was asked to teach a summer school class on current events at the district middle school. Felton figured hed talk about the presidential election. But then police shot a black man in Baton Rouge, La. The next day an officer shot Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, just a few miles from the middle school. I realized right after that happened and kids started talking about, you know, Theyre killing us, that were going to have to really focus on the conversation, he said. The shooting of officers in Dallas followed. Now, Felton talks about violence and race with his students nearly every day. On a recent day near the end of the summer term, they rehashed the Dallas events. So is it about white cops and black people, one student asked. Thats kind of the narrative thats being painted, said Felton. Eighth-grader Shemiyah Ashford sat up, attentive. But dont some of the like if it is a black shooter dont some of them want to shoot some of the black cops because they think theyre a traitor? she asked. Possibly, Felton responded. I didnt think of it that way. Felton said his aim is to add context to these discussions. When students use polarizing words, like racist or terrorist, Felton asks questions to make sure the students really know what their words mean. So are you saying this. Well, no, Im not saying that. OK, well then are you saying? Ill try to help them get to the point where they say, No, thats exactly what Im saying, so then they can continue the conversation, he said. The class is different from the way school usually treats current events, Shemiyah said. Most schools dont even talk about it, only the history and one side of the history. But in this class you get both sides, and you get the full story. Roseville Middle School Principal Tyrone Brookins said most of his other teachers talked about the violence in some form, too, during summer school. The district also held out-of-class discussions for students. The conversations brought up issues, like racial bias and violence, that affect students daily, but dont typically come up in the classroom. The majority of the time we are in a state of mind and a state of hope where everything is going so well that we dont have to talk about it, Brookins said. And so we get dismissive as it relates to conversations around race and situations like this. Those discussions probably should happen more often but they have to be done carefully, he added. The quality of a conversation depends a lot on the teacher, noted University of Minnesota Professor Tabitha Grier-Reed. Classrooms are often teacher-centered, she said. So then it becomes even more important for where the teacher is in terms of the teachers understanding of race, the teachers ability to deal with conflict, and the teachers ability to manage group dynamics and emotion. If teachers arent able to lead a discussion, they may need to turn to other ways of helping students process events, like poetry or drawing, Grier-Reed added. Roseville seventh-grader Nabin Khadka met with a group of students in a school leadership program as the summer school term wrapped up and said hed like to see more classes take on the challenge of a conversation. People say that if we dont learn about the past were doomed to repeat it, but its already happening right now so what can we do to change it? Nabin said. Thats the thing we should be talking about in school instead of, like, what already happened in the past. The other students nodded. They looked ready to take the lead on those talks in the new school year. People say that if we dont learn about the past were doomed to repeat it, but its already happening right now so what can we do to change it? Nabin Khadka, seventh-grader at Roseville Middle School Emergency responders were called to a residence on the 150 block of North Baker Street at 4:43 p.m., deputy police chief Tom Williams said. Two boys had started a fire in the backyard and one had tossed gasoline on the blaze. The fire flared, burning the boy on his hands and the right side of his body. I was taken back when I read the July 8 Daily News' biased placement of stories regarding the Dallas, Falcon Heights and Baton Rouge tragedies. The placement of these articles was flagrantly biased because: 1. The top half of the front page was covered with a color picture of a local protester. 2. The bottom half of the front page carried a story solely about Falcon Heights. 3. And then the story about the murder of five Dallas police officers was relegated to a shorter story placed on the bottom of page four! The Dallas police murders was a new story, having occurred Thursday evening. Whereas the Falcon Heights police shootings occurred earlier in the week and already had been reported. This type of reporting is in the tabloid category. It is not that of a responsible newspaper that Winona area citizens deserve and want to read. As a former area resident and Daily News subscriber, I feel your paper is doing a great disservice to area citizens with reporting such as July 8. I hope you will carefully evaluate and publish future Daily News stories in an unbiased manner. Bonnie Barnak, Woodbury, Minn. Supporters of silica sand mining often use the phrase, its only sand. I counter with the following statement, its only water. Silica sand mining supporters will always tell us that we have far cheaper gas prices at the pump thanks largely to the hydraulic fracking industry that uses such sand. The truth is that Saudi Arabia and Iran have kept our price at the pump low. Not hydraulic fracturing. The oil from fracking is pumped overseas. At the ban frac sand meeting at the Tau Center June 30, I heard some interesting comments against the ban. Winona prospered from use of natural resources. True. The Laird-Norton lumber company nearly decimated the pine trees in Winona County. A historical fact deleted from Winona history by a dysfunctional board member of a county commission that objected to the word decimated.A dysfunctional county board of commissioners deleted the word from our history in 2013. Historical records record the word decimated. A recent letter writer in the Daily News praised a $2,000 savings in gas at the pump because of silica sand mining. Lets explore the true costs of this money saved. How much did this saving cost? Its only water. In 2013, our only permitted silica sand washing facility in Winona used 71,550,000 gallons of water. From 2014-16, that sand washing facility has used little in draining our aquifers. The downturn in the industry saved our water supply. What happens in the resurgence of the frac sand industry? Are you willing to deny your children water for generations to come because of cheap gas? You cannot drink oil, plain and simple. Nicholas Guy, Winona To loyal supporters still feeling the Bern: Please know that your passionate support for Sen. Sanders and his ideals has been a true encouragement for anyone who, like myself, believes in the political process and the need to keep confronting the pieces of it that need to be changed. And please understand, too, that your passion and support now needs to be redirected to supporting Hillary Clinton and ensuring that Mr. Trump never gets anywhere close to the White House, except perhaps as a tourist like the rest of us. Bernie Sanders knows that is the right thing to do, and has forcefully asked you to follow through on this most crucial responsibility. As a much younger person, I remember supporting another U.S. senator running for the Democratic Partys presidential nomination. He stridently opposed the Vietnam War; we called him Clean Gene. But when Sen. Eugene McCarthy did not get the nomination during the tumultuous 1968 convention, in retrospect my memory is that he went home and pouted, and did not support the party nominee, Sen. Hubert Humphrey, his fellow senator from Minnesota. And we got Richard Nixon. So, although I do understand your disappointment, heres the bottom-line question: would you really rather have Donald Trump than Hillary Clinton as president of the United States? Because actively or passively not supporting Hillary Clinton could help ensure that Mr. Trump will be a resident, not a tourist. Gov. Scott Walker relished his return to the presidential spotlight Wednesday night, rallying Republicans to unify around Donald Trump at the partys national convention in Cleveland. Walker led delegates in chants of America deserves better! than Hillary Clinton, Trumps Democratic opponent. A lot of Americans agree. But they also want someone better than Trump in the White House. Hes even more disliked than the former secretary of state, according to opinion polls. In fact, Trump and Clinton are the least popular major presidential candidates in modern history. Thats led to speculation over who might run for president in 2020 and beyond. And it was no coincidence Wisconsins governor paid special visits this week in Cleveland to delegates from early caucus and primary states. Hes starting to lay the groundwork for another potential presidential bid. Walker said July 19 the only campaign hes thinking about is a third run for governor in 2018, but he wouldnt rule out another national campaign. I could wait 20 years and still be younger than Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the governor quipped. Age may be on his side. But public opinion in Wisconsin is not. Just 38 percent of registered voters in the latest Marquette Law School poll approve of Walkers job performance. The governors support fell sharply during his failed bid for president last year and hasnt recovered. So talk of 2020 is presumptuous. The governor has far too many challenges at home, some of which have festered for years. Wisconsins budget is officially balanced, as required by law. He touted the states finances in his speech Wednesday. But unlike private business and most units of government, Wisconsin tallies its financial commitments using loose accounting standards that mask risk. Wisconsins economy, though growing, hasnt kept up with other states. And the governors priority has been tax cuts for traditional sectors of the economy, especially manufacturing. Hes shown far less interest in technology companies that hold tremendous potential for adding high-wage jobs. The governors motto has been Wisconsin is open for business. But another tight state budget wont leave much room for investment in education and research, following a deep cut to the University of Wisconsin System. The state needs to adopt a sustainable source of funding for roads and bridges. Excessive borrowing cant continue for long. Wisconsin is ripe for prison reform, with top Republican lawmakers championing change. Wisconsin has the highest incarceration rate for blacks in the nation. Smarter sentencing, particularly for nonviolent crimes, is needed, with job programs for ex-offenders. Whatever national ambition or plans the governor has for his future, the key to his political career lies right here at home. Wisconsin needs a governor intently focused on Wisconsins challenges not Washington politics who puts the states interests first. Those looking forward to a vet clinic in New Lisbon may be waiting quite a while longer. Marge Jasinski, owner of the historic building housing the proposed New Lisbon vet clinic, said no deal for the building has been finalized, and the building is still for sale. Jasinksi said she supported the city changing ordinances to allow a vet clinic, but still has no official offer on the building after an earlier proposal fell through. She said she would be happy to sell the building to Heather Flietner, the proposed operator of the new clinic, but has no choice but to keep trying to sell the building because no financial offer is in place. Flietmer presented her plans to open the clinic to the New Lisbon Common Council last week. Its no secret that Wisconsin, like many states in the nation, is facing a teacher shortage. Ron Martin, the Eau Claire Middle School teacher set to take over as the president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) Aug. 1, wants to help and he received some inspiration from a Juneau County teacher. Leah Luke, Mauston High School Spanish teacher, has started a local club, Educators Rising, to help encourage students to enter, and to teach about, a career as a teacher. (Luke) started a chapter here in Mauston and Adams-Friendship working with future educators and letting them see what the teaching profession is all about, Martin said. Encouraging them, supporting them and giving them opportunities to tutor and get experience you dont get when youre in high school. An old program, Future Teachers of America, fell by the wayside in the 1990s. Martin believes Lukes club is the only one like it in the state. We want to look at what (Luke) is doing and see if we can replicate that in some other spots in the state, Martin said. Working to encourage more people to enter the teaching profession is one of Martins major goals for his upcoming term as president. It is a national trend (teacher shortages), but I think Wisconsin saw it a little earlier, he said. We have to figure out ways to encourage people to go in the profession and bring people back to what is an admirable profession. He said its important to teach young people about teaching, but its also crucial to give teachers in their early years support. If a teacher leaves within their first five years, its very unlikely they will ever come back to the profession. We have to be able to support those (five years or less of experience) teachers, Martin said. We do things locally by each district in the state, and also advocate on a state-wide level and get appropriate funding for pre-K to 12 and higher education. He said its also important to lift up school support staff bus drivers, accountants, cooks and others. He said theyre a valuable part to everyday school life. One problem with encouraging people to enter teaching is the lack of opportunities to move up. Principal and other administrative positions can be very limited, so Martin would like to see more teacher leadership positions developed. This would give teachers the opportunity to rise through the ranks in their organization. He has some concerns about the recent Wisconsin law passed allowing those without teaching credentials to teach based on work experience. Were going to have people just temporarily in and out, Martin said. Its going to be a revolving door. Weve seen that in other programs nationwide. He still thinks, with proper support, the teaching profession can attract many more people. Its a very powerful and rewarding career path, Martin said. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy A transgender researcher at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health has filed a complaint against the state, the medical school and an insurance company, saying she was unfairly denied coverage of gender reassignment surgery. The ACLU of Wisconsin filed the complaint Tuesday with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of Shannon Andrews, a cancer researcher at the medical school. It seeks reimbursement of $21,000 she paid to have the surgery in October. Setting aside a separate class of people ... as not being worthy of medical care feels and seems discriminatory to me, said Andrews, 34, of Madison. Everyone deserves equal medical treatment. Everyone should be fairly reimbursed for the insurance that they pay into. The complaint is against the Group Insurance Board, which oversees health benefits for state workers through the state Department of Employee Trust Funds. It also names the medical school and Monona-based WPS Insurance, one of the companies that provides health insurance to state workers. Spokesmen for the Group Insurance Board and WPS declined comment. Lisa Brunette, spokeswoman for the medical school, said the insurance board, not the university, determines the scope of coverage for state workers. The ACLU said in a statement that state worker health benefits exclude coverage of procedures, services and supplies related to surgery and sex hormones associated with gender reassignment. That violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the ACLU said. However, on July 12, the Group Insurance Board approved ending its exclusion of benefits and services related to gender reassignment or sexual transformation, effective January 2017. The boards lawyers recommended the change after the federal government issued final regulations in May regarding a portion of the Affordable Care Act related to discrimination, according to a board document. Andrews said she had no idea the policy change was coming, and it came too late for her. She said she became aware of her gender dysphoria around the age of 15. In recent years, doctors and therapists recommended gender reassignment treatment. She struggled with anxiety and depression, and last year felt she needed to proceed with surgery to transition from male to female. It came to a point where this has to change or Im going to have worse health problems, she said. She contacted WPS and learned the surgery likely wouldnt be covered, so she paid out of pocket. She submitted the bills in a claim, which was denied in February. After losing an appeal, she turned to the ACLU for help. Though the Group Insurance Board has changed its policy, the state discriminated against transgender workers for a long time, said Larry Dupuis, ACLU of Wisconsin Legal Director. Andrews is out $21,000 in a way that was discriminatory, Dupuis said. Other public and private employers in Wisconsin continue to discriminate against transgender workers, he said. Transgender folks arent able to get medically necessary care covered, in the way that their non-trans co-workers are, he said. Andrews graduated from UW-Madison in 2003 and has worked as a researcher at the UW Carbone Cancer Center since 2014. She is represented by Dupuis and John A. Knight of the ACLUs national Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and HIV Project. RACINE COUNTY Area residents will soon see another television campaign ad from House Speaker Paul Ryan as he battles a primary challenge. Ryan was set to release the ad, featuring a Janesville resident talking about why he supports Ryan, to run in the Milwaukee and Madison markets between Tuesday and Aug. 2. In the ad, resident Richard Clarke calls Ryan a man of integrity and a unifying leader. The amount of the ad buy was $192,000, with another $25,000 for a corresponding radio advertisement, according to Ryans campaign. The advertisement, the second of Ryans re-election campaign, comes two weeks before the Aug. 9 Republican primary featuring Ryan, R-Wis., and challenger Paul Nehlen of Delavan. The Ryan campaign said advertisements will continue for the next few weeks. Paul Ryan has always run advertisements to get his message out to voters in southern Wisconsin, this year is no different, a Ryan spokesman said in an email. The race has attracted national attention, with Nehlen getting endorsements from the likes of Sarah Palin, though a poll released in May showed Ryan up 73 points. Ryans congressional district includes all of Racine County. Sidewalk sales, a petting zoo and live music are just a few of the attractions planned for this years Reedikulus Day. The event is scheduled for July 29 and will be held regardless of the weather. Admission is free. Reedikulus Day includes sidewalk sales from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. downtown; childrens games and crafts, Havens Petting Zoo, and pony rides ($5) from 1 to 4 p.m. in City Park; concessions from 5 to 9 p.m. in the park; and a concert by SwifKick at 5:30 p.m. in the park. Concert goers should bring seating and coolers if they wish. A childrens airplane ball drop will be held at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at Viking Village Foods. Every child 11 and younger will receive a prize. The Reedikulus Art Crawl will be ongoing during Reedikulus Day. The walk, organized by Reedsburg ArtsLink, features creations by regional artists. Admission is free. Pamphlets with location information may be picked up now through the event at Blue Heron, 170 E. Main St. Those who visit spots and bring their passport to City Park will be entered into a prize drawing. One key attraction of the art crawl is several tall cowboy statues created by visiting Texas artist Austen Weymueller. Her displays are up at City Park and are expected to remain until Fermentation Fest in October. City Park will include other art and a stand where visitors may stop to meet Weymueller, turn in their Art Crawl passports or find out more about local arts. Tradition Reedikulus Day has been a staple of the community for more than 50 years. Streets downtown used to shut down to accommodate numerous vendors and pedestrians. Its been held through everything from pouring rain to intense heat. In recent times the event has been organized by the Reedsburg Revitalization Organization. The roads no longer close, but theres still plenty to do and see downtown, said Peggy Albert, who helps organize Reedikulus Day and owns Lorraines. Albert said businesses arent the only ones who will have discounts on merchandise. Vendors will be traveling to sell everything from wooden decor and games to homemade soaps, braided rugs and Amish candy. Some stores use Reedikulus Day as an opportunity to move discontinued stock or end-of-season merchandise. Its a real treat for thrifty shoppers or anyone who likes looking for unique items, she said. Who doesnt love to shop for a bargain?, Albert said. In the past Reedikulus Day has been well attended. In fact, the event ran out of pork sandwiches and hot dogs last year. She said they have ordered more food in case attendance is just as high. Having a low participation fee for vendors helps attract a wide variety of merchandise. Albert said it costs a vendor $10 to set up during Reedikulus Day and all the money goes toward RRO initiatives. Its a Reedsburg tradition, Albert said. Thats why its called Reedikulus Day. Reedikulus Day is also organized by RRO members Nikki Foesch and Carrie Covell. For more information about visiting Reedikulus Day or serving as a vendor next year contact Albert at (608) 524-2049. Its the heart of summer, and that means more people are hitting the water to fish, relax and crack open a cold one. Alcohol may be legal on boats in Wisconsin, but that doesnt mean the operators can be intoxicated. Drunken boating incidents are highest in the warmer months, especially during holiday weekends. Numerous bodies of water in Sauk, Juneau and Columbia counties mean an additional need for local law enforcement and Department of Natural Resources wardens. DNR officials monitor area waterways for more than poaching and natural resources violations; they also enforce reckless behavior on the water. That includes operating under the influence, said Sean Neverman, a conservation warden based out of Sauk City. Neverman said he normally monitors the southern half of Sauk County but a vacant position this summer has him watching the entire county. Thats a lot of water to cover, considering the area features the Wisconsin River, Lake Wisconsin, Devils Lake, Lake Redstone, Dutch Hollow and more. Despite the DNRs efforts to educate the public about the dangers of drunken boating, some cases still show up every year. He said offenses are most common between Memorial Day and Labor Day, especially during holiday weekends. Neverman said it seems alcohol-related offenses are a weekly occurrence during the summer. It is still something we deal with on a regular basis, he said. Greater dangers The dangers of drinking and driving are well publicized, but not everyone realizes the hazards of climbing into a boat. Operating a watercraft while drunk carries risks not seen on land, said Jim Astle, who serves as La Valles chief of police. Boats and jet skis dont stop with the touch of a brake; they keep moving even after turning off the power. Speed, proximity and size can lead to near-misses and collisions. He noted that just being on the water affects everyones equilibrium. The movement of the water requires extra balance and care even for those who are sober. For those who are impaired, the waves create additional risks for falls and crashes. Consumers also get drunk faster on the water. Heat and sun cause the body to use more water in an effort to stay cool. Less hydrated cells lead to a higher alcohol concentration. This is especially true if the drinker is very hot and sweating. Astle said even seasoned drinkers can quickly become intoxicated on a boat. If youre used to having three or four beers on land and not feeling it, cut that in half on the water, he said. Neverman recommends having a designated driver or waiting until leaving the water to start consuming alcohol. Anyone who spots suspected drunken behavior should call 911, Astle said. He advised against approaching a suspected drunken boater, but recommended making note of the operators appearance and the registration number listed along the side of the craft. Warning signs The symptoms of intoxication on the water are similar to those on dry land. Neverman said people who are too impaired will appear to have a flushed face, slurred speech and impaired balance. Officers watch for those behaviors to see if the boaters are taking risks, such as operating too close to the shore or other water craft and swimmers. If they suspect intoxication, they can stop the boater for field sobriety tests, Neverman said. If theres enough probable cause, the boater can be taken into custody for blood or breath tests. In the event of an arrest, the officer will turn the boat over to a trusted party, possibly a passenger or family member. If no one is available, law enforcement will arrange to have it towed and docked until it can be picked up. Homegrown enforcement Where there are lakes and rivers, there is the chance for emergencies. Thats why even the smallest police forces need to have resources at their disposal. In La Valle, law enforcement has a boat staked at Dutch Hollow and Lake Redstone. Astle said either law enforcement or fire personnel may use it if they are called for an incident. Neverman said the DNR works with local agencies and noted that many, including the Sauk County Sheriffs Office and Lake Delton Police Department, have some sort of water patrol. In Columbia County, the Sheriffs Office not only has a boat patrol but also a volunteer dive team. Lt. Wayne Smith said all dive team members are trained and have helped with incidents across county lines. He said the boat patrol goes out frequently this time of year but the dive team is only dispatched in the event of rescues or evidence recovery. Many of the divers also are firefighters or EMTs. The dive team started in 1996 and has been called a few times for alcohol-related accidents. In 2015 the team was called out 11 times, though not all of those incidents involved alcohol. Treacherous current He noted that boat patrols and the dive team spend time on the Wisconsin River, which is a deceptively dangerous waterway. From the shore it appears calm and peaceful but it has shifting sandbars and strong currents. When a swimmer drinks too much and goes for a dip, he or she runs the risk of being dragged out and drowning. Smith advises caution for anyone who plans to go out on the Wisconsin River. Ending up in the water could be treacherous, even for strong swimmers. For all others he recommends flotation devices. Nobody likes to have to do a (body) recovery, he said. Like the Columbia County dive unit, the Sauk County Sheriffs Office is ready to go anywhere across the region. Sgt. Eric Miller said July is a busy time of year for his department due to general summer recreation, tourism, Fourth of July fireworks and celebrations like Sauk Prairies Fire on the River. Miller said the departments boat patrol tends to focus on Lake Wisconsin and sometimes the Wisconsin River, but its prepared to go anywhere, be it Lake Delton or Dutch Hollow. Lake Delton patrols mostly fall to the village of Lake Delton Police Department. The office has had boat patrols since at least 1998, said Sgt. Brad Kurkiewicz, who oversees the patrols. He said expenses associated with patrols are forwarded to the DNR for reimbursement. As far as alcohol offenses, Lake Delton has been lucky. The department made only one alcohol-related arrest in the last three years, he said. It helps that about 90 percent of the traffic on Lake Delton is rental tourism. Businesses wont rent craft to those who appear to be intoxicated, which helps cut down on incidents, Kurkiewicz said. He added that in past years the department has participated in Operation Dry Water, a DNR initiative to inform boaters about the dangers and penalties of being drunk on water craft. The overall goal of enforcement is to keep everyone safe, said Mike Weber, a conservation warden out of Mauston. Castle Rock Lake is part of his patrol, and frequent offenses include violating slow/no wake areas, improper boat registrations and life preserver issues. He said state law requires vessels to have enough life jackets for each person on board. Alcohol issues are less common but always a concern for law enforcement. Weber said being on the water takes its toll on people, even those who are sober. Winds create waves on the lake, which lead to a shaky ride. Even if its cool and cloudy, boaters can become fatigued and feel the effects of alcohol much quicker than they normally would on land. Not just boats Boaters arent the only ones who can behave recklessly. Operators on wave runners and jet skis are just as likely to take risks. Anywhere from half to three-quarters of all citations are issued to wave runners and Jet Skiers during an average season on Lake Wisconsin, Miller said. Other offenses included operating too close to piers and the shore. Miller noted that not all of those offenses are related to alcohol. In fact, the number of alcohol incidents has fallen over the years, changes that law enforcement say are the result of education and enforcement. Officials also point to increased patrols as a reason for a decline in alcohol-related boating incidents. The Sauk Prairie School District will see about $80,000 more this year in state aid than last year. The local district is one of 260 out of 424 school districts in the state that will receive the increase, according to estimates by the Department of Public Instruction released earlier this month. The rise represents less than a 1 percent increase in total state aid from last year, bringing aid to the district up to about $11.7 million. In a July 1 press release, DPI said the states biennial budget increased state aid to school districts by $108.1 million for the 2016-17 school year. Last year, 55 percent of Wisconsin school districts, including Sauk Prairie, saw a drop in state aid. At that time, the board approved tapping the districts $9.06 million fund balance to plug a $200,000 budget gap created by the cuts. How this years increase will impact the property tax rate is not yet known. We have not done the estimations on projected levy, property value and tax impact yet, said executive director of business services Brent Richter. Im planning to publish that in a couple of weeks. The districts annual meeting at which its constituents vote on the proposed tax levy is Sept. 12. Richter told the school board July 25 the districts financial health is in good shape based on its fund balance and slow, steady growth in student population over the last 10 years, which has been between five and 10 students annually. The beauty of student growth is youre increasing revenues, Richter said. In my analysis of the last 10 years of the districts budgets, the data suggests that this school district came from years of short-term borrowing, to years where fiscal responsibility and stewardship created a financial picture where Sauk Prairie no longer needs to short-term borrow. Six years ago, the district applied for short-term borrowing to meet its obligations, including payroll. Richter said the districts fund balance, or the districts assets, minus its liabilities, is in much better shape now at more than $8 million, and short-term borrowing wouldnt be a consideration. He said the cash portion of the fund balance is between 35 and 40 percent, but said that amount can change depending on the time of year and various revenues and expenses. Richter cautioned that cost increases are coming. Water rates alone in the school district are expected to increase by 42 percent. Just before her retirement last month, former executive business director Judy Weinstock submitted her own public comments to the Public Service Commission stating that a rate increase of 42 percent in the village of Prairie du Sac is a significant added cost that probably would result in reduced spending on instruction. Conservation groups and some state legislators are annoyed that the states Natural Resources Board will consider a revised master plan for the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway at a meeting held 300 miles away from the river. Consideration of the riverway plan is on the agenda for the boards meeting in Ashland on Aug. 3, a location that drew complaints from numerous area conservation groups and state legislators because Ashland is about 300 miles from the Wisconsin River. The board is scheduled to consider the plan at its Aug. 3 meeting in Ashland. Following an outcry regarding the location, the board added a teleconference location in Madison where comments can be made via a program similar to Skype. The revised agenda states, Because of potential strong public interest in agenda item 2.B.3 Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Master Plan, remote testimony will be allowed at the State Natural Resources Building. During a presentation by Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Executive Director Mark Cupp at the Sauk Prairie Area Chamber of Commerce offices on July 20, Cupp said he was surprised to learn the Riverway Master Plan draft was on the boards agenda for the Ashland meeting, instead of the October meeting in Madison. I was astounded when last Thursday (July 14) the DNR contacted the board and said the master plan final draft is complete and going to the Natural Resources Board at their next meeting, and by the way, its in Ashland, Cupp said. Thats about as far away from the river as you can get in the state. It seems like a way to squelch public input. Theres no deadline here. Theres no reason they cant wait until October when the NRB meets in Madison. Cupp said he plans to attend the remote broadcast in Madison. A letter signed by Republicans Ed Brooks of Reedsburg, Howard Marklein of Spring Green, Lee Nerison of Westby, Todd Novak of Dodgeville and Travis Tranel of Cuba City stated, The 273 miles to Ashland effectively disenfranchises our constituents from providing direct testimony on a plan that directly impacts them. Friends of the Lower Wisconsin River President Timm Zumm was among those who questioned the wisdom of the meetings location. The NRBs approval of this plan that far from the river is a travesty, Zumm said. The vote should be postponed and the meeting held locally. Cupp said some of the riverway boards concerns include a desire for more points of access to the river near Muscoda, and the need for more assistance to landowners seeking scenic easements as a tool to prevent agricultural runoff from infiltrating river water. There also are concerns about a proposed shooting range on the Mazomanie and Prairie du Sac areas of the river and the indefinite and sudden closing of the Mazomanie Unit, known commonly as the Mazo Beach. Cupp made his comments during a presentation at the Chamber offices after a boat trip on the Wisconsin River was canceled because of storms in the forecast on July 20. Instead, the group took a slideshow trip down the river and learned about the organizations history. Cupp, who has served as executive director since the state Legislature approved rules promoting conservation along 92 miles of the river starting in Prairie du Sac, explained the long and storied history of the riverway board and the 1989 legislation that formed the states smallest agency. He explained some of the regulations formed under the jurisdiction of the agency with the goal of keeping the river scenic, pristine and undeveloped as much as possible, and difficulties with some landowners in complying with those regulations. Among the group gathered for Cupps presentation was Dick McFarlane, who was appointed as the Dane County representative on the riverways board of directors. McFarlane, vice president of McFarlane Manufacturing Co. in Sauk City, said he grew up in the river valley, and purchased property on the river two years ago. Dick and his wife Marilyn purchased the Wisconsin River Retreat cabins on Highway Y in the town of Mazomanie. We own property on the river now and thats sort of how we got to learn about Mark and the Riverway board, Dick said. Its a good way for me to give back to the community, and it was a unique opportunity. Im glad to do my part and Im learning a lot. A group of young actors will present a small, one-act play with a big mission: preventing school violence. The play Play the Hand Thats Dealt confronts the nightmarish theme of school-based violence, a theme all too prevalent in the national news in the past several years. It will be performed at Park Hall on July 29 and 30 and tells the story of ten teenagers who find themselves locked down in a study hall with no teacher, amid some clashing personalities during a catastrophe. In her directorial debut, Sauk Prairie 2016 graduate Corrine Kessler said the group chose the play to raise awareness causes of school based violence. We started talking about doing a one-act performance around the same time the shooting happened in Green Bay at the prom, Kessler said. So we knew we wanted to do something more serious and have an impact and create a dialogue. So we chose this because it deals with violence in schools and mental health. Kessler, a veteran of the Sauk Prairie High School stage, has acted in school productions every year since she moved to the area from Indiana in seventh grade. She not only directs, but plays a part. She will major in theater arts at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. She said the theme of school violence is something that frightens her since the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Connecticut. After Sandy Hook happened I was terrified to go to school for a while, Kessler said. No one thinks it can happen in their community until it does. She said the play doesnt necessarily provide answers to the issues surrounding school violence, but the hope is to make the audience be more thoughtful about its causes. You can have a positive impact on peoples lives with a small interaction, Kessler said. In this play it shows the reverse of that. You can have a negative interaction with someone that can really damage them. Being indifferent to someone can be just as harmful. Among her co-stars is Garrick Hartley who plays another student. He said the play illustrates some of the things that can be hard to detect in incidents of school violence. There are underlying factors like mental health issues, Hartley said. Behind the entire plot of the play is that people are just cruel. Negativity is mainstream today. When youre uplifting, people think thats strange. Ryan Drager, who plays another student, said his character provides a little comic relief in an otherwise intense plot. Hes the one who brings any lightness to this, but its never at an appropriate moment, Drager said. The subject matter is a thing we need to be talking about. Ellen Paul has served on the Theatre Guild board of directors for nine years. She said this is the first production entirely run by teenagers. Theyve just done great, Paul said. A discussion and question and answer session will follow at the conclusion of the play which the students are calling a Talk Back, with school resource officer Joel Ludowitz and middle school principal Ted Harter. Play the Hand Thats Dealt was written by playwright Claudia Haas, who has been written plays for youth and young performers for more than 20 years. Ian Sharp Ian James Sharp, 32, of Chino Valley, Arizona, formerly of Reedsburg, and Wickliffe, Ohio, was called to his Heavenly Father on Tuesday, July 19, 2016. Ian graduated from Reedsburg Area High School CDS class. Ian enjoyed attending Holy Family Church in LaValle, with his family and their many friends and especially appreciated listening to all the music. Profoundly handicapped since infancy, Ians loving care was the focal point of his family. Despite his inability to speak and incapacity, Ians life was transformative for those, who through his presence, learned life-long lessons of service, devotion, tenderness, love, and simple joy. Ians constant laughter and joyful innocence filled our home and now fills Heaven. Ian is the beloved son of and survived by his parents, Matthew and Diane (Chukayne) Sharp of Chino Valley, Arizona; sister, Kathleen (Ryan) Koehler of Nashville, Tennessee; brother, Gabriel Sharp of Viroqua; and grandmother, Helen Chukayne (Wasilko) of Prescott Valley, Arizona. He is preceded in death by his grandparents, Frank Chukayne of Euclid, Ohio, and Charles and Marilyn (Taggart) Sharp of Wooster, Ohio. A Mass of Christian burial was held at 1 p.m. Saturday, July 23, 2016, at St. Catherine Laboure Catholic Church in Chino Valley, Arizona, with a reception to follow. Fr. Fred LeClaire officiated the ceremony. All are welcome to attend and celebrate Ians beautiful life. Condolences can be sent to the family at P.O. Box 568, Chino Valley, AZ 86323. The family would like to thank the many wonderfully compassionate teachers, therapists and medical staff who supported Ian throughout his life. International presidency for Adler Professor Jill Adler has been appointed president of a leading international maths research organisation with 94 member countries. South African maths educator and Wits Professor Jill Adler has been recognised by the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI) with two distinct honours the position of president and the prestigious Hans Freduenthal medal for research. The ICMI has elected Adler, a National Research Foundation A-rated scientist, to steer this influential body founded in 1908. The announcement was made at the annual general meeting in Hamburg, where the 13th International Congress on Mathematics Education is taking place. Adler is the first African to lead the ICMI and she will serve in this position until 2020. She succeeds Ferdinando Arzarello from Italy. Furthermore, the ICMI has awarded Adler the Hans Freudenthal Medal for outstanding achievement in mathematics education. The award recognises a major cumulative programme of research and is named after the eighth president of ICMI (1967-1970). An elated Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Adam Habib says: Wits University is extremely proud of the achievement of Professor Adler in the important field of maths education. This is a significant milestone for South Africa and the continent. The Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa and the South African Mathematical Society were among the first institutions to congratulate Adler on her appointment. About Jill Adler, a Wits School of Education Academic: A national asset of note, Adler has received numerous accolades for her work, starting with the 1990s ground-breaking and socio-culturally relevant research on the inherent dilemmas of teaching mathematics in multilingual classrooms. She has spearheaded several large-scale teacher development projects, most recently (and current) the Wits Maths Connect Secondary project, which began in 2010. This project aims, through professional development with teachers, to improve mathematics teaching practice at the secondary level and so enable more learners from disadvantaged communities to qualify for mathematics-related courses at university. A scholar of impact, Adlers book, entitled: Teaching mathematics in multilingual classrooms was instrumental in leading research internationally in the field. Her more recent work on mathematics teacher education has been published in French and Portuguese. She has made an enormous contribution to research capacity development working with research teams and graduate students, particularly in southern Africa. Adler holds the SARCHI Chair of Mathematics Education in the Wits School of Education. She made history as the first educator to be awarded an A-rating by the National Research Foundation; A-ratings normally being awarded to academics from science disciplines. Adler is also the recipient of the 2012 prestigious gold medal for science in the service of society.awarded by the Academy of Science of South Africa. About the ICMI The International Commission on Mathematical Instruction, ICMI, is a commission of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), an international nongovernmental and nonprofitmaking scientific organisation with the purpose of promoting international cooperation in mathematics. Among international organisations devoted to mathematics education, ICMI is distinctive because of its close ties to both the mathematics and the mathematics education professional communities, as well as for its breadth thematic, cultural, and regional. It boasts 94 member countries. The Commission aims today to offer educational researchers, curriculum designers, educational policy makers, mathematicians, mathematics educators and others interested in mathematical education, a forum to promote reflection, collaboration, exchange and dissemination of ideas and information on all aspects of the theory and practice of contemporary mathematical education. ICMI develops appropriate programmes designed to further the sound development of mathematical education at all levels, and to secure public appreciation of its importance. The Commission is also charged with the conduct of the activities of IMU bearing on mathematical or scientific education. Fitchburg police were investigating a gunfire incident after witnesses said several shots were fired from a vehicle Monday afternoon. Around 3:30 p.m., police showed up to the 2900 block of King James Way and spoke with several people who described a silver sedan driving through the block as a passenger shot a firearm out of the vehicle, according to the Fitchburg Police Department. Four or five shots were fired "in the air" as the car traveled down the road, police said. No one was reported injured, and one shell casing was found on the street, according to the police. Witnesses described the driver as a black male with short dreadlocks, police said. An ongoing feud between two gangs is the likely cause of shots being fired Monday night on Madison's Southwest Side, with nobody hurt in the incident. The shots were fired at about 9 p.m. in the area around the 5800 block of Raymond Road, Madison police said. Investigating officers could not find victims, property damage or shell casings. "The investigation showed the incident likely stemmed from two neighborhood gangs engaged in ongoing feuds with each other," said police Sgt. Shannon Blackamore. One person at the scene was arrested on an unrelated warrant not directly attributed to the shots fired incident. After removing a GPS monitoring device and moving for Texas, a former Janesville man will spend six years in prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Monday. Clifford Snipes, 45, was convicted of first-degree sexual assault of a child in Rock County in 2004, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. While on state supervision for this offense, Snipes removed a GPS monitoring device and left for Texas in February 2015. He was arrested in November 2015 when he attempted to get a Texas driver's license, and authorities were alerted to an arrest warrant that had been issued in Wisconsin, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Snipes was sentenced to two years in federal prison for failing to register as a sex offender, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, and also received four years in state prison for tampering with the tracking device and leaving the state. The federal sentence will run consecutively to the state term, the Attorney's Office said. Summer internship inspires blog on social-service issues There are internships, and then theres the experience Sadie Meadows has had at the Department of Social Services (DSS) in Orange County, Virginia.Meadows 17, a psychology and gender, sexuality and women's studies (GSWS) double major, has chronicled many of her experiences and their impact on her in a blog on the GSWS web page She has worked in every department but one during the past nine weeks, doing everything from going to see how clients were faring and determining if they needed services, to helping assess whether a child needed to be removed from an unstable home or making sure an adult wasnt being exploited financially.If Ive learned anything its that this job is all hands on deck, she wrote in her first post. Around this time of year, there are approximately enough cases for each worker to have a full caseload (around 15 cases). Right now they have almost double that number. English Department chair Suzanne Raitt, who also teaches in the GSWS department and is Meadows' academic supervisor for her internship, said thats exactly the type of insight that she knew readers would appreciate and why she recommended that Meadows pen the blog.Sadie proposed a journal; I suggested she take it one step further and share what she was learning with a wider audience, Raitt said. Faculty, students and the general public are always curious about what students are doing in their internships and Sadies looked especially exciting. I knew shed have a wide range of experiences and encounter a number of issues that are relevant to her GSWS major.A short time after starting, she had already been out to pick up an abandoned baby, called shelters to find placement for a domestic violence victim and her daughters (only to discover that finding a open shelter between Fauquier and Richmond was nearly impossible), accompanied her supervisor on a visit to a child struggling to stay in school and went with another Child Protective Services (CPS) worker to remove children from a home (after several warnings to the parents had been issued).Lately, she has accompanied a CPS professional investigating homes after complaints that the residents have been doing drugs in front of their young children.Im a fairly sensitive person in general, and I knew up front that I would come across situations that wouldnt be easy, she said. My co-workers have eased the emotional burden for me in terms of being able to talk about what Im seeing at DSS and also in terms of being very efficient and driven in their jobs. The CPS workers are great at finding solutions that benefit the children.There are nuances to the internship that she never could have imagined, such as the requirement that she wear closed-toe shoes.That's one of the yuckier parts of the job, she said. I'm often in homes where there is some form of animal or human waste on the floor, and if I don't wear the proper footwear I could pick up diseases. If I don't wear the right shoes, I can't go out on a call and that could make a worker's job harder if they really needed the extra person to talk to other family members or watch kids.Among her blogs is one titled Community Involvement and the Elderly, in which she describes her experience with Adult Protective Services as heartbreaking.Many of these people are elderly and disabled, either mentally or physically or both, and are living on obscenely small amounts of money, she wrote. A lot of them dont have people to care for them, and even if they do, its almost impossible to work fulltime, make a living wage and take care of an elderly person.But she detailed two relatively easy ways to make life easier for the elderly, and particularly the disabled elderly.Meadows encouraged people to go to the Wisconsin Healthy Brain Initiative website and get a copy of that states manual Building Dementia-Friendly Communities, then downloading the Alzheimers Association of Americas PowerPoint presentation and starting a campaign locally with the suggestions found there.The second thing Meadows suggested was to find a religious organization that offers a program similar to Williamsburg United Methodists Respite Care, which she says functions as adult daycare. This enables caregivers to run errands, seniors to socialize ands get out of the house. The Methodist program is taken from an initiative on disabilities adopted by the church in 2000.Recently assigned to the foster care branch of DSS, Meadows offered observations gleaned from training exercises on how to deal with a foster childs sexuality.She made five points: Sex and gender are not synonymous; gender and gender identity are; just because they may be young doesnt mean they dont know; just be respectful and its OK if they change their mind.Who a child is and who they think they are is the same thing, she wrote. Remember, they probably know themselves better than anyone else could ... I really want to let these families know how to be respectful of what kids know and who they are because its really that simple.Meadows said the internship has reinforced in her mind her choice of undergraduate majors, and has led her to think about counseling and even to consider becoming a foster parent when Im more suitable to parent.Raitt said she is impressed with Meadows immersion into the topic of foster parenting.One of Sadies special interests is in LGBTQ children and teens, she said, and shes done some fantastic research on that including enrolling in training to become a foster parent and offering a constructive critique of the ways in which gender is discussed. A Madison man was sentenced Monday to four years in prison for a long series of residential break-ins that happened mostly on Madisons West Side in late 2014 and early 2015, including one in which a 90-year-old woman was held at gunpoint. Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan told Jamal A. Scott, 22, that even if Scott could round up all of the stolen valuables and items that had sentimental value and return them to their owners, he couldnt change the enduring feeling of victimization that those people feel. Some couldnt return to live in their homes again, Flanagan said, while others have said they still dont feel safe in them. Flanagan also said that given the amount of positive support that Scott has had in his life, from family, clergy and community mentors, he couldnt understand how Scotts burglary spree continued unabated. But it ended on April 3, 2015. That day, Scott and Jeffrey D. Harrison, 21, broke into the home of a 90-year-old woman. For a half-hour, Flanagan said, Scott rummaged through the womans home, looking for valuables, while Harrison held a gun toward her head in her bedroom. There had been some dispute over which man held the gun, but the womans description of that man made it more likely that it was Harrison, who was much thinner than Scott. Flanagan said it didnt matter to him. On some level, it must have bothered you to see a 90-year-old woman afraid in her bed, Flanagan said. But it didnt. You went out and did it again. That day, Scott and Harrison broke into another home, where Harrison got into a struggle with the homeowner and was arrested. Scott fled but was arrested later. Harrison was sentenced on July 1 to 8 years in prison. Deputy District Attorney Matthew Moeser said he didnt believe Scott truly accepted responsibility for what he did, because he said he was high on Xanax at the time and didnt remember the crimes. He asked for a 14-year prison sentence. Scott insisted in court that he accepts responsibility, and that what he did was wrong. Scotts lawyer, Mark Frank, asked for a sentence that would have set Scott free on probation, after applying credit for the time he has spent in jail since his arrest in 2015. Jail credit will shorten Scotts four-year prison sentence by about a year and four months. Flanagan also made Scott eligible for the state Department of Corrections Substance Abuse Program, and if hes accepted into that program and completes it, his remaining time in custody could be added to the six years he will spend on extended supervision after prison. China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page A driver needing a potty break broke from the ranks of traffic in Monroe County on Friday, pushing his car to almost 120 miles per hour before a flying trooper radioed to land units to stop the driver. The State Patrol said the incident happened at about 5:15 p.m. on Interstate 90/94. The black Porsche 911 was tooling along with the flow when it suddenly accelerated in the left lane and flew by a large group of cars, according to the State Patrol pilot on routine traffic safety enforcement. "The pilot radioed information to a trooper in a ground cruiser, who was able to stop the vehicle without incident," said Lt. Chris Jushka. The unidentified driver told the trooper he was speeding because he had to go. The pilot calculated the Porsche was going 118 mph. "The driver is extremely lucky he didn't cause a violent crash that might have seriously injured or killed himself or others," Jushka said. "This also shows the value of aerial traffic safety enforcement in apprehending drivers who endanger others on the highways." The State Patrol and local law enforcement agencies put out extra patrols during summer weekends, watching over the hundreds of thousands of tourists and residents heading to vacation spots in the Badger State. The star says her relationship with Jose Baston remains strong Actress Eva Longoria married Jose Baston in May, but feels that the two had good relationship even before tying the knot and nothing has changed. Longoria recently told Hello magazine: The truth is I feel the same. Weve been together for three years and the wedding hasnt changed us much because we were already well established as a couple. Still glowing about her new husband, the 41-year-old informed the magazine she has learned a lot from Baston, who has three children from his first marriage. He is a gentleman, very elegant and Im more casual. And hes an excellent father. Every day gets better and Im excited just thinking about the future, she added. Longoria has been married twice before, but has no children of her own. Meanwhile, the star and Baston are working on renovating their home in Hollywood. She stated: It is a lot of work for us. At the moment were living in Mexico City, although Im always traveling to Los Angeles. The actress plate is full with charity work, an upcoming television series, and the debut of her clothing line. Speaking about planning for the future, she shared: I live in the moment. I dont think about the future that much. Im focused on my husband, my family, my work and now on my new clothes line. While working on her clothing line, Longoria was asked if she received any help or advice from her close friend, Victoria Beckham. She explained: No, because these garments are very different to the ones she designs. Victoria is a genius, a one-off. I love her designs. Celebrities raise awareness for the Jeans for Refugees campaign 42-year-old Kate Moss joined many other celebrities who are donating items to a charitable organization. The International Rescue Committee launched its Jeans for Refugees campaign, which included donations from Victoria Beckham, Emma Watson, and Eva Longoria. While stars donate their denim, artist Johny Dar transforms the garments into art. This work will then be auctioned off by Catawiki online to raise funds for the International Rescue Committee. Dar spoke to Vogue about his contributions, saying: In this case, its not about fashion, its art. Its an intuitive process, surfing whatever feelings were in the jeans from the celebrity who wore them, and doing my best to bring them out through the painting. The artist had no problem finding celebrities to contribute to the project. He shared: I believe they were convinced the same way that I was convinced myself, and how everyone else became convinced too this is a humanitarian cause that is much grander than me and everyone involved in it. Everyone who is participating heard the call and answered. The star also spoke about the time and transformation of the celebrities jeans. Out of all the women who went through their wardrobe, one stars denim was the most time-consuming to recreate. Emma Watsons I spent the most time on her jeans! However, he also admitted this was his favorite recreation. Roughly one hundred stars have participated in the charity event. The exhibition starts on October 24th and will then be auctioned on the Internet later that month. A picture of two young people goofing off next to a squad car at the scene of a huge weekend drinking party where a woman was seriously injured set off Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney on Tuesday. The photo, posted on Snapchat, was taken at the town of Springdale house in the aftermath of the Saturday night party attended by more than 100 people. One of them, a 20-year-old Mount Horeb woman, ended up with severe head injuries after she bounced out of the bed of a pickup truck, according to the Sheriffs Office. The Sheriffs Office released the photo on Tuesday, identifying William Fish, 22, and Addison Moyer, 22, posing with a must be 21 to drink sign placed next to a Sheriffs Office squad car. The photo was discovered by deputies looking at the Snapchat account of Kaylee Muchow, 18, and was taken from inside the house where the party was held, the Sheriffs Office said. Deputies were on the scene of the party for hours early Sunday trying to get information about the injured woman from uncooperative witnesses, the Sheriffs Office said. The woman, whom the Sheriffs Office has not identified, was found in the road by a passerby around 12:20 a.m. and remains at UW Hospital, the Sheriffs Office said. The potential for serious injury and even deadly consequences is precisely the reason we take the underage drinking laws seriously in Dane County, Mahoney said in a news release. All too often, underage drinking parties lead to fatal traffic crashes when an intoxicated person decides to get behind the wheel, Mahoney said. The fact young people in attendance would make light of the incident while their friend fights for her life highlights why Wisconsins culture of drinking must be addressed. Dekota Edge, 19, of Blue Mounds, was arrested after being identified as the driver of the pickup truck and is tentatively charged with reckless driving causing great bodily harm. Edge appeared in court Tuesday, where he was released on a signature bond and ordered to return to court on Sept. 1, when formal charges could be filed. Court Commissioner Jason Hanson ordered him not to have any contact with the woman who was injured or her family, and not to drink or drive a vehicle. State Journal courts reporter Ed Treleven contributed to this report. The actress says her celebrity status gives her more freedom Kristen Bell has revealed she is content with her success level, as it allows her to live a relatively normal life unlike the big-name celebrities in Hollywood. Speaking to CBS Sunday Morning, the actress added: Those big fish sometimes have a real hard time. They cant I can still go to the grocery store. So I think Im really happy with the size fish that I am. The mother of two and wife of Dax Shepard feels she does not deserve her achievements and believes she was merely in the right place at the right time. She continued to say: I dont deserve to be here. I worked hard, but I was also in the right place at the right time. And Im really, really grateful for the jobs that Ive had. I feel stupid sometimes. Thats a truthful insecurity. I am around so many talented artists and intellectuals and creative people. I spend a lot of time with people that are smarter than me. So one of my truthful insecurities is that I feel stupid a lot. Bell also shared her wedding photos for the first time, which took place during a simple ceremony in 2013. Regarding her wedding to Shepard, the star shared: We got married in a tiny room in the Beverly Hills courthouse, and it was still one of the best days of my life. The 36-year-old also discussed how great of a father her husband is to their two children, revealing: Hes a wonderful father. He knows the value of things. He was an addict for many, many years and he pulled himself out of it, and hes been sober for 11, 12 years now. And he knows how many times hes messed up and how many times hes been really close to losing everything. The actor acknowledges his marriage to Luciana Barroso. Matt Damon admits that marriage is a rather unpredictable concept, and says he got lucky with wife Luciana Barroso. The Jason Bourne actor describes marriage as an insane idea but is grateful for having fallen in love with his 45-year-old spouse. The two have now been married for 11 years. He explained to the Daily Telegraph newspaper: I got lucky meeting her. I think marriage is incredibly difficult because its so hard to have that one partner who is everything. Looking at it objectively, it seems an insane idea. So its not that I love marriage in general, its that I love being married to her. And thats the difference. And I just got lucky. I sure did. The two met in 2002 while he was filming Stuck On You and Barroso worked as a waitress. They now have four children together. The 45-year-old star also appreciates every moment with his family, describing how much he loves it when they come along while filming. Damon explained: We just try to soak in what were seeing and I think thatll ultimately be the best education for my kids. A big problem in America is that were geographically isolated, which gives rise to the Donald Trump thing where people think its actually a good idea to build a wall between ourselves and other people. Hopefully, by taking my kids around the world, theyre going to be open to the world. And thats going to do a lot for them. Matt Damons latest film, Jason Bourne, is scheduled for release on July 29. Sad girl (illustration) By: Wayne Morin A child psychologist was arrested on a charge of attempted travel to engage in illicit sexual activity after trying to hook up with a little girl and teach her how to have a healthy sex life, according to police in Washington. Now, 62-year-old Jonathan Brent Wulf of Seattle, was sentenced to serve six years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted travel to engage in illicit sexual activity and attempted receipt of child pornography. According to the police investigation, Wulf, who worked at the Swedish Medical Center, spoke with an undercover Homeland Security agent who responded to an ad in the Casual Encounters section of Craigslist. Wulf wrote in the ad that he is offering a adaddy roadtrip f***fest.a The Homeland Security agent posed as the abusive stepfather of a 12-year-old girl. Wulf asked for nude photos of the girl before arranging to meet at a hotel. He arrived at the hotel, carrying a backpack containing condoms, and lubricant. Scene of the accident at the London Fields park in Hackney By: Wayne Morin (Scroll down for video) A man who wanted to get a nice tan, was run over by a city garbage truck that was collecting the trash in a park, according to police in the United Kingdom. London police said that the 30-year-old man was rushed by helicopter to a hospital, where he is said to be in critical condition. According to the police investigation, the incident unfolded at the London Fields park in Hackney, around 10:30 a.m. on Sunday. The man, who was not identified, was lying on the ground and sunbathing in the barbecue area when he was run over by the garbage truck. The garbage truck is owned by the Hackney Councilas park service. Police said that no charges have been filed as no foul play is suspected. Police car (illustration) By: Chan Yuan A man was arrested on a charge of attempting to elude a police vehicle after allegedly leading police on a high-speed chase just because he was bored, according to police in Washington. The Thurston County Sheriffas Office said that they have arrested 30-year-old David B. McNalley, after leading five police agencies on a high-speed chase fore more than an hour and for 50 miles. McNalley was charged with three counts of attempting to elude a police vehicle. He was booked into the Thurston County jail, where he is being held pending a bail hearing. According to the police investigation, McNalley sped through an intersection at Henderson Boulevard SE and 53rd Avenue, around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. He burned rubber with his 1994 Mercury Sable in order to attract the attention of the police officer who tried to pull him over. He then took off. The chase lasted for more than an hour, and five police agencies got involved. McNalley passed cars on the shoulder of the road, reaching 85 miles per hour. Police placed spike strips in the area of aa36th Avenue NE and Libby Road NE. While trying to avoid them, McNalley lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a fence. McNalley was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. When asked why he fled from police, he said that he was bored. Rebecca L. Julian By: Chan Yuan A woman was arrested after police asked the public for help in identifying a female coffee thief. Police in Pennsylvania, are investigating up to 50 incidents of coffee thefts from Wawa convenience stores that have resulted in a loss of more than $3,000. Authorities suspect that one woman was behind all the thefts that began in the beginning of the year. Wawa convenience stores in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland, were affected by the thief, according to the West Goshen Police Department. Police said that the suspect entered Wawa convenience stores, stole many bags of coffee and then took them to different Wawa stores nearby, where she returned them for cash. In video surveillance taken in March and April, the woman was seen entering the store wearing scrubs, and police speculated that she could be a health worker. Police also said that they have seen her on video using two different vehicles. One was a small silver sedan and the other was a maroon sport utility vehicle. Police released several clear photos of the woman, and after asking people for help in identifying her, the woman turned herself in to police. Police announced on Facebook that they arrested Rebecca L. Julian, 48, from Wilmington, Delaware, on a charge of theft. A 17-year-old Madison girl was assaulted on the East Side Monday night after getting off a Metro Transit bus, with the girl breaking away from the attacker and the attacker running from the scene, police reported. The attempted sexual assault happened at about 10 p.m. at the intersection of North Thompson Drive and Mesta Lane, Madison police said. The girl told police she initially was enticed by the suspect as she got off the bus, then was assaulted when he came up from behind her. "She was able to fight free and break away from the suspect, which caused him to flee," said police Sgt. Shannon Blackamore. Car Failing To Stop In Coedpoeth Prompts Early Hour Police Search This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Jul 26th, 2016 Residents in Coedpoeth saw a large police search take place in the early hours of this morning. Around 3-3:30am residents reported the NPAS helicopter above the area, with others reporting screeching tyres. Cath told us, Several police cars were going up and down Heol Glyndwr with the police helicopter above for approximately 25 minutes. Others reported police officers conducting searches on foot by torchlight. This morning North Wales Police told us a Peugeot 206 had failed to stop for police during the early hours for Wrexham officers. They confirmed a search for the vehicle took place, using the helicopter, mainly in the Coedpoeth are area. Police said The vehicle was located and seized. No arrests. As second semester of the university year begins, opposition has grown among academics, students and artists to the University of Sydneys plans to close its specialist fine arts campus, the Sydney College of the Arts (SCA). SCA is set to be merged with the University of New South Wales School of Art and Design (UNSW A&D) at the beginning of next year. The move is part of a broader campaign to restrict access to the arts, bound up with the corporatisation of universities and the gutting of arts funding. Discussions are also underway about the possible closure of the National Art School (NAS) located in inner-city Sydney. The New South Wales government has moved the property on which the school is located into the hands of its department responsible for selling off state lands. There are calls from within corporate circles for NAS and SCA to be rolled into one super-arts campus at UNSW. Prominent individuals within the arts community have spoken out against the plans. Tamara Winikoff, executive director of the National Association for the Visual Arts, told the Saturday Paper last weekend that The idea of trying to push together three such disparate approaches to art education will be a serious disadvantage to potential students. Michael Snelling, the former director of NAS recently resigned and pointed to the opening up of universities to the market. He noted: The only way they can get money is by packing in more students... So you want to put 500 students into a lecture theatre, you dont want to teach a violin player how to play one-to-oneand similarly with art. Well-known artists, including film director Jane Campion, actor Hugo Weaving, Archibald-portrait prize winner Ben Quilty and Reg Mombassa, have also denounced the proposed mergers. Quilty, who studied at SCA, said: Theres no money left to fund those courses that speak to our souls and not to financial markets. He pointed to the culpability of successive governments, noting: Its a pattern; its the slow closure of humanities subjects It is actually not the universities fault. They are being put under further pressure to survive with less and less government funding. Therefore the courses cut are the ones that dont reap the financial benefits to the university. Students and staff have held a number of protests opposing the attack on the SCA. However, the official leadership of the movement, Let SCA Stay, along with the National Tertiary Education Union, has promoted the illusion that the assault on the arts can be halted through futile appeals to university management and for support from the Labor Party. A protest on July 15, outside the Art Gallery of New South Wales, featured senior Labor leader Anthony Albanese as its most prominent speaker. Albanese was given the platform to posture as a defender of the arts and an opponent of the federal Liberal-National governments attacks on higher education. The organisers did not mention that it was the last Labor governments of Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd that opened the way for the deregulation of university fees, and in 2013, introduced a $2.3 billion cut to university funding. Moreover it was the Hawke Labor government that introduced efficiency dividends for the public sector, used by successive governments to slash social spending, including for the arts. Reporters from the WSWS spoke to a number of students who attended the rally. Anne, an ex-SCA student who is an honorary associate professor at the college said, Theres no guarantee of employment for anybody in teaching or any other staff capacity. Im most in contact with the teaching staff and the support staff. Who knows what will happen to their jobs? You can see theres a tremendous groundswell of support for the SCA. People feel very strongly about it, she said. Its impossible not to see this as part of a broader attack on the arts and disregard of the arts and undermining of the arts in NSW and Australia. Ben, a recent graduate of the college, stated: I was going to do my masters this year but it doesnt look like thats possible, since they are getting rid of the whole course. Theres three art schools in Sydney. Theres the NAS, which is about the technical skills of being an artist, and the UNSW A&D which is a hands on, industry based school. Then theres the SCA, which is more conceptual, which I think is the way of the future in art. Theyre talking about creating a centre of excellence, but its just a spin. Theyre basically getting rid of art education in Sydney, Rush said. Four current students, Jessica, Christina, Christopher and Steph, spoke to the WSWS about how the amalgamation would affect their studies. Steph said, It would be like a university saying were shutting physics down, but well stick you with biology. Its science, so youll be fine. Christopher added, The difference between SCA and UNSW A&D is that we have practising artists as teachers, lecturers and mentors. Steph continued, Theres a total disregard for the students. No one was consulted, and they really think that its as easy as picking up our faculty and putting it in another school. SCA has facilities for disadvantaged and disabled people that other colleges dont. They have studios built specifically for them and funding to help. She spoke out against the corporatisation of the University of Sydney, commenting that university management doesnt deem an art school profitable, so theyre cutting us off. We dont fit into the new path that theyre taking. They want to foster law students, business students and doctors, and they dont think that the arts is of value. Daniel, an honours student specialising in photography and installation, spoke critically of the Liberal and Labor parties, stating, I havent seen any defence of the arts from either of the major parties. I worked in the library at SCA up until the beginning of last year, and then all the casuals got kicked out, which was the start of moving towards this, he said. They shut down two or three libraries on the main campus at Sydney Uni, got rid of a ton of books, got rid of tons of staff, and thats going to happen to the SCA library. All those books, that theyve only got one of in that collection, are just going to go to storage. Its a really important research facility. Thousands of protesters took to the streets Monday outside the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The majority of them were Sanders supporters opposed to the nomination of Hillary Clinton. Police preparations for the Democratic Convention have been comparable to those for the Republican convention last week. Philadelphia received a federal grant of $43.3 million and a surge of 3,000 federal agents. Police had erected metal barricades around the convention area, and heavily armed squads were stationed at subway stops and major streets. In order to avoid the bad publicity of the 2000 RNC in Philadelphia, when 400 people were arrested, the city council has made disorderly conduct a $100 fine instead of an arrestable offense. By Monday evening police had arrested 18 protesters and cited 55 more. The protests as a whole have been significantly larger than those at the Republican National Convention. While several hundred turned out in Cleveland to oppose the nomination of Donald Trump, thousands of Sanders supporters have come to the first two days of the Philadelphia convention. Inside the DNC, Sanders delegates booed when Sanders told them to support Hillary Clinton, and a similar mood reigned outside. The World Socialist Web Site spoke to dozens of protesters. The reporting team brought attention to the Socialist Equality Partys 2016 presidential campaign and distributed hundreds of copies of Jerry White's and Niles Niemuths election statement. Sanders supporters expressed a range of reactions to his endorsement of Clinton. Some hoped it was just a ploy and that he would show his real stance when he spoke at the convention. Others felt betrayed. Megan, who was wearing a T-Shirt that read Stop War, said, I feel that with Hillary in power we will be in perpetual warfare. [War] is a real profiteering enterprise for her and her supporters, most of them defense contractors, Wall Street guys, Saudi Arabia who all like war. Megan stated that Hillary would never be my candidate. Asked about the leaked DNC emails showing the campaign against Sanders, Megan said that they proved that there was a lot of collusion and corruption and absolute disdain for Bernie Sanders. She continued, They [the Democratic Party heads] dont want a change in regime, they want to keep the status quo, keep the rich rich, keep the poor poor. No matter what comes out of their mouth thats what they are going to continue to do. Speaking about the Obama administration she said, I remember hearing hope and change and all that in 2008, but I didnt see a whole lot of it! Yeah, we got the ACA [Affordable Care Act] passed, but it actually made a lot of peoples insurance rates go up. And I, as a self-employed person, was able to get health care, but Im paying an astronomical rate, over 500 dollars a month. When our reporter asked her about Sanders endorsement of Clinton, Megan said, Im really just flabbergasted. I am. I think that he feels that if Hillary isnt elected we will end up with Trump. But, Im thinking and wondering at this point, Who is worse? Who is more corrupt? The guy who just spouts off whatever he feels, whatever is in that tiny brain of his just comes out? Or the one who is working behind the scenes to screw us? And not really do what they say they do? Where does it end? The rich are getting richer, the middle class is becoming poor, and the poor are dying. Sierra said that Hillary cares about money and big politics. She is in cahoots with all those bad people. Her friend added, What we need to do is get rid of all those big corporations and [send back] all that money to the people who actually work for it. She [Clinton] tries to preach about all these problems, but she doesnt live through it and she cant relate. When asked about Sanders endorsement of Clinton, he said, Hes just doing what he is told to do with the hope that we still believe in him. He added, I hope that he stands up for himself. Liz told the WSWS, We want to see the DNC change. Its been undemocratic. Were not willing to vote for a criminal. Her friend stated, Its bigger than Watergate, but no one is talking about it. It shows a complete lack of empathy from the establishment for people living on the streets for the corrupt system that encourages poverty, that enslaves us in a system of corruption and immorality and prevents us from realizing our potential as a human being. The WSWS spoke to an intergenerational family. Trish said, Hillary is a warmonger. Thats all she cares about. Shes for intervention, and its not our business. I vote my conscience, I think Hillary Clinton is for the big banks and corporations, and she is just as bad as Trump. I think a vote for Hillary is a vote for Trump. Trump, hes destruction. Im not going to say that shes not better than Trump. She is better than Trump, but only in a way I think either way we are screwed, so whats the point? She said that she would vote for Jill Stein if Sanders was not placed on the ballot. When the WSWS reporter spoke to Trish and Roshell he explained the SEPs opposition to Bernie Sanders and its call to build an independent political party of the working class, the Socialist Equality Party. A trucker, Shannon emphatically joined the conversation, Yes, Yes. Without us [the working class] they [the ruling class] starve. Ive been a truck driver for 23 years; my last trip out was 52 days from home. This is my daughter [Trish] and this is my grandson. And 23 years I have watched Truckers get s--- on. Let me park my rig and my 4 million brethren shut our rigs off. Id like to see you get toilet paper. Id like to see you get a gallon of gas Everything you touch in life comes from us. The backbone of America is the workingman, Shannon stated. The WSWS reporter added that internationally workers were the backbone of society. Shannon replied emphatically, Yes, yes, we have a shared common interest. Public recriminations broke out in the Australian Greens last weekend, worsening an ongoing faction fight that has been intensified by the partys losses in the July 2 election. Founding party leader Bob Brown bluntly intervened, calling for the removal of the Greens executive in the state of New South Wales. The federal election marked a further disintegration of support for the major parties of the political establishment, including the Greens. There is deep-rooted hostility to the pro-business and austerity program pursued by successive governments, including the current Liberal-National Coalition and the previous Greens-backed Labor administration. This was most evident in the Senate, the upper house, where a record 26 percent of the vote went to parties other than Labor, the Coalition and the Greens. For the Greens, the election was a particular disaster. The results confirmed the damage done to the partys credibility, especially among young people, by its partnership in the 20102013 Labor government. The Greens propped up that government as it began the dismantling of welfare entitlements (victimising sole parents and disabled workers in particular), consigned refugees to indefinite detention on remote islands and lined up behind the Obama administrations pivot to Asia to confront and prepare for war against China. Not only did the Greens fail to increase their representation of one seat in the House of Representatives. In the Senate, their vote dropped to 8.5 percent, well below the peak of 13.1 percent recorded in 2010. While the Senate counting is still continuing, the Greens have lost at least one of their ten seats, and may end up losing three. Anxious to paper over their crisis, the Greens have maintained that their election campaign was an achievementa July 24 national council resolution called it an overall success. Nevertheless, party leader Senator Richard Di Natale told the Australian on July 14 that the partys result in the Senate might have suffered because voters now perceive us as a major party. Interviewed by the Guardian on July 23, Brown threw his weight behind Di Natale. Installed a year ago, Di Natale has taken the party explicitly in the direction of seeking to enter a government with Labor, or the Coalition, touting his partys ability to stabilise the parliamentary system in the face of the rising disaffection. Di Natale spearheaded an election campaign that devoted most of the Greens financial resources and manpower to seats in wealthy and upper middle-class areas, especially in inner Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria. This direction was clearly endorsed by Brown, a Tasmanian conservationist who led the Greens national formation in 1992. Brown blamed the partys NSW branch executive for the partys poor election performance. He told the Guardian: They need to give way to modern young people, including young people in professions like business and law who are keen on changing society for the better. Brown was speaking for the well-off layers of professionals, business owners and clean energy entrepreneurs who increasingly constitute the Greens social base. He added: The world view in NSW from the Greens has been far too negative. The feeling there is that were fighting off something rather than fighting our way into achieving. These words were directed against a so-called left grouping within the Greens, centred in NSW, personified by Senator Lee Rhiannon, a former member of the Socialist Party of Australia, which was aligned with the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union. In particular, Brown said, the NSW Greens needed to take a good, hard look at what went wrong in Grayndler, an inner-Sydney seat. There the Greens candidate was Jim Casey, a trade union bureaucrat and former member of the pseudo-left International Socialist Organisation. Labors incumbent in the seat, former deputy prime minister Anthony Albanese, redbaited Casey as a Trotskyite. According to a Greens strategist, cited by the Guardian, Casey did not do enough to distance himself from his socialist history. Neither side in this conflict has any fundamental difference with the Greens orientation to operating as a linchpin of the parliamentary set-up, based on a program that defends corporate profit and supports US militarism against China. Both Brown and Rhiannon were enthusiastic participants in the 201013 partnership with the Labor government, which was struck under Browns leadership. That government agreed to the stationing of US Marines in Australia, stepped-up use of Australian naval and air bases by US forces and closer integration of the Australian military into the American war machine. What is preoccupying the left faction of the Greens, however, is how to prevent the partys right-wing and pro-war trajectory from cutting across their efforts to present the Greens as a progressive alternative to head off a political radicalisation among workers and young people. Responding to Browns attack, Rhiannon told the Guardian: Candidates right across Greens NSW are involved in extra-parliamentary protests, campaigns and movements. It is the foundation of our party and we make no apology for that. Likewise, Casey told the Guardian the Greens needed to push a narrative about economic justice, declaring: I do think the future for the Greens lies in nailing that. We have good policies on economic issues but we dont lead with them. By good policies, the Greens mean limited measures, such as clampdowns on foreign corporate tax evasion, to provide an appearance of moderating the ever-more glaring inequality of income and wealth, while defending the underlying profit system that is driving the stark social divide. The Greens pre-selection of Casey was a deliberate move to utilise the services of the pseudo-left organisations, such as Socialist Alliance and Socialist Alternative, with whom layers of the Greens leadership maintain close ties. Along with sections of the trade unions, these groups promote the Greens, a capitalist party, as a supposedly progressive formation. During the election campaign, Rhiannon and Casey maintained a political division of labour with the national party leadership. While Di Natale signalled the Greens pro-business program to the ruling elite, supporters of the Rhiannon wing sought to exploit widespread concern, especially among young people, with the prevailing program of austerity, militarism, abuse of refugees and attacks on basic democratic rights. That division of labour is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain. While the most immediate beneficiaries on July 2 of the disaffection with the traditional parties of the ruling elite were primarily right-wing populists, the layers around Rhiannon and Casey are conscious of the developments throughout Europe and the United States, which have seen the rise of left-populist politicians, including the self-proclaimed democratic socialist Bernie Sanders in the US and the supposed socialist Jeremy Corbyn in Britain. Last year, at a meeting jointly sponsored by Socialist Alliance, Rhiannon spoke of the Greens providing a focus for a Syriza-style regroupment. The Greek working class was utterly betrayed by Syrizas "radical left government, which has imposed all the austerity measures dictated by the financial markets. Despite this bitter experience undercutting any credibility of such a formation, Rhiannon and her supporters are desperate to maintain their own pretensions to be activists committed to social and economic justice. They are seeking to play a similar role as Syriza in blocking a conscious challenge to capitalism by workers and youth based on a socialist and internationalist program. The author also recommends: Grayndler candidate Jim Casey and the fake-left wing of the Greens [24 June 2016] On July 25, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte delivered his first State of the Nation Address to the opening of the Seventeenth Congress of the Philippines. His speech was a repugnant mixture of proposals to assist big business in the exploitation of cheap labor and repeated statements sanctioning the murder of alleged criminals. During his speech, Duterte announced that the government would begin a unilateral ceasefire in its conflict with the Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New Peoples Army (NPA) effective immediately. The CPPs front organizations staged a large rally outside the Philippine legislature in support of Dutertes agenda. Joma Sison, CPP founder and head, issued a statement welcoming Dutertes announcement of the ceasefire. The CPP, through the National Democratic Front (NDF), stated that it would reciprocate the ceasefire as soon as it had received the full text of the declaration. On the economic front, Duterte assured investors that he would continue and maintain current macroeconomic policies, and even do better. Former President Benigno Aquinos economic policies over the past six years followed the dictates of international finance capital to the letter, and were marked by austerity measures and the privatization of education and other public services. Duterte stated that he would continue these policies, but would improve upon them by lowering corporate income tax rates and relaxing bank secrecy laws. The Philippines has some of the strictest bank secrecy laws in the world, a residue of the martial law regime of Ferdinand Marcos which set up the regulations to hide stolen assets. Washington has long been demanding that Manila scrap these laws, which it sees as a hindrance to its neo-colonial machinations within the country. Bank secrecy laws were an impediment to the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2012, in which Washington played a key role in furtherance of its pivot to Asia (see: Further US involvement in Philippine constitutional crisis). These changes, Duterte claimed, would attract investment that would generate jobs that are suitable for the poor and less skilled members of the workforcethat is to say, his administration was aiming to expand low wage and sweatshop labor employment. He doubled down on this point, saying that he would carry out reforms to ensure competitiveness and promote ease of doing business to develop labor-intensive industries. The influential Makati Business Club (MBC) enthusiastically hailed Dutertes speech, announcing that they welcomed the Duterte administrations declaration of a unilateral cease-fire as well as its stance against criminality, drugs, and graft and corruption. The six years of the Aquino administration were marked by rising prices of basic goods and stagnant wages. The living conditions of ordinary Filipinos, the majority of whom already live in poverty, deteriorated considerably. This worsening poverty has seen a marked rise in reported crimes, but also carries with it the threat of struggles by the working class. Dutertes promises to drown alleged criminality and drugs in blood have been openly welcomed by the business community both locally and internationally. Since June 30, when Duterte took office, having issued repeated calls for the extra-judicial murder of alleged criminals, a bloody killing spree has been launched in the country. According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 364 people have been killed by police or vigilantes on allegations of being criminals or involved in the drug trade. An additional 54 people have been killed in the past 48 hours, averaging more than one state-sanctioned murder per hour. The overwhelming majority of those killed were deeply impoverished. Police have been responsible for more than half of the killings, while vigilante gangswho bind their victims in duct tape before shooting them and leave cardboard signs on the corpses announcing that the victim was a drug pusherhave been responsible for the rest. Over two-thirds of Dutertes speech, a full hour of his hour-and-half-long State of the Nation Address, was dedicated to unscripted, rambling, almost stream of consciousness asides, semi-incoherent and articulated largely in a vulgar street Tagalog. These were mainly dedicated to bullying the impoverished with threats of murder. The Inquirers body count since Duterte assumed office is maintained on a page entitled The Kill List. The page is headlined by a moving photograph of a weeping young woman cradling the barefoot body of her murdered husband, a pedicab driver. A piece of cardboard labeling him a pusher lies on the Manila street beside them. Duterte went out of his way to mock this image. To those of you who arent deaf, and who havent yet entered the drug trade, if you dont want to die, if you dont want to be hurt, dont rely on those priests and on human rights, they wont protect you from being killed. Dont do it. Your corpse will be sprawling and you will portrayed in a broadsheet like Mother Mary cradling the dead cadaver of Jesus Christ. He told the audience, I have to slaughter these idiots who are destroying my country and added I told the military if you see any [criminal], shoot them. Even if they surrender with a white flag. Thats just for war, not criminals. Shoot them. Show no mercy to them. With his vulgar, bullying language and his policy declarations, Duterte is working to build a fascist movement among the petty bourgeoisie and lumpen proletariat. Isidro Lapena, newly-appointed head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), announced that the government would be funding the creation of a nationwide Alsa Masa against drugs. Alsa Masa was a vicious anti-Communist death squad that emerged out of elements of the Communist Party in the mid-1980s when the CPP was carrying out a bloody internal purge. Alsa Masa terrorized the population by carrying out barbaric murders, torture, the mutilation of corpses and other unspeakable crimes. Ismael Sueno, head of Interior and Local Government, announced that the government would be creating a network of village-based spy groups. Dutertes policies have received the enthusiastic support of the Maoist CPP and its front organizations. BAYAN, the CPPs umbrella front group, staged a rally of nearly 40,000 people on the occasion of the State of the Nation Address. They bussed over 7,000 people in from the various provinces of the country. The State of the Nation rally is an annual tradition for the CPP. They invariably burn an effigy of the president. This year there was no effigy. They carried murals hailing the progressive agenda they claimed Duterte would adopt. Some of their banners read Support the Progressive Programs of Duterte. Not a single criticism was made. BAYAN invited Ronald dela Rosa, newly appointed Chief of Police, to speak at their rally. This man is directly overseeing Dutertes ongoing murder campaign. Dela Rosa was given the platform and microphone by BAYAN to address the crowd. Renato Reyes, head of BAYAN, posed for a smiling handshake photograph with dela Rosa for the press. The CPPs youth front, Anakbayan, issued a statement that welcomed President Rodrigo Dutertes first State of the Nation Address (SONA) as a breath of fresh air. After his speech, Duterte sent police forces to gather the leaders of BAYAN and other CPP groups to meet with him. They met with the president for over an hour and a half. The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) held well-attended meetings last weekend in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, the state capitals of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, where the party ran candidates in the July 2 federal elections. Entitled, The Australian election crisis and the way forward for the working class, the events were attended by high-school and university students, workers and retirees. For some it was their first party meeting, having come into contact with the SEP during the election through its street campaigns, social media or after receiving election literature in their mail boxes. The Sydney meeting was addressed by SEP national secretary James Cogan, one of the partys Senate candidates in NSW, and Oscar Grenfell, who contested the lower house seat of Grayndler. It was live-streamed with participants from different parts of Australia, as well as Britain, Germany, India, New Zealand, Vanuatu in the South Pacific and numerous American cities, including New York, Miami and Detroit. Nick Beams, a member of the WSWS international editorial board and the SEPs national committee, along with Will Fulgenzi, who ran for the House of Representatives seat of Wills, spoke at the Melbourne meeting. SEP Senate candidates Erin Cooke and Mike Head addressed the Brisbane meeting. Throughout its election campaign, the SEP sought to puncture the conspiracy of silence by the major parties and the media about the US drive to war against China. It also warned that after the election, the next government would launch a major assault on the conditions and basic rights of the working class. Developments in the weeks since the Australian federal election have vindicated that analysis. The election was a disaster for the Liberal-National Coalition government. It was returned with a paper-thin majority in the House of Representatives and has no majority in the Senate, where it confronts an increased number of so-called independent parties. At the same time, Labors vote was the second lowest since 1949, while the Greens failed to win any new seats in the lower house and their Senate vote declined. SEP speakers explained that the election outcome revealed the deep hostility of millions of ordinary people to the entire political establishment. It was another example of the global breakdown of the political mechanisms through which capitalism had functioned since World War II. Oscar Grenfell told the Sydney meeting that explosive political developments in Australia and internationally had underscored the SEPs analysis. He referred in particular to the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration decision on July 12, which rejected Chinese claims to large areas of the South China Sea. Grenfell warned that the US would use the decision to step up its military provocations against China and demand that countries like Australia intensify their involvement. Australias political establishment, Grenfell continued, was acutely conscious that it had no popular support for the austerity program being demanded by the banks and big business or for war against China. Growing layers of workers and young people are being radicalised The last 25 years of unending war and social retrogression have left their mark and many are searching for an alternative. That is why the election has been followed by denunciations of the population as ungovernable, the speaker said, pointing to the ominous post-election call by retail billionaire Gerry Harvey for a dictatorship in Australia. SEP national secretary James Cogan told the Sydney meeting that the political crisis confronting the Australian establishment was a manifestation of global processes. There is not a single nation-state on the planet that is not beset with external, foreign policy dilemmas and conflicts and explosive internal class and social antagonisms, he said. Cogan said US Vice President Joe Bidens declaration in Sydney last week that Australia and the US have each others backs and are bound by an alliance baptised in blood, was a chilling warning that US imperialism was stepping up its military confrontations with China. The speaker drew attention to a report this month by the US Center for Strategic and International Studies, entitled Chinas nuclear forces and weapons of mass destruction. Overseen by prominent strategic analyst Anthony Cordesman, the report claimed Beijing was expanding its nuclear capacity, implying that the US should take military action against China sooner rather than later. Cogan said that figures such as Cordesman had in recent years urged US authorities to think about the unthinkablethat is, to believe that Washington can win a nuclear war. Referring to the Australian election outcome, Cogan said: One of the most common terms used by establishment media commentators to describe the state of official Australian politics has been dysfunctional. By this they mean that the economic agenda of the dominant banks, corporations and the ultra-wealthy is being hindered by the inability of the major parties to secure clear majorities in the parliament. In other words, growing numbers of people will not vote for parties or policies they believe are against their interests. The conclusion of billionaire Gerry Harvey is therefore that democracy is not working We are not exaggerating when we point to the events in Turkey and ask, are the conditions in the UK, France, or Australia, so far removed from those which led to an attempted military coup in that country, which we now know was backed by sections of both the American and German imperialist establishments? Cogan explained that the SEPs election intervention was based on a thorough assessment of the state of world economy and world politics, and on the internationalist, socialist and anti-war perspective of the International Committee of the Fourth International, the world Trotskyist party. The tensions and conflicts between rival nation-states and social austerity attacks on the working class, Cogan stated, were the product of the global breakdown of the capitalist system. He said the SEP understood that this crisis, which was leading to imperialist war, was also propelling the international working class toward social revolution. Profound historical processes are at work that will generate tremendous political and social struggles in the period ahead, the speaker said. The fight that must be taken up by all politically conscious workers and youth is for an international anti-war movement based on the program of world socialist revolution. This is the political line which we will continue to patiently explain and which is the only way the working class can go forward. Cogan concluded by appealing to all those in attendance to join the SEP. Extended question-and-answer sessions followed the reports at each meeting. In Melbourne, there were questions on the Chinese governments activities in the South China Sea, discussion about Washingtons role in the failed Turkish coup and requests for more detail on the deepening political crisis in Australia. In Sydney, audience members asked a range of questions. A member of the live-stream audience from India asked whether there were links between the Greens in Australia and the US. Another wanted details on Get-Up, the pro-Labor electoral lobby group. An important question was asked about the relationship between the liquidation of the USSR in 1991 and the ongoing crisis of global capitalism. Another person asked whether China still retained elements of socialism and what the ICFIs position would be if war erupted against China. The meeting in Sydney was live-streamed on Facebook. The full reports by the speakers, as well as the question and answer session, can be viewed here. The author also recommends: Australian workers and youth voice their interest in SEPs perspective [26 July 2016] As Unifor negotiators and their management counterparts at the Detroit Three auto companies prepare to exchange contract proposals, financial and industry analysts continue to speculate over the automakers threats to shrink their footprint in Canada. Union and company bargaining teams are scheduled to exchange proposals on August 10 and 11. Between September 3 and 5, Unifor will choose a target company, either Ford, General Motors (GM) or Fiat Chrysler (FCA), to negotiate a deal that would set the pattern for the other companies. On September 19, the four-year labour contracts for 23,500 workers will expire. In particular, speculation on the precarious future of two GM plants in Oshawa, just outside of Toronto, Ontario, continues. Some 2,700 jobs there are at risk (as well as financing of an under-funded pension program) as GM seeks to reposition its global operations. The Consolidated Line, which currently produces the Chevrolet Equinox and has narrowly avoided closure on several occasions over the past decade, has no new product scheduled after 2017. The Flex Line plant, which produces the Buick Regal, Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac XTS, is also threatened. The Flex Line recently lost 1,000 jobs when Camaro production was switched to Lansing, Michigan late last year. Buick Regal production is slated to end in 2017. Poor selling Cadillacs could stop rolling off the line in 2018 and be moved to Germany. The Impala model is projected to be transferred to Hamtramck, Michigan by 2019. GM Canada President Stephen Carlisle has already stated that no decisions on the future of the companys Canadian plants will be taken until after the negotiation of the 2016 contract. Recent re-positioning of auto parts feeder plant arrangements, however, shows that GMs future plans are well advanced. For instance, Nemak, an aluminum engine component supplier in Windsor, Ontario which, among other products, makes engine block parts for GMs Cadillacs is shifting that production to Monterrey, Mexico. And last month the failure to renew a parts contract with a GM supplier in nearby Whitby that provides door and floor panels to Oshawa further stoked doubts about the companys plans for the area. More generally, under the terms of the 2010 $10 billion auto bailout agreement with GM, 16 percent of the companys North American production had to remain in Canada only until 2016. Carlisle has been quick to point out that the company has fulfilled that obligation and is no longer bound by the stipulation. Further influencing all of the Detroit Threes investment decisions are the terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal which, if ratified by the Canadian parliament and US Congress, will, after five years, end the current 6.1 percent tariff on Japanese auto imports. Corporate spokesmen for the other Detroit Three companies have similarly refused to discuss investment plans for Fords Windsor engine plant, which employs about 500 workers, and FCAs Brampton assembly facility, which has 3,300 workers. The transparent aim of the automakers and Unifor is to use the threat of massive job losses to extort concessions, pitting workers in Canada against their class brothers and sisters in the US, Mexico, Japan and other countries in a race to the bottom. At the same time, and in alliance with Unifor, the auto bosses seek to cajole a further round of cash grantswith no strings attachedfrom the federal and Ontario governments. What has been the response of Unifor and its president, Jerry Dias, to these developments? The upcoming negotiations are really going to be about the future of the industry in Canada, no question in my mind, said Dias. Ford has to come up with a solution for our Windsor plant, GM needs to come up with a solution for Oshawa and Chrysler needs to make a commitment to Brampton. ... For us our priorities clearly are going to be jobs. Declarations that job security is the top priority are simply coded language intended to convey to the auto bosses that Unifor is ready to push through continued wage restraint combined with cuts to benefits and working conditions. Faced with company threats of continued downsizing of auto assembly in Canada, union officials are signaling that they are once again open to negotiating miserable concession-filled contracts to fatten the profits of corporate shareholders. Dias has ostensibly drawn a line in the sand, particularly concerning the threatened Oshawa closures. Were going to have one heck of a fight with General Motors if theres no solution, he stated. Posing the possibility of strike action, he continued, Our union has nothing to lose. Im convinced that General Motors wants to close Oshawa and were not going to let them. Workers should put no store in Dias pronouncements. Since his ascension to the unions national office in 1993 and his subsequent elevation to senior assistant to then Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) president Buzz Hargrove in 2007, and then as right-hand man to his immediate predecessor Ken Lewenza, Dias has made a specialty of diffusing rank-and-file resistance to the predations of the auto bosses. During the crisis of the auto industry in the wake of the 2008-2009 global economic collapse, Dias was dispatched to several auto parts plants that had been occupied by laid-off workers in order to arrange for orderly shutdowns. Indeed, as he told the Globe and Mail in 2013, Ive probablyunfortunatelybargained more plant closings than anybody else in the country. In this regard, the closures of GMs Windsor Transmission and Oshawa Truck plants in 2008 offer particular instruction. In May of that year, GM announced it would axe 1,400 jobs and end its decades-long presence in Canadas Motor City in 2010. Hargrove, backed by Dias who had become a key adviser to the president, vowed that his union would not sign a new contract with GM unless it included new product and investment guarantees for its Canadian operations. The union, he said, was prepared to strike over the closure announcement. But only days later Hargrove, reflecting the traditional genuflection of the entire union bureaucracy to the dictates of the corporations, admitted that his threats were little more than bombast. You strike after something that is achievable, he told reporters. If we thought there was a product out there that we could strike and fight to win, then you bet your boots we would be striking over it. They informed us they have no product today and theyll have no product if we strike in September. You cant pull product out of thin air. Only a month later, GM announced the planned 2009 closure of its truck plant in Oshawa with the loss of 2,600 jobs. The announcement took place only weeks after the CAW had pushed through a concessions contract that supposedly promised continued production at the truck plant through the life of the new three-year deal. Immediately a veritable rank-and-file rebellion broke out on the shop floor with initial go-slows escalating into a march through the center of town by workers seething with anger and calling for strike action. Once again, the unions national office was mobilized to diffuse the crisis. Workers were ordered to cease any disruptions to production in favour of a publicity-stunt, faux blockade of GM headquarters. Shortly thereafter, even this milquetoast action was discontinued and an orderly shutdown of the plant negotiated after the company cited small clauses in the contract agreed to by the union that provided loopholes for plant closures. In the current run-up to the September contracts, Unifor officials are already bending over backwards to convince the auto executives that the union will do whatever it takes to reduce autoworkers wages and benefits to a level below those of workers south of the border in the United States. Union leaders have signaled that they are open to surrendering the last remnants of a watered-down pension plan for newly hired workers by extending concessions granted in 2013 at the GM CAMI assembly plant to all other facilities. The CAMI deal pushed all new employees into a wholly defined-contribution pension scheme. Currently, new hires in all other plants have a hybrid pension plan that relies heavily, but not entirely, on volatile investment schemes. Speaking like a labour contractor, Dias bragged last spring that about two-thirds of unionized workers at the Oshawa plants are eligible to retire under the provisions of the [current] Unifor contract with GM. This will save General Motors billions. Of course, the billions saved would be on the backs of the thousands of new hires who would enter the plants with not only massively compromised pension benefits, but significantly lower wage and benefit packages. Already, new hires at Ford Oakville and Brampton Chrysler make up substantial proportions of the work force. As Dias infamously went on to explain, If those (GM) workers retire, they can be replaced by newly hired employees who start at $20.50 per hour and whose wages wont rise to the full seniority level of $34 an hour until they have been there for 10 years. For Unifor, what is paramount in their calculations is not the well-being of the members they claim to represent, but the maintenance of a lucrative dues base that funds their six-figure salaries, perks and expense accounts. Unifor is already preparing itself for a fight with rank-and-file workers over the eventual contract ratification votes this fall. Under conditions where the Detroit Three have made big profits over the past five years based on a series of giveback contracts signed by Unifor and the United Auto Workers in the US, autoworkers are looking for an end to concessions. Canadian workers were inspired by the massive rank-and-file revolt in the UAW south of the border last year when workers at Fiat Chrysler initially voted down the concessions deal offered to them, followed by a rejection of the GM contract by the skilled trades section and then a narrow acceptance vote at Ford amid credible charges of union-orchestrated vote fraud. Dias told reporters that the UAW was slow to react to an aggressive social media campaign instigated by workers opposed to the sell-out deals. While not naming his nemesis, Dias like his bureaucratic counterparts in the US, means the World Socialist Web Site and its Autoworker New s letter, which was widely circulated by autoworkers and became the center of rank-and-file opposition. Reassuring the auto executives and the corporate-controlled media that Unifor is determined to try to counteract any similar campaign in Canada, Dias said, We have got to be active on social media. Canadian autoworkers will no doubt resist the conspiratorial plans of Unifor and the auto bosses to impose ever more hardships on them. But workers need to draw the lessons of the recent US contract struggle, and more generally of the transformation of the unions internationally into corporatist appendages of big business. A fight to defend jobs and living standards requires the formation of rank-and-file factory committees to unite autoworkers, not only across auto plants in Canada, but also in the US and internationally in a common struggle against the corporations, the big business parties and the capitalist system, which is impoverishing the vast majority of humanity for the benefit of the already super-rich few. We encourage readers of the World Socialist Web Site and the Autoworker Newsletter in the plants to step up their efforts to build resistance and to share information and their comments with us for dissemination among autoworkers throughout North America and the world. Less than two months after the Communications Workers of America (CWA) sold out the 45-day strike by 39,000 workers, Verizon has announced a deal to purchase Internet company Yahoo Inc. for $4.8 billion. Verizon will pay out another $1.1 billion to cash out Yahoos restricted stock. The acquisition of Yahoo, which still requires approval from federal regulators, follows Verizons purchase of online service provider AOL last year for $4.4 billion. Yahoo will now be combined with AOL, creating the third-largest digital advertising company after Google and Facebook. As part of the agreement, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer could net a $55 million severance package. The multi-billion-dollar deal for Yahoo follows by less than six weeks the ratification of the contract settlement between Verizon and the CWA, which was brokered by Obamas Labor Department. The CWA ended the walkout on the basis of a sellout agreement that included a totally inadequate 10.9 percent pay increase over four years and imposed hundreds of millions of dollars in additional health care costs onto workers. While the CWA claimed at the time of the contract ratification that it had extracted every dime it could from management, the Yahoo deal demonstrates Verizon has cash to burn. It won a five-month bidding war for Yahoo against other wealthy investors, including rival AT&T and a consortium led by Quicken Loan founder Dan Gilbert and a number of private equity firms. The Yahoo deal further demonstrates the absolute subservience of the CWA to Verizon management. While shifting hundreds of millions of health care costs onto the shoulders of workers the recent contract settlement will allow management to streamline its operations as it prepares to shed its landline business and focus on more profitable sectors. Verizon workers and retirees contacted by the World Socialist Web Site expressed anger over the companys multi-billion payout for Yahoo under conditions where they are facing cuts. A Verizon retiree from Pennsylvania said, What I am upset about is they are selling off their landline business and that money is going to buy Yahoo. It is spiraling down. They are taking the employees and the retirees down. They have increased the number of top level executives and they are getting paid all that big money and they are taking it from us. Wall Street sets the agenda. Corporate executives look out for each other. The worker said that since the ratification of the contract more information has come to light about the concessions contained in the agreement. They told the retirees there would be no additional costs. But instead they upped the deductibles. Doctor visits used to be paid at 70 percent. Now that is down to 50 percent. We are paying higher deductibles and getting fewer services. This all went into effect July 17. I am really disgusted. This has got to stop. A Verizon worker from New York with 28 years on the job said, It sounds like they kept us out on strike for seven weeks so they could save money. She spoke about the situation since the end of the strike. They have been pushing older workers out. I think thats the plan. Verizon doesnt care about us anymore. They care about the money. A veteran Verizon worker from New York City told the WSWS, The company has plenty of money. It seems to really stand out considering the company was demanding cost savings on health care. They have deep pockets. They always have. It demonstrates the complicity of the union. We have still not seen the contract. The lies of the CWA are now starting to wear thin. Many workers were hopeful that it would turn out to be a good contract. Those hopes are being dashed. It is clear we gained nothing from the strike. Workers were fired during the strike for hate speech and still havent been brought back. Union officials are going around collecting money to assist them with expenses. Why are they putting this on us when the CWA has hundreds of millions in their defense fund? Workers are angry about that. I think they are planning to drop their whole wireline operation. They are trying to monopolize control of the Internet while they are allowing their landline business to deteriorate. Even their cell phone coverage is spotty in some areas of the state. The Yahoo deal further confirms the assessment made by the WSWS Verizon Strike Newsletter about the rotten character of the contract settlement. Indeed, in the wake of the strike Verizon executives openly gloated over the huge cost savings and flexibility it achieved through the sellout agreement. At every step of the way in the contract negotiations the CWA worked to put maximum pressure on the workers and minimum pressure on management. It waited eight months to call a strike to give Verizon plenty of time to prepare its strikebreaking plans. When it did call a strike it kept workers isolated, extending the contract of AT&T West and other telecom workers while Verizon workers struck. The CWA subordinated the entire conduct of the strike to maneuvers with Democratic politicians and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, even waiting to launch the walkout to coincide with the New York state Democratic Party primary. The CWA endorsement of Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, was aimed at giving the union bureaucracy a left cover while trapping workers within the pro-corporate Democratic Party. As the WSWS warned, Sanders then threw his support behind Hillary Clinton, a tool of Wall Street and corporations like Verizon. As for the other Democratic allies of the Verizon workers, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio showed his true colors by mobilizing hundreds of police to protect strikebreakers. Later, the Obama administration intervened in support of an injunction barring the picketing of hotels housing scabs. US Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez then stepped in to convene closed-door talks aimed at shutting down the strike before it became a rallying point for a far wider struggle of the working class against wage stagnation and Obamas policy of shifting health and pension costs onto the backs of workers. Meanwhile, some 16,000 AT&T West workers are still without a contract more than three months after the expiration of their previous agreement. Latin America Colombian truckers end 45-day strike, sign accord with government Colombian truckers and government representatives signed an agreement July 22 ending 45 days of strikes, protests and blockades that saw one person killed, scores of trucks impounded and the revocations of over 13,000 truckers licenses. The truckers struck in early June over a number of issues, including the prices of toll road access and fuel and cargo rates. A prime target of the industrial action was the governments discontinuation of a program for scrapping old vehicles. This issue was extremely important to the truckers, since there is a glut of trucks in Colombia, and many trucks operate illegally, skirting regulations and undercutting the earnings of registered truckers. The government had originally been adamant about refusing to meet with the truckers as long as the strike was in effect, but later agreed to negotiate as the economy, especially the coffee export sector, were affected. Fuel and food shortages also pushed the government to concede to negotiations. During the strike, some truckers used their vehicles to block major highways, leading to confrontations with police and one death. The deal, described as realistic and fair by President Juan Manuel Santos, only addressed two of the truckers demandscargo rates and scrapping of old trucksleaving open toll road and fuel costs. In announcing the accord, Transport Minister Jorge Eduardo Rojas said, Investigations and trials will continue so those responsible [for blockades and government-defined violence] are rightly sanctioned. The truckers union president told reporters that the accord satisfied the needs of the trucking sector. 72-hour strike by Panamanian teachers for wage raise, investment in education Public school teachers in Panama began a 72-hour strike July 18 to demand improvements in their salaries. The government has offered a raise of US$150 per month beginning May 2017 and US$150 for May 2018. The teachers union is calling for US$300 for 2017 and 2020, per a decree that had been signed into law by previous president Ricardo Martinelli. The government announced that it would suspend negotiations until teachers returned to work. The government has also declared that it would pay a recognition bonus to teachers who scabbed. In the face of threats to investigate teachers who strike, teachers marched to the comptrollers office on July 19 to demand that the constitutional right to strike be respected. The secretary of the Panama Professors Association called the bonus vulgar blackmail, an act of corruption, especially since there are teachers who have not been paid for eight fortnights. The teachers also demanded that the budget for education be increased from 4.6 to 6 percent of the gross domestic product, as established by law in 1995, but never implemented. Over 90 percent of public schools are in terrible condition: classrooms, walls, bathrooms, chairs and laboratories are all in need of repair and refurbishing. Faced with government intransigence, the union made the strike indefinite on July 23. Mexican teachers and supporters protest education reform Hundreds of teachers and their supporters in Morelia, capital of the Mexican state of Michoacan, engaged in protests against the right-wing education reforms of president Enrique Pena Nieto last week. Most of the schools in Michoacan have been closed since the teachers began a strike May 16. On July 21, the teachers, who are members of the CNTE federation, along with their supporters, blocked freight rails with boulders, tree trunks and other debris. The action followed the commandeering of over 140 buses and trucks by student supporters earlier in the week. The next day, over 500 residents of surrounding villages and towns, accompanied by normalistas (teaching students), marched with machetes and sticks from the citys Lazaro Cardenas Monument to the Government Palace to support the teachers and demand automatic jobs for graduating normalistas . The protesters have set up an encampment across from the palace. The Michoacan branch of the CNTE says that the educators will return to work if the state government rescinds its threat to fire over 1,600 teachers who have been involved in strikes and protests. Trinidadian farmworkers hold protest over back pay, working conditions A month after protesting their deplorable working conditions in front of Trinidad and Tobagos Agricultural Ministry, workers for the Mora Valley Farm held another demonstration July 18. In the June 14 action, protesters listed a number of issues: no raise since 2007 for workers; no improvements in retired workers pensions; the nonpayment of promised back pay and vacation leave; electricity failures; and safety and health problems. They also denounced the neglect of over 1,000 head of Buffalypso, water buffalo imported from India and selectively bred for beef and milk production. During a dry spell in June, 100 Buffalypso died, when the average of deaths per previous years had been five. The ministry had promised to make changes that did not materialize, according to Nirvan Maharaj, leader of the All Trinidad General Workers Trade Union (ATGWTU). Maharaj accused the ministry of turning a blind eye to their concerns. He also called for more security, citing the example of a man who entered the farm and threatened the manager with a cutlass. Antigua and Barbuda: Teachers petition union to oppose secondary school conversion plan Teachers in the Antigua & Barbuda Union of Teachers (A&BUT) have submitted a petition to the union to support their opposition to the planned transformation of the Five Islands secondary school into a university. The planned change, which has been financed with help from the Chinese government, would exacerbate already crowded conditions at the remaining secondary schools, according to the National Parents Teachers Association (NPTA). The A&BUT has said that it supports the facility remaining as a secondary school, but that the union cannot dictate government policy. A teacher, Diana Edwards Martin, had moved a resolution in May at the unions general conference, but it was rejected. The dissident teachers announced July 20 that they would submit two documents as well as a petition, which has around 100 teachers signatures, to the A&BUT urging it to have a special meeting over the issue. Edwards Martin told the Antigua Observer that once the documents are handed over to the A&BUT, we expect them to move on our behalf, and that the teachers will take things into their hands if the union decides against industrial action. The United States Groundskeepers at Arlington National Cemetery strike for better pay and sick leave Some 30 groundskeepers at Arlington National Cemetery went on strike July 19 to demand wage increases and paid sick leave. The workers are members of the Laborers International Union and work for two contractors, Davey Tree Expert Company and Greenleaf Services, Inc. Workers are currently making only $13 an hour and are only asking for a 4 percent pay increase. Davey Tree originally held the contract for Arlington Cemetery, but now it functions as a subcontractor to Greenleaf Services who obtained the contract in 2014. Workers for Davey Tree receive a 401(k) plan and mediocre health care. Greenleaf offers no benefits to their workers. And neither offer any paid sick leave, which is a major gripe workers have with the companies. The Laborers Union is asking that the companies honor the presidential mandate that federal contractors offer a minimum seven days paid sick leave. The proposal is scheduled to go into effect September 30, 2016. One day after workers walked off the job, Greenleaf offered to concede to workers a mere one day of paid sick leave. Workers strike Miami International Airport over low wages and working conditions Contract workers at Miami International Airport held a one-day strike July 21 to protest low pay and dangerous working conditions. The workers are currently seeking union recognition through the Service Employees International Union from contractors Triangle Services, Eulen America and Ultra Aviation, which provide service for Delta, American Airlines and LATAM. Ramp worker Marshall Rodriguez told WLRN Public Radio, Theyre treating us like dogs, really. Last month, airport workers testified about sweatshop conditions at the airport before the Miami Dade County Trade and Tourism Committee. Among the complaints were irregular hours, a failure to pay overtime and intimidation over organizing. Poor working conditions included exposure to extremely high levels of carbon monoxide, airport vehicles in dangerous disrepair with faulty breaks, broken headlights and bald tires, along with a lack of clean drinking water and access to restrooms. Canada Administrative staff strike BC nurses union After they were locked out by the British Columbia Nurses Union (BCNU) on Friday in Burnaby, British Columbia, near Vancouver, support staff immediately went out on strike. According to negotiators for the union MoveUP that represents staff, ironically the Nurses Union is trying to cut sick and medical leave and this remains the main area of dispute. Negotiators for BCNU say that the appointment leave benefit is out of control because too many of its staff are taking time off work for medical appointments. BCNU lifted the lockout Friday morning, at which point their staff walked off the jobhaving worked without a contract since the end of 2015. Youth service workers to strike in Manitoba Workers at the government-funded agency Macdonald Youth Services (MYS) in Winnipeg, Manitoba, could be off the job as early as August 1 after their union, the Manitoba Government and General Employees Union (MGEU/NUPGE), delivered strike notice last week. The union is asking the Provincial Conservatives to honor a promised wage increase of 2 percent over four years made by the previous NDP government, but the government has said that such promises were irresponsible. The 26 workers at the center provide care and services for disadvantaged and at risk youth. Workers at MYS have been without a contract since March of 2014. Union leaders say in the event of a work stoppage, some workers will remain on the job to provide essential services. Heavy rains and excessive heat might have caused problems for Wisconsin residents last week but it was just what the state's crops needed, officials said. The weekly crop progress report for the week ending July 24 said the rains, heat and humidity resulted in a "burst of growth" for the corn and soybean crops thriving in the greenhouse-like atmosphere. The report comes from the USDA National Agriculture Statistics Service. "Everything looks excellent," a Shawano County report said. "It is like a natural greenhouse for the crops the last few weeks." The timing of rain, coupled with plenty of heat and sun, is just the ticket for growers. "The rains keep coming in perfect amounts, a half-inch to an inch at a time, a couple times a week for the past month," a Portage/Wood County report said. "It's a little hard to make dry hay, but the rest of the crops overall are very, very good for what is normally the hottest, driest time of the year." There were a few negatives farmers had to contend with during the week, with the heavy storms knocking down some fields and structures, cut hay being slow to dry and livestock showing signs of stress. The progress report showed all of the state's major crops were ahead of last year and most ahead of the five-year average. Corn silking was 64 percent complete, more than 30 points better than a week earlier, and the crop was rated 86 percent good to excellent. Oats were 87 percent coloring and 17 percent harvested, with the crop rated 86 percent good to excellent. Soybeans were 86 percent blooming and 44 percent setting pods, with the crop rated 86 percent good to excellent. The second cutting of alfalfa hay was 92 percent complete and the third cutting was 31 percent complete, with all hay rated 89 percent good to excellent. Winter wheat was 45 percent harvested, with the crop rated 88 percent good to excellent. Potatoes were three percent harvested, with the crop rated 94 percent good to excellent. Soil moisture was in good shape, with topsoil at 94 percent adequate or surplus and subsoil at 91 percent adequate or surplus. "The crops are looking great!," a Barron County report said. A growing number of pilots in Europe are compelled to accept short-term contracts, sham self-employment and insecure employment relations. This has been brought to light by an investigation into Ryanair pilots by the state prosecutor in Koblenz, Germany. In early July, the tax collector of the finance controller for sham self-employment (FSK) searched several private rooms of Ryanair pilots suspected of tax evasion. In the course of this, the insecure employment relations to which airline captains are subjected became public. It was revealed that many pilots are not even employed by the budget airline based in Dublin, but rather hired out to Ryanair by a British human resources firm. Some are considered self-employed and are supplied to the employer by a firm acting as middleman. Depending upon the location of their employer or home city, they must pay taxes in one or another location. Often, the pilots are unaware whether they are complying correctly with tax law. The insecure employment relations brought to light in this case do not merely affect Ryanair pilots. As research by the University of Ghent shows, 16 percent of pilots in Europe currently work in so-called atypical employment relations. They are no longer permanently hired by an airline, but often only have temporary contracts. More than one third of those working under precarious conditions are employed through a job agency. The study was conducted by the faculty of social law at the University of Ghent. In the autumn of 2014, the university questioned pilots online and then developed case studies in 11 European countries. A total of 6,633 pilots participated in the survey, more than 10 percent of pilots flying in Europe, thus making it a representative sample. It is stated in the study: Employers are increasingly resorting to the phenomena of outsourcing and downsizing. The labour market is increasingly characterised by atypical employment relations, including sham self-employment, encouraging a wide variety of types of employment relations. According to the study, 84 percent of pilots in atypical employment relations work for low-cost airlines. These include, apart from Ryanair, Air Berlin Group, Openskys, XL-Airways, Norwegian, Sunexpress, and Wizz Air. Many young pilots in the 20s and 30s age group are employed there. In this age group, the level of those in insecure employment is close to 40 percent. The study shows that young pilots today are subjected to far worse conditions than their older colleagues. Most pilots questioned in the Gent study were in the 30-to-50 age group, and only a little over 3 percent had reached age 60. This shows that, thus far, older pilots had the option of stopping work early and making use of transfer programmes into retirement. The atypical employment relations have grave consequences, not only for the conditions for pilots, but also for flight safety. Pilots are no longer paid a lump sum, such as with a fixed monthly salary, holiday and Christmas bonuses and regulated sick pay under a collective agreement. Instead, they are given temporary contracts and paid per hour. Even worse: whoever is considered self-employed is generally only paid for flying hours. In a series about changed conditions for trainee pilots, the web site airliner.de reported on a conference at the private EUBF college in Bad Honnef. The subject of the seminar was the influence of changed airline business models on becoming and being a pilot. This report confirms that in the commercial airline industry, a fundamental paradigm shift has taken place. In the 1980s, public air transport was largely dominated by state-owned airlines. A strict selection process was in place for pilots, and whoever made it to flight school could look ahead to a bright future (according to airliner.de). Company internal training and permanent employment until reaching the age of 55, during the active employment period, generous benefits in line with a closely-regulated career pathway from flight school pupil to captain, subsequently more than adequate transitional provisions until the state pension age was reached, and finally a right to a pension at a comparatively high level. By contrast, pilots must now pay for their own training and can only dream of retiring at 55. In Germany, training can cost up to 100,000. While the practical training in the cockpit or the achievement of the required 100 hours can only be obtained at an airline, the theoretical courses and flight simulator training are offered by independent flying schools. Germanys Lufthansa has also outsourced its pilot training to an independent company. There is no longer any guarantee of employment at Lufthansa with this training. Future airline captains must also self-finance their training here, which is no longer professional training but securing a licence, comparable with a truck licence for which everyone must pay for themselves. The employer or airline generally assume responsibility for the cost of the practical section of the training, if the pilot commits to remain with the airline for a fixed period of time. The so-called pay-to-fly contracts are particularly notorious, under which pilots pay an airline to complete a specified number of flying hours in the cockpit of their aircraft before the pilot even has a chance of being hired. At Ryanair, Air Baltic and Croatia, a future pilot must pay more than 20,000 for this. In the Airliner report, it is stated that the training conditions for new pilots forms a set-up which increasingly ends in tragedy. In Germany, there is currently a pilot surplus of 50 percent, and 10 percent of trained pilots are officially unemployed. While the hourly pay for pilots in the cockpit has been increased within the European Union (EU), unemployed colleagues lose their skills and competencies over time, because they are not permitted to fly. At the same time, they carry a massive mountain of debt, while having no other qualification that would provide them access to the job market. The advance of insecure employment relations in the cockpit at European airlines also has a devastating impact upon airline safety. This ultimately has consequences for the cabin crews, passengers and society as a whole. An important part of flight safety is that the captain has the final say on board. In its study, the University of Ghent asked pilots if they had the opportunity to change the orders of their airline if they had reasonable objections. Many pilots employed under precarious arrangements acknowledged they were not in a position to do so because they would have to fear for their job. Even the question of how much fuel should be available for a particular trip could result in dangerous controversies. If I want to keep my job, I say absolutely nothing, a pilot told the Ghent researchers. They also reported on another pilot who wanted to check the luggage in the hold of his aircraft, but was prevented from doing so by logistics. When he ordered the cases to be offloaded, he subsequently lost his job. These problems do not only confront pilots at budget airlines. Pilots at Lufthansa are ultimately faced with the same attacks. They have conducted 13 strikes over recent years in opposition to the companys attacks on their pensions and retirement transition payments, and the conditions for new starts. But nothing was achieved in the end. An agreement between Lufthansa and the Cockpit trade union is expected in the coming days or weeks, and it appears as though it will not differ fundamentally from the deals signed already by Verdi and the UFO union. These deals gave up important achievements previously won by workers. The Cockpit union responded extremely defensively to the searching of the pilots homes by the state prosecutor in Koblenz. Its vice president, Martin Locher, meekly called upon the airline to give up the dubious business practices, and offer their employees normal market employment conditions. Ryanair then arrogantly responded that it was ready and willing to cooperate with the German authorities, and urged its pilots, whether self-employed or working for the company, that they always comply with the relevant tax obligations. The working conditions for airline captains have been totally transformed over the past 30 years. In the context of globalisation, state airlines have been privatised, and charter and budget airlines emerged. The nationalist perspective of the trade unions has proven to be utterly bankrupt in the face of this development. They have lined up with the airline companies and cooperated in organising the attacks on working conditions. Along with pilots, cabin crew, ground staff and their colleagues throughout the world are subject to the same attacks. They must unite their struggles and require a new perspective, which is anti-capitalist, socialist and internationalist, to do so. Tallahassee, Fla. (WTXL)--Another voting message ahead of this year's elections. Disability Rights Florida are urging people with disabilities to vote through the Access The Vote campaign. The campaign is just how it sounds; all about access. Disability Rights Florida teamed up with the Leon County Elections office to discuss their push on Tuesday. The overall goal of the campaign is to engage more Floridians with disabilities in the voting process by developing useful resources to educate the public. That's where the newly launched website "Access the Vote" comes into play. It's divided into two sections "not registered to vote" and "registered voters". The reason behind that is so that there's customized information for each audience. The website also allows those with disabilities the opportunity to easily access the information that they need to get to the polls. Those behind the push says this is important because persons with disabilities deserve to have a voice in the upcoming election. TALLAHASSEE Fla.-- Ms. Wheelchair Florida visited Cascades Park to commemorate the 26th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act Tuesday morning. Heather Taylor, Ms. Wheelchair Florida 2016, is on a 10-day tour of the state to advocate for people with disabilities. Her last stop was in Tallahassee where the City and Leon County, in coordination with the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, welcomed her with a tour of Cascades Park. Taylor says she is traveling all around the sunshine state, with hopes of continuing efforts to make Florida a fully inclusive state. "This has allowed me to be a literal Roll Model, R-O-L-L model, there are young girls all the way up to full grown women that experience depression or some hopelessness because they're in a wheelchair," Taylor said "They feel confined, and what I'm trying to show them is that you don't have limitations, your four walls of your house, you can stay there or you can chose to soar above the clouds the sky's not even the limit." City leaders say when Cascades Park was being built, they ensured the facility met all ADA requirements, and could be enjoyed by all visitors to Tallahassee. More information on Ms. Wheelchair Florida can be found on her Facebook page. You are the owner of this article. Joe Blodgett, Hatchery Manager, weighs a steelhead kelt at the Prosser Hatchery in Prosser, Wash. on Oct. 23, 2013. Steelheads are kept at the hatchery afer they spawn so that they can build up their weight before being released to spawn again. (KAITLYN BERNAUER/Yakima Herald-Republic file) The Yakima County Commission has scheduled a public meeting for Aug. 1 to debate whether to crack down on marijuana businesses operating in un Jan Bussert, president of the state Nurses Association, speaks at a the rally at Milroy Park in Yakima, Wash. on July 25, 2016. (WILL McDONALD / Yakima Herald-Republic) This form contained incorrect language that reduced the length of community custody given to certain sex offenders in Washington state. (From state Administrative Office of the Courts) A court form for the Special Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative (SSOSA) program, which is designed to lower the chance for a repeat crime by certain first-time felony sex offenders considered a low risk to the community. If you are sending a Letter To the Editor, please be sure to follow these rules: Letters have a firm 200-word limit and will be edited for grammar, clarity and accuracy. The person who signs the letter must be the author. Anonymous letters will not be considered. Letters must address the editor, not a third party. We will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poetry, open letters, letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer. The Yakima Herald-Republic cannot verify the accuracy of all statements made in letters. Writers are limited to one published letter per calendar month. Two formative events are expected to soon take place in internal Palestinian politics, both of which are connected to Hamas. The first event is the municipal and local Palestinian Authority (PA) elections, which are expected to take place in October. The second are the internal Hamas elections, which will occur at the end of this year and determine the new political leadership. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Local Elections The last time local elections were held in the areas the PA controlled was at the end of 2012. The split between Hamas and Fatahand subsequent suspicion which followedhave led to elections in the Gaza Strip not being permitted. In addition, Hamas boycotted the elections in the Strip, didn't provide a list of people who affiliate themselves with the organization, and called on people not to vote. This boycott created a situation wherein members of Fatah were running against one another in the elections, almost guaranteeing that Fatah would win control of the local councils and municipalities. However, Hamas surprised everyone last week by suddenly allowing the elections for the purpose of determining the will of the people. The Islamist movement stressed the importance of equal opportunity, fairness, and respect for the election results. Hamas is having internal elections. (Photo: Reuters) Several days later, Hamas announced that it will indeed be running in the elections, but the name of the party on the ballots will be the "National Technocrat Party." The Technocrat Party list will be the exact same as the Hamas party list, but with no mention of the name Hamas. Responses to this dramatic Hamas statement were soon in coming; the head of the Central Elections Committee, which is located in Ramallah, went to Gaza to meet with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and discuss how the elections will be conducted in Gaza. While the PA did in fact send a warm message welcoming the Hamas decision, behind closed doors, eyebrows were being raised at the surprising Hamas about-face. There are a wide range of reasons for Hamas's decision to participate in the elections. The organization is closely following the poll numbers being released in the West Bank which show the loathing which the Palestinian public has for the PA and the lack of a real democratic process. Hamas has also noted some successes in the student elections in Palestinian universities across the West Bank over the past several months, including at Birzeit University and the Palestine Polytechnic University in Hebron, considered to the most prestigious Palestinian universities. Hamas police (Photo: Reuters) Hamas feels that they have the momentum in the West Bank and that there is no better experiment to test how much support the organization has in the West Bank than by participating in the municipal and local elections However, the PA is worried following Hamas as it builds up its list for the elections. It's possible that various legal mechanisms will be used to try to disrupt Hamas, alongside the hope that the Israeli security apparatus will keep Hamas from raising its head too high. Internal Elections Hamas is moving on two parallel tracks both internally and externally. Internally, elections are to be held which will determine who will lead the organization for the next four years. The newspaper Rai al-Youm exposed the fact that Khaled Mashal has decided to not run for re-election as chairman of the Hamas Politic Bureau. However, he has yet announced this officially. Mashal's position was almost undisputed in the organization, but his power was weakened following Operation Protective Edge and due to disagreements about managing the battle between the "external" leadership and the "internal" leadership. Mashal's signals that he isn't finished necessarily in opening up the race to the men who will replace him as leader of the organization. (Ge announced in 2012 that he wouldn't run in the elections, but changed his mind at the last minute and won.) Hamas has so far pointed out three people who may become the new leaders of the organization; Mousa abu Marzook, Ismail Haniyeh, and Yehya Sinwar. Abu Marzook: The diplomat Mousa Abu Marzook was the first person to hold the title of chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau in the early 1990s. He is viewed as a strategic thinker and has an extensive network of Islamist leaders in the Muslim and Arab world. His stong points are in his diplomatic capabilities, especially in terms of his good relationships with the political and military leadership in Egypt. The Egyptians also prefer to use Abu Marzook as a point of contact between them and Hamas. Its for this reason that Abu Marzook has turned into the de facto connection between the two sides. He spends his time between his homes in Cairo and in Gaza. . Mousa Abu Marzook (Photo: Reuters) In addition to his connections with the Egyptians, he also has good and direct relations with the Hezbollah and Iranian leadership. However, these relationships suffered a huge blow after an unknown sourcebut probably an Arab intelligence agencyleaked a wiretap in which Abu Marzouk allegedly attacked Iran and accused it of lying and not providing assistance to Hamas. Abu Marzouk also has good relations with the Hamas military wing, which usually doesn't see eye to eye with the Political Bureau. He is also responsible for the reconciliation agreement with Fatah and has made inroads with high ranking members of the leadership in Ramallah. Haniyeh: High chance of success Ismail Haniyeh is Hamas's current number 2 and the strongest and most dominant Hamas player in Gaza. He is thought of as being very charismatic and as a leader with the ability to whip up audiences with fiery and passionate speeches. He's a man who knows how to show off and market his modest lifestyle. Ismail Haniyeh (Photo: AFP) Haniyeh has created a system of relationships and trust with the rest of the Palestinian factions in Gaza, foremost with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Public opinion polls suggest that he has the best chances of winning the Palestinian presidential elections. He is an acceptable candidate for the Qataris (who are the primary funders of the reconstruction of Gaza), the Turks (Hamas's primary Islamist patrons), and even Iran. Sinwar: The Hamas Defense Minister Yahya Sinwar is one of the founders of the Hamas military wing. He was imprisoned during the First Intifada and was one of the high ranking officials who were released as part of the deal to free Gilad Shalit. Sinwar quickly rose through the ranks of the Hamas leadership and was chosen to be a member of the Hamas Poltiical Bureau in the 2012 elections. At the same time, he deepened his connections with the military wing and became one of the closest people to Mohammad Deif, the head of the Hamas military wing. Deif used Sinwar to increase his influence (which was already significant) within the political wing. If one can call Deif the Hamas military chief of staff, then Sinwar is the defense minister. Sinwar is a close friend of the Hamas military wing. (Photo: EPA) Despite the fact that Mashal tends to be absent, he will still have a lot of influence in deciding who will replace them due to his relationship with the Shura Council, which is the organization that ultimately decides who becomes leader. Some of the Hamas factions are stressing the importance of strengthening relations with regional actorsincluding Islamist and international actors. They argue that this is something that can only be done from a leader living outside the Strip. They also argue that a leader living outside of the Strip will be less exposed to the threat of Israeli assassination than they would be inside of Gaza, as highlighted by the failed Mossad attempt to assassinate Khaled Mashal in Jordanan attempt which seriously harmed Israeli relations with the Hashemite Kingdom. The Hamas political wing would prefer that the next leader be from within its rankssuch as Haniyeh or Abu Marzookwho would be able to whitewash the terrorist organization's actions. While Sinawar is indeed connected to the Political Bureau in practice, he is too affiliated with the military wing, a fact which will create a lot of opposition to his candidacy. However, one must take into account the fact that he has a lot of strength and influence in the organization. In any case, todayjust months before the electionsit's impossible to predict who has the best chance of becoming the new leader of the terrorist organization. . Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuffed claims on Monday made in a report compiled by the state comptroller which is expected to be published in the near future Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter His comments came a day before the second annual memorial ceremony honoring the fallen soldiers and civilians killed during Operation Protective Edge which will take place at 5:00pm at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem and will be attended by the prime minister, President Reuven Rivlin, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot. Hamas terror tunnels (: ") X The ceremony, is scheduled to take place on Tuesday afternoon against a background of demands from bereaved families for an independent committee be formed to investigate the handling of the operation. During a meeting which took place with military journalists Netanyahu claimed that during the year and a half preceding the operation he convened eight security meetings, also with the cabinet, in which the threat of the Hamas attack tunnels was addressed and instructions issued for their location and destruction. In an unusual move, Netanyahu turned to the military journalists in light of the pressure being exerted by the families to create an independent inquiry. He highlighted each meeting with the cabinet prior to the operation along with discussions, including those in the field, in which he personally participated and directed the IDF to deal with the tunnels. He further emphasized that he had requested the implementation of technological solutions for locating the tunnels. Prime minister with former Chief of Staff Benny Gantz (center) and former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon (Photo: Kobi Gidon/GPO) Protective Edge is not the Second Lebanon War. The accusation that we didnt prepare and didnt know about the tunnels is not true, he told the journalists. Despite Netanyahu's defiant posture, some senior ministers have also cast doubt on how things were handled. Bayit Yehudi Chairman and Education Minister Naftali Bennett addressed the issue on Tuesday without specifically mentioning Netanyahus name, warning, whoever does not learn from mistakes is destined to repeat them. Every commander in the IDF draws on the lessons at the end of operations in order to avoid future mistakes and to improve. What is correct for the infantry wings is also correct for the security and state leadership of Israel," Bennett continued. "We have to learn from past mistakes ahead of the next campaign and not deny them. Learning from real lessons is a sign of strength and self-confidence. Naftali Bennett with PM Netanyahu (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky) The main motive behind the prime ministers move is his desire to prevent the proposed investigative inquiry into the the entire military operation which he contends will hinder the IDFs functioning capabilities. Moreover, Netanyahu has his own political considerations based on preventing his critics in the coalition to find another reason to censure him. Inside a Hamas attack tunnel At the beginning of the week, dozens of bereaved parents, many of whom lost their children during Operation Protective Edge, demanded that an independent committee be formed to investigate the 50-day operation. The orchestrators of the initiative, parents of fallen soldiers, also implored other parents and families of civilians who were killed in the operation to join them. When the conflict ended, a request was filed to launch an inquiry that would look into events prior to the operation, including the preparedness of the home front, military assessments, incidents during the operation itself and the decision made by the top echelons of the IDF. However, the request was rejected and the relevant political bodies instructed the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee (FASC) to compile a report on the operation instead, which has yet to be published. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas called for Britain to be prosecuted for the 1917 Balfour Declaration. The statements were made during an Arab League meeting in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott on Sunday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter He also called on Arab League members to assist him in pursuing this legal action. According to Abbas, the Balfour Declaration - which stated Britain's support for a Jewish homeland in what was then Palestine was a direct cause for the "Palestinian Nakba." Nakba, meaning "catastrophe" in Arabic, is how the Arab World refers to the founding of the State of Israel. The speech itself was given by Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki speaking on behalf of Abbas. Abbas was unable to make it to the Arab League summit on account of the death of his brother in Qatar. "We are working to open up an international criminal case for the crime which they committed against our nation from the days of the British Mandate all the way to the massacre which was carried out against us from 1948 onwards," al-Maliki said. Mahmoud Abbas (Photo: EPA) "With the commemoration of 100 years since this historic massacre, and following the continuity of this tragedy, we request that the Secretary General of the Arab League assist us in prosecuting the British government for publishing the Balfour Declaration which caused this catastrophe against the Palestinian people." Speaking in Abbas's name, the Palestinian foreign minister also criticized the Arab countries who expressed a willingness to take steps towards normalizing relations with Israel while the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is still going on. The Balfour Declaration is a three sentence declaration was written by British Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour and sent to Walter Rothschild, a leader in the British Jewish Community. This was the first time the Zionist movement received explicit support from a world power for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. The text of the statement reads "His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country." Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki meets UN Sec. Gen. Ban Ki Moon (Photo: EPA) Meanwhile, the Arab League meeting - which was supposed to last two days - ended a day early. The official closing statement saw the Arab League give its blessing to the French Peace Initiative to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and again called on Israel to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The Arab League closing statement also called on Israel to adhere to international agreements to end the occupation of the Palestinian territories, and called on Israel to vacate all Arab lands, including the Golan Heights. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced to give way on his decision to postpone the opening a new public broadcasting corporation until January 2018. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Following a torrent of criticism and a heavy political backlash, the new corporation is now set to begin operating on April 2017 and may even begin broadcasting from January 1. The ministries of finance and communications accepted the plan suggested by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, the minister responsible for leading the change in public broadcasting which will include the closure of the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and and launching of the corporation. Erdan mediated over the last few days between the political figures involved in the disagreement - Netanyahu, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, Chairman of the Economics Committee Eitan Cabel and the heads of the new broadcasting corporation. The arrangement will postpone the launching of the new corporation by half a year, (it was originally meant to begin in September 2016), in accordance with what the corporation itself requested, but also provides it with the option of starting earlier. The corporation will be required to announce when it is ready to begin broadcasting in advance after which the existing broadcasting station will be closed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Photo: Flash90) Last week, the prime minister and Histadrut Chairman Avi Nissenkorn caused a stir when they announced that the new station would be postponed by a year and a half and that the IBA would continue as usual. The move, which would have effectively ruined the new corporation, sparked a raft of criticism from within the government. Minister Kahlon promised to oppose the delay both in the Knesset and in the government, adding that we will not allow waste of public funds without any reason. Kahlon was in a position to thwart Netanyahus intentions due to the coalition agreements between Kulanu and Prime Minister Netanyahu's Likud party which stipulated that budget transfers exceeding 10 million shekels must receive the finance ministers approval. In this case the money which would have needed to be transferred in order to implement the delay would have been in excess of that sum. Gilad Erdan also stated that he opposed the move and that he had tried to convince the prime minister to reverse his decision. Notwithstanding the political remonstrations by senior ministers, Netanyahus hand was ultimately forced by the knowledge that changes of legislation which would be been necessitated by the plan could have ended in ignominious failure in the Knesset. On Monday, the new corporation issued a statement saying: The corporation will become operational in accordance with the agreement between the finance minister and the minister of communications (Netanyahu). It will be ready for full, quality, popular and independent broadcasting by January 2017 on the assumption that the government will fulfill its obligations and enable the corporation to so on that day. Histadrut Chairman Nissenkorn also released a statement: This decision reflects the balance which must be struck in order to ensure that the corporation is ready for proper public broadcasting and on the other hand also to protect the workers and to implement the decision in a responsible fashion. French media reported that one hostage had been killed after two men armed with blades took several people hostage in a church in France's northern Normandy region on Tuesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The victim who was killed was a priest according to a source in the police who spoke to Reuters. The source said that the attackers yelled "for ISIS" as they slit the priest's throat. Police and elite forces surrounded the church in a suburb of Rouen, the capital of the Normandy region and eventually managed to kill the two assaliants. Scene of hostage crisis Between four and six people were being held in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray while live TV images showed police had blocked off the roads around the church and paramedics pulling stretchers out of ambulances. The Vatican condemned the "barbarous killing" of the priest and added that it was even more heinous because it took place in a sacred place. The attack comes as France is on high alert after a Bastille Day attack that killed 84 people in Nice and a series of deadly attacks last year claimed by the Islamic State group. VIENTIANE,- US. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday he hoped to announce in early August details of a US plan for closer military cooperation and intelligence sharing with Russia on Syria. Kerry, speaking after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a meeting of Southeast Asian nations in Laos, said there had been progress in recent days on moving forward with the plan. The cross examination of Sgt. Elor Azaria continued into its third and final day on Tuesday morning after two days of intense questioning by prosecutor Lt. Col. Nadav Weisman about the circumstances under which he shot dead a wounded terrorist in Hebron last March. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter During the hearing in the special military court in Jaffa, Azaria denied that feelings of revenge had been the motivating factor in pulling the trigger. If it was revenge I would have got closer and shot one bullet in his head, he said before attacking once again his commanders who have testified against him. The company commander Lt. Col. David Shapira lied to the court, the court heard two days after he accused them of throwing me to the dogs . When he was asked why, in his opinion, Shapira would have lied, Azaria answered: He is scared of what the world will say and because he is about to start a new job. Sgt. Elor Azaria (Photo: Motti Kimchi) At the beginning of the hearing, the prosecutor played the video produced by the Division of Identification and Forensic Science (DIFS) which combined with the original video of the incident filmed by BTselem with that filmed by the ambulance driver Ofer Ohana. Concealing any signs of emotion, Azaria watched over and over the video showing him shooting the terrorist: I was loaded. I had a helmet in my hand and gave it to my friend in an instinctive reaction. The rest of my actions were automatic according to how I was trained. Prosecutor Weisman : In the video we see you act slowly without expressions of concern. Azaria : That is your opinion. You werent in the field. If I had shot for my own personal reasons I would have shot him point blank in the head. MK Oren Hazan with Sgt. Azaria (Photo: Motti Kimchi) Responding to Weismans question Azaria said he shot the terrorist not only because he heard people shouting, He has a bomb on him, but because the terrorist made him suspicious. There were other reasons, he said. I didnt know then who had shouted. Today I know that Ofer Ohana shouted. Weisman pressed Azaria by pointing out that two minutes had passed between the shouting about the bomb and the shooting itself, which contradicted the testimony offered by Azaria who claimed a mere seconds passed. Azaria : Once again you are catching me with words. When I say a fraction of a second I mean a moment. I didnt stand there with a timer in the field. Prosecutor : You preached to me yesterday that in the field decisions are made within seconds. Today you confirmed for me that the decision to shoot was taken in a second or in seconds. According to the objective findings you decided to shoot the terrorist two minutes before you shot. Azaria : These are your insights. I didnt decide that I will go an shoot the terrorist two minutes before the shooting. The videos, taken together, dont show anything. Prosecutor : When did you decide to shoot the terrorist? A second before, 10 seconds before, two minutes before? Azaria : The moment I realized that there was a clear and present danger. It doesn't work in the field the same way it works here. I can't answer if it was a second or a few seconds before. For example, lets say I hit someone. Ask him when he felt like he was in any danger of getting hit. He won't know how to answer. Most people are tired of career politicians," Strick is quoted as saying on the website. "Mike Madigan has been in office for 45 years. I keep trying to tell people that we need some change. Everything that theyre doingif they havent done it by now, it aint going to get done. I, _______________ a candidate for the office of State Representative for the District of _____ Illinois, pledge to the citizens of the ____ District of the state of Illinois that I will, upon my election and being sworn into office to the Illinois House of Representatives, refuse to vote for the incumbent Speaker of the Illinois House, Michael J. Madigan. I am free to vote for any other elected member, Democrat or Republican as I see fit. AURORA - Republican Mike Strick is calling for all fellow House candidates - both Republican and Democrat - to promise the first vote they make if elected would be for someone other than 45-year Democrat incumbent Mike Madigan to be House Speaker once again. The first vote every House member makes after being sworn into office is for who will be House Speaker. With a 1-vote super majority, the Democrats choose Mike Madigan, whose political power grows as he provides campaign funds and staff for his caucus members. Strick is challenging freshman House Democrat Stephanie Kifowit from Aurora in the November election, and while Democrats like Kifowitz often tell their constituents they're independent from the Speaker's "velvet claw," only those that the Speaker allows to say that do so. The Strick-Kifowitz race is still rated a Tier 2 by the House Republican Organization, but media coverage and fundraising can hoist the race to the top level, where HRO funds and staff are made available. Strick's campaign is being covered by the DuPage Policy Journal, one of the campaign news sources affiliated with Dan Proft's Liberty Principles PAC - meaning the Governor is also interested in the race. The Kirya (IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv) cafeteria has joined up to an initiative that takes leftover foods uneaten by soldiers from army bases to soup kitchens that feeds hundreds of needy people, including senior citizens and Holocaust survivors. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The Leket Israel foundation is responsible for the project. Agency Relations Manager Pini Fefer stated that the collaboration with the army in collecting food from bases began two years ago: "Today, the army is our largest provider for cooked food. We are working with nearly 50 bases across the country and collecting leftovers every day. All in all, we receive some 45,000 meals from the army per month. "A week ago, we started with the Kirya, and it's working great. Yesterday, for example, we collected 400 meals from there. It's a very large base, and it naturally has a lot of leftovers." Kiryat Ekron soup kitchen (Photo: Tzvika Tishler) The IDF food is warmly and happily received by the soup kitchens. At one in Kiryat Ekron, whither the Kirya food is sent, A 77-year-old Holocaust survivor said, "I get food here regularly. The food is great, and I thank them for it. It's not simple or easy for us, and they let us live with dignity." Another needy person at the same soup kitchen is Zachariah Tsioni. On Monday, he said excitedly about the military project, "I'm treated by (the Ministry of) Social Affairs and receive money from Social Security. I don't have a father, and my mother suffers from psychological problems. I don't have anything to eat, and (the soup kitchen) gives me a lot of help. Lots of people would go hungry without it. I eat here every day, and the meals are very tasty. There's chicken, fish, meat, potatoes, pasta, riceand the food here is phenomenal." The head of public relations in the IDF's food center's logistics division, Lt. Col. Tsala Sharma, said, "The leftover-food-donation project began in 2014 and with time has strengthened. We started with a few single units. It's important for us that instead of being thrown into the trash, the food be transferred as a donation to the community. If there are leftovers anyway, then it's important to donate to the right places." Israeli authorities early Tuesday destroyed 11 Palestinian homes in an area on the outskirts of Jerusalem divided from the city by Israel's separation barrier, residents and an NGO said. A leading Israeli human rights group says Israel has demolished more Palestinian homes in the West Bank this year than it did nearly every other year in the last decade. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter A convoy of Israeli security vehicles and bulldozers carried out the overnight demolitions in Qalandiya, presumably because authorities allege the owners did not have building permits. Two of the homes are considered part of the occupied West Bank and nine part of annexed East Jerusalem, Israeli NGO Ir Amim said. Two of the East Jerusalem homes were inhabited, it said. Clashes broke out during the demolitions, leaving several Palestinians wounded, according to the NGO. Among the structures destroyed was a two-storey building, leaving 44 people homeless, including 11 children, said Ir Amim. "The family claims to have received a building permit in 1983 from the Jerusalem municipality covering an area of 4,000 square meters, only half of which has been developed," it said. Home demolitions earlier this year Mohammed al-Jouri, a resident whose home was destroyed, said Israeli authorities "warned us Monday afternoon that they were going to destroy our houses, some which were still under construction." Piles of rubble and metal rods could be seen in the area on Tuesday where houses previously stood. Residents sought to collect mattresses, electronic equipment and furniture still intact. Imad Abu Shalbek, whose brother's home was destroyed, said a notice had been posted by authorities behind the house that they had not seen until after the demolition. Shalbek was planning to take in his nephews for the time being. "The father invested all his life and his savings in that house and now he doesn't know where he is going to go," Shalbek said. Israel this year has ramped up demolitions of Palestinian structures it says lack permits. The B'Tselem group reported Monday that Israeli authorities demolished 168 homes in the West Bank from January to the end of June this year. It says that's more than the number of homes demolished in 2015, and higher than the annual rate of demolitions since 2006, except for the 175 Palestinian homes demolished in 2013. The group says this year's demolitions left 740 Palestinians homeless. Permits are however nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain in the part of the West Bank under full Israeli control, which amounts to some 60 percent of the territory, UN officials say. Demolitions in East Jerusalem and the West Bank so far this year have already surpassed the amount for 2015. In East Jerusalem alone this year, 78 demolitions have occurred compared to 74 in 2015, Ir Amim said. B'Tselem says most of the demolitions were in areas of the West Bank where Israel controls building. Israel says much Palestinian building in those areas is illegal. "These efforts to break the contiguity of Palestinian East Jerusalem with the West Bank pose a severe threat to the two state solution," added Ir Amim. Beyond the Qalandiya demolitions, others were also carried out in East Jerusalem on Tuesday. They included a home under construction and an auto repair business in the Issawiya area as well as a residential building in Ras al-Amud, the NGO said. Israeli authorities did not respond to requests for information on the demolitions. Chief of Hamas Political Bureau Khaled Mashal has once again made relatively moderate statements about his organization's involvement in any future peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians in a conversation with Indian journalists on Tuesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Mashal said, speaking in English, "Hamas believes that we have full rights over the whole land and we dont recognize occupation. Our fathers and grandfathers lived there. Hamas is also very much keen on a unified Palestine front. That is why we have accepted a joint Arab and Palestine program, based on 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital, with the right of return of Palestinians expelled during years by successive Israeli governments." Asked about the apparent contradiction in his position, Meshal answered, "We are facing apartheid. Nobody can force us to treat Israel as friendly nation or a legitimate entity. All of this also doesn't mean that at a certain moment or at a proper moment, we will not negotiate with the enemy. Given the political circumstances, we are positive of achieving our national goal through political means. Khaled Mashal (Photo: AFP) "Hamas refusal to recognize Israel is not a stumbling block as you mentioned. The history is different. Yasser Arafat recognized Israel and he engaged in the peace process. But did Israel reciprocate his gesture? Mahmoud Abbas also recognized Israel. But did he succeed? He came up with nothing. Impasse in peace process is not because of us. The problem is not about recognizing Israel. There are no shortcuts in a struggle. The main reason is occupation by Israel and its refusal to recognize the rights of the people." The leader commented on a possible peace deal with Israel, "We will put any peace accord and our relations with Israel to a referendum. Hamas will respect the decision of the majority. Somebody may say we are making it difficult. But others had made it easier like Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas. So the problem doesnt lie on our side, not on Fatahs side and not even with Khalid Mashal. The problem is on the Israeli side. The master key is with Israel. They have to recognize our right." Meshal addressed accusations that his organization is terrorist: "We are a national resistance movement, not a terrorist organization. We have the right to resist occupation. We have gained legitimacy because of our election victory. We are not random killing machines like terrorists. We are confining our battle against the occupier and within the borders of Palestine. This struggle against occupation has legitimacy in international law, and it also has been recognized in all faiths." This is not the first time that Meshal has made moderate statements. He did the same following Operation Pillar of Defense when he said that Hamas could accept a Palestinian state on 1967 borders. Then, too, he was speaking in English. His interview came against the backdrop of impending internal Hamas elections. It is as of yet unclear if Meshal will run again. While speaking at the official state's two-year memorial ceremony at Mount Herzl for those killed during Operation Protective Edge on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of a kinship between himself and the bereaved families of the fallen soldiers. The sentiment, however, did not go over well, as the parents of those who died during the operation interrupted his speech and demanded an independent investigation into the events that took place during those 50 days of battle. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Family members whose loved ones fell during Protective Edge booed Netanyahu, causing him to pause after saying that he, too, comes from a bereaved family. "We don't believe you," shouted Yoram, whose son Capt. Omri Tal fell during the operation. "My son died for democracy, not for this kind of government." Netanyahu responded by saying, "As a bereaved brother, I understand your pain." Omri Tal's father, Yoram (Photo: Gil Yohanan) Another heckler was Motti, whose son Sgt. Li Mat also fell during the operation. He said that "The families demand that the prime minister follow the example of former prime ministers, who had responded to public pressure by agreeing to an investigative committee, thereby appointing one for Operation Protective Edge." Li's mother, Smadar, also called for such a committee, saying that "The prime minister is trying to paint a rosy picture, saying that it had all gone off wonderfully. If that's the case, what's the problem with setting up a committee?" Li Mat's father, Motti (Photo: Gil Yohanan) Calling family members his "brothers and sisters in mourning," Netanyahu promised that his door will always be open to them. "The settlements surrounding Gaza are flourishing because of your boys. Children are able to play outside because of your boys, and farmers are able to plow their fields thanks to the soldiers and commanders who were called to arms and stood on the front line." President Rivlin and Prime Minister Netanyahu (Photo: Gil Yohanan) Netanyahu detailed the goals achieved during the operation. "Hamas' plan for an aerial, naval and ground forces attack was foiled. The operation led to unprecedented cooperation with other organizations that similarly recognize Hamas as a common enemy." He assured those in attendance that ultimately, "Hamas had achieved nothing, and peace was returned to the South." Netanyahu also referred to fallen soldiers Lt. Hadar Goldin and Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul , whose bodies are still held by Hamas. He promised that their return home "is an ongoing mission for me and one that we will achieve, even if it takes a long time." President Reuven Rivlin echoed Netanyahu's sentiments, saying that the returning Shaul and Goldin's bodies must be "a part of any negotiation" and citing their return as "part of our moral debt to our soldiers." The Goldin family, meanwhile, joined the cries against the prime minister. "He who does not know how to bring soldiers back will have no moral grounds to send soldiers to the battlefield in the future," the family said. "Operation Protective Edge hasn't ended as long as there are two IDF captives still in Gaza." "There is a lot that can be done to bring back Hadar and Oron (Shaul, whose body was also captured by Hamas). The prime minister and defense minister should also say what can be done, not just what can't," the family added. "Our fighters in the IDF know that when the fighting ends, the commander returns to base with his living soldiers, who are carrying the wounded and dead on their shoulders. We do not leave anyone behind." Two days prior to the ceremony, several bereaved parents whose sons fell during Protective Edge had sent Netanyahu a letter demanding that a committee be set up to investigate the operation, in which 67 soldiers and five civilians were killed, hundreds were injured and the entire country came under the threat of missile attacks. In the letter, the parents referred to a recent decision to reconvene the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and to publish its report on the operation that was previously unreleased to the public. "It is inappropriate to reconvene a committee that had already looked into the operation and still decided not to publish its report," their letter stated. "It is your job to set up an independent committee that will investigate the events and those in charge, including the decision making process. We further believe that such an investigation should be transparent and satisfy our need to know what happened." Responding to the possible criticism that might be aimed at him in the soon-to-be released state comptroller's report on the operation , Netanyahu stated that "Protective Edge is not the Second Lebanon War. The accusation that we didnt prepare and didnt know about the tunnels is not true." He added that in the year and a half that preceded the operation, he had conducted eight security meetings, in which he also discussed Hamas' tunnel system threats and demanded that the IDF better prepare for them. Jerusalem-based startup Zore has developed a unique lock for weapons that would prevent them from being used by any unauthorized personnel. The founders of the company have already raised almost half a million dollars and argue that the product is more efficient and user-friendly than traditional weapon locks. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The Zore lock is a cartridge-shaped device that is attached to the weapon and alerts weapon owners on their smartphone of an attempt made to move or unlock their firearm. The device can be unlocked by turning it clockwise and counterclockwise according to a predetermined code sequence. Our product is unique, said Zore co-founder and CEO Yonatan Zimmerman. It is quick, not over-complicated, and works reliably with all weapons. It even works in the dark; you dont have to look at it. Zore gun lock (Photo: Hillel Maeir/TPS) The Zore company is named after the Hebrew word for flint. The startup was founded in 2014 by Zimmerman, 30, a former Givati Brigade reconnaissance unit commander from Jerusalem, together with Yalon Fishbein, 28, from Kibbutz Afikim near the Sea of Galilee, who also served in an elite IDF unit specializing in explosive ordnance disposal. Zimmerman said that the idea for the startup was formed in February, 2014 when IDF soldier Tal Nachman was killed by friendly fire. It was such a stupid incident, he lamented. There was a headline the next day quoting the bereaved mother who asked how the army had still not found a technological solution. That woke me up. Zore launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign in June and has raised over USD 420,000 to date in purchases of its weapon lock, a sum that is over 400% greater than the companys original goal of USD 100,000 with 19 days left until the end of the campaign. We are flying to New York this week to meet with investors and supporters. We received a lot of feedback and support in the United States, said Zore Vice President of Software Engineering Nir Gazit. There are some gun-rights activists who are very conservative and who usually oppose any changes to weapon safety, but we have supporters and lobbyists from across the board. An analysis by The Washington Post found that toddlers were finding guns and shooting people, mostly themselves, at a rate of about once a week in the United States during 2015. The pro-gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety has found at least 146 instances in 2016 in which a child younger than 18 has accidentally shot someone. In contrast to popular perception, accidents involving weapons are not all due to lunatics, Zimmerman explained. Some nine percent of gun owners leave their weapons loaded and unlocked, which is the source of most of the accidents. Accidental shooting incidents by children in Israel are rare, but such an incident occurred in 2009 when 12-year-old Oren Mizrahi was accidentally shot and killed by his friend while playing with his fathers handgun. There are stricter gun-safety laws in Israel, such as a law that requires storing guns in a locked box, said Zimmerman. Its a different world compared to the US, where there is a gun culture that does't exist in Israel. Our first interaction with a weapon in Israel is usually in the army in a much more professional setting, added Fishbein. That creates a much more professional attitude towards guns than in the US. Many other smart-gun startups exist in Israel and around the world. Various solutions have been presented such as the Armatix iP1, which only works in proximity to a special device, or biometric fingerprint technology, which has been developed by other Israeli companies such as Clipfort. Zimmerman, however, is critical of these options. As a gun owner, I dont want my gun having to think before it shoots. Those high-tech solutions become unreliable because your fingers must be clean and dry for them to work. And what if you are using gloves? It just doesnt work, its not the right technology for this situation. Our goal is to bring the weapons industry into the 21st century without changing the weapon itself. People want the same old gun. Advanced technology may sound cool, agreed Fishbein. But, in my opinion, the best solution is the simplest one. Jesse Lempel and Michael Zeff contributed to this article. After the conclusion of the accused's cross examination on Tuesday by the military prosecutor, later that evening the panel of judges questioned defendant Sgt. Elor Azaria, who is on trial for manslaughter after having shot dead an immobilized terrorist , Abed al Fatah Al-Sharif, in March in Hebron. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Judge Lt. Col. Carmel Vahavi asked Azaria to explain why he didn't shot al-Sharif earlier if, as Azaria had alleged, al-Sharif posed a danger to the persons in the area. "I don't know why I didn't shoot earlier," replied the defendant, who shortly after finished his 23 hours of testifying, which had been spread out over three days. "My son is a hero," said Charlie Azaria at the session's conclusion, thanking the Israeli nation for their support. The trial is recessed for 2.5 weeks, when the defense will resume presenting its witnesses, which include two combat brigadier generals in reserves and two reserve major generals. Elor Azaria (Photo: Motti Kimchi) The military prosecutor, Lt. Col. (res.) Nadav Weisman, said, "Over the past three days, we have seen Azaria not manage to give explanations for variations in his versions and why others are allegedly falsely accusing him and contradicting his version." During Azaria's testimony, Vahavi asked, "The data that led you to shoot were in your mind earlier: the warning of a combined attack, the Adloyada (Purim parade) that same day, the warm clothing, the shouting 'He's booby-trapped,' the attack itself, the knife next to the terrorist, and the knowledge about the statement that the terrorist moved. You knew all this at an earlier stage. Why didn't you shoot earlier? Azaria : "As soon as I understood that the danger was immediate and real, I acted." Vahavi : "The prosecutor claims that the time between these data and the shooting was two minutes, not fractions of a second. That's not an insignificant amount of time." Azaria : "I acted when I understood the danger." Vahavi : "How did you feel immediately following the shooting?" Azaria : "In shock, a storm of emotions." Azaria after the shooting Vahavi confronted Azaria with the footage that had been shown: "What bothers me is your position during your entire testimony regarding the video. The videos were submitted as evidence. You rejected the videos in your testimony." Azaria replied, "The videos didn't reveal anything. There's no weather in the video. In reality, it's like a war." Later, Azaria stated, "A moment before the shooting, I had a dilemma that if I shoo, I would apparently take a life from a terrorist, a person, to neutralize and to save life." Judge Lt. Col. Yaron Sitvon wondered about Azaria's refusal to reconstruct the incident as a tool that could have helped the judges to better understand what happened. Azaria answered that he agreed to the conditions presented by the lawyers. Judge Maya Heller (Photo: Motti Kimchi) Earlier in the night, addressing Judge Col. Maya Heller, Azaria said, "In the field, when the company commander came up to me, what was in my head was to tell him that there was an immediate fear of an explosive and knife." Heller : "Why didn't you say to the company commander something simple, like 'I saved you' and read him the rules of engagement?" Azaria : "I was in shock and a storm of emotions." Heller : "What you wanted to happen, for the most justified reason, indeed happened. So why was your immediate reaction shock and confusion?" Azaria : "It was my first incident with massive bleeding and the fact that I had shot for the first time at a terrorist, a person." Addressing Azaria's claim that the battalion commander, Lt. Col. David Shapira, had lied to the court, Heller asked, "Why would the battalion commander need to cover himself, as you alleged?" Azaria replied, "The battalion commander also understood his mistake with me, and he needs to get a position at the Officers' Training School. The mistake is how he didn't respond in the field in a conversation with me." ISIS claimed responsibility for the first attack in a church in the West, in which two attackers slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest celebrating Mass in a French church, killing him and gravely injuring one of the few worshippers present before being shot to death by police. A nun who escaped said she saw the attackers video themselves and "give a sermon in Arabic" around the altar. One of the extremists who attacked a Normandy church has been identified as Adel Kermiche, a local youth whose parents flagged his radical behavior to authorities. A spokesperson for the Interior Ministry said that the police managed to rescue three other people inside the church in the small northwestern town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray from the terrorists. Rina and Amichai Ariel, whose daughter Hallel was murdered in June in her own bed by a Palestinian terrorist, have taken on the fight against the evacuation of the Mitzpe Avihai outpost, located in the West Bank. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In a letter they addressed to the government, the parents asked that the seven families living at the site, which has already been evacuated a number of times , be allowed to remain there. Hallel's mother Rina futher described the site as a strategic vantage point. "If Mitzpe had been settled before the murder, the terrorist would have never been able to reach us." Rina and Amichai Hallel (Photo:Yoav Dudkevitch) So far, the government has tried to engage the settling families in a discussion, but no progress has been made in terms of their removal. After repeated past evacuations, the government is currently not allowing any new building to be carried out. Claiming that the evacuation is due to take place after the 30-day memorial of Hallel's murder, Rina declared, "We cannot allow this to happen." The Mitzpe Avihai outpost (Photo: Gil Yohanan) Earlier this month, Rina Hallel had asked the government permission to conduct a memorial prayer service for her daughter at Temple Mount during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan . Normally, Jews are not allowed to pray at the site, but following her request, Ariel was granted special permission for the event Hallel Ariel It should also be noted that the land on which the Mitzpe Avihai outpost has been erected is impossible to reach without passing through Palestinian territory. Amichai Hallel explained that the idea of a bridge has been suggested, but that so far no progress in the matter has been made. An eager bunch of young, Jewish bachelors arrived in Israel last week with the help of Nefesh B'Nefesh, a Jewish nonprofit organization that works to promote Aliyah. In addition to feeling a connection to the land or their heritage, these newcomers are also looking for love Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Among the new Israelis was Yehuda Lazarus, a 24-year-old man from New York searching for his dream husband. Lazarus explained that after coming out as a gay man, instead of concerning himself with finding a man who was thin or portly, a hipster or a retro sort of guy, he focused on finding someone Jewish. He came to Israel looking for a lively, Middle Eastern-looking man "with a sense of humor as dry as the desert." As opposed to American men, whom Lazarus finds rather "superficial," he is keeping his eyes, ears and heart open for a man of substance. Yehuda Lazarus Lazarus is by no means alone in his search for love, as Nefesh B'Nefesh reported that over the summer some 450 single women and 500 single men are expected to make Aliyah, either to find a partner or to join one. The organization's data show that 65% of are secular and 35% at least somewhat religious. "Making Aliyah in order to find an Israeli partner is a well-known phenomenon among North American Jews," said Nefesh B'Nefesh Executive Vice President Zev Gershinsky. "In particular, the number of single women who make Aliyah in search of a partner is constantly on the rise. As an organization, we aim to help all of them integrate, and so we try to promote anything that could help them with that. Finding an Israeli partner is a key factor in doing so." Shayna Driscoll Shayna Driscoll, 25, made the trip from Brooklyn with her heart set on finding an Israeli guy. She listed her love of Israel as another reason for making Aliyah, in addition to finding Israeli men more relaxed and easy-going than their American counterparts. She added that knowing that many Israeli men had served in the army gives her a sense of security, and that her favorite thing about Israeli men is their tendency to seize the moment. Robin Robin, 21, is another New Yorker in the group who had made Aliyah. She spoke mainly of love, and finding someone who would share her passion for Israel. Best of luck to all of them. This Account has been suspended. HOUSTON - LifeSiteNews is reporting that all charges have been dismissed against Center for Medical Progress investigators David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt. Prosecutors with the Harris County District Attorneys office dropped the charges before the pair could pursue their legal motion to quash the charges at a hearing, according to the Houston Chronicle. The two faced up to 20 years in prison for a felony count of tampering with a government record for using false identification to gain access to Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast (PPGC), which is based in Houston. Daleiden posed as Robert Sarkis and Sandra Merritt as Susan Tennenbaum, employees of the fictitious biological company Biomax. There, they recorded officials discussing how they obtained intact fetal cadavers, used budget line items to dress up the remuneration Planned Parenthood received for aborted babies organs and tissue, and filmed the dissection of a child. Illinois State Representative Peter Breen, who is a key attorney with the Thomas More Society, represented the pair in the Harris County courtroom Tuesday morning. "Today's dismissal in Houston is a huge win for the First Amendment rights of undercover journalists," Breen said after the news. "David Daleiden used standard undercover journalism techniques and followed all applicable laws in doing so. This meritless and retaliatory prosecution should never have been brought. "Planned Parenthood did wrong here, not David Daleiden." Peter Breen, David Dalieden and Texas attorney Almost thirty years ago as a teenager in Texas, I attended my first county Republican convention. As a college student I met a young Rick Perry, fresh from his conversion to the GOP, as he was launching his first campaign for statewide office. Through Associated Republicans of Texas I contributed and volunteered for business-friendly Republican state and local candidates. Here in DuPage County Ive been a precinct committeeman since 2006. Door to door Ive canvased my precinct in support of our candidates. Trudging through snow, using a drill to break the frozen ground, I posted signs for candidates on whom I pinned my hopes for better government. Among Illinois Republicans I found an organization that seemed to embody my hopes for the party nationally. Pragmatic, sensible, and focused on solid government, it seemed like a GOP Jurassic Park, where the sensible, reliable Republicans of old still roamed the landscape. At the national level, the delusions necessary to sustain our Cold War coalition were becoming dangerous long before Donald Trump arrived. From tax policy to climate change, we have found ourselves less at odds with philosophical rivals than with the fundamentals of math, science and objective reality. The Iraq War, the financial meltdown, the utter failure of supply-side theory, climate denial, and our strange pursuit of theocratic legislation have all been troubling. Yet it seemed that Americas party of commerce, trade, and pragmatism might still have time to sober up. Remaining engaged in the party implied a contribution to that renaissance, an investment in hope. Donald Trump has put an end to that hope. From his fairy-tale wall to his schoolyard bullying and his flirtation with violent racists, Donald Trump offers America a singular narrative a tale of cowards. Fearful people, convinced of our inadequacy, trembling before a world alight with imaginary threats, crave a demagogue. Neither party has ever elevated to this level a more toxic figure, one that calls forth the darkest elements of our national character. With three decades invested in the Republican Party, there is a powerful temptation to shrug and soldier on. Despite the bold rhetoric, we all know Trump will lose. Why throw away a great personal investment over one bad nominee? Trump is not merely a poor candidate, but an indictment of our character. Preserving a party is not a morally defensible goal if that party has lost its legitimacy. Watching Ronald Reagan as a boy, I recall how bold it was for him to declare morning again in America. In a country menaced by Communism and burdened by a struggling economy, the audacity of Reagans optimism inspired a generation. Fast-forward to our present leadership and the nature of our dilemma is clear. I watched Paul Ryan speak at Donald Trumps convention the way a young child watches his father march off to prison. Thousands of Republican figures that loathe Donald Trump, understand the danger he represents, and privately hope he loses, are publicly declaring their support for him. In Illinois our local and state GOP organizations, faced with a choice, have decided on complicity. Our leaders compromise preserves their personal capital at our collective cost. Their refusal to dissent robs all Republicans of moral cover. Evasion and cowardice has prevailed over conscience. We are now, and shall indefinitely remain, the Party of Donald Trump. I will not contribute my name, my work, or my character to an utterly indefensible cause. No sensible adult demands moral purity from a political party, but conscience is meaningless without constraints. A party willing to lend its collective capital to Donald Trump has entered a compromise beyond any credible threshold of legitimacy. There is no redemption in being one of the good Nazis. I hereby resign my position as a York Township Republican committeeman. My thirty-year tenure as a Republican is over. Sincerely, Chris Ladd Airbnb Inc. is recruiting a set of former mayors to help the home-rental company navigate its ongoing challenges with regulators at the city level. The company said Friday it has formed an advisory council of four former mayors from Houston, Philadelphia, Rome, and Adelaide, Australia. It hopes to add more mayors, especially from Asia, Latin America, and other regions. As Airbnb has expanded across the globe since its founding in 2008, its most ferocious fights have been with city governments, often over taxes and Airbnb's effect on a region's housing supply and prices. Three U.S. senators attempted to elevate the issues to a national level last week, when they sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking the regulator to probe the industry. The ex-mayors on Airbnb's advisory board will likely meet quarterly and receive compensation for their work, said Christopher Nulty, a spokesman for the company. Airbnb hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder as an adviser on Wednesday focusing on strengthening corporate policies around racism and other discrimination on the site. As Airbnb builds up its defenses, the company faces pressure from a coordinated effort led by mayors in several cities around the world. Bloomberg reported last month that current mayors from Paris, New York, Seoul, and other cities are working together to produce a rule book for dealing with Airbnb, Uber Technologies Inc., and other technology tools shaping their economies. Airbnb sued its hometown, San Francisco, last month in response to the recently passed city legislation requiring Airbnb to police who uses its site or face fines. In Australia, the New South Wales government earlier this year released a position paper on the sharing economy, which indicated that it is likely to become much more accommodative to the use of platforms such as Airbnb. We are living in the information age and it is vital that government policies embrace new technologies and enable businesses to operate with certainty, NSW Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Victor Dominello said at the time. The members of Airbnb's mayoral advisory board include Houston's Annise Parker, Philadelphia's Michael Nutter, Rome's Francesco Rutelli, and Adelaide's Stephen Yarwood. Airbnb plans to call on those advisers to act as consultants on specific problems and as ambassadors to city governments. They will "review Airbnb policies, provide feedback on upcoming Airbnb products and initiatives, and provide Airbnb with valuable insights gained from years leading some of the worlds greatest cities," the company said in a statement. In another likely positive for those wishing to use the platform in Australia, a Supreme Court of Victoria ruling late last week effectively banned executive committees from enacting strata by-laws to prohibit owners from using their properties as short term rental locations. As a homeowner, you probably already know that you should be working to maintain your home. But, chances are, you Read More Latest News Cambridge, Massachusetts - The air was hot and gritty. Shehazvi had to squint to see past the sun into the edge of town, past the cars and motorcycles whizzing by, past the scorched earth, to where old buildings stood beautiful in their own way, muted pinks and oranges still curving and curling in all the right places. No rain again today She and her daughter climbed out of the rickshaw and walked down the alley that leads to their home, 200 rupees lighter than when they left for Jalgaon city earlier that day. Thats how much it cost every time she took her daughter to the doctor for stomach pains. The culprit? The salty drinking water. Excessive salt intake can be quite detrimental to ones health, both in the short and long term, says Maulik D. Majmudar, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. But there is no grocery store in Shehazvis rural Indian village where she can stock up on bottled water. There is no on-demand tap of drinking water thats already been prepared for her safety and comfort. There is no reliable electricity. The cost of clean water Shehazvi is a teacher and resident of Mhasawad, a village of about 8,400 people that flanks the Girna River in Maharashtra, India. Unable to watch her daughter suffer further pains from drinking salty water, she recently started paying 30 percent of her monthly income to receive treated water from a reverse osmosis (RO) plant. With an average salinity 75 percent lower than that of the untreated town water, the treated water is worth the cost to Shehazvi. The water that is supplied is contaminated, and my daughter was always in pain, she says. I had to repeatedly take her to the doctor in Jalgaon, and it was very expensive. So I started buying filtered water. Now the stomachaches and the illnesses are gone. But despite the benefits, most of the residents of Mhasawad cant afford RO water, from which bacteria and salt have been filtered out, and thousands of people in the village regularly drink water with a salinity level above 1,200 parts per million (ppm). To put that into perspective, the World Health Organization recommends levels under 600 ppm, and the water in Cambridge, Massachusetts, usually doesnt get above 350 ppm at its worst. Everyone wants to drink the clean water, Shehazvi says. But what do they do if they cant afford it? I only get paid 2,000 rupees per month and buying this water has been difficult. If the lower-income households cant afford the RO-treated water, they definitely cant afford the health costs associated with drinking salty water. One man living in Mhasawad says he spends around 20,000 rupees a year on his kidney stone problem. The townspeople of Mhasawad are particularly concerned about the health of their children, who, according to the teachers in the village, including Shehazvi, have continuous digestive problems and stomach pains that often distract them during school lessons. When the pain gets bad enough, the teachers have to send the children to the hospital during school. Convergence of perspectives In order to design a water treatment system that was affordable and would actually work in the context of rural Indian villages, Amos Winter, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and PhD candidate Natasha Wright, a researcher in Winters GEAR Lab and a fellow of the MIT Tata Center for Technology and Design which supports this and other GEAR Lab projects for the developing world knew they first had to develop an in-depth understanding of the problem by talking directly to the residents themselves. We are in the field every six months trying to figure out how socioeconomic factors influence technical factors, Winter says. We walk the lines between product designers, machine designers, ethnographers, and social scientists, and its at the convergence of all those perspectives that disruptive new solutions come together. In August 2012, Wright travelled to Jalgaon to meet with engineers at Jain Irrigation Systems and partner on the development of a system that would set in motion the companys dream of providing poor villages in India access to affordable potable water. The companys plan was to develop affordable home water systems that would remove the biological contaminants from the water, and Wrights first two trips to Jalgaon were spent researching which systems were already on the market and how they were working. I went to villages and interviewed womens groups, mens groups, and individual families, she says. I was focused on the removal of biological contaminants and was hearing that a lot of villagers had filters but werent using them regularly. I wanted to figure out how to improve the water and increase the likelihood of filter use to prevent sickness. When I reviewed my survey results, she continues, I realized that everyone was complaining about salt, even though I never even asked about it. They said it tastes bad, leaves marks on their pots and pans, and makes their stomachs hurt. As outsiders, our motivations are often fueled solely by health concerns, Winter says. And of course that is crucial, but you have to remember that villagers have almost always gotten their water for free. So to go to a person and say we want you to pay for water that basically looks and tastes the same whats the value added to them? Its our job to figure out why people would choose to buy clean water and include it in our solution. Wright and Winter believe that by designing a community system that can provide tasty, desalinated water at an affordable price, all villagers especially those who are poorer and tend to drink contaminated, high-saline water on a regular basis will be more likely to consistently drink water thats clean and healthy, even if they have to pay for it. Not much water anywhere, and not a drop to drink The issue goes much deeper than taste. About 50 to 70 meters deeper, in fact. That is the depth at which many villages in India have to dig new wells to access any water at all. Indias climate is hot and dry for most of the year, and the country as a whole is overcrowded. With almost 1.3 billion people and counting, it has the second-highest population in the world, and rainfall is mostly isolated to the three-month monsoon season. So while the demand for water increases with population, the water remains scarce, and many places like Mhasawad are forced to dig into the ground for water. But as water is removed from the ground, the water table which is dependent on the amount of rainfall lowers as it becomes overdrawn but not replenished. The aquifers get deeper and deeper to access more water, and the salinity level of the water often naturally increases with depth. So its an understatement to say that water is precious and cant be wasted. And yet thats exactly what happens when RO systems are used with the water in these areas. RO systems work by utilizing a high-pressure pump to push water through a membrane; the saltier it is, the more energy thats required to move the water through. The problem is that after the first pass through an RO membrane, the now-pure water has been removed and whats left is concentrated saltwater. And now that its more concentrated, it requires proportionally more power to move it through the membrane so much more that the cost of the power outweighs the benefits, and manufacturers forgo a second pass to keep the costs down. As a result, many RO systems in this area have enormous water reject rates. For example, in Chellur, a city outside of Hyderabad, the reject rate is approximately 70 percent meaning that 70 percent of potential drinking water is wasted before it ever gets desalinated. Enter solar-powered electrodialysis The way Wright and Winter see it, they have to engineer a system for low cost, low waste, and low energy consumption. It is a mighty tall order indeed, and certainly one that cant be fulfilled just by simplifying a solution that already exists in a developed country. They started by identifying a system that would work best for the salinity of brackish groundwater in these rural villages. They chose electrodialysis reversal (EDR), because at the areas typical salinity level of 500 to 2,000 ppm, it requires 25 to 70 percent less energy than RO and can recover more than 90 percent of the feed water. EDR, which has been commercially available since the 1960s, works by pumping feed water through a stack alongside alternating cation and anion exchange membranes. When a voltage is applied across the stack, anions in the water are pushed toward the anode but are blocked by the cation exchange membranes, which only allow cations to cross, and the opposite is true for the cations. In this way, the salt is separated from the feed water and the resulting concentrate stream is recirculated until it is too salty to continue and is pumped into a nearby evaporation pond. Wrights system utilizes UV light to kill biological contaminants in the water as well. Because water is not being forced through a membrane, the required pressure and relative pumping power is much lower than in RO systems, and Winter and Wright can save energy as a result. This energy gain also opens the door to affordable solar-powered desalination systems, because now they dont need as many solar panels. So the researchers have replaced grid electricity with solar power and can bypass the unreliability of the Indian electrical grid altogether, decreasing operational and capital costs at the same time. Because EDR uses stacks of exchange membranes that only have to be replaced every 10 years, and that dont require any filters, they cut down on the maintenance costs by eliminating the need to replace membranes or filters often. The capital costs of their photovoltaic (PV)-EDR system will depend on whether theyre able to manufacture their own stacks, but they are targeting a one-time investment of around 755,000 rupees, which is equivalent to the cost of current community on-grid reverse osmosis systems. In Bahdupet, outside of Hyderabad, the local government pays approximately 7,600 rupees per month to power its village RO system, pay the plant operator, and replace filters and cartridges, incurring no loss but making no profit. Switching to Wrights system could cut their monthly costs almost in half, and they could reinvest the savings back into their town and its people. Solving the solar power problem Wright and Winter have designed, built, and tested their prototype system, and their next step is to implement it in a village outside of Hyderabad, where the people are currently using a village-scale RO system that was originally sold to them on loan from a local company called Tata Projects. Wright and Winter have partnered with Tata Projects to help the company improve their village-scale water desalination systems and potentially transition from their current RO systems to the PV-EDR systems Wright is designing. Meanwhile, Wright is looking into ways to make the system more efficient for example, using alternate architectures for the EDR stack. At the same time, she is working with fellow GEAR Lab graduate student David Bian and Sterling Watson, a student in the MIT Photovoltaic Research Lab, to cost-optimize the combined solar power and EDR system. Currently, the solar panels are equipped with batteries to store extra solar power and distribute it evenly throughout the day, but they are investigating alternative designs that may allow the solar panels to connect directly to the EDR stack. If we can solve that problem, Wright says, we can potentially provide about 250 million people in India who currently drink salty groundwater a safe and affordable source of water. The MIT Tata Center catalyzed GEAR Labs desalination work and, along with Jain Irrigation, enabled them to enter and win last years USAID Desal Prize. GEAR Lab has also received funding from Tata projects, USAID, and UNICEF for this work. Latest News Cambridge, Massachusetts - On May 2, scientists from MIT, the University of Liege, and elsewhere announced they had discovered a planetary system, a mere 40 light years from Earth, that hosts three potentially habitable, Earth-sized worlds. Judging from the size and temperature of the planets, the researchers determined that regions of each planet may be suitable for life. Now, in a paper published today in Nature, that same group reports that the two innermost planets in the system are primarily rocky, unlike gas giants such as Jupiter. The findings further strengthen the case that these planets may indeed be habitable. The researchers also determined that the atmospheres of both planets are likely not large and diffuse, like that of the Jupiter, but instead compact, similar to the atmospheres of Earth, Venus, and Mars. The scientists, led by first author Julien de Wit, a postdoc in MITs Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, came to their conclusion after making a preliminary screening of the planets atmospheres, just days after announcing the discovery of the planetary system. On May 4, the team pointed NASAs Hubble Space Telescope at the systems star, TRAPPIST-1, to catch a rare event: a double transit, the moment when two planets almost simultaneously pass in front of their star. The researchers realized the planets would transit just two weeks before the event, thanks to refined estimates of the planets orbital configuration, made by NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope, which had already started to observe the TRAPPIST-1 system. We thought, maybe we could see if people at Hubble would give us time to do this observation, so we wrote the proposal in less than 24 hours, sent it out, and it was reviewed immediately, de Wit recalls. Now for the first time we have spectroscopic observations of a double transit, which allows us to get insight on the atmosphere of both planets at the same time. Using Hubble, the team recorded a combined transmission spectrum of TRAPPIST-1b and c, meaning that as first one planet then the other crossed in front of the star, they were able to measure the changes in wavelength as the amount of starlight dipped with each transit. The data turned out to be pristine, absolutely perfect, and the observations were the best that we could have expected, de Wit says. The force was certainly with us." A rocky sign The dips in starlight were observed over a narrow range of wavelengths that turned out not to vary much over that range. If the dips had varied significantly, de Wit says, such a signal would have demonstrated the planets have light, large, and puffy atmospheres, similar to that of the gas giant Jupiter. But thats not the case. Instead, the data suggest that both transiting planets have more compact atmospheres, similar to those of rocky planets such as Earth, Venus, and Mars. Now we can say that these planets are rocky. Now the question is, what kind of atmosphere do they have? de Wit says. The plausible scenarios include something like Venus, with high, thick clouds and an atmosphere dominated by carbon dioxide, or an Earth-like atmosphere dominated by nitrogen and oxygen, or even something like Mars with a depleted atmosphere. The next step is to try to disentangle all these possible scenarios that exist for these terrestrial planets. A rocky surface is a great start for a habitable planet, but any life on the TRAPPIST-1 planets is likely to have a much harder time than life on Earth, says Joanna Barstow, an astrophysicist at University College London, who was not involved with the research. As the planets orbit very close to their star, Barstow says that may mean the radiation coming off the star may strip their atmospheres away entirely, making it extremely difficult for organisms to thrive, particularly as both planets are tidally locked, meaning they have permanent day and night sides. Of course, our ideas of habitability are very narrow because we only have one planet to look at so far, and life might well surprise us by flourishing in what we think of as unlikely conditions, Barstow says. More eyes on the sky The scientists are now working to establish more telescopes on the ground to probe this planetary system further, as well as to discover other similar systems. The planetary systems star, TRAPPIST-1, is known as an ultracool dwarf star, a type of star that is typically much cooler than the sun, emitting radiation in the infrared rather than the visible spectrum. De Wits colleagues from the University of Liege came up with the idea to look for planets around such stars, as they are much fainter than typical stars and their starlight would not overpower the signal from planets themselves. The researchers discovered the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system using TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope), a new kind of ground telescope designed to survey the sky in infrared. TRAPPIST was built as a 60-centimeter prototype to monitor the 70 brightest dwarf stars in the southern sky. Now, the researchers have formed a consortium, called SPECULOOS (Search for habitable Planets Eclipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars), and are building four larger versions of the telescope in Chile, to focus on the brightest ultracool dwarf stars in the skies over the southern hemisphere. The researchers are also trying to raise money to build telescopes in the northern sky. Each telescope is about $400,000 about the price of an apartment in Cambridge, de Wit says. If the scientists can train more TRAPPIST-like telescopes on the skies, de Wit says, the telescopes may serve as relatively affordable prescreening tools. That is, scientists may use them to identify candidate planets that just might be habitable, then follow up with more detailed observations using powerful telescopes such as Hubble and NASAs James Webb Telescope, which is scheduled to launch in October 2018. With more observations using Hubble, and further down the road with James Webb, we can know not only what kind of atmosphere planets like TRAPPIST-1 have, but also what is within these atmospheres, de Wit says. And thats very exciting. This research was supported in part by NASA/Space Telescope Science Institute. Living Section San Luis, Arizona - The San Luis Library is hosting the 3rd Annual Back to School Fair on Thursday, August 11th, from 4:00-6:00 p.m. Discover the resources you need to be ready for the new school year and the after school activities that the library offers for you and your family. This event includes information and resources, representatives from community agencies, and raffle prizes! Students, parents, and educators are welcome. There is no charge to attend. The San Luis Library is located at 1075 N 6th Avenue in San Luis, Arizona. For more information, call (928) 627-8344. Living Section Somerton, Arizona - The Yuma County Library District is pleased to offer digital access to lynda.com, a leading online learning company that helps anyone learn business, software, technology and creative skills to achieve personal and professional goals. On Thursday, August 11th and 18th, the Somerton Library will offer Intro to lynda.com at 10:30 a.m. Whether youre looking for professional development, or are just interested in pursuing a new hobby, lynda.com has something for everyone! There is no charge to attend. The Somerton Library is located at 240 Canal Street in Somerton, AZ. For more information, call (928) 627-2149. Yuma News Yuma, Arizona - Beginning Tuesday, August 2nd, the Main Library will host Spanish Club every Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Learn basic vocabulary and phrases, and practice speaking Spanish with other learners in a supportive, low-stress environment. The group will meet in the second-floor classroom. There is no charge to attend. The Main Library is located at 2915 S 21st Drive. For more information, call (928) 782-1871. Tenets of effective cyber-risk programs Accepting these truths is foundational to instituting an effective enterprise-wide cyber-risk plan. The action steps that can then be taken include the following: Create a corporate-wide cyber mind-set . There has to be awareness, education, and training throughout the organization to combat cyber risk. You may have top-notch hardware and software to protect you against cyber intruders, but it might take only one unaware employee opening an attachment with malicious software to shut down your systems. The tone in combating this really does start at the top, with the board, CEO, and the CFO setting the governance and the organizational structure and making sure all employees are aware of their role in preventing cyber attacks. Ask the right questions, of the right sources. As CFO, your go-to sources about cyber risk are typically the CIO, the chief risk officer (CRO), and the chief information security officer (CISO). The following questions can inform the dialogue : How do we identify our critical assets, associated risks, and vulnerabilities? Do we have a well-tested incident response and communication plan? Do we track what information is leaving our organization and where it is going? How do we know whos really logging into our network, and from where? Can we limit the information we voluntarily make available to a cyber adversary? Do our security controls cover the entire company, including subsidiaries and affiliates? (Most often the answer will be no.) Adopt a cybersecurity framework. In February, after a yearlong private-sector effort, the Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Version 1.0 was released by the National Institute of Standards and Technology6. A specific deliverable from the Executive OrderImproving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity that President Obama announced in his 2013 State of the Union address, the framework is intended to provide companies with a set of industry standards for managing cybersecurity risks. Voluntary in nature, it defines how to identify, protect, detect, respond, and recover from cyber threats, and the hope is that it will become a baseline leading practice for companies to use in, say, assessing legal exposure to cyber risks. The framework may impact your organization in several ways, including driving greater involvement by the board in overseeing cybersecurity risk and potentially requiring information-sharing protocols to be established. Lack of adoption, on the other hand, may lead to additional regulation for critical infrastructure sectors. Designate an Inspector General. One leading practice that some companies are employing is to shift the monitoring and investigation of cyber risk to an internal designee, whose role is like that of an Inspector General. That person is then charged with investigating a breach if it occurs and reporting out. The Inspector General does not own all of security, but can break the language barrier between cyber specialists and management. In some companies, for example, CIOs are charged with maintaining an adequate level of walls, but the monitoring or detection is done by someone in the CRO organization who reports up to the CFO. Get educated. As CFO, you have to be educated on cyber risks and not rely solely on your CIO, CISO, or even the designated Inspector General. That doesnt mean simply taking an online course or reading one of the hundreds of cybersecurity books now in circulation. It means gaining hands-on exposure to cyber threats through modeling your business risks and then digging into the what and how of security. Test the security plans. Cyber-simulation exercises allow participants to face off as the good guys and bad guys in real time, and offer a way to quickly get up to speed on the risks, identify where the organizations most important assets are, and pinpoint solutions for prevention. The poor professors have never had it so bad. There is nothing that they can do that does not run foul of the media. Especially if it has to do with dresses. Let them but whisper the words dress code, and the entire media brigade descends on them. Every Tomlinson, Dickinson and harried socialite wannabe is called in to pour out their outrage at these otherwise respected guys.

And it does not help that they look such fuddy duddys on TV. In this uneven contest they come out looking like dinosaurs, stuck in another age and knowing nothing about liberalism, freedom or fashion. No one could even remotely imagine letting their ilk set the agenda for what to dress.

But make no mistake about it, freedom has nothing to do with the issue. We do follow trends. And the anxiety to get it right could be terrible. In a college, or in any other non-fashionable place, it does not really matters. Who gives a care if someone walks in wearing a white lungi, or a faded kurta into a classroom. But say you are in an upmarket restaurant, and the first people to give you a stare if you go out dressed wrong would be the waiters, probably following you all around (their gaze, i.e!). It could be even worse in a nightclub you could be denied entry.

So it is just as necessary to go out not dressed in suits and ties to night clubs, as it is necessary to go out in them in a business conference.

Me, I am a fashion dinosaur. I make my capris by cutting off the bottom of my pyjamas, and I have yet to figure out the difference between my old jeans, which were torn when I fell off a moving bus, and the torn stuff that has been in rage.

So, you will understand my bewilderment at all this fashion fundamentalism. The bottomline though is that trends are set increasingly by the fashion designers, models, socialites and the P3P, and are religiously followed.

Why is this so?

One reason is that with the advent of the television age, suddenly people who were anybody (which means they have to appear of TV), could not afford not to be well groomed anymore. This thing has combined in recent days with our fanaticism to have experts for everything from baby food to military security the guy (or the gal) doing the advising must have unimpeachable credentials that s/he can actually do that.

So these citizens of the fashion world serve as experts for an important concern, look. And look muh dahlings is important. Witness how the packaging industry has grown. Witness also the concept that things need to be packaged properly, has grown. Everything today is packaged. There is the physical package and the metaphorical package. There is the packaged bottle of water, and there is the packaged tour. There is also packaged spirituality and others things that one never imagined deserved a package.

So how could humans not be packaged? The look dahlings, is the package. It puts the proper spin on the person. Puts him in perspective, gives him a context, and says something about him. Those who can afford it, do not dare to leave such an important thing to there own bumblings. They call in the experts.

This is as it were, looking at the issue from the inside. From the point of view of people who with a passion follow the fashion, (forgive the doggerel).

There is another way to look at it. From the point of view of the industry that thrives on it. This circle includes not just the designers and the models, but also the big retail chains (Westside and Shoppers Stop are an example) and branded clothing corporations. One may go on to say that it also includes all those who profit from the beauty industry: cosmetics, soaps, shampoos, (in twenty thousand colour for twenty thousand types of hair and I am not exaggerating dahlings) enhancements, spas (chocolate, wine milk, stones, are the new substitutes for plain old bath water), and then dance classes, etiquette, self development etc, etc.

Because Look is not only about clothing, but a lot other things besides.

This entire industry has a stake in keeping people perpetually anxious about their looks. No, I am not suggesting a grand conspiracy against the women, (and lately the men) of this earth but simply that a huge swathe of the corporate world thrives on our look-anxiety and therefore, quite naturally, do everything to subtly reinforce it. This happens through various means well funded researches on the virtues of being slim, expert opinions, etc but mainly through ads.

Have you noticed how the 21st century woman or the liberated woman or the empowered woman in the ads is always someone who has the perfectly shaped body and is draped in designer wear?

If you dont look like that, walk like that and talk like that it is subtly implied then you do not qualify for the above titles. Thats social conditioning for you.

There is nothing wrong in being look conscious. It is a sign of civilisation to bother about how you look. One must, without doubt, try to look ones best but that is where it should halt. One should not start trying to look like someone else, however gorgeous.

We all are unique. Different, without the help of any designer. What could be better than that?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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!

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!

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.!

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).

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.

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?

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.

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. Los Angles: Donald Trump has been accused of "hijacking" the popular score from 'Air Force One' by its producer who has asked the Republican presidential nominee to stop using the movie's theme song during his high-profile campaign events. Gail Katz, the producer of the 1997 Harrison Ford thriller says the Republican presidential nominee is using deceased legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith's music without permission and wants him to stop. Katz told 'The Hollywood Reporter' that Trump never asked the filmmakers for permission to use the score. She has written a letter to the Trump campaign requesting that it stop playing the score at future events. Trump, 70, has been broadcasting the Air Force One theme for months at campaign rallies around the country. The most recent, and high profile, use of the score occurred on July 20 when it accompanied Trump's dramatic arrival via helicopter at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. "The music for Air Force One was composed and conducted by the legendary Oscar-winning film composer Jerry Goldsmith," writes Katz in the letter. "Jerry's music was hijacked in a misguided attempt to associate Trump with the film and the President in that film." Before his death at age 75, Goldsmith was one of the most admired and prolific composers in the film music world, with over five decades of film and TV work to his credit. Veteran film music agent Richard Kraft, who represented Goldsmith for 15 years prior to his death in 2004, says the composer would not be pleased with his music being appropriated by Trump. "From everything I know about Jerry Goldsmith's political views, he would have been extremely unhappy with Trump co- opting his art to sell his image," Kraft said. "Goldsmith composed music to underscore a make-believe, heroic president in [Air Force One], not to help create a phony soundtrack for Trump. He would have been appalled to have his music selling a product he would greatly dislike." This is not the first time Trump's choice of music has come under fire. Multiple songwriters and recording artists have asked the Trump campaign to stop playing their music, including The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Adele, Aerosmith and R.E.M., the report said. Says Katz, "The main point is that, similar to the plane in Air Force One, the music has been hijacked and we want it back." The Trump campaign did not immediate reply to a request for comment, The Hollywood Reporter said. Vientiane: North Korea`s foreign minister said Tuesday that any decision to stage a further nuclear test would depend on the United States, as he held Washington responsible for scuppering denuclearisation efforts on the Korean peninsula. "Whether we conduct additional nuclear tests is entirely up to the United States," Ri Yong-Ho told reporters on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Laos. His comments came just hours after US Secretary of John Kerry, who was attending the same forum in Vientiane, warned of "real consequences" if Pyongyang pushes ahead with nuclear and missile tests. The newly appointed Ri, who was making his overseas debut as the North`s top diplomat, blamed the United States for the failure of the long-dormant six-party talks on Pyongyang`s nuclear programme. "The denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula went out of the window because of the United States," he said. Ri was previously the North`s top negotiator to the six-party talks which brought together the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China, and were last held in 2008. "The key factor damaging the situation is the United States` hostile policies... and the problem is getting worse," he said, citing significantly toughened UN and US economic sanctions imposed after the North`s fourth nuclear test in January. "And recently they committed the most grave hostility by insulting our Dear Leader," Ri said, referring to the US decision to personally blacklist Kim Jong-Un over human rights abuses. Despite the latest sanctions, North Korea has continued to carry out ballistic missile tests in violation of UN sanctions, and has made it clear that it intends to continue nuclear testing. The issue of the North`s weapons programme has dominated this week`s talks in Vientiane -- a rare opportunity for all the members of the six-party process to be in the same room. Kerry, who has held a flurry of closed-door meetings with his regional counterparts over the last two days, said there was unanimity on the need to curb the North`s nuclear ambitions. "Together we are determined... to make absolutely certain that DPRK (North Korea) understands that there are real consequences for these actions," Kerry told reporters. Ri insisted that the North was a "responsible nuclear state" which would only strike if threatened, and he called on the United States to withdraw its troops from South Korea immediately. Kadapa: Five persons, including two children, were today killed after the roof of a house collapsed due to incessant rains at Utapalavaram village in Kadapa district, police said. The incident happened in wee hours today when the old-clay roof house collapsed due to rains, killing five persons on the spot and injuring two others, Mydukur Urban circle Inspector Y Venkateswarlu said. The deceased identified as Angampalli Chinna Gurrappa (55), his wife Penchalamma (45), his daughter Harita (24), his grandsons Yaswant(5) and Navaneet(3), were asleep when mishap happened, the officer said. The injured have been admitted to a local government hospital, Venkateswarlu said, adding, a case has been registered and investigations are on. Guwahati: Two persons died on Tuesday and around 16 lakh people of 19 districts of Assam are affected by flood as the water level of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries continue to rise submerging houses, farm lands and wild life sanctuaries. One person died at Mayong in Morigaon district and another at Lakhipur in Goalpara district, Assam State Disaster Management Authority today said. Nearly 2,700 villages in 71 revenue circles are inundated in Lakhimpur, Golaghat, Bongaigaon, Jorhat, Dhemaji, Sivasagar, Barpeta, Kokrajhar, Nagaon, Dibrugarh, Chirang, Goalpara, Tinsukia, Dhubri, Morigaon, Sonitpur, Biswanath, Darrang and Nalbari districts, the ASDMA said. Over 80 per cent of rhino habitat Kaziranga National Park is flooded and the rising water level caused largescale migration of hog deer across NH-37 to the high lands of Karbi Anglong hills, KNP Divisional Forest Officer Suvasish Das said. A few rhinos have also moved there and they are being constantly monitored, he said. Altogether 34 hog deer were rescued yesterday and today while four were killed died due to vehicle hit as they were crossing NH-37. Three also got drowned yesterday, Das said. A rhino calf and a juvenile fishing cat were also rescued today, he added. Of the 178 anti-poaching camps in the World Heritage Site, 129 were inundated with the flood waters reaching the base of the camps. The forest staff of KNP's Agoratoli Range rescued 70 people from two submerged villages, the DFO said. As Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, the densest habitat of one horned rhinos, in Morigaon district is completely under flood water, Forest Minister Pramila Rani Brahma has rushed there to take stock of the situation there. The minister has directed forest officials to take additional measures for protection of the wild animals, particularly of those that came out due to the flood, officials of Pobitora said. Meanwhile, Morigaon district administration has provided two mechanised boats to Pobitoara for anti-poaching vigil even as five anti-poaching camps are damaged there. The Army, SDRF and NDRF were assisting district administrations in evacuating the affected population to safer places, the ASDMA said. Raipur: With Odisha raising concerns over the construction of barrages on Mahanadi, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Tuesday said the Mahanadi issue was being "unnecessarily politicised" as the state was proceeding with the projects only after the Central Water Commission`s (CWC) nod. "Chhattisgarh is taking water after getting nod from the CWC. In fact, we have the right to take more water. We are currently using 25 percent of water," Singh told reporters. "This issue is just being unnecessarily politicised. The Chhattisgarh Government has already taken nods for various projects and only after that it has started working on it. When we will have a discussion, we will ask for more water share that belongs to us and that we will use for irrigation and other facilities," he added. Meanwhile, Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti said the Centre has convened a meeting of Chief Secretaries of Odisha and Chhattisgarh on Friday to consider various issues concerning water and projects in the Mahanadi Basin. Replying to a brief discussion in response to a Calling Attention notice in the Rajya Sabha today, Bharti said if found necessary, a ministerial-level meeting could also be called to resolve the dispute between the two states. Earlier, Minister of State for Water Resources Dr. Sanjiv Kumar Balyan said a Joint Control Board, which was proposed by a 1983 memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the erstwhile Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, could not be constituted till today. He said the board was supposed to review the progress, execution and preparation of joint inter-state irrigation and power projects and to discuss and resolve any issue.Dissatisfied over the two ministers` reply, BJD members staged a walkout. Raising the issue, Dilip Kumar Tirkey of the BJD alleged that Chhattisgarh had undertaken construction of barrages on Mahanadi without consulting Odisha.He said the construction of barrages will adversely impact agriculture, availability of drinking water, power generation in Odisha. New Delhi: As many as 54 supporters of dreaded terror group ISIS have been arrested in the country, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday. Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir said the National Investigation Agency and state police have registered various cases with respect of ISIS/ISIL/IS phenomenon in the country. "As per the information received so far, 54 ISIS supporters/ sympathisers have been arrested before they could carry out any terrorist attack in the country," he said in a reply to a written question. The Minister said a few incidents of unfurling of flags of ISIS by some misguided youth were noticed on different occasions in Jammu and Kashmir in the recent past and the state government has been asked to take appropriate action against such elements as per law. New Delhi: The AAP on Tuesday termed the charge of alcoholism against its MP Bhagwant Mann "baseless" and demanded the Parliament should have a system wherein lawmakers could be checked if they are drunk before they enter the complex. Attempting to turn the heat on the BJP, AAP leader Ashutosh claimed he knew several MPs from the ruling party and otherwise who come to Parliament drunk. "We have said there should be system under which those who come to Parliament drunk should be checked. I know so many MPs of the BJP and outside the BJP who go to Parliament drunk. I don't want to take their names," Ashutosh said. Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh said those who go to the Parliament drunk should be disqualified. Fatehgarh Sahib MP Harinder Singh Khalsa, who was suspended from AAP, had complained to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan last week requesting that his seat in the House be changed as Mann, who sits next to him, "stinks of alcohol". New Delhi: The search and rescue operation for the missing AN 32 aircraft entered its fifth day on Tuesday even as hopes of finding alive the 29 defence personnel on board receded as all leads till now have turned out to be bad. "A lot of resources are in place. All leads till now have turned out to be bad. We are trying to concentrate on some links or sound which has emitted from some area. Trying to find out, that needs to be ascertained but there were some false leads but false leads of similar type," Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said here today. He said that a state of art ice-class research vessel, Sagar Nidhi, of the National Institute of Ocean Technology has been called for from Mauritius. "That will reach but any deep vessel to operate, it will need specific area. "Because deep vessels which go inside cannot go and search per se unless you have some definite small area. So last time (Doriner crash), submarine had identified the location and then we had send it (deep sea vessel of Reliance). It is a secondary operation after initial identification," Parrikar said. Sagar Nidhi comes with Dynamic Positioning System which keeps its position stable, which is required for oceanographic research. It has a huge deck area for deploying ROV/Manned submersibles/ Tsunami monitoring system. Gondola arrangement is also made for precision acoustic measurements. Drop Keel facility is made to fit any underwater transducers without dry docking the vessel. One separate lab is designed and installed with integrated survey systems with modern scientific survey equipments like single and multi beam echo sounder for shallow and deep waters, sub bottom profiler, acoustic current profiler. Parrikar also refuted claims of a senior Coast Guard official who said that the the Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) had not functioned during the Dornier crash also. "I think the submarine finally located the Dornier with the same beeps. Initially sound might not have come due to depth of water but when the submarine went in there, they identified the location. Can't say whether it is operating or not now but we have not been able to hear it," he said. Meanwhile, sources in the Air Force said the reason of the incident is too early to be ascertained but indicated that weather could have played a role. "The weather was bad but the pilot had taken the required steps," a senior source said. Meanwhile, asked about Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's comment that process to revoke AFSPA must start on experimental basis, Parrikar said the call has to be taken by the Home Ministry. "I think Home Ministry need to take a call on it. We only operate. As of now we are operating only in the border and counter insurgency grid. We do not operate in the normal sphere of state's law and order," Parrikar said. He said that as far as Army is concerned, it has ensured that border remains sealed and no infiltration bid is successful. "We are doing our job properly," he said. New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Tuesday registered a case against Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal for allegedly revealing the identity of a 14-year-old Dalit rape victim. Maliwal responded by saying she is a revolutionary and not scared of any FIR. The victim, who was brutally raped in north Delhi's Burari, died on Sunday after being forced to drink a corrosive substance by her alleged abusers. "We have filed a case against DCW chief Swati Maliwal for naming the Dalit rape victim," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Aslam Khan told IANS. The officer said that Maliwal has been booked under Section 228 A (disclosure of identity of victim of certain offences) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Reacting sharply to the FIR against her, Maliwal suggested the police were being vengeful. In a series of tweets she said: "DCW issues Notice to police station Burari for role in 14 year old girl's case and two days later Delhi Police registers baseless FIR against me. Vendetta?" "I have taken blows for Nirbhaya and my every moment goes in ensuring that no more Nirbhayas happen in the society. I am a revolutionary and not scared of any FIR. Jai Hind," Maliwal said in a tweet. "I will keep on raising more issues," she added. Maliwal also clarified that she did not release the name of the victim but instead helped her. "Firstly, not released name of victim. Instead ensured proper medical care in private hospital. Police arrested the accused only after DCW Notice," Maliwal tweeted. "Also, why should rape victim hide her identity? Shouldn't rapists be hiding? Is it the shame of a victim that she was subjected to cruelty?" Maliwal asked in another tweet. The Dalit girl was kidnapped by the accused before she was to testify against him in a local court for allegedly raping her. She was again repeatedly raped by the accused, and forced to drink a corrosive substance by his maternal aunt and uncle. The substance damaged the girl's internal organs and she was admitted to a hospital. Maliwal visited the girl on Friday night and subsequently issued notice to Burari police station chief Satbir Singh, seeking the reason for "not arresting the accused till date". In the notice, Maliwal named the victim. The copy of the notice was also sent to Deputy Commissioner of Police Madhur Verma, citing the statement of the victim and her father before the DCW. The DCW chief posed at least eight queries to the Delhi Police and gave the force 72 hours to reply to the notice. The DCW is also conducting an inquiry into the "role of police, government hospital and Nari Niketan in the case". A case under charges of kidnapping, rape and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was registered at Burari police station against the accused Shiv Shankar on December 24, 2015. The victim's parents informed the DCW on May 15 this year that the girl was again kidnapped from her house just before a hearing in the court. The Burari police then registered another case on May 19. This time the girl was brutally raped, tortured and forced to drink a corrosive substance. She later died. New Delhi: While Congress stalwart Sheila Dikshit (78) is hitting the campaign trail in the politically sensitive Uttar Pradesh, her son Sandeep Dikshit too is looking for greener pastures in the political arena. In his blog the former Congress MP apparently lashed out at Congress leader Ajay Maken (without naming him), whom he holds responsible of running a systematic negative campaign to defame his mother and falsely implicate her in the CWG scam and alleged water tanker scam. Unhappy with the leadership, Dikhsit wrote, So where does that leave me? When my own party has put me out to graze, what greener pastures do I look for? So like all sensible cattle, I roam around, picking grass from wherever I get it with honour and self-respect. Further lashing out at Maken, Sandeep Dikshit said, I am in the Indian National Congress, but as far as its Delhi unit is concerned, I cannot accept a leadership whose sole objective was to discredit the Congress government in Delhi under Sheila Dikshit, which ultimately led to destroying the party itself (interestingly, the Congress is staging a comeback on the strength of the 15 years of its rule in Delhi, which was discredited by the very person who is reaping that benefit now). Hitting out at Maken, the Delhi Congress unit chief, the ex-Congress MP from East Delhi accused the latter of trying to defame his mother. He further accused the Pradesh Congress Committee of cajoling mediapersons in order to hype the water tanker scam. New Delhi: Migaloo, the majestic white humpback whale made a stunning appearance as he travelled up the east coast of Australia on annual migration to north. The majestic white humpback has been sighted off the coast of New South Wales state, including the resort town of Byron Bay. Alison Reid, who booked a whale watching boat trip and was overcome with emotion when he actually showed up, captured the magnificent mammal on camera off Byron Bay on Tuesday, and and watched him frolic with another humpback for about two hours. I cried. I screamed 'You gorgeous whale, thank you for being here for us today, Ms Reid was quoted as saying by the ABC. She said she had been an avid whale watcher for decades, but this was her first sighting of Migaloo. Migaloo, which is Australias most well-known humpback whale, has delighted large numbers of whale enthusiasts as he migrates up the east coast of Australia from Antarctica to the warmer waters of Tropical North Queensland. Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Tuesday took suo motu cognizance of the incident of the alleged murder of a criminal in Colvale Jail in north Goa and ordered a Sub Divisional Magistrate enquiry into the incident.Parsekar took the floor just before the beginning of question hour in the Assembly and made the announcement. The convict Ashpak Bengre was allegedly murdered by another inmate during the morning walk of the jailed inmates earlier today. He was taken to the nearby government hospital in Mapusa and declared brought dead.As per reports, Bengre was booked by the Karnataka, Goa and Chandigarh Police for various offences like extortion and drug peddling. He was brought to Goa on a transfer remand after he was arrested by Chandigarh police for allegedly smuggling drugs into the country in May last year. New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Bhagwant Mann, who is under scanner for live-streaming a video of the security arrangements inside the Parliament House Complex on the social media, has now sough an inquiry against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly compromising the national security. According to reports, Mann, the AAP MP from Sangrur district in Punjab, has written a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan in which he has demanded a thorough probe against PM Modi for inviting a high-level Pakistani delegation to visit the Indian Air Force Base in Pathankot, weeks after it was attacked allegedly by Islamabad-backed terrorists. Mann, in his letter to the Speaker, claimed that PM Modi's invitation to the Pakistani delegation to visit the Pathankot IAF Base had put the national security in jeopardy. He also claimed that PM Modi's invitation to the Pakistani officials was a much bigger threat to the national security than the video which he posted on the Facebook. Mann also requested the Speaker to widen the ambit of the Parliamentary Panel which is probing the AAP leader's action of posting the videos of the security pickets inside the Parliament House Complex. MP Bhagwant Mann writes to speaker of Lok Sabha, asks for enquiry on PM Modi on issue of National Security. pic.twitter.com/lC1toMEfZp AAP Ka Mehta (@DaaruBaazMehta) July 26, 2016 Mann was severely criticised by politicians cutting across the party lines for posting the video on Parliament's security on Facebook. Mann, however, said that he had done nothing wrong. Bengaluru: An international tribunal has ruled that the Indian government had acted "unfairly" and "inequitably" in annulling a contract between city-based multimedia firm Devas and ISRO's commercial arm Antrix, making it liable to pay financial compensation. A Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) tribunal based in the Hague has found that the Indian government's actions in annulling the contract and denying Devas commercial use of S-band spectrum constituted an expropriation, Devas Multimedia Private Ltd. Said here. In its ruling yesterday, the PCA tribunal also found that India breached its treaty commitments to accord fair and equitable treatment to Devas's foreign investors, the company said in a statement here. The PCA regularly administers cases involving states, including investment treaty claims brought under arbitration rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). ISRO officials here said they were yet to get details of the development. The ruling is the second by an international tribunal arising out of the cancellation of the Devas-Antrix contract. The unanimous decision included the arbitrator appointed to the tribunal by India, Devas said. In September 2015, in a jolt to Antrix, the International Chamber of Commerce's (ICC) arbitration body International Court of Arbitration had asked it to pay damages worth USD 672 million (Rs 4,432 crore then) to Devas Multimedia for "unlawfully" terminating the deal five years ago on grounds of national security. The Tribunal then had noted that Antrix had no legal justification to terminate the agreement and that Dr K R Radhakrishnan, who at the time of annulment, was Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman of ISRO, Antrix and the Space Commission, could have prevented the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) from approving the annulment. CCS had annulled the deal based on the recommendation of the Space Commission on the ground that it was not in the security interests of the country. The UPA government's action had come months after the Comptroller and Auditor General of India came out with a report on the 2G scam that had estimated a "presumptive loss" of Rs 1.76 lakh crore due to flawed spectrum allocation process. Under the deal signed in 2005, Antrix was to provide 70 MHz of the scarce S-Band wavelength to Devas for its digital multimedia services by leasing 90 per cent of the transponders in ISROs GSAT-6 and GSAT-6A satellites. Devas, in turn, was to pay Antrix a total of USD 300 million over 12 years. "With this PCA award, two international tribunals have now unanimously agreed that financial compensation should be paid after the annulment of Devas's rights," said Devas Chairman Lawrence Babbio, former Vice Chairman of Verizon, the largest telecommunications company in the United States. "Other courts in France and the United Kingdom have agreed that the award against Antrix ought to be enforced. We prefer a mutually agreeable resolution of this matter. "But until that occurs, Devas and its investors will continue to press their claims before international tribunals and in courts around the world," he said. New Delhi: K Durga Prasad, Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), has said they feel sorry for using pellet guns in Kashmir but added that their hands were tied. Prasad said no such thing as a non-lethal weapon exists and that pellet guns were the least lethal option which the forces have in their hands. We feel very sorry for them as youngsters have to bear injuries due to the firing of pellet guns. We ourselves are trying to use it in bare minimum so that there are less injuries. But we use them under the extreme situation when crowd control fails by other means, he said, as per The Indian Express. Everybody feels bad when youngsters get hit. But still, we will have to use it (pellet guns) in extreme situation as of now. We hope that any (extreme) situation does not arise (in future), the CRPF chief added. The CRPF DG stressed that all their men deployed in Kashmir had basic training and were told to fire pellet guns below the knee. Prasad said 114 companies, or over 11,000 personnel, of the CRPF have been positioned in Kashmir to bring the situation under control. Most of these personnel have been pulled out midway through their training, he said, adding this has affected the annual training. Our annual training has suffered as we are in continuous deployment. As of today, all our training companies in Kashmir are deployed to control the unrest there. Training companies from other states have also been pulled out, Prasad said. As per reports, nearly 317 people have sustained pellet injuries, most of them in the eye, in the Valley in the recent clashes following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on July 8. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday saluted and paid respect to the Indian soldiers on the occasion of Kargil Vijay Diwas. Expressing his views on Twitter, the Prime Minister wrote: On Kargil Vijay Diwas I bow to every valiant soldier who fought for India till the very last breath. Their heroic sacrifices inspire us. While recalling the might displayed by the Indian military, PM Modi said, the country will never forget the fearlessness with which the courageous soldiers fought aganst the intruders in the 1999 Kargil war. India will never forget the fearlessness with which our courageous soldiers gave a befitting & unforgettable reply to the intruders, he tweeted. The PM also took the opportunity to praise the then Atal Behjari Vajpayee-led NDA government for displaying firm political leadership. We recall with pride, the firmness demonstrated by Indias political leadership in 1999, which ensured a decisive victory in Kargil, the PM tweeted. On Kargil Vijay Diwas I bow to every valiant soldier who fought for India till the very last breath. Their heroic sacrifices inspire us. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 India will never forget the fearlessness with which our courageous soldiers gave a befitting & unforgettable reply to the intruders. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 We recall with pride, the firmness demonstrated by Indias political leadership in 1999, which ensured a decisive victory in Kargil. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 Indian and Pakistani armies fought the Kargil War in May-July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). India launched 'Operation Vijay' to clear the Kargil sector of infiltration by Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants on the Indian side of the Line of Control. Delhi: 17th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas was celebrated on Tuesday with wreath laying ceremony conducted at various War Memorials in the country. The solemn ceremony is held every year on this day to pay homage to Indian soldiers of all three Services who made supreme sacrifice for the nation. The week long celebrations ended today. The battle took place between India and Pakistan during May-July, 1999. The conflict was triggered after Pakistani soldiers managed to occupy key positions on the Indian side of the Line of Control in Kargil sector. It had officially come to an end on July 26, 1999. Watch the video below to relive the heroics of India's brave soldiers - Lucknow: Expelled BJP leader Dayashankar Singh on Tuesday moved the Allahabad High Court seeking a stay on his arrest in connection with a non-bailable warrant issued against him by a local court for using derogatory remarks against BSP chief Mayawati. The Allahabad High Court has agreed to hear his case on July 28. The development came a day after the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Lucknow issued a non-bailable warrant against Singh for his derogatory remark against BSP chief Mayawati. Criticising her ticket distribution system, Singh had compared Mayawati to a sex worker. The issue also had rocked Parliament and an embarrassed BJP had sacked Singh for the remark. An FIR was also lodged against him on the complaint by the BSP. Raids were conducted by police to trace Singh even as his family threatened to file an FIR against Mayawati and senior BSP leaders for allegedly using foul language. The BSP also claimed that Singh made derogatory references to Mayawati as part of a planned conspiracy of the BJP to cover up what was happening in Gujarat. The BSP leaders also abused Dayashankar and his family for the remark forcing his mother to lodge and FIR against Mayawati. Singhs mother lodged an FIR against Mayawati, BSP national general secretary Naseemuddin Siddiqui, state president Ram Achal Rajbhar and other unidentified party leaders on charges of insulting and abusing the family during the partys protest in Lucknow on Thursday. Ahmedabad: Congress today termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "silence" on Una Dalit thrashing incident as "devaluation" of his post as well as democracy, even as the opposition party organised sit-in agitations across Gujarat against the incident. "He (Modi) took votes from Gujarat and became PM. But, he has refused to utter a single word for Dalits as he fears that it will harm BJP in Gujarat. This is devaluation of democracy and PM's post," said Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly, Shankersinh Vaghela. While the protests were held at various places in 33 districts, senior party leaders, including state unit Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki and Vaghela participated in a dharna near collector's office in the city. The Congress leaders blamed the brutal assault on Dalit youths on the "anti-Dalit mentality" of the BJP and state government. Addressing a gathering of Dalits here, Solanki said the "atrocities" committed on people under the BJP government are "more heinous and barbaric than during the British rule". "This government crushes all those who raise their voices for their rights. Dalits and poor citizens are subjected to atrocities in Gujarat. This government is having an anti-Dalit mentality, as people who thrashed Dalits in Una were supporters of BJP," he alleged. Solanki alleged that more than 40 people were involved in thrashing Dailts at Una, but only 16 were arrested. "This shows that enough steps are not taken by government to instill a sense of security among Dalits. Such incident on Dalits has tarnished Gujarat's image," the Congress leader said. On July 11, some Dalit youths from Mota Samadhiyala village in Una taluka of Gir-Somnath district were flogged allegedly by cow protection vigilantes for skinning a dead cow. The incident sparked a huge outrage in Gujarat with the Dalits taking to streets and indulging in vandalism and arson New Delhi: Nation on Tuesday paid tribute to its brave Indian soldiers who laid their lives during the two-month long war on the icy heights of Kargil in Jammu and Kashmir, bordering the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in 1999. On 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas, PM Narendra Modi hailed the supreme sacrifices made by the Indian soldiers and paid his tribute to the war heroes through a series of tweets this morning. I bow to every valiant soldier who fought for India till very last breath. Their heroic sacrifices inspire us, PM Modi said in a tweet. India will never forget the fearlessness with which our courageous soldiers gave a befitting & unforgettable reply to the intruders. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 We recall with pride, the firmness demonstrated by Indias political leadership in 1999, which ensured a decisive victory in Kargil. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag, Air Chief Marshal also paid homage to the Kargil War martyrs in the national capital. In the Drass sector in Jammu and Kashmir, the families of Kargil War heroes paid tribute to the fallen war heroes on the occasion of 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas. Father of Captain Vikram Batra, who lost his life in Kargil War, said his son was a legendary soldier. We are very proud of him, he added. Kargil Vijay Diwas commemorates the victory in the 1999 war with Pakistan that began on 3 May and was brought to its conclusion on 26 July. From a strategic standpoint, Kargil is noted as being one of the most recent instances of high-altitude warfare in mountainous terrain something that usually provides a major challenge to both sides. The Kargil was was also one of the very few instances of direct, conventional warfare between nuclear states. New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday directed the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) to provide within 10 days the details of the budgetary expenditure of Rs 20,000 crore for cleaning and protecting the Ganga river. "The NMCG should clear its stand on Rs 20,000 crore granted to it and how much it has dispensed to various authorities to clean the Ganga," said a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar. The NMCG is the implementing authority of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) that has been assigned the task to rejuvenate the river. The next hearing has been fixed for August 18. The Union government, under its `Namami Ganga` programme, had earmarked Rs 20,000 crore to the NMCG, the highest allocation for the cleaning of the Ganga so far. The NGT also sought clarity from Uttar Pradesh`s polluting industries involved in leather tanning, paper, textiles and slaughterhouses about the steps taken to curb water pollution. The green court sought details on what these industries are doing for setting up an online monitoring system to check pollution of the Ganga. The tribunal also issued notices to the Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal governments, seeking their response to curbing river pollution in their respective jurisdictions. The court asked them to submit their action plans in this regard. The tribunal ordered the concerned authorities to file suggestions regarding cleanliness of the Ganga from Haridwar to Kanpur, which is part of the first phase of the Namami Ganga programme. After the Supreme Court assigned the case to the NGT, the latter divided the work of cleaning the river into different segments -- stretching from Gomukh to Haridwar, Haridwar to Kanpur, Kanpur to Uttar Pradesh border, Uttar Pradesh border to Jharkhand border and Jharkhand border to the Bay of Bengal. New Delhi: There are no plans to induct women for combat roles in the Indian Army, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. "Presently, there is no proposal to raise a women's combat unit in the army," Parrikar said in his written reply. He said there is no 'gender discrimination' in the army. "There is no gender discrimination in the armed forces as the working conditions, promotion prospects, pay and allowances and service conditions of women officers are same as those of the male officers," he said. Last week, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha to a question of inducting women in combat roles in the armed forces, Parrikar had mentioned the induction of three women Short Service Commission Officers as fighter pilots in the Indian Air Force. He reiterated that it was an "experimental entry scheme", and will be valid for "five years from the date of issue of government of India letter dated December 2, 2015". "Further possibilities are being examined," the minister said. President Pranab Mukherjee, in his speech to the joint sitting of Parliament's two houses at the beginning of the 2016 budget session, said the government will soon be allowing women in combat streams in all three armed forces. "My government has approved the induction of women as short service commission officers and as fighter pilots in the Indian Air Force. In the future, my government will induct women in all the fighter streams of our armed forces," President Mukherjee had said. At present, the army has 1,514 women officers, the navy has 439, and the air force has 1,584 women officers. The number totals 3,537. New Delhi: It's no relief for AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, who was arrested for allegedly threatening a woman. Delhi's Saket court on Tuesday dismissed the bail plea of AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan. Now, the AAP MLA has been sent to 14 day judicial custody. AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan was on Sunday arrested after a woman alleged that he tried to mow her down after she visited his residence to raise the issue of power cuts. Khan was first detained for questioning and then arrested, a day after he alleged in a press conference that the woman was "pressurised" by police into giving a false statement against him. "On July 22, the woman had recorded her statement before the magistrate under Section 164 of CrPC. She had alleged while she was returning from the legislator's residence, a vehicle tried mowing her down and Amanatullah was sitting in it," said Joint Commission of Police, Southeast Range, R P Upadhyay. Delhi: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is once again in the eye of the storm. A day after he was allegedly caught on camera sleeping in the Lok Sabha, Rahul went to meet family members of Dalits, who were thrashed while skinning a dead cow. Rahul went to them at the Rajkot civil hospital. There he was seen hugging a woman named Ramaben Muchhadiya at the hospital. Now, it is being said that the woman whom the Congress VP had assumed to be the mother of one of the victims, was not connected to any of the men who had been beaten. As a Dalit mother, I decided to visit them (the victims) in the hospital. I even took two tiffins for the victims. I got passes to enter the ward and was checking on the health of one of the victims when Rahul Gandhi walked in. At that point, I had tears in my eyes after seeing the condition of the victims; then he hugged me Ben was quoted as saying by NDTV. Moreover, the 55-year-old woman has a criminal record that includes cases of extortion and rioting. In Una, Rahul had slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. Speaking to media persons, Gandhi had said, "PM Modi talks about Gujarat model, but if anyone here demands education, fights against big corporates, their voice is suppressed. This is a fight between two ideologies. Gandhi ji, Nehru ji, Sardar Patel ji, BR Ambedkarji on a side and RSS, Modi ji on the other." "Modi ji talks about Gujarat model, but here whosoever raises his voice against their ideology, whoever asks for education, whoever stands against big corporates, are trampled upon and suppressed," he had further said, as per PTI. Reacting on the matter, BJP spokesman Raju Dhruv, said, "That's classic Mr Rahul Gandhi for you. He always puts his party in an embarrassing position. So much for showing compassion for Dalit victims." On the other hand, Congress spokesman Manish Doshi was quoted as saying by the media house as saying, "The pass is given by the hospital administration, the identification of visitors is done by the medical officers on duty. The Congress wasn't connected to the identifying those who were there." Gujarat has witnessed huge protests after seven Dalit youths were flogged publicly for skinning a dead cow in Mota Samadhilya village of Gir-Somnath district on July 11. Several youths have reportedly attempted suicide over the assault even as the violence and arson spread to various places in the state. (With Agency inputs) Mumbai: Zakir Naik's Islamic Research Foundation has converted around 800 people to Islam by paying them a hefty sum from the donations made to the organisation from across the world, according to reports. This was revealed by IRF's guest relation officer Rizwan Khan, who along with Arshid Qureshi was arrested by Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS) and Kerala Police during a joint operation last week. If the alleged conversions are found to be done forcibly, Zakir Naik, who is already facing the heat over his controversial speeches, may further land in deep trouble. It is being learnt that the duo would persuade prisoners and criminals to convert to Islam after providing them financial and legal help. They also used to target college students, who were allegedly brainwashed for conversion. Several documents have been seized from Rizwan, which reveal that many Christians and Hindus have also been converted to Muslim. A case under IPC Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 153 A (promoting enmity between groups) as well as under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act was registered against them in Kochi. The arrest took place after a police complaint was raised by Ebin Abraham, brother of Kochi resident, Merin alias Mariyam, who along with her husband, is reported to be missing and is alleged to have joined the Islamic State. Ebin Jacob (25), the brother of Merin alias Mariam had told police that there was an attempt to forcibly convert him to Islam and make him join Islamic State. New York: Can financial intelligence be found in the "twitterverse" which can provide clues to how a stock will perform? Yes, says a team from Johns Hopkins University. A strong co-relation does exist between the mood of a day's worth of tweets about a particular stock and the performance of that stock, added Jim Kyung-Soo Liew from Hopkins' Carey Business School. "When Apple does well within the day, participants are tweeting with bullish sentiment, showing that a positive correlation exists between contemporaneous price movements and tweet sentiments," Liew stated. The new paper, forthcoming in The Journal of Portfolio Management, shows that tweet-like posts on the StockTwits financial micro-blogging platform are strongly related over a given day to the behaviour of the stock being tweeted about during that day. According to Liew, this use of social media to determine stock performance should be added as a "sixth factor" to the Fama-French five-factor model well known in financial circles as a method for explaining market behaviour. Liew and his co-author associate professor Tamas Budavari of the Hopkins Krieger School of Arts and Sciences were granted access to all StockTwits posts about 15 companies that drew the most Twitter commentary from January 2012 to October 2015. The companies were Apple, Facebook, Netflix, Yahoo, Amazon, Google, Disney and American Airlines, among others. People who post on StockTwits can state in their tweets whether they feel positive ("bullish") or negative ("bearish") about a stock. Mining this data, the researchers discovered "a particular intuitive relationship between tweet sentiment and prices over time." "Namely, we show that the aggregated daily sentiment matters for equity daily returns. Positive sentiment is associated with positive returns," they wrote. Some critics say the real-time status of a tweet can make it irrelevant after, say, minutes or hours. But Liew begs to differ. "There appears to exist a strong positive relationship between the daily time-series of aggregated tweet sentiments and their corresponding security returns," he pointed out in a university statement. A previous study that Liew wrote for The Journal of Portfolio Management found a strong link between the mood of Twitter posts and the performance of an initial public offering (IPO). Srinagar: Curfew was on Tuesday lifted from all parts of Kashmir, except Anantnag town, after 17 days of unrest in the Valley in which 47 persons were killed and 5500 others injured in clashes following killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. "Curfew has been lifted from all parts of Kashmir except Anantnag town, today," a police official said. The official said there is no curfew or restrictions on the movement of the people in the district. "However, in other parts of the Valley, restrictions on assembly of four or more people will continue to maintain law and order," the official said. Curfew was imposed across Kashmir on July 9, a day after killing of Wani, as a precautionary measure. However, violent clashes between protestors and security forces saw 47 persons including two policemen killed while 5500 others were injured. Mobile telephony, mobile Internet services and train services remained suspended for 18th day while schools, colleges and other educational institutions also remained closed due to a strike called by the separatist groups. The separatist camp, which is spearheading the protests against civilian killings, has already announced a relaxation in the strike from 2 PM onwards today. However, they have called for three days of shutdown from tomorrow to July 29. The separatist groups have also called for a march to Kulgam tomorrow. Srinagar: Authorities continued curfew and restrictions on Tuesday in the Kashmir Valley. "Curfew shall continue without any relaxation in Anantnag, Shopian, Kulgam and Pulwama districts while restrictions will remain in force in parts of Srinagar, Sopore and Kupwara," a senior police official told IANS. An unruly mob on Monday torched an irrigation department office in Anantnag town. Clashes continued in south Kashmir areas as people tried to march to Anantnag town in response to the separatist called protest march on Monday. Clashes also occurred in old city areas of Srinagar after authorities arrested separatist leaders Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Syed Ali Geelani. Both Mirwaiz and Geelani tried to defy house arrest. The two senior leaders were later returned to their residences where they continued to remain under house arrest. No educational institute is currently functioning in the Valley although the summer vacations officially ended on Sunday. Train services between Baramulla and Jammu`s Bannihal town remained suspended since July 9, a day after Hizbul commander, Burhan Wani was killed in a gunfight. So far, 49 people including 47 civilians and two policemen have been killed in the unrest following Wani`s killing. Jammu: Four dreaded Pakistan-trained terrorists were killed and another apprehended by the security forces during an encounter in the Naugam sector near the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday. Four terrorists have been killed while one has been apprehended alive during an operation in Naugam sector," an army official said. He said all the militants were foreign nationals. The operation was in progress when reports were last received from the encounter site. The official said as the operation was still going on, it would be premature to say whether it was an infiltration bid or not. "We have got one of them alive and expect some vital information from him," he added. Reacting to the development, Union Minister of State (Home) Kiren Rijiju said, ''it is a big achievement that a terrorist was apprehended alive in J&K's Kupwara district.'' New York: Further needling India, Pakistan has demanded an independent inquiry into the "extra-judicial" killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani and claimed that the denial of "plebiscite" to Kashmiri people was behind the flare-up in the Kashmir Valley. Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi met a Kashmiri delegation here last week and said the country stands firm "in its principled policy of providing moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmir cause", according to a statement issued by Pakistan's Mission to the UN. Lodhi called for an "independent inquiry into the extrajudicial killing of Wani and protestors". She said Pakistan was actively pursuing the Kashmir issue at various forums at the United Nations. Denial of the "right of self determination" to the people of Kashmir through an "independent plebiscite", promised to them by various Security Council resolutions, was at the heart of the current flare-up, which threatened regional peace and security, Lodhi told the delegation as she called for the UN to implant its resolutions on Kashmir. The statement claimed that members of the Kashmiri delegation "appreciated Pakistan's consistent support and its efforts of taking up the issue" at different international forums. Lodhi has been raising the Kashmir issue and the killing of Wani in her various statements at the UN and in meetings with top officials at the world body. Lodhi briefed President of the Security Council for July Japanese Ambassador Koro Bessho, Ban's Chief of staff and Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman on the situation in Kashmir. Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz also wrote to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to "express Pakistan's serious concern on the alarming situation" and alleged human rights violation in Kashmir. India and Pakistan are witnessing growing bitterness after Pakistan and its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made provocative statements on the Kashmir situation in the wake of Wani's killing on July 8. Not only did Sharif praise Wani but he also remarked that "Kashmir will one day become Pakistan", a comment which evoked a sharp reaction from External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who said his dream of the state becoming a part of his country "will not be realised even at the end of eternity". New Delhi: Opposition led by Congress and JMM Tuesday accused the ruling BJP of alleged coercion and threats in the recent biennial polls to the Upper House to get its candidates elected. They sought the setting up of a House Committee to probe into a CD that allegedly contains audio recordings of a senior IPS officer threatening the husband of an opposition MLA to get her to vote in favour of a candidate of the ruling party. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Sanjiv Kumar (JMM) alleged that on the eve of polling, two opposition MLAs were harassed in some old cases while a JMM MLA was arrested in a petty case to prevent him from casting his vote. While other MLAs lodged in jails were allowed to cast vote, the three opposition legislators could not, leading to the victory of the ruling party candidate by one vote, he claimed. Without naming anyone, he said the ruling party used allurements as well as threats to win over opposition MLAs. He claimed that a CD has surfaced purportedly showing how an Additional Director General of Police coerced and threatened the husband of an opposition MLA. According to local media reports, the CD allegedly contains conversation between the officer and Yogendra Sao, husband of Congress MLA Nirmala Devi. It also contains talks between Sao and the Chief Minister's political adviser. Maintaining that a copy of the CD will be made available to the Union Home Minister, he demanded action against the police officer. Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad also demanded sacking of the officer involved, alleging that it had become a modus operandi under the present dispensation to use threats and coercion. Maintaining that such undemocratic acts were unacceptable, he demanded a House Committee to be formed to go into the issue and recommend action. Sharad Yadav (JDU) said irregularities in Rajya Sabha polls was a very serious issue and a probe has to be done. Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) said the CD should be investigated, guilt established and the guilty punished. Anand Sharma (Cong) too demanded formation of a House Committee to probe the incident. Rejection allegations of irregularities, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the government had full confidence in the ability of the Election Commission to hold free and fair elections. The opposition allegations, he said, were far removed from facts and action will be initiated as per procedure in case the CD is produced. But the Opposition members were not satisfied and continued to raise the issue. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the government has said it is ready to get the CD examined if it is submitted. Sharma responded by asking how justice could be done if the accused itself is to examine the evidence, remarks that were expunged. Kochi: A young Muslim writer was assaulted by a group of unidentified youths in the Palakkad district of Kerala for allegedly insulting God in the title of his new collection of short stories. The incident took place on Sunday night. Reports on Tuesday said that 26-year-old P Jimshar was attacked when he was waiting at a bus-stop at Koottanadu in the district. Jimshars collection of short stories - Padachonte Chithra pradarshanam (Gods Photo Exhibition) - is slated for release on August 5. The writer has landed in a soup since the word 'Padachon' means Allahu (God) in Malayalam. Based on Jimshars complaint, the police have registered a case of assault against a man named Jaffar and three unidentified people. IN his complaint to the police, the writer said that he was waiting for a bus when a man came up to him and said he knew the him. He took me a little away from the bus stop and asked, Will you write derisively about Padachon? Then I was kicked in the chest. Three others also joined him and attacked me. Locals took me to hospital, he said. He, however, added that Padachonte Chithra Pradarshanam has nothing to do with God, and that the title is one of the nine stories in the book. Mumbai: Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra Police has stumbled upon 270 Uniform Resource Locators (URL), commonly known as web addresses, that deal with terror group Islamic State`s doctrine. ATS Chief Atulchandra Kulkarni told reporters that they have rushed a proposal to the Union Home Ministry to block these URLs highlighting the IS activities, thoughts etc. He said the special committee of the ministry will take the final call on the issue. As per reports, such URLs can act as a catalyst in encouraging the youth to join the terror outfit and there is a need to block all these URLs as soon as possible. Last year, the ATS had blocked 94 such websites. The Maharashtra ATS has resorted to many ways to thwart ISIS threats in the state. It has roped in maulanas to create awareness among the members of the minority community. The ATS is also conducting various events in colleges to create awareness among the students. Mumbai: It was a frightening time for about 300 passengers. A plane headed from Dubai to Maldives was forced to land in Mumbai this afternoon. The emergency landing had to take place after smoke was seen in the cockpit and cabin. The pilot sent an SOS to Air Traffic Controllers and then the Coast Guard rushed out ships as a stand-by. This was done in case the plane was not able to cross the sea. However, all passengers and crew are said to be safe and were evacuated with full emergency procedure. Kohima: Remembering the supreme sacrifice made during the Kargil War in 1999, Inspector General Assam Rifles (North), Major General M S Jaswal and jawans today paid rich tribute to Late Captain Neikezhakuo Kenguruse at his memorial located near Nerhema village in Nagaland's Kohima district. The wreath laying ceremony organised by 9 Assam Rifles under the aegis of Headquarter 5 Sector Assam Rifles and IGAR (N) was attended by family members of the Late Captain along with ex-servicemen and villagers. Captain Neikezhakuo Kenguruse of Nerhema village was born on July 15, 1974. He did his schooling at St Xavier's School, Jalukie and graduated from Kohima Science College. He thereafter served as a teacher at Government High School, Kohima from 1994 to 1997. He was later commissioned into the Indian Army on December 12, 1998. On June 28, 1999 during Kargil War, he attained martyrdom while destroying enemy bunker and killing four enemy soldiers. He was later awarded Mahavir Chakra posthumously. Saluting the martyr for his exceptional act of bravery, the IGAR (N) said the act of bravery shown by Late Captain is a source of motivation and inspiration to all personnel of the armed forces. He also conveyed appreciation and gratitude to the parents of Captain Neikezhakuo. Father of the martyr, Neisielie Kenguruse expressed gratitude to the Assam Rifles for not forgetting his son and also for maintaining the memorial site. New Delhi: Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti on Tuesday said the state of Odisha is very close to her heart and asserted that the central government will not do anything or allow anything to happen that will hamper its interests. "Odisha is a beloved state of ours. We cannot do anything or allow anything to happen that will put the state into any crisis," Bharti told the Lok Sabha while replying to a motion moved by agitated members of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD). Calling for the minister's "attention" on the impact of the Hirakud dam being constructed by the state of Chhattisgarh on the Mahanadi river, BJD floor leader Bhartruhari Mahtab and his party colleagues including Tathagatha Sathpathy and Kalikesh Singh Deo wanted to know if Odisha was being discriminated against because it chose a "different socio-political path" and elects a regional party government. Bharti also maintained that water should not be made a reason for a "fight", rather it should be used as a unifying factor. "Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a slogan of 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas' (A government with all and for development of all). And thus we will try to take all the states along," Bharti maintained. Minister of State for Water Resources Sanjeev Kumar Balyan said the central government came into the picture only about one and a half months ago after Odisha wrote formally seeking the union government's intervention. "We proposed a tripartite meeting in June as a mediator. While Chhattisgarh government agreed to come, the Odisha government sought more time. Now the meeting is slated on July 29. Hence all issues can be brought there," Balyan said. Criticising the Chhattisgarh government for launching construction activities without taking into account the interests of the people of Odisha, Mahtab said the central government should intervene. On July 20, BJD members had staged a demonstration in Parliament House complex against the barrage project. BJD leaders said there was "an agreement" in 1983 between the then governments of Madhya Pradesh and Odisha on how the river water is to be shared if new embankments or new reservoirs are to be constructed. Mahanadi contributes the maximum water for irrigation in Odisha and sustains the livelihood of the farmers of 15 districts, including Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Sundergarh and Bolangir. New Delhi: Stepping up its attack on the BJD government in Odisha, a three-member BJP team, which inquired into the killing of five tribals in Kandhamal in a police operation, has accused it of having a "nexus" with Maoists and termed the encounter as "staged". The committee, which visited there and submitted its report to party president Amit Shah today, said the deceased were innocents and shot down by the police to give an impression that the Naveen Patnaik government was "serious" about fighting Maoists. "They were innocent and the encounter was staged. It is beyond doubt," the party's vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe told PTI. Its national secretaries Jyoti Dhurve and Ramvichar Nitam, both ST and Members of Parliament, were two other committee members. Five tribals, including three women and an one-year-old child, were killed on July 8 in what police said was a crossfire during its operation against Maoists. "The state government has nexus with Maoist elements," the committee said, alleging that a top ultra lodged in jail is believed to "control" the Kandhamal administration. The committee also accused Patnaik of showing insensitivity as he did not to meet the family members of the victims who were killed when they were on their way back to home after withdrawing MNREGA money from bank accounts. The BJP committee alleged a tribal youth was killed last year by police on mere suspicion when he was climbing up a hillock so that his mobile could get signals. It also highlights lack of development and corruption at the local level. Terming the FIR filed in the case as a "fiction", Sahasrabuddhe said the state government should order a judicial probe under sitting High Court judge to bring out the truth in the case. Under attack over the incident, the state government has ordered a probe into the incident by a Special Investigating Team (SIT). A judicial inquiry has also been ordered into it. Jalandhar: A light machine gun (LMG) and large amount of ammunition stolen by a BSF trooper from Jammu and Kashmir was recovered in Punjab's Jalandhar city on Tuesday by security agencies, a senior Punjab Police officer said here. The security agencies have sounded a red alert in all neighbouring states for the runaway trooper, Rajeev Ranjan, who hails from Bihar's Darbhanga, and had escaped just before the Punjab Police and Border Security Force (BSF) teams raided the house where he was hiding here, leaving behind the gun and the ammunition. The LMG was stolen by Ranjan, who attacked and injured his BSF colleague, from the BSF's Akhnoor camp on Sunday (July 24). BSF and Punjab Police personnel cordoned off the area near a house in Khurla Kingra area of Jalandhar on Tuesday and recovered the LMG and large amount of ammunition from there. The Punjab Police arrested two persons, Mukesh and Mithun, both from Bihar, on charges of harbouring Ranjan. He stayed in Mukesh's house for nearly two days. Police Commissioner Arpit Shukla told media: "He (Ranjan) belongs to 89 battalion of BSF in Akhnoor. He took away the weapon on July 24 after injuring his colleague. He had come back to the unit after his leave got over. We came to know today that he was hiding in outskirts of Jalandhar and the raid was conducted. But he escaped before the raid took place. We recovered one LMG, 10 magazines and 250 rounds." Police and security agencies in neighbouring states Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi were put on red alert to nab the fugitive trooper. New Delhi: In a latest, NASA has released a new image of Saturn's rings looking a little strange and bent. In the image, which was released on Monday, Saturn's A and F rings appear bizarrely warped where they intersect the planet's limb, whose atmosphere acts here like a very big lens. In its upper regions, Saturns atmosphere absorbs some of the light reflected by the rings as it passes through. But absorption is not the only thing that happens to that light. As it passes from space to the atmosphere and back out into space towards Cassinis cameras, its path is refracted, or bent. The result is that the ring's image appears warped, says NASA. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 9, 2016. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers) from the rings and at a Sun-rings-spacecraft. New Delhi: NASA's exoplanet hunter, Kepler telescope found a bizarre alien solar system that has tiny spaced planet with unique orbits. The system, dubbed as Kepler-80 after it's discoverer, is located about 1,000 light years away from the Earth. Mariah MacDonald with Darin Ragozzine from Florida Institute of Technology carefully studied the rare planetary structure of the solar system. The study reveals that Kepler-80 consists of four exoplanets and a dwarf star that orbit around the same star with years equivalent to one, three, four, seven and nine Earth days. The size of all the four rocky exoplanets are about 20% to 50% wider than our home planet. Two of the four planets, known as K2-72c and K2-72e, appear to be in the star's "habitable zone" that just-right range of distances at which liquid water can exist on a world's surface, according to Space.com reports. One special attribute of Kepler-80 is the outer four planets return to almost exactly the same configuration after every 27 days, according to the scientists. This solar system was first discovered by Kepler in 2012. Lucknow: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Samajwadi Party (SP) government in Uttar Pradesh and accused it of deviating from the ideals of socialist ideologue Dr Ram Manohar Lohia. Addressing a rally of Bahujan Samaj Party rebel RK Chowdhary's supporters in the state capital, Nitish Kumar said while the Samajwadi Party tom-toms Dr Lohia's name to garner votes, it never followed his principles. The Janata Dal-United leader said women were not safe in Uttar Pradesh and that the Akhilesh Yadav government had failed to safeguard their honour. The Bihar Chief Minister said his Janata Dal-United and Chowdhary's party will jointly fight to save the honour of women in the most populous state of the country. Nitish Kumar also urged the people to follow the ideals of Dalit icons like Chhatrapati Shahu ji Maharaj who always espoused the cause of education for the downtrodden and the marginalised. He also accused the district administration of trying to prevent him from reaching the rally site at the behest of the state government. The JD-U leader was earlier held up at a guesthouse for more than four hours as the district administration denied him permission to address the rally. Kolkata: The Kolkata Police on Tuesday continued to look for answers to the mysterious death of a teenager at the apartment complex parking of well-known writer Amit Chaudhuri even as chorus continued to grow demanding justice for the youth. Aabesh Dasgupta, 17, was found lying in a pool of blood in the ground floor car park of Chaudhuri's apartment complex in south Kolkata's Ballygunge where he had gone to attend a birthday party. Police also recovered the blood soaked neck of a broken bottle from the spot. While the police have registered a murder case, the sleuths are yet to arrive at a conclusion whether the injuries that caused Aabesh's death were accidental or intentional. "As per the post-mortem report, the death was caused due to ante-mortem injuries. We will get further details about the matter once the visceral report arrives," Joint Commissioner of Police Vishal Garg said. "We are yet to arrive at a conclusion whether the incident is homicidal or suicidal or otherwise," added Garg. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) questioned several of the minors present at the birthday party on Saturday as well as Chaudhuri at the city police headquarters. The sleuths also visited a city club where the teenagers had gone for partying before coming to Chaudhuri's apartment to celebrate the birthday of his daughter. The investigators are also accessing call details and social media activities of Aabesh from his mobile phone to figure out the circumstances leading to his death. Aabesh's friends, family members and neighbours have dismissed suggestions that his death might be an accident and have started a campaign demanding justice. Besides creating a Facebook page "Justice for Aabesh", an online petition has been made urging West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to "ensure the investigation to be fair and transparent". They also took out a candlelight vigil in the city. National Award winning actress Rituparna Sengupta too lent her voice to the chorus for justice. "I have urged the administration to look into the matter diligently and ensure that justice is done to Aabesh," said Sengupta after visiting the bereaved family. Kathmandu: At least 28 persons were killed and scores of people were injured in floods and landslides triggered by incessant monsoon rain in Nepal on Tuesday, said the country`s Ministry of Home Affairs. The whereabouts of 24 people were still unknown after the landslides, which were triggered by incessant rainfall in various parts of the country, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry as saying in a press statement. As many as 75 houses collapsed in some 10 districts due to the floods, Ministry officials told Xinhua, adding that the death toll might rise further due to the torrential rains. The 10 worst-hit districts by floods are namely Pyuthan, Gulmi, Palpa, Baglung, Makawanpur, Rupandehi, Kathmandu, Arghakhanchi, Dolakha and Sarlahi, according to local media reports. The Ministry said that local police have been deployed in rescue operations in those districts. "The district relief committees have been instructed to carry out rescue and relief operations in coordination with local police," the Ministry said in the press statement. Dhaka: Bangladeshi police stormed a militant hideout in a Dhaka neighbourhood and killed nine suspected Islamist extremists after a gunbattle Tuesday morning, officials said. "Nine Islamist militants were killed after two hour-long gunfight" deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Masud Ahmed told AFP, adding another extremist was shot and arrested during the raid in Kalyanpur neighbourhood. Police said they cordoned off an apartment building after suspects threw a small hand bomb at officers who were conducting a "block raid" in the area after midnight. The Islamist gunmen exchanged fire intermittently throughout the night and shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is the Greatest") as the neighbourhood was sealed off by hundreds of heavily armed police and the elite security force Rapid Action Battalion, police said. "This morning police launched operation Storm 26 and was able to destroy the militants. We`re now sweeping the place," Dhaka additional police commissioner Sheikh Maruf Hasan who led the raid told AFP. He said all 10 were members of an Islamist extremist group but did not say which group they belonged to. "Their dress and their slogans before and after the attack all proved that they are members of (Islamist) militant force," Hasan said, adding that they were wearing black tunics and shouting "Allahu Akbar". Bangladesh is reeling from a wave of deadly attacks by Islamist extremists. Earlier this month five armed men stormed an upscale cafe in Dhaka`s diplomatic zone and killed at least 20 hostages including 18 foreigners, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. London: A British convert to Islam, dubbed "Jihadi Jack" after travelling to Syria, has denied joining the Islamic State terror group. Jack Letts told a UK news channel that he had fled his home in Oxford to study in Syria but did not regret the move. "I came here searching for the truth, and people of the truth, and I don't regret that I came," he told Channel 4 News. Asked if he is an ISIS fighter, he said: "Currently I'm not. I'm not and nor do I agree with lot of what they follow." In a separate online statement in Arabic, which he said should be remembered as his final words if he is killed, he wrote: "I oppose so-called Islamic State, but that doesn't mean I am with you, the dirty non-Muslims." Speaking from somewhere in Syria, Letts admitted to missing home comforts like "kebabs and Krispy Kreme doughnuts" but said he knows he would not be welcome back in the UK. His parents, John Letts and Sally Lane, are awaiting trial after being charged with terrorism offences relating to allegedly sending money to their son. They have denied the charges of funding terrorism and are due to stand trial in January 2017. Jack said in an online statement he "hated" his parents "for the sake of Allah" because they are non-believers, and called on them to convert. "They reject the religion of truth, so I reject them. I hate the kuffaar (non-believers), and am free from them. Die in your rage," he said. Despite narrowly surviving an air strike with just a "scratch", the 20-year-old said he is not afraid of death. "I'm not worried. Everyone is going to die on their day. Whether it's by a drone strike. A Muslim understands that his life is between the hands of Allah.?So if they want to bomb me, they'll bomb me." London: A senior British Council executive has already mocked three-year-old Prince George on the social media as an example of "white privilege" living off public money", prompting a probe against her. Angela Gibbins, head of global estates at the UK-based charity which promotes British culture and language around the world, reportedly attacked the young royal, then aged two, for his "white privilege" after a photograph was released to mark Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday earlier this year. "White privilege. That cheeky grin is the innate knowledge he's royal, rich, advantaged and will never know ANY difficulties or hardships in life. Let's find photos of 3yo (year old) Syrian refugee children and see if they look alike, eh," Gibbins wrote on Facebook below one of the images of Prince George, The Sun reported. When a number of others reacted in outrage, Gibbins is said to have responded: "I'm sound in my socialist, atheist and republican opinions. I don't believe the royal family have any place in a modern democracy, least of all when they live on public money. That's privilege and it needs to end". British Council stressed that the comments do not reflect that of the charity. A spokesperson said: "This comment was made on a private social media account. It has absolutely no connection to the British Council and does not represent the views of the British Council". "That said, we expect the highest standards of our staff and we will be investigating the matter further". The British Council works in more than 100 countries to provide educational opportunities and cultural relations and is sponsored by the UK Foreign Office. It has a Royal Charter and its patron is the Queen. Prince George, who is third in line to Britain's throne after his grandfather Prince Charles and father Prince William, recently celebrated his third birthday on July 22. Beijing: Rights groups on Tuesday called for Chinese authorities to stop forced demolitions at one of the world`s biggest Tibetan Buddhist institutes, saying the move was an attempt to "severely restrict" religious freedoms. Authorities began destroying living quarters at Larung Gar Institute in the southwestern province of Sichuan last week, according to a statement by the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT). In June, local government officials ordered the estimated 10,000 Buddhist monks and nuns living at the centre, also known as Serthar, be cut to no more than 5,000, another overseas organisation, Free Tibet, said in an email. "These demolitions are part of a set of policy measures implemented by the Chinese government that severely restrict the religious freedom of Tibetan Buddhists," wrote ICT`s president Matteo Mecacci. "This is a regressive and dangerous approach aimed at managing and controlling Tibetan Buddhism that sends a chilling signal to the outside world about the pressures faced by people seeking to peacefully practice their religion in the PRC," he added. Serthar, known as Seda in Chinese, is in an ethnically Tibetan area more than 4,000 metres above sea level and hundreds of kilometres from the nearest city. The institute was founded in 1980 in an uninhabited valley and has since grown to become one of the world`s most important centres of Tibetan Buddhism, with monks, nuns and students living in small wooden homes sprawling over the hillsides surrounding the complex. Larung Gar`s founder Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok, who died in 2004, was known for keeping a strict focus on Buddhism rather than politics at the institute, maintaining close relationships with both Chinese authorities and the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader condemned as a separatist by Beijing. China accuses the Nobel peace laureate of fomenting unrest in the region, but overseas rights groups say incidents are driven by unhappiness at Beijing`s rule among Tibetans. Pictures circulated on social media showed bulldozers destroying colourful buildings at the institute, the ICT statement said. An article in the Global Times, a Chinese newspaper affiliated with the ruling Communist Party, said local officials were trying "to prevent fires and to ease crowd levels." It cited an anonymous government official saying that the demolitions would "give firefighters better access to narrow and winding paths". The Buddhist academy`s survival was threatened in 2001 when armed police forced hundreds of nuns and monks to leave the site, destroying more than 1,000 homes to prevent them returning. At the time police demanded that nuns sign documents denouncing the Dalai Lama and pledging not to return, according to overseas campaign groups, and Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok was detained for a year after the incident. In early 2012, Serthar was rocked by violence when police fired tear gas and began shooting into a crowd of hundreds of peaceful Tibetan protesters, exile groups said. China`s official Xinhua news agency said the incident, in which one person was killed, was triggered when "rioters" attacked police. Bangkok: For two years and more, it has been a lost ship, a metal container carrying 239 souls that simply disappeared one late Asian night never to be seen again. And now, the search for the remains of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 likely will become a thing of memory, too. With Friday's announcement that the meticulous ocean search for the missing jetliner will be suspended in effect, called off one of this decade's most tantalizing unanswered questions is headed toward becoming, in effect, a cold case. "I am not surprised it's coming to an end without any answers," Tony Wong, a businessman in Kuala Lumpur, said yesterday. "People are slowly forgetting the incident," he said. "No one will ever know the truth." The truth may be out there. The problem is, you have to know where to look. And that's been precisely the problem all along. The Boeing 777-200ER vanished on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. Investigators believed it turned back west and then south before dropping into the Indian Ocean west of Australia, where the search has been concentrated. The Malaysian government has concluded that it was deliberately steered off course. Conspiracy theories, unsurprisingly, still abound in the vacuum of facts: Was it blown up? Steered into the sea? Diverted to a remote airstrip somewhere? Abducted by aliens? For a long stretch, it seemed the world's biggest loose end a global obsession for weeks, a niggling unsolved riddle for years. And behind the epic tale were the lost souls and the families they left behind, which expected maximum effort and, to hear many relatives tell it over the long months, a successful resolution. They were not happy at the news that the search was being suspended. To varying degrees, they have accused investigators and searchers and the governments overseeing them of disingenuousness, incompetence and nefarious political agendas. In China, relatives have roundly denounced the decision. They still don't seem ready to think about the finality of it all. "They are actually just playing with words," Hu Xiufang, the mother of a Flight 370 passenger, said yesterday. "'Suspension' means termination to us. We strongly demand a re-investigation into how the plane went missing, and there is no excuse for the suspension of the search." Paris: French President Francois Hollande today rejected opposition calls to further harden anti-terrorism legislation after the country's second jihadist attack in two weeks. "Restricting our freedoms will not make the fight against terrorism more effective," he said, adding that changes made to legislation already gave authorities sufficient "capacity to act". He was speaking after two jihadists attacked a church in a Normandy town, killing an elderly Catholic priest by slitting his throat, and severely injuring another person. Hollande's predecessor and opposition chief Nicolas Sarkozy earlier called for the government to "thoroughly change ... The strategy of our counterattack." "Our enemy has no taboos, no limits, no morals, no borders," he said, asking the government to adopt proposals made by his right-wing Republicans party. The opposition wants anyone suspect of being radicalised to be placed in detention and to prevent convicted terrorists from being released from prison after having served time, if they are still considered dangerous. The Republicans also wants to make it a criminal offence to have spent time in the "field of terrorist operations", namely Syria and Iraq. However those returning from jihad are already charges with criminal conspiracy with a terrorist enterprise. "The government is using all human and material means to fight this threat, with a mobilisation of police, gendarmes and soldiers never before seen in the Fifth Republic," said Hollande. The president has urged unity in a country poisoned by bitter political blame-trading over security failings after a Tunisian national mowed down a crowd celebrating Bastille Day on July 14, killing 84. "What the terrorists want is to divide us, separate us, to tear us apart. We must avoid one-upmanship, arguments, conflation, suspicions," he said. "This war will be long. Our democracy is the target, and it will be our shield. Let us stand together. We will win this war." Vientiane: Washington`s top envoy John Kerry warned North Korea on Tuesday that it faced "real consequences" over its ongoing nuclear and missile testing programme. "Together we are determined... to make absolutely certain that DPRK understands that there are real consequences for these actions," he told reporters on the sidelines of a summit in Laos, using the official acronym for the authoritarian hermit state. Tensions have soared since Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by a series of missile launches that analysts say show the North is making progress toward being able to strike the US mainland. UN sanctions against the reclusive state have been ratcheted up in response, but Pyongyang has continued to carry out missile launches, with the most recent one last week, trying to prove that sanctions are ineffective in curbing its weapons development. The continued sabre-rattling by the North prompted Washington and Seoul to agree earlier this month to deploy a sophisticated anti-missile system in South Korea, which can shoot down incoming enemy projectiles. Moscow: The Kremlin on Tuesday dismissed allegations that Russia was behind a hack of the Democratic National Committee`s emails as absurd, mocking what it called obsessive references to Russia in the US presidential campaign. "This absurd news was immediately refuted by the family of the well-known presidential candidate," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, referring to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump`s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier shrugged off the accusations by the Hillary Clinton campaign that Russia was involved in the embarrassing leak of emails. Ahead of meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry in Laos, Lavrov said: "I don`t want to use four-letter words." Peskov also rubbished a report that Trump`s foreign policy adviser Carter Page had met Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Ivanov in Russia this month to speak at the graduation ceremony of the New Economic School in Moscow. Peskov said he had asked Ivanov about the allegation, adding that the Kremlin chief of staff had responded that "he does not comment on such delusional reports". "We are still seeing attempts to obsessively use the topic of Russia during the US electoral campaign," Peskov said. "Unfortunately Russia is being used in the electoral campaign in the US. Unfortunately this traditional game is continuing. "We think that`s not very good for bilateral relations but we understand that we need to get through this unfavourable period."Trump has made no secret of his admiration for President Vladimir Putin, leading some to suggest the Kremlin strongman was working to help propel the real estate billionaire into the White House. Clinton`s running mate Tim Kaine on Saturday described Trump`s comments on what he would do if Russia were to attack a Baltic nation as "an open invitation to Vladimir Putin to roll on in". Trump said that as president he would defend NATO allies only after assessing whether they "have fulfilled their obligations to us". Clinton foreign policy adviser Jake Sullivan said: "It is fair to assume that Vladimir Putin is rooting for a Trump presidency." In December last year, Putin praised Trump as "a very striking man, unquestionably talented". "It`s not up to us to judge his virtues, that is up to US voters, but he is the absolute leader of the presidential race," Putin said. Trump responded by hailing Putin as a "strong leader, a powerful leader." Asked about his attitude to Trump last month, Putin said: "Mr. Trump has said that he is ready for a full-scale revival of Russian-American relations. What`s wrong with that? We welcome that." The Russian leader also said he regretted that "the Russian card is used like some kind of bargaining chip at almost every electoral campaign in the US". The Kremlin also complained about the use of the "Russian factor" in the political debate ahead of the British referendum on leaving the European Union when then-Prime Minister David Cameron said that "Putin would be happy" about Brexit. Putin reacted scornfully after the vote, saying that Cameron`s claim was "baseless." am/gtf/gw Kuala Lumpur: A Malaysian court sentenced nine Filipinos to life in prison on Tuesday over an armed incursion in 2013 that left scores dead and paralysed a remote corner of Borneo for weeks, a defence lawyer said. Eight others, including three Malaysians, received prison sentences ranging from 10 to 18 years, said the attorney, N. Sivananthan. The bloody incursion by some 200 Islamic militants from the southern Philippines was inspired by a self-proclaimed Filipino sultanate`s claims of historical dominion over the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island. The assault, the most serious security crisis faced by Malaysia in years, led to a siege between the militants and Malaysian armed forces sent to root them out. At least 70 people were killed, mostly militants, over the six-week ordeal. Nine of the defendants had faced death for "waging war" against Malaysia`s king, but were spared by the court in the Sabah state capital Kota Kinabalu. "They could have been sentenced to death but the judge decided on the lower penalty because there was no evidence they pulled the triggers or committed any murders," N. Sivananthan said. The others had faced various terrorism-related charges. Earlier, 12 other Filipinos had been acquitted. Among those sentenced to life was 53-year-old Amir Bahar Hushin Kiram, son of self-styled Sulu sultan Esmail Kiram. Esmail, who died in 2015, was among a series of claimants to the Islamic sultanate of Sulu, which once controlled parts of the southern Philippines and part of Borneo. The crisis embarrassed both Manila and Kuala Lumpur, shining a spotlight on weak Malaysian border protections, and lawlessness in the Philippines` predominantly Muslim south. The episode eventually fizzled out when some of the militants fled the palm oil plantation where they had been holed up and returned to the Philippines. Scores were detained in Malaysia. Philadelphia: US First Lady Michelle Obama on Monday addressed the opening night of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) with a message of hope and unity for the party while endorsing presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton, saying she "trusts Hillary to lead the country". "Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life," Michelle Obama said at the Wells Fargo Centre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania state`s largest city. "I want someone with proven strength ... someone who understands that the issues a president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters," ABC News quoted the First Lady as saying. Clinton, "has the guts and the grace to keep coming back and putting those cracks in that highest and hardest glass ceiling," Michelle added. The First Lady said she "trusts and believes" the former Secretary of State was truly qualified to shape "America`s children for the next four or eight years", Politico reported. November`s election isn`t Republican versus Democrat, Michelle said. "It is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives," Politico quoted her as saying. "I am with you tonight because in this election, there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility, only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the US, and that is our friend, Hillary Clinton." She went on to praise Clinton`s resiliency after the bitter primary in 2008, one that had similar levels of heat as this year`s battle between the former First Lady and Democratic rival Bernie Sanders. "When she did not win the nomination eight years ago, she did not get angry or disillusioned," politico reported citing Michelle as saying. "Hillary did not pack up and go home because as a true public servant, Hillary knows that this is so much bigger than her own disappointment." Michelle, who took to the stage to Clinton`s campaign music - "Brave" by Sara Bareilles - cast Hillary as a lifelong fighter who has spent decades trying to improve the lives of others while implicitly rebuking her rival, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. She touted Clinton`s experience fighting for children with disabilities as a young lawyer, pushing for health care when she was first lady herself and child care as a New York senator, Politico said. Without restating the message the Clinton campaign has been pushing against Trump, the first lady also suggested the real estate mogul lacked the temperament to be commander in chief, ridiculing his Twitter tendencies and "thin skin" without ever mentioning his name. Michelle described the next president she wants to see in the White House as a uniter who would not pit divisions of people against each other because "we are always stronger together", Politico added. Before she concluded her speech, Michelle delivered a message unmistakably delivered at the billionaire businessman. "Don`t let anyone ever tell you that this country is not great, that somehow we need to make it great again. Because this right now is the greatest country on Earth," Politico quoted the First Lady as saying. The DNC which opened on Monday night will last until Thursday evening. Delegates from 50 states on Tuesday will officially select Clinton as the first female presidential nominee of one of the country`s two biggest parties. Clinton will formally accept the nomination on Thursday evening with a speech closing out the convention after being introduced to the assembled delegates by her daughter Chelsea. Paris: A priest and two armed men were killed and a person was injured in a hostage-taking incident in a church in France's Normandy region on Tuesday, President Francois Hollande said. Rev. Jacques Hamel, 84, was killed when two men armed with knives stormed the church and took five people hostage during a morning Mass at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray area of Rouen, CNN quoted Hollande as saying. The Islamic State said its "soldiers" slaughtered the elderly priest and critically injured a worshipper. "The perpetrators of the attack on a church in Normandy, France, are two Islamic State soldiers," the jihadist group`s Amaq news agency said, citing an IS security source. "They responded to an appeal to strike countries belonging to the Crusader coalition," AKI quoted Amaq as saying. Earlier, Hollande said that the attack was a "cowardly assassination" carried out "by two terrorists in the name of Daesh (the IS)". The attackers were shot dead by the police. "The two killers came out and they were neutralized," French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. Besides the slain priest, two nuns and two churchgoers were taken hostage, BFMTV reported. The injured hostage was "between life and death", Brandet said. The priest`s killing follows a string of violent attacks across the Europe in recent days, most of them claimed by the IS, most notably July 14 attack in the French city of Nice that left 84 dead and more than 300 injured. France has been under a state of emergency since the November 13 Paris terror attacks last year. At least 130 people were killed and over 350 were injured in a serious of attacks. French police told CNN that one of the church attackers had tried to go to fight in Syria last year, but had been stopped in Turkey by authorities. He was then sent back to France and sent to prison in May 2015. Before he was released, he was placed under police surveillance and forced to wear an electronic monitoring tag. French authorities have struggled to monitor the thousands of domestic Islamic radicals on their radar, and, in response to the heightened terror threat, President Hollande has vowed to double the number of officials charged with the task. More than 10,000 people were on their "fiche S" list, used to flag radicalised individuals considered a threat to national security. "Daesh has declared war on us. We have to win that war," Hollande told the media after the hostage situation was neutralised. He also urged the public to remain unified in the face of the threat. "All people feel affected so we must have cohesion ... no one can divide us," he said. "Terrorists will not give up on anything until we stop them." The Paris anti-terror prosecutor has taken over the investigation into the attack, France`s Interior Ministry said in a statement. The Vatican condemned the attack, particularly the killing of the priest, calling it "terrible news". It said the Pope shared the pain and horror in response to the "absurd violence". A statement said the violence was particularly horrific as it took place in a church, "a sacred place where the love of God is announced". French Prime Minister Manuel Valls tweeted his horror at the "barbaric attack" on the church, and vowed a defiant response. "We will stand together," he said. A police cordon has been set up around the scene, about 108 km northwest of Paris. Rome: Over 3,000 migrants and refugees have died in the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe in 2016, a far higher toll than during the same period of 2015, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said. The discovery of the bodies of 39 migrants which washed up on Libya's beaches this week brings the number of deaths to 3,034, a "significantly" higher number than the 1,917 people who lost their lives in the first seven months of 2015. "This means that for the third straight year, IOM will report migration fatalities of at least 3,000 men, women and children on these dangerous sea routes," IOM said. An estimated 250,000 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2016 - only slightly higher than in the same period of 2015 - most arriving in Italy and Greece, according to IOM. A reason for the spike in Mediterranean Sea deaths this year was a series of shipwrecks in late May involving larger vessels each with hundreds of people on board, one which claimed the lives of 500 migrants said IOM. It has proved extremely difficult to curb the number of victims despite "the constant and increased patrolling of the Mediterranean", IOM said, praising Italian and other rescuers. "Without the presence and the outstanding work of the Italian and international ships that save hundreds of lives every day, the number of missing migrants would almost certainly be much higher," said IOM's Rome spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo. Ramallah: Palestinian leaders are seeking Arab League support for a complaint they intend to file against Britain for its 1917 Balfour Declaration backing a Jewish homeland in Palestine. "Almost a century has passed since 1917," Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said in an address to an Arab League meeting in Mauritania, seen by AFP on Tuesday. "On the basis of this promise made by a party which did not possess (the land) to a party undeserving of it, hundreds of thousands of Jews from Europe and elsewhere came to settle in Palestine at the expense of our people, whose ancestors have lived for millennia on the soil of our land," he said in Monday`s speech delivered on behalf of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. Malki did not say to which body a complaint would be made. Israeli foreign ministry chief Dore Gold called the proposal "a desperate effort to delegitimise Israel", on his Twitter account. In 2012, the Palestinians won the status of an observer state in the United Nations. In 2015 they joined the International Criminal Court and formally asked it to investigate Israel for alleged war crimes during the 2014 Gaza war. The declaration issued on November 2, 1917 by British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour said the British government "view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". It was a major step towards the eventual establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Lima: Peru's incoming president said on Monday that he would back the idea of ex-president Alberto Fujimori -- serving a 25-year prison term for corruption and crimes against humanity -- serving the rest of his sentence under house arrest. The 77-year-old has been in and out of the hospital in recent months for a series of health problems. This week he requested a pardon, without citing a reason. It is under review by the outgoing administration of President Ollanta Humala. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, set to be sworn in as president this month, said "there was a legal process that concluded that he should serve a sentence." He did not indicate anything about the pardon requested. But "what I am prepared to do is have him serve it out in more pleasant circumstances at home, as has been done with people in similar age and health circumstances," the president-elect told reporters. He reiterated plans to pass legislation under which elderly prisoners could finish their terms under house arrest. Humala in 2013 rejected a Fujimori pardon request, saying medical reports indicated Fujimori`s condition was not serious enough. Under Peruvian law, granting pardons is a presidential prerogative. Fujimori`s latest hospitalization came 12 days after his daughter Keiko narrowly lost Peru`s presidential election to center-right candidate Kuczynski. Fujimori, who was president from 1990 to 2000, was first jailed in 2007 and convicted in 2009 for his role in killings by a death squad targeting alleged members of the Shining Path guerrilla group in the 1990s. He has also been convicted of embezzlement and bribery. Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia`s police chief said on Tuesday that five tugboat crew missing since last week were abducted by the Philippine militant group Abu Sayyaf, which is notorious for repeated kidnappings in waters between the two nations. The five Malaysians were kidnapped from their vessel on July 18 off the coast of the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island, Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters. "The five tugboat crew have been kidnapped by the kidnap-for-ransom group from the southern Philippines," he said, confirming reports that had emerged over the past week. The Abu Sayyaf, a loose network of Islamic militants that has earned millions of dollars from kidnappings in recent years, has been blamed for a recent burst of abductions. In April and June the group beheaded two Canadian tourists after ransom demands were not met, and a Malaysian man was beheaded last year. In May, the Abu Sayyaf released 14 Indonesian sailors who had been kidnapped in two high-seas raids, attacks that prompted Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to launch joint patrols. Formed in the 1990s, the Abu Sayyaf is a radical offshoot of a Muslim separatist insurgency in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines. Its leaders have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, but analysts say the Abu Sayyaf mainly focuses on lucrative kidnappings. Eastern Sabah is just a short boat ride from islands of the southern Philippines where government authority is weak and banditry common. Earlier in July, three Indonesians were kidnapped in the area, and in late June seven other Indonesians were taken. Warsaw: A portrait of Pope Francis hanging in Warsaw`s St. Saviour Church is flanked by another, much larger one, showing the smiling late Polish-born pontiff and saint, John Paul II. In Poland, Karol Wojtyla is still "The Pope". Experts say Francis will have a hard time winning over hearts and minds in the devout central European country as he arrives Wednesday for his first visit, part of the week-long World Youth Day faith extravaganza. While Poland shunned refugees over alleged security risks amid Europe`s worst migration crisis since World War II, Francis encouraged open doors and charity for those fleeing conflict -- regardless of their faith. Howls of criticism -- and even hate speech -- went up in ethnically homogenous, conservative Poland when the Catholic faithful saw Francis washing the feet of three Muslim asylum seekers during Easter celebrations in Italy. The deeply Christian gesture, modelled on Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, triggered an unprecedented level of online vitriol against a pontiff, says Ignacy Dudkiewicz, an editor for the Kontakt magazine, focused on progressive young Catholics in Warsaw. "Francis has been dragged through the mud because of his position on refugees," he told AFP. Staunchly opposed to accepting refugees, the strongly Catholic rightwing government of Prime Minister Beata Szydlo released 803,000 euros ($883,000) in funds for camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey just ahead of Francis`s arrival. But critics said the move was more a gesture than a real attempt to ease the plight of refugees. According to Zbigniew Nosowski, editor of the respected Catholic monthly Wiez, "many here think the pontiff`s message of mercy and compassion for refugees and the poor is exaggerated". Arch-conservative Catholic journalists have gone so far as to question the legitimacy of his election, even accusing Francis of wanting to destroy the Church. Senior Polish clerics have stopped short of condemning such views. One rightwing conspiracy website accuses Francis of "selling out to environmentalists, Freemasons, Islamists, pseudo-refugee invaders". "What nerve to require each parish to host an Arab refugee, while also saying that Catholics should not procreate like rabbits."Polish bishops do not appear to be great Francis fans: in a letter addressed to the faithful for World Youth Day, they mentioned John Paul II three times, without so much as a murmur about Francis. "Bishops here formally support the pontiff`s message of hosting refugees, but they do so without much conviction," notes Dudkiewicz. Accustomed to a high degree of priviledge and prestige, "the Polish Church is afraid of losing its position, both institutional and financial, he added. "It isn`t inclined to follow Francis`s return to a `Church of the poor`, as was the case during the first centuries of Christianity, without purple robes and limousines, without luxury apartments," says Pawel Boryszewski, a sociologist of religion. "The Polish hierarchy is very worried. A bishop on a bike and in sandals, this doesn`t go down well here. "A bishop in Poland -- he`s a god," he adds. "It`s no wonder the Polish Church prefers to keep quiet and wait until this pontificate is over." Francis`s progressive views on contraception -- which he dubbed "not an absolute evil" -- and allowing divorcees to receive communion have also long sparked mixed feelings among conservative faithful here. "Poles don`t really know Francis, just like this Argentinian pope doesn`t know Poland," says Nosowski about the 79-year-old pontiff, the son of Italian immigrants to South America. "There`s nothing really surprising about John Paul II`s popularity: he`s a Polish saint," Nosowski added. Francis`s July 27 to 31 trip to the European Union and NATO member of 38 million people will be quite different from the nine historic pilgrimages John Paul II made to his homeland during his 27-year pontificate. While the late Polish pontiff focused his energies on providing spiritual guidance to his countrymen as they peacefully overthrew communism, Francis has a more universal mission as he meets young Catholics from around the globe. Nosowski believes that despite the deep reservations of some, Poland "is getting fired up for Francis`s visit, especially young Poles." Mogadishu: At least 13 people were killed today in twin bombings near UN and African Union buildings adjoining Mogadishu's airport, police said, in what the jihadist Shabaab group claimed as a suicide attack. The Al-Qaeda aligned Shabaab group is blamed for a string of bloody assaults in Somalia and neighbouring Kenya, and is fighting to overthrow Mogadishu's internationally-backed government. "At least 13 people were confirmed to have died in two explosions, one of the vehicles went off near a security checkpoint and another close to a UN compound," said Bishaar Abdi Gedi, a police official. "The security forces have managed to intercept the attackers and foiled the attacks," Gedi said. A Shabaab statement said it was a suicide attack by its militants. "The two explosions were carried out by two brave Mujahedeen suicide bombers and they have targeted two different locations where the so-called AMISOM peacekeepers are stationed," it said, referring to the African Union mission to Somalia. An AFP journalist at the scene heard gunfire after the explosions tore through the area. The city's airport is heavily fortified and adjoins the capital's main base for AMISOM, the 22,000-strong force backing the government in the battle against Shabaab insurgents. AMISOM troops were deployed to Somalia in 2007 to defend the government against attacks by the Shabaab. "Around 9am there was an explosion outside one of our gates, about 200 metres away," mission spokesman Joe Kibet told AFP. "It looks like an attack, they intended to attack. Now the situation is calm and our personnel is working on it," he added. The Shabaab were forced out of the capital five years ago but continue to carry out regular attacks on military, government and civilian targets. In recent months they have claimed attacks on bases of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) as well as civilian targets including hotels. This year is considered critical for the group, which is eager to disrupt an expected change of government leadership due in the coming months. Mogadishu: At least eight people were killed on Tuesday when two huge bombs went off near Mogadishu's airport, including one close to the UN's political office in the Somali capital, a security source said. An AFP journalist at the scene heard gunfire after the explosions tore through the area, one of which was believed to be a car bomb. Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab has carried out a string of similar attacks. The city's airport is heavily fortified and adjoins the capital's main base for the African Union mission to Somalia, the 22,000-strong force backing the government in the battle against Shabaab insurgents. The jihadists were chased out of Mogadishu in 2011 but remain a serious threat in both Somalia and neighbouring Kenya, where they carry out frequent attacks. Paris: French police "neutralized" two men armed with blades who had taken several people hostage in a church in northern France on Tuesday, the police said. A police source said that one of the hostages had been killed with a blade in the attack which took place in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, south of Rouen. French media reported the attackers cut the throat of the priest. French President Francois Hollande was on his way to the site of the attack. It was not immediately clear if the assailants were killed or taken alive in the police operation that ended the assault. Live TV images showed police had blocked off the roads around the church and paramedics were seen pulling stretchers out of ambulances. The hostages included a priest, two nuns and two worshippers according to BFM TV. The attack is the latest in a string of deadly assaults in Europe. In France, the Normandy attack comes 12 days after a 31-year-old Tunisian killed 84 people in the French Riviera city of Nice when he plowed his heavy goods truck into a crowd of revelers. Islamic State claimed the attack in Nice. Seoul: North Korea said any decision to conduct another nuclear test depends entirely on the behaviour of the United States as the two sides traded blame Tuesday over tensions on the Korean peninsula. Ri Yong-Ho, Pyongyang`s newly appointed foreign minister, accused the US of being behind the failure of the long-dormant six-party talks on the country`s nuclear programme. His comments came after top Washington envoy John Kerry warned the North of "real consequences" if it continues nuclear and missile tests in defiance of UN sanctions, as the international community attempts to rein in the rogue nation. "Whether we conduct additional nuclear tests is entirely up to the United States," Ri told reporters late Tuesday on the sidelines of a regional security forum in Laos which both he and Kerry attended. "The denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula went out of the window because of the United States," Ri said. The hermit state carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by a series of ballistic missile launches that sent tensions soaring across East Asia and beyond. In response, the UN Security Council slapped North Korea with its toughest sanctions to date in a unanimous decision even endorsed by China, its economic lifeline and diplomatic shield. "The key factor damaging the situation is the United States` hostile policies... and the problem is getting worse," Ri said, citing the ramped up economic sanctions. Despite the latest attempt by the international community to push it towards bankruptcy, North Korea has continued to carry out ballistic missile tests, and made it clear that it intends to continue nuclear testing. With the tensions dominating talks in the Laos capital Vientiane, Kerry issued a stern warning to the North. "Together we are determined... to make absolutely certain that DPRK (North Korea) understands that there are real consequences for these actions," Kerry said. Analysts say this year`s tests have shown the North making progress towards its goal of developing a credible strike threat against the US mainland, adding urgency to Washington`s warnings. Ri, a former nuclear negotiator, was making his overseas debut as North Korea`s top diplomat at the gathering hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The meeting was a rare opportunity for the six parties involved in talks aimed at ending Pyongyang`s nuclear programme -- the US, Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas -- to be in the same room.Kerry held a flurry of closed-door meetings with his regional counterparts over the last two days. "(The) issue that came up in nearly every meeting I had so far this week is the provocative and deeply concerning behaviour of the DPRK," he told reporters. "North Korea`s actions present a very serious threat, not just to this region but to international peace and security." Earlier in the day, Kerry had referred to Iran and encouraged North Korea to follow its example. "(Iran) was not going to pursue a nuclear weapon and, in exchange, would like to have sanctions lifted that had been put in place because of the evidence of that programme," Washington`s top diplomat said. Washington and Seoul agreed earlier this month to deploy a sophisticated anti-missile system in South Korea, a move which also spooked China and Russia, who worry about having the advanced US-made system on their doorstep. The North, meanwhile, said it would take "physical action" -- a threat followed up with another missile test which it described as a simulated strike on the South. North Korea`s Ri met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Monday on the sidelines of the Laos meeting but few details have been released. Beijing is Pyongyang`s main ally but its patience has worn thin. China is, however, wary of pushing the North too far, fearing a regime collapse that could create a refugee crisis on its border and swing the regional balance of power towards the US. The North Korean minister also hit out at the US decision to personally blacklist Kim Jong-Un over human rights abuses. "Recently they committed the most grave hostility by insulting our Dear Leader," he said. YEREVAN, JULY 25, ARMENPRESS. Over the last 1.5 years, as a result of the Azerbaijani shelling and bombing nearly 1600 houses were damaged, 7 civilians were killed near the bordering area of Tavush province, Armenpress reports, Tavush Governor Hovik Abovyan said at the meeting with the delegation of the US Senate led by Thomas Goffus. Hovik Abovyan also talked about the damages caused to the agriculture which occur both during the organization of the agricultural works at spring, as well as during the harvest. He told the delegation members that there are numerous cases that Azerbaijanis keep targeted the kindergartens and schools of the bordering communities. Although certain defensive measures were taken, however, the childrens safe movement is still in danger. Other community heads also introduced in detail the delegation members the existing situation in their communities. YEREVAN, JULY 26, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of Nagorno Karabakh says overnight July 25-26 the Azerbaijani forces violated the ceasefire regime for 27 times by firing more than 200 shots from various caliber weapons at the Armenian positions in Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact. The Defense Army forces adhered to the ceasefire regime and continued confidently conducting their military service. YEREVAN, JULY 26, ARMENPRESS. Two of the gunmen, who seized the Police HQ in Yerevan on July 17, are wounded and are in Erebouni medical center, Armenpress was informed by the Healthcare Ministry. They were wounded overnight July 26, their feet are damaged. Information on their health conditions is being clarified. Earlier the Founding Parliament issued a statement on behalf of the gunmen informing that 2 incidents took place in the Police station. Members of the group Ashot Petorsyan and Hovhannes Harutyunyan were wounded. The statement says in the morning at 07:00 a citizen Artur Sargsyan with his personal car full of food has managed to reach the entrance of the Police station. In the morning of July 17 gunmen stormed a Police HQ in Yerevan and took hostages demanding the release of Zhirayr Sefilyan, who was imprisoned a month ago, charged with illegal possession, transportation and acquisition of firearms and ammunition. Police Colonel Artur Vanoyan has been killed by the gunmen during the ambush. Colonel Aram Hovhannisyan, Lt. Colonel Hrach Khosteghyan, Corporal Gagik Mkrtchyan received gunshot wounds. The gunmen gradually released the hostages within a week. On July 23 the gunmen released all the 4 hostages. YEREVAN, JULY 26, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Police released a video on shooting which occurred in the Police station overnight July 25-26. The Police also gives clarification to that incident. Armenpress presents the full clarification. In the evening of July 25 from 20:00 to 24:00 the gunmen firstly torched the Police bus which was out of the Police precincts territory, then they took and torched another two vehicles outside the Police precinct regularly opening fires during that period. At 01:00 the police UAZ vehicle went out from the Police precinct and moved towards the Polices Erebouni station. The vehicle reached to the police chain, after which the law enforcement agencies opened fire towards the vehicles engine in order to stop the vehicle and prevent the real threat directly resulting from the gunmen who were in the vehicle. The vehicle turned into the left, shots were fired, then the law enforcement agencies opened fires towards the vehicle tires. Shots were fired in response, but the law enforcement agencies did not respond. As a result of the shooting two of the three people who were inside the vehicle received legs injuries and went to the Police precinct. The law enforcement agencies immediately called for medical assistance and offered the gunmen to take the wounded to hospital, to which they agreed. Currently the two wounded are in hospital and receive necessary medical treatment. Those are Ashot Petrosyan and Hovhannes Harutyunyan. YEREVAN, JULY 26, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Parliament Speaker Galust Sahakyan on July 26 received Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kuwait Bassam M. Alqabandi whose diplomatic mission comes to its end in Armenia, press service of the Parliament informed Armenpress. Welcoming the Ambassador Galust Sahakyan highly appreciated his activity in Armenia and said due to his work the Armenian-Kuwaiti relations achieved progress. The Parliament Speaker highlighted that in recent years the existing dialogue between the two states more intensified. He stressed the importance of the strengthening of the inter-parliamentary ties between the two states, as well as the development of cooperation in a number of fields. Galust Sahakyan expressed hope the existing friendly relations between Armenia and Kuwait will continue developing during the new Ambassadors tenure in Armenia. The Ambassador of Kuwait expressed gratitude for the warm reception and the productive cooperation, and said he leaves Armenia with warm memories. Referring to the bilateral relations, the Ambassador ensured that they continue developing. He also stressed the importance of deepening the inter-parliamentary cooperation and the implementation of joint projects in a number of fields. At the meeting the sides underscored the activity of the friendship groups, the bilateral contacts, the development of the trade-economic cooperation. At the end of the meeting the Parliament Speaker wished the Ambassador success in his further activities. YEREVAN, JULY 26, ARMENPRESS: The members of the armed group that have seized the Patrol Police station in Yerevan on July 17, shot in different directions today. Armenpress reports that the head of the Press Department of the Armenian Police Ashot Aharonyan has made a statement in this regard on his Facebook page. The members of the armed group, which has seized the Patrol Police station, shot in different directions threatening the security of the law enforcement officers and the local residents of the area, Aharonyan wrote. TMZ reports that Miss Cleo is dead at 53. The TV psychic, also known as Youree Harris, was famous for the character's faux-Jamaican accent and the bizarre Tarot-themed advertising campaigns exhorting Americans to call in for a reading. You couldn't fool Miss Cleo, went the catchy 90s' tagline, but the entertainer could not fool the FTC, either: her Psychic Readers Network collapsed after the government charged it with deceptive advertising, billing and collection practices. Harris went on to perform as an actress and a spokesperson. "It's the one who is really unpleasant. That's the daddy." AIM: MARL TSXV: MRA 26 July 2016 Suite 102, 3 Eden Street North Sydney, NSW 2060 Australia THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO THE UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. Mariana Commences Trading on the TSXV Today NORTH SYDNEY, Australia, July 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mariana Resources Ltd ('Mariana' or 'the Company'), the AIM listed exploration and development company with projects in Turkey and South America, is pleased to announce that trading commences today on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) at the open of market today. The company will trade on the TSXV under the symbol: MRA The company continues to trade on AIM under the symbol: MARL **ENDS** For further information please visit website at www.marianaresources.com or contact the following. In Australia: Glen Parsons (CEO) Mariana Resources Ltd +61 2 9437 4588 Eric Roth (COO) Mariana Resources Ltd +56 9 8818 1243 Rob Adamson RFC Ambrian Limited (Nomad) +61 2 9250 0041 Will Souter RFC Ambrian Limited (Nomad) +61 2 9250 0050 In U.K. Oliver Stansfield Brandon Hill Capital (UK Broker) +44 20 3463 5061 Jonathan Evans Brandon Hill Capital (UK Broker) +44 20 3463 5016 Camilla Horsfall Blytheweigh (Financial PR) +44 20 7138 3224 Megan Ray Blytheweigh (Financial PR) +44 20 7138 3203 About Mariana Resources Mariana Resources Ltd is an AIM quoted exploration and development company with an extensive portfolio of gold, silver and copper projects in South America and Turkey. Mariana's most advanced asset is the Hot Maden gold-copper project in north east Turkey, which is a joint venture with its Turkish JV partner Lidya (30% Mariana and 70% Lidya) rapidly advancing to development . A maiden mineral resource estimate of 2.03 Moz gold Equivalent (Indicated Category) and 0.97 Moz gold Equivalent (Inferred Category) (100% basis) was reported for Hot Maden on August 18, 2015. Elsewhere in Turkey, Mariana holds a 100% interest in the Ergama gold-copper project. In southern Argentina, the Company's core gold-silver projects are Las Calandrias (100%), Sierra Blanca (100%), Los Cisnes (100%), Bozal (100%). These projects are part of a 160,000+ Ha land package in the Deseado Massif epithermal gold-silver district in mining-friendly Santa Cruz Province. Mariana acquired 100% interests in the Dona Ines gold-silver and Exploradora East copper prospects in northern Chile through the Aegean Metals Group transaction which closed in January, 2015, with Mariana exploration now being funded by Asset Chile through the provision of $1.65m for a total 50% interest. In Suriname, Mariana has a direct holding of 10.2% of the Nassau Gold project. The Nassau Gold Project is a 28,000 Ha exploration concession located approximately 125 km south east of the capital Paramaribo and immediately adjacent to Newmont Mining's 4.2Moz gold Merian project. In Peru, Mariana is focusing on acquiring new opportunities which complement its current portfolio. Safe Harbour This press release contains certain statements which may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as at the date of this press release and include, without limitation, statements regarding discussions of future plans, the realization, cost, timing and extent of mineral resource estimates, estimated future exploration expenditures, costs and timing of the development of new deposits, success of exploration activities, permitting time lines, and requirements for additional capital. The words "plans", "expects", "budget", "scheduled", "estimate", "forecasts", "intend", "anticipate", "believe", "may", "will", or similar expressions or variations of such words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause actual results to vary materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: the effects of general economic conditions; the price of gold, silver and copper; misjudgements in the course of preparing forward-looking statements; risks associated with international operations; the need for additional financing; risks inherent in exploration results; conclusions of economic evaluations; changes in project parameters; currency and commodity price fluctuations; title matters; environmental liability claims; unanticipated operational risks; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or in the completion of development or construction activities; political risk; and other risks and uncertainties described in the Company's annual financial statements for the most recently completed financial year which is available on the Company's website at www.marianaresources.com. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions and have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, 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 forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. HUG#2030581 ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. (OTCQB:KBLB) (Company), the leading developer of spider silk based fibers, today announced the signing of a lease, and taking of possession, for its new production facility in Indiana. The Company has already begun interior construction and expects to have the facility ready for operations by August 10, 2016. This facility is expected to increase the Companys US production capacity by nearly twenty times. This facility will be used to fulfill the Companys recently awarded contract from the US Government and to potentially supply additional collaborative textile developers. This expanded domestic capacity should allow us to be more responsive to customers in both capacity and variety of spider silk materials, said COO Jon Rice. This growth of our production capacity will allow us to expand our relationships with both industry and governmental collaborators. We are looking forward to the inauguration of this new production facility within the next two weeks. To view the most recent edition of Kraigs Spider Sense quarterly newsletter and/or to sign up for Company alerts, please go to www.kraiglabs.com/newsletter. About Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. (www.KraigLabs.com), a fully reporting biotechnology company is the leading developer of genetically engineered spider silk based fiber technologies. The Company has achieved a series of scientific breakthroughs in the area of spider silk technology with implications for the global textile industry. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information Statements in this press release about the Companys future and expectations other than historical facts are forward-looking statements. These statements are made on the basis of managements current views and assumptions. As a result, there can be no assurance that managements expectations will necessarily come to pass. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by phrases such as believes, plans, expects, anticipates, foresees, estimated, hopes, if, develops, researching, research, pilot, potential, could or other words or phrases of similar import. Forward looking statements include descriptions of the Companys business strategy, outlook, objectives, plans, intentions and goals. All such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security. CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Search Solution Group, a premier executive search and recruiting firm, has been recognized for the second year in a row by INC. Magazine's 500/5000 list. Search Solution Group was ranked #448 Fastest Growing Private Company in America in 2015 and is anticipating they may move up on the list this year. In 2015 Search Solution Group was ranked the #6 fasted growing company in the human resources category and was joined by 145 other companies based out of North Carolina who made the list. Search Solution Group was ranked #9 fastest growing company in the state, and #4 in the Charlotte Metro Area. Inc. Magazine's 500|5000 list represents the fastest-growing private companies in the nation. In order to qualify for the list, a company must have grown at least tenfold over the past three years. Search Solution Group has its corporate headquarters in Charlotte North Carolina with offices in Baltimore MD and Buffalo NY as well. Search Solution Group's core methodology ensuring mutually beneficial relationships for clients and candidates has resulted in the company becoming the fastest growing recruiting and executive search firm in the North Carolina. Search Solution Group COO Eric Fehr attributes the extreme growth to "our incredible recruitment staff, long lasting relationships with great businesses, and sustained partnerships in the local community". The company is already on pace to surpass its 2015 revenue, and is actively expanding its employee base with plans to aim even higher on the Inc. 500|5000 list this year. Search Solution Group headhunts and performs executive searches in the specialty areas of accounting and finance, engineering, human resources, information technology, marketing, supply chain, life sciences, sales & business development, operations & manufacturing management, and compensation and benefits. The company was recently selected as one of five Charlotte companies to have its profile featured with a full-page spread in the "Leading Charlotte Business" section of the Fortune, Bloomberg BusinessWeek and Money Magazine. SSG expanded its Charlotte headquarters to a Baltimore, M.D. which focuses in the complex, technical life sciences marketplace. Search Solution Group has also re-engaged the Buffalo NY market due to impressive growth and economic forecast in the area. Search Solution Group's corporate headquarters is located at 2201 South Boulevard, Suite 300, Charlotte N.C. 28203. About Search Solution Group Search Solution Group delivers executive search and recruiting services by locating and vetting the most qualified candidates through traditional headhunting methods. As the new faces of old school headhunting, Search Solution Group has created permanent and sustainable employment solutions both locally and nationally since 2002. The company's dedicated team of recruiting and headhunting experts work all across the nation, and are physically located in Buffalo, Baltimore, and Charlotte offices. To become a client, or to view job openings and additional information, please visit www.searchsolutiongroup.com. A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=40918 Five-year agreement aims to increase local content for projects in Qatar McDermott serves as prime contractor and leads engineering, procurement and installation; N-KOM serves as subcontractor and performs fabrication Cooperation adds to McDermotts existing fabrication capacity in the Middle East HOUSTON, July 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- McDermott International, Inc. (NYSE:MDR) and Nakilat-Keppel Offshore Marine (N-KOM), announced today a Memorandum of Understanding for an exclusive cooperation agreement to pursue offshore engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) projects within Qatari waters. Under the five-year agreement, McDermott and N-KOM, the joint venture shipyard between Qatars Nakilat and Keppel Offshore & Marine, will develop an integrated approach to projects in Qatar by leveraging McDermotts proven track record in offshore EPCI projects and N-KOMs world-class ship repair and offshore construction facility at the Erhama Bin Jaber Al Jalahma Shipyard, strategically located in Qatar. McDermott will serve as prime contractor to customers and lead engineering with its teams based in Dubai as well as its Global Engineering Center in Chennai, India where necessary. McDermott will also lead procurement and installation with vessels mobilized from its global marine fleet. N-KOM will serve as subcontractor and perform fabrication from its Qatar facility. Through this exclusive agreement, McDermott and Keppel build upon our long-standing relationship to combine each companys strengths to benefit our clients in Qatar and increase Qatari local content, said Linh Austin, McDermotts Vice President, Middle East. With both our Dubai- and Saudi-based facilities, McDermott is well positioned to address the continued growth for the entire Middle East market. And now with this cooperative agreement, we have an even higher level of capacity and availability. Qatar continues to be a key growth region for McDermott. Over the past 20 years, McDermott has fabricated more than 80% of the North Field gas infrastructure. McDermott has been involved in all major offshore developments in Qatar over the last 50 years and we look forward to furthering our strong working relationships, added Austin. We are pleased to partner with McDermott, one of the leading EPCI contractors in this region, to enhance our standing as a premier marine and offshore service provider in Qatar, said Eng. Abdullah Fadhalah Al Sulaiti, Managing Director of Nakilat. N-KOM has delivered several offshore construction projects, including a newly built liftboat. This agreement will add value to our services in this area to better support the local oil and gas industry in Qatar. ABOUT McDERMOTT McDermott (NYSE:MDR) is a leading provider of integrated engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) services for upstream field developments worldwide. McDermott delivers fixed and floating production facilities, pipelines and subsea systems from concept to commissioning for complex offshore and subsea oil and gas projects to help oil companies safely produce and transport hydrocarbons. Our clients include national and major energy companies. Operating in more than 20 countries across the world, our locally focused and globally integrated resources include approximately 11,200 employees and contractors, a diversified fleet of specialty marine construction vessels, fabrication facilities and engineering offices. We are renowned for our extensive knowledge and experience, technological advancements, performance records, superior safety and commitment to deliver. McDermott has served the energy industry since 1923 and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. As used in this press release, McDermott includes McDermott International, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates. To learn more, visit www.mcdermott.com. ABOUT NAKILAT Nakilat is a Qatari LNG transport company providing an essential transportation link in the State of Qatars LNG supply chain. Its LNG shipping fleet is the largest in the world, comprising of 63 LNG vessels. Nakilat also manages and operates four large LPG carriers. Nakilat operates the ship repair and construction facilities at Erhama Bin Jaber Al Jalahma Shipyard in Ras Laffan Industrial City via two strategic joint ventures: N-KOM and NDSQ. Nakilat also offers a full range of marine support services to vessels operating in Qatari waters. For more information, visit: www.nakilat.com.qa ABOUT N-KOM Established in 2007, N-KOM is a joint venture between Qatar's premier gas shipper Nakilat and leading offshore rig constructor and ship repairer Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd. From its strategic location within the world-class Erhama Bin Jaber Al Jalahma Shipyard complex, N-KOM offers a comprehensive range of repair, conversion, maintenance and fabrication services for marine vessels, offshore and onshore structures. For more information, visit: www.nkom.com.qa FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS In accordance with the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, McDermott cautions that statements in this press release which are forward looking, and provide other than historical information, involve risks, contingencies and uncertainties that may impact McDermott's actual results of operations. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements about the expected benefits and value to be realized by McDermott from the entry into the Memorandum of Understanding for an exclusive cooperation agreement with N-KOM. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that those expectations will prove to have been correct. Those statements are made by using various underlying assumptions and are subject to numerous risks, contingencies and uncertainties, including, among others: our inability to successfully execute on contracts in backlog, changes in project design or schedules, the availability of qualified personnel, changes in the terms, scope or timing of contracts, contract cancellations, change orders and other modifications and actions by our customers and business partners, difficulties executing on the project and changes in industry norms. If one or more of these risks materialize, or if underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected. For a more complete discussion of these and other risk factors, please see McDermott's annual and quarterly filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. This press release reflects management's views as of the date hereof. Except to the extent required by applicable law, McDermott undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement. 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 I totally understand where you're coming from. At the same time, though, Feig and others really leaned into the idea that this was some sort of feminist masterpiece when their movie didn't quite have the goods to back it up. If an artist makes a claim for their work, I tend to evaluate the work in part on the basis of the artist's stated intentions (while also considering whether those intentions are worthwhile). I'm not blaming Feig for any of this, just explaining that I think his very successful previous work has created an environment where our standards should be higher than "there are ladies in it." And I think some of the response to "Ghostbusters" has been anxiety that this string of successes might get derailed. Direct the "Transformers" movies, and you can make as main "Pain and Gains" and "13 Hours" as you like. But because there are so few stars and directors like McCarthy and Feig, I think I and others worry that any artistic or commercial failure risks Hollywood writing them off as a failed experiment. I think that would be awful decision-making if it happened, but from covering Hollywood, I've come to see it as an only intermittently rational industry. That said, this is all kind of a trap. If Feig had argued that the reaction to "Ghostbuster" was ridiculous because it was just a movie about four fun ladies hanging around busting ghosts, and it had done well, then it might have been an argument that downplaying politics is the better route, and he might have been constrained in the future. Basically what I'm saying is I'm sorry: this is probably not very satisfactory to you. I wish I could watch "Ghostbusters" in the absence of the buzz around it, and react to it in that context. But that world is just not available to me. Maybe I'll try again in a couple of years and see if it plays any differently then. Bringing medicines to the world by Flavie Halais An estimated 2 billion people lack access to essential medicines, most of them living in Asia and Africa, according to the World Health Organization. While progress has been made in the past three decades, thanks in part to a renewed focus placed on diseases such as HIV and AIDS, malaria and polio, much remains to be done to ensure access to treatment for all. The world's top brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev raised its offer for rival SABMiller on Tuesday after a major slump by the British pound due to the Brexit vote threw the blockbuster deal into doubt. Angry shareholders of London-based SABMiller were increasingly resisting the giant buyout, which before the Brexit vote was valued as much as $121 billion. In a statement, the Belgium-based brewer of Budweiser and Stella Artois said it raised its all cash offer for SABMiller from 44 pounds per share to 45 pounds in what was its final proposal. The transaction now values SABMillers entire "issued and to be issued" share capital at around 79 billion ($103 billion), ABInbev said. That includes a restricted share offer that is less attractive to investors as they must wait five years before cashing out. AB InBev agreed in November to buy SABMiller whose brands include Foster's, Grolsch and Peroni. The Leuven, Belgium, based brewer said the new offer represents a premium of approximately 53 per cent to SABMillers closing share price when news of the negotiations first broke in September last year. In a statement SABMiller said it "notes" the announcement by AB InBev. "The board will continue to consult with shareholders and will meet in due course formally to review ... the revised offer and a further announcement will be made thereafter," the company said. The deal is expected to boost world-leader AB InBev's prospects in developing markets in Africa and China. AB InBev's acquisition of the London-based SABMiller is in line to be the third largest in history if it clears all regulatory hurdles. But the deal's value fell sharply given the plunge in the value of the pound after Britain's vote to leave the European Union. "The increase will cost AB InBev an additional 1.5 billion pounds or $2.0 billion at the current exchange rate," said ING bank in a note to clients. "However, when comparing the previous offer at the prevailing exchange rate before Brexit ... with the increased offer at the current exchange rate, the latter is actually (more than) $3 billion lower in value," it added. The mega deal was on its final stretch before the complications from Brexit, with approval secured by EU, US and South African regulators. AB InBev has agreed to a series of concessions to win the greenlight from the competition authorities, including the sale of stakes in Snow Breweries in China. It also agreed to sell most of SABMiller's European businesses, including Peroni and Grolsch which were bought by Japanese brewer Asahi. (Bloomberg) -- Joko Widodo won the Indonesian presidency in 2014 by campaigning as a man of the people who could tackle graft and stand up to the political establishment. Expectations soon soured as Widodo, known as Jokowi, struggled to control his government and break free of the very elites he initially outmaneuvered, including former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, who chairs his ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P. With his agenda languishing, markets noticed -- the rupiah fell nearly 12 percent in his first year after taking office. Fast forward nearly two years and Jokowi has notched up several policy wins, gotten his pick through for national police chief and is sounding tough on terrorism and against neighbors over territory, including China. Last month Indonesias navy detained a Chinese boat near the Natuna Islands, arresting seven fishermen after firing warning shots into the air. "We probably have to separate out the political from the economics, but politically he has really in quite an impressive way consolidated his position in the last year," said Greg Fealy, an associate professor at the Australian National University. Since a cabinet reshuffle in August, Jokowi has been "systematically distancing himself" from Megawati. "He has much more authority, he has a far greater ability to get things done and hes behaving more like the president that a lot of us expected that he would be, Fealy said. Still, his success is highly contingent on the economy continuing to do well and infrastructure projects remaining on time." In June lawmakers passed a bill for a controversial tax amnesty that lasts until March 2017 and which the central bank says will result in 560 trillion rupiah ($43 billion) of inflows over an unspecified period. The funds are needed to finance Jokowis ambitious infrastructure agenda which includes a pledge to build ports, roads and railways to spur growth in Southeast Asias biggest economy to 7 percent by the end of his term. Story continues Impacting Budget The tax amnesty will serve as a test for the president as it will impact the budget deficit "as well as Jokowis priority program, including infrastructure, which will differentiate Jokowi from the previous governments, said Yunarto Wijaya, a political analyst at consultancy Charta Politika Indonesia. Jokowi needs hundreds of billions of dollars for infrastructure in his first term, according to the Public Works Ministry. The state budget can finance about 40 percent of that, with 31 percent coming from private investors. For a story from a recent interview with Indonesias finance minister, click here. "As a good governance measure and as a revenue measure its a mixed bag, but the fact that they were able to get it through and avoid some of the really bad things that the DPR, the legislature, wanted to put into the bill, thats positive," said Aaron Connelly, a research fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney, referring to the tax amnesty. Another public relations win came last week after security forces announced they had killed the countrys most wanted militant, Santoso. Long a thorn in the side of authorities, Santoso, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, was the leader of the Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen and declared allegiance to Islamic State in 2014. Jokowi has slowly built alliances in parliament, where he now enjoys the support of more than two-thirds of lawmakers. One-by-one, opposition parties have been lured toward his coalition. Golkar, the party of former dictator Suharto, is the latest to signal its support. Embroiled last year in a messy public dispute over who should become national police chief, Jokowi succeeded in February in getting his pick, former anti-terrorism chief Tito Karnavian, through. In doing so he passed over former Megawati aide Budi Gunawan, who is deputy police chief. The presidents popularity at home has also been boosted by his strong stance against drug crimes, with 12 foreigners executed by firing squad last year for narcotics-related offenses. Another round of executions is expected within days. His actions though have drawn international condemnation. Natuna Meeting At the end of June, when Jokowi donned a bomber jacket and flew to the Natuna area to meet some cabinet ministers on a warship, he sent a signal to China he took Indonesias sovereign maritime rights pretty seriously, said Connelly. The government plans to blow up three impounded Chinese fishing boats on August 17, Indonesias independence day. While Indonesia is not a claimant in the South China Sea, the line between what it views as its territory and what China sees as its has become increasingly blurred. A recent international court ruling rejected Chinas claim to exclusive rights to more than 80 percent of the waterway. Indonesias foreign ministry has urged all parties to the dispute to show restraint. There are challenges ahead for Jokowi. The economy expanded 4.92 percent in the first quarter, less than the median estimate of 5.07 percent in a Bloomberg survey. Weaker-than-expected global growth may blunt any recovery, and the government has already downgraded its expectations for 2016, including for spending. Economic Risk The macroeconomic indicators are manageable, but the purchasing power in rural areas hasnt improved. said Josua Pardede, a Jakarta-based economist at Bank Permata. At this point, the economic risk going forward will be more dominant that the political risk. Jokowis alliance also isnt rock solid, and parties in his camp still have their own interests, said Effendy Simbolon, a PDI-P lawmaker. The coalition, may not stay long, he said. Once ones interest is not accommodated, the coalition could be shaky and possibly break up. While Jokowi is in the strongest position hes been so far as president, according to Connelly, the fundamentals of his position are still relatively unstable. One misstep, whether its on governance or managing elites could make a pretty big difference for him. (Updates with detail on drug crimes in 13th paragraph.) To contact the reporters on this story: Karlis Salna in Sydney at ksalna@bloomberg.net, Rieka Rahadiana in Jakarta at rrahadiana@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rosalind Mathieson at rmathieson3@bloomberg.net, Jason Koutsoukis 2016 Bloomberg L.P. Solar Impulse 2 took off on March 9, 2015 from Abu Dhabi for the first round-the-world flight using only solar energy, a huge bet on current technology. The bid was expected to last five months, cover 35,000-kilometres (22,000 miles) and comprise 25 days of actual flying before the craft returned to the United Arab Emirates. The project was beset by delays and the plane's total travelled distance exceeded 42,000 kilometres. But the aircraft -- no heavier than a car but with the wingspan of a Boeing 747 -- eventually touched down in the Gulf region to complete its odyssey on July 26, 2016. Here is a timeline of the journey: - Lift-off - Solar Impulse 2 (Si2), a four-engine battery-powered aircraft that relies on some 17,000 solar cells embedded in its wings, takes off on March 9, 2015, and lands 13 hours later in Muscat, Oman, with Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg in the cockpit. The other Swiss pilot and project director, Bertrand Piccard, takes over the next day and flies 1,465 kilometres in 15 hours and 20 minutes to Ahmedabad, India, where administrative delays ground the plane for a few days. The next two stages see Solar Impulse fly to Varanasi (Benares), India, and Mandalay, in Myanmar. - Cold cockpit, long layover - On March 31, Piccard lands in Chongqing, southwestern China, after flying for 20 hours and a half. He has withstood temperatures in the unpressurised cockpit that fall to minus 20 Celsius (minus four Fahrenheit) as he reaches an altitude of more than 8,500 metres (28,000 feet). Bad weather keeps Si2 on the ground for more than a month, and Borschberg returns briefly to Switzerland for eye treatment. On April 21, the plane completes the sixth leg of its journey, reaching Nanjing in eastern China. It takes off on June 1 for Hawaii, but is re-routed to Nagoya, Japan, owing to bad weather conditions. Another delay of more than a month follows while repairs are made and a daunting cloud bank moves away. - Borschberg makes history - Story continues On June 28, Borschberg heads east over the Pacific Ocean and makes a historic crossing that lasts five days and nights before he lands on July 3 in Hawaii. He has flown 8,924 kilometres (5,578 miles) in 117 hours and 52 minutes at an average speed of 61.19 km/hour, the longest uninterrupted journey in aviation history. Si2's batteries have overheated however and it sits on the island of Oahu for almost 10 months while repairs are made. - Pacific crossing - On April 21, 2016, Piccard gets his chance to fly across the Pacific and lands almost 63 hours later at Moffett Airfield, south of San Francisco, after dusting the Golden Gate Bridge. Covering 4,086 kilometres, it is one of the most dangerous legs because there were few places to touch down if anything had gone wrong. The plane resumes its journey across the United States on May 2, stopping in Phoenix (Arizona), Tulsa (Oklahoma), Dayton (Ohio), Lehigh Valley (Pennsylvania) and JFK International Airport in New York after circling the Statue of Liberty in the middle of the night. - Another record - On June 20, Piccard leaves the US and makes the first Atlantic crossing by a solar-powered plane, reaching Seville, Spain, on the 23rd. The 15th stage covers 6,765 kilometres and lasts 71 hours and eight minutes. Borschberg is back at the controls when Si2 leaves Seville on July 11 for the penultimate leg across the Mediterranean to Cairo that covers 3,745 kilometres in a little under 51 hours. Piccard flies Si2 on the final leg from Cairo to Abu Dhabi, arriving July 26 in little more than 48 hours, after crossing the Red Sea and the vast Saudi desert. Credit: ATELIER FUR SONDERAUFGABEN This outdoors haven is explicitly designed to soothe mind, body and spirit, and take a wholly holistic approach to wellbeing. Luckily, you won't have to be asking for a room with a view when you reserve. On a grassy opening in the Graub?nden mountains, conceptual hotelier Null Stern has opened a hotel without a roof, walls, or even an official bathroom. Directly under the cosmic expanse of Swiss sky, the luxury boutique hotel, in collaboration with hospitality professional Daniel Charbonnier, has completely redefined upscale camping -- say hello to glamping 2.0! This one-of-a-kind, sleep-under-the-stars experience is literally just comprised of a large double bed, two nightstands, and one lamp. The ultimate relaxation space plunges the guest into an all-around immersive experience surrounded by amazing greenery and Swiss mountain views. Credit: ATELIER F?R SONDERAUFGABEN A club of personal butlers wearing white gloves and bow ties remain at guests' disposal for room service to ensure that everyone feels like royalty. If nature calls, guests will just have to use the nature around them, but for those who do fancy a bit more indulgence (amen), visitors can trek the path to find a public toilet and washroom 10 minutes away. RELATED: 7 Tips for Glamping Like a Pro Brothers and co-founders Frank and Patrck Riklin say they employ local farmers who agree to sign up and work as butlers for the project. Don't worry about jumping into a grimy bed -- when it's not being used, it's covered with an agricultural protection sheet. Bare necessities such as mattresses and blankets are stored in a small shed near the bed. This take on unique, eco-friendly hotel lodging was crafted in 2008 with the inception of a nuclear bunker in the town of Sevelen, St. Gallen within Switzerland. Literally translated to "zero stars" in Swiss, the name Null Stern strives to brand its identity as "zero real estate" with the tagline "Null Stern -- the only star is you." The innovative concept enthralled the public by shaking the traditional definition of hotel prestige. By stripping down the notion of luxury, they placed the guest at the center of the hospitality experience -- and created the most Instagram-worthy backdrop ever. Story continues Credit: ATELIER F?R SONDERAUFGABEN Frank and Patrik Riklin initially fashioned the minimalist, open-air hotel room for the Art Safiental land art festival, but then customized it into the second reincarnation once the concept was ready to be developed on a grander scale. At that point, they literally pushed for the stars by materializing from the underground to the picturesque Alps. The partners hope to implement this new version of the concept across different regions of Switzerland. The original beds that were in the nuclear bunker will be redeployed outside, making Switzerland the first country to become a literal living hotel. The objective is to develop a simplistic hotel room while showcasing the natural splendor of Swiss landscapes. Credit: ATELIER F?R SONDERAUFGABEN According to the conceptual artists Frank and Patrik Riklin, "the landscape of Switzerland is the imaginary building of the new Null Stern Hotel version." This proprietary evolution is said to redefine the concept of resources and the notion of ownership. RELATED: 8 Luxury Camping Trips That Are Worth It "Even though this version is radically different from the first one in the nuclear bunker, the essence and the spirit of the concept remains the same -- to put the guest at the center of the experience and to focus on the intangible by reducing everything else to the minimum," says cofounder Charbonnier. Null Stern's Swiss Alps room is now available to the public from spring through autumn. However, be warned that reservations can be cancelled last minute due to inclement weather. Contrary to the former nuclear bunker experience, this new version under the stars is 10 times more expensive at around $255 per night. If a weekend mountain retreat infused with complete tranquility sounds like your slice of bliss, treat yourself to a much needed respite from your overflowing inbox. By the time you're gazing at the snow-capped mountains on the other side of the valley, you'll be feeling rejuvenated, invigorated, and refreshingly recharged in no time. You have an upcoming event and are looking for a unique, eye-catching image. Perhaps youd like to commission a retro poster? Or how about hiring a celebrity impersonator voiceover of Donald Trump, for a parody video you hope will go viral? Or even coloring outside the lines with a marketing message carved on a banana? Yes, you can actually hire someone to artistically carve a banana and create an image of it to use in your marketing. You can get this and much more on Fiverr, the creative services marketplace. These are just a few examples of the more than one million services or Gigs sold on the Fiverr marketplace each month. Theyre the type of fresh idea that makes Fiverr a rich and deep resource for small businesses and a great place to buy creative services. Fiverr is the largest creative services marketplace in the world, according to Aimy Ngo, business development and market strategist at Fiverr. She recently sat down with me in an interview to explain what has made Fiverr such a thriving creative services marketplace. Fiverr in One Word: Value Aimy, whos been with Fiverr for a little over one year, told me, As a platform, Fiverr is about getting value. Entrepreneurs and small business people tend to make up the majority of buyers (and sellers) on Fiverr. Being able to purchase a service quickly and easily on Fiverr is valuable because it saves time. Thats time you can put toward growing your business. What Can You Buy on Fiverr? Well, as it turns out, you can buy almost any small business creative service you might need and some you might never have thought of. We have over 150 categories, said Aimy. Really, the imagination is the limit. Of Fiverrs million-plus monthly transactions, many of them fall into the Digital Marketing and Graphics & Design categories two of the most popular categories. Creative design work, video and marketing-related services are in high demand on Fiverr according to Aimy. When Fiverr was founded back in 2009, every service was $5, but since then the pricing has evolved. Pricing today depends on the services provided, said Aimy. Each Fiverr seller sets his or her own prices. You dont have to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on Fiverr to get a quality creative service such as a logo or website design, said Aimy, who herself is a Fiverr user. And Fiverr stands behind the transaction to make sure a service is actually delivered. Why Use Fiverr And What Makes it Unique When I asked Aimy what makes Fiverr unique, she didnt miss a beat. Its speedy transactions for quality services, she said. Fiverr transformed services into an e-commerce model, Aimy said. Traditionally, hiring a freelancer or service provider involved a lengthy process. Youd have to wade through providers qualifications to find one that hopefully could deliver what you need. Getting a creative service done through traditional methods could be daunting. Whats different about Fiverr is that the creative services are already packaged up for sale like a product, called a Gig. That makes it easier and faster to get a service. When you find the service you need from a Fiverr seller youre comfortable with, you simply hit the order button to buy it. Of course, youre not limited to Gigs listed for sale. If you dont see exactly what you need, there are two things you can do as a buyer, explained Aimy. First, find sellers who offer services in the general category of what you need who have good feedback and portfolios, and message them about your specific need. Or you can post a request on Fiverr and sellers may make offers to deliver what you need. 4 Solid Tips On How To Use Fiverr According to Aimy, Fiverr can accelerate your businesss growth. She pointed to the example of Adam Harrington, who grew his business through getting cost-effective and speedy services on Fiverr. Harrington created Tuggo, a water-weighted dog toy that has won several awards. When he started he had no budget for marketing, so he turned to Fiverr to help grow his business rapidly, without losing financial control over it. Today his company is successful enough to have a marketing budget, but he still uses Fiverr because of the great relationships hes built with sellers and because he can get what he needs within 24 hours. He estimates hes saved hundreds of thousands of dollars using Fiverr. Not only has Fiverr saved money, but its enabling him to expand into 3D printed products. So, could your business leverage itself by using Fiverr? Aimy offered these tips for small businesses looking to grow their businesses: Start with your digital assets Fiverr, Aimy said, is a great place to get help with developing your website, your logo, your social media profile, content marketing graphics and more. Focus on creating a set of quality digital assets first because they are the building blocks for the rest of your marketing efforts. Save time by using the search filters Its easy to narrow down your search on Fiverr. You can search, for example, for providers that can deliver a service within 24 hours, if you need something fast. Or you can search for providers that provide specific services or expertise. Review the sellers portfolio Look for someone whose work matches your style, by viewing their portfolio. Even new sellers will have a portfolio. One of the best experiences I ever had on Fiverr was with a first-time seller. He was creative and delivered marvelous work, said Aimy. Try new things to add punch to your marketing Be open to fresh ideas, advised Aimy. The beauty of Fiverr is its ability to trigger creative marketing ideas you might never have thought of. Just come over to Fiverr and browse the site. Finally, Aimy offered one other tip for entrepreneurs and small business people in Chicago, San Francisco and New York City. If youre in one of those areas, apply for the Small Biz Digital Makeover. Were excited about this program and the winners will get $3,000 worth of marketing services through the Fiverr marketplace. You can learn more about the makeover: Learn More! The human gut is a complex and amazing system, and the more we learn about it, the more amazed we are. It turns out kerry wang yi China slammed the bilateral decisionbetween Seoul and Washington to deploy America's most advanced missile-defense system to South Korea, by saying the move has spurred long-term consequences. "The recent behavior from South Korea has undermined the foundation for our bilateral trust," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, quoted by Yonhap. China's foreign ministry released a statement saying that Seoul should think twice about THAAD's deployment to Seongju and consider the value of maintaining a positive relationship with Beijing, Reuters reports. Similarly, Fan Changlong, one of the vice chairmen of the Chinese Central Military Commission, told US National Security Adviser Susan Rice that THAAD deployment will only worsen the Korean peninsula. rice fan The pressure to equip Seoul with THAAD began after a series of defiant North Korean nuclear weapons tests earlier this year. And the audacious tests have yet to cease. Last week the Hermit Kingdom fired three ballistic missiles, equipped with a range (between 300 and 360 miles) capable of reaching all of South Korea. And the latest show of force took form in a ballistic missile test simulating a strike on South Korean ports and airfields, which are heavily operated by US military forces. nk ballistic missile "North Korea's continued development of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction require the alliance to take this prudent, protective measure to bolster our layered and effective missile defense," US Army Gen. Vincent Brooks, commander of US forces in South Korea, said in a statement shortly after THAAD deployment was announced. Story continues Chinese Ambassador Qiu Guohong warned in February that deploying THAAD would irreparably damage relations between the countries, The Chosunilbo reported. THAAD deployment, Qiu said, "would break the strategic balance in the region and create a vicious cycle of Cold War-style confrontations and an arms race, which could escalate tensions." A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is launched during a successful intercept test, in this undated handout photo provided by the U.S. Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency. U.S. Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency/Handout via Reuters/File Photo And during US Secretary of State John Kerry's February visit to Beijing, he explained that the US was "not hungry or anxious or looking for an opportunity to deploy THAAD," CNN reported. "THAAD is a purely defensive weapon. It is purely capable of shooting down a ballistic missile it intercepts," Kerry said. Adding, "it is there for the protection of the United States," where, the US currently maintains approximately 28,500 troops in South Korea. gen jacoby During a July 13 Hudson Institute discussion on US missile-technology preeminence, US Army Gen. Charles Jacoby, former commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), stressed the importance of deploying THAAD to protect the Korean peninsula and US interests, despite it upsetting near peers like Russia and China. "Certainly the Russians and the Chinese and other stakeholders understand that in South Korea besides being a wonderful ally, significant economic engine for growth throughout the world, that there are tens of thousands of American citizens living there, there is still US forces there, they are playing a defense role and they are at risk everyday to a host of threats that now include the potential for ballistic missile carried weapons of mass destruction," Gen. Jacoby said. "We cannot not act." "If we are still defending with bows and arrows when the conflict escalates we are not going to create the deterrent effect that we need to to keep peace on the Korean peninsula," Gen. Jacoby said. "The truth of the matter is, THAAD was really the logical choice and after intense debate and trying to assess what the complexities of the environment might hold to include the perceptions that the Chinese might have, we really can't get in a world where we refuse to defend ourselves." brennan During a discussion at the Brookings Institution on identifying emerging security threats, CIA Director John Brennan said that the deployment of THAAD to the region was an "obligation" on behalf of the US. "We have certain obligations to our partners and the region so that the appropriate steps are taken to reassure our friends, partners, and allies of US commitment to the security of that area," Brennan told Business Insider. He added: "This is something that I think the president has demonstrated that we are trying to deal with these issues in a manner that is not going to lead to any escalation of tensions." NOW WATCH: Meet THAAD: Americas answer to North Korean threats More From Business Insider State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation Bern, 26.07.2016 - On 10 September 2016, citizens from the 22 Member States of the European Space Agency ESA will participate in the first Citizens Debate on Space for Europe, in their respective countries. In the course of the day, citizens will have the opportunity to learn more about the significance of space and participate in the debate; proposing their views on all aspects of current and future space programmes. In Switzerland, the debate will take place in German and in French at the Verkehrshaus, the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne, involving 100 citizens. The event is implemented by the Swiss Space Center (SSC), on behalf of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation, who invites interested participants to register their details. Registration is now open at http://citizensdebate.space. The selection process and the complete organisation of the debate across Europe is conducted for ESA by Agence Missions Publiques, specialised in citizen participation and policy dialogue with more than fifteen years of experience in the field. The Citizens Debate on Space for Europe is a major first never before has the future of space activities been addressed in such an event held across so many countries. This consultation will take place simultaneously in each of the 22 Member States, gathering about 100 citizens, being as representative as possible of the national population. The results of the consultation will be collated as early as 48 hours after the debate and communicated to ESA. Referring to this initiative, ESA Director General Jan Woerner, emphasised his commitment to ESA being more open to society and to further engaging in a dialogue with European citizens, and said, Spaceflight, space science, exploration, Earth observation, telecommunication, satellite navigation, space technology and innovation can all help respond to societal challenges and be a source of inspiration to future generations. European citizens can help us better assess our priorities. Switzerland and ESA The European Space Agency has over 70 satellites in orbit and is currently conducting 18 missions including Rosetta and Mars Express. The new European satellite navigation system Galileo, several environmental observation satellites, as well as the Ariane and Vega launch vehicles have all been developed under ESA leadership. Switzerland contributes approximately EUR 140 million annually to the ESA, whose total budget for 2016 amounts to EUR 5.3 billion. Thanks to Switzerlands contributions, Swiss research institutes and space industry can apply and further extend their excellent scientific and technological expertise. What is more, they can benefit from competitive access to international projects and markets. Together with Luxemburg, Switzerland has been presiding over the ESA Council at Ministerial level since 2012. This co-presidency will continue until the next Ministerial Council Meeting, which will be held in Lucerne in December 2016. Address for enquiries Kamlesh Brocard State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation Scientific Advisor Swiss Space Office Kamles.brocard@sbfi.admin.ch Tel. +41 58 464 10 74 Publisher State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation http://www.sbfi.admin.ch We can help you make sense of the agribusiness industry, extending from chemicals and fertilizers used as inputs into agriculture, to the commodities, food and by-products that are an output to farming, with policy and regulation applied at every step of the value chain. YEREVAN, JULY 26, ARMENPRESS. Member States of the United Nations (UN), through the General Assembly, unanimously adopted a resolution approving the Agreement to make the International Organization for Migration (IOM) a Related Organization of the UN. The Agreement outlines a closer relationship between IOM and the UN to strengthen the cooperation and enhance their ability to fulfill their respective mandates in the interest of migrants and Member States. Through the Agreement the UN recognizes IOM as an indispensable actor in the field of human mobility. This includes protection of migrants and displaced people in migration-affected communities, as well as in areas of refugee resettlement and voluntary returns, and incorporates migration in country development plans, the IOM reported. This paves the way for the Agreement to be signed by the UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon and IOM Director General William Lacy Swing at the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants on 19 September 2016. The Summit will bring together UN Member States to address large movements of refugees and migrants for more humane and coordinated approach. The Summit comes at a time when global perceptions of migrants have grown negative and are increasingly informed by xenophobia. It will focus the worlds attention on the challenge of global migration as a reality to be managed rather than as a problem to be solved. The General Assemblys decision to approve this Agreement shows the growing strength of the relationship between IOM and the UN, said DG Swing. IOM has worked closely with the UN since our foundation at both operational and policy levels. IOM Member States recognize IOM as the global lead agency on migration. And now, becoming a part of the UN family will give IOM a vital voice at the UN table to advocate for migrants and their rights worldwide. We are living in a time of much tragedy and uncertainty. This Agreement shows Member States commitment to more humane and orderly migration that benefits all, where we celebrate the human beings behind the numbers. This is an historic day, not only for IOM and the UN, but for migrants and their families across the globe. I look forward to 19 September when Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon and I will sign this Agreement into reality. IOM, which assisted an estimated 20 million migrants in 2015, is an intergovernmental organization with over 9,500 staff and 450 offices worldwide. Founded in the wake of the Second World War to resettle refugees from Europe, IOM celebrates its 65th anniversary in December of this year. This daily digest focuses on market sentiment, new developments in Chinas foreign exchange policy, changes in financial market regulations and Chinese-language economic coverage in order to keep DailyFX readers up-to-date on news typically covered only in Chinese-language sources. - The Chinese Yuan gained against the US Dollar in both onshore and offshore markets on Tuesday. - The PBOC increased cash injections this week amid liquidity shortfalls. - SOEs in manufacturing industries are facing lower profits, higher risk of default and tightened restrictions. To receive reports from this analyst, sign up for Renee Mu distribution list. Hexun News: Chinese leading online media of financial news. - The onshore Yuan (USD/CNY) extended rally to second day on Tuesday, after the PBOC fixed the daily reference +82 pips or +0.12% stronger to 6.6778. The offshore Yuan (USD/CNH) gained on Tuesday as well, up +13% to 6.6783 as of 10:20 EDT. - The onshore Yuan demand saw increases this week, with SHIBOR O/N, 1w and 2w in upward trends. As a result, the PBOC added a net of 70 billion Yuan into the market on July 26. Yesterday, the Central Bank issued 150 billion Yuan of new 7-day reverse repos, the highest amount in six months. Amid the liquidity shortage in the short-term, it is expected that the Central Bank will continue to add cash over the rest of the week. In a longer term, the liquidity is relatively sufficient, as the SHIBOR 1M, 3M, 1Y all move in downward trends. China Finance Information: a finance online media administrated by Xinhua Agency. - The Ministry of Finance released a performance report on state-owned enterprises (SOEs) over the first six months of 2016. In 2016, Chinas SOEs are in the spotlight because of the national-wide reforms, as well as increasing default events. According to the Finance Ministry, the profits of SOEs from January to June dropped -8.5% to 1.127 trillion Yuan compared to a year ago. Liabilities in SOEs expanded faster than assets; the growth of liabilities was 17.8% while the growth of assets was 15.2%. In terms of industries, earnings of coal companies turned to positive, the first time this year; however, steel and non-ferrous metal firms were still suffering major losses. This is mainly led by domestic capacity cuts as well as on-going trade disputes between China and other countries on these products. Thus, it is more likely that the SOEs will take longer time to reform and recover, which means Chinas growth will remain L-shaped. - The State Council issued a guidance on July 26th designated to promote merges and acquisitions among SOEs led by the central government. Over production is still the No.1challenge that the SOEs are facing. Thus, the State Council demands SOEs to continue cut capacity. Also, small and low-efficient SOEs in equipment manufacturing, construction, electricity, steel, non-ferrous metals, shipping and construction materials are required be either shut down or merged with larger SOEs. This will help to reduce vicious competition among firms and improve the competitive advantage of the entire industry. - The Deputy Minister of Industry and Information Technology Feng Fei, told that the total steel production cuts in the first half of 2016 were approximate 13 million tons, taking up 30% of the target production cuts in 2016. This means that steel firms need to reduce additional 32 million tons of production over the next six months. Deputy Minister Feng said that he is confident that the yearly target will be achieved. Detailed capacity cut targets have already been assigned to steel producers that are under the close watch of local governments. Sina News: Chinas most important online media source, similar to CNN in the US. They also own a Chinese version of Twitter, called Weibo, with around 200 million active usersmonthly. - China Development Bank, one of the three policy banks in China, rejected Dongbei Special Steels proposal on a debt-to-equity swap program. This may set up a standard for what kind of firms are eligible for swapping debt to equity. The steel producer, controlled by the government of Liaoning Province, has defaulted on seven of its corporate bonds within four months. The most recent default was on July 17 when the company failed to make an interest payment worth 64.38 million Yuan. According to the company, it can only afford to pay back 30% of its total debt based on its cash flow and thus requested to swap the rest of debt into equity. However, the policy bank believes that a debt-to-equity swap used by a company like Dongbei Special Steel may trigger a systemic risk in the region or even spread to other parts of the country and therefore rejected the proposal. This may be bad news for the company but could help to reduce market concerns on the risk of debt-to-equity swaps. Earlier, some researchers questioned whether the swap program provides a free lunch to zombie firms. The Finance Ministry told in June that they will issue a negative list for unqualified firms. Dongbei Special Steels case may give us some clues to the negative list. To receive reports from this analyst, sign up for Renee Mu distribution list. Representatives from the red meat sector are meeting in early August to start formulating a post-Brexit plan for British farming, with the aim of achieving a united voice and influencing government thinking. The meeting is being organised by the Livestock Auctioneers Association (LAA) and will involve input from the National Beef Association (NBA), the National Sheep Association (NSA), the Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) and the Farmers Union of Wales (FUW), amongst others. At this most critical time, it is key that the industry is united in looking forward to resolve the issues, challenges and opportunities that arise from Brexit, said LAA executive secretary Chris Dodds, who called the meeting for 4 August in Birmingham. See also: Farming sets out how policy should look post-Brexit Bigger vision for farming If the industry is seen as fragmented, we will be torn apart. In future, we may need to stand up for our own specific sectors. But for now we need a bigger vision of how to shape the future for the farming community. This view was endorsed by TFA chairman Stephen Wyrill, who has called for a single industry voice. The decisions we take on farming policy today will have ramifications for decades to come, he said. No one organisation, regardless of size or resources, has the monopoly on good ideas. All farming organisations have specific expertise and skills that we must bring to the table. Mr Wyrill pointed out that the NFU has so far declined to take part. Despite numerous attempts, we have failed, thus far, to engage with the NFU, which has said it will not be in a position to talk to other organisations until the autumn, when it has completed its round of consultation with members. Engagement But the NFU has pointed to its long and proven history of forming alliances with other organisations. We want to help shape the next domestic agricultural policy to ensure our farmers and their businesses can thrive, said NFU director general Terry Jones. However, it is vital we consult with our members first, before seeing where there may be common ground and alliances with other organisations. The current timetable will see the NFU launch an options paper this week,followed by a series of regional workshops in August and early September. The full council is scheduled to approve a final policy document on 11 October. Jeronimo Yanez, the officer who shot Philando Castile in his car in Minnesota, took a training course called "The Bulletproof Warrior" less than two years ago. The evidence suggests that this course, and courses similar to it, offered by a private company called Calibre Press, are even worse than Urban Shield the organized para-military and terror response training put on for police by the Alameda Sheriff's Department. Michael Becar, the leader of an international police training association says "seminars like those offered by Calibre and other firms foster a sense of paranoia among officers."The course Yanez took is now called "BulletProof" and it's coming to San Jose thisand, hosted by the Santa Clara Sheriff's Department. It is Time for the US to Pardon Jamacian National Hero ~ Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. by Hisham Aidi Youth of today are not familiar with the ideas and influence of Marcus Garvey. His name is not sampled in hip-hop tracks the way Malcolm X's name is, he is not the subject of Hollywood films, nor is his visage held up at rallies the way Martin Luther King's image appears at rallies for Obama. Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr. was critical to the 20th century black freedom movement that continues today. In late March, Portia Simpson Miller, the prime minister of Jamaica, spoke to an audience of Jamaican Americans at St George's Episcopal Church in Manhattan. She addressed a range of issues. But when the prime minister was asked about Marcus Garvey, the Jamaican-born pan-African leader, and his deportation from the US in the 1920s, she responded passionately. "We are a great people. We have produced many great sons and daughters," she said. "I will have to raise the matter with President Obama when he visits Jamaica." She continued, "That great man should never be seen as a criminal. That great man. I believe his name should be expunged from the record of criminals." Miller kept her word, and when US President Barack Obama stopped by Jamaica on his way to the Summit of the Americas on April 10, she asked him to posthumously pardon Garvey. Wrongful conviction - Time for the US to pardon Jamaican national hero Youth today are not familiar with the ideas and influence of Marcus Garvey. His name is not sampled in hip-hop tracks the way Malcolm X's name is, he is not the subject of Hollywood films, nor is his visage held up at rallies the way Martin Luther King's image appears at rallies for Obama. Yet Garvey was critical to the 20th century black freedom movement and set the stage for the rise of the aforementioned leaders. Born in Jamaica in 1887, Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association on the island in August 1914, as a black nationalist organization that would unite Africa and her people in diaspora. When he moved to New York in 1916, he successfully transformed the UNIA into a mass movement. He launched the Negro World as the UNIA's mouthpiece, and built a number of corporations including the Black Star Line shipping company aimed at repatriating blacks to Liberia. His activism and growing political influence drew the attention of law enforcement and in particular J Edgar Hoover, who began tracking his economic activities. The Bureau of Investigation (as the FBI was then called) would eventually bring charges of mail fraud against Garvey. Garvey was tried in June 1923 and sentenced to five years imprisonment. In November 1927, US President Calvin Coolidge commuted Garvey's sentence and the activist was deported from the US. He would return to Jamaica, and then move to London where he died in 1940. In 1964, two years after Jamaica gained independence, Garvey's remains were exhumed, brought to the island and buried, with the government declaring him Jamaica's first national hero. Soon after, a campaign would begin to pardon Garvey - a campaign that is picking up steam. Garvey long claimed that his trial was politically motivated and a gross miscarriage of justice. As Rupert Lewis, a political theorist and Garvey expert at the University of the West Indies wrote recently, "Garvey did not send out mail on behalf of the Black Star Line" and the three UNIA officers on trial with him were all acquitted. "The most damaging consequence has been the stigmatization of Garvey as a fraudster, which was meant to discredit his program," he added. US denial of black rights It's worth noting that Garvey wasn't the only Caribbean-born thinker who was deported from the US during the 20th century: the Marxist theorist C L R James and journalist Claudia Jones, both born in Trinidad, were also deported from the US in the mid-1950s for their leftist activism - and would settle in London. Since independence, successive Jamaican governments have asked the US to pardon Marcus Garvey. In 1982, then Prime Minister Edward Seaga made the request to Ronald Reagan when he visited Jamaica. A resolution was even written and brought to the US House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice in 1987, but never pushed through. The campaign to "exonerate" Garvey picked up again when Obama came to power. Donovan Parker, a Jamaican-born attorney (now based in Florida) has been writing to Obama every week since January 2011. "Marcus Mosiah Garvey is also a National Hero of Jamaica, West Indies and a leading forebear of the African American civil rights experience," writes Parker. "It is full time that this extraordinary human being of humble beginnings and strong moral character be pardoned by the pen of [a US] president." A petition of signatures was submitted to the White House in 2013. The response from the White House has been consistently negative: "It is the general policy of the Department of Justice that requests for posthumous pardons for federal offences not be processed for adjudication. The policy is grounded in the belief that the time of the officials involved in the clemency process is better spent on pardon and commutation requests of living persons." The White House has not responded to Miller's recent plea to Obama. As long as the push to pardon Garvey is coming only from Jamaica, the US can dismiss the requests. But if a transnational effort were launched that raises global awareness of Garvey's central role in 20th century pan-Africanism and anti-imperialism, the campaign could have more success. As a young man, Garvey worked for the African Times and Orient Review, a London-based pan-African publication with global circulation, that sought to unite pan-African and pan-Islamic movements. His UNIA stood in solidarity with anti-colonial uprisings in Egypt, India and Morocco, its anthems and literature often drawing on Islamic themes and motifs (The Negro World would sometimes refer to Garvey as a "child of Allah"). If the current campaign in Jamaica could get the support of African states and Muslim-majority states, the US may have to respond and Garvey's name would be cleared once and for all. Hisham Aidi teaches at Columbia University. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Rebel Music: Race, Empire and the New Muslim Youth Culture, a study of black internationalism and global youth culture. - President Buhari orders further exploration of crude oil in the north-east - According to Baru, NNPC would explore Chad basin, where Shell had made some indicative discovery of hydrocarbons President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to escalate search for oil in the north-east. Garba Deen Muhammad, the spokesperson of the corporation, in a statement unveiled on July 25, Monday, said it is stepping up measures to enable a successful operation in the current search for crude oil in the Chad basin and other parts of the inland substance basin. According to him, this is in line with Buhari's order for deeper inquest into the prospectivity of some hitherto neglected finds in some areas in the North Eastern part of Nigeria. READ ALSO: Nigerias crude oil production rises despite attacks Maikanti Baru, the newly-appointed NNPC director, revealed this while receiving Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi state, who was on a courtesy visit to the NNPC Towers, Abuja. He stated that the revived search for hydrocarbon deposits in the Chad basin would imply extended searching for some allocated and non-allocated oil blocks in the region with a view to establishing the magnitude of the deposits. Bauchi governor said the reason for his visit was to felicitate with the new GMD on his nomination, stating that Bauchi state is proud of Baru and his accomplishments so far in the oil and gas industry. On the other hand, Baru stated that the NNPC has identified specific oil blocks in the area (north-east) where some of the finds have been successful and would move to re-invigorate exploration based on new strategy. He said: You know that very close home, we have exploration activities on the frontier basin in the Chad and some areas close to the Kolmani river where Shell had made some indicative discovery of hydrocarbons and Mr. President has directed me to go into that area to reprove and further explore the magnitude and prospectivity of those finds. We are taking steps to re-strategize and get into those regions. We will re-invigorate the frontier exploration and see how they collaborate with NNPC that is holding Block A09 where some of the finds have been made and also Department for Petroleum Resources, DPR, for the other blocks that have not been assigned. READ ALSO: ExxonMobil declares force majeure in Niger Delta Baru called on the Bauchi governor to cooperate with the NNPC in tackling the threat of pipeline vandalism. The GMD of the corporation asked that peculiar attention be given to reported line breaks along the NNPC products supply line from Jos-Gombe-Bauchi enroute the Maiduguri depot. Nigerias oil production in free fall following more attacks of the Niger Delta militant groups. Attacks are now coming on a weekly basis, and each time, they succeed in taking more oil off line, making the government to accept that half of the countrys oil production is now effectively halted. Nigerian petroleum officers said that over one million barrels per day of production has been lost. Source: Legit.ng - Multiple sources confirmed that the militants invaded the community and started killing people without provocation - The police have mobilised to the community blocking major entrances and stationing an armoured personnel carrier at a spot There was pandemonium in the morning of Tuesday, July 26, at Ewedogbon community in Igando area of Lagos as suspected Niger Delta militants invaded the area. Multiple sources said many people were killed as the militants entered into peoples houses to torment them. Militants have reportedly invaded Lagos However, the casualty figure could not be ascertained at the time of this report. Residents of the community said the militants came very early and in large number wielding guns and other dangerous weapons. READ ALSO: We'll use force if militants refuse to accept peace - Army The resident who did not want his name mentioned said the militants stormed the area and started killing people. Please help us call emergency line right now, Ewedogbo area of Igando, LASU Road is on war, Niger Delta militant are killing people right now, no one can call or go out, I am an eye witness, please, help us spread the information, he sent through WhatsApp He said no one could come out of their houses as the gunmen occupied the streets breaking into peoples houses at will. It was learnt that some policemen who had stormed the area at the time the militants wreaked havoc, ran back to mobilise. Police sources also said the police had mobilised and had taken back the community from the militants as armoured personnel carrier had been stationed in the area. READ ALSO: Alleged VIDEO of Niger Delta Avengers bombing emerged Dolapo Badmos, Lagos police spokesperson said the police were aware of the invasion and had deployed large number of policemen to the area to protect lives and properties. Lagos state has suddenly become a hotbed of kidnapping and militancy. On different occasions, militants have attacked communities in Ikorodu and Igando and this is despite the huge funds pumped into security by the state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode. On Sunday, July 24, gunmen whisked away a pastor with the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) at Santos bus stop in the Isawo, Ikorodu, Lagos state, and this incident happened just about a week after a monarch in the state was abducted. Source: Legit.ng Oops, page not found. Sorry, this content has been moved, its name changed, or it's temporarily unavailable. Please visit our landing page at https://www.ncia.nato.int to explore all our new content. In unspeakably tragic news, Stuart Kelly the younger brother of coward-punch victim Thomas Kelly has died at a home in Sydneys Mona Vale. The circumstances surrounding the 19-year-olds untimely passing are still unknown, but the headmaster of his former school, Parramattas Kings School, confirmed the news in a statement to students, and sent his best wishes to his parents Kathy and Ralph and sister Madeleine. It is with great sadness that I inform you of the death of an Old Boy of the School, Stuart Kelly (15). This is the second great tragedy to affect the Kelly family, wrote Dr Tim Hawkes. The exact circumstances surrounding his death are not known, however, it is enough to know that we have lost a member of our community and therefore our thoughts and prayers go out to Kathy and Ralph Kelly and their daughter Madeleine. A message was also posted to the schools Facebook page: Stuart was 14 when older brother Thomas was fatally punched in the face by Kieran Loveridge in an unprovoked attack in Kings Cross in July 2012; in the years since, he has taken on the role of youth ambassador for the Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation with the aim of encouraging a more responsible drinking culture amongst young people. At a gala dinner for the foundation last year, Stuart spoke about the impact of losing his best friend and brother. I carry a deep scar that you cannot see. Its always there, it never leaves. It sits below the surface of your skin and surfaces when you least expect it, he said. Our thoughts are with the Kelly family. Source: The Daily Telegraph. Photo: The Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation. On June 27 the IT Jazz Conference took place in Lviv, in the course of which IT professionals, investors, and government officials discussed the future of the IT industry in Ukraine. During the event, Nick Cotton, Managing Director of DTZ Ukraine, presented the project of the Innovation District IT Park, [] The Board of School Education Haryana (BSEH) has declared the results of the Haryana Teacher's Eligibility Test PGT Level-3 examination today, on July 26, on the official website. By India Today Web Desk: The Haryana Teacher's Eligibility Test (HTET) PGT Level-3 examination results have been declared today, on July 26. All the candidates can check the same on the official website, www.htet.nic.in and www.bseh.org.in The Board of School Education Haryana (BSEH) had conducted the exam on June 18. Initially, the examination was scheduled to be held on February 20. As per reports, around 21.86 per cent candidates appeared for the examination. advertisement According to media reports, BSEH's president Dr Jagbir Singh and secretary Pankaj said that as many as 1,08,833 candidates had written the exam, out of whom, 36,492 were male and 72,341 were female. This year, the male candidates outperformed female by securing a pass percentage of 22.75 per cent. The exam was conducted both online and offline. In the online exam, approximately 8963 candidates appeared, whereas 99870 aspirants sat for the offline exam. Moreover, the candidates who are willing to get the photocopy of OMR sheet need to pay Rs 500. How to check the results: Log on to the official website Click on the link 'HTET result' Enter all the required detail such as registration number, date of birth and security pin Click to submit The result will be displayed All the candidates are advised to take printout of the same For any query, please visit the official website. Read: UPSSSC JE Exam 2016: Download admit cards at upsssc.gov.in Read: JKBOPEE JKCET-II Exam 2016: Download admit cards now at jakbopee.org For information on more upcoming exams and notifications, click here. --- ENDS --- Europa Capital has acquired a prime residential building in Madrid, known as General Martinez Campos 19, for 25 million. With 1.0 billion investment capacity to be deployed, Europa has been awaiting the outcome of the UK referendum and is now taking advantage of the post 'Brexit' adjustment. Th... [] With two companies recently signing a lease agreement in Building E, the fifth building in Krakows most popular office building, Bonarka for Business (B4B), has reached 100% occupancy level. Gerda Broker Sp. z o.o. leases 301,91 sqm GLA on the ground floor of Building E, while Skelia Poland Sp. z [] According to JLL, the volume of real estate investment transactions concluded across Central and Eastern Europe* in H1 2016 amounted to approximately 5.1 billion. Poland accounted for 2.07 billion, followed by the Czech Republic (950 million), Hungary (910 million), Romania (340 million) and Slovakia (310 million). SEE (other CEE) markets [] In perhaps the first national survey of its kind, two-thirds of people sampled said it is at least sometimes appropriate for health care providers to talk to patients about firearms. The remainder said it is never appropriate. The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, the Harvard School of Public Health and Northeastern University, may encourage more providers to have these conversations with patients. The study was published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. The 3,914 adults who completed the survey were asked: "In general, would you think it is never, sometimes, usually or always appropriate for physicians and other health professionals to talk to their patients about firearms?" The survey posed the same question about alcohol, seat belts and cigarettes in the household. Overall, 66 percent said it is at least sometimes appropriate for doctors to talk about firearms with patients. About 81 percent said it is at least sometimes appropriate to talk about seatbelts. advertisement The respondents were almost equally divided between men and women with a mean age of 49. Thirty percent had one child under 18 living at home. And 35 percent of respondents said they had one or more guns in the household. More women (71 percent) than men (61 percent) said it is at least sometimes appropriate for providers to talk to patients about guns. Gun owners with a child at home or who viewed the firearm as a risk factor for suicide were more likely to support the idea of having the topic brought up. "This suggests that discussions may be best received when they are clearly relevant to the clinical context," the study said. Dr. Marian Betz, MD, MPH, an associate professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and co-author of the study, said the survey results may encourage more healthcare providers to talk to patients about guns in the home. "A doctor working with a patient with depression or risk factors for suicide should suggest that the patient considering making firearms less accessible until they recover, for example by storing the guns away from home," Betz said. "And doctors are wise to recommend to parents of children or teenagers that they keep any household guns locked." Betz said it was important to recognize that 66 percent, not 100 percent, of respondents said it was sometimes acceptable to ask about guns. "Patients can always decline to answer those questions," she said. "But that shouldn't deter a physician from bringing up the topic -- in a respectful, nonjudgmental way -- when relevant." Betz also noted that more work needs to be done to understand how to make these conversations more acceptable and impactful. Collaborations between public health professionals and firearm organizations could help in developing educational materials and messages. Dutch men and Latvian women are the tallest on the planet, according to the largest ever study of height around the world. The research, led by scientists from Imperial College London and using data from most countries in the world, tracked height among young adult men and women between 1914 and 2014. Among the findings, published in the journal eLife, the research revealed South Korean women and Iranian men have shown the biggest increases in height over the past 100 years. Iranian men have increased by an average of 16.5cm, and South Korean women by 20.2cm. The height of men and women in the UK has increased by around 11cm over the past century. By comparison, the height of men and women in the USA has increased by 6cm and 5cm, while the height of Chinese men and women has increased by around 11cm and 10cm. The research also revealed once-tall USA had declined from third tallest men and fourth tallest women in the world in 1914 to 37th and 42nd place respectively in 2014. Overall, the top ten tallest nations in 2014 for men and women were dominated by European countries, and featured no English-speaking nation. UK women improved from 57th to 38th place over a century, while men had improved slightly from 36th to 31st place. The researchers also found that some countries have stopped growing over the past 30 to 40 years, despite showing initial increases in the beginning of the century of study. The USA was one of the first high-income countries to plateau, and other countries that have seen similar patterns include the UK, Finland, and Japan. By contrast, Spain and Italy and many countries in Latin America and East Asia are still increasing in height. advertisement Furthermore, some countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East have even seen a decline in average height over the past 30 to 40 years. How tall we grow is strongly influenced by nutrition and environmental factors, although an individual's genetic factors may also play a role. Children and adolescents who are better nourished and live in better environments tend to be taller, and height may even be influenced by a mother's health and nutrition during pregnancy. It has lifelong consequences for health and even education and earnings. Some research suggests people who are taller tend to live longer, gain a better education and even earn more. However, being tall may carry some health risks, as studies have linked height to a greater risk of certain cancers including ovarian and prostate. Professor Majid Ezzati from the School of Public Health at Imperial who led the research said: "This study gives us a picture of the health of nations over the past century, and reveals the average height of some nations may even be shrinking while others continue to grow taller. This confirms we urgently need to address children and adolescents' environment and nutrition on a global scale, and ensure we're giving the world's children the best possible start in life." He added: "Our study also shows the English-speaking world, especially the USA, is falling behind other high-income nations in Europe and Asia Pacific. Together with the poor performance of these countries in terms of obesity, this emphasises the need for more effective policies towards healthy nutrition throughout life." Mary De Silva, Head of Population, Environment and Health at the Wellcome Trust, who co-funded the study, said: "This is a unique analysis that shows the real power of combining a hundred years of population data sources that span the globe. The most striking finding is that despite the huge increases in height seen in some countries, there is still a considerable gap between the shortest and tallest countries. More research is needed to understand the reasons for this gap and to help devise ways of reducing the disparities in health that still persist globally." The research team, which included almost 800 scientists and was in collaboration with the World Health Organization, used data from a wide range of sources, including military conscription data, health and nutrition population surveys, and epidemiological studies. They used these to generate height information for 18-year- olds in 1914 (who were born in 1896) through to 18-year- olds in 2014 (who were born in 1996). advertisement Among the findings the team found that: Dutch men are the tallest on the planet, with an average height of 182.5cm. Latvian women are the tallest on the planet, with an average height of 170cm. The top four tallest countries for men are the Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia and Latvia. The top four tallest countries for women are Latvia, the Netherlands, Estonia and the Czech Republic. Men from East Timor were the smallest in the world in 2014, with an average height of 160cm. Women from Guatemala were the smallest in 2014 with an average height of 149cm. The difference between the tallest and shortest countries in the world in 2014 was about 23cm for men -- an increase of 4cm on the height gap in 1914. The height difference between the world's tallest and shortest countries for women has remained the same across the century, at about 20cm. The height difference between men and women has on average remained largely unchanged over 100 years -- the average height gap was about 11cmin 1914 and 12cmin 2014. The average height of young men and women has decreased by as much as 5cm in the last 40 years in some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa such as Sierra Leone, Uganda and Rwanda. Australian men in 2014 were the only non-European nationality in the top 25 tallest in the world. In East Asia, South Korean and Chinese men and women are now taller than their Japanese counterparts. Adult height plateaued in South Asian countries like Bangladesh and India at around 5-10 cm shorter than in East Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea. The smallest adult men in 1914 were found in Laos, where the average male height was 153cm, a similar height to a well-nourished 12-year- old boy living today. In 1914 the smallest women were found in Guatemala, where the average female height was 140cm, a similar height to a well-nourished 10-year- old girl. The nations with the tallest men in 2014 (1914 ranking in brackets): 1. Netherlands (12) 2. Belgium (33) 3. Estonia (4) 4. Latvia (13) 5. Denmark (9) 6. Bosnia and Herzegovina (19) 7. Croatia (22) 8. Serbia (30) 9. Iceland (6) 10. Czech republic (24) The nations with the tallest women in 2014 (1914 ranking in brackets): 1. Latvia (28) 2. Netherlands (38) 3. Estonia (16) 4. Czech Republic (69) 5. Serbia (93) 6. Slovakia (26) 7. Denmark (11) 8. Lithuania (41) 9. Belarus (42) 10. Ukraine (43) The research was funded by the Wellcome Trust and Grand Challenges Canada. Scientists from around the world attending the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) conference in Manchester today heard that 2016 marks the year a 'long overdue' scientific fightback against the threat of antibiotic resistance finally gets underway. Dr Peter Jackson, the project leader behind the AMR Centre, a newly formed public-private organisation which will both conduct and fund research into new drugs and diagnostic advances, told delegates: "For the last decade agencies around the world have been expressing concern about over-use of antibiotics in human and animal health and the dramatically rising rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). "We are moving into a new era. The international health community has stopped just talking about our diminishing supply of effective antibiotics -- and started working on ways to solve this crisis." Dr Jackson, chair of the steering group behind the AMR Centre, which was set up in March this year and operates from the Alderley Park bio campus in Cheshire, cited the UK Government AMR Review, led by economist Lord O'Neill, as key in galvanising action. "The O'Neill Review has made it abundantly clear what will happen if we fail to act globally -- some 10 million needless deaths a year by 2050, $100 trillion in lost GDP, and the reversal of decades of advances in medicine. That message about economic impact has struck a chord in Europe, the USA, China and elsewhere. "The AMR Centre is itself part of the UK's response and our mission is to accelerate a new pipeline of treatments and diagnostics. We will do this by providing funding, capability and capacity to support partner organisations, in particular small and medium-sized businesses and research institutes, which have exciting new approaches to AMR." Dr Jackson told delegates that the AMR Centre will employ 75 scientists by the end of its first full year of operation. It is expected to put five new programs into pre-clinical development in 2016-2017 -- and 20 in total by 2022. Rowena Burns, chief executive of Manchester Science Partnerships, which hosts the UK's largest biotech cluster focused on AMR at its Alderley Park campus, told delegates: "Despite the pending global health crisis around our diminishing supply of antibiotics this area has been hugely under-funded and is in dire need of new commercial models. "We are now seeing these challenges being talked about and addressed in the form of public-private partnerships such as the new AMR Centre, which we were very pleased to welcome to Alderley Park. But there is a great deal more that needs to happen to incentivise innovation in terms of novel therapies and developing diagnostics, which would help minimise overuse. There is also a massive global problem around the behaviour of both patients and physicians which has taken us down the path of overuse of antibiotics. "Our Alderley Park bio campus has the leading biotech cluster for AMR within Europe, with a great deal of resource and capability in the shape of the new AMR Centre, Redx Pharma Plc and other biotechs such as Blueberry Therapeutics on site. EOSF has been a great opportunity to share the work these scientists and others are doing on what is a priority area for global health." Other speakers at the AMR Masterclass, hosted by Manchester Science Partnerships, included Professor Kevin Outterson of Boston University, one of the leading thinkers on AMR in the USA. He called for "more shots on goal" in terms of getting promising research out of universities and a radical change in how antibiotics are sold. Kevin Outterson also called for global collaboration in tackling the issue, observing that "bacteria don't need passports." He also cited examples of best practice in public health around the world, including Sweden, "where they are very careful with infection control." Dr Neil Murray, chief executive of Redx Pharma Plc, which currently has the largest UK-based program focused on new antibiotics, told delegates: "Scientific discovery in this area is very challenging and there are real commercial barriers. It may sound counter-intuitive given the scale of the problem, but as a whole pharma has struggled to make the business model for antibiotics work -- and so has focused elsewhere. We certainly welcome the arrival of the AMR Centre. It is a manifestation of the new thinking and the hybrid approaches required to bridge what is already a deadly innovation gap." Some 4,500 scientists from more than 90 countries are attending ESOF, Europe's largest gathering of researchers, innovators, policy makers and educators. It's the first time ESOF has been held in the UK and the event brings together the international scientific community to discuss developments and discoveries. The programme includes more than 150 seminars, workshops and debates from leaders in the field -- including Nobel laureates and prominent scientists. Plant scientists have made an important advance in understanding the natural diversity of a key plant enzyme which could help us address the looming threat of global food security. Rubisco is the central enzyme responsible for photosynthesis in plants, it enables them to absorb carbon from the atmosphere, which they depend upon to live and grow. But until now, the extent of natural diversity of Rubisco across plant species was relatively unknown. In the most comprehensive study of its kind to date, the Lancaster University-led research team has discovered that some of the species they looked at had more effective and high-performing Rubisco than several of the major crops species, like wheat and soybean. As part of the study, researchers from Lancaster University and Liverpool John Moores University looked at 75 plant species, including grasses, wild rice, melons and beans from across the world and assessed the ability of their Rubiscos to assimilate CO2 at a range of different temperatures -- to replicate the effects of a changing climate. Publishing in the journal Plant Physiology, researchers say they were excited by the range of performance of Rubiscos isolated from the different land plants. Some of these Rubisco enzymes have superior characteristics that now offer the possibility of engineering plants which grow more quickly, and with less need for additional fertilisers. As part of the consortium RIPE, the Lancaster researchers and their collaborators are working toward improving crops such as rice, cassava, soybean and cowpea. Dr Douglas Orr, Lancaster University, said: "The plants we examined came from a range of environments, from sub Saharan Africa to temperate regions of Europe and Asia, and northern Australia." "We also analysed the effect of temperature on Rubisco biochemistry in all these species, to explore how different Rubiscos respond to changing temperatures, which can help us understand how the changes occurring in our climate may impact plant growth." Dr Elizabete Carmo-Silva, Lancaster University, said: "This large dataset has shed new light on the variation present in nature. We were able to identify a number of 'superior' Rubiscos which modelling suggests could improve photosynthetic efficiency in crops such as wheat and soybean. This provides important information in our efforts to produce more sustainable crops." Prof Martin Parry, Lancaster University, said: "This new information gives us the opportunity to tailor the photosynthetic performance of crops for specific environments." Recent studies reveal that approximately one quarter of pregnant women may suffer from Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), the recurrent cessation or limitation of normal breathing during sleep. In addition to being the cause of daytime fatigue, the consequences of untreated OSA include but are not limited to high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and heart disease. In non-pregnant adults, protocols have been proposed for OSA screening, diagnosis and therapy, the mainstay being continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). However, in pregnant women OSA is usually untreated, since it is still underdiagnosed, and not fully appreciated as a risk factor for negative outcomes for mother and baby. Now, in an editorial in the International Journal of Obstetric Anesthesia, sleep researchers from Israel and the United States recommend a new diagnosis, ''Gestational Sleep Apnea" (GSA). This would allow health professionals to properly describe, diagnose and treat OSA in pregnant women, and would parallel other established transient diagnoses of pregnancy, like gestational hypertension and gestational diabetes mellitus. "Currently there is a lack of uniform criteria to diagnose, treat and classify OSA in the pregnant population, which in turn complicates efforts to determine the risk factors for, and complications of, gestational sleep apnea," said Prof. Yehuda Ginosar, director of the Mother and Child Anesthesia Unit at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical Center and professor at the Hebrew University's Faculty of Medicine. Ginosar is currently Professor of Anesthesiology and Chief of the Division of Obstetric Anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine. In terms of diagnosis, doctors and patients may attribute daytime tiredness to "just being pregnant" rather than to sleep apnea. In terms of treatment, some physicians and patients might consider the disease too temporary to warrant referral to a Sleep-Certified Physician, which usually requires an overnight sleep study for diagnosis (although the recent increased use of home sleep studies should encourage more opportunities for diagnosis). The researchers argue that establishing and coding for a specific diagnosis of gestational sleep apnea will require further investigation to determine criteria and therapies. But, like in the case of other gestational diseases, it will allow for more targeted surveillance of maternal and fetal outcomes, and facilitate epidemiologic research to monitor the course of the condition from its genesis to its possible path to chronicity. "The time has come for our profession to wake up to the diagnosis of Gestational Sleep Apnea. This will allow us to research obstructive sleep apnea in pregnant women more effectively, and to develop and implement more effective treatments," said co-author Dr. Suzanne Karan, a visiting researcher at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical Center who is an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Director of the Anesthesiology Respiratory Physiology Laboratory at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. Cygnus A is an elliptical galaxy at around 600 million light years from the Earth, which has a supermassive black hole at its centre. It is one of the brightest sources of radio waves in the sky and featured in Contact, the famous science fiction novel by Carl Sagan which was made into a film. It has an active galactic nucleus which means that the black hole is "swallowing" material from its surroundings. When this occurs strong electromagnetic radiation is produced, as well as large jets of particles which are emitted from the galactic nucleus at a speed close to that of light, travelling beyond the edge of the galaxy and reaching three hundred thousand light years into the intergalactic medium. This is the first time that polarimetric observations in the middle infrared region of the spectrum (1) have been made of the nucleus of an active galaxy. "The combination of the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC) and CanariCam offers unique capabilities for the observation of active galaxies using polarimetric techniques in the middle infrared" explains Enrique Lopez Rodriguez, a researcher at the University of Texas in Austin (EE UU) and the first author of this study, published in the Astrophysical Journal. "There is no other comparable instrument of this kind, he stresses, and no such instruments are expected until the next decade, because the instruments which are being developed now cannot make polarimetric measurements." Polarimetry is the technique which studies the intensity and the orientation of electromagnetic waves. "If the observed radiation is polarized in a given sense and with a given dependence on wavelength we can obtain information about the physical mechanisms which produce the polarization. This technique helps us squeeze out the last drop of information from each photon picked up by the GTC" says Lopez Rodriguez." "Polarimetry" he adds lets us eliminate from the observations all the light which is not affected by the magnetic field in the active nucleus, so that we can filter out everything which comes from other sources, such as the galaxy itself, or background stars. This gives us a much higher contrast when we observe the jets and the dust in the galaxy, while studying the influence of the magnetic field on both of them." On the basis of these observations the astronomers have been able to detect that the plasma ejected from the active nucleus is spiraling around the magnetic field of the jet, which generates a type of radiation known as "synchrotron radiation," produced by the rapid movement of electrons around magnetic fields. Although this phenomenon had been observed previously at other wavelengths, this is the first time it has been detected in the middle infrared, which has enabled us to confirm that the plasma in the jet of Cygnus A is highly confined by the effect of the magnetic field. These observations allow us to obtain information about the configuration of the magnetic field in the neighbourhood of the black hole (2), valuable information which cannot be directly observed. A cosmic jigsaw Astronomers classify Cygnus A as a radiogalaxy because it is one of the most powerful radio sources in the sky. It was observed for the first time in 1939 and it is named because it is the strongest radio source in the constellation of the Swan (latin name Cygnus). Nevertheless this galaxy emits radiation over the full range of the electromagnetic spectrum which makes it an ideal astronomical laboratory, and one of the favourite objects of astronomers, who have been making observations with diverse instruments and at different wavelengths, interpreting them to compose the pieces of a cosmic jigsaw which will let us understand better what is happening in that region of the universe. Cygnus A has a very complex structure which includes a compact nucleus and opposed jets of matter emitted from the centre of the galaxy towards the edges, all shrouded in a mantle of dust with an irregular structure which is impenetrable to visible light. "It is a paradigm galaxy for studying the formation and evolution of jets, because the dust completely obscures the centre of the galaxy, so that we cannot detect well the light emitted by the jets" explains Lopez Rodriguez. This is why the research team has used CanariCam, and instrument designed to detect infrared radiation, which is not blocked by interstellar dust. The Gran Telescopio CANARIAS is uniquely equipped to make these observations. Thanks to its large primary mirror, which favours high spatial resolution, and the CanariCam instrument, which can observe in the middle infrared wavelength range, we can study the infrared radiation emitted by the galaxy. This emission comes from matter which is not hot enough to emit visible light, but are warm enough (around 220K, which is -53C) to emit infrared radiation. In addition the polarimetric capability of CanariCam gives an additional dimension of information with which astronomers can analyze to interpret different physical mechanisms. Until now very little has been known about the polarization of the infrared radiation emitted by the supermassive black holes which are at the centres of the majority of galaxies. Astronomers hope that these, and other similar observations can provide new data which will help them to understand the mechanisms which cause the activity of these cosmic monsters, and their influence on the galaxies which they inhabit. Notes: [1] With the aim of explaining the dominant mechanism which polarizes the radiation from Cygnus A at infrared wavelengths this study presents polarimetric observations at high angular resolution (0.4 arcseconds) in the filters at 8.7mm and 11.6 mm, using the CanariCam instrument on the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC) of 10.4 metres diameter at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias on the island of La Palma (Spain). [2] For Cygnus A, the 65% of polarization measured in the middle infrared is close to the theoretical maximum of 70% which indicates that there is a highly ordered magnetic field around the nucleus of Cygnus A. It's an age-old astronomical truth: To resolve smaller and smaller physical details of distant celestial objects, scientists need larger and larger light-collecting mirrors. This challenge is not easily overcome given the high cost and impracticality of building and -- in the case of space observatories -- launching large-aperture telescopes. However, a team of scientists and engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, has begun testing a potentially more affordable alternative called the photon sieve. This new-fangled telescope optic could give scientists the resolution they need to see finer details still invisible with current observing tools -- a jump in resolution that could help answer a 50-year-old question about the physical processes heating the sun's million-degree corona. Although potentially useful at all wavelengths, the team specifically is developing the photon sieve for studies of the sun in the ultraviolet, the wavelengths needed to disentangle the coronal heating mystery. With support from Goddard's Research and Development program, the team has fabricated three sieves and now plans to begin testing to see if it can withstand the rigors of operating in space -- milestones achieved in less than a year. "This is already a success," said Doug Rabin, who is leading the R&D initiative. Variant of Fresnel Zone Plate The optic is a variant of something called a Fresnel zone plate. Rather than focusing light as most telescopes do through refraction or reflection, Fresnel plates cause light to diffract -- a phenomenon that happens when light travels through a thin opening and then spreads out. This causes the light waves on the other side to reinforce or cancel each other out in precise patterns. Fresnel plates consist of a tightly spaced set of rings, alternatingly transparent or opaque. Light travels through the spaces between the opaque zones, which are precisely spaced so that the diffracted light overlaps and focuses at a specific point, creating an image that can be recorded by a solid-state sensor. advertisement The photon sieve operates largely the same. However, the sieve is dotted with millions of holes precisely placed on silicon in a circular pattern that takes the place of conventional Fresnel zones. The team wants to build a photon sieve at least three feet, or one meter, in diameter -- a size they think could achieve up to 100 times better angular resolution in the ultraviolet than NASA's high-resolution space telescope, the Solar Dynamics Observatory. "For more than 50 years, the central unanswered question in solar coronal science has been to understand how energy transported from below is able to heat the corona," Rabin said. "Current instruments have spatial resolutions about 100 times larger than the features that must be observed to understand this process." Rabin believes his team is well along the way in building an optic that can help answer the question. Millions of Holes In just a few months' time, his team built three devices measuring three inches wide -- five times larger than the initial 17-millimeter optic developed four years ago under a previous R&D-funded effort. Each device contains 16 million holes whose sizes and locations were determined by team member Adrian Daw. Another team member, Kevin Denis, then etched the holes in a silicon wafer to Daw's exacting specifications using a fabrication technique called photolithography. advertisement Team members Anne-Marie Novo-Gradac and John O'Neill have acquired optical images with the new photon sieves, while Tom Widmyer and Greg Woytko have prepared them for vibration testing to make sure they can survive harsh g-forces encountered during launch. "This testing is to prove that the photon sieve will work as well as theory predicts," Rabin said. Although the team has already accomplished nearly all the goals it set forth when work began late last year, Rabin believes the team can enlarge the optics by a factor of two before the end of the fiscal year. Formation-Flying CubeSat But the work likely won't end there. In the nearer term, Rabin believes his team can mature the technology for a potential sounding-rocket demonstration. In the longer term, he and team member Joe Davila envision the optic flying on a two-spacecraft formation-flying CubeSat-type mission designed specifically to study the sun's corona. "The scientific payoff is a feasible and cost-effective means of achieving the resolution necessary to answer a key problem in solar physics," he said. A bill has been passed by Lok Sabha which aims at bringing the six new IITs as well as the Indian School of Mines (ISM), Dhanbad under the IIT Act. By India Today Web Desk, Press Trust of India: The much awaited bill regarding setting up 6 new Indian Institutes of Technology has been passed by Lok Sabha on Tuesday, July 26. (Read: IIT Admissions: Besides JEE, students need to clear NAT too) Details of the bill: Under the bill, 6 new IITs, including ones at Jammu and Tirupati, will be opened Under the Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill 2016, new IITs will also be started in Palakkad, Goa, Dharward and Bhilai Also, the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, will come the ambit of the Act As reported earlier, the initial intake will be of 180 students in its first year and would increase to 450 in the second year, and to 928 (840 undergraduates, 80 postgraduates and 8 PhDs) in the third year of their operation New IITs will be operated from their temporary campuses for the initial period of three years before shifting to their permanent campuses in the 4th year The faculty-student ratio would be 1:10 advertisement (Read: IIT-Madras student embarks on Himalayan journey to attain sainthood, goes missing) While replying to a debate on the bill, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar in a recent report said that the government has formed the High Education Financial Agency (HEFA) to upgrade the infrastructure. Statements from HRD minister: Currently, the government is working on the idea of 'Sabko Shiksha Acchi Shiksa' (Good Education to All) and has taken a number of efforts in this regard While commenting on the fee structure, Prakash Javadekar said that students from the ST and SC communities, the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category and those physically challenged will have full waiver of fees in the IITs and NITs Moreover, he said candidates whose family income is below Rs 9 lakh per annum will be getting zero per cent education loan "Education must be inclusive. But those capable of paying must pay. You should not oppose when rich are being asked to pay," the minister added Further, he said that in order to address the issue of high fees of IIT coaching class entrance exam, the government has started the online programme-- IIT-PAL Meanwhile, the government has been working to provide Wi-Fi connectivity of 1 GBPS network to all universities in the country, which will slowly be extended to the colleges affiliated to it as well in next two years. Lastly, he said from this year, the government has allocated Rs 4035 crore to the IITs as against Rs 3855 crore last year. Click here for more education related news. For more details, follow India Today Education or you can write to us at education.intoday@gmail.com --- ENDS --- Page Content In recent months, the Louisiana Legislature has passed several bills that have been signed into law, which will affect Louisiana employers. These new laws are effective Aug. 1. In addition, the governor signed an executive order, effective July 1, extending new protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender employees who work for contractors that perform work for the State of Louisiana. New Protections for Gay and Transgender Employees In April, Governor John Bel Edwards (D) signed Executive Order JBE 2016 11, which protects lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender individuals, among other protected classes, from discrimination. The order applies to businesses that provide contractual services to the State of Louisiana and its agencies. The order provides that state agencies, departments, offices, commissions, boards, entities or officers of the state shall not discriminate against individuals based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, political affiliation, disability, or age. The order extends antidiscrimination protection to services, benefits, and employment provided by the state. In addition, the order provides that the same protected classes must be afforded antidiscrimination protection in the process of awarding contracts for the purchase of services by state agencies, departments, offices, commissions, boards, entities, or officers of the state. The order requires that all contracts awarded for the purchase of services by the state include a provision stating that contracting parties will not discriminate in any matter related to employment as it pertains to any of the previously noted protected classes, including sexual orientation and gender identity. The order does not apply to any contractor or subcontractor that is a religious corporation, religious association, religious educational institution, or religious society. The portion of the order applying to contractors took effect on July 1. Unlawful Use of Cellular Tracking Devices It may now be unlawful to use a cellular tracking device to track Louisiana employees. A cellular tracking device, available from resellers of consumer electronics, uses cellular towers to locate a person or a vehicle. Louisiana Revised Statutes (La. R.S.) 14:222.3 now provides that it is "unlawful to use a cellular tracking device for the purpose of collecting, intercepting, accessing, transferring, or forwarding the data" from communications devices, or data that is "stored on the communications device[s] of another without the consent of a party to the communication and by intentionally deceptive means." The statute, however, provides sixteen exemptions. Of particular interest to employers is an exemption for any "person acting in good faith on behalf of a business entity for a legitimate business purpose." La. R.S. 14:222.3(C)(13). Another exemption of interest to employers applies to owners of motor vehicles, including the owner of a vehicle available for rent, when the owner consents to the use of the tracking device with respect to the vehicle. La. R.S. 14:222.3(C)(4). Similarly, the statute provides an exemption for "the lessor or lessee of a motor vehicle and the person operating the motor vehicle who have consented to the use of a tracking device with respect to that vehicle." La. R.S. 14:222.3(C)(5). The direct application of the statute to employers is likely to be limited in scope because an employer's tracking of cellular devices should ostensibly meet the good faith exception as long as employers can demonstrate a legitimate business purpose for its actions. Nonetheless, employers should be aware of the statute prior to using any cellular tracking device, as La. R.S. 14:222.3(D) provides that a violation of the statute can lead to fines of up to $3,000.00, imprisonment of up to two years, or both. New Statutory Preference for the Employment of Veterans The Louisiana Legislature authorized private employers to establish a preference in employment for certain veterans and relatives of veterans, similar to the system by which state and city governments are authorized to give similar preferences in employment. The preference in employment for veterans and certain relatives of veterans now provided in La. R.S. 23:1001 is permissive and not mandatory. A private employer may give preference in hiring to the following individuals: An honorably discharged veteran. The spouse of a veteran with a service-connected disability. The unremarried widow or widower of a veteran who died of a service-connected medical condition. The unremarried widow or widower of a member of the United States Armed Forces who died in the line of duty under combat-related conditions.The statute also provides that establishing preferences authorized by the statute will not violate any state or local equal employment opportunity law.Employment of Sex Offenders and Poster Related to Human Trafficking for Hospitality EmployersThe Louisiana Legislature has determined that sex offenders, sexually violent predators, and child predators pose a high risk of engaging in sex offenses and crimes against minors even after being released from incarceration.Two recent amendments to the laws regarding sex offenders, sexually violent predators, and child predators impact certain employers in Louisiana. New Poster for Hospitality Employers Louisiana hotels are now required to display a new poster for employees. Louisiana law currently requires certain business establishments to post information regarding the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline. The types of establishments that must post this information include every: Massage parlor, spa, or hotel that has been found to be a public nuisance for prostitution. Strip club or other sexually-oriented business. Full-service fuel facility adjacent to an interstate highway or highway rest stop. Outpatient abortion facility. This listing of business establishments associated with sex offenders was amended to include hotels, which also must post notices related to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline. The amendment defines "hotel" as "any establishment, both public and private, engaged in the business of furnishing or providing rooms and overnight camping facilities intended or designed for dwelling, lodging, or sleeping purposes to transient guests." For purposes of this statute, "hotel" excludes bed and breakfasts with no more than 10 guestrooms and camp and/or retreat facilities owned and operated by nonprofit organizations exempt from federal income tax under sections 501(a) and 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, so long as the net revenue from the camp and/or retreat is devoted wholly to the nonprofit organization's purposes.Hotels, as defined in La. R.S. 15:541.1, must post the required information in the same location as employee notices required by federal and state law are posted. The posting shall be no smaller than eight and one-half inches by eleven inches (8" x 11") and shall contain the following wording in bold-typed print of not less than 14-point font:"If you or someone you know is being forced to engage in any activity and cannot leave, whether it is commercial sex, housework, farm work, or any other activity, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline at 1-888-373-7888 to access help and services." Sex Offenders Barred From Soliciting Business Door-to-Door It is now unlawful for a registered sex offender to work as a door-to-door salesperson. La. R.S. 15:553 pertains to the employment of certain sex offendersspecifically, those individuals required to maintain sex-offender registrations under Louisiana law on or after Aug. 15, 2010. Under La. R.S. 15:553, it is unlawful for such individuals to do the following: Operate any bus, taxicab, or limousine for hire. Engage in employment as a service worker who goes into a residence to provide any type of service. Operate any carnival or amusement ride. The 2016 revision to La. R.S. 15:553 adds a new subsection (D) making it unlawful for any person who is required to maintain a sex offender registration to "engage in employment as a door-to-door solicitor, peddler, or itinerant vendor selling any type of goods or services including magazines or periodicals or subscriptions to magazines or periodicals."If an individual is required to maintain registration as a sex offender under Louisiana law and is found to engage in any of the above type of work, that person (as opposed to the employing entity) shall be fined up to $10,000 and imprisoned for at least five years, though no more than ten years, at hard labor.Jennifer L. Englander, Jacob C. Credeur, Hal D. Ungar and Andrew P. Burnside are attorneys with Ogletree Deakins in New Orleans. Ogletree Deakins. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission.

reddit/ Drumlin

Dog lovers are usually pretty confident that they know their best friends. But this confidence is based on hunches and past experience with our canine counterparts, since we can't ask our pups what they're feeling, even when they look like they're all smiles. What are dogs really feeling when they appear to be smiling? Looking at these dogs, it's hard to doubt that dogs have emotions. Dodo Shows Foster Diaries Scared Pittie Gets So Happy When He Meets This Guy And His Pack Of Dogs What does the science say? In 2012, a group of neuroscientists examined findings about neurological substrates in human and non-human animals and finally declared that animals have consciousness and emotions. So, having emotions as a non-human animal is definitely possible. And when a dog feels content, he has relaxed body language - this means that his facial muscles are relaxed, making his mouth open and the corners of his mouth turn upwards, according to the ASPCA. But K.C. Theisen, director of pet care issues for the Humane Society of the United States, urges us not to be too sure of every smile. "A dog who has the open mouth, the tongue hanging out, and the wrinkly cheeks is not necessarily a 'smile' in the way we think of a smile," Theisen told The Dodo, cautioning that misinterpreting the expression could end up in a bad canine encounter. "But almost all mammals have some sort of facial expression that they use when they are trying to be friendly. Learning what dog's body language can tell you is super important, since a dog 'smiling' may or may not be approachable and friendly." She added that if you want to approach a dog, it's always a good idea to ask the human chaperone first. Katy Hall So, experts say that animals can have emotions but they can be hard to read. And happiness in general is a tricky topic. Happiness and its signs can be hard to define and hard to pin down. One way of thinking about it could be that when any creature has repeated positive experiences, like going for a walk outside with a friend, these little moments add up - and that's happiness. Experts are starting to think that animals, like humans, can experience the thrill of being alive. Humans who live with dogs have been found to be happier than those who don't. It's harder to take a survey of the dogs. And while animal researchers have gathered a large amount of data about sensory pleasure in animals, proving that an animal - or a human - is happy scientifically is more difficult, one study says. But it's not impossible. And some researchers are becoming more and more confident that there's real proof that animals can be as happy as we can be. Doggy smiles could come from anticipating a pleasurable event ... ... or from simply enjoying a moment outside.

Dillsburg Veterinary Center

This sweet Boston terrier puppy has managed to steal the hearts of his doctors and fans internationally. He even has a law named after him in the works that, if passed, would strengthen Pennsylvania's animal cruelty laws. Dillsburg Veterinary Center He's also carved a special place into the heart of the one woman who never once gave up on him. Libre with Janine Guido, his rescuer and new mom | Dillsburg Veterinary Center When Libre first came into the care of Pennsylvania's Speranza Animal Rescue, there wasn't much hope for him. He was emaciated and suffered from an extreme case of mange, a skin disease that left him hairless, and was made worse by infections and maggots that had burrowed into his flesh. Dodo Shows Adoption Day Hairless German Shepherd Puppies Find The Perfect Families Libre from when he was first rescued | Dillsburg Veterinary Center Yet, Janine Guido, founder of the rescue, saw something in little Libre that his initial vets, who suggested euthanizing him, did not - a dog who wanted to live. So she gave him that chance. Libre, the Bug-Eyed Miracle "We've seen really bad cases of abuse," Guido told The Dodo. "But Libre from the get-go stole my heart. Each day with him was touch-and-go." She added that even her boyfriend said he had never seen her so upset over a dog - Guido had cried for weeks worrying about him, simply hoping that he would pull through. After he was rescued, Libre was transferred to the Dillsburg Veterinary Center, which often partners with Speranza Animal Rescue, to start his journey toward healing. For the first few weeks, Libre was depressed and his condition was unstable. Dillsburg Veterinary Center The puppy couldn't even stand - but day by day, Libre continued surprise his caretakers with his incredible progress. He went from a being a dog whose spirit was seemingly broken, to a survivor who beat the odds and now loves to take walks in the the sun and give kisses to his new mom ... ... showing off more of his feisty, playful attitude toward her each day. Libre, the Bug Eyed Miracle Guido, who fell in love with Libre after saving his life, decided to officially give him a home as well. Guido currently owns seven dogs, in addition to a few fosters, so Libre's all set to join one very big family soon. Dillsburg Veterinary Center "He'll be in heaven, he really likes other dogs," she said. If all goes well with the last round of his IV antibiotics, Guido said, Libre is expected to come home for the first time on Friday. "I feel different about him," Guido said. "We definitely formed a bond. He's like this little naked, hairless baby and you can't help but love him ... We're just so blessed to have him in our lives." You can keep up with Libre's adventures on Facebook. Dillsburg Veterinary Center Some dogs are just too excited to be hightailing it out of the shelter. Like Leroy, a dog, who just couldn't contain himself on his flight from a kill shelter in North Carolina to a rescue in New Jersey. Flying Fur Animal Rescue Unlike the other dogs who were flown from North Carolina this month, Leroy wasn't content to hide in his crate during his flight to freedom. He just kept popping his head out again and again. Dodo Shows Faith = Restored Rescued Animals Melt Into This Woman's Arms When She Sings To Them Flying Fur Animal Rescue "Leroy was just a furry ball of fun from the start," Paul Steklenski, the pilot and founder of Flying Fur Animal Rescue, tells The Dodo. "Hilarity ensued when we attempted to move him from his ground transport crate to his flight accommodations." Indeed, Leroy just kept poking his head out, Steklenski notes, "like a jack-in-the-box." Flying Fur Animal Rescue It seemed the tiny terrier mix, who was initially picked up as a stray on the streets of Wilson, North Carolina, wanted to soak up every second of his odyssey to a new life. "We convinced him it was unsafe and he finally relented to full crate status," Steklenski adds. Flying Fur Animal Rescue And then this pop-up pooch, along with nine other rescuees, took to the skies. Next stop? The Burlington County Animal Alliance - the New Jersey rescue that organized the flight with Steklenski. Now, the group will work on finding these dogs a real home. But Leroy's reputation as an irrepressible charmer preceded him. He already had a foster family waiting for him in New Jersey. Burlington County Animal Alliance Another dog found her family while she was still in the air. By the time the plane landed in New Jersey, Steklenski had fallen in love with another passenger - a dog he named Kayla. Flying Fur Animal Rescue Kayla fit into Steklenski's family of rescued dogs seamlessly. Flying Fur Animal Rescue Leroy's journey, on the other hand, isn't quite over yet. While he's in a foster home now, he's looking for a family to be with him for the long haul. He's heartworm positive, which means he'll need extra care in his new home. But he's housebroken, exuberantly friendly and doesn't mind the crate - unless, of course, he's getting on a plane. Burlington County Animal Alliance McDonalds Corp., the worlds biggest restaurant chain, reported same-store sales growth that missed analysts estimates, stoking concerns that the U.S. fast-food industry is heading into a recession. Same-store sales grew 3.1 per cent globally, the Oak Brook, Illinois-based company said in a statement Tuesday. Analysts projected a 3.6-per-cent increase on average, according to Consensus Metrix. Analysts such as Paul Westra at Stifel Financial Corp. have raised concerns that the restaurant sector is hitting a downturn, a harbinger for a broader economic slump in the U.S. next year. Fast-food rivals such as Wendys Co. also are piling on discounts and promotions, putting pressure on McDonalds to keep prices low. Thats undercut the benefit of adding all-day breakfast in the U.S. last year. The overall industry got weaker, and clearly McDonalds felt some of that, said Peter Saleh, an analyst at BTIG LLC in New York. It was not a great quarter, especially on the U.S. side. Stifels Westra and Jefferies Group analyst Alexander Slagle both downgraded other restaurant stocks, renewing broader fears about the sector. Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. tumbled as much a 7.8 per cent to $46.84 after Slagle lowered his recommendation on the chain to hold. Stifel cut its ratings on 11 restaurant stocks, saying it had turned bearish on the U.S. industry. Texas Roadhouse Inc. fell 6.5 per cent, its worst tumble in almost a year, while Noodles & Co. plunged 20 per cent. Restaurant downturns often serve as a precursor to a U.S. recession, Westra said in a note. If history is a guide, we warn investors that restaurant industry sales tend to be the Canary that Lays the Recessionary Egg, he said. Comeback Plan For McDonalds, the slowdown hampers efforts by Chief Executive Officer Steve Easterbrook to turn around the company. McDonalds same-store sales gains slowed to 1.8 per cent last quarter domestically, compared with 5.4 per cent in the prior quarter. Analysts estimated a 3.2-per-cent increase. Earnings fell 1 cent to $1.25 a share in the period. But when excluding 20 cents in one-time expenses, the figure topped the average analyst projection of $1.39. McDonalds also is facing additional costs as part of its comeback plan. The company is selling company-owned restaurants and moving its headquarters from the suburbs to downtown Chicago. Revenue decreased 3.6 per cent to $6.27 billion in the quarter, matching analysts estimates. The move to sell more of its company-owned restaurants to franchisees is lowering total sales volume. All-Day Breakfast The chain said earlier this month that its planning to expand all-day breakfast options, adding McGriddles and more sandwiches to the menu. The move is meant to fuel sales as McDonalds approaches the one-year anniversary of the introduction in October. The breakfast push has helped McDonalds cope with softening industry growth during the quarter, the company said on Tuesday. Other fast-food chains have been selling more breakfast options, as well as adding specials. Wendys has said its $4 meal promotion has been bringing in more customers, while Burger King recently advertised $1 hot dogs. McDonalds, which has about 14,200 U.S. locations, has been promoting McPick deals with offerings such as a two sandwiches for $5. McDonalds also is coping with about $230 million in refranchising and moving expenses. The company is selling off about 4,000 of its company-owned restaurants to independent owners, part of a push to limit its risks and expenses. The goal is to have 95 per cent of restaurants in the hands of independent owners. Lead Markets Comparable-store sales increased 2.6 per cent in the companys international lead markets division, which includes the U.K. and Canada. Sales rose 1.6 per cent in McDonalds high-growth unit, which includes China and Russia. Sales by this measure include restaurants that have been open for at least 13 months. McDonalds is revamping its ownership structure in Asia and is seeking franchisees for mainland China, Hong Kong and South Korea to invest fresh capital in the business. The chain is seeking to sell its company-owned stores as restaurants face increasingly wary consumers and economic turmoil in China. I am confident in our systems ability to stay the course and execute our turnaround plan to achieve our goals, Easterbrook said in the statement. Read more about: SHARE: Ontario finance minister Charles Sousa says he will cast a close eye on British Columbias move to tax foreign homebuyers in a bid to keep housing prices affordable in the scorching Vancouver real estate market. The B.C. government announced Monday it will begin charging 15 per cent on home transactions involving foreign buyers as it faces mounting concerns about citizens being priced out of the countrys hottest market. BMO chief economist Douglas Porter has urged the Ontario government to follow B.C.s lead, given that single detached houses in the Greater Toronto Area have jumped almost 20 per cent year-over-year. Sousa welcomed B.C.s move. But Ontario needs to be cautious about how a similar measure in the Toronto area could spill over into the rest of the province. We have to be cognizant of the impacts of those decisions, he told reporters on Tuesday. That caution is well founded, said Dianne Usher, senior vice-president of the Johnston and Daniel division of Royal LePage. Toronto and Vancouver are magnets for foreign acquisition. To pull that away could have an impact across all sectors, she warned. Any tax is going to eliminate some of the real estate activity which is a major, major contribution to the overall economy. What might be good for a major urban environment could have disastrous effects for smaller communities, she said. Usher cited Hamilton where real estate is just gaining strength after years of economic struggle. She also noted that an Ontario tax could discourage Americans from investing in cottages around Toronto. I would rather see foreign money coming into our country. If Vancouvers not welcoming it any longer, bring them to other parts of the country, particularly in neighbourhoods that might be suffering some economic challenges, for example the east coast of Canada, or Alberta, she said. Foreign investment isnt a problem in Ontario, said economist Frank Clayton. In fact, those investors often buy units that go into the rental market. But Ontario needs to do something to reduce the euphoria around housing that sees people jumping in just because they fear being priced out of home ownership, said Frank Clayton. I wouldnt be opposed to putting something in temporarily just to slow the whole market down, said the senior fellow at the Centre for Urban Research and Land Development at Ryerson University. Its a massive tax that is probably being introduced too late to offer any significant relief to Vancouver homebuyers, said David Fleming of Bosley Real Estate, who doubts Ontario will take a similar measure any time soon. If and its a big if all that foreign demand came to Toronto and our market continued to spiral, you might see it, he said. But, he added, The savviest and the smartest will still find their way around the tax. People are going to look for the loophole. Its not going to take long for foreigners to set up Canadian companies and hold the property in those names or maybe move an 18-year-old child to go to university, said Fleming. Its also naive to assume that any investment driven out of Vancouver by the new tax would necessarily land in Ontario. Some of it might but, It could also find a place in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Paris or London, he said. The CEO of online mortgage aggregator RateHub, called the B.C. tax a good policy move, by a government that is bound to protect affordability for citizens. It can cool the market without pushing those citizens out. Going this drastic on something like down payment (requirements) really has the potential for it to take longer for first-time home buyers to save that down payment and that may not be what we want, said Alyssa Furtado. Ontario will have the advantage of being able to see if the tax pushes investment outside Vancouver to secondary B.C. markets like Kelowna and Victoria, she said. Sousa and his B.C. counterpart Mike de Jong are part of a federal committee looking at ways to improve affordability in Canadas hottest housing markets. Ottawa set up the committee about the same time that the Bank of Canada cautioned consumers against the likelihood of housing prices continuing to rise at the recent record levels. The Superintendent of Financial Institutions, which regulates Canadas banks, has announced they will have to test how they would handle a 50 per cent cut in Vancouver home prices and a 40 per cent drop in Toronto prices. With files from Rob Ferguson and The Canadian Press Read more about: SHARE: HALIFAXA researcher studying public reaction to the Jian Ghomeshi case says social media scrutiny of the trial could lead to crowdsourced reforms to how the legal system handles sexual assault claims. Mary Rolf, a law student at Dalhousie University, presented her findings in a panel at an international law conference in Halifax Tuesday. I think its unprecedented, Rolf told the room. You dont usually hear ordinary Canadians commenting on whether they think the justice system is fair. Rolf said the high-profile case against the former CBC radio host gave social media spectators a rare glimpse into how the criminal justice system works. It was an opportunity for Canada to really observe sexual assault law processes at work, she said in an interview. (There was) lots of very valid disagreement about what could or should change. During the February trial, social media sites lit up with hashtags like #Ghomeshi and #IBelieveLucy, spurring a fractious debate about the case and Canadas sexual assault laws. Many media outlets live-tweeted the case, with people inside the courtroom responding to social media users questions as the trial unfolded online. Especially for Canadians without legal training ... it was a great example of people getting engaged in what they were unhappy with, she said. I think social media could be such a great forum to poll peoples real-time reactions. She said the unprecedented engagement in issues surrounding sexual assault represents a shift in Canadian values that could make its way into the law books as a result of mounting pressure for change. Law is reciprocal, Rolf said. Its just as much about people saying, This is the society I want to live in, as it is about the letter of the law. Read more about: SHARE: BANGKOK - The Chinese embassy in Thailand said on Monday that China has neither come up with nor talked about the development rights to the lands alongside the planned Thailand-China Railway in previous meetings. Some Thai media reported that China claims development rights to the lands alongside Thailand-China Railway, the spokesperson of Chinese Embassy said it is a misunderstanding needs to be clarified. "The Joint Committee on Railway Cooperation between the Thailand and China has been held for 11 rounds of meetings so far, that China has neither came up with nor talked about the development rights to the lands alongside the railway," said the spokesperson. "The cooperation model has changed right now and the investment of the project will be made by Thai side alone. In this regard, there is even no possibility for Chinese side to come up with this initiative." Some media from the Kingdom and other countries reported that China request for development rights along the route, while some online intellectuals even opposed the railway project for the reason that they thought China had such a request. The interested candidates can apply latest by August 24. By India Today Web Desk: Indian Army has invited applications from eligible candidates for filling up the posts of SSC Technical. The interested candidates can apply latest by August 24. The candidates can check the vacancy and other details mentioned below: Vacancy details: Civil: 40 Mechanical: 15 Electrical/Electrical and Electronics: 21 Aeronautical/Aviation/Aerospace/Ballistics/Avionics: 10 Eligibility criteria: Educational qualification The candidates should possess a degree in the relevant discipline from a recognised university or institute. advertisement Age limit: The age of the candidates should be between 20 and 27 years. Selection procedure: The selection of the candidates will be based on their performance in interview. Pay scale: The candidates who are selected will get the pay scale of Rs 5,200 to Rs 20,200, with a grade pay of Rs 2,800. How to apply: The eligible candidates can apply through the official website, joinindianarmy.nic.in Important date: Last day to apply: August 24 Indian Army has released a notification inviting interested, eligible candidates to apply for the posts of NCC special entry scheme. The candidates may apply to the posts in a prescribed format on or before August 18. (Check full recruitment notification here) For more details, the candidates can check the official website. READ: IISER Pune is looking for Office Assistants: Class 12 passouts, graduates can apply! READ: Indian Navy Recruitment 2016: Apply for 262 MTS posts For more updates on government jobs, followIndia Today Educationor you can write to us ateducation.intoday@gmail.com --- ENDS --- VAUDREUIL-DORION, QUE.A man was injured on Tuesday after a gunfire exchange with police just west of Montreal, authorities said. The incident began when officers in a cruiser tried intercepting a driver, who then refused to stop, provincial police said. The mans vehicle ended up in the parking lot of a police station in Vaudreuil-Dorion, off the western tip of the Island of Montreal. Police spokeswoman Ingrid Asselin said the man stepped out of his vehicle and pointed at officers with what appeared to be a weapon. Shots were exchanged and the suspect was taken to hospital with injuries that are not considered life-threatening. None of the officers in the chase or the shooting were injured. Asselin said the mans car was reported stolen. The case has been transferred to Quebecs new bureau for independent investigations into police shootings, which began operating in June. Read more about: SHARE: OTTAWAAn Ottawa community is finding itself conflicted over how to respond to the death of a Somali-Canadian man following a physical confrontation with police. Ray Miron said he has had nightmares about what he saw and heard from the window of his west Ottawa apartment Sunday when 37-year-old Abdirahman Abdi was taken down by police officers on a sidewalk across the street. It just was not right for the beating that they gave that poor guy when he was down, Miron said in an interview. The incident, which ended with Abdi being taken to hospital where he was later pronounced dead, has left him angry, Miron added. I got to the point, Im 67 years old and if Id had been 30 years younger, I would have jumped that cop. Ontarios Special Investigations Unit is probing Abdis death and was interviewing witnesses inside a truck parked at the scene Tuesday. The SIU investigates whenever there is a death, serious injury or allegation of sexual assault involving police in the province. Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau said officers were responding to multiple 911 calls Sunday regarding multiple assaults at a local business, confirmed by other sources to be a cafe. After trying to make an arrest, officers chased Abdi on foot. Shortly afterward, the SIU said, there was a confrontation outside the apartment building down the street, where Abdi lived with his family, and he suffered medical distress. On Tuesday, people in the community stopped by to visit a collection of flowers laid below a tree on the lawn of the apartment building, the surrounding sidewalks filling up with the now-familiar slogan Black Lives Matter written in chalk a movement that began in the United States in response to police brutality against black people and other forms of racial prejudice and discrimination. The Canadian Association of Somali Lawyers, a national organization of about 20 Somali-Canadian lawyers from across the country, said the incident is part of a larger pattern. Too often, police officers do not de-escalate or take appropriate care when dealing with African-Canadians, let alone African-Canadians with disabilities or in mental distress, its president, Billeh Hamud, said in a statement late Tuesday. The group also called on the Ontario government to bring greater transparency to the SIU and to mandate all police officers in the province wear body cameras. Ihsaan Gardee, executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims, also called for a swift and open investigation into whether racism played a role in the death. The protection and preservation of human rights and dignity, regardless of skin colour, religious belief, or any other characteristic, are integral to our collective and individual sense of safety and inclusion, Gardee said Tuesday. Matt Skof, president of the Ottawa Police Association, said it would be inappropriate to imply race played a role in the incident. In a situation like this, race is simply a fact to the case. I mean, this is no different than gender or height, said Skof, adding that police were responding to an assault-related call from the public as required. Skof said the suggestion that race was a motivating factor is being fuelled by events in the U.S., which he believes is misplaced. Our relationships with the community are very well established and we do not have the same history around racial tensions that the U.S. experiences, he said. Abdourahman Kahin, who leads a group called Muslim Presence, said it is too early to assume the police were racially motivated. He said a few hundred members of the Somali community in Ottawa gathered for a private meeting Tuesday evening to discuss how to respond to the issue, including how to ensure witnesses receive counselling and the family gets help with legal representation. Kahin said he would be urging everyone to avoid jumping to conclusions about racial discrimination, a message he said was well-reflected at the meeting. We condemn the brutality of the police 100 per cent condemn but dont put the colour of the victim (first), he said Tuesday. Before he was black, he was a human being. He was a human being who was treated inhumanly, said Kahin, who used to live in the same building as the Abdi family, knows one of his brothers and, like others, described the man as having some kind of mental illness or disability. Miesha-lee Perry, 19, is unconvinced that race should not be part of the conversation. She works at a restaurant sometimes frequented by Abdi, who she remembers as a very sweet guy that put out a Black Lives Matter sign on the sidewalk to let passersby know what they thought about what happened. There is not as much racism in Canada as there is in the States and stuff, but we still get it every day, said Perry, who said she has been treated unfairly by police and others in Ottawa. Bordeleau hinted at this broader context in a statement delivered to the Ottawa Police Services Board on Monday. We are well aware of the context within which we police, Bordeleau said in a statement, which was released before he learned Abdi had died. Our officers are professional and they are dedicated to protecting the community they serve. Read more about: SHARE: A new model of Ford is heading to Toronto City Hall after 125 days without a member of the headline-grabbing family representing Ward 2 Etobicoke North. Michael Ford, 22, beat a dozen challengers in Mondays byelection to succeed his uncle Rob Ford, the populist councillor and former mayor who died in March after a lengthy battle with cancer. Ford admitted name recognition was a huge factor in his landslide victory but vowed to honour his late uncle by emulating his dedication to the people of northwest Etobicoke. I look forward to getting down to city hall and working with other city councillors, (and) the mayor, coming together and moving Etobicoke forward, said the soft-spoken councillor-elect. Our community has some challenges, particularly crime. He thanked his rivals and the voters. Its amazing, he said when asked how it feels to win the council seat. When his grandmother Diane, who lost her son Rob only four months ago came up and hugged him, they both grew emotional. It was bittersweet, she said of watching Michael succeed his uncle. Asked about her nephews youth, she joked he was born old and raised around adults. Hes great, she said. Voters have passed the crown to the largely unproven politician he quit his first job, Toronto school trustee, after only 17 months to seek the council seat keeping the northwest Etobicoke family dynasty alive. The crowd at Michael Fords victory party chanted Michael Michael Michael as he arrived. His grandmother Diane Ford stood beside him, smiling but obviously emotional just three months after losing her son Rob. Rob Ford, the son of a former Ontario Progressive Conservative MPP, was first elected in the ward in 2000, the start of a decade-long tenure that saw him rail against perceived council overspending and regularly land in hot water for comments dubbed racist and homophobic. When he was elected mayor in 2010, his brother Doug Ford replaced him on council and they served as kind of political tag-team, battling left-wing and centrist councillors, until drug abuse and lies derailed Rob Fords mayoralty. A beaming Doug Ford, another of Michaels uncles, said Monday night that he stepped back from the campaign and let the younger generation take over. I wanted Michael to truly work his backside off and he did. It remains to be seen, however, how Michael Ford who legally changed his surname from Stirpe in 2015 will make his mark in the 27 months before the next civic election. During the campaign, he sounded like his conservative, combative uncles vowing to eliminate city hall waste and fight any new taxes expected to be proposed, with Mayor John Torys blessing, to help pay for social housing and new transit. Yet, the son of Rob and Dougs sister Kathy and Ennio Stirpe, a violent criminal serving an 18-year sentence, has repeatedly said he is his own person. He has professed admiration for Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, voiced support for gay rights and, on the Toronto District School Board, worked toward consensus solutions. Sources have told the Star that senior staff in Torys office were relieved when Doug Ford, who came second to Tory in the 2014 mayoral election, decided not to seek the council seat himself and become a highly quotable Tory critic on the political right. Doug Ford is expected to run in the next provincial election. Michael Fords rivals tried to convince voters that the area, which has been starved for employment and suffered shootings as recently as Saturday, needs fresh blood and ideas to spark revitalization rather than another Ford vowing to get potholes quickly fixed. Support and advice from former Ward 4 councillor Gloria Lindsay-Luby was not enough for Ward 2 candidate Jeff Canning to overcome the Ford factor. Canning came a distant second. Im sitting with friends and family who gave blood, sweat and tears so Im proud, Canning said in an interview. Im disappointed we didnt carry the day but proud of what we did given the resources we had. Read more about: SHARE: The mother of the man fatally shot during an incident involving Toronto police in Roncesvalles on Sunday is trying to understand how and why her son, a father of two young children, died on the sidewalk that morning. Speaking to the Star on the phone from her home in Kentville, N.S., Sherry Middleton, mother of 30-year-old Jenym Middleton, said that when she called police after hearing about the incident, they wouldnt tell her anything. Nobody would give me . . . answers, she said. They wouldnt even confirm it was my son. Jenym was fatally shot in an incident involving Toronto police around 6 a.m. Sunday after officers responded to a call about a possible shooting near a non-profit co-op home at 55 Howard Park Ave. A 25-year-old woman was also taken to hospital with serious injuries, including a gunshot wound to the leg. Middleton, whos never ever known (Jenym) to be involved in guns, said she heard about what happened after a nephew in Toronto called her saying he saw Jenyms building on the news. She tried to call Jenym and his girlfriend but no one picked up. Its the second son shes lost to violence in the last year. Last fall, Durham police found the body of her son Claren, who had been shot, in a field in Pickering. The Special Investigations Unit, a provincial agency that investigates incidents involving police and civilians where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault, has taken over the investigation into Jenyms death. The SIU does not provide details or updates during active investigations, but a police source with knowledge of the case said the death was a suicide. Sharon Sliwinski, an area resident, said she was woken up around 5:30 a.m. Sunday by the sound of arguing outside. I thought it was a bunch of drunk kids or something like that, but then I heard more serious language . . . It sounded like the police were negotiating with (the victim) at that point, Sliwinski told the Star. Upon looking out her window a few minutes later, she saw a man lying on the sidewalk between her home and the neighbouring one. She said she went outside and saw a police officer with a pistol in his hand, shaking. According to Sliwinski, she asked him what happened and the officer responded, A man just shot himself in the head beside your house. The neighbourhood is generally peaceful, Sliwinksi added. Its the kind of place people want to raise their kids . . . I havent seen or heard of anything happening like this. Jenym himself was a father to two young children, a boy and a girl, Middleton said. She last spoke with him on the phone Friday night. (Jenym) just said he was watching TV with my grandson, hes three . . . (My grandson) came on the phone and I said, What are you doing? and he said, Im watching TV with dad. Middletons younger son, Claren Troy Middleton, was also shot to death. On Oct. 23, 2015, Durham police found the 25-year-olds body in a field in Pickering. Claren was also a father. His torched car was later found by the waterfront in Oshawa. In March, Durham police arrested Terrance Bent charged him with accessory after the fact to murder, arson and indignity to a body. No one else has been charged in the case. For Middleton, theres no closure with either death. For all this time, with Claren . . . and now theyre both gone, Middleton said. Oh, God. I dont know. I just cant. I need to know what happened to (Jenym) . . . Its just friggin killing me. Correction - Sept. 28, 2020: This article was edited from a previous version that misstated Jenym Middleton's given name. With files from Jake Kivanc SHARE: Toronto police Supt. Mark Fenton, found guilty of misconduct for twice ordering the mass arrest of hundreds during the G20, is appealing his conviction, the Star has learned. The move comes one month after Fenton, the only senior officer convicted for his actions at the notorious summit, was sentenced to a formal reprimand and 30 days lost vacation an absurd penalty deemed so light complainants in the case have launched their own applications to appeal, seeking a tougher sentence. The competing applications mean the search for justice by hundreds caught up in Fentons so-called kettles including the hours-long detention at Queen and Spadina during a torrential downpour is far from over, six years after the G20. Complainants say Fentons appeal undermines the senior officers apology last summer, issued the same day a tribunal hearing officer found him guilty of two counts of unlawful arrest and one count of discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act. Whats the point of the apology? asked Shervin Akhavi, who was kettled at Queen and Spadina. I originally accepted his apology; I officially reject it because of this action. Supt. Fenton is back to maintaining that he did nothing wrong, said Adrienne Lei, one of the lawyers representing those kettled at the summit. Michael Lacy, one of Fentons lawyers, disagreed, saying Fenton sincerely apologized for the negative effect his decisions had on innocent people with the benefit of hindsight. There is nothing inconsistent or insincere about his position. Based on what he knew at the time he maintains that he did not act in such a way as to be guilty of professional misconduct, Lacy said in an email Monday. In a notice of appeal filed this month to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission, a quasi-judicial body that hears appeals of police tribunal decisions, Fentons lawyers seek either a finding of not guilty on all counts, or a new hearing. Alternatively, they are asking for the penalty of 30 days lost vacation to be tossed and replaced by formal reprimands, the most lenient sentence that can be handed down after a misconduct finding. Among the reasons cited in Fentons appeal is that the hearing officer, retired judge John Hamilton, erred in concluding Fentons lack of reasonable and probable grounds to order the arrests amounted to misconduct when the officer was acting in good faith and with the safety of the city in mind. The appeal also states that the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) granted intervenor status in Fentons hearing should not have been allowed to participate at the tribunal because the judge who made the decision lacked the jurisdiction to do so. It is in our view that it was an error, Lacy told the Star Monday. It is, in fact, rare for a third party to be given intervenor status at a police tribunal. Earlier this month, the Ontario Human Rights Commission was denied participation in the high-profile Neptune Four case involving the gunpoint arrests of four black youths by Toronto police after the hearing officer in that case found he did not have the legal jurisdiction to grant status. But Paul Cavalluzzo, a lawyer who represented both the CCLA and some of the kettling complainants, said the CCLA undoubtedly had a right to be there, especially because the case has implications beyond Fenton. Were talking about the violations of the civil liberties of hundreds of Canadians, Cavalluzzo said. There is no institution in this country that brings more expertise and experience to the judge in this kind of situation than the CCLA. Fenton, now superintendent at Toronto polices east-end 43 Division, was the only senior officer charged under Ontarios police act for his actions during the June 2010 summit. The officer was night commander when he ordered the mass arrest of hundreds of people, in one instance outside the Novotel hotel on the Esplanade, in the other the next day at Queen St. W. and Spadina Ave. In his August 2015 ruling finding Fenton guilty of three counts of misconduct, Hamilton, a retired judge, was sympathetic to the situation Fenton had inherited. Just before his shift began, Toronto was host to unprecedented levels of property damage caused by protestors who smashed windows and lit police cruisers ablaze. But Hamilton ruled Fentons solution to the chaos the decision to indiscriminately box-in and arrest people was too extreme and indicated a lack of understanding of the right to protest. His use of power was not rationally connected to the purported risk to be managed, Hamilton said, finding Fenton guilty of one count of unlawful arrest for each kettling incident. He also found Fenton guilty of discreditable conduct for keeping those boxed in at Queen and Spadina during an ugly thunderstorm, ruling that Fenton had the responsibility to ensure that prisoners had protection from the elements. Hamilton found Fenton not guilty of two other misconduct charges related to the detention of hundreds at a makeshift prisoner processing centre. Reading out his decision last month to dock Fenton 30 days vacation, Hamilton said the officer did not have sufficient training to be the incident commander and should have been stopped by his superiors. He also called Fentons public apology a genuine indication of remorse. Cavalluzzo called the penalty decision absurd; complainants had argued Fentons penalty should be automatic dismissal. In an application seeking leave to appeal the sentence on behalf of the CCLA and complainants kettled at the Novotel, Cavalluzzo said Hamilton erred by imposing the grossly disproportionate penalty of a reprimand in relation to that kettling incident. That application also challenges Hamiltons decision last year to quash a subpoena to compel former Toronto police chief Bill Blair to testify at Fentons hearing. Complainants kettled at Queen and Spadina are also seeking leave to appeal Hamiltons sentence. The penalty handed down was unreasonable in light of the serious scale and nature of the subject officers deliberate violation of the Charter rights of hundreds of persons, lawyers for the complainants wrote. Lucius Dechausay, who was kettled at the G20, said he is appalled by Fentons appeal considering how light the sentence was. He made a decision to mass arrest hundreds of innocent citizens and peaceful protestors on two separate occasions when there was no imminent threat, he said. His actions were in direct conflict with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and placed countless vulnerable citizens in an entirely unsafe situation. Wendy Gillis can be reached at wgillis@thestar.ca SHARE: Government money to train staff and enforce animal cruelty laws is dismal, leaving investigators underfunded and overworked, according to the head of Canadas humane societies. The criticism comes as a new study of Ontarios animal cruelty investigators warns that underfunding is putting officers at risk of violence and abuse on the job. As first reported by the Star, lack of resources means Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals staff must work alone in often dangerous situations, covering vast areas of the province without adequate communications equipment or access to government intelligence databases. Even if you combine provincial and federal funding youre looking at less than $13.5 million across the country to enforce the law that Canadians expect is being enforced, and is an important social service, said Barbara Cartwright, CEO of the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies. While the OSPCA is tasked with enforcing provincial animal cruelty legislation and its investigators are law enforcement agents, the group still operates as a non-profit charity. It receives $5 million annually from the Ontario government, but the report, funded by Brock University, says that covers just a third of the organizations investigations budget. Greg Flood, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services said the report findings were under review. Our government is committed to a strong animal welfare system in Ontario, and to ensuring OSPCA officers have the resources they need to protect the welfare of animals. We commend the important work investigators at the OSPCA do on a daily basis to ensure the safety and protection of all animals across the province, and we take the safety and security of OSPCA investigators very seriously, he said. Cartwright described enforcement standards in Ontario and across Canada as spotty. I think most Canadians would expect that there is a full enforcement regime in place, fully funded by the government and thats not the case. Manitoba, which has the strongest animal protection legislation in Canada, according to the Animal Legal Defense Fund, is one exception enforcement is the responsibility of the provincial government. Cruelty investigations are carried out by Manitobas Chief Veterinary Office, which received $10.5 million in public funds in 2016. In addition to more public money, access to intelligence databases is also essential to keep officers safe, Cartwright said. Flood, the ministry spokesperson, said the Ontario government didnt have authority to grant access to the Canadian Police Information Centre, which is controlled by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Clearly its an important part of the picture of being able to adequately enforce the law, Cartwright said. To know what situation youre going into. To know if theres prior records, all those pieces are obviously going to increase the effectiveness of any enforcement officer in order to have access to all the tools including information. That is especially true given the strong body of evidence pointing to the link between animal abuse and other forms of violent behaviour, says Mary Lou Randour, a Washington, D.C.-based psychologist and animal rights advocate. I think there seems to be a lack of recognition that there is this link between violence toward animals and toward humans, she said. An animal control officer is going to face situations where they have to be more cautious, and need better training, better equipment like any other police officer would. While enforcement varies from state to state in the U.S., Randour has successfully pushed the FBI to track all incidents of animal cruelty in the country a policy that was implemented earlier this year. The last 20 years especially there have been a number of scientifically valid research studies that show a very strong correlation between domestic abuse and animal abuse, between child abuse and animal abuse, and animal abuse and general criminal behaviour, Randour said. The argument was that if you want to have more tools to fight crime, you need to pay attention to animal cruelty. SHARE: Justin Altmann is a mayor who loves his town so much that he invited all its residents to watch him say I do. Hes also only using local suppliers for his big day. Heres whats going into the Whitchurch-Stouffville mega-wedding: The invite 800 VIP, 37,000 RSVP The couple recently sent 800 invitations to VIPS and dignitaries, family and friends. All other residents planning to attend the ceremony were asked to RSVP by email at jenny.justin.wedding2016@gmail.com . They anticipate a few thousand people will be there to witness them tie the knot. The venue: 19 On the Park http://nineteenonthepark.com/assets/rental-rates-2016.pdf I think hes a big romantic and the fact that he was born and raised here is a key part of why hes getting married here, said Ashley Chappell, the cultural facility and programming coordinator of 19 On the Park, where the mega-ceremony is taking place. Normally this venue, located in the downtown core, has a maximum (seating) capacity of 120. We had to measure it all out to figure out how to maximize the space, said Chappell. We opened it right up. Its all outside, so have to keep our fingers crossed [for good weather]. The flowers There will be over 500 titanic infusion roses (among the largest variety on the floral market), blush dahlias, calla lilies and dusty miller at the mega-wedding. Its still a work in progress, said florist Jaimie Vander Henne, who owns the local flower shop Centerpieces. Ive known [Justin] for many years I know how much he likes to hug people. So I might change his [boutonniere] to a smaller rose. The cake Chef John Ferdinald, owner of Vanilla En Glaze Cakes and Pastries in Whitchurch-Stouffville, has a plan to feed 2,000 people with this cake. It will be the biggest cake hes ever made, four flavours, and span six-by-eight-feet. I have a draft of the cake, he told the Star, and has already started creating the sugar flower decorations. The cake will be ready two days ahead of its presentation and is estimated to weigh 1,000 pounds. The dress While she wouldnt give away too many details, bride-to-be Jenny Hillier said she will be wearing a gown from Italian/Spanish designer Ines Di Santo, who has an atelier in Toronto. Her bridesmaids, all family members, will be dressed in pink. The horse and carriage Blair Purcell, the manager of Lionels Farm, usually charges wedding parties $1,000 for a half-day with a horse and carriage but will be making a deal with the mayor of Whichurch-Stouffville, whom he knows personally. Its not like a limo in the same sense that you just go in and turn the key, said Purcell. For this mega-wedding, Jenny Hillier chose two black horses and a white wedding carriage for her big day. SHARE: A Brampton judge has dismissed an impaired driving charge against a man who was not given access to a Punjabi interpreter when he spoke with a lawyer following his arrest, which violated his right to counsel. While police did initially try to accommodate the mans language needs, their conduct fell below the standard of care reasonably expected of them in the circumstances, Ontario Court Justice Paul Monahan wrote in a decision released last week. Bikkar Khandal was arrested in October 2015 at a RIDE spot-check in Mississauga. Once Khandal had been brought to the police division, the arresting officer called duty counsel who provide free legal advice over the phone to individuals under arrest and also requested a Punjabi interpreter, according to Monahans ruling. But the lawyer on the phone said something along the lines of I speak English, he speaks English, we will do this in English, and did not arrange for an interpreter, Monahan wrote. The judge found that the lawyers conduct was inappropriate and wrong. He also noted that after speaking with duty counsel, Khandal told the officers but hes in English, right? Im not much English. Monahan said that should have caused the police to call back duty counsel, and again request an interpreter. The judge said this was necessary as he considered Khandals ability to speak English to be limited. It is also my view that both Constable (Michael) Lupson and Constable (Eric) Passmore ought to have known early on during the breath room attendance, when Mr. Khandal expressed concerns about the fact that duty counsel spoke English and he (Mr. Khandal) spoke little English, that Mr. Khandal could not have had a proper consultation with counsel, Monahan wrote. They should have arranged a further consultation with duty counsel and a Punjabi language interpreter at that time. Lupson was the arresting officer, while Passmore was the breath technician at the police division. Khandals trial lawyer did not return a request for comment. A spokesman for Legal Aid Ontario, which maintains the duty counsel hotline, said the government agency is investigating and declined to comment further. A Peel police spokesman said the force is reviewing Monahans decision. The judge concluded that the breach of Khandals rights was serious, and he excluded the breath sample evidence, calling the decision a relatively easy one given the circumstances. This resulted in the charge being dismissed. Khandal first blew 140 mg of alcohol in 100 mL of blood nearly twice the legal limit and a half-hour later blew 130 mg of alcohol in 100 mL of blood, according to the ruling. In my view, notwithstanding that Constable Lupson and Constable Passmore were attempting to act in good faith and notwithstanding that I consider them to be honest witnesses and officers, in my view they fell below the standard of care reasonably expected of them in the circumstances, Monahan wrote. He concluded that admitting the breath samples would bring the administration of justice into disrepute. It would give the courts stamp of approval to a failure to respect the obvious and important language needs and rights to counsel of a detained person and it would be disrespectful to the diverse community in which this court operates, Monahan wrote. The decision comes about three weeks after a different judge at the same courthouse criticized Peel Regional Police officers who didnt immediately return a mans turban following his arrest. That violation resulted in the mans impaired driving charge being tossed and prompted Peel police Chief Jennifer Evans to order an internal review. The reality is that when someone is in custody, theyre at the mercy of the police and it means police have to do their jobs properly, including making reasonable efforts to facilitate access to counsel, said criminal defence lawyer Daniel Brown, who was not involved in the Khandal case. Putting somebody with limited English in touch with an English-speaking duty counsel is failing in that regard. The Khandal matter is at least the second case in a little over a year in which Legal Aid Ontarios duty counsel hotline has come under judicial scrutiny and led to a charge being dismissed. Toronto judge Leslie Pringle acquitted a woman of impaired driving charges in May 2015 after Pringle found the duty counsel who spoke to the woman over the phone was yelling, rude and angry with her, and that police should have thought of alternatives when it was clear she was having difficulty with the lawyer. Read more about: SHARE: SANTA ROSA, BRAZILI swallowed hard. Time stood still. Not a thought existed at that moment but one: We were going to die. A transport truck, which had roared up the mountain behind us snorting like an angry devil, was bearing down as we hugged the jagged rock face to my right, leaving nowhere to escape. I tightened my muscles for impact, when suddenly, in the far lane, a driver in a red car seeing disaster about to unfold, sped up, allowing the trucker to swerve over behind the car, missing us by centimetres. I swore at the top of my lungs as the trucks engine drowned me out, the smell of exhaust permeating the air. My heart tried to punch its way out of my rib cage. My horses, Life and Doll, not missing a beat, trekked up the mountain as if nothing had happened. During my travels on horseback from Barretos, Brazil, to my eventual destination of Ushuaia, Patagonia, I have faced grizzly bears, drug lords, raging rivers and rugged mountains, but none have posed a greater threat than Latin Americas awful roads and its careless drivers. In Parana state in southern Brazil, we entered a long stretch of mountain ranges more than 500 kilometres of mighty peaks that would lead us all the way to the pampas of Rio Grande do Sul. Although the mountains offered stunning views, most roads offered no shoulder to ride on, forcing us onto the road. With blind turns and a never-ending stream of transport trucks driving at breakneck speeds, the ride became hell. I needed to find some dirt roads or I was not going to survive to see the state of Santa Catarina. The Devils Throat On a day off from riding, I visited Iguazu Falls, one of the new seven natural wonders of the world. Its sheer size was summed up by U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt on a visit in March, 1944: Poor Niagara. Situated where the borders of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina meet, Iguazu consists of 275 separate falls. The most impressive section, a U-shaped cataract nicknamed The Devils Throat, has 14 falls plunging more than 106 metres. The sound of the rushing water pounding the rocks beneath is like rolling thunder. On the one-kilometre trail to The Devils Throat, there are several lookouts with breathtaking views of rainbows, multicoloured bridges between the deep-blue sky and the dark-green forest. That the falls emerge in the middle of a dense jungle makes them unforgettable. A river to cross Feeling refreshed, and with a new route drawn through farm roads leading into the state of Santa Catarina, we moved on. But this route had its own challenges. The stony-dirt roads were slippery from recent rains and the mares struggled to climb steep mountain faces only to fight their way down the other side. I walked a lot to help the girls, and by the end of most days I was panting as hard as Life and Doll. On our final day in Santa Catarina, we climbed a mountain that seemed to have no end. Every time I thought we had reached the summit, the dirt road rose again. Dusk took over as we finally descended to a small village next to the Uruguay River. We arrived at the ferry crossing just after 9 p.m. The mares and I were exhausted. We had been trekking for 13 hours and needed a break, but first we had to cross the river. It was a challenge to load the mares. With each noisy step on the ferrys metal floor, the horses spooked and shot back. We finally succeeded. During the 10-minute journey, I held them tightly as they nervously looked around in the pitch black, snorting at the things they could not see. When we reached the shores of Rio Grande do Sul, the last state we will cross in Brazil, the captain of the ferry showed us a place where we could camp. I tied the mares to a tree on the bank of the river and gave them a bale of hay to munch. After a few minutes, the captain returned with meat to barbecue and a bottle of cachaca, a distilled spirit. A man who arrives on horseback in the land of the Gauchos deserves a celebration, the burly captain said with a wide smile. Filipe Masetti Leite is a filmmaker, Ryerson University journalism graduate and cowboy en route to Tierra del Fuego. Over the next year, he will file monthly reports to the Star from the trail. Dispatches from both this trip and his 2012 journey from Calgary to Brazil can be seen at http://www.outwildtv.com/expeditions/journey-america-part-2/posts http://www.outwildtv.com/expeditions END . A book and TV series are to be published this year. Read more about: SHARE: In his first annual report, Ontarios new financial accountability officer complains again the Liberal government is stonewalling his requests for information. Four such requests have been partially fulfilled and two have been stymied, Stephen LeClair said in the 31-page report issued Tuesday. Ministries have refused to give the FAO for reasons not grounded in the Financial Accountability Officer Act, he wrote, noting government departments have overused an exemption for cabinet records. The broad scope of these claims is making it more costly, difficult and time-consuming for the FAO to perform his duties. LeClair, who has previously reported on concerns about the partial privatization of Hydro One and looming debt levels, said the cabinet exemptions claimed involve his requests for future spending and revenue that have not been publicly released. Opposition finance critics accused Premier Kathleen Wynnes government of trying to hamstring LeClair, who told reporters in March he suspects information is being withheld by officials because of political direction from the Liberals. Shes more interested in protecting the Liberal party and her own reputation, than she is in independent, non-partisan oversight, New Democrat MPP Catherine Fife (Kitchener-Waterloo) said in a statement. This isnt the first time the FAO has called out the government for keeping facts from his office. Ontarios independent watchdogs are there to give people the facts and cut through government spin. Fife, the MPP for Kitchener-Waterloo, proposed legislation last spring to give the financial accountability officer the right to the same information given to Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk. Its clear the Liberal government is skirting its proper legal obligations to provide LeClair with information to analyze provincial finances fully and pass judgment on government financial projections and claims, said Progressive Conservative MPP Vic Fedeli (Nipissing). Through the work of the FAO, Ontarians have learned a number of disappointing revelations: the sale of Hydro One will have a negative impact on the provinces finances; business investment is set to decline, and Ontarios debt level is spiralling out of control, Fedeli said. Hes also confirmed what the Official Opposition has been saying for months: the government is using one-time money from asset sales, contingency funds, and tax increases to artificially balance the budget in an election year, the Tory MPP added. LeClair urged the government to give his office, which has nine full-time staff, access to all the information it needs to assess Ontarios finances. Finance Minister Charles Sousa told reporters Tuesday that there are sometimes issues around the confidentiality of information provided to cabinet. I recognize the importance of the financial accountability officers work and thats why we are working very closely with him, Sousa said. Read more about: SHARE: The result of KCET (Karnataka Common Entrance Test) second extended seat allotment has been declared today, on July 26. The exam was held for admission into various undergraduate courses in Karnataka for the academic year beginning 2016. By India Today Web Desk: The result of KCET (Karnataka Common Entrance Test) second extended seat allotment has been declared today, on July 26. All those candidates, who had appeared for the counselling, may check the same at the official website www.kea.kar.nic.in, once the result is out. The Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) had successfully conducted the KCET examination on May 4 and 5 respectively. advertisement (Read: Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, Vyapam releases admit cards of PAHUNT at vyapam.nic.in) The exam was held for admission into various undergraduate courses in Karnataka for the academic year beginning 2016. The results for the same were declared on May 28, 2016 on the official website. The candidates, who had qualified the test, were then called for the second stage of admission, which was document verification. The Karnataka Education Authority had also declared the results for PGCET 2016 examinations. The candidates can check the results through the official website. The Education Authority conducted the Post Graduate Common Entrance Test (PGCET) on July 2 and July 3 for admission in various PG courses such as MBA, MCA and MTech. The official answer key for PGCET was released on July 6. About KCET The government of Karnataka established the Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell in the year 1994 for conducting the entrance test and determining the eligibility / merit for admission of Karnataka candidates and the ward/s of Jammu & Kashmiri migrants to the first year or first semester of full-time professional courses for government share of seats in medical, dental, Indian systems of medicine and homoeopathy, engineering/architecture courses, farm science i.e. BSc. (Agriculture), BSc. (Sericulture), BSc (Horticulture), BSc(Forestry), BSc. Agri Bio Tech, BHSc.(Home Science), BTech (Agri.Engg), BTech (Food Technology), BTech (Dairy Tech), BFSc (Fisheries), BTech (Food Science &Tech), BSc. (Agri. Marketing and Co-Op), B-Pharma, Pharma-D courses. Read: IBPS PO 2016: Registrations begin today on ibps.in Read: Punjab B.Ed CET 2016: Merit list to be declared today at punjabbedadmissions2016.org For information on more upcoming exams and results, click here. --- ENDS --- Two Air Transat pilots from the GTA have been granted bail in a Glasgow court after being arrested last week for allegedly trying to fly a jet while under the influence of alcohol. Captain Jean-Francois Perreault, 39, and first officer Imran Zafar Syed, 37, both of the Toronto area, were ordered to surrender their passports before they were set free at Paisley Sheriff Court on Tuesday, the Scottish Sun and Glasgow Live reported. The men were arrested on July 18 at Glasgow Airport shortly before their flight to Toronto with a reported 250 passengers was due to take off. The flight was delayed almost 24 hours. Perreault and Syed had been held in custody for a week after a brief first court appearance July 19. They are charged with performing an aviation function while over the legal alcohol limit, and threatening and abusive behaviour. They have been suspended by the Montreal-based airline. Air Transat president Jean-Francois Lemay said last week that the carrier will compensate the passengers pursuant to the applicable European regulations.' The United Kingdom's Railway and Transport Safety Act bars people from conducting aviation functions when the proportion of alcohol in (their) breath, blood or urine exceeds the prescribed limit. Canadian aviation regulations ban aircraft crew members from working while intoxicated or within eight hours of consuming alcohol. The grounded jets passengers included celebrity decorators Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan, whose programs include Cabin Pressure. Glasgow Live reported that Perreault and Syed were believed to have left via the back door of the court in a vehicle with blacked-out windows about 90 minutes after their court appearance. SHARE: PHILADELPHIAWhen Bill Clinton takes the stage Tuesday night for his 10th address to a Democratic convention, the ex-president, husband and party standard-bearer will step into a singular role in American history: potential first gentleman. It isnt only Hillary Clinton who is breaking a glass ceiling this week. Should she win on Election Day, her husband will becomes both the first male to be a first spouse and the first former president to reoccupy the White House from the East Wing. Bill Clintons potential new title is perhaps the strangest twist in a political career known for its second acts. After health scares and political missteps, the Comeback Kid, as he was known in his first presidential race, could come back to Washington one last time. Clinton has been attending Democratic conventions since 1972, when he was a long-haired law student backing South Dakota Sen. George McGovern. His speeches to the convention have been career highs, and lows: His longwinded 1988 address famously drew cheers when he said the words in conclusion. Twenty-four years later, he acted as a powerful validator for President Barack Obama, electrifying the room as the partys explainer-in-chief. But, said Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, This is different. Bill Clinton feels pressure to perform for his wife and make up for a few snafus during her second presidential campaign, including his private chat with Attorney General Loretta Lynch just days before the Justice Department concluded its investigation into Hillary Clintons use of a private email account and server as secretary of state. This is more personal, said Podesta, who recalled riding to the convention hall with Clinton as he touched up his 2004 convention address. This is more about her. Bill Clinton wrote the first draft of his Tuesday speech, himself, before sharing it with the campaign and some of his longtime speechwriters, and was tinkering with it as late as Tuesday afternoon. Unlike in 2012, when he took listeners on a tour of economic policy, Clinton this time plans to paint a picture of his wife as a longtime liberal advocate for children and families. As he frequently puts it on the campaign trail, he plans to call his wife a change-maker; everything she touched, she made better. Bill Clinton still wants to be at the centre of the action. Thats unlikely to change should his wife become president. While aides have said he will not get a cabinet post or a setup in the Situation Room, Hillary Clinton has made clear that her closest adviser will remain involved with her administration, saying hed likely have a role in managing the nations economy. The two often talk many times a day, say aides, and Clinton is often in touch with top staff on her campaign. He weighs in on important choices, including advocating for Clinton to select Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine as her running mate. I am probably still going to pick the flowers and the china for state dinners, Hillary Clinton said in a December primary debate. But I will certainly turn to him as prior presidents have for special missions, for advice and in particular how were going to get the economy working. Read more about: SHARE: BERLINGerman officials vowed tighter security and called for tougher controls of asylum-seekers Tuesday in the aftermath of four attacks in the country in the span of a week, two of which were claimed by the Daesh extremist group. The attacks left ten victims dead and dozens wounded, and have rekindled concerns about Germanys ability to cope with the estimated 1 million migrants registered entering the country last year. The Islamic State is waging a brutal war of aggression . . . against our way of life, said Joachim Herrmann, the top security official in Bavaria, where three of the attacks took place. In the most recent attack claimed by Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, a Syrian man on Sunday blew himself up outside a crowded music festival in the Bavarian city of Ansbach, injuring 15 people. The man had unsuccessfully tried to find asylum in Germany and was awaiting deportation. In the other attack, a 17-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker injured five people with an axe before being killed by police near the Bavarian city of Wurzburg. In the deadliest attack in the past week, the 18-year-old son of Iranian immigrants went on a rampage at a Munich mall, killing nine people and wounding dozens. Authorities say he was undergoing psychiatric treatment and had no known links to terrorism. And on Sunday, hours before the Ansbach attack, a Syrian man killed a woman with a knife in the southwestern city of Reutlingen before being captured by police in an incident authorities say was not believed to be linked to terrorism. Herrmann said changes need to be made to laws possibly at the European level to allow for quicker deportation of people like the Ansbach attacker, while authorities in Germany need to investigate how the man, known as Mohammad Daleel, was able to collect enough material to make at least two bombs in his room in an asylum-seeker home. The people of our country cannot be expected to finance the protection of people who violate the law with their tax money, he said. Most of the immigrants entering Germany last year came through Bavaria, and Bavarian authorities have been particularly critical of Chancellor Angela Merkels open-door policies. Concerns had died down as the flood of newcomers has slowed dramatically, but the recent attacks have rekindled the debate over how Germany can best cope with the numbers. Speaking alongside Herrmann at a press conference in the town of Gmund am Tegernsee before a state cabinet meeting, Bavarian governor Horst Seehofer and state Justice Minister Winfried Bausback rattled off a laundry-list of proposals, including adding more police, relaxing privacy laws to make it easier for authorities to observe online data like email and WhatsApp and Skype messages, better background checks on asylum-seekers and allowing the military to be called in to help during terrorist attacks. We need to do whatever is necessary to protect our citizens, Seehofer said. In Baden-Wuerttemberg, where a woman was killed by a Syrian attacker Sunday, Interior Minister Thomas Strobl also demanded a tougher stance toward asylum-seekers. Those who abuse the right to hospitality must go back to their home countries make no mistake about it, Strobl told Funke media group. On Tuesday, Daesh published a video of what it said was the Ansbach bomber pledging allegiance to the extremist group and vowing Germanys people wont be able to sleep peacefully anymore. It appears to be the same as the one found by German investigators on the suicide bombers phone and an acquaintance of the attacker verified his voice. In the video, the man, who appears with his face covered with a black scarf, threatens to make life intolerable and that we will blow up your homes. On the video, the attacker said he acted in response to the extremist groups call to target countries of the U.S.-led coalition fighting it in Iraq and Syria. Germany is not involved in combat operations but has contributed reconnaissance aircraft to the effort. He threatened that the group would carry out more violence after the bombing in Ansbach, saying this blessed operation will be followed by others. After the Daesh connection surfaced, federal prosecutors in Karlsruhe, who investigate all suspected terrorism, took over the case, saying they would seek to determine if thus-far unknown accomplices or backers were involved in the crime. A spokeswoman for the federal prosecutors office told The Associated Press that a main focus is on the question of whether the attacker in Ansbach was helped in the planning and preparation. She spoke on condition of anonymity in line with department policy. Investigators also need to determine how the video from the attacker got to Daesh and where he learned to build a bomb. The suspect, who is originally from the Syrian city of Aleppo, came to Germany two years ago and applied for asylum in August 2014, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said. It turned out that he had already registered in Bulgaria and later in Austria, so Germany rejected his request and ordered him deported to Bulgaria most recently on July 13. Asylum-seekers are routinely deported to the first country where they registered if they dont follow proper procedures, even if theyre considered to have a legitimate asylum claim. Read more about: SHARE: NEW DELHIAn Indian human rights activist says she will finally end her epic 16-year-old hunger strike next month. Irom Sharmila, 43, has not eaten for years as a protest against the immunity enjoyed by the Indian military in cases of abuse in the countrys conflict zones. The government has said her protest amounts to suicide and has force-fed her through a nasal tube. Sharmila told a court on Tuesday that she wishes to break her fast on Aug. 9. I will break my fast as the government has failed to give any positive response, Sharmila told the news agency ANI, outside the court in Indias northeastern state of Manipur, where she appears twice a month. I will fight elections to resolve the issues. The state of Manipur is scheduled to hold elections next year. Sharmila said she will contest as an independent candidate. Popularly known as the Iron Lady of Manipur, Sharmila has staged a powerful protest against the dreaded immunity law called the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. India gives its troops sweeping powers to shoot and arrest in insurgency-hit areas in states like Manipur and Kashmir, protecting them from prosecution with this controversial immunity law. Human Rights Watch has called India to repeal the law, saying Indias troops routinely engage in torture and other ill-treatment during interrogation in army barracks. The law forbids prosecution of soldiers without approval from the central government, which is rarely granted. Indias politicians have said that the army has blocked any attempt to withdraw the law. Some senior army officers have said that they cannot fight terrorist groups with their hands tied. Sharmila has been arrested several times and charged with attempting to commit suicide. But two lower courts have ruled recently that her struggle cannot be called suicide. The government appealed the verdict, and Sharmila continues to be monitored by a police guard. India has a long and rich history of activists using hunger strikes as a tool of protest, from the days of Mahatma Gandhi during the freedom movement against British rule. Environmentalists and anti corruption protesters have used the tactic to draw attention to their causes. But Sharmilas supporters now say that continuing the protest fast may not yield any new and dramatic results. The government has not withdrawn the law till now. What has not happened in the last 16 years of hunger strike will not happen if she continues for a few more years, said Babloo Loitongbam of Human Rights Alert, who is her close associate. He added that her protest was unparalleled in history. Irom Sharmila staged the longest hunger strike in the world and it delegitimized the immunity law substantially in public perception, Loitongbam said. She has done the maximum sacrifice for the cause of families whose members have been killed, raped and tortured by the military. We will continue to fight. But now she wants to fight from a different turf, that of the political arena. Read more about: SHARE: NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Royal Dutch Shellundefined are down 3.16% to $55.69 on higher than usual volume in mid-afternoon trading on Monday, as a group of the company's workers in the North Sea threaten to strike. So far today, 4.19 million share have traded hands, compared to the daily average of 3.55 million shares. The group of workers say that the cuts across the industry have been too much considering oil prices are starting to see an upturn, the New York Times reports. The unions organizing the strike represent about 400 maintenance workers and said members won't work overtime on Monday and will stop work completely on Tuesday. "We understand there is a downturn in the North Sea," John Boland, an official of Unite, told the Times. "But the level of cuts being proposed are too much." The strike is "highly regrettable" but will not affect production as the members participating in the strike are not essential personnel, Shell said in a statement. "It will have no impact on us," Philip Robinson, a Shell spokesman, told the Times. "We have prepared." Separately, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation: We rate ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC as a Hold with a ratings score of C. B) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed - some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. Among the primary strengths of the company is its solid financial position based on a variety of debt and liquidity measures that we have evaluated. At the same time, however, we also find weaknesses including deteriorating net income, poor profit margins and weak operating cash flow. You can view the full analysis from the report here: RDS.B RDS.B data by YCharts NEW YORK (TheStreet) --Eli Lilly (LLY) reported second quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations Monday morning. The company posted earnings per share of 86 cents, beating analyst estimates of 85 cents and revenue totaled $5.4 billion, topping projections of $5.15 billion. The CEO of the drug manufacturing company, John Lechleiter, joined CNBC's "Squawk Box" this morning to discuss the company's results, drug pricing, and forecast what's on the horizon. "We grew 9% revenue. Eight percent of that was volume growth, and of that 8%, 6% points came from new products launched since 2014," Lechleiter said, about the "pleasing" revenue marks accomplished this quarter. "This is exactly the trajectory we want to be on," he said, crediting the expansion into the Japanese market, which historically has been a tough to infiltrate. Japan is a first for the company giving it exposure in an important market. Pricing, as well the government regulations, are often major questions faced by drug manufacturers. Lechleiter tackled both issues this morning. "Government policy matters a lot," he said, envisioning a future where there's going to be a more challenging drug pricing atmosphere. However, the company will "stand against major shifts in government reimbursement policy." "Last year, drug prices grew 2.8% on a net price basis, we need to keep this in perspective," Lechleiter said, citing that medications keep people well, out of the hospital, and avoid costly treatments. Finally, Lechleiter forecasted what the comapny is striving to accomplish in the coming months. "We've got a drug that's currently being studied for the treatment of breast cancer, we could file that this quarter depending on an analysis of further breast cancer studies," he noted. Shares of Eli Lilly are higher by 0.88% to $82.70 in pre-market trading Tuesday morning. Separately, TheStreet Ratings rates Eli Lilly as a "Buy" with a ratings score of "B." This is driven by multiple strengths, which TheStreet Rating believes should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks TheStreet Rating covers. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, notable return on equity, reasonable valuation levels, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and expanding profit margins. TheStreet Rating feels its strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow. TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. You can view the full analysis from the report here: LLY Youree Dell Harris, known in advertising as the Jamaican mystic Miss Cleo," in 2002. (Lou Toman/Sun-Sentinel via AP) Youree Dell Harris, an actress who played the Jamaican psychic Miss Cleo, claiming to know callers futures in once-ubiquitous TV infomercials and commercials, died July 26 in Palm Beach, Fla. She was 53. The cause was cancer, said her attorney, William J. Cone Jr. The Los Angeles-born Harris was a struggling actress when the Psychic Readers Network hired her in the late 1990s to play Miss Cleo. She adopted her familys Jamaican heritage for the role, persuading viewers to call for allegedly free psychic readings. In one commercial, she is seen pouring over tarot cards before telling a caller that the father of her baby is the one who is very unpleasant and had another girlfriend while he was sleeping with you . . . but you knew that. The commercials ended with the tagline, Call me now! The federal government said those free calls cost consumers about $1 billion. The Federal Trade Commission said the psychic service promised a free reading, but consumers calling a toll-free number were directed to a 900 number charging $4.99 per minute. The agency said nearly 6 million people made such calls and were charged an average of about $60. The Psychic Readers Networks parent company forgave $500 million in customer charges in a 2002 settlement. After the settlement, Ms. Harris faded from view for over a decade. She voiced a character in the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City video game and was an advocate for gay rights after coming out as a lesbian. Ms. Harris returned to the public eye in 2014 when she appeared in the documentary Hotline, which looked at the world of telephone psychics, phone sex workers and suicide prevention specialists. Ms. Harris briefly reprised the Miss Cleo character last year in a series of online advertisements for General Mills, which was bringing back its French Toast Crunch cereal. The ads stopped after the Psychic Readers Network sued, saying it owned the character. Associated Press (Natalya Balnova/For The Washington Post) The Grand Plan to Fix Everything By Uma Krishnaswami. Ages 8 to 12. 288 pages. What would you do if your fun summer plans disappeared in an instant? Eleven-year-old Dini was looking forward to two weeks of dance camp with Maddie, her best friend. But Dinis world spins when her parents suddenly announce that the family will move from Takoma Park, Maryland, to India for two years. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) Before saying goodbye, Dini and Maddie turn their shared admiration for Dolly Singh, a star of Bollywood (Indias version of Hollywood), into a quest to meet her. Its a project they can work on together by phone and email, and they think it would also benefit Dolly, who they sense is upset about something. Filled with comical twists and coincidences, Uma Krishnaswamis story shows how this grand plan to fix everything works out. Dinis new home is a small, quiet-seeming mountain town call Swapnagiri. You wont be able to find it on a map (because Krishnaswami invented it), but it is a rather magical place that people share with troublemaking monkeys, friendly goats and gorgeous peacocks. Dini meets a girl her age there who can imitate all sorts of animal noises and has some secrets she wont share. The book focuses on Dini but also follows some Indian characters, such as Dollys Bollywood boss and the young postal worker who not only delivers letters to Dolly but also is a big fan. Not to give anything away, but the ending is like the finale of a Bollywood musical: over the top but very entertaining. And if you like reading this book, theres a sequel, The Problem With Being Slightly Heroic, set in Washington, D.C. Abby McGanney Nolan You might also like . . . Trille is always up for an adventure such as rounding up animals to re-create Noahs ark with his daredevil best friend, Lena. The friendship is tested, however, when Lena moves from their village on the coast of Norway in Adventures With Waffles by Maria Parr. Twelve-year-old Sophie isnt happy about her familys move from Los Angeles, California, to her uncles farm in the middle of nowhere. But the farms oddball chickens quickly insist that Sophie look after them in Kelly Joness Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer. Next week Slacker By Gordon Korman. Ages 8 to 13. For Cameron Boxer, life is a game. A video game, that is. But when he nearly lets his house burn down because hes focused on the screen, Cam is told he must get involved. The middle-schooler and his friends dream up a fake service club they hope will get Cam off the hook. But the club soon ends up with a very real mission. This story has been updated to include two additional bookstores. Children dressed in Harry Potter costumes attended a book release party for the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, at Barnes & Noble in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in 2007. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) Perhaps youve read every Harry Potter book, consider yourself a potions master and are certain you were born a Hufflepuff. (So loyal, that house!) But theres a Potter experience you probably havent had: attending a late-night book-release party. Saturday may be your only chance, as bookstores throughout the Washington area are staying open to celebrate the midnight release of J.K. Rowlings new story, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The book ($30) will be officially released July 31 at 12:01 a.m. Unlike the other Potter books, Cursed Child is a script, with stage directions and dialogue for a two-part play that opens July 30 in London, England. Rowling devised the story with director John Tiffany and playwright Jack Thorne, who wrote the script. This is actually the Special Rehearsal Edition of Cursed Child, the version of the script that was used during preview performances of the play this summer. Plays are often tweaked during previews, which give the director, writers and actors a chance to revise material before opening night. A Definitive Collectors Edition of the book will be released later, according to the publisher, Scholastic. Fans have been guessing about the plot of Cursed Child since the play was announced last summer, and preview audiences havent spoiled the surprise. So far, we know that the story picks up where Deathly Hallows left off. Harry is middle-aged, married to Ginny Weasley and has three kids. Middle child Albus is struggling with his fathers legacy, and apparently life for Harry hasnt gotten easier since Voldemort was defeated. The rest? Youll have to visit one of these bookstores late Saturday or Sunday morning to find out. Order your copy in advance or use a summoning charm to make sure youll receive it. The new Harry Potter story is a play that officially opens in London on Saturday. Here, the cast performs during a preview. (Manuel Harlan) Barnes & Noble At most stores nationwide. Maryland locations in Bethesda, Bowie, Gaithersburg and Rockville; Virginia locations in Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax County, Falls Church, Springfield, Tysons Corner and Manassas. barnesandnoble.com. Most Washington-area stores are starting their parties at 8 p.m. with readings, coloring stations, costume contests and scavenger hunts. A Sorting Hat will be on hand to assign you to your destined house. Barstons Childs Play In Rockville, Maryland.; Arlington and McLean, Virginia.; and Washington. barstonschildsplay.com. The Arlington store will have a real owl from 2 to 6 p.m., and the Washington store will have a Quidditch game outside at 7 p.m. (Call or sign up at the store in advance; bring knee and elbow pads to play.) Arrive at any Barstons location at 10:30 p.m. to receive a letter from Hogwarts, take a photo from Platform 9 and be sorted into a house. Then youll decorate a tie with your house colors and make your own wand. A potions station will have eye of newt and other snacks, and a divination professor will help you gaze into the future with a crystal ball. Ten percent of presale purchases are donated to An Open Book, a Washington nonprofit organization that promotes reading and donates books to underprivileged kids. East City Bookshop 645 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Washington. 202-290-1636. eastcitybookshop.com. This new Capitol Hill shop opened in April with an all-ages selection of books and toys. Starting at 10 p.m., theyll have trivia and costume contests as well as free gilly water supplied by neighboring restaurant Beucherts Saloon. The first Potter movie will also play, and if youre inspired to see the rest of the films you can come back Sunday, when popcorn will be popping and the rest of the movies will screen in order. Hooray for Books 1555 King Street, Alexandria, Virginia. 703-548-4092. hooray4books.com. Even if youre not staying up late, you can pick up a Marauders Map from the store or from the nearby Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum (107 S. Fairfax St.) all weekend and hunt for potions hidden across Alexandrias historic Old Town neighborhood. Find seven, and youll get a raffle ticket and prize. The real party starts Saturday at 10 p.m. with crafts, readings, trivia and costume contests, and a pin the nose on Voldemort game. Stop by the Apothecary Museum on Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m. for more trivia fun. Kramerbooks 1517 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington. 202-387-1400. kramers.com. Be one of the first 150 people to preorder the book and youll get a hand-printed Marauders Map of Washington. The party starts at 10 p.m. and lasts till 3 a.m. for Hedwig-inspired night owls. Wear your best wizard robe for a costume contest, sip a butterbeer and win some famous Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans in a trivia contest. Politics & Prose 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington. 202-364-1919. politics-prose.com. Preorder the book by noon Friday and youll be entered in a raffle for Potter-themed prizes. The fun starts at 10:30 p.m. with wand-making and book readings. Order a butterbeer from the stores cafe, the Den, which will be transformed into a Hogwarts-style common room, and dont forget to dress as your favorite character. Sacred Circle Books 919 King Street, Alexandria. 703-299-9309. sacredcirclebooks.com The bookstore will be made to look like Diagon Alley for the release party, which begins at 8:30 p.m. There will be readings by psychics (think Professor Trelawney) along with copies of the Marauders Map, games and crafts, including making a magical pouch. Dear Amy: My partner and I have a baby boy and live together. We are nearly 40. We sold our homes during the housing crash of 08 and got burned. After our son was born, we bought a home together. Weve become extremely frugal in order to save more for our retirements and the babys college tuition. We are diligently saving and cut corners. We both work very hard. His sweet, loving, gay brother (age 33) lives nearby. The brothers job is physical and depends on him being in good physical shape. Hes strong, but his health is deteriorating due to overeating and joint problems. Hes a very hard worker, though, and has a good heart. Recently, he lost his car in an accident. He has zero savings and many maxed-out credit cards. He told me his household expenses are $1,500 a month, just for food and living expenses. I was floored! Were a family of three, and our living-related bills are less than $1,000 a month. I would like to have an intervention with him about his finances or ask my boyfriend to talk with him privately about cutting his expenses so he can eventually buy a house. We want to see him become stable and learn to care about his future self more than his present self. Hes also very overweight and unattractive, and he has unattainable standards for a partner. He wont be able to marry into wealth. Im worried that he will end up homeless, and I feel that we have a responsibility to warn him of the consequences of living beyond his means. Should we say it once and then back off? If he asks for money, should we lie and say everything we have is tied up in stocks? Or should we just hope he figures it out? We love him and want the very best for him. Worried Worried: Given your own experience in the housing market, the last thing you should do is suggest that your debt-ridden and high-spending family member try to buy a house. According to you, this man has a lot of problems, up to and including his weight and appearance, his joints and his work and personal habits. If he asks for money, that is your invitation to share your views on his money and spending issues, in order to try to help him. By all means, you should try to warn him about the consequences of his financial choices. And then you should let him feel the consequences of these choices. If you dont want to loan money to him, then you must say no. Dont lie about it. His spending and debt make him a very poor prospect for paying back any loan. His weight, relationship prospects and employment these things are his business. Back off and stop judging him. Dear Amy: With all of the social and political turmoil in the world: the shootings, police problems and political discord, what is appropriate to discuss at work? I feel very strongly about these issues but feel uncomfortable discussing them at work, because I dont feel it is the correct setting and can disrupt others work. I have a co-worker who has no problem discussing these issues very heatedly in the middle of the office, which is made up of cubicles. I dread it when he comes up to me, because I know he will try to engage me in an intense discussion, yet, I dont want to come off as unfeeling and uncaring, as I am very upset and affected by these events. Please advise how to deal with this situation. Weary Weary: You can say to your colleague, Im upset about all of this, but I dont want to talk about it at work. If he persists despite your request, you should go to a manager. Good managers dont want employees to have problems with each other; equally important, they dont want for one employee to disregard a direct, reasonable and respectful request from a co-worker. Dear Amy: The letter from Upset Mom made me see red. This woman had the nerve to judge the value and quality of birthday gifts her twin sons received. I was once a parent who struggled to afford small things such as birthday gifts. I hope others didnt judge me the way this woman judges this other mom. Furious Dear Furious: Ive received a large volume of responses to this question. All agree that Upset Mom should find something else to be upset about. Amys column appears seven days a week at washingtonpost.com/advice. Write to Amy Dickinson at askamy@tribpub.com or Ask Amy, Chicago Tribune, TT500, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611. The government has recently planned to launch an SMS-based monitoring system in order to check the quality of food supplied to schools in Chandigarh. By India Today Web Desk: In order to check the quality of food supplied to schools where the mid-day meal policy is applicable, the Chandigarh state government has recently planned to launch an SMS-based monitoring system. As per reports, this monitoring system will be applicable for all government and government-aided schools. (Read: HRD ministry to revise norms of midday meal for school children) advertisement Details of the SMS system: This system will help concerned officials to check discrepancies and lack of hygiene maintained in mid-day meals The monitoring will be done on a daily basis across 111 government schools, seven government-aided schools, and four madrassas in Chandigarh The mid-day meal in-charges and a group of teachers will receive training on the ways to convey the information through SMS The database will have attendance, fund and food stock information The TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has already approved a toll-free number The phone numbers of principals, headmasters and mid-day meal in-charges are added to the database Also, schools will be linked through the geographical information system (GIS) mapping (Read: UP mid-day meals to now include fruits: Aim to boost attendance, provide nutrition) In a recent HT report, the director school education (DSE) Rubinderjit Singh Brar said, "With this initiative of the human resource and development ministry, real-time information can be ascertained." "The National Informatics Centre (NIC) is providing the technical support," he added. Also, if the school fails in providing the information, then the concerned principals will be held responsible. Further, speaking on this, Swarn Singh Kamboj, president of the UT Cadre Educational Employees Union said, "The initiative will check wastage, and food requirement per school. Schools can also keep a track on the children who don't eat the midday meal." In near future, the UT will soon be launching three more cluster-based mid-day meal kitchens so that students get hygienic and warm food. Read: Government plans to train 10 lakh unemployed youth in 3 years Read: Karnataka Govt announces two-day holiday as bus staff goes on strike For information on more latest news and updates, click here. --- ENDS --- Dear Readers: How long is a refrigerator or washing machine supposed to last? Have you ever wondered what the life expectancy is for major appliances? Weve all had appliances quit working years before we expected them to. Then it seems friends or family have appliances that never seem to stop working. Here is a general guideline/overview of the average life spans of some appliances: Central air conditioner: 10 to 15 years Refrigerator: 13 to 15 years Washing machine: 10 to 13 years Clothes dryer: 13 to 15 years Dishwasher: 10 years How long an appliance works depends on how often it is used (or how rarely) and how well you care for it. Inspect it once in a while, and have professionals check for maintenance services. Changing air filters for the air conditioner on a regular basis is crucial for keeping air-conditioning units running. Dear Heloise: I saw the hint in the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News about keeping an open baby monitor by the doorbell. This brings some risks. When my children were small, we had a baby monitor in a bedroom, with the speaker in the living room. Two people decided to have a confidential discussion in the deserted hallway just outside the bedroom. Suddenly, all the folks at the party could overhear the discussion. Somebody ran out to let them know, but the damage was done. Be aware of open baby monitors. Don P. in Ohio Don P. in Ohio: Wow! Probably one in a million, but still worth noting. Thanks! Dear Heloise: Its annoying that computer manufacturers put black buttons on a black background. (Heloise here: I am in complete agreement! I put red or purple nail polish on the on button so I dont have to fumble around looking for the right button!) Ive found that one of the handiest things to keep around is a mini LED flashlight. To find a black-on-black button, I just take out my mini LED flashlight. One type of LED flashlight Ive found especially useful is a laptop reading light. These can be clipped onto books for reading, or carried around like a flashlight. I keep one by my bed so that if I get up, I dont interrupt my wifes sleeping. This has become my go-to flashlight. I even use it when I walk our dog at night. Alan S., via email Dear Heloise: I do occasional woodworking and use wood filler to cover screw heads and such. In the past, I have had a problem with the wood filler drying out over time. I place it in a leftover food-storage container, along with a damp sponge. This maintains 100 percent humidity in the container, and the wood filler does not dry out! David H., Jefferson, Maine Dear Heloise: Here is a handy hint for upholstered sofa pillows: Take a scented dryer sheet and gently wipe both sides of the pillow with it. Then take it outside and fluff it in the air. Susie R., Huntington Beach, Calif. Heloises column appears six days a week at washingtonpost.com/advice. Send a hint to Heloise , P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Tex. 78279-5000, or email it to Heloise@Heloise.com. Michael E. Sparks, 43, of Indianapolis, who is a Bernie Sanders supporter, if you couldnt tell, participates in a rally in front of Philadelphias City Hall on Monday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) Hillary Clinton has several problems in Philadelphia, and an Uber driver named Karl Fredericksen is one of them. I wont give up on him, says Fredericksen as he barrels down the freeway in the direction of the Wells Fargo Center. I still think theres a huge chance. The super delegates havent voted yet. Him is, of course, Bernie Sanders. He has 1,000 fewer pledged delegates than Hillary Clinton, but he is just moments away from becoming president, if you listen to the activists who have come here Feeling a Bern, which at this point, has got to seem more like jock itch to the establishment DNC. Yep, Fredericksen says. Im definitely going to vote for Bernie. The Democratic National Committee spent Sunday and Monday imploding a leaked-email scandal, the resignation of the party chief and then all of them got in their cars and planes and came here to find a city where the most visible liberals are wearing buttons that dont say Im With Her, but rather Hillary for Prison. Bipartisanship at last: These were popular in Cleveland at the Republican National Convention, too. 1 of 58 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Photos from opening day of the Democratic National Convention View Photos Follow along as Post photographers document the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Caption Follow along as Post photographers document the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. July 25, 2016 Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) addresses the Democratic National Convention. Michael Robinson-Chavez/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. On street corners, people hold signs reading Always be yourself, unless you can be Bernie. Then definitely be Bernie. In marches that weave through Center City, people chant Hell No, Hillary. The Bernie or Bust people have arrived. The Bernies never say die. We wont vote for anyone but Bernie, says Kristi Zola, who came down from Vermont wearing a Bernie or Bust T-shirt. Hopefully hell win! The Bernies have set up tent cities throughout Philadelphia as hubs of protest. At one tent city in North Philadelphia, a plot has been hatched to feed all of the Bernie-supporting delegates who visit the camp lots of baked beans before they go into the arena, so that they can unleash a methane wrath on everyone else. This plan is called The Fart-In. (The whole city smells like a Fart-In, dear God. The heat index was 109 degrees on Monday and trash was liquifying in the street.) At another tent city down in South Philadelphia, occupants have named themselves the Occupirates Camp, a clutch of a half dozen tents huddled beneath a skull and crossbones flag. Hell . . . no, I wont vote for Hillary, says Chris Siennick of Harrisburg, Pa. Shes a warmonger. Hashtag Never Hillary! someone yells from inside a nearby tent. Sanders supporters march down Broad Street on the first day of the Democratic National Convention. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) Hillary is worse than Trump, says Max Neely of Frederick, Md. Trumps rhetoric is bad, but Hillary is dangerous because of what she can get done. The Republican Party just suffered several stress fractures because it ignored its mainstream base in favor of the outsider candidate. Now the Democrats have picked the establishment candidate, and they are rewarded with a Fart-In. The thing the Bernies would like to convey is that the Bernies are bigger than Bernie, who is also bigger than himself. Bernie, here in Philadelphia, is an ideal. That ideal is a bright light in a world that is chaotic and depressing. Capitalism as an idea is unsustainable, says a man named Xander, as he sits in the grass outside of a third tent city. (At this tent city, journalists are asked to prove they are not policemen by eating a non-GMO peach, for reasons that are unclear because at this point our notes just read, Guy without beard says, A Snickers bar does not equal the Taj Mahal. Peach eaten.) Back to Xander: Before we turned things into commodities, there were just leaves, and feathers and wood. And then some enterprising person came and chopped down a tree and turned it into a chair and decided it cost $8. A Sanders rally in front of City Hall. Trumps rhetoric is bad, said one of the Vermont senators supporters, but Hillary is dangerous because of what she can get done. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) Xander shakes his head at the uselessness of it all. Xander will not provide his last name; he does not want to be Googleable. Despite the fact that I think the end of the world is coming, I still feel that my ability to prepare for it will be better if nobody else knows I feel that way, he explains. The Bernies. Sigh. The Bernies know that they are frequently viewed as spoilers who wont get in line, whose refusal to unify the party will lead to a Democratic loss in November. People keep looking down on us in our Bernie Sanders swag, says Manuel Zapata, a Bernie delegate, when he speaks at a news conference at the Philadelphia Convention Center on Monday. As if hes not still a candidate. As if were not supposed to support him. Addendum: Bernie Sanders himself asked people not to support him. He endorsed Hillary Clinton. On Monday at the Philadelphia Convention Center, he got in front of a crowd of ardent supporters and said, We have to elect Hillary Clinton. Some of the crowd booed him, undeterred in their love for him. Earlier at a rally, one of his supporters at a rally addressed the fact that he was determined to continue on supporting Bernie. People say that Bernie endorsed Hillary, so why cant you? he asked into a microphone. BECAUSE SHE SUCKS, a voice responded. SHE SUCKS A LOT, said someone else. Bernies. Ben Terris contributed to this report. First lady Michelle Obama addressed the crowd on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia July 25. (Video: The Washington Post/Photo: Toni L. Sandys/TWP) Michelle Obama had a full-circle moment onstage here Monday night. She began her remarks by remembering how young her daughters were when her husband was elected to the White House in 2008. When they set off for their first day at their new school, I will never forget that winter morning as I watched our girls, just 7 and 10 years old, pile into those black SUVs with all those big men with guns, she said. And I saw their little faces pressed up against the window, and the only thing I could think was, What have we done? Her daughters are nearly full grown, a sign of how much time has passed since the election cycle eight years ago. Back then, the Obamas fought hard against the Clintons through an epic primary contest. There was no love lost between them. Even after Hillary Clinton took the job of secretary of state in the Obama administration, she and the new first lady did not forge a particularly close bond. Obama, in fact, seemed more connected with her Republican predecessor Laura Bush, with whom she formed a friendly relationship. [Michelle Obama delivers a passionate in defense of Hillary Clinton] None of that awkward history impeded the first lady at the Democratic convention. In a prime-time spot on opening night, she spoke with unabashed warmth for Hillary Clinton and fully embraced her as the Democratic Partys new standard-bearer. This election, she said, Im with her. When she didnt win the nomination eight years ago, she didnt get angry or disillusioned, Obama said. Hillary did not pack up and go home, because as a true public servant, Hillary knows that this is so much bigger than her own desires and disappointments. It was a moment that could be read as a call to the supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders who had protested bitterly all that day, disappointed that their candidate was not still contesting the nomination. 1 of 58 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Photos from opening day of the Democratic National Convention View Photos Follow along as Post photographers document the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Caption Follow along as Post photographers document the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. July 25, 2016 Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) addresses the Democratic National Convention. Michael Robinson-Chavez/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. She continued: There were plenty of moments when Hillary could have decided that this work was too hard, that the price of public service was too high, that she was tired of being picked apart for how she looks or how she talks or even how she laughs. . . . What I admire most about Hillary is that she never buckles under pressure. The remarks were in keeping with the first ladys style of politics, focused on character and being a role model. She avoided all talk of specific policy proposals and tried to stay above the nitty-gritty of party politics. Instead, she laid out her case against Donald Trump, pointedly without mentioning his name. She ascribed to the Republican nominee characteristics that contrast with the way she has described her husband who she says is cool, evenhanded, caring. She referred to Trump as a birther, thin-skinned and ill-informed. I want someone with the proven strength to persevere, someone who knows this job and takes it seriously, someone who understands that the issues a president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters, she said. Because when you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military in your command, you cant make snap decisions. You cant have a thin skin or a tendency to lash out. You need to be steady and measured and well-informed. [Whats on Michelle Obamas mind? Meet the speechwriter who puts it into words.] She was one of the few Democratic speakers who attacked Trumpism without seeming to sling mud. Obama has been criticized by Republicans as a proponent of Nanny-state policies meddling with school lunches and telling Americans they should work out but she rarely gets involved in partisan politics. For that reason, her popularity has remained relatively high. Nearly 60 percent of Americans say they like her. Her favorability with the Democratic base is even higher. On big occasions, such as the partys national conventions, she practices her remarks over and over. In the past, her husband has been the focus of her remarks. She spoke for less than 12 minutes about Clinton but showed strong emotion when she did. Her voice caught as she spoke of the possibility of electing a woman to be president, comparing the chance with the history made by her husband as the first African American elected to the White House. She convincingly tied Clintons campaign to her own story. Today, I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn, she said before praising Clinton as having the guts and the grace to keep coming back and putting those cracks in that highest and hardest glass ceiling until she finally breaks through, lifting all of us along with her. Before Obama spoke at Wells Fargo Center, Clinton spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri said she would be a highly effective messenger for the Clinton campaign. But the question going into Monday night remained: Would Michelle Obama be able to summon the passion she had expressed for her husbands campaigns in 2008 and 2012 for another political candidate? It was unclear how forcefully she would spend her popularity on pushing for Clintons election. Now, there is no doubt that she is all in. Obama does not sound as if she is being coy when she denies having political ambitions for herself. She has been emphatic in saying that she will not run for public office. But on Monday night she gave Americans a glimpse of the kind of public figure she plans to be outside the White House: one who remains engaged in the nations civic life even once she and her husband are again private citizens. Its been 20 years since the publication of Carl T. Rowans book, The Coming Race War in America: A Wake Up Call. It was in 1996 Rowan wrote that we were immersed in a presidential campaign in which passions over race were at the forefront and in unique and curious ways. (Republican presidential contender) Pat Buchanan proposed saying, No way Jose, and building a wall to keep Mexicans out, Rowan wrote. Back then, Republican convention delegates were offended by such notions. It was just one of several reasons they chose Bob Dole, a senator from Kansas, over Buchanan. Twenty years later, however, we have seen Donald Trump become the Republican presidential nominee by making even more racially divisive statements than Buchanan. To Rowan, a journalist and former U.S. diplomat who died in 2000, signs of racial trouble could be found in the growth of white militia groups and in police departments that reek with corruption, including condoned lawlessness by some policemen. His book was panned, however, for not making the sound arguments his incendiary thesis demands, as Jim Sleeper put it in a review of the book for The Washington Post. He gives us islands of coherence in roiling seas of emotion, Sleeper wrote. He rigs together some of his own columns, old news items, and wild digressions . . . All of which was true. But it was also the case that Rowan was not a man to make such a forecast lightly, as Sleeper understood. Rowan, an African American, was a nationally syndicated columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. He had also been a U.S. diplomat during the Kennedy administration and a member of the National Security Council during the Johnson administration. A resident of the District, Rowan founded a scholarship program for D.C.-area students, called Project Excellence, and each year hosted a fundraising dinner that drew a racially and economically diverse crowd. It was as hopeful and optimistic an event as youd find. He was, as Sleeper noted, an honest, if sometimes windy, voice for older, stolid, black working- and middle-class folk who owe much of their modest security to liberal initiatives, and to whom this countrys social fabric owes even more in return. If something has snapped in Rowan, one is tempted to pay heed. Few did. Now here we are with race relations in the United States widely regarded as being the worst in recent memory. Earlier this month, the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, noted an increase in chatter among such groups about starting a race war after a sniper killed five law enforcement officers and wounded seven others in Dallas on July 7. While antigovernment extremist organizations like the Oath Keepers targeted the Black Lives Matter Movement and announced solidarity with law enforcement officers, especially those who make up its ranks, the most extreme response came from the racist right from neo-Confederates to National Socialists, wrote Ryan Lenz, editor of the SPLCs HateWatch blog. Still, for many, the very notion of a race war is nonsensical, inconceivable. Then again, many of the recent fatal encounters between black men and police had been unimaginable until they happened. It may not even be that racial hatred is getting worse I happen to think not. But technological advances in firearms and the ease with which messages can spread via social media have magnified the impact of our anger and resentments. White male paranoia has become epidemic, Rowan wrote 20 years ago. He chided white politicians, Republicans in particular, for playing the race card. They bring the race war closer, but either dont know it or dont care, he wrote. Trump has questioned the presidents birthplace, called Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals, and said he would ban Muslims from entering the country. Rowan had also warned that members of extremist groups might try to start a race war by attacking black people. Many privileged blacks do not yet see how easily armed bands of white supremacists can attack black institutions and assassinate black leaders and thus goad blacks into responses of unprecedented fury, Rowan wrote. In June 2015, a 22-year-old self-described white supremacist joined a Bible study class at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., and proceeded to fatally shoot nine black worshipers. Rowan had been right about how easily such an attack could happen, but in this instance he was wrong about how black people would respond. Instead of being goaded into fury, members of some of the victims families showed forgiveness. Weve also seen numerous protests over the killing and mistreatment of black people by law enforcement. Most have been peaceful, but not all. So what might Rowans premonitions look like 20 years from now, and will anyone have listened? To read previous columns, go to washingtonpost.com/milloy. Elementary-school teachers in Montgomery County had more planning time for student lessons than teachers in more than 100 other school systems nationwide. (Carol Guzy/The Washington Post) Some of the nations schoolteachers get a lot more time for planning lessons than others. A new analysis found that elementary school teachers in Montgomery County, Md., top the list, getting more planning time than their counterparts in 147 large U.S. school districts. They get seven hours a week an average of 84 minutes a day for planning lesson content, a critical aspect of teaching, according to an examination of teacher contracts and schools district policies released Tuesday by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ). To my view, its a sign of school districts putting the emphasis on the right things, that teachers need time to not only plan their own lessons but more importantly the opportunity to work with other teachers, said Kate Walsh, president of the NCTQ, a nonprofit advocacy and research group that specializes in teacher evaluation and teacher workforce policies. Walsh compared planning time to getting ready to perform in a play. It helps teachers rehearse and make sure the time is going to go well, she said. They get feedback from other teachers about how they delivered similar content and what worked and what didnt work. The NCTQ analysis relied on its own database of teacher contracts. The organization also looked at the length of the minimum scheduled teacher workday, finding that the average was 7 hours. Henrico County, Va., and Sioux Falls in South Dakota had workdays of more than eight hours, the longest. The organizations database includes information from the nations 60 largest districts and the biggest in each state, as well as districts that are part of the Council of the Great City Schools or have won the Broad Prize for Urban Education. The union representing teachers in Montgomery County sharply criticized the data used for the planning-time comparisons, saying the time listed for Montgomery does not reflect an understanding of its negotiated agreement. Tom Israel, director of the Montgomery County Education Association, said elementary school teachers get just three hours and 45 minutes a week an average of 45 minutes a day for individually managed planning time. The seven-hour weekly figure cited in the study includes mandated meetings and trainings, Israel said, so it is not a true measure or a fair point of comparison, he said. You talk to any elementary school teacher in Montgomery County and they will say they have three hours and 45 minutes of planning time, and they will tell you its nowhere near enough to provide a good instructional program, he said. Kency Nittler, who conducted the NCTQ analysis, said she standardized the data because of the large number of districts. Some other contracts she studied also referred to administrative meetings or other types of structured time as teacher planning. I think certainly the union has a point about nuance, but I think its still informative, Nittler said. In neighboring Prince Georges County, elementary-school teachers had five hours and 50 minutes of planning time each week an average of 70 minutes a day with 30 of those minutes set aside daily for uninterrupted planning time. Theresa Mitchell Dudley, president of the Prince Georges County Educators Association, said she had not yet reviewed the analysis but noted that comparisons across districts are difficult to make. What is important is not just the quantity of planning time, she said, but also the quality. Some of that is consumed by preparation for standardized tests, she said. The analysis showed that teachers in Virginias Prince William County had 45 minutes of planning time daily and Fairfax County teachers had 39 minutes a day. The most common amount of planning time for elementary school teachers nationwide is 45 minutes a day. Among teachers of middle school and high school students, Chicagos teachers had the most planning time, with 100 minutes daily, the analysis showed. Secondary teachers in Montgomery County get one period a day for planning roughly 45 to 55 minutes an amount similar to many other districts. MARYLAND Hogan names 3 judges in Prince Georges Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Tuesday announced the appointments of three judges in Prince Georges County District Court. Bryon Bereano, Ada Clark-Edwards and Donnaka Lewis were recommended for appointment as judges by judicial nominating commissions. Bereano is an associate county attorney focusing on zoning and property cases. He graduated from the University of Baltimore School of Law. Clark-Edwards is a prosecutor for the Prince Georges County States Attorneys Office, where she focuses on family violence. She graduated from the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law. Lewis serves as the chief of the District Court in the Prince Georges County States Attorneys Office. She graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law. Lynh Bui VIRGINIA Arrest in upskirting incident at mall Police in Fairfax County said Miguel Avelar-Medina, 32, of Edgewater, Md., has been arrested and charged with taking videos up womens skirts at Springfield Mall. The incident happened just before 6 p.m. Sunday, when police responded to a report of a man who was taking videos up womens skirts. Police said the women did not know they were being videotaped. Dana Hedgpeth THE REGION Several burglaries of ATMs reported Authorities are looking into possible connections among several recent thefts of ATMs. In Fairfax County, police said there have been five thefts of ATMsin the past month. A video released by police shows two people prying a businesss doors open. They kick, push and yank on the machine to free it, and then they slide it out the door and into a white vehicle. In the District, police said three people pried open the door of a business in the 1700 block of Seventh Street NW and tried to get into an ATM July 11. They yanked and kicked it, but ultimately failed to get the machine. The people fled in a white van, police said. Dana Hedgpeth THE DISTRICT Monument expected to reopen Friday The Washington Monument is expected to reopen Friday after a six-day shutdown, the National Park Service said. A damaged bearing in the elevator hoist mechanism had caused the monument to close. Besides replacing the bearing, maintenance work will be performed, the Park Service said Tuesday. The elevator has had frequent problems, and the Park Service said the work will enhance its reliability. Victoria St. Martin and Martin Weil The caller told Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Tuesday during a radio interview that she voted for him, campaigned for him and prayed for him. Now, she said, she is disappointed in him, particularly in his decision not to back Donald Trump, his partys nominee. [Md. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) says he wont vote for Trump] I didnt want Trump either, the woman said. But Hillary Clinton is so far to the left, Im worried about her judge appointments. Hogan told the caller on the C4 Show on WBAL radio Tuesday that he didnt disagree with her. Im concerned about the future of this country, he said. Neither party put up the best candidate, in my opinion. Hogan said last month that he did not plan to vote for Trump or Clinton. He didnt attend the GOP convention and said Tuesday that he didnt watch it either. He is not paying attention to the Democratic convention, which opened Monday night in Philadelphia. The comments on the presidential candidates were part of a wide-ranging interview that touched on crime in Baltimore, the trials of the police officers involved in Freddie Grays death, the U.S. Senate race and the governors health. Asked about the high number of killings in Baltimore so far this year, Hogan said more needs to be said about and done about the crimes. We do hear a lot lately about instances of police shootings across the country, but no one is really crying out about the killings happening in Baltimore and other cities, Hogan said. The governor also repeated his position on the trials of the six officers in the police-custody death of Gray, saying that it is a waste of time and money to proceed with the final two trials. The prosecutor has not obtained a conviction in the first four trials. While Hogan is staying out of the presidential race, he said he is doing what he can to help House of Delegates Minority Whip Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore County) defeat U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) to capture the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.). Hogan, who endorsed Szeliga last week, called Szeliga a good leader and said it would be a problem to have a congressional delegation without any women. Do we want a career Washington liberal Democrat or someone in there to fight to make a difference? he asked. Hogan also gave an update on his health. He said his tests continue to show no sign of cancer. Hogan was diagnosed last year with Stage 3 non-Hodgkins lymphoma and received chemotherapy for months. In November, tests revealed that he was in remission. He said he is feeling good and starting to drop some of the weight he gained while on steroids during his treatment. Former Maryland governor Martin OMalley (D), a former 2016 presidential hopeful, speaks during a panel discussion at the National Press Club in May. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Former Maryland governor and presidential hopeful Martin OMalley (D) made his first public appearance of the Democratic National Convention late Monday, urging Democrats from his state to defeat Republicans in the general election but not mentioning Hillary Clinton. OMalley, who also served two terms as mayor of Baltimore, showed up about midnight at a late-night reception in his honor at the Hilton Penns Landing hotel. He was quickly surrounded by members of the Maryland delegation and their guests, many of them still buzzing over the first-night convention speeches by first lady Michelle Obama and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (Vt.). [Michelle Obamas passionate defense of Hillary Clinton] In a speech, he talked about progressive actions that he and the Democratic-controlled General Assembly in Maryland pursued during his tenure, including efforts to expand access to higher education, clean up the Chesapeake Bay and help the working poor get ahead. I want to encourage you in every single way to, please, spread the word of the good things we did in our state, said OMalley, who until this week has declined interview requests and mostly stayed out of the spotlight since ending his presidential campaign in early February. Martin OMalley at a town hall forum in Des Moines in January. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) These next three months might be the most important in our lives as citizens of the United States in terms of exercising our franchise, understanding where people are coming from with their anger and fear and apprehension, and transforming that. During his campaign, OMalley accused the Democratic National Committee of not holding enough debates. In a brief interview before his speech early Tuesday, he said neither major political party gives underdog candidates a fair shot at winning a nomination. They never write the rules in such a way to help challengers, he said. But he added that Mondays convention proceedings, highlighted by passionate and sometimes emotional addresses by Michelle Obama and Sanders, served as a turning point that should help unify the party. [Balz: A high-wattage first night for the Democrats] OMalley waited until last month to endorse Clinton. He dropped out of the Democratic race after garnering less than 1 percent of the partys vote in the Iowa caucuses. Despite years courting that states Democratic base, he failed to gain as much traction as Clinton, widely perceived as the establishment favorite, or Sanders, a former independent and self-described democratic socialist who drew widespread appeal at a time when much of the electorate seemed to favor outsider candidates. OMalley was scheduled to speak to delegates from Iowa on Tuesday morning and New Hampshire later this week. He will speak from the convention podium Wednesday night. But his political intentions if any exist are unclear. Several of the former governors staff members said he is probably hoping to maintain ties in those states, where he earned the respect of many grass-roots organizers during his time sowing the seeds of a campaign. Others said he could be a prime candidate to replace Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who has said she will resign later this week after an email breach that exposed messages suggesting top members of the organization colluded to help Clinton win the partys nomination. [Leaders humiliation underscores party divide] I think theres a general interest in seeing him succeed Wasserman Schultz, said Maryland Del. C. William Frick (D-Montgomery). He ran against Hillary Clinton, so he cant be accused of being in her camp. After this weekend, no one wants someone who is hyperpartisan. Cheryl Everman, a Clinton delegate from Carroll County, said she and members of other state delegations agreed during Mondays convention proceedings that OMalley is well qualified to serve as chairman. Its because of his experience, she said. He was head of the Democratic Governors Association, he has a 50-state network and a progressive record. He also has that understanding of the common man that we need. OMalley whose handpicked successor as governor was defeated in 2014 by Republican Larry Hogan said he would gladly serve as chair of the national committee if Clinton asked him to do so. But he added that its really up to her its her prerogative. Alluding to reports that Moscow was behind the embarrassing DNC email breach, he called the incident a Russian thing to help Republican nominee Donald Trump that should serve as a wake-up call for the party committee. He also raised the possibility of foreign interference in a U.S. election. They need to protect our voting records, because the Russians could do a lot of mischief, he said. Heres a Republican candidate who says we should condition our commitment to NATO, and Putin comes in, hacks the DNC on the eve of our convention, and Im just shocked that people arent more outraged by it. When asked for his impressions of Trump, OMalley called the candidate a fascist and said he could not recall a candidate who had stooped lower in order to win a partys nomination. A lot of us are hurt, were worried, were working harder and earning less, he said. In that sort of atmosphere, fascists like Donald Trump can prey on peoples fears and their anger, but fear and anger never built a great country. There has been widespread criticism of excessive force used by Central Armed Police Force ( CAPF) especially CRPF which has been deployed to tackle law and order in Kashmir Valley. By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: Almost a week after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh told Lok Sabha that his ministry would set up an expert committee to look into possible alternatives to pellet guns as non-lethal weapons, a seven-member expert committee was constituted under the chairmanship of TVSN Prasad, Joint Secretary, Police Modernisation in Ministry of Home Affairs. The committee will submit its report within two months to the home minister. advertisement The expert panel includes an Inspector General from CRPF Atul Karwal who is currently posted in Srinagar and a Professor from IIT Delhi, Dr Naresh Bhatnagar, Rajeev Krishna, IG (Ops.), BSF, Rajesh Kumar, IPS, Jammu and Kashmir Police, Tushar Tripathy, IOFS, DDG, Small Arms, OFB, Dr. Manjit Singh, Director, TBRL, Chandigarh. There has been widespread criticism of excessive force used by Central Armed Police Force ( CAPF) especially CRPF which has been deployed to tackle law and order. More than 3600 civilians and security forces have been hurt in clashes after death of Hizbul Commander Burhan Wani. At least 150 people have suffered serious injuries in the eyes due to fire from pellet guns. Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) while rejecting the move by Jamaat-Ud-Dawah ( JUD), the charitable wing of anti-India terror group Lashkar-E-Taiba (LET) which announced a team of 30 doctors from Muslim Medical Mission to apply for Indian visa to visit Kashmir valley to treat civilians. Seeing this as a mere posturing and a direct provocation, a top official of MHA said that "We do not believe in sectarian groupism were enough team of doctors in India, a clear indication that this move was not welcome," a precursor to rejection of visa to the applicants. Avoid using pellet guns: Rajnath Singh to security forces in Kashmir CRPF Chief expresses regret over injuries due to pellet guns --- ENDS --- Outside a Giant Food market in Germantown, Md., in November, Robin Ficker tries get some of the 10,000 signatures of registered voters he needs to get a term-limits amendment on the ballot. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) A former Rockville City Council member and Democratic activist says he will lead an effort to defeat a term-limits charter amendment that is expected to be on the Montgomery County ballot in November. Tom Moore, who served two terms on the Rockville council, said he will organize a political committee to raise funds and campaign against a measure that would limit County Council members and the county executive to three consecutive terms in office. Its bad policy, a bad idea, said Moore, who contends that such limits would only increase the influence of lobbyists and unelected county staffers. When I talk to the people about their government, no one says, I wish the lobbyists and staff were more in charge, he said. Republican lawyer Robin Ficker is spearheading a drive to collect the 10,000 signatures of registered voters required to place the term-limits proposal on the 2016 ballot. Ficker said Tuesday that he plans to submit about 15,000 signatures to county officials by the Aug. 8 deadline. [In Marylands most populous county, could term limits finally win?] If term limits were approved, five of the County Councils nine seats would change hands after the 2018 elections. County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), currently serving his third term, would also be forced out of office, although that issue may be moot because he is unlikely to seek a fourth term, even without term limits. Ficker, a veteran of numerous charter amendment campaigns including a successful 2008 initiative requiring a council supermajority for major property tax increases was dismissive of Moores efforts. I think Moore is less in this case, he quipped. Whats he ever done? Wheres he ever been successful? Ficker has run for local, state and federal offices at least nine times since 1972, winning a single term in the House of Delegates in 1978. Moore, who lost a 2014 County Council race, expressed confidence that he could put together an effective anti-term-limits coalition with help from labor and other elements of the Democratic Partys progressive wing. He said the proposed amendment is Fickers way of overturning election results and ending the careers of a lot of successful public servants. There are signs of other opposition beginning to form. Paul Bessel, a Montgomery lawyer and chair of the countys Charter Review Commission, has challenged Ficker to a debate in the fall. Ficker said he will accept. The commission is a bipartisan body appointed by the council to report on possible changes to the charter every other year. In its most recent report, released last month, the commission did not endorse term limits but included the topic on a list of potential areas of study. [Term limits proposal would oust a majority of Montgomery County Council] Bessel, a Democrat, said he would be debating Ficker strictly as a private citizen. The five council members who would be immediately affected by term limits are: Roger Berliner (D-Potomac-Bethesda) and Marc Elrich (D-At Large), each serving a third term; Nancy Floreen (D-At Large) and George L. Leventhal (D-At Large), currently serving fourth terms; and council member Nancy Navarro (D-Mid-County), first elected in May 2009 to fill the unexpired term of the late council member Don Praisner and then elected to two full terms. Seven Maryland counties, including Prince Georges and Anne Arundel, have some form of term limits for elected officials. In addition, the governor can serve no more than two terms in office. Ficker tried in 2000 and 2004 to limit council members and the executive to two consecutive terms. While opponents are trying to paint the amendment as a Republican measure, he said the signatures he has collected show significant Democratic support a reflection of discontent, he said, over the recent property tax increase. He did not offer specific numbers. The county Board of Elections has 20 days to verify the names after they are submitted. If at least 10,000 are found to be valid, opponents will then have 10 days to request a review in circuit court. If the court affirms the signatures, the measure will be placed on the ballot. John F. Pontius, a Washington tour guide, Air Force security specialist, archives technician and a recovering alcoholic who made it a major mission of his life to help other alcoholics get sober in the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, died July 16 at his home in the District. He was 81. The cause was heart disease and related complications, said his wife, Ruth C. Pontius. At the age of 43 in March 1978, Mr. Pontius quit drinking and at the order of his doctor entered a 28-day alcoholic rehabilitation program. He had already suffered one heart attack. He was weakened and in a wheelchair. When friends wheeled him into the rehab facility, an admitting nurse looked down at him and asked, Does it walk? Mr. Pontius would later tell friends. For the next 38 years, he never took another alcoholic drink. To recovering alcoholics, he became widely known as a sponsor and mentor at the hundreds of AA meetings in church basements, office buildings, clubs and even bar rooms throughout the Washington area. He organized and attended annual retreats for recovering alcoholics, including one in Buckeystown, Md., for older men, which came to be known colloquially as the Old Farts Weekend. John Frederick Pontius was born in Canton, Ohio, on Oct. 25, 1934, and grew up in Charlotte, N.C. He attended Tennessees Sewanee: The University of the South and served nine years in the Air Force, learning to speak Arabic and Russian. He was a voice intercept processing specialist, monitoring and transcribing Egyptian and Russian communications from U.S. posts in Crete and England. Later he was an archives specialist at the National Archives, Library of Congress, American Film Institute and the George C. Marshall Foundation. In the 1980s, he was a counselor and community relations specialist at the Meadows Recovery Center in Gambrills, Md., and at Chit Chat Farms recovery facility in Wernersville, Pa. From 1994 until his death, Mr. Pontius was a tour guide with the Guide Service of Washington. He was a former senior warden of Christ Episcopal Church in Washington. Survivors include his wife of 48 years, Ruth Campbell Pontius of Washington; and a son, Nick Pontius of Alexandria. Mr. Pontius drove a car with the license tag AA 78, commemorating the year in which he had his last drink. The detectives asked their questions gingerly. Beside them, in the living room of his modest home in Montgomery County, was a defensive 81-year-old who had once analyzed missile systems for the Air Force. I was an engineer, he said, his voice rising. I did high mathematics, differential calculus, integral calculus. All that stuff. All kinds of special statistical processing. And now Im sitting here and you people are treating me like Im an idiot. Also in the room was the 56-year-old woman detectives believed was stealing his money. Phanta Daramy, a nursing aide, had approached the man at a grocery store and gone on to befriend him, bank with him and marry him, all within seven days, and not more than two weeks before the detectives were sitting on the couch. Phanta Daramy was sentenced Monday to two years inprison and ordered to repay more than $65,000 to her victim. (Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office) She had already bilked him of more than $50,000. And as the questions grew more pointed, Daramy hijacked the interview. I never said, Sign this check for me, or Do this, she said. No, I dont have to do that. Love is blind. Love has no age number. This man is not an incompetent man. If he was, he would be in a home. On Monday, the case against Daramy ended when Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Anne K. Albright sentenced her to two years in prison and ordered her to repay $65,951 to the victim, who now is under the care of legal guardians. Albright said she was striking a balance between the victims vulnerability and Daramys lack of criminal convictions. Daramy also did not physically neglect or abuse the victim, the judge said. Prosecutors had sought a sentence of at least five years. Daramys attorney said she should get less than a year. The victim had been diagnosed not only with dementia but depression over the loss of his first wife, to whom he was married for more than 50 years. Daramy spoke in court Monday for 34 minutes, professing her innocence. She also described the pain she said she had suffered growing up in war-torn Liberia. Your honor, I have never stolen a dime from no one, ever, Daramy said. She was convicted in a trial in May. She blamed that, in part, on the victim not being able to tell his full story from the witness stand. This is my first marriage ever in my life, Daramy said. I believe it was the intervention of Gods anointing, and my destiny. I never went looking for my husband. She told the judge she loved her husband and said I know and believe my husband loves her in return. Daramy spent some of the money on jewelry, and authorities said she tried to steal an additional $80,000 from him but was halted by alert banking officials. The victim had even more at least $150,000 in savings that she could have gotten, said Robert McCarthy, a lawyer now serving as the guardian of the victims money. She was trying to pick him clean, McCarthy said. The swiftness with which Daramy targeted and stole from the victim who has since been moved to an assisted-living facility is emblematic of how thieves increasingly target older people who are not only trusting and confused but living alone and craving company. Its all about vulnerability, said Bob Blancato, national coordinator of the Elder Justice Coalition. And thats why were so concerned about the isolation of older people. In 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 46 percent of women 75 and older and 23 percent of men that age lived alone. That is an element of these crimes staring straight at us, Blancato said. Last week in Montgomery County, Jose Bacon, 59, was sentenced to seven years for stealing money from a 95-year-old wheelchair-dependent neighbor who had never married and had no children. Also pending in the legal system: charges of theft of more than $400,000 against a Rockville man who prosecutors say preyed on an 82-year-old neighbor after driving a wedge between him and family members and preying on the mans fear of living in a nursing home. In the Daramy case, the victim was born in New York, served in the Air Force and went on to work for a government contractor in Montgomery County, according to court records and to David Entsminger, a longtime friend. Entsminger used to joke that his friend was so frugal that while renovating part of his house, he removed the drywall, made his repairs and put the same drywall back on rather than purchase new materials. The mans first wife died in July 2014. It was in September 2015 that he was at a Giant grocery store in Aspen Hill where he met Daramy, according to authorities. She was convicted of exploitation of a vulnerable adult, exploitation of a vulnerable adult older than 68, and a theft scheme of more than $10,000. Two former Virginia Tech students have been indicted in the killing of Nicole Lovell, a middle school student. Here is what you need to know about the case. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post) Two former Virginia Tech students have been indicted in the killing of Nicole Lovell, a middle school student. Here is what you need to know about the case. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post) A grand jury indicted two former Virginia Tech students on first-degree murder and other charges Tuesday in the high-profile killing of 13-year-old Blacksburg resident Nicole Lovell, a prosecutor said. The Montgomery County, Va., grand jury returned the indictments against David Eisenhauer of Columbia, Md., and Natalie Keepers of Laurel, Md., both 19, after hearing a little more than an hour of testimony about the January slaying. Authorities allege that Eisenhauer and Keepers hatched a plan to kill Lovell and that Eisenhauer lured Lovell from her Blacksburg home on a cold January night and stabbed her in a wooded area. Prosecutors allege that Eisenhauer and Keepers then dumped Lovells body. [Va. Tech freshman charged with killing Nicole Lovell] Authorities have not disclosed a motive in the case, but two law enforcement officials previously told The Washington Post that Eisenhauer had an inappropriate relationship with Lovell. A friend said Lovell had hoped to run away with Eisenhauer and start a family. Lovells disappearance on Jan. 27 prompted a major search and generated headlines across the nation. Her body was discovered Jan. 30 in an area not far from the Virginia-North Carolina border. Prosecutors have said the freshmen engineering majors carefully plotted details of Lovells killing over the course of January, even discussing it at a local restaurant. Authorities said Lovell and Eisenhauer met online, and a neighbor told the New York Times that Lovell showed her messages on the app Kik and said she was sneaking out that night to meet someone named David. After Lovell vanished, prosecutors said detectives combed through her social media accounts, where Lovell had sought solace from bullying at her Blacksburg middle school. They discovered that Lovell had exchanged messages with Eisenhauer around 12:40 a.m. on the day she disappeared. When confronted by authorities, Eisenhauer initially denied killing Lovell, but he later admitted his role in her slaying. Prosecutors said Keeperss role in killing Lovell was particularly chilling because she did not know the girl. At an earlier court hearing, one said Keepers was excited to be part of something secretive. [Keepers was excited to be part of something secretive] Eisenhauer was a standout runner in high school, and Keepers had dreams of working for NASA. They had become close friends at Virginia Tech. The grand jury indicted Eisenhauer on counts of abduction and first-degree murder in Lovells killing and added a charge of concealing a body. Keepers was indicted on charges of being an accessory to first- degree murder before and after the fact, as well as improperly disposing of a body. Their trial dates were set for next March. An attorney for Eisenhauer did not immediately return a call for comment. Keeperss attorney declined to comment. Both could face up to life in prison if convicted on all charges. Both are being held without bond. According to the Alexandria, Va., police department, one of their officers was denied service at Noodles & Company on July 25. The restaurant said it's investigating the report. (Video: WUSA9, Photo: Evy Mages/For The Washington Post) According to the Alexandria, Va., police department, one of their officers was denied service at Noodles & Company on July 25. The restaurant said it's investigating the report. (Video: WUSA9, Photo: Evy Mages/For The Washington Post) An Alexandria police officer was denied service Monday evening at a local Noodles & Company, according to the department. Crystal Nosal, a spokeswoman for the department, said the female officer in uniform went into the Duke Street location of the chain restaurant for dinner and stood in line behind a family. A female cook came out from the back of the restaurant and told the cashier, You better pull me off the line, because Im not cooking for, then gestured at the officer, according to Nosal. Nosal said the cashier looked confused before spotting the officer and laughing. The officer then said, according to Nosal, I guess you dont want my money, and left. Police Chief Earl Cook went to the restaurant Tuesday and spoke to the management. They had not finished their internal investigation, yet, Cook said, but the manager apologized for what occurred. I just wanted to have a conversation. . .and get back onto a normal business relationship, Cook said. Nothing like has happened in the city before to his knowledge. Im extremely disappointed; you dont want your officers treated in this manner, he said. We have a very supportive business community thats the last thing I would have expected to happen. He said that given recent anger directed toward police across the country, we are all sensitized to being careful and being safe. He said he thought the officer handled the situation perfectly by simply leaving the restaurant. Alexandria police union representative Pete Feltham told Fox5 that the business has agreed to put a sign in its window supporting the pro-police Blue Lives Matter movement. In a statement, Noodles & Company said the restaurant is working with the appropriate authorities and local police association representatives to get to the bottom of, and resolve this matter as quickly as possible. The company is reaching out to the officer but has not spoken to her yet, according to the statement. Clif Powell holds a photo of his uncle, Alonzo Jackson, who was shot and killed during a carjacking last week in Prince Georges County. (LaVendrick Smith/The Washington Post) The District man charged in Wednesdays fatal carjacking of a 68-year-old retired Safeway worker was on pre-trial release from jail in connection with another case in which D.C. police spotted him in a pick-up truck allegedly stolen at gunpoint, court files show. Demarko Wheeler, 24, of the 2000 block of Stanton Road SE, was arrested Sunday and charged in Maryland with first- and second-degree murder in the shooting of 68-year-old Alonzo Jackson as Jackson was pumping gas around 7 a.m. Wednesday in the 4900 block of Marlboro Pike in Capitol Heights. His black 2015 Dodge Charger was taken from the gas station and was later found burned and abandoned in the District. [District man arrested in fatal carjacking of 68-year-old] Wheeler, who county officials said was 20 when they announced his arrest, stood in front of a D.C. Superior Court judge Monday and was told Maryland officials planned to extradite him within three days to Prince Georges County to face charges in the shooting death of Jackson. On July 13, Wheeler had been arrested in connection with a stolen-car case in the District. Demarko Wheeler ( Prince George's County Police Department) Wheeler was arrested after police found him inside a pick-up truck that officers stopped after they said it ran a stop sign in the 1700 block of Savannah Street SE, records in the arrest state. Police discovered that the pick-up truck had been stolen from its owner a day earlier, they said in court files. The truck owner told D.C. police his assailant had approached him in the early-morning hours and brandished a gun, according to court records. When police stopped Wheeler after allegedly running the stop sign, according to court documents, he told the officers the truck belonged to his grandfather. Wheeler was scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Aug. 25 on a charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle as detectives continued to determine who brandished the gun in that incident. As a condition of Wheelers release from jail in the July 13 case, D.C. Magistrate Judge Renee Raymond the same judge whom Wheeler stood before Monday ordered Wheeler to return to court for his next hearing and to also undergo a mental evaluation. After Wednesdays fatal shooting of Jackson, county police had posted a brief video clip online Friday of a man they described as a suspect in the killing. They also said that a $25,000 reward was being offered and said that a citizen tip had helped lead to the arrest of Wheeler. Wheeler is expected to appear in Prince Georges County court by Thursday. Lynh Bui contributed to this report. Dozens of D.C. firefighters were called to put out a fire burning across roof top decks of an apartment building in the 1300 block of 12th Street NW, D.C. There were no injuries, but at least eight families were displaced. (D.C. Fire Dept.) Dozens of D.C. firefighters were called to put out a fire burning across roof top decks of an apartment building in the 1300 block of 12th Street NW, D.C. There were no injuries, but at least eight families were displaced. (D.C. Fire Dept.) More than 100 firefighters battled a fire that swept across several rooftop decks of an apartment house in Northwest Washingtons Logan Circle neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon. Three firefighters were tranported to a hospital, and 12 residents were displaced, D.C. Fire and EMS officials said in a tweet. The fire broke out shortly before 4 p.m. as temperatures in the District soared to 96 degrees sending smoke and flames into the air above the third floor of the building in the 1300 block of 12th Street NW. Firefighters pouring water from the top of aerial ladders extinguished the bulk of the fire by 4:45 p.m., but they continued at 5:15 p.m. to put out fire inside the building. Fire officials said some fire spread to an adjacent home. A firefighter twisted his ankle, officials said, and a dog was rescued and rushed to an emergency veterinarian clinic with serious injuries. Two of the firefighters were taken to a hospital for heat-related reasons, the tweet said. Spectators gather as firefighters work a two-alarm fire on the roof of a three-story apartment building in the 1300 block of 12 ST NW. (Peter Hermann/The Washington Post) Several streets in the area were closed during the evening rush hour, including 13th Street between Logan Circle and M Street NW and 12th Street between M and N streets. [Streets closed around Logan Circle for apartment fire] Vito Maggiolo, a spokesman for the fire department, said the fire started on the roof along decks, though the precise cause remains under investigation. He said flames hit a propane tank attached to a grill, causing it to explode as firefighters were training water on the flames. There are eight apartments in the building, and several have decks on the roof. Linda Lee, who lives in a ground-floor apartment with her husband, said she heard popping sounds and saw flames reflected in a neighbors window. I just ran outside, said Lee, standing with other displaced residents outside a corner store. Were all kind of upset. We just lost our home. A man who lived on the top floor said he also heard popping sounds and went up to the deck. I saw a chair on fire and I got out of there, said the man, who declined to give his name. Another occupant was outside without his shoes; another was sitting under a tree holding a cat. Gregory M. Dean, chief of the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services department, said the fire went to two alarms, drawing about 100 firefighters. It was due to the heavy smoke and fire, Dean said, as well as the heat, which forced commanders to frequently rotate firefighters in and out of service to avoid over-exertion. Maggiolo said the buildings roof and third floor were badly damaged by the fire. The other floors had extensive water and some water damage, he said. It was not immediately clear whether any of the occupants could return there on Tuesday. Jason Samenow contributed to this report. Scientists have long sought to explain why Alzheimers Disease strikes women so much more often than men. Among the 5.2 million Americans 65 and over who have the devastating brain disease, nearly two thirds are women. A common explanation is that women live longer and therefore have more time to come down with the illness, which largely afflicts older people. But it may be that fewer men are being accurately diagnosed and that more attention should be paid to younger patients, according to new data presented Tuesday at the annual Alzheimers Association International Conference in Toronto. [Complex jobs and social engagement appear to help ward off Alzheimers] Looking at the State of Floridas brain bank, researchers at the Mayo Clinic found Alzheimers in 1,625 of 2,809 people who had donated their brains for autopsies. The donors were almost equally divided: 51 percent men and 49 percent women. But contrary to what has been seen in the general population, the Alzheimers cases in the brain bank were much more evenly divided: 54 percent of cases were women and 46 percent were men. The researchers believe some crucial differences in the cases may help explain the difference, and illuminate why women receive so many more diagnoses than men. The women in the study were older when the disease hit and had more typical symptoms, such as memory loss. The men were younger when they got Alzheimers, had a shorter disease duration, and more commonly had atypical symptoms. It is hard to diagnose the disease in people under 70, according to Melissa Murray, an assistant professor at the Mayo Clinics department of neuroscience, who presented the study. Rather than suffering from memory loss, younger patients often present with behavior, motor, or language problems, which can lead to misdiagnoses and inappropriate treatment. If you dont know what the disease is then you cant give even the modicum of treatment that we have available, Murray said, noting that symptoms in men are often mistaken for cortico-basal syndrome, frontotemporal dementia, or other conditions. The study also found that the disease attacks different areas of the brain in men and women. In men, it spreads more quickly and more commonly attacks the cortex, which is responsible for behavior, language, and motor skills. In women, the spread is slower and the disease more typically attacks the hippocampus, leading to memory problems a classic sign of Alzheimers. The researchers plan to further investigate how hormonal differences, lifestyle risk factors, and womens longevity, or survivor bias, may affect the course of the disease in men and women. Men may lack protective factors for Alzheimers Disease, so they may get it at younger ages, Murray said. Heather Snyder, the Alzheimers Associations senior director of medical and scientific operations, said the study offered an interesting perspective on understanding the reasons for the sex disparity in diagnoses. Comparing Alzheimers detection to the prevention of heart attacks, which can have different symptoms in women than in men, she added, Is it biology, is it genetics, or are there difference in care that we need to be aware of? Conference participants also presented updates on research suggesting that clinicians will soon be able to use simple smell and eye tests to detect cognitive impairment and Alzheimers. It is currently only possible to clinically detect Alzheimers after significant brain damage has already taken place. Brain imaging and spinal taps that can show the amyloid buildup associated with Alzheimers in pre-symptomatic people are costly and invasive. But research increasingly shows that difficulty with identifying odors in a simple and inexpensive scratch-and-sniff test may be a reliable predictor of cognitive decline. In a study of 397 older people presented at the conference on Tuesday, researchers at the Columbia University Medical Center found that those with low odor identification scores were more than three times more likely to have memory decline than those with high scores. Changes in and around the eye may also be predictors of the disease, according to a study out of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Moorfields Eye Hospital and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology in London. Using a bank of 33,000 United Kingdom residents registered with the National Health Service, researchers found that those with retinal nerve fiber layer thinning were significantly more likely to experience poor cognitive function. Another study, out of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, showed that amyloid deposits in human and dog retinas could be detected with an inexpensive and noninvasive polarized light test that did as well as more invasive imaging. The findings support earlier studies showing correlation between smell and eye tests and cognitive decline. A Pepco ad from The Washington Post in 1906 touts the benefits of electric light. The ad is in the archives at Pepco headquarters in Washington. (John Kelly/The Washington Post) Let there be light. Also, let there be air conditioning, WiFi, toasters and microwave ovens, refrigerators with ice and water dispensers, vacuum cleaners, curling irons . . . And streetcars. Dont forget the streetcars. Theyre sort of the reason we have all those other nifty and now essential electric appliances in Washington-area homes in the first place. The Potomac Electric Power Co. Pepco to you and me was founded in 1896 primarily to provide electricity to the Districts streetcars. Those streetcars are gone, but Pepco is still around. Company bigwigs recently invited me to their Ninth Street NW headquarters to look at Pepcos archives. A PR blitz as they await approval for a rate increase? Maybe, but even so, it was an opportunity I couldnt pass up. Id been wanting to ask a question: Since youve now merged with Exelon, will the name Pepco be phased out? No, said Dave Velazquez, president and CEO of Pepco Holdings. Our view, even before the merger, was that we never wanted to change the name. We have over 100 years of history of the name in the marketplace. . . . If you have a name that has 100 percent name recognition, thats been around 100 years, if you were in the branding business, you would never give that up. And we feel the same way. Dave said hes fascinated by the history of electrification. Although Pepco was founded 120 years ago to power the machinery that kept the streetcars running, other markets were ripe for disruption. Gas jets were a crude means of lighting a house or a street corner. Dave Velazquez, president and CEO of Pepco Holdings, said the Pepco name will not be phased out as a result of the merger with Exelon. (John Kelly/The Washington Post) The first electric lights in Washington werent Pepcos. Various outfits Heisler, Brush, U.S. Electric Lighting Co. installed arc light systems in the capital in the late 1870s, wrote William O. Beck in a Pepco history published in 1996. Arc lights electricity jumps between carbon rods were an illumination breakthrough, but they could be balky, dangerous and, paradoxically, too bright. The answer was the incandescent bulb, perfected by Thomas Edison, and the complex grid necessary to keep many bulbs glowing. As a 1906 Pepco ad in The Washington Post put it: One of the most pleasing features of Electric Lighting Service is the convenience with which it is operated. A turn of the key or a slight pressure on a wall switch, and your room, your hall, or your whole home is brightly and cheerfully illuminated. No more hunting in the dark for a match. No more feeling of timidity when entering your home at night. Electric Light will save you steps, preserve your temper, and give you endless comfort. Temper preservation: Thats not something electric utilities tout today. Pepcos archives include examples of what was and of what might have been. In the latter category are blueprints for a coal-powered power plant briefly considered for where the Jefferson Memorial is today. If it had been built, piloting a pedal boat in the Tidal Basin would be a different experience today. Theres a neat, handmade paperback book from 1921, marked as the property of a Mr. Sinclair. It depicts in detail the underground electric lines near Dupont Circle, useful if, like Mr. Sinclair, you were a Pepco worker and sometimes had to restore power to a streetcar there. Theres an 1891 letter from President Benjamin Harrison asking Congress to think about ways to bring power to the District. Theres a hard hat emblazoned with Reddy Kilowatt, the lightning-bolt-bodied mascot used for decades by many U.S. power companies. Theres a service order from 1945 when an electric range was installed in the White House. There are issues of the company newsletter, the Pepconian. Theres a sepia-toned photo of proud Pepco linemen. At their ankles are the dewclaws of a power company line crew: those climbing spikes. A sign outside Pepco headquarters in Washington. (John Kelly/The Washington Post) Those guys still have to be able to climb a [utility] pole today, Dave said. Safetys improved a lot. Now they wear a belt so if the spikes slip out cut out, they call it it will grab, so you dont fall all the way down the pole. When electricity first came to Washington, potential customers had to be told what it was and what it could be used for. Now we take it for granted. The whole world used to go to sleep at 9 oclock at night, Dave said. What could you do? You couldnt see. Thomas Edison said, Let there be light. And there was light. Also: air conditioning. Twitter: @johnkelly For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said the Balfour declaration was a "fateful promise from the ones who don't own to the ones who don't deserve." By AP: The Palestinian National Authority (PLA) president, Mahmoud Abbas says he will sue Great Britain over the 1917 Balfour Declaration and its support for a Jewish national home in the Holy Land. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki made the announcement on behalf of Mahmoud Abbas at Monday's opening of the Arab League summit in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott. Malki said the suit would be filed in an international court. advertisement THE BALFOUR DECLARATION The Balfour Declaration laid the vision for the future state of Israel and sparked waves of Jewish migration to the British mandate in Palestine. Israel declared its independence in 1948 after the mandate expired and won a subsequent war against its Arab adversaries. Malki said the declaration was a "fateful promise from the ones who don't own to the ones who don't deserve." Signed by British Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur James Balfour in 1917, the declaration was seen as giving the Zionist movement official recognition and backing on the part of a major power, on the eve of the British conquest of the then-Ottoman territory of Palestine. The decision, al-Malki said, "gave people who don't belong there something that wasn't theirs." ALSO READ: In pictures: Gaza bombings intensify Israel-Palestine conflict --- ENDS --- Virginias tepid economy is hampering efforts in the states largest school system to give public school teachers the salary increases they have been demanding for years, officials said Tuesday. In a letter to be sent to Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) this week, Fairfax County leaders expressed concern about projections that state funding to the county will fall $4.4 million short of the $16.8 million expected for teacher salaries a small but key component in what were bitter budget negotiations with county school officials this year. [This model of suburban living is starting to fray] It goes without saying that when they adopt their budget, we adopt our budget, said Supervisor Jeff C. McKay (D-Lee), who introduced a motion to send the letter that was unanimously approved. There are major financial implications here if this funding does not make its way through to teacher pay. The lower amount of expected state funding stems from a $266 million negative balance in Virginias fiscal 2016 budget, which McAuliffes administration attributed to lower-than-expected payroll and sales-tax receipts. Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Karen Garza. (Shamus Ian Fatzinger/Fairfax County Times ) In May, the governors office ordered state agencies to trim spending to address the deficit. Although the difference in state funding seems relatively paltry in relation to the $2.7 billion school budget, it nonetheless frustrated Fairfax supervisors, who have long complained that state funding for local schools is meager. Earlier this year, the Board of Supervisors factored in the anticipated state funding to reach an agreement with school officials for teacher raises, part of an effort to keep teachers in the countrys 10th-largest school system from leaving for higher-paying jobs. The county, which funds most of the school budget, also increased residential property taxes by an average of $304 per year in adopting its spending plan for fiscal 2017. It would be unfortunate for us to come up short because of the states projections, said Sharon Bulova (D), the boards chairman, who signed the letter asking the governor to find a way to give the county the full $16.8 million. The governors office said that McAuliffe would look at options to find extra state funding for schools, including new legislation. The Governor understands the importance of ensuring that our state employees, teachers and other state-supported public employees receive the pay they deserve for their hard work on behalf of our citizens, Christina Nuckols, a McAuliffe spokeswoman, said in a statement. He is committed to working with state lawmakers on this issue. Superintendent Karen Garzas office said it also would work to find a way to fully meet its promise to give teachers $40 million in salary increases. However, any decrease in funding from the state has a negative impact on our budget and places a greater financial burden on our county funding partners and our school division to close the gap, schools spokesman John Torre said. Se habla espanol Newly minted vice-presidential nominee Timothy M. Kaine launched a Spanish-language media tour on the first night of the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, Ed OKeefe reports. And hes promising immigration reform during the first 100 days of a Hillary Clinton presidency a vow he delivered in Spanish. Hillary is going to do that in the first 100 days of her administration, Kaine said in Spanish, according to a transcript provided by Telemundo, which planned to air the interview Monday night. She is going to make a big effort in Congress to get reform passed, and with my experience in the Senate, with bipartisan colleagues, I am going to work hard especially in Congress to help this effort, and other issues, too. The senator from Virginia learned Spanish in the early 1980s while serving as a missionary in Honduras, and he recounted to Telemundo how the country is suffering from a lot of violence right now. I hope I could help work with the governments there to support their efforts at economic development, to combat the violence. Our nations should work together to end this situation, he added. Oops Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake nearly forgot the one official thing she was expected to do in Philadelphia: gavel in the gathering. After introducing herself, welcoming attendees and calling the convention to order, Rawlings-Blake, who was announced Monday afternoon as a replacement for Debbie Wasserman Schultz, walked nearly halfway off the stage before realizing she had forgotten to pound the gavel to kick things off, reports Josh Hicks. After being prompted by a stage handler, she abruptly turned around, jogged back to the lectern and slammed the gavel with a smile, then waved with both hands to the audience. quotable Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays. Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), in an email So sorry The Democratic National Committee has officially apologized to Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) for the inexcusable remarks that surfaced in a trove of leaked emails on the eve of the convention. Interestingly, the apology was signed by interim DNC head Donna Brazile and others, but not by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), who was ousted in the wake of the controversy and had long been criticized for boosting Hillary Clintons campaign. On behalf of everyone at the DNC, we want to offer a deep and sincere apology to Senator Sanders, his supporters, and the entire Democratic Party for the inexcusable remarks made over email. These comments do not reflect the values of the DNC or our steadfast commitment to neutrality during the nominating process, Brazile and company wrote. The DNC does not and will not tolerate disrespectful language exhibited toward our candidates. Individual staffers have also rightfully apologized for their comments, and the DNC is taking appropriate action to ensure it never happens again. Its unclear if the letter will mollify Sanders devotees, who booed every mention of Clintons name as the convention got underway and led chants of Bernie! Bernie! Bernie! Trumps take Donald Trump weighed in on the DNC email controversy by slamming Clinton for dumping Wasserman Schultz, reports Jenna Johnson. So Debbie was totally loyal to Hillary. And Hillary threw her under a bus. And it didnt take her more than five minutes to make that decision, he said at a campaign event in Roanoke. Trump said that Wasserman Schultz was highly overrated but had nonetheless put her life on the line and worked very, very hard to make sure Clinton won the nomination. He said politicians are very disloyal, except for Mike Pence, the Indiana governor, whom he selected as his running mate. quotable Democracy is not at the Democratic convention. Democracy is what you have started. Green Party candidate Jill Stein to Sanderss supporters By Ankit Tyagi: The Aam Aadmi Party is gearing up to maximise its outreach for the lucrative vote bank in poll-bound states of Punjab, Goa and Gujarat by raking up issues like Dalit atrocities. The party is all set to launch separate manifestos aimed at the Dalit community for these states. The process will be started with Punjab, which has about 35 per cent vote share of the Dalits and other backward castes. The party has already initiated Dalit dialogue across the state to identify the issues of the community that will be included in the manifesto which is expected to be ready by second week of September. The AAP sources said Dalits in Punjab need special focus. They have been oppressed for long, are economically and socially backward. The previous governments have only added to their systematic degradation. To address these issues party is speaking extensively to people from the Dalit community. advertisement "Where we go, we will raise the issue of Dalits be it in Punjab or Gujarat. They are being subjected to brutal violence and such cases are only rising under PM Modi and in BJP ruled states. BJP is anti-Dalit and it reflects in the way their leaders speak and act against the community. In Punjab Badals have also adopted oppressive measures and we will fight against them," said Senior AAP leader and Punjab in-charge Sanjay Singh acknowledging his party's manifesto move. On being asked AAP indulging in caste based politics, Singh said we will do politics to save the Dalits from their bullies. SIT TO BE FORMED Apart from this AAP sources say another master stroke is Arvind Kejriwal's announcement to form Special Investigation Team to probe cases of violence and other atrocities against the Dalit community if the party comes to power. The manifesto is expected to highlight cases of atrocities, employment opportunities for the community, housing facility etc. The BJP was quick to launch a scathing attack on AAP on the Dalit issue. Party MP from Delhi Manoj Tiwari took on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and accused him of playing divisive politics. "AAP will work in a way that will divide the society. One of its MLA was caught burning pages of Holy Quran & another one disrespect women. They want to destroy the peace of nation," said Tiwari. The AAP has already launched a youth manifesto in Punjab and will follow suite in Goa. The party is also working on separate manifestos for farmers, traders and others in the state of Punjab. The same model will be replicated in Goa and Gujarat. Arvind Kejriwal's recent Gujarat visit to meet the young Dalit men and their families who were brutally assaulted by Cow protection Vigilantes in Una town has given maximum impetus to party's Dalit-centric policy. --- ENDS --- FLORIDA 2 teens killed in nightclub shooting A shooting early Monday outside a nightclub in Fort Myers, Fla., killed at least two teenagers and injured more than a dozen other people, with a 12-year-old reported to be among the wounded, authorities said. At least one person was injured in a shooting about half a mile away that police said was related to the gunfire at the club, which said it was hosting a night for teens. Officials said that 20 people were injured in the violence early Monday in Fort Myers, a city of about 74,000 people in southwest Florida. What touched off the gunfire was not immediately clear. Police said they were still investigating the shooting to determine a motive, but authorities emphasized Monday that they did not believe the bloodshed was linked to terrorism. This was not an act of terror; this was not a terrorist act, Dennis Eads, the interim police chief, said at a news conference Monday. You can put that out of your mind. Police detained three people as part of the investigation into the shooting at Club Blu, a venue about 160 miles southwest of the Orlando nightclub where a gunman killed 49 people and injured dozens of others last month. The specter of that rampage just weeks earlier loomed large over the shooting in Fort Myers, as the Orlando gunman had told police he had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The FBI said it was at the scene and ready to help with the investigation. Mark Berman and Katie Mettler CALIFORNIA Wildfire forces more evacuations A fierce California wildfire drove thousands more residents from their homes Monday as flames raged for a fourth day through drought-parched canyons and foothills north of Los Angeles. Nearly 3,000 firefighters were battling the Sand Fire, which has charred at least 50 square miles around the rugged northwestern fringes of the Angeles National Forest since it broke out on Friday, authorities said. It was only 10 percent contained Monday. Since Sunday, the blaze has engulfed an additional 11,000 acres, according to the latest figures from fire managers. At least 18 dwellings were destroyed over the weekend, and authorities have reported one fatality an unidentified man found on Saturday evening in a burned-out car parked in the driveway of a home. Plans to begin allowing some displaced residents to return to their communities were canceled late Sunday after a dangerous shift in the winds. By Monday morning evacuation orders had been expanded to about 10,000 homes, encompassing an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people, fire officials said. Reuters Man sentenced on terrorism charge: A judge on Monday sentenced a California man to 15 years in prison and supervised release for life after he acknowledged trying to aid and join the Islamic State terrorism group in Syria. Adam Dandach, 22, an Orange County native, pleaded guilty last year to attempting to provide material support to a terrorism group and lying on his passport application. Judge picks monitor for Ferguson reforms: A federal judge has chosen a monitoring team to oversee reforms of policing and the court system in Ferguson, Mo. U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry on Monday announced that Squire Patton Boggs, a law firm based in Cleveland, was chosen from four finalists to ensure that reforms are adequate in the St. Louis suburb. Ferguson officials say the cost of the monitoring will not exceed $1.25 million over five years, or $350,000 for any single year. Fergusons justice system came under scrutiny after the fatal 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown, a black 18-year-old who was unarmed. Four arrested over use of stun guns to discipline kids: Authorities in Florida said four adults have been arrested for using a stun gun to discipline children living in their home. The Polk County Sheriffs Office said Eduardo Vazquez and William Torres-Morales, both 22, were arrested Thursday on aggravated child abuse and other charges. Deputies said the suspects girlfriends, Elizabeth Tarvin, 33, and Veronica Sanchez, 32, knew about the abuse but didnt stop it. The women face charges of negligent child abuse and failure to report child abuse. From news services Barack Obamas candidacy and subsequent presidency changed forever the way we see the American presidency. Obviously, he looked different from the men who preceded him, but he also brought a different sensibility and aesthetic to the office. Some of the change was traceable to the time he rose to power, which explains the selfies and tweets, and the hip-hop references. Others felt singular to his role as the first black president. The result, in both cases, was a series of striking and novel presidential images and moments. Young, cool and black: Barack Obama at a town hall meeting in Raleigh, N.C., during his campaign. (Jae C. Hong/Associated Press) With Obamas ascent, the presidency began to look completely different from anything in memory. In this April 2008 photo taken at a town hall meeting in Raleigh, N.C., during his campaign, a confident Obama brushes some imaginary dirt off his shoulder, miming a popular hip-hop anthem and using it as a metaphor for how he deals with detractors and critics. Some of those critics would later see this kind of confidence as arrogance. In the Oval Office in 2009, President Obama bends down to allow Jacob Philadelphia to feel his hair. (Pete Souza/The White House) State of the head: First-grader Edwin Caleb touches the presidents hair during Obamas visit to Clarence Tinker Elementary School in September 2014. (Lawrence Jackson/The White House) Among the many novel fascinations about the nations first black president was his hair: its change in color over time, its length. In September 2014, the president visited Clarence Tinker Elementary School at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, where he and first-grader Edwin Caleb traded hair pats. After Edwin said he had short hair, Obama touched the boys head and said: Mine, too. Here, want to touch it? First fist bumps: The first recorded instance of a celebratory dap in American political history. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) On the night in June 2008 when he secured enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination for president, Obama addressed a crowd at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. Before the speech, he and his wife celebrated with what The Washington Post described as the fist bump heard round the world. The gesture felt so overwhelmingly black and so new in national politics that it spawned a huge debate about cultural significance. He wears his cultural blackness all over the place, observed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. Obama explained it differently: It captured what I love about my wife. Theres an irreverence about her and sense that for all the hoopla, that Im her husband and sometimes well do silly things, and yet shes proud of me and she gives me some credit once in a while that I actually pull some things off. The first night: The first couple takes the floor for the first dance at the Neighborhood Ball on Inauguration Day in 2009. (Richard A. Lipski/The Washington Post) It is hard to overstate the level of excitement that gripped Washington during Obamas first inauguration. More than 2 million people crammed onto the Mall for his swearing-in and to hear the new president say: On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics. POTUS sings the blues: Obama and B.B. King at a blues all-stars gathering in the White House East Room. (Pete Souza/The White House) President Obama has occasionally deployed his singing voice in public with soulful or spiritual music. First, it was a snippet of Al Greens Lets Stay Together at a fundraiser at the Apollo Theatre in New York in January 2012. A month later, when a group of blues all-stars gathered in the East Room of the White House for a Red, White and Blues concert, legendary guitarist Buddy Guy goaded Obama into joining in the closing number, Sweet Home Chicago. Mick Jagger handed the president the microphone, and the commander in chief crooned: Come on, baby, dont you wanna go. B.B. King joined in Same old place and the president closed out the number: Sweet home Chicago. Among some of the participants that evening were, onstage from left: Troy Trombone Shorty Andrews, Jeff Beck, Derek Trucks, Gary Clark Jr. and B.B. King. The second term: The first couple dances in 2013 after Obamas second inauguration. (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post) Calm and collected: Obama speaks at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner in Washington in April 2015 as comedian Keegan-Michael Key plays the role of Luther, Obamas anger translator. (Yuri Gripas/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) Among the most enduring critiques of the Obama presidency was an assertion that Obama was too cerebral, too emotionally distant, too aloof. For all the praise for his putative cool, there was an equal measure of criticism that he was sometimes too laid back and not angry enough. That debate produced a lot of commentary on whether Obamas slowness to anger was related to his blackness, lessons learned in the limits of black rage and whether he was avoiding being cast as the stereotypical angry black man. In a 2012 essay in the Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates framed the problem this way: Part of Obamas genius is a remarkable ability to soothe race consciousness among whites. Any black person whos worked in the professional world is well acquainted with this trick. But never has it been practiced at such a high level, and never have its limits been so obviously exposed. This need to talk in dulcet tones, to never be angry regardless of the offense, bespeaks a strange and compromised integration indeed. Obama addressed the problem most explicitly in a comedy sketch at the 2015 White House Correspondents Association Dinner, in which comedian Keegan-Michael Key appeared as Luther, his anger translator. Obama stuck to his usual dulcet tones while Key decoded the hidden anger. A Soul Plane moment: Obama talks with aides aboard Marine One on Aug. 9, 2010. (Pete Souza/The White House) This moment captured by White House photographer Pete Souza is a simple shot of the president and his top aides on Marine One, traveling from the White House to Joint Base Andrews and then on to Texas for the day. The group includes Valerie Jarrett in the far corner, with the president, Bill Burton and Patrick Gaspard all looking at Reggie Love a small group of five, every one of them black. We joked that it was Soul Plane, Burton told New York Magazine. And weve often joked about it since that it was the first time in history only black people were on that helicopter. A familiar refrain: Obama sings Amazing Grace while eulogizing the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, a South Carolina state senator, on June 26, 2015, in Charleston, S.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) Obamas June 2015 eulogy for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney in Charleston, S.C., will be remembered for Obamas singing of Amazing Grace. He was at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, also known as Mother Emanuel, to honor the nine people killed there by a young white man. But the eulogy also served as a meditation on race during his presidency. Before he broke into song, he said: None of us can or should expect a transformation in race relations overnight. Every time something like this happens, somebody says we have to have a conversation about race. We talk a lot about race. Theres no shortcut. And we dont need more talk. The eulogy sounded so much like a sermon that the minister who closed the service offered his thanks to the Reverend President. From staff reports The AAP women MLAs, along with other protestors, wanted to meet Rajnath Singh but were stopped and detained by the Delhi Police at the Akbar Road. Chandni Chowk MLA Alka Lamba launched a scathing attack on the Modi government and Rajnath Singh. By Ankit Tyagi: As many as six women AAP MLAs of Delhi protested outside Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence against the deteriorating law and order situation and the increasing crimes against women in the National Capital. MLAs Alka Lamba (Chandini Chowk), Bhavana Gaud (Palam), Pramila Tokas (R.K Puram), Sarita Singh, Vandana Kumari and Rakhi Birlan led the protest towards Singh's residence. advertisement They were joined by the supporters from AAP's youth wing. HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED AAP protestors wanted to meet the Home Minister, whose office had not confirmed any appointment. They were thus stopped and detained by the Delhi Police at Akbar road. Massive security arrangements were made by the police and the raid towards Singh's residence was barricaded. Launching a scathing attack on the Modi government and Rajnath Singh, the AAP MLA Alka Lamba said, "The Home Minister doesn't have any time to meet elected women representatives of Delhi on increasing crimes against women." Lamba added that Singh was at the BJP Parliamentary Board meeting and was not speaking to them about "the brutal rape of a little girl". After a short tussle, the police detained the protestors, who were later taken to the Parliament Street Police station. AAP has attacked the Centre in the wake of the death of a 14-year-old Dalit rape victim. The party said that while the Centre was prompt in making use of the Delhi Police to arrest legislators, it does not show the same enthusiasm in dealing with the issue of women's safety. Also Read: Major setback for Kejriwal: Another AAP MLA arrested on charges of molestation --- ENDS --- PHILIPPINES Leader declares truce with communist rebels Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared a unilateral cease-fire with communist guerrillas effective immediately Monday and asked the rebels to do the same to end decades of fighting and foster the resumption of peace talks. In his first state of the nation address, Duterte said he wanted a permanent and lasting peace before the end of his six-year term, which commenced June 30. The former mayor of Davao City, who built a name with his tough, crime-busting style, also focused on his battle against illegal drugs, threatening drug dealers anew with death. Addressing the New Peoples Army guerrillas, Duterte said, Let us end these decades of ambuscades and skirmishes. We are going nowhere and it is getting bloodier by the day. The guerrillas welcomed his move and said they would wait for a copy of his truce order before reciprocating positively. The insurgency has left about 150,000 combatants and civilians dead since erupting in the 1960s. Associated Press CHINA Officials target political, social news sites Beijing authorities have shut down several edgy news programs run by major web portals in the latest round of efforts to restrict reporting of political and social news. Citing violation of rules, the municipal office in charge of cyberspace regulations has ordered the news portals of Sina, Sohu, Netease and iFeng to end their news programs, known for more freewheeling coverage of political and social news, the state-run Beijing News reported. By law, Chinese news sites are allowed to carry political news reports only from state media. Despite clear rules against news sites having their own news-gathering teams, major news sites have formed editorial staffs to chase hot social issues and conduct investigations. In the past few years, the news sites have hired many veteran investigative journalists displaced from traditional media that have come under tighter controls, and those journalists have produced long, edgy pieces on social issues. Authorities have long turned a blind eye to news sites hiring their own staffs to report on non-sensitive news but are wary of any editorial focus on sensitive topics outside government control. Associated Press BRAZIL Last terror suspect in Olympics case arrested Police arrested the last suspect sought in the case of a group of Islamic State sympathizers who allegedly discussed attacking the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The Federal Police said late Sunday that the man was caught in the city of Comodoro, in west-central Brazil. Police said he was taken to a federal prison, but they didnt reveal his name, citing security reasons. The anti-terrorism probe was announced by authorities on Thursday when 10 Brazilians were arrested across the country. Another man turned himself in on Friday. Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes said some of the men had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State without having any personal contact with members of the militant group. The suspects also didnt know one another and communicated only via WhatsApp and Telegram. Moraes said the group was amateur and ill-prepared. The closest it got to planning an attack was an alleged attempt via email to buy an AK-47 assault rifle in a store in Paraguay. Associated Press Former top Chinese general sentenced for bribery: A Chinese military court sentenced a former top general to life in prison for taking bribes, concluding Chinas highest-level prosecution of a military figure in decades. Guo Boxiong was also stripped of his rank and forced to hand over all his assets to the government, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Guo, 74, is a former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, which is led by President Xi Jinping. U.S. Embassy in Burma apologizes for tear gas accident: The U.S. Embassy in Burma issued a public apology after a tear gas grenade accidentally exploded during a security exercise, sending fumes out onto the street and sparking rumors of a bomb. The embassy, located in Rangoon, said no one was injured. All major U.S. embassies have Marine Security Guard detachments for everyday and emergency security. Their armaments include tear gas. From news services BANGLADESH 9 militants killed in police raid in capital Police raided a den of suspected Islamist militants in Bangladeshs capital on Tuesday, killing nine men and seizing explosives, revolvers and black flags, authorities said. Officials were investigating the mens ties but evidence suggests they were from the banned local group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, said A.K.M. Shahidul Hoque, Bangladeshs police chief. JMB is blamed for the July 1 attack on a restaurant in Dhaka in which gunmen killed 20 people, including Italians and Japanese. The Islamic State asserted responsibility for the restaurant siege and previous attacks on atheist bloggers, foreigners and minority groups, but authorities have insisted that the militant organization does not have a presence in Bangladesh. Instead, the government has blamed local groups, including JMB. After police raided the building in Dhaka on Tuesday, the suspects tried to flee by shooting their way out, but police shot them as they emerged, Hoque said. One suspect was arrested, he said. Asaduzzaman Mia, Dhakas police commissioner, said police recovered grenades, revolvers, explosives, knives and two black flags in the raid. Associated Press SYRIA Rebels urged to give up as Aleppo siege tightens Syrian government forces on Tuesday called on opposition fighters in Aleppo to drop their weapons and surrender to authorities as they captured new ground on the northwestern edge of the city, tightening the siege on rebel-held parts of the metropolis, activists said. The push, in which troops seized large parts of the citys Layramoun area, came as state television reported that the General Army Command had informed residents of rebel-held areas of Aleppo via text messages that the army had created several safe passages and makeshift centers for whoever wanted to leave those areas. The military warning comes days after the army fully encircled Aleppo, setting the stage for a prolonged siege. The city has been split since 2012 into government- and rebel-controlled districts. Dozens of people have been killed in the past few weeks amid intense fighting. Associated Press Rains kill 7, displace 1.2 million in India: Heavy rains and floods have killed at least seven people and forced about 1.2 million to leave their waterlogged homes in Indias northeastern state of Assam. Troops used boats to rescue thousands of people stranded on the roofs of their homes. Vast tracts of Kaziranga National Park, home to the rare one-horned rhino, and another wildlife reserve were underwater. The Brahmaputra River and its tributaries were overflowing their banks in 18 of the states districts. Russian authorities evacuate nomads after anthrax outbreak: Russian authorities were evacuating nomadic reindeer herders and quarantining part of a Siberian region after an outbreak of anthrax killed more than 1,000 of their animals. The appearance of the bacterial disease in the Yamalo-Nenets region is the first fatal anthrax outbreak reported in Russia in 75 years. The office of the regional governor said 13 people have been hospitalized. From news services Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), outgoing chair of the Democratic National Committee, speaks during a campaign event for Hillary Clinton in Miami on July 23. (Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg) Ive spent a lot of time this year counseling Democrats, independents and establishment Republicans not to freak out. That advice still holds but barely. The release of illegally hacked Democratic National Committee emails, coming on the eve of the convention in Philadelphia, was a fiasco that the forces of truth, justice and the American way those, in other words, determined to prevent a Donald Trump presidency surely could have done without. Its not the end of the world, but yes, its a big deal. What were they thinking at the DNC? Thats not a tough question. Hillary Clinton, a leading figure in the Democratic Party for decades, was struggling to tamp down a surprisingly strong challenge from Bernie Sanders, who wasnt even a Democrat until he launched his campaign. The emails leave no doubt that some at party headquarters wanted to give Clinton a little help. The thing is, she didnt need it. Clinton beat Sanders fair and square, racking up more votes, more states and more pledged delegates. But the purloined emails, published on the WikiLeaks website, can only increase the ire and resentment of unreconciled Sanders supporters who have long complained that the fix was in. The emails show DNC officials insulting one of Sanderss top campaign aides; receiving advice from a Clinton lawyer on responding to claims that the nominating process was rigged; speaking disparagingly about big-ticket donors; and speculating about attacking Sanders because of his religion. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee said she will resign this week in the aftermath of the release of thousands of internal email exchanges among Democratic officials. (Thomas Johnson,Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post) The Clinton campaign responded swiftly, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz who was booed at an appearance Monday resigned as DNC chairwoman. The Post reported that Wasserman Schultz did not want to go and that ousting her involved a lot of drama. Which is just what the party and the nation do not need. The stakes were vividly illustrated last week by the Republican convention in Cleveland, which ended with an acceptance speech by Trump that was one of the most obscene pieces of political rhetoric we have heard in many years. Trump painted an America of his own warped imagination, a nation where violent crime is on the rise, terrorism is rampant, the economy is on life support and hordes of illegal immigrants . . . are tonight roaming free to threaten peaceful citizens. The truth is that the rate of violent crime is low, barely half what it was in the 1990s. Terrorism is a global concern that has no quick or easy solutions. The economy is in the midst of what could end up being the longest expansion on record. But large majorities of Americans tell pollsters they believe the nation is on the wrong track. It is customary for the out-of-power party in this case, the GOP to try to capitalize on such dissatisfaction. But Trump is doing so in a way that is alien to our political tradition. He does not offer the Republican Party as a solution; nor does he present a set of realistic policies or even a coherent philosophy. He offers himself. I alone can fix a broken system, Trump declared. People who work hard but no longer have a voice: I am your voice. It was a speech that could have been delivered from a balcony in a banana republic. I couldnt help but think back to the years I spent covering South America as a foreign correspondent for The Post. The politician who comes to mind is Juan Peron, the Argentine strongman whose ideology was similarly self-contradictory and whose legacy was to turn his prosperous nation into an economic and political basket case. Trumps bigotry, rashness and egomania make it inconceivable that he be allowed to take the oath of office as president. Sixteen Republican opponents tried and failed to stop him. Only Clinton can succeed which is why the DNC emails, coming after Clintons problems with her own emails, are a big deal. There is no need for conniptions over new polls that show Trump tied with Clinton or even in the lead; it is normal for any candidate to get a temporary post-convention boost. Clinton needs one, too, and probably will get it. But what Clinton needs most is for the traditional Democratic Party coalition to come together behind her candidacy. Philadelphia is supposed to launch that process, and the last thing Clinton needs is for Sanders supporters to come away still stewing about what might have been. Before the email leak, I wrote last week that Democrats had a low bar to clear this week. It has now been raised. Read more from Eugene Robinsons archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A. ONE NEED look no further than the terrible events of July to understand why Hillary Clinton is right to place issues of criminal justice, gun violence and race front and center at the convention that will make her the Democratic nominee for president. The month began with the back-to-back shooting deaths of two black men by police. Then, in a span of 11 days, eight police officers five in Dallas and three in Baton Rouge were ambushed and murdered by gunmen demented with revenge. There is too much violence and hate in our country, Ms. Clinton said in a speech this month. So she wants to open up a conversation that confronts long-standing issues that have frayed the bonds of trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. Invited to speak in Philadelphia are seven African American mothers whose childrens deaths helped fuel the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as Charles Ramsey, a former police chief in Philadelphia and the District. That Ms. Clinton wants people to place themselves in the shoes of others African American parents who have had to have the talk with their children about the potentially deadly consequences of the slightest wrong move in encounters with law enforcement, and police officers who head off to dangerous jobs not knowing if they will return to their families stands in stark contrast to the simplistic demagoguery that was on display last week at the Republican convention. There, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump offered slogans rather than solutions, shouts rather than dialogue. With the divisiveness that is trademark of his tawdry campaign, Mr. Trump sought to put people in warring camps rather than establish the common ground that police and minority communities have in improved law enforcement. The draft Democratic Party platform pays homage to the many police officers who inspire trust and confidence and employ effective strategies in fighting crime without a reliance on unnecessary force. But it also acknowledges the need for reforms, such as independent investigations of police-involved shootings, more police body cameras, a commitment to community policing, de-escalation training and an end to racial profiling. Many of these reforms have been espoused by forward-thinking police chiefs across the country, showing the fallacy of thinking that individual rights and freedoms must be trumped in the name of law and order. No discussion of law and order is complete without addressing the far-too-easy availability of guns in the United States. As Ms. Clinton pointed out in her recent speech, these are not just any guns but military-style weapons, like the ones used to slaughter the five police officers in Dallas and the three officers in Baton Rouge. You have to wonder why some who profess to be looking out for police interests have criticized Ms. Clintons speaking invitation to seven grieving mothers but havent said a peep about laws that allow the men and women who protect the public to be outgunned on Americas streets. CREDIT FOR the internecine furor that disrupted the Democratic Party on the eve of its convention should go to Vladimir Putin. As The Post has reported, cybersecurity experts say Russian intelligence operatives were likely responsible for the hacking of the Democratic National Committees computer network, as well as for leaking to the Moscow-friendly WikiLeaks website some 20,000 emails. The trove appeared online Friday, just in time to create discord between supporters of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders as they headed to Philadelphia. To no ones surprise, the emails showed that DNC staffers opposed the attempt of the socialist Mr. Sanders to take over the party. Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz was forced to announce her resignation, and as Russia likely intended Ms. Clintons campaign took a hit. Mr. Putins regime has tried to intervene in the internal politics of numerous European countries, from Ukraine and Moldova to Italy and France. But the evident attempt to meddle in a U.S. presidential election is a first. That may reflect the reckless aggressiveness Mr. Putin has embraced in foreign affairs since returning to the presidency in 2012. It likely also reveals Moscows judgment that it stands to reap a geopolitical windfall if Donald Trump is elected president. The potential benefits Mr. Trump offers to Mr. Putin have been clearly and repeatedly spelled out by the candidate himself. Russias most cherished goal is to weaken or destroy NATO; Mr. Trump has called the alliance obsolete. Mr. Putin dreams of reestablishing dominion over the pieces of the Soviet Union; Mr. Trump has said that he might not defend former Soviet republics Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania if Russia invaded, despite their NATO membership. Mr. Putin wants the United States to treat Russia as an equal superpower with its own acknowledged sphere of influence; Mr. Trump has repeatedly praised Mr. Putin and promised to work with him. This pro-Kremlin tilt is unprecedented in the Republican Party and would represent a radical and dangerous shift in U.S. policy. Whether there are non-political reasons for it is a fair question. Mr. Trump is known to have sought business repeatedly in Russia, and his son Donald Jr. has said that Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. Because Mr. Trump will not release his tax returns or business records, the full extent of his financial interests in Russia remains unclear. But at least three of Mr. Trumps top advisers have profited from business and political connections in Russia, including campaign manager Paul Manafort, who worked for the former pro-Putin president of Ukraine as well as several Russian oligarchs. One of the few changes in the GOP platform pushed by the Trump campaign was the weakening of language calling for support for Ukraines current democratic government, which replaced the man Mr. Manafort represented and which Mr. Putin is attempting to destroy. The DNC emails appeared on WikiLeaks the next week. Some political analysts doubt that KGB-style tricks will ultimately sway votes in a wide-open U.S. election especially as Moscow has barely bothered to disguise its authorship. Yet the fact that Mr. Putin is trying is remarkable and disturbing as is the motivation Mr. Trump has given him to meddle. Hillary Clinton will accept her partys presidential nomination on Thursday night, entering and departing the stage as the prohibitive favorite to win the presidency. Forget the polls showing the race neck and neck, the breathless commentators saying that Donald Trump is moving on security issues. Americans are not lining up to elect the egregious Trump, the most unpopular candidate in the modern history of presidential politics, to the presidency. But just because the race is Clintons to lose doesnt mean it cant be lost. Campaigns may not matter much, but in a deeply divided nation, they matter enough. And, at a time when two-thirds of Americans still think the country is on the wrong track, there is one critical question in this campaign: Who is the credible candidate of change? The challenge for Clinton on Thursday night is to make herself that candidate. This isnt exactly conventional wisdom. After Trumps Republican convention and his rambling, apocalyptic one hour and 15-minute acceptance diatribe, Democrats hoped to grab the center. The selection of Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine as vice-presidential nominee followed. The Democratic convention and easy slogans inclusive, socially liberal, stronger together, building bridges, not walls, advertising competence and experience contrast naturally with the Republican gathering. Beneath this is a self-satisfied confidence about demographics. The Obama coalition young, women, people of color, liberal professionals has produced majorities for two elections in a row and continues to gain in numbers. And Trump has certainly intensified the Republican isolation as a party of disgruntled aging white voters. So the Clinton campaign has scheduled the convention to celebrate progress and advertise competence. The progressive wing of the party Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) got their time on Monday, softened by Michelle Obamas appearance. Then comes Bill Clinton on Tuesday, when the big dawg will surely take a bite out of Trump but will also want to contrast his record with what came after. Then Wednesday night, President Obama will hand over the baton, after celebrating the progress made over the past eight years. And finally, Hillary Clinton will appear, teed up to promise continued reform and showcase confidence and steadiness. As a candidate of continuity, however, Clinton makes herself more vulnerable, not less. She is at risk of merely intensifying her personification of an establishment that has failed at home and abroad, unaccountable and untrusted, burdened by scandals and corruptions. Instead, Clinton would be well-advised to use her acceptance speech to go bold: using her experience and competence which voters readily salute as the basis for laying out a big agenda for change. The elements of that agenda are contained, to some extent, in the Democratic platform. She should focus on getting the economy right, taking on the rules that have rigged the economy to benefit the few and challenging the money politics and special interests that stand in the way. Clinton could creatively elevate core elements. To help build enthusiasm among Sanderss millennial voters, she should tie her jobs agenda to the imperative of addressing climate change. The transformations and innovations required to move to sustainable energy will generate jobs directly and will capture the markets that are spreading across the globe. Ensuring that the rewards of growth are widely shared appeals to Americans generally, and women in particular. Lift the floor under workers raise the minimum wage, pass paid family leave and sick days and paid vacations, guarantee equal pay for equal work, end arbitrary schedules. Empower workers to organize while curbing the ability of chief executives to literally plunder their own companies to pad their own incomes. Sanderss independent voters and workers across the industrial heartland need to hear her commitment to a new global strategy. Her belated opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership is unconvincing unless she integrates it into a broader strategy aimed explicitly at moving to balanced trade and ending our obscene trade deficits. Championing curbs on the excesses of Wall Street, breaking up banks that are too big to fail and holding bankers accountable personally for the crimes that they commit along with an aggressive agenda on money in politics are essential to answering deep and widespread doubts about her being in the pocket of the big banks. She needs to be clear that she would reject the austerity others have pushed in recent years, laying out a bold, shared security agenda tuition-free public college, expanded Social Security, opening Medicare to 55-year-olds, forcing the drug companies to negotiate bulk discounts for prescription drugs. Tie that investment in real security with progressive tax reforms closing the loopholes and outrages built into the tax code, raising rates on the rich, forcing the corporations to pay what they owe that can pay the freight. And all of these ideas face a much steeper road to reality unless we are ready to take back our government from the big money and entrenched interests. Clinton can talk, like Trump, about how she knows how this system works and how to fix it. It isnt done by bluster, but by changing our laws and changing our courts. Then lay out the bold elements that are in her platform already. On security, Clintons task is harder. Trump presents himself as both tougher on terror and as a dissenter from core elements of the failed bipartisan foreign policy consensus: corporate trade deals, NATOs imbalance and adventurism on the Russian border, regime change and more. Clinton, tied to each of these, will be tempted to defend each, while dismissing Trump as irresponsible. Surrounded by neo-conservatives and liberal interventionists, her instincts have always been to present herself as more interventionist than Obama. It is difficult to imagine her changing that posture now. What she can do, however, is demonstrate that she has learned from her experience: that America cannot afford to police the world and should not attempt to do so. That we do not want a new cold war with Russia and with China, and that finding areas of cooperation and settling areas of tension are vital going forward. It is hard to envision Trump winning an election. But voters across the country are disgusted with an establishment that Clinton personifies. Good policy cant save her. But a bold agenda for change naming names of corporate abusers, committing to real changes in contrast to Trumps bluster can help build enthusiasm and turnout. If Democrats are just offering more of the same, Trumps chances rise dramatically. Read more from Katrina vanden Heuvels archive or follow her on Twitter. Bernie Sanders supporter Michael E. Sparks, 43, of Indianapolis, Ind., sports a Bernie Sanders tattoo as he participates in a rally in front of City Hall during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 25, 2016. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) As protests go, this one was a doobie. Democrats gathering here to nominate Hillary Clinton for the presidency had some company: hundreds of Bernie Sanders supporters marching through town, escorted by a 50-foot dirigible in the form of a reefer. Berned by the DNC was the, er, joint declaration printed on the balloons side. The Bernie backers have reason to be fuming. Their man lost a hard-fought race. But on Monday, they let the fire engulf them and not even Sanders himself could escape the blaze. We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine, Sanders told his delegates Monday afternoon. Supporters of Bernie Sanders gathered outside City Hall in Philadelphia on Monday. Most vowed to never vote for Hillary Clinton, despite Sanders's encouragement to do so while speaking a few blocks away. (Alice Li,Jayne Orenstein/The Washington Post) Incredibly, they began to boo and jeer. The movement leader, no longer controlling his followers, raised his hand for quiet. Brothers and sisters! he urged. This is the real world that we live in. Trump is a bully and a demagogue. The shouts and jeers continued, followed by a chant of We want Bernie! It was just the opening to the Democratic convention that Donald Trump would have wanted. And the Bernie Bros and a few sisters werent done. They took their hooliganism to the convention floor at the Wells Fargo Center. They booed Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) when she mentioned Clinton. They did the same to AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka and Adriana Espaillat, who hopes to be the first former undocumented immigrant to win a seat in Congress. They booed Ben Jealous, former NAACP head and a Sanders supporter, when he said it was time to elect Clinton. They booed Rep. Marcia Fudge (Ohio) when she reminded them that we are all Democrats, just as they had booed House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi earlier in the day. They even booed when the Rev. Cynthia Hale, giving the opening benediction, mentioned Clintons name. For a time, they booed most every mention of Clintons name. They chanted Bernie! Bernie! and even reprised the Republicans cheer: Lock her up! Outside, they blocked the main road to the convention site and blocked buses carrying delegates relenting only when thunderstorms and flooding washed them out. That the Sanders supporters were frustrated is understandable. Clinton and the Democratic Party have given the progressive wing of the party short shrift in favor of an appeal to the political center. 1 of 58 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Photos from opening day of the Democratic National Convention View Photos Uncle Sam outfits and Feel the Bern flags descend on Philadelphia. Caption Follow along as Post photographers document the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. July 25, 2016 Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) addresses the Democratic National Convention. Michael Robinson-Chavez/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Sanders and his supporters were tucked into Monday nights programming, where they shared billing with first lady Michelle Obama and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.). The staging sent a clear message: The Sanders people would have their say and then the convention, and the campaign, would move on. Of more consequence, Clinton, after securing Sanderss endorsement, chose as her running mate Virginian Tim Kaine, who has a centrist reputation and has been a free-trader. Then there was the leak of DNC emails, which proved what Sanders had long alleged: The party was working to help Clinton defeat him. Democratic National Committee Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was ousted after the email revelations, but Clinton promptly named her an honorary chair of her campaign. From a strategic perspective, this is probably a mistake. Clintons playing down of the progressives in Philadelphia comes from a belief that she can do better among the non-college-educated whites who have been the core of Trumps support. But her deficit among non-college-educated white voters, about 30 points, isnt much worse than President Obama and John Kerry did. Rather than making overtures to the shrinking ranks of blue-collar white voters (just over 30 percent of the electorate, down from half in the 1980s) who arent likely to be persuaded, Clinton could have used her vice-presidential selection and her convention to boost enthusiasm among progressives. But no slight by Clinton or the DNC justifies the display Sanders supporters put on Monday. After the initial outbursts on the floor, Sanders, who would close the night with a generous attempt at unity, pleaded during the afternoon with his supporters by text and email to desist. Our credibility as a movement will be damaged, he cautioned, and, I ask you as a personal courtesy to me to not engage in any kind of protest on the floor. The Sanders hooligans backed off a bit. But when comedian Sarah Silverman, a Sanders backer, came out to urge support for Clinton, there were more boos and chants of Bernie! Bernie! Youre being ridiculous, Silverman told them. They booed Eva Longoria when she mentioned Clinton. A couple of hecklers shouted at Warren (We trusted you!) and disrupted her speech with a chant of Goldman Sachs! A few in the vicinity of the California delegation even tried to heckle the first ladys speech but were shushed by the crowd. Only the soothing tones of Paul Simon seemed to calm the hall. The singers selection for the DNC: Bridge Over Troubled Water. Twitter: @Milbank Read more from Dana Milbanks archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. Gideon Yaffe is a professor at Yale Law School. This week, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) vowed to sign individual orders restoring the voting rights of more than 200,000 convicted felons living in the state. His pledge followed the Virginia Supreme Courts ruling that the mass clemency McAuliffe issued in April overstepped his power under the commonwealths constitution. Republicans complained bitterly think of all those Democratic votes from the many African Americans who stand to benefit! and promised to scrutinize every order for errors. But the GOP has it wrong. Not only is McAuliffe doing the right thing, but also he should push further. Prisoners, too, should be allowed to vote, no matter their crimes. While only Vermont and Maine grant prisoners the vote, felon disenfranchisement fundamentally undermines the democratic rationale of our criminal laws. We cannot hold citizens to account for violating our laws while denying them a say over those laws. In a democracy, it can fairly be said that when the state does something unpleasant to you locks you up, forces you to pay taxes, takes your property that injury is self-inflicted. Because its your government, whatever it does to you is something you do to yourself. And its your government because you have a say over what it does: You have the vote. But when the state brings down the hammer on a disenfranchised, recidivist felon, the punishment he receives is not self-inflicted. His punishment might as well be levied by a foreign government. Most felons whether in prison, on probation or parole, or entirely free of state supervision are citizens. They should not be treated like foreigners. First of all, they have no other geographic home: They cannot be deported, because citizens have a right to be here. But felons also have no other political home. Nowhere else can they live under a government whose actions are their actions. In this way, they are importantly different from immigrants, who (if they come from a place governed by the rule of law) are granted a say over the behavior of some government somewhere. True, this can all seem very abstract, even symbolic. After all, how much power does one voting citizen have over government behavior? But even if voting is only a symbol, it is a symbol with great power. An increasing body of research by social psychologist Tom Tyler and others demonstrates that those who feel a sense of ownership in their government are less likely to commit crimes. Enfranchisement is a potential source of crime control. Granting the vote to felons can discourage recidivism. McAuliffes critics have made much of the fact that some of those he wants to enfranchise have committed violent crimes. But why should it be more appropriate to deny the vote to a violent criminal than a nonviolent one? Yes, violent felons are more likely than the rest of us to commit violent crimes in future. But because those crimes are unlikely to take place in the voting booth, denying violent felons the vote does not make anyone safer. Nor is there good reason to think felons are less equipped to vote than anyone else. They were competent to stand trial, after all, and adult citizens in good standing must meet a far higher standard of incompetence to be denied the vote. In most states, anyone sufficiently in touch with reality to know what he or she is doing cannot be prevented from voting. Indeed, who is better positioned to support humane and fair criminal-justice policies than felons who have experienced firsthand what we do to the guilty? Many liberals supported McAuliffes actions for the wrong reasons. The Daily Show host Trevor Noah, for instance, repeatedly noted that McAuliffe wants to restore the vote to people who have served their time. But even those still serving time are held to account for any crimes they commit in prison. Denying them the vote destroys the fundamental justification for standing by while the state punishes them namely, that they brought it on themselves. In a democracy, felon enfranchisement should not be a partisan issue. Both Republicans and Democrats ought to be held to account for their crimes by a government whose actions they can own. We should give the vote to citizens, in or out of prison, whom we wish to hold responsible for violating laws that are not just ours but also theirs. Supreme Court's recent, landmark judgement allowed a rape survivor to abort a 24-week foetus. But why is the judgement a novelty? And what are the other things you need to know about aborting a foetus in India? By Somya Abrol: Yesterday, the Supreme Court of India took a landmark decision to allow a 24-year-old rape survivor to terminate a 24-week pregnancy, as the foetus has abnormalities, and going ahead would severely affect the woman's health. Why is it a landmark judgement? Because after 20 weeks of pregnancy a woman in India is not allowed by law to abort a foetus. Even if the unborn baby is the result of a rape. advertisement Though the 45-year-old law is being questioned by activists countrywide--with a petition of altering the law, raising the ceiling of choice already underway--it becomes pertinent for all women (married and unmarried) and men to know what they're getting themselves into when planning to abort a child in India. Till when can you get the child aborted? Abortion in India is legal only up to 20 weeks of pregnancy, under specific conditions and situations, which are defined as: * If the continuance of pregnancy risks the life of the woman or may result in grave physical or mental injury. * If there is a substantial possibility of the child being born with physical or mental abnormalities, as to be seriously handicapped. Also Read :In landmark order, Supreme Court allows rape survivor to terminate 24-week pregnancy Types of abortion in India There are two types of abortion treatments available in India: Medical abortion: This type of abortion involves just popping a pill to incite an early miscarriage. This is an option for women who are 10 weeks (or less) pregnant. For a medical abortion after 10 weeks--and up to 24 weeks--the medication available causes the womb to contract and push out the pregnancy. Surgical abortion: As the name suggests, surgical abortion involves surgically removing the foetus and placenta from the woman's womb. There are two types of surgical abortions: *Vacuum aspiration (recommended only for the first trimester): Removes the pregnancy by gentle suction, after being administered a local anaesthetic. *Dilation and evacuation (recommended for the second trimester): A combination of vacuum aspiration, dilation and curettage and the use of surgical instruments (such as forceps) to clear the uterus of foetal and placental tissue. Who has the right to abort? The pregnant woman has the right to adopt; she does not need anyone's acknowledgement or support if she's above 18 years of age and is mentally stable. * If a woman is married, her own written consent is sufficient. Her husband's consent is not required. * If a woman is unmarried and over 18 years of age, she can provide her own written consent. * If a woman is unmarried and under 18, she must provide written consent from her guardian/parent. * If a woman is mentally unstable, a written consent is required from her guardian/parent. --- ENDS --- advertisement The Washington Post's Abby D. Phillip explains the circumstances around Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz's decision to resign as chair of the Democratic National Committee. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) The Washington Post's Abby D. Phillip explains the circumstances around Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz's decision to resign as chair of the Democratic National Committee. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) What was supposed to be a morning of personal triumph for Debbie Wasserman Schultz rallying her home-state delegation before opening the Democratic National Convention she had orchestrated suddenly became one of humiliation. Shame! people in the room jeered as the congresswoman addressed a Monday breakfast of the Florida delegation. Shame! It was a cringe-worthy, nationally televised spectacle that exposed deep divisions within the Democratic Party and reopened raw wounds from the Hillary Clinton-Bernie Sanders primary battles. By the afternoon, Wasserman Schultz had disappeared here in Philadelphia, after also giving up her speaking slot and her ceremonial role gaveling the convention to order. On Sunday, Wasserman Schultz had announced plans to resign as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee effective Friday, after leaked emails among her and her top aides revealed favoritism for Clinton during the presidential primaries. The partys turmoil drove conversation in Philadelphias sweltering streets Monday, with elected officials and delegates agitated and alarmed that it was overshadowing the conventions kickoff. The four-day production had been carefully choreographed to be a week-long celebration of unity behind Clinton, about to become the first woman to be a major partys presidential nominee. Supporters of Bernie Sanders gathered outside City Hall in Philadelphia on Monday. Most vowed to never vote for Hillary Clinton, despite Sanders's encouragement to do so while speaking a few blocks away. (Alice Li,Jayne Orenstein/The Washington Post) Its like a blister, it just popped. It had been festering and festering and festering, John Morgan, a Florida-based Clinton donor, said of Wasserman Schultzs rocky tenure, which he has long criticized. Donna Brazile, the incoming interim party chair, acknowledged the rowdy atmosphere. It takes time to heal, time to come together, she said in a brief interview backstage at the Wells Fargo Center. Im confident that we can find common ground, which is whats most important. Brazile said she has been apologizing to Sanderss advisers and to disgruntled party donors. Ive told them that we will make sure our system gets better, make sure our practices get better and make sure our email gets more secure, she said. Ive been in this party for 40 years. We love this party, and were going to do what needs to be done. But Wasserman Schultzs departure from center stage was not enough to quell the partys tumult. The DNC has begun an investigation of internal emails following the compromise of its network by hackers, and party officials braced for thousands more potentially embarrassing messages to surface in the coming days or weeks. [Bernie Sanders asks delegates to back Hillary Clinton, and hears boos] There is also uncertainty about how long Brazile might stay on as chair. She said she is willing to serve through the November election but does not want the position permanently, and discussions are underway about who might step in next. 1 of 58 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Photos from opening day of the Democratic National Convention View Photos Uncle Sam outfits and Feel the Bern flags descend on Philadelphia. Caption Follow along as Post photographers document the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. July 25, 2016 Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) addresses the Democratic National Convention. Michael Robinson-Chavez/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Many senior Democrats said additional firings may be necessary. Clintons campaign manager, Robby Mook, said the DNC should take appropriate action based on the findings of its review. Other Democrats were more direct. Down the road, staffers are going to have to be part of the consequence, part of the casualties, said Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (Ariz.), co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a Sanders supporter. Its one thing to take away the titular head, but its also appropriate to address those who were navigating and writing these emails. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a former DNC chair, said he was outraged. If I had been chair, they would have been fired within five minutes, McAuliffe said, although he expressed sympathy for Wasserman Schultz, noting that he had a drink with her Sunday night. The Sanders contingent felt vindicated, having long seen Wasserman Schultz as a Clinton agent masquerading as an impartial referee. Even as the senator from Vermont urged his followers to unify behind Clinton, they displayed remarkable dissent all afternoon, and the convention was awash in anti-Clinton and anti-trade chants. This controversy aggravates all of the fears and suspicions that millions of Americans who supported Bernie Sanders had during the Democratic primaries and caucuses, said Robert Reich, a Sanders backer who was secretary of labor in Bill Clintons administration. Veteran party figures said it is understandable that Sanders and his followers would not trust the DNC, considering Sanders has largely worked outside of the party structure, running as an independent in Vermont. I can see their claiming foul, but maybe they should have early on had some overture and closeness to the DNC by having people connected there over the years, said William M. Daley, a former White House chief of staff to President Obama. Because he never ran as a Democrat, there was no connection, whereas the Clintons for the last 25 years have had hundreds of people on the DNC, staffing the DNC, fundraising for the DNC. Clinton allies were hopeful Monday that after four nights of speeches, the tensions over Wasserman Schultz and her DNC staff would be forgotten. Who endorses whom when, where and why, whos the chair of the DNC it really doesnt matter, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters at a Bloomberg Politics event. One Democrat close to the Clintons, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said of the Wasserman Schultz episode, I think this is much of a tempest in a teapot, but its the heat of politics, and the teapot is whistling. Complicating the party establishments push to bind together their ranks Monday were fuming donors who, while mostly aligned with Clinton and the DNC, felt themselves dragged into a spotlight they did not seek. Many were upset that their exchanges with party leaders were leaked and by the way staffers belittled and mocked them in private correspondence. The emails exposed a DNC culture that at times, some Democrats said, was built around sustaining Wasserman Schultzs image and national standing more than the health of the party at large. It was all about her, first, second and third, Morgan said. You had a very partisan person who had many different agendas, but none of them was whats in the best interest of party and all of them were whats in her best interest. Thats the dysfunction in a thumbnail. The DNC leadership sought to move on, issuing a public apology to Sanders. These comments do not reflect the values of the DNC or our steadfast commitment to neutrality during the nominating process, the statement read. The DNC does not and will not tolerate disrespectful language exhibited toward our candidates. Individual staffers have also rightfully apologized for their comments, and the DNC is taking appropriate action to ensure it never happens again. In Wasserman Schultzs absence, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, a DNC vice chairwoman, gaveled in the convention Monday afternoon and was named secretary of the convention. Though she remained out of the public eye most of the day, Wasserman Schultz kept parts of her political schedule. Hilary Rosen, a strategist and friend of Wasserman Schultz, said the party chairwoman attended a restaurant gathering hosted by donor Stephen Bittel, where she grew emotional as she thanked him and other friends. Rosen said Wasserman Schultz planned to stay in Philadelphia throughout the convention, disputing chatter that she might fly home to Florida. The congresswoman told the Sun Sentinel newspaper in Florida she had decided that in the interest of making sure that we can start the Democratic convention on a high note that I am not going to gavel in the convention. Earlier in the morning, the Florida delegation breakfast devolved into chaos, with Sanders supporters berating her. Wasserman Schultz tried to quiet the crowd. If I could ask everybody to settle down, she said. Moments later, she repeated herself: All right everybody, now settle down. Settle down, please. They did not. The boos and jeers and cries of shame continued until Wasserman Schultz exited. It was the last time many people saw the party chairwoman. Jenna Portnoy contributed to this report. Gift Article Share A little more than a month ago, Rep. Patrick Murphy was exceedingly well-positioned in the closely watched Florida Senate race: The Republicans running to replace the thought-to-be-retiring Marco Rubio faced a messy primary, while Murphy had consolidated his party establishments support against fellow Democratic congressman Alan Grayson. 2021 Election: Complete coverage and analysis ArrowRight Since then, the race has been transformed. Rubio has decided to seek reelection after all, a series of media reports have raised pointed questions about Murphy, and, in recent weeks, outside groups have financed more than $4 million in negative ads targeting him. The ferocity of the attacks have raised questions among some Democrats about whether Republicans are making an overt effort to take out Murphy in the Aug. 30 primary thus sidelining a well-financed, centrist candidate in favor of Grayson, a liberal firebrand thought to have less appeal to general election voters. Advertisement I dont think theres any secret that Republicans want to run against Alan Grayson, said Florida Democratic strategist Steve Schale. Hes sort of our version of Donald Trump. The most recent public polling in the race, done in late June by two Florida TV stations, showed Murphy and Rubio neck and neck among likely general election voters. Suspicions about a GOP effort to boost Grayson over Murphy have been aroused, in part, by media tracking data, which show at least one GOP-affiliated group appearing to target Democratic primary voters rather than a broader swath of the Florida electorate. The American Future Fund, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit group with ties to GOP super donors Charles and David Koch, has spent $1.5 million on a 30-second cable TV ad highlighting Murphys vote in support of the Export-Import Bank. The ads, according to tracking data obtained by The Washington Post, target networks that attract a disproportionate share of Democratic viewers, including MSNBC, while eschewing GOP-heavy networks, such as Fox News Channel. Advertisement Also arousing suspicions are the markets in which the ad is airing Democratic strongholds like West Palm Beach and Gainesville are seeing the ad, while GOP-heavy areas like Fort Myers and Pensacola are not. The American Future Fund did not respond to emails seeking comment. To several Florida Democrats, the whole thing carries shades of the ultimately successful 2012 effort by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) to promote Rep. Todd Akin in the GOP primary the candidate McCaskill believed, with good reason, was the most beatable in the Republican field. McCaskills campaign produced a sly ad that played up Akins conservative bona fides to GOP primary voters. I know they feel [Murphy] is a bigger threat than Alan Grayson to Marco Rubio, said Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.). I think that some of their thinking is to drive down Patricks positives to negative territory and to boost Grayson, because Grayson wouldnt stand a chance with Marco. Advertisement Last year, there was a hint that false-flag campaigning might be on tap in Florida: Shortly after Murphy entered the race, the Club for Growth briefly aired a 30-second ad on MSNBC and other networks hailing Grayson for his stance against the Ex-Im Bank, spending $250,000 on the effort. Grayson joined the race a month later. But since then, no GOP-affiliated group has openly spent to prop up Grayson. What there have been in the past month are a combined $2.7 million in attack ads amplifying reporting done last month by Miamis WFOR-TV that questioned Murphys claims about his business experience. Two separate spots from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the GOP-aligned Senate Leadership Fund have sought to make the case that Murphy is untrustworthy. Together, the three groups running anti-Murphy ads are spending roughly double what Murphys campaign and the Senate Majority PAC have spent this month on ads highlighting President Obamas endorsement of Murphy. Asked about the outside spending, a Murphy campaign spokeswoman stopped short of fingering an Akin-style cross-party operation but said that Republicans clearly recognize that Patrick is the strongest candidate to win in November and thats why theyre unleashing false attacks. Advertisement These outside groups know that Marco Rubio cant win on the issues that matter to Florida families, the spokeswoman, Galia Slayen, said. McCaskill herself weighed in, saying in a statement: Its clear to me that national Republicans want Alan Grayson as their opponent because they know hell be easier to beat. Thats a strategy Im familiar with, she continued, but Im confident it wont work this time, because Floridians know that Patrick Murphy is a champion for his state, wholl be the most formidable Democrat to take on Marco Rubio. Graysons campaign declined to comment on the anti-Murphy spending. Republican operatives who are keeping a close eye on the race say they dont see a concerted effort to prop up Grayson over Murphy in the primary, but rather a smart bid to define Murphy among general-election voters early in the race and to force the Murphy campaign and its allies to spend down their war chests earlier than they had planned. Advertisement More anti-Murphy spending is definitely on the way. Our initial investment and ad should be viewed as a teaser trailer to what will be a sustained paid media campaign that will leave Floridians describing Patrick Murphy with one word fraud, said Ian Prior, a spokesman for the Senate Leadership Fund, which spent $1.5 million on Florida ads in July. The national party committees also have each made eight-figure Florida ad reservations in anticipation of a bruising general-election fight in a state where TV saturation costs upward of $3 million a week. The Senate Majority PAC has reserved more than $10 million in general-election ad time. But that money is not expected to flow until after Labor Day, and the surge of anti-Murphy spending from the outside groups has some Democrats suggesting that more needs to be done sooner. Advertisement What Im asking the DSCC to do is to do just the reverse, and weigh in and keep the young mans positives as high as they possibly can, Hastings said Friday, referring to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Sadie Weiner, the committees communications director, would not discuss its spending strategies but said the DSCC is proud to stand with Patrick, to support him in a variety of ways and eventually, to welcome him to the Senate next year when he replaces Marco Rubio who has shown hes only out for himself. GiftOutline Gift Article Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders chanted his name throughout the first day of the Democratic National Convention, frequently interrupting speeches. From first lady Michelle Obama's moving speech to many politicians slamming Donald Trump, here's what happened. (Nicki DeMarco/The Washington Post) Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders chanted his name throughout the first day of the Democratic National Convention, frequently interrupting speeches. From first lady Michelle Obama's moving speech to many politicians slamming Donald Trump, here's what happened. (Nicki DeMarco/The Washington Post) Democrats began their presidential nominating convention Monday with a struggle to fully unite behind Hillary Clinton, following a dramatic day of intraparty squabbling and protests. But by the end of the evening after back-to-back-to-back speeches by first lady Michelle Obama, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders the party began to focus more on defeating Republican nominee Donald Trump than on fighting among themselves. Sanders, whose political revolution had electrified millions of Democrats throughout his hard-fought primary campaign with Clinton, was greeted by several minutes of sustained applause as he took the stage to cap the night. He repeatedly thanked the crowd before he was finally able to begin his remarks. Election days come and go, he said, before referencing his revolution on behalf of the poor and marginalized. That struggle continues. Sanders didnt mention Clintons name for several minutes, but when he did, he endorsed her candidacy and brought the crowd to its feet. 1 of 58 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Photos from opening day of the Democratic National Convention View Photos Uncle Sam outfits and Feel the Bern flags descend on Philadelphia. Caption Follow along as Post photographers document the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. July 25, 2016 Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) addresses the Democratic National Convention. Michael Robinson-Chavez/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. We need leadership in this country which will improve the lives of working families, the children, the elderly, the sick and the poor, he said. We need leadership which brings our people together and makes us stronger not leadership which insults Latinos, Muslims, women, African Americans and veterans and divides us up. By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that, based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close. It was a stark contrast from the early part of the program. Before Sanders took the stage at Wells Fargo Center, mentions of Clintons name had been met with a smattering of boos in a speaking program that began under a cloud of controversy after a leak of internal emails showed party strategists appearing to plot against Sanders during the primary campaign. Sanders supporters chanted his name repeatedly through the night, shouting over mentions of Clinton. Sanderss speech capped an evening with a lineup heavy on liberal voices, including that of Warren, a hero to the left who had been a favorite to challenge Clinton. The program was intended to be a grace note to Sanders and the improbable strength and longevity of the insurgent challenge he mounted against the longtime front-runner. Warren thanked Sanders at the start of her keynote remarks, to loud applause. For me, this choice is personal, said Warren, who was considered as a vice-presidential running mate. Its about who we are as people, its about what kind of country we want to be. Warren lambasted Trump for fanning the flames of fear and hatred during an address in which she compared his electoral strategy of divide and conquer to tactics that kept the South racially segregated during the Jim Crow era. Warren has emerged as one of Trumps fiercest critics, and her blistering speech Monday night seemed to enhance that reputation. Warren warned that Trump is a man who must never be president of the United States. The first lady also drew a strong reaction from the crowd. Her voice grew thin as she said that, because of Clinton, her teenage daughters do not question that a woman can be president. Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life, Obama said to cheers. We dont turn against each other no, we listen to each other, she said, before invoking two of Clintons signature mottos. We are always stronger together. I am here tonight because I know that that is the kind of president that Hillary Clinton will be and thats why in this election, Im with her. The program featured Trump in absentia, in video highlight reels of controversial statements he has made. Democrats used Trumps past insults to tee up speakers representing some of the most offended groups, including women, the disabled and immigrants. Trump was watching the turmoil and the convention speeches, and needled Clinton, Warren and Sanders via Twitter. Bernie Sanders totally sold out to Crooked Hillary Clinton. All of that work, energy and money, and nothing to show for it! Waste of time, he wrote. The policy fights that underlie the Clinton-Sanders primary fight remained on display Monday, including trade deals, climate change and fracking, a particularly strong issue in Pennsylvania. The Democrats approved a party platform Monday that reflects the influence of the liberal ideas Sanders advanced. Clinton, however, remains opposed to breaking up the countrys largest financial institutions and making government-paid health care a universal right. This is your victory, too, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta told Sanders supporters to polite applause. Democrats were hoping to showcase a smooth, error-free convention that would contrast sharply with last weeks Republican gathering in Cleveland, which was marred by plagiarism and intraparty skirmishes. The opening day focused on Clintons background in helping children and families, and featured a parade of elected officials, union leaders and others praising her commitment to immigration reform, gay rights, addiction treatment and other issues. Shes been paying it forward her whole life, Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) told the crowd. Booker, a rising star in the party who was considered as a vice-presidential running mate, led the arena in chants of We will rise and laced into Trump. We cannot be seduced by cynicism in our politics, he said. We will not surrender the moral high ground, he added. Here in America, love trumps hate, he shouted, to some of the loudest applause of the night. One of the evenings more awkward moments came when comedian Sarah Silverman, a prominent Sanders supporter during the primaries, took the stage with Sen. Al Franken (Minn.), a fellow Saturday Night Live alumnus who backed Clinton early. This past year, Ive been feeling the Bern, Silverman said. The Berniecrats cheered. Relax, I put some cream on it, she added, before explaining why she will vote for Clinton with gusto. At that, Sanders supporters began to boo loudly. There were rival chants of Ber-nie and Hill-a-ry as Franken and Silverman exchanged glances. Then Silverman went off the teleprompter. Can I just say to the Bernie or Bust people, she said, youre being ridiculous! The Clintonites in the crowd loved the unscripted rawness of the moment, and their roar overtook the Sanders backers. Later in the week, the party stalwarts will hear from President Obama, Vice President Biden and former president Bill Clinton, among others. The convention will culminate Thursday in a speech from Hillary Clinton, who is poised to make history as the first woman to be nominated for president by a major party. Outgoing Democratic National Committee Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.) stayed offstage following heavy criticism over the leak of a trove of embarrassing DNC emails. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake stepped in for Wasserman Schultz to formally open the convention about 4:15 p.m. Wasserman Schultz excused herself from the exercise earlier in the day, bowing to heavy opposition from party activists to try to ease hard feelings. The decision was one of many dramatic developments during a day of discord that included threats of a revolt on the convention floor by Sanders delegates and loud protests by his supporters at the gates to Wells Fargo Center, where the convention is being held. The FBI said it is investigating the email breach that triggered much of the intraparty friction, and the DNCs incoming temporary chairwoman, longtime Democratic adviser Donna Brazile, and others issued a public apology for hacked emails that showed DNC staff members apparently scheming to help Clinton win the Democratic primaries. The emails cost Wasserman Schultz her post. Under heavy pressure from the Clinton campaign, she agreed Sunday to step aside when the four-day convention closes Thursday. Earlier Monday, Sanders was cheered by supporters at a swan-song rally that reprised many of the democratic socialists signature lines. He had trouble quieting supporters who booed mentions of Clinton and her running mate, Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (Va.). We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine! he told the crowd. Sustained boos and shouting followed, as Sanders stood at the lectern, hand in the air. He was unable to continue for several long moments but then spoke over the crowd not to praise Clinton but to denounce Trump. Brothers and sisters, this is the world we live in! he shouted. Trump is a bully and a demagogue. Trump has made bigotry and hatred the cornerstone of his campaign. As Sanders went on, listing groups Trump had insulted, the crowd gradually quieted. According to a Democratic Party official familiar with the talks, the Sanders team reached out to the Clinton team Monday afternoon to voice concern about potential disruptions during the evening speeches. Sanders sent a signed text message to some supporters late in the afternoon, pleading for calm. I ask you as a personal courtesy to me to not engage in any kind of protest on the floor. Its of utmost importance you explain this to your delegations Bernie, the message read. Volunteers from the Sanders campaign were trying to pressure convention organizers to take roll-call votes on the presidential and vice-presidential nominations, which would stretch out the process and highlight pockets of disagreement. The Clinton campaign said she welcomes a 50-state roll-call vote on the nomination. The email messages released by hackers were posted Friday on the website WikiLeaks. They undercut claims by the party and the Clinton campaign that the process was open and fair for Sanders. The emails revealed a DNC official apparently discussing how to use Sanderss religion against him to help Clinton before the Kentucky and West Virginia primaries. In another email, a Clinton campaign lawyer told the DNC how it could respond to claims from the Sanders campaign that it was improperly using a joint fundraising committee with state parties. The Washington Post reported last month that Russian government hackers penetrated the DNC, stealing opposition research about Trump and compromising the partys email and chat systems. The Clinton campaign and several cybersecurity experts said the leak was a political ploy carried out by the Russian government to help Trumps campaign. Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said the DNC is reviewing its internal emails to determine what damaging correspondence might be in the hands of Russian hackers. Republicans, led by Trump, seized on the episode. So Debbie was totally loyal to Hillary. And Hillary threw her under a bus. And it didnt take her more than five minutes to make that decision, Trump said during a campaign event in Roanoke. A pair of new polls released Monday showed a competitive race heading into the convention. A CNN/ORC survey conducted after the GOP gathering showed Trump jumping ahead of Clinton. A CBS News poll showed that the contest is effectively tied. Scenes from the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia Scenes from the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia At the past three Democratic conventions, only one presidential nominee mentioned the scourge of gun violence. Eight years ago in Denver, Barack Obama devoted a single sentence to the subject in his 5,000-word acceptance speech. This years convention is shaping up very differently. Shooting survivors, mothers of shooting victims and gun-safety activists took turns at center stage in this weeks Democratic National Convention here. And the duo atop the partys ticket presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.) have put the fight for tougher gun laws at the heart of their campaign for the White House. By spotlighting gun control during their partys biggest showcase, Democrats are marking a significant evolution in presidential politics. For the past two decades, Democrats have been timid and even paralyzed when it comes to guns, afraid of agitating the powerful gun lobby and alienating owners of firearms. But several years of tragedies one horrific mass shooting after another, coupled with the spate of police shootings have presented what Democrats see as a political opening to appeal to suburban women in particular with calls for stricter gun regulations. Mothers that have lost children to gun violence shared their stories and gave their support to Hillary Clinton during the second day of the Democratic convention in Philadelphia. (The Washington Post) Weve crossed a watershed moment, said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who has been a vocal gun-control advocate since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012 that killed 26 young children and educators in his home state. Im really excited to be at a convention where Democrats are going to state loudly and clearly that this is a bedrock issue for our party, Murphy said. There are a lot of people who were fighting very lonely battles for a long time, and this is going to be a unifying moment for our party. But the Democrats push on gun issues has prompted a fierce rebuttal from the National Rifle Association, which has strongly endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump and has begun a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign against Clinton through its political arm. The NRA has a higher favorability rating than Hillary Clinton, and voters do not trust Hillary Clinton to tell the truth on any issue, including her support of extreme gun-control measures, NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker said. We look forward to exposing Hillary Clintons lies about her support of extreme gun control. The four-day Democratic convention has been choreographed to create moments that play to voters emotions. They include the appearance Tuesday night of the Mothers of the Movement women who lost sons or daughters to violence, including in encounters with police. On Wednesday, former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a 2011 assassination attempt in her Arizona district, and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, will address delegates. The couple, both gun owners who see themselves as political moderates, are leading gun-safety proponents and Clinton backers. Its not 1994 anymore, Kelly said, referring to the midterm elections in which scores of congressional Democrats were swept from office, in part for backing then-President Bill Clintons gun control measures. Its a new time ... This is a topic thats on peoples minds. People are tired of it. A majority of Americans really support some common-sense change. Gabrielle Giffords, center, and her husband, Mark Kelly, appeared in January with Hillary Clinton at a rally in Ames, Iowa. Giffords was severely wounded by a gunman in 2011. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post) The program presented a stark contrast to last weeks Republican National Convention in Cleveland, where Trump presented himself as the law and order candidate and other speakers spoke forcefully in defense of law enforcement. Just as the Democrats are now confident fully promoting gun control, the Republicans remain fierce defenders of the Second Amendment. The NRAs top lobbyist, Chris Cox, was given a prime-time convention speaking slot, which he used to cast the debate over access to firearms as a civil rights issue. As much as we dont like to think about it, we live in dangerous times, Cox said. Were worried, and we have reason to be. Because our government has failed to keep us safe. You have to be able to protect yourself and your family. Since early in her campaign last year, Hillary Clinton has spoken out forcefully about gun control and vowed to take on the NRA. Clinton friends said she was personally moved by meeting families of shooting victims. This is about conviction more than calculation, said strategist Paul Begala, who advises a pro-Clinton super PAC. This is just one of those things that has moved Hillarys heart. You could see on the campaign trail how this was affecting her. Clintons focus had political benefits in the primaries. The move helped her position to the left of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who has a mixed voting record on gun issues. Clintons advisers said she would continue this approach, believing guns to be a winning general-election issue. Hillary Clinton has a lifelong track record and commitment to reducing gun violence and taking on the gun lobby, Clinton spokesman Jesse Ferguson said. Shes never backed down from that and wont in this campaign or in the White House, and she has a running mate who shares that drive. Hillary is one mother who can ensure our movement will succeed, said Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, a Florida teen fatally shot in 2012 by a neighborhood watch volunteer. There are dangers for Clinton. As she tries to cut into Trumps lead with white working-class men in such places as Ohio and Pennsylvania, her position on guns could prove polarizing. So could her association with leading figures from the gun-control movement. Former New York mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, one of the nations most identifiable and divisive advocates, is to appear at the Democratic convention and formally endorse Clinton. The billionaire media mogul, who ran for mayor as a Republican and later became an independent, has spent tens of millions of dollars bankrolling campaigns to toughen gun laws, among other priorities, such as immigration. The Clinton team points to data suggesting that women in suburban parts of battleground states such as North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia can be persuaded to back Clinton because of her stance on guns. Public polls consistently show that a sizable majority of Americans favor expanded background checks on gun purchases and restrictions on the sale of semi-automatic assault weapons. In Senate races in New Hampshire, Ohio and Wisconsin, Democratic challengers are attempting to use the repeated failure to pass significant gun laws against Republican incumbents. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who ran aggressively in 2013 on a gun-control agenda, said it is smart politics for Clinton and other Democrats to appeal to suburban voters. People have leaned in hard on this issue in this years election, and rightfully so, McAuliffe said. People have had it. Theyre sick of the politics around it, theyre sick of politicians being scared to death of the NRA, and they want us to stand up and fight. Clinton signaled she was going all in on guns with her selection of Kaine, a senator from Virginia, as a running mate. He has pushed for tougher gun laws for more than a decade, first at the state level and more recently on Capitol Hill. His leadership as governor after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre when he signed an executive order to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill was considered a highlight of his governorship. When Clinton and Kaine appeared together for the first time as running mates Saturday in Miami, Kaine recounted his experiences guiding his state through tragedy. He said Clintons plan to overhaul gun laws is kind of emotional for me and laid out a litany of measures they hope to enact together. Then he mused about the NRA, which is headquartered in Northern Virginia, and all but dared the group to take him and Clinton on. Now, folks, I know the NRA, Kaine said. They campaigned against me in every statewide race that Ive ever run. But Ive never lost an election ... I dont mind powerful groups campaigning against me. That just is like an extra cup of coffee to me, folks. Attorneys for a transgender student in Gloucester County, Va., told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that there is no reason for it to get involved in whether he may use the boys bathroom during his senior year of high school. The Gloucester County School Board in coming months will ask the justices to overturn a ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that favored 17-year-old Gavin Grimm. The judges deferred to an Obama administration interpretation of the law that said keeping transgender students from using the bathrooms of the gender with which they identify violates Title IX, which bans sex discrimination in public schools. But until the Supreme Court decides whether to tackle that question, the school board doesnt want Grimm to use the boys restroom at Gloucester High when school starts in September. Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the student, known as G.G. in court papers, said there is no compelling reason for the Supreme Court to step in now. The board has utterly failed to demonstrate that it will suffer irreparable harm if G. and only G. is allowed to use the boys restroom at Gloucester High School while this court considers the boards forthcoming petition, wrote Joshua Block, Grimms attorney. In a statement, Block said that allowing Gavin to use the restroom harms no one, but forcing him to use separate restrooms is humiliating and harmful. The Supreme Court will decide in several months whether to review Gavins case, but in the meantime Gavin should be allowed to begin his senior year of high school without being forced to use separate restrooms from all of his peers. The school boards request for an injunction is filed with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., the court member assigned to hear emergency matters from the 4th Circuit in Richmond. But after the board has a chance to respond, it is likely Roberts will refer the request to his seven colleagues as well. The school board, in asking the Supreme Court for an injunction, said the 4th Circuits ruling had broad implications for school districts around the nation and would force the Gloucester board to develop new policies for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. But Grimms response rejects those arguments. The lower court order applies only to G.; it applies only to the boys restrooms; and it applies only at Gloucester High School. Grimms attorneys say the school board has not met the necessary conditions for receiving a stay from the high court: that there is a reasonable probability that the court will eventually accept the boards request to review the 4th Circuits ruling, that there is a fair prospect the justices would overturn the ruling and that without the stay, the board would suffer irreparable harm. No other court of appeals has ruled on the question of the school bathroom rights of transgender students, although 21 states have filed suit over the Obama administrations interpretation of Title IX. Grimm and his mother filed a lawsuit against the school board last year after the board passed a policy requiring students to use bathrooms based on their biological gender. The board said it had accommodated Grimm, whose birth certificate gives his gender as female, by allowing him to use a unisex school bathroom. From Sen. Bernie Sanders sealing Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential nominee to former president Bill Clintons speech, here what happened at Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post) From Sen. Bernie Sanders sealing Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential nominee to former president Bill Clintons speech, here what happened at Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post) Hillary Clinton on Tuesday became the first woman to be nominated for president by a major political party on a historic night during which her campaign also sought to reintroduce her to skeptical voters and calm continuing tensions here. Part of that task fell to former president Bill Clinton, who delivered a keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention that began by recounting his courtship of his wife and detailed her lengthy career in public service, including helping children, immigrants and people with disabilities. Shes the best darn change maker I ever met in my entire life, the former president said. This woman has never been satisfied with the status quo on anything. She always wants to move the ball forward. Thats just who she is. Bill Clinton also argued that Republicans had tried to turn his wife into a cartoon during their national convention last week in Cleveland. Whats the difference in what I told you and what they said? he asked. One is real, and the other is made up. . . . You just have to decide which is which, my fellow Americans. 1 of 60 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Scenes from the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia View Photos Follow along as Post photographers document the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Caption Follow along as Post photographers document the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. July 26, 2016 Former president Bill Clinton takes the stage to address the convention. Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Hillary Clinton, along with her daughter, Chelsea, are scheduled to address the convention Thursday, when she formally accepts the nomination. But Tuesday night, she appeared on a large screen, remote from New York, thanking the delegates for helping her put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet. [Winners and losers from the 2nd night of the Democratic convention] Clinton formally secured the nomination earlier in the night during the roll call of states, which ended with a symbolic gesture: Her primary rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, asked that Clinton be declared the nominee by acclamation, a move that prompted resounding cheers. Soon after, Clinton sent out a video on Twitter showing Sanderss remarks and declaring Stronger together, her campaign motto. Sanderss action, however, was not sufficient to bring onboard all of his delegates, some of whom walked out of the hall in protest. That added to the partys difficulties this week in displaying unity as Clinton fights a pitched battle against Republican nominee Donald Trump. The program then turned to a long series of speakers offering testimonials to Clintons character and record of service. [Only the Clintons: Why Bills speech tonight will be unlike anything weve ever seen] They included a series of mothers who have lost their children to gun violence or in police custody and are now fighting for reforms. Hillary is one mother who can ensure our movement will succeed, said Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, who was fatally shot by a neighborhood-watch volunteer in Florida. Chants of black lives matter could be heard in the convention arena as the women, who call themselves The Mothers of the Movement, made their emotional presentations. Roll call vote During the roll call of states, Clinton, a former secretary of state, secured the 2,383 delegates needed to win the partys nomination when the South Dakota delegation cast its votes. Sanders, the runner-up for the nomination, appeared on the convention floor at the end of the process and made a motion to suspend the rules. I move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the nominee of the Democratic Party for president of the United States, Sanders said. With the motion seconded, a loud roar of ayes arose, making her the nominee at 6:56 p.m. Eastern. [As Clinton makes history, some already take it for granted] The orchestrated show of unity followed a rocky first day of the convention Monday, when it became clear that some of Sanderss supporters were not ready to accept Clinton as the partys nominee despite the senator urging them to do so. After the roll call, some exited the hall, chanting, Walkout! Walkout! Walkout! As the program continued, most of the seats in delegations from Maine, Kansas, Alaska and Oklahoma all states Sanders won against Clinton were empty. Several Oregon delegates, meanwhile, wrapped black cloth around their jaws, as gags, and headed into the hallway of Wells Fargo Center. There they met dozens of angry delegates from other states. The anger of the protesters was fueled in part by leaked emails showing that some Democratic National Committee staff members discussed ways to help Clinton and hurt Sanders in the primaries. The partys chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, announced her resignation Monday after the revelations. Ryan Drundle, a Sanders delegate from Louisiana, walked out wearing a button with the unprintable initialism DNC GFY. The whole election process has been a farce from the get-go, Drundle said. There are a dozen states with election-fraud investigations, and nobodys saying anything about it. Its a sham. The nominating process began shortly before 5 p.m., with Sanderss name put forward by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii). She affectionately called him a somewhat frumpy, and maybe even sometimes grumpy, 74-year-old guy who created a progressive movement. Sanders sat in the convention hall next to his wife, with a broad smile on his face, as a pair of seconding speeches followed. He stood up and waved to the crowd afterward amid an extended ovation. Clinton was nominated by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), the dean of women senators, who said she was putting forward the former secretary of states name on behalf of all the women who have broken down barriers. Mikulski was followed by Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the revered civil rights leader, who referenced another glass ceiling that was broken with President Obamas election eight years ago, and Nailah Amaru, a Clinton supporter and Iraq veteran who won an online contest to nominate the candidate. When Illinois Clintons birthplace got its chance in the roll call, the honor of casting votes was given to her childhood friend Betsy Ebeling. On this historic, wonderful day, in honor of Dorothy and Hughs daughter and my sweet friend I know youre watching, Ebeling said, her voice heavy with emotion. This ones for you, Hill. She called out Illinoiss 98 votes for Clinton and let out a final Yes! Speaking for Clinton After the nomination was complete, speakers offered testimonials about Clintons public service across a range of areas, and her campaign aired an accompanying series of videos with archival footage showing her efforts. The program, billed as Fights of Her Life, appeared aimed at rehabilitating the image of a candidate with unusually high unfavorable ratings though not quite as high as her Republican opponents and deep-seated trust issues. Speakers talked about Clintons work for women and families, social justice, health care and global security, among other issues, her campaign said. They included former Vermont governor Howard Dean (D), who recounted Clintons efforts to help create the Childrens Health Insurance Program while she was first lady. She never forgot who she was fighting for, Dean said. The presentations also paid tribute to Clintons tenure of secretary of state, highlighting efforts to fight human trafficking as well as various diplomatic endeavors. She sees a world where girls are not captured and sold, but are fearless and bold, said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). [Democrats near-silence on national security may give Trump an opening] Clintons campaign manager, Robby Mook, said that Tuesday nights programming is designed to remind Americans about the former secretary of states long public-service career. A lot of people arent familiar with her accomplishments, Mook told ABCs Good Morning America. Bill Clinton addressed a Democratic convention as a political spouse for the first time. Clinton who could soon become the countrys first first man has been a Democratic convention staple for more 20 years. His 1988 keynote address was widely panned as a meandering, boring speech, but his 1992 nomination acceptance speech buoyed his struggling campaign. In more recent years, the former president has served as a political character witness, most notably for Obama at his 2012 convention. Abby Phillip and Sean Sullivan contributed to this report. Read more: Fact Checker: Claims against Donald Trump Neither Warren nor Sanders pulled a Ted Cruz. They didnt give Hillary Clinton a bear-hug either. Democrats opening day of discord ends on a high note This was supposed to be the feel-good convention, a celebration of unity and hopeful visions that would contrast with the displays of disunity at the Republican convention in Cleveland last week. But for much of Monday, that goal appeared in doubt, as Democrats turned on one another and demonstrated their own disunity that disrupted the script of Hillary Clintons campaign team. It took first lady Michelle Obama to begin to turn the convention in a different direction. Doing for Clinton what Bill Clinton did for her husband, Obama made a passionate case for Clintons candidacy that the former secretary of state has not been able to make as effectively for herself. In this election, she said, Im with her. [Michelle Obama delivers a passionate defense of Hillary Clinton] Obamas speech brought the Democrats to life and set the stage for two more speakers first Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and finally Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) who tore into Donald Trump and championed Clinton as the person to deny the Republican nominee the White House. For the final hour of the day, Obama, Sanders and Warren reminded Democrats of their common interests and their common goal of defeating Trump, rather than dwelling on the long and divisive nominating battle that exposed fault lines between the establishment and the grass roots. Mondays opening day had included the unceremonious removal of Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz from the convention program; an unprecedented apology from the new leadership of the DNC to Sanders and his supporters after leaked emails revealed an institution that had clearly strayed from its pledge of neutrality in the nomination battle; and cascades of boos by Sanderss delegates and supporters when they were urged to get behind Clinton in her campaign against Trump. All that was the prelude to the prime-time program. Collectively, Obama, Sanders, Warren and the nights other main speaker, Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.), projected the kind of high voltage a political party needs when it is in danger of losing its focus. It was more wattage than the Republicans were able to put on their stage in the early days of the Cleveland convention, even accounting for the performances of Trumps children and his wife. [Winners and losers from the first night of the Democratic convention] But more important was what they said and how it could start to wipe away the hard feelings of a year of conflict and competition with Sanders and a weekend of embarrassment over the contents of the leaked emails. Obama was greeted by a huge chorus of cheers that echoed across Wells Fargo Center, and she delivered a ringing endorsement of Clinton as a parent and a potential president. I am here tonight because in this election there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility, only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is our friend Hillary Clinton, she said. Warren had the unenviable task of following Obama. She praised Sanders and then turned to what has become her specialty, a slashing attack on Trump. She said Trumps America would be one of fear and hate and in danger of breaking apart. First lady Michelle Obama addressed the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia July 25. Here are some highlights from that speech. (Video: Deirdra O'Regan/The Washington Post; Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) She described him as a selfish businessman who would reward the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. What kind of man is Trump, she asked, and delivered her own answer: A man who should never be president of the United States. Sanderss advisers said before he took the stage that he was on a mission of unity, not further division, after a day when his supporters seemed unwilling to follow him that far. He won an enormous ovation as he arrived on the stage, the longest and loudest of the day and of any speaker in Cleveland last week. For Clinton, Sanders could not have given a more appealing speech. Ticking through what he called the critical issues of the election, he said: By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close. He expressed disappointment but no bitterness at how the Democratic race had turned out, and he closed with the kind of clear statement Clintons team has been looking for ever since the primaries ended. Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president, and I am proud to stand with her tonight. This was a night that ended in signs of unity, but in Sanders and Warren on the one hand, and Obama and Booker on the other, the pairings highlighted tension between two parts of the party that see the world and the issues from differing perspectives and are now being called upon to join forces to stop Trump from becoming president. And what was happening throughout the day on the streets, at some delegation meetings, at a raucous rally for Sanders and at times even on the convention floor was a vivid reminder that the Democratic Partys establishment continues to coexist uneasily with those in the anti-establishment left, who remain wary and resistant to Clinton, however much they despise Trump. One indication of how tense things were came in the late afternoon. With the potential for continued disruptions on the convention floor from Sanderss followers, the senator from Vermont sent an email to all his delegates, pleading with them to show courtesy. Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays, he wrote. Thats what the corporate media wants. Thats what Donald Trump wants. After Saturdays successful introduction of Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (Va.) as Clintons vice-presidential running mate, the Clinton team had good reason to expect a smooth-running convention. Their talking points were clear: They would provide something positive to contrast with the GOP gathering in Cleveland, and the delegates, despite a bruising nomination contest, would find Trump so distasteful that they would quickly rally behind their nominee-in-waiting. But as that Clinton-Kaine rollout was taking place, another story was unfolding that would suddenly shift the spotlight to the embarrassing details of internal DNC emails that were posted on WikiLeaks on Friday but not fully digested until Sunday. The wall of unity quickly began to crack. Wasserman Schultzs position as party chair became untenable at a convention already divided between the Clinton and Sanders forces. The ensuing uproar forced Wasserman Schultz, a congresswoman from Florida, to announce that she would step down at the end of the convention. When it was clear that wouldnt satisfy the Sanders forces, she gave up the right to gavel the convention to order. The unyielding stance of many of Sanderss supporters produced the same tenor on the convention floor in the early afternoon as that on the opening day in Cleveland, when the never Trump forces were gaveled down as they sought a roll-call vote on the adoption of the rules. Clintons challenge is to bring as many of those Sanders supporters to her side as she can and motivate them to vote in November. For the Democrats, the route to unity is not unlike that of the Republicans: demonizing the opposition. Last week it was Republicans attacking Clinton. On Monday night it was Democrats whether for Clinton or Sanders attacking Trump. But Michelle Obama added a positive case for Clinton, and the mood on the convention floor seemed to change almost instantly with her performance. That could mean a better three nights ahead than the Clinton team might have thought Monday afternoon. But what played out here the past two days wont disappear with a round of speeches. Mondays final hour was a start, but Clinton still has work to do inside the hall and especially outside, to the audience watching on television. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) made a motion to suspend the rules and declare Hillary Clinton the official Democratic presidential nominee on the second day of the Democratic convention July 26. (The Washington Post) Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) made a motion to suspend the rules and declare Hillary Clinton the official Democratic presidential nominee on the second day of the Democratic convention July 26. (The Washington Post) In parks, on trains and outside Philadelphia City Hall, the Bernie or Bust movement was having its biggest day ever. Some participated in a mock roll-call vote to reflect how they wanted the Democratic primary to go. Some slapped the sunflower logo of the Green Party over fading signs for Bernie Sanders. In quieter and more secluded rooms, Sanders the unwilling hero of liberals unwilling to support Hillary Clinton for president was negotiating the terms of her nomination. On Tuesday evening, Sanders closed the roll call of states votes by supporting Clinton and trying to bring the entire Democratic National Convention around to her. It was the latest necessary step if Sanders was to do what few defeated insurgents have done: transform a presidential bid into a coherent and lasting movement of new voters. They had never been in a Democratic Party meeting, Sanders said at a Tuesday morning breakfast with reporters. They wanted to get involved. And it would be a terrible, terrible shame if we do not figure out a way to capture that energy, to capture that idealism, to capture that love of this country. As he has wound down his presidential campaign, Sanders has begun to build new organizations and plan for a possible power move if Democrats regain the Senate. He has officially launched Our Revolution, a 501(c)(4) social welfare group to build support for liberal policies. 1 of 60 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Scenes from the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia View Photos Follow along as Post photographers document the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Caption Follow along as Post photographers document the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. July 26, 2016 Former president Bill Clinton takes the stage to address the convention. Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Its the first of a possible trio of Sanders projects. Another will seek to elect like-minded candidates up and down the ballot across the country, and a third possible group might engage in other political activity. Sanders is not the first defeated candidate to nudge supporters toward a new political venture. Howard Deans 2004 campaign gave birth to Democracy for America, which has funded and promoted progressive candidates from Congress to the presidency. Progressive Democrats for America, founded in the wake of former Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinichs gadfly 2004 bid, backed Sanders early in 2015 and is part of a scattershot effort to protest the Clinton-Timothy M. Kaine nomination. More than those candidates, Sanders has the potential to build power in the Capitol if Democrats regain the White House. Sanders has been angling to become chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension, on which he is the second-ranking member of the Democratic caucus, behind Sen. Patty Murray of Washington. If Murray opts to chair another committee, Sanders would be in line to get the gavel. If that happens, he could do a lot of the things hes talked about, said Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs. The HELP committee has jurisdiction over several initiatives Sanders has pushed on the campaign trail and plans to pursue in the Senate, including raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, making tuition at public colleges and universities free, and expanding access to government-run health insurance. Briggs acknowledged that its in Sanderss best interest as a senator to have Clinton in the White House. But, he said, its also in Americas interests. In the weeks since Clinton clinched the nomination, Sanders has successfully pushed her campaign to adopt some of his policy proposals, including some related to college affordability and access to health care. The two camps have grown even closer, out of necessity, as theyve strategized ways to limit possible acrimony at the convention. Larry Sanders, the older brother of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), cast his vote for his brother during the second day of the Democratic National Convention. (Victoria Walker/The Washington Post) Aides to Sanders are hopeful that the relationship between the two camps is something that could be built upon with Clinton in the White House. According to Briggs, Sanders is committed to turning the 2016 party platform which he repeatedly calls the most progressive in the partys two centuries of existence into reality in the Senate. Without a Democratic Senate and Clinton in the White House, those efforts are certain to be non-starters. Unlike Clinton after her 2008 loss to Barack Obama, Sanders is not seen as a possible member of the next presidential Cabinet. Honestly, I have not thought about it, Sanders said at the breakfast, which was sponsored by Bloomberg Politics. I love my state and the people of my state. The idea of Sanders growing even closer to Clinton is anathema to some Sanders supporters, who made that feeling known at Tuesdays delegation meetings. For an hour, many Sanders delegates worried that a roll call scheduled for the breakfasts would replace the televised afternoon roll call where they could vote for their candidate. That added tension to an ongoing negotiation between all levels of the campaigns, including Sanders delegates who have been working the floors to calm delegates and prevent protests. Clintons allies responded by hugging Sanders even tighter. When the candidate arrived at the New York delegations breakfast, he shared a stage with Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.), a villain for many progressives who surprised them by praising Sanderss advocacy for a $15 minimum wage. You can take the boy out of Brooklyn, but you cant take Brooklyn out of the boy, Cuomo said. While Sanders is singing Clintons praises now, he was critical of her in several respects during the primaries. The Democratic contest never got as nasty as on the Republican side, but at several points Sanders questioned Clintons judgment to be president, including for her support of the Iraq War. He also mocked her for accepting speaking fees from Goldman Sachs and refusing to release the transcripts and repeatedly suggested that Clinton, a former senator from New York, is too close to Wall Street interests. On the way into Tuesday nights sessions, a Sanders delegate, Daraka Larimore-Hall, shared a train car with Clinton delegate Reggie Jones-Sawyer. Both were from Southern California. Both politely ignored a hubbub from Bernie or Bust protesters as they discussed how the party could come together. Im going to wrap Trump around every Republican candidate, all the way down to school board, Larimore-Hall said. Theyre here to talk about free college education I wish we had that when my kids were in school, said Jones-Sawyer, a California state assemblyman. But Ive been through the Deaniacs, the Kerryacs, Obama for America. They were loud, they were proud. Eight years later, poof. I want to see how they sustain it. Hillary Clinton and President Obama campaign appear together at a rally in Charlotte on July 5. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post) When President Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigned together for the first time recently, the collection of staff members milling around the sidelines at the Charlotte Convention Center represented a final melding of two formidable political machines. Obama once portrayed Clinton as the past of the Democratic Party and himself as its future. Now, as they try to bind one precedent-setting presidency to another, they see their ambitions as inextricably linked. Near a bike rack behind the stage in Charlotte stood Clintons campaign chairman and her communications director John D. Podesta and Jennifer Palmieri both of whom left the Obama White House to take their current jobs. Two other campaign staffers who served in the Obama administration, Jake Sullivan and Huma Abedin, stood in the same area, along with a posse of White House officials who had worked to secure Obamas 2008 primary victory over Clinton Jennifer Psaki, Josh Earnest, Ben Rhodes and David Simas. The early rifts between the two camps, dating to that 2008 primary season, were largely healed early in the presidents first term. But as the current campaign has unfolded, the rivalry-turned-alliance has entered a new stage, one in which Obama and his aides are prepared to work doggedly to land Clinton in the White House, which they see as an opportunity to preserve their own work and cement the presidents legacy. [DNC: Democrats hope to reintroduce Clinton to skeptical voters] Obamas speech to the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday will be a centerpiece of that effort. The president would argue that the job is not yet done, Psaki, the White House communications director, said in an interview. The question is who is going to be at the head of the table when were winding down this year. 1 of 46 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail View Photos The former secretary of state clinched the number of delegates needed to be the Democratic presidential nominee. Caption The former secretary of state, senator and first lady is the Democratic nominee for president. July 31, 2016 Hillary Clinton is seen aboard the campaign bus in Cleveland on the third day of a bus tour through Pennsylvania and Ohio. Melina Mara/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. The collaboration has been a huge boon for the Democratic nominee, but there are liabilities as well. Clinton will lay claim to a stronger economy and expanded health-care coverage in the United States, for example, but voters may also blame her for a chaotic Middle East and a political system seen as rigged in favor of Washington insiders. From the very beginning of the creation of the Obama world, there was deep coordination, cooperation and integration with the Clinton world, said Simon Rosenberg, who heads the liberal think tank NDN. The degree of integration that happened from the very beginning of this campaign is almost unprecedented in modern American history. [How big a role will Obama play in Clintons campaign? This big.] White House aides now talk to their campaign counterparts several times a week, and Obamas former campaign manager, David Plouffe, began advising Clintons campaign months ago. Theres no forced marriage, said Steve Elmendorf, a longtime Democratic strategist and lobbyist, adding that Plouffe has become the bridge to all things Clinton. No moment crystallized the melding of these two worlds more clearly than when Clinton announced Friday that Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.) would be her running mate. Kaine, who endorsed Obama over Clinton in 2007, was the presidents pick for the job, according to an individual familiar with his thinking who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk about the sensitive subject. Obama believed that Kaine was positioned to govern and serve as a leader of the party. The president is quite enthusiastic about Kaines selection, Earnest, the White House press secretary, said Monday, adding the senators experience as a missionary in Honduras and a civil rights lawyer is something that deeply resonates with a president who began his career in public service as a community organizer. 1 of 60 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Scenes from the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia View Photos Follow along as Post photographers document the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Caption Follow along as Post photographers document the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. July 26, 2016 Former president Bill Clinton takes the stage to address the convention. Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. As the two big factions of operatives and strategists in the party, the Clinton and Obama camps were always working together. Many of the men and women who worked on Hillary Clintons 2008 campaign and worked in her husbands White House also helped shape the early days of Obamas administration. Podesta oversaw the presidential transition, and former Clinton administration officials helped fill out the White House economic team and key agency posts. Despite occasional past efforts to differentiate herself from the president, Clintons current embrace of Obama makes political sense: His favorability rating is now above 50 percent in most polls, he remains a major draw on the fundraising circuit, and he can mobilize key constituencies, such as African Americans, Latinos and young people. Obama may also able to help unify the party at a time when it is being ripped apart by a scandal involving leaked emails from Democratic National Committee staff. The emails have infuriated supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Clintons erstwhile challenger for the nomination. Some of the emails confirm suspicions in the Sanders camp that the DNC wanted to help Clinton to victory. The president can bring along the left, said former congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), a prominent liberal and Clinton backer. He added that Obamas endorsement wont alienate many. People who hate him are going to vote against her anyway. But even as the presidents popularity has edged up a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found him with a 56 percent favorable rating 2 in 3 Americans surveyed said the country is off on the wrong track. Hes trying to transfer that level of popularity, but at the same time hes potentially weighing her down with the direction of the country, GOP pollster David Winston said. Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in an interview Monday that Obamas push for Clinton reinforces the idea that shes the same old Democrat with the same old ideas. If they had a unified party, it would help solidify the base, but theres a question of what it does in a year when the public wants drastic change in Washington, Priebus said. Its kind of tone deaf to what the American public is looking for. Democrats believe that GOP nominee Donald Trump is too extreme for most voters. In Philadelphia, Obama is set to deliver a speech different from the final convention speeches of some recent two-term presidents. Obama is expected to focus on touting Clinton rather than replaying his own record. [Which is Obamas one speech for the history books?] In 1988, Ronald Reagan went on at length about what his administration had accomplished before introducing his vice presidents contribution with the remarkably passive And George was there. Twelve years later, Bill Clinton initially drafted a speech that devoted half its time to promoting Al Gores work during their eight years together in office. But in the days leading up to the convention, Gores staff insisted on jettisoning most of those references, according to Clinton speechwriter Jeff Shesol, because they feared the toxicity stemming from the presidents affair with intern Monica Lewinsky would taint the vice president. By the final draft, Shesol estimated, it was close to 90-10 between Clinton and Gore references, entirely at their direction. President George W. Bush did not attend the 2008 GOP convention, although he delivered remarks by satellite. Carter Eskew, who ran messaging and advertising for Gores 2000 campaign and is now managing director of the strategic communications firm Glover Park Group, said there is little question that Obama truly wants to help Clinton through his convention speech and a raft of coming campaign and fundraising appearances. But he added one cautionary note. Even if he wants to, Eskew said, its not a guarantee that it will work. Bernie Sanders came to Philadelphia with the primary campaign behind him, hoping to unify millions of skeptical voters behind the Democratic ticket, starting with his delegates. He gathered all of them, numbering nearly 1,900, in a crowded ballroom Monday and told them point-blank that weve got to elect Hillary Clinton. What he heard back was a chorus of boos, from delegates still not ready to support the likely Democratic nominee not even at the risk of electing Donald Trump. Taken aback, Sanders and what remains of his campaign spent Monday trying to heal wounds that opened during the lengthy primary race and festered after the release of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee. Not even the slow-motion resignation of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), the DNCs embattled chairwoman, lightened the mood. In the streets, in the convention center where Sanders rallied and on the floor of the convention itself, some Sanders voters rejected the idea of ever backing Clinton for president. I fear Hillary more than I fear Trump, said John Deebus, 66, who attended one of the many alternative events for democratic socialists and left-out activists in Philadelphia. If Trump wins, hes in for four years. If Hillary wins, shes in there for eight. Thats not how we stop the corporate parties. Supporters of Bernie Sanders gathered outside City Hall in Philadelphia on Monday. Most vowed to never vote for Hillary Clinton, despite Sanders's encouragement to do so while speaking a few blocks away. (Alice Li,Jayne Orenstein/The Washington Post) [Live updates from the Democratic National Convention] Sentiments like that had effervesced online for weeks. In Philadelphia, they were uttered within earshot of thousands of journalists and nearly as many cameras, amplifying each heckle and each peal of Bernie or Bust! Sanders, who has repeatedly called for his movement to grow inside and not outside the Democratic Party, worked feverishly to change minds. After his speech to delegates, he dispatched deputy campaign manager Rich Pelletier to meet with Clinton aide Marlon Marshall. One result was an email message to all delegates and a shorter text message to the floor whips who were tasked with keeping delegations calm. Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays, Sanders wrote in the email. Thats what the corporate media wants. Thats what Donald Trump wants. But thats not what will expand the progressive movement in this country. I know everyone is frustrated, especially by the recent DNC email disclosures. But, as a result of this disclosure Debbie Wasserman Schultz was forced to resign. At Sanderss Monday event, the humiliating end of Wasserman Schultzs DNC career was a huge applause line; it got the same reaction at a Sunday evening climate rally organized by Sanders delegates and Tom Steyers NextGen Climate. But the perception that the primaries had been rigged something that could not be undone by a firing pervaded the mood of many Sanders delegates. Her resigning doesnt change anything, said Brandy Schappell, 33, who attended the climate rally. It doesnt do a damn thing to change the way that the primaries were rigged. Its actually sort of an insult, said Schappells husband, Ryan, also 33. But it doesnt make a difference to us. When Bernie endorsed Hillary, that was it we re-registered with the Green Party. [4 brutal poll numbers that greet Hillary Clinton at the DNC] On Twitter, veterans of the Sanders campaign attempted to push back. The contents of the leaked emails show individuals were definitely biased, but 7 folks on an email didnt steal the election, wrote Symone Sanders, a former national press secretary for Bernie Sanders who is now assisting the DNC with the convention. Other valid arguments, but a stolen election is not one. I worked there. No one stole the election from us. As TV networks played back the video of Sanders delegates booing Clintons name, Sanders deputy communications director Mike Casca tweeted a Pew poll, based on months of research, that found 88 percent of Sanders voters ready to back the ticket. One more time with feeling, folks: The convention is not the election, he wrote. But some in Philadelphia wanted Sanders supporters to embrace the moment and quit the party. At one of two rallies Monday, the Green Partys likely presidential candidate, Jill Stein, said the Democrats email hack revealed that the worst fears and suspicions about the DNC were true: First, Wasserman Schultz had limited Sanderss opportunities to debate Clinton. Then, she and key staffers had taken every possible step to diminish him, Stein said. The fact that Hillary Clinton saw fit and the DNC saw fit to relegate Bernie Sanders to a footnote on the opening Monday evening instead of the night of the nomination is an outrage against this movement, Stein said. The future of this movement is not inside the Democratic Party. Plenty of Sanderss delegates, and Sanders himself, disagreed and were wrestling with how to prove it. The senator did not use his Monday afternoon speech to release his delegates, guaranteeing that Clinton will face a more robust vote of opposition than any Democratic nominee since the 1980s. It appears there will be no moment like the one in 2008, when Clinton personally interrupted the roll-call vote and asked for Barack Obama to be made the nominee by acclimation. Sanderss associates did little to capitalize on the unrest. As he prepared to step onto the blue carpet of the convention floor early Monday evening, Sanders campaign chairman Jeff Weaver swatted back the suggestion that the senator could revise his remarks in light of the nearly nonstop chants for him throughout the afternoon. No, no, no. Were all about unity, my friend, Weaver said. Its definitely a unity message. When asked about the chants of Bernie! and the cries against the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, Weaver shrugged and said: A lot of the party is anti-TPP. Whats the problem with that? The secretary is anti-TPP. Whats the problem? After the convention was gaveled in, both campaigns made bids for party unity. Supporters of both sides introduced a new unity commission that had come out of a compromise between Sanders and Clinton backers in the partys rules committee a panel empowered to cut the number of superdelegates unbound by the results of primaries. We did not win this by selling out, said Diane Russell, a Maine legislator who led a campaign to end superdelegates in future primaries. This is what democracy looks like. There were only scattered nos when the commission was approved, but some Sanders-heavy delegations repeatedly booed at mentions of Clintons name, with some delegates standing and pointing their thumbs down. There were boos when prominent Sanders surrogates such as Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (Ariz.) and former NAACP president Benjamin Jealous pointedly endorsed Clinton from the stage, and some quieter heckling when Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta attempted to pat Sanders delegates on the back. To everyone who supported Bernie Sanders: This is your victory, too, Podesta said. Before Sanders took the stage for his end-of-the-night speech, convention staffers handed out signs reading Im with her and Shes with us. Then those signs were replaced with Bernie signs. In his speech, Sanders endorsed Clinton even more strongly than he had at their unity rally in New Hampshire, reminding delegates that her defeat would mean a Supreme Court shaped by Trump. Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States, Sanders said. Robert Costa and Louisa Loveluck in Philadelphia, and John Wagner in Charlotte, contributed to this report. An escort vehicle facility with 10 CRPF commandos will be provided to Nita Ambani. By India Today Web Desk: Ministry of Home Affairs has given 'Y' category security cover to Nita Ambani, wife of Reliance Industries Limited Chairman Mukesh Ambani, with immediate effect. The businesswoman/philanthropist has been given the security cover of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) after the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and MHA assessed that she faced threat. An escort vehicle facility with 10 CRPF commandos will be provided to Nita Ambani. advertisement This come three years after Mukesh Ambani was given "Z" category VIP security cover by the government, following threats from terror group Indian Mujahideen (IM). Mukesh Ambani pays Rs 15 lakh per month to the CRPF for the Z category security cover. --- ENDS --- Protesters yell as DNC Chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., arrives for a Florida delegation breakfast, Monday, July 25, 2016, in Philadelphia, during the first day of the Democratic National Convention. (Matt Slocum/AP) The FBI warned the Clinton campaign and dozens of lawmakers in recent months that they were being targeted by hackers, according to people familiar with the discussions. There is no evidence that those hacks were successful. But the FBIs warning came weeks before The Washington Post reported that Russian hackers had twice broken into computers at the Democratic National Committee, underscoring concerns of national security experts that foreign adversaries might be trying to influence the presidential election. Those fears burst onto the public stage this week as Democrats gathered in Philadelphia for their national convention in the wake of Fridays release of thousands of damaging emails on the website WikLeaks. The embarrassing emails spurred the resignation of the party chairwoman and marred a carefully orchestrated opening of the Democrats convention. Activists and campaign officials, anxious about what leaks may be yet to come, also worried about the alleged involvement of the Russian government, with campaign officials suggesting that the Kremlin was releasing the documents to damage Clintons candidacy. National security experts, while cautious about leaping to premature conclusions, warned of the possibility of a significant escalation in an ongoing information war. If the Russians were behind the leaks, said former CIA director Michael Hayden, theyre clearly taking their game to another level. It would be weaponizing information. He added: You dont want a foreign power affecting your election. We have laws against that. The Washington Post's Abby D. Phillip explains the circumstances around Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz's decision to resign as chair of the Democratic National Committee. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) On Monday, the FBI formally acknowledged that it is looking into the DNC hack. The agency has been probing the matter for months and on Monday said publicly that it will investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace. The FBI announcement followed the stunning allegation by the Clinton campaign Sunday that the Russian government was behind the release of damaging documents on the WikiLeaks website as part of a ploy to help Republican nominee Donald Trump. Trumps campaign manager, Paul Manafort, called the suggestions absurd and suggested that Democrats were looking to shift attention away from damaging information about the partys conduct during the primary campaign. On Monday, fallout from the hack also reverberated at the Kremlin, where a spokesman declined to comment on the hack except to refer reporters to comments by Trumps son, Don Jr., calling the allegations part of a pattern of lie after lie. Mr. Trump Jr. has already strongly responded to the Clinton campaigns claims, the Russian spokesman said, according to the news agency Tass. The founder of WikiLeaks and its current top editor, Julian Assange, told the Democracy Now radio show Monday that he would not discuss the source of the data. In relation to sourcing, I can say some things. (A), we never reveal our sources, obviously. Thats what we pride ourselves on. And we wont in this case, either. But no one knows who our source is. Assange has said the release Friday was the first in a series. U.S. law enforcement and intelligence experts acknowledge they are taking the claim seriously but cautioned Monday that they have reached no conclusions. The FBI is focusing on the Russian military intelligence agency, the GRU, and investigating whether it was responsible for passing the emails to WikiLeaks, according to individuals familiar with the investigation. The GRU is one of two Russian spy agencies that apparently compromised the DNCs computer systems, according to CrowdStrike, a cyber-firm that investigated the breach this spring on behalf of the DNC. The GRU, which broke into the DNCs computers in late April, also stole opposition research files on Trump, according to CrowdStrike. Another Russian spy agency, the FSB, or an affiliate, had penetrated the DNCs computers last summer and was monitoring DNC email and chat traffic, CrowdStrike said. The FBI is trying to determine with certainty whether Russian intelligence passed the emails to WikiLeaks. That line of inquiry probably will involve intelligence agencies such as the National Security Agency and the CIA, which might be able to pick up intercepts or gather intelligence overseas, according to intelligence experts. A big question looming over the investigation is what, if anything, should be done if it is shown that Russian intelligence is responsible for the leak. The email releases continued to cause anxiety among Democratic officials as the party gathered for its convention in Philadelphia. Most unnerving to activists here is the uncertainty over what may come next. Former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) told The Post that his email account was hacked recently, but he said he had no indication that the hack originated overseas or was a matter of concern to law enforcement. Former White House chief of staff William M. Daley, attending the convention, called the Russian hack of DNC emails pretty frightening. Given Russias sophistication in this realm, Daley said that it would be reasonable to conclude that President Vladimir Putin and his government are behind the email leak in an effort to undermine Hillary Clintons candidacy. I dont think anybody would be surprised if Putin would try to affect the election, Daley said in an interview Monday. Thats like the old Casablanca theres gambling in the casino. It doesnt surprise me at all. Period. I think anybody who dismisses that is living in fairy land here. Steve Elmendorf, a lobbyist and former aide to House Democratic leader Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.), said the link to Russia was particularly concerning and yet not surprising given its concerted effort to infiltrate various arms of the U.S. government. Washington lobbyist Tony Podesta said he expects hacks of private information in the digital age. I assume that all private information is public its the safest way to live, he said. John Cordisco, a former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the current chairman of the Bucks County Democratic Party with long-standing ties to Democratic donors across the state, said the consequence of the breach is that any personal information transmitted through the Internet could become compromised. Anyone would be worried, he said about the chilling effect on donations. Podesta cautioned party officials to be more careful about how they communicate about donors, given the risk of exposure. Everything you say can and will be used against you, he said with a grin. While federal agencies would not discuss their response in any detail, former government intelligence officials offered insight in to what is happening. Michael G. Vickers, who served as undersecretary of defense for intelligence from 2011 to 2015, said the approach would probably include three steps involving multiple federal agencies. First, there would be an effort by the FBI, assisted by other intelligence agencies, to nail down attribution, the identity of the hackers, by looking for telltale bits of identifying code that are left when such breaches occur. Second, he said, there would be discussion among interagency experts about the intelligence, the timing of the attack, and the release of the information. Was information collected just to gain intelligence, to influence policy or politics, or as a destructive act? Third, he said, there would careful deliberations about how to respond. Vickers was at the Defense Department in 2014 when the most recent destructive cyberattack occurred, one against Sony Pictures apparently initiated by North Korea. Responses could range from a diplomatic wrist slap or warning to countermeasures. Of course, the federal investigators first need to determine that the hack was indeed conducted by the Russians. In the case of Sony, the administration imposed economic sanctions on North Korea in response to the attack. Later, President Obama signed an executive order establishing a program that enables officials to impose economic sanctions specifically in response to significant cyber-incidents. That tool has not yet been used. Philip Rucker and Isaac Stanley-Becker contributed to this report. Pamela Livengood delivers remarks on the first day of the Democratic National Convention at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) The nations epidemic of opioid abuse, which has killed thousands of people over the past decade through powerful prescription painkillers and heroin, has taken on a prominent role at the Democratic National Convention a sign of the issues growing importance in both parties. On Monday night, a woman whose daughter has struggled with addiction gave a prime-time speech, followed by the former governor of New Hampshire, where more than 400 people died of drug overdoses last year. Then, on Tuesday afternoon, people packed into a Quaker conference center in Philadelphia to hear delegates, elected officials and others talk about recovering from substance abuse and what needs to be done to combat it. A similar forum was held at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last week. Both conventions featured a recovery and wellness room for those suffering from addiction. The focus on opiate addiction comes after a year in which the opiate epidemic drove a sustained conversation on the presidential campaign trail, particularly in New Hampshire, where voters told wrenching stories of how drug abuse upended lives and candidates told starkly personal stories about how addiction affected their families. [The heroin epidemic used to be immune from politics. Not anymore.] It also comes as addiction has moved into the political sphere, after years when advocates felt little was being done. The White House has, for the past few years, held summits on opiate addiction, and Congress last month passed a comprehensive bill backed by Republicans and Democrats to fight opioid abuse; President Obama signed it this week. The issue has become a bipartisan one, with many on both sides agreeing that the focus must be on treating people with addiction, not on putting them in prison. However, several Republican presidential contenders last year stopped short of advocating that approach to other drug laws, most notably those involving marijuana and cocaine, which disproportionately affect African Americans. Opiate abuse predominately affects whites. [GOP contenders are talking about drug abuse, but racial and partisan rifts persist] Last year, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton went to a roundtable discussion at a New Hampshire manufacturing facility, where Pamela Livengood told Clinton that she had to take care of her grandson because of drug abuse. Livengood stood on the stage in Philadelphia on Monday night and told her story. For my 50th birthday, I got a 2-year-old, the Keene, N.H., woman said, recounting how her daughter could no longer care for her son because she was addicted to drugs. The boy is now living with his grandfather, she said. My story isnt unique, Livengood said. This epidemic has devastated communities all over the country. It doesnt discriminate against age, race, gender or income. It affects all of us. But sometimes it feels like folks in Washington dont hear these stories. 1 of 60 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Scenes from the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia View Photos Follow along as Post photographers document the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Caption Follow along as Post photographers document the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. July 26, 2016 Former president Bill Clinton takes the stage to address the convention. Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of injury-related death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Heroin-related deaths have more than tripled since 2010, and, in 2014, more than 14,000 people died of overdoses involving prescription painkillers, the CDC said. Our policymakers have to understand that this is a situation and issue you can win on, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, a recovering alcoholic, said at Tuesdays forum. I dont mean to turn to politics, but families dont know where to turn. Andrew Kolodny, the chief medical officer at Phoenix House, a national chain of rehab facilities, said it is remarkable that people are talking about opiate addiction at national political conventions, because it was swept under the rug until recently. It does seem like policymakers have recognized that were in the midst of the worst addiction epidemics in our nations history, he said. [Hows Amanda? A story of truth, lies and American addiction] Clinton, who made drug addiction part of her stump speech in the primaries, released a $10 billion plan last year to fight drug addiction. It includes widening access to treatment and recovery programs through a federal-state spending package and broadening access to Naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opiate overdose. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said that his plan to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border will keep out drugs, something that people who study drug trafficking said will not stop the flow of heroin. Trump has not offered any specifics on how he will fight drug abuse beyond that. Drug abuse has become a factor in some Senate races, including in Ohio, where incumbent Sen. Rob Portman (R) and his challenger, former governor Ted Strickland (D), are accusing each other of exploiting the epidemic for political gain. Portman held two drug-related events during the Republican National Convention and spoke on a panel discussion about abuse at the convention. Both Ohio and Pennsylvania have been decimated by the opiate epidemic. More than 2,500 died of drug overdoses in Ohio in 2014, and nearly 2,500 succumbed in Pennsylvania. [For many addicts, rehab begins behind bars] Philadelphia is a hotbed of drug abuse, with dealers selling some of the nations purest heroin. The city serves as a hub for heroin distribution in southern New Jersey and the Philadelphia suburbs. We have the largest-scale open-air heroin market probably on the East Coast, said Patrick J. Trainor, a spokesman with the Drug Enforcement Administration in Philadelphia. It is about eight miles north of Wells Fargo Arena, where the convention is taking place. The politicians, when they talk about it, its a start, Trainor said of drug abuse. Its definitely a start, and were really, really pleased with that. Carol McDaid, who is in recovery, said she first tried to bring forums and a recovery room to the party conventions in 2008. Honestly, we were told by some of the folks we contacted, Our delegates really dont have these problems. It just kind of stood you back on your heels, she said. This year, delegates who are also addicts decided to talk about their struggles and recovery. Ramon Ryan, a Democratic delegate from Tennessee, said he wondered whether he would be able to attend a recovery meeting while at the convention. I heard not only are there recovery meetings, theres this amazing caucus, he said. We are having a public conversation about this issue. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said a lot of protesters at the Democratic National Convention will vote for him during a speech in Roanoke, Va. on July 25. (The Washington Post) Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said a lot of protesters at the Democratic National Convention will vote for him during a speech in Roanoke, Va. on July 25. (The Washington Post) Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday pounced on the turmoil over leaked emails that marred the opening of the Democratic National Convention, saying the episode was more evidence of Hillary Clintons bad judgment. At a campaign stop here that began shortly before the opening of the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, Trump attacked Clinton for not standing by Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who resigned as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee after emails surfaced showing the party worked to discredit Clinton rival Bernie Sanders. So Debbie was totally loyal to Hillary. And Hillary threw her under a bus. And it didnt take her more than five minutes to make that decision, Trump said at the event, where he also branded Clintons new running mate, Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.), as a weird little dude. Trump repeated his attacks later during a campaign event in Winston-Salem, N.C., in which he called Wasserman Schultz a flunky and mocked Clintons loyalty: Boy, did she give up fast. [Debbie Wasserman Schultz was the ultimate Washington survivor. Until she wasnt.] Speaking in North Carolina while the Democratic National Convention goes on in Philadelphia, Donald Trump discussed the DNC email leaks and the resignation of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) as chairwoman. (The Washington Post) Clinton was also on the campaign trail Monday in advance of her conventions opening. During a pair of stops in North Carolina, another battleground state, she made no mention of the controversy gripping her party in Philadelphia, instead promising a convention that would be different from the Republican gathering in Cleveland last week. Im very excited about contrasting our vision and values with what we saw from Donald Trump and the Republicans, Clinton told supporters packed into a theater in Charlotte. He offered a lot of fear, bigotry and smear. Earlier Monday, Clinton used an address to a national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars to contrast what she would bring to the role of commander in chief with the qualifications of her Republican rival. I am not a newcomer to these issues, Clinton said, citing her experience as secretary of state and her service on the Armed Services Committee while a U.S. senator. Clinton also noted to her largely male audience that she is the first woman to be the presidential nominee of a major political party and acknowledged it takes a little getting used to, even for me. At his Winston-Salem rally, Trump mocked the impact the email controversy has had on the convention: Would you rather be here or would you rather be with Crooked Hillary Clinton, Trump quipped, eliciting loud boos from the crowd. What a mess they have going. He later accused the media of holding a double standard in convention coverage: If what happened to them happened to us, which is disastrous, we would have headlines all over the world: Republicans, disaster . . . its the worst thing weve ever seen in the history of conventions. Protests resulting from the email leak, and Wasserman Schultzs ensuing resignation, dominated news stories about the convention on Monday. During his event in Roanoke, Trump questioned Clintons loyalty to Wasserman Schultz but also blasted the outgoing party chairwomans management of the Democratic nominating process, suggesting that it was rigged against Sanders and Clinton knew everything that was going on. Trump said that Wasserman Schultz was highly overrated but had nonetheless put her life on the line for Clinton and worked very, very hard to make sure that she won the nomination. Trump said that politicians are very disloyal, except for Mike Pence, the Indiana governor who his new running mate. Trump also criticized Clintons decision to ask Kaine to join the Democratic ticket, saying that he does not represent the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. She could have had party loyalty, Trump said. Instead they have thousands and thousands of people going crazy because . . . she didnt pick someone representative of whats going on. Trump called adding Kaine to the ticket another example of Clintons bad judgment. At another point, Trump poked fun at the way Clintons name sounds, mocking her maiden name, Rodham. Hillary Rotten Clinton. Maybe thats why, its too close, Trump said. During Clintons address in Charlotte to the veterans group, she never mentioned Trump by name. But she took repeated jabs at him, referring to controversial statements he has made about military and national security issues. Clinton, for example, stressed the importance of standing with our allies, because they are part of what makes us exceptional. Trump alarmed many in the countrys foreign policy establishment when he was quoted last week in a New York Times interview saying that as commander in chief he would not automatically come to the defense of the United States NATO allies if they were attacked. Clinton also described her efforts with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to raise money for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, an organization that aids military personnel and their families. I believe that he and all American prisoners of war are heroes, Clinton said of McCain, a reference to Trumps comments last summer that McCain was not a war hero because he had been captured. Clintons comments came on the same day that she formally claimed the endorsement of retired Marine Gen. John R. Allen, another move by her campaign intended to bolster her military and national security credentials. Allen served as commander of the International Security Assistance Force overseeing NATO troops in Afghanistan and as deputy commander of U.S. Central Command. His allegiance to Clinton was hardly a secret, given that Allen was recently announced as a speaker on Thursday at the Democratic National Convention. In recent weeks, Clinton has accepted endorsements from former deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage and former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, both of whom served Republican presidents. jose.delreal@washpost.com DelReal reported from Washington. Wagner reported from Charlotte. Young detainees walk in a line in June 2014 at a border protection processing facility in Brownsville,Tex. The Obama administration is expanding a relief program created late that year. (Eric Gay/AP) The Obama administration announced plans Tuesday to expand a refugee program for Central American children who are fleeing danger, part of a broader effort to stem the unregulated flow of unaccompanied minors across the southern U.S. border. The State Department program, launched in December 2014 after a massive influx of children that year swamped border patrol stations, allows children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to seek protections in the United States by applying within their own country. So far, however, the impact has been small. U.S. officials said 2,884 children have been granted refugee status from a pool of 9,500 applicants, and just 267 of them have entered the United States. That number is minuscule compared with the thousands of children and families from those nations who are apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol each month while trying to enter the country. [Life on the line: High stakes in a Texas smuggling corridor] In June, for example, more than 11,000 children and family members crossed the border illegally, according to statistics provided by the Department of Homeland Security. U.S. officials and humanitarian workers have warned that the migrants are often abused or put in danger during the journey north under the guidance of human smugglers. The goal is for individuals who have legitimate humanitarian claims not to take the perilous journey and really accept our outstretched arms of relief, DHS deputy secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on a conference call with reporters. Under the expansion plans, three additional categories of people would be allowed to apply: older siblings of a qualified child, provided they have a parent already living lawfully in the United States; the biological parents of a qualified child; and caregivers of a qualified child, provided a parent is living lawfully in the United States. [In Spanish, Kaine promises immigration reform in the first 100 days] In addition, Obama administration officials said, Mexico has agreed to increase the number of Central American refugees it will accept under its own program. And Costa Rica has agreed to provide safe harbor to as many as 200 Central American children considered in grave danger while their cases are being examined by the U.S. State Department. Officials said the program would ramp up over the next few months, but they were vague about how many more people would receive protections. We are very confident the numbers are increasing, that thousands will be benefiting from these programs in the near future, said Anne Richard, an assistant secretary at the State Department. Humanitarian advocates credited the administration for taking additional steps, but they acknowledged that the scale of the Central American refugee crisis remains daunting. [Federal immigration court backlog tops 500,000 pending cases] The most recent step they are taking is an acknowledgment that people in the region have very serious protection concerns, said Wendy Young, president of Kids In Need of Defense. But she added: How many more people will be reached through these new initiatives I dont think they know. The Obama administration was slow to respond to the surge in migrants from Central America that peaked in 2014 when tens of thousands of women and children overwhelmed the border patrol stations. The president and his top aides moved to stem the influx, pressuring Central American nations, along with Mexico, to tighten their borders and prevent the families from undertaking the trip. Congress allocated $750 million in aid to the region. The efforts helped significantly decrease the number of refugees, but the numbers rose again last year. DHS launched a series of raids in January to deport dozens of Central American families who had lost their cases within the United States, an effort to send a stronger deterrence message. Unit 309, priced at $410,000, is a one-bedroom, one-bathroom residence with an open floor plan and large windows that face an adjacent building. (Benjamin C Tankersley/For The Washington Post) Roof terraces dot the tops of many residential buildings in the District, in private homes, boutique condos and larger rental apartments, but these typically communal spaces lack privacy and do not always have amenities such as water, electricity or a gas line for grilling. At the Morgan, Capital City Real Estates new Adams Morgan condo at 2337 Champlain St. NW, the roof has been transformed into seven private spaces for buyers, each with a cabana room and an open-air deck. This is the first time weve tried something like this, and as far as we know, this is unique to D.C., says Scott Zimmerman, president of Capital City Real Estate, the developer of the Morgan. Each space has a room with about 100 to 300 square feet with a wet bar and a little kitchenette, heat and air conditioning, and glass doors to a private roof terrace. People can furnish the cabanas for entertaining or even a home office or just use it as indoor-outdoor space for relaxing. [For those older than 55, a gated quiet Ashburn community is taking shape] Most of the cabanas have sold for $35,000 to $50,000, but two are still available, says Chris Blakemore, sales manager at the Morgan. He says the roof terraces have electricity, built-in speakers and a gas line for buyers who want to install a gas grill. The cabanas have keyless entry systems. The views from the terraces encompass the Washington Monument and the eclectic architectural styles of the residential and commercial buildings of Adams Morgan, Kalorama, Dupont Circle and Logan Circle. 1 of 15 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Buying New | The Morgan condos in Northwest Washington View Photos The residences are priced from $400,000 to $635,000. Caption The residences are priced from $400,000 to $635,000. The Morgan is a new condo at 2337 Champlain St. NW in the Districts Adams Morgan neighborhood. Benjamin C. Tankersley/For The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Those views and those neighborhoods are part of what drew Don Mullikin to buy a two-bedroom unit at the Morgan. I grew up in this area and then moved back here in 2012 to run a school, Mullikin says. Ive been renting in Bethesda and getting reoriented to the city. I like Adams Morgan because its got the right blend of activity and energy and yet its still comfortable to live there with grocery stores and conveniences around. Its in the middle of so many great neighborhoods that I can walk to. Its still a little gritty, too, not too fancy. Mullikin said he looked at modern condos, either newly built or almost new, because the home he still owns in California has a yard and he was ready for a completely different type of residence in Washington. His priority was to find a unit with an open floor plan and lots of light. [M/I Homes at Crown: Loads of options, and theres not any wasted space] One of the biggest challenges of designing a new infill building in an urban neighborhood like Adams Morgan is how to make sure all the units get natural light and air, Zimmerman says. We pulled the building away from the adjacent buildings so we could put in big windows in every unit. Dens and balconies: Twenty-two of the residences in the Morgan are still available, including a mix of one- and two-bedroom units, some with a den and some with balconies. Unit 303, priced at $635,000 with a monthly condo fee of $339, has two walls of floor-to-ceiling windows that frame views of Adams Morgan and the Washington Monument. The open floor plan includes a living and dining area and a center-island kitchen with pale gray quartz counters, solid maple cabinets that have been painted white, a glass-tile backsplash and stainless-steel appliances, including a five-burner gas stove. One bedroom is off the living area, along with a full bathroom accessible from the bedroom and the living area. The master bedroom has a walk-in closet and a private full bathroom, as well as a private balcony. A closet with a stacked washer and dryer is in the foyer. The bedroom in Unit 309 has a walk-in closet, and the washer and dryer are in a closet in the foyer. (Benjamin C Tankersley/For The Washington Post) Unit 306, priced at $625,000 with a monthly condo fee of $312, has a long foyer entrance with a built-in shelf and cabinets. This unit has a balcony off the open living and dining area, two walls of windows, a walk-in closet and a private full bathroom in the master suite, and a smaller bedroom off the living room with a private entrance into the second full bathroom. Unit 309, priced at $410,000 with a monthly condo fee of $190, is a one-bedroom, one-bathroom residence. This unit has an open floor plan and large windows that face an adjacent building. The bedroom has a walk-in closet, and the washer and dryer are in a closet in the foyer. The building has an elevator and a secured entrance, but it does not have a front desk, to keep condo fees low, Blakemore says. Whats nearby: Residents of the Morgan can walk to bars, music venues, art galleries, bookstores, vintage clothing shops and restaurants offering an eclectic mix of cuisines in Adams Morgan, Shaw, Kalorama, Dupont Circle and the U Street Corridor. We wanted to build in this location because of all that Adams Morgan has to offer but also because Champlain Street is relatively quiet even though its only a block off 18th Street, Zimmerman says. Schools: Marie Reed Elementary, Columbia Heights Education Campus and Cardozo Education Campus. Residents can also enter the lottery for charter schools and out-of-boundary schools. Transit: Adams Morgan has a Walk Score of 98 out of 100, meaning residents can run errands and socialize without a car. Residents can walk approximately one mile to the Woodley Park, Dupont Circle or U Street Metro stations or access several Metrobus routes, the Circulator bus or Capital Bikeshare. The roof is being transformed into seven private spaces for buyers, each with a cabana room and an open-air deck. (Benjamin C Tankersley/For The Washington Post) Two attackers stormed a village church during Mass in northern France Tuesday. The pair took hostages and slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest. (James McAuley and Jason Aldag / The Washington Post) Two attackers stormed a village church during Mass in northern France Tuesday. The pair took hostages and slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest. (James McAuley and Jason Aldag / The Washington Post) Two attackers backing the Islamic State including one on a watch list stormed a village church in northern France during Mass on Tuesday, taking hostages and slitting the throat of an 85-year-old priest before police commandos shot and killed the assailants, authorities said. A nun who was inside the church told a French television station that the priest was forced to his knees and killed when he attempted to resist. Officials said the attackers screamed Allahu akbar (God is great) as they slit his throat. The slaying came less than two weeks after carnage in the south of France: at least 84 people killed by a truck that plowed through a Bastille Day celebration in the Riviera city of Nice. It also underscored the huge challenges for European security forces as Islamic State-inspired violence increasingly reaches beyond major urban centers and takes the form of local, even intimate, violence. The Islamic States Amaq news agency described the attackers as soldiers of the militant network, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors terrorist activity. But it was not immediately clear whether the assailants had direct contact with the Islamic State. French authorities identified one of the attackers Tuesday evening as Adel Kermiche, a 19-year-old local resident already known to anti-terrorist investigators and whose parents had reportedly alerted authorities about his radicalization. An undated image of the Rev. Jacques Hamel, who was slain Tuesday in an apparent Islamic State-inspired attack on his church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, France. (AP/Diocese of Rouen via AP) According to Paris prosecutor Francois Molins, Kermiche was arrested twice in 2015 for trying to travel to Syria once in Germany, where he attempted to use his brothers identity, and once in Turkey, where he was caught with his cousins ID card. In a news conference, Molins did not name the second attacker, but he added that authorities had detained a 17-year-old Algerian-born suspect, allegedly the younger brother of another man already wanted by police for seeking entry into Syria. According to Molins, Kermiche was detained for nearly a year before being released under judicial supervision earlier this year, which required him to wear an electronic bracelet and check in regularly with police. He was permitted to leave his home for four hours a day on weekdays and six hours on Saturdays. Molins said the church attack began at 9:24 a.m. Tuesday, during Kermiches unsupervised leave, when his electronic bracelet was apparently deactivated. [After carnage on Mediterranean, political fallout over security] Another person held by the hostage-takers at the church suffered life-threatening injuries, said Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet. They recorded themselves, a nun identified as Sister Danielle told BFM-TV as she described the attacks. They did a sort of sermon around the altar in Arabic. 1 of 6 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad The scene after 2 attackers killed a priest at a church in Normandy, France View Photos French soldiers patrolled the narrow streets and mourners gathered near the church. Caption French soldiers patrolled the narrow streets and mourners gathered near the church. July 26, 2016 Police and rescue workers stand at the scene after two assailants had taken five people hostage in the church at Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in the Normandy region of France. Steve Bonet/Reuters Wait 1 second to continue. The Rev. Alexandre Joly, 44, said the slain priest identified by church officials as Jacques Hamel was like an attentive grandfather in the village. French President Francois Hollande who traveled to the church near the city of Rouen in the Normandy region said the attackers had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. Hollandes predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, posted a Twitter message saying the bloodshed struck at the soul of France. The assault is likely to put further pressure on European security officials, who joined counterparts from about 40 nations last week in Washington in efforts to expand the battle against the Islamic State and undercut its recruitment propaganda. After the Nice attack, the Islamic State also claimed a connection with two attackers in Germany who wounded 20 people this month. Two other attacks in Germany that killed 10 people in the past week had no evident connection with the group. Although Tuesdays assault was on a smaller scale than three major terrorist attacks that have killed more than 220 people in France since January 2015, it appeared likely to exacerbate criticism of French counterterrorism efforts and elicit more scrutiny of national security practices. In my worst nightmares, said Francois Heisbourg, a former member of a French presidential commission on defense and national security, I didnt imagine that we would actually let loose an individual on furlough who would not be tracked by legitimate intelligence-gathering while he was condemned for terror-related activities with well-established radical credentials. Once suspects pass from French police supervision into the countrys judicial system, he said, they are relatively unsupervised, as the French Justice Ministry lacks the security resources of the Interior Ministry. Heres a guy who was let loose for hours a day in his home town, Heisbourg added. But nobody can follow him, because the Ministry of Justice doesnt have a security service, except in prisons. [Islamic State releases video of purported bomber in Germany] Authorities in Europe had previously concentrated on suspected militants who returned from Islamic State-held territory in Syria or Iraq. But many recent attacks appear to have been carried out by individuals radicalized by Islamic State propaganda and who pledged loyalty on their own. In Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, a working-class town about 35 miles southeast of the port of Le Havre, on the banks of the Seine as it snakes toward the English Channel, French soldiers patrolled narrow streets of rowhouses and empty storefronts Tuesday as mourners gathered in the main square. Police cordoned off the area around the church, whose main entrance is an arched wooden door under a stone tower capped by a peaked roof. The area also reflects the multicultural side of France. A mosque in a nearby town was built for Muslims in the region, including families that moved from North Africa decades ago. Fatima, 58, an Algerian-born woman who said she had lived in the village for 40 years, joined the crowds in the main square to honor what she called the memory of the priest. We are with him, said Fatima, who gave only her first name. All Muslims are with him. Dominique Patin, 52, often went to Hamels church since moving to the village 17 years ago. He was a simple man, a foundation of our community, she said. Why this? Why us? she asked. It makes me sick to see it. France remains under an extended state of emergency after the truck rampage in Nice, which also injured more than 300 people. Hollande said the country needed to use all means against the Islamic State, but he gave no details on possible new crackdowns or expansion of French support to the U.S.-led coalition conducting airstrikes against the militants strongholds in Iraq and Syria. A Vatican spokesman said Pope Francis was shaken by the pain and horror of this absurd violence and condemned, in the most radical way, any form of hate. Murphy reported from Washington. William Branigin in Washington contributed to this report. Read more: France says 3 soldiers killed in anti-terror mission in Libya What France thinks of multiculturalism and Islam Militant kills a French police officer and streams it on Facebook Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world In 2009, Dipesh Chakrabarty wrote an essay called The Climate of History: Four Theses. In this work, the distinguished historian focused on the idea of the Anthropocene-the name proposed for our current geological epoch in which, for the first time, fundamental processes of the earth and atmosphere have been changed by human use of fossil fuels. Chakrabarty began by confessing that his extensive training in social theory had not prepared him "for making sense of this planetary conjuncture within which humanity finds itself today". The Anthropocene makes Enlightenment ideals obsolete. Key premises such as the duality between Man and Nature must be discarded. The pursuit of freedom-human autonomy and sovereignty based on material prosperity for all-must contend with ecological limits. We have to think of ourselves as one species among many, for we're all in the same imperilled boat. Climate change is thus not only an environmental crisis but also an epistemological one. We need new ways to understand the world and our place in it. While Chakrabarty's essay was hailed by most academics, in one section it evoked chagrin and the gnashing of teeth. Social scientists who had written on environmental history and politics for decades found themselves upstaged and that too by a self-confessed neophyte to ecological concerns. The points that Chakrabarty made had been commonplace in environmental circles for the longest time. To be validated by a scholar of his stature was a vindication of sorts but it also showed that, despite producing a respectable body of work, social scientists of the environment had made virtually no impression on the rest of their peers. While they thought they were pulling the alarm chain to prevent a hurtling social science train from going off the tracks, they had actually been sequestered in the ladies' compartment nattering only to themselves. advertisement If social science writing on the environment is a muffled minority confined to a ghetto, the situation of literary fiction is no better. Despite the looming shadow of the Anthropocene over civilisation as we know it, only a handful of 'serious' novelists, such as the brilliant T. Coraghessan Boyle, acknowledge its presence in our lives. The rest are compartmentalised in the genre of science fiction, with a berth reserved for 'cli-fi' or climate fiction. But the catastrophic effects of climate change are not a future fantasy; they are here, already being visited upon millions of people around the world. Yet the chroniclers of our times show little trace of it in their work. Why is this? Why are we unable-at the level of literature, history and politics-to address the scale and violence of global warming? In The Great Derangement, Amitav Ghosh provides a powerful explanation for this collective amnesia. And by bringing it to our attention, he compels us to recognise and deal with it. Climate change denial among the intelligentsia has multiple roots, and Ghosh deploys his subtlest skills as a writer and social scientist to untangle this mass. Several of Ghosh's novels show a keen ecological sensibility: The Hungry Tide was outstanding in this regard, and the Ibis trilogy not far behind. Ghosh's journalistic writings on nuclear weapons in the Indian subcontinent and on the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami were also informed by environmental concern. Although his debt to Dipesh Chakrabarty is evident in The Great Derangement, a book that grew out of a series of lectures delivered at the University of Chicago, Ghosh brings an unexpected and entirely fresh approach to a lament familiar to environmentalists by focusing on the limits of the novel as a literary form. For this contribution alone, as much as for its other provocative arguments, this book demands to be read. Ghosh argues that climate change causes a crisis of the imagination. The modern novel cannot come to terms with it, nor, by extension, can most of popular culture. Climate change is often manifested in unprecedented events-cataclysmic floods, high-speed hurricanes and off-the-chart heat waves. The narrative convention of the novel would dismiss these as being wildly improbable. For the bourgeois novel is based on establishing the ordinariness of everyday life within which the distinctive story of its individual protagonists can unfold. Time rolls out gradually in the novel; great temporal spasms, especially those that involve multitudes of people, are a shock that the novel form cannot swallow. The novel tends to smoothen out time and also sanitise space. A narrative set in affluent New York or New Delhi remains oblivious to the effects of its characters' lifestyles on the rest of the world. Just as Britain's imperial exploitation is absent from Jane Austen's novels even though it underwrote the gentle world she depicted, so too is contemporary fiction quiet about the ecological price its protagonists extract from those whose resources they seize and those who suffer the effects of elite fossil fuel profligacy. For every scene set in an air-conditioned room or a moving car, there is an ugly twin offstage: a scene of displaced adivasis evicted by a coal mine, of poor farmers fleeing their homes because of rising sea levels. Raymond Williams pointed to precisely these spatial effects of capitalism in his classic The Country and the City; Ghosh updates that analysis by addressing global warming, a phenomenon that even more than global capitalism touches the lives of billions of people even as they are tucked away out of sight, out of mind. advertisement To Raymond Williams, foremost among Marxist critics, we owe our insight into how capitalism shapes culture. And capitalism is surely central to any explanation about print cultures such as the novel, and about the wider phenomenon of unbridled consumerism that fuels climate change. However, while Ghosh nods briefly at books like Naomi Klein's This Changes Everything: Capitalism versus the Climate, he is curiously loath to give the system its due. Instead, he focuses on colonial power and how it retarded industrialisation in India and China, where all the conditions for accelerating fossil fuel-based economic expansion were available. Were it not for imperialism, Ghosh argues, global warming would have occurred much earlier and would have been far worse. "The imperatives of capital and empire have often pushed in different directions, sometimes producing counter-intuitive results," he says. advertisement While this is indeed true, one can't so easily glide by the iceberg in our midst. One would have expected this book to say much more about capitalism because, as Ghosh has documented superbly in his other writings, the history of empire is inseparable from the pursuit of markets and materials for the advantage of capitalist nations. That relentless search for profit drives what David Harvey has called "accumulation by dispossession" and its accompanying ecological devastation. And it is capitalism's feat of commodity fetishism-making manufactured things seem magical while concealing their social and ecological costs-that makes us lust after gas-guzzling SUVs and suchlike without thinking of their dark side. So it is puzzling that Ghosh asserts that "even if capitalism disappears, climate change will still remain an intractable problem". advertisement Ghosh ends by appraising whether climate change will be effectively addressed through public action. He argues that while the US military regards climate change as its single biggest security threat, politicians are unwilling to tackle a problem that requires making citizens give up the comforts enjoyed by the Western world since WW-II. Also, since politics in the West has been reduced to an expression of individual conscience or personal actions, public debate gets deadlocked, a convenient outcome for corporations and states that want to continue with business as usual. Cutting fossil fuel consumption changes the world's geopolitical order (and I for one would rejoice when renewable energy dominates and West Asia sinks back into geopolitical obscurity) and the security establishment is too invested in maintaining the status quo. Transnational protest movements aren't up to the task of forcing the deep state to change, according to Ghosh. He writes, "In this bleak terrain, the most promising development...is the growing involvement of religious groups and leaders in the politics of climate change." Last year, Pope Francis wrote an encyclical letter Laudato Si' that criticised the growth-obsessed paradigm of capitalism in the clearest terms. Can the Pope and his ilk join hands with marginalised environmentalists, ecological refugees and all those whose already precarious lives will be worsened by climate change? If this deeply thoughtful book offers that as our only hope, we are doomed indeed. APOCALYPSE NOW? Amitav Ghosh speaks to Kai Friese about the crisis of climate change and the crisis of fiction. But he hasn't given up on the Novel. KF: Like many readers, I was happy to see a new book on the Anthro pocene. And I was pleasantly surprised by your preoccupation in this book with the limitations of the novel as genre, and of fiction in general, in grappling with the crisis of climate change. But while you talk about the innate limitations of the novel as a form that is implicated in the pathologies of modernity, I think of how so much popular Hollywood cinema deals, fairly directly, with the very catastrophe your new (non-fiction) addresses: I mean natural disaster movies from The Poseidon Adventure back in the day to The Day After , to Armaged don, San Andreas, Dante's Peak , tornado films... AG: I love them! KF: I imagine you would, but do you think that perhaps cinema is superseding fiction? AG: On this front certainly, cinema is much more responsive to this kind of thing than fiction has been. The question for me is why is it that the mainstream, what we consider 'serious' in fiction, excludes phenomenon like these-and as soon as you ask yourself that, you realise that what is really in crisis is exactly this notion of seriousness. What is constituted, as it were, as the beating heart of bourgeois seriousness-because the bourgeois is nothing if not serious. And you realise that the seriousness itself is a kind of derangement. KF: But at the same time, in publishing circles, people talk about the rise of non-fiction, and in that sense, there's nothing wrong with addressing 'the serious' precisely as you have done, with non-fiction, with essays. AG: No, there's nothing wrong with that. But then is it enough? No. I don't feel that. See, for me, I am primarily a novelist, so the question of how to address these issues through fiction is naturally a question that haunts me. So, that's one thing. The other thing is that, at a more general level, the issue is how do you create a narrative around subjects like these? And the great difficulty with climate change that everybody is facing now is that it doesn't seem to have a narrative. It's defying narrative. And I think that's not a job you can leave to politicians. That's a job for people who work in the arts. KF: On that note, what next? AG: I have another short non-fiction project based on my research for the Ibis trilogy. So that's the next thing. KF: And fiction, will you return to it? AG: I've actually been writing a little bit of fiction in such time as I get. No, no, fiction is absolutely what I do. --- ENDS --- Nice's municipal police members look on during a wreath-laying ceremony on the initiative of the municipal police in tribute to the victims of the attack of July 14 in Nice, southeastern France. (Bertrand Langlois/AFP/Getty Images) The French government has faced severe criticism for security flaws that may have contributed to the deadly terrorist attack in Nice this month. Now, the outrage over the issue has intensified, with a local security official claiming authorities are attempting a coverup. The latest chapter in this unfolding drama began Sunday, when Sandra Bertin, who runs Nices video surveillance network, told the weekly Journal du Dimanche newspaper that Interior Ministry officials pressured her to doctor a report on policing in Nice on the night of July 14, when 84 people were killed in the third major terrorist attack on French soil in less than two years. The local official said she was urged to make clear that we also saw the national police at two points on the Nice promenade where they were not visible. The Interior Ministry fiercely denied the claim. This revelation came days after Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve admitted that no national police units had been patrolling the entrance to Nices seaside promenade, where Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a 31-year-old local resident of Tunisian origin, plowed a 19-ton rented truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day. Cazeneuve previously had said that national police units had been at the entrance. Such units are usually better equipped to deal with major attacks than municipal police units. 1 of 19 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Photos from the scene after truck plows into Bastille Day crowd in Nice, France View Photos Police and emergency workers investigate the area after the horrific attack that killed dozens. Caption Police and emergency workers investigate the area after the horrific attack that killed dozens. July 15, 2016 Police stand near the truck that slammed into revelers late Thursday in Nice, France. Luca Bruno/AP Wait 1 second to continue. The Interior Ministry maintains that national police units were elsewhere along the Promenade des Anglais. I replied that I would only write what I had seen, Bertin told the Journal du Dimanche, adding that she was harassed for nearly an hour as Interior Ministry officials ordered her to enter positions of national police that she did not actually see in recorded video footage. In Paris, Cazeneuve denied those allegations and threatened to file a defamation lawsuit against Bertin. As the Interior Ministry said in a statement: It would be very helpful if Mme. Sandra Bertin would be interviewed by investigators and could produce the identities and titles of the people who approached her, the emails she references and their contents. The Interior Ministry declined to provide additional information regarding Cazeneuves potential lawsuit. France has been under a state of emergency since Nov. 13, when 130 people were killed in coordinated assaults across Paris. But despite the governments assumption of extraordinary powers to pursue alleged terrorists, the same cell of extremists that targeted Paris in November attacked Brussels in March. The attack on Nice has caused the governments approval ratings to plummet: According to a poll conducted by the IFOP agency last week, 67 percent of French citizens have little to no confidence in the authorities ability to fight terrorism. When Frances prime minister, Manuel Valls, appeared in Nice for a ceremony after the attack, some people in the crowd called him a murderer. Frances municipal and national police forces have different chains of command and do not necessarily coordinate in advance of a large event like a Bastille Day celebration. The fact that theres this fragmentation is obviously something that lets these things happen, Jean-Charles Brisard, director of the Center for the Analysis of Terrorism, said in an interview. Frances far-right National Front party, led by the outspoken Marine Le Pen, has strongly criticized the governments perceived security failures. The party said in a statement following Bertins accusation: The French have a right to the truth were security measures sufficient, and were they consistent with anticipated plans? Were there any failures that night? What is the Interior Ministry trying to hide? Read more Attacker in Nice is said to have radicalized very rapidly How Nice represents the dumbing down and growing danger of terror As France deals with a new normal, people say We dont feel safe Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Thorbjorn Falldin, a pipe-smoking sheep farmer who became prime minister in Swedens first non-Socialist government after World War II, died July 23 at his farm in northeastern Sweden. He was 90. Center Party leader Annie Loof announced the death but did not provide the cause. As head of the agrarian Center Party, Mr. Falldin led a center-right coalition to power in 1976, ending 40 years of Social Democratic rule. Two years later the government collapsed amid disputes over nuclear power, which Mr. Falldins party strongly opposed at the time. He was reappointed prime minister after the 1979 election, serving until 1982, when his government was defeated by Olof Palmes Social Democrats. Nils Olof Thorbjorn Falldin was born April 24, 1926, into a family of farmers in the northern village of Hogsjo. Throughout his political career he remained close to his roots, returning to his farm on weekends to care for the sheep or dig up potatoes. Mr. Falldins calm, quiet manner contrasted with Palmes wit and sometimes aggressive debating style. The two dominated Swedish politics until Mr. Falldin resigned in 1985 after a dismal election result. Palme was assassinated a year later, a murder that remains unsolved. Mr. Falldin rose through the ranks of the Center Party with grass-roots support and became party leader in 1971. He took the party in a pro-environment, anti-nuclear direction. To this day, the Center Party tries to be seen as the green alternative in Swedens non-Socialist camp, although it has relaxed its opposition to atomic energy. Survivors include his wife, Solveig, and their three children. Iraqi counterterrorism forces are seen through a shattered glass window of a military vehicle in Fallujah in June. (Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters) Iraqs counterterrorism forces, known as the Golden Division, were once so loathed that they were nicknamed the Dirty Division. They were accused of running secret prisons and carrying out extrajudicial killings. Some lawmakers called for them to be disbanded. But the countrys war against the Islamic State has restored the reputation of the elite forces, which have spearheaded nearly every major fight against the militants in Iraq. Their commanders have become battlefield celebrities, while popular songs praise the troops prowess. 1st Sgt. Malik Jaber, a member of Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces, wears green cloth from the revered Imam Abbas shrine on his body armor at a frontline position on the southern edge of Fallujah in June. (Maya Alleruzzo/Associated Press) The force of about 10,000 men is a small bright spot in an otherwise lackluster legacy of American efforts to rebuild Iraqs military in the 13 years since the invasion. U.S. officials say it is their most reliable partner in fighting the Islamic State on the ground, while the Iraqi army struggles with corruption and mismanagement. [After more than $1.6 billion in U.S. aid, Iraqs army still struggles] But with hundreds of casualties over the past 2 1 / 2 years and few breaks for the men from the grinding war, Iraq may be slowly degrading its best weapon to fight the militants. Were carrying the rest of them, but weve got used to it, Col. Arkan Fadhil said with a shrug as he called in airstrikes from U.S.-led coalition jets in Fallujah a few days before the city was retaken last month. Its been from the beginning of the war until now. The first Iraqi to graduate from the U.S. Army Ranger School, he speaks English with an American twang picked up during a total of two years and eight months training in the United States. Like his colleagues, Fadhil has seen many of the countrys battles. Weve fought everywhere, he said. As the Islamic State made its first sweeping advances, a group of counterterrorism troops held on for months in the face of hundreds of car bombs during a fierce siege on Iraqs largest oil refinery. Last year, they led the battle to retake Ramadi, sweeping east to west as federal police forces struggled to progress. They headed operations for Hit and Rutbah and scrapped for villages along the Euphrates River. Most recently, here in Fallujah, Golden Division commandos were the first to break through defense lines set up 2 years ago in the city, the first in Iraq under Islamic State control. Backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, their signature black Humvees raced through neighborhoods where the militants had planted deadly roadside bombs and built networks of tunnels. They are lead sled dog, said Lt. Gen. Mick Bednarek, who headed the U.S. training effort in Iraq between 2013 and 2015. The units were formed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion when officials realized that forces that could work closely with the United States would be needed as the insurgency grew. They were modeled on American Special Operations troops and drawn from across Iraqs ethnic and religious groups, including Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. With their U.S.-supplied weapons and training, there is little to distinguish them from their American counterparts. [American troops edge closer to the front lines in Iraq] From the outset, the Golden Division was viewed with suspicion because it was formed under the direct command of the prime ministers office, rather than the Defense or Interior ministry. Accusations grew that then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was using the forces to eliminate his rivals. They hated us, Fadhil said of their reputation before the fight against the Islamic State. We had no restrictions on any kind of target. Now people have a lot more respect for us rather than fear. Iraqi counterterrorism forces advance their positions in Fallujah in June. (Hadi Mizban/Associated Press) As one of their convoys drove through Sunni areas on the outskirts of Ramadi after the city was retaken at the end of the year, children threw sweets at their cars and crowded around to snap pictures. A Sunni local official in the convoy remarked that two years earlier, people would have shut their doors and hidden in their homes. Their transformation over the past two years has been amazing, said David M. Witty, a retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel and a former adviser to the Iraqi counterterrorism force. They went from being on the verge of being disbanded or absorbed to being the darlings of Iraq. The fact that the units were kept separate from Iraqs traditional security structure in the end may have been their savior. The Golden Division managed to largely insulate itself from the corruption that gnawed through the foundations of the Iraqi army and flourished elsewhere. Meanwhile, the counterterrorism units received concentrated and continuous training from a small contingent that stayed behind after U.S. troops pulled out in 2011. Iraqi special forces under the guidance of U.S. special forces raid a house in Tal Afar in 2011. (Kadir van Lohuizen/For The Washington Post ) Iraqi special forces search for a person suspected of making IEDs and car bombs. (Kadir van Lohuizen/For The Washington Post ) Commanders say that the accusations leveled at them in the past were politically motivated, but Bednarek said American trainers put a special emphasis on human rights in an effort to keep the force beyond reproach. Theres no question there were quite a lot of allegations there . . . death squads for Maliki and all that, he said. We said to them, you are under scrutiny, there will be a lot of people who will try to throw you under the bus, so to speak. The Golden Division remained cohesive even as the Islamic State propelled Iraq into crisis in 2014 and the Iraqi military collapsed despite the more than $20 billion the United States spent to rebuild it. Maliki soon departed, ending the accusations that the soldiers essentially acted as his private army. The force is now the most professional, technically capable force that the government of Iraq has at its disposal, Bednarek said. But the Golden Division was not created for its new role. We used to have missions for selective, high-value targets, small-team operations, Fadhil said. Weve never done operations of this kind of magnitude, three or four battalions. Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces gather ahead of an operation to retake the Islamic State-held city of Fallujah in May. (Khalid Mohammed/Associated Press) The weight of running a ground war is putting an inevitable strain on the division. Even as its fighters were in the thick of the Fallujah fight, some had to be called back to Ramadi to recapture areas on the outskirts of the city that they had secured months before. Police and tribal fighters had lost control of the ground once more. [Inside a prison in Fallujah where the Islamic State tortured and killed] Theres a weakness in the army and other forces which has increased the pressure on us, said Brig. Gen. Haider al-Obeidi, the divisions field commander for the operation, recalling the early days of battle as he walked through the streets of one of the first areas to be retaken in Fallujah. Now when we are advancing, we have to leave lots of gaps. We didnt have time to search every house, every tunnel, he said, gesturing down a street lined with cinder-block houses. There should be a force coming in after us. He stopped to receive coordinates for a strike over a walkie-talkie. With a pop, a bullet flew into the leg of a soldier standing next to him who was jotting the locations down in a notebook. Sniper! someone shouted as the men took cover behind a small building. A Humvee screeched over, bundled up the injured officer and rushed him off. As I told you, we couldnt clear all the houses, Obeidi remarked. Later, he said the round was more likely a stray bullet, but his point still stood. Shiite militias arrived in Fallujah to assist after neighborhoods were cleared of militants. But using Shiite militias in large Sunni population centers has its sensitivities. Haider al- Abadi, the prime minister, ordered them out earlier this month after houses were burned, leaving some Golden Division units holding the ground. Still, the forces are under less strain than before, Obeidi said. Their worst days were during the first days of Iraqs war against the Islamic State in Ramadi, he said. After a militant assault in January 2014, the military engaged in a bloody tug-of-war before finally losing its hold on the city a year and a half later. We were overwhelmed, he said. Before the war, the men would do seven days on an operation, seven days of training and seven days off. Now thats changed to two weeks on and a week on leave, but the intensity of the fight means that doesnt always happen. Fadhil once did 118 days straight in Ramadi. Col. Arkan Fadhil in the Al Haykil area southeast of Fallujah in June. (Ali Arkady/For The Washington Post) The men dont expect much of a pause now that Fallujah is behind them. There are more battles to fight in Anbar province, while other Golden Division units have already begun operations south of Mosul. Their front-line role has made for heavy losses. The battalion Fadhil commands had 240 men in December 2013. Now it has just 190, even after replacements were sent in for many of those killed. Other units have lost more men, he said. They are hard to replace. You cant mass-produce special-operations guys, Fadhil said. That day, a Golden Division Humvee was hit by fire from an SPG-9 antitank gun. The men were from Fadhils old unit, but he didnt know who had died. I dont have their names yet, he said, returning his attention to his cluster of walkie-talkies. Weve lost so many. Mustafa Salim in Fallujah and Missy Ryan in Washington contributed to this report. Read more: A desperate womans email from Iraq reveals the high toll of Obamas low-cost wars We are desperate: Iraqis flee Fallujah, only to find another nightmare In fighting ISIS, Iraqs Shiite militias could ignite a sectarian disaster Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world While the White House has placed humanitarian aid at the heart of its Syria policy, the government agency charged with disbursing it has frozen more than $200 million in contracts, fearing significant fraud. As fighting deepens nightmarish conditions across northern Syria, the suspensions have affected the delivery of medicines, food and other life-saving aid to hundreds of thousands of civilians since December. An investigation into the suspected fraud was formally announced in April, but details did not emerge until a congressional hearing this month. In Aleppo, a city shattered by violence, leading hospitals were brought to the brink of closure when they were left without financial support. Elsewhere, civilians displaced in baking heat received tarpaulins too small to cover an adult and food kits in which lentils had been replaced with salt. Despite our goodwill, bad characters have taken advantage of the complex situation for personal gain, ultimately denying Syrian people the food, clothing, health care and other aid they urgently need, Ann Calvaresi Barr, inspector general of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), told the House Foreign Affairs Committee this month. [A midnight strike killed a 2-day-old infant in Aleppos Childrens Hospital] The agency has received at least 116 complaints of abuse, and 25 investigations have been opened, some two-thirds of which relate to theft and fraud. Contracts worth $239 million have been suspended. At the House committees hearing, Thomas Melito, a senior official at the Government Accountability Office, which issued a report this month on improving oversight of Syria aid programs, said he did not believe USAID or the State Department had any inkling of how much money had been lost. The problems underscore a wider dilemma: how to deliver aid in a war zone where most fear to travel. The U.S. is the leading humanitarian donor in Syria, but most of the $5.5 billion in American aid has been distributed through the United Nations and a host of partner organizations. The United States closed its embassy in Damascus in 2012. When you work cross-border and without a consulate, things become very complex, very high risk, and very dangerous, said Nancy Lindborg, president of the U.S. Institute of Peace and a former senior official at USAID. She likened the challenges of the cross-border operation to aid efforts in Somalia. There, as in Syria, aid workers have been kidnapped and killed for their work. Earlier this month, Secretary of State John F. Kerry announced nearly $439 million in new humanitarian funding for Syria and neighboring countries. USAID said this month that most partner organizations had not assessed the risk of fraud within their operations. The agency said that it is working to rectify this problem and that it has supplied partners with a new handbook on how to spot malpractice. When USAID learned about possible fraud in humanitarian aid for Syrians, we took immediate action to halt several activities in Turkey and to suspend individuals and third-party vendors from receiving U.S. funding, spokesman Ben Edwards said. USAID has learned from this experience and is taking additional measures to protect our assistance, including limiting the amount of relief supplies in any one warehouse, enhancing program monitoring, and ensuring that programs are immediately suspended or terminated in the event of fraud or diversion. International Medical Corps (IMC), a Los Angeles-based charity, said Friday that some of its USAID-funded procurement remained on hold, pending the outcome of the investigation. In southern Turkey, current and former IMC employees said in interviews that a mafia of suppliers had conspired to rig bids, accepting substandard goods that did not meet invoiced specifications. It was like a cartel, said one senior employee, who, like others, was not authorized to speak to the media or feared repercussions. IMC said Friday that it had also fired a handful of staff members suspected of involvement in sophisticated fraud schemes. We are fully prepared to move swiftly should we find additional staff are involved, said Rebecca Gustafson, a spokesperson. The funding suspension led IMC to cut 800 employees, the organization said, most of them Syrians living in the war zone. Each of those salaries would have supported about 10 people, a former staffer said. Also under investigation are the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a global charity headed by former British foreign secretary David Miliband, and GOAL, an Irish nonprofit group that supported dozens of bakeries in northwest Syria. The IRC said Friday in a statement that it was working openly and collaboratively with USAID to investigate this issue. It said its Turkey-to-Syria cross-border programs have served more than 2 million people, notwithstanding the scale, risk and obstacles associated with operating within a war-torn environment. GOAL said Tuesday that it also was cooperating with the investigation and that U.S. funding for procurement parts of its aid program had been suspended. Although remote programming has brought serious challenges, aid officials say its now the only option to serve areas of Syria outside of government control. U.N. aid operations run out of Damascus are limited in scope, their activities affected by the demands of President Bashar al-Assads government, according to some critics. The Syria Campaign, a pro-opposition advocacy group, accused the United Nations in a report last month of abandoning its neutrality through a culture of compliance that allowed the government to veto aid deliveries to besieged areas where figures compiled by the Syrian Network for Human Rights suggest more than 400 people have starved to death. At a news conference after its release, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moons spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said the report discredits the work of national and international humanitarian aid workers. The U.N. has never shied away from calling out the parties in the conflict, including the Syrian government, for hampering the humanitarian work of the U.N. in Syria, he said. Reflecting on the corruption, a former IMC staffer said the investigation should act as a wake-up call for aid groups. You cant get away with that sort of poor oversight and lack of procedure anymore, the staffer said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Read more: Syria troops tighten Aleppo siege Kerry: Progress with Russia on Syria despite military doubts Pentagon says proposed Russia deal is not based on trust A woman takes photos near a Turkish flag in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul on July 26. Turkey's opposition leader warned against a government witch hunt following a failed coup. (Petros Karadjias/AP) Turkish leaders on Tuesday stepped up their calls for the United States to punish Fethullah Gulen, the reclusive cleric living in Pennsylvania whose organization is said to be behind the failed July 15 coup attempt that sought to topple President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government. Officials in Ankara insist that Gulen had a direct hand in the coup plot, a mutiny led by a faction in the military that led to about 290 deaths before it was quashed. U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry said he would consider an extradition request should Turkey submit legitimate evidence [of Gulens involvement] that withstands scrutiny. His Turkish counterpart, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, said the United States needs to take Turkeys concerns seriously. Turkish people are appalled at the US insistence in harboring him. We, as the Turkish government demand his return to face justice, Cavusoglu wrote in an op-ed published on Al Jazeeras website Tuesday. His extradition to Turkey is the strongest expectation of the people of Turkey from the US. He added that what the Obama administration does next may shape the future relations of the two key allies. [The cleric blamed by Turkey leads a global movement from the Poconos] Turkey has submitted legal documents to U.S. authorities concerning Gulens activities but says it will formally request his extradition after the country has finished investigating the defeated coup plotters. The files pertaining to their involvement in this coup attempt have not been sent yet, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told Britains Guardian newspaper on Tuesday, referring to Gulen and his organization. They will be sent and will leave no doubt whatsoever as to their involvement in this. Reports in the Turkish media continue to shed light on Gulens supposed role in fomenting the coup attempt. Gen. Hulusi Akar, the countrys chief of staff, detailed in testimony leaked to the news media what happened while he was detained by military officers participating in the putsch. Akar said a brigadier general among the mutinous faction offered to put me in touch with their opinion leader Fethullah Gulen. Akar said he refused to speak to Gulen or read out the manifesto the coup plotters had drafted declaring their takeover of the state. Akar said he told the rebel officers that the road they are taking is wrong, they are getting drowned in a swamp, they will pay for it. In the days since, about 40 percent of Turkeys top military officers generals and admirals have been arrested or implicated in the coup plot. Thousands of others, including soldiers, prosecutors, judges and other civil servants, have been detained as part of the massive roundup of suspected Gulenists and subversive agents. Tens of thousands of others have been suspended or lost their jobs. [Turkey declares a state of emergency for three months] The purges latest targets include a high-profile former governor of Istanbul, who was detained on Tuesday for his alleged links to Gulens movement. Authorities also ordered arrest warrants for 42 journalists, a move that the Turkish representative for Reporters Without Borders called a witch hunt. As the crackdown intensifies, the U.S. Embassy in Ankara advised American citizens to reconsider travel to Turkey at this time. It also authorized the voluntary departure of the family members of U.S. officials posted in Ankara and the consulate in Istanbul. The decision, a State Department statement said, came after the coup attempt and the Turkish governments subsequent declaration of a 90-day state of emergency. On the Turkish street, though, support for the governments response to the coup remains high. Many of Istanbuls thoroughfares and avenues are lined with Turkish flags in a display of nationalist solidarity, while the same red banner flaps from cars and motorcycles zooming past. The 79-year-old spiritual leader has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States for nearly two decades. He presided over a significant network of schools that observers say created a generation of Gulen-inspired bureaucrats who penetrated various institutions of the state, including the police and judiciary. In the initial years of Erdogans rule, his ruling Justice and Development Party worked with the Gulenists to defang and sideline the countrys traditionally staunchly secular military. But the two camps eventually turned on each other. Erdogan now accuses Gulen of being an architect of a parallel state-within-the-state that is undermining the republic. And even Erdogans political rivals concur. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition party in Turkey, echoed the governments calls for Gulens extradition on Tuesday. If Gulen is regarded as the main culprit of the coup attempt and wants to be acquitted, he should come to Turkey and stand trial in independent courts, he said. Karen DeYoung in Washington contributed to this report. Read more: U.S. tried to kill Erdogan, says editor in chief of Turkish daily Thousands of judges purged in Turkey after failed coup attempt Turkish mayor calls for a graveyard for traitors behind failed coup Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world UN soldiers gather at the scene of a car bomb attack at the entrance of the base for the African Union forces in Mogadishu, Somalia, on July 26. (Said Yusuf Warsame/EPA) Two suicide bombers detonated explosives-laden cars on Tuesday outside the office of the U.N. mine-clearing agency and a Somali army checkpoint in Mogadishu, killing 13 people, including seven guards, police officials said. Somalia-based al-Shabab asserted responsibility, according to the extremist groups Andalus radio station. Police Capt. Mohamed Hussein said that the first suicide bomber tried to speed through the barrier at the U.N. office but that guards shot at the car. The deputy spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Farhan Haq, told reporters that if the guards had not stopped the car from entering the U.N. premises, there would have been considerably more damage and loss of life. A second suicide blast targeted a checkpoint manned by Somali security forces near the African Union base in Mogadishu, Hussein said. Al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, is waging an insurgency against Somalias weak U.N.-backed government with the goal of establishing an Islamist emirate, ruled by a strict form of Islam. More than 22,000 peacekeepers serve in the multi-nation A.U. force. Al-Shabab opposes the presence of foreign troops in Somalia. Although al-Shabab was ousted from Mogadishu in 2011, it continues to wage a deadly guerrilla campaign. The Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania began yesterday and will conclude later this week with the formal nomination of Hillary Clinton to be the partys presidential candidate. This will set up a contest between Clinton, who will run a right-wing, pro-war campaign, and Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman nominated by the Republicans last week. The conclusion of the nominating process for the two main parties of American capitalism will not resolve the deep political crisis in the United States. The widespread support for the campaign of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who called for a political revolution against the billionaire class, was the initial expression of a political radicalization of workers and youth throughout the country. Sanders is now attempting to convince his supporters to back Clinton, for which he was booed even by his own delegates in a speech on Monday morning. The Vermont senator, who even as an Independent worked closely with the Democrats, understood from the beginning that his task was to exploit the political naivete of his supporters to direct opposition back into the Democratic Party, a party of war and social reaction. In carrying out this task, Sanders has had the assistance of a network of organizations and groups that operate around and within the gigantic gaseous planet that is the Democratic Party. Many of these same organizations are now gathered in Philadelphia this week for their own Socialist Convergence meeting held simultaneously with the DNC. The main sponsors of the event include the Democratic Socialists of America; the Green Party; the International Socialist Organization; Socialist Alternative; Solidarity; the Party for Socialism and Liberation; and others. Speakers at the event will include Jill Stein, the likely Green Party candidate for US president; Bhaskar Sunkara, editor of Jacobin magazine; Kshama Sawant, Socialist Alternatives representative in the Seattle City Council; and various members of the sponsoring organizations. Adopting the phraseology of the Sanders campaign, the conference is organized under the headline: Carrying forward the political revolution: Whats next for the movement? If the organizers were honest, they would instead have adopted the slogan, Now that Sanders has endorsed Clinton, how do we forge a new political trap for the working class? Much of the discussion within and between these organizations is over whether or not to endorse Jill Stein and the Green Party. One of the organizations that has openly backed Sanders over the past year is Solidarity. In a statement posted on the International Viewpoint web site, published by the Pabloite International Secretariat, Solidarity now calls For Jill Stein and Independent Politics. The statement begins by gushing that Sanders campaign for a political revolution lit up the 2016 primary election season like a meteor across the sky and notes that many of its members participated in the Labor for Bernie project, an initiative by a section of the union bureaucracy to support Sanders during the primaries. Yet it goes on to assert that Sanders campaigned within the parameters of a rigged two-party system and that there was never any doubt about the outcome: Sanders backing Clinton. If in fact the entire process was rigged and known from the beginning, why did Solidarity so vigorously promote Sanders campaign, and why does it continue to hail his political revolution? Groups like Solidarity never give an accounting for their previous positions. For decades they have backed one revolutionary capitalist party or organization after the next. When these organizations inevitably betray whatever promises they made, it is treated as an unexpected and unfortunate turn of events. They are absolutely opposed to defining the class character of forces they are backing. While they make references to Marx at various times, their method bears no relationship to Marxism, which evaluates political tendencies not by what they call themselves but by the class content of their program and the historical experiences of the working class movement. In 2008, they hailed the election of Obama as a transformative and historic event on the basis of the fact that he was African-American. One writer for Solidarity declared that Obamas election is first and foremost an unprecedented victorya blow against 400 years of Black slavery, legal segregation and institutional racism. The actual outcome of eight years of the Obama administration has not led Solidarity, or any of its co-thinkers, to consider why they got it so wrong. Instead, with the campaign of Bernie Sanders, they saw a new opportunity to inflate illusions in the Democratic Party and bourgeois politics as a whole. With Sanders endorsement of Clinton, it is on to the next political maneuver: support for Jill Stein. According to Solidarity, the political revolution will now be continued by the Green Party. If you want a political revolution that goes beyond empty promises, they write, the time to break with the capitalist parties is now by supporting the Green Party campaign. There is in fact nothing anti-capitalist about the Green Party. It is a capitalist party with a capitalist program. Where the Greens have come to power, particularly in Germany, they have quickly abandoned their pacifist and reformist slogans to support war and the assault on the working class. As for the independence of the Green Party campaign, this was clearly exposed when Stein offered to cede her position as the likely head of the partys ticket to Sanders, a Democrat who had just finished campaigning in the Democratic Party primaries. Stein responded to Sanders appeals for all his supporters to vote for Clinton by urging him to join forces with the Green Party instead. In a statement released late last week, she urged Bernie to sit down with me to explore potential collaboration with the Green Party to ensure that the political revolution will prevail. The International Socialist Organization, the US representative of the state capitalist tendency, takes essentially the same line as Solidarity. For most of the primary process, the ISO has called for a Green Party vote, criticizing groups like Socialist Alternative and Solidarity for campaigning for Sanders. This was not out of any principled differences with the promotion of the Democratic Party. Rather, the ISO has been concerned that by campaigning for Sanders, the rotten politics that all these groups share would be exposed once Sanders endorsed Clinton. Along with the rest of the participants in the Socialist Convergence, the ISO now hopes that these tactical differences can be laid to rest. In Why you should converge on Philadelphia, the ISOs Todd Chretien (a one-time Green Party candidate for US Senate) writes, [N]ow that Socialist Alternative and Solidarity have come out squarely for Stein, organizers from groups supporting her campaign can compare notes and, hopefully, come out of the Convergence all pulling in the same direction. In fact, the ISO is perfectly willing to pull in the same direction with groups that are now calling for supporting Clinton. It cites favorably a statement by the Young Democratic Socialists (the youth movement of the Democratic Socialists of America, a faction of the Democratic Party), which states: Regardless of our agreements and disagreements with the Sanders endorsement, or continuing to debate the presidential candidate to vote for, now is the time to consider what we as a movement will do to make real change happen. The ISO goes on to state that Convergence organizers want to welcome participation from any activists, whether they support Stein or believe that voting against Trump and therefore for Hillary Clinton is a necessary evil at this stage. Beyond support for Stein in the election, the pseudo-left outfits gathered in Philadelphia are discussing the possibility of forming a new political organization, in part modeled on the Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza) in Greece. In A Socialist Convergence in Philadelphia, Solidarity writes, for example, that it hopes that all non-sectarian socialists can talk about the prospects for a Next Left from below, as the latest experiment of a longstanding orientation to left regroupment/refoundation and the need for a big tent multi-tendency pole of attraction. Non-sectarian socialists means, in general, anyone except those with political principles, and, in particular, the Socialist Equality Party. Similarly, in its recently adopted perspectives document, Socialist Alternativewhich during the primaries set up the Movement4Bernie organization to support the Democratic Party candidatecalls for the formation of a party of the 99% that will have a populist multi-class character rather than a clearly pronounced working class character. Again, no conclusions are drawn from previous political experiences. Socialist Alternative states vaguely that Syriza, Podemos [in Spain], the already forgotten NPA [New Anti-Capitalist Party] in France or the SSP [Scottish Socialist Party] in Scotland had only a short time of ascending hopes. This is presumably a reference to the fact that after coming to power in 2015 on the basis of mass opposition to austerity, Syriza implemented measures that go further in attacking the jobs and living conditions of Greek workers than any of its predecessors. This nevertheless remains the model for Socialist Alternative and countless similar organizations. The operations of the groups gathered in Philadelphia are not simply the product of stupidity and shortsightedness, though of this there is plenty. All of these organizations are part of the structure of bourgeois politics, representing more privileged sections of the upper middle class. Whether it is through the Sanders campaign, the Green Party campaign or the creation of some new political outfit, the aim is the same. On the one hand, they hope to create more favorable conditions for upper middle class elements within the state, the trade unions and academia, generally through the promotion of identity politics. On the other hand, they are working desperately to prevent the working class from organizing as an independent political force in opposition to the capitalist system. The exposure of Sanders and the perspective of reforming the Democratic Party is at the same time an exposure of the political bankrupts gathered this week at the Socialist Convergence, and reveals the vast gulf between the politics of the pseudo-left and that of genuine socialism. By Rohit Kumar Singh: Villagers of Madhubani district of Bihar have adopted a unique way to protest against poor roads in the area and get their voice heard: they have begun farming on National Highway no. 104. This drastic step on the villagers' behalf comes after repeated requests to the administration for the construction of the road - which is in a pathetic condition - fell on deaf ears. advertisement Angry locals of Gangaur village in Harlakhi block of Madhubani district decided that starting farming on the national highway was the only way to protest and get their voices heard by the government. The 160-km-long NH-104, which starts from Chakia and ends at Narahia via Sitamarhi and Jaynagar in Bihar, is in a poor condition and during the monsoon season, parts of the road witness water logging which has led to several accidents due to unmotorable roads. The condition of the NH-104, which connects Chakia to Narahia, is such that forget driving on this stretch of road, even walking becomes a nightmare. POTHOLES ADD TO WOES At several places, there are huge potholes which are 2-3 feet deep and cause severe water logging. National Highway 104 is an important road as it runs almost parallel to the Indo-Nepal border. There is an SSB camp on the border and the daily requirement of the security personnel are transported by this very road. Despite several requests made to the administration, the road continues to remain in a shambles. The agitated locals, tired of the government's lack of response, have now begun farming on the highway and are sowing rice. "This is the only road for almost 1,000 villages located on NH 104. Several accidents take place every day on this road," said Shiv Chandra Mishra, the local village head. The villagers have not only requested the local administration for the repair of this road but have also staged dharnas and blockades several times to pressurise both the state as well as the Central governments. But somewhere down the line, their demands go unheard. By farming on the NH-104, these locals want to send a message to the government that since this road has become unusable, they are putting it to better use by farming on it. "I came to know that villagers have started farming on the highway. I have informed my seniors about this. If the administration gives permission, we can fill the potholes at least and make this road motorable," said S.K Baitha, the Block Development Officer of Harlakhi. ONLY ASSURANCES NO REPAIRS Local MLA from RLSP, Sudhanshu Shekhar only has assurances for the aggrieved locals at this point of time maintaining that the road would be repaired but only after six months. "I have spoken to the engineers and they have assured me that they will make some arrangement so that the road becomes motorable, at least till a proper road is not constructed," said the Harlakhi MLA. advertisement The MLA also admitted that it's the Centre-state blame game and politics that is being played out which is responsible for the lack of development and roads being built in the area. "There is a lack of coordination in between the Centre and the Bihar government, therefore development work is slow. Had there been a BJP government in Bihar, this road would have been constructed long ago," said legislator Sudhanshu Shekhar. --- ENDS --- PHILADELPHIA Bernie Sanders sent out a text on Monday asking supporters at the Democratic National Convention not to protest on the floor, but delegates still expressed frustration over the process. I ask you as a personal courtesy to me to not engage in any kind of protest on the floor, Sanders said in the text, according to multiple press reports. As the convention opened, audible boos could be heard as speakers brought up the Hillary Clinton-Tim Kaine ticket, even as Clinton supporters tried to muffle out the protest with cheers in support. Although Sanders has endorsed Clinton, and is expected to reiterate the need to defeat Donald Trump in November when he speaks on Monday night, a number of his delegates were dismayed after the Wikileaks release of emails from party officials, which the DNC apologized for on Monday. Some of the loudest chants in support of Sanders have come from the California delegation. Joey Aszterbaum, 41, a Sanders delegate from Hemet, said he and others who supported the Vermont senator were not surprised by revelations that senior party officials wanted to help Clinton. We were told that we were paranoid, we were told we were crazy or that we should just be quiet, said Aszterbaum. But we knew the whole time that something was going on. Now the whole thing is being met with a collective shrug like nothing happened, said Aszterbaum, a social worker. But if the superdelegates were doing their jobs they would look at the polls and see that Bernie is the one who has the best chance of beating Donald Trump. But they know where their bread is buttered. And their interest is not in the Democratic process. Sanders delegate James Albert also expressed dismay that Sanders would be passed by. We felt all along that someone had their finger on the scales of the campaign and now these emails just confirmed that, said Albert, a 25-year-old from San Bernardino. We are still trying to appeal to the super-delegates that there still can be a contested convention. They have still not voted. There is still a decision to make. Story continues As the two men spoke, other delegates erupted into chants of Bernie! Bernie! and Tuition Free! Tuition Free! They also tried to raise their voices to overwhelm the Clinton delegates voting to approve the partys platform, but to no avail. The ayes were louder in favor of the platform, which was backed by both Clinton and Sanders. Exacerbating a sometimes tense atmosphere have been logistics. The Wells Fargo Center is about five miles from downtown, meaning that many delegates face a trek getting from their hotels or daytime events to the arena. Once there, attendees face long walks on treeless, asphalt roads and walkways to get to the security perimeter. Thats a contrast to Cleveland, where the Quicken Loans Arena was located in the downtown area. It also is hot and humid, with temperatures reaching the upper 90s on Monday. Related stories On a Night with Real Stakes for Democrats, First Lady Michelle Obama Won the Night and the News Cycle Bernie Sanders Tells Defiant Supporters to Back Clinton: 'The Choice Is Not Even Close' Elizabeth Warren Warns Democrats About Trump's Effort to 'Divide and Conquer' China has ordered the halting of news reporting by online media. Companies in the online and mobile sectors have been told to disband their reporting teams and instead carry only news content supplied by state-controlled media firms. The order is understood to have come from the Cyberspace Administration of China. Firms that received identically worded letters include Tencent, Sohu, Sina and NetEase, according to a report by Bloomberg. State-owned publication The Paper reported Sunday that unregulated original news has seriously violated internet news policy and has had huge negative effects. The move represents yet another measure to limit freedom of the press and opinion in the worlds most populous country. Earlier this month the CAS told Chinas online media that they would not be allowed to use social media as sources for their stories unless items were verified with state sources. In February this year, Chinas President Xi Jinping toured state media and explained that they exist to serve the Communist Party. He said the media bears the Party surname, and must speak for the Party and its propositions and protect the Partys authority and unity. China already operates wide-ranging controls over traditional media and prevents the direct operation within China of many foreign media operations. It also employs thousands of staff to police social media. Media regulators have spent recent years trying to catch up with changing technology and extending their reach into the newer, more popular and more mobile forms of communication. Recent crackdowns have limited the import of foreign content on Chinas streaming video platforms, increased the censorship burden on imported series for online media and have largely banned foreign formats from being broadcast by TV channels in primetime slots. Commentators argue that the reasons for Chinas growing centralization of media and information include fear of dissent and disunity sparked by economic slowdown, as well as the silencing of political opponents ahead of the 2017 Communist Party congress. Story continues Related stories Takeover Deal for Chinese Streaming Giant iQIYI Collapses Alibaba Pictures Buys Korean 'Romance' for China Release 'Pandy' Launch Seals Canada-China Deal for Arcana and Yisang The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or grad school search. Applying to graduate school for a master's in business is becoming increasingly popular for both domestic and international students. For the first time since 2009 -- in the wake of the Great Recession -- the majority of full-time, two-year MBA programs are reporting an uptick in applications from U.S. candidates, according to a report from the Graduate Management Admission Council, which tracks business school data and administers the Graduate Management Admission Test. In previous years, international students drove the growth in application pools, the council's survey reports. [See the 10 MBA programs with highest acceptance rates.] The GMAC survey found that 59 percent of full-time, two-year business programs reported that they attracted more applications from U.S. students. With applicant pools swelling, receiving an acceptance offer at one of these ranked business schools isn't easy. Some of these programs accept less than 20 percent of applicants. Stanford University, for example, accepted 6.1 percent of business master's degree applicants in 2015 -- the lowest rate among the 129 ranked business schools that submitted acceptance rate data for their full-time programs to U.S. News in an annual survey. As many as 7,899 prospective business grad students applied to Stanford, but at Harvard University the number of applicants is much higher. [Get advice on applying to business school.] Harvard received 9,686 applications for its graduate business degree programs in 2015. Only 10.7 percent were accepted, making the school's acceptance rate one of the lowest among ranked programs. Story continues Among the 10 schools where the fewest applicants get in, the average acceptance rate was 13.8 percent. Of all the 129 ranked business schools, the average acceptance rate was 25.8 percent. Below is a list of the 10 business schools with the lowest acceptance rates for fall 2015. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report. Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Business School Compass to find admissions data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights. U.S. News surveyed 470 colleges and universities for our 2015 survey of graduate business programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Business Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The admissions data above are correct as of July 26, 2016. 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 Country Living Last fall, I moved into my boyfriend Doug's farmhouse. Located on a 1,000-acre family-run farm in southeast Iowa, the traditional two-story, four-square-style house was built around 1900. Doug has lived in this red-roofed house, surrounded by oak trees and a couple of weathered white barns, for 41 of its 116 years. He had replaced the roof and windows, and added weatherproof siding, but apart from painting the kitchen cabinets canary yellow, made no changes to the interior. Before I moved in, he had a climbing rope for a clothesline in the dining room, a beer bottle collection lining the kitchen plate rail, and camping gear serving as his bedroom wall decor. Imagine all this covered by 41 years' worth of dust. Still, it was charming in a bachelor-pad-meets-authentic-farmhouse kind of way. Much of the house's original features were still in tact: the doorframe woodwork with its carved moulding; the wallpaper, faded and flowered; and the white porcelain sinks with separate faucets for hot and cold water. The place could still evoke the warmth and security of a grandmother's presence - its musty, woody scent reminded me of my own grandmother's house, minus the mothballs and green beans in the pressure cooker. Even so, it was obvious its current occupant was focused on the outside, not the inside. Independent Me had to depend on everyone else to show up and do their jobs, and to rely on Mr. Laidback Farmer to make sure all that happened. When it became clear that I was staying - really staying - I lamented how I was having a hard time feeling at home. It was Doug's house, not our house. There was not enough room for my stuff, for my personal expression, for me. I made it my mission to make some space, but after several months of great effort and elbow grease it became apparent that no amount of de-cluttering and dusting, or closet space claimed, would be enough. It didn't matter how many trips to Goodwill I made or how many pieces of my own furniture I squeezed in between his, it still wasn't enough. And so, in a sign of solidarity and commitment, we found a solution and did something that neither of us had done before, never dreamed or dared to do before: renovate. Story continues We only tackled two rooms, the kitchen and bathroom, but that was enough to become educated and enlightened, enraged and enamored - sometimes all at the same time. Here is what I learned: 1. My partner and I are in sync. When we first started our project, I spent time on websites like Houzz and Pinterest. Then, together, we looked at magazines and scouted home improvement stores. We may come from different backgrounds and we may be different genders, but we kept discovering that we liked the same style when it came to choosing things (the canning jar chandelier, the odd-shaped lavatory, the expensive white quartz countertop, the oven with the bright blue interior). This came as a surprise given his furniture is all dark-wood Arts and Crafts antiques while mine is sleek, modern, and light (and mostly Ikea). Instead of being a source of tension, our shopping excursions were a bonding experience. With every new purchase I could feel my heart expanding with even deeper love and appreciation for my man. Photo credit: Courtesy of Beth Howard 2. My partner and I are not in sync. Doug is a farmer. I am a writer with a career in public relations and producing. Doug's work is ruled by the weather, which you cannot control. My work is dependent on deadlines: miss them and you're fired. So while we were 100 percent compatible on the design, we were equally out of sync when it came to the timeline. I would hear him on the phone with the contractor, the electrician, or the plumber, always saying the same thing: "Whenever you can get to it." Upon hanging up I would go ballistic. "You have to get them to commit to a time," I screeched. The lowest point, however, was our discussion about the projected end-date of the renovation. It went something like this: Me: "I was thinking by mid-June." (Demolition began on April 4.) Doug: "As long as it's done by the pig roast." (His annual party with over 100 guests.) Me: "That's in SEPTEMBER!" Doug: No response. Goes outside to mow the lawn or check on the cows. 3. Hiring local help has its pluses and minuses. One of the biggest challenges for me was the fact that Doug hired locals to do the work. Of course he did: Local is convenient. Local supports the area's economy. Local is the right thing to do. We are in a rural area where everyone knows each other, grew up together, and went to school together (though, luckily, not everyone is related). Doug had the direct line of communication to the workers - and to their schedules (see #2 above.) After griping and bellyaching way too much, followed by some desperate meditative soul-searching, I realized that my issue was that I was used to being in control. And now I wasn't. Independent Me had to depend on everyone else to show up, do their jobs, and to rely on Mr. Laidback Farmer to make sure all that happened. I was going out of my mind and needed to calm down-or risk losing my relationship completely. I chose to calm down. And to go out of town for a few days at a time. I also learned that exercise-grinding out my energy on the long gravel roads-was a helpful way to work out my impatience and help me feel more in control. Photo credit: Courtesy of Beth Howard 4. It will cost more than you think. Doug's sister-in-law said this to me before the first sledgehammer hit the wall. "It won't cost that much," I told her. "We'll just do the basic things and keep it on a limited budget." I can still picture her face, grinning as if to say, "You're an idiot." I thought of her so many times as I pulled out my credit card or watched Doug use his. When you start to pull down walls and ceilings of a 100-something-year-old house, the only guarantee is that there is no "doing basic things." We had to replace all the water pipes, run new electric wires, straighten walls, and, worst of all, clean up black mold. I will never know the entire cost, but I do know that it was at least TEN TIMES the price I had estimated. Now I see why more people prefer to build a new house instead of restoring an old one. 5. It will take more time than you think. Me: "How come the contractor isn't here today?" Doug: "He's building a new barn for the [so-and-so] down the road." Me: "Well, when is he coming back?" Doug: "I don't know. Probably the next time it rains." Me: Rips hair out and shouts expletives inappropriate for publication. Photo credit: Courtesy of Beth Howard 6. It will reflect your true nature and demonstrate how you handle stress. Yes, yes, it will. And you won't like yourself very much because of it. Maybe the people in your small community won't like you very much, either. Maybe even your partner will fantasize about breaking up with you because you have turned into such a hysterical lunatic prone to daily episodes of weeping over the sawdust piles left unswept, the boot prints marking your brand new floor, the greasy fingerprints on the fresh white paint, the missing caulk around the window frames. After locking yourself alone in a room to write in your journal or scream into your pillow, communication with your partner is your best weapon. "Butterscotch," I would coo to my redheaded farmer after my latest tirade, "I am sorry for yelling [and swearing and throwing things] but I'm just frustrated. It's hard for me to work when the house is such chaos. I love you and appreciate everything you are doing to make this place nicer for us." 7. You have to let go of perfection. I teach people how to make pie. I am always surprised at how fearful my students are, so afraid of making a mistake. Mistake?! "No, no, no, dear ones, get this straight: There is no such thing as perfection. That little hole you have in your bottom crust? No one is ever going to see it because it's going to be covered in a mountain of fruit filling." Alas, I had to swallow the "practice what you preach" pill and stop obsessing over the gap in the kitchen floor where it didn't quite meet the door. I needed to set my hypocritical self straight and remember what I tell everyone else: "No one is going to see it. Let. It. Go." I learned the difference between caulk, spackle, silicone, and grout. I speak a little Spanish, German, and French, and now I speak a little Construction. 8. You will learn a new vocabulary. No one will see the gaping seam in your kitchen floor because there is a solution - and a word - for it: threshold. It's a wood or metal strip that fits across a doorway to cover the floor seam. I also learned its comes in extra wide. But my vocabulary lessons don't stop there. I can still hear myself asking at the customer service desk, "Do you have those metal doohickeys that hold up shelves?" Shelf pins. Got it. I also learned corbels (decorative shelf brackets), jig (measuring tool for mounting cupboard handles), receptacle (the wall "plug in"), and I learned the difference between caulk, spackle, silicone, and grout. I speak a little Spanish, German, and French, and now I speak a little Construction. Yay for me. 9. You will make more trips to home improvement stores than you ever imagined. I have never spent more time in a home improvement store-and I hope I never have to again. Moreover, it's no small deal for us to get to one. The closest Lowe's is 50 minutes away. The closest Home Depot is an hour and 10 minutes. I know every aisle of every home improvement store in a two-hour radius from the farm. This is partly due to the fact that I somehow became the designated gofer girl. "We need [fill in the blank: caulk, paint, screws, hinges, range hood, puck lights, quarter-round trim] and we need it right away." Instead of questioning why the tradesmen weren't bringing their own supplies, I fired up my Mini Cooper and hit the road - and made sure to reward myself with Starbucks or Dairy Queen while visiting civilization. Photo credit: Courtesy of Beth Howard 10. You will laugh about it someday (or so says my mother). They say renovating a farmhouse is like giving birth. It's excruciating at the time, but you forget all about the labor pains when it's over. We are almost done with our project. The new soaking bathtub, so deep and luxurious, has been in use for over a month. The glass shower doors, however, the ones we ordered three months ago, have yet to arrive. The contractor finished his barn and returned to tie up the loose ends of his part. The painters are here as I write this, doing touch-ups and putting the final coats of Sherwin Williams barn-red #7582 on the doors. Doug and I are not laughing quite yet, but we are lingering for hours after dinner in our new kitchen, so in love with it that we don't want to go outside in spite of the glorious summer weather. More importantly, we are still in love with each other, maybe even more so. We put our relationship to the test and proved that we could survive the stress. We worked together, improved our communication, and built something beautiful and solid for ourselves - like a future, in a house that now truly feels like our home. Follow Country Living on Pinterest. PHILADELPHIA Karla Ortiz, an 11-year-old girl from Nevada, told the Democratic National Convention on Monday night that Hillary Clinton told her not to worry about her parents getting deported, because she would help. Ortiz, a U.S. citizen born in Las Vegas, was accompanied by her mother, Francisca Ortiz. Both her parents are undocumented immigrants. On most days, Im scared. Im scared at any moment my mom and my dad will be forced to leave, Ortiz said. And I wonder, what if I come home, and find it empty? Ortiz and Clinton met in February at a roundtable in Vegas, when the little girl told Clinton she was worried her parents would be deported. Clinton gave the girl a hug and told her she would help her. The campaign later featured the moment in an emotional ad that played during the Nevada primary campaign, which Clinton won. Hillary Clinton told me she would do everything she could to help us, Ortiz told the crowd. She told me I wouldnt have to do the worrying, because she would do the worrying for me and all of us. Earlier Monday, supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders interrupted the convention program when speakers spoke of Clinton. But the boos and chanting had died down by the time Ortiz and her mother spoke. After Ortiz spoke, Astrid Silva, a young undocumented immigrant protected from deportation by President Obamas executive action, criticized GOP nominee Donald Trumps plan to deport millions of immigrants from the United States. When Donald Trump talks about deporting 11 million people, hes talking about ripping families apart. Hillary Clinton understands that this is not who we are as a country, Silva said. I have seen her comfort children like Karla who are scared they might lose their parents to deportation. I know she will fight to keep our families together. The platforms of the Republican and Democratic parties are starkly divided on the issue of immigration, perhaps more than ever before. Republicans want to build a wall along the southern border, to reduce legal immigration and to subject immigrants from countries associated with terrorism to special scrutiny. Democrats want to pass immigration reform to legalize most of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, and to expand Obamas executive actions protecting undocumented immigrants until that happens._____ Related slideshows: Story continues On the ground at the DNC a photo report >>> How newspapers covered the DNCs first big day >>> Demonstrators protest outside the DNC >>> NextShark Jahrah, who only has a first name as customary in Indonesia, went out to collect rubber on Sunday morning in the forest in Jambi Province on Sumatra Island, Indonesia. The search parties only found success a day later, on Monday, when they discovered a 22-foot-long (6.7-meters-long) python with a bulging stomach resting in the woods. Her family then reported her missing to the local authorities, and a search has been carried out since then, Anto, the local villages chief, said. From Cosmopolitan At this week's Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Hillary Clinton is scheduled to accept her party's nomination for president. But that doesn't mean that every Democrat is on board. Voters who backed Clinton's closest rival, Senator Bernie Sanders, say the Democratic National Committee was biased in favor of Clinton the whole time. And they have new proof in the form of hacked emails released by Wikileaks. Those revelations led DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to announce she will resign at the end of the convention. The Sunday before the convention began - and before Wasserman Schultz announced she would resign - hundreds of Sanders supporters rallied at Philadelphia's City Hall, and then marched toward the site of the convention. Cosmopolitan.com talked to 12 protesters (and one politically active baby) at the rally to find out why they're still supporting Sanders - and why they refuse to back Clinton in the general election. Crystal Castonguay, 26, New Hampshire Why she's here: "We've been planning since about April to come here. We're actually part of the volunteer medics who will be marching this week. To be honest with you, our democracy is completely dead. After this week, we all knew it was happening, we knew the collusion was happening, and this is proof. This just solidifies the reason why we need to be here." How she's voting: "We were at that rally where Bernie endorsed Hillary in Portsmouth. We didn't even make it in the building. We all walked off. A mass of people walked out after he endorsed, and that's what we're going to do. We're going Jill, not Hill. I will go Green after this." Kaitlyn McColligan, 17, New Hampshire Why she's here: "Right now, since I just joined the National Guard and the military, I want to make sure that in the future, we're going to have more respect for our vets. I feel like the country is so divided right now because of [the election]. But as soon as you put on a uniform, everyone is the same. We need to act like it, and not keep separating ourselves based on identity, races, and skin tones." Story continues How she's voting: Kaitlyn won't turn 18 before Election Day but supports Green Party candidate Jill Stein. "If you decide to vote for the Green Party, it's still taking away a vote away from both Hillary and Trump. Stick up for what you believe in. It's time to start a change." Parisa Vahdatinia, 31, Brooklyn Why she's here: "Well, they just fucked it up by putting Kaine as the VP. I believe Hillary's only point for putting him in power or as her VP is essentially to sway the Republican voters who are not pro-Trump. She's not going to get the progressive voter, but what she might get are the disenfranchised Republicans. And, you know, she's playing her own chess game just like every other politician is. And that's the choice she made, and I think any slim chance she had to garner my interest she lost by not picking Elizabeth Warren." How she's voting: "I'll vote for Jill Stein most likely, if Bernie's not on the ballot. I vote with my conscience and I vote from my heart and I work for my fellow man. If the only argument you could make for a vote against Hillary is a vote for Trump, then all I can say to that is can you come up with a pro-Hillary argument without mentioning Trump." Richard Swensson, 28, Brooklyn Why he's here: "We're here to support Bernie and the progressive movement. Frankly, I feel that science is always something that's going to dictate what I believe, and unfortunately science is yelling at us to do something about climate change. And that's what I'm most passionate about, but also social issues. I'm tired of seeing so many poor and disenfranchised folks, and it's just not sustainable to have." How he's voting: "Well, honestly, I don't know because I don't know what the ballot is going to look like in November. Obviously, I know what everyone thinks the ballot is going to look like. If you're asking me how I would vote in that case, I would vote Jill Stein, Green Party." Micah Phillips, 30, New York Why she's here: "I'm here with Socialist Alternative. It's important to me that health care is a right and not a privilege. It's important to me that we're able to send everybody to school, with no cost, with free tuition so that we can use that education to put back into the economy. It's important to me that we make a livable wage. It's important to me that I, as a woman, have a choice over what I can do to my body. The Democratic Party has no interest in my wishes at all. That's the problem. The Democratic Party has an agenda that is meant to line their pockets as much as possible." How she's voting: "Jill Stein has beliefs that are directly aligned with my socialist beliefs. So, Jill Stein is not willing to back down, she's not willing to endorse Hillary like Bernie did. I was very disappointed in that decision even though [Stein] opened her ticket up to him. He could have joined her ticket and become the Green Party presidential nominee - instead he chose to stick it out. I'm hoping he has a wild card up his sleeve at the convention, but I highly doubt it." Ethan the Farmer, 40, "I travel the United States. I don't live in a permanent spot; I live in a tiny house." Why he's here: "What the government's doing to our farms, food, families, and freedom is out of control. And our best shot at having somebody who wasn't necessarily in corporations' pocket like Hillary and Trump are was Bernie. I'm hoping that the government will eventually acknowledge the fourth branch of government, which is we, the people, and actually do something." How he'll vote: "I'll be writing somebody's name in, and it will probably be Bernie. It probably won't be anybody on the ticket. You give me those two options, you've got tyranny and tyranny." Fernando Bolles, 26, Brooklyn Why he's here: "It's very clear to me that a moment has been lost. [There was] an enormous opportunity for the American left to put its best foot forward in opposition to an actual fascist and a racist. And instead of embracing that opportunity and nominating someone with actual leftist politics and actual principles, the DNC has elected to keep the status quo and keep the safe money and the safe inherent power structures. So it's hopefully it's clear that we're not going to stand for that." How he'll vote: "If I don't abstain from voting, which I believe is every American's right, I think my moral compromise will be to vote for Jill Stein, as maybe a protest vote, to say this is the direction America should be going. So even if this is not a perfect platform or a perfect candidate, this is what Americans should be interested in and have the opportunity to hear more from." Matt Lacoss, 35, Connecticut John Lacoss, 33, Connecticut Angela Houle, 23, Connecticut Why they're here: John: "We feel like Bernie's gotten the short end of the stick. The political process is pretty broken. And that's being proven more and more with all the Wikileaks documents that have been released. So it's been a stacked card against him and he still did incredibly well. It's a contested convention, and there's been no concession. So let's see what happens." Angela: "It's unfair and they're not doing the whole process right. He has so many supporters that aren't getting a fair shake." How they'll vote: John: "I'm hoping to see America let the convention be able to vote for Bernie, but again, I'm going vote for my conscience and [for] Jill Stein. [Otherwise], it's giving us the choice between which turd is the shiniest." Matt: "Just because I'm going to exit the Democratic Party doesn't mean that I won't support Bernie and his views. He's strategically placing himself where he'd be most beneficial." Linda Quadros-Lopez, Massachusets David Lopez, Massachusetts Annalise Quadros-Lopez, 11 months, Massachusetts Why they're here: Linda: "Bernie won the election, and it was stolen by Hillary and the DNC and the corrupt system that we have. He's been fighting for us for a very long time in Congress. He's been fighting for the little person, and so it's important to be here and to march and get our message out about what we're passionate about." David: "It's time that there's a candidate who understands the people, who is like-minded, has the same heart, and who's going to bring a positive change for America. Who's not concerned about money but more in helping the world, the earth." How they're voting: Linda: "The more I learn about Jill Stein, the more I love her, and I think that we need somebody like her. She's very smart, she's got political experience, she's run for governor and lots of things, and she's a doctor too. She's just an amazing candidate, and if the American public has a chance to know who she is, she would be the choice that people would pick." David: "Jill Stein being a doctor for so many years, she understands how costly health insurance is, and I really believe that she's for the people." Melissa Simmons, 35, Philadelphia Why she's here: "I just think Bernie is a better candidate. He's more honest. I think that a lot of people didn't get the chance to know about him because he wasn't getting equal coverage, and there was some flimflamming going on. Plus I think this whole process is ridiculous because it's not the same from state to state, and people don't know what the deal is with delegates, and why do these superdelegates get more of a vote? There are just so many issues that need to be corrected." How she's voting: "I don't expect that Bernie will get the nomination, but if he doesn't, I will be switching to the Green Party. I can't cast my vote out of fear. Donald Trump is bad, and blatantly in-front-of-your-face bad, but Hillary is almost the same but is sneakier about it, which is in some ways worse. I certainly would never vote for Donald Trump, but if everyone keeps saying we can't have a third party because nobody would vote for them, it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. So if we all get out there and vote for them, then it could happen. It's our choice." Follow Megan on Twitter. semiconductor chip Analog Devices has struck a deal to buy chipmaker Linear Technology, the companies announced on Tuesday. The deal values Linear Technology at $14.8 billion, or $60 per share. The value of the combined enterprise will be $30 billion. Shares of Linear Technology were halted for trade up about 29% at $62 per share after news of the deal was broken by Bloomberg. Analog Devices shares were up about 4%. Stocks across the semiconductor space were broadly higher on Tuesday, with notable gainers including Maxim Integrated (+5%), NXP Semiconductors (+4%), Microsemi (+4%), and Semtech (+3%). Texas Instruments, one of the closest competitors to a combined Analog-Linear, also jumped, with shares up more than 9%. On Monday, after the market closed, Texas Instruments reported earnings that beat expectations. There has been a frenzy of multibillion-dollar deals in the tech industry over the past 18 months, including Intel's takeover of Altera, Avago's acquisition of Broadcom, and Dell's $67 billion takeover of EMC. More recently, Dutch chip-making company ASML bought Taiwan's Hermes Microvision for $3.1 billion, and NXP Semiconductors sold its standard-products business to a group of Chinese investors for $2.75 billion. What's driving these deals What's behind many of these transactions are huge shifts in the way we capture and store data be it cellphone, e-commerce, or any other computer data. For years, computer data was stored on hard disk drives, which have a CD-like rotating disk. Western Digital, Seagate, and Toshiba all make these. But that technology is being displaced, and companies that pioneered it are watching sales struggle as less-bulky flash-memory chips, like those used in phones, become the norm. A sign is seen at the entrance to the headquarters of Avago Technologies in San Jose, California May 29, 2015. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith One type of flash memory chip is called a NAND chip, and you can find it today in memory cards, USB drives, and "solid state" drives, which look a bit like disk drives on the outside but have no disk or other moving parts on the inside. Story continues SanDisk makes these, so Western Digital went out and bought its way into the flash-memory market by buying SanDisk. Companies are looking to buy what they don't already build, and the changes mean that big tech deals are going to keep coming. Dell's megadeal has a similar rationale behind it. By acquiring EMC, a data-storage company, Dell is taking a big step toward cutting its reliance on personal computers not to mention moving into the smarter data-storage market. What about 'the cloud'? You may have heard that "cloud computing" is disrupting traditional data storage. Yes, the cloud meaning a network of servers that provide data storage and processing hosted on the internet instead of on local servers or computers is part of the story. Public cloud providers like Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure are also moving toward solid-state technologies for their own facilities, and it all leads to tech-company mergers. As we reported last year, we may see more flash-memory chip makers like Micron, Hynix, or even Samsung or Intel coming together with companies like Seagate. The shift is driven by the need to continue capturing, storing, and analyzing a growing amount of data. Seen in that light, this story is not just about old technology coming together with newer technology. It's about finding ways to continue providing cheap data services that we all use. NOW WATCH: Here's What Tim Armstrong Thinks Of The AOL-Yahoo Merger Rumor More From Business Insider After Arjun Bijlani, actor Sidhant Gupta injures himself on the sets of the show. By India Today Web Desk: Popular dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa is all set to make a comeback on July 30. The show, however, has not stopped making headlines ever since people first came to know of its revival. The show's main buzz is all thanks to the new judge on the show, Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez. And of course, celebrity contestants have only contributed to the hype of the show. advertisement Also read:Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 9: Arjun Bijlani gets injured while rehearsing However, it seems that the participants are having a tough time rehearsing and shooting for their dance performances. After television actor Arjun Bijlani, Tashan-e-Ishq's former actor Sidhant Gupta has injured himself on the sets of the show while shooting for a performance. Television actor Sidhant Gupta. Picture courtesy: Instagram/tashaneishq The actor has been advised rest for some days before resuming his practice, and the shoot. Sidhant became a household name after his much-talked about stint in Zee TV's romantic-drama daily, Tashan-e-Ishq. The actor has quit the show in order to participate in Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa season 9. The dashing @TheSidhantGupta is all set to take on #Jhalak from 30th July at 10PM! https://t.co/EYyEwQjLRS COLORS (@ColorsTV) July 13, 2016 Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 9 will premiere on July 30 at 10 pm on Colors TV. --- ENDS --- Two attackers slit the throat of an 86-year-old priest and critically injured another parishioner during a hostage siege at a Normandy church's Tuesday morning mass before they were shot dead by French police. Read: Airports Across U.S. Step Up Security Following Terrorist Attacks: 'You Have to Be Alert 24/7' Elite French police unit BRI was rushed to the small north western town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray after the two attackers, who have since been dubbed "soldiers of the Islamic State" by ISIS news agency Aamaq, took five hostages during the normal church service, including two nuns and 86-year-old Father Jacques Hamel, who died after his throat was slit. A parishioner is currently in critical condition following the attacks that occurred just before 10 a.m., but Interior Ministry spokesperson Pierre-Henri Brandet announced that the other three hostages are safe. Only five people had attended the mass that morning. A nun who reportedly escaped called the police after the two attackers entered the church from the back doors, armed with knives. France has been in a state of emergency since ISIS-linked attacks at the Bataclan theater in Paris, and was approved for a 6-month extension following the Bastille Day massacre in Nice, Reuters reported. Read: 84 Dead In Terrorist Attack At Bastille Day Celebration in France: 'There Was Carnage' According to la Tribune de Geneve, one of the two attackers was a 19-year-old French national. He was arrested in a Geneva airport last year, after he was kicked out of Turkey. A local Muslim leader Mohammed Karabila added, "the person that did this odious act is known, and he has been followed by the police for at least a year and a half" after security was alerted by his visit to Turkey, the Associated Press reported. French President Francois Hollande, who arrived to Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray hours after the attack, tweeted: "I offer to the families of the victims, along with all Catholics of France, the solidarity and compassion of the nation." Story continues J'adresse aux familles des victimes ainsi qua lensemble des catholiques de France, la solidarite et la compassion de la Nation. Francois Hollande (@fhollande) July 26, 2016 Read: New York City, Washington Ramp Up Security Following ISIS Bombings According to Vatican spokesperson Reverend Federico Lombardi, Pope Francis expressed the "pain and horror for this absurd violence, with the strongest condemnation for every form of hatred and prayer for those affected," the Associated Press reported. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy tweeted: "It is with deep sadness that I acknowledge the despicable terrorist attack in the #SaintEtienneduRouvray church." Cest avec une profonde tristesse que je prends connaissance de lignoble attaque terroriste perpetree a leglise de #SaintEtienneDuRouvray Nicolas Sarkozy (@NicolasSarkozy) July 26, 2016 Karabila, who said he often coordinated open discussions with Hamel following ISIS attacks, said he is "appalled by the death of my friend," and extends his prayers to Hamel's family and the Catholic community. "This is someone who has given his life to others," Karabila said, according to Le Figaro. "We are dumbfounded at the Mosque." Father Jacques Hamel was born in 1930, in nearby town Darnetal. In 1958, he was ordained, and celebrated his 50 years of service, known as the golden jubilee, in 2008. Father Auguste Moanda, who led the Saint-Etienne parish church alongside Father Hamel, remembers his friend as "a good priest, who was always serving people," Le Figaro reported. Read: A Hero Jumped on Nice Killer's Truck in Desperate Attempt to Stop Him The Saint-Etienne parish church is one of only two churches in the small town, where the Catholic community is very tight-knit. The church was a pillar in the community, and often hosted family events. "We could not imagine it could happen this way," Moanda said. Locals who recall family members baptized by Father Hamel mourned his death on Twitter. Le pretre qui a ete egorge c'est celui qui a baptise un de mes petits cousins recemment... toto rina (@JulietteSeradi) July 26, 2016 Non vraiment choque decu pretre qui a baptise ma soeur et ma mere qui decede alors qu'il avais rien demande... Agon (@DamssGmS) July 26, 2016 Watch: Counterterrorism Experts Call For More Security Around Airports in Wake of Attacks Related Articles: 2017 Yamaha FZ-10 - First Ride Review Once upon a time, not too long ago, I settled on small to mid-sized sport bikes. I race a Ninja 250, and traded in a 750cc sportbike for the Yamaha FZ-09, which I dont have to tell you has less power. I was content with my decision, rationalizing that I dont need that much power on the streets. And so far, its been fineI commute on it a lot and its enjoyable to ride (it makes for a fun commute). On occasion, Ive hopped on my fiances 1301cc V-twin monstrosity, which helped put things in perspective. Its fun and at times gives you mini heart attacks, but I thought: Awesome bike, but I Im still good with a little less power on the streets. Then I rode the 2017 Yamaha FZ-10, and all of a sudden things have changed. Now, Im thinking I want more power on the streetsnot too much, but not too little. The FZ-10 is just right; its what Goldilocks would have picked if she were a motorcyclist. The Ride I set off to Fontana Dam, North Carolina, which is located right near the North Carolina and Tennessee border. This area is also close to the Trail of the Dragon, one of the most infamous twisty roads these United States have to offer to motorcyclists. The Dragons pavement is smooth, and is 11 miles long with 318 curves for two-wheeled enthusiasts to tackle. Its also surrounded by one of the most scenic areas Ive ever experienced. Its located by the Great Smoky Mountains and Cherokee National Forest. Therefore, it has lush greenery, which is something I rarely see anymore, due to living in a state that's in constant drought. All Ive seen lately are a lot of dry shrubs and brown grass. The Tail of the Dragon also house MASSIVE dragon flies. Of course, I was excited and anxious to take the FZ-10 through the Dragon. Heading to the launch event, I planned to get as good of a nights rest as possible so I could wake up and be focused, ready to take on the Dragon the following morning. Unfortunately I didnt wake up that morning; because I never went to sleep that night. Nerves, excitement, and sleeping in a bed that wasnt my own all played their part. Story continues I had actually never operated a motorcycle with zero hours of sleep, so naturally I was a bit worried. Still, I went the pre-ride meeting and did my best to get my head right when we ventured out on a 137-mile journey that included a Dragons Tail. READ MORE: 9 Best Ways To Make Your Motorcycle Faster | RideApart IMG_3443 I drank coffee, chugged an energy drink and wrote down some notes during the meeting to get my brain functioning. It was going to be a long day. Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder Its no surprise that Yamaha made the FZ-10. It seemed like a natural progression to to the most recent FZ lineup as there are already two FZs that have been on the market for a few years: The FZ-07 and FZ-09. Yamaha puts the FZ in their Sport category, which has been contributing to the rise of their motorcycle sales for the past three years. With the FZ-10, Yamaha wanted what they call their flagship bike to look more aggressive and fierce compared to smaller siblings. They definitely accomplished that. To me, the FZ-10 looks more complex than the FZ-09 its bigger and bulkier, so theres more to look at. Photo by Brian J. Nelson I personally like the aesthetics; however, I know not everyone shares the same sentiment. Ive read a few comments where people arent fond of the FZ-10's robot face, and thats fine. I like the way the tank is shaped, the colors offeredMatte Raven Black and Armor Gray with neon wheelsand the LED lights that come on the headlights, turn signals and taillight. I dont really care for the actual shape of the headlights on the FZ-10, but thats about it. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder when it comes to this bike. But if youre the type of person who feels looks aren't important, that what matters is whats on the inside, keep reading The Engine While trying to get my brain warmed up, I fired up the bike to get that warmed up, too. I revved the engine a bit and thought: Whoa! The FZ-10 sounds nice! BJN18251 Yamaha used the YZF-R1s engine as the base for the FZ-10. It has same cross-plane crankshaft, 998cc inline four engine. This cross-plane design reduces engine inertia to provide a more direct connection between the throttle and rear wheel. This, in turn, affords great traction as well as a more linear torque feeling. It also comes fuel injected with YCC-T Yamahas chip controlled throttle, which helps provide a smoother and more controlled power delivery and a six-speed assist and slipper clutch. Specifically new to the FZ-10 are the combustion chamber, intake ports and valves, forged aluminum pistons, camshafts, and compression ratio 12:0:1 in contrast to the R1s 13:0:1. It also has a larger 12-liter airbox and the shorter gearing than the R1. The result? A bike that produces low to mid-range torque and thats fun to ride on the streets. BJN25670 The FZ-10 produces 81.8 ft-lb torque with max power at 9,000 rpm and a redlines of 12,900 rpm. If youve never ridden a bike that makes power at the lower end of the power band, you really need to. This bike has pep to its step, which will easily make your morning commute not so dreadful. Either way, Yamaha did a great job with this engine; it sounds nice and provides what I call giggle-in-your-helmet power. Despite zero hours of sleep, riding the FZ-10 made me feel like I got a full eight hours. READ MORE: 2016 Yamaha FJR1300A & FJR1300ES Sport Touring Models Ride Review | RideApart The Tech In addition to the YCC-T and slipper clutch, the FZ-10 comes with a good amount of goodies that help you ride this thing like a boss. Lets go back go back to that slipper clutch, which is a godsend for folks like me. Ill be honest: Im not a smooth rider. I occasionally chop or abruptly roll on the throttle, as well as dump the clutch. I feel the abrupt lurches and/or shudders when I ride any of the bikes I own. So, having a slipper clutch helps smooth things out. The FZ-10 also has other tech that helps you ride like a hot knife through butter. It has three different levels of traction control, a Yamaha rep described them as follows: Level 1 gives you potential for big wheelies; level 2 allows for baby wheelies, and level 3 is for no wheelies. Put another way, traction control goes from least intervention to most intervention, the latter of which you want in wet conditions. You also have the option to turn traction control off in case you want to continually wheelie to your heart's content. I kept it at level 2; I'm happy with baby wheelies. Photo by Brian J. Nelson The bike is also equipped with three different drive modes, or what Yamaha calls D-Modes: A, B, and Standard. You'd probably think that A is sporty and B is less power than Standard. Nope. B mode actually provides the sportiest response, while A is less sporty while Standard is least so. I tried all three modes. I naturally started off in Standard, and just by rolling off the throttle I was able to kick it into A. I loved the feel of having just a bit more power. I was pretty happy in this mode; it's probably where I'd keep the bike set as an owner. In mode B, the FZ-10 kicked all of it power at me, and while I was totally thrilled with that oomph I wasnt so thrilled about was how I handled it, which was not well. As I mentioned, Im not the smoothest rider; so, B mode felt incredibly twitchy. I eventually gave in and switched things back to A. Another goody worth mentioning is the ABS. Thanks to its being required on bikes in Europe its starting to become the standard on bikes over here, which I think is great. I dont have this luxury on the motos I ride, so its always nice to hop on a bike that does. Sometimes you dont want your wheels locking up when you have to get on the brakes hard. The FZ-10 also has cruise control, which is really cool! Not a feature I would have expected on a naked sport bike. Unfortunately, I couldnt get it to work. I later found out the problem was rider error; you can only click the cruise control on in 4th through 6th gears. I had tried to do it in third. READ MORE: 6 Clothing Options To Ban From Your Bike...Immediately | RideApart Photo by Brian J. Nelson. Chassis and Suspension/ The Handling The chassis combined with this bad ass engine makes the FZ-10 a true corner shark. It has the same lightweight aluminum frame as the R1, and has a short 55.1-inch wheelbase. What also helps this bike induce confidence in the corner are the brakes, which are pretty good. The FZ-10 comes with Advics, dual 320 mm brakes and Brembo master cylinder (the R1 comes with a Nissin master) in the front, and Nissin single 220mm disc brakes in the rear. Photo by Brian J. Nelson. When it comes to suspension, again the FZ-10 borrows again from the R1. It has 43mm KYB front forks, as well as an adjustable KYB rear shock. Going through the plentiful curves wasnt a problem the bike felt planted and I didnt have to struggle to get it to turn. However, the suspension was perhaps a bit too stiff for going over bumps. The FZ-10 turned into a bucking bronco when the road became unsettled. If this were my bike, Id try to loosen the preload and adjust the dampening to help smooth it out. Photo by Brian J. Nelson. Ergonomics When I hopped on the FZ-10 I immediately took note of the seat height. Its not too tall, not too short; its just right. At 32.5 inches, the seat is perfect for someone like me who is 5 feet 6 inches tall. As long as I can touch the balls of my feet to the ground, I'm good. I fits me perfectly! Photo by Jessie Gentry. Once you get going, the FZ-10 is insanely comfortable, mainly due its upright position. Also, the actual seat was pretty comfortable too, which was surprising. Unlike the FZ-09, which has a pretty stiff seat, the '10 is better by a long shot. I was able to ride close to 200 miles total that day and my butt was fine. My butt liked the seat! Photo by Brian J. Nelson. If I owned this bike, I might consider putting frame sliders on this one. The FZ-10s wet weight is 463 lbs, which on paper doesnt seem like a lot, but try to back up or pull a U-turn and your opinion may change. We had to do a lot of U turns for photo runs and I came so very close to dropping it on one occasion. I managed to save it, but I think I would have to spend a little more time in the gym to be able to manage this one on a regular basis. Though, I think it would be worth it. Fuel Economy Fuel economy is, of course, dramatically affected by individual riding style. However, Yamaha states that the FZ-10 gets around 30 mpg. This number was pretty accurate i my experience. I was able to get an average of 29-30 mpg riding the FZ-10 through the canyons. With a 4.5-gallon tank that meant a range of about 135 miles. I dont have to tell you that this bike doesnt get the best gas mileage for that size tank. For me, its not a problem commuting-wise, but if you take the FZ-10 through the canyons, you need to make sure theres a gas station nearby. Photo by Brian J. Nelson. Price Yamaha says that the FZ-10 comes in at an amazing value of $12,999. And with everything you get, I have to admit that its a pretty decent price. However, it is $4,000 more than the FZ-09, so if you have a tight budget, this FZ is quite the price hike. Screen Shot 2016-07-25 at 9.12.01 PM Verdict I got off the bike tired, yet happy. Despite getting no sleep, the bike had helped pump energy into me: I felt amazing riding it for a little over nine hours. Overall, the FZ-10 was an easy and fun bike to ride. If you arent the most skilled or smooth rider, this bike will give you those skills! It will spoil you into thinking you are a better rider because it does most of the work for you. Feel free to discuss the merits of such rider aids below. If I didnt already own a small fleet of motorcycles (four) and did have some extra cash on hand, I would buy the FZ-10 in a heartbeat. I wont rule it outmaybe one day Ill be Goldilocks the moto rider. Photo by Jessie Gentry. Want to see some clips of me riding the Yamaha FZ-10? Check out this video: Thank you Jessie Gentry for capturing photos and videos. You rock! Follow RideApart on Facebook and Twitter, along with @RideApart on Instagram. Profitability is the ultimate yardstick of a companys success. And net profit margin is the most effective way to measure it. Net Profit Margin = Net profit /Sales * 100. Net profit margin is the percentage by which a companys total sales exceed or fall short of the sum of all its expenses, including taxes. In fact, net profit margin can turn out to be a powerful tool to measure how efficiently a company is running its business and controlling its costs. Moreover, a higher net profit margin as compared to peers lends a competitive advantage. What Net Profit Margin Can Do? Net profit margin helps investors to understand a companys business model in terms of pricing policy, cost structure and manufacturing efficiency. Hence, a healthy net profit margin is preferred by all kinds of investors. However, net profit margin has a number of flaws that limit its scope as an effective analytical tool. Its calculation widely varies from industry to industry. Difference in accounting treatment of various items especially non-cash expenses like depreciation and stock-based compensation makes it a difficult metric for the purpose of comparison. Further, for companies preferring to grow with debt, instead of equity funding, higher interest expense usually drags down the net profit. In such cases, it is not an effective tool to analyze the companys performance. The Winning Strategy Healthy net profit margin and solid EPS growth are two of the most sought after ingredients in a business model. Apart from these two metrics, we have added a few other criteria to ensure maximum possible return from this strategy. Screening Parameters Net Margin 12 months Most Recent (%) greater than equal to 0: High net profit margin indicates solid profitability. Percentage Change in EPS F(0)/(F-1) greater than equal to 0: It indicates earnings growth. Average Broker Rating (1-5) equal to 1: A rating of #1 indicates brokers extreme bullishness on the growth prospects of the stock. Zacks Rank equal to 1: Only Strong Buy stocks are allowed. In good markets or bad, stocks with a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) continue to outperform. VGM Score of A or B: Our research shows that stocks with a VGM Score of 'A' or 'B' when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 (Buy) offer the best upside potential. Here are five of the eight stocks that qualified the screen: Los Angeles, CA-based Air Lease Corporation AL is an aircraft leasing company principally engaged in purchasing commercial aircraft and leasing to airlines around the world. The stock has a VGM score of A. Moreover, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2016 increased by a penny to $3.38 over the last 60 days. Toronto-based Just Energy Group Inc. JE is engaged in the sale of natural gas and/or electricity to residential and commercial customers under long-term fixed-price and price-protected contracts. The stock has a VGM score of A. Further, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2016 increased by three cents to 31 cents per share over the last 60 days. Gibraltar Industries Inc. ROCK manufactures and distributes products to the industrial and buildings market. The company has its headquarters at Buffalo, NY. The stock has a VGM score of B. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2016 has remained steady at $1.38 per share over the last 60 days. Minnesota-based Apogee Enterprises Inc. APOG is a leader in technologies for the design and development of value-added glass products, services, and systems. The stock has a VGM score of B. Moreover, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2016 increased by a dime to $2.83 over the last 60 days. El Segundo, CA-based Stamps.com Inc STMP provides Internet-based services for mailing or shipping letters, packages or parcels anywhere in the U.S. The stock has a VGM score of B. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2016 has remained steady at $4.65 per share over the last 60 days. Get the rest of the stocks on the list and start putting this and other ideas to the test. It can all be done with the Research Wizard stock picking and back testing software. The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out. Story continues Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today. Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks' portfolios and strategies are available at:https://www.zacks.com/performance. Zacks Restaurant Recommendations: Inaddition to dining at these special places, you can feast on their stock shares. A Zacks Special Report spotlights 5 recent IPOs to watch plus 2 stocks that offer immediate promise in a booming sector. Download it free 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 STAMPS.COM INC (STMP): Free Stock Analysis Report APOGEE ENTRPRS (APOG): Free Stock Analysis Report GIBRALTAR INDUS (ROCK): Free Stock Analysis Report AIR LEASE CORP (AL): Free Stock Analysis Report JUST ENERGY GRP (JE): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research From Woman's Day Every time we step on an airplane, we can't help think of all the things that could go wrong. While usually it's all smooth sailing (or "flying") aside from some occasional turbulence, it seems like airplane workers do their best to cover up any mishaps. A recent Reddit chat asked pilots to reveal the craziest thing that's ever happened mid-flight and their responses might surprise you. 1. When your pilot mentions air traffic, there may have been a close call with another plane. "The pilot flying the other plane was just not talking to anyone on the radio, while lingering in a place she had indicated she was leaving more than 10 minutes prior, all below radar coverage, in uncontrolled airspace. We got her on TCAS (traffic collision avoidance system)at the last moment (I think she finally turned on her transponder) and I did some aggressive maneuvering to avoid a plane we never did actually see. I am sure we passed within a quarter-mile of her at the same altitude. I was flying an air ambulance at that time. My medical crew had no idea until we told them." 2. If radios aren't used properly, there may be surprises. "When I was a fairly new private pilot, I was taking a cross-country flight to visit some friends in another state. I had to pee so I landed at this tiny, deserted, single-runway airport in rural Iowa to take care of business. There wasn't a soul around, and no chatter on the radio at all. When going to take back off, there were still no signs of life, and nothing but silence on CTAF (common traffic advisory frequency). Like a good boy, I still announced every action on CTAF, from taxi to takeoff. I announced my takeoff, and began my roll. As soon as I rotated and began my climb, I saw an ultralight lift off perpendicular to the runway on a direct collision course with me. We must have seen each other at the same time, I banked away, he pulled up hard. We didn't come that close to colliding after that, but it was closer than I cared to be." Story continues 3. Small fires can happen. "My granddad used to be a pilot and he has told me a few stories. One in particular that stuck with me was that a napkin caught fire. He calmly threw it on the ground and stepped on it, causing the fire to burn out." 4. Pilots have to fight for what they believe in. The same commenter shared another story about his grandpa: "He also told me a story where he asked the airport staff for more fuel. They refused, he insisted, they refused. After a long time of arguing back and forth my granddad just tells them 'either you give me more fuel or don't fly.' (This was back in the day that less people were pilots, so he couldn't really be replaced.) They caved and give him more fuel. When my grandfather arrives at the destination, he doesn't get a permit to land so he has to fly to the closest other airport. He never would have made it without the extra fuel." Photo credit: Getty 5. Mistakes happen-especially on the runway. "It was a pretty foggy day at JFK but it might have been somewhere else. He was the pilot on a 747 and was lined up for take off. He gets the go-ahead from the tower and goes full throttle. Meanwhile, the tower also gave the all-clear to land for another 747 on the crossing runway. Just as he gets to V2 (rotate) the other 747 comes out of the fog and had decided to go around so they were just pulling up again, but still low over the runway. This guy pulled back hard on the yolk and kicked full left rudder to get as tight a turn as he could. Somehow he managed to miss the other plane by literally a few feet, and without stalling at about 30 feet above the runway." 6. Your plane can come alarmingly close to another aircraft. "One time I was on a plane and saw another flight pass right under us ... I could even make out what airline it was it was so close..." Follow Woman's Day on Instagram. With sweltering Philadelphia hosting the Democratic National Convention this week, we thought it would be a good time to look at the red-hot real estate market in the City of Brotherly Love. Were not kidding: Housing prices have taken off. The median price for a single-family home has skyrocketed 21.7% from 2015, to its current $143,000, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported in May. What can home buyers expect to purchase in one of Americas oldest cities? Founded in 1682, Philly, with a population of 1.6 million, has a housing stock filled with historic gems updated with contemporary features such as chefs kitchens and large closets. Plus, its the place made famous by the Rocky movies, the home of the Liberty Bell, and the birthplace of the Philly cheesesteak. (Pats or Genos? Were not touching that one.) From row houses to ritzy mansions, here are some of the must-see listings in Philadelphia right now. Price: $7,000,000 Philly perks: Posh and palatial, these two adjacent units on the sixth floor of the Barclay Condominium afford views of Rittenhouse Square Park. An open floor plan with 10-foot ceilings and stark white wallsperfect for hanging your artfeatures custom walnut built-ins, a chefs kitchen, and a snazzy office nook with a cantilevered desk. 237S18thSt Price: $245,000 Philly perks: Queen Village is a hip hood in Philly, and this one-bedroom, one-bathroom row homeon a charming cobblestone streetfalls just under $250,000. Inside the three-story unit are a wood-burning fireplace, refurbished hardwood floors, exposed brick walls, and a remodeled kitchen (shaker-style cabinets and subway tile backsplash). Outside, theres a sunken patio with brick inlay. 438FultonSt Price: $272,500 (under contract) Philly perks: This three-bedroom home is a mix of modern and traditional, thanks to the dining rooms floor-to-ceiling bay window, which floods the home with natural light. In the kitchen are quartzite countertops and a wine fridge. Outside theres a heated sun porch and fire pitthe perfect elements for a great party, year-round. Story continues 6329ShermanSt Price: $349,999 Philly perks: Fresh off a renovation (including new electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and windows), this three-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom home has exposed brick walls that offer vintage charm, and stainless-steel appliances and granite countertops in the kitchen that bring the home into contemporary times. The backyard features a deck for alfresco living when the weather allows. 4135FreelandAve Price: $6,888,000 Philly perks: Tucked along this tree-lined street in Society Hill is a luxe five-bedroom home with five bathrooms and two half-baths. Included are rare urban perks such as parking for six cars, a rooftop swimming pool, an outdoor fireplace, and a greenhouse. The craftsmanship in this place is amazing, particularly the woodwork and stainless-steel railings. The only question we have is: Does the Chihuly fixture come with the house? 328DelanceySt Price: $1,795,000 Philly perks: Perched on 0.69 acres in Chestnut Hill, this seven-bedroom Queen Anne home was built by the Hewitt Brothers in 1916 and boasts 5.5 bathrooms, a detached three-car garage, and a guest suite with its own bathroom. Historic details remain in the homes original stone steps, fireplaces, butlers pantry, and the dens woodwork. 8133SeminoleSt Price: $925,000 Philly perks: Inside this 10-year-old custom homewith three bedrooms and 2.5 bathroomsare luxury accoutrements such as Brazilian cherry flooring in the living room, a Viking range in the kitchen, and french doors on the Juliet balcony. The two-story living room boasts a surround-sound system, and a fourth-floor deck flaunts city-skyline views. 620PembertonSt The post 7 Must-See Listings in Philly That Go Beyond the Conventional appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com. Related Articles First lady Michelle Obama delivered a rousing speech in Philadelphia Monday night, bringing a crowd of delegates to their feet after a chaotic first day at the Democratic National Convention. Though she chose not to address the giant elephant left over from last weeks Republican convention accusations that Melania Trumps speech plagiarized lines from Obamas 2008 DNC address the first lady still managed to throw plenty of shade. Without once mentioning him by name, Obama made several pointed attacks against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. In case you didnt catch them, weve translated a few of Michelles most obvious digs. That is what Barack and I think about every day as we try to guide and protect our girls through the challenges of this unusual life in the spotlight how we urge them to ignore those who question their fathers citizenship or faith. While mulling a presidential run back in 2011, Trump relentlessly questioned President Obamas citizenship, helping to spark a firestorm that eventually prompted the president to release the long-form copy of his original birth certificate. Over the years, Trump has also been openly skeptical about Obamas faith, insinuating on several occasions that the president is overly sympathetic to Islam. More recently, Trump has taken his conspiracy theory a bit further, seeming to suggest that Obamas loyalties might not be with the U.S. in the fight against the Islamic State. How we insist that the hateful language they hear from public figures on TV does not represent the true spirit of this country. How we explain that when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you dont stoop to their level. No, our motto is, When they go low, we go high. By name-calling, mocking and taunting everyone in his path, whether its his Republican primary rivals, the protesters at his rallies or members of the press, Trumps campaign tactics have earned him a few comparisons to the classic schoolyard bully. Story continues Someone who understands that the issues a president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters. Since long before he launched his presidential campaign, Trump had built a reputation for regularly tweeting insults at his political opponents and people criticizing him on TV. I want a president with a record of public service, someone whose lifes work shows our children that we dont chase fame and fortune for ourselves, we fight to give everyone a chance to succeed and we give back, even when were struggling ourselves, because we know that there is always someone worse off, and there but for the grace of God go I. Trump often touts his financial success as his leading qualification for the presidency. The line about giving back might also be a reference to Trumps questionable record of contributing to charity. According to a recent Washington Post investigation into his past donations, the White House hopeful has a history of making generous promises with little evidence of follow-through. I want a president who will teach our children that everyone in this country matters a president who truly believes in the vision that our founders put forth all those years ago: That we are all created equal, each a beloved part of the great American story. Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump has systematically ignited a series of national controversies about his comments or policy proposals about Mexican immigrants, women, Muslims, the disabled, African-Americans, prisoners of war and the media. And when crisis hits, we dont turn against each other no, we listen to each other. We lean on each other. Because we are always stronger together. The 2016 presidential election cycle has been marked by several deadly terror attacks both at home and abroad, leading Trump to propose a temporary ban on all Muslim travel to the U.S. Police officers and protesters in Dallas, who all desperately want to keep our children safe. Recent attacks on police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, La., have heightened tensions between law enforcement officials and activists who protest against excessive police force. Trump seemed to make it pretty clear whose side hes on during his speech at the Republican convention in Cleveland last week, when he promised to restore safety to America as the law and order candidate. So dont let anyone ever tell you that this country isnt great, that somehow we need to make it great again. This is obviously a reference to Trumps campaign slogan, Make America Great Again. _____ Related slideshows: On the ground at the DNC a photo report >>> How newspapers covered the DNCs first big day >>> Demonstrators protest outside the DNC >>> Sanders supporters weep at DNC >>> The investigation, conducted by ABC's "Four Corners" program, showed footage of a juvenile named Dylan Voller, now 18, hooded and strapped to a chair half-naked after he threatened to hurt himself. By Vishakha Saxena: WARNING: This story contains graphic videos. Children as young as 10 were stripped naked, assaulted, tear-gassed and kept in solitary confinement at a juvenile detention centre in Australia's Northern Territory, an investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation showed on Monday. The investigation, conducted by ABC's "Four Corners" program, showed footage of a juvenile named Dylan Voller, now 18, hooded and strapped to a chair half-naked after he threatened to hurt himself. advertisement The revelations have stirred outrage Down Under, compelling Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to call for a national investigation into allegations of the Guantanamo Bay-style treatment of juveniles. THE INVESTIGATION Chilling CCTV footage accessed by ABC showed teen prisoners being tear-gassed and 'tortured' at the prison. Voller, who was between 13 and 14 at the time, "had a spit hood placed over his head and his ankles, wrists and neck (were) shackled." (Footage of Voller, 14 at the time, being stripped and assaulted in 2011) In several graphic CCTV recordings from 2010 to 2015, Voller is seen being forcefully stripped naked and left cowering in his cell. Another footage shows 'a man' grabbing him by the neck. Witnesses and child detainees told Four Corners that Voller was repeatedly targeted by guards inside. Footage obtained by ABC also showed a prison guard attempting to cover the CCTV camera in his cell with wet toilet paper. Though he was unsuccessful, he went on to threaten and stand over the young boy on August 16, 2014. (Footage of Voller, 13 at the time, being held up by the neck and thrown in 2010) The Four Corners investigation was based on a report by former NT children's commissioner Dr Howard Bath. Bath's investigation was presented to the Australian government in 2012, but it was never publicly released or tabled in parliament. According to Dr Bath, stripping is part of the "at-risk response" used when prisoners threaten self-harm. "The vision is part of a chilling catalogue of evidence obtained by Four Corners showing a pattern of isolation, deprivation, tear gassing and mechanical restraint of children in Northern Territory youth detention centres," said the ABC in its report. Voller is now being held at a correctional facility for adults. HISTORY In 2014, it was reported that prison guards tear-gassed six teenagers, one of whom was Voller, when they "tried to escape a facility in Darwin after arming themselves with glass, barricading doors and smashing windows and light fittings." But revelations from the CCTV and handy-cam footage accessed by Four Corners are damning. Videos show only one boy escaped his cell after it was left unlocked by a guard. Two boys were seen playing cards, while another was repeatedly smashing the wall of his cell with a broken light fitting. In response, 10 bursts of tear gas were sprayed into the enclosed area in just one-and-a-half-minutes. advertisement (Footage of the children being tear-gassed by prison guards in 2014) All six boys were exposed to the tear gas, with five of them still locked in their cells. The 14-year-old boy who escaped his cell was heard repeatedly asking guards how long he had been in isolation. But, instead of talking to him, prison staff was heard laughing and mocking the boy, calling him "an idiot" and a "little f****r". Footage also showed the children's reactions to the gas - running to the back of their cells, hiding behind sheets and mattresses, gasping for air, crying, and bending over toilets. One boy was exposed to tear gas for eight minutes and was seen lying face down on the floor with his hands behind his back. Eventually he was handcuffed by two prison officers wearing gas masks and dragged out of his cell. A subsequent investigation by Dr Bath showed that the boys were hooded and transferred to an adult prison after the incident. Further, he alleged that two of them were not even involved in the attempt. It also said that one of the detainees was younger than the age legally allowed to be held in an adult jail. advertisement (Footage of the 14-year-old illegally taken to an adult prison, being brought back to the Darwin center in a spit hood) Three weeks before this incident, five boys had escaped from the same facility. When they were recaptured, they were placed in the isolation wing of the prison for between 15 and 17 days. Children and staff described conditions there as appalling and inhumane. They were kept locked in their cells for almost 24 hours a day with no running water, little natural light, and were denied access to school and educational material. According, to Dr Bath the government was warned about the human rights violations well before these incidents. Charges were also brought against staff involved in three incidents, but they were found not guilty. OUTRAGE AND ACTION Announcing a 'national investigation' into the Four Corners report, PM Turnbull said, "Like all Australians, I have been deeply shocked, shocked and appalled, by the images of mistreatment at the Don Dale center." "We will get to the bottom of what happened here. We want to know why there were inquiries into this center which did not turn up the evidence and the information that we saw on 'Four Corners' last night," he added. advertisement In a statement, Northern Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles, said the NT Police had "formed a Special Task Force under its Special References Unit, and the issues raised in the Four Corners program last night (were) declared a Major Investigation." (Footage of Voller, 17 at the time, shackled into a chair for almost two hours in 2015) --- ENDS --- United States of America: Abortion is legal at all stages, but may be restricted by states to varying degrees. The Supreme Court of India allowed a 22-year-old woman from Mumbai, India to terminate her 24-week-old pregnancy, due to abnormalities in the foetus. The Medical Termination Of Pregnancy Act, 1971 states that a registered medical practitioner may terminate a pregnancy if the length of the pregnancy does not exceed twenty weeks. The apex court, however, took this decision after considering the medical report which suggested that the foetus would not be able to survive without the skull. Heres a look at the abortion laws from other countries around the world Samantha Shay, 21, grew up in a rural town in Jonestown, Pennsylvania, about a 3 1/2 hour drive away from Adelphi University. Joining school clubs helped her adapt to the pace of city life in Long Island, New York, and find her place on campus -- but she had to get used to living without her mom's help when she got sick or needed help with chores. "The hardest part besides fitting in and making friends is just adjusting to really living on your own," Shay says. More than 20 percent of full-time students attend a college more than 500 miles away from home, according to the Higher Education Research Institute's annual college freshman survey. But whether you go across the country or a few hours away from home like Shay, moving to a new city can be jarring. Learning basic skills like how to wash clothes and balanc e a budget can help make the transition easier, but there are a few things that families can do during the application process to help students make a new city feel like home. College admissions experts encourage out-of-state students to include the following research factors to their list as they search for the right school. 1. Research the weather: Moving to a region that has a significantly different climate than what a teen is used to can affect more than what they pack for school. "If you're from Arizona and it's sunny 300 days of the year, you have to think about what does it mean to not have the sun every single day or the majority of that time," says LeAnne Wiles, director of first-year programs at the University of Washington in Seattle. She talks to students about seasonal affective disorder, depression that happens at the same time each year, and how to combat it -- especially during the winter months. [Use these tips to avoid depression in college.] 2. Find out the local thoughts on hot-button issues: Opinions on politics and human rights issues vary wildly across the country. Over the last year, for example, students at colleges across the country have been protesting over concerns about racism and sexual assaults on campus . Story continues Students can look at the agenda for the local chamber of commerce and read local newspapers to get a sense of the city or state's political views and what it might be like to live there, says Wiles. Experts recommend asking questions during the college tour about politics, race, sexuality and the social climate. [Ask colleges these 10 questions about campus safety. ]< /p> "It's always good to ask what the environment is like as far as is it something that's openly discussed? Is it something that students are actively involved in?" says Katie Foshee, assistant director of admissions for new student programs at Southeast Missouri State University. Students can also ask about programs for first-year students that help freshmen get connected to their new cities and ask about how the university partners with the community. 3. Learn what residents do for food and fun: If you have time, go to a show or try out an activity that you think will interest you when you visit schools and take a walk around the surrounding neighborhood. "Ask your admissions counselors or the faculty member that you meet with where their favorite place to eat is and get a touch of that local flavor or what the environment is like," Foshee says. Students should also take a look at the local annual events that happen in the city and see if they match their interests, experts say. 4. Think about housing: Some universities don't allow students to live on campus all four years. Students should Google neighborhoods before they make the commitment to attend a school to make sure they'd be comfortable with the available housing options and with living in the surrounding community, the University of Washington's Wiles says. 5. Create a plan to deal with homesickness: "Expect to feel some homesickness, whether you've gone out of state or you're just a few hours away -- it's a big, big life change," says Rebecca Whitmer, college admissions consultant and internship director at The Enrichery, an admissions consulting company in Texas. Families can create a schedule for when they will check in. Parents should talk to their teens about who they're meeting and the activities that they're pursuing in school, experts suggest. [Discover ways for parents to support a homesick college student.] Parents can send care packages to help students feel connected when they're far away and tickets or gift cards for activities like concerts or a trip to a spa -- during high-stress times to help combat homesickness. "I am the biggest advocate for sending mail," Southeast Missouri State's Foshee says. "It can help the student know that the family at home is rooting for them and supporting them." Searching for a college? Get our complete rankings of Best Colleges. Briana Boyington is an education Web producer at U.S. News. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at bboyington@usnews.com. When you're visiting a city for the first time, it can be overwhelming to decide what attractions to see, when to see them and how to purchase all the tickets you need. Multi-attraction passes can not only help you save some money on admission tickets to top sights, but also reduce the stress of trip planning. This type of sightseeing pass, which is available in many major cities around the world, allows you to purchase discounted tickets to a variety of attractions at once, in some cases slashing more than half off the regular price. But with a variety of options out there, knowing which passes are best suited for your trip and vacation goals is essential to optimize benefits and savings. Before you invest in multi-attraction passes, read this primer. [See: 16 Free Things to Do in the Top Affordable U.S. Destinations.] Types of Passes With a selection of multi-attraction passes to choose from, it's important to think about your trip objectives. Do you want to see as much as you can? Do you want to spread out your sightseeing or squeeze it all into a few days with the rest of the time more relaxed? How long will you be visiting? There are several reputable companies offering prepaid attraction passes, including CityPASS, Go City Card from Smart Destinations Inc. and Leisure Pass North America LLC, which offers the New York Pass and Philadelphia Pass. The Leisure Pass Group also offers options for many of Europe's popular cities, such as Paris, London and Dublin. But keep in mind, each attraction pass works a little differently and affords different advantages. CityPASS offers entry to fewer must-see attractions in each city, such as the Statue of Liberty in New York City, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and the Georgia Aquarium and World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta. Each city has a selection of about four to six attractions per pass and you typically have nine days to use the passes. Savings average at about 40 percent to 50 percent off full attraction prices. CityPASS costs range from around $50 to $100, with the exception of the Southern California CityPASS, which costs $341 for adults, and includes a three-day Park Hopper ticket to Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure, a ticket to SeaWorld San Diego and a ticket to LEGOLAND California, yielding a savings of $140 per person. It's also valid for 14 days, giving you a little more time to fit everything in. Story continues The Go City Card is the most flexible option of the bunch, offering an all-inclusive pass with entry into more than 20 attractions for a choice of one, two, three or five days -- and a savings of up to 55 percent. The Go City Card's Explorer pass, which is good for 30 days, allows you to choose three or five attractions, while their Build Your Own Pass option lets you hand-pick any number of attractions from a long list, making it well-suited for travelers who only want to see a couple of attractions during their trip at a discounted price. If checking out a variety of attractions is a top priority for you, the New York Pass and the Philadelphia Pass grant access to numerous sights, with more than 80 attractions to choose from in the Big Apple and more than 40 attractions in Philadelphia; however, you are limited to selecting a pass for one, two, three or five days. Many European passes work similarly. The Paris Pass, for example, offers access to 60 of the City of Light's top attractions, including the Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe for 44 euros for children, 79 euros for teens and 129 euros for adults (for a two-day pass). [See: 10 Top Budget-Friendly Disneyland Hotels for Frugal Families.] The Upsides The biggest perk of these passes is the savings they afford. They free up more of your budget to spend on other expenses during your vacation, such as dining and accommodations. Some passes even include discounts on dining and shopping to help travelers trim additional travel costs. The passes can also be a major time saver, eliminating the wait time required to purchase individual tickets. Many of these passes allow you to skip lines, giving you more time to do other activities. The Omnia Card, for example, which provides access to sites within Vatican City and Rome, grants holders "fast track" entry to the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica and the Coliseum, saving visitors more than four hours of waiting time during peak travel periods. Meanwhile, the Southern California CityPASS offers a "fast pass" entry at Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure parks just like regular park tickets. Many multi-attraction passes also include packages with transportation costs rolled in, which can be especially helpful in European cities where public transit may be difficult to navigate. Having the transportation component of your trip included in the pass cost is also helpful if you're exploring a new city. The New York Pass, for example, includes the Big Bus Tour, which in addition to being a sightseeing tour, lets you hop on and off the bus at many sites across the city, as does the Go London Card. Meanwhile, the Paris Pass gives you unlimited travel on the metro, buses and RER express trains, as does the Omnia card, which gives you unlimited access to Rome's public transit system. Mobile accessibility is another added perk of multi-attraction tickets, as many passes are available digitally so all you have to do is open the pass on your mobile device to have it scanned. That's a few less essential travel documents to keep track of and potentially lose while on the go. The Downsides While there are few disadvantages to using these passes, there are several points to consider. Unless you buy a pass that gives you at least five days to spend visiting attractions, you'll likely find yourself feeling rushed, but taking advantage of transportation options can help you prevent fatigue. On the other hand, many of the passes that are good for longer periods of time limit the number of attractions you can see, and you may find that there are additional sights that you would like to experience. If you opt for this type of pass, consider using tickets for the most expensive attractions and paying out of pocket for other sights on your itinerary to maximize savings. [See: 10 Top Value Summer Vacations for Families.] Planning in advance, and considering factors such as the age of your travel companions, the length of your visit and the typical cost of admission tickets versus multi-attraction passes, will help you determine which option is best for your needs, trip preferences and goals. More From US News & World Report Afghan forces backed by US airstrikes Tuesday ramped up an offensive against the Islamic State group in their eastern stronghold, days after the jihadists claimed the deadliest attack for 15 years in the capital Kabul. Afghan troops seized large parts of the mountainous district of Kot in Nangarhar province, a key IS stronghold where the jihadists set up sharia courts and training camps displaying their trademark black flag. Some 120 militants were killed in the operation including Saad Emarati, a prominent local IS commander, provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP. "They have been taught a lesson for their crimes. We will wipe out IS from Nangarhar," said defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish. The offensive follows the twin bombings on Saturday that tore through crowds of minority Shiite Hazaras as they protested over a major power line in Kabul, killing 80 people and leaving hundreds of others maimed. IS, which controls territory across Syria and Iraq, claimed the bombings in a statement carried by its affiliated Amaq news agency, calling it an attack on a "gathering of Shiites". The group said the attack was in retaliation for the support offered by some Hazaras to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Many Hazaras have been covertly recruited by Shiite-dominated Iran, Assad's key regional ally, to fight for his government against IS. The devastating attack in the capital represents a major escalation for IS, which so far has largely been confined to Nangarhar where it is notorious for brutality including beheadings. It also raised the spectre of sectarian discord in Afghanistan, something that the Sunni majority country has largely been spared despite decades of war. But officials have denied that it marked a turning point for IS in Afghanistan, saying the group has been under heavy pressure from both US air strikes and a ground offensive led by Afghan forces. US military spokesman Charles Cleveland said the group has steadily lost territory, with fighters largely confined to two or three districts in Nangarhar from around nine in January. Story continues He said US forces have conducted more than 450 airstrikes since the beginning of the year. The NATO-led coalition estimates there are between 1,000 and 3,000 IS militants in Afghanistan -- mostly disaffected Pakistani and Afghan Taliban, as well as Uzbek militants and local residents of Nangarhar. The offensive marks the start of a new chapter in the country's war against insurgents. While the main fight is against the Taliban, a stronger group than IS, the campaign is a departure from the previous defensive strategy of Afghan forces, who have struggled to contain insurgents since US-led NATO troops ended their combat mission in 2014. US forces were last month granted greater powers to strike at militants, as President Barack Obama vowed to take the fight to the insurgents in a more aggressive campaign. By Hamid Shalizi and James Mackenzie KABUL (Reuters) - Islamic State is threatening more attacks against Afghanistan's Hazara minority after Saturday's suicide blasts in Kabul that killed 80 people, pledging to retaliate against support by some in the mainly Shi'ite group for the Assad regime in Syria. But assessing the threat from Daesh, as Islamic State is known in Afghanistan, is difficult. Some question whether it was really responsible for Saturday's blasts and some officials ask whether the ultra-radical Sunni movement, hitherto largely confined to an area near the border with Pakistan, poses a wider challenge. A Daesh commander who uses the name Abu Omar Khorasani said the bombing of the rally by thousands of Hazaras protesting about the route of a new power line was in retaliation for the support offered by some members of the community to the regime in Syria. Many Hazaras have gone through Shi'ite-governed Iran to fight for the government of President Bashar al-Assad, a fellow Shi'ite, against Islamic State. "Unless they stop going to Syria and stop being slaves of Iran, we will definitely continue such attacks," the militant commander told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location. "We can and we will strike them again." The government says it has been hitting Daesh hard even before Saturday's blasts, one of the most deadly attacks in the country since the beginning of the Taliban insurgency in 2001. It said government forces had killed hundreds of insurgents in the past two months in assaults on Daesh strongholds in the eastern province of Nangarhar, which straddles the highway from Kabul to the Pakistani city of Peshawar. In the latest fighting, at least 122 insurgents were killed in the past 24 hours, it said on Tuesday. The numbers could not be independently confirmed. Nevertheless, Saturday's attack on the Hazara minority adds a dangerous complication to the war the Western-backed government in Kabul has been fighting with Taliban insurgents. As well as the risk of dragging Afghanistan into Islamic State's wider campaign in the Middle East, it raised the specter of sectarian violence, something Afghanistan, a majority Sunni country, has largely been spared during decades of war. But while seeing the threat, officials are cautious about whether the attack represents a real turning point for Daesh, which has been under heavy pressure this year from both U.S. air strikes and Afghan ground forces. "Having a couple of people that you've hired put on a suicide vest and sneak into a crowd of many thousands really is not that sophisticated," said U.S. military spokesman Brigadier General Charles Cleveland. ATTACKED IN PAKISTAN AS WELL On the ground, the NATO-led force advising government troops estimates the number of Daesh fighters at between 1,000 and 3,000, many of them former members of militant groups like the Pakistani Taliban, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the Afghan Taliban. Many of the Daesh fighters operating in Afghanistan are from the Orakzai tribe on the Pakistani side of the border. Those militants have also been hit hard by the Pakistani military, according to an Afghan security report seen by Reuters. While the movement may have been limited to eastern Afghanistan, that need not stop it from seeking to spread violence and raise its profile with more attacks on civilian targets, officials said. "That's our concern, these high profile attacks, they are effective because they're not that difficult to achieve," Cleveland told reporters in Kabul. The Hazara, who have long suffered violence and discrimination in Afghanistan, have responded with fury to the attack, accusing the government of inaction or worse. Some even doubt Islamic State's claim of responsibility. "There is no evidence to prove Daesh's involvement. It could have been others," said Dawood Naji, one of the organizers of Saturday's rally. "I dont think Daesh would be a major concern for Afghan people because they are not very active and have no foothold." With President Ashraf Ghani's unwieldy national unity government riven by infighting, their anger adds an unpredictable new threat of political instability. Government and NATO force officials insist, however, that Islamic State is being hit hard. The Afghan army has launched its first major offensive since the holy month of Ramadan in Nangarhar. According to the interior ministry, 654 Daesh and Taliban fighters, including several senior commanders have been killed in Nangarhar in the last two months. On Monday, Afghan special forces killed Sahad Emarati, a senior Daesh commander and destroyed training camps during a firefight in the province, said Attahullah Khogyani, a spokesman for Nangarhar's governor. "We think that Daesh is under pressure," Cleveland said. "As their terrain gets restricted, you see them trying to conduct more external operations and attacks." (Additional reporting by a Reuters correspondent in eastern Afghanistan; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan, robeert Birsel) JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's constitutional Court on Tuesday approved Treasury's recommendation that President Jacob Zuma should pay 7.8 million rand ($541,362) for non-security upgrades to his private Nkandla home. The Constitutional Court in Africa's most industrialised country in March ordered Zuma to pay back some of the $16 million of state money spent upgrading his private home, and asked the Treasury to work out a "reasonable cost". In a letter dated July 26 to the lawyers involved in the case, the court said it "signifies, with effect from the date of this letter, its approval of the amount of 7,814,155 rand." Zuma has 45 days, excluding weekends and public holidays, to pay back the money, according to the court's ruling in March. A spokesman in Zuma's office was not available to comment. Zuma has previously said he would pay back some of the money used to refurbish the sprawling Nkandla residence, which is in KwaZulu-Natal province. In 2014, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, whose office is a constitutionally mandated anti-corruption watchdog, identified a swimming pool, cattle enclosure, chicken run, amphitheatre and visitor centre as non-security items that Zuma must pay for. Estimates from Madonsela's report had pegged the bill at around 10 million rand. Discontent with Zuma's leadership, fanned partly by the Nkandla saga, has risen ahead of local elections next week. Zuma's African National Congress has also been blamed for record unemployment and a looming recession and analysts say the party, which has been in power since the end of white-minority rule in 1994, is likely to face a stern test at the polls. ($1 = 14.4081 rand) (Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by James Macharia) Amrutlal Makwana has accused the BJP government in the state of having no sympathy for Dalits. By India Today Web Desk: In protest against the stripping and flogging of Dalit men in Una, leading Gujarati writer Amrutlal Makwana has decided to return the government's 'Daasi Jeevan Shreshtha Dalit Sahitya Kruti' literary award. Accusing the BJP government in the state of having no sympathy for Dalits, Makwana said he would return the award conferred on him by the state government, including Rs 25,000 cash, tomorrow to the District Collector of Ahmedabad. advertisement Two years ago, the public lynching of Mohammad Akhlaque in Uttar Pradesh's Dadri over allegations that his family had consumed beef had also triggered the mass return of state awards by prominent authors and artists, who accused the government of running a Hindutva program. Makwana, a resident of Wadhwan town of Surendranagar district, said, "Such incidents are occurring in Gujarat on a regular basis but the government is not doing enough to ensure that Dalits get justice." "Una shook me to the core" The 44-year-old writer, who has been associated with the Congress, was conferred the award for 2012-13 by the Gujarat government for his work 'Kharapat Nu Dalit Lok Sahitya'. "What happened in Mota Samadhiyala village of Gir-Somnath district was ghastly and barbaric. Such atrocities on Dalits are condemnable and it shook me to the core. Sadly, such incidents are happening around us regularly," he said. "Around 50 persons thrashed some Dalit youths but only 16 were arrested. Why are other people still roaming free? I doubt the government's intentions. I no longer have faith in this government. If the leaders do not have any sympathy for Dalits, there is no meaning in keeping such awards," he said. The writer fears that this case will meet the same fate as Thangadh police firing case, wherein three Dalit men were allegedly killed in police firing four years ago. "Even after four years, there is no progress in Thangadh firing case. What is the guarantee that this new case will not meet the same fate? With utter grief and pain, I hereby announce to return my award, including Rs 25,000 given to me by the government," Makwana said. On July 11, some Dalit youths from Mota Samadhiyala, who were skinning a dead cow, were flogged by cow protection vigilantes from the Shiv Sena, who alleged that the men had killed the cow. After a video of the incident went viral, it sparked off violent protests across Gujarat. --- ENDS --- Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ALXN is scheduled to report second-quarter 2016 results on Jul 28, before the opening bell. The companys track record has been far from encouraging. Over the last four reported quarters, the company posted an average negative earnings surprise of 0.87%, having beaten estimates in only one quarter while missing in the rest. Last quarter, the company recorded a negative earnings surprise of 4.40%. Lets see how things are shaping up for this announcement. Factors Likely to Impact Q2 Results At the time of announcing first-quarter 2016 results, Alexion lowered its 2016 revenue guidance for Soliris primarily due to increased macroeconomic weakness in Latin America. Soliris revenues are expected in the range of $2.835$2.875 billion in 2016, down from the previous guidance of $2.9$2.925 billion. Owing to this, the company also revised its revenue outlook for 2016. Alexion expects revenues to be at the low end of the prior forecast of $3.05$3.1 billion. In the second quarter of 2016, revenues are expected in the range of $735 million to $745 million, including foreign exchange headwinds of $20 million to $25 million. The company had also guided expenses at the high end of the prior projection mainly due to investment in pipeline, expansion of the global commercial launches of Strensiq and Kanuma and unfavorable currency movement. As a result, the company projected 2016 earnings to be at the low end of the previous projection of $5.00$5.20 per share. The company projects earnings in the range of $1.12$1.17 per share in the second quarter of 2016. Alexions key growth driver Soliris continued to perform well in the first quarter of 2016 in core territories including the U.S., Europe and Japan, driven by a consistently high number of new patients in paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome indications. However, Soliris revenue growth was curbed by increasing macroeconomic weakness in Latin America, resulting in soft new patient starts and treatment interruptions, primarily in Brazil and Argentina. Currency headwinds and seasonality also had an adverse impact on Soliris sales. Meanwhile, Alexion is working on the launches of both Strensiq and Kanuma by creating greater awareness through diagnostic and disease education programs. The company has initiated the funding process with healthcare authorities in other major EU countries for both products. It expects to launch these drugs in initial countries outside Germany in the second half of the year and beyond. On the second-quarter call, investor focus will be on the companys performance, sales ramp up of Strensiq and Kanuma along with an update on the impact of macroeconomic issues on Soliris. ALEXION PHARMA Price and EPS Surprise ALEXION PHARMA Price and EPS Surprise | ALEXION PHARMA Quote What Our Model Indicates Our proven model does not conclusively show that Alexion is likely to beat earnings this quarter. That is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), #2 (Buy) or #3 (Hold) to likely post an earnings beat. However, that is not the case here, as you will see below. Zacks ESP: The Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, is 0.00% since both the Most Accurate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are at 91 cents per share. Zacks Rank: Alexion currently has a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). As it is, we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. Stocks That Warrant a Look Here are some health care stocks that you may want to consider as our model shows that they too have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter. Amgen Inc. AMGN has an Earnings ESP of +1.10% and a Zacks Rank #3. It is scheduled to report second-quarter results on Jul 27. United Therapeutics Corporation UTHR has an Earnings ESP of +3.37% and a Zacks Rank #2. It is scheduled to report second-quarter results on Jul 28. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company BMY has an Earnings ESP of +1.49% and a Zacks Rank #1. It is scheduled to report second-quarter results on Jul 28. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report BRISTOL-MYERS (BMY): Free Stock Analysis Report ALEXION PHARMA (ALXN): Free Stock Analysis Report AMGEN INC (AMGN): Free Stock Analysis Report UTD THERAPEUTIC (UTHR): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Nearly two years ago, actresses Alysia Reiner (Orange Is The New Black) and Sarah Megan Thomas (Backwards) launched a production company, Broad Street Pictures, to produce films with strong-female roles. Their first film is Equity, the first-ever female-driven Wall Street movie. Written, produced, directed and starred in by women, Equity explores the intersection of gender and office politics in the world of high finance. The movies plot follows a senior-level investment banker named Naomi Bishop, played by Breaking Bad star Anna Gunn. According to a movie description, after being passed up for a promotion she fights for the opportunity to take a start-up public, hoping this promising IPO will secure her a place at the firms highest level. But when an employee at the start-up raises questions about a possible crack in the companys walls, Naomi must decide whether to investigate rumors that may compromise the deal, or push forward with the confidence her superiors expect. Soon Naomi finds herself tangled in a web of deception and office politics and begins to question if there is anyone she can trust. There isnt just one strong female lead, either. Reiner plays a prosecutor focused on white collar crime in the US Attorneys Office, while Sarah Megan Thomas plays a vice president at the bank. Women also appear in other roles including a doctor, a coder and a defense attorney. For the movie, Reiner and Thomas made it a point to employ women both in front of and behind the camera. There are so many panels about changing things for women. And I feel like lets just make change, Reiner told Yahoo Finance. She continued: Lets set a mandate that we we are going to hire more women than men. Were going to let these women do what they do so well and were going to actually pay these women more than the men. And that was so exciting and empowering. And yes, on this, we sort of did our own roadshow We learned to be our own IPO. Story continues Anna Gunn plays Naomi Bishop in Equity. (Image: IMDB) The movie is directed by Nora Ephron Prize-winning director, Meera Menon. The screenplay was produced by Sundance writer by Amy Fox. The story was written by Fox, Reiner and Thomas. Its also based off conversations with numerous Wall Street executives, including the late Jimmy Lee of JPMorgan Chase. They also spoke with top female executives including Barbara Byrne, Alexandra Lebenthal, and Elaine La Roche. Its amazing when a womans story has not been told and you give her the opportunity the openness with which people came to us and then additionally the openness that they wanted to invest in it because we were telling their story, Reiner told Yahoo Finance. The movie touches upon issues such as promotions and motherhood. Some of the main issues we deal with in the film are the stories we heard over and over and over again The way you have to deal with your male client, the way you get to a certain level of your career and youre sort of edged out in a multitude of ways I think the issue of pregnancy and motherhood in the workplace is a huge issue we wanted to touched on, Reiner said. The film first debuted at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, with Sony Pictures (SNE) acquiring the worldwide rights on the eve of its premiere. Equity opens in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on July 29. Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance. Read more: Why hedge fund billionaire Leon Cooperman is warning young people to avoid the fund management industry Billionaire Rubenstein: These 6 traits will help you succeed on Wall Street How a $650,100 lunch with Warren Buffett changed one hedge fund managers life Warren Buffett once said these are 2 of the more important decisions youll make in life Buffett: Your business will succeed if you execute this 3-word mission A hedge fund manager gave some blunt advice to a bunch of 9th grade boys San Francisco (AFP) - Amazon has announced plans to test delivery drone technology in Britain, as the US online commerce giant tries to advance the idea safely. The partnership aims to understand how drones can be used safely and reliably, and identify the regulations to put in place, it said in a statement. Amazon got British approval for three new types of tests: flying drones that are no longer within sight of their operators in rural and suburban areas; having one person operate several highly automated drones; and testing devices to make the drones able to identify and avoid obstacles. Britain is a leader in enabling drone innovation; weve been investing in Prime Air research and development here for quite some time, said Paul Misener, Amazons Vice President of Global Innovation Policy and Communications. This announcement strengthens our partnership with the UK and brings Amazon closer to our goal of using drones to safely deliver parcels in 30 minutes to customers in the UK and elsewhere around the world. Last month, the US Federal Aviation Administration unveiled long-awaited new rules that clear the way for small, commercial drones to operate across US airspace. Under the FAAs rules, drone operators will be allowed to fly commercial craft weighing less than 55 pounds (25 kilograms) during daylight hours, provided they can maintain a clear view of the drone at all times. While that effectively precludes the sort of robo-delivery services being developed by Amazon and other major vendors, the new rules will nonetheless ensure drones become increasingly commonplace in the skies. The White House cites industry estimates suggesting drones could generate more than $82 billion for the US economy over the coming decade, creating some 100,000 jobs. Coming to you live every morning from Philadelphia, Unconventional is the one thing you need to read to understand whats really happening at the Democratic National Convention. Each edition will provide a behind-the-scenes look at the biggest (and weirdest) moments of the day, with original dispatches from the entire Yahoo Politics team plus a sneak peek at whats next. An uneasy detente after drama on DNCs opening day. Will it last? Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., waves to supporters during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Photo: Mark J. Terrill/AP Photo) PHILADELPHIA In back-to-back speeches Monday, Americas two most popular progressives Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders tried to unite the Democratic Party around the presumptive nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, after a rancorous, decorum-shattering session that saw delegates loyal to Sanders booing or chanting Bernie! Bernie! nearly every time Clintons name was mentioned. By evenings end, Warren and Sanders seemed to have succeeded, at least for the moment, in their mission. (Michelle Obamas rapturously received address a mother-in-chiefs case for Clinton didnt hurt, either.) The Bernie or Bust holdouts were no longer the loudest voices in the Wells Fargo Center. Hillary Clinton was now an applause line. The boos were reserved for Donald Trump. The question now is whether the delicate detente negotiated Monday night will hold for the rest of the week or whether the divisions on display throughout the day will erupt yet again, disrupting the message of party unity that the Clinton campaign was hoping to convey in the City of Brotherly Love. Warren was first. She framed the election as a choice between a man who inherited a fortune from his father a man who only cares for himself, all day, every day and one of the smartest, toughest, most tenacious people on this planet. Im with Hillary, Warren said. A few disillusioned delegates shouted, We trusted you! But the rest of the arena roared. Then came the headliner. As Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison introduced the senator from Vermont, runners on the convention floor passed out signs emblazoned with Sanders familiar slogan: Bernie A Future to Believe In. But Sanders royal-blue background and Jubilat font was gone, and Clintons light-blue background and Unity font had taken their place. Story continues When Sanders finally strode onstage, the crowd cheered for two and a half minutes an eternity in politics. Delegates were weeping. It felt like some sort of catharsis. Let me be as clear as I can be, Sanders began. This election is not about, and has never been about, Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders or any of the other candidates who sought the presidency. This election is not about political gossip. Its not about polls. Its not about campaign strategy. Its not about fundraising. Its not about all the things the media spends so much time discussing. This election is about and must be about the needs of the American people and the kind of future we create for our children and grandchildren. And while Sanders admitted that no one is more disappointed than I am by the final results of the nominating process and while he refused to release his delegates, guaranteeing that Clinton will face a more robust vote of opposition during Tuesdays roll call than any Democratic nominee since the 1980s he spent the remainder of his speech testifying that Clinton was better than Trump on issue after issue: minimum wage, Citizens United, college affordability, climate change, health care, prescription-drug prices, immigration reform, criminal-justice reform, human rights. By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States, Sanders concluded, urging his supporters not to sit [this election] out. The choice is not even close. He added that Clinton would make an outstanding president. If anyone was still heckling, they were inaudible amid the cheers. A disappointed supporter of former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders holds up her sign at the Democratic National Convention. (Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP Photo) Emotions ran high from the moment delegates arrived at the Wells Fargo Center. On Friday, Wikileaks published 20,000 hacked DNC emails showing that establishment officials worked to undermine Sanders primary campaign; by Monday afternoon, party Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was supposed to chair the convention as well, had been forced to give up her gavel and her job. For Sanders and his supporters, the revelations and Wasserman Schultzs slow-motion resignation seemed to confirm what they had suspected all along: The system had been rigged against them. They were emboldened to push back. And thats exactly what they did. The response to the opening invocation by Reverend Dr. Cynthia Hale of Decatur, Ga., set the tone for the rest of the day. The start of Hales prayer didnt mention politics. But then she uttered the name Hillary Clinton. We have an opportunity, O God, Hale intoned, to give undeniable evidence to our commitment to justice and equality by nominating Hillary Rodham Clinton as our candidate for the highest office in the land. A few catcalls echoed off the rafters. As Hale continued to speak, a rumble built in the arena. Soon, the booing overwhelmed her words. It was a stunning breach of convention etiquette. The same thing happened again and again throughout the afternoon. Former Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, a Clinton loyalist, was jeered when he stepped to the podium to deliver the Rules Committee report. As Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings lyrically extolled the most progressive platform in party history, Sanders fans opposed to Obamas Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal drowned him out. Representative Elijah Cummings, D-Md., speaks at the Democratic National Convention. (Photo: Scott Audette/Reuters) No TPP! they yelled for minutes on end. Ohio Rep. Martha Fudge Wasserman Schultzs replacement as the permanent chair of the convention had the temerity to admit that she was excited to put Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine in the White House. Her confession a fairly normal thing for a convention speaker to say about the partys presumptive nominee was greeted with a good 20 seconds of Bernie! Bernie! Excuse me! Excuse me! Fudge shouted, as delegates from New Mexico, Michigan and Virginia kept booing and waving signs: No, Nay, Feel the Bern. Several Sanders supporters had crossed out Clintons Love Trumps Hate slogan and scrawled Bernie Trumps Hillary in its place. I intend to be fair, and I want to hear the varying opinions here, Fudge continued. I will be respectful of you. I want you to be respectful of me. Were all Democrats, and we need to act like it. Fudge wasnt the only Democrat who tried and failed to calm the crowd. Lets show Donald Trump that we can work together, said former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb. Lets cheer for Bernie tonight when he takes the stage. Lets also cheer for Hillary, when she takes the stage on Thursday. Then Webb mentioned the prospect of a Madam President. Some Sanders folks resumed their booing; other pro-Bernie delegations protested in silence, pointedly refusing to applaud. Sanders waded into the melee before arriving at the arena. When he told his delegates to support the Democratic ticket during a speech at the Philadelphia Convention Center, they booed him as well. We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine, Sanders said. We want Bernie! the crowd chanted. We want Bernie! Brothers and sisters! Brothers and sisters! Sanders interrupted. This is the real world that we live in. As Yahoo News Senior National Affairs Liz Goodwin reported, the senator went on to plead with the leaders of his delegates via text message not to protest on the convention floor. I ask you as a personal courtesy to me to not engage in any kind of protest on the floor, he wrote. Its of utmost importance you explain this to your delegations. Later, Sanders emailed his delegates to say that the movements credibility would be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays. The outbursts briefly subsided around dinnertime. Many Sanders delegates left their seats to find food; they had missed lunch to see the senator speak at the convention center. The program also shifted onto less provocative turf, at least for Democrats: unions, immigration, LGBT rights, Donald Trump. Yet the dissenters eventually came roaring back. Appearing alongside Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, comedian Sarah Silverman, a longtime Sanders supporter, praised Bernie for mak[ing] us understand what is possible. But she also insisted that a vital part of that movement is making absolutely sure that Hillary Clinton is our next president of the United States and the chanting started up again, with each side trying to overpower the other. Bernie! Bernie! Hillary! Hillary! Can I just say to the Bernie-or-Bust people: Youre being ridiculous, Silverman snapped, going off-script. Sorry, I just had to add that. _____ Missed the speeches? Weve got you covered. Michelle Obama delivers remarks on the first day of the DNC in Philadelphia. (Photo: Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images) Lisa Belkin on Michelle Obama: In an emotional, soaring and pointedly political speech on the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia tonight, first lady Michelle Obama braided together her case for her husbands legacy, her support for the woman who is trying to succeed him, and her repudiation of the man who is trying to defeat her. Hunter Walker on Bernie Sanders: The man himself tried to soothe the Bern at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night. Sen. Bernie Sanders delivered a rousing speech in which he implored the rebellious band of political revolutionaries who backed his presidential campaign to line up behind his former primary rival, Hillary Clinton. Liz Goodwin on Elizabeth Warren: Sen. Elizabeth Warren told Democratic delegates Monday night that the system is rigged against people who arent wealthy and that Donald Trump would make that worse if he is elected president. His whole life has been about taking advantage of that rigged system, Warren said. Jon Ward on Cory Booker: He quoted the poet Maya Angelou, in a crowd-pleasing rebuttal to Trump: When Trump spews insults and demeaning words about our fellow Americans, I think of the poem by Maya Angelou. You know how it begins: You may write me down in history / With your bitter, twisted lies, / You may trod me in the very dirt / But still, like dust, Ill rise. Garance Franke-Ruta on Sarah Silverman: With that impeccable Berniecrat pedigree, and her longstanding willingness to break every conversational taboo, Silverman was uniquely positioned on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention to address fractious Sanders supporters in the audience. Jerry Adler on Al Franken: Speaking on the first night of the convention, shortly before helping comedian Sarah Silverman introduce singer Paul Simon, Franken said he had a doctorate in megalomania studies from the Republican nominees namesake unaccredited business school. Daniel Klaidman on Joseph P. Kennedy III: These are hard Kennedy acts to follow. But Monday evening Joseph P. Kennedy III, the grandson of RFK, grand-nephew of Jack Kennedy and son of the former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, took the stage at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia to see if he could work, just a little bit, the old family magic. Olivier Knox on Keith Ellison: The first Muslim elected to Congress warned Democrats on Monday that staying home in November would amount to a surrender to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his discriminatory agenda. ____ Overheard Here's video of Bernie supporter yelling at Warren about selling birthright for bowl of porridge, in all its glory pic.twitter.com/uDNT14gIW5 Jon Ward (@jonward11) July 26, 2016 _____ Is Russia really trying to help Trump? Everything you need to know about the DNC email hack. The Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Alex Brandon/AP) PHILADELPHIA Just weeks after she started preparing opposition research files on Donald Trumps campaign chairman Paul Manafort last spring, Democratic National Committee consultant Alexandra Chalupa got an alarming message when she logged into her personal Yahoo email account, reports Yahoo News Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff. Important action required, read a pop-up box from a Yahoo security team that is informally known as the Paranoids. We strongly suspect that your account has been the target of state-sponsored actors. Chalupa who had been digging up information about Manaforts connections to pro-Russian political leaders in Ukraine quickly alerted top DNC officials. I was freaked out, she told Isikoff. Isikoffs scoop is one of the latest revelations in a fast-moving, hard-to-follow and potentially freaky story about a possible Kremlin conspiracy that is upending the Democratic National Convention here in Philadelphia and threatening to unsettle the entire U.S. presidential election. A quick primer on what we know, what we think we know, and what were still trying to find out. What we know: The Democratic National Committees computer network was hacked earlier this year. Twenty-thousand stolen emails many of them showing that DNC officials secretly favored Hillary Clinton during the primary, despite claiming to be impartial were eventually published online. The revelations inflamed tensions between Bernie Sanders supporters and the Democratic establishment on the eve of the convention. After predicting that Philly would be drama-free and big on unity Democrats were thrown into disarray at the worst possible moment. DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz was forced to give up her convention duties, and her job, as a result. What we think we know: All signs point to a Russian cyberattack. In April, a security firm found two sophisticated adversaries on the DNCs network. The firm linked both groups to the Russian governments powerful and highly capable intelligence services. They suspected that one was the FSB (Russias principal security agency) and that the other was the GRU (Russias military intelligence agency). The forensic evidence, according to Thomas Rid, a professor of security studies at Kings College London, is very strong: used and reused tools, methods, infrastructure, even unique encryption keys that indicate Russian involvement. Meanwhile, five individuals familiar with the FBIs ongoing investigation of the breach told the Daily Beast Monday that the agency now suspects that Russian government hackers breached the networks of the Democratic National Committee and stole emails. Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook accused Russia of sabotaging the DNC to help Trump. Trumps son, Donald, Jr. criticized Mook for perpetuating nonsense to try to gain some political capital, while Manafort called Mooks claims pure obfuscation on the part of the Clinton campaign. What they dont want to talk about is whats in those emails. Moscow, for its part, refused to respond a rare demurral. What were still trying to find out: Whether Russia is actually trying to help Trump and why. Observers have noted that Trumps foreign-policy positions align, in many respects, with Putins interests. Both Trump and Putin want to the U.S. to avoid military involvement in Ukraine; in Cleveland, Trumps otherwise hands-off team worked behind the scenes to ensure the 2016 Republican platform wouldnt call for giving weapons to Ukraine to fight Russian and rebel forces, contradicting the view of almost all Republican foreign policy leaders in Washington. Trump welcomed Brexit, which many analysts believe will strengthen Putins hand. And, most importantly, both Trump and Putin want America to pull back from its commitment to intervene whenever a foreign power attacks one of its NATO allies a fundamental rejection of the postwar European order. Trumps campaign rhetoric is the biggest dream of everyone in the Kremlin, Tina Khidasheli, defense minister of Georgia, a U.S. ally, told the Washington Post last month. Its scary, its dangerous, and its irresponsible. Observers have also noted that Trump has been saying friendly things about Putin for years. In December, for instance, Putin called Trump a colorful and talented person; Trump said the compliment was an honor. When people call you brilliant, its always good, especially when the person heads up Russia, Trump continued. Hes running his country, and at least hes a leader, you know, unlike what we have in this country. Screengrab of the Yahoo security warning. (Photo: Yahoo News photo) Franklin Foer recently cataloged several other examples of Trumps pro-Putin rhetoric: In 2007, he praised Putin for rebuilding Russia. A year later he added, He does his work well. Much better than our Bush. When Putin ripped American exceptionalism i n a New York Times op-ed in 2013, Trump called it a masterpiece. Despite ample evidence, Trump denies that Putin has assassinated his opponents: In all fairness to Putin, youre saying he killed people. I havent seen that. And [hes] not just any old head of state: I will tell you that, in terms of leadership, hes getting an A. Why the mutual flattery? In June, the Washington Post reported that this dynamic illustrates the extent to which Trumps worldview has been formed through the lens of commerce rather than politics, citing his desire to build towers in Moscow and his reliance on Russian investors as reasons for his favorable attitude toward Russia and its leader. Finally, observers have noted that many of Trumps advisers including his campaign chairman, Paul Manafort have had ties to Russia. According to the Post, Manafort has done multimillion-dollar business deals with pro-Russian oligarchs and was a longtime adviser to the Russia-aligned Ukrainian president whose 2014 ouster triggered Russias intervention in Ukraine. An adviser who helped run Trumps efforts in the New York primary, Michael Caputo, lived in Russia in the 1990s and also had a contract for several months in 2000 with the Russian conglomerate Gazprom Media to improve Putins image in the United States. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the former Defense Intelligence Agency chief who spoke on Trumps behalf at the convention in Cleveland, stunned the diplomatic community by sitting near Putin at a 2015 Moscow dinner honoring RT, the English-language network aligned with the Kremlin that broadcasts into the United States. Flynn confirmed last week that he was paid to speak at the event. And Carter Page, also a Trump foreign policy adviser, once ran the Moscow office of Merrill Lynch, including advising the Russian energy giant Gazprom. These connections dont prove anything. But they do raise troubling questions about whether state-sponsored Russian hackers are trying to interfere in a U.S. presidential election and if so, to what end. Since I started digging into Manafort, these [youve been hacked] messages have been a daily occurrence on my Yahoo account despite changing my password often, Alexandra Chalupa wrote in a May 3 email to Luis Miranda , the DNCs communications director. Or, as Chalupa told Isikoff: This is really scary. _____ Convention diary Click through for the full convention diary from Arkansas delegate Dustin McDaniel _____ The big picture Photographer Khue Bui is on the ground in Philadelphia, capturing all of the action for Yahoo News. Heres his most unconventional pic of the day. See the rest. Photo: Khue Bui for Yahoo News _____ Trump tweaks Dems as convention starts Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Winston-Salem, N.C. (Photo: Carlo Allegri/Reuters) By Holly Bailey Winston-Salem, N.C. Donald Trump gleefully seized on party turmoil at the Democratic National Convention Monday, accusing Bernie Sanders of folding against rival Hillary Clinton, whom he attacked for using a rigged system to win the nomination. Trump argued that Clinton had further betrayed Sanders and his supporters and showed bad judgment by picking Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine as her running mate, whom he described as the opposite of Bernie. Pointing to Kaines support of free trade, among other things, Trump accused Sanders of selling out to Clinton and betraying his supporters by backing her as the party nominee. Crazy Bernie has gone crazy, Trump declared. Hes losing his legacy. Hes just sort of giving up. (Read the full story here.) Clinton, he said, could have thrown Sanders a bone and picked someone more fitting with the ideals of the Vermont senator and his supporters. Just not Pocahontas, he said, referring to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of his fiercest critics. Trumps comments came at the first of several events planned for this week aimed at trying to steal the spotlight away from the DNC in Philadelphia. Although presidential candidates typically lay low during their opponents convention, Trump has a full schedule of counterprogramming this week, including events in swing states like Pennsylvania and Iowa. Trump is on the road for the first time with his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, but the two barely shared a stage. Trump went on to mock theories floated among some Democrats that the leak of DNC emails came from Russia who hacked the party to aid Trumps campaign. Its one of the weirdest conspiracies, Trump declared. But, Trump added, Wouldnt it be nice if we could get along with Russia? The two countries, he said, could partner and knock the hell out of ISIS. Wouldnt that be nice? he said. _____ The best of the rest .@FLOTUS shows it's the party of Obama-ism: confident, optimistic liberalism, framed in terms of nonpartisan values https://t.co/DWN1DILhrG Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) July 26, 2016 Life Among the Berned. My latest dispatch from #dncinphl https://t.co/zuDubR5MJF Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) July 26, 2016 Sanders supporters aren't consistent Democrats, and turn out at relatively low rates. Sort of a new constiutency. https://t.co/pmBppWODKA Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) July 25, 2016 Bill Clinton's new obsession: winning back white voters: https://t.co/U7qEAeW1fI Annie Karni (@anniekarni) July 26, 2016 _____ By the numbers $4,000: The estimated cost, per delegate, to attend the 2016 Democratic National Convention $0: The amount the DNC gives delegates to cover the cost of attending the convention _____ What to watch Tuesday Theme: A Lifetime of Fighting for Children and Families Gavel time: 4:00 p.m. Main order of business: The roll call vote to officially nominate Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine Speakers: President Bill Clinton Mothers of the Movement (featuring the mothers of Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Dontre Hamilton, Jordan Davis, Michael Brown, Hadiya Pendleton, and Sandra Bland) _____ _____ Related slideshows: On the ground at the DNC a photo report >>> Bernie Sanders supporters make a last stand >>> Sanders supporters weep at DNC >>> How newspapers covered the DNCs first big day >>> Demonstrators protest outside the DNC >>> By Liana B. Baker (Reuters) - Analog Devices Inc (ADI.O) said on Tuesday it would buy fellow chipmaker Linear Technology Corp (LLTC.O) for about $14.8 billion, the latest deal in a wave of consolidation that has swept the semiconductor industry in the past two years. By buying Linear, Analog is aiming to boost its profitability and increase its share in the fragmented market for analog chips, which process signals such as sound, light and temperature and convert them into digital signals. The chips are central to smart phones and devices connected to the internet. "Our highly complementary portfolios of industry-leading products will enable us to solve our customers biggest and most complex challenges at the intersection of the physical and digital worlds," Analog Chief Executive Vincent Roche said in a statement. Linear was viewed as one of the most attractive sales targets in semiconductors because of its high margins and engineering talent. Analysts have long identified Linear as being coveted by Analog or Texas Instruments Inc (TXN.O). Analog said it would offer $46.00 per share in cash and 0.2321 a share for each Linear share. The stock and cash mix roughly values the company at $60 a share, which represents a 24 percent premium to Linear's closing share price on Monday. The companies, which both make power management chips, data converters and amplifiers that are used in almost all electronic products, said the deal values the combined business at about $30 billion. Analog's last significant acquisition was Hittite Microwave Corp, which it bought for more than $2 billion in 2014. Linear's stock closed up nearly 29 percent at $62.49, its highest since 2001. The deal, which was first reported by Bloomberg, creates a company with combined revenue of $5 billion. Analog's shares rose to a 52-week high. The deal is expected to immediately add to Analog's adjusted earnings per share and free cash flow. Founded in 1965 by two MIT graduates, Analog competes with Maxim Integrated Products Inc (MXIM.O) and Texas Instruments. Story continues Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.S) advised Analog Devices while JP Morgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Bank of America (BAC.N) provided financing. Qatalyst Partners advised Linear Technology. The legal advisers for Analog were Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr. Jones Day advised Linear. (Additional reporting by Arunima Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Jeffrey Hodgson) In Equity, Anna Gunn plays Naomi Bishop, an investment banker who dodges and fights against some of the same gender-based discrimination and disadvantages that Gunn herself wrote about in a 2013 essay titled "I Have Character Issues." As part of a Hollywood Reporter co-hosted panel after a screening of the film at the Crosby Street Hotel in New York City, Gunn referenced that piece, the mean-spirited rhetoric she encountered for playing Skyler White on Breaking Bad and the concern that she would attract more for addressing it. "I thought, 'You know what, bring it on,' because I had gone through that ring of fire and learned something that was very valuable, which is that I'm going to continue to take it on, and I was lucky enough to get this role and embody this struggle that is very common to so many women." she said. Onstage with Gunn was Barbara Byrne, vice chairperson of investment banking at Barclays, who served as a co-producer for the film; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest; Moira Forbes, president and publisher of Forbes Woman; and Suzanne Townsen, who in 2012 was appointed the advisory leader for KPMG in New York City. The panel, moderated by THR East Coast TV editor Marisa Guthrie, discussed the inverse relationship between likability and success for women, the pay and investing gaps that exist and whether or not women are approaching a place of equity within the workplace, financial or otherwise. Read More: Anna Gunn Joins 'Shades of Blue' Season 2 "I would have never thought when I started in 1980 that we would still be having this conversation, so it's very necessary, and I'm so happy that we've gotten this film," Byrne said, later adding, "The importance of this movie isn't just the story that's being told, it's the fact that as an investor, we have to make it possible for women to tell the story, for women to direct the story, write the story, conceive the story, act the story. And so it has that tone." Story continues As Bishop, Gunn has to combat internal pressure form both her male and female colleagues, and as she is a seasoned investor, Krawcheck said, the audience pegs her as a villain, though that isn't the way it has to be. "More than one of us can be successful, and in fact one person's success doesn't pull from anybody else success, it adds to it," she said. While many of the panelists recalled stories of sexism and expressed hope that the film would inspire further conversation, there was a sense of optimism among them that progress is being made, particularly as newer generations enter the workplace. "Things are changing," Byrne said. "Our last bastions are Wall Street and Hollywood. Speaking about it, talking about it, I see millennials as a great gift to business. They question, they don't tolerate nonsense. They are hard workers, but they're not anal about it. You want that questioning so you have to look at each opportunity as optimistic and to engage and discuss." "I feel like it is becoming a richer time," Gunn said of the opportunities made available to women. "We have an imperative to tell these stories, and we have to keep going." In speaking of Equity, Forbes invoked the 1988 film Working Girl as perhaps the last portrayal of strong business-minded women. "What's exciting about this film," she said, "is culture and film are some of the most powerful catalysts for conversation. When you have voices like these from across so many different perspectives coming together, it's at least a powerful way to inspire something different. Something more beyond what we've been having. Because certainly the industry needs the talent, it needs the innovation, and women need to be a part of it. And unless they feel welcome, they're not going to go." Equity, starring Gunn, Sarah Megan Thomas, Alysia Reiner and James Purefoy, opens in New York and Los Angeles on July 29. Read More: 'Equity' Trailer: Anna Gunn Is an Unapologetic Woman on Wall Street PARIS (Reuters) - France's anti-terrorist prosecution unit said on Tuesday it had taken over the investigation into an attack at a church in Normandy, northern France, after police said a priest had been killed by two hostage takers who were later shot dead. The two hostage takers, whose identity and motives were still unknown, were killed in a police operation that ended the assault, a spokesman for the interior ministry said. Another of the five hostages was seriously wounded, the spokesman said. (Reporting by Chine Labbe; writing by Michel Rose; editing by Richard Lough) AOL CEO Armstrong told CNBC that combining the power of Yahoo and AOL could give Verizon Communications (VZ) the necessary tools and reach to become a major powerhouse in digital advertising. "Google and Facebook are doing such a good job executing," said Armstrong, who helped lead Verizon's successful bid for Yahoo. "Trying to do what Google and Facebook do is not a good strategy ... We're the up-and-comer. We're going to compete for the gold medal in the future. We have to have a differentiated performance." Verizon announced on Monday that it would be acquiring Yahoo's operating business for $4.83 billion in cash . The company said in a statement that Yahoo would be integrated with AOL under the leadership of Marni Walden, executive vice president and president of product innovation and new businesses at Verizon. Armstrong explained that Google (GOOGL)'s power was based on its search capabilities and Facebook (FB) was the leader in social media. He said he believed Verizon's strength was in building a "house of brands," explaining that the acquisition would help strengthen Verizon in three key ways. Yahoo currently has more than one billion active monthly users, including 600 million monthly active mobile users. When it gets folded into Verizon's portfolio, the telecommunications company will have access to online behavioral data on those consumers. It will also have the ability to place advertising on some of the most trafficked destinations online, including Yahoo News and Yahoo Sports. In addition, Yahoo user data could be combined with insights from Verizon's mobile, internet and cable customers. The information will help power Verizon's programmatic ad technology platforms, which utilize consumer behavior to determine which digital ads to display. AOL's programmatic ad platform, One by AOL, was one of the main drivers behind Verizon's purchase of the company in May 2015. Verizon will further bolster its position with Yahoo's programmatic video platform, BrightRoll, and mobile analytics firm, Flurry. Story continues "Ad tech plus really strong content investments creates a very differentiated approach that consumers are willing to adopt and brands are willing to pay for," Armstrong said. As for the future of Yahoo's leadership, Verizon's Walden said earlier on CNBC's " Squawk Box " that no decision had been made. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer told CNBC's " Squawk on the Street ," meanwhile, that she wanted to see Yahoo "into the next chapter." Armstrongwho previously one of Google's top ad executiveswould seem the logical choice to help run Yahoo, given Verizon's emphasis on digital advertising. When asked if he would have a leadership position in Yahoo going forward, he called Mayer an "important leader," and said Verizon's companies were typically led by their respective brand leaders. "We've agreed to sit down and go through the strategy and structure, and make sure it's a good fit on all sides," he said. "The Yahoo brand is a brand we will continue to invest in." The Yahoo deal did not include Yahoo's cash, convertible notes, certain minority investments and non-core patents (known as the Excalibur portfolio.) It also did not include Yahoo's Asian assets, including its Alibaba Group (BABA) Holdings stake (it owns 15 percent in the Chinese e-commerce giant) or Yahoo Japan (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 4689.T-JP) (in which it owns a 35.5 percent stake). Those assets will continue to be held by Yahoo, but the names will change and become a registered, publicly traded company when the deal closes. Disclosure: CNBC has a content-sharing partnership with Yahoo's finance site. More From CNBC NIA officials have also disclosed that the recently busted Hyderabad ISIS module chief, Ibrahim Yazdhani was deeply influenced by the controversial islamic preacher. By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: There could be more trouble in store for Televangelist and Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, as the Home Minister of Bangladesh, Asaduzzaman Khan is headed to India. The Bangladesh government has been investigating the Islamist links of the India-based preacher. A terror strike on first of July in Holey Artisan Bakery left close to 22 people dead. advertisement BANGLADESH SEEKING DETAILS Two of the seven terrorists who were gunned down in Dhaka cafe were alleged to have been inspired by the controversial Indian preacher. Bangladesh launched an investigation into Naik's terror links. Immediately after the attack, Bangladesh said, they would seek details about Naik from India, but no formal request was sent. It is in this backdrop that Bangladesh is expected to raise the issue of Zakir Naik with Ministry of Home Affairs. A senior officer while speaking to India Today said "India and Bangladesh have close ties. Bangladesh is a close partner of India against terror activities and if they seek details regarding our Citizen (Naik), we will be share details we have. " NAIK UNDER INVESTIGATION Naik has been under investigation by MHA, IB and the NIA. The Home Ministry's foreigner division is looking into Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) violations by Naik's Islamic Research Foundation (IRF). Teams from IB and NIA are scanning footage of the popular preacher to look for terror link or hate speech. Sources say it is the Mumbai Police that is hadling the investigation. Only if there is incriminating evidence found against the preacher, will Unlawful Activities Prevention Act ( UAPA ) be put or case be handed over to NIA. MHA is investigating possible FCRA violation, an amount of Rupees 15 crore money relieved by IRF from donors in UK and Saudi Arabia till 2012. Meanwhile NIA officials have also disclosed that the recently busted Hyderabad ISIS module chief, Ibrahim Yazdhani was deeply influenced by the controversial islamic preacher. DISCUSSION WITH BANGLADESHI DELEGATION A delegation led by Home Minister of Bangladesh will undertake a three-day visit to India beginning from July 27, 2016, though discussions will only happen on the 28th July. The National Security Advisor, Union Home Secretary, Director General, Border Security Force and Director General and the Narcotics Control Bureau are likely to participate in the talks. The last Home Minister level talks between the two countries in India was held in December, 2012 and in Bangladesh in January, 2013. Besides, issues relating to cross-border terrorism, handing over of leaders of India insurgent groups staying in Bangladesh and also action against their camps, smuggling of arms ammunition and fake currency notes are likely to be discussed. India may also raise the issue of the threat facing the minority Hindu population of Bangladesh. What is worrying for India, is not only an active JMB module, with its links with links in both India and Bangladesh but also growing influence of terror groups like the AQIS and ISIS. advertisement ALSO READ: Zakir Naik to India Today: I back Modi's quest to improve relations between Hindus, Muslims No clean chit to Zakir Naik, Mumbai police to submit report today --- ENDS --- ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ARIA is scheduled to report second-quarter 2016 results on Jul 28, before the opening bell. The company posted a positive earnings surprise of 3.45% in the first quarter. Lets see how things are shaping up for the second quarter. Focus on Iclusigs Performance Leukemia drug, Iclusig, is the companys sole marketed product. ARIAD expects Iclusig product and royalty revenues of $170 million - $180 million in 2016. Sales should be driven by continued demand and new patient additions and launch in additional territories. Early in the second quarter, ARIAD divested its EU operations to Incyte Corporation INCY and also out-licensed Iclusig for the region (EU countries plus others, including Russia, Turkey). As a result, ARIAD will be earning royalties on Iclusig sales in these regions. Sequential growth in Iclusig sales should be driven by expanded footprint, both on the commercial and medical side in the U.S., as well as the conversion of PACE study patients to commercial drug. ARIAD is currently working on expanding Iclusigs label especially into earlier lines of treatment which will expand the market potential significantly. In addition to being focused on Iclusigs performance, investors will also be keen to know about the companys launch plans for brigatinib - a rolling NDA submission for the candidate was initiated in the second quarter. Approval would allow the company to launch the experimental cancer treatment in the U.S. in 2017. ARIAD is also working on achieving cost efficiencies and resource reallocation to areas of business that bring the most value. In late Mar 2016, the company announced a restructuring program under which 25% of its headquarter positions will be cut. The divestment of the EU operations is expected to cut 2017 operating costs by about $65 million. Surprise History ARIADs performance has been mostly disappointing with the company missing expectations in three of the last four quarters with an average negative surprise of -17.41%. Story continues ARIAD PHARMA Price and EPS Surprise ARIAD PHARMA Price and EPS Surprise | ARIAD PHARMA Quote Earnings Whispers Our proven model does not conclusively show that ARIAD is likely to beat estimates this quarter. That is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), #2 (Buy) or #3 (Hold) to be able to beat earnings. That is not the case here as you will see below. Zacks ESP: Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, is +10.00%. Zacks Rank #4: Note that stocks with Zacks Ranks of #1, #2 and #3 have a significantly higher chance of beating earnings. The Sell-rated stocks (#4 and #5) should never be considered going into an earnings announcement. Other Stocks That Warrant a Look Here are a few health care stocks that you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter. The Earnings ESP for Amgen Inc. AMGN is +1.10% and it carries a Zacks Rank #3. The company will release second-quarter results on Jul 27. BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. BMRN has an Earnings ESP of +4.00% and carries a Zacks Rank #3. It will be reporting second-quarter results on Aug 4. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report BIOMARIN PHARMA (BMRN): Free Stock Analysis Report AMGEN INC (AMGN): Free Stock Analysis Report INCYTE CORP (INCY): Free Stock Analysis Report ARIAD PHARMA (ARIA): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research (Reuters) - The former U.S. Marine who killed three policemen in an ambush in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, this month before he was fatally shot by police will be buried near his mother's home town in Arkansas, a funeral home owner said on Tuesday. No date has been set for the funeral of Gavin Long, an Iraqi war veteran who identified himself as a member of an African-American offshoot of an anti-government movement. Long, 29 and African-American, fatally shot two Baton Rouge Police Department officers and one sheriff's deputy in a racially charged assault. His ambush followed an attack on police in Dallas that left five officers dead. It also came amid days of unrest over the police killings of two black men under questionable circumstances earlier this month - Alton Sterling, 37, in Baton Rouge on July 5, and Philando Castile, 32, near St. Paul, Minnesota, on July 6. Long, who had lived in Missouri, will be buried in West Helena, Arkansas, where members of his mother's family are buried. Beulah Kincaid, owner of Kincaid Funeral Services, said that at first she did not recognize Long's name, but when she found out she still decided to go ahead with the funeral because it was her professional obligation. "My heart goes out to all the victims," Kincaid said. Long's body has not yet arrived in Arkansas, she added. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Marguerita Choy) San Francisco (AFP) - With the Yahoo-Verizon deal, AOL chief Tim Armstrong has re-emerged as a figure who may be key in the effort to shape a new internet strategy. Armstrong, who remained head of AOL when it was acquired last year by Verizon, is now set to inherit another faded internet star. In the statement announcing the $4.8 billion acquisition of Yahoo's core internet assets, Verizon said the online operations would be "integrated with AOL." Armstrong said in the statement, "Our mission at AOL is to build brands people love, and we will continue to invest in and grow them." The tall, chisled-featured 44-year-old has steered AOL since 2009 -- first when it was part of the Time Warner conglomerate, then as an independent company, and since last year under Verizon. Armstrong comes from a marketing background, studying economics and sociology at Connecticut College and co-founding a newspaper in Boston. Yahoo's chief executive Marissa Mayer was an engineer, with a master's degree in computer science from Stanford. But they have crossed paths before. Both were early employees at Google. He joined Google in 2000, a year after Mayer, and helped develop the AdSense platform that has been hugely lucrative for the search giant. Armstrong is considered one of the first executives to see a future for "programmatic" online advertising, which uses software and algorithms to learn about users and deliver relevant marketing messages. At AOL, Armstrong had the task of trying to revive a company that had been the leading online service provider but was sinking fast. His "Project Everest" strategy reorganized AOL and helped focus on digital media, investing in the Huffington Post and other news sites, while strengthening its ad-tech services. After Verizon bought AOL for $4.4 billion, the telecom giant kept Armstrong as the head of a semi-autonomous unit. While he has been praised for his business and marketing acumen, there have also been some ruffled feathers. In 2013, Armstrong was holding a meeting of AOL's Patch hyperlocal news operations when he became unnerved by an employee using a camera. His words caught on tape -- "Abel, you're fired. Out" -- sent shock waves through the company and were circulated online. He was also criticized for making comments about "distressed babies" who raised healthcare costs for the company -- even though executives were not supposed to have private details about employees' medical matters. Indian police said Tuesday they have arrested two new suspects accused of raping a student, after she said a group of men who attacked her three years ago had gang-raped her a second time. The woman, from the lowest Dalit caste, was found unconscious by a highway on July 13 and told police she had been abducted and assaulted by the same five men accused of attacking her in 2013. Three of that group were arrested last week on suspicion of gang-raping the 20-year-old in the north Indian state of Haryana. However, police said Tuesday they had registered a separate case, arresting two men who are not connected to the gang implicated in the prior incident, raising the possibility that the latest assault was unrelated. "We have arrested two men on charges of rape. They weren't named by the victim in her complaint but we found hard evidence against them to arrest them," Rakesh Arya, police chief of Rohtak, the victim's home district, told AFP. One of the latest two arrested was known to the student and the pair had been in touch on the day she claimed to have been abducted by the gang, the officer said. "We found CCTV video and mobile call details, which show the girl was with the new set of accused," Arya said. He said she was seen at a market with the man she knew, and later at a hotel with both the accused. It was unclear whether the student was coerced into going to the hotel or went willingly. "She was found in an inebriated condition on a highway and we are investigating what happened at the hotel and how she reached the spot," Arya said. The two men will appear before a local court on Wednesday along with the three arrested last week, the officer said. Two of the group whom the student named in her complaint this month were charged over the 2013 incident, but were released on bail while awaiting trial. The student claimed she had been targeted again for refusing to withdraw the original gang-rape complaint. The incident has sparked widespread outrage in India, with activists blaming the government for failing sexual assault victims since the fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in Delhi in 2012. By Manoj Kumar and Rajesh Kumar Singh NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Finance Minister Arun Jaitley met his state counterparts on Tuesday to forge a political consensus on a much-awaited sales tax reform that is held up in parliament, but made little progress in breaking the impasse. The proposed tax reform, the biggest since India's independence from Britain in 1947, seeks to replace a slew of taxes and levies in 29 states, transforming the nation of near 1.3 billion people into a customs union. Analysts say the goods services tax (GST) could boost India's economic growth by up to 2 percentage points. While there is a broad political support for the measure, differences persist on the details, in particular pitching the tax at the right level to offset possible revenue losses. Indian states are also not ready to share taxation powers with the government on transactions up to a certain level. Tuesday's meeting failed to iron out those differences. "I am sure that this will be resolved," said West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra, who has been tasked with building a consensus among states. "It has to be resolved in order for (the) GST to happen." For the tax reform to become a reality, Jaitley needs not only the backing of states but also of two-thirds members in the opposition-dominated Rajya Sabha to pass a constitutional enabling amendment. The current monsoon session of parliament was widely viewed as the best chance for the government to pass the constitution amendment bill before campaigning hots up for state elections next year. But almost a week and a half into the four-week long monsoon session, the future of the tax reform remains in doubt, thanks to a persistent standoff in parliament between the main opposition Congress party and the treasury benches. Jaitley's meeting with state ministers was aimed at putting pressure on Congress, which, with its 60 members in the 245-member upper house, holds the key to the bill's fate. Congress, the original author of the reform, has refused to back what it calls a "flawed" bill. The party has also been angered by a government investigation launched last week against one of its former state chief ministers over a case in which party leader Sonia Gandhi and her son and heir apparent, Rahul, already face trial. The deny wrongdoing. (Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Editing by Alison Williams) By Manuel Mogato, Michael Martina and Ben Blanchard VIENTIANE (Reuters) - Southeast Asian nations failed to agree on maritime disputes in the South China Sea on Sunday after Cambodia blocked any mention to an international court ruling against Beijing in their statement, diplomats said. Foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met for the first time since the Permanent Court of Arbitration handed an emphatic legal victory to the Philippines in the dispute this month. The ruling by the court in The Hague denied China's sweeping claims in the strategic seaway, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes each year. China claims most of the sea, but ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have rival claims. Beijing says the ruling has no bearing on its rights in the sea, and described the case as a farce. The Philippines and Vietnam both wanted the communique issued by ASEAN foreign ministers after their meeting to refer to the ruling and the need to respect international law, ASEAN diplomats said. Their foreign ministers both discussed the ruling with ASEAN counterparts in the Laotian capital. But before the meeting, China's closest ASEAN ally Cambodia opposed the proposed wording, throwing the group into disarray. Phnom Penh supports Beijing's opposition to any ASEAN stand on the South China Sea, and its preference for dealing with the disputed claims on a bilateral basis. FIRST DEADLOCK SINCE 2012 "We are still working on it," Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told Reuters after the meeting on Sunday, adding that she hoped the ASEAN members would reach an agreement. Cambodia's Foreign Minister Prak Sokhon declined to comment on his country's position on Sunday. Even after a late-night meeting of foreign ministers called to thrash out the issue late on Saturday, the region's top diplomats were unable to find a compromise. The group has given itself until Tuesday to come to issue a statement, said one ASEAN diplomat. ASEAN is facing the prospect of being unable to issue a statement after a meeting for only the second time in its 49-year history. The first time, in 2012, was also due to Cambodia's resistance to language about the South China Sea. "We have been here before and I hope they can solve it," said one official from the ASEAN Secretariat in Indonesia. "It is the same story again, a repeat of the meeting in 2012." Over the next two days, Southeast Asian nations will meet with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry and Wang are also expected to meet and discuss the maritime issues. Wang, who started bilateral meetings with ASEAN members on Sunday, said he thought the media focus on the South China Sea issue was "very strange". It was "not a China-ASEAN issue," he said, adding that disputes should be resolved among the parties involved. Japan's Foreign Minister Fumiko Kishida will also be in Laos for the ASEAN regional forum meeting. It is unclear if he will meet Wang, but China reacted angrily to Kishida saying he would discuss the sea issue if they do meet. China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, in a statement posted on the ministry's website, said the sea is not Japan's concern. "We urge Japan not to hype up and meddle in the South China Sea issue," he said. "Japan is not a concerned party in the South China Sea, and because of its disgraceful history is in no place to make irresponsible comments about China." U.S. ROLE The United States, allied with the Philippines and cultivating closer relations with Vietnam, has called on China to respect the court's ruling. It has criticized China's building of artificial islands and facilities in the sea and has sailed warships close to the disputed territory to assert freedom of navigation rights. But Kerry will urge ASEAN nations to explore diplomatic ways to ease tension over Asia's biggest potential military flashpoint, a senior U.S. official said ahead of his trip. Chinese state media called for "damage control" at the meetings. A commentary published by the official Xinhua news agency on Sunday said the court ruling was a "blow to peace and stability in the region ... and only serves to increase the likelihood of confrontation and turbulence." Barack Obama is set in September to become the first U.S. president to visit Laos, attending an annual summit hosted by the country that holds the ASEAN chairmanship. Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is also in Laos, making her debut at ASEAN meetings as the foreign minister for Myanmar. (This story has been corrected to remove "U.N.-backed" in second paragraph) (Additional reporting by Simon Webb in Vientiane and Lesley Wroughton in Paris; Editing by Tom Heneghan) (This story first published on Saturday, has been corrected to remove "U.N.-backed" from 2nd paragraph) By Simon Webb and Manuel Mogato VIENTIANE (Reuters) - Southeast Asian nations were thrown into disarray after Cambodia on Saturday blocked them from issuing a statement referring to an international court ruling against China's territorial claims in the South China Sea, diplomats said. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague handed an emphatic legal victory to the Philippines in the maritime dispute earlier this month, denying China's sweeping claims in the strategic seaway. Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will meet for the first time since the ruling on Sunday, before hosting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and his Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi among others. The disputed sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes each year, is the most contentious issue for the 10 ASEAN members. China claims most of the sea, but ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have rival claims. Yi has described the Hague case as a farce, and Beijing says the ruling has no bearing on its rights in the sea. China is adamantly opposed to an ASEAN stand on the South China Sea, preferring to deal with the disputed claims on a bilateral basis. CHINA'S ALLY Cambodia is China's closest ASEAN ally and is the only country opposing any reference to the ruling in a statement due to be issued after ASEAN foreign ministers meet on Sunday, an ASEAN diplomat told Reuters. Cambodia is also pushing to strike out any reference to the militarization of the South China Sea, watering down the language in statements issued previously by ASEAN this year. Cambodia is heavily dependent on Chinese aid and investment. Last week, Cambodias Prime Minister Hun Sen announced China would give his government around $600 million in soft loans. "Cambodia is unbelievable," one diplomat said on condition of anonymity. "It is blocking any phrase about the arbitration and about militarization." A committee has been working since July 20 trying to hammer out an ASEAN statement acceptable to all, said another diplomat, but Cambodia has thwarted their efforts. Indonesia has proposed that foreign ministers hold an informal meeting late on Saturday to thrash out an agreement. FEEBLE TALK SHOP Critics have long derided ASEAN as a feeble talk shop, whose overriding principle of making decisions by consensus keeps it from ever accomplishing anything of significance. Some members of the group have started to talk about a change in a clause in ASEAN's charter on the need for consensus, a former Vietnamese diplomat told Reuters. ASEAN is keen to avoid a repeat of a debacle in 2012, when for the only time in its 49-year history the group failed to issue a concluding joint statement for a regional foreign ministers meeting. The group may issue a separate statement that emphasizes unity, said an Indonesian diplomat. "Our house is in a mess," he said. "We don't want ASEAN to be like Europe. We want to save ASEAN and be unified again." The United States has criticized China's building of artificial islands and facilities in the sea and has sailed warships close to the disputed territory to assert freedom of navigation rights. Washington has called on China to respect the court's ruling. Barack Obama is set to become the first U.S. president to visit Laos in September to attend an annual summit hosted by the ASEAN chairman. Laos, a one-party communist state with little experience hosting international gatherings and one of ASEAN's poorest members, is this year's chairman of the grouping. (Additional reporting by Mai Nguyen in HANOI; Editing by Bill Tarrant) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a simple but sharp answer on Tuesday, July 26, to a reporters question on the Democratic Partys email leak scandal. At least 20,000 emails with content embarrassing to the Democratic National Committee and party leaders were leaked on July 22 by Wikileaks and a supposed hacker. They were stolen much earlier, experts said, by state-sponsored Russian hackers. What do you say of US accusations that Russia has Democratic Party emails? Lavrov was asked. The Russian foreign minister shrugged and said, Well, I dont want to use four-letter words. US Secretary of State John Kerry straightened up and clasped his hands at the question, appearing uncomfortable. Once the confrontation was over, Kerry lifted his hands in the air before taking a seat with Lavrov. The pair were in Vientiane, Laos, for a meeting of The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia Today in 5 Lines The Democratic National Convention is underway in Philadelphia, and tonights speakers will include First Lady Michelle Obama, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Were following it live here. Fallout continues after the release of thousands of leaked emails showing Democratic National Committee staffers favoring Hillary Clinton: DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who resigned Sunday, said she will not gavel in the convention, and the FBI is investigating the hack. Two people were killed and 15 others injured in a shooting outside a nightclub in Fort Myers. Verizon purchased Yahoo for $4.8 billion. Today on The Atlantic Young, Unemployed Males Just Want to Have Fun: Non-college-educated white males make up the core of Donald Trumps constituency. What are their younger, unemployed counterparts up to? (Derek Thompson) Lets Talk About Roger Ailes: Many people questioned why it took so long for Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson to come forward with sexual-harassment accusations against the network chairman. But Michelle Cottle explains the consequences women face as whistleblowers. Jesse Ventura Has a Theory: The former Minnesota governor and professional wrestler explains how a career in pro-wrestling is good preparation for a career in politics. (Vann Newkirk II) The Atlantic is at the Democratic National Convention! You can sign up for our daily convention newsletter here, or find out about our events in Philadelphia here. And follow stories throughout the day with our Politics & Policy portal. Snapshot Demonstrators make their way to downtown on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia on Monday, during the first day of the Democratic National Convention. Alex Brandon / AP What Were Reading Can Hillary Unite the Dems?: Promoting party unity has been a common theme throughout the 2016 election season, and will be important for Hillary Clintons campaign to succeed. To do so, Clinton should learn from both her husbands 92 success and Al Gores failure in 2000. (Bill Scher, Politico Magazine) Story continues Recommended: Michelle Obama's Speech for the Ages The Chaos That Trump Created: National crime rates are down, and yet many voters still believe Donald Trumps description of a crime-ridden country that only he can savewhy? (Paul Krugman, New York Times) BLM Charts Its Path: In the wake of a series of shooting incidents that claimed the lives of black civilians and police officers, Black Lives Matter faces a challenge: Activists cannot allow there to be a perception that they condone violence against law enforcement, as they continue speaking out about American policing. (Darren Sands, Buzzfeed) Bienvenido, Tim: Hillary Clintons VP pick is known for centrist bridge-building, but it might be his immigration-reform advocacyand firm grasp on the Spanish languagethat will appeal to Hispanic voters. (Leon Krauze, The New Yorker) Hacked: The recent large-scale hack into DNC emails seems to have extended into private email accounts and possibly even smartphonesand some signals point to the Russians. (Michael Isikoff, Yahoo News) Visualized Whos Breaking the Glass Ceiling?: Hillary Clinton is about to become the first female nominated by a major political party. These timelines show when other women and minority groups reached political milestones. (Karen Yourish, Larry Buchanan, and Adam Pearce, The New York Times) Question of the Week Here we go again! Last week you submitted your suggestions for Donald Trumps convention song, and here were a few of our favorites. What song should Hillary Clinton come out to when she walks on stage Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention? Submit your answers by Thursday afternoon for consideration. Send your answers to hello@theatlantic.com or tweet us @TheAtlPolitics, and our favorites will be featured in Fridays Politics & Policy Daily. -Written by Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey) and Candice Norwood (@cjnorwoodwrites) Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. By PTI: Guwahati, Jul 26 (PTI) Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today presented the first Budget of the BJP-led government with Rs 2,880.91 crore deficit for the 2016-17 financial year. The Budget, which was presented an hour late amid chaotic situation with no copies for the media till late afternoon, also proposed to make cheaper a host of goods such as e-rickshaw, candle, gur, jaggery, baby feeding bottles, kerosene stove and LED lamps. advertisement The first ever NDA governments Budget for Assam announced a new scheme --Chief Minister Samagra Gramya Unnayan Yojana (CMSGUY), envisaging an investment of Rs 30,000 crore in next five years across all 25,425 villages in the state. Total size of the Budget for Assam during this fiscal will be Rs 78,253.36 crore, Sarma said. Out of this, Rs 29,380. 35 crore will be for Plan expenditure, while Rs 48,873.01 crore will go under non-Plan expenditure segment. Estimated state tax revenue during the current fiscal is estimated to be Rs 15,634.31 crore and the same for non-tax revenue will be Rs 5,846.52 crore. Sarma said the state is likely to receive Rs 18,938.27 crore as share of central taxes, Rs 20,246.46 crore as Plan grants and Rs 3,527.35 crore as non-Plan grants in FY17 from the Centre. The internal debt for the state is estimated to be at Rs 10,423.26 crore, he added. The Finance Minister informed the House that the fiscal deficit will be 2.97 per cent of state GDP, which is estimated to be Rs 2,24,641 crore at current price for this financial year. The total Budget deficit is estimated to be Rs 2,880.91 crore, while the revenue surplus will be Rs 6,625.36 crore, he added. On tax proposals, the Budget proposed to reduce or withdraw VAT on e-rickshaw, candle, citronella oil, gur, jaggery, rub gur, tamarind, khandsari, baby feeding bottles and nipples, kerosene stoves and their parts, packaged drinking water and locally produced mekhela chador -- Assamese traditional dress for women. Sarma also sought to make cheaper LEDlights, gold bullion sold through MMTC and bamboo based industries in the state among others. The Budget further proposed to reduce taxes on some other segments like entry tax on hospital equipments, specified land cess for small tea growers, service charge for cinema halls, amusement tax for cable TV owners, canteen stores department and central police canteens. Besides, the exemption limit of agricultural income tax has been proposed to be hiked to Rs 2.5 lakh from Rs 1 lakh at present for small tea growers or assessee other than companies. advertisement The Budget, however, proposed to raise the VAT on bitumen, imported gold ornaments, furnace oil, mobile phones priced more than Rs 5,000 and cigarettes along with some other items, Sarma said. PTI TR RG --- ENDS --- The Vatican has condemned the 'barbarous killing' of a French priest celebrating mass Tuesday morning at a village church in Normandy. Pope Francis expressed his "pain and horror" at the terrorist attack, which left village priest Father Jacques Hamel dead and three others injured during a hostage siege at the church. The attack was carried out in the small Normandy town of Sainte-Etienne-du-Rouvay in northern France by two knife-wielding assailants who interrupted mass at around 9:43 a.m., French authorities said. The attackers took five people hostage and cried 'Allah Akbar,' French media reported. French news outlets reported that the priest had his throat slit. Another parishioner, whose throat was also slashed, "remains between life and death." Attackers Kill Catholic Priest During Mass in Hostage Siege on French Church| Crime & Courts, Death, Murder, True Crime, 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. According to the Ministry of Interior, two rapid response units of France's anti-terror brigade responded to the church within 20 minutes. The two alleged terrorists were killed by police, according to French TV channel BFM. The Archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, said in a statement that Father Hamel was ordained in 1958 and was the auxiliary priest in the village for 20 years. He said Hamel was "assassinated" and urged everyone to rally against violence. Attackers Kill Catholic Priest During Mass in Hostage Siege on French Church| Crime & Courts, Death, Murder, True Crime, True Crime "I cry out to God with all men of good will," he wrote. At the Vatican, Father Federico Lombardi told Vatican Radio, "We are particularly shocked because this horrible violence took place in a Church, in which God's love is announced, with the barbarous killing of a priest and the involvement of the faithful." The French President Francois Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve were in transit to the village this afternoon. "Terribly shocked by the cowardly attack," Hollande said outside the church. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls tweeted: "Horror in the face of this barbarous attack at a church in the Seine Maritime. All France and all Catholics are injured." Two attackers are dead after killing a Catholic priest during morning Mass in France on Tuesday, July 26, police confirm to the Associated Press. PHOTOS: Celebrity Deaths in 2016: Stars Weve Lost The incident took place near the Normandy city of Rouen. Per the AP, the assailants rushed a church and slit the throat of the 84-year-old priest, Father Jacques Hamel. They took other hostages, including a nun, before being killed by authorities. One other person was reportedly wounded. "The investigations are ongoing. There are still unknowns," Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said in a statement, via the AP. "There are dogs, explosive detectors and bomb disposal services and as long as there are still unknowns, the judicial police cannot get inside the site. It's a dramatic situation." Celebrity Health Scares The identities of the perpetrators have yet to be released. According to Reuters, the attackers were Islamic State soldiers. Terrorism investigators are currently at the scene. "[ISIS] has declared war on us," French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday. "We must fight this war by all means, while respecting the rule of law what makes us a democracy." According to the AP, one attacker was followed by police for more than a year. PHOTOS: Celebrity Injuries France has been on high alert since the attack in Nice earlier this month. On July 15, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, 31, killed more than 80 people and wounded more than 200 others when he plowed over them with a truck as they celebrated Bastille Day in the streets. President Barack Obama released a statement following the tragedy. "We have offered any assistance that they may need to investigate this attack and bring those responsible to justice," he wrote at the time. "We stand in solidarity and partnership with France, our oldest ally, as they respond to and recover from this attack." Story is developing. The London-based jeweler Glenn Spiro (glennspiro.com) has an audacious sense of style that combines precious gemstones and diamonds with unconventional and sometimes modest artifacts. A buffalo-bone bangle (far right) that juxtaposes elephant-tail hair with thousands of orangey-brown diamonds and two rose-cut diamonds embodies his nonconformist ways. There has to be some humor and humbleness in this business, says Spiro, who in May moved his jewelry salon into the impressive Mayfair address once occupied by Norman Bishop Hartnells fashion house. Each of Spiros one-of-a-kind designs (prices are available upon request) starts with a unique stone or series of gems, such as the 20 carats of colored diamonds set in a pair of lightweight titanium earrings (far left). His knack for the unpredictable shines through in pieces (above) that include a diamond-and-wood cuff, a diamond-and-white-gold cuff with rough-cut and faceted emeralds, a brown-and-white diamond ring in a setting of brown and white titanium, and a 24.72-carat emerald ring with diamonds. Another of his latest designs (not pictured) boasts a rare 21-carat antique old-mine cushion-cut diamond set in blue titanium. It would have been a hell of a lot easier to set this in a classic ring, he says. But it would be such a shame to put a stone like this into something you know and expect. More From Robbreport.com Need to Lose Weight? Pro Athlete and Model Shares Her Secrets One of Frances Oldest Trunkmakers Comes to New York Peninsula Beijing Now Has the Largest Hotel Suites in the City The Sony Z Series 4K HDR Ultra HDTV Is the Sweetest Eye Candy of Its Kind JetSuite Takes Off with New Interiors for Its Fleet of Phenom 100s Mountain Travel Sobeks Curates One-Million-Dollar Arctic Itinerary Sydney (AFP) - The Australian government ordered an inquiry Tuesday after graphic evidence emerged of prison guards assaulting teenage boys, with one shown hooded and shackled in scenes likened to Guantanamo Bay. National broadcaster ABC on Monday night showed footage of offenders, many indigenous, being stripped naked, tear-gassed and held in solitary confinement for weeks at a youth detention centre in the Northern Territory in 2014 and 2015. In one video from last year, a 17-year-old is hooded, shackled to a restraint chair and left alone for two hours. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he was "shocked and appalled" at the images from the ABC's Four Corners current affairs programme. "Like all Australians, I've been deeply shocked - shocked and appalled by the images of mistreatment of children at the Don Dale Centre," he said. Turnbull said a royal commission would be established along with the Northern Territory government to investigate the centre. "This needs a thorough inquiry, we need to move quickly on that, get to the bottom of it and expose what occurred and expose the culture that allowed it to occur and allowed it to remain unrevealed for so long." Barrister John Lawrence told the ABC a child being hooded and cuffed was reminiscent of Guantanamo Bay, the notorious US military prison in Cuba that holds terror suspects. "We're talking about kids that are being shackled with handcuffs on their ankles, their wrists, their waist areas. They're being shackled to chairs," said Lawrence, an eminent lawyer and former president of the Northern Territory Bar Association. "One of them has had the experience of sitting in one for just under two hours with a spit hood over his head, a la Guantanamo Bay," he said. - 'Barbaric and inhumane' - The Northern Territory has one of the highest crime rates in Australia, with indigenous offenders making up more than two-thirds of the prison population. Story continues According to Amnesty International, Aboriginal children are 26 times more likely to be jailed than their non-indigenous counterparts as they struggle to deal with poor education, high unemployment rates, and substance abuse. Northern Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles said he was "disgusted" by the revelations, but added he had "full confidence in the majority of custodial officers" working in such institutions. Giles sacked John Elferink as Corrections Minister and took over the portfolio himself, while ordering police to investigate whether any laws had been broken by the prison guards. He said the royal commission should not just probe the corrections system but also child protection in the Northern Territory. "This is not a blame game, this is recognising that there are children who are being neglected, unloved, getting into trouble, causing trouble in the streets and finding their way into our detention facilities." Human Rights Watch said it had long been urging the government to act on abuses in juvenile detention, and that the Northern Territory was the tip of the iceberg. Its Australia director Elaine Pearson said what happened at the Don Dale Centre was "a classic example of how not to deal with troubled youth". "Excessive use of force, isolation and shackling of children is barbaric and inhumane," she said. "This is not only a matter of training. Better alternatives to locking kids up for prolonged periods must be found," she added. Save the Children said the inquiry needed to be Australia-wide and not just into the Northern Territory. "This reprehensible and outrageous behaviour does nothing to help rehabilitate youth offenders who should be supported to prevent them from offending again," said spokesman Mat Tinkler. "The solution to preventing future abuses is not to lock up children in the first place." By Matt Siegel and Tom Westbrook SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday ordered an inquiry into the treatment of children in detention after the airing of video showing prison guards teargassing teenage inmates and strapping a half-naked, hooded-boy to a chair. Footage of the abuse of six aboriginal boys in a juvenile detention center sparked renewed criticism of Australia's treatment of Aborigines and their high imprisonment rate. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) aired CCTV footage late Monday of boys in a Northern Territory juvenile detention center also being stripped naked, thrown by the neck into a cell, and held for long periods in solitary confinement. "Like all Australians, I've been deeply shocked shocked and appalled by the images of mistreatment of children," Turnbull said on ABC radio as he announced a Royal Commission, Australia's most powerful, state sanctioned inquiry. The CCTV footage from the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in Darwin was shot between 2010-2014. A lawyer representing two of the boys said all six boys abused were of aboriginal descent. Aborigines make up the majority of the Northern Territory population and 94 percent of juvenile inmates in the territory. Our (indigenous) people have known about things like this...and to just see it laid bare in front of us last night must be a wake-up call to everyone in Australia that somethings got to be done about the way we lock our people up in this country, and particularly the way we lock our kids up," an emotional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda told reporters. What we saw last night is an absolute disgrace. A report into some of the incidents by the Northern Territory Children's Commissioner in 2015 found fault with the guards' behavior, but the findings were disputed by the then head of prisons and not acted upon, said the ABC. Northern Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles sacked his corrections minister within hours of the broadcast and said that information about the abuse had been withheld from him, blaming a "culture of cover-up" within the Corrections system. Some Aborigines in the territory called for Giles to be removed, with one wearing a hood over their head with the words "Sack Giles". A coalition of Northern Territory Aboriginal organizations called for the national government to dissolve the territory government, which it has the authority to do. "Any government that enacts policies designed to harm children and enables a culture of brutalization and cover-ups, surrenders its right to govern," said spokesman John Paterson. Residents in Alice Springs staged a peaceful protest against the abuse of children in detention, while the ABC reported that at least eight people were protesting on the roof of a prison in the town. Reuters could not confirm the prison protest. BOY SHACKLED TO CHAIR The CCTV video showed guards mocking inmates, carrying a boy by the neck and throwing him onto a mattress in a cell, and covering a teenager's head with a hood and shackling him to a chair with neck, arm, leg and foot restraints. "Excessive use of force, isolation and shackling of children is barbaric and inhumane," said Human Rights Watch Australia Director Elaine Pearson. The ABC reported that only two detention staff members identified in footage remained within the youth justice system. Lawyer Peter O'Brien, who represents Dylan Voller and Jake Roper who were abused, said he was suing the state on their behalf, alleging assault, battery and false imprisonment. "It seems as if this abuse is built into the very core of the system," he said in a statement, calling for the immediate release of Voller, who is now in an adult prison, and all children imprisoned in the Northern Territory. Australia's Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs, who backed the inquiry, said: "We have been reporting on this question of indigenous incarceration, particularly of juveniles, for many, many years and we have had many, many reports...on the appalling conditions in which they are held." Aborigines comprise just three percent of Australia's population but make up 27 percent of those in prison. (Additional reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Jane Wardell and Michael Perry) Backed by higher average rental rates, AvalonBay Communities, Inc.s AVB second-quarter 2016 core funds from operations (FFO) grew 8.6% from the year-ago tally to $2.03 per share. However, core FFO missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.09. However, total revenue of this residential real estate investment trust (REIT) increased 9.8% year over year to $502.3 million on the back of higher revenues from development communities and established communities. The reported figure also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $499 million. Average rentals rates were up 5.2% year over year with the highest contribution made by the North California portfolio (8.7%), followed by South California (7.1%) and Pacific North West (7.0%). Established Communities' Revenues Increase, Expenses Up Revenues from established communities those that have stabilized operations as of Jan 1, 2015 and are neither executing nor planning any significant redevelopment work within the current year improved 4.9% year over year, as a 5.2% increase in average rental rates offset a 0.2% decrease in economic occupancy. However, operating expenses for established communities increased 4.7% year over year. Consequently, net operating income from established communities rose 5% year over year to $267.3 million. Solid Liquidity Position As of Jun 30, 2016, AvalonBay had no borrowings outstanding under its $1.5 billion unsecured credit facility. The company had around $287.7 million in unrestricted cash and cash in escrow as of that date. Moreover, the companys annualized net debt-to-core EBITDA for second-quarter 2016 was 5.1 times. Notable Portfolio Activity In May 2016, the company acquired Avalon Clarendon in Arlington, VA for a purchase price of $120.3 million. This property has 300 apartment homes and is part of a mixed-use development, including retail, residential, office and public parking. Notably, the acquisition of the mixed-use development was made in association with Regency Centers Corporation REG, wherein AvalonBay bought all of the rights and obligations related to the residential component and Regency took over all of the rights and obligations associated with the other components. Outlook For third-quarter 2016, AvalonBay expects core FFO per share in the range of $2.05$2.11. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter currently stands at $2.08. For the full year, the company expects core FFO per share in the range of $8.13$8.33. Presently, the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at $8.39. In Conclusion Going forward, AvalonBay remains well poised for growth, aided by higher demand from household formation and favorable demographics. Yet, completion of a number of projects in its markets, leading to higher supply, keeps us concerned. Story continues AvalonBay currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Investors interested in the residential REIT industry can consider other stocks like Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. MAA and Select Income REIT SIR. Both the stocks carry the same Zacks Rank as AvalonBay. AVALONBAY CMMTY Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise AVALONBAY CMMTY Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | AVALONBAY CMMTY Quote Note: All EPS numbers presented in this write up represent funds from operations (FFO) per share. FFO, a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs, is obtained after adding depreciation and amortization and other non-cash expenses to net income. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report REGENCY CTRS CP (REG): Free Stock Analysis Report AVALONBAY CMMTY (AVB): Free Stock Analysis Report MID-AMER APT CM (MAA): Free Stock Analysis Report SELECT INCOME (SIR): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research "For us, this is a pilgrimage. This is the place where our father and so many brave Indian soldiers chose the country above their families," Diksha told India Today. The two sisters, Neha and Diksha Dwivedi, at the exact spot where their father was martyred in Kargil. By Gaurav C Sawant: She proudly looked at the tricolour flying high at the Kargil war memorial in Dras. There was pain in her eyes but there was also pride. She insisted she did not want to cry because her father Major CB Dwivedi always made her smile when he was alive. Diksha was barely eight years old when Major Dwivedi, a gunner officer, made supreme sacrifice in the Kargil conflict. advertisement Seventeen years later, accompanied by her mother and sister Neha, Diksha Dwivedi visited the exact spot where her father was martyred in the Pakistan army counter bombardment. FOR THEM, IT IS PILGRIMAGE "For us, this is a pilgrimage. This is the place where our father and so many brave Indian soldiers chose the country above their families," Diksha told India Today. Diksha, a writer, beats back tears and says her father's memory always brings a smile on her face. "This is the first time we have come on Kargil Vijay Diwas. It is wonderful that the army remembers its brave soldiers but it really hurts to have come here in the cover of darkness, hiding like thieves," says Neha angrily. The two sisters accompanied by their mother were received by the Army at the Srinagar airport but given the curfew, stone pelting and agitation in Kashmir, the Army took no chances ferrying the families of martyrs and war heroes to Dras during day time. 'WE WILL NEVER LET PAK WIN' "We were brought here like thieves at night. Our father chose India above us but the only message I want to give to the stone pelters and Pakistan sponsored separatists is that a lot of blood has been shed in protecting our borders and we will never let Pakistan win," Neha adds. Not just for Diksha and Neha, but even for Bhavya Pundir, the daughter of late Squadron Leader R Pundir, coming to Dras at the base of Tololing hill top is nothing short of a pilgrimage. "I am very proud of my father. He knew he was flying the helicopter in a very difficult mission. But he chose his love for India above his love for his family," she said. Squadron Leader Pundir was one of the pilots of the Mi-17 helicopters, that were shot down by a Pakistan army soldier firing a stinger missile over Tololing. At the memorial service in Dras, there was not a dry eye when the young women rose to pay homage to their fathers. But the brave young women beat back their tears and walked with their heads held high. Their fathers had done the nation proud, and the daughters intend to carry the legacy forward. advertisement Also Read: India pays homage to martyrs on 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas Artillery: The battle winning factor in Kargil Of courage and valour: How Captain Nayyar captured Pt.4875 during Kargil war --- ENDS --- Now that home town week is out of the way, its the moment JoJo has been waiting for: fantasy suite week. If you recall last season of The Bachelor, this is the week that JoJo told Ben that she loved him and he reciprocated and then promptly broke her heart. So get ready because, while having an ex-girlfriend is a huge red flag (Robby), going on and on about your TV boyfriend is totally cool. But first, last weeks episode-ending cliffhanger is resolved: Luke gets the ax. Although his facial expressions seem physically incapable of changing, Lukes words would suggest that he is emotional: This is not supposed to be happening. I, like, dreamed about so much I thought that that magic was real, he says without blinking even once. You dont want me anymore? JoJo, meanwhile, is having a category six meltdown. It was too little too late, Luke says in a clear reference to the pop star JoJos song Too Little Too Late for JoJo synergy. Luke packs up while JoJo cries alone on an airport apron, and its in this moment that the audience collectively realizes that they have no idea why they are at an airport. Hopefully it was planned as an easy escape because next thing we know JoJo and the final three are headed to Thailand. Thailand, a popular tourist destination ever since Beyonce vacationed there in winter 2014, is where JoJo will presumably seal the deal (wink) with the final three contestants. During her first date with Robby, it starts to rain a metaphor for their relationship, no doubt. She tells Robby that this is the point last season when Ben told her he loved her and then broke her heart. Ben, remember? Robby starts calling her Joelle to show hes, like, super serious. Joelle, clearly all about a man who is bold enough to call her by her full name, gives him a key to the fantasy suite. Im in trouble. Im in trouble. I have three guys who Im goo goo ga ga over, she says, revealing that her regression into baby form may pose bigger problems than deciding which of three hunks is best in bed. Story continues Next, she gets one-on-one time with Jordan. Together they go on a hike to a temple. Temples are sacred here, JoJo says seemingly under the impression that only in Thailand are temples sacred. JoJo pressures Jordan about whether he would give up his nomadic lifestyle to be with her. He seems to hesitate, and she is not pleased. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, he tries to win her back. Ehh thats what Ben said, she says. Ben, remember??! Finally, Chase. I love Jordan, and I love Robby and I could see myself falling in love with Chase, JoJo says so we can all tell where this is going. But first, Chases icy heart melts just in time for him to get burned. He professes his love. Its more than just a fantasy, he says very on-theme with the week. But JoJo is visibly sad. The following dialogue is so unbearably uncomfortable, it almost doesnt warrant repeating. But heres the gist of it: JoJo: I just needed to take a moment. Chase: Why? JoJo: I dont know I dont even know if this is making sense right now. Chase: I get the point. Its excruciating but, in JoJos game of fk, marry, kill Chase takes third place. Im still trying to figure out who that forever love is going to be with, JoJo says, now down to her final two. While telling Jordan and Robby what happened to Chase, JoJo starts, I have not been able to stop thinking about how terrible what? Chase returns. I mean, does that happen? Do people get sent home and come back from the dead? Robby ponders presumably for eternity. Chases return is short-lived. He just wants to apologize, which is ultimately the best chance he had at saving face enough to be considered for the next Bachelor. Chase is gone for good and we are down to our final two. Who do you think will be the next Bachelor? Between Robby and Jordan, who is marry and who is just, simply, fk? Do people come back from the dead? Weigh in below. Related stories TV Ratings: RNC Gets Modest Start, Gives Colbert's 'Late Show' a Boost 'The Bachelorette' Recap: JoJo Meets Aaron Rodgers' Family TV Ratings: 'The Bachelorette' Bests 'American Ninja Warrior' It's week 9 on The Bachelorette, and it's safe to say that this week's episode is [ initiate Chris Harrison voice"] the most dramatic yet. JoJo and her top three guys are jetting off to Thailand but not before finishing off last week's rose ceremony stateside. THE REST OF LAST WEEK'S ROSE CEREMONY We pick up right where we left off last week, with Luke asking JoJo for a private moment alone and telling her he was in love with her because apparently Luke was really not here to make friends. Swooping in right as she's about to hand out the roses? A surefire way to tick off fellow Bachelorette contestants if we've ever seen one. The guys were confused ("That was weird," as Jordan put it,) as was JoJo spending a few minutes wandering around the hangar in her blue dress, crying, because she was going to send Luke home and, now that he told her he loves her, she was questioning her choice as she should have, because Luke is dreamy. As it turns out, Luke's last-minute declaration of love was all for naught, and JoJo gave the last rose to Chase, a move that has Bachelorette fans everywhere scratching our heads. Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that JoJo was discussing her and Luke's crazy chemistry? Wasn't it Luke's hometown date that she was crying on as she said goodbye? Has JoJo ever really showed more than a fleeting interest in Chase? Walking Luke out, JoJo seemed to be a little confused that she was the one doing the dumping, telling Luke that this was "so hard for her," which is ironic, because if it's that hard, wouldn't she just have not sent him home? "You don't want me anymore," Luke said, to which JoJo replied, "No, it's not that." JoJo, it's actually exactly that. ONE-ON-ONE WITH ROBBY Robby was the first one to tell JoJo he loved her, so you know he's a front-runner. The first part of their date was rather uneventful: The two went exploring in a Thai market and then got massages (and made out). Of course, they discussed their hometown date and his declaration of love, which JoJo said she was glad he said (duh). Robby also called JoJo "Joelle" multiple times the ultimate sign he's taking this seriously. Then comes the dinner portion of the date, where the two basically did exactly what they did earlier: Robby told JoJo how much he loves her, she said how good that makes her feel. And again. And again. And though they touched on the subject of his ex, it wasn't cause for much drama especially after Robby's latest revelation. Turns out, Robby's dad gave him a note reminding him not to sweat the "small stuff" (i.e. the ex-girlfriend's roommate who had been trying to sabotage his relationship with JoJo). It seemed like this move was what gave JoJo the confidence she needed to give Robby what he really wants an invitation to The Fantasy Suite. "Now I don't have to dream about JoJo," Robby said. "I get to dream with JoJo." That's not really how dreams work, Robby, but we'll give you points for trying. ONE-ON-ONE WITH JORDAN Going into her date with Jordan, JoJo was worried she'd get in trouble because she's "goo-goo-ga-ga over" all three of her remaining guys (yes, that's an exact quote). She didn't stay worried for too long, though, after Jordan showed up. (I mean, looking into those eyes, how worried can you be?) The two were doing a "steep, challenging" hike, which was all fun and good for them, but you couldn't have picked an easier task for the equipment-lugging camera crew that has to follow you up there, JoJo? In the midst of their hike, they entered a temple where there's no kissing allowed, a.k.a. a Bachelorette death wish. Inside, they spent most of their time talking about how they couldn't kiss each other before chatting about JoJo's family because let's face it we all know Jordan is making the final two. When she described her family, JoJo said her mom is "crazy and fun" I mean, has Jordan seen her mom take a bottle to the face? JoJo also described her brothers as "protective," which, if you ask Ben, was the understatement of the year. At dinner, JoJo asked Jordan about the future, and when he says that he "doesn't know" what the next year is going to be like, she went into low-key panic mode, questioning whether he would just "peace out" after six months. To reassure her, Jordan told JoJo he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. But that didn't do too much, as she said: "Eh, that's what Ben said." ( Burn!) It only took about 30 more seconds of screen time for JoJo to get over her fears and get into the Fantasy Suite with Jordan. The next morning, we got an extended look at Jordan's abs ( finally) as he told us that they "took a big step last night in a really exciting direction" and it was "exactly everything I needed." We get it, you had sex. ONE-ON-ONE WITH CHASE Chase and JoJo's one-on-one was a day on the water, starting out with some awkward fish kisses (yes, we mean literally kissing dead fish) before they headed out on a boat and started what else? making out. They did a little more making out on the beach, in the water ... pretty much everywhere. JoJo said she "doesn't want the day to end" but that feeling didn't last much longer. First, JoJo was distracted by Robby paying a visit in the downtime between her day date and dinner date with Chase (who knew they had downtime?!) to tell her, yet again, that he was ready to propose. At this point, we've heard Robby's confession of love so many times we have to imagine even JoJo's a little sick of it. After Robby left, JoJo headed back out on for dinner with Chase, where he admitted the obvious that JoJo was further along in her relationships with Robby and Jordan than she is with him. Perhaps with the hope of speeding things up between them, he accepted the Fantasy Suite invite and, once inside, told JoJo he loved her. What happened next is quite literally, painfully awkward to watch. Pretty much instantly, JoJo seemed to realize what the rest of us have been yelling at our TVs for the past few weeks: She's just not that into him. After taking some time to herself, JoJo came back and told Chase as much, which predictably pissed him off. "So now love equals 'Get the f--- out?' " Chase said ... which, you know, good point. JoJo tried to explain that she didn't think spending the night together would change anything and that she would rather end it before they got in too deep, which you have to give the girl kudos for. In the moment, however, it didn't do much for Chase's mood although he did give her a hug while she cried, a move that is becoming a pattern when JoJo dumps someone. She then implored him to forgive her and have them part on good terms, but he was not having it and left. On the ride home, Chase eloquently summed up the experience: "It's like I pulled my pants down and you kick me in the nuts." ROSE CEREMONY JoJo decided to continue on with the rose ceremony so Jordan and Robby could still accept their roses. They both walked in confident, especially after she told them that Chase wouldn't be showing up. And then a he did show up and asked for a moment alone with JoJo. And at the second rose ceremony in a row where this has happened, Jordan and Robby looked more than a little peeved. Robby even asked, "Does that happen? People get sent home and then come back from the dead?" Robby, dude, there is life after The Bachelorette. Nothing to sweat about, guys. Chase wasn't here for a second chance, he was there to apologize for being so angry the previous night. Honestly, he made quite the 180, telling JoJo that he admired her and was proud of her. Was this Chase's way of endearing himself to America for hopes at securing next year's Bachelor spot? Chase left, JoJo cried a little more and then finally handed out the last two roses to Jordan and Robby. She said she was feeling a little sick to her stomach, knowing she's in love with two guys. We've heard this somewhere before, haven't we? Haven't we? via GIPHY If next week's preview is any indication, there's plenty more drama to come: Questions over proposals, panic attacks and the return of JoJo's wine-guzzling mom. And before that, it's the Men Tell All special and lots of Chad confrontations. The Bachelorette: Men Tell All airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET, and The Bachelorette's finale airs Monday at 8 p.m. ET, both on ABC. Via Getty Images By Erika Jarvis For the tabloid audiences, Blake Fielder-Civillately, just Blake Fielderis an infamous page six villain linked inextricably to his ex-wife, the late, legendary Amy Winehouse. It was a romance so intense that she would reframe her answers in interviews to be about what Blakey liked or what Blakey thought. She had a pocket flap tattooed just above her heart that read Blakes, while he had A-M-Y behind his right ear. They appeared like soulmates, alternately haggard or infatuated in the blinding light of paparazzi cameras. The anguish that boiled at the heart of Back to Black, Amys star-making album, was about him. The fact he was an entirely undistinguished, albeit rakishly sexy, normal English lad made her passion for him even more intriguing. When Amy first started to appear disheveled and scrawny in public, she was always nested under Blakes long, protective arm. His bad boy persona mirrored that of a kidnapper. It didnt help that, in 2008, Blake did an interview with News of the World admitting Amy tried heroin for the first time with him. He thought he was doing a noble thing, taking the blame off her; He thought he might save her career. But when Amy died of alcohol poisoning in 2011years after quitting heroin, Blake saysmuch of the blame was directed towards her ex-husband. Winehouses father, Mitch, remembered him in his memoir as the biggest low-life scumbag that God ever put breath into. Today, Blake Fielder lives in a tower block in Leeds, a city of less than a million people, three-and-a-half hours north of London. He misses the glamour and excitement of home, but is afraid to move back there permanently. He has never been back to Camden, the neighborhood where he lived with Amy. He is afraid of what might happen if he does, including seeing the Amy superfans who come to lay flowers at the feet of her bronze statue. Blake has been mostly out of work since Amy died. His reputation as an addict or the destroyer of Our Amy has plagued the ordinary tasks that make regular life possible. He is a prolific reader, which is one way to pass the time, and he has curated a lounge full of books. Story continues He currently lives with his girlfriend, Chrissy. Since Chrissy recently lost her job, hes in a tight spot when we speak on the phone. His flat has no electricity, and he used his neighbors phone charger to take my calls. There is no Amy money; there never was. He didnt get a cent when he divorced her, and he never asked. This is true, in spite of how reprehensible her family found him. Blake still dreads going out, especially in new situations where hell have to face the possibility of being recognized. It happens mostly on the street, and includes instances of being spat on. His family claims they were almost driven from their village around the time Winehouse died. Its been five years since Amys death. When the morbid anniversary approached, Blake received a call from The Sun, a paper that used to call him Blake Not-So-Civil. Its alwaysThis is a great opportunity for you to reinvent yourself, Blake! To let the public know what youre really like! he says. I fell for that the first time, a few years ago, which is when I said everything was my fault, and Im the cause of all Amys woes. The tide of public opinion really began to turn after that interview with News of the World. He thought, by taking the blame, that hed be helping her. He even fancied it as manly. But it affected my life greatly, he now realizes. Blake was 17 when he left the family home, in the village of Bourne, for London. It was 2001. His parents separated when he was a baby, and he felt the relationship with his stepfather turn toxic around the time the first of his two younger brothers were born. Blake was ten at the time. A decade older than his brothers, tall and lean, he always felt slightly out of place in his new family, even though he was a gifted student, particularly in English. He wrote poetry. He began hurting himself around the same time. Once in London, Blake slept on friends sofas or on the street. He once hopped a train home, but felt strongly that there was no room for him there. He says his family only started visiting him in London once Amy got famous. Blake met Amy in a pub called The Good Mixer in 2005. He was working in video productionfor Lily Allen, Kasabian, and commercialsand he noticed her straight away. She was bigger thenjuicy, he says she called itwearing tapered jeans, white moccasins, and a Pink Ladies bowling jacket, from Grease. She was cool, Blake says wistfully. Amy told him she was a musician. Everyone in fing Camden is a musician, he remembered thinking. When they went back to Amys flat, she said she was going to sing him a song. He distinctly remembers cringing. I really fancied her and I didnt want to have pretend I liked it, he says. But as soon as she sung that first notea cover of Round Midnighthe says, I think I, at that moment, fell in love with her. At this stage, Amy had released her first album, Frank. Although it had done well, her iconic pinup look had not yet crystallized, and she could still walk down the street without being recognized. The fame whirlwind only descended in late 2006, when Amy released Back to Black. Blake and Amy had been dating on and off by then, and the album was mostly about the torture the twenty-somethings had put each other through. Blake says Amy would sleep with his friends to hurt him; he had his own side chicks who proved useful for getting revenge, which inspired several songs. In 2007, they got married on an impulse in Florida. She wore a white anchor-print shift dress, he wore a J. Lindeberg suit. One of the things Blake misses most from that time are the suits (someone threw them out of Amys flat while he was in jail). They used to be invited to designer showrooms, where Blake could pick out any suit that he liked. They hung effortlessly on his tall, thin frame. If theres one thing the media could never say about Blake, it is that he was a sloppy dresser. But Blake said he didnt really take advantage of this period the way he should have. He was always too focused on acting aloof or cool, because he was actually very shy. He has fond memories of the time, like having a drink and an excellent conversation with Bruce Willis, or exchanging text messages with David Schwimmer, who he says would jokingly sign off as the Schwim. More than anything, however, Blake was so, so proud to be by Amys side. One of their favorite movies was Diner, with Mickey Rourke. He felt like the man in the final scene, whose friend gets up to wow the diner with his impromptu piano playing. You know, like, Thats my buddy! Blake says. He never got over the sheer awe of hearing her sing, even in the shower (or the bath, if they were home in Camden). Dita Von Teese once came to their flat with her familyAmy played her guitar and brought everyone to tears. It was during this period that Amy used heroin with Blake for the first time, in January 2007. He said they did it very sparsely, despite a reputation to the contrary. They spent a lot of time in America that year, and they never did the drug there. The habit only became a full-blown addiction around September. Blake is bitter about a photo that appeared of them both, him with scratches on his face, she with blood on her ballet pumps, as they were overwhelmed by paparazzi while leaving the hotel room to get cigarettes. They had had a massive fight, and after hiding out for days and being delivered massive amounts of drugs, they ended up putting each other in such agony that they cut themselves with broken bottles. The tabloids speculated that the blood on Amys ballet slippers was from where Blake had injected her between her toes. He was disgusted. According to Blake, Amy never injected heroin in her life: Never did, never would, he says. According to Blake, Amy used to smoke it. In June 2007, Blake was pulled into a friends argument with a pub landlord. The landlord was left with a broken cheekbone and needed surgery. Two friends of Blakes, James Kennedy and Anthony Kelly, were trying to sell the CCTV footage of the assault to the tabloids. But the papers were uninterested, knowing it would be available for free after the trial. Kennedy and Kelly then approached a reporter from the Daily Mirror, Stephen Moyes, with a tip that Blake and Brown were going to pay the landlord 200,000 pounds not to show up in court. Blake claims it was the landlords idea. But Moyes took the tip to police, thus getting the scoop on Blakes arrest for himself. On November 8, 2007, Blake was charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and was eventually sentenced to 27 months in prison. He served 12, but it was difficult. Prisoners knew they could get money deposited in their commissaries by calling up the tabloids from the prison phones and selling tidbits on how he was doing. The worst was the rumor that someone was planning to corner Blake in a cell and pour boiling water on him unless Amy deposited money into their account. He had two choices: to either go into protective custody with the rapists and pedophiles, or segregation. He chose six months in solitary confinement. It was the time he needed Amy the most, but she seldom came to visit. Occasionally, someone would push a tabloid under his door, with stories about Amy with other men. At that stage, the pressure was on from both Blake and Amys families to divorce. Blake says they only agreed to separate to get everyone off their backs. They were going to get back together, once this prison nonsense was over. But when the actual divorce papers arrived, in jail, Blake claims it was not Amys signature, and for a few months, he said, she had not realized she was actually divorced. Blake was released from prison in November 2008. Two months later, Amy went to Saint Lucia and kicked heroin, to Blakes knowledge, for good. By this time Blake was with a new girlfriend and the mother-to-be of his two children, Sarah Aspin, a recovering addict whom hed met in rehab. She only met Amy once. It was very friendly, Blake said. Amy had come to visit them in London, and told Sarah that she would be sleeping in Blakes bed. Sarah agreed. So I guess that showed that she felt that Amy was my wife, still, says Blake. In spite of a brief clean period, Blake was using again in 2011. He owed his drug dealer around a thousand pounds, and agreed to a ride-along as a favor. The dealer drove to a home, broke in, and stole some laptops. Both he and Blake were arrested when police pulled them over for stolen license plates. In June, Blake was back in jail. Amy died a month later. Blake was allowed the dignity of a small ceremony in the prison chapel. Because Amy was Jewish, they brought in a rabbi. The rabbi went over the blessings and prayers theyd be saying over Amys body; Blake remembers it as his only way of feeling close to her. No matter what anyone says, they were each others best friend. Afterwards, he went to look for his last letter from Amy, to re-read it, but it was gone from his cell. He later heard that his former cellmate had it up for sale. If Amy had not been famous, they would have been just another toxic junkie couple, a whirling dervish of youthful stupidity and inexperience, driven to self-medicate by the miserable, pedestrian cause of childhood trauma. By the same logic that Blake was blamed, one couldin theoryhave shamed her then-boyfriend, film director Reg Traviss, for letting Amy drink herself to death. But this narrative did not fit tragic angel persona attributed to Amy after she died. It was far more tidy to pin it on the ravishing young villain, Blake. Tabloids whod called her Amy Declinehouse and made fun of her shambolic appearance all of a sudden changed tune, remembering her as their lost national sweetheart. Addiction still looms. When Blake got out of prison the second time, in 2012, he turned his phone on for the first time in a year. A clip of old text messages came in from Jemhis nickname for Amy. Hello Sailor, they said, and congratulated him on his newborn son. As was his habit when sadness became too much, Blake relapsed. He got so high that Sarah found him on the floor of their bedroom, choking on his own vomit. He suffered multiple organ failure and was put into a medically induced coma. Now Blake is clean, but feels on edge. He was toying with the idea of going back into a methadone program when we spoke, where a daily syrup could take the harsh edge off of everyday life. He admits to relapsing last April, when his birth father died in tragic circumstances. But things might be turning around. During our last call, I learned that he had started a new job. Its through a temp agency, and they know all about his spotty past. Hell be doing different things every week, which pleases him. He says he was only recognized once, when someone walked past and said, Youre Blake. The previous weekend, Blake and Chrissy had a big fight. Around 11 P.M. New York time, 4 A.M. in the U.K., I pocket dialed his number in my bag by accident, twice. Chrissy wanted to know why I was calling at such an hour. Was I one of these women who would write to Blake, one of Amys fans who had developed a crush on the ex-husband? Blake said that it can be hard on his partners, who also must live in the great Amy Winehouses shadow. In the middle of the argument Chrissy said to him, If Amy were still alive, you and I wouldnt be together. I felt that wasnt impossible; even in their nastiest stories, the media painted Blake and Amy as soulmates, albeit of the doomed variety. There was one time, while he was in prison, he said, when they were talking about getting back together. On the phone, she said, Im still in love with you, and Im going to visit you. Amys therapist had told her to see him. She even told her boyfriend, Reg. But soon after, Amy changed her mind. On the next phone call, she told Blake she was going to be a one-man woman and stay with Reg. Blake had said, Thats fine, thats great. You know, darling, Ill always love ya, I just dont want to lose you. And he meant it. She responded, saying, Youll never lose me, Blake. And that was the last time he ever spoke to her. More from Pigeons & Planes Bangladeshi police killed nine suspected Islamist extremists in a gun-battle Tuesday after storming a hideout where they said a new mass attack was being planned. Police said they belonged to a Bangladeshi group blamed for an attack on a Dhaka cafe earlier this month in which 20 hostages, mostly foreigners, were killed and had been planning another large-scale assault. "Nine Islamist militants were killed after a two hour-long gunfight," deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Masud Ahmed told AFP, adding another extremist was shot and arrested during the raid in the capital's Kalyanpur neighbourhood. National police chief A.K.M Shahidul Hoque told reporters they suspected all 10 were members of the homegrown extremist group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which was blamed for the Dhaka cafe attack. Five gunmen stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery in the upscale Gulshan neighbourhood on July 1 and killed two policemen and 20 hostages, including nine Italians and seven Japanese nationals, before commandos ended the siege. Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack and posted gruesome images of the carnage before the military stormed the cafe. Bangladeshi authorities have rejected the claim, saying international jihadist networks have no presence in the world's third-largest Muslim majority nation. But a police official said the wounded survivor who was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital after Tuesday's raid claimed that all of those inside the hideout were IS followers. "His name is Hasan. He said they are IS members," the police official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding the 25-year-old was a cook and hailed from the northern district of Bogra, home to two of the five cafe attackers. But Hoque stressed that the nine killed in Tuesday's operation had no connection with Islamic State jihadists even though they were wearing the group's signature black robes and turbans. Story continues "We think they are all JMB members... We have not found any link with IS. They are all local Bangladeshi militants," he said. - Planning attack - Hoque added that they had rented a fourth-floor flat and were planning to launch a large-scale attack. "From police intelligence sources we learnt that they were planning to carry out a major incident. We conducted the operation to foil any such incident," he said. Police said they cordoned off an apartment building after suspects threw a small hand bomb at officers who were conducting a "block raid" in the area after midnight. The Islamist gunmen exchanged fire intermittently throughout the night and shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is the Greatest") as the neighbourhood was sealed off by hundreds of heavily armed police and the elite security force Rapid Action Battalion. "This morning police launched Operation Storm 26 and was able to destroy the militants. We're now sweeping the place," Dhaka additional police commissioner Sheikh Maruf Hasan, who led the raid, told AFP. "Their dress and their slogans before and after the attack all proved that they are members of an (Islamist) militant force." Police said they have arrested the son and wife of the landlord who rented out the flat in the Kalyanpur neighbourhood to the suspected JMB extremists. And in a separate raid, police arrested two suspected Islamist extremists in Dhaka's Sabujbagh neighbourhood, local police chief Quddus Fakir told AFP. "We've recovered explosives and jihadi books from their hideout," he said. Bangladesh is reeling from a wave of deadly Islamist attacks. The government and police say homegrown extremists are responsible for the deaths of some 80 secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities since 2013. Both IS and a branch of Al-Qaeda have claimed responsibility for many of the attacks. After the cafe siege, suspected Islamist militants also launched a gun attack at the country's largest Eid prayer rally where around 250,000 people were marking the end of Ramadan. At least three people and a gunman were killed in the attack. The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has since launched a nationwide man-hunt for Islamists, arresting more than a dozen suspected extremists including one of JMB's regional heads. Last March, former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, founder of the eponymous financial data company that made him the sixth-richest billionaire in America, disappointed a lot voters looking for a thoughtful candidate who gets things done without scandals or bloviating. In an op-ed in Bloomberg View, the opinion machine that weighs in on a wide range of issues, he declared that running for president was, as the headline said, The Risk I Will Not Take. Related: Trump Doubles Down on Taxing Companies That Manufacture Overseas His reasoning was that as a third-party candidate, he might siphon off enough electoral votes to throw the choice of president to Congress. As the race stands now, with Republicans in charge of both Houses, Bloomberg wrote, there is a good chance that my candidacy could lead to the election of Donald Trump or Senator Ted Cruz. That is not a risk I can take in good conscience. Bloomberg went on to say that while he has had a casual friendship with Trump and even appeared on The Apprentice twice, the real estate mogul and reality TV star has run the most divisive and demagogic presidential campaign I can remember, preying on peoples prejudices and fears. Abraham Lincoln, the father of the Republican Party, appealed to our better angels. Trump appeals to our worst impulses. On Wednesday night, Bloomberg is scheduled to speak at the Democratic National Convention, and while it is not known whether he will endorse Hillary Clinton, he almost certainly will try to take down Trump. They are both billionaires who live luxuriously in New York and they both seem to think that they know best, but thats about all they have in common. Related: Can Bernie Sanders Save the Democratic Convention? In the pantheon of people who are really loaded, Forbes puts Bloomberg at No. 6 in the U.S. and No. 8 in the world, with a fortune estimated at $47.6 billion (Trump is ranked No. 113 in the U.S. and No. 324 in the world with $4.6 billion). Story continues But besides shelling out tens of millions of his self-made dollars to get elected and re-elected in New York, Bloomberg doesnt constantly remind people how wealthy he is, as Trump likes to do. While Trumps gilded tower on Fifth Avenue and his incessant rich-guy showboating surely offends the Boston-born Bloombergs New England sensibilities, there is much more about The Donald and his whole rhinestone circus that must get Bloombergs chilly blood boiling. There are those New York values that Senator Ted Cruz once derisively accused Trump of holding dear though not so dear that he hasnt laid them aside to court the yahoo vote. Bloomberg, on the other hand, seems to genuinely believe that there is strength in diversity. Threatening to bar foreign Muslims from entering the country is a direct assault on two of the core values that gave rise to our nation: religious tolerance and the separation of church and state, he wrote in March. Attacking and promising to deport millions of Mexicans, feigning ignorance of white supremacists, and threatening China and Japan with a trade war are all dangerously wrong, too. These moves would divide us at home and compromise our moral leadership around the world. The end result would be to embolden our enemies, threaten the security of our allies, and put our own men and women in uniform at greater risk. Related: Why Clintons China Policy Puts More at Risk than Trumps A trade war with China and other countries would also be bad for the business of Bloomberg LP, which leases its financial-data terminals to firms around the world. And as countries become more financially sophisticated, the more their financial sectors need up-to-the-minute data from Bloomberg or Reuters. China especially is a frequent Trump target. Bloomberg LP, on the other hand, seems quite concerned with not making waves in Beijing. In 2014, a Bloomberg reporter was fired and an editor resigned over allegations that the executives at the company suppressed a story for fear it would make China angry and harm business. And Trumps off-the-cufflink populism, threatening to rescind or renegotiate big trade deals and bring jobs back to America, runs directly counter to a world without barriers to free trade that Bloomberg seems to espouse. In a commencement address at the University of Michigan in April, Bloomberg said, In 1928, Republicans promised a chicken in every pot and a car in every backyard. They won control of Congress and the White House, and a year later, instead of a chicken and a car, we got the Great Depression. Today, when a populist candidate promises free college, free health care and a pony, or another candidate promises to make other countries pay for our needs, remember: Those who promise you a free lunch will invariably eat you for breakfast. Bloomberg may not be an electrifying speaker, but Trump should be worried that the billionaire at the next table is about to spit in his soup. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: One of Disneys classic films, Beauty of the Beast, waltzed the floor of Comic-Con this past weekend, where the tale as old as time celebrated its 25th anniversary with plenty of nostalgia and gratitude for fans in attendance. Dohn Hahn, who produced the animated Beast as well as the current live-action version, which opens next year, hosted the creative forum. On hand for the event were original directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise as well as animators James Baxter, David Pruksma and Nik Ranieri. The main character of Belle, according to art director Brian McEntee, was supposed to have a pink dress (marketing wanted everything pink and lavender, because thats what every girl likes, he said) but eventually convinced Disney executives to approve Belles gold dress and make her unique from every other princess. Baxter, the supervising Belle animator, said that his battlefield promotion at age 23, gave him the opportunity to create ground-breaking work. To much applause, Baxter said the intimidating part of it was, its got to be beautiful- its in the title. Wise also revealed that hit song Be our Guest was originally meant to be sung to Belles Father, Maurice, until story artist, Reese Woodside insisted that the song is being sung to the wrong characterand taking too long to get Belle to the castle. Don Hahn, chimed in with it worked out better because it would have been an odd story of the Beast falling in love with the Maurice. The audience reacted with chuckles. Trousdale talked about the first time the film was shown in color to an audience in a Pasadena Theater, where a 19 year-old young woman reacted to their film with a shrug, Guys shes just a cartoon, she said. The same teenager later, however, nearly lost it during the dance sequence. When the studio pressured director Kirk Wise to make early deadlines for the film, he said Im just going to make the best damn Disney film I can possibly make. Story continues Next years highly anticipated live-action adaptation of the classic, which stars Harry Potter star Emma Watson, wasnt mentioned during the panel, but those fans in attendance didnt seem to mind, nor did they ask about it. The special Beauty and the Beast signature collection release will be made available digitally on Sept. 6 of this year and on Blu-ray Sep. 20. Related stories Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Will Arnett Take Over Syfy Live at Comic-Con Q&A: James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd on How to Save Moviegoing Comic-Con 2016: Biggest Hits and Misses From the TV Panels Sao Paulo (AFP) - The mother-in-law of Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has been kidnapped for ransom in her home city of Sao Paulo, Brazilian media reported Tuesday. Aparecida Schunck Flosi Palmeira, 67, was seized Friday night in Interlagos, the Sao Paulo neighborhood that hosts the Brazilian circuit of the F1 Grand Prix, TV Globo reported. There was no confirmation from Brazilian officials or from Ecclestone's staff in London on the report which came less than two weeks before Rio de Janeiro hosts South America's first Olympic Games. "We neither confirm nor deny this report," a spokesman for the regional security ministry told AFP. "That is our policy in cases of suspected kidnapping, to avoid putting the lives of potential victims in danger." The military police also said: "We cannot confirm anything." According to Globo, the kidnappers are already in contact with the victim's family. Veja, a Brazilian weekly, reported that the kidnappers were demanding a ransom in pounds sterling worth 120 million reais ($36.6 million). Aparecida Palmeira is the mother of Ecclestone's 38-year-old Brazilian wife Fabiana Flosi, who met the 85-year-old billionaire while working for the Interlagos Grand Prix in 2009. The couple married in Switzerland and live in London. Neighbors in the comfortable area of Jardim Santa Helena where Aparecida Palmeira keeps a home told AFP that a group of men came pretending to be making a delivery. "When they opened the door, they went in carrying a box... They went in and left the box in the house, called the boss and forced her to go out into her own car," said one neighbor, who did not want to be identified. Another said: "From the time they went in and came out, it didn't take more than 10 minutes." Kidnappings were common in Brazil in the late 1990s and the early 2000s, but dropped with more intensive policing and creation of a specialized anti-kidnapping department. Story continues Relatives of footballers were particularly targeted, including the mother of Brazilian national team star Robinho in 2004. She was held for 41 days in the outskirts of Sao Paulo. There were reports that she was freed after payment of as much as a $200,000 ransom, although the footballer's lawyers never confirmed this. Another high profile case involved the father of football star Romario in 1994. He was held for seven days before being freed. More recently, the sister of national team player Hulk was held for 24 hours in the state of Paraiba. By PTI: Patna, Jul 26 (PTI) BRICS Policy Planning dialogue successfully concluded here today with fruitful exchanges of strategic assessments of international situation and the regional situation of each member country. "The delegations discussed the role of BRICS in international governance, ongoing cooperation at BRICS Forum and reflected on areas of convergence among BRICS," a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) release said here on conclusion of the five-nation meeting. advertisement The dialogue gave an opportunity for sharing of best practices in foreign policy planning and assessment between the BRICS countries. MEA hosted a day-long BRICS policy planning dialogue here where representatives of BRICS nations - Brazil, India, China, Russia and South Africa - met and discussed on a wide range of global issues and of mutual interest. The dialogue in Patna is part of the preparation for BRICS summit to be held in Goa in October this year. The quality and scope of discussions affirmed the significance of the voice of BRICS, as it is a grouping that brings together five major world economies that are home to 43 per cent of the world population, MEA release said. The discussions would contribute towards Indias objective as Chair of BRICS for 2016 to further consolidate Intra-BRICS cooperation by adopting a five pronged approach of IIIIC or I4C, it said. The I4C approach is: i) institution building to further deepen and sustain BRICS cooperation, ii) implementation of the decisions of previous Summits including PMs announcements at the Fortaleza and Ufa Summits, iii) integrating synergies among the existing cooperation mechanisms, iv) innovation, i.e. new cooperation mechanisms and v) continuity, i.e. continuation of mutually agreed existing BRICS cooperation mechanisms. During their stay in Patna, the heads of delegations called on Governor Ramnath Kovind and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Some of the delegations also took the opportunity to visit historic places of interest in the vicinity of Patna such as Nalanda and Rajgir. PTI AR SNS MNG --- ENDS --- From Cosmopolitan Seeking to avoid a televised display of disunity, Bernie Sanders on Monday urged supporters to line up behind Democrat Hillary Clinton and claimed victory in deposing and sidelining a top party official. Some of his supporters jeered in disapproval, indicating turmoil at this week's Democratic National Convention won't end with the departure of the party chairman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida. Speaking to his convention delegates, just hours before the Democrats opened a convention to nominate his primary rival, the Vermont senator tried to settle roiling tensions between his supporters and the party rank-and-file lining up behind Clinton. A fresh email controversy, appearing to show bias by party officials against Sanders, has made that task harder just as the national spotlight turns to the Democrats' rally behind Clinton. "Brothers and sisters, this is the real world that we live in," Sanders told his audience, raising his hand in an effort to quiet them. Republican nominee Donald Trump is "a bully and demagogue," he said, who must not win the White House. The remarks were met with boos and grumbling from supporters clearly not ready to give up the fight for what he calls his "political revolution." Sanders tried to persuade them they had already won by helping to create what he called the "most progressive Democratic platform in the history of the party." And he, too, celebrated the ouster of Wasserman Schultz after the email hack. "Her resignation opens up the possibility of new leaders at the top of the Democratic Party that will stand with working people," he said. As Sanders spoke, Wasserman Schultz announced she would not gavel in the convention, recognition that her presence onstage would only showcase Democrats' deep divisions. The Florida congresswoman was greeted with boos Monday morning by delegates who would certainly have repeated the spectacle. Story continues For Democrats who spent last week throwing stones at Republicans' troubled convention in Cleveland, the scene was a painful reminder of their own glass house. On the eve of the four-day spectacle, the 19,000 hacked emails published by WikiLeaks appeared to show top officials at the supposedly neutral Democratic National Committee working to tip the scales toward Clinton. Wasserman Schultz denied the accusation, but was forced out as chief Sunday. The FBI issued a statement Monday saying it is investigating the hack. "A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously, and the FBI will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace," it said. Clinton campaign officials pointed the finger at Russian military intelligence agencies. They accused Russia of trying to meddle in the U.S. election and favoring GOP nominee Donald Trump. "We don't have information right now about that, but what we have is a kind of bromance going on between Vladimir Putin and Trump, which is distinct from this leak," Clinton adviser John Podesta said in an MSNBC interview. Trump dismissed the suggestion in a tweet: "The joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNC emails, which should never have been written (stupid), because Putin likes me." It wasn't immediately clear how WikiLeaks received copies of the internal Democratic emails. Party officials learned in late April that their systems had been attacked after they discovered malicious software on their computers. A cybersecurity firm they employed found traces of at least two sophisticated hacking groups on their network - both of which have ties to the Russian government. Those hackers took at least a year's worth of detailed chats, emails, and research on Trump, according to a person knowledgeable of the breach who wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the matter. The emails re-emphasized a rift that threatens to undermine the Democrats' attempt to display four days of focus on putting Clinton in the White House. The party announced Monday it would kick off its convention with a lineup of speakers aimed at easing the tensions. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a progressive favorite, will deliver the convention keynote. Sanders and first lady Michelle Obama will also take the stage. Republicans relished Democrats' pre-convention tumult, just days after they bumped and bumbled through their own gathering. Trump declared on Twitter: "The Dems Convention is cracking up." Resistance to Clinton was on display during a demonstration at City Hall, where hundreds Bernie Sanders chanted "Nominate Sanders, or lose in November!" But others were falling in line behind Clinton. Ohio's Michael Skindell, a Sanders delegate, said Monday he planned to "strongly support the nominee of the party." Clinton campaigned in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday, serving up a harsh critique of Trump's foreign policy and what she said was his "trash talk about America." Speaking to a convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Clinton slammed many of his positions, vowing to stand by American allies, fight dictators, and listen to the advice of military officials. "You will never hear me say I only listen to myself on national security," she said. Ahead of her speech, she secured endorsement of retired Gen. John Allen, former deputy commander of U. S. Central Command and a former commander of the International Security Assistance Force, overseeing NATO troops in Afghanistan. Clinton is within days of her long-held ambition to become the party's official presidential nominee. She will formally accept the nomination Thursday. President Barack Obama will speak Wednesday night. Other high-profile speakers include former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden. Associated Press writers Chad Day and Hope Yen in Washington; Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia; Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio; Lisa Lerer in Charlotte, North Carolina; and Alex Sanz, Megan Trimble, Julie Pace, and Kathleen Ronayne in Philadelphia contributed to this report. Sen. Bernie Sanders took the stage Monday at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia to continue the day's theme, "United Together." Sanders has endorsed Hillary Clinton, and earlier on Monday was booed when he told followers on the floor to support Clinton as the presidential nominee. In encouraging his delegates to line up behind Clinton, Sanders said that he believes Donald Trump, a "bully and demagogue," must be defeated. Later on Monday night when he took the stage for his keynote address after first lady Michelle Obama, however, he was met with cheers and "Bernie" chants. He told the crowd it was "an honor" to be speaking at the convention before thanking his volunteers who worked with him during his campaign and all who "voted for the political revolution." Read More: Michelle Obama Endorses Hillary Clinton, Takes Aim at Donald Trump: "Don't Let Anyone Ever Tell You This Country Isn't Great" Sanders also said that he understands that many of his supporters are disappointed in the results of his campaign, but "no one is more disappointed than I am." Nonetheless, "we have begun a revolution to transform America, and that revolution - our revolution - continues," he added. "This election is not about, and has never about, Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders or any of the other candidates who sought the presidency," said Sanders. "This election is about, and must be about, the needs of the American people and the kind of future we create for our children and our grandchildren." As he spoke about "the top one-tenth of 1 percent" and the country's income inequality, the crowd started a "99 percent" chant that echoed the rest of the audience's "Bernie" chants. "Yes, we have made progress, but I think we can all agree that much, much more can be done," said Sanders, after praising President Barack Obama's administration. "We need leadership which brings our people together and makes us stronger. Not leadership which insults Latinos and Mexicans, insults Muslims and women, African-Americans and veterans and seeks to divide us up. Story continues "Based on her ideas and her leadership," he declared, "Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States." "While Trump believes in 'yuge' tax breaks for millionaires," Sanders said, he and Clinton believe in raising the minimum wage "to a living wage," he told the cheering crowd, who repeated his line with a "yuge" chant of their own. "Donald Trump, like most Republicans, he chooses to reject science," said Sanders. "He believes that climate change is a hoax - no need to address it. Hillary Clinton's job is to worry about future generations, not the profits of the fossil fuel industry." "Our diversity is one of our greatest strengths," Sanders rallied the crowd, before admitting that he and Clinton disagree on "a number of issues, but that is what this campaign has been about - that is what democracy is about." He said that there was a "significant coming together" of the two campaigns to create the "most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic party." Sanders looked forward to a Hillary Clinton presidency, promising that "I am going to do all that I can to make that happen!" He ended his speech with a dynamic reassurance of his endorsement: "Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her tonight!" Read More: Sarah Silverman Addresses "Bernie or Bust" Crowd at Democratic Convention: "Youre Being Ridiculous" var el = document.getElementById('targetParams');if (el !== null && typeof(el) != 'undefined') {var srcParams = $('.advert iframe').attr('src');var addParams = srcParams.split(";");for (i=1;i<=addParams.length - 1;i++) {if (addParams[i] != '=null' && addParams[i] != 'dcopt=ist' && addParams[i] != '!c=iframe' && addParams[i] != 'pos=t' && addParams[i] != 'sz=728x90') {el.value += addParams[i]+";";}}}brightcove.createExperiences();>>>>>>> Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was booed this morning when he urged his supporters to back Hillary Clinton in November and the Democratic National Convention launched amid chaos. That was many hours ago. The runner-up in the Dem primaries took the stage tonight to a heros welcome of applause, chants and obvious affection. The crowd cheered for nearly two minutes before letting him speak. And when he did, it was a much-needed message of party unity. But not until 15 minutes in and not before he made sure that the issues that defined his successful and surprising campaign were addressed. Sanders closed out Day 1 of the 2016 Democratic National Convention with a speech that began, It is an honor to be here tonight. (In primetime, no less which is what the party disruptor insisted upon.) He thanked lead-in speakers Elizabeth Warren, Michelle Obama and then the hundreds of thousands of Americans who actively participated in our campaign and individual contributors and the 13 million Americans who voted for the political revolution. Then he noted the 1,846 pledged delegates here tonight, adding, I look forward to your votes during the roll call tomorrow night. That brought to mind the crowd shot of Sanders backers wearing masking tape over their mouths with the word Silenced written on it. He then directly addressed that base a group he knows was disappointed. I think its fair to say that no one is more disappointed than I am, Sanders said. RelatedMichelle Obamas DNC Speech Praises Clinton, Dumps On Trump And Ignores Melania With that he launched into familiar elements from his stump speech, hitting the rigged economy, climate change, poverty, health care, renewable energy, Citizens United, immigration reform, a broken criminal justice system, the countrys the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality, intolerance and the movement toward oligarchy that we are seeing in this country. He also shredded the Republican platform in general and GOP nominee Donald Trump in particular. Story continues This election is about the 40-year decline of our middle class, Sanders said. The reality that 47 million men, women and children today live in poverty. It is about understanding that if we do not transform our economy, our younger generation will likely have a lower standard of living than their parents. This election is about ending the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality in America today. It is not moral, it is not acceptable and it is not sustainable that the top one-tenth of one percent now owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. He thanked President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden for pulling us out of that terrible recession but added, I believe much more needs to be done. RelatedSarah Silverman Calls Fellow Bernie Sanders Supporters Ridiculous; Al Franken Rips Donald Trump At DNC Update There was a murmur in the hall as Sanders said: We need leadership in this country which brings our people together and makes us stronger, not leadership that seeks to divide us up. Based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next President of the United States. There it was. It drew a big cheer but maybe, just maybe, not as loud as the party might have hoped. The man who led the partys leftward swing in the past year-plus noted that he differs with Clinton on many issues but said, Im happy to tell you that at the Democratic platform committee, there was a significant coming together between the two campaigns, and we produced by far the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party. The other side was watching too: Sad to watch Bernie Sanders abandon his revolution. We welcome all voters who want to fix our rigged system and bring back our jobs. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2016 But Team Bernie went for the last word: Related stories Hillary Clinton Makes History As Female POTUS Candidate By Major Political Party CNN Clobbers Competition On Day 1 Of DNC Ratings Samantha Bee Victorious As TBS Apologizes For Post Comparing Hillary Clinton To Hyena PHILADELPHIA The man himself tried to soothe the Bern at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night. Sen. Bernie Sanders delivered a rousing speech in which he implored the rebellious band of political revolutionaries who backed his presidential campaign to line up behind his former primary rival, Hillary Clinton. After several minutes of roaring applause, Sanders addressed the elephant in the room. Many of his supporters insist they will refuse to back Clinton, the partys presumptive nominee. Throughout the primary, Sanders and his team alleged that the Democratic National Committee was biased in favor of Clinton. The leak of emails over the weekend which showed that DNC staffers were working to undermine Sanders bid for the presidency fueled protests at the convention that even led to boos for Sanders himself earlier in the day. In his speech, Sanders acknowledged the anger many of his supporters feel. I understand that many people here in this convention hall and around the country are disappointed about the final results of the nominating process. I think its fair to say that no one is more disappointed than I am, Sanders said. But to all of our supporters here and around the country, I hope you take enormous pride in the historic accomplishments we have achieved together. My friends, we have begun a political revolution to transform America, and that revolution, our revolution, continues, he continued. Sanders endorsed Clinton on July 12, but he never formally suspended his campaign. Though he urged his supporters not to protest at the convention, in his speech, Sanders said he looked forward to seeing delegates vote for him during the roll call on Tuesday. Nevertheless, Sanders unequivocally urged his backers to vote for Clinton in November rather than Republican nominee Donald Trump, whom he framed as divisive. We need leadership which brings our people together and makes us stronger, not leadership which insults Latinos and Mexicans, insults Muslims, and women, African-Americans, and veterans, and Sikhs to divide us up, Sanders said. By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that, based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. Story continues Sanders didnt just paint Clinton as preferable to Trump. He also touted her progressive credentials, including her support for increasing the minimum wage, immigration reform and Supreme Court justices who would support abortion and LGBT rights. Sanders also further noted the concessions that he and his team managed to win in the Democratic Party platform, which he framed as a coming together between the two campaigns. Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president, and I am proud to stand with her here tonight, Sanders said. _____ Related slideshows: On the ground at the DNC a photo report >>> How newspapers covered the DNCs first big day >>> Demonstrators protest outside the DNC >>> It was supposed to be the night the Democratic Party finally exorcised its demons. Instead, on a sultry, hot day in Philadelphia, the long-simmering disillusionment of Bernie Sanders supporters erupted into anger. And not even the Senator himself could calm them. A day of protests, booing and open dissent on Monday at the Democratic convention threatened to derail the partys moment in the spotlight, exposing the fault lines that have divided the Democrats throughout the contentious primary between Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Inside the DNC convention hall, Sanders delegates shouted Bernie! Bernie! booed Clinton surrogates and even briefly broke into the Lock Her Up! chant favored by Donald Trump supporters. One thing became clear: Sanders, who has spent the past 15 months condemning a rigged system and lambasting Clintons Establishment credentials, has conjured a spirit of resentment that he cant dispel. He succeeded in creating a political revolution, but like many revolutionaries, he may have lost control of it. When Sanders took the stage at the end of the night, the crowd was standing for well over two minutes, and some supporters burst into tears as he spoke. I understand that many people here in this convention hall and around the country are disappointed about the final results of the nominating process, Sanders told an emotional crowd. But, he said, Hillary Clinton must become the next President of the United States. Even as he implored his supporters to back Clinton, some delegates responded by saying, We want Bernie! Read More: Meet the Bernie or Bust Delegates at the Democratic Convention Its not about Bernie, its about the movement, said California delegate Nancy Kim, who does not plan to vote for Clinton even after Sanders enthusiastic endorsement. Its about us, its not about one man. It doesnt matter what he thinks. Were not going to give in and bow down to the Establishment. Story continues Still, Sanders sought to corral his supporters. Our job now is to see that platform implemented by a Democratic Senate, a Democratic House and a Hillary Clinton presidency, Sanders said. And I am going to do everything I can to make that happen. Throughout the day, his campaign fought to control its rambunctious delegations, sending texts to supporters urging them to tow the line. Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays, Sanders said in a text to his delegates. We want the party to unify to elect Hillary Clinton and defeat Donald Trump, Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said in a brief interview. I think emotions are running high right now, but as time goes by itll begin to calm down. There were some moments of unity in the night. In an effort to quell unrest, the Democratic Party lined up a slate of liberal party leaders to speak on the first night, including Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Raul Grijalva, as well as bridge-builders such as First Lady Michelle Obama and Senator Al Franken. Comedian and Sanders supporter Sarah Silverman told the crowd she would vote for Hillary with gusto. At a high point in the evening, Paul Simonwhose song America was used to great effect in a Sanders ad appeared to sing Bridge Over Troubled Water. But after the hack of the Democratic Partys emails revealed what many Sanders supporters had long suspected that the Democratic Party favored Clinton over Sanders the dissent was difficult to contain. Many felt their votes had been stolen by a rigged party system, and one Sanders delegate even wore a piece of white tape over her mouth bearing the word silenced. When Democratic delegates walked into the convention, they were jeered by an angry crowd yelling chants about the DNC leak: The DNC is rotten! They lied to us! one man said, and Shame on the DNC! Bernie beats Trump! chanted groups of others, in reference to general-election polls that showed Sanders ahead of Trump in hypothetical matchups. Other Bernie-or-Bust protesters around Philadelphia also made it clear they had no intention of falling in line behind Clinton. Supporters gathered and shouted in front of city hall in near-100-degree weather on Monday, holding hand-made signs and carrying a massive inflatable joint emblazoned with the words, Berned by the DNC. One supporter risked heatstroke by wearing a onesie printed with Sanders face; another went nude from the waist up except for her nipple pasties, which were shaped like pot leaves. Indianapolis artist Michael Sparks has a Bernie Sanders tattoo on one side of his head and a Jill Stein tattoo on the other side. He sees the choice between Clinton and Trump as four years of a buffoon vs. eight years of a genocidal warmonger. And the threat of a Trump presidency isnt enough to sway his vote. Sparks doubts Trump will actually deport Muslims or immigrants, and argues that if hes elected, it will be a suitable payback for what the DNC has done to voters like me. As his supporters marched across the city, Sanders struggled to maintain control of his delegates. In shirtsleeves on a hot afternoon before the convention officially began, he repeated his endorsement of Clinton and was angrily shouted down. We have got to defeat Donald Trump, and we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine, Sanders said, spurring a long and angry response from his delegates. We want Bernie! the crowd chanted. During his prime-time speech, some of his supporters repeated the chant. His wife Jane Sanders admitted their influence over their supporters was limited. Well, I dont think weve ever had control over our supporters nor have we ever tried, she said in an interview with NBC. Read More: Transcript of Bernie Sanders Speech at the Democratic Convention That lack of control has some Clinton delegates worried that vehement Sanders supporters could throw the election to Trump. Trump is using some of the negativity Bernie Sanders used against Hillary, and now Bernie supporters are doing the same thing, says Bobbie Jean Anderson, a Clinton delegate from California. I get frightened. I have nightmares that I wake up and Trump is President. Sanders has undoubtedly had the same fears, and for months has told his supporters that the most important aim in November is to defeat Trump. It is no secret that Hillary Clinton and I disagree on a number of issues. Thats what this campaign has been about. Thats what democracy is about, Sanders told the audience in the convention center. Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding President, and I am proud to stand with her here tonight. He vowed to campaign against Trump in the fall, saying he would badly damage the country. Still, the foot soldiers were unconvinced. Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad could appear before a burning bush and hand me a stone tablet with lightning and everything that said Vote for Hillary, and I would choose hell because its the same thing, said Brian Seligman, a delegate from California and former U.S. Marine and computer engineer. Im not voting for her. Amid fears that Bernie Sanders delegates would again seek to disrupt proceedings on the floor of the Democratic Convention on Tuesday, the Vermont senator visited with state delegations to Philadelphia to corral them into supporting Hillary Clinton and calm their anger before the gavel opens the convention again. Sanders effort was part of a full-court press to unify the Democratic Party after a fractious showing on Monday night, when booing, dissent and angry Sanders delegates stole the spotlight from much of the convention proceedings. It is easy to boo, Sanders told the California delegation on Tuesday morning in central Philadelphia ahead of a roll call vote on the convention floor. But its harder to look your kids in the face who would be living under Donald Trump. Meanwhile, saddened Sanders delegates appeared to be out of options for a mechanism to fundamentally alter the conventions path. They failed on Tuesday to bring forth a vote that would nominate an alternative for vice president to Sen. Tim Kaine, and Sanders himself had little patience for floor maneuvering. Talks were briefly underway to have Sanders enter Clintons name into nomination, but those fell through. Under the Clinton teams latest plan, Senator Barbara Mikulski, Congressman John Lewis, and Nailah Amaru, the winner of a campaign contest, will officially nominate Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic nominee for president, and three other another speakers will nominate Sen. Sanders. The roll call of the states will be read, allowing each states pledged and unpledged delegates to be counteda key demand of Sanders supporters. When Vermonts turn comes up, a Sanders spokesman says the states delegation will pass, sending them to the back of the line. After the remaining delegations have been tallied, Vermont is expected to formally call for Clintons nomination by acclimationa display that Democrats are hoping will demonstrate party unity. Clinton communications director Jen Palmieri said Tuesday morning that it expects Kaines nomination to be approved by acclimation. Story continues Without a clear alternative plan, some Sanders supporters sounded a note of resignation. It seemed unlikely they would be able to bring any significant, organized action to the floor of the convention on Tuesday, when there will be a roll call of votes for Sanders and Clinton and each delegation ticks off its states votes. I accept that electing Hillary Clinton is better than electing Donald Trump, said Donna Smith, executive director of the Progressive Democrats of America, who sought to organize an effort to topple Sen. Kaine. I accept that. Still, with the Democratic convention in its second day, Sanders is struggling to regain control over the supporters he inspired to fight against a rigged system during the Democratic primary. The roll call vote could provide an opportunity for grandstanding Sanders delegates and further disorder. Sanders visited delegations on Tuesday morning including those from New York, California, Kansas, Wisconsin and Alaska among others. He pledged to back Clinton as the nominee even while reaffirming that his political revolution must continue. There is no debate that we must defeat the worst Republican candidate in the modern history of this country, Sanders said to the delegation from New York. The first task, Sanders told the delegation, is to elect Clinton. The second, Sanders said, is to continue the political revolution. All of us have got to do everything we can to elect Secretary Clinton, Sanders told the Missouri delegation. Sanders delegates are often loosely affiliated and not well organized, making it difficult to line them up behind the Democratic Party. They were unruly during the first day of the convention, dramatically booing down Clinton endorsers and disrupting convention proceedings. Sanders still has significant influence with his base and plans to use it. Angry about the nomination for vice president of Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, many Sanders supporters who consider Kaine too moderate and question his support for the Trans Pacific Partnership sought to nominate a replacement. But they were unable to acquire the necessary paperwork in time, and the measure failed. The Sanders delegates refused to say which vice presidential nominee they had found to try to replace Kaine, except that he or she was not an elected official. And they conceded that the motion would likely not have succeeded. Weve got our feet on the ground. We understand it would be a symbolic protest, said Norman Solomon, a Sanders delegate from California and the coordinator of the Bernie Delegates Network. Last night, Sanders sought to quell his supporters anger. Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays, Sanders said in a text message to some of his delegates last night. The missive appeared to calm many of his supporters, who grew quieter towards the end of the night. Still, some Sanders delegates pointedly ignored his plea. I chose not to pass that information along to my fellow New Mexico Bernie delegates, said Teva Gabis-Levine, a Sanders delegate whip from New Mexico who received instructions from Sanders. The anger over the Democratic National Committees apparent favoring of Clinton during the primaryshown through the leak of party emailshas not subsided. Theres been discourse for weeks about what to do, Solomon told reporters, but I dont know whats going to happen. Additional reporting by Zeke J. Miller/Philadelphia Former Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders spoke in support of Hillary Clinton during the first night of the Democratic National Convention Monday, thanking his supporters while making the case against Republican candidate Donald Trump. "While Donald Trump is busy insulting one group after another, Hillary Clinton understands that our diversity is one of our greatest traits," said Sanders, just hours after some of his supporters booed him for backing the candidate. Addressing the crowd as "brothers and sisters," Sanders ticked exhaustively down the long list of issues around which his "revolution" was built universal health care, raising the minimum wage, rebuilding infrastructure, limiting the influence of big-money campaign donations, tackling climate change and protecting abortion rights, LGBT rights and more and he insisted for each one: "Hillary Clinton understands." Drawing a contrast with the Republicans, Sanders said Trump believed in "starvation wages" and "yuuuuuuuge tax breaks for billionaires." Before Sanders strode onto the massive podium following First Lady Michelle Obama's speech, a half-dozen additional security officers filled in at the foot of the stage and convention officials handed out sanctioned signs reading "Bernie: A future to believe in." Earlier, Sanders supporters complained to PEOPLE that they were not allowed to bring in their own signs. "You couldn't bring Bernie signs in. The signs you see, people smuggled those in. They had to fold them into books or wear them in their clothes," said Jenny Gernhart, a Sanders delegate from Iowa. "They're demanding unity without treating us equally or hearing us," she said. "All these things they're preaching about unity and equality and coming together and everyone has a voice well, they don't listen to our voice." Sanders' eventual endorsement of Clinton did not sufficiently dissuade many of his most ardent supporters, who protested outside the Philadelphia convention in the blazing heat Monday, with many shouting "Nominate Sanders or lose in November!" Earlier in the evening, comedian Sarah Silverman, a passionate Sanders supporter in the primaries who said she will now vote for Clinton, addressed the protesters, bluntly stating "to the Bernie or Bust people: you're being ridiculous." Inside the convention walls, his delegates continued the cause, often heard chanting, "Bernie!" throughout the day before his speech. When he addressed the restless delegates, however, Sanders made sure to restate his support of Clinton. "We need leadership in this country which will improve the lives of working people, the children, the elderly, the sick and the poor. We need leadership that brings our people together and makes us stronger, not leadership that insults Latinos and Mexicans, insults Muslims and women and African-Americans and veterans and seeks to divide us up," he said. "By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States," he continued. Some Sanders delegates wept as their candidate spoke and promised that they would get the chance to declare their support during a Tuesday roll call vote, something they feared Clinton allies would block, giving her the nomination by a voice vote of "yeas" and "nays." By the end of his remarks, the loudest chants from the crowd were, "He's with her! He's with her!"A (During the speech, Sanders also declared that "I am proud to stand with her.") Sanders spoke just after popular Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren delivered a keynote address that attacked Trump. "Trump's entire campaign is just one more late-night Trump infomercial: 'Hand over your money, your jobs, your children's future, and The AAAAAAGreat Trump Hot Air Machine will reveal all the answers,' " she said. "And, for one low, low price, he'll even throw in a goofy hat." Sanders, 74, was the runner-up in the race to become the Democratic nominee, winning almost 1,900 delegates in his efforts to overcome Clinton's steady lead. Though he ultimately endorsed the former Secretary of State earlier this month, the Sanders campaign fought Clinton until the very end and continued to push his progressive ideas on the trail. Related Video: Bernie Sanders Booed by Democratic Delegates After Declaring 'We Must Elect Hillary Clinton' Sanders's speech was also colored by the recent leak of thousands of internal emails between DNC officials that pointed to them attempting to undermine Sanders in favor of Clinton during the primary process.. The email leak led to the abrupt resignation of convention chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz shortly before it was due to begin. The Democratic convention continues for the next three days with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on the list of speakers before Secretary Hillary Clinton officially accepts the nomination on Thursday night. With reporting by KATIE KAUSS and ALE RUSSIAN After a day of friction between supporters of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Senator gave Clinton his unconditional endorsement to close the first night of the Democratic National Convention Monday, saying the choice was not even close between his Democratic opponent and Republican nominee Donald Trump. Sanders arrived to a roar from the crowd and chants of Bernie! that continued for nearly three minutes. When the demonstration would not be quelled, Sanders appeared moved and bit his lip as if to hold back tears. Before turning his attention to his support for Clinton, Sanders used his speech to give a shout out to what he called the historical movement he built. He mentioned the more than 13 million people who voted for him and the record eight million who gave donations, averaging $27 apiece. The 74-year-old senator signaled that he did not intend to disappear from the political scene. The struggle of the people to create a government which represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, said Sanders, a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice that struggle continues. Sanders reiterated his concern about closing the gaping income gap in America, which he told the convention was grotesque and worse than at any time since the lead-up to the Great Depression. It is not moral, not acceptable and not sustainable that the top one-tenth of one percent now own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent, or that the top 1 percent in recent years has earned 85 percent of all new income, he said. That is unacceptable. That must change. Though he acknowledged his disappointment that he had not been able to win the Democratic nomination, Sanders told the crowd the choice is not even close when it comes to picking Hillary Clinton as the next best choice and miles ahead of Donald Trump. He said only Clinton understood the need to raise the minimum wage above starvation levels, while Trump did not. He said Clinton understood the need to overturn the Citizens United decision to restore greater controls on campaign spending, while Trump did not. He said that while Clinton was ready to make changes to slow climate change, Trump was rejecting the findings of science. Story continues Sanders said that based on her experience and ability to bring people together Clinton must become the next president of the United States. He said the damage to civil liberties and equal rights from justices who would be appointed to the Supreme Court by Trump should be enough to get voters to come out in support of Clinton. And he said Trumps caustic remarks about multiple groups virtually disqualified him from being president. He added: While Donald Trump is busy insulting one group after another, Hillary Clinton understands that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths. While Sanders acknowledged many differences remained with Clinton, he said the party platform had been brought around to become by far the most progressive in the history of the Democratic Party. He praised, in particular, calls to block the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement and for a breakup of big Wall Street institutions. He also described a proposal he said he and Clinton had recently agreed on which would allow the majority of students in the United States to go to college tuition-free. He concluded his remarks by saying Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her here tonight. Earlier in the evening even some ardent Sanders supporters signaled it was time to move on. Comedian Sarah Silverman spoke before Sanders and, although she lauded the candidate and professed her support for him, she also drew a roar from Clinton supporters when she said: Can I just say to the Bernie or Bust people: You are being ridiculous. Sanders appearance came just days after secret emails were published, revealing that top Democratic Party officials had talked about ways they could derail his candidacy, including by questioning his religious convictions. Some of his delegates in the hall had said earlier in the day they were still hoping that Superdelegates might reconsider and support a Sanders presidential candidacy. Related stories On a Night With Real Stakes for Democrats, Michelle Obama Won Crowd and News Cycle Elizabeth Warren Warns Democrats About Trump's Effort to 'Divide and Conquer' Michelle Obama Makes the Case for Hillary Clinton in Stirring Speech President Clinton and Hillary Clinton wave during the presidential inaugural parade. (Photo: Doug Mills/AP) When Bill Clinton steps onstage at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia Tuesday, it will be an extraordinary moment. The former Arkansas governor and two-term president, who entered the White House by revitalizing the Democratic Party and offering voters a third way for liberalism, will have a chance to assert himself in a campaign he has spent largely on the sidelines. His task is to vouch for Hillary Clintons trustworthiness, define her as a change agent, and unify a party still split between supporters of Clinton and Bernie Sanders. But lets be clear: He will also be auditioning to become the nations first gentleman. This is unprecedented territory. An ex-president has never had a spouse run for president. And Bill Clinton, a man, will play a public role subordinate to his wifes. In his first presidential campaign, in 1992, Clinton said his election would give voters two for the price of one. Two months ago, Hillary Clinton promised Americans that if she won the White House she would put Bill Clinton in charge of revitalizing the economy and bringing back jobs to economically hard-hit regions. The former president sounded game. I like this economic business, he coyly told NBC News. Yet almost as soon as she raised the idea, critics pounced. The president of the United States has an actual job to create jobs, create wealth, create take home pay, former Speaker Newt Gingrich said. Thats Hillarys job if she wants to be president. Thats not the first spouses job. Citing what he called the worst economic deal in history, the North American Free Trade Agreement, Donald Trump questioned why Hillary Clinton would put her husband in charge of the economy. Hillary Clintons proposal, seemingly uttered in an offhand way during a campaign event in Kentucky, generated more heat than praise. The media raised questions about Bill Clintons marital infidelities, about how he would coordinate his White House role with Hillary Clintons formal economic advisers, and about how Hillary would defend NAFTA from attacks by rival candidates. Within a few days her campaign said, essentially, that nothing was set in stone and backtracked on the idea of Bill Clinton as economic czar. Story continues Bill Clinton reacts to Michelle Obamas speech at the Democratic National Convention. (Photo: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters) Heading into tonights speech, Bill Clintons White House role remains a giant question mark that Hillary Clintons campaign has not fully confronted. By recalling how Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Clinton handled the job, however, Bill Clinton could learn much about the potential to transform the role of presidential spouse as well as its political pitfalls. The only two times in history when presidential spouses held formal administration appointments Eleanor Roosevelt as assistant director of the Office of Civilian Defense (1941-1942) and Hillary Clinton as chair of the Health Care Task Force (1993) underscore both the benefits of a presidential spouse in a policymaking role and the downsides. Eleanor Roosevelts official actions at the home defense agency, where she was responsible for running volunteer participation, helped ensure that the government and citizens would continue to focus on improving lives at home through social defense, providing better housing, childcare, nutrition advice, and health care. Her efforts inspired and influenced FDRs Four Freedoms and Economic Bill of Rights addresses. As assistant director she helped force economic and social equality onto the nations war mobilization agenda. Similarly, without Hillary Clintons failed effort to enact health care reform, Obamacare might never have become law. Her mistakes showed the Obama White House how to win support from key industries (hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, insurers) and frame health care as an economic imperative rather than primarily as a societal right. Both Roosevelt and Clintons time in their posts left marks on policy debates that outlived their husbands administrations. Eleanor Roosevelt, the assistant director of the Office of Civilian Defense, at a committee meeting. (Photo: Underwood Archives/Getty Images) Still, both episodes reveal why a decision to give a presidential spouse a formal policy role is so fraught. Eleanor Roosevelts critics resented having the presidents wife lead the effort to mobilize millions of female volunteers for progressive causes in the throes of war mobilization. Derided as a wartime New Deal and lambasted as a threat to national security and family life, Eleanor Roosevelts efforts to invigorate social liberalism before and after Pearl Harbor produced a fierce backlash. When news broke in early February 1942 that Eleanor Roosevelt had put her friend Mayris Chaney on the government payroll at $4,600 a year to teach dancing to children and raise their morale, the first lady became, as one columnist wrote, the most discussed [person] in America. The revelation called into question the propriety of what the presidents wife is doing and saying about civilian defense and particularly her belief that it extends to various social welfare activities that ordinarily would [not] be associated with civilian defense. Eleanor Roosevelt was accused of using the government to promote immoral behavior and transgress gender norms and family values. Voters place a man in office, a California woman chastised the first lady. You better spend your time in the kitchen and leave a mans job to a man, a West Virginian scolded her. By months end, the first lady had resigned her OCD post, and it would be 50 years before another presidential spouse took on a formal policymaking role in any administration. Bill Clintons two-for-one offer stoked its own gender-infused backlash even before he entered the Oval Office. Roger Stone, a longtime Republican consultant who is reportedly still close to Donald Trump, told the New York Times in 1992 that Hillary Clinton was grating, abrasive and boastful. Theres a certain familiar order of things, and the notion of a coequal couple in the White House is a little offensive to men and women. These complaints did not stop President Clinton from tapping the first lady as chair of the White House health care task force in 1993. But the appointment made Hillary Clinton an even greater lightning rod for critics opposed to the administrations agenda and offended that a presidents wife was given a big policy portfolio. Her subsequent failure to pass health care legislation, especially critics assertion that Hillarycare was hatched in secret by an unelected first lady hostile to Congress and the media, ultimately confined her to more traditional functions, such as hosting state dinners, for the rest of the administration. Both Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Clinton left their posts in reaction to nationwide outcries that their un-American actions had subverted traditional values. Their experiences as official appointees offer cautionary tales of the cultural limits of what is permissible for a presidential spouse to do. The question for the Clintons now is whether society has become more willing to accept a formal policymaking role for a presidential spouse. The reaction to Hillary Clintons two-for-the-price-of-one proposal in May, in addition to the historical popular skepticism about giving presidential spouses public policy roles, suggests that Bill Clinton will have a tough sales job ahead if he is to help his wife revitalize the American economy. _____ Matthew Dallek, an associate professor at George Washington Universitys Graduate School of Political Management, is author of Defenseless Under the Night: The Roosevelt Years and the Origins of Homeland Security. _____ Related slideshows: On the ground at the DNC a photo report >>> Bernie Sanders supporters make a last stand >>> Sanders supporters weep at DNC >>> How newspapers covered the DNCs first big day >>> Demonstrators protest outside the DNC >>> Thousands of residents of California have begun returning home after they were evacuated in the weekend over the deadly wildfire. By Reuters: Thousands of California residents were allowed to returned home on Monday after a deadly, destructive wildfire forced them from their houses in recent days as it raged through drought-parched canyons and foothills north of Los Angeles. About 300 miles (480 km) to the north, though, another fire ravaged a hilly area near the scenic coastal city of Carmel-by-the-Sea, churning through 16,100 acres (6,500 hectares) and destroying 20 homes and two outbuildings, authorities said. advertisement The so-called Soberanes Fire, burning in the Los Padres National Forest in Monterey County, threatened 1,650 structures by Monday evening and was only 10 percent contained, the U.S. Forest Service said. A fire fighter looks out of the burning hillside as they continue to battle the so-called Sand Fire in the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles, California, United States, July 25, 2016. REUTERS/Gene Blevins 3,000 FIRE FIGHTERS WORKED TO DOUSE THE FIRE Near Los Angeles, a beefed-up force of nearly 3,000 fire fighters battled to outflank the blaze there - known as the Sand Fire - which has charred at least 50 square miles (130 square km) on the rugged northwestern fringes of the Angeles National Forest, authorities said. The Sand Fire erupted on Friday and also remained just 10 percent contained on Monday evening as crews backed by bulldozers labored to hack buffer lines around its perimeter. The majority of the estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people who lived in the 10,000 homes that were evacuated earlier were allowed to return home on Monday evening, fire officials said. Fed by dense brush left desiccated by five years of drought, flames were initially stoked by triple-digit heat and extremely low humidity. Slightly cooler, moister weather and diminished winds were expected to assist fire fighters on Monday. Flames flare up from a wildfire near Placenta Caynon Road in Santa Clarita, Calif., Sunday, July 24, 2016. Thousands of homes remained evacuated Sunday as two massive wildfires raged in tinder-dry California hills and canyons. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu) "We have very little wind, we have an increase in relative humidity, and so it's favourable for us to get out and to put out hot spots and work on line construction," Los Angeles County Fire Chief Greg Hisel said. He said calmer winds were helping to keep the fire stationary. The Sand Fire blaze was concentrated near the town of Acton, about 50 miles (80 km) north of Los Angeles, as it cast a pall of smoke and soot over a wide area. Much of the Los Angeles basin was dusted with a thin layer of fine white ash from the fire on Saturday and Sunday. advertisement At least 18 dwellings were destroyed over the weekend, and authorities have reported one fatality, an unidentified man found on Saturday evening in a burned-out car parked in the driveway of a home. A fire fighter looks out of the burning hillside as they continue to battle the so-called Sand Fire in the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles, California, United States, July 25, 2016. REUTERS/Gene Blevins Among the properties to go up in flames was the landmark Sable Ranch, a popular location for television and movie shoots. The causes of the two fires were under investigation. They are among some 3,750 blazes large and small to have erupted across California since January, a higher-than-normal total, collectively scorching more than 200,000 acres (80,940 hectares), state fire officials said. The biggest so far was last month's Erskine Fire, which consumed 48,000 acres (19,429 hectares) northeast of Bakersfield, killing two people and destroying about 250 structures. By comparison, the 2003 Cedar Fire ranks as the biggest on record in the state. It blackened more than 273,000 acres (110,480 hectares), leveled 2,820 buildings and claimed 15 lives. (Additional reporting by Laila Kearney and Chris Michaud in New York, Brendan O'Brien and Milwaukee, and Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Grant McCool, Jonathan Oatis and Tom Hogue) advertisement Also read: California wildfire threatens homes, prompts evacuations --- ENDS --- Philadelphia (AFP) - Hillary Clinton stood poised to formally win her party's presidential nomination Tuesday, as her husband Bill was tasked with the speech of the night -- steeling fractious Democrats for the White House fight against Republican Donald Trump. Clinton will be proclaimed the party's nominee after a state-by-state roll call vote beginning at around 6:00 pm (2200 GMT) at the Democratic National Convention, making the former first lady and secretary of state the first female presidential candidate of a major US party. Although the outcome is a foregone conclusion, the vote could be an occasion for rowdy displays on the convention floor by diehard Bernie Sanders delegates frustrated with their candidate's loss to Clinton in the primaries. After a chaotic opening day Monday, the Clinton camp was looking to unite the party's factions, with negotiations underway about Sanders possibly announcing the votes from his state of Vermont during the roll call, and then moving to seek her nomination by unanimous acclamation. "Our campaigns are working very closely together to bring our two teams together," Clinton spokeswoman Kristina Schake told CNN. The Clinton campaign announced that Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, the longest serving woman in the history of the US Congress, will place Clinton's name in nomination. Civil rights icon John Lewis, a congressman from Georgia, will second the nomination. - 'Show a little class' - Monday saw disruptive protests and a rancorous fight over leaked emails showing party bias against Sanders. Frustration boiled over as his delegates jeered speakers who mentioned Clinton. Vice President Joe Biden, who will address the convention Wednesday along with President Barack Obama, dismissed concerns the party was not uniting behind Clinton. "We've got to show a little class and let them be frustrated for a while. It's OK," he said of Sanders supporters as he toured the convention arena Tuesday. Story continues Sanders meanwhile called on his supporters to get behind Clinton. "What we must do, or forever look back in regret, is defeat Donald Trump and elect Hillary Clinton," he said Tuesday while addressing the California delegation. "In my view, it's easy -- it's easy to boo, but it is harder to look your kids in the face who would be living under a Donald Trump presidency," he said. Trump took the usual shots at Clinton during a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Charlotte, North Carolina, calling her "Crooked Hillary" and charging that her use of a private email account as secretary of state "put America's entire national security at risk." A Clinton campaign official said Tuesday's convention events in Philadelphia aim to draw a sharp contrast with Trump. The line-up of speakers will talk about her life-long fights to make a difference. Chief among them will be former president Clinton, who will take the stage during primetime to hail his wife as a "change-maker," the official said. But Clinton and the others -- including mothers who have lost children to gun violence or in clashes with police -- will also have the unstated mission of mending fences with Sanders' army of vocal young activists. - 'I'm with her' - Michelle Obama appeared to soothe some of the Sanders zealots Monday night, as she delivered a heartfelt endorsement from one first lady to another and hailed the inspirational prospect of a first female US president. "In this election, I'm with her," Obama said. She also praised how Clinton handled her defeat to Barack Obama eight years ago. "She didn't get angry or disillusioned. Hillary did not pack up and go home," she said. "As a true public servant Hillary knows that this is so much bigger than her own desires and disappointments." - From 'political revolution' to revolt - Despite Sanders calling on his flock to get behind Clinton, his self-styled "political revolution" appears to have transformed into a revolt. Sanders himself was booed by some sections of the audience when he told the crowd Monday: "Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her tonight." Michigan delegate Charles Niswander, 28, said he and other Sanders delegates would never line up behind Clinton. "None of them want her, the people who voted for Bernie," Niswander said. The party is still reeling from leaked Democratic National Committee emails which show nominally neutral party staff trying to undermine Sanders' campaign and questioning his Jewish faith. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was investigating the "cyber intrusion," which the Clinton campaign blamed on Russian hackers it said are bent on helping Trump. Bill Clinton's highly anticipated address could jump-start the party healing process. The 69-year-old Democratic icon and two-term president remains a powerful force on the national stage, although he is more gaunt and his energy is no longer boundless as it appeared four years ago. At the 2012 Democratic convention, he delivered closing arguments for why Barack Obama should be re-elected, a voice of experience explaining Obama's policies in clear, cogent detail and why he felt Republican policies were failing. Vincent Tortorella Steve Cohen has a new mantra: better to be safe than sorry. Cohen's Point72 Asset Management is taking extra precautions to guard against wrongdoing after Cohen's predecessor hedge fund, SAC Capital Advisors, was shut down for insider trading. Vincent "Vinny" Tortorella, a cheery Italian-American and former federal prosecutor, is the man charged with the task, having taken over as head of Point72's compliance and surveillance unit in 2014. Cohen has given Tortorella a blank check to do whatever it takes to keep the firm straight, including an investigative team of more than 50 staffers, including ex-federal agents who track any potential rumors of wrongdoing both at Point72 and at competitors. It's a proactive, rather than reactive, strategy, Tortorella told Business Insider in an interview over lunch in Manhattan. Tortorella was accompanied by two of Cohen's in-house public relations pros, also another key to his firm's makeover. Before the insider trading investigation at Visium Asset Management became public earlier this year, for instance, Point72 put a ban on hiring those who'd recently worked there on the investment side, Business Insider previously reported. Visium isn't the only firm Point72 has banned, either. Tortorella declined to say who else made the list and when exactly the Visium ban came into effect. Point72's Visium ban contrasts with its hedge fund rivals. Ken Griffin's Citadel, for instance, recently swooped up about 17 traders from one of Visium's funds. Lombard Odier and Caxton Associates also hired Visium traders. The portfolio managers appear to have worked at Visium's global fund, a multisector equity fund that wasn't named in regulators' charges. Reps for Citadel declined to comment, and Lombard Odier and Caxton didn't respond. Steve Cohen Point72 has good reason to keep strict protocol. The Securities and Exchange Commission in 2013 shut down its $16 billion predecessor, SAC Capital, banning the hedge fund from managing outside money. Cohen's hedge fund pleaded guilty to securities fraud and he subsequently launched Point72 as a family office to run his billions of wealth. A Cohen-led organization can accept outside investors' money again in 2018. Story continues Since then, Cohen's firm has been beefing up its compliance. "This can't ever happen again," Cohen told Tortorella when he hired him in 2014, Tortorella said. The effort hasn't come cheap. Cohen gave Tortorella veto powers on any potential hire, and Tortorella has used it on potential staffers who would likely have made major money for Point72. The cost of running Tortorella's team, which has grown by about 50% in the last two years, also comes to tens of millions of dollars a year, Tortorella said. Point72's in-house surveillance team has, on occasion, fired employees who fell out of line, too. For instance, Point72 has restrictions on trading in personal accounts, and requires disclosure. Point72 fired an employee who hid a secret account. Many in the industry scorn personal trading for the conflicts of interest that arise when traders make investments for themselves rather than for the firm. Coincidentally, this was also an issue at Visium, where the founder, Jake Gottlieb, made a lucrative bet for himself on a trade the flagship fund also made, Business Insider reported last month. It's unclear if regulators are looking into that trade. Jacob Gottlieb Other measures narrow the flow of info that Tortorella and his team have to sort through in tracking its traders. Tortorella banned instant messaging for analysts and portfolio managers, for instance. Data spying software also helps his team pick through huge flows of information. Tortorella's team also watches how traders source their investments, such that a trader needs to back up how he or she got every piece of info leading up to a decision, Tortorella said. Point72 isn't the first hedge fund that Tortorella has been tasked with monitoring. He spent three and a half years at New York hedge fund Coatue Management as head of proprietary research and general counsel. Before that, he was the chief operating officer and general counsel at Guidepoint, an expert network, and a federal prosecutor in the Department of Justice's criminal division from 2004 to 2008. The experience has given him a theory about who tends to commit insider trading. It's not the best investors who are cheating, he said. It's those who are trying to keep their heads above water. Correction: An earlier version of this story said Point72 had banned trading in personal accounts. It has not. It has restrictions in place, and requires disclosure. NOW WATCH: SCOTT GALLOWAY: Investing in Snap is something 'no one responsible should ever do' More From Business Insider First McDonald's franchise McDonald's golden arches have come a long way over the years. The now iconic logo had its start in 1952, when the McDonalds brothers were interviewing architects to design the first McDonald's location, reports The Daily Meal. The first three architects were skeptical of the brother's plan to construct a restaurant with two arches, shaped like semicircles, on each side. Then, they found Stanley Clark Meston. Meston designed the McDonald's location to stand out amongst the surrounding buildings, grabbing the attention of hungry drivers who could be convinced to pull over and buy a quick burger. Two golden arches, one on each side of the building, did just that. Originally, the two arches were not meant to form an "M," as they do today in the chain's logo. However, as the building design became famous, the chain created a logo intended to be a minimalist view of a McDonald's location, with a slanted roof and two arches lining up to form an M. old mcdonalds hamburger university By the late 1960s, McDonald's had ditched the two-arch design, with the golden arches appearing instead on signs. This is the era in which Ray Kroc had taken over the business and was swiftly franchising McDonalds across the US, using the golden arches as a logo, not as an architectural instruction. There was, at this point in time, reportedly some discussion regarding the need for a new logo. However, the change was rejected by a marketing expert for a somewhat bizarre psychological reason, reports the BBC. vintage mcdonalds cars Apparently, design consultant Louis Cheskin convinced McDonald's to maintain its branding with the argument that with the golden arches carried the "Freudian symbolism of a pair of nourishing breasts." Since Cheskin's reported pro-golden arch argument in the '60s, there have been a few tweaks to the logo as it has traveled around the world. Story continues The only non-yellow M in the world...apparently. #sedonamcdonalds A photo posted by Greg Vogel (@theurbanwombat) on Oct 5, 2015 at 5:47pm PDT on Oct 5, 2015 at 5:47pm PDT As the arches have become immediately recognizable, there have been instances in which McDonald's has allowed differences in color at local restaurants. In Sedona, Arizona, the arches are turquoise, to avoid clashing with the surrounding environment. In Monterey, California, the arches are black, as part of a compromise with the city to create a more "sophisticated" look. There have been small aesthetic shifts over the years, to make the arches taller or thicker, or to change the shading, but for the most part the arches have remained the same. Across the world, the golden arches mean one thing: McDonald's. NOW WATCH: We tried McDonald's popular international hit that's finally in the US here's the verdict More From Business Insider It looks like T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) will be fighting battles on multiple fronts when Black Panther hits theaters in 2018. After the film's panel at San Diego Comic-Con Saturday, Marvel.com (as spotted by Collider) posted red carpet interviews with some of the cast, including Lupita Nyong'o, who is playing Nakia - a classic comics character who has at times been romantically linked to Black Panther and at other times been the villain Malice. Nyong'o said that the plot will see T'Challa seek help from his personal body guards, the Dora Milaje, led by Okoye (The Walking Dead's Danai Gurira). "Black Panther's leadership is being threatened by two foes that come together, and so Black Panther gets the help of the CIA and the Dora Milajei to try to defeat the enemy," said Nyong'o, who went on to joke that she'd said too much. "Oh dear. Someone is going to fire me shortly. I have to shut up now." So who will the two villains be? At Comic-Con, Michael B. Jordan was revealed to be playing Erik Killmonger, an expert fighter and nemesis of Black Panther. In the comics, he has a connection to Ulysses Klaw (introduced in Avengers: Age of Ultron and played by Andy Serkis). Killmonger is a Wakandan who was born with the name N'Jadaka. N'Jadaka's father was coerced into working for Klaw when he attacked the country - but when that plot was foiled, N'Jadaka's whole family was exiled from the country by T'Challa. N'Jadaka ended up in Harlem, growing to hate T'Challa, going on to change his name to Klaw and eventually plotting to overthrow T'Challa. Serkis has not been confirmed for Black Panther, but Killmonger and Klaw being the villains are a likely bet. An intriguing clue from Nyong'o is that the Wakandan king will seek out help from the CIA. A likely candidate to fill that role? Martin Freeman's Captain America: Civil War character, Everett Ross, who in the comics has a long history with Black Panther. In the MCU, Ross works for a counter terrorism organization - not the CIA - but it wouldn't be a stretch to see him pop up to lend support. Story continues As for the Black Panther himself, Boseman teased that in the movie, Panther will face "some criticisms" and there may be "some changes in the suit." Black Panther is set for release on Feb. 16, 2018. Read More: Comic-Con: Winners and Losers From the TV and Film Panels Check out a classic conversation with Pearlman from 2013 above. Veteran rock producer Sandy Pearlman died on Tuesday morning (July 26) at age 72 after a long struggle following a cerebral hemorrhage he suffered in December, according to his longtime friend Robert Duncan. Pearlman was best known for producing nine albums by hard rock icons Blue Oyster Cult including their first five releases and a co-producing credit on their iconic hit the No. 12 1976 track (Dont Fear) The Reaper as well as The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! and The Clashs first U.S. release, Give Em Enough Rope. In addition to working behind the boards, Pearlman also managed BOC, Romeo Void, The Dictators and, briefly, Dio-era Black Sabbath. He was president of 415 Records and vice president of pioneering 1990s online music service e-music. Pearlmans friend Duncan, announced the news in a Facebook post, writing, Sandy Pearlman, poet, writer, songwriter, producer, manager, professor, polymath, visionary, passed peacefully, surrounded by love, at 12:30 am, July 26, 2016, in Marin County, California. A celebration of his exceptional life will be announced later. Duncan set up a GoFundMe page in June to help raise money for Pearlmans medical costs after what Duncan said was a hemorrhage that left his friend of five decades unable to walk, talk or fully comprehend his circumstances and in need of enormously expensive care. Pearlman, who was born on Aug. 8, 1943, also taught over the years at McGill, Stanford, Harvard, UC Berkeley, the New School and a number of other schools. Hes sometimes credited with coining the phrase heavy metal while working at early rock magazine Crawdaddy. His work producing, writing for and co-managing BOC was immortalized in the legendary SNL More Cowbell sketch, where Christopher Walken played a fictionalized version of the rock n roll raconteur. Tributes to Pearlman came in from a number of his collaborators and friends, including former Reprise Records president Howie Klein and Dream Syndicates Steve Wynn. Story continues RIP Sandy Pearlman I never got the feeling he feared the reaper https://t.co/cjgp6v9ytD Howie Klein (@downwithtyranny) July 26, 2016 Sandy Pearlman, Who Pretty Much Invented Me, Died This Morning https://t.co/qoxPXlD5Qm Howie Klein (@downwithtyranny) July 26, 2016 A Wisconsin man was so bored on summer vacation that he opted to spend his time exchanging family photos with random pictures of actor Steve Buscemi in an epic prank on his parents. Read: A Real-Life Star Trek? Strange Video of UFO Has Internet Buzzing Kevin Manion, 21, decided to switch every family photo with the Fargo actor until his parents noticed. His sister, Clare, 19, posted about the prank on Twitter. My brother has been replacing family photos with pics of Steve Buscemi and my mom hasn't noticed pic.twitter.com/d533C4yEZW Clare Manion (@claremaura) July 24, 2016 Kevin posted five pictures in total; his dad caught on after the second day but kept the joke quiet. His mother didn't realize what was going on until the fifth photo was placed. They both thought it was hilarious, Clare told Inside Edition. My mom was confused at first she thought something had happened to my brother's senior portrait but then she realized it was Steve Buscemi and died laughing. The tweets gained momentum on the social network and Clare said she and her brother were shocked by the reach it has gotten. Read: Surfin' Safari: Meet the 90-Year-Old Daredevil Water Skier We are all so surprised at how the tweet blew up. My mom even made a Twitter so she could retweet it, she said. Kevin "loves" playing pranks on his family, according to his younger sister, so the house is undoubtedly on edge in anticipation of the next one. Watch: Man With No Legs and One Arm Dresses as Statue To Scare Park Patrons Related Articles: PRAGUE (Reuters) - A drinker who could not pay his bar bill left his clothes at the pub as collateral as he headed off naked to get cash, Czech police said. The man walked through the town of Prerov in the early afternoon on Monday dressed only in ankle-length black socks, talking on a mobile phone, security camera footage posted on news website www.idnes.cz showed (http://tinyurl.com/jphw5d4). Police officers soon found the man who explained he had just popped across town to another pub to get some cash. He was allowed to complete his quest and eventually settled the bill, got his clothes back and put them on. City police said they handed the case over to state police for further investigation. (Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) London (AFP) - BP faced another net loss in the second quarter but has now drawn a line under the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster, the British energy giant said on Tuesday. The company posted a loss after taxation of $1.4 billion (1.3 billion euros) for the three months to June, which however compared with a far larger loss of $5.8 billion for the second quarter of 2015. BP also booked a net post-tax non-operating charge of $2.8 billion for costs linked to the oil disaster. That included a pre-tax non-operating charge of $5.2 billion. The energy major had already revealed earlier this month that the final cost for the spill stood at $61.6 billion, including the latest second-quarter hit. BP added that this year's capital expenditure was now expected to fall below $17 billion. "We are very pleased to have finally drawn a line under the material liabilities for Deepwater Horizon," said chief executive Bob Dudley in the results statement. "We will always be mindful of what we have learned from that tragic accident. BP today is a stronger, more focused and more disciplined company. "We continue to actively develop a strong, balanced portfolio and we are managing the business for value over volume. "Our relentless group-wide focus on capital and cost discipline is helping BP to become much more efficient while maintaining the investment needed for future growth." Back in 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11 men off the coast of Louisiana and caused 134 million gallons (507 million litres) of oil to spew into Gulf waters. It took 87 days to cap the out of control well some 1,500 metres (5,000 feet) below sea level, and the oil slick stretched across an area the size of Virgina, blackening beaches across five US states and hitting tourism and fishing. London-listed BP had clocked enormous losses last year on costs linked to the deadly spill. It has axed thousands of jobs and sold billions of dollars of assets to meet the clean-up bill. Story continues The sigh of relief emanating from BP HQ is almost palpable as the Gulf of Mexico spill is finally consigned to the history books," noted Richard Hunter, head of research at Wilson King Investment Management. "This is not to say that the challenges are over, not least of which is an underlying oil price still markedly short of the level which would provide comfort for the company." Stripping out exceptional costs and changes to the value of oil inventories, BP also reported Tuesday a net profit of $720 million in the second quarter, down 45 percent from a year earlier on low oil prices. Market expectations had been for profit of $819 million according to analysts polled by Bloomberg. "Compared with a year earlier, the underlying second-quarter result was impacted by lower oil and gas prices and significantly lower refining margins, but this was partly offset by the benefit of lower cash costs throughout the group as well as lower exploration write-offs," added Dudley. "We are delivering significant improvements to the business that will stick at any oil price. We are now well down the path of transforming our business to compete, whatever the future holds." Brazilian Federal Police officers escort one of the 10 people they arrested on suspicions of belonging to a group supporting Islamic State and discussing terrorist acts during next month's Rio 2016 Olympic Games, at the Guarulhos airport in Sao Paulo, in this video frame taken July 21, 2016. REUTERS/Mario Angelo-Sigmapress Brazil has now captured 12 ISIS sympathizers accused of trying to mount attacks on the Olympic Games slated to begin on August 5 in Rio de Janeiro. The suspects were apprehended in an operation that not only involved assistance from US authorities, but the help of Facebook and Twitter. Last week, Brazilian police rounded up 10 suspects in different locations around the country. On Friday, an 11th suspect turned himself, and the 12th and final member of what Brazil's justice minister called a group of "absolutely amateur" plotters was caught by military police in the city of Comodoro, in the western state of Mato Grosso, officials said. Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes said some of the men had pledged allegiance to the ISIS without having any personal contact with members of the terrorism group. The suspects had never received any training nor been to Iraq or Syria. "They were complete amateurs and ill-prepared" to mount an attack, Moraes said last week. "A few days ago they said they should start practicing martial arts, for example." The group, which Moraes called a "cell," never met in person, did not have any bomb materials or funding, and had tried to buy an AK-47 from Paraguay online, according to Univision. The suspects also didn't know each other and only communicated via messaging apps WhatsApp and Telegram. The group allegedly attempted to form an extremist cell called Defenders of Sharia, but they didn't have formal ties to ISIS. Operation Hashtag Brazil Rio Olympics security crime violence terrorism Brazilian authorities revealed the antiterrorism operation when they announced the arrests on Thursday. Brazilian federal police said in a statement that Operation Hashtag, as it was known, had started in April and involved phone taps and monitoring the suspects' postings on social media. Story continues After the initial arrests, a Brazilian prosecutor revealed that the US FBI had also aided the investigation, providing tips on six individuals in May. "The information came from the FBI," Rafael Brum Miron, the federal prosecutor handling the case in the southern state of Parana, told the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper. "They sent a succinct report: These people merit investigating." In an interview broadcast late on Sunday, a Brazilian judge said that Facebook and Twitter had both assisted the investigation, as well. Judge Marcos Josegrei da Silva, who is overseeing the case, said cooperation by both social-media companies, after a judicial order tied to the investigation, was vital to understanding the nature of discussions the suspects had. "The companies began to provide data related to the content of the conversations and data about where those conversations were posted," the judge said, according to Reuters, but without offering more details. Brazil Rio Olympics security preparations violence crime The arrests not only come just days before the opening of the 2016 Rio games. They also take place amid an ongoing debate about the needs of law enforcement in a country dealing with high crime rates and the public's right to communicate without interference. Brazil and WhatsApp have clashed several times in recent months, with authorities implementing several nationwide bans on the app for its failure to provide information on suspected criminal activities to Brazilian authorities. (Brazilian courts have overturned each ban relatively quickly.) WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, offers encrypted communications, and the company says that even it cannot access the conversations Brazilian authorities have requested to see. (Vincent Bevins, the LA Times correspondent in Brazil, says police likely monitored the suspected ISIS militants by infiltrating the WhatsApp groups they used.) Da Silva, the judge managing the case, also said others beyond the 12 in custody could be involved. Brazil plans to deploy 85,000 armed police and soldiers to the streets of Rio to provide security, though the threat of street crime and crimes of opportunity remain. NOW WATCH: Here's how gold medals are made for the Rio Olympics More From Business Insider The Centre has decided to involve the Archeological Survey of India, Geological Survey of India and eminent historians to carry out the 'Saraswati Heritage Project'. Triveni Sangam is believed to be the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers in Allahabad. By Soudhriti Bhabani: After the Haryana government's initiative, now the Narendra Modi-led Centre kicked-off an ambitious project of tracing the origin of Saraswati river that presumably dried up in India close to 4,000 years ago. SARASWATI HERITAGE PROJECT The 'Saraswati Heritage Project' was taken up by the Government of India (GOI) to reconnect with the historical, cultural and religious past of the country. The first meeting of the project was held on Monday to discuss the possibility of reviving the lost river (that is believed to have gone underground), tracing its disappeared routes and to bring it back to life once again. advertisement Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Mahesh Sharma chaired the meeting on 'Saraswati Heritage Project' that discussed about the nitty-gritty of it. Secretary of Ministry of Culture (MoC) NK Sinha and Secretary of Ministry of Tourism (MoT) Vinod Zutshi were also seen in the meeting, besides other experts, river scientists and historians. "The Centre has decided to involve the Archeological Survey of India (ASI), Geological Survey of India (GSI) and eminent historians to carry out the project. A committee has also been constituted to work elaborately on the project," an official in the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) told MAIL TODAY on Monday. The official said the experts also found some positive links at Adi Badri near Yamunanagar, (now in Haryana), where the river (Saraswati) is believed to have originated from. VEDIC SARASWATI RIVER The mythical river Saraswati has both religious and ancient significance. It is popularly believed that parts of the Rig Veda were written on the banks of the Saraswati. The Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana had appointed a specialised team to search for the traces of the Saraswati River and its original route -largely considered sacred by Hindus. It also allocated Rs 50 crore to the project aimed at discovering the stream through artificially recharge. Earlier in 2014, Union water resources minister Uma Bharati had also said that "finding the missing river" was one of the priorities of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government. Bharati had said at an occasion in August, 2014: "There is enough scientific evidence on the presence of the river Saraswati in some parts of the country through which it flowed about five to six thousand years ago. Saraswati is not a myth". "Reviving any river is always a welcome move. It is a good idea that the Centre has decided to revive it. We keep killing river and in India we have destroyed hundreds of them, not just a few," said Michel Danino, a guest professor at IIT Gandhinagar and a member of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR). advertisement ALSO READ: Saraswati river sprouts to life after 4,000 years in Haryana --- ENDS --- RIO DE JANEIRO, July 26 (Reuters) - Brazilian interim President Michel Temer vetoed a provision of a bill allowing foreign investors to own up to 100 percent of Brazilian-flag airlines, according to a note published in Brazil's official government newspaper on Tuesday. The veto only affects one part of a package of aviation industry regulations aimed at boosting the struggling industry in the face of Brazil's deepest recession in decades. With the veto, the country's 20 percent limit on foreign ownership of airlines remained in place. Brazilian senators agreed to pass the legislation on June 29 only after Temer promised to veto the section of the bill dropping foreign ownership limits. The senators said they wanted to study the impact of more foreign ownership on smaller regional airlines before considering removing the limit. Brazilian Transportation Minister Mauricio Quintella told Reuters on July 11 that the Temer government still wants to pass a bill removing foreign ownership limits for Brazilian airlines. (Reporting by Jeb Blount; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) By Philip Blenkinsop and Freya Berry BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - Anheuser-Busch InBev raised its $100 billion-plus bid for rival brewer SABMiller on Tuesday in an attempt to quash investor dissent over an offer made less attractive by a post Brexit vote fall in the pound. SABMiller said its chairman spoke with his AB InBevcounterpart on Friday about that offer in the light of exchange rate volatility and market movements, but there was no talk or agreement on the terms of the revised offer of 45 pounds a share, up from 44 pounds in October. The change comes after a number of activist investors, such as Elliott Capital Advisors and TCI Fund Management, bought stakes in SABMiller and several shareholders voiced concerns at least week's annual general meeting that the cash deal was less attractive for most investors than before and was below a share-and-cash alternative. AB InBev (ABI) said the revised terms were final, which under British law means the price is set, unless the bidder drops its offer and waits six months to make another. However, Aberdeen Asset Management , with a 1.17percent SABMiller stake according to Thomson Reuters data, said the revised offer was still unacceptable, although analysts said they thought the deal was now likely to go through. Bernstein Research beverage analyst Trevor Stirling said SABMiller's shares would probably drop to 41.50 pounds if ABInBev's takeover bid failed. "The broader base of shareholders can take the money and run.... or seek to call ABI's bluff," said Bernstein Research analyst Trevor Stirling. Another analyst likened the situation to a game of chicken that ABI was trying to head off. The world's largest brewer, seeking to secure attractive markets in Latin America and Africa by taking over its nearest rival, also improved the terms of an alternative share-and-cash offer designed for SABMiller's two largest shareholders. Story continues The slide in the value of the pound following Britain's vote to leave the European Union has made the deal less attractive for all the other investors, while the rise of AB InBev shares in the past nine months has made the alternative option more so. The new offer values SABMiller at around 79 billion pounds ($103.6 billion). In November, when the original bid was officially launched, it was worth around 70 billion pounds, or$106 billion based on exchange rates at the time. That original bid had since dropped to about $100 billion. The share and cash offer, designed exclusively for Altria and Colombia's Santo Domingo family who together own about 41percent of SABMiller, had been worth less than the all-cash option last year, but with the fall of sterling and a rise of ABInBev shares, has since surpassed it. For a foreign dollar-based investor, the cash offer had dropped 12 percent since the British referendum on June 23.Meanwhile, AB InBev shares are more than 35 percent higher than in October. MODEST INCREASE Aberdeen Asset Management said the revised offer undervalued the company and continued to favor Altria and Bevco, the Santo Domingos investment vehicle. AB InBev said the share-and-cash offer value was now 51.14pounds, so above the 45 pounds of pure cash, but the new shares offered would have to be held for at least five years. "I wouldnt like to second guess what the activists were hoping for, but the increase is quite modest," one SABMiller shareholder told Reuters. Liberum analyst Alicia Forry said she believed the revised bid was likely to be successful by throwing a "small bone" to activist investors and shutting the door to further increases. "The main thing from ABI's perspective is they don't want this to drag and if they engaged (activists) it would," she said. SABMiller, which provisionally agreed the deal struck in October, said it had taken on Centerview Partners as a new financial advisor and would consult with shareholders before formally considering the revised offer. The takeover is still awaiting regulatory approval in China. SABMiller shareholders would expect to vote on it after that. At 1445 GMT, SABMiller shares were down 0.4 percent at 44.20pounds. AB InBev's were up 0.6 percent at 115.50 euros. (Additional reporting by Martinne Geller, Sinead Cruise, Simon Jessop and Maiya Keidan; Editing by Susan Fenton and Alexander Smith) * New cash offer 45 pounds/share, up from 44 pounds * Share-and-cash alternative up by 88 pence * AB InBev says offer is final * SABMiller reviewing stance with shareholders (Recasts with more on investor dissent) By Philip Blenkinsop and Freya Berry BRUSSELS/LONDON, July 26 (Reuters) - Anheuser-Busch InBev raised its $100 billion-plus bid for rival brewer SABMiller on Tuesday in an attempt to quash investor dissent over an offer made less attractive by a post Brexit vote fall in the pound. SABMiller said its chairman spoke with his AB InBev counterpart on Friday about that offer in the light of exchange rate volatility and market movements, but there was no talk or agreement on the terms of the revised offer of 45 pounds a share, up from 44 pounds in October. The change comes after a number of activist investors, such as Elliott Capital Advisors and TCI Fund Management, bought stakes in SABMiller and several shareholders voiced concerns at least week's annual general meeting that the cash deal was less attractive for most investors than before and was below a share-and-cash alternative. AB InBev (ABI) said the revised terms were final, which under British law means the price is set, unless the bidder drops its offer and waits six months to make another. However, Aberdeen Asset Management, with a 1.17 percent SABMiller stake according to Thomson Reuters data, said the revised offer was still unacceptable, although analysts said they thought the deal was now likely to go through. Bernstein Research beverage analyst Trevor Stirling said SABMiller's shares would probably drop to 41.50 pounds if AB InBev's takeover bid failed. "The broader base of shareholders can take the money and run.... or seek to call ABI's bluff," said Bernstein Research analyst Trevor Stirling. Another analyst likened the situation to a game of chicken that ABI was trying to head off. The world's largest brewer, seeking to secure attractive markets in Latin America and Africa by taking over its nearest rival, also improved the terms of an alternative share-and-cash offer designed for SABMiller's two largest shareholders. Story continues The slide in the value of the pound following Britain's vote to leave the European Union has made the deal less attractive for all the other investors, while the rise of AB InBev shares in the past nine months has made the alternative option more so. The new offer values SABMiller at around 79 billion pounds ($103.6 billion). In November, when the original bid was officially launched, it was worth around 70 billion pounds, or $106 billion based on exchange rates at the time. That original bid had since dropped to about $100 billion. The share and cash offer, designed exclusively for Altria and Colombia's Santo Domingo family who together own about 41 percent of SABMiller, had been worth less than the all-cash option last year, but with the fall of sterling and a rise of AB InBev shares, has since surpassed it. For a foreign dollar-based investor, the cash offer had dropped 12 percent since the British referendum on June 23. Meanwhile, AB InBev shares are more than 35 percent higher than in October. MODEST INCREASE Aberdeen Asset Management said the revised offer undervalued the company and continued to favour Altria and Bevco, the Santo Domingos' investment vehicle. AB InBev said the share-and-cash offer value was now 51.14 pounds, so above the 45 pounds of pure cash, but the new shares offered would have to be held for at least five years. "I wouldn't like to second guess what the activists were hoping for, but the increase is quite modest," one SABMiller shareholder told Reuters. Liberum analyst Alicia Forry said she believed the revised bid was likely to be successful by throwing a "small bone" to activist investors and shutting the door to further increases. "The main thing from ABI's perspective is they don't want this to drag and if they engaged (activists) it would," she said. SABMiller, which provisionally agreed the deal struck in October, said it had taken on Centerview Partners as a new financial advisor and would consult with shareholders before formally considering the revised offer. The takeover is still awaiting regulatory approval in China. SABMiller shareholders would expect to vote on it after that. At 1445 GMT, SABMiller shares were down 0.4 percent at 44.20 pounds. AB InBev's were up 0.6 percent at 115.50 euros. ($1 = 0.7624 pounds) (Additional reporting by Martinne Geller, Sinead Cruise, Simon Jessop and Maiya Keidan; Editing by Susan Fenton and Alexander Smith) Brussels (AFP) - The world's top brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev raised its offer for rival SABMiller on Tuesday after a major slump by the British pound due to the Brexit vote threw the blockbuster deal into doubt. Angry shareholders of London-based SABMiller were increasingly resisting the giant buyout, which before the Brexit vote was valued as much as $121 billion. In a statement, the Belgium-based brewer of Budweiser and Stella Artois said it raised its all cash offer for SABMiller from 44 pounds per share to 45 pounds in what was its final proposal. The transaction now values SABMillers entire "issued and to be issued" share capital at around 79 billion ($103 billion), ABInbev said. That includes a restricted share offer that is less attractive to investors as they must wait five years before cashing out. AB InBev agreed in November to buy SABMiller whose brands include Foster's, Grolsch and Peroni. The Leuven, Belgium, based brewer said the new offer represents a premium of approximately 53 per cent to SABMillers closing share price when news of the negotiations first broke in September last year. In a statement SABMiller said it "notes" the announcement by AB InBev. "The board will continue to consult with shareholders and will meet in due course formally to review ... the revised offer and a further announcement will be made thereafter," the company said. The deal is expected to boost world-leader AB InBev's prospects in developing markets in Africa and China. AB InBev's acquisition of the London-based SABMiller is in line to be the third largest in history if it clears all regulatory hurdles. But the deal's value fell sharply given the plunge in the value of the pound after Britain's vote to leave the European Union. "The increase will cost AB InBev an additional 1.5 billion pounds or $2.0 billion at the current exchange rate," said ING bank in a note to clients. Story continues "However, when comparing the previous offer at the prevailing exchange rate before Brexit ... with the increased offer at the current exchange rate, the latter is actually (more than) $3 billion lower in value," it added. The mega deal was on its final stretch before the complications from Brexit, with approval secured by EU, US and South African regulators. AB InBev has agreed to a series of concessions to win the greenlight from the competition authorities, including the sale of stakes in Snow Breweries in China. It also agreed to sell most of SABMiller's European businesses, including Peroni and Grolsch which were bought by Japanese brewer Asahi. * Graphic on Brexit impact http://reut.rs/2aqnwkw LONDON, July 26 (Reuters) - Britain's June 23 referendum decision to leave the European Union has had far-reaching consequences for the world's economy, businesses, investors and politics. Following are the main developments: July 26: The Bank of England's main hawk, Martin Weale, tells the Financial Times he is now looking at the UK economy in a different light after tumbling purchasing managers' index reports last week. This comes a week after Weale said there was no rush to cut rates. The BoE is more publicly worried than most about the impact of Brexit. Something in the tea leaves its members read? Signs of Brexit stress: 1) Deutsche Bank cut price target on four UK building stocks, citing Brexit slowdown. Taylor Wimpey, Berkeley Group, Barratt Developments and Persimmon all down between 2.3 percent to 2.5 percent as immediate result. 2) British banks approved fewest number of mortgages since March 2015 last month, reflecting nerves in the run-up to the vote. IMPORTANT DATES AHEAD: - Aug. 4: Bank of England policy meeting, economic forecasts - Sept. 16: Informal EU summit in Bratislava - Sept. 25-28: UK Labour Party conference - October TBA: Italian constitutional reform referendum - Oct. 2: Re-run of Austrian presidential election - Oct. 2-5: UK Conservative Party conference - Oct. 13-15: Scottish National Party conference - Oct. 20-21: Formal EU summit in Brussels PREVIOUS July 25 Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon made the next move in the chess game over independence for Scotland. A new referendum should remain an option depending on the shape of Britain's future ties with the EU and how well they worked for Scotland, she said. "If we find that our interests can't be protected in a UK context, independence must be one of those options that Scotland must have the right to consider," Sturgeon said in a speech. "That's why we'll take the preparatory steps to ensure that it's an option open to the Scottish parliament if the Scottish parliament considers it necessary." Sturgeon did not say what form the preparatory work would take but stressed that the unprecedented nature of Britain's exit meant all options for future ties with the EU and the rest of the United Kingdom should be considered. She did not think a prolonged period of negotiations with the EU would be in anyone's interests and she feared the terms of Britain's exit could be unfavourable for Scotland. REGULAR ITEMS: - Global Markets - Currency reports - Brexit Factbox: (Written by Jeremy Gaunt) In April, Britains Foreign Office decided that, like its neighbors at the nearby prime ministers residence at 10 Downing Street, it too would adopt a cat to catch and kill any mice that might be scurrying around the property. And so the office, then home to former Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, chose Palmerston, a black-and-white cat who had been rescued by the Battersea Dogs and Cats home, an animal shelter in London. For his few months alongside Hammond, Palmerston seemed relatively well-behaved and harmless. But then, in mid-July, shortly after the brazen, messy-haired Boris Johnson took over the role of foreign secretary, scuffles began to break out between the newly adopted cat and Larry, the white and brown cat that has been living at 10 Downing since he too was adopted from Battersea in 2011. (Larry stayed at the residence after David Cameron resigned as prime minister this month, and now enjoys the company of recently appointed Prime Minister Theresa May instead.) Sadly I cant take Larry with me, Cameron said in his final appearance in a question-and-answer session before the British parliament. He belongs to the house, and the staff love him very much, as do I. Larry suffered in Camerons absence, and injured his paw so badly in a particularly messy fight with Palmerston, that he had to go to the vet a treatment that was paid for by 10 Downing Street staff. Things came to a head Tuesday, however, when Palmerston, apparently sensing that Larry was back in the neighborhood, tried to sneak into 10 Downing possibly for further revenge. Photos that emerged from the scene show him in what appears to be a full stand-off between the two cats, with a guard standing watch: The take over bid of No10 has calmed down now an armed officer has arrived on the scene Palmerston v Larry pic.twitter.com/hw7Po0qfJ9 Political Pictures (@PoliticalPics) July 26, 2016 The absolute joy of Palmerston the Foreign Office cat caught red-pawed burgling Number 10. pic.twitter.com/mJRnN3d0LL Jane Casey (@JaneCaseyAuthor) July 26, 2016 By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) - Failings in the way regulators handled the collapse of HBOS bank bolster the case for an independent financial services enforcement body, a panel of British lawmakers said on Tuesday. The Treasury Select Committee was formally responding to the publication last November, seven years after the bank's failure during the credit crunch, of two reviews, one by regulators, the other by independent counsel. The counsel's report said the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Bank of England should review a decision by regulators not to act against some 10 executives of HBOS, despite the failure of the lender, which traded under the brands Bank of Scotland and Halifax. Andrew Tyrie, who chairs the parliamentary committee, said the case for placing the FCA's enforcement function in a separate body had been strengthened by the counsel's report. A separate parliamentary committee on banking reform that Tyrie chaired had proposed such a move in 2013, but the idea was rejected by the Treasury, or finance ministry. "A separate body would bolster the perception of the enforcement function's independence, and provide the regulators with greater clarity over their objectives," Tyrie said. "The case for separation merits serious re-examination," Tyrie added. "The Treasury should appoint an independent person to undertake a review." HBOS had to be rescued in a government-engineered takeover by rival Lloyds (LLOY.L), which subsequently needed a 20 billion pound bailout of its own. Britain's finance ministry said on Tuesday that reforms of financial supervision since the HBOS crash had directly addressed the regulatory failings identified in the lawmakers' report. NOT ALERT ENOUGH In 2014 the finance ministry said co-operation between the supervision and enforcement functions would likely be imperilled by institutional separation. The FCA said on Tuesday that hiving off enforcement from supervision would impact its ability to protect consumers and ensure the integrity of the UK financial system. It said HBOS had failed because of bad management and investigations into certain former HBOS senior managers were continuing. Story continues Tyrie also said parliament was not alert enough before the crash, its scrutiny of regulators having failed to flag up weaknesses in supervision. The committee said it expects regulators to demonstrate a high degree of independence in its work and has asked them to confirm that conflicts of interest from having serving or former bankers on their boards are adequately managed. Tyrie reiterated his criticism that the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) had made a "serious mistake" in not investigating the auditing of HBOS before last November's two reports. "The process by which it reached its decision suggests a lack of curiosity and diligence on the part of the FRC. The committee will be keeping a close eye on the FRC's work," he added. (Editing by David Holmes) A $107 billion bid by the worlds biggest beer company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, to buy the worlds second-biggest beer company, SABMiller, received the federal governments blessing last week. The question now is whether American beer lovers ought to be concerned. And the answer is unsatisfying: nobodys sure yet. While a can of Bud will likely cost about the same next summer as it does today, beer insiders say the real impact of this acquisitionnicknamed the Megabrew deal on Wall Streeton the robust American industry could come in the form of fewer locally-owned breweries, and therefore fewer consumer choices: fewer craft brews, fewer imports, and less innovation on tasty new products. Whether the industry goes in that direction wont be clear for at least a couple years. Thats because the U.S. Justice Departments approval of the deal, on July 22, looks good on paper, according to several representatives of small and independent brewers. It imposes a series of conditions designed to prevent the soon-to-be-massive Belgium-based ABI from using its extraordinary, global clout to distort the U.S. market or thwart competition from smaller beer makers. But it all depends on whether federal bureaucrats adequately police, and enforce, those squirrelly rulesa task they have not excelled at in the past. In a 2014 book that looked at dozens of past mergers and acquisitions, Northeastern University economics professor John Kwoka found that agency enforcement actions are not demonstrably effective and do not preserve or restore competition. There is little systematic follow-up, he told TIME, since the agencies are not designed or intended for this regulatory role. Independent distributors, craft brewers, and imported beer makers are therefore cautious about what comes next. In theory, these remedies should provide a little more of a barrier at the distribution level, Paul Gatza, the director of the Brewers Association, told TIME. But well see. Story continues The National Beer Wholesalers Association, which represents more than 3,000 licensed, independent beer distributor across the country, also welcomed the Justice Departments conditions, provided theyre enforced. The Department of Justice has imposed conditions to this mergerone of the largest deals in history and the largest ever in the beer industrywith the goal of maintaining competition in the beer industry and ensuring the continuation of the robust and competitive independent distribution system, said NBWA President and CEO Craig Purser. In order for the deal to go through, the Justice Department has required that ABI sell its U.S. stake in one, giant U.S.-based beer conglomerate, MillerCoors, to another company that meets the same description: Molson Coors. (By the end of 2016, Molson Coors is expected to control Coors Light and Millers Light, two of the top-four best-selling beers in America.) In the wake of that corporate shuffle, ABIs total U.S. market share, post-merger, will remain at roughly 44%more or less where it is now. But market share is only part of the problem facing small brewers. How beer makers actually get their product to marketto bars and restaurants, and onto store shelvesis the real the challenge behind the scenes, several brewers told TIME. According to most state alcohol laws, brewers are required to sell their product to a middle man, an independent distributor. Those distributors then act as liaisons to consumer-facing sellersbars, restaurants and storeswhich then sell the products to consumers. This unique, three-tier system has been remarkably effective at preventing any single brewery from gaining total control of the market. (By contrast, just two companies, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, have cornered the vast majority of the soft drink market.) As a result, theres been explosion of small-breweries, micro-breweries, and locally-owned restaurants selling their own beer. But this distribution tier is also vulnerable to exploitation. In recent years, the ever-more-giant brewers, including ABI, SABMiller, and Molson Coors, have used access to an independent distribution network as a tool to keep competitors at bay. For example, most of the big companies use special incentive programs to extract favorable terms from an independent distributor or force it to drop competitors products. And they have used their own prices to ace-out any distributor who doesnt play along. (After all, an independent distributor that loses a contract with a giant like ABI has very little chance of surviving without half the market share.) At the same time, a handful of the biggest beer makers have also begun to blur the once-bright lines in that three-tier system, quietly becoming small, wholly-owned distributors themselves in about ten states. ABI, for instance, which is both the biggest brewer and the biggest distributor by volume in the U.S., now owns roughly 9% of its own distribution network. Most craft brewers, meanwhile, cant begin afford the refrigerated trucks, warehouses, drivers, and regional expenses necessary to distribute their own product. State regulators have allowed those big brewers to wade into distribution with certain restrictions. In most states, the big breweries wholly-owned distributor arms are limited to distributing less than 10%usually 7 to 8%of their own product, forcing them to rely on traditional, independent distributors for the rest. While the big brewers direct control of distribution networks is still a relatively small factor, the role of this distribution network has weighed heavily on smaller brewers minds since ABI announced its intention to buy SABMiller in November 2015. For them, two specters loom: If an even-more-giant ABI is allowed to expand its wholly-owned distribution network and carry more of its own product, smaller beer-makers could be easily aced out of the market. And if ABI is allowed to use special incentive programs to make distribution through independent wholesalers more expensive for the little guys, it would have the same effect. The Justice Departments conditions on the ABI-SABMiller deal were designed to address this concern. Under the rules of the deal, ABI is not allowed to carry more than 10% of its own product on its wholly-owned distributors. Its not allowed to use incentive deals to extract special treatment from independent distributors, or to encourage them to drop competitors products. Its also required to get government approval to buy up smaller breweries. The Justice Department, which has appointed a monitor to follow-up on the terms of the deal, says those rules are robust and will be effective. The remedy we secured will help preserve and promote competition in the multi-billion dollar U.S. beer industry, said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Sonia Pfaffenroth of the Justice Departments Antitrust Division in a statement. But smaller brewers say its a gamble. Whether, and how, the federal government actually enforces those rules remains to be seen. If they dont, craft brewers face a tough political fight. After all, most American beer drinkers dont necessarily notice if nearly half of all the seemingly innumerable options on tap at their local bar or restaurant, or stocked on beer aisle at the grocery store, are all owned and controlled by ABI. Were already seeing in some places that the variety is more of a facade of choice, said Gatza, who represents craft brewers. There are a lot of different beers available, but theyre all controlled by the large brewers that just look like theyre independent craft breweries when in fact theyre not. In the meantime, ABI CEO Carlos Brito has declared victory. With todays agreement, we have taken a significant step forward on the transaction, he announced in a statement July 22, which will create the worlds first truly global brewer. By PTI: From K J M Varma Beijing, Jul 26 (PTI) China today said its "weal and woe" friendship with Nepal will not change after the resignation of premier K P Oli, amid concerns here over the fate of a number border connectivity deals struck during his regime to blunt Indias influence in Nepal. "The friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Nepal will not change due to the fall of Oli government," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in a statement. advertisement "As Nepals neighbour and friend, we sincerely hope that all parties can keep Nepals national interests in mind and stay committed to the countrys stability and development," Lu said. "China and Nepal share weal and woe,(prosperity and adversity)," he said, adding "no matter how the international and domestic situations change, the friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries will not change. His comments came as Chinese media expressed concern over the prospects of the return of Indias influence in Kathmandu and the fate of agreements reached by Oli to reduce his land -locked countrys dependence on India. "Friendly China-Nepal ties benefit the people of both countries," state-run Global Times quoted Chinese experts as saying. "It is very likely that India was behind Olis resignation because Oli had signed several deals during his State visit to China in March, which most likely irritated India," Wang Dehua, director of the Institute for Southern and Central Asian Studies at the Shanghai Municipal Centre for International Studies, told the Global Times. Wang said a politically stable Nepal could eliminate the border security concerns for both India and China. And a positive, cooperative Sino-Nepalese relationship is in Indias interests. During his visit here, Oli signed the Transit Transport Agreement (TTA)to improve the connectivity between Nepal and Tibet in a bid to end decades old dependency on India for daily supplies. Beijing in a strategic move has alsoagreed to extend the train link in Tibet to Nepal to improve the connectivity by road and rail. China has also sent large oil supplies to Kathmandu during the blockade imposed by the agitating Madhesis agitation opposing the new Constitution. Wang said the TTAcould be a very good opportunity to interconnect the countries and facilitate regional business development. "However, India fears that the railway may threaten its territory. I believe that most Nepalese still want to maintain a peaceful and positive relationship with China, and those deals will still be implemented for the sake of regional prosperity," Wang said. PTI KJV NSA AKJ NSA --- ENDS --- By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A virtual Noah's Ark of wild beasts and livestock has been relocated to save them from a massive wildfire burning north of Los Angeles in a region that is home to exotic animal sanctuaries and horse ranches. Officials and volunteers at the Wildlife Waystation in the northern Los Angeles suburb of Sylmar moved about three-quarters of the sprawling facility's 400 animals on Saturday, including dozens of large animals such as tigers, lions, bears and cougars, founder Martine Colette said in a telephone interview. The animals were coaxed into cages by voice command and meat for bait, and then loaded onto trucks, vans and trailers, Colette said. The so-called Sand Fire has charred 59 square miles (153 sq km) since it broke out on Friday in a mostly rural area around the community of Acton on the northwestern fringes of the Angeles National Forest. Wildlife Waystation said it expects to return the animals to the Sylmar facility on Wednesday, since firefighters have made progress containing the blaze. The creatures great and small, which were taken to other wild animal sanctuaries in Southern California, have been stressed by the move, Colette said. "They absolutely hate it, and it will take them several days, maybe as long as a week, to settle down when they finally come home." Most of the animals evacuated from the facility are small, including birds and lizards, that could easily be harmed by smoke, she said. The fire also forced ranch and farm owners in the region to evacuate their livestock by trailer to a number of facilities. More than 300 horses, 165 goats, 33 pigs and two Brahman bulls were displaced by the fire, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control. About 10 miles (16 km) north of the Wildlife Waystation, officials at the Lange Foundation's St. Bonnie's Sanctuary in Canyon Country on Saturday evacuated more than 40 dogs, over 60 cats and 14 horses, a board member with the organization, Diane Nelson, said in a telephone interview. Most of them were taken by car and van to one of the foundation's centers in Los Angeles. The foundation saves animals from being euthanized at shelters. Officials from two animal sanctuaries in the northern Los Angeles County region, the Gibbon Conservation Center that is home to arboreal apes, and the Shambala Preserve for big cats, said they were able to avoid moving their animals. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Toni Reinhold) From LennyLetter When you're a Democrat, knocking doors in a deep-Republican area like Lynchburg, Virginia, can throw more challenges in your direction than you'd expect. It wasn't unheard of to receive death threats when trying to persuade voters to support a candidate. More than one homeowner threatened to let their dogs out to get us "liberal canvassers" off their property. One woman told me that she would never vote for "that n***** Obama." I walked away from that door as fast as I possibly could. But when you are a volunteer, that's what you do: knock on doors. Volunteers knock on doors in the rain, in the snow, and in 100-degree weather. Canvassing, also known as "the ground game," is an essential part of any campaign. But no one had warned me how dangerous the doors I was knocking could be. I do it because I love being involved in causes that will make America a better place. In college, I attended the first PowerShift youth climate conference in 2007 and came away an activist. Back at school I helped organize petition drives against mountaintop coal removal, held screenings of environmental films, and led town-hall events. By 2008, my door-knocking career had begun. I volunteered for the historic Obama campaign and for the campaign of Senator Mark Warner. My fellow volunteers and I were determined to elect a progressive president and senator, and we knocked on as many doors as we had to in order to win that election - the issues at stake were way too important to give up. On election night, November 4, 2008, we were victorious - both Obama and Warner had won! For many of us, this was the first campaign we had volunteered on, and we knew the town halls, phone banks, and doors we knocked on had helped them win. I stayed active after that. In 2012, I volunteered for the Obama campaign again. Later in the fall, I was an organizer for the League of Conservation Voters, persuading its members to volunteer on the Obama campaign, Senator Tim Kaine's campaign in Virginia, and Krysten Sinema's congressional campaign in Arizona. I phone-banked voters for days on end and, yes, knocked on doors asking people to volunteer and vote. Story continues And now, after all that time knocking on doors - for President Obama in 2008 and 2012, and again for Hillary Clinton this past year - I am attending the Democratic National Convention as a delegate from my congressional district. It's a big step up from my previous work, and I can't wait. I decided to volunteer for the Hillary Clinton campaign early this year because she is the most qualified Democratic candidate. I loved her plans on repairing the Voting Rights Act and installing universal, automatic voter registration. For my big issue, the environment, Hillary understands that we need to take action on climate change. Her goal is for the United States to generate enough renewable energy to power every home in America, have half a billion solar panels installed by 2020, reduce oil consumption and energy waste, cut billions of oil and gas subsidies, and protect public lands. I was especially excited for her plan to develop an environmental-and-climate-justice task force, to eliminate lead poisoning within five years, and to expand solar and energy-efficiency solutions in low-income communities. I knew she'd inspire a new generation of women to break through the glass ceiling. So I've been doing my thing - I volunteered in Iowa, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, and made thousands of phone calls to get out the vote. I planned canvasses, maintained a volunteer listserv, planned precinct operations in my city for Primary Day, where we had a presence at EVERY polling place, and recruited dozens of volunteers. Then, in April, I decided to run to become a Hillary Clinton delegate to the national convention. I wanted to be a part of the entire process of nominating the next president. I knew this would be a very difficult challenge. First, I filed paperwork with my local Democratic committee and state party to run for delegate at the congressional-district level. This basically meant I was the candidate. Next, I launched my campaign: sent hundreds of emails, made calls, created flyers and stickers, collected endorsements, and arranged meetings leading up the 8th Congressional District Convention, where I would make my case to hundreds of Democrats who were delegates to the district convention. There, I and the other candidates each gave a 90-second speech, and all the district-convention delegates voted. And I won! My duty as a delegate at the national convention is to represent the 8th Congressional District and the Democratic Party of Virginia, and to show their support for Hillary by casting my vote for her at the convention until a clear majority is reached. Just as Obama's DNC nomination for President in 2008 was a once-in-a-lifetime historic moment for African Americans and civil rights, building upon the hard work of civil-rights icons like John Lewis, Jesse Jackson, and many more, Hillary Clinton's DNC nomination will also be a major historic moment to break the highest, hardest glass ceiling, carrying on the legacy of leaders like Shirley Chisholm and Geraldine Ferraro. It's powerful for this generation to break these barriers and powerful to imagine the opportunities that Hillary Clinton and Obama are making for the next generation. Sanders delegates should be proud, too. His campaign and movement got a lot of people involved and ensured the Democrats have the most progressive party platform in history. My hope is that electing Hillary Clinton is seen as a continuation of Bernie's revolution - we cannot enact progressive policies without a Democrat in the White House - and as we've heard from Bernie himself, she's the best person for the job. All in all, I can't wait for the convention. I think it will be an exciting time! Danielle Sims is a delegate to the Democratic National Convention from Lynchburg, Virginia. Ottawa (AFP) - The Canadian province of British Columbia announced Monday it will impose a 15 percent tax on foreigners who buy residential property in Vancouver, a city with a housing shortage and soaring real estate prices. The tax -- which will go into effect August 2 -- is the latest in a series of measures designed to rein in the area's overheated housing market, owed in part to an influx of foreign buyers. "Owning a home should be accessible to middle-class families, and those who are in a position to rent should be able to find a suitable home," British Columbia Premier Christy Clark said. "These changes are about helping to make sure that British Columbians can continue to live, work and raise their families in our vibrant communities." The additional property transfer tax rate of 15 percent will apply to both buyers who are foreign nationals and foreign-controlled corporations that register their residential purchases in Vancouver. A home valued at $2 million ($1.2 million USD), for example, would be taxed an additional $300,000 ($227,000 USD). For mixed-use property, the tax would apply to the residential component. According to data collected by the province, foreign nationals spent $1 billion on property in British Columbia between June 10 and July 14, 86 percent of it in the Vancouver area. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in June that an influx of capital from Asia is partially to blame for soaring housing prices in Vancouver and Toronto. A Simon Fraser University study noted that homes in Vancouver valued at more than $1 million rose from 19 percent of the market in 2006 to 91 percent this year. Washington (AFP) - Nearly 700 workers who prepare and serve meals to US lawmakers in Washington are due to receive more than $1 million in back pay, the US Labor Department announced Tuesday. Contractors hired to staff food service operations at the US Capitol failed to pay prevailing wages, overtime or health and welfare benefits, according to a Labor Department investigation. Workers were also required to begin prior to their scheduled start times, the department announced. The company Restaurant Associates, and Personnel Plus, a subcontractor, will pay $1,008,302 in back wages to 674 employees. In the opulent seat of the US legislature, the hourly workers served meals to US senators and members of the House of Representatives. Under federal law, government contractors are required to pay prevailing wages. "Workers in the restaurant industry are among the lowest-paid workers in our economy," David Weil, administrator of the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division, said in a statement. "Most struggle to afford life's basic expenses and pay their bills," he added. "They shouldn't have to deal with paychecks that don't accurately reflect their hard work and the wages to which they are legally entitled." The median net wealth of a US lawmaker was about $1 million in 2013, according to the transparency organization OpenSecrets.org. Restaurant Associates did not immediately respond to a request for comment. AMMAN (Reuters) - An explosives-laden car blew up on Monday in a heavily policed district in the center of the Syrian capital Damascus, causing injuries and extensive damage, state media said. The explosion in the Kafr Sousa neighborhood close to the main Umayyad Square that connects the city center with several highways hit an area where some of Syria's main security installations are based. The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which tracks violence across the country said the blast was near an Iranian school and that there were dead among the casualties. Insurgents fighting to topple President Bashar al Assad say the district houses many recruits from Iranian-backed militias fighting alongside Assad's army. A rebel group claimed it had targeted Iranian-backed militias in the area. State media showed pictures of smashed glass and metal strewn from the front of a residential building where the car bomb was detonated. Car bombings in the city center are relatively rare. On Sunday mortars hit a restaurant in the capital's old quarter, killing at least six people and injuring scores, according to a witness and state media. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by James Dalgleish) Cersei Lannister may have just landed the Iron Throne in Game of Thrones, but in real life, Lena Headey who plays the newly crowned queen thinks someone else is deserving of Americas greatest seat of power. The 42-year-old British actress took to Twitter Tuesday morning to express her support for Michelle Obama following the First Ladys speech on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention. Responding to a tweet from Irish actress Victoria Smurfit that read, Can we cut straight to @FLOTUS as president?, Headey wrote, Yes can we. Makes beautiful sense. Can we cut straight to @FLOTUS as president? victoria smurfit (@VictoriaSmurfit) July 26, 2016 Yes can we. Makes beautiful sense https://t.co/MbvkahxaFL lena headey (@IAMLenaHeadey) July 26, 2016 Obama took the stage in Philadelphia Monday to endorse Hillary Clinton for president, delivering an appeal that stressed the need for a positive role model for children. Watch the speech above. (Reuters) - The white man accused of killing nine black parishioners in a racist attack at a South Carolina church last year was heading to Tennessee when he was arrested, according to court records filed by prosecutors to support their federal charges. The documents relating to the upcoming federal trial for Dylann Roof, 22, provided details about the attack during a Bible study session at Charleston's historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 17, 2015. They come as Roof's defense team is trying to have the federal charges thrown out over what they claim to be a lack of federal standing to proceed. The government argues it has jurisdiction as the matter pertains to interstate commerce. U.S. prosecutors argued in filings on Monday that South Carolina did not have hate crime laws under which Roof could be prosecuted. They also said Roof was fleeing to Tennessee when he was arrested in North Carolina and had purchased weapons and ammunition produced in other states. Attorneys for Roof could not be immediately reached for comment on Tuesday. The documents also said Roof used eight Glock handgun magazines and fired about 80 rounds during the massacre. The records alleged that Roof plotted the attack for months, calling the church from his home and paying a web hosting company where he posted a manifesto online as early as February 2015. Roof faces 33 federal charges, including hate crimes, obstruction of religion, and firearms charges. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. He would plead guilty if the death penalty were dropped, his attorneys have said in court filings. The federal trial is scheduled to begin on Nov. 7. A state capital punishment trial is scheduled for January. State prosecutors charged Roof with murder and attempted murder and are also seeking the death penalty. The slayings shook the country and intensified debate over U.S. race relations, already roiled at the time by high-profile police killings of unarmed black people. Relatives of the people killed in the attack have sued the U.S. government over an FBI clerk's mistake that allowed the purchase of the gun used in the shooting, according to lawsuits reviewed by Reuters. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Peter Cooney) In its report to the apex court, the CVC said that it finds no fault with CBI's clean chit to JSPL regarding the Ramachandi coal block in Talcher, Odisha. By Anusha Soni: In what may come as a breather to Naveen Jindal, the Central Vigilance Commission has endorsed the view of CBI that no irregularities are found in allocation of Ramchandi Coal Block in Odisha to Jindal Steel and Power Limited. In its report to the apex court, the CVC said that it finds no fault with CBI's clean chit to JSPL regarding the Ramachandi coal block in Talcher, Odisha. advertisement The Supreme Court has earlier admitted the report of the CBI in which the investigating agency had given JSPL a clean chit. The Supreme Court will hear the matter on August 2. Post the Supreme Court judgement calling the coal block allocations illegal, the investigating agencies like CVC and CBI examine the hundreds of allocations made and submit reports to Supreme Court. So far 23 cases have been registered against various companies with two convictions. --- ENDS --- From ELLE DECOR Now's your chance to make your little princess feel like she's living in a Disney movie. Circu - a Portuguese furniture company which sells "magical furniture," according to its website, offers a children's line that will have your kids begging to be sent to their rooms. We're talking a "Little Mermaid"-themed clamshell bed, a magic mirror that's actually a TV, and a Volkswagen van-shaped bed complete with a mini-bar. (Reminder: This is a bed for a child.) It is worth mentioning, however, that the furniture costs more than your yearly rent. That would explain, naturally, why Luxury Listings reports that all of 30 people have purchased their pieces across the world. Let's take a look at what magical furniture looks like, shall we? First up: A six-and-a-half-foot-tall "Little Mermaid" bed in the shape of a clamshell. No need to buy a nightlight there's one inside the bed. (Is anyone else nervous that they're actually paying $16,000 for this bed to collapse on their children?) Comparable Purchase: A cycle of IVF treatments. On to the next: A ten-foot-high Fantasy Air Balloon bed. (Those with low ceilings need not purchase this bed.) It costs a whopping $29,000, but it is upholstered in synthetic fur and trimmed with gold leaf details. Plus, you can convert the lower half to a sofa and use the drawers as storage. Oh, and also, you can control its light and sound systems from an app. Casual. Comparable Purchase: A mid-range tiny home. We're still confused as to which Disney movie this next one is inspired by, but an actual genius had to have designed the "Bun Van," which contains a TV, secretary, storage compartments, and a mini-bar. (Oh, you mean, you didn't want to give your kids a sugar rush before bedtime?) It clocks in at $43,000. If you've got money to blow... Comparable Purchase: A year of college tuition. Last but not least: A hand-carved Magic Mirror that's actually a TV. Mind blown. No word on what it costs, but it's made of silver leaf, because of course. Story continues Comparable Purchase: Hogwarts tuition, probably. As for the rest of us, there are some crazy blogger hacks that will turn your kid's bed into an adorable teepee for less than $2,000. Now if only there were a blogger hack for that Magic Mirror TV... h/t: Luxury Listings You Might Also Like By Simon Webb and Manuel Mogato VIENTIANE (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday he supported the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea, following an international court ruling against Beijing over the dispute earlier this month. China did not participate in and has refused to accept the July 12 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, based in The Hague, in which U.S. ally Manila won an emphatic legal victory. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi had asked Kerry to lend his support for bilateral talks to restart between Manila and Beijing in a meeting between the two in the Laos capital of Vientiane on Monday. "The foreign minister said the time has come to move away from public tensions and turn the page," Kerry told a news conference. "And we agree with that ... no claimant should be acting in a way that is provocative, no claimant should take steps that wind up raising tensions." The court ruling has exacerbated tensions between the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which are pulled between their desire to assert their sovereignty while fostering ties with an increasingly assertive Beijing. China scored a diplomatic victory on Monday when ASEAN dropped any reference to the ruling from a joint statement at the end of the bloc's foreign ministers' meeting in the face of resolute objections from Cambodia, China's closest ASEAN ally. Kerry, who was due to travel to the Philippines later on Tuesday, said he would encourage Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to engage in dialogue and negotiations with China when the two meet in Manila on Wednesday. Duterte has already appointed former President Fidel Ramos to visit Beijing and begin informal talks to resolve the dispute, a Philippine Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday. Philippines Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay told reporters in Vientiane that the dispute was not between China and the United States but between China and the Philippines. "We would like to pursue bilateral relationships in so far as the peaceful resolution of the dispute is concerned that is between the China and the Philippines. The others are not concerned with that dispute," Yasay told reporters. PEACE AND STABILITY Wang, who met Kerry on the sidelines of the ASEAN gathering in Laos, said on Tuesday he would welcome Ramos' visit. The Chinese foreign minister also told his U.S. counterpart that China and ASEAN had agreed the dispute should get back on to the "correct" track of being resolved by direct talks with the parties concerned, according to a foreign ministry statement released on Tuesday. China "hopes the United States side takes actual steps to support the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines, and supports the efforts of China and ASEAN to maintain regional peace and stability", Wang said. Beijing claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. China has repeatedly blamed the United States for stoking tensions in the region through its military patrols, and of taking sides in the dispute, accusations Washington denies. In an address to foreign ministers, including Kerry, at the gathering in Vientiane, Wang criticized the United States, Japan and Australia for a joint statement on the issue they released late on Monday. The statement "continued to hype up the South China Sea issue and play up tensions," he said. "Now is the time we will test whether you are protectors of peace or agitators." Speaking to reporters on a conference call, a senior U.S. administration official said at the end of a visit to China by National Security Adviser Susan Rice that she had emphasized all parties should take steps to reduce tensions and use the ruling to reinvigorate regional diplomacy. Rice also told Chinese officials, including a top military officer, that U.S. military operations were designed to contribute to peace and stability, including in the South China Sea, the U.S. official said. "Those operations are lawful, they will continue, they've been longstanding, and again they're designed to impart confidence and stability," he added. Kerry had said earlier that China's dismissal of the international court ruling as "illegitimate" presented a challenge when the international community, including the United States, sees it as legally binding and a matter of law. "So we still have a task ahead of us ... which is to try to work going forward to make sure that we are resolving the issues through diplomacy and the rule of law," he said. Admiral John Richardson, the head of U.S. naval operations, said at a news conference in Washington that he would be very concerned if China were to declare an air defense zone over the South China Sea or carry out reclamation activity around the Scarborough Shoal after the international court ruling. Richardson said he raised the issue with Chinese officials during his visit to China last week. (Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton and Michael Martina in Vientiane and Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Idrees Ali in Washington; editing by Alex Richardson and Richard Chang) BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities are renovating one of the world's largest centers of learning for Tibetan Buddhism to prevent overcrowding and fires, a state-run newspaper said on Tuesday, denying Tibetan rights groups' charges of demolition and evictions. Groups including the British-based International Campaign for Tibet say demolition work began last week at Larung Gar in Garze, a heavily Tibetan part of the southwestern province of Sichuan. Tibetan-populated areas of western China, including in Sichuan, have in recent years been at the epicenter of self-immolation and other protests against Chinese rule. China routinely denies accusations by exiles and rights groups of rights abuses in Tibetan parts of the country and insists it allows freedom of religion, blaming exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama for promoting unrest. The Global Times, an influential tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, quoted an unnamed government official in Garze as saying Buddhist leaders themselves have been trying to reduce the number of unregistered monks and nuns at Larung Gar. "The site has grown immensely in recent years, with a steady influx of tourists and lay people from other provinces and foreigners, that even monastery leaders have lost track of the number of their personnel," the official said, in a report in the paper's English-language edition. "It is unfair and a burden on them to use offerings given by local believers to provide free accommodation and education to the unregistered," the official added. The "dismantling" of cabins which dot the hillside around the center and where people live will help give firefighters access as there have been several fires in recent years, the newspaper added. The Global Times said the government was requiring that only the roughly 8,000 monks and nuns already registered there be allowed to live at Larung Gar. The International Campaign for Tibet said authorities have ordered the number of monks and nuns living there to be cut in half to 5,000. China heavily restricts visits by foreign reporters to Tibetan parts of the country where there have been protests or other sensitive activities, making an independent assessment of the situation extremely difficult. Calls to government officials in Garze seeking comment went unanswered. Chinese troops marched into Tibet in 1950, eventually setting up what China now calls the Tibet Autonomous Region, though there are also large Tibetan populations in other southwestern parts of China including Sichuan and Gansu. The Dalai Lama denies Chinese charges of being a separatist or of orchestrating protests, saying he simply wants genuine autonomy for his homeland. He fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ryan Woo) The Philippines and China should "turn the page" and hold talks over contested areas of the South China Sea after a tribunal shot down Beijing's claims to the strategic waterway, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday. Relations between China and the Philippines hit a nadir earlier this month after Beijing refused to recognise a UN-backed ruling invalidating its claims to much of the sea. The Philippines, which says it owns areas claimed by China, took the case to a Hague-based tribunal for arbitration. Kerry reiterated Washington's stance that the tribunal's decision to favour the Philippines was binding, but added that it was time to seek new ground. "I would encourage President Duterte to engage in dialogue, in negotiations," Kerry told reporters in Laos, referring to the tough-talking new Philippines leader. Kerry is due to fly to Manila for talks with Duterte later Tuesday. Kerry's call for fresh talks between Manila and Beijing comes at the request of his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. "The foreign minister said very clearly the time has come to move away from public tensions and turn the page," Kerry told reporters. "And we agree with that... no claimant should be acting in a way that is provocative, no claimant should take steps that wind up raising tensions." The two envoys met on the sidelines of a regional security forum of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that has been dogged by the issue of the South China Sea. The Philippines had been expected to push for the bloc to support the tribunal ruling in a punchy joint-statement. But the bloc shied away from a diplomatic confrontation with China. Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay told reporters that he supported that approach, describing the tribunal case as a dispute just between Beijing and Manila. "The other countries are not part of our filing of the case before the arbitral tribunal so why would we insist that it be put in the ASEAN statement," Yasay said. Story continues ASEAN member states span communist autocracies such as Laos and Vietnam, the tiny Islamic sultanate of Brunei and populous democracies like Indonesia and the Philippines. It works on the basis of consensus diplomacy. But critics have slammed the grouping for failing to present a strong front against China's aggressive divide and rule policy among its neighbours. From Popular Mechanics China has started production on the world's largest seaplane. Known in China as the Jiaolong, or Water Dragon, the AG-600 is built by Chinese aviation giant AVIC, who held ceremony to start up the aircraft assembly line on July 23. The AG-600 is much larger than its predecessor, the Harbin SH-5 flying boat, which was introduced in 1986. It has a wingspan of 121 feet and a maximum takeoff weight of 53.6 tons. According to Chinese state media, it's as large as an Airbus 320 or Boeing 737. The plane uses four WJ-6 turboprop engines descended from a 1950s-era engine designed by the Soviet Union. It has a range of 3,100 miles and can stay in the air for up to 12 hours. The amphibious seaplane can take off and land from both water and hard ground. It features a boat-like hull for taking off and landing from water and a conventional tricycle-style set of landing gear for operating from conventional land airstrip. According to Xinhua, the AG600 will be used for seaborne search and rescue. It will be equipped with infrared sensors and optical cameras for searching vast stretches of ocean, and built-in emergency medical facilities for treating survivors. It can rescue up to 50 people at a time. The plane is also meant for firefighting. Landing in water, it can collect 12 tons of water in 20 seconds, dumping it on forest fires. Unlike its predecessor, the AG-600's resume doesn't include anti-submarine warfare. At least, officially. China appears to be deliberately downplaying the military side of the seaplane. Aside from hunting submarines, performing reconnaissance and rescuing downed aircrews, the plane could also be used to resupply China's remote military bases on contested islands in the South China Sea. AVIC has 17 orders so far, and expects the plane to appeal mostly to the domestic market. Few countries still build seaplanes, although Japan recently came out with the US-2. The Indian military plans to buy twelve US-2s for operating across the vast Indian Ocean. TORONTO, ONTARIO / ACCESSWIRE / July 26, 2016 / ChroMedX Corp. (CSE:CHX) (MNLIF) (EIY2.F) (the "Company"), a developer of in vitro diagnostics and Point-of-care Testing (POCT) technologies is pleased to announce the appointment of Ash Kaushal as the Company's new President and CEO, effective immediately. Mr. Kaushal has over 25 years of experience in product development in the medical, defence, safety and nuclear industries. Mr. Kaushal has held Vice President and senior level management positions with several Canadian and British corporations throughout his career including NIR Science Corp and NIR Diagnostics Corp in Campbellvile, Ontario, CME Telemetrix in Waterloo, Indal Technologies in Mississauga, Ontario and several companies based in England, UK. Mr. Kaushal has developed handheld products from initial concept right through to FDA submission. In these positions he had responsibility for research, engineering, quality assurance and clinical trials. Mr. Kaushal will be responsible to lead, co-ordinate and oversee the complete development of the HemoPalm product line and other medical device products that his team is pursuing. "The board is delighted to welcome Ash as President and CEO. Ash's experience and expertise have benefited the Company's development initiative immensely and we look forward to the results of his expanded role and leadership with ChroMedX," said George Langdon, Chairman and Director, ChroMedX Corp. "I am pleased with this opportunity to lead ChroMedX in its development of the HemoPalm platform. HemoPalm has significant competitive advantages over the current POCT devices on the market, for example, HemoPalm is positioned to be the only hand-held POCT analyzer that combines Blood Gas & Electrolytes with CO-oximetry; the leading hand-held Blood Gas & Electrolytes analyzers CANNOT provide CO-oximetry. My focus will be to prioritize completion of the HemoPalm breadboard device so we can commence testing of the disposable cartridges, and then focus on developing the prototype analyzer." said Ash Kaushal, President and CEO, ChroMedX Corp. Story continues Mr. Kaushal takes over from Wayne Maddever at a critical stage in the Company's development of a fully operational prototype of its patent-protected HemoPalm technology. Mr. Maddever has stepped down as an officer and director of ChroMedX Corp. and the Company expresses its gratitude for his work with ChroMedX Corp. since its inception in 2013. About ChroMedX Corp. ChroMedX Corp. is a medical technology company focused on the development of novel medical devices for in vitro diagnostics and point-of-care testing. The devices are protected by the Company's issued and pending patents dealing with blood collection, analysis, and plasma/serum processing. Follow ChroMedX Corp.: Website: www.chromedx.com Facebook: facebook.com/chromedxcorp Twitter: www.twitter.com/Chromedxcorp Investor Enquiries: Shawn Overton d. 647-528-9344 o. 647-872-9982 ext. 2 TF. 1-844-247-6633 ext. 2 soverton@ChroMedX.com NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. Forward-looking Information Cautionary Statement Except for statements of historic fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to delays or uncertainties with regulatory approvals, including that of the CSE. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company's control. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties that could affect financial results is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com SOURCE: ChroMedX Corp. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 26, 2016 / Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. (CSE:CMC) ("Cielo" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a Synthetic Diesel Purchase And Sales Agreement (the "Agreement") with Elbow River Marketing Ltd. ("Elbow River" or the "Purchaser"), which provides for the exclusive marketing, sale and distribution by Elbow River of all of the synthetic diesel intended to be produced by Cielo. The initial five year term of the Agreement will begin on or about the date that Cielo's proposed commercial plant begins operating (the "Initial Term"), expected to occur in 2017, and may renew in two year periods thereafter. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the parties have agreed on a drop dead commencement date for Cielo to be in production and the beginning of the Initial Term, which is December 31, 2017. The Purchaser has agreed to market the synthetic diesel across North America in order to maximize the selling price of the renewable diesel. Cielo will be paid in US dollars, less the transportation costs and other marketing costs. Don Allan, President of Cielo, stated, "Elbow River has a very large base of contacts to sell our renewable diesel and they are well respected and very professional. We are very happy for the opportunity to work closely with their trading and marketing departments and knowing that, with respect to any future production that comes on line, Elbow River will be able to market all the output and maximize our selling price." Further details of the terms and conditions can be viewed in the Synthetic Diesel Purchase and Sales Agreement, posted on SEDAR. Cielo is also very pleased to announce that the British Columbia Securities Commission has closed its Continuous Disclosure Review as of July 25, 2016 and has removed Cielo from the Commission's Issuers in Default list. About Cielo Waste Solutions Corp.: Cielo specializes in environmentally advanced technologies focused on materials recovery, renewable diesel and landfill reduction through responsible diversion practices. By incorporating the latest material recovery technologies, Cielo is able to achieve significant diversion from landfills while creating a feedstock specifically for renewable diesel. Cielo provides solutions for responsible waste management while also providing value added opportunities. Story continues About Elbow River Marketing Ltd.: Elbow River is a highly experienced marketer of multiple petroleum products across North America and Mexico, which succeeds through strong business relationships and extensive market knowledge. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Parkland Fuel Corporation. For more information on the Company, please contact Don Allan, President, at (403) 348-2972 ext 222, or visit the Company's website at www.cielows.com. Further information regarding the Company can be found on SEDAR at www.SEDAR.com or by visiting our profile on www.CSE.ca. On Behalf of the Board of Directors "Don Allan" Chief Executive Officer Tel: 403.348-2972 Ext. 222 Email: donallan@cielows.com Certain statements contained in this release may constitute "forwardlooking statements" or "forward-looking information" (collectively "forward-looking information") as those terms are used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and similar Canadian laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could," "intend," "expect," "believe," "will," "projected," "estimated," "anticipates," "has agreed to," and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the current belief of the Company and the Purchaser or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to the business of the Company, the Purchaser, the Property, financing and certain corporate changes. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and neither the Company nor the Purchaser are obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein. These securities have not and will not be registered under United States federal or state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to a U.S. Person unless so registered, or an exemption from registration is relied upon. This news release does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States. CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release. SOURCE: Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. Montreal (AFP) - Canada-based Cirque du Soleil has canceled 40 shows in Turkey for fear of political instability there after a deadly failed coup attempt, the acrobatic troupe said Tuesday. More than 70 performers were slated to stage the show "Blum" -- organized by Cirque special events division 45 Degrees -- in the Mediterranean resort town of Antalya between August 16 and September 17. "We were not in a position to ensure the safety of our employees," Cirque spokeswoman Marie-Helene Lagace told Radio-Canada. Turkey has undergone a seismic shift since July 15, when renegade soldiers sought to topple President Recep Tayyip Erdogan but were stopped by crowds of civilians and loyalist security forces. At least 270 people were killed on both sides. Some 13,000 people have been detained and over 9,000 of them remanded in custody ahead of trial over the attempted coup, which the Turkish authorities blame on reclusive US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen. Raising the issue in the Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha, Congress MP Viplava Thakur said that such advertisements spread inferiority complex among women. By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: Congress MP Viplava Thakur today demanded a ban on advertisements of fairness creams which claimed it could make women fair. Raising the issue in the Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha, Thakur said that such claims spread inferiority complex among women. "SUCH ADS SPREAD INFERIORITY COMPLEX" Speaking in the Upper House, Viplava said "Such advertisements are the cause of a kind of racial segregation or apartheid in our society. They develop inferiority complex among women who don't have fair skin. Is this what our culture teaches us? Girls feel that they are not getting married because of their skin colour. Such assurances pain women from inside. The government should do something on such issues." advertisement RAHUL GANDHI TARGETED MODI GOVT In the Budget Session of Parliament, earlier this year, Rahul Gandhi had used the fair and lovely jibe to target Narendra Modi government. He had said "Fair and lovely yojna, kale dhan ko kaise gora banaega (How to convert black money into white)." Finance Minister had hit back at Gandhi saying his comments showed a racist mindset. Also read: Rahul Gandhi's fair and lovely remark racist: BJP complains to Lok Sabha Speaker Jaitley counters Rahul Gandhi's fair and lovely remark: Look who's talking --- ENDS --- mark douglas US-based ad tech firm SteelHouse has responded to a lawsuit from rival company Criteo that alleged it ran a "counterfeit click fraud scheme" by filing counterclaims of its own. Last month, Criteo, the French public ad tech company, accused SteelHouse of counterfeiting clicks to "trick e-tailers into attributing sales to SteelHouse that should have been attributed to Criteo" and other competitors. SteelHouse denied these claims and suggested the suit was an attempt by Criteo, a large public ad tech firm that generated more than $1 billion in revenue last year, to "bully a smaller company." Now, in a countersuit filed in a California court on Tuesday (which you can read in full below), SteelHouse accuses Criteo of false advertising, intentional interference with a contract, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, and unfair competition. The 'retargeting' battle Both companies compete in the "retargeting" space, in which ad tech platforms drop cookies on users' browsers when they visit a website usually an ecommerce website. When the user visits other websites, the publisher can offer that ecommerce company the chance to purchase ad space targeting that user, which will hopefully result in that person returning to the ecommerce site and making a purchase. Criteo uses a pay-per-click pricing model, which means it only generates revenue when users click on the ads it has served. The amount it can charge advertisers depends on their conversion rates (how many people who saw the ad clicked on it) and by measuring whether the ads served resulted in sales. SteelHouse claims its "unique business model," which does not focus purely on clicks, has helped it gained market share from Criteo in recent years. That resulted in Criteo resorting to "gamesmanship" in order to win back customers, in the form of "artificially high and manufactured click count numbers," the suit alleges. Story continues The more clicks, the more Criteo can charge and "inflated" click rates have resulted in Criteo diverting customers and potential customers from SteelHouse, the suit claims. Criteo initially told Business Insider, "we do not comment on ongoing legal investigations and as such will be making no further comment on this matter." Criteo later sent Business Insider this statement: "On June 13th, Criteo (CRTO), filed a complaint for damages and injunctive relief against Steelhouse in the Central District of California, followed on July 1st, by a motion for preliminary injunction. In its complaint, Criteo alleges that Steelhouse perpetrated a counterfeit click fraud scheme in its business operations, and false and misleading advertising related to such conduct. Steelhouse filed its response to Criteos complaint on July 25th. Steelhouses response, along with its alleged counterclaims, are utterly baseless and nothing more than an attempt by Steelhouse to deflect attention away from its own misconduct. Criteo will continue to vigorously prosecute its claims against Steelhouse." SteelHouse claims Criteo 'injects adware' SteelHouse accuses Criteo of some pretty underhand behavior in the suit. Criteo "regularly injects adware" malicious software into users' personal computers, serves ad impressions through that adware, and buys inventory from "non-reputable sources" in order to drive up its click numbers, the SteelHouse filing claims. The SteelHouse claim also includes this chart to show how Criteo claims it has the highest click rate in the industry, outperforming its competitors even market leaders Google and Facebook by more than 400%. SteelHouse The filing alleges "more than half (52%) of Criteo's clicks have no attributable source. None. Put simply, more than half of the claimed clicks do not originate from any known website or publisher." SteelHouse came to this conclusion after examining the web logs and tracking pixels of three customers it shares with Criteo. The implication is that Criteo is somehow falsely enhancing its click count. SteelHouse's countersuit also alleges Criteo is generating fake clicks after a customer buys a product. Usually advertising systems are designed to stop serving customers an ad after they have made a purchase, but the suit alleges "up to 8%" of Criteo's clicks occur after a purchase has been made which would be little to no use to the retailer, but would generate Criteo more revenue. Not only this, but SteelHouse claims the clicks often appear in "clusters" where Criteo's clicks are coming from users clicking ads from the same advertiser in rapid succession. SteelHouse alleges in the suit that 16% of Criteo's clicks are from users clicking the same ads within a 30-minute period, which it says is eight times the industry standard. The suit implies that Criteo is artificially creating these clicks. Criteo president and COO Eric Eichmann The suit also alleges Criteo made "false, misleading, and malicious statements about SteelHouse, directly to its customers, prior to the filing of the lawsuit," which SteelHouse claims resulted in a loss of clients, revenue, and damage to its reputation and the perception of "the ad tech industry as a whole." On one occasion in May, according to the filing, a Criteo employee allegedly sent a SteelHouse client an email describing SteelHouse as "hairy" and accusing the firm of "inflated click and post-click volumes." The suit claims SteelHouse has lost more than 25 customers who informed the company the end of their relationship was "directly a result of Criteo's accusations about SteelHouse's conduct." SteelHouse is seeking actual, punitive, treble, and compensatory damages, attorneys' fees, as well as preliminary and permanent injunctions prohibiting Criteo from, according to the suit: "Falsely attributing clicks with no attributable source." "Falsely attributing clicks that occur after a consumer has purchased a product from a website and engaging in 'cluster click counting'." "Engaging in other conduct designed to artificially inflate its click count numbers." "Disparaging SteelHouse, its officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys, and any other person who are acting in concert or participation with them, its services, or its products to actual and potential clients, consumers, or competitors." The case continues. Criteo's share price was down 4.07% at the time of writing. Read the suit in full: Criteo Vs SteelHouse by Lara on Scribd NOW WATCH: This all-black superyacht is the dream of billionaires around the world More From Business Insider Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f157165%2f12eb380b810e412cb59bb95a05e58d69 Drought, heat waves and other climate-related disasters may be fueling armed conflicts in countries where ethnic groups are sharply divided, scientists in Germany said. In North and Central Africa, Central Asia and other ethnically fractionalized regions, nearly a quarter of recent conflicts coincided with devastating climate events, according to a study published this week in the journal Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. SEE ALSO: The worst drought in 900 years helped spark Syria's civil war While persistent droughts and colossal floods didnt directly cause groups to start fighting, climatic calamities did dramatically boost the risk of such conflicts breaking out over the last three decades, said scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Humboldt University in Berlin. The very disruptive nature of a natural disaster may actually contribute to fueling the smoldering social tensions that exist already, Carl Schleussner, the studys lead author, told Mashable. Image: NOAA The report is the latest scientific attempt to draw links between environmental and climate stresses from water shortages to damaging storms and crop-killing diseases and political instability and bloodshed, said Francesco Femia, president of the Center for Climate and Security in Washington. It adds to the growing evidence that countries that have existing fragilities and [weak governments] are not only more prone to conflict but also more likely to experience conflict in the wake of natural disasters driven by climate change, Femia, who is unaffiliated with the study, told Mashable in an interview. A March 2015 study, for instance, found that a prolonged drought in the Fertile Crescent played a key role in triggering Syrias ongoing civil war, a brutal event that has cost at least 470,000 lives since 2011. Image: Getty Images Story continues That same drought was made two to three times more likely to occur because of human-caused global warming, the researchers from Columbia Universitys Lamont Doherty Observatory in New York determined. Even more worrying for the defense and security communities: Climate projections almost unanimously show that conflict-prone countries in the Middle East, northern Africa and southern Europe will become increasingly drier and hotter in coming decades due to the warming planet. Many of those nations are already suffering from extreme weather, including a rash of heat waves last week throughout the Arabian Gulf and North Africa. The Iraqi city of Basra experienced a record temperature of 128 degrees Fahrenheit (53.9 degrees Celsius) on July 22. The city of Mitrabah in Kuwait saw a temperature of 129.2 degrees Fahrenheit (54 degrees Celsius) on July 21 which may be the hottest temperature on record for the Eastern Hemisphere and Asia, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported. Heat waves and hotter days and nights have become more frequent in the past 50 years, and such scorching events are likely to last longer, burn hotter and strike more often further into this century, the WMO said. Thats a major risk factor for all countries, but especially those split by fierce rivalries among ethnic groups, according to the new study by Schleussner and his co-author Jonathan Donges. For their research, the scientists looked at two key sets of data for the 30-year period from 1980 to 2010. The first set included information on 241 conflict outbreaks, aggregated from security research firms. The second included data on the economic damages caused by 18,000 climate-related disasters, gathered by the German reinsurance giant Munich Re. Schleussner and Donges looked at a range of risk factors low literacy rates, social inequality, high poverty levels, dependence on agriculture, etc. to help explain any coincidences between the outbreak of conflicts and the outbreak of droughts, floods and other extreme climate events. Image: Getty Images But only ethnic division fractionalization stood out as a leading risk factor. It was something that surprised us as well, Schleussner said. It may be that particularly in the ethnically fractionalized countries, where the ethnic borders may serve as predetermined conflict lines, there is an easy and fast mobilization potential [for conflict], he added. But to really understand that, much more research is needed. Femia of the Center for Climate and Security said the study highlights the need for policymakers and organizations to be sensitive to ethnic tensions and inclusive of all groups as countries adapt to the effects of climate change or respond after natural disasters. We should be thinking about how actions to deal with these issues can actually help bring conflicting parties together, including those who are at odds along ethnic lines, he said. Thermal coal producer CNX Coal Resources LPs CNXC second-quarter 2016 adjusted earnings of 11 cents per unit (net income of $2.6 million) missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 19 cents by 42.1%. Revenues CNX Coals total revenue plunged 16.6% year over year to $53.8 million and also lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $55 million by 2.2%. The year-over-year decline in the top line was primarily due to the depressed commodity price environment and lower realized prices of coal sold from the year-ago quarter. Quarterly sales volume was 1.2 million tons, up 9.1% year-over-year, as weakness in domestic shipments was offset by higher export sales. During the quarter, CNX Coal exported nearly 0.4 million tons of coal, compared to the year-ago tally of 0.2 million tons. CNX COAL RESRCS Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise CNX COAL RESRCS Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | CNX COAL RESRCS Quote Operational Highlights Average cost of coal sales per ton in the reported quarter was $34.46, down from the year-ago figure of $44.15.The improvement was driven by better productivity and reduced staffing levels. Average realized price per ton of coal in the reported quarter was $40.61, down 28.8% year over year, which ate away the improvement in unit costs of coal sold. The partnerships adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation & amortization (EBITDA) in the quarter were $13.3 million. Total costs and expenses were $51.2 million, down 6.1% from $54.5 million a year ago primarily due to lower operating and other costs. Financial Update As of Jun 30, 2016, CNX Coal had cash of $9.0 million, up from $6.5 million as of Dec 31, 2015. Total long-term debts as of Jun 30, 2016 were $194.5 million, higher than $181 million as of Dec 31, 2015. Cash from operating activities for the second quarter was $16.6 million, compared with $13.5 million in the year-ago quarter. Capital expenditure in the reported quarter was $2.6 million, lower than the year-ago level of $7.1 million. Story continues Cash Distribution Update CNX Coal announced second-quarter 2016 cash distribution of 51.25 cents per limited partner unit. The amount will be paid on Aug 15, 2016 to unitholders of record as of Aug 8. Guidance CNX Coal has reaffirmed its guidance for 2016. Coal sales are estimated to be 4.55.1 million tons. While adjusted EBITDA is expected to be $59$69 million, maintenance capital expenditure is projected in the range of $18$20 million. Upcoming Peer Releases SunCoke Energy Inc. SXC is scheduled to release second-quarter results on Jul 28. The Zacks Consensus Estimate stands at a loss of a penny. Cloud Peak Energy Inc. CLD is scheduled to release second-quarter results on Jul 28. The Zacks Consensus Estimate stands at a loss of 34 cents. Westmoreland Coal Co. WLB is scheduled to release second-quarter results on Aug 2. The Zacks Consensus Estimate stands at a loss of 41 cents. Zacks Rank CNX Coal Resources currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CLOUD PEAK EGY (CLD): Free Stock Analysis Report WESTMORELAND CO (WLB): Free Stock Analysis Report SUNCOKE ENERGY (SXC): Free Stock Analysis Report CNX COAL RESRCS (CNXC): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research People who use cocaine or methamphetamine on a regular basis may have differences in those brain regions that are involved in choosing between right and wrong, compared to people who don't use these drugs, according to a new study of prison inmates. Researchers found that, during a task that tested prison inmates' moral decision making, inmates who had regularly used cocaine or methamphetamine showed less activity in the amygdala, a region in the brain that helps a person to regulate and understand emotions, compared to inmates who had never regularly used either of the two drugs. Moreover, the longer that a person used either of the two stimulant drugs, the less activity they had in the anterior cingulate cortex, a region of the brain that coordinates mental skills involved in decision making that involved moral issues. [10 Things You Didn't Know About You] "This is the first study to suggest impairments in the neural systems of moral processing in both cocaine and methamphetamine users," lead study author Samantha Fede, a graduate student in the department of psychology at the University of New Mexico, said in a statement. However, while the study showed an association between drug use and differences in the brain regions involved in moral cognition, it does not prove that drug use causes these changes, the researchers noted. It is possible, for example, that people whose brains already have differences in these regions are prone to start using these drugs. And so although more research on this topic is needed, the study provides a better understanding of brain differences in stimulant users, she said. In the study, the researchers asked more than 200 men incarcerated in New Mexico and Wisconsin prisons whether they had ever used cocaine or methamphetamine on a regular basis, which the researchers defined as at least three times a week. The study group contained 131 stimulant drug users and 80 nonusers, the researchers said. The users in the study had regularly used cocaine or methamphetamine for about nine years, on average. Story continues The researchers then scanned the brains of all the inmates while they completed a task in which they evaluated whether or not certain phrases were morally objectionable. The researchers did not find significant differences in the responses of the drug users and nonusers when they performed this task the members of both groups were equally likely to say a certain phrase was indeed objectionable. However, the researchers discovered differences between the groups when it came to the amount of activity in certain brain regions that are related to moral processing. [10 Things You Didn't Know About the Brain] The new findings are in line with previous research, which has suggested that the volumes of these same brain regions may be decreased in stimulant drug users, compared with nonusers, the researchers said. The men in the new study were in minimum- to medium-security prisons, which means that many of them had been imprisoned for drug crimes, as opposed to violent crimes, Fede told Live Science. This means that the drug users in the study can be expected to share more similarities with drug users in general, including those who are not incarcerated, than they might share with violent offenders. However, more research is needed to confirm that the results of the new study would hold true in drug users who are not in prison, she said. The new study was published July 12 in the journal Psychopharmacology. Originally published on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Cockroach milk has been hailed as the latest superfood [Photo: Pexels] We got on board with goji berries, cooked everything in coconut oil and drank kale juice til our pee turned green. Heck we were even prepared to chug down a cactus smoothie because health bods told us it would turn us into Elle Macpherson. But the latest wonder fad might just be a superfood step too far. According to a group of scientists based in India, we should all be sloshing cockroach milk on our morning cereal. *gags* Wait a minute, cockroaches produce milk? Well, most dont, but there is one exception. The Pacific Beetle cockroach (Diploptera punctata) is the only cockroach in the world that gives birth to live young, just like mammals. And part of this includes lactating to provide them with milk for nutrition. The team of scientists, which was led by the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in India, has managed to unravel the structure of milk protein crystals produced in the guts of this certain cockroach species. *gags again* The study, by inStems Ramaswamy group revealed that this milk is four times as nutritious as cows milk and contains a unique form of cockroachy type protein in it. Just a single one of these protein crystals contains more than three times the amount of energy found in an equivalent amount of buffalo milk. The crystals are like a complete food they have proteins, fats and sugars. If you look into the protein sequences, they have all the essential amino acids, author of the study, Sanchari Banerjee, told Times of India. Who knew cockroaches produced milk? [Photo: Rex Features] Still not sold? There are other benefits to the milk too. According to the scientists, not only is it a great supply of nutrients and calories, the crystalline nature means it releases energy slowly. Its time-released food, explains Professor Subramanian Ramaswamy, who also took part in the research. If you need food that is calorifically high, that is time released and food that is complete. This is it. Story continues Now, having determined the gene sequences for these milk proteins, the team has some pretty big plans to produce these crystals en masse. But if your stomach is currently churning imagining some sort of giant cockroach milking farm (*mega gags*), dont panic, as the scientists are hoping to reproduce the protein crystals using yeast. Which, lets face it, is slightly less gross than trying to extricate milk from cockroach guts. Synthetic or not, that cactus smoothie is suddenly looking way more appealing. Would you try cockroach milk? Let us know @YahooStyleUK. Green Tea And Other Things That Could Be Messing With Your Fertility 7 foods youre eating that are probably fake By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Colombian drug kingpin was sentenced on Monday to 35 years in a U.S. prison for engaging in a multi-million dollar scheme to manufacture hundreds of tons of cocaine that he trafficked throughout the world. Daniel Barrera Barrera, also known as "Loco" (Crazy), was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan after pleading guilty to various narcotic-related charges and to having conspired to engage in money laundering. Woods, who also fined Barrera $10 million and ordered him to forfeit the same amount, called the Colombian national a "smart, talented, maybe even gifted man" who went from working as a farm hand to heading a violent drug trafficking organization. "Simply put, the scope of the offense here is staggering," Woods said. Speaking through a Spanish translator before the sentence was imposed, Barrera said he wanted the opportunity to be released from prison someday and see his grandchildren. "I ask for my family's forgiveness for all of the suffering I have caused them," he said. According to authorities, Barrera, 48, had been one of the most prolific drug traffickers of the last two decades before his capture in Venezuela in 2012 following years in hiding. Prosecutors said that from 1998 to 2010, Barrera ran a cocaine manufacturing and trafficking syndicate that produced an estimated 5,000 kilograms of cocaine a month, resulting in more than 720 tons of cocaine being produced during the scheme. Barrera bought raw cocaine paste from the leftist rebel group FARC and processed it in laboratories in areas controlled by a now-demobilized paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, authorities said. The drug empire generated tens of millions of dollars, which Barrera laundered, and protected by dozens of armed guards and enforcers, many of whom at his direction threatened or killed individuals who owed money or posed a threat, prosecutors said. Barrera was extradited from Colombia in July 2013 to the United States, where he faced three separate indictments in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Miami. Ruben Oliva, Barrera's lawyer, in court called the sentence "unreasonable and greater than necessary." He had sought leniency given that his client attempted to cooperate with authorities, including offering information to locate a FARC bomb maker and by encouraging other drug traffickers to surrender. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Soumya Dayananda said authorities declined to extend any cooperation agreement to Barrera. "The magnitude of the defendant's violence and drug trafficking outweighed any cooperation he could provide," she said. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Bernard Orr) Locals said they first heard gunshots and blasts around 1 am. When the police reached the second floor of the building around 11:30 pm, the militants hurled hand grenades and fired at them from the fourth floor chanting Allahu Akbar. By India Today Web Desk: At least nine militants have been killed and two of their accomplices taken into custody by the law enforcement agencies today during a raid in a house in Kallyanpur area in capital Bangladesh. Police suspect that they were members of banned militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). OPERATION STORM 26 The one-hour-long "Operation Storm 26" began at 5:51 am to end a stalemate that ensued at house number 5 of Road 5 - known as "Jahaj Bari" around 11:30 pm on Monday. advertisement Dhaka Metropolitan Police Additional Commissioner, Shaikh Maruf Hasan, said that a block raid was under way in Kallyanpur area under the supervision of Mirpur Deputy Commissioner to arrest terrorists. The militants first attacked the police during the raid after which the police cordoned off the area and informed the bomb disposal unit, RAB and SWAT. "We took time to secure the area so that no casualty takes place. We started our formal drive at 5:51 am and named it Operation Storm 26," Maruf told reporters after the drive. He said all the nine militants were killed as they tried to flee the building and the bomb disposal unit searched for explosives in a flat on the fourth floor. The Crime Scene Unit of the CID would collect samples. "We will give details of the raid after completing the procedures," he said. MILITANTS HURLED GRENADES AT POLICE: LOCALS Locals said they first heard gunshots and blasts around 1 am. When the police reached the second floor of the building around 11:30 pm, the militants hurled hand grenades and fired at them from the fourth floor chanting Allahu Akbar. A police member was injured at that time. One of the militants - Hassan - was also injured as the police fired bullets in retaliation. He was later taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Another militant was caught by the law enforcers at that time. He was kept in Mirpur police custody. He later told the police that there were nine other militants in that flat, where they had stuffed heavy arms and explosives. Earlier, Mirpur Police, along with the local leaders of Awami League and Chhatra League, started the anti-militant raid in the area's messes. The law enforcers recently busted two dens of militants linked to the Gulshan and Sholakia terror attacks - at Bashundhara Residential Area and west Shewrapara - but could not arrest anyone. But the two landlords were detained. They also raided Niketon area earlier this month. advertisement The DMP commissioner on Sunday claimed that they had identified the masterminds of the attacks and were trying to arrest them. On the other hand, Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque on Monday said that they had found the source of arms used in the two attacks. Also Read: After 5 radicalised youth attacked Dhaka cafe, Bangladesh looking for 260 others gone missing Dhaka attack: How brave Bangladeshi youth refused to leave Tarishi Jain's side, paid with his life Dhaka attack: Bangladesh minister blames Pakistan government, ISI --- ENDS --- The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), together with fighters from the Manbij Military Council, said on July 25 that they liberated 60 civilians from Islamic State in Manbij. The people were trapped in a basement for four days without food or water in the Kajli district of Manbij, according to their accounts. A pro-Kurdish local media group in Manbij said that the SDF was able to save 200 families from IS, and take them to safe areas. This video was shared by a Kurdish news agency and is described as showing 60 civilians liberated from Islamic State by SDF in Kajli. A woman in the video cries that they came out of death. A man who describes himself as a member of Manbij Military Council says that the forces liberated 60 people after they were trapped for four days in a basement in Manbij. Credit: ANHA (Reuters) - Congo Republic opposition leader Paulin Makaya was sentenced to two years in prison on Monday for his role in protests against a referendum proposing a third term for President Denis Sassou Nguesso, the High Court of Brazzaville ruled. Makaya was charged on four counts including "incitement to disturb public order" during a demonstration on October 20 when thousands of people took to the streets to protest the contitutional referendum. Nguesso has ruled Congo for all but five years since 1979, and was re-elected in March after the referendum passed. Makaya has denied the charges and his lawyer Eric Ibouanga said he plans to lodge an appeal. "The judgment brought by the correctional chamber is unjust and illegal," Ibouanga said. Four people were killed at the march in October, when security forces opened fire after a crowd refused to disperse. Residents said the violence in Brazzaville was the worst since Nguesso retook power in 1997 at the end of a brief civil war. Makaya, 49, has already been detained for 8 months following his arrest. In addition to his sentence, he was charged a 2.5 million CFA franc ($4,183) fine. Amnesty International had previously condemned his arrest on the grounds of freedom of expression and said that his pre-trial detention surpassed the four-month limit of Congolese law. ($1 = 597.6300 CFA francs) (Reporting by Christian Elion; Writing by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Edward McAllister and Angus MacSwan) Diversified fuel producer CONSOL Energy Inc. CNX reported an adjusted loss of 21 cents per share for the second quarter of 2016, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 17 cents. GAAP loss was $2.05 per share compared with a loss of $2.64 per share in the prior-year quarter. The difference between GAAP and operating figures in the reported quarter was due to adjustments of certain one-time items. Revenue CONSOL Energys second quarter total revenues of $285.8 million lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $581 million by 50.8% and year-ago revenue of $545.6 million by 47.6%. The decline in total revenues was primarily due to the significant drop in contribution from its Coal division. CONSOL ENERGY Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise CONSOL ENERGY Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | CONSOL ENERGY Quote Segment Performance Coal Division CONSOL Energy's Pennsylvania Operations sold 6.2 million tons in the 2016 second quarter, compared with 5.7 million tons during the year-earlier quarter. During the quarter, Pennsylvania Operations total unit costs were $34.46 per ton, compared with $44.15 per ton in the year-earlier quarter. Pennsylvania Operations total sales price per ton was $40.61 compared with $56.21 in the year-earlier quarter. The steep 27.3% decline in the sales price adversely impacted the top line of the company. Exploration & Production (E&P) Division CONSOL Energy registered a 32% year-over-year increase in second-quarter 2016 gas production volumes to 99.3 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe). The average sales price of $2.50 per thousand cubic feet gas equivalent (Mcfe), when combined with unit costs of $2.27 per Mcfe, resulted in a margin of 23 cents per Mcfe. This was an increase from the year-earlier quarter, which saw an average sales price of $2.68 per Mcfe and unit costs of $2.76 per Mcfe, leading to a loss of 8 cents per Mcfe. Financial Update As of June 30, 2016, the companys cash and cash equivalents were $97.6 million, up from $72.6 million as of Dec 31, 2015. Total long-term debts as of June 30, 2016, were $2.76 billion, up marginally from $2.74 billion as of Dec 31, 2015. Cash from operating activities in second-quarter 2016 was $95.3 million compared with $65.8 million in second-quarter 2015. Capital expenditure in the second quarter of 2016 was $37.6 million, down significantly from the comparable year-ago level of $329.9 million. Guidance CONSOL Energy expects 2016 Pennsylvania Operations sales to be approximately 22.525.5 million tons. The company reiterated its 2016 total Coal division capital expenditure guidance between $105 million and $125 million. The capital expenditure includes Pennsylvania Operations coal capital expenditures of $90$100 million. CONSOL Energy raised its 2016 E&P Division production guidance to 380385 Bcfe from its prior expectation of 378 Bcfe. Upcoming Peer Releases SunCoke Energy Inc. SXC is set to report second-quarter 2016 results on Jul 28. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter stands at a loss of 1 cent per share. Cloud Peak Energy Inc. CLD is set to report second-quarter 2016 results on Jul 28. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter stands at a loss of 34 cents per share. Natural Resource Partners LP NRP is set to report second-quarter 2016 results on Aug 4. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter stands at 87 cents per share. Our View CONSOL Energys focus on E&P assets is yielding positive results, even though the loss in the reported quarter was wider than expected. We believe the high quality E&P assets in Marcellus and Utica shales will help the company to achieve its enhanced 2016 E&P production guidance. CONSOL Energy currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CONSOL ENERGY (CNX): Free Stock Analysis Report NATURAL RSRC LP (NRP): Free Stock Analysis Report CLOUD PEAK EGY (CLD): Free Stock Analysis Report SUNCOKE ENERGY (SXC): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Shifting our social endeavors into overdrive, the Consumer Reports Cars team has launched its own Facebook page at: facebook.com/consumerreportscars. While the main Consumer Reports Facebook page has more than a half million followers, the posts there span the full gamut of the organizations testing and advocacy. Through this new channel, we can cater to the specific needs of car buyers and enthusiasts. We kicked off this page with our first CR Cars Minute, a 60-second Facebook-native video that shares highlights from the test track. Our goal is to post these weekly, providing followers with a behind-the-scenes look at the Auto Test Center, including tests underway, latest cars to join the fleet, and much more. Plus, we will be doing Facebook Live videos, starting with a walkaround tour of the Honda Ridgeline on Friday. Each week, we will post our latest car reviews, test insights, and news from the track, including spotlighting the latest cars we have rented from manufacturers (typically before they are on sale) and those we have purchased. We look forward to seeing your comments and answering questions about these vehicles, as well as feedback on what you would like to see on our Facebook page. Next month we will take interaction to the next level by inviting followers to the test track for a tour and a chance to engage the team as we film episode 100 of the Talking Cars with Consumer Reports video podcast. (Watch episode 98 for full details.) Be sure to follow us at facebook.com/consumerreportscars, as well as on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. 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. Mike Pence Indiana After Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump selected Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate, Hillary Clinton ripped into the choice. "Mike Pence is one of the most extreme vice presidential picks in a generation," Clinton said at an American Federation of Teachers conference in Minneapolis on Monday. "And hes one of the most hostile politicians in America when it comes to public education, she continued. It was searing criticism, especially as Pence has made education the cornerstone of his policy agenda since he assumed governorship over the Hoosier State in 2013. While it's expected that Clinton would be critical of Trump and Pence while stumping in Minneapolis, the attack highlights Pence's divisiveness when it comes to education policies. School vouchers Gov. Mike Pence embraces a preschool student at the Shepherd Community Center Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014, in Indianapolis. Pence has had trouble winning support from lawmakers for his proposed preschool voucher program. (AP Photo/Tom LoBianco) As governor, Pence has championed a number of school choice policies, like Indiana's voucher program, that affect funding at public schools. Vouchers allow families to redeem tuition funding if they choose to send their children to private, rather than public, schools. Pence has won big in his push to expand the state's voucher program, successfully lifting the cap (previously $4,800) on the amount of money families can receive when sending their children to private schools. In fact, Indiana's voucher program is now one of the largest in the nation, according to the New York Times. Opponents of voucher programs argue that they siphon essential funding from already meager public school budgets to other schools, and at their worst, are unconstitutional, as they use taxpayer-funded vouchers to benefit religious schools. "Pence's K through 12 education agenda has had serious, deleterious consequences for public education," Bob Arnove, the Chancellors Professor Emeritus of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies at Indiana University, told Business Insider. "Hes let ideology and religious convictions trump, and that's no pun intended, the common good." Story continues John P. Bean, professor emeritus at Indiana University, also believes Pence's school choice policies to harmful to the public education system. "Pences promotion of school choice seems to be a thinly disguised handout to private religious schools at a time when public schools need more funding to function well," Bean told Business Insider via email. That opinion seems to be debated. "Pence's record in defending and advancing educational opportunity and access is strong, and his record on improving Indys schools is strong," Michelle Tigani, the communications director at the Center of Education Reform, told Business Insider. Tigani specifically highlighted that vouchers help the neediest families and children. "Voucher programs largely help low income middle class kids; these are the kids that most need access," to quality education, she said. Voucher policies typically have income restrictions that vary state-to-state to ensure education funds truly end up in the families most in need. In Indiana, the 2016-17 income limit for a family of four to receive the largest voucher amount was $44,955. Funding preschool One of the education policies Pence is most heralded for is his move to publicly fund preschool programs around the state in the face of Republican reticence. He successfully created a $15 million a program, that while small, was the first of its kind in the state. Its safe to say that had it not been for his strong leadership, we wouldnt have had the pilot preschool program we have now, David Harris, the founder of the Mind Trust, an Indianapolis-based education nonprofit, told The New York Times. Donald Trump Mike Pence But that victory was not long-remembered. Soon after, he upset preschool advocates in the state by withdrawing an application that had been in the works to receive $80 million in federal funding. "It is important not to allow the lure of federal grant dollars to define our state's mission and programs," Pence wrote in the Indianapolis Star after he killed the application. The move appears to be emblematic of what some critics perceive to be the misguided principles that govern his decisions often to the detriment of children. "The loss of $80 million for Pre-K education because Pence would have to take the money from the federal government is lunacy," Bean said. "Again, an enemy of public education would do something like that," he continued. Pence has since reversed course and indicated to the federal government that Indiana would like the opportunity to again apply for the grant money. "Overall, I'd give Mike Pence an F, or perhaps generously a D-, for his bungled efforts to reform Indiana education policy," Arnove said. GOP education policy It should be noted that Pence's education policy agenda has not veered wildly away from others in his party. GOP policy makers traditionally favor school choice and limiting the role of federal government in schools. Like any policies aligned along party-lines, his actions as governor regarding education have both won and lost him support. On the campaign trail, Donald Trump has continually slammed the American public educational system, though he has avoided discussing the specifics of what his education plan would resemble. His choice of Pence as his vice presidential pick may be the clearest indication of education policies to expect with a Trump-Pence ticket. NOW WATCH: This Excel trick will save you time and impress your boss More From Business Insider PHILADELPHIA Cory Booker preached love and unity at the Democratic convention here Monday night, a message aimed not only at a divided country but also at a divided party. The New Jersey senators remarks, in a marquee slot just before a speech by first lady Michelle Obama, were a critique of the Republican claim to ownership over patriotic sentiment. You cant love your country without loving your countrymen and countrywomen, Booker said. But his pleas that We must find common ground were more appropriate for the delegates arrayed before him inside the Wells Fargo Center, where hundreds of delegates loyal to Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont continued to voice their opposition to presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton on the floor throughout the day. The fallout from the long and divisive primary fight between Sanders and Clinton continued, despite exhortations from Sanders himself in an afternoon speech to his ardent supporters urging them to unite behind Clinton to beat Republican nominee Donald Trump in the fall. Bookers task in the evening, then, was to build toward the theme of the night: healing the wounds inside the party and overcoming wounded and raw emotions among those who still loved Sanders. Sanders speech at the end of the night was the capstone, but Booker was the first in a succession of heavy-hitters to start the prime-time unification effort. The first lady was followed by two of the Democratic Partys most beloved progressive firebrands: Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn. And just before Bookers speech, comedian Sarah Silverman told Sanders supporters in the hall that they were being ridiculous. The 47-year-old Bookers personal brand one he has studiously built and burnished over the past decade is one of overcoming division anyway. And so those lines came naturally. But still, during his speech, there were still rumblings from the California delegation to Bookers right, especially early on, when he mentioned Clintons name. Story continues More broadly, Booker called on Americans to move past tolerance and to strive for the higher standard of loving one another. Love knows that every American has worth and value, no matter what their background, race, religion or sexual orientation. Love recognizes that we need each other, that we as a nation are better together, that when we are divided we are weak we decline yet when we are united, we are strong. When we are indivisible, we are invincible, he said. Bookers call for party unity came just days after he was passed over for the vice presidential slot, and the crowd greeted Booker with chants of Cory, Cory, Cory. But the unification effort also included from Booker and other speakers an indictment of Trump. Booker quoted Trump at length more than once, isolating in particular Trumps criticism of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a year ago. Trump knocked McCain, a Navy pilot who was shot down and held prisoner by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam war, for being captured, and called him a loser. He ran through Trumps mockery of the disabled, his shady business dealings with contractors, and his demeaning of women and immigrants. Trumps candidacy contradicts the United States deepest and oldest values and traditions, Booker argued. Americans, at our best, stand up to bullies and fight those who seek to demean and degrade others. In times of crisis, we dont abandon our values we double down on them, Booker said. He quoted the poet Maya Angelou, in a crowd-pleasing rebuttal to Trump: When Trump spews insults and demeaning words about our fellow Americans, I think of the poem by Maya Angelou. You know how it begins: You may write me down in history/With your bitter, twisted lies,/You may trod me in the very dirt/But still, like dust, Ill rise. To close, Booker talked of Clintons personal commitment to helping others and ran through specific policies intended to appeal to the Democrats progressive liberal base: a higher minimum wage, education reform, paid family leave, criminal justice reform and college loans. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., speaks during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP) Bookers original speech had planned to invoke together both Clinton and Sanders ideas on the issue of college tuition. His prepared remarks said Democrats should work to support, Bernies ideas, Hillarys ideas, our shared ideas on the subject. But this section was removed, and instead, Booker said only that the party should support all of our shared ideas and values together. He ended by urging Democratic voters not to stay home in the fall, implying that Trumps candidacy represents evil. My fellow Americans, we cannot fall into complacency or indifference about this election, because still, the only thing necessary for evil to be triumphant is for good people to do nothing, Booker said. It was striking that a speech about love and bridge-building ended with such a stark and morally judgmental indictment of the Republican nominee for president. As Democratic convention aides distributed handheld signs reading, Stronger together, and Rise together, Booker brought the crowd to its feet when he said, in a play on Trumps last name, Let us declare that we are a nation of interdependence, and that in America, love always trumps hate. _____ Related slideshows: On the ground at the DNC a photo report >>> How newspapers covered the DNCs first big day >>> Demonstrators protest outside the DNC >>> Donald Trump was not impressed by Cory Bookers speech on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention. If Cory Booker is the future of the Democratic Party, Trump tweeted, they have no future! I know more about Cory than he knows about himself. The New Jersey senator, though, says he isnt going to engage in a war of words with the Republican nominee. I love Donald Trump, Booker said on CNNs New Day on Tuesday. I dont want to answer his hate with hate. Im not going to answer his garbage with garbage. I love him. I know his kids, I know his family. Theyre good the children especially good people. Booker joked that he had been feeling left out after Trumps attacks on his Senate colleagues John McCain and Elizabeth Warren. Thank you, Donald, he said. I finally feel like Im important enough that you will attack me. The former Newark mayor said Trumps assertion that he knows more about Cory than he knows about himself is the kind of conspiratorial rumormongering the GOP nominee has become known for. Thats what he wants, he wants us to be speculating: Ooh, it sounds so sinister,' Booker said. I dont care. I love you, Donald. I pray for you. I hope that you find some kindness in your heart that youre not going to be somebody that spews out insults to your political opposition. That youre going to start finding some ways to love. Im going to elevate him. I love you, I just dont want you to be my president. He added: Im just gonna keep loving on him. Im going to keep telling the truth about him but Im going to keep loving on him, praying for the best for him and his family. That kind of vitriol, that kind of meanness, has no place in the presidency. Story continues Booker, who was tabbed as a possible vice presidential pick for Hillary Clinton before she chose Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine as her running mate, also confirmed that he had been vetted by the presumptive Democratic nominee. They looked at every area of my life, he said earlier Tuesday on Foxs Good Day New York. It was incredibly intense and very secretive. I couldnt even tell my mother about it. Booker continued: What a privilege to sit with the secretary and sit with her team, go through that process. I feel incredibly blessed to be even considered. To get down to that shortlist is an honor I couldnt have even imagined a few years ago. _____ Related slideshows: On the ground at the DNC a photo report >>> Bernie Sanders supporters make a last stand >>> Sanders supporters weep at DNC >>> How newspapers covered the DNCs first big day >>> Demonstrators protest outside the DNC >>> Could Fox News offer new opportunity for Rebekah Brooks? The red-haired news executive was one of the people called to account for an infamous episode of phone hacking by personnel at News of the World, part of Rupert Murdochs News Corp. empire, and resigned under duress as chief executive of the companys British operations in 2011. She was reinstated at News Corp. in 2015, and continues to be a favorite of the media mogul, according to a person familiar with his companies. That durable relationship has given rise to some speculation that Brooks could be considered as a candidate to take the reins at a different kind of Murdoch favorite: Fox News Channel. To be sure, theres no indication she is in the running. But she is a Murdoch family loyalist, one of the qualities that some people familiar with 21st Century Fox have suggested would be important as the media conglomerate determines who should run the cable-news network after the departure of Roger Ailes in the wake of sexual-harassment allegations leveled at him in a lawsuit by Gretchen Carlson, a former anchor. Ailes has denied the charges. Murdoch is known to be fond of Brooks, who spent many years directing a British newspaper staff to find out the most colorful and sometimes embarrassing details about celebrities and politicians. The New York Times reported in 2011 that he is said to regard her as a kind of favorite daughter. He is also believed to think of Fox News Channel as an important part of his legacy, noting in a recent memo that Fox News has given voice to those who were ignored by the traditional networks and has been one of the great commercial success stories of modern media. Who better to entrust with the fate of ones legacy than family, whether real or surrogate? A decision to import Brooks to Fox News (she currently heads the U.K. operations of News Corp.) would raise eyebrows. She was editor of the Murdochs News of the World when people working on its behalf hacked into the phone of Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old girl found murdered in 2002. An inquiry discovered the hacking took place after she disappeared but before her body was discovered, which slowed a police investigation and upset her family. Brooks said she did not know anything about the hacking. News Corp., now separate from the operations of 21st Century Fox, announced in 2011 that it would shutter the paper. Story continues Murdoch, however, is no stranger to controversy and has ridden out many at his companies, whether they involved allegations in 2005 by a former American Idol contestant that one of the judges, Paula Abdul, had offered him off-camera help, or an unsolicited bid in 2014 for Time Warner. At present, Murdoch himself is overseeing Fox News and its sister, Fox Business, aided by a troika of veterans at the unit: Bill Shine, senior executive vice president of programming; Jay Wallace, executive vice president of news and editorial; and Mark Kranz, the operations chief financial officer. People familiar with the company have suggested Shine or others might be in contention for the CEO role. They have also pointed to Jesse Angelo, who leads the New York Post, or John Moody, executive editor of FoxNews.com, as potential candidates. For now, however, it looks as if the current regime is making key decisions. Shine is said to have been involved in a decision revealed Monday to part ways with Michael Clemente, a senior Fox News executive who joined in 2009 after nearly three decades with ABC News. Brooks would certainly have the ability to stand up to Fox News detractors and back the network when it places emphasis on conservative talking points and topics. She has lived through calls for her resignation in Britain and revelations about her personal life. Whether Murdoch picks her or elects to put someone else in charge of the network remains to be seen. Related stories In Memo, Rupert Murdoch Praises Ratings for Fox News, Fox Business Michael Clemente Departs Fox News Fox News Ads Suggest TV Strategy Remains Same After Roger Ailes' Departure By India Today Web Desk: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is mean and we all know it. He proved it yet again during a campaign stop in Roanoke yesterday when he called Hillary Clinton 'rotten'. Trump picked on how Hillary is not using her maiden name 'Rodham' for campaigns anymore and mocked that it's because the word sounded like 'rotten'. advertisement He said, "Why did Hillary get rid of her middle name? Huh? Hillary? No, but why did she get rid of it? Hillary Rotten Clinton, Rotten Clinton. Hillary Rotten Clinton, right? Maybe that's why, it's too close. No, no, it's too close, it's too close," and the audience could be heard cheering him. Trump had been using 'crooked Hillary' as a nickname to refer to Hillary Clinton and ensured he used it yesterday as well. Hillary hasn't spoken about this mean wordplay yet but said, "I don't understand people who trash talk about America?who act as if we are not yet the greatest country that has ever been created," in her speech before the VFW convention in Charlotte, NC yesterday. She also said, "One thing's for certain: You won't ever hear me praising dictators and strongmen who have no love for America," slamming Donald Trump for praising Saddam Hussein and Russian President Vladimir Putin. --- ENDS --- Sean Kehren reacts to Bernie Sanders speech. (Screenshot: YouTube/DNC) PHILADELPHIA As Sen. Bernie Sanders urged his 1,900 Democratic delegates to back Hillary Clinton Monday night, the Internet quickly noticed and poked fun at some of his delegates emotional responses to the end of his insurgent campaign. Even in this sea of sadness, Sean Kehren, a 22-year-old Sanders delegate from Minnesota, stood out. For one, he was wearing a Peter Pan-style hat (which represents a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street). His expression of pure anguish as Sanders spoke earned him the title of breakout star among all the crying Sanders delegates. Slideshow: Sanders supporters weep at the DNC >>> Kehrens image was quickly churned into memes, many of them making fun of Sanders supporters for their die-hard Bernie or bust stance. Twitter referred to him alternately as Crying Peter Pan and sad Robin Hood. Kehren, however, told Yahoo News that he is not a Bernie-or-buster. He said he was crying in part because he found it very noble that Sanders was encouraging his fans to back Clinton for the good of the nation after such a hard-fought and idealistic campaign. (Kehren also wept earlier Monday when Sanders was loudly booed by his delegates for telling them to get behind Clinton.) I was getting emotional over the fact that he was doing his best to unify the party and I think thats such a noble cause, Kehren said. Bernie has led a revolution, hes led a movement, and now that movement has to get behind the party. Sad Robin Hood just needs a minute. #DemsInPhilly pic.twitter.com/OkeQjHSrUY Quinn Sutherland (@ReelQuinn) July 26, 2016 Kehren said hes not a privileged Bernie Bro who hates Clinton, as some on social media have branded him. He said he was raised by a struggling single mom and will vote for Clinton in the election. Shes done her best to make deals with Bernie and to embrace his side, and I have to give her credit for that, he said of Clinton. Story continues This is not Kehrens first brush with Internet fame. Two months ago, I pulled a woman out of a burning car, he said. (He helped save the womans life by bravely removing her from the car.) And he understands why people with more distance from the impassioned Democratic primary think the photos are funny. Im willing to admit that its funny to other people who dont feel as passionate about it as I do, he said. And I dont expect anyone to know who I am through just a picture of me crying. _____ Related slideshows: On the ground at the DNC a photo report >>> How newspapers covered the historic second day of the DNC >>> Sanders supporters weep at DNC >>> How newspapers covered the DNCs first big day >>> Demonstrators protest outside the DNC >>> Authorities lifted a curfew in Srinagar Tuesday after 17 days of lockdown, but protesters continued to clash with police in the main city of Indian-administered Kashmir following two weeks of deadly violence. "There will be no restrictions in any part of district Srinagar today on 26 July," top administrative official Farooq Ahmad Lone said in a statement. It was unclear whether the lifting of the curfew was simply a temporary move to allow angry protesters some release, or if the relaxation of restrictions would continue. Mobile and internet networks remained suspended in Srinagar and across the restive territory, while a curfew was still in force in southern areas, where most of the 50 deaths have occurred. Hundreds of angry residents rallied in the city Tuesday to protest against Indian rule, shouting slogans for freedom and clashing with police who fired tear gas canisters to disperse them, a witness said. Shops, schools and businesses remained shut in the city while vehicles were off the roads. Separatist leaders opposed to Indian rule of the disputed territory have extended an ongoing strike to Saturday, but have appealed to shopkeepers to open for a few hours each day to allow people to buy essential supplies. "We will open shops after 2:00 pm," Umer Ahmed, a shopkeeper in the old quarter of Srinagar told AFP. The unrest was triggered by the killing on July 8 of popular young rebel leader Burhan Wani in a gunfight with soldiers. The wide-scale protests in the region have also left thousands injured. Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the rivals won independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the territory in full. Several rebel groups, including Wani's Hizbul Mujahideen, have fought for decades an estimated 500,000 Indian troops deployed in the territory, demanding independence or its merger with Pakistan. Tens of thousands, mostly civilians, have died in the fighting. Generations of children grew up with Curious George, but very few know the incredible true story behind his very first adventure a daring escape from Nazi Germany. The little-known tale of George and his creators, Hans and Margret Rey, is finally coming to light with the new mixed-media documentary Monkey Business by filmmaker Ema Ryan Yamazaki, who was granted unprecedented access to the Reys' archives by their estate. "I actually grew up in Japan thinking George was a Japanese monkey, not realizing that every country was claiming him," Yamazaki tells PEOPLE. "It's really been a global phenomenon from the beginning." Hans and Margret Rey both came from Jewish families in Hamburg, Germany, where they became acquainted with each another as teenagers. When Hans moved to Brazil after World War I, Margret followed him and the two were married there in 1935. "They took a vacation to Paris later that year," Yamazaki explains. "What was supposed to be a four-week trip turned into four years they just never checked out of the hotel." Curious George Creators' Incredible Escape from Nazi Germany Revealed in New Documentary| Curious George, Documentary, Movie News While in Paris, Hans and Margret completed the first manuscript for what would become Curious George. Hans was a gifted illustrator, and his wife, always a child at heart, helped him craft the prose. Like so many other Parisians at the time, the Nazi invasion in 1940 caught the Reys off-guard. As Jews, their lives were at stake and they resolved to escape. But by the time Hans went looking for a pair of bicycles to flee Paris, everything was sold out. Curious George Creators' Incredible Escape from Nazi Germany Revealed in New Documentary| Curious George, Documentary, Movie News "The only bike available was a tandem, a two-seater," Yamazaki explains. "But Hans was able to build two separate bikes with spare parts." With their makeshift bicycles, the Reys made their way to the train station, where they were abruptly stopped by two large soldiers. At first, the soldiers told Hans and Margret they would not be able to leave. But after searching through their luggage and discovering the Curious George manuscript, the soldiers had a sudden change of heart. "They were very lucky," says Yamazaki. "They did have Brazilian passports but they were Jewish and there were some very close calls." Curious George Creators' Incredible Escape from Nazi Germany Revealed in New Documentary| Curious George, Documentary, Movie News They Reys were able to sell their bikes for train tickets and escaped the South of France to Lisbon, Portugal, where they made their way back to Brazil before securing American visas. Within a year, the couple published their Curious George book with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, at the time an upstart publishing house that purchased four stories from the Reys for the bargain price for $1,000. "Meaning the first Curious George book was acquired for $250," Yamazaki says with a laugh. The couple, who the director says "were clearly true partners," lived together in New York City and continued writing children's books for the rest of their lives, with Margret taking the lead in turning Curious George into the global brand it is today. With Curious George's 75th anniversary this year, Yamazaki hopes with the help of a Kickstarter campaign launched today to debut the completed project soon. The father behind the pro-Donald Trump girl group, USA Freedom Kids, which went viral after a performance during a Florida rally earlier this year, now plans to sue the Republican presidential hopeful, he said Tuesday. Jeff Popick, who manages the Florida-based singing group and wrote a song about Trumps ability to crush Americas enemies, has consulted with an attorney to file a lawsuit against the Trump campaign for violating its agreement with the group. Popick, whose daughter Alexis leads the group, claims the campaign made promises to the group in exchange for their performances, including a booth at a rally to promote the girls albums, which never materialized. There is a legal issue here, but there also is a morality issue, Popick told TIME on Tuesday. Its important that I, as a role model for the group, hold their feet to the fire. His song, which the girls performed in January during a show that became an internet sensation, was inspired by the real estate moguls great heart and brilliant mind, the manager said at the time. Apologies for freedom I cant handle this! When freedom rings, answer the call! the girls sang while dancing around in flag-colored outfits. On your feet, stand up tall! Freedoms on our shoulders, USA! Enemies of freedom face the music. Come on boys, take them down! they continued. President Donald Trump knows how to make America great. Deal from strength or get crushed every time. Popick said the USA Freedom Kids in January were promised a booth at the Pensacola, Florida rally during their break-through performance to pre-sell their album. When they got to the rally, there was no booth for them. That never materialized, he said. We did, but they didnt. The campaign then asked the girls to perform during a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa. Popick said he paid out-of-pocket for the traveling expenses, but when the group arrived, the girls were told they werent going to perform. We got to Des Moines and their plan quote-unquote changed and we were told to just sit in the audience, he said. Story continues Trumps campaign did not immediately return a request for comment. Now, after his experience with the Trump campaign, Popick said he is questioning whether he still believes in his lyrics. Im very saddened by it, he said. Im not really sure what to think. The fact that what hes done to my group, or lack thereof, doesnt necessarily mean he wouldnt be the right guy for president. I dont know. Maybe Im not the right person to make political commentary. The 54-year-old businessman has not yet decided how much to sue the campaign for, but said that he would not demand billions of dollars. Ive asked and asked them for many months to make it right, and they havent, and if that means going the legal route, then so be it, Popick said. Bernie Sanders PHILADELPHIA Sen. Bernie Sanders' top surrogates at the Democratic convention Monday had a not-so-subtle plea for unity to diehard "Bernie-or-bust" delegates: Remember the party platform. Throughout the first day of the Democratic National Convention, high-profile Sanders supporters touted the concessions Democratic Party leadership made to the senator's supporters in reforming the party, the formal set of goals that were officially adopted by the party Monday. Maine state Rep. Diane Russell touted the Democratic National Committee's decision to consider removing superdelegates, Democratic Party officials whose votes play a small role in selecting presidential candidates. Introducing Sanders at the convention on Monday, former Sanders surrogate Rep. Keith Ellison noted the ways the Sanders campaign influenced the official Democratic Party platform. He mentioned the adoption of provisions like support for a $15 federal minimum wage and heavy regulations on hydraulic fracturing, a process that environmentalists deride for its unwanted side-effects. "Tonight, we are united around the most progressive platform in history," Ellison said. "That's the platform that we can make the law of the land if we stand together, if we work together, and if we vote together on November 8," he added. But that didn't seem to placate some Sanders delegates and grassroots supporters. Many of the senator's delegates in the hall were still incensed that the party platform refused to adopt official language opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multi-national trade deal supported by the Obama administration but opposed by many in both parties for its potential effects on American manufacturing and jobs. When the Democratic rules committee took its vote early in the evening, many Sanders supporters booed the platform, voting "nay" when it was put up for a so-called "voice vote." Chris, an alternate delegate for Sanders, told Business Insider it was "a darned shame" that Democrats weren't more vocally opposing TPP. Story continues "They completely ignored it. We had signs: 'No TPP.' Elijah completely ignored it. And a lot of people felt slighted from it, and a lot of people felt hurt and afraid," he said, referring to Rep. Elijah Cummings. dnc bernie sanders supporters Sanders supporters were also not impressed by a slick video about the party platform that played on the Jumbotron, highlighting the leftward tilt of the platform. Dean Vanderstone, a Sanders delegate from Michigan, told Business Insider that while he was pleased with some of the changes in the platform, he said the whole convention was "a farce." "It wasn't as smooth and clean and kumbaya as you heard from the speakers," Vanderstone said of the platform drafting committee, noting his discussions with Sanders supporters on the rules and drafting committees. "There was a lot of dissension." Still, while the Clinton campaign scrambled to placate delegates, moving Sanders into a primetime speaking slot, were more hopeful about party unity going forward. "There's a lot of great energy. Sen. Sanders has been fantastic about helping to unify the party. I'm confident that he'll do it tonight. And I'm confident in November we'll have an overwhelming Democratic turnout to defeat Donald Trump," Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro told Business Insider, noting he was speaking in his personal capacity as a Clinton supporter. He added: "Bernie provided a tremendous positive voice for change. And Hillary has embraced so much of the policy positions and the spirit of Bernie's campaign. So the ground is set for us to move forward as a united democratic party." Sanders ended the night with a strong call for unity amid the day of relative chaos with that primetime speech, closing out the night with a forceful endorsement of Clinton. Said Sanders: "Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her here tonight." NOW WATCH: OBAMA: Heres the best advice George W. Bush gave me More From Business Insider Khartoum (AFP) - As she drove past an apartment complex on a street in Khartoum, Sara Jadallah turned silent. It was here that her late father, the legendary film-maker Jadallah Jubara, set up Sudan's first private film studio in the 1970s. But in 2008, following an eight-year court battle over ownership of the land, the government demolished Studio Jad. The demolition, shortly before the film-maker's death at the age of 88, left little trace of the studio. But stopping next to the blocks of flats that now stand in its place, Jadallah pointed at a white patch on an old wall among the new buildings. "The screen is still there," she said. With her father's studio gone, Jadallah has vowed to preserve his life's work. With help from German experts, she has started digitising his entire film collection to create what she believes is Sudan's first private archive of 15 and 35mm films. "Through his camera he documented Sudan's history. I want to preserve this legacy," Jadallah, 66, told AFP at her home in a southern Khartoum district. Jubara was once an officer in the British army. Shortly after World War II he began work as a projectionist in a British mobile film unit. He went on to capture iconic moments in Sudan's history, including the hoisting of the country's flag as it gained independence from Britain in 1956. In a career spanning more than five decades, he produced more than 100 documentaries and four feature films, including a famous 1984 love story "Tajooj". But years of storage in poor conditions have taken a toll on his film archives. "Film rolls have a life span and because of exposure to heat and dust they have been damaged," said Jadallah. - Journey into the past - In his early years, Jubara faced resistance from a conservative Sudanese society, making it difficult for him to find actors. But a determined Jubara encouraged family members to work with him, including Jadallah. Story continues "He believed that cameramen were the most important people in the world... and in their hands was the most important weapon," she said. Jadallah, who made a name for herself as a national swimming champion despite having polio as a child, also studied film in Cairo. She worked with her father when he began to lose his eyesight due to old age, helping him film part of an adaptation of Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables". Jubara's documentaries included films on Darfur, where a deadly conflict since 2003 has killed tens of thousands of people. His early films preserved a snapshot of Sudanese society before the 1989 coup that installed an Islamist-backed regime. Prior to the coup, Sudan was home to more than 60 cinemas, including 16 in Khartoum that often screened films from Hollywood and Bollywood. Today, after years of economic hardships and government restrictions on importing foreign films, just three cinemas operate in Khartoum. German film-maker Katharina von Schroeder, who is helping Jadallah to digitise Jubara's collection, said watching his work was like taking a journey into the past. "There were lot more enterprises and factories at that time, a lot more night clubs," she told AFP. "Without any judgement, it was a different place," she said as she showed footage from Jubara's collection. In one commercial, a young Jadallah is seen dressed in a red top and a skirt. In another clip, Sudanese couples in Western clothes danced at an late evening open-air party -- something rare in today's Sudan. "There is no conflict between religion and cinema," said Jadallah, "but some extremists reject cinema without even understanding it." "If you don't have cinema, you don't have a voice," she said. - A gift to Sudan - Over his five-decade career, Jubara produced more than 100 hours of film. Digitising them is an enormous job. Around 40 hours have been processed so far, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars. The project has received backing from a German foundation, the Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art, and the German embassy in Khartoum. "It was definitely worth saving this heritage... and Sara had this wish to preserve her father's legacy," said Schroeder. The processing was done in Berlin. Jadallah was initially hesitant to hand over rare footage. "I could understand that... in films as opposed to digital, you just have one copy and there's nothing you can do if it's gone," said Schroeder. "As far as I know this is the only private film archive for 15 and 35 mm materials in Sudan," she said. Tayeb Mahdi, director of a Khartoum-based film school, said the project was a fitting tribute to Jubara. "This government doesn't care about cinema, while the private sector is disinterested," he said. "Despite this, Jubara kept on making films." For Jadallah, preserving her father's legacy is a gift to Sudan. "I feel sad when I remember my father witnessing his studio being demolished... I feel sad when there is no cinema," she said, wiping away tears. "I want to preserve his films, because Sudan's future generations should see their country's history." Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., waves to the Florida delegation at a breakfast on the first day of the Democratic National Convention. (Photo: Matt Slocum/AP) PHILADELPHIA Debbie Wasserman Schultz may have been all but erased from the Democratic National Convention but shes still in the city. The former chair of the DNC gave a brief speech on the politics of ending extreme poverty at a Better World campaign event in Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon. She was greeted by polite applause by the crowd. The Florida congresswoman deplored lack of progress on development legislation, which she blamed on Democrats making up the minority in Congress. Which, by the way, were going to change soon, she added. When asked before her appearance by this reporter to comment on her resignation, Wasserman Schultz declined. The congresswoman announced she would resign her role as DNC chair Sunday, after a hack revealed DNC staffers derided Sen. Bernie Sanders over email. She was booed by her home states delegation Monday morning. By the afternoon, it was announced she would not even appear on the stage of the DNC to gavel the convention in. The sole trace of her at the convention so far has been her name printed on delegates and reporters credentials, which are required to enter the Wells Fargo Center. The DNC offered a sincere apology to Sanders supporters Monday over the emails. _____ Related slideshows: On the ground at the DNC a photo report >>> Bernie Sanders supporters make a last stand >>> Sanders supporters weep at DNC >>> How newspapers covered the DNCs first big day >>> Demonstrators protest outside the DNC >>> Screen Shot 2016 07 26 at 2.31.36 PM Rep. Alan Grayson, a Democratic Senate candidate in Florida, on Tuesday said he hoped authorities would place a Politico reporter under arrest after the journalist peppered him with questions about domestic-abuse allegations as he left a Politico event. "You're blocking me from leaving," Grayson told Edward-Isaac Dovere, a senior White House reporter. Footage showed Dovere walking ahead of the Florida congressman as he made his way toward an elevator bank. "You're getting in my way! You're getting in my way, my friend!" Grayson exclaimed as the reporter continued to question him. "You're assaulting a member of Congress!" Despite Grayson's claim, video published by Politico appeared to show Grayson push the reporter not vice versa. Dovere continued to press the Democratic congressman on a report published by Politico on Tuesday that indicated his wife repeatedly went to authorities and accused him of domestic abuse over two decades. Specifically, the reporter noted that Grayson said he was "disgusted" in 2012 when he claimed the media didn't adequately address allegations of domestic abuse against his political opponent. "You said it was hypocritical in 2012 for the media not to cover these allegations about your opponent, and now you say it's ridiculous not to talk about yours. How is that not hypocritical?" Dovere asked. "Do you seriously think that this is a proper way to conduct an interview?" Grayson asked. Dovere reminded him that he was at a Politico event and is a public official. "That gives you the right to push me?" Grayson said. "You pushed me, sir," Dovere shot back. Grayson, who is competing with Rep. Patrick Murphy in Florida's Democratic Senate primary race, continued to claim that Dovere was the one who assaulted him. "So you're going to accuse a reporter of assaulting you for asking a question?" Dovere asked. "No, not for asking a question for getting in my face and being a fool and pushing me as I was trying to leave this event," Grayson said. Story continues He added: "You know, I'm hoping that someone comes here and arrests you right now." Reached by email, Tina Dupuy, a spokesperson for Grayson, said the congressman had no comment on the incident. Dovere reiterated to Business Insider in a statement that the congressman "attended a public event." "He's a public official appearing at a public event," he said. "I attempted to ask him questions about the serious allegations of domestic abuse by his ex-wife." NOW WATCH: Heres the footage that Republicans suggest shows Hillary Clinton lied under oath More From Business Insider According to the official statement, "Emirates flight EK652 from Dubai to Male was diverted to Mumbai due to a technical fault." By Anindya Banerjee: As many as 309 passengers on an Emirates flight had a close shave this afternoon after smoke was detected following which it made an emergency landing at Mumbai airport. Pilot of flight EK 652 contacted the ATC after taking off from Dubai at 9.50 am local time for Male. Sources say two fire tenders were kept ready at Mumbai airport and ask passengers and crew were deboarded to safety immediately after the emergency landing. advertisement It was a Boeing 777/300 that was asked to land at runway no 9 by the ATC. In a statement Emirates said, "Emirates can confirm that on 26 July 2016, flight EK652 from Dubai to Male was diverted to Mumbai due to a technical fault. The aircraft landed and passengers safely disembarked. Emirates apologises for the inconvenience. The health and safety of our crew and passengers is of paramount importance." The flight after due checks has taken off for Male. --- ENDS --- The official Democratic Party platform is out, and compared with their Republican opponents, the Democrats are calling for fewer constitutional amendments in the near future. demconventionflickr Source: DNCC The 2016 Republican platform, released last week, asked for five new constitutional amendments: a right to life amendment, a balanced budget amendment, a congressional term-limits amendment, an amendment to let states define marriage, and an amendment to allow parents to direct their childrens education. The Democrats platform, which was drafted earlier in the month in Florida, requests two new constitutional amendments. The first request is a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Courts Citizens United and Buckley v. Valeo rulings on campaign financing. We need to end secret, unaccountable money in politics by requiring, through executive order or legislation, significantly more disclosure and transparencyby outside groups, federal contractors, and public corporations to their shareholders, the platform reads. The other request is an amendment that was actually first proposed at a political convention by the Republican Party in 1940: the Equal Rights Amendment. After 240 years, we will 19 finally enshrine the rights of women in the Constitution by passing the Equal Rights Amendment. And we will urge U.S. ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the platform reads. The Democratic platform also opposes the Republican proposed right to live amendment. We will appoint judges who defend the constitutional principles of liberty and equality for all, and will protect a womans right to safe and legal abortion , it reads. It also advocates statehood for the District of Columbia, which the Republicans believe should not be achieved through a constitutional amendment. 5049737150001Speakers at the Democratic national convention had some words for undecided votersin Spanish. A half-dozen people on stage in Philadelphia on the opening night of the convention Monday added a phrase in Spanish to their remarks to help highlight the partys differences with Republican nominee Donald Trump. They wont be the only ones either, as both speakers and the crowd favored the phrase Si, se puederoughly equivalent to President Obamas campaign slogan Yes, We Canand vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine also speaks Spanish. Here are some of the things that were said on stage. Karla and Francisca Ortiz Ten-year-old Karla spoke about her fears about her parents, who are undocumented citizens, being deported with phrases in Spanish sprinkled in. She and her mother both addressed the crowd in Spanish at the end: The immigration system needs to be better so that families can be together and reach the American dream, Francisca, Karlas mother, said. Luis Gutierrez: The Illinois congressman ended on a note whose tone did not need any translation: Together with Hillary Clinton, well make this nation greater, better and stronger, he said in Spanish after critiquing Republican nominee Donald Trumps policies. Lily Eskelsen Garcia: The national education association president opened her speech about immigration with a quick line in Spanish, saluting to Spanish-speakers by wishing them a good afternoon. Linda Sanchez: The California congresswoman told the story of her parents moving from Mexico. Hillary has always supported us, and she needs us. We need to back her and vote in the November elections, Sanchez said in Spanish. Astrid Silva: This DREAMer spoke after a montage of Trump making statements that have been criticized for being culturally insensitive. She also spoke about her immigration journey with small phrases in Spanish mixed in. The current week (Jul 25-29) will be witness to a plethora of earnings releases as most of the bigwigs are lined up to report their quarterly numbers. Almost 1000 companies are slated to report their financial numbers, including 189 S&P 500 members. We note that 126 S&P companies have already disclosed their numbers, with 70.6% of them beating the EPS estimates and 55.6% managing to clock a revenue beat. As per the latest Zacks Earnings Trend report, overall second-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to be down 3.4% (slightly better than the earlier estimated decline of 5.4%) from the year-ago quarter. Also, revenues are estimated to decline 0.5%. Medical is one of the seven sectors in the S&P 500 cohort that is expected to register earnings growth in the second quarter. The sector is estimated to report earnings growth of 1.8% on revenue improvement of 7.7%. Dental is an important component of the Medical sector and is expected follow the same earnings growth trajectory in the quarter. Here, we take a look at four Dental stocks set to report earnings on Jul 27: McKesson Corporation MCK, a major player in the pharmaceutical and medical supplies distribution market, is set to report its first-quarter fiscal 2017 results, after the market close. We expect McKesson to beat earnings as it has a favorable combination of Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and Earnings ESP of +1.20%. MCKESSON CORP Price and EPS Surprise MCKESSON CORP Price and EPS Surprise | MCKESSON CORP Quote This is because, as per our proven model, a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 or 3 (Hold) to beat earnings. Simultaneously, we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. Notably, McKesson has recorded excellent returns from the business units of distribution-solutions, pharmaceutical services in North America and Medical-Surgical distribution and services. Moreover, the collaborations with Biologics and Vantage Oncology and Change Healthcare Holdings are significant growth drivers. (Read more: McKesson Q1 Earnings: Stock Likely to Beat?) Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings LH, popularly known as LabCorp, is scheduled to report its second-quarter results, before the opening bell. New test launches, test menu enhancement and geographic footprint expansion are the key growth drivers for the company, in our view. Story continues LABORATORY CP Price and EPS Surprise LABORATORY CP Price and EPS Surprise | LABORATORY CP Quote However, our proven model does not conclusively show that the company is likely to beat earnings, given the combination of a Zacks Rank #2 and Earnings ESP of 0.00%. We also note that LabCorps results compared favourably with the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last four quarters, with an average beat of 1.38%. However, our model had earlier predicted a beat for LabCorp (Read more: Will LabCorp Beat Earnings Estimates in Q2?). After market close, CONMED Corporation CNMD is set to report second-quarter earnings. The company is expected to gain from the rapid adoption of the AirSeal system. However, Orthopedic Surgery sales and Surgical Visualization sales remain unsatisfactory, which is likely to dent growth for the company. CONMED CORP Price and EPS Surprise CONMED CORP Price and EPS Surprise | CONMED CORP Quote Our proven model does not conclusively show that the company is likely to beat earnings, given the combination of a Zacks Rank #3 and Earnings ESP of 0.00%. Merit Medical Systems Inc MMSI is a leading manufacturer and marketer of proprietary disposable devices is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings, after the closing bell. MERIT MEDICAL Price and EPS Surprise MERIT MEDICAL Price and EPS Surprise | MERIT MEDICAL Quote The acquisition of the HeRO Graft product line (early February), establishments of new facility in Mexico and approval of the Corvocet Biopsy System are the key positives. Nevertheless, our proven model does not conclusively show that the company is likely to beat earnings, given the combination of a Zacks Rank #2 and Earnings ESP of 0.00%. We also note that Merit Medical Systems results compared favorably with the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last four quarters, with an average beat of 10.17%. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CONMED CORP (CNMD): Free Stock Analysis Report LABORATORY CP (LH): Free Stock Analysis Report MERIT MEDICAL (MMSI): Free Stock Analysis Report MCKESSON CORP (MCK): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Frankfurt (AFP) - The Frankfurt stock exchange Deutsche Boerse on Tuesday said its shareholders had backed a planned merger with the London Stock Exchange (LSE) to create a new global player. Earlier this month Deutsche Boerse lowered the threshold for shareholder support needed for the tie-up to 60 percent from 75 percent, removing a potential spanner in the works for the deal following Britain's vote to leave the European Union. The 60-percent level was breached several hours before the midnight deadline, Deutsche Boerse said in a statement. At 1500 GMT, the plan had garnered 60.35 percent of the capital, according to provisional figures. LSE shareholders already voted overwhelmingly for the tie-up this month. Under the agreed terms, Deutsche Boerse shareholders will end up with 54.4 percent of the new holding company's capital, and LSE shareholders with 45.6 percent. A possible headache for the two companies' merger plans is the British decision on June 23 to quit the European Union. Already, media reports have suggested that the headquarters of the merged company may no longer be based in London, as originally planned. Ultimately, the company could be based either in Frankfurt or a "neutral" city such as Amsterdam, German financial daily Handelsblatt earlier reported. Germany's market supervisory authority Bafin, which has only a consultative role in the affair, is not enthusiastic about having London as the future HQ given that Britain, already outside the eurozone, will soon not even be in the European Union. The two groups still need the green light from several national authorities and the European Commission. Ahead of the Brexit referendum, the two operators had set up a committee, under Deutsche Boerse chairman Joachim Faber, tasked with drawing up recommendations to ensure the group can respond to authorities' demands for obtaining approval. It is the third tie-up attempt after two earlier failed bids in 2000 and 2004. Story continues In addition to the London market, LSE also operates the Milan stock exchange and LCH Clearnet transaction clearing house. Deutsche Boerse operates the Frankfurt exchange, as well as the Luxembourg-based clearing house Clearstream and the derivatives platform Eurex. In addition to its previous ambitions to tie the knot with the LSE, Deutsche Boerse also tried to combine forces with NYSE Euronext in 2011, which operated the New York, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon exchanges at the time. A joined LSE and Deutsche Boerse would compete with the likes of CME and ICE in the United States and the Hong Kong stock exchange. (Removes words "U.N.-backed" in second paragraph) By Michael Martina and Lesley Wroughton VIENTIANE (Reuters) - China scored a diplomatic victory on Monday as Southeast Asian nations dropped a U.S.-backed proposal to mention a landmark international court ruling against Beijing's territorial claims in the South China Sea in a joint statement. A weekend deadlock between Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers was broken only when the Philippines withdrew its request to mention the ruling in the face of resolute objections from Cambodia, China's closest ASEAN ally. China publicly thanked Phnom Penh for the support, which threw the regional bloc's meeting in the Laos capital of Vientiane into disarray. The United States had earlier on Monday urged ASEAN to make a reference to the July 12 ruling by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, in which U.S. ally Manila won an emphatic legal victory over China on the dispute. In a meeting with host Laos' Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry "urged ASEAN to reach consensus and issue a joint statement on the arbitral tribunals recent ruling on the South China Sea", said U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner. Kerry pressed the issue during other bilateral meetings with ASEAN members, Toner said. Competing claims with China in the vital shipping lane are among the most contentious issues for the 10 members of ASEAN, who are pulled between their desire to assert their sovereignty while fostering ties with an increasingly assertive Beijing. ASEAN CONSENSUS The Philippines and Vietnam both wanted the ruling, which denied China's sweeping claims in the strategic seaway that channels more than $5 trillion in global trade each year, and a call to respect international maritime law to feature in the communique. But ASEAN works strictly by consensus, and Cambodia rejected the wording on the ruling, diplomats said, backing instead China's call for bilateral discussions. Manila backed down to prevent the disagreement leading to the group failing to issue a joint statement after a meeting for only the second time in its 49-year history. The communique referred instead to the need to find peaceful resolutions to disputes in the South China Sea in accordance with international law, including the United Nations' law of the sea, to which the court ruling referred. "We remain seriously concerned about recent and ongoing developments and took note of the concerns expressed by some ministers on the land reclamations and escalation of activities in the area, which have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions and may undermine peace, security and stability in the region," the ASEAN communique said. ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh said that the communique was not a victory for China, but for ASEAN's values and principle of finding consensus. But he conceded an earlier proposal for the communique referred to the court's decision. In a separate statement, China and ASEAN reaffirmed a commitment to freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea and said they would refrain from activities that would complicate or escalate disputes. That included inhabiting any presently uninhabited islands or reefs, it added. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said a page had been turned after the "deeply flawed" ruling and it was time to lower the temperature in the dispute. "It seems like certain countries from outside the region have got all worked up, keeping the fever high," Wang told reporters. China frequently blames the United States for raising tensions in the region and has warned regional rival Japan to steer clear of the dispute. MAJOR POWERS ARRIVE The United States, allied with the Philippines and cultivating closer relations with Vietnam, has called on China to respect the court's ruling. It has criticised China's building of artificial islands and facilities in the sea and has sailed warships close to the disputed territory to assert freedom of navigation rights. Meeting U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice in Beijing, Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi said both countries needed to make concerted efforts to ensure stable and good relations between the two major powers. "So far this year, relations between China and the United States have generally been stable, maintaining coordination and cooperation on bilateral, regional and international level. Meanwhile, both sides face challenging differences that need to be carefully handled," said Yang, who outranks the foreign minister. Kerry arrived in Laos on Monday for the ASEAN regional forum and East Asia summits. After a meeting with the foreign ministers of Japan and Australia, the three countries issued a statement in which they called on China and the Philippines to abide by the court ruling "which is final and legally binding on both parties". "The ministers stressed that this is a crucial opportunity for the region to uphold the existing rules-based international order and to show respect for international law," they said. Kerry was also expected to discuss maritime issues in a meeting with Wang on Monday. (Additional reporting by Simon Webb and Manuel Mogato in VIENTIANE, and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Writing by Simon Webb; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Alex Richardson) Foodles Production, the Disney-owned production company responsible for working on the UK et of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, has admitted two health and safety breaches following the accident that crushed Harrison Fords leg. Ford found himself pinned by a hydraulic door on the set of the Millennium Falcon spaceship during filming. A Milton Keynes magistrates court heard that the accident could have killed the then-71 year old Ford, who was reprising his iconic turn as Han Solo, comparing it to the force of being hit by a small car. The accident took place at Pinewood Studios on June 12, 2014. Ford was airlifted to a nearby hospital following the accident. Foodles pleaded guilty to one count under section two of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, relating to a breach of duty in relation to employees, and a second under section three, a breach over people not employed by the company. The company will be sentenced on August 22 at Aylesbury crown court. Foodles execs are expected to contest the level of risk of the accident. A rep for the governments Health and Safety Executive said, The British film industry has a world-renowned reputation for making exceptional films. Managing on-set risks in a sensible and proportionate way for all actors and staff regardless of their celebrity status is vital to protecting both on-screen and off-screen talent, as well as protecting the reputation of the industry. Related stories Oprah Winfrey To Star In 'A Wrinkle In Time', Re-Teaming With 'Selma' Helmer Ava DuVernay 'Star Wars' To Run On Starz Channels Beginning September 10 'Rogue One' Panel At Star Wars Celebration Europe - Live Stream By PTI: Raipur, Jul 26 (PTI) Four Naxals, including a woman carrying a reward of Rs 2 lakh on her head, surrendered in the insurgency-hit Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh today, police said. The rebels turned themselves in before senior police officials, citing disappointment with the "empty" ideology of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) and atrocities by senior cadres on them, Bijapur Superintendent of Police K L Dhruv told PTI. advertisement "Of the surrendered members, Jaimati Benjam (24), who was active as special platoon member, was a prominent cadre. She worked in South Bastar and Sonabeda (Odisha) for the banned outfit and was carrying a reward of Rs 2 lakh on her head," the SP said. Besides, Hemla Sonu (30), a militia commander in Gangaloor Area Committee of Maoist and Lalu Ram Kadti, the deputy head of student unit of Maoists, were also key cadres of the region, he said adding that they were carrying a reward of Rs one lakh each on their heads. The fourth surrendered Naxal was identified as jan militia member Madvi Somdu (32), he added. In their statement to police, they all expressed disappointment with the ideology of the outlawed Naxal movement and violence. "Moreover, they were also impressed with the provisions ofsurrenderand rehabilitation policy of the state government which compelled them to join the mainstream," the SP said. Anencouragementamountof Rs 10,000 was given to each surrendered member while they will be further ensured facilities as per the surrender policy, he added. Meanwhile, three Maoist supporters, who were involved in thrashing villagers in Matla village, were arrested from Jangla police station area of Bijapur district, the SP said. As many as seven villagers of Matla village were allegedly beaten up by rebels last week after they refused to provide them ration. PTI TKP NP RCJ SDM --- ENDS --- Bernie Sanders kept his promise when he said that he would support the Democratic nominee no matter what even despite his supporters wishes. "She could be a lot worse," Bob Aagard, a Utah Sanders delegate tells FOXBusiness.com. Jennifer Lester, a Sanders delegate from Virginia says Bernie Sanders could have done what Senator Ted Cruz did at the Republican National Convention last week when he urged voters to "vote with their conscience." He said he would support the eventual nominee. He made that promise he kept that promise, but Ted Cruz promised he would support the Republican nominee and didnt. And there are a lot of folks that make those promises and dont keep them. Bernie delegates say trust is the biggest factor that they struggle with in regards to Hillary Clinton. I am hoping that she will keep some of the promises shes making at this Convention. I dont know if she will says Lester. Related Articles PHILADELPHIA Hillary Clinton officially received the Democratic Partys nomination for the presidency Tuesday evening. Clinton is now the first woman to become the presidential nominee of a major U.S. political party. Vermonts delegation voted last, joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders. I move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the nominee of the Democratic Party for president of the United States, Sanders said, as the crowd erupted into cheers and waved multicolored Hillary signs. A rendition of the song Happy began playing as delegates swayed. The roll call went smoothly and with few signs of protest, as the party appeared to unify after a fractious start to the convention Monday. Hillary Clinton campaign signs are held by the crowd during the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Photo: Paul Sancya/AP) Delegates and speakers backing Clinton stressed the historic nature of her nomination. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., the first Democratic woman elected to the Senate in her own right, announced Clintons name for nomination on behalf of all the women who have broken down barriers for others. The Democratic Party nominated and elected the first person of color to have ever served in the White House, said Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who seconded Clintons nomination. Tonight, we will shatter that glass ceiling again. Clintons childhood friend Betsy Ebeling spoke as she cast Illinois votes for Clinton, calling it a historic, wonderful day. This ones for you, Hill, she said. Jerry Emmett, a 102-year-old delegate from Arizona who was born before women had the right to vote in this country, announced her states votes for Clinton as the crowd cheered. Standing with the Vermont delegation, Bernie Sanders waves after asking the convention to make Clinton the unanimous choice for president of the United States. (Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP) There were a few signs of protest from Sanders supporters, but far less than Monday, when they interrupted speakers with boos and chants. A few Sanders delegates walked out ahead of the final roll call, and a delegate held up a sign that said Rigged, as Nevada cast its votes. In nominating speeches, Sanders supporters urged his delegates to keep his movement going. To my brothers and sisters who have been a part of this historic campaign, I urge you to stay engaged, stay active, stay fired up, said Paul Feeney, a Sanders supporter who leads the IBEW union in New York. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, who nominated Sanders, said the movement was about love and would continue on. Story continues In an emotional speech, Sanders brother, Larry Sanders, also teared up as he placed his vote in for his brother from the Democrats abroad delegation. Sanders appeared to also tear up as his brother said their parents would be proud of him. _____ Related slideshows: On the ground at the DNC a photo report >>> Bernie Sanders supporters make a last stand >>> Sanders supporters weep at DNC >>> How newspapers covered the DNCs first big day >>> Demonstrators protest outside the DNC >>> Monday marked the opening night of the Democratic National Convention, and the party decided to highlight its progressive wing with favorites like Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Michelle Obama, and Bernie Sanders addressing the crowd in Philadelphia. Throughout the night, a few themes emerged. Cory Booker, the first African-American senator elected from New Jersey, spoke about unity and togetherness. Michelle Obama reflected on her time as first lady and her trust for Hillary Clinton. The idea of a $15 minimum wage was brought up multiple times throughout the night. When Warren and Sanders took the stage, both in prime-time spots, it became clear that the Democrats were officially putting Wall Street in their sights, as both senators called for the breaking up of big banks. We dont need weaker rules on Wall Street. We need stronger rules, and when big banks get too risky, break them up. Hillary will fight to keep big banks accountable, said Senator Elizabeth Warren. Sanders continued in the same vein: I am happy to tell you that at the Democratic Platform Committee, there was a significant coming together the Democratic Party now calls for breaking up the major financial institutions on Wall Street and the passage of a 21st-century Glass-Steagall Act, Senator Sanders proclaimed. With Sanders and the Party saying that new Glass-Steagall is an important goal, the Democrats have now made their position on Wall Street clear and in agreement with Donald Trump, who also (surprisingly I might add) added the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall to his platform last week. What a New Glass-Steagall Will Do The Glass-Steagall act came as a result of the 1929 stock market crash, and its main purpose was to separate investment and commercial banking activities. In the wake of the crash, many people blamed the reckless behavior of commercial banks and their involvement in stock market investment for the collapse of the market. Story continues Glass-Steagall was repealed in 1999 under the Bill Clinton administration, and its repeal allowed banks to, once again, explode in size. The line between investment and commercial banking was blurred and Wall Street became home to several banking giants. For example, when JPMorgan merged with Chase Manhattan in September of 2000, its market cap was roughly $156 billion. Today, the company is valued at over $232 billion. In the aftermath of the 2008 crash, people once again pointed the finger at the risky behavior of these massive firms. While its unclear exactly what would be included in a 21st century Glass-Steagall, one can assume it would at least include new separations between commercial and investment activities, as well as tighter regulations throughout the industry. Overall, this platform seems to call for keeping these banks smaller. Of course, this isnt great news for the top five biggest banks in the country. JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, Bank of America Corp. BAC, Citigroup Inc. C, Wells Fargo WFC, and U.S. Bancorp USB might stand to be dismantled under a Clinton presidency and Democratic-controlled Congress. Investment firms like Goldman Sachs GS, Morgan Stanley MS, Credit Suisse CS, and Barclays Capital BCS would also almost certainly be facing much stricter regulations, which could put a serious damper on their business. This would be further bad news for a sector thats already struggling right now. The Banks-Major Regional and Financial-Investment Banks industries are currently in the bottom 15% and bottom 10% of the Zacks Industry Rank, respectively. Bottom Line Last week, it was interesting that Donald Trump adopted the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall into his platform, and now the Democrats have joined him with their resounding endorsement of Wall Street regulation at the DNC. Whether or not Hillary Clinton, whose campaign has seen the most financial support from Wall Street banks, will double-down on this rhetoric remains to be seen. Clinton will address the DNC crowd on Thursday. For now, its beginning to look like Americans are fed up with big banks, and both parties are looking for major change in the industry. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report JPMORGAN CHASE (JPM): Free Stock Analysis Report US BANCORP (USB): Free Stock Analysis Report WELLS FARGO-NEW (WFC): Free Stock Analysis Report CITIGROUP INC (C): Free Stock Analysis Report BANK OF AMER CP (BAC): Free Stock Analysis Report CREDIT SUISSE (CS): Free Stock Analysis Report BARCLAY PLC-ADR (BCS): Free Stock Analysis Report MORGAN STANLEY (MS): Free Stock Analysis Report GOLDMAN SACHS (GS): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Dr. Sandra Lee, better known as "Dr. Pimple Popper," performs blackhead extractions and more to an audience of about 1.6 million on Instagram. The board-certified California dermatologist gets many questions from followers interested in careers in medicine. A lot of people are surprised by the breadth of procedures dermatologists can perform -- most think she just treats acne and warts -- and find her work fascinating, she says. She thinks it's a good way to explore careers. [Find out how some medical schools embrace social media.] Following physicians who share their practice on social media -- like Lee, or Dr. Michael Salzhauer, the popular plastic surgeon on Snapchat known as "Dr. Miami" -- can be a way for students interested in medicine to explore careers. But experts tell aspiring physicians to proceed with caution. Phillip Scharf, who oversees pre-health advising at Arizona State University, likes the excitement viewing this content can build for students. However, he wouldn't recommend students decide if medicine is right for them based off these activities alone. Students usually just see the highlights on social media, he says, and can't typically ask physicians questions. But if students can watch videos of doctors performing procedures for hours without getting squeamish, perhaps that means medicine is an option, he says. [Learn how volunteer work can offer lessons to prospective medical students.] Students should still partake in hands-on experiences, like volunteering in a hospital or shadowing physicians, to see more of the totality of the profession, he says. Aspiring medical students can get a peek into the life of Dr. Cat Begovic, a board-certified plastic surgeon in California, on her social media channels. They revolve around beauty, fitness, family life and medicine. She says she was initially hesitant to use social media, but wanted to inspire young people, especially girls, to pursue careers in science and medicine. She also uses social media to educate patients, students and the public on surgery. Story continues Georgia C. Yalanis, 31, a fourth-year medical student at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, thinks physicians on social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat may inspire the younger generation to consider medical careers. "I think some of it is educational," she says. "I think some of it is more interesting. And some of it is things that I don't want to do." But students shouldn't make any career decisions based on what they see on social media alone, she says. These doctors aren't the majority and don't usually show what life in medical school and beyond will be like. "They look like they have amazing , fantasy lives," she says. But it took a lot of work and dedication to get there. She also notes that undergraduates may not have the level of understanding yet to fully appreciate what these doctors are doing. "The internet might be a good place to get started, but it's rarely the place to sort of finish up all of your work in terms of understanding what it means to be a doctor," says Dr. Catherine Lucey, professor of medicine and vice dean for education at the University of California--San Francisco School of Medicine. Lucey has concerns about physicians on Snapchat for a variety of reasons. However, if students are going to follow doctors on social media, she recommends they look for doctors with strong credentials, who post about contemporary issues in healthcare and have a strong patient-centered voice -- someone who can help students understand the patient experience. Dr. Bob Wachter, who blogs and tweets about contemporary issues facing physicians, is someone she recommends. Lucey says while there may be a scenario where a student could appropriately mention following doctors on social media on a medical school interview or application -- perhaps leading into a story about a meaningful real-world experience with patients -- she generally wouldn't advise students mention these activities. "We want applicants who have a clear understanding, not just of what the doctor's role is, but what the patient's experience is," she says. She'd prefer students spend time volunteering with patients so they understand what it means to be sick and taken care of by a relative stranger. [Get four common mistakes that lead to medical school.] Dr. John Skinner, a radiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, mainly posts about his work with the 3-D printing lab at the clinic, discusses interesting cases and sometimes shows his everyday life rather than showing patient procedures on Snapchat. In one recent Snap, he discussed how ultrasound can be used to remove foreign bodies. Skinner is not very familiar with any other physicians using Snapchat, but he thinks there could be some value for individuals exploring careers in medicine to get a glimpse of the life of a physician. Get started on Snapchat by using this list of doctors on the platform -- their Instagram page is linked when available. Physician Specialty Snapchat Handle Dr. Scott Blyer Cosmetic surgery drbfixin Dr. Sandra Lee Dermatology drpimplepopper Dr. Parsa Mohebi Hair restoration drparsamohebi Dr. Cat Begovic Plastic surgery beautybydrcat Dr. Humberto Palladino Plastic surgery magicsurgeon Dr. Lara Devgan Plastic surgery nyplasticsurg Dr. Laxmeesh Mike Nayak Plastic surgery nosebynayak Dr. Matthew Schulman Plastic surgery nycplasticsurg Dr. Michael Salzhauer Plastic surgery therealdrmiami Dr. Otto Placik Plastic surgery bodysculptor Dr. Robert Najera Plastic surgery realdrdallas Dr. Sejal Patel Plastic surgery mydrsej Dr. Tarick Smiley Plastic surgery dr-smiley Dr. John Skinner Radiology skyhawk4480r Searching for a medical school? Get our complete rankings of Best Medical Schools. Alexandra Pannoni is an education Web producer at U.S. News. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at apannoni@usnews.com. One customer claimed this beautiful doll was too dark. (Photo: Malaville Dolls) Until recently, childrens dolls often didnt reflect the diversity of the kids who played with them. But thanks to the efforts of several manufacturers including Mattel, which launched new Barbie dolls with seven different skin tones, as well as a range of body types, last January there are more dolls than ever that reflect real-world diversity. Mala Bryan is one of those doll manufacturers. Her Malaville line is comprised of four stunning dolls that come in several different shades of brown, each with her own backstory, including career and hobbies. I personally am a doll collector and felt the need to create something I felt was missing in my collection and also something I felt other doll collectors and lovers (both adults and children) would love to add to their collection, she wrote on her website. But not everyone is a fan. One customer, C. Lincoln, commented on Bryans Maisha doll, which has the darkest complexion of the four, writing, I think that one doll [Maisha doll] is a bit too dark. Thats like the Sudanese doll. I think its safe to say thats the least bestselling. Keep the other three and create accessories etc. Keep doing what you do, sistah. In response, Bryan shared the comment on her Instagram with another customers powerful message: I dont believe that a doll can be too darkBlack in all shades is indeed beautiful and thats what Mala Bryan is trying to communicate to the world. Alek Wek, a Sudanese model, is (according to her own words) as black as the night and she can be seen on the biggest runways in the world. I dont think its safe to say thats the least best selling doll. #CelebrateHumanity. Bryan wrote that she first thought about ignoring the ignorant comment. But Im sharing just so that people realize that our super dark people must still be facing a huge problem, she wrote. This is just sad. Although I got a compliment at the end, the person had the nerve to talk about [Maisha] being the least selling when she actually my second best selling. Several Instagram users voiced their disappointment that someone would think a doll wouldnt sell well simply because of its dark skin tone the too dark comment echoing the societal and cultural pressures that many girls and women with dark skin tones face to lighten their complexion while others shared their support of Bryan making a doll like Maisha. User toylsan wrote, Damn people still try to devalue the melanin, while chapaquente423 commented, I bought 2 of each and my daughters favorite is the darkest one. Instagram user del_aine wrote, I think the doll is beautiful, just like all dark skin peoples. What Bryan and other doll manufacturers are doing creating dolls that reflect a beautiful array of skin tones is important. Maria Pilar Bratko, a family therapist and clinical director of the Womens Therapy Center in Berkeley, Calif., told Parents that dolls that mirror a childs racial identity can help them develop a healthy self-image, and in general, seeing a variety of dolls helps promote a well-rounded world view for all kids. When parents give a child a doll that looks like her, theyre saying: There are people like you in the world, said Bratko. You matter just as much as anyone else. Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 26, 2016 / Dolly Varden Silver Corporation (TSX.V: DV | OTC: DOLLF) (the "Company" or "Dolly Varden") has completed its non-brokered private placement originally announced on July 5, 2016 (the "Offering"). The Company raised gross proceeds of $7,195,591.38 through the sale of 9,115,861 common shares of the Company at a price of $0.62 per share ("Common Shares"), 2,142,857 "flow-through shares" of the Company at a price of $0.70 per share and 101,762 common share purchase warrants ("Warrants") issued to Hecla Canada Ltd. ("Hecla") at a price of $0.43 per Warrant (described below). Closing of the Offering was delayed pending simultaneous hearings of the British Columbia Securities Commission and the Ontario Securities Commission on whether to cease trade the Offering. On July 22, 2016, both commissions ruled in favour of allowing the Offering to continue and the financing was resumed on July 25, 2016. The net proceeds of the Offering will be used to repay principal, interest and fees on the $2,500,000 loan from Sprott Private Resource Lending (M), L.P., Resource Income Partners Limited Partnership and The K2 Principal Fund L.P. (see Company news releases dated June 13, 2016 and July 4, 2016), accomplishing the Company's goal of becoming debt free. The majority of the remaining proceeds are planned to be used for exploration of the Dolly Varden silver property in northwestern British Columbia, where a number of prospective mineral exploration and resource expansion targets were identified during the 2015 field season. Thereafter, proceeds will be used for working capital purposes. Hecla has elected to maintain its pro rata interest in the Company, a right granted in an ancillary rights agreement, and subscribed for 1,857,796 Common Shares and 101,762 Warrants (both of which are included in the above totals). Each Warrant purchased by Hecla will entitle Hecla to purchase one Common Share at a price of $0.70 per Common Share and will be exercisable for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance. Story continues In connection with the Offering and a finder's fee agreement with Eventus Capital Corp. (the "Finder") dated July 5, 2015, the Company will pay a finder's fee in respect of those purchasers introduced to Dolly Varden by the Finder. The finder's fee will consist of 558,606 Common Shares and 541,205 common share purchase warrants exercisable at a price of $0.70 per Common Share for a period of 24 months from the date of the closing of the Offering. All of the securities issued in the Offering are subject to a 4 month hold period expiring on November 27, 2016. About Dolly Varden - Dolly Varden Silver Corporation is a mineral exploration company focused on the exploration of the Dolly Varden silver property located in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. The entire Dolly Varden property is considered to be highly prospective for hosting high-grade precious metal deposits, since it comprises the same structural and stratigraphic setting that host numerous other, on-trend, high-grade deposits, such as Eskay Creek and Brucejack. The Company's common shares are listed and traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol DV and on the OTCBB system under the symbol DOLLF. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This release may contain forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of Dolly Varden to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements or information relate to, among other things, the terms of the Offering, the use of proceeds of the Offering and the continued exploration and valuation of the Dolly Varden silver property. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs, but given the uncertainties, assumptions and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements or information. The Company disclaims any obligation to update, or to publicly announce, any such statements, events or developments except as required by law. For additional information on risks and uncertainties, see the Company's most recently filed annual management discussion & analysis ("MD&A"), which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.dollyvardensilver.com. The risk factors identified in the MD&A are not intended to represent a complete list of factors that could affect the Company. 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 news release. This release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in the United States. The securities described herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold within the United States except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to available exemptions therefrom. Contact Information: Dolly Varden Silver Corporation Rosie Moore, Interim CEO and President 1-604-925-5881 SOURCE: Dolly Varden Silver Corporation Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f157336%2flaw_order_trump_7 Donald Trump has alienated many groups of people throughout his career Muslims, Latinos, all of Western Europe but the candidate finally crossed the line when he offended one of the country's most vulnerable demographics: Law and Order fans. For weeks, Donald Trump has been referring to himself as "the law and order candidate," an assignation last used by President Richard Nixon 56 years ago. Trump appears to be striking the position the former president once did: a strong man who maintains authority in a time of civic unrest. But the candidate is also appropriating a title that belongs to one of the country's most beloved televisions programs, and doing the show a tremendous disservice. SEE ALSO: A tragically long list of all the times Donald Trump has refused to apologize If Donald Trump were an actual politician from Law and Order, he would look nothing like the candidate we see today. Sure, sometimes he'd flaunt the law but it would be for the greater good, and he'd look super attractive doing it. Here's how Trump would look as a real Law and Order candidate. 1. He would lose that random collection of uncooked spaghetti he calls a toupee. Image: Mathew Imaging/NBC/GETTY IMAGES/mashable composite Real Law and Order men don't wear toupees they purchased from the Family Dollar 99-cent bin. They're not afraid to show their bald heads because they're proud, competent, and confident in themselves. Also, they're way hotter. 2. He would talk approximately 99.999999999% less. Image: jim watson and bobby bank/getty images/mashable composite Have you seen Elliot Stabler? That man didn't use a single adjective in 20 years. True Law and Order candidates don't spend 45 minutes trying to introduce their vice president they mumble some urgent commands before settling into down into a beautiful, angry silence. 3. He would be wildly obsessed with his 16-year-old daughter, instead of just strangely fixated. Trump has a notoriously distant relationship with some of his kids, aside from this, um, awkward photo shoot he did with Ivanka in 1996. Stabler, however, was literally obsessed with his daughter Kathleen even though that reckless punk did nothing but cause chaos and decay. Story continues 4. He would actually show up to work. Image: theo wargo/nbc/getty images/mashable composite Characters on Law and Order are proud workaholics who eschew personal relationships in the name of deli coffee and the greater god. Donald Trump wants to have a vice president who'd be in charge of all "domestic and foreign policy," a.k.a., the entire presidency. 5. He wouldn't eat his goddamn steak well done. Ice-T eats his meat the way a real television cop would: pink. If Donald Trump were a real Law and Order character, and not a glorified Idaho potato in human skin drag, he wouldn't eat his meat well done, as some sources have alleged. 6. He wouldn't see America in decline because the system has always been corrupt. Image: noam galai/nbc/getty images/mashable composite Why bother? Judges are incompetent, defense attorneys morally bankrupt, and mankind is on a high-speed chariot headed directly towards hell. 7. He wouldn't move his hands like this. Real Law and Order men keep their hands to their sides, or anxiously clench their fist at all times. 8. He would defend the law, instead of being the defendant. Image: bobbby bank/gc images/getty Trump has had over 3,500 lawsuits filed against him and his businesses. Elliot Stabler is made of angel meat. 9. He would maintain a spotless record except for an incident of violence he committed many years ago, which haunts him at night. Real Law and Order cops sometimes abuse their power and then feel guilty about it for the rest of their lives. Their shame only comes out in mandated therapy sessions they have with the police force's psychologist, who they automatically resent. 10. He would see women as his equals, if not his superiors. Image: ian macnicol/nbc/getty images Donald Trump has a notoriously testy relationship with certain bimbos, as he calls them, but Stabler loves powerful women more than he loves himself. 11. He would go after people like Donald Trump. Image: matthew imaging/nbc/getty There is nothing cops on Law and Order hate more than talkative people in power who abuse their privilege and don't have any care for the rule of law. If Donald Trump were a true Law and Order candidate, he'd find that the biggest perp would be himself. The producer of the 1997 thriller Air Force One is demanding that Donald Trump stop using the film's score at campaign events. Producer Gail Katz on Monday told The Hollywood Reporter that Trump never asked the filmmakers for permission to use the score. She has written a letter to the Republican nominee's campaign requesting that it stop playing the score at future events. Trump has been broadcasting the Air Force One theme for months at campaign rallies around the country. The most recent, and high profile, use of the score occurred on July 20 when it accompanied Trump's dramatic arrival via helicopter at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. "The music for Air Force One was composed and conducted by the legendary Oscar-winning film composer Jerry Goldsmith," writes Katz in the letter. "Jerry's music was hijacked in a misguided attempt to associate Trump with the film and the President in that film." Before his death at age 75, Goldsmith was one of the most admired and prolific composers in the film music world, with over five decades of film and TV work to his credit. He received a total of 18 Oscar nominations, with one win for the score to 1976's The Omen. His other credits include the original Planet of the Apes (1968), Roman Polanski's classic Chinatown (1974), Ridley Scott's Alien and Disney's Mulan, for which he would receive his last Oscar nomination in 1999. Read More: Why Donald Trump Should Have Gotten Song Permission from The Rolling Stones (But Not Queen) Veteran film music agent Richard Kraft, who represented Goldsmith for 15 years prior to his death in 2004, says the composer would not be pleased with his music being appropriated by Trump. "From everything I know about Jerry Goldsmith's political views, he would have been extremely unhappy with Trump co-opting his art to sell his image," Kraft tells THR. "Goldsmith composed music to underscore a make-believe, heroic president in [Air Force One], not to help create a phony soundtrack for Trump. He would have been appalled to have his music selling a product he would greatly dislike." Story continues This isn't the first time Trump's choice of music has come under fire. Multiple songwriters and recording artists have asked the Trump campaign to stop playing their music, including The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Adele, Aerosmith and R.E.M. Says Katz, "The main point is that, similar to the plane in Air Force One, the music has been hijacked and we want it back." The Trump campaign did not immediate reply to a request for comment. Here is the content of Katz's letter in its entirety: July 25, 2016 To: Donald J.Trump's presidential campaign Re: Usage of the theme from AIR FORCE ONE Last week, Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump staged a publicity event by landing his helicopter in Cleveland to the powerful, heroic theme from the film Air Force One starring Harrison Ford. The music for Air Force One was composed and conducted by the legendary Oscar-winning film composer Jerry Goldsmith. Jerry's music was hijacked in a misguided attempt to associate Trump with the film and the President in that film. The Wall Street Journal recently identified Harrison Ford's portrayal of the President in Air Force One as the #1 fictional President in film or television. At no point were the filmmakers contacted to ask for permission to use Jerry's music for the Republican campaign. We sincerely hope that Donald Trump and the Republicans do not use the Air Force One score in the future. It is a misappropriation of the music and the good will of the film, and we want to make sure that it does not imply any endorsement of the Republican ticket by the filmmakers. The Trump campaign's misappropriation of songs and music over the repeated objections of authors and performers is just one more reason why on November 8 the American voters will send a clear message to Donald Trump - "Stay off our plane!" Gail Katz Producer AIR FORCE ONE The Rajasthan Police claims that it has curbed the activities of gangster Anandpal Singh Didwana to a large extent. However, the latest update on his Facebook page tells a completely different story. By Sharat Kumar: "Terror will return after 10 days." This particular Facebook update has rattled the top brass of the Rajasthan Police. The man behind this chilling warning has a Rs 5 lakh bounty on his head and this is not the first time that he has announced his future action on the social media. The Rajasthan Police claims that it has curbed the activities of gangster Anandpal Singh Didwana to a large extent. However, the latest update on his Facebook page casts serious questions over what is being claimed by the state administration. advertisement The story behind Bollywood-style escape of dreaded Rajasthan gangster Anandpal "Coming soon, Dhamaka," read post on Anandpal's FB page on July 20. A couple of days after, on July 22, he attacked a cop Ladu Ram with his AK-47. Though Ladu Ram survived the attack, the Rajasthan police is now worried where would Anandpal strike now. THE BILLIONAIRE GANGSTER Anandpal had a pure Bollywood-style escape from police custody in September 2015. The hapless cops were seen running for cover as Anandpal sprayed bullets from his favourite weapon - the AK-47. During a raid at his residence on Monday (July 25), the police unearthed properties worth over Rs 100 crore owned directly or indirectly by the dreaded criminal. Anandpal has thousands of Facebook followers. Documents concerning immovable properties worth Rs 100 crore that Anandpal had acquired in the name of his relative were recovered by the police. A large part of the property was forcibly acquired by him. The police is now scanning his laptop and a desktop recovered from his house for more clues in his land deals. Notably, the police made Anandpal's mother and wife make an emotional appeal to him to surrender a few days ago. However, the ploy didn't work. ONE MAN CHALLENGING POLICE FORCE OF A STATE Over 20,000 cops of 25 districts, 15 senior IPS officers are involved in an operation to nab Anandpal but there have been no encouraging results so far. Over 100 noted gangsters have been nabbed, four cops have been killed but Anandpal, who has thousands of Facebook followers, remains elusive. Also Read: Slain gangster Sandeep Gadoli's girlfriend held by Mumbai Police Shah Rukh Khan's Raees in legal mess: Gangster Abdul Latif's son demands Rs 101 crore Gangster-turned-politician Jaswinder Rocky shot dead --- ENDS --- Berlin (AFP) - Borussia Dortmund have dismissed reports that Pep Guardiola's Manchester City are poised to offer at least 58 million (70m euros, $77m) for star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. According to British media, City are in advanced talks with the Gabon international, who scored 39 goals for Dortmund in all competitions last season as they finished runners-up to Bayern Munich in Germany's top flight. "All these rumours have already followed us this summer," Dortmund team manager Michael Zorc told German daily Bild. "We can only repeat, as always, that he has a contract with us until 2020 and feels good at Borussia Dortmund -- as it should remain." The 27-year-old though has made clear his wish to join Real Madrid, should he quit the Bundesliga. "Dortmund is a fantastic club which has been decisive for my career," Aubameyang told German broadcaster ZDF. "My Spanish grandfather always said that he wanted me to play in Spain one day and if that happens, it will be for Real Madrid. "Before his death two years ago, I promised him that I would one day run out for Real and I am working hard to achieve that goal." While Aubameyang insists he enjoys playing for Dortmund, he would "immediately say yes" to Real. Dortmund have lost a host of stars since last season with Henrikh Mkhitaryan joining Manchester United, Ilkay Gundogan leaving for City and Mats Hummels moving to Bundesliga rivals Bayern. But Dortmund have strengthened their squad with Germany midfielders Mario Goetze, who is back after three years in Munich, and Wolfsburg's Andre Schuerrle, plus Barcelona defender Marc Bartra. They have also added teenage talent Ousmane Dembele, 19, from Stade Rennes and Turkey international Emre Mor, 18, from Nordsjaelland. "Of course, we have an awful lot of quality in our attack, perhaps more than last year," added Zorc, after Dortmund netted 82 German league goals last season -- two more than champions Bayern. Music producer Dr. Dre was handcuffed and briefly detained outside his Malibu home by Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies on Monday, after a motorist accused Dre of pointing a handgun at him. The music mogul and rapper, whose real name is Andre Young, was cited and released after deputies found no evidence of a firearm or that Dre had pointed a gun at the man, the Los Angeles Times reported. According to the Times, Dre denied threatening the man, telling deputies that he had asked the manwho was blocking Dres drivewayto leave. The man returned soon afterward, so Dre began filming him. Deputies told the Times that they were responding to a call about a man with a firearm. Due to the nature of the call, the person was searched, handcuffed, and briefly detained in a patrol car while deputies investigated the incident, Sheriffs Capt. Chris Reed told the Times. According to authorities, Dre consented to be searched, was cooperative and denied having a gun. A representative for Dre did not immediately respond to the Associated Press request for comment. Image via Facebook Image via Facebook Its disheartening to hear about musicians getting in legal trouble, but thankfully this time, Dr. Dre doesnt seem to be in too much hot water. Earlier today, a driver parked his car directly in front of Dres Malibu home, and when the rapper asked the driver to move, he did, but was swearing at Dre as he did it, according to TMZ. As Dre continued to be yelled at by the driver, he pulled out his phone to record the incident. At this point, the driver allegedly said, Here we go again, another black guy with a gun. He then called the police to report that Dre had pulled a gun on him. Officers arrived on the scene, put handcuffs on Dre, and searched him; They found no gun, so he was let go. Still, the driver insisted on making a citizens arrest, filing paperwork that detailed his allegations against Dre. The citizens arrest will be forwarded to the District Attorney, but it seems this whole incident will likely amount to no trouble for Dre. TMZ has video of the incident, which you can watch below. More from Pigeons & Planes By Susanna Twidale LONDON (Reuters) - British electricity producer Drax (DRX.L) will benefit from subsidy schemes designed to prevent power cuts over the winter months, its chief executive said on Tuesday. Revenue from the so-called ancillary contracts more than trebled to 20 million pounds ($26 million) in the first half of 2016 compared with the same period last year, company results posted earlier in the day showed. "We see these as a real market opportunity for Drax across our units," CEO Dorothy Thompson told Reuters in an interview. Weak electricity prices have led to several generation plant closures over the past few years, forcing Britain's grid operator National Grid (NG.L) to launch a raft of measures to ensure there is enough power over the winter. From next year many of these schemes will be replaced by a government capacity auction that pays generators a fixed fee to guarantee availability, and is expected to be worth around 2-3 billion pounds a year. At the end of this year, the government will hold auctions to secure power for winter 2017/18 and winter 2020/21. Thompson said she expected the company to enter all, or some of, its coal-fired power units into both auctions. Drax, which has enough capacity to provide 7-8 percent of Britains electricity, has secured contracts under the scheme to provide power for winter 2019/20. Analysts at ratings agency Moody's said those deals were worth around 24 million pounds to the company. Overall first-half earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were 70 million pounds in the first half of 2016, down from 120 million a year earlier. Full-year earnings for 2016 would likely be at the lower end of analysts' forecasts of 146-185 million pounds, the company said in its results. Weak power prices combined with high environmental levies for coal-power producers had led to a challenging environment, Thompson said. Britain plans to close all its coal-fired power plants by 2025 unless they are fitted with technology to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions. Thompson said the company could convert all of its units to biomass but would need government support to do so. (Reporting by Susanna Twidale; Editing by Mark Potter and Dale Hudson) Paisley (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Two Canadian pilots charged with being drunk and disorderly as they prepared to fly a passenger jet from Glasgow to Toronto were on Tuesday released on bail by a Scottish court. Jean-Francois Perreault, 39, and Imran Zafar Syed, 37, were arrested on July 18 as they were due to pilot an Airbus A310 plane, which carries up to 250 passengers, for Canada's Air Transat. In their first court appearance on July 19 they were remanded in custody, but in a second private hearing Tuesday they given bail on condition they give up their passports. Perreault, from Ontario, and Syed, from Toronto, were charged under transport safety legislation covering alcohol and drug limits in aviation. They also face charges of threatening or abusive behaviour. In a statement last week, Air Transat -- which rescheduled the affected flight -- said it has suspended both pilots pending an internal investigation. "Canadian and European rules and regulations that we are subject to regarding alcohol consumption are very strict," said president and general manager Jean-Francois Lemay. "Our own internal rules are even more stringent, and we do not tolerate any failure to comply." Nigel Bradham is accused of assaulting a hotel worker in Miami Beach. (AP) Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Nigel Bradham was arrested after allegedly assaulting a worker at a hotel on Miami Beach last Thursday, and has been charged with aggravated battery. Bradham reportedly turned himself in to police on Monday. According to the police report, Bradham and friends got into an argument with an employee at the Hilton Bentley. The verbal altercation was a result of the victims speed of service after Bradham reportedly had purchased an umbrella. Bradham then allegedly, without provocation, struck the victim in the nose with a closed fist, causing the victim to fall to the ground. Bradhams friends then got involved in the attack before fleeing the scene. The hotel employee sustained a broken nose, contusions to the face and a laceration to the lip, according to the police report. According to NBC Miami, who first reported the news, A phone was discovered at the scene, which was turned over to police as evidence along with a receipt showing Bradham paid for the umbrella with his credit card. The former Florida State linebacker, who lives in South Florida in the offseason, was expected to report to Eagles training camp Wednesday along with all other veterans. Per Bowen, that hasnt changed. Bradham has a court appearance scheduled for Aug. 2, which is the Eagles first training camp off day. The full police report, courtesy of NJ.com, can be found here. The Eagles issued the following statement: We are aware of the incident involving Nigel Bradham in Miami. We have been in contact with Nigel and the proper authorities. Due to the ongoing legal process, the Eagles will have no further comment at this time. Bradham, 26, was signed by the Eagles this offseason after four years with the Buffalo Bills. He was expected to start at strong side linebacker. LONDON (Reuters) - Early next year could be the best time for Britain to trigger formal divorce talks with the European Union so a deal can be reached before the next national election in 2020, international trade minister Liam Fox was reported as saying. The Wall Street Journal reported Fox also said London would likely seek to enter a free-trade agreement with the EU rather than a closer customs union, which he said could restrict its ability to negotiate lower tariffs with other trading partners. New Prime Minister Theresa May has said Britain will not trigger Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, which formally begins the process of leaving the bloc, this year as it needs time to prepare for negotiations. The Wall Street Journal said that in an interview, Fox had said the timing was still being debated by the new government but early next year could be best so that Britain can work out its new relationship before the next general election. (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; editing by Stephen Addison) Eddie Murphy with his girlfriend, Paige Butcher; daughter Bria Murphy; ex-wife, Nicole Murphy; and daughter Shayne Murphy on July 25. (Photo: Getty Images) Time heals all wounds at least thats the case for Eddie Murphy and his ex-wife, Nicole Murphy. The exes put on a united front Monday as they supported their eldest daughter, Bria, 26, at the premiere of her movie Amateur Night. The funnyman with ladylove Paige Butcher by his side greeted Nicole, with whom he has five children, with a kiss on the red carpet at ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood. The Beverly Hills Cop star, his girlfriend, ex-wife, and two daughters (also including Shayne Audra, 21) then happily posed for a photo together. Cordial kisses. Eddie, with Butcher by his side, greeted Nicole with a kiss. (Photo: Getty Images) As if the modern family photo op wasnt a big enough deal, Monday also marked the first red carpet outing for Eddie, 55, and Paige, 37, since they welcomed their first child. The blonde who, like Nicole, is a model gave birth to Eddies ninth child, a daughter named Izzy Oona Murphy, on May 3 after more than four years of dating. Yes, this woman had a baby in May. (Photo: Getty Images) While Eddie has had drama with some of his exes (see: Mel B. and Tracey Edmonds), his relationship with Nicole has been friendlier. The two first met back in 1988 at the NAACP Image Awards, and the Saturday Night Live alum was quickly smitten. I turned to my accountant and said, Her I would marry tomorrow without a prenuptial, he told People magazine before clarifying with a smile, Thats what I said. Ill always have a prenuptial. Eddies relationship with Nicole had hiccups from the start, however. Bria was born soon after, and he kept his distance, putting up his then-girlfriend and their baby in a mansion in Sacramento and sporadically flying in from New Jersey, where he was still living the bachelor life. By the time the girl turned 2, Eddie, who already had two children with two exes, started to get serious about fatherhood. A year later, he married Nicole at the Plaza Hotel in New York. Story continues However, marriage didnt give them a happily-ever-after ending. In 1997, Eddie was pulled over at 4:45 a.m. in L.A. with a transsexual prostitute in his car. (He famously said he was playing the late-night Good Samaritan.) But it wasnt until 2005 that Nicole filed for divorce. Their divorce was finalized a year later, but Nicole lost a big chunk of her settlement in a bizarre con scheme. (Eddie and Nicoles five children also include Miles, 23; Zola, 16; and Bella, 13.) Eddie and Nicole with three of their children in 2003, when they were still married. (Photo: Getty Images) Eddie and Nicole soon moved on to other relationships. He had a short-lived romance with Spice Girl Melanie Brown (when she announced she was pregnant with their daughter, he publicly questioned whether the baby was his) and exchanged marriage vows with film producer Edmonds in 2008 (but it was never a legal marriage). He started dating Butcher in 2012. Meanwhile, Nicole was engaged to Michael Strahan and linked to Nick Cannon last year. Eddie and Nicole previously reunited on the red carpet in 2011 to support Bria when she was named brand ambassador for Dark and Lovely hair products. While their eldest is dipping her toes into the acting world her other credits include mostly small TV roles and a part in the 2015 movie Conflict of Interest modeling seems to be her big love. In 2013, she told ABC News that her dream is to model for Victorias Secret. Friendly exes Eddie and Nicole also came together for Bria in 2011. Shayne, an aspiring model, was also there. (Photo: Getty Images) As for Brias relationship with her father, while it started out troubled, it has since been mended. On Fathers Day, she paid tribute to the notoriously private actor on Instagram, calling him my king and the best father on the planet. Happy Fathers Day to my king and the best father on the planet A photo posted by Bria Murphy (@bria_murphy) on Jun 19, 2016 at 9:46pm PDT And that was certainly the role he was playing last night as he supported his little girl. The Harvard professor said that she will continue as a full-time professor at Harvard University and carry on her commitments including research and teaching. The Harvard professor, Gita Gopinath, in a statement said she was honoured to have the opportunity to serve as the Economic Advisor to the Chief Minister of Kerala. Photo: Reuters By Revathi Rajeevan: Amidst controversy over her appointment, Gita Gopinath, the Kerala Chief Minister's Economic Advisor, released a statement at Cambridge. A release from the Chief Minister's office quoted her as saying "I am very honored to have the opportunity to serve as the Economic Advisor to the Hon'ble Chief Minister Pinarayi VIjayan. Kerala is my native state (my father is from Mayyil and my mother from Kuttiattoor in Kannur District), and one that has made substantial progress on social indicators like health and education. I hope to contribute towards further developing sustainable policies for Kerala that address its unique opportunities and challenges." advertisement Harvard professor Gita Gopinath appointed financial advisor to Kerala CM, Marxists see red WILL NOT MOVE TO KERALA, WILL CONTINUE AS FULL-TIME PROFESSOR AT HARVARD: GOPINATH In her statement today, she pointed out that that "this is an honorary position, in that there is no remuneration, no expectation that I will move to Thiruvananthapuram to engage on a daily basis with the government or be involved in all its economic policy decisions." The Harvard professor said that she will continue as a full-time professor at Harvard University and carry on her commitments including research and teaching. MANDATE IS TWO-FOLD She also clarified her mandate, as discussed with the the Chief Minister, as two- fold. "First, I will respond to any requests from the CM for advice on the economic impact on Kerala's economy of global, national and state events and policies. Given my location, I anticipate most of this will be done remotely, rather than in person. Second, I hope to play a convening role to connect various state departments to the knowledge leaders from around the world in sectors relevant to Kerala like public finance, management, labor and development economics, and entrepreneurship." She further said, "In both these tasks, I see my role confined entirely to providing advice to the CM and to make connections for the various departments. It is then up to the CM to consider my advice, and up to the relevant departments to continue conversations with the various sector experts. Given this advisory nature of the appointment and my location, I do not anticipate frequent interactions with the media to explain government policies or my opinion on those." She stated that she was humbled by the opportunity to contribute her skills and effort to the development of Kerala and that she was hopeful that under the leadership of the Chief Minister, the state would make great strides in achieving its development goals. Gita Gopinath's appointment as the Economic Advisor to the CPM Chief Minister has been questioned by various leaders in the state saying that she was a supporter of neo-liberal policies which was in stark contrast with the Left government policies. --- ENDS --- Patara Fine Dinings Atlantic Black Cod Yellow Curry with Bamboo Shoots Tempura. (Photo: Chang Sensory Trails) Patara Fine Dinings Atlantic Black Cod Yellow Curry with Bamboo Shoots Tempura. (Photo: Chang Sensory Trails) For a country brimming with foodies, Singaporeans can look forward to a new food festival in Singapore this August. Organised by popular Thai beer Chang, the Chang Sensory Trails will be in Singapore for the first time on 20 August at the Bayfront event space beside The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. The event offers an array of curated Thai dishes inspired by the personal memories of American-Thai celebrity chef Jet Tila, 41, who runs restaurants The Charleston and Pakpao Thai in the US. He has also appeared on television shows Iron Chef America and The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Some of the Thai food restaurants in Singapore will also be offering a variety of dishes such as cured pork fritters by Long Chim, and prawn in crystal roll with sweet basil by Tamarind Hill. Here are eight foods to look out for at the event. A rack of fresh-baked jelly donuts, just like how the Fed serves them up. (FLICKR/ Mike mike Krzeszak) Closely-followed hedge fund manager David Einhorn, the founder of Greenlight Capital, is telling his investors to brace for a fresh batch of Jelly Donuts a.k.a. more monetary easing. For the last couple centuries populations have celebrated the phrase The British Are Leaving! In our view, Brexit by itself will not be a significant economic event. Sure, there will be a handful of companies that suffer idiosyncratic issues, but the U.K. economy is simply not big enough for even a devalued British pound to have a large direct impact on global trade, Einhorn wrote in a letter to investors seen by Yahoo Finance. He continued: However, the mere pretense of an event is likely sufficient to entice the global monetary authorities into serving up a fresh course of Jelly Donuts. The Federal Reserve put itself on hold ahead of the vote, so it shouldnt be a surprise if the leave vote takes tightening off the table for some time. Other central banks have made various promises to double down on their failing policies as they deem appropriate. Government bond prices have soared, as the market senses that a global monetization of large amounts or even all government debt may be in our future. Einhorns Jelly Donut thesis, which he first introduced in a Huffington Post blog in 2012, essentially has to do with something being too much of a good thing. In other words, lower rates and quantitative easing were fine at first just like that initial donut tastes really, really good. But if you keep eating donut after donut after donut, or continuing to keep rates at or near zero for a long time, youll see a diminishing return. David Einhorn In the letter, Einhorn added that the scent of more Jelly Donuts has sent gold prices up from $1,231 to $1,324 an ounce, making gold and gold stocks his funds largest winners during the quarter. Gold, which he has previously called a Jelly Donut antidote, also remains one of Greenlights largest disclosed positions. Story continues Greenlight fell 2.6% in the second quarter, bringing the funds year-to-date returns to 0.4%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 rose 2.5% in the second quarter, bringing its year-to-date returns to 3.8%. Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance. Read more: Gold is sending a dark sign that almost everything has changed in the market The worlds largest hedge fund identified the huge problems the Brexit poses John Burbank: This time of peril may herald the beginning of the liquidation Raoul Pal: The stock market is behaving the way it did back in 2000 Hedge fund titans warn of financial crisis-like market signals How one fund manager is preparing for the market liquidity crisis On Tuesday night, Elizabeth Banks will take the podium at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia to explain why shes backing Hillary Clintons campaign for the White House. She spoke to Variety about the history-making candidate, Donald Trumps surge in popularity and why she wont direct Pitch Perfect 3. Why do you think its taken so long for either party to nominate a female candidate for president? I think weve been waiting for the right candidate. I think we have that candidate in Hillary Clinton. I dont think anyone has run for the White House who is more qualified than Hillary. I really believe that Hillary Clinton has made the world ready for Hillary Clinton. How do you explain Donald Trumps appeal? Ill put it in terms that Variety readers will understand. I remember in my career feeling I didnt have control over what was happening to me or what was going on in my life. The only thing I could control was to fire my agents. So I fired my agents. Thats how you get a sense of control. I understand the impetus for people right now who feel like their lives are a little bit out of control. I felt like thats what partially happened with Brexit in England. I would remind people to look at the day after Brexit, and to think about what happens if you let this emotional feeling or loss of control lead you to Donald Trump and not Hillary Clinton. I think it would be a very bad decision for our country. Could Trump could win? I dont think so. But I believe everyone needs to vote. Everyone needs to participate in this election. Do you there will be a day when the United States has a female president and vice president? I hope so. We are half the population and we do matter. People are figuring that out. We have a long way to go. We are up against thousands and thousands of years of patriarchy. I dont think a change is happening overnight. Hillary is a great step in the right direction. I have two small children. I think about them having only lived in a world where a black man and a woman ran our country. It gives me great hope for the future of our country. Story continues Youre not directing Pitch Perfect 3 because of your kids. I think one of the big systematic issues in our industry that keeps women out of the directing chair is that we dont want to break up our families. I would love for Variety and everyone to lobby the legislator in California to pass a tax credit that keeps Hollywood in Hollywood. Thats a huge problem for me. I really wanted to be with my kids in LA. So if the movie had shot in LA, you would have directed it? It would have made the decision a lot more likely. We shot the last two movies in Louisiana. But my kids were little. I dont want to decide between my work and my kids. It was a really hard decision, but I dont think Ill ever regret not choosing my children. Related stories Democratic National Convention: 5 Surprising Moments from Opening Night Democratic National Convention Night One Draws Bigger Early Ratings Than RNC TBS Apologies for Hillary Clinton Hyena Video PHILADELPHIA Sen. Elizabeth Warren told Democratic delegates Monday night that the system is rigged against people who arent wealthy and that Donald Trump would make that worse if he is elected president. People get it: The system is rigged, Warren said at the Democratic National Convention. She argued that Trump, the GOP nominee, has taken advantage of the system to exploit people. His whole life has been about taking advantage of that rigged system, Warren said. She further criticized Republicans in Congress for opposing an increase in the minimum wage and other legislative proposals that she said would improve life for members of the middle class, and promised: To every Republican in Congress who said no, this November, the American people are coming for you. Warren, who frequently battles with Trump on the airwaves and on Twitter, accused the Manhattan developer of dividing up Americans in order to win votes. Trump thinks he can win votes by fanning the flames of fear and hatred, by persuading you that the real problem in America is your fellow Americans, people who dont talk like you or worship like you or look like you, she said. Warren has become something of a hero on the left for her opposition to Wall Street, but not all of the delegates of Sen. Bernie Sanders resonated with her speech. The Massachusetts senator had remained neutral during the primary and only endorsed Hillary Clinton after the presumptive Democratic nominee gained enough delegates essentially to lock up her partys banner. You sold your birthright for a bowl of porridge! one California delegate, Luci Riley, shouted during Warrens speech. Other Sanders delegates chanted No TPP, referring to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, at another point during her speech. Elizabeth Warren, often referred to as Pocahontas, just misrepresented me and spoke glowingly about Crooked Hillary, who she always hated! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2016 Jon Ward contributed to this report. Story continues _____ Related slideshows: On the ground at the DNC a photo report >>> How newspapers covered the DNCs first big day >>> Demonstrators protest outside the DNC >>> From Esquire PHILADELPHIA-So, I says to myself I says, why not hang out with the Oklahoma delegation to watch homegirl Senator Professor Warren deliver her speech to the Democratic National Convention Monday night. She had a tough slot-stuck between Michelle Obama's magnificent address ("I wake up every morning in a house built by slaves." My god, what that must mean to so many people.) and Bernie Sanders's long-anticipated valedictory to his quite amazing campaign. It must be said that part of the reason the speech was long-anticipated is that Bernie's fankids in the hall continued to be jackasses most of the day, although in a more muted fashion than early on, when they were booing prayers. People were looking for him to cool them out, and he largely managed to do that, once he spoke. Before then, however, as Senator Professor Warren began her speech, I saw and heard the damnedest thing over by Section 106 of the Wells Fargo Center. Off to my left, somewhere in the bowels of the California delegation, a chant went up from a boisterous claque of folks, and it was one of the most amazing chants in the history of political chants. I have seen a lot. I have been to more than my share of goat-ropings, but I never thought I'd hear this. "Goldman Sachs!" they chanted. "GOLDMAN SACHS!" At Elizabeth Warren, they chanted this. I remain amazed. The Senator Professor went on uninterrupted, and she came straight out of that very lovely vacation cottage she's rented beneath the shade of the ferret that festoons the Republican candidate's head. She seems quite happy there, and not predisposed to move out of his head any time soon. "Donald Trump goes on and on and on about being a successful businessman, but he filed business bankruptcy six times, always to protect his own money," she said, rolling her eyes. "Donald Trump hired plumbers and painters and construction workers to do hard labor for his businesses and then he told them to take a fraction of what they were owed and fight his lawyers for years over the rest." Story continues This, of course, is what she's best at-explaining how the construction workers get screwed while the Trumps of the world walk away with what money is left. That is really how the system is rigged. That is what she used to teach at Harvard, and that was the field of study that changed her life and her politics, and that probably is the reason she was on the stage Monday night. To be honest, she's been better. I think she was better in 2012 in Charlotte, when the Nevada delegation chanted, "Consumer Finance Protection Bureau," which is not an easy thing to chant. I think she was better at the endorsement event she did with Hillary Rodham Clinton in Cincinnati back in June. But she still lights up when lighting into He, Trump. "What kind of man roots for an economic crash that cost millions of people their jobs, their homes, their life savings? What kind of man cheats students, cheats investors, cheats workers? I'll tell you what kind of man-a man who must never be president of the United States." "Goldman Sachs," came the chant from the California delegation. "GOLDMAN SACHS!" There was an eloquent portion in which she went through how Jim Crow was not merely a racist infrastructure for white supremacy, but also a sturdy scaffolding for economic repression of all races. "Dr. King described how poor whites in the South were fed Jim Crow, which told a poor white worker no matter how bad off he was, at least he was a white man, better than a poor black man," she said. "Racial hatred was part of keeping the powerful on top." This, of course was a perfect reversal of the undercurrent of white supremacy that drives a lot of He, Trump's faux populist bafflegab. "Goldman Sachs," they chanted in the California delegation. I remained amazed. But the strongest section of the speech came in a long refrain in which each section began with the phrase, "We believe" This turned He, Trump's acceptance speech, which was all about what He, Trump will do. It was a powerful twist of the knife and it had to make He, Trump just a bit more crazy, which is a newish skill that the Senator Professor has discovered in herself. As she was speaking, the DNC staff was handing out Bernie Sanders signs to the delegations from California, and Alaska, and Oklahoma, where Senator Professor Warren grew up. I thought this was a fairly shrewd-and very classy-thing for the DNC to do. "If you believe that we must reject the politics of fear and rejection, if you believe we are stronger together," she concluded, "then let's work out hearts out to make Hillary Clinton the next president of the United States." The Sanders signs began to rock in all the delegations and, in the midst of the applause, you could still hear it, "Goldman Sachs! GOLDMAN SACHS!" At Elizabeth Warren. I remain amazed. Click here to respond to this post on the official Esquire Politics Facebook page. Elizabeth Warren feels your anger. Democratic officials opened their national convention on Monday preaching a hopeful vision of America to restive delegates, some of whom weren't ready to move past the primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. But Warren, who has labored in recent months to keep faith with both camps, cleverly struck a different tone in her keynote speech: She acknowledged the discontent animating the Sanders holdouts -- an outsider rage many share with Donald Trump supporters -- and channeled it into an attack on the Republican nominee. "People get it. The system is rigged," she said, borrowing one of Trump's signature phrases. But where Trump invokes the assessment with a whiff of paranoia to explain any outcome that doesn't break his way personally, Warren repurposed it as a critique of entrenched corporate power. See also: Bernie Sanders Spreads Progressive Message, Pumps Up Clinton at DNC It's not the case, she said, that Washington is hopelessly gridlocked, since the wealthiest interests frequently get their way. "But try to do something, anything, for working people, and you'll have a fight on your hands," she said. The Democratic leaders who preceded Warren took on Donald Trump in part by rejecting the dour portrait of a weakened nation he offered in his acceptance speech at the GOP convention last week. But by at least one measure, voters share his pessimism, with nearly three quarters reporting they think the country is on the wrong track, according to the most recent Wall Street Journal/ NBC poll. Warren echoed that unease, recounting how abundant American opportunity allowed her to rise from the daughter of a janitor to a U.S. Senator. "I'm deeply grateful to that America. I believe in that America," she said. "But I'm worried. Worried that my story is locked in the past. Worried that opportunity is slipping away for people who work hard and play by the rules. Look around. Americans bust their tails, some working two or three jobs, but wages stay flat. Meanwhile, the basic costs of making it from month to month keep going up." Story continues See also: Donald Trump Will Let You Ask Him Anything on Reddit During the DNC The Massachusetts liberal argued that the uneven economic recovery serves as evidence that the system is rigged. "Here's the thing: America isn't going broke," she said. "The stock market is breaking records. Corporate profits are at all-time highs. CEOs make tens of millions of dollars. There's lots of wealth in America, but it isn't trickling down to hard-working families like yours." And the primary difference between the parties, she argued, is that Republicans are fighting to preserve that inequality while Democrats try to dismantle it: "There is a huge difference between people fighting for a level playing field and the people fighting to keep the system rigged." In that way, Warren's address was a frontal assault on the Bernie-or-bust crowd holding fast to the idea that if Sanders can't have the nomination -- or a spot on the ticket - they abdicate any interest in the election's outcome. A small but noisy contingent of those delegates kept up a chorus of boos throughout the start of the official program on Monday, prompting concern among convention organizers that they could distract from the picture of party unity that the Clinton campaign is eager to broadcast. See also: Democratic Convention Day One Was Rife With Discord, Party Rancor As the night wore on, the crowd appeared to settle. And Warren, by virtue of her status as a trusted emissary to both camps in the party and her place on Monday's program--just before Sanders himself took the stage--had a key role to play. She drove her point home by highlighting the need to take the fight to Trump, whom she depicted as a cynical manipulator trying to co-opt the anger of those who feel ignored by their elected leaders. "Donald Trump knows that the American people are angry, a fact so obvious he can see it from the top of the Trump Tower," she said. "So now he's insisting that he and he alone can fix the rigged system.... Well, I've got news for Donald Trump. The American people are not falling for it. We've seen this ugliness before, and we're not going to be Donald Trump's hate-filled America. Not now, not ever." The Clinton campaign likewise hopes the specter of Trump overwhelms what remains of any misgivings shadowing her coronation in Philadelphia. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com Elizabeth Warren, speaking to the Democratic National Convention on Monday, warned delegates on a chaotic first day that Donald Trump was pursuing a strategy of divide and conquer. When we turn on each other, we cant unite to fight back against a rigged system, she added. I got news for Donald Trump: The American people are not falling for it. Warren has been a vocal critic of Trump on Twitter, to the point where Trump has returned fire by calling her Pocahontas. Warren, a leader of the partys progressive wing in the Senate, focused her speech on Trumps stoking of racial animosity and fear, but her words also were relevant on a night when many Sanders supporters expressed open dismay on the floor with the Democratic National Committee and booed the mentions of Hillary Clinton. Divide and conquer is an old story in America, Warren said. Dr. Martin Luther King knew it. After his march from Selma to Montgomery, he spoke of how segregation was created to keep people divided. Instead of higher wages for workers, Dr. King described how poor whites in the South were fed Jim Crow, which told a poor white worker that, quote, no matter how bad off he was, at least he was a white man, better than the black man. Racial hatred was part of keeping the powerful on top. She hammered Trump, going through a litany of subjects including his business bankruptcies. Trumps entire campaign is just one more late-night Trump infomercial, she said. She made mention of trade deals, but did not reference specifically the Trans Pacific Partnership. She has been a vocal opponent of the trade pact. Some Sanders delegates have been holding No TPP signs. Related stories On a Night With Real Stakes for Democrats, Michelle Obama Won the Night and the News Cycle Bernie Sanders Tells Defiant Supporters to Back Clinton: 'The Choice Is Not Even Close' Michelle Obama Makes the Case for Hillary Clinton in Stirring Speech By PTI: New Delhi, Jul 26 (PTI) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals former Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar, who was arrested in a corruption case, was today granted bail by a Special court. Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar gave the relief to Rajendra Kumar on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs one lakh. The court directed that Kumar will not try to contact any witness and will not influence the ongoing probe in the case. advertisement Kumar, along with four others, was arrested by the CBI on July 4 in connection with the case of allegedly showing undue favours to a private company in award of government contracts worth over Rs 50 crore. Besides Kumar, CBI has arrested former Deputy Secretary in Kejriwals office Tarun Sharma, Kumars alleged close aide Ashok Kumar, Managing Director of a PSU, R S Kaushik. Kaushiks predecessor G K Nanda, former Managing Director of Intelligent Communication Systems India Ltd (ICSIL) which is a Delhi government undertaking, owner of private firm Endeavour Systems Pvt Ltd (ESPL) Dinesh Kumar Gupta and its co-owner Sandeep Kumar were also arrested in the case. Gupta, Sharma, Ashok Kumar and Kaushik have also moved bail application in the court. According to CBI, the five accused were allegedly showing undue favours to private firm ESPL which the agency alleged was floated by Kumar for the award of government contracts worth over Rs 50 crore. CBI had registered a case against Kumar and others in December last year alleging that the officer had abused his official position by "favouring a particular firm in the last few years in getting tenders of Delhi government departments". The accused have been charged under section 120-B of IPC (criminal conspiracy) and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act relating to criminal misconduct for allegedly favouring ESPL in bagging of five contracts. CBI has alleged that the accused persons had entered into a criminal conspiracy and caused a loss of Rs 12 crore to the Delhi government in award of contracts between 2007 and 2015, and claimed that the officials had taken "undue benefit" of over Rs three crore while awarding the contracts. This is the same case in which the agency had come under scathing criticism from court which had directed it to return documents sought by Delhi government seized during December 15, 2015 search of Kejriwals office. Arrest of top state government official had triggered a political storm with the Delhi government accusing Centre of indulging in "political vendetta" and "paralysing" governance. PTI UK SKV VMN --- ENDS --- By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An email leak that led to the resignation of Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz could plague her bid for re-election to Congress, after a challenger said on Monday he would file a complaint alleging she had broken election rules. Political newcomer Tim Canova, who is challenging Wasserman Schultz in the Aug. 30 Democratic primary for her House of Representatives seat representing Florida's 23rd Congressional District, said he would file the complaint against her with the U.S. Federal Election Commission. Wasserman Schultz said on Sunday she would be stepping down as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee after Wikileaks released more than 19,000 emails showing Democratic officials had worked to undermine U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders in his presidential primary battle with Hillary Clinton. Canova suggested that the leaked emails also showed Wasserman Schultz had used the party's resources in her congressional campaign against Canova in south Florida. Sanders has endorsed Canova in that race. The Wikileaks emails indicate that Debbie Wasserman Schultz used DNC resources to assist her reelection campaign in violation of federal law. According to the emails, top DNC officials used party resources to monitor, respond to, and impede my campaign on numerous occasions," Canova said in a statement emailed to Reuters by his campaign. "My campaign election lawyers are investigating these circumstances and preparing a complaint against Wasserman Schultz with the Federal Election Commission," Canova said. He also repeated his call for a series of campaign debates with Wasserman Schultz. Searching for Canova's name in the cache of emails released by WikiLeaks turned up dozens of emails. One indicated Wasserman Schultz had asked staffers to take Canova's name out of a headline on a statement that was being sent out in response to Sanders's endorsement of Canova. Sanders told CNN in May that he favored Canova, saying "His views are much closer to mine than as to Wasserman Schultz's." Canova's south Florida campaign for Congress has reflected some of the themes that Sanders used nationwide to appeal to progressives, including a push for campaign finance reform. Canova has also been a critic of financial deregulation and the Federal Reserve Board under former Chairman Alan Greenspan, according to his biography on the website at Nova Southeastern University, where he is a professor of law and public finance. Sanders made attacks on Wall Street a central theme of his presidential campaign, and called for structural reforms in the Fed. Since Sanders' endorsement, Canova has almost caught up with Wasserman Schultz in fundraising. Canova has raised $2.27 million so far; Wasserman Schultz has raised $2.81 million, according to the most recent Federal Election Commission filings. There are also two Republicans seeking Wasserman Schultz's seat in Congress, Martin Feigenbaum and Joe Kaufman. (Editing by Jonathan Oatis) By Bruno Federowski and Paula Arend Laier SAO PAULO, July 26 (Reuters) - Brazilian equities rose on Tuesday as higher prices of iron ore lifted shares of miner Vale SA following a heavy batch of corporate reports. Iron ore futures listed in China rose more than 2 percent on Tuesday as steel prices recovered from a steep fall last week. The move lifted stocks of miners and steel makers, with Vale the biggest boost to Brazil's benchmark Bovespa index. Shares in wireless carrier TIM Participacoes SA also ranked among the biggest gainers after falling as much as 1.3 percent earlier in the day. TIM, a unit of Telecom Italia SpA, posted an 85 percent drop in second-quarter net income and announced a cut in its investment plans on Monday. Nevertheless, analysts at Credit Suisse said the results were marginally positive, citing a slower pace of decline in revenue and Ebitda. In a conference call to discuss the results, the company's chief executive said he expects ongoing efforts to cut costs to generate about 1.7 billion reais ($518 million) in savings for the three-year period ending in 2018. In Mexico, shares of OHL Mexico shot up 13 percent, their biggest daily gain on record, on local news reports that an Australian fund could make an offer for a stake in the company, a unit of Spanish builder OHL. But the Mexican benchmark index IPC seesawed as traders avoided making big bets ahead of this week's U.S. Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan policy meetings. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1555 GMT: Stock indexes daily % YTD % Latest change change MSCI Emerging Markets 871.01 0.22 9.44 MSCI LatAm 2375.63 0.19 29.59 Brazil Bovespa 57090.34 0.38 31.70 Mexico IPC 47106.54 -0.05 9.61 Chile IPSA 4142.10 -0.06 12.55 Chile IGPA 20447.89 -0.04 12.65 Argentina MerVal 15802.18 0.57 35.35 Colombia IGBC 9756.99 -0.31 14.15 Venezuela IBC 12225.46 -1.9 -16.20 Currencies daily % YTD % change change Latest Brazil real 3.2757 0.48 20.49 Mexico peso 18.7925 -0.06 -8.31 Chile peso 660.5 -0.27 7.45 Colombia peso 3061.77 -1.56 3.51 Peru sol 3.36 -0.27 1.61 Argentina peso (interbank) 14.9350 0.17 -13.07 Argentina peso (parallel) 15.48 0.58 -7.82 (Reporting by Bruno Federowski and Paula Arend Laier; Editing by Dan Grebler) Dubai (AFP) - An Emirates Boeing 777-300 aircraft heading to the Maldives made an emergency landing in Mumbai on Tuesday because of a "technical fault", the airline said in a statement. "Emirates can confirm that... flight EK652 from Dubai to Male was diverted to Mumbai due to a technical fault," the airline said, adding that the passengers had disembarked safely. "The aircraft has been serviced and will continue its journey to Male with a six-hour delay," it said, without elaborating. Indian media reported that smoke had been detected on board. Emirates serves more than 153 destinations from its hub at Dubai International -- ranked the world's busiest airport for international passengers last year. Fatal Extraction, our multimedia investigation into the environmental and social impact of Australian mining companies in Africa, has been nominated for an Emmy Award: the most prestigious U.S. television industry honors. A joint project of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its parent the Center for Public Integrity, Fatal Extraction involved our own staff reporting from four countries and formed part of a large-scale media collaboration between a dozen journalists in Africa. Many of these journalists continue to collaborate with ICIJ, most recently on the Panama Papers. Fatal Extraction combined video and still photography shot across the continent with data and long-form journalism in a new format developed the team at the Center. The nomination is in the News & Documentary Emmy Awards "New Approaches: Documentary" category. ICIJ Africa desk editor Will Fitzgibbon and Center for Public Integrity multimedia editor Eleanor Bell Fox reported from the field and produced the package. Fitzgibbon and ICIJ data reporter Cecile Schilis-Gallego analyzed thousands of documents to reveal the scale of Australias mining presence in Africa and the number of fatalities reported by companies operating across the continent. Center for Public Integrity News developer Chris Zubak-Skees designed and developed the platform in a continual process of refinement with Bell Fox. Former Center for Public Integrity chief digital officer Kimberley Porteous was executive producer. This story is part of Inside Publici. Stories were working on, the impact of our investigations, news about our fundraising efforts, and other issues that shape our work. Click here to read more stories in this topic. Don't miss another Inside Publici investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email. "I'm thrilled to receive such recognition for a project that brought an unfamiliar subject to audiences by combining months of shoe-leather reporting, difficult data analysis and creative in-house visual innovation," Will told me today. Story continues Eleanor added: "Its an honor to be nominated among so many esteemed colleagues. I hope the recognition of this project will draw new audiences to the deeply harrowing stories shared by people across Africa. Their courage breathed life into incontrovertible data uncovered over months of reporting." Fatal Extraction is a personal favorite of mine among the work from the Center and the ICIJ over the past year with its blend of video and text and the way it brings the stories of individuals to life. The project had specific support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting for which we are grateful. Other nominees in the same category at the Emmy's are: PBS Frontline for "Inheritance", PBS Independent Lens for "After the Storm", The New York Times "Walking in War's Path" and National Geographic and the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism for "Wiped, Flashed and Rekitted". This story is part of Inside Publici. Stories were working on, the impact of our investigations, news about our fundraising efforts, and other issues that shape our work. Click here to read more stories in this topic. Related stories Copyright 2016 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C. Washington (AFP) - It appears at first glance to be an ignominious fate for Yahoo, the internet pioneer which has long been one of the best-known names in Silicon Valley. A deal announced Monday delivers the core assets of Yahoo to telecom giant Verizon for $4.8 billion, a fraction of its peak market value of $125 billion at the height of the dot-com boom. But while Yahoo as a corporate entity may be disappearing, the brand it created is likely to live on and potentially grow under its new corporate benefactor, analysts say. "Let's call it a new beginning for Yahoo," said Forrester Research analyst Shar VanBoskirk. "I don't anticipate Verizon doing away with the Yahoo brand, they will maintain the Yahoo name on a lot of its very good media properties." While Yahoo has been successful in building a global audience of as many as one billion worldwide, "it hasn't been able to change and adjust its brand as the market has changed," VanBoskirk told AFP. "It could be good for them if they think differently about what it means to be Yahoo. The brand will have a platform that may let them go farther than they have over the past five years." The deal announced Monday was described as offering synergies for the two firms, as Verizon seeks to expand beyond a carrier and Yahoo needs help in stemming its decline against online rivals Google and Facebook. Yahoo will be run through the recently acquired Verizon unit AOL, another faded internet star. Bob O'Donnell of the consultancy Technalysis Research agreed that Verizon will want to keep the Yahoo brand which is recognized worldwide, at least for the near term. "My guess is that Verizon will take a hands-off approach and might even tie it together with some AOL properties," O'Donnell said. Greg Sterling, a contributing editor to the Search Engine Land blog, said he was generally upbeat about the deal, assuming Verizon gives Yahoo breathing room and investments. Story continues "Yahoo was struggling to meet investor expectations each quarter," Sterling said. "Maybe this will allow them to take a longer-term view." Yahoo's chief executive Marissa Mayer said that the two-decade-old California company "has changed the world, and will continue to do so through this combination with Verizon and AOL." She told a conference call that Verizon "offers significant strategic alignments in Yahoo's focus on informing, connecting and entertaining our users." - Culture clash - One of the keys for the deal is whether two companies with vastly different histories and cultures and come together and thrive. While Yahoo comes from the freewheeling, innovative world of Silicon Valley, Verizon has staid roots as a regulated telecom operator on the eastern seaboard. "They are about as far on the spectrum as any two companies can be," said Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies Associates. Kay said Verizon "is an uninnovative company, very different from the software-oriented world" from which Yahoo comes. Verizon needs to handle Yahoo with care if it wants the deal to work, analysts said. "Culture is a key issue, it may be the key issue," Sterling said. "Verizon will be the corporate master and exercise control but they want to create opportunities for innovation and not impose a culture that will send employees out the door." He said some established firms such as Disney appear to have successfully integrated smaller firms without hurting innovation. "It is possible for Verizon to use some corporate oversight and still give its new business unit enough autonomy... to attract talent and be creative," he said. kevin durant enes kanter Getty Image The fallout from Kevin Durants decision to pull up his roots in Oklahoma City and head to Golden State to join up with Steph Curry and the Warriors has been vast. An entire organization needs to completely overhaul its team building strategy, a city has lost its signature star, etc. but perhaps lost in the shuffle is Kds Southern Cuisine, Durants restaurant in OKC. Durants spot was bombarded with negative Yelp reviews when he announced his free agency decision, and it has since closed its doors. Well, Thunder big man Enes Kanter has an idea for what it should be called when it rebrands and reopens, and its goddamned brilliant: Kanter and his fellow tall Thunder guy Steven Adams bonded over Turkish and Halal food, and a line of Staches Turkish/Kiwi restaurants, besides being a legitimately interesting cuisine option, would instantly have some of the best branding around. Maybe they could bring in some of the Halal Guys to help in the kitchen. As serious as the Thunders sea change is, Kanter and Adams have had the right attitude about it the whole way. This new idea, as joking as it may be, is an excellent study of how to deal with a tough situation with humor and goodwill. For most brunch-goers, the weekend eat-a-thon isnt complete without a Bloody Mary or two (or three!) Brunch hotspot tupelo on Park City, Utahs historic Main Street has elevated the Bloody Mary experience, putting diners in control of their Bloody Mary mixology during its Sunday brunch, served 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Patrons are served an unadorned glass of tomato juice and vodka for $12 and are then led to one of the most expansive and non-gimmicky Bloody Mary bars ever experienced. At a time when the Bloody Mary trend is toward exaggeration (think the MasterPiece at Sobelmans in Milwaukee that is adorned with shrimp, a cherry tomato, a lemon wedges, Polish sausage, cheese, pickled asparagus, scallion stalks, pickle, pickled mushroom, onion, Brussels sprouts, celery stalks, and a skewered bacon cheeseburger), tupelo prides itself on stocking its Bloody Mary bar with garnishes that range from familiar to adventurous while still keeping it classy. For guests who fear they might go overboard, that event is unlikely because the bar staff will guide the way. You come to us and you tell us what your palate is like, and we will develop your drink to your palate, said Marcel Paramore, Bar Manager. During a recent Sunday brunch at tupelo which is named after the tupelo trees whose blossoms produce honey and reflects Chef/Owner Matt Harris adaptation of his Southern roots to the Beehive State Paramore accompanied The Daily Meal to the Bloody Mary bar to show us how to season and garnish this zesty drink without being overwhelmed. Dont mix spice with spice or pickle with pickle, cautioned Paramore, motioning toward a dozen glass bottles of spices and sauces that flanked one side of the bar and the mason jars of pickled okra and cucumbers pickled with hot peppers that anchored the center of the expansive bar, which could easily be mistaken for a buffet. Tupelos Bloody Mary bar is brimming with artisanal sauces, produce, meats, and spices to suit any palate, from mellow to spicy. The bars contents are selected in the same way that Harris (who has worked in the kitchens of Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Kevin Rathbun, and Pano Karatassos) sources artisanal ingredients to create his globally inspired cuisine. Story continues From standard Bloody Mary garnishes such as green olives, lemons, limes, blue cheese, onions, salt, Black Sea salt, and celery salt, to the unusual like grilled pancetta, pickled Shishito peppers, and kimchi, there is something for everyone. Drinkers can intensify their bloodies with some heat like Pickapeppa Sauce, Daves Ghost Pepper Sauce, Cholula hot sauce, Blairs Death Sauce, Double Bastard Hot Sauce, TABASCO, paprika, and bacon salt, and top them off with skewers of blue cheese-stuffed olives, pancetta, lemon, lime, and cornichons. If theres anything else, youd like, well get it for you, said Paramore. No matter how visitors choose to embellish their Bloody Marys, the refreshing cocktail pairs well with brunch starters like roasted mushroom toast with farmers cheese and sunnyside up egg; house-made ricotta with olive oil bread, pickled berries, and basil oil; mains like chicken & biscuits with crispy chicken, open faced kimchi biscuit, scrambled eggs, and pepper gravy; and the buttermilk waffle with apricots, lemon curd, and whipped cream. Berlin (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday accused the EU of not meeting its aid commitments under a deal to send Syrian refugees back across the Aegean, but Brussels denied the charge. Ankara and Brussels signed a controversial deal in March, in which Turkey agreed to take Syrian migrants landing on Greek islands in exchange for political and financial incentives. The deal included billions of euros in aid, visa-free travel for Turks in Europe and accelerated talks on Turkey's stalled bid for EU membership, but ties have been strained by Erdogan's massive crackdown after a failed coup this month. The EU promised to pay 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) -- but Erdogan said the 28-nation bloc had so far only handed over a nominal one or two million. "The (European) governments are not honest," Erdogan told German public television station ARD. "Three million Syrians, or people from Iraq, are now in Turkey," he said. "The EU has not kept its promises on the matter." In Brussels, the European Commission, the executive of the 28-nation European Union, rejected Erdogan's remarks. "The European Union is respecting its commitments and suggestions to the contrary are not true," Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters. He said the EU had already allocated 740 million euros and another 1.4 billion would be set aside by the end of this month, bringing the total so far to more than 2.1 billion euros. EU officials said 105 million euros have actually been disbursed so far. Schinas stressed that the funds were "not for Turkey but for the refugees." The Commission said in June it aimed to have 2 billion euros allocated by the end of the summer, with half of that handed over to aid groups. - Sweeping crackdown - Erdogan estimated the refugees, many of whom have fled the devastating five-year civil war in neighbouring Syria, have cost Turkey $12 billion (10.9 billion euros). Story continues The EU made the deal with Turkey in an effort to control a huge influx of more than a million migrants who overwhelmed the bloc last year. Late last month, Brussels said it had opened a new phase of negotiations with Turkey on its long-stalled bid for EU membership. But that bid has been hit by Erdogan's sweeping crackdown in the wake of the failed July 15 military takeover, which has seen thousands of people detained. The president repeated his call for capital punishment for the plotters, an issue that has provoked an angry reaction from the EU. Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2004 ahead of membership talks with Brussels that began the following year. Moscow (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Russia on August 9 for his first face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin since Moscow and Ankara mended ties damaged by the downing of a Russian jet last year, Turkish officials said Tuesday. "The ambassador has informed us that our dear president (Erdogan) has confirmed that he will be in Saint Petersburg on the 9th (of August)," Russian news agencies quoted Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek as saying. An official in Turkey confirmed the date, saying that Erdogan and Putin had agreed to meet ahead of the G20 summit in China in September. Simsek is the highest ranking Turkish official to visit Russia since the November downing of the Russian jet on the Syrian border sparked an unprecedented crisis in relations. He said he was in Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart Arkady Dvorkovich in an effort to "normalise the situation and our relations as soon as possible and at an accelerated pace". Dvorkovich told Russian media that he had discussed a range of investment projects with Simsek, including the possible resumption of talks, frozen in December, on the TurkStream project to pipe gas to Turkey and southern Europe. - 'Thing to talk about' - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the agenda for Putin's meeting with Erdogan had yet to be finalised but that the two leaders have "things to talk about." "It's safe to say that there won't be a shortage of topics" to address, Peskov said. The plane downing led to a bitter war of words between Putin and Erdogan, with the Kremlin strongman calling it a "stab in the back" and accusing the Turkish president of involvement in the illegal oil trade with the Islamic State jihadist group. But after the Kremlin claimed last month that Erdogan had apologised to Putin over the incident, Moscow ordered the lifting of a string of economic sanctions including an embargo on Turkish food products and the cancellation of charter flights to the country. The punitive measures had dealt a crushing blow to the Turkish tourism industry, which is hugely reliant on Russian tourists, especially on its Mediterranean coast. Putin called Erdogan earlier this month to express his support after the failed putsch in Turkey, and the Kremlin confirmed at the time that the two leaders would meet in the near future. Jaitley will meet state ministers today to put pressure on the Congress to back the long-delayed Goods and Services Tax (GST) reform. By India Today Web Desk: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will meet state ministers today to put pressure on the opposition Congress to back the long-delayed Goods and Services Tax (GST) reform whose chances have again been thrown into doubt by a standoff in Parliament. The proposed tax reform, the biggest since India's independence in 1947, seeks to replace a slew of central taxes and levies in its 29 states, transforming the nation of 1.3 billion people into a customs union. HERE ARE THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: The current monsoon session of Parliament could be the best chance for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to adopt a landmark GST before campaigning hots up for crucial state elections, including Uttar Pradesh, next year. "The meeting (with state finance ministers) will discuss all pending issues on GST," said Finance Ministry spokesman DS Malik. "Later, the government could decide a further course of action." Yet, the Congress has been angered by the probe launched last week against former Haryana Chief Minister BS Hooda in the National Herald case, in which both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are already facing trial. The top Congress leadership has denied accusations of misuse of party funds, in the case brought by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy over the property owned by a defunct Congress newspaper. "I don't think the Prime Minister and his government are sincere about any constructive cooperation," Congress Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma said. "And in this vitiated environment, there is no cooperation possible between the Congress and the government," Sharma said, in comments echoed by other senior party leaders. With 60 MPs, the Congress is the single largest party in the 245-member Rajya Sabha. With the support of allies and a few regional parties that oppose the bill, it reckons the government cannot muster the two-thirds majority needed for a key amendment to enact the GST. The BJP, which lacks a majority in the Rajya Sabha, had reached out to Congress to end its opposition to the GST bill, stalled in Parliament for years. The Congress had signalled until last week it could support the bill if the government agreed to cap the tax rate at about 18%, even if this was not initially anchored in the law. Arun Jaitley has resisted capping the tax rate, winning backing from a growing number of state governments, and still hopes to pass the GST measure in the monsoon session that ends on August 13, and turn India into a single market for the first time. advertisement ALSO READ | GST Bill hangs in balance, Centre calls for state finance ministers meet --- ENDS --- Essex Property Trust, Inc. ESS is slated to report second-quarter 2016 results on Jul 28, after the market closes. This residential real estate investment trust (REIT) has a decent earnings surprise history. It reported a positive surprise of 1.52% in the prior quarter and has, in fact, beaten the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters with an average positive surprise of 2.21%. For second-quarter 2016, the company expects core funds from operations (FFO) per share in the range of $2.61$2.71. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the same is currently pegged at $2.70. Is the company poised for a winning quarter? Lets see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement. ESSEX PPTY TR Price and EPS Surprise ESSEX PPTY TR Price and EPS Surprise | ESSEX PPTY TR Quote Factors to Consider Essex has a strong property base and a sturdy balance sheet. The companys substantial exposure to the West-Coast market offers ample scope to enhance its top line. This is because West Coast is home to all the leading technology companies that continue to carry on with large investments. As such, the region experiences solid growth in jobs and personal income. Apart from this, demographic growth continues to be robust in the young adult age cohort, which has a higher propensity to rent. These are expected to drive demand for apartments in the companys markets. However, rising supply remains a concern. Particularly, the supply deliveries in the San Francisco market are anticipated to restrict the growth tempo of the company and temper increase in rent and occupancies in the to-be-reported quarter. Earnings Whispers Our proven model does not conclusively show that Essex Property will beat on earnings this season. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), #2 (Buy) or #3 (Hold) for this to happen. However, that is not the case here as you will see below. Zacks ESP: Both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate stand at $2.70. This leads to an Earnings ESP of 0.00% for Essex Property. Zacks Rank: Essex Property currently has a Zacks Rank #3. Though a favorable Zacks Rank increases the predictive power of ESP, the companys ESP of 0.00% makes our surprise prediction difficult. We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. Other Stocks That Warrant a Look Here are a few other stocks in the REIT sector that you may want to consider, as our model shows that they have the right combination of elements to report a positive surprise this quarter: Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. MAA has an Earnings ESP of +1.37% and a Zacks Rank #2. The company will report results on Jul 27. Taubman Centers, Inc. TCO has an Earnings ESP of +7.22% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company will release results on Jul 28. Regency Centers Corp. REG has an Earnings ESP of +1.25% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company will declare results on Aug 2. Note: FFO, a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs, is obtained after adding depreciation and amortization and other non-cash expenses to net income. All earnings per share numbers presented in this write up represent FFO per share. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report TAUBMAN CENTERS (TCO): Free Stock Analysis Report REGENCY CTRS CP (REG): Free Stock Analysis Report MID-AMER APT CM (MAA): Free Stock Analysis Report ESSEX PPTY TR (ESS): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research An antitrust settlement between Viacom's Paramount Pictures and the European Union has been finalized as the EU has formally accepted the studio's concessions proposed earlier in the year. The EU and the company announced the agreement on Tuesday. The studio had offered concessions in the high-profile probe of geographical restrictions in film licensing deals between the British arm of European pay TV giant Sky and the six Hollywood studios. Film industry representatives in Germany and Italy, among others, had criticized the concessions. The European Commission, which handles antitrust issues, said the concessions would be in effect for five years and would mean that the studio would not block pay TV providers from "responding to unsolicited requests" from consumers in the EU but outside of Sky's licensed territory. The EU's antitrust probe into Sky and the other studios is continuing. "Viacom and Paramount have given binding commitments neither to enforce nor renew the types of clauses in premium pay TV license agreements that were investigated by the European Commission and that restrict European Economic Area (EEA) pay TV broadcasters from responding to unsolicited requests by consumers located in a different territory in the EEA," the companies said. "No admission of liability has been made." The European Commission added: "The commitments permit Paramount to continue to license films through premium pay TV output license agreements in Europe on an exclusive territorial basis. In addition, today's agreement eliminates the possibility of fines and enables the Commission to close similar pending cases against Viacom and Paramount relating to [companies] in Italy, France, Germany and Spain." The European Commission said it "has made commitments offered by Paramount legally binding under EU antitrust rules." It added: "These address the Commission's concerns regarding certain clauses in film licensing contracts for pay TV between Paramount and Sky U.K. These clauses prevented Sky U.K. from allowing EU consumers outside the U.K. and Ireland to access films via satellite or online." Story continues In July 2015, the Commission in an antitrust complaint accused Paramount, Disney, NBCUniversal, Sony, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. of illegally restricting customers' access to content within the European Union in their licensing deals with Sky U.K., part of pan-European pay TV giant Sky. 21st Century Fox owns a 39 percent stake in Sky. The Commission's argument was that the deals eliminate cross-border competition between pay TV firms and "partition the single market across national borders." "European consumers want to watch the pay TV channels of their choice regardless of where they live or travel in the EU," said Margrethe Vestager, the European commissioner for competition, in January. Critics of the Paramount settlement said territoriality is an important basis of the European film industry. "It's very simple: There is no viable German or European film industry without the possibility to negotiate film licenses exclusively on a territorial basis," said Alfred Holighaus, president of German film industry body SPIO. "Territoriality is the financial basis for every European film that wants to transcend its national boundaries." In the EU antitrust probe, the accused companies face fines of up to 10 percent of their previous fiscal year's revenue if infringement can be proved. Analysts have said that the studios are more at risk than Sky as territoriality - splitting rights into multiple national territories as opposed to selling a single, pan-European license - is a key part of their business model. Read More: European Film Industry Criticizes Paramount's EU Antitrust Deal (Adds Paramount Pictures' comments, details) By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS, July 26 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators on Tuesday accepted Paramount Pictures' concessions to end anti-competitive movie-licensing deals with British pay-TV group Sky UK, but said the case against five other Hollywood studios would continue. The U.S. studio's offer came after the European Commission in July last year accused it of preventing viewers outside Britain and Ireland from accessing films and other content broadcast by Sky UK. NBCUniversal, Disney, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox and Time Warner Inc unit Warner Brothers as well as Sky UK also faced the charges. Determined to create a single digital market across the 28-country EU to boost growth and jobs, the Commission is cracking down on so-called geoblocking where companies stop consumers in another EU country from buying their products or services. Paramount Pictures, which is part of Viacom, will now allow viewers outside Britain and Ireland to access films and other content broadcast by Sky UK. Paramount will also now allow non-UK broadcasters sell their Paramount films to UK and Irish viewers in response to unsolicited requests. The European Commission said the concessions, which are valid for five years and cover both online services and satellite broadcast services, addressed its concerns. Paramount Pictures did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the deal. "Today's agreement eliminates the possibility of fines and enables the Commission to close similar pending cases against Viacom and Paramount relating to broadcasters in Italy, France, Germany and Spain," the company said in a statement. The EU competition authority said the investigation into the other five studios' deals with Sky UK will continue, putting them at risk of a fine up to 10 percent of their global turnover if found guilty of breaching EU rules. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee. Editing by Jane Merriman) The water tower at Paramount Pictures Studios, a division of Viacom, Inc. is pictured in Los Angeles, California July 29, 2008. REUTERS/Fred Prouser/File Photo By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators on Tuesday accepted Paramount Pictures' concessions to end anti-competitive movie-licensing deals with British pay-TV group Sky UK, but said the case against five other Hollywood studios would continue. The U.S. studio's offer came after the European Commission in July last year accused it of preventing viewers outside Britain and Ireland from accessing films and other content broadcast by Sky UK. NBCUniversal, Disney, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox and Time Warner Inc unit Warner Brothers as well as Sky UK also faced the charges. Determined to create a single digital market across the 28-country EU to boost growth and jobs, the Commission is cracking down on so-called geoblocking where companies stop consumers in another EU country from buying their products or services. Paramount Pictures, which is part of Viacom, will now allow viewers outside Britain and Ireland to access films and other content broadcast by Sky UK. Paramount will also now allow non-UK broadcasters sell their Paramount films to UK and Irish viewers in response to unsolicited requests. The European Commission said the concessions, which are valid for five years and cover both online services and satellite broadcast services, addressed its concerns. Paramount Pictures did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the deal. "Todays agreement eliminates the possibility of fines and enables the Commission to close similar pending cases against Viacom and Paramount relating to broadcasters in Italy, France, Germany and Spain," the company said in a statement. The EU competition authority said the investigation into the other five studios' deals with Sky UK will continue, putting them at risk of a fine up to 10 percent of their global turnover if found guilty of breaching EU rules. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee. Editing by Jane Merriman) * Fines would be first ever in EU history * Size of fines not clear yet, could be symbolic * Spain to get 2 more years, Portugal one year to cut * Talks on suspending structural funds in September By Jan Strupczewski BRUSSELS, July 26 (Reuters) - The European Commission is likely to propose on Wednesday to fine Spain and Portugal for not effectively cutting their budget deficits and to give them new, longer deadlines to reduce their shortfalls to EU limits. If the Commission decides to propose the fines, it would be the first time it does since the creation of EU budget rules 20 years ago. No country so far has ever been fined, even though some have broken EU budget rules repeatedly, such as France. "The college (of Commissioners) will return tomorrow to the fiscal situation of Spain and Portugal," Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a regular news briefing on Tuesday. "It will consider tomorrow steps that have become necessary following the Council decision that neither country has taken effective action to correct their excessive deficit," he said. Under EU rules, governments cannot run budget deficits higher than 3 percent of gross domestic product, a legal safeguard to ensure that excessive government borrowing does not undermine the common euro currency. If the gap goes above 3 percent, the Commission and EU ministers set a deadline for its reduction. If a government fails to take steps to meet the deadline, it can be fined. Portugal was to cut its deficit below 3 percent last year, but the gap turned out to be 4.4 percent. Spain was to cut the deficit below 3 percent this year, but is likely to remain above 3 percent also next year, according to Commission forecasts. Because a council of EU finance ministers said on July 12 that Madrid and Lisbon had failed in the requested deficit steps, the Commission must now, under the rules, propose a fine for each country equal to 0.2 percent of their respective GDPs. This would mean around 2.16 billion euros for Spain and around 358 million for Portugal. Story continues But the rules also give the Commission the possibility of reducing the fine or cancelling it altogether, depending on the circumstances. Both countries have sent the EU executive arm letters with arguments why it should be lenient. "This is very tricky. I don't believe there will be a full fine. The only thing that is clear on fines is that it is not going to be 0.2 percent because of mitigating factors - this part is very fluid," one EU official said. FINES COULD BE SYMBOLIC, STRUCTURAL FUNDS FREEZE LOOMS Some in the Commission argue the fines should be cancelled altogether while others push for a reduction to 0.1 percent of GDP or even less, to a symbolic 0.02 percent of GDP. The issue is politically highly sensitive. Spain has been without a proper government since the inconclusive elections in December 2015 and can therefore argue it was and is unable to quickly implement spending cuts. Moreover, there is rising anti-EU sentiment across Europe and heavy-handedness from Brussels on budget rules, at a time when many economists call for more spending to stimulate economic growth. A dispute could fuel this further. On the other side of the argument is the need to uphold EU budget rules, called the Stability and Growth Pact, which underpin the euro to prevent another sovereign debt crisis. The credibility of the rules, which were sharpened during the crisis to discourage governments from over-spending, has already been badly damaged by the Commission's decision last year not to fine France for its repeated abuse of the Pact. Apart from the issue of fines, the Commission is likely to propose on Wednesday to give Spain two more years - until the end of 2018 - to bring the deficit below 3 percent. Portugal is likely to get only one extra year, until the end of 2016. To exert even more pressure on governments breaking the rules, EU ministers can partially freeze the flow of structural funds to both countries until they are satisfied the two nations are taking effective action to cut their deficits. Structural funds are money that less wealthy member countries receive from the EU budget for various projects, ranging from infrastructure development to fighting youth unemployment. A discussion on a partial freeze of funds that would normally go to Spain and Portugal in 2017 will take place in September, after the European Parliament - which has to be consulted - returns from its summer break. It is not clear yet how much of the funds could be suspended. However, the money can be unfrozen quickly once, for example, the two countries adopt 2017 budgets that show they intend to meet their commitments under EU rules. (Editing by Tom Heneghan) * EU-U.S. data pact will be open to companies as of Aug. 1 * Previous data pact struck down by EU court on privacy concerns * EU watchdogs say will not challenge new pact in the next year * Will wait for results of first annual review next summer By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS, July 26 (Reuters) - European Union privacy watchdogs will let a new EU-U.S. commercial data pact underpinning billions of dollars of transatlantic trade run for at least a year without any legal challenge, they said on Tuesday. The previous such framework, Safe Harbour, was struck down by the EU's top court last October on the grounds that it allowed U.S. agents too much access to Europeans' data. The new EU-U.S. Privacy Shield will allow companies to transfer personal data from the EU to the United States - from human resources information to individual browsing histories to hotel bookings. Since Safe Harbour was struck down, thousands of companies including Alphabet Inc's Google and Microsoft , have been mired in legal limbo, forcing them to rely on more cumbersome mechanisms for legally transferring Europeans' data to the United States. Revelations three years ago from former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden of mass U.S. surveillance practices caused political outrage in Europe and stoked mistrust of big U.S. tech companies. The chair of the group of 28 EU data protection authorities said on Tuesday that the regulators would not launch any challenges to the new Privacy Shield until it has gone through its first annual review, expected sometime next summer. "The first joint review will be a time in which we will make an evaluation of the Privacy Shield and also a time where additional propositions could be made (by the U.S. government)," Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, who heads the French data protection authority, told reporters. Falque-Pierrotin said the regulators still wanted evidence from the U.S. government that its commitment to not conduct mass and indiscriminate surveillance would be met. Story continues The powers and independence of a new U.S. privacy ombudsperson who will deal with complaints from EU citizens about U.S. surveillance practices could also be strengthened, Falque-Pierrotin said. She added that the regulators would have to investigate any complaints from individuals about the functioning of the framework but these would be "a case by case analysis." Falque-Pierrotin said that the legality of the other mechanisms firms have been using in the meantime, so-called standard contractual clauses which establish privacy protections between groups and binding corporate rules would also be assessed after the first joint review of the Privacy Shield. "If the situation is considered as OK at the first annual review on the public security side, it is going to have an impact also on the other transfer tools by reaffirming their legal robustness," she said. EU data protection authorities had demanded improvements to the Privacy Shield in April, forcing EU and U.S. officials back to the negotiating table to strengthen the privacy protections in the framework. (Reporting by Julia Fioretti; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle) * EU-U.S. data pact will be open to companies as of Aug. 1 * Previous data pact struck down by EU court on privacy concerns * EU watchdogs say will not challenge new pact in the next year * Will wait for results of first annual review next summer (Adds industry comment) By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS, July 26 (Reuters) - European Union privacy watchdogs will let a new EU-U.S. commercial data pact underpinning billions of dollars of transatlantic trade run for at least a year without any legal challenge, they said on Tuesday. That came as a relief to businesses from Alphabet Inc's Google to Microsoft to Apple who have been mired in legal uncertainty over cross-border data transfers that are crucial to modern business since an EU court ruling last year. The previous such data transfer framework, Safe Harbour, was struck down by the EU's top court last October on the grounds that it allowed U.S. agents too much access to Europeans' data. The new EU-U.S. Privacy Shield will allow companies to transfer personal data from the EU to the United States - from human resources information to individual browsing histories to hotel bookings. Since Safe Harbour was struck down, thousands of companies were forced to switch to more cumbersome mechanisms for legally transferring Europeans' data to the United States. Revelations three years ago from former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden of mass U.S. surveillance practices caused political outrage in Europe and stoked mistrust of big U.S. tech companies. The chair of the group of 28 EU data protection authorities said on Tuesday that the regulators would not launch any challenges to the new Privacy Shield until it has gone through its first annual review, expected sometime next summer. "The first joint review will be a time in which we will make an evaluation of the Privacy Shield and also a time where additional propositions could be made (by the U.S. government)," Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, who heads the French data protection authority, told reporters. Story continues Falque-Pierrotin said the regulators still wanted evidence from the U.S. government that its commitment to not conduct mass and indiscriminate surveillance would be met. The powers and independence of a new U.S. privacy ombudsperson who will deal with complaints from EU citizens about U.S. surveillance practices could also be strengthened, Falque-Pierrotin said. "The annual review will be a vital point to determine whether the safeguards are effective and make tweaks if necessary. We have full confidence that the Privacy Shield will be a success," said John Higgins, Director General of DIGITALEUROPE, whose members include Google, IBM and Microsoft. Falque-Pierrotin added regulators would have to investigate any complaints from individuals about the functioning of the framework but these would be "a case by case analysis." The legality of the other mechanisms firms have been using in the meantime, so-called standard contractual clauses which establish privacy protections between groups and binding corporate rules will also be assessed after the first joint review of the Privacy Shield. "If the situation is considered as OK at the first annual review on the public security side, it is going to have an impact also on the other transfer tools by reaffirming their legal robustness," she said. EU data protection authorities had demanded improvements to the Privacy Shield in April, forcing EU and U.S. officials back to the negotiating table to strengthen the privacy protections in the framework. (Reporting by Julia Fioretti; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Alexandra Hudson) By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union privacy watchdogs will let a new EU-U.S. commercial data pact underpinning billions of dollars of transatlantic trade run for at least a year without any legal challenge, they said on Tuesday. That came as a relief to businesses from Alphabet Inc's Google to Microsoft to Apple who have been mired in legal uncertainty over cross-border data transfers that are crucial to modern business since an EU court ruling last year. The previous such data transfer framework, Safe Harbour, was struck down by the EU's top court last October on the grounds that it allowed U.S. agents too much access to Europeans' data. The new EU-U.S. Privacy Shield will allow companies to transfer personal data from the EU to the United States - from human resources information to individual browsing histories to hotel bookings. Since Safe Harbour was struck down, thousands of companies were forced to switch to more cumbersome mechanisms for legally transferring Europeans' data to the United States. Revelations three years ago from former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden of mass U.S. surveillance practices caused political outrage in Europe and stoked mistrust of big U.S. tech companies. The chair of the group of 28 EU data protection authorities said on Tuesday that the regulators would not launch any challenges to the new Privacy Shield until it has gone through its first annual review, expected sometime next summer. "The first joint review will be a time in which we will make an evaluation of the Privacy Shield and also a time where additional propositions could be made (by the U.S. government)," Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, who heads the French data protection authority, told reporters. Falque-Pierrotin said the regulators still wanted evidence from the U.S. government that its commitment to not conduct mass and indiscriminate surveillance would be met. The powers and independence of a new U.S. privacy ombudsperson who will deal with complaints from EU citizens about U.S. surveillance practices could also be strengthened, Falque-Pierrotin said. "The annual review will be a vital point to determine whether the safeguards are effective and make tweaks if necessary. We have full confidence that the Privacy Shield will be a success, said John Higgins, Director General of DIGITALEUROPE, whose members include Google, IBM and Microsoft. Falque-Pierrotin added regulators would have to investigate any complaints from individuals about the functioning of the framework but these would be "a case by case analysis." The legality of the other mechanisms firms have been using in the meantime, so-called standard contractual clauses which establish privacy protections between groups and binding corporate rules will also be assessed after the first joint review of the Privacy Shield. "If the situation is considered as OK at the first annual review on the public security side, it is going to have an impact also on the other transfer tools by reaffirming their legal robustness," she said. EU data protection authorities had demanded improvements to the Privacy Shield in April, forcing EU and U.S. officials back to the negotiating table to strengthen the privacy protections in the framework. (Reporting by Julia Fioretti; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Alexandra Hudson) By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS, July 26 (Reuters) - European Union authorities are making contingency plans for the possible winding down of Banca Monte dei Paschi if the Italian lender has a poor reading in stress tests this week and no private or public support is available, an EU official said. The official, who is familiar with the preparations, told Reuters that EU authorities were putting the plans in place in case the latest round of European bank tests shows that Monte dei Paschi has insufficient capital to withstand an economic downturn. The European Banking Authority, an EU agency, will announce on Friday results of the tests conducted on leading lenders across the bloc. The official said that at the moment a winding down or "resolution" of Monte dei Paschi - which would be the first of any bank under new EU rules - was only a theoretical scenario. Monte dei Paschi and the Bank of Italy did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. The Tuscan bank, which has one of the heaviest bad loan burdens in Italy, is hoping for approval from the European Central Bank before Friday for a plan it has submitted to sell off its bad debt. A senior Italian government official dismissed any suggestion of the bank being wound down. "The possibility of Monte dei Paschi going into resolution is out of the question," the official told Reuters. Another source said that Monte dei Paschi, Italy's third-biggest bank by assets, is working on a five billion euro ($5.5 billion) capital increase as part of plans to fix its balance sheet. The lender is seeking to pull together a banking consortium to guarantee the cash call by Friday, the source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Offloading its bad loans would make it easier for Monte dei Paschi to raise capital, with the Italian government hoping to find enough private investors to avoid a state-backed bailout which under EU law is permitted only in exceptional circumstances and with strict conditions attached. Story continues Government officials say they are confident of achieving a privately-funded solution and even if not, there is still the option of state intervention if they can reach an agreement with the EU. "The goal, which we think is achievable, is for a market solution which in the first phase involves a reduction of non-performing loans, and then after that a recapitalisation," Italian government adviser Yoram Gutgeld said on Tuesday. However, the EU official said European institutions are ensuring the systems they have set up to co-ordinate the winding-down of a bank are in place for Monte dei Paschi, should they be needed. "We fear the impact of a possible negative test result, especially for Monte Paschi" the official said. "As a precaution, we are getting ready for the possible first winding down of a bank under the Single Resolution Board." The SRB is an EU body created in response to the 2008 financial crisis to deal with banks that run into trouble. EU staff were preparing to be ready for the possible use of a secure electronic communications platform set up to exchange information and documents between EU institutions in case the SRB triggers a resolution procedure, the official added. An SRB spokeswoman declined to comment on any specific case, but said: "We are in any case ready for any resolution action to be taken, in any (EU) Member State." In line with its mandate, the SRB has been preparing resolution plans for the main European lenders since last year, to face possible emergencies. A winding-down of a bank is triggered by the SRB after the ECB has assessed its capital needs, as revealed by the stress tests and other supervisory checks. Such an assessment might not come the weekend following the stress tests but could be done shortly afterwards to prevent market turmoil. Under EU rules, once the procedure is triggered, the winding down process should take place over a weekend when financial markets are closed. SEARCHING FOR A SOLUTION The Italian government is working on a private recapitalisation of Monte dei Paschi to plug the possible shortfall revealed by the stress tests. If private support proves insufficient, the government is also considering a state-led rescue plan, which would probably involve losses for holders of the bank's bonds under the "bail-in" rules. This is a politically-sensitive issue in Italy where many bank bonds are held by retail investors. EU rules allow in exceptional circumstances for state aid without triggering losses for all bondholders but the European Commission, which oversees the application of EU rules, has so far shown little appetite to grant Rome a full waiver from the bail-in rules. Brussels has hinted that the bank's senior bondholders and depositors could be spared, and would not oppose the setting up of a compensation fund for smaller investors who were missold risky financial products. However, a state-led bailout is likely to hit junior debt holders, a category including a significant number of Italian savers, a few months before the government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi faces a referendum on constitutional changes. Talks between the EU Commission and the Italian authorities are still continuing. "If the European Commission does not concede a full leeway, and if the Italian government refuses any form of bail-in, the alternative would be a winding down or the full liquidation," a second EU official told Reuters. The SRB has had the powers to wind down banks since the beginning of this year but has so far never used them. Under these rules the SRB prescribes losses for shareholders, senior and junior bondholders and, if necessary, even savers with deposits above 100,000 euros. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Additional reporting by Giselda Vagnoni and Giuseppe Fonte; editing by David Stamp) Brussels (AFP) - Estonia will take over the rotating EU presidency from Britain in late 2017 after London pulled out to focus on negotiations to leave the bloc, the 28 members of the union said on Tuesday. In the first major step towards Brexit after last month's shock referendum result, Prime Minister Theresa May announced that Britain would no longer take up its scheduled six-month stint next July. Ambassadors of the 28 member states had reached a "broad agreement" on July 20 to bring forward Estonia's presidency by six months to take Britain's place, a spokesman for European Council President Donald Tusk said last week. A statement on Tuesday said that decision was formalised. Croatia, which in 2013 became the latest state to join the EU, will take over the presidency in the first semester of 2020, the members' statement added. Slovakia currently holds the presidency and will be followed by Malta in the first half of 2017. While the political consensus eluded the session, the non-BJP states pulled their weight to drive a hard negotiation. By Devina Gupta: In a major GST outreach to the states, the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today met his counterparts from 18 states at the Vigyan Bhavan in the capital. While the political consensus eluded the session, the non-BJP states pulled their weight to drive a hard negotiation. "Majority of states were against dual control regime and there was no decision on inter-state tax", said Kaul Singh Thakur, Revenue Minister, Himachal Pradesh advertisement The manufacturing base states want 1 per cent additional tax levy to make up for their losses in revenue. Another roadblock that government faces is the demand to mention the cap on the GST rate. FM REACHES OUT TO CONGRESS While FM has reached out to the Congress leaders time and again over their demand for 18 per cent cap on GST rate, they are yet to relent. Congress ruled Karnataka reiterated its demand that GST rate should be mentioned in the bill. "GST taxation should be specifically brought in Constitutional Amendment Bill so that tax payers not the rate at which they are paying", said HC Mahadevappa, Karnataka Minister. "The principal of GST rate has been decided, that it should provide relief to common man while not resulting in revenues to states", said West Bengal FM and also chairperson of the empowered committee of Finance Ministers on GST Amit Mitra. FIVE YEARS OF COMPENSATION There was a headway in states being assured of 5 years of continuous compensation in case of losses by the Center and dual control issue was addressed. Businesses earning up to 1.5 crore in states will be under state control. "We are moving towards realisation of the GST and this is a historic moment. The states were assured by the FM of Center's assistance in case of any losses. Also small businesses don't need to worry as the Centre won't intervene in tax framework," said Abhimanyu Singh Sandhu, Finance minister, Haryana. ALSO READ: Exclusive: Hopeful of GST Bill passage in August, says MoS Finance Arjun Meghwal --- ENDS --- EUR/USD is trading at 1.0985, down 0.0004. The pair is trading nearly unchanged on the session as overseas traders prepare to wrap up trading for the day. Market chatter about headline news and central bank monetary policy has kept both buyers and sellers active. Chatter about European economic data due out the rest of the week is just beginning. The GfK German Consumer Climate survey and Germany's Federal Statistical Office monthly report on import prices are due out at 2:00 a.m. ET. France's INSEE is scheduled to release consumer confidence and producer prices (PPI) at 2:45 a.m. ET. Italy's ISTAT is set to release business and consumer confidence figures at 4:00 a.m. ET. The European Central Bank (ECB) is scheduled to release Money Supply and Loan Growth at 4:00 a.m. ET. See more from Benzinga 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Eva Longoria made her feelings known about Donald Trump as she spoke on opening night of the DNC in Philadelphia. Read: Sarah Silverman Blasts Booing Bernie Supporters at DNC: 'You're Being Ridiculous' The Mexican-American, who was at the Wells Fargo Center to introduce New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, said: I'm from a small town in South Texas, and if you know your history, Texas used to be part of Mexico. I'm ninth-generation American. My family never crossed a border; the border crossed us. The 41-year-old bashed the billionaire's plan to build a wall around the U.S. / Mexico border, and ripped his hateful rhetoric where he called Mexicans that cross the border rapists and criminals. When Donald Trump calls us criminals and rapists, he's insulting American families. My father is not a criminal or a rapist. In fact, he's a United States veteran, she passionately said. Longoria also took Trump to task about his views on women in the workplace. She cited a 1994 interview where he told NBC: "Putting a wife to work is a very dangerous thing." She fought back, saying: When he said that a wife who works is a very dangerous thing, he not only insulted me, he insulted my mother who worked as a special-education teacher for 40 years and raised four children while being a wife. Last week at the RNC, Trump seemed to change his tone, saying he would fight for women to get equal pay and affordable childcare. Read: Michelle Obama's Stirring DNC Speech Brings Crowd to Their Feet: 'When They Go Low, We Go High' Following her speech, Longoria took to Instagram, calling the experience an honor. What an honor it was speaking at the Democratic National Convention this evening! #DNC #ImWithHer A photo posted by Eva Longoria Baston (@evalongoria) on Jul 25, 2016 at 8:19pm PDT Watch: Teen Who Sang For Pope Francis Performs at DNC: 'I Am Very Excited' Story continues Related Articles: From Esquire Look, we all have at least one extended family member whose outspoken support for Donald Trump is excruciatingly embarrassing. Hey, if you're really lucky, it's only one distant relative-and they leave their comically un-woke opinions to their Facebook page. At this point, even Sasha and Malia Obama have to deal with one of their dad's half-siblings talking about Trump's grand plans to make the country great again. Only instead of posting it on Facebook, their uncle talked to the New York Post. Sunday's cover of Rupert Murdoch's notoriously right-leaning tabloid featured a bright, shining picture of Barack Obama's half-brother Malik wearing a Make America Great Again hat with a ridiculous grin. The 58-year-old, who resides in Kogelo, Kenya, told the Post that he supports the Republican nominee "because he speaks from the heart." "Make America Great Again is a great slogan," he said. "I would like to meet him." One might jump to a conclusion that a sibling rivalry might be to blame for Malik Obama's shift to the other side of the political aisle (a former Maryland resident, he tells the Post he's a registered Democrat). But really, Malik cites Hillary Clinton's email scandal as a major reason behind his support for Trump. (Side note: Think how much pleasure the Post got out of attributing these saucy quotes to simply "Obama.") Oh, and he doesn't like gay marriage, either. As the Post reports: "I feel like a Republican now because they don't stand for same-sex marriage, and that appeals to me," he said. Obama believes strongly in the institution of marriage - so strongly that he has at least three current wives, although press reports have put the number as high as 12. When asked by The Post how many wives and children he has, Obama demurred. "That's personal," he said. Alright, cool. Anyway, if you're feeling frustrated that your crazy aunt or your third cousin hasn't stopped posting about Benghazi or Hillary Clinton's emails, rest assured that the daughters of the most powerful man in the country know exactly how you feel. Vladimir Putin The FBI suspects the Russian government could be behind the hack of the Democratic National Committee after about 20,000 emails from the political organization were leaked late last week. But as one expert tells Business Insider, it would be "essentially impossible" to make a direct connection between the hackers and the Russian government. "I mean, it's essentially impossible, 100%, given the advanced tactics these guys can deploy," said Will Ackerly, a former cloud security architect at the National Security Agency and cofounder of the data security company Virtru. "It is relatively straightforward to design a misattribution system, where it looks like the attack is coming from somewhere else." He said, however, that the leak has all the fingerprints of a Russian attack. And, he added, "you can reject definitively [the hack] is from a non-nation state actor." "I'd have a hard time believing that a sophisticated security company would be behind the attack based on its signature," he said, "let alone a small, non-government-funded group of individuals." If the Russian government were involved in the hack, "we have much, much, much bigger problems to worry about," he said. "That means the entire party has the Manchurian candidate," he said, referencing the late 1950s political thriller novel. The timing of the release three days before the start of the Democratic National Convention, although the hack occurred earlier this year has thrown into question the motives of the hackers. The emails showed the DNC used the party apparatus to tip the scales in favor of Hillary Clinton while mocking her challenger, Bernie Sanders, and his supporters. The fallout led to DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz announcing on Sunday that she would resign at the conclusion of this week's convention in Philadelphia where some supporters of Sanders have been reinvigorated with vitriol toward Clinton and the party. Story continues Debbie Wasserman Schultz Russian officials on Tuesday called the claim that the Kremlin was involved in the hack "absurd" and flatly denied any involvement. "We are again seeing these maniacal attempts to exploit the Russian theme in the US election campaign," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to Reuters. "This is not breaking new ground; this is an old trick which is being played again. This is not good for our bilateral relations, but we understand that we simply have to get through this unpleasant period." On Monday, the FBI told The Daily Beast it suspects Russian government hackers breached the organization's networks and posted the emails in an attempt to help Donald Trump, who is seen by many observers as the preferred candidate of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump has displayed admiration for the Russian leader during the course of his campaign. "The release of emails just as the Democratic National Convention is getting underway this week has the hallmarks of a Russian active measures campaign," David Shedd, a former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told The Daily Beast, adding that additional leaks were likely. Cybersecurity officials who spoke to BuzzFeed echoed that sentiment, saying that those behind the attack could be releasing additional emails over the next few months in hopes of creating the most possible damage for Clinton's campaign. NOW WATCH: A new poll suggests this is the reason Trump is tanking More From Business Insider (Reuters) - A grand jury indicted two former Virginia Tech students on Tuesday for first-degree murder in the death of a 13-year-old girl, a prosecutor said. The suspects, David Eisenhauer, 18, of Columbia, Maryland, and Natalie Keepers, 19, of Laurel, Maryland, were indicted for the January slaying of Nicole Lovell, Montgomery County prosecutor Mary Pettitt said in a statement. The middle school student's body was found stabbed by a North Carolina roadside about 90 miles south of Blacksburg, her hometown, following a four-day search. Lovell's death shocked the area and sparked national attention. A Montgomery County grand jury indicted Eisenhauer on charges of first-degree murder, abduction and concealing a body. Keepers was indicted on charges of being an accessory before the fact to first-degree murder and concealing a body. Police in Blacksburg, in southwest Virginia and home to Virginia Tech, have said Eisenhauer and Lovell had become acquainted before her disappearance. Eisenhauer, who was a member of the Virginia Tech cross-country team, took advantage of the relationship to abduct and kill her, police have said. Authorities have not disclosed a motive, but two law enforcement officials told The Washington Post that Eisenhauer had an inappropriate relationship with Lovell. A friend said Lovell had hoped to run away with Eisenhauer and start a family, the newspaper has reported. If convicted, Eisenhauer faces life plus 15 years in prison, and Keepers could be sentenced to life plus five years. They are being held without bond, and their trials are set for March. (Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Steve Orlofsky) By John Tilak and Nicole Mordant TORONTO/VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Barrick Gold Corp, the world's largest gold producer, is weighing a sale of its majority stake in African unit Acacia Mining Plc and has approached several South African miners, according to sources familiar with the situation. The potential sale would be part of Barrick's broader strategy of selling non-core assets to reduce its debt load. The Toronto-based company offloaded stakes in several mines last year. The talks are at an early stage and there is no assurance a deal will be done, the sources said. Barrick owns 64 percent of Acacia, a London-listed miner with three producing gold mines in Tanzania: Bulyanhulu, Buzwagi and North Mara. Much of the remainder of Acacia is widely held. Acacia also has exploration projects in the East African country and other parts of Africa. Acacia has a market capitalization of about 2.23 billion pounds ($2.93 billion), making Barrick's stake worth around $1.9 billion. Barrick has reached out to South African miners Harmony Gold Mining Co Ltd, Sibanye Gold Ltd, AngloGold Ashanti Ltd, Randgold & Exploration Co and Gold Fields Ltd, as well as some Australian and North American miners, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the matter is not public. Barrick spokesman Andy Lloyd declined to comment. The sources noted a recent sharp rise in Acacia's stock, partly due to a rebound in the bullion price, may discourage some potential buyers. Acacia's stock is up more than 200 percent since the start of the year, with strong results also providing a lift. Acacia reported better-than-expected earnings last week, breezing past market forecasts for earnings, production and costs. The stock rose after news of the potential sale, trading as high as 572.5 pence before paring gains. It was up 1.9 percent at 555 pence late on Tuesday. Barrick shares were up 2.6 percent at C$26.89 on Tuesday. While Barrick would prefer a sale, it is also evaluating a possible equity offering to reduce its stake, the sources said, adding this "plan B" would depend on investor appetite. A mid-sized, low-cost gold producer, Acacia is targeting 2016 production at or above 750,000 to 780,000 ounces. Barrick is aiming to reduce its debt by $2 billion this year, and as of end-April had extinguished $842 million. In the medium term, it plans to lower its debt to below $5 billion or by more than half of current levels. Barrick's fortunes have improved this year along with other gold miners, buoyed by a 24 percent jump in the bullion price and deep cost cuts. Its stock is up 164 percent since January. (Editing by Amran Abocar and Jeffrey Hodgson) By John Tilak and Nicole Mordant TORONTO/VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO), the world's largest gold producer, is weighing a sale of its majority stake in African unit Acacia Mining Plc (ACAA.L) and has approached several South African miners, according to sources familiar with the situation. The potential sale would be part of Barrick's broader strategy of selling non-core assets to reduce its debt load. The Toronto-based company offloaded stakes in several mines last year. The talks are at an early stage and there is no assurance a deal will be done, the sources said. Barrick owns 64 percent of Acacia, a London-listed miner with three producing gold mines in Tanzania: Bulyanhulu, Buzwagi and North Mara. Much of the remainder of Acacia is widely held. Acacia also has exploration projects in the East African country and other parts of Africa. Acacia has a market capitalisation of about 2.23 billion pounds, making Barrick's stake worth around $1.9 billion (1.4 billion). Barrick has reached out to South African miners Harmony Gold Mining Co Ltd (HARJ.J), Sibanye Gold Ltd (SGLJ.J), AngloGold Ashanti Ltd (ANGJ.J), Randgold & Exploration Co (RNGJ.J) and Gold Fields Ltd (GFIJ.J), as well as some Australian and North American miners, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the matter is not public. Barrick spokesman Andy Lloyd declined to comment. The sources noted a recent sharp rise in Acacia's stock, partly due to a rebound in the bullion price, may discourage some potential buyers. Acacia's stock is up more than 200 percent since the start of the year, with strong results also providing a lift. Acacia reported better-than-expected earnings last week, breezing past market forecasts for earnings, production and costs. The stock rose after news of the potential sale, trading as high as 572.5 pence before paring gains. It was up 1.9 percent at 555 pence late on Tuesday. Barrick shares were up 2.6 percent at C$26.89 on Tuesday. Story continues While Barrick would prefer a sale, it is also evaluating a possible equity offering to reduce its stake, the sources said, adding this "plan B" would depend on investor appetite. A mid-sized, low-cost gold producer, Acacia is targeting 2016 production at or above 750,000 to 780,000 ounces. Barrick is aiming to reduce its debt by $2 billion this year, and as of end-April had extinguished $842 million. In the medium term, it plans to lower its debt to below $5 billion or by more than half of current levels. Barrick's fortunes have improved this year along with other gold miners, buoyed by a 24 percent jump in the bullion price and deep cost cuts. Its stock is up 164 percent since January. (Editing by Amran Abocar and Jeffrey Hodgson) The nearly nine-month-long incarceration seems to have done little to affect the popularity of the 23-year-old convener of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), Hardik Patel. By Jugal R Purohit: Facing an isolated corn field bent by powerful gusts of wind sweeping through is a two-storied building painted in white. It has a tent before which is occupied by policemen who looked bored as they maintained a register, took a nap, explored their hand-held cameras and walked up and down the place. The scene contrasts with the goings on inside, at the ground floor of the white building. advertisement PATEL'S POPULARITY NOT AFFECTED The nearly nine-month-long incarceration seems to have done little to affect the popularity of the 23-year-old convener of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), Hardik Patel. There are visitors, nearly every hour. They want to meet, discuss, hand him a token of appreciation and take photographs. A register has been kept at the door for marking the visitors but no one really cares to fill it. Notwithstanding all of this, Patel who secured a conditional bail on July 11 from Gujarat High Court said, "This is like a house arrest. The police prevented me from travelling whereas my bail condition was that I had to stay out of Gujarat." "We would prefer jail to this," he added. PATEL TO MEET GROUP OF EXPERTS Pulling a leaf out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2014 campaign, Patel will, in the coming week, be meeting a group of experts who will help him overcome a major barrier imposed by the court. "Using 3D technology, I will address sabhas in my state sitting. In my absence, with the senapati gone, our people carried out silent ground work but now the time has come to mobilize," he declared. He claimed the BJP offered him the post of national president of its youth wing. "It is a fact. They offered me anywhere between Rs 1000cr-1200cr to take over BJP's youth wing, to replace Anurag Thakur but I am a farmer's son. After my community, I want to work for women, youth and farmers," he said. "FIRST PATELS VICTIMISED, NOW DALITS" When asked about the cause of Dalits post the atrocities observed in Una, he replied, "First Patels were victimised and now, Dalits. No one bothered to act when the video first came out. They waited for nearly 8-10 days. Then came police atrocities. What happened then was a natural reaction." Patel consistently maintained he was an apolitical leader with 'no friends'. He also said he had no plans to contest elections. None of this stopped him from declaring, with a smile, how 2017 (read assembly elections) will see a revolution in Gujarat. "There are 2 crore Patels. We will ensure she (read CM Anandiben Patel) goes. We showed our strength during panchayat polls and we will do so again." Patel refused to make a comment on Arvind Kejriwal, who has been seen touring Gujarat with an increasing frequency. He did not mince words when it came to the Centre's schemes and actions. "Problem is not with politicians but with us. We abuse them and yet vote for them," he said. advertisement At the time of his conditional bail, Patel gave an address in Udaipur where he would spend the next six months. Belonging to a former Congress MLA, the move has sparked off speculation. Locals in Udaipur believe this to be the Congress leader's P Dangi's masterstroke, a sure shot way to earn a ticket. Patel had a different take, "He is the local Patel community head and I am staying on rent by paying Rs 15000 a month." Before ending he added, "I am commoner and he too is." Also read: Hardik Patel released after 9 months in jail, to travel across Gujarat before exile --- ENDS --- By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission will launch an arbitration procedure to resolve a dispute between Norwegian Air Shuttle (NWC.OL) and U.S. regulators over the budget carrier's wish to fly to the United States from Ireland, two sources said. The EU executive will take the unprecedented step as it considers the delay in granting flying rights to Norwegian's Irish subsidiary a breach of the EU-U.S. Open Skies agreement, one of the people said. Norwegian's Irish subsidiary, Norwegian Air International, applied for permission to operate flights to the United States more than two years ago, but the typically routine request has languished amid opposition from labor unions and some U.S. airlines, which say Europe's third-biggest budget carrier would undermine wages and working standards. EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx on Tuesday informing him the Commission had consulted EU member states and would invoke arbitration, the person said. Norwegian Air welcomed the news. "We are very pleased that the EU Commision is seeking arbitration with U.S. authorities to solve this long overdue issue," a company spokesman said. "Norwegian Air International is an approved and fully operational EU carrier that meets all requirements under the Open Skies Agreement between the EU and the U.S. A final approval will lead to more new jobs on both sides of the Atlantic, more new transatlantic routes and more affordable fares," he said. A win for Norwegian could challenge the strong position of U.S. carriers such as Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) on the lucrative transAtlantic route, where partnerships with European rivals and immunity from U.S. antitrust law have helped them churn out steady profits. The delay has hindered the airline's ambitions to expand its long-haul operations to the United States. The carrier already flies to New York and other U.S. cities with its Norwegian operating license. Story continues However getting permission to fly to the United States with its Irish subsidiary would mean the airline could tap into aviation rights that the EU has secured, as Ireland is an EU member, unlike Norway. Bulc also said the delay in allowing Norwegian's British unit to fly to the United States was another breach of the Open Skies agreement. The arbitration procedure, involving a tribunal of three arbitrators (one designated by the EU, one by the United States and one jointly appointed by the EU and U.S. arbitrators), will formally kick off after the summer and could take several months. The U.S. Transportation Department provisionally approved Norwegian's request in April, giving opponents three weeks to file objections, but there has been no final decision. The EU has repeatedly called on the United States to approve Norwegian Air International's request, calling it a breach of the Open Skies agreement. The Transportation Department said it found no legal basis for denying the Irish unit's request to fly to the United States. Norwegian has relied on the fuel-efficient 787 jetliner from Boeing Co (BA.N) to keep its costs low and cut fares on transAtlantic routes. (Additional reporting by Gwladys Fouche; Editing by David Holmes and Adrian Croft) Luke Pell and Chase McNary both left The Bachelorette with shocking exits Monday night. Pell appeared in utter disbelief when sent home by JoJo Fletcher at the rose ceremony, and McNary's goodbye was perhaps even more unbelievable -- Fletcher sent him packing from the doorstep of their fantasy suite. WATCH: Here's How 'Bachelorette' JoJo Fletcher Feels About the Rodgers Family Scandal But, as we all know, when a door closes in Bachelor Nation, a window opens and rose petals fall from the sky! I chatted with Pell and McNary on July 16 at the show's Men Tell All taping in Los Angeles, where after a little prodding, both revealed they are in talks to become the next Bachelor. "It's a possibility," Pell said. "I definitely would not pass on it!" McNary seemed less willing: "The discussions are there," he said. "But I don't know -- there's a lot of weight there. There [are] a lot of expectations and I'm not scared of it ... but I definitely want to make the smart decision and the right decision before I totally accept that position." WATCH: 'Bachelorette' Villain Chad Johnson Says He's 'Misunderstood': Here's Why His reservations seem to stem from the same issues behind the discussion that sent him home: McNary told Fletcher "I love you" after revealing that it's very difficult for him to open up emotionally. In fact, he'd never said "I love you" first in a relationship before. "[As the Bachelor] you're put in the microscope of America and that's scary," he said. "I wasn't exactly the most open guy about my feelings, and going into being the Bachelor that's something I would definitely have to work on." Both are well-positioned to become the Bachelor: Luke is a handsome war veteran from Texas and has been kind and respectful on The Bachelorette. Plus, the look on his face alone during his exit is sure to win America's hearts. Chase's departure could have been more problematic -- he was heated, and stomped off swearing up a storm. But, at episode's end he returned to apologize to Fletcher, and thus, make good with viewers. Story continues Pell thinks audiences would see a different side of him as the Bachelor. "Hopefully I would be a fun Bachelor!" he said. "That's the part of me [people] didn't get to see on this show. A lot of my stories are so intense and deep about my military background ... but I love to have fun." Fletcher is rooting for both! "They are both phenomenal choices," she says. "Both extremely good-looking, but besides that they are great guys." Who do you want to see as the next Bachelor? Let me know on Twitter: @laurenzima. The Bachelorette season finale airs Monday, August 1 on ABC, but we've got Men Tell All to dive into before then! Watch our exclusive preview below. Related Articles Oil giant ExxonMobil Corporation XOM is expected to report second-quarter 2016 earnings on Jul 29, 2016. Last quarter, the company delivered a 53.57% positive earnings surprise. Moreover, ExxonMobil posted an average positive earnings surprise of 15.46% over the last four quarters. Lets see how things are shaping up for this announcement. Factors Likely to Influence this Quarter ExxonMobil is in excellent financial health and has an AAA credit profile. The companys free cash flow generation remains strong and it regularly rewards its shareholders. It has steadily raised its dividend, which currently stands at an annualized $2.92 per share. The company also has a solid share buyback program in place. We expect the company to maintain its growth momentum in the soon-to-be-reported quarter. EXXON MOBIL CRP Price and EPS Surprise EXXON MOBIL CRP Price and EPS Surprise | EXXON MOBIL CRP Quote The company boasts diversified operations across the world with several new projects expected to come online through 2016. Though ExxonMobil functions in all corners of the globe, its main areas of focus for new volumes in the coming years are the U.S., Canada, Kazakhstan, West Africa, Australia, Russia, Angola and Iraq. The company explores for unconventional natural gas across North America as well as offshore regions, including the Gulf of Mexico. Notably, ExxonMobil achieved success in the exploration of a well in offshore Tanzania, where it came across massive amounts of high quality recoverable gas. Revenues from these projects are likely to contribute to second-quarter earnings. ExxonMobils strength lies in its balanced operations, strong financial flexibility and continuous efforts to improve efficiency and cost control. The companys initiatives to build an unconventional resource portfolio both in North America and overseas is aimed at increasing production through a wide exposure to large energy resources with long reserve life and low field declines. Earnings Whispers Our proven model does not conclusively show that ExxonMobil is likely to beat on earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below. Zacks ESP: Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, stands at 0.00%. Zacks Rank: ExxonMobil currently holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Though a favorable Zacks Rank increases the predictive power of ESP, an Earnings ESP of 0.00% makes surprise prediction difficult. We caution against Sell-rated stocks (Zacks Ranks #4 and 5) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.. Stocks to Consider Here are some companies from the same space which according to our model have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter: Spectra Energy Corp. SE has an Earnings ESP of +16.00% and a Zacks Rank #2. The company is slated to release earnings on Aug 3. EOG Resources, Inc. EOG has an Earnings ESP of +2.00% and a Zacks Rank #2. The company is slated to release earnings on Aug 4. Hess Corporation HES has an Earnings ESP of +2.38% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company is slated to release earnings on Jul 27. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SPECTRA ENERGY (SE): Free Stock Analysis Report EXXON MOBIL CRP (XOM): Free Stock Analysis Report EOG RES INC (EOG): Free Stock Analysis Report HESS CORP (HES): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Facebook employees Facebook is thinking about opening up an office in San Francisco, which would be a huge boon for employees who have been dreaming of an easier commute, the San Francisco Business Times reports, based on conversations with three real-estate sources. Most of the biggest tech companies in Silicon Valley, including Google, Apple, and Yahoo, have a smaller office in San Francisco, but Facebook has always decided to keep its Bay Area employees together at its huge Menlo Park headquarters. This decision has brought grief for city-based employees because the commute can take up to two hours with traffic, which can feel like "a soul-crushing waste of time" despite the Wi-Fi-enabled free shuttles. Anecdotally, this issue comes up in almost every conversation we've had with Facebook employees. Apparently, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made it clear that he prefers to keep all employees together to foster creativity and better collaboration between teams. Facebook has even paid employees at least $10,000 to move closer to the office. But Facebook is now reportedly contemplating leasing "hundreds of thousands" of square feet, though the plans are very preliminary, sources tell the Business Times' Roland Li. Though, having a smaller city office can cause its own problems, like having employees jockey for the chance to work there. We've heard that Google, for instance, has had to warn employees that they can't work in the San Francisco office on Fridays just to make it easier to launch into the weekend. Facebook didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. NOW WATCH: How to use Facebooks awesome new 360-degree photo feature More From Business Insider A Colorado man was driving his family to the airport for a surprise Disney vacation when cops say a suspected drunk driver demolished their plans. Ryan Bragazzi was taking his fiance and two daughters ages 5 and 7 to Denver International Airport last week when the surprise for the girls became a nightmare for the whole family. As the family sat in a traffic jam behind one crash reportedly caused by a DUI, police say the family's vehicle was struck from behind by another suspected drunk driver. Watch: Abby Wambach Gets Mocked By U.S. Men's Soccer Team After DUI Arrest Bragazzi's minivan was hit with such force that it became wedged beneath a tractor-trailer. Despite utter destruction of the vehicle shown in photos of the wreck, the family survived. Bragazzi, his fiance, and the two girls were all rushed to a hospital outside Monument, Colorado. According to a GoFundMe page set up to raise funds for the family, Bragazzi's fiance, Jessica, was treated for a severe head wound. Bragazzi suffered broken vertebrae and ribs. The girls were also admitted for medical treatment. According to the GoFundMe page, the crash not only ruined the family's trip, but it also set the stage for months of struggle for the family. Read: Drunk Pregnant Woman Caused Deadly DUI Crash: Cops "Ryan is going to be out of work for a few months to recover. Because he is the primary provider, this recovery time is going to be a rough time financially. Because of the loss of income during the recovery, this family will need all the help they can get," wrote the page's creator, Ammanda Salazar. Salazar originally set a fundraising goal of $8,000, which was met easily. The goal has since been raised to $12,000. "The family would like to thank everyone so much for all their prayers, love and support," Salazar wrote after the $8,000 was raised. Watch: Woman Driving With 15-Foot Tree Stuck To Car Gets Arrested For DUI Related Articles: Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f157178%2fhttps_3a_2f_2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com_2fuploads_2fcard_2fimage_2f3524_2fphilae On Wednesday, Europe's Philae lander will come to the official end of its long goodbye from the surface of its comet speeding toward the distant reaches of our solar system. The Rosetta orbiter circling Comet 67P will stop listening out for Philae on the comet's surface on Wednesday, when mission controllers turn off Rosetta's instrument designed to receive a signal if Philae attempts to phone home. SEE ALSO: The basic ingredients for life have been found in a comet's atmosphere "No signal has been received by Rosetta from Philae since last July and earlier this year the lander was considered to be in a state of eternal hibernation," the European Space Agency said in a blog post. Space fans are now sending their best wishes to Philae which became the first spacecraft to soft-land on comet in 2014 using #GoodbyePhilae on Twitter. The German Aerospace Center is asking people to use the hashtag to send "postcards" to Philae via social media. Philae's mission was somewhat fraught from the start. The lander bounced a few times when it first landed on Comet 67P, forcing it to set down on an unexpected part and making it very difficult for scientists to communicate with the far-flung spacecraft. Philae did send back hours worth of data from the surface of Comet 67P including photos of its landing spot, though scientists could never figure out exactly where Philae ended up. Philae and Rosetta have transformed the way scientists understand comets in our solar system. Rosetta sniffed out organics in Comet 67P's atmosphere and characterized the water in the comet. Comet 67P is now more than 321,000,000 miles from the sun. Rosetta is still sending back a lot of science from its post orbiting Comet 67P. The spacecraft is set to function until the end of September, when the comet will be too far from the sun for Rosetta to function. The orbiter will join Philae for their "eternal hibernation" on the surface of the comet together once its mission comes to an end. An intensive search for the missing IAF's AN-32 transport plane with 29 people onboard entered the fifth day today. No debris or survivors have been located yet. By India Today Web Desk: Search teams have detected 4-5 pings from the ocean bed, however, it is yet to be verified if those are from the AN-32 aircraft of the Indian Air Force which went missing last Friday (July 22) soon after taking off from Chennai's Tambaram air base for Port Blair. "We have detected 4-5 pings, trying to verify whether these are real or false alarms," Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told Rajya Sabha today. advertisement WATCH IT HERE MASSIVE SEARCH OPERATION CONTINUES An intensive search for the missing IAF's AN-32 transport plane with 29 people on board entered the fifth day today. No debris or survivors have been located yet. Missing IAF plane: All you need to know about the AN-32 aircraft "13 Naval vessels, 2 Coast Guard ships besides assets from Andaman and Nicobar islands are engaged in the operations," Coast Guard Commander (East) Inspector General Rajan Bargotra told reporters. The flight route of the missing AN-32/ Several agencies, including National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) and Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (NCOIS), were coordinating in the search operations and if needed vessel of NIOT 'Sagar Nidhi' which is on its way from Mauritius will be used for search operations, he said. The search area has been expanded from the initial 14,400 square nautical miles. AIR FORCE DEFENDS USE OF AN-32s Amid criticism in some quarters about the existing over 100 AN-32 aircraft and how they have outrun their life, Chief of the Indian Air Force Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha sought to defend it saying in the last three decades of its operations, IAF has exploited the capabilities of this aircraft as the workhorse of the force. The missing AN-32 transport aircraft, which was inducted into the IAF between 1984-1991, had last year undergone a major refit. Also Read: Missing aircraft AN-32: Critical emergency signal from ill-fated flight remains elusive All 29 feared dead as IAF AN-32 goes missing over Bay of Bengal, massive search on --- ENDS --- Getty Image What seemed to merely be a confirmation that the DNC run by Debbie Wasserman Schultz before she resigned on Sunday had it out for Bernie Sanders, has turned into a full-blown investigation into whether Russia was behind the email hack and subsequent leak, all to help Donald Trump win the U.S. presidential election. Now the FBI has gotten involved in this latest election mess and strongly suspects that Russia is responsible. According to the Daily Beast, officials with knowledge of the investigation say that the FBI suspects this because of the timing of the leak, because of Trumps own connections to Russia and President Vladimir Putin and because the emails were then given to Wikileaks, which has an anti-U.S. government bent. The FBI has so far refused to comment on the investigation particulars: An FBI spokesperson said in a statement Monday that the bureau was investigating the breach but declined to comment on whether political motivation was part of the inquiry. A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously, and the FBI will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace, the spokesperson said. In Motherboards extensive report on the hack, security firm CrowdStrike linked two advance persistent threats in the DNC networks to the Russian government. On June 15, a Twitter account called @GUCCIFER_2 leaked stolen DNC documents detailing its Trump opposition research. It leaked other documents over the next month, culminating (so far) in the July 22 leak of those DNC emails complaining about Sanders. The article details how there is strong evidence that the advanced persistent threats or APTs found in the DNC servers are connected to GRU, Russias intelligence service. There is also evidence that GRU has been posing as the Guccifer 2.0 account in leaking DNC documents like so: The evidence linking the Guccifer 2.0 account to the same Russian operators is not as solid, yet a deception operation a GRU false flag, in technical jargon is still highly likely. Intelligence operatives and cybersecurity professionals long knew that such false flags were becoming more common. One noteworthy example was the sabotage of Frances TV5 Monde station on 9/10 April 2015, initially claimed by the mysterious CyberCaliphate, a group allegedly linked to ISIS. Then, in June, the French authorities suspected the same infamous APT 28 group behind the TV5 Monde breach, in preparation since January of that year. But the DNC deception is the most detailed and most significant case study so far. The technical details are as remarkable as its strategic context. Story continues A foreign government doing this, all to influence important elections is a troubling prospect. But even without the hard evidence, it doesnt seem hard to guess why Russia would do this, given how stacked the Trump campaign is with people who are connected in some way to the Russian government. As the Daily Beast details: Officials also noted Trumps own connections to the Russian government. Putin has publicly praised the nominee, who said he was honored by the compliment. Trumps campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was a consultant for Viktor Yanukovych, the former president of Ukraine who was ousted for his pro-Moscow orientation (and now lives in Russia). One of Trumps top national security advisers, retired Army Gen. Michael Flynn, sat with Putin at a dinner celebrating the 10th anniversary of Kremlin-backed media network RT and was paid to give a speech at the event; Flynn later retweeted an anti-Semitic message that called into question any Kremlin-Trump link. Another Trump adviser, Carter Page, recently denounced Americas often-hypocritical focus on democratization while in Moscow. And last week, Trump said that he might not come to the aid of U.S. NATO allies in the face of Russian aggression unless they paid what he thinks they owe for Europes common defense. That last sentence is what everybodys fixating on in terms of why Russia would do something like this. Russia has already invaded Ukraine and could do even more with NATO out of the way. Even anonymous American cybersecurity experts think this is the motive! An American cyber security expert says Russia hacked DNC emails to help Trump win presidency because hes seen as pro-Putin, less pro-NATO. Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) July 25, 2016 If anything, this shows the foreign policy power that Trump already has. He can make a passing remark about taking support away from our allies, and a foreign government who seeks to benefit from that will facilitate a major internet hack to help him out. Whether this would make you even more scared of a Trump presidency, or make you admire him, it shows that the candidate already has a ton of influence, even as a nominee. (Via The Daily Beast and Motherboard) Some of the most ardent activists hoping to slow climate change have found success protesting federal auctions of land to be used for oil and gas drilling, shutting down several auctions and brining attention to their keep it in the ground rallying cry. Now, after halting at least five auctions earlier this year, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) says it will proceed with a plan to hold sales online, avoiding the public spectacle of climate protesters. The first online BLM auctionfor 4,400 acres in Kentucky and Mississippiwill be held in September. Activists are crying foul at what they say is a move away from transparency, but they plan to protest anyway. We have caught them off guard. We have cast a bright light on their cozy way of doing business, says Randi Spivak, public lands program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. They can move online, but it wont silence us. Read More: President Obama Announces Rejection of Keystone XL Pipeline But Republicans in Congress tend to see the BLM auction policies as harmful to energy interests. The migration of the auctions online followed a push from a Republican-led Congress, and, earlier this year, Republicans on the House oversight committee expressed concern over the slow pace of the transition. They also questioned the willingness of the BLM to cancel auctions in the face of protests. That sounds to me like an over-accomodation of a traditional, normal process in order to accommodate a protesting group, said GOP Rep. Cynthia Lummis from Wyoming in a hearing. Read More: Does President Obama Want to Keep Fossil Fuels in the Ground? For his part, BLM director Neil Kornze explained the move to host auctions online in Congressional testimony as part of a larger effort to modernize its oil and gas program and said he expects the agency to move most auctions online by next year. That wont stop activists groups. Protesters plan to gather outside the White House in September to protest the online auction and will advocate however they can for the President to ban new oil and gas drilling on federal lands. Past statements from White House officials suggest such a ban is unlikely. I think that they are probably surprised at the swiftness of the call to end all federal fossil fuel leasing, says Spivak. Theres not a lot of time, but there are still things the administration can do before they leave office. (Reuters) - Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCHA.MI) said on Tuesday it would invest $1.48 billion in its Sterling Heights plant in Michigan to retool it to build next-generation Ram pickup trucks. The automaker confirmed that production of the Chrysler 200 midsized sedan would end in December in order to ready the plant to build the light duty Ram 1500 pickup. Plans for the company's Warren Truck Assembly plant in Michigan, which currently builds the Ram 1500, will be announced later, FCA said. The next-generation Ram will go on sale by January 2018, Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said in May. FCA said in July it would invest more than $1 billion in its assembly plants in Illinois and Ohio to retool them to boost production of the Jeep Cherokee and Jeep Wrangler. The Sterling Heights plant was slated for closure in 2009 before receiving a reprieve from Marchionne. The Chrysler 200, along with the compact Dodge Dart, made at an FCA plant in Illinois, are scheduled to be discontinued as the U.S. market has shifted away from sedans toward larger SUVs and pickup trucks. FCA said the new investment would bring its total spending on its U.S. plants to more than $8.3 billion since 2009. (Reporting by Arunima Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr) Its been a little over a week since the Senate failed to pass emergency funding for the Zika epidemic, right in the midst of mosquito season. And while Zika hasnt started spreading locally stateside, emergency responders who are trying to fight it are already feeling an economic pinch. We have an unprecedented health threat, and we dont have the robust resources that would enable us to respond most effectively, says Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in an interview with TIME. Without additional resources, this is like fighting a fight with one hand tied behind our backs. So far, more than 1,000 people in the continental United States have Zika infections from travel, and more than 700 pregnant women in the U.S. and territories have the disease. Utah is investigating the first possible case of person-to-person transmission in the U.S. and Florida is investigating a possible case of local transmission. Without the additional Zika emergency funding, Frieden says the agency is moving money meant for other emergencies to the response. We may have problems in states around the U.S. because money isnt available to do things like respond to other outbreaks or address the health needs that arise with flooding or hurricanes, Frieden says. Weve had to reduce funding for a range of emergencies to address the Zika emergency. Thats not a sensible way to do it, but its the only option we had. With the funding, Frieden says the CDC planned to launch a more robust effort to understand the full range of Zikas effects on babies, including infants born with healthy head sizes though their mothers were infected. The CDC also planned to be further along in improving how the virus is diagnosed. As TIME has previously reported, scientists say the lack of emergency Zika funding is also hurting their research. Without a clear commitment from the federal government, private sector partners working on diagnostics and vaccines will choose not to proceed, said Marissa Padilla, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, to TIME. Meanwhile, countless other efforts to combat Zika will be jeopardized. The first human trials in the U.S. of a Zika vaccine have already been delayed. I think if people share our frustration, Frieden says, they should make that known. WWE Universe If youre an NXT fan, or a WWE fan in general probably, the past like I dunno, six months? have been all about When is Finn Balor finally going to make his main roster debut? Its like waiting for Poochie to show up at the fireworks factory, but more. There have been rumors and rumblings and Tumblrs and tumblings and last week, the inevitable became immediate when Balor was selected as the No. 5 overall pick in the WWE Draft. On Monday nights episode of Raw, Balor finally, finally, finally showed his impossibly well-defined abs in his WWE main roster debut. The show opened with Stephanie McMahon and Raw GM Mick Foley inviting the whole Raw roster to the stage, but Balor was not immediately visible. Related Links: Foley and McMahon then announced that Raw would have two fatal four-way matches to begin determining a new WWE Universal Champion, and Balor was the eighth and final entrant announced, joining Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Sheamus, Rusev, Roman Reigns, Cesaro and Chris Jericho. Balors name was met with a huge ovation. Balors fatal four-way match ended up being the first match on Raw, where he got a very lengthy entrance and a massive pop, then managed to defeat Kevin Owens, Cesaro and Rusev by pinning Rusev after a Coup de Grace. For those of you unfamiliar, Balor is the longest-reigning NXT Champion of all time, winning the title from Kevin Owens at last years July 4 Beast in the East special and holding the belt for 292 days before dropping it to current champ Samoa Joe at an NXT house show in April. Before that, the Irish megastar set the world on fire in Japan as Prince Devitt and was one of the founding members of the Bullet Club, which is the nWo of the current generation of wrestling fans. By Wiktor Szary and Tadeusz Kolasinski WARSAW (Reuters) - When Polish bishops issued a letter inviting Catholic youths to attend an international gathering to be held in Poland this week, the name of its host, Pope Francis, was conspicuously absent. Instead, the bishops spoke about John Paul II, the late Polish-born pontiff who holds an iconic status in Poland for his role in inspiring the nation to stand up to communist rule. John Paul, who died in 2005, was made a saint in 2014. While the bishops say Francis - and not the ghost of his predecessor - will be the centerpiece of World Youth Day events, the omission reflects a sense of disquiet among senior clergy about his calls for a more inclusive and merciful Church, a message that contrasts with the preaching in many Polish churches. Poland remains one of Europe's most Catholic and conservative nations, with about 90 percent of citizens declaring allegiance to the Church. Its government openly calls for Christian values to be present in daily life and politics. "I am absolutely convinced the meeting between Francis and the Polish Church will be challenging for both sides," said Jaroslaw Makowski, a liberal Polish theologian. "When he was invited to Poland in 2013, he was unknown ... But after a few months it became clear he isn't what was expected ... but someone who wants to shake up the Church and push it off the path familiar to the Polish Church." The Vatican expects hundreds of thousands of young people from all continents to turn out to see the pope during his five-day visit that starts on Wednesday in the southern city of Krakow, where John Paul was archbishop before he became pope in 1978. Privately, Vatican officials said they expect Francis to wow young people in Poland just like he did at the last World Youth Day in Brazil three years ago. However, although direct criticism of the Argentine-born pontiff is rarely heard, Polish Roman Catholic bishops publicly disagree with his views on issues such as homosexuals and divorce, in an echo of conservative concerns elsewhere that he threatens to dilute Church teachings. A conservative Polish commentator, Tomasz Terlikowski, said the popularity of John Paul in Poland was driven, at least in part, by the late pontiff's adherence to doctrine. "The World Youth Day, like any previous meeting between John Paul II and young people, serves as ... proof the Church in the West is losing them ... because of what it offered them," Terlikowski wrote in DoRzeczy weekly this week. "The young have been leaving the Church because what it offers them is equal to that of (the secular) world, only veiled in incense," he wrote. "Will Francis be able to inspire the youth the way John Paul did? It will depend on what he requires of them," he said. The World Youth Day events are an effort by the Vatican to inspire Catholics at a time when rival denominations, secularism and sexual and financial scandals continue to lead some to abandon the Church. ENCROACHING MODERNITY Poland has undergone a significant shift in its political landscape since the Euroskeptic, conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party in October ended nearly a decade of secular-minded government. Its leaders tapped Poland's brand of patriotism infused with Catholic piety to build up popularity among voters and ensure the backing of the clergy, influential across provincial Poland. "Poland is an oasis of freedom in the world, where values that form our identity are being destroyed," Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said during a religious ceremony this month. "We have a foundation in Poland, where the words 'God, honor and homeland' have guided us for centuries." Despite being rooted in Christian values, her government disagrees with Francis on issues such as refugees and the environment. It opposes mandatory European Union quotas for accepting migrants and promotes as coal as an energy source. Church leaders, in turn, have sought the support of conservative politicians to enshrine their view of society in law, liberal observers say, mindful that encroaching modernity is shrinking the ranks of churchgoers. Since PiS came into power, Catholic officials have pushed for a further tightening of Poland's already restrictive abortion laws, for example. "The Church has forged an alliance with the government because, using law, it can exert more control," said Makowski. The Polish Catholic Church is nonetheless divided and many secular theologians, priests and churchgoers would welcome Francis' message that the Church should be more compassionate toward "imperfect" Catholics, such as remarried divorcees. Divorce rates in Poland are close European averages, and regular mass attendance has fallen by almost 10 percentage points in the last decade to about 40 percent. More than 70 percent want access to contraception, even though Warsaw Archbishop Henryk Hoser has said using it introduced an "element of disease" into a woman's body. Nearly 80 percent of Poles say in-vitro fertilization should be accessible for infertile couples, whereas bishops have said lawmakers who voted for a law to regulate IVF should be denied communion. Polish bishops have made it clear any talk of watering down church doctrine was unacceptable. "All should avoid a divorce mentality. Every separation of spouses offends God; moreover, it causes much harm," they said in a document published ahead of last year's gathering of bishops in the Vatican to discuss the issue. The Polish Bishops' Conference spokesman, Father Pawe Rytel-Andrianik, said the letter inviting young Poles to this week's gathering in Poland was one of many documents issued about the event. "The pope is an intrinsic part of the World Youth Day," he said. (Additional reporting by Justyna Pawlak, Marcin Goettig and Philip Pullella; Writing by Justyna Pawlak; Editing by Alison Williams) By PTI: Colombo, Jul 26 (PTI) The International Red Cross Committee today asked the Sri Lankan government to make public the fate of over 16,000 people, mostly Tamils, still missing since the end of a brutal war that vanquished the LTTE in 2009. Releasing the results of a 14-month nationwide survey, the Geneva-based organisation asked the Sri Lankan authorities to "clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing persons". advertisement Thousands of people, mainly ethnic Tamils, were still looking for their loved ones, the 34-page report titled "Living with Uncertainty" said. Today, however, out of over 34,000 persons that were at some point during the armed conflict considered unaccounted for by their families and reported to the ICRC since 1989, over 16,000 persons are still considered missing by their families, ICRC said. The survey found that these families primarily want to know the fate and whereabouts of their missing relative and that they also face economic, legal and administrative difficulties in their daily lives, it said. The report said that out of 395 families surveyed just over one third believed their loved ones were dead while another third were convinced they were still alive somewhere. The remaining third were unsure. Since the establishment of its permanent presence in 1989 in Sri Lanka, the ICRC has been registering persons reported missing by their families following loss of contact as a result of the armed conflict. Sri Lanka has one of the largest case-loads of missing persons in the world. In fact, since 1994 alone, the government commissions have received over 65,000 complaints of missing persons. These include people who went missing during the governments nearly three-decade-long war with Tamil separatists and a Marxist uprising. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) battled Sri Lankan forces for a separate Tamil homeland. A brutal military crackdown ended the 37-year conflict in 2009. Rights groups claim government forces killed nearly 40,000 civilians in the final months of the brutal ethnic conflict. PTI CORR AJR AKJ AJR --- ENDS --- A Florida nightclub that was the scene of a deadly mass shooting earlier this week has a history of regulatory issues and violence, according to documents obtained by PEOPLE. According to records, a shooting was reported at Fort Myers' Club Blu last year and its liquor license was revoked earlier this month days before police said deadly gunfire there killed two teens and wounded more than a dozen. In May 2015, two men were wounded in a shooting at the club, according to a police report obtained by PEOPLE: One man was shot in the leg and another was shot in the thigh, and both were hospitalized. They said they did not see who shot them and did not want to press charges, according to the police report. State licensing authorities declined to characterize Club Blu's history of infractions as normal or abnormal, but regulatory records obtained by PEOPLE show the business, which was incorporated in February 2013, was cited for violating rules and regulations regarding seating, record-keeping and food service, among others. The club's liquor license held that it must operate as a full-service restaurant at all times and generate no more than 49 percent of its gross revenues from alcoholic drinks. The club's liquor license was revoked on July 15, for failure to maintain complete records of its revenues, as required under its license, according to records. 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. During an April hearing in that matter, Club Blu owner Rudolph Samuels, who records show was represented by an interpreter due to a language barrier, said the barrier was the cause of the confusion between Samuels and the state, as he spoke Jamaican Patois and did not read English. Samuels believed he had submitted all proper records, according to his interpreter, and he was aware of his requirements under his license and was maintaining all proper records. But a subsequent audit of the club, agreed on at the April hearing, found Samuels' records "unreliable and insufficient," according to records. Despite repeated messages, PEOPLE has not been able to reach Samuels for comment; and Cheryl Filardi, identified in records as an official representative of the club and quoted in media reports as co-owner, told PEOPLE she was not immediately available to comment. Story continues Florida Club at Center of Mass Shooting Has History of Violence, Revoked Liquor License: Records| Crime & Courts, True Crime A History of Infractions A May 2015 inspection of Club Blu by state regulatory agents showed the business "was primarily being used as a nightclub," with well below the required seating required under the license, according to records. One local police officer told state agents "she has never seen the business operate as a restaurant," according to records. And "on May 15 and May 16 [of 2015], all the tables and chairs were pushed to the side walls and no food was being served or consumed. "There was a male in the kitchen who said he was the cook but, no food was being prepared" and "the food supply ... did not appear consistent with running a full service restaurant." Police said Club Blu had no history of "incident or major calls for service," other than noise complaints, according to regulatory records. (The records apparently excluded the May 2015 shooting.) In September 2015, state agents were told that since the May inspection the club had "been in compliance and acting as a restaurant and not a nightclub." During a May 2014 inspection an agent observed two illegal electronic gaming machines in the restaurant, which owner Samuels said were "for amusement only," according to records. Agents, returning to the club the next month, did not see the machines in the restaurant, according to records, and the complaint was closed. During a April 2013 inspection, Club Blu was found in violation three times, according to records: for failure to notify a change of business name, failure to meet the minimum seating requirement and lack of updated certificates for its four coin-operated machines. Later that same month, the three violations were rectified, according to records. Florida Club at Center of Mass Shooting Has History of Violence, Revoked Liquor License: Records| Crime & Courts, True Crime Persons of Interest in Shooting Identified Fort Myers police said soon after Monday's mass shooting they had three people of interest in custody. The three have been identified as Tajze Battle, 22, Derrick Church, 19, and Demetrius O'Neal, 19, WINK reports. Church was shot and wounded by a sheriff's deputy during a pursuit soon after the Monday shooting, the sheriff's office said in a news release. Police have said that gunfire broke out at Club Blu just after midnight, following a teen-centric party there. Witnesses reported rapid gunfire breaking into a normal scene of teenagers and loud music, as they dispersed following the event. Officials said at least 14 people were injured, two critically, and two teenagers died: Sean Archilles, 14, and Stef'an Strawder, 18. Police said Monday afternoon they were still seeking a motive, but that the shooting was not an act of terror. Filardi, speaking to the News-Press, said the event included multiple armed security. "We did everything we could to make sure these kids were safe," Filardi said. "There was nothing we could do ... a car rolled up and just started shooting." While a major theme at the Republican National Convention last week, the hot topic of national security did not get much attention during the first night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has been criticized since the attacks in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, which left four Americans dead. During an interview on the FOX Business Networks Mornings with Maria, Mack McLarty, former White House Chief of Staff during Bill Clintons presidency, said he believes the topic will be discussed during the convention, and that Hillary Clinton will present a strong national security policy. Clearly Secretary Clinton has an experience and understanding of international affairs, including terrorismits pretty singular in my view, he said. McLarty, who also advised Presidents Carter and George H.W. Bush, added: I think she will be more muscular, I think shell be more assertive in terms of how we take on ISIS. I think shell keep all of her options open, but I think she will likely be more open to a more aggressive policynot necessarily troops. I think theres great reservation about that. But much more active intelligence gathering and I think she will be able to rally our allies much better than we maybe weve done today. Related Articles NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Human rights activist Irom Sharmila will end a 16-year hunger strike undertaken to protest alleged army atrocities in northeast India in order to contest local elections. Known as the Iron Lady of Manipur, Sharmila has spent most of the last 16 years under judicial custody in a hospital and has been force-fed through a tube inserted into her nose by authorities. Sharmila, 44, began her hunger strike after 10 civilians were killed in her home state of Manipur in 2000 by soldiers who enjoy wide powers to search, enter property and shoot on sight under a colonial era law that is still in existence in parts of India. "She will start eating on August 9 and change the entire strategy of her protest," said Babloo Loitongbam, a close associate of Sharmila. On Tuesday, Sharmila met reporters outside court premises, where she is required to report regularly and announced her plans to contest local elections from Imphal, Manipur's capital city. Her decision to end her protest against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) comes at a time when the federal government has asked its forces to exercise restraint in responding to protests in disputed Kashmir, a northern state where the army has shoot-to-kill powers to fight militants. At least 46 people have been killed and more than 5,000 wounded, including security forces, since protests erupted after the killing of a commander of Kashmiri separatist group Hizbul Mujahideen on July 8 in Kashmir. Despite calls from judicial authorities and human rights groups, the federal government has kept in force the anti-terror law in parts of northeast India and mainly-Muslim Kashmir to contain insurgencies. Sharmila's protest has won her worldwide recognition, with Amnesty International describing her as a prisoner of conscience. "Sharmila will fight the battle to free the state from the clutches of the army on the streets of Manipur," said Loitongbam. (Reporting by Rupam Jain, Editing by Rafael Nam/Jeremy Gaunt) President Obama vetoed a bill last week that would have limited the taxpayer money spent on expense accounts for former presidents. The bill, titled the Presidential Allowance Modernization Act and sponsored by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), would have capped the allowances for travel, offices and staff at $200,000 a year and reduced those allowances by $1 for every dollar that a former presidents adjusted gross income exceeds $400,000. Obama said he favors capping post-presidential expenses but vetoed the bill because it would immediately end salaries and benefits for presidential staffers, instead of providing a transition for those workers to move onto a different payroll. He also claimed the bill would interfere with the Secret Services ability to protect former presidents. Obama says he intends on working with Congress to change the bill. Slideshow: 11 First Ladies Who Wielded Enormous Power The chart below from the Congressional Research Service describes the costs to taxpayers of the four former presidents and one widow, Nancy Reagan, who were given pensions and benefits in fiscal year 2015. In total, taxpayers spent more than $3.2 million on the four former presidents a tiny sum relative to the $3.7 trillion federal budget, but a healthy chuck of change to spend on people who can earn millions through speaking fees, book deals and other sources of incomes. The presidents fiscal 2017 budget requested an increase to $3.865 million to cover the costs of adding Obama as a former president. Of the former Commanders-in-Chief, George W. Bush had the highest 2015 expenses at $1,098,000, including $434,000 for office space and $198,000 in staff salary and benefits. Bill Clinton was next at $924,000, including $429,000 for office space and $215,000 for salaries and benefits. Jimmy Carter cost taxpayers the least, at $430,000. Nancy Reagan turned down the $20,000 pension available to a presidents widow. The costs dont include Secret Service protection, promised to any ex-president and spouse for life and to their children until age 16. They also dont include costs of the Presidential Transition Act, which provides services and facilities for seven months after leaving office. The White Houses fiscal 2017 budget requested $9.5 million for costs related to Obamas transition out of office, including $1 million for briefing personnel of the incoming administration. Story continues Related: The Divided America That Obama the Unifier Leaves Behind The legislation that allowed for pensions and other benefits to presidents after they left office was enacted in 1958, triggered by Harry S. Trumans public financial struggles after leaving office in 1953. Although it was enacted so that former presidents wouldnt be forced to write and lecture to gain a livelihood in their final days, recent presidents have chosen to do just that. Jimmy Carter has profited from his 29 published books. Ronald Reagan reportedly made $2 million, months after leaving office, on a speaking tour in Japan. George H.W. Bush has written 10 autobiographies and memoirs. In the decade after leaving office, Bill Clinton made $75.6 million, averaging $181,000 per event. George W. Bush garnered $15 million between 2009 and 2011. Bill and Hillary Clinton gave a combined 729 speeches, earning more than $153 million, between when Bill left office and Hillary launched her campaign in 2015. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Sports Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestones mother-in-law kidnapped in Brazil The mother-in-law of Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has been kidnapped for ransom in her home city of Sao Paulo, Brazilian media reported Tuesday. Aparecida Schunck the 67-year-old mother of Ecclestones wife, Fabiana Flosi was seized Friday night in Interlagos, the Sao Paulo neighborhood that hosts the Brazilian circuit of the F1 Grand Prix. The criminals are demanding $36.5 million in ransom, according to reports. There was no confirmation from Brazilian officials or from Ecclestones staff in London. Kidnapping was common in Brazil a decade ago, with several people seized each day, often for sums of just a few hundred dollars. A crackdown by police, including the formation of a special anti-kidnapping division, reduced that number considerably, and the crime has become much more rare. Paris (AFP) - France will pump 3 billion euros into state-controlled electricity company EDF, shareholders decided Tuesday, two days before it is expected to give the final green light to the controversial construction of two nuclear reactors in Britain. At an extraordinary meeting, shareholders approved a 4-billion increase in share capital, of which the French state, which owns 85 percent of EDF, is to pay 3 billion. Plans for the share issue were first announced in April, and should take place later this year. "The increase in capital will reinforce the company's own funds ... to cope with all of the essential investments that need to be made," chief executive Jean-Bernard Levy told shareholders. Saddled with 37.4 billion euros in debt at the end of last year, Levy acknowledged that the company's "financial trajectory is taut" given the fall in energy prices. He said the added capital would help the company protect its credit rating and ability to refinance its debt at affordable rates. EDF must soon step up renovations to extend the life of its 58 nuclear reactors in France, which is expected cost it around 51 billion euros. On Thursday, the company's board of directors is expected to give the final investment approval for building two EPR reactors at Hinkley Point power station in southwestern England. A joint project between EDF and China General Nuclear Power Corporation, the Hinkley Point project is one of the world's most costly nuclear power plant projects and carried a projected price tag of 18 billion before Brexit lowered the value of the pound. EDF's chief financial office resigned over the threat the project represents to the company's finances and unions have waged a battle in court to try to delay its approval. Construction of European Pressurised Reactors (EPR), a third-generation nuclear power plant design considered the most advanced and safest in the world, has been plagued with delays and overruns. EDF has had to push back the launch of its first EPR in Normandy to late 2018 at the earliest, while the delays and overruns to its EPR projects helped drive French nuclear firm into a state rescue and breakup. EDF is due to take a majority stake in Areva's nuclear power plant business. By Kit Rees LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's top share index ended slightly higher on Tuesday, driven by gains in lender Provident Financial (PFG.L) engineering firm GKN (GKN.L) and BT (BT.L), though housebuilders fell after a series of price target cuts. The blue chip FTSE 100 index (.FTSE) closed 0.2 percent higher at 6,724.03 points. The index is up about 16 percent since a post-Brexit slump, but is up only 12 percent in dollar terms because of a sharp decline in the sterling. The market was underpinned by a rise in basic resources stocks after recent sharp losses, with the UK mining index gaining about 2 percent. The FTSE 100 index was also helped by several individual companies. Shares in Provident Financial surged 5.7 percent, the top gainer in the FTSE 100 index, after saying that its first half adjusted pre-tax profit jumped 17.6 percent. Engineering firm GKN was also among the top risers, up 3.8 percent, after sticking to a forecast for 2016 to be another year of growth. It also said it would aim to cut costs by 30 million pounds to help boost next year's result. "Staying on course and delivering on guidance (before FX) strikes us as pretty good going given the number of ebbs and flows across each division, although it is precisely what GKN has done for at least the last three years," Sandy Morris, equity analyst at Jefferies said in a note. "We believe 2016 will not as GKN guided - be a vintage year in terms of organic growth, but the things that need to happen to position GKN for good organic growth from 2017 appear to be slotting into place." Telecoms company BT Group rose 3.1 percent after Ofcom did not recommend breaking up the company. Instead, the British regulator said that BT's network division Openreach should be run as a separate company within the telecoms group. "Avoidance of the worst-case outcome may be a relief for investors and the underperformance of the BT share price in recent months may imply that concerns over governance at Openreach may be at least partially priced in," Polo Tang, Head of Telecom Research at UBS, said in a note. Story continues Housebuilders, however, were the biggest laggards, with Taylor Wimpey (TW.L), Berkeley Group (BKGH.L), Barratt Developments (BDEV.L) and Persimmon (PSN.L) all down between 2.5 percent to 3.3 percent after Deutsche Bank cut its price target on all four stocks, citing Brexit uncertainty for a reduction in their forecasts for the sector. Oil major BP (BP.L) was down 1.3 percent after missing its quarterly profit expectations due to weak refining margins and oil prices. The oil company also cut its 2016 investment budget to below $17 billion. Outside of the blue chips, Virgin Money (VM.L) jumped over 8 percent after reporting a rise in half-year underlying pretax profit. (Additional reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) A New York man's luxurious life on the lam, which he flaunted on social media as he evaded prison, has come to a halt after he was returned to the U.S. to serve time for a vicious assault, authorities said. Ronald DeJesus Plaza, 25, began serving a 10-year prison sentence Monday after spending seven months taunting authorities over Instagram, posting photos as he lounged at posh hotels in Mexico, the Bronx District Attorneys Office said. Read: How This Escaped Convict Finally Got Caught Nearly 50 Years Later Plaza, of Westchester, posted photos of himself behind the wheel of a Lamborghini, relaxing in a bathtub and photos of an expensive liquor with a message for Assistant District Attorney Karl Miller, who prosecuted his case, officials said. Salute Mr. Miller, this is a good rum, Plaza wrote on a photo of a bottle of Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva rum. The picture was posted a week after Plaza skipped town when his $5,000 bail was posted. (Bronx District Attorney's Office) At the time, Plaza was on trial for attacking a man outside of a Bronx nightclub in June 2014, authorities said. Prosecutors said Plaza attacked Angel Segura a stranger as he left El Aquila in Kingsbridge, breaking the mans nose and slashing him as a man yet to be apprehended stabbed him in the back multiple times. Segura suffered injuries that required nearly two dozen stitches and staples to his face and head. Following a two-week trial, Plaza failed to show up for court on December 4, 2015, when the jury began deliberations, officials said." He was found guilty of first-degree assault three days later. Read: Fugitive Who Fled Georgia Prison Camp Nearly 50 Years Ago Found Living In Connecticut His social media activity began shortly thereafter, blurring his face in some of the photos posted that attracted the attention of authorities. He cavalierly posted photos of himself with champagne, a Glock pistol, and driving a Lamborghini. He had even taunted the prosecutor, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said. But he could not escape justice and now he will serve his sentence. Story continues Plaza was nabbed by U.S. Marshals after landing at LAX Airport on June 22. After appearing in Bronx Supreme Court Monday, Segura began serving his 10-year sentence. He also faces a bail-jumping charge, officials said. Watch: Homeless Man Gets $100,000 Reward for Helping Cops Catch Fugitives Related Articles: Samantha Bee and her show Full Frontal attended the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Bee wanted to talk to delegates there, but found that they were unwilling to oblige her. Probably something to do with her East Coast, Ivy League media elite status. I mean, sure, shes from Canada, went to the University of Ottawa, and is on basic cable, but that ruins my narrative, so Ill ignore it. Bees team of correspondents, though, found folks willing to conversate. One ladys thoughts really stood out. Samantha Bee and her show Full Frontal attended the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Bee wanted to talk to delegates there, but found that they were unwilling to oblige her. Probably something to do with her East Coast, Ivy League media elite status. I mean, sure, shes from Canada, went to the University of Ottawa, and is on basic cable, but that ruins my narrative, so Ill ignore it. Bees team of correspondents, though, found folks willing to conversate. One ladys thoughts really stood out. Pronouncing the word as miss-soggy-knee, one interview subject explained, I saw a protester with the sign No more misogyny or Dont be a misogynist. And at least if youre gonna protest, make it so people can understand what youre protesting. When she was asked if she thought Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump knows that word, she replied, Oh I would imagine so, hes very educated. Im quite sure he knows what it is. I dont have a doubt about that. The correspondent quipped back, I agree, I think hes really familiar with it. A gentleman attending the weeks events gave an interesting metaphor for how he envisions a Trump presidency. Donald Trump is going to be daddy, he said. And whether you like it or not, you are going to have to listen to daddy. If you dont, you get the belt. Ultimately, most people interviewed railed against political correctness. I think political correctness has damaged our country so badly, I am absolutely not for political correctness, and I think that is tearing down the U.S. Its a prison of the mind, of the soul, were among the sentiments shared. To that last comment, host Samantha Bee replied in a voice-over, Donald Trump is freeing people from that prison. And the cruel shackles of empathy and mutual respect. Samantha Bee Investigates Why Evangelicals Support Trump: Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Khail Anonymous, on Twitter. By PTI: Colombo, Jul 26 (PTI) The International Red Cross Committee today asked the Sri Lankan government to make public the fate of over 16,000 people, mostly Tamils, still missing since the end of a brutal war that vanquished the LTTE in 2009. Releasing the results of a 14-month nationwide survey, the Geneva-based organisation asked the Sri Lankan authorities to "clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing persons". advertisement Thousands of people, mainly ethnic Tamils, were still looking for their loved ones, the 34-page report titled "Living with Uncertainty" said. Today, however, out of over 34,000 persons that were at some point during the armed conflict considered unaccounted for by their families and reported to the ICRC since 1989, over 16,000 persons are still considered missing by their families, ICRC said. The survey found that these families primarily want to know the fate and whereabouts of their missing relative and that they also face economic, legal and administrative difficulties in their daily lives, it said. The report said that out of 395 families surveyed just over one third believed their loved ones were dead while another third were convinced they were still alive somewhere. The remaining third were unsure. Since the establishment of its permanent presence in 1989 in Sri Lanka, the ICRC has been registering persons reported missing by their families following loss of contact as a result of the armed conflict. Sri Lanka has one of the largest case-loads of missing persons in the world. In fact, since 1994 alone, the government commissions have received over 65,000 complaints of missing persons. These include people who went missing during the governments nearly three-decade-long war with Tamil separatists and a Marxist uprising. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) battled Sri Lankan forces for a separate Tamil homeland. A brutal military crackdown ended the 37-year conflict in 2009. Rights groups claim government forces killed nearly 40,000 civilians in the final months of the brutal ethnic conflict. PTI CORR AJR AKJ AJR MVV --- ENDS --- VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 26, 2016 / Gainey Capital Corp. (GNC.V) (GNYPF) ("Gainey" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the addition of David Hladky, P.Geo, to its Technical Advisory Board. David Hladky is a bilingual, registered Professional Geologist with over 18 years of international mineral exploration experience. Mr. Hladky's last position was with Cayden Resources Inc. as the Qualified Person and one of the leaders in the exploration of the Morelos Sur and El Barqueno projects in Mexico that were successfully sold to Agnico Eagle Mines for $205 Million in 2014. Mr. Hladky also spent several years working for Great Panther Silver in the exploration of their Guanajuato Mine and Km 66 project, both also in Mexico. "After visiting the El Colomo Property and analyzing the Company's current drill program in progress, I am very excited to be an addition to the already strong technical team that has been assembled and is exploring the El Colomo Gold-Silver Project. I look forward to working with Rafael Gallardo and the Cascabel team in moving this exciting project forward," said David Hladky. David Coburn, President and CEO of Gainey Capital, stated, "David Hladky is a key addition to our team as we move our El Colomo Gold-Silver project forward. His direct experience within similar geological and mineralization settings in Mexico is a great asset for Gainey and our shareholders." About Gainey Capital Corp. Gainey Capital is a gold and silver exploration, development and mineral processing company exploring an aggregate of 192-km2 strategically located in the gold/silver-rich Sierra Madre Occidental Trend in western Mexico. The company's processing centre, located outside of Huajicori, in Nayarit, Mexico, is capable of processing up to 300 tons of mineralized material per day and the company has the capability to upgrade to 600 tons per day with a low capital expenditure. Additional information on Gainey Capital, its current operations and its vision is available on the Company's website at www.gaineycapital.com or from info@gaineycapital.com. Story continues ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS David Coburn David Coburn, Chief Executive Officer For information, please contact the Company: Phone: 480-347-8904 E-mail: info@gaineycapital.com Website: www.gaineycapital.com FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This press release may contain 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 forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date such statements were made. The Company 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. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) has reviewed or accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this Release. SOURCE: Gainey Capital Corp. On Monday, General Mills announced an expansion of their current flour recall after four new illnesses were reported. These confirmed illnesses are believed to be linked to a possible E. coli contamination in the brand's several flour varieties. Brands included in this expanded recall include Wondra, Gold Medal, and Signature Kitchens. Previously, General Mills recalled flour with production dates ranging from November 4, 2015 through December 4, 2015. Yesterday's expansion news extends the production date to February 10, 2016. Best-if-used-by dates now extend to August 2017. A full list of recalled products can be found at www.generalmills.com/flour. In May, General Mills announced a recall of 10 million pounds of flour after several people reported being sickened by E. coli. As part of their recall efforts, General Mills recalled several packaged foods, too, including Betty Crocker Cake Mixes. Krusteaz's Blueberry Pancake Mix was also recalled because of possible contamination in the mix's blueberries. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) believes that the contamination began in a General Mills plant in Kansas City, Missouri. [ti_field_embed field="field_related_content"] The CDC says 46 people have been infected, and 13 have been hospitalized. One person experienced a type of kidney failure from the infection. No deaths have been reported. General Mills urges customers to never eat uncooked batter or dough made with raw flour. No illnesses have been linked to consuming flour after it was properly cooked or baked. The CDC recommends consumers do not use the recalled flours, even if they're cooking the food. General Mills is currently trying to find out "if this is an issue isolated to General Mills flour, or if this is an issue across the flour industry. BERLIN (Reuters) - The export expectations of German manufacturing firms weakened in July, partly due to concerns relating to Britain's vote to leave the European Union, a survey by the influential Ifo economic institute showed on Tuesday. "The decline can partly be explained by the uncertainty that has been created by the Brexit vote," said Clemens Fuest, president of the Munich-based Ifo institute. The drop came after export expectations in the manufacturing sector rose in the two previous months. In particular, the automobile and metals industries felt more pessimistic about prospects for their exports in the next three months, the survey of around 2,700 industrial firms showed. "Optimism in these branches has almost evaporated," Fuest said. Chemical firms only expect slow export growth but engineering firms and companies in the electrical sector expect to get extra impetus from abroad, he added. On Monday, Ifo's monthly business climate index showed morale among German firms fell only slightly in July. (Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Richard Balmforth) Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f156670%2fminer2 LONDON What better way to celebrate a "tinth" anniversay than creating a giant puppet resembling a Cornish miner? SEE ALSO: This quirky puppet is definitely better at dancing than you Man Engine (that's its name) has embarked on a 130-mile journey across the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the region's UNESCO heritage status. Image: Getty Images / matt cardy The 10-metre (32.8 foot) tall structure began its march in Tavistock, Devon on Monday, and will end its journey in west Cornwall on August 6 at the Geevor Tin Mine. Image: themanengine.org.uk When drawn to its full height, Man Engine stands at three times the height of a double decker bus, reportedly making it the largest mechanical puppet in the UK. When in "crawling" mode, it reaches a height of 4.5 metres (14.8ft). Image: Getty Images / matt cardy The puppet is operated by more than a dozen "miners" and "bal-maidens" tasked with accompanying the steam-powered giant to 10 different historically significant locations throughout the world heritage site. Man Engine was dreamed up by Will Coleman, founder of Golden Tree Productions, and gets its name from the device used in mines to assist workers in moving between different levels. If Man Engine is any indication, we have high hopes for what the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site has planned for anniversaries to come. By Jugal R Purohit: The New Delhi-based Centre for United Nations Peacekeeping in India (CUNPK) initiated its first United Nations Peacekeeping Course for African Partners (UNPCAP-01), a three-week-long Indo-US initiative.The effort, one of the many by India, is meant as a capacity-building programme for troops and trainers African nations which contribute troops for UN peace keeping operations. The training will span operational and logistical matters, humanitarian issues, thematic topics, blackboard and table top exercises and mission briefs. The course is also targeted to assist the student officers to further train officers in their respective countries on nuances of peacekeeping. Indian team of instructors will be assisted by the US in this event. advertisement PROGRAMME BEGAN ON JULY 25 The programme which began on July 25 in New Delhi saw the inaugural session being chaired by MJ Akbar, Minister of State for External Affairs. Lt Gen MMS Rai, Vice Chief of Army Staff welcomed the participants from African countries and stated that Indian Army had acquired vast experience through decades of participation of Indian peacekeepers in UN Peace Keeping Operations (UNPKO). He also brought out that centre had trained 900 officers from 92 countries till date. Other officials from Ministry of External Affairs, UN were present and so was the US Ambassador to India and the UN Resident Coordinator in India. While India is one of the largest Troop Contributing Country (TCC), US is the largest Fund Contributing Country (FCC) to the UN. Also read: UN peacekeeping deployments in Africa have mixed record: India --- ENDS --- It isn't easy to find strong growth in the consumer staples sector these days. After years of run-ups, analysts admit it's difficult to uncover opportunities that are large enough to impact these typically very large companies. But that doesn't mean the stocks aren't improving. Over the past year, the Standard & Poor's 500 index of large consumer staples moved up 10 percent. General Mills (ticker: GIS), however, blitzed that mark, jumping 26 percent despite seeing sales fall 6 percent in 2015. [See: 10 Tips for Couples and Young Families to Build Wealth.] Somehow, despite the decline in demand for many of General Mills' most important segments, including cereals and yogurts, the company hasn't lost a step in the market. What's driving this push forward and can it continue? The answer isn't nearly as clear as investors might hope. The taste for cereal has waned. The cereal market in the U.S. has hit a wall. Over the past year, demand for cereals have fallen 2 percent and General Mills has felt the shift since it owns a 30 percent share in the ready-to-eat cereal market. Its sales in the space fell about 1 percent last year. But they're not alone on this. Kellogg Co. (K) revenues fell 7 percent last year, largely due to the same trend. "On a high level, you want your competitors to be strong," says Pablo Zuanic, an analyst for Susquehanna International, based in Stamford, Connecticut. "A strong Kellogg helps them." That's because a thriving Kellogg indicates that the cereal industry has growth again, which is where General Mills gains about 23 percent of its U.S. retail sales. To make matters worse, the yogurt segment, spearheaded by Yoplait, has also begun to decline, falling 7 percent a year after it rose 5 percent in fiscal year 2015. To tackle these trends, General Mills has looked toward organic offerings as a way to entice consumers back. In 2014, it bought organic and natural food maker Annie's for $820 million. "A lot of traditional food companies are trying to diversify their portfolios to get more naturals organics in them," says Jack Russo, an analyst for Edward Jones. Story continues "Annie's has been pretty successful," he adds, but "it's too small to move the needle," on General Mills' $16.6 billion in sales. The Kraft-Heinz merger has put every company on notice. Last year, Kraft Foods merged with H.J. Heinz to create one of the largest food companies in the world in Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC). One big reason for the merger was that the companies struggled to find organic growth in the U.S. market. This has fueled speculation that other mergers will take place in the food segment, after Kraft Heinz has climbed 21 percent in 2016. "The fact that Kraft Heinz is doing well, delivering on targets," Zuanic says, "that assumes more transactions down the road." There's currently a major potential merger in discussion within the sector, as Mondelez International (MDLZ) has pursued Hershey Co. (HSY), although it's unclear if those talks will move beyond a conversation. Hershey has denied Mondelez's initial $23 billion offer. [Read: Mergermania: Why Mergers Could Make for Big Winners in 2016.] While General Mills hasn't faced as much direct heat, in part because "given their size, few companies can buy them," Zuanic says, it has become a popular buyout choice for forecasters. Zuanic says that KHC could look at General Mills because there's not a lot of overlap in products, for example. Plus, to affect its performance, Kraft Heinz would need to buy a very large company. Guessing who's next to be bought out has become a game, Russo says. But this talk has pushed up the company's stock price, even though it's unclear if any merger will materialize. Cutting costs has been General Mills' answer. General Mills' U.S. sales account for 60 percent of its revenues. In an effort to counter the 6 percent fall in U.S. retail sales over the past two years, it has undergone a cost-cutting effort. It plans to find $600 million in annual savings by the end of 2018. These cuts have come in a variety of forms, including layoffs, advertising reductions and decreases in travel budgets. Last week, the company announced it would reduce its employee count by about 1,400 workers by closing a number of manufacturing plants around the globe, including potentially the original Progresso soup plant in Vineland, New Jersey. There are limits, however, to what General Mills can do. In order to keep prime shelf space in retailers' stores, for example, there are certain expectations to maintain a high level of advertising to promote the products. This means Betty Crocker products land at eye-level when walking through Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), in part because Wal-Mart knows the advertising will support the placement. "It costs a lot of money to maintain this," Russo says. This limits how much it can grow profits through cuts alone. It's near the height of its historical range. When it comes to the stock, the recent rise in the company has left it expensive. With a 24 price-earnings ratio, it's at the high end of its historical range of 16 to 25 P/E, according to Russo's analysis. The main reason it has risen so high is because of the prediction of a merger at some point. However, it's also because the company throws a large portion of its cash -- typically more than 90 percent of its free cash flow -- back to investors, including a 2.5 percent dividend yield. [See: 7 Stocks to Buy When a Recession Hits.] But without a clear avenue for growth, it makes buying into General Mills at this price point difficult, except for those dividend chasers out there. Ryan Derousseau is a journalist with nine years of experience writing about investing and leadership issues. His work has been read in Fortune, Money, CNNMoney and Fast Company, among other publications. You can find more from him on Twitter @ryanderous. By Claire Milhench LONDON, July 26 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs abused its position as a trusted adviser to Libya's sovereign wealth fund, a lawyer for the fund argued on Tuesday, in a case that has subjected the bank's dealings to a forensic degree of scrutiny. In a trial at London's High Court, the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) is attempting to claw back $1.2 billion from the Wall Street giant in relation to nine disputed trades carried out in 2008, arguing that the trades were secured through "undue influence" and "unconscionable bargaining". The LIA argues the bank took advantage of its financial naivety by first gaining its trust, then encouraging it to make risky and ultimately worthless investments. In his closing statement for the LIA, lawyer Roger Masefield said that in the autumn of 2007, the bank had stepped into a gap created by the resignation of the LIA's independent financial consultant, and cultivated a relationship of trust. He said this went beyond a "normal arm's length banker-client relationship" as the bank had assumed the role of an adviser. In doing so, it was not allowed to transact with its client to its own material advantage unless either it told the client to consult with an independent adviser on such transactions, or otherwise described the risks in a fair and accurate manner, he said. "But if the bank doesn't do that, in circumstances where de facto it has crossed the line and started giving advice, then it stands at risk," he said. In circumstances where the client proceeds and the risk hasn't been fairly described to it, the LIA can rescind and set aside the trade, he added. Goldman Sachs, which denies all the allegations, maintains that its relationship with the LIA was at all "material times an arm's length one" between banker and client. "We have always disputed the LIA's claim that it was financially illiterate and it is clear that they understood the disputed trades and entered into them of their own volition," the bank said in a statement released on Tuesday. Story continues In its written closing submission, seen by Reuters, Goldman Sachs argues that it was only one of dozens of banks and financial institutions that the LIA was dealing with, and the amounts invested with Goldman were only a fraction of the total investments the LIA made at the time. In the submission Goldman argued that, rather than being financially naive, the LIA had simply failed to predict the full extent of the global financial crisis. A lawyer for Goldman Sachs is expected to deliver the bank's oral closing argument later in the week. (Editing by Pravin Char) New York (AFP) - In a new development linked to the 1MDB corruption scandal, a former Hong Kong-based investment fund is suing Goldman Sachs for conflict of interest in advising a 2011 Malaysian bank merger. Primus Pacific Partners said Tuesday that Goldman and its then managing director in Southeast Asia, Tim Leissner, concealed its close relationship with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak when the bank was recruited to advise EON Capital, partly owned by Primus, in its $1.7 billion sale to Malaysia's Hong Leong Bank (HLB). Najib "had close family and business ties with HLB" giving him an interest in the success of HLB's takeover of EON, Primus charged in a statement. At the same time that Goldman was advising EON on the merger, though, the New York investment bank was also the key advisor to 1MDB, the government investment fund established and chaired by Najib. Goldman used its role advising EON to "secretly curry favor with the Prime Minister by using the (EON) board's confidential information" to help Hong Leong's bid for EON, it said. Goldman allegedly convinced EON's board that Hong Leong's bid was fair, "even though Goldman Sachs knew that the bid in fact was well below the fair intrinsic value of the company." Primus, which held 20 percent of EON at the time, asked a New York court to award it $510 million for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty by Goldman Sachs. That includes $170 million for what Primus said Goldman's alleged misconduct cost it in the deal, and another $340 million in punitive damages. The lawsuit came after a move by US authorities to seize $1 billion in properties bought with money allegedly siphoned off from 1MDB, which placed a spotlight on Goldman Sachs' role in the burgeoning scandal. With Leissner its main contact with the Malaysian authorities, Goldman had raised billions of dollars for 1MDB. One month after he left Goldman, in March Leissner was subpoenaed by the US Justice Department in its investigation into the scandal. Goldman said it would fight the lawsuit, noting that Primus had lost a 2011 legal challenge to the merger in Malaysian courts. "This plaintiff previously lost its challenge in the Malaysian courts seeking to stop a transaction involving a Malaysian company, which was then approved by shareholders. We will vigorously contest this misguided additional lawsuit in New York court," it said in a statement. By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc was sued on Tuesday by a major shareholder of a Malaysian bank it once advised, and which accused the Wall Street bank of fraudulently shortchanging it in a merger to curry favor with that country's prime minister. In a complaint filed with the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Primus Pacific Partners said it was seeking $510 million of damages from Goldman and former Managing Director Tim Leissner, after the bank concealed its conflicts of interest with Prime Minister Najib Razak and Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund. Goldman called the lawsuit "misguided" and said it would defend against it. A lawyer for Leissner did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The complaint was filed six days after the U.S. government moved to seize $1 billion of assets bought with money it said was stolen from 1MDB by people close to Najib, including some money from bond offerings arranged by Goldman. Najib has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. According to the complaint, Primus once owned 20 percent of EON Capital, a bank that Goldman was advising as it weighed a takeover bid from Malaysia's Hong Leong Bank Bhd. Primus said Goldman and Leissner in January 2010 deemed Hong Leong's first bid unfair, only to decide three months later that a revised offer only 2.8 percent higher was fair. It said Goldman urged acceptance of the higher bid to bolster its standing with Najib, because a merger would "enrich" his brothers Nazim Razak, a Hong Leong director, and Nazir Razak, the chairman of CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, which advised Hong Leong on the bid. "As a result of Goldman Sachs's fraud and breach of fiduciary duties, the price at which HLB acquired EON Capital was hundreds of millions of dollars below fair value," Primus said. "No unconflicted investment bank could have found the second HLB offer fair or recommended that the board accept it." Primus is seeking at least $170 million in damages, representing its alleged losses from Goldman's activity, plus at least $340 million in punitive damages. Story continues Najib, his brothers, and 1MDB were not named as defendants. The fund's full name is 1Malaysia Development Berhad. In June 2010, Hong Kong-based Primus had filed a lawsuit in Malaysia to stop Hong Leong's US$1.7 billion takeover of EON Capital. A court there dismissed the case the following April. "This plaintiff previously lost its challenge in the Malaysian courts seeking to stop a transaction involving a Malaysian company, which was then approved by shareholders," Goldman spokesman Andrew Williams said in a statement. "We will vigorously contest this misguided additional lawsuit." Primus said it learned of Goldman's alleged fraud in March, when press reports began detailing Leissner's alleged dealings with Najib and his eventual dismissal by Goldman, where he had been among the highest-paid bankers. A lawyer for Primus was not immediately available for further comment. Najib told reporters on July 21 that his government would cooperate with international investigations related to 1MDB. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Richard Chang) By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) was sued on Tuesday by a major shareholder of a Malaysian bank it once advised, and which accused the Wall Street bank of fraudulently shortchanging it in a merger to curry favour with that country's prime minister. In a complaint filed with the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Primus Pacific Partners said it was seeking $510 million (388.1 million) of damages from Goldman and former Managing Director Tim Leissner, after the bank concealed its conflicts of interest with Prime Minister Najib Razak and Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund. Goldman called the lawsuit "misguided" and said it would defend against it. A lawyer for Leissner did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The complaint was filed six days after the U.S. government moved to seize $1 billion of assets bought with money it said was stolen from 1MDB by people close to Najib, including some money from bond offerings arranged by Goldman. Najib has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. According to the complaint, Primus once owned 20 percent of EON Capital, a bank that Goldman was advising as it weighed a takeover bid from Malaysia's Hong Leong Bank Bhd (HLBB.KL). Primus said Goldman and Leissner in January 2010 deemed Hong Leong's first bid unfair, only to decide three months later that a revised offer only 2.8 percent higher was fair. It said Goldman urged acceptance of the higher bid to bolster its standing with Najib, because a merger would "enrich" his brothers Nazim Razak, a Hong Leong director, and Nazir Razak, the chairman of CIMB Group Holdings Bhd (CIMB.KL), which advised Hong Leong on the bid. "As a result of Goldman Sachs's fraud and breach of fiduciary duties, the price at which HLB acquired EON Capital was hundreds of millions of dollars below fair value," Primus said. "No unconflicted investment bank could have found the second HLB offer fair or recommended that the board accept it." Story continues Primus is seeking at least $170 million in damages, representing its alleged losses from Goldman's activity, plus at least $340 million in punitive damages. Najib, his brothers, and 1MDB were not named as defendants. The fund's full name is 1Malaysia Development Berhad. In June 2010, Hong Kong-based Primus had filed a lawsuit in Malaysia to stop Hong Leong's US$1.7 billion takeover of EON Capital. A court there dismissed the case the following April. "This plaintiff previously lost its challenge in the Malaysian courts seeking to stop a transaction involving a Malaysian company, which was then approved by shareholders," Goldman spokesman Andrew Williams said in a statement. "We will vigorously contest this misguided additional lawsuit." Primus said it learned of Goldman's alleged fraud in March, when press reports began detailing Leissner's alleged dealings with Najib and his eventual dismissal by Goldman, where he had been among the highest-paid bankers. A lawyer for Primus was not immediately available for further comment. Najib told reporters on July 21 that his government would cooperate with international investigations related to 1MDB. The case is Primus Pacific Partners I LP v Goldman Sachs Group Inc et al, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 653885/2016. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Richard Chang) By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) was sued on Tuesday by a major shareholder of a Malaysian bank it once advised, and which accused the Wall Street bank of fraudulently shortchanging it in a merger to curry favor with that country's prime minister. In a complaint filed with the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Primus Pacific Partners said it was seeking $510 million of damages from Goldman and former Managing Director Tim Leissner, after the bank concealed its conflicts of interest with Prime Minister Najib Razak and Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund. Goldman called the lawsuit "misguided" and said it would defend against it. A lawyer for Leissner did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The complaint was filed six days after the U.S. government moved to seize $1 billion of assets bought with money it said was stolen from 1MDB by people close to Najib, including some money from bond offerings arranged by Goldman. Najib has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. According to the complaint, Primus once owned 20 percent of EON Capital, a bank that Goldman was advising as it weighed a takeover bid from Malaysia's Hong Leong Bank Bhd (HLBB.KL). Primus said Goldman and Leissner in January 2010 deemed Hong Leong's first bid unfair, only to decide three months later that a revised offer only 2.8 percent higher was fair. It said Goldman urged acceptance of the higher bid to bolster its standing with Najib, because a merger would "enrich" his brothers Nazim Razak, a Hong Leong director, and Nazir Razak, the chairman of CIMB Group Holdings Bhd (CIMB.KL), which advised Hong Leong on the bid. "As a result of Goldman Sachs's fraud and breach of fiduciary duties, the price at which HLB acquired EON Capital was hundreds of millions of dollars below fair value," Primus said. "No unconflicted investment bank could have found the second HLB offer fair or recommended that the board accept it." Story continues Primus is seeking at least $170 million in damages, representing its alleged losses from Goldman's activity, plus at least $340 million in punitive damages. Najib, his brothers, and 1MDB were not named as defendants. The fund's full name is 1Malaysia Development Berhad. In June 2010, Hong Kong-based Primus had filed a lawsuit in Malaysia to stop Hong Leong's US$1.7 billion takeover of EON Capital. A court there dismissed the case the following April. "This plaintiff previously lost its challenge in the Malaysian courts seeking to stop a transaction involving a Malaysian company, which was then approved by shareholders," Goldman spokesman Andrew Williams said in a statement. "We will vigorously contest this misguided additional lawsuit." Primus said it learned of Goldman's alleged fraud in March, when press reports began detailing Leissner's alleged dealings with Najib and his eventual dismissal by Goldman, where he had been among the highest-paid bankers. A lawyer for Primus was not immediately available for further comment. Najib told reporters on July 21 that his government would cooperate with international investigations related to 1MDB. The case is Primus Pacific Partners I LP v Goldman Sachs Group Inc et al, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 653885/2016. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Richard Chang) CHICAGO, IL / ACCESSWIRE / July 26, 2016 / Good Gaming, Inc. and CMG Holdings Group, Inc. (OTC PINK: GMER & OTC PINK: CMGO): Good Gaming is pleased to announce that Kevin Harrington, inventor of the infomercial and original shark on ABC's Emmy Award winning show, Shark Tank, has agreed to become a member of Good Gaming's advisory board. An entrepreneur who has launched over 20 businesses with over $100 million dollars in sales, Kevin brings the same marketing expertise to Good Gaming that he used to help launch iconic brands like George Foreman, Tony Little and the new I Grow Hair Restoration product on QVC. Mr. Harrington, who pioneered "As Seen on TV" and has promoted over 500 products generating over five billion dollars in sales over the course of his career, brings added gravitas and expertise to Good Gaming's management team. His commitment to Good Gaming's success brings new sophistication and excitement to the brand. Kevin plans to use his worldwide network of international investors and corporate sponsors to increase Good Gaming's capital base and enhance brand visibility. As part of his relationship with Good Gaming, the Company has retained Kevin's consulting firm KBHJJ, LLC, which includes Kevin Harrington, Brian Harrington and Jimmy Jongebloed. Kevin said, "I'm looking forward to working with Vik and the team at Good Gaming to monetize what I view as a fabulous opportunity to get involved in the nascent eSports field. I plan to help Good Gaming's platform go viral worldwide. With my contacts and marketing knowledge, Im confident I can help make that happen." Good Gaming's CEO Vik Grover added, "We're thrilled that Kevin has decided to sign on with Good Gaming and help take us to the next level. Kevin and I agree that we have the right platform to turn Good Gaming into a leader in the eSports category. With Kevin on our team, our horizons expand exponentially. We look forward to working with Kevin and turning Good Gaming into an international brand." Story continues About Good Gaming Good Gaming, Inc. 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. Register now to join the Good Gaming community and make sure to sign up to all the awesome events, like the next tournament offering amazing prize pools! https://www.good-gaming.com 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 Good Gaming, Inc. Vik Grover CEO (708) 400-9050 corporate@good-gaming.com SOURCE:Good Gaming, Inc. A safety committee has revealed raw and runny eggs are actually pretty safe for pregnant women [Photo: Rex Features] If youre expecting a baby there are certain foods experts recommend you avoid. Pate, raw meat and blue cheese are all off the menu for the foreseeable and until recently so was raw or super runny eggs. But a safety committee has just revealed that raw eggs are actually pretty safe for pregnant women to eat. A report from the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food has deemed there is very low risk of salmonella from UK eggs produced under the Lion code. Can pregnant women now eat raw or runny eggs? [Photo: freestocks.org via Pexels] It was the strong view of the working group that there has been a major reduction in the microbiological risk from salmonella in UK hen shell eggs since the 2001 ACMSF report, the report states. This is especially the case for those eggs produced under the Lion code quality assurance scheme. In practical terms, the report reveals that the very low risk of contracting salmonella from eggs produced under the Lion code or an equally comprehensive scheme, means eggs can be served raw or lightly cooked to everyone. The committee adds that the recommendation is not intended to include severely immunocompromised individuals, but does include vulnerable groups in general including pregnant women, the young and the elderly. Sunny side up? Pregnant women can enjoy runny eggs now [Photo: pixabay.com via Pexels] The Chief Medical Officer and Food Standards Agency (FSA) have previously said eating raw and lightly-cooked eggs is risky for pregnant women. But as a result of the findings, the ACMSF is calling on the FSA to officially amend its advice. The FSA says it has launched an eight week consultation into the matter and will review whether it will change its advice shortly. A statement from the FSA said: Following committee approval and a UK-wide consultation of the report, the FSA has agreed to examine its advice taking into account the committees conclusions and recommendations. Story continues But some experts are concerned the report could be somewhat confusing for pregnant women. Commenting on the issue, Louise Silverton, Director for Midwifery at the Royal College of Midwives, said: We are concerned that media headlines may be confusing for women. Whilst this latest evidence from the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food says that the risks are greatly reduced, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) continues to recommend that vulnerable groups including pregnant women do not eat raw or lightly cooked eggs, or any food that is uncooked or only lightly cooked and contains raw eggs. The RCM will continue to support this position. We await the conclusion of the FSAs consultation and would call for the analysis of the consultation to be done swiftly, to provide clarity and clear guidance for women and other groups about this issue. For more information visit the FSA website. Would you eat raw or runny eggs while pregnant? Let us know @YahooStyleUK The Great Egg Debate: To Fridge Or Not To Fridge? Are Multivitamin Supplements For Pregnant Women A Waste of Money? The International Tribunal in The Hague has ruled against India in a case filed by Devas Multimedia. By India Today Web Desk: India has lost a huge case in international arbitration and may have to pay up to a billion dollars in damages for cancelling a deal involving two ISRO satellites. In a decision that may damage India's reputation with international investors, the International Tribunal in The Hague has ruled against India in a case filed by Devas Multimedia. advertisement Antrix Corporation, which is the commercial arm of the Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO), and Devas Multimedia had some years ago signed an agreement whereby the latter will be able to use GSAT-6 satellite for high-speed beaming of video content on mobile devices on the S-band spectrum. Antrix had agreed to lease long-term two satellites operating in the S-band spectrum. The contract was cancelled in 2011 by the then UPA government, which invoked sovereignty and decided to use the advanced satellite for the country's strategic use. Under the annulled deal, Antrix was to lease transponders of the satellite to Devas for allowing it to offer digital multimedia services using the S-band wavelength (spectrum), reserved for strategic purpose. Devas filed its case in 2015 at the international court of arbitration, which found that the Indian government had acted unfairly, causing huge losses to the investors in Devas Multimedia. Former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair was questioned by the CBI in May this year in relation to the case. The Antrix-Devas deal saw an early exit of Nair as ISRO chairman since he was the head of Antrix governing council when the deal was finalised in January 2005. Besides, the Enforcement Directorate last month also issued a notice to Devas Multimedia Private Ltd for violation of foreign exchange laws to the tune of around Rs 1,200 crore. --- ENDS --- "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to swim with your mouth full?" Not this female great white shark. The predator, with a partially eaten seal carcass hanging from her teeth, was caught on video by biologist Greg Skomal of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (MA DMF), working with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy (AWSC). Measuring an estimated 11 feet (3.4 meters) in length, the shark and its gruesome mouthful was spied in Atlantic waters near Massachusetts, approximately 300 yards from the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge. Researchers are currently conducting a five-year shark population study in the area, AWSC representatives wrote in a Facebook post describing the video. Skomal used an underwater GoPro to capture the grisly sight, which AWSC representatives posted to their Facebook page on June 20. The shark cruises past the video camera with a portion of partly consumed seal torso dangling from her lower jaw, offering a rare glimpse of the large predator's feeding behavior. [In Photos: Great White Sharks Attack] It is especially unusual to capture photos or video of sharks preying on seals in northwest Atlantic waters, though their deadly feeding strikes are well-documented from interactions off the African coast, an AWSC representative said in a comment on Facebook. However, this wasn't the first time that AWSC video recorded a shark nomming a mouthful of pinniped. In 2014, one of their research teams filmed another great white shark, dubbed Salty, devouring a seal in waters near Chatham, Massachusetts. Great white sharks' hunting strategies are a subject of great interest to marine biologists, who face enormous challenges when investigating the day-to-day behavior of ocean animals like sharks that live in the open sea, according to Gavin Naylor, a biology professor at the College of Charleston. Naylor told Live Science in 2015 that observing great white sharks can be difficult because they are hard to raise in captivity, and studying them in their ocean home comes with hazards to divers. Story continues When it comes to great whites, "there's a lot we still don't know," Naylor said. The Cape Cod area has come to be recognized as a location where great white sharks gather, offering AWSC researchers a unique opportunity to learn about their habits, Skomal said in a statement. This particular great white shark's video debut was the first time during the MA DMF survey that she was seen by the scientists, and she was assigned the catchy name "WS 16-02," the AWSC reported on Facebook. Original article on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein hears opportunity knocking at the Democratic National Convention as some of Sen. Bernie Sanderss most ardent supporters continue to protest the nomination of Hillary Clinton. Green is in Philadelphia trying to foment further discord among irate Sanders delegates who have threatened to break with the party rather than support the former secretary of state for president. Related: Can Bernie Sanders Save the Democratic Convention? During a rally on Monday, the physician from Lexington, Massachusetts, said that the hacked Democratic National Committee emails confirmed the worst fears and suspicions about the DNC attempting to sabotage Sanderss insurgent campaign against Clinton. Forget the lesser evil, fight for the greater good, Stein told a cheering crowd of mostly Sanders supporters, dismissing the argument that Clinton would be better than Republican nominee Donald Trump. We are the revolution. Stein is offering herself as a liberal alternative to Clinton and signaled yesterday her hopes to somehow piggyback on the formidable Sanders organization and pursue his policies unless Sanders agrees to lead the Green Party himself. But Sanders on Tuesday morning once again rejected calls from Stein and others to bolt the Democratic Party. He reaffirmed his commitment, spelled out in a stirring address to the convention Monday night, to support Clinton for president, despite their differences. Related: Battle of the Billionaires: Why Bloomberg Will Savage Trump I dont know the leadership of the Green Party, but I respect what theyre trying to do, Sanders said during a breakfast sponsored by Bloomberg Politics, according to The Washington Post. Theyre focusing on very, very important issues. But I think right now what is it, three, four months before an election youre going to end up having a choice. Either Hillary Clinton is going to become president, or Donald Trump. Story continues Stein, of course, has no chance of winning. And the Green Party has never come close to matching its performance in 2000, when consumer advocate Ralph Nader led the party and drew enough votes away from Democrat Al Gore in Florida to enable Republican George W. Bush to narrowly win the election. Moreover, she has been overshadowed by another third party effort led by Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson, a former Republican governor from New Mexico, who is running as a fiscal conservative and social liberal. Johnson and his running mate, former Republican Massachusetts governor William G. Weld, say they sense enormous opportunity this year to attract voters away from Clinton and Trump, two of the most unpopular presidential candidates of modern times. Related: Could Libertarian Gary Johnson Play the Spoiler in November? This is Johnsons second bid for president under the Libertarian banner, and he says he is trying to gain more legitimacy this time by building up a more substantial campaign war chest and reaching out to Democratic and Republican activists and personalities. He attended last weeks Republican National Convention in Cleveland to try to drum up support. You have to create this notion that you might actually win, Johnson told The Los Angeles Times recently. For a sophisticated few at the moment, there is that recognition. I think that's going to get bigger as you go forward. Both Stein and Johnson will be playing the role of spoilers this fall, possibly tipping the scales one way or another to help Trump or Clinton win the presidency. Johnson could considerably enhance his influence by taking part in the nationally televised presidential debates, but he would need to draw at least 15 percent in the national polls to earn a spot on the stage with Trump and Clinton. Related: Heres Why Libertarian Gary Johnson Could Pick Off Bernie Supporters A new CNN/ORC national poll released on Monday shows Johnson with just nine percent of the overall vote and Stein with 3 percent. Both candidates lost some ground from a previous poll taken in mid-July, when Johnson garnered 13 percent and Stein received 5 percent. Trump appeared to be the beneficiary of the diminished support for the third party candidates, and he led Clinton in the latest survey, 44 percent to 39 percent. Larry J. Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist, said today that it was highly doubtful that either third-party candidate would ultimately influence the outcome of the November election. Both Johnson and Stein will decline as November 8 approaches, he said in an email. Clinton either benefits overall or there is not much change. One poll in July right after one party's convention is no fair measure of anything. Lara Brown, an associate professor at George Washington University who specializes in presidential politics, said in an interview that Stein or Johnson potentially could pick up substantial support, but only if it is apparent that Trump or Clinton is on track to win the election. Thats because most voters would be reluctant to waste their vote in a very close contest by backing a third-party candidate who has no chance of winning. Related: Sanders Cant Promise to Rein In His Angry Supporters One of the things that essentially depresses third party turnout is a belief among voters that they are wasting their vote, Brown said. So even if many voters feel that they are not fully satisfied with either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, if they think to themselves my worst fear could happen and that the one I like least could end up winning, then they probably are not going to end up voting for a third party. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f156374%2f183fdfc958694da0af58e53c4e2f77da When you live in certain parts of Australia's Northern Territory, it's not uncommon to spot a crocodile every so often. What's less common however is waking up to one of the 1.7 metre dinosaur cousins guarding your toilet. SEE ALSO: Intrepid reptile balances 7 Cheerios on its tiny little head Sixteen-year-old Coralie Myers awoke to a Snapchat to end all snapchats from her housemate with the caption "When you wake up to a random crocodile in your bathroom." There's nothing more ballsy than sending Snaps when the top of the food chain has set up shop by your shower. According to Nine News Darwin, it is currently unknown just how the crocodile ended up inside the house. Image: SCREENSHOT NINE NEWS NT Proving yet again that the people in the north of Australia have a concept of fear that many dream about, Myers told NT News that she was more concerned that someone had snuck into her house than the fact they had left her an apex predator as a present. Crocodile ranger Tom Nichols reported to NT News that the female crocodile was in bad shape after being left in the home with a tied mouth but unrestrained limbs. Image: screenshot Nine NEWS NT Nichols enlisted the help of Myers to secure the crocodile (because two sets of croc-wrangling hands are better than one) and took the nightmare with teeth to a local croc farm for some well deserved rest and recovery time. Local police are searching for the culprits of this stupidly dangerous prank. Allegations that Moscow hacked Democratic Party emails appear in keeping with tactics that President Vladimir Putin is widely believed to use in order to influence politics beyond Russia 's borders. Security experts say there is growing speculation that the Kremlin has been meddling in European politics by funding opposition movements in an effort to weaken NATO and other trans-Atlantic ties. "The Kremlin's reach into European politics is hardly new, but newly worrying," said Jennifer Harris, a former U.S. State Department policy planning staff member and current senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "Putin likes to put out his financial tentacles to the political elite in other countries to strengthen his influence." The contents of thousands of hacked Democratic National Committee emails were made public just before the party's national convention began Monday. Among the emails were indications that the DNC favored the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders . DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepped down from her job after the leak. Secretary of State John Kerry raised the issue of the hacking with Russia's top diplomat on Monday, but made no accusations about who was responsible. The FBI is probing the intrusion, however. Asked by a reporter about allegations that Russia was a behind the hack, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov replied, "I don't want to use four-letter words," according to The Associated Press. Russia's state-controlled news media have largely made denials or ignored the allegations altogether. The idea of Russia hacking a U.S. political party's emails may sound like a Cold War spy novel, but it fits into a larger pattern of how Putin operates. "It is true that some populist parties in Europe have received funding from Russian sources," said Christopher Granville, co-founder of research firm Trusted Sources and former chief strategist at Moscow-based investment bank United Financial Group. Story continues The strongest example of the Kremlin's effort to buy support was when Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader of France's National Front, accepted financing from Russian sources via a Moscow-based bank. Putin's reach goes beyond France. Fiona Hill, a director at Brookings Institution, pointed out that Berlin has been concerned about unconfirmed payments allegedly made to right-wing populist parties in Germany, including the Alternative fur Deutschland. But tracking the money trail has been increasingly difficult. Analysts say Russia's activity in Europe has increased since it was sanctioned economically for its military intervention in Ukraine. The long-standing sanctions continue to derail its economy, despite a partial rebound in oil prices this year. "Russia has come under economic attack from Europe through sanctions and seeks to bolster political forces in Europe that are more sympathetic to the Russian point of view," Granville said. Hill agrees. "There is a concerted effort by Putin and the Kremlin to weaken the sanctions regime and to chip away at the individual bases of support of these sanctions," said Hill, who formerly covered Russia at the National Intelligence Council. There's further speculation, although unconfirmed, that Putin has funded antifracking campaigns in Romania and in parts of Eastern Europe in an effort to guarantee the region's dependence on Russian oil, its main commodity. "Russia's support (whether financial or simply rhetorical) for European parties and organizations that question the role of the European Union, NATO and the United States is meant to strengthen the forces that challenge the post-Cold War political order and, in this way, advance Russia's interests and increase its influence," said Olga Oliker, senior adviser and director of the Russia and Eurasia Program the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Russian bankrolling of political groups in countries it sees as opponents is an ongoing threat in the eyes of both Brussels and Washington. Democratic claims that the Russians are to blame for the leaked emails will likely result in a sharper divide between the West and Russia. The wild card in all of this is if Republican candidate Donald Trump becomes president. "The idea is that Putin-Trump would be a win-win for the Kremlin, as they have mutual interests and alliances," said Hill. Trump's questioning of American support for NATO resonates with Putin, who has been aggressively trying to weaken the alliance, Kremlin-watchers say. Correction: This story was revised to correct a typo in Vladimir. More From CNBC Halt and Catch Fire will amplify its bandwith by increasing its cast in Season 3: The AMC drama has added Matthew Lillard (Scream, The Bridge) as a put-together businessman wholl have a major role in Joes business, EW.com reports. Lillards Ken Diebold is described as a very confident guy who invests in Joes software company, a man whose aesthetic is 1980s with a touch of California. The part is recurring. PHOTOSUpfronts 2016: Your Guide to Fall Pilots That Didnt Make the Cut Season 3 will begin in March 1986, as Mutiny moves to Silicon Valley from Texas, and will find Joe reinventing himself with a bold play that shocks the Valley and sends him back into the lives of his old partners, according to the official season synopsis. In addition to The Bridge, Lillards TV resume includes roles on The Good Wife, Bosch and the upcoming Twin Peaks revival. Halt and Catch Fires two-hour season premiere will take place on Tuesday, Aug. 23, at 9/8c; subsequent episodes will air Tuesdays at 10. Related stories Turn Renewed for Fourth, Final Season Preacher Recap: Relationship-Shape The Walking Dead @ Comic-Con: Season 7 Leading to 'One of the Greatest Showdowns' Since Terminus Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - As if from nowhere, a dozen young people surge out of a tunnel, Kalashnikov assault rifles in hand, to launch a surprise assault on a military post. This is the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave that has seen three wars with Israel since 2008, but this time the attack is not real. The young people, aged between 15 and 20, are taking part in a summer training camp for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, the Islamist movement which runs Gaza. Such camps in the enclave of 1.9 million people have been heavily criticised by rights groups concerned with young people's welfare. It is the first time that Jihad, 16, has entered one of the underground tunnels, which Hamas considers a major strategic asset in its conflict with Israel and which are usually kept well hidden. The young Palestinian comes from Shejaiya, a Gaza neighbourhood ravaged by war two years ago, and is carrying out a drill to kidnap fake Israeli soldiers. At the Yarmuk base of the Al-Qassam Brigades east of Gaza City, dozens of young men descend 20 metres (66 feet) from a tower on ropes, as others navigate burning roadblocks. The base is near the sensitive border between Israel and Gaza, which has been controlled by Hamas for around a decade and is subject to a strict Israeli blockade. In a week, Al-Qassam says it will train nearly 30,000 young people in basic fighting techniques. These young recruits to the summer camps are a key part of Hamas's attempts to prepare the population for "the battle of liberation of Palestine", a member of Al-Qassam told AFP. "Our message to this (young) generation is that the future is yours," he said, his face concealed by a black balaclava. "It is thanks to you that we will be victorious." Khalil al-Haya, another Hamas official, argued that "there is no choice but the gun". - 'Avenge my father' - "The enemy destroyed houses and imposed a blockade hoping that people would turn against us, but the people closed ranks around the resistance and Al-Qassam and send their children to our camps," he added. Story continues Rights activists are deeply concerned by the camp, however. "We are completely opposed to children's participation in military camps," said Issam Younis, who heads the Gaza-based Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights. "Children are meant to have fun and learn to develop their thinking. They must absolutely be kept away from violence and anything that may disrupt their childhood." The camps take place every summer, but this year Al-Qassam has also opened the doors to some of its bases for other interested local residents. Rows of weapons are displayed to the hundreds of people who flock to see rockets, missiles and drones emblazoned with the "Qassam Manufacturing" symbol. Debris from tanks and Israeli drones allegedly shot down or captured in the 2014 war are also displayed. Members of Al-Qassam's communications branch welcome young people and explain the different divisions: there are infantry, snipers, and missile and rocket brigades, among others. "Some young people have relatives who were killed or imprisoned, others have seen their homes destroyed before their eyes, and that's why they decided to come here," said another masked fighter, who says he leads a youth group. One 16-year-old told AFP his father was killed by an Israeli bombardment during the 2008-09 war. Four years before that, his brother had carried out a suicide attack. "I joined this camp because that is how we will free our country from the occupation and I can avenge my father and my brother," he said. "I am participating in this camp to learn how to fight the enemy," Mohammed al-Bitar, 15, told AFP, before seizing a grenade from a stand. "I'd like to kill the enemy with this." Foodles Production (UK), a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Co. that was in charge of producing Star Wars: The Force Awakens, in a British court Tuesday conceded workplace health and safety breaches that could have killed Harrison Ford during an on-set accident two years ago. The Guardian reported that the court heard the accident during rehearsals left Ford, then 71, with a broken leg after he was pinned down by a hydraulic door, and facing a "risk of death." The Milton Keynes magistrates court heard the June 12, 2014 incident involving the Millennium Falcon, the spacecraft that Ford's character, Han Solo, pilots in the original films, had the actor at one point going through a heavy door and pressing a button. Prosecutor Andrew Marshall told the court that Ford, who was reprising his role, returned through the heavy door when he felt it safe to do so. But the actor didn't know the door was remotely operated and was about to forcefully come down and pin his body to the ground, the paper reported. Marshall told the court Ford's life was saved "because an emergency stop was activated." Production on the film was suspended for two weeks after the injury to Ford. Foodles pleaded guilty to the health and safety breaches and will be sentenced on Aug. 22. Read More: 'Star Wars' Producers Charged in U.K. Over Harrison Ford Accident While a senior officer said there was no reason to not attend the SAARC meet, a political call is yet to be taken whether Rajnath Singh would travel to Pakistan to attend the SAARC Home Interior/Home Ministeries' conference. Political call is yet to be taken on whether Home Minister Rajnath Singh would attend SAARC meet or not. By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: A final call is yet to be taken on whether Home Minister Rajnath Singh will travel to Pakistan to attend the two-day SAARC Home Interior/Home Ministers' conference which is to be held in the first week of August. The Home Ministry is ready to remind Pakistan of its solemn promise of reciprocity in the Pathankot case. advertisement Pakistan is, however, yet to fulfill its promise to allow a team of Indian investigators to visit their country to probe the biggest terror attack on Indian soil in year 2016. POLITICAL CALL YET TO BE TAKEN, RAJNATH KEEN ON GOING While a senior officer said there was no reason to not attend the SAARC meet, a political call is yet to be taken. The parliament is in session, and according to sources, India is keen to have bilateral meetings with its counterparts from other SAARC member-countries, including Pakistan's Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. Singh too is keen on attending the meet once the parliament session gets over August 12. As per the SAARC charter, all member countries should attend the meet. INDIA WILL RAISE PATHANKOT ISSUE From the Ministry of Home Affairs, it is clear that when that happens "India will raise the Pathankot issue." The meeting, which is scheduled on August 3-4, happens at a time when both the leaders are involved in a bitter war-of-words over Pakistan's interference in India's internal matters. The Home Minister recently warned Pakistan stating that "the neighbour had evil designs, which would not be successful". Both the countries are involved in a heated verbal duel over Kashmir Valley. India asks its diplomats to withdraw kids from Pakistani schools Pakistan playing a dirty game in Kashmir, is behind the current unrest: Rajnath Singh INDIA WILL REMIND PAK OF FAIR PLAY This meet is an opportunity for India to remind Pakistan of "fair play". India had allowed a Pakistan Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to collect critical evidence by giving them limited access to the Pathankot airbase and other crucial areas, causing much political furore in India. The National Investigation Agency, which is probing the case, has proved beyond doubt in its investigation the role of Maulana Masood Azhar, the Chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed and his brother Abdul Rauf as masterminds. All of this information had been shared with the JIT. However, the BJP has been on back foot for its decision to allow the Pakistan team to visit encounter site, despite huge security concerns. advertisement Meanwhile, despite several reminders, Pakistan has chosen to be mum on the issue, neither confirming nor denying allowing the access to NIA. India, on the other hand, is finalising a strategy to place before Pakistan several of its concern including terrorism originating from their soil. A HIGH-LEVEL BSF MEET WITH PAK RANGERS In a first since the Pathankot terror attack, a high level delegation of the Border Security Force led by DG KK Sharma left for Pakistan on Monday for talks with its counterpart- the Pakistan Rangers. The BSF, however, would not raise the issue of Pathankot airbase attack in which six Pakistan-based Jaish Fidayeens suspected to have infiltrated from the international border from Bamiyal region manned by the Indian force. The SAARC member-countries meet would focus on strengthening network and enhancing information-sharing among law enforcement agencies. The last meeting of SAARC Interior/Home Ministers' conference was held in Kathmandu in 2014. Also Read: Terror from the sky? IAF alerts Pathankot residents to threat of 'glider attack' After Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin, Masood Azhar joins the Kashmir chorus --- ENDS --- The second-quarter earnings season is in full swing this week. So far, we have results from 126 S&P 500 members that combined account for 32.7% of the indexs total market capitalization as per the Earnings Trends report. Revenues are up 2.6% while earnings are down 1.1%. However, the beat ratio is 70.6% for the bottom line and 55.6% for the top line. So far, 15.4% of the total Medical sector has come up with second-quarter results. The sector is expected to deliver 1.8% earnings growth on 7.7% higher revenues. This compares favorably with the projected 3.4% earnings decline on 0.5% lower revenues in the S&P 500 index. Healthcare is part of the broader medical sector. Lets see what factors might have influenced its performance in the second quarter. Within the Healthcare sector, health insurers are expected to see top-line growth on an increase in member enrollment. The Government business which includes Medicare and Medicaid will likely see a surge in enrollment due to increased demand from the surging population of baby boomers. Also ancillary businesses which are outside the purview of the Health Care Reform Act will likely see higher earnings. While diversified product offerings and expansion into international markets are likely to have beefed up revenues, cost management should give the bottom line a boost. However, healthcare companies continued to face pressure from pricing, regulatory compliance costs, rising medical costs and competition. Another industry sub-segment, which focuses on providing biopharmaceutical development services, is expected to see top-line growth as pharmaceutical companies continue to increasingly outsource clinical development and commercialization support activities. Moreover, increased use of technology and data assets globally will drive the performance of players in this sub-segment. As many as 189 companies will release results from Jul 2529. Lets find out whats in store for four major healthcare providers that will report second-quarter earnings on Jul 27: Anthem Inc. ANTM, headquartered in Indianapolis, IN, operates as a health benefits company in the United States. Last quarter, the company posted a positive earnings surprise of 3.59%. It has an Earnings ESP of -0.93% and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). The Most Accurate estimate for the quarter is pegged at $3.21 per share, three cents below the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Anthems operating revenues are expected to have improved in the second quarter on the back of strong enrollment in government business and Medicaid. Total membership, both fully insured and self-funded, are likely to have increased due to the expansion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and a spate of deal wins. With respect to the surprise trend, the company delivered positive surprises in three of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 6.65%. (Read more: Can Anthem Pull a Surprise this Earnings Season?) ANTHEM INC Price and EPS Surprise Story continues ANTHEM INC Price and EPS Surprise | ANTHEM INC Quote The Advisory Board Company ABCO headquartered in Washington, D.C. provides research and insight, performance technology software, consulting and management, and data-and tech-enabled services in the United States and internationally. Last quarter, the company posted a positive earnings surprise of 16.67%. It has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3. Both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are pegged at 22 cents. With respect to the surprise trend, the company delivered positive surprises in each of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 152.65%. ADVISORY BOARD Price and EPS Surprise ADVISORY BOARD Price and EPS Surprise | ADVISORY BOARD Quote Molina Healthcare, Inc. MOH headquartered in Long Beach, CA, provides Medicaid-related solutions to meet the healthcare needs of low-income families and individuals; and assists state agencies in their administration of the Medicaid program. Last quarter, the company missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 37.04%. It has an Earnings ESP of -3.85% and a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). The Most Accurate estimate for the quarter is pegged at 50 cents per share, two cents below the Zacks Consensus Estimate. With respect to the surprise trend, the company delivered positive surprises in three out of past four quarters, with an average beat of 2.46%. MOLINA HLTHCR Price and EPS Surprise MOLINA HLTHCR Price and EPS Surprise | MOLINA HLTHCR Quote Quintiles Transnational Holdings Inc., Q based in Durham, NC, through its subsidiary, Quintiles Transnational Corp., provides biopharmaceutical development services and commercial outsourcing services in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. Last quarter, the company missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.49%. It has an Earnings ESP of -1.11% and a Zacks Rank #3. The Most Accurate estimate for the quarter is pegged at 89 cents per share, one cent below the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company delivered positive surprises in each of the past four quarters, with an average beat of 8.61%. QUINTILES TRANS Price and EPS Surprise QUINTILES TRANS Price and EPS Surprise | QUINTILES TRANS Quote Stay tuned! Check back on our full write-up on earnings releases of these stocks. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report QUINTILES TRANS (Q): Free Stock Analysis Report MOLINA HLTHCR (MOH): Free Stock Analysis Report ANTHEM INC (ANTM): Free Stock Analysis Report ADVISORY BOARD (ABCO): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Henry Schein, Inc. HSIC is scheduled to report its second-quarter 2016 financial numbers on Aug 4, before the opening bell. Last quarter, this renowned healthcare products and services distributor posted a positive earnings surprise of 1.44%. Encouragingly, Henry Scheins earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in 3 of the past 4 quarters, with an average beat of 2.03%. Lets see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement. HENRY SCHEIN IN Price and EPS Surprise HENRY SCHEIN IN Price and EPS Surprise | HENRY SCHEIN IN Quote Factors at Play Henry Schein is recognized for its unique strategy to expand business through niche acquisitions. It closed its first-quarter 2016 accounts with an agreement to buy 50% stakes in dental equipment manufacturer J. Moritas Japanese subsidiary One Piece Corp. This buyout is expected to strengthen Henry Schein's position in the Asian dental products markets. Notably the company entered the concerned market seven years ago with strategic partnerships in Hong Kong and later Thailand and China. With the recent completion of this deal in late Jun 2016, there are reasonable expectations from this transaction, which are forecasted at the very least to show in the form of Henry Scheins raised revenue growth in the upcoming second quarter results, especially for the Asia-Pacific dental segment. In terms of Henry Scheins stock repurchase strategy exhibiting the companys strong cash reserve, management made repurchases worth $100 million in the first quarter and was left with approximately $300 million authorized for future repurchases of its common stock. We believe the company will continue with the similar trend which will be evident in its second-quarter results. Further, management remains highly optimistic about the companys ability to win new customers in the medical space. In particular, following the recent amalgamation of the companys physician business with that of Cardinal Health, management has been receiving positive feedback from the customers. Going forward, management expects to witness further expansion in Henry Scheins market share within the non-acute care space, on account of this merger, in the second-quarter and beyond. Story continues On the flip side, the company has been facing high restructuring costs over the past few quarters. Management expects Henry Schein to record similar high restructuring costs in second-quarter 2016, as well. Moreover, headwinds in the form of increased competition in the medical product distribution market as well as market uncertainties continue to be concerns. Earnings Whispers Our proven model does not conclusively show that Henry Schein is likely to beat earnings this quarter. That is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below. Zacks ESP: Henry Schein has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. That is because both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are pegged at $1.62. Zacks Rank: Henry Schein has a Zacks Rank #3 which increases the predictive power of ESP. However, an ESP of 0.00% makes surprise prediction difficult. We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. Stocks to Consider Here are some companies you may want to consider as our proven model shows they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in the upcoming quarter: Bristol-Myers Squibb Company BMY, earnings ESP of +1.49% and a Zacks Rank #1. Hologic Inc. HOLX, earnings ESP of +2.13% and a Zacks Rank #2. Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. ZBH, earnings ESP of +1.02% and a Zacks Rank #2. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report BRISTOL-MYERS (BMY): Free Stock Analysis Report HOLOGIC INC (HOLX): Free Stock Analysis Report HENRY SCHEIN IN (HSIC): Free Stock Analysis Report ZIMMER BIOMET (ZBH): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research History was made today at 3:39 PM PT when South Dakota put Hillary Clinton over the 2,382 delegates needed to make her the first woman to head a major political partys presidential ticket. Inside the convention hall, the tally was not put on a screen, to make sure all of Bernie Sanders delegates would get to be counted, though Clinton snagged it well before they plowed through the roll call, state-by-state, in alphabetical order. When it came Vermonts time to announce how its delegates were to be parsed out, the state passed, so that its senator, party disruptor Sanders, could have the final word. The final state to deliver its delegates, Vermont cast 22 for Sanders, four for Clinton. After which Sanders took the microphone and, in a show of unity, moved that the convention suspend the rules and nominate Clinton by voice vote. It was adopted resoundingly. The dramatic slow-motion history-making also had included Sanders brother. Larry Sanders spoke for the Democrats Abroad delegation, moving the senator to tears when he told the hall: I want to read, before this convention, the names of our parents: Eli Sanders and Dorothy Glassberg Sanders. They did not have easy lives, and they died young. They would be immensely proud of their son and his accomplishments. They loved him. Also speaking was a female delegate from Arizona who, at more than 100 years old, was born before women had the right to vote in this country. Sanders motion was an effort to help unify the party, after his supporters disrupted the first day of the convention, booing even their candidate when he mentioned Clinton. The DNC kicked off with tensions high, after a weekend Wikileaks dump of DNC emails confirmed Sanders long-held belief that DNC officials were working against him. DNC chief Debbie Wasserman Schultz stunningly thought shed still get to speak at the convention, announcing shed step down when it wrapped. The two candidates were having none of that and she was ousted before it began. Story continues The Sanders and Clinton campaigns worked overtime to try to ease tension inside the convention hall. And, by Monday night, things seemed to have calmed down a tad with speeches by First Lady Michelle Obama and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who both backed Clinton emphatically, after which Sanders, whod been moved to the keynote slot, told his delegates nobody was more disappointed than he, but they should consider how much more palatable it will be to support Clinton than to have to explain to their children how they let Donald Trump became POTUS. The nomination ceremony began around 2 PM PT with three nominating speeches for Sanders also carefully orchestrated. Nominating Sanders, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, explained how a somewhat frumpy and even sometimes grumpy 70-year-old guy could become the voice for millions with his movement of love. Then, Marylands Sen. Barbara Mukulski gave the no-nonsense speech that nominated Clinton, on behalf of all the women whove broken down barriers for others, and with an eye toward the barriers ahead. Heres a DNC-produced montage of the historic night: Related stories Hillary Clinton Gives 'Fox News Sunday' Her 1st Post DNC Sitdown CNN Tops DNC Day 2 Ratings, Viewership Way Up From RNC Day 2 DNC Ratings Top RNC Again On Day 2 With Bill Clinton Speech; ABC & CBS Down From 2012 They're all with her. Hillary Clinton made history on Tuesday when she was officially named the first female major party nominee for president at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia. Following the roll-call vote, where each state was called in alphabetical order to allocate their votes, Clinton formally secured her place on the party ticket. "She is one of the most qualified candidates to ever run for president," said Georgia Rep. John Lewis in his nomination speech. He added, "She will fight for us all with her heart, her soul, her mind." State by state, delegation leaders read off their votes with loud, proud flourish. But when it came to Ohio, the microphone was turned over to the soft-spoken Jim Obergefell, the Cincinnati realtor whose name is on the landmark 2015 Supreme Court case, Obergefell v. Hodges, that made marriage equality the law of the land. "This Ohio boy helped love win last summer," Obergefell told the convention before Ohio cast its votes. "And this Ohio boy knows that love trumps hate." With South Dakota's delegates, Clinton easily surpassed the 2,382 needed to clinch the nomination. Clinton didn't ascend the Democratic National Convention stage without a fight, though. Although Bernie Sanders is standing with Clinton, his delegates have seemed increasingly less inclined to do the same in the wake of the recent DNC email leak. The names of both Sanders and Clinton were in consideration at the convention. Ahead of the roll call, convention attendees were heard chanting Sanders' name and throughout the process, many could be seen holding signs in support of the senator. Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley even said he was "Feeling the Bern," while casting 38 votes for Sanders. At Vermont's turn, the state passed to the Virgin Islands, instead casting their votes last with the help of Sanders. Related Video: Hillary Clinton's Inspiring Message to Every Little Girl Sanders spoke in support of Clinton on the convention's first night despite receiving boos earlier in the day over his support of the former secretary of state. Said Sanders, "While Donald Trump is busy insulting one group after another, Hillary Clinton understands that our diversity is one of our greatest traits." Clinton will formally accept the Democratic nomination on Thursday night, closing the convention. A Connecticut convict on death row for killing a mom and her two daughters during a violent 2007 home invasion has been resentenced to life in prison following a ruling that the death penalty is unconstitutional. Joshua Komisarjevsky, 35, was resentenced to six consecutive life sentences without the possibility of release Tuesday, making him the third death row prisoner to be spared lethal injection after the state Supreme Courts ruling last year that it was in violation of state's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. He and Steven Hayes, who was also resentenced to six consecutive life sentences without the chance for release, were convicted of breaking into a Cheshire home and murdering Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11. Hawke-Petit and Michaela were also raped. Read: Death Row Inmate Escapes Packed Courtroom, Leaves Behind Shackles and Prison Clothes The victims husband and father, prominent local endocrinologist Dr. William Petit Jr., was severely injured but survived the attack that Komisarjevsky described to detectives as home invading gone terribly wrong. Hayes and Komisarjevsky tied up and tortured the family as they tore through their home in search of cash and valuables, prosecutors said during their trials. Hayes raped and strangled Hawke-Petit and Komisarjevsky sexually assaulted Michaela before they doused the home with gasoline and set it on fire, the smoke from which ultimately killed the girls. Komisarjevskys attorney Jeremiah Donovan told reporters after his clients resentencing on Tuesday he was relieved to see his client taken off death row, saying: Its a heavy burden on your life; its like having someone you love very sick you think about it all the time. Boy does it feel good to have that burden lifted off. He said he wished it possible to go back in time to avoid spending so much money challenging the original sentence, but that he was grateful for the legislature that made the resentencing possible. Story continues Read: Connecticut Home Invasion Murderers Will Now Live as State Overturns Death Penalty The death penalty was abolished in Connecticut in April 2012, but the ruling only applied to new cases. Death sentences that were already issued before the law was made remained in place. In August 2015, the state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the ban on capital punishment should apply to all defendants. No Petit family members attended Komisarjevskys resentencing, as they felt they had spoken their piece during his first sentencing, prosecutor Gary Nicholson said, the Hartford Courant reported. Wed really like to thank the jury for their really difficult decision, Petit said when Komisarjevsky was sentenced to death. We believe justice has been served. We are satisfied that the defendant has been judged to be the murderer, rapist, the criminal that he is, and now he's been condemned to the ultimate penalty. We certainly have been criticized over the years that this is vengeance and blood lust, but this is really about justice. Watch: Mother Accused of Killing Her Three Young Sons Could Get Death Penalty Related Articles: Honda Offers First Glimpse of ADV Scooter Well admit, the phrase adventure scooter sounds to us like the name of a 90s ska band. But if you really think about it, the idea kind of makes sense. At least, thats the conclusion that Honda is hoping most people will come to as it releases the first glimpses of its new dirt-road-capable scooter. The idea was first unveiled at last years EICMA show as a concept bike called the City Adventure. Essentially looking like a beefed up Honda Integra (no, not the car, but the scooter of the same name thats sold in Europe) the yet-to-be-named adventure scooter is likely to be powered by the same parallel twin that drives the NC700/750 range. The idea, it seems, is to deliver a scooter that can carry commuters just a little further afield. A promo video released on Honda Motorcycles Europes YouTube page shows the vehicle being used on dirt roads and well-trodden trails. scoot2 The video promises more will be revealed on 30 August 2016. Were guessing, though, that this is a vehicle that wont arrive in the United States any time soon. Although the idea of a vehicle that can handle a bit of dirt along with street use certainly makes sense within the U.S. context, its our guess that this is a machine targeted primarily at European riders. Places like France, Italy, Greece, and Spain have populations that are used to using scooters for regular transportation, but it is often the case that tertiary roads in those countries are unpaved. So, this strikes us as the perfect go-anywhere-in-Tuscany machine. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to micro-blogging site Twitter to glorify the sacrifices made by the soldiers. By India Today Web Desk: India today observed the 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas to commemorate the victory in the war against Pakistan in 1999. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to micro-blogging site Twitter to glorify the sacrifices made by the soldiers. On Kargil Vijay Diwas I bow to every valiant soldier who fought for India till the very last breath. Their heroic sacrifices inspire us.; Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 India will never forget the fearlessness with which our courageous soldiers gave a befitting & unforgettable reply to the intruders.; Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 We recall with pride, the firmness demonstrated by India's political leadership in 1999, which ensured a decisive victory in Kargil.; Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 advertisement Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Army, Navy and Air Force chiefs also paid homage in a memorial service at Amar Jawan Jyoti in the National Capital to commemorate the sacrifice made by our jawans. Army officers pay tribute to Kargil war martyrs in Drass. Photo: ANI Home Minister Rajnath Singh also paid his tribute to the martyrs. I salute the supreme sacrifice & exemplary courage of our soldiers who laid down their lives in Kargil war.They are our nation's true heroes; Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) July 26, 2016 ARMY CHIEF PAYS TRIBUTE IN DRASS Meanwhile, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag paid homage to martyrs of Operation Vijay at the War memorial in Drass on Monday. "General Dalbir Singh, Chief of the Army Staff, paid homage to the martyrs of 'Operation Vijay' at the historic Kargil War Memorial at Drass in Kargil district (of Jammu and Kashmir) today (Monday)," a defence statement said. Army, Navy chiefs pay homage to Kargil war martyrs. Photo: ANI Accompanied by Lt Gen DS Hooda, Army Commander, Northern Command, and GOC Fire and Fury Corps, Singh also interacted with the widows and relatives of martyrs and other awardees during the event. "Speaking on the occasion, the army chief paid glowing tributes to the supreme sacrifices and expressed his gratitude to the martyrs, their next of kin and the Veer Naris," the statement said. Air Force chief pay homage to Kargil war martyrs Photo: ANI WEEK-LONG CELEBRATION The 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas celebrations kickstarted with great fervour and enthusiasm under the patronage of Fire and Fury Corps on July 21. The week-long event included several local residents and youths along with children of Drass and Kargil regions. "The solemn memorial service is scheduled at the War Memorial on Monday evening and the celebrations will come to a close with a formal wreath-laying ceremony by the Army Commander, Northern Command," the statement added. WATCH FULL VIDEO HERE: Remembering Kargil heroes: India pays homage on 17th Vijay Diwas --- ENDS --- TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Health officials in the Central American nation of Honduras on Tuesday reported eight cases of newborns with microcephaly born to women who were infected with the Zika virus during pregnancy. Honduran Health Minister Yolani Batres told reporters six of the cases of microcephaly were in the south of Honduras, one near the border with El Salvador and two more in the capital. Two other cases had been previously reported in Honduras. Honduras has reported almost 28,000 Zika infections, including 493 pregnant women. U.S. health officials have concluded that Zika infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies. The World Health Organization has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults. The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light last fall in Brazil, which has now confirmed more than 1,600 cases of microcephaly that it considers to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. (Reporting by Gustavo Palencia; Editing by Bernard Orr) Beijing (AFP) - Two Hong Kong journalists have been jailed in China for running an "illegal business" that sent political magazines to the mainland, one of their lawyers said Tuesday, as Beijing cracks down on press freedoms in the semi-autonomous territory. Publisher Wang Jianmin, 62, was jailed for five years and three months and editor-in-chief Guo Zhongxiao was given two years and three months by the court in Shenzhen, Wang's lawyer told AFP. "The two both admitted guilt to the court and said they 'will not appeal'," said Chen Nansha. The sentences come after five booksellers from Hong Kong whose publishing house was known for gossipy titles about Chinese political leaders went missing and resurfaced in the mainland last year. One of the five is still detained and another, who skipped bail and returned to Hong Kong, has revealed how he was blindfolded and interrogated for months during his detention. Wang and Guo's magazines are widely available in the former British colony, which has greater freedoms than the mainland under agreements signed with Britain during the 1997 handover. The pair were detained in June 2014, when Shenzhen police said they were "operating an illegal publication". According to reports at the time of their trial in November, prosecutors said their Hong Kong-registered company National Affairs Limited had earned HK$7 million (US$900,000) from publications New Way Monthly and Multiple Face. But the defence insisted that only eight copies were sent to the mainland, all to friends of the publisher, the South China Morning Post said. Concerns are mounting about press freedoms in Hong Kong, where mass rallies in 2014 for fully free leadership elections failed to win political reform, and young campaigners are increasingly demanding more distance from Beijing. Although the city has the status of a special administrative region of China, the two have separate legal systems, distinct police jurisdictions and maintain strict border controls. Story continues Pro-democracy Hong Kong lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan told AFP that the sentences imposed on the journalists were "a warning to anyone who wants to do business in China especially in the area of publication -- they will be subjected to suppression and censorship and if they are not following the party line, then they will be jailed". Hong Kong's companies register shows that National Affairs Limited is a private firm registered in March 2007. Neither Wang nor Guo are listed as directors. Willy Lam, a China expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the magazines -- which covered Chinese politics -- were printed in Hong Kong, then distributed in the mainland through unofficial networks. "Beijing is sending an additional warning apart from the arrest of the Causeway Bay booksellers, not to play with fire," he said. Istanbul (AFP) - The failed coup of July 15 left the Turkish army humiliated and weakened at a time when it must tackle the twin challenges of fighting guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group. Its future will partly be decided on Thursday at a meeting of the Supreme Military Council in Ankara, which Turkish media have said could force through a "historic" transformation in the armed forces. In a sign of the army's weaker post-coup status, the meeting will be held at the Cankaya Palace of the Turkish premier and not as in the past at military headquarters. What now for the army? With 750,000 men, mostly conscripts, Turkey's army is the second largest force in the NATO military alliance. Until 2010, the constitution made it "the guardian of the Republic of Turkey" and the country's secularism. A bygone prestige, with more than 3,000 soldiers now arrested for taking part in the coup. Today, close to a third of the army's generals -- 143 -- have been remanded in custody, in an unprecedented purge under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. For Sinan Ulgen, chairman of the Istanbul-based Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies, "the botched coup will have repercussions on Turkey's ability to contribute to regional security". Along with the affect on army morale, "weakened trust" following the coup will make cooperation between police, military and intelligence services "particularly problematic," Ulgen wrote. The government has already announced the gendarmerie, which looks after domestic security, and coastguard will now be under control of the interior ministry, in a huge blow to the army's powers. Francois Heisbourg, at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the episode would "confirm the removal of the army" from the political arena, while Erdogan's capacity to motivate the army would be "weak". Story continues But the purge will open the field "to unexpected promotions, which is very motivating". These new cadres will make their mark "in a matter of months rather than years," the researcher told AFP. What consequences for the battle with IS? Since last year US air force bombers have taken off from the Incirlik base in southern Turkey to pound jihadists in Syria. But electricity at the base was cut off after the attempted coup, forcing the Americans to use their generators. Incirlik was a key point in the failed putsch and its commander, General Bekir Ercan Van, was arrested. For Stephen Biddle, at the Council on Foreign Relations based in Washington, Incirlik is "not decisive for the campaign" against the IS group. "It makes US air strikes cheaper and more efficient, but we can reach Syrian targets from other bases if we need to," he said, adding that ensuring proper security on Turkey's border with Syria was more important. A blow to anti-PKK fight? Hostilities resumed a year ago in Turkey's southeast against the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), claiming the lives of nearly 500 members of the security forces. General Adem Huduti, commander of the second army in charge of this counter-insurgency, must now be replaced as he is behind bars. "The shakeup looks set to impinge Turkey's ability to fight the PKK," says Lale Sariibrahimoglu of Jane's Defence Weekly. But "most of the fighting is done by the gendarmerie", said Bulent Aliriza, at the US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies. "It's too early to tell" the consequences of this reorganisation, said Aliriza. And it will be difficult to detect from the outside given the institution's opacity. Does Turkey remain a reliable ally? The response of Ankara to the putsch has "raised questions about Turkey's reliability as an ally," said Marc Pierini, former EU ambassador to Ankara and visiting scholar at the Carnegie Europe think-tank. Many regular Turkish interlocutors for the Americans and NATO forces are today in detention. After the night of chaos and in the acrimonious context with Ankara, US officials "cannot not ask" the question of what to do with their nuclear warheads stored at Incirlik, said Heisbourg. But moving them would again damage relations with the Turks. These doubts about Turkey, a member of NATO since 1952, are not new -- but they are reinforced amid tensions between the West and Russia. Yet after several frosty months, relations between Ankara and Moscow are warming: Erdogan is scheduled to meet his counterpart Vladimir Putin in Russia in early August. Bruno Tertrais at the Foundation for Strategic Research, based in Paris, said a break with NATO "would not be to Ankara's advantage, but Erdogan is capable of decisions that have little rationality". By Marton Dunai BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday said the migration and foreign policy plans of U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump were "vital" for Hungary, whereas those of rival Democrat Hillary Clinton were "deadly". The outspoken conservative leader Orban is the first European head of state to express a clear preference for either of the two candidates, who will face each other in elections in November 2016. Orban has in the past upset fellow members of the European Union over policy, most recently with his tough stance on Europe's migrant crisis, objecting to EU resettlement plans and having a fence built along Hungary's southern border. Orban said the U.S. Democrats supported migration as well as what he described as "democracy export", while Hungary - like Trump - opposed both, "making it clear where Hungary's interests lie." "The Democrats' foreign policy is bad for Europe, and deadly for Hungary," he said. "The migration and foreign policy advocated by the Republican candidate, Mr Trump, is good for Europe and vital for Hungary." Orban had on Saturday called Trump's security policies "valiant." His remarks came after Trump raised ire for telling the New York Times last week that he would tie any U.S. military help to NATO allies to conditions in the event of a Russian attack. Clinton's campaign struggles to contain the political fallout from a leak of thousands of emails in a hacker attack that they said were designed to help Trump. Experts and U.S. officials say the attack came from Russia. Both Moscow and the Trump campaign have said those claims were "absurd". Orban's government has unnerved some partners with its close ties to Russia. It secured large business deals with Moscow, such as the construction of a big new nuclear power plant, and criticized the European Union's embargo on Russia. "Hungary's foreign policy has borne an eerie resemblance to Russian diplomatic interests in recent years, and indeed has been little short of an extended arm of the Russian government in foreign policy matters," Political Capital analyst Peter Kreko said. "I don't think Putin is behind the budding relationship between Trump and Orban but both are interested in improving Russian ties so theirs is an alliance of interests." (Reporting by Marton Dunai; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Raissa Kasolowsky) Ameya Dandekar The Creta has been a great success story for the Hyundai brand in India. Not only does it sell in big numbers, but it has made Hyundai successful at a price point, where even the might of Maruti has struggled (getting stingy Indians to spend upwards of Rs 15 lakh on what is basically a budget brand). With so many strong players in our market to compete with, you have to hand it to Hyundai for doing its research and, more often than not, delivering a really attractive product which the buyers really want. The Creta, unlike some of its rivals, looks like a proper SUV thanks to its long bonnet and upright stance. With the styling, Hyundai seems to have hit the sweet spot and this alone gets Hyundai thousands of buyers. But Hyundai is not resting on its laurels and they have launched the petrol automatic version of the Creta. This is quite timely, as this compact SUV becomes the only rival to the recently launched Honda BR-V, which also comes with a petrol automatic option. This also makes the Creta the only car in its segment to offer four engine options, automatic gearboxes on both petrol and diesel versions and as many as 11 variants to choose from. The Cretas interiors reflect the exteriors impressive design. The multi-layered two-tone dash blends in well with the sculpted door pads. The leather wrapped steering wheel looks and feels premium and the large analogue instruments are clear and easy to read. Fit and finish is really good, and this means the cabin more than justifies the hefty price Hyundai is asking for. Thanks to the large dimensions, theres lots of space on the inside. Theres plenty of legroom both at the front and rear and the large seats offer good support. The wide rear seat and the near-flat floor also means three people sit in decent comfort. The front seats are supportive and wide, making even long journeys comfortable. The boot at 402 litres is well shaped and the 40:60 folding rear bench adds to its practicality. Story continues While the Creta in this automatic trim is only available in the lower SX Plus trim yet is quite well equipped. It gets a touchscreen system with satellite navigation, and theres Bluetooth, USB, aux and a CD player for the audio system. There are also rear parking sensors with camera, ABS with brake assist and two airbags. The petrol Creta automatic is powered by a 1591cc naturally aspirated petrol motor which is good for 122bhp and 154Nm of torque. The big news is the automatic gearbox though, it is the same six-speed torque converter as the one found on the diesel version. While driving in the city in D mode, the automatic gearbox upshifts early, maintaining a relatively low engine speed in a bid to improve fuel economy. A dab on the throttle gets it moving quite nicely, and when driven like this, it is quite adept at mixing in with other traffic. Ask for a bit more acceleration however and the engines lack of oomph in the mid-range comes through. The throttle response is blunt and this is where the gearbox also tends to get confused and fails to make full use of the power on tap. You eventually learn to go flat on the throttle in order to get the box to downshift in the upper reaches of the powerband where this motor starts coming in its own. Here theres much more power and enthusiasm on hand as the Creta sheds its lethargic nature and gathers momentum smartly. The engine does get a bit noisy when the car is driven in this manner but at least you are not lacking in performance. Other than the engine getting noisy when worked hard, this motor is quite refined and driving the Creta is a soothing experience thanks to its great sound insulation. But its in the manual mode the Creta petrol feels the best. This allows you to be in the right gear at the right time. We tested the Creta petrol A/T and found it covered the 0-100kmph in 13.04seconds. Even the slow in-gear times of 7.38 seconds for 20-80kmph and 9.93 for 40-100kmph are a reflection of the motors weak mid-range. But where the Creta impresses the most is in terms of its ride. Over any surface, at speed, the Creta remains unfazed and the refined suspension simply goes about its job, keeping you isolated from the biggest of potholes. Its only at low speeds that you feel some stiffness and the sharp bumps do jarr you a bit. But here too we are being picky rather than critical. You can enjoy the Creta over a winding road too thanks to loads of grip from the wide 215 section tyres, accurate steering, well-tuned suspension and minimal body roll. The only deterrent being the way the steering weighs up. It feels too heavy around the straight ahead position and it lacks the consistency that rivals like the Renault Duster offers. The brakes pedal feel a bit wooden and a more linear feel would have been welcomed. The Creta is a great all-rounder. It has that all-important pseudo SUV look, on the inside it offers a spacious and comfortable cabin, quality levels are best in class, it rides and handles well and now the petrol motor equipped with an automatic gearbox makes it a great city runabout too. The combination of this engine and automatic gearbox may not be the best pairing ever and more performance would be welcome. But for your average daily drive there is more than enough oomph and thanks to the engines refined nature, it makes for a soothing companion The Hyundai Creta petrol A/T is only in the SX Plus trim, and costs Rs 12.86 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). Although on the expensive side, the Creta has a lot to offer and makes for a great urban commuter. Photography by Kapil Angane Click here to read the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza First Drive Review The Hyundai Creta in this petrol automatic guise has only the Honda BRV petrol CVT to compete with. Although the BRV is cheaper and has two extra seats, the Creta offers lot more standard features and it quality levels are much higher too. Youree Dell Harris, who was better known as the iconic TV psychic Miss Cleo, died of cancer on Tuesday at age 53, her lawyer confirmed. Harris rose to fame in the late 1990s through psychic hotline commercials in which she claimed to know the futures of her callers. In a Jamaican accent, the psychic would urge viewers of Psychic Readers Network to phone in with her famous Call me now! tagline. The Los Angeles native died in Palm Beach, Florida, her lawyer, William J. Cone Jr. told the Associated Press. In 2014, Harris appeared in the documentary Hotline, which was produced by Tony Shaff, who interviewed her and other telephone psychics. She was smart as a whip and very intuitive, Shaff told the AP, adding that the TV personality was warm and welcoming and bigger than life. There was so much negativity surrounding psychic hotlines that she wanted to tell her personal story, Shaff added. [AP] The International Red Cross Tuesday urged Sri Lanka on Tuesday to disclose the fate of more than 16,000 people still officially missing since the island's ethnic war ended seven years ago. The Geneva-based organisation released a 14-month survey conducted across Sri Lanka showing thousands of mainly ethnic Tamils were still searching for their loved ones. The survey and resulting 34-page report titled "Living with Uncertainty" called on Sri Lankan authorities to "clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing persons". Of 395 families surveyed by the Red Cross, just over one third believed their loved ones were dead while another third were convinced they were still alive somewhere. The remaining third were unsure. "The survey found that these families primarily want to know the fate and whereabouts of their missing relative and that they also face economic, legal and administrative difficulties in their daily lives," it said. Government forces crushed Tamil rebels fighting for a separate homeland for the ethnic minority, in a brutal offensive in 2009. Some 40,000 people are thought to have been killed in the final few months of the conflict alone. Huge numbers of Tamils disappeared during the 37-year war including after being arrested by security services, while thousands more died in military bombardments. Thousands of people also went missing during a crackdown by security forces and pro-government vigilante groups on Marxist rebels between 1987 and 1990. The ICRC said it has registered 16,000 people as missing since setting up a presence in Sri Lanka in 1989. The database includes more than 5,100 security personnel listed as missing. President Maithripala Sirisena has taken steps to reconcile with the Tamil community since coming to power last January, including by setting up a missing persons office to help families seek compensation. Last month, the government announced a landmark law to recognise as dead those still missing, allowing relatives to claim inheritances. The cabinet approved a draft bill to issue "certificates of absence" to the families of those who went missing. Several mass graves containing skeletal remains have been found in the past two decades, but only a handful of those buried have ever been formally identified. Indian human rights campaigner Irom Sharmila announced Tuesday she will end her 16-year long hunger strike to focus on contesting upcoming elections in the country's remote, underdeveloped northeast. Sharmila, known as the Iron Lady of Manipur for her unwavering and nonviolent protest against rights abuses in the region, said she would break her fast on August 9. Sharmila has been kept in judicial custody almost since she began fasting in 2000 to back her demand for the withdrawal of special powers wielded by security forces in the insurgency-wracked region. She has been confined to a hospital ward in Manipur's main city Imphal on criminal charges of attempted suicide -- and is force fed via a plastic nasal drip several times a day. "I have decided to end my 16-year fast on August 9 and contest the 2017 state elections as an independent candidate," the 44-year-old said outside a magistrate's court in Imphal. "My fight so far has been all alone and so I have decided to wage a war against the act democratically by becoming a lawmaker instead of continuing with my fast," she said. Sharmila stopped eating and drinking after allegedly witnessing the army kill 10 people at a bus stop near her home in Manipur, which is subject to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). The act, which covers large parts of the northeast and the restive state of Kashmir, gives Indian forces sweeping powers to search, enter property and shoot on sight, and is seen by critics as a cover for human rights abuses. The government says security forces need the powers to help them battle multiple rebel groups whose long-standing demands range from secession to greater autonomy and land rights. Sharmila has often been released from custody after appearing in court flanked by police -- only to be re-arrested almost immediately on fresh charges of trying to kill herself. The maximum punishment for attempting suicide is one year in prison. Sharmila's brother, Singhajit, said her family backed her new fight. "Whatever she does we will support her as a family. Even our mother is hoping for the day when the Act is abolished and Sharmila wins the cause she has been fighting for," Singhajit, who uses one name, told AFP by phone. In the televised conversions he presides over, Dr Naik ensures the potential converts say it on camera that they were neither forced nor bribed to change their beliefs. By Sushant Pathak, Jamshed Adil Khan , Vishwas Kumar, Harish Sharma: Dressed in a suit, he engages with a Christian woman in a quiz over religion as multiple cameras capture his dialogue for a seamless visual delight. On the YouTube channel of his Peace TV, Dr Zakir Naik is seen persuading her to accept Islam. The woman, who claims to have been already inclined towards Islam, switches to the faith after posing some questions to the televangelist across the podium in what takes around 18 minutes on the video-counter to complete the proselytising exercise. advertisement That's usually how the chief of the Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) is presented on TV by his own production house and followers - articulate, convincing, learned and an authority of Islam. In the televised conversions he presides over, Dr Naik ensures the potential converts say it on camera that they were neither forced nor bribed to change their beliefs. And they do in what appears to be a transparent platform allowing people to embrace the faith of their choice out of their free will. But as serious accusations stemming far away from the lights and cameras of TV studios and auditoriums erupted that Dr Naik used dubious means to execute religious conversions, India Today's Special Investigation Team (SIT) fanned out to Mumbai and Pune to verify the claims. "NAIK WAS ON SAUDI PAYROLL" Four correspondents spent 12 days, meeting the IRF head's present and past associates in the two cities. Quite startlingly, none of them declined allegations of being lured to Dr Naik's conversion activities. India Today's investigative reporters spoke to some of the IRF office bearers who alleged that the televangelist was on the Saudi payroll for proselytising. PA Inamdar, the president of the Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Education Society at Pune's Azam Campus, hosted Dr Naik's event in 2008, where the televangelist supposedly converted 12 Hindus and Jains on-the-spot to Islam after a public debate. Inamdar recalled he had expressed his reservations to the IRF chief over those instant conversions. He, moreover, felt they were orchestrated. "That's what I am telling you that I spoke with him the moment we stepped down (from the podium) that whatever you are doing (is inappropriate)," Inamdar told India Today's special crew. "Those who want to convert and convert with full understanding, they need no public platform. According to me, that was all stage-managed," he remarked. TACTIC TO ATTRACT FOREIGN FUNDING? The Azam Campus president shared another grave concern, saying Dr Naik's proselytising could be his tactic to attract foreign funding. "Second way of looking at it is about getting money from the countries who take interest in these activities," Inamdar claimed. advertisement He apparently referred to the Arab World that's currently hosting Dr Naik. Asked how the televangelist responded to his objections, Inamdar alleged he had termed his conversions a routine. "Yes, (Dr Naik said) it happens routinely," Inamdar insisted. He again expressed apprehensions that Dr Naik's on-the-spot conversions could have been pre-scripted. "See everyone has a level of thinking. People's ability to become emotional and intelligent vary. It's just emotional. You haven't learned the A,B,C,D (of Islam) and you abandon the faith of your forefathers after hearing a half-hour speech. That's either driven by emotions or can be planted," remarked Inamdar. Last year, Dr Naik received Saudi Arabia's most prestigious "Service to Islam" award from King Salman. In 2013, he was honoured with the Islamic Personality of the Year title by UAE PM Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The IRF head of the Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation publicly proclaims his faith as superior to other religions. He, however, denies allegations of inspiring young men to join the Islamic State. In an interview to India Today, he called the terror group "anti-Islamic State". But police also suspect that Dr Naik and his IRF are misusing funds from countries like Saudi Arabia to carry out illegal conversions in India. As many as 800 such cases of proselytising traced to them are driven by coercion and allurement, claims Mumbai Police. advertisement This month, an IRF staff and another person were arrested over accusations of forced conversions and radicalisation. Arshi Qureshi, a guest-relations manager at Dr Naik's organization, was picked from his house in Navi Mumbai in connection with investigations into the disappearance of 21 youths from Kerala, who are suspected to have joined the ISIS. After his arrest, sleuths took Rizwan Khan into custody. Khan was a worker at Al Birr Foundation at Mazgaon in Mumbai. The Mazgaon NGO is found to be having links with the IRF, investigators say. According to Maharashtra's anti-terror squad, both Qureshi and Khan have converted around 800 people to Islam under suspect circumstances. All the people who converted had visited the IRF, ATS sources told India Today last week. Before their proselytizing, Qureshi provided them Islamic texts from the IRF, according to top investigators. Later, they were introduced to Khan, who is suspected to have radicalized them, ATS sources said. advertisement Religious conversions carried out by force, inducements or fraud are illegal in several states, such as Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. As part of this investigation, India Today's team visited a madrasa in Mumbai to meet senior cleric Mufti Manzoor Ziayee, who is also advisor at the Haji Ali Dargah, and an old associate of Dr Naik, Asif Khan. Over the past 12 years, Khan's company in Mumbai has been providing technical support to the IRF for setting up studios and other logistics. "NAIK EXTENDED BENEFITS TO CONVERTS" During their conversation with the SIT, Mufti made startling claims that Dr Naik extended benefits to converts. "They were formally paid and got converted," the cleric alleged when a reporter asked whether a number of Hindus had indeed changed their belief after listening to Dr Naik's speeches. "He (the televangelist) gives benefits. He gives a lot of benefits. Not just like that," Khan added. "If one converts, he gives a lot of support. He helps them stand in the community," the businessman continued. In his claims, Mufti also alleged Saudi funding behind Dr Naik's proselytising programs. "Especially if Saudi Arabia is funding, they (the Saudis) would get to know he's doing that work for them, making non-Muslims accept Islam. If he doesn't do that, his funding from there will stop," the religious leader said. The SIT dug deeper and tracked down a man who came in touch with the televangelist in the 1990s. Sheikh Irfan is privately employed now. But he was one of Dr Naik's first interfaces with the people. Irfan was his spokesman in 1992 for some months. Irfan alleged Dr Naik would brainwash young men into aspects of fundamentalist Wahhabi Islam. "Basically, these people propagate against tomb visits... (then it's) jehad... if someone doesn't agree with you through dialogue, then use force (that's what they believe in). Even bloodshed is justified," Irfan alleged. So far, Dr Naik has refused to return home from his safe haven in Saudi Arabia. IRF DEFENDS ITS PROGRAMS IRF defended its programs after India Today aired its special report. "In its history, (the) IRF has never been involved in forced conversions. Conversion itself is not a primary agenda of (the) IRF," the foundation said in a statement. "Its agenda is larger awareness and inter-religious harmony," the IRF claimed. "All these allegations are based on hearsay and opinions of individuals, who are either disgruntled ex-employees or persons with low regard for IRF and Dr Zakir Naik. (The) IRF would not want to comment on these allegations as Dr Zakir Naik himself has made his views very clear on every such issue in the past few weeks," it added. The IRF described itself as a research body that publishes literature on Islam and conducts awareness events. "People interested in Islamic literature and information contact IRF from time to time and attend Dr Zakir Naik's events," it said in its statement. Watch video here Also read: Zakir Naik to India Today: I back Modi's quest to improve relations between Hindus, Muslims Zakir Naik: Don't back terror, being targeted for running Islamic channel Who is Zakir Naik? Were the Dhaka attack terrorists 'inspired by him'? Zakir Naik's Islamic Research Foundation denies link with ISIS --- ENDS --- Having written more than 30 books, including the Pulitzer Prize winner American Pastoral, it is somewhat surprising that there havent been more film adaptations of Philip Roths work. Portnoys Complaint, Goodbye Columbus, The Human Stain and more recently Barry Levinsons The Humbling have been among the few to make it to the screen. But this year with American Pastoral (October 21) and this weeks release of Indignation, Roth is a hot commodity in cinemas. As I say in my video review above, in this case the return of a Roth property to the movies is welcome indeed because writer and debuting director James Schamus (the onetime executive running Focus Features) has done a sterling adaptation, while at the same time adding his own voice and point of view to Roths 2008 novel set on an Ohio college campus in 1951 as the U.S. was engaged in the second year of the Korean War. Our protagonist is Marcus Messner (Logan Lerman), a brilliant young man who sets off on a scholarship to Winesberg College, escaping Newark, the draft and Korea and also his overly concerned father (Danny Burstein) and mother (Linda Emond) who both work in the family butcher shop. Once at college, Marcus eschews hanging with his roommates the only other two Jewish boys in the dorm doesnt want to join the one and only Jewish fraternity, clashes with the schools Dean (Tracy Letts), and most significantly falls head over heels for the intriguing and mysterious Olivia Hutton (Sarah Gadon), who, to say the least, surprises him sexually on just their first date. Marcus is a bit of a contrarian when it comes to the conservative nature and rituals of life on this campus, but his growing obsession with Olivia begins to permeate his whole outlook on things, worrying his parents and especially his mother, who travels there to make a deal with him in order to get him to drop Olivia. Ultimately though, the infatuation with her takes a turn when she disappears, sending him into a bad place. Although this book, not one of Roths best-known works, is not autobiographical, you can definitely see the personal nature of it for Roth, who attended college at the same time Marcus may even be sort of an alter ego for the author in some ways. Schamus has added his own influences to his screen version, with references to Allen Ginsberg and Sylvia Plath among others. Where he really shines is making an independent movie not afraid to let his characters breathe. There are long, dialogue-driven scenes where the camera stays on the actors without the jittery need for unnecessary movement or giving a tip of the hand to audiences used to a quicker pace. In fact, a 15-minute scene in which Marcus confronts Dean Cauldwell in his office is simply brilliant acting a tour de force for Letts, who in addition to being a Pulitzer-winning playwright (August: Osage County) and Tony-winning actor is an accomplished screen actor as well. Another riveting turn is by Emond, who nails her big scene to the point I am now predicting a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, in addition to a Supporting Actor one for Letts. Schamus casting is exceptional and he has the pick of a great group of New York-based actors to work with including the excellent Burstein, currently on Broadway starring in Fiddler On The Roof. Ben Rosenfield and Philip Ettinger also have fine moments as Marcus roomies. But in the end this film belongs to Lerman, an exceptionally fine young actor in just about everything he does, and to Gadon who manages to make Olivia a complete and memorable original. The period settings perfectly capture time and place. As for Schamus, whose previous screenplays have largely been collaborations with Ang Lee, he turns in an extremely accomplished directorial debut proving there is great life beyond the executive suites in Hollywood. He also co-wrote a song with the films promising new composer Jay Wadley called Is It Love? which sounds exactly like a tune you might have heard on the radio during that era and thats how Schamus uses it effectively in this intelligent film, a perfect piece of adult alternative programming for the long, hot summer. Anthony Bregman and Rodrigo Teixeira produced. Summit and Roadside Attractions are releasing the film, which was first seen earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, beginning with a limited engagement Friday in Los Angeles and New York. Do you plan to see Indignation? Let us know what you think. Related stories Miramax Lands Upcoming Whitney Houston Docu, Teams With Roadside Attractions For Release 'Indignation' Trailer: James Schamus' Dramatic Directing Debut With Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon & Tracy Letts JonBenet Ramsey Murder Case Chronicled In Kitty Green-Directed 'Casting JonBenet' In the Industrial Products sector, 23.8% of the companies have so far reported their second-quarter numbers, putting up 3% earnings growth on the scoreboard. However, it is too early to be optimistic on this sector. Based on our projections for the quarter, growth will be in negative territory for 9 of the 16 Zacks sectors, which also includes the Industrial Products sector. Industrial Products is expected to record an earnings decline of 8% in the quarter. However, compared to the unceremonious 22.2% plunge in earnings suffered by the sector in first-quarter 2016, it should count as a major improvement. We are staring at negative earnings projections for the fifth consecutive quarter for the overall S&P 500 index, with total earnings expected to be down 3.4% on 0.5% lower revenues. Industrial production increased 0.6% in June, after declining 0.3% in May. In the second quarter, industrial production suffered its third consecutive quarterly decline, falling at an annual rate of 1%. Industrial demand remained challenged in the quarter, hurt by the weak global oil & gas markets. Capacity utilization is seen to be decreasing, reflecting slow industrial capex spending. On the positive side, market conditions were favorable in U.S. construction. The International Monetary Fund has reduced its 2016 growth projections by 20 basis points (bps) to 2.6% for the U.S. economy. As per the organization, overall activity remains strong in the U.S., supported by still-easy financial conditions and strengthening housing and labor markets. However, a stronger dollar and weaker oil prices continue to weigh on manufacturing activities, curtailing investment in mining structures and equipment. With a plethora of companies releasing results this week, lets see how it unfolds for these five industrial players that are going to report their numbers tomorrow. Ingersoll-Rand Plc IR will release second-quarter 2016 financial results before the market opens on Jul 27. Story continues In the prior quarter, this industrial goods manufacturer reported a positive earnings surprise of 35.14%. The company has a fairly decent earnings surprise history, beating earnings estimates thrice in the past four quarters with an average positive earnings surprise of 9.52%. INGERSOLL RAND Price and EPS Surprise INGERSOLL RAND Price and EPS Surprise | INGERSOLL RAND Quote Ingersoll is striving to achieve steady improvement in operating profitability through investment in new products, expenditure on its IT platform and establishing its channel services footprint and product management capabilities. We expect Ingersoll-Rand to come up with a positive earnings surprise this season backed by its Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and Earnings ESP of +0.77% (read more: Will Ingersoll-Rand Surpass Q2 Earnings Estimates?). Rockwell Automation, Inc. ROK will report third-quarter fiscal 2017 results on Jul 27, before the market opens. In the last-reported quarter, the company posted a positive earnings surprise of 3.79%. Notably, Rockwell Automation has delivered a positive earnings surprise of 1.61% on an average over the last four quarters. ROCKWELL AUTOMT Price and EPS Surprise ROCKWELL AUTOMT Price and EPS Surprise | ROCKWELL AUTOMT Quote Despite the weakening oil and gas vertical and fragile heavy industries, Rockwell Automation will benefit from growth in the consumer, life sciences and auto verticals and restructuring actions. The companys Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) and Earnings ESP of -1.37% make a beat unlikely this quarter (read more: Rockwell Automation Q3 Earnings: What's in Store?). Encore Wire, Corp. WIRE, the manufacturer of electrical building wire and cable products for interior electrical wiring, will report second-quarter results on Jul 27, 2016. In the prior quarter, the company reported a negative earnings surprise of 14.58%. It has a mixed earnings surprise history, beating earnings estimates twice in the past four quarters with an average positive earnings surprise of 9.49%. ENCORE WIRE CP Price and EPS Surprise ENCORE WIRE CP Price and EPS Surprise | ENCORE WIRE CP Quote The company continues to strive to lead and support industry price increases in an effort to maintain and improve margins. Its superior order fill rates continue to enhance its competitive position. Encore Wire has an earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). This makes surprise prediction difficult. Silgan Holdings, Inc. SLGN manufactures and sells rigid packaging for shelf-stable food and other consumer goods products worldwide and will report second-quarter results on Jul 27, 2016. It beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate last quarter, with an average positive earnings surprise of 12.5%. The company has a decent earnings surprise history, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters, averaging 5.41%. SILGAN HOLDINGS Price and Consensus SILGAN HOLDINGS Price and Consensus | SILGAN HOLDINGS Quote Incremental costs from its footprint optimization programs, high debt and foreign exchange volatility remain concerns. However, strategic acquisitions, footprint optimization programs across each of its businesses and continued momentum in the Closure business bode well. The company has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) and an earnings ESP of 0.00%, which makes a beat unlikely this quarter. Manufacturer of glass containers, Owens-Illinois, Inc. OI is scheduled to report second-quarter 2016 results on Jul 27, after the closing bell. Owens-Illinois has outpaced the Zacks consensus estimate in three of the trailing four quarters, with an average earnings beat of 6.77%. In the last-reported quarter, the company posted a positive earnings surprise of 20.00%. OWENS-ILLINOIS Price and EPS Surprise OWENS-ILLINOIS Price and EPS Surprise | OWENS-ILLINOIS Quote In the second quarter, Owens-Illinois expects to see less adverse effects from hedging program and benefit from its joint venture with Constellation Brands, which will soon be ramping up its second furnace. However weakness in Brazil remains a concern. The company has an earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) (read more: Owens-Illinois Q2 Earnings: Will the Stock Disappoint?). Keep an eye on our full earnings articles to see how these companies finally fared. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report ENCORE WIRE CP (WIRE): Free Stock Analysis Report SILGAN HOLDINGS (SLGN): Free Stock Analysis Report OWENS-ILLINOIS (OI): Free Stock Analysis Report ROCKWELL AUTOMT (ROK): Free Stock Analysis Report INGERSOLL RAND (IR): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Getting tagged as "a loosely organized hybrid gang" has long stuck under the grease-painted skin of Insane Clown Posse's Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope. Ever since the FBI tagged the band's large Juggalo following that way in 2011, the rappers have chafed at the suggestion that their die hards are somehow similar to the Crips or Bloods. And now, it seems, they're doing something about it. Well, planning to, anyway. According to The Detroit News, at this weekend's Gathering of the Juggalos in Thronvlille, Ohio, Violent J announced that the pair are plotting to descend on Washington, D.C. on Sept. 16, 2017, for a protest march against their FBI status. Watch Insane Clown Posse's New 'Falling Apart' Video: Exclusive "In 2017, the weekend of Sept. 17, we need you. We're gonna do a (expletive) march on Washington," J told Juggalos at a weekend seminar, as confirmed by a Billboard contributor who was on site. "They call the Juggalo World a movement, right? Well, let's move!" J said the march will begin at the Lincoln Memorial and head down Constitution Ave. before winding up at the Washington Monument, where the rappers and fans will have a sit-down about what it means to be part of the Juggalo nation. "We are going to explain to the world who the (expletive) we really are," J said, adding that the march will be accompanied by a "huge" free Juggalo concert the same weekend at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, Virginia, followed by a picnic for fans on the 17th. Though pumped about the idea of bringing the heat to the nation's capital to show the feds that they are not a gang, but just a collection of Faygo-loving music fanatics, J admitted he wasn't sure Juggalos would turn up. Insane Clown Posse's Lawsuit Against the FBI Revived by Court "We don't know what's going to happen," he said. "We could totally embarrass ourselves, and there could be 25 people (that show up)." ICP sued the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department over the way Juggalos were classified in the FBI's 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit and ICP appealed the ruling, winning on appeal in an Ohio court in Sept. 2015 over claims that the designation. The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan has said the FBI's assessment violates the duo and their fans' free speech and due process rights. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 26, 2016 / International Lithium Corp. (ILC.V) (the "Company" or "ILC") is pleased to announce that strategic partner Pioneer Resources Limited ("Pioneer") (PIO.AX) has completed their due diligence and formally entered into an Option Agreement to advance through exploration the Company's Raleigh lithium pegmatite project in Ontario, Canada ("Project"). In addition, the companies have increased the size of the project to 809 hectares (2,000 acres) through staking. Key Highlights: Preliminary reconnaissance discovers pegmatite obscured by beaver dam; Grab sample of host rock adjacent to beaver dam returns highest degree of lithium enrichment reported in the region to date representing intense rare-metals mineralizing system; Increase project size by 80% through staking to encompass extensive highly anomalous rare metals' trends known to host high-grade lithium spodumene pegmatites. Raleigh Lithium Project Option Agreement executed with Pioneer; and Pioneer may earn an initial 51% interest in the Project by expending CAN$1.25 million on exploration activities within three years; Raleigh Lithium Pegmatite Project The Raleigh Project is situated 7 kilometres south of the Trans-Canada Highway, 60 kilometres southeast from the Company's Mavis Project, 80 kilometres southeast from the town of Dryden, Ontario and approximately 240 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay. Four unpatented mining claims totalling 368 hectares were recently staked increasing the Project area to 809 hectares. The expanded claim boundaries now cover an extensive zone exhibiting multiple intensely anomalous bands known to host high-grade lithium pegmatites. When rare-metal pegmatites are emplaced, the host rocks adjacent to the pegmatite body are enriched by the associated fluids forming an observable rare-metals' halo. Normally the rare-metal alteration halo is in the meter scale, but the pegmatite belt at Raleigh, similar to the Company's nearby Mavis project, exhibit some of the most extensive lithium anomalies delineated to date in Ontario. Story continues On a recent reconnaissance of the project by ILC and Pioneer representatives a pegmatite noted in historical records, but not explored by previous operators, was discovered. The site of the pegmatite is obscured by a beaver dam, which may account for why previous operators overlooked it. A grab sample* of the adjacent mafic volcanic host rock was sent to ALS laboratory for analysis and returned a lithium value of 0.49% Li 2 O (2290ppm Li). This is significantly higher than any other lithium host-rock value reported in the region and indicates an intense mineralizing system, particularly to have altered and impregnated the host rock to such a degree. * Grab samples are by definition selective and are unlikely to represent average grades on the property. Previous exploration campaigns on the Project included mapping, lithogeochemistry, trenching (1500m) and diamond core drilling (2817.5m in 17 holes) resulting in the identification of several substantial pegmatites and numerous smaller ones (see Company news release dated March 23 and July 13, 2016, for further details). Mapping and litho-geochemical sampling indicate a highly fractionated rare-metals' pegmatite belt at least 5 km in length and 2 km in width now fully enclosed within the Company's expanded claim boundaries. The strength of the litho-geochemical signature in the host rock adjacent to known pegmatites will be a highly effective exploration tool to signal the location of hidden or blind pegmatites; pegmatites buried under soil cover or capped by another rock type. Highlights of previously reported drill intercepts at Raleigh are summarized in the table below. The pegmatites are moderately dipping and appear to flatten at depth. Hole ID From (metres) To (metres) Width (metres) Li 2 O % RL99-05 108.95 115.40 6.45 1.62 incl 108.95 111.20 2.35 2.39 RL10-01 28.30 33.00 4.70 1.81 incl 29.80 32.00 2.20 2.37 154.30 161.00 6.70 1.14 incl 159.00 160.00 1.00 2.86 RL10-02 84.00 93.00 9.00 2.80 RL10-03 103.05 109.00 5.95 1.64 RL10-05 24.40 34.00 9.60 1.03 RL10-06 123.00 128.70 5.70 1.03 All widths in drill core are drill widths and have not been adjusted to true widths. The Company has not yet been able to confirm historical results compiled from assessment reports and news releases filed by previous operators. Raleigh Option Agreement Pioneer may earn an initial 51% interest in the Project by expending CAN$1.25 million on exploration activities within three years and paying to ILC a total of CAN$250,000 in cash and shares 50/50 over the same three years (the "First Earn-in"). Following the First Earn-in, ILC will be granted a 1.5% Net Smelter Return royalty ("NSR"), purchasable at any time for CAN$1.5 million. Pioneer will then be granted, if ILC elects not to participate and if Pioneer elects to pursue, an option where Pioneer can earn an additional 29%, for a total 80% interest, by sole funding exploration expenditures and the production of a pre-feasibility technical report within 6 years from the completion of the First Earn-In. Thereafter the Parties will contribute on a pro-rata basis. If either Party dilutes to 15% Project Equity, their interest is converted to a 1.5% NSR. The Upper Canada Lithium Pool The close proximity of the Mavis and Raleigh projects presents clear strategic and operational advantages. ILC is pursuing lithium prospects with reported high grades in this region and seeking to consolidate them with the aim to identify sufficient resources in multiple prospects to potentially feed a common processing facility. The Upper Canada Lithium Pool is the anticipated geographical consolidation of projects and partnered companies hosting amenable grade, volume, access and infrastructure in order to mitigate the financial burden on any one company when advancing specific projects to reach this goal. John Harrop, P.Geo, FGS, is a Qualified Person as defined under NI 43-101 who has supervised preparation of the technical information contained in this news release. About International Lithium Corp. International Lithium Corp. is an exploration company with an outstanding portfolio of projects, strong management ownership, robust financial support and a strategic partner and keystone investor Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd., a leading China based lithium product manufacturer. The Company's primary focus is the Mariana lithium-potash brine project, a joint venture with Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd. within the renowned South American "Lithium Belt" that is the host to the vast majority of global lithium resources, reserves and production. The 160 square kilometre Mariana project strategically encompasses an entire mineral rich evaporate basin that ranks as one of the more prospective salars or 'salt lakes' in the region. Complementing the Company's lithium brine project are three rare metals pegmatite properties in Canada known as the Mavis, Raleigh, and Forgan projects; and one project in Ireland (Avalonia project) that encompasses an extensive 50km long pegmatite belt. The Avalonia project is under option to strategic partner Ganfeng Lithium and the Mavis and Raleigh projects with strategic partner Pioneer Resources Limited (PIO:ASX). The Mavis, Raleigh and Forgan projects together form the basis of the Company's newly created Upper Canada Lithium Pool designated to focus on acquiring numerous prospects with previously reported high concentrations of lithium in close proximity to existing infrastructure. With the increasing demand for high tech rechargeable batteries used in vehicle propulsion technologies and portable electronics, lithium is paramount to tomorrow's "green-tech", sustainable economy. By positioning itself with solid development partners and acquiring high quality grass roots projects at an early stage of exploration, ILC aims to be the resource explorer of choice for investors in green tech and build value for its shareholders. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Kirill Klip President, International Lithium Corp. For further information regarding this news release contact Caroline Klukowski (Corporate Communications) at 604.687.7551 or view the website at www.internationallithium.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 release. Statements in this press release other than purely historical information, historical estimates should not be relied upon, including statements relating to the Company's future plans and objectives or expected results, are forward-looking statements. News release contains certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in the Company's business, including risks inherent in resource exploration and development. As a result, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. SOURCE: International Lithium Corp. TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / July 26, 2016 / NOVADAQ Technologies Inc. (NVDQ) (NDQ.TO) will host a conference call and live webcast to discuss the results of the second quarter 2016, to be held Wednesday, July 27, 2016 at 4:30 PM Eastern Time. To participate in this event, dial 877-407-8031 domestically, or 201-689-8031 internationally, approximately 5 to 10 minutes before the beginning of the call. Additionally, you can listen to the event online at www.investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=175148 as well as via the NOVADAQ website (novadaq.com). If you are unable to participate during the live webcast, the event archive will be available at www.investorcalendar.com or novadaq.com. You may access the teleconference replay by dialing 877-660-6853 domestically or 201-612-7415 internationally, referencing conference ID # 13641209. The replay will be available beginning approximately 2 hours after the completion of the live event, ending at midnight Eastern on August 27, 2016. About Novadaq Technologies Inc. Enabling medical professionals with clinically relevant, point-of-care imaging solutions to enhance the lives of patients and their caregivers, while reducing health care costs, is NOVADAQ's global mission. SPY fluorescence imaging technology provides surgeons with real-time visualization, leading to improved outcomes and reduced costs without exposing the patient to radiation. More than 180 peer-reviewed publications demonstrate that the use of SPY imaging technologies during complex surgery and diagnostic procedures, leads to lower rates of post-operative complications and lower hospital costs. SPY Imaging Systems are United States Food and Drug Administration 510(k) cleared for use in seven surgical specialties. The endoscopic version of SPY called PINPOINT, combines the capabilities of SPY Imaging with high definition ("HD") visible light visualization offered by conventional endoscopes. LUNA is used to assess perfusion in patients being treated for non-healing wounds. In December 2014, NOVADAQ and LifeNet Health jointly announced the signing of a multi-year agreement appointing NOVADAQ the exclusive worldwide distributor of LifeNet Health's DermACELL acellular tissue products for wound and breast reconstruction surgery. SOURCE: Investor Calendar FORT WORTH, TX / ACCESSWIRE / July 26, 2016 / Range Resources Corporation (RRC) will host a conference call and live webcast to discuss the results of the second quarter 2016, to be held Wednesday, July 27, 2016 at 9:00 AM Eastern Time. To participate in this event, dial 877-407-0778 approximately 5 to 10 minutes before the beginning of the call. Additionally, you can listen to the event online at www.investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=175077 as well as via the Range Resources website (www.rangeresources.com). If you are unable to participate during the live webcast, the event archive will be available at www.investorcalendar.com or www.rangeresources.com. You may access the teleconference replay by dialing 877-660-6853, referencing conference ID # 13639393. The replay will be available beginning approximately 2 hours after the completion of the live event, ending at midnight Eastern on August 27, 2016. About Range Resources Corporation RANGE RESOURCES CORPORATION (RRC) is a leading independent oil and natural gas producer with operations focused in stacked-pay projects in the Appalachian Basin. The Company is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. More information about Range can be found at www.rangeresources.com. SOURCE: Investor Calendar Mark your calendars: A new iPhone could be in your hand in a little more than a month. Over the weekend, Evan Blass, who has made his bones leaking accurate details about upcoming smartphones, announced that the iPhone 7 would arrive the week of Sept. 12. In a subsequent tweet, Blass clarified that he meant the phone would go on sale that week, specifying Sept. 16 as the date Apple's next phone will hit retail shelves. That's a departure from how Apple has handled things the last couple of years. Typically, the company holds a press event in early September last year's edition took place Sept. 9 where it unveils the new iPhones along with any other hardware it's hoping to sell during the upcoming holidays. The phones usually arrive in stores a couple weeks later: in the case of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, that was on Sept. 25. MORE:iPhone 7 Pro Leaked - Why It Could Be the Ultimate Smartphone So if the iPhone arrives Sept. 16, when would Apple hold a press event to unveil the iPhone 7? Blass followed up with yet another tweet, claiming that iPhone 7 pre-orders would start on Sept. 9. "You can extrapolate the launch event date from there," he wrote. Apple generally starts taking iPhone pre-orders the week of its launch event, with the phone arriving just after that. Using Blass's projected calendar, that would mean Apple would take the wraps off the iPhone 7 the week of Sept. 5, with Tuesday or Wednesday the most likely days for a press event, since Monday, Sept. 5 is the Labor Day holiday in the U.S. Apple has plenty of incentive to get the iPhone 7 out as quickly as possible. Rival Samsung is planning an Aug. 2 press event in New York where it's expected to take the wraps off the Galaxy Note 7. That would give Samsung more than a month's head start if Apple were to stick to its usual schedule for fall releases. And Apple just reported another quarter of slumping iPhone sales, selling 40.4 million iPhones during its fiscal third third quarter. While that beat Wall Street expectations, it's still a 21 percent drop from what Apple sold in the same quarter a year ago. There's still lingering questions over how much excitement Apple can build for this fall's iPhone launch. Rumors surrounding the upcoming phone have yet to generate much buzz, as it's expected the new iPhones will drop the 3.5mm headphone jack while adding dual-lens cameras on the larger iPhones. Speaking of larger phones, Apple could be developing an iPhone Pro aimed at mobile users who view their phone as more of a laptop replacement. We'll find out if the next iPhone can exceed the tech industry's tepid expectations when Apple holds that iPhone 7 launch event. Let us know what your expectations are in the forums. Copyright 2016 Toms Guides , a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Tehran (AFP) - Iran's government said Tuesday it would cap salaries for public officials as it seeks to dampen a scandal over exorbitant pay that has threatened to derail President Hassan Rouhani's re-election hopes. The payslips of executives at several public companies were leaked in May, showing that many earned over 100 times more than the average worker. One bank director was paid some $60,000 a month -- compared with an average public sector salary of about $400. He was sacked along with three other bank directors last month, and the entire management of Iran's development fund was forced to resign shortly after. On Tuesday, the government said it would cap monthly salaries for public officials at 189 million rials ($6,100), and 100 million rials for those in political roles. Any payment beyond these limits would be considered "a violation and crime and they will face prosecution under the law", said government spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht. The scandal has gripped the country and provided ammunition for the conservative media to attack moderate president Rouhani ahead of the next election, due around May next year. It has added to criticism that the nuclear deal with world powers, which took effect in January, has brought few economic benefits to struggling Iranians. The source of the leaked payslips is not clear, but one reformist official, Abdollah Nasseri, has claimed hardline opponents of the government have 3,000 payslips of top officials that they intend to use to discredit Rouhani ahead of the election. Travelling by train is about to become a better experience with the upcoming Rail Radio service. After all, music and train journeys have always been great companions. By India Today Web Desk: No doubt Indian Railways has been taking train travel to an all new level with their initiatives this year. And all of them are dedicated towards making train journeys the preferred choice of transport for travellers. But this new development is about to bring smiles on many faces. Very soon, passengers will be able to tune in to popular FM radio stations while travelling on trains. With an aim to provide onboard infotainment to travellers, the Rail Radio will not only keep the passengers entertained with good music, it will also come in handy in emergency situations and disasters. advertisement The service will be started in as many as 1,000 Mail and Express trains, including Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto. Through Rail Radio, passengers will be kept updated with train-related information on hourly basis. The service will be used to issue alerts through the public address (PA) system in case of an emergency, according to the plan. Besides jokes, astrology and other trivia, the history of Indian Railway and its major activities will also be a part of the Rail Radio service. Music has always been a great companion in our train journeys and the upcoming Rail Radio service will soon be here as a reminiscence of this. (With inputs from PTI) --- ENDS --- Qalandiya (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israeli authorities early Tuesday destroyed 11 Palestinian homes in an area on the outskirts of Jerusalem divided from the city by Israel's separation wall, residents and an NGO said. A convoy of Israeli security vehicles and bulldozers carried out the overnight demolitions in Qalandiya,presumably because authorities allege the owners did not have building permits. Israeli authorities did not respond to requests for information on the demolitions. Two of the homes are considered part of the occupied West Bank and nine part of annexed east Jerusalem, Israeli NGO Ir Amim said. Two of the east Jerusalem homes were inhabited, it said. Clashes broke out during the demolitions, leaving several Palestinians wounded, according to the NGO. Among the structures destroyed was a two-storey building, leaving 44 people homeless, including 11 children, said Ir Amim. "The family claims to have received a building permit in 1983 from the Jerusalem municipality covering an area of 4,000 square meters, only half of which has been developed," it said. Mohammed al-Jouri, a resident whose home was destroyed, said Israeli authorities "warned us Monday afternoon that they were going to destroy our houses, some which were still under construction." Piles of rubble and metal rods could be seen in the area on Tuesday where houses previously stood. Residents sought to collect mattresses, electronic equipment and furniture still intact. Imad Abu Shalbek, whose brother's home was destroyed, said a notice had been posted by authorities behind the house that they had not seen until after the demolition. Shalbek was planning to take in his nephews for the time being. "The father invested all his life and his savings in that house and now he doesn't know where he is going to go," Shalbek said. Israel this year has ramped up demolitions of Palestinian structures it says lack permits. Story continues Permits are however nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain in the part of the West Bank under full Israeli control, which amounts to some 60 percent of the territory, UN officials say. Demolitions in east Jerusalem and the West Bank so far this year have already surpassed the amount for 2015. In east Jerusalem alone this year, 78 demolitions have occurred compared to 74 in 2015, Ir Amim said. "These efforts to break the contiguity of Palestinian east Jerusalem with the West Bank pose a severe threat to the two state solution," it added. Beyond the Qalandiya demolitions, others were also carried out in east Jerusalem on Tuesday. They included a home under construction and an auto repair business in the Issawiya area as well as a residential building in Ras al-Amud, the NGO said. Al-Fawwar (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israel reopened the main entrance to a Palestinian camp in the occupied West Bank Tuesday after keeping it closed for nearly a month in response to a series of attacks. The United Nations had accused the Israeli army of collectively punishing the 9,500 residents. The Fawwar refugee camp near Hebron had been closed off for at least 26 days as part of measures taken by the army after an attacker shot at an Israeli car on a nearby road on July 1, causing a crash that killed the driver. The shooter, who is believed to be still at large, was not from Fawwar but reportedly from the nearby town of Dura. The shooting came a day after a Palestinian stabbed a 13-year-old girl to death in her home in the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba on the outskirts of Hebron. Also on July 1, police said a Palestinian woman tried to stab an Israeli guard in Hebron and was shot dead. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Monday said that by closing the camp, the army was "collectively punishing innocent people for the acts of others". "These closures create serious challenges for UNRWA's humanitarian access, including the delivery of medical supplies, the removal of refuse from the camps, and the daily movement of agency staff working inside the camp," it said. On Tuesday morning an AFP journalist saw that Israeli soldiers had reopened the main checkpoint to the camp, with residents able to drive in and out for the first time in weeks. Previously residents wanting to travel to Hebron, usually just a few minutes' drive away, said they had to take an hour-long back route. Khalid Younes, head of the Fawwar Youth Centre, said he had undergone emergency surgery on his appendix during the closure. The ambulance had been forced to take a much longer route than normal to the hospital in Hebron, he said. "Had I been half an hour later my appendix would have burst and I could have died," he told AFP. Story continues The Israeli army said the closure was "in accordance with security necessities", citing "a significant number of terror attacks" in the area since October last year. It said movement restrictions were being gradually reduced, but did not say whether the opening of the barrier would be permanent. - Missing workdays - Younes said the closure had hurt the camp economically. "A lot of our young people, who don't have government work or aren't teachers, who work in companies, had to miss work as a result of the checkpoints," he said. Dura, the town where the attacker came from, was not under the same level of restrictions as Fawwar, several residents pointed out. Arafat Ghtash, deputy manager of a cement factory in Fawwar, told AFP the closure had hit his business hard. "Whereas you would do two or three deliveries in a day, now in a whole day you just do one," he said. Israeli forces often close towns and villages in the West Bank in steps they argue are necessary to prevent attacks. Many Palestinians fear the appointment of hardliner Avigdor Lieberman as defence minister in May will mean such measures become more common. Younes said he would be willing to be searched on leaving the camp, but completely closing the road was deeply damaging. "In the end, collective punishment is a crime because the people are not all one," he said. "There are old people, there are children and sick people." Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli private security guards at an east Jerusalem checkpoint on Tuesday shot and wounded an 18-year-old Palestinian suspected of planning to stab them, police said. "At the Qalandia checkpoint a young Arab woman... started to run toward the guards, who several times ordered her to stop," a police statement said. "When she did not comply and drew close to them they fired at her legs and neutralised her," it said. She was found to have been carrying a knife in her bag, it added. Violence in the Palestinian territories and Israel since last October has killed at least 217 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, according to an AFP count. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities. Others were shot dead during protests and clashes, while some were killed by Israeli air strikes on the Islamist-controlled Gaza Strip. The police statement said the woman, from nearby Kufr Akab village, was lightly wounded and treated by paramedics. Police said clashes erupted at the scene but security forces restored order. No injuries were reported. Earlier Tuesday there were clashes at neighbouring Qalandia village -- which straddles the line between east Jerusalem and the Israeli-occupied West Bank -- after Israel destroyed 11 Palestinian homes there. Israeli authorities did not respond to requests for information on the demolitions, but such cases are usually said to be because the owners did not have building permits. Such permits are however nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain in the part of the West Bank under full Israeli control, and extremely rare in east Jerusalem. PHILADELPHIA Theres nothing that quickens the pulses of the Democratic faithful like a convention address by a Kennedy. The lore goes back to John F. Kennedys presidential acceptance speech in Los Angeles in 1960. In a preview of the sacrifices he would ask of the American people in his first inaugural address, Kennedy said, The New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them. Four years later, Robert F. Kennedy eulogized his fallen brother at the party convention in Atlantic City, where he received a 22-minute ovation before he could speak. In what became known as the Stars Speech, RFK quoted a line from Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet that he said made him think about his brother. When he shall die, cut him into little stars, and he shall make the face of heaven so fond, that all the world will fall in love with night and pay no worship to the garish sun, Kennedy said. And in 1980, Edward Kennedy delivered a concession speech that made liberals who were disenchanted with Democratic President Jimmy Carter swoon. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die, the liberal lion intoned. (Twenty-eight years later, stricken with cancer, Kennedy reprised a version of those stirring lines in Denver at Barack Obamas first nominating convention.) These are hard Kennedy acts to follow. But Monday evening Joseph P. Kennedy III, the grandson of RFK, grandnephew of Jack Kennedy and son of the former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, took the stage at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia to see if he could work just a little of the old family magic. Kennedy, a two-term congressman from roughly the same district once held by JFK, introduced the opening nights keynote speaker, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, perhaps the partys feistiest progressive. Story continues Rep. Joe Kennedy, D-Mass., speaks during the first day of the Democratic National Convention. (Photo: Mark J. Terrill/AP) As the only member of the famous political clan currently holding political office, Kennedy seemed to understand that this was not his moment. But with his tousled red hair and chiseled features, he certainly looked the part. He spoke for about three minutes, starting with a self-deprecating story about being unprepared on his first day in Warrens class at Harvard Law School. He described Warren as a lawyer with a heart and sense of justice. She understood, Kennedy said, that our laws have human consequences and that fact fueled a law professor to take on this countrys most entrenched interests. In a sea of power and privilege, Kennedy added, Sen. Warren is an anchor for the voiceless and victimized. She asks more from all of us because she believes deeply in each of us. That faith in our country, in the American people, is the very foundation of our Democratic Party. A teetotaler who joined the Peace Corps after college and later became a prosecutor, Kennedy has pushed for funding of science and technology, economic opportunities for the poor and civil liberties. Just 35 years old, he would seem to have a promising future in Democratic politics even if (to paraphrase a onetime opponent of his great-uncle Ted) his name were Joseph Patrick. _____ Related slideshows: On the ground at the DNC a photo report >>> How newspapers covered the DNCs first big day >>> Demonstrators protest outside the DNC >>> By Crispian Balmer ROME (Reuters) - Ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has anointed Stefano Parisi, a former Internet executive and government economic adviser, as his political heir, giving him a mandate to relaunch Italy's splintered center-right. Parisi, 59, narrowly lost a mayoral election in Milan last month, impressing friends and foes alike with an upbeat campaign that came close to knocking the center-left from power in the country's financial capital. Looking to build on that experience, Parisi said last week he wanted to unite Italy's disparate conservatives and has now secured the blessing of Berlusconi, who asked him carry out a profound review of his own Forza Italy (Go Italy!) party. Berlusconi, who is 79 and underwent major heart surgery in June, said in a statement on Tuesday that he wanted Parisi to "come up with a project to relaunch and renew the position of moderate Italians in the political sphere". After months of relative calm in the often turbulent world of Italian politics, tensions are once again building ahead of a referendum on constitutional reform set for the autumn. Centre-left Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, 41, has said he will resign if he loses the vote. With the latest opinion polls running against him, there is a risk that general elections might have to be held more than a year ahead of schedule. Surveys show that if the conservatives unite behind a single leader they could win roughly the same support as Renzi's Democratic Party and the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement. "If Renzi loses the referendum, then we will need a candidate for the premiership and I want it to be you," la Repubblica newspaper quoted Berlusconi as telling Parisi. There was no immediate confirmation from Forza Italia. The party has been in disarray since Berlusconi was banned from public office following a conviction for tax fraud in 2013, but despite the internal chaos it remains a pivotal group on the fractured center-right. Parisi is a former CEO of Internet and telecoms company Fastweb and managing director of industry lobby Confindustria. Although his only elected experience is as a city councilor in Milan, he was previously a technocratic economic adviser to both center-left and center-right prime ministers in the 1990s. Known for his soft-spoken moderate tone, Parisi will need to develop a strategy for working with the anti-immigrant Northern League, Berlusconi's long-standing populist ally in government. The League polls at around 13-14 percent nationwide and considerably higher in the north, but the antics of its leader, Matteo Salvini, have offended moderates. On Monday, he raised fresh hackles by comparing the woman speaker of parliament to an inflatable sex doll. Under Berlusconi the center-right never won a national election without the support of the Northern League, and in recent public remarks Salvini has been cool toward the idea of Parisi as the new leader of the conservative bloc. (Additional reporting by Massimiliano di Giorgio; Editing by Paul Taylor) Prior to taking the stage at Night 1 of the Democratic National Convention, First Lady Michelle Obama was honored by J.J. Abrams with a video package commemorating her work for the betterment of others. VIDEOSSNL Vet (and U.S. Senator) Al Franken Gives Joke-Filled DNC Speech: Grade It! The Star Wars: The Force Awakens director/Alias creator produced the two-minute retrospective not only to pay tribute to the exiting FLOTUS, but to show the lasting impact shes had on an entire generation of children who look up to her for her admirable public service efforts. The First Lady has inspired me to become a stronger, more happy and independent young female, said one teenager interviewed for the video. Another youngin added that she wants kids to get out of their house instead of just sitting there on the couch, referencing Obamas Lets Move campaign to end childhood obesity. VIDEOSSarah Silverman Mocks Republican Presidential Candidates, Bernie or Bust Dems in DNC Speech FLOTUS most recently made headlines for an appearing alongside James Corden and Missy Elliot in Carpool Karaoke. Her Late Late Show sing-along was used as a means to promote Let Girls Learn, an initiative meant to raise funds for and bring awareness to the 62 million girls around the world who do not have access to education. What did you think of the Abrams-produced Michelle Obama retrospective? Weigh in via our poll, then sound off below. Related stories Stephen Colbert Introduces Identical Twin Cousin of Colbert Report Persona President Barack Obama Pleads 'Don't Boo, Vote,' Makes 'Birther' Movement Joke in Democratic Convention Speech Kristen Bell, Darren Criss, 'Cagney & Lacey' and More Pay Musical Tribute to Victims of Gun Violence at DNC Former James Bond star Roger Moore is mourning the death of his step-daughter after she died of cancer on Monday. Christina Knudsen was 47. Moore announced the news on Twitter, saying his family is "heartbroken" after her death and sharing two touching photos of Knudsen. "We were all with her, surrounding her with love, at the end," the 88-year-old British actor wrote. Knudsen, who Moore said was known as "Flossie," is the daughter of Kiki Tholstrup Moore's fourth wife, whom he married in 2002. A graduate from the University of Southern California with a major in literature and psychology, Knudsen also studied contemporary art for a master's degree at Christie's. She made her career in property development and interior design. Our beautiful daughter Christina (aka Flossie) lost her battle with cancer 25 July at 10am. We are heartbroken. pic.twitter.com/x0AQui2F8m a Sir Roger Moore (@sirrogermoore) July 26, 2016 We were all with her, surrounding her with love, at the end. pic.twitter.com/Eu5oePd2wN a Sir Roger Moore (@sirrogermoore) July 26, 2016 The Scandinavian blonde grew up in France, but called London her home for over 20 years. A divorce from investment banker Nikolaj Albinu and a split from ex-boyfriend and Skype co-founder Janus Friis after four years inspired her to launch a dating agency for jet-setters in 2014 called Ochun. "I think I didnat know myself that well when I got married and felt pressurized by society," she told London's Evening Standard at the time. "I wasnat yet able to listen to who I was and what I really wanted." Knudsen was also an avid equestrian, and owned seven horses. Wesko, her champion horse, was on the shortlist for the New Zealand team at the Rio Olympics. Moore and Tholstrup currently live in Switzerland. While he is best known for his role as secret agent 007 in the popular James Bond franchise seven films, including The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only, his humanitarian achievements on behalf of UNICEF has granted him many more honors. He was first appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1991, and has been a special ambassador for the U.N. children's charity since. Queen Elizabeth II named him a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in January 1999, and a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in June 2003. Like her father, Knudsen was also a UNICEF volunteer, developing a philanthropic group for the organization called Global Guardians. Sharmila has been on a hunger strike against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act since November 5, 2000. By India Today Web Desk: The Iron Lady of Manipur, Irom Sharmila, will break her 16-year-long fast on August 9 to contest elections in Manipur - a decision that;s being hailed as a "welcome change" by many. Here's all you need to know about her and her fight 1. Sharmila has been on a hunger strike against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act since November 5, 2000. Beginning her fast in Manipur's Malom, she declared she wouldn't eat, drink, comb her hair or look in a mirror until AFSPA was repealed. Three days later, she was arrested by the police and charged with an 'attempt to commit suicide'. advertisement 2. Following her arrest, Sharmila was forcefully fed through the nose to keep her alive. Her health has since deteriorated and she has been regularly arrested and released every year, most recently in March this year. 3. In March 2013, Sharmila was put on trial after she refused to plead guilty to the charge of attempting to commit suicide. She was accused of attempting suicide while undertaking a fast-unto-death at Jantar Mantar on October 4, 2006. 4. Sharmila has, on multiple occassions, said she was ready to end her fast if the controversial act was repealed. 5. She was asked to by two parties to stand in the national election in 2014, but she declined. She was then denied the right to vote as a person confined to jail cannot vote as per law. 6. Since 2000, Sharmila has not combed her hair and has met her mother only once. 7. Sharmila has been awarded the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights and a lifetime achievement award from the Asian Human Rights Commission, among various other felicitations for her struggle. WHY SHE BEGAN 1. Manipur has suffered from insurgency for decades, with multiple armed factions operating in India's north-eastern states, intra-tribal warfare, terrorism and even government-sponsored violence. 2. In 1958, centre passed AFSPA - a law that granted security forces the power to search properties without a warrant, arrest people and to use deadly force in case of a reasonable suspicion that the person is acting against the state. 3. In November 2000, an Assam Rifles convoy was attacked by insurgents near Malom, Manipur. In retaliation, the troops shot at civilians waiting at a nearby bus-stop killing 10 civilians. 4. The victims included 62-year-old Leisangbam Ibetombi and 18-year-old Sinam Chandramani, a 1988 National Child Bravery Award winner. It was this incident which provoked Sharmila to go on a hunger strike, she was just 28 at the time. --- ENDS --- By Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter Up until a narratively implausible and logistically ridiculous climactic motorcycle chase through Vegas that feels like a sop to the Fast & Furious crowd, Jason Bourne is an engrossing re-immersion in the violent and mysterious world of Matt Damons shadowy secret op. With director Paul Greengrass compulsively cutting the almost incessant action to the absolute bone in his trademark fashion and some solid new characters stirred in, Universals franchise refresher should have no problem being re-embraced by longtime series fans nine years on (not counting the lukewarm non-Damon stopgap The Bourne Legacy in 2012). Even though The Bourne Ultimatum theoretically resolved the root issues driving title characters distinctive identity crisis, Greengrass and his co-screenwriter (and film editor) Christopher Rouse now neatly re-position him as still in need of a little clarification and guidance in life. In fact, Bournes fortunes have now declined precipitously, as hes first glimpsed in rough rural Greece engaging in bare-knuckle fighting for pocket money. Hes still tough but, as the traces of gray hair attest, he wont survive too much longer on brawn alone. Related: Jason Bourne Premiere: Matt Damon Poses With Fans in London and More Photos From the Red Carpet As if anxious to serve up the first virtuoso action set-piece, Greengrass and Rouse quickly set the table back at Langley: New CIA director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) has a keen young analyst, Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander), who has located Bournes long-ago contact Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) and rightly suspects that she has gone over to the other side in possession of a top secret file, the public revelation of which could be worse than Snowden. For the better part of the next half-hour, the film bristles with visceral excitement. As Bourne and Parsons rendezvous in Athens, Deweys hired French assassin (cheekily named Asset and played with fierce menace by Vincent Cassel) pursues them through crowds of protestors that are moving through nocturnal streets, waving banners and, with gathering boldness, pushing matters closer to the edge of violence. Story continues From a stylistic point of view, this long sequence represents Greengrass at his visceral, impressionistic best: The seething movement and sense of incipient chaos seem less like choreography than action painting, with one potent, elusive image replacing the last as in a jagged-edged, constantly shifting jigsaw puzzle. The result is much like what you might remember if you experienced such an unnerving event in real life; it captures indelible moments and images rather than a full and coherent picture of it. Related: Matt Damon Totally Fine With Younger Actor Taking Over Jason Bourne The upshot is that the relentless Asset manages to accomplish just half of his job; its Bourne, of course, who gets away, with a file that supposedly reveals Black Ops secrets going way back, including the dirty secret about who killed Bournes father many years earlier. So everyones motives are firmly established: Heather wants to earn her stripes by being the one to finally bring Bourne in from the cold, Dewey needs to protect CIA secrets at all costs and Bourne, beyond surviving, is finally within reach of learning the truth once and for all. But yet another intriguing new character has been added to the ensemble, that being Aaron Kalloor (Riz Ahmed, star of HBOs The Night Of), a young king of Silicon Valley who, up to now, has played ball with Dewey in exchange for the latters help in establishing his start-up. Now, however, Kalloor feels the need to assure his 1.5 billion users that his Deep Dream platform will not allow the government in any under any circumstances, a move Dewey in no way appreciates. Notwithstanding Deweys promise to allow the ambitious Heather one shot at lassoing Bourne, the relentless Asset continues to hunt his prey, now in London. A long pursuit sequence through the citys gleaming new business district repeats many of the familiar moves, with characters darting quickly through crowds, from vulnerability to fleeting safety, with technology always in play and some resultant fatalities; it is, nonetheless, reliably tense. The actions final 40 minutes play out in Las Vegas, where the most anticipated event of a big tech convention is a Deep Dream symposium at which Kalloor and Dewey are to debate the contentious topic of web security vs. national security. With ace sharpshooter Asset on the loose, shadows of The Manchurian Candidate begin to loom over the big public event, especially as the CIA director has by now proven himself to be dependably duplicitous. To be sure, something happens to provoke widespread pandemonium and public panic, but the big action climax, a slam-bang speed race through a jam-packed nocturnal Strip, is as preposterous and incoherently staged as the Athens opening is striking and convincing. Not only that, but Assets reckless behavior seems totally out of character here in light of the instinct for self-preservation hes heretofore always exhibited. Unfortunately, then, the film ends on a flat, unimpressive note, as well as with the realization that, no matter how much time weve spent with them, the characters remain utterly one-dimensional. When, in earlier series entries, Bourne was emotionally bereft, obsessed about his father and determined to get to the bottom of things, there was always enough emotion to balance out the characters machine-like efficiency and blank memory chips. Here, despite the welcome hints of vulnerability introduced by advancing age, Bourne seems rather more recessive and unavailable, an issue stemming from the script (which provides him with precious few lines) rather than from Damon, who is impressively opening up as an actor with the years. Vikander is a very welcome addition to the series, her convincing intelligence and confident spirit lending credence to the idea that the CIA would engage someone so young for such an important position. But a moment or two of plain, simple humanity, a few lines or smart remarks unrelated to matters at hand, would have helped her breathe a whiff of real life into her character. In his few scenes, Ahmed makes a very strong impression as a young tycoon newly emboldened to hold his ground against overbearing government pressure. And it is good to see Julia Stiles back, however briefly. Technically and logistically, Greengrass delivers everything you expect from him; theres no one better when it comes to staging complex, chaotic action amid the real life of big cities. As before, cinematographer Barry Ackroyd is a great asset in this regard, and all production and effects hands join seamlessly in the achieved goal of physical verisimilitude. Production: Kennedy/Marshall Cast: Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassel, Julia Stiles, Riz Ahmed, Ato Essandoh, Scott Shepherd, Bill Camp, Vinzene Kiefer, Stephen Kunken Director: Paul Greengrass Screenwriters: Paul Greengrass, Christopher Rouse, based on characters created by Robert Ludlum Producers: Frank Marshall, Jeffrey M. Weiner, Ben Smith, Matt Damon, Paul Greengrass, Gregory Goodman Executive producers: Henry Morrison, Christopher Rouse, Jennifer Todd, Doug Liman Director of photography: Barry Ackroyd Art directors: Paul Kirby, Paul Inglis, Mark Scruton, Caty Maxey Costume designer: Mark Bridges Editor: Christopher Rouse Music: John Powell, David Buckley Visual effects supervisor: Charlie Noble Casting: Francine Maisler, Dan Hubbard R rating, 124 minutes On Monday's Conan, Australian comedian Jim Jeffries discussed gun control in the United States. A clip of his past standup special, Bare, is frequently shared after mass shootings. In it he discusses Australia outlawing guns after a massacre and how the call for gun control has differed in America. With the popular clip spreading across the internet, he's received some blowback from gun rights advocates. Jeffries said of the tragedy in Nice, France. "What happened in Nice is horrible. But the gun nuts, as soon as that happened in Nice, they all wrote to me because I'm the anti-gun guy. And they go, 'Well, maybe we should have a truck control.' And I'm like, 'We already have it.' You gotta get a license. You gotta register the truck. I can't get a truck. I don't have a truck license. I can't drive one." He also equated guns, which are described as tools for self-defense, with another dangerous tool. "And you can open carry a machine gun in Target but you can't open carry a chainsaw. That would be ridiculous. You can't walk into Target and say this is my protection chainsaw. The only way to stop a bad guy with a chainsaw is a good guy with a chainsaw." Jimmy Kimmel and Matt Damon dont get along or at least, we all have to pretend to believe them when they tell us that. For years, the two have made fun of each other, with their exchanges becoming viral on the internet. Kimmel is not yet ready to make peace with Damon, his archenemy, and he decided to set the record straight on Damon in a recent interview. DONT MISS: Apples iPhone 7 finally gets a release date Talking to GQ, which is getting ready to publish an oral history of Matt Damon cover story for its August issue, Kimmel revealed some little-known details about his relationship with Damon. I guess the same way you become aware of herpes or chlamydia, the talk show host said when asked how he became aware of his enemy. I think probably the first I heard of him was when he played, uh, the teacher's boyfriend in that movie that they mistakenly gave him an Academy Award for. He went on to say that the worst thing Damon did to him was to have sex with his girlfriend and then make a song about it. Kimmel then said Matt Damons insecurity is the one thing the world doesnt see. If he wasn't such a jerk, you'd feel sorry for him. But just the fact that he sits in that dressing room waiting to come on the show every night. I mean, it's pathetic. He also revealed that Damon is 63, his personal style is date rapey, hes pure evil, and he smells like a zoo animal. The most Matt Damon thing that Matt Damon has ever done was when he went to Mars and made the United States spend almost a billion dollars to rescue him. Kimmel thinks the US government should have spent forty dollars, tops for that mission. Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com A Nevada judge has decided he'll allow a defendant to cover his white supremacist facial tattoos as he stands trial for armed robbery. The unusual move was made to help ensure Bayzle Morgan, 24, gets a fair shake from jurors despite his tattoos, which include a swastika and the words "baby Nazi." Morgan, who also faces murder charges in an unrelated case, has other facial tattoos that include "Most Wanted" written across his forehead, the Iron Cross on the back of his head, and two tattoos where his eyebrows are meant to be. Read: Governor Denies Youngest Manson Family Member's Parole After Board Recommended She Be Freed District Judge Richard Scotti ordered the ink be covered up after an attempt to pick a jury in the trial had to be scrapped when everyone summoned said they'd feel biased because of the nature of Morgan's tattoos, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. A makeup artist was brought into the courtroom Friday after the trial was delayed for more than a month before the decision was made to cover all of Morgan's tattoos. Read: At Least 15 Killed in Stabbing Rampage at Facility for Handicapped People: 'I Want to Get Rid of the Disabled' The makeup artist spent two hours applying makeup as Morgan sat restrained in his orange jumpsuit. The judge then deemed the cover-up effective before the makeup was removed and Morgan taken back to jail. He was expected back in court on Monday, complete with makeup, to begin his trial for allegedly stealing a motorcycle at gunpoint in 2013. Morgan will again face a jury next month when his capital murder trial begins in which he's accused of killing a 75-year-old woman while allegedly robbing her home. Watch: 20-Year-Old UC Berkley Student Among Those Killed In Nice Terrorist Attack Related Articles: The 42-year-old activist, popularly known as Iron Lady, intends to join politics and contest the 2017 Assembly election in Manipur. By Manogya Loiwal : After nearly 16 years of a controversial fast-unto-death protest, rights activist Irom Sharmila will be breaking her fast on this 9th of August. Sharmila has also expressed her desire to contest in the elections in Manipur which are to be held in 2017. IRON LADY OF MANIPUR Famous by the name of Iron Lady of Manipur, the 44-year-old human rights activists had begun her non-violent protest in November of 2000 against the Armed Forces Specials Powers Act (AFSPA) after 10 people were killed by troops of the Assam Rifles in Malom near Imphal airport. advertisement Booked under the Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) several times on charges of attempt to suicide, she was kept at the JawaharLal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital and force-fed through a nasal tube for many years. At the Imphal Court to mark her 15 days of attendance, Sharmila while addressing the media expressed her disappointment with the government and said she wanted to take the matter up in a different way now. "I have made a decision to change my movement, as I have realized that there is a need to change the administration system in order to be heard. So I will join politics and my fight will continue this way." said Sharmila on her way out of the local court just after the hearing on Tuesday. TO CONTESTING AS AN INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE Sharmila will be contesting as an Independent candidate and will be focusing on the issue of anti-AFSPA. Insisting that her fight against the Armed forces will continue, albeit in a different way, Sharmila said she no more depends on this trial and will take a different approach to get her demands heard. "I no longer believe that my fast will lead to the repeal of the AFSPA but I will continue the fight." she added. SHARMILA'S FIGHT AGAINST AFSPA Large parts of North Eastern states and Kashmir, which are termed as 'disturbed areas' are covered by the Armed Forces and they have been many times criticised for violating human rights. In power since 1958, the forces have the liberty to search and shoot at sight, something or someone that has been a major cause of concern. Irom has been the major voice of protest against the act and the topic has often hit headlines in the span of more than a decade during her ongoing fast. Earlier in June, in a major ruling, the Supreme Court heavily criticised the excessive force used by the army asked for probe in over a 1000 fake encounters in the region, which were the reasons for several protests in the past. Regarding Manipur, the court had observed that the situation was never really bad for the retaliatory force that was used there. advertisement The attempt to suicide case against Sharmila was dismissed in December of 2014, when the Centre scrapped it from the Indian Penal Code that year. Furthermore, in March this year the Delhi trial court had acquitted Irom Sharmila in an 'attempt to suicide' case that was filed against her in 2006 when she had held a fast-unto-death protest at Jantar Mantar. ALSO READ | All you need to know about Irom Sharmila Irom Sharmila released by Manipur court after arrest --- ENDS --- July 26 (Reuters) - Ongoing budget woes in Kansas led Standard & Poor's on Tuesday to downgrade the state's credit rating by one notch to AA-minus with a stable outlook. The rating agency, which put Kansas on review for a possible downgrade in April, also dropped the rating on appropriation-backed state debt to A-plus from AA-minus. "The downgrade reflects what we believe to be structural budget pressures, as reflected by draw downs in reserve levels to what we consider very low levels during a period of national economic expansion, despite four rounds of midyear adjustments in fiscal 2016," S&P credit analyst David Hitchcock said in a statement. Kansas budget revenue has fallen below estimates in the wake of tax cuts. As a result, the state has tapped its transportation fund and deferred pension payments to boost its budget. Kansas ended fiscal 2016 on June 30 with an estimated $41.2 million general fund balance, which is equal to a slim 0.7 percent of expenditures, according to S&P. It added that a structurally balanced budget with fatter reserves could earn Kansas a higher rating, while further budget and liquidity deterioration could lead to another downgrade. Eileen Hawley, a spokeswoman for Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, said the state has boosted pension funding and transportation spending. "It is clear we have additional work to do to put Kansas on more secure financial footing and we look forward to working with the legislature to address higher than anticipated government expenditures, caused in part by court-ordered K-12 spending," she said in a statement. Kansas is battling public school districts in state court over funding. The state's highest court is scheduled to take up the question of adequate funding in September. (Reporting by Karen Pierog in Chicago; Editing by Matthew Lewis) PHILADELPHIA The first Muslim elected to Congress warned Democrats on Monday that staying home in November would amount to a surrender to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his discriminatory agenda. Rep. Keith Ellisons remarks came as he introduced Sen. Bernie Sanders here at the Democratic National Convention, a gathering marred by intra-party divisions between the unconventional Vermonters supporters and backers of the presumptive nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Trump wants to divide and conquer us with his anti-Muslim, anti-Mexican, anti-worker message. They dont want us to vote, the Minnesotan lawmaker said. We must push back. Not voting is not a protest. It is surrender. Ellisons message may have been aimed at hardcore Sanders supporters, like some delegates to the convention who have booed almost every mention of Clintons name. While polls show most of Sanders backers have lined up behind Clinton, some Democrats worry that the margin in November could be so close, even a modest number of abstentions could be politically risky. His reference to an anti-Muslim message at least partly referred to Trumps controversial push to freeze travel by Muslims to the United States temporarily. The brash entrepreneur unveiled the policy in December 2015, calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States. That language is still displayed on his official campaign website. But in his speech to the Republican National Convention last week, Trump said the United States must immediately suspend immigration from any nation that has been compromised by terrorism, until such time its proven that vetting mechanisms have been put in place. Those remarks omitted the religious component of the ban. In a weekend interview with NBCs Meet the Press, the GOP nominee denied that he was pulling back from this initial proposal. Trump, who indicated that his proposal would apply to major countries like France, told moderator Chuck Todd: I actually dont think its a pullback. In fact, you could say its an expansion. Story continues The former reality show star added: People were so upset when I used the word Muslim.Oh, you cant use the word Muslim! Remember this. And Im OK with that because Im talking territory instead of Muslim. But just remember this, our Constitution is great. Yahoo News reached out to the Trump campaign to get a little clarity on the policy. But spokeswoman Hope Hicks did not answer an email asking whether the new wording meant Trump was dropping the religious test, what makes a country compromised by terrorism and whether the ban would apply to Britain, Russia or Israel. _____ Related slideshows: On the ground at the DNC a photo report >>> How newspapers covered the DNCs first big day >>> Demonstrators protest outside the DNC >>> By Lesley Wroughton and Stephanie Nebehay VIENTIANE/GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it hoped to announce in early August details of planned military cooperation and intelligence sharing with Russia on Syria, and a United Nations envoy said he would also aim to resume peace talks next month. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington and Moscow, which support opposing sides in Syria's five-year-old conflict, had made progress in recent days towards working more closely together. The proposals would have the two powers share intelligence to coordinate air strikes against the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front and prohibit the Syrian air force from attacking rebel groups labeled as moderate. Efforts to bridge the divide between the United States and Russia and bring Syrian government and opposition forces back to negotiations come after pro-government forces have effectively put rebel-held districts of Aleppo under siege. Concern is growing for at least 250,000 people who have been trapped in rebel-controlled eastern Aleppo since early July, and the U.N aid chief asked on Monday for weekly 48-hour pauses in fighting to allow food and aid to be delivered. Syrian state television said on Tuesday the army had sent text messages to residents and fighters in eastern Aleppo, saying it will grant safe passage to whoever wants to leave and asking militia to put down their weapons. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said 25 people, including three women and eight children, were killed in the last 24 hours in the Mashhad quarter of rebel-held Aleppo, when it was hit by barrel bombs thrown from helicopters. In Geneva, U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said he aimed to convene a new round of peace talks toward the end of August, quietly scrapping a previous Aug. 1 deadline to reach agreement on a framework for a political transition. "Our aim, let me say very clearly, is to proceed with a third round of intra-Syrian talks towards the end of August," De Mistura told reporters after meeting U.S. Syria envoy Michael Ratney and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov. De Mistura said he strongly hoped Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would make concrete and visible progress because that would improve the situation on the ground and the environment for the peace talks, although such progress was not a precondition for talks. The U.S. State Department said in a statement after the Geneva meeting that Washington and Moscow had urged the United Nations to prepare a proposal for political transition - based on Security Council resolutions and input from Syrian parties - which would serve as the starting point for future talks. The statement said Washington had emphasized the need to restore "compliance with the terms of the cessation of hostilities - particularly in Aleppo city - as well as the need to improve humanitarian access, as positive progress in these areas would significantly improve the prospects for successful talks". U.S. SCEPTICISM Kerry has defended the proposal despite deep scepticism among top American military and intelligence officials, including Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford, over working with Russia. "My hope is that somewhere in early August we would be in a position to stand up in front of you and tell you what we're able to do with the hopes it can make a difference to lives of people in Syria and to the course of the war," Kerry said after meeting Lavrov. During the discussions, he and Lavrov outlined the next stage of implementing the plan, including a series of technical-level meetings to address concerns by the U.S. military and intelligence officers. Kerry's State Department and White House allies say the plan is the best chance to limit the fighting that is driving thousands of Syrian civilians - with some trained Islamic State fighters among them - into exile in Europe, and preventing humanitarian aid from reaching tens of thousands more. A senior Western diplomat said the lack of transparency of the U.S.-Russia talks was frustrating and - with what the diplomat said was increased targeting of civilians and hospitals on the ground - it was hard to foresee any deal. "The Americans are risking a lot for a deal that is as unlikely to be honored as previous engagements the Russians have made," the diplomat said. Another diplomat said it was unlikely De Mistura would meet his new target of resuming talks in August. "In reality it means there will be nothing in August, it means September," the diplomat said. "The window of opportunity is extremely limited after that ... Military cooperation has become a pre-requisite,(peace talks) wont advance without it". "HORRENDOUS" SITUATION Syria's government said on Sunday it was ready for further peace talks with the opposition and that it was intent on a political solution to the conflict. Basma Kodmani, a member of the main Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee, said the HNC was "open to going back to Geneva to discuss options" but added that there must be a reduction in the current level of violence. "The situation is absolutely horrendous at this moment," she told Reuters. "What Mr De Mistura is probably hoping is that the agreement between Russia and the U.S. will result in a halt to the regime's raids, and Russian air raids as well." Russia's military intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad last year helped to turn the tide of the war after the government had lost ground to rebel fighters in the west of the country. On Sunday Syrian government air strikes put four hospitals in Aleppo province out of action, while several people in the government-controlled ancient quarter of Damascus were killed when a mortar bomb hit a restaurant. International humanitarian groups have condemned the tightening siege on rebel-held parts of Aleppo city. "Food there is expected to run out over the next few weeks," a joint statement from international aid groups including Oxfam and Mercy Corps said on Tuesday. "A food warehouse was also targeted with almost 10,000 food parcels destroyed, while fuel ... is dangerously low," the statement said. The United Nations said a 48-truck convoy of international aid organizations was heading to the besieged areas of Talbiseh in northern Homs province, carrying food aid for 40,000 people. (Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva and Dominic Evans and Lisa Barrington in Beirut; Editing by David Stamp and Bill Rigby) Philadelphia (AFP) - Day one of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia was marked by party infighting, an impassioned endorsement of Hillary Clinton from First Lady Michelle Obama and a call for unity from Bernie Sanders. Here are some key quotes from the event's opening day: Clear choice "Any objective observer will conclude that -- based on her ideas and her leadership -- Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. (...) I am proud to stand with her tonight." -- Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton's onetime campaign rival Breaking the glass ceiling "Because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all of our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States." -- First Lady Michelle Obama, emotionally making the case for Clinton Trump: the art of the speech "Last week, Donald Trump spoke for more than an hour on the biggest stage he's ever had, but other than talking about building a stupid wall, which will never get built -- other than that wall, did you hear any actual ideas?" -- Senator Elizabeth Warren, a liberal firebrand America is already great "Don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great, that somehow we need to make it great again, because this right now is the greatest country on Earth." -- Michelle Obama Real solutions "This election is about which candidate understands the real problems facing this country and has offered real solutions - not just bombast, not just fear-mongering, not just name-calling and divisiveness." -- Bernie Sanders Criminals and rapists? No. "When Donald Trump calls us criminals and rapists, he's insulting American families. My father isn't a criminal or a rapist. In fact, he's a United States veteran." -- actress Eva Longoria, who is Mexican-American Feeling the Bern? Get over it "To the 'Bernie or bust' people, you're being ridiculous." Story continues -- comedian Sarah Silverman, a Sanders supporter shifting gears to back Clinton and urging Sanders diehards to join her Studying at Trump U "I got my doctorate in megalomania studies from Trump University." -- Senator Al Franken, a former star and writer for "Saturday Night Live," bringing a bit of biting levity to the proceedings Trump rebuttal "Bernie Sanders totally sold out to Crooked Hillary Clinton. All of that work, energy and money, and nothing to show for it! Waste of time." -- Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, on Twitter Khloe Kardashian was "fired," but she never wanted to be hired! The reality star talked to Chelsea Handler on her Netflix show, Chelsea, about her 2009 appearance on Celebrity Apprentice with Donald Trump, and did not have fond memories of her time on the show. "I didn't care to do Celebrity Apprentice," the 32-year-old admitted. "My mom made me do it." WATCH: Khloe Kardashian Praises 'Savage' Sister Kim, Slams Chloe Grace Moretz Amid Taylor Swift Drama "I hated every minute of it," Khloe added, saying that during the challenges, "I was put in situations I would never be in in real life." Finally, she revealed, after "stressing myself out, and then dealing with [Trump], and about to be fired, I'm like, 'F**k you,' I don't want to do this.'" WATCH: Khloe Kardashian Stuns in 'Harper's Bazaar' Photoshoot, Says Before Weight Loss Stylists Rejected Her Because She 'Was Too Big' And while she attributed her disdain to the experience overall rather than on the TV series' former host, Khloe did throw shade at the current Republican presidential nominee when asked by Chelsea whether her mom thought Trump would make a good president. "I don't think so, no," she shared, prompting Chelsea to joke back, "I wanted to see what she thinks, so I'd know what you think." Khloe laughed off the dig at her "momager's" influence over her kids, but also confirmed, "I don't think he would make a good president." WATCH: Khloe Kardashian Opens Up About Living Alone After Rob Moved Out, How She Combats 'Lonely Energy' However, to be fair to Trump, Khloe also failed to endorse her own mother, when Chelsea asked whether she'd support a potential Kris run for the Oval Office. "I love my mom, I don't think I would get behind it," she revealed. "I just don't know if we're ready for the White House." Story continues Check out the whole discussion below. WATCH: Khloe Kardashian Reveals She Moved Out of the House at 16 to Live With an 'Older Man' Shockingly, Khloe's brother-in-law, Kanye West's, 2020 presidential run didn't come up for debate! Meanwhile, though Khloe is not in Trump's camp, she also found herself at odds recently with a prominent celebrity Hillary Clinton supporter. Watch the video below for all the drama that pitted "Khloe with a K" against Chloe Grace Moretz. Related Articles Many a car enthusiast has dreamed of presiding over a sprawling collection of classic and rare cars, one day hoping to create their own car museum. Admittedly, its a long road to travelpun intendedbut not an impossible one. Globe-trotting automotive devotee and museum curator Miguel Llorente shares that exciting dream, except hes not dreaming anymore. Hes taking action to turn his museum dreams into reality, beginning with a new Kickstarter campaignCurator on the Go. In the longterm, Llorente hopes to open a world-class public automotive museum in the United Arab Emirates, what he referred to as a Petersen of the East, showcasing the worlds most important automotive creations. Short-term, hes planning to criss-cross the USA, stopping at 80 of the nations best automotive institutions to research this museum endeavor and highlight each of the stops along the way. Want to support his goal? His Curator on the Go Kickstarter campaign is the first part of the adventure. RELATED: Kickstarter Project Turns Wheelchairs into Amazing Halloween Costumes Llorentes 80 museum research trip is scheduled to begin on September 7th in Iowa, first heading west towards Washington and California, before dipping south through Arizona and Texas, and then spanning the midwest and scads of institutions on Americas east coast. Planned stops include the famed LeMay Museum (Tacoma, Washington), Jay Lenos Garage (Burbank, California), the Petersen Museum (Los Angeles, California), the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center (Irvine, California), the Henry Ford Museum (Dearborn, Michigan), and the National Corvette Museum (Bowling Green, Kentucky). It wont be Llorentes first exploit either. In the past, Llorente has co-hosted the YouTube series Open Roads, driven and blogged across the PanAmerican highway in a vintage Mercedes wagon, curated the Al Ain Classic Car Museum in the United Arab Emirates, and even located a rarified Mercedes-Benz 300SL gullwing on the backroads of Cuba. Story continues Curator on the Go marks a significant step towards curating his own public classic car museum. Miguel, best of luck! RELATED: 9 Car Museums to Visit on Google Maps - The mother-in-law of Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has been kidnapped for ransom in her home city of Sao Paulo, Brazilian media reported. Aparecida Schunck Flosi Palmeira, 67, was seized Friday night in Interlagos, the Sao Paulo neighborhood that hosts the Brazilian circuit of the F1 Grand Prix, TV Globo reported. There was no confirmation from Brazilian officials or from Ecclestone's staff in London. "We neither confirm nor deny this report," a spokesman for the regional security ministry told AFP. "That is our policy in cases of suspected kidnapping, to avoid putting the lives of potential victims in danger." AFP Hearing a petition filed by the Tamil Nadu asking the Supreme Court to lift the ban on Jallikattu, the top court said that the bull-taming sport during Pongal can't be justified because of some tradition. By India Today Web Desk: "So what if it is 5000-years-old. It can not be justified in name of tradition," the Supreme Court snapped the Tamil Nadu government over its plea requesting the top court to lift the ban over the centuries old bull-taming sport. "Your argument doesn't hold any water. In 1899, ten thousand girls, below 12 years of age, were married. Should it be allowed today just because it was tradition then?" Justice Deepak Mishra said. advertisement The apex court's stern response came after the Tamil Nadu government argued that Jallikattu should be permitted as it showcases a cultural tradition that has been part of the custom and culture of people of the state for 5,000 years. The final hearing in the matter has been fixed for August 23. WHAT IS JALLIKATTU Jallikattu, also known Eruthazhuvuthal, is a bull-taming contest held in Tamil Nadu as part of Pongal celebrations on Mattu Pongal day. Earlier, the Supreme Court had passed a stay order on the Modi government's lifting of four-year-old ban on holding of Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu. Also Read: Centre allows Jallikattu despite massive protests Govt, Animal Welfare Board lock horns over Jallikattu Jallikattu duel not over yet: The culture vs cruelty debate --- ENDS --- The Four Seasons restaurant has some pretty dedicated fans. The famed Midtown Manhattan power lunch spot, which closed July 16 for an upcoming relocation, is now auctioning off its furniture, dining ware, and signage. The auction is currently being held in the middle of the landmark restaurant's dining room floor, which could explain why prices have soared. This morning, The Four Seasons' sign which was estimated by the Wright auction house to sell for between $5,000 and $7,000 sold to an unknown bidder for a whopping $96,000. The sign used to hang on the restaurant's 52nd Street entrance and depicts the famous Four Seasons trees. Other highlights: A pair of the famed Ludwig Mies van der Rohe-designed chairs sold for $17,000, while the accompanying ottomans sold for $18,000. A set of four branded ashtrays, meanwhile, sold for $10,000. #FourSeasons auction: first ten lots all way above estimates. Lobby Barcelona chairs 17K, ottomans 18K, bronze sign 96K Paul Goldberger (@paulgoldberger) July 26, 2016 The auction of the Four Seasons restaurant contents show you: 1. How beloved the institution was 2. How much disposable income is out there Rex Kramer (@RexDangerSeeker) July 26, 2016 Philip Johnson's corner banquette Table 32 goes at #fourseasons auction for $28K, which it probably generated w 2 months of lunch checks Paul Goldberger (@paulgoldberger) July 26, 2016 At #fourseasons auction/dismemberment: doing it in the actual space surely has helped bring wild prices pic.twitter.com/Q21r4UclNT Paul Goldberger (@paulgoldberger) July 26, 2016 You can see all the auction's results on Wright's website. Story continues four seasons auction NOW WATCH: Wasabi served at sushi restaurants across the US might not be what you think it is More From Business Insider Tim Cook Finance Insider is Business Insider's summary of the top stories of the past 24 hours. To sign up, scroll to the bottom of this page and click "Get updates in your inbox," or click here. The warning signs for the global economy are stacking up. Everyone on Wall Street is talking about a small, secretive hedge fund that is posting crazy returns. Billionaire investor Steve Cohen has a new mantra, and this is the guy enforcing it. And David Einhorn is back on his jelly donut kick. Apple will report quarterly earnings this afternoon, and if it misses this key number, it means Tim Cook is misjudging his business. The CFA Level 1 and 2 results are in. Finally, the king of New York City's power lunch may have closed, but a fan just bought its sign for $96,000. Here are the top Wall Street headlines at midday: Goldman Sachs is having a rough week The private equity firm Primus Pacific Partners a shareholder of one of Goldman's clients, the Malaysian bank EON Capital is suing the firm for $510 million. The hedge fund industry has a 'real problem,' but it's not the one you think The hedge fund industry is struggling. Marc Benioff tried to buy LinkedIn even after it announced the deal with Microsoft After LinkedIn officially announced that it had sold itself to Microsoft for $26.2 billion in cash last month, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, a rival bidder, didn't give up right away. David Einhorn closed his investor letter with an interesting quote about Tesla Greenlight Capital founder David Einhorn placed an interesting quote about Tesla at the end of this second-quarter investor letter. Story continues Here's why investing in China is 'crazy ... literally' For those who have been following Asian markets for some time, Taiwan and China are looking awfully similar. A Silicon Valley banker says this is the most surprising trend he's seen in healthcare The travails of Theranos once a Silicon Valley favorite, now a poster child for what can go wrong with hot startups have done nothing to slow investment in the healthcare sector. Silicon Valley's legendary investors are stuck in the past It turns out that corporate governance is about more than just lawyers endlessly droning on about Delaware law after all. More From Business Insider Moscow (AFP) - The Kremlin on Tuesday dismissed allegations that Russia was behind a hack of the Democratic National Committee's emails as absurd, mocking what it called obsessive references to Russia in the US presidential campaign. "This absurd news was immediately refuted by the family of the well-known presidential candidate," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, referring to Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. "We are still seeing attempts to obsessively use the topic of Russia during the US electoral campaign," Peskov complained. "Unfortunately Russia is being used in the electoral campaign in the US. Unfortunately this traditional game is continuing. "We think that's not very good for bilateral relations but we understand that we need to get through this unfavourable period." Trump has made no secret of his admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, leading some to conjecture that the Kremlin strongman was working to put the real estate billionaire in the White House. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier shrugged off the accusations by the Hillary Clinton campaign that Russia was involved in the embarrassing leak of emails. Ahead of meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry in Laos, Lavrov said simply: "I don't want to use four-letter words." By Andrew Osborn and Dmitry Solovyov MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin dismissed as absurd on Tuesday allegations it was behind the hacking of U.S. Democratic Party emails, saying unidentified individuals were trying to cynically exploit fear of Russia for electoral purposes. It responded after cyber security experts and U.S. officials said there was evidence Russia had engineered the release of sensitive Democratic Party emails in order to influence the November 8 U.S. presidential election. The emails, released by activist group WikiLeaks at the weekend, appeared to show favouritism within the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for Hillary Clinton and prompted the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. President Vladimir Putin has tried to avoid giving the impression he favours any U.S. candidate, but has hailed Republican Party nominee Donald Trump as being "very talented". Russian state TV, which hews closely to the Kremlin's world view, has left little doubt however that Moscow would prefer Trump. It casts Clinton, whom Putin accused of stirring up protests against him in her role as U.S. Secretary of State in 2011, as a warmonger. "We are again seeing these maniacal attempts to exploit the Russian theme in the U.S. election campaign," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the leaked emails. "This is not breaking new ground, this is an old trick which is being played again. This is not good for our bilateral relations, but we understand that we simply have to get through this unpleasant period." U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said earlier on Tuesday he had raised the hacking issue at a meeting in Laos with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. "I don't want to use four-letter words," was Lavrov's only response to reporters when asked whether Russia was responsible for the email hack. Earlier this month, Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to Trump, visited Moscow, where he gave a lecture complaining that Western governments had often had a hypocritical focus on democratisation in the post-Soviet world. Analysts say the Kremlin would welcome a Trump win because the billionaire U.S. businessman has repeatedly praised Putin, spoken of wanting to get along with Russia, and has said he would consider an alliance with Moscow against Islamic State. Trump's suggestion he might abandon NATO's pledge to automatically defend all alliance members is also likely to have gone down well in Moscow, where the military alliance is cast as an outdated Cold War relic. (Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, Lesley Wroughton, Simon Webb; Editing by Catherine Evans) Montreal (AFP) - Former Grand Slam champions Petra Kvitova and Samantha Stosur were unfazed by opening-day weather delays, cruising into the second round of the WTA hardcourt tournament in Montreal. Two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova, seeded 12th, needed just 59 minutes to get past Poland's Magda Linette 6-1, 6-2. The Czech, who won her first North American hardcourt title in Montreal in 2012, didn't face a break point against the young Pole, who pushed former world number one Venus Williams to three sets in Stanford last week. Kvitova, playing her first tournament since Wimbledon, broke Linette twice in each set and finished her off with an ace. Former US Open champion Stosur, seeded 13th, had to work a little harder to dispatch Britain's Heather Watson 7-5, 6-3. After some first-set struggles, however, she broke Watson three times in the second to wrap up the win. "To get through in straight sets, I'm pretty happy," the Australian said. "Overall I thought I served pretty well. There weren't a lot of points off my serve where she could dictate off the first shot." A string of rain delays stopped play for a total of four hours. Organizers eventually pushed the scheduled last match of the night, between Canadian Francoise Abanda and Chinese qualifier Zheng Saisai, to Tuesday. The only other seed in action, 17th-seeded Elina Svitolina, advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over American qualifier Jennifer Brady. The top eight seeds -- now led by second-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany after the late injury withdrawal of world number one Serena Williams -- have first round byes. Croatia's Mirjana Lucic-Baroni booked a second-round meeting with Wimbledon finalist Kerber with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Japan's Nao Hibino. Britain's Naomi Broady beat Puerto Rico's Monica Puig 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 to line up a clash with third-seeded French Open champion Garbine Muguruza -- who was installed at the top of the revised draw after Williams pulled out with inflammation in her shoulder. It is a secretive communist state with a sprawling security apparatus, but Laos has turned to a less menacing demographic to protect visiting dignitaries this week: bookish students. The authoritarian nation, which rarely allows in foreign media, has been thrust into the international spotlight as a regional security summit brings a coterie of top diplomats to its dusty capital Vientiane. As ministers hustle through the wide corridors of the Chinese-built National Convention Centre, lines of students, mostly petite women in traditional sinh wrap skirts, link arms to keep the hordes of reporters back. That is in stark contrast to the unseemly scenes that accompanied one of the more robust delegations. North Korean heavies had a bust-up with a journalist from the South who got too close to Pyongyang's envoy Ri Yong-Ho on the airport tarmac as he landed on Sunday. The journalist apparently came off worst, suffering injuries to his face, according to his Seoul-based employer news agency Yonhap. Students from the National University of Laos -- armed with little more than walkie talkies and patience -- have been drafted in as volunteer security guards to keep the peace elsewhere. "We have to prevent the media (from getting) close to the ministers. The media want to do their job very much so we have to do our job intensely also," one 20-year-old student told AFP. - Dreaming big - For many, it is a rare opportunity to socialise with foreigners who are not backpackers, the most frequent western visitor to tropical Laos. Many of the students, who were all wary of giving their names in the closely-controlled country, said they were hoping to one day swap places with those they are assigned to protect. One told AFP she dreamed of being a future ambassador to South Korea -- and was currently working part-time in a Korean restaurant to brush up her language skills -- while another had her eye on a Europe posting. "I want to work for the ministry of foreign affairs if I have the chance," said one student who had just finished her third year studying international relations. Story continues But possibly because of the runway run-in, the students weren't called on to provide security at a meeting on Monday between North Korea's newly minted Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho and his Chinese counterpart. Instead menacing plain-clothed security and helmeted military police armed with stun-batons and handguns stood guard. As the diplomatic big hitters such as US Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived the professionals appeared to take over, with burly men dressed in dark suits flanking their guys as they swept between meetings. That left the diminutive student minders feeling a little out of their depth. "We have no experience of this so it has been difficult," said one twenty-year-old man. The incident occurred when Border Security Forces (BSF) exchanged fire with terrorists in the region. By India Today Web Desk: 4 terrorists were killed and one apprehended in an encounter with security forces in Naugam sector near the Line of Control in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir today. The incident occurred when Border Security Forces (BSF) exchanged fire with terrorists in the region. Sources revealed that the terrorist arrested is a citizen of Pakistan. advertisement Four terrorists have been killed while one has been apprehended alive during an operation in Naugam sector,?? an official said. Lauding the efforts of the security forces, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said, "It is a big achievement that a terrorist was apprehended alive in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district". Consider it a big achievement that a terrorist was apprehended alive in J&K's Kupwara district-MoS Home Kiren Rijiju pic.twitter.com/CpvYw1V4Uy; ANI (@ANI_news) July 26, 2016 More details awaited. WATCH FULL VIDEO HERE: Infiltration attempt foiled, 4 terrorists gunned down near LoC --- ENDS --- Secretive cable TV upstart Layer3 TV is getting ready to launch in Chicago in the coming weeks, Variety has learned. Some of the money used to finance the launch comes from two previously unannounced investors: French telco Altice, through newly acquired U.S. subsidiary Suddenlink, and Paulson Co., the investment company of famed hedge fund investor John Paulson. A Layer3 spokesperson declined to comment on unannounced investors, but confirmed plans to launch in Chicago soon. After an oversubscribed trial run in Texas, we look forward to making the Second City first in cable, he said. Layer3 TV wants to compete with traditional cable companies by offering consumers a modern, 4K-ready set-top box, a DVR that records up to eight shows at the same time and no long-term contract obligations. The company launched a beta test under the Umio brand in late 2015 in Texas, and is now getting ready to enter a second market with its debut in Chicago. Layer3 TV has started to hire sales representatives and other necessary staffers to prepare for its roll-out in the city, and targeted local consumers with banner ads like the one displayed above. Sources familiar with the companys plans told Variety that a launch in the city is slated for the coming weeks. Unlike in Texas, Layer3 TV is going to actually be using its company name as branding for the service in Chicago. The difference in branding is more than just a marketing exercise: For its launch in Texas, Layer3 TV actually teamed up with local incumbent Suddenlink. The cabler even founded a new subsidiary, dubbed SL3TV LLC, to run Umio. Suddenlinks partnership with Layer3 had long been a subject of speculation, but Variety has now learned that the two companies actually have been quite cozy with each other for some time. As part of the deal, Suddenlink even invested in Layer3TV, sources confirmed. The TV upstart has raised a total of $100 million in equity and debt financing to date. The company previously disclosed North Bridge and Evolution Media Partners as investors. Variety has now learned that in addition to Suddenlink, the company has also gotten money from John Paulsons Paulson Co., which has in the past held large stakes in media and telco companies like Time Warner Cable, Cablevision and T-Mobile. Story continues Both the investments as well as the launch in Chicago have some interesting implications for the company. Chicago is a unique market for Layer3 because its the first city where the company will actually have to take on a powerful incumbent: Many of the citys TV households are being served by Comcast, which has been in the process of migrating its customer base to newer DVRs as well. However, Chicago also has more competition that other U.S. cities, with local cabler RCN and AT&T also serving customers. More competition means more switchers, so it may be easier for Layer3 to convince customers to say goodbye to their existing cable company. Suddenlinks tie-up with Layer3 on the other hand got even more interesting in recent weeks. Last year, Suddenlink got acquired by European telco giant Altice, which quickly followed by snapping up Cablevision as well, and combining both companies under the Altice USA umbrella. At least in theory, this could open up an opportunity for Layer3 to one day also target customers in Charters footprint. Layer3 executives have said in the past that they wanted to be in multiple markets this year. The company itself is located in Denver, which could be a natural next step. However, Layer3 TV is also hiring installation technicians in Virginia, hinting at plans to launch in the state as well. Related stories Altice's Patrick Drahi Vows to Bring i24 News, French-Language Channels to U.S. Altice Completes Cablevision Acquisition, Creating No. 4 U.S. Cable Operator Hulu Goes Live On Suddenlink Cable Boxes, But Without CW and Univision Shows Dublin (AFP) - JT McNamara, one of Ireland's leading amateur jump racing jockeys until he was paralysed in a fall three years ago, has died aged 41, it was announced Tuesday. McNamara, who clocked four wins at jump racing's most prestigious meeting, the Cheltenham Festival, died in his sleep. "I've just spoken to his wife Caroline and I can confirm JT passed away peacefully during the night," said Adrian McGoldrick, senior medical officer for the Irish Turf Club, which is responsible for horseracing in Ireland. McNamara, whose cousin Robbie was also left seriously injured after a fall last year, fractured vertebrae in his spine following his fall from Galaxy Rock in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup at the 2013 Cheltenham Festival. He was due to retire later that year. The racing world set up a fund to help him, with among others Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary -- one of jump racing's biggest and most successful owners -- contributing 200,000 euros in 2013 ($256,000 at the time). Indeed, the first thing riding legend AP McCoy did after retiring from the saddle in April last year was to fly to Ireland to visit JT -- who had 16 winners at Cheltenham in all -- and Robbie. McCoy admitted after hearing of his death he was inconsolable. "I would hate for him to be looking down on me at this moment in time because I've done nothing but cry all morning," he told the BBC. "He was every bit as experienced as me and talented as I am and he had a fall." Even rock legend Bruce "The Boss" Springsteen was moved when performing at a concert in McNamara's birthplace of Limerick to dedicate the song "My Hometown" to him. Among the many tributes was one from former riding great and now leading trainer Jonjo O'Neill, who successfully battled cancer. "We're devastated at Jackdaws (his stables) to hear of the passing of JT, the greatest horseman I've ever known. Our thoughts are with Caroline and his family," tweeted O'Neill. Nineteen people were killed and dozens were injured after an attack by a knife-wielding man at a facility for the disabled in central Japan. Police officers stand guard at a facility for the disabled, where a deadly attack by a knife-wielding man took place in Japan on July 26, 2016. (Photo: Reuters) By Reuters: The suspect in a fatal stabbing spree in Japan on Tuesday had been hospitalised early this year after expressing a willingness to kill disabled people if the government approved, a city official said. Police in the town of Tsukui near Tokyo contacted the suspect, Satoshi Uematsu, and he was involuntarily committed to hospital on Feb. 19 after he had tried to present a letter to the speaker of the lower house of Japan's parliament, said an official from nearby Sagamihara city who declined to be named. advertisement Uematsu told police he would kill many severely disabled people if the national government approved such an action, the official told Reuters by phone. He was discharged on March 2 after a doctor deemed his condition had improved, the official said. Nineteen people were stabbed and killed in their sleep and at least 25 wounded at a facility for the disabled in Sagamihara in the early hours of Tuesday.ALSO READ | At least 19 killed, 24 injured in knife attack outside Tokyo --- ENDS --- Tripoli (AFP) - The head of Libya's unity government has asked for an official explanation from Paris about the presence of French troops in the conflict-ridden country, a statement said on Tuesday. Fayez al-Sarraj told French ambassador Antoine Sivan on Monday that their presence in the country's east was "a violation of international customs", his government said on its Facebook page. Sarraj asked for an explanation from the French government at a meeting in Mauritania where the prime minister-designate was attending an Arab summit, the statement said. His comments came after France's President Francois Hollande confirmed last week that his country had soldiers in Libya, after three French troops were killed there during a mission to gather intelligence. Rival militias have been vying for power in the oil-rich country since the overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. The Government of National Accord (GNA) headed by Sarraj, which is the result of a UN-brokered power-sharing agreement in December, has been striving to assert its authority amid the chaos. France recognises the GNA, but also supports forces that are loyal to a parliament and government based in the country's east which are refusing to recognise and cede power to the UN-backed administration. These forces led by General Khalifa Haftar have for the past two years been fighting armed groups including the Islamic State jihadist organisation in the city of Benghazi, located 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) east of Tripoli. Forces loyal to the GNA have meanwhile been fighting to retake the city of Sirte from IS, after the jihadists overran the city -- 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of the capital -- in June last year. Benghazi (Libya) (AFP) - Forces loyal to Libya's parallel government on Tuesday threatened to bomb oil tankers approaching the Libyan coast without permission from authorities in the country's east. "We cannot allow Libyan oil to be exported except via the National Oil Company in Benghazi," said General Abdulrazzaq al-Nadhouri, chief of staff for forces loyal to the rival government based in the eastern city of Tobruk. "We will target any boat that approaches the Libyan coast without prior agreement with the NOC in Benghazi," he told AFP. Oil is Libya's main natural resource with reserves estimated at 48 billion barrels, the largest in Africa. But production was hit hard in the wake of the 2011 revolt that ousted dictator Moamer Kadhafi. Like many state institutions, the country's oil company was split into two as rival governments emerged. Nadhouri's threat came as the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) based in the capital Tripoli attempts to revive Libya's all-important oil sector. His comments are a blow to hopes that the sector would be strengthened by an agreement early this month between rival leaders of the NOC to unify their ranks. He said his threat was a response to an agreement between UN envoy Martin Kobler and Ibrahim al-Jadhran, the leader of militia set up to guard the country's main oil facilities, to reopen the key Ras Lanuf and Al-Sidra export terminals. Jadhran's militia backs the GNA and has joined GNA-allied forces fighting the Islamic State group in Sirte, 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of Tripoli. The terminals were closed after an attack by IS early this year. In a statement released on Tuesday, the NOC in Tripoli said the Libyan oil and gas sector "should be kept aside from political conflicts". It said NOC officials had met representatives of international oil companies including Italy's ENI and France's Total in Vienna between Thursday and Sunday. Story continues Those present agreed on "the urgent need to end the closure of the oilfields and terminals without any conditions", the NOC statement said. The Tobruk parliament has refused to hold a vote of confidence in the GNA, formed as the result of a UN-backed accord in December. Libya's oil production has dropped from 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) to around 300,000 bpd since the fall of Kadhafi. TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's U.N.-backed government said on Tuesday it had summoned France's ambassador to protest over the presence of French special forces in eastern Libya. The summons came after France confirmed last week that three of its soldiers had been killed when a helicopter crashed near the eastern city of Benghazi. France said they had been conducting intelligence operations. Special forces teams from countries including France, Britain and the United States have been on the ground in western and eastern Libya to fight Islamist militants. The French have been working alongside forces loyal to eastern commander Khalifa Haftar. "The GNA considered the French presence in Libya's eastern region as a breach of international norms and sovereignty which it rejects," a statement from the Government of National Accord (GNA) said. It said GNA head Fayez Seraj had demanded from French Ambassador Antoine Sivan "an official explanation from the French government about the truth of what happened". They met on the sidelines of an Arab League summit in Nouakchott, Mauritania. Sivan reiterated his country's support for the GNA and promised a formal note to explain the circumstances of the incident, the statement said. France and other Western powers have backed the GNA, the result of a U.N.-mediated deal signed in December. But the GNA has so far been opposed by Haftar and his allies in the east. Since the confirmation of the French deaths, there have been protests against both the French presence and the GNA's leadership in Tripoli and Misrata, another western city. Armed groups from both cities were aligned on the opposite side to Haftar's forces in the conflict that broke out in Libya in 2014. (Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Tom Heneghan) A Malaysian court sentenced nine Filipinos to life in prison on Tuesday over an armed incursion in 2013 that left scores dead and paralysed a remote corner of Borneo for weeks, a defence lawyer said. Eight others, including three Malaysians, received prison sentences ranging from 10 to 18 years, said the attorney, N. Sivananthan. The bloody incursion by some 200 Islamic militants from the southern Philippines was inspired by a self-proclaimed Filipino sultanate's claims of historical dominion over the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island. The assault, the most serious security crisis faced by Malaysia in years, led to a siege between the militants and Malaysian armed forces sent to root them out. At least 70 people were killed, mostly militants, over the six-week ordeal. Nine of the defendants had faced death for "waging war" against Malaysia's king, but were spared by the court in the Sabah state capital Kota Kinabalu. "They could have been sentenced to death but the judge decided on the lower penalty because there was no evidence they pulled the triggers or committed any murders," N. Sivananthan said. The others had faced various terrorism-related charges. Earlier, 12 other Filipinos had been acquitted. Among those sentenced to life was 53-year-old Amir Bahar Hushin Kiram, son of self-styled Sulu sultan Esmail Kiram. Esmail, who died in 2015, was among a series of claimants to the Islamic sultanate of Sulu, which once controlled parts of the southern Philippines and part of Borneo. The crisis embarrassed both Manila and Kuala Lumpur, shining a spotlight on weak Malaysian border protections, and lawlessness in the Philippines' predominantly Muslim south. The episode eventually fizzled out when some of the militants fled the palm oil plantation where they had been holed up and returned to the Philippines. Scores were detained in Malaysia. London (AFP) - France international defender Mamadou Sakho's future at Liverpool may be in doubt after he came home early from the club's tour of the United States on the orders of manager Jurgen Klopp. The 26-year-old, who missed the Europa League final as he was serving a doping suspension and was then omitted from France's Euro 2016 squad, is ostensibly returning for more treatment on a troublesome Achilles injury. However, the Daily Telegraph claims Klopp took the decision after Sakho -- who cost Liverpool A18million ($25 million) in 2013 -- turned up late for the club's flight to the USA and then interrupted the German during an interview performed during a tour of the infamous Alcatraz Island prison. In the video Sakho interrupts Klopp and asks: "How long do you think you can live here?" Klopp gives him short shrift. "I don't have to think about that -- you should. Only one of us turned up late for departure from Liverpool. It was you." By Sonali Paul and Barbara Lewis MELBOURNE/LONDON (Reuters) - Three of the world's top five miners will need to step up asset sales in the second half of this year to meet a $14 billion full-year target as they race to cut debt, with a recent rally in commodities prices seen as short-lived. The world's biggest miners predicted doom and gloom for 2016 six months ago when they booked their worst earnings in more than a decade, slashed dividends and put an array of copper, coal, iron ore and other assets on the block. Glencore (GLEN.L), Anglo American (AAL.L) and Vale (VALE5.SA), have so far raised $5.4 billion from asset sales, less than half their target, delaying efforts to reduce debt and boost their battered credit ratings. Investors will be looking to see how much pressure miners feel on the pace of sales when they report results in coming weeks, led off by Anglo American and Vale on Thursday. "Higher commodity prices take away some pressure on companies to sell, but the situation remains tense," said David Finger, an analyst at Allianz Global Investors in London. Asset sales lost steam amid a first-half rebound in commodity prices fuelled by China's efforts to shore up growth. Iron ore and coal prices rallied around 30 percent and copper prices rose around 7 percent, easing the sense of urgency for sellers while bidders waited for the rallies to fizzle. But bankers, analysts and investors expect the tide to turn in the second half. Even miners see prices falling as iron ore, coal and copper markets remain oversupplied. NO FIRE SALES Debt rating agencies see Anglo American and Vale in the worst shape, with ratings well into junk status, although Anglo American won a "positive outlook" on its Ba3 rating from Moody's after fetching a higher-than-expected $1.5 billion for its Brazilian niobium and phosphate business in April. Anglo has set a target of at least $3 billion in asset sales this year and is widely expected to reach that with the pending sale of two coveted metallurgical coal mines in Australia, possibly to BHP Billiton. (BHP.AX)(BLT.L) Story continues Vale, which hopes to sell up to $5 billion worth of assets this year, may come under more pressure as so far it has only fetched $269 million from the sale of three iron ore carriers. "If they wanted to sell $10 billion in assets quickly they definitely could, but they don't want to sell it at all costs and now that prices have recovered they probably don't have to do it all costs at this point in time," said UBS analyst Andreas Bokkenheuser in New York. Glencore, whose debt is rated at one notch above junk, has been the most successful in selling assets, including the $3.125 billion sale of nearly half its agriculture business to two Canadian funds. It is on track to meet its $4 billion to $5 billion asset sales target this year, with bankers and industry sources saying it has received several bids for its coal rail business in Australia, GRail, which could fetch more than $1 billion. Meanwhile, the pending sale of its Cobar and Lomas Bayas copper mines in Australia and Chile has gone quiet, bankers told Reuters. BHP and Rio Tinto (RIO.AX)(RIO.L) are seen well placed to buy assets, with interest in copper, but both have been surprised at the high prices that copper assets have fetched so far. Moody's and S&P analysts expect commodities prices to fall in the second half of this year, but said the big miners could extend asset sales beyond their 2016 target to ensure they secure top dollar. "They are not facing a liquidity crisis, which means they're not in a position where they have to fire-sale their assets," said Melbourne-based S&P analyst May Zhong. (Reporting by Sonali Paul and Barbara Lewis; Additional reporting by James Regan in Sydney and Stephen Eisenhammer in Rio de Janeiro; Editing by Richard Pullin) (Reuters) - A police officer in Los Angeles was injured during a gun fight on the southeast side of the city late on Monday, the department said, though it was unclear if he had been shot. Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said on Twitter that an officer was in hospital and was expected to make a full recovery, but did not disclose details about the incident. Beck did not say how the officer was injured nor if any arrests had been made. Police officials were not immediately available for comment. "Initial accounts ... suggest that our brave ... officers endured a fierce gun battle requiring unwavering courage," Beck said in a Tweet. (Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) (Recasts, adds detail) By Astrid Wendlandt PARIS, July 26 (Reuters) - French luxury group LVMH on Tuesday posted forecast-beating fashion and leather sales growth in the second quarter, helped by solid demand in the United States and improved trading in Asia, excluding Japan. Second-quarter sales at LVMH's all-important fashion and leather goods division were up 1 percent on a like-for-like basis, better than the flat to slightly downward trend expected by analysts and the zero growth seen in the first quarter. However, the unit's profit from recurring operations fell 2 percent in the first half and LVMH's total underlying profit growth remained flat on the back of a 3 percent rise in first-half revenue, broadly in line with forecasts. LVMH Chief Financial Officer Jean-Jacques Guiony said demand growth for Louis Vuitton was "very positive in the United States" and had improved in China but it was slightly negative in Europe and in "lower single digit terms" in Japan. He added that profitability at Louis Vuitton, the biggest contributor to group earnings, remained similar in the first half when compared to the same period last year. Guiony said it was difficult to quantify what impact on sales the September launch of Louis Vuitton's first ever perfume would have. It would only be sold at 350-400 of the brand's stores while comparatively, Chanel and Dior perfumes retailed at 40 to 50 times more shops globally, he said. The luxury goods industry leader on Monday said it had agreed to sell the parent company of its loss-making fashion DKNY brand to U.S. clothing group G-III Apparel for $650 milion after discontinuing its up-market sister brand Donna Karan in the past year. LVMH Chief Financial Officer Jean-Jacques Guiony said the DKNY disposal did not mean that other underperforming brands such as Marc Jacobs would be sold. "This is not an idea that has crossed our mind. We believe in the long-term potential of the brand and we are convinced we can create value at Marc Jacobs," Guiony told analysts on a conference call. Story continues LVMH, which controls 70 brands including Louis Vuitton, Dior and Hennessy cognac, said demand in France, where it made 10 percent of sales, had suffered from a significant decline in tourist traffic in the first half. The luxury goods industry is going through its most severe correction in seven years, with annual sales growth down to low single digits or flattish levels, against double-digit growth four years ago. Several luxury groups and brands have seen their profitability hit by the luxury goods downturn, including Burberry, Cartier owner Richemont and Swatch, which issued a profit warning earlier this month. Valuations in the luxury sector are down more than 20 percent since their peak in 2013. ($1 = 0.9105 euros) (Reporting by Astrid Wendlandt, editing by Dominique Vidalon, Jane Merriman and Adrian Croft) Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan, who is often seen trying to raise issues of crimes against women, looked upset and agitated. By Maha Siddiqui: The country has been brought face to face yet again with the horrors of sexual crimes against children. The audacity of the perpetrators of such crimes can be assessed from the fact that this time the matter has been reported from nowhere else but the national capital. A four-year-old was raped in a slum area by her 28-year-old neighbor in Delhi on Sunday. The child was playing outside her house when she was lured with a soft drink and raped. advertisement The incident was raised by Kanimozhi of the DMK in the Rajya Sabha as a matter of urgent public importance. The Tamil Nadu MP said "This was not an isolated incident" and that "the government has to take this as a very serious issue." Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan, who is often seen trying to raise issues of crimes against women, looked upset and agitated. Despite repeated notices by her to discuss the issue, the matter was not taken by the House. Bachchan went on to say that she had 'given up'. Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien asked her to give a fresh notice and agreed that the matter required a full discussion as it was extremely grave. Minister of State of Parliamentary Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said, "We condemn it in the strongest possible words." However, the response in the House failed to satisfy Jaya Bachchan, who said she wanted to know exactly the government intended to do. Rajya Sabha Chairman Mohammad Hamid Ansari has instucted the government to inform the House of the steps taken. --- ENDS --- From Harper's BAZAAR This morning, LVMH officially announced it would be selling Donna Karan International to New York apparel group G-III, just one year after designer Donna Karan stepped down from her namesake label. It's only the second time the French luxury conglomerate sold one of its fashion brands in its 30-year history. G-III, a manufacturing and licensing company that holds licenses for Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Karl Lagerfeld, Vince Camuto, Levi's and more acquired the label for $650 million. Donna Karan International is comprised of the Donna Karan label (which has halted production since Karan's exit) and DKNY, helmed by Public School designers Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne since last year. LVMH has owned the Donna Karan labels since acquiring them back in 2001 for $643 million. "We believe the DKNY brand has a dynamic position in the market, and when G-III approached us about acquiring the brand, we concluded that the time was right and that G-III was the right steward going forward," Toni Belloni, managing director at LVMH, said in a statement. The $650 million deal is expected to close late 2016 or early 2017 and could mean not only exciting things for the DKNY label, but also for the revival of the Donna Karan collection. Lyon (AFP) - French club Lyon said Tuesday they had rejected a 35-million-euro (29 million, $39 million) bid from Arsenal for star striker Alexandre Lacazette. Lyon called the 25-year-old, who has long been linked with a move to the Premier League having scored 48 goals over the last two seasons, "irreplacable" and said he would not be sold. In May, Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas said the club had dismissed a 40-million-euro offer from West Ham United for the prolific French international. By Gaurav C Sawant: Pakistan has a direct role in waging proxy war against India, Lt General DS Hooda, Army Commander Northern Command said at Drass Today. "We are seeing Pakistan support to proxy war every day along the border including ceasefire violations to help infiltration. It is also taking advantage of the internal differences (in Kashmir). Both Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen have made statements to this effect. We are certain the support is not just moral but also physical," he said. advertisement In Kupwara, the army killed four foreign terrorists and succeeded in nabbing one alive after a fierce encounter. "There has been an increase in infiltration attempts by Pakistan and we expect these attempts to increase in the coming months," Lt Gen Hooda added. The nabbing of a Pakistani terrorist will go a long way in exposing Pakistan's support to terror. The army commander also expressed concern at the use of social media to radicalise the youth. In a major suggestion to the state government the army commander suggested integration of local militants who abandon the gun. USE OF PELLET GUN But he defended the use of a pellet gun as a mob control non-lethal weapon. In response to a question by India Today Lt Gen Hooda said pellet guns are better than a fire arm but the government was looking at even more non-lethal options to control a mob. "The police and the CRPF are at the forefront of such operation in Jammu and Kashmir for the past 25 years and knew their standard operating procedures. The security forces have had to take strict steps when either police stations or weapons were being looted by the mob or there was risk to the lives of security personnel," he added. DESPERATE PAKISTAN The army assessment is that Pakistan after desperate after the killing of top terrorists of all organisations in Jammu and Kashmir. "Top leadership of LeT, HM and JeM have been neutralised by the security forces. The counter infiltration grid and the fence are very effective in stopping new terrorists from infiltrating in large numbers. This has made Pakistan very desperate. To boost morale of terrorists and separatists not only is Pakistan trying to push in additional terrorists but also has promised more funds to fuel the unrest in Kashmir," top sources assessing the situation in the Valley said. "Pakistan has lost all wars including in Kargil and now Pakistan and its proxies have realized they have lost the terror war too. Terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir is on its last legs. Stone pelting mobs is the manifestation of anger and frustration of Pakistan, terrorists, separatists and their supporters who have lost the three decade long terror war," says Lt Gen HS Panag (Retd) former army commander, northern command. --- ENDS --- Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f15614%2f7353d19ac4764cf19cc19e19d575fc70 Katelynn Galloway, a makeup artist from Austin, Texas, transformed herself into Ron Swanson without any help from the government, thank you very much. She proves there's more to Swanson than that mustache, growing more visibly perturbed with each layer of makeup. It also makes a great Duke Silver costume for Halloween. Margot Robbie was also hella creeped out by that Vanity Fair interview Stunning timelapse shows solar-powered plane make its way across the world Matt Damon casually recaps the 'Bourne' series in 90 seconds 'Bad Lip Reading' fixes Ted Cruz's Republican convention speech By A. Ananthalakshmi KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak will get sweeping security powers on Monday amid planned protests calling for his resignation over U.S. allegations that millions of dollars from a state fund wound up in his personal bank account. The new National Security Council (NSC) Act, which comes into force on Aug. 1, allows Najib to designate any area as a "security area", where he can deploy forces to search any individual, vehicle or premise without a warrant. It also allows investigators to dispense with formal inquests into killings by the police or armed forces in those areas. Najib's ruling coalition promoted the law as a means to counter threats to security in predominantly Muslim Malaysia, which has long dealt with a fringe element of radical Islamists. But critics say the law's expansive powers threaten human rights and democracy in the middle-income emerging nation, and could now be used to silence critics of the One Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fund scandal. "The concern among the civil society and others is because the NSC can be used against anything that the government is unhappy with," said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, chief executive of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, adding that it could extend to public rallies. "It does give the PM a huge amount of power to declare emergency zones...," he said. NO ROYAL ASSENT The law was passed on the last day of the legislation session in December, surprising the opposition, as Najib came under mounting criticism over the multi-billion dollar scandal surrounding the 1MDB fund, which he founded and whose advisory council he chaired until recently. The law was enacted without the customary royal assent from Malaysia's king, who had asked for some changes. Pressure on Najib to step down mounted last week after the U.S. Justice Department filed civil lawsuits alleging that over $3.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB. The lawsuits seek to seize more than $1 billion of assets allegedly siphoned from the fund, saying they were part of "an international conspiracy to launder money". The civil lawsuits do not name Najib, but refer to a high-ranking government official who received over $700 million of the misappropriated funds. A source familiar with the investigations told Reuters the official, named as Malaysian Official 1 in the lawsuits, was Najib. Najib, who has denied any wrongdoing, has said Malaysia will cooperate in international investigations of the 1MDB case. The ruling party suffered unprecedented losses in the 2008 general elections and then lost the popular vote in 2013 under Najib's leadership. The next general election must be called by 2018. ANTI-NAJIB RALLIES The NSC is coming into force amid growing complaints about assaults on civil liberties in Malaysia. Najib has in recent months used the colonial era Sedition Act and other draconian laws to arrest government critics, jail opposition leaders and stifle free speech by suspending media groups and blogs. "The likelihood of the NSC being utilized in order to crack down against any act of civil movement is likely to steadily increase as maneuvering space for the PM decreases," said Sevan Doraisamy, executive director at Suaram, a human rights NGO. Malaysia's opposition coalition is planning an anti-Najib rally on July 30. Pro-democracy group Bersih, whose street protests last year drew a 200,000-strong crowd, is also planning a separate rally, but has not set a date. While rallies can still be organized under the Peaceful Assembly Act, the NSC can declare any area -- a building, a street or a city -- a "security area", where protests would be disallowed. Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said on Monday he will not allow rallies that demand Najib step down from power. "Red Shirt" supporters from Najib's ruling United Malays National Organisation have vowed to hold a counter-rally. They did so last September and it turned rowdy when participants breached security barricades and clashed with riot police. "I think they (the government) are getting nervous about 1MDB and the reaction of the people," said civil rights activist and lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan, adding that the public was also "very nervous" about the new security law. (Editing by Bill Tarrant) By Justin Madden CHICAGO (Reuters) - A man who was shot by Chicago police last year said on Monday he wants the officers fired from the department, days after the city's law enforcement watchdog issued a rare finding that the shooting was unjustified. "I want them to step down," Antwon Golatte told a news conference. "They knew they were wrong for what they did and they're not just going to keep hurting innocent people out there." Golatte was shot multiple times in the chest and abdomen in February 2015 after he drove off in his Lincoln SUV as police tried to stop him after an alleged drug transaction on the south side of Chicago, according to documents released by the watchdog, the Independent Police Review Authority. Golatte, who is black, was 33 when the shooting occurred. IPRA did not name the officers, but Golatte's lawyer, Chris Stewart, said one officer was white and the other Hispanic. The IPRA investigation found the officers had moved out of the vehicle's way and used deadly force without justification. The United States has been embroiled for the past two years in a debate over excessive use of force by police against black men and women. Chicago police have also been criticized, including for the October 2014 death of Laquan McDonald, 17, who was shot 16 times by an officer. Some critics have accused Chicago's IPRA of being toothless. Since the agency's formation in 2007, IPRA had found almost all incidents of police use of lethal force as justified. Mayor Rahm Emanuel overhauled IPRA in the wake of protests, and under a new director the agency has reopened some investigations into police shootings. So far this year it has found three shootings from previous years unjustified. Three days after Golatte was shot, the Chicago Police Department updated its policy on use of deadly force, prohibiting officers from shooting at moving vehicles if no other weapons were being used against police. Story continues Stewart said Golatte was still weighing whether to bring a civil case against the police. The officers who shot Golatte have not been charged. However, Golatte is facing four charges related to the incident, said Danielle Pinkston, one of his attorneys. Cook County State's Attorney's Office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said there was insufficient evidence to file criminal charges against the officers. The charges against Golatte are still pending and a court date is scheduled for Aug. 1., Simonton said. (Editing by Fiona Ortiz and Matthew Lewis) The minister's son, Deepu Rai and his friends, Tejas and Ganesh, were partying in their car parked on a private road when locals began complaining. By Pratiba Raman: Karnataka Forest Minister Ramanath Rai's son was roughed up by the public for reportedly partying on a private road and creating trouble at Srimangala in Kodagu district on Sunday. The minister's son, Deepu Rai and his friends, Tejas and Ganesh, were partying in their car parked on a private road, leading to the house of former gram panchayat president Mandamada Tejappa. advertisement Disturbed by the loud music and partying, Tejappa, along with some locals, questioned Deepu over his behaviour. A brawl broke out between the two group following which locals thrashed the trio. While his friends fled, Deepu remained at the same spot. Later, police took him to Srimangala police station and lodged a complaint. --- ENDS --- STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - An unidentified assailant shot and wounded a man in a shopping mall in the Swedish city of Malmo on Tuesday, but police said the attack had nothing to do with recent Islamist militant violence elsewhere in Europe. A Malmo police statement said the victim was shot in the leg and taken to a local hospital. His condition was not immediately known. Police said they had not identified a suspect or motive in the shooting and had made no arrests. A police spokesperson later told regional daily Sydsvenska Dagbladet that the incident, in a mainly immigrant neighborhood of Sweden's third largest city, was being investigated as a case of aggravated assault or attempted murder, and had no connection with Islamist militancy, he said. Europe has been shaken by a series of violent attacks on civilians in Germany, France and Belgium over the past 18 months by men of Middle Eastern or Asian origin. Many of the attacks were claimed by the Islamic State militant group. (Reporting by Sven Nordenstam and Daniel Dickson; editing by Mark Heinrich) STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - An unidentified assailant shot and wounded a man in a shopping mall in the Swedish city of Malmo on Tuesday, but police said the attack had nothing to do with recent Islamist militant violence elsewhere in Europe. A Malmo police statement said the victim was shot in the leg and taken to a local hospital. His condition was not immediately known. Police said they had not identified a suspect or motive in the shooting and had made no arrests. A police spokesperson later told regional daily Sydsvenska Dagbladet that the incident, in a mainly immigrant neighbourhood of Sweden's third largest city, was being investigated as a case of aggravated assault or attempted murder, and had no connection with Islamist militancy, he said. Europe has been shaken by a series of violent attacks on civilians in Germany, France and Belgium over the past 18 months by men of Middle Eastern or Asian origin. Many of the attacks were claimed by the Islamic State militant group. (Reporting by Sven Nordenstam and Daniel Dickson; editing by Mark Heinrich) From Harper's BAZAAR Whether intentional or not, Logan Lerman has a bit of a literary streak. After shooting to fame as the son of Poseidon in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians films (based on the books by Rick Riordan), Lerman landed the coveted role of Charlie in the film adaptation of Stephen Chbosky's cult YA hit The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Four years later, Lerman, now 24, has grown into more mature roles, this time taking on an adaptation of Philip Roth's haunting Indignation with first-time director James Schamus. Lerman plays Marcus Messner, a brilliant student who leaves behind his Jewish upbringing in New Jersey for college life in small-town Ohio, where he meets Olivia Hutton, an "experienced" girl hiding a bevy of secrets, and butts heads with the school's dean over requisite worship. "He [Schamus] gave me the script, I read it immediately and had a visceral reaction to the material," says Lerman. "I knew I just wanted to do it." Besides taking on the starring role, Lerman made his first foray into production. Read on for more from Lerman about the film's heavy themes, playing actor and producer and more: Harper's BAZAAR: What attracted you to this project? Logan Lerman: I would say the strength of James Schamus's adaptation of the novel. I took some time off after doing a film and I was getting to a point where I was ready to find the next project. So this script came up immediately and James, through a series of events, ended up in a position where he wanted to direct his film. He flew up to Los Angeles and we ended up talking for hours and started working, started figuring out how to put it together. HB: The film is set in the 1950s, but we're still talking about so many of the issues it highlights-freedom of worship, how society views sexually active women-today. Are you struck by how we're still grappling with these topics more than 70 years later? LL: Yeah, I am. I think that's what I hope people take away from this experience when they see the film, that they question our society and they question their existence and their beliefs. It was a very different time though, the 1950s, and there have been a lot of changes. And I think it's circumstantial as well. In this film, the looming presence of the Korean War and the draft for young men added an extra layer of repression, because if you stirred the pot and you spoke up or you were too loud about your opinions you could get kicked out of school and end up killed. I'd like to think there's more encouragement on college campuses to challenge the administration today. Story continues HB: This is your first producing credit. What was it like to step into that role? LL: James Schamus is the most experienced first-time director. I didn't have to do too much. I was just a collaborator. I was involved in all the conversations and the steps in the process. My role as a producer is to be a partner and challenge the filmmaker creatively and try to help them structure the film so they can get what they want. I'm on their side because I want the film to have a singular vision. I want the director to make their movie and I want to help them fully realize what the script is and find the best version of that film and share the passion. Tell the story. With James, he knows what he wants, he knows how to make films, he knows how to structure his movies, so I was really just a part of the conversations, learning a lot from him and challenging him creatively. HB: What did you learn from watching a first-time director at work? LL: I learned so much. Every filmmaker's approach to pre-production, production, post-production and distribution is different and James is extremely well-organized and really in tune with the process. It's hard to pinpoint specific things about the way he approached this production in particular. For the time we were working on this, he really just made it his life. He structured it a very specific way. He made choices and I think that was very important. A lot of filmmakers are afraid to make choices and they're afraid to not make choices too, so there's a middle ground where you have to be bold but not distracting. So James, his approach was: "This is my first film, there's a humble budget, I don't want to f*ck up." I don't want to put words in his mouth but I think that's pretty much how he felt. He was like, "Let's tackle the material in a respectful way." So his bold decision was to be minimalistic and not move the camera. If you watch the film, it's very still in a lot of the scenes. There's not a lot of "specialty shots" and set-ups. He's not highlighting certain moments as much. He's not forcing the viewer to pay attention. It's either the dialogue and the characters and the actors are compelling enough that you're going to watch, or you're not. And I think it really allowed the material to shine, in the way he decided to approach the scenes. But at the same time, I think he also took a lesson from the Coen brothers in the sense that he was like, "I don't want to work long hours," because I guess that's how they work. He was like, "I wanna make my days, I wanna live a nice life and not torture my crew." And we had very reasonable hours. It was a really lovely experience. HB: I'm sure. You actually get some sleep! LL: It's kind of odd. I mean, I wasn't comfortable the whole time. I'm still working and stressing out about the next scene every day. But sometimes we would have 10-hour days, whereas the average can be a 14-, 15-hour day. It was very comfortable working with him. HB: That stillness you just mentioned is very evident mid-way through the film, with the scene in the dean's office. It goes on a very long time, but you don't notice because you're so transfixed by what the characters are saying to one another. LL: Yeah, you don't expect it. It comes out of nowhere and it doesn't really have an obvious set-up. It just happens. I love that scene. The way James structured that day was again, minimalism. He's like, "Here's our room, here's the box, and we're just going to go around the box." We had maybe three cameras that day to make it a little bit easier. That's a good day to do it, for the long scene. This was intimidating, but great at the same time: we would run the scene from beginning to end. We didn't chop it up. There's a way you can do it to make it easier where it's like, "I'm gonna cut at these points and we can take it in chunks." And we didn't do that. We did it all the way through each time for about 20-minute takes. It was crazy! HB: Tell me about Sidney Hall, which you were shooting recently. LL: That's another one where I've taken the position of being a producer on it, which was a different experience than working with James. I'm really stoked about it. Our filmmaker, Sean Christensen, I think is one of the most talented young filmmakers out there, and it's exciting to aid him in his vision for his first film. He made a film before this one, but he adapted the short film he made that he won an Academy Award for, and then he had to act in it. So this time he was just the director, he didn't have to be in front of the camera as well, so it's a different approach. There's more clarity in what you're getting in each take. It's a great group of people. We just finished. I can sum it up, but I'm basically just gonna repeat the IMDB page because I'm horrible at summing up movies. I'll go on too-detailed of rant about it. But I'm excited about it. [Christensen] is in the editing room right now, kind of molding this film, finding the film. We have so many different versions of the movie that we could cut together right now, so I'm curious what it's going to be. And he's just starting that process. HB: It's interesting that even you don't know. LL: Nobody knows. You never know! Because my job mostly is to give the director options for the editing room. And then he can figure out, or she can figure out, whatever film they want to cut with the material that they have. It's kind of like a puzzle. Some filmmakers are more specific and they know exactly what they want, but I've never met one. Supposedly they're out there, like Tarantino or Fincher or something. Other than that, it's a puzzle you're putting together and trying to find it in the editing room most of the time. tyler johnson Getty Image Tyler Johnson has had a pretty good summer. A combination between him having a breakout season last year and the cap exploding to $94 million led to the lefty guard being offered a $50 million contract from the Brooklyn Nets. For some, Johnsons price tag was insane. Yes, he is a young player capable of making big strides, but he averaged less than 9 points per game in under 25 minutes for the Heat last season, and $50 million is a lot of dough. Still, you cant blame Johnson for cashing in when he has the chance. As it turns out, though, even he was surprised at the amount he was being offered. So surprised, in fact, that he actually got physically sick upon seeing it. Related Links: Tyler Johnson on his $50 million contract: "I threw up a couple times when I heard the number go out there." #Heat Manny Navarro (@Manny_Navarro) July 25, 2016 The Heat losing Dwyane Wade allowed them to have the cap room available to match on the former Fresno State stars offer sheet, so he is staying put in Miami and should have some more playing time available for him with the departures of Wade, Luol Deng, and Joe Johnson. While he would have been a fixture for the rebuilding Nets, staying in Miami allows him to play on a team that could still make a playoff push next season while also still getting more opportunities to see the floor and develop his game. HONG KONG/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) said it is seeking franchise partners for its restaurants in Malaysia and Singapore as part of its move to away from direct ownership and operation in Asia. "McDonald's has taken the decision to adopt a development licensee model for the Malaysia and Singapore markets in order to enable focused investment in the brand and speed up growth in these key Asian markets," a Singapore-based spokeswoman at McDonald's said in a statement on Tuesday. McDonald's said it was negotiating with "suitable candidates," for the Malaysia and Singapore markets, but did not provide any details or a timeline. Sources told Reuters that some suitors looking at both countries had begun to tap banks for financing options to buy the 20-year franchise rights. The sources declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak to the media. The move for the Southeast Asian markets follows an announcement by McDonald's in March that it was reorganizing its Asian operations by bringing in partners who would own the restaurants within a franchise business. Competitor Yum Brands (YUM.N) is also restructuring its China business by spinning it off ahead of a likely IPO next year. Bloomberg News earlier reported that the sale of McDonald's franchise rights in Malaysia and Singapore could collectively fetch at least $400 million. (Reporting by Carol Zhong of LPC and Anshuman Daga in SINGAPORE; Additional reporting by Saeed Azhar) MILAN (Reuters) - Italian broadcaster Mediaset (MS.MI) will throw out a revised proposal by French media group Vivendi (VIV.PA) to buy its pay TV business at a board meeting on Thursday, a source close to the matter said on Tuesday. Mediaset, controlled by the holding company of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, is ready to take legal action against Vivendi, the source added. Vivendi backtracked on Tuesday on a share-swap deal to buy Mediaset's pay-TV unit, putting forward an alternative agreement that would give it a bigger direct stake in the Italian broadcaster. (The story was refiled to add a dropped word in the last paragraph) (Reporting by Giancarlo Navach, writing by Stephen Jewkes, editing by Paola Arosio) The leader of one of the nations largest unions was addressing the Democratic delegates on Monday evening, when Gabriel McArthur couldnt hold his tongue any longer. No confidence, the 24-year-old delegate from Northglenn, Colorado, shouted over the crowd. Standing on the floor of the convention hall, he shook his head and crossed his arms. He was hardly alone in shouting down speakers as Democrats first day of a nominating convention that is expected to tap Hillary Clinton. Any time she or running mate Tim Kaine were mentioned, some Bernie Sanders delegates broke into rage and erupted at the speakers. Look at the polls. The Republicans are going to beat her, McArthur said, still holding onto hope that Sanders could win the nomination despite lacking enough support among delegates. Shes not the nominee yet. Have we had a vote? No. Its gross that we have to listen to this garbage as if shes the nominee. She isnt. McArthurs voice was hardly unique. The opening hours of the convention were chaotic, with delegates shouting through pro-Clinton speeches and even the opening prayer. Some Sanders supporters were still musing how they could deny Clinton the nomination, or perhaps force her to pick a different running mate. Sanders has endorsed Clinton and urged his supportersmany of them new to politicsto fall in line. Few heeded his direction and some doubted if Sanders really wanted them to do so. I will knock on doors for local and state candidates, said Jenna Fontaine, a Southport, N.C., resident who lived in Vermont for 35 years. She was wearing a Bernie 96 button a Thank You, Bernie T-shirt. But dont ask me to do anything for her. She hasnt earned it. Here, the 68-year-old woman paused for a moment to say the obvious. Im feeling raw and bitter, she said. Story continues That high level of emotion carried through other delegates. David Weeda, a 57-year-old delegate who runs a solar-powered bed-and-breakfast in Bucksport, Maine, broke into tears when discussing Sanders. She hasnt won this yet. Its disrespectful to expect me to sit there and listen to everyone call her the nominee. She isnt, he said, saying the unrest is the fault of the pro-Clinton speakers. Its on them. There are 1,900 of us (Sanders supporters) here. Are we invisible to them? The self-described street activist wants to block Trump from the White House. But he isnt sure that he can stomach a vote for Clinton. Ill see what I can do in my heart, Weeda said. He, like so many delegates, returned to polling that, at this point, means little more than rationalizing for Sanders friends. Bernie defeats Trump really easily. I dont know what were doing with her, he said. The polls, however, show these holdouts are in the minority. A Pew poll finds 90% of Sanders supporters had shifted to Clinton. For most of the night, the Clinton-coordinated public face of the convention allowed the Sanders supporters to vent. Then comedienne Sarah Silverman said from the podium what many Clinton aides were thinking in private. To the Bernie or Bust people, you are being ridiculous. I have so much more I want to say, the former Sanders supporter said as she endorsed Clinton. The feisty tone left some Sanders delegates a bit uneasy. I would like to see it toned down a bit. We can have a productive discussion without the antics. Booing isnt going to do anything, Maine state Rep. Deane Rykerson said. Wearing a green felt hat fashioned after Robin Hood, he understood the #BernieOrBust crowd. When I was 20-years-old, I would have said those things, too, the Kittery resident said. But hes been voting for the candidate, in his word, who is the lesser of two evils, he said, and she isnt that evil. Theres no persuading people like McArthur, the Colorado delegate who shouted down American Federation of Teachers chief Randi Weingarten. I would rather fight with the right candidate and lose, than win with the wrong one, McArthur said, a first-time convention attendee. If she loses to Trump by one voteminethen she has bigger problems. Sybrina Fulton, Lesley McSpadden and other Mothers of the Movement will speak Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention. These mothers of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland and other African-American men and women who died at the hands of police, in police custody or from gun violence will tell their stories to millions of Americans. The focus on the Black Lives Matter movement and the deaths of black Americans at the hands of police is in contrast to the Republican National Convention, where speakers used the phrases Blue Lives Matter and All Lives Matter. In four years since the last convention, the movement has grown from nonexistent to active in dozens of cities nationwide. Black Lives Matter protesters regularly lead marches all over the country, most recently after two black men were killed on camera in Minnesota and Louisiana. Some of these women have already appeared with Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail. Meet the seven mothers who will speak at 8 pm at the convention: Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner Gwen Carr was a New York City subway driver until July 2014, when her son Eric was strangled to death by a police officer in Staten Island. Garner, 43 at the time, was approached by police officers who heard he was illegally selling cigarettes. The encounter escalated to the point Garner was in a chokehold on the ground saying, I cant breathe! A video of Garners death went viral. The city settled out of court with the family for $5.9 million. Garners death turned Carr into an activist. When a grand jury decided against indicting the police officer who put Garner in a chokehold, Carr protested in December 2014 with thousands of people who took over the Brooklyn Bridge. He has no regard for human life if this is the way he treats suspects, she said then. Carr endorsed Clinton in January. Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin The Trayvon Martin case captivated America in the summer of 2012. The black teenager was shot by George Zimmerman, the community watch coordinator for the gated community Martin was staying in. Zimmerman found not guilty of murder in Martins death. Story continues Fulton used Martins death as a catalyst to fight for change. In 2014, she wrote a letter for TIME counseling Michael Browns family in the wake of his death in Ferguson, Missouri. She and Martins father have started the Trayvon Martin Foundation. She has spoken across the country about the loss of her son. Unless you have lost a child, you dont know this side, she said on ABC Tuesday morning. Read More: TIMEs 2013 Cover Story After Trayvon Maria Hamilton, mother of Dontre Hamilton Dontre Hamilton, a paranoid schizophrenic, was sleeping on a park bench in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After a call to police that Hamilton was disturbing the peace, a police officer attempted to pat him down. The incident escalated and culminated with the officer shooting Hamilton 14 times. The officer was not indicted the district attorney said the shots were justified but was fired from the department for an illegal pat down of someone who was mentally ill. Following the death of her 31-year-old son in 2014, Hamilton created Mothers for Justice United. She has led marches nationwide to draw attention to gun violence and police shootings of African-Americans. She has appeared with Clinton at campaign events. A year after her sons death, Hamilton told BuzzFeed the pain of her sons death is still strong. We used to get together every weekend. We were cooking, dancing. Now we take the time to comfort each other. Lucy McBath, mother of Jordan Davis In 2012, Jordan Davis and his friends were playing music out of their car in Jacksonville, Florida. Unhappy with the volume, Michael Dunn, a 47-year-old software developer, told Davis to turn the music down. The ensuing argument led to the death of the 17-year-old after Dunn fired 10 bullets into the car. He was convicted on multiple counts in 2014 and sentenced to life in prison plus 90 years. Lucy McBath, Davis mother, forgave Dunn in an emotional public statement during his trial. I choose to walk in the freedom of knowing Gods justice has been served. I pray that God has mercy on your soul, she told Dunn. Since then, McBath has spoken out against gun violence around the country including during a February event with Clinton in South Carolina. Lesley McSpadden, mother of Michael Brown Ferguson has become a term synonymous with police killings of black men and protests. It refers to the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, where Michael Brown was shot in 2014 by a police officer. The officer said Brown, then 18, fought with him before running away. Browns death and the lack of indictment for the officer who killed him led to widespread protests in Ferguson. Businesses were burned and protesters filled the streets for days. Through all the national attention on Ferguson, Lesley McSpadden has demanded justice for her son and an end to police killings of unarmed black men. McSpadden was taking a smoke break from her job at a grocery store when she heard Brown had been killed. She released a book in May about Browns death and the aftermath, saying she wants readers to know what a sweet person he was and how gentle he was and that he always tried to do the right thing. Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton, mother of Hadiya Pendleton Hadiya Pendleton performed with her school marching band in January 2013 at Barack Obamas second inauguration. A few weeks later, Pendleton, then 15, and a group of her friends were shot at a mile away from Obamas Chicago home. The honors student at one of the citys top high schools died. Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton has spoken out against gun violence ever since. She has joined Everytown for Gun Safety and wrote a New York Daily News op-ed in January that supported Obamas gun reform efforts. I was honored to stand with President Obama earlier this week as he announced he would take executive action to help reduce gun violence and save lives in cities across the country, Cowley-Pendleton wrote. This action was especially meaningful to me because at the end of this month, it will mark three years since my precious 15-year old daughter Hadiya Pendleton was shot and killed in a Chicago park. Geneva Reed-Veal, mother of Sandra Bland Sandra Bland failed to signal a lane change in July 2015, so a Texas police officer pulled her over. Bland questioned why he pulled her over, so he asked her to get out of the car and eventually used force to put her on the ground. Bland was taken to jail and died there. Police say Bland committed suicide, but her family believes officers may have been involved in her death because she was not suicidal. Over the past year, Geneva Reed-Veal has spoken at Clinton campaign events, the Library of Congress and elsewhere about her daughters death, joining the growing movement of mothers whose children were killed by or in policy custody. I dont come to sit and be a part of a caucus where we talk and do nothing, Reed-Veal told congressional leaders in April. I leave you with this: it is time to wake up, get up, step up, or shut up. The Democratic National Convention kicks off in Philadelphia Monday with speeches from the First Lady, a former Hillary Clinton rival and people Clinton met throughout her political career. Heres a quick guide to the major speakers. Bernie Sanders With the primaries behind him, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has chosen to support Clinton instead of push for a contested conventiona delegate fight he almost certainly would have lost. Sanders will speak at a relatively low-profile slot in the convention schedule. Earlier this month, Sanders endorsed Clinton at an event in New Hampshire. His Monday speech will be closely watched, especially in the wake of protests at the conventions opening. Michelle Obama The First Lady will be the keynote speech Monday night to kick off the convention. The wife of a skilled orator, Michelle initially left major public speaking to her husband. But at the 2008 Democratic convention, she gave a speech that humanized her husband and propelled her to widespread approvaland was later borrowed for Melania Trumps speech. Elizabeth Warren In a primetime address, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren will also vouch for Clintons progressive bona fides. Warren endorsed Clinton after staying neutral throughout the primary. The former Harvard Law School professor has lately been on the attack against Republican nominee Donald Trump and was mentioned as a potential contender for Clintons running mate. Cory Booker Another vice presidential contender, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is a rising star in the Democratic party. Elected to the Senate in 2012, he was previously mayor of Newark for six years. When he was campaigning for mayor, Booker made fixing public safety the cornerstone of his campaign. You know that if a kid gets shot, every one of the issues you care about gets undermined? Booker told TIME in 2010. That year, Booker drew a gift of $100 million from Facebook creator Mark Zuckerburg for Newarks public schools system. The senator is especially active on Twitter. Story continues Astrid Silva An immigrant from Mexico, Astrid Silva became a face for immigration reform in 2014 when she expressed fear her father may be deported around Christmas. She defended President Obamas executive actions on immigration which provided temporary relief for 5 million undocumented immigrants in the country who may be deported. Pam Livengood When Clinton campaigned in the New Hampshire primary, the issue of opioid abuse was high on the minds of many voters. Pam Livengood, a Keene resident, know addiction problems too well. Livengoods daughter struggles with substance abuse to the point Pam and her husband have become guardians of their daughters son. Pam raised the issue at a roundtable in May 2015 with Clinton. Anastasia Somoza Anastasia Somoza has known the Clintons for years. She met then-President Bill Clinton at a town hall for children in 1993. Somoza has cerebral palsy and spastic quadriplegia, disabilities that confine her to a wheelchair. Somoza has graduated from Georgetown, speaks regularly about disability rights and works with the Clinton Foundation. Karla and Francisca Ortiz At a campaign event in Feburary, Clinton met Karla Ortiz, a 10-year-old Nevadan who said she is worried her undocumented parents may be deported. Clinton featured her exchange with Ortiz in a campaign ad, saying she will do everything I can to make sure immigrants like Ortizs parents can stay in the U.S. Karla and her mother, Francisca, will speak at the convention. However, in other parts of the Valley, restrictions on assembly of four or more people will continue to maintain law and order. By Press Trust of India: Curfew was today lifted from all parts of Kashmir, except Anantnag town, after 17 days of unrest in the Valley in which 47 persons were killed and 5500 others injured in clashes following killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. "Curfew has been lifted from all parts of Kashmir except Anantnag town, today," a police official said. advertisement The official said there is no curfew or restrictions on the movement of the people in the district. "However, in other parts of the Valley, restrictions on assembly of four or more people will continue to maintain law and order," the official said. Curfew was imposed across Kashmir on July 9, a day after killing of Wani, as a precautionary measure. However, violent clashes between protestors and security forces saw 47 persons including two policemen killed while 5500 others were injured. Mobile telephony, mobile Internet services and train services remained suspended for 18th day while schools, colleges and other educational institutions also remained closed due to a strike called by the separatist groups. The separatist camp, which is spearheading the protests against civilian killings, has already announced a relaxation in the strike from 2 pm onwards today. However, they have called for three days of shutdown from tomorrow to July 29. The separatist groups have also called for a march to Kulgam tomorrow. Also read: 4 terrorists killed, one Pakistani intruder held in ongoing J&K encounter --- ENDS --- Two former presidents, a former Speaker of the House, a former Attorney General, a New York Senator who served alongside Hillary Clinton and two actresses are speaking on the second night of the Democratic convention. Heres a look at the lineup of speakers Tuesday: Jimmy Carter The 39th U.S. President will appear in a prerecorded video. Carter, a former Georgia governor, was president in the late 1970s, losing to Ronald Reagan in 1980. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for the humanitarian work he committed his life to following his presidency. Carter announced last year he is battling cancer. Nancy Pelosi The first female Speaker of the House, Pelosi is likely to touch on the significance of Clinton being the first female major party nominee for President. Pelosi is the Democratic minority leader in the House and represents San Francisco. She was recently in the news for holding a sit-in with fellow Democrats in an attempt to force House Republicans to hold a vote on gun control legislation. America Ferrara The Latina actress who first came to fame in the television show Ugly Betty has not minced words about her feelings on this years presidential election. Earlier this month, she said Donald Trumps comments about immigrants will serve brilliantly to energize Latino voters and increase turnout on Election Day against you. Chuck Schumer Schumer will likely take over leadership of the Senate Democrats when Harry Reid resigns at the end of this term. A long-time New York Senator, Schumer is known for pushing for tighter gun laws and being heavily involved in Democratic party politics. Meryl Streep Streep has appeared in a number of versatile roles for more than thirty years. She has won three Academy Awards and been nominated 19 times. Streep frequently speaks out about sexism and political issues. Last month, she dressed up as Donald Trump and impersonated him in New York City. Story continues Eric Holder Barack Obamas attorney general for six years and the first African-American to hold the office, Holder will give a primetime address at the convention. Holders administration of the Justice Department was notable in many ways. He defended U.S. drone strikes, fought to preserve the Voting Rights Act, directed federal lawyers to not focus on state-permitted marijuana activities and sparred often with Congress. Since leaving office, Holder has returned to working at a private law firm. Other Tuesday speakers include: Former President Bill Clinton; former Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, who championed the Americans With Disabilities Act; incoming Interim Chair of the Democratic National Committee Donna Brazile; mothers of black men and women killed by gun violence, at the hands of police or in police custody; and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. Merck & Co. Inc. MRK is scheduled to report its second quarter 2016 earnings results on Jul 29, before the opening bell. Last quarter, Merck had posted a positive earnings surprise of 4.71%. Lets see how things are shaping up for the company this quarter. New Products In Focus Merck will continue to face headwinds in the form of genericization as well as unfavorable currency movement and the impact of the Venezuelan financial crisis. However, new products should start contributing significantly from 2016 with performance being driven by products like Keytruda (cancer) and Zepatier (HCV). Strong uptake, launches in additional countries and expansion into additional indications should drive Keytruda sales. Investors will also be focused on the performance of Mercks DPP-4 inhibitor, Januvia, including the impact of pricing pressure and whether it is losing any share to SGLT2. Meanwhile, Remicade will continue to feel the pressure of biosimilar competition in Europe with sales expected to decline at a rapid pace through 2016. Slowing growth of the integrase class and continued competitor dynamics in the U.S. and Europe will affect Isentress sales. Cubicin and Nasonex will be under pressure given the loss of exclusivity. However, Mercks cost-cutting efforts, share buybacks and other strategic initiatives should drive the bottom line. Surprise History Mercks performance has been pretty impressive with the company beating earnings expectations consistently. The average earnings beat over the last four quarters is +4.98 MERCK & CO INC Price and EPS Surprise MERCK & CO INC Price and EPS Surprise | MERCK & CO INC Quote Earnings Whispers? Our proven model does not conclusively show that Merck is likely to beat estimates this quarter. That is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), #2 (Buy) or #3 (Hold) to be able to beat earnings. That is not the case here as you will see below. Zacks ESP: The Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, is 0.00% since the Most Accurate estimate is in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate at 92 cents per share. Zacks Rank: Merck carries a Zacks Rank #3. Mercks Zacks Rank #3 when combined with an ESP of 0.00% makes surprise prediction difficult. We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 and #5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. Stocks That Warrant a Look Here are some health care stocks that you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter. The Earnings ESP for Amgen Inc. AMGN is +1.10% and it carries a Zacks Rank #3. The company will release second-quarter results on Jul 27. Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ICPT has an Earnings ESP of +7.45% and carries a Zacks Rank #3. It is expected to report second-quarter results on Aug 3. BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. BMRN has an Earnings ESP of +4.00% and carries a Zacks Rank #3. It will be reporting second-quarter results on Aug 4. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report MERCK & CO INC (MRK): Free Stock Analysis Report BIOMARIN PHARMA (BMRN): Free Stock Analysis Report AMGEN INC (AMGN): Free Stock Analysis Report INTERCEPT PHARM (ICPT): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Michelle Obama will soon be leaving her post at the White House, meaning we only have a few months left to swoon over her covetable First Lady style. But before she goes, we can expect President Obama's more stylish other half to make the rounds campaigning on behalf of another former First Lady, Hillary Clinton. Read More: Hollywood Image Makers Dissect Melania Trump's Convention Fashion Choices Obama began that journey on Monday night, speaking at the opening night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. She wore a royal blue cap sleeve, fit n' flare dress by New York designer Christian Siriano, to deliver her speech in front of the star studded crowd, which included America Ferrera, Lena Dunham, Sarah Silverman and Eva Longoria, who wore a white, waffle-knit dress from her new collaboration with The Limited. FLOTUS has a history of making interesting fashion choices, and a penchant for patterns. But this blue dress seemed almost deliberately low-key, as if to convey, "This isn't about me, I'm with her," and not to steal focus from Hillary Clinton. Siriano has had quite a run in recent weeks, stepping in to design Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones' premiere dress, after she took to Twitter to complain no designers wanted to dress her. The look was in contrast to Melania Trump's white Roksanda Ilincic ensemble with bishop sleeves from last week's Republican National Convention. We'll have to wait until November to see whether Melania Trump or Bill Clinton will take Michelle Obama's place in the White House. A photo posted by Pret-a-Reporter (@pretareporter) on Jul 25, 2016 at 7:18pm PDT "It's hard to believe it's been eight years since I spoke to you about why my husband should be president," Michelle Obama said as she took the stage at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night. The First Lady then spoke about her daughters before launching into a moving speech about the future of the country that left the entire Philadelphia crowd applauding on their feet. "In this election and in every election, it's about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of our lives," she said. "And I am here tonight because in this election, there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility: Our friend, Hillary Clinton." Explaining why she trusts Clinton, Obama praised the Democratic nominee's ability to break through the glass ceiling and for "lifting all of us along with her." "What I admire about Hillary is that she never buckles under pressure," she said. "She never takes the easy way out and Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life." Read More: Hollywood Star Power in Focus as Democratic Convention Kicks Off Stressing how leaders need to be role models for American children, Obama then began to choke up as she spoke about generations of slavery and segregation and began to take aim at Donald Trump. "Today, I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves," she said to rousing applause. "I watch my daughters - two beautiful, intelligent black young women - playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters, all our sons and daughters, now take for granted that a woman can be President of the United States." She continued. "So don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great. That somehow, we need to make it great again. Because this, right now, is the greatest country on earth." Story continues Obama kicked off the DNC just one week after Melania Trump's RNC kickoff address that plagiarized parts of the First Lady's speech from 2008, leading many to speculate if Obama would address the controversy when she took the stage during the first night of the four-day event. Bernie Sanders, as well as celebrities Demi Lovato, Sarah Silverman and Eva Longoria, took the stage Monday night. After the First Lady spoke, the President took to twitter to congratulate his wife: Incredible speech by an incredible woman. Couldn't be more proud & our country has been blessed to have her as FLOTUS. I love you, Michelle. First Lady Michelle Obama delivered what is sure to be one of the highlights from this year's Democratic National Convention when she spoke during the event's opening night. Michelle captivated the audience with her (not-plagiarized) reflection on her time in the White House over the last two terms of her husband's presidency, and how life as the first family has impacted their daughters -- 18-year-old Malia and 15-year-old Sasha. "We've had the joy of watching them grow from bubbly little girls into poised, young women," Michelle said of her girls, whom she called "the heart of our hearts, the center of our world." WATCH: President Barack Obama Gets Choked Up During Malia and Sasha's State Dinner Debut "[It was a] journey that started soon after we arrived in Washington when they set off for their first day at their new school," Michelle explained. "I will never forget that winter morning as I watched our girls, just seven and 10 years old, pile into those black SUV's with all those big men with guns. And I saw their little faces pressed up against the window, and the only thing I could think was, 'What have we done?'" "At that moment I realized that our time in the White House would form the foundation for who they would become, and how well we manage this experience could truly make or break them," she added. "That is what Barack and I think about every day as we try to guide and protect our girls through the challenges of this unusual life in the spotlight." The 52-year-old stateswoman also addressed the multitude of divisive and hateful attacks her husband has faced during his time in the Oval Office, explaining how the couple had to teach their kids how to "ignore them who question their father's citizenship or faith." PHOTOS: Michelle Obama: First Lady of Fashion "How we insist that the hateful language they hear from public figures on TV does not represent the true spirit of this country. How we explain that when someone is cruel or acts like a bully you don't stoop to their level," she continued. "No, our motto is when they go low, we go high. With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching us." Story continues She went on to say that she and her husband take the same approach to their jobs as president and first lady "because we know that our words and actions matter not just to our girls, but to children across this country." Michelle also addressed the historic nature of her husband's legacy, both as a successful politician and as the nation's first black president, saying that theirs is "the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I watched my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn." WATCH: President Barack Obama Attends Malia's High School Graduation, Proves He's Just a Normal Dad Michelle then brought her powerful oration around to address the point of the DNC, explaining that this election is not about left or right, Republican or Democrat, but instead, it's about "who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives." "I am here tonight because in this election there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility, only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is our friend, Hillary Clinton," she said, endorsing the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. "I trust Hillary to lead this country because I've seen her lifelong devotion to our nation's children," she concluded. "Not just her own daughter, who she has raised to perfection, but every child who needs a champion." PHOTOS: Hillary Clinton's Famous Friends After her evocative speech, President Obama took to Twitter to adorably praise his wife, writing, "Incredible speech by an incredible woman. Couldn't be more proud & our country has been blessed to have her as FLOTUS. I love you, Michelle." Incredible speech by an incredible woman. Couldn't be more proud & our country has been blessed to have her as FLOTUS. I love you, Michelle. President Obama (@POTUS) July 26, 2016 Recently, Michelle joined James Corden for an amazing installment of "Carpool Karaoke" where they rocked out with Missy Elliott and talked about what she's going to miss the most about living in the White House. Check out the video below. Related Articles First Lady Michelle Obama endorsed Hillary Clinton in a speech to the Democratic National Convention, telling the gathering that this election isnt about Democrat or Republican, its about who we trust with power to influence our children in the next four to eight years. Her speech, which referenced a speech that she gave to the convention in 2008, but made no mention of the fact that portions were strikingly similar to a speech given by Melania Trump last week, was greeted by huge applause, as she set about making the case for Clinton and at the same time getting in attacks on Donald Trump without mentioning his name. The issues a president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters, she said. Her speech was inspirational and personal in that she recounted moving into the White House and sending off her two daughters to school. On the first day, as they left with Secret Service agents, she said, I saw those little faces up against the window and the only thing I could think, What have we done?' The line drew laughs. She also noted the awareness she and her husband had of the significance of being in the Oval Office. I wake up every morning in a house built by slaves, she said. And I watch my daughters, two beautiful daughters, two beautiful intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. She then seemed to struggle against tears as she recounted the history making nature of Clintons bid. She said that because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters can take it for granted that a woman can be president. Hillary has spent the decades to do the absolutely thankless work to actually make a difference in their lives, she said. Obama noted that when Clinton didnt win the nomination eight years ago, she didnt get angry or disillusioned. Hillary didnt pack up and go home. The message was not lost after a day in which supporters of Bernie Sanders openly expressed their dismay at the party and booed at points when speakers mentioned unifying behind Clinton. Story continues She needled Trumps signature slogan. Dont let anyone tell you that this country isnt great that we somehow need to make it great again, she said. Her speech seemed to unify Clinton and Sanders supporters, as the delegates waved Michelle signs passed out before she took the stage. Related stories On a Night With Real Stakes for Democrats, Michelle Obama Won the Night and the News Cycle Bernie Sanders Tells Defiant Supporters to Back Clinton: 'The Choice Is Not Even Close' Elizabeth Warren Warns Democrats About Trump's Effort to 'Divide and Conquer' First Lady Michelle Obama captivated the crowd on night one of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, delivering a deeply personal speech in support of her partys nominee, Hillary Clinton. The first night of the Democratic National Convention was fraught with testinessa roar of boos swelled in the arena of Philadelphias Wells Fargo Center shortly after the opening gavel was struck. Just outside, gatherers chanted well into the night protesting in favor of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. But for 15 minutes, the rifts that had been exposed throughout the day appeared to have mended. Everyone in the crowd, despite their differences, was enthralled by the First Lady. At one point, Obama noted that it had been eight years since she took the stage at the Democratic convention to persuade the crowd that her husband was the right candidate to lead the American people. Words from that speech were cribbed by Melania Trump in her speech at the Republican convention this year. Read More: Transcript of Michelle Obamas Emotional Speech at the Democratic Convention On Monday, Obama said that in the time since the Obamas moved into the White House, her biggest concern was and continues to be the welfare of her daughters and all of Americas children. How well they managed the experience, she said, would affect them forever. With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching us, she said, noting that while the Obamas have lived in the White House shes had to explain why her husbands faith and citizenship were being questioned and other hateful language from public officials. It went without mentioning that many of those comments came from the Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump, whose name went unmentioned in her speech. I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, she said. And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. Story continues In fact, as much as the speech was soundly about Clintons work as a childrens rights advocate, Senator, and Secretary of State, it was a fierce rebuke of everything Democrats say Donald Trump represents. It included subtle jabs at thin-skinned leaders with tendencies to lash out. Dont let anyone ever tell you that America isnt great, Obama said, citing Trumps campaign slogan. That somehow we need to make it great again because this right now is the greatest country on earth. The speech was short, but Michelle Obamas message was clear. The leader she believes will take the country down the right path is undoubtedly Hillary Clinton. And the boost in enthusiasm the convention saw when Obama entered and exited Mondays stage could prove beneficial on the campaign trail. This November when we go to the polls, that is what we are deciding who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives, Obama said. There is only one person who I trust with that responsibility. Nine schoolgoing kids were killed and several others injured when their minivan was rammed by a speeding train in Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh. Nine schoolgoing children were killed when their van rammed into a speeding train in Bhadohi. By Kumar Abhishek: School bags, lunch boxes and parts of human body that lie scattered near an unmanned railway track in Aurayi region of Bhadohi town of Uttar Pradesh tell you much about the horrific incident the place witnessed on Monday, July 25. Nine school going kids were killed and several others injured when their minivan was rammed by a speeding train. advertisement Eyewitnesses blame the van driver for the loss of innocent lives. The driver tried to jump off the vehicle to save himself but failed. He too was crushed by the train. THE DRIVER WHO WAS OBSESSED WITH SPEED According to the locals, the driver of the minivan - Hashim was a freak. He loved listening to music at high volume while driving and was obsessed with challenging the speeding trains with his own driving skills. Locals said that despite being warned against it, Hashim had a habit of driving his vehicle across the railway track at full speed challenging the passing trains. WHAT HAPPENED IN THOSE LAST FEW SECONDS Injured kids, who are now recuperating at a local hospital in Bhadohi, explained how in a flash their packed-to-the-capacity van was flunged in the air upon been hit by the train when Hashim tried to compete with it. "Everyday, he used to tell us... don't worry I will be on that side of the railway track before the train comes. We will reach the school before the song (which he played on his mobile phone) ends," said Anjali, one of the kids who was injured in the accident. People present at the railway crossing had tried to stop Hashim but he ignored their warning leading to the tragic accident. Hashim was warned by local elders to drive carefully and curb his instincts of driving at high speeds. However, he never listened to them. Also Read: Uttar Pradesh: 9 kids die after train hits school bus in Bhadohi Indian Railways to get a new accident protection system soon --- ENDS --- First Lady Michelle Obama had delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on their feet tonight with her powerful speech, which got similarly strong reaction on Twitter. President Barack Obama was joined by a string of Hollywood stars in heaping praise on the eloquent address that made the case for Hillary Clinton becoming the next President of the United States while taking subtle jabs at her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, without mentioning him by name. Incredible speech by an incredible woman. Couldnt be more proud & our country has been blessed to have her as FLOTUS. I love you, Michelle. President Obama (@POTUS) July 26, 2016 Many opted to quote some of the inspirational lines in Michelle Obamas speech, which became instant soundbites. Dont let anyone ever tell you that this country isnt greatbecause this right now is the greatest country on earth @MichelleObama Dule Hill (@DuleHill) July 26, 2016 When Hillary didnt win the nomination 8 years ago, she didnt get angry or disillusioned. You gon speak the truth on tonight @Flotus! yvette nicole brown (@YNB) July 26, 2016 Because of Hillary Clinton, my daughterscan take it for granted that a woman can be president. @FLOTUS pic.twitter.com/bCezjrX9W5 Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 26, 2016 Many responded to the emotion and personal elements in the speech, in which Michelle Obama spoke about raising her children in the White House, noting that the upcoming Presidential election is not about left or right, Republican or Democrat, but instead, its about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives. Story continues Tears. Chills. @MichelleObama #DNC so honored to be here. Janelle Monae, Cindi (@JanelleMonae) July 26, 2016 Wow @FLOTUS speech at the #DNC was so uplifting! Yes!!! ADAM LAMBERT (@adamlambert) July 26, 2016 Michelle Obama makes me want to be a better man. #DemsInPhilly CHRlS ROCK (@chrisrockyoz) July 26, 2016 There should be no speakers AFTER Michelle Obama. That was Martin Luther Kingesque. #DemsInPhilly CHRlS ROCK (@chrisrockyoz) July 26, 2016 Rock could not resist a reference to the controversy at the RNC last week where Donald Trumps wife, Melania, was accused of plagiarizing Michelle Obamas 2008 convention speech. Michelle Obama gave an epic speech at Mondays DNC. If you missed it, catch Melania Trump deliver it next week. #DemsInPhilly CHRlS ROCK (@chrisrockyoz) July 26, 2016 The reaction to FLOTUS speech was so overwhelming, it prompted the NY Daily News to change its front page for tomorrow: [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK-oWkVcnok&w=970&h=546] Related stories Elizabeth Banks Makes Donald Trump Entrance At DNC, Accuses GOP Nominee Of Stealing Her 'Hunger Games' Act Hillary Clinton Makes History As First Female POTUS Candidate From Major Political Party CNN Clobbers Competition On Day 1 Of DNC Ratings Michelle Obama First lady Michelle Obama charged into the 2016 election fray Monday night at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia with a rousing speech that tore into Donald Trump without ever mentioning his name. Obama framed her argument around her children, implicitly making the point that Trump, who officially accepted the Republican nomination for president at the party's convention last week, would be a poor role model for kids. "Our motto is, when they go low, we go high," Obama said. "With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching us. We as parents are their most important role models." She continued: "This November, when we go to the polls, that is what we're deciding In this election, and every election, is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives." Obama also offered a strong endorsement of Hillary Clinton, who is poised to accept the Democratic nomination for president this week. "I am here tonight because in this election, there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility," she said. "Only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States. And that is our friend, Hillary Clinton." Obama also took a shot at Trump's notorious Twitter antics and recited the party line about preventing him from getting his hands on the nuclear codes. "I want someone who understands that the issues a president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters," she said. "Because when you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military in your command, you can't make snap decisions. You can't have a thin skin or tendency to lash out. You need to be steady and measured and well-informed." She then trained her fire on Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again." Story continues "Don't let anyone tell you that this country isn't great," Obama said. "That we need to make it great again. This right now is the greatest country on earth." The Clinton campaign has also framed some of its argument against Trump around children. In a televised campaign ad released earlier this month, children are shown watching Trump's speeches and rallies on TV as some of the brash billionaire's more controversial comments play in the background. The ad observes: "Our children are watching. What example will we set for them?" President Barack Obama offered praise of his wife on Twitter after her speech: Incredible speech by an incredible woman. Couldn't be more proud & our country has been blessed to have her as FLOTUS. I love you, Michelle. President Obama (@POTUS) July 26, 2016 NOW WATCH: Watch Michelle Obama rip into Donald Trump at the DNC More From Business Insider Photo: Getty Images In an emotional speech delivered during night one of the Democratic National Convention, first lady Michelle Obama spoke about teaching her children that when they go low, we go high even when, in a direct reference to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, someone, for example, questions whether their father was born in the United States. She talked about the importance of ensuring that whoever fills the office of president is a fighter for and role model for all children. And she fought back tears while reflecting on waking up every day over the past eight years in a house built by slaves and watching her daughters, two incredible black young women, play on the lawn of the White House with their dog. She did all this while wearing a cap-sleeved, blue A-line dress by 30-year old Christian Siriano. The piece retails for $995 and is still available on the American designer s website. Photo: Getty Images This is the second time in recent weeks that Mrs. Obama has worn something from Siriano. FLOTUS opted for a black dress with an asymmetrical hemline in early July during the memorial service for the five police officers who were killed by a sniper during a rally against police violence in Dallas, Texas. Sirianos been dressing a bunch of boldface names as of late. After Saturday Night Lives Leslie Jones tweeted that no designers wanted to dress her for the Ghostbusters premiere, in which she stars, because she is not a sample size, Siriano quickly tweeted back that he would love to make a dress for her for this event. And he did while celebrating the fact that women come in all shapes and sizes and that he loves to design clothes for all of them. Story continues Earlier this month, Siriano married his long-time partner, musician and artist Brad Walsh, making Mrs. Obamas call tonight to elect a president who will teach our children that everyone in this country matters, that everyone is created equal especially poignant. First lady Michelle Obama took center stage Monday night amid convention chaos from the Bernie or Bust movement to deliver a speech that appeared to unify the party and inspire Americans at the DNC. Inside the Wells Fargo Center, Mrs. Obama spoke about her time in the White House, her endorsement of Hillary Clinton and the controversial rhetoric brought on by Donald Trump and his campaign. Read: Bipartisan Folly: History's Most Memorable Political Convention Madness In her marquee speech, she slammed the hateful language that we hear from public figures on TV, adding: "Our motto is, when they go low, we go high." She also took shots at GOP candidate Donald Trumps slogan, Make America Great Again, saying: Dont let anyone ever tell you that this country isnt great, that somehow we need to make it great again, because this right now is the greatest country on earth. She never mentioned Trump by name but got her point across to those watching. Trump, who tweeted about the convention all night, never posted a message on the social media platform about Mrs. Obamas speech. Yet, the most rousing moment of her keynote address came when she discussed Americas progress in recent years. She said: That is the story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight. The stories of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done, so that today, I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I watched my daughters. Two beautiful intelligent black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn and because of Hillary Clinton my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States. Read: Sarah Silverman Blasts Booing Bernie Supporters at DNC: 'You're Being Ridiculous' During her speech, social media lit up with praise for the first ladys words. Story continues .@MichelleObama's speech was among the finest convention speeches in history: patriotic, personal, rousing, beautiful #AmericaIsAlreadyGreat Jennifer Granholm (@JenGranholm) July 26, 2016 I'm not gonna front, I would also steal Michelle's speech.#Goosebumps #DemsInPhilly Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) July 26, 2016 I have to say #Michelle Obama's speech was pretty good. If u missed it, no worries, Melania #Trump will repeat it at some point. Serman (@sermandraoof) July 26, 2016 I was so moved by Michelle Obama's speech at the convention. She is a caring, compassionate and brilliant 1st Lady....& she can jam too! carl reiner (@carlreiner) July 26, 2016 Finally getting to watch @MichelleObama's epic #DNCConvention speech. Tears. Jesse Tyler Ferguson (@jessetyler) July 26, 2016 Her proud husband tweeted words of support from the White House following her address. Incredible speech by an incredible woman. Couldn't be more proud & our country has been blessed to have her as FLOTUS. I love you, Michelle. President Obama (@POTUS) July 26, 2016 President Obamas former campaign strategist, David Axelrod, now a CNN pundit, praised her on the news network: To understand the journey she's taken as a reluctant conscript on the public scene, to come here and command that stage the way she did tonight was extraordinary and I think did for Hillary Clinton what no one else has done to this point. Mrs. Obamas speech came after a day of discord when some Bernie Sanders supporters booed other speakers whenever Hillary Clintons name was mentioned. The controversy comes after DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepped down following a series of 20,000 emails published on WikiLeaks Friday that showed DNC members being critical of Bernie Sanders campaign, and some who outright mocked him. Watch: Teen Who Sang For Pope Francis Performs at DNC: 'I Am Very Excited' Related Articles: For many millions of students and professionals, Microsoft Word's red squiggly underlines for spelling mistakes are essentially an icon of modern computing. Well, those squigglies aren't going anywhere. But for subscribers to the Microsoft Office 365 productivity suite, spellcheck is going to get a lot smarter with the addition of Editor for Word, coming in August. "Right now, [spellcheck] is more about what you did wrong," Microsoft's David Alexander tells Business Insider. In other words, Word spellcheck will tell you that you used the wrong word, but it won't really tell you why. Once Editor for Word drops, though, it'll start to actually give you the reasons why this word is better than this word. The idea is that by telling you why it isn't right, you'll learn by doing and gradually become a better writer. Editor in Word 2016 Plus, if you're using Office at work, your IT department will be able to load Editor for Word full of their corporate style so if your company spells it "e-mail" instead of "email," Editor will help keep it consistent across all documents. With the old spellcheck system, both usages could be seen as correct, so it wouldn't flag it. "Over time, you get fewer and fewer notifications," Alexander says. There's also going to be a new kind of squiggly thanks to Editor: A double-blue underline that's going to suggest a better way to write any given part of the text. It kind of rolls in the green squigglies that used to mean a grammar mistake, but now they'll include more actual writing advice, too. Editor in Word 2016 Alexander boasts that all of this is only possible through the use of Microsoft's considerable investments in machine learning and artificial intelligence. He says that Editor was developed with a local university's writing center to act as a human tutor would, and it'll get smarter over time as people use it more. Story continues Crucially, Alexander says that like any good tutor, Editor for Word is meant to suggest and guide, not do your homework for you. If nothing else, it'll be a long time before Word is good enough to write a serious-sounding school paper. "We don't want your writing to sound robotic," Alexander says. "Word is not writing your paper for you." Still, he says, it's all part of making you more productive. That's also why Word is getting another new feature called Researcher that helps you find information and pictures from the web straight within the document editor, with Bing going out and helping you vet credible sources. It'll even generate your bibliography for you as you go. Researcher in Word 2016 It looks a lot like a similar feature that Google rolled out for Google Docs in 2015. Between the two features, Alexander says, the idea is to help users, particularly students, get more stuff done faster, abstracting away the tedious stuff like spelling and simple research so you can focus more on writing. "They really are your 'dynamic duo,' they're your team," Alexander says. And, since you only get these updates if you're paying monthly or annually for Microsoft Office 365, it's a good reason to keep subscribing. Editor and Researcher are good examples of how Microsoft can keep adding value to an Office 365 investment by always making the products better. Compare that with the old, boxed Office, where updates would come every few years with a new version that forced you to re-learn everything. "Once you get on the train, you're going to get the latest updates as they come," Alexander says. NOW WATCH: 9 phrases on your resume that make hiring managers cringe More From Business Insider Budapest (AFP) - Hungary's right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday described the arrival of asylum seekers in Europe as "a poison", saying his country did not want or need "a single migrant". "Hungary does not need a single migrant for the economy to work, or the population to sustain itself, or for the country to have a future," he told a joint press conference in Budapest with Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern. "This is why there is no need for a common European migration policy: whoever needs migrants can take them, but don't force them on us, we don't need them," Orban said. The populist strongman added that "every single migrant poses a public security and terror risk". "For us migration is not a solution but a problem... not medicine but a poison, we don't need it and won't swallow it," he said. Orban is a fierce opponent of the European Union's troubled plan to share migrants across the 28-nation bloc under a mandatory quota system. Hungary has filed a legal challenge against the proposal and will hold a referendum on its participation in the scheme on October 2. Hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees trekked through Hungary and Austria in 2015 as they sought to reach wealthy European nations. But the flow slowed to a trickle after Orban's government erected razor wire and fences along the southern borders last autumn and brought in tough anti-migrant laws. However, numbers have been rising again in recent months, reaching almost 18,000 so far this year. In response Budapest introduced further security measures this month, including the controversial forced return to no-man's land between Hungary and Serbia of any migrant found within eight kilometres (five miles) of the southern border. - 'We have to assist' - In early July, Austria promised to send 20 police officers to the Serbian frontier, where around 20 asylum seekers a day are allowed to cross into a border "transit zone" and apply for asylum. Story continues The offer marked a turnaround for Vienna, previously a vocal critic of Hungary's hardline treatment of migrants. Kern, on his first visit to Hungary since becoming chancellor in May, said migration to Austria and Germany had declined thanks to Hungary's tough measures. "If we are beneficiaries from this process, then we have to assist it," he said. But Kern also stressed that nongovernmental aid agencies should be allowed to help people stranded on the Serbian side of the border. Around 1,400 people are waiting in squalid makeshift camps at the border, according to the UNHCR. Kern and Orban also discussed the return of migrants from Austria to Hungary, which has been a recent source of tension between the two countries. After their meeting, Orban said his government was willing to take back from Austria asylum seekers registered as having entered the EU in Hungary. This affects primarily Balkan migrants, which only make up a small number of those Vienna wants to send back. Miss Cleo, the Jamaican-accented self-described psychic who rose to fame via ubiquitous informercials in the late 1990s, has died. She was 53. Media reports say she died this morning of cancer at a hospital in Palm Beach County, FL. Born Youree Harris on August 12, 1962, in Los Angeles, she produced and acted in local Seattle theater before landing the gig that would make her famous. She took a job with the Psychic Readers Network and, dubbed Miss Cleo, became a familiar face on late-night TV. Call me now, shed say in her off-and-on Caribbean island accent as she flipped Tarot cards and many did. But by the early 2000s, Psychic Readers Network was mired in lawsuits, and the feds charged its owners with false advertising and other illegal practices. Miss Cleo was not indicted but fell from grace once it went public that she was American and not Jamaican as claimed. She later was the Auntie Poulet character in the popular 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxopPDMq7rs&w=970&h=546] Related stories 'StartUp' Trailer: Extended Look At Crackle's New Drama Series Pierce Brosnan's 'I.T.' Acquired By RLJ Entertainment For September Bow 'American Sniper' Scribe Jason Hall Signs With UTA Miss Cleo, the psychic whose infomercials featured prominently on TV in the 1990s, has died, her rep confirmed to TMZ. She was 53. Cleo, whose birth name was Youree Harris, was battling colon cancer that spread to her liver and lungs, her rep told TMZ. She died on Tuesday morning at a hospice center in Palm Beach County, Florida. A "pillar of strength," Cleo died surrounded by family and friends, her rep said. Famous for her faux-Jamaican accident, Cleo promised Psychic Readers Network callers that she'd use "the power of the tarot to show you the way." Actually born in Los Angeles, Cleo maintained her television personality until 2003 when the network collapsed under a federal probe before going on to do voice work, including a stint for game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, according to Vice. In 2006, Cleo a mother of two came out publicly as a lesbian, explaining to the Advocate, "This is me. I don't want to hide. Fear only impedes you on your journey." Cleo's long role as a spiritual advisor was rooted in her heritage, she said, telling Vice in 2014, "I come from a family of spooky people." "I come from a family of Obeah which is another word for voodoo," she said. "My teacher was Haitian, [a mambo] born in Port-au-Prince, and I studied under her for some 30 years and then became a mambo myself. So they refer to me as psychic because the word voodoo scares just about everybody. So they told me, 'No, no, no, we can't use that word; we're going to call you a psychic.' " Despite fallout from the Psychic Readers Network's demise at the hands of the Federal Trade Commission a suit later settled out of court Cleo said she still had callers as of just a few years ago. "I have clients in New Zealand, Australia, a few here in Toronto, a bunch all over the US, Jamaica, obviously," she told Vice. "Honey, that's how I make my money. I've got kids and grandchildren; I like being able to help." Genesis Davila violated pageant rules, but she refuses to give up her Miss Florida 2017 crown. (Photo: Instagram/genesismdavila) Genesis Davila had her dream come true when she was crowned Miss Florida 2017 last Saturday, but a week later, she has watched that dream shatter. The 24-year-old beauty queen has been stripped of her title for violating pageant rules but its not as controversial as you might think. This was no titillating scandal involving sex or drugs. What Davila did was let a professional makeup artist who was not a part of the pageant do her face in her private room before the show an advantage the other 64 women did not have, according to Floridas ABC Local 10 News. Pageant organizers received multiple complaints from contestants, and there were also eyewitnesses. We finally had substantial proof to link her and her vendors to her room on an evening which they were not allowed, said Grant Gravitt, executive producer of the Miss Florida USA pageant. The truth came to light when the 24-year-old posted a picture to her Instagram of makeup artist Luis Enrique Pina applying her cosmetics, with the caption Working his magic. Gravitt was firm in his stance. We have a zero-tolerance policy on rules, he said. Whether its something major or minor, its all about keeping an equal and level playing field. Unfortunately, our title holder sought an unfair competitive advantage, and thats just not acceptable in our system. Working his magic @ildegoncalves ???????? 07 DAYS #missflorida2017 A photo posted by Genesis Davila (@genesismdavila) on Jul 9, 2016 at 11:55am PDT Before the title was reversed, Davila posted a follow-up photo to her Instagram, where shes seen lounging on a bed in her golden gown, tiara, and Miss Florida USA sash. Dreaming on a cloud!!!!! she captioned the shot. Davilas last post on the social media site, on which she still identifies as Miss Florida USA 2017, is a video of the final moment of the competition between herself with then-runner-up Linette De Los Santos who has since been named the new Miss Florida 2017 by default. Story continues Related: 5 Things We Learned About Britney Spears During Her Live Tumblr Chat I didnt think it was going to happen, especially like this, De Los Santos said when she received the title. Im just excited to have this opportunity. De Los Santoss Instagram account is currently private, but in her bio, she too identifies as the title holder. Once upon a time ???????? @missfloridausa #MissFloridaUSA2017???? A video posted by Genesis Davila (@genesismdavila) on Jul 17, 2016 at 5:27pm PDT Though publicly disgraced, Davila still has plenty of people in her corner. These include fans, who rushed to the models defense on Instagram. Keep fighting for YOUR CROWN girl! You are the REAL QUEEN, wrote @sashandcrown. It is bs that the org is firing u. They are cowards, insisted @zingostar1986. Even makeup artist Pina, who was unaware that Davila had be dethroned when ABC contacted him, fought for the honor of the former Miss World Puerto Rico. She is elegant and has a beautiful figure and she walks like a panther, Pina proudly proclaimed. She has a great future ahead of her. Related: Why Women Reach for Makeup During Harsh Economic Times Davila is fighting too. According to reports, she did not show up to a scheduled meeting to surrender her crown on Friday. Instead, her lawyers arrived to announce that as long as they had anything to do with it, the beauty queen would keep her title. Though Gravitt is holding his ground, Davilas attorney, Mayra Joll, vowed, Shes still a queen. Shes still Miss Florida USA. Justice is going to be served. The decision to take the title away from Davila has far-reaching effects: Since the Miss Florida USA crown is a precursor to a Miss Universe win which is another dream of Davilas the model would not be qualified to compete. Instead, if pageant officials have their way, De Los Santos will represent Florida in the competition. I have waited for this for so long, De Los Santos, who hails from the Dominican Republic, said. Ive worked so hard for this. Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. The Chakraborty family may be going through an emotional turmoil for losing a family member but are glad someone in dire need will be finally benefited. By Manogya Loiwal : The family members of a 50-year-old brain-dead patient in Subhashnagar locality in Dum Dum Cantonment have decided to donate his organ to Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals in Saltlake. Patient Samar Chakraborty, who was under dialysis since last few days, was declared brain dead by ILS Hospital on Tuesday. Samar's brother Sujit Chakraborty said,"I enquired if his organs could be donated, and save someone's life as ILS Hospital is not a registered "Organ Donation" centre. Doctors referred me to Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals which co-ordinates distribution of cadaveric organs." advertisement The hospital was proactive in providing all assistance and ground support. Dr Sujay Kar of Apollo Hospital explained, "A series of lab test have been conducted to evaluate the fitness of the donor's organs on the basis of the Organ Transplant Act 1994." The Chakraborty family may be going through an emotional turmoil for losing a family member but are glad that someone in dire need will be finally benefited. BRAIN DEATH: IS THE BODY STILL 'ALIVE'? Brain death is the complete and irreversible loss of brain function. A person who is brain dead may appear alive but the command centre of the body that regulates the central nervous system is unable to perform. However, some function, such as a heartbeat, may linger. It's little difficult for a layperson to understand how a person is dead if the heart is still beating. But without brain function, the body eventually shuts down, unless there is medical intervention. Someone on a ventilator may appear to be breathing, but cannot breathe on their own. While the heart usually stops within 72 hours, it could continue beating for "a week or so." ALSO READ: Kapil Sharma fulfilled my mom's last wish: Cancer patient's daughter remembers the best day of her mother's life --- ENDS --- By Sai Sachin R and Paul Lienert BENGALURU/DETROIT (Reuters) - A rift between Tesla Motors Inc and key supplier Mobileye NV sent down shares of the Israeli maker of chips for the electric vehicle maker's semi-automated Autopilot system and fanned debate on self-driving vehicle technology. Mobileye shares, which have been wildly popular with institutional and tech investors, were down 7.7 percent at $45.50 on Tuesday after the company said its contract with Tesla would not be renewed. Tesla stock fell 0.9 percent to $227.94. Neither Mobileye nor Tesla would say which company initiated the move. The split comes while Tesla's Autopilot is facing scrutiny from regulators following a fatal accident in early May. The crash spurred new debate about self-driving vehicles and the level of technology necessary to reduce the number of such incidents. Mobileye's EyeQ chips provide image analysis for Tesla's Autopilot system, which helps the automaker's vehicles steer and stay in lanes. Mobileye said in a statement that it would continue to support Tesla's ongoing upgrades to Autopilot but without any hardware updates. Tesla in a statement said only that it was "transitioning to internally developed software for the camera portion of Autopilot." In a December blog post, Tesla said Mobileye's EyeQ3 chip, which is used in the Model S and Model X, "is the best in the world at what it does, and that is why we use it." Mobileye, which is working with about two dozen global vehicle manufacturers, said it planned by 2020 to offer a hardware/software system that can gather, fuse and analyze data from 20 different sensors, including cameras, lidar and radar. Tesla has eschewed the laser-based lidar sensors that many manufacturers are incorporating into their self-driving systems, electing instead to focus on cameras, radar and ultrasonic sensors. The company plans to make fully autonomous vehicles in the future, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said in his latest "master plan" last week but did not provide details. Mobileye's new EyeQ5 "system on chip" will be an important component in a fully autonomous driving system being jointly developed with BMW AG and Intel Corp and aimed at production in 2021. BlueStar Indexes, which manages a U.S.-listed Israeli tech fund, said on Tuesday that Tesla accounted for less than 1 percent of Mobileye's current revenue and about 2 percent of projected 2019 sales. Compared with clients such as Volkswagen AG and General Motors Co, "Tesla's impact is quite small," BlueStar said. (Reporting by Sai Sachin R in Bengaluru and Paul Lienert in Detroit; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Lisa Von Ahn) On Monday, police officer Montrell Jackson was remembered in death the same way he was celebrated in life: as a peacemaker. "Montrell was a man who truly loved being a policeman, and he loved this city that he protected," Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said at Jackson's funeral, held Monday afternoon at the Living Faith Christian Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Jackson, a 32-year-old new father and 10-year veteran of the police department, was one of three law enforcement officers slain on July 17, in what authorities have called a targeted attack on police. Montrell Jackson's Family Says Goodbye to Slain Officer: 'Now I Can Brag About You Being an Angel'| Crime & Courts, True Crime His friends and family gathered Monday to say their goodbyes. So many gathered, in fact, that more community members were turned away, according to WAFB. "Everything you've done, I've bragged about it, even if no one cared," brother Kedrick Pitts said in his eulogy, according to The Advocate. "All I wanted to do was be like you and do what you did. Now I can brag about you being an angel." 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. Above Jackson's coffin, they displayed Superman's "S," along with photographs, according to NOLA.com. "You and Mason were his everything," Jackson's friend, Gelrod Armstrong, told Jackson's widow, Trenisha, at the funeral, according to NOLA.com. "You were his superwoman, and Mason was his super baby." Montrell Jackson's Family Says Goodbye to Slain Officer: 'Now I Can Brag About You Being an Angel'| Crime & Courts, True Crime Jackson's family has previously spoken with PEOPLE about how much he loved being a father to 4-month-old Mason. "Having a family was one of his dreams, so he did get to fulfill that dream," said Jessica Milligan-Robinson, Jackson's younger sister. "It was one of his greatest accomplishments," she said. His family also spoke about his sweet nature and his instincts as a defuser. That was on display in a Facebook post Jackson wrote soon before his death, about the tension he felt as both a black man and a police officer, and about his desire for peace. "Montrell, he was such a sweet kid," his uncle Charles Cavalier told PEOPLE. And Milligan-Robinson said, "One of his wishes was that we would stop killing period. That's the reason he became a cop. "He wanted to make the streets better and safer for everybody. Not just for his sister or for his cousin, but for everybody." Jackson's is the final of the funerals for the slain officers. Officer Matthew Gerald and sheriff's deputy Brad Garafola were laid to rest last week. Geneva (AFP) - More than 3,000 migrants and refugees have died while trying to cross the Mediterranean this year, while nearly 250,000 have made the perilous journey to Europe, the International Organization for Migration said Tuesday. "The latest discovery of 39 bodies washed up on Libyan shores this week bring the number of casualties to over 3,034 among the migrants and refugees who attempted to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe in 2016," the IOM said. An IOM statement said this year's fatality rate was "significantly higher" than in the same period last year, with 1,917 migrants having perished in the Mediterranean as of late July 2015. One reason for the higher death toll this year is that there have been a series of shipwrecks involving larger vessels carrying several hundred people rather than the more typical dinghies that carry a maximum of 100 migrants. "Despite the constant and increased patrolling of the Mediterranean, it has proved extremely difficult to reduce the number of victims," IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo said in the statement. The total number of arrivals to Europe this year was also slightly above the 2015 rate. Syrians fleeing the country's brutal civil war again made up the largest group to have risked their lives to make the dangerous sea crossing. Afghans were next on the list, followed by Iraqis. Nairobi (AFP) - More than 37,000 people have fled South Sudan for neighbouring Uganda in the last three weeks following intense fighting between rival troops that left hundreds dead, the UN's refugee body said Tuesday. An already shaky 2015 peace deal signed after a bloody civil war in the world's newest nation looks uncertain after the clashes between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and those allied with former rebel leader Riek Machar. "In the past three weeks there have been more refugee arrivals in Uganda than in the entire first six months of 2016," when 33,838 crossed the border, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement. More than 90 percent of the arrivals were women and children, UNHCR said, with men forcibly recruited by armed groups and prevented from crossing the border. Those who fled were from South Sudan's Eastern Equatoria region, as well as from the capital, Juba, and the last week has seen the greatest surges. Facilities on the Ugandan side were overwhelmed at first with the sheer size of the influx, UNHCR said. It used the example of Elegu, northern Uganda, where more than 11,000 refugees were at one point staying in a shelter designed for 1,000. Underfunding of the UN bodies helping those displaced compounded the problem, the refugee agency said, adding that 831,582 South Sudanese were now refugees, scattered across Ethiopia, Sudan, and Uganda. South Sudan's President Salva Kiir announced on Monday that former rebel leader Riek Machar had been replaced as vice president, confirming signs of serious divisions within the opposition. Kiir said he had appointed Taban Deng Gai to the post on the "recommendation of the top leadership of the SPLM/A (IO)" -- the group Machar heads. Machar has refused to come back to Juba until the deployment of a neutral force of African troops -- a plan approved by the African Union but rejected by Kiir. Machar and Kiir fell out in 2013, little more than two years after South Sudan became independent, when Kiir accused his vice president of plotting against him. The result was a civil war that killed tens of thousands of people. Eight years ago, with the nomination of Barack Obama as the Democratic candidate for president a foregone conclusion, then-Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton officially released her delegates, giving those bound to her during the primary process the freedom to vote for Obama at the partys convention. Going a step further, she stood on the floor of the Democratic convention among the delegates from the state of New York, and brought the roll call of the states to a halt. With eyes firmly fixed on the future, in the spirit of unity, with the goal of victory, with faith in our party and our country, lets declare together in one voice, right here, right now that Barack Obama is our candidate, and he will be our president, she said. Related: Kaines $160,000 Gift Controversy -- More Bad Optics for the Democrats To booming cheers, she continued, I move Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois be selected by this convention by acclamation as the nominee of the Democratic Party for president of the United States. This evening though, with Clintons nomination for president every bit the certainty that Obamas was in 2008, she apparently will not be afforded the same courtesy by her primary opponent, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Sanders, given the opportunity to close the first night of the convention with a speech to the delegates, made it clear that he intends to require a full and public counting of all the delegates. Let me thank the 13 million Americans who voted for the political revolution, giving us the 1,846 pledged delegates here tonight 46 percent of the total. And delegates: Thank you for being here, and for all the work youve done. I look forward to your votes during the roll call on Tuesday night. Related: Is Sanders Too Late to Swing His Supporters to Clinton? The opening day of the Democratic convention was marked by chaos and division, beginning with Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz being booed off the stage during a meeting of delegates from her home state of Florida and eventually announcing that in the interest of party unity she would not chair the convention as planned. Wasserman Schultz, who repeatedly clashed with Sanders during the campaign, was ultimately brought down by a massive leak of internal DNC emails that revealed members of the supposedly neutral party committee to be biased against Sanders and in favor of Clinton. Story continues Sanders supporters, already angry and convinced that they had been cheated, were enraged by the emails, and they took out their anger on various convention speakers, even trying to shout down the woman delivering the invocation to open the proceedings. In the most uncomfortable moment of an evening that was full of them, comedian Sarah Silverman, a Sanders supporter, urged delegates to unify behind Clinton. Met with more shouting and catcalls from Sanders delegates, she paused a dialogue with Minnesota Sen. Al Franken and said, To the Bernie-or-bust people: Youre being ridiculous! Related: Democrats Create Their Own Brand of Convention Chaos The evening was not without its moments of grace. First Lady Michelle Obama delivered a masterful speech and was met with more respect than anyone else to take the stage Monday, either before or after, even as she offered a passionate endorsement of Clinton. Liberal icon Elizabeth Warren, the senator from Massachusetts, was also well received as she delivered her signature attacks on Republican nominee Donald Trump. Warren, though, was not spared the ire of Sanders supporters in the crowd who shouted, We trusted you, at her when she endorsed Clinton. Even Sanders himself, who had been booed by his own delegates earlier in the day by calling for the election of Clinton and her recently named running mate Tim Kaine, had to deal with angry shouting from the floor as he delivered the speech that brought the first day of the convention to a close. The Vermont senator has plainly lost control of the movement that he built, and no longer has the moral authority with his supporters to shepherd them into line behind Clinton. In fact, by insisting on the roll call vote -- during all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five US territories will announce their votes one after the other -- he effectively gives his supporters 56 opportunities tonight to demonstrate that far from being unified behind Clinton, the Democratic Party is still bitterly divided. Related: Can Bernie Sanders Save the Democratic Convention? The Clinton camp tried to put the best face on things with press secretary Brian Fallon declaring that a roll call is a good thing. It is exactly in keeping with our philosophy that every vote should be counted. And that means every delegate being counted on the floor of the convention, he said. But thats not how Clinton herself felt in 2008. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: The police are investigating allegations by Aabesh Aabesh Dasgupta's family that he was stabbed with a broken beer bottle by someone in the group following a fight. By Manogya Loiwal : Mystery continues to shroud the death of the teenager who was found bleeding to death at the parking lot of a posh housing complex in South Kolkata on Saturday. Even after 48 hours of the incident, the city police is yet to figure out whether it was an accident or murder as the victim's family has alleged. advertisement AUTHOR AMIT CHAUDHURI QUESTIONED Police at the Lalbazar headquarters on Tuesday evening called upon author Amit Chaudhuri for questioning. After the incident, Chaudhuri had issued a statement saying that his family never knew the boy. "We tried to help a young man none of us knew and feel distressed not to have succeeded in doing this," his statement read. 17-year-old Aabesh Dasgupta along with a group of seven teenagers, including the daughter of author Amit Chaudhuri, had returned to her Sunny Park residence in Ballygunge after attending a birthday bash with a larger group of friends. AABESH WAS STABBED TO DEATH: FAMILY The police are investigating allegations by Aabesh's family that he was stabbed with a broken beer bottle by someone in the group following a fight. "He told me he was going to give a surprise party for one of Risabh's friend, who is his school friend. I was the last person to be informed when he was hospitalised. All of his friends were there and their parents too. How can no one see anything? They must know something," said Rimjhum Dasgupta, Abesh's mother. AABESH, FRIENDS CONSUMED ALCOHOL: COPS Though the investigation into a supposed murder is being conducted, a section of the investigators are also not ruling out the possibility of an accident, that Aabesh was holding a beer bottle very close to his underarm and when he tripped and fell, the bottle's sharp shard hit him, severely injuring him in the process. However, further details can only be ascertained after the post mortem report is out. According to the police, on Saturday afternoon 17 friends, all minors, had gone to a private club in South Kolkata where they consumed alcohol. Then seven of them came to Sunny Towers at Chaudhuri's place and were enjoying themselves in the parking lot. The security guards at the apartment have said that they heard loud voices at the basement and they went to check where they found Aabesh lying in a pool of blood, with no one around. The guards then informed writer Amit Chaudhuri, who took the teenager to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead. ALSO READ: Aligarh: Boy walks into classroom and shoots girl during college exam before killing self --- ENDS --- TripAdvisor has announced the results of their annual TripIndex Cities cost-comparison study, showing that travelers can save $600 by opting for a trip to a more affordable city. Of the 39 key tourist cities included in the survey, more than half of the cities on the U.S. list were in the South, including Washington D.C. and Atlanta. New Orleans ranked No. 1 as the most budget friendly destination in the country. Some of the most fun things to do in New Orleans are super cheap: like eating poboys with fried oysters and beignets covered in powdered sugar. Southern cities offer the least expensive prices for a summer getaway, said Brooke Ferencsik, TripAdvisors senior director of communications. She noted that compared to cities on the West Coast, travelers could save as much as 30 percent by heading to the region. Trip Advisor Travel Destinations For the cheapest hotel rates, however, youll want to take a trip to Las Vegas. Though tours and activities are significantly more expensive than those in New Orleans, youll spend an average of $190 per night on a hotel there (try the shockingly affordable Red Rock Hotel & Casino, where rooms offer sweeping canyon views and can be booked for as little as $80 per night), whereas an evening in New Orleans will run you approximately $217. The outlier on the list is Orlando, which ranked as the No. 1 most expensive domestic city, where three days can cost you upwards of $2,217. You have outrageous theme park prices to thank for that price tag. Of course, you can always save money at Disney with coupon codes and expert hacks. But according to the TripIndex, a flight across the world to Vietnam could actually be the most cost-effective way to travel this summer. Trip Advisor Travel Destinations A three-day trip in the frenetic city of Hanoi, in northern Vietnam, costs approximately $500, including taxi rides, meals, tours, and hotel accommodations. A vacation of the same length in New Orleans, on the other hand, could run you upwards of $1,100. All you need to do is score a good flight deal (and ultra-low fares to Southeast Asia do appear regularly). Story continues If you choose to splurge on your accommodations while in Vietnam, consider bedding down at the grand dame Sofitel Legend Metropoleone of the most historic and luxurious hotels in the country. Even still, Asia is known for offering some of the cheapest luxury hotel rates on the planet. For more cheap places to travel and economical getaways, check out our budget travel page for wallet-friendly ideas that mean zero compromise. Melanie Lieberman is the Assistant Digital Editor at Travel + Leisure. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @melanietaryn. Related Articles Mary Ann Mendoza is the mother of Sgt. Brandon Mendoza, who was killed by an illegal immigrant in a drunk-driving accident. She responded Tuesday to illegal immigrant Astrid Silvas plea at the Democratic National Convention to stay in America. Its their agenda to make people feel sorry and have sob stories like this but thats all theyre going to get out of the story. Mendoza continued, I am separated from my son permanently and Im an American citizen. Ive been paying taxes all of my life and when you have a politician who cares more about illegal families being ripped apart, more than she cares about American families having their loved ones killed by illegals, its disgusting to me. Mendoza then explained the financial impact of illegal immigration on U.S. taxpayers. And these Dreamers, theyre going to get $6,000 a year to attend college which is going to cost the taxpayers $6.2 billion a year. And once they have attended two years of college they will be granted permanent legal status in our country, Mendoza told the FOX Business Networks Stuart Varney Mendoza explained that the illegal immigrant that killed her son was also killed in the accident. Well, he was killed in the accident also. And I have been spared having to watch him just be released from jail like so many other American families, thousands of American families who have been affected by illegal crime. They have had to watch the person who killed their child or their loved one not serve their whole sentence, not be deported to Mexico. Mendoza then said the illegal immigrant that killed her son, was driving three times the legal limit drunk, high on meth. Mendoza raised concerns that illegal immigration is putting Americans at risk. I know that there are good people. My son worked in the area of Mesa, Arizona he worked with a lot of illegals and I do have compassion for people who dont break the law. My main concern is the criminal element in our country. Related Articles Slowly healing. An upcoming episode of MTV's documentary series True Life will focus on survivors of June's Orlando nightclub tragedy, the network announced on Monday, July 25. PHOTOS: Celebrity Deaths in 2016: Stars Weve Lost True Life: We Are Orlando, which airs on August 15, centers on four people who were injured when gunman Omar Mateen opened fire at popular gay nightclub Pulse on June 12, leaving 49 people dead and dozens of others wounded. The episode, which will be accompanied by supplementary digital clips leading up to its airing, will also feature interviews with other LGBTQ community members who reside in Orlando. PHOTOS: Biggest Celebrity Scandals of 2015 Two preview clips from the episode center on Tony, who allows MTV's cameras to capture his hospital visit. One harrowing scene shows the gunshot wounds in his back and arm. "People think that because I got released from the hospital, and I'm in rehab right now, that I'm OK," he tells the camera. "I'm not OK. I'm still connected to a machine because of my back. I have a hole in my back. My arm is still shattered. It's healing, but I don't have movement in my two fingers." PHOTOS: Reality TV's Breakout Stars "I'm not OK, and that's only physical," he continues. "I can't even start with mentally. I'm not nearly OK I got so much stuff going on." The second clip shows Tony visiting the memorial to remember a loved one who died in the shooting. "I need to pay my respects for everybody that did not make it, and most importantly, I need to see Louis cross," Tony says to the camera. (Louis' relation to Tony is not identified in the clip.) True Life: We Are Orlando airs on MTV Monday, August 15, at 8 p.m. ET. North Korea said any decision to conduct another nuclear test depends entirely on the behaviour of the United States as the two sides traded blame Tuesday over tensions on the Korean peninsula. Ri Yong-Ho, Pyongyang's newly appointed foreign minister, accused the US of being behind the failure of the long-dormant six-party talks on the country's nuclear programme. His comments came after top Washington envoy John Kerry warned the North of "real consequences" if it continues nuclear and missile tests in defiance of UN sanctions, as the international community attempts to rein in the rogue nation. "Whether we conduct additional nuclear tests is entirely up to the United States," Ri told reporters late Tuesday on the sidelines of a regional security forum in Laos which both he and Kerry attended. "The denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula went out of the window because of the United States," Ri said. The hermit state carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by a series of ballistic missile launches that sent tensions soaring across East Asia and beyond. In response the UN Security Council slapped North Korea with its toughest sanctions to date in a unanimous decision even endorsed by China, its economic lifeline and diplomatic shield. "The key factor damaging the situation is the United States' hostile policies... and the problem is getting worse," Ri said, citing the ramped up economic sanctions. Despite the latest attempt by the international community to push it towards bankruptcy, North Korea has continued to carry out ballistic missile tests, and made it clear that it intends to continue nuclear testing. With the tensions dominating talks in the Laos capital Vientiane, Kerry issued a stern warning to the North. "Together we are determined... to make absolutely certain that DPRK (North Korea) understands that there are real consequences for these actions," Kerry said. Story continues Analysts say this year's tests have shown the North making progress towards its goal of developing a credible strike threat against the US mainland, adding urgency to Washington's warnings. Ri, a former nuclear negotiator, was making his overseas debut as North Korea's top diplomat at the gathering hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The meeting was a rare opportunity for the six parties involved in talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear programme -- the US, Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas -- to be in the same room. - 'Serious threat' - Kerry held a flurry of closed-door meetings with his regional counterparts over the last two days. "(The) issue that came up in nearly every meeting I had so far this week is the provocative and deeply concerning behaviour of the DPRK," he told reporters. "North Korea's actions present a very serious threat, not just to this region but to international peace and security." Earlier in the day, Kerry had referred to Iran and encouraged North Korea to follow its example. "(Iran) was not going to pursue a nuclear weapon and, in exchange, would like to have sanctions lifted that had been put in place because of the evidence of that programme," Washington's top diplomat said. Washington and Seoul agreed earlier this month to deploy a sophisticated anti-missile system in South Korea, a move which also spooked China and Russia, who worry about having the advanced US-made system on their doorstep. The North, meanwhile, said it would take "physical action" -- a threat followed up with another missile test which it described as a simulated strike on the South. North Korea's Ri met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Monday on the sidelines of the Laos meeting but few details have been released. Beijing is Pyongyang's main ally but its patience has worn thin. China is, however, wary of pushing the North too far, fearing a regime collapse that could create a refugee crisis on its border and swing the regional balance of power towards the US. The North Korean minister also hit out at the US decision to personally blacklist Kim Jong-Un over human rights abuses. "Recently they committed the most grave hostility by insulting our Dear Leader," he said. The United States warned North Korea on Tuesday of "real consequences" if it continues nuclear and missile tests in defiance of UN sanctions, as the international community moves to rein it in. Pyongyang carried out its forth nuclear test in January, followed by a series of ballistic missile launches that sent tensions soaring across East Asia and beyond. In response the UN Security Council slapped North Korea with its toughest sanctions to date in a unanimous decision even endorsed by China, its economic lifeline and diplomatic shield. But Pyongyang has continued to carry out missile launches -- most recently last week -- in a bid to prove that sanctions are ineffective in curbing its weapons development. "Together we are determined... to make absolutely certain that DPRK (North Korea) understands that there are real consequences for these actions," US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of Asian nations in Laos. Analysts say this year's tests have shown the North making progress towards its goal of developing a credible strike threat against the US mainland, adding urgency to Washington's warnings. The issue has dominated this week's talks in Vientiane, a rare opportunity for the six parties involved in stalled talks on ending North Korea's nuclear programme to be in the same room. The North's new foreign minister and former nuclear negotiator Ri Yong-Ho was making his diplomatic debut at the meeting, hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Kerry, who has held a flurry of closed-door meetings with his regional counterparts over the last two days, said efforts to denuclearise the Korean peninsula had dominated discussions. "(The) issue that came up in nearly every meeting I had so far this week is the provocative and deeply concerning behaviour of the DPRK," he told reporters. "North Korea's actions present a very serious threat, not just to this region but to international peace and security." Story continues Later Tuesday afternoon six-party members -- the US, China, Japan, Russia and both Koreas -- were among those attending the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), a security meeting that groups most of Asia. - 'Cannot be tolerated' - The nuclear threat from the North was expected to feature strongly, with Beijing likely to press for a revival of the talks last held in 2008. But Washington, Seoul and Tokyo all insist Pyongyang must first make tangible steps towards denuclearisation. At a regional meeting preceding ARF which excluded the North's envoy, Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told ministers that Pyongyang's continuing missile and nuclear testing "cannot be tolerated". In a briefing afterwards, foreign ministry spokesman Yasuhisa Kawamura said the grouping had "made strong demands North Korea should refrain from any further provocative actions and comply with UN security resolutions". The North's relentless sabre-rattling has sent waves of uncertainty across Asia and beyond. Washington and Seoul agreed earlier this month to deploy a sophisticated anti-missile system in South Korea, a move which spooked China and Russia, who worry about having the advanced US-made system on their doorstep. North Korea's Ri met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Monday but few details have been released. Beijing is Pyongyang's main ally but its patience has worn thin as the North refused to rein in its weapons programme. China is, however, wary of pushing the North too far, fearing a regime collapse that could create a refugee crisis on its border and swing the regional balance of power towards the US. Before Kerry's visit a State Department official played down the likelihood of him meeting Ri. But the official added: "I think that the North Korean foreign minister will again hear from not only the Secretary of State but from others in the room that the world is not prepared to accept North Korea as a nuclear state." Although it has now become official that RJD-JD(U) alliance will not be fighting UP polls together, there were hints coming since the last few weeks that Kumar and Yadav has different game plans for the elections. Sources say that Lalu Yadav was not happy with the way Nitish was touring the country, especially UP, without holding any consultations with him. By Rohit Kumar Singh: The bonhomie and mutual admiration between RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar that developed ahead of Bihar elections and later went on to ensure the victory of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar appears to have hit the road block. At least that is the case in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections. RJD chief today announced that the party would not be contesting the UP polls. advertisement Although it has now become official that RJD-JD(U) alliance will not be fighting the UP elections together, there were hints coming since the last few weeks that Kumar and Yadav has different game plans for the elections. NITISH KUMAR RIDING HIGH ON PROHIBITION The Bihar Chief Minister, after imposing prohibition in the state in April this year, is riding high on his prohibition plank and began touring Uttar Pradesh with an eye on elections. In the last two months, Kumar has addressed more than half a dozen rallies across UP, including in Varanasi, Noida, Allahabad and Lucknow. He has made it very clear in the last four months that after Bihar, he was keen on making inroads in UP as well, especially in the eastern UP segment where there are a huge number of Kurmi voters. Kumar has been demanding in each rally that the UP government should impose prohibition in the state. The Chief Minister has gone to the extent of promising in his UP rallies that he would impose prohibition in UP if voters strengthened his hand in the Assembly elections. LALU CHOOSES SAMMDHI MULAYAM Surprisingly, all this while, Lalu Prasad Yadav had been keeping silent back in Bihar. There was no indication from his side whether he would fight the UP polls in alliance with JD(U) or alone. Sources in RJD, however, said that since Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav was his sammdhi, Lalu Prasad Yadav was not keen on spoiling Mulayam's game. It is pertinent to mention here that the Samajwadi Party too, after deliberating to fight Bihar elections, had pulled out of the polls at the very last moment. LALU-NITISH FACE-OFF? Insiders also say that Lalu Yadav was not happy with the way Nitish was touring the country, especially UP, without holding any consultations with him. Kumar's "ekla chalo" policy for UP is being seen as a reason for Yadav not fighting the UP elections. Yadav's decision today has now laid to rest all the speculations but has raised questions over his camaraderie with Nitish Kumar hitting a new low. advertisement Yadav was also not on same page with Kumar over prohibition imposed in Bihar. Speaking to reporters in Gopalganj, Lalu Prasad Yadav said that he has decided that his party will not be contesting the Uttar Pradesh elections in 2017. "My party RJD will not fight elections in UP. Our party will support secular forces in the UP polls. My intoxication is to uproot BJP and RSS. We will try avoid splitting of secular votes in UP", announced Yadav. NO RIFT BETWEEN LALU-NITISH : JD (U) On the other hand, JD(U) is maneuvering cautiously after this announcement. Dispelling any rift between Lalu and Nitish, JD(U) spokesperson, Neeraj said that the alliance in Bihar was intact, and Lalu Yadav might have decided to not fight elections because of his family relations with Mulayam Singh Yadav. "Every party has its own policy. We, despite being with the BJP in Bihar, used to fight elections against them in Gujarat. Nitish Kumar is, at present, expanding the party. We will fight UP polls but in no way RJD-JD(U) alliance is on the rock. Its steady in Bihar", said Neeraj Kumar.LALU THE MADARI? advertisement BJP too has reacted to Lalu Yadav's announcement. BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said that it would be interesting to see Lalu play a role of madaari between Nitish and sammdhi Mulayam Singh. Also Read: Lalu hosts Iftaar party, Nitish-Manjhi bonhomie catch eyeballs BJP leaders attck Nitish, Lalu on Emergency anniversary Lalu's family rift out in open through an Iftar invite --- ENDS --- BEIJING (Reuters) - China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday it hoped that all parties in Nepal put national interest first and worked for stability, after the landlocked country's prime minister resigned, nine months after coming to power. Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Oli resigned on Sunday, minutes before parliament was to vote on a no-confidence motion he was likely to lose. The no-confidence motion was brought by former Maoist rebels who propped up the Oli-led government last October, but fell out with him after accusing him of failing to honor a power-sharing deal. Oli's departure plunges the Himalayan country, plagued by political turmoil for years, into a whole new round of political uncertainty. This is the country's 23rd government to fall since a multi-party democracy began in 1990 after bloody protests, and the political tumult has weighed on business confidence. China is vying to increase its influence in Nepal, challenging India's long-held position as the dominant outside power. When Oli visited China in March, he signed a deal allowing Nepal to use China's ports for trading goods with third countries, potentially ending India's decades-long monopoly over the impoverished country's trading routes. "As a neighbour and friend, China genuinely hopes that all parties and sides in Nepal put the national and people's interests first, and dedicate themselves to effecting Nepal's stability and development," China's foreign ministry said in a brief statement. "China and Nepal have been through thick and thin together, and no matter the changes in the international or domestic situation, the direction of China and Nepal's friendship and mutually beneficially cooperation will not change." (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ryan Woo) TORONTO (Reuters) - The nephew of Rob Ford, the late Toronto mayor who won notoriety for admitting to smoking crack cocaine while in office, has won his uncle's old seat on the city council. Michael Ford, a former school board trustee, won a special election on Monday night in the west Toronto electoral ward his uncle represented after his mayoral term ended in 2014. The council seat had been vacant since Rob Ford died in March of cancer at age 46. Michael Ford, the son of Rob Ford's sister, won with almost 70 percent of the votes, beating 11 other candidates. The ward has been in the Ford family since 2000. Rob Ford represented it until 2010, when he became mayor. His brother Doug Ford then took the seat. Rob Ford dropped his mayoral bid for re-election in 2014 after he was diagnosed with an aggressive and rare form of cancer. Doug Ford ran in his place but lost to the current mayor, John Tory. During his tumultuous tenure as mayor of Canada's most populous city, Rob Ford admitted to using and buying illegal drugs and driving after drinking alcohol. (Reporting by Ethan Lou in Toronto; Editing by Peter Cooney) Netflix is developing a movie about the Panama Papers scandal with John Wells and Claire Rudnick Polstein producing. The streaming giant has acquired the rights to the book The Panama Papers: Breaking the Story of How the Worlds Rich and Powerful Hide Their Money, written by German journalists Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer. Its the second Panama Papers movie thats been unveiled this month. Steven Soderbergh, Lawrence Greys Grey Matter Productions and Anonymous Content are producing an untitled project based on Jake Bernsteins upcoming book The Secrecy World. Obermaier and Obermayer, who write for German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, based their reporting on access from an anonymous whistleblower to 11.5 million documents from the offices of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. The papers provided details on how the wealthy and powerful used the firm to take finances offshore to avoid tax liabilities. The documents were leaked by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a global group of reporters and publications, which began revealing their findings in April. Obermaier and Obermayer will work with producers Wells and Rudnick Polstein, and executive producer Zach Studin of John Wells Productions. Marina Walker and Gerard Ryle of the ICIJ which oversaw more than 400 journalists in 76 countries on the release of the Panama Papers are also collaborating on the film in an unspecified capacity. We are confident that between the expert investigative work of Obermaier and Obermayer, the only journalists in touch directly with John Doe, the ICIJ, and the master storytelling of John Wells Productions, we will be able to deliver a gripping tale that will deliver the same type of impact as the Panama Papers when they were first revealed on the worlds front pages, Netflix COO Ted Sarandos said. Rudnick Polstein, the president of features for John Wells Productions, said, We could not be more excited to be working with Netflix on this project. They have an excellent track record of producing top notch filmmaking and together, we are very much looking forward to getting started on shedding light on one of the most compelling news stories in recent memory. Story continues Obermaier and Obermayer said, It all started with a ping, when John Doe contacted us. That relationship and the work that came out of it grew to become the biggest data leak in history, and by far the biggest collaboration of journalists. The world has ever seen; with over 400 journalists ultimately participating in this investigation. We are proud that our newspaper was the starting point for this story which grew to be something monumental. No director or actors are attached. Wells most recently helmed Burnt, starring Bradley Cooper, and August: Osage County, based on the Tracy Letts play. He also exec produced the Brian Wilson biopic Love and Mercy. Related stories Inside the Troubled Production of Baz Luhrmann's 'The Get Down,' Netflix's Most Expensive Series Yet 'The Get Down' Banks on Authenticity, Diversity and Fresh Faces 'Stranger Things' Tests Limits of Netflix's Nostalgia Strategy Netflix is teaming up with John Wells Production to work on a feature film on the subject of the Panama Papers reports Deadline. Netflix will work with journalists Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer who broke the story and led the team that uncovered The Panama Papers, the single biggest leak of data in government and corporate history. Netflix has acquired Obermaier's and Obermayer's book for the project, "Panama Papers: Breaking The Story Of How The World's Rich and Powerful Hide Their Money." The news comes just after the announcement earlier this month that director Steven Soderbergh is also working on a movie about the leak, to be based on the book by Pulitzer-winning journalist Jake Bernstein, "Secrecy World." By Elaine Lies and Kwiyeon Ha SAGAMIHARA, Japan (Reuters) - A knife-wielding man broke into a facility for the disabled in a small town near Tokyo early on Tuesday and killed 19 patients as they slept, authorities said, Japan's worst mass killing since World War Two. At least 25 other residents were wounded in the attack at the Tsukui Yamayuri-En facility for mentally and physically disabled in Sagamihara town, about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Tokyo. "This is a very heart-wrenching and shocking incident in which many innocent people became victims," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular news conference in Tokyo. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later told a gathering in Tokyo: "The lives of many innocent people were taken away and I am greatly shocked. We will make every effort to discover the facts and prevent a reoccurance." The suspect was a 26-year-old former employee of the facility who gave himself up to police. The man, Satoshi Uematsu, said in letters he wrote in February that he could "obliterate 470 disabled people", Kyodo news agency reported. He said he would kill 260 severely disabled people at two areas in the facility during a night shift, and would not hurt employees. "My goal is a world in which the severely disabled can be euthanized, with their guardians consent, if they are unable to live at home and be active in society," Uematsu wrote in the two letters given to the speaker of the lower house of parliament, Kyodo reported. Uematsu was committed to hospital after he expressed a "willingness to kill severely disabled people", an official in Sagamihara told Reuters. He was freed on March 2 after a doctor deemed he had improved, the official said. Uematsu lived near the facility, and a neighbour described him as a polite, young man who always greeted him with a smile. "It would be easier to understand if there had been a warning but there were no signs," said Akihiro Hasegawa, 73. "We didn't know the darkness of his heart." The suspect apparently began changing about five months ago, said Yuji Kuroiwa, the governor of Kanagawa prefecture, where the facility is located. "You could say there were warning signs, but it's difficult to say if this could have been prevented," he told reporters. "This was not an impulsive crime ... He went in the dark of the night, opened one door at a time, and stabbed sleeping people one by one," Kuroiwa said. "I just can't believe the cruelty of this crime. We need to prevent this from ever happening again." Staff at the facility called police at 2.30 a.m. local time (1730 GMT Monday) with reports of a man armed with a knife on the grounds, media reports said. The man wore a black T-shirt and trousers, the reports said. The 3-hectare (7.6 acre) facility was established by the local government. Surrounded by tree-covered mountains and on the banks of the Sagami River, it cares for people with a wide range of disabilities. The facility's website said the centre had a maximum capacity of 160 people, including staff. "IT MAKES YOU WEEP" Japan has one of the lowest crime rates in the world and residents of Sagamihara said they were in shock. The last murder in the area was 10 years ago. "This is a peaceful, quiet town so I never thought such an incident would happen here," said Oshikazu Shimo, one of many residents of the town who gathered near the facility. Taxi driver Susumu Fujimura said of the attacker: "He said 'we should get rid of disabled people' but he's the worthless one." "That kind of person can't defend themselves," Fujimura said, referring to the victims. "That's why so many died. It makes you weep to think of somebody just murdering them." The dead ranged in age from 19 to 70 and included nine males and 10 females, Kyodo said. Police had recovered a bag with several knives, at least one stained with blood, a Kanagawa prefecture official said. At least 29 emergency squads responded to the attack, Kyodo reported, with those wounded taken to at least six hospitals in the western Tokyo area. Such mass killings are extremely rare in Japan and typically involve stabbings. Japan has strict gun laws and possession of firearms by the public is rare. Eight children were stabbed to death at their school in Osaka by a former janitor in 2001. Seven people died in 2008 when a man drove a truck into a crowd and began stabbing people in Tokyo's popular electronics and "anime" district of Akihabara. A revision to Japan's Swords and Firearms Control Law was introduced in 2009 in the wake of that attack, banning the possession of double-edged knives and further tightening gun-ownership rules. Members of a doomsday cult killed 12 people and made thousands ill in 1995 in simultaneous attacks with sarin nerve gas on five Tokyo rush-hour subway trains. (Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko, Minami Funakoshi, Linda Sieg, Chang-Ran Kim, Olivier Fabre and William Mallard in TOKYO, Eric Beech in WASHINGTON and Jon Herskovitz in AUSTIN; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Sandra Maler, Grant McCool and Paul Tait) An ex-navy officer's plea for help on Twitter to the prime minister of India and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was addressed, and his critically injured daughter was airlifted. By India Today Web Desk: Ravi Kant Soni, an ex-navy officer who has served the Indian Navy for 20 years, and currently serving as a District Soldier Welfare Officer, sought help from the Ministry of Defence, India's Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a string of tweets on Twitter. In a series of nine tweets, Soni explained how he had requested the Ministry of Defense an air evacuation for his critically injured daughter fighting for her life on a ventilator at a hospital in Bhiali, Chattisgarh, with insufficient medical facilities, and how the initial positive response from the Air Force died down due to some 'bureaucratic reason.' advertisement Soni tagged official Twitter handles of PM Narendra Modi, Prime Minister's Office and that of Manohar Parrikar. He wrote, "If my daughter cannot be shifted today, it maybe too late for us. We're losing valuable time. It is not possible for Civil air ambulance to operate in weather conditions prevailing at Raipur and Delhi with such a critical patient," and cut short his plea saying, "Sirs you can still help. Your much needed help will go a long way in reinforcing the faith of lakhs of serving as well as retired defence personnel that they place in the Indian Armed Forces.(sic)" The official Twitter handle of the Principal Spokesperson of Ministry of Defence responded saying, "RM @manoharparrikar approves airlifting of critically ill daughter of ex-naval officer @ravi2898; RM also spoke to patient's brother." Ravi Kant Soni thanked Parrikar and the Indian Air Force for getting the family out of the emergency and said "this monumental support can never be forgotten." Here are the tweets: Source: Twitter@shivaroor Source: Twitter@shivaroor --- ENDS --- As students gear up to return for another school year, they might notice a distinct difference in snack options at their schools. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) finalized their Smart Snacks in School rule last week. These official guidelines regulate which snacks can be offered in schools and how snacks can be marketed to students. The guidelines require that snacks must be under 200 calories. They must also meet strict sodium, fat, and sugar limits. Part of the guidelines' focus is on offering higher quality snacks, so gone are the days where refined wheat and sugar top the ingredient list. Instead, schools are only allowed to bring in snacks that have a fruit, vegetable, dairy, or protein source as a first ingredient or are a whole grain-rich food. [ti_field_embed field="field_related_content"] While it helps to only have healthy options on hand, students can still be influenced by junk food advertisements in schools. The American Psychological Association has found a distinct correlation between food industry advertising and childhood obesity. The Smart Snacks in School rule bans advertising of any food products that don't meet their nutritional guidelines, meaning those drink machines full of water and juices can no longer have soda brands pasted across the front. The Smart Snacks in School program meets the health standards championed by First Lady Michelle Obama in the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, which is part of her "Let's Move" initiative to combat childhood obesity. According to the USDA, more than 98 percent of America's schools already meet these healthier meal standards. Phase II surface and sub-surface sample results from the central portion of the Zeus claim group returned lithium values averaging 780 ppm VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 26, 2016 / Noram Ventures Inc. (TSX-V: NRM and Frankfurt: N7R) ("Noram" or the "Company") is pleased to report the final assay results from the Phase II surface and sub-surface sampling continue to indicate a lithium rich evaprorite rock sequence on the Zeus claim group of its Clayton Valley Lithium Project (see Figure 1). The Zeus claim group is located within two kilometers of Albemarle's Silver Peak Lithium Mine that has been in production since 1966 and is the only lithium brine operation in North America. The Phase II sampling program included a total of 73 samples and results from the final 51 samples increased the average sample assay value to approximately 780 ppm lithium with a range of 206 ppm to a high of 1,670 ppm lithium in the claystones (see Table 1 for all sample descriptions and assay results). The samples were taken over a 1,200-meter-long by 800-meter-wide area and it is important to note that the samples are primarily vertical chip samples. The vertical chips range from two feet (~0.6 meters) to 10 feet (~3 meters) in length and most are "stacked", in that the samples were taken stratigraphically above or below the previous sample. With this type of sampling the variability in sample values between beds can be ascertained. The results indicate the potential for a large mass of lithium mineralized claystones commencing at surface and extending to yet unknown depths. It appears, at least in some areas of the Zeus claim group, that the lithium-rich clays of the Esmeralda Formation are buried beneath more recent sediments that contain anomalous lithium values spread over a wide area. The area measures approximately 2.5 miles (4.1 km) by 1.5 miles (2.4 km) on the Zeus claims. Basically, wherever the Esmeralda Formation outcrops, there are beds that carry anomalous lithium. Story continues Noram's independent technical consultant, Bradley Peek, MSc and PGeo, supervised the collection of the Phase II samples. The samples were submitted to ALS Minerals in Reno, NV, for analysis. The samples were crushed, split, a portion was pulverized and a one-gram aliquot analyzed by ALS Chemex method ME-MS61 (48 elements, including lithium, four-acid ICP-MS). Mark Ireton, President of Noram, said, "The analytical results from The Phase II sampling program are extremely encouraging and we will now apply to the Nevada State Bureau of Land Management for the necessary permits to conduct shallow core drilling to test the higher-grade lithium zones identified on the Zeus claim group." Noram is amassing one of the largest land packages in Nevada's Clayton Valley. Its non-contiguous North and South Blocks now total 888 claims covering 17,738 acres and are positioned both north and south of Albemarle's Silver Peak mine, North America's only lithium producer. Michael Collins, P.Geo., and independent Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release on behalf of the Company. About Noram Ventures Inc.: Noram Ventures Inc. (TSX-V: NRM 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 southeastern 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 circumstance 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. north korea More defiant North Korean nuclear weapons tests will be dependent on US moves in the Korean peninsula, the Hermit Kingdom announced on Tuesday. North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said Washington had ruined the possibility of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reports. Earlier this month, the Pentagon upped the ante by agreeing to equip South Korea with a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery one of the most advanced missile defense systems in the world. Pressure to deploy THAAD was spurred after Pyongyang tested its fourth nuclear bomb on January 6 and then launched a long-range rocket on February 7. A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is launched during a successful intercept test, in this undated handout photo provided by the U.S. Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency. U.S. Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency/Handout via Reuters/File Photo Speaking to reporters at a meeting in Laos, Ri claimed that Pyongyang was a "responsible nuclear state and would not use its atomic arms unless threatened," Reuters reports. However, the audacious tests have yet to cease. Last week the Hermit Kingdom fired three ballistic missiles, equipped with a range (between 300 and 360 miles) capable of reaching all of South Korea. And the latest show of force took form in a ballistic missile test simulating a strike on South Korean ports and airfields, which are heavily operated by US military forces. Currently the US maintains approximately 28,500 troops in South Korea. Earlier this month, South Korea's defense ministry said THAAD will be located in Seongju, in the southeastern part of the country. In conjunction with the US, Seoul plans to have the unique air-defense system operational by the end of 2017. Reuters contributed to this report. NOW WATCH: Meet THAAD: Americas answer to North Korean threats More From Business Insider A.O. Smith Corp. AOS maintained its earnings streak in second-quarter 2016, with earnings per share of 98 cents surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 91 cents by 7.7%. The earnings figure also improved 24% from the year-ago tally of 79 cents. Solid execution by the companys businesses in North America and China drove the upside. Also, a fall in cost of goods sold proved conducive to the quarterly earnings performance. Inside the Headlines Net sales in the quarter were up 2.1% year over year to $667 million but failed to beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $692 million. Higher sales at the companys Rest of the World segment offset some of the revenue decline recorded in North America, thereby driving overall top-line growth. However, strengthening of the U.S. dollar continued to impact sales. Talking about segments, A.O. Smiths sales in the North America segment (comprises U.S. and Canadian water heaters and boilers) declined 2.2% year over year to $432.8 million. Lower volumes of residential water heaters in the U.S. more than offset the gains from price increases as well as higher volumes of boilers and commercial water heaters in the country. Despite the tepid top-line performance, segmental operating earnings rose 21% year over year to $104.2 million. Improvement in operating earnings came on the back of higher prices in the U.S. and Canada and lower material costs. Consequently, operating margin at the segment improved 470 basis points (bps) to 24.1%. Quarterly sales at the Rest of the World segment (China, India & Europe) rose 8.4% year over year to $239.8 million. This improvement came largely on the back of continued strong customer demand for A.O. Smiths premium water heating and water treatment products, particularly in China (up 16% in terms of U.S. dollar). Operating earnings at the segment improved 6.8% year over year to $33 million in the quarter. While higher sales in China drove operating income, it was offset to some degree by a host of factors including adverse currency translation, higher selling, general and administrative expenses in tier 2 and tier 3 Chinese cities and wider losses in India. On account of these factors, operating margin declined 20 bps to 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Story continues Share Repurchases During the first half of 2016, A.O. Smith bought back around 1.1 million common shares for $82.2 million. Exiting the second quarter, the company had roughly 1.5 million shares remaining under its discretionary authorization program. A.O. Smith plans to spend $175 million on share repurchases in 2016. Liquidity & Cash Flow Exiting the quarter on Jun 30, 2016, A.O. Smiths cash and cash equivalents were $287.4 million compared with $305.5 million at the end of Mar 31, 2016. At the end of Jun 30, 2016, long-term debt stood at $274.6 million, relatively flat compared with tally at the end of Mar 31, 2016. Guidance Hiked Concurrent with the earnings release, A.O. Smith raised the midpoint of its 2016 guidance, banking on the robust prospects of its consumer product business in China and its thriving North American business. The company now projects full-year 2016 earnings per share between $3.58 and $3.64 (up from the previously guided range of $3.47 and $3.55). SMITH (AO) CORP Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise SMITH (AO) CORP Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | SMITH (AO) CORP Quote Going Forward A.O. Smith delivered another quarter of solid earnings growth, mainly attributable to its massive growth in key end markets including China and the U.S. With the construction sector picking up steam, the company is expecting solid volume growth of residential water heaters. Similarly, surge in the commercial water heater industry is boosting U.S. commercial water heater volumes. Also, the companys solid traction of water heater sales in China is expected to act as a major catalyst in the forthcoming quarters. Growth in China is expected to be fuelled by factors like improvement in households, thriving replacement markets, geographic expansion, growth in water treatment and air purification products and improved product mix. A.O. Smith currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the sector include EnerSys ENS, Franklin Electric Co., Inc. FELE and Schneider Electric SE SBGSY. All the three stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SMITH (AO) CORP (AOS): Free Stock Analysis Report SCHNEIDER ELECT (SBGSY): Free Stock Analysis Report FRANKLIN ELEC (FELE): Free Stock Analysis Report ENERSYS INC (ENS): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research The man believed to be behind the disappearance and death of Sierah Joughin, the 20-year-old Ohio college whose remains police believe they found last Friday, was charged with aggravated murder Tuesday on top of the abduction charge he received last Friday, PEOPLE confirms. James Dean Worley, 57, of Delta, was charged with abduction after authorities discovered a body they believe is that of the missing University of Toledo student. Police have not positively identified the body yet, pending DNA and fingerprint tests, and the Fulton County Coroner's Office would not yet confirm the body was Joughin's. At a news conference Friday, Sheriff Roy Miller said there was no known connection between Worley and Joughin, but Worley previously pleaded guilty to abduction in a 1990 case also involving a female cyclist, according to court records obtained by PEOPLE. According to the documents, Worley was driving a flat-bed truck when he hit the cyclist. He then stopped the truck and, after asking the victim if she was okay, struck her on the head with an unknown object and said to her, "Do what I say or I'll kill you," according to the documents. Ohio Man Charged with Aggravated Murder of College Student Sierah Joughins| 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. Worley then forced the victim into his truck and handcuffed her right wrist, but she was able to escape, according to the documents. A passing motorcyclist who noticed the confrontation allowed the victim to climb onto his motorcycle and drove her to safety. Worley was released from prison on parole in 1993, according to NBC. Ohio Man Charged with Aggravated Murder of College Student Sierah Joughins| Crime & Courts, Murder, True Crime Court officials tell PEOPLE that Worley is being held at the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio without bond. He has not entered a plea for either charge. His attorney, John Shaffer, did not immediately return PEOPLE's request for comment. Joughin was reported missing by her family last Tuesday night, local authorities have said, just hours after she didn't return from riding her bicycle with boyfriend Josh Kolasinski, who was riding a motorcycle. (The pair parted amicably, authorities have said.) Joughin's bike was later found in a cornfield. The Fulton County Coroners Office has not released Joughin's cause of death. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family. The win is being described as stunning by many as Elena was in fact three precious points behind her opponent Matt Sinclair during the final round of the show. By India Today Web Desk: This season's MasterChef Australia finally has a winner. The 32-year-old teacher Elena Duggan from New South Wales has won the coveted trophy with 86 points. The win is being described as stunning by many as Elena was in fact, three precious points behind her opponent Matt Sinclair during the final round of the show. Also read:What this Indian MasterChef Australia contestant did on being eliminated will make you proud advertisement Not only has the lady bagged the ultimate prize, but has also won many hearts by helping her rival Matt during a difficult moment on the show that had Matt having some trouble with a step involving liquid nitrogen. The finalists had a lot to deal with, but the pressure really turned up during one particular five-and-a-half hour challenge wherein they had to recreate Chef Heston Blumenthal's Verjus in Egg dessert. Elena Duggan with her trophy. Picture courtesy: Twitter/masterchefau Things started to look up for Elena in the dessert round, where she finally managed to trump Matt and keep the USD 250,000 prize for herself. She was also awarded an exclusive food column in a magazine. "I'm ecstatic?to have such a good outcome after what was a very emotional day," News.com.au quoted the winner as saying. Elena used to be the head of creative and performing arts at Galston High School before she decided to participate in the cooking reality show. Matt Sinclair and Elena Duggan. Picture courtesy: Instagram/elena_jo_duggan Matt Sinclair and Elena Duggan. Picture courtesy: Instagram/elena_jo_duggan "It is rewarding working with young people and I can see the connections that can be made there. My long term goal is still to have my own farm cafe," she told News.com.au. The win is all the more sweet for Elena as she wasn't selected for the seventh season of the show last year. Runner-up Matt didn't go empty-handed as he was given a cash prize of USD 40,000. --- ENDS --- LONDON, July 26 (Reuters) - Russian shooters have been cleared to compete at next month's Rio Olympics, the International Shooting Federation (ISSF) said on Tuesday. "The 18 Russian shooters who have been entered... to participate in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games are neither mentioned in the McLaren Report nor have they tested positive further to a doping control according to the information we possess," a statement said. "Further, all Russian athletes are being carefully monitored as part of ISSF's intelligence based testing program. Therefore, the ISSF Executive Committee unanimously voted confirming that all 18 Russian athletes fulfil the criteria set by the IOC." Paris (AFP) - One of the two attackers who stormed a church in France and slit a priest's throat on Tuesday had been charged with terror links and held before being freed on bail, a source close to the investigation said. Both men were shot dead by police outside the church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. The source said one of them was known to France's anti-terrorism police and had tried twice to go to Syria in 2015. After his release, he had to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet that allows police to locate him at all times. He had already threatened to attack a church, according to witness testimony collected in his neighbourhood. "We knew he wanted to go to Syria," a 60-year-old neighbour of the assailant's family, who added that he "never saw him go to the mosque" that he attended. The attacker was detained the first time in Germany, while he was on his way to Syria, the source close to the probe said. He was not yet 18 years old at the time. The second time, which was after he had turned 18, he went through Switzerland, and was detained in Turkey. He was sent back to Switzerland and then France. He was charged and jailed for associating with criminals with terror links. He was then released and fitted with an electronic monitoring bracelet. During Tuesday's attack on the church, 85-year-old priest Jacques Hamel had his throat slit and another parishioner was seriously wounded. "He never spoke to us," said the neighbour. "The last time I saw him was on Friday. He was playing football in his garden," he said. - Threats - Another of the town's residents, a teenager who said he knew the attacker, told the RTL radio station that he was not surprised by what happened Tuesday. "He talked about it all the time... He spoke about Islam, that he was going to do stuff like that. He told me two months ago, 'I'm going to do a church.' I didn't believe him. He said a lot of things," said the teenager. Another resident who said he knew the attacker, however, told the same radio station, "He was a young guy like us. I don't understand how he changed like that." "What he did has nothing to do with Muslims, he did that of his own accord," he added. By Syed Raza Hassan KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities have arrested two men in different parts of the country for suggesting that the army seize power from the civilian government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, police said on Tuesday. Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation of 190 million, has been ruled by the military for almost half its history and has repeatedly swung between democracy and military rule. Sharif was toppled in a coup in 1999 and returned to power after winning a 2013 election but his relations with the powerful military have been testy at times, and both sides are sensitive about talk of military intervention. The arrests came after posters appeared in 13 cities seeming to invite army chief General Raheel Sharif, who is due to retire in November, to step in and rule the country. A military spokesman disavowed the posters. General Sharif, who is no relation to the prime minister, has said he would step down as planned. Police arrested one of the men, Muhammad Islam Khan, in the northwestern town of Bannu on Monday after he staged a poll on a street, asking people whether they were satisfied with the government or wanted the army to step in. Bannu police chief Qasim Ali Khan told Reuters Khan had been detained and charged with a public order offense. "We cannot allow such a sensitive exercise where you put politicians on one side and the army on the other when there is an elected political government and independent judiciary present in the country," the police chief said. Last week, another man, Muhammad Kamran, the head of a little known party called Move on Pakistan, was arrested in the capital, Islamabad, after putting up posters suggesting the army chief seize power, a police spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman said Kamran was being questioned. Sharif has faced criticism over recent months, since documents released as past of the Panama Papers data leak showed his children owned several off-shore companies and used them to buy properties in London. He denies wrongdoing, as do his children. The criticism and occasional strains in his relations with the army have raised questions about prospects for his government. Pakistan's next general election is due in 2018. (Writing and additional reporting by Mehreen Zahra-Malik; Editing by Robert Birsel) Islamabad (AFP) - Pakistani police are investigating after a British man claimed his wife had been murdered in a so-called "honour" killing, ten days after the death of a social media star cast a spotlight on the practice. Mukhtar Kazam registered a complaint with police in Punjab province claiming his wife, 28-year-old Samia Shahid, was murdered in her family's village while visiting them. The couple, both British-Pakistani dual citizens, had been married for two years and were living in Dubai, police told AFP, adding that it was Shahid's second marriage. "Her parents did not approve," local police official Aqeel Abbas said, citing Kazam's complaint. He said Shahid was visiting her family's village Pindori in Punjab's Jehlum district. "She was killed on July 20. She has been killed for honour," Abbas said, quoting the complaint. Officers are now waiting for a post-mortem report, he said, without specifying how Shahid's husband alleged she was murdered. In his own statement to police, Shahid's father denied any charges that his daughter was killed for "honour", adding that he did not want an investigation as she had died of natural causes. "Honour" killings -- a custom in which a relative is killed by another for bringing the family dishonour -- are a near daily occurrence in Pakistan. The victims are overwhelmingly women, with hundreds killed each year. Earlier this month the murder of social media star Qandeel Baloch by her brother, who said it was for "honour", provoked international shock and revulsion. The killing polarised Pakistan and appears to have spurred politicians to take action. Last week the law minister announced that bills aimed at tackling loopholes that facilitate "honour" killings would soon be voted on by parliament. Rights groups and politicians have for years called for tougher laws to tackle perpetrators of violence against women in Pakistan. Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinian leaders are seeking Arab League support for a complaint they intend to file against Britain for its 1917 Balfour Declaration backing a Jewish homeland in Palestine. "Almost a century has passed since 1917," Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said in an address to an Arab League meeting in Mauritania, seen by AFP on Tuesday. "On the basis of this promise made by a party which did not possess (the land) to a party undeserving of it, hundreds of thousands of Jews from Europe and elsewhere came to settle in Palestine at the expense of our people, whose ancestors have lived for millennia on the soil of our land," he said in Monday's speech delivered on behalf of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. Malki did not say to which body a complaint would be made. Israeli foreign ministry chief Dore Gold called the proposal "a desperate effort to delegitimise Israel", on his Twitter account. In 2012, the Palestinians won the status of an observer state in the United Nations. In 2015 they joined the International Criminal Court and formally asked it to investigate Israel for alleged war crimes during the 2014 Gaza war. The declaration issued on November 2, 1917 by British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour said the British government "view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". It was a major step towards the eventual establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. First Lady Michelle Obama, at the first day of Democratic convention, endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. By India Today Web Desk: It was the first night for Democratic National Convention and it was first lady Michelle Obama who steered a raucous crowd in a night studded with the party's biggest names. Michelle left no stone unturned in endorsing the former secretary of State and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton at the gala event held at Wells Fargo Centre in Philadelphia . advertisement She used the limelight and criticised Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's negative campaign without using any direct references. Senator Bernie Sanders stood by her side and made a moving speech garnering support from the young voters. This can be seen as a bold reply to all the negative campaigning done by Trump which was directed towards the democrats. The convention's theme was named 'United together' and President Obama will be following up with Michelle and Bernie Sanders tomorrow when he will be presenting a speech at the convention. Here is what Michelle said: I want someone with proven strength ... someone who understands that the issues a president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters. Clinton has the guts and the grace to keep coming back and putting those cracks in that highest and hardest glass ceiling. The First Lady said she "trusts and believes" the former Secretary of State was truly qualified to shape "America's children for the next four or eight years." It is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives. "I am with you tonight because in this election, there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility, only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the US, and that is our friend, Hillary Clinton." When she did not win the nomination eight years ago, she did not get angry or disillusioned. Hillary has never quit on anything in her life. Hillary did not pack up and go home because as a true public servant, Hillary knows that this is so much bigger than her own disappointment. Don't let anyone ever tell you that this country is not great, that somehow we need to make it great again. Because this right now is the greatest country on Earth, she said in a veiled attack on Trump. Also read Melanie Trump's convention speech plagiarised from Michelle Obama's 2008 address? --- ENDS --- U.S. EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has teamed with John Wells Productions to mount a feature film about the Panama Papers, the largest single leak of data in government and corporate history. They have aligned with German investigative journalists Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer, who broke the story and led the team that uncovered The Panama Papers. Netflix has acquired their book, Panama Papers: Breaking The Story Of How The Worlds Rich and Powerful Hide Their Money. The film will tell how, using an anonymous source known as John Doe, they teamed with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists to release 11 million documents sourced from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The revelation of the documents bared the financial machinations of rulers and royalty, compete with illegal activities connected to a swarm of banks and private individuals including director Pedro Almodovar, Jackie Chan and Emma Watson. Icelands Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resigned immediately after leaked documents showed how Gunnlaugsson and his wife set up an offshore shell company in 2007 in the British Virgin Islands; he then sold his half of the company to his wife for $1 on the last day of 2009 to shield them from a new law that would have required him to declare his ownership as a conflict of interest. Wells and Claire Rudnick Polstein will produce the film, and Zach Studein will be exec producer. The journalists will work closely in shaping the movie, and ICIJ deputy director Marina Walker and ICIJs D.C. head Gerard Ryle will also be part of the mix. This is the second major movie deal to come together on the Panama Papers. Steven Soderbergh will direct and Scott Z. Burns will write a film based on Secrecy World, an upcoming book that Pulitzer-winning journalist Jake Bernstein is writing for Henry Holt and Company, with Lawrence Grey, Michael Sugar, Burns and Soderbergh producing. There were several Wikileaks movies developed and only one, The Fifth Estate, got made, and usually the race ends when one makes it into production. But the importance of hacked documents continues to inform the zeitgeist. The Democratic National Committee started this weeks convention to nominate presidential candidate Hillary Clinton under a cloud created by the Wikileaks release of 20,000 confidential emails from the DNC, missives that showed a clear favoritism towards Clinton over rival Bernie Sanders. Story continues Also in the plus column is that since the Panama Papers documents prompted a global debate on just how easy it has become for the wealthy to avoid taxes, game the system and evade the law, this is a case where the journalists are the good guys, which has worked in films from the Best Picture winner Spotlight to All The Presidents Men. This is the latest big swing by Netflix on topical films, showing the streaming giants appetite for hot-button subject matter. with the streaming giant securing big deals for the likes of the satirical War Machine with Brad Pitt as Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and Ava DuVernays prison-system documentary The 13th which was just tapped to open the New York Film Festival. We are confident that between the expert investigative work of Obermaier and Obermayer, the only journalists in touch directly with John Doe, the ICIJ, and the master storytelling of John Wells Productions, we will be able to deliver a gripping tale that will deliver the same type of impact as the The Panama Papers when they were first revealed on the worlds front pages, said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer at Netflix. Said Rudnick Polstein, JWPs president of features: We could not be more excited to be working with Netflix on this project. They have an excellent track record of producing top-notch filmmaking and together, we are very much looking forward to getting started on shedding light on one of the most compelling news stories in recent memory. Obermaier and Obermeyer recalled that the scandal all started with a ping, when John Doe contacted us. That relationship and the work that came out of it grew to become the biggest data leak in history, and by far the biggest collaboration of journalists the world has ever seen; with over 400 journalists ultimately participating in this investigation. We are proud that our newspaper was the starting point for this story which grew to be something monumental. ICIJs Walker and Ryle said: Panama Papers is one of the biggest economic and political stories in contemporary journalism, with an impact that resonated around the globe at a time of financial anxiety. We are thrilled to align ourselves with two leading names in contemporary filmmaking, John Wells Productions and Netflix, to tell the story of how it was put together against immense odds. Four hundred reporters, some working at great personal risk in dangerous places, were led by a scrappy team of investigative reporters in a small Washington media nonprofit. They made world powers including political leaders and regulators take notice and force change. That this story will be told in another compelling way is exciting and meaningful. Related stories 'Marco Polo' Creator: Netflix Series "Breaking Barriers" On Diversity - Guest Column 'I'll Sleep When I'm Dead': Netflix Spins Trailer & Date For Docu On DJ Steve Aoki Michelle Dockery Cast As Female Lead In Netflix's 'Godless' Miniseries Brussels (AFP) - The European Commission on Tuesday accepted a proposal by iconic Hollywood studio Paramount to end geographic blocking of its films in licence deals with TV channels. The deal is a small step towards the EU's dream of building a digital single market, in which the European Union's 500 million people will no longer be blocked from subscribing to TV channels such as Sky or Canal Plus from abroad. The EU last year accused six top Hollywood studios and Britain's Sky TV of breaching antitrust laws by using movie licences to block access to pay TV content in other countries in Europe. Paramount, which is currently up for sale by Viacom, agreed to end the practice in a side deal with the Commission, the EU's executive arm, a statement said. One of Hollywood's mythic movie studios, Paramount is behind the multi-billion-dollar Star Trek and Indiana Jones franchises as well as classics like The Godfather movies or the Ten Commandments. The case is being closely watched by the film industry as it calls into question the wide use of such contracts in which Hollywood studios sell their content individually to national markets. Filmmakers and actors in Europe furiously defend this status quo, which also helps finance and defend national film industries against what is seen as Hollywood's domination of the European film industry. The end of national markets would undermine "this successful and fragile eco-system," said a letter from the International Federation of Film Producers' Associations to Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker. Its demise would "threaten cultural diversity and sustainable jobs for talent, crew and all other workers in our industries," said the letter, which was dated July 11. The Commission said its investigation continues regarding the five other studios -- Disney, NBCUniversal, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros, as well as Sky UK. Berlin (AFP) - A patient shot and killed a doctor before turning the gun on himself at a Berlin hospital Tuesday, police said, adding there was no sign the incident was a terrorist attack. A police spokeswoman told AFP that several shots were fired at a university hospital in the well-heeled southwestern Steglitz neighbourhood of the German capital. "According to preliminary information, a patient at the hospital shot a doctor and then killed himself," she said. "The doctor is in intensive care," the spokeswoman said, adding there was "no indication this was a terror attack". Berlin police later tweeted that the doctor had died of his wounds. The shooting came with Germany already on edge after four brutal attacks in the south of the country. A Syrian asylum seeker blew himself up outside a music festival and wounded 15 other people in Ansbach on Sunday, six days after four passengers on a train and a passer-by were wounded in an axe attack by another asylum seeker in Wuerzburg. The Islamic State group claimed both attacks. On Friday, nine people were killed in a shopping centre shooting spree in Munich by a German-Iranian teenager with a history of psychological problems but no apparent links to jihadists. And a Syrian refugee killed a 45-year-old Polish woman with a large kebab knife Sunday at a snack bar in the southwestern city of Reutlingen. Police concluded that the incident, in which three others were injured, was likely a "crime of passion". Paramount has picked up the rights to Supermodel Snowpocalypse, an Elle magazine article written by Mickey Rapkin with Ghostbusters director Paul Feig attached to produce. Feig will produce the adaptation with his Feigco banner partner Jessie Hendeson. Sources add Feig will not direct the pic. The Elle article followed two sisters, the olders photographer boyfriend, advertising executives and a group of models (including Jerry Hall and Maria Hanson) who traveled to Chile for a lavish fur-themed photoshoot. A snow storm hit soon after the group arrived at a mountain ski resort but even though it was massive, the men and women put on a brave face, turning the place into their own Studio 54 with the other Brazilian and Argentinian patrons. After being stranded for a week with no working phones (and the only way to exit the hotel was through second floor windows), the American crew hatched a plan to escape back to civilization. Dan Magnante of Feigco will oversee the film for the company while Paramounts Alana Mayo will shepherd for the studio. In addition to directing smash hit comedies like The Heat and Bridesmaids, Feig has been spending a lot of time developing projects as a producer. He most recently help develop The Peanuts Movie for Fox. He is repped by CAA and DAA Management. Related stories Mattel Reports 'Ghostbusters' Toy Sales Have 'Exceeded Expectations' (EXCLUSIVE) The Thing the New 'Ghostbusters' Didn't Re-create: Bill Murray Standing Outside the Frame Leslie Jones Calls Out Racist 'Ghostbusters' Haters on Twitter Baltimore police have arrested a man who they said is wanted in connection with an armed robbery outside Frederick Douglass High School and a shooting.Police said the man gave them a fake name, but they identified him as Kyree Greene, 18. Police identified Greene as the suspect in a June 3 attempted robbery of a student in front of Frederick Douglass High School. Police said Greene is also a suspect, and had an active warrant, in connection with a non-fatal shooting on May 23. Police said a 16-year-old boy was shot in the upper thigh. By PTI: Ahmedabad, Jul 26 (PTI) Congress today termed Prime Minister Narendra Modis "silence" on Una Dalit thrashing incident as "devaluation" of his post as well as democracy, even as the opposition party organised sit-in agitations across Gujarat against the incident. "He (Modi) took votes from Gujarat and became PM. But, he has refused to utter a single word for Dalits as he fears that it will harm BJP in Gujarat. This is devaluation of democracy and PMs post," said Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly, Shankersinh Vaghela. advertisement While the protests were held at various places in 33 districts, senior party leaders, including state unit Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki and Vaghela participated in a dharna near collectors office in the city. The Congress leaders blamed the brutal assault on Dalit youths on the "anti-Dalit mentality" of the BJP and state government. Addressing a gathering of Dalits here, Solanki said the "atrocities" committed on people under the BJP government are "more heinous and barbaric than during the British rule". "This government crushes all those who raise their voices for their rights. Dalits and poor citizens are subjected to atrocities in Gujarat. This government is having an anti-Dalit mentality, as people who thrashed Dalits in Una were supporters of BJP," he alleged. Solanki alleged that more than 40 people were involved in thrashing Dailts at Una, but only 16 were arrested. "This shows that enough steps are not taken by government to instill a sense of security among Dalits. Such incident on Dalits has tarnished Gujarats image," the Congress leader said. On July 11, some Dalit youths from Mota Samadhiyala village in Una taluka of Gir-Somnath district were flogged allegedly by cow protection vigilantes for skinning a dead cow. The incident sparked a huge outrage in Gujarat with the Dalits taking to streets and indulging in vandalism and arson. PTI PJT PD NSK SMJ --- ENDS --- Police arrested several protesters who had been camping out in front of the Minnesota Governors Mansion in St Paul on Tuesday, July 26. The protesters had been in front of the mansion since the police-involved fatal shooting of Philando Castile in Falcon Heights earlier this month. Police said they had arrested more than 20 people by early afternoon. Police ordered protesters to stop blocking the street and the sidewalk and were able to re-open the street for a time, according to a local report. Protesters, though, converged back on the street, causing it to be closed again. Most protesters complied with the polices orders, the report said. A department spokesman also said in the report that protesters were allowed to congregate on the sidewalk so long as they did not obstruct the street, bicycle lane or sidewalk. Castile was stopped in his car by a St Anthony police officer in Falcon Heights on July 6. St Anthonys police cover the community of Falcon Heights. During the traffic stop, Castile was shot by the officer, and his girlfriend sitting in the car broadcast the aftermath on Facebook. It was one of two fatal police-involved shootings in two days that triggered national protests. This video shows police arresting a protester and leading a child in a Black Lives Matter shirt away from the scene. Credit: Instagram/Cameron Kinghorn By Wiktor Szary, Wojciech and Zurawski KRAKOW, Poland (Reuters) - Pope Francis will start his first trip to Poland on Wednesday to preside at an international Catholic youth jamboree, a usually joyous event that has been dampened by the murder of a Catholic priest in France. News that suspected Islamist militants interrupted a church service in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, forced 85-year-old parish priest Father Jacques Hamel to his knees and slit his throat, sent a sudden deep chill over the World Youth Day event. "We listened to the news with disbelief, we got phone calls from our parents who tried to reassure us," said Guillaume from Bordeaux, a pilgrim in his early 20s. "Pope John Paul II said that we should be tolerant and not resort to force. My heart tells me that this is true, but after what happened my head is now telling me something else," said the young man, who declined to give his last name. Pope Francis was horrified by the killing, the Vatican said, calling it particularly "barbarous" because it happened during the central rite of Christian worship. It shocked many Catholics because it was eerily reminiscent of the murder of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was shot by a right-wing death squad in 1980 while he was saying Mass in a hospital chapel in San Salvador. Some events at the gathering of Catholic youth from the around the world, which has been dubbed the "Catholic Woodstock," are expected to draw more than a million people and Polish authorities have laid on tight security. A police spokesman said the current threat level had not been raised after the killing of the priest. Early in the trip, Francis is expected to pay tribute to the murdered priest, who some have said should be declared a martyr because of the way he was killed for his faith. Francis' five-day trip to the Krakow area of southern Poland will take place in the shadow of his predecessor, John Paul, who has cult-like status in Poland for his role in inspiring the nation to stand up to communist rule. That status was evidenced by the fact that there are more posters of John Paul in Krakow than of Francis, an Argentine. John Paul, who died in 2005 and visited Poland nine times as pope, was made a saint in 2014. His reign of nearly three decades was the most historic of modern times. Poland has undergone a significant shift in its political landscape since the Eurosceptic, conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party in October ended nearly a decade of secular-minded government. Its leaders tapped Poland's brand of patriotism infused with Catholic piety to build up popularity among voters and ensure the backing of the clergy, influential across provincial Poland. Francis will also visit the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, and pray at Czestochowa, site of the country's holiest shrine. (Additional reporting and writing by Philip Pullella; Editing by James Dalgleish) LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will order a review of how police deal with hate crimes after a sharp rise in offences reported following last month's vote to leave the European Union. Almost 6,200 hate crimes have been reported in Britain over the month since the June 23 referendum, which saw immigration become a key issue during a bitter and deeply divisive campaign. The most common crimes were harassment, assault and other violence such as verbal abuse or spitting, with Muslims and Eastern Europeans saying they had been particularly targeted. "Those who practise hatred send out a message that it's ok to abuse and attack others because of their nationality, ethnicity or religious background," interior minister Amber Rudd said in a statement ahead of the publication of a "Hate Crime Action Plan". "We will not stand for it. Hatred has no place whatsoever in a 21st century Great Britain that works for everyone," she said. "Hatred does not get a seat at the table, and we will do everything we can to stamp it out." Critics of the "Leave" campaign say its focus on immigration helped stoke xenophobia and racism, an accusation its leaders reject. In the days following the referendum, the Polish embassy in London said it was deeply concerned about what it said were incidents of xenophobic abuse directed against the Polish community. Rudd will announce plans to commission Britain's independent overseer of police, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, to review police understanding of hate crime and how forces respond to it, her office said. The action plan will also set out plans to work with schools on tackling hatred and prejudice and ensuring better reporting of hate crime incidents, as well as looking at how to prevent hate crimes on public transport. The government will provide 2.4 million pounds of funding to provide security measures and equipment for places of worship that need increased protection, following concerns from religious communities over crimes from graffiti to arson attacks. (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; editing by Guy Faulconbridge) Prepare to be inspired by Misty Copelands powerful views on body image Prepare to be inspired by Misty Copelands powerful views on body image Theres no denying that Misty Copeland is a ballerina badass who frequently inspires us to pursue our dreams with grace and confidence (who else launches their career at the age of 13?!). Last year she became the first African-American dancer to be named principal ballerina at the American Ballet Theater, and we thought nothing could top that. But Copeland has now spoken about the struggles shes endured with her own body image, and her words are nothing short of inspiring. Ive had so many issues throughout my career finding the right support even in something like finding leotards to fit a larger butt. Copeland goes on to talk about the isolation she felt being an African-American woman in a mostly white ballet company, and how her mentors were always there. As an adult, Susan Fales-Hill and Victoria Rowell were two incredibly strong black women who were there at times when I had so many doubts and struggled with body image issues and being African-American in an elite company that was mostly white. She also discusses how the concept of a ballerina body has changed (for the better) in recent years. With the conversations that Ive opened up, people are more open to expecting the different body types that exist. Also, if you go back to the 1930s and 40s youll see these ballerinas that had really soft physiques they didnt have muscles, they werent six-feet-ten, and had big breasts but that changed through the 60s and 70s when ballerinas got really thin. Now people are more open to the concept that dancers come in all shapes and sizes. Copeland maintains an active presence on Instagram, where she inspires other women to keep pushing toward their goals, no matter what. I want to show young women that its okay to be strong and to be an athlete and that its not just for boys. We should be seen equally and be given the same opportunities. Story continues We 100% agree with you, Misty! The post Prepare to be inspired by Misty Copelands powerful views on body image appeared first on HelloGiggles. From Cosmopolitan Jill Stein wants you to know there are options other than Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump when it comes to picking a president this fall. The third-party candidate who's been getting the most attention so far is Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson, but Stein is the face of another third party: the Green Party. Here's what you should know and her candidacy: 1. This isn't her first time running for president. I'll be in Philly but not for DNC. I'll be in the streets with the people. #SeeYouInPhilly https://t.co/FZc3TpMKMP pic.twitter.com/lP2o9xMlsG - Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) July 11, 2016 Stein was the Green Party's 2012 nominee for president as well, and garnered 470,000 votes. In 2000, Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader saw more success with 2.8 million votes. Stein is running on the Green Party's platforms of "ecological politics and social justice, peace and non-violence, local and regional self-management and grassroots democracy." 2. She's a doctor. Stein is a practicing physician-turned-environmental-activist originally from Illinois. She has both her undergraduate degree and medical degree from Harvard University. Her first foray into politics was in 2002, when she ran unsuccessfully for governor of Massachusetts against Mitt Romney, according to her campaign website. (She ran again for governor in 2010.) 3. She thinks she can win over the "Bernie or bust" voters. Stein believes "Bernie or bust" supporters will be drawn to the message of her party, which she says is "the one national party that does not accept corporate money, lobbyist money, or have a superPAC." "We are here especially for the Bernie Sanders movement that does not want to go back into that dark night, into the Hillary Clinton campaign, that for so many people represents the opposite of what Bernie was building and what they were building," Stein recently told NPR. "We are here to provide the support for that campaign. I think so many people learned that you cannot have a revolutionary campaign inside of a counter-revolutionary party. So we are here as plan B for Bernie to ensure that this fight will go on." Story continues 4. She even invited Sanders to take her place on the ticket. After Sanders lost the Democratic nomination, Stein offered him her place on the Green Party ticket, according to The Guardian. He didn't respond. Sanders has endorsed Clinton and will be speaking in support of her at the DNC this week. 5. She has a lot in common with Sanders. She's for a single-payer public health program, tuition-free public education, $15 minimum wage, and breaking up "too big to fail" banks. She also wants to legalize marijuana and "enact an emergency Green New Deal to turn the tide on climate change, revive the economy and make wars for oil obsolete." More on her platform here. 6. Some people are mad about her campaign. Columnist Dan Savage criticized Stein's run on his podcast, Savage Lovecast, arguing that her run helps bolster Trump, because those Sanders votes could be going to help Clinton beat the Republican nominee. "You are essentially, if you're voting for Jill Stein, helping to potentially elect Donald J. Trump president of these United States," he said. "Which would be a catastrophe." In fact, some say Nader's votes in 2000 caused a "spoiler effect," allowing George W. Bush to clinch the win over Al Gore. (Nader denies this.) Stein's response? "Put it this way: I will feel horrible if Donald Trump is elected, I will feel horrible if Hillary Clinton is elected," she told NPR, "and I feel most horrible about a voting system that says: Here are two deadly choices, now pick your weapon of self-destruction." 7. And she's filed a federal complaint against both Clinton and Trump. On Nov. 7, Stein registered a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump had "illegally coordinated" with super PAC campaign funding groups, in violation of the laws set in place by the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling. In her filing, Stein claims to provide: A body of evidence indicating that the Clinton campaign has improperly coordinated activities with Super PACs such as Correct the Record, Priorities USA Action, and American Bridge 21st Century, while the Trump campaign has improperly coordinated activities with Super PACs such as Rebuilding America Now, Make America Number 1, and Great America PAC. As Stein's website explains, this complaint is "just one step towards getting the big money out of politics so we can get the people back in." 8. But she'll be happy if the Green Party gets 5 percent of the national vote. Reaching the 5 percent threshold would be a "true game-changer for American politics," Stein wrote for CNBC. It would mean the Green Party gains recognition as an official political party, and secure both federal funding and automatic ballot access in many states for the 2020 election. "With the material benefits that come with 5 percent of the popular vote," Stein added, "we will have unprecedented resources to continue building this movement for progressive change, shoring up power from below, and paving the way for a new, sorely needed politics of integrity and transformation." You Might Also Like July 26 (Reuters) - 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 Britain's biggest bookmaker William Hill Plc said it would listen to any proposal that might be forthcoming after receiving a "highly preliminary approach" over the weekend, but cautioned: "It is not clear a combination of William Hill with 888 Holdings Plc and Rank Group Plc will enhance William Hill's strategic positioning or deliver superior value to William Hill's strategy." http://bit.ly/2aq6cQK A huge investment programme at Arm Holdings Plc will propel Britain's largest technology company on to the same plane as Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Alibaba, its new owner, SoftBank Group Corp Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said. http://bit.ly/2aq7bQZ The Guardian The UK Financial Conduct Authority should be stripped of its powers to fine and ban individuals for wrongdoing, according to a report by MPs that calls on new chancellor Philip Hammond to commission an independent review into whether an alternative investigatory body should be set up. http://bit.ly/2aq7gUV Philip Green has instructed lawyers to demand an immediate apology from Frank Field, one of the senior MPs who led an inquiry into the failure of British retailer BHS. The billionaire retail tycoon launched a fightback on Monday, hours after he was heavily criticised in a report by two House of Commons committees, one of which is chaired by Field. http://bit.ly/2aq8oI6 The Telegraph Ryanair Holdings Plc will start cutting flights from the UK later this year as part of the Irish budget airline's plans to "pivot" investment away from the country following the surprise vote to leave the European Union. http://bit.ly/2aq8OOB EDF SA is preparing to take a long-awaited final investment decision on its proposed Hinkley Point C project, which would be Britain's first new nuclear plant in a generation. http://bit.ly/2aq8OhE Story continues Sky News Britain's taxi-app wars will step up a gear this week when Hailo unveils a merger with MyTaxi as part of a strategic investment by Daimler AG, one of the car industry's biggest manufacturers. Sky News has learnt that Hailo will announce on Tuesday that it is to become part of the Mercedes-Benz-owner's portfolio in an effort to take on Uber, the world's most valuable taxi-hailing app. http://bit.ly/2aq8wao The Independent Payments from a 3 billion pounds ($3.93 billion) European development fund were suspended indefinitely by the UK government, just days after the vote to leave the EU, the Independent can reveal. In a move that exposes the almost immediate impact of Brexit on the UK economy, businesses say they have been told they will not now receive money that was due to be paid out under the European Regional Development Fund. http://ind.pn/2aq9d3y ($1 = 0.7635 pounds) (Compiled by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru) July 26 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. Headlines * Ericsson ousts CEO as investors lose patience over returns (http://on.ft.com/29VRArj) * Apple virtuoso takes the lead in electric car project (http://on.ft.com/2aGnLbs) * Islamic State claims responsibility for Ansbach explosion (http://on.ft.com/29VQo79) * Marissa Mayer condemns 'gender-charged' reporting (http://on.ft.com/29VRZK9) Overview * Ericsson has let go of its CEO Hans Vestberg after mounting pressure from shareholders unhappy with the company's results. The company has been responding to weak industry demand by cutting jobs and increasing cost cuts. * Apple Inc has tapped Bob Mansfield, a special adviser to the company and former hardware executive, to spearhead its electric car project. The Apple veteran has worked for the company for about 17 years and has engineered a number of projects ranging from the iPad to the Apple Watch. * The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the explosion outside a music festival in Ansbach, Germany. The Syrian suicide bomber who detonated the bomb had pledged his allegiance to Isis and threatened revenge against the Germans. * Yahoo Inc's CEO Marissa Mayer has condemned sexist reporting of her leadership at the company, as she agreed to sell the bulk of the company's assets to Verizon Communication Inc for $4.8 billion. (Compiled by Gaurika Juneja in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Cooney) By PTI: Washington, Jul 25 (PTI) The Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain would travel to the US in October to meet top American lawmakers, political leaders and administration officials to brief them on the alleged human rights violations being carried by Pakistani Army in Karachi. Hussain, who is living in self-exile in London, said this in an address to his party supporters who were holding a protest march against Pakistani Army in front of the White House on Saturday, a media release said. advertisement In his address, Hussain said the injustices being perpetratedby the Pakistan Army and Rangers against members and supporters of MQM threaten the lives of fellow Mohajirs each and every day. "Despite all that is against us, MQM will continue undeterred. We will go on fighting for the principles and policies we believe in," he told his supporters, announcing that he would be travelling to the US in October. "Since 2013, the Pakistani military has imposed effective martial law on our city. And for the duration of this so-called operation, Paramilitary soldiers have roamed our streets, unaccountable to civil authorities," he alleged. As per a Lahore High court ruling, the Pakistani media has been asked not to display his photograph. Hussain urged the Obama administration to use their good offices to press Pakistani establishment to cease its attacks on MQM, respect the rule of law and the democratic will of the people. PTI LKJ ZH --- ENDS --- July 26 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. - Bangladesh police said Tuesday they killed nine suspected extremists during a raid on a militant hideout in Dhaka. Police surrounded a five-story building in the Kalyanpur suburb of the Bangladeshi capital in the early hours of Tuesday morning following a tip-off that militants were hiding there, Asaduzzaman Miah, Dhaka's commissioner of police said. http://on.wsj.com/2a2mkmR - First Lady Michelle Obama on Monday made the case for Democratic Party unity and delivered an impassioned endorsement of Hillary Clinton to be her husband's successor in a speech at the Democratic National Convention. http://on.wsj.com/29WgSWn - Starbucks Corp said Monday it was reorganizing the roles of its senior leaders, a week after the coffee giant said it had a sales-target miss for the third consecutive quarter. Chief Executive Howard Schultz said he was shifting his focus to the company's long-term strategy and innovation efforts. Previously, he focused on the company's digital technology efforts. http://on.wsj.com/29Vuukr - Apple Inc has tapped a highly regarded senior executive who helped bring to market many of Apple's signature products to oversee its fledgling automobile project, according to people familiar with the matter. http://on.wsj.com/2a62Xyd - LVMH agreed to sell Donna Karan International Inc. to apparel company G-III Apparel Group Ltd for $650 million including debt, an unusual retreat for the French luxury giant. http://on.wsj.com/2a7usBc - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared a unilateral cease-fire with communist rebels Monday in an effort to reignite peace talks and end a decades-old insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. http://on.wsj.com/29UK0Ns (Compiled by Rama Venkat Raman in Bengaluru) Were pretty positive Disneyland is getting a Marvel Land Were pretty positive Disneyland is getting a Marvel Land Well, its not really a secret anymore, huh? Over the weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that theres a brand new Guardians of the Galaxy ride coming to California Adventure at Disneyland, and OMG. Its going to take over the space currently occupied by Tower of Terror, and yes, though Tower of Terror is going away, this new Guardians ride looks AMAZING. Butisnt it kinda weird just to add a Guardians ride right into the middle of Hollywood Land at California Adventure? Doesnt it seema little weird? Like, maybe this new Guardians ride should be in, IDK, a Marvel Land or something? Comic-Con International 2016 - Marvel Studios Presentation If youre now thinking about that too, it just might happen, and OMG. Disney released a video of Imagineer Joe Rhode (aka, the guy in charge of ALL the magic that is brought into Disneyland, and Disney World), where he describes exactly what this new Guardians of the Galaxy Mission: Breakout will look like. In short, itll look cool. Then, he states: Its the first in what is going to become a whole new universe in Disney California Adventure. The first in what is going to become a whole new universe, aka a whole new land in California Adventure?? All of this is happening as we speak, as things emerge and as things develop, Ill be back to tell you more about all the stuff thats going to happen as we go forward as we make this really real cool and really wonderful addition to Disney California Adventure. Woah. That most certainly sounds like it is on the fast track to happening, whatever this new ~universe~ is. Its probably a Marvel land. Lets call it Marvel Land, okay? And right next to Tower of Terror Guardians Mission: Breakout are two prime locations for a whole new land to be developed. guardians ride Disney hasnt mentioned anything about this publicly, but all signs point to the fact that it is HAPPENING. Disneyland is getting Star Wars Land, so it only make sense that California Adventure gets something just as amazing and awesome. Stay tuned, because it sounds like there are some BIG announcements coming our way. The post Were pretty positive Disneyland is getting a Marvel Land appeared first on HelloGiggles. Priest killed in attack at church in Normandy, France A picture of late Father Jacques Hamel is placed on flowers at the makeshift memorial in front of the city hall closed to the church where an hostage taking left a priest dead the day before in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, Wednesday, July 27, 2016. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Officials on Thursday identified the second man who attacked a Normandy church during a morning Mass this week, saying he is a 19-year-old from eastern France who was spotted last month in Turkey as he supposedly headed to Syria but who returned to France instead. The prosecutors office identified him as Abdel-Malik Nabil Petitjean following DNA tests. A security official confirmed that he was the unidentified man pictured on a photo distributed to police four days earlier with a warning that he could be planning an attack. Petitjean and another 19-year-old, Adel Kermiche, were killed by police as they left the church Tuesday in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray after having fatally slashed the throat of the elderly priest. An elderly man among the five people in the congregation was also seriously wounded. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group, which released a video Wednesday allegedly showing Kermiche and his accomplice clasping hands and pledging allegiance to the group. (AP) See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Tumblr . Paris (AFP) - An elderly priest had his throat slit in a church in northern France on Tuesday after two men stormed the building and took hostages. The attack in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray came as France was still coming to terms with the Bastille Day killings in Nice claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group. Here is what we know so far about the church attack: - What happened? - Two men arrived at the 17th century Eglise Saint-Etienne during morning mass, attacking the church and taking five hostages inside. During the siege they killed a priest in his 80s by slitting his throat and seriously injured another captive. The victim was father Jacques Hamel, a semi-retired assistant parish priest, according to the archbishop of nearby Rouen, Dominique Lebrun. Hamel was born in 1930 in Darnetal, a town near Saint-Etienne du Rouvray, and was ordained in 1958, according to information on the diocesan website. This is the first jihadist attack on a church on French soil since IS came to prominence two years ago. Some 65 percent of France's population identify as Catholics, according to the Ifop polling centre. The country's second-largest religion, Islam, has five million followers. - Taken down by police - As the two attackers made to leave the church they were confronted by a French police unit specialising in hostage situations, the BRI, and were shot dead. Three of the hostages were freed unharmed. The scene was then secured by officers from France's elite RAID unit, who scoured the area for explosive devices. None were found. - Who were the attackers? - The Islamic State group said the two assailants were its "soldiers" and the attack retribution for France's fight against the jihadists in the Middle East. "The perpetrators of the Normandy church attack are soldiers of the Islamic State who carried out the attack in response to calls to target countries of the Crusader coalition," the IS-linked Amaq news agency said. Story continues One of the two attackers, 19-year-old Adel Kermiche, had been charged with terror links. He was released and fitted with an electronic bracelet that allowed him to leave his house on weekdays between 8:00 am and 12:30 pm, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said. Kermiche, who was known to France's anti-terrorism police, tried twice to go to Syria in 2015. He had already threatened to attack a church, according to witness testimony collected in his neighbourhood. "We knew he wanted to go to Syria," a 60-year-old neighbour of the assailant's family, who added that he "never saw him go to the mosque". Little is known at this stage about the other attacker. - Deadly summer surge - French President Francois Hollande vowed Tuesday to wage war against IS "by every means" within the law, while also urging unity. "We are confronted with a group, Daesh, which has declared war on us," Hollande said, using an alternative name for the group. "This war will be long. Our democracy is the target, and it will be our shield. Let us stand together. We will win this war," he said. France remains on high alert after Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed a truck into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 84 people and injuring over 300. The July 14 killings was the third major terror attack in France in little more than 18 months. When it comes to recording music, the producer can be just as important to the sound of the track as the songwriter. And when they're the same guy, that person is exerting a huge amount of creative control. Varietys Andrew Barker went to the Hollywood studio of producer J.R. Rotem to learn how he guided the creation of two songs: 'Powerful,' which was featured on the Fox drama 'Empire', and Charlie Puth's recording 'Dangerously.' Host: Andrew Barker Producer/Writer: David S. Cohen Supervising Producer: Preston Northrop Editor: Armando Aparicio Camera: Preston Northrop, Armando Aparicio, Sal Castellanos Artisans Set Design: Cindy Chao & Michelle Yu More than 20 protesters were arrested outside the Minnesota Governors Mansion in St. Paul on Tuesday, July 26, after police attempted to clear the street. The protesters have been holding a constant demonstration since the fatal police-involved shooting of Philando Castile on July 6. Reports said 10 protesters were taken to jail while another 15 were issued citations and released. Police arrived at the scene on Summit Avenue around 7:15 am to open up the street, according to a report. Police told local news outlets most protesters complied and left, but several remained and were arrested. Police also told news outlets protesters were allowed to be at the site so long as they did not obstruct the street or the sidewalk. Philando Castile was shot by a police officer in Falcon Heights during a traffic stop, and his girlfriend, who was in the car, broadcast the aftermath on Facebook. Castiles death was one of two in two days that triggered protests across the country. Credit: Justice Occupation for Philando By Denis Pinchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan next month for the first time in almost a year, a sign that a rapprochement between the two nations is gathering pace. Russian trade sanctions imposed on Ankara over the Turkish shooting down of a Russian jet near the Syrian border last November remain in place, and Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said on Tuesday they were unlikely to be lifted before the two leaders met. Ulyukayev was speaking as senior officials from the two nations, including Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, met in Moscow to lay the ground for a gradual thaw in ties. The Kremlin and the Turkish government said Putin and Erdogan would meet on Aug. 9 in the Russian leader's home town of St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city. The shooting down of the Russian fighter jet, which was taking part in the Kremlin's campaign to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, prompted Moscow to impose sanctions on Ankara to hurt its tourism and construction sectors. It also banned Turkish food imports. "The agenda has not been discussed yet ... but beyond all doubt, there is much to talk about," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters, referring to the planned Putin-Erdogan meeting. "This will be the first meeting after that collapse in our relations, the first one after the leaders of the two nations turned over that page," Peskov said. "Therefore, it's possible to say with confidence they won't lack topics for discussion." Erdogan faced the biggest challenge to his rule this month when he defeated a coup staged by his own military. He is now trying to consolidate his power by purging the army and security structures. Turkey has thanked Russia for its solid support of its legitimate government during the abortive putsch. Mehmet Simsek, Turkey's deputy prime minister, said his visit and that of other officials was part of an ongoing attempt to try to mend ties with Moscow. "We are here to improve our relations and to bring them to an even higher level than before Nov. 24," Simsek said at the start of a meeting on Tuesday with his Russian counterpart Arkady Dvorkovich. Russian and Turkish officials discussed the possible lifting of the food import ban, Dvorkovich told reporters. Officials would later also discuss whether it was realistic to restart the shelved TurkStream project, which aims to build a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey. Dvorkovich said the resumption of charter flights between the two countries "will take some time". He said construction of the planned Akkuyu nuclear power plant project in Turkey was also on the agenda. "We plan to be able to move forward pretty fast," he said, giving no further details. (Reporting by Denis Pinchuk; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov and Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Richard Balmforth) The flight has been rough for airline stocks this year. Several issues have plagued the space. The worst among these are the upsurge in terror attacks, the outbreak of the Zika virus, global growth worries and cutthroat competition (read: France Bleeds Again: ETFs & Stocks in Focus). As a result, the pure-play aviation ETF U.S. Global Jets ETF JETS lost about 10% in the last three months and is off about 10.7% so far this year (as of July 21, 2016). To add to this, Brexit will likely leave a huge negative impact on the airline sector (read: UK Votes for Brexit: ETFs Winners & Losers). Against such a backdrop, all eyes have been fixed on airlines earnings this season. Overall, the sector put up a decent earnings show, with mixed-to-upbeat results. Lets take a look at the earnings in detail: Inside the Earnings Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL started off the second-quarter earnings season in the airline space with a bottom-line beat and top-line miss. Operating revenues of $10.4 billion were marginally short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $10.5 billion and 2.4% lower than the year-ago figure. The carriers earnings (excluding special items) of $1.47 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5 cents. Earnings also improved 15.7% on a year-over-year basis thanks to low fuel costs. United Continental Holdings (UAL) posted a second-quarter earnings beat on July 19 (after market close). Earnings (on an adjusted basis) of $2.61 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8 cents. Earnings, however, declined 21.1% on a year-over-year basis owing to lower revenues. Operating revenues of $9.4 billion, however, edged past the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $9.38 billion. Low cost carrier Southwest Airlines Co. LUV came up with mixed results for the second quarter, missing on earnings but beating on revenues. The carriers earnings (on an adjusted basis) of $1.19 per share fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.22. Earnings, however, increased 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Revenues of $5.38 billion edged past the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.37 billion and increased 5.3% year over year. Story continues Alaska Air Group Inc. ALK reported second-quarter 2016 earnings per share of $2.12, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.08 and increased 20% year over year. Quarterly revenues also increased 4% year over year and were roughly in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.5 billion. American Airlines Group Inc.s (AAL) second-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.77 breezed past the Zacks Consensus Estimate by $0.12. However, quarterly earnings declined over 32% year over year. American Airlines operating revenues of $10.36 billion declined 4.3% from the year-ago quarter. Quarterly revenues however beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $10.31 billion. Should You Buy JETS? By now, one must have realized from the indicators that the mood in the airlines industry is not as downbeat as the stock trend is showing. The main reasons for the low flying airlines stocks seem to be terror attacks and geo-political crisis (read: Political Instability Puts Turkey ETF in Focus). The ongoing emergency in Turkey following a failed military attack, the recent flare of terror attacks in various corners of globe, to-be-seem Brexit impact on the global economy and the volatility in currencies are likely to keep airline stocks on the edge. Now it is to be seen how long the U.S. economic revival drives these stocks and the ETF higher (read: Best Performing Currency ETFs of 1H16). Nevertheless, investors having a strong stomach for risks and seeking to play the sector on decent earnings, may target it in the ETF form. Below we highlight the fund in detail: JETS in Focus The $43.4 million-fund holds over 30 stocks in its portfolio and is concentrated on a few individual securities, as it allocates about 70% to the top 10 holdings. American Airlines (13.97%), United Continental (12.75%), Delta Airlines (11.20%) and Southwest Airlines (10.85%) are the top four elements in the basket. Alaska Air holds the ninth position in the fund with 3.93% weight. The product charges 60 bps in fees. The fund gained about 4.5% in the last 10 trading sessions (as of July 22, 2016) which were the peak of airlines earnings releases. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SOUTHWEST AIR (LUV): Free Stock Analysis Report DELTA AIR LINES (DAL): Free Stock Analysis Report ALASKA AIR GRP (ALK): Free Stock Analysis Report UNITED CONT HLD (UAL): Free Stock Analysis Report AMER AIRLINES (AAL): Free Stock Analysis Report US GLOBAL JETS (JETS): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f156734%2fcersei_michelle_obama_header LONDON The Queen of the Seven Kingdoms has spoken, and there's only one person she has in mind for the U.S.'s version of the Iron Throne. It's not Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, either. SEE ALSO: James Corden sang Beyonce classics with Michelle Obama, as one does On Tuesday morning, following Monday's opening day of the Democratic National Conference during which Michelle Obama made a speech that essentially stole the show Irish actress Victoria Smurfit floated the following suggestion. Lena Headey who plays Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones was quick to jump on the idea. This isn't the first time Headey's waded in on the political scene, either. She previously slammed Donald Trump and made her feelings clear about former Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson on Twitter. The First Lady has made herself a powerful ally. Santa Clarita (United States) (AFP) - Thousands of firefighters battled to contain a blaze tearing through suburban Los Angeles, destroying homes and a popular filming location and threatening actress Tippi Hedren's animal sanctuary. The so-called Sand Fire in the Santa Clarita Valley has scorched more than 55 square miles (142 square kilometers) of brush, threatening at least 2,000 properties and forcing an estimated 20,000 residents to flee. About 10,000 homes have been evacuated since the fire broke out Friday near Sand Canyon Road in Santa Clarita, according to law enforcement officers. Around 20 homes have been destroyed, officials said, including two belonging to firefighters. Police are investigating the death of a badly charred unidentified man, found in a car parked in the driveway of a house in the fire zone. The blaze was just 10 percent contained as of Monday morning, according to Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby. Around 3,000 firefighters and 26 helicopters have been deployed to tackle the inferno, which blackened the skies over Los Angeles over the weekend. Many roads and highways were partly closed. The ferocious blaze destroyed much of Sable Ranch in Santa Clarita, which has Western-style buildings used for movie locations. "We've had fires before here and we had always been able to defend it. But this one, this one was a beast. It was a big fire. You could hear it coming. You could hear the 'fffrrrrrrrr,' the grumbling and the rumbling," owner Hunt told AFP. Hunt's father and grandfather did the construction work in the 1970s. The ranch has been the site of various television and film shoots, including "24," "The A-Team," "Robin Hood: Men in Tights," and "Maverick." The only showbiz structure left was a giant metal dinosaur that was going to be used on a Netflix series. "We were able to save it. They couldn't destroy the beast," he added. Story continues Forest fires are a fact of life in much of California but have become far worse because of bone-dry conditions, with the Golden State gripped in its fifth year of drought. The Sand Fire has turned out to be one of the worst in this region in decades. It spread fast as it was fueled over the weekend by high temperatures and strong wind. - Melted furniture - Most people have abandoned their homes in Sand Canyon. Mary and Bill Sloan were out of town in Las Vegas and rushed back when they heard about the fire. Their son was home but he managed to evacuate. "The fence melted some of our furniture. It had to been thrown into the pool because it caught on fire," Mary Sloan told AFP. "I have asthma. I could not breathe. My baby could not breathe. My baby is so sick and kept crying," said Rehab Moawad, 39, who was at a Red Cross shelter set up at a school with his 14-year-old son Badr. Hedren's animal sanctuary, Shambala Preserve, was also forced to move 340 of its more than 400 residents, including Bengal tigers and a mountain lion, according to the Hollywood Reporter. "Please say a prayer for all residents in the path of the #SandFire. My Moms place Shambala is being evacuated," the actress Melanie Griffith, who is Hedren's daughter, tweeted on Sunday. Hedren, who founded the sanctuary in the desert community of Acton in 1972, kept a lion in the family home when Griffith was a teenager. Around five hours later she added: "Mom is safe! Shambala is safe. Now sending love and thanks to all the firefighters who saved her and the cats..." Meanwhile a wildfire about 300 miles up the coast, outside the Big Sur tourist region, has grown to more than 23 square miles, destroying 20 homes and threatening at least 1,600 more. In May, fires near Los Angeles pushed 5,000 people out of their homes in the affluent Calabasas area, an LA suburb which is home to many celebrities including members of the Kardashian family. Gita Gopinath said, "Kerala has made substantial progress on social indicators like health and education and I hope to contribute towards further developing sustainable policies for the state that address its unique opportunities and challenges." By India Today Television: Gita Gopinath, renowned economist and Harvard Professor who has been appointed as Financial Advisor to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is least bothered about the controversies circled her appointment. The 38-year-old professor who hails from Kannur, the home district of Chief Minister, told India Today that she looked forward to serving the state in her new role. HONORARY POSITION "Kerala has made substantial progress on social indicators like health and education and I hope to contribute towards further developing sustainable policies for the state that address its unique opportunities and challenges," she said. advertisement According to her, she would continue as a full time professor at Harvard University and carry on her commitments including research and teaching. "This is an honorary position, in that there is no remuneration, no expectation that I will move to Thiruvananthapuram to engage on a daily basis with the government or be involved in all its economic policy decisions. My mandate as discussed with the Chief Minister is twofold. First, I will respond to any requests from the CM for advice on the impact on Kerala's economy of global, national and state events and policies. Second, I hope to play a convening role to connect various state departments to the knowledge leaders from around the world in sectors relevant to Kerala like public finance, management, entrepreneurship, labor and development economics," she explained. According to her, her role is confined to advisory nature not directly involving in the policy formulations. She thanked the Chief Minister for giving an opportunity to contribute her skills and effort to the development of Kerala and hoped that the state would make great strides in achieving its development goals under the leadership of Pianrayi Vijayan. MARXIAN CRITICS But her appointment and her no-liberal tag invited sharp criticism from Marxian economists like Prabhath Patnaik who was former Vice Chairman of Kerala Planning Board. Prabhath Patnaik told media that following Modi path would not help Kerala to develop alternatives to resist liberalization. "Kerala's Left government should not fall in the trap of neo-liberal policies. It's anti- people and anti-worker. If the Left government follows the path Modi treads, it would not Kerala to develop sustainable alternative models," Patnaik csaid criticising the Chief Minister without naming him. ALSO READ: ISIS recruits from Kerala: 11 out of 22 missing Keralites suspected to be in Syria --- ENDS --- AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Randstad (RAND.AS), the world's No. 2 staffing agency, on Tuesday reported 11 percent higher core earnings in the second quarter, but its shares fell more than 5 percent on concerns about stagnating sales in the United States and Britain. Underlying earnings before interest, taxation and amortisation (EBITA) reached about 240 million euros ($264 million) in the latest period, compared with 215 million a year earlier, roughly in line with market expectations. Analysts polled for Reuters had expected underlying EBITA of 237 million euros. Randstad is the second largest staffing company globally by sales after Switzerland's Adecco (ADEN.S) and ahead of ManpowerGroup (MAN.N) of the United States. In North America, Randstad's underlying sales were flat amid slowing demand for its services, Chief Financial Officer Robert Jan van de Kraats said in an interview. In Britain, gross profit was down 2 percent and 'perm fees', paid when clients permanently hire an employee provided by Randstad, fell 5 percent year-on-year. Van de Kraats said the British market was hurt by a slowdown in hiring in the financial sector and concerns that the construction market would be hit by the country's decision to leave the European Union. Randstad's shares fell 5 percent in morning trading in Amsterdam and are down 19 percent since the Brexit vote last month. Although Randstad only generates roughly 4 percent of revenue in Britain, there are concerns Brexit could hit economic growth in Europe and the wider labour market. ($1 = 0.9082 euros) (Reporting by Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath and Mark Potter) Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f15604%2fhttps_3a_2f_2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com_2fuploads_2fcard_2fimage_2f156798_2fk1sitethumb1 Researchers from the University of Queensland have spent the last 20 years studying a group of 200 koalas on the remote St Bees Island in Australia. Despite the efforts they have made to gather information about the rare koalas untouched by humans or disease, numbers are still declining and scientists are still not exactly sure why. Additional reporting by The Associated Press. Sydney (AFP) - An extremely rare white humpback whale was Tuesday spotted off the Australian coast as he migrates towards warmer tropical waters to mate. The albino is widely believed to be Migaloo, the worlds best-known all-white humpback who has built up a loyal following in Australia since first being sighted in 1991. Migaloo is an Aboriginal word meaning whitefella. He was seen and photographed off Byron Bay on Australias east coast, heading north on his annual migration from Antarctica to warmer waters in Queensland state. I cried. I screamed You gorgeous whale, thank you for being here for us today, Alison Reid, who saw Migaloo on a whale watching cruise, told national radio. Hes amazing. It was just an incredible sight, it was so unreal. Oskar Peterson, who runs the Australian-based White Whale Research Centre, said a study by Southern Cross University in 2004, which managed to get skin samples from the whale, had shown Migaloo was male. He was now believed to be around 30 years old. The whale is expected to gradually make his way as far north as Cooktown in the Australian tropics before the return trip to Antarctica later in the year. Australias east coast humpback population has been brought back from the brink of extinction following the halting of whaling in the early 1960s. However, there are believed to be only two or three white humpbacks in the world. Good evening. How great it is to be with you tonight. Let me begin by thanking the hundreds of thousands of Americans who actively participated in our campaign as volunteers. Let me thank the 2 1/2 million Americans who helped fund our campaign with an unprecedented 8 million individual campaign contributions averaging $27 a piece. Let me thank the 13 million Americans who voted for the political revolution, giving us the 1,846 pledged delegates here tonight 46 percent of the total. And delegates: Thank you for being here, and for all the work youve done. I look forward to your votes during the roll call on Tuesday night. And let me offer a special thanks to the people of my own state of Vermont who have sustained me and supported me as a mayor, congressman, senator and presidential candidate. And to my family my wife Jane, four kids and seven grandchildren thank you very much for your love and hard work on this campaign. I understand that many people here in this convention hall and around the country are disappointed about the final results of the nominating process. I think its fair to say that no one is more disappointed than I am. But to all of our supporters here and around the country I hope you take enormous pride in the historical accomplishments we have achieved. Together, my friends, we have begun a political revolution to transform America and that revolution our revolution continues. Election days come and go. But the struggle of the people to create a government which represents all of us and not just the 1 percent a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice that struggle continues. And I look forward to being part of that struggle with you. Let me be as clear as I can be. This election is not about, and has never been about, Hillary Clinton, or Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders or any of the other candidates who sought the presidency. This election is not about political gossip. Its not about polls. Its not about campaign strategy. Its not about fundraising. Its not about all the things the media spends so much time discussing. This election is about and must be about the needs of the American people and the kind of future we create for our children and grandchildren. This election is about ending the 40-year decline of our middle class the reality that 47 million men, women and children live in poverty. It is about understanding that if we do not transform our economy, our younger generation will likely have a lower standard of living then their parents. This election is about ending the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we currently experience, the worst it has been since 1928. It is not moral, not acceptable and not sustainable that the top one-tenth of one percent now own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent, or that the top 1 percent in recent years has earned 85 percent of all new income. That is unacceptable. That must change. This election is about remembering where we were 7 1/2 years ago when President Obama came into office after eight years of Republican trickle-down economics. The Republicans want us to forget that as a result of the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street, our economy was in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Some 800,000 people a month were losing their jobs. We were running up a record-breaking deficit of $1.4 trillion and the worlds financial system was on the verge of collapse. We have come a long way in the last 7 1/2 years, and I thank President Obama and Vice President Biden for their leadership in pulling us out of that terrible recession. Yes, we have made progress, but I think we can all agree that much, much more needs to be done. This election is about which candidate understands the real problems facing this country and has offered real solutions not just bombast, fear-mongering, name-calling and divisiveness. We need leadership in this country which will improve the lives of working families, the children, the elderly, the sick and the poor. We need leadership which brings our people together and makes us stronger not leadership which insults Latinos, Muslims, women, African-Americans and veterans and divides us up. By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close. This election is about a single mom I saw in Nevada who, with tears in her eyes, told me that she was scared to death about the future because she and her young daughter were not making it on the $10.45 an hour she was earning. This election is about that woman and the millions of other workers in this country who are struggling to survive on totally inadequate wages. Hillary Clinton understands that if someone in America works 40 hours a week, that person should not be living in poverty. She understands that we must raise the minimum wage to a living wage. And she is determined to create millions of new jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure our roads, bridges, water systems and wastewater plants. But her opponent Donald Trump well, he has a very different view. He does not support raising the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour a starvation wage. While Donald Trump believes in huge tax breaks for billionaires, he believes that states should actually have the right to lower the minimum wage below $7.25. What an outrage! This election is about overturning Citizens United, one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in the history of our country. That decision allows the wealthiest people in America, like the billionaire Koch brothers, to spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying elections and, in the process, undermine American democracy. Hillary Clinton will nominate justices to the Supreme Court who are prepared to overturn Citizens United and end the movement toward oligarchy in this country. Her Supreme Court appointments will also defend a womans right to choose, workers rights, the rights of the LGBT community, the needs of minorities and immigrants and the governments ability to protect the environment. If you dont believe this election is important, if you think you can sit it out, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate and what that would mean to civil liberties, equal rights and the future of our country. This election is about the thousands of young people I have met who have left college deeply in debt, and the many others who cannot afford to go to college. During the primary campaign, Secretary Clinton and I both focused on this issue but with different approaches. Recently, however, we have come together on a proposal that will revolutionize higher education in America. It will guarantee that the children of any family this country with an annual income of $125,000 a year or less 83 percent of our population will be able to go to a public college or university tuition free. That proposal also substantially reduces student debt. This election is about climate change, the greatest environmental crisis facing our planet, and the need to leave this world in a way that is healthy and habitable for our kids and future generations. Hillary Clinton is listening to the scientists who tell us that unless we act boldly and transform our energy system in the very near future there will be more drought, more floods, more acidification of the oceans, more rising sea levels. She understands that when we do that we can create hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs. Donald Trump? Well, like most Republicans, he chooses to reject science. He believes that climate change is a hoax, no need to address it. Hillary Clinton understands that a presidents job is to worry about future generations, not the short-term profits of the fossil fuel industry. This campaign is about moving the United States toward universal health care and reducing the number of people who are uninsured or under-insured. Hillary Clinton wants to see that all Americans have the right to choose a public option in their health care exchange. She believes that anyone 55 years or older should be able to opt in to Medicare and she wants to see millions more Americans gain access to primary health care, dental care, mental health counseling and low-cost prescription drugs through a major expansion of community health centers. And What is Donald Trumps position on health care? No surprise there. Same old, same old Republican contempt for working families. He wants to abolish the Affordable Care Act, throw 20 million people off of the health insurance they currently have and cut Medicaid for lower-income Americans. Hillary Clinton also understands that millions of seniors, disabled vets and others are struggling with the outrageously high cost of prescription drugs and the fact that Americans pay the highest prices in the world for their medicine. She knows that Medicare must negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry and that drug companies should not be making billions in profits while one in five Americans are unable to afford the medicine they need. The greed of the drug companies must end. This election is about the leadership we need to pass comprehensive immigration reform and repair a broken criminal justice system. Its about making sure that young people in this country are in good schools and at good jobs, not in jail cells. Hillary Clinton understands that we have to invest in education and jobs for our young people, not more jails or incarceration. In these stressful times for our country, this election must be about bringing our people together, not dividing us up. While Donald Trump is busy insulting one group after another, Hillary Clinton understands that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths. Yes. We become stronger when black and white, Latino, Asian-American, Native American all of us stand together. Yes. We become stronger when men and women, young and old, gay and straight, native born and immigrant fight to create the kind of country we all know we can become. It is no secret that Hillary Clinton and I disagree on a number of issues. Thats what this campaign has been about. Thats what democracy is about. But I am happy to tell you that at the Democratic Platform Committee there was a significant coming together between the two campaigns and we produced, by far, the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party. Among many other strong provisions, the Democratic Party now calls for breaking up the major financial institutions on Wall Street and the passage of a 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act. It also calls for strong opposition to job-killing free trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Our job now is to see that platform implemented by a Democratic Senate, a Democratic House and a Hillary Clinton presidency and I am going to do everything I can to make that happen. I have known Hillary Clinton for 25 years. I remember her as a great first lady who broke precedent in terms of the role that a first lady was supposed to play as she helped lead the fight for universal health care. I served with her in the United States Senate and know her as a fierce advocate for the rights of children. Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her here tonight. Thank you, Joe, and thank you to Massachusetts for the great honor of serving as your Senator. Wow! What a night. Michelle Obama. Cory Booker. And we still have Bernie coming up. Bernie reminds us what Democrats fight for every day! Thank you, Bernie! We are here tonight because America faces a choice, the choice of a new president. On one side is a man who inherited a fortune from his father and kept it going by cheating people and skipping out on debts. A man who has never sacrificed anything for anyone. A man who cares only for himself every minute of every day. On the other side is one of the smartest, toughest, most tenacious people on the planet a woman who fights for children, for women, for health care, for human rights, a woman who fights for all of us, and who is strong enough to win those fights. Were here today because our choice is Hillary Clinton! Im with Hillary! For me, this choice is personal. Its about who we are as a people. Its about what kind of country we want to be. I grew up in Oklahoma. My daddy ended up as a maintenance man, and my mom worked for minimum wage at Sears. My three brothers served in the military. The oldest was career, 288 combat missions in Vietnam. The second worked construction. The third started his own business. Me? I got married at 19 and graduated from a commuter college in Texas that cost $50 a semester. The way I see it, Im a janitors daughter who became a public school teacher, a professor, and a United States Senator. America is truly a country of opportunity! Im deeply grateful to that America. I believe in that America. But Im worried. Worried that my story is locked in the past. Worried that opportunity is slipping away for people who work hard and play by the rules. Look around. Americans bust their tails, some working two or three jobs, but wages stay flat. Meanwhile, the basic costs of making it from month to month keep going up. Housing, health care, child care costs are out of sight. Young people are getting crushed by student loans. Working people are in debt. Seniors cant stretch a Social Security check to cover the basics. And even families who are OK today worry that it could all fall apart tomorrow. This. Is. Not. Right! Heres the thing: America isnt going broke. The stock market is breaking records. Corporate profits are at all-time highs. CEOs make tens of millions of dollars. Theres lots of wealth in America, but it isnt trickling down to hard-working families like yours. Does anyone here have a problem with that? Well, I do too. People get it: the system is rigged. So-called experts claim America is in trouble because both political parties in Washington refuse to compromise. Gridlock! That is just flat wrong. Washington works great for those at the top. When giant companies wanted more tax loopholes, Washington got it done. When huge energy companies wanted to tear up our environment, Washington got it done. When enormous Wall Street banks wanted new regulatory loopholes, Washington got it done. No gridlock there! But try to do something, anything, for working people, and youll have a fight on your hands. Democrats have taken on those fights. Democrats fought to get health insurance for more Americans. Democrats fought for a strong consumer agency so big banks cant cheat people. We fought, we won, and we improved the lives of millions of people thank you, President Obama! Yes, we won, but Republicans and lobbyists battled us every step of the way. Five years later, that consumer agency has returned $11 billion to families who were cheated. And Republicans? Theyre still trying to kill it. Im not someone who thinks Republicans are always wrong and Democrats are always right. Theres enough blame to go around. But there is a huge difference between the people fighting for a level playing field, and the people keeping the system rigged. Look at Congress since the Republicans took over. Democrats proposed refinancing student loans. And Republicans? They said no! Democrats proposed ending tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas. And Republicans? They said no! Democrats proposed raising the minimum wage. And Republicans? They said no! To every Republican in Congress who said no: this November, the American people are coming for you! And where was Donald Trump? In all these fights, not once did he lift a finger to help working people. Why would he? His whole life has been about taking advantage of that rigged system. Time after time he preyed on working people, people in debt, people who had fallen on hard times. Hes conned them, hes defrauded them, and hes ripped them off. Look at his history. Donald Trump said he was excited for the 2008 housing crash that devastated millions of American families because he thought it would help him scoop up more real estate on the cheap. Donald Trump set up a fake university to make money while cheating people and taking their life savings. Donald Trump goes on, and on, and on, about being a successful businessman, but he filed business bankruptcies six times, always to protect his own money and stick his investors and contractors with the bill. Donald Trump hired plumbers and painters and construction workers to do hard labor for his businesses, then told them to take only a fraction of what he owed or fight his lawyers in court for years. What kind of a man acts like this? What kind of a man roots for the economic crash that cost millions of people their jobs? Their homes? Their life savings? What kind of a man cheats students, cheats investors, cheats workers? Ill tell you what kind of man. A man who must NEVER be President of the United States! And weve got the leaders to make it happen: Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine! Donald Trump knows that the American people are angry a fact so obvious he can see it from the top of Trump Tower. So now hes insisting that he, and he alone, can fix the rigged system. Last week Donald Trump spoke for more than an hour on the biggest stage hes ever had. But other than talking about building a stupid wall, which will NEVER get built, really, did you hear any actual ideas? Did you hear even one solid proposal from Trump for increasing incomes, or improving your kids education, or creating even one single good-paying job? Donald Trump has no real plans for jobs or for college kids or for seniors, no plans to make ANYTHING great for ANYONE except rich guys like Donald Trump. Just look at his ideas. Donald Trump wants to get rid of the federal minimum wage. Donald Trump wants to roll back financial regulations and turn Wall Street loose to wreck our economy again. And Donald Trump has a tax plan to give multi-millionaires and billionaires like himself an average tax cut of $1.3 million a year. Youre struggling to put your kids through college, and Donald Trump thinks HE needs a million-dollar tax break! Trumps entire campaign is just one more late-night Trump infomercial. Hand over your money, your jobs, your childrens future, and The Great Trump Hot Air Machine will reveal all the answers. And, for one low, low price, hell even throw in a goofy hat. And heres the really ugly underside to his pitch. Trump thinks he can win votes by fanning the flames of fear and hatred. By turning neighbor against neighbor. By persuading you that the real problem in America is your fellow Americans people who dont look like you, or dont talk like you, or dont worship like you. He even picked a vice president famous for trying to make it legal to openly discriminate against gays and lesbians. Thats Donald Trumps America. An America of fear and hate. An America where we all break apart. Whites against blacks and Latinos. Christians against Muslims and Jews. Straight against gay. Everyone against immigrants. Race, religion, heritage, gender, the more factions the better. But ask yourself this. When white workers in Ohio are pitted against black workers in North Carolina, or Latino workers in Florida, who really benefits? Divide and Conquer is an old story in America. Dr. Martin Luther King knew it. After his march from Selma to Montgomery, he spoke of how segregation was created to keep people divided. Instead of higher wages for workers, Dr. King described how poor whites in the South were fed Jim Crow, which told a poor white worker that, No matter how bad off he was, at least he was a white man, better than the black man. Racial hatred was part of keeping the powerful on top. And now Trump and his campaign have embraced it all. Racial hatred. Religious bigotry. Attacks on immigrants, on women, on gays. A deceitful and ugly blame game that says, whatever worries you, the answer is to blame that other group, and dont put any energy into making real change. When we turn on each other, bankers can run our economy for Wall Street, oil companies can fight off clean energy, and giant corporations can ship the last good jobs overseas. When we turn on each other, rich guys like Trump can push through more tax breaks for themselves and then well never have enough money to support our schools, or rebuild our highways, or invest in our kids future. When we turn on each other, we cant unite to fight back against a rigged system. Well, Ive got news for Donald Trump. The American people are not falling for it! Weve seen this ugliness before, and were not going to be Donald Trumps hate-filled America. Not now, not ever! I come to you as the daughter of a janitor, a daughter who believes in an America of opportunity. The hand of history is on our shoulders. We know how to build a future, a future that works not just for some of our children, but for all of our children. We know, and we must have the courage to make it happen. This is about our values, our shared values with our candidates Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine! We believe that no matter who you are, no matter where youre from, no matter who you love, equal means equal. Hillary will fight to make sure discrimination has no place in America. And were with her! We believe that no one, no one, who works full time should live in poverty. Hillary will fight for raising the minimum wage, fair scheduling, paid family and medical leave! And were with her! We believe every kid in America should have a chance for a great education without getting crushed by debt. Hillary will fight for refinancing student loans and debt-free college. And were with her! We believe that after a lifetime of hard work, seniors should be able to retire with dignity. Hillary will fight to expand Social Security, strengthen Medicare, and protect retirement accounts. And were with her! We believe that oil companies shouldnt call the shots in Washington, that science matters, that climate change is real. Hillary will fight to preserve this earth for our children and grandchildren. And were with her! We believe and I cant believe I have to say this in 2016 in equal pay for equal work and a womans right to control over her own body! Hillary will fight for women. And were with her! We believe we dont need WEAKER rules on Wall Street, we need stronger rules, and when big banks get too risky, break em up. Hillary will fight to hold big banks accountable. And were with her! We believe that the United States should never, never, sign trade deals that help giant corporations but leave working people in the dirt! Hillary will fight for American workers. And were with her! And just one more. We believe we must get big money out of politics and root out corruption. Hillary will fight to overturn Citizens United and return this government to the people! And were with her! If you believe that America must work for all of us, not just the rich and powerful, if you believe we must reject the politics of fear and division, if you believe we are stronger together, then lets work our hearts out to make Hillary Clinton the next President of the United States! By PTI: From Shirish B Pradhan Kathmandu, Jul 25 (PTI) Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari today called on all the political parties to elect a new Prime Minister within a week based on consensus to end the political instability in the country, a day after premier K P Oli resigned. The president also ordered to remove constitutional hurdles for the formation of a new government as per the recommendation made by the Cabinet yesterday. advertisement Nepal plunged into a political turmoil after Prime Minister Oli resigned just before a no-confidence vote. In a statement, President Bhandari called on the parties to form a consensus government within a week as per the Article 298 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal. Prior to this, she held consultations with top leaders of three major political parties -- acting Prime Minister and CPN-UML Chairman Oli, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Prachanda, who is favourite to replace Oli. Oli-led cabinet yesterday had recommended the President to remove the hurdles to form a new government by invoking Article 305 of the Constitution as there was no provision to elect new Prime Minister after the Prime Ministers resignation in the transition. The president called on all parties to move ahead in consensus, according to Prachandas secretariat. In response, Deuba and Prachanda? who are trying to form the coalition government ? said they were also of the view that all parties should be taken into confidence while forming the new government. They also expressed their determination in implementation of the Constitution and cooperation on issues of the national interest. Oli tendered his resignation after two key ruling alliance partners -- Madhesi Peoples Rights Forum-Democratic and Rastriya Prajatantra Party -- decided to support the no-confidence motion tabled against him by the Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-Maoist Centre led by Prachanda in the 596-member Parliament. The no-trust motion against Oli had the support of 183 Nepali Congress parliamentarians, 70 from CPN-MC and three from CPN-United. The three parties have a combined strength of 292 in Parliament. Olis Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) currently has 175 elected seats in parliament, far fewer than the 299 needed to win a vote of confidence. PTI SBP NSA --- ENDS --- The DNC media-filing center. (Photo: Hunter Walker/Yahoo News) Philadelphia Reporters were told to evacuate the Democratic National Conventions media space on Monday as a violent storm rocked the tent enclosing it. As clouds rolled in, at one point the tent began violently shaking. Water flooded around wires for television and internet hookups. Lights swayed. Phones broadcasted a flash flood emergency warning, and reporters could hear the apparent sound of metal support hitting the ground. The closest doors leading to the convention arena were locked for a Facebook party. Multiple reporters are leaving the tent city as officials broadcast an emergency flood warning. The roof is swaying pic.twitter.com/FK2CTYpCQj Hunter Walker (@hunterw) July 25, 2016 A freak storm just rocked the media tent city pic.twitter.com/2bVmc6FZ68 Hunter Walker (@hunterw) July 25, 2016 _____ Related slideshows: On the ground at the DNC a photo report >>> How newspapers covered the DNCs first big day >>> Demonstrators protest outside the DNC >>> By Krystain Orlinski ACTON, Calif. (Reuters) - Thousands of California residents were allowed to return home on Monday after a deadly, destructive wildfire forced them from their houses in recent days as it raged through drought-parched canyons and foothills north of Los Angeles. About 300 miles (480 km) to the north, though, another fire ravaged a hilly area near the scenic coastal city of Carmel-by-the-Sea, churning through 16,100 acres (6,500 hectares) and destroying 20 homes and two outbuildings, authorities said. The so-called Soberanes Fire, burning in the Los Padres National Forest in Monterey County, threatened 1,650 structures by Monday evening and was only 10 percent contained, the U.S. Forest Service said. Near Los Angeles, a beefed-up force of nearly 3,000 firefighters battled to outflank the blaze there - known as the Sand Fire - which has charred at least 50 square miles (130 square km) on the rugged northwestern fringes of the Angeles National Forest, authorities said. The Sand Fire erupted on Friday and also remained just 10 percent contained on Monday evening as crews backed by bulldozers labored to hack buffer lines around its perimeter. The majority of the estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people who lived in the 10,000 homes that were evacuated earlier were allowed to return home on Monday evening, fire officials said. Fed by dense brush left desiccated by five years of drought, flames were initially stoked by triple-digit heat and extremely low humidity. Slightly cooler, moister weather and diminished winds were expected to assist firefighters on Monday. "We have very little wind, we have an increase in relative humidity, and so it's favorable for us to get out and to put out hot spots and work on line construction," Los Angeles County Fire Chief Greg Hisel said. He said calmer winds were helping to keep the fire stationary. The Sand Fire blaze was concentrated near the town of Acton, about 50 miles (80 km) north of Los Angeles, as it cast a pall of smoke and soot over a wide area. Much of the Los Angeles basin was dusted with a thin layer of fine white ash from the fire on Saturday and Sunday. At least 18 dwellings were destroyed over the weekend, and authorities have reported one fatality, an unidentified man found on Saturday evening in a burned-out car parked in the driveway of a home. Among the properties to go up in flames was the landmark Sable Ranch, a popular location for television and movie shoots. The causes of the two fires were under investigation. They are among some 3,750 blazes large and small to have erupted across California since January, a higher-than-normal total, collectively scorching more than 200,000 acres (80,940 hectares), state fire officials said. The biggest so far was last month's Erskine Fire, which consumed 48,000 acres (19,429 hectares) northeast of Bakersfield, killing two people and destroying about 250 structures. By comparison, the 2003 Cedar Fire ranks as the biggest on record in the state. It blackened more than 273,000 acres (110,480 hectares), leveled 2,820 buildings and claimed 15 lives. (This story has been refiled to fix typo in lead) (Additional reporting by Laila Kearney and Chris Michaud in New York, Brendan O'Brien and Milwaukee, and Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Grant McCool, Jonathan Oatis and Tom Hogue) Vaucluse_01 The restaurant sector could be sending a warning sign about the US economy. In notes to clients published Tuesday, Stifel analyst Paul Westra and his team argue that US restaurants are showing signs of heading toward a sector-wide recession. And in the past, restaurants have typically been a leading indicator of a broader economic downturn. The thesis here is pretty straightforward: Restaurant sales appear to be slowing, and those sales are strongly indicative of consumer spending habits. US economic growth is largely predicated on consumer spending, therefore slowing spending likely indicates slowing growth, and possibly even outright recession. Here's Stifel's call (emphasis mine): "Today, we adopt a Bearish outlook for Restaurants as we confidently believe that, at a minimum, the simultaneous [-1.5%] to [-2%] deceleration of Restaurant industry comps across all categories during 2Q16 (of +0.7%A vs. 3Q14-1Q16's +2.4%A) within our most recent Stifel Sales Survey reflects the start of a US Restaurant Recession which, may also represent a harbinger to a US recession in early 2017; and, if so, Restaurants have historically led the market lower during the 3-to-6-month periods prior to the start of the prior three US recessions (Restaurants -23% vs. S&P 500's -10%). "The catalyst for the current weak pre-recessionary restaurant spending trend is likely multi-faceted (US Politics; Terrorism; Social Unrest; Global Geo-Politics; Economic Uncertainty) but, if history is a guide, we warn investors that restaurant industry sales tend to be the 'Canary that Lays the Recessionary Egg' (i.e. the current -2% cut-back in dining out sales is a possible harbinger of a -2%-plus cut-back in the US consumers' entire spending basket within 3-to-9 months [which accounts for ~70% of the US Economy])." In the second half of 2016, Stifel expects a 20% decline in restaurant stocks a decline that would look awfully similar to a trend seen ahead of each of the last three US recessions. Story continues Screen Shot 2016 07 26 at 9.09.17 AM Last month, research out of NPD Group indicated that sales in the restaurant sector were flat, reflecting consumers' lack of confidence in the economy. This was followed by a preliminary consumer confidence survey from the University of Michigan the first following the UK's Brexit vote, which has served as the main destabilizing event of the last couple months that showed a sharp decline in confidence among wealthier households. As gas prices tumbled and consumer confidence rose into 2015, restaurant sales surged. In recent months, this trend has cooled. And in Stifel's view, things are about to get a lot worse. NOW WATCH: Airplane designers have a brilliant idea for the middle seat More From Business Insider VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 26, 2016 / CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. (TSXV: CVV) (OTCQB: CVVUF) (FSE: DH7N), ("CanAlaska" or the "Company") is pleased to report that Cameco's (Cameco Corporation (CCO.TO) (CCJ)) exploration team will resume drilling shortly at CanAlaska's West McArthur project along trend from Cameco's high-grade Fox Lake uranium discovery. Makena Resources will also be drilling at the Company's West Patterson property to followup the first drill hole that encountered radioactivity along the entire length of rock tested. Cameco to Resume Drilling Along Trend of High-Grade Fox Lake Discovery Cameco's uranium exploration team has now established access to the C10 conductor targets south of drill hole WMA035, which was drilled in April of this year. This planned drilling, announced on May 31, has been delayed because of ground conditions which hampered summer access. Drilling is scheduled to commence in late July or early August. CanAlaska Cameco Option Map To view an enhanced version of CanAlaska Cameco Option Map, please visit: https://www.accesswire.com/uploads/CanALASKA2221.jpg. CanAlaska and Cameco are exploring the West McArthur Uranium project under a $12.5 million Agreement. The project covers 35,830 hectares (88,536 acres) commencing 6 kilometres (4 miles) northwest of Cameco's majority owned McArthur River uranium mine. Importantly, West McArthur is immediately adjacent to Cameco's recently disclosed Fox Lake uranium discovery with reported inferred resources of approximately 68.1 million pounds based on 387,000 tonnes at 7.99% U3O8. The Fox Lake discovery is within the Read Lake project operated by Cameco (Cameco 78.2%, Areva 21.8%). For more information about the West McArthur project visit http://www.canalaska.com/s/West_McArthur.asp?ReportID=560713. Makena to Resume Drilling on Large Gravity Target on West Patterson Property Makena Resources Inc. has scheduled the next phase of drilling at the West Patterson prospect in the Athabasca basin of Saskatchewan for early August. Makena anticipates the drill program to consist of at least three to five holes. A previous drill hole intersected a continuous section of anomalous radiometric response over the entire 113 metres of basement intersection. Shearing and brecciation occurs all along the 113 metres of granitic basement core, associated with clay alteration and alternating bleached and hematized sections down to the end-of-hole. Story continues Patterson Lake Project Radiometric Log To view an enhanced version of Patterson Lake Project Radiometric Log, please visit: https://www.accesswire.com/uploads/CanALASKA2222.jpg. CanAlaska's West Patterson Lake property is located in the southwestern Athabasca Basin, approximately 10 kilometres northwest of NexGen Energy's Rook I project and Fission Uranium's Triple R deposit. For further information see http://www.canalaska.com/s/News.asp?ReportID=731650. CanAlaska president, Peter Dasler states, "Cameco's drill program is aimed to test uranium mineralized alteration zones, which were intersected in previous drilling. This second round exploration has an excellent chance of intersecting further uranium mineralization closer to the centre of the mineral system in this highly prospective area. Makena's previous drilling has shown that there is anomalous uranium mineralization in the target area. We expect this drilling will vector towards a larger uranium target in the centre of a prominent gravity anomaly." About Cameco Corporation Cameco is one of the world's largest uranium producers, a significant supplier of conversion services and one of two Candu fuel manufacturers in Canada. The company's competitive position is based on controlling ownership of the world's largest high-grade reserves and low-cost operations. Cameco's uranium products are used to generate clean electricity in nuclear power plants around the world. Headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the company also explores for uranium in the Americas, Australia and Asia. Shares of Cameco trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges. Further information on Cameco can be found at www.cameco.com. About CanAlaska Uranium CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. (TSXV: CVV) (OTCQB: CVVUF) (FSE: DH7N) holds interests in approximately 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres), one of the largest land positions in Canada's Athabasca Basin region - the "Saudi Arabia of Uranium." CanAlaska's strategic holdings has attracted major international mining companies Cameco, Denison, KORES, KEPCO, and the De Beers Group of Companies. CanAlaska is a project generator and is positioned for discovery success in the world's richest uranium district. For further information visit www.canalaska.com. The qualified technical person for this news release is Dr Karl Schimann, P. Geo, VP Exploration, for CanAlaska. On behalf of the Board of Directors "Peter Dasler" Peter Dasler, M.Sc., P.Geo. President & CEO ; CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. Contacts: Peter Dasler, President CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. Tel: +1.604.688.3211 x138 Email: info@canalaska.com John Gomez, Corporate Development CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. Tel: +1.604.484.7118 Email: jgomez@canalaska.com 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 information All statements included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions made by the Company based on its experience, perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate in the circumstances. In addition, these statements involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will prove inaccurate, certain of which are beyond the Company's control. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend to revise or update these forward-looking statements after the date hereof or revise them to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated events. SOURCE: CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. By PTI: From Anisur Rahman Dhaka, Jul 26 (PTI) Nine Islamist extremists of banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, blamed for the brazen Dhaka cafe terror attack, were today killed during a fierce gun-battle with Bangladeshi security forces in a pre-dawn raid at their hideout here. On an intelligence input, polices special SWAT unit, elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and detectives jointly raided a seven-storey apartment building in Kalyanpur area and the militants attacked them from upstairs, leading to a fierce gunfight. advertisement The nine militants were killed after an hour-long gunfight while another another extremist who received bullet wounds was arrested, police said. Inspector general of police A K M Shahidul Hoque told reporters that militants were suspected to be members of homegrown extremist group JMB blamed by the government for the July 1 cafe attack in which 22 people, mostly foreigners were killed. "They (militants) are primarily presumed to be a part of the group that carried out terror attacks in Gulshan (restaurant) and (northern) Sholakia," Hoque said. Dhakas joint police commissioner Sheikh Maruf Hassan said the special raid named Operation Storm 26 was launched at 5.51 am local time at a house called Jahaz Building cordoning off the nearby thoroughfares at the area and it continued for around one hour. The Islamist gunmen wearing black tunics, turbans and carrying backpacks exchanged fire and shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is the Greatest), reports said. According to local media reports, the arrested militant, who is being treated at a hospital in the capital, admitted that the group was inspired by ISIS when police quizzed him at the facility. The police chief said the raid was carried out on an intelligence report as part of a nationwide anti-militant clampdown following the two back-to back terrorist attacks earlier this month. He said the militants had been planning another large-scale assault. Hoque said police found no evidence of their ISIS link but security analysts earlier said JMB was ideologically inclined to the Syria-based outfit which claimed the responsibility of the July 1 attack. Jahaz Building is a residential apartment complex for middle income people who lived in most of the flats with family members but two floors of the structure were rented out to students and some youths. Bangladesh is reeling from a wave of deadly attacks by Islamist extremists. Twenty two people, including an Indian girl, were killed by suspected ISIS militants inside a cafe popular with expats in the diplomatic zone in Dhaka in the worst terror attack in Bangladesh before commandos launched an assault, killing six attackers and capturing one alive. PTI AR BSA PMS AKJ PMS --- ENDS --- advertisement Reynolds American Inc.s RAI second-quarter 2016 adjusted earnings of 58 cents per share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 61 cents by 4.91%. Nonetheless, the bottom line improved 13.7% from the year-ago quarter on higher cigarette and moist snuff pricing. Adjusted earnings per share exclude charges associated with the transaction and financing cost, implementation cost and charges related to the Engle Progeny lawsuits, other tobacco-related litigations and Non-Participating Manufacturer (NPM) Partial Settlement with two additional states. Revenues and Operating Margin Reynolds net sales increased 33% year over year to $3.19 billion, driven by higher sales across all the segments. Quarterly net sales missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.29 billion. Adjusted operating income surged 45% to $1.46 billion on the back of higher pricing of moist snuff and cigarettes. REYNOLDS AMER Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise REYNOLDS AMER Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | REYNOLDS AMER Quote Segment Details RJR Tobacco: Revenues improved nearly 41.04% to $2.64 billion on the back of market share gain by brands like Camel and Pall Mall. Shipment rose 25.7% due to the addition of the Newport brand with the Lorillard acquisition. RJR Tobaccos combined retail market share of Newport, Camel and Pall Mall increased 0.1 percentage points (pp) year over year to 32.2%. The Camel brand continued to perform well though its market share remained flat year over year at 8.3%. However, Pall Malls market share declined 0.2 pp to 7.7%. Market share of Newport, the leading menthol brand, increased 0.5 pp to 13.9% on new retail contracts. The segments adjusted operating income soared 52.1% year over year to $1.27 billion as a result of lower operating costs. Operating margin increased 3.4 pp to 47.8% buoyed by improved mix of premium cigarettes. American Snuff: Revenues grew 6.42% year over year to $232 million supported by higher volumes. Story continues The moist snuff market share declined 0.4 pp and its retail market share decreased 0.7 pp to 30.6%. The brand benefited from solid demand for Grizzlys pouch styles and Wintergreen offerings. Adjusted operating income rose 7.4% year over year to $138 million due to higher pricing and volume. Operating margin increased 0.6 pp to 60% backed by improved mix of premium cigarettes. Santa Fe: Revenues jumped 13.3% year over year to $247 million owing to higher volume. The segments super premium brand Natural American Spirit witnessed a 10.8% increase in volume, while its market share went up 0.4 pp to 2.2%. Adjusted operating income increased 7.1% year over year to $133 million on pricing and volume gains in the super premium cigarette category. Operating margin contracted 3.1 pp to 54.1%. Other Financial Update During the second-quarter conference call, Reynolds announced a dividend hike of 9.5%. The annualized dividend paid by Reynolds is $1.84 per share. The company also approved a new $2 billion share repurchase plan, which is intended to be completed by 2018. 2016 Guidance Reynolds lowered its full-year guidance. The company now expects earnings in the range of $2.26$2.35 per share as against $2.25$2.35 estimated earlier. Nevertheless, the guidance represents a growth of 14.118.2% over $1.98 per share in 2015. Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks Reynolds carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). In order to combat macro issues, the company, along with other tobacco majors like Philip Morris International Inc. PM, British American Tobacco BTI and Altria Group Inc. MO, is focusing on the growth of the alternative tobacco product category. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report ALTRIA GROUP (MO): Free Stock Analysis Report PHILIP MORRIS (PM): Free Stock Analysis Report REYNOLDS AMER (RAI): Free Stock Analysis Report BRITISH AM TOB (BTI): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. The Houston Astros called up one of their top prospects on Monday, as Alex Bregman made his big league debut just over a year after he went second overall to the Stros in the 2015 MLB Draft. Bregmans whole family was in attendance to watch him play his first game in the big leagues, and the third baseman came this close to having one of the more memorable debuts in recent memory. Related Links: Bregman came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth in a 1-1 game against the Yankees with the bases loaded. He got a good swing in on a Michael Pineda offering as it carried out to deep right field, and it looked for a moment like he was about to blow the roof off of Minute Maid Park with a grand slam in his first game. Unfortunately for him, the ball lazily died at the warning track, just a few feet short. His family in the crowd was obviously disappointed, and the look on their face says it all. Bregman ended up going o-4 and the Astros lost 2-1, but there will be plenty of more chances for the 22 year old to sock his first big league homer and help lead the Astros to the Promised Land. Vientiane (AFP) - Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov batted away allegations Moscow was behind a hack of the Democratic National Committee emails ahead of a meeting Tuesday with US counterpart John Kerry in Laos. The FBI is investigating whether Russian hackers were responsible for the breach, which has caused deep embarrassment to the Democratic Party and prompted accusations that Moscow is trying to influence the US presidential election. Lavrov, in the Laos capital Vientiane for a regional security forum, shrugged when asked by reporters if Russia was responsible. "Well I don't want to use four letter words," he said cryptically, before greeting Kerry with a handshake. Disseminated by WikiLeaks, the emails revealed that Democratic Party leaders sought to undermine the campaign of Hillary Clinton's rival Bernie Sanders and have prompted the party boss to resign. Clinton's campaign was quick to point fingers at Russia, saying it was an attempt to boost Donald Trump's shot at the White House. Trump has made no secret of his admiration for President Vladimir Putin, leading some to conjecture that Russian leader was working to put the real estate billionaire in the White House. By Marc Jones LONDON (Reuters) - Russia's representative at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has warned other countries that they, like Russia, could face EBRD lending freezes if they fall out with the bank's big Western government shareholders. Russia failed in a bid to overturn an EBRD ban on new Russian investment last week. Moscow's director at the bank, Denis Morozov, said the way the affair had been handled had set a damaging precedent. The 2014 suspension was a reaction by the EBRD's main G7 shareholders to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea in March that year. It was never formally discussed by the bank's decision making board, however, and instead enforced by the dominant bloc of big Western shareholders who simply made clear that they would not approve any new Russian projects brought forward. "It was very bad the way it (the lending freeze) was done," Morozov told Reuters. "The EBRD has a framework for this kind of thing and that wasn't followed." Morozov acknowledged that following the formal approach would not have changed the decision and he did not say whether Russia would now escalate its complaint to the finance ministers and central bankers which act as the bank's top-level governors. He said though that long-term damage had been done and that other countries needed to be wary about similar treatment. "It sets a bad precedent. If it (the EBRD) can do it in Russia, it could do it in other countries." Morozov did not single out any country specifically and the EBRD declined to comment on the warnings. The bank has said it will "stay engaged" in Turkey which has replaced Russia as its biggest market despite concerned noises about the Turkish government's clamp down on rights following a failed coup attempt there just over a week ago. Its involvement in Egypt also appears to be getting back on track having stalled after the army grabbed power in 2013, though its activities in Ukraine appear to have tailed off sharply as reform efforts have shown signs of stumbling. Story continues Morozov was also critical of the EBRD's moves into euro zone crisis countries Greece and Cyprus. Russia originally voted in favour of lending there but now says the bank is straying from its central role of developing market-based economies. "It's absolutely ridiculous. Greece is in the euro zone, it's in the OECD. Why should we get involved, especially with the EU and all its resources," Morozov said. "This is not in the mandate of this institution. We shouldn't do this, we don't have the skills or the resources. We are not the IMF, we are not the ECB (European Central Bank)." (Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by Richard Balmforth) In the wake of accusations that the Kremlin could be responsible for the recent Democratic National Convention email hack, Russia's mainstream media has been widely reporting the official Russian stance denying any involvement. Some argue that the Democrats and their presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton are looking to benefit from anti-Vladimir Putin sentiment. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov responded to the accusations in a harsh manner typical of him. "I don't want to use four-letter words," he said after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Vientiane, Laos, on Tuesday, apparently suggesting that the accusations are ridiculous. The quote was featured in a video on the website of Russian tabloid Life and was also published by just about any every news outlet. The Russian media also reported WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's denial of Russia's involvement in the hack. He was quoted by state-run news agency TASS as saying that "there is no proof whatsoever" that the Kremlin was behind the hack and that documents published by WikiLeaks were different from those claimed to have been obtained in the DNC hack. English-language Kremlin-backed propaganda network Russia Today quoted Arvin Vohra, vice chair of the Libertarian National Committee, as saying that Clinton's campaign manager accused Russia of the leak "to distract the American voters from what the American voters actually want." And Russian business magazine Expert ran an analytical piece in which it accused Clinton's campaign of deliberately pursing the "Russian trace" angle. "The idea is clumsy, but some [U.S.] voters can buy it," reads the piece. "While Hillary Clinton unequivocally positions herself as an adversary of Russia and [President] Vladimir Putin, [Donald Trump] has repeatedly stated in speeches and interviews that resolving issues with Russia and its president is not just possible but necessary." Story continues On July 22, some 20,000 stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee's computer servers were released, many of which were embarrassing to Democratic leaders. The leak triggered the resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schultz and also initiated a discussion of the Russian intelligence agencies' role in the hack. Metadata from the released emails shows that the hacked emails passed through Russian computers, The New York Times reported. According to the report, two Russian intelligence agencies were allegedly involved with the hack. It also said the attackers were the same ones that targeted the White House, the State Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff last year. Read More: "Russian Hulu" Planned by Local Networks as Netflix Competitor (Reuters) - Mamadou Sakho faces an uncertain future at Liverpool after the defender was sent back to England from the Premier League club's pre-season tour of America. According to British media reports, manager Jurgen Klopp was unhappy with the 26-year-old's attitude during their stay in California and ordered his return to Liverpool. Sakho angered the German manager by turning up late for Liverpool's flight to the United States while last weekend he interrupted Klopp while he was conducting an interview with the club website, the reports said. The France international, who was recently cleared by UEFA after allegations of a failed drugs test, is currently nursing an Achilles injury. He will continue receiving treatment at Melwood, the club's training ground, and is expected to miss the start of the Premier League season, which begins on Aug. 13. (Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; editing by Sudipto Ganguly) Firefighters in Los Angeles are battling a 51-square-mile fire that a fire department official called almost unprecedented. The Sand Fire has already burned 18 homes, and is threatening as many as 1,500 more according to NBC Los Angeles. It is also blanketing the region in smoke, turning the sky an apocalyptic orange and brown. This fire, what we've seen in 72 hours, is almost unprecedented, Los Angeles County Fire Department Battalion Chief Dennis Cross said at a press conference. We'd have to go back a long way to compare a fire to this. On Monday morning, the fire was only 10 percent contained. Officials issued a smoke advisory, telling those in Los Angeles to avoid strenuous activity outdoors, and to keep windows and doors closed. [View the story "Los Angeles Sand Fire" on Storify] Related Articles Metropolitan Police official Sheikh Muhammad Maruf Hasan said another man was arrested and is being treated for injuries in a hospital. By India Today Web Desk: Nine suspected ISIS militants were killed in an ongoing gunbattle between police and militant group in Kalyanpur area of Dhaka today, police sources said. According to Mirpur Police Station OC, Mahbub Hossain, the nine militants were killed in a raid in a five-storey building that was conducted today morning. Metropolitan Police official Sheikh Muhammad Maruf Hasan said another man was arrested and is being treated for injuries in a hospital. advertisement "All of them belong to a militant group but it is still not clear which group they are," a police official said. Inspector General of Police A.K.M. Shahidul Hoque said the militants' clothing and other evidence indicated that they belonged to local banned group Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, or JMB. The group is blamed for a July 1 attack in Dhaka's Gulshan diplomatic area, when 20 people, including Italians and Japanese, were killed when armed gunmen attacked a restaurant. While the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Dhaka attack and other attacks on bloggers, foreigners and minority groups, Bangladeshi authorities have rejected the claims, saying that there are no signs of the group's existence in the country. Instead, the government has blamed JMB for the attack. Several militants were arrested in recent days, in an attempt to hunt those involved in the Dhaka attack.With inputs from Manogya Loiwal & agencies --- ENDS --- By James Oliphant and Jonathan Allen PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - It should have been a triumphant night for Hillary Clinton when her rival Bernie Sanders gave a rousing speech urging his supporters to vote for her in the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. Instead it turned into a sign of potential trouble for her White House bid. His speech on Monday to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia urging the party to unite against Republican Donald Trump was met with some jeers when he endorsed Clinton a sign he had lost control of his own movement. "I'm beyond disappointed," California delegate Aleece Depuey, 49, said after Sanders sought to rally support for his one-time rival. Hundreds of Sanders supporters marched through the streets on Day One of the four-day convention, chanting: "We want Bernie!" Delegates wore "Bernie or Bust" buttons. Others donned Robin Hood-style hats, a call to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor. When he spoke, a scuffle broke out between a Sanders supporter and a Clinton supporter in the hall. The backlash raised questions over whether - and how - Clinton could ever win over Sanders supporters. With opinion polls showing the Clinton-Trump race tightening, Clinton needs Sanders voters more than ever. Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, arrived in Philadelphia with 1,894 of 4,763 delegates after winning 13 million votes in the Democratic nominating contest. To many of Sanders' backers, Clinton is a bridge too far. They see her as the kind of political insider, backed by reams of corporate money, that drove them to Sanders and his fight to rein in Wall Street and remove income inequality. Others simply do not trust her, opinion polls show. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll released at the end of June, some 15 percent of Sanders' backers said they would vote for Trump, and 19 percent would support neither Clinton nor Trump. Sanders won the states of Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, and New Hampshire in the run-up to the convention, and nearly won Iowa - all states that could be closely contested by Trump in the general election. Clinton likely will need some portion of Sanders' support to stay competitive in those states. 'HILLARY FOR PRISON' Clinton's campaign had hoped in Philadelphia to put the bare-knuckle primary fight behind it, but Sanders' voters were enraged by Friday's embarrassing release of internal party emails by the activist group WikiLeaks showing party officials clearly favored Clinton over their candidate. Sanders supporters seemed to be everywhere, often with a bigger presence than Clinton supporters, a jarring sight at an event where she is due to be formally nominated as the party's presidential candidate. At a delegate welcoming event on Sunday night, shouts of Bernie! filled the air as his supporters circulated a petition to force convention organizers to hold an extended roll-call vote on the floor this week that would require each delegate to declare his or her support. Others pledged to contest Clintons choice of Democrat Tim Kaine, a U.S. senator from Virginia, as her running mate. When at mid-day Sanders addressed more than a thousand of his delegates at the citys convention center, the crowd erupted in fury when he asked them to switch their allegiance to Clinton. Brothers and sisters, he said over their jeers, this is the real world that we live in. Trump is a bully and a demagogue. People started shouting back: So is Hillary! Sanders did not mention Clinton again. But he already had lost the attention of some of his most fervent fans. As soon as he said back Clinton, everyone stopped listening, said Cindy Melchert, a protester who listened to the appeal over a loudspeaker at a local park. A Michigan native, Melchert said she would not vote for Clinton in November under any circumstances. For her, the movement now was less about Sanders and more about showing the Democratic National Committee "they had us and absolutely lost us." Another protester, Michael Arnold of Atlanta, would not have been out of place at a Trump rally, sporting a T-shirt that read Hillary for prison. SEEKING DECORUM Fearing a similar scene on the convention floor would embarrass Clinton, Sanders' campaign emailed delegates before Monday nights program, urging them to restrain themselves. "Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays, it read. Some Sanders supporters appeared willing to set aside their qualms about Clinton, largely out of a desire to see Trump defeated in the election. Diana Hatsis-Neuhoff, a delegate from Florida adorned with buttons backing Sanders, said she planned to vote for Clinton in the general election. Yes, she said, well hold our nose and vote. Others felt their fellow Sanders supporters had taken the movement too far. We are surrounded by people who are so selfish and so self-absorbed, said Melissa Robbins, who worked for the Sanders campaign in Philadelphia. "Not voting for Hillary is a sure win for Donald Trump." But that may not be enough to sway Sue Spicer from Indiana, who said she had trouble imagining voting for either Clinton or Trump. "It's hard to feel they have our best interests in mind," she said. (Additional reporting by Luciana Lopez, Amy Tennery and Alana Wise in Philadelphia and Chris Kahn in New York; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Howard Goller) By Luciana Lopez and Amy Tennery PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton secured the Democratic Party's 2016 nomination for the White House on Tuesday, becoming the first woman to head the ticket of a major party in U.S. history. In a symbolic show of party unity, Clinton's former rival, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, told the chairwoman from the convention floor that Clinton should be selected as the party's nominee at the dramatic climax of a state-by-state roll call at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia. "I move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the nominee of the Democratic Party for president of the United States," Sanders told thousands of delegates in the Wells Fargo Center, which erupted in cheers. After a tough battle with Sanders during the state nominating contests, Clinton is now the party's standard-bearer against Republican nominee Donald Trump in the Nov. 8 election. Clinton, who promises to tackle income inequality and rein in Wall Street if she becomes president, is eager to portray Trump, a businessman and former reality TV show host, as too unstable to sit in the Oval Office. But Trump, who has never held elective office, got a boost in opinion polls from his nomination at the Republican convention last week. He had a 2-point lead over Clinton in a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday, the first time he has been ahead since early May. Sanders has endorsed Clinton, a former first lady and U.S. senator, but some of his supporters protested in Philadelphia against the party leadership's apparent backing of her during the bitter Democratic primary fight. Sections of the convention hall were left conspicuously unpopulated on Tuesday night as delegates from strongly pro-Sanders delegations, including California, walked out after Sanders moved that Clinton be named the nominee. MAKING HISTORY Earlier on Tuesday, delegates from South Dakota had given Clinton 15 votes, formally ensuring that she had more than the 2,383 votes needed to win the nomination. She emerged with a total of 2,842 votes to Sanders' 1,865. Delegates chanted: "Hillary, Hillary" as U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland formally put forward Clinton's name for the roll-call vote. In nominating Clinton, delegate after delegate made the point that the selection of a woman was a milestone in America's 240-year-old history. U.S. women got the right to vote in 1920 after ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. "Yes, we do break barriers, I broke a barrier when I became the first Democratic woman elected to the Senate in her own right," Mikulski said. "So it is with a full heart that I'm here today to nominate Hillary Clinton to be the first woman president," Mikulski said. Supporters of Clinton say her Washington credentials show she has the experience needed for the White House during troubled times as the United States tries to speed up its economic recovery and faces security challenges abroad. Detractors view her as too cozy with the establishment and say she carries political baggage dating back to the start of her husband President Bill Clinton's first White House term in the 1990s. The star turn in Philadelphia on Tuesday will be the traditional warm spousal endorsement - with the twist that it will be a former president making the case for his wife. In his prime-time address, Bill Clinton will be capping a day in which Democrats want to showcase Hillary Clinton's achievements on issues such as women and families, healthcare and as a former secretary of state. Speakers will include women whose children died from gun violence, some at the hands of police. Clinton, 68, will be watching from home in Chappaqua, New York, as her husband speaks, campaign officials said. (Additional reporting by Amanda Becker, Doina Chiacu, Luciana Lopez, Amy Tennery and Jonathan Allen; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Howard Goller and Peter Cooney) Philadelphia (AFP) - Bernie Sanders is urging his most passionate supporters to back Hillary Clinton in the battle for the White House, assuring them they have already helped shape "the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party." The common statement of policy principles was adopted Monday on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Here are its key points: The one percent Echoing a central message of the Clinton campaign -- "stronger together" -- the document's preamble also makes a forceful case against wealth inequality and adopts phrasing used throughout the Sanders campaign: the one percent. "We believe that today's extreme level of income and wealth inequality -- where the majority of the economic gains go to the top one percent and the richest 20 people in our country own more wealth than the bottom 150 million -- makes our economy weaker, our communities poorer, and our politics poisonous," it says. The party supports "a multimillionaire surtax to ensure millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share." Wall Street 'greed' Borrowing from the fiery stump speeches of the Vermont senator, the document calls for measures to "fight against the greed and recklessness of Wall Street," rein in big banks, prevent excessive risk-taking and pre-empt costly public bailouts. "Wall Street cannot be an island unto itself, gambling trillions in risky financial instruments and making huge profits, all the while thinking that taxpayers will be there to bail them out again," it says. Money politics In another nod to the concerns of Sanders' backers, the platform seeks to reduce the influence of super-rich donors in the political system. "We need to end secret, unaccountable money in politics by requiring, through executive order or legislation, significantly more disclosure and transparency -- by outside groups, federal contractors, and public corporations to their shareholders." Story continues Minimum wage The party platform calls for raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour at present to $15 -- marking another victory for the Sanders camp. Clinton had advocated raising it to $12. Institutional racism As America reels from the fatal police shootings of African Americans and deadly attacks on police by black radicals, the platform issues a clear call for reform: "Democrats will fight to end institutional and systemic racism in our society," and press to remove the Confederate battle flag, a symbol of America's "racist past," from public property. "We will push for a societal transformation to make it clear that black lives matter and that there is no place for racism in our country." Gun violence The platform calls for expanding background checks for gun buyers, and banning some assault-style rifles. "With 33,000 Americans dying every year, Democrats believe that we must finally take sensible action to address gun violence." National security "Democrats will continue to lead a broad coalition of allies and partners to destroy ISIS's stronghold in Iraq and Syria," and they will urge regional allies to "carry their weight" in the fight. "As we prosecute the fight against terrorism, Democrats will repudiate vile tactics that would do us harm. We reject Donald Trump's vilification of Muslims," it adds. Social issues "We believe unequivocally, like the majority of Americans, that every woman should have access to quality reproductive health care services, including safe and legal abortion," the platform states. It applauds last year's decision by the Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage, but says "there is still much work to be done." Climate change The platform notes how Trump has called climate change a "hoax" despite record global temperatures. "Climate change is an urgent threat and a defining challenge of our time." Immigration Democrats are seeking an urgent fix to "our broken immigration system" and creation of a "path to citizenship for law-abiding families" who are contributing to their communities. The platform calls for a "humane" approach to deportations, urging a prioritization of those who pose threats to safety, not those contributing to their communities. College tuition Sanders told supporters he and Clinton had "come together on a proposal that will revolutionize higher education in America." The platform says Democrats "are unified in their strong belief that every student should be able to go to college debt-free," and that working families should not have to pay tuition to attend public colleges. TPP Sanders' biggest platform loss concerned the contentious Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal -- a lightning rod to many of his supporters, who fear the proposed trade deal would hurt American jobs and wages. Clinton recently reversed her stance on the TPP and now says she opposes it. But the Democratic platform stops short of condemning the accord. "While we believe that openness to the world economy is an important source of American leadership and dynamism, we will oppose trade agreements that do not support good American jobs, raise wages, and improve our national security." Offering further proof that he has lost control of the political movement that he launched, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday morning that he cannot promise that his supporters wont seek to disrupt the Democratic National Convention for the second night in a row as the party moves toward the nomination of Hillary Clinton for president. Sanders on Tuesday morning made the rounds of several breakfast events held for state delegates, where he found significant resistance to Clinton from his supporters less than 12 hours after he delivered a full endorsement of her candidacy coupled with a warning that that he believes it is imperative for the party to come together and beat Donald Trump. Related: Is Sanders Too Late to Swing His Supporters to Clinton? He stopped at the California event and delivered some pointed criticism to the delegates from the Golden State, who had been among the loudest protesters the night before. After hearing more boos Tuesday morning at his call to get behind the Clinton campaign, Sanders responded, It is easy to boo, but its harder to look your kids in the face who would be living under Donald Trump. But for all that, Sanders indicated that he will still insist on a full roll call vote on Tuesday -- despite the result being a predetermined Clinton victory -- and said that he thinks his supporters should vote for me. He said, There's an election. We're going to lose, but if you were campaigning for me for six months and I asked who you're going to vote for, youd say, Im going to vote for Bernie Sanders. The full roll call will provide further opportunities for Sanders supporters who want to voice their anger at Clintons nomination to do so in a very public forum. Asked whether he could persuade his supporters to refrain from publicly booing Clinton during the counting of the votes, he said that he hopes his supporters will treat the process with respect. But when pressed on whether there would be more interruptions, all he offered was, We will see what happens. Story continues That stands in stark contrast to the last contested Democratic primary, in which Hillary Clinton, after a bitter race against Barack Obama, released her delegates to vote for him and personally moved to shut down a roll call vote so that the nominee could be named by popular acclamation. Related: Kaines $160,000 Gift Controversy -- More Bad Optics for the Democrats Sanderss supporters are particularly enraged because a leak of nearly 20,000 emails from Democratic national Committee emails over the weekend revealed that staff members on the supposedly neutral party committee were biased in favor of Bernie. This played into Sanders longtime complaint that the system had been rigged against him from the start. The DNC issued a full apology to Sanders that said, On behalf of everyone at the DNC, we want to offer a deep and sincere apology to Sen. Sanders, his supporters, and the entire Democratic Party for the inexcusable remarks made over email ... These comments do not reflect the values of the DNC or our steadfast commitment to neutrality during the nominating process. The DNC does not -- and will not -- tolerate disrespectful language exhibited toward our candidates. Individual staffers have also rightfully apologized for their comments, and the DNC is taking appropriate action to ensure it never happens again. The fallout from the emails included the resignation of DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz, who removed herself from the convention in the interest of preserving party unity. But Wasserman Schultzs scalp wasnt enough to satisfy many of Sanders supporters as they demonstrated through their jeers and catcalls Monday night. Even as he called for unity among Democrats, Sanders appeared to go back on a promise he made about his personal commitment to the party last year. In November, after he had announced that he was running for the Democratic presidential nomination, he was asked to clarify his party status. Sanders has always served as an independent in Congress, caucusing with the Democrats but remaining somewhat apart. Related: More Tumult Ahead at Messy Democratic Convention But in the early primary state of New Hampshire, ballot access rules require that candidates be a member of the party whose nomination they are seeking. At the time, Sanders said, I am running as a Democrat obviously, I am a Democrat now. He went on to say that in any future elections, he would run as a member of the Democratic Party. It wasnt so clear that was the plan anymore Tuesday morning. Asked about his party affiliation, Sanders said that when he returns to the Senate, he will do so as an independent again -- not as a Democrat. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: In an unscripted moment at the Democratic National Convention, comedian Sarah Silverman told crowd members who booed her pitch for Hillary Clinton were "ridiculous." To both boos and applause, Silverman stood alongside Senator Al Franken as she told the DNC she intends to vote for Clinton "with gusto" despite her previous high-profile support for Bernie Sanders. "To the 'Bernie or Bust' people, you're being ridiculous," Silverman said. Read: Trump Dismisses Rumors That Russians Leaked Emails to Help Him: 'They'll Say Anything to Win' It was a meaningful moment at an event meant to bring unity to the Democratic Party. But even Bernie Sanders himself appeared unable to wed his own supporters with the soon-to-be nominee's. Earlier Monday, some 50 Sanders supporters were briefly detained by police outside the convention at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia as they protested the DNC's treatment of the Vermont politician. In emails published by Wikileaks, staff within the party leadership appear to be biased against Sanders, whose Jewish background was even floated as a possible point of attack. Silverman later told CNN that she ad-libbed the reprimand after producers told her and Franken, himself an ex-comedian, to stretch their time on-stage because they were ahead of schedule. Read: Outgoing DNC Chief Debbie Wasserman Shultz Booed in First Appearance Since Announcing Resignation Silverman also called the Bernie or Bust folks "nutso." However, as a Sanders supporter during the primary, she said she believes most Bernie folks are "reasonable." "I think most Sanders supporters are reasonable people who think, you know, Bernie and Hillary have so much in common. They have a lot of the same values," she said. Silverman was among a line-up of major names who spoke at the convention Monday night. In addition to the comedian, rising Democratic star Senator Cory Booker, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders all gave their arguments to elect Hillary. Story continues Watch: Lip Reader Reveal What Trump Said During Cruz's Speech: Did I Make a Mistake? Related Articles: While democrats continue to struggle for unity at the Democratic National Convention, Sarah Silverman a Bernie Sanders supporter who will be voting for Hillary Clinton tried her best to bring everyone together. As Silverman announced on Monday night that she "will vote for Hillary with gusto," shouts of "Bernie! Bernie!" from the Sanders supporters clashed with "Hill-a-ry!" "Hill-a-ry!" from the Clinton supporters. Silverman's comments didn't go over well with "Bernie or bust" supporters who immediately starting booing and continued their chants in response to her unabashed declaration. "To the Bernie or Bust People, you're being ridiculous," she responded, as she was joined on stage by Minnesota Senator Al Franken. Sanders supporters weren't done though, as they offered more "Bernie!" shouts, which proved difficult to quiet. Throughout the day's speeches, Sanders' delegates routinely and robustly jeered every mention of Clinton a display that left Kim Netherton of Colorado sucking lozenges. "No confidence!" Netherton, 32, shouted as one Democrat after another stood at the lectern and celebrated Clinton as "the next president of the United States" and "the first woman president." "I have no trust that she's going to do anything progressive," Netherton told PEOPLE between shouts. "They can pretend that we don't exist and that everything is normal and happy and unified, but it's not true and those blinders are going to lose the White House to Donald Trump." Those in favor of the Vermont senator's candidacy also took the streets earlier in the day, protesting with signs that read "nominate Sanders or lose to Trump," and "We are the 99 percent." Actress Susan Sarandon holds up a sign during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Photo: John Locher/AP) Comedian Sarah Silverman, who endorsed Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary, lashed out Monday night at pro-Sanders hecklers at the Democratic National Convention. To the Bernie or bust people, youre being ridiculous, Silverman told the raucous crowd inside the Wells Fargo Center. She couldve been talking directly to actress Susan Sarandon. Susan Sarandon is having literally the worst time at the #DemConvention pic.twitter.com/Ola9Hi3y5o Ian McKenna (@Ian_McK_) July 26, 2016 In an interview with the Young Turks on the eve of the convention, the actress and prominent Sanders surrogate vowed to keep up the fight for his political revolution. Bernie has ignited this spark and were not letting go, Sarandon said in an interview with The Young Turks, a progressive online television show. For anyone who thought this was a cult of personality, youre wrong. People are committed. Its important to know this army is going to continue, she continued. When we said this is a movement not a moment, we meant it. Sarandon slammed the Democratic National Committee over leaked emails that suggested the party favored Hillary Clinton over Sanders during the primaries. Some cybersecurity experts have linked the thousands of leaked emails to the Russian government. Story continues Thats so disgusting, the actress said. I think we really have to ask whats happened to us in terms of what were willing to sacrifice to get our person in. Sarandon accused cable news outlets, including CNN and MSNBC, of being in collusion, basically with the Clinton campaign by airing unsubstantiated reports painting Sanders supporters in a bad light. The good news is that people are awake, she also said. They feel empowered and they feel angry. Im curious to see whats gonna happen. Im really loving all these young people that are like, No, Im not accepting this. Thats how this country was built. Sarandon was on the convention floor Monday night, holding a sign protesting the Trans-Pacific Partnership a free-trade agreement that the Vermont senator had pushed for the Democratic Party to oppose in its platform. And while Sanders, who endorsed Clinton earlier this month, called on his supporters to support the former secretary of state as the Democratic nominee, Sarandon has yet to do so. And based on her tweets, it doesnt seem like shes going to anytime soon. So now it's up to her. Don't blame him if she loses. https://t.co/vKZwReC4ij Susan Sarandon (@SusanSarandon) July 26, 2016 So don't blame us if she loses to Trump. He did what you wanted. https://t.co/YVIXwKOlxc Susan Sarandon (@SusanSarandon) July 26, 2016 In March, Sarandon sparked controversy by saying she wasnt sure shed vote for Clinton over Donald Trump, and predicted her fellow Sanders supporters many of them first-time voters would not turn out for Clinton in the fall. They feel like shes not authentic, she said at the time, in an interview with MSNBCs Chris Hayes. That shes a liar, that they dont trust her, so what difference does it make? I think a lot of people are [saying], Sorry, I just cant bring myself to do that. How about you personally? Hayes asked. I dont know, Sarandon said. Im gonna see what happens. Really? Hayes responded. Well, you know, some people feel Donald Trump will bring the revolution immediately, she said. Sarandon later clarified her comments, saying shed never vote for Trump. _____ Related slideshows: On the ground at the DNC a photo report >>> Bernie Sanders supporters make a last stand >>> Sanders supporters weep at DNC >>> How newspapers covered the DNCs first big day >>> Demonstrators protest outside the DNC >>> Monday's siege to the high court was culmination of a series of protests such as rallies, fasts, train blockade and even effigy burning. By Pramod Madhav: In a one-liner that could end the prolonged court boycotts in Tamil Nadu, the Madras high court Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul on Tuesday said, "The rules are in abeyance for the time being." The set of new disciplinary rules framed by the Madras high court against lawyers and notified on May 25 had triggered a backlash from legal fraternity since June 1. advertisement Though the high court and other courts in Chennai remained totally unaffected by the strike call, proceedings in most of mofussil courts suffered due to boycotts by lawyers. Monday's siege to the high court was culmination of a series of protests such as rallies, fasts, train blockade and even effigy burning. JUDICIAL RULING SOOTHES TENSION On Tuesday, however, when a PIL filed by advocate Kasi Ramalingam came up for hearing, his counsel Purushothaman pleaded for keeping the rules in abeyance. The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan said: "The prayer for keeping the rules in abeyance has practically become infructuous in view of the said prayer having been sub-served by the resolution of the full court dated June 16 followed by a clarification issued by the committee of five judges dated July 22 and high court press release dated July 23. Thus, effectively, the rules are in abeyance for the time being." This judicial ruling has come as a soothing balm for agitating lawyers who immediately broke into celebration. During arguments, however, Chief Justice Kaul made it amply clear that the effect of the full court resolution and the subsequent clarification was keeping the rules in abeyance. The bench told Purushothaman: "When the full court (comprising all judges of the high court) passed a resolution that no action will be taken on the amended rules, it means nothing but being kept in abeyance. There is no need that a separate order has to be passed again." RULES TO BE KEPT IN ABEYANCE The PIL wanted the court to keep the rules in abeyance till installation of CCTV cameras on court campus is completed. Chief Justice Kaul observed that he had given assurances to the legal fraternity several times and the full court had issued a clarification that no action would be taken against anyone under the new rules till an enlarged rules committee finalised the issue. "It means nothing but keeping the rules in abeyance, and there is no need to pass further orders," the bench said. "Your apprehension is that action will be initiated as per rules. But the effect of the full court resolution, and subsequent clarification to that, is very clear that no action will be taken against any advocate under the amended rules. There is no need for any separate order when the meaning is very clear," the bench said. advertisement Stating again that the rules were framed only on the basis of the Supreme Court order, the chief justice said if the apex court had said high courts need not make amendments to rules, he might not do that. APPREHENSIONS AMONG LAWYERS When leaders of Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and some other Bar associations brought to court's notice apprehensions among lawyers, "we advised them to make a representation to the rules committee. Later expansion of the committee was made and advocates requested to make representations and suggestions. If advocates think that they don't have to come before the committee and do not want to present their views, it is unfortunate," he said. Stating that there was no recognised leadership in the Bar, Chief Justice Kaul further observed that it pained him when people would come to his chamber and say one thing and say something else when they go out. The chief justice said he had planned to take up several developments to the state judiciary but these types of incidents diverted his attention away from development programmes. advertisement The May 25 notification empowered the high court and the district courts to debar lawyers found indulging in such offences as collecting money in the name of judges, tampering with court records, browbeating or abusing presiding officers, taking out rallies on court campuses or occupying court halls in protest and coming to court halls drunk. Lawyers protested saying it would undermine their independence and would lead to arbitrary use of the power, especially by district judges. Suspension without a showcause notice pending inquiry and ban on rallies too riled them. ALSO READ: Lawyers lay siege of Madras High Court --- ENDS --- By Zoe Tabary LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Record temperatures in the first half of 2016 have taken scientists by surprise despite widespread recognition that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense, the director of the World Climate Research Program said. The earth is on track for its hottest year on record with June marking the 14th straight month of record heat, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said last week. Temperatures recorded mainly in the northern hemisphere in the first six months of the year, coupled with an early and fast Arctic sea ice melt and "new highs" in heat-trapping carbon dioxide levels, point to quickening climate change, it said. In a further announcement on Tuesday, the U.N. agency said it would examine whether a temperature of 54 degrees Celsius (129 degrees Fahrenheit) reported in Kuwait last Thursday was a new high for the eastern hemisphere and Asia. "What concerns me most is that we didn't anticipate these temperature jumps," said David Carlson, director of the WMO's climate research program, late on Monday. "We predicted moderate warmth for 2016, but nothing like the temperature rises we've seen," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone from Geneva. "Massive temperature hikes, but also extreme events like floodings, have become the new normal," Carlson said. "The ice melt rates recorded in the first half of 2016, for example we don't usually see those until later in the year." He said sudden temperature rises could endanger people, animals and water systems. "Also critical is the fact that people survive the heat by using more energy for cooling, thus further depleting the world's resources," Carlson said. PREDICTING THE NEW NORMAL Carlson said although "the uncertainty surrounding extreme weather events can be used to deny or avoid the issue of climate change," their increased frequency has drawn greater attention from the international community. "The question is shifting from 'has the climate changed?' to 'by how much?'," he said. "Statistically we need to get better at predicting not only how frequent and intense these events will be but how long they will last." Key to understanding extreme weather will be the availability of data across the globe, Carlson said. "We have good data for North America and Europe on precipitation for example but just don't have enough records in Central Africa, Central America and the Arctic." Carlson called for global leaders to put climate action higher on national agendas following the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels. "The world leaders making serious commitments to tackle climate change are currently few and far between," he said. However, action at the government level will only happen with pressure from citizens themselves, he added. "The Clean Air Act, for example, that was all won by the people," Carlson said, referring to a U.S. law designed to increase pollution controls on vehicles and manufacturers. (Reporting by Zoe Tabary @zoetabary, editing by Katie Nguyen. 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) From Esquire PHILADELPHIA-For our daily Beyond The Barricades Report, let's head to the cool northwoods, where Scott Walker, the goggle-eyed homunculus hired by Koch Industries to manage their Midwest facility formerly known as the state of Wisconsin, is hard at work still putting the bananas in his banana republic, as The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel informs us. [Daniel] Kelly-who in his application called affirmative action and slavery the same morally-will replace retiring Justice David Prosser on Aug. 1, the start of the court's new term. Kelly, 52, initially applied for the appointment in secret, but his name became public in June, when Walker's team narrowed the field of candidates from 11 to five. Kelly took just one question from reporters after Walker announced the appointment in the state Capitol, but he declined to discuss his writings opposing affirmative action and gay marriage. "The primary and only job of a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice is to apply the law as it is written and the oath that I will take will guarantee to you that my personal political beliefs and political philosophy will have no impact on that whatsoever," Kelly said. "Those things simply have no place inside the courtroom." (It should be noted that Kelly hails from Waukesha, and that the city of Waukesha and surrounding Waukesha County are vital to how Walker and his people get elected and stay elected. In April of 2011, for example, it was the now-legendary Waukesha County Clerk Cathy Nickolaus who miraculously "found" 7500 votes that enabled Prosser, a Walker ally, to stave off a challenge from liberal Jo Anne Kloppenburg. That same year, the Waukesha County Board had hauled Nickolaus up to explain why she removed voting results from the county computers ontowait for ita private network in her office.) Kelly's legal career can most charitably be described as nondescript. However, his political credentials are completely in order. Story continues Kelly was with the large Milwaukee law firm Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren for 15 years, but left it in 2013. He spent a year as the vice president and general counsel for the Kern Family Foundation, which was established by the founders of Generac Power Systems. In 2014, Kelly formed a small law firm in Waukesha with attorney Rod Rogahn. Kelly has been closely involved with conservative legal groups. The president of the Milwaukee chapter of the Federalist Society, he also sits on an advisory panel to the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty Kelly was an adviser to state Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley's campaign this year and served as an attorney on Prosser's campaign during a recount after he narrowly won re-election in 2011. He also was on the legal team that defended legislative and congressional maps that Republican lawmakers redrew in 2011. In that litigation, a panel of federal judges made changes to the districts for two Assembly districts on Milwaukee's south side after it found those maps violated the voting rights of Latinos. The other maps-which greatly favor Republicans-were left in place. As to his legal scholarship, well, that's a nut from a different tree altogether. In his application, Kelly included a 2014 book chapter in which he wrote same-sex marriage would rob marriage of any meaning and likened affirmative action to slavery. "Affirmative action and slavery differ, obviously, in significant ways," Kelly wrote. "But it's more a question of degree than principle, for they both spring from the same taproot. Neither can exist without the foundational principle that it is acceptable to force someone into an unwanted economic relationship. Morally, and as a matter of law, they are the same." Logically, and as a matter of reality, this is completely bazats. But this is what gets you on the Supreme Court of what used to be the model for progressive good government in the nation. Well, that and knowing who the county clerk in Waukesha is, too. Click here to respond to this post on the official Esquire Politics Facebook page. Categories Hair Selena Gomez celebrated her 24th birthday over the weekend with a new leg of her Revival world tour, and a fresh haircut. While she gave her Snapchat followers a sneak peek at her shorter, curlier do, she didnt officially debut the look until last night. If youve been following Selena on Instagram, youre aware that she also has an account solely dedicated to her tour. Luckily for us, the photographer who is capturing behind-the-scenes looks also managed to give us a peek at Selenas new chop. Selena shortly followed suit afterwards, sharing a photo of her arriving in Indonesia: Her shoulder-grazing cropped look is perfect for landing on new grounds. This isnt Selenas first hair change while out on tour, though. Right before her first show this past May, Selena headed to Nine Zero One in Los Angeles for a trim and some blonde additions to her waves. Shortly afterward, she debuted a set of subtle bangs, following by much bolder, blunt fringe. At the rate Selenas going, were almost positive that this isnt the last hairstyle makeover shell attempt while gracing arenas around the globe. Well be keeping our eyes peeled for any new looks from the chart-topper. By Aleksandar Vasovic BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia and Croatia, ex-Yugoslav neighbors and wartime foes from the 1990s, traded protests on Tuesday over a Croatian move to rehabilitate a World War Two Catholic cleric whom Serbia still views as a war criminal. The two Balkan powers now have even diplomatic ties, but the row over Alojzije Stepinac threatened to re-awaken regional tensions which lie below the surface. Stepinac, an archbishop and cardinal, was jailed in 1946 by the then Yugoslav Communist regime for collaborating with Italian and Nazi German occupiers and the Nazi-allied Ustasha regime of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH). In 1997 he was beatified by the Catholic Church and declared a martyr by Pope John Paul II in 1998. Last week, a court in Croatia, a European Union member, annulled the verdict against Stepinac, who died in 1960, arguing that the 1946 trial had violated the principles of criminal law. Around 1.2 million people, including 580,000 civilians were killed in Yugoslavia during World War Two, most of them by Nazi-allied forces. The World War Two grievances played a key role in the fomenting of conflicts in 1990s and regional tensions still persist. Top officials in Serbia, a EU candidate, including President Tomislav Nikolic and Prime Minister-designate Aleksandar Vucic criticized the ruling, saying Stepinac played a pivotal role in the killing of hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Gypsies and anti-fascists between 1941 and 1945. On Tuesday, Croatia's center-right outgoing government sent a protest note to Belgrade saying such a rhetoric fueled intolerance between the two nations. "Such rhetoric ... was distancing Serbia from endorsing European value and its accession to the European family," the Croatian foreign ministry said in the note carried by the Hina news agency. Rehabilitation of World War Two anti communists and Quisling leaders in former Yugoslav republics started after the collapse of the then federal state as newly independent countries sought to shed their Communist legacy. In a similar move in 2015, Serbia rehabilitated World War Two royalist commander and convicted Nazi collaborator Dragoljub 'Draza' Mihailovic, a move described by Croatia akin to forgiving Hitler. Later on Tuesday, Serbia's Foreign Ministry replied to Zagreb to protest Stepinac's rehabilitation saying Belgrade was "horrified with the rehabilitation of the Ustasha NDH." "Stepinac was the vicar of the Ustasha movement. He blessed crimes and the Ustasha state," Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said. (Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Richard Balmforth) Over 1,000 speakers of Esperanto have been expected to gather this week at the 101st World Esperanto Congress in Slovakia to celebrate Tuesday as the 129th anniversary of the birth of the language, as July 26, 1887, marked the publication of the first Esperanto textbook by L.L. Zamenhof. The Polish doctor created the language, which is essentially a set of roots that can be turned into words with certain endings that create different parts of speech. Though Esperanto can be seen as something of a punchline today, its origins can be found in serious world-historical matters. Zamenhof identified the need for a neutral tongue, as TIME once called it, while growing up in Bialystok in northeastern Poland, home of a mostly Jewish population and a few main ethnic groups that were not communicating. Humphrey Tonkin, the former president of the University of Hartford and the Universal Esperanto Association who currently represents the latter at the United Nations, explains that while Zamenhof was in medical school in Moscow in his 20s, his world changed: The czar gets assassinated, Jews are accused of carrying out the assassinations, and theres a whole round of pogroms in Russia that eventually spread westward into Poland. The wave of anti-Semitism underscored Zamenhofs thinking that the world needed a single language that would make it possible for people to bridge gaps of religion or ethnicity. Meanwhile, technological developments like the telegraph meant that people from vastly different backgrounds were suddenly in closer contact than ever. Its also a period when the first international organizations get created, like the Universal Postal Union and Universal Telegraphic Union, Tonkin says. [It was] an earlier wave of globalism that destroyed with the rise of nationalism in the beginning of the 20th century. Considering that context, the languages structure was strategic. Even though a Yiddish-based grammar would have been a natural choice for appealing to the Eastern European Jews who had inspired him, Zamenhof based his new tongue on the Romance languages. He picked a language structured like Latin because Latin had prestige and Yiddish had none, Tonkin says. The name Esperanto meaning one who hopes comes from the pseudonym under which the Jewish doctor published the textbook during a period of severe censorship of Jews in the Russian empire, but also because (in a soap-operatic twist) he couldnt use his own name because his father was one of the censors who censored Hebrew and Yiddish works. Story continues Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter Esperanto wasnt the first invented language of its time. A German Catholic priest tried to make Volapuk catch on seven years earlier, but it died out because, he didnt want anyone else to make decisions about it, says Arika Okrent, linguist and author of In the Land of Invented Languages. Zamenhof just said, Here it is, and he didnt meddle with what people started doing with it.' Partly because Zamenhof let the language grow naturally, Esperanto is now said to be spoken in over 120 countries, boasts a Wikipedia site with more than 230,000 articles and has 465,000 signups on language-learning app Duolingo. But Esperanto also had another reason to succeed: though other invented languages of the era were designed for practical purposesto further scientific collaboration or assist with trade, for exampleits pie-in-the-sky aims had immediate and broad appeal. And, Okrent says, that appeal has endured even as Esperanto has failed to become a widely spoken, everyday language. Esperanto people were drawn to this vision of world harmony, she says. The ideals kept it going through subsequent decades where it became clear that it wasnt going to work in the way most people thought it would. seth meyers late night on hillary clinton dnc emails nbc When it comes to email controversies, Seth Meyers doesn't think Hillary Clinton is doing so well. After being called out by the FBI for her use of a private server when Clinton was Secretary of State, a new email leak shows that the Democratic National Committee conspired to sabotage Bernie Sanders' presidential run. "At this point, emails are to Hillary what snakes were to Indiana Jones," the "Late Night" host said on Monday's episode. In the end, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned over the scandal. And it would seem to Meyers that Clinton should've distanced herself from Wasserman Schultz. But instead, Clinton appointed Wasserman Schultz to chair her campaign's 50-state program. "I'm sorry, Is this Hillary's plan to to woo angry Bernie voters?" Meyers said. "First, she overlooked progressive VP choices and chose an insider in Tim Kaine. Basically, Hillary said, 'Have you been feeling the Bern? Why not try some novo-Kaine?' And then, she added Wasserman Schultz to her team, despite her anti-Bernie sentiments. What's next? I'm impressed she didn't pants Bernie during his speech tonight." And still amid all of that, Sanders took the DNC stage on Tuesday, amid boos from his supporters, and urged them to get behind Clinton. "You know, I'm guessing that when Donald Trump saw Bernie take the high road," Meyers said, "he immediately emailed it to Ted Cruz with the subject heading, 'Maybe this next time, a--hole.' So after a weekend of Democratic chaos, it seems the only one who's got his eye on the ball right now is Bernie Sanders. Democrats and their peeps should be grateful for that." Watch the video below: NOW WATCH: Watch Bernie Sanders get booed for telling supporters to vote for Hillary Clinton More From Business Insider NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / July 26, 2016 / The following statement is being issued by Levi & Korsinsky, LLP: To: All Persons or Entities who purchased Linear Technology Corporation ("Linear Technology") (LLTC) stock prior to July 26, 2016 . You are hereby notified that Levi & Korsinsky, LLP has commenced an investigation into the fairness of the sale of Linear Technology to Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI). Under the terms of the transaction, Linear Technology shareholders will receive $46.00 per share in cash and 0.2321 of a share of Analog Devices common stock for each share of Linear Technology stock they own, representing an approximate value of $60.00 per share. To learn more about the action and your rights, go to: http://zlk.9nl.com/linear-technology-lltc 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 Singing sensation Shila Amzah has been appointed as the ambassador of a newly launched airline called MonSpace Sky Airlines which is reported to be license-less. Operated by Suasa Air Sdn Bhd, the airline which is owned by Dr Jessy Lain reportedly flies from KLIA and will be running domestic flights to Langkawi, Kedah, and also international flights to Mecca and also several places in Mainland China, including Hangzhou, Chongqing, Xi-An and Chengdu. Shila Amzah and Macau's famous TV host Maria Cordero were the celebrities present during the launch of MonSpace Sky's maiden flight from Subang Airport to Langkawi on Sunday. However, the Ministry of Transport are unaware of the existence of this new carrier. Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai claimed that the airline was never approved by Putrajaya and shouldn't have been allowed to fly. "This is a very serious offence. How can you fly without a licence?" said the Minister as quoted by The Star. The airline only received an Air Operator's Certificate from the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA), and this still doesn't allow them to operate flights. Liow also said that the airline shall not be allowed to operate until they receive an Air Service Permit (ASP) from Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom). (Photo sources: Maria cordero Facebook) Despite prohibition and several measures to curb alcoholism, deputy CM Sushil Modi said that the Bihar government has failed to keep a check on crime. By Rohit Kumar Singh: Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi today lashed out at the Nitish Kumar government over the increase in crime in the state despite imposition of prohibition in Bihar since April 2016. Modi's offensive came in the wake of the crime figures released by the Bihar police for the month of May. The number of cognizable offences for the month of April which stood has 14,279 saw a jump to 16,208 in May, an increase of 13.5 per cent. Nitish Kumar government has been claiming in the last four months ever since prohibition was imposed in April that there has been a dip in crime graph but the figures seem contrary. advertisement According to the findings, there has been 9 per cent increase in murder cases from April to May. There was 192 murders that took place in April and figures rose to 209 in May. Robbery cases have also increased from 100 in April to 154 in May. Incidents of rape that was 61 in April increased to 79 in May. GOVT FAILS TO CURB SMUGGLING OF LIQOUR Addressing journalists after his weekly Junta Durbar, Sushil Modi said that despite maximum efforts, Bihar government has failed to keep check on smuggling of liquor into Bihar. On a regular basis, huge number of liquor bottles are being recovered from hideouts and also from buses and trains. "Liquors is freely available in Bihar. First Nitish Kumar opened wine shops across the state and now by bringing in a Taliban type law, he wants to impose absolute prohibition. Nitish wants to turn Bihar into police raj", said Sushil Modi. Modi also attacked Nitish government for the amendments that the govt will be bringing in the existing Excise Act, 2016 which will be giving more teeth to the existing law. According to new amendments, there is a proposal that in case anyone is found possessing liquor, all the adult members of the family will be sent to jail. Also there is proposal in the amendment that the neighbours too would be arrested and sent to jail if liquor is found from anyone's house. MODI LASHES OUT AT AMENDMENTS "What kind of amendment is the government bringing under the Excise Act ? If some person has committed a crime of rape, is it correct to arrest all the adult members of the family?" questioned Modi. Modi said that BJP was in favour of prohibition but was against the draconian laws that government was bringing for strict imposition of liquor ban. Also read: Bihar a dry state from today, declares CM Nitish Kumar --- ENDS --- From Esquire The latest on a shooting a nightclub in Fort Myers, Florida. (all times local): 9:20 a.m. Florida Gov. Rick Scott says he's cancelling his scheduled events for the day to meet with officials in Fort Myers, where a nightclub shooting killed two and wounded 17. In a statement, Scott says he's spoken with Fort Myers Mayor Randy Henderson, Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott and Ft. Myers Interim Police Chief Dennis Eads to offer any assistance from the state. The early Monday shooting at Club Blu happened as parents were picking up their children from a party for teens. Scott says they will continue to pray for the victims and their families. ___ 7:50 a.m. Officials say a shooting broke out at a nightclub as parents picked up their kids from a party for teens, leaving two dead and at least 17 wounded. Cheryl Garn, a spokeswoman for Lee Memorial Health System, says that three people remain hospitalized Monday morning. Garn says the victims range in age from 12 to 27. Club Blu says on its Facebook page that the shooting broke out as parents picked up their children. The post from the Fort Myers nightclub says armed security had been posted at the event inside and outside. 7:25 a.m. A Florida nightclub says a shooting that left two dead and 16 wounded broke out in the parking lot as parents picked up their children from a party for teens. Club Blu posted on its Facebook page Monday morning that it was trying to give the teens "what we thought was a safe place to have a good time." The post from the Fort Myers nightclub says armed security had been posted at the event inside and outside. The club says the shooting happened as the club was closing. Hospital officials say the victims range in age from 12 to 27. Four people were still being treated Monday morning. ___ 7 a.m. Officials say two people have been killed and at least 16 wounded in a shooting outside a nightclub in Florida. Lee Memorial Health System says in a press release that 16 victims ranging in age from 12 to 27 started arriving at the facility around 1:30 a.m. One of those people died at the hospital. Story continues Four people remained at the hospital early Monday, including two in the intensive care unit. All others were treated and released. One person was treated and released at a different hospital. Police say the area around Club Blu has been deemed safe, and three people have been taken into custody. The shooting comes more than a month after a nightclub shooting in Orlando that was the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. ___ 5:55 a.m. Police in Fort Myers say the area around a deadly nightclub shooting has been deemed safe. But in an email, police Capt. Jim Mulligan says the street will remain closed as authorities investigate. The shooting at Club Blu killed two people and as many as 17 people were shot early Monday. Three people have been taken into custody. The shooting comes more than a month after a nightclub shooting in Orlando that was the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. The shooting at the Pulse nightclub on June 12 left 49 victims dead and 53 others wounded. ___ 5:40 a.m. Authorities say two people have been killed and more than a dozen shot at a nightclub in Fort Myers, Florida. Capt. Jim Mulligan of the Fort Myers Police Department told WINK-TV as many as 17 people have been shot in the early Monday shooting at Club Blu. Mulligan told the station three people have been taken into custody and that there are two active crime scenes. The shooting comes more than a month after a nightclub shooting in Orlando that was the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. BERLIN (Reuters) - A patient shot a doctor in a university clinic in Berlin on Tuesday before killing himself, but there were "no signs at all" of a link with Islamist militancy, police in the German capital said. Germany is on edge because of a spate of violent attacks on civilians by men of Middle Eastern or Asian origin since July 18 that have killed 10 people. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for two of those four attacks before Tuesday. Berlin police said the doctor had sustained life-threatening injuries in the attack at the Benjamin Franklin campus of the Charite university hospital in the southwest of the city and died shortly afterwards. They added that the situation at the hospital in Berlin's Steglitz district was now "under control" and investigators were on the scene to determine the background to the crime. "There is currently no danger," police said on Twitter. Winfrid Wenzel, a spokesman for Berlin police, said the crime took place in the jaw surgery area of an outpatient clinic where the doctor was in a treatment session with the patient. "In the course of the consultation, the patient pulled out a gun and fired several shots at the doctor. The attacker then directly turned the gun on himself and died as a result of the shots," Wenzel told Reuters TV. He said police did not yet have information on the suspect's background, history, personal details or motivation, but added: "We do not have a single indication that this crime was motivated by extremism or Islamists." (Reporting by Michelle Martin, Andrea Shalal, Hans-Edzard Busemann and Thorsten Severin and Reuters TV; editing by Mark Heinrich) Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak Photo: Edgar Su/Reuters The signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the high-speed railway (HSR) between Singapore and Malaysia is troubling in light of probes into state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), said the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) in a Facebook note on Monday (25 July). The opposition party noted that the US Department of Justice (DoJ) had launched an investigation into 1MDBs alleged corrupt practices. The DOJ filed lawsuits in the US on Wednesday (20 July) seeking to seize dozens of properties linked to the Malaysian fund. Also, Singapore authorities announced that they have been investigating various 1MDB-related fund flows for possible money laundering, securities fraud and other offences in the city-state. The Monetary Authority of Singapore has also pledged tough action if banks in Singapore were found to be involved in the scandal. In light of these developments, the SDP questioned why Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong saw it fit to travel to Kuala Lumpur to sign the MOU with Malaysian PM Najib Razak on 19 July. Raising questions Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been embroiled in corruption allegations related to the 1MDB scandal Photo: Yusof Mat Isa/Malay Mail Online The SDP pointed out that Bandar Malaysia, the HSR terminus in KL, was previously owned by 1MDB. The company sold a 60 per cent equity stake to a joint venture between China Railway Engineering Corp (CREC) and Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH). The CREC-IWH conglomerate may reportedly bid for the HSR project as well. The SDP claimed that this puts the CREC bid in pole position to secure the contract for HSR, which has also attracted interest by railway companies from South Korea, Japan and others. Last month, the Malaysian government agreed to take over 1MDBs remaining stake in the multi-billion dollar project. The opposition party questioned if the PAP had done its due diligence on the HSR project, and whether the sale of Bandar Malaysia to CREC was conducted in a transparent manner. It also asked, How comfortable is PAP with the fact that CREC (owning majority control of Bandar Malaysia) is also bidding for the HSR operations? Can the PAP assure Singaporeans that the sale of Bandar Malaysia to CREC was conducted in a transparent manner?" Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) didnt shy away from science in his primetime speech at Night One of the Democratic National Convention. An 8-year-old kid can teach a 4-year-old kid how to use a microwave oven, the former Saturday Night Live star declared as scientific fact, while kiddingly telling attendees they should ignore their families and their jobs to hit the campaign trail on behalf of Hillary Clinton. RELATED24: Legacy @ Comic-Con: A New Hero For a New Day, Death By Construction Site, the Fate of Damnit! and More But the bulk of Frankens zingers were directed at Clintons Republican rival, Donald Trump in particular his failed, for-profit education company, Trump University. Below, a rundown of Frankens most pointed zingers: * Im Al Franken, Minnesotan, Senator, and world reknown expert on right-wing megalomaniacs: Rush Limbaugh. Bill OReilly. And now Donald Trump. * Did you know that the Trump University School of Ripping People Off is ranked second in the nation right behind Bernie Madoff University? * [Trump University] is also about learning directly from success experts like Scott Baio, Mike Tyson and, of course, a life-sized cutout of Mr. Trump himself. RELATEDOutcast: Comic-Con Trailer Promises Epic Kyle/Sidney Fight to End Season 1 * Franken noted the Trump University Library is located on a shelf in a closet on the third floor, before finally turning serious, praising Clinton for being the smartest and toughest person hes ever met, and then stressing the importance of every single ballot. Franken then noted his margin of victory the first time he ran for U.S. Senate: 312 votes. What did you think of Frankens speech? Grade it in our poll below, then expand on your thoughts in the comments! Related stories Story continues Kristen Bell, Darren Criss, 'Cagney & Lacey' and More Pay Musical Tribute to Victims of Gun Violence at DNC Ratings: America's Got Talent Dips to Season Lows, DNC Audience Grows Bill Clinton Calls Hillary 'Best Darn Changemaker' in DNC Speech: Grade It How social media has changed our relationship with Broadway How social media has changed our relationship with Broadway As a fairly undramatic child in the suburbs of Northern California, there was nothing I loved quite as much as spending hot summer afternoons lounging in my inflatable kiddie pool. I would slip on my Little Mermaid swimsuit and matching arm floaties, slyly steal a piece of paper from our familys printer, and scribble a few illegible loops onto the page. Then Id take my carefully-crafted love letter outside and lay it face down in the pool, swishing it back and forth just above the surface while my tiny voice crooned, Hopelessly Devoted to You, into the empty summer sky. And while I was not Sandy Olsson lamenting over her hunky T-Bird dreamboat Danny Zuko, I at 4 years old totally knew her pain, and felt it wash over me every time I stuck my hand into the lukewarm water. Since my pastimes included pretending to be Olivia Newton-John and believing that the broccoli florets I ate at dinner were the same trees through which Sister Maria ran in The Sound of Music, you can imagine my surprise when I started preschool and realized that not every kid in my class grew up with Andrew Lloyd Webbers greatest hits. (I also went to Catholic school, and apparently Jesus Christ: Superstar is not an acceptable substitute for the Bible.) rosemarie1 I was lucky enough to have been raised by a musical-obsessed mother who had a near-encyclopedic knowledge of Broadway shows and actors, a mother who sang Cabaret as a lullaby instead of, well, an actual lullaby. When Kristin Chenoweth guest starred on Glee in 2011, my mom said, Oh! I loved her in Youre a Good Man Charlie Brown! then dusted off a VHS tape from 1999 of Kristin performing on the Tony Awards. Which is, you know, super normal and not at all obsessive. I was a musical binge-watching fiend before binge-watching was socially acceptable. I watched Grease nearly every day while chomping down on my Lucky Charms. My mom claims that I once watched Rodgers and Hammersteins Cinderella three times in a row, and by the third showing I had memorized all the words. Story continues rosemarie3 So yeah, maybe it was a little out of line for me to expect that the kids at my school would care about Bernadette Peters as much as they cared about Britney Spears. But I hadnt figured out that it was my own extensive knowledge that was strange, not their lack of it. I was the weird one. But now, Im not so alone. (*cue No One is Alone from Into the Woods*) hamilton I can log onto Twitter and its Hamilton this, Zachary Levi in that, and, Oh my gosh, how many of those girls from Orange is the New Black can sing?! Social media has not only changed the way we watch musical theater, but it has given a whole new audience access to the Great White Way. Me doing @iamjhud nails before her last show. Gonna miss you onstage tonight!! Love you. Your lil sister. A photo posted by Danielle Brooks (@daniebb3) on May 10, 2016 at 10:29am PDT The actors who you could once only meet after a show by the stage door are now Instagramming their pre-show vocal warm-ups or tweeting during intermission. Our lord and savior, Lin-Manuel Miranda, now has over 608,000 followers on Twitter he only had 152,000 at the end of 2015! #Ham4Ham, the weekly live show where the Hamilton cast and special guests do a live performance for fans outside of the theater, boasts over 600,000 views on YouTube. And on June 30th, BroadwayHD hosted the first ever livestreamed musical, letting people all over the world watch Jane Krakowski slide into the splits in She Loves Me. Gmorning. Today the 1st generation of kids for whom Hamilton exists take the AP US History exam. I've done all I can do to help. G'luck! Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) May 6, 2016 I had the strange privilege of growing up with musical theater but many people did not. Unless you were raised in the heart of New York City, Londons West End, or a metropolitan city with a major theater or playhouse, the chances of being exposed to the wonders of musical theater are slim to none. These regional (and financial) roadblocks have made musical theater virtually inaccessible to wider, and oftentimes younger, audiences. But exposure to vocal, social media-savvy millennials has helped make musicals cool again and perhaps, for the first time, musical theater is as close to universally accessible as it has ever been. I can sync playlists on Spotify so that my musical-obsessed friends and I can listen to show-stopping ballads at the same time. I can log onto Tumblr and read hundreds of fanfics in which musicals are set in alternate universes. And while youd still have to make a trek out to the Big Apple to see these shows live, you can start to experience all the shows on your ~Broadway wish list~ without coughing up the big bucks for tickets and airfare. sandygrease So next time youre looking to listen to a couple show tunes, give your regards to Broadway and maybe tweet about it, too, so were all in on the fun. The post How social media has changed our relationship with Broadway appeared first on HelloGiggles. As Q2 earnings take center stage, Technology is likely to grab the limelight with several major Software companies scheduled to report earnings this week. However, just like other sectors, technology too will be impacted by global growth concerns, a strengthening dollar and market volatility. An added concern is Britains decision to exit the European Union. Due to these factors, total earnings in the tech sector are expected to be down 3% on 2.7% higher revenues, which would follow last quarters 4.5% earnings decline on 0.4% higher revenues. By Jul 22, 38% of the Technology sectors total market capitalization in the S&P 500 index had reported results. Total earnings for these companies were down 0.2% year over year on 6.3% higher revenues. In spite of bleak year-over-year comparisons, a whopping 75% were able to surpass earnings estimates, while 81.3% beat on revenues. Among the companies slated to report this week, lets see whats in store for these four major Software stocks, all of which are scheduled to release quarterly numbers on Jul 27. CA Inc. CA, one of the world's largest information technology management software companies, will report first-quarter fiscal 2017 results. For the quarter, CA Inc. has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter is pegged at 56 cents. Last quarter, the company posted a positive earnings surprise of 7.69%. Notably, CA Inc. has outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all of the trailing four quarters, with an average positive earnings surprise of 4.17%. (Read more: Will CA Inc. Pull Off a Surprise in Q1 Earnings?) CA INC Price and EPS Surprise CA INC Price and EPS Surprise | CA INC Quote MINDBODY Inc. MB, which is engaged in developing cloud-based business management software and payments platform for the wellness services industry, is set to report second-quarter 2016 results. For the quarter, MINDBODY has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3. Story continues The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter is pegged at loss of 19 cents. Last quarter, the company posted a positive earnings surprise of 32.00%. Notably, MINDBODY has outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate thrice in the trailing four quarters and missed the same once, bringing the negative average earnings surprise to 33.46%. (Read more: What to Expect from MINDBODY this Earnings Season?) MINDBODY INC-A Price and EPS Surprise MINDBODY INC-A Price and EPS Surprise | MINDBODY INC-A Quote Open Text Corporation OTEX, a developer of innovative intranet, extranet and e-Business applications, is slated to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2016 results. For the quarter, Open Text has an Earnings ESP of +1.10% and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter is pegged at 91 cents. Last quarter, the company posted a negative earnings surprise of 10.71%. Notably, Open Text has outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate thrice in the trailing four quarters and missed the same once, bringing the positive average earnings surprise to 9.44%. OPEN TEXT CORP Price and EPS Surprise OPEN TEXT CORP Price and EPS Surprise | OPEN TEXT CORP Quote Support.com, Inc. SPRT, which provides Instant Technology Relief to consumers and small businesses directly via channel partners and its www.support.com portal, will report second-quarter 2016 results. For the quarter, Open Text has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter is pegged at a loss of 8 cents. Last quarter, the company posted a positive earnings surprise of 20.00%. Notably, Support.com has outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate thrice in the trailing four quarters and missed the same once, bringing the positive average earnings surprise to 12.52%. SUPPORT.COM INC Price and EPS Surprise SUPPORT.COM INC Price and EPS Surprise | SUPPORT.COM INC Quote Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SUPPORT.COM INC (SPRT): Free Stock Analysis Report CA INC (CA): Get Free Report OPEN TEXT CORP (OTEX): Free Stock Analysis Report MINDBODY INC-A (MB): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Solar Impulse 2 plane Solar Impulses history-making 22,000-mile flight around the world ended tonight with a solar-powered landing in the dark in Abu Dhabi, where it all began more than 16 months ago. After two straight days of flying, Swiss psychiatrist-adventurer Bertrand Piccard aced the landing at Al Bateen Executive Airport just after 4 a.m. local time Tuesday (5 p.m. PT Monday), The touchdown marked the conclusion of the first-ever round-the-world journey completed by a solar-powered airplane.. We made it! Piccard told the cheering crowd on the runway just after landing. Prince Albert of Monaco, one of Solar Impulses biggest backers, joined other dignitaries, scores of well-wishers and a bagpipe band at the finish-line celebration. Piccard and Solar Impulses other pilot and co-founder, Andre Borschberg, organized the $170 million sponsor-funded effort to show off clean technologies and potentially blaze a trail for fuel-free solar electric aviation. The future is clean. The future is you. The future is now. Lets take it further, Piccard told the crowd. Piccard and Borschberg set the stage for the adventure in 2013 by flying across America in a smaller, somewhat less capable plane. This time around, Solar Impulse 2 was equipped with more than 17,000 solar cells and 8,000 pounds of advanced lithium polymer batteries that could keep it flying day and night as long as the skies were sunny. The planes wingspan is wider than that of a Boeing 747 jet, but it weighs no more than a minivan (5,000 pounds). There was one big limitation: Because the fuel-free planes only propulsion is provided by four scooter-sized electric motors, it could travel no faster than a minivan as it flew. Borschberg and Piccard alternated the piloting duties in the solo cockpit. The trek, which was broken up into 17 legs, posed psychological as well as technological challenges. The pilots had to eat, sleep and do everything else that needed to be done in a glorified closet for as long as five days straight. Story continues The odyssey began in Abu Dhabi in March of last year, and featured stopovers in Oman, India, Myanmar, China and Japan. During the five-day trip from Japan to Hawaii, the batteries overheated. That forced the pilots and the rest of the team to put the adventure on hold for nine months while they made repairs and waited for the return of acceptable weather. This April, the journey resumed in Hawaii. Solar Impulse 2 made good time flying to California, then Arizona, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Piccard took on the Atlantic crossing to Spain, and this month Borschberg took his last turn with the flight from Seville to Cairo. Tonights end of the round-the-world circuit wont spell the end of the adventure. Piccard and Borschberg say theyre establishing a non-governmental organization called the International Committee of Clean Technology to build upon Solar Impulses legacy. More from GeekWire: Security forces recovered one LMG, ten magazines and some rounds from Mukesh Kumar who was a friend of Rajbeer Ranjan, the runaway BSF jawan. By Ashwini Kumar: Punjab police and BSF today arrested Mukesh Kumar, a friend of Rajbeer Ranjan, the BSF constable from Nakoder in Jallandhar area of Punjab who fled after stabbing a fellow jawan. Security forces recovered one LMG, ten magazines and some rounds from Mukesh's possession. All of this ammunition came from Rajbeer Ranjan who had taken it with him when he fled. Rajbeer Ranjan had stabbed his colleague Raghubir Singh before fleeing. Raghubir Singh is now in a stable condition in a government medical college in the Jammu region. advertisement HUNT FOR RAJBEER RANJAN BSF Spokesman said that Security Forces apprehended Mukesh Kumar and his friend Mithun from a residential area of Nakoder Jalandhar while they were waiting for another accomplice. Deserted BSF Constable Rajeeb Ranjan who was also allegedly in neighborhood during the time , managed to escape after hearing about police presence in the area. He said Security Forces have been aggressively pursuing him and hope to arrest him soon. Constuble. Rajeeb Ranjan is from the village of Ojhaul in the Darbangha district of Bihar. At 7.30 am on July 24, he stabbed Ct Raghubir Singh and stole a LMG, 10 Magazines and 250 rounds of ammunition which were at duty point and deserted the place of occurrence. ALSO READ: J&K on red alert after BSF constable stabs colleague, flees with ammunition --- ENDS --- JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa cannot rely on austerity measures to reduce public debt and boost economic growth, as previously thought, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Tuesday. Gordhan has been trying to find a balance between reining in spending to contain South Africa's budget deficit and avoid credit rating downgrades, while also finding ways to boost economic growth and provide basic services to the poor. Whats very clear is that austerity, which we in some parts of the G20 thought was absolutely necessary ... is no longer the answer," Gordhan told business leaders. "In South Africa, as well, we have some austerity fans amongst our public commentators and its time to rethink." Africa's most developed economy is barely growing after a drop in commodity prices crippled the mining sector, a severe drought hammered farming output and policy uncertainty spooked investors. The ruling African National Congress will face tough competition in local elections next week with all parties campaigning on promises to tackle high unemployment and deliver better lives for millions of poor people. (Reporting by Stella Mapenzauswa; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by James Macharia) By George Hakim JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan President Salva Kiir replaced his vice president and rival Riek Machar on Monday, a move that could potentially undermine last year's peace deal and reignite war in Africa's youngest nation. Machar was sworn in as first vice president only last April, eight months after a peace agreement that ended two years of fighting that broke out the last time that Kiir sacked him as his deputy in 2013. But the rivalry between the two men led to violence in the capital Juba early this month as forces from both sides battled each other with tanks, helicopters and other heavy weapons. Machar, from the minority Nuer ethnic group, left Juba with his troops, saying he would only return when an international body had to set up a buffer force between his fighters and those supporting Kiir, leader of the dominant Dinka group. Kiir issued an ultimatum last week, saying Machar had 48 hours to contact him and return to Juba to salvage last year's peace deal, or face replacement. He made good on that threat on Monday when he issued a decree "for the appointment of the first vice president of the republic of South Sudan", naming General Tabal Deng Gai to the post. A former minister of mining, Deng Gai was a chief negotiator on behalf of Machar's SPLM-IO group in the talks that led to last year's deal. But last week, he broke ranks with Machar and backed Kiir's ultimatum to him. South Sudan's politics has long been plagued by splits and rivalries as leaders switch allegiances in a struggle for power an influence in the oil-producing nation, which only emerged from Sudan five years ago. Its last war, which started after Kiir sacked Machar as vice president in 2013, killed more than 10,000 people and displaced over 2 million, many of whom fled to neighbouring countries. The most recent fighting in Juba has forced 26,000 people to flee to neighbouring Uganda, according to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR. In a bid to prevent a return to full-scale war in the crude oil producer, the African Union and the Inter Governmental Authority of Development, an east African bloc, have backed the deployment of a regional force and also want the UN force UNMISS's mandate changed to that of an intervention force. (Reporting by George Hakim; Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Tom Heneghan) (Adds share price increase) MADRID, July 26 (Reuters) - Spanish construction group OHL confirmed on Tuesday it was in preliminary talks with an unnamed investment fund over a joint bid to take its Mexican unit private. Earlier on Tuesday, a source familiar with the discussions said Australian fund management firm IFM, which already has joint operations in Mexico with OHL, was looking into a potential joint buyout of OHL Mexico. Shares of OHL Mexico rose more than 20 percent to 25.31 pesos on the news, their largest daily gain since 2010. Mexico's stock exchange halted trading of the shares to control price volatility. A spokesman for IFM in London said the firm did not comment on speculation linked to acquisitions. Spain's Expansion newspaper first reported that IFM was in talks with OHL. OHL, which has a 56 percent stake in OHL Mexico, added in a statement to Spain's stock market regulator that it would not under any scenario invest more in buying additional shares in its Mexican subsidiary. "OHL has agreed with IFM to look into a buyout offer for OHL Mexico. IFM would put the money in and OHL would not participate in the offer," the source familiar with the discussions said, adding that OHL would look to maintain its current stake. OHL has faced several setbacks at its Mexican unit in recent months. It was fined just over $4 million earlier this year by Mexican regulators over inadequacies in its financial reporting, though no evidence of fraud was found. The Spanish parent company also recently had to sell a 7 percent stake in infrastructure firm Abertis to satisfy margin calls after OHL Mexico's shares tumbled. IFM, via its IFM Global Infrastructure Fund unit, last year bought a 24.99 percent stakes in two road concessions belonging to OHL in Mexico. (Reporting by Andres Gonzalez and Natalie Schachar; Writing by Sarah White; Editing by Alexander Smith and Steve Orlofsky) Madrid (AFP) - King Felipe VI is "concerned" about Spain's political paralysis, a lawmaker who met him said Tuesday as the monarch began a fourth round of talks with party representatives to try and agree on a government. The country has been without a fully-functioning government for seven months after December elections failed to give any party an absolute parliamentary majority. Efforts to forge a coalition were unsuccessful, prompting repeat elections in June with a similar result, and political parties have once again been forced to the negotiating table with no positive outcome in sight. "I found the head of state more concerned than last time," said lawmaker Pedro Quevedo, who won a parliamentary seat for the small, regional Nueva Canarias party in the June polls. He was the first to meet with the king, who is due to hold talks with party leaders until Thursday and will appoint one of them as the prime ministerial candidate tasked with forming a government. The leader selected by the king will need to get enough support from other parties to push a coalition government through a parliamentary vote of confidence. Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, head of the conservative Popular Party (PP) that won the largest number of seats in June elections, is the obvious candidate. But, in another echo of the December election outcome, leaders of other parties have refused to back Rajoy and he has hinted he may not put himself forward without the support he needs. That would leave Pedro Sanchez, head of the Socialist Party that came second in June elections, the second-most obvious candidate of choice -- just like he was after the December polls. At the time, Sanchez took on the task of forming a government, but failed to garner enough support as far-left upstart Podemos -- which came third -- refused to back him, prompting the repeat elections. Sanchez would face a similar uphill struggle this time round. As the stalemate continues and concern grows that Spain may need to hold a third election, lawmaker and PP spokesman Pablo Casado warned Tuesday that "Spain needs a stable government soon." "A new government is the only thing that will avoid holding new elections," he said. By Tatsam Mukherjee: San Diego Comic Con Festival (SDCC) has seen a major shift in the films being presented there in the past decade. The shift has been gradual and quite irreversible at this stage. The festival initially meant to be the launch-pad and an exclusive gathering for comic book nerds has evolved into this inclusive gathering of the craziest movie geeks in USA and around the world. SDCC has become an important platform for producers to showcase their million dollar film projects - considering the whole world's eyes are stuck to the five day festival. ALSO SEE: Batman recruits Aquaman and The Flash with a smile in exclusive Justice League footage advertisement Quentin Tarantino in 2014 And this year's panel of Oliver Stone's Snowden was testament to that fact. This wasn't the first time a movie which doesn't have its source material as a comic book, was presented on the Comic Con dais. 2014 saw Quentin Tarantino announce his next film The Hateful Eight, a Western straight after Django Unchained to a crowd which erupted in applause. Similarly, George Miller in 2015, who came with Mad Max: Fury Road and changed the definition of an 'action hero' overnight, with some help from Charlize Theron. That's why SDCC works for film geeks, this is when they are closest to their film, TV Gods. And the environment of the festival is pure passion for cinema, everyone only wants to know more about films, filmmakers, actors and their future works. ALSO SEE: Benedict Cumberbatch, Mads Mikkelsen face-off in the middle of a bending city in Dr Strange With Academy Award director Oliver Stone and his lead cast, taking the stage to talk about their upcoming film, Comic Con became a bit more than a gathering for film geeks from around the world. It became a stage for a political dialogue, as lead actor Joseph Gordon Levitt wearing a USA flag T-shirt, lucidly put it "Being a patriot doesn't always mean beating your chest and saying that everything in the country is great. In fact, if you really love your country, you raise your hand, point out something wrong and talk about it, and try to fix it." George Miller in 2015. ALSO READ: There's a kind of magic to the film says Edward Snowden on 'Snowden' He also acknowledged Oliver Stone's contribution to American patriotism with films like Born on the Fourth of July, JFK and Platoon. Oliver Stone mentioned how the grey poltical area was what fascinated him to Snowden's story. Both Zachary Quinto and Shailene Woodley talked about being politically active and staying true to the ethos of their real-life counterparts. Quinto talked about playing Glen Greenwald, and how interacting with a world-class journalist gave him a whole new insight into the issues of the world. advertisement ALSO SEE: Sequel to legendary 1999 horror film Blair Witch Project, might give you sleepless nights While the Justice League, Wonder Woman, Black Panther panels gave rise to manic frenzy amongst the loyal fans, the Snowden audience in Hall H asked quite a few topical questions about surveillance, inteference from the NSA. Among these came an interesting question about the increasing popularity of Nintendo's Pokemon Go. Majority of the audience laughed off the question, except Oliver Stone. The Snowden director called it a new level of invasion of privacy. If posting things on social media wasn't enough, now private corporations would practically have a GPS tracker on you. The Comic Con stage suddenly began sounding like a international conference on surveillance. Oliver Stone presenting Snowden. ALSO SEE: Gal Gadot blazes in all her glory as Wonder Woman Snowden himself made a brief appearence in the panel discussion, where director Stone thanked him for the idea about the Rubik's Cube. The film shows Snowden taking out classified information in his cube, which he tosses to the security official before passing through the scanners. No one knows how Edward Snowden took information out of the NSA facility except Snowden, and you really have to marvel at the man's ability to have thought through so many parallel narratives about the consequences of his action. And he was only 29. advertisement See the complete panel discussion: As the Marvel universe announced Michael B Jordan as an antagonist in the Black Panther movie, DC showed exclusive Justice League footage, and unveiled the trailer of the standalone Wonder woman movie, there was also a man living in exile, only having just about kick-started a debate about surveillance. The circle of Comic Con 2016 was now complete, and as the Snowden panel left the stage, Edward Snowden's presence felt like poetic justice to the festival celebrating the most inspirational superheroes of our times. --- ENDS --- LONDON A British production company owned by Disney pleaded guilty Tuesday to two health and safety violations on the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in connection with an incident during filming that resulted in a broken leg for Harrison Ford. Ford, reprising his role as Han Solo, was walking through the spaceship Millennium Falcon when a hydraulically operated door knocked him over and pinned him to the floor. Although he suffered only a broken left leg in the June 2014 accident, the force of the blow could have killed him, prosecutors said. London-based Foodles Production acknowledged that it broke the law on the Pinewood Studios set. It pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to ensure workplace safety. Two other charges were dropped. Sentencing is expected to take place next month. Ford, then 71, was airlifted to a hospital in Oxfordshire for treatment. He eventually completed filming on the J.J. Abrams-directed blockbuster. He has said that he did not believe the set to be live when he and Abrams stood conferring on the Millennium Falcon. Someone pressed a button that caused the door to close on him with what health and safety regulators say was a force comparable to the weight of a small car. This was a foreseeable incident. Foodles Production Ltd. has accepted it failed to protect actors and staff, Britains Health and Safety Executive said in a statement. The British film industry has a world-renowned reputation for making exceptional films. Managing on-set risks in a sensible and proportionate way for all actors and staff regardless of their celebrity status is vital to protecting both on-screen and off-screen talent, as well as protecting the reputation of the industry. Ford joked about the accident on a British talk show last December, blaming his injury on modern-day technology. In the original film, the doorwould have been closed with a pulley and a stagehand just closing it, Ford said. But now we had lots of money and technology and so they built a fing great hydraulic door which closed at light speed. Story continues Related stories Darth Vader to Lead 'Star Wars' Virtual Reality Story Star Wars: Carrie Fisher on Being Princess Leia, 'Episode VIII' Oscar Isaac to Star in Steven Spielberg's 'Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara' (EXCLUSIVE) The production company behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens has pleaded guilty to two criminal charges over an on-set accident that lead to Harrison Ford breaking his leg. In June 2014, Ford was hit by a hydraulic door on the Pinewood Studios set of the Millennium Falcon. A U.K. government agency, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), that brought the prosecution against the Disney subsidiary Foodles Production (UK) Ltd told the BBC that the doors drive system compared to the weight of a small car and called the incident foreseeable. At Milton Keynes Magistrates Court, prosecutor Andrew Marshall said Ford was pinned to the ground after being hit in the pelvic area, reports the BBC. He said that there was a risk of death. Foodles Production (UK) Ltd will be sentenced on Aug. 22 and two of the four charges against them have been withdrawn. In a statement to the BBC the company said they accepted it failed to protect actors and staff and HSE welcomes the firms guilty plea.the safety of our cast and crew was always a top priority throughout the production. [BBC] London (AFP) - Hollywood star Harrison Ford could have been killed by a hydraulic door on a Star Wars movie set, a court heard Tuesday, as the Disney-owned production company admitted to safety breaches. Ford, then aged 71, suffered a broken left leg on the set of the Millennium Falcon spaceship after he was pinned down by the heavy, metal-framed door during filming at Pinewood Studios near London. The court heard that in the incident on June 12 2014, Ford had been walking backwards through the portal, believing the set was not live and the vertically-sliding door would not close but it was remotely activated by someone. The actor had to be airlifted to hospital in Oxford. Harrison Ford: Why He Didnt Attend Star Wars Celebration: It could have killed somebody. The fact that it didnt was because an emergency stop was activated, prosecutor Andrew Marshall told the court in Milton Keynes, a town near London and the film studios. Ford, who was reprising his role as Han Solo in the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, spoke about the incident on the BBCs Jonathan Ross Show last year. The actor said he had been hit by a fing great hydraulic door which closed at light speed. Foodles Production, which pleaded guilty to a breach of duty towards employees and a breach over non-employees, will be sentenced on August 22. The safety of our cast and crew was always a top priority throughout our production, a spokeswoman for the company said. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), a government agency, said the power of the rapidly-closing door would have been comparable to the weight of a small car. A spokesman said that managing on-set risks was vital to protecting both on-screen and off-screen talent, as well as protecting the reputation of the industry. Star Wars: the Force Awakens: Watch the trailer: From Cosmopolitan Even occasional Starbucks customers know the employee uniform: black or white tops with khaki pants under an apron in the classic Starbucks green. It's been such an unchanging part of the brand's overall look that you don't even really notice the clothes. Today, the company announced to all U.S. and Canada partners that the dress code guidelines are expanding, and in several major ways. The biggest change is that employees will be able to wear more color: in addition to black, white, and khaki, you'll be seeing charcoal, gray, navy, and brown. The shirt colors are still muted and "subdued," as the company describes in a helpful lookbook explaining the new dress code. But even patterns will be allowed in addition to solids. Employees can choose from "small-print, low-contrast" prints like stripes and plaids in the color range. And in addition to khaki pants, acceptable bottoms now include skinny jeans, blue jeans, dresses with tights, cotton pants, shorts, and even skirts as long as they're no shorter than 4 inches above the knee. (Still not allowed: "baggy and saggy" pants, pants with holes, and sweatpants.) You'll also be seeing more accessories in the mix and not just the black Starbucks hat. Employees can wear fedoras, bowler hats, Panama hats (?!?!), and newsboys, among others. Scarves and ties are also now OK as long as they're part of the color palette. Another big change is that Starbucks employees can now wear fun colors in their hair. The dye has to be semipermanent or permanent for food safety reasons, but if yellow hair is your thing, you can bring it on down to your next shift at Starbucks! And while face tattoos aren't allowed to be visible, Starbucks appears to be loosening up quite a bit with these new guidelines. "We're inviting you to bring your personal taste and handcrafted style to work," reads an opening statement in the new guidelines. "As ambassadors of the Starbucks brand, you should feel proud of your own look as you tie on the green apron." Follow Helin on Instagram. With Tuesdays mid-Mass beheading of an elderly French priest in Rouen, a short distance from Paris, the Islamic States malignant devotees have dealt a vicious blow against the Wests all but emotionally neutral campaign to contain the quasi-caliphate. Though the internecine conflicts wracking the Arab world ensure the war against the Islamic State is hardly a war on Islam, the jihadis are bent on a clash of civilizations. And by martyring French Catholics who are Old Christendoms flesh and blood, theyre one step closer to getting one. Whatever the extent of Western reluctance or prudence, the truth is theres no better way to shake Europe out of what many now see as its guilt-ridden paralysis than to assault French Catholicism the oldest, most ingrained force that transcends nationalism in Europes most powerful proud nation. History has long prepared this seemingly revolutionary moment. If in one sense, postwar French Catholics like Robert Schuman one of the European Unions founding fathers and the architect of the European integration plan were innovators, in another, they simply recapitulated a vision of Continental unity as old as Charlemagne. However vital the force and thrust of political rationalism, mere secularism could never make European civilization as whole as Christian Rome had once made it. Even Napoleon Bonaparte, despite his tyrannical embrace of ancient cruelty and modern statism, recognized the centrality of the Church to Frances unique claim on European leadership by having the pope coronate him as Frances emperor in 1804. Having subsequently snuffed the Holy Roman Empire (long lampooned as neither holy, Roman, nor an empire) in 1806, he cemented Europes new Catholic imperium by marrying his defeated adversarys daughter, Marie Louise. His wifes parents, Emperor Francis and his wife Maria Theresa, continued to rule the Austrian Empire after the Holy Roman Empires dissolution. Story continues Today, no historically Catholic country maintains the strength and significance of France, even at its relatively low ebb, and none can look forward to mustering anything comparable. In Europe, both politicians and the pope all but deliberately mischaracterize Islamist violence as senselessly absurd. As Pope Francis has focused attention on the weakest and most vulnerable to arrive on Europes shores or perish in their attempt his plea that refugees are not dangerous but in danger has run up against the hard truth that among the hundreds of thousands of newcomers are enough killers to keep horrific bloodshed in the news and in public nightmares. While the willful pontiff labors to prove that charity and solidarity are two sides of the same coin, Frances increasingly devout Catholic insurgents see, and paint, a darker picture. Consider the reaction of Frances youngest and most alluring reactionary, the sensational young National Front figure Marion Marechal-Le Pen. At first, in horror and frustration, came the obvious: Theyre killing our children, assassinating our police officers, and slitting our priests throats, she tweeted. Wake up! Youd expect nothing less from a scion of the Le Pen dynasty, one primed by the grisly, unprecedented truck attack in Nice, which is just a two-hour drive from her political headquarters. But Marion Le Pen wasnt finished. Hours after her first appeal, she urged Christians worldwide to unite against Islamism. And then the coup de grace: Faced with the threat weighing on France, Ive decided to join the military reserve. I invite all young patriots to do the same. The logic may be unnerving, but it is crystal clear. For Le Pen and Europeans starved for leadership consistent with patterns adhered to for centuries on end, it is Islams would-be holy warriors who have invited a defensive Crusade, and the time has come to give it to them. Such a message would fare poorly in the presence of stronger medicine drawing on secular values. But Westerners hoping for a muscular alternative to the Catholic spirit connecting Charlemagne, Bonaparte, Schuman, and Le Pen to say nothing of Joan of Arc have already had their try. Culturally and theologically disarmed, interventionist secular internationalism has proven itself a shattering disappointment, from Iraq to Libya to Syria and beyond. Despite Nicolas Sarkozys dramatic bid to mount a comeback for militant moderates, his regurgitations of failed secular dreams, both neoconservative and neoliberal, are all but certain to dash the hopes of the French public, and those of the wider Western world. The decisive question now is whether reactionary French Catholicism can scale up quickly enough to present more than a parochially nationalistic image of the new Crusader esprit. They face a fairly daunting dilemma: The more Le Pens constituency casts its mission as a defense of pan-European Christendom, the more readily its mainstream opponents can claim its embarked on a war of aggression. At the same time, however, the far-right faces a different publicity crisis in courting the nationalists seen by its traditionalist base as part of the Continents decadence problem, like Matthieu Chartraire, the National Front supporter recently voted Frances top gay model, or the partys own chief, Marine Le Pen, Marions fiercely secular aunt. With French worries of civil conflict growing in the grip of a state of emergency repeatedly extended since Novembers Paris attacks the countrys crusading Catholics are likely to find their best weapon against Islamism in a spirit of unity for France no less than for Christendom. But its here that their jihadi foes, too, could find their greatest advantage. As the West is still learning the hard way, theres nothing like terrorism to sow division and disorder among those desperate to make it stop. Photo credit: ALAIN JOCARD/AFP/Getty Images (Adds Massachusetts Attorney General also refuses to comply with subpoena) By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON, July 26 (Reuters) - The top state prosecutors in New York and Massachusetts said on Tuesday they will refuse to comply with a subpoena from U.S. congressmen for details on their investigations into whether Exxon Mobil misled investors on climate change risks. The moves by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey are the latest in the political and legislative fight over Exxon Mobil and investigations on whether the oil company knowingly misled shareholders and the public on climate change. Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives committee on science, space and technology issued subpoenas to Schneiderman and Healey to force them to submit information on their Exxon investigations, accusing them of having a political agenda. Healey's legal counsel said in a letter to Republican committee chair Lamar Smith of Texas the subpoena was an "unconstitutional and unwarranted" interference with Massachusetts' "legitimate" investigation into Exxon. Schneiderman said his office refuses to comply with what he called an "unprecedented" subpoena for a state attorney general, and said the committee does not have a constitutional right to interfere with the states' probes. "The subpoena brings us one step closer to a protracted, unnecessary legal confrontation, which will only distract and detract from the work of our respective offices," Schneiderman said in a 10-page letter to Smith that was posted online by Schneiderman's office. Exxon declined to comment. "The Committee will use all tools at its disposal to further its investigation," said the science committee's spokeswoman, Kristina Baum. At a press conference on July 13, Smith, a Republican, accused Schneiderman and Healey, both Democrats, as well as a number of environmental groups, of "threatening" scientific debate about climate change and stifling the "free speech" of scientists who do not believe in climate change. Story continues Schneiderman's investigation of Exxon Mobil began last year after separate reporting by online news publication Inside Climate News and the Los Angeles Times showed that Exxon worked to play down the risks of climate change despite its own scientists' having raised concerns about it decades earlier. Leslie Dubeck, counsel to Schneiderman, said in the letter that the office would be willing to discuss the issue with the committee in a way that does not jeopardize New York state's sovereignty. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; editing by Dan Grebler and Grant McCool) Former New York congressman Anthony Weiner was among the guests for the first night of The Late Shows live DNC coverage at which Hillary Clinton is expected to be anointed Dem nominee for POTUS. This made some sense because Weiner is married to Clintons longtime aide Huma Abedin. Joining Colbert onstage, Weiner looked up at the cheap seats in the Ed Sullivan Theater and asked, Wheres the forced-out-of-office-by-scandal [delegation]? telling Colbert, I thought Id pierce the whole thing. Weiner has the distinction of having been involved in not one but two sexting situations that derailed his political career. Good. What did you pierce it with? Colbert shot back. By way of a stab at a searing retort, Weiner accused Colbert of being among those responsible for Donald Trumps rise to GOP nominee, in Colberts capacity as member of the mainstream media. From this we can conclude Weiner otherwise was engaged in the green room during Colberts trippy opening song and dance, and also missed seeing the shows earlier segment in which, disguised as Julius Flickerman and with pet weasel Caligula in tow, Colbert rushed the DNC stage something were guessing Scott Pelley has never attempted, or even Chuck Todd. Allison Janney also was a live guest on the first night of Late Shows DNC coverage because, of course, she played C.J. Cregg on The West Wing all those years, and talk-show bookers assume she loves to talk politics. But, as Janney explained to Colbert, there is no character she has ever played who she is less like than C.J. And, she added, she is not watching the election because she cant stand the level of discourse. On the bright side, she decided to make out with Colbert. So all was not lost. [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec7KlsBg7vo&w=620&h=340] Related stories Bill Clinton Tells America Why He Chose Hillary Clinton - And Why America Should Too Story continues Hollywood Reacts To Bill Clinton's DNC Speech With Praise, Humor & Some Digs Madeleine Albright: Donald Trump Already Damaged National Security By Running For President Hungry For Power Gamess Julius Flickerman and his pet weasel Caligula returned to Stephen Colberts The Late Show, for Hungry for Power Games: DNC Edition. Julius spotted CNNs Jake Tapper and asked if he knew where to find NBCs Chuck Todd, whose goatee had not called back Caligula since their encounter at the RNC. As he had done at the RNC, Julius tried to take the DNC podium. But, while the RNC had a sense of humor about the schtick, the DNC appears to have been humorless. In the DNCs defense, it was having a bad day [see Wikileaks]. Anyway, DNC security refused to let Colberts character take the stage despite his podium pass and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi vouching for him. So, Colbert made a game out of tormenting security, running around the floor until finally he outmaneuvered them and made a dive for the stage, shouting, God Bless America! God Bless Freedom Of The Press, and Im not one to gloat, but I won! [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH4iSF96tFY&w=620&h=340] Related stories Elizabeth Banks Makes Donald Trump Entrance At DNC, Accuses GOP Nominee Of Stealing Her 'Hunger Games' Act Hillary Clinton Makes History As First Female POTUS Candidate From Major Political Party Stephen Colbert's Live RNC Shows Bring Buzz And Ratings Gains, But Jimmy Fallon's 'Tonight' Still Rules Roost (Reuters) - Stoke City have captured Wales midfielder Joe Allen from Liverpool on a five-year deal for a fee which could reach 13 million pounds ($17.07 million), the club said on Monday. The 26-year-old, who played a key role in Wales reaching the Euro 2016 semi-finals, is Stoke's second close-season signing after Egyptian winger Ramadan Sobhi joined earlier on Monday. "It has been a whirlwind 48 hours for me but I am delighted to have finally been able to put pen to paper," said Allen, who spent four years on Merseyside after signing from Swansea City. "(Manager) Mark Hughes has achieved great things here... already and he sold the club to me in terms of their ambitions moving forward," he told Stoke's website (www.stokecityfc.com). He is a Welshman too, and I am sure that he took a keen interest in what we were doing out in France, he added. I think that maybe some of the performances that I put in out there may have been what sealed my move here. Allen, who played 132 games and scored seven goals for Liverpool, will join the Stoke squad in Orlando on Tuesday. ($1 = 0.7617 pounds) (Writing by Ken Ferris; Editing by Pritha Sarkar) While Khanna's lawyers argued for a bail for their client, the CBI asked why Khanna had come Mumbai in 2012. By Vidya : Arguments for and against Sanjeev Khanna's bail application, the third accused in the 2012 Sheena Bora murder case, got over at the special CBI court in Mumbai today. While Khanna's lawyers had argued on the merits of the case, the CBI asked why Khanna came Mumbai in 2012. CBI had chargesheeted Sheena's mother Indrani Mukerjea, and her step father Khanna, for conspiracy, killing and then trying to destroy evidence. advertisement WAS SHEENA KILLED FOR VIDHIE, KHANNA'S DAUGHTER? The CBI had alleged that Khanna's motive was to get Sheena out of his way so that all property belonging to Indranis present husband Peter Mukerjea would go to Vidhie, Khanna's biological daughter. Khanna's lawyer Hrishikesh Mundargi, on the other hand, told the court that Vidhie was taken away from Kolkata to Mumbai by Indrani when she was young and was later adopted by Peter. "Vidhie does not even look at Khanna or consider him her father. So why would he come to kill someone for her?" asked Mubdargi. The lawyer said the only reason Khanna came to Mumbai in 2012 was because Indrani had called him. "He was told by Indrani that he could come and visit Vidhie. But on coming, he learnt that Vidhie was not in Mumbai so he did not go and meet Indrani". Khanna's lawyer said and told the court that the only statement that indicts Khanna is that of Indranis driver who has now turned approver but Is not a reliable witness. The lawyer claimed that Khanna was in the hotel the entire day after coming to Mumbai had gone to meet Indrani only in the night. The lawyers asked the CBI to bring forward Khanna's call data record so that this could be established. Mundargi and advocate Shreyansh Mithare also told the court that CBIs own statements show that Khanna had only eight minutes to travel from the hotel in Worli to Bandra, where Sheena was picked up before being killed. KHANNA IS A 'SPIDERMAN' The CBI today challenged all these arguments and asked if Vidhie does not even consider him his father, then why would he come all the way from Kolkata to see her? CBI advocate Sudhir Badami, on his part, called Khanna "spiderman" and said he swiftly walked in and out of locations. He also said that the court was yet to record the statement of the earlier accused but now pardoned approver Shyamvar Rai in the case and that if the accused were let off, crucial evidence could be destroyed. According to CBI, Indrani and Khanna had indulged in this heinous crime as they wanted Sheena out of their way. Prior to Khanna, Peter and Indrani had both filed for bail in the special CBI court. While Indrani's bail was rejected, Peter's application, after rejection, is now being heard by the Bombai High Court. advertisement Also Read: Sheena Bora case: Peter was fond of late night parties and young women, says ex-wife Sheena Bora murder case: Peter Mukerjea seeks statement of 'secret witness no 32' Both Peter and Indrani conspired to kill Sheena Bora: CBI to High Court --- ENDS --- PHILADELPHIAOn a sweat-soaked opening day of the Democratic National Convention, with temperatures pushing into the high 90s and strong thunderstorms in the forecast, the relatively powerful mostly spent their days indoors in air-conditioning: a breakfast meeting at the Marriott; a Bernie Sanders speech at the convention center (the hottest ticket in town for connected supporters of the Vermont senator); maybe even an Uber ride across town to the Wells Fargo Center, where Hillary Clinton supporters untroubled by any desire to dispute her imminent nomination stood on the arena floor around noon, holding cell phones aloft as Boyz II Men rehearsed an evening performance (not too soft and not too strong). The grassroots opposition to Hillary Clinton, though, spent the day in the heat. They woke up sweating at the New Jersey campgrounds where many are making their home base. They sweated in the sunshine outside City Hall, beneath the statue of pacifist William Penn, where scores protested for passing cars and pedestrians, and othersCornel West among themmilled around an interior plaza making connections. Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Nearly everyone was sweat-soaked and dehydrated as hundreds completed a 2.6 mile march from City Hall down Broad Street to Marconi Square, with activists in wheelchairs leading the way and an army of Bernie Sanders supporters following. At their destination was another gathering of Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein supporters whod spent their days listening to a series of impromptu speeches about a range of left-wing causes, but more than that, about the feeling among those gathered that Clinton did not deserve to be the Democratic Partys nominee. Conor Friedersdorf Im here for democracy, said Susan, a 61-year-old accountant from Pittsburgh who was excited when President Obama was elected but enthralled when Bernie Sanders began his run. Everything that Bernie said was what I'd been thinking all along, she recalled. I didn't think there was anyone else out there. I was just one old crazy lady. Recommended: Michelle Obama's Speech for the Ages But there he was, criticizing GMOs and calling for a $15-an-hour minimum wage. He was, she thought, the man who would turn things around for her 10 children and 11 grandchildren. He would help them to inherit a country on the rise. She was thrilled on election day when she saw so many young voters at the polls. It just didnt seem possible to her that Hillary Clinton won her precinct and her state. All these first time voters that came out, that I talked to, that voted for Bernie, where were their votes? she asked. They never made it into the tally. And that happened in townships, small towns, suburban areas and cities all over the United States. There is no evidence for that proposition. Hillary Clintons wins at the ballot box were anticipated by the polling of multiple independent journalistic organizations. (For the record, I, too, was hoping she would lose.) But as Susan saw it, the election was always fixed, whether at the polls or through the machinations of DNC officials, as recently revealed in documents that were hacked, and then released by Wikileaks last week. So although she hadnt participated in a political protest since the Vietnam War, Susan traveled to Philadelphia to stand up for democracy. Our votes have been stolen from us, our rights have been taken away, she said. When 85 or 90 percent of the people want something and the hierarchy, the one percent, is telling us who we're going to have for a candidate, what our platform is going to be, and that we can't do anything about it, laughing at us, I'm pissed. Recommended: Trump Must Release His Tax Returns Sitting in a shady spot, but still wilting in the afternoon heat, she said that her heart was warmed by the young people around her, and she intended to demonstrate and march beside them throughout the DNC as much as her health allowed. One of those young people, Veronica, found her way to Marconi Square by way of a different issue. Although her classmates at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where she just graduated with a degree in chemical engineering, were most enthusiastic about protests for social justice, she felt that social justice issues were more of a symptom of larger evils rooted in economics. For me, multinational corporations are the biggest evil, she said. You can't fix anything until you fix that. That belief has caused her to oppose the TransPacific Partnership, which she describes as NAFTA 2.0, and we all know that NAFTA didnt work. Her shirt showed her allegiance: Jill Stein, the Green Party nominee. Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic She traces her political awakening to an early job search, when she researched the companies that hire the most chemical-engineering graduates and discovered, to her horror, that she regarded business practices at most or all of them as abhorrent. I want to see not trickle-down economics but ground up, she said. I work on a produce farm, and we do CSAs, we have farmers markets, so that kind of economy, build it from the ground up. There is a place for big companies. Some things it makes sense to do on that scale. But they shouldn't be super powerful. They shouldn't have the power to sue our government. And you should have a choice. I have a chart that's posted in my roomits 10 companies that own every other company. Conor Friedersdorf Will the folks who marched down Broad Street and gathered in Marconi Square vote for Hillary Clinton once the convention is over and its clear, even to them, that Bernie wont be president, whereas Donald Trump may well be? Many of the people with whom I spoke didnt want to engage the question. Clinton hadnt yet formally received the nomination. They insisted, in effect, that it wasnt over until it was over. Nationwide, polls suggest that the vast majority of Bernie Sanders voters will back the Democratic nomineeroughly 90 percent of them, if the Washington Posts analysis is correct. Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic But its a special subset of Bernie supporters whove taken to the streets in Philadelphia. Theyre so bothered by the course of events that they overcame the inertia of staying home, the cost and inconvenience of traveling to a city filled to the brim with people, and the heat that makes a mere 10-minute walk outside miserable. Here, the civic-minded folks who are willing to address the question, in interviews, signs, or shouted chants, insist that they just cant pull the lever for Clinton. If you cheat its not a win, dozens chanted on the march down Broad Street. Now we have to vote again! A speaker at Marconi Square told the crowd that while Donald Trump was a McCarthyite, Clintons foreign policy was approaching Holocaust levels of awfulness in lives lost. I say if Bernie does not get the nomination, we unite, the speaker concluded, United We Stein, Divided We Fall. Kathleen, a middle-aged woman from Santa Rosa, California, explained, We feel that there's a lot of corruption, and we're all for Bernie. We're just here to support the community. People ask if well vote for her if it comes to that. But we don't agree with her politics. We'd like to have a third party, so this is a beginning for that. Recommended: Can Bernie-or-Busters be Shamed into Submission? Said one sign, Jill, Never Hill. Said another, Bern the system down! Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic For Democratic delegates who still support Sanders, traveling to Philadelphia was less of a sacrifice even as it offered a greater opportunity to make their voices heard within the process. And Monday night, as Boyz II Men performed for real at Wells Fargo Center and the official proceedings kicked off, there were many moments early in the evening when some in the arena took to chanting Bernie or booing when they felt that his agenda was being disrespected or Clintons rise was being praised. At 7 p.m. on Monday, as I write this, the room sounds divided about Clinton, even as it is united around the proposition that Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, is a vile bully. For Clinton supporters, the inconvenient truth is that their nominee, and the DNC machinations that sought to guarantee her ascendance, are unsavory in ways that will not be easily forgotten, no matter how bad the GOP nominee may be. Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic For Clinton opponents, whether they support Sanders or Stein or no one at all, the inconvenient truth is that they cannot both champion democracy and oppose Clinton, because for all her flaws, she did not ultimately steal the election from her rival. Unfairness at the DNC did not determine the outcome. In the end, Clinton won the most votes, she did not need superdelegates to put her over the top, and she was, therefore, the choice of the people, or at least the subset who vote Democratic. Just as awarding the nomination to Ted Cruz rather than Donald Trump wouldve overturned the will of GOP voters, whether for better or worse, denying Clinton the nomination would overturn the democratic will of Democratic voters, including a majority of black, Hispanic, and non-college-educated voters, and a majority of voters with incomes below $55,000 in states where that was tracked. It may be that the future belongs to Sanders, or a successor who takes up his agendahe was at his strongest with young peoplebut if there are many good reasons to object to Clinton, the notion that Sanders is the rightful democratic winner isnt one of them. To march in Philly for Sanders is to declare that the people got it wrong. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Strong will exists in both Britain and Ireland to preserve free movement between the countries following Britain's vote to leave the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday after meeting her Irish counterpart. May, who visited the province of Northern Ireland on Monday, has said she does not want to see a return to past border controls with the Irish Republic, which will be Britain's only land frontier with the EU. "We benefitted from a common travel area between the UK and the Republic of Ireland for many years before either country was a member of the EU," May said at a joint news conference with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny in London. "There is a strong will on both sides to preserve it and so we must now focus on securing a deal that is in the interests of both of us." The pair said they had agreed that the peace process in Northern Ireland, which ended three decades of fighting between Catholic nationalists seeking a united Ireland and Protestant unionists who wanted to keep the province British, must not be undermined by last month's referendum result. Northern Ireland voted to stay in the EU, with 56 percent voting 'Remain', putting it at odds with the United Kingdom's overall 52-48 percent result in favour of leaving. Some have demanded a referendum to split Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom so it can remain in the EU as part of a united Ireland. Asked about the prospect of a united Ireland, Kenny said he respected Britain's decision to leave the EU and the job now was to work through the Brexit process in "as practical, as imaginative and as creative a manner as is possible". Kenny also said while many obstacles lay ahead, it was in Ireland's interests to see its neighbour prosper outside the EU. "We want the upcoming negotiation process to end with a prosperous and outward-looking UK which retains a close relationship with the EU. This is in all of our interests," he added. (Additional reporting by Kate Holton; editing by Stephen Addison) From LennyLetter Historically, I have not been the greatest packer. Unlike my Girls cast mate Allison Williams, who makes a checklist days in advance that even mentions such obvious necessities as toothpaste, I have never once gotten to where I was going with everything I needed. I am the woman who went to a Mexican beach with five bikini tops and no bottoms (plus a pair of prairie boots). I am the woman who returned to my Midwestern college in the dead of winter with no pants, tights, or underwear and had to go to a lecture in a wool skirt and knee socks, commando. I forgot to pack my bridesmaid's dress for a wedding, my cardigan for the holy city of Jerusalem, and my high heels for the Grammys. I've had to find pharmacies in which to refill my psychiatric medication in cities around the globe. I've left books half-finished in a Hindu temple in Jaipur (I wasn't reading IN the temple, I just need a book for peace of mind) and a trailer park in Barstow, California. I get an F. So, today, as I head to the Democratic National Convention to speak with my friend America Ferrera in support of our girl Hillary Clinton, my packing anxiety is reaching new heights as it mingles with impostor syndrome, fear of public failure, and the thrum of constant dread about our nation's future should we not get this woman elected. But the most illogical of fears is that my terrible packing will expose me, finally, as a dumb celebutante who doesn't know enough about the Keystone pipeline to be here. My more grounded self reminds me that, outside of my art, my passions are politics and the future of this country, specifically for women and the people who love them, and I have worked hard to be able to share the stage with America tonight. That said, the part of me that once packed three fur hats and exactly zero coats for winter in Berlin is sure some missing element (a bra? A bunch of red, white, and blue streamers? A well-worn copy of A People's History of the United States?) is making me feel like Elle Woods did before she proved her genius with the "Endorphins make people happy" realization. Story continues So, in the spirit of Allison (and in the spirit of Secretary Clinton herself, who I believe MUST BE a fastidious packer with laser-sharp focus and a zesty enthusiasm for proper folding methods), I have made a list of my own that will get me through my day in Philly with style, grace, and some measure of Zen. - Three outfits. (One for roaming the convention floor, one for an afternoon event with America and Chelsea Clinton, and one for the big speech. America and I consulted on our dresses to ensure proper coordination, so we don't come out looking like two Spice Girls who aren't on speaking terms. I was very tempted to wear the same one as Melania and say, "She stole a speech, so I stole her dress," but I will refrain.) - A box of Hillary-centric baubles created by my friend the artist and designer Paul Monroe, the man behind the iconic boutique Einstein's. Cuz you can take the girl out of the '80s East Village, but you can't take the '80s East Village out of the girl. - Yoga mat (for stretching and/or planking). - Eucalyptus and lavender oil (given to me by my yoga teacher and friend Beth, who insists they can summon alertness and relaxation respectively, and who has been known to play "Trap Queen" during Shavasana). - All the Poems, by Stevie Smith (it's very calming to read verse, even if it vaguely hints at mental-health crises and general feminine lost-ness). - Black two-piece spandex outfit by Jess Oberlin (pajama-ish enough for napping while in transit, but sensual enough that I'll feel good getting off the bus in it or flipping the bird at a Trump sign). - Eight La Croix seltzers, passion fruit (not fucking around here). - Eight Ito En bottled green teas (you don't know my life!). - Two pairs sunglasses (besides the speech, my primary mission at the DNC is not to lose any more sunglasses). - Underwear (I'll believe this when I see it; this would be a new level of respectable adulthood I may not be ready to achieve). - Socks with Hillary's face on them. (Purchased for me by my boyfriend online. It was one of the most oddly considerate acts I've ever been on the receiving end of. Did I need them? No. Did I want them? Like, totally, but who knew? Are they polyester? Definitely!) Wish me luck, my Lennys! By William James LONDON (Reuters) - Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon said on Monday she would start preparatory work on splitting Scotland from the rest of Britain in order to keep the option of independence available following the June 23 vote to leave the European Union. Although Britain voted to end its EU membership at the referendum, Scottish voters overwhelmingly backed remaining inside the bloc, reigniting the debate over Scotland's future as a constituent nation of the United Kingdom. Sturgeon renewed her position that a fresh independence bid, only two years after the country voted against it, should remain an option, depending on the shape of Britain's future ties with the bloc and how well they worked for Scotland. "If we find that our interests can't be protected in a UK context, independence must be one of those options that Scotland must have the right to consider," Sturgeon said in a speech. "That's why we'll take the preparatory steps to ensure that it's an option open to the Scottish parliament if the Scottish parliament considers it necessary." Sturgeon did not say what form the preparatory work would take, but stressed that the unprecedented nature of Britain's exit meant all options for future ties with the EU and the rest of the United Kingdom should be considered. "The UK that we voted to stay part of in 2014, a UK within the EU, is fundamentally changing. The outlook for the UK is uncertainty, upheaval and unpredictability," she said. "In these circumstances it may well be that the option that offers us the greatest certainty, stability, and maximum control over our own destiny is that of independence." An opinion poll late last month showed that Scots do not think there should be a second independence referendum, with 44.7 percent against a fresh vote and 41.9 percent in favour. New British Prime Minister Theresa May has previously stressed the need for the exit from the EU to work for all regions of the country, and a desire to engage with Scotland on the Brexit process. However, responding to Sturgeon's comments, a spokeswoman for May said the decision to leave the EU must be respected. Sturgeon also said she did not think a prolonged period of negotiations with the EU over how to leave the bloc would be in anyone's interests, and she feared the terms of Britain's exit could be unfavourable for Scotland. "If we can read anything from the early signs, whether from government appointments, or from initial pronouncements - I hope I'm wrong about this - (it's) that the UK is heading towards a hard rather than a soft Brexit," she said. "A future outside the single market with only limited access and significant restrictions on free movement." (Reporting by William James and Giles Elgood; editing by Stephen Addison) MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Suicide bombers killed at least 13 people at the gates of the African Union's main peacekeeping base in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, police said, in an attack claimed by the Islamist militants of al Shabaab. The force of the explosions shattered windows at the nearby airport, showered arriving passengers with glass and forced the suspension of flights, police and witnesses said. Police said the first attacker detonated a car bomb and the second tried to storm the base on foot, but was shot and exploded at the gate. "At least 13 people mostly security forces died in the two car bomb blasts," and 12 others were wounded, Abdiqadir Omar, a police officer told Reuters. The guards were caught in the blast as they escorted U.N. personnel into the base, which is known as Halane, he added. Al Shabaab, an Islamist militant group linked to al Qaeda and fighting to topple Somalia's Western-backed government, said it set off two car bombs. The African Union's AMISOM force said on Twitter it condemned the "senseless attacks that aim to disrupt and cripple the lives of ordinary Somalis". There was no immediate comment from the United Nations. People arriving on international flights said the blasts shattered windows in the airport buildings. "We were greeted by two loud blasts. The glass of the airport building fell on us," said Ali Nur, who had just got off a plane from Nairobi. Al Shabaab regularly attacks AMISOM, which is made up of about 22,000 military personnel from Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and other African countries helping to support Somalia's government and army. The country in the Horn of Africa was plunged into anarchy in the early 1990s following the toppling of military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. (Reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar; Writing by Duncan Miriri and Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Andrew Heavens) With tracks like Chandelier and Elastic Heart, Sia has come close to clinching the first spot on Billboard several times, but this is the first time she has actually topped it. By India Today Web Desk: We have no qualms admitting that we are STILL unconditionally and entirely hooked to Sia's track, Cheap Thrills. But besides ruling our playlists and hearts, the track has also been conquering music charts across the globe, the latest being the Billboard Hot 100. While the top spot on the coveted music chart is proof enough of how popular the track is, the popularity of Sia's Cheap Thrills has created history for another set of reasons. advertisement Also Read: These two sisters just gave Sia's addictive track Cheap Thrills, a beautiful Veena twist Three of them are. Sia has now become the first 40-year-old female artist in 16 years to top the chart, the last one being Madonna, who was 42 when her track, Music, released in the year 2000. Reportedly, the song has ended Drake's 10-week-long reign on the Billboard chart. Drake's One Dance, was the longest Billboard top track of 2016 and of his career. Sia's no 1 stint on the chart also marks the return of Sean Paul's Billboard journey after almost 10 years. According to Billboard, "Sia's Cheap Thrills, featuring Sean Paul, crowns the Billboard Hot 100 (dated Aug 6), rising 3-1 to become Sia's first Hot 100 No. 1 as an artist, while Paul earns his fourth topper and first in more than 10 years." With tracks like Chandelier and Elastic Heart, Sia has come close to clinching the first spot on Billboard several times, but this is the first time she has actually topped it. --- ENDS --- Susan Sarandon is not having a good time at the Democratic National Convention. On the heels of an earlier interview the actress gave about efforts to thwart Bernie Sanders' campaign during the primaries, a journalist captured Sarandon looking none-too-pleased while at the convention in Philadelphia on Monday. "Susan Sarandon is having literally the worst time at the #DemConvention," the tweet was captioned. Sarandon later shared the tweet with her own caption: "Accurate." Accurate. #DemsInPhilly #DNCinPHL https://t.co/tGYCAKARrg - Susan Sarandon (@SusanSarandon) July 26, 2016 Susan Sarandon is having literally the worst time at the #DemConvention pic.twitter.com/Ola9Hi3y5o - Ian McKenna (@Ian_McK_) July 26, 2016 The avid Sanders supporter has been outspoken about her feelings of Hillary Clinton, even calling her "more dangerous" than Donald Trump and saying "it's inevitable" she will be indicted over the email scandal. Read More: Democratic Convention: Boos, Protests Disrupt Day One Theme of Party Unity In an interview with the online network The Young Turks on Monday, Sarandon didn't hold back when asked about Friday's email leaks, revealing that DNC party leaders strategized on how to eliminate Sanders from the primary race. "That's so disgusting," she said of Debbie Wasserman Schultz serving as honorary chairwoman after resigning over the controversy. "The critical question is, does it matter? Nixon resigned when they broke into the headquarters and now you found out all this tampering went on and I know there are lawsuits and things. I think we have to really ask: What's happened to us in terms of what we're willing to sacrifice to get our person in. Or, what does it really say about us if all of this goes by unattended?" She also spoke about instances that she says she witnessed while out on the campaign trail for Sanders. "All along there were these efforts to thwart communication," she said. "But the good news is that people are awake and they feel empowered and angry. And they're awakened to new possibilities." Susan Sarandon isn't ready to give up on Bernie Sanders. In light of the news that Democratic officials allegedly plotted against a Sanders win, Sarandon defended the Vermont senator to TYT Politics at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Sunday, promising that his supporters are "all still here, we're all committed." "Bernie has ignited this spark and we're not letting that go, and for anyone that thought this was a cult of personality, you're wrong," she said. "When we said it was a movement and not a moment, we meant it." The outspoken Bernie fan called the alleged anti-Bernie plans "so disgusting," but admitted that they didn't come as a surprise. "The critical question is: Does it matter?" Sarandon, 69, said. "Nixon resigned when they broke into the headquarters and now you find out all this tampering went on ... and I think we really have to ask what's happened to us in terms of what we're willing to sacrifice to get our person in." She added: "What does it really say about us if this goes by unattended?" The actress praised those, like herself, who have refused to let the information go unattended. "I'm curious to see what's gonna happen," she said. "I'm really loving all these young people that are like, 'No, I'm not accepting this.' That's a really good thing because that's how this country was built." Ted Cruz Taunted By Angry GOP Convention Delegates as He Refuses to Endorse Donald Trump Sarandon also offered an explanation as to why some Bernie fans may have taken up the mantle for Republican candidate Donald Trump rather than for Sanders' fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton, despite Sanders' own support of Clinton. "A lot of people felt disenfranchised, a lot of people are working so hard and getting nowhere, a lot of people are sick with politics, the way it is, and Bernie and Trump spoke to those people," she said. "It's like the dark and the light ... so will some of those people go over to the dark side?" Sarandon continued. "I don't know, people are angry." Story continues Susan Sarandon Slams Campaign Against Bernie Sanders While Attending the DNC| 2016 Presidential Elections, Politics, Donald Trump, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Susan Sarandon As for Sarandon's own plans for this November, she said she still isn't sold on any of the candidates. "You have to vote your conscience," she said, echoing Ted Cruz's Republican National Convention speech. "I'm waiting to hear something that speaks to me ... I'm not buying [Clinton] until she offers me something." When journalist Ian McKenna tweeted a gif of Sarandon looking displeased at the convention, writing, "Susan Sarandon is having literally the worst time at the #DemConvention," Sarandon retweeted it and added, "Accurate." While attending the DNC on Monday, Sarandon was among those attendees seemingly unsatisfied with the pro-Clinton rhetoric. Moscow (AFP) - Five suspects in the murder of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, whose killing unleashed global condemnation, will face a jury trial in Moscow, a court ruled Tuesday. A Moscow district military court ruled that the case would be determined by a jury, whose members will be selected on August 24, RIA Novosti state news agency reported, citing a court spokeswoman. Nemtsov, an opposition figurehead and former deputy prime minister, was gunned down on the evening of February 27, 2015 as he walked across a bridge from the Kremlin. The suspects charged with the murder had asked to be tried by jury as they face up to life in jail. This request was backed by lawyers representing Nemtsov's family, who said he would have wanted the trial to be as transparent and objective as possible. Jury trials are relatively unusual in Russia and are only used for very serious offences punishable by a life sentence. A lawyer representing Nemtsov's daughter Zhanna, Olga Mikhailova, said that 100 people would be invited for jury selection and the procedure should go "fairly quickly." The five defendants -- named as Zaur Dadayev, Shadid and Anzor Gubashev, Bemirlan Eskerkhanov and Khamzat Bakhayev -- are all ethnic Chechens. Investigators have identified a sixth man as their ringleader, Chechen security official Ruslan Mukhudinov, but he has fled abroad. Investigators say Mukhudinov approached the other men in September 2014 and offered them 15 million rubles (about $235,000) for the murder. Nemtsov's relatives and supporters are angry that the authorities have failed to bring the masterminds to justice and point the finger of blame at Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, as well as the Kremlin itself. Kadyrov had a long-running feud with Nemtsov and has made calls to eliminate Russia's "enemy" opposition. At Tuesday's closed-door hearing, the court refused a request by lawyers representing Nemtsov's daughter for the case to be reclassified as a political assassination. "It's completely obvious that the motive for the murder of Boris Nemtsov was not domestic or commercial but a desire to halt his political and public activity," the family's lawyer, Vadim Prokhorov, told journalists. For Zach and Tori Roloff, their first year as husband and wife has been picture perfect. The Little People Big World couple said 'I do' last July at the Roloff family farm in front of nearly 200 guests and since their walk down the aisle, they been enjoying every moment as a married couple. The Sweet Photos You Must See: Inside Zach and Tori Roloff's First Year as Husband and Wife| People Picks, TV News, Amy Roloff, Jeremy Roloff, Matt Roloff With Tori's Bernese Mountain dog Sullivan (aka Sully or Inspector Sullivan), "Our first pumpkin season as a married couple." The Sweet Photos You Must See: Inside Zach and Tori Roloff's First Year as Husband and Wife| People Picks, TV News, Amy Roloff, Jeremy Roloff, Matt Roloff "It definitely feels different wearing a ring," says Zach in the couple's Christmas photo. "I've never worn one!" The Sweet Photos You Must See: Inside Zach and Tori Roloff's First Year as Husband and Wife| People Picks, TV News, Amy Roloff, Jeremy Roloff, Matt Roloff "We were always meant to be married," says Patton whale watching in Hawaii. "Now it's just kind of more real." The Sweet Photos You Must See: Inside Zach and Tori Roloff's First Year as Husband and Wife| People Picks, TV News, Amy Roloff, Jeremy Roloff, Matt Roloff The couple stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco during a road trip down highway 101. The Sweet Photos You Must See: Inside Zach and Tori Roloff's First Year as Husband and Wife| People Picks, TV News, Amy Roloff, Jeremy Roloff, Matt Roloff The Roloff's are all smiles at an event for Zach's brother Jeremy and his wife Audrey Roloff's marriage blog Beating 50 Percent, a website dedicated to building better marriages. The Sweet Photos You Must See: Inside Zach and Tori Roloff's First Year as Husband and Wife| People Picks, TV News, Amy Roloff, Jeremy Roloff, Matt Roloff "Neither of us likes being the center of attention," says Zach hiking in Oregon with Tori. "We're not spotlight kind of people." The Sweet Photos You Must See: Inside Zach and Tori Roloff's First Year as Husband and Wife| People Picks, TV News, Amy Roloff, Jeremy Roloff, Matt Roloff The pair made a pit stop at Yosemite during a road trip with Patton's dog Sully. Little People, Big World airs Tuesdays (9 p.m. ET) on TLC. Taboola Founder and CEO Adam Singolda. Taboola, the digital content recommendation company, has acquired New York City-based video ad tech firm ConvertMedia as it looks to take on the likes of YouTube, Facebook, and Snapchat in the video advertising space. ConvertMedia specializes in what are known as "outstream" video advertising formats, which tend to appear within the content of an article and only play when the viewer is actually looking at the ad unit. Both publishers and ad buyers like outstream video ads because they offer more highly-prized video inventory (as they can appear anywhere on a site, not just within a piece of video content) that can be bought programmatically (using automated platforms rather than having to buy direct from sales teams), and they tend to be less annoying for the user than pre-roll or mid-roll video ad formats that require them to watch an ad before they can get to the actual video they want to watch with outstream, you can simply scroll away. For Taboola which you may recognize as being one of the companies that serves you up sponsored "content you may like" at the bottom of articles outstream video technology means it can get its ads much higher up the page, where they are more likely to be seen. Taboola did offer video ads before, but the user had to click away from the site they were on in order to view them, whereas outstream keeps the user on the same page, which is likely to drive higher ad rates. Speaking to Business Insider, Taboola CEO Adam Singolda explained his company has the vision of becoming one of the largest video streaming platforms on the open web. taboola Currently, Taboola content reaches 1 billion users a month, according to comScore, and Singolda hopes that now it can convert that reach into at least 1 billion video streams. "Snapchat, Facebook, and YouTube are the only three companies out there I know that are doing that," Singolda said. Snapchat said in April its users watch 10 billion videos a day. In November, Facebook said it had reached 8 billion daily video views. YouTube prefers to talk about viewing hours: It says on its website that "every day, people watch hundreds of millions of hours of YouTube videos and generate billions of views." The majority of those views are driven by users rather than ads, unlike with Taboola, where publishers and advertisers will pay for a mixture of branded content and pureplay ads. Story continues Singolda wouldn't comment on the price of the transaction, which was a cash and stock deal. The press release announcing the acquisition says ConvertMedia has a current annual run rate of $50 million, which would suggest the value was in the tens of millions of dollars. yoav naveh Like Taboola, ConvertMedia is also a New York City/Israel-based company with an Israeli founder. Singolda and ConvertMedia CEO Yoav Naveh had known each other for a few years ahead of the deal and the companies share an investor in Pitango Venture Capital. Taboola had been shopping around for a technology company with native video expertise and had been struck by ConvertMedia's "fast growth" from single digit millions of dollars in 2014 to tens of millions of dollars today. Singolda said he's also excited about the relationships ConvertMedia has with TV ad buyers something Taboola didn't have ahead of this acquisition. TV ad budgets tend to be far higher than those set aside for digital media and video is seen as the simplest way to help convert some of that spend because TV and video ads broadly follow the same kind of creative format. ConvertMedia's most direct competitor is France-based video ad tech outfit Teads, which is said to have invented the outstream video advertising unit. Its other competitors include companies with video SSPs (supply-side platforms) such as AppNexus, Altitude Digital, Tremor Video, and SpotX. ConvertMedia raised an undisclosed Series A round in 2010 but has never disclosed the amount. It has around 60 employees. Taboola has more than 400 employees and has raised $160 million in funding to date. Business Insider estimates Taboola generated $500 million in gross revenue in 2015. Disclosure: Business Insider is a Taboola customer. NOW WATCH: This Excel trick will save you time and impress your boss More From Business Insider TOKYO, July 26 (Reuters) - Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd will accept initial bids for its 70 percent stake in a chemicals company through Aug. 16, with potential suitors including CVC Capital Partners Ltd and Carlyle Group Ltd, sources told Reuters. Takeda, Japan's largest drugmaker by market value, aims to sell its holding in Wako Pure Chemicals Industries Ltd to streamline operations, four people familiar with the plan said, declining to be identified as the matter was private. The winning bidder would likely buy out the remaining shareholders, taking the deal over 100 billion yen ($957.95 million), the people said. The drugmaker is likely to receive an aggressive bid from Fujifilm Holdings Corp, which is seeking to expand its medical business and already owns 9.5 percent of Wako Pure, the people said. Buyout firm Permira is also among companies set to bid, they said. Takeda, Carlyle, CVC, Fujifilm and Permira declined to comment. Takeda has invited a number of the global buyout firms to the bid for its stake in the Osaka-based maker of laboratory chemicals and clinical diagnostic reagents, which had sales of 75.7 billion yen last year, the people said. A deal would follow the December sale of Takeda's portfolio of respiratory drugs to Britain's AstraZeneca PLC for $575 million. ($1 = 104.3900 yen) (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Christopher Cushing) The two-part stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child opens officially on Saturday at the Palace Theater in Londons West End, but previews have been running since June 7, and press reviews appeared Tuesday. Variety answers 10 questions conjured up by this latest addition to author J.K. Rowlings highly popular, highly creative and highly lucrative wizarding world. What did the critics think? The reviews have almost all been as glowing as the tip of Harrys wand. Rowling re-tweeted the best of them, such as the ones from Londons Daily Telegraph (British theater hasnt known anything like it for decades) and Londons Evening Standard (For once the so-called theatrical event of the year really is just that). Were there any naysayers? While almost all leading critics in Britain lauded the show, some had quibbles. The Financial Times said the play is long and bogged down by too much incident and too many characters, while the Guardian spoke of a convoluted story that will make much more sense to hardened Potterheads than to anyone who is not a member of the global cult. Although the play officially opens on Saturday, previews have already been going for seven weeks. Is that unusual? Matt Trueman, Varietys London theater reviewer, said: Its not unusual, exactly. Groundhog Day will have done a full month, for instance. What made this particular is that they were previewing one part, having a day off, then previewing the other. Actually, each individual show will have had a fairly standard number of previews. One of the changes made in the preview stage was the removal of live owls from the production. This followed the escape of one of the birds during the first performance. Will the play transfer to Broadway, and is there a New York venue already lined up? Gordon Cox, Varietys Broadway expert, said: No formal Broadway plans yet, and definitely no theater, but it seems sure to make it over eventually. Producer Sonia Friedman regularly produces work on both sides of the Atlantic, as does [fellow producer] Colin Callender. Story continues In his roundup of critics reviews, Cox noted that the New York Times critic Ben Brantleys thumbs-up is sure to grease the wheels for an incoming Broadway transfer. What about a movie adaptation of the stage play? David Heyman, the producer of the Harry Potter movie franchise, told Variety that, while he cant wait to see the play, there have been no discussions of it being a film. Mark Hutchinson, Rowlings publicist, added: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a stage play, with no plans for there to be a film. Who provides the standout performance in the play? Some critics have singled out the performance of Anthony Boyle, who plays Scorpius Malfoy, the son of Harrys old rival, Draco Malfoy. The Guardian described his characterization as wonderfully quirky, and The Independent wrote, Boyle shows spectacular comic timing. The Wall Street Journal said: The breakout performance is Anthony Boyles turn as the lonely, dorkish Scorpius. Wry and skittish, Mr. Boyle is a lanky live wire of self-deprecation. Tickets are expensive and also sold out, so how can I see the play if I havent already bought them? Every Friday at 1 p.m. London time, the theater releases 40 tickets for every performance the following week. To buy these tickets go to the plays website at that time and click the book tickets button (click here). Customers are selected at random for a chance to buy the tickets. Tickets cost 40 ($53) for both parts for some of the very best seats in the theater. The cost of regular tickets range from 30 ($39) to 130 ($171) for both parts. If I still cant see the play, how can I find out about the story? The book of the plays script will launch on July 31, which is both Harry Potters and Rowlings birthdays. This is the Special Rehearsal Edition, comprising the text version of the script at the time of the plays preview performances. It will be replaced by a Definitive Collectors Edition at a later date, according to Rowlings literary agency, The Blair Partnership. Is the book of the script likely to be a hit? It is already. On Monday, U.S. bookseller Barnes & Noble said the playscript is the companys most pre-ordered book since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final installment in Rowlings seven-volume series, in 2007, and it expects it to be its biggest-selling book of the year. Will there be celebrities at Saturdays Opening Gala performance? Invitations for the Opening Gala are for the friends and family of those who have worked on the production, as a celebration for the cast and creative teams, a spokesperson for the production told Variety. Visit Variety.com on Saturday for photos, footage and interviews with Potter fans at the theater. Related stories Is 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' the Next 'Hamilton'? West End Review: 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' J.K. Rowling Reveals Four Houses, History of America's Hogwarts Travis County sheriff's officer Sergeant Craig Hutchinson was shot and killed in the line of duty early Monday morning. According to a press release from the sheriff's department Hutchison contacted dispatch moments after he went off duty, reporting "prowlers" in his yard, and requested assistance from the Round Rock police department. At 1:36 a.m. 14 minutes after Hutchison called police he was found "near a creek behind his back yard with a gunshot wound," the release stated. He was taken to a local hospital where he died. Hutchison, described by the sheriff as a "gentle bear," spent 32 years with Travis County Sheriff's Office and intended to retire in September. So far, no suspects have been apprehended or identified, and police are asking the public to contact them at 512-671-2767 with any information. By PTI: Panaji, Jul 25 (PTI) Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar today announced that Staff Selection Commission/Board will be set up in the state for recruitment in the government sector. "We have already moved the proposal for Staff Selection Commission or Board before the Law department," he said in the state Assembly. He said the Commission/Board will spare the unemployed youths from appearing for the selection examinations every time they apply for the post. advertisement Under the Commission, one-time common exam would be held for candidates applying for posts in different government departments, he said. Parsekar was responding to a question tabled by Goa Vikas Party (GVP) legislator Caitan Silva, who sought to know the number of government sector recruitments conducted so far since March 2013. In the reply, it was informed by the government that 8,000 odd jobs have been provided in last three years. The maximum numbers of posts-- 2,414 -- have been filled in police department, followed by electricity (1,419), directorate of art and culture (489), department of health (444), fire and emergency services (291), and Public Works Department (238). PTI RPS NP SRY BAS --- ENDS --- H&Ms collaboration with Balmain is a tough act to follow. Thanks to Olivier Rousteings popularity and the help of a few Kardashians, Jenners, and Hadids, the line was one of the most successful partnerships the Swedish fast-fashion brand ever entered into. But H&M just offered its first look at its forthcoming collection with Kenzo, and chances are its going to be just as great. Kenzos creative directors Carol Lim and Humberto Leon consistently experiment with patterns and textures, so it comes as no surprise that the more affordable products feature the same signature elements. In the images released on Tuesday, the previewed items feature colored tiger prints on everything from high-waisted leggings to roll-neck tops and thigh-high boots. But while the clothings pretty predictable, the models wearing them including Isamaya Ffrench, Amy Sall, and Juliana Huxtable are definitely unexpected. Heres what you need to know about these fresh new faces: Juliana Huxtable A photo posted by LA MUNECA (@julianahuxtable) on May 3, 2016 at 8:37am PDT Huxtable is a trans woman whose work encompasses art, music, nightlife, and fashion. H&M isnt the first brand to call her up as a model. DKNY, Eckhaus Latta, Chromat and more have tapped her for projects. Just last year, she was turned into a lifelike sculpture at the New Museums Triennial by Brooklyn-based artist Frank Benson. Couple this with her work in nightlife as part of the House of Ladosha, and starting parties like #ShockValueNYC, and you can see why shes practically a New York institution. Amy Sall A photo posted by N. Amy Sall (@amy_sall) on Jul 6, 2016 at 5:42pm PDT When Salls not giving good face for Kenzo, shes editing SUNU: Journal of African Affairs, a publication that she founded, or lecturing at the New School in New York City. While these are tall intellectual orders in and of themselves, Salls notoriety with that work is probably only rivaled by her artistic and fashion-centric Instagram account that boasts almost 50,000 followers. Story continues Isamaya Ffrench A photo posted by Isamaya Ffrench (@isamayaffrench) on Jul 21, 2016 at 8:55am PDT Ffrench is a London-based makeup artist and beauty editor who has an aesthetic all her own. That certainly appealed to Leons casting concept, which he told Vogue includes people we admire, icons in their own fields, people who are influential beyond their fashion sensibility. Oko Ebombo A photo posted by @okoebombo on Dec 8, 2015 at 1:51am PST Ebombo is a Paris-based musician, actor, dancer, and photographer. He might not be a big deal stateside yet but you better believe his name will be known after Kenzo x H&Ms November release. This is just the beginning, Leon said of all those featured. We really put our heart and soul into how it will look. We just love what they do. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. (Adds Amgen, Allergan and Baxter quotes) By Svea Herbst-Bayliss NEW YORK, July 26 (Reuters) - Daniel Loeb's $16 billion Third Point LLC said on Tuesday that the firm's investments in energy credits drove positive returns during the first half of the year and is devoting over $1 billion to energy corporate credits. "We came into the year with a short credit portfolio that we reversed sharply in February, getting long over $1B in energy credit," Third Point said in its latest quarterly letter to clients. According to the letter, Third Point's Offshore Fund posted returns of 4.6 percent during the second quarter ended June 30, compared with the Standard & Poor's 500 which returned 2.5 percent. Third Point, overseen by Loeb who is one of the industry's most closely followed investors in part because of his record where he has delivered an average 16 percent return every year since launching his firm in 1996, said the firm reduced "more concentrated long investments" in health care. Third Point sold out of its stake in Amgen Inc because "we saw better opportunities elsewhere," the letter said. Third Point also said the firm continued to hold its Allergan stake. Its largest investment in the portfolio - Baxter International, a global manufacturer and supplier of health care products - has generated a nearly 20 percent internal rate of return (IRR) since its inception last June. "Despite this meaningful move in performance, its current size is consistent with our conviction about the company and its leadership and the potential we see for meaningful upside from these levels," Third Point said. Third Point has reduced its structured credit book of housing-related bonds from its highs and focused increasingly on new areas of opportunity in consumer lending, the letter said. "The year's positive performance reflects contributions from nearly all of the strategies we employ; the top five winners include a constructive long equity position, a sovereign debt investment, high-yield debt investments in energy companies, an event-driven long position, and a short equity position in the pharmaceutical industry," Third Point said. Story continues Overall, Third Point's bet on energy credits is paying off handsomely. Third Point said it sensed a bottom in energy around mid-February, with rumors swirling around Chesapeake's imminent Chapter 11 filing and another rumor that OPEC was willing to cut production. "This led oil prices to bottom, finally," Third Point said. Third Point said it is currently focused on debt of "companies with high-quality assets and deleveraging catalysts where we can make good returns while limiting downside risk should commodity prices stagnate." (Reporting by Jennifer Ablan and Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Leslie Adler, Bernard Orr and Chris Reese) Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine on Monday night appeared on Telemundo, where he gave an interview exclusively in Spanish, discussing immigration and the importance of the Latino vote. The interview marked one of his first interviews since being announced as Hillary Clinton's vp pick. Kaine, who has been a frequent guest on Telemundo (the NBC Universal-owned Spanish language network), learned Spanish when he was a 20-year-old missionary in Honduras. His fluency in the language has been considered an advantage for the Clinton campaign to counter Trump's anti-immigration remarks. Read More: Sarah Silverman Addresses "Bernie or Bust" Crowd at Democratic Convention: "Youre Being Ridiculous" "For Donald Trump, Latinos are second-class citizens," said Kaine on Noticias Telemundo. "We believe we are all Americans. We believe we are strong together. There is a big difference in this sense between the two parties and the candidates." Kaine expressed that immigration reform is part of Clinton's plans during her first 100 days of administration. He added that lowering the extreme violence stimulated by illegal drug dealing in countries such as Honduras and Guatemala is high on his list as well. "In Honduras, where I lived a long time ago, there is a lot of violence right now, and children are coming here from countries like Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala because of that," said Kaine. "I hope I could help work with the governments there to support their efforts at economic development, to combat the violence. Our nations should work together to end this situation." Read More: Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine Debut as Democratic Ticket in Florida Sen. Tim Kaine, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons running mate, waged a quixotic campaign to restrict President Barack Obamas power to wage war against the Islamic State. Will that leave him at odds with a Commander in Chief Clinton? If past positions hold, it would. Kaine has long argued that Congress needs to pass a new authorization for the use of military force, or AUMF, giving the White House permission to continue battling the Islamic State. In 2014, he drafted a war authorization bill outlining what the United States could and couldnt do to fight the group a measure designed to prevent the military campaign from escalating out of control. The proposal by the Virginia senator barred the use of U.S. ground troops in Iraq or Syria, placed explicit geographic constraints on where Congress was authorizing the president to fight, and required the White House to come back to Congress in a year for new approval. Ultimately, Kaines bill didnt advance in the Senate. At the end of this administration, with the complicity of this Congress, we have basically come up with a war doctrine that says wherever and whenever, as long as the president feels its a good idea without Congress even needing to do anything about it, Kaine said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in April. As the war in Syria drags on and the death toll climbs higher, Kaine and others continue to demand the White House get formal approval for the Islamic State fight. Clinton sees things differently and is effectively trying to have it both ways. Like Obama, she believes she could fight the Islamic State without explicit congressional approval. At the same time, she has said shes open to a new AUMF about the Islamic State, in part as a public relations gesture to show congressional support for the fight. Congress ought to express its resolve to stand behind our military and win this fight by passing a new AUMF, and she has publicly applauded Kaines efforts, Clinton spokesman Jesse Lehrich told Foreign Policy in a statement Tuesday. Story continues Put another way, a Clinton-Kaine administration would likely carry on the fight against the Islamic State by relying on the same legal argument that Obama has made: It doesnt need congressional approval the existing authorizations suffice but it would be nice to have it. Whether Clinton and Kaine, if elected, would renew the push for a new AUMF remains to be seen. For his part, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said he would formally declare war against the Islamic State, something that Congress hasnt done since World War II. One thing is clear: Clinton would handle the Islamic State fight very differently than Trump, who has outlined a neo-isolationist foreign policy and has talked about refusing to come to the aid of NATO members in the event of a Russian invasion. Clinton has adopted a far more hawkish approach, stressing that she would seek diplomatic approaches when possible but would use force if necessary. The former secretary of state reiterated that position Monday during a speech at a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in North Carolina. I have visited our troops in theaters of war and tension. I know how serious this is, Clinton said, to a chilly reception. Force must only be used as a last resort and only with a clear and well-thought-out strategy. Despite their differences over whether future presidents need congressional approval to fight the Islamic State, Clinton and Kaine both believe that the United States needs to create a no-fly zone or a humanitarian safe zone in Syria to protect civilians fleeing the countrys brutal civil war, a step Obama has been unwilling to take. If put in place, such a no-fly zone could require shooting down Russian or Syrian planes and bombing the countrys anti-air defenses a significant escalation of Americas role in a conflict the president has sought to avoid. Kaine has urged the president to establish humanitarian safe zones for more than a year. These zones would provide essential protection for displaced Syrian civilians and a safe transit route for desperately needed humanitarian supplies, Kaine wrote in an April 2015 letter to the president. His proposal, also supported by Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, did not offer specifics on how Syrians fleeing the safe zone would be protected from ground attacks by Syrian President Bashar al-Assads forces. The Obama administration has cited that uncertainty as part of its explanation for opposing the creation of a no-fly zone. This puts Kaine in line with Clinton, who has also broken with the White House with her own call for more interventionist policies in Syria, including arming the countrys moderate rebels. I personally would be advocating now for a no-fly zone and humanitarian corridors to try to stop the carnage on the ground and from the air, to try to provide some way to take stock of whats happening, to try to stem the flow of refugees, she said in October 2015. Kaines interest in military authorization was first sparked by his long-standing ties with the University of Virginia, which produced a bipartisan report in 2008 by two former secretaries of state, James Baker and Warren Christopher, calling for an overhaul in how the executive branch goes to war. He would always stress the fact that by design the constitution vests in Congress, not the president, the power to declare war, Peter Billerbeck, a former Kaine aide, told FP. California Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, worked with Kaine while he tried to get a similar war authorization bill through the House. Schiff credits Kaine for being willing to spend political capital on a fight he was likely to lose, as he ultimately did. Its not an issue you take on because you want a legislative victory to notch your belt with, because youre unlikely to get it, Schiff told FP in an interview Tuesday in Philadelphia. There are a lot of easier issues to take on. Early drafts of Kaines AUMF proposals were careful not to write a blank check for the presidents anti-Islamic State efforts. On top of U.S. ground troops prohibitions, a one-year sunset, and a desire to narrow the definition of associated al Qaeda forces, Kaine also wanted to place geographic constraints on where Congress was authorizing the president to go to war. However, hes been willing to compromise for the sake of finding a consensus. After a series of drawn-out debates with his Republican colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2014, Kaine voted in support of an authorization that did not include geographic limits and that lapsed after three years, not one. It had things Kaine didnt want, but he voted for it because he thought it was a good compromise, a current aide on Kaines Senate staff said. The Democratic Party platform adopted at the convention in Philadelphia Monday commits a Clinton-Kaine administration to seeking an updated and more precise AUMF. It explicitly rules out the large-scale combat deployment of American troops but sets no other restrictions on the future shape of the war. Schiff said Clinton, a former New York senator, understands the role Congress must play in authorizing the use of force. At the same time, as an executive, she would still face a deeply divided Congress. He expects that she would adopt the Obama administrations argument that it already has enough power to wage war but also be willing to make a legitimate push to get a new, Islamic State-specific one. It will be a necessary part of the broader effort of outlining the new administrations strategy for defeating ISIS and al Qaeda, Schiff said, referring to the Islamic State by an alternate acronym. This isnt just about authorizing war against ISIS. This is about whether or not Congress has any role in foreign policy and setting the parameters of foreign engagements, added Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee with Kaine and has also drafted his own AUMF legislation. This fight over the AUMF is really a fight over whether Congress is going to continue to be relevant. Photo credit: GUSTO CABALLERO/Getty Images zara Zara is the world's leading retailer. Analysts have said that the Spanish fast-fashion brand has the "best business model in apparel." After all, it has a speedy supply chain that churns out runway-inspired designs at wallet-friendly prices, making it a critical destination for frugal but fashionable millennial shoppers. But does the magic stop there? The company came under fire last week for allegedly ripping off designs from an independent designer, Tuesday Bassen. She recently posted the photo to Instagram to illustrate the problem. She admitted, though, that she's at at loss, because "as awful as it is that Zara have clearly stolen these designs, the cartoon style and slight changes made by Zara would make it difficult to prove this is plagiarism in court." I HAVE UPDATES: after speaking up about my art theft and @zara's bullying tactics, several other artists have come forward that @Zara has stolen from. @ADAMJK is updating the list at @shoparttheft, but I will update you tomorrow with numbers of. Just. How. Much. Zara. Steals. From. Artists. A photo posted by Tuesday Bassen (@tuesdaybassen) on Jul 24, 2016 at 7:44am PDT on Jul 24, 2016 at 7:44am PDT Still, many people have rallied behind her, furious at the company's pattern of taking designs from other people. An Instagram account called Shoparttheft points out lots of instances of Zara's egregious pattern of "borrowing" from other artists. It's been created in order to help support artists. "The sheer volume of @zara's intellectual property theft this year is stunning. This is not a coincidence. This is a blatant disregard for copyright law and the original work of independent artists worldwide," the post below reads. Hundreds of people have liked the post above. Story continues The drama started last week when Bassen tweeted the following, highlighting the problem: You know what? Sometimes it sucks to be an artist because companies like @zara consistently rip you off and deny it. pic.twitter.com/fs9Cn482XU Tuesday Bassen (@tuesdaybassen) July 19, 2016 All of this was reportedly without consulting with Bassen first or even paying her, she wrote on Twitter: .@Zara consistently uses my work against my wishes and without any compensation. pic.twitter.com/EOvi7wlp5i Tuesday Bassen (@tuesdaybassen) July 19, 2016 She said that Zara claims that her work is "simple," but she wants to be paid if the company is going to be using her work: .@Zara says my designs are "too simple" and a "common design" but they clearly LOVE MY WORK, so PAY ME. pic.twitter.com/mXJGKD124l Tuesday Bassen (@tuesdaybassen) July 19, 2016 Companies like @zara make it a business plan to steal designs from indie artists & condescend when you want payment. pic.twitter.com/YKG3RxShCD Tuesday Bassen (@tuesdaybassen) July 19, 2016 Bassen wrote that Zara's lawyers claimed that, since she was an independent artist and the retailer is a huge company, her argument was essentially lost: .@Zara's lawyers are literally saying I have no base because I'm an indie artist and they're a major corporation. pic.twitter.com/vZNAV2l1vN Tuesday Bassen (@tuesdaybassen) July 19, 2016 She wrote that she plans to press charges, but that fighting Zara has already been costly: I plan to further press charges, but even to have a lawyer get this LETTER has cost me $2k so far. pic.twitter.com/khCRWvHHzc Tuesday Bassen (@tuesdaybassen) July 20, 2016 Bassen, however, pointed out that this is something that can happen to a lot of artists but often, they don't have the funds to defend themselves and their work: I want to point out that most artists don't even get this far. Tthe "luxury" of spending $2k for a lawyer to write a letter (1/2) Tuesday Bassen (@tuesdaybassen) July 20, 2016 is something most artists cannot afford. This is for me and this is for every single artist that can't do anything. (2/2) Tuesday Bassen (@tuesdaybassen) July 20, 2016 Many people came to Bassen's defense, with thousands retweeting her complaints against the company, and some even making timely statements about stealing others' work: Zara over here stealing like Melania. https://t.co/fQAnqfqtTs Akilah Hughes (@AkilahObviously) July 20, 2016 But all of this is nothing new. In 2012, the company came under fire for reportedly ripping off New York street designer Patrick Waldo, The Huffington Post reported. And in 2014, Sibling called out the brand for stealing from its designs, too, Dazed reported. Earlier this year, many people blatantly called out the company for its Yeezy-esque line. But Bassen's plight demonstrates that taking cues from an independent designer can be a different ballpark from impersonating the work of a high-end, wealthy designer. Of course, in the fast-fashion world, there's a fine line between taking inspiration from a designer and blatantly stealing. After all, the central defining factor of fast-fashion companies like Zara is that they take cues from the runway, but "cues" may be the operative word here. The problem isn't unique to Zara. Forever 21 has also come under fire for similarly shady practices. Zara's parent company, Inditex, released the following statement to Business Insider: "Inditex has the utmost respect for the individual creativity of all artists and designers and takes all claims concerning third party intellectual property rights very seriously. Inditex was recently contacted by the lawyers of artist Tuesday Bassen who noted the use of illustrations in some badges sourced externally and on clothes in its Group stores. The company immediately opened an investigation into the matter and suspended the relevant items from sale. Inditexs legal team is also in contact with TuesdayBassens lawyers to clarify and resolve the situation as swiftly as possible. We are also currently investigating other allegations of illustrations used on badges provided by external suppliers on a case by case basis." NOW WATCH: The one reason Zara is dominating the fashion industry right now More From Business Insider A reader writes, Hey Jude worked rather well in those scenes depicting the Prague Spring of 1968 in The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Thats Marta Kubisovas voice, in her native Czech. Shes one of the most iconic cultural figures of Cold War Czechoslovakia: During the Prague Spring [a brief period of liberalization in 1968 that ended when the Soviet Union and other members of the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia to halt the reforms], Kubisova recorded over 200 SP records and one LP, Songy a Balady (Songs and Ballads, released in 1969), which was immediately banned from stores. Her song Prayer for Marta became a symbol of national resistance against the occupation of Warsaw Pact troops in 1968. In 1970, the government falsely accused her of making pornographic photographs leading to a ban from performing in the country until 1989. She was a signatory of the Charter 77 proclamation. Her first LPs after the Velvet Revolution in 1989 were a re-issue of Songy a Balady and a compilation of old songs, titled Lampa. (Submit a song via hello@. Track of the Day archive here. Pre-Notes archive here.) Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. By David Ingram (Reuters) - Lawyers for a transgender high school student in Virginia asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to keep out of a legal dispute about bathroom rights, an issue that has emerged as an increasingly divisive one in the United States. In court papers, lawyers for the student, Gavin Grimm, urged the Supreme Court to leave in place a lower court's order in favor of Grimm while the litigation goes on. The case is the first time the fight over transgender bathroom rights has reached the Supreme Court. Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued on behalf of Grimm to challenge the Gloucester County School Board's bathroom policy, which requires transgender students to use alternative restroom facilities. Grimm, 17, was born a girl but now identifies as male. A federal district court in June ordered the school board to allow Grimm to use the boys' restroom for now, and this month the school board asked the Supreme Court for an emergency stay of that order. Seeking to keep the order in place, ACLU lawyers wrote that no "irreparable harm" will occur if the Supreme Court keeps out of the case and Grimm uses the boys' bathroom. "In every context outside school, he uses the boys' restrooms, just like any other boy would," they wrote. The school board's application for a stay was directed to Chief Justice John Roberts, who has responsibility for emergency actions that arise from the appeals court that covers Virginia. Roberts could act alone or refer the matter to all eight justices. Five votes are needed to grant a stay application. In court papers this month, the school board's lawyers said the lower court wrongly deferred to President Barack Obama's administration's view that prohibitions on sex discrimination under federal law also apply to gender identity. In May, the Obama administration directed public schools nationwide to allow transgender students to use bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity or risk losing federal funding. So far, 23 states have sued to block the directive. Story continues Separately, the Justice Department sued North Carolina over a state law requiring people to use public bathrooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificates. An April ruling by the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of Grimm was the first by an appeals court to find that transgender students are protected under federal laws that bar sex-based discrimination. (Reporting by David Ingram in New York; Additional reporting by Lawrence Hurley in Washington; Editing by Dan Grebler and Chris Reese) Hulu has set August 11 for the premiere of Triumph The Insult Comic Dog Summer Election Special 2016. Its the follow-up to its Triumph election special, which aired in February during the primary season. The follow-up special was announced during Hulus upfront in May and will available to Hulu subscribers on August 11. In Triumphs Summer Election Special 2016, Triumph makes his return to the Presidential campaign trail, covering delegates, protesters, and the major players as they descend on Cleveland and Philadelphia for the Republican and Democratic conventions, respectively. Triumph has already made headlines conducting a live show directly behind Wolf Blitzers panel and commandeering a Westboro Baptist Church demonstration. The world needs this desperately, Triumph said from behind a female Corgi. Nothing makes sense right now. A craven bully is a nominee. Im talking, of course, about myself. In his previous Hulu special, Triumph took on the 2016 Presidential race in the heat of the primary election season taking viewers from Iowa, to New Hampshire, to South Carolina in a tenacious news-gathering journey. Triumphs Summer Election Special 2016 comes to Hulu in an expanded partnership with Funny Or Die. The special is created and executive produced by Robert Smigel and executive produced by Funny Or Dies Anna Wenger and Mike Farah; Conan OBrien, and Sue Fellows. Check out the clip above of Triumph at the Republican National Convention. [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyFtoaVlnHY&w=970&h=546] Related stories Samira Wiley Joins Hulu's 'The Handmaid's Tale' Lorenza Izzo, Daniel Zovatto & Tom Noonan Join Hulu's 'Dimension 404' Tara Lipinski, Michael Shamberg & Jonathan Igla Go For Gold With Hulu Figure Skating Drama Series The first detonated a car bomb and the second tried to storm the base on foot, but was shot and exploded at the gate. By Reuters: Suicide bombers killed at least seven people in an attack on the African Union's main peacekeeping base in Mogadishu, Somalia today, police said. Al Shabaab, the Islamist militant group that is trying to topple the Western-backed Somali government, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had killed more than 12 people. Two suicide attackers set off bombs near the airport. The first detonated a car bomb and the second tried to storm the base on foot, but was shot and exploded at the gate, officers added. advertisement "AU forces sealed the area. There were many Somalis outside the gate and there were AU forces at the gate - we have not yet confirmed the casualty figure," police officer Major Nur Osman told Reuters. --- ENDS --- By Steve Holland WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) - Republican nominee Donald Trump said on Monday that if elected U.S. president he would weigh an alliance with Russia against Islamic State militants but rejected any suggestion Russian President Vladimir Putin might be trying to help him win. Speaking at a rally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Trump dismissed any suggestion that Putin's intelligence services might have had a hand in hacking the Democratic National Committee's email system. Emails leaked last week disclosed that some party officials had been in favor of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton winning the Democratic presidential nomination over U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and sought ways to thwart Sanders. The uproar over the WikiLeaks revelations prompted Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign as DNC chairwoman, and Trump eagerly injected himself into the controversy. Trump dismissed a charge from Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook that Russian hackers might have stolen the emails and leaked them to embarrass Democrats and help Trump defeat Clinton in the Nov. 8 election. "I don't think it's coincidental that these emails were released on the eve of our convention here, and I think that's disturbing," Mook told CNN's "State of the Union." Trump dismissed what he called "one of the weirdest conspiracy theories" he said he had heard. He said he had never met Putin. But over the course of his year-long campaign, Trump has praised the Russian leader and one of his top foreign policy advisers, retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, had dinner with Putin last December. "When you think about it, wouldn't it be nice if we got along with Russia?" Trump said. "Wouldn't it be nice if we got together with Russia and knocked the hell out of ISIS?" he added, using another name for Islamic State. As it happens, skeptics in the U.S. government, European allies in the anti-Islamic State coalition and the main Syrian opposition, distrustful of Russia's intentions, are questioning Secretary of State John Kerrys own latest proposal for closer U.S.-Russian cooperation against militant groups in Syria. TRUMP ASSAILS AIR CONDITIONING Trump, kicking off a three-day campaign swing with his vice presidential running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, returned to his freewheeling style after giving a scripted speech on Thursday accepting the Republican presidential nomination. During an earlier event in Roanoke, Virginia, Trump labeled Clinton "low-energy," the same characterization he lobbed at Republican rival Jeb Bush; attacked her running mate, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia; and complained about the air conditioning in the hotel ballroom where he spoke. "I think the ballroom and the people who own this hotel ought to be ashamed of themselves," Trump said. Trump made light of Democratic disunity as party loyalists gathered in Philadelphia on Monday to anoint Clinton as their nominee this week, after a week in which Republicans struggled to unite behind Trump at their convention in Cleveland. Trump waved away Republican disunity as essentially isolated pockets of resistance and made an apparent reference to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, who was booed in Cleveland when he would not endorse Trump after losing to him in a bitter primary race. "We had a couple people who probably destroyed their career, but who knows," Trump said. "Look what's going on in Philadelphia. ... We had no riots, no nothing. It was unbelievable. I'll never forget it as long as I live." On Twitter, Trump added, "Wow, the Republican Convention went so smoothly compared to the Dems total mess." (Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Howard Goller) DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz at a campaign event for Hillary Clinton in Miami on Saturday. (Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP) Greetings from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia! Or for all my Russian friends reading on email: zdravstvuj! The news here, of course, is that the Democratic Party chairwoman, the much vilified Debbie Wasserman Schultz, stepped down after hacked emails revealed that she and her senior aides had been secretly entertaining ways to squelch Bernie Sanders primary rebellion. To me, what was shocking about those emails wasnt that the party was in cahoots against Bernie (this seemed clear enough after he was forced to sue the Democratic National Committee for access to its voter files), but rather how much time the chairwoman and her senior aides seemed to have for reading stories and coming up with pointless schemes. For instance, during the primaries in West Virginia and Kentucky, DNC officials hatched a plan to expose Sanders as a closet atheist. Because apparently a Jewish socialist with a thick Brooklyn accent is just another guy at the John Deere dealer in Wheeling, but being a secular humanist is a total deal breaker. Anyway, apparently these emails were exposed by Russian hackers, which prompted Hillary Clintons angry campaign manager, Robby Mook, to float a theory that the Russians had entered into a secret alliance with Donald Trumps campaign. I guess the deal went like this: Well get you Debbie Wasserman Schultzs emails, and you pull out of NATO. Whats Trump giving the Mexicans to get his wall financed? Texas? Trump took the opportunity of Wasserman Schultzs downfall to restate his love for Reince Priebus, her counterpart at the wholly owned Trump subsidiary formerly known as the Republican Party. Today proves what I have always known, Trump tweeted Sunday, that @Reince Priebus is the tough one and the smart one, not Debbie Wasserman Schultz. But I spoke to a few longtime Republican operatives in the past few days who had come to the exact opposite conclusion. They viewed the Democratic leaks not with glee, but with palpable envy. Story continues Thats because whatever Wasserman Schultz tried to do for Clinton and the Democratic establishment in her underhanded way is exactly what Priebus completely failed to do as his party was being overrun. You may recall, if you follow these things closely, that Republicans undertook what they actually called an autopsy after their losing 2012 campaign in an effort, I guess, to diagnose whatever flesh-eating virus had transformed Mitt Romney into the leader of the walking dead. Among the key findings of the report was that the party couldnt win if it didnt broaden its base, attracting more women and Latinos. Among the recommendations was that it should allow fewer primary debates six to 10, rather than the 13 debates held during the 2012 campaign and that those debates shouldnt start before September, in order to shorten the primary season. The unstated goal was to shore up support for an establishment candidate and lessen the time he would have to spend playing to an activist audience before pivoting toward a general election. And the party took this recommendation quite seriously only it was the wrong party. Wasserman Schultz made sure that Clinton didnt have to debate Sanders and Martin OMalley until October of last year, and she initially limited the number of debates to eight. That decision kept Sanders from getting much national exposure and effectively sidelined OMalley completely. And that was the point. After having been the guy to commission the autopsy, however, Priebus pretty much buried it with the body. Republicans held their first debate in early August and ended up scheduling a dozen more (although the last one was canceled after Trump decided to skip it). The early scheduling vastly helped Trump in his bid to dominate news coverage throughout a slow summer, when he was barely claiming the support of 20 percent of Republican voters. And the packed debate schedule enabled him to continue dominating the stage, even as more than 15 other candidates (too many to fit on one stage) vied to be noticed. And while Wasserman Schultz and her aides sat around looking for ways to derail Sanders nettlesome insurgency, Priebus declared himself essentially helpless. To be fair, its hard now to see any clear way in which Priebus might have stopped Trump from taking over. It wasnt his fault that the rest of the vote was split between all these governors and senators who had enough outside money to soldier on for months. All Priebus could do, it seemed, was to wait for someone solid to emerge from the pack and then try to rally the party around him. But what the moment really demanded was a more forceful personality someone more like Wasserman Schultz, with perhaps a touch more likability. You really think Haley Barbour would have sat around watching as some outsider a New Yorker who mocked the Bush family and praised Planned Parenthood, while driving away Latinos and women with his nativist appeal tweeted his way to the nomination? No, had Barbour still been chairman, he would have put a big, sticky thumb on the scale. He would have quietly leaned on the governors, the Senate leadership and the donors to figure out who the guy was going to be and get behind him publicly before it was too late. Would it have worked? Probably not. Trump had celebrity, and the party had too many delusional candidates. But what we now know for sure and always suspected anyway is that Wasserman Schultz delivered. She had her candidate, however flawed, and she was going to erect as much of a firewall as she could, no matter how loud or resentful the liberal base became. Wasserman Schultz delivered where Priebus didnt. Now the Clinton forces have disowned her on this, their most public of stages, and Wasserman Schultz will be lucky if she can hang on to her congressional seat. Its a hell of a way to say dasvidaniya. _____ Related slideshows: On the ground at the DNC a photo report >>> Bernie Sanders supporters make a last stand >>> Sanders supporters weep at DNC >>> How newspapers covered the DNCs first big day >>> Demonstrators protest outside the DNC >>> By Fatos Bytyci PRISTINA (Reuters) - Turkey's embassy in Kosovo has urged the government to take action against a journalist over tongue-in-cheek Facebook comments he made about the failed military coup in Turkey, a document seen by Reuters showed on Tuesday. As the failed coup unfolded on July 15, Berat Buzhala, a leading Kosovo journalist known for his satirical comments, wrote on Facebook: "I invite the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo who are holidaying in Turkey to align with the army." The comment was signed with an Internet emoticon with a tongue protruding, indicating the comment was not serious. "This is the most serious coup since the arrival of Facebook," Buzhala said. Turkey is a major supporter of Kosovo which declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Its companies run the sole airport, own electricity distribution and are building two highways worth around $2 billion. Buzhala has over 40,000 Facebook followers. His news portal gazetaexpress.com, which is the biggest in Kosovo with around one million readers per day, has been critical of Kosovans who have gone to fight for Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. On July 20, the Turkish Embassy in Pristina sent a note to Kosovo's foreign ministry urging it to take action over the journalist's comments. "(The ministry should) ensure that necessary steps will be taken about this person in accordance with the law," said the note which was accompanied by screen shots of Buzhala's Facebook comments. The embassy note, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, also quoted a newly-adopted Kosovo law which prohibits citizens from joining armed conflicts outside the country. In the note the embassy also said the law stipulated that comments by people such as Buzhala "shall be sentenced to jail terms from six months to five years." GULEN SCHOOLS IN BALKANS Some Balkan countries have faced pressure from Ankara to close private schools linked with Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based Muslim cleric accused by Ankara of orchestrating the July 15 coup attempt. Kosovo says that up to now it has not received any such request from Ankara. Local media quoted Education Minister Arsim Bajrami last week as saying Kosovo had no plans to close down its Gulen-linked schools. It remained unclear what steps the Kosovo authorities would take over the Turkish diplomatic note. Foreign ministry officials in Pristina declined to comment. Buzhala said he had not been informed about the embassy's note but he saw an online campaign against him by Islamist websites demanding his arrest. "This demonstrates the arrogance of the Turkish government towards small countries like Kosovo, wanting to push them into political and judicial submission, in addition to economic submission," Buzhala said. "It is unimaginable that a foreign government makes such a request because of some satirical comments." In Bosnia, where Gulen-sponsored schools have opened since the war of the 1990s, Turkish Ambassador Cihad Erginay last week called on officials and parents to act against the schools which he branded as "terrorist organizations". Bosnian officials have not reacted yet. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was reported to have asked for Gulen's schools to be shut when he visited Sarajevo last year. (Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Additional reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic in Sarajevo; Editing by Aleksandar Vasovic and Richard Balmforth) Ankara (AFP) - Defying international alarm, Turkey on Tuesday widened its crackdown after a failed coup, detaining top generals serving in Afghanistan as well as prominent journalists. In a move apparently reflecting a shift in diplomatic strategy, Turkey also announced President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin next month after months of chill between the two countries. Two senior Turkish generals serving in the NATO force in Afghanistan were detained at Dubai airport on suspicion of links to the attempt to overthrow Erdogan, an official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The source named the pair as Major General Mehmet Cahit Bakir, the commander of Turkey's task force in Afghanistan, and Brigadier General Sener Topuc. The detentions followed cooperation between Turkish intelligence and UAE authorities, the state-run Anadolu news agency added, saying the pair were now being brought to Turkey. "The Turkish contingent continues its mission," a spokesman for the NATO force in Afghanistan said, without further comment. In a separate development, police were searching a naval academy just outside Istanbul in a probe into coup plotters, reports said. The attempted putsch of July 15 has sent shockwaves through all aspects of life in Turkey, with institutions from the police to Turkish Airlines and the media. Some 13,000 people have been detained and over 9,000 of them remanded in custody ahead of trial over the coup, which the Turkish authorities blame on reclusive Pennsylvania-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen. - Journalist detained - Veteran journalist Nazli Ilicak was detained on Tuesday at a traffic checkpoint in the southwestern region of Bodrum, a day after the authorities issued arrest warrants for over 42 reporters, Anadolu said. According to the Dogan news agency, eight of the 42 have now been detained including Ilicak and the former pro-Gulen Zaman newspaper writer Hanim Busra Erdal, who was picked up in the western city of Manisa. Story continues Also held in the coup investigation was former governor of Istanbul Huseyin Avni Mutlu, Anadolu said, while a Turkish official said two senior foreign ministry diplomats have been removed from their posts. According to Anadolu, more than 47,000 civil servants have lost their jobs since the coup, including almost 43,000 in the state education sector. A major shake-up of the Turkish armed forces is expected to be announced on Thursday when the country's Supreme Military Council meets. With 143 generals and more than 3,000 soldiers arrested on suspicion of links to the coup, there are gaping holes in the command structure which will have to be filled. The government says the stringent measures are needed to clear out the influence of Gulen from Turkey's institutions, claiming he has created a "parallel state" inside Turkey. Gulen -- who lives in a compound in rural Pennsylvania and whose foundation runs a global network of schools, charities and media interests -- has strongly denied the accusations. In an apparent sign of Turkey's post-coup diplomatic strategy, Erdogan will visit Russia on August 9 to repair ties harmed by the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkish jets last year, officials said. He will meet President Vladimir Putin, Turkish deputy premier Mehmet Simsek said, after talks with Russian counterpart Arkady Dvorkovich. - Coup shock - Turkey has undergone a seismic shift since the night of July 15, when renegade soldiers sought to topple Erdogan but were stopped by crowds of civilians and loyalist security forces. At least 270 people were killed on both sides. A bridge over the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul -- which saw some of the fiercest fighting -- is to be renamed July 15 Martyrs' Bridge after the victims of the failed coup bid, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said. Thousands of Erdogan supporters continue to fill city squares across Turkey every night with the president telling them to stay until further notice in a "vigil" for democracy. The crackdown and announcement of a three-month state of emergency has prompted sharp exchanges with the European Union, which Turkey has for years sought to join but which has sternly warned Ankara to obey the rule of law. Erdogan took a swipe at the EU on Tuesday, accusing Brussels of not paying its way under a deal to send Syrian refugees back across the Aegean. "The (European) governments are not honest," Erdogan told German public television station ARD. The failed coup in Turkey on July 15-16 has done exactly what many experts predicted: Its given Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a green light to implement the next stage of his plan to turn the country into an Islamic state. After quelling the insurgent military rebels, Erdogan did the following in short order: Detained 42 journalists. Arrested or suspended 57,000 soldiers, police, judges and civil servants suspected of complicity in the coup. Arrested 62 children for treason from a military school. They were jailed and not allowed to speak with their parents. Tortured detainees, according to Amnesty International. Whats at stake is a long-time strategic relationship that has been pivotal to U.S. national security interests for decades. Turkey has been a particularly important NATO ally of the United States because of its strategic geographic location between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. It was a key military base for the U.S. in the Middle East from the start of the Cold War up to the fight against ISIS. Turkeys Incirlik air base was used by U.S. warplanes launching attacks against Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait. Incirlik was also used to enforce the no-fly zones in Iraq before the 2003 invasion. Related: Turkey Widens Post-Coup Purge, Demands U.S. Hand Over Cleric More recently, the U.S. and Turkey have been at odds over the use of Incirlik in the war against ISIS. Erdogan was worried that strikes in Iraq would benefit the Kurds, who have long sought independence from Turkey. The relationship cooled but quickly recovered, even though the U.S. watched with dismay as the democratically elected Erdogan began to act as an autocrat after he was elected in 2014. Turkey Coup Aftermath by the Numbers | Graphiq Erdogans Islamic Rule For about 80 years, Turkeys army maintained a dominant role in its politics. It organized coups to force the countrys politicians to adhere to the armys secular vision of Turkey. But in 2001, a conservative Islamic party founded by the current Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan won the election. Story continues Gradually, Erdogan intensified Turkeys Islamic identity and removed many secular generals and colonels from the army. In the meantime, Turkeys economy experienced steady growth, which enhanced Erdogans popularity. Turkeys status as a main player in the Middle East has been boosted as well. Erdogan was considered by many Turks and foreigners as an able statesman who earned his peoples and the worlds respect. Erdogan had an ally who was, in a way, a spiritual leader for many Islamist Turks. Fethullah Gulen, who now resides in Pennsylvania, helped Erdogan erase the secular influences by trying and convicting army officers, judges, police officers, academics and journalists for alleged conspiracy against the government. Gulens men replaced the secularists in these many sectors. Related: Turkey Issues Detention Warrant for 42 Journalists The inevitable power struggle between the two men resulted in a broken alliance and by 2013, Gulen and Erdogan were enemies. Gulens men started fixing cases against Erdogans men in power. Erdogan started a house cleaning to remove Gulens men from the army, police, judiciary and the press. Gulen built what 60 Minutes called The Gulen Movement -- with millions upon millions of disciples who compare him to Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Gulen promotes tolerance, interfaith dialog, and above-all: he promotes education. And yet he's a mystery man -- he's never seen or heard in public -- and the more power he gains, the more questions are raised about his motives and the schools. Who Was Behind the Coup In any coup, the rebels need to arrest or kill the countrys leaders, take control of the main radio or TV stations, and seize key locations and facilities to prevent any countercoup forces from mobilizing. Related: Turkey's Erdogan Beats Foes for Now, But at High Cost to Stability The coup failed to arrest or kill Erdogan, who managed to mobilize his supporters to take to the streets, and only partially succeeded in the second and the third tasks. It also lacked national and foreign support. The Turkish government has accused Gulen of masterminding the coup and has demanded that the U.S. hand him over, but Kerry has refused. The failed coup has further soured the Turkish-American relationship. But the coup is simply not Gulens style. His movements signature strategy is to set the stage for its followers to occupy key positions, not to take power by force. Conspiracists accuse Erdogan himself of orchestrating the coup to solidify his grip of power, arrest all of his remaining opponents, and pass constitutional amendments that gives the president more executive powers. Related: Turkey's Spy Agency Suspends 100 People Suspected of Links to Gulen However, its hard to imagine that Erdogan would risk shaking the security of his government for these gains. More than 230 people were killed, and 1,500 others were injured during the coup. The Incirlik air base was shut down. Turkeys future has never been at risk in the way it is today. The most likely scenario is that some followers of the Gulen movement staged an ill-prepared coup without consulting with their leader because they felt threatened by Erdogan. The latters recent steps of revoking the sentences against secular army officers and academics, consolidating with Russia and Israel among others, and granting the army officers immunity from prosecution may have been badly interpreted by some of Gulens followers. What Next for Turkey and the United States? Even before the failed coup, the Obama administration signed a defense agreement with the Iraqi Kurds to support the Kurdish forces in return of their participation in liberating Mosul in northern Iraq from ISIS. The agreement will boost the Kurdish aspiration of independence. This is the last thing Turkey wants. In the aftermath of the coup, a major ally of the United States that was once considered a model of harmony between Islam and the West is almost completely lost to an authoritarian religious dictatorship. The country will move further away from the West and closer to the sectarian conflicts of the Middle East. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: (ATHENS) Even before Turkey was thrown into crisis by a coup attempt, its deal with the European Union to stop migration westward was under strain: Turks did not get the visa-free travel they were promised, and Greece was overwhelmed with asylum claims that have halted deportations for weeks. Now critics of the agreement argue Turkey is even more unsafe, and warn the arrangement might collapse altogether heightening anxiety in neighboring Greece, the main gateway for migrants into the E.U. Amnesty International says it has gathered evidence that people who have been detained in President Recep Tayyip Erdogans sweeping purge of suspected sympathizers of the attempted coup on July 15-16 are being beaten and tortured. With allegations of torture in detention, a crackdown on freedom of expression and a general roll back of rights, the E.U. cannot expect to outsource its refugee responsibilities to Turkey, the rights groups deputy Europe director Gauri van Gulik told the AP. Amnesty and other groups have already demonstrated Turkey is not a safe country to return refugees to. And the events of last week are only likely to exacerbate the situation. More than a million migrants crossed into the continent last year, mostly from Turkey to nearby Greek islands. The number of arrivals fell dramatically after Ankara reached an agreement with the EU in March, sweetened with hefty financial support and promises to ease European travel restrictions for Turks. NATO was allowed to patrol the eastern Aegean, while migrants arriving after March 20 were detained for deportation. Migration expert Brad Blitz said that as far sending refugees back, the deal is now probably doomed. Quite honestly, I dont see how anyone could claim that Turkey is a safe country. I didnt think it was a safe country beforehand in terms of returning people, but this (purge) is so blatant with thousands of people arrested and allegations of torture The situation there is so unstable that you might see Turkey journalists and academics coming across the Aegean with migrants, said Blitz, a professor of international politics at Middlesex University in London. Story continues It will put more pressure on Greece, he said. More than 57,000 migrants are stranded in Greece, with 8,500 of them awaiting possible deportation on Lesbos, Chios and other islands facing Turkey. So far, fewer than 500 have been sent back, and none since mid-June as authorities remain bogged down by asylum applications. According to government data, migrant arrivals have increased slightly to about 100 a day roughly double the number seen in recent weeks, but still far lower that massive levels seen last fall when daily arrivals topped 3,000. In past weeks, violence has repeatedly broken out at overcrowded deportation camps on the islands, where some locals have staged protests, angered by the effect of the crisis on tourism. In Brussels, EU officials have said little about the prospects of the migration agreement. EU Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters Friday that it goes without saying that the commission monitors the situation in Turkey. For the time being, we maintain our position. The guarantees (provided by Ankara) are valid, he said. The upheaval in Turkey is likely to be felt in Greece in the next two months, argues Thanos Dokos, director of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, an Athens-based think tank. Now we now have a chilling of relations between the E.U. and Turkey because of the purges and the debate about the death penalty and I suspect Mr. Erdogan will not be in any mood to make the life of E.U. countries easier when it comes to the refugee situation, Dokos said. So we might see in the next couple of months a return to the situation of late 2015 and early 2016 when larger numbers of people were crossing the Aegean every day. Saying larger numbers, I dont think we will go back to the 3,000 people per day. Becatoros reported from Istanbul, Turkey. Raf Casert in Brussels contributed. ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's religious affairs directorate has so far removed a total of 1,112 personnel, including preachers and instructors in the Koran, since the July 15 failed military coup, it said on Tuesday. Turkish authorities accuse U.S.-based Islamic preacher and scholar Fethullah Gulen of orchestrating the abortive coup, in which at least 246 people were killed. Gulen, who denies the charge, has built up an extensive network of supporters, schools, charities and businesses in Turkey over decades. Separately, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters that two ambassadors, currently based in Ankara, had been removed following the coup attempt. Turkish authorities have suspended, detained or placed under investigation more than 60,000 soldiers, police, judges, teachers, civil servants and others since the July 15 coup attempt. (Reporting by Ercan Gurses; Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Nick Tattersall) By Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Officers accused of staging a failed coup in Turkey will stand trial in an Ankara district laden with symbolism for the country's recent history - the scene of an army show of strength before a "post-modern coup" ousted its first Islamist-led government in 1997. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said a new court house will be built in the district of Sincan, where the army paraded several dozen tanks and armored vehicles on Feb. 4, 1997 after an Islamist protest attended by the Iranian ambassador. Within months, Islamist prime minister Necmettin Erbakan was forced from power by secular generals who used pressure behind the scenes rather than the kind of overt military force employed in three earlier coups. Another Islamist politician at the time, the mayor of Istanbul, was tried for reading a poem which was seen as inciting hatred and jailed for four months in 1999. That man was Tayyip Erdogan, who is now Turkish president. More than 13,000 people have been detained in connection with the July 15-16 attempt to overthrow Erdogan. Among the nearly 9,000 soldiers under arrest are around 160 generals and admirals. Late last week, Bozdag said there are currently no courts in Turkey capable of handling such large numbers of defendants, hence the need for a new building. "It will be within the district borders of Sincan," he told broadcaster CNN Turk. "We have to create a place where the trial can be held in a sound way." The pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper made clear the site was no coincidence. "Sincan was chosen especially for the prosecution of the putschists," it said. The new court house, Turkey's largest, would accommodate 900 people within a prison complex in Sincan, it reported. In the past decade, Turkey has held trials for hundreds of defendants, including many military officers, accused of involvement in two previous alleged coup attempts, dubbed "Ergenekon" and "Sledgehammer". Those trials were held in a court house in the Silivri prison complex, west of Istanbul. (Editing by Michael Georgy and David Stamp) By Humeyra Pamuk and Gareth Jones ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Just weeks ago, Commander Adem Huduti was inspecting Turkish troops on the Syrian border and being praised in the media for his role in the fight against Islamic State and Kurdish militants. Now, the head of Turkey's second army, responsible for its borders with Syria and Iraq, is in prison in Duzce, some 216 km (134 miles) east of Istanbul, the most senior serving general arrested for suspected involvement in a failed military coup. At least 246 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured on the night of July 15, when a faction within the army used fighter jets, helicopters and tanks to try to seize airports and bridges, attacking buildings including parliament and the intelligence headquarters in a bid to seize power. The plot crumbled quickly. But it exposed and exacerbated divisions within the second largest military in the NATO alliance, raising questions about its ability to contain a growing threat from Islamic State in neighboring Syria and a renewed insurgency by Kurdish militants. "The Turkish military is now a broken force and it will take years for it to heal," said Aaron Stein, resident fellow at the Washington-based Atlantic Council, whose research focuses on Turkey and regional security. "The plot extends beyond a rogue faction ... Beyond the loss of Huduti, the entire security apparatus now has another threat to focus on, in addition to Islamic State and the on-going insurgency in the southeast." Huduti is one of around a third of Turkey's roughly 360 generals to have been detained since the abortive coup, more than 100 of them already charged pending trial. Authorities have also launched mass purges of state institutions, from the police and judiciary to academia and the civil service. Huduti has denied being involved in the plot. In eight pages of testimony published by the Hurriyet newspaper, he said armed coup plotters tried to force him to join them but he refused, ordering his men to stay in their barracks. Huduti was "an experienced commander in border security and regions of crisis", the Haberturk newspaper said last December. The pro-government Sabah daily in March hailed him as "the commander who has cleansed Cizre and Sur," two southeastern areas that saw the heaviest clashes with Kurdish militants. Guilty or not, the coup plot and the detention of thousands of soldiers have shaken the armed forces in a country where the military long saw itself as the ultimate guardian of secular democracy, and where there had not been a violent military coup for more than 30 years. "What we have seen in the last few days is the start of a process which will have an impact on Turkey and its armed forces for the next 20-30 years. It is monumental," said Gareth Jenkins, an Istanbul-based writer on Turkey's military. "We will see a very highly politicized military now, just as the civil service has become. Dismissals and detentions have a knock-on effect on the whole chain of command ... The inevitable loss of trust has a big impact on operational capabilities." Former NATO Supreme Commander James Stravridis said the fallout from the coup attempt would have a chilling effect on Turkeys military readiness. "There will be a strong negative impact on the ability of the Turkish military to perform its duties across the spectrum of alliance activities," he wrote in the latest issue of Foreign Policy magazine. "Unfortunately, it is likely that the military in the wake of the coup will be laser-focused on internal controversy, endless investigations, and loyalty checks and simply surviving as an institution." "NOBODY LISTENED" In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, President Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged there had been intelligence failures and said the armed forces would now have to be restructured quickly to bring in "fresh blood". The Supreme Military Council (YAS), the highest body responsible for appointments in the armed forces, will meet under Erdogan's supervision on July 28. There are likely to be significant personnel changes. Akin Ozturk, head of the air force until 2015 and a member of YAS, was one of the masterminds of the plot, Turkish officials have said. Erdogan's aide-de-camp is also among those to have been detained. At least a quarter of the generals who have been formally arrested are from the air force, a part of the military crucial not only in the fight against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in Turkey's southeast, but also in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State. Erdogan has blamed the coup plot on U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, an ally-turned-foe whose network of millions of followers have built influence over decades in the military, police, judiciary and parts of the state bureaucracy. Erdogan's critics say he and the Islamist-rooted AK Party he founded allowed Gulen's followers to rise to key positions within the state apparatus to help curb the power of the military, which had ousted four governments since 1960 for posing what it saw as an Islamist threat to the secular order. Critics say it was mainly Gulenist prosecutors who, around the time in 2008 when Erdogan's AK Party narrowly escaped being banned, built two big conspiracy trials targeting the upper echelons of the army. Hundreds of officers were jailed. It later became clear, after many charges were dismissed, that bogus evidence had been used in the two cases, known as "Ergenekon" and "Sledgehammer". Those jailed were released, but several former senior officers said the cases weakened the armed forces and helped the Gulenists to rise through the ranks. "We knew there was a Gulenist structure within the army, I knew some of them by name. But now I realize the situation was more grave than I thought," said Ahmet Yavuz, 61, a retired major general who was jailed in the Sledgehammer trial. "The government and those who ran the armed forces ignored our warnings. They ruined the genetic makeup of the army and this created a space for the Gulenists to move within the army as they pleased," he told Reuters. Gulen, now 75 and living in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania since 1999, denies any involvement in the failed coup. Turkey wants him extradited but the United States says it must first provide firm evidence of criminal wrongdoing. Echoing Yavuz's comments, Mehmet Ali Celebi, a former army lieutenant also jailed over the Sledgehammer case, said many officers were angry that their warnings about the Gulenists' deepening grip in the military had been ignored. "Nobody listened to us. It is now clear that those who accused us (in the Sledgehammer and Ergenekon trials) of plotting coups were the real plotters," he said. SECURITY CONCERNS The shake-up in the security apparatus is likely to see an increased role for police special forces, who have already taken on a more significant presence in and around Erdogan's presidential palace in Ankara. The military presidential guard will be abolished, while the gendarmerie and coast guard will fully come under the authority of the Interior Ministry, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said. Turkey has suffered bomb attacks this year, including in Ankara and its biggest city Istanbul, some blamed on Islamic State, others claimed by Kurdish militants. A triple suicide bombing and gun attack blamed on Islamic State killed 45 people and wounded more than 200 last month at Istanbul's main international airport. "Turkey faces remarkable security concerns: the conflict with the PKK, Islamic State and other jihadis and now the danger of remnants from the coup itself," said Howard Eissenstat, a Turkey expert at St. Lawrence University in New York. "The government really has no choice but to engage in broad purges of the military: it can't afford the possibility of "dead enders" remaining within its ranks. Rebuilding these forces will take a few years, but rebuilding the structures and trust will take even longer," he said. Two senior Turkish officials said that while the priority was to cleanse the whole security apparatus of coup plotters, there was no risk to national security and that replacements were already being put in place for those detained. But a third official was more cautious. "The police headquarters is missing its front and back sides," he said, referring to one of the buildings bombed by the coup plotters during the events of July 15. "There is not even a stable building. Will there be a security problem under these conditions...? You tell me." (Additional reporting by Orhan Coskun in Ankara, Robin Emmott in Brussels; Editing by Nick Tattersall, Janet McBride) This ongoing facelift is a continued threat to the lives of tourists visiting the monument as was proved on Monday, when the tourist got injured. By Siraj Qureshi: A tourist was seriously injured in the head when he was hit by a stone that fell from one of the minarets of the Taj Mahal on Monday. It has been several months since the Archaeological Survey of India started large-scale beautification and repair of the Taj Mahal. Since then, several lakhs of tourists have visited the monument and photographed the minarets of the monument covered in ugly scaffoldings. advertisement This ongoing facelift is a continued threat to the lives of tourists visiting the monument as was proved on Monday, when the tourist got injured. CLOSE SHAVE FOR INFANT Nisar Ahmed, a resident of Tamil Nadu, was hit in the head by the stone which fell from a height of 133 feet. He was immediately rushed to a private hospital in an ambulance. Luckily, Nisar's infant son, who was in his arms, was not hit by the stone. Questioned on the incident, ASI Superintending Archaeologist Dr Bhuvan Vikram said that the ASI takes all necessary precautions to prevent any tourists from getting injured during the renovation of the monument and it was still being investigated how Ahmed got so close to the minaret that he got hit by the stone. He said that the ASI staff has been posted near the minarets now to warn the tourists to stay away from them. POOR STATE OF AFFAIRS Agra Tourist Welfare Chamber Secretary Vishal Sharma said that it was an appalling state of affairs that incidents of stones falling in the Taj Mahal and other monuments were increasing despite the renovation of these monuments by ASI. He said that maybe it was time that experts from western countries were brought in to help conserve Agra monuments, especially the Taj Mahal, where several similar incidents have happened recently, including the falling of the pinnacle of the same minaret, from where the stone fell on Monday. ONUS ON ASI He said that he could recall over half-a-dozen such incidents in various Agra monuments since May 2015, where stones had fallen. Such incidents become a source of bad publicity for Agra and need to be taken very seriously as the ASI is earning crores of rupees from these monuments, but the conservation efforts left a lot to be desired. Also read: NGT serves notices to Agra authorities for failing to protect Taj Mahal from pollution --- ENDS --- Adam Copelands new gig is far from Haven. The actor will recur on Season 5 of Vikings as Ketill Flatnose, a fierce and brave warrior, our sister site Deadline reports. RELATEDJonathan Rhys Meyers Joins Vikings Cast Flatnose is chosen by Floki to be one of the leaders of the Viking group traveling to Iceland to set up a community there. Press PLAY below to watch a Comic-Con trailer for the History series. Ready for more of todays newsy nuggets? Well * Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has tapped Lilli Birdsell (Bones, NCIS: New Orleans) to recur in Season 4 as Lucy, a beautiful woman with a very violent streak, Deadline reports. RELATEDAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D. @ Comic-Con: Ghost Rider Casting News, Bobbi/ Lance Buzz and More Season 4 Scoop * Tony Award winner Renee Elise Goldsberry (Hamilton) will star opposite Oprah Winfrey in the HBO film The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, per Deadline. The Good Wife alumna will play the title role of an African-American woman whose cells were used to create the first immortal human cell line. * Insult Comic Dog Triumphs Summer Election Special 2016 will be available Thursday, Aug. 11, on Hulu. * David Spade will host the Comedy Central Roast of Rob Lowe, airing Monday, Sept. 5. * This years PaleyFest Fall TV Previews (running Sept. 8-13 in Beverly Hills) will feature Foxs Pitch and Lethal Weapon (plus Son of Zorn and The Exorcist screenings), El Reys Lucha Underground and From Dusk Till Dawn, ABCs Notorious and American Housewife (plus a Designated Survivor screening), The CWs No Tomorrow and Frequency, CBS Pure Genius (plus Bull, MacGyver and Kevin Can Wait screenings) and NBCs This Is Us (plus Timeless and The Good Place screenings). Visit paleycenter.org for more info/tickets. Launch Gallery: Exclusive Comic-Con Portraits From Favorite Shows Related stories Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 'After Dark' Preview: A 'Sexy' New Star, Naked [Spoiler] and Hashtag #Sideboob Story continues Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. @ Comic-Con: Ghost Rider Casting News, Bobbi/ Lance Buzz and More Season 4 Scoop TVLine Items: GH Star's Return Date, Rose Byrne Joins Oprah Pic and More These two Disney stars posted the cutest #tbts for their movies 10th anniversary These two Disney stars posted the cutest #tbts for their movies 10th anniversary Disney Channel Original Movies own a ton of property in our hearts and in our memories, which is especially the case since theres now exactly 100 DCOM movies out there in the world. Fortunately for us, this means that there are going to be a ton of Disney movie anniversaries in the future and this past week, we got to celebrate one of them. On Thursday, it was the 2006 movie Read it and Weeps anniversary and, in honor of this special occasion, star Kay Panabaker (who played Jamie Bartlett), posted a behind-the-scenes collage on Instagram. A photo posted by kaypanabaker (@kaypanabaker) on Jul 21, 2016 at 6:34pm PDT You never know whats gonna impact your life 10 years later. Read It and Weep still remains one of my favorite jobs. It was my second time working in Utah in 6 months with the same crew, so it felt like going home, wrote Kay, making us sob tears of nostalgia and joy. I got to work with my sister [Danielle Panabaker, The Flashs Caitlin Snow], my mom was with me and my dad was there as often as he could be. So it really was like home. Kay added that whenever she hears people talking about this movie, it brings a smile to her face. Thats exactly why she wanted to take the time to pay tribute to Read it and Weep on her Instagram, while thanking all the movies fans for 10 years of great memories. As for Jason Dolley (aka Connor Kennedy), he posted his own #tbt: A photo posted by Jason Dolley (@jdolley) on Jul 21, 2016 at 11:32am PDT Jason also shared a super sweet story, revealing that he almost didnt agree to star in the movie. Thats because, on a Friday night, Dolley found out that he got the part but that Monday, his 8th grade class was set to go on a trip to Washington D.C. It was a tough choice, Jason said. My brother went on the same trip the year before, and hearing about all the places hed seen and memories hed made, I couldnt wait to go. All my friends were going. I knew Id be missing out. But I also knew I couldnt say no to this opportunity. I couldnt have imagined where this decision would lead me. I think back to that night and who I would be now if I hadnt gotten on a flight to Salt Lake City Saturday morning instead of the one to D.C. on Monday. Happy Anniversary, Read it and Weep! Well, were really glad Jason made the choice to stick with Read it and Weep. Because, lets be real, this movie is DCOM gold. The post These two Disney stars posted the cutest #tbts for their movies 10th anniversary appeared first on HelloGiggles. Mogadishu (AFP) - At least 13 people were killed on Tuesday in twin bombings near UN and African Union buildings by Mogadishu's airport, police said, in what the jihadist Shabaab group claimed as a suicide attack. The Al-Qaeda aligned Shabaab group is blamed for a string of bloody assaults in Somalia and neighbouring Kenya, and is fighting to overthrow Mogadishu's internationally-backed government. "At least 13 people were confirmed to have died in two explosions, one of the vehicles went off near a security checkpoint and another close to a UN compound," said Bishaar Abdi Gedi, a police official. The attack was condemned by the African Union and the United Nations, which noted that none of its personnel were among the confirmed dead. "This horrific incident is a fresh example of the extremists' desperate attempts to disrupt political progress", said Michael Keating, the UN's special representative for Somalia. A Shabaab statement said it was a suicide attack by its militants. "The two explosions were carried out by two brave Mujahedeen suicide bombers and they have targeted two different locations where the so-called AMISOM peacekeepers are stationed," it said, referring to the African Union mission to Somalia. An AFP journalist at the scene heard gunfire after the explosions tore through the area. A portion of the airport's boundary wall was partially destroyed by one of the car bombs. - 'Senseless' attack - The city's airport is heavily fortified and adjoins the capital's main base for AMISOM, the 22,000-strong force backing the government in the battle against Shabaab insurgents. AMISOM troops were deployed to Somalia in 2007 to defend the government against attacks by the Shabaab. "Around 9am there was an explosion outside one of our gates, about 200 metres away," mission spokesman Joe Kibet told AFP. "It looks like an attack, they intended to attack. Now the situation is calm and our personnel is working on it," he added. Story continues The African Union denounced on Twitter the "senseless" assault, intended "solely to disrupt and paralyse the lives of ordinary Somalians." The Shabaab were forced out of the capital five years ago but continue to carry out regular attacks on military, government and civilian targets. In recent months they have claimed attacks on AMISOM's bases as well as civilian targets including hotels. This year is considered critical for the group, which is eager to disrupt an expected change of government leadership due in the coming months. Somalia was supposed to hold national elections this year but is instead going to hold what diplomats call a "limited franchise election" in which ordinary citizens do not participate. The UN now hopes a one-person-one-vote election will be possible in 2020. Paris (AFP) - French police have arrested two men in connection with the Bastille Day massacre in Nice which left 84 people dead, a source close to the investigation said Tuesday. "They were placed in custody while investigators seek to determine if the Tunisian (attacker) Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel had logistical support," said the source. Prosecutors believe Bouhlel had long plotted the attack in which he ploughed a 19-tonne truck into a crowd which had been enjoying a fireworks display on Nice's seafront Promenade Des Anglais, injuring more than 300 people. Four men and a woman have already been charged with being accomplices to murder by a terrorist group. Prosecutor Francois Molins said that correspondence between the suspects and Bouhlel -- shot dead by police during the attack -- indicated they had been in on the plot. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group. However while Bouhlel had gruesome images on his computer related to the group, as well as its rivals Al-Qaeda, investigators have not turned up evidence of his sworn allegiance to the group. DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Two Turkish soldiers were killed on Tuesday in separate incidents involving Kurdish militants, security sources said, as violence roils Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast region. One soldier died when an explosive detonated in the road as his vehicle passed by in Van province near the Iranian border, the sources said. Two soldiers were also wounded. Another soldier was killed and one wounded during a clash near the town of Silvan in Diyarbakir province, they said. Fighters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were behind the attack, the sources said. Southeast Turkey has seen the worst violence in two decades since the PKK abandoned a two-year ceasefire in July 2015 after coming under attack from Turkish forces, with thousands killed. The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 and more than 40,000 people, mainly Kurds, have died in the ensuing violence. Turkey is on tenterhooks after a faction of the military attempted to stage a coup on July 15. At least 246 people were killed. (Reporting by Seyhmus Cakan; Writing by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Gareth Jones) (Adds comments from NTSB spokesman, lawyer for driver's family, Florida police) By David Shepardson WASHINGTON, July 26 (Reuters) - A driver killed in the May 7 crash of a Tesla Motors Inc car while using Autopilot driving-assist software was exceeding the speed limit, U.S. highway safety investigators said on Tuesday in a preliminary report that did not state a probable cause. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said its preliminary findings showed the Model S was traveling at 74 miles per hour (mph) in a 65-mph zone at the time it struck a semi-truck near Williston, Florida. Joshua Brown was killed when his vehicle drove under the tractor trailer. It was the first known fatality involving a Model S operating on the Autopilot system that takes control of steering and braking in certain conditions. The accident increased scrutiny of automated driving technology. The report said the NTSB confirmed the Model S driver was using the advanced driver assistance features Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer lane-keeping assistance at the time. The NTSB has not yet determined the probable cause of the crash. The initial police report into the crash estimated Brown's speed at 65 mph. Speeding alone would not be considered the cause of a vehicle crash, but could be a contributing factor, said NTSB spokesman Christopher O'Neil. "All aspects of the accident remain under investigation," O'Neil said, adding that the agency will typically release a final report about a year after the preliminary report. Palo Alto, California-based Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Chief Executive Elon Musk has repeatedly said the company has no plans to disable the feature. A lawyer for the Brown family, Jack Landskroner, said in an email on Tuesday that the findings were preliminary and that the investigation was ongoing. A Florida Highway Patrol investigation is continuing and the police force has no plans to criminally charge the truck driver, Sergeant Kim Montes said Tuesday. Story continues She said the police force is still considering whether to issue a traffic citation to the truck driver for failing to yield. A lawyer for the truck driver did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. The NTSB report said the force of the initial impact of the crash resulted in the battery disengaging from the electric motors powering the car. After exiting from underneath the truck, the car traveled 297 feet, then collided with a utility pole. The car broke the pole and traveled an additional 50 feet. Tesla faces a separate investigation by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) into whether the system poses an unreasonable risk to driver safety. (Editing by James Dalgleish and Jeffrey Hodgson) BEIJING (Reuters) - South Korea's decision to deploy an advanced U.S. anti-missile defense system does not threaten China's security, a senior U.S. administration official said on Tuesday at the end of a visit to China by U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice. The announcement by South Korea and the United States this month that they would deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) unit has already drawn protests from China that it would destabilize regional security. The decision is the latest move to squeeze increasingly isolated North Korea, but China worries the system's radar will be able to track its military capabilities. Russia also opposes the deployment. "It is purely a defensive measure. It is not aimed at any other party other than North Korea and the threat it poses and this defensive weapons system is neither designed nor capable of threatening China's security interests," the official told reporters on a conference call. South Korea and the United States have said THAAD would only be used in defense against North Korean ballistic missiles. North Korea has launched a series of missiles in recent months, the latest last week when it fired three ballistic missiles in what it said was a simulated test of preemptive strikes against South Korean ports and airfields used by the U.S. military. The missiles flew 500-600 km (300-360 miles) into the sea off its east coast and could have hit anywhere in South Korea if the North intended, the South's military said. North Korea came under the latest round of U.N. Security Council sanctions in March after its fourth nuclear test in January and the launch of a long-range rocket the following month. Rice also emphasized the importance of all sides implementing U.N. sanctions on North Korea, and was pleased that China said it remained committed to their implementation, said the senior U.S. official who declined to be identified. (Reporting by Sue-Lin Wong; editing by Ben Blanchard) A three-year-old boy who was unlawfully arrested by the police reunited with his mother today after languishing in jail for over a month. By Rohini Swamy: It was a relief for Mary to reunite with her three-year-old son on Monday after 35 excruciating days of separation. Murugan was taken away by the Madurai police who arrested his father, aunt and uncle in connection with a theft case. Mary said that her little boy was dragged into the cell by the police who alleged that he was involved in a theft case. advertisement MADURAI COURT ORDERS RELEASE OF TODDLER But with the intervention of the Madurai court after a petition filed by his mother Mary, the child has been released and reunited with his mother. It is a gross violation of juvenile justice act and the United Nations Child Rights Convention to detain a child without its mother. The three year old was produced before the division bench comprising of Justice KK Shashidhar and B Gokuldas following a habeus corpus filed by Murugan's mother Mary. TODDLER ARRESTED WITH FAMILY DURING FESTIVAL The boy and his relatives were arrested on June 21 during a festival near Nallur in Madurai where they were selling bangles and toys. Sources said that the desperate mother even approached the Child welfare Committee in Kanyakumari district. It was the anguish of a mother whose three year old was subjected to trauma that finally bore fruit and with the court giving her custody of the child. The three others continue remain in prison as they face charges of theft. --- ENDS --- By Bernie Woodall (Reuters) - United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams said on Tuesday that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has assured him she would renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement if she is elected president. Williams' comments come as Clinton is under pressure on international trade deals from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and supporters of her former Democratic rival Bernie Sanders. Clinton has previously said she wanted to rework NAFTA. Her campaign on Tuesday declined to comment on the meeting with Williams. Williams said he met with Clinton one-on-one prior to the union's endorsement of her in May, when Sanders was still in the race to be the Democratic party's nominee. The UAW has more than 400,000 members. Shes committed to me that not only would (she) dig into NAFTA but she made every indication that she would sit down and try to redo NAFTA, Williams told reporters during a telephone press conference from Philadelphia, where he is attending the Democratic National Convention. Williams said Clinton "recognizes that NAFTA was not the success that it was supposed to be," when her husband, Bill Clinton, pushed for it as president two decades ago. Stephen Miller, senior policy adviser to the Trump campaign, said Hillary Clinton "will never renegotiate Bill Clinton's NAFTA." The Trump campaign adviser said, "You can be certain when she was personally getting paid millions and millions by Wall Street and big banks to deliver secret speeches she wasn't breathing a word against globalist trade pacts." NAFTA, which eliminated most tariffs on trade between the United States, Mexico and Canada, was promoted as a way to support economic growth by eliminating barriers to trade. Opponents say it has robbed Americans of jobs because it makes it easy for U.S. companies to move operations to Mexico where wages are much lower. Williams said he hopes that an updated treaty would help foster stronger worker unions in Mexico, where many auto manufacturers have factories. "She told us all that," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in an interview, referring to Clinton's assurances to labor unions that she would rework NAFTA. The AFL-CIO, a federation of unions which includes the UAW, stayed neutral during the Democratic primary but endorsed Clinton in June once it was clear she would become the party's nominee. The UAW endorsed Clinton in May. Williams said that support among UAW members for a Trump presidency has fallen to about 19 percent from 28 percent last year, before Trump said that new automotive industry jobs could be placed in states without strong union support at lower wages than those earned by UAW members. (Additional reporting by Amanda Becker in Philadelphia; Editing by Phil Berlowitz, Leslie Adler and Bernard Orr) By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Strong will exists in both Britain and Ireland to preserve free movement between the countries following Britain's vote to leave the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday after meeting her Irish counterpart. May, who visited the province of Northern Ireland on Monday, has said she does not want to see a return to past border controls with the Irish Republic, which will be Britain's only land frontier with the EU. "We benefited from a common travel area between the UK and the Republic of Ireland for many years before either country was a member of the EU," May said at a joint news conference with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny in London. "There is a strong will on both sides to preserve it and so we must now focus on securing a deal that is in the interests of both of us." The pair said they had agreed that the peace process in Northern Ireland, which ended three decades of fighting between Catholic nationalists seeking a united Ireland and Protestant unionists who wanted to keep the province British, must not be undermined by last month's referendum result. Northern Ireland voted to stay in the EU, with 56 percent voting 'Remain', putting it at odds with the United Kingdom's overall 52-48 percent result in favor of leaving. Some have demanded a referendum to split Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom so it can remain in the EU as part of a united Ireland. Asked about the prospect of a united Ireland, Kenny said he respected Britain's decision to leave the EU and the job now was to work through the Brexit process in "as practical, as imaginative and as creative a manner as is possible". Kenny also said while many obstacles lay ahead, it was in Ireland's interests to see its neighbor prosper outside the EU. "We want the upcoming negotiation process to end with a prosperous and outward-looking UK which retains a close relationship with the EU. This is in all of our interests," he added. (Additional reporting by Kate Holton; editing by Stephen Addison) From Road & Track Preston Tucker's car company was responsible for 51 cars being built. Of those, we know that 47 "Tucker '48s" have survived and we know where all of them are. Sometimes, they come up for sale and fetch millions. 15 years ago, Mark Lieberman located one in a barn in Ohio. Tucker #1044 had not been driven since about 1982 and it became Mark's goal to acquire the car and restore it. Mark Lieberman owns Nostalgic Motoring, where he buys and sells collector cars and also helps restore them. In his career, he has owned three Tuckers and if he bought this one, it would be his fourth. He has also helped restore a few for clients. In 2013, one of those restored Tuckers, #1043, set the record for a Tucker sale at $2.915 million. So, when he set out to restore #1046, he wanted to look at another late production Tucker to study how the radio bezel looked. Radios were optional on Tuckers so to find one as a reference meant finding a Tucker so-equipped. Mark knew that #1044 was in Ohio and that it had a radio in it. Mark tracked down the owner and soon had an invitation to come see the car. Tucker #1044 was, in essence, in a barn. It was stored in a metal building with a gravel floor but the owner had laid down a makeshift wooden floor of 2 by 6 lumber to help protect the car from moisture in the ground and the building was weather tight as well. Mark walked around the car and was impressed with its condition. The owner had gotten the car in 1982 and only driven it three times for a total of 15 miles. In fact, when Mark first saw it, the odometer read 7,877 which all parties believe to be accurate. The owner of the car had a few issues with it and had parked it hoping to find the time later to iron out the bugs. The problems were of the sort many Tucker owners are familiar with: transmission issues, cooling problems and so on. But, as they say, it "Ran when parked." After looking it over, Mark told the owner he would love to buy the car. The owner had no interest in selling but Mark stayed in touch after he left that day. Three years later and following numerous conversations, the owner agreed to sell the car to Mark. A deal was struck and Mark headed to Ohio. He brought his trailer. Story continues They winched the car into the trailer and Mark brought it back to his shop in Auburn Hills. There, he went through the car thoroughly. Brakes, fuel lines, radiator, fuel pump, carburetor, ignition. Everything was remarkably serviceable considering how long it had been since the car had been driven. Mark went through the steps one takes when reviving an engine that hasn't been turned over in 30 years and then it started right up. The car now runs and drives. The car you see in the pictures is a lovely shade of root beer brown. It had been repainted a few owners back maybe in the 1970s but it came from the factory in Andante Green. Mark plans on getting the car back to that color along with a complete top to bottom restoration, of the sort he has done on previous Tuckers. The good news is that #1044 has remained in very good condition over the decades. The doors are tight and the body and frame show virtually nothing in the way of corrosion. As the "Before" car in a restoration project, this Tucker is in better shape than any Mark has restored before. And remember, one of those cars sold for almost $3 million. This restoration very well could take a few years so Mark has decided to leave the car as it is for this summer and will spend a bit of time enjoying it before it gets laid up for all of its work. He says he'll pop in unannounced at a few car shows or even the occasional Cars & Coffee. After all, when was the last time you saw a Tucker '48 show up at one of those? Steve Lehto is a writer and attorney from Michigan. He specializes in Lemon Law and frequently writes about cars and the law. His most recent books include Preston Tucker and His Battle to Build the Car of Tomorrow, and Dodge Daytona and Plymouth Superbird: Design, Development, Production and Competition. He also has a podcast where he talks about these things. Geneva (AFP) - The UN's Syria envoy voiced hope Tuesday that peace talks could restart next month, as US Secretary of State John Kerry said there had been "progress" in efforts to salvage an urgently-needed ceasefire. UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has struggled to keep the peace process alive amid a surge in fighting between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebel groups. The fighting persisted Tuesday, with government forces seizing a rebel-held neighbourhood on the northwest outskirts of Aleppo, tightening their siege of the opposition-controlled parts of the city. The government also carried out renewed barrel bomb attacks on opposition-held districts, a day after bombardments that killed at least 24 people, a monitor said. As the bloodshed continued, de Mistura met with US Syria envoy Michael Ratney and deputy Russian foreign minister Gennady Gatilov, part of a bid to salvage diplomatic efforts to end more than five years of brutal conflict. "Our aim is to proceed with a third round of intra-Syrian talks towards the end of August," de Mistura told reporters after the meeting. While de Mistura has said he would prefer to negotiate with a real ceasefire in place, he conceded that may not be realistic. "The talks are not going to wait for improvement in Aleppo or in Damascus," he said. The Geneva meeting came hours after higher-level negotiations on the sidelines of an Asia summit in Laos. In Vientiane, Kerry said Washington was "making progress" with Russia on Syria cooperation following a meeting with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Russia and the United States support opposing sides in Syria's civil war, which has left 280,000 people dead and forced half the population to flee their homes. Kerry held marathon talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lavrov in Moscow last week. They agreed "concrete steps" to revive the ceasefire and tackle jihadist groups in Syria, although details have not been made public. Story continues Kerry said Tuesday bilateral work was inching forward and that an updated diplomatic plan for Syria could be unveiled "somewhere in early August." "What we're trying to do is strengthen the cessation of hostilities, provide a framework which allows us to actually get to the table and have a real negotiation," he said. The UN-brokered talks have so far been deadlocked over Assad's fate. The government has ruled out negotiations on Assad's possible departure, while the main opposition High Negotiations Committee has said it will not agree to any deal that leaves Assad in power. - Aleppo crisis - The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said loyalist troops had full control of Aleppo's Leramun district after heavy clashes, and reported fighting for neighbouring Bani Zeid, which is also held by rebels. The two areas have been used by rebels to launch rockets into government-held districts in the west of the city. Aleppo has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012. In recent weeks, regime advances around the city's outskirts have severed the only remaining route into the rebel-held eastern neighbourhoods, effectively placing them under siege. Opposition forces have responded by firing barrages of missiles into government districts, killing scores of civilians. Government forces effectively severed the opposition's Castello Road supply route on July 7, when they advanced to within firing range. They have tightened the encirclement of the rebel-held east since then, taking parts of the road itself and prompting food shortages and spiralling prices in opposition neighbourhoods. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council said Tuesday that more UN staff must return to the peace mission in Western Sahara after Morocco allowed a first group of 25 staffers back at their posts. Morocco expelled dozens of UN personnel in March in angry retaliation for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's use of the term "occupation" to describe the status of Western Sahara. The council adopted a resolution in April demanding that the mission known as MINURSO return to "full functionality" and gave Morocco three months to reach the goal. Following a closed-door council meeting, Japanese Ambassador Koro Bessho, who holds the council presidency, said: "We have not reached that goal of full functionality. Moves are certainly needed." Council members hope that the mission will be fully restored "as soon as possible," he added. Rabat's decision to send about 75 staffers home crippled the mission's work to help maintain a 1991 ceasefire in the disputed territory. Morocco this month allowed 25 UN staffers to return to Laayoune, where MINURSO is headquartered, but the United Nations is demanding that the staffing level be fully restored. Morocco's Ambassador Omar Hilale told reporters after the council meeting that the "crisis is over", adding that "25 are already back, the rest will be back." He declined however to give figures or a timetable for the returning staff. French Ambassador Francois Delattre said there had been progress in resolving the dispute. The Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which has long campaigned for a referendum on self-rule, said it expected more staff to return in the coming weeks. The Polisario Front's UN representative, Ahmed Boukhari, however accused Morocco of blocking attempts by the United Nations to re-launch negotiations on settling the 40-year conflict. The UN envoy for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, has been trying for weeks to set a date for a visit to the region, but no firm date has been announced. Story continues "The Moroccan door is closed to Mister Ross," Boukhari said. Council members stressed the importance of resuming negotiations on a "political solution that will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara," added the Japanese ambassador. Morocco maintains that Western Sahara is an integral part of the kingdom despite UN resolutions that task MINURSO with organizing a referendum on self-determination. MINURSO was established in 1991 after a ceasefire ended a war that broke out when Morocco sent troops to the former Spanish territory in 1975 and fought Sahrawi rebels of the Polisario Front. Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray (France) (AFP) - No one in this small Normandy town could have imagined that one day they too would be the target of a jihadi attack, let alone Tuesday's knife murder of an elderly priest celebrating mass. "He baptised my three children," said widower Claude Godfroy, 86. "We were about the same age," he said of Father Jacques Hamel, who presided over the funeral for Godfroy's wife six years ago at the centuries-old stone church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. Godfroy was among a handful of residents out of doors after the attack, with the streets deserted and shops shuttered under a grey sky. Outside Saint-Etienne's town hall a stone's throw from the church, 22-year-old Joanna Torrent said she could not imagine "who did this and why" when she first heard of the attack, in which a worshipper was also seriously wounded. As details emerged about the two assailants, like many other residents, she could not fathom how an Islamic State group attack could occur in her hometown of 29,000. "I thought it would only be in big cities, that it couldn't reach here," she said as France was still reeling from the Bastille Day truck rampage that killed 84 people in the French Riviera city of Nice. That was the third major attack on France in 18 months, following the November 13 and January 7, 2015, onslaughts in Paris that together claimed 147 lives. - Attacks 'could snowball' - On Tuesday, as elite police raided the church where the jihadists were holding hostages, the sound of their gunshots reached the funeral home Pascal Quilan runs down the street from the church. "We never thought it could happen in a little town like this, especially not in a church," said Quilan, 53. "It's unthinkable." Another resident could not accept that the slaying was the work of IS, even after hearing French President Francois Hollande announce the news standing outside the Saint-Etienne town hall. Story continues "Why this city? A little town in Normandy?" she asked, declining to give her name. "I doubt it's Daesh," she said, using an alternate name for IS. When Frederic Humbert, 31, heard the shots and saw police cars speeding past him while he was washing his car, he thought some kind of training exercise was taking place. "It's unfortunate, discouraging to see attacks all around the world, (but) a shock and a bit bizarre" that one occurred in Saint-Etienne, he said. Luce Pane, a lawmaker who represents the town in the French parliament, cut short her holiday to "show solidarity" with her constituents, she said. Unlike some of her Saint-Etienne constituents, she sees that because IS "cultivates hatred", an attack "can happen in places that are not as famous as Paris and Nice." Alexandre Joly, a priest from a neighbouring parish, said there was widespread "incomprehension" over such an indiscriminate attack. "The Christian community is very affected. The mass is the strongest moment (of the Christian faith), so obviously it's a very strong symbol." He described Hamel as "very gentle", a priest who wished to serve until the end of his days. Quilan, the funeral director, said Hamel was a "man of faith par excellence". Incredulous that jihadists could have murdered him in "a little town like this", Quilan said he feared such attacks "could snowball". Washington (AFP) - Two women will soon be the first female soldiers to undergo training to become members of the Green Berets, the US Army's special forces, the military said Monday. "They are the first two women who have been selected for special forces assessment" following the elimination of the ban on women in combat roles, said Major Melody Faulkenberry, a spokeswoman for the United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. She did not give additional details about the candidates. President Barack Obama's administration decided in 2013 that all combat positions should be open to women by 2016, including the infantry and special operations forces. The Marines had requested some exemptions, but these were overruled by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. Two female Marines were assigned to frontline infantry roles in May, though it will take some time before they are placed in their new roles. Rules stipulate that a female "leadership cadre" needs to be established in their units at least three months beforehand. Although women warriors have frequently found themselves in combat situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, they had previously been barred from joining frontline combat roles. Currently, women account for 15.6 percent of the 1.34 million active duty personnel in the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force. By Ashish Pandey: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao's pet project, the Komurvelli Mallanasagar project, has already run into hurdles before it could take off and has become the first major political test for the CM even as he completes two years in office. The project which has been proposed in Medak district aims to bring at least one crore acres of land in the state under irrigation in phases. Under the proposed project, 51,000 million cubic feet of water will be stored in a reservoir which will be used to irrigate 12 lakh acres in the drought-prone Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Warangal and Ranga Reddy districts. advertisement The Rs 9,800 crore project, to be located in Etigadda Kistapur of Siddipet division of the district, requires about 12,700 acres of land. So far, the government has successfully acquired 8,400 acres of land. VILLAGERS OPPOSE PROJECT Since the project will submerge 14 villages in Thoguta and Kondapaka mandals containing about 3,000 houses, the villagers of these areas are up in arms against the government and have vowed to not part with their land. Interestingly, out of the 14 villages, six of them fall under the Gajwel assembly constituency represented by CM K. Chandrashekhar Rao himself. Understandably enough, the villagers are protesting and demanding market value or equivalent land for their land. They have rejected the government offer of Rs 5.8 lakh per acre as a compensation. The Telangana CM is also facing an embarrassing situation as his one-time ally during the Telangana agitation M. Kodandaram has turned foe now and has launched a protest against the government opposing the project. MALLANASAGAR JOINT ACTION COMMITTEE Professor Kodandaram, backed by the entire opposition of the state Congress, BJP and the Telugu Desam Party, has constituted the Mallanasagar Joint Action Committee. Speaking to India Today, Kodandaram questioned the government move and said that, "The project design is questionable. Either the government must give right compensation or construct project on his and protesting farmers' dead bodies." The protesters say that there is a forest within a radius of one to five kilometres in Medak district, which should be used for the project instead of their lands and if it's not possible, then the capacity of the reservoir should be decreased from 50 TMC to 1.5 TMC. GOVT COMPENSATION SLAMMED The firebrand leader of Telugu Desam Party A. Revanth Reddy who had earlier held a 48-hour fast in support of the project oustees also criticised the government compensation and has even offered to purchase the Chief Minister's farmhouse land at the same rate offered as compensation to the farmers. The state government had issued GOs 123 and 214, offering a rehabilitation package. But the villagers are demanding compensation as per the 2013 Land Acquisition Act which not only has Replacement and Rehabilitation package but also provides government jobs. advertisement The Telangana chief minister is facing a tough challenge in the state, particularly in his own constituency and getting the project executed has become a prestige issue for the government. --- ENDS --- Washington (AFP) - The United States condemned an apparent jihadist attack at a church in France Tuesday in which two assailants took hostages and slit a priest's throat before being killed by police. "The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the horrific terrorist attack today at a Catholic church in Normandy, France," US National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement. "We commend French law enforcement for their quick and decisive response and stand ready to assist the French authorities in their investigation going forward." The Islamic State group said the attack in a centuries old church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray was carried out by two of its "soldiers." It came less than two weeks after a man in a truck mowed down pedestrians in the French Riviera city of Nice, killing 84 people. That attack also was claimed by IS. "France and the United States share a commitment to protecting religious liberty for those of all faiths, and today's violence will not shake that commitment," Price said. New York (AFP) - The reclusive cleric accused by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of orchestrating a failed coup, demanded Tuesday that the United States resist demands for his extradition from Pennsylvania. "Turkey's president is blackmailing the United States," preacher Fethullah Gulen wrote in a New York Times opinion piece. "His goal: to ensure my extradition, despite a lack of credible evidence and virtually no prospect for a fair trial. The temptation to give Mr Erdogan whatever he wants is understandable. But the United States must resist it." Gulen has lived in Pennsylvania in voluntary exile since 1999. He is spiritual leader of the Hizmet movement, which promotes moderate Islam but which Erdogan has dubbed a terrorist group. The Turkish president accused him of orchestrating the July 15 aborted coup, in which Ankara said more than 290 people were killed. A subsequent crackdown has seen more than 13,000 people detained and tens of thousands more sacked from their jobs. Gulen, who lives on the edge of the Poconos, a scenic area of forest, lakes and hills popular as a weekend hideaway with New Yorkers, denies having anything to do with the failed coup. In the Times, he accused Erdogan's government of shifting towards "a dictatorship" that was "polarizing the population" and "fueling the fanatics." "The United States must not accommodate an autocrat who is turning a failed putsch into a slow-motion coup of his own against constitutional government," Gulen wrote. The US government has asked for firm evidence in reply to Ankara's request to extradite Gulen. Last week, state-run media reported that Turkey had cut his modest state pension and cancelled his social security rights. Thies (Senegal) (AFP) - Some 400 US and Senegalese troops on Tuesday wound up an unprecedented joint training exercise aimed at preparing for a possible emergency deployment of American troops in Africa. "Security issues, safety, any kind of emergency. The idea is to always be ready for an emergency response," US defense attache Colonel Scott H. Morgan told AFP at the training venue in Thies, east of the Senegalese capital, Dakar. Around 200 troops from an infantry battalion based in Georgia and 200 Senegalese paratroopers took part in the two-week "Africa Readiness Training" exercise. It is the latest sign of stepped-up military cooperation between the two countries. A defence accord signed in May allows "the permanent presence" of American soldiers in the west African country, while making no mention of US bases in Senegal. A key point of the deal was to give US troops access to areas in Senegal, such as airports and military installations, in order to respond to security or health needs. It also allowed for joint training so as "to be better prepared to respond together to the risks which threaten our common interests." "We have been sharing a lot," said Lieutenant-Colonel Souleyman Kande, who commands the Senegalese paratroopers. "They are changing. They adapted their way of doing things to ours." After Ebola, which caused more than 11,000 deaths between late 2013 and this year in West Africa, diplomats say a future crisis could be another epidemic, a natural disaster calling for a humanitarian response, "or a terrorist threat". Senegal has been spared the deadly jihadist attacks that have hit neighbouring Burkina Faso, Mali and Ivory Coast, but has beefed up security in many public places. Beijing (AFP) - The US will continue naval patrols in the disputed South China Sea, Washington's National Security Adviser Susan Rice told Chinese representatives during a series of meetings in Beijing, a senior American official said Tuesday. Rice is among the highest-level US officials to visit China since an international tribunal this month rejected its vast territorial claims in the strategically vital region -- infuriating Beijing and fuelling tensions with Washington. Her trip was intended to prepare for a visit by President Barack Obama to a G20 summit in Hangzhou in September. But the question of how to deal with the festering issue, in which Washington has played a prominent role, cast a long shadow over the talks, which included a meeting with President Xi Jinping. In recent months Washington has sent naval vessels close to reefs and outcrops claimed by Beijing to assert the principle of freedom of navigation, sparking anger in China which has built a series of artificial islands in the area capable of supporting military operations. In her meetings with top diplomatic and military officials, Rice told her counterparts that "those operations are lawful. They will continue", according to a senior US official, who asked for anonymity to discuss the sensitive subject. The issue was not directly raised with Xi, he said, describing the conversation as "incredibly positive", although "there was a very clear recognition that we face a number of challenges". In general terms, he said, "both sides were very clear with one another". "There's no room for ambiguity," he added. "That kind of clarity... promotes stability and reduces the risk of miscalculation." - 'Risk of miscalculation' - A tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on July 12 denied the legal basis for Beijing's claim to nearly all of the sea, parts of which are also claimed by neighbouring nations. Story continues Beijing rejected the ruling as "waste paper" and asserted its right to declare an Air Defence Identification Zone controlling flights over the area. Rice "stressed the importance of all parties taking steps to reduce tensions. To avoid taking actions that... could raise the risk of miscalculation", the official said. Instead, Rice called on Beijing to use the ruling as an opportunity to "reinvigorate diplomacy" in the region, he added. In remarks before the meetings Monday, Fan Changlong, vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission warned that ties between the two powers could easily fray. "We should be honest with ourselves that deep down in this relationship we're still faced with obstacles and challenges," he said, adding that military ties had been "impacted by some complicated and some sensitive factors". "If we do not properly handle these factors it will very likely disturb and undermine this steady momentum of our military-to-military relationship," he warned. Beijing objects to an agreement by Washington and Seoul to deploy a US missile defence system to South Korea. Rice told Fan the move was "purely a defensive measure" and "not aimed at any other party other than North Korea and the threat it poses," the official said. By Chris Prentice NEW YORK, July 26 (Reuters) - Valero Energy Corp, the largest U.S. refiner, expects to get hit with a half-billion-dollar bill in the second half of the year thanks to the rising cost of meeting government mandates to blend biofuels. For the full year, the company's cost to blend renewable fuels like ethanol will swell to between $750 million to $850 million, mainly to pay for the paper credits used to meet the U.S. biofuels program, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the San Antonio, Texas-based refiner said on Tuesday as it reported second-quarter results. The RFS program requires oil refiners and importers to blend more renewable fuel or buy paper credits in an opaque, sometimes volatile market. Compliance credits to meet the standards, known as Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), were about 25 percent higher in the second quarter than a year earlier. It is another blow for the company, which is already dealing with weak refining margins. The price tag would be up from the $440 million Valero paid for biofuels compliance in 2015, the most it has paid to meet RFS requirements since at least 2009, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Valero spent about $334 million in the first six months of 2016 on biofuels compliance, the company said. Elevated costs for RINs credits are one of the headwinds the company faces, said John Locke, Valero's vice president of investor relations, on a call with investors. The biofuels program was launched more than a decade ago to boost the use of renewables to cut greenhouse gas emissions and promote energy independence. This year's more ambitious requirements could hurt U.S. refiners, already facing what could be their worst year since the shale boom began. That puts expected second-half costs at as much as $516 million, nearly matching the $517 million it spent for all of 2013, when RIN prices surpassed a record of $1.40 apiece. The current price is around 96 cents. Story continues Prices of RINs have been rising since regulators set annual targets in May for the amount of biofuels including ethanol required to blend with gasoline and diesel and as worries have mounted of tightening inventories. [ ] "If I'm a refiner with a lot of gasoline and distillate production, why wouldn't I be concerned about rising RIN prices? The conditions are there for them to (rise)," said Timothy Cheung, vice president at ClearView Energy Partners in Washington. He estimated that RIN prices could rise another 25 percent by year-end. Valero and companies such as Delta Air Lines Inc, which owns a refinery, are stepping up their push to get regulators to tweak the program to shift onus to comply further downstream. (Reporting by Chris Prentice; Editing by Richard Chang) Caracas (AFP) - The Venezuelan government asked electoral authorities Tuesday to ban the opposition coalition seeking to oust President Nicolas Maduro in a recall vote, accusing them of massive fraud. Ratcheting up the tension in a country pushed to the brink of collapse by an economic crisis, Maduro's camp hit back with a vengeance on the same day the opposition was hoping to get a green light to go ahead with its bid to hold a recall referendum. "We have just asked for the cancellation of the registration of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), for being involved in the worst vote fraud in the country's history," said Jorge Rodriguez, Maduro's designated aide to monitor the recall process. He accused the opposition of including the names of thousands of dead people, convicts and minors in a petition submitted in May with 1.8 million signatures requesting a recall vote. The opposition has denied such charges, accusing the authorities of stalling. Tuesday was the final day for the National Electoral Council (CNE) to rule whether the opposition successfully collected at least 200,000 valid signatures, the first stage of the long and winding recall procedures. Near the end of the day, the CNE said it would only meet Monday to examine its auditors' report on the petition. It did not say when it would announce its ruling. "The electoral authority will not accept pressure," it said in a statement. "It is acting in strict compliance with the law." Maduro's opponents are racing to complete the process by January 10, the cutoff to trigger new elections. After that date -- four years into the president's six-year term -- a successful recall vote would simply transfer power to Maduro's hand-picked vice president. - Off to farm - Venezuela has sunk into crisis as global prices for its main export, oil, have collapsed. The economy is set to contract eight percent this year, its third year of recession, a UN panel forecast Tuesday. Story continues Food and medicine shortages, hyperinflation, looting, lynching and mounting chaos are fueling growing discontent with Maduro, who has declared a state of emergency. His labor ministry used emergency powers Tuesday to issue a resolution declaring that private companies must send their employees to work on government agriculture programs aimed at curbing food shortages. Firms whose workers are drafted into the programs will not have to pay their wages, but will have to cover their social security contributions. No timeframe was given for the resolution, which was described as temporary. It comes after Maduro gave his military sweeping powers over food production and distribution earlier this month. Maduro blames Venezuela's crisis on an "economic war" waged by wealthy elites unhappy with his rule. Opponents say the failure of his own socialist policies is to blame. - Waiting game? - A recent poll found 64 percent of Venezuelans would vote to remove Maduro in a referendum. But time is not on the opposition's side. Even if the CNE validates the initial recall petition, the opposition will still have to collect another four million signatures, or 20 percent of the electorate, in just three days. If those signatures are accepted, it would force a recall referendum. To win it, Maduro's opponents would need more votes than he won the election with in 2013 -- around 7.5 million. Maduro's camp has plenty of ways to stall. Besides seeking to have MUD declared illegal, Maduro's allies have filed more than 8,000 legal challenges to the referendum drive with prosecutors and the Supreme Court. - Protests loom - Venezuela's economic tailspin is threatening Maduro and the leftist "revolution" launched in 1999 by his late predecessor and mentor, Hugo Chavez. The opposition's referendum push comes after it won legislative elections in December, only to find its power stymied by a Supreme Court it condemns as a Maduro lapdog. Opposition leaders have called nationwide demonstrations for Wednesday to pressure the government. But electoral authorities warned they would halt the referendum process in the event of violence. From Esquire Over the past decade, Danny McBride and Jody Hill have emerged as the patron saints of the American jackass. There is not an ounce of shame to be found between the two of them, a necessity when your bread and butter revolves around the creation of characters whose own lack of shame has manifested as something more dangerous than a filmography full of increasingly vicious comedies for film and television. Their characters are repulsive. Their comedy is cruel. They construct twisted art out of white trash, telling tales of small, petty men whose quest to fulfill their own tiny, generally pathetic dream tends to ruin their own lives and the lives of everyone around them. Maybe they'll learn a thing or two about humility in the end, if they're lucky. Nah. If we're lucky. In "A Trusty Steed," the second episode of their new HBO series Vice Principals, Hill, McBride, and co-writer John Carcieri dial the bad behavior up to eleven. In the pilot, we got to know Neal Gamby, a crude blowhard and buffoon who watches in impotent horror as the school district brings in a new outside principal rather than promote him. Unlike Kenny Powers, the other repulsive loudmouth McBride created with Hill for HBO, Gamby hasn't fallen from grace-he was never granted grace to begin with. But that first episode also ended with an unlikely alliance between Gamby and his nemesis, fellow vice principal Lee Russell. And it's in this episode that we get to know Russell. And we get to know that he's a monster. Anyone who has spent time in the American south has known a Gamby and a Russell (Hill never gets enough credit for just how uniquely southern his acidic brand of comedy can be). The former is a riff on the standard Danny McBride type: the uncouth redneck powered by the delusion that he is the most professional guy in the room. The latter is something more sinister: "Minnesota Nice" has nothing on the deep south, and Walton Goggins plays Russell as the chah-ming dandy whose infectious wit just masks the fact that he already knows when and where he'll stab you in the back. Story continues Anyone who has spent time in the American south has known a Gamby and a Russell. This unlikely alliance is instantly rewarding, as these two display a chemistry that's beautiful in its ugliness. McBride, so good at playing buffoons who can pull excuses out of their butts at a given moment, bounces right off Goggins, who has always excelled at playing men who are in constant and careful control of their every word. These two very different men are powered by hate, and our glimpses at their personal lives showcase the fuel for their workplace rage. Gamby's estranged family is drifting way with each passing day. Russell's family is seemingly held together out of spite. Strip these men of their jobs, nudge their slice of the American dream out of reach, and watch them drown. There is one thing, however, that Neal Gamby has in common with Kenny Powers: it is possible, on occasion, for self-awareness to break through his thick hide. Take the biggest set piece from "A Trusty Steed," the scene where Vice Principals stops being a fairly dark comedy about awful people and starts being a pitch-black work of highly weaponized comedic evil. Gamby and Russell break into Principal Brown's house on a quest for something, anything, that will get her fired, but that mission is soon abandoned. Instead, both men proceed to trash the place, tearing art from the walls, putting feet through televisions, and shattering glass coffee tables. Gamby's initial hesitance gives way quicklyhe may think he's the alpha male in any given situation, but Russell is really calling the shots here. It's Peer Pressure 101, something that a vice principal should know all about. Then Vice Principals go full-on apocalyptic in its darkness. Russell lights the house on fire and the duo flees. The entire place burns to the ground. Brown is inconsolable. Russell is delighted. And Gamby's thick skull is cracked open just enough to allow a seed of guilt to take root. As a director, Hill never apologizes for Gamby's behavior. As an actor, McBride refuses to give him a soft spot or any kind of redeeming quality. But as he agonizes over what he's done, as he drives past the scene of the crime looking distraught, Vice Principals draws the line between its two leads. Gamby has no social graces, but a line exists. He's distraught when he's tasked with firing Principal Brown's secretary. He's human. Even a complete jerk can bleed. Russell is a social butterfly, but it's a ruse. He's the kind of sociopath who spits in his mother-in-law's tea and basks in the satisfaction of knowing what he's done. He's rotten in a very special way. Two episodes in, Vice Principals has defined this terrifying, hilarious partnership: this is a wrecking ball and a dagger working in tandem. Whoever wins, everyone in their immediate vicinity loses. But the dagger is already looking like the one that won't get blamed for the chaos when the dust clears. The fate of the grand strategic alliance between Vincent Bollores Vivendi and Silvio Berlusconis Mediaset was left in the air Tuesday after Vivendi confirmed that it was backing out of an agreement to buy 100% of Mediasets loss-making pay TV business. Stock at Silvio Berlusconis Mediaset plunged as much as 15% in Milan before recovering to close 6.93% at Euros 3.01 ($3.3) on Tuesday. The stock drop was compounded by declarations by Arnaud de Puyfontaine, Vivendi CEO, at a press conference in Milan, that we no longer want control of Mediaset Premium. Our objective hasnt changed, we want to create a big group, but we are changing the way we want to go about it, he is quoted as saying. Mediaset said Tuesday that Vivendi wanted to buy just 20% of pay TV arm, Mediaset Premium, then a 15% stake in parent company Mediaset via a mandatory convertible bond issued in three years time. Vivendi and Mediaset announced in April that Vivendi would purchase the whole of Mediaset Premium as part of a broader alliance which would see a 3.5% share swap between the two companies. In a flurry of clarification and counter clarifications, Vivendi issued a press statement Tuesday confirming that De Puyfontaine had sent a letter to Mediaset management on June 21 informing it of significant differences in the analysis of Mediaset Premiums results, for which the two companies are currently in negotiations. Vivendi made a proposal on Monday to come to a new agreement, under different terms, so as to pursue discussions, the statement continued. Mediaset countered that there were no ongoing negotiations, which had concluded with the April 8 deal. Vivendi had the chance to analyse Mediaset Premium results prior to signing the agreement, it added. At the time of the announcement of Vivendis purchase of Mediaset Premium, many analysts questioned the wisdom of the deal. Observing that Mediaset Premiums operating profits as earnings before interest and taxes amounted to 115 million ($126.5 million) for 2015, Francois Godard at Enders Analysis suggested on April 18 that losses would more than double through 2016 and beyond. Story continues The deal is positive for Mediaset but the benefits for Vivendi can only accrue longterm, Godard added. One immediate question is whether the grand strategic alliance between Mediaset and Vivendi has been completely derailed by the confrontation on Tuesday. Mediaset needs this deal more than Vivendi. Vivendi, knowing that may have raised the stakes one notch too high, one analyst commented to Variety. Another is whether, if that isnt the case, Vivendis longterm goal is a controlling or at least highly influential stake in Mediaset itself at a time when Vivendi already owns a 25% controlling shareholding in Telecom Italia. Fininvest, the Berlusconi holding company that holds 35% in Mediaset, went as far on Tuesday to suggest that Vivendis gameplay was to reach a significant stake in Mediaset. De Puyfointaine said Vivendi has no preconception about synergies between Telecom Italia and Mediaset. However, its a global trend that content distributors and content providers are closer and closer, Bloomberg quotes him as saying. Related stories Vincent Bollore's Company Sues France 2 TV Channel, Claims 50 Million Euros in Damages Vivendi to Close Watchever's SVOD Service in Germany Vivendi Ups Stake, Voting Rights in French Vidgame Company Ubisoft Sources said that these two groups of Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT) are planning big strike like Pathankot and Dinanagar of Punjab. By Ashwini Kumar: Following intelligence inputs, alert has been sounded along 200Kms of International Border (IB) from Paharpur to Akhnoor in Jammu. Sources said that a group of nine Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists are present in Pakistan village Masrur Bada Bhai since July 14 and have conducted a survey of area opposite International Border from Pakistan posts Kingre-de-kote, Abhival Dogra, Bikha Chak and Jagwal. advertisement Intelligence sources said that another group of four LeT terrorists are present in a bordering village in Pakistan, Sukhmal, since July 18 and is conducting recce opposite International Border from Pakistan posts Chak Saman, Chak timbre, Sukhmal, nursery Ashif Saheed and lambnyal posts. TERROR STRIKE LIKELY Sources said that these two groups of Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT) are planning big strike like Pathankot and Dinanagar of Punjab. Pakistan agencies are pressuring both terrorists groups to do disturb peace in Jammu also before close of Amarnath Yatra on August 18 next month. BSF sources said that this issue will also be discussed with Pakistan rangers in two days Lahore meeting starting from Wednesday. BSF and Pakistan Rangers Director General level biannual meeting will take place at Lahore on July 27 and 28 and 22 member BSF team headed by the Director General, BSF, KK Sharma will discuss cross border infiltration from International Border in three districts of Kathua, Samba and Jammu. BSF team is also going to discuss with Pakistan Rangers about digging of illegal tunnels in Samba and RS Pura International border. After getting intelligence inputs, three prone-border management security system has been tightened and jawans have been told to neutralise terrorists before crossing of zeroline. Sources said that both groups are staying in launching pads as local farmers near International border and they are not coming with arms and ammunition to dogged Indian security agencies and BSF soldiers. BSF sources said number of times Pakistan rangers were informed about movement of new faces, they denied about any terrorists movement. --- ENDS --- By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Volkswagen AG's $14.7 billion settlement of its U.S. diesel emissions cheating scandal cleared another legal hurdle on Tuesday, as a federal judge gave the automaker preliminary approval to buy back up to 475,000 vehicles. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco set an Oct. 18 hearing for final approval. Preliminary approval means Volkswagen will soon enable owners of the 2.0 liter diesel-powered vehicles to access a website to learn how much they are eligible to receive. The settlement, announced in June, centers around the largest-ever automotive buy-back offer in the United States. Coupled with possible vehicle repairs and payments to governmental agencies, that component of the settlement carries a $10 billion price tag. Volkswagen said it continues to work with regulators to get fix approvals. VW told dealers last week that a planned fix could consist of software upgrades and some new catalytic converters. Volkswagen also plans to offer a new proposal to fix 85,000 polluting 3.0 liter vehicles after regulators rejected an earlier plan, a Justice Department lawyer said on Tuesday. Earlier this month, the California Air Resources Board rejected as insufficient a plan to fix the vehicles, which include VW and Audi luxury cars from model years 2009-2016. At the hearing, Justice Department lawyer Joshua Van Eaton said the German automaker had been meeting with regulators in recent weeks and planned to offer a new fix proposal in August. Breyer said he wants another update on the 3.0 liter vehicle talks at an Aug. 25 hearing. VW plans to hire between 250 to 300 people in Michigan to process settlement claims and will be overseen full-time by 40 VW Group of America employees. If needed VW could double the number of people it is hiring to process claims, said VW lawyer Sharon Nelles. VW is contracting for storage space to house vehicles it repurchases, she said. VW admitted in September that it installed secret software that allowed U.S. vehicles to emit up to 40 times legally allowable pollution. Under the Justice Department deal, VW will provide $2 billion over 10 years to fund programs to promote construction of electric vehicle charging infrastructure and development of zero-emission ride-sharing fleets and other efforts. VW also agreed to put up $2.7 billion over three years to enable government and tribal agencies to replace old buses or to fund infrastructure to reduce diesel emissions. Separately, VW reached a settlement with 44 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico that will cost at least $600 million, bringing the total to as much as $15.3 billion. Last week, three states filed new lawsuits, saying that VW violated state environmental laws and seeking hundreds of millions in additional penalties. (Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Dan Grebler and Tom Brown) Germany's legendary Bayreuth opera festival, dedicated to the works of Richard Wagner, got off to a rapturous start on Monday with a brand new production of the composer's last opera, "Parsifal", enthusiastically received by the first-night audience. While this year's month-long proceedings have been overshadowed by a series of deadly attacks in the country, the performers were tumultuously applauded at the end of the six-hour performance. However, opera critics were less enamoured with the new reading of Wagner's most enigmatic work by German director Uwe Eric Laufenberg. Out of respect for those killed or wounded in attacks over the last week in Ansbach, Munich and Wuerzburg -- all in the state of Bavaria -- organisers cancelled the lavish banquet that traditionally follows the first performance of the festival. Also cancelled was the usual red carpet procession. Inside the theatre, a message projected on the curtain said: "The Bayreuth festival dedicates today's performance to all victims of the violent acts in recent days and to their loved ones." The month-long festival opened the day after a man set off a bomb near another music festival in the southern town of Ansbach -- just an hour's train ride from Bayreuth -- killing himself and wounding 15 people. Authorities said he was a 27-year-old Syrian refugee. On Friday, an 18-year-old German-Iranian went on a shooting rampage in a Munich shopping centre killing nine people before shooting himself. On July 18, five people were injured in an axe attack on train in Wuerzburg that was claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group. - Bags, cushions banned - Tighter security on Bayreuth's mythic Green Hill -- on which the world-famous Festspielhaus festival theatre stands -- has been in place since the start of rehearsals in June. Town authorities called for stepped-up measures following suggestions that this year's production of "Parsifal" might be perceived as critical of Islam, a charge denied by director Laufenberg. Story continues Unlike past editions of the festival, all bags and cushions have been banned from the auditorium and cloakrooms while patrons have to carry photo ID with them at all times. Meanwhile, the approach road up the Green Hill to the Festspielhaus has been blocked to cars. Star Klaus Florian Vogt was rapturously received for his interpretation of the title role with his clear, distinctive tenor. German bass-baritone Georg Zeppenfeld almost stole the show as Gurnemanz, while Russian soprano Elena Pankratova, making her Bayreuth debut, put in an astonishingly accomplished performance as Kundry. Conductor Hartmut Haenchen, brought in at just three weeks' notice when rising star maestro Andris Nelsons withdrew unexpectedly, was also loudly cheered for his transparent, light-footed reading of the score. While the audience stamped and cheered at the end of the evening, professional opera critics gave the staging itself the thumbs down. Laufenberg transposed Wagner's medieval tale of the knights of the Holy Grail to the 21st century, setting the action in a bombed-out church in the Middle East, where Christian monks looked after refugees of all creeds. In a roundtable discussion after the performance, Eleonore Buening from the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung dismissed the imagery as "cheap and cliched." "It's prissy and provincial theatre-making," she said. The depiction of the Flowermaidens in the second act, who try to seduce the hero Parsifal, as a Middle Eastern harem reinforced 19th century colonial stereotypes, said Bernhard Neuhoff of Bavarian Radio. The festival runs from July 25 until August 28 with 30 performances of seven different operas. Most days, Karla Ortiz says she feels scared. Scared that her parents, Latinos who immigrated illegally to the U.S., will be deported and that her family will be torn apart. Im scared that at any moment, my mom and my dad will be forced to leave, Ortiz told the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. I wonder, what if I come home and find it empty? The 11-year-old American citizen drew cheers and applause from Democrats as she outlined her dreams for the future in a primetime convention speech. Ortiz, born in Nevada, met Hillary Clinton earlier this year during a campaign stop in Nevada. Their interaction, where Ortiz first expressed a fear her family would be broken up, became a Clinton campaign ad. I want to grow up to be a lawyer so I can help other families, like us. I have hope, Ortiz said as her mother, Francisca, stood by her side. (Clinton) wants me to have the worries of an 11-year-old, not the weight of the world on my shoulders. The crowd cheered as Ortiz and her mother spoke in Spanish and finished their speech with, Clinton for president! Bernie Sanders crying Bernie Sanders' older brother, Larry, shared a tearful tribute to their parents and his little brother, "Bernard," as he cast his vote during the delegate roll call at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday. The elder Sanders, who lives in the UK and was speaking on behalf of the party arm for American Democrats living outside the US, said, "I want to bring before this convention the names of our parents: Eli Sanders, Dorothy Sanders. They did not have easy lives, and they died young. They would be immensely proud of their son and his accomplishments. They loved him." Larry, speaking through tears, remarked that their parents "loved the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt and would be especially proud that Bernard is renewing that vision. It is with enormous pride that I cast my vote for Bernie Sanders." The Vermont senator has sometimes alluded to his parents' difficult lives and how they inspired his own politics. "My mother's dream was to own her own home, and she never achieved that," Bernie Sanders told Vox during a 2014 interview. "We were never hungry by any means. But money was always a major issue within our family. It caused a lot of tension between my mother and my dad." Larry Sanders also describes himself as a socialist and volunteers as a health spokesman for the UK's Green Party, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Larry has been cheering on his brother's candidacy from across the Atlantic. Sanders received 10 votes from the party group, Democrats Abroad. Hillary Clinton received seven. She officially clinched the Democratic nomination for president on Tuesday, becoming the first woman to lead a major party's presidential ticket. Watch Bernie Sanders' reaction below: DNC roll call underway; @BernieSanders tears up as his brother says his parents would be proud of his campaign pic.twitter.com/LRU6YADMGC CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) July 26, 2016 More From Business Insider Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f156335%2fc50968b885824036aa82f3d8c0e86f6b Demi Lovato, who has been a vocal supporter of Hillary Clinton and an advocate for mental illness, opened up about her personal struggles at the opening night of the Democratic National Convention. "I stand here today as proof that you can live a normal and empowered life with mental illness," said Lovato. "I'm proud to support a presidential candidate who will ensure that all people living with mental health conditions get the care they need to live fulfilling lives. That candidate is Hillary Clinton." SEE ALSO: Oh slay can you see: Watch Demi Lovato's incredible National Anthem performance Lovato acknowledged that she's lucky she has the resources for great treatment, but knows most Americans aren't as privileged as her. "This is not about politics; it's the right thing to do." Lovato has struggled with eating disorders, substance abuse and bi-polar disorder. She is involved in Be Vocal, an organization that works to reduce the stigma of mental health. Before the performance, she tweeted about her nerves, but pulled through with a vulnerable performance of the title track of her latest album, "Confident." From Esquire PHILADELPHIA-By the end of it, when the people who were so dedicated to Bernie Sanders had performed their monkeyshines for the cameras, and when they had done their damnedest to turn yet another inexplicable intra-party glitch into a suppurating wound, they all left the room, so that when Senator Cory Booker got up and offered unqualified praise for Bernie Sanders, himself, there was hardly anyone left in the room to applaud. The revolution will not be televised, my brother. Nor, apparently, will it be coherent. If you wanted a good pre-postmortem on how the progressive left was accessorial in the crime of electing President Trump, you just knew you were going to get it at the Monday breakfast of the Florida delegation. Late Sunday night, for reasons known only to whatever dark god it is that's running things these days, ousted DNC chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz showed up on the convention floor, where she was spotted by the CNN cameras. [contentlinks align="center" textonly="false" numbered="false" headline="" customtitles="Even Smart Reptiles Don't Write This Stuff Down" customimages="" content="article.46983"] Presiding over a panel, interplanetary anchor Don Lemon proceeded to go into orbit. Seriously, if Lemon had had two more cows, he could have started a dairy farm. Why someone at the DNC thought this was a visual that it needed to have after a two-day feeding frenzy that ended with DWS' being tossed over the side is very far beyond me. But it did alert the panel to the fact that she'd be talking to the delegation on Monday morning. At that point, of course, the fck began to cluster itself in a very big way. On the surface, it made perfect sense for DWS to speak to her home state homefolk. After all, she's running for re-election, too, against a Sanders-backed candidate named Tim Canova. "When you see her on the street, she knows your name," said Steve Effman, the former mayor of Sunrise and a longtime friend of DWS. "This is just a bump in the road. I think she was completely impartial in this process. Now, some of the people who worked for her sent out some completely inappropriate e-mails, and for that, they should be punished, not Debbie Wasserman Schultz." On the other hand, Schultz's presence has become such a toxic lightning rod that she's now surrounded by an aura of electric ill-will that is almost impenetrable. She's probably better off working the committee rooms and corridors for the rest of the convention. Story continues Schultz's presence has become such a toxic lightning rod that she's now surrounded by an aura of electric ill-will that is almost impenetrable. Still, the breakfast kicked off in a sunny mood. At the registration table, a smiling bearded fellow in a Bernie T-shirt greeted each delegate by saying, "Now, we're all going to hug it out, right?" "I'm in charge of morale. That was my job in the Army." Remember this fellow because we will meet him again. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut spoke first, rising to warm applause. He talked about his relentless campaign against gun violence. On Sunday night, two children were killed when someone opened up at a Fort Myers nightclub that was hosting a dance night for young teenagers. Murphy connected those two deaths with the victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which took place shortly before he was sworn in as a senator. "While the places like Orlando and Sandy Hook get all the publicity," Murphy said, "we have to remember that 80 people every day get killed by guns. In the richest, most successful country in the world, you shouldn't have to fear for your life when you go to a nightclub." Whereupon DWS took the podium, and all hell broke loose. From all corners of the room, Sanders supporters converged stage left, most of them holding up small signs reading, "E-mails" or "Thanks for the help, Debbie." One fellow kept screaming, "You have stolen our democracy, over and over again." Clinton delegates in the middle of the room began hollering for them to shut up and sit down. The visuals must have been stunning. But by far, the most vociferous person in the now unmoored crowd was our friend, the Hug It Out Guy from the lobby. "Shame!" he shouted. "Leave the room!" DWS paused to mention the shooting in Fort Myers, but the clamor never stopped. This infuriated a Clinton delegate named Vincent Evans, who pushed his way to the center of the crowd and confronted the Hug It Out Guy. "They are talking about two children," Evans said. "Two children, who were gunned down last night. Have some respect." "Let her speak somewhere else then," the Hug It Out Guy responded. "Two children," Evans repeated, louder this time. "Don't you have any respect?" "That's rude," said the Hug It Out Guy. "And it's condescending." By now, stage left was secured by a line of police. The chanting and shouting went on as DWS continued. "The people who are standing up and disrupting, they're not the Florida I know," she said, although she was starting to sound a little flustered. This was just another bucket of chum into a volatile situation that was moronic politics, but goddamn brilliant television. The last time I saw Andrea Mitchell, she was holding her position on one leg. I never knew she had that much of Moses Malone in her. It is not precisely true that DWS was booed off the stage. I've seen booed off the stage, and this wasn't it. If they're booing you all through your address, and they keep booing when you're done, you haven't been booed off the stage. There's got to be another name for it. If DWS keeps making public appearances at this convention, we might have to come up with one. It's time for her profile to go subterranean for a while. The Clinton campaign's decision to instantly hire her on Sunday was clumsy and wrong. And it's also time for the Sanders people to grow the hell up. Their candidate ran a remarkable campaign against impossible odds, including, and it must be said, a national party that was aligned institutionally against him. In response, and in addition to demonstrating the power of a renewed progressive dynamic within the party, the most progressive platform of my lifetime was adopted and the party's national chairperson lost her job. That's a helluva run for a guy who wasn't even a Democrat until very, very recently. Those are victories enough for one losing campaign. Pursuing Debbie Wasserman Schultz from pillar to post so you can spike her head for the cameras one more time does nothing to preserve those victories or further your goals. Hug it out, people, and move on. Updated 7/25/16, 2:40 EST: It got worse as the day got longer and hotter. Bernie Sanders addressed a crowd of his California supporters and couldn't stop them from booing HRC's name. A march through downtown by alleged members of the alleged revolution provided the conflict-hungry media with a smorgasbord of perfect quotes, including the woman who told MSNBC, "I think four years of Trump getting nothing done is better than this." At the moment, you couldn't script a worse response to the craft vitriol tasting we had last week in Cleveland than what's already happened here, and a lot of these people will be in the hall tonight. Click here to respond to this post on the official Esquire Politics Facebook page. [contentlinks align="center" textonly="false" numbered="false" headline="" customtitles="Ted Cruz Will Leave Cleveland with His Dignity" customimages="" content="article.46868"] * Food producer to spend more on advertising * Q2 profit beats estimates * Stock up 1 percent, hits 8-1/2 year high (Adds CEO comments, details) By Wout Vergauwen July 26 (Reuters) - Dutch organic food producer Koninklijke Wessanen NV said it plans to increase its advertising spend to boost its share in a market estimated at over $200 billion globally by 2020. The change in marketing strategy comes as consumers switch to natural foods and healthier eating - driving an organic boom. "More and more consumers want to change to healthier and more sustainable food and we are well placed to benefit from this long term trend," Chief Executive Christophe Barnouin said in a statement. Organic food sales in France -- Wessanen's biggest market -- rose to a record 5.8 billion euros ($6.38 billion) in 2015, up 15 percent. The company said it will shift advertising for its flagship brands, such as Bjorg and Clipper tea, to national media from social media. It plans to raise advertisement and promotion costs to roughly 10 pct of their revenue from those brands. Barnouin told Reuters that the fast growing organic market also offers opportunities for consolidation, and Wessanen has been acquiring smallcaps, although they are now focused on making "more out of what we already have." Earlier this month, France's Danone announced it planned to buy into the U.S. business by buying organic foods producer WhiteWave Foods Co for $10.4 billion. PROFITS SOAR Wessanen's second quarter profit more than doubled to 7.2 million euros ($7.9 million), comfortably beating Reuters Poll estimates of 5.2 million euros. Wessanen, which expects its full-year earnings before interest taxes and exceptional items (EBITE) margin to be above the 6.6 pct achieved in 2015, reported an EBITE margin of 8.8 pct for the first half of the year. The company, however, expects the pace of margin growth to slow down during the second half of 2016 due to the higher spending on marketing. Barnouin said that despite the general economic weakness in France, the organic food market was growing at about 10 percent. He expects to see a similar trend in the UK, the company's second biggest market, post the Brexit vote. ($1 = 0.9091 euros) (Reporting by Wout Vergauwen and Jochen Elegeert; Editing by Thyagaraju Adinarayan and Alexandra Hudson) Ford Motor Co. F is set to release second-quarter 2016 results on Jul 28. Last quarter, the company posted a positive earnings surprise of 58.14%. Lets see how things have shaped up for the forthcoming announcement. Factors Influencing this Quarter Ford is witnessing strong sales volumes in all major markets. This will boost the automakers revenues. The company 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 this year. Results from Europe and the Asia Pacific are anticipated to witness a year-over-year improvement in 2016, while that from Middle East & Africa will likely be equal to or higher than 2015 levels. Better annual guidance raises expectations of improvement in the quarterly performance as well. However, Ford, like some other automakers, has been recalling its vehicles regularly to fix safety issues. Frequent product recalls not only reduce consumers confidence in a brand, but also add to expenses. In addition, Ford has been replacing its older models and rolling out new ones. This involves substantial expenditure, leading to high structural costs. Higher costs will adversely affect the companys profits. Earnings Whispers Our proven model does not conclusively show that Ford is likely to beat earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. This is not the case here as you will see below: Zacks ESP: The Earnings ESP represents the difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Fords Earnings ESP is +3.33% because the Most Accurate estimate is 62 cents, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at 60 cents. Zacks Rank: Ford carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. Story continues FORD MOTOR CO Price and EPS Surprise FORD MOTOR CO Price and EPS Surprise | FORD MOTOR CO Quote Stocks to Consider Here are some companies you may want to consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter: Westport Fuel Systems Inc. WPRT has an Earnings ESP of +9.09% and a Zacks Rank #3. The companys second-quarter 2016 financial results are expected to release on Aug 3. Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. ALSN has an Earnings ESP of +6.35% and a Zacks Rank #3. The companys second-quarter 2016 financial results are expected to release on Jul 27. Visteon Corporation VC has an Earnings ESP of +5.97% and a Zacks Rank #3. The companys second-quarter 2016 results are expected to release on Jul 28. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report FORD MOTOR CO (F): Free Stock Analysis Report VISTEON CORP (VC): Free Stock Analysis Report WESTPORT FUEL (WPRT): Free Stock Analysis Report ALLISON TRANSMN (ALSN): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. By PTI: Guwahati, Jul 25 (PTI) United Peoples Liberation Army commander-in-chief Nikunja Kathar has been apprehended along with two cadres in a joint operation by the Army and police from Bardalong in Assams Karbi Anglong district today, a defence release said here. Based on specific intelligence about planned sabotage activities in Assam during the period preceding Independence Day, it said a surgical operation was launched by the joint team leading to the apprehension of Nikunja Kathar and his accomplices with arms and ammunition. advertisement Kathar is a hardcore terrorist and has been involved in numerous acts of killing, extortion and kidnappings including the killing of Nityananda Goswami, Superintendent of Police (SP), West Karbi Anglong in June 2014, it said. Stating the militant is an ex-UPDS cadre, who was instrumental in raising, training and illegally equipping terrorist outfit UPLA, it said Kathar was earlier arrested in 2014 and had been absconding since he was granted bail in November that year. Preliminary interrogation has confirmed his recent visit to Myanmar, where he was in talks with NSCN(K), ULFA(I) and KPLT under the umbrella of the United Liberation Front of Western South East Asia (UNLFWSEA) to revive UPLA in the hill districts and execute sabotage activities including IED blasts in Assam in the run up to the Independence Day. Kathar was also carrying out reconnaissance of specific areas in East and West Karbi Anglong for setting up training camps and recruitment of new cadres, the release said. The apprehension of this top leader has dealt a severe blow to the ongoing revival process of the UPLA and other terrorist groups operating in the hill districts and would also sever the association of UPLA with NSCN(K), ULFA(I) and other outfits, the defence release said. Kathars apprehension is also likely to adversely impact the safe conduit of arms, ammunition and IEDs from neighbouring states and Myanmar to Assam, it added. PTI ESB DKB SMJ --- ENDS --- At least 19 people died and 25 were injured Tuesday in a mass stabbing at a care facility for the mentally disabled outside of Tokyo. The attack took place in a country where violent crime is relatively uncommon, and has accordingly drawn outrage and sympathy from across the world. In the hours after the attack, the White House spoke out condemning the violence. The United States offers our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed in the heinous attack today in Sagamihara, Japan, Ned Price, spokesperson for the White Houses National Security Council, said in the statement. We also pray for the speedy recovery of the dozens of individuals who were wounded. There is never any excuse for such violence, but the fact that this attack occurred at a facility for persons with disabilities makes it all the more repugnant and senseless. The thoughts of the American people are with our Japanese friends as they mourn the lives lost. Why craft beer isnt just for men Why craft beer isnt just for men From cracking open a bottle to achieving the perfect pour, craft beer is a beverage that I can hardly get enough of. I have an ever-growing collection of pint glasses, Ive attended more brewery tours than I can count, and I could easily name my top five beers in a second. Yet, what most often crosses my mind when it comes to this drink is the reason why people are so surprised that a woman can love craft beer. craftbeer Since I waited until my 21st birthday to drink, I had no idea what kind of beer fan I would turn out to be. Funny enough, I always thought Cosmos would be my favorite concoction! Boy, was I wrong craft beer quickly moved into the number one spot. I give credit to my circle of beer aficionado friends as they helped me shape my once unfamiliar palate by introducing me to the unique craft beers with which I would eventually fall in love. According to a 2014 report from the Brewers Association, women consume almost 32 percent of craft beer volume. While the stats may not seem like much, it does establish a following among women. Sadly, ladies often continue to be unrecognized as your standard beer drinkers. Instead, they tend to face the ever-common stereotype of preferring girly cocktails or wine to a cold pint of beer. Men also face their own stereotype, as they are automatically considered beer lovers. These arent fair assumptions to make, but that hasnt stopped them from becoming prevalent in bar culture. Welcome to #rvabeer Nicole Mandala of @stonebrewingco @stonebrewingrva #craftbeer #craftbeerwomen #craftbeerwomenrock @strangewaysrva A photo posted by Annie Tobey (@breezesanddrafts) on Feb 14, 2016 at 12:26pm PST When I started getting interested in craft beer, my girlfriends and noticed the kinds of comments that we would receive from time to time remarks about how crazy it was for us to love a hoppy IPA, to bartenders being surprised that we didnt order a lighter or more fruity beer. Story continues I never once saw a man hear these same comments. But my friends and I wouldnt pay any mind to the jabber since we came for the beers, not criticism. Despite input from others, Ive never felt bothered when it came to ordering my favorite ice cold brew. To me, a woman ordering a beer is honestly no different than anyone else getting a drink at the bar. Being a woman who loves craft beer may always be an anomaly to some, but it certainly hasnt and never will feel strange to me. Women in the craft beer community are out there; its just a matter of taking the time to acknowledge it. To the ladies who are brew lovers and beer drinkers, cheers to you. Keep exploring local breweries and finding the next pint youre crazy about. One day, I hope to see women become the beer drinking status quo, rather than a minority. Until then, ladies should be proud to call themselves craft beer fans I know I am. The post Why craft beer isnt just for men appeared first on HelloGiggles. Investors are always looking for stocks that are poised to beat at earnings season and Cloud Peak Energy Inc. CLD may be one such company. The firm has earnings coming up pretty soon, and events are shaping up quite nicely for their report. That is because Cloud Peak Energy is seeing favorable earnings estimate revision activity as of late, which is generally a precursor to an earnings beat. After all, analysts raising estimates right before earningswith the most up-to-date information possibleis a pretty good indicator of some favorable trends underneath the surface for CLD in this report. In fact, the Most Accurate Estimate for the current quarter is currently at a loss of 28 cents per share for CLD, compared to a broader Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 34 cents per share. This suggests that analysts have very recently bumped up their estimates for CLD, giving the stock a Zacks Earnings ESP of 17.65% heading into earnings season. CLOUD PEAK EGY Price and EPS Surprise CLOUD PEAK EGY Price and EPS Surprise | CLOUD PEAK EGY Quote Why is this Important? A positive reading for the Zacks Earnings ESP has proven to be very powerful in producing both positive surprises, and outperforming the market. Our recent 10 year backtest shows that stocks that have a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better show a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and have returned over 28% on average in annual returns (see more Top Earnings ESP stocks here). Given that CLD has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) and an ESP in positive territory, investors might want to consider this stock ahead of earnings. Clearly, recent earnings estimate revisions suggest that good things are ahead for Cloud Peak Energy, and that a beat might be in the cards for the upcoming report. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> 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 CLOUD PEAK EGY (CLD): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research From Cosmopolitan Trying to find true love in 2016 can be completely frustrating, but most people wouldn't consider marrying a complete stranger as the antidote to that exasperation. Only that wasn't the case for Sonia Granados, a 33-year-old social worker from Miami who turned over her love life to a team of experts at FYI's Married at First Sight, who matched her with a spouse whom she met for the very first time at the altar. (For those of you who are new to the show: The couples then live together for six weeks before deciding whether to stay married or get divorced.) Here, Sonia describes marrying a complete stranger, whose identity will be revealed in the show's fourth season, including the good, the bad, and the awkward. I was never one of those girls who was like, "Oh my god! I can't wait to get married!" But I always knew I wanted to go through life with a partner. I daydreamed about doing everything with him, having inside jokes. I was looking for that best friend that you also want to have sex with! I just couldn't find him. I dated in little spurts, months at a time. There was one guy who I dated on and off for like four years. I thought he was the love of my life, but he was a player, and marriage wasn't his thing. And then there was another boyfriend who gave me that instant feeling of "this is such a good guy!" Even my friends thought he was awesome, but then he wound up cheating on me. I did Match, I did Plenty of Fish, and I'd meet guys at bars, or get set up by friends. But for some reason, it never worked out. It got harder the older I got, but it was especially hard dating in Miami. It's a horror story. There are so many beautiful women in this city, and men refuse to commit to one. It comes down to, "She's not skinny enough!" or "She doesn't have booty!" I was discouraged. A friend of mine sent me the link to the Married at First Sight casting call and said she'd thought I'd be great for it. Two weeks later, I decided to try it, thinking that they'd never actually choose me, and that even if they did, they'd never find me a match. Story continues The process is super intense. The questionnaire you have to answer is something like 800 questions long! They did a psychological evaluation, you meet with each expert who appears on the show separately [there's a clinical psychologist, sexologist, sociologist, and humanist] and you do a bunch of Skype interviews with people who are in charge of casting. I actually felt good that it was so intense, because it meant they were screening my husband just as carefully. There was a sense of calmness to the process for me. That was really weird, because I usually have anxiety. [But] even being hopeful, I worried. What if I got someone self-centered? Or someone who wasn't empathetic? Or a cheater? Once I knew I was chosen, I told one of my brothers, who I'm pretty close to in age. I figured if anyone would definitely understand, it would be him. His immediate response was, "Whoa. That's pretty crazy, Sonia." He came around a little bit, and told me to do it but that I should talk to our dad before things went any further. (My dad and I are very close.) At first he thought I was a little bit crazy but that turned into support really quickly, and the same thing happened with my mom. I only had about two weeks to plan my wedding. But I was never one of those girls who'd spent years thinking about what her flowers would look like. I don't even think I picked my flowers, to be honest. It's a little weird too, because it's not the sort of wedding you can invite 300 people to, and when there's such short notice, some people aren't going to be able to make it. The people who do make it have to promise they'll keep it a secret for several months and sign a nondisclosure agreement. No one can post on Facebook the next day, "My daughter got married!" The one thing I was really excited about was picking a dress. And when I found the dress that made me feel like a bride, it all started to sink in. I was really getting married. Waking up the morning of the wedding was almost an out-of-body experience. There were the typical butterflies, that nervous excitement, but on top of that, you're asking yourself, "Is my husband going to be attracted to me? Am I going to be attracted to him?" It didn't have to be physical attraction, necessarily. He didn't have to be the most handsome man I've ever seen. But I wanted to feel drawn to him. I waited behind these big heavy curtains to walk out, and at one point, there was a big gust of wind, and I took a peek at someone who was up at the altar and thought, Oh my god. It was this older man, and I didn't think I'd upped my acceptable age range to 55. But then I started walking up the aisle, and I realized that the man I'd seen at the altar was actually the officiant and not my husband. I was super relieved. My husband was smiling, and I was too. I liked his shoes. That sounds small, but it told me he had style, and I thought he was handsome. The rest of that day is kind of a blur, but I do remember saying to my husband, "By the way, I'm in this for real." He made a great first impression on my family and friends. I remember one of my aunts being all excited, saying, "Oooh, he's so good-looking!" and the consensus was that he seemed like a really genuine person. My husband's family is just as great. I hit it off with his sister right away, since she's a therapist and I'm a social worker, and had a really nice dance with his dad, who was super emotional and teary. They are a great family, and I'm so glad that his family and mine were both so receptive and compassionate in this process. He's a stranger, and he's my husband, and nothing makes that not feel weird at first. And then all of a sudden, you're right in the middle of learning everything about this other person. Not just the big things, like his values, but little things. This is a random example, but he likes to get up in the middle of the night and just eat. Boxes and boxes of sweets. And you're getting used to sleeping next to someone new. It's weird! He's a stranger, and he's my husband, and nothing makes that not feel weird at first. He was very comfortable being himself from the very beginning, but it took me a little longer. The funny thing is that the physical aspect of our relationship came a little bit more easily than forging an emotional connection did. Then again, that kind of makes sense - when you're beginning a relationship, you're often focused on physical chemistry right off the bat, rather than the deep and emotional stuff. It's just a little unusual for it to play out that way with your husband, after you're married. The major challenge was communication. I'm not the very best communicator. I don't want to hurt people's feelings or be a nag. That makes it difficult, because when you marry a stranger, you have to communicate, and you have to communicate very well. If not, it's a mess. There were definitely moments when I stepped back and thought, What have I done? What have I gotten myself into? But there were moments that were really joyful, too. My husband and I have a really similar sense of humor, and finding the funny side in what we were going through and feeding off one another's quirky side was really important. You'll have to watch and see whether we stay together or choose to get a divorced at the end of the process, but I'll say this: If someone came to me and asked whether this process was right for them, I'd make sure they understood they'd have to do a lot of work. This isn't a fairy tale, and it wasn't all roses and butterflies. But I don't regret it one bit. It's an amazing experience that I feel blessed to have been chosen for. Season four of Married at First Sight premieres July 26 at 8:45 on FYI. Follow Lauren on Twitter. The hack of the Democratic National Committees email servers and the subsequent leak of embarrassing internal documents appear almost certainly to have been carried out by Russian intelligence agencies, making it the most serious case yet of Kremlin interference in U.S. politics. That it is a serious interference is clear. The confirmation long suspected by many in the Bernie Sanders camp that at least some DNC officials were on Team Hillary over the course of the Democratic primary has divided the party on the verge of its nominating convention and alienated Sanderss base. If it hasnt convinced them to back Donald Trump, its at least given them second thoughts about voting for Clinton. The move has also helped cement Russian President Vladimir Putin in the minds of many U.S. observers as not only a strategic mastermind, but also the Trump campaigns secret weapon. Clinton, the thinking goes, is regarded in Moscow as a classic, hawkish Russophobe. (Putin even blamed her for instigating the protests against his alleged rigging of elections in 2011.) Whereas Trump with his focus on business, his apparent willingness to put realpolitik over moral considerations, his admiration for Putin, and his disdain for institutions like NATO has thoroughly won over the Kremlin, even spurring some to refer to him as Putins de facto agent. With the DNC hack, according to this version of the story, Putin was just throwing a bone to his (soon-to-be) man in Washington. Its a good story and many elements of it are true. There is much for the Kremlin to enjoy in sitting back and watching Trumps continued, seemingly unstoppable rise to power. But its also a little too tidy. Plenty of Russian foreign-policy insiders also appreciate that Trumps volatility currently wreaking havoc in U.S. presidential politics could mean hed make for an unpredictable and potentially problematic interlocutor for Moscow, too. As one told me, Trump is good for Russia so long as hes in America. God knows what would happen if he were in the U.N. or the Situation Room. Story continues In addition, when subjected to scrutiny, the Kremlins track record when it comes to staging interventions in foreign democracies doesnt exactly scream mastermind so much as bumbling meddler. Russia is notoriously inept when it comes to predicting how the aftereffects of its interventions will play out; the chance that the DNC hack will backfire, as other attempts to interfere have in the past, is very real. Its worth keeping in mind that what the Kremlin really wants is not so much a Trump victory as a United States that is less united and less able to play a powerful global role. Thus, although the DNC hack may wind up helping out the Republican nominee, that may not have been its primary aim. Rather, the simple goal was likely generalized chaos. A leitmotif of Russian political and information operations in Europe, including so-called active measures that is, those, like the hack, carried out by the intelligence services has been to spread division and disarray. Having realized it is unlikely to make any real or lasting friends, Moscow has instead turned its efforts into paralyzing and demoralizing its enemies. From secessionist movements to anti-globalization radicals, from ecological activists to social conservatives, every potentially divisive force is worth an approving interview on the government-funded television network RT or an invitation to a glitzy conference in Moscow. In more extreme cases, the Kremlins support may extend to open or covert funding. There have been some such efforts in the United States, from support for the Occupy movement (ironic, for a government run by kleptocrats and embezzling .01 percenters) to more surreal efforts to back Texas secessionists. However, with the DNC breach, Russia has distinctly upped its disarray game. The hack looks likely to make the U.S. presidential election even more of a mudslinging contest. Clinton has already begun charging that Trump is Putins man; this seems likely to push Republicans toward questioning Clintons honesty and patriotism all the more shrilly. The Trump camp, meanwhile, now revels in the confirmation that the Democratic primary actually appears to have been rigged in favor of Clinton as theyve been claiming all along. Even if Clinton becomes president, shell start with a reputation that is that much more problematic as a result of the leaks and a base that is that much more divided. Would such a White House be able to take bold steps to deter or resist Russian adventurism? Finally, there is also the wider propaganda dimension to leaks that show a DNC leadership actively maneuvering to support their chosen candidate. One of the key aims of the Kremlins propaganda in general is not so much to convince people that the Russian government is in the right, but to persuade them that everyone elses government is just as bad. Moscow must hope it can use this scandal and the ensuing fallout to convey the message that the Washington political elite are hypocrites and that U.S. democracy is every bit as managed as Russias. So far, so good. But the Kremlins professional meddlers shouldnt pat themselves on the back just yet. Historically, Russia has proved much better at making mischief than at channeling it toward its own ends. Time and again, Putin has failed to appreciate the innate strengths and checks and balances of democratic societies and even the basic notions of how these countries work. Putin tends to assume, for example, that the people in democratic societies are easy to scare and easier to fool. In January, for example, pro-Moscow media outlets and social media tried their best to whip up ethnic tensions in Germany over the alleged rape by Arab-looking men of 13-year-old Lisa F., a Russian-German girl from Berlin at a time when anxieties over the influx of refugees from Syria and Iraq into Germany were running high. Russias main TV channel showed Lisa saying that she had been raped by southern-looking men; another report claimed that in Germany residents are regularly raped by refugees. It soon became clear that this was a false story: Lisa F. was simply seeking to hide activities from her parents. But Russian media and officials did not back down, accusing German authorities of trying to conceal what happened to her out of political correctness. Not only did this personally anger Chancellor Angela Merkel, but it also embarrassed the so-called Putinversteher, or Putin Understanders, in Berlin, who seek to advocate for better relations with Moscow. The Kremlin has also made efforts to cow the Baltic states with an array of tools. Some have been heavy-handed: Moscow threatened military repercussions, for instance up to and including the use of nuclear force if any of the Baltics invited NATO troops onto their soil. And two days after U.S. President Barack Obama visited Tallinn to show solidarity, an Estonian security officer was kidnapped across the border by Russian commandos. Thats not exactly subtle. At the same time, Moscow has also backed Russian-speaking political parties in the region and engaged in other, more understated forms of manipulation. None of it has worked. It has only made the Baltics more alarmed about their eastern neighbor and more insistent about the need for allied protection. NATO battalions are now being deployed in every country in the region. But perhaps most striking of all were Moscows efforts to create a pro-Russian insurrection in the Donbass in 2014 with money, men, and military support, based on the assumption that the Ukrainian government would quickly buckle and accept Russian suzerainty. Not only did Putin not anticipate the popular enthusiasm that saw volunteers rushing to do what the Ukrainian army could not; he also didnt realize the dynamics were such that even if Kiev wanted to make a deal, it wouldnt be able to. It could never survive the public backlash. Moscows efforts to keep Ukraine in its own backyard have since led to it being stuck in a war and slapped with economic sanctions. The Kremlins efforts to influence the U.S. election and sow divisions may, in the short term, make a bad-tempered election year even more divisive. But moves like the DNC hack could well wind up hurting Trump if the label of Putins man can be made to stick. And, if so, that may cause the next White House to regard Putins government as even more of a danger than the present one already does and ensure that the sanctions regime will not only stay in place, but even be expanded. Or Moscow might succeed in what many seem to believe is its aim: helping Trump all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. In that case, Putin, the geopolitical gambler who has relied on being able to break the rules with impunity and on the restraint of the West, might suddenly find himself dealing with an American president every bit as willing to bluff and operate beyond the traditional limits and with the economic, political, and military muscle of the worlds leading power behind him. Maybe the Kremlin ought to be careful what it wishes for. Photo credit: Konstantin Zavrazhin/Getty Images From Redbook A few months after we were married, my husband told me he had a terrible secret. If I'd known this secret, he claimed, I might not have agreed to marry him. We were in South Wales, settled into a bed and breakfast among the great peaks of the Brecon Beacons, the bed so narrow it barely contained us. I'd never loved anyone as fiercely as I loved my husband - whatever the secret, it could not alter this fact. He could barely bring himself to tell me; the shame was so deep he struggled with each syllable. I waited for the awful confession, until at last he explained that when he was a child, he was sexually abused by one of the teachers at his prep school. He'd been eleven years old when it began. Did he really think such a fact could change anything between us? Why on earth was he ashamed when he'd only been a boy? We talked about it, not all night. And among the many things that were said that night was that it was a very odd coincidence, if it were a coincidence at all, that I had been sexually abused as child, too, though not so young as he. "And that doesn't bother you?" he said. "It bothered me at the time," I said. "Not now." He asked me how I wore it so lightly. I didn't know. We'd just had the first of many discussions about what would turn out to be the biggest ordeal of my husband's life, but I didn't know that then. I told him it was all a long time ago. "Does that matter?" he said. "Don't you ever want to kill the guy?" "No." "Don't you want to see him in prison?" "No." "Did you want this thing that happened?" "No," I said. "Go to sleep." A dozen years later, my husband, Alastair, was a complainant in a Crown Court case against his former prep school teacher and won his case against the man who abused him. He served a short sentence, that was all. A year later he was free. Alastair was not free - not psychologically, not emotionally. But he made great use of his unease regarding the abuse he'd suffered as a boy. He and two other former pupils of his same school were subjects of the 2009 documentary, Chosen, about their experiences of abuse at this prep school. The film won a BAFTA. I remember sitting in the ruby velvet seats among all the great and good of British television as Alastair stood at the microphone on stage, flanked by the team from True Vision. He spoke gently and eloquently. Looking at him, you would not have guessed at the anger, shame and resentment he still carried. So much of it that, at times, it seemed to consume every ounce of joy in his life. Story continues It hadn't made a difference to Alastair that he'd seen his abuser jailed. That he'd made a documentary about the school in which the abuse had taken place, that he'd been part of an effort that had won the biggest award that British TV has to offer. The anger and sorrow still burned through him. Don't you want to see him in prison? No. Did you want this thing that happened? No. If I think very hard I can remember his face, that he had the fuzzy hair men often get as they are balding. He wasn't overtly unkind to me, though the sex was horrendous. He wasn't a larger-than-life character, nor was he funny and terrifying. He didn't have glamour, nor confidence, nor wit. He was nobody, just an man in his twenties who was messed up enough to look for an easy target in a thirteen-year-old girl. That was my age: thirteen. Then I was fourteen. Sometime during that year I managed to get away from him. I never wanted to think about him again, not even to jail him. It seemed to me that whole era - the '70s - was so corrupt with contempt for girls and women, so frothing with excitement about how to humiliate them in every way, sexually and intellectually, that bringing some misbegotten, now old man to prison over what he did was not a useful act. And here is a little fact that one must remember about what happened to me back in the 1970s: I was not the only person who knew what was going on. I was the youngest person who knew what was going on. Back then, it felt like the whole of society was geared to make girls and women their sport. Helen Mirren described the sexist culture of the seventies as "horrible." In an interview with The Telegraph last year she said, "Men saw that as a sort of, 'Oh, fantastic! We can f--- anything, however we like, whenever we like! They're up for grabs, boys!' It was that kind of attitude." The guy who abused me was in the wrong. Of that I have no doubt. But my feeling is that the culture in which we live which sets up the likelihood of such incidents is also culpable. When in 1980, the then fifteen-year-old Brooke Shields modelled jeans for Calvin Klein and said, "You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins?" I remember despairing. But by then, I was seventeen. Not only could I recognize the exploitation of the child who was Brooke Shields, but express it in essays good enough to eventually land me a place at Harvard. In many states, child sex crime carries no statute of limitations - one can take a former abuser to court at any time. I am not interested in doing so, but having lived with my husband's need to bring his own abuser to court, I do understand why people do it. I applaud them, even. I just don't want to join them. We cope with these issues in our own, unique ways. I am a novelist and so, perhaps inevitably, I have written Age of Consent, about a girl who was my age when she was abused, a girl who came from my same part of the world and whose shame and entrapment mirrors that which I felt at the time. The story is invented, but that feeling of doom, of shame, of having it seem my fate never to be rid of him is exactly what I experienced. And running away. I did that, too, though for different reasons than the girl in the novel and for a much shorter time. I think I was the first "drop-in" my high school ever had. I was fifteen. I used money I'd earned as a busgirl to go to England on my own. There, at last, I shook him out of my life, out of my head, and then I came home. I returned to high school as though nothing had happened, wrote a lot, went to college, became a novelist, a wife, a mother. It feels like enough to me. For now, maybe forever. Is it wrong not to report him? I don't know. Back then, people talked about girls being "jailbait" all the time. We were imagined to be complicit in the abuse by virtue of our appearance; we were imagined as Lolita was imagined, the 1962 film adaptation of which really did star a 14-year old girl. The fact is we were all complicit, society as a whole, I mean. And while none of this excuses the actions of someone who decides to make a thirteen-, then fourteen-year-old his lover, I don't feel an obligation to bring him to trial. Marti Leimbach is the author of several novels, including Dying Young, which was made into a major motion picture starring Julia Roberts; Daniel Isn't Talking; and The Man from Saigon. She lives in England and teaches at Oxford University's creative writing program. Her new novel, Age of Consent, publishes from Doubleday/Nan A. Talese on July 26. You Might Also Like After several Shiv Sena leaders complained of lack of freedom and disproportionate fund allocations in the BJP-led government, Uddhav Thackeray assured them that he would to seek CM's intervention in the matter. By Sahil Joshi: After a meeting with MLAs from his party, Shiv Sena supremo will meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss the issues faced by his MLAs. A meeting of 23 Shiv Sena leaders including 12 ministers from the government was called after several leaders complained of hurdles in governance. "I will consult the CM and tell him that if they do not treat us like allies and do not address issues faced by our MLAs and Ministers they will resign," said Uddhav Thackeray to the gathering. advertisement LEADERS FEEL LEFT OUT At the meeting, one of the leaders complained that despite being an integral part of the government they felt left out. One of the issues that was discussed was of the newly inducted Minister of State from Shiv Sena who was allocated a ruined housing complex. Sources said that the minister had earlier complained that he was unable to perform in his department as he was not given the authority by cabinet minister. Several ministers and MLAs complained of similar issues at the meeting. They alleged that the BJP government was obstructing their work. According to sources, the meeting at Matoshree was called after several leaders began voicing their concerns in the past few months. Earlier a group of six MLAs from the Konkan region submitted a long list of pending work in their constituencies. While MLAs from Mumbai alleged that they were allocated less fund compared to that of BJP MLAs, leaders from the rural areas too complained about disproportionate fund allocations. They alleged that when they complained the authorities turned a deaf ear to them. POWERFUL YET POWERLESS All the Shiv Sena leaders unanimously said that it was pointless to have power when they were not allowed to work. Thackeray assured the angry leaders that he will give an ultimatum to the CM. Interestingly, Fadnavis was invited for a dinner at Matoshree and Thackeray claimed that even though he was unhappy with the Centre he shared a good rapport with Fadnavis. Many in Shiv Sena feel that the dinner diplomacy of Thackeray with Fadanvis dented the party's claim that it would take on BJP on the issues of Public welfare . Sources in the Shiv Sena say that Party leadership is waiting for BMC elections due in February 2017. They are aware of BJP 's plan to topple Shiv Sena from BMC and Thane Municipal corporation. Sources even said that if the talks of forging an alliance for BMC elections between Sena and BJP fail then the Shiv Sena leadership will ask its ministers to resign and support the Fadanvis government from outside. --- ENDS --- On July 26, 1925, about five days after the famous Scopes Monkey trial, the famed orator and politician William Jennings Bryan died after a lunchtime meal. Bryan had technically won the trial that defined the end of his public career, which had started 35 years earlier. Days earlier in the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, a jury found high school teacher John Scopes guilty of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act and fined him $100 dollars for his actions. The prosecution in the Scopes case was led by none other than Bryan, three-time presidential candidate, Secretary of State, congressman, and fixture of the Democratic Party. In what otherwise might appear a relatively ordinary trial, the country framed it as a larger fight between Fundamentalism and Modernism, and the media spread coverage of historic proportions. The case brought to Dayton 200 newspaper reporters, 22 telegraphers transmitting over 165,000 words a day, and even the construction of a special airstrip so that cameramen could send out their work each day. For just over a week, the world descended on this obscure American town to watch the so-called Monkey Trial, with heavyweights representing both sides. A young lawyer out of Illinois, Bryan moved to Lincoln, Nebraska with dreams of a political career. He won a congressional seat in 1890 and held it for two terms, vaulting his populist policies and oratory skills to national attention. Despite losing the 1894 election, he was able to gain prominence by appealing to the Midwestern, populist roots of his party, in the long run pushing the Democrats away from a platform of laissez-faire economics. Bucking the moneyed class in the party, Bryan spoke out against the gold standard, instead advocating a bimetallic currency that included silver. He delivered a widely hailed speech entitled Cross of Gold at the 1896 Democratic Convention, in which he advocated the Free Silver movement in order to empower Americas working class. Story continues The Convention chose him over sitting President Grover Cleveland, but he was resoundingly defeated by Republican nominee William McKinley. Once again earning the nomination in 1900, he again lost to incumbent McKinley. His platform of anti-imperialism, specifically manifested in the issue of the Philippines, did not stand out from the establishment Republican view, so voters ultimately chose McKinley on his economic credentials. His last try at the presidency came in 1908 when he once again took the Democratic nomination, but his attempt to undermine Theodore Roosevelts presidency and his hand-picked successor William Howard Taft failed, due to the economic success of the country at the time. Throughout this time, he undertook paid speaking tours throughout the country, and in his role as a candidate, was one of the first candidates to openly canvas votes through campaign trips. His stump speeches included lectures about Christianity, anti-imperialism, womens suffrage, prohibition, and progressive economic values; his public persona ensured that, despite his political losses, he stayed relevant within the party. By helping to secure the election of Woodrow Wilson in 1912, he earned an appointment to the Secretary of State position, where he was overshadowed by the prolific president. Perhaps his biggest concrete policy accomplishment was negotiating conflict mediation treaties with over 28 countries prior to World War I. As the Great War broke out, he urged Wilson to avoid entanglement and to help resolve the issue, and opposed the presidents newly aggressive stance in response to the sinking of the Lusitania. He resigned in 1915, unable to support the impending war efforts. Over the next decade, Bryan involved himself in a wide range of activist causes, including prohibition and womens suffrage, and finally fighting the evolution movement. He saw the scientific explanation of the origin of humans as reprehensible since it demonstrated that humanity had a self-centered, materialistic viewpoint. In his view, the theory of Darwinism endorsed social injustice and evil, conflicting with the morality of Christianity. In contrast to modern fundamentalists, Bryan did not completely reject the validity of the natural selection theory but thought it should fit in with a religious framework. Having spent years laboring to pass anti-evolution laws in the states, Bryan quickly took to defending the Butler Act in Tennessee in the Scopes trial. The case was actually designed by the ACLU as a test for the law, and the civil rights organization settled on the high school teacher as a perfect candidate to challenge the law. Since the court refused to consider evidence on whether the law itself was constitutional, despite eloquent arguments about the place of science and religion from famed defense attorneys Clarence Darrow and Dudley Malone, the outcome of the case was not as significant as the arguments and its players. Bryans confrontation with Darrow and Malone on the witness stand was legendary. Since the defendant requested a guilty conviction, there was no need for closing arguments, and the judge quickly imposed the $100 fine after the jury decision. The case went on to the Tennessee Supreme Court, where Chief Justice Grafton Green rejected all four claims brought by Scopes and his legal team. The penalty for Scopes was thrown out on a technicality; under Tennessee law, since only juries could declare fines over $50. Yet the moral victory seemed to be with the fundamentalists. Although Bryan won his final case legally, his real effect was to bring more attention to an issue that is still present to this day. Recent Stories on Constitution Daily The Scopes Monkey trial and the Constitution 10 facts about the most famous scene in legal history Why does a presidential candidate need to be 35 years old anyway? From Seventeen Love Seventeen's August cover star Maddie Ziegler? Then you probably love watching her as a judge on So You Think You Can Dance: Next Generation. We're giving you and a friend the chance of a lifetime - to fly to L.A. for the finale this September! One (1) lucky winner will get: Round-trip airfare to L.A for themselves and one (1) guest. Hotel accommodations for three (3) nights and four (4) days for themselves and one (1) guest. $500 spending money. Two (2) tickets to the finale of So You Think You Can Dance: Next Generation. One (1) So You Think You Can Dance prize pack. You could be strolling the Walk of Fame, snapping Insta-worthy pics of the Hollywood sign, and watching amazing dancers battle it out in front of the judges in just two short months. Enter here for a chance to win and give all your friends some serious FOMO. Hurry - the deadline to enter is August 1 at 11:59 p.m. EST. (Marliah Jonet. Photo: Safhras Khan/Yahoo Singapore) Daily verbal abuse and pork thrown twice at the corridor along her flat at Tampines while she was observing the fasting month recently. These were some of the alleged acts of harassment suffered by 61-year-old widow Marliah Jonet, who claimed that a Chinese neighbour was responsible for them. Marliahs plight was highlighted by former Singapore supermodel, Hanis Hussey, who posted a YouTube video on the alleged abuse on her Facebook page on Tuesday (26 July). Hanis said that Marliah is her sister-in-law, adding that the abuse has been going on for more than six years. The video showed the elderly neighbour shouting in the direction of Marliahs ninth-storey flat at Blk 247 Tampines Street 21, and calling the Malay woman a pig. The neighbour lives one floor below Marliahs flat. The neighbour was also seen using a water hose to spray water towards Marliahs laundry poles and those belonging to other neighbours. The video also showed the woman holding a plastic bag allegedly containing the pork that was thrown in the direction of Marliahs flat. The video has since been viewed more than 19,000 times since it was posted on Monday (25 July) while Hanis Facebook post has been shared more than 1,100 times since it was up on Tuesday morning. Suffering daily harassment since 2010 Speaking to Yahoo Singapore on Tuesday afternoon, Marliah said that the neighbour began harassing her in April 2010. I wrote everything down in a notebook. She accused me of throwing rubbish out of my window hence dirtying one of her blouses in 2010. But when she showed me the blouse I cannot find a single stain on it, she said, adding that she had never thrown rubbish indiscriminately from her flat. The accusation was the start of Marliahs nightmare as the neighbour began to harass her daily by shouting at her and calling her names. Marilah said her neighbour lives with her husband and a daughter. Even doing her daily chores would lead to abuse by the neighbour. Marliah said that she cannot even pound her vegetables because the moment she does so, the neighbour would start screaming at her. Story continues She had reported the matter to the police and other relevant authorities but the issue is yet to be resolved. In desperation, Marliah even sent an email a few years ago to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who then referred her to the Tampines town council. But the problem is still here. The police, the town council officers and even HDB (Housing and Development Board) came down to try to solve the problem. But she will never open the door most of the time. And if she did open the door, she will tell a long and winding story, said Marliah, who is staying with a daughter. (Marliah showing copies of the police report, email to PM Lee and other related letters. Photo: Safhras Khan/Yahoo Singapore) Threw pork at her corridor In June, during the holy month of Ramadhan, Marliah claimed that her neighbour twice threw pork onto the corridor of her flat. She said that both incidents were caught on her CCTV system and she had reported the matter to the police. Marliah hopes that the intervention by her sister-in-law Hanis would lead to firm action taken against her neighbour. When contacted, Hanis, who is currently in Hawaii, said she posted the video to get the attention of the media, Marliahs town council, Members of Parliament and authorities. Six years has been a long time to suffer this abuse daily. Throwing pork on her (Marliahs) front door is madness and inciting religious and racial hatred. It is a crime, said Hanis in a Facebook message to this reporter. Attempts to talk to the neighbour were futile as she refused to open the door when this reporter knocked on it. However, the reporter heard the neighbour talking loudly behind the door in Mandarin. Another neighbour, who did not wish to be identified, confirmed that the elderly woman constantly shouts and curses. He said that whenever she throws her temper, he would just shut his door and windows. She does it twice a day and each session would last for about 20 minutes. Ive stayed here for more than a year but I just choose to ignore her, he said. One neighbour, who lives two floors above the Chinese woman, confirmed that she has also heard the shouting and said that the woman may have mental issues. She added that she had seen the woman at the lift landing but they only exchanged greetings. Police do come here regularly to try to resolve the issues but they were never successful. I pity her neighbour (Marliah) who lives above her as she is constantly being abused, said the woman, who also declined to be identified. No resources to get legal aid Marliah hopes that the matter, which has been brought before the courts, will be resolved soon. However, she (the neighbour) did not turn up before the judge. Once when she did appear before a court clerk, she just said she wanted to speak to the judge and walked away. Marliah hoped to seek help from a lawyer to resolve the matter once and for all. "I do not have the resources to do so. I have tried to get help from the Legal Aid Bureau but was told it does not handle disputes between neighbours, said Marliah with an air of resignation. Yahoo Singapore has contacted the police and the HDB for a response about Marliahs complaints. Part of OZYs occasional Know This Name series on prominent leaders in business, sports, politics and other fields. Just five days after the Brexit vote, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon beelined for Brussels to see how her native Scotland might stay in the European Union, despite the referendums clear results. Though the U.K. chose to leave the EU, 62 percent of Sturgeons countrymen voted to Remain. Sturgeon wasnt naive: She knew that for Scotland to be part of the bloc, it would first have to leave the U.K. Call her trip a symbolic flare for the next battle for Scottish independence. Sturgeon, a staunchly left-of-center politician, hails from the group that two years ago asked Scots to vote for freedom: the Scottish National Party. That effort failed, and while Sturgeon had hoped to focus on domestic issues such as education and health, Brexit has thrown her political career back onto the international stage. Sturgeon is cleverly deriving a huge amount of political capital from the scenario that Brexit presents, says author David Torrance, whos written extensively about Scottish politics. The question for Sturgeon, who Andrew Dorman, professor of international security at Kings College London, calls among the brightest and clearest thinkers in the U.K., is whether Brexit and its fallout will signal that the time is right to free her 5.2 million-strong homeland at last. She was known in Scotland as the leader with the strongest image, and now shes known throughout the U.K. in those terms. Three decades back, Sturgeon, who has been beating a drum for Scottish independence since she joined the SNP at age 16, sounded a tad more fringe. Theres now no difference at all between Labour and the Tories, the trench-coated teenager told cameras as she passed out political fliers to Glaswegians. Theyre both saying exactly the same things that theyve been saying for years. Six years later, Sturgeon became Scotlands youngest Parliamentary candidate. She was elected to Parliament in 1999 and appointed to the SNPs cabinet as shadow minister for children and education. Having grown up in a working-class home, Sturgeon has long advocated for equal access education something she sees as integral to her political success. Story continues Sturgeons rise was slow but steady. For a decade, experts say, she was being groomed to take the helm from Alex Salmond, the leader of the SNP from 2004, and the country from 2007-2014 notably boosting her party street cred by marrying SNP chief executive Peter Murrell in 2010. Yet ironically, it was the 2014 failed attempt at independence that at last elevated her to party leadership Salmond fell on his sword, and Sturgeon took the helm. Though not a natural, shes grown into her role, says John Curtice, a politics professor at the University of Strathclyde, referring to Sturgeon as a rare case of someone whos learned the art of political communication. Gettyimages 528592468 Source: Matt Cardy/Getty Thats reflected in her widespread popularity, in Scotland and throughout the U.K. She was known in Scotland as the leader with the strongest image, and now shes known throughout the U.K. in those terms, says Paul Cairney, a politics professor at the University of Stirling. Small and elegant, Sturgeon seems thoroughly stable perhaps a necessary image to balance any separatists agenda. Watching her in public, youre likely to notice her well-coiffed hair, modest makeup and rhythmic speech. She elicits cheers and laughs with measured, often self-deprecating humor; she keeps her more acerbic side private, Torrance says. Some have drawn unlikely comparisons between her and Margaret Thatcher. Her attention to detail and head for statistics help her come off as the most knowledgeable person in the room. (Shes known for leaving her debate opponents bloodied.) Ideologically, Sturgeon couldnt be more opposed to Maggie: Shes anti-austerity, wants to boost public spending on education, favors raising the minimum wage from between 6.70 and 7.20, depending on age, to 8.70 by 2020, and has advocated for Westminster to add 2 billion to NHS funding for Scotland. Gettyimages 459028668 Who needs a kilt when youve got Nicola Sturgeons killer heels? What now, though? New British Prime Minister Theresa May seems to want a unified U.K. approach to Brexit before triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to leave which may mean wooing SNP favor. But British conservatives can only go so far in catering to Scottish sentiment. Sturgeon has suggested that Scotland could stay in both the EU and the U.K. in an arrangement similar to Denmarks. (Greenland, an autonomous part of Denmark, voted to leave the EU in 1984.) But any compromise would require both U.K. and EU support, and far too many border allowances. Meanwhile, the usually circumspect Sturgeon may have overplayed her hand following Brexit, when she uncharacteristically said it was highly likely that there would be a second referendum on Scottish independence. Polls show support for a Yes vote to leave the U.K. is growing, but its still too close; analysts say Sturgeons unlikely to go for it until support climbs above 60 percent. In any case, a U.K. position is expected by the end of the year, at which point Sturgeon must decide whether to accept it or go for broke. And whatever the outcome, Sturgeon, and her popularity, are likely to stay put. There is no SNP heir apparent she was uncontested in 2014 which leaves her leading the land of the brave whether theyre free, or being dragged kicking and screaming from the EU. Related Articles Washington (AFP) - The World Bank has frozen funding for a massive dam project in the Democratic Republic of Congo after the government altered plans for the project. The Bank said in a statement late Monday that is was suspending disbursements on its $73.1 million grant aimed at funding technical assistance on the Inga-3 Basse Chute hydropower dam. It froze the money after a DR Congo "decision to take the project in a different strategic direction to that agreed between the World Bank and the government in 2014." It gave no details on what the problem was, but noted that its funding "aimed to support a government-led process for the transparent development of Inga-3 BC as a public-private partnership." Only six percent of the funds have been disbursed so far, the Bank said. The Inga 3 Basse Chute project is designed to boost power supplies to a region starved of electricity. It would divert Congo River waters into a 12-kilometer (7.5-mile) channel and then pass them through a 100-meter-high (330-foot) hydropower dam in the Bundi Valley before releasing the water back into the river. The intake would be above the existing Inga 1 and Inga 2 dams, and the outflow downstream from both. The dam is expected to generate 4,800 megawatts of power, equivalent to the output of three third-generation nuclear reactors. The World Bank said it remains committed to supporting the DR Congo. "The World Bank Group is in a continuing dialogue with the Government about the implementation arrangements of the project, with the goal of ensuring that it follows international good practice," it said. KINSHASA (Reuters) - The World Bank has suspended funding for the long-delayed Inga-3 hydroelectric project in Democratic Republic of Congo following disagreements over the "strategic direction" of the project, it said in a statement late Monday. The $14 billion Inga-3 project along the Congo River will expand on two existing Inga hydroelectric dams and is part of an eight-stage Grand Inga project that would produce a record 44,000 megawatts (MW) at an estimated cost of $50-80 billion. Proponents of the project say that it could power half of Africa, while critics say that the money would be better used supporting smaller local plants. The World Bank had agreed to a $73.1 million grant for the project in 2014, of which 6 percent had been disbursed before the suspension. "This follows the Government of DRC's decision to take the project in a different strategic direction to that agreed between the World Bank and the Government in 2014," the World Bank said, without giving further detail. The eventual impact of the World Bank's decision was unclear. In May, the government said it still needed to secure additional financing, though it declined to say how much. [nL5N18760P] Bruno Kapandji, the head of the government agency overseeing Inga-3 development, said he was confident that the project would still go ahead. "It's nothing serious," he said. "Inga is a private-public partnership...the process continues." Two rival consortiums are expected to submit their final bids to develop Inga-3 on Sunday. One is led by China Three Gorges Corporation and the other includes Spanish engineering giant Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA. The start of construction has been repeatedly delayed by red tape and disagreements between Congo and its partners on the project. Kapandji said in May that he expected construction to begin in June 2017 and last four to five years. Congo had originally promised South Africa power from Inga 3 by 2020. (Reporting By Aaron Ross, writing by Edward McAllister; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle) Yamana Gold, Inc. AUY is set to release second-quarter 2016 results after the market closes on Jul 28. Yamana has posted an average positive earnings surprise of 25% in the trailing four quarters. Its adjusted loss for first-quarter 2016 was 3 cents per share as against a loss of 4 cents per share in the year-ago quarter. Lets see how things are shaping up for this announcement. Factors to Consider For first-quarter 2016, Yamana Golds production was 308,061 ounces of gold a 3% increase year over year due to a 61% growth at Jacobina, 8% at Canadian Malartic, 54% at Fazenda Brasileiro and 14% at Pilar mines. For 2016, Yamana Gold will continue to focus on operational execution, mainly tracking or exceeding operational guidance, as it advances efforts to create further value within its portfolio. First-quarter operational performance was in line with expectations and the company is well positioned to deliver on production and cost guidance for the full year. Production is expected to improve throughout the year, with the second-half production anticipated to be higher than the first half. The company is targeting persistent production growth and will continue to evaluate opportunities for optimizations and other operational improvements across its portfolio to boost its production profile. It will also continue to pursue organic production growth opportunities from the Cerro Moro project, Chapada expansion, Canadian Malartic developments, Monument Bay project, Kirkland Lake opportunities and the Deep Carbonates project at Gualcamayo. In addition, the company remains committed to advance developments within its Brio Gold division over the course of 2016, as it focuses on how these assets best contribute to shareholder value. Yamana Gold remains committed to debt reduction and cost improvements. Following net debt reduction of roughly $286 million during 2015, the company plans to further cut debt by at least $300 million between 2016 and 2017. This will be achieved through organic generation of cash flow and other available means. Story continues The company believes in maintaining a strong balance sheet and ensuring financial flexibility through the prudent use of its revolving credit facility. Furthermore, the debt maturity profile remains very manageable and well positioned, especially in the short- to medium-term with a total of $113 million scheduled debt payments by the end of 2017. YAMANA GOLD INC Price and EPS Surprise YAMANA GOLD INC Price and EPS Surprise | YAMANA GOLD INC Quote Earnings Whispers Our proven model does not conclusively show that Yamana is likely to beat earnings this quarter. That is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below. Zacks ESP: The Earnings ESP for Yamana is -66.67% as the Most Accurate estimate stands at 1 cent and the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at 3 cents. Zacks Rank: Yamana holds a Zacks Rank #2, which increases the predictive power of ESP. However, the companys negative ESP makes surprise prediction difficult. We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. Stocks That Warrant a Look Here are some companies in the basic materials sector you may want to consider, as our model shows they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter: Huntsman Corporation HUN has an Earnings ESP of +7.84% and a Zacks Rank #1. FMC Corp. FMC has an Earnings ESP of +4.48% and a Zacks Rank #2. Alamos Gold, Inc. AGI has an Earnings ESP of +100% and a Zacks Rank #3. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report FMC CORP (FMC): Free Stock Analysis Report HUNTSMAN CORP (HUN): Free Stock Analysis Report YAMANA GOLD INC (AUY): Free Stock Analysis Report ALAMOS GOLD INC (AGI): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Low yields on government bonds in developed markets are shifting investments to emerging market bonds, which are considered as riskier propositions. As government bonds across the globe of nearly $12 trillion are witnessing negative yields, emerging market bonds are offering somewhat better yields and thus attracting investors. Against this backdrop, investing in emerging market bond ETFs may prove to be a profitable investment option. Investors Investing in EM Bonds A Bank of America Merrill Lynchs report showed that investors poured in around $4.92 billion of assets in emerging market bonds for the week ending Jul 20, setting a fresh all-time high. This was preceded by an inflow of $2.69 billion witnessed a week earlier. In a separate report released by JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, funds focusing on acquiring emerging market debt securities registered a record inflow of $4.7 billion last week, witnessing the highest inflows since 2004. Separately, the recently released Lipper report also showed that investors are veering toward emerging market bonds. According to Lipper, the U.S. based funds that maintain a portfolio comprising emerging market bonds saw inflows of $918 million last week, the highest level since 1992. Growing demand for emerging markets bonds led the largest emerging market bonds ETF, iShares JPMorgan USD Emerging Markets Bond EMB to gain nearly 3.5% over the past one month. What Boosting EM Bonds Demand? A drastic decline in yields on developed market government bonds following Brexit played a major role in shifting investor attention toward emerging market bonds. After Junes Brexit referendum, financial markets took a major hit and investors shifted their assets to the comparatively less risky developed market government bonds, which led yields on the same to decline significantly (read: Brexit Fuels a Global Rally in Bond ETFs). Yield-loving investors are looking for securities that are in a favorable position in terms of yields. So, they are investing in emerging market bonds, which are less ruffled by Brexit. Trade relations between the U.K. and the broad-based emerging market are meager, thus posing no-to-little threat to emerging market investing (read: Play These Emerging Market Bond ETFs to Lessen Brexit Woes). Story continues Moreover, large exposure to commodities also helped emerging markets to surge recently on the back of rising commodity prices. A staggering performance was delivered in the first half by Latin America and Russia. While Russia benefitted from an oil price rally, Latin America won on stronger commodities and hopes of a political change for the better (read: EM ETFs Had a Seven-Year Best 1H: Will the Surge Last?). Additionally, emerging markets are also expected to witness a favorable growth scenario despite several concerns. Morgan Stanley MS expects developed markets to log only 1.2% growth next year, whereas emerging markets are expected to grow from 4% this year to 4.7% in 2017. 3 ETFs in Focus Though risky, emerging market bond ETFs are poised to provide encouraging returns in at least the near term. Hence, we have highlighted three emerging market bonds ETFs that will remain on investors radar in the coming days (see all Emerging Market Bond ETFs here). PowerShares Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt ETFPCY This fund follows the DB Emerging Market USD Liquid Balanced Index and holds 85 emerging market debt securities in its basket. Brazil takes the top spot in terms of allocation with 3.82% of its assets invested in securities from the country followed by Colombia (3.80%), El Salvador (3.70%) and Indonesia (3.6%). PCY is quite popular in its space with AUM of nearly $3.5 billion and solid volume of 1 million shares per day. This product has an expense ratio of 0.50%, slightly lower than the category average of 0.52%. It gained 3.5% over the past one-month period and has an annual dividend yield of 5.02%. Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond ETF VWOB This fund seeks to track the performance of the Barclays USD Emerging Markets Government RIC Capped Index. It has a basket of 899 bonds with 78.1% of its assets invested in emerging market securities. The fund has an average duration of 6.5 years and average effective maturity of 10 years. VWOB has AUM of nearly $524.7 million and trades in impressive volume of more than 74,000 shares per day on average. It charges a higher 34 bps in annual fees, significantly lower than the category average. It gained 2.4% over the past one-month period and has an annual dividend yield of 4.52%. iShares Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond LEMB This ETF provides targeted exposure to debt securities issued in emerging markets by tracking the Barclays Emerging Markets Broad Local Currency Bond Index. It holds 210 debt securities in its basket and has an effective duration of 6.81 years. South Korea takes the top spot in terms of allocation with 20.75% of its assets invested in securities from the country followed by Brazil (13.28%). The fund has amassed $482.9 million in its asset base. It trades in a moderate volume of more than 172,000 shares a day on average. LEMB charges 50 bps in annual fees. It gained 0.70% over the past one-month period. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report JPMORGAN CHASE (JPM): Free Stock Analysis Report MORGAN STANLEY (MS): Free Stock Analysis Report ISHARS-EM LCBF (LEMB): ETF Research Reports ISHARS-JPM EM B (EMB): ETF Research Reports PWRSH-EM SVN DP (PCY): ETF Research Reports VANGD-EM GOV BD (VWOB): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Mani and Shagun will get married in an upcoming track, but is that really all that Shagun wants? By India Today Web Desk: Ekta Kapoor's popular daily Yeh Hai Mohabbatein never disappoints its fans. The serial will soon see a new twist. Yes, another one, folks. After it was revealed that Shagun was behind Ishita's kidnapping all along, the makers of the show have decided that Mani and Shagun will tie the knot in an upcoming episode. Also read: Guess who is returning to Yeh Hai Mohabbatein? advertisement Yep, you read that right. It seems that the makers have a hard time deciding whether Shagun's character should be portrayed in a negative light or a positive one. But we are not complaining, since that makes Shagun seem more human, more relatable than other characters. After all, no one can be perfect all the time, right? So, in the upcoming track Raman and Ishita will decide that Mani and Shagun should get married. Shagun will initially hesitate, but will later say yes to the alliance, according to The Times of India. In fact, she will even confess to Mani that she is happy that they will be together. A still from the show. Picture courtesy: YouTube But of course, everything is (mostly) a scheme when it comes to Shagun. It will be later revealed that Shagun has an evil design behind marrying Mani. Alia, on the other hand, will not be pleased with her father's decision to marry Shagun. And, to save the best for the last; you will be very happy to know that your favourite onscreen couple, Raman-Ishita, will get married soon, again, thanks to Mrs Bhalla and Mrs Iyyer's fabulous planning. A still from Ye Hai Mohabbatein. Picture courtesy: Instagram/yehaimohabbatein A still from Ye Hai Mohabbatein. Picture courtesy: Instagram/yehaimohabbatein Watch: Yeh Hai Mohabbatein: Shagun is the real mastermind behind Ishita's kidnapping Meanwhile, Ruhi will make Pihu call Ishita, Ishima. She will also drop a hint to the latter, indicating that Pihu has two mothers, while Anil (Ishita's abductor) will commit suicide in jail. Quite a dramatic turn of events, but, that is what made has made Yeh Hai Mohabbatein a top show. Hasn't it? --- ENDS --- By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top state prosecutors in New York and Massachusetts said on Tuesday they will refuse to comply with a subpoena from U.S. congressmen for details on their investigations into whether Exxon Mobil misled investors on climate change risks. The moves by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey are the latest in the political and legislative fight over Exxon Mobil and investigations on whether the oil company knowingly misled shareholders and the public on climate change. Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives committee on science, space and technology issued subpoenas to Schneiderman and Healey to force them to submit information on their Exxon investigations, accusing them of having a political agenda. Healey's legal counsel said in a letter to Republican committee chair Lamar Smith of Texas the subpoena was an "unconstitutional and unwarranted" interference with Massachusetts' "legitimate" investigation into Exxon. Schneiderman said his office refuses to comply with what he called an "unprecedented" subpoena for a state attorney general, and said the committee does not have a constitutional right to interfere with the states' probes. "The subpoena brings us one step closer to a protracted, unnecessary legal confrontation, which will only distract and detract from the work of our respective offices," Schneiderman said in a 10-page letter to Smith that was posted online by Schneiderman's office. Exxon declined to comment. "The Committee will use all tools at its disposal to further its investigation, said the science committee's spokeswoman, Kristina Baum. At a press conference on July 13, Smith, a Republican, accused Schneiderman and Healey, both Democrats, as well as a number of environmental groups, of "threatening" scientific debate about climate change and stifling the "free speech" of scientists who do not believe in climate change. Schneiderman's investigation of Exxon Mobil began last year after separate reporting by online news publication Inside Climate News and the Los Angeles Times showed that Exxon worked to play down the risks of climate change despite its own scientists' having raised concerns about it decades earlier. Leslie Dubeck, counsel to Schneiderman, said in the letter that the office would be willing to discuss the issue with the committee in a way that does not jeopardize New York state's sovereignty. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; editing by Dan Grebler and Grant McCool) By Gina Cherelus (Reuters) - The New York City Police Department has acquired $7 million in military-style protective equipment for patrol officers in response to recent shooting attacks on police in Baton Rouge and Dallas earlier this month, officials said on Monday. "You name it, we're buying it," Police Commissioner William Bratton told a news conference. "There's not a police department in America that is spending as much money, as much thought and interest on this issue of officer safety." Bratton said the NYPD has purchased 20,000 military-style helmets, 6,000 heavy duty bullet-proof vests, trauma kits and ballistic doors and windows for patrol cars. He said the new bullet-proof vests are capable of stopping rounds fired from the type of weapon used in the Baton Rouge shooting that killed three officers and the Dallas shooting that left five officers dead and seven wounded. "Obviously all over the country people have been deeply trouble by the attack on our officers," added Mayor Bill de Blasio. "We made this decision quickly in light of the challenges we face." Special units are already equipped with protective gear like the upgraded equipment. Because patrol officers are likely to respond to active shooting situations, they will begin carrying the new equipment starting in September, according to police officials. In recent weeks, major police departments across the country have been implementing new patrol tactics for officers in the wake of racial tension plaguing various cities. Nearly half of the police departments in the 30 biggest U.S. cities issued directives after the Dallas attack requiring patrol officers to pair up while on duty. (Reporting by Gina Cherelus; Editing by Dan Grebler) New York (AFP) - All uniformed New York police on patrol will be equipped with ballistic helmets under a $7.5 million spending drive fueled by recent terror attacks and shootings, the department said. The plan will see 20,000 ballistic helmets given to all uniformed patrol officers and 6,000 heavy ballistic vests distributed among 3,000 patrol vehicles between this summer and January 2017. The roll-out is designed to make officers safer in responding to an active shooter situation, officials said. US police have been targeted in a string of recent attacks that saw five officers shot dead in Dallas on July 7, three killed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on July 17 and most recently, reportedly saw a pair of officers come under fire in Kansas City, Missouri overnight. "In the wake of Dallas, Baton Rouge and Kansas City, we need to make smart investments to keep our officers safe in return," said New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. "Now, more than ever, society is asking its police officers to go into harm's way and to face grave danger," police chief Bill Bratton said. New York has the largest city force in the United States with around 34,500 uniformed officers safeguarding a population of 8.4 million. For the last two years police departments across the United States have come under stinging criticism over the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of officers. Two New York officers were shot dead in their patrol car in December 2014 by a gunman claiming to be avenging the deaths of African Americans at the hands of police. New York (AFP) - Three New Yorkers were arrested and charged Tuesday after criminals blow-torched their way into bank vaults and stole more than $5 million in a plot akin to Robert de Niro's heist film "Heat". The Brooklyn suspects were detained after a painstaking police and FBI investigation into the robberies at an HSBC in Brooklyn in April and a Maspeth Federal Savings Bank branch in Queens in May, officials said. They were part of a crew that cut through roofs and into the vaults using acetylene torches -- in Queens hiding from view by building a plywood shed on the roof. Breaking open deposit boxes, they snatched millions in cash, diamonds, jewelry and other valuables, prosecutors said. That included $330,000 in cash and a valuables from HSBC, and $296,000 in cash and $4.3 million in valuables from the Maspeth bank. "These heists resembled scenes from the movie 'Heat' -- the work of a crew that was well organized, meticulous, and elusive to law enforcement," said New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton. The 1995 film, starring de Niro and Al Pacino, follows a group of hardened bank robbers who mistakenly leave behind a clue. "Left with few clues after the heists, our crime scene teams hunted for every shred of evidence," added Bratton. The arrests came after officers tracked down the plywood they used to a hardware store and the torches to a Brooklyn welder, police said. Michael Mazzara, 44, Charles Kerrigan, 40, and Anthony Mascuzzio, 36, were due to appear before a federal magistrate judge in Manhattan later on Tuesday. All three risk 20 years in prison if convicted. When Superstorm Sandy barreled through the New York City area in October 2012, it devastated many of the tunnels used by the city's subway system, effectively cutting off Manhattan from its surrounding boroughs for more than a week. Now, four years later, the damage caused by that storm will force the Metropolitan Transit Authority to shut down the L train between Manhattan and Brooklyn -- and its crosstown section in Manhattan -- for 18 months beginning in 2019, causing front page headlines across the city. But most importantly for the music industry, the L connects several of North Brooklyn's creative and arts-loving communities with key venues on both sides of the river: Highline Ballroom, Irving Plaza and Webster Hall all sit within five blocks of 14th street in Manhattan; Brooklyn Bowl, Music Hall of Williamsburg, the Knitting Factory and Rough Trade are all within a short walk from the L line in Brooklyn. And those are just a handful of the clubs, bars, halls and theaters that cater to live music lovers that could be affected by the coming closure -- not to mention the musicians that live in the neighborhoods. "I'll be curious to see which side of the river gets affected more," says Heath Miller, vice president of concerts at Webster Hall, located on 11th street in Manhattan. "People from Manhattan will be less likely to go to Brooklyn than ever before. And I think for people in Brooklyn, it'll be a bigger impact on the weekends than the weekdays, when people are still coming to Manhattan for work." [[{"fid":"622040","view_mode":"media_original","type":"media","attributes":{"height":827,"width":1240,"class":"media-element file-media-original"}}]] For Webster Hall, which is located near Union Square and thus several other subway lines, the effect may not be as severe as it will be for venues in Williamsburg, many of which thrive due to their proximity to the L -- and which have few other options in terms of trains. But Peter Shapiro, founder of Dayglo Ventures and owner of Brooklyn Bowl, says that as long as the L continues to service Brooklyn, cutting off the quickest route to Manhattan isn't the worst thing in the world. Story continues "If Brooklyn was on its own, it would be the fourth-biggest city in America," Shapiro says, noting that the development around his venue's North Williamsburg location -- several residential high rises and large-scale hotels are scheduled to open before 2019 -- have boosted the neighborhood. "I think we're going to have a lot of people from Brooklyn who are not going to go to Manhattan, [and will be] looking to go out and see shows in Brooklyn. It's just such a vibrant area. We're established in such an institutional way... and maybe Brooklyn Bowl will benefit from that." While the Manhattan-Brooklyn connection affects concert-goers living in the city, Miller notes that it could also have an effect on people coming in from New Jersey, Westchester or Long Island for shows. But it could, too, have a demographic and developmental effect on the areas along the L, particularly with a nearly three-year heads up for Brooklynites working in Manhattan. While rents in Brooklyn may level off, it could dissuade potential new growth of the music scene -- something that could benefit those who are already there. "Maybe there won't be a lot of new music venues opening right when this happens, people may want to wait a bit," Shapiro says. "That'll be helpful to the existing music venues in Brooklyn." [[{"fid":"555938","view_mode":"media_original","type":"media","attributes":{"height":430,"width":650,"alt":"Peter Shapiro","title":"Peter Shapiro","class":"media-element file-media-original"}}]] Though much is still up in the air, there are some solid bets that can be placed as to how things will shake out. Venues off North Brooklyn's JMZ train line (like Baby's All Right, Bossa Nova Civic Club and Palisades) as well as their Manhattan counterparts in the Lower East Side (Rockwood Music Hall, Pianos, even the Bowery Ballroom) could all see more foot traffic. Musicians will likely be more put out than most, particularly those trying to cultivate a cross-borough fan base. And transportation costs for everyone will go up. "Is it that we partner with a company to provide bus service from here to the L, sell a package or something like that?" Miller muses about what measures Webster Hall might take. "It'll clearly be a blessing for Uber and Lyft and all those ride share services." For now, however, venue owners are setting their sights closer to home while taking a wait-and-see approach to determine what moves to make. "We will likely focus our marketing efforts a little more heavily in Brooklyn rather than Manhattan," says Bob Reiter, general manager of Knitting Factory BK. "But I am optimistic that we can continue to be successful with the approach that has sustained us in New York for over 27 years." Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f156745%2fgettyimages-123304380 The last thing you want to hear as lift your morning cup of joe to your exhausted and grouchy lips is, "Do you know you are probably drinking roasted twigs?" SEE ALSO: 9 foods trying really hard to be sushi Counterfeit food is no joke and if you aren't vigilant you could find yourself with a mouthful of wood, or worse. Coffee Image: Getty Images/Blend Images RM According to Larry Olmsted, author of Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It, everything from roasted corn to twigs and parchment can be found in your pre-ground coffee. Avoiding instant coffee is a good start to getting the real stuff and if you grind the beans yourself, you're in an even better state. Tuna Image: The Washington Post/Getty Images Reports of fake tuna are nothing new, but the fact that fish of different species are still being sold under the brand name tuna is alarming. A study by nonprofit group Oceana, conducted between 2010 and 2012, reveals less than 1% of US imported fish is inspected for fraud and 44% of all fish sold in the restaurants and grocery stores in the study (674 outlets on a national scale) were mislabeled as more desirable or expensive fish. The study reports 84% of white tuna sampled was actually escolar, which can cause digestive problems when consumed in large quantity. Fake fish can equal loose stools and lost wages ($25 billion annually as a country in 2015) for something that isn't what you ordered. Your best bet against getting swindled is a restaurant, chef and/or fishmonger you trust. Remember: if the price seems too good to be true, it probably is. Parmesan cheese Image: 145/RACHEL HUSBAND/PHOTOGRAPHER'S CHOICE RF/OCEAN/CORBIS This problem hasn't been in the news for a few months but the cellulose (an anti-clumping agent made from wood pulp) you unknowingly ingested might still be making you gag. Though the companies involved in the scandal reportedly were investigating further and pulling tainted cheese off the shelves at the time of the scandal, the best way to avoid fake cheese is getting a block of cheese and grating it yourself. Make sure it's labeled "Parmigiano-Reggiano" to get the stuff that's really from the Parma/Reggio region of Italy, since Olmsted tells Mashable sometimes impostor cheese from other locales can be even pricier than the real deal. Story continues Wasabi You might get a runny nose and watery eyes from the fiery paste at your local sushi joint, but chances are it isn't the real stuff. Wasabi is a root related to horseradish and while fresh wasabi is expensive and subtly flavored, the kick-in-the-pants stuff you're used to on your spicy tuna roll is likely a hybrid of different mustard and horseradish pastes and green dye. Head to an upscale sushi joint and chances are the chef will grate it for you tableside. Kobe beef Image: Getty Images Olmsted says, "You can get the real thing [Kobe beef] here now but at less than 10 restaurants in the entire country, so its still a widespread lie." Most likely, you're eating Kobe style beef than actual beef imported from the Hyogo prefecture of Japan. Kobe beef only comes from Tajima cows raised in that part of Japan and Bon Appetit reports there is only enough of it imported annually to feed 77 hungry U.S. diners. You might not even be getting Wagyu beef (Kobe beef is a particular strain of the also highly prized Wagyu beef) if it's under $20 an ounce. Look for high prices and a chef and/or server who knows exactly where the beef originates and is proud to brag about it. These are only a handful of the foods that are knocked off worldwide. Olmstead warns against fake olive oil, fortified wines and "high value white fish," like red snapper. Do your due diligence so you're sure what you order (or buy at the grocery store) for dinner is what you are actually eating. For Immediate Release Chicago, IL July 26, 2016 Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses Retail, Part 1, including L Brands Inc. (LB), Gap Inc. (GPS), Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST), Buckle Inc. ( BKE) and Zumiez Inc. (ZUMZ). Industry: Retail, Part 1 Link: https://www.zacks.com/commentary/86745/retail-stock-outlook-is-the-sector-reflecting-growth Retailing involves buying large quantities of goods and selling them in smaller quantities to consumers for a profit. The health of the retail industry is an important economic indicator as it is linked directly to consumers and their propensity to spend. Consumer spending is the key to the well being of any economy as it accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity. The link between consumer spending and the retail industry becomes more relevant as retail sales attract approximately 30% of total consumer spending in the U.S. Also, the retail industry ranks among the top U.S. industries and employs an enormous workforce, contributing to the health of the job market. Before jumping onto trends in retail, heres a peek into key economic indicators, which suggest where the market is heading. Recent data revealed that U.S. consumer spending rose for the second straight month in May, climbing 0.4% after a 1.1% gain in Apr 2016 that marked the strongest rise in seven years. This indicates that the U.S. economy picked up in these two months after a slow start in the first quarter of 2016. The report further suggested that income rose 0.2% in May, following a 0.5% increase in April. However, there is a wave of fear pertaining to how American shoppers will react to Britain's decision to leave the European Union (the Brexit vote). Analysts believe that there is a likeliness of consumer spending dropping further ahead as the outcome of Brexit becomes clear. Brexit has not only made global financial markets volatile, it has also created uncertainty over the prospects of the world economy. Story continues Concurrently, a report by the Commerce Department suggests that the third estimate of real gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at an annual rate of 1.1% in the first quarter of 2016, above the second estimate of 0.8%. These reports collectively advocate that the U.S. economy is definitely showing resilience. We note that the U.S. labor market looks quite stable, with unemployment rate for June making a comeback at 4.9% after falling to 4.7% in May. The report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that a total of 287,000 nonfarm payroll was added in June, of which retail employment increased 30,000. Given a rebounding U.S. economy, the retail space is bubbling with optimism. This is evident from Junes 0.8% rise in retail sales, excluding automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants, from May 2016 and a solid 5.1% increase over Jun 2015, as reported by the nation's largest retail trade group National Retail Federation (NRF). The federation pointed out that solid growth in June was a follow up of the sales momentum in April and May. Overall, retail sales is benefitting from a solid rebound in consumer spending as well as job gains and rising income levels. Further, the federation is of the view that this strength provides visibility into the future and expects this momentum to last in the second half of 2016. Additionally, NRF had projected retail sales for 2016 to rise 3.1%, which is higher than the 10-year average sales growth of 2.7%. Online sales in 2016 are expected to increase in the band of 69%. Market experts expect retail sales growth in 2016 to come on the back of improving wages, job creations as well as steady consumer confidence, which will negate the headwinds from an uncertain global environment. Key Retail Metrics The key data in the retail industry analysis is comparable-store sales (comps) as it excludes sales at newly opened and closed stores. We observe that sales data for the month of June, which is the last month of the second quarter, had a positive tone as most retailers posted better-than-expected comps. The list of gainers in June was led by the clothing retail chain L Brands Inc. ( LB) that posted a comps gain of 6% and sales improvement of 5% to $4.7 billion. This was followed by the long distressed, teen retailer The Gap Inc. ( GPS) that reported a 2% increase in both comps and sales. This marked the companys comeback after 14 consecutive declines in comps, all thanks to revival of its Old Navy brand. Going down the line, warehouse retailer Costco Wholesale Corp. ( COST) posted flat comps in June, while total sales rose 3% to $11.33 billion. Comps came in flat but were ahead of analysts expectations. On the other hand, the list of disappointers for the month was topped by The Buckle Inc. ( BKE) which witnessed a 10.6% decline in comps and a 10.1% fall in net sales to $78.3 million for June. It was followed by apparel and accessories retailer Cato Corp. that reported an 8% decline in comps while net sales slumped 6% to $88 million. Further, Washington-based retailer of sports-related teen apparel Zumiez Inc. ( ZUMZ) reported a 4.5% decline in comps, with sales falling 0.6% to $66.6 million from the year-ago period. While this marked the companys fifteenth consecutive comps decline, it marked an improvement from analysts expectations. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> About Zacks Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Click here for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros. Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zacksresearch Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates. Media Contact Zacks Investment Research 800-767-3771 ext. 9339 support@zacks.com https://www.zacks.com/performance Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report L BRANDS INC (LB): Free Stock Analysis Report GAP INC (GPS): Free Stock Analysis Report COSTCO WHOLE CP (COST): Free Stock Analysis Report BUCKLE INC (BKE): Free Stock Analysis Report ZUMIEZ INC (ZUMZ): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Bulawayo (Zimbabwe) (AFP) - Hundreds of Zimbabwean women staged a protest on Tuesday against police brutality and worsening economic woes under President Robert Mugabe's government, in the latest demonstration against the state. Carrying the national flag -- now a symbol of protest -- the women walked through the second city of Bulawayo, singing songs denouncing the veteran leader. "We are demonstrating to expose the injustices and police brutality and demand the government to engage us and deal with the socio-economic crises," said Jenni Williams, leader of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA). The women delivered a petition to the human rights commission, calling on the body to probe cases of attacks and rights abuses by the police. "Violence is the Weapon of the Weak" read some posters carried by the women. The heavily guarded procession held a prayer at the statue of national hero Joshua Nkomo, one of the leaders of the country's fight for liberation against white minority rule. Zimbabwe has been hit by a series of street protests - the largest seen in many years in the country, triggered by an economic crisis that has left banks short of cash and the government struggling to pay its workers. Salaries for civil servants and soldiers have been delayed, fuelling discontent with the government. Mugabe, 92, has often used his security forces to crush dissent since he came to power in 1980, but the growing revolt including the popular ThisFlag internet protest has seen more people speak out against the government. A day-long nationwide strike three weeks ago in Bulawayo closed offices, shops, schools and some government departments. In the capital Harare, dozens of citizens picketed at a magistrate's court demanding the release of Linda Masarira, an activist who is in custody on charges of public violence. Masarira was arrested on July 6 during a mass stay away dubbed "shutdown" and has been denied bail. - By Naman Shukla Apple (AAPL) has been facing many problems over the last few months and it doesn't look like the issues are going to end soon. Apple is scheduled to report earnings today, and I am expecting the company to report weak earnings for several reasons, which are mentioned below. Apple's Momentum in China At the end of 2014, Apple got a robust start in China with the launch of iPhone 6. However, throughout the last year, the company's thrust started decelerating mainly due to the declining smartphone sales across China, as well as surging competition from domestic players. As per IDC, the company's shares of the Chinese smartphone market reached 13%, a drop of 3% in the time between the first quarters of 2015 and 2016. Throughout that same period, Huawei's share escalated to 16% from 11%. On the other hand, the market share of small opponents such as Oppo and Vivo surged more than twice. However, these companies are all struggling over a drenched market. Moreover, according to a report from CCID, China's smartphone penetration rate has topped 90% and users are willing to upgrade. On the other hand, in China, the smartphone sales were flat previous years and are not likely to enhance over the upcoming years. The company's services such as iTunes Movies and iBooks have also underperformed in China, whereas Android players such as Xiaomi have introduced their own app stores and launched competitive payment services. Next iPhone Model Apple achieved huge success by launching the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the next models after iPhone 5S, due to the larger screen size. Then, the company launched iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, but they did not perform as well. Throughout its cycle, the company has apparently lost market share to its opponents and observed its first-ever decline in iPhone unit and top-line shipments y-o-y. Story continues On the other hand, Apple's foremost rival, Samsung, has enjoyed huge success with its latest flagship phones, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. Galaxy S7 models turned into the world's best smartphones. Apple is on its way to launch its new iPhone, but the company has not revealed anything about the phone. However, it is likely the next iPhone will not have major changes. If this is true, Apple may face serious problems going forward. Conclusion Apple has been a weak performer and due to the reasons mentioned above, I think the company is going to report weak earnings as well. Thus, I think investors looking to buy the stock should wait for a pullback. Disclosure: I don't hold a position in any of the stocks mentioned in the article. Start a free 7-day trial of Premium Membership to GuruFocus. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. In an announcement today, President Obama unveiled his new policy for handling "cyber incidents." It's different from Future President Trump's opinions on "the cybers," mostly because there's some actual plans in there. Most notably, the confusing turf war over which agency gets to do what has been sorted out. Moving forwards, the FBI will be the lead agency responding to any "cyber incidents." DON'T MISS: Speeding didnt cause the fatal Tesla Autopilot crash The move is a slight change from the status quo. The FBI has long dealt with "cyber incidents" concerning hackers or attacks against lone companies, but the intelligence agencies have been the behind-the-scenes leads on attacks from other governments. The new policy changes all that. The FBI is now responsible for "threat response activities," while the Department for Homeland Security is responsible for "asset response activities" -- attacks against the power grid or similar. The intelligence community is moved to a backup role, providing "intelligence support and related activities." This doesn't mean that the NSA has nothing to do with cyber warfare any more -- it just means that the FBI is ultimately responsible for investigating any attacks and coordinating a response. The new federal policy has been much-needed for a long time. The likely Russian-conducted hack on the DNC that's causing turmoil around the Democratic convention proves how real the threat of hacking is. There's plenty of government talent capable of helping prevent those attacks in the future; coordinating the response is the real trick. Obama's new policy goes a long way towards helping. Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com By Jonathan Weber and Jeffrey Dastin SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - When senior Yahoo executives gathered at a San Jose hotel for a management retreat in the spring of 2006, there was no outward sign of a company in crisis. The internet pioneer, not yet a teenager, had just finished the prior year with $1.9 billion in profits on $5.3 billion in revenue. The tough days of the dot-com bust were a distant memory, and Yahoo Inc , flush with lucrative advertising deals from the world's biggest brands, was enjoying its run as one of the top dogs in the world's hottest industry. But for one retreat exercise, everyone was asked to say what word came to mind when a company name was mentioned. They went through the list: eBay: auctions. Google: search. Intel: microprocessors. Microsoft: Windows. Then they were asked to write down their answer for Yahoo. "It was all over the map," recalled Brad Garlinghouse, then a Yahoo senior vice president and now COO of payment settlement start-up Ripple Labs. "Some people said mail. Some people said news. Some people said search." While some executives said this was a useful management exercise that took place multiple times over the years, it proved an ominous portent of the business troubles to come. Indeed, the demise of Yahoo, which culminated in an agreement this week to sell the company's core assets to Verizon Communications Inc , has been more than a decade in the making. Many of the more than two dozen former Yahoo managers interviewed by Reuters over the past two weeks -- who now occupy executives suites elsewhere in Silicon Valley -- agree that the company's downfall can be traced to choices made by both the executive leadership and the board of directors during the company's heyday in the mid-2000s. Some of the missed opportunities are obvious: a failed bid to buy Facebook Inc for $1 billion in 2006. A 2002 dalliance with Google similarly came to naught. A chance to acquire YouTube came and went. Skype was snapped up by eBay Inc . And Microsoft Corp's nearly $45 billion takeover bid for all of Yahoo in 2008 was blocked by Yahoo's leadership. Just as damaging as the missed deals, though, was a company culture that ultimately became too bureaucratic and too focused on traditional brand advertising to prosper in a fast-moving tech business, according to some of the former Yahoo managers Reuters spoke with. "It became very difficult to get both investment and alignment" around new product initiatives, said Greg Cohn, a former senior product director at Yahoo and now CEO of the mobile phone app company Burner. "If you built a new product and the home page didn't want to feature it, you were hosed." Worst of all, once Alphabet Inc's Google had displaced it as peoples' first stop for finding something on the internet, Yahoo was never able to decide on exactly what it wanted to be. Yahoo today has more than 1 billion users and has focused on mobile under chief executive Marissa Mayer, who told Reuters in an interview Monday that she still saw a "path to growth" for Yahoo, which the Verizon merger accelerated. Yahoo will continue to operate as a holding company for its large stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan, which are worth far more than the core business. Yahoo declined to comment for this story. THE PURPLE CARPET The appointment of Terry Semel, who had completed a highly successful run as chairman of the Warner Bros. movie studio, as CEO in 2001 seemed to answer a question that bedeviled many early internet firms: was it a tech company, or a media company? Semel could not be reached for comment on his Yahoo tenure. But the focus on media proved lucrative in the short term as big advertisers, desperate to get on board with the next big thing, flocked to one of the largest properties on the web. Revenue soared from $717 million in 2001 to nearly $7 billion by 2007. Indeed, Semel and the media executives he brought in by all accounts turned a scrappy young internet startup into a highly profitable company that brought old-line advertising to a new medium. "From our perspective, we were a media company," said Dan Rosensweig, Yahoo's COO from 2002 to 2007 and now CEO of online education company Chegg Inc . "It didnt feel at the time that there was a strong likelihood we would beat Google at search... Nobody could argue that we werent the largest front page on the internet." Yahoo placed its signature purple everywhere then -- on cookies and cupcakes, on the carpets, and even in the martinis. "When Coca Cola came to campus, we rolled out the purple carpet," recalled Wenda Harris Millard, Yahoo's chief sales officer from 2001 to 2007 and now president and COO of business development firm MediaLink. Millard said all the major advertisers, from Coke to General Motors, wanted to come to Yahoo's campus at least once a year. "We were just doing gazillions of dollars with them," said Millard. THE MONEY TRAP But the excitement, and the revenue, associated with the big advertising deals ten years ago turned out to be a trap in many ways. Like its brethren in the print media business, who continued to rely on selling ad pages long after it was clear that it was a dying business, Yahoo couldn't help but to focus on where the big money was, even though that wasn't where the future was. "The worst consequence of trying to be a media company was that they didn't take programming seriously enough," wrote Paul Graham, co-founder of the Y-Combinator tech incubator who sold a startup to Yahoo, in a 2010 blog post about the company's woes. "Microsoft (back in the day), Google, and Facebook have all had hacker-centric cultures. But Yahoo treated programming as a commodity." The downside of the media orientation became more clear as the 2000s wore on. In 2003, Yahoo acquired Overture, the company that essentially invented the ad-search technology that made Google rich. But Yahoo never succeeded in creating a strong competitor to Google's AdWords and AdSense systems. A subsequent, hugely expensive effort to rebuild its search and advertising technology, dubbed Panama, similarly bore little fruit. Meanwhile, market-leading products like Yahoo Mail, and early social media efforts like Yahoo Groups, were neglected as managers wrestled over which products would get priority on the hugely valuable Yahoo home page, according to three former executives. Promising acquisitions, including photo-sharing site Flickr and social bookmarking service Delicious, withered on the vine. Former staffers say they were consumed with endless internal meetings and shifting priorities. Former senior product director Cohn recalls how efforts to make Yahoo an open platform -- with nifty third-party applications around specific content areas such as travel -- foundered in the face of opposition from managers in charge of Yahoo's in-house products. Too often, the end result was money spread too thinly across too many marginal initiatives, as Garlinghouse famously pointed out in a leaked internal document known as the Peanut Butter Manifesto. TURMOIL AT THE TOP By 2007, it was becoming clear that Yahoo was losing ground fast on the product side as Google solidified its hold on search. New players like Facebook and Netflix Inc continued to arrive and steal Yahoo's thunder. Semel left that year in favor of co-founder Jerry Yang. Whatever plans Yang may have had were quickly disrupted by the unsolicited Microsoft takeover bid in early 2008. The offer split the management team, Garlinghouse and others say, and those divisions persisted even after Microsoft's offer was beaten back. Yang, who championed the resistance to Microsoft, stepped down again in 2008. Three other CEOs followed before Mayer was appointed in 2014. The leadership turmoil "made for a difficult existence for a board, a management team, and a general employee population to get committed to the same goal," said Rosensweig. Yang did not respond to requests for comment. By the time Mayer arrived, Yahoo was already seen in Silicon Valley as a company from another era. It had lots of cash but few strategic advantages as it fought far larger competitors. Many analysts and shareholder say Mayer exacerbated the troubles with acquisitions and key hires that proved misguided. Mayer put a brave face on the deal Monday, saying the scale that will result from the Verizon combination will enable it to continue its efforts to catch up in mobile, social and advertising technology. But the history of the tech business, where companies rarely dominate from one generation to the next, suggests that any such revival is a tall order. (Reporting by Jonathan Weber and Jeffrey Dastin; editing by Edward Tobin) From Town & Country Once upon a time, the Internet was so small, its hundreds of websites could be curated by hand by a couple of Stanford grad students. When it was founded in 1995, Jerry Yang and David Filo's little index of the web was an attempt to organize and codify what was already a messy landscape of disparate sites that was difficult to navigate and impossible to Google-especially since Google was three years away from being created. Yang and Filo called their site Yet Another Hierarchically Organized Oracle, or Yahoo for short and in the late '90s, if you weren't on Yahoo, you weren't on the Internet. Chances are, if you're on Yahoo today, you're probably also on Social Security. At 21, Yahoo has become dated and fusty, a Frankenstein's monster made of the sewn together corpses of once-hot parts. This week it was announced that Yahoo would be acquired by Verizon for $4.8 billion, a number shockingly low in an era when single app like PokemonGo can add $11 billion in value to Nintendo overnight (a figure that has since fallen), and Facebook can drop $22 billion on WhatsApp, a messaging service most Americans hadn't even heard of. The press is already laying the blame for Yahoo's decline at the feet of Marissa Mayer, who has served as CEO of the company since 2012. Mayer's reign has been beset with tumult, her biggest deals garnering headlines (acquiring Millennial sticker book Tumblr for $1.1 billion in 2013; spending $42 million to stream shows like Community and others in 2015) but not much in the way of growth. To be sure, some of this criticism is because Mayer is a woman operating in an industry dominated by men, but it's also because of some seriously bad optics, like the $70,000 Wizard of Oz-themed photo shoot Mayer commissioned for an end-of-year party, which some critics saw as another example of throwing good money after bad; the $10 million salary she paid to Katie Couric; and the reported $7 million Roaring 20s party she threw in 2015. Story continues Like its new corporate sibling AOL, which Verizon purchased for $4.4 billion in 2015, Yahoo went from cutting edge to dull instrument in less than a generation. Free email? Yahoo did it seven years before Gmail. News aggregation? Yahoo was there before anyone. Free web hosting? Yahoo acquired Geocities before Blogger was even created. Yahoo was once so powerful, its then-CEO Terry Semel offered to buy Google for $3 billion in 2002. (Alphabet, Google's parent company, is currently valued north of $443 billion, a little less than double the GDP of Portugal.) But no more. At this rate, Yahoo's next stop may be the Computer History Museum, where it's displayed in a glass case like a Stone Age arrowhead. In her stiff upper lip announcement of the Verizon deal to her staff, Mayer boasted that "Yahoo humanized and popularized the web, email, search, real-time media, and more." She also said (twice) that "Yahoo is a company that changed the world." She's not wrong on either point, but she failed to note that even as it changed the world, Yahoo couldn't figure out how to change itself. The world moved forward; Yahoo has not. Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer plans to stay with the Internet company, which was sold to Verizon for $4.8B. But could she ultimately leave once the transition is over? Were getting close to the final episode of Silicon Valleys longest running soap opera, All My Yahoos, starring Marissa Mayer and a host of former leads. Pretty soon, we wont have the internets version of Susan Lucci to kick around anymore. Longtime followers of the show are definitely feeling a little depressed. I admit to getting a little teary eyed myself when I learned that Verizon had finally agreed to buy Yahoos core internet business for $4.8 billion. The plan is to merge Yahoos operation with AOL which Verizon acquired last year for $4.4 billion under AOL chief Tim Armstrong. At that point, Mayer will presumably exit, stage left. When the deal closes in the first quarter of next year and Yahoo ceases to operate as an independent company, it will bring to an end one of the most storied and elusive turnaround efforts in tech history. For me, the decade-long saga began with an internal memo by the last Yahoo executive who had a clue, Brad Garlinghouse. In what came to be known as the Peanut Butter Manifesto, Garlinghouse explained that, in trying to be all things to all people, the internet company had spread itself too thin (thus, the peanut butter reference). It had become overgrown and unfocused. It lacked cohesive vision and clear accountability. As with many companies that see opportunity everywhere and dont know how to say no, if youd asked 10 of its executives to define Yahoos core strategy, youd get 10 different answers. Everyone knew it was an internet company, but beyond that, it was all over the map. Common as that situation is, it never ends well. The document, which somehow ended up in the Wall Street Journal, should have been a wake-up call for then-CEO Terry Semel and the rest of Yahoos senior leadership team. It wasnt. Nobody listened. And eight months later, Semel was replaced by co-founder Jerry Yang, who many thought capable of crystalizing the companys blurry vision. He couldnt. On the contrary, Yang made a real mess of things, losing more than 100 executives in a crippling talent drain and, along with chairman Roy Bostock, botching a sweet $46 billion acquisition by Microsoft. When the dust settled, Google owned the search market and the advertising riches that went with it. And, like his predecessor, Yang was gone. Story continues That led to a procession of chief executives over the next three years. Some were more interim than others, but all were temporary, nonetheless. Most colorful was the famously foul-mouthed Carol Bartz, who unwisely outsourced Yahoos search business to Microsoft. Also Scott Thompson, who lied on his resume and was busted by activist investor Dan Loeb. Finally, on a sunny day in July of 2012, the board appointed Marissa Mayer CEO and everyone rejoiced. The media, employees and investors thought their prayers to the great purple god had finally been answered. Mayer had built quite a name for herself as a vice president at Google, but some of us wondered whether she was more sizzle than substance. She had a net worth of $300 million and a lavish lifestyle to go with it. Her fashion sense and budget were legendary, as were her many elaborate parties for the Valley elite. On the other hand, she was a smart, driven workaholic who many believed capable of unraveling the great mystery of Yahoos elusive identity and turning around the beleaguered internet company. Not a chance. After missing out on search, social media, ecommerce and mobile, there was nothing left for Yahoo to become. But that didnt stop Mayer from trying everything. Instead of spreading the company too thin like peanut butter on bread, Mayer used a different food metaphor: throwing spaghetti at the purple walls to see what stuck. Nothing stuck. By the time Mayer was finished, four years had gone by, $2 billion of capital had been spent, 50 internet startups had been acquired and mostly written off, countless executives had been hired and fired, and who knows how many strategies were planned, launched and abandoned. Today, all thats left of an internet pioneer that was once valued at $125 billion is an investment in Alibaba, Yahoo Japan, some patents and floors covered in fallen spaghetti. Maybe thats overly dramatic, but there really isnt much left to Yahoos core business. Verizon is paying a bit less than last years revenues, although the telecom giant will also assume $1.1 billion in restricted stock to keep employees around for its move into digital media. And for that purpose, itll be worth every penny. Sadly, the mysterious question will finally be answered. What is Yahoo? A subsidiary of Verizon. Related Articles By Se Young Lee SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean memory chip maker SK Hynix Inc <000660.KS> on Tuesday tipped a strong pickup in DRAM memory chips for mobile devices in the second half after its second-quarter operating profit fell to its lowest in more than three years. The world's No. 2 memory chip maker after Samsung Electronics Co Ltd <005930.KS> said key clients would launch new smartphone products, boosting a market which has been hurt by weak demand for consumer electronics. "The third quarter is a time when demand from key clients for new smartphone products rises significantly, which will have a positive effect," SK Hynix said in a statement. SK Hynix said in a regulatory filing its April-June profit was 453 billion won ($397 million), the lowest since the first quarter of 2013 and matching analysts' estimates from a Thomson Reuters StarMine SmartEstimate survey. The chipmaker's shares were down 2.1 percent as of 0206 GMT, compared with a 0.2 percent rise for the broader market <.KS11>, briefly touching their lowest price since July 8. Yuanta Securities analyst Lee Jae-yun said concerns about tougher competition amid speculation about a takeover of U.S. Micron Technology Inc was weighing on investor sentiment. Micron earlier this month announced job cuts and other savings after guiding for weaker-than-expected fiscal third-quarter sales, underscoring the strains on the industry. Sluggish global economic conditions are weighing on demand for products ranging from smartphones to personal computers, hurting prices for components such as chips. SK Hynix said second-quarter shipments of DRAM chips, used for temporary data storage, rose 18 percent from January-March while average selling prices fell 11 percent. Shipments for NAND chips, used for long-term data storage on products such as smartphones and computers, rose 52 percent and the average selling price fell 11 percent. Second-quarter revenue SK Hynix fell 15 percent from a year earlier to 3.9 trillion won, compared with a Thomson Reuters StarMine SmartEstimate of 3.8 trillion won. The impending launch of new premium smartphones from firms such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics could help chipmakers in the current quarter, however. Researcher TrendForce said earlier this month contract prices for DRAM chips had stabilized in June and would rise by between 4 percent and 8 percent in the third quarter. SK Hynix also said it would push to grow its memory sales for vehicles, focusing on high-end applications such as self-driving technologies. (Reporting by Se Young Lee; Editing by Stephen Coates) Photos: HBO One of HBOs first (and still best) original series was Oz, Tom Fontanas insanely addictive take on life inside the big house aka the clink aka the slammer aka well, call it whatever you like: Its still prison. The network headed back to the pen on last nights third installment of The Night Of, A Dark Crate, as accused murderer Naz (Riz Ahmed) was transferred from his holding cell to more permanent quarters at New York Citys largest jail, Rikers Island. Given the shows pronounced emphasis on realism, the environment at Rikers is less melodramatic than the Oswald State Correctional Facility, where Oz took place. But thats also because Nazs quarters are in a part of the jail that operates under the firm hand of Freddy Knight (Michael K. Williams), a former boxer whose celebrity gives him no small amount of power over his fellow prisoners as well as the guards. And Freddy keeps the peace by keeping everyone in line; step out of formation and things can get messy as Naz discovers when he declines Freddys offer of protection and watches his cot go up in flames. Welcome to the pokey, new fish. Nazs entry into Rikers was the big development in A Dark Crate, but other storylines connected to this thorny murder case advanced as well. Heres a status update on the shows four major components. The Crime: Unaware that events were conspiring to remove him as Nazs attorney, John Stone visited the murder scene, facilitating his entry into Andreas digs with coffee for the on-duty cops. He witnessed the same gruesome scene (minus the body) and took his own pictures and video footage. John didnt turn up any new evidence, but he did take note of the door that Andreas pet cat leaves and enters through, a seemingly minor detail that might have major consequences. What the episode really called attention to was the larger implications of Nazs arrest for his family, specifically the taxicab that his father, Salim (Peyman Moaadi), owns with two other men. Story continues Sympathetic to his plight, but also in need of that income, they take him to visit the impound lot where its being held and learned that it wont be picking up fares again any time soon. Because of Nazs arrest, the taxi will be held as evidence for months and possibly years. The only way to expedite its return, the all-too-helpful officer says, is for the three to formally accuse Naz of grand theft auto for borrowing the taxi without their permission. Salim refuses to even consider the idea of filing charges against his son, but his colleagues lean forward with great interest. So it appears that the poor guy is about to be charged with another crime although in this case, its one that hes legitimately guilty of. Related: The Night Of Postmortem: Star Bill Camp Discusses Det. Boxs Motivations, Being a Subtle Beast, and How Youll Feel About the Series Finale The Cops: With the case moving full speed ahead to trial, Det. Box (Bill Camp) wants to make sure that his team have their story straight for prosecutor Helen Weiss (Jeannie Berlin). And that story absolutely has to include the detail that one of the investigating officers, Robert Maldonado (Joshua Bitton), vomited at the scene. Thats because, as Box points out, Naz doesnt look like a killer, which means the jury has to believe that the crime he allegedly committed was so shocking, it even unnerved an officer of the law. Whatever doubts Box might privately have about Naz, hes in this case to win it. The Courts: Johns hiring as Nazs chief counsel was a classic case of a right place, right time career opportunity. But his dubious reputation within the New York City legal world also made it a position without much of a future. Sure enough, he found himself swiftly supplanted by a high-powered attorney, Alison Crowe (Glenne Headly), who did an end run around both John and Naz by appealing directly to the Khan family. Bringing along her Hindi-speaking employee Chandra (Amara Karan) to put the Pakistani family at ease, Alison successfully persuades them that shes a far better investment than John Stone, who wanted a $75,000 flat fee to defend Naz. (Salim was eventually able to negotiate him down to a $50,000 retainer.) Its a decision that Naz isnt happy about, but then again, he doesnt have a lot of say in the matter. At least he breaks the news to John gently, trying not to add to the mans many woes. In return, John tells Naz that he can still call him anytime for advice not that he has a lot to give. Racking his brains for some parting wisdom to offer his former client, John comes up empty: I cant think of any, he says sheepishly, shuffling off in his Saran-Wrapped feet. The Cat: Move over, Garfield: America has a new favorite tabby. Andreas feline friend stole our hearts in this episode, especially when John found it meowing outside her door late at night, with no owner there to offer food or a belly rub. Begging off cat-sitting duties due to allergies, John winds up taking it to an animal shelter, where the cat will be euthanized if it isnt adopted within 10 days. How long does it take to get feline-related allergy shots? Clock is ticking, John let this feline die and youll have us to deal with. The Night Of airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO The report points out that Behrouz Kamalvandi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran issued a statement saying that the Iranian government would be issuing a formal protest with the International Atomic Energy Agency over the leak of the document. The source of the leak was not disclosed following the AP report, but Kamalvandi said, As of now, our suspicions point to the IAEA and the people there who have access to these documents. As The Tower points out, this statement comes more than a week after the initial revelation of the leak, which was actually met with boastful acknowledgement by other Iranian officials. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, for instance, explained that Iranian negotiators and experts specifically sought out the terms in the document as a matter of pride. And this statement closely coincided with threats by multiple Iranian officials including Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Ali Larijani, suggesting that Iran would resume and further expand full-scale nuclear enrichment much sooner than originally planned if Tehran felt dissatisfied with the outcome of the JCPOA. To whatever extent Kamalvandis comments are inconsistent with Zarifs, there is similar internal inconsistency in Kamalvandis statement, which directly parroted Zarifs boasting, saying that the formal protest would go forward even though the contents of the leaked document were a matter of pride. Furthermore, The Tower notes, as some other outlets did last week, that the potential for such an expansion in enrichment was already a known feature of the JCPOA, even if the secret document had not been revealed. It is clear that the implicit criticism in The Tower report is that the regime is using making arguably contradictory statements on the same topic because each statement serves the purposes of state propaganda in different contexts. This same phenomenon can arguably be observed with regard to other issues, as well, including the frequently recurring conflict over Irans human rights violations and the Western criticism thereof. The Iranian regime has its own internal human rights monitor, but as has been pointed out by independent, Iran-focused human rights organizations, the purpose of that monitor appears to be only to deny the existence of well-known Iranian human rights issues when they are brought up by Western governments, the United Nations, or non-governmental organizations. Furthermore, in the face of those criticisms, the Islamic Republic is fond of levying matching accusations against the US and its allies, often using Irans own state-run English language media. This was done on Monday in Press TV, which the regime used to report upon a conference that was recently held in Tehran to discuss the US human rights record. The video segment describing that conference focused upon the controversies that have recently become prevalent in the US following various reports of African Americans being mistakenly killed by the police during traffic stops and responses to emergency service calls. However, it also avoided relevant context, suggesting, for instance, that the problem of inappropriate use of deadly force somehow originated in Washington. But the killings in question have each been the acts of individual police operating at a local level, and each have been investigated, with many spurring civilian protest and sympathetic comment from the US president and other politicians. By contrast, many reports have accumulated over the years of Iranian arrestees being killed under torture. Many others have been subject to similarly harsh treatment, albeit not fatal. And such reports frequently describe the cases of political prisoners, and not cases of mistaken identity or police error, as in the case of local-level killings by Western law enforcement officers. Crucially, in many of the instances of apparent Iranian human rights violations and politically motivated arrests, the arresting authorities are either members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps or agents of the Intelligence Ministry, both of which do in fact answer directly to Tehran. Press TV alleged that the US portrays itself as a defender of human rights across the globe but that it uses the issue as a tool to exert political pressure on other countries. Without specifically denying any of the human rights allegations presented against Iran, the report evidently sought to cast doubt upon such reports by implying that they are manufactured by political enemies. This begins to look like a contradiction with other official statements when one considers that the Press TV report emerged on the same day that the Iranian judiciary publicly acknowledged, through other Iranian state media, that it had detained another Iranian-American dual national, without issuing specific charges. While the individual remained unnamed in the report, it apparently refers to Robin Shahini, a 46-year old San Diego resident whose family says he was arrested on July 11 and has not been heard from since. Iranian authorities reportedly instructed the family to remain silent about the arrest, thereby further suggesting coordinated Iranian efforts to manipulate the media and cast doubt upon human rights violations without addressing them in any meaningful way. This also points to important contrast between coordinated human rights abuses in Iran and the individual American tragedies highlighted by Press TV and other Iranian sources. The report failed to acknowledge that law enforcement authorities in the United States have continued to allow protests by the Black Lives Matter movement to go forward, even after one recent protest coincided with the assassination of five police officers. By contrast, persons who assemble outside of Evin Prison or Iranian government buildings to protest the unjustified arrest of their loved ones are frequently dispersed or arrested. Furthermore, the Associated Press quoted Shahinis sister as saying that his arrest was likely related to critical commentary he had posted on the internet. Each month, additional reports emerge of persons who were arrested in Iran for nothing other than statements made online. This repression of dissent is one thing that Iran has apparently not made serious efforts to deny. Indeed, on Sunday the head of the Basij civilian militia, General Mohammad Reza Nagdhi presided over the destruction of 100,000 satellites, in keeping with the governments ban on these devices and other information sources including Facebook, Twitter, and numerous Western news sites. But although the regime is not prone to denying its efforts to control the flow of information, it does attempt to invoke noble motives. The Daily Mail quoted Naghdi saying that Western-based television networks weaken the foundation of families, cause disruptions in childrens education, and bring about improper behavior. The quartet was established by virtue of the Arab Leagues resolution No. 8879 in January 2016. It is made up of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, as well as the Secretary-General of the Arab League. The statement says, the committee noticed Irans recent massive and serious escalation of the scope and level of its interference in the internal affairs of Arab states, including heightened provocative statements made by Iranian officials against Arab states and it further reiterated its condemnation and denunciation of all Iranian interference and transgressions on the internal affairs of Arab states and demanded Tehran halt all violating actions in addition to seize its registered support for terrorist and subversive groups as well as its provocative and aggressive statements. The statement requests that Tehran acts in good faith on its what it says it desires for enhancing relationships with Arab States, and denounces the Iranian intervention in Bahrain, Yemen, Syrian crisis, and the continued Iranian occupation of the U.A.E Islands Abu Musa, Greater and Lesser Tunbs. It goes on to say that, Iran had clearly violated U.A.E sovereignty which proved detrimental to regional security and stability. It also stressed that, Relations with Iran should be based on respect of the sovereignty of other states and good neighborliness. A report prepared by the Arab League was also studied. It included steps to implement relevant ministerial decisions and pan-Arab organizations monitoring of all negative statements made by Iranian officials against Arab States. The committee submitted its observations to the Council of the Arab League. [July 25, 2016] Media Alert: Kaspersky Lab Research Team to Participate in Reddit AMA on July 27, 2016 Kaspersky Lab (News - Alert) Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) will hold an Ask me Anything session on Reddit.com on Wednesday, July 27. Costin Raiu, Director of GReAT at Kaspersky Lab, along with experts from his team will be answering questions from Reddit.com users. When: The post will be set live at July 27, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. ET and will last for an hour and a half. Where: In order to be able to ask questions, users are advised to register at the Reddit.com website and follow this link: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/. Follow the hashtag #AskGReAT to see what questions are being asked. Who: Costin Raiu, Director, Global Research and Analysis Team Ryan Naraine, Director, Global Research and Analysis Team, US Vitaly Kamluk, Director, Global Research and Analysis Team, APAC Vicente Diaz, Principal Security Researcher, Global Research and Analysis Team During the session Kaspersky Lab experts are ready to cover: Technical questions about targeted attacks research and the way our experts work Careers in IT Sec - how to start, what to learn, what to expect? Development of the professional skills in IT Sec Why attribution is a hard task? "Greetings" from the other side (how actors react to company researches) Ethics of security researchers Collaboration between security vendors and independent researchers In order to be able to ask questions, users are advised to register at the Reddit.com websites and follow this link: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/. Established in 2008, GReAT operates at the very heart of Kaspersky Lab, uncovering targeted attacks, cyber-espionage campaigns, major malware, ransomware, and underground cyber-criminal trends. Since the beginning of its operations GReAT and their 40+ talented security professionals located across the world has published research on some of the biggest cyber-attacks, including Stuxnet, Flame, Gauss, Red October, Equation Group, Regin, Epic Turla, Sofacy, Black Energy and others. For almost a decade, Kaspersky Lab researchers have gained unprecedented experience investigating sophisticated cyberthreats, cooperating with Law enforcement agencies to fight cybercriminals, enhancing their skills, developing new detection technologies and many other exciting areas. The important results from security researchers are clearly visible to the public - sophisticated threats are discovered and the world becomes a little (or even much) safer. But what's behind the scenes is often not widely known, and in some cases is even more interesting than the research itself. Given that transparency is one of the main principles of Kaspersky Lab, our security researchers are excited to share their insights, opinions and knowledge on any aspect of their work. Biographies of speakers: Costin Raiu: Director, Global Research & Analysis Team Costin specializes in analyzing advanced persistent threats and high-level malware attacks. He leads the Global Research and Analysis Team at Kaspersky that researched the inner workings of Stuxnet, Duqu, Flame, Gauss and more recently, Red October, MiniDuke and the Mask. Costin's work includes analyzing malicious websites, exploits and online banking malware. Costin has over 19 years of experience in anti-virus technologies and security research. He is a member of the Virus Bulletin Technical Advisory Board, a member of the Computer AntiVirus Researchers' Organization (CARO) and a reporter for the Wildlist Organization International. Prior to joining Kaspersky Lab, Costin worked for GeCad as Chief Researcher and as a Data Security Expert with the RAV antivirus developers group. Costin joined Kaspersky Lab in 2000. Prior to becoming Director of the Global Research & Analysis Team in 2010, Costin held the position of Chief Security Expert, overseeing research efforts in the EEMEA region. Some of his hobbies include chess, high precision arithmetic, cryptography, chemistry, photography and Science Fiction literature. Ryan Naraine: Director, Global Research & Analysis Team, US Ryan joined the company in 2008 as a Security Evangelist. In March 2013, he was appointed the Head of Kaspersky Lab's Global Research & Analysis Team in the United States. Ryan has extensive experience in computer security user education. He specializes in operating system and third-party application vulnerabilities, zero-day attacks, social engineering and social networking threats, and issues related to responsible vulnerability disclosure. He has monitored security and hacker attack trends for over 10 years, writing for eWEEK magazine and ZDNet's Zero Day blog. Before joining Kaspersky Lab's Global Research & Analysis Team, Ryan created and managed Threatpost.com, Kaspersky Lab's security news service. Vitaly Kamluk: Director, Global Research & Analysis Team, APAC Vitaly has been involved in malware research at Kaspersky Lab since 2005. In 2008, he was appointed Senior Antivirus Expert, before going on to become Director of the EEMEA Research Center in 2009. He spent a year in Japan focusing on major local threats affecting the region. In 2014 he was seconded to the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation in Singapore, where he works in the INTERPOL Digital Crime Center specializing in malware reverse engineering, digital forensics and cybercrime investigation. He remains a Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab. Prior to joining Kaspersky Lab, Vitaly worked as a software developer and system administrator. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Applied Math and Computer Science at the Belarussian State University. Vicente Diaz: Principal Security Researcher, Global Research and Analysis Team Vicente joined Kaspersky Lab's Global Research & Analysis Team in November 2010. He specializes in Threat Intelligence and also researches malware and fraud in the European region, including banking Trojans, social networking threats, cybercriminal 'partner networks' and mobile malware. In addition, Vincente leads technical research projects and provides expert support to customers. Prior to joining Kaspersky Lab, Vicente worked as a Software Developer for IT&C and Actaris, after which he took up a research position at the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC). He then entered the field of IT security, working for S21sec first as pentester and then as an e-crime manager. Vicente is the author of several software tools and is active on the conference circuit, both as an organizer and speaker. He was a member of the advisory board for the Source (News - Alert) Conference and is a co-founder of Edge -Security, a security group dedicated to research and the organization of non-profit events. Vicente holds a degree in computer science and an MSc in artificial intelligence. About Kaspersky Lab: Kaspersky Lab is a global cybersecurity company founded in 1997. Kaspersky Lab's deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company's comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky Lab technologies and we help 270,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Securelist | Information about Viruses, Hackers and Spam Follow @Securelist on Twitter (News - Alert) Threatpost | The First Stop for Security News Follow @Threatpost on Twitter View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160725006218/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [July 26, 2016] Netcetera to Safeguard Online Payments with Entersekt Authentication Entersekt, a world leader in authentication and mobile app security, has announced a partnership with Netcetera, a developer and operator of highly secure and convenient payment systems. Entersekt will provide the Zurich-headquartered company with push-based transaction authentication software engineered to protect card-based online payments through a highly secure but user-friendly adaptation of the 3-D Secure process. Designed to serve as an additional layer of security for e-commerce purchases, 3-D Secure can significantly reduce card-not-present fraud rates. Unfortunately, typical implementations of the standard do not match users' expectations of a low-friction digital experience, relying as they do on static or single-use passwords. Entersekt's solution reinvents the 3-D Secure user experience by enabling consumers to authenticate purchases through their mobile devices, with just the touch of a button. This fully out-of-band, multi-factor authentication process, which does not rely on browser communications, significantly boosts security while eliminating the need to remember static passwords or enter one-time passwords. Supporting its customers through every stage of the project life cycle, Netcetera also hosts a world-class 3-D Secure service at its PCI (News - Alert) DSS-certified data center. "Netcetera has over a decade's experience building and hosting 3-D Secure solutions for banks and card issuers," explained Dr. Thomas Fromherz, head of payment and card services at Netcetera. "Integrated into our 3DS DYN product, Entersekt's technology compliments our other offerings in this space, and ensures that we continue to provide our customers with the very best protection while delivering a singularly intuitive user experience." The Entersekt-Netcetera partnership has its origin in an earlier collaboration in support of the card issuer, Swisscard AECS, a joint venture between Credit Suisse and American Express (News - Alert). The first fruits of this new partnership are imminent, with launches in Germany later this year. Claudius van der Meulen, VP business development Europe at Entersekt, credits Netcetera's excellent reputation for raising awareness of Entersekt in the region. "Netcetera's expertise in managing mission-critical environments helps us to grow awareness for our unique multi-factor authentication solutions. With multi-tenant capabilities now enabled on our security platform and upcoming implementations at German card issuers and banks, I am very confident that momentum will continue to build." Schalk Nolte, CEO of Entersekt, added: "Entersekt's suite of solutions provides a compelling answer to a range of challenges facing financial services companies in Europe. Whether it's the rapid rise in online card fraud, fast-evolving mobile malware, the obsolescence of mTANs in countering phishing attacks, or regulatory changes and the impact of PSD2 on banks' bottom lines, we can assist. That's especially true with excellent partners like Netcetera. I'm very proud to have them stand with us." About Entersekt Entersekt is an innovator in push-based authentication and app security. The company's one-of-a-kind approach harnesses the power of digital certificate technology with the convenience of mobile phones to provide financial services companies and their customers with full protection from online fraud. Built on open technologies for high availability, scalability, and simple integration, Entersekt's patented security products protect millions of devices and transactions daily, while complying with the world's most stringent regulatory guidelines. Enterprises across the globe look to Entersekt to strengthen the bond of trust they share with their customers, and to build on those relationships by introducing compelling, user-friendly new mobile and online services. For more information on Entersekt, visit entersekt.com. About Netcetera As a leading Swiss software company, Netcetera supports its customers worldwide with trend-setting products and custom software. It covers the entire IT service lifecycle, from strategy to implementation and operation. A balanced combination of cutting-edge technology and proven standards ensures investment security, from large-scale projects to innovative start-ups. Netcetera's 350 employees have one common goal: to help its customers reach their digital business targets. Founded in 1996, Netcetera is a holding company with headquarters in Zurich and offices in Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, and the United Arab Emirates. For more information about Netcetera, visit netcetera.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726005106/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] ASHMORE (JG-TC) -- A Casey woman was reportedly airlifted from the scene of an accident southeast of Ashmore on Saturday evening. Caitlin B. McComas, 27, lost control of her vehicle at a curve while driving southbound on Illinois Route 49, according to a report from the Coles County Sheriff's Office. The report said the accident occurred about two miles southeast of Ashmore at 5:40 p.m. Saturday when McComas' vehicle left the road and overturned. It said she was taken by medical helicopter to Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana. McComas was still hospitalized there on Tuesday and listed in fair condition, according to a Carle representative. The report also said McComas was cited for improper lane use and not wearing a seat belt. CHARLESTON (JG-TC) -- The chance to learn about nocturnal insects returns to Fox Ridge State Park on Saturday with the park's annual "Night Bugs" event. The presentation will begin around sunset and will take place at the park's White Pines pavilion, the first shelter on the right side of the road after the park's entrance, according to a news release. The release said activities will include using black lights and sheets to attract and collect insects and using microscopes to examine them. It said Eastern Illinois University professor Paul Switzer and University of Illinois research specialist Terry Harrison will help with the event. The release also said the event will last until about 10:30 p.m. and is co-sponsored by the Grand Prairie Butterfly Club. Fox Ridge State Park is located on Illinois Route 130 south of Charleston. GREENUP (JG-TC) -- A Mattoon man was arrested Thursday following a shooting in Greenup Wednesday that led to the death of another Mattoon man. Lamont Mimms, 23, was arrested on the charge of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, according to Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Ryan Shoemaker. Cumberland County State's Attorney Jonathon Braden has said charges have not been filed yet regarding the death of Eric M. Lavaly, 22, of Mattoon because the investigation is ongoing. However, Shoemaker said more charges are likely to be filed pending a forensic analysis of evidence collected at the scene of the shooting at 610 W. Cumberland St. As previously reported, Coles County Coroner Ed Schniers has said that Lavaly died as the result of multiple gunshot wounds. Lavaly was pronounced dead at 10:36 p.m. Wednesday after being taken from Greenup to the emergency room at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center. Shoemaker said Kyle Covalt, 21, of Indianapolis was also shot in the incident. He was sent Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center as well, he said. Mimms is being held at the Champaign County jail on a $500,000 bond. The Illinois State Police is still continuing its investigation of the incident. WELLINGTON - A surge in exports to China helped New Zealand maintain an overall trade surplus last month, the government statistics agency said Tuesday. China led the way in New Zealand's rising exports, with goods to China increasing by 18 percent, or NZ$125 million ($87.47 million), from June last year. The increase in exports was led by rises in logs, wood, and wood articles, kiwifruit, dairy products and food preparations for infant use, according to Statistics New Zealand. New Zealand had a trade surplus of NZ$127 million ($88.96 million), or 3 percent of exports, in June. That compared with a deficit of NZ$182 million ($127.49 million) in June last year. The agency noted the value of kiwifruit exports had soared by 47 percent year on year to reach NZ$331 million ($231.86 million ), led by demand from China and Japan. The quantities of kiwifruit exported were up 32 percent. "Export values of kiwifruit for the months of May and June 2016 are the two highest on record," international statistics senior manager Jason Attewell said in a statement. 100 years ago, July 26, 1916 MATTOON -- The walls of the new Memorial Hospital building are again rising rapidly and soon will reach the second floor level. When that point of construction is reached, the brick masons will again quit their work for a time to enable the plumbers and other craftsmen to do their work. The new Memorial Hospital building is being built to front on Richmond Avenue instead of North 21st Street as was first planned. It was originally the plan of the hospital board to use the present hospital building for a few years as a home for the nurses. But once the new building is completed and opened, the old structure will be demolished. The nurses will be quartered temporarily in some apartment nearby... SPRINGFIELD -- Bitten in the neck by a horse, Mrs. A.C. Wilcox of Mattoon is confined to her room at the home of her sister, Mrs. Alice Ackerman. Mrs. Wilcox was injured this morning when she attempted to tie the horse belonging to the city electrician. The pole to which the horse was tied was broken and Mrs. Wilcox feared the horse might run away. As she stepped up to it, the horse sank its teeth into her neck. A physician declared it likely that a bone in the shoulder was broken by the force of the horse's bite. 50 years ago, 1966 MATTOON -- Coles County's corn and soybean yields will be spotty and well below the county records, Louis M. Christen, county farm adviser, said. Extremely hot days in late June and July, along with a shortage of rain has cut the crop potential. Christen agreed with many other ag experts that this year's corn yield may be as much as 30 percent below last year's record county average of 100 bushels per acre. Soybean prospects are for a crop well below the county record of 34 bushels an acre set in 1963. However, Christen said Coles County farmers just harvested a record wheat crop averaging 48 bushels an acre. It tops the previous record of 45 bushels an acre set in 1963... MATTOON -- A 57.2 percent increase in first half-year net earnings over the same period a year ago was announced Monday at a meeting of the Blaw-Knox board of directors, held at the Holiday Inn of Mattoon. W. Cordes Snyder, board chairman, made the announcement. Directors declared the usual quarterly cash dividend of 25 cents a share , payable Sept. 15. Snyder said the second half of the year should bring further gains and that records in both sales and net income are anticipated for the full year of operations... CHARLESTON -- A newly constructed Arts, Crafts and Agriculture Building at the Coles County Fair should delight exhibitors and visitors alike. The blue and white metal building with large garage-type doors at both ends, concrete floor and ventilated roof has 4,000 square feet of space and was built at cost by Sturdi-Built Farm and Commercial Building Co. and by Farrier Construction.. 25 years ago, 1991 MATTOON -- Area farmers witnessed the latest developments in equipment, chemicals and seeds Thursday at Lake Land Colleges Agronomy Day. Farming is not stagnant, Dawn Thomson, farm manager at Lake Land. Farming may not be growing as fast as computer science, but everyone has to keep learning, she said. More than 200 farmers and ag students took wagon tours of the colleges 167 acres to view results of various seeds and chemicals. Thomson said many of the Lake Land agriculture students go on to four-year university. Approximately 140 ag students are expected for fall semester, said Curt Rincker, chairman of the agriculture division. More women also are going into agriculture fields MATTOON Continued pressure and concern from the community have forced the Vettes Teen Club, 1309 Broadway Ave., Mattoon, to no longer allow out-of-state residents into the building. Steve and Nancy Kelly, owners of the club, said Vettes will continue to be operated in a manner which will provide a safe place for children for children to have fun, without worry of potential problems. As of today, the Kellys said, the club is exclusively for Illinois residents MATTOON Two local men were among 700 extras hired to help in the Danville filming for The Babe, a new movie about the legendary Babe Ruth. Bill Hollada, former instructor at Lake Land College, and James Sapp, a teacher at Franklin School in Mattoon, were faces in the crowds as scenes simulated games at Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. The extras were at the old Danville Stadium 12-14 hours a day for 10 days of filming. 100 years ago, July 27, 1916 MATTOON -- Indications this afternoon were that all previous heat records for the summer will be broken today. The Journal Gazette's thermometer at 1 o'clock recorded a temperature of 100 degrees, the instruments being located at a point where the sun cannot reach it until late afternoon. At 3 o'clock yesterday, the same thermometer recorded a temperature slightly less than 100. Captain J. Withington's instruments recorded for the 24 hours preceding 6 o'clock yesterday evening, a high temperature of 99 degrees. There has been but one day in all of July that the temperature failed to hit 90 degrees. On July 10, the high temperature was 89 degrees. On every other day this month the high has been at least 90... CHARLESTON -- Scores of business and professional men, their clerks and families yesterday attended the picnic at Oliver Rocks, east of Charleston. The majority of business houses and offices were closed and the business district was all but deserted while all tried to beat the heat with an outing on the banks of the Ambraw. Automobiles furnished by merchants and other citizens carried the picnickers from the courthouse square to the river. Everyone took a basket of food and a big picnic supper was served in the evening. The Charleston Merchants Association furnished ice cream and lemonade. 50 years ago, 1966 MATTOON -- They don't know exactly what's in store for them, but four Mattoon men who will participate in the ostrich races at the Coles County fair have all accepted the challenge with a true sporting attitude: they all intend to win. The Mattoon bird racers will each participate in one of four races scheduled Aug. 2 as part of the Gene Holter Wild Animal Show at the fair. Lew Stiff will race against Bill Browning and Elmer Pearcy, both of Charleston; Wally Roberts will challenge another pair of Charleston men, Nolan Clayton and Dr. Phillip Kerz. The third race will feature Bill Grimes and Richard Ross will face Darrell Eaton of Charleston in a third race while the fourth event pits Charleston Mayor Walt Reasor against Wayne Lanman and Charleston Commissioner Jack Ensign... MATTOON -- The quick action of an Illinois Central Railroad employee from Neoga saved the lives of two young boys Tuesday. Lloyd Ballinger was working near the IC Railroad's Marshall Avenue facility when he noticed two boys watching a freight train pass the crossing. The two boys, about ages 5 and 8, were standing on a set of tracks inside the crossing gates, apparently waiting for the freight train to pass so they could continue to ride their bikes. But Ballinger noticed a passenger train was approaching from the south on the tracks where the boys were standing. The freight train was too loud for him to be heard yelling, so Ballinger ran about 75 yards to the boys and pushed them off the track seconds before the passenger train entered the crossing. After the train passed, the boys calmly got on their bikes and rode off. 25 years ago, 1991 CHARLESTON -- Fun and action are back for the 137th time at the Coles County Fair. The week of activities begins Sunday with 4-H shows and a Monster Truck Show featuring Bearfoot #1 roaring in front of the grandstand Sunday evening. Bearfoot #1 was world champion last year in the Camel Mud and Monster Series. The five-member band City Slickers, from east-central Illinois, will bring their blend of country-rock and classic rock on Monday night. The 1991 Miss Coles County Fair Queen Pageant will be on Wednesday when reigning queen Jill Board of Charleston will pass her crown to one of 14 contestants MATTOON It seems only fitting that the city with the only bagel festival should also be the same place with the Worlds Largest Bagel Bakery and Worlds Largest Bagel in cold storage inside. The Kraft/Lenders plant in Mattoon has taken on a few changes since it was built in 1972 to make frozen pizzas. Kraft purchased Lenders Bagels, a popular East Coast product, in 1986 and converted Kraft plants in Buffalo, N.Y., and Mattoon for more bagel production. The Mattoon plant produced 1 billion bagels in 1990 with products being shipped to points as far as California, Syracuse, N.Y., and Roanoke, Texas. Bagelfest, the festival built around a free bagel breakfast, is today in uptown Mattoon. Currently, there are no restrictions between Ukraine and the Republic of Lithuania on the number of designated carriers, points of departure/arrival and flights, the press service of the State Aviation Service of Ukraine said, UNIAN reports. The State Aviation Service said early in June that air traffic between Europe and Ukraine was extended to three directions in the Czech Republic and Lithuania. In particular, Kaunas and Palanga were added to the list of the arrival/departure points in Lithuania. In addition, early in April this year, Ukraine and Poland removed mutual restrictions on flights between the two countries, and at the end of March, Italy lifted its limit on the number of flights with Ukraine. According to the governments action program for 2016, Ukraines Cabinet of Ministers plans to sign by the end of the year an agreement on a common aviation space, or the so-called Open Skies Treaty, between Ukraine and the European Union. On 3-5 October 2017 Kyiv is going to host the Space and Future Forum to network international experts and youth, many of whom will also participate at the first CosmoHack in the world. Joinfo provides media coverage of the Forum, and some of its topics were already discussed ... Nebraska Home Sales is pleased to welcome Andrea Boettcher, Kara Lacey and Cody Jankovits to their team. Boettcher grew up in Nebraska and believes this is where her strong work ethic and Midwestern values come from. Boettcher worked in the private sector and over the last several years is pursuing her childhood dream of real estate. Boettcher can be contacted at 402-570-6265 or Andrea.Boettcher@NebHomeSales.com. Lacey grew up right outside Lincoln and loves calling Nebraska her home. Lacey's love for real estate started in property management and has grown to every aspect of the industry. Lacey can be reached at 402-802-1110 or Kara.Lacey@NebHomeSales.com. Jankovits learned the importance of hard work and dedication at a very young age while helping on the farm in McCook. He currently attends the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and plans to receive his bachelor's degree in finance in 2017. Jankovits is very eager and excited about his new career in real estate. Jankovits can be contacted at 308-340-4666 or Cody.Jankovits@NebHomeSales.com Nebraska Home Sales is a full service real estate company and is one of Lincoln's top producing real estate companies. Our flexible commissions, full service, and expert agents are what sets us apart. Go to www.nebhomesales.com for more info or the main office phone number is 402-489-9071. Special education students need more time to master core subjects like reading and math and teachers with expertise in those subjects should be teaching them, according to an audit of special education in Lincoln Public Schools. The gift of time is a key component of raising the achievement of struggling students, consultant Nate Levenson told the Lincoln Board of Education Monday, and thats not always happening at LPS. Instead, special education teachers without the subject expertise or para-educators often teach small groups during regular class time. "The person who helps them, their skill and training matter a lot," said Levenson, president of District Management Council, the Boston company LPS hired to audit the special education department. "The single biggest variable of how much students learn is not the wisdom of your superintendent, the consultant you hired or the curriculum you build. It's the teacher." That was among the findings of a $150,000 audit of special education in LPS, carried out as one of the strategic goals of the district. The special education department spent more than $60 million last year to serve more than 6,000 students identified with a wide range of disabilities. Consultants interviewed staff, surveyed parents, community groups and administrators, visited classrooms and analyzed staff schedules. The report commended LPS staff for its commitment to helping students succeed, the passion and investment of district administrators and for its investment in special education staff. In fact, the audit found, LPS has 1.2 times as many special education teachers and 1.5 times as many para-professionals as districts with similar demographics. Funding isnt a problem, Levenson said, but there will be challenges to shift resources and streamline schedules. You have a number of things going well, Levenson said. Theres a lot to be proud of, but theres a lot of work to do. Among the recommendations was to streamline work that speech language pathologists and psychologists do so they spend more of their time working directly with students and less time on paperwork and administrative duties. Psychologists now spend an average of 11 percent of their time working directly with students. Special education coordinators also often have many other responsibilities to help run a school, such as monitoring the lunchroom or recess. They should spend more time on special education duties, the report found, which would help reduce the administrative work of special education staff. An online survey of 628 parents found 82 percent were pleased with the services their child receives, and nearly 89 percent thought their children were benefiting from accommodations provided through individualized education plans. But the report also noted the persistent achievement gap between regular and special education students: 21 percentage points for third-graders in reading and math that widens to a 23-percentage point gap in math by 11th grade and 31 percent in reading. Vicki Depenbusch, the parent of a senior at Lincoln East High School and program director for both the Autism Network and ARC of Lincoln, said the findings were spot on. The study found that elementary resource teachers spend 44 percent of their time and para-professionals spend 39 percent of their time teaching reading. By relying on special education staff to provide core classroom instruction, some special education students may not be exposed to grade-level material or high expectations like other students, the report said. Instead, the report recommended shifting about $6 million of the $16.5 million budgeted for elementary special education staff to train more teachers specifically in reading interventions. At the secondary level, special education students often take intervention classes that are structured like study halls, with no teachers with expertise available to help. Its a fact that Nebraskas high tax rates are harming our economic growth. Income tax rates in Nebraska, particularly for individuals and businesses earning more than $30,000, have not meaningfully improved in the last twenty years, and property tax rates are the 7th highest in the nation. Meanwhile, IRS data show the majority of income lost to out-migration in Nebraska over that time has relocated to Texas, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, and even Iowa. Despite our stable economy, these losses contributed to Nebraska falling below the national average in job and population growth in the past decade. More Nebraskans and Americans are choosing to live and work in states where they can keep more of what they earn. On average, taxpayers in these rival states pay 52 percent less personal income tax per person than in Nebraska, and 24 percent less in property tax. Federal data show residents investing in these states are creating more businesses and better jobs. To see relief in 2017, taxpayers must reject the myths being used to keep taxes high. With opponents of tax relief running out of excuses and support in the Legislature, they hope lower state revenue projections can stand in the way. But the projections do not mean state revenues are shrinking at all. Revenues are growing at a healthy pace. This latest projection means the state will have a smaller than expected windfall, but senators can still pay the bills better than at any time before. We can reduce taxes that contribute the most to out-migration without harming these revenues. Which types of taxes we rely on most is a different question from how much money we want to raise. Our current budget can be funded at the same level with greater stability, even as our tax structure imposes less burdensome rates on working and investing in Nebraska. Reducing property tax rates must be part of this, but its not enough. In a recent editorial, the Journal Star tried to pit payers of property and income tax against each other by claiming the Legislature has already made major income tax cuts. Well, they probably werent for you. Among the tax cuts they mention are tax incentives for special interests. But those of us who pay full price for Nebraskas taxes have not seen relief. The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council recently ranked Nebraska one of the 15 worst states for small business taxes. In the vast majority of cases, these are the same high taxes paid on family incomes and property tax bills. Real tax reform means rolling back special privileges in the tax code to make rates lower for everyone. But more can be done to grow our tax base and reduce tax rates without increasing reliance on the property tax. There is absolutely no reason both property and income tax rates cant be reduced together through comprehensive reforms that grow our sales tax base. In the states we lose the most income to, greater reliance on local option sales tax helps keep other taxes in check. Importantly, this does not require increasing sales tax rates, but reviewing the types of sales subject to the tax. Eliminating arbitrary sales tax exemptions can also provide more stable state revenues. Currently, the majority of the states general fund relies on income tax, which research from the Pew Charitable Trusts show has been less stable than sales tax nationally going back decades. For many, Kansas shadow looms over the tax reform issue. But Nebraska doesnt have to copy Kansas to have lower tax rates. Many other states across the country have provided responsible tax relief, including ten states that reduced income taxes in 2015 alone. States as diverse as New York, Indiana, Maine, and Arkansas are enacting income tax rate reductions, along with property tax relief, to remove barriers to economic growth and opportunity in their states. Its time for Nebraskas taxpayers to unite in this coming legislative session instead of being set against each other. More excuses that prevent reform, and keep the Good Life out of reach for Nebraska families and businesses, should be rejected by all Nebraskans. Now that Trump has the enthusiastic support of the RNC in Cleveland, there remain two prominent hold-outs among leading Republicans: Ohios governor and freshman Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse ("Sasse counters Trumps threat to NATO states," July 22). I dont live in Ohio so John Kasichs future is of no interest to me. Sasse, on the other hand, offends me. I supported him financially and otherwise when he presented himself as a Tea Party guy. I am withdrawing my support of Sasse. His puerile decision to go off in a corner and pout is stupid and suggests that his thinking is far less cogent than he led us to believe when running for office. Sasse in effect says that the most corrupt and notorious liar in American political history, the hated Hillary Clinton, is a wiser choice for American voters than Trump. Sasse in effect says that a woman revealed to be a politician who willfully lied to the people and to the Congress of the United States, under oath, by no lesser person than the Director of the FBI and is slated to be the nominee of the Democratic Party, is a wiser choice for American voters than Trump. Clearly, Democrats and the media have abandoned all notions that honesty and integrity should guide voters when they go to the polls. Of course, so has Ben Sasse! Ben has many years left to serve in the Senate but his juvenile misjudgment of Trump and tacit support of Clinton must never be forgotten by Nebraska voters when he seeks a second term. He does not deserve the term he has let alone a second one! Joseph W. Johnson Jr., Lincoln The Nebraska Attorney Generals office on Tuesday announced it will not appeal a court decision rejecting a Colorado companys plan to inject salty groundwater and fracking wastewater deep beneath Sioux County. Late last month, Cheyenne County District Judge Derek Weimer ruled that the Nebraska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission overstepped the authority given to it by state lawmakers when it approved turning an old oil well north of Mitchell into a disposal well. Weimer agreed with neighboring landowners who argued the commission is authorized to regulate only wastewater from oil and gas produced within the state. The well application said the site would have the potential to process 80 trucks, or about 10,000 barrels of water, a day, much of it from Colorado and Wyoming. That would have made it the largest disposal well in Nebraska. Terex Energy Corp., which also goes by the name T-Rex Oil, applied in November 2014 to open the well. The Bloomfield, Colorado-based company may still appeal the judge's decision. Attorney General Doug Peterson's office said in a news release Tuesday that while it respectfully disagrees with the decision, it will not appeal. The Attorney Generals office maintains that the Nebraska Oil and Gas Commission acted properly and within its authority when it approved the application for a wastewater disposal well. However, the Attorney Generals office believes that recent legislation by the Nebraska Legislature has addressed the concerns expressed in the District Courts decision, the release said. Nebraska legislators this year passed a bill (LB1082) that increases oversight of the transportation and disposal of wastewater, allows additional public notification and hearings for injection well applications. The legislation, which went into effect July 21, also amended state law to remove the phrases "in Nebraska" and "in the state," referring to the commission's oversight authority, words that the judge relied on in his ruling, said Attorney General spokeswoman Suzanne Gage. State statutes now say their purpose is to "permit the development of Nebraska's oil and gas resources up to the maximum efficient rate of production while promoting the health, safety and environment of the residents of Nebraska." The waste liquid, often called produced water, that would have been disposed of in the T-Rex well is a byproduct of the oil and gas production process, including the practice known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking. Fracking includes injecting water and sand, sometimes with additional chemicals, underground to create enough pressure to fracture rock and free oil and gas. It also often releases pockets of salty water trapped underground naturally. The wastewater is separated from the oil and either reused or piped back underground for disposal. The process has been used in Nebraska and other states for decades. A Native-owned business in Whiteclay burned down Monday after its broaster caught fire. Jerry Kearns, assistant chief of the Rushville Volunteer Fire Department, said his department got a call about 9:30 Monday morning about a fire at Arrowhead Foods. When firefighters arrived, the building was fully engulfed. It was going out the back door when we first got there, he said. Whiteclay has no fire hydrants, so firefighters had to use four tankers to haul water to the fire from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, which is about a mile away. Rushville is about 23 miles from Whiteclay. The extreme heat from the fire and temperatures in the mid-90s made it a tough job, Kearns said. We just couldnt push it back, he said. Firefighters used nearly 240,000 gallons of water but had to move into defensive mode after failing to extinguish the fire, he said. Kearns said the fire threatened one building to the north, but firefighters were able to prevent it from spreading. Nobody was hurt, he said, but the building was a total loss. Emergency medical personnel from Rushville and firefighters from Gordon helped, he said. I would just like to really, really thank all the people who helped, Kearns said Tuesday. Martin Pilcher bought Arrowhead Foods in December. It had previously housed VJs Grocery, which was looted and burned in July 1999 by people protesting alcohol sales in Whiteclay. Four liquor stores in the town of about a dozen people sell an average of 13,000 cans of beer each day. Despite an August 2013 vote that set aside a 124-year ban on alcohol sales on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, it remains dry, keeping Whiteclay sales busy when it comes to beer. Pilcher, who was described as the first Native business owner in Whiteclay, told the Rapid City Journal earlier this year he hoped the business would inspire other like-minded Lakota entrepreneurs. I want my people to know this is possible, he said then. We have the power to make our community a better place. Bruce Bonfleur lives in the town of about a dozen people and is director of the Lakota Hope Ministry. Local residents and business owners are lamenting the loss of Arrowhead Foods, he said. It was setting a good example for everybody, Native and white, Bonfleur said. Another grocery store, Whiteclay Grocery, remains open. Two men, including an airman from Offutt Air Force Base, died in the plane that crashed Sunday in Saunders County, according to the Saunders County Sheriff's Office. The office was notified at 3 p.m. that a twin-engine Beechcraft Baron went down in a soybean field northwest of Leshara, according to Sheriff Kevin Stukenholtz. Killed in the crash were Ron Panting, 61, of Papillion and Michael Trubilla, 27, an Air Force captain from Reading, Pennsylvania, who was living at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, the sheriff's office said in a news release on Tuesday. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration and Offutt were on the scene Monday. They saw the plane descending and it was spiraling and it just dropped in the field, the sheriff said. There was no leveling out or attempts to land it. The plane had been rented from the LeMay Flight Club at Offutt. The Friends of Pioneers Park Nature Center announces Sarah Cosano and Cambia, Jackie Allen Quintet, and the Gulizia Brothers and Friends will be performing at the 2016 Prairie Jazz Festival. The Prairie Jazz Festival will take place at Pioneers Park Nature Center pn Saturday, Aug. 27. Gates open at 3:30 p.m., music will begin at 4 p.m. General admission tickets are $40, VIP tickets are available for $100 and include premium seating table and chairs under a shaded tent, access to the VIP bar and a catered picnic plus two drink tickets. All tickets are available at LNKnaturecenter.org. Brewksys in the Haymarket will be onsite selling food and beverages. No outside beverages are permitted. The audience is encouraged to dress casually and comfortably for an evening enjoying local jazz music on the prairie. The Prairie Jazz Festival is made possible with the support of the Nebraska Arts Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment. Additional support for this event is also provided by The Cooper Foundation, Brewskys in the Haymarket, Sandhills Publishing, Union Bank and Trust, Lincoln Parks Foundation. The Prairie Jazz Festival is a fundraising event for the Friends of Pioneers Park Nature Center. The Friends of Pioneers Park Nature Center support the development, programming, and stewardship of the Pioneers Park Nature Center. For more information about the Friends visit lnknaturecenter.org. Interest is already starting to build about Nebraska by Heart a recently announced public art project celebrating the 150th anniversary of Nebraska by featuring 6-foot-tall fiberglass heart sculptures. Nebraska by Heart has hired Patrick Keough (Americas Fiberglass Animals), a manufacturer in Seward, Neb., to create the fiberglass hearts. He loves working with artists to assist them in creating their ideas and will transport the sponsored hearts to the artists, anywhere in Nebraska. Nebraska is Americas heartland and has 93 counties. The goal of the project is to see 93 6 Hearts exhibited, for the most part, on UNLs East Campus, May 1 October, 2017. Nebraska by Heart will be promoted as a not-to-be-missed component of the Nebraska Sesquicentennial and a destination for millions of Nebraska, national and international viewers! The following are the Top 10 Questions and answers about Nebraska by Heart: 1. What is Nebraska by Heart? It is a public art project modeled after Omahas J. Does, Chicagos Cows and the Tour de Lincoln Bikes. It will feature 6 fiberglass hearts, designed by Nebraska artists and celebrating Nebraska as Americas Heartland and the 150th anniversary of statehood. 2. Who are the overall sponsors of Nebraska by Heart and what are their missions? The project is sponsored by Boys Hope Girls Hope and the Sadie Dog Fund. Boys Hope Girls Hope is an international organization focused on helping academically capable and motivated children-in-need to meet their full potential by providing foundations for scholastic success, opportunities to explore their interests, and support to enter into and graduate from college. Founded by Pam Hoffman, the Sadie Dog Fund is a Lincoln organization which celebrates the human-animal bond. Through education, prevention and veterinary grants, it works statewide with Nebraska veterinarians to provide funds to keep dogs, in emergency medical situations or with special needs, alive and in their homes with the families that love them. This offers an alternative to neglect, euthanasia or surrender. 3. What can you tell me about the fiberglass hearts? Fiberglass is a strong, long lasting medium. The heart and connecting base weigh 100 pounds and measure 6 in height and not over 32 wide; it will be able to fit through a standard door. Sandbags will be added inside the base during the public display time to keep it secure. A steel rod will be incorporated into each heart and its base for strength. 4. Will the hearts be delivered to the artists? Yes. The 6-foot tall heart sculpture will be delivered to the artists work space, anywhere in Nebraska, soon after the sponsorship occurs. 5. It sounds as if artists can paint their hearts if they wish, adhere stained glass or mosaics. Are they also encouraged to explore all sorts of additional exciting, creative possibilities? Yes. Artists are encouraged to let their imaginations soar and, if they wish, even add extensions to their hearts. Nebraska by Heart is looking for creative designs realistic or whimsical which may or may not relate to Nebraska subject matter. 6. I have lots of potential ideas; may I submit more than one design? Yes. Artists may submit up to five drawings on 11 x 17 paper, one Heart design on each sheet (or on 11 x 34 paper if it is necessary to show both sides of the Heart) using a 12 image of the Heart created for the project. The more information provided, the better (detail, color, materials, etc.). 7. Enlisting additional help and purchasing materials for my Heart is going to mean an investment on my part. Will I receive financial assistance for this project? Yes. All artists whose designs are selected during the jurying process and are sponsored (the Project Committee will work to find sponsors for the artists) will receive a stipend. Sponsorship is $3,000 per sculpture; artists will be given $500 (per design sponsored) to use as they wish for necessary assistance/materials they will need to purchase. 8. Will the artist receive money from the auction? Yes. Artists will receive one-third of the final bid for their Heart(s) when sold at the auction. 9. Will I receive public recognition for my work? Yes. Each Heart will have a plaque noting the artist, title of the sculpture and sponsor. In addition, artist identification will be presented in all publicity, such as press releases, a map showing the location of the Hearts and auction booklet. A book about the project is being considered, which would also note the artist, title of their design and include an inspiration statement. 10. Would it be possible to talk with someone who has expertise working with fiberglass about materials and other questions? Yes. All artists are invited to attend a Nebraska by Heart meeting (not required) at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 1, at Old City Hall, 920 O St., where a representative from the manufacturer of the fiberglass heart sculptures will be present to answer questions. PROJECT QUESTIONS Call Liz Shea-McCoy, Nebraska by Heart Project Chair, (402) 430-5923 or liz_shea@windstream.net, or check nebraskabyheart.org RACINE The 23rd season of the Music and More concert series continues from noon to 1 p.m. today at First Presbyterian Church, 716 College Ave. Performers are baritone Nick Barootian and pianist Greg Berg; violinist Nancy Maio and guitarist Gare Hofstad; and vocalist and guitarist Jeff Ward. Barootian, a Racine native, serves as director of liturgy and music for St. Francis Xavier and St. John the Baptist Catholic parishes in Brighton and Paris. He is the founder of the Belle Ensemble, a vocal chamber music group. Maio is a local violinist known for her mastery of various music styles. Her program of light favorites includes works by Piazzola and Massenet. Wards music represents traditional and contemporary songs from Ireland, Scotland and America. He performs at many venues throughout the Midwest, including major Irish music festivals. The church is air-conditioned and handicapped-accessible with elevator at parking lot entrance. Additional parking is available at Living Light Community Center. Donations will be accepted each week to benefit Health Care Network, Racine Habitat for Humanity and Racine Vocational Ministry Inc. MADISON Eight youth from the Racine County 4-H program were selected to attend the 96th annual 4-H and Youth Conference at the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus in June. They joined about 500 other young people representing UW-Extensions 4-H Youth Development program in celebrating the 96th anniversary of the youth program in Wisconsin at the conference. The adult 4-H leader advising the county delegation was Diane Billmyer. The annual four-day conference gives youth a chance to learn about a variety of 4-H and other youth programs, experience hands-on learning in a university campus atmosphere, strengthen life skills such as communication and leadership, gain knowledge to share back home, and exchange ideas and form friendships with youth from around the state. The delegates attended workshops and assemblies developed around the theme Picturing Our Success which highlighted leadership, individual responsibility, goal setting, healthy living, and living up to potential. Students participated in a variety of community service projects designed to stimulate interest in replicating similar projects in their own communities. Workshop topics included everything from communication arts to building leadership skills, healthy living, STEM topics, youth citizenship, and a host of other exciting subjects. The Racine County 4-H Leaders Association and the Wisconsin 4-H Foundation provided financial support for this conference. For more information about 4-H or other UW-Extension programs, visit http://fyi.uwex.edu or contact the Racine County UW-Extension Office at 262-767-2929. RACINE With shovels and clipboards in hand on a hot summer morning, students participating in the Center for Developing Excellence STEM Academy, kept calling out I found something! Roughly 20 students were getting an up-close feeling for what its really like to be part of an archaeological dig at Racines North Beach. I always wanted to be an archeologist, said James Flellner, a 10-year-old student at St. Lucys School. When I found out there was something called archeology where you can dig and find dinosaur bones and find out more about their species, I knew that had to be for me. The STEM Academy is run out of The Prairie School but is open to students in all of southeastern Wisconsin. Theyll try to piece the culture together by the artifacts that they find, said Larry Jozwik, a retired teacher who organized the class. The kids actually experience what an archeologist does in the field. Buried cultures Before any shovels were put into the sand, teachers were up early burying different artifacts assigned to four cultures. The students would be charged with discovering which culture they found. Jozwik said they buried different culture universals that would identify the groups religion, politics, family and social structure. He added the students would have to measure and mark where exactly they found each artifact at their dig site. We actually made some interesting relationships between where they find these artifacts and the measurements, Joswik said. They might find the family and kin right next to a religious artifact. Each of the sites had a different culture such as Egyptian, Native American or Mayan. There was also one site that had a sci-fi element. One of the cultures is actually a spacecraft that has landed on the planet, Joswik said. Theyre digging up the remains of this crashed spacecraft but theyll also find some ancient culture, too, because the aliens were actually studying the culture. But none of the students knew what kind of culture they were uncovering as they were excavating. It could be old things like Mayan or Egyptian, said Wyatt Knoell, a 12-year-old Prairie School student. We found something that looks like an Egyptian piece and right now it looks like we found a snowshoe. Rosetta stone Joswik said each site had a Rosetta stone which the students had to decode. Once they decipher that, they can actually determine more about the culture because a lot of the artifacts have writing on them, Joswik said. When all the artifacts are discovered, theyll take them back to school to be cleaned and studied more, he said. Theyll make a presentation to the class trying to describe what the culture is all about. Anisa Diaz, teacher at Starbuck Middle School, has been participating in the STEM Academy the last four years and said this kind of learning should be something more parents and districts should look into. Giving kids the opportunity, a hands-on experience to different kinds of STEM jobs is a lot better and more engaging than theory, Diaz said. I would encourage more parents to put their children into more STEM activities in the summer. Educators for the last decade have been using the acronym STEM to describe a reform movement that focuses on increasing academic knowledge and skills through applied engineering and problem solving. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math; if you add the arts, it is called STEAM education. STEM curriculum is a planned pedagogical sequence of learning objectives which connect science, math and engineering and design concepts through technological applications learning by doing. This project-based approach has a proven track record of increasing career opportunities for youth and adult learners. In January 2016, STEMConnector reported the United States will have more than 1 million job openings in STEM-related fields by 2018, and that 71 percent of all jobs will require STEM skills. Thats why Gateways partnership with Racine Unified School District is so important. Elementary school students receive on average 19 minutes per day of science instruction from kindergarten through third grade, and 24 minutes per day in fourth through sixth grades. To compound the issue, only 8 percent of Americas college students major in engineering, and 5 percent major in computer science and math. So what does this mean for us? It means we are in a global race for STEM talent. Gateway, in partnership with Snap on Inc., are members of STEMConnector and advocate nationally for investments in engineering and technical education. Recently, Gateway and RUSDs REAL School came together to partner in the development of a comprehensive STEM curriculum driving the sixth through twelfth grade learning environment for the new REAL School. This is one of the exciting new programs our community partners are working on to build a talent pipeline in STEM careers in our community. Introduction to technological equipment and business applications along with applied science, math and engineering serves as a motivational catalyst for youth to pursue exciting careers in engineering, medical and health science, advanced manufacturing, food and agriculture and computer science. Planting STEM in the center of our schools will assure a growing workforce. Dem Delegate Explains How Democrats Will Ban All Guns Project Veritas. July 25th 2016 In this video, a PVA journalist encounters a Democratic Alternate Delegate who discusses how the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton hide the fact that they want to ban all guns. This video includes some material we showed on July 13th. Many are aware of the left's wish to achieve a total gun ban/confiscation, but this fairly eye-opening video pretty much helps confirm the thought process. "Common Sense Gun Legislation" is the popular and seemingly innocuous term which tries to hide the creeping infringement approach - little bit by little bit on the basis that no one will notice. "You don't have to be Jewish to fight by our side." 2016 JPFO All rights reserved. jpfo@jpfo.org 1-800-869-1884 Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership 12500 NE 10th Pl. Bellevue, WA 98005 USA Americas most aggressive civil rights organization We make the NRA look like moderates Join JPFO Back to Top Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain. Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred. For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here. All sluice gates in Gandaki barrage opened All floodgates in the Gandak barrage here have been opened after the water level reached alarming point. Banks to be allowed to sell five more currencies Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) is preparing to issue a directive permitting banks to freely trade another five currencies. Somalia attack: Twin car bombs explode at Mogadishu airport At least 13 people have been killed in two car bomb attacks near an entrance to the airport in Mogadishu, Somali police say. CIAA Chief Karki snubs parliamentary committee citing ill health Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Chief Commissioner Lokman Singh Karki remained absent from the meeting with House committee citing ill health. CIAA refutes allegations of intervention in KU The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Tuesday clarified that it has not made any intervention by overstepping constitutional and legal boundaries in connection to the entrance examinations at the Kathmandu University (KU). Climate change centre to open The government has formed a four-member committee to conduct a detailed study on the need of a climate change centre. CNP launches one minute conservation campaign In its bid to make the public aware about wildlife conservation, the Chitwan National Park (CNP) has launched a campaign dubbed One Minute for Conservation. Dr KC ends his hunger strike after 16 days After 16 days of hunger strike demanding reforms in the medical education sector, Dr Govinda KC, an orthopaedic surgeon at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), called off his fast on Monday after an agreement with the government. Energy Ministry letter halts work on Mid-Hill Highway The work on a section of the Mid-Hill Highway at Ramechhap has been halted after the Energy Ministry asked the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure not to construct road along Sunkoshi River where two hydropower projects are planned to be developed. Japan knife attack leaves 19 dead Nineteen residents have been killed in a knife attack at a care centre for people with mental disabilities in Japan, officials say. Landslides in Gulmi, Makwanpur kills 8 Landslides triggered by incessant rainfall for the past couple of days have buried eight persons in Gulmi and Makwanpur districts. Mixed legacy PM Oli tried to redefine our geopolitics but left us deeply divided internally Month-long Rato Machindranath Jatra commences from today (Photo Feature) The month-long festival of chariot procession of the rain god, Rato Machhindranath, commenced at Lalitpur on Tuesday. Nepathya to leave for two-leg Europe tour Nepali folk-rock band Nepathya is all set to leave for a two-leg tour of Europe on Wednesday. Parliament endorses Prez's order to remove constitutional difficulties to form new govt The Legislature-Parliament on Tuesday endorsed the decree to remove constitutional difficulties issued by President Bidya Devi Bhandari with a majority after deliberations on it. Parties given 7 days to form consensus govt A day after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli tendered his resignation, President Bidhya Devi Bhandari on Monday called on the political parties represented in Parliament to elect a new prime minister within seven days on the basis of political understanding Priest killed in French church, police shoot two attackers dead Two attackers killed a priest with a blade and seriously wounded another hostage in a church in northern France on Tuesday before being shot dead by French police. Revisiting Rautes The last of the nomads should be allowed to set the pace of integration into Nepali society Times havent changed for designer watches The appeal of classic designer wristwatches remains as strong as ever, and sales continue to swell every year despite the arrival of smartwatches from global tech giants like Apple and Samsung, dealers said. Woman attacked on witchcraft charge A woman was assaulted on charge of being a witch at Kalyanpur Jabdi VDC-7 in Siraha on Sunday evening. 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 Lighting controls manufacturer B.E.G. has expanded its UK sales team with the hiring of Stephen Payne as its new Systems Sales Manager. Stephen will work with electrical consultants, system integrators and engineers in both the public and private sectors in the UK and Ireland. He will primarily focus on providing end users with PIR presence and motion detectors, DALI and KNX lighting solutions. He arrives at B.E.G. with a wealth of experience after 13 years at Timeguard, a Theben Group Company, as its KNX Sales Manager. Stephen has also worked at ABB Controls, Klockner Moeller and MEM. Stephen says he is looking forward to taking up his new position with B.E.G. who celebrated their 40th anniversary last year, and aims to make the German manufacturer the number one choice for detectors in the lighting control market. Speaking about his appointment, he said: The transition from incandescent to low energy (CFL) and now to LED provides one of the biggest opportunities and challenges in the building controls market today. I have been involved with KNX for more than 10 years in the UK and it has been fantastic to see how KNX has grown into the force it has become in recent years. I like the positive attitude of B.E.G. and their products. Their range of detectors is phenomenal covering 230v, KNX, LON and DALI with new products in the pipeline. I also see the great importance of DALI especially in the commercial sector. The fact that B.E.G. can bring these two great systems together provides new opportunities for UK and Irish specifiers and customers. My aim is to increase the market share of B.E.G. in the KNX and DALI systems market and to make their products the number one choice for detectors. www.beg-luxomat.com South Korea's government on Tuesday said it will launch an investigation to identify the source of gas odor reported in the cities of Busan and Ulsan last week. The Ministry of Public Safety and Security decided to form a joint investigation team during an emergency meeting held at the government complex in Seoul. The meeting was attended by related government organizations, including the environment ministry, the weather service, the national police agency and civilian experts in the field. On Thursday, more than 200 reports were filed in the southeastern port city of Busan with people complaining about some sort of gas smell. On Saturday, dozens reported a similar smell in the neighboring city of Ulsan. Residents in the area have been expressing concerns as the authorities failed to promptly identify the source of the odor. "We have already touched on rumors that the gas could be a sign of an earthquake, but we thought there is a need to clarify that it is not true," said Kim Hee-kyeum, a ministry official in charge of disaster management. He also said no harmful chemicals have been leaked but added the government will continue its inspection until it can guarantee the safety of its citizens. (Yonhap) Top diplomats of Asia-Pacific countries on Monday urged North Korea to comply with all United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions that call for the regime to give up its nuclear and missile programs. In a joint communique issued after holding talks in the Laotian capital of Vientiane, the foreign ministers of the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) also underlined the importance of resuming the long-halted six party talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear program. "We urged the DPRK to comply with all relevant UNSC resolutions, including the UNSC Resolution 2270 and acknowledged the importance to exercise self-restraint and called on all parties to exert common efforts to maintain peace and security in the region," it said, using an acronym for its official name. "And (we urge all parties) to create an environment conductive to the early resumption of the six-party talks to make further progress in denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner," it added. The six-party talks set up to resolve the North's nuke issue were last held in late 2008. The participating countries are the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia. Tensions remain high on the Korean Peninsula after the North conducted its fourth nuclear test in January, which led the U.N. Security Council to adopt the latest resolution 2270 regarded as the toughest ever sanctions imposed on Pyongyang. The ASEAN foreign ministers expressed concerns over current developments related to the North and reiterated their support for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. (Yonhap) The sounds of African drumming and storytelling took center stage July 20 at the Bangor, Holmen and Onalaska public libraries.Oba William King played his jembe drum, sang songs and told his African-style tales to library patrons as part of the library systems summer reading program. King beat the goat skin top of his goblet-shaped hardwood drum as he sang songs from Africa, inviting the audience to sing along using the African words he taught the youngsters and adult library patrons. The young audience members were also given the chance to try their hands at drumming. The theme of this years county library summer programming has been Book a Trip! Read Around the World!, which encouraged readers to read about different cultures and the geography of other lands. ST. PAUL, Minn. Police and protesters outside the governors Summit Avenue residence spent some tense hours together Tuesday. Confrontations led to arrests after police moved to clear protesters and some wouldnt go. Earlier in the day, police had told the several dozen demonstrators they were an unlawful assembly and that they must leave. That appeared to be happening. Protesters were peacefully picking up their belongings from the street and cleaning up their coolers, mattresses and other belongings. But after reopening the street, police closed it again as tensions grew with remaining protesters and officers put on helmets and took out batons. More demonstrators were taken into custody By about 12:30 p.m., the last of the remaining protesters encamped outside the mansion had been cleared. St. Paul police said more than 20 people had been arrested for unlawful assembly. However, police and state troopers were moving in a line up Summit Avenue toward Oxford Street, pushing back protesters to clear the road. At least one protester was sprayed with a chemical irritant. Minneapolis NAACP President Nekima Levy-Pounds accused the police of a show of military force against unarmed peaceful protesters and said she would not tell people to stop the protest. Im not telling the people to move. They deserve to be out here, she said. We dont need to be treated like animals and criminals when were simply out here demanding justice for someone who didnt deserve to be killed. At about 2:15 p.m., the police retreated and let the crowd assemble again by the governors mansion. State troopers remain across the street. Demonstrators have been camping outside the governors residence since early July 7, a day after the shooting of Philando Castile, who was killed by a St. Anthony police officer after being pulled over in Falcon Heights. Protesters have said they wont leave until St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez is charged. Police reopened Summit Avenue to traffic last week, and protesters were moved to the sidewalk. But on Sunday, demonstrators went back into the street. Jacob Ladda was sleeping at the time police arrived Tuesday. He says the officers coming with batons and riot helmets in hand was another intimidating tactic. Ladda said the strategy for this movement is starting to wake people up, but it needs to happen quicker. Weve had 60 years of American distractions to say there is no problem in this country, he said. We have to use that energy to convince Americans that there is a problem. While many folks are starting the second half of their calendar year on July 1, the Holmen Area Rotary Club is beginning their fiscal year. Not only is July 1 the first day of Rotarys fiscal year, this date marks the beginning of this relatively young clubs 10th anniversary year. The Holmen Area Rotary club consists of approximately 35 members, including business owners, community leaders, retirees and spouses, school administration, insurance, financial advisors, real estate brokers and more unique classifications. Rotary represents more than than 1.2 million individuals around the world, making them the largest single service organization. Rotarys motto is Service Above Self, but can readily be described in six words: Join leaders, share ideas and take action. Speaking of taking action, Our club is very active, both locally and internationally, said club president Adam Fleis. Community projects completed and ongoing include Holmens Hope community dinner, spring community clean up, Hwy. 35 roadside clean-up, a four-sided clock located in Halfway Creek Park, purchase of a Holmen police K-9 dog, Camp Decorah Boy Scout Camp restoration, Summer lunches in the park, Respect Retreat and STRIVE Program (Holmen High School mentorship programs), as well as Holmen High School scholarships, just to mention a few. And community projects are not all the club does annually. We host more than a half dozen social events throughout the year at various venues to promote comradery and to have good fellowship, said Bryan Helgeson, the club-appointed social director. One project we are currently working on and are excited to say are very close to finalizing the fundraising portion of the project is our Deerwood Park shelter. This will be a $40,000 shelter project and will be donated to the village of Holmen. Internationally, the club has supported several clean water projects in multiple villages in Peru, as well as a central water system and private family restrooms in another community. These projects are accomplished through collaboration with Water Missions International in one instance and directly through a local Rotary Club in Lima, Peru, by providing education and funding for the construction of Bio Sand Filters. Clean water is something we all take for granted, said Dean McHugh, Rotary District 6250 District Governor and club member, and now, villages in Peru have experienced what it is to be able to drink a glass of water without concern for contamination. Outside of clean water in Peru, the club has assisted in providing financing to purchase a cow for a community school facility in Kenya. And another international project is the ongoing support for both incoming and outgoing foreign exchange students at the high school level. The projects just described do not just happen, Fleis said. The club accomplishes these projects primarily through three annual fundraising events a club member service auction in the spring, Rock n Ribs competition in the summer, and a Green Bay Packer raffle in the fall. Rotary has a foundation that all clubs and individual members support financially. The funds received by the Rotary Foundation are used for many goodwill projects around the world the eradication of Polio being the primary project. However, a portion of those funds are redirected back to area clubs in the form of grants to support various club projects. As a result of this clubs fundraising, collaboration with other clubs financially supporting our international projects in collaboration, coupled with grant funds received from the Rotary Foundation, the Holmen Area Rotary Club has raised and supported nearly $250,000 worth of projects in the community and internationally. If you have a desire to Join leaders, share ideas and take action, join other like-minded individuals for a hot breakfast every Wednesday morning at 7 a.m. at the Holmen Village community room or go to homenarearotary.org. Margaret Colleen Gleason, 91, of La Crosse died Saturday, July 23, 2016, in Mayo Clinic Health System. A Funeral Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, in Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, with burial in the Catholic Cemetery, La Crosse. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Blaschke & Schneider Funeral Home with a 6:30 p.m. rosary, and 9:30 a.m. to Mass Friday at the church. A complete obituary will follow. Father Richard L. Fliss, at the age of 78, and a priest for 50 years, died Wednesday, July 20, 2016, in Green Valley, Ariz. Richard LeRoy Fliss was born June 13, 1938, in Stevens Point, Wis., to Michael and Anna (Przybylski) Flisakowski. He attended St. Peter Grade School and P.J. Jacobs High School, both in Stevens Point, St. Francis Minor Prep Seminary, and St. Francis Major Seminary in Milwaukee, and Holy Cross Seminary in La Crosse. After he returned to social work, he began discerning a call to the priesthood. Father Fliss was ordained May 28, 1966, at St. Joseph the Workman Cathedral in La Crosse, by Bishop Frederick W. Freking. Father Flisss first assignment was as assistant pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Arcadia on June 15, 1966. On June 15, 1967, he was appointed assistant pastor at St. Mark Parish in Rothschild; and at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Wisconsin Rapids, Dec. 15, 1969. He was appointed as associate pastor at St. Mary Parish in Wausau, in 1971, and then as temporary administrator of the parish in 1975. On Jan. 1, 1976, Father Fliss was appointed as pastor of Holy Rosary Parish in Owen. He was then appointed pastor of St. Thomas More Parish in La Crosse in 1989, where he served until 1997. In 1998, he began service as a chaplain to the Federal Detention Center in Miami, Fla. On March 5, 2006, he was promoted to department head of the Religious Services Department at the Federal Prison Complex in Tucson, Ariz. He served in this position until he was granted the status of senior priest July 1, 2008. Father Fliss is survived by two brothers, Stanley (Clara) Flink and Clarence Flisikowski; and one sister, Grace (Barny) Kaminski. He was preceded in death by his parents, Michael and Anna; two brothers, Emil (Dorothy) Flisakowski and Chester Flisakowski; and one sister, Evelyn Pascavic. Funeral services will be held Tuesday, July 26, at Our Lady of the Valley Parish in Green Valley, Ariz. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Thursday, July 28, at Mary, Mother of the Church Parish in La Crosse. The Very Rev. William A. Dhein will be the main celebrant. Msgr. Matthew Malnar will be the homilist. Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. Thursday, July 28, until the time of the Mass at the church. A visitation will also be held from 11 a.m. until noon Friday, July 29, with a rosary at 11 a.m. at St. Peter Parish in Stevens Point. Burial will be in Guardian Angels Cemetery following. The Diocese of La Crosse, and the family are being assisted by Blaschke-Schneider Funeral Home in La Crosse. Two people were arrested Monday in Trempealeau County after fleeing officers and hiding out in a cornfield. The Independence Police Department chief on routine patrol shortly before 11:30 a.m. Monday observed a man with a known felony warrant driving southbound on Hwy. 93 in the city with a female passenger, according to the department. The chief attempted to stop the vehicle, at which point the driver accelerated to high rates of speed through city streets, then turned onto County Road Q. The chief lost visual near Kurth Valley Road. A short time later, Trempealeau County Sheriffs Department deputies assisting in the search discovered the vehicle, abandoned, in a field near Kurth Valley Road. They established a perimeter and brought in a K-9 unit. After about three hours of searching, the man and woman emerged from a nearby field and were arrested without incident. The man, Kyle C. Klimek, 29, was arrested on suspicion of fleeing law enforcement officers and on the felony probation-violation warrant. The woman, Tiffany L. Loomis, 23, was booked on suspicion of fleeing law enforcement officers and harboring or aiding a known felon. The Arcadia Police Department and Wisconsin State Patrol also assisted in the search. Gundersen Health System is one of four U.S. health-care organizations that has checked into the Solar.Clinic, which helps not only the institutions but also their employees, patients and plain old folks and businesses from their communities move toward solar energy in a one-stop shop, with a discount. The program comes through Geostellar, the nations first online solar marketplace, in partnership with Health Care Without Harm and Practice Greenhealth. Its missional, about us improving the health and well-being of communities we serve, said Mark Platt, Gundersens business services senior vice president, who has used the program to have solar panels installed on his own home. Opting for sustainable electricity provides an economic perk to help people reduce their long-term electrical costs at the same time they improve the environment, Platt said. Every day, people are deciding whether to come here (the hospital) or pay rent, and we dont want that, Platt said, adding that Gundersen partnered with Geostellar as a savings option for the public. When investing in solar electricity, there is a financial return, less pollution and better health, he said. The return on investment is better than savings accounts or the stock market, said Platt, who expects a 13-year payback from the solar panels on his roof. Health-care organizations should be especially committed to sustainable solutions because their electrical use is 2.5 times more intensive by necessity rather than design, having to be open 24/7 with equipment that draws a lot of power, Platt said. Solar.Clinic cites other statistics that make solutions a moral imperative for health care systems, since they are responsible for 8 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, 12 percent of acid rain, 10 percent of smog pollution and 9 percent of respiratory disease-causing pollutants. The health damage from the U.S. health care sector pollutants for a single year is estimated at 470,000 disability adjusted life years a measure of years lost from ill health, disability or early death, according to Geostellar. Gundersen whose other sustainable efforts include wind power, using wood chips to generate electricity for its main campus, thermal heating and cooling and tapping into the energy from landfill and farm manure gases takes that responsibility seriously, as does its employees, Platt said. Its a matter of walking the talk, he said. More than 50 employees have inquired about the Geostellar program, which went live in September, said Platt, whose home system was installed and activated in April and has cut his electricity bill in half. A smartphone app that comes with the system allows buyers to track generation while at home or remotely. The Solar.Clinic program roll-out to the four health systems, which was announced July 12, determines consumers solar profiles, custom-designs a system for patrons homes, handles permitting and other paperwork and supplies installation with local contractors. The system supplies only part of a homes electricity needs. For example, the plan, available at the Solar.Clinic website, determined that a specified 2,100-square-foot house in Onalaska with three bedrooms and a two-car garage would need 20 solar panels to provide 5.4 kW, at a net cost of $16,226 and a projected electricity savings of $37,119 over the life of the solar panels. Another Gundersen employee who recently hooked up a system through Geothermal is Dr. Charles Schauberger, an obstetrics and gynecology doctor at the La Crosse hospital. My family and I always have always been environmentally oriented, Schauberger told an in-house publication at Gundersen. This program allowed us to put our money where our mouths are. Our new solar system will provide about 40 percent of our electrical needs. Schauberger expressed satisfaction with the process, saying, With state and federal tax rebates, the overall costs were much lower than we had anticipated. Working with Geostellar was also easy. It took a day to install the panels on the roof and another half-day to complete the electrical work, he said. Geostellar arranged for the building permit, timed the electrical and construction inspections and arranged the final visit from the electrical company to change out the meter and throw the switch. All in all, they were very professional, Schauberger said. Geostellar partner Health Care Without Harm aims to transform the health sector worldwide to become ecologically sustainable and advocate for environmental health and justice, according to the organization. Geostellar has a proven track record of working with leading U.S. corporations to provide this important benefit to their employees, said Eric Lerner, director of the U.S. Climate and Health program for Health Care Without Harm. Solar.Clinic provides an important opportunity for health systems to include their employees in their efforts to be more environmentally sustainable and to demonstrate climate leadership, Lerner said. Solar.Clinic also is designed to boost economic development in health systems communities by enlisting local contractors to install the systems, which are backed by Geostellars supplemental guarantee covering workmanship, equipment and performance. Practice Greenhealth strives to help health care organizations operate more efficiently and foster environmental stewardship. The other health systems besides Gundersen that have signed on to the Geostellar program are the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals of Cleveland in northeast Ohio, and Providence Health and Services across the western U.S. HOUSTON, Minn. Kevin Lindh was just looking for another way to connect with kids after graduating in 2014 from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse with a teaching degree. He took the balloon art hobby he picked up in 2012, combining it with his knack for working with children. Out came Balloons by Kevin, a business where he creates balloon animals, arches and other air-filled masterpieces for festivals, birthday parties, grand openings and anyone looking to add an engaging activity to an event. I just wanted something a little extra fun to do with them, Lindh said. Growing up, Lindh said he does not remember ever really being invested in balloon art or any kind of methods for entertaining youth. Lindh moved to Houston, when he was in sixth grade, where he lives today. Lindh performs at small-town festivals and birthday parties primarily for children, but has made balloon creations for more professional settings and celebrations such as weddings, church events and anniversaries. Lindh recently performed at Rushford Days, creating balloon art and animals for passing children and their families. Children whom Lindh had taught at day care visited him, played with the balloons he gave them and chattered about where their young lives have taken them so far. Lindh is hoping to expand into events such as grand openings and banquets, hoping to show consumers the ability balloons have to connect people. All people think it is, you make balloons for kids and photo ops, Lindh said. (Im) trying to educate people by expanding into different markets. Lindh recently purchased a new magnetic system that can help him make large balloon creations that can hang from a ceiling at any event, like a flag or icon. Despite the advancements in the balloon industry and Lindhs business, he said connecting with children is still where he finds his passion. From cupcakes to army tanks, Lindh said he can twist any creation a client is looking for, but he said he is always trying to learn and improve. Lindh said the business helps him foster new relationships within his community. I just like to meet new people, Lindh said. Thats really all it takes for Lindh to keep twisting balloon creations: a smile on a new friends face. La Crosse police on Monday arrested two tenants of a North Side community correctional facility called Brunk House. Smoking K2 landed them in the hospital, according to police Police also are investigating a death possibly caused by a drug overdose at another facility owned by the same company. Police report resident Ryan Harris, 39, was unresponsive about 8:20 p.m. at Brunk House after smoking K2 a blend of herbs and spices sprayed with a synthetic compound similar to THC, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. He was treated at a hospital and arrested for a probation violation. At 10:33 p.m., police and first responders were called back to facility after Nathan Herzer, 18, vomited and lost consciousness after smoking K2. He was treated at a hospital and arrested on a probation warrant. Also arrested on probation warrants were tenants Cole Fisher, 30, Jonathan Rieck, 23, and Troy Smith, 26, who also faces charges of possession of K2. Brunk House, at 2734 Harvey St., is part of the ATTIC Correctional Services, which also operates a facility at 415 Caledonia St., where a 36-year-old tenant may have fatally overdosed July 18. Investigators found heroin and items for using drugs in the mans room, but the cause of his death remains under investigation, according to police reports. Prosecutors on Tuesday in La Crosse County Circuit Court charged Nicholas Fitzpatrick, 44, with having methamphetamine inside the Caledonia Street facility on July 18. If youre concerned whether your childs car seat is properly installed, theres good reason and free assistance. Vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children age 4, and yet an estimated 90 parents of local parents arent installing or using car seats properly. When correctly installed, car seats reduce fatal injury by 71 percent for infants 1 and under, and 54 percent for ages 1 to 4. The La Crosse County Health Department offers car seat checks from 3 to 7 p.m. the first Thursday of the month through September at Brenengen Chevrolet in West Salem, and the second Thursday of the month at Brenengen Chevrolet Cadillac in Onalaska. Checks for infant, toddler and booster seats are free, and no registration is needed. Licensed department employees conduct the checks, guiding parents through installing and removing the seats. Checks typically last 30 minutes, and staff will also screen the seats for recalls. Installing a car seat is a complicated process, said Maggie Smith, health educator for the La Crosse County Health Department and a child passenger safety instructor. We suggest parents always read the manuals, especially if the car seat has a lot of features. We frequently see the straps or the harness arent tight enough. People are often surprised they havent installed their car seats correctly, Smith added. Of the car seats weve checked in 2016, 96 percent of them were either incorrect upon arrival, or uninstalled at arrival. Car seats are labeled with expiration dates, and should be discarded after six years of use or if involved in a car accident. Some newer car seat models have steel frames and may last longer. Seats come in progressive sizes, from infant to convertible to booster seats. Smith recommends that car seats be positioned rear facing until the child is at least 2 years old. Many expectant parents bring the seats for their delicate infants, Smith said. We encourage them to come back when they transition to the next seat. Wisconsin state law requires that infants and children are restrained in a car or booster seat until they are 8 years old or over 57 inches in height and 80 pounds in weight. It is recommended that children ages 13 and under ride in the backseat. People move kids to regular seat belts way too soon, Smith said. Parents should look at how the seat belt fits. The belt should lay low across the hips and over the shoulder, not resting on the neck or belly. Just as important as proper use is consistent use. According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, not using seat belts, car seats and booster seats contributed to the deaths of more than 9,500 people in 2013. The CDC warns that car seats need to be used no matter how short the trip. The La Crosse County Health Department rents car seats to families or friends transporting children. A rental for up to three weeks is $25, plus a $25 deposit. Some families may qualify for free seats funded by a grant from the Wisconsin DOT. New this year, the health department will also hold free checks in the fall and winter months at the La Crosse County Fire Department to encourage safety year round. People really appreciate this service, Smith said. La Crosse SOUP will sing for peace Wednesday at the first such event hosted by a neighborhood group. The crowd-funding, community-based organization will gather from 5 to 8 p.m. in Poage Park in the heart of the Powell-Poage-Hamilton Neighborhood to eat soup, vote on a project to support and celebrate La Crosse's community. In a first for the group, it will host a singalong after the fashion of Choir! Choir! Choir!, a Toronto, Canada-based weekly drop-in choir that invites community members to sing together. Those who wish to participate will join their voices together in renditions of "Hallelujah," "Imagine," "Forever Young" and "Here Comes The Sun." The songs, which will begin at 5 p.m., are intended to pay tribute to those lost in terror attacks overseas, the victims of the Orlando mass shooting, the law enforcement officers targeted in Dallas and black men killed in Louisiana and Minnesota. As always, the event is $5 for the meal of homemade soup and fresh bread, served at 6 p.m., and participants need to bring their own bowls and spoons. MILWAUKEE (AP) House Speaker Paul Ryan vigorously defended the role of NATO and the importance of the U.S. leading the creation of free-trade agreements on Tuesday, breaking from positions taken by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Ryan, speaking at a luncheon in Wisconsin, called NATO an indispensable ally that he wanted to bolster to help fight terrorism. Trump caused alarm in the White House, overseas and among fellow Republicans last week when he suggested the U.S. might abandon its NATO military commitments if he were elected president. Ryan doesnt see it that way, saying theres no question in my mind that NATO has a role to play in fighting terrorism. NATO is as important now as I would say its been in my lifetime, he said at the event organized by the political website Wispolitics.com. Ryan said he wanted not to weaken NATO, but instead bolster its eastern front as a way to fight terrorism and defend American allies. Ryan has been tepid in his support of Trump, not publicly endorsing him until June after disagreeing with him on comments he made questioning a judges ability to be fair because of his Mexican heritage and opposing his plan to ban Muslims from entering the country. But Ryan has also argued that Trump is a better choice than Democrat Hillary Clinton because the House Republican agenda has a better chance of passing with him as president. Its much, much easier and better for us to work with a Trump-Pence administration than a Clinton administration, Ryan said Tuesday. In another break from Trump, Ryan spoke of the need for the U.S. to be a leader in crafting free trade agreements. Trump has made his opposition to trade agreements the centerpiece of his economic argument. Trump wants to revoke the North American Free Trade Agreement and do away with the Obama administration-negotiated Trans Pacific Partnership. But Ryan said free trade deals are needed for the health of the U.S. economy, as well as a tool to counter terrorism by forming relations with foreign countries, breaking down barriers and getting people to work together. He does say hes for good trade agreements, Ryan said of Trump. Im for good trade agreements as well. We agree on that. We dont want bad trade agreements, we want good trade agreements. Ryan said he has withheld his support of the TPP deal because he said the Obama administration screwed up in negotiating it. Ryan said hes talked with Obama and trade representatives about the issues he and other Republican opponents want to see addressed, but his not optimistic a new version can win congressional approval. I dont see the votes there for it, Ryan said. Ryans appearance at the luncheon came as Democrats were preparing to start the second day of their national convention in Philadelphia. Ryan chaired the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last week. Ryan said he hoped the presidential election would be a battle over ideas, but he feared that it would not. What I worry about is a personality contest of Hillary fighting Donald, and its a big personality contest and we dont actually litigate the issues, Ryan said. PHILADELPHIA Wisconsin Democrats, relegated to the back bench in their statehouse in recent years, also arent getting much airtime at their partys national showcase event this week. Thats because unlike their GOP counterparts, state Democrats dont have the national political clout they wielded even recently. Congresswoman Gwen Moore and Maria Hamilton, mother of Dontre Hamilton, a Milwaukee man shot and killed by police in 2014, are set to speak to the Democratic National Convention, and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin was expected to take the stage. But the Wisconsin Democrat with the largest national profile, U.S. Senate candidate Russ Feingold, is skipping the convention. It began Monday and runs through Thursday. Thats a far cry from the Republican convention, which Wisconsinites dominated. U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, Gov. Scott Walker, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, Congressman Sean Duffy and Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus all took turns at the podium. Ryan was also frequently visible as convention chairman, and Priebus guided its planning. Other Wisconsinites played key roles in convention rules, communications and oversight. As recently as 2008, several Wisconsin Democrats played lead roles nationally. Eight years has changed all that. Congressman Mark Pocan, said Democrats continue to feel the aftershocks of the 2010 election, in which Republicans gained a U.S. Senate seat, the governors office and control of both houses of the Wisconsin Legislature. Wisconsin Democrats are probably going through a bit of a rejuvenative period, Pocan said. Democrats at this weeks convention cited Pocan, Baldwin, Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, and state Reps. Dana Wachs, Corey Mason and David Bowen as politicians who could help fill the partys star-power void. Shilling, Mason and Wachs all have been mentioned as possible candidates for governor in 2018. But theres no one yet on the national stage with the kind of clout yielded by Ryan, the 2012 vice presidential nominee and chief policy architect of the GOP; Walker, 2016 presidential candidate and the only governor to win a recall; and Priebus, the third-term chairman of the RNC credited with revitalizing that organization. It wasnt long ago that Wisconsin Democrats were in the spotlight at national conventions and in the halls of Congress. In 2008, then-Gov. Jim Doyle garnered a speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention. Feingold was a leading liberal voice in the U.S. Senate. In the U.S. House, Democratic Congressman Dave Obey of Wausau was chairman of the influential appropriations committee. But then came the watershed in Wisconsin politics: the 2010 election. Obey didnt seek re-election, Feingold lost his Senate seat to Johnson and Walker succeeded the outgoing Doyle to claim the governors office. Hillary Clintons proposal for making public higher education not just cheaper but free to most Americans sounds good on paper. A few years after the plans implementation, a family that earns as much as $125,000 annually would not have to pay tuition to send a child to a state-sponsored college or university. The beginning earning cutoff level would be $85,000 and increase annually to the top figure. What a deal, huh? Its close to one that nearly catapulted Sen. Bernie Sanders to the Democratic presidential nomination. Huge numbers of young voters jumped on his bandwagon with his promise of a free education. He still lost but not before he bullied Clinton into picking up the keystone of his socialist-oriented program. If you would like to know what this would cost, its anyones guess. The conservative estimates range up to half a trillion dollars. But that probably is a low-ball figure considering the history of such projects. The money would come from both the federal government and states, which would have the opportunity to opt out. Either way, taxpayers would be stuck with bills. Whats going on here is a politicians dream and a taxpayers ultimate nightmare a version of the old chicken in every pot political gambit that takes advantage of the failure of states to provide the support they once did for their public institutions of higher learning. The plan promises more than can be delivered. State support for annual budgets in major public schools has fallen to single digits. The result has been a steady demand for higher tuitions and fees that has driven schools to make up the shortfall by seeking out-of-state or foreign students who pay much more than state residents. Just contemplating the debt load of sending one family member to college produces nausea and sleep deprivation akin to studying for an advanced calculus exam. The trauma to the public treasury would worsen with the creation of another entitlement program alongside Medicare and Medicaid and now Obamacare, the collection of which, without serious change somewhere along the line, ultimately will drive this nation into bankruptcy or the kind of socialistic government Sanders wants. Either taxes go up or something goes down, such as defense. Then there is the question of all those private schools that would not only not receive any benefit from the Clinton proposal but might also face financial disaster, especially if their endowments are small. Competition from the major state universities for students is strong enough as it is without having the recruiting rug jerked even further from under them. Why would a student elect to go solidly into debt for four years of undergraduate studies when he can receive the same thing free? Would it be because he likes a smaller school and more personal attention? Perhaps, but most could be expected to sacrifice those academic luxuries for a particularly seductive four letter word: free. With growing enrollments to bolster their budget needs, the small gems of higher education that dont have billion-dollar endowments to sustain them would be up against it, forced to get even more expensive. Many would fail. There has to be a better way to lower college costs. A good start would be for state legislatures to provide more support to their institutions rather than to buy into a pie-in-the-sky proposal that would end up stressing their taxpayers more. Many states would opt not to participate in Clintons proposal. It is also difficult to believe that Congress, which would have to provide funds through the Department of Education, would see this as politically beneficial. Certainly not as it is made up today. Hillarys plan a more extensive one than she proposed earlier is obviously designed to appease all those followers of Sanders and keep them in the fold. She may or may not need them. Before you panic or thrill to the possibility of sending junior off to school on someone elses nickel, you should contemplate the shortcomings and pitfalls and understand the political origin of this proposal. It most likely wont reach reality for a long time, if ever. I find it interesting that Russ Feingold wants to get his old job back to try to address the problems that he helped create or exacerbate in his first two terms. It was his party that sank Social Security by taking dollar reserves and spending them, replacing those dollars with IOUs IOUs that seniors like me are now on the hook for. It was his party that gave us President Barack Obama's health care law, which took billions of dollars out of Medicare Advantage. Feingold pledges not to privatize Social Security; how nice! I guess the former senator is not aware of the three counties in Texas that opted out of Social Security back when it was legal to do so before the early 1980s. Their benefits today are greater than those paid by the federal program, and future benefits are backed 100 percent with real dollars, not IOUs. China values highly the important role the World Health Organization (WHO) plays, and supports the WHO in implementing goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, President Xi Jinping told the WHO Director-General Margaret Chan in Beijing on Monday. Xi said that China supports actively the WHO in promoting the implementation of health-related goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at global, regional and national levels, and is willing to carry out medical and health cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiatives. Pointing out that the WHO is playing a more and more important role in coping with epidemics timely and effectively and in coordinating global health affairs, Xi said that China and the WHO have been carrying out concrete cooperation over a wide range of issues, including the prevention and treatment of epidemics. Xi said the Chinese government attaches great importance to its people's health and has obtained important progress in fields including improving the universal health insurance coverage system and promoting equalization of basic medical and public health service. The Chinese government is working on a medium-to-long term plan for health development, Xi said. Margaret Chan said the WHO praises the important contribution the Chinese government has made to international affairs, especially global health cooperation, and that China has played a leading role in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Chan said China's Belt and Road initiatives are insightful and provide a new mode for global cooperation and global governance under the new circumstances, and that it is impressive that China has implemented the Millennium Development Goals ahead of time, achieved universal health insurance coverage and been actively pushing forward medical reforms. She said the WHO is willing to strengthen cooperation with China and continue to stick to the One-China policy. PHILADELPHIA The nomination of Hillary Clinton for president may change the way young women think about public service, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin said Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention. Baldwin, D-Madison, spoke to reporters after addressing the Wisconsin, Alaska and Montana delegations to the convention. She said young people -- especially those who are female, people of color or gay -- are more likely to aspire to careers in politics if they see officials elected who are like them. "We are a better democracy when our legislative bodies look like America," Baldwin said. Clinton was poised to formally become the Democratic nominee at the convention Tuesday evening. Baldwin is no stranger to historic firsts. In 1998 she became the first person elected to the U.S. House as an openly gay candidate. When she was elected U.S. senator in 2012, Baldwin became the first woman to represent Wisconsin in the Senate and the first person from any state elected to the chamber as an openly gay candidate. PHILADELPHIA As the Democratic National Convention reeled Monday from the fallout of leaked emails in which Democratic staffers privately disparaged presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, a top Sanders supporter in Wisconsin acknowledged it could harm efforts to bring Democrats together. The conventions kickoff was overshadowed by Sanders supporters outrage over the emails, which appear to have been hacked from Democratic National Committee servers and leaked to the public. Tensions flared during Monday evenings convention, as some delegates chanted Sanders name and booed the partys presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton. State Rep. David Bowen was Wisconsins only superdelegate to back Sanders White House bid after he won the Wisconsin primary. Speaking Monday morning, Bowen called the email controversy unfortunate. It will be harder to get some folks on board now, Bowen said. But we have to be honest about the situation and whats going on, so we can build real unity and get folks on board. The Democratic Partys top national official, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, announced Sunday that she will step down after the convention. The firestorm threatens to derail Democrats attempts to present a united front at their convention, which began Monday and runs through Thursday. Sanders was set to speak to the convention late Monday night. Bowen, of Milwaukee, said recent events mean Sanders, a senator from Vermont, would need to convince his supporters were better off with a Clinton presidency than a Donald Trump presidency. Its not yet known how the DNC emails were stolen. Clintons campaign manager, Robby Mook, said experts have pointed to Russian state actors who, Mook said, may have breached DNC computers for the purpose of helping Donald Trump. Robert Hansen, a Sanders delegate and chairman of the Democratic Party of Milwaukee County, called the email controversy overblown. He suggested the exchanges likely were a result of DNC officials venting from Sanders and his staffers frequent broadsides against the committee. After about a year of the Sanders campaign attacking the DNC, its not surprising that they had some emails amongst themselves that were negative toward Sanders, Hansen said. The continued vitality of our farms, families and communities is important to all of us. There are things we can do, there are things government can do, to help preserve and improve our way of life. Rural broadband access means that our farms, businesses, libraries and schools have modern means of communication and tools available to them to be prosperous. Cell phones and internet access are improvements over land lines for rapid exchange of information and simple things like accessing services or getting products to market at the best price. Government can help and we expect honesty and integrity with any such support. Open process, public hearings, honest explanations. If Gov. Scott Walker chooses not to provide meaningful support for rural broadband access for Wisconsin he should explain his rationale. Instead he hides a do-little initiative behind a clever program name. Walker chose to hold a closed, unannounced press conference in Viroqua at Vernon Communications on July 5 to tout his program; a program thats meant to look good and purposefully do nothing -- a program with virtually no funding. Lee Nerison (R-Westby), who was also present and whose name is on this do-little legislation, stood with Walker as he made his announcement. Sen. Jennifer Shilling, who was also present, has made numerous attempts to add funding and take other steps to give us a real program; a stark comparison of leadership, as she has said, investing in rural broadband can help close the digital divide, create new jobs, and open small communities to an abundance of new opportunities. We are proud of Vernon Communications and we think of it as our Coop. Our Coop was gracious in hosting Walker even though their accomplishments are independent of Walkers do-little support. We were happy to have Sen. Shilling present as a reminder there are better ways to move ahead and make government work for all of us. One better way is Alicia Leinberger running against Nerison for the 96th District Assembly seat. She had to stand outside as the public was not allowed to attend. Still she chose to make the effort and offer another reminder there is a choice between real programs and the cynicism of do-little programs in name only. By comparison Lee Nerison with this issue and many others shows that he is happy with Walkers do-little approach to helping our communities. Efforts to unite the Democratic Party behind Hillary Clinton suffered a setback as the party began its four-day convention in Philadelphia. The release of emails, hacked from the Democratic National Committee, showed what supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders suspected: the partys leadership favored Clinton over Sanders. The Vermont senator ran a stronger than expected challenge to Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. He received strong support from young voters. Clinton, who won strong support from African-Americans and older Democratic voters, is scheduled to accept the Democratic nomination on Thursday. Clinton supports Sanders calls to reduce income inequality and says she has the experience as a former secretary of state, a U.S. senator and a First Lady to be an effective president. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is head of the Democratic Party. Angry Sanders supporters booed Wasserman Schultz as she spoke to delegates from her home state of Florida at a Monday morning meeting. On Monday, Sanders spoke to his own delegates and urged them to support Clinton for president. That request was also met with boos from some of his supporters. He responded, This is the real world. Sanders said electing Clinton is the only way to stop Donald Trump, whom he called "a bully and a demagogue. Some Sanders delegates were angry about the released emails. In one of the emails, a Democratic official hoped to use Sanders' religious beliefs against him. Kira Willig is a Florida attorney and a Sanders delegate at the Democratic National Convention. She held up a sign that said emails as Wasserman Schultz spoke at the Florida delegation breakfast Monday. Willig said it is wrong for the Clinton campaign to bring on Wasserman Schultz, a Democratic congresswoman from Florida, to an official leadership position on her campaign. Hillary, her delegates, and the Democratic National Committee should apologize and admit what happened was wrong, Willig told VOA. Then we can all move on to keep Trump out of office. After the breakfast, Wasserman Schultz told a Florida newspaper she will not open and close the Democratic convention, which is usually done by the party chairwoman. She is also giving up the chairwomans position after the convention ends Thursday night. Patrick Miller is a political scientist at the University of Kansas. He does not expect the drama at last weeks Republican convention and the start of this weeks Democratic convention to have a big effect. Donald Trump had his own problems with unity at last weeks Republican convention. His top challenger for the Republican nomination, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, spoke to the convention and refused to endorse him for president. Miller said, It is understandable that the Sanders supporters are mad, but the Clinton campaign moved to minimize the damage by getting President Obama to ask Wasserman Schultz to step down.They are trying to make these emails into a one-day story. Questions raised on Russian involvement CrowdStrike, a computer security firm that looked into the hacking of Democratic computers, blamed two Russian intelligence-affiliated organizations. The FBI said it is investigating how thousands of Democratic emails ended up in the hands of WikiLeaks, which released them last Friday. Clinton campaign manager John Podesta said the emails may have been released because Russian President Vladimir Putin favors Trumps views on protecting Europe from Russia over Clintons. Trump called those claims a joke. The new joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous emails, which never should have been written (stupid) Because Putin likes me. Trump said in a Twitter message. Trump gained in opinion polls Opinion polls released after the Republican National Convention showed an increase in support for Trump. Fivethirtyeight.com founder Nate Silver said the latest polls show Trump turned a deficit of about 3 points into a one-point lead. Arthur Lupia is a political scientist at the University of Michigan. The next few days, Lupia said, give Clinton a chance to tell voters watching the Democratic convention how her presidency can improve their quality of life. Lupia adds that Clinton is likely to appeal to moderate Republicans who find themselves uncomfortable with some of Donald Trump's positions on trade, international alliances, and immigration. Ken Bredemeier reported this story for VOA News. Bruce Alpert adapted this story with additional reporting for VOA Learning English. Hai Do 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 hack -- v. to take information from a computer without permission boo -- v. a sound that people make to show they do not like or approve of someone or something respond -- v. to do something as a reaction to something that has happened or been done bully -- n. someone who frightens, hurts, or threatens smaller or weaker people demagogue -- n. a political leader who tries to get support by making false claims and promises and using arguments based on emotion rather than reason belief -- n. a feeling of being sure that someone or something exists or that something is true drama -- n. a situation or series of events that is exciting and that affects people's emotions poll -- n. an activity in which several or many people are asked a question or a series of questions in order to get information about what most people think about something 4 Protesters yell as DNC Chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., arrives for a Florida delegation breakfast in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the first day of the Democratic National Convention. She announced she would step down as DNC chairwoman at the end of the party's convention, after some of the 19,000 emails, presumably stolen from the DNC by hackers, were posted to the website Wikileaks. The conservation group Save the Elephants says Vietnam has become one of the worlds biggest illegal ivory markets. It also says that 75 percent of ivory buyers in Vietnam come from China. The group recently published a report called Vietnams Illicit Ivory Trade. The report found that more than 16,000 ivory items were for sale in over 240 stores across several Vietnamese cities. In a similar report in 2008, 2,400 products were for sale in the same places. Esmond Martin is a researcher at Save the Elephants. He says most of the ivory tusks sold in Vietnam come from African ports on the Indian Ocean. He says that two-thirds of the ivory that leaves Africa goes to China and Vietnam. And, while the Chinese ivory market has decreased in recent years, Vietnams ivory market has increased greatly, Martin says. The big difference between (the Chinese) and Vietnamese market is (that) the China market on the retail, legal side and perhaps on the illegal retail side has been going down but the Vietnam market has been absolutely booming. The investigators said the ivory trade had increased in Vietnam because of corruption, a lack of law enforcement and an increase in travelers in Asia. The Chinese government has in the past few years strengthened its efforts to end the illegal elephant ivory trade. Researcher Lucy Vigne says that lower ivory prices have caused Chinese ivory buyers to cross the border into Vietnam. "Prices in China are far higher than in Vietnam. That is why Vietnam is a major place for mainland Chinese to come down and buy ivory out of their country illegally. The report notes that prices for comparable ivory items cost three times more in Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai than they do in Vietnamese cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Iain Douglas-Hamilton is the founder and head of the Save the Elephants conservation group. He said it is important to close new ivory markets that are opening in Asia. He calls the recent study a warning that when you think you are on the verge of solving a problem, it may shift acrossthe borders of other states. In this case, the problem now of illegal ivory-trading has shifted across the border with Vietnam. Experts estimate that 100,000 African elephants were killed for their ivory tusks between 2010 and 2012. Im Dorothy Gundy. Mohammed Yusuf reported this story from Nairobi. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story illicit adj. not allowed by law; unlawful or illegal tusk n. a very long, large tooth that sticks out of the mouth of an animal (such as an elephant, walrus or boar) For the first time, a solar-powered airplane has completed a trip around the world. The Solar Impulse 2 landed in Abu Dhabi before sunrise on Tuesday, after a trip that took 17 months and covered more than 42,000 kilometers. Although poor weather conditions delayed the flight many times, energy from the sun provided all of the power required for the long and difficult journey. Solar Impulse chairman Bertrand Piccard flew the plane during the final hours of the flight. Fellow pilot Andre Borschberg joined him in Abu Dhabi. The Swiss explorers hugged in excitement on completing the journey. Piccard spoke to reporters after landing the plane. His words pointed not so much to the accomplishment of the long-distance flight, but to the future of the technologies involved. The future is clean. The future is you. The future is now. Lets take it further, Piccard told a crowd. From the beginning, the project was meant to bring attention to clean energy and the technologies it requires. In a statement, Picard said, Our mission now is to continue to motivate people, corporations and government to use these same solutions on the ground wherever they make sense. He also spoke about the need to create an international agency for clean technologies. He said such a group could bring together policymakers and companies that develop solar, wind and fuel cell technologies. The around-the-world flight was divided into 17 parts. The longest and most difficult part was from Nagoya, Japan, to Kalaeloa, in the American state of Hawaii. That trip took nearly five days. Co-pilot Borschberg set a world record for an uninterrupted flight alone. A trip that was part exploration part, part technology test The Solar Impulse 2 brings together several technologies that researchers are working to improve. The planes body is made of very light, but strong carbon fiber. The carbon design keeps the weight of the plane low. The whole aircraft weighs about as much as a car. Yet, its wingspan is huge, measuring 72 meters from wing tip to wing tip. That is greater than a 747 passenger Jet. Most of the Solar Impulse 2s wings and body are covered with more than 17,000 photovoltaic cells. Four batteries keep the planes four engines operating for nighttime flight. The plane set several records for distance and time in the air. However, traveling at 45 to 90 kilometers an hour, the aircraft is anything but fast. The flight began in Abu Dhabi, one of the United Arab Emirates, on March 9, 2015. But the effort started more than 10 years earlier. The first test flight took place in 2009. Since then, there have been several versions of the Solar Impulse plane. Piccard and his team faced many technical problems, especially with the design of the batteries. The batteries permit energy to be stored when the sun is not shining. Growing costs also threatened the project. Last year, Picard told the Guardian newspaper that the solar plane project cost about $170 million dollars. The project showed many of the difficulties facing solar flight. Weather and equipment failures kept the plane grounded for long periods of time. Some experts believe these problems can be solved with further research. Ron Bishop is an aviation expert with Central Queensland University in Australia. He told VOAs Victor Beattie that there were ways to design solar airplanes to overcome the technical problems. One way might be to use hybrid technology. Hybrid means bringing two power sources into one system. What we could probably see is a hybrid, so possibly an aircraft that takes off with a jet engine and then once it gets to altitude it can run on the solar or on batteries. Earlier this week, co-pilot Andre Borschberg said the flight had already proven that long distance air travel is possible without creating pollution. "By flying around the world thanks to renewable energy and clean technologies, we have demonstrated that we can now make our world more energy efficient,'' he said. Im Mario Ritter. This story is based on reporting by Smita Nordall of VOA News and other materials. Mario Ritter adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story journey n. a trip, to travel from one place to another accomplishment n. to have reached a goal, to have accomplished something motivate v. to give a reason to do something photovoltaic adj. related to making electricity from light aviation n. related to flying devices hybrid adj. something formed by combining two or more things This is Whats Trending Today. Many Americans are reacting to news that Verizon Communications will buy Yahoo, one of the first big internet companies. The deal is worth $4.8 billion. Verizon is a telecommunications company in the United States. It provides wireless service for cell phones and other mobile devices. Yahoo opened in 1994. Back then, it offered a guide to websites on the internet. The company later graduated to email, web searches and news. Yahoo made money by selling advertising on its pages. In the late 1990s, the company may have been worth as much as $125 billion. But its business has been struggling for a number of years. Some observers say Yahoo had trouble staying relevant as the internet developed. Google is now the most popular search engine in the U.S. Also, social networks like Facebook have changed the way people use the internet. In 2008, Microsoft tried to buy Yahoo for $44 billion, but its offer was rejected. Many people were surprised how far the one-time internet giant fell. The business magazine Forbes called the agreement with Verizon the saddest $5 billion deal in tech history. Critics noted how much money Yahoos chief Marissa Mayer made in her time with the company. She left her job with Google in hopes of reviving Yahoo in 2012. Mayer earned over $200 million in her four years. She is expected to stay with the company until Verizon takes over early next year. One person compared her earnings to the total amount of a recent U.S. lottery jackpot. Yahoo officials say they have no plans to sell the companys shares in the Chinese online shopping company Alibaba. They are said to be worth about $40 billion. And thats Whats Trending Today. Im Dorothy Gundy. Dan Friedell wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. Do you remember using Yahoo to access the internet in the 1990s? Tell us about it in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story graduate v. to move from one level to another usually higher level relevant adj. relating to a subject in an appropriate way revive v. to make (someone or something) strong, healthy, or active again jackpot n. a usually large amount of money won in a game of chance giant n. someone or something that is very large or powerful The first step in giving buildings a facelift is looking at what exists and not necessarily at just the surface. Megan McGown, vice president of economic development for the North Platte Chamber, hosted a kickoff meeting Monday for the downtown facade design project. Scott Day and Ann Benson McGlone, of Urban Development Services of San Antonio, Texas, met with North Platte downtown property owners and shared some preliminary ideas at the Fox Theater Patty Birge Room. According to Day, first-floor transparency is vital to impulse sales. The degree of transparency is important for customers to feel comfortable entering a downtown business, Day said. Also important for improving North Plattes downtown, he said, are a regular rhythm of entrances into buildings and for a stores primary door to open onto the primary street. The examples Day shared included storefronts that had been boarded up, and others with facades hiding important and interesting features of the building. Laurence Hinton, owner of Hintons Lock and Alarm, said the meeting was a good first step. I like the idea of the storefronts having their own individuality instead of what we have now, Hinton said. I feel like the covered sidewalk awning thats there now is detracting from that individuallook that would be a nice-looking downtown. Anything we do to make that better would be good. Hinton said his building, at 512 N. Dewey, was built in the 1950s and it doesnt have a historical look like some of the other structures in the downtown area. Theres some beautiful buildings down there, but you cant see that because of the awnings, Hinton said. The next step is for property owners to set up appointments with Day to see what is possible with their property. Day also said the question of what to do with the awning that covers storefronts along Dewey Street would have to be addressed at another meeting. North Platte Telegraph (NE) MediaTeks Helio X20 and X25 deca-core processors are starting to show up in smartphones like the Meizu Pro 6, Meizu MX6, and Vernee Apollo Lite. But the Taiwanese chip maker is already working on next-years model. Like its predecessors, the Helio X30 will be a deca-core processor. But it should offer better performance, power efficiency, and network connectivity. In an interview with EET, MediaTeks chief operating officer Zhu Shangzu provided some additional details about the upcoming chip. First up, the Helio X30 will be the companys first 10nm processor. Most of the companys recent chips are constructed using a 28nm or 16nm processes. The move should lead to improvements in performance and energy efficiency. The new processors are also said to feature improved modems, enabling support for more mobile broadband network bands. The Helio X30 is expected to feature support for up to 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM and UFS 2.1 storage. MediaTek is also said to be switching from ARMs Mali graphics to PowerVR Series 7 graphics. via MyDrivers BlackBerrys second Android phone is now available for pre-order. The official launch was spoiled a bit by a premature leak, but the BlackBerry DTEK50 should begin shipping in the US, Canada, and parts of Europe in a few weeks. The phone is available from the BlackBerry Shop for $299. As expected, the phone is much more affordable than last years BlackBerry Priv smartphone, and seems to be aimed at mid-range smartphone shoppers rather than those looking for a premium device. That said, the specs dont look bad. The phone doesnt have a physical keyboard or the most powerful processor on the market. But it features a 5.2 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel touchscreen display, 3GB of RAM, a 2,610 mAh battery with support for Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0, and a microSD card slot with support for up to 2TB of removable storage. Other features included 16GB of built-in storage, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 octa-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor, an 8MP front-facing camera with an 83 degree wide-angle lens, and a 13MP rear camera with phase detection auto-focus and HDR support. BlackBerry says you can charge the battery to 50 percent in 51 minutes, and that a fully-charged battery should provide up to 8 hours of video playback time, 24 days of standby time, or up to 17 hours of battery life for mixed usage. The phone runs Googles Android 6.0 operating system, but it also has a series of BlackBerry-specific features including communications and security apps, pop-up widgets, a unified search utility, and gesture controls. The company is playing up the phones photography and security features in a series of blog posts. Fun fact: We already knew this phone was manufactured by TCL, the same company that makes phones that are sold under the Alcatel name. As Engadget noticed, the BlackBerry DTEK50 seems to basically be a rebranded version of the Alcatel Idol 4 with BlackBerrys software added to the phone. The design and hardware are all pretty much the same. The Alcatel 4 is available in the US for $200, but its a Cricket Wireless exclusive in the United States, while the BlackBerry DTEK50 should support AT&T, T-Mobile, or any other GSM network in the US. Dealing with a car accident can be overwhelming, so its so important to be prepared in advance to make sure youre treated fairly by the insurance companies. Its nerve-wracking, said Liliana Marchica, who was in an accident several years ago. Many thoughts go through my head. What am I going to do with my car? What happens to me? What am I going to tell my husband? As difficult as it might be, its important to stay calm in the moments after an accident. Attorneys advice Personal injury attorney Kevin McLaughlin says, first, make sure everyone is OK. Then, document the scene to help determine liability later. Just use your smart phone to take pictures and notes. The damage of the vehicles, the location of the vehicles, and certainly the names, addresses, and phone numbers of any potential witnesses should be documented, McLaughlin said. If its a rear-end accident, its pretty clear-cut who is at fault, but often times, accidents turn into a he-said, she-said. The most important things to do right after an accident are: Get treatment. Take photos. Get names and contact information for witnesses. Notify your insurance carrier. Notify your insurance company as soon as you can after an accident. Its OK to give your company a recorded statement so that they understand what happened, but be careful about making recorded statements to the other drivers insurance company. Their job is to protect their insured, not you, McLaughlin said. There have been instances where it appears to be a clear-cut accident where you tell the insurance company one thing, but the insurance company interprets what you said in a different way, not at all the way you meant it. No-fault state One thing many people dont realize in Florida is even if youre not at fault, your own car insurance pays for your medical care. No-fault insurance or what we call personal injury protection, or PIP insurance, is primary coverage that you are required by law to carry. And that pays the percentage of your medical expenses (depending on your policy) and some of your lost wages, usually up to $10,000, McLaughlin said. If medical costs exceed $10,000, your own health insurance kicks in until your treatment is complete, and then you can make a claim against the other drivers insurance company for those benefits if you are not at fault. Also, take note: A recent change in the law requires you to seek medical treatment within 14 days or you could lose your PIP benefits. Dealing with insurance companies Dealing with insurance companies can be almost as stressful as the accident. Its just frustrating, actually having to fight with the insurance companies to get your repairs, said Mike Chancey, who had to haggle with his insurance company several years ago after a minor accident. One thing to keep in mind is that an insurance company might have a preferred body shop they want you to use to repair your vehicle. You can take the recommendation, but they cannot force you. Under the law, the choice is yours. You just want to make sure its a reputable company using new parts, not used parts on your vehicle, and make sure everything is getting fixed, McLaughlin said. Ive seen where it looks like just cosmetic damage, and when they take the bumper off, you can see frame damage. Click here for more information from the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles on how insurance companies investigate accidents. Negotiate for fair value If your car is totaled, negotiate. Dont just take the first offer but do research online first to determine a fair replacement value. Websites such as Edmunds.com and Kelley Blue Book can be very helpful. Go back to them and say, Look, this is what my research is showing. It doesnt seem like youre making me a fair offer here. Youre offering me $8,000 for this car, and I went online and every site says this car is worth $12,000. I highly recommend that, McLaughlin said. If an insurance company denies your claim or shortchanges you on reimbursement, ask them to put the reason in writing. They are required to inform you in writing of their decisions to deny or reduce payments. Its a good idea to keep a record of all correspondence emails and phone calls including dates and names of customer service reps you talk to including a short summary. For questions on Floridas Unfair Claim Settlement Practices Act, contact the Florida Department of Insurance Regulation: http://www.floir.com. When you need an attorney As for when you might need an attorney, McLaughlin says that generally, if youve been injured or an insurance company is giving you a hard time, its a good idea to at least talk to an attorney. Most attorneys will talk with you at no cost and give you some advice, at least at the initial meeting. They can explain to you how the process works, he said. Uninsured motorist coverage One of the most important tips of all is to make sure you have uninsured or under-insured motorist coverage in your policy in case youre injured and the other driver doesnt have insurance. Florida has one of the highest numbers of uninsured motorists in the country. Its the best coverage you can buy to protect yourself. In my mind, its the most important coverage you hope you never need, McLaughlin said. The Democratic National Committee offered its "deep and sincere apology" to Bernie Sanders on Monday afternoon, minutes after the party kicked off a contentious convention in Philadelphia. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake called the 47th Democratic convention to order just after 4 p.m., filling in for DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who has essentially gone into exile. The committee apologized to the senator for emails leaked by website Wikileaks that disparaged Sanders and suggested that top party officials favored Clinton for the party's presidential nomination. The Wikileaks emails have roiled Sanders supporters, led to the resignation of Wasserman Schultz and deeply divided the party. Hundreds of Sanders supporters marched south of Philadelphia's City Hall, some criticizing the party. At a pre-convention breakfast earlier Monday, attendees loudly heckled Wasserman Schultz. Here is a partial transcript: Wasserman Schultz: "First of all I want to ask everybody to join me in acknowledging that we had a tragic shooting in Fort Myers yesterday." Crowd member: "How dare you?" Wasserman Schultz: "There were children who were in harms way and people lost their lives." (sound of gavel) Wasserman Schultz: "We know something in Florida about making sure that we can have the voices across our state heard." In a Pennsylvania Convention Center ballroom, Bernie Sanders addressed supporters, saying, "make no mistake about it, we have made history." He reiterated that delegates need to come together behind presumptive presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, which drew boos and angry chants from the thousand in attendance. Some yelled, "We want Bernie." Wikileaks has not released the source of the DNC emails which the FBI is investigating released Friday. Some have alleged that Russian state hacked the DNC, implying that President Vladimir Putin was trying to influence the election. "What the experts said when this breach initially happened at the DNC was that they believed it was Russian state actors who took these e-mails," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told CNN. "What further experts are saying is that then, because they possessed those emails, that Russian state actors were feeding the email to hackers for the purpose of helping Donald Trump." But Donald Trump Jr., the son of the Republican nominee, rejected that allegation: "It just goes to show you their exact moral compass. They'll say anything to be able to win this. This is time and time again, lie after lie," Trump Jr. said on CNN's "State of the Union." "It's disgusting. It's so phony," Trump Jr. said. Later in the evening, several politicans, rights activists and celebrities took the stage, followed by first lady Michelle Obama and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Actress Sarah Silverman, who backed Sanders in the Democratic primary against Clinton, told delegates -- and a national television audience -- that she plans to vote for Clinton. "Can I just say to the Bernie or bust people, you're being ridiculous," she said, after the crowd began to chant, "Bernie, Bernie." As the crowd roared in applause, Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, who was standing next to Silverman, joked, "Listen to what you did." Michelle Obama spoke of the role the president plays in the lives of children, shaping their values and aspirations, and why she believes Clinton is the leader with the ability to best fill that role. "Because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president," she told the cheering crowd. Sanders' speech closed out Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention. Information from the Associated Press and CNN were used in this report. Standard Bank has extended its banking app to four additional African markets simultaneously: Uganda, Namibia, Ghana and Botswana; and has plans to roll it out to Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe by the end of 2016. Image by 123RF Rapid developments in Standard Banks drive to enhance its digital customer interface in Africa and simultaneous multi country enablement on the continent, have been combined with extensive customer testing and prototyping, to deliver a consistent customer experience which is locally relevant to users in each of the four additional markets. The release of the app signals the banks consolidation of its banking portfolios within the Group from a single mobile interface. Essentially this is one of the first mobile banking interfaces in Africa that allows our bank customers access to their accounts across multiple countries within the Standard Bank Group, said Adrian Vermooten, head of customer channels Africa. According to the bank, the app offers a richer and intuitive customer experience as it takes advantage of smartphone sophistication such as biometrics for secure access, access to device contacts, and social networks for sharing of information. Future releases of the app in late 2016 will include additional features such as Real Time Payments, Online account opening and numerous other value-added services for individuals and businesses. The San Diego Comic Con was a treasure trove for trailers for upcoming movies and TV series. Following our wrap of the major trailers released on comic con yesterday, here's another bunch of unusual and interesting trailers that released at Comic Con that had fans lining up to have a better look at the show. There was something for Star Trek fans, science fiction aficionados as well as die hard horror movie fans. Here's our list: American Gods Here is the adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel of the same name starring Ricky Whittle as Shadow, the protagonist who walks into a brewing war between the old and new deities. The star cast also includes Ian McShane as Shadows unasked-for patron Mr. Wednesday, and fans of the Gaiman novel will recognize a number of minor characters, from old-schoolers Mad Sweeney and Bilquis to new jacks like Technical Boy. Bryan Fuller's series is all set to release in 2017. X Files star Gillian Anderson joins the star cast as Marilyn Monroe. Blair Witch No one knew the Blair Witch trailer was going to be out at the San Diego Comic Con until it was announced on Friday July 22 2016. The new Blair Witch stars James Allen McCune as the brother of Heather, one of the doomed campers from the original film. He and some friends return to the woods in an attempt to find her, and are soon haunted by the legend of the namesake Blair Witch who haunts the woods. King Arthur: Legend of Sword King Arthur: Legend of the Sword has a young Arthur (Charlie Hunnam) re-imagined as a petty criminal in Londinium, until he unknowingly claims Excalibur and is set on the path to becoming king. Directed by Guy Ritchie, this movie has a definite Game of Thrones look to it which will make it an interesting watch. The movie will debut on March 24 2017. Star Trek: Discovery A cryptic teaser for the new show is out. Discovery also happens to be the name of the starship for this series, which takes place in the timeline as the original series and takes place in the Prime Universe. The series will make its debut in 2017. The Exorcist Actors Brianne Howey (Katherine), Hannah Kusulka (Casey), Geena Davis (Angela), and Alfonso Herrera (Father Tomas) come together to reprise the 1973 hit movie The Exorcist. The trailer looks as scary as it's 70s counterpart, but it has alot of expectations to live upto. The other notable trailers included Gotham Season 3, The Arrow Season 5, Flash Season 3, Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 and Agents of Shield. Agents of Shield will feature Ghost Rider this season. We also know that the trailers for Spider-man Homecoming and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 debuted at the comic con, but there is still time till the finished trailers will be released online. The Spider-man Homecoming footage was set in high-school, and the movie is a straight up teenager high school movie about a 15 year old, according to IGN. The movie is set to release on July 7 2017. A new piece of concept art was also revealed, showing Spider-Man fighting Vulture, the villain presumed to be played by Michael Keaton. #SpiderManHomecoming swings into #MarvelSDCC with cast announcements and concept art! https://t.co/S37JNLVY1S pic.twitter.com/HamY7eagPv Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) July 24, 2016 As for Guardians of the Galaxy 2, writer and director James Gunn posted this video to shed some light the missing trailer: For Marvel fans, there was an added bonus of seeing The Hulk's look in Thor : Rangarok To sum it up, everybody walked away happy in the comic con. Bikaner: Scores of activists from the Bishnoi community have protested against the acquittal of Bollywood actor Salman Khan by the Rajasthan High Court in two cases related to poaching of Chinkaras in Jodhpur in 1998. Bishnoi community members, who are known for their love of wild animals especially chinkaras and deers, held protests and burnt posters of the actor yesterday. "We protested against the acquittal of Salman Khan in the cases and burnt his posters," Vijay Delu, district president of Akhil Bhartiya Jeev Raksha Vishnoi Mahasabha said. Bab Lal Jaju of animal welfare organization 'People for Animals' said the decision of the high court has disappointed animal lovers. "Yesterday was a black day for animal lovers. We are disappointed and urge the state government to challenge the order in the Supreme court," Jaju said on Tuesday. The court had held that the pellets recovered from the Chinkaras were not fired from Khan's licensed gun. Varun Dhawan, John Abraham and Jacqueline Fernandez starrer Dishoom certainly doesn't want to go the Great Grand Masti and Udta Punjab way. The film is releasing on 29 July, and the makers are planning ways to combat the looming piracy threat. According to this Times of India report, the producers of Dishoom have approached Bombay High Court to direct all telecom, TV and digital operators to ensure the movie is not made illegally available on any platform. This move was a result of a meeting held on 21 July, which was attended by all producers and studios in unison to combat the threat of piracy. Mukesh Bhatt, president of Film and Television Producers Guild of India, spoke to TOI, saying that the recent examples of piracy are a serious threat to the film industry as a whole, and also to the security of India's "intellectual assets." He asked for a high level probe and intervention by the PM on the matter. Meanwhile, it has been reported that an immediate measure has been taken to ensure no piracy of Dishoom occurs before its release. The copy of the movie has been submitted in an encrypted format to the CBFC for certification, in a DCP-KDM format, rather than a DVD. The makers of Dishoom surely believe prevention is better than cure. Ranbir Kapoor has recently bought a new home in Pali Hill and rumours suggest that Gauri Khan will be adding the final touches to the house. Ranbir and Gauri had even gone shopping for home decor while they were in London for Karan Johar's birthday celebrations. Apart from being a celebrity wife, Gauri Khan is also a renowned interior designer. She has worked on many homes including her own Bandra home, Mannat, and two others overseas. She then collaborated with Susanne Roshan on many commercial ventures. Currently Gauri is also busy working on her next book on design. A Mumbai Mirror report suggests that Ranbir, who plans to move into the new home by October, wants his home's designs to be a mix of art and history. The Tamasha actor bought this Bandra house in May after his break-up with Katrina Kaif. The deal was much in news for it was said to be the most expensive real estate deal to have taken place outside of the town area in Mumbai. He reportedly bought the 2,460 sq ft apartment for a whopping 35 crores. The Thane police's case against Bollywood actress Mamta Kulkarni in a multi-crore drug racket has taken a twist after one of the witnesses who testified before a magistrate about her involvement has now sought to retract his statement. The arrested accused, Jay Mukhi, had earlier stated that Kulkarni had attended a meeting in Kenya. But now he denies having ever met the actress. According to India Today, in his application to the special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court, Mukhi has alleged, "Three officers from Thane Crime Branch threatened me that my sister and brother-in-law would be arrested if I didn't do as they say. They forced me to give statement as per their wish in front of the Vashi Magistrate u/s 164 of the Cr.P.C. They used to keep my father Mulji Rajshi Mukhi (aged 80 years) and mother Nirmala Mulji Mukhi (aged 76 years) till 1.30 am to 2 am in their office to put pressure on me and because of this pressure I gave statement u/s 164 of the Cr.P.C in front of the Vashi Magistrate, contents of which were not true." A report in The Indian Express quotes a police officer denying all charges, When the statement of a person is recorded by a magistrate, he is no longer in police custody. He is in the custody of the magistrate who gives him enough time to think over his decision to give a statement. How can we torture him to give a statement before the magistrate when he was not in our custody? A month ago, another accused, Punit Shringi, a former senior official of Avon Lifesciences Ltd who was till recently lodged in Thane Jail and is presently in custody of Gujarat ATS, informed the police and prosecution about a threat to eliminate him if he records his statement before the magistrate. The entire drug racket first came to light when Thane police arrested a Nigerian man on 18 April, after seizing around 18.5 tonne of ephedrine after raiding the premises of Avon Lifesciences Ltd in Maharashtra's Solapur district. Former actress Kulkarni and her druglord husband Vicky Goswami, have been named as accused persons in the ephedrine case. Kulkarni debuted with Tirangaa in 1992 and had several hits like Krantiveer (1994), Karan Arjun (1995) and Baazi (1996). The actress was considered the pin-up girl of the 90s and acted with several big stars in her time. However, in 2001, after Dev Anand's film Censor, she renounced filmdom and went away with Goswami to Dubai. After years of being off-the-radar, Kulkarni made news in 2014 when she was detained in Kenya for alleged drug trafficking. Read Firstpost's report here. New Delhi: Country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India Tuesday reported 23 percent jump in net profit for the first quarter to Rs 1,486.2 crore, its best-ever quarterly result, on the back of material cost reduction and higher non-operating income. The auto major had posted a net profit of Rs 1,208.1 crore for the same period in the previous fiscal. Net sales rose by 12.1 percent to Rs 14,654.5 crore for the first quarter as against Rs 13,078.3 crore last year, Maruti Suzuki India said in a statement. "The profit was helped by a higher turnover, material cost reduction, higher non-operating income and lower depreciation. Adverse foreign exchange movement reduced profits to some extent," it added. The firm said it sold 3,48,443 units during the quarter, a growth of 2.1 percent a year ago. This includes 3,22,340 units in domestic market, a growth of 5.4 percent. Exports during the quarter stood at 26,103 units. "The growth in the first two months of the quarter had been 10.2 percent, but the unfortunate incident of fire at a key vendor of the company resulted in lower sales in June 2016," the company said. The company hopes to recover the lost sales during the course of the year, it added. In an arbitration case involving Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and Devas Multimedia, the Government of India has lost the case in the international tribunal. This would mean the government's space arm Isro may have to pay $1 billion in damages to Devas for cancelling a deal in 2010, the tribunal ruled at The Hague. Even as the international court ruled in favour of the multi media firm, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched an investigation against Devas and its directors and foreign subsidiaries under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema). According to The Times of India, this will allow the government to recover from Devas, "the amount it hopes to earn through international arbitration." The ED's case rests on the basis that approval for foreign direct investment (FDI) to Devas was based on conditions that foreign investors would be subject to Indian laws. In a swift action to the ED probe, Devas moved the Karnataka High court against the ED notice on FEMA violation, and the High court has stayed the notice issued by ED for 8 weeks (2 months) vide its order dated 28 June 2016. In a writ petition filed filed before the Karnataka High Court, Devas Multimedia Private Limited has challenged the Show Cause Notice dated 6 June 2016 issued by an Adjudicating Authority being a Special Director of the Enforcement Directorate under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. Further, Devas has also challenged a complaint dated 31 May 2016 issued by the Assistant Director, Enforcement Directorate, Bangalore before the High Court. Devas has argued that the Show Cause Notice and Complaint are wholly without jurisdiction, and in any event vitiated by malice in law and fact and hence void, invalid and non-est. The High Court on 28 June 2016 stayed the operation of the Show Cause Notice and the Complaint and all proceedings initiated there under for a period of 8 weeks. (2 months). According to a report by News18.com, Isro's commercial arm Antrix had cancelled a deal involving use of two satellites and a spectrum after which Devas Multimedia filed the case against the former. The deal between Antrix and Devas was signed in 2005 when G Madhavan Nair was at the helm of affairs in the Department of Space. As per the agreement, Antrix was to provide 70 MHz of the scarce S-Band space segment to Devas for its digital multimedia services. This was to be done by leasing 90 percent of the transponders in satellites GSAT-6 and GSAT-6A that are proposed to be launched by Isro. Devas, in turn, was to pay Antrix a total of $300 million over 12 years. However, the deal failed to take off, as the then Manmohan Singh-led government in 2011 said the project was already under review and action has been initiated for termination of the contract. The government finally cancelled the deal on 17 February, 2011. Devas then took Antrix and the Government to International Court for cancelling its contract by the Cabinet Committee on Security in 2011. After arbitration proceeding began in June 2013, Devas claimed $1.6 billion in damages. In 2015, Antrix was slapped a fine of about Rs 4,400 crore ($672 million) by International Arbitration Court for unilaterally terminating the contract with Devas, the News18.com report said. New Delhi: Making headway on the long-pending GST Bill, the Centre and States on Tuesday agreed on the principle that the tax rate will be lower than the current levels even as the broad consensus emerged that the rate should not be part of the statute. A meeting of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers convened by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also agreed to include in the Constitutional Amendment Bill the mechanism of compensating states for any loss of revenue in first five years of Goods and Service Tax (GST) subsuming all indirect tax levies including VAT. There was also broad agreement on the principle that the ordinary businessman and the common tax man will benefit from introduction of GST by way of lower tax rates while the states will not face any loss of revenue, West Bengal Finance Minister and the panel chairman Amit Mitra said after the meeting. Also, there was "consensus to keep the GST rate out of the Constitutional Amendment Bill," he claimed. The government is keen to get the GST Bill approved during the current monsoon session of Parliament ending August 12 but is facing opposition from Congress which wants a low tax rate to be part of the Constitutional Amendment Bill while the one percent additional tax in hands of states over and above the GST rate be scrapped. "As you know that no tax rates are provided in the Constitution. It was discussed and conclusion reached that Union Finance Minister will communicate to other parties. He will explain it to them that it can't come in Constitutional Amendment but it can come in GST Bill or GST Act," Mitra said. The "broad consensus put together is satisfactory to all political parties and all states," he said adding "fool proof" wording for compensation to states has been worked out. There are indications that the government may now bring the GST bill in Rajya Sabha next week instead of earlier plans of doing it this week. Mitra said while there was no talk on specific tax rate, it emerged at the meeting that the rate should be such that is lower than existing levels otherwise "there is no point of reform." The states, he said, were of the view that small businesses with turnover up to Rs 1.5 crore in a year should come under purview of only state governments and dual control of states and Centre can be exercised over businesses larger than them. Once the Constitutional Amendment Bill is passed by Parliament by two-thirds majority, both the Houses will have to pass another bill to implement the GST. In the Bill, the Centre had proposed 100 percent compensation for first three years, 75 percent and 50 percent for the next two years. However, the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha has recommended 100 percent compensation for probable loss of revenue for five years. Today's meeting of the empowered committee was crucial as the Centre is looking to build consensus over the three demands of the Congress party, which included that Constitutional capping of GST rate. "On the question of rate it was very important that wording has been worked out which first of all essentially means that the incidence of tax on common man has to be significantly reduced. At the same time, the safeguard on the existing level of trends of revenue of the Union and States. "...These are the two objectives that a broad framework of words have been worked out and we hope that all political parties will be in agreement," Mitra said. He said that today the effective rate of taxes is huge and consensus was there should be a reduction in the tax rate with GST implementation. On the Congress demand for scrapping of one percent additional tax, Mitra said: "What has been absorbed in GST is known to you. So there is nothing for me to say." Jaitley had earlier indicated his openness in scrapping the 1 percent additional tax after a panel headed by Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian favoured it. Congress ruled Karnataka, however, held on to its demand that GST rate should be mentioned in Constitutional amendment bill to safeguard the interest of tax payers. "GST taxation should be specifically brought in Constitutional amendment bill so that the tax payers are told what the rates would be," HC Mahadevappa, a minister in the Siddaramaiah government told reporters here. Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said the GST revenue neutral rate (RNR) was discussed and general consensus has been to drop this concept of RNR in Constitutional amendment. "We will ensure a rate and structure which will reduce the effective tax burden on the common man. We know that effective rate on consumer products is about 30 percent. It'll be considerably brought down. Rate cap will not be put in constitutional bill," Isaac said. He said there will be more meetings of the state finance ministers. Briefing reporters about Tuesday's meeting, Mitra said it was a "very constructive" meeting attended by all major finance ministers. "I am happy to say that the wording which would guarantee five years of compensation was worked out. I cannot go into details of the wordings, I can only give you spirit of it. States are satisfied that in the constitutional amendment the wording (will be provided) by which states will be guaranteed five years of compensation if there is any loss of revenue," Mitra said. He said it is "very big development" and appropriate wording gives confidence to states that for five years if there is any loss of revenue, Centre will compensate. On the issue of dual control, state finance ministers have conveyed to Jaitley that small businesses with turnover of Rs 1.5 crore and below will be taxed only in the hands of state. "Above Rs 1.5 crore a smooth consistent methodology has been worked out for both centre and state to be able to work together shoulder to shoulder with regard to revenue generation," he said. Himachal Pradesh Excise and Taxation Minister Prakash Chaudhary said that the state is in favour of dual control. Himachal is ready to implement GST but nitty-gritty has to be worked out, he said. The Congress, which originally mooted GST in 2009 to replace all indirect taxes, has been demanding that the overall rate be capped at 18 percent and scrapping of an additional 1 percent tax designed to compensate manufacturing states that fear losing out on revenue. It also wants an independent mechanism to resolve disputes between states over revenue sharing. GST would subsume all indirect taxes like excise, sales and service levies. In the new regime, there will be one Central GST or C-GST and State GST or S-GST. States levy sales tax or VAT on goods sold within their jurisdiction and get a Central Sales Tax (CST) on sales made outside their territories. This CST will no longer be available in the new regime and a 1 percent additional tax was proposed to make up for that. The GST Bill, which intends to convert 29 states into a single market through a new indirect tax regime, was earlier planned to be introduced from April 1 this year, but the deadline was missed as the legislation to roll it out remains in limbo in the Opposition-dominated Rajya Sabha. The government, which has agreed to a five-hour debate on the GST bill in the Rajya Sabha, is keen to get the law passed during the current Monsoon Session of Parliament that ends on 12 August. Flipkart's unit Myntra has acquired online fashion retailer Jabong. According to a press release on the website of Global Fashion Group, the parent company of Jabong, the sale is for a consideration of $70 million. "Global Fashion Group (GFG) has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Jabong, its Indian business, to Flipkart Group for US$70 million in cash. The transaction is a decisive step in GFGs strategy to refocus its business on core markets and further accelerate its path to profitability," the press release said. With Net Revenues of 126 million and adjusted EBITDA loss of 56 million for the 12 months ended 31 March 2016, Jabong represented 13 percent of Global Fashoin Group's net revenue and 22 percent of adjusted EBITDA loss. Explaining the rationale behind the sale, Global Fashion Group, which was formed in 2014 by merging six e-commerce companies, said that its board has concluded that Jabongs position in India "would be best served through a business combination with a local player". Jabong acquisition natural step in journey to be Indias largest fashion platform," Ananth Narayanan, CEO, Myntra, has been quoted as saying in the media reports. He also said there are significant synergies between the two companies especially on brand relationships and consumer experience. "We look forward to working with the talented Jabong team to shape the future of fashion and lifestyle ecommerce in India," he added. Sachin Bansal, executive chairman of Flipkart, welcomed Jabong on Twitter. According to Binny Bansal, CEO and Co-Founder, Flipkart, fashion and lifestyle are the biggest drivers of ecommerce in the country. "This acquisition is a continuation of the group's journey to transform commerce in India," he has been quoted as saying in a report in The Economic Times. Earlier media had reported that Jabong was in discussions with players like ecommerce major Snapdeal, Aditya Birla Group and Kishore Biyanis Future Group for a possible sell out. The deal, which has been in the works for some time, is floundering as many "suitors have backed out", a PTI report had said quoting sources. The company has been making losses due to fast-paced expansion that burnt cash. According to the PTI report, Jabong narrowed down its gross loss to Rs 46.7 crore for 2015 on the back of lower level of discounts from Rs 159.5 crore in 2014. Its net revenue rose 7.1 per cent to Rs 869.1 crore in 2015 compared with Rs 811.4 crore in 2014. The GMV (gross merchandise value) in 2015 increased to Rs 1,502.9 crore compared with Rs 1,320.6 crore in 2014. The report had also said the company expects to clock 20-30 percent growth in sales this year as it charts a turnaround in business. Bengaluru - Karnataka on Monday unveiled a booster kit to nurture start-ups in the state with funding and hand-holding till they flourish. "The booster kit provides software tools, cloud credits, access to mentors, legal and consulting accountants and access to government funding and government supported incubators," state IT & BT Minister Priyanka Kharge told reporters here. Announcing Rs 400 crore funding over the next four years as grant or equity for start-ups, micro and small IT and BT (biotech) enterprises, he said the Karnataka Biotechnology and IT Services (KBITS) would also help them in marketing and promotion. "The KIBITS will sponsor participation of start-up entrepreneurs to attend networking events at national and international levels, administer tax incentive and assist them in patent filing," Kharge said. The new minister also said he plans to hold an open house event every month for start-ups to interact with department officials for addressing issues related to their operations. The first open house will be held on 16 August at the state-run 10,000 start-ups warehouse in this tech hub. "Bengaluru is the second fastest-growing start-up ecosystem in the world and the only Indian city to be ranked among the best 15 start-up ecosystems the world over," Kharge said. The state government has also set up a cell in KBITS to implement policy initiatives and provide incentives for incubating start-ups. "A start-up portal (www.startup.karnataka.gov.in) will soon be launched to educate prospective entrepreneurs on our policy and benefits being offered under the booster kit," Kharge added. In partnership with the IT industry's representative body Nasscom, the state government has set up 725 seats to support incubators in the warehouse, in which 325 seats are available at subsidised rate for setting up start-ups. US-based e-tail company Amazon continues gallop in the Indian online retail market, with the latest survey by Forresters Consumer Technographics Asia-Pacific Online Benchmark indicating the former's growing dominance over its nearest rivals in the past few years. As per the Forrester's survey, Amazon has pipped its nearest competitor Flipkart as the preferred online retail destination for consumers in the country's metropolitan areas in 2016. The survey reported in The Hindu BusinessLine shows that 76 percent of respondents purchased online from Amazon in 2016, a huge leap over just 30 percent of respondents transacting in 2014. In comparison, Flipkart witnessed a flat growth, as 68 percent respondents bought from it in 2016 compared with 63 percent in 2014. The latest survey comes after Times of India last week reported that Amazon.in app surpassed Flipkart to emerge as the most downloaded app on Google and Apple app stores in the first quarter (January-March) of the current year. Although Amazon forayed into Indian online retail market three years back in June 2013, much after the homegrowns Flipkart and Snapdeal had launched their services, the US e-tailer made rapid seems to have strides here since then. In fact, Amazon is already closing the gap with Flipkart in India, with its chief executive officer Jeff Bezos last month pledging to invest another $3 billion in his company's India operations. According to a media report, Amazon displaced another home-grown ecommerce giant Snapdeal to become India's second-largest online marketplace by shipments in March. Amazon India's unit market share surged to an estimated 21-24 percent from 14 percent in March, while Snapdeal's fell to 14-15 percent from 19 percent, an ET report said. To sum it up, local knowledge could give Flipkart an advantage but Bezos has demonstrated a willingness over the years to keep pouring in money and accepting losses until the battle is won, a Bloomberg report had said. Amazons consistent performance over the last year and our stellar first quarter indicates that the tide is turning, Bloomberg quoted Amazons India chief Amit Agarwal in an e-mail interview. New Delhi: Non-performing Central government employees will not get annual increment if their performance is not upto the mark, the Centre has said. The benchmark for performance appraisal for promotion and financial upgradation has been enhanced to "very good" from "good" level, the Finance Ministry said in an order notifying implementation of Seventh Central Pay Commission's recommendations. The Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) scheme will continue to be administered at 10, 20 and 30 years of service as before, the Ministry said as it "accepted" the pay panel's recommendations. The recommendation of "withholding of annual increments in the case of those employees who are not able to meet the benchmark either for MACP or a regular promotion within the first 20 years of their service" has been "accepted", it said. The pay panel had in its report to the Centre said that there is a widespread perception that increments as well as upward movement in the hierarchy happen as a matter of course. "The perception is that grant of MACP, although subject to the employee attaining the laid down threshold of performance, is taken for granted. This Commission believes that employees who do not meet the laid down performance criterion should not be allowed to earn future annual increments. "The Commission is therefore proposing withholding of annual increments in the case of those employees who are not able to meet the benchmark either for MACP or a regular promotion within the first 20 years of their service. This will act as a deterrent for complacent and inefficient employees," it had said. There are about 50 lakh Central government employees. The Supreme Courts order passed yesterday in the case of Ms X v Union of India is a cop-out on an important issue the constitutional right of a woman to have autonomy over her own body in the context of a pregnancy. While it has allowed the petitioner to terminate her pregnancy on the basis of medical advice that pointed out that her life would be in danger if the pregnancy was continued, the Court refused to engage with the larger questions that the petition raised that the provisions of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 (MTP Act). Under the MTP Act, as it stands, abortions are allowed in India only if medical advice suggests that they are necessary. Prior to twenty weeks, this requires one or two doctors to opine (depending on what stage the pregnancy is in) that continuing the pregnancy would cause grave mental and physical harm to the woman or that the foetus would be born severely mentally or physically handicapped. The Act has a wide definition of what constitutes mental harm it includes pregnancies caused as a result of rape and failure of birth control devices. Beyond twenty weeks though, a pregnancy may only be terminated if the life of the woman is under threat and only an immediate abortion is necessary to save her life. In the case of Ms X, whose pregnancy had gone beyond 23 weeks, it was this provision of the law that was pressed into service by the court to permit her to carry out her abortion. She alleged that the pregnancy was a result of an act of rape perpetrated on her, and sought to terminate it for this reason. The Supreme Court set up a medical board which opined independently that the pregnancy posed a risk to her health and for that reason, could be justifiably terminated in accordance with the MTP Act. In its order, the Court permitted her to do so. Yet, for all its good intent and outcome, the Supreme Court did not address the larger constitutional challenge to the MTP Act itself a task that required it to properly engage with and understand the scope of a womans right over her own body. To understand the problems with the MTP Act as it stands, it is important to keep in mind the situation in which it was brought it into force. Prior to 1971, abortions were criminalised under Section 312 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and notwithstanding the 1971 Act, continue to be criminalised as of date. In fact, even the pregnant woman could be found guilty if she self-aborts the child she is carrying. This position was considered unsatisfactory, and on the basis of the recommendations of the Abortion Study Committee in 1966, the MTP Act was introduced and passed in Parliament. All that the 1971 Act does, however, is to provide a clearer set of guidelines and time frames within which a doctor carrying out an abortion was protected from criminal sanction under the law. It leaves us therefore in a situation where the question of whether an abortion is to be undertaken or not is left purely in the hands of a medical practitioner, with no say for the woman who is actually pregnant. The woman who is actually carrying the foetus has no agency over her body under Indian law. It is this problematic approach of the law in India that should have been examined by the Supreme Court, to see if this is not contrary to the constitutional right to life and liberty, not to mention the right to privacy of a woman. The MTP Act itself came into force two years before the landmark judgment of the US Supreme Court in Roe v Wade in 1973 which revolutionised the discourse on abortion in that country. In holding that law could not absolutely prevent a woman from getting an abortion prior to the third semester, the US Supreme Court sought to strike a balance between the rights of the woman over her own body and the interests of the state in the birth of the foetus. It struck down a whole raft of State and local laws which had criminalised abortions in various parts of the United States, as being in violation of the right to privacy, without due process protected under the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. Roe v Wade has been subsequently modified by the Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood v Casey where the legality of the abortion law is now linked to the viability of the foetus rather than the rigid third trimester test laid down in Roe v Wade. Unlike the US debate on abortion, which has separated itself into neat camps which are pro-life or pro-choice, the abortion debate in India would be meaningless if it did not take into account the very real problem of female foeticide. The MTP Act itself doesnt deal with female foeticide and it is the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994 (PCPNDT Act) which seeks to prevent sex-selection by making it difficult to determine the sex of the unborn foetus. That this framework has been unsuccessful (or at least, not had the intended effect) is seen in the low sex-ratio in children between the ages of 0-5, more so in certain north India States which are experiencing economic growth enabling access to the latest sex-determination technology. Notwithstanding efforts to step up enforcement and bring offending clinics and doctors to book (including the Supreme Courts misguided efforts to get search engines to comply with the PCPNDT Act), theres still little discernible movement in putting an end to female foeticide in India. Perhaps the entire framework of the law needs to be re-examined and re-thought. The abortion law in India, as it stands, is therefore the worst of all worlds: it deprives the woman of choice and control over her body, while at the same time failing to prevent female foeticide. This legal framework has never received serious judicial scrutiny, and by not going into the questions raised in Ms Xs petition, the Supreme Court has shirked from an important duty. The questions of choice, autonomy over ones body and how to balance these against the issue of female foeticide have to be debated now in the public if we need to come out of this utterly depressing status quo. The Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has called for a state-wide bandh in Telangana on Tuesday, demanding the immediate restructuring of schools and education in the state, reported The Hans India. An ABVP leader, Srikanth, from Jadcherla, said that this bandh is to make sure that the state government will implement its promise of providing cost-free education to students from kindergarten to post-graduation, the report added. The organisation, writes PressKS.com, is strongly opposed to the tuition fees charged by private institutions for professional courses, and also demands the the government should enable reimbursement of fees for certain category of students. The ABVP also demanded an investigation over the deaths of children in private schools and to take action against the school management for the same, reported The Hans India. Another demand by the organisation, according to PressKS.com is that the state should provide drinking water, toilet facilities, scholarships, financial aid and immediately recruit vice-chancellors at Telangana Universities. Earlier this month, on 5 July, ABVP activists staged a dharna at the Telangana State Council of Higher Education demanding it withdraw the proposed hike of Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 in engineering fees in colleges, reported The Hindu. Patna: Opposition BJP on Tuesday rejected the Bihar government's claim that crime rate has fallen in the state since total prohibition was implemented in April, and cited figures of May indicating 13.5 per cent increase in heinous crimes. "The state government has constantly been claiming that the rate of crime has dropped since prohibition was implemented in April this year. It is true that there was a drop in the crime figures in April. But the government's own figure for the month of May belies its claim," senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters. Citing figures collected from the state government's official website, Modi said the state registered an increase of 13.5 per cent in cognisable offence which went upto 16,208 in May from 14,279 in April this year. As per the data, 209 murder cases were registered in May in comparison to 192 cases in April, registering a 9 per cent increase. He said 100 robbery cases were registered in April which went upto 154 in May, which is an increase of 54 per cent. The incidents of rape witnessed 29 per cent increase in the month of May, the BJP leader said, adding that 61 rape cases were registered in April but it increased to 79 in May. Similarly, 638 cases of kidnapping were reported in May which was 599 in April, Modi told reporters on the sidelines of his weekly 'Janata Darbar'. He said 73 incidents of road robbery were reported in April but it went upto 127 cases in May. Modi said the government has not uploaded the crime figures for June so far and hence he was talking on the basis of figures available for the month of May. With the figure of just one month since prohibition was enforced, the state government jumped to the conclusion that prohibition helped in containing crime, he said. "But the fact is prohibition has no direct correlation with crime. The government should have waited for at least 7-8 months before reaching any conclusion. Had it been true, the incidents of crime would not have increased," Modi said. On the amended Excise Law, he said he came to know through newspapers that the state government was coming out with a stringent provision which would enable the police to arrest all adult members of a family if a liquor bottle is found in anyone's house. Terming the amended law as a "Talibani Act", he said it was implemented in haste without taking steps for creating a conducive atmosphere for implementing prohibition. From the discourse of the past two weeks on Kashmir, it would seem as if the people there have risen against India because of pellet guns. There is no doubt that these guns, used by the police and the paramilitary forces, have caused terrible injuries. Every act of cruelty undermines the legitimacy of the state even more, and fuels further radicalisation and this is true of Kashmir as of anti-Maoist operations or operation against militants in the North East. But it is also a fact that the security forces in Kashmir have had to deal with extremely hostile crowds. In the skirmishes of the last few days alone, over two thousand policemen and over one thousand personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been injured. Two policemen have lost their lives, one of them after his vehicle was pushed into the Jhelum River from a bridge by protestors. One CRPF jawan, hit by protestors on his head with a brick, is in a critical state. Dozens of police stations and army posts have been attacked by frenzied mobs. It is still understandable that in a display of anger against the Indian state, or because they support Burhan Wanis vision, many Kashmiris came out to protest his death. But it is baffling why a section of leftists in India, who are advocates of azadi in Kashmir, would mourn the death of the commander of a terrorist organisation that has not only killed security personnel but unarmed Kashmiris as well, including many from the Hindu minority, in several cases dragging them out of buses and shooting them dead in cold blood. No matter what stories are attributed to Wanis reason behind joining the militant ranks, their tautology serves the same purpose: the Indian State and its troops, whose numbers in Kashmir are highly exaggerated in this discourse, are responsible for innocent, young men like Wani turning into jihadis. But behind the decorous restraint of his father, the support for the path his son chose to adopt comes across very clearly. In comments after comments, including in this 2013 interview with the journalist Jason Burke, the senior Wani clearly says that he is proud of his son and that he is ready for him to die. In another interview, he says that Islam prepares them for only two things: victory or martyrdom, and that surrender could only be possible in front of Allah. What do you say to such a man? Or to his son who, before he died, appeared in videos, asking young men to join him in his fight for establishing an Islamic caliphate? It is one thing to be in favour of azadi, but do the leftists realise that azadi in Kashmir means Burhan-wali azadi? Between Khalistanism and Kashmirism, the leftists seem to have forgotten some important lessons. In the heyday of the Khalistan utopia, a few comrades were of the opinion that the Sikhs are the core of the Punjab nationality. They dreamt of sustaining independent Khalistans economy by growing Gobi (cauliflower) and selling it directly to Pakistan. But then sense prevailed, and a majority of the leftist spectrum opposed the idea of Khalistan. Several comrades lost their lives while resisting Khalistani extremists. But on Kashmir, the comrades failed to take into account that the pro-azadi sentiment is confined mostly to the Kashmir Valley, and there too among certain groups, and that the views of the other people in the state also need to be taken into account. While haranguing about the Kashmiris right to self-determination, they forgot that the self is not only a particular section of Muslims. As a result, they even forgot their own people in Kashmir who would have offered resistance to this amalgamation of religious and national identity. So, while communists in Punjab who sacrificed their lives resisting Khalistan were remembered, people like Abdul Sattar Ranjoor were forgotten (The veteran Kashmiri Communist leader was shot dead at his home in March 1990 on the orders of Hizbul Mujahideen the same organisation to which Burhan Wani owed allegiance to). As the azadi brigade in Kashmir led brutal ethnic cleansing against the minority Pandits, the communists remained silent. During Kashmirs Islamisation, hundreds of temples were vandalised or completely destroyed. There was not a whimper of protest on the exodus of 400,000 Pandits. Would the leftists be silent if four lakh Muslims or Dalits would be driven out of their homes and villages? And once they accepted religion as an ideological component of resistance, did they consider the fact that they would lose the moral grounds to oppose Savarakarite militarism? With the Pandits gone, a wave of intimidation silenced saner and liberal voices in Kashmir. Was there any attempt by the leftists to reach out to these voices? Did they make an attempt to say a word about veteran Pandit communist leaders like Motilal Misri and NN Raina, who founded and nurtured the communist movement in Kashmir? Did they ever try to resurrect the memory of the young Pandit comrade, Somnath Bira, who died while saving a group of Muslims from a mob of Hindu fanatics between Bhadarwah and Doda in Jammu 1947? Instead of fighting Kashmirs descent into Theo-fascism, the leftists find no contradiction in calling a man like the Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani to Delhi and elsewhere to their public meetings on democracy and civil rights a man who has said publicly that he abhors socialism or secularism and that these are not meant for Kashmir, and that Islam alone will work there. Look at a Facebook message posted by the pro-azadi filmmaker, Sanjay Kak on 9 July. He narrates an incident the morning after Wanis death when a Hindu man walked by a barricade in Kashmir manned by local policemen. The man was hoping to pass when he got slapped twice by one of the policemen who berated him for going to work on a day when Burhan Wani was martyred. (Quoting Kak: Its only Saturday for you is it? the cops said to him, today is the day Burhan Wani was martyred). Kak described it as an anecdotal evidence to get a sense of the mood, and it is clear that he approves of it. Now, imagine a similar episode in Ahmedabad where a Hindu policeman is manning a barricade put up in the city immediately after the Godhra riots and slapping a Muslim worker. Actually, it is not a correct analogy. Imagine a Hindu policeman in Ahmedabad manning a barricade on the day Babu Bajrangi is being sentenced in the court and then slapping a Muslim worker saying, Its only Saturday for you, is it? Today is the day when Babu Bajrangi has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Is the slapping of a man by a policeman who thinks that a terrorist is a martyr a matter of upbeatness? Are my pro-azadi friends okay with Kashmir becoming an Islamic state? When they say azadi for Kashmiris, do they even take into account the rights of the minorities in Kashmir, including the Pandits? When they felicitate their friend Geelani, do they ask him how the minorities will live in a place, which he says will be run not on secularism but according to Shariah? In a recent, remarkable essay, the scholar Mukul Kesavan argues that the monument for Indias pluralism is its Constitution and that this is a claim to Indian exceptionalism (as opposed to the common identity of South Asia) because Indias neighbours were either built on the wretched idea that nations are owned by religious communities or later succumbed to it. Why would those who claim to believe in Indias pluralism succumb to the wretched idea of Kashmir being owned by one religious community? But that is what, sadly, the leftists in India have largely succumbed to. The author has written, among other books, Our Moon Has Blood Clots: A Memoir Of A Lost Home In Kashmir. He tweets @rahulpandita Itanagar: The situation in flood-ravaged Namsai and East Siang districts of Arunachal Pradesh continued to be grim on Tuesday even as water level of several rivers in other affected areas showed a receding trend with an improvement in weather condition. The flood situation at Namsai, the worst-affected district, worsened with reports of fresh areas being inundated by Noa Dehing, Tengapani and Jengthu rivers, which were flowing above the danger mark. Meanwhile, the flood situation in Assam is critical, reported The Hindu, with the waters of the Brahmaputra River and its tributaries submerging houses and agricultural fields of 12.5 lakh people in 18 districts, besides inundating the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) and Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary. The Hindu report added that an adult male rhino drowned in the KNP and its carcass was recovered. Heavy rains and floods have killed at least seven people and forced around 1.2 million to leave their water-logged homes in Assam. The Army on Tuesday used boats to rescue thousands of people stranded on the roofs of their homes and moved them to safer areas. The weatherman has warned of "heavy rains" in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya, Bihar, Haryana and Delhi on Tuesday. Most of the roads in Arunachal Pradesh have been severely damaged and and several areas were cut off due to washing away of culverts. Supply of electricity was snapped as electric poles were uprooted by soil erosion in Lekang circle. Movement of vehicles on NH-52 has been suspended due to flood water which has weakened two culverts. Around 3,500 hectares of agriculture field, 115 fish ponds were totally submerged and damaged by flood water in the district. 250 cattle, 400 pigs, 200 goats and 2,000 poultry birds have died or washed away, an official report from Namsai said. 3,500 houses were completely damaged and the residential areas were still inundated. In the past three days, deputy chief minister Chowna Mein and Namsai MLA Chau Zingnu Namchoom have visited the flood-affected areas of the district and took stock of the situation. The district administration, with the help of NDRF and CRPF, has intensified relief operation and rescued around 260 people. Over 30 NDRF teams deployed for rescue ops in U'khand,Assam,Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh,WB: DG NDRF on flood situation pic.twitter.com/aAukoc7Zod ANI (@ANI_news) July 26, 2016 A total of 28 relief camps accommodating around 6,000 inmates, mostly in Lekang circle, were operational. Meanwhile, the Deputy Chief Minister, who visited flood-hit areas of Changlang district on Monday, assured the affected of all possible help from the state government. Terming flood as major problem which hits Diyun area in Changlang every year, Mein suggested plugging of river in the lower banks to avert its recurrence.According to a report from East Siang district, the flood situation continued to remain grim in Pasighat. The week-long rains have also left a trail of devastation in Lohit district, even as the rivers namely Asapani, Sukha,Denning, Tezu Khola and Dhura have started receding after improvement in weather condition since Monday. The Dhura river had caused damage to roads and entered part of Changliang village, which still remained cut-off. The complete diversion of the Dhura river after entering the village also damaged culverts and NH-13. "The state government will try its level best to bring permanent solution to the recurring flood in Diyun area caused by overflowing of Noa Dehing river," said the deputy chief minister and directed the executive engineer of the Water Resources Development to submit a detailed report and estimates to the government immediately for a durable flood protection measures. Earlier in the day, local MLA Nikh Kamin informed Mein that river erosion has rendered about 200 families landless while about 1,000 people were affected by flood in the area. With inputs from agencies Former Delhi Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar was on Tuesday granted bail by a CBI special court in a corruption case over a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh, according to news reports. The special court granted bail to Kumar on the condition that he cannot travel out of Delhi without court's permission. Kumar, a 1989 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory cadre, was accused of abusing his official position in awarding Delhi government contracts of Rs 9.5 crore to private firm Endeavour Systems Private Limited and was in judicial custody till now. He had also worked as Commissioner in Trade and Taxes department from May 2011 to October 2012. He had allegedly directed development of a software worth over Rs three crore via ESPL. Beside Kumar, the other accused in the case are Intelligent Communication System India Ltd (ICSIL) Managing Director RS Kaushil and former MD GK Nanda, Rajendra Kumar's aide Ashok Kumar, Endeavour Systems Pvt Ltd directors Sandeep Kumar and Dinesh Kumar Gupta, and former VAT Department Assistant Director Tarun Sharma. On 6 July, the Delhi government had suspended Kumar. The suspension came two days after the CBI had arrested him in connection with the corruption case. CBI had also claimed that a forensic test of over 12 voice samples of Kumar point to alleged corruption in award of Delhi government contracts worth over Rs 50 crore to a private firm. The CBI had also conducted searches at six premises in Delhi, Noida and Agra including office of Kumar's Chartered Accountant (CA) in the national capital during which they had claimed to have recovered Rs 28 lakh in cash, an agency official said. The official had said that a forensic report of over 12 voice samples has shown that Rajendra Kumar was allegedly seeking undue favours for the ESPL. Kumar was allegedly sending voice messages instead of phone calls to other accused and some unknown private persons to give details of bribe and modus operandi to commit the offence they all are involved in, the official had added. The arrest of the top Delhi government official had triggered a political storm with the Delhi government accusing the Centre of indulging in "political vendetta" and "paralysing" governance. The CBI had registered a case in December last year alleging that Kumar had abused his official position by "favouring a particular firm in the last few years in getting tenders of Delhi government departments". The charges pressed by the CBI are under sections 120-B of IPC (criminal conspiracy), and 13(2), 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (Criminal conspiracy, criminal misconduct etc) for allegedly favouring the ESPL in bagging five contracts. (With inputs from PTI and IANS) Manipuri human rights activist Irom Sharmila, who has been on a fast for 16 years to press for the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), will break her fast on 9 August, according to CNN-News18. The news channel also reported that Sharmila will contest elections in Manipur, which will be held in 2017. According to NDTV, Sharmila also told the district court in Manipur that she wishes to get married. "I am lonely in my struggle," Times Now quoted her as saying. She had been re-arrested on 2 March, merely two days after she was released, when a court found her not guilty of the charge of attempt to commit suicide. Sharmila has been arrested, tried, released and arrested again several times on the charge of trying to take her own life. Though Sharmila says that she loves her life and that she is using fasting as a weapon to secure the repeal of AFSPA, 1958, she is charged under section 309 IPC whenever she is arrested. She had started her hunger strike on 4 November, 2000. AFSPA, which is in effect in many parts of northeastern India and Kashmir, gives security forces sweeping powers to search and shoot on sight. The act is criticised for allegedly allowing security personnel to abuse human rights. Sharmila had earlier told Firstpost in an interview that she is fighting for the people: I am fighting for the people. Our people are suffering because the security forces can do what they please with impunity. People know that I am fighting for the right cause, for them, in the only way I can. I am not doing this for personal gain. It is not that people dont care, but they dont know how to help at the moment. Young people across Manipur are supporting me. I have influenced them, and they know that it is right to fight for principles. I am convinced that I will finally have my way. The struggle has been worth it. I have no regrets. With inputs from IANS Imphal: The sudden decision of civil rights activist Irom Sharmila to end her 16-year-old hunger strike against AFSPA next month has taken everyone by surprise, including her associates and family members. Irom's elder brother Singhajit, who has been with her throughout her struggle said he never knew she was going to terminate her fast. "I haven't spoken to her in the last few days due to my bad health. I heard it from others about her decision," he told PTI. Sharmila's long-time associate Babloo Loitongbam, Director of NGO Human Rights Alert Manipur, said he too was taken by surprise but can understand the reason behind her decision. "If AFSPA has not been repealed in 15 years of her fast then it won't happen in another 30 years also," he said while admitting that he too was not kept informed about her decision. In 2000, when the activist embarked on her hunger strike, she also had taken a vow to neither enter her house nor meet her mother till the government repealed the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. Since then, she has met her mother Sakhi Devi only once when she was also admitted to the same hospital in 2009. Her brother recalled that during the early years of her fast he regularly tried to convince her to end it. "But she never listened to me. Finally I gave up and promised that I will be with her throughout her struggle. She used to say that she will break her fast only when they remove AFSPA. That was her promise," Singhajit said. Nobody is sure what prompted her to take the decision. Her associates say her British boyfriend may have played a crucial role in ensuring that she breaks her fast. "But it is also her frustration at the government for not listening to the demands of the people. So she is changing her path from activism to politics. Her goal remains the same - revocation of AFSPA," another associate said. A team of her associates is planning to go and meet her at the government-run hospital, where she is forcibly nose-fed to keep her alive to discuss the future course of action. Sharmila's struggle has been at the heart of all protests against repel of AFSPA in the Manipur and the neighbouring North-eastern states. Srinagar: Four militants were killed on Tuesday and another apprehended by security forces during an encounter in Naugam sector near the LoC in Kupwara district of Kashmir, an Army official said. "Four terrorists have been killed while one has been apprehended alive during an operation in Naugam sector," the official said. He said all the militants were foreign nationals. The operation was in progress when reports were last received from the encounter site. The official said as the operation was still going on, it would be premature to say whether it was an infiltration bid or not. "We have got one of them alive and expect some vital information from him," he added. Lieutenant General DS Hooda on Tuesday said that there have been more infiltration attempts as compared to the previous year, but said the Army much more prepared to prevent any Kargil-like situation. This year there have been more infiltration attempts as compared to last year-Lt Gen.DS Hooda,Northern Command Chief pic.twitter.com/sczj6445RH ANI (@ANI_news) July 26, 2016 We are much, much prepared today, can say with absolute confidence that Kargil-like situation won't arise again: Lt. Gen DS Hooda ANI (@ANI_news) July 26, 2016 The arrest of a terrorist in Kupawara is a "big success" for security forces as it brings in open the game plan of Pakistan, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday said. "Catching a terrorist alive is a big success as it brings in open the game plan of Pakistan. The arrest of terrorist in Kupwara is a big achievement of security forces," he said. New Delhi: Expressing sadness over the statement of CRPF chief that the force has no option but to use pellet guns in Kashmir, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday said it will further alienate the people of the state, especially youth. Azad also said the DG, CRPF's statement, coming immediately after the return of Home Minister Rajnath Singh from Kashmir, indicated it had the consent of the government. "I am very sad and I was very disturbed after reading the statement of CRPF, DGthat is something unacceptable." "I am sorry that the type of decision the Government of India has taken, this will further alienate the people of Jammu and Kashmir and particularly the youth because mostly the youth have been subjected to this kind of treatment as they have been on the forefront (of protests)," he said. K Durga Prasad, Director General of CRPF, which has been accused of disproportionate use of force in Jammu and Kashmir, had on Tuesday expressed regret for injuries caused to youths due to firing of pellet guns in the Valley but said it would continue to use this "least-lethal" weapon but only in "extreme" situations. "That means that the direction from the Central government was clear, otherwise he could have not given the statement. That means he has sought the permission of the Home Ministry for use of pellet guns," Azad, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, alleged. Maintaining that no civilized country uses pellet guns, Azad said the first thing that Home Minister Singh should have done was to tell the state government and the security forces not to use it in future. He said pellet guns were a "very lethal" weapon and hundreds of men have been blinded as security forces targeted the protesters' head and not the legs. Azad said, "How can you blind your own people, especially the youth. Are you going to get the confidence of people or you are going to make them permanent enemies?" "The first thing the Home Minister should have donehe should have tried to win the hearts of the people. He should have made sure that confidence building measures are taken. But instead of taking confidence building measures, the Director General of CRPF says he will still go ahead with the use of pellet guns so that some more people will be blinded," he said. The Congress leader, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said he had requested the Home Minister that since he is meeting the senior officers of the state he should make sure that use of pellet guns is totally banned. Describing the situation in Kashmir as "very serious", he said, "Never before in the history of independent India more than 5,500 people have been injured (in one spell of protests). You can imagine the magnitude of the problem. It is a huge number for a state like Jammu and Kashmir." During trips to Kashmir, back in mid-2014 and early 2015, one had the opportunity to interact with a few editors of local dailies and people with informed opinion on the developments in the Valley. Islamic State was big news then and photographs of Kashmiri youths posing with the terror organisation's flag and guns, uploaded on social media, were creating quite a stir in mainstream Indian media. One anchor of a popular news channel, in particular, used to go on a rant spree almost on a daily basis. Lackeys joined the high decibel noise fest during prime time debates to bring in a sense of calamity. It was almost like the Islamic State had taken over the Valley. The ground reality, a conversation with locals revealed, was different. Theres no Islamic State in Kashmir. The Valleys population certainly has issues with India but they certainly have no fascination for the terror outfit as they have no fascination for Pakistan either. The youth are having fun watching the anchor go more ballistic and more abusive with every new video uploaded. They love to provoke him. How difficult is it to get a video of a bunch of masked youngsters with toy guns and quickly painted Islamic State flags in the backdrop dense forests done? This was the refrain of people one spoke to. Cut to now. Leave aside the Islamic State bit; the fact remains that the conduct of the mainstream media is being keenly watched in the trouble zone and the opinion and views expressed are being possibly construed as the general, if not official, view of the whole of India. Shah Faesal, the IAS officer from Kashmir who was in news recently for hitting out at the media, made clear as much in his Facebook post where he said "...The propaganda and provocation from red and blue newsrooms is breeding more alienation and anger in Kashmir than what the Indian state can manage." As the agitation in Kashmir makes a generational shift from the old guard to the tech-savvy, educated and networked young and thus enters a potentially highly volatile phase, it becomes a responsibility for the Indian government to bring back sanity to the Kashmir discourse and avoid any macho posturing that can only aggravate an already fraught situation. Unfortunately, it has failed to convey that the views expressed by the television channels are not that of the government or the party in power. It does not help that these channels are more or less in agreement with the ideological view of the BJP and mother organisation RSS and its quite evident to the public. Now, big question: How can you have a sober conversation with the people in the Valley when a big section of the media is out to provoking and alienating them? Traitors, killers, criminals, rascals, Pakistani agents... the Hurriyat leaders have been called all by the latter. A spent force in Kashmirs politics by all account, these leaders appear to have found a new lease of life, thanks to the relentless abuse from studios a thousand miles away. They are seen as people men enough to take all the brickbat from India and still stand firm. No wonder, their cause has found a lot of new converts. The studio super heroes would advocate a military solution to a problem that is essentially political. But the military already has a big say in the Valley and is a major stake-holder in all discussions regarding it. What more does the rant media is looking for? The massive spontaneous gatherings at the funeral of slain militants tell us the reality on the ground. No amount of military action is going to change that, particularly if it is backed by a persistent hate campaign from the mainstream media. The Islamic State-presence maybe a matter of joke, but the public anger visible in the streets over the last many days certainly is not. The government and Home Minister Rajnath Singh in particular will be taking a big step in the right direction if they distance themselves from the media rant. Kerala police have confirmed the IS links of Arshid Qureshi, a member of Mumbai-based preacher Zakir Naik's Islamic Research Foundation (IRF). The confirmation came in a report filed by the police team probing the disappearance of 21 people from the state in suspicious circumstances filed before the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court on Monday seeking the custody of Qureshi and his associate Rizwan Khan. Firstpost has a copy of the report. The two were arrested last week jointly by a state police team and Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) from Mumbai on a complaint filed by Ebin Jacob, brother of Merin alias Mariyam that she was radicalised by her husband Yahiya with the help of Qureshi. The court has remanded them to police custody for two weeks. The two were brought to Kochi on Sunday under tight security. They were straight taken from Cochin International Airport to Kalamassery Armed Reserve camp for interrogation. Senior police officers quizzed the two on Sunday. Ernakulam range Inspector General of Police S Sreejith said that other investigating agencies may also interrogate them. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had questioned them once in Mumbai. Qureshi and Rizwan would also be taken to Palakkad and Kasargod, from where the other missing people are from, for further investigation. The police in its report said that their preliminary investigation had revealed that the duo had radicalised Mariyam after forcibly converting her to Islam in September 2014 with the purpose of recruiting her to IS for undertaking subversive activities. Mariams husband, who had converted from Christianity to Islam, had lured Mariyam by feigning love; the report said adding that he had also tried to forcibly convert her brother. He had come and stayed near his house at Thammanam in Kochi for the purpose. Qureshi joined Yahiya in radicalising Ebin Jacob when he went to Mumbai. The police have charged Rizwan Khan, who was arrested from Kalyan following the interrogation of Qureshi, with complicity in the forcible conversion and marriage of Mariyam. Khan allegedly posed as the guardian and signed on the nikahnama of Mariyam. Khan, who was running a marriage bureau at Kalyan, had associated with Qureshi for registering the marriage of people converted from other religion to Islam. The duo allegedly converted 800 people across the country so far, according to reports. Cases under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 153 A and 370 (promoting enmity between groups) under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 13, 39 (a) (i) of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) have been registered against the three. The police also produced records of Juma Masjid Trust of Mumbai regarding the conversion of Mariyam to Islam, passport of Qureshi and his bank account details seized from his residence at Navi Mumbai as evidence for remanding him to the police custody. A senior officer of the investigation team, who did not want to be identified, told Firstpost that they would question Qureshi and his associate to find out whether they had any connection with other 19 people who have been missing from the state for the last two months. Two of these include Yahiyas brother and his wife. The officer said they would also find out whether Naiks IRF had any connection with the activities of Qureshi, who worked as guest relation officer at IRF. We have so far not received any concrete evidence to connect Qureshi with the other missing people. We have not questioned him in detail so far. We will do that after we get him in our custody, the officer said adding that they will be able to give more details only after the interrogation. Abdul Salam, whose nephew was among the 17 people missing from two villages in Kasargod district, said he had no information that the missing people had any contacts with Qureshi. He told Firstpost that the family members of other missing people had also not made any mention about Qureshi. Meanwhile, Salams nephew Hafeesudeen and Ashfak contacted the family members through WhatsApp last week again. Hafeesudeens message to his sister informed that he was safe in his new location. The message Ashfak addressed to his father had similar content. Police said that the purported messages were traced to have originated from Tora Bora valley in eastern Afghanistan. Experts were trying to ascertain the location. Graphene, seen by researchers as the world's thinnest, strongest and most conductive material, could revolutionize aircraft manufacture, and a Chinese funded research program in the UK is now pioneering this process. The five-year research program announced on Monday is a collaboration between the Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials (BIAM) and the National Graphene Institute (NGI) at The University of Manchester, with a goal to help aircraft, high speed trains, and other industrial equipment become simultaneously lighter in weight and more robust in performance. Traditional manufacturing material would be replaced with graphene, one of the most interesting inventions of modern times. As a thin layer of pure carbon, it is tougher than a diamond, yet very lightweight and easily conducts electricity and heat, researchers say. More specifically, this research will focus on composites with enhanced performance in the field of mechanical, electric conductive and thermal conductive behaviour, as well as the compatibility of graphene and the matrix materials. Graphene was first isolated from the graphite mineral at the University of Manchester by Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov in 2004. The achievement earned them the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2010. Owing to its short history, its commercial potential is yet to be unlocked. China is now at the forefront of commercializing graphene's applications potential, and has made it a strategically important new material in its 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), which sets out the country's development objectives for the period. China has also been keen to work with the UK on graphene. In October 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the NGI, during which time the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Corp signed a deal with NGI. In December, BIAM also reached a deal to work with NGI on transport sector graphene research, the success of which led to the larger five year project announced this week. "We had a very good communication on the first collaborative project. Now a long term partnership would benefit us to broaden the research area on graphene materials, to enhance the collaborative research, as well as to exchange experience and expertise on graphene," said Shaojiu Yan, principal investigator of graphene projects from BIAM. Robert Young, a professor of polymer science and technology, who leads the project, said the use of graphene in the transport industry could mean significant benefits. "Graphene is a strong light weight material and in the transport industry it's important to save weight and become fuel efficient," said Young. Young said China's high technology manufacturing industry, ability to invest heavily into the graphene sector and its abundance of highly qualified graphene industry talents all contribute to its advantages in the graphene industry. Young said currently one key area of challenge in further commercialization of graphene industry is the lack of universal standards. Currently the NGI and NPL are working towards developing a set of standards applicable and acceptable to the graphene industry, which can then be used to certify quality . James Baker, Graphene Business Director at the NGI, said cooperation with China grew rapidly since Xi visit in October, and expects it to accelerate. "The level of interest from Chinese companies keen to work with us has really taken off since the state visit, and we received so many enquiries. We are keen to work with any organizations who have the resources and potential for investment into the graphene industry, so that technology can be commercialized faster," Baker said. "For the NGI, whilst we are focused on research, we are keen to increase the impact and value that the outcome of our research can bring, therefore working with big industry partners in China can make sense as well as companies from UK and other nations," Baker said. China's graphene market is estimated to grow to 200 million yuan ($30.7 million) in 2018, compared with the projected global market of $65 million, according to the Beijing-based market intelligence firm ResearchInChina. In comparison, the global market in 2015 was only worth $24.4 million. To contact the reporter: cecily.liu@mail.chinadailyuk.com New Delhi: There are no plans to induct women for combat roles in the Indian Army, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. "Presently, there is no proposal to raise a women's combat unit in the army," Parrikar said in his written reply. He said there is no 'gender discrimination' in the army. "There is no gender discrimination in the armed forces as the working conditions, promotion prospects, pay and allowances and service conditions of women officers are same as those of the male officers," he said. Last week, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha to a question of inducting women in combat roles in the armed forces, Parrikar had mentioned the induction of three women Short Service Commission Officers as fighter pilots in the Indian Air Force. He reiterated that it was an "experimental entry scheme", and will be valid for "five years from the date of issue of government of India letter dated 2 December, 2015". "Further possibilities are being examined," the minister said. President Pranab Mukherjee, in his speech to the joint sitting of Parliament's two houses at the beginning of the 2016 budget session, said the government will soon be allowing women in combat streams in all three armed forces. "My government has approved the induction of women as short service commission officers and as fighter pilots in the Indian Air Force. In future, my government will induct women in all the fighter streams of our armed forces," President Mukherjee had said. At present, the army has 1,514 women officers, the navy has 439, and the air force has 1,584 women officers. The number totals 3,537. New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday that there was no "standardised definition" for the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme for retired defence personnel, adding that the earlier "interpretation" for revision after every retirement was not viable. Jaitley was responding in the Rajya Sabha to a question by Biju Janata Dal (BJD) member Anubhav Mohanty, who wanted to know why the definition of OROP had been changed. "OROP has been a long-standing demand as far as defence forces are concerned. OROP did not have a standardised definition as such there were different interpretations given," Jaitley said. "After a detailed consultation between the government and the organisation of the retired defence personnel, the Defence Ministry came out with a proposal that was announced in 2015 which the government has committed itself to implement. Under that proposal, the revision takes place after every five years," he said. "The impact of the definition as you are mentioning, it was the earlier interpretation that was given is at small periodic intervals when every employee retires, then you would have a situation where a large number of revision itself would take place which was financially not viable as far as the government is concerned." The minister said government has the responsibility to spend on various areas, adding "defence forces certainly is one of our prime areas and after consultation this particular definition which has been given by the ministry has been implemented by the ministry." Jaitley also said that the pay commission for central government employees "meets" every 10 years. "Pay commission meets every 10 years, in case of armed forces it is five years and that is the decision the government has taken. This itself gives personnel certain advantage," he said. On the one member judicial committee, the minister said he had asked for shift extension. Groups of former serviceman have been calling the five-year revision a distortion of the definition of OROP, and have approached the Supreme Court on the issue. New Delhi: Employing a child below 14 years of age in any occupation or processes except where the child helps his family will now invite a imprisonment of up to two years as Parliament on Tuesday approved a bill in this regard. 'The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill' makes employment of children below 14 years as cognizable offence for employers and provides for penalty for parents. The Bill, which was passed by Lok Sabha on Tuesday, defines children between 14-18 years as adolescents and lays down that they should not be employed in any hazardous occupations and processes. This bill was passed by Rajya Sabha on 19 July. It provides for enhanced punishment for violators. The penalty for employing a child has been increased to imprisonment between 6 months and two years (from 3 months to one year) or a fine of Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000 (from Rs 10,000-20,000) or both. The second time offence will attract imprisonment of one year to three years from the earlier 6 months and two years. According to provisions of the Bill, no child should be employed in any occupation or process except where he or she helps his family after school hours or helps his family in fields, home based work, forest gathering or attends technical institutions during vacations for the purpose of learning. Labour and Employment Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said the bill is a "historic" and "landmark" legislation which seeks to totally prohibit children below 14 years to indulge in all occupation and processes except where the child helps his family after school hours. The Bill has proposed stricter punishment and higher monetary penalty, he said, adding it is going to be deterrent and violation would be made a cognisable offence. Guwahati: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday called up Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to get first-hand information on the latest flood situation in the state. Sonowal apprised the Home Minister about the latest flood situation and the slew of steps initiated by the Assam government for relief, rescue and rehabilitation of the flood affected people, a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office said on Tuesday. "The Home Minister assured the Chief Minister that the central government would provide all help and assistance to the state government and would bear the expenses involved in dealing with the flood situation in the state," it said. Singh also conveyed to the Chief Minister that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been keeping a close tab on the flood situation in Assam and has directed the Ministry of Home Affairs to extend all possible help and support to the flood affected people in their hour of distress. In view of the deterioration in the flood situation following incessant rainfall in the last few days, Chief Minister Sonowal has directed all the Deputy Commissioners to gear up relief and rescue operations on a war footing and to spare no efforts to reach out to the affected people. "There should not be any grounds for complaint and succour must be provided to the affected people. Special care must be given to women and infants," Sonowal said in the course of his video-conferencing with the DCs of the flood affected districts. The Chief Minister said that no irregularities would be tolerated during the distribution of foodstuff and relief material to the affected people, and asked the DCs to ensure 'quality food' to the flood victims in view of alleged reports that 'substandard food' were being distributed in some affected areas. Sonowal also directed the DCs to provide pure drinking water, medicines, baby food and fodder for livestock. The Chief Minister asked the district heads to ensure proper sanitation at the relief camps to keep diseases at bay. He asked them to keep a sufficient number of country boats ready to meet any exigency. (Editor's note: Firstpost has chosen to not provide any social media links of the reference posts because the women in question have asked that the media not reveal their identities) Blaming the victim in a sexual assault case or urging the victim to keep quiet about sexual harassment is unfortunately a common practice in our society. But a group of 13 women in Kolkata set an example for the rest of the country when they identified and shamed a sexual predator who had been routinely harassing them on social media. It all began when a woman posted a status on Facebook about how an undergraduate student from Jadavpur University called Ekalavya Chaudhuri molested her "on four different occasions" within her department in the campus. She also alleged that even after she filed a complaint against Chaudhuri, the harassment did not stop. One of Chaudhuri's friends and a student from Presidency University, Janhabi Mukherjee, also kept bullying her "ever since Ekalavya's crimes". "The molestation and the forcible pressing of penis against my crotch stopped. But I will tell you what did not stop. The glares and stares did not stop. Like I said, Ekalavya Chaudhuri is part of an exclusive intellectual squad," the woman said in her Facebook post. She also said in her post that she was criticised by people for not reporting the molestation right after it happened. She has also asked the media to refrain from continuously asking her for information and not to use her name in any news report. The woman also revealed that Ekalavya Chaudhuri had alleged harassed other women too. In fact, another woman also put a post on Facebook, alleging that Chaudhuri had harassed her too. "Ekalavya was that boy at whom everybody laughed at because he believed that a 'hi' followed with 'date me'. Over the years, Ekalavya has evolved and changed, and now his 'hi' follows with 'I will rub my musty cock over you'," she said in her Facebook post. Even though Facebook deleted the original post against Chaudhuri because some people had reported against it, screenshots of the posts about the sexual harassment by Chaudhuri went viral on Facebook and people began sharing it and showing their support for the victims. The 13 victims later released an official statement on Facebook: "We are a group of (up till now, 13) women and girls who have been harassed, both online and in person, by Ekalavya Chaudhuri, son of Chandrayee Niyogi, (Professor, Department of English) who is also a student of Jadavpur University, Department of English. We have been touched without our consent. We have been objectified filthily. We have been made to feel like pieces of meat by a man who is utterly despicable. He believes that his actions will not yield any consequences. In many cases, he has been aided and abetted by his acquaintance, Janhabi Mukherjee of Presidency University, Department of English. She has harassed and intimidated us both in virtual spaces and in person. Jointly, they have both used their privilege to try and keep us silent. Jointly, they have violated our bodies and our minds. Jointly, they have attempted to erase our own agency over our lives. Not anymore. Today, we speak out as survivors of these vile, poisonous human beings. Today, we take a stand against crimes against women, patriarchy, elitism, entitlement, privilege, and bullying. We take this stand to retake our agency, to re-establish the narratives that were taken from us. Ekalavya Chaudhuri, you are a molester. A sex offender. A sexual predator. Janhabi Mukherjee, you aided and abetted in his crimes, and are no less guilty. We hope that our stand will encourage others to come forward with their own experiences which they have kept silent about for whatever reasons. Its time we all spoke up, its time we ripped all their masks off. Thank you for your support." Bayreuth: Security concerns after killings in Germany, coupled with Islamic elements in a new production of Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal, created a nervous opening for the annual festival dedicated to the composer in Bayreuth on Monday. But at the end, the capacity audience cheered. A police roadblock at the bottom of the drive leading up the "Green Hill" to Wagner's specially built 19th-century opera house forced people in formal evening wear to walk in the muggy summer air. Women's handbags were opened for inspection. The traditional red-carpet arrival for German celebrities and politicians was canceled, as were the post-premiere champagne receptions, after the Bavarian government said its officials would not attend the opening out of respect for the nine people killed by a German-Iranian teenager in Munich last week. Peter Emmerich, the festival's spokesman, said security concerns were clearly having an impact. On Sunday, a 27-year-old Syrian man denied asylum in Germany a year ago blew himself up outside a crowded music festival in Ansbach, 135 km (84 miles) from Bayreuth, injuring 12 people in the country's fourth violent attack on civilians in less than a week. "The whole situation in this land in Germany and Bavaria, of course, that is a problem but not for the festival - for the artistic aspects of the festival - but for the mood," Emmerich told Reuters. In the end, the production went off without a hitch. Russian soprano Elena Pankratova as the temptress Kundry, German bass-baritone Klaus Florian Vogt as the "holy fool" Parsifal and German bass Georg Zeppenfeld as Gurnemanz, one of the caretakers of the Holy Grail, got the lion's share of the applause. Almost as strongly appreciated was German conductor Hartmut Haenchen, who stepped in at the last minute when conductor Andris Nelsons left due to artistic differences with the festival. There were a few inevitable boos but also strong applause for German director Uwe Eric Laufenberg, whose new version of the opera sets the action in a deteriorating church, which German press reports have quoted him as saying was meant to be in Iraq. With soldiers traipsing through the church and arrogantly ignoring the "Knights of the Grail", and women in the cast in what strongly resembled Moslem niqabs covering all of their faces apart from the eyes, the production was the subject of numerous press reports suggesting that it might offend Muslims. Laufenberg countered that his work was "pan religious" and underscored the point in the finale, departing from Wagner by having a coffin filled with symbols from several major religions, including Christian crosses, Jewish menorahs and religious books. Women cavorting naked in a tropical downpour amidst lush vegetation in the third act also was not part of Wagner's original script. Reviewer Florian Zinnecker for the regional newspaper Nordbayerische Kurier said overall he had enjoyed the production, "but the third act, not really". Despite the recent incidents, the opera house was packed and the mood was festive - though more subdued than usual. "I had some days when I was thinking about it (security)," said Esther Perbrandt, a designer from Berlin attending with friends. "But we still need the beautiful things." There's good news for aspiring space tourists. Nasa's Kepler Space Telescope has recently discovered potential habitable planets, reports Space.com. The Kepler space telescope has spotted four rocky alien planets that orbit the same star two of the four might just be capable of supporting life, the website adds. These planets which orbit a star outside the solar system are known as exoplanets. Nasa's website features a great exoplanets explainer, which is a good start to get yourself up-to-date on the subject. The first confirmation of an exoplanet orbiting a star (or a sun-like star) was in 1995 the planet was a hot gas giant supposed to be half the size of Jupiter. It reportedly, Nasa tells us, tugged hard on its parent star that the 'wobbling' was obvious to telescopes that were present on Earth. Space.com writes that the four recently-discovered exoplanets circle a red dwarf the smallest type of hydrogen-burning star, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica called K2-72, which is 181 light years from the Earth in the Aquarius constellation. All the four planets are wider than the Earth (20 percent to 50 percent), which apparently make them rocky. (Note: This is good news because the planets are not large diffusive gas giants like Jupiter, which cannot harbour human life.) Before these four planets, Nasa's K2 mission also discovered (quite recently) more than 100 new exoplanets. The planet-hunting telescope, according to Wired, confirmed the presence of 104 planets orbiting stars outside the solar system; hence exoplanets. It further explains that the Kepler telescope finds planets by measuring flickers from when the planets pass in front or tug the star. The Kepler Mission was initiated to discover Earth-sized planets or those that are habitable, where liquid water and possible life might exist. Launched in 2009, Kepler was the first NASA mission to find potentially habitable Earth-size planets. Initially, Kepler surveyed just a patch of sky in the northern hemisphere and determined the frequency of planets orbiting sun-like stars, whose size and temperature are similar to Earth. In it's extended mission in 2013, the spacecraft lost the ability to stare exactly at the target area. It received a new lease of life when engineers used the pressure of sunlight to stabilise so that "it could continue to do science", as Nasa puts it. The fix gave the mission more opportunities in astrophysics research it chalked up hundreds of discoveries; more than three dozen exoplanets with more than 250 waiting for confirmation. How do scientists validate the planets identified by K2? The researchers take high-res images of the stars as well as something called high-resolution optical spectroscopy, which is nothing but the study of how matter interacts with light. They then disperse the light from the star through a prism and using spectrographs (instruments that separate light into a frequency spectrum) infer the physical properties of the star such as mass, radius and temperature, from which one can obtain the properties of the exoplanet. How do you say sorry? Let me count the ways. You could, if you like, apologise for sins committed over a hundred years ago, as did Canadas Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently for the Komagata Maru incident. In mid-May 1914, the Japanese steamship Komagata Maru, carrying 376 mostly Sikh passengers, reached Vancouver port, only to be refused permission to dock. A two-month standoff later the ship returned to Kolkata, then Calcutta, where British forces jumped on them for being Sikh radicals or Ghaddar party activists. Many passengers were shot, far more wounded and/or arrested. Mid-May 2016 saw the Canadian Prime Minister stand up in his House of Commons and say: "Today while knowing that no words can fully erase the pain and suffering experienced by the passengers I offer a sincere apology on behalf of the government for the laws in force at the time that allowed Canada to be indifferent to the plight of the passengers of the Komagata Maru." Heartfelt no doubt, useful too, in keeping Canadas sizeable Sikh population happy. Or you could go even further back in history, a la The Vatican which took 359 years to express its mea culpa in the Galileo case. Not that anything changed even when it did, in 1992, neither the position of the Sun or the Earth, not even the textbooks in Catholic schools which had long ago converted to teaching the heresy Galileo was persecuted for: that the Earth revolved around the Sun. Or you could take a leaf out of Salman Rushdie who stated, faced with death threats and angry recriminations from co-religionists across the world, that, As author of The Satanic Verses, I recognise that Muslims in many parts of the world are genuinely distressed by the publication of my novel. I profoundly regret the distress that publication has occasioned to sincere followers of Islam. The fire was not doused, Rushdie remained in hiding for many more years. Though his lapse is nowhere near as great nor as historical, a social solecism at most, thinking mans actor Naseeruddin Shah seems to be following in Rushdies footsteps in the wake of his brush with free speech. First Shah told an interviewer, bravely and incisively, that, It was the 1970s when mediocrity came in Hindi films. Thats when the actor called Rajesh Khanna joined the industry. For all his success, I think Mr. Khanna was a very limited actor. In fact, he was a poor actor. Intellectually, he wasnt the most alert person I have ever met. His taste ruled the industry. Agree or disagree as you wish. Rajesh Khannas humour-columnist daughter Twinkle Khanna disagreed. In fact, she would have been found wanting in her filial duties if she hadnt shot off an irate tweet: Sir if u can't respect the living, respect the dead - mediocrity is attacking a man who can't respond. As if only the living can be assessed, the dead banished to nowhereland. Naturally Naseeruddin Shahs response was sought and pat came a non-apology apology or nonpology as they are called. Id apologise to those who took personal offence but I wasnt talking of a particular person. I was talking about a phenomenon, Shah is reported to have said. He is quibbling of course. It was Rajesh Khanna he was talking about and painting him in very poor colour too. And why shouldnt he, since thats what he believes? Bollywood could only benefit from taking a hard look at itself but Shah has to live and work in that la la land where back scratching is the norm, you promote me I promote you the philosophy. Karan Johars tweet says it all: I agree with you @mrsfunnybones...due respect to seniority but this was in exceptionally bad taste and not becoming of a fraternity member. Taking on the fraternity singlehanded for a mediocre actor was a humongous task. An apology from Shah, even if an apology of an apology, had to follow sooner than later. Even if he had offered the apology to those who took personal offence one can bet it would be the standard issue I apologize if I offended anyone. That was not my intention. Shorthand for saying, Im sorry you are so thin-skinned. What a great device this ifpology is. You say sorry but not really express any contrition. It gets the aggrieved person off your back, stops him/her from wreaking further vengeance, while you can honestly feel you remained true to your principles and did not surrender abjectly. Sort of like Barack Obama going to Hiroshima this May, the first sitting US President to visit the site of the worlds first nuclear attack, and affirming Americas moral responsibility for the devastation there but stopping short of a full-throated apology. When it was all over, you were still left wondering does he think theres something about the atomic bombings to be sorry for? At least he was not dishonest. Insincere apologies, or nonpologies or ifpologies or whatever you call them, serve some social purpose, as do white lies, like telling a sixty-year-old beauty queen she could still pass for a thirty-something, but thats about all. Naseeruddin Shah really shouldnt apologise, not properly I mean, unless he has actually changed his opinion about Rajesh Khannas histrionic powers. By Saumya Tewari With evidence that children who work are 70% less likely to complete high school and are excluded from better job opportunities in their youth, a new law a new lawin the process of being passed by Parliament that bans children under 14 from hazardous jobs but allows them to work on farms and family businesses is facing criticism. Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi and other advocates of child rights are not convinced the new law will eliminate child labour in India because their contention is that many family firms are engaged in hazardous activities, and pressure to work often overrides the imperative for education. Hon.MPs, would you pass a law that allows your own 6yr child to work in your slaughter house,glass furnace or brick kiln? Please oppose now! Kailash Satyarthi (@k_satyarthi) July 22, 2016 The Rajya Sabha (upper house of Parliament) passed the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation Bill), 2012, on 19 July, 2016. The Bill must be cleared by the Lower House, Lok Sabha, to become a law. Under current laws, children under 14 years of age cannot be employed in a list of 24 hazardous jobs that include working in high temperatures, or with flammable substances and dangerous machinery. The new laws prohibit children under 14 years of age from working in any jobs; the proviso is they can work in family business, farms and in forests. Children can work only after school. The Bill does not seek to justify routine family work, but the work that millions of children render in home-based units of beedi rolling, bindi and bangle production, agarbatti and papad making, zari and embroidery work, packing and sticking labels, chappal making, handicrafts and the manufacturing of several other products, Shanta Sinha, former head of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, wrote in The Wire. This is the work that requires the entire family to participate to meet the demands of contractors who supply them with the material and procure the finished product on a piece-rate basis, wrote Sinha. Such work is a form of hidden exploitation under unregulated labour conditions in which numerous children from deprived and marginalised communities are engaged. The Right to Education, a fundamental right, ensures free education for children less than 14 years of age. It also ensures that children should compulsorily go to school, as a right. This is why an amendment to the existing child labour laws was considered important. India has 11.7 million working children in the age group of 5-14 years, according to Census 2011 data. These include main, or full-time, child workers, part-time child workers and children seeking work. Children living on the streets may also benefit from the new law. Half the children living on streets were found to be working as labourers, IndiaSpend reported in April 2016. The author is an analyst with IndiaSpend. New Delhi: There are four to five "small" leads with regard to the AN-32 aircraft of the IAF which went missing four days back with 29 people on board, the government told the Rajya Sabha as it faced questions over the issue. During the Question Hour, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was asked about the status of the plane which disappeared during a flight from Tambaram airbase in Tamil Nadu to Port Blair on Friday last. "There are four to five small leads and attempts are being made to verify them," he said, adding, however, that there has been no confirmed finding yet. Asserting that the government had spared no efforts in locating the plane, Parrikar said the government had used satellite imagery and deployed 30 ships and submarines for the purpose. Responding to questions about quality of AN-32, he said it is one of the safest aircraft and there have been reports of only two accidents in the last 10 years. There have been some minor snags at times, he said. Parrikar was also asked if the government was in talks with the US for conducting joint naval patrols in the South China sea over which China has laid a claim. He replied that there have been no such talks. The government takes all measures to ensure the country's maritime security, he said, adding these measures do not include joint patrolling with foreign navies including the US. Asked about the implications of the China's refusal to accept international court's decision on the South China sea, Parrikar, without naming China, said any country should respect international courts, whichever decision they have given. He added that "freedom of navigation cannot be compromised." Finance minister Arun Jaitley will chair the meeting of state finance ministers on Goods and Services Tax on Tuesday which is likely to discuss various vexed issues that is holding up the passage of the much-talked-about tax reform in the Rajya Sabha. The meeting assumes significance as it takes place at a time when there are indications that the Congress may hardening its stance on the Bill after the National Heral case flared up over the weekend. The main opposition party has also got another stick to beat the BJP in the widespread Dalit unrest in Gujarat after public flogging of seven members from the community. However, according to a report in the Business Standard, the meeting today will take up revoking the one percent additional tax in hands of the states, one of the demands of the main Opposition party the Congress. "The removal of the one per cent additional tax on inter-state trading may come up for discussion at the empowered committee meeting," a government official has been quoted as saying in the BS report. Jaitley has been engaged in back-channel negotiations with Congress leaders to get their support for the bill. The finance minister will discuss other proposed amendments to the GST legislation passed by the Lok Sabha at the meeting of the empowered committee of state finance ministers. Earlier, a PTI report said the GST Bill will be listed for discussion in the Rajya Sabha after taking on board views of the states. On Friday, while listing out government business for the week beginning 25 July Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told the Rajya Sabha that the GST Bill will come up for discussion next week. "(This is for) further consideration and passing of the Constitution 122nd Amendment Bill, 2014, as passed by the Lok Sabha and as reported by the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha," he said in the Upper House. The Congress, which originally mooted GST in 2009 to replace all indirect taxes, has been demanding that the overall rate be capped at 18 percent and scrapping of an additional 1 percent tax designed to compensate manufacturing states that fear losing out on revenue. It also wants an independent mechanism to resolve disputes between states over revenue sharing. While Jaitley has indicated his openness in scrapping the 1 percent additional tax after a panel headed by Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian favoured it, the issue needs to be discussed with the manufacturing states. In order to mobilise support from regional parties for the long-pending indirect tax reform, Jaitley met Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar and courted senior leadership of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over the weekend. The government has agreed to a five-hour debate on the GST Bill in the Rajya Sabha in the current session. However, there are indications that the Congress is hardening its stance on the Bill after the Enforcement Directorate that the Bill is unlikely to be passed in this session after the investigating agency booked former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in the National Herald case. "Cooperation in the house for the interest of the country we are doing. But politically they are taking revenge," senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge has been quoted as saying in a report on NDTV. Interestingly, the smaller parties that have offered support for the Bill are also blaming the BJP for raking up the National Herald issue at a time when the Congress was coming round to a consensus. "What was the need to lodge an FIR at this time? This could have happened two weeks later," a senior JDU leader has been quoted as saying in the NDTV report. The leader thinks this has been done deliberately and at the insistence of the PMO. GST Bill intends to convert 29 states into a single market through a new indirect tax regime. It was earlier planned to be introduced from 1 April this year, but the deadline was missed as the Bill to roll it out remains in a limbo in the Opposition-dominated Rajya Sabha. The Bill, which will help create a single national sales tax to replace several state and central levies, has already been approved by the Lok Sabha and is pending in the Upper House. With PTI Jaipur: Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Tuesday exuded confidence that his party will regain lost grounds in the coming elections with Rajasthan as the starting point of its revival. "Congress will regain in next elections and the beginning will be from Rajasthan in next assembly elections, followed by the Lok Sabha elections," Pilot said. "The party workers have been motivated to work at the booth level to ensure that the party candidate wins in the elections," Pilot told PTI. He said Congress is holding booth level meetings which are being attended by local people in large number which indicates that people are unhappy with the functioning of the current state government. During a two-day meeting, the party leaders asked the workers to work hard for the party's victory in next assembly and Lok Sabha elections. He said meetings of party workers, training programmes will be held in months to come and all the leaders will work with unity for the victory of the party. The meeting was attended by the party general secretary and in-charge of the party affairs in the state, Gurudas Kamat, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot among others. New Delhi: Congress MP KVP Ramchandra Rao on Tuesday moved a breach of privilege notice against Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi for allegedly letting ruling members to go into Well of the House and disrupt proceedings. During Zero Hour, Rao said he has given a notice under Rules 187 and 188 against Naqvi for allegedly allowing BJP members to troop into the Well of Rajya Sabha on Friday to stall proceedings and committing breach of privilege. Rao was piloting a private member's bill for implementation of a special package for Andhra Pradesh, which got stalled due to ruckus created by the ruling side over the controversial filming of Parliament by AAP MP Bhagwant Mann. The House was the adjourned for the day and the bill was not taken up. Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien said Rao's notice has been received and it will be examined by the Chairman who will convey a decision on it. Congress had yesterday threatened not to cooperate with the government on legislative business unless the private member's bill on special package for Andhra Pradesh was taken up, while several other parties including the TDP and CPI(M) strongly objected to the disruption by the BJP. Pema Khandu, the newly sworn-in Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, turned into an admirer of Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently, when he met the latter on Sunday. Khandus liking for Modi has nothing to do with the fact that he rebelled against the party to which he belongs, the Congress - he has since returned to the fold, taking charge of the state after former Arunachal Pradesh CM, and party colleague Nabam Tuki resigned from his position. Khandu, after winning the confidence vote in Itanagar, came to Delhi on 24 July (Sunday) and sought appointments with top leaders of his party president Sonia Gandhi, and vice-president Rahul Gandhi and the Prime Minister, in that order. He got none, except with the prime minister on Sunday. (Editor's clarification: The All India Congress Committee has clarified that Rahul met Khandu on 25 July). Once again, the impression of an inaccessible Congress president and vice-president got firmly entrenched among the leaders of Arunachal Pradesh. His meeting with Modi, on the other hand, went off quite well. Khandu is not an exception. Far from it. A close scrutiny of the prime minister's schedule would reveal details of meetings with Members of Parliament (MPs) cutting across party-lines, indicative of his punishing round the clock schedule. When he is not in the House, he is engrossed in other meetings it can be a Cabinet meeting, a Cabinet sub-committee meeting, a floor strategy meeting and a large part of his schedule in Parliament this Budget session has been devoted to meeting MPs, regardless of their political affiliation. Parliament observers recall that over the last many years, a meeting between the prime minister and the MPs only happened in a Janata Durbar type setting, where many gathered around the PM. Narendra Modi has changed that trend, and has been meeting MPs individually. He is also accessible to MPs across all parties, and often remains in the Parliament till late in the evening. A routine day in Parliament begins with the daily briefing meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar, Minister for Transport Nitin Gadkari, and the ministers of state for Parliamentary affairs. Then there are MPs who meet the prime minister to discuss the routine national, state and political issues. During Parliament sessions, MPs can come to the prime ministers chamber, and meet him to discuss important issues. Sources close to the PM said, Time maybe given to five MPs/ministers per day but so many additional MPs stop by and meet the PM. He seldom says no to those coming. MPs who meet the PM are amazed at the manner in which he interacts. For those few minutes, all his attention is only on the conversation. No aides walking in, no phones ringing. It feels very special that the PM is giving his full attention to us, said a BJP MP, who also met the PM in Parliament. Due to the composition of the Parliament, it is obvious that more BJP MPs meet the prime minister. Since the start of the monsoon session, BJP MPs who have met the prime minister include, Harinarayan Rajbhar (MP from Ghosi in UP), Satish Gautam (MP from Aligarh), Udit Raj (Lok Sabha MP from North West Delhi) and Mahesh Girri (Lok Sabha MP from East Delhi). Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP from West Bengals Bangaon Mamata Thakur also met the Prime Minister. National Democratic Alliance (NDA) MPs like Anant Geete (who is also a Union Minister) and Rajan Vichare from the Shiv Sena, Telugu Desam Party (TDPs) Venkateswara Rao and Akali Dals Prem Chandumajra are among those from the ruling alliance, who have spent time with the Prime Minister. From the Congress, KC Venugopal and some MPs from Kerala met the PM in Parliament. Venugopal, a former Union Minister, is one of the leading lights of the Congress legislative party in the current Lok Sabha and has been critical of the Prime Minister on every possible occasion. Another Congress MP from Kerala, Anto Antony, too met Modi along with Kerala Congress Jose Mani. PAC Chairperson KV Thomas too met the Prime Minister. Earlier this year, the BJP and the NCP were sparring over the arrest of Chhagan Bhujbal, but that didnt prevent a healthy and cordial meeting between Sharad Pawar and Narendra Modi in the Parliament during the first half of the Budget session. Another NCP MP, DP Tripathi, met the PM in the start of the monsoon session. Samajwadi Party's (SP) Naresh Agarwal too met Narendra Modi. It may be recalled that in 2013, Agarwal had made scurrilous comments on Modi that had triggered a controversy. Anglo-Indian Lok Sabha MP George Baker met the Prime Minister to hand over a magazine related to the Anglo-Indian community. Newly nominated Rajya Sabha MPs Dr Subramanian Swamy and Suresh Gopi (with his family) have also met the Prime Minister. INLD Rajya Sabha MP Ram Kumar Kashyap has met the Prime Minister at the start of the monsoon session. Though the Prime Ministers office keeps a detailed record and photographs of his meetings with MPs and senior political leaders, officials are particularly instructed to track the issues raised in these meetings. Sources in the PMO say that all the issues that come up for discussion in these meetings get a rigorous follow-up by a dedicated team of officials, who have reconciled to the idea of having a gruelling schedule, right from the early morning. BJP's Parliamentary Committee met before business on Tuesday, the seventh day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, to discuss how to beat the stalemate on Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill. In Rajya Sabha, DMK leader Kanimozhi and Rajya Sabha member Jaya Bachchan raised the issue of increasing rape cases and atrocities as soon as the session started. Deputy chairman PJ Kurien asked them to "put in a notice". The issue of atrocities on Dalits also continued to rock the House. BSP chief Mayawati claimed that Dalits have been suppressed ever since the BJP came to power in the Centre. The other major issues discussed on Tuesday were: Fairness Cream advertisements: Viplove Thakur of Congress raised the matter of fairness cream advertisements, calling them racist and saying they are causing an inferiority complex. A demand for banning such advertisements was made in the Rajya Sabha. Thakur said, "Advertisements of products like Fair & Lovely and Ponds face creams are demeaning for women. They say you apply the cream and you will become fair, and many women fall into the trap thinking it make them look beautiful. It is creating an inferiority complex in women," Thakur added. Compensation to Una victims: Madhusudan Mistry of the Congress said that victims of Dalit atrocities in Una town of Gujarat have not been paid the Rs 4 lakh compensation. He said only Rs 1 lakh has been paid so far. "Don't they have money or they don't want to give. Why is there an apathy on the part of the government," he asked. Banned drugs still being sold: In the Lok Sabha, chemicals and fertilisers minister Ananth Kumar raised the issue of banned drugs which are still being sold. As many as 439 drugs, including brands like Phensedyl and Corex, which have been banned for sale and distribution, continue to be available in the markets due to the intervention of courts, he said. Mahatma Gandhi's assassination: Subramaniam Swamy tried to raise the issue of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination. However, it led to a heated exchange between him and Congress members in the Rajya Sabha. Swamy said Gandhi's mortal remains were not subjected to any post-mortem and as a consequence there was a dispute on the number of bullets fired. The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day following an uproar by Congress MPs over taking up a private member's Bill for grant of special status to Andhra Pradesh. Despite Kurien insisting that it was not possible to take up the bill for voting on Tuesday, Congress MPs kept yelling "We want voting". Missing AN-32 aircraft: Defence minister Manohar Parrikar told the Rajya Sabha that there were about four to five small leads with regards to the AN-32 aircraft of the Indian Air Force, which went missing four days ago. Child Labour Amendment Bill: The Child Labour Bill was taken up for discussion in the Lok Sabha, and BJP MP Varun Gandhi said, "It is a form of slavery, not skill training. India has the largest number of child labourers in the world." RK Ray of the BJP said more children being forced to work is another problem that can be blamed on over-population. Bihar MP Pappu Yadav vowed to resign if he was unable to eliminate child labour completely from his constituency. The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016 was finally passed in the Lok Sabha after a heated discussion. Auto refresh feeds "I will not accept that this problem is just one created by Pakistan or separatists," he said. "You cannot escape the issue by just blaming Pakistan for the problems in Kashmir," he said. "Just because of good tourism in one season in Kashmir, you cannot think you solved the problem. If you do not pay attention to this problem, it will turn into a law and order problem." "There must be a conspiracy being hatched by Pakistan. But you have to look at the measures you are taking to counter it," Yechury told the government in Rajya Sabha. In response, a beleaguered Arun Jaitley said that BJP will take strict action against Dayashankar Singh. "I should tell Mayawati ji that the party shares her grief over this issue, I will look into this matter, we stand with her...I am personally hurt that a BJP party person used such derogatory words against Mayawati," he said. "This is not only a woman's issue. This is a man's issue," said TMC MP Derek O'Brien. Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury stressed on the fact that the man making such remarks was none other than the vice president of the UP unit of BJP and demanded that he be arrested. "A man speaks with such language on the day both houses are discussing issues on violence on Dalits?" she said. "The nation will not forgive BJP for this, especially with what is going in Gujarat," ANI quoted Mayawati as saying. "There are wars of thoughts and ideas in the House, but never have I used derogatory words against anyone ever," she said. "The insulting words used against me are against all of womankind," said Mayawati. "Dayashankar Singh should be arrested. Otherwise, if in response to this people get violent, it will not be on my conscience," she added. UP BJP vice president Dayashankar Singh's cheap remark against BSP chief Mayawati created uproar in the Parliament as Opposition leaders attacked the Modi government over the issue. In response, a beleaguered Arun Jaitley said that BJP will take strict action against Dayashankar Singh. "I should tell Mayawati ji that the party shares her grief over this issue, I will look into this matter, we stand with her...I am personally hurt that a BJP party person used such derogatory words against Mayawati," he said. "This is not only a woman's issue. This is a man's issue," said TMC MP Derek O'Brien. Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury stressed on the fact that the man making such remarks was none other than the vice president of the UP unit of BJP and demanded that he be arrested. "A man speaks with such language on the day both houses are discussing issues on violence on Dalits?" she said. "The nation will not forgive BJP for this, especially with what is going in Gujarat," ANI quoted Mayawati as saying. "There are wars of thoughts and ideas in the House, but never have I used derogatory words against anyone ever," she said. "The insulting words used against me are against all of womankind," said Mayawati. "Dayashankar Singh should be arrested. Otherwise, if in response to this people get violent, it will not be on my conscience," she added. UP BJP vice president Dayashankar Singh's cheap remark against BSP chief Mayawati created uproar in the Parliament as Opposition leaders attacked the Modi government over the issue. "On one hand, BJP did a lot of things to celebrate Ambedkar Jayanti and assured Dalits that they will do a lot to celebrate it. On the other hand, Dalits still do not have reservation rights in the private sector," she added. "The legal rights which Ambedkar created for the backward sections of the society will only reach the society when honest work is done for providing those rights to them," she said. "Even after the country got independence, whether it is Congress rule or BJP rule, the sad truth is that the Dalits are still suffering," Mayawati said in the Rajya Sabha. "There is an urgent need to change the mindset of the major political parties of the country towards Dalits," she said. "I have to tell the Union government that this is a serious matter. I ask the government to give justice to the Dalit victims in Gujarat. It is not enough to just send the Gujarat CM to meet them. Action needs to be taken against authorities which were negligent. They should be arrested," she said. "In the name of protection of cows, a lot of unfair things are being done. Injustice against Dalits is being done in the name of protection of cows," said Mayawati in the Rajya Sabha. Crimes against Dalits being done in the name of cow protection, says Mayawati "Instead of making Dalits a political weapon, Congress, BJP and other parties should be reminded that they should rise above petty politics and work for the development of backward sections," she said. "The victims often do not get justice in case of a CID probe," said Mayawati in the Rajya Sabha. "Gujarat government did not act quickly enough. It was only when the media picked up this issue that some action was taken." "This Una incident case should run in a fast track court. We also demand that one of the judges should be a Dalit," Mayawati said. "Forget about Dalits getting justice, even their FIR is not filed many times and the latest example is the Una (Gujrat) incident," she also said. Deputy Chariman PJ Kurien denies that the House is taking the subject lightly. Rajya Sabha is currently debating Aam Aadmi Party lawmaker Bhagwant Mann's video of him entering Parliament by crossing several security layers. Mann then posted it on social media, inviting attack from MPs across party line, who termed his act as a security breach. In the video, which went viral, Mann was seen showing entry gate through which MPs enter Parliament House and saying how strong is the security. "The car is registered with the Lok Sabha. It has a censor, which has the vehicle details. As soon as so you come near the gate, the censor identifies the car and announces the name and number of the car," Mann says in the video with him crossing several layers of the security. On the fifth day of the Monsoon Session (Friday), Aam Aadmi Party MLA Bhagwant Mann's filmed a video entering Parliament by crossing several security layers, which eventually caused uproar in both the Houses. Mann, who posted it on social media, invited attack from MPs across party line, who termed his act as a security breach. As soon as the House assembled, she informed it about the action being taken on the issue which had led to the adjournment of Lok Sabha proceedings on July 22. "The inquiry committee shall inquire into the serious security implications and related aspects.... (and) suggest suitable remedial measures to avoid recurrence of such incidents in future and recommend appropriate action in the matter," the Speaker said. The member is "advised not to attend the sittings of the House" until a decision is taken in the matter, Mahajan said. Mann was not present in the House. The panel has also been asked to "suggest remedial measures" so that such episodes are not repeated. Mahajan has formed the nine member panel headed by BJP MP Kirit Somaiya which includes Anandrao Adsul (Shiv Sena), Meenakshi Lekhi, Satya Pal Singh (both BJP), B Mahtab (Biju Janata Dal), Ratna De Nag (Trinamool) and K. C. Venugopal (Congress) and other members. Therefore, the "act of the member" has put the security of the Parliament in peril, she said. Mahajan said she had consulted leaders of all political parties and everyone supported her actions on this issue. Describing Parliament as "sanctum sanctorum" of democracy, Mahajan recalled that on 13 December, 2001, security personnel had sacrificed their lives protecting the parliament and after that entire security system was reviewed and overhauled. It put "security of the parliament in peril", Mahajan added. Mann has been asked to appear before the panel by 10.30 am tomorrow and make his submission. Addressing the Lok Sabha as soon as it reassembled after the weekend break, Mahajan said taking audio video footage of security zones in the parliament by Punjab's Sangrur MP Mann on July 21 and putting them on social networking site was improper. "The act of the member of audio-visual recording of the Parliament and posting it on the social media puts the security of Parliament in peril," the Speaker said, adding that several members had expressed concern over the issue on Friday last. The panel, chaired by BJP member Kirit Somaiya, has been asked to submit its report by August 3, while Mann has time till tomorrow morning to submit his explanation to the committee. Acting tough, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan today said AAP MP Bhagwant Mann's videography of the Parliament House complex had put its security "in peril" and asked him not to attend the House till a decision is taken on the matter while setting up a nine-member panel to probe the issue. The Lok Sabha is likely to discuss The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill today. Apart from this, the Lower House is also slated to discuss The Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill. Sasikala Pushpa began crying in the House over the issue of attacks on women in the country. She has alleged that she was harassed and was being forced to quit her post. "So what if we disagreed with you? This is not the country we are used to living in," O'Brien said. "The Prime Minister needs to come in the House and say that we can live in the India we know, the India of unity and diversity." "For Rs 15, they (Dalits) are being killed because they are Dalits. I am a gau sevak. But in the name of gau sevaks, don't cross the line. This is a sitaution which has gone beyond the border of this country. Since they are taking these decisions, they must listen to what the UN had to say about this country," he said. "The curb on religious fundamentalism, this is a dangerous situation. If it happens and happens and happens, it is a decision. This is a decision of this government. Otherwise, the Defence Minister would not have said what he said yesterday," TMC MP Derek O'Brien said, referring to Parrikar's remarks that Aamir Khan needs to be taught a "lesson" because of his remarks on intolerance. An angry Parrikar responded by saying that he did not take the name of any person in the video. "Since the BJP government came to power, they targeted Muslims first. Now, they are committing atrocities against the Dalits. The Prime Minister should come to the Parliament and clarify on what is happening," Mayawati said. CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury responded to Parrikar and said, "What he said is objectionable. That cannot be acceptable. Tomorrow, are you going to threaten me? If he is raksha mantri, kiska raksha ho raha hai?" Defence Minister Parrikar responded to the uproar in the Rajya Sabha over his remarks against Aamir Khan and said, "Let them see the video themselves and make up their minds." "We should think about the respect for women. In Bareilly, a teacher was abducted during daytime. This is not right. The government should speak. Why is the government silent?" she said. "There are rapes taking place against Dalit women everywhere in the country. The government should take this matter seriously," Mayawati said. Naqvi agreed with her and said the government was ready for a discussion. "I am really embarrassed for standing here and talking about the same issue once again, even after the Nirbhaya gangrape...I want a discussion on women's protection. I do not care which place. I do not want politicising of this issue," Jaya Bachchan said in the Rajya Sabha. An emotional Jaya Bachchan got up in the Rajya Sabha and demanded a discussion on the issue of safety of women. "In view of seriousness of matter, Bhagwant Mann is further advised not to attend the sessions of Parliament for further two weeks," she said. "The chairperson (of the committee) has sought extension of time for further two weeks. I have accepted the request for extension," Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said. On the issue of AAP MP Bhagwant Mann being barred from the Parliament for making a video of the Parliament House complex, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said that the committee probing this issue had asked for more time. "This legislation will only be passed after a serious discussion. I hope the Finance Minister passes the Bill not on the strength of his numbers, but on the basis of logic," Chidambaram said. "Government tried to pass the GST Bill without the support of the principal Opposition and I am happy they failed," he said. "Many issues are still outstanding issues and still need to be resolved. We had earlier tried to pass the GST Bill with the support of the Opposition and we failed," he said. "I welcome the friendly tone of the Finance Minister's speech. I think the tone and approach has changed over the last few weeks," Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said. "People of India expect low indirect taxes. There are many voices in the government which speak for the corporate, but someone must speak for the people. I am doing that," Chidambaram said in the Rajya Sabha. "When this Bill is passed today, we will prepare for the next stage of the debate, which is the Central GST Bill. I want an assurance from the Finance Minister....This is a very important legislation. I want an assurance that when that Bill is brought, that will be brought as a Financial Bill and not as a Money Bill," Chidambaram said. "Persuade all parties and sections of the people that a standard of 18 percent is the most appropriate," he added. "The worry that we have is creeping taxation. But that is what Parliament is for. Taxation is the exclusive power of the Parliament. It is ultimately Parliament which calls the shots in taxes," he said. "I, on behalf of my party, loudly and clearly demand that the GST rate should not exceed 18 percent," Chidambaram said in the Rajya Sabha. Bill in next stage of GST debate should be brought as a Financial Bill: Chidambaram Chidambaram warns that a rate too high, something like 23 percent, will be inflationary. He insists that the Bill needs to be passed as a finance Bill. The critical point we shouldnt be miss here is that the Congress is pitching for 18 percent standard GST rate and isnt ready to give up on this point in any case. This comment is crucial since the NDA government has not yet arrived on a single rate. Chidambaram attacks the Narendra Modi government, saying it does not care about the problems of the common people. Chidambaram stresses on the point that the rate should be changed only with the permission of Parliament, and thus makes Congress compromise formula that the GST rate should be included in the GST Bill, though his party is willing to compromise on the earlier demand that the rate should be included in the constitution. According to Firstpost Financial Editor Dinesh Unnikrishnan, P Chidambaram has hit the core point in his speech the final GST rate. Chidambaram positions Congress as the voice of poor and emphasises on the fact that standard GST rate should not exceed 18 percent on the lines of what governments chief economic advisor, Arvind Subrmanian, suggested. "It (GST) violates states' autonomy. It results in permanent revenue loss to the state of Tamil Nadu. We strongly oppose this Bill," AIADMK MP A Navaneethakrishnan said in the Rajya Sabha. "We have moved an amendment that the compensation should be for at least 5 years," he added. "Tamil Nadu will lose Rs 9270 crore because of GST. This is not a small amount," he said. "Till date, the revenue-neutral rate has not been fixed by the government," he said, adding that this was a problem in the GST Bill. "Petroleum and petroleum products must be kept outside GST permanently. We can save our people only then," he said. "It is a well-known fact that Tamil Nadu is a manufacturing state. It is also known that this method of taxation is destination-based. We strongly oppose that," he said. He then went on to elaborate on the changes which AIADMK wanted in the GST Bill. "The composition of the GST Council is not fair. The weightage of each state's vote should be in proportion to their representation in the country," said the AIADMK MP in the Rajya Sabha. "Now let me tell you about the ping pong match," O'Brien said "I'm feeling like a teenager in the presence of these senior lawyers," O'Brien said. "There is the politics of the Bill. GST can also be interpreted as the Girgit Samjhauta Tax," TMC MP Derek O'Brien said in the Rajya Sabha. TMC MP Derek O'Brien has always been dramatic in his speeches, and his speech during the GST Bill is a perfect example. The money has to first come from Centre to states and then from states to local bodies. If the availability of funds to local bodies gets delayed, that can seriously hamper functioning of local bodies, Patel cites. In a larger context, this problem is not for MCGB alone. It would apply to all big and small local bodies across the country in the GST regime. Patels remarks suggest the magnitude of challenge the Modi government has while implementing the revolutionary tax regime. Patel raises the challenge of GST implementation. Under the GST regime, when various indirect taxes including sales tax, VAT and Octroi get consolidated in one uniform tax rate, will large local bodies such as MCGB get funds on time for its daily functioning? Patel asks. Firstpost Financial Editor Dinesh Unnikrishnan says that NCP Rajya Sabha MP Praful Patel raises an interesting case of states within the states, citing the example of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGB), which under Octroi alone garners about Rs 8000 crore to Rs 9000 crore per annum. "The Prime Minister should come to the House apologise to the nation. If he cannot come, we will be happy even if Finance Minister Jaitley apologises," Budania said. "It was Congress which forced you to follow the right path of this Bill." "At that time, the then Gujarat CM had said that this Bill is against the welfare of the nation. Today, the same man who is now PM, said that this Bill is benefitial for the nation," he said. "When the Congress had brought this Bill to the Parliament, then BJP had protested against it," said Narendra Budania, Congress MP from Rajasthan. PM Modi should apologise to the nation for his U-turn on GST Bill: Congress in Rajya Sabha "We have given this notice for discussion to wake up the government. It is unfortunate that the Taj of Hindustan is burning but the central government cannot feel the heat. Which kind of heat will wake up the Kashmir government?" Azad said. "Today, it has been 30 days since curfew was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir. I do not think that any state in India has seen curfew for 30 days since Independence," Congress leader Azad said. "Please call for an all-party meeting and send a delegation to Kashmir," he said. "This cannot be solved through law and order machinery," he said. "The silence of the Prime Minister is more eloquent than words. He is sending the message that the government does not care about the situation in Kashmir." "This is one of the most grave situations I have risen in to speak. I have not seen continuous curfew for 30 days in my life. How can we remain silent? More than 1000 incidents of firing have been reported in a month. More than 8000 have been injured. 60 are dead. It is inhuman and criminal. Why are we using pellet guns? I am told that even Israel does not use pellet guns against Palestinians," CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury said. "If you (BJP) were not opposing this Bill at that time, this Bill would have been passed two years ago. So, you are actually responsible for delaying the Parliament passing this Bill, but we are taking the blame," he said. "Why was it that in 2011, some ministers who are sitting on that side were opposing this Bill?" Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said in the Lok Sabha. "Today, the Parliament is going to take a big step for the freedom from tax terrorism," he said. "Some people will know the condition of taxation in our country," he added. "Today is 8 August. On this day many years ago, Mahatma Gandhi had moved the nation with 'Bharat choro' slogan," PM Narendra Modi said in the Lok Sabha. "Therefore, who won and who lost is not a matter of debate," the Prime Minister further said. "But the credit for this Bill does not belong to one party. It belongs to the culture of Indian democracy," Modi said. "It is true that someone created this Bill while someone else nurtured it," he said. "Just as someone gave birth to Krishna and someone else raised him," he said. "The most important requirement was the creation of trust between Centre and the states. The most important thing was to not decide this on the basis of sheer numbers. That is why I have earlier said that democracy is not just about numbers," he said. "We were successful in taking care of a lot of flaws with the GST Bill. 'Ek manch, ek manth, ek marg, ek manzil' is the mantra behind GST which all of us have experienced," the PM said. "Sometimes, there were doubts about the GST. When I was the CM, even I had doubts about GST. And today, because of seeing GST continuously as a CM, my viewpoint changed when I viewed it as Prime Minister," Modi said. "All Centre and states need to unite to create a mechanism for Ek Bharat," PM Modi said in the Lok Sabha. I had different view of GST because I looked at it earlier from the point of view of a CM: PM Modi in Lok Sabha "A message will go to the people through GST that the consumer is the king," Modi said. "GST gives a guarantee of security to small traders and businessmen. It will result in economic growth." "Despite our differences, we made efforts to take GST forward," he said. "A uniformity in the processing of taxation will come through GST." "In the entire discussion of GST, none of us used it as a platform for politics. We rose above politics for the welfare of the nation," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in the Lok Sabha. GST will send the message that the consumer is the king: PM Modi in LS "Even during the all-party meeting, I had said that the credit for the GST Bill goes to all political parties," the Prime Minister said. "It is a matter of great strength for Indian democracy that all of us are making efforts to take this forward together," he said. "It is also true that we need to have IT-preparedness and legal preparedness. In the world, even the countries which are praised for their democracy find it tough to deal with Bills," he said. "Because of GST, the taxpayer will realise that he will benefit from honesty. Therefore, we will succeed in bringing down the generation of black money," Modi said. "There will be data integration. Because of a strong cross-checking mechanism, a seamless method which will help in catching any wrongdoing will be created," the PM said. "GST will help in curbing corruption and black money," Modi said. "Corruption will move towards zero because of GST," he said. "When something happens in Africa, the Prime Minister tweets about it. But when the Taj of India is burning, the heat is not reaching the central government," he added. "We were told that he spoke on Kashmir issue in Madhya Pradesh because the CM told him to do so. This shows that the Parliament means nothing to the PM and he would not have spoken on the Kashmir issue if the Chief Minister had not asked him to do so," he said. "This is the fourth time we are asking the Prime Minister to provide a statement in the House," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said in the Rajya Sabha. PM spoke on Kashmir in Madhya Pradesh just because the CM told him to do so: Azad in RS "When you truly feel pain from the heart, it will reach Kashmir," he said. "When you say Kashmir is an integral part of India, it should not only be on paper. There should be integration of hearts and minds. What about the integration between federal and state government?" said Azad. "Law and order in Kashmir in not just in the hands of Jammu and Kashmir police, but also in the hands of paramilitary forces," Azad further said. "If someone says that Mehbooba Mufti should alone solve the problem in Kashmir, that is not possible for her," he added. "Kashmir is secular. The destruction of Kashmiriyat and insaniyat is not happening because of democracy but because of the pellet guns," he said. "There is a difference between communalism and separatism. Militants are also targeting Muslims. Militancy has no religion," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said in the Rajya Sabha. "You can only keep Kashmir in India when you treat Kashmiris as equals," he said. "Shoot the people but do not use pellet guns. Pellet Guns are worse than live bullets. It is worse than killing people," he further said. "The Prime Minister said that the people of the country love Kashmir. But the people of Kashmir should also love the country," JD(U)'s Sharad Yadav said. "Merely repeating what Atal Bihari Vajpayee said is not going to create that trust. Create that trust by stopping the communal polarisation that is taking place in the country," he said. "If everyday you talk about abrogating Article 370, you talk about love jihad, ghar wapsi, are you creating trust?" said Yechury. "Unless you address the central question of the promises made to the people of Kashmir at the time of independence, this problem will not be solved," he said. "The problem today can only be solved if you initiate a political dialogue. I have urging this government that this can only come through with an atmosphere of trust. "The trust deficit exists (in Kashmir) because of the string of betrayals of the promises made," said the CPI(M) leader. He also took a dig at the government's foreign policy and said, "When you want to wish Happy Birthday, you go to Pakistan." "If other governments have engaged in dialogue in the past, what is preventing this government from initiating the political dialogue?" Yechury said. "The threat we face today is not a mere question of autonomy. There is also an orchestrated terrorist threat in Kashmir," he said. "Today, there is an attempt to create dual power in Kashmir," Dasgupta further said. "Let us remember that dialogue cannot be done if we are going to tie the hands of the executive." "While I agree with Sitaram Yechury that we need a form of political approach, the form and time of that approach should be different," he said. "We have been talking about development and healing hearts and unfortunately, we have come across a rather big emotional divide. At an earlier time, it was thought that Article 370 would facilitate the process of integration. But we may have actually hardened the emotional divide," he said. "A lot of the people who have taken to the streets may be spontaneous. But there is also a large degree of pre-meditation in the protests," he said. "That was the death of Burhan Wani. The death of any Indian should be a source of anguish. But Burhan Wani never considered himself an Indian. And what do you say about a person who glamourises terrorism?" Dasgupta said. "The problem we face in Kashmir today is somewhat different from the problems we have faced earlier," he said. "Three months ago, Kashmir was peaceful. We had a unique political experiment. It was an alliance between the Valley and Jammu, something which was unique and encouraging. And then something broke loose," he added. "While we try to evolve a consensus on this issue, we should sometimes be brutally frank about what we are dealing with," Swapan Dasgupta, nominated MP, said in the Rajya Sabha. "I wish people in this Parliament talked about sending a delegation to AIIMS, where a girl injured by pellet guns is admitted," he said. "Why do we only remember Kashmir when it is burning? Guns will not solve any problem," he said. "The people of this country should understand what the problem in Jammu and Kashmir is." "Why wasn't there any problem in Kashmir until 1987?" said a dramatic PDP MP Nazir Ahmad Laway in the Rajya Sabha. Why do we remember Kashmir only when it is burning? asks PDP MP in Rajya Sabha Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia: When we are talking about Swachh Bharat, we should first clean our minds. Fringe elements have now turned into the Centre today. Why the Home Minister didn't visit Rohith Vemula? PM made a strong statement: Shoot me, not the Dalits. But why he didn't include Muslims? Muslims can never be part of Hindu nationalism but they are a part of Indian nationalism. Sexual violence against Dalit women has increased. About eight lakh Dalits are dependent on selling skins, bones of dead cows, what will they do now? AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi: No democracy in the world has prioritise animal life over human life. But the Indian democracy has. Why do gua rakshaks have come to power? The credit goes to the idealogy of ruling party. What right do so-called gau rakshaks have to look at what I eat? NK Premchandran, RSP MP from Kollam: The attrocities against the Dalits is politics. Educational, economical and social upliftment is the need of the poor. We all should work together and committ ourselves in taking action in order to stop the atrocities on Dalit. Also, I would appeal all the state governments to take strictest action against anti-social elements who try to disrupt the harmony of secular fabric of the country. It is pointless to blame the other government. Why did we celebrate Ambedkar's 125th anniversary with such genuinty? Respecting Ambedkar is like respecting India. Seva Bharati, an RSS organisation, is one of the organisations which has been majorly active at the grassroots for the upliftment of Dalits. Dalit community has contributed a lot towards Indian heritage. When India was under the British Rule, no matter how atrocities were inflicted on them, still they stood by India. They never demanded a separate country. We in the government emphathise with the Dalits. On PM Modi's silence, Singh said, "Has any PM spoken during all discussions in Parliament? When PM spoke on the atrocities, and gau rakshaks, I issued an advisory that strict action should be taken against such gau rakshaks. Our biggest challenge is to counter the twisted mentality of the perpetrators. What happened in Una was extremely condemnable. "This is rumour that after BJP came to power that the atrocities on Dalit have increased. Just ask yourselves if this is true. Show me the data records. I don't want to point fingers at any political party. But following figures would explain: In 2013, 39,346 cases were registered against atrocities, 40,300 and 35,564 were registered respectively," Singh said. "We can make India world's best country if we consider humanity above all. There are many articles in our Indian constitution for Dalits. But there is a need for effective laws to act on these articles. Our government is working at socio-economic development of the Dalits." "It is painful that even after 70 years of independence we are still discussing atrocities on Dalits. We cannot deny that there are people from several castes and religion. We should not politicise the atrocities on Dalits," Singh said. On Friday, 12 August, 2016 the bills for consideration and passing in the Lok Sabha are Mental Health care Bill,2016 and Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016. Congress leader Anand Sharma said that the government should not be hypocritical. He said, "When administrators have high salary, MLAs have a good rise, why don't we get the same treatment?" Ram Gopal Yadav, SP, Uttar Pradesh raised the issue of the low wages of the members of Parliament. He said, "The pay of the MP's is only a fraction of ministers in Telangana Assembly or Delhi Legislative Assembly. We are asked to reduce our expenditure but we cannot do that when we have to entertain people of our constituency. The rising inflation also makes it difficult for us to sustain ourselves." In the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha Congress leader Shashi Tharoor raised the issue of failing start-ups in India. He said, "The government has given tax incentives to the start-ups but everyone knows that they don't make any money in the first few years. Hence the tax incentives should be given to the angel investors." After GST this is the second resolution which has been adopted unanimously. She added, "This house earnestly appeals to all sections of society in India to work for the early restoration of normalcy and harmony. This is to restore confidence in people and youth in general. The resolution is adopted unanimously." Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan announced that the resolutions proposed on the Kashmir issue has been passed. She said,"This house expresses serious concern over the violence in Kashmir Valley. Everyone here conveys loss of life caused by the deteriorating situation. The house is of the firm view that there cannot be a compromise on security." Dubbing passage of the GST Constitution Amendment Bill as historic, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said that manufacturing taxes and VAT will come down with the new national sales tax but the same for services tax will be decided by states and Centre. The Goods and Services Tax (GST), which will subsume over a dozen central and state levies including excise duty, service tax and VAT, is "perhaps the most important" tax reform, he said soon after Rajya Sabha overwhelmingly voted for the legislation. "Today is a historic day for the reason that Rajya Sabha has passed the GST bill which have been held up for a very long time. All members present at the time of voting, voted in favour of the bill," Jaitley told reporters in Parliament House. Thanking Congress and other opposition parties for supporting the legislation, he said proceedings in the Upper House demonstrated to the world that this is a great day for Indian democracy and Indian federalism. "In fact Indian democracy and Indian federalism are at there very best in as much as all national political parties and regional parties, state governments have come together to usher a major taxation reform.. The government wanted to build a larger consensus, which we succeeded in doing," he said. Asked if the implementation of the GST would mean rise in cost of air travel, mobile bills and eating out because of incidence of service tax going up in the new regime, he said that tax rate would be decided by the GST Council, comprising of the Centre and the states. "Manufacturing taxes will certainly will come down, VAT will come down. What level services taxes are to be kept is a discretion of GST Council. It will depend on what states along with Centre will decide," he later told Times Now. On Congress demand for not converting the supporting GST legislation as Money Bill, Finance Minister said he has not pre-decided on bringing the Bills as Money or Finance Bills. "Once the GST is implemented, it will bring basic changes as far as the Indian tax structure is concerned, it will converge India into one unified market, with one unified tax in the country, it will improve the base of taxation, it will make evasion extremely difficult. "The central and state governments have to work together to make this a great success. Overall, I think we had an excellent debate," he told reporters. He said although every state government is on board in order to implement one of the most important taxation reform in India, the fact is that it has been passed unanimously all regional and national parties have actively supported it. Congress hoped that subsequent legislations for its implementation like CGST and IGST bills would be brought in the Winter Session as financial and not money bills. Former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said he was only half satisfied with the Finance Minister's promise made in the Upper House in this regard. "It's a half promise. Therefore, I am half satisfied," he told reporters after the passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill. Chidambaram said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has assured that he will hold discussions with the Congress party before bringing the bills. Senior Congress leader and former Law Minister Kapil Sibal cited the example of Aadhaar Bill to claim the new legislations could be converted into Money Bills to block voting. "We have seen the Aadhar Bill was converted into a money bill and we were not given the right to vote on it. We have doubt that this GST bill will also be turned into a money bill whereby a discussion on it will take place in Rajya Sabha but members will not be allowed to vote on it. We are concerned over it," he said. "We hope that it will be a financial bill and there will be a discussion on it and we will be given the right to vote on it," he said. Another Congress member Renuka Chowdhury said, "They have considered many of our aspects. Have to wait and see what happens in the winter session." NCP leader Praful Patel said it is very good that the Constitution amendment bill to bring GST was passed with general consensus. "It is good for the country and states will also benefit, especially those which considered themselves as backward as they will get more revenue. "We hope that the Bill to be brought by government in November will also be passed with general consensus. Finance Minister has given an assurance that whatever bill will be brought, it will be honoured," he said. Earlier in the day, Congress had made it clear to the government that firm assurances for keeping the GST rate capped at 18 per cent and bringing subsequent legislations needed for its rollout as financial bills alone could ensure its support to the long-pending Constitution Amendment bill. "We also demanded an assurance that the CGST and IGST should not be moved as money bill. The Central GST and Integrated GST are bills which will apply on taxpayers, on common man. They must be debated and voted upon by both Houses of Parliament. We hope to get assurance from the Finance Minister. If these assurances are forthcoming, we will be able to support," Chidambaram told reporters. The GST Bill will finally be taken up for discussion in the Rajya Sabha. India Inc had said it is looking forward to introduction of the much-awaited Goods & Services Tax (GST), saying it would be a very significant step in the field of indirect tax reforms in India. The government has circulated official amendments to the GST bill to drop 1 percent additional tax and include a definite provision in the statute for compensating states for revenue loss for 5 years as it gears up to discuss the long-pending bill in Rajya Sabha. The eleventh day of Parliament's Monsoon Session on Monday began with AIADMK Rajya Sabha member Sasikala Pushpa's statement where she said that she was facing a "life threat" and was being "compelled to resign". Sasikala, who hit the headlines for slapping DMK leader Tiruchi Siva at the airport on Saturday, said: "I am receiving an unconditional apology from Tiruchi Siva. Something was spoken against my party leader and I behaved like that." The parliamentary proceedings over the day saw the passage of the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016, and the Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2016, that provide for putting the NEET in place for admission to medical and dental courses across the country from next year; and National Institutes of Technology, Science Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in Rajya Sabha. The Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws Amendment Bill 2016 was moved in the Lok Sabha for consideration and passing. Key proceedings/issues discussed in Lok Sabha: Supplementary demands over additional spending The government sought parliament's nod for additional spending of Rs 1.03 lakh crore, though the cash outgo will only be Rs 20,948.26 crore. Presenting the Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2016-17 in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley sought parliament's approval for a transfer of Rs 5,000 crore towards National Employment Guarantee Fund and Rs 1,000 crore for providing funds to Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves for Sovereign Strategic Crude Oil Reserve at Vizag, Mangalore, and Pudur. Bill for speedier recovery of bad loans passed The Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws Amendment Bill 2016 was moved in the Lok Sabha for consideration and passing. Piloted by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the bill seeks to amend four laws the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002; the Recovery of Debts due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993; the Indian Stamp Act, 1899; and the Depositories Act, 1996. Special status: TDP MPs protest in Parliament Unhappy over the Centre's stand on special status to Andhra Pradesh, TDP, a partner in NDA government, staged protests both inside and outside Parliament. Seeking immediate announcement for special status, the MPs of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) tried to disrupt the proceedings in the Lower House. Holding placards and raising slogans in support of their demands, the TDP members in the Lok Sabha began the protest as soon as the house met for the day. They rushed to the speaker's podium, demanding that the government fulfill its commitments under Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan repeatedly appealed to members to return to their seats but they continued the protest. The Speaker conducted the proceedings amid the uproar before adjourning the proceedings till 2 pm. Attack on Dalits and Muslims Opposition members expressed concern over growing attacks on Dalits and minorities and called for stern action against cow vigilante groups which have been targeting them. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay underlined the need for action against those targeting the Dalits and Muslims to uphold secularism and communal harmony. Key proceedings/issues discussed in Rajya Sabha: GST Bill listed for Wednesday The government has listed the GST bill for discussion in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, hoping it will be passed through consensus, but the opposition Congress said that consultation is still on over the issue and an agreement is not yet finalised. In view of the development, the BJP has issued whip for all its Rajya Sabha members to be present in the house for the next three days. "The GST bill is listed for Wednesday. We hope it will be passed through consensus," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said. Bills to put in place NEET passed The Rajya Sabha passed by voice vote the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2016, and the Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2016, that provide for putting the NEET in place for admission to medical and dental courses across the country from next year. The bills provide for a Constitutional status to the 'National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and seek to amend the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, and the Dentists Act, 1948. Responding to a debate on the bills in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda said the whole exercise was aimed to stop multiplicity of examinations, to bring transparency to curb corruption and to stop exploitation of students. Uproar over Manohar Parrikar's comments on Aamir Khan Rajya Sabha witnessed a brief uproar by opposition members over alleged remarks by Manohar Parrikar against actor Aamir Khan even as the Defence Minister denied having said what was been quoted to him. During the Zero Hour, Derek O'Brien (TMC) raised the issue of "dangerous" rise in religious fundamentalism in the country, saying the government, ministers and people associated with the ruling party were "shooting their mouths off every day". "The Prime Minister needs to come and say these are in fact mistakes, this is not thinking of the government. Prime Minister come here and assure us that we can live in the India we know Unity in Diversity". As soon as he finished his Zero Hour mention, Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad quoted a report which said 'Parrikar takes a swipe at actor Aamir; those who speak like this must be taught a lesson'. "So may I ask him (Parrikar who was sitting in the House) what lesson he is going to teach us...The entire nation should be told what type of action and lesson he is going to teach the minorities of this conuntry," Azad said. To this, Parrikar said: "I would only say one thing. Let the members see the video...and make up their mind". However, this did not pacify the agitated opposition. New Delhi: Stepping up its attack on the BJD government in Odisha, a three-member BJP team, which inquired into the killing of five tribals in Kandhamal in a police operation, has accused it of having a "nexus" with Maoists and termed the encounter as "staged". The committee, which visited there and submitted its report to party president Amit Shah today, said the deceased were innocents and shot down by the police to give an impression that the Naveen Patnaik government was "serious" about fighting Maoists. "They were innocent and the encounter was staged. It is beyond doubt," the party's vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe told PTI. Its national secretaries Jyoti Dhurve and Ramvichar Nitam, both ST and Members of Parliament, were two other committee members. Five tribals, including three women and an one-year-old child, were killed on 8 July in what police said was a crossfire during its operation against Maoists. "The state government has nexus with Maoist elements," the committee said, alleging that a top ultra lodged in jail is believed to "control" the Kandhamal administration. The committee also accused Patnaik of showing insensitivity as he did not to meet the family members of the victims who were killed when they were on their way back to home after withdrawing MNREGA money from bank accounts. The BJP committee alleged a tribal youth was killed last year by police on mere suspicion when he was climbing up a hillock so that his mobile could get signals. It also highlights lack of development and corruption at the local level. Terming the FIR filed in the case as a "fiction", Sahasrabuddhe said the state government should order a judicial probe under sitting High Court judge to bring out the truth in the case. Under attack over the incident, the state government has ordered a probe into the incident by a Special Investigating Team (SIT). A judicial inquiry has also been ordered into it. New Delhi: Opposition led by Congress and JMM on Tuesday accused the ruling BJP of alleged coercion and threats in the recent biennial polls to the Upper House to get its candidates elected. They sought the setting up of a House Committee to probe into a CD that allegedly contains audio recordings of a senior IPS officer threatening the husband of an opposition MLA to get her to vote in favour of a candidate of the ruling party. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Sanjiv Kumar (JMM) alleged that on the eve of polling, two opposition MLAs were harassed in some old cases while a JMM MLA was arrested in a petty case to prevent him from casting his vote. While other MLAs lodged in jails were allowed to cast vote, the three opposition legislators could not, leading to the victory of the ruling party candidate by one vote, he claimed. Without naming anyone, he said the ruling party used allurements as well as threats to win over opposition MLAs. He claimed that a CD has surfaced purportedly showing how an Additional Director General of Police coerced and threatened the husband of an opposition MLA. According to local media reports, the CD allegedly contains conversation between the officer and Yogendra Sao, husband of Congress MLA Nirmala Devi. It also contains talks between Sao and the Chief Minister's political adviser. Maintaining that a copy of the CD will be made available to the Union Home Minister, he demanded action against the police officer. Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad also demanded sacking of the officer involved, alleging that it had become a modus operandi under the present dispensation to use threats and coercion. Maintaining that such undemocratic acts were unacceptable, he demanded a House Committee to be formed to go into the issue and recommend action. Sharad Yadav (JDU) said irregularities in Rajya Sabha polls was a very serious issue and a probe has to be done. Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) said the CD should be investigated, guilt established and the guilty punished. Anand Sharma (Congress) too demanded formation of a House Committee to probe the incident. Rejection allegations of irregularities, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the government had full confidence in the ability of the Election Commission to hold free and fair elections. The opposition allegations, he said, were far removed from facts and action will be initiated as per procedure in case the CD is produced. But the Opposition members were not satisfied and continued to raise the issue. Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien said the government has said it is ready to get the CD examined if it is submitted. Sharma responded by asking how justice could be done if the accused itself is to examine the evidence, remarks that were expunged. In his review of the second part of President Pranab Mukherjees memoirs, The Turbulent Years (1980-1996), released earlier this year, Ajay Singh of Firstpost had remarked upon the books depiction of the perpetual insecurity in which top Indian politicians live. Mukherjee was thrown out of the party and rehabilitated in the Congress on the whims of one individual Rajiv Gandhi. He suffered silently his ignominious exit from the party where he was seen to be a rising star during Indira Gandhis term. After Rajiv Gandhis assassination, Narasimha Rao once again kept him out of the cabinet but posted him as deputy chairman of Planning Commission. Rao promised him to tell all one day about the reasons why he was kept out of the cabinet. Though Rao never revealed it, Mukherjee found his bearing after his re-induction as commerce minister, exactly eight years after he was removed as finance minister. Now, in a new avatar, another round of waiting may have begun for the 81-year-old Mukherjee. He has, just this morning, stepped into the fifth and final year of his first term as the President of India and the great debate has begun: will he or wont he get a second term next year? Was the unheard of pomp and circumstance which marked the completion of his first four years in Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday, Narendra Modi choosing that very day to inaugurate phase-II of the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum Complex that was begun by this President, a royal send-off or was it the Prime Ministers way of keeping the Presidents hopes alive? That there is a debate at all is remarkable. A lifelong Congressman who wholeheartedly subscribed to the slogan Indira was India and India was Indira, who scrupulously avoided the E-word in his aforementioned memoirs (the Emergency finds little place in his 595-page reminiscences) a Presidential candidate for a BJP government, and that too with a general election in the offing in 2019 what an idea. Almost like the loud-mouthed Boris Johnson being made the diplomat-in-chief of Britain. One set of insiders claim Pranab Mukherjee is under no such illusion and has already begun sorting out his papers and gifts presented to him during his presidentship (sic). Yet, his name keeps cropping up, amidst the galaxy of possible candidates doing the rounds, from dyed-in-the-wool Sanghis like LK Advani and Ram Madhav to glamorous outsiders like Ratan Tata and Amitabh Bachchan. But then, if anyone can come in as Sonia Gandhis man and carry on as Narendra Modis man it will be Pranab Mukherjee. He has talents few others do; he has memories that are still sharp in his mind. Already he is said to have built up a close rapport with Narendra Modi. The Prime Minister reportedly treats him as his mentor, goes to him on many issues, especially when it comes to foreign affairs, and the President, with his vast experience in several key ministries, lends him a willing ear. On his part, Pranab Mukherjee sings paeans to the government, even going to the extent of condemning his past for failing to build up a suitable investment environment earlier. I cannot pass on the buck to anybody. I will have to take the buck to myself because I was in administration too long, he told a delegation of CEOs from the Silicon Valley in New Delhi earlier this year, and that the amount of investment we made for hospitalising the sick industries over a longer period of time only made the investment inefficient. He has even come out swinging for the Prime Ministers pet project: the International Yoga day. More critical of course has been his speedy signatures on government papers. Such as his prompt acquiescence to the imposition of Presidents rule in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh, his readiness to sign on the dotted line on many ordinances including that for the contentious Land Acquisition Bill (signing it three times in a row), his willingness to decline all mercy petitions coming his way, despatching far more convicts to the gallows than three of his predecessors put together. In sum, his refusal to put any spanner in Narendra Modis works. True, there is not much a President can do to oppose a duly elected government but he does have one powerful weapon in his arsenal: sit on his hands and do nothing. For instance, he could have simply let the mercy petitions gather dust in Rashtrapati Bhavan instead of putting his imprimatur on them so quickly, thereby burnishing the Modi governments muscular, unyielding self-mage and helping them to underline that they were not for bending, a death sentence is just that, a death sentence, and there would be no weak-kneed commuting of that. At the same time, he has kept his own image intact, and helped the government too, by standing up in the midst of the intolerance debate and after the horrendous Dadri killings and speaking out about not allowing the core values of our civilisation to be wasted, a civilisation that has, for centuries, celebrated diversity, promoted and advocated tolerance, enjoyed plurality. In fact, the Prime Minister took the cue from the President and commented on the Dadri incident for the first time only after that and only to say I agree with the President or some such words. But then, managing contradictions is a lifelong habit for Pranab Mukherjee. A career politician, he himself has admitted that he is no mass leader. Entering politics when the Left was rising in West Bengal, it was years before he could manage even a Rajya Sabha seat from his home state. But manage he did in the late Nineties, when the Left Front was still in full spate here and the Congress did not even have the requisite first preference votes for his victory. Pranab Mukherjee sailed through. It used to be said that CPI(M) supremo and then Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu had a soft spot for him. But even after the grand old man voluntarily stepped down from power, Pranab-da, as he is to even those young enough to be his grandchildren, consolidated his political base in West Bengal. In 2004 he fought, for the first time in his long stint in politics, the Lok Sabha elections and from here. He won by a massive margin and a second term in 2009. The Left was still in power here. He even whipped up a storm in the CPI(M) over the question of extending support to his bid to become the President of India, ending up with their votes in his kitty. Similarly, the UPAs success in surviving two full terms owed in no small measure to Pranab Mukherjees skills in winning over intractable coalition partners and getting tough Bills, such as, say, the Patents (Amendment) Bill, passed with some give and take. He is a practical man, his maxim was: an imperfect legislation is better than no legislation. Narendra Modi could do worse than letting such a practical man stay on in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. His cooperation is not in question, while his acceptance to all parties can also be assumed. After all, the BJP is still not in the happy position in the electoral college that elects the President that it would like to be. Victories in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and other state elections early next year may give it the requisite numbers but that is a big if. It was its inadequacy in the electoral college numbers game that had forced the Vajpayee government to think out of the box and come up with the surprise candidature of APJ Abdul Kalam. Pranab Mukherjee could be Narendra Modis Kalam; even the Congress and most others in the Opposition will not be able to object to him. But if Pranab Mukherjee still has to leave the Rashtrapati Bhavan and its exquisite lawns and plush Raj-era interiors and roomy stables behind next July, it will only mean, once again, blood is thicker than water, the brotherhood of the RSS will trump all other considerations. Lucknow: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will have a "direct" dialogue with the party's booth-level workers and hand over a memorandum to governor Ram Naik on the prevailing situation in Uttar Pradesh on 29 July. He will hold "one-on-one" interactions with workers and office-bearers of the party during the 'UP Udghosh' programme at the sprawling Ramabai Ambedkar maidan regarding the party's organisation in view of the 2017 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, said a Congress spokesman on Tuesday, adding that those interested would have to register beforehand to get a chance for an interaction with Gandhi. After interacting with party workers, the Amethi MP will lead a march to Raj Bhawan where he will hand over the memorandum to the governor, he said. About 50,000 Congress office-bearers and workers will take part in the interactive session with Gandhi, he said, adding that "all-out" preparations were being made to make the programme a success. Mumbai: Sharpening his attack on the BJP, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday rued his party "wasted" 25 years being in alliance with it while asserting that his outfit will come out of the government the moment it feels being "disregarded." The Sena chief, in the third and final part of his interview to the party mouthpiece Saamana, however, maintained that he would never blackmail or backstab the ally. "In last June, we completed 50 years since our advent and half the time, which means 25 years, we were in alliance (with the BJP). "Twenty five years is a long time and we grew up by holding hands of each other...but the way certain things unfolded, including breaking up of alliance in previous (assembly) elections...now I feel that we wasted all these 25 years being in alliance...and these years got rotten," Thackeray said. However, the Sena chief said he was in touch with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and recently they had food together at 'Matoshree' - Uddhav's residence in Bandra. "In those days, the base of our alliance was Hindutva, but now we need to work out what is the base of this alliance right now. Rest, I am in touch with the Chief minister who is new, but I am closely monitoring his commitment and restless efforts, and I wish him to do well in future," said Thackeray, who turns 56 tomorrow. To a question why he and his party keeps on levelling allegations against the government despite being a part of it, he said, "This is why I lay stress on working on the fundamentals of our alliance and make them clear once again. Shiv Sena has never slapped baseless and wild accusations and neither it made personal comments." On why the present government was "disregarding" ally Sena, the leader said there are elements trying to create an atmosphere of uncertainty. "Yes, off course, there is uncertainty and those are frenemies... some are seen and some are disguised. It happens with everyone. But I am not like that. "The moment I feel that me and my party are not getting proper treatment, I will not be in power. But I will never blackmail the government. I will speak out, but never backstab," said Thackeray. Thackeray also took a sarcastic swipe on the BJP over its failure to make Bihar, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala "Congress-Free" in elections in those states. "Lalu Prasad Yadav has been barred from contesting the election, but his party emerged as the biggest party in Bihar. So is with Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu. "I am naming these two persons because they have come out of jail on corruption charges and even then the people of those states have chosen them and made them victorious with a heavy mandate," he pointed out. "These results are like a jolt to those who boast of their clean image. Why the people of Bihar, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala rejected you (apparently referring to BJP) and chose them. "Because the people of these states did not pay attention to the tall promises, big addresses in rallies...they firmly decided that only these are our leaders," Thackeray noted. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray gave an interview to his partys mouthpiece, Saamana, in the usual fire-and-brimstone style which his father and founder of the party, Bal Thackeray, had perfected. Much like the manner in which he spoke at public meetings. The headline was, 'I will ensure a Sena chief minister'. Obviously, of course, not now, but later. There is an obvious background to the interviews content which has to be noted. Despite deciding to sit in the Opposition, then deciding to be a partner in the BJP-led government, and the subsequent sulks, pinpricks and outbursts, the Shiv Sena has remained in the post-poll arrangement in Maharashtra. Their calculation is apparent: being in power is more helpful when it comes to winning elections than being in the Opposition. Senas first decision to sit in the Opposition was out of sense of pride that notwithstanding the perceived Modi wave in the state during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it secured Assembly victories in 63 constituencies. This was despite the fact that it was a contest among four parties BJP vs Congress vs Nationalist Congress Party vs Shiv Sena as all partners broke their respective alliances. Those 63 seats against the former ally BJPs 122 was a heady achievement. That it was achieved by Uddhav Thackeray in the absence of the founder of the party, Bal Thackeray, added lustre to the trophy. But when NCP decided to offer support to the BJP from outside, Sena buckled. BJP plus Sena could have been a tough cookie. NCP had to be kept back, and the Sena changed its mind. It accepted a minor role in a post-poll partnership in the government. The spectacular wins in the Assembly polls make Uddhav Thackeray hark back to the times when the party was in alliance for 25 years. He describes those years, the second half of Senas life, as the years when the party "rotted". That is, however, a wrong thing to say as the party benefitted and got into power, something which was much more important than ruling civic bodies. However, what he may have meant is that had the Sena not partnered with the BJP on a set seat-sharing pattern in every Assembly elections, the party would have built itself better. If 63 was possible despite the BJP, imagine what it could have done all by itself! This is, however, a flawed logic, because both the parties had needed each other. Sena had cadres in towns and cities, BJP a network across Maharashtra. But yes, till Narendra Modi came on the scene, it was BJP which needed the partner more. That the BJP rode piggyback on the Sena, taking a junior partners place during their alliance, is being glossed over by the BJP. It must be hurting the Sena. Never mind that compared to BJP's 28 percent vote share in 2014, Sena had secured a tad over 19 percent. Though in a first-past-the-post system, percentages do not necessarily translate into votes. The intra-partnership sword covered in a nice dependable foil so blood is not drawn is being brandished. Unless that was done, the Sena would blur its identity in a BJP-led government. Thackeray does not hesitate to say in the interview that while he has no issues with Devendra Fadnavis, the government is a non-performer. But Sena glosses over its own presence in the government. It behaves like an internal opposition, which is confusing the cadre. They have conveyed it to Thackeray. The interview is thus directed towards the cadre; it lays out a roadmap for the party which would help materialise the dream he has articulated of the Sena having its man as the chief minister. As expected, the timeline is not specified, but it won't be any time soon unless the Sena steps out of the partnership and the NCP does not support the BJP from the outside. It is remarkable that NCP has not withdrawn the offer it made in 2014. What the interview does not clarify is what the Sena will decide vis-a-vis its participation in the government if its alliance with the BJP in the civic bodies especially Mumbai was to break. What Thackeray is saying is that both the Sena and the BJP are ready to go it alone, but that decision would depend on the conduct of the BJP. It's possible that one day, the Sena will be unequivocal about this, but till then everything he said in the interview will be heard over and over again till 2017. A woman was mauled to death and another injured by a tiger in a drive-through safari park in China on Saturday, according to reports by The New York Times. The incident which took place in Badaling Wildlife World animal park was recorded on security cameras. In the video, it is shown a woman is approaching the driver's seat and her husband, who has behind the wheel, opens the car door. It is at this point that a tiger appears from nowhere and drags the woman. Her husband and her mother, who was inside the car, immediately rushed to her rescue. The horror that unfolded later was not captured by the security cameras nearby, but according to reports it was the mother who was killed while trying to rescue her daughter. Despite sign boards saying "Cherish your life. Never get out of your car," the woman had gotten off the car because of an argument with her husband, however, a friend of the couple told The New York Times that the couple was not having a fight. The Beijing tourism website says that the national park has "10,000 heads of wildlife in more than 100 genera, the Wildlife World is an ecological tourist park integrating animal watching, salvation and breeding, leisure and vacationing, popular science education and environmental protection. The park is famous for its raising fierce animals in large groups in open areas. Animals can walk freely in the world." But this wasn't the first time that an incident like this was reported. In March, a park employee was killed by an elephant, while in 2014 a security guard as killed in a tiger attack. Further, in 2009, a man was killed when he tried to scale the fences to enter the animal enclosure, reported The New York Times. Philadelphia: Ending months of animosity, Bernie Sanders robustly embraced his former rival Hillary Clinton on Monday night as a champion for the same economic causes that enlivened his supporters, signaling it was time for them, too, to rally behind the Democratic nominee in the campaign against Republican Donald Trump. "Any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States," he declared in a headlining address on the opening night of the Democratic convention. President Bill Clinton, watching from the audience, leapt to his feet and applauded, as did most of the delegates filling the convention arena. Sanders joined a high-wattage line-up of speakers, including First Lady Michelle Obama who delivered a forceful, impassioned defense of the Democratic nominee. Michelle's address all but wiped away earlier tumult in the convention hall that had exposed lingering tensions between Clinton and Sanders supporters. "I want someone with the proven strength to persevere, someone who knows this job and takes it seriously, someone who understands the issues a president faces are not black and white," she said. Referring to Trump's penchant for tweeting, she said of the presidency: "It cannot be boiled down to 140 characters." While Sanders had endorsed Clinton previously, his remarks on Monday marked his most vigorous and detailed praise of her qualifications for the presidency. It came at a crucial moment for Clinton's campaign, on the heels of leaked emails suggesting the party had favored the former secretary of state through the primaries despite a vow of neutrality. Sanders scored the resignation of party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a nemesis in the primaries, but that wasn't enough to quell the anger of supporters. As the convention opened, they still erupted in chants of "Bernie" and booed Clinton the first several times her name was mentioned. Outside the convention hall, several hundred marched down Philadelphia's sweltering streets with signs carrying messages such as "Never Hillary." By the time Sanders took the stage for the night's closing address, much of the anger had been overshadowed by speeches promoting party unity. Sanders did his part, imploring his supporters to consider a country under Trump's leadership. "If you don't believe this election is important, if you think you can sit it out, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate and what that would mean to civil liberties, equal rights and the future of our country," he said. Sanders spoke just after Massachusetts. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a favorite of liberals who has emerged as one of the Democrats' toughest critics of Trump. "Donald Trump has no real plans for jobs, for college kids, for seniors," she said in the keynote address. "No plans to make anything great for anyone except rich guys like Donald Trump." Michelle Obama was one of the night's standouts. While she has often avoided overt politics during her nearly eight years in the White House, her frustration with Trump's rise was evident. She warned that the White House couldn't be in the hands of someone with "a thin skin or a tendency to lash out" or someone who tells voters the country can be great again. "This right now, is the greatest country on earth," she said. Clinton's campaign hoped the nighttime line-up would overshadow a tumultuous start to the four-day convention. The hacked DNC emails fed the suspicion of Sanders' supporters and sapped Clinton's campaign of some of its energy following a well-received rollout Saturday of her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine. Campaigning in North Carolina, Trump seemed to revel in the Democrats' commotion, telling supporters that Clinton made a mistake by not choosing a more liberal running mate to appease Sanders' base. "Crazy Bernie's going crazy right now," he said. But in Philadelphia, Delegates waved "Love Trumps Hate" signs and cheered as immigration supporters, gay rights advocates, and labor leaders took the stage. Comedian-turned-Sen. Al Franken, a Clinton supporter, and actress Sarah Silverman, a Sanders supporter, made a joint appearance to promote party unity. "I am proud to be part of Bernie's movement," Silverman said as the crowd roared. "And a vital part of that movement is making absolutely sure Hillary Clinton is our next President of the United States." Trump was a frequent target throughout the night, though the jabs were often more mocking than mean. The tone was a sharp contrast to the Republican convention, where the attacks against Clinton was bitingly personal, including chants of "Lock her up." Wasserman Schultz had planned to be among those taking the stage, despite the email hacking controversy. But she stepped aside, bowing to pressure from Democrats who feared the mere sight of her on stage would prompt strong opposition. The outgoing chairwoman did watch the gathering from a private suite at the arena. Discussions between the Clinton and Sanders camps prompted him to send emails and text messages to supporters asking them not to protest. "Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays," Sanders wrote. Philadelphia: A glass ceiling is shattering at the Democratic National Convention as Hillary Clinton ascends to the presidential nomination with Tuesday's roll call of the states, making her the first woman to lead a major party into a White House race. Clinton's campaign hoped to use the achievement to bolster the candidate's popularity mindful that while many voters are happy to be nominating a woman, they're not wild about this particular woman candidate. Former President Bill Clinton and other speakers will offer prime-time testimonials to her career highlights and advocacy, hoping to soften her image and resistance to her bid. But as history is being made, hostility is being heard, too. Bernie Sanders' primary challenge has unleashed vitriol toward the party establishment that Sanders himself has been unable to rein in. His supporters, many new to party politics, spent much of Monday protesting his treatment by top officials, even booing Clinton's name. The division left what was once expected to be a tightly orchestrated convention, run with all the professionalism and experience that were lacking at Republicans' often-chaotic coronation of Donald Trump last week, showing rough edges in the early going. On Tuesday, Sanders, who has endorsed Clinton, tried to keep the conflict from consuming another day and marring a history-making moment. This is an "unbelievably critical moment" for Democrats, he told Wisconsin delegates in the latest of a string of pleas for unity. First lady Michelle Obama delivered the same message Monday night in a heartfelt endorsement of the candidate who engaged her husband in a fierce struggle for the nomination in 2008. "I trust Hillary to lead this country," she said in a speech that provided a parent's-eye view of the White House and its power. While Mrs. Obama has often avoided overt politics, she did not shy away from taking on Trump. Without naming him, she warned that the White House couldn't be in the hands of someone with "a thin skin or a tendency to lash out" or someone who tells voters the country can be great again. "This right now, is the greatest country on earth," she said. Liberal favorite Elizabeth Warren, senator from Massachusetts, and Sanders himself also did their part to bring along the Sanders' fan, some of whom were in tears by the time the Vermont senator took the stage to shouts of "We love you, Bernie." While asserting "our revolution continues," Sanders argued that on issues of poverty, immigration, environmental protection and more, Clinton's election counts. Some delegates said the messages did the trick. "As the night went on, we saw a party grow stronger," South Carolina delegate Boyd Brown said after the first day speeches. Other planned to keep up the public displays of displeasure. "Civil disobedience is the cornerstone of Democratic values," said Gabriel McArthur, a Sanders delegate from suburban Denver. Where Monday's opening night lineup showcased diversity with black, Hispanic, gay and disabled speakers Tuesday's program will undoubtedly play up Clinton's historical milestone and make an overt appeal to women voters who see it as long overdue. Trump seemed to acknowledge Clinton's edge with female voters. "Fifty percent of our country is men, where I'm doing very, very well," he began in remarks Monday night in North Carolina. "That's the good news. Let me give you the bad news: The women. I don't know what's going on with the women here. But I think, I think I'm doing well with the women." Clinton was firmly on track to write the next chapter of a story that left off in 2008, when she conceded the Democratic presidential race to Barack Obama in a speech that lamented "we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time," but added proudly, "it's got about 18 million cracks in it," a tally of her primary votes. The roll call, when each state announces its delegate totals from the primary season, will affirm a nomination Clinton locked up weeks ago. One question of the day was whether Sanders would press for a count by all the states, as his delegates want, or interrupt the process to ask that her nomination be approved by acclamation. That's what Clinton did on Obama's behalf in 2008 to indicate their rivalry was truly over. Sanders suggested Tuesday he wouldn't rush to make that gesture early, mindful that cutting off his restive voters could cause an outcry. In a round-table interview with Bloomberg Politics, he said he still thinks his delegates should be able to vote for him during the floor vote. Once the nomination is sealed, the Clinton campaign planned to turn to a Day 2 program dubbed "Fights of Her Life," highlighting her advocacy for children, health care and Sept. 11 recovery efforts, the campaign said. The speakers also will include the so-called "mothers of the movement" the mothers of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, black men whose deaths at the hands of police helped spawn the Black Lives Matter protests. The moment will not be without controversy: Philadelphia's police union complained that Clinton was showcasing killings by police without giving equal time to the families of fallen officers. Clinton's campaign responded that two members of law enforcement also are on the convention schedule. France: French President Francois Hollande said that a hostage-taking Tuesday at a church in Upper Normandy was carried out "by two terrorists claiming to be followers of Islamic State." Hollande travelled to Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Upper Normandy, where he said that he had spoked with the survivors. In a statement released by the Elysee Palace before Hollande addressed journalists, the president condemned a "cowardly terrorist attack" and said that he spoke with Archbishop Georges Pontier and extended his support and compassion to the Catholics of France. A priest was killed on Tuesday when two armed assailants seized hostages at a church near the northern French city of Rouen, police said. Five people were inside the church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray when it came under attack, interior ministry spokesman Pierre Henry Brandet said. He said the church was surrounded by France's anti-gang brigade the BRI, which specialises in kidnappings, and that "the two assailants came out and were killed by police". Three of the hostages were freed unharmed, and another was fighting for their life. A police source said the priest of the Saint-Etienne church was killed. The motivations for the hostage-taking were not yet clear, but the Paris prosecutor's office said the case was being handled by anti-terrorism prosecutors. The incident comes as France remains on high alert nearly two weeks after Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed a truck into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day in the French Riviera city of Nice, killing 84 people and injuring over 300. French President Francois Hollande, who is from Rouen, and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve were on their way to the scene, their offices said. An AFP journalist said the scene of the attack was crawling with emergency vehicles and police. Barbaric attack French Prime Minister Manuel Valls expressed his horror at what he called "a barbaric attack on a church". "The whole of France and all Catholics are wounded. We will stand together," he wrote on Twitter. Pope Francis voiced his "pain and horror" at the hostage-taking, according to the Vatican. The archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, urged all non-believers to join those of the church in "calling to God". "The Catholic Church can take up no other weapons that prayer and fraternity between men," he said in a statement. The Nice attack was the third major strike on France in 18 months and was claimed by the Islamic State group. Two attacks in Germany claimed by the Islamic State group since then have also increased jitters in Europe. After the attack in Nice, France extended a state of emergency giving police extra powers to carry out searches and place people under house arrest for another six months until January. It was the fourth time the security measures have been extended since Islamic State jihadists struck Paris in November, killing 130 people at restaurants, a concert hall and the national stadium. Bitter political feud The Nice massacre was triggered by a bitter political spat over alleged security failings, with the government accused of not doing enough to protect the population. French far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen wrote on Twitter that the "modus operandi obviously makes us fear a new attack from terrorist Islamists." Valls had warned earlier in the week that the country will face more attacks as its struggles to handle extremists returning from jihad in the Middle East and those radicalised at home by devouring propaganda on the internet. France has been concerned about the threat against churches ever since a foiled plot against in the Paris suburb of Villejuif in April last year. Sid Ahmed Ghlam, a 24-year-old Algerian IT student, was arrested in Paris on suspicion of killing a woman who was found shot dead in the passenger seat of her car, and of planning an attack on a church. Prosecutors say they found documents about Al-Qaeda and IS at his home, and that he had been in touch with a suspected jihadist in Syria about an attack on a church. With inputs from Agencies PARIS One of the knifemen who attacked a church in northern France on Tuesday has been identified as 19-year-old Adel Kermiche, who was under close surveillance after two failed attempts to reach Syria last year, France's anti-terror prosecutor said. After the last attempt in May, 2015, Kermiche, who was from the Normandy town where the attack took place, was detained until March. He was then released but forced to wear an electronic tag to track his whereabouts and was allowed to only leave his home for a few hours a day, prosecutor Francois Molins said. Police were still seeking to identify the second of the two attackers and raids were underway, Molins told a news conference after the attack in which a priest was killed. (Reporting by Leigh Thomas; editing by Richard Lough) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Two men armed with knives had taken several people hostage in a church in a town in France's northern Normandy region on Tuesday, a police source said. At least one person was killed on Tuesday during a hostage situation at a church near the northern French city of Rouen, a police source said. French Prime Minister Valls expressed shock and horror over the attack. #BREAKING French PM Valls expresses 'horror at barbaric attack on church' AFP news agency (@AFP) July 26, 2016 The French interior ministry said that two hostage takers were "neutralised" in the attack. One of the hostages, a priest, was killed in the attack. Second hostage is fighting for life, according to recent reports. #BREAKING Second hostage fighting for life after north France church attack: ministry AFP news agency (@AFP) July 26, 2016 #BREAKING Slain hostage at northern French church was priest: police source AFP news agency (@AFP) July 26, 2016 #BREAKING Two assailants 'neutralised' after hostage-taking in French church: ministry AFP news agency (@AFP) July 26, 2016 Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve was on his way to the scene of the crime, which comes with France on edge after the Bastille Day massacre which left 84 people dead in Nice. A source told Reuters that between four and six people were being held by the assailants in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. The France 3 network reported that a priest and two sisters, as well as churchgoers, were among those held. More details are awaited. 2 knife-wielding men take several people hostage in church in Normandy (police) https://t.co/LdSF5PnOUj #France pic.twitter.com/7tVhN7CXbC FRANCE 24 (@FRANCE24) July 26, 2016 PHOTOS: Location where two men with knives have taken hostages in a Church in #France - @fredveillepic.twitter.com/CmlqkO0xS3 Conflict News (@Conflicts) July 26, 2016 According to The Local, the two men took hostages at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen in the departement of Seine-Maritime. Reports say the men entered the church during mass via a rear door. It is unclear what their motives are. Special police force are on the scene, according to the media and a "security cordon was set up around the church." French President Francois Hollande was on his way to the site of the attack. It was not immediately clear if the assailants were killed or taken alive in the police operation that ended the assault. Live TV images showed police had blocked off the roads around the church and paramedics were seen pulling stretchers out of ambulances. The hostages included a priest, two nuns and two worshippers according to BFM TV. In brief, this is what we know about the attack so far: France church attack: what we know pic.twitter.com/PUb1A4qg5Q AFP news agency (@AFP) July 26, 2016 The attack is the latest in a string of deadly assaults in Europe. In France, the Normandy attack comes 12 days after a 31-year-old Tunisian killed 84 people in the French Riviera city of Nice when he ploughed his heavy goods truck into a crowd of revellers. Islamic State claimed the attack in Nice. With inputs from Reuters and AFP According General Mohammad Reza Naghdi, the head of Iran's Basij militia, satellite channels "deviate the society's morality and culture". As a result, Iran has reportedly destroyed 100,000 satellite dishes, and banned them. It is now punishable under the law by upto a fine of $2,800. For us Indians, that is just another ban. However, it's not just India or Iran that have these bizarre laws. There are many countries with weirder/crazier laws that people are expected to follow. 1. In La Paz, Bolivia, a married woman is not allowed to have more than one glass of wine. 2. Milan expects you to either smile all the time, or pay a fine. Except during funerals or hospital visits. via GIPHY 3. Are you a married woman living in Florida? Well then, you can only skydive on a Sunday! 4. It is illegal to have sex with wild animals, in Iran. However, it is totally legal to have sex with certain types of domesticated animals! via GIPHY 5. There is a ban on 'noisy footwear' in Capri, Italy. Sorry if you're on a vacation in Capri and flip-flops are your go-to footwear. 6. It is forbidden to be fat in Japan. Men over 40 to cannot have a waistline over 31 inches, and women cannot have waistlines over 35 inches. While you can certainly enjoy sumo wrestling, you can't really aspire to be their size. SAINT-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, France Knife-wielding attackers interrupted a church service in France, forced the priest to his knees and slit his throat on Tuesday, an attack that President Francois Hollande said showed the threat from Islamist militancy was greater than ever. Police shot and killed the attackers as they emerged from the church, freeing three hostages, one of whom was seriously wounded. The knifemen arrived during morning mass in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, northwest of Paris, where the 85-year-old parish priest Father Jacques Hamel was leading prayers. "They forced him to his knees and he tried to defend himself and that's when the drama began," Sister Danielle, who escaped as the attackers slayed the priest, told RMC radio. "They filmed themselves. It was like a sermon in Arabic around the altar," the nun said. Speaking at the scene, Hollande called it a "dreadful terrorist attack," adding that the attackers had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, the militant group that he said had declared war on France. News agency Amaq, which is affiliated with Islamic State, said two of its "soldiers" had carried out the attack. Police said one person had been arrested. Tuesday's attack came less than two weeks after a Tunisian ploughed a truck into a crowd in the French Riviera city of Nice, killing 84 people. Islamic State claimed that attack. France is a major partner in the U.S.-led military coalition bombing Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria. The White House condemned Tuesday's attack and commended the French police's "quick and decisive response." Several French media reported that one of the assailants was a local who had spent a year in jail on his return from Turkey after being intercepted trying to travel to Syria, but had been freed on bail with an electronic tag pending trial for terrorism offences. The prosecutor's office said the identification of the two suspects was still under way. MERCILESS A horrified local resident, Cecile Lefebre, said: "I have no words. How do you arrive at this point, killing people in cold blood like this? It's pure barbarity." Since the Bastille Day mass murder in Nice, there has been a spate of attacks in Germany, some of which appear to be Islamist-inspired. "In the face of this threat that has never been greater in France and Europe, the government is absolutely determined (to defeat) terrorism," Hollande said in a televised address. But former president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is expected to enter a conservative primary for next year's presidential election, accused the Socialist government of being soft. "We must be merciless," Sarkozy said in a statement to reporters. "The legal quibbling, precautions and pretexts for insufficient action are not acceptable. I demand that the government implement without delay the proposals we presented months ago. There is no more time to be wasted." The centre-right opposition wants all Islamist suspects to be either held in detention or electronically tagged to avert potential attacks. Far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who is also expected to run for the presidency, said both Sarkozy's and Hollande's parties had failed on security. "All those who have governed us for 30 years bear an immense responsibility. It's revolting to watch them bickering!" she tweeted. Hollande said France should "use all its means" within the law to fight Islamic State. Pope Francis condemned what he called a "barbarous killing". "The fact that this episode took place in a church, killing a priest, a minister of the Lord and involving the faithful, is something that affects us profoundly," Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said. In a telephone call with the pope, Hollande expressed "the sorrow of all French people after the heinous murder of Father Jacques Hamel by two terrorists," and said everything would be done to protect places of worship, the presidential palace said. Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a former conservative prime minister who now heads the Senate's foreign affairs committee tweeted: "Everything is being done to trigger a war of religions." (Additional reporting by Chine Labbe, Marine Pennetier, Michel Rose and Richard Lough in Paris and Jess Mason in Washington; Writing by Richard Lough and Paul Taylor; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt and Robin Pomeroy) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray: The imam of the mosque in the northern French town where a church was attacked Tuesday said he was "stunned" by the murder of the local priest, who he described as a friend. "I don't understand, all of our prayers go to his family and the Catholic community," said Mohammed Karabila. Two armed men stormed the church during morning mass in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, taking at least five people hostage before slitting the priest's throat and leaving another person in a critical condition. The attackers, who the Islamic State group described as "soldiers" for the jihadist movement, were shot dead by police. Karabila said he was "stunned by the death of my friend. He was someone who gave his life to others. We are dumbfounded at the mosque." He said he and Jacques Hamel, who was in his eighties, had met on several occasions and had been part of an interfaith committee for the past 18 months. "We talked about religion and how to live together. It has been 18 months that civilians have been attacked, now they are attacking religious symbols, using our religion as a pretext. It is no longer possible," he said. The town's mosque was inaugurated in 2000 on a piece of land gifted by the Catholic parish. It was in this mosque that the funeral ceremony was held for Imad Ibn Ziaten, a 30-year-old parachutist who was killed on 11 March, 2012 by jihadist Mohamed Merah. "It is a total shock, it brings back the pain," said his mother Latifa Ibn Ziaten, who launched an association to fight Islamic radicalisation after his death. Like other towns around the city of Rouen, Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray has a growing problem with radicalisation, she added. "There are a lot of families that come and see me because their children are radicalising," she said. Blantyre (Malawi): Malawi police have arrested an HIV-infected man who was paid to have sex with more than 100 adolescent girls as part of a traditional ritual marking their passage to womanhood, officials said on Tuesday. Eric Aniva, from the southern district of Nsanje, was held after giving a media interview confessing to have slept with the girls for a fee of between four and seven dollars, paid by each of their families. The little-known local practice lasts three days and is performed in southern Malawi by men known as "hyenas" at the request of a girl's parents after her first menstruation. The ritual is believed to train girls to become good wives and to protect them from disease or misfortune that could fall on their families or their village. "Aniva was arrested on Monday after he was summoned to my office," district commissioner Gift Lapozo told AFP. In a BBC interview broadcast last week, Aniva confessed to being infected with HIV and sleeping with at least 100 girls without using protection. "Some girls are just 12 or 13 years old, but I prefer them older," he said. "All these girls find pleasure in having me as their hyena. They actually are proud and tell other people that this man is a real man, he knows how to please a woman." It was unclear over how many years Aniva had been a "hyena". Malawian President Peter Mutharika had earlier issued a statement ordering Aniva's arrest and calling for an inquiry into the role of the parents involved. Aniva should "be investigated for exposing the young girls to contracting HIV and further be charged accordingly", Mutharika added. "Harmful cultural and traditional practices cannot be accepted." The sexual cleansing ritual is also performed on bereaved widows in Nsanje district to exorcise villages of evil spirits or to prevent another death occurring. Aniva, who has two wives and was reported to be in his 40s, said a "hyena" was selected by the community based on good morals and that custom did not allow him to use condoms. "There was nothing else I could have done," one girl told the BBC. "I had to do it for the sake of my parents. If I'd refused, my family members could be attacked with diseases, even death, so I was scared." Malawi, which has one of the highest HIV infections in the world, criminalises sex with a person under the age of 16. If found guilty of underage sex, Aniva could be imprisoned for life. At least eight people were killed on Tuesday when two huge bombs went off near Mogadishu's airport, including one close to the UN's political office in the Somali capital, a security source told AFP. An AFP journalist at the scene heard gunfire after the explosions tore through the area, one of which was believed to be a car bomb. According to Conflict News, two simultaneous suicide car bombs targeted checkpoints manned by Somali security near the airport entrance. UPDATE: Mogadishu airport attackers did not breach perimeter of airport. Casualties reported among security agents - @HarunMaruf Conflict News (@Conflicts) July 26, 2016 UPDATE: 2 simultaneous suicide car bombs targeted checkpoints manned by Somali security near airport entrance - @HarunMaruf Conflict News (@Conflicts) July 26, 2016 Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab has carried out a string of similar attacks. The city's airport is heavily fortified and adjoins the capital's main base for the African Union mission to Somalia, the 22,000-strong force backing the government in the battle against Shabaab insurgents. The jihadists were chased out of Mogadishu in 2011 but remain a serious threat in both Somalia and neighbouring Kenya, where they carry out frequent attacks. Witnesses have been tweeting about the blast. @HarunMaruf Huge explosion near Medina Gate at Aden Adde International Airport!! pic.twitter.com/IkiQFU9Azo Kamal Gutale (@KamalGutale) July 26, 2016 PHOTO: Another image of the massive explosion near Mogadishu airport #Somalia - @Goobjoognews pic.twitter.com/ypz1vzIuo1 Conflict News (@Conflicts) July 26, 2016 #Mogadishu Massive explosion around the airport area. It was massive that it felt like an earthquake pic.twitter.com/0I72dCQiFg Mo Shire (@Moshireh) July 26, 2016 Thick smoke seen billowing from the #Mogadishu Int'l Airport. The scene of a deadly twin blast. #Somalia. pic.twitter.com/1uMWADOH0C Abdulaziz Billow Ali (@AbdulBillowAli) July 26, 2016 Two huge explosion heard across #Mogadishu. First one is believed to have gone off outside #Somalia's main #airport, second one nearby. Abdulaziz Billow Ali (@AbdulBillowAli) July 26, 2016 Number of people were confirmed dead in the 2 suicide attacks at check Points outside of #Mogadishu airport. I can see rushing ambulances Mohamed Moalimuu (@MOALIMUU) July 26, 2016 (With inputs from AFP) North Korea's foreign minister said on Tuesday that its conducting of more nuclear tests depended on the behaviour of the United States, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. The minister, Ri Yong Ho, however, added that the US had destroyed the possibility of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. Ri said North Korea was a responsible nuclear state and would not use its atomic arms unless threatened, repeating its stated position. He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Laos. North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in January triggering the latest UN Security Council resolution with further sanctions on the isolated state. Pyongyang was seen to be in a state of readiness to conduct an additional nuclear test, according to South Korean officials and experts. "Any additional nuclear test depends on the position of the United States," Ri was quoted by Yonhap as telling reporters. Yonhap did not carry further comments by Ri, but in the past the North has demanded the withdrawal of US military from South Korea and an end to joint drills by US and South Korean forces involving nuclear-powered equipment. "As a responsible nuclear state, we will not recklessly resort to its use in the absence of substantive threat, unless we are threatened by invasion by another nuclear power state," he was quoted as saying. Ri added the North's leader Kim Jong-un has called for a peace treaty with the US to replace the armistice signed at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War and the removal of all US troops and equipment from the South. "This, we believe, is the only way," Ri said, according to Yonhap. Ri said earlier in remarks to the ASEAN conference that the North had made "an inevitable strategic decision that there is no other option but facing with nuclear deterrent the never ending nuclear blackmails of the US". The Korean penisula has been in a state of heightened tension following the North's fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch the next month that prompted the South and the United States to impose their own sanctions. Krakow: When Pope Francis arrives in Poland this week for World Youth Day, he will meet a nation still deeply committed to its conservative Catholic traditions and to the memory of St. John Paul II, who inspired this country's successful struggle against communism in the 1980s. But Francis will also find a nation under international censure for backtracking on some of its democratic gains, and a clergy deeply entwined with a ruling right-wing party that analysts say is out of sync with his philosophy of humility and mercy. "The (Polish) Church is a bit uneasy about this visit," said philosopher of religion, Zbigniew Mikolejko. "On one hand it would like to use the visit to strengthen its importance. On the other hand it is anxious because Francis' attitude is radically different from that of the Polish Church leaders, who want to have authority over the people's conscience and to have real power." Francis will find himself even more at odds with the nation's political leaders, who have shut the doors to refugees from the Middle East and Africa, arguing they need to ensure Poland's security. Ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, though Catholic, warned in 2015 that migrants arriving in Europe are a danger because they carry "parasites and protozoa." Messages like those mark a stark contrast to appeals by Francis for Europeans to welcome people fleeing war in the Middle East. The government is also at odds with Francis on climate change, bowing to Poland's powerful coalmining lobby. On the other hand, it has taken steps to help families and the poor, aligning with Francis' priorities in that area. The attitude of Poland's church, with a focus on doctrine, its attempts to fight Western secular values and its support for the ruling party's polices, has repelled some of the faithful. "We think that only we, in the lay, pagan Europe have preserved a vibrant Christianity," Father Leon Wisniewski, a Dominican Friar, recently wrote in an article critical of the Polish church in the progressive Catholic weekly Tygodnik Powszechny. Francis is coming to the heart of this faith, to Krakow, in southern Poland, where the Rev. Karol Wojtyla served as priest and bishop before becoming John Paul II. Through Sunday, Francis will be holding meetings with hundreds of thousands of young people as they celebrate World Youth Day, an event launched by John Paul. But Francis may not be able to avoid the issues of Poland's political and church life: his very first meetings after arrival Wednesday at Krakow's John Paul II airport are with Poland's President Andrzej Duda and with the bishops, at the historic royal Wawel Castle and at the Wawel Cathedral, which holds relics of St. John Paul II. Poland's Catholic Church recently celebrated 1,050 years of Christianity in Poland, marked by the baptism of a medieval king, a crucial religious and political event that tied the nation to Rome and to Latin, Western culture. Over 90 percent in this nation of 38 million declare themselves as Catholic, though not all are regular churchgoers. The Church enjoys a special position because of the key role that it played in preserving the nation's identity and culture during almost two centuries of partitions, two world wars and through decades of oppressive communist rule, when there was no independent political power in Poland. Under these circumstances, many Poles equate being Polish with being Catholic, which can have troubling implications for ethnic and religious minorities in the country. "Linking Catholicism to being Polish is an obstacle that prevents us from taking a respected place among the European nations which are pluralistic," Wisniewski wrote in Tygodnik Powszechny. Poland's traditional attachment to the Church and to religion is something that Francis is well aware of. "You are a nation that throughout its history has experienced so many trials, some particularly difficult, and has persevered through the power of faith, upheld by the maternal hands of the Virgin Mary," the pontiff said in a televised message to Poles last week. "I am certain that my pilgrimage to the shrine of Czestochowa (on Thursday) will immerse me in this proven faith and do me so much good." In a vivid sign of the nation's attachment to the Church, Poland's leading adventurer and explorer, Marek Kaminski, will scale one of the highest peaks in Poland's Tatra Mountains, Giewont, with stone slates bearing the Ten Commandments and will unfurl the World Youth Day's flag as Francis flies overhead into Poland on Wednesday. Poland's Catholic Church has long been a player in Poland's political life but this status grew in last year's presidential and general elections, when it encouraged the faithful to support Poland's traditional Catholic values, against European liberalism. That contributed to the victory of the pro-Church Law and Justice party, whose members declare attachment to Catholicism and listen to the bishops in their social policy. In recent months, Prime Minister Beata Szydlo has praised a civic initiative aimed at a total ban on abortion and has introduced bonuses to encourage couples into having many children. In his recent message to Poland, Francis praised its pro-family policy. But the government also turns a blind eye to church services being offered to far-right nationalist organisations, whose motto often is: "God, Honor, Motherland." "Many bishops have become ideologues of the ruling party," Mikolejko, a professor at Poland's Academy of Sciences, told The Associated Press. But that will herald trouble for the Church when the party eventually loses power, he said. The Church also risks being drawn into the government's conflict with its opponents in Poland and with some Western leaders and institutions over the Constitutional Tribunal, a top court recently paralysed by the ruling party's efforts to gain control of it. Some Western leaders have said that Poland's rule of law is threatened and the European Commission has opened scrutiny procedures, while tens of thousands of Poles have marched against the government's policy. "To many Poles the Church is no longer a spiritual leader, though years ago, under communism, it was the mainstay of truth and justice," Wisniewski wrote in the Catholic weekly. New York: Further needling India, Pakistan has demanded an independent inquiry into the "extrajudicial" killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani and claimed that the denial of "plebiscite" to Kashmiri people was behind the flare-up in the Valley. Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi met a Kashmiri delegation last week and said the country stands firm "in its principled policy of providing moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmir cause", according to a statement issued by Pakistan's Mission to the UN. Lodhi called for an "independent inquiry into the extrajudicial killing of Wani and protestors". She said Pakistan was actively pursuing the Kashmir issue at various forums at the United Nations. Denial of the "right of self determination" to the people of Kashmir through an "independent plebiscite", promised to them by various Security Council resolutions, was at the heart of the current flare-up, which threatened regional peace and security, Lodhi told the delegation as she called for the UN to implant its resolutions on Kashmir. The statement claimed that members of the Kashmiri delegation "appreciated Pakistan's consistent support and its efforts of taking up the issue" at different international forums. Lodhi has been raising the Kashmir issue and the killing of Wani in her various statements at the UN and in meetings with top officials at the world body. Lodhi briefed President of the Security Council for July Japanese Ambassador Koro Bessho, Ban's Chief of staff and Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman on the situation in Kashmir. Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz also wrote to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to "express Pakistan's serious concern on the alarming situation" and alleged human rights violation in Kashmir. India and Pakistan are witnessing growing bitterness after Pakistan and its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made provocative statements on the Kashmir situation in the wake of Wani's killing on 8 July. Not only did Sharif praise Wani but he also remarked that "Kashmir will one day become Pakistan", a comment which evoked a sharp reaction from External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who said his dream of the state becoming a part of his country "will not be realised even at the end of eternity". Philadelphia: Supporters of Bernie Sanders disrupted the first day of the Democratic convention on Monday, repeatedly chanting and booing mentions of Hillary Clinton's name as the party's hopes for a show of unity dissolved into frequent chaos. Speakers in the convention's first hours struggled to carry out business as angry Sanders supporters roared their disapproval, drawing a deafening response from Clinton delegates. "We're all Democrats and we need to act like it," US Representative Marcia Fudge of Ohio, the convention's chairwoman, shouted over the uproar. Earlier in the day, Sanders drew jeers from his own supporters when he urged his delegates to back the White House bid of his former rival, Clinton, and focus on defeating Republican Donald Trump in the 8 November presidential election. "We want Bernie," they shouted in a show of anger at both Clinton's victory in the race for the Democratic nomination and emails leaked on Friday suggesting the party leadership had tried to sabotage Sanders' insurgent campaign. For months, Sanders, 74, a US senator from Vermont, mounted an unexpectedly tough challenge to Clinton, 68, a former secretary of state, who this week will become the first woman nominated for president by a major US political party. The scenes of booing in Philadelphia were a setback to Democratic officials' attempts to present the gathering as a smoothly run show of party unity in contrast to the volatile campaign of Republican nominee Trump. Sanders tried to head off the disruptions, sending an email to delegates as the convention opened urging them to refrain from interrupting the proceedings. "Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays. That's what the corporate media wants. That's what Donald Trump wants," Sanders said in the email. Trump gloated at the Democrats' opening day disorder. He tweeted: Wow, the Republican Convention went so smoothly compared to the Dems total mess. But fear not, the dishonest media will find a good spinnnn! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2016 'Sincere apology' The Democratic National Committee issued "a deep and sincere apology to Senator Sanders, his supporters, and the entire Democratic Party for the inexcusable remarks made over email" and said it would take action to ensure it never happens again. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned effective at the end of the convention over the email flap. At a morning gathering of Florida delegates, Sanders supporters booed Wasserman Schultz, who they accuse of trying to sabotage the campaign of the democratic socialist. Sanders, speaking later to his delegates in Philadelphia, drew jeers and catcalls when he urged supporters to help defeat Trump by backing Clinton and her vice presidential running mate, US senator Tim Kaine of Virginia. "Brothers and sisters, this is the real world that we live in," he said, adding: "Trump is a bully and a demagogue." Members of the crowd screamed back: So is Hillary. "She stole the election!" someone else shouted. Sanders complained bitterly during the primary that the party leadership was working against him. Some of his backers are reluctant to get behind Clinton, seeing her as a member of the Washington political elite who pays lip service to their goals of reining in Wall Street and eradicating income inequality. Speakers pleaded for unity among the competing supporters. Diane Russell, a Sanders delegate from Maine, said the party had to come together to beat Trump. "Whether you support Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton, we're all in this together," she said. US senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the only senator to endorse Sanders, said supporters of the two former rivals had plenty in common. "Whether you spent this year feeling the Bern or you spent this year ready for Hillary, all of us are ready for an America that rejects discrimination and embraces diversity, that celebrates voter empowerment not voter suppression, that creates opportunity for all of us, not just the lucky few," he said. While Sanders has endorsed Clinton, the former first lady faces a difficult task winning over his backers in the fight against Trump. The New York businessman pulled ahead in at least one opinion poll on Monday, after lagging Clinton in most national surveys for months. A CNN/ORC opinion poll gave Trump a 48 percent to 45 percent lead over Clinton in a two-way presidential contest. Trump was formally nominated for president at a chaotic Republican convention in Cleveland last week. Sanders was among those due to speak on the first evening of the Democratic convention. Other scheduled speakers included President Barack Obama's wife, first lady Michelle Obama. 'Democracy is messy' Ed Mullen, 49, a delegate from Illinois, said he supported Sanders but would vote for Clinton in November. He said the protesters at the convention had a right to stay. "Democracy is messy, people have disputes with how the DNC has managed this campaign," Mullen said. Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman, was the focus of anger from liberal Democrats over some 19,000 DNC emails that were leaked by the WikiLeaks website that showed the party establishment working to undermine Sanders. The cache of leaked emails disclosed that DNC officials explored ways to undercut Sanders' insurgent presidential campaign, including raising questions about whether Sanders, who is Jewish, was an atheist. Sanders supporters were already dismayed last week when Clinton passed over liberal favourites like US senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to select the more moderate Kaine as her running mate. The Clinton camp questioned whether Russians may have had a hand in the hack attack on the party's emails in an effort to help Trump, who has exchanged words of praise with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Republicans dismissed the suggestion as absurd. The FBI said on Monday it would investigate the nature and scope of the hack. LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Record temperatures in the first half of 2016 have taken scientists by surprise despite widespread recognition that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense, the director of the World Climate Research Programme said. The earth is on track for its hottest year on record with June marking the 14th straight month of record heat, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said last week. Temperatures recorded mainly in the northern hemisphere in the first six months of the year, coupled with an early and fast Arctic sea ice melt and "new highs" in heat-trapping carbon dioxide levels, point to quickening climate change, it said. In a further announcement on Tuesday, the U.N. agency said it would examine whether a temperature of 54 degrees Celsius (129 degrees Fahrenheit) reported in Kuwait last Thursday was a new high for the eastern hemisphere and Asia. "What concerns me most is that we didn't anticipate these temperature jumps," said David Carlson, director of the WMO's climate research programme, late on Monday. "We predicted moderate warmth for 2016, but nothing like the temperature rises we've seen," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone from Geneva. "Massive temperature hikes, but also extreme events like floodings, have become the new normal," Carlson said. "The ice melt rates recorded in the first half of 2016, for example we don't usually see those until later in the year." He said sudden temperature rises could endanger people, animals and water systems. "Also critical is the fact that people survive the heat by using more energy for cooling, thus further depleting the world's resources," Carlson said. PREDICTING THE NEW NORMAL Carlson said although "the uncertainty surrounding extreme weather events can be used to deny or avoid the issue of climate change," their increased frequency has drawn greater attention from the international community. "The question is shifting from 'has the climate changed?' to 'by how much?'," he said. "Statistically we need to get better at predicting not only how frequent and intense these events will be but how long they will last." Key to understanding extreme weather will be the availability of data across the globe, Carlson said. "We have good data for North America and Europe on precipitation for example but just don't have enough records in Central Africa, Central America and the Arctic." Carlson called for global leaders to put climate action higher on national agendas following the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels. "The world leaders making serious commitments to tackle climate change are currently few and far between," he said. However, action at the government level will only happen with pressure from citizens themselves, he added. "The Clean Air Act, for example, that was all won by the people," Carlson said, referring to a U.S. law designed to increase pollution controls on vehicles and manufacturers. (Reporting by Zoe Tabary @zoetabary, editing by Katie Nguyen. 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 news.trust.org/climate) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Abu Dhabi: The world's first round-the-world flight to be powered solely by the sun's energy made history on Tuesday as it landed in Abu Dhabi, where it first took off on an epic 40,000 kilometre journey that began more than a year ago. Since its March 2015 take off, the Swiss-engineered Solar Impulse 2 has made 16 stops across the world without using a drop of fuel to demonstrate that using the plane's clean technologies on the ground can halve the world's energy consumption, save natural resources and improve quality of life. "Our mission now is to continue to motivate people, corporations and governments to use these same solutions on the ground wherever they make sense," Solar Impulse chairman and pilot, Bertrand Piccard, said in a statement ahead of landing the plane in Abu Dhabi. The aircraft is uniquely powered by 17,248 solar cells that transfer energy to four electrical motors that power the plane's propellers. It runs on four lithium polymer batteries at night. The plane's wingspan stretches 236 feet (72 metres) to catch the sun's energy. At around 2,300 kilograms, the plane weighs about as much as a minivan or mid-sized truck. An empty Boeing 747, in comparison, weighs 1,80,000 kilograms. To help steady it during takeoffs and landings, the plane was guided by runners and bicyclists. Despite its historic mission, the Solar Impluse 2's journey was far from a quick or problem-free. The pilots faced a nine-month delay a year ago after the plane's batteries were damaged during a flight from Japan to Hawaii. It was also delayed for more than a week in Cairo ahead of its final flight to Abu Dhabi when Piccard fell ill, and due to poor weather conditions. Over its entire mission, Solar Impluse 2 completed more than 500 flight hours, cruising at an average speed of between 45 kmh and 90 kmh. It made stops in Oman, India, Myanmar, China, Japan, the US, Spain, Italy, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Its North American stops included California, Arizona, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. In a statement this week, Borschberg said it is no longer a question of whether it's possible to fly without fuel or polluting emissions. "By flying around the world thanks to renewable energy and clean technologies, we have demonstrated that we can now make our world more energy efficient," he said. Vientiane: Vietnam aims to settle its territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea through bilateral negotiations even though it doesn't rule out applying international laws, as the Philippines did in its recent arbitration victory, the deputy foreign minister said on Tuesday. "Our consistent policy is to settle disputes through peaceful means in accordance with national laws and United Nations (conventions and laws), and we attach quite (a lot of) importance to bilateral negotiations," Le Hoai Trung told The Associated Press. "For us, all means of peaceful settlement are important. All means. So you can count (international arbitration) but we attach importance to bilateral negotiations," he said in the interview on the sidelines of a regional security meeting being hosted by Laos. "The important factor is you need to have the goodwill, and you need to base your claims on international law, the relevant international law," he said. China claims almost all of the resource-rich South China Sea on historical grounds, overlapping with claims by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. Only Philippines has taken its dispute to The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, which ruled in its favor earlier this month on the basis of the 1982 UN Conventions on the Laws of the Sea. China, however, does not accept the tribunal's authority over the matter and has rejected the ruling. The ruling should embolden all claimants now that they know the international law does not favor China. Yet, the four Southeast Asian countries, which have little clout in the face of China's might, are reluctant to escalate tensions by internationalizing the dispute. At a meeting of the foreign ministers of 10 Southeast Asian nations on Sunday, even the Philippines was reluctant to have the grouping rebuke China, and in several forums said its dispute had nothing to do with the region, according to diplomats who attended the closed-door meetings. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak with the media. The continuing conciliatory tone toward China was evident in Trung's comments. "We should use everything that we have to promote friendship and promote negotiations. And not to look at it as who has won or who has lost. So, self-restraint. And try to move forward ... guided by constructive and positive spirit and work for friendship," he said. A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden car outside the United Nations Mine Action Service offices in Mogadishu, killing 10 people, including seven UN guards, a Somali police official said on Tuesday. Unlike previous attacks blamed on the al-Qaeda-linked militant group al-Shabab, gunmen did not accompany the suicide bomber, Captain Mohamed Hussein said. He said that the suicide car bomber tried to speed through the barrier at the UN office but guards shot at the car. Hussein said a second suicide blast targeted a checkpoint manned by Somali security forces near the African Union base in Mogadishu. Casualties there remain unclear. Witnesses have been tweeting about the blast. @HarunMaruf Huge explosion near Medina Gate at Aden Adde International Airport!! pic.twitter.com/IkiQFU9Azo Kamal Gutale (@KamalGutale) July 26, 2016 PHOTO: Another image of the massive explosion near Mogadishu airport #Somalia - @Goobjoognews pic.twitter.com/ypz1vzIuo1 Conflict News (@Conflicts) July 26, 2016 #Mogadishu Massive explosion around the airport area. It was massive that it felt like an earthquake pic.twitter.com/0I72dCQiFg Mo Shire (@Moshireh) July 26, 2016 Thick smoke seen billowing from the #Mogadishu Int'l Airport. The scene of a deadly twin blast. #Somalia. pic.twitter.com/1uMWADOH0C Abdulaziz Billow Ali (@AbdulBillowAli) July 26, 2016 Two huge explosion heard across #Mogadishu. First one is believed to have gone off outside #Somalia's main #airport, second one nearby. Abdulaziz Billow Ali (@AbdulBillowAli) July 26, 2016 Number of people were confirmed dead in the 2 suicide attacks at check Points outside of #Mogadishu airport. I can see rushing ambulances Mohamed Moalimuu (@MOALIMUU) July 26, 2016 Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the blasts, according to the group's Andalus radio station. Al-Shabab is waging an insurgency against Somalia's weak UN-backed government. Al-Shabab wants to establish an Islamic emirate in the country based on a strict form of Islam. Eight soldiers were killed when an al-Shabab suicide car bomber targeted a Somalia military training camp and attackers then entered the base on foot earlier this month. (With inputs from AP) Beirut: Syrian government forces on Tuesday captured new ground on the northwestern edge of the city of Aleppo, tightening the siege on rebel-held parts of the metropolis where some 300,000 people live, activists said. The Syrian army also called on the opposition fighters to drop their weapons and give themselves up to authorities. The push in which troops captured large parts of the city's Layramoun area came as state TV reported that the General Army Command informed residents of rebel-held parts of Aleppo via telephone text messages that the army has created several safe passages and makeshift centers for whoever wants to leave those areas. The army said it will keep providing Aleppo residents with basic necessities, but called all those living in rebel-held parts of the city to kick out "mercenaries and foreign fighters." Syrian government forces and their allies have been on the offensive around the Aleppo, Syria's largest city and once its commercial center, for weeks. Since earlier this month, they have tightened their siege and residents in rebel-held parts have been reporting food shortages. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees reported intense fighting and airstrikes before the capture of Layramoun areas. Lebanese Hezbollah group's Al-Manar TV aired footage of government forces pushing in what appeared to be an industrial area near Aleppo. The station confirmed that President Bashar Assad's forces capture of areas in Layramoun and near Castello road, the main link between rebel-held parts of Aleppo with the rest of the country. Earlier today, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that recent US-Russia discussions should encourage moderate Syrian opposition groups to leave areas occupied by al-Qaida's branch in Syria, thus helping to implement a truce. Lavrov spoke to Russian news agencies after talks in Laos with US Secretary of State John Kerry, who visited Moscow earlier this month. Moscow and Washington have differed over the role of the Nusra Front, al-Qaida's branch in Syria, with Russian calling the group terrorists and the US asking Russia not to target them for fear of hitting the moderate opposition. Berlin: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed European leaders as "insincere" and said reintroducing the death penalty was the will of the people in an interview with German public broadcaster ARD that was aired late Monday. Erdogan, who is conducting a sweeping purge of suspected sympathizers of the attempted coup on 15-16July, said that "European leaders are insincere" for failing to uphold their commitments in a deal to stop migrants from entering Europe. The Turkish leader said that the European Union had transferred up to 2 million euros (2.2 million dollars) of the 3 billion euros it promised to Ankara in exchange for the return of migrants to Turkey. He also said that the EU had failed to follow through on its pledge to lift visa requirements for Turkish citizens. Erdogan justified the death penalty by saying the government's attempt to reintroduce it was in line with the will of the Turkish people and that the punishment existed "almost everywhere" except Europe. "If we are in a democratic state of law, the people decide. And what are the people saying today? They want the death penalty to be reintroduced," Erdogan told ARD. "Europe is the only place where there is no death penalty. It exists almost everywhere else," he added. The interview was widely derided by German editorialists as a PR coup for Erdogan. The ARD's "feeble" interview questions resulted in a "guaranteed PR coup" for Erdogan, whose "supporters in Germany will be delighted at how well the Turkish president was able to sell himself," according to an editorial in the conservative FAZ newspaper. "One gets the impression that the [interviewer] handled Erdogan with kid gloves. That's no way to get to someone like Erdogan," an editorial in WAZ, Germany's biggest regional newspaper, said. WASHINGTON The chairman of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee called on the Obama administration on Monday to ask Congress for more money to fund its plans for Iraq and Afghanistan, amid expectations of a defence budget battle when lawmakers return to Washington this fall. "The administration needs to come over with a supplemental (budget request)," Republican Representative Mac Thornberry said at a roundtable discussion with reporters shortly after returning from a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan. He said U.S. and allied forces were making progress in Afghanistan and in the fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq, but that stiff challenges remained in both campaigns. Thornberry and other congressional Republicans have been saying President Barack Obama must formally request additional funds for the fiscal year that starts on Oct. 1 since he announced plans earlier this month to send more troops to Iraq and keep more in Afghanistan than had been expected. The request for more troops, without a plan to pay for them, added another wrinkle to the simmering dispute between the Republican-led Congress and the Democratic administration over spending. Obama has threatened to veto a $602 billion defence policy bill because of its use of special funds for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to avoid mandatory budget limits. Democrats say the Department of Defence should be subject to the same spending restrictions as nonmilitary programs. Republicans accuse Democrats of stinting on national security in order to fund pet domestic projects. "That is holding our military hostage," Thornberry said. The congressman said he had had no official numbers from the Pentagon but that he had been told it faces roughly $6 billion more in expenses than when the administration made its budget request earlier this year. He said military commanders in Afghanistan were grappling with how to handle Obama's plan to reduce the number of troops in Afghanistan to 8,448 by December 31 from about 9,800 currently. They are looking into using more contractors and whether some functions can be moved out of Afghanistan, Thornberry said. Defence Secretary Ash Carter has said the Pentagon was evaluating how to proceed, comparing its estimated costs with what is already in its budgets. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. VIENTIANE: After months of confrontations in the South China Sea and days of high-stakes diplomacy, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday the time has arrived to "move away from the public tensions and turn the page." Kerry met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on Monday on the sidelines of a regional gathering of Southeast Asian countries. China had scored a diplomatic victory when a watered-down joint statement from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations did not criticize China for its actions in the South China Sea and did not mention a tribunal ruling that eviscerated China's historic claims to the waters. Kerry said at a news conference that the US is not taking sides on the substance of maritime disputes from countries such as the Philippines, which took the case to the tribunal in The Hague, but believes "rule of law must be upheld." China has said it will ignore the ruling, which it deems illegitimate. It leaned on Cambodia and other close allies to prevent Asean from making a critical statement, saying the disputes should be handled in one-on-one negotiations and not by the regional bloc. But with The Hague ruling in the past, Kerry said he and Wang agreed it is time to lower the temperature. Kerry flies to Manila on Tuesday and is scheduled to meet with the Philippines new president, Rodrigo Duterte, on Wednesday. He said he will urge Duterte to negotiate with Beijing. "Hopefully this can become a moment that we can all take advantage of, where we work out some of the modalities of how do you deal with the fishing? How do you deal with natural resources? How do you deal with the movement, the free movement of vessels and protect the rights of everybody?" Kerry said. "This could be a very important moment of shifting how this discussion is taking place and not being played out through public moves unilaterally and challenges, but in a constructive and thoughtful, engaged diplomatic manner." Philippines Secretary of Foreign Affairs Perfecto Yasay Jr. said Duterte had sent him to Laos with simple instructions. "I was just conscious of the fact that our president had said that whatever we will do, we will not violate the law, we will uphold the constitution and we will promote the paramount national interest," Yasay said. Wang emphasized earlier that the Philippines' previous administration brought the case to the tribunal suggesting an opening with Duterte, who took office in June. The dramatic resignation of Nepal's (now former) prime minister KP Oli's with a two-hour long speech in the Nepali parliament moments before facing the vote of no confidence brought jointly by the Maoists led by Prachanda (the leader of the erstwhile rebels in the decade-long armed conflict from 1996-2006) and the Nepali Congress has brought renewed focus on the India-Nepal relationship. Coverage in the Indian media has mostly sought to place this asa victory of the Indian establishment and a recalibration of Nepal away from Beijing's sphere of influence and back to New Delhi's orbit. But, is that really the case? Brief background The 8th Prime Minister of Nepal this decade, KP Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninists) became the 38th Prime Minister of Nepal and the first prime minister under the Constitution of Nepal (2015) in October 2015 as the head of a motley coalition which included the Maoists led by Prachanda, monarchists and various small parties. As prime minister, Oli's government faced the immediate twin challenges of: (i) implementing the contested new Constitution which envisages a federal Nepal (ii) managing the rehabilitation and reconstruction after the devastating earthquake of April 2015 Why change the government? Any reading of the current change of Nepal's government would not be complete without mentioning the transitional justice process currently underway in Nepal. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) have received numerous complaints against both the security forces and the erstwhile Maoist rebels for serious violations of human rights committed during the armed conflict (1996-2006) which claimed over 16,000 lives. Given the trial of Nepalese army colonel Kumar Lama over torture allegations in the United Kingdom and the prospect of prosecution within Nepal, the Maoist leadership is definitely alarmed with regards to conflict-era cases and is definitely a driving force for the change of government, as evidenced by point three of the seven-point agreement between the Nepali Congress and the Maoists to topple the Oli-led government.Despite being a part of Oli's government, the Maoists believed that Oli was supporting the work of the Commissions to eventually recommend for prosecution against the Maoists. In addition, the change of guard has also been widely seen as a government change with Indian blessings, and a move that may have finally reintroduced India's influence in Nepal and therefore, brought the India-Nepal equation back 'on track'. India-Nepal Relations: Equals or big brother-small brother? Indian foreign policy has always considered Nepal to be within its sphere of influence and as India as a sort of 'bada bhai'. Of course, it is sometimes masked as "caring elder brother" as was mentioned by India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in the Indian Parliament. Regardless of the terminology used, as a landlocked least developed country with China and India as its only neighbours, Nepalese foreign policy has mostly been in consonance with Indian interests. With the overwhelming cultural similarities and historical ties, India has always had more influence in Nepal than China has. However, this influence has often been seen as meddling in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation and India has often been accused of micromanaging the politics of Nepal. In fact, the Indian Ambassador to Nepal is often jokingly referred to as the 'Governor of Nepal' in political circles and regularly meets with Nepal's political leaders; something that would just not be considered in other sovereign countries. Other historical issues between the nations include various 'unequal' treaties including the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1950, the accusations of border encroachment by India in places like Susta and Lipulekh. The incorporation of Sikkim into the Union of India in 1975 (See 35th Amendment to the Constitution of India) is also often used by nationalists within Nepal to demonise India as wanting to eventually claim sovereignty over Nepal as well. While that might be an extreme case of fear-mongering, the feeling among the Nepalese citizens is that the Indian establishment has almost always got its way in their country. The (2015) and the current state of India-Nepal relations After the promulgation of the Constitution of Nepal in September 2015, there have been protests by Madhesis alleging discrimination. This led to a constitutional amendment in January 2016; but resentment over the demarcation of federal boundaries still remains. For its part, India tried to delay the promulgation of the Constitution by sending Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar at the eleventh hour, but that was rebuffed by the Nepalese parties. Consequently, India was believed to have actively aided the obstructions along the India-Nepal border leading to massive fuel shortages in Nepal. In addition, for the first time India took a stand against Nepal at the UN Human Rights Council of November, 2015 during Nepal's Universal Periodic Review suggesting that: - The Nepal government should consolidate the constitution building and democratization process by accommodating all sections of Nepal to enable broad-based ownership and participation. - It should ensure effective functioning of Truth and Reconciliation Commission and full implementation of its recommendations, including prosecution of those responsible for violent insurgency. India also brought a statement regarding Nepal at the EU-India joint statement of March 2016, stating the "need for a lasting and inclusive constitutional settlement in Nepal that will address the remaining Constitutional issues in a time bound manner, and promote political stability and economic growth." This brought out a strongly worded rebuke from the Nepalese Foreign Ministry, that responded by stating: "EU-India Joint Statement not only hurts the sentiments of the people of Nepal but also defies the fundamental principle of non-interference in internal affairs of a country in breach of UN Charter and norms of international law. The Government of Nepal calls on all to fully respect the sovereign and democratic rights of the people of Nepal and refrain from making uncalled for statements" Thus, it is quite clear that India-Nepal relations have been at their lowest since the economic blockade of 1989 by Rajiv Gandhi's government. Is Nepal then moving into China's orbit? In the context of a lack of help from India, hardships caused by the 'blockade' and continuing protests by Madhesis against the Constitution, Oli has surprised most observers by managing to head the government for nine months. During this time, at the heights of the fuel crisis, he also signed trade and transit agreements with China. These agreements have often been used to suggest, especially in India that 'India has lost Nepal to China'. However, that does not truly reflect the geopolitical, socio-cultural and economic reality of the India-Nepal and Nepal-China relationship. With over five million Nepalese citizens in India, a significant minority of Nepali speaking Indian citizens, the continued service of Nepalese citizens in the Indian Army and the significant marital relations among the populations, the India-Nepal relationship is a unique one. Yet, none of this should mask the fact that Nepal is a sovereign country, and any interference in its internal affairs, specifically in something as critical as constitution drafting cannot be the basis for a good relationship. The signing of transit agreements with China does not eliminate Nepal's dependence on trade routes from India. It merely seeks to create an alternative means for trade with the hope of reducing Nepal's complete dependency on a single neighbour. As stated by Oli himself during his resignation speech: "The relations between Nepal and China and the relations between Nepal and India are unique which cannot be compared with one another." Oli's government was instrumental in the creation of an Eminent Peoples Group comprising members from India and Nepal to review all the treaties and agreements signed between Nepal and India including the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1950. This seeks to normalise relations and is a good step that will hopefully be continued by the new government. Nepal-watchers in India should understand that Nepal can never be lost to China; it can only be lost by India. Accordingly, Nepal's efforts in seeking alternative trade routes do not signify a long-term shift in Nepal's policies towards its neighbours. It should be seen more in terms of an economic need by a landlocked country to have options with regards to trade and economic development. File image of Prachanda, the man likely to return to power as Prime Minister of Nepal. Screen grab from YouTube New government: Conducive to Indian interests? Though commentary in the Indian media has hailed the change of government in Nepal as a victory for India's foreign policy, it is still too quick to pass that verdict. In today's time, foreign policy also has the component of public perception, and Nepalese citizens have been keenly watching the developments re the change in government. Oli was widely reviled by a section of the Madhesi protestors for his insensitive remarks regarding their protests against the Constitution. Therefore, the change of government has also created the prospect of finally bringing on board the still-protesting parties as well. However, another significant section of the Nepalese population hails Oli as the leader who stood up to India as evidenced by his parliament speech where he stated that "Nepal needs to have equidistant relationship with its neighbours.We respect the sensitivity of both our neighbours and we also expect the same from them However, we cannot accept interference in our internal affairs though we want good relations with our neighbours". Therefore, it is certain that the actions of the new government will be keenly scrutinised to watch for evidence of Indian meddling or bowing to Indian interests. While New Delhi might have more say with the new government supposed to be comprised of Maoists and the Nepali Congress it has a long way to go to regain the popular adulation and positive vibes that was seen in Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's first visit to Nepal in August 2014 and during India's humanitarian response following the April 2015 earthquake. A public perception of micro management and internal meddling by Indian authorities needs to stop if the two governments are to reach the same heights that exist in the special relationship between the citizens of both countries. The change of government is therefore an opportunity to recalibrate this relationship and reflect on the special bond that exists between these equal sovereign nations. The author is Kathmandu-based teacher and practicing lawyer ABTA is estimating that 2.3 million people will be heading abroad this weekend (22- 24 July), as the majority of schools break up for the summer holidays. The Western Mediterranean is the most popular destination for British holidaymakers heading overseas. Airports across the country are reporting high numbers departing this weekend, with some airports in the South East seeing an almost 7% increase in travellers over the entire summer holiday period. 530,000 people will be leaving from Heathrow, 350,000 from Gatwick, 128,000 from Stansted and 80,000 from Luton. Across the country, 60,000 are expected to fly from Birmingham, 55,000 from Newcastle and 15,000 from Cardiff. The Eurostar, ferry ports and the Channel Tunnel are also expecting a busy weekend. The Western Mediterranean is set to be the most popular destination for holidaymakers this summer, with significant increases in bookings* to certain destinations including Portugal (23% increase year on year), Spain (22%) and Cyprus (16%). Greece continues to be popular with bookings for summer up 5% year on year. Long haul destinations, including the USA and Mexico, have also performed well, with Florida remaining a top summer family destination, Gatwick Airport is reporting an 19% increase in long haul destinations. City breaks across Europe are also proving popular. Following a drop in the value of the pound, staycations have also seen a boost with ABTA Members reporting an increase in bookings made in the weeks since the Referendum. The traditional beach break is leading the way for domestic holidaymakers with Devon, Cornwall and the Channel Islands seeing strong sales. Mark Tanzer, ABTA Chief Executive, said "This weekend is one of the busiest in the travel calendar, with millions heading away for the start of the school summer holidays. While most of the those heading away will have booked some time ago, those looking for last minute deals should always book with an ABTA Member so they can travel with confidence." About ABTA ABTA has been a trusted travel brand for over 65 years. Our purpose is to help our Members to grow their businesses successfully and sustainably, and to help their customers travel with confidence. The ABTA brand stands for support, protection and expertise. This means consumers have confidence in ABTA and a strong trust in ABTA Members. These qualities are core to us as they ensure that holidaymakers remain confident in the holiday products that they buy from our Members. We help our Members and their customers navigate through today's changing travellandscape by raising standards in the industry; offering schemes of financial protection; providing an independent complaints resolution service should something go wrong; giving guidance on issues from sustainability to health and safety and by presenting a united voice to government to ensure the industry and the public get a fair deal. ABTA currently has around 1,200 Members, with a combined annual UK turnover of 32.07 billion. For more details about what we do, what being an ABTA Member means and how we help the British public travel with confidence visitwww.abta.com. Panos Thomakos tornosnews tornosnews View source Arizona recently passed a bill that outlaws cities and municipalities from prohibiting short-term rentals, such as Airbnb rentals. The Airbnb platform allows anyone to rent out a room or an entire home to travelers as a way to make additional income. Some see the potential this bill offers to the tourism industry, while others aren't happy about having to deal with different neighbors regularly. This brings up the question of whether other states will follow Arizona's lead and if Airbnb become "totally legal" in the U.S. The main underlying legal issues with Airbnb is the government's lack of tax collection from short-term rental businesses and the threat to hotels. Neighbors, however, are more concerned with being disrupted by partying travelers and the disregard for zoning laws. Efforts have been made by Airbnb to resolve these issues by collecting a tax and verifying guests before accepting reservations. How other areas are dealing with Airbnb Arizona is not the only state that has attempted regulating Airbnb. In February 2016, Chicago adopted a 4.5 percent hotel tax that is included in the price of a Chicago Airbnb listing. Although this addition was made in an attempt to be fair to hotels, it clarified matters for Airbnb hosts and helped Chicago continue to have a high Airbnb occupancy rate compared to other cities. In 2014, Airbnb's hometown San Francisco, also made short-term rentals legal, with certain restrictions such as limiting spaces to be rented up to 90 days per year if the owner is not present. In 2015, another amendment was proposed to reduce the limit to 75 days but was not passed. In June 2016, a new law was endorsed that holds platforms accountable for not verifying if hosts are registered with the city, which is a requirement for short-term rentals. The battle between San Francisco and Airbnb has dragged on, but Airbnb has persisted in compromising with these proposals and will likely continue to do so. Cities generally have regulations about licensing and paying taxes, but it's a question of how significant strictly enforced the rules are. Cities without significant restrictions include Savannah, Louisville and San Diego. Airbnb has listed on regulations and rules for certain cities on its website to encourage responsible hosting. What happens with Airbnb will have a far-reaching impact The issue of legalizing Airbnb is an international topic. The European Union (EU) recently expressed its support for technology services such as Airbnb and Uber. In its non-legally binding guidelines, it explains restrictions made on such services should commensurate with public interest such as safety or social policy, and banning such services should be the last resort. Perhaps this will encourage the U.S. to show similar support. If short-term rentals were to become illegal in the U.S., the effect would go beyond inhibiting travelers and hosts it would also affect many businesses. Pricing companies and consulting websites are based on the existence of short-term rentals. Property management and cleaning companies have gained Airbnb rentals as a major source of revenue. Other companies have helped investors find investment properties to list exclusively on Airbnb as the lucrativeness of Airbnb properties has become more apparent. Being an Airbnb host and in accordance with the law can be very tricky, with confusing and varying laws. Arizona's bill has at least relieved hosts who now know they can run their rental business without getting in trouble, even if it requires paying taxes or applying for a license. It doesn't look like Airbnb is going anywhere, so perhaps more states will pass similar bills to rid of peoples' fears of being penalized and encourage them to follow regulations. GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here. Tensions are rising in Afghanistan after a suicide attack claimed by the Islamic State killed more than 80 members of a minority Shiite group, and IS's top commander for the country threatened more violence to punish Afghan Shi'ites for fighting alongside the Syrian regime. The suicide attack Saturday, the deadliest in Kabul since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban regime, targeted a rally by thousands of Hazaras, a predominantly Shi'ite ethnic group that was demanding the government reroute a planned power line through its impoverished region. More than 200 people were wounded in the bombing. A statement posted Saturday on a website linked to IS said the attack was carried out by two IS fighters and was meant to warn the Hazaras against joining the Syrian government in its fight against the terror group. This is an apparent reference to reports that Iran is covertly training men from the estimated 3 million Afghan refugees it hosts and sending them to Syria to fight alongside government forces. IS's self-styled commander for Afghanistan, Abu Omar Khurasani, warned that more attacks were coming. "Unless they stop going to Syria and stop being slaves of Iran, we will definitely continue such attacks," the militant commander told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location. "We can and we will strike them again." However, Afghan Shi'ite leaders have distanced themselves from reports of Hazaras fighting in Syria and say the attacks were more likely aimed at igniting a sectarian conflict in Afghanistan than altering the battlefield in Syria. "Clearly, Daesh [IS] sees the Hazara people and Shi'ites as their primary enemy, and it is possible that they want to start a sectarian war to break up the country as they have done in Iraq and Syria," Khodadad Erfani, a prominent Shi'ite member of Afghanistan's parliament, said in an interview. Not sectarian battles IS and its precursor, al-Qaida in Iraq, have used anti-Shi'ism, a pillar of their religious ideology, to rally the Sunni populations of Iraq and Syria and to sow sectarianism in Yemen by targeting Shi'ite mosques. Afghanistan, a Sunni-majority Muslim country, has endured four decades of continuous warfare. But unlike neighboring Pakistan, with a long history of sectarian violence, and the wars in Iraq and Syria, the conflicts in Afghanistan have been fueled mostly by ideological and ethnic cleavages rather than Shia-Sunni sectarianism. "Sectarianism has not been a major fault line of the conflict in Afghanistan," said Barnett Rubin, a leading expert on Afghanistan at New York University who has written extensively about the country's ethnic politics. "To the extent that there are internal fault lines in Afghan politics, they've been around ideology or ethnicity." A spate of anti-Hazara attacks in recent years had failed to trigger a violent response. Taliban distances itself Rubin said the Taliban denunciation of the Saturday bombing, as well as previous anti-Hazara attacks, was significant. "They also do not want to turn this into a sectarian war," he said. The Taliban see IS as a spoiler and have waged a bloody campaign against the group over the past year in an attempt to demonstrate its bona fides as the largest insurgent movement fighting the Afghan government and its American backers. "There is really no space for [IS]," Rubin said. "It's hard to see what political function Daesh would have in Afghanistan. Who would it appeal to? It doesn't appeal to anyone. It doesn't fulfill any function." Rubin said the Shi'ite community's measured response to those attacks may be explained by a belief that the attacks for the most part were carried out by non-Afghan actors. Hazara leaders may also fear losing significant political gains they've made since the overthrow of the Taliban. "Their leadership understand that the well-being and security of the Hazara population in Afghanistan depends on maintaining the unity of this government because this is the best situation Hazaras have had in the history of Afghanistan," Rubin said, referring to the Hazara political representation in government. Shiite leaders work to lower tensions In the aftermath of Saturday's attack, Hazara leaders sought to cool tempers. The country's two top Shi'ite officials, Vice President Sarwar Danish and Deputy CEO Haji Mohammad Mohaqqeq, called for calm and urged Shi'ites to cooperate with security forces. Tensions have risen to unprecedented levels, Danish told a gathering of prominent Shi'ite leaders on Sunday before urging them to avoid "finger pointing" and "factional and regional hatred." Rather than couched in sectarian terms, much of the Hazara rage has been aimed at the government of President Ashraf Ghani, with many young Hazaras taking to social media to vent. "The attack was shocking to the people and they're blaming the government for failing to maintain their security," Erfani said. Further attacks are likely as an ongoing Afghan ground assault, backed by U.S. airstrikes, chips away at IS's stronghold in eastern Afghanistan. On Monday, an Afghan official said security forces had killed more than 120 IS militants, including senior commanders, in eastern Nangarhar province. "I'm afraid that's entirely possible because you don't need a large organization to carry out these attacks," Rubin said. More violence could inflame tensions between Hazaras, until recently a persecuted minority, and Pashtuns, historically the country's politically dominant ethnic group. "Whatever vestigial or suppressed anger and hatred there may be in a society, events like this stimulate it and bring it out," Rubin said. Erfani remained hopeful that an ethnic and sectarian conflict could be avoided. "Their main target may be Shi'ites, but they have not spared other ethnicities," Erfani said of an IS campaign that has killed hundreds of Pashtuns in eastern Afghanistan. "And I think as long as the people Pashtuns, Hazaras, Tajiks, Uzbeks show unity and take a stand against Daesh, Daesh will not succeed in Afghanistan." Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ordered an investigation Tuesday into alleged abuse of Aboriginal juveniles at a detention center. Turnbull said he was "shocked and appalled" at the images from ABC's Four Corners current affairs program aired Monday, featuring a youth detention center in the Northern Territory in 2014 and 2015. The national broadcaster showed teenage offenders being stripped naked, tear-gassed at close range, held in solitary confinement and in one case, a 17-year-old appeared hooded and shackled to a chair for two hours. According to the report, juveniles from 10-year-old to 13-year-old were locked in small, high-security cells with no running water or natural light at the Don Dale Detention Center, which has been the subject of complaints for years. The Northern Territory has the highest rate of youth detention in the country, and 97 percent of its juvenile detainees are Aboriginal. Human rights activists have accused the government of ignoring the issue until it became public. Amnesty International has repeatedly raised concerns of abuse of children being held in youth detention centers in the Northern Territory,'' Julian Cleary, Indigenous Rights Campaigner at Amnesty International Australia, said in a statement. As this program shows, these are not isolated incidents.'' Human Rights Watch said it had long been urging the government to act on abuses in juvenile detentions, and that the Northern Territory was the tip of the iceberg. Save the Children said the inquiry needed to be Australia-wide and not just into the Northern Territory. The Australian Royal Commission, Australia's highest form of inquiry, is expected to begin holding hearings in September, with a final report due early next year, Turnbull said in response to the public outcry. "This election is about climate change, the greatest environmental crisis facing our planet," Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said Monday night in his speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. The differences between the parties on this issue are stark. Many Republican leaders, including presidential nominee Donald Trump, deny the scientific consensus that greenhouse gas emissions attributed to humans are warming the planet dangerously. But the issue also has helped deepen the rift between Sanders and Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, a rift clearly visible as the convention opened. Despite the friction on the left and the hostility on the right, experts say climate change will not decide many votes this November. Although polls show the public is increasingly concerned about it, climate change lags far behind other issues when most voters consider whom to vote for. Fracking fractures In an election season defined by fractures, it's perhaps fitting that hydraulic fracturing has been a major environmental issue. The oil and gas drilling technique known as fracking has helped make the United States the world's leading producer of oil and natural gas. Oil imports have dropped dramatically. Electric utilities are switching from coal to less polluting natural gas as prices plummet. Greenhouse gas emissions in the United States have declined, in part because of the switch away from coal, although experts debate the size of the impact. The U.S. State Department under Hillary Clinton encouraged other countries to pursue fracking as a "cleaner alternative to coal and a way in which they could, potentially, create a more secure energy future for themselves." The issue was especially pressing at a time when Russia cut off natural gas supplies to Europe during a dispute with Ukraine. But fracking has become a lightning rod in the U.S. environmental community. Fracking has contaminated some drinking water supplies. Injecting fracking wastewater underground has triggered earthquakes. Leaking methane, a greenhouse gas much more potent than carbon dioxide, threatens to undermine the relative climate benefits of natural gas. And cheap natural gas threatens to postpone the end of fossil fuel use that many scientists say is necessary to avoid catastrophic climate change. While the scope and scale of these problems are a source of intense debate, Sanders condemned Clinton in debates for failing to endorse his proposal to ban fracking. Anti-fracking protesters joined Sanders supporters Sunday in a demonstration in Philadelphia, ahead of the opening of the convention. Worlds apart But come November, experts say, disappointed Sanders voters will mostly back Clinton, in part because Trump's energy and climate plans are a world apart. Clinton has called for stricter regulations on fracking and an accelerated transition to a renewable energy economy. Her proposals to tackle climate change won her endorsements from leading environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters. Trump says Clinton's policies will increase the cost of energy. He has blasted Obama administration regulations as job killers and calls for lifting restrictions on domestic energy production. The head of an oil and gas company would serve as his energy secretary, according to reports. Trump has called climate change a hoax and said he would "cancel" the U.N. climate agreement reached in Paris last December. Divided public These polar opposite approaches to climate and energy reflect a deep divide among American voters. Although polling shows that concern about climate change is at an eight-year high, Democrats are much more concerned than Republicans. In one poll, nearly three-quarters of those who lean Democratic said the issue is very or extremely important to their vote for president, compared with just one-quarter of Republican leaners. That's the largest gap among the 17 issues surveyed. However, even for Democrats, climate change is not among their biggest concerns. Terrorism, the economy, health care and education top the list for both parties. "A lot of people say, yes, climate change is an important part of my vote," said Jay Campbell of the Democratic polling firm Hart Research Associates. But he added that when pollsters ask people to choose from among a list of issues, "climate change almost always comes out on bottom. It cannot rival the importance of education or job creation or, for Republicans, immigration or, for Democrats, Social Security." Even Sanders' DNC speech revealed the gap. Of the 10 items Sanders said the election is about, he listed climate change ninth. The vice president of Yanhuang Chunqiu, an influential liberal magazine in Beijing, showed up at the publications headquarters Tuesday and demanded that its government-backed occupants vacate the premises. The long-running reformist periodical recently announced it would cease publication after a slew of high-level sackings and imposition of new editorial leadership part of Chinese President Xi Jinpings latest tightening of political control of news media and, more broadly, online speech. Publisher Du Daozheng, who founded the magazine in 1991, was recently fired by the Chinese National Academy of Arts, an organization linked to the Ministry of Culture. The academy sponsors Yanhuang Chunqiu, whose name literally translates as "China Through the Ages." "Anyone who publishes a periodical bearing the title Yanhuang Chunqiu will have nothing to do with [the existing editorial team]," Du, who is in his 90s, announced in a public statement. 'The office is ours' The magazine's long-standing vice president, Hu Dehua, arrived at the office with some accountants Tuesday in order to file the company's taxes. They were blocked at the door by people from the government unit assigned to reshuffle its leadership team. Tuesday was the tax-filing deadline for Chinese companies. Every penny we have is earned through hard work," Hu reportedly shouted at the people blocking the entrance before demanding to see their identification. "We pay taxes to the state. We are a law-abiding business! The office is ours. What rights do you have to come in?" It was not known whether Hu son of the late Chinese Communist Party reformist leader Hu Yaobang, whose death catalyzed the 1989 pro-democracy uprising was ultimately successful in gaining access to the offices. Tuesday's events came one day after more than 100 Chinese citizens, led by some of the countrys prominent scholars and writers, issued an open letter calling on citizens to rally behind the 200,000-circulation magazine for reform-minded Chinese officials. Intellectuals' 'pitiful fate' The open letter, whose signatories have since expanded to nearly 500, says the state-led shake-up reflects the "sad and pitiful fate of Chinese intellectuals." "It is the only magazine that speaks the truth," the magazine's lawyer, Mo Shaoping, told Reuters. "They don't want the magazine to exist anymore." Wu Qing, a retired English professor at Beijings University of Foreign Studies, described the ouster of the magazine's editorial leadership as a threat to the prospect for political reform nationwide. "It is very important that we read about the true history, not fabricated lies," she told VOA's Mandarin service. "The magazine tells the truth, writes about the true history, makes us see more clearly why we must carry out reform, why we need the rule of law, democracy, freedom and transparency. Among the people, many want to voice their support [for the publication]," added Wu, a well-known Chinese feminist activist and seven-term district-level congress member. "I think what is really scary is not bad guys arrogance, but the extreme silence of good people. 'Old rival' Wang Yanjun, the magazine's deputy editor in chief, told VOA on Monday that he believed orders to purge the editorial staff had not come from the Communist Party leadership, but from the middle, which he described as the partys department of propaganda. The partys propaganda department is an old rival," he said. "Back in 2005, they ordered us to halt the distribution of one already-printed issue, because they didnt approve the contents. Now they have struck again, assuming this is what the top [Communist Party] leadership wanted. Analysts, however, said recent events aligned closely with Xi's increasingly restrictive media policies and prior calls for local publications to serve the ruling Communist Partys interests. Representatives from Yanhuang Chunqiu's parent organization, the Arts Research Institute, did not answer repeated telephone calls seeking comments. China's publishing regulator, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, also did not respond to requests for comment. China's State Council Information Office, which oversees press communications for China's cabinet, did not immediately respond to emailed questions. Communist Party leaders have tried to shutter the magazine 19 times in the past 25 years, one of its editors told Reuters, requesting anonymity because of the sensitive situation. North Korea said Tuesday the United States would pay a "terrifying price" if it contributes to tensions on the Korean Peninsula, hours after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry attacked Pyongyang for its nuclear development program. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told a regional security conference in Laos that whether his country conducts another nuclear test will "entirely hinge on the United States' attitude." Ri said North Korea was ready to face new United Nations sanctions imposed on it in March as a deterrent against its nuclear ambitions, saying it made the "inevitable strategic decision" to proceed with its nuclear weapons program because of the "never-ending nuclear blackmails of the U.S." Kerry, the top U.S. diplomat, told the southeast Asian gathering that if Iran can give up nuclear weapons development, as it did in last year's negotiated pact with the U.S. and five other world powers, so can North Korea. But North Korea alone, Kerry said, is "the only country in the world defying the international movement towards responsibility, continues to develop its own weapon, continues to develop its missiles, continues the provocative actions." Kerry added, "North Korea in January did another nuclear test. In February, March, April, May; continually they have done missile tests. So together we are determined, all of us assembled here - perhaps with one exception assembled here - to make absolutely certain (North Korea) understands that there are real consequences for these actions." Ri questioned the legitimacy of the U.N. sanctions, saying there is no article in the U.N. charter that says nuclear or missile tests are threats to international peace. The North Korean diplomat said the U.S. recently "committed the most grave hostility by insulting our Dear Leader," North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, by personally blacklisting him for human rights abuses. U.S. Democrats are ready Tuesday to officially proclaim former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as their 2016 presidential nominee, making her the first U.S. woman ever to become a major party standard bearer in the race for the White House. In the time-honored tradition of U.S. presidential nominating conventions, state delegations, one after another at the party's quadrennial gathering in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will cast a majority of votes for Clinton, a fixture on the American political scene for a generation. Her challenger through months of campaigning, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, is calling for his supporters to vote for him, but acknowledges he won't overtake her. He gave a rousing convention speech Monday night endorsing Clinton and could nominate her to show some semblance of party unity in the campaign against Republican contender Donald Trump, the real estate tycoon who claimed his party's nomination last week. Main Speakers Tuesday at DNC Main speakers Tuesday at the DNC: Donna Brazile is the party's interim chair and has been a contributor to CNN's political coverage. She was also the campaign manager for former Vice President Al Gore during the 2000 election that he lost to President George W. Bush. Jason Carter is a former state senator from Georgia and the grandson of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. He ran for governor of Georgia in 2014 but lost to incumbent Nathan Deal. Nancy Pelosi is the leading Democrat in the House of Representatives. She has represented her district in California since 1987, and in 2007 she became the first woman to be the speaker of the House. Bill Clinton was the U.S. president from 1993 to 2001 and is Hillary Clinton's husband. Mothers of the Movement is a group of mothers whose children have died in gun violence or in clashes with police. They appeared in a video released by the Clinton campaign highlighting the need for gun violence prevention and police reforms. Bill Clinton's role With her nomination secure, Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, the U.S. leader through much of the 1990s, takes center stage Tuesday to make the case why Americans should vote for her in the November national election to become the country's 45th president when President Barack Obama leaves office in January. His support for his wife is complicated, however, by the fact that the progressive wing of the U.S. Democratic Party that supported Sanders has turned against some of the 42nd president's accomplishments, including support for free trade and tough criminal justice reforms that sent many people, especially racial minorities, to prison for lengthy terms. Hillary Clinton is locked in a tight race with Trump. Several polls show Trump edging ahead of her at the moment, buoyed by new support after Republicans attacked Clinton's credibility for four nights at their convention. It is the Democrats' turn this week and convention speakers wasted no time Monday in denouncing Trump, painting him as an insensitive, me-first businessman unqualified to become the American leader. First lady's endorsement First lady Michelle Obama led the attack on Trump, saying, I am here tonight because in this election there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility, only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is our friend Hillary Clinton. Without naming him, the first lady scoffed at Trump's campaign slogan "Make America Great Again." "Don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great, that somehow we need to make it great again, because this right now is the greatest country on earth," she said. Sanders, in his speech, said, "Any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close. Trump criticized Sanders on Twitter, saying he "totally sold out" to Clinton and that his campaign was a "waste of time." But many of Sanders' supporters have remained adamant in their opposition to Clinton's nomination, believing she is too closely linked to Wall Street financial chiefs and still favors overseas trade deals to the detriment of U.S. workers, even as she has disavowed her original support for a 12-nation Pacific Rim deal that President Obama has championed. Email hack Sanders supporters are particularly incensed at some of the content in nearly 20,000 emails sent by Democratic leaders that were disclosed over the weekend by WikiLeaks. The emails showed party officials disparaged the Sanders campaign during the long party contest for the presidential nomination and favored Clinton. Party officials have blamed the leak of the emails on "Russian state actors," hacking of party headquarters computers that U.S. security experts say was a possibility, but a contention that Trump has mocked. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation says it is investigating the breach at the Democratic National Committee. On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected any allegation that Moscow was responsible for the computer attack. Other convention speakers Tuesday include House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, interim party chair Donna Brazile and a group of mothers whose children have died from gun violence or in clashes with police. Angola and Portugal are identifying priority areas for cooperation in the agricultural sector, with a view to signing a two-year cooperation agreement, Portugals minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development said in Luanda. Minister Luis Manuel Capoula Santos said at the end of a meeting on Monday with his counterpart in Angola, Afonso Pedro Canga, that priority projects were being identified as part of the institutional and business plan. Capoula Santos said there will be two levels of institutional cooperation, one of which between ministries and a second between governments, and that the cooperation plans are expected to be fostered by providing scientific data, training and on a business level. In the meeting with Canga, the Portuguese minister expressed Portugals readiness to hand over to Angola the bibliographic and scientific archive from the colonial period. The archive includes technical, scientific and cartographic information on agricultural production and Angolan potential collected until 1975, during the Portuguese colonial period. Portugal has the largest scientific collection on Angola in terms of agriculture, so there is mutual benefit in collaborating with Portugal, said Angolas Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development. MDT/Macauhub biocom plans output jump for 2020 Angolan company Biocom announced that it will produce 256,000 tonnes of sugar by 2020 which will provide 50 percent of the consumption needs of the Angolan population. Biocom, which is owned by Brazilian company Odebrecht and Angolas Cochan and Sonangol, this year expects to produce 47,000 tonnes of sugar, almost double the amount of the first harvest, according to state newspaper Jornal de Angola. Biocom currently represents the largest private investment in Angola, outside of the oil sector. With an investment of USD750 million, Biocom is the also first Angolan company to produce white crystal sugar, ethanol and energy from biomass or bagasse from sugarcane. The work of Portuguese architect Manuel Vicente is the theme of Macau: Reading the Hybrid City, launched earlier this month at the Rui Cunha Foundation. Published by the non-profit organization, Docomomo Macau, the English-language catalogue (supplemented with some articles in Portuguese) is the result of three international conferences held in 2014 and an exhibition centered on Vicente, who passed away in 2013. Vicente left an extensive body of work in the city. Some of his famous projects and designs include the architectonic intervention program at St Pauls Ruins and works to close the Praia Grande bay (with the subsequent creation of Sai Van and Nam Van lakes), as well as several residential and government buildings throughout the city. Rui Leao, president of Docomomo Macau, told the Times that the catalogue is one of the key items in the program held to celebrate Manuel Vicentes work and legacy. It will be complemented with a biographical essay by Raquel Ochoa, to be launched this year on a date yet to be announced. One of the main goals behind the catalogue is to discuss and think about the proposal that there was a school founded by Manuel Vicentes architecture. Similarly, there is an architectonic school founded by Siza Vieira. In the case of Manuel Vicente, it is not a school based on one single style, said Leao. He added that the term school applied to Vicente is mostly a methodological approach of continuous questioning. Macanese architect Carlos Marreiros presented the book, stressing that Vicente had truly stirred the waters in Macau: He had the quality of stirring controversies and question the architecture that was made. He believed in his own ideas, but that didnt stop him from debating with others. The book was sponsored by the Cultural Affairs Bureau and its president, Ung Vai Meng, attended the launch. He said that Manuel Vicente left a notable mark on Macau. He is a portrait of our city and contributed to make Macau a place that differs a lot from other Chinese cities. Macau: Reading the Hybrid City will be made available at several local bookshops and also at the Museum of Art shop. Homage still missing According to Carlos Marreiros, late architects Manuel Vicente and Francisco Figueira should be honored by having Macau streets named after them. Both made a notable contribution to Macaus heritage, he said. In 2013, a local newspaper filed a petition to the IACM to name a street in Macau Architect Manuel Vicente, but to no avail. The Tourism Crisis Management Office (GGCT) told the Times yesterday that it has not received any request for information or assistance regarding the suspension of Siam Airs daily flights between Bangkok and Macau. From the information gathered through the Macau International Airport Company Ltd (CAM), the airline was informed and agreed to make arrangements for their passengers and tour operators one week prior to their flight suspension, said the office in a statement. Also according to CAM, the company can resume its flights as soon as they meet the airports financial requirements, GGCT added. Siam Air stopped operating on Friday as it had failed to fulfill the financial requirements imposed by the company that manages the local airport. CAM was not able to provide the number of passengers affected, saying that they are not expecting any problems as travelers had been notified prior to the temporary suspension. We have come into a consensus a period of time before a temporary suspension, therefore the airline should have enough time to inform the affected passengers and make necessary arrangements, a CAM spokesperson told the Times. CAM has no clear picture of when Siam Air van resume their flights, but we welcome them back whenever they can fulfill the financial requirement, the spokesperson added. The Times contacted Siam Airs head office in Bangkok but received no reply by press time. LV China scored an unequivocal diplomatic victory yesterday, preventing Southeast Asias main grouping from criticizing it for territorially expanding in the South China Sea, even though some of the blocs members are victims of Beijings actions. After hectic negotiations, the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations issued a watered-down rebuke that amounted to less than a slap on the wrist, and exposed the deep divisions in a regional body that prides itself on unity. In a joint communique released after their talks, the foreign ministers of ASEAN said only that they remain seriously concerned over recent and ongoing developments in the South China Sea. The statement did not mention China by name in referring to the developments. Most significantly, it failed to mention a recent ruling by an international arbitration panel in a dispute between the Philippines and China that said Beijings claims in the South China Sea were illegal and that the Philippines was justifiably the aggrieved party. China has dismissed the ruling as bogus, saying the Hague-based tribunal has no authority to rule on what Beijing calls bilateral disputes. China wants direct negotiations with the Philippines instead. The tribunals award amounts to prescribing a dose of wrong medicine [] and it seems that certain countries outside the region have got all worked up, keeping the fever high, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, referring to the United States. And if the prescription is wrong it will not help cure any disease. Thats why we urge other counties in the region to lower the temperature, he told a news conference after 90 minutes of talks with the ASEAN ministers. Wang said about 80 percent of that time was spent on ASEAN-China relations, and only 20 percent on South China Sea. He joked that reporters had expended more than 80 percent of the question-and- answer time on South China Sea. Both China and ASEAN believe this page should have been turned and temperature lowered, he said. China was able to push through its stance in ASEAN with the help of Cambodia, and to some extent Laos, both of which are close friends of Beijing. ASEANs guiding principle is to make all statements by consensus, so a veto by Cambodia would have prevented a more stinging rebuke. We reaffirmed the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, security, stability, safety and freedom of navigation in and over-flight above the South China Sea, the joint statement said. We further reaffirmed the need to enhance mutual trust and confidence, exercise self- restraint in the conduct of activities and avoid actions that may further complicate the situation, it said. Such statements have previously been issued, notably after an ASEAN-U.S. summit in California in February, and have led to criticism that ASEAN is becoming a toothless organization. Analysts say this amounted to another capitulation by ASEAN in face of Chinas power. ASEANs failure to mention the tribunals decision will not affect the implementation of the ruling per se, as China has already indicated that it wont recognize or accept it. But failure to even mention the landmark legal ruling once again highlights ASEANs inability to present a united front and Chinas skill at using Cambodia as a proxy to further its own interests, said Ian Ward, a senior fellow at Singapores Institute of Southeast Asian Studies think-tank. The South China Sea is dotted with reefs and rocky outcroppings that several governments claim, including China and the Philippines. The arbitration panel didnt take a position on who owns the disputed territories. It did conclude that many of them are legally rocks, even if theyve been built into islands, and therefore do not include the international rights to develop the surrounding waters. That and other findings invalidated much of what China has called its historic claims to the resource-rich sea. In order to ease tensions, China, the Philippines and possibly other claimants must define what the ruling means for fishing, offshore oil and gas exploration, and military and other activities in the vast body of water that lies between the southern Chinese coast and the Philippine archipelago. In recent days, Chinas military has staged live-firing exercises in the area and said it would begin regular aerial patrols over the sea. It also has asserted that it will not be deterred from continuing construction of its man-made islands. On Sunday, Wang, the Chinese foreign minister, reiterated his governments position that it will only accept bilateral negotiations with the Philippines. Every country has the same position as China, that is that we should fully and effectively implement the regional Code of Conduct, and in that COC it clearly states the dispute should be resolved by peaceful, sit-down talks between the parties directly concerned, he said. Vijay Joshi, Daniel Malloy, AP For two years and more, it has been a lost ship, a metal container carrying 239 souls that simply disappeared one late Asian night never to be seen again. And now, the search for the remains of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 likely will become a thing of memory, too. With last weeks announcement that the meticulous ocean search for the missing jetliner will be suspended in effect, called off one of this decades most tantalizing unanswered questions is headed toward becoming, in effect, a cold case. I am not surprised its coming to an end without any answers, Tony Wong, a businessman in Kuala Lumpur, said Monday. People are slowly forgetting the incident, he said. No one will ever know the truth. The truth may be out there. The problem is, you have to know where to look. And thats been precisely the problem all along. The Boeing 777-200ER vanished on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. Investigators believed it turned back west and then south before dropping into the Indian Ocean west of Australia, where the search has been concentrated. The Malaysian government has concluded that it was deliberately steered off course. Conspiracy theories, unsurprisingly, still abound in the vacuum of facts: Was it blown up? Steered into the sea? Diverted to a remote airstrip somewhere? Abducted by aliens? For a long stretch, it seemed the worlds biggest loose end a global obsession for weeks, a niggling unsolved riddle for years. And behind the epic tale were the lost souls and the families they left behind, which expected maximum effort and, to hear many relatives tell it over the long months, a successful resolution. They were not happy at the news that the search was being suspended. To varying degrees, they have accused investigators and searchers and the governments overseeing them of disingenuousness, incompetence and nefarious political agendas. In China, relatives have roundly denounced the decision. They still dont seem ready to think about the finality of it all. They are actually just playing with words, Hu Xiufang, the mother of a Flight 370 passenger, said Monday. Suspension means termination to us. We strongly demand a re-investigation into how the plane went missing, and there is no excuse for the suspension of the search. The decision to suspend the search, which has endured through damaged equipment and punishing weather, was made jointly by the three countries conducting the operation: Malaysia, Australia and China, which lost the most people in the aircrafts disappearance. Together, they already have spent USD135 million searching a 46,300-square-mile area. The governments were delicate in their language last week they did not say outright that they were ending the search. But there is a general sense that it is unlikely to continue unless specific new evidence is found to suggest a particular location. And the search in its current incarnation will not end immediately; it could last into the winter months, officials have said. Finding the plane would not just bring emotional closure to families. It also would hand investigators and the airline industry crucial information and tools to understand why Flight 370 might have gone down and how similar occurrences might be prevented. A critical mass of actual wreckage beyond the few confirmed pieces that have turned up would also convey a sense of competence that we humans can go out and find our lost stuff in the depths of our oceans. Which in many ways, despite complex oceanographic models, we still cant. We can send spacecraft to Jupiter and Saturn and Mars to see their surface, but we cant send a craft to the bottom of the ocean to look at our own surface, Western Australia University oceanographer Charitha Pattiaratchi said. The pressure on authorities, he said, suggests that a breather from the search might actually be the best approach. Its probably good to pause and then take stock of things, Pattiaratchi said. They can try again if theres some better data or better technology. In the meantime, the world goes on. The increased pace of the news cycle, the unremitting parade of minor violence and major cataclysm, pushes us away from this singular puzzle and into the more recent sad and lethal spectacles of Orlando and Nice, Dallas and Munich, Baghdad and Kabul. It is so much, sometimes, that we might fail to remember one fundamental point in the story that was, and is, Flight 370: The world we call home swallowed a giant airplane and the people aboard it and, 871 days later, we have absolutely no idea what became of them. There is an expectation, fueled by a modern world filled with technology and accomplishment, that if we want something enough, if we throw enough money and resources at it, theres nothing we cant do. And when that narrative of expectation is interrupted by something as strange and terrible as the unresolved disappearance of a giant metal machine, it doesnt go down easy. Its all a big fabrication, a big cover-up, said Sakinab Shah, the eldest sister of senior pilot Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah. Things just dont add up. Then she said something that echoed many peoples comments in the first days after the disappearance, when the modern worlds best machines and algorithms were brought to bear to find that plane and there were high hopes it would be found. With modern-day technology, Shah said, how can there be a mystery? Ted Anthony, Bangkok, AP The Indian government said Sunday that Pakistan should stop provoking unrest in the Indian-controlled portion of the disputed Kashmir region, appealing for calm and restraint by people and government forces after two weeks of bloody protests that have left dozens of civilians dead. Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh visited Kashmir over the weekend, following street battles between government forces and protesters in the Muslim- majority region. India is particularly upset with Pakistan calling for a black day last week to protest Indias handling of the demonstrations. At the end of his visit, Singh told a news conference Sunday that Pakistan should change its stance on Kashmir. India is worried about the situation in Kashmir, he told reporters. Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan who have fought two wars over its control since 1947 when British rule of the subcontinent ended. India accuses Pakistan of arming and training rebels who have been fighting for independence or merger with Pakistan. Pakistan denies the charge, saying it provides political and diplomatic support to Kashmiris. The largest anti-India street protests in recent years in Kashmir erupted after Indian troops killed a popular, young rebel leader in a gunbattle on July 8. Since then, most parts of the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been under security lockdown. But protests against Indian rule have persisted. Aijaz Hussain, Srinagar, AP A Buddhist monk was sentenced Monday to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to embezzling more than USD260,000 from the Louisiana temple he led and gambling most of the money at a casino. U.S. District Judge Donald Walter also ordered Khang Nguyen Le, 36, of Lafayette, to pay nearly $264,000 in restitution, U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finleys office said in a statement. Le pleaded guilty in March to one count of wire fraud, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Le served as presiding monk of the Vietnamese Buddhist Association of Southwest Louisianas Lafayette temple from 2010 through October 2014, when he stepped down amid the investigation. Les indictment said he lived and worked at the temple and earned a salary of $1,000 per month. Finleys office said Le, a Vietnamese citizen, may face deportation to Vietnam after his release from prison. A court filing in March said Le withdrew cash from the temples accounts to fund his frequent gambling trips to LAuberge Casino in Lake Charles. Le was arrested last September at LaGuardia International Airport in New York after he got off a flight from Dallas and before he could board a flight bound for Toronto. Le told federal agents he had a gambling problem and said he would spend up to $10,000 playing blackjack during his gambling trips, according to an affidavit filed in support of his arrest. Le said the church members would frown upon him even going to the casino if they knew; therefore, Le hid his gambling activity, an agent wrote. Le told investigators that he always went to the casino alone, and congregation members never asked to see bank account statements. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared a unilateral ceasefire with communist guerrillas effectively immediately yesterday and asked the rebels to do the same to end decades of deadly violence and foster the resumption of peace talks. In his first state of the nation address before Congress, Duterte said he wanted a permanent and lasting peace before the end of his six-year term, which commenced on June 30. Addressing the New Peoples Army guerrillas, Duterte said: Let us end these decades of ambuscades and skirmishes. We are going nowhere and it is getting bloodier by the day. The Philippine military welcomed Dutertes announcement but said it will remain alert, vigilant and ready to defend itself and pursue attackers if confronted by armed elements of the New Peoples Army. The commander-in-chief has initiated a very bold move and we fully support him in his effort to bring sustainable and lasting peace, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said. The decades-long communist insurgency, one of Asias longest, has left nearly 150,000 combatants and civilians dead and stalled economic development, especially in rural areas where the Maoist insurgents have had a long presence. Government negotiators have met with rebel counterparts and agreed to restart peace talks in the next few months. A rebel leader in self-exile in Europe, Jose Maria Sison, plans to fly home soon to meet Duterte, his former student in a Manila university. Duterte also said his administration was ready to pursue peace talks with Muslim guerrillas in the countrys south, where he was a longtime mayor of Davao city, where he built a name for his tough crimebusting style before rising to the presidency. Let me say this, all of us want peace, Duterte said. Not the peace of the dead, but the peace of the living. AP The United States, Japan and Australia have urged China not to construct military outposts and reclaim land in the disputed South China Sea, in a strong show of support for Southeast Asian nations that have territorial disputes with Beijing in the resource-rich area. A joint statement by the three allies, issued late Monday, ironically fills the vacuum created by Southeast Asias main grouping, which during its meeting of foreign ministers on Sunday failed to take a stand against China because of disunity among themselves. The ministers expressed their serious concerns over maritime disputes in the South China Sea. The ministers voiced their strong opposition to any coercive unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions, said the statement issued by Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers Fumio Kishida and Julie Bishop. The three met in Vientiane on the sidelines of a series of meetings organized by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. The grouping could have leveraged the recent decision by a permanent arbitration panel in The Hague, which ruled in favor of the Philippines in a case it brought against China in their dispute in the South China Sea. The panel ruled that Chinas claim that amounts to claiming almost all of South China Sea was illegal. Implicit in the ruling is that China has no standing in its other disputes with Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam, which also are ASEAN members. But ASEAN became divided because of Chinas divide-and-rule diplomacy by winning support from Cambodia, and to some extent Laos, which resulted in the grouping issuing a joint statement on South China Sea that did not mention China by name or the arbitration ruling. Instead, it fell upon ASEANs allies to rush to their support. In their joint statement, the ministers of Japan, Australia and the United States also expressed strong support for the rule of law and called on China and the Philippines to abide by the arbitration panels award, which is final and legally binding on both parties. The ministers stressed that this is a crucial opportunity for the region to uphold the existing rules-based international order and to show respect for international law, they said in one of the strongest and most detailed post-arbitration warnings by the allies against China. In a clear broadside at China, the statement urged all parties to refrain from unilateral actions that cause permanent physical change to the marine environment and from such actions as large-scale land reclamation, and the construction of outposts as well as the use of those outposts for military purposes. China has been rapidly developing reefs and rocky outcrops into islands in the South China Sea, including building air strips capable of landing military aircraft. It claims historic rights to the vast sea, a claim that was rubbished by the arbitration panel, which said the sea is international waters and the rocky outcrops do not constitute sovereign islands that would give states an ownership on the surrounding waters. For years China has prevented fishermen from other countries from venturing into the areas it claims, and has made it clear it will not back down despite the arbitration award, which it calls politically motivated, illegal and irrelevant. It has accused countries outside the region notably the United States, Japan and Australia of meddling in Southeast Asia and destabilizing the region. In recent days, Chinas military has staged live-firing exercises in the area and said it would begin regular aerial patrols over the sea. It also has asserted that it will not be deterred from continuing construction of its man-made islands. Vijay Joshi, Vientiane , AP A survey by Hong Kong-based think tank Civic Exchange has indicated that 42 percent of Hong Kong residents are considering moving out of the region, mostly due to political dissatisfaction. From the 1,500 people surveyed, 70 percent said Hong Kong had become worse or much worse to live in, with housing, quality of government and education listed as their biggest concerns. A Coconuts Hong Kong report, citing data relating to the first quarter of this year, indicates that the number of Hong Kong residents immigrating to Canada has nearly doubled, compared with the same period last year. There was also a 36 percent rise in the number of residents moving permanently to Taiwan over a similar time frame, while Australia aggregates figures for immigrants including those from Hong Kong and Macau. Chris Lee, who previously resided in Hong Kong, was convinced to move to Taiwan after the February riot in the region. According to him, Hong Kong residents have become irrational and fickle, driving him to leave the territory, aside from the politics that are messed up. Andrew Lo, director of Anlex Services Limited, which handles Taiwanese immigration cases, confirmed that the Occupy Central protest in late 2014 has attributed to residents diminishing confidence in their territory. Coconuts also stated that the disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers who specialized in controversial political literature about Chinese leaders has also led to the diminished confidence in the one country, two systems policy. One of the booksellers who returned to Hong Kong reported he might move to Taiwan as he no longer feels safe in the city. Meanwhile, the Mainland Affairs Council in Taiwan expects a continuous increase in the number of Hong Kong immigrants, boasting its region as an open, pluralistic and liberal democracy. Housing prices and consumer prices are relatively cheap, while entrepreneurial opportunities and the similarity in cultures of Hong Kong and Taiwan are all factors for Hong Kong residents to consider coming to Taiwan, stated the Authority. MDT Election officials in northern Thailand think they can buy off a gang of monkey vandals with fresh fruit and vegetables, after about 100 macaques tore up voter lists publicly posted ahead of next months referendum on a proposed constitution. District official Surachai Maneeprakorn said a large population of the monkeys lives behind the Buddhist temple where the polling station they raided Sunday is set up in an open hall. For some reason they were being very naughty and started tearing up the lists, he said. Local officials brought the animals food yesterday, and hope that if that does not deter them, then newly installed sliding glass doors protecting the reposted lists might, said Phichit district election official Prayoon Jakkraphatcharakul. The glass cases should deter the monkeys, but if theyre smart enough to find a way to open the glass door, that will be problematic, said Prayoon. There were only a couple of lists left on the board by the time the police got there. Some of the monkeys were still even holding onto the papers. Prayoon speculated that the pink color of the voter lists for the Aug. 7 referendum might have attracted the animals. Two 8-year-old girls in the northern province of Kamphaeng Phet were charged last week with obstructing the referendum process and destroying public property when they tore down voter lists because they liked the pink paper on which they were printed. The two girls will not face any punishment due to their young age but will carry a criminal record for their offenses. In preparation for the referendum, Thailands military government brought in a law that prohibits rude criticism and lobbying for or against the draft constitution. Those who break it face a 10-year prison sentence. Dozens have been detained but there have been few if any convictions so far. The junta has faced increasing criticism in the past months for intimidating those opposed to the draft constitution and for the content of the proposed charter, which some consider undemocratic, such as an appointed rather than elected Senate. AP From January to May this year, 3.48 million packs of cigarettes have entered Macau, an 82 percent decrease compared to the same period last year, when the number was around 19 million packs, according to a report by Jornal Va Kio. Cheong Iok Ieng, Chief of the Office of the Secretary for Security, pointed out that the significant decrease occurred after the Macau government raised cigarette taxes last July. Cheong claims that raising taxes is an effective measure to control tobacco consumption. Between July 14 last year and June 20 of 2016, the Macao Customs Service inspected a total of 1,690 cases related to tobacco products, seizing 1.68 million cigarettes, 392 cigars, and 10.82 kilograms of tobacco. Last year, the MSAR raised the tax per cigarette from MOP0.5 to MOP1.5. Additionally, each kilogram of tobacco carried MOP600 in taxes, while each kilogram of cigars brought MOP4,326 in taxes. The price adjustment means that 70 percent of the value paid for cigarettes is a tax. Another implemented change concerns individuals who are allowed to bring only 19 cigarettes into Macau per day (a decrease from 100 cigarettes). Instead of 19 cigarettes, individuals may bring in only one cigar, or other tobacco products weighing at most 25 grams. During the first three days after the law amendment came into effect last year, customs apprehended 3,500 cigarettes per day at the border gate, mainly from mainland tourists. Cheong revealed that Macau Customs Service required Gongbei customs to broadcast related information about Macaus tobacco control regulations on the mainland side. She further informed that the customs officers increased inspections of tourists and vehicles at several border gates in order to combat tobacco smuggling. In 2012, the local government approved a restriction that meant only 100 cigarettes would be allowed to be brought to the city, half the number allowed before the change. The Step Out, Macau mobile app has been awarded the 2016 PATA Gold Award in the category of Marketing Media Mobile Travel Application, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) announced. The winners will receive the award at a PATA Gold Awards event on September 9, during PATA Travel Mart 2016, to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia. The app, developed by the Government Tourism Office (MGTO), is among the 31 Gold Awards and Grand Awards presented this year by PATA to recognize exceptional achievement in seven broad categories: marketing campaign, environment, corporate social responsibility, heritage and culture, education and training, marketing media and travel journalism, MGTO wrote in its press release. The Step Out, Macau mobile app was first launched in December 2013 with four walking tour routes, then upgraded in February 2015 to include eight redesigned walking tour routes, covering Macau, Taipa and Coloane. The app, available in Chinese (traditional and simplified), English and Portuguese, offers maps of the eight walking tour routes, descriptions of the tourism spots listed by UNESCO (including the historic centre of Macau), schedules of cultural performances, information on restaurants, and bus routes. MGTO said users can also scan the QR codes on direction signs along the themed routes and obtain the tourist information offline. This is the fourth time MGTO has been distinguished with the prestigious PATA accolade. MGTO received a 2002 PATA Grand Award for Marketing with the Macau Welcomes You Passport Campaign, was granted a 2007 PATA Grand Award for Heritage with its Macau World Heritage Year Campaign, and a 2008 PATA Gold Award for Travel Advertisement Print Media for its Experience Macau campaign. Founded in 1951, PATA is a non- profit membership association dedicated to building responsible development of the Asia-Pacific travel and tourism industry. Its members include government tourism bodies, travel trade operators and tourism educational institutions. Tran Dai Quang was sworn in as Vietnams president for the second time in four months after being re-elected yesterday by the countrys rubber-stamp National Assembly. Quang, who was first elected president in early April by the outgoing assembly, won 485 votes from the 494 deputies of the Communist Party-dominated assembly, the government said on its website. Vietnams top leaders include the Communist Party chief, the president and the prime minister, though the position of president is more ceremonial than the other two. In his acceptance speech yesterday, which was broadcast live on state television, Quang pledged to speed up the reform process in a comprehensive and synchronized manner, engage in proactive integration, build a growing strong and prosperous nation and heighten Vietnams position in the international arena. Vietnam launched the reforms in the mid-1980s, switching from a central command economy to a market economy. This transformed a poor country that had just emerged from long wars against the French and then the Americans into one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia. Quang, who was the minister of public security before becoming president, also vowed to firmly defend the sacred national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and to maintain political and social stability and create a peaceful environment for national construction. The National Assembly deputies, who were elected in general elections in May, are scheduled to reappoint Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc today. AP Watertech moves corporate offices TWIN FALLS After 40 years in business, Twin Falls-based Watertech Inc. has moved its corporate offices into the former Bureau of Land Management building on Kimberly Road. In 1975, Watertech built a facility on Warren Avenue on land purchased from the Twin Falls Chamber of Commerce in their industrial subdivision. Since then, the facility has expanded several times and a shipping facility was built to ship water-treatment products to Western. In addition, a facility on Wright Avenue was built to house the GemFlow division of Watertech, which builds and services water-treatment equipment such as industrial reverse-osmosis membrane equipment. After some renovation and redecoration, Watertech moved into the new office building at the beginning of July. Uber plans to come to Blaine County SUN VALLEY Sun Valley Economic Development is working with Uber to introduce UberX to Blaine County later this summer. In partnership with Ubers regional office, SVED has organized information sessions for drivers interested in using the Uber App at 5 p.m. Aug. 9 at the new Ketchum Innovation Center, at Sun Valley Road and First Avenue. Uber 101, will provide an opportunity for interested drivers to understand how Uber works and start the signup process to use the Uber Driver App. The information session will be conducted by Uber representatives. LunchBOX salon changes owners KETCHUM LunchBox has announced new ownership of its Ketchum-Sun Valley salon. Owner/operator Shahayla Eberhard began operation of the wax-only salon on July 5. Eberhard, who has been in cosmetology for more than seven years, joined LunchBOX in 2014 as a waxologist at the downtown Boise location and is an ideal fit for the Ketchum-Sun Valley salon, franchise founder and CEO Debi Lane said. We have been interested in transitioning our corporate store in Ketchum to our franchise model but have been patiently waiting for the perfect scenario to present itself, Lane said. Shahaylas business sense, ties to the Wood River Valley and superior speed-waxing expertise makes her an ideal fit for this role. When Better Business Bureau talks scams, people regularly ask if there are still victims to these schemes. Thats especially true when it comes to the IRS scam, the most commonly reported scheme to BBBs Scam Tracker. Im often asked why this scam keeps happening. There is a lot we could unpack about why people fall for scams, but thats another column for another day. Rest assured, the scam artists wouldnt carry on if they werent getting a pay out. Fact is, taxes can be an intimidating thing, and most people do not want to be the one in trouble with the IRS. But youre right, more and more people are becoming more educated about IRS scams. So, the bad guys have to get creative, and try new twists on the classic con. Better Business Bureau warns the latest target is college students. In the scheme, students are told they must pay a (fictional) tax, or face arrest. Heres how it works. Your phone rings, and the Caller ID shows its from the IRS. When you answer, the caller claims to be an IRS agent. He or she says that you failed to pay your federal student tax. Now, insists the caller, you are wanted for tax evasion and a warrant will be issued for your arrest. However, the agent can clear your name if you pay the tax immediately. You need to go to a nearby store and purchase a prepaid debit card, money order, or even a gift card and read the numbers to the agent. If you do so, the agent will steal the money and disappear. IRS impostors often go to great lengths to appear realistic. Victims report that scammers use Caller ID spoofing technology to appear to be calling from IRS headquarters in Washington, DC. Con artists sometimes follow up scam calls with an email, which use the IRS logo, colors and official-sounding language. How to Spot an IRS Impostor Scam: Be wary if you are being asked to act immediately. Scammers typically try to push you into action before you have had time to think. The IRS will give you the chance to question or appeal what you owe. The IRS doesnt call, text or email first. The IRS wont call about payment or overdue taxes unless they have first contacted you by letter. Dont wire money, use a prepaid debit card or pay by gift card. Scammers often pressure people into these forms of payment. Its like sending cash: once its gone, you cant trace it. The IRS says it will never demand immediate payment, require a specific form of payment, or ask for credit card or debt card numbers over the phone. If you owe taxes or you think you might, contact the IRS at 800-829-1040 or irs.gov. IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue, if there is an issue. TWIN FALLS Taco John's of Twin Falls invites the public to a fundraiser Sunday to support Jacob Alexander (Makoa) Bradford and his family. From 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., Taco John's in the Northeast corner of the Walmart parking lot will be donating all proceeds from the day to Jacob and his family. Jacob is a 12-year-old native of Twin Falls who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, an extremely aggressive form of leukemia in boys, on Sept. 23, 2015. Jacob spent his sixth-grade year in and out of treatment, including a bone marrow transplant, and was home-schooled due to the treatments. After another mini-transplant and further treatments, he is looking forward to attending seventh grade at Robert Stuart Middle School this fall. Jacob will soon be starting a round of chemo that has never been used before on a child. Gail Richardson and Dave Dickerson, owners of Taco Johns in Twin Falls say that they are committed to helping Jacob and his family. Information: call Gail Richardson at 208-421-0660. TWIN FALLS Jerry Burton Kimball, described by prosecutors as a willing accomplice in the murder of Kent Wayne Storrer last July 25, was unaware of Jacob Lyn Marshalls plan to ambush Storrer and of Marshalls psychological condition that may have led to the killing, Kimballs attorney argued Monday. On the day that marked one year since Storrers death, Steven McRae, Kimballs attorney, won an important victory for his client as a judge ruled that McRae would be granted access to Marshalls psychological evaluation. From the inception of this case, my client has taken a position that Mr. Marshall may have had a psychological episode that led him to the shooting in this case, and that my client was driving Mr. Marshall out to take a look at a vehicle that was advertised on Craigslist without any indication that this matter was going to happen, McRae argued Monday. Prosecutors have a thick file outlining Marshalls psychological condition it was compiled as prosecutors weighed the decision to seek the death penalty but that evaluation was sealed to all parties except the prosecutors, Marshall and his attorney. McRae argued he needed access to the file to provide his client a proper defense. The state is in possession of psychological records that could hold the key to my clients assertion, McRae told District Judge Richard Bevan. Kimball, 23, is charged with six felonies in the case including murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Hes accused of driving Marshall to Storrers home, where they met Storrer and his son-in-law, Jasper Qualls, to test-drive a car Qualls advertised on Craigslist. After test-driving the car, Marshall, 21, opened fire with an AR-15 rifle, killing Storrer and wounding Qualls. Marshall pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and two other felonies last month, avoiding the death penalty but agreeing to spend at least 70 years in prison. As part of the plea agreement, Marshall also wrote an affidavit detailing the crime and Kimballs involvement. That document is also sealed. McRae argued Monday that Kimball met Marshall just two days before the shooting and would not have recognized Marshalls actions as a psychological episode that would lead to Storrers murder. He said video from Marshalls arrest and audio recordings from the county jail show psychological breaks that were concerning to us and readily apparent. Prosecutor Grant Loebs said that while he didnt necessarily agree with the theory the defense is pursuing, he recognized the psychological evaluation might aid McRae in presenting that defense. If these records were unsealed, I would turn them over to Mr. McRae, Loebs told the judge. It was Marshalls attorney, Chief Public Defender Marilyn Paul, who argued against allowing McRae to access the documents. Her objections centered on Marshalls right to privacy, especially as it pertained to his medical records. But Bevan ruled that Marshall already waived his rights to privacy when he turned over the records to prosecutors. Although Bevans ruling will allow McRae and a few select others to access Marshalls psychological evaluation, the file will still be sealed to the public and will even be sealed to Kimball, who the judge made it clear is not to see the evaluation nor even know what it contains. Thats because, according to Paul, physical harm came to Mr. Marshall on a previous occasion as a result of Mr. Kimball having spread other discovery documents around the Twin Falls County Jail. Loebs also acknowledged that he was aware of allegations that Kimball had spread records and documents that in one instance, at least, was part of the possible motive for Mr. Marshall suffering some physical abuse in the jail. Not even McRae knows yet if Marshalls psychological evaluation will help his clients defense, but he finally has the access to find out; if the information contained therein is helpful, it will likely be revealed only if the case goes to trial. For now, there is no trial date as Kimballs case has effectively been on hold for several months first, as attorneys waited to see if Marshall would face the death penalty, and more recently as McRae has attempted to access Marshalls evaluation. Marshall is set for sentencing Aug. 2. HANSEN An Eden man was driving drunk on Memorial Day when he caused a crash south of the Hansen Bridge that killed his longtime girlfriend, prosecutors said Tuesday. Jody Dee Neaderhiser, 51, was arraigned Tuesday in Twin Falls County Magistrate Court on a felony count of vehicular manslaughter. Prosecutors say Neaderhisers blood alcohol level was 0.259 more than three times the legal limit to drive in Idaho when he ran a stop sign and caused the crash that killed his passenger, 51-year-old Evette Phillips. Idaho State Police responded to the crash just before 10 p.m. May 30 south of the Hansen Bridge at Idaho Highway 50 and 3800 East. After an extensive investigation that included a crash reconstruction, investigators determined Neaderhiser, who was northbound on 3800 East in a Ford F150, ran the stop sign at Idaho 50 and was hit by a Dodge 2500 pickup driving west on the highway. The impact of the collision was so severe that it sheared off the passenger side door of Neaderhisers F150 pickup, sent the trucks engine block flying more than 150 feet and pried loose a bed cover from the pickup, an ISP trooper wrote in a sworn affidavit. Phillips was pronounced dead at the scene while Neaderhiser was taken to St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center. The driver of the Dodge pickup, Trevor Dowd, 44, of Twin Falls and his son, 21-year-old Trell Dowd, were also taken to the Twin Falls hospital. A blood draw at the hospital showed Neaderhisers blood alcohol level was 0.259, court documents said. Neaderhiser told investigators he drank three or four beers on Memorial Day, drinking the last one about an hour before the crash. But troopers on the scene reported Neaderhiser smelled of alcohol and that they found several opened Natural Light beer cans lying on the ground near the Ford F150 an open Natural Light beer can in a blue beer Koozie on the passenger side floor board (and) an opened Natural Light beer can on the drivers side floor board. A $100,000 warrant for Neaderhisers arrest was issued July 12, and he was arrested Monday by the Jerome County Sheriffs Office, court records said. His defense attorney, Steven McRae, said his client was out of town when the warrant was first issued and was on his way to turn himself in Monday when he was arrested during a traffic stop. McRae asked Magistrate Judge Roger Harris to reduce the bond. But Deputy Prosecutor Stan Holloway successfully argued for the bond to be kept at $100,000, calling Neaderhisers prior record horrible and significant and citing a 2011 driving-under-the-influence conviction and 15 prior instances in which Neaderhiser failed to appear for scheduled court dates. Harris said he sympathized with Neaderhisers loss but that $100,000 bond was appropriate. If convicted, Neaderhiser faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine up to $15,000. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 4. SHOSHONE A couple accused of driving with 10 children in a van while high on pain medication is now facing charges in a string of home burglaries in Lincoln County. Michael Patrick VonBerndt, 35, and Lynn Marie VonBerndt, 32, were arrested Tuesday afternoon in Jerome after authorities earlier in the day asked for the publics help in finding the wanted couple. These two individuals would approach a residence on the pretext of buying an item they had seen on the victims property, Shoshone Police Sgt. Rene Rodriguez said. Lynn VonBerndt would then ask to use the bathroom at the residence, and once the couple was inside, they would steal items. Police contacted an attorney for the couple and requested they turn themselves in, Rodriguez said, but they had not done so by Tuesday morning, prompting police to seek the publics help. They were arrested about 3:45 p.m., Rodriguez said. The sergeant did not elaborate on the circumstances of their arrest except to say they were captured and did not turn themselves in. Before their arrests, a call went out to Magic Valley law enforcement on the police radio describing Michael VonBerndt as known to act aggressively toward law enforcement and warning police to use extreme caution. According to the arrest warrants, the couple will each be charged with six counts of burglary, six counts of conspiracy to commit burglary and one count of possession of a controlled substance. Lynn VonBerndt will also be charged with three counts of petit theft. The couple was identitied as the suspects in the string of burglaries after an extensive investigation by both the Lincoln County Sheriffs Office and Shoshone Police Department, Rodriguez said. The couple was already facing charges in Jerome County stemming from their April 25 arrest when deputies, responding to the report of a reckless driver with 10 children in a van, found both VonBerndts incoherent and stopped on Idaho Highway 25. Authorities determined they were high on pain medications, Jerome County Sheriff Doug McFall said at the time. The children ranged in age from 13 years to 6 months. In that case, Lynn VonBerndt is charged with one count of felony drug possession, one misdemeanor count of driving under the influence and 10 misdemeanor counts of injury to a child. Michael VonBerndt, whos also known by Michael Yundt, faces one misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia stemming from the April arrest. TWIN FALLS College of Southern Idaho Head Start/Early Head Start employees could receive another cost-of-living pay increase. The colleges board of trustees voted Monday to authorize a request to ask for federal money to provide a 1.8 percent boost for a six-month period, from July 1 through Dec. 31. Employees already received a check in June for a 1.8 percent increase for the previous six months. The one item on the boards Mondays agenda was a procedural issue, vice president of administration Jeff Harmon told trustees. JEROME The Idaho Conservation League has sent Novolex notices of the environmental groups intent to sue in 60 days if the company doesnt comply with federal requirements to report information on toxic chemicals it uses to a publicly accessible federal database. Novolex has packaging manufacturing subsidiaries across the country, including Hilex Poly, a plastic-bag manufacturer with a plant in Jerome. ICL spokesman Austin Hopkins said the environmental group became aware, after reviewing an air-quality permit the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality issued for the Jerome plant, that the company hadnt been submitting data to the federal Environmental Protection Agencys Toxics Release Inventory database. Then, Hopkins said, the group looked at other Novolex facilities and found 17 that werent in compliance with the regulations that require companies to submit data yearly on releases of toxic chemicals. Novolex didnt immediately return a request for comment Monday afternoon. ICL sent out the letters Monday morning, and Hopkins said he hopes the company submits the missing data up to five years worth in some cases, including with the Jerome plant and they dont go to court. Legal action, the ICL said in a statement, would be the last resort. My guess is, once these letters start arriving at facilities, hopefully someone will reach out to us and well take it from there, Hopkins said. The purpose of the database, Hopkins said, is both to help local first responders for example, if theres a fire, the fire department will know what sort of flammable toxic chemicals might be in a factory and also to inform people who live nearby of what sorts of toxic chemicals might be getting released into their air. If someone lives next to a factory for years and develops some sort of health problem, for example, knowing what chemicals are in the air could help their doctor figure out whats going on, Hopkins said. Residents in cities and small towns across Idaho and the U.S. deserve to know type and quantity of chemicals they are being exposed to through air pollution, Hopkins said. Timothy Taylor and his London gallery are reaching out to China's booming art market. Photo provided to China Daily Abstract artist Ding Yi from Shanghai has become the first Chinese to be represented in the United Kingdom by the British gallery Timothy Taylor. Ding, 64, is known for his distinct style that features patterns of crosses and grids arranged in varying arrays. Some of his pieces are with museums such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and have been acquired by the auto company Daimler for its art collection. Timothy Taylor, after whom his London gallery is named, tells China Daily in an interview over email that he has followed Ding's career for the past decade and that he felt Ding's works should be introduced to European audiences. Taylor has been visiting China for a few years now, scouting for artists he would like to work with. "Up to this point the only artist who has interested me at that level is Ding Yi," Taylor says. "I don't see him as a Chinese artist but as an international artist whose work engages in a global dialogue." Taylor's gallery of two decades occupies a 464-square-meter space in the upscale Mayfair area in London, and represents 24 artists, including modern American artists Sean Scully and Kiki Smith. Representing Ding is just one of its plans to reach out to China's booming art scene. The gallery has appointed Chinese-Canadian Kate Wong as its associate director to develop its presence in China, including working with prestigious museums, galleries and cultural institutions here. Wong runs her own gallery in Vancouver, and has been working with Timothy Taylor for the past three years. The gallery will participate in this year's West Bund Art & Design fair to be held in Shanghai in November. Taylor says they have ambitious projects lined up for the next year and will continue to invest resources into developing relationships with local art communities. Asia - particularly China - has become a priority for international galleries in recent years. In May, Hauser & Wirth, a gallery that operates spaces in several cities, including Zurich, London and Los Angeles, appointed Guo Qianqian, a former Christie's employee born in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province, as a director to focus on Asia, with an emphasis on the Chinese market. Taylor, whose 20-year-old son now lives in Shanghai, says he is attracted to China by the same energy he experienced in New York in the early 1980s, when the city's art market was picking up, with dealers, artists and general art lovers all equally involved in figuring out trends. In 2014, Taylor established a connection with China by co-organizing Scully's touring exhibition in Shanghai and Beijing. The Irish-American artist's exhibition in China toured the eastern city of Nanjing two months ago and will travel to Guangdong in September and Hubei provinces in January 2017. Taylor says Chinese galleries, museums, curators and artists will only continue to become more interesting and relevant to the world. The Islamic State (IS) group Monday claimed the killing of an Egyptian police major gunned down on Sunday in North Sinai provincial capital of El-Arish. The Egyptian interior ministry confirmed the claim. The militant group holding tight to security forces in the Peninsula reportedly issued a statement on social media indicating that its fighters assassinated the major and made off with his car and automatic rifle. IS local franchise in the province has stepped up attacks against state forces in the wake of the military coup against Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, toppled in 2013 by incumbent Fattah al-Sisi. The group has staged roadside bomb attacks, sabotaged pipelines and attacked foreign tourists. More than 500 security forces have been killed since the insurgency according to state figures which also put the number of militants killed at thousands. IS in the Sinai came under the spotlight in October after it claimed the downing of a Russian passenger jet carrying 224 people as it took off few minutes from the Red Sea Sharm el Cheikh resort. Egyptian lawmakers Monday urged Cairo to grant political asylum to US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen accused of plotting the failed military coup against Turkish President Erdogan, in a move that would further strain relations between the two countries, reports say. Egypt has refused to condemn the failed military coup which occurred July 15 as diplomatic feud between the two countries plays out. Egyptian lawmaker Emad Mahrous reportedly called on al-Sisis cabinet to grant Gulen asylum in Egypt as Turkish authorities called on Washington to extradite the Turkish preacher. [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan is giving shelter to hundreds of leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organisation and members of other bloody militant Islamist groups, which attack Egypt day and night, Mahrous added. This was a moderate Muslim country that has become an Islamist dictatorship at the hands of Erdogan and his Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated political party. In another step to irk Ankara, parliamentarian Mustafa Bakri this week gathered 336 signatures from other members of parliament calling for a resolution recognizing the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as genocide, Qatari London-based The New Arab reports. Diplomatic ties between Egypt and Turkey turned sour following President al-Sisis military coup against Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Ankara, Morsis staunch ally, cut ties with Cairo. Turkish President Erdogan has repeatedly refused to thaw ties with al-Sisi. Ankara has given shelter to several figures of the Muslim Brotherhood who ran from al-Sisis crackdown on the organization. The United Nations has called on Chadian political actors to engage in inclusive dialogue following the ongoing political and social tension in the central African nation. According to the Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, Chad must hold inclusive and genuine dialogue before its legislative elections supposed to be held before the end of 2016. The envoy of Ban Ki-moon praised the active role (by Chad) for peace and security in Central Africa and the Sahel region where thousands of Chadian soldiers are deployed. Chadian President, Idriss Deby Itno, 63, has been declared winner of the presidential elections in the Central African country last April. Civil society organizations and opposition parties have accused the president of using the threat of Boko Haram which has launched several attacks in Chad as a pretext to extend his rule. In the last few months several new civil society umbrella organizations have been formed. These include Trop, cest trop (Enough is enough), Ca suffit (Its enough) and Iyina (We are tired, in local Arabic). Under Deby, who took power in a military coup, the once unstable Chad has become both an oil producer and a key player in the fight against jihadist groups in West Africa. But despite a wealth of new oil resources since 2003, half of the population of 13 million lives below the poverty line and seven out of 10 people cannot read or write. King Mohammed VI of Morocco has called on Arab states to wage a constructive jihad to build confidence, and put their house in order so that they may solve their own problems, away from any external influences. The constructive jihad is jihad vis-a-vis ourselves to build confidence; jihad to put our house in order so that we may solve our problems among ourselves, away from any external influences that only complicate matters and delay problem-solving, which only leads to a waste of effort, energies and resources, stated the King in a speech to the 27th Arab Summit which started proceedings in Nouakchott on Monday. Pointing out that the Arab World is caught in a vicious circle, he said this is also one of the main factors which have eroded our ability to resolve Arab issues such as the crises in Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon and to deal effectively and judiciously with the phenomenon of terrorism, which is ruining the minds of some of our citizens and undermining our countries security and safety. In his speech that was read out by Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar, King Mohammed VI insisted on the plague of terrorism, deploring the fact that Arab States have failed to be at the forefront of those who are developing multi-dimensional strategies and effective, practical plans to confront this destructive scourge, of which we are the source as well as the target. He also deplored the Arab worlds inability to refute, through appropriate means, the biased interpretations and false arguments put forward by extremists and terrorists who continue to distort pristine Islamic faith, the religion of moderation, to justify their criminal acts against individuals and nations. The Sovereign underlined that Arab states, the torch-bearers of a message of enlightenment, are duty-bound to continue to interact with other nations, for the good of mankind, before he called for pooling efforts to fight terrorism and achieve security. It would, indeed, be a mistake to think one can single-handedly, merely through ones own resources, shield oneself from terrorism, without cooperating and coordinating action in the region and with the world around us, he said. As we all know, terrorism is a cross-border phenomenon, and the only way to defeat it is by working together to achieve security and promote development, King Mohammed VI insisted. Making the case for Arab unity, the Sovereign pointed out that what matters, above all, is to embed in our collective consciousness the firm belief that unity is absolutely necessary if we want to rise to the cultural challenge which consists in building modern states rooted in civic values, the rule of law and commitment to territorial integrity and national sovereignty. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), New York State Psychiatric Institute, and NewYork-Presbyterian reported that an odor identification test may prove useful in predicting cognitive decline and detecting early-stage Alzheimer's disease. Their two studies, presented at the Alzheimer's Association's International Conference in Toronto, Canada, suggest that the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) may offer a practical, low-cost alternative to other tests. In one study, researchers administered UPSIT to 397 older adults (average age of 80 years) without dementia from a multiethnic population in northern Manhattan. Each of the participants also had an MRI scan to measure the thickness of the entorhinal cortexthe first area of the brain to be affected by Alzheimer's disease. Four years later, 50 participants (12.6 percent) had developed dementia, and nearly 20 percent had signs of cognitive decline. The researchers found that low UPSIT scores, but not entorhinal cortical thickness, were significantly associated with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. (Low UPSIT scores indicate decreased ability to correctly identify odors.) Low UPSIT scores, but not entorhinal cortical thickness, also predicted cognitive decline, although entorhinal cortical thickness was significantly associated with UPSIT score in those who transitioned to dementia. "Our research showed that odor identification impairment, and to a lesser degree, entorhinal cortical thickness, were predictors of the transition to dementia," said Seonjoo Lee, PhD, assistant professor of clinical biostatistics (in Psychiatry) at CUMC and presenting author. "These findings support odor identification as an early predictor, and suggest that impairment in odor identification may precede thinning in the entorhinal cortex in the early clinical stage of Alzheimer's disease." In another study, researchers from CUMC evaluated the usefulness of UPSIT and tests that measure the amount of amyloid in the brain (in higher amounts, the protein forms plaques in the brains of those with Alzheimer's disease) in predicting memory decline. The researchers administered UPSIT and performed either beta amyloid PET scanning or analysis of cerebrospinal fluid in 84 older adults (median age of 71 years). Of these, 58 participants had mild cognitive impairment. The researchers followed the participants for at least six months. At follow-up, 67 percent of the participants had signs of memory decline. Testing positive for amyloid with either method, but not UPSIT score, predicted cognitive decline. However, participants with a score of less than 35 were more than three times as likely to have memory decline as those with higher UPSIT scores. "Our research suggests that both UPSIT score and amyloid status predict memory decline," said William Kreisl, MD, the Boris and Rose Katz Assistant Professor of Neurology (in the Taub Institute) at CUMC and a neurologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia. "Younger age, higher education, and shorter follow-up may explain why UPSIT did not predict decline as strongly in this study as in previous studies. Although more research is needed, odor identification testing, which is much less expensive and easier to administer than PET imaging or lumbar puncture, may prove to be a useful tool in helping physicians counsel patients who are concerned about their risk of memory loss." Current methods are only capable of clinically detecting Alzheimer's disease in the later stages of its development, when significant brain damage has already occurred. Brain imaging with PET may show the buildup of amyloid plaques in the brain years before symptoms appear, although this method is expensive. Beta amyloid can also be detected in cerebrospinal fluid through a lumbar puncture, and brain PET imaging of abnormal tau protein is rapidly advancing through research. "Our study adds to the growing body of evidence demonstrating the potential value of odor identification testing in the detection of early-stage Alzheimer's disease," said D.P. Devanand, MD, professor of psychiatry (in Neurology and in the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center) at CUMC and senior author of both studies. "Using other biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease to detect the disease at an earlier stagewhich have the potential to be lower-cost and non-invasivecould lead to dramatic improvements in early detection and management of the disease," commented Heather Snyder, PhD, director of medical and scientific operations at the Alzheimer's Association, in a statement. "Predictive Utility of Entorhinal Cortex Thinning and Odor Identification Test for Transition to Dementia and Cognitive Decline in an Urban Community Population," by Seonjoo Lee, PhD, et al., was funded by the National Institute on Aging, grants K01AG051348, R01AG034189, R01AG037212, K99/R00AG042483, R01AG041795. More information: "Both Odor Identification and Amyloid Status Predict Memory Decline in Older Adults" by William Kreisl, MD, et al., was funded by the National Institute on Aging, grants R01AG17761 and R01AG041795. Telomerase, an enzyme naturally found in cells, is often described as a "cellular elixir of youth." In a recent study, Brazilian and U.S. researchers show that sex hormones can stimulate production of this enzyme. The strategy was tested in patients with genetic diseases associated with mutations in the gene that codes for telomerase, such as aplastic anemia and pulmonary fibrosis. The authors say that the results suggest that the approach can combat the disease-related damage by telomerase deficiency. The study was performed by Brazilian researchers in collaboration with colleagues at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the U.S. Among the scientists involved was Rodrigo Calado, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo's Ribeirao Preto Medical School (FMRP-USP) and a member of the Center for Cell-Based Therapy (CTC), one of the Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers (RIDCs) supported by FAPESP. "One of the processes associated with aging is progressive shortening of telomeres, DNA-protecting structures at the ends of chromosomes, like the plastic tips on shoelaces," Calado said. "Each time a cell divides, its telomeres get shorter. Eventually, the cell can't replicate anymore and dies or becomes senescent. However, telomerase can keep the length of telomeres intact, even after cell division." In practice, he added, telomere length is a laboratory measure of a cell's "age." Some cells avoid aging by using telomerase to lengthen their telomeres through the addition of DNA sequences, thereby maintaining their capacity to multiply and resist aging. In an embryo, where tissue is still in the formative stage, telomerase is expressed by practically every cell. After the embryonic period, only cells that are constantly dividing, such as hematopoietic (blood-forming) stem cells, which can differentiate into a variety of specialized cells, continue to produce telomerase. "Aplastic anemia is one of the diseases that can be caused by telomerase deficiency," Calado said. "Bone marrow stem cells age prematurely and fail to produce enough red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets, making the patient dependent on blood transfusions and more susceptible to infections." In 2009, Calado and collaborators published an article in the journal Blood showing that androgens, which are converted into estrogens in humans, bind to female hormone receptors in the telomerase gene promoter region and thereby stimulate expression of the enzyme in cells. "The study we've just published was designed to find out whether the effect we'd observed in the lab also occurred in humans, and the results indicate that it does," Calado said. Instead of estrogen, the researchers treated the patients with androgen, he explained, because it has long been used as a drug in cases of congenital anemia and offers the advantage of stimulating an increase in the mass of hemoglobin (red blood cells), which estrogen cannot do. Treatment with the steroid danazol, a synthetic male hormone, was tested for two years in 27 patients with aplastic anemia owing to telomerase gene mutations. "In a healthy adult, telomere length varies from 7,000 to 9,000 base pairs on average. A normal person's telomeres lose 50 to 60 base pairs per year, but a patient with telomerase deficiency can lose between 100 and 300 base pairs per year," Calado said. "In the patients who received danazol, telomere length increased by 386 base pairs on average over two years." In addition, hemoglobin mass rose from 9 grams per deciliter (g/dL) to 11 g/dL on average. A person without anemia normally has between 12 and 16 g/dL, but the improvement observed in these subjects was sufficient to rid them of transfusion dependency. "On completion of the protocol, the medication was interrupted, and we observed a fall in all counts. Several patients resumed the medication with smaller doses, individually adjusted to minimize side effects," Calado said. In a new protocol currently in progress at the University of Sao Paulo's Ribeirao Preto Blood Center, the same kind of approach is being tested with nandrolone, an injectable male hormone. Although the results of the study suggest that drugs can be used to reverse one of the biological drivers of aging, it is not yet clear whether the benefits of treatment would surpass the risks in healthy people, especially if the treatment involved the use of sex hormones. Some groups, such as patients undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy, may benefit from drugs that stimulate telomerase in the future. Explore further Researchers fight aplastic anemia using a therapy designed to delay ageing Provided by Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo Electron micrographs of hepatitis C virus purified from cell culture. Scale bar is 50 nanometers. Credit: Center for the Study of Hepatitis C, The Rockefeller University. In mass media and popular culture, medical research is often framed as a race to overcome a complex, seemingly insurmountable challenge, with lives hanging in the balance. Enter the team of scientists in white lab coats, working around the clock to cure HIV, eradicate cancers or make Alzheimer's a thing of the past. This sort of narrative is dramatic, hopeful and in line with what some expect of science, but the reality is that progress is far more incremental. Michael Houghton's "race" started 35 years ago in a San Francisco-area lab where he was part of the team that first identified hepatitis C. In those days, the early 1980s, scientists knew the virus existedpatients were getting sick because of blood transfusionsbut it was labelled for what it wasn't: "non-A" or "non-B" hepatitis. "It ended up taking seven yearsa lot of false leads, a lot of frustration," remembers Houghton, now Canada Excellence Research Chair in Virology at the University of Alberta. When Houghton's team did manage to discover the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in 1989, it was a watershed moment among virologists and immunologiststhe first step toward eradicating an infectious disease that affects 170 million people worldwide. Spread largely through unsafe handling of blood and dirty needles, hep C in its chronic form can result in serious damage to the liver, including organ failure. In the years since discovering the virus, the U.K.-born Houghton has led efforts at the U of A's Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology to create the world's first vaccine capable of protecting the body from all strains of HCV. There are seven major genotypes of the virus, each with hundreds of different subtypes, making it genetically more variable than HIV and thus that much harder to treat. If their phase 1 clinical trial succeeds, the vaccine will prevent 500,000 new infections estimated to happen every year. This race should be over, but it isn't And while his U of A team focuses on the long game of vaccination, several pharmaceutical companies have developed new antiviral drugs that effectively cure hep C. This race is all but over. At least it would be, if the new antivirals did not cost upward of $1,000 per pill, putting a cure out of reach of thousands of infected Canadians. At the same time, Canada lacks a concrete national strategy for hepatitis C that focuses on eliminating the disease through improved co-ordination, prevention and management of the disease, particularly among those at higher risk of infection, such as intravenous drug users. In early March, Action Hepatitis Canadaa group representing 35 member organizations that include the Canadian Liver Foundation, Canadian Treatment Action Council and Canadian AIDS Societycalled on Ottawa to develop such a strategy. "It's very frustrating, for me and the whole field, when we can cure hepatitis C but what's restricting us in the U.S. and in Canada is just the price of the drug," says Houghton, a professor in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. Houghton isn't out to blame Big Pharma. He did, after all, spend a considerable portion of his career in the private sector and understands the cost realities associated with the research and development of drug therapies. But there are also hard realities for Canadians and our provincially run health-care systems. With drugs that cost on the order of $60,000 to $150,000 per patient for a 12-week treatment, curing every Canadian infected with HCV would cost on the order of tens of billions of dollars, Houghton estimates. But failing to act, he adds, would be even more costly given the potential risks associated with hep C. Three-quarters of people infected with the virus develop chronic hepatitis, and a quarter of those develop problems such as cirrhosis, liver failure or liver cancer. One of the major challenges with hepatitis C is many people don't know they are carriers for yearssometimes decadesafter becoming infected, often learning of their diagnosis after showing symptoms of liver damage. The new antivirals are so expensive that in many cases provincial pharmacare programs only cover patients with more pronounced symptoms. "It's almost like we're going to wait until you get very sick before we treat you. That's never ideal," says Houghton. "The treatment cures hep C, not liver cancer, and that's a very real risk when you delay treatment." Hepatitis C survivor "one of the lucky ones" Edmontonian Jack McClure knows he's one of the lucky onesand this coming from a guy who fought through liver cancer and underwent a transplant with complications so severe his second liver nearly failed. "I was real sick," he remembers. "I struggledone foot on a banana peel and the other on a grave for one year, but I pulled through on that one." McClure, 64, isn't sure when he was infected with HCV, but suspects it happened in the 1980s when he experimented with cocaine, a less common but possible method of transmission. He was diagnosed roughly 15 years ago when he applied for work as a garbageman and underwent a physical. He didn't take the job, but the blood test he was given confirmed his infection. "I didn't know anything about hepatitis," he says, something he would soon learn mirrored much of society at the timeeven some physicians. "The first doctor I went to, at a medical centre, told me it was caused by sex. So I looked it up and thought, 'You're an idiot, that's hep B.' Generally, hep C isn't passed along through sex. Eventually society learned more about hepatitis, that you can get it in various ways, but at first you're kind of ostracized." A year ago, McClure qualified for a clinical trial for hep C patients who have received liver transplants. He was treated with Sovaldi in combination with another drug. Unlike older-generation drugs like interferon, which is also used in chemotherapy, there were no side-effects. Through the course of the six-month trial, his blood gradually showed smaller and smaller concentrations of the virus until it was gone. McClure, now retired from hauling roof trusses and jobs like door-to-door milk delivery, only wishes every patient with hep C could have free and timely access to the same medicines, including friends and family who have been "pulled down" from delayed treatment. Canada's uneven response to hep C Taking new medicines such as the hepatitis C antivirals Solvadi or Harvoni from the lab to a patient's bedside is a complicated process in Canada. Pharmaceutical companies must first prove a new drug is safe and effective for a specific treatment purpose through lengthy and expensive clinical trials before Health Canada decides whether the product can be sold, though it makes no determination on the actual cost. Once a drug is approved by Health Canada, another federal agency examines the evidence on the drug and what a manufacturer wants to charge before determining whether the medicine should be listed by provincial, territorial and federal formularies. It's then up to those jurisdictions to determine whether a drug will be covered by their respective pharmacare programs. This can lead to an uneven response between provinces, with some, such as Quebec, typically quicker to cover new drug costs. "It's expensive to respond, to put these drugs on the formulas. However, treatment might be expensive but disease might be more expensive," explains Lorne Tyrrell, a close colleague of Houghton's and director of the Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology. Tyrrell, too, is one of the world's leading authorities on viral hepatitis. He co-developed the first oral antiviral treatment for hepatitis B, lamivudine, now used in more than 200 countries around the world. His accomplishments in the field have landed the former dean of medicine in the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame and last year saw him honoured with a Killam Prize. Tyrrell says Alberta is generally in the middle of the pack in Canada in terms of its response to hep C, though when the first protease inhibitors were licensed in November 2011, it took a full year before they were covered in this province. Part of the problem, he says, is the people making the recommendations for Alberta's drug benefit formulas are not experts in the field, which can delay decisions. Any delay can have long-term health implications for those infected with HCV. There are four stages of infection, from stage 0 where there is no evidence of inflammation or fibrosis in the liver to stage 4, which is full-blown cirrhosis. Across Canada, patients must show signs of stage 2 before their medication is covered by provincial pharmacare. That's also the standard for Blue Cross, though some private insurers do cover earlier stages, Tyrrell explains. "We do scans on our patients, and if they don't meet the criteria, they don't get the treatment. We have patients that have earlier hepatitis Cstage 1 fibrosisand they know it will progress but can't get access to therapy." Living in fear of hepatitis C Cynthia Robson did not quality for the antiviral Harvoni until her fibrosis advanced to stage 2. The Sherwood Park resident was infected in 1985 when she received a transfusion after giving birth to her son. She's among the estimated 60,000 Canadians infected with HCV between 1960 and 1992 from tainted blood transfusions and blood products, a public health scandal that gave rise to the Krever Inquiry into the country's blood system. Robson says she's lived in fear of hepatitis C since being diagnosed in 2001fear that she would accidentally spread the disease, fear that it would ultimately take her life before her time. After twice undergoing exhausting and unsuccessful 48- and 30-week treatments with interferon and ribavirin, she resigned herself to a bleak fate. "I figured I would just end up getting liver cancer, that's all there was to it," she says. The first time Robson heard of a curative drug for HCV, Harvoni, was when celebrity Pamela Anderson posted an Instagram photo announcing to the world she was free of the disease after nearly 15 years. Robson, who also suffers from osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia and receives AISH because she can't work, says at one point she contemplated approaching Harvoni's maker, Gilead Sciences, to see whether she would qualify to receive the drug as a research patient because she had no way of paying $150,000 for the 12-week treatment. It was around the same time she learned that her specialist, Tyrrell, had already applied for her to receive the drug, and was fully covered by AISH. When she sat down in Tyrrell's office this past January to go over her latest blood work results, the virus was gone. "I started crying, I just couldn't believe it. I kept saying, 'I never cry like this,'" she remembers. And though she's relieved and happy for herself, Robson recognizes her story could have been drastically different if AISH hadn't fully covered her treatment. A friend of the family recently lost his father due to hep C complications, and she fears working Canadians without employer-provided or private health insurance will fall through the cracks. "There are people who were in worse shape than I was and they could be cured. But they're not, and that's very unfortunate," she says. Michael Houghton tells the story of how he led the discovery of the hepatitis C virus in 1989 and how his subsequent research at the U of A could lead to a vaccine that will save lives around the world. Credit: University of Alberta McClure's assessment is far less forgiving. To him, there is no difference between the high cost of hepatitis C drugs and "that bastard in the States," Martin Shkreli, the former Turing Pharmaceuticals executive who became an international pariah after raising the price of the HIV drug Daraprim by 5,000 per cent. "It's a crime, you knowyou come up with a cure and then you make the cure and it's too expensive," McClure says. "They've got to get it together and let society get together and get their hands on [the medicines] without liquidating their assets." Rising drug costs are a major concern for governments and health-care systems across Canada. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, prescription drug spending reached an estimated $28.8 billion in 2014representing 13.4 per cent of all health-care spending. The public sector paid 42 per cent of that total, or $12.1 billion, with another $16.7 billion covered by private insurers ($10.3 billion) and Canadian households ($6.4 billion). Drug prices in Canada are determined by the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, which generally sets prices at the median of seven other countriesthe United States, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. A major factor in the cost of hepatitis C antivirals is that they are so new to the market, they are still covered by patents. In Canada, drug patents extend 20 years from the date of filing, but the actual time a medicine is protected is typically less than half that, because of the years it takes for regulatory approvals. "There's no such thing as cheap medications for hepatitis C. They're all quite expensive," says Tyrrell. He notes that pharmaceutical companies invest significant dollars developing new drug therapies, often with a limited window to recapture their investment. In many cases, drugs are on the market for a short time because they didn't sell, had side-effects or were replaced by newer and better therapies, he says. In the case of hepatitis C drugs, this advance in therapies happened in a short window of just a few years. Costs only come down when there are competitive alternatives or when a patent expires, giving rise to generic versions of a drug. Another way to bring down costs is through bulk buyingprovinces and territories joining forces to negotiate cheaper prices from pharmaceutical companies. The pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance was created in 2010 with just that in mind, though its impact in Alberta has so far been limited, says Dean Eurich, a clinical epidemiologist in the School of Public Health with a background in the pharmaceutical sciences. Eurich was part of a team of scientists who studied the alliance's impact on drug access in Canada, looking at approvals three years before it was created and the following three years. For some provinces, the alliance seems to be working and increasing access, though in Alberta it hasn't had a huge impact on drug listing decisions, explains Eurich. As of March 2015, the alliance reports it has completed joint negotiations resulting in price reductions on 63 brand-name and 14 generic drugssaving Canadians an estimated $490 million annually. Eurich says one of the issues for researchers, clinicians and, ultimately, patients, is the lack of transparency in those negotiationsprivate contracts between government and pharmaceutical companies. When the alliance says it's saving money, the public has to take its word for it, without a true understanding of a drug's costsomething he thinks should change. "If you're looking at a publicly funded formulary, then, yes, there should be disclosure," Eurich says, though he recognizes that clearly wouldn't sit well with private companies that wouldn't want to divulge that information. Governments should invest in their own medicines, recommend screening In addition to bulk buying, Houghton suggests there's an opportunity for international collaboration between governments and research universities to develop their own drugs and vaccines. The Helmholtz-Alberta Initiative between the U of A and the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres is an example of a viable partnership with the expertise in research and development capable of taking a discovery from bench to bedside, he says. The investment cost would be high initially, but health-care savings would be in the billions, not just for hepatitis C drugs but also for medicines for cancer therapies, which can be even more expensive. "The counter-argument is pharma know better how to do this than government, but many people now have that expertise. I came from the biotech sector to do this and we at the U of A are starting that discussion. We are at the start of a new era," Houghton says. "The cost is high initially, but in the long run, the country is going to save billions and billions." The cost of the new hepatitis C antivirals is just one area of disappointment for researchers in the field. Three years ago, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control adopted guidelines recommending blood screening for HCV among all baby boomersa demographic at higher risk of infection as a result of casual drug use in the 1970s. The Public Health Agency of Canada has failed to act, which has been a "huge disappointment," says Houghton. Tyrrell says Canada could learn from countries such as Australia and Scotland, which have excellent hepatitis C strategies with guidelines covering screening, prevention, treatment and monitoring. Provincially, Alberta finds itself "in the middle of the pack," Tyrrell adds, with British Columbia leading the way in documenting and identifying HCV carriers and co-ordinating a response. "Screening becomes more important when you have good therapy. Then you can offer patients a real alternative to get rid of it and clear the virus," he says. Supervised injection facilities key to reducing infection rates Beyond screening, governments at every level have an opportunity to reduce the spread of infection among the most vulnerable and at-risk populations. That is precisely the goal of Access to Medically Supervised Injection Services Edmonton, a group representing 25 organizations interested in creating a supervised injection service in the city. Elaine Hyshka, an incoming assistant professor in the School of Public Health who has studied inner-city drug use and health needs in Edmonton, says intravenous drug use appears to be on the rise in the city and the vast majority of the people she has studied say they have contracted hepatitis C. Hyshka and a research assistant spent five months conducted 320 hour-long interviews with inner-city Edmontonians to learn more about their health and factors negatively influencing their health such as drug abuse. Some 91 per cent reported injecting drugs intravenously, with 80 per cent saying they'd used in public and 26 per cent confirming they'd borrowed or shared needles. The researchers were not equipped to test participants' blood, but through self-reporting found that about 70 per cent of men and women had previously tested positive for HCV. One of the problems with existing needle exchange programs, Hyshka says, is they aren't open 24 hours a day. Her group would like to see a 24/7 supervised injection service added to an existing Edmonton facility, one stocked with clean needles and supervised by nurses. "It is fundamental," she says of such a facility's role in harm reduction and curbing the spread of diseases like hep C. "It provides a safe, sterile environment to inject drugs and access to other health services." Access to Medically Supervised Injection Services Edmonton is finalizing its proposed service model, which it plans to take to stakeholders for consultation in addition to seeking the federal exemption needed to operate. Though supervised injection sites such as Insite in Vancouver have been politically nebulous in the past, Hyshka and her peers are buoyed by leaders at all three levels of government who have shown signs of support for harm reduction and protecting society's most vulnerable citizens. "It's important to know that these services have been implemented in almost 60 cities worldwide and there's no evidence to support that they increase crime or substance abuse," Hyshka says. Designing the "ultimate" hep C vaccine Just as he's done for 35 years, Houghton continues his research into manufacturing what he calls "the ultimate vaccine" for HCV. Unlike another HCV vaccine in development, his lab is developing one that uses the body's immune response to produce antibodies that neutralize the virus. Initial testing has shown the vaccine effective against all seven genotypes of HCV. It will be tested in healthy, uninfected people by the end of 2017, part of a phase 1 clinical trial. If the trial is a success and the vaccine is approved, potentially toward the end of 2018, it will be given to Canadian patients considered at high risk such as intravenous drug users, paramedics, police officers and health professionals exposed to blood. The vaccine would be administered more broadly in developing countries where disposable needles are not used in medical practice. The ultimate goal is to perfect the dosage and land on a vaccine that is affordable, at a cost of about $50, that can be used anywhere in the world. "Getting a vaccine out there that's affordable to Canada and to the United States and developing countries is an important goal for all of us," Houghton says. "And in terms of a national plan for Canada for protecting the community from hep C, this is a major plank in the plan." For survivors like Robson, life after hep C is transformative. She will be around to see her grandchildren grow upgranddaughter Eva was born last April and she's crossing her fingers for a few more additions to the family. Suddenly, her 65th birthday this August is no longer a gloomy prospect. "I'll be having a big party this year. Instead of a fateful party, I'll be having a real celebration." Explore further Need for more screening of baby boomers at higher risk of carrying hepatitis C Some women want to experience labour, but for others the risks arent worth it. Credit: Ollyy/Shutterstick When it comes to childbirth, vaginal delivery is often assumed to be the best thing women have, after all, done it for thousands of years. But natural birth actually comes with risks, including tearing, haemorrhage and incontinence for the mother and injuries to the baby during labour. So why is it that the vast majority of pregnant women are only being warned about the risks of caesarean sections? This could now change, as the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists are to discuss the current view of vaginal birth as the default option for childbirth in the UK. They will consider whether there's merit in routinely discussing the relative risks and benefits of vaginal birth and caesarean section with pregnant women. Such an approach would ideally provide balanced information for women to inform their birth plans. The move follows an unprecedented UK Supreme Court ruling in 2015 that changed the legal landscape of informed consent in healthcare. The Montgomery vs Lanarkshire Health Board case ruled in favour of a complainant who had not been informed of a childbirth risk they encountered, despite voicing concerns during pregnancy. The baby's shoulder got stuck during delivery, resulting in brain injury due to a lack of oxygen a problem which would have been avoided if a prelabour caesarean section had been performed. The ruling means health professionals counselling patients about procedures should no longer limit discussion of risks to those which they themselves think are important they must instead discuss those risks a "reasonable patient" would consider to be significant. The concept of asking women to "consent" to vaginal birth may seem absurd to some, but it has been discussed in obstetric circles over at least two generations. This is partly due to key changes in childbirth, such as caesarean section becoming safer. Women also have children later, which means that the risk for problems during labour and birth are higher. Weighing up the evidence While both caesarean section and vaginal birth are considered to be relatively safe in high-income countries, each features its own set of risks. How such risks are perceived and valued may vary considerably between health professionals and women themselves. UK hospitals still treat vaginal birth as the default birth mode for most women, despite its risks and the fact that the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended that there should be some room for choice. Studies from other high-income countries suggest that risks due to natural birth may be poorly appreciated by women and health professionals. While up to 95% of UK women aim for a vaginal birth in their first pregnancy, only around 75% achieve this. Some 21% experience an emergency caesarean section during labour, which is not as safe as a planned one. A further substantial proportion of women experience important complications of vaginal birth. These include an 8% postpartum haemorrhage rate, 1% blood transfusion rate, and a 5-6% third-degree tear rate (40% suffer some degree of tearing). One in six (15%) women end up having an operative vaginal birth, such as use of forceps, which is associated with faecal incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse in later life. Also, it's important to realise that long labours, complications and interventions are associated with maternal distress, postnatal depression and intense anxiety in future pregnancies. This leaves little more than half of first-time mothers experiencing an uncomplicated spontaneous vaginal birth. This is a considerable number which illustrates why women aiming for a natural birth may need to know that such attempts could involve a medical intervention or complications. In this light, the alternative of a planned caesarean section may be tempting. While not risk-free, it appears to be similar to that of of a planned vaginal birth in the short term and with a slightly higher risk of respiratory problems at birth may be even safer for the baby. However, the scarring from a section will make each future pregnancy more risky as it can affect the development of the placenta, resulting in increased risks for the mother of developing major bleeding and hysterectomy, although this is rare. There is also some concern that babies born by caesarean could be at higher risk of developing asthma. The importance of patient choice Since women will value these risks differently, informing them of the merits of both options would empower them to decide what matters most to them. For some that will be the opportunity to experience labour and the benefits of vaginal birth, for others it will be the option of a more controlled and predictable caesarean birth. But in reality things are more complicated. If potential risks of vaginal birth are routinely discussed with all women, caesarean section rates in UK hospitals are likely to rise further. The NICE report estimates that normal births cost an average of 1,512, planned Caesareans cost 2,369 and emergency C-sections cost 3,042. This may generate a timebomb effect for the future as the number of repeat caesareans will also rise, bringing with it a high cost in terms of both medical services and health consequences. However, such costs may be deemed acceptable if these reflect women's informed choices based on realistic expectations, and a lower number of emergency procedures. But even if we do decide to be more open about the risks of natural birth, we'll have to first work out which risks should be communicated and how. How is a doctor or midwife to know what a "reasonable patient" would want to know, and will their communication skills be sufficient to ensure that women feel able to voice their personal fears? How will they tackle the fact that women may value positive outcomes of a single pregnancy more than the combined outcomes of two or more future pregnancies? Others have argued that too much focus on risk will only generate unnecessary maternal anxiety. A simpler option may therefore be to communicate the risks of vaginal birth only to women over an accepted risk threshold for complications such as all women aged over 35 years in their first pregnancy or those with a combination of age over 30 years and BMI over 30. Ultimately, a woman's birth plan should reflect her values. If this means having a planned caesarean section, then such informed choices should be respected and health services developed to accommodate such plans. Explore further Natural births after caesarean more likely if you call the midwife This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. The Halting Antipsychotic use in Long Term Care (HALT) project eliminated regular antipsychotic medication from the treatment plan in 75% of study participants after six months. Credit: Shutterstock Despite minimal evidence supporting their effectiveness to manage symptoms of dementia, the use of antipsychotic drugs in Australian nursing homes is widespread. Studies showing the drugs increase the risk of stroke, cognitive decline and death have also been largely ignored. Now UNSW Australia-led researchers have shown their use could be drastically reduced by creating awareness about these risks and training nursing staff to use alternative approaches to manage the symptoms of dementia. The results of the innovative Dementia Collaborative Research Centre (DCRC) project are being presented this week by UNSW Scientia Professor Henry Brodaty at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) in Toronto, Canada. The Halting Antipsychotic use in Long Term care (HALT) project successfully eliminated regular antipsychotic medication from the treatment plan in 75% of study participants after six months, following an initial reduction of antipsychotics. In the trialwhich involved 140 residents across 23 NSW care facilitiesdeprescribing was achieved through training long-term care facility nurses to recognise potential causes of BPSD and encourage the use of non-pharmacological and person-centred approaches to managing BPSD, such as environmental modifications. In Australia, up to 50% of long term nursing home residents have a dementia-related illness, with many experiencing behavioural and psychological symptoms (BPSD) including delusions, aggression and agitation. This poses major challenges for both residents and nursing facility staff. Compounding this issue are significant workforce shortages in the aged care sector preventing individualised approaches to care and specifically, a lack of staff trained in dementia care. GPs and geriatricians often feel pressure to prescribe antipsychotics to manage BPSD in nursing home residents, despite guidelines suggesting antipsychotic drugs should be a last resort. DCRC Director Professor Henry Brodaty said the HALT trial showed deprescribing of antipsychotics in long-term care residents with previous BPSD was feasible, however major challenges must be overcome including sustainability and the prevailing culture of prescribing in aged care. "Often there can be cultural, funding and logistical barriers to moving away from antipsychotics in aged care settings, but we hope the results of this project will serve as a positive example towards a more person-centred approach in Australia and globally," said Professor Brodaty, who is also Co-Director of UNSW's Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA). Explore further Education can reduce use of antipsychotic drugs in nursing home patients Examples of lineups. A suspects distinctive feature can be replicated (a) or concealed by pixelation (b) or a block (c). An unmanipulated lineup is shown in (d). Credit: Association for Psychological Science Police lineups in which distinctive individual marks or features are not altered can impair witnesses' ability to distinguish between innocent and guilty suspects, according to new research in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The research, conducted by a team of psychology researchers from the University of Warwick in the UK, builds on existing eyewitness identification studies suggesting that so-called "unfair lineups," in which the police suspect stands out, make witnesses more willing to identify that suspect. "Worse still, it could impair their ability to distinguish between guilty and innocent suspects and distort their ability to judge the trustworthiness of their identification decision," says Melissa Colloff, lead author on the study. In contrast to film and TV depictions in which a witness views a police lineup via a one-way mirror, lineups today typically involve the witness looking at and evaluating digital photos. Using digital images gives the police the ability to disguise distinguishing features. Colloff and colleagues examined the three methods currently used by English police forces to manipulate digital images in order to counteract the effect of any distinguishing marks such as black eyes, eyeglasses, and beards. In an online experiment with almost 9,000 participants, the researchers compared the three techniques - pixelating part of the face, hiding part of the face, or manipulating the photos so they contain the same feature (e.g., adding a beard) - with digital lineups that were not manipulated. Participants watched a brief video of a crime and were told to pay attention as they would be asked questions about it later. Afterward, they completed several distractor tasks that were unrelated to the study. They were then presented with a lineup composed of two rows of three photos and were told that the culprit may or may not be present in the lineup. The participants were asked to select one of the photos in the lineup as the culprit or choose the option labelled "not present." Finally, they rated how confident they were in making their identification (1 = completely uncertain, 100 = completely certain). The results showed that participants were more willing to identify the suspect when they viewed a lineup in which the suspect alone had a distinguishing feature compared with the altered lineups. More importantly, they were less able to distinguish between actual guilty suspects and innocent suspects (i.e., those who shared the culprit's distinctive feature) when they viewed lineups that had not been altered compared with altered lineups. "When the suspect was the only person with the distinctive feature, this actually made people more likely to confuse who was guilty and who was innocent," Colloff explains. "That's because they weren't really using their memory of the culprit's face, they were just picking the only plausible option - the only one with the scar that they remembered from the crime video - and this made it difficult for people to tell the difference between the real culprit and an innocent suspect who had a similar feature." The results indicated that the three fair lineup techniques currently used by police were equally effective. "This research has crucial implications for the policeit suggests there are multiple ways in which police officers can fairly accommodate distinctive suspects in lineups," concludes study co-author Kimberley Wade. Explore further Witnesses can catch criminals by smell More information: M. F. Colloff et al, Unfair Lineups Make Witnesses More Likely to Confuse Innocent and Guilty Suspects, Psychological Science (2016). Journal information: Psychological Science M. F. Colloff et al, Unfair Lineups Make Witnesses More Likely to Confuse Innocent and Guilty Suspects,(2016). DOI: 10.1177/0956797616655789 We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. TAP remains US governments priority The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project, which envisages the transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, remains US governments priority, Amos Hochstein, the US Department of State special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs, said in an interview with Greek news website Ekathimerini.Ive spent much more time on this one project than any other project Ive ever worked on. Even though there are no American companies in that project, we have still made this a US government priority. Thats why I was here in Thessaloniki for the groundbreaking of TAP, Hochstein said.He added that the US made so much progress in the relations between Greece and Bulgaria, and the US is working hard with the EU to make the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) a reality.TAP project envisages transportation of gas from the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijans Shah Deniz gas and condensate field to the EU countries.The 870-kilometer pipeline will be connected to the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy's south.TAPs shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).A ceremony marking the beginning of TAPs construction was held May 17 in Thessaloniki, Greece.IGB, which is expected to be connected to TAP, will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas. In early December 2015, Bulgaria and Greece signed a final investment decision on the IGB project. The initial capacity of the 182-kilometer pipeline will be three billion cubic meters of gas. Opposition claims majority lacks ex-PMs consent to approve Supreme Court judges By Messenger Staff A member of the parliamentary opposition United National Movement (UNM) party, Sergo Ratiani, says the legislative body is failing to approve the three candidates presented by the President to the posts of Supreme Court judges, as the parliamentary majority has not yet gained approval over the nominees from Georgias ex-Prime Minister, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.Ratiani and the rest of the UNM insist the country is still run by Ivanishvili, who founded the current Georgian Dream (GD) coalition for the 2012 parliamentary elections with the aim of ending the nine-year governance of the UNM.As a rule, the parliamentary majority does not have its own views, and just waits for what Ivanishvili will tell them to say and think, Ratiani said.Last week, President Giorgi Margvelashvili presented his third nominee, Levan Bodzashvil, for the Supreme Court of Georgia.Bodzashvili, 42, served as Deputy Secretary of Georgias State Security Council, and has years of experience in the legal and diplomatic fields.Margvelashvili named Bodzashvili instead of Anna Dolidze, Georgias ex-Deputy Defence Minister and Margvelashvilis first pick for the Supreme Court Judge, who was recently appointed as the Presidents Parliamentary Secretary.Parliament must now vote for the new nominee together with two other female candidates - Tamar Laliashvili and Nona Todua - for the post of Supreme Court judge, as they failed to gain the lawmakers support some weeks ago.Last month, the President nominated Dolidze, Todua and Laliashvili as candidates, but none of them gained even half of the necessary 76 votes out of the 150-seat legislative body.The Supreme Court of Georgia is composed of 12 judges, who are chaired by the head of the Supreme Court of Georgia. The position is currently held by Nino Gvenetadze, who was also named by the President last year.The legislative body will presumable vote for the candidates during the autumn season as the process lingered.Majority representative Gia Volski says the decision on the nominees' candidacy will be considered by the new parliament, elected through the upcoming, October parliamentary race.Volski believes it is a very important process and will require time to come to an end.The court system is fundamental part of every democratic state, and all the issues related to the changes inside it must always be a priority and must be discussed on time. However, things must not be damaged through discussing such issues in a hasty manner. The News in Brief Georgian Parliament scraps anti-smoking bill The Parliament of Georgia rejected a bill on Monday to bring in stricter control of tobacco products. Resistance to the bill within the governing coalition stemmed from the belief that it will create problems for business. Lela Sturua, spokesperson for the National Center for Disease Control, told DF Watch that the government disliked the amendments which would prohibit smoking at restaurants and force all facilities to allocate a smoking area by 2018. An amendment to the law on advertising, prohibiting all commercials for tobacco products was also proposed. The bill would radically increase the fine for smoking in a prohibited area. The fine for this is currently 20 lari. It suggested strengthening the enforcement mechanisms of anti-smoking policies. The Health Ministrys regulating body would be responsible for monitoring offences under its area of responsibility, which restaurants, cafes and other places would be under supervision of other ministries. In 2013, then-Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili - who put together the ruling Georgian Dream coalition - introduced a 5-year action plan with the aim of introducing stricter control on tobacco products. However, for the past three years nothing has changed. Sturua told DFWatch that the regulations would only have become stricter if Parliament had passed the amendments, because the current regulations lack an enforcement mechanism. Ivanishvili presented statistics showing that tobacco kills about 6 million people annually, 600,000 of whom die from second-hand smoke; a total of 1.2 billion people are addicted to smoking worldwide. In Georgia, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 9,000-11,000 people die from smoking each year. A survey conducted by WHO in 2010 showed that 30.3 percent of Georgians smoke (55.5 percent of men, 4.8 percent of women). (DF watch) No country can become an EU member state if it introduces the death penalty Federica Mogherini No country can become an EU member state if it introduces the death penalty, Federica Mogherini said, noting that Turkey was a member of the Council of Europe and a signatory to the European convention on human rights, which bans capital punishment. According to Mogherini, the democratic and legitimate institutions needed to be protected, today we will say, together with the ministers, that this obviously doesnt meant that the rule of law and the system of checks and balances in the country doesnt count. On the contrary, it needs to be protected for the sake of the country itself. So we will send a strong message on that, she has remarked. Turkey said the government might discuss the issue of re-introducing death penalty after the rebellions tried to arrange coup on July 16. (IPN) Tbilisi hosts third round of Georgia-China free trade talks Georgia and China are starting the third round of negotiations to establish a free trade regime and facilitate increased business and trade turnover between both nations. The latest round of talks will be held in Georgias capital Tbilisi later this month, announced Georgias Ministry of Economy today. During the second round of negotiations held in Beijing, China in May this year, Georgian and Chinese officials agreed free trade talks should be completed by the end of 2016 and the deals should come into force in early 2017. The first round of talks was held in Georgias capital Tbilisi on February 22-23, 2016. A free trade deal with China will be extremely beneficial for Georgia as it will facilitate increased business and trade turnover between the nations, said the Georgian Government. Through the deal Georgia will be able to export its products to China a market of 1.4 billion customers - without additional customs fees. When the negotiations are complete and an agreement has been reached, Georgia will be the first country in the region to have this type of deal with China. (Agenda.ge) After quitting her national Democratic Party leadership role amid furor over thousands of leaked emails, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz now faces the political battle of her lifetime back home in South Florida. Wasserman Schultz resigned as Democratic National Committee chairwoman Sunday, strengthening the hand of her primary opponent, Tim Canova who saw a huge fundraising boost and national media attention following her decision. While the Weston congresswoman spent Monday morning getting heckled by protesters in Philadelphia at her first public appearance since her resignation, Canova was in the district giving interviews to local TV stations, Univision and The Daily Beast and meeting with constituents. I have not left the district in eight months, Canova told the Miami Herald on Sunday. Thats not going to change between now and Aug. 30. I dont think theres going to be a great need for me to go up to Philly and chase the spotlight. Were making friends on the ground every day. @ByKristenMClark Upset that Republican Gov. Rick Scott hasn't personally come to the Treasure Coast to view algae blooms that are plaguing area waterways, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Patrick Murphy hand-delivered several bottles full of the toxic green water to Scott's Tallahassee office on Tuesday morning. Scott himself wasn't there, as he was attending a jobs event in Orange County. His spokeswoman Jackie Schutz said "it's disappointing that (Murphy) has spent more time on a stunt than a solution." Murphy is a congressman from Jupiter, who represents the Treasure Coast and northern Palm Beach County -- areas affected by the algae blooms. He said he doesn't want to "vilify" anyone or lay blame for the algae crisis, but he criticized the governor at length for not doing more. "We have repeatedly called on the governor to come down and visit our district to see this first hand, and the governor has refused to see it," Murphy said, while standing in the Florida Capitol rotunda following his 30-second visit to the governor's office. "So, I decided that I wanted to come to Tallahassee and deliver this bottle of toxic algae to the governor to make sure he sees exactly what we're dealing with on a day-to-day basis." Murphy wants Scott to use Amendment 1 environmental funds "to acquire more land for conservation, for preservation, to do more to send this water south." "There's so much that needs to be done," Murphy said. "And instead of declaring a state of emergency to actually try to solve a problem, the governor tried to point a finger at the federal government and blame other people." He continued: "This isn't a problem where you should be pointing fingers and blaming folks. ... The local government, the state government, the federal government all have to come together to solve this problem -- not see how you can score some cheap political points." Murphy was himself criticized earlier this month over the algae crisis. His congressional office attempted to delay the announcement of aid for small businesses so that Murphy could announce it at a press event he'd planned. "We wish Congressman Murphy would spend more time in Washington getting Congress and the president to approve funding to repair the federally operated Herbert Hoover Dike, which has caused the algae problem in the Treasure Coast," said Schutz, the governor's spokeswoman. "Time and time again, the state continues to show up and put up funding to help with the water quality in this area and we wish Congress and the president would do the same." Schutz added: "While Governor Scott has dedicated full resources to address this problem and recommended funding in next years budget, the federal government has failed to fund over $800 million in Everglades restoration which they are responsible for." Photo credit: Kristen M. Clark / Herald/Times Tallahassee bureau Florida regulators voted to approve a new water quality standard Tuesday that will increase the amount of cancer-causing toxins allowed in Florida's rivers and streams under a plan the state says will protect more Floridians than current standards. The Environmental Regulation Commission voted 3-2 to approve a proposal drafted by state regulators that would increase the number of regulated chemicals from 54 to 92 allowed in rivers, streams and other sources of drinking water. "We have not updated these parameters since 1992. It is more good than harm,'' said Cari Roth, a Tallahassee lawyer who represents developers on the commission and serves as its chair. But the proposal, based on a one-of-a-kind scientific method developed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and nicknamed "Monte Carlo," is being vigorously criticized by environmental groups. They warn the new standard will allow polluters to dump dangerous amounts of chemicals in high concentrations into Florida waters before they trigger the limits of the new rule, and allow Florida to adhere to standards that are weaker than federal guidelines. "Monte Carlo gambling with our children's safety is unacceptable,'' said Marty Baum of Indian Riverkeeper, an environmental group based in Indian River County. Under the proposal, the acceptable levels of toxins will be increased for more than two dozen known carcinogens and decreased for 13 currently regulated chemicals. DEP, however, touted the part of the plan that will impose new rules on 39 other chemicals that are not currently regulated, including two carcinogens. "The department has left no stone unturned to develop science-based and legally defensible criteria,'' said Tom Frick, director of the DEP division of environmental management and restoration, at the day-long meeting. WASHINGTON Memory loss may not always be the first warning sign that dementia is brewing changes in behavior or personality might be an early clue. Researchers on Sunday outlined a syndrome called "mild behavioral impairment" that may be a harbinger of Alzheimer's or other dementias, and proposed a checklist of symptoms to alert doctors and families. Losing interest in favorite activities? Getting unusually anxious, aggressive or suspicious? Suddenly making crude comments in public? "Historically those symptoms have been written off as a psychiatric issue, or as just part of aging," said Dr. Zahinoor Ismail of the University of Calgary, who presented the checklist at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Toronto. Now, "when it comes to early detection, memory symptoms don't have the corner on the market anymore," he said. Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia, affects more than 5 million people in the U.S., a number growing as the population ages. It gradually strips people of their memory and the ability to think and reason. But it creeps up, quietly ravaging the brain a decade or two before the first symptoms become noticeable. Early memory problems called "mild cognitive impairment," or MCI, can raise the risk of later developing dementia, and worsening memory often is the trigger for potential patients or their loved ones to seek medical help. It's not uncommon for people with dementia to experience neuropsychiatric symptoms, too problems such as depression or "sundowning," agitation that occurs at the end of the day as the degeneration spreads into brain regions responsible for more than memory. And previous studies have found that people with mild cognitive impairment are at greater risk of decline if they also suffer more subtle behavioral symptoms. What's new: The concept of pre-dementia "mild behavioral impairment," or MBI, a term that describes specific changes in someone's prior behavior that might signal degeneration is starting in brain regions not as crucial for memory, he said. Ismail is part of an Alzheimer's Association committee tapped to draft a checklist of the symptoms that qualify new problems that linger at least six months, not temporary symptoms or ones explained by a clear mental health diagnosis or other issues such as bereavement, he stressed. They include apathy, anxiety about once routine events, loss of impulse control, flaunting social norms, loss of interest in food. He even cites extreme cases, like a 68-year-old who started using cocaine before anyone noticed her memory trouble. If validated, the checklist could help doctors better identify people at risk of brewing Alzheimer's and study changes over time. "It's important for us to recognize that not everything's forgetfulness," said Dr. Ron Petersen, the Mayo Clinic's Alzheimer's research chief. He wasn't involved in developing the behavior checklist but said it could raise awareness of the neuropsychiatric link with dementia. Technology specialist Mike Belleville of Douglas, Massachusetts, thought stress was to blame when he found himself getting easily frustrated and angry. Normally patient, he began snapping at co-workers and rolling down his window to yell at other drivers, "things I'd never done before," Belleville said. The final red flag was a heated argument with his wife, Cheryl, who found herself wondering, "Who is this person?" When Mike Belleville didn't remember the strong words the next morning, the two headed straight for a doctor. Physicians tested for depression and a list of other suspects. Eventually Belleville, now 55, was diagnosed with an early-onset form of dementia and with medication no longer gets angry so easily, allowing him to volunteer his computer expertise. "If you see changes, don't take it lightly and assume it's stress," Cheryl Belleville advised. *** Also at Sunday's meeting: Complex jobs that require working with people may help the brain build resilience against dementia, what's called "cognitive reserve," University of Wisconsin researchers reported. The team tested 284 adults in late middle-age whose brain scans showed changes that have been linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer's. Comparing their cognitive ability and their careers, the researchers found those who worked primarily with people, rather than objects or data, functioned better even if brain scans showed more of that quiet damage. Preliminary results from a study of "brain training" suggested one type might help delay cognitive impairment. Researchers examined records from 2,785 older adults who'd participated in a previous trial that compared three cognitive training strategies to improve memory, reasoning or reaction times with no intervention. A decade later, that reaction-time training suggested benefit: 12 percent of people who'd completed up to 10 hours had evidence of cognitive decline or dementia compared with 14 percent in the control group, said Dr. Jerri Edwards of the University of South Florida. The figure was lower 8 percent for people who got some extra booster training. "It's the first hint for a cognitive training intervention like this," but more research is needed, said Dr. Jonathan King of the National Institute on Aging, who wasn't involved in the new study. Coming soon Advance care planning A free one-hour information session on selecting, completing and submitting advance directives forms will be held at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Providence St. Patrick Health & Services Broadway Building, 500 W. Broadway, in Conference Center 1. For more information, call 327-1950. PWR!4Life workshop Personal trainers, physical therapists and occupational therapists will be taught exercise techniques for physically challenged adults in a workshop Aug. 6-7 in Missoula at the University of Montana School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Science. PWR!4Life, a research-based program to create neuroplasticity for Parkinsons disease patients, has shown an ability to arrest progression of symptoms. For more information and to register, visit pwr4life.org. Hip Strip blood drive The Missoulian, 500 S. Higgins Ave., will host a blood drive Wednesday, Aug. 10, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. To schedule an appointment, go to redcrossblood.org and enter sponsor code Missoulian. Red Willow Center For more information on the following classes at the learning center, 825 W. Kent, call 721-0033 or visit redwillowlearning.org: Meditation for Beginners with Glenn Tousignant, July 28-Aug. 25, noon-1 p.m. Thursdays, $50. "Yoga for Round Bodies" with Leslie Burgess, Aug. 10-Sept. 28, 1:15 p.m. Wednesdays, $80, doctor's release required. "Basics of Resilience" with Kathy Mangan, 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9. Free. "Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction" with Greg Satya Shanks, Sept. 13-Nov. 8, 6-8:30 p.m. Tuesdays, $300. Attendance at one of these free classes is required: Aug. 23 or Aug. 30, 6-8:30 p.m. "Qigong Self-Massage" with Libby McIntyre, 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25, $55. Ongoing classes include "Yoga for Wellness" at noon Mondays, $12 or $40 for four weeks; "Mindfulness Meditation" at 12:10 p.m. Tuesdays, $12 or $40 for four weeks; "Yoga Beyond Cancer" at 4 p.m. Tuesdays, $40 for any weeks; "Yoga for Chronic Pain" at 4 p.m. Wednesdays, $40 for four weeks plus $50 for prerequisite screening. BodyTalk ACCESS A class will be taught by Kathy Mangan on Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Red Willow Learning Center. The cost is $125, including manual. For details and registration, call Tori at 880-8749 or register at bodytalksystem.com. Ongoing programs AA and Al-Anon For the latest Alcoholics Anonymous meetings list, visit aa-montana.org or call the Missoula hotline at 543-0011. For more information on Al-Anon and Alateen, which are 12-step recovery programs for relatives and friends whose lives have been affected by alcoholism, visit mt.al-anon.alateen.org. Acupuncture for cancer caregivers Missoula Community Acupuncture, located in the Radio Central Building, 127 E Main St., Suite 314, offers free acupuncture treatments for friends, family, nurses, doctors or anyone who takes care of cancer patients 5-7 p.m. Wednesdays. No appointment is necessary. For more information, call Michael Peluso at 406-926-1611. Adult Asperger's support group An open meeting for those with Asperger's as well as their family and friends is held every Thursday from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the University Center, Room 216, on campus. Contact Monique Casbeer at 721-3947 or Cindy Bacon Janego at cjanego@communitymed.org for more information. Alzheimers support Meets the second Wednesday of each month at noon at the Summit Independent Living conference room, 700 S.W. Higgins Ave. Another group meets the fourth Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the Missoula Senior Center, 705 S. Higgins Ave. For more information, contact Jackie Johnson at 549-3433 or jackiej45@yahoo.com. Alzheimers caregivers support group Meets the fourth Monday at 6:30 p.m. of each month at the Missoula Senior Center, 705 S. Higgins Ave. For more information, call Jackie Johnson at 549-3433. Arthritis programs The Montana Arthritis Program offers physical activity and self-management education programs, such as the Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program, Walk with Ease and Stanfords Chronic Disease Self-Management Program. Classes are available in several communities including Florence, Hamilton, Kalispell, Libby, Missoula, Plains and Polson. To find a class or for more information, visit dphhs.mt.gov/publichealth/arthritis. Bereavement support groups Frontier Hospice offers open door meetings 6-7 p.m. Thursdays at the following locations: The Springs at Whitefish on the first Thursday; Rising Mountains Assisted Living Community in Bigfork on the third Thursday; and Frontier Hospice in Kalispell on the second and fourth Thursdays. Call 406-755-4923 for more information. Breast cancer support group Meets the first and third Wednesday of the month from 11 a.m. to noon at the Montana Cancer Center, St. Patrick Hospital Broadway Building, second floor. Call 329-5656. Cancer Center support group Meets noon-1:30 p.m. the second Thursday of each month at the Montana Cancer Center, 500 W. Broadway. For more information, call Bonnie at 240-0996. Cancer Resource Guide The online guide covers resources including support groups, treatment centers, camps and retreats, in Missoula, Mineral and Ravalli counties. It is available at CancerResourcesMT.org. Cancer support group A support group for anyone affected by cancer meets noon-1 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays at the Polson United Methodist Church, 301 16th Ave. For more information, call Tammy at 406-883-7284 or 824-2868. Celebrate Recovery The Christian-based 12-step recovery program meets 6-9:30 p.m. every Friday at Christian Assembly Foursquare Church, 1001 Cleveland St. Dinner is available from 6 to 7 p.m. and child care is provided for ages birth to 11. For more information, call 721-6884 or email cafc@4bible.com. Cheerful Heart Lake County cancer patients in treatment can receive a massage and help with hair and skin problems, free of charge, from local therapists and cosmetologists. Other non-medical services include transportation to treatment and doctor appointments, running errands, yard work and meal preparation. Appointments may be scheduled by calling 406-883-3070. Colorectal Cancer Support Group Meets 1-2 p.m. the third Friday of every month through March 20, Community Cancer Care Conference Room, 2827 Fort Missoula Road. "Coping, Education & Support for Women with All Cancer Types" The support group for women in all stages of cancer treatment or survivorship will be held noon-1:30 p.m. the second Monday of every month through March 14, 2016, at the Community Cancer Care Conference Room, 2837 Fort Missoula Road. For more information, call Deb Rivey at 327-3912, Terri Paxinos at 327-3957 or Kimberly Hardwick at 327-3906. Diabetes program At 6:30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of every month, there will be a short presentation on a topic related to the management of type 1 diabetes at the YMCA, 3000 S. Russell St. It will be followed by the option for socializing in the foyer or being active together at the Y. A fee of $5 per individual will be collected at the door for those choosing to use the facility. Designed for ages 14 and older, children are welcome but must be accompanied by a parent/caregiver. Double Trouble in Recovery The 12-step program for people with mental health and addiction issues meets 3-4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Winds of Change Recovery Mall, 2685 Palmer St., No. C (second floor). Coffee is provided. For more information, call Veronica at 721-2038. Epilepsy support group Meets the first Monday of the month from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Summit Independent Living Center, 700 S.W. Higgins Ave., Suite 101. Patients, friends, family and caregivers welcome. Call Debbie at 721-0707 for more information. Free health exams Women ages 30 to 64 who meet necessary income guidelines and either have no health insurance or have insurance that will not pay for breast and cervical health exams can receive free exams through Partnership Health Centers Montana Cancer Screening Program. Call 258-4162 for more information. Gentle yoga class The Missoula Senior Citizen Center, 705 S. Higgins Ave., offers a class that focuses on balance training, back strength and core conditioning through gentle yoga matwork every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 9 a.m. Fee is $4 per class. All ages welcome. For more information, call 543-7154. Health Insurance Assistance Service Montana cancer patients can call the American Cancer Societys 24-hour toll-free number to be connected to a health insurance specialist to ask about coverage and insurance programs specific to the state. The number is 800-227-2345. Mens cancer support group Open to men in all phases of testing, treatment and followup, the group meets the fourth Tuesday of the month from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Montana Cancer Center, 500 W. Broadway. It is facilitated by Gary Weisbrich and Tom King. Call 329-5628 or email gary.weisbrich@providence.org for more information. Narcotics Anonymous Meets at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Alano Club, 8 Third Ave. W., Polson. Call 406-883-4135. National Alliance on Mental Illness NAMI Missoula meets every Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon in the lower level (behind the cafeteria) of the Providence Center. It is open to anyone affected by mental illness or interested in learning more about the group. The NAMI Connection group for adults living with mental illness meets 1:30-3 p.m. Thursdays at the NAMI offices, 202 Brooks St., Room 210. Call 880-1013 with questions. NAMI Family Support Group National Alliance on Mental Illness Missoula meets Wednesdays from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 202 Brooks St., in Room 210. The peer-led support for adult family members, caregivers and loved ones of individuals with mental illness is free. For more information, call 406-880-1013 or email namimissoula@gmail.com. My No-Nonsense Nutrition Program A seven-week webinar course to improve your nutrition and fitness. Faith based approach to better health. Free initial consult with Judy Gilman, registered nurse, diabetes and wellness educator. mynononsensenutrition.com or 546-7819. Overeaters Anonymous Local meetings include 7 p.m. Monday and 9 a.m. Saturday at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 202 Brooks St. A meeting for newcomers is at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday followed by a "Back to Basics" meeting at 7 p.m. at St. Paul's. Everyone who wants to stop eating compulsively is welcome. There are no dues, weigh-ins or lectures. For more meeting information, visit oa.org. SAA For the latest Sex Addicts Anonymous meeting list visit saa-recovery.org, call the Missoula hotline at 241-4005 or email MissoulaBetterway@yahoo.com. SAA is a 12-step fellowship of men and women who share experience, strength and hope for the purpose of finding freedom from addictive sexual behavior and helping others recover from sex addiction. S-Anon Local meetings are held weekly for this recovery program for people affected by another persons sexual behavior. Visit sanonmontana.org or call 406-544-1271 to learn more. Stroke and Brain Injury Support Group Meets the second Thursday of each month from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the Providence Center, 902 N. Orange St., in the dining area on the fourth floor. For details, call 329-5784. Tai Chi for Arthritis Class offered 9:15 a.m. Mondays at the Missoula Senior Citizens Center, 705 S. Higgins Ave. $4 per class. All ages welcome. Tai Chi Chih Classes are offered at the following locations: Missoula Senior Citizens Center, 705 S. Higgins Ave., 9:15 a.m. Wednesdays, $4 per class; PEAK Health & Wellness Center, 5000 Blue Mountain Road, 11 a.m. Tuesdays, call 251-3344; and The Womens Club, 2105 Bow St., 9 a.m. Fridays, call 728-4410. TOPS Take Off Pounds Sensibly, an affordable, nonprofit, weight-loss support and wellness organization, meets at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the First Christian Church, 2701 S. Russell St. Another TOPS meeting is 6:30 p.m. Monday at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 2512 Sunset Lane. For additional meetings, go to tops.org, click on "Find a Meeting" and enter your zip code or call 800-932-8677. The Women's Club For more information on the following classes at The Women's Club, 2105 Bow St., call 728-4410: Foundation Training, 12:15-1 p.m. Monday and Thursday. Improve posture, strength and athletic ability. Pickle ball open play, 1-4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Paddles provided. All levels welcome. Kick and Core high-intensity cardio workout with focus on strengthening core. *** Submit items to newsdesk@missoulian.com by noon Friday for publication the following Tuesday. As the first days of school approach, many families are reminded about the vaccines required for school entrance. Vaccines protect our children and our community from preventable diseases. As a pediatrician, part of my job is to educate families in making health care decisions for their children. This is especially important for immunizations, as there is an abundance of inaccurate information about the safety of vaccines. Most vaccines protect against bacteria and viruses we will all inevitably encounter at some point in our lives. Other vaccines protect the community against diseases that could re-emerge, such as polio. By the age of 2, the vaccines recommended in the standard CDC schedule will protect children from 14 different diseases. This schedule is designed to protect children at risk for these specific infections even before they are exposed. Rigorous testing is done to ensure the recommended vaccines are both safe and effective. Vaccines help the bodys natural immune system. The immune system works by recognizing a specific disease and developing the ability to fight the infection. Vaccines imitate these infections and provide a chance to practice fighting the disease. Vaccines do not cause the actual illness. Instead, the body is left with a memory of the event so it can then recognize and fight the virus or bacteria we will inevitably encounter later in life. The only other way to get immunity to an infection is to experience the actual illness first hand; natural infections can cause severe complications, even death. The safety of vaccines is a common concern many families bring into my office. Vaccines are tested extensively with multiple clinical trials, sometimes lasting decades, before becoming available to the public. Like all medicines, vaccines can have possible side effects, which are usually mild and may include tenderness where the shot was given or fever. Serious reactions to vaccines are rare. Not vaccinating is more dangerous. Vaccinating children is not only important for their immediate safety, but also to protect our community long term. Some people are unable to get vaccines, like newborns and those with certain medical conditions. These vulnerable people are unfortunately at more risk to get the diseases and their complications. By vaccinating everyone else, we can help protect our whole community. Modern vaccines have been shown to be an effective way to eliminate or reduce diseases in our community. While some diseases are currently completely eliminated, others are still common, such as pertussis (whooping cough). Other infections that are at low levels in the country could easily re-emerge if we stop vaccinating. Even the diseases we are winning against, such as polio, are just a few plane rides away. Recent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles, are reminders of how quickly these illnesses can re-enter our community. Montana has historically low vaccine rates compared to other states. By promoting vaccinations within our community, we can help prevent dangerous diseases from affecting our community and ourselves. Your health care provider is the best resource if questions or concerns regarding vaccines arise. *** Melissa Kleschen, M.D., Providence Medical Group Grant Creek Family Practice Sailors hailing from saltwater ports of call are blown down by the thought of it: Sailboats in Montana? Have you heard you need water for that? But old hands charting a course for the Can-Am Fort Peck Sailing Regatta, set for Aug. 20-21, 2016, know how to answer back: The waters in Fort Peck Lake, and that lake is 134 miles long, with 1,520 miles of shoreline in six counties. Its the fifth-largest man-made lake in the country and its more than 200 feet at deepest. And this is the part that sailors love that old prairie wind comes skating across that lake just the way it comes off the slope of the Rockies, steady and reliable, from the northwest. Wind thats the other component that makes Montana a great place to hoist canvas. Its really a great place to sail, says Montana sailing enthusiast Page Anderson of the Fort Peck Sailing Club. What a sailor wants is steady winds, both in speed and direction. What we see a lot of is steady winds, both in speed and direction. Its pretty much always windy on the prairie. Theres just this weather machine that creates these prairie winds. We get more days when we cant sail because of too much wind than too little wind. And, he added, the reservoir behind the Fort Peck Dam makes one of the largest inland bodies of water in the United States next to the Great Lakes. Thats why an increasing number of racers and sailing enthusiasts take part in the regatta, headquartered at the Fort Peck Marina at the Fort Peck Dam, 17 miles from Glasgow, Montana. This is the third year the regatta has been held at Fort Peck Lake. As the name suggests, some Canadians take part in the Can-Am Fort Peck Sailing Regatta, just as some of the Montana sailors take part in events in Canada. One of the sailors from north of the border, John Cormack, has been instrumental in helping carry out the regatta. Theres a lot of equipment you need to put on a regatta, Anderson said. He offered to bring what he called a regatta in a box. He would bring the flags, stopwatches, the inflatable marks that you make your turns around for the course, the anchors, the anchor lines. Much of the course is set up in easy viewing distance of the highway that runs across the dam so that motorists can stop and watch a bit of the event. The regatta is just one sign that sailing on Fort Peck Lake is coming of age. Rafe Sigmundstad, another Fort Peck enthusiast, said the Fort Peck Sailing Club was officially organized in summer 2015 by the core of sailors who organized the first sailing regatta at Fort Peck the year before. Anderson said that brings to five the number of sailing clubs in landlocked Montana. The others are North Flathead Yacht Club in Somers; South Flathead Yacht Club, Dayton/Polson; Canyon Ferry Yacht Club, Helena/Townsend; and Hebgen Lake Yacht Club, West Yellowstone. Anderson said sailing Fort Peck Lake does have its challenges. One is the water temperature, which can be bone-chilling during some parts of the sailing year. And the lake is big enough for a roaring wind to build some tall and dangerous waves. But Sigmundstad said that sort of weather always blows out of the country before long; and quite often the winds are just right. For me, the sweet spot is between 8 and 15 miles per hour, he said. Anything over 20 miles per hour and we generally wont go out. Sigmundstad said sailors sometimes have the Fort Peck waters to themselves. Its another way to see eastern Montana, he said, especially on overnight journeys up and down the lake. Theres a certain romantic element to it and I really cant begin to describe it in its splendor, he said. Its kind of spiritual: Find a sheltered place to camp for the night, wake up on the water and make a good cup of coffee. Then hoist a sail. An 83-year-old Bigfork man is dead after a head-on crash Monday afternoon on Montana Highway 35 east of Evergreen. The Flathead County Sheriff's Department on Tuesday identified the victim as Thomas Arnett. According to Montana Highway Patrol, Arnett was driving east at 4:20 p.m. when his red Jeep Wrangler crossed the fog line on the right side of the road, then veered left into oncoming traffic, striking a Dodge Ram 3500 head-on. According to MHP, the Jeep came to rest in the westbound lane facing east, and the Dodge truck stopped in the same lane facing west. Arnett was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the Dodge, a 26-year-old man, sustained minor injuries but refused hospital treatment. Traffic was initially detoured around the accident scene, and a couple of non-injury crashes were recorded in the area. The detour was rescinded about an hour after the crash, and flaggers directed traffic through the scene in the eastbound lane until shortly before 7 p.m., when both lanes were cleared. Alcohol, drugs and speed arent suspected in the crash, and Arnett was wearing his seat belt. The other driver was not. The fatality was the 99th on state roads and highways this year, compared to 106 at the same time last year. It also was the third in four days on western Montana roads. The Mineral County coroner has yet to release the name and hometown of a 54-year-old female killed Friday in a one-car rollover west of Superior. The crash occurred around 2 p.m. when a Nissan passenger car traveling eastbound on Interstate 90 left the roadway on the median side at mile marker 41.6 between St. Regis and Superior. The driver overcorrected to the right and rolled, according to MHP. The woman was pronounced dead on the scene. Three children ages 2, 6 and 8 were taken to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula. All occupants were wearing seat belts and there was no air bag deployment. On Thursday night, a rollover crash on a mountain road off U.S. Highway 12 east of Garrison claimed the life of 63-year-old Stevie Jon Nelson, whose last address was listed as Anaconda. The Montana Standard reported Nelson was alone driving an older model Ford F-250 at around 6 p.m. when he took a right turn too sharply and left the road, rolling the truck down an embankment. Nelson, who was not wearing a seat belt, died at the scene. The crash wasnt discovered until Friday morning, after an area resident reported a limping dog in the road. City leaders agree that Missoulas downtown has the potential to be much more beautiful and inviting than it is. As it stands, asphalt parking lots take up valuable space along the riverfront, but parking spots elsewhere are at a premium. Two one-way streets downtown, Front and Main, confuse tourists, frustrate business owners and frighten for pedestrians. And historic preservation advocates want to see the Missoula Mercantile's facade saved. All of these ideas would cost money, and there's only so much to go around. With several new major development projects in the works, and a lot of fingers grabbing for that additional property tax revenue, city leaders have a lot to consider as they set the future of the urban core in motion. Last week, members of the Missoula Redevelopment Agencys board of directors expressed concern that some city councilors have asked whether Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funding may be available to preserve the facade of the Missoula Mercantile building. A Bozeman developer has applied for a demolition permit to build a five-story hotel in place of the Merc, and city councilors want him to include some of the original buildings facade in the design of the new building. Theoretically, the additional property tax generated by a new $30 million, 150-room hotel could generate enough financing to pay for some facade preservation for the new hotel, since it sits within the Front Street Urban Renewal District. However, several other projects downtown, most notably a proposal to convert both Front and Main into two-way streets, could be first in line to get any new TIF funding. If the proposed $30 million library bond passes this fall, the Missoula Public Library could request TIF funding. And the developers of a proposed 488-bed student housing project on Front Street will seek nearly $1 million in TIF funds to help build two levels of parking beneath the project, the taxpayer-funded portion of which would be open to the public. At last weeks Land Use and Planning Committee meeting, city council members urged the would-be Merc developer to come to Wednesdays meeting with a design that includes facade preservation. However, MRA executive director Ellen Buchanan was at the same meeting and cautioned against city councilors counting on tax increment financing as a guaranteed funding source for facade preservation. You had a lay group of city councilors trying to design a building, Buchanan recalled to the MRA board. And you have a developer who talks about business decisions and a group of preservationists talk about preservation. So I think tax increment financing has been identified as a possible funding source (for facade preservation) but its a complicated puzzle. In essence, she explained, none of the three sides speaks the same language. Until the developer gets a green light on a demolition permit, he cant come to the MRA board and ask for TIF assistance. The developer has also said several times that it isnt economically feasible for him to preserve the facade. And, other projects might get the TIF funding, anyway. Buchanan said that there is no priority list" for TIF funding, meaning one request doesnt necessarily preclude any other projects from getting money. This isnt a matter of pitting one project against another, she said. Every district has multiple needs. Buchanan said she doesnt know how much money a new hotel in place of the Merc would generate in additional property taxes, but she estimates that since it would be taxed as a commercial project, it would generate more than the estimated $300,000 to $330,000 per year than the new student housing project. That's because the housing project will be taxed as residential. It would take a lot of discussions to figure out how to use the money generated by a new hotel, she said. Are there other projects [besides facade preservation] that you might use this money for that the Merc project would generate? The Front and Main conversion is the first one that comes to mind, she said. But its not necessarily an either or thing. If that hotel is built, its going to generate a healthy amount of new increment. But we have never been asked for anything" from the would-be Merc developer. Dan Kemmis, a member of the MRA board, reiterated that the MRA and the developer have not had any discussions about the MRA funding any historical preservation on the Merc. He said he's concerned that the MRA would be asked to fund a facade preservation design that the MRA board wouldn't have had any input on. If we in effect sit on the sidelines, then were fairly likely to be presented with a take-it-or-leave-it proposal for MRAs involvement, Kemmis said. That doesnt feel particularly inviting, especially if theres any way if we as a board can have some more active involvement early on. *** Melanie Brock, a member of the board, said she was concerned that members of the city council may believe TIF funding is available when there isnt any right now. Her passion is making sure there is enough to fund the two-way conversion of Front and Main. The whole conversion project, done right, would cost $5 million, Brock said. It would have to be done in phases, and it would need a funding stack from a variety of sources. But tax increment financing is the easiest fundraising source to fund that project. Brock said that the one-way streets are archaic and unsafe. She said that many drivers only look one way - uproad - when turning onto the streets. That means that a pedestrian crossing downroad is in danger of getting hit by a turning vehicle. She said she almost got hit this way recently. It was a very scary moment for me, she said. And Ive heard a lot of anecdotes about people being hit or nearly being hit. She also said the one-way streets are confusing for tourists, and that downtown business owners have voiced support for two-way streets because it increases the number of people going by. Cities just dont have one-way streets any more, Brock said. If we can bring them up to a thriving urban core standard, we are going to have a much safer downtown. Everyone has our eyes on getting our Front and Main conversion done. It will enhance the visitor experience and it will be a much more friendly, walkable area. It will benefit everyone. Well get it done, and Im excited about it. Everyones on board. Buchanan said that the conversion of Front and Main was listed as a high priority in the Downtown Master Plan, which was last revised in 2009. Its one of the top projects we want to see happen, she said. We had to do a feasibility study with the Montana Department of Transportation to see if that could happen without degrading service. Weve done that and theyve accepted the findings. Buchanan agreed with Brock that a two-way conversion would be a big enough project that it would have to involve multiple funding sources. The conversion has a lot of support, she said. You cant talk to a retailer down there that wouldnt tell they would love to have two-way streets on Front and Main, she said. There isnt a day that goes by without multiple people driving the wrong way on those streets. Its confusing for tourists, and look at the impact of tourism on our economy. Two-way streets also reduce congestion and improve air quality, she said. She said the MRA believes that building more parking spaces below the proposed student housing project is the best use of TIF funds generated by the additional property tax on that site. Thats because the downtown parking structures and parking lots are almost fully leased. The MRA contributed all the money it had to the Park Place structure; otherwise, it would have been two or three stories higher, she said. Once we get enough structured parking downtown, that allows for better uses of the parking lots that are currently on the riverfront, she explained, citing the parking lots near Caras Park as an example of places that would be better as perhaps public parks or retail businesses. Parking lots are hardly the best use of that riverfront. But you gotta replace it with something. A Hamilton man accused of repeatedly writing messages of "dead" to a Missoula woman remains in Missoula County jail after his bail was set at $25,000, half what prosecutors asked for. Patrick Paul Powell, 50, made his initial appearance in Missoula County Justice Court on Monday on a felony stalking charge. According to a court affidavit, the woman had been granted an order of protection against him in February after he was convicted of assaulting her. Prosecutors say between May and July, Powell continually violated the order by contacting the woman, including repeatedly texting her. On July 13, the woman told police she came home and found a note with the word dead written on it tucked between the boards of her gate. The word dead was also carved into the wood on the gate. The same day, she said Powell posted a message on his Facebook page that read Dead by the gate. I love that poem by the Bard of Thomond" an apparent reference to Irish poet Michael Hogan, who died in 1899. The woman told authorities Powells behavior had been escalating and becoming increasingly out of touch with reality, according to the affidavit, adding that she worried about ending up like Charlie Wyrick, a woman allegedly killed by her boyfriend in Missoula in late 2015. His homicide trial is scheduled for late September. Two days after finding the note at her gate, Powell allegedly passed along a pair of figurines to the woman, one of which had the word dead written on the bottom. She told police after that incident she was so afraid of Powell she and her child moved out of their home. Powell was booked into jail on Friday after a warrant was issued for his arrest. In court on Monday, deputy county attorney Selene Koepke asked for the $50,000 bail set by the warrant to remain in effect. If he posts his bond, Koepke said it was very important Powell be under pretrial supervision, and be subject to both alcohol and GPS monitoring. She said prosecutors believe Powell is an Irish citizen, and requested he surrender his passport to prevent him from leaving the country. Powell, appearing by video from the Missoula County jail, objected to the surrender of his passport, saying it was his only form of identification. Public defense attorney Joan Burbridge asked for bail to be set at $1,000, adding that Powell has no prior felony convictions and has lived in the area for years. Justice of the Peace Marie Andersen set bail at $25,000 and told Powell he was not to contact his alleged victim in any way. If he posts bond, Andersen said he must surrender his passport and will be on pretrial supervision including GPS and any other monitoring they deem appropriate. HAMILTON A Ravalli County District Court judge has denied a request to delay the trial of Florence physician Dr. Chris Christensen, charged with providing patients with illegal prescriptions. Christensen must either hire an attorney or represent himself at trial in the fall, according to District Court Judge Jeffrey Langton's order. Christensen was arrested in August 2015 after allegedly providing hundreds of illicit prescriptions to his patients, two of whom died from overdoses. He faces 400 felony charges, including two counts of negligent homicide. The Office of the State Public Defender moved to be taken off the case late last year after finding Christensen had too much money to qualify for state-funded counsel, a conclusion upheld by Langton. Since his public defender was taken away in December, Christensen routinely claimed that he is seeking a lawyer, and also that he intends to file for bankruptcy to be able to have a public defender again. In the spring, Christensen asked that his trial, which already had been continued from February to October, be delayed for another year so he could obtain legal representation and prepare his defense. In an order issued Monday, Langton said in the months since making those claims, Christensen has yet to file for bankruptcy and has not done enough to find a new attorney. Although as a criminal defendant, Christensen is entitled to constitutional guarantees which include the right to be represented by counsel, such right does not include the right to sit back and take no initiative ... and then demanding that the proceedings stop until he obtains counsel, which may never happen, Langton wrote. Christensen, 67, faces a prison sentence of up to 388 life terms, plus 135 years and a fine of up to $20 million if convicted on all charges. He wrote in his requests that he has been prevented from filing for bankruptcy because he does not have access to financial information stored on hard drives seized by the prosecution, which would allow him to file his 2014 and 2015 tax returns. Ravalli Deputy County Attorney Thorin Geist said they would be willing to provide Christensen with copies of the drives if he requests them, which he has not done, but also informed the judge that none of the drives seized contained financial data. When he requested the year-long trial delay in May, Christensen also asked for a six-month stay on his case to allow him to gather a legal team. At the time, he said he believed he would require three attorneys, three legal assistants, several law clerks, two secretaries and an office manager, as well as office space, utilities, van and video equipment rental and an in-house medical law consultant. He also believes he needs medical experts in at least 11 different specialties and what he termed ancillary personnel. Christensen wrote that what he termed a boutique law firm could cost as much as $1,000,000 in public defense fees and might need to be a special appropriation by the Montana Legislature. If he did not receive the stay, which Langton denied in Mondays order, Christensen said he would stymie this case for years in appeals. Although Christensen informed the judge he has met with at least three attorneys, Judge Langton wrote he had not shown that he was unable to afford to hire any of them. The sticking point appears to be that Christensen wants an attorney but refuses to retain one at his own expense, Langtons order reads. To date, his conduct shows that his choice is to proceed pro se. Langton also denied a request that Christensens $200,000 bond be exonerated. Christensens trial is set to begin Oct. 20. and is expected to last for one month. A Washington man who said he recently moved to Missoula faces a felony charge of driving under the influence after he allegedly backed into a picnic bench and nearly hit a person in Caras Park, according to court documents. Wayne Jerome Buchanan, 51, was pulled over around 12:30 a.m. Monday by a Missoula police officer who saw him drive through a red light at Orange Street after speeding on Broadway, according to court documents. A 9-1-1 dispatcher told the officer the license plate number and vehicle Buchanan was driving matched the description of an SUV that had backed into the Caras Park bench and almost hit someone at around 8 p.m. Sunday. According to a court affidavit, the officer said Buchanan, the only occupant of the vehicle, slurred and had bloodshot eyes. He allegedly admitted he had a few drinks and had been at Caras Park. He scored poorly on field sobriety tests, and a breath sample indicated a blood-alcohol content above the legal limit of 0.08. Buchanan provided a blood sample that was sent to the Montana State Crime Lab for testing. He made his initial appearance in Missoula County Justice Court on Monday, charged with a felony DUI as well as misdemeanors for lacking proof of insurance and driving through the red light. Prosecutors say the Washington Department of Licensing shows prior DUI convictions for Buchanan in 1994, 1995 and 2011. In court Buchanan, through public defense attorney Joan Burbridge, said he knew nothing about the 2011 DUI. Justice of the Peace Marie Andersen set Buchanans bail at $5,000 and said if he posts his bond, he will be monitored for alcohol use. She appointed the Office of the State Public Defender to represent him, and allowed Buchanan to be screened for pretrial supervision. When the Commemorative Air Force flight crew heard I had never been on an airplane before, they laughed and asked what planet I was from. Obviously, Earth, I thought. Otherwise I wouldve had to fly here. You read it right. Im a 21-year-old college student who, until Monday, had never been on a plane of any kind in my long, vacationless life. I've often listened to people complain about airport security while I nod as if Ive been there. And from what Ive gathered, the seats on commercial airplanes are so small most people cant even enjoy flying through the air like birds. So when the Commemorative Air Force offered the Missoulian a seat on the Maid in the Shade, a restored WWII B-25J bomber open for tours and flights in Missoula this week, I was ready to parachute out of the plane so long as I could fly for the first time. Thankfully, never having been on a plane was weird enough to make for an interesting story. The Maid in the Shade was built in Kansas City in 1943, according to pilot David Baker, making it more than three times my age. It was used in 15 missions in World War II, when it bombed rail yards, rail tunnels and bridges in Italy and Yugoslavia. In one of those missions, flight crew member Ed Hunter said, the Maid in the Shade was the sole survivor of four planes. When Hunter asked if I was nervous, I told him Id be a lot more nervous if I was on my way to war. But I was a little worried about the flight. I figured the 20 years of work that went into restoring the bomber were similar to the months that go into a 73-year-olds knee replacement surgery: Its expensive, painful and never works quite the same as it used to. I was also worried my past fear of planes would come back to haunt me. After watching "Castaway" as a child, a movie where Tom Hanks' plane crashes into the Pacific Ocean, and Hanks loses his best friend, the volleyball Wilson, I was traumatized with an irrational fear of planes for years. WILSON! I moved on from that fear to my exceptionally bratty high school years, during which I was afraid of nothing because I was in fact, invincible. Although I was still scared of spiders and being late for curfew, I begged my parents to go on a trip somewhere because all my friends were doing it. When my dad finally gave in, my brother and I argued for weeks about where we would go. I wanted New York City and my brother desperately wanted to wear a sombrero in Mexico. So instead of putting up with the sibling rivalry (even though I am definitely the favorite), my dad spent the money on supplies for a deck he built in our front yard. We already had another deck in the back. Who needs two decks? So after years of missed opportunities, I finally got my flight. And the ride was amazing. There were moments I felt I was in the midst of a war, when I realized the huge metal things pointed out the windows were .50-caliber machine guns, for example, or when I looked up through the bomb bay doors and saw two huge bombs, decommissioned, of course. But even those parts were interesting and historic. It was like being in a flying museum, a metallic one, with lots of nuts and bolts. "It's built for your freedom, not for your comfort," Hunter said. The best part was crawling through the tail of the moving plane to get to the rear seat, which was surrounded almost entirely by a dome of windows. I decided then and there that I would never hike to the M again, seeing as Ive now experienced the best possible view of Missoula from 1,500 feet on a cloudless day. The Maid in the Shade will be open for $5 tours at the Missoula International Airport from Tuesday to Sunday. Flights will be available from Friday to Sunday starting at $395. I pursued a degree in journalism because I wanted to travel. Although Ive only been to Darby and Pablo on assignments for news organizations, the bomber flight over Missoula feels like a step in the right direction. I consider this to have been my official journalism baptism. This spring I attended a forum hosted by Hamiltons Bitterroot College on the need to work together to address emerging water issues in the valley. At break, feeling optimistic, Rep. Ed Greef and I were talking about the importance of the proposed multi-use trail on the Eastside Highway when Commissioner Greg Chilcott walked up. He said something like, We shouldnt be building any more bike trails. We wont be able to maintain them. Although that certainly is something that needs to be considered, Mr. Chilcotts immediate rejection of the idea of a new bike trail was disappointing. As I listen to constituent views about Bitterroot Valley issues, the commissioners statement keeps creeping back into my ear. I continue to hear similar pessimistic sentiments from most of our other sitting elected officials on other important Montana issues. At that same forum, Nancy BalLance indicated to me that she voted against the states last infrastructure bill because she feels Montana should use its cash reserves instead of using bonds to pay for rebuilding our needed infrastructure. Although being able to pay for our bills is a legitimate concern, bonding is also a legitimate and commonly accepted way for government to fund such work. However, her personal opposition to bonding took priority over the needs of Montana. Her vote helped kill a bipartisan infrastructure bill that would have created jobs and reduced Montanas ever-increasing infrastructure backlog. Rep. BaLlances position is similar to the one expressed by Commissioner Chilcott, and it is not surprising since most of our current sitting state and local officials in the Bitterroot Valley appear to think alike. They all seem to walk hand-in-hand with a negative attitude toward the future. They talk about problems and then instead of being leaders, they spend their time and energy pointing fingers of blame on issues over which they have no authority or control. I find more and more examples that support what I have heard described as the Bitterroot Valleys reputation of having a management style of pass the buck and blame others. It is one of the reasons I decided to run for state legislature from House District 88. Where is the vision from our representatives? I expect our elected officials to be leaders and problem solvers. Relying on less regulation, smaller government, and lower taxes is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Likewise, neither is increased regulation, bigger government, and higher taxes. It is not the job of our elected officials to say no to things that invest in our future based simply on ideology or preconceived assumptions. It is the responsibility of elected officials to represent the collective views of all their constituents. They have the responsibility and the power to gather the best available information, to bring all parties together and to seek solutions to guide todays decisions for a better tomorrow. To say we will never be able to afford maintenance as the reason not to build infrastructure to make our roads safer is, in my opinion, achingly short sighted. Frankly, I am surprised that our representatives have such little faith in us Bitterrooters. We are very capable of rolling up our sleeves and solving the problems that will make our lives and those of our children better. The Bitterroot Valley and our state are at a crossroads. The world is changing around us and we need to control our destiny. If we dont, others will. As citizens and voters, we need to ask our current leaders how they plan to address emerging issues like the effect of climate change on our agricultural community. What infrastructure do we need to attract clean industries to the valley or support stay at home businesses? How will we create affordable housing? How will we provide clean water as we ask our aquifers to absorb more and more septic tanks? What is our vision for transportation as more and more people live in the valley? Is our educational system up to the task of preparing our children for the world of tomorrow? These are serious questions. We need leaders with a positive vision looking to whats ahead, not followers taking us back to the past. There has been a lot of talk about infrastructure since the last Montana legislative session. Cities, counties and school districts across the state have legitimate needs in maintaining, repairing and upgrading infrastructure in their jurisdictions. Some help from the state would be welcomed. Unfortunately, the Montana Legislature has had an obstacle in its efforts to provide that help. That obstacle is Governor Bullock. In the 2013 session the Legislature passed a bill that would have helped with infrastructure projects in Montana and primarily Eastern Montana's acute needs. It passed with an overwhelming bipartisan majority. The governor vetoed that bill. We passed another infrastructure bill during the 2015 session, Senate Bill 354, that would have created a program within the states coal severance tax to fund infrastructure projects. That bill was also vetoed. As the 2015 session came to a close, SB416 came through the House. It had pork barrel projects that the governor insisted on including. About $40 million was designated to build a museum in Helena and to renovate a gymnasium at Montana State University. Many Republican representatives did not agree that these projects were immediate needs so offered an amendment to put the funding of around 50 statewide school maintenance projects and around 75 statewide water and sewer projects as the bill's priority. The governor and his allies refused to accept the amendment and ignored the needs of the state. SB 416 failed to pass because of a governor that is not interested in working with the Legislature. Blaming Republicans for the failure of SB 416 is dishonest, and making infrastructure funding a campaign issue now is disingenuous. Amazingly, the governor is now proposing a plan that is almost identical to Senate Bill 354 as the cornerstone of his infrastructure plans. Governor Bullock has failed in two legislative sessions on infrastructure bills for this state. It is time that Montana elects a new governor. Keith Regier, Representative HD4, House Majority Leader, Kalispell Anyone else sick of seeing the approximately 540 empty coal cars sitting on the railroad tracks blocking our views on Highway 93? How long must we endure this? Besides blocking our views, they are also interfering with the local wildlife in the areas. Just this past week I've seen two does with their fawns standing beside them trying to figure out how to get "through" or "around" these numerous lines of cars. Impossible for them to figure out, then they get spooked and run into traffic, usually killing one or the other, which ultimately results in them both dying, and (endangering) our safety. We know for a fact these cars are parked right in wildlife corridor areas; otherwise why do we often have lighted signs warning us of this as we commute between Florence and Lolo? MRL, you may lease or own the tracks or right of way (?), but likely not the airspace above them. Maybe we start a Gofundme.com page and sue to make them move, (not hide along the river further up toward Missoula), moving them to Mr. Washington's rail yard or on his own property? The cost of doing business is figuring out where you can dump your old equipment without impacting the public. In your case, likely hundreds of thousands of people are affected and you are polluting our beautiful Bitterroot with your junk. Recent out-of-state guests asked me why we allow this in our beautiful valley. The cars are ugly and dangerous. And dont think you can hide them along the river, which is also a wildlife corridor. Im going to copy in Montana Fish, Wildlife & Game and our county commissioners (both Ravalli and Missoula). Get these cars out of here! Susan Roy, Florence POLSON Things could have gone much better for this years Flathead Lake cherry crop, where the harvest will continue for approximately a week. But it could have gone much worse just as easily. As it is, high cherry prices nationally are helping to offset heavy rains earlier this month that damaged some of the local cherries. Orchards have had to do a lot more sorting to cull out cherries that split because of the moisture, according to Bruce Johnson, president of Flathead Lake Cherry Growers, a co-op made up of roughly two-thirds of the areas 90 or so commercial orchards. Normally, if theres a lot of damage, growers have to decide whether its worth it to pay to pick, sort and package their crop, Johnson said Monday. Prices that range from $55 to $62 a box, according to Bigfork grower Dale Nelson, helped many growers decide to move forward with their harvests. Prices are usually in the mid-$30 range, he said. The rain didnt do us any favors, Nelson said. But were still able to pick because the price is so high. *** The what-might-have-been scenarios range from one where Flathead orchards produced a bumper crop in a year when cherry prices happen to be significantly higher, to one where the fruit could have been left hanging on trees because of rain damage and more typical prices. The growers, Johnson said, tend to deal in what-is realities rather than what-if speculation. We had a big crop, he said. The trees were set heavy. But there are things over which we have no control. When it rains while cherries are ripening as it did when Lambert cherries, the traditional Flathead crop, were nearing harvest time a crop can sustain damage. Water tends to accumulate in the cup, the small indentation where the stem is located. When it happens as the cherry is growing and ripening, the stretching thin skin on the outside of a cherry called the cuticle more readily absorbs the water. If it absorbs too much, it reaches a point where that thin skin cant contain both the increasing amount of sugar in the fruit, and the water too. It bursts. It doesnt make the cherry inedible, but it makes it unsellable to consumers. If the water stays too long, it can cause splitting, Johnson said. A good recipe for that is a hot afternoon where you get a thunderstorm, rain, and then it gets hot again. But it doesnt have to be that. If you get a big rain late and the cherries stay wet all night, thats a long time to have water sitting on the fruit. *** Growers go to great lengths to get water off their cherries, hiring helicopters to hover over their orchards. The downwash from the blades shakes the tree branches and knocks water off the fruit. One hired by an orchard that is not a part of the co-op crashed on July 9 after coming in contact with a power line near Yellow Bay. The pilot was not injured, and managed to maneuver his helicopter down after making contact with the line. The co-op had two other helicopters working for its members, and we kept them pretty busy, Johnson said. Growers are also benefiting from efforts in the past several years to diversify the cherry varieties they grow, mostly in an effort to extend their seasons deeper into August but helping in a year like this, when earlier varieties suffered splitting. Sweethearts are about to be picked, and Johnson said other varieties such as Lapins and Skeenas werent quite ripe enough to split when the heavy rains occurred. There were a few growers who opted not to pick this year because of the splitting, Johnson said. That, and the culls, will likely bring the 2016 co-op crop in under 2 million pounds. No ones going to get rich even with cherry prices high, Johnson said, but we should be OK. He also noted that plenty of cherry stands remain open at orchards around the lake, and local retailers are advertising Flathead cherries. The fruit that didnt split looks and tastes like people expect from a Flathead cherry. BOZEMAN An attorney for Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte has sent letters to television stations urging them to stop airing an attack ad because it claims Gianforte is from New Jersey and that he sued to eliminate a public access spot to a river. Public lands access has emerged as a top issue in the race between Gianforte and incumbent Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock. As Democrats keep pressuring him over the issue, Gianforte has released multiple ads rebutting claims that he sued the state to block public access on the East Gallatin River. "The Bullock campaign just keeps trotting out this one-trick pony," Gianforte campaign spokesman Aaron Flint said Tuesday. "It's only July, and Montanans are already seeing through it." The ad by Good Jobs Montana PAC opens by saying, "A millionaire from New Jersey thinks you're easily hooked," and goes on to say, "Gianforte sued to eliminate a popular access spot next to his riverfront mansion." Gianforte is from California and grew up in Pennsylvania, but spent several years living in New Jersey. He filed a lawsuit against the state in 2009 over a dispute about an easement next to his property along the East Gallatin River, but then resolved the issue out of court. The cease and desist letter sent earlier this month by Anita Milanovich of the Bopp Law Firm says the political-action committee's ad is false. Stations that publish false statements made knowingly or with reckless disregard for the truth are liable for defamation, according to the letter posted by the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. "Good Jobs Montana PAC's advertisement is false, misleading and deceptive," Milanovich wrote. "We demand that you immediately cease airing this advertisement if you are airing it." The Montana Broadcasters Association is counseling television stations to consult their attorneys about whether to continue airing the ads, association president and CEO Dewey Bruce said Tuesday. Such cease-and-desist letters aren't uncommon in an election season, but because the ad comes from an outside group and not a candidate, TV stations should proceed with caution, he said. "With third-party ads, the broadcasters can be held liable for the content of the ad because they can refuse the ad," Bruce said. Bruce didn't know whether any stations agreed to stop running the ad as a result of the letter. One station, KULR-TV in Billings, wrote a response directly to Gianforte's attorney that said Gianforte spent numerous years in New Jersey before moving to Montana and that he did file the lawsuit. "After careful consideration, we conclude that both statements are based in fact, and that no other action need be taken," KULR national sales manager John Langeliers wrote in the letter. Good Jobs Montana is a political-action committee registered in Billings and has received $600,000 so far this election cycle from the Democratic Governors Association, of which Bullock was chairman until December. Less than a week after the governors' association donated $250,000 to the PAC in May, Good Jobs Montana spent more than $208,000 on ads opposing Gianforte, according to filings with the commissioner of political practices office. BILLINGS - A Laurel Police officer has been placed on leave after being jailed and charged with kicking his girlfriend until she lost consciousness. Jim Huertas, 46, appeared Monday in Billings Municipal Court and was charged with one count of misdemeanor partner or family member assault. Huertas was jailed in lieu of a $500 bond and ordered to have no contact with the victim, said Billings Deputy City Attorney Benjamin Halverson on Tuesday. Appearing Monday before Municipal Judge Sheila Kolar, Halverson stressed the importance of the no contact order between Huertas and the woman. "Any officer who has investigated any of these cases knows a guilty verdict is highly dependent on the witness being cooperative," Halverson said Tuesday. Billings Police officers spoke with the woman at Billings Clinic Sunday, according to a Billings Police report. The woman reported to police she and Huertas had argued over the phone at about 3 p.m. on Sunday and when she returned to the apartment they shared, Huertas had blocked the door with suitcases. Once inside, she and Huertas continued to argue. During the argument, Huertas allegedly punched her multiple times before pushing her to the ground and kicking her in the ribs until she lost consciousness, according to the police report. When the woman woke up, she ran from the apartment and contacted an off-duty officer, who took her to Billings Clinic. Billings Police officers spoke with Huertas at about 10:30 p.m. Sunday. Huertas told investigators the woman had hit him first, but he had not hit her at anytime, according to the police report. Halverson said in court Monday the woman sustained injuries to her head and ribs. Huertas' next court appearance will be in September in Billings Municipal Court. If he is convicted of partner or family member assault, federal law will prohibit him from owning a firearm for the rest of his life. On Monday, Laurel Police Chief Rick Musson said Huertas, who has worked for the Laurel police department for about nine years, was placed on administrative leave following his arrest. Huertas was jailed on the partner or family member assault misdemeanor charge, but has since posted bond. During his incarceration he was kept away from the general jail population and placed in a holding cell. HELENA - The two employees who reported to Lewis and Clark County Coroner M.E. "Mickey" Nelson were moved out of his office and given a different supervisor Monday. His staff has been moved, and I am supervising his staff, said Eric Bryson, the countys chief administrative officer. I have never done this before, he added. The administrative assistant and the deputy coroner were moved from Nelson's office in a strip mall on Rodney Street to a temporary location, Bryson said. The county commission plans to act Thursday on whether to lease space on 11th Avenue for $1,010 per month beginning Aug. 1. Its uncertain how long the lease would remain in effect, according to a document included with the county commission agenda. Nelson, who is an elected official, did not return a call requesting comment and was not at his office early Monday afternoon. Bryson said he would have to speak with County Attorney Leo Gallagher for legal guidance before commenting on why the two staff members were relocated. There may be personnel-related matters Im not at liberty to discuss at this point, Bryson said. Nelsons administrative assistant has been reclassified as an evidence technician at Nelsons request, Bryson said, although she will continue to provide some administrative support for the coroners office. Bryson said he would like to seek assistance from the sheriff's office or the Helena Police Department to create an initial inventory of the coroner's evidence room. The inventory of items held by the coroners office was criticized in an April 25, 2016, resignation letter from a deputy coroner who joined the office in January of this year and resigned in April. I have also been alarmed at the general disarray of the office, the letter stated. There are numerous personal items from decedents at the office, but the inventory is not stored in any rational fashion. Many of these items are dangerous, and unattended -- including medications and guns, one of which lays on an open table and is labeled unsafe. The deputy coroners resignation letter also stated: There are many other examples of the inefficiency and ineffectiveness in this office but perhaps the most troubling to me is the unprofessional and, frankly, dishonest treatment of families who are expecting a timely process. Coroner Nelson is quick to blame others in the office for his lack of expediency in completing cases. It is disconcerting to me that grieving families are forced to wait for closure much longer than should be reasonably expected. In an early June interview, Nelson said that while not proud of what the deputy coroner had to say in the resignation letter, he also wouldnt speak to the issues it raised with his office. In mid-July, Nelson completed 51 death certificates from 2011 to 2015 that listed the cause of death as "pending." An attorney with the state Department of Public Health and Human Services Office of Vital Records had previously threatened the county and coroners office with legal action if the death certificates were not finalized within 45 days. While Nelson said previously he lacked help in the office, county officials noted that state law allows physicians and advanced-practice registered nurses to complete death certificates. Death certificates are essential in closing financial accounts, collecting benefits and settling estates. They are also used to monitor population trends in mortality and morbidity. A deputy coroner was hired in June to allow Nelson more time to work on the pending death certificates, Bryson said previously, noting that he was supervising the person. The letter from the deputy coroner who resigned in April also took issue with Nelsons administration of the office and stated, While the current coroner appears to be experienced, he has been reluctant to take the time to share his expertise and, in fact, is frequently hostile, withholding, and negative in his approach. It appears to me that Coroner Nelson is invested in making sure that no one else can do his job. Copyright 2022 HT Digital Streams Ltd All Right Reserved Participants pose for a group photo before the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Vientiane, capital of Laos, on July 24, 2016. The 49th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting kicked off here on Sunday. [Photo/Xinhua] The communique issued on Monday after the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Vientiane, Laos, shows the two sides want to work together for regional stability and prosperity. By refraining from mentioning the recent award in the arbitration case initiated by the Philippines, the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have shown their resolve to go forward and not let its agenda be derailed, or even hijacked, by some countries out of ulterior motives. As the communique notes, the solution to the disputes rests on efforts to "enhance mutual trust and confidence", and "exercise restraint" by avoiding actions that may complicate the situation. This echoes China's long-held position that the maritime disputes should be resolved through bilateral negotiations between the parties directly concerned. It is the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea that serves as a guideline to solve the disputes. The maritime disputes should never be an issue between China and ASEAN although the United States has been trying to internationalize the disputes after it implemented its rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific strategy. Thus they do not define the relationship, which is built on their common interests. After all, there are many far more important issues than the South China Sea disputes that call for immediate action and closer collaboration, such as poverty, smuggling and terrorism. Failure to find solutions to these problems threatens peace, stability and prosperity in the region. Actually, 25 years after China established dialogue relationship with ASEAN, the potential for cooperation has never been greater. Over the years, bilateral trade has surged nearly 60 times its size in 1991 to reach $472 billion in 2015, and the two sides have set the target of achieving $1 trillion in trade by 2020. China is ASEAN's biggest trading partner and also the first country to establish a free trade agreement with the bloc. The country sees ASEAN as a good partner in building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, a strategy aimed at boosting infrastructure and trade across Asia, Europe and Africa. The ASEAN communique, as well as a joint statement issued later after a meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his counterparts from members of the regional bloc, indicate their relationships are resilient enough to withstand discord and outside interference. They suggest that attempts by the US and Japan, which are not directly involved in the South China Sea disputes, to exploit the arbitration case and drive a wedge between China and ASEAN will not succeed. Police reports AGGRAVATED DUI A Butte man was arrested just after 3 a.m. Tuesday, July 26, 2016, after police found him behind the wheel of a white 2000 Chrysler Concorde that had run off the road at 1040 Schley St. Police said Nicholas Dudla, 27, smelled of alcohol, and wouldnt cooperate to take a field sobriety test. Dudla failed the test at the jail, and blew twice the legal limit. Dudla is charged with aggravated DUI, careless driving, having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle, driving without insurance, driving with a suspended license, and an out of jurisdiction charge. SYRINGE AT JAIL Police responded to Montana Lils Casino on Harrison Avenue at 7 p.m. Monday after a man passed out on the sidewalk. When police woke Kevin Murphy, 62, of Butte, he said he didnt know where his house was, but that he had one. Police determined Murphy was too drunk to take care of himself and took him to jail to sober up. At the jail police found a capped syringe on Murphy, who was charged with misdemeanor possession of dangerous drug paraphernalia. TRAFFIC STOP WARRANT Police conducting a traffic stop on the 1400 block of Evans Street around 9 p.m. Monday arrested a Butte woman on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Candice Webster, 41, faces misdemeanor charges for speeding, criminal contempt, driving without insurance and driving with a suspended license. MCDONALD'S DUI A Canadian man was arrested just before 1 a.m. Saturday after nearly falling off his motorcycle drunk in the drive-through of the McDonald's on Harrison Avenue. Police said Michael Charron, 44, of Alberta, failed a field sobriety test and refused a Breathalyzer. Charron was arrested for misdemeanor DUI refusal. IRISH TIMES ARREST Police clearing out the Irish Times bar after last call at 2 a.m. Sunday arrested a man for resisting arrest after he repeatedly poured beer on an officers shoes. Police were asking bar-goers outside to pour out their drinks, and Brady McHugh, 23, of Butte, poured his on an officers shoes. The officer told McHugh to stop or he would be arrested. McHugh poured more beer on the officers shoes, and resisted arrest. Police took McHugh to the ground and arrested him on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. HASTINGS THEFT Hastings books and music store employees called police after a Butte man attempted to shoplift a tablet case worth $17.99. During the arrest, police said they found marijuana and pills in his backpack. Joshua Coyle, 22, was charged with misdemeanors for theft and possession of dangerous drugs, and was wanted for two out-of-town misdemeanors. Walking with Norm DeNeal through the flower gardens and aspen groves he is restoring on the Butte Hill is a little like following Alice in Won Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive Matt Vincent has abandoned at least temporarily his staffs recommendation to move the countys vehicle and maintenance shops just across the street from the current site by the Civic Center. Vincent told members of the Restore Our Creek Coalition and other citizens Monday that the recommendation made to commissioners July 15 was a little bit hasty. The coalition felt slighted by the proposal, saying they didnt have any input into it. We dont want it to be misconstrued that we have made an end-all decision, Vincent said to about 70 people packed and overflowing from a conference room at the Butte-Silver Bow Archives. We are going to wait until we feel comfortable with the decisions we have made. He also said the state, which is paying to relocate the county shops, would let county officials take our time choosing a new site without delaying a start to removal of the polluted Parrot mine tailings. The shops must be moved because they sit atop an area of the mine waste just east of the Civic Center. Gov. Steve Bullock has said he wants removal to begin this year and Vincent said he looked forward to the first scoop being hauled away in the coming weeks. That didnt mean a new shop location had to be chosen first, he said. Bullock, a Democrat, is running for re-election this year, as is Vincent. Bullock faces Republican Greg Gianforte in November while Vincent faces longtime county Commissioner Dave Palmer. Gianforte, who was in Butte for a visit and fund-raiser Monday afternoon, also says he would be committed to removing the Parrot tailings if elected. He also wants to meet with all stakeholders on the tailings issue in Butte, a spokesman said. Evan Barrett, a member of the Restore our Creek group, said he was pleased Vincent pulled the recommendation to get more public feedback. This shows that democracy works, he said. Planning Director Jon Sesso sent commissioners a letter July 15 asking they approve the new location just northeast of the Civic Center after their previously chosen site near the Metro Sewer plant west of Butte fell through. The owner of that land decided not to sell. Coalition members, who want to see a flowing Silver Bow Creek through Butte once the tailings are removed, said Sesso and Vincent blindsided them by seeking the councils OK last Wednesday without even discussing it with them. Coalition members expressed frustration and anger to commissioners about the proposal, and Vincent announced that night he would not call for a vote for at least another week. The meeting Monday was set instead, and it appears now that a new site wont be chosen for a while. After Vincent said he had withdrawn the recommendation, he asked those attending the meeting to visit several tables to talk in groups about the latest proposed site, other locations and give any other thoughts. County officials had first proposed the shops be moved to the site of the old Montana Pole Plant south of Interstates 15-90, but commissioners shot that down, saying it had its own pollution problems. The site near the sewer plant was chosen next, but that fell through. Vincent encouraged people to write their opinions on questionnaires that were provided and said a page would be put on the countys website to take more comments. All would be compiled and given to commissioners before any next steps are taken, he said. Sesso and Public Works Director Dave Schultz told The Montana Standard last Thursday the site just north of the current shops could meet the wishes of the county and Restore Our Creek. It would keep the shops in an ideal central location, allowing snow plows and other vehicles to get to most areas of Butte quickly, keeping gasoline and other operational costs down in the long term, they said. The current site of the shops would become acres of green space and trees where a Silver Bow Creek could flow if an adequate water supply is identified and made workable. But Vincent said later Thursday that he was not beholden to his staffs recommendation and as an elected official wanted to get more public input before going further. He got lots of that Monday. After groups met for an hour, county officials summarized the points that were made. Some people liked the latest proposed site, others liked previously suggested locations and some offered entirely new places. Lots of alternative uses for the area north of the Civic Center were suggested too, such as a new fairgrounds area. One person suggested everyone go back to square one which is where the issue seems headed once again. Barrett said he was pleased Vincent paused the process and took more input, especially since it could be done without delaying the tailings removal. That gives us the chance to pick the best site, he said. Hillary Clinton frequently will acknowledge that she's not really the kind of campaigner who gets the adrenaline pumping. Instead, her pitch uses words like "steady," "experienced" and "competent," as compared with that bigoted, simple-minded, fraudulent madman on the other side. The problem is that the bigoted, simple-minded, fraudulent madman she describes has already rolled over all the steady, experienced, competent Republican operatives and candidates. Donald Trump is the party's nominee to be president of the United States. Hillary's spiel is that she is the one who can govern effectively, even if she doesn't excel at all the electioneering buffoonery. We all repeatedly quote Mario Cuomo, who said campaigning is "poetry," governing is "prose." Well that's one way to put it, but it's far too elegant. More accurately, campaigning is a freak show; governing is drudgery. Just ask that now gray-haired campaign poet Barack Obama. What's essential to realize, however, is that you can't run the country unless you win the election, and freak shows, uh, trump substance in today's social-media world of hateful superficiality. To put it another way, Donald Trump can win this thing if Hillary Clinton and her people don't pull their act together. Emphasizing her qualifications traps her in the hated status quo. In that regard, while few question the credentials of Clinton's vice-presidential pick and very few haven't been charmed by his aw-shucks personality, Timothy Kaine is another Hillary. The dogmatic lefties in the party, the millions in the Bernie brigade, who are now infuriated with the hacked emails showing that the Democratic Party rigged the primaries for Hillary, certainly aren't happy with Kaine. They believe he's just another Clinton-style sellout, another establishment puppet. He's definitely not a dogmatic liberal, but rather one who believes that civilized dealing is the only way to get anything done. But these are not civilized times. People are angry in our country. So Hillary and now Tim Kaine might have a tough time if they both present themselves as the personifications of reason. What we could have with that ticket is the perception that it's the bland leading the bland. Not that Mike Pence is much different. He, too, is described with terms like "low-key," etc. Is it too harsh to suggest that's a synonym for boring? Maybe so, but there is no problem on his side when you consider who his No. 1 is. Donald Trump, as so many have observed, doesn't need a shameless attack dog. With his hateful hucksterism, he has been able to reach the visceral darkest instincts of millions of people all by himself. Where the Trumpster spews poison, Mike Pence dollops pablum. And that's OK. Even so, despite his manner, Mike Pence can be plenty controversial. His harsh social-conservative record is scorned by those who are more attuned to gay rights and abortion rights. At the same time, as Indiana governor, he ended up antagonizing those on the right when he jettisoned their grossly intolerant anti-gay legislation to placate corporate interests. He can be a hot button all by himself. But next to Trump, he's the cool one. He was barely noticed at the Republican National Convention. Talk about the amateur hours -- each day featured its own embarrassment. In normal times, that would send a party and its candidates reeling. But these are not normal times. It's important for Hillary Clinton, Tim Kaine and the Democrats to realize that. The soft sell just doesn't sell. While we all talk about longing for a substantive discussion of the issues, that's platitude and phony. Hillary and her people need to abandon the methodical routine and show that she can be a little bit crazy. If not crazy, at least angry, or some sort of emotional. The campaign thus far has demonstrated that we the people are bitter. For good reason. Somehow she and Tim Kaine must better capture everyone's imagination. For motivation they should imagine Donald Trump as president. (c) 2016 Bob Franken Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc. Park Countys thriving economy is rooted in spectacular landscapes the cold, clear river that tumbles out of Yellowstone National Park through a whitewater canyon and irrigated valley framed by the Absaroka and Gallatin mountains. Nonresident tourists spent $196 million in the county in 2014. The fishing industry alone netted $70 million in direct spending. Gross receipts were $30 million from livestock sales and $15 million from crops among the countys 564 farms and ranches. Unemployment runs less than the state average and has been trending lower while personal income is above average. The county ranks in the top 6 percent of non-metro counties nationally for its percentage of creative entrepreneurs. Proprietors and self-employed folks account for 39 percent of all jobs in Park County. These statistics are presented in a report prepared recently by economist Larry Swanson of the OConnor Center for the Rocky Mountain West at the University of Montana. The Yellowstone Gateway Coalition commissioned Swansons study because potential threats to their growing outdoors economy. The coalition members are hundreds of businesses whose livelihoods depend on the natural attractions that draw hunters, anglers, hikers and tourists. These business depend on keeping tranquil places intact. Trouble in Paradise A Canadian company interested in gold mining is seeking a permit to drill 46 exploratory holes in private tracts at Emigrant Gulch near Chico Hot Springs. Other investors are seeking a permit to explore for gold less than a mile from Yellowstone Parks border near Gardiner. My main concern is that it (mining) would destroy my business and my neighbors businesses, Bryan Wells told Gazette Outdoor Editor Brett French. Wells, 61, rents out vacation cabins in Emigrant Gulch, where he has lived for 43 years and raised a family. Swansons study validated Wells concern, concluding: The chief threat to area quality of life and economic well-being would be any large-scale activities that negatively impact area amenities and environmental attributes that are the foundation of the areas economic vitality. In short, the strong outdoor economy of this spectacular Yellowstone gateway is far more precious than the limited, short-term profits of gold mining. Mining brings with it traffic on rural roads and road building on public land. Extracting diffuse gold from large amounts of earth creates large open pits or deep mines that bring acidic ore to the surface. Business coalition The Yellowstone Gateway Business Coalition asked the Montana congressional delegation to help pass legislation to put public lands in the valley permanently off limits to mining. Rep. Ryan Zinke and Sen. Jon Tester have agreed that this place deserves protection. I strongly support private property rights and responsible mineral development but Montana is the Last Best Place for a reason, Zinke said. There are some places that are great to mine and other places that are just too precious. There are just some places that are too special to dig or drill, and the front porch of Yellowstone Park is one of those places, Tester said. The effort protecting the Paradise Valley is led by the local community and I am proud to join these business owners, families, and land owners who have come together to preserve one of Americas most unique landscapes. A spokeswoman for Daines told The Gazette that the senator will continue to listen to and work with the local community. The Yellowstone Gateway Business Coalition wants a deal along the lines of the North Fork Watershed agreement that permanently protected certain public lands on the west side of Glacier National Park. Now is the time to protect the outdoor assets that make Yellowstones north gateway a great place to live, work and grow diverse businesses. Tester and Zinke have recognized the intrinsic and economic values in this public land. Daines should join them; it will take a united delegation to move a protective bill through Congress. Last month, the Yellowstone Gateway Business Coalition asked the U.S. Forest Service to administratively withdraw 34,000 acres of forest land in Park County from mineral development. Such a temporary withdrawal would give Congress time to work on a permanent protection in law. The prospect of new gold mining in Paradise Valley demands protective action, because the long-antiquated Mining Law of 1872 is still the law. If the Forest Service and Congress dont act, a law written 144 years ago to promote mining may harm Yellowstones northern gateway economy forever. -- The Billings Gazette BILLINGS Two Montana Republican legislators who wont vote for Donald Trump this election have endorsed Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. Reps. Daniel Zolnikov, of Billings, and Nicolas Schwaderer, of Superior, on Monday morning endorsed Johnson, saying the former Republican governor of New Mexico is the only candidate speaking about the national debt. The reason why third party candidates dont get enough footing is that most people dont stick their neck out and give them a chance, Zolnikov said. Johnson has made eliminating the debt at the top priority. He faults both Republicans and Democrats for debt growth to $20 trillion. The candidates odds of getting elected are extremely slim. Real Clear Politics gives the candidate 8 percent of the vote in an aggregation of six polls conducted between July 11 and Sunday. Zolnikov was co-chairman of presidential primary candidate Ted Cruz Montana campaign. He said hes spoken with a few Cruz supporters looking for an alternative to Trump. Third-party candidates have never won a presidential race, but they have altered the outcome of the state results. In 1992, Bill Clinton became the first Democrat to win the Montana general election since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. But Clinton won just 37.6 percent of the vote, to incumbent President George H.W. Bushs 35.1 percent. The spoiler was Texas billionaire Ross Perot, who as an Independent candidate received 26 percent of the Montana vote. Advocates of the two-party system say a vote by dissatisfied partisans for a third-party candidate is a throwaway vote that could decide an election. I think thats the dumbest argument, because Im voting for the actual proven track record, Zolnikov said. The reason we keep getting what we get in politics is because people are always saying, You waste your vote, youre going to get the worst of two evils. Zolnikov said he wouldnt be supporting any of the of the other Libertarian candidates running in Montana political races. Three Libertarian candidates are running for statewide office and six for state Legislature. Johnson is not recognized as a candidate yet in Montana, according the Secretary of State records. However, the Libertarian Party is a recognized major party in Montana, which means the party merely has to submit Johnson's name. There are no filing fees or signatures required. Green Party Candidate Jill Stein, who is in Philadelphia this week recruiting disgruntled Bernie Sanders voters, also isn't listed as a candidate in Montana. Stein faces more requirements because the Green Party is a minor party. Minor party candidates have until August 24 to have their campaigns certified by the Montana secretary of state. It takes 5,000 confirmed voter signatures to qualify as a minor party candidate. A few Montana Republicans have been breaking away from Trump for the past month. In early July, former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, also a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, announced he wouldn't support or endorse Trump in a letter to the Washington Post. Racicot wrote that Trump lacked the leadership and conservative principles to be GOP leader. Montana's former U.S. Rep. Rick Hill has said he won't support fellow Republican Trump, either. Hillary Clinton failed to win Montana's Democratic primary. Sanders' Montana supporters on social media are split on voting for Clinton, with some suggesting they will vote for Stein. MUSCATINE, Iowa Muscatine Police have made an arrest following a report of an armed subject along the Muscatine riverfront Friday, July 22. However, no details about the incident or the name of the individual arrested by authorities is being released at this time. According to police log information, authorities were alerted at 9:27 a.m. Friday to an armed subject in the 600 block of Harbor Drive. Peggy Senzarino of the Muscatine Journal MUSCATINE, Iowa The first reading of a proposed ordinance involving wind energy was unanimously approved by the Muscatine County Board of Supervisors Monday night. The proposal stemmed from a project being undertaken in West Liberty. City Manager Lawrence McNaul said the city is partnering with West Liberty Foods to find renewable sources of energy. The city is working with Bluestem Energy Solutions, out of Omaha, Nebraska, to design a wind turbine system and find an appropriate location. The city approached the county about the project. Currently Muscatine County has no regulations regarding the development of a wind energy project. The county's Planning and Zoning director Eric Furnas prepared a scoring system which would help determine the impact of a wind turbine project including the effects of taking land out of crop production. The proposed wind energy application is similar to the form used by the county for special use permits for rural residences. A special use permit would be granted after review by the Board of Adjustment in the agricultural and light and heavy industrial zoning districts. A public hearing on the proposed wind energy conversion ordinance was held Monday night prior to the board vote. The turbines, which Furnas said may be used to supplement energy in West Liberty, are the first to be brought up to the county, which is why no such ordinance currently exists. This ordinance would be a precautionary measure for the county, should other requests like the turbines arise, according to Furnas. Furnas said the board needed to consider the impact on area roads during the construction phase, the impact on nearby residential communities as well as the corn suitability rating or CSR. Iowa's CSR was initially developed in 1971 as an index method to rate different kinds of soils for their potential row-crop productivity. The CSR rating system is designed to rate one soil's yield potential against another over time. It assigns a point system that has each soil start at 100 and then deductions are made for different factors such as land condition, slope, water and climate. West Liberty has its own electric municipal utility. According to Tom Swierczewski, director of development services with Bluestem, the company partners with local municipalities for co-ops and do small projects with two or four wind turbines. Technological advancements, price declines and federal tax credits have made smaller projects like West Liberty's feasible. Bluestem was founded in 2008. The company acts as the developer, financier owner, and operator. The ordinance must be voted on three times before becoming law. Supervisors also set 9 a.m. Monday, Aug. 8 as the date and time for a public hearing concerning the sale of the Optimae LifeServices building, 3500 Harmony Court, to Tom Meeker of Muscatine. Optimae will be moving into the former Garfield Elementary School building at 1409 Wisconsin St. in the fall. Garfield is also owned by Meeker. Optimae LifeServices, an employee-owned company, has been providing services for individuals with disabilities in Muscatine County for 15 years, since May 1, 2001. Its programs, which include community-based and home health services, are designed to encourage choice, empowerment, and community integration. Editor's note: The Muscatine Journal does not normally publish the names of sexual assault victims. But this victim has been public with her experience and so we are using her name in this story. MUSCATINE, Iowa The courtroom held its collective breath Tuesday morning as former Muscatine Police Officer Tomas Tovar was told his fate after being convicted in June of third-degree sexual abuse. District Judge Mark Lawson sentenced Tovar, 49, to up to 10 years in prison. "You violated a public trust. Hopefully, this will send a message to the community that no one is above the law," Lawson said directing his remarks at Tovar. Tovar was an on-duty officer with the Muscatine Police Department in February 2013 when he drove the victim, Shari Martin of Davenport, to the Clarion Hotel in Muscatine after her boyfriend was arrested for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Tovar than proceeded to have sexual intercourse with her. Martin testified she was intoxicated, and had little memory of the night. Besides the prison term, Tovar was also ordered to register as a convicted sex offender, and pay a $1,000 fine. He will have 30 days to file an appeal. He was also given a special sentence prescribed by the Iowa Code under section 903B. According to the code, a person convicted of a class "C" felony or greater offense shall also be sentenced, in addition to any other punishment provided by law, to a special sentence committing the person into the custody of the director of the Iowa Department of Corrections for the rest of the person's life, with eligibility for parole as provided in chapter 906. The board of parole shall determine whether the person should be released on parole or placed in a work release program. The special sentence imposed under this section shall commence upon completion of the sentence imposed under any applicable criminal sentencing provisions for the underlying criminal offense and the person shall begin the sentence under supervision as if on parole or work release. The victim, Martin, spoke in the courtroom before Tovar's sentence was handed down. She talked about the "battle" she had with her emotions after the incident occurred, and said she had difficulty leaving her house. "I felt paralyzed for at least two years straight," Martin said. Martin added that she would not "wish evil on anyone." "I release you from any bitterness and anger so I can move on with my life," she said. Martin fought back tears, and said while she would release him from her anger, he still should pay a price. "There's earthly penalties for what has been done," she said. Martin also said the incident didn't color her attitude towards all police officers. "I don't think what you did should put a bad light on such an honorable profession," she said. Tovar decided not to address the court prior to sentencing but he did ask that he be allowed to hug his wife before he was led out of the courtroom. Denise Timmins and Robert Sand, with the Area Prosecutions Division of the Iowa Attorney General's Office prosecuted the case due to a conflict of interest with the Muscatine County Attorney's Office. "I'm glad that this can all be done for Shari. It was a just sentence and well deserved," Timmins said. Murray Bell, a Davenport attorney representing Tovar, declined comment following the sentencing hearing. MUSCATINE, Iowa Police are asking for the public's help after shots rang out in a Muscatine neighborhood Tuesday morning. According to a press release, authorities were called to the 600 block of Sycamore Street about 12:45 a.m. Tuesday, after receiving a report of a shots fired incident. Officers found that the residence at 607 Sycamore St. was struck several times and was damaged. At least 12 shell casings were recovered at the scene, police reported. A witness reported seeing a small car leaving the area westbound in the No. 6 alley heading towards Iowa Avenue around the time of the shooting. At least three people were inside the Sycamore Street residence at the time of the shooting. No injuries were reported, according to police. The Muscatine Police Department is asking for the publics cooperation in identifying the vehicle and shooters in this incident. If you have any information please contact the Muscatine Police Department Street Crimes Unit, Officer Todd Koch or Officer Anthony Arnaman 563-263-9922 Ext. 240 or ext. 249. WAPELLO, Iowa Rural Louisa County residents should have an easier time replacing deteriorated E911 signs, after IT director and E911 coordinator Chuck Borschel and emergency management director Staci Griffin met with the Louisa County Board of Supervisors this week. According to the two, a large number of older E911 signs have faded numbers on them, which are creating problems when fire departments or other emergency personnel respond to assistance calls. Columbus Junction Fire Chief Todd Heck, who also attended the meeting, agreed new signs were needed at some rural residences. Initially the Louisa County E911 Board attempted to solve the problem by waiving the $25 cost for each 911 sign. However, Griffin and Borschel told the supervisors a new issue had developed. Now the problem is getting them installed, Griffin said, explaining some rural residents were unable to install the signs. Would you allow the county-paid sign (installer) to put them up? Griffin asked. Borschel said the post could be installed using a common steel post driver and the sign installed with two bolts. Borschel and Griffin assured the supervisors the installer would not be responsible for an administration of the E911 sign program. Were just talking about installing, Griffin emphasized. Heck estimated the number of signs to be installed would number fewer than 10 a month. Supervisor Randy Griffin, who used to install road signs when he worked for the county secondary roads department, said he did not see any problem with the proposal, but stopped short of full agreement. I dont want to make a decision without (county engineer) Larry Roehls input, he said. During a later portion of the meeting that Roehl did attend, he said there should not be any problem with the sign installer doing the work, but questioned if the E911 board would provide any compensation. No wages can be paid from E911 funding, Staci Griffin replied. Borschel also reported work was continuing on the new telephone system being installed in the courthouse, former jail annex and the county public health service. Although he did not think it would be long before the installation would be complete, he did not provide any date. He also reported the 2016 taxes were not posted to the Beacon website. Staci Griffin said she was also working on several projects, including one that would provide credentials to emergency personnel and others who assist the county during disasters or other emergencies. She said the credentialing would help the county monitor personnel time during those periods and allow the county to more effectively document it for in-kind matches required for Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) funding. Sheriff Brad Turner, community services/mental health director Bobbi Wulf and general assistance director Cyndi Mears also provided their regular monthly updates and the supervisors also met with other office heads for the countys monthly department head meeting. In final action, the supervisors approved bridge deck overlay plans submitted by Roehl for a bridge over Smith Creek on County Road H22 and another over Long Creek on County Road X17. The supervisors also agreed to delay replacing a non-functioning central air conditioning unit at the county complex until after an architect designs a new office floor plan for the facility. 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 [] Telkom recently published its latest annual report, which showed that CEO Sipho Maseko received a total pay package of R14.51 million for the financial year ended 2016. Group CFO Deon Fredericks earned R9.5 million up from R8.67 million in 2015. His guaranteed package amounted to R5.25 million. While Maseko and Fredericks enjoyed big salary packages, they are not the best-paid telecommunications executives in South Africa. Former MTN CEO Sifiso Dabengwa received a total package of R40,581,000, which included a compensation for loss of office bonus of R24 million. Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub also did not do badly over the past year, with a pay package of over R20 million. The table below shows the salary packages of South Africas top telecommunications executives. Telecoms Executive Pay Packages Executive Position Total Pay Package Sifiso Dabengwa Former MTN CEO R40,581,000 Brett Goschen MTN CFO R9,256,000 Shameel Joosub Vodacom CEO R21,796,600 Ivan Dittrich Former Vodacom CFO R7,712,433 Sipho Maseko Telkom CEO R14,510,729 Deon Fredericks Telkom CFO R9,456,765 Brett Levy Blue Label Telecoms CEO R14,122,000 Mark Levy Blue Label Telecoms CEO R14,122,000 Mark Pamensky Former Blue Label Telecoms COO R9,476,000 More on salaries How much Telkom executives got paid Biggest salaries in South African telecoms South Africas communications regulator has defended its move to launch a wireless broadband spectrum auction amid government threatening legal action over the move. Earlier this month, Icasa month invited applicants to apply for 700MHz, 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum licences, which will boost the rollout of faster LTE broadband across the country. The auction for the licences is expected to occur in January 2017 and the reserve price to bid on lots of spectrum will be R3bn. But on Monday night, Telecoms and Postal Services Minister Siyabonga Cwele said his office plans to sue Icasa over the auction. Key reasons for Cweles planned legal action include that government has not yet established policy direction on spectrum and that Icasa allegedly failed to adhere to legislation and regulations. But Icasa said its invite to applicants to bid on the spectrum is legal. Icasa has noted the contents of the Ministers statement and believe that we have followed the law as it currently applies in publishing the ITA (Invitation to Apply), said Icasa spokesperson Paseka Maleka in an emailed statement. However, Icasa will decide on a course of action once papers have been filed with the courts, said Maleka. Meanwhile, the move by Cwele to threaten legal action against Icasa has been met with criticism from opposition party the Democratic Alliance (DA). The DAs Marian Shinn, who is the Shadow Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, said in a statement on Monday that she had written to Cwele to urge him to halt his offices legal action. The matter of how to allocate wireless broadband spectrum that is critical to the expansion of South Africas knowledge-based service delivery and economic growth, has been subjected to a decade of politically inspired delays within the governing ANC as it dithered on how it could control the potentially lucrative spectrum, said Shinn. Icasas bold step to issue the invitation to prospective bidders came after ten years of dithering on the spectrum policy by successive ANC communications ministers over how it was best to allocate the high-demand spectrum to new entrants to the telecommunications sector, Shinn added. Shinn further said that South Africas spectrum policy has been unnecessarily bogged down in an ICT Policy White Paper review process that was started in 2012. Shinn further said this policy is now entangled in a tug-of-war of competing factions in the ANCs communications sub-committee after it was submitted to Cabinet in March. The reasons why successive communications ministers have delayed the issue of policy and the assignment of spectrum have never been clear, said Shinn. But what is certain is that repeated delays by politicians are negatively impacting the empowerment, through ICTs, of all South Africans particularly the marginalised communities and is a major hindrance to the economic growth and job creation potential of South Africa, said Shinn. Fin24 More on spectrum ANCs control over who is given spectrum must stop: DA Cell C worried about high prices, government support for spectrum auction Amazon has received permission from the UK government to test its drone parcel delivery service. The company said it has permission to explore three key innovations. These are: Beyond line of sight operations in rural and suburban areas. Testing sensor performance to make sure the drones can identify and avoid obstacles. Flights where one person operates multiple highly-automated drones. Amazon said this work will help it and the UK government understand how drones can be used in the logistics industry. It will also help identify what operating rules and safety regulations will be needed to move the drone industry forward. More on Amazon Prime air Amazon drones and the rise of robotic air travel Amazon Prime Air: drone-delivered online shopping, with Jeremy Clarkson Amazon to experiment with drones Amazon pushes for drone deliveries The biggest barrier to mobile operators rolling out faster and more-affordable broadband access in South Africa is a lack of spectrum. Without additional spectrum, Vodacom, MTN, and Cell C have challenges expanding their LTE and LTE-A networks across the country. It was therefore no surprise that ICASAs invitation to apply for high-demand spectrum in July was widely welcomed. ICASA hoped to announce the results of the spectrum auction by 31 January 2017, and issue the licences between 14 and 28 March. With the process of providing operators with additional spectrum dragging on for 10 years, most industry players were happy to see light at the end of the tunnel. Not so fast, says telecoms minister On 25 July the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Siyabonga Cwele, said he planned to take legal action to review the actions of ICASA with regards to its scheduled auction spectrum. The ministers decision to take legal action follows two meetings held with the regulator on 15 and 19 July, which failed to resolve the matter. ICASA was not prepared to subject itself to the intergovernmental cooperation governance procedures, said Cwele. The position of the government is that it is the custodian of spectrum, which is a national and public resource, and whose utilisation must benefit all the people of South Africa. There is presently no policy direction on spectrum that has been issued. The policy process is ongoing but as yet still incomplete. He said ICASA has failed to adhere to the prescripts of the relevant policies, legislation, and regulations. In March 2012, ICASA said it had postponed the licensing of high-demand spectrum while it was waiting for the ministers policy directive. With the policy directive not forthcoming, it is not surprising that ICASA made the decision to proceed with its spectrum auction plans. Government holding back the process The intervention by Cwele should not come as a surprise the government has a long history of delaying progress in the local telecoms market. The desire of the ANC to control telecommunications in South Africa dates back to before 1993, when it threatened to revoke the cellular licences granted to Vodacom and MTN as soon as it came to power. While this did not happen, it did provide Telkom with a decade-long monopoly in the fixed-line market by preventing companies from building their own networks. When self-provisioning was set to kick in, former Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri would have nothing of it. It took a legal battle by Altech Autopage Cellular to force the government to allow companies to self-provide (build their own networks). It did not stop there. Matsepe-Casaburri also announced in 2007 that all undersea cables landing in South Africa must be majority-owned by SA companies. This would have blocked the Seacom and EASSy cables from landing in South Africa, and protected Telkoms SAT3/SAFE monopoly on international bandwidth. This failed, and after the arrival of Seacom, international bandwidth prices plummeted in the country. The Department of Communications, through the governments ineptitude and inaction, also missed the international deadline to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting. This means that valuable broadband spectrum is not free to be used by telecoms operators, which is costing the country dearly. The graphic below shows how the South African government has failed broadband users over the last 20 years. More on the government and telecoms LTE spectrum auction for South Africa bidding will start at R3 billion Vodacoms black investment plan to get spectrum The DAs Shadow Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services Marian Shinn has urged the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services Siyabonga Cwele to abandon his legal action to stop the high-demand spectrum auction by ICASA. Allocating wireless broadband spectrum was critical to the expansion of South Africas economic growth, said Shinn. The process has been subjected to a decade of politically-inspired delays within the governing ANC, she said, as it dithered on how to control the spectrum. ICASA recently issued an invitation to companies to lodge their interest in participating in the spectrum auction. On 25 July, Cwele said he was taking ICASA to court in a bid to stop the auction process. This was done after he held two meetings with ICASA to withdraw the invitation, which it declined to do. ICASAs bold step to issue the invitation to prospective bidders came after 10 years of dithering on the spectrum policy by successive ANC communications ministers over how it was best to allocate the high-demand spectrum to new entrants to the telecommunications sector, said Shinn. In February, Cwele told the parliamentary portfolio committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services that he preferred a closed-bid process, she said. The spectrum policy is unnecessarily bogged down in the ICT Policy White Paper review process that was started in 2012, and that is now entangled in a tug-of-war of competing factions in the ANC. The machinations of the ANC to control who is given the high-demand spectrum must stop. It is time to let ICASA exercise its authority in the best interest of South Africa. More on spectrum LTE spectrum auction for South Africa bidding will start at R3 billion Vodacoms black investment plan to get spectrum ANKARA, Turkey Turkey's opposition leader on Tuesday warned against a government witch hunt following the failed coup in the country, saying it would cast a shadow on the democracy which those who opposed the insurrection tried to protect. In an interview with The Associated Press, Kemal Kilicdaroglu also said the United States should extradite a U.S.-based Muslim cleric whom the government accuses of being behind the failed July 15 uprising. "Those who are innocent should not be thrown into the fire with those who are guilty," said Kilicdaroglu, leader of the pro-secular main opposition Republican People's Party. "The start of a witch hunt would cast a shadow on the struggle that is being led for democracy." Turkey has detained more than 13,000 people in the military, judiciary and other institutions in a purge in the wake of the attempted coup which killed about 290 people. Tens of thousands of others have been suspended from their jobs in sectors including education, health care, municipalities and even at the Turkish national airline. Those who have been purged are accused of ties to the movement led by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, although their direct links to the coup attempt is not clear. Gulen has denied any part in the foiled uprising by a faction within Turkey's military. On Tuesday, two Turkish generals serving in Afghanistan and a former Istanbul governor were detained as part of the crackdown. The two generals were caught in Dubai, while the governor, Huseyin Avni Mutlu, who served from 2010-2014, was detained in Istanbul, an official at the office of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations on speaking to the media. In another crackdown, police and prosecutors searched the Istanbul-based naval academy, an official said. At least 110 Culture and Tourism Ministry employees were suspended and detention warrants were issued for 29 lawyers in the central Turkish city of Konya, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Police on Tuesday also detained two more journalists a day after authorities issued warrants for the detention of 42 journalists, many of them who had worked for Gulen-linked media. Kilicdaroglu cautioned that authorities should act within the law and pursue only those linked to the coup plot. "Are those who carried out the coup attempt guilty? Yes. The real culprits must be found," Kilicdaroglu said. "If we go out of the norms of the law, then we are no different to the coup-plotters." "The detention of journalists is not a pretty development," Kilicdaroglu added. "If they have direct ties to the coup, that's a different matter. But the detention or arrest of a journalist for expressing opinions, for covering an issue is not right." Kilicdaroglu said he backed the government's efforts for Gulen's extradition from the United States. "It has been expressed that Fethullah Gulen was at the center of the coup attempt. It has been expressed that evidence (against Gulen) will be brought to light. If there is such an incident, then naturally Fethullah Gulen must be returned to Turkey," he said. Gulen himself insisted in an opinion piece he wrote for the New York Times, that he had nothing to do with the coup and had denounced it from the start, and called on the U.S. to reject Turkey's extradition request for him. "Turkey's president is blackmailing the United States by threatening to curb his country's support for the international coalition against the Islamic State. His goal: to ensure my extradition, despite a lack of credible evidence and virtually no prospect for a fair trial. The temptation to give Mr. Erdogan whatever he wants is understandable. But the United States must resist it," Gulen wrote. "For the sake of worldwide efforts to restore peace in turbulent times, as well as to safeguard the future of democracy in the Middle East, the United States must not accommodate an autocrat who is turning a failed putsch into a slow-motion coup of his own against constitutional government," Gulen said. Gulen said that despite his "unequivocal protest, similar to statements issued by all three of the major opposition parties (denouncing the coup), Turkey's increasingly authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, immediately accused me of orchestrating the putsch." He insisted his philosophy was one of "inclusive and pluralist Islam" that rejected armed rebellion and espoused the respect of all regardless of religious or political views or ethnic origins. "In Turkey, the Erdogan government's shift toward a dictatorship is polarizing the population along sectarian, political, religious and ethnic lines, fueling the fanatics," Gulen wrote. SANTA CLARITA Most of the roughly 20,000 evacuees forced out by a wildfire were cleared to go home, but firefighters still faced huge work Tuesday in taming an expansive wildfire in mountains north of Los Angeles. The fire's size increased modestly overnight to 58 square miles (150.22 sq. kilometers) but containment more than doubled to 25 percent. Authorities, however, remained cautious. "We're not really out of the woods," said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Justin Correll. "We're not ready to relax. There's still a lot of firefighting to do." A week of triple-digit temperatures awaited the nearly 3,000 firefighters battling flames in rugged terrain between Los Angeles and suburban Santa Clarita, where many homes are tucked into canyon lands. Residents of two neighborhoods still under threat had to remain out of their homes, the U.S. Forest Service said. Eighteen residences have been destroyed in the blaze that started Friday afternoon and quickly tore through drought-ravaged brush that hadn't burned in decades. Laurent Lacore was among those who evacuated on Saturday, the last of his family of four to leave as the fire bore down on his house. "The flames were right behind our backyard," he said. Lacore was also among many who were told they could return on Sunday only to learn on arriving at the scene that new winds and new flames meant more days in a hard-to-find hotel room. He returned Monday night delighted to find the house and everything around it had been saved, and could see a line of red fire retardant nearby where a helicopter had stopped the fire's approach. "Everything is fine," he said. "Even all of the trees are there." Firefighters saved about 2,000 homes in the fire's first three days, Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief John Tripp said. Some 300 miles to the northwest a blaze in the scenic Big Sur region of the Central Coast had destroyed 20 homes and threatened 1,650 others as it burned 30 square miles (77.7 sq. kilometers) by Tuesday morning, though firefighters made gains Monday and had it 10 percent contained. The two blazes sent smoke as far away as Nevada, where officials issued air pollution warnings. At the peak of the Southern California fire about 10 percent of Santa Clarita's 200,000 residents had been ordered out of their homes, before most were allowed to return Monday night. The fire exploded over the weekend like a "crazy storm," said Kara Franklin, who said sand driven by heavy winds hit her in the face as she tried to get a horse and donkey into a trailer so she could tow the animals away. From a ridgetop, she saw flames engulf a neighborhood. "The heat was so intense," Franklin said Monday. A house two doors from hers was engulfed, providing a buffer that helped save her house. Three Forest Service firefighters lost their homes at a remote fire station in the San Gabriel Mountains, including two who were fighting the fire at the time. Investigators on Monday were trying to determine the cause of death of a man whose body was found in a car in the fire zone Saturday. SANTA ANA An Orange County judge has ruled that a local water district could hike its monthly water rates to offset a decline in usage during the drought. Superior Court Judge Robert J. Moss on Monday ruled that the Yorba Linda Water District could raise rates as an urgency measure to cope with declining revenues as residents heed state-mandated water use restrictions. Yorba Linda water officials had argued that the monthly $25 rate increases aimed to deal with a more than $8 million revenue shortfall since residents scaled back their water use, the Orange County Register reported. Upset by the hikes, a group of residents asked the district to repeal the increases or put the issue before voters. The district rejected the referendum, and residents sued. The case was closely watched by water agencies across the state grappling with the effects of conservation on their revenues. Many officials were concerned the ruling could affect their rate-making ability, according to the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/2ae9Hor ). Moss wrote that the state's constitution lets voters challenge some "legislative enactments" through referendum, but not urgency measures. Ric Collett, president of the district's board, welcomed the decision. "The actions that we took as a board were needed in order to maintain the financial security of the district," he said. Members of the Yorba Linda Taxpayers' Association, which has mounted a recall campaign against two water board members, said they felt voters had the right to a referendum in this case. "I am outraged at his decision," plaintiff Kent Ebinger told the Register. "The district's rate increase was never legally positioned as an urgency measure." Last week, the Yorba Linda board lowered the monthly water charge by $9 in response to state officials' decision to ease conservation requirements. Ron and Betty Profili of Napa certainly have been blessed. The couple, full-time Napa residents since 1998, made millions of dollars in the California commercial real estate market. Now theyve decided to share those blessings with the Napa community by pledging a $5 million estate gift to support Queen of the Valley Medical Center. The Queen is important to us, said Ron Profili. We support the Queen not only because its in our neighborhood, but because the services the hospital provides are extraordinary, he said. This gift will ensure the Queen can continue to offer advanced equipment that attracts highly qualified physicians and provides the best care for years to come. We are blessed to have the generous support of the Profilis, said Elaine John, chief executive officer of Queen of the Valley Foundation and vice president of philanthropy for Queen of the Valley Medical Center. Major legacy gifts from donors like Ron and Betty help make the difference between having a good and having a great hospital in our region. We are grateful for Ron and Bettys support, said Dr. Soren Singel, a neurosurgeon. This legacy donation will enable Queen of the Valley to continue to offer the latest neuroscience technology to the community. To recognize the gift, Queen of the Valley has named the Profili Imaging Center home to the hospitals CT and MRI scanning services in their honor. Profili is well acquainted with the hospital. Hes served on the clinical quality and finance committees for Queen of the Valley Medical Centers board of trustees since January. In this role, he is actively involved in the hospitals medical and regulatory operations. The Napa medical center is worthy of being a recipient of our money, he said. The gift is one of the largest the medical center has ever received, said a news release from the Queen. The largest single gifts include $11 million from the Tim Herman Family; $5 million from the estate of Lucy Sehabiague; $5 million from the Kalmanovitz Charitable Foundation; and now the $5 million Profili pledge. The Napa Valley Vintners has cumulatively given more than $10 million but its single largest gift to the Queen is $500,000, according to the medical center. The Profilis built their estate through commercial and residential real estate investments in Orange County, the Bay Area and the North Bay. Commercial real estate investments have been very, very good to us, said Profili. At the same time, we worked very hard for it. At one point, they owned almost 1 million square feet of commercial space, he said. In 2011, the couple sold the eight-building Napa Airport Centre to Westcore Properties LLC of San Diego for $30 million, one of the largest real estate transactions that year, bringing their portfolio down to 443,000 square feet. The Profilis continue to own and manage light-industrial, warehouse and manufacturing space in north Santa Rosa. Prior to entering the world of real estate, Ron Profilis background was in physics. A UC Berkeley alumnus with a major in nuclear physics, he has a strong knowledge of medical imaging equipment and is passionate about its role in the early detection of neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimers. My mom passed away from Alzheimers; thats when I became interested in (brain imaging) as well as research and prevention, said Profili, explaining that he and Betty are members of the Alzheimers Association Zenith Society, the organizations highest and most involved level of philanthropy. The $5 million gift will be placed into the Queens endowment fund, with proceeds directed to the Peggy Herman Neuroscience Center and other areas of the hospital, prioritized by need, said the release. For a multimillionaire philanthropist, Ron Profili portrays his familys gift modestly. We dont need the money anymore, he said. The couple do not have children. Extended family will be taken care of, he said. At age 74, its time to think about retiring and do something besides working. While the gift will come after he and his wife pass away, Ron Profili said that during their lifetimes they will make contributions toward the $5 million pledge. Their giving doesnt stop at the estate pledge. Ron Profili said theyve also planned to donate an additional $1.2 million to the Queen over the next 12 months. When asked how it feels to give away millions of dollars, Profili admitted its a feel-good thing. You feel like you are doing something good for humanity, he said. Thats really what were after. DNA analysis of bones found at the Point Reyes National Seashore confirm they are those of a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley who disappeared in January, according to the Marin County coroner's office. Hikers found the bones of Shuqin Zhang, 22, on April 20 at the base of a cliff 2 miles south of the Visitor Center at Drakes Beach where Zhang's 2012 Mercedes-Benz was found on Jan. 9 parked near the lighthouse, Chief Deputy Coroner Darrell Harris said. The hiker reported finding the bones three days later, and coroner's officials found a connected section of the mid and lower spine and sacrum, Harris said. On April 29, coroner's officials found the end of a femur in the sand, and both sets of bones were sent to forensic labs for DNA analysis, Harris said. Positive identification using DNA comparisons with Zhang's family members was made on July 13, according to Harris. The cause and manner of her death are undetermined but Berkeley police, who investigated the disappearance, do not suspect foul play, Harris said. Zhang was last seen at 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 7 and she might have left for Bodega Bay at 3:40 a.m., Berkeley police said. She was scheduled to leave for China that morning but did not board her flight, police said. Berkeley police said Zhang was depressed and at risk when she disappeared. WHATS HAPPENING AT CAMEO CINEMA The Infiltrator is the featured film at the Cameo Cinema Friday, July 29, through Thursday, Aug. 4. The biographical crime drama stars Bryan Cranston as a U.S. Customs official who uncovers a money laundering scheme involving Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. It plays Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 3, 5:45 and 8:30 p.m.; Monday and Wednesday at 3 and 8:30 p.m.; Tuesday at 5:45 and 8:30 p.m.; and Thursday, Aug. 4, at 5:45 p.m. Rated R (2H 7M). Also playing is The Innocents (Les Innocentes), about a young French Red Cross doctor in 1945 who is sent to Poland to assist the survivors of German concentration camps, and who discovers several pregnant nuns at a nearby convent. It plays at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday and 3 and 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4. Rated PG-13 (1H 55M). Film titles and times may change. Call to verify. Tickets for regular showings: $10 general; $8 students, seniors and military; $6 for art films and matinees before 5 p.m.; $5 for family films. COFFEE & CULTURE AT THE LIBRARY The St. Helena Public Library is introducing Coffee & Culture at 10:30 a.m. every Tuesday. Come to the library to watch a screening and enjoy a cup of coffee. Programs will include documentaries and standalone episodes on various topics. In August, the library will show episodes from the James Beard Award-winning series The Mind of a Chef. Executive produced by Anthony Bourdain, the series follows award-winning chef David Kinch as he reflects on his inspiration, creative drive, and the unforeseen challenges faced by chefs in their pursuit of excellence. Kinch invites viewers to explore a night of service at his restaurant, the people who make it work, the purveyors who provide the ingredients, and his travels back to New Orleans to cook with old friends. Coffee & Culture is made possible by the Friends & Foundation, St. Helena Public Library. Admission: Free. Details: SHPL.org or 963-5244. PIANIST JIM BELL AT SILOS Pianist Jim Bell of St. Helena performs on the next few Wednesdays from 5 to 7 p.m. at Silos, 530 Main St. in Napa. St. Helena pianist Mike Greensill will resume his regular gigs on Wednesday, Aug. 10. Admission: Free. Details: SilosNapa.com or 251-5833. MUSICAL PICNICS IN LYMAN PARK The St. Helena Chamber of Commerces Musical Picnics in Lyman Park will continue at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 28, with Recovered Vinyl. The bands repertoire runs the gamut from rock and country to blues and soul, with hits by artists like Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, The Kinks, Cream and more. Food will be provided by Napa Valley Crust, wine will be sponsored by Hall Wines, and dessert will be sponsored by Pacific Union. Admission: Free. BUBBLE MAGIC FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY Sterling the BubbLesmith has been bubble-wrangling for years, and will present a Bubble Magic show at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 28, at the St. Helena Public Library. Come be amazed by bubbles of all types, shapes and sizes. All are welcome to this free family event. The program is made possible thanks to the Friends & Foundation, St. Helena Public Library. Admission: Free. Details: SHPL.org or 963-5244. SUMMER CONCERT SERIES AT MONDAVI Robert Mondavi Winerys summer concert series concludes with the band O.A.R. at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 30, at 7801 St. Helena Highway (Highway 29) in Oakville. In addition to the musical performances, food trucks and local restaurants will serve food. Proceeds benefit Napa Valley music programs. Tickets: $70 and up. Details: RobertMondaviWinery.com or 888-769-5299. ART EXHIBIT AT LIBRARY From New England With Love, an exhibit featuring the paintings of Martha Morrison, continues throughout July at the St. Helena Public Library. Morrison, a 94-year-old native of New England, started painting oil on canvas and other projects in high school, then became busy with nursing and family. Finally, as life became easier, she picked it up again. In California since 2003, she began to paint with acrylics and watercolors California mountains, ocean waves, flowers, even still life. Martha occasionally paints from old photos of hers, photography having been a hobby from the distant past while she was working as a nurse-on-horseback in Kentucky. Refreshments will be served. Admission: Free. Details: SHPL.org or 963-5244. SUMMER EXHIBIT AT CALDWELL SNYDER A Summer Song, an exhibit featuring recent paintings by James Wolanin, will be on display through July 31 at the Caldwell Snyder Gallery, 1328 Main St. Blue skies, effervescent smiles, and carefree adventures characterize the artists utopic vision, which blends nostalgia for midcentury glamour with a contemporary aesthetic. ST. HELENA HISTORY BECOMES ART The St. Helena Historical Society will present a preview of its February 2017 fundraiser History Becomes Art at an art reception and talk at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4, at the St. Helena Public Library. The event will feature art based on historical photographs in the historical societys collection, which will be auctioned off to benefit the society. Throughout August, visit the library to see the featured historical photos on display, and even some of the finished artwork. Following the Aug. 4 reception, there will be a talk to discuss the upcoming fundraiser and introduce some of the contributing artists. In addition, a few of the works-in-progress will be on display. Refreshments will be served. Admission: Free. Details: SHPL.org or 963-5244. CONCERT SERIES AT LMR Long Meadow Ranchs Bluegrass-fed Concert Series continues with Fruition at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13. The series continues with The Brothers Comatose on Aug. 21, Trout Steak Revival on Aug. 26, The Lil Smokies on Sept. 3 (at the Native Sons Hall), the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience on Oct. 2, and the LMR All-Star Big Band on Oct. 2 (a benefit for the Timothy W. Hall Foundation). Long Meadow Ranch is at 738 Main St. Tickets: $35 in advance/$45 at the door. THE STARS OF AMERICAN BALLET Enjoy an afternoon with the Stars of American Ballet at 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 14, at Lincoln Theater, 100 California Drive in Yountville. The show features masterpieces by George Balanchine, Christopher Wheeldon and Daniel Ulbricht, performed by top dancers from the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. Tickets: $45-$85. SHAKESPEARE AT THE CAMEO NapaShakes 2016 season of Shakespeare on Screen at the Cameo Cinema continues with the Globe on Screen production of Romeo and Juliet, starring Lily James, Richard Madden and Derek Jacobi, at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 20. The previously announced showing at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 21, is sold out. All productions are captured live in digital high-definition. The season continues with: Sept. 11: The Comedy of Errors (Globe on Screen) Oct. 16: Titus Andronicus (Globe on Screen) Nov. 20: The Entertainer (starring Kenneth Branagh) EXPERIENCE AFRICA AT THE LIBRARY Fenix Drum & Dance Company performs at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25, at the St. Helena Public Library. The performing troupe specializes in dance and drumming from West Africa, the Congo, and the Caribbean. This high-energy, multigenerational, multi-ethnic group highlights the richness and complexity of dance of the African Diaspora. Their dance journey begins in Africa, then travels across the ocean to Cuba, Haiti, Trinidad, Brazil and the Caribbean, and on to the Americas. Refreshments will be served. This program is made possible thanks to the Friends & Foundation, St. Helena Public Library. Admission: Free. Details: SHPL.org or 963-5244. THE SOUNDS OF NEW ORLEANS Celebrate the harvest season with the St. Gabriels Celestial Brass Band during a New Orleans-themed family event at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, at the White Barn, 2727 Sulphur Springs Ave. This years picnic party features the traditional street music of the French Quarter, Zydeco and Cajun. Bring your own dinner picnic and dancing shoes. There will be hay rides, clowns, lemonade, popcorn and more. Tickets: $30 (kids under 10 are free). Details: 987-8225 or TheWhiteBarn.org. DEREK JACOBI STARS IN WORLD PREMIERE Actor Derek Jacobi and the musicians of Washington, D.C.s Folger Consort will star in the world premiere of Measure + Dido, presented by NapaShakes and the Folger Shakespeare Library, at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, at Lincoln Theater in Yountville. The new work combines dramatic readings of Shakespeares Measure for Measure with excerpts from Henry Purcells chamber opera Dido and Aeneas to depict the ecstasy and excesses of love. The cast of 27 includes Jacobi, Peter Becker (baritone), Molly Quinn (soprano) and Emily Noel (soprano). There will be an encore performance at 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25, at Weill Hall at Sonoma State Universitys Green Music Center. Tickets: $35 and up. PAUL KOS SOLO EXHIBIT AT DI ROSA Equilibrium, an exhibit at di Rosa exploring the work of Bay Area conceptual artist Paul Kos, continues through Oct. 2 in di Rosas Gatehouse Gallery, 5200 Sonoma Highway in Napa. Considered a leading figure of Bay Area conceptual art, Kos was among the first artists in Northern California to create performance-based film and video works as well as participatory installations. The exhibit features sculpture, film, video, photography and works on paper. Newspaper: Karabakh people to make appeal to Armenia authorities Residents of Moldova asked not to go out into street in dark Bloomberg reports fuel shortages in some parts of Europe Lebanon, Israel sign deal on maritime border demarcation Spanish prime minister twice mistakes Kenya for Senegal during his speech Peskov: CSTO meeting to be held before Armenia-Azerbaijan-Russia summit Putin says he is ready to negotiate with Ukraine Putin compares Indian Prime Minister Modi to icebreaker Putin warns Seoul about risk of ruining relations with Russia by supplying weapons to Ukraine Interpol Secretary General visits Armenia Putin: Russia will not abandon the historical legacy of the USSR and the Russian Tsarist Empire Putin sees no point in nuclear strike on Ukraine Olaf Scholz says solution can be found to curb speculative spikes in gas prices Putin calls Russians and Ukrainians one people who find themselves in different states Putin: We proposed Armenia give 5 districts Putin: Washington version provides for recognition of Azerbaijan's sovereignty over whole Karabakh Putin calls Erdogan consistent and reliable partner, although not easy one Italy plans to double national gas production to 6 billion cubic meters a year Putin: The West, as a minority, has no right to impose values on the world Putin: As long as nuclear weapons exist, there is always a danger of their use Putin outraged by US assassination of General Soleimani: What is this all about? FM Abdollahian: Iran will not allow its interests to become plaything of terrorists Mirzoyan and Lavrov discuss preparations for CSTO Collective Security Council Putin proposes to discuss changing structure of UN and UN Security Council Pashinyan's wife accompanied in Tavush by mothers of servicemen who died in first and last days of war Shell reports almost $9.5 billion in profits Putin calls on West not to shift blame on intrigues of Kremlin Hungarian PM expresses readiness to buy electricity from Azerbaijan via Georgia Newsweek: The biggest foreign threat to the U.S. is not Russia or China. It's the EU Putin: In recent years, West has taken steps to exacerbate situation in world Armenian Defense Minister and French delegation discuss possibilities of developing defense cooperation Australia to send 70 soldiers to UK to help train Ukrainian troops Scholz condemns Turkey's stance questioning Greek sovereignty Armenian Defense Ministry: Azerbaijan hands over 10 bodies of killed servicemen to Armenian side Dollar, euro lose value in Armenia Turkish Central Bank raises inflation forecast for the end of 2022 to 65.2% U.S. State Department official visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex in Yerevan Prime Minister Pashinyan sends letter of condolence to Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi Secretary of Armenian Security Council and representatives of French Ministry of Defense discuss cooperation prospects Israel and Turkey to resume defense cooperation Scholz says solidarity is the only way to deal with the energy crisis Israeli and Turkish defense ministers meet in Ankara Turkey to rewrite inflation forecasts again after rate cut Azerbaijan does not want checkpoint on border with Armenia, it wants only 'corridor' Putin plans to attend meeting of CSTO leaders CSTO special session to be held Friday, assistance to Armenia to be discussed Estonia urges Rishi Sunak to increase UK defense spending Moscow perplexed by information about ban to enter Armenia for Konstantin Zatulin and Margarita Simonyan Armenia PM honors October 27, 1999 parliament tragedy victims U.S. and Western officials finalize plans to limit Russian oil prices EU seeks Armenia-Azerbaijan peace for its own energy interests? World economy is approaching recession US Armenians demand Senate member candidate Mehmet Oz to stop his Armenian Genocide denial Azerbaijan president, Russia deputy PM discuss prospects for unblocking South Caucasus communications Armenia opposition MP: Azerbaijan attempting to fulfill much bigger task with its attacks of aggression Armenia opposition pledges to become active again Syria MFA: Terrorist attack in Shiraz shows that terrorism has become U.S. policy main tool Lebanon and Israel approve maritime border agreement Pashinyan to Sunak: Armenia attaches great importance to further development of cooperation with UK U.S. accelerates deployment of modernized version of nuclear bomb at NATO bases in Europe Armenian Foreign Ministry expresses condolences to Iran over Shiraz terrorist act Premier: Armenia set new absolute record in income-salary jobs Armenia premier: We need to ensure 7% economic growth in 2023 also Gazprom: Creating gas hub will benefit Russia, Turkey, Europe and Azerbaijan Ruling force MP: Azerbaijan must withdraw its troops from sovereign territory of Armenia Armenia parliament speaker: We hope Uzbekistan will also remain part of building peace in our region CNN: CIA Director visits Ukraine OSCE needs assessment mission briefs deputy FM on their work in Armenia European Parliament report amendment condemns Azerbaijan policy of erasing Armenian cultural heritage in Artsakh Armenia to provide around $50M loan to Artsakh EU monitors in Armenia set off on first patrol on Azerbaijan border Armenia to introduce system of transition from compulsory to contractual military service Newsweek: American troops are preparing for war with Russia Azerbaijan and Russia discuss increasing number of checkpoints on border between 2 countries Ombudsperson to attorneys of Frances Montpelier: POWs trials in Azerbaijan are aimed at terrorizing Armenian society Karabakh parliament to convene special session Sunday Today marks 23rd anniversary of Armenia parliament tragedy Newspaper: October 31 trilateral meeting in Russias Sochi to not be groundbreaking US State Department: Armenia-Azerbaijan direct dialogue is key to resolving issues, reaching lasting peace Armenia MOD: No wounded soldiers in military hospitals who are in severe or critical condition Ukraine Presidents Office: Kherson direction situation changing unpleasantly for Kyiv 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 Newspaper: Karabakh people to make appeal to Armenia authorities Residents of Moldova asked not to go out into street in dark Bloomberg reports fuel shortages in some parts of Europe Lebanon, Israel sign deal on maritime border demarcation Spanish prime minister twice mistakes Kenya for Senegal during his speech Peskov: CSTO meeting to be held before Armenia-Azerbaijan-Russia summit Putin says he is ready to negotiate with Ukraine Putin compares Indian Prime Minister Modi to icebreaker What do Saturn's rings look like and where do they come from? Ronaldo in Manchester United's starting lineup Study: Pomegranate can help fight colorectal cancer Putin warns Seoul about risk of ruining relations with Russia by supplying weapons to Ukraine Conference League: Starting lineup of Pyunik is known Interpol Secretary General visits Armenia Putin: Russia will not abandon the historical legacy of the USSR and the Russian Tsarist Empire Putin sees no point in nuclear strike on Ukraine Olaf Scholz says solution can be found to curb speculative spikes in gas prices Putin calls Russians and Ukrainians one people who find themselves in different states Putin: We proposed Armenia give 5 districts E-cigarette smoking can lead to sudden cardiac arrest Putin: Washington version provides for recognition of Azerbaijan's sovereignty over whole Karabakh Putin calls Erdogan consistent and reliable partner, although not easy one Italy plans to double national gas production to 6 billion cubic meters a year Putin: The West, as a minority, has no right to impose values on the world Putin: As long as nuclear weapons exist, there is always a danger of their use Putin outraged by US assassination of General Soleimani: What is this all about? FM Abdollahian: Iran will not allow its interests to become plaything of terrorists Mirzoyan and Lavrov discuss preparations for CSTO Collective Security Council Putin proposes to discuss changing structure of UN and UN Security Council Pashinyan's wife accompanied in Tavush by mothers of servicemen who died in first and last days of war Shell reports almost $9.5 billion in profits Putin calls on West not to shift blame on intrigues of Kremlin Hungarian PM expresses readiness to buy electricity from Azerbaijan via Georgia Two-time European champion Arsen Harutyunyan gets married Newsweek: The biggest foreign threat to the U.S. is not Russia or China. It's the EU Putin: In recent years, West has taken steps to exacerbate situation in world Armenian Defense Minister and French delegation discuss possibilities of developing defense cooperation Champions League: Symbolic team of week is named Dragon Age: Dreadwolf reaches "one of the most important stages of development": When do we expect game's release? Australia to send 70 soldiers to UK to help train Ukrainian troops Scholz condemns Turkey's stance questioning Greek sovereignty China is using world's first inhalation vaccine against COVID-19 Armenian Defense Ministry: Azerbaijan hands over 10 bodies of killed servicemen to Armenian side Dollar, euro lose value in Armenia Turkish Central Bank raises inflation forecast for the end of 2022 to 65.2% U.S. State Department official visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex in Yerevan Prime Minister Pashinyan sends letter of condolence to Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi Secretary of Armenian Security Council and representatives of French Ministry of Defense discuss cooperation prospects Israel and Turkey to resume defense cooperation Scholz says solidarity is the only way to deal with the energy crisis Israeli and Turkish defense ministers meet in Ankara One step away from Facebook: Instagram users reach 2 billion Arnold Schwarzenegger meets Ukrainian winners of Eurovision 2022 in California Turkey to rewrite inflation forecasts again after rate cut Updates on Pediatric Surgery virtual symposium to be held on November 18-19 Azerbaijan does not want checkpoint on border with Armenia, it wants only 'corridor' Putin plans to attend meeting of CSTO leaders CSTO special session to be held Friday, assistance to Armenia to be discussed Estonia urges Rishi Sunak to increase UK defense spending Adele will put her career on hold to pursue degree in literature Moscow perplexed by information about ban to enter Armenia for Konstantin Zatulin and Margarita Simonyan Armenia PM honors October 27, 1999 parliament tragedy victims U.S. and Western officials finalize plans to limit Russian oil prices Jurgen Klopp: We are through to the knockout stages EU seeks Armenia-Azerbaijan peace for its own energy interests? World economy is approaching recession US Armenians demand Senate member candidate Mehmet Oz to stop his Armenian Genocide denial Karen Nalbandyan is referee inspector for Ludogorets vs Betis match Azerbaijan president, Russia deputy PM discuss prospects for unblocking South Caucasus communications Armenia opposition MP: Azerbaijan attempting to fulfill much bigger task with its attacks of aggression Study: Two respiratory viruses join forces and bypass human immune system Armenia opposition pledges to become active again Syria MFA: Terrorist attack in Shiraz shows that terrorism has become U.S. policy main tool Lebanon and Israel approve maritime border agreement Remake for the Original Witcher game announced: What will it look like? Pashinyan to Sunak: Armenia attaches great importance to further development of cooperation with UK U.S. accelerates deployment of modernized version of nuclear bomb at NATO bases in Europe Europa League: Matches of day Armenian Foreign Ministry expresses condolences to Iran over Shiraz terrorist act Premier: Armenia set new absolute record in income-salary jobs Armenia premier: We need to ensure 7% economic growth in 2023 also Gazprom: Creating gas hub will benefit Russia, Turkey, Europe and Azerbaijan Ruling force MP: Azerbaijan must withdraw its troops from sovereign territory of Armenia Armenia parliament speaker: We hope Uzbekistan will also remain part of building peace in our region CNN: CIA Director visits Ukraine Kanye West says 'nobody gets judged more than the straight white male OSCE needs assessment mission briefs deputy FM on their work in Armenia European Parliament report amendment condemns Azerbaijan policy of erasing Armenian cultural heritage in Artsakh Microsoft's quarterly profit falls 14%, but beat analysts' forecasts Armenia to provide around $50M loan to Artsakh EU monitors in Armenia set off on first patrol on Azerbaijan border Armenia to introduce system of transition from compulsory to contractual military service Newsweek: American troops are preparing for war with Russia Armenian Cup: Calendar 1/4 finals Azerbaijan and Russia discuss increasing number of checkpoints on border between 2 countries Ombudsperson to attorneys of Frances Montpelier: POWs trials in Azerbaijan are aimed at terrorizing Armenian society Karabakh parliament to convene special session Sunday Today marks 23rd anniversary of Armenia parliament tragedy Microsoft introduces mini PC for Windows software development, with ARM processor Newspaper: October 31 trilateral meeting in Russias Sochi to not be groundbreaking Kungfu lovers perform martial art at a square during an activity held by Palacky University in Prague of Czech on Sept 24, 2014, to celebrate the Day of the Confucius Institute which falls on Sept 27. [Photo/Xinhua] The Dutch seem pleased with a recent announcement that King Willem-Alexander's daughter Amalia, the 13-year-old heir to the throne, will learn Chinese during the upcoming school semester. Some have even called it the royal family's "smartest investment" given the deepening relationship between China and the Netherlands. The Dutch royalty is not alone in embracing the Chinese language. In neighboring Belgium, Princess Elisabeth, the first child of King Philippe born in 2001, was already studying Chinese in a Dutch-medium school in Brussels. When King Philippe acceded to the throne in 2013, the princess became the duchess of Brabant, a title reserved for the heir apparent, which means she could become a Chinese-speaking queen of a European country. In fact, the older generations of royal families in Europe have had an interest in Chinese culture for long. Although Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, who celebrated her 90th birthday this year, doesn't speak Chinese, she has enormous interest in Chinese philosophy, especially Taoism. This month, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, partly supported by Britain's Royal Family, established the Academy of Sinology with the aim of encouraging doctorate students to study ancient Chinese religions, texts, language and history. The Danish monarchy, too, has shown keen interest in Chinese language and culture. Apart from Danish, French and English, the royal family's website has been using Chinese since 2014. Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and King Philippe of Belgium have already visited China after Xi Jinping became China's top leader. And in return, Xi has visited the Netherlands, Belgium and Britain. Studying Chinese is becoming popular across Europe. When I was interviewing parliamentarians in Greece during the country's sovereign debt crisis, one of them even arranged for his 16-year-old daughter, who was learning Chinese at the time, to be present during our conversation. A new 55-ton boiler capable of producing 100,000 pounds of steam per hour was delivered on Tuesday, July 19, to Emorys Central Steam Plant, taking its place with the Universitys four industrial boilers. Boiler Number 10, as it is called, will serve as one of five central boilers that help power campus heating systems for the University and Emory Healthcare. It replaces Boiler Number 5, which was decommissioned and disassembled in May. Transporting the massive, oversized load to Emory was a logistical challenge involving international travel and significant planning with CSX railway, says Karen Salisbury, chief of staff and director of customer relations and support for the Office of the Vice President of Campus Services. Fabricated in St. Catharines, in Ontario, Canada, the boiler was placed on a train for transport to Atlanta on the CSX rail line, which threads throughout the eastern United States. To ensure a safe journey, the boiler required a clear rail line with no wide load trains passing it on opposing tracks, according to Salisbury. During the trek to campus, the boiler which was temporarily welded onto the train for stability had scheduled layovers in several cities along the route, some lasting as long as a week. As a result, the exact time when it would arrive at Emory could not be confirmed in advance. To facilitate installation, a 550-ton commercial crane was brought to campus in sections and assembled onsite behind the steam plant for the purpose of lifting the behemoth boiler from the train to the plant. Once the train arrived at the plant, the installation crew had roughly six hours to remove the boiler from the train the window that CSX allowed for that section of rail line to be tied up, Salisbury says. Replacement of the boiler has been planned by Emorys Division of Campus Services for more than 10 years. Before transporting the boiler to campus, Jody DiCarlo, steam plant operations manager, traveled to Canada for an inspection. The new boiler will not be put into full use until later this fall, when temperatures begin to cool, Salisbury says. The new boiler will be operated at a higher pressure, allowing the use of a steam turbine generator that will produce enough electricity for the steam plant and several additional buildings. It will also be used to reliably meet the new steam demands of Emory Hospitals new J-wing facility. Over a year, the steam plant produces approximately 800 million pounds of steam, which helps warm offices, classrooms and residence halls; sterilize equipment in hospitals and clinics; stabilize temperature-controlled research; and assist with food preparation and sanitation in campus kitchens. Marie Johnson, new dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, who joined CSUF July 1, was among guest speakers at this summer's Project MISS. The program also featured presentations from female role models from industry, including from the Fluor Corp. This month, 71 high school girls from 27 cities and 31 high schools across the region brushed up on their algebra II and precalculus skills through Mathematics Intensive Summer Session, known as Project MISS. The four-week commuter program ends Friday, July 29, with an invitation-only luncheon. David L. Pagni, an award-winning professor of mathematics founded Project MISS in 1990, and every summer since, CSUF has offered the program at no cost to female high school students. The program seeks to assist college-bound young women many will be the first in their families to attend college enhance their mathematics skills by preparing them for the next level of math. The long-term goal of the program is to increase the number of female students who choose careers in the natural sciences, engineering and mathematics, said Pagni. More information is available online. MUMBAI: Attractive deals for consumers in India's 4G data telecom space are expected to continue, ahead of the commercial launch of Reliance Jio, ranging from better handsets at lower prices and more data limits at existing tariff, according to analysts and top brokerages. But companies will prefer to incentivise their customers not by lowering tariff, but by offering higher data downloads for the same price, in a bid to protect their average revenue per user, the research papers add. This apart, the analysts feel, the launch of Reliance Jio cannot be far away, with some even predicting it to be August 15 to coincide with India's Independence Day, with also with companies like Bharti Airtel, Idea and Vodafone having already made their moves to counter the challenge. Here are some excerpts from what the brokerages have said on current state of play in India's 4G data telecom market: Bank of America Merrill Lynch: India could see a capacity war and not a price war. In our view, Jio could focus on offering more data at the same price rather than lowering average revenues per user, as such a move would impact their ability to garner a return from its business. We expect incumbents to match Jio's tariff by also offering more data at the same price. UBS: We agree that the Reliance Jio launch has the potential to further disrupt mobile data tariffs, we think there is a high likelihood that the entry of Reliance Jio will also expand the size of the market significantly. We believe that India's mobile data market is likely to grow 8 times (to Rs 2,133 billion) by FY26, driving strong operating leverage. Citi Research: With Reliance Jio's commercial launch imminent, increase in data allowance to pre-empt the likely aggression by Jio wasn't unexpected. Data network utilization for telcos is currently low and therefore we believe that telcos should be able to handle any spurt in usage. Morgan Stanley: We expect Reliance Jio launch to be market disruptive leading to a price war. 1.5 million users on Jio's network already account for impressive 20 per cent of data market volumes, though currently uncharged. Credit Suisse: Our recent research showed Reliance Jio will be hitting the market with the largest network by capacity. The extension of Jio promo offer to Samsung phones is to be seen as a progression of the launch. CLSA: The company is reportedly extending this further to select Apple and HP handsets and more such announcements are likely as Jio completes testing. We expect higher acceptance of this offer among users of dual-sim 4G handsets. Reliance Jio has also integrated 800MHz spectrum acquired from Reliance Communications in nine of 13 circles and expects to integrate the spectrum in the remaining four circles over the next few weeks, after which commercial launch can be expected. HSBC Global Research: Data revenue growth has slowed for incumbent telecom companies over the past two quarters and some pricing intervention was very likely. However, instead of cutting tariffs, which, in our view, would have been clearly negative, telcos have increased data limits and attempted to drive both penetration and average revenue per user (ARPU). In our view, recent pricing auctions may have some marginal impact on data revenue growth in the near term, but in the medium term we see them having a positive impact on data revenue growth. Kotak Institutional Equities: We believe the recent price cuts announced by Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular on select data packs have two clear strategic intents -- shift the belly of the data market right by substantially improving the price-value equation of higher usage, higher ARPU packs, and fatten the tail by improving the price-value equation of the entry-level trial/sachet packs. Read Also: Role of Social Media in Shaping Citizen Journalism Spacex Gifts Spaceships a 'Parking Spot' on International Space Station The Momentum to Make a Difference The University of Florida raises a record $402 million for the greater good Gift commitments to the University of Florida from alumni and friends reached a record $402 million this year, surpassing last years record of $315 million and broadening opportunities for students and faculty to have a state, national and global impact. The construction of state-of-the-art chemistry and engineering facilities, enhanced access to healthier food on campus, expanded opportunities for UF students to study abroad and medical care for sea turtles are just a few of the reasons donors supported UF programs during the record-breaking fundraising year, which ended June 30. The unprecedented support from donors is critical to the universitys 10-year strategic plan to strengthen its ability to impact lives across the globe through discovery, service and the endeavors of alumni. The Decade Ahead plan, which was adopted by the universitys Board of Trustees this year, outlines our goal to be one of Americas top public research universities, said Bill Heavener, chair of the UF Board of Trustees. Private resources will make it possible for us to hire distinguished faculty, recruit the brightest and best students and address the grand challenges facing our state, our nation and our world. Since UF President Kent Fuchs officially joined UF in January 2015, fundraising activity has seen steady growth, which Fuchs credits in part to UF Preeminence, a three-year, $800 million initiative to boost faculty and student support, address societys most pressing issues, and elevate UF programs to even higher prominence and influence. The enormous success of the UF Preeminence initiative will help advance our aspiration to achieve the stature of a top-ranking university, Fuchs said. Gifts from alumni and friends combined with support from the state of Florida through this private-public partnership will move UF to a new level of academic excellence. Many of UFs distinguished faculty are addressing some of our biggest global challenges, and students are benefiting from academic and experiential opportunities made possible by private investments and donor commitments. Outstanding international students will be invited to attend UF, and UF students will have opportunities to intern at Chinese companies, thanks to a $3 million gift from UF alumna and COO of CTrip.com, Jane Sun, and her husband, John Wu. For the nearly 10 percent of UFs student and staff experiencing food insecurity, the Field and Fork campus food pantry will be expanded and offer healthier food options as a result of support from UF alumnus Alan Hitchcock and his wife, Cathy, former owners of Hitchcocks Markets. Cisco Kid, a green sea turtle gravely affected by fibropappilomatosis tumors, which plague these endangered creatures, was treated and released back into the sea at Marineland, thanks to the gift of a carbon-dioxide laser from the Nancy Condron family, passionate supporters of UFs Sea Turtle Hospital at the Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience in St. Augustine. Engineering students will benefit from exceptional teaching and learning facilities and increased faculty and program development because of a transformational $50 million gift to the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering by the Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Family Foundation. The passion, commitment and generosity of the UF family never ceases to amaze me. UF alumni and friends recognize that supporting education at UF is an investment that has tremendous returns. In sharing our resources, we directly see the impact that UF makes on the greater good. said Beth McCague, chair of the UF Foundation Board. Fundraising activity at UF is growing at far beyond the national average. The $3 billion campaign working goal, which seemed ambitious at first blush, now seems well within reach as engaged alumni and friends across The Gator Nation pledge their support, she said. UF is Floridas flagship university serving more than 50,000 students from 50 states and 131 countries. With five professional schools and more than 170 research, service and education centers, bureaus and institutes on one contiguous 2,000-acre campus, UF offers educational opportunities matched by only five universities worldwide. Almost 400,000 UF alumni represent The Gator Nation globally. The Pakistani government has intensified diplomatic efforts for saving a national, Zulfiqar Ali, who is facing imminent execution in Indonesia after being convicted of drug-related charges. Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, who is in Laos for an Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Regional Forum meeting, has sought a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi on the issue, according to officials. Meanwhile, Indonesian Ambassador Iwan Suyudhie Amri was summoned to the Foreign Office over the expected execution. "Indonesian ambassador in Islamabad was also called in by the ministry and asked to convey the government of Pakistans concern to his authorities, Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakariya told Dawn online. After languishing in jail for 12 years, Ali is set to be executed in Indonesia. The Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), a human rights law firm, has requested President Mamnoon Hussain to take up the matter with the Indonesian government to save the life of "an innocent Pakistani". Ali, 52, was arrested in November 2004 in connection with a 300-gram heroine case in Jakarta. A co-accused in the case, Gurdip Singh, retracted his statement against Ali, saying the confession had been coerced from him. The JPP said the Indonesian police had been unable to bring forward any material evidence to support their charge against Ali. Despite this, the Pakistan embassy in Jakarta has received a notification that Ali will be executed in the near future and that the family will be given a 72-hour notice, Dawn online quoted JPP as saying. Ali was arrested at his home without a warrant in Indonesias West Java province. For three days, he was kicked, punched and threatened with death by the Soekarno-Hatta Airport district police until he was forced to sign a self-incriminating confession. Ali was rushed into an emergency stomach and kidney surgery due to the severity of the physical torture he was subjected to. He remained in the hospital for 17 days, for which the expenses had to be borne by his family, the JPP said. It said Ali had been denied fair trial and his only legal recourse now was to apply for clemency with the Indonesian president. Alis wife, Siti Rouhani, has pinned her last hopes on the government. If I get some support from Pakistan, something may happen and my husband may be saved, Dawn online reported citing Siti as saying. --IANS ksk ( 412 Words) 2016-07-26-10:32:02 (IANS) Paying tributes to the soldiers, Modi said: "The country will never forget the fearlessness with which they gave a befitting and unforgettable reply to the intruders." In a series of tweets, he also lauded the firmness demonstrated by the then political leadership (National Democratic Alliance government) which ensured the victory in Kargil. "We recall with pride, the firmness demonstrated by India's political leadership in 1999, which ensured a decisive victory in Kargil," tweeted Modi. "On Kargil Vijay Diwas, I bow to every valiant soldier who fought for India till the very last breath. Their heroic sacrifices inspire us," the Prime Minister said. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, along with the three Service chiefs -- Army chief General Dalbir Singh, Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, and Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba -- paid homage to the martyrs at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at the India Gate here. Congress President Sonia Gandhi also paid homage to the soldiers who laid down their lives during 'Operation Vijay', which culminated on this day in 1999. "Their spirit of nation-above-self continues to inspire an entire generation," the Congress leader said. Indian and Pakistani armies fought the Kargil War in May-July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). India launched 'Operation Vijay' to clear the Kargil sector of infiltration by Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants on the Indian side of the Line of Control. On July 26, 1999, India successfully retook the high outposts lost to Pakistani intruders to end the Kargil War. The nearly week-long 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas celebrations began under the aegis of the army's Fire and Fury Corps on July 21. Army chief General Dalbir Singh paid homage to the martyrs of 'Operation Vijay' at the historic Kargil War Memorial at Drass in Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday. --IANS ao/tsb/vt ( 356 Words) 2016-07-26-20:40:01 (IANS) The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has refused clearance to two films based on the Patidar agitation in Gujarat, apparently because their characters and situations are far too close to real life and could disrupt peace in society. Producers of both films have now decided to fight it out in the court since, they said, huge sums of money were at stake. "Power of Patidar" film's producer Dipak Soni said here that the board had orally communicated to him three days ago that the movie could not be released since certain names and characters as also the situations in the film are too close to reality. He is yet to receive an official rejection slip. "Salagto Sawal: Anamat" (Burning issue: Reservation) has also been rejected, lest it "disrupts peace in society and promote violence", according to its producer Rajesh Gohil. He says they were also asked to remove the word 'Patel' from the film and remove three songs. Gohil shrugged: "Removing the word 'Patel' could make the film pointless for it is based on the Patidars." Expressing his surprise, Soni said a special screening of his film was organised only for the board members on July 22 and members of Gujarat's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress and three board officials. He said the board had raised objections against his showing some real-life leaders and other characters of the ongoing reservation agitation in the film. Besides, the film has used the name and addresses of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti convener Hardik Patel and some active PAAS members. It also has a scene wherein a child takes the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a woman character whose get-up very closely resembles that of Chief Minister Anandiben Patel. "Such real-time characters cannot be allowed in a film based on an agitation," the board has reportedly told the producer. Reacting to the matter in Udaipur where he is staying following his conditional bail by the Gujarat High Court, Hardik Patel blamed the state's BJP government for the board's negative stand on the films. "The Anandiben Patel government was so far scared of the real-life quota agitation. Now, it is unnerved even by the reel quota agitation," he took a jibe at the government. The troubles of these two films with the CBFC has put at least four other under-production movies with similar theme under a cloud of uncertainty. --IANS desai/tsb/vt ( 413 Words) 2016-07-26-22:16:01 (IANS) Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the occasion of 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas paid homage to the slain Indian Army soldiers, glorifying their sacrifices made during the three-month long war. The Home Minister took to the Micro blogging site twitter and said, "I salute the supreme sacrifice & exemplary courage of our soldiers who laid down their lives in Kargil war. They are our nation's true heroes," Meanwhile other Cabinet Ministers along with political leaders also paid tribute to the brave hearts of the Kargil war. "Remembering the heroes of Kargil war victory for their bravery and sacrifice. I join the Nation in saluting them," said Defence Minister Parrikar "My salute to the victorious Kargil war heroes who sacrificed their lives for our motherland. #kargilvijaydiwas," said Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. "Salute to the Brave Soldiers who fought with Valour and lost their lives in the Kargil War. Our Soldiers are our Pride," tweeted Congress leader Rajiv Shukla. "Paying tribute today to the brave soldiers who gave up their lives for the nation.Your sacrifice can never be forgotten #KargilVijayDiwas," tweeted Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. Echoing similar sentiment, earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the sacrifices of India's soldiers, saying that the nation will never forget the fearlessness with which the soldiers gave a befitting and unforgettable reply to the intruders. "On Kargil Vijay Diwas, I bow to every valiant soldier who fought for India till the very last breath. Their heroic sacrifices inspire us. India will never forget the fearlessness with which our courageous soldiers gave a befitting and unforgettable reply to the intruders," Prime Minister Modi tweeted. Indian and Pakistani armies fought the Kargil War in May-July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). India launched 'Operation Vijay' to clear the Kargil sector of infiltration by the Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants on the Indian side of the Line of Control. The day is observed on July 26 every year in honour of the Kargil War Heroes. From a strategic standpoint, Kargil is noted as being one of the most recent instances of high-altitude warfare in mountainous terrain - something that usually provides a major challenge to both sides. (ANI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi today lauded the role of the then NDA Government during the Kargil war of 1999 as he paid tribute to the martyrs of the battle. ''We recall with pride, the firmness demonstrated by India's political leadership in 1999, which ensured a decisive victory in Kargil,'' the Prime Minister said in a string of tweets on the occasion of the Kargil Vijay Diwas. The battle of Kargil was fought with Pakistan when the latter occupied positions on the Indian side of the Line of Control during May-July 1999, and it came to an end on July 26 same year. Paying tribute to martyrs, he said India will never forget the fearlessness with which its courageous soldiers gave a befitting and unforgettable reply to the intruders. ''On the Kargil Diwas I bow to every valiant soldier who fought for India till the very last breath. Their heroic sacrifices inspire us,'' he said.UNI NAZ SV ADG 1130 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0091-855369.Xml The government today asserted that there is no shortage of food grains to implement the food security in the country under the National Food Security Act. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public distribution Minister, Ram Vilas Paswan said, the stock of food grains in central pool as on 1st July is 548.50 lakh tonnes, against the buffer norms of 411 lakh tonnes to meet the demand of food grains for the Public Distribution System and other welfare schemes. Paswan also informed that wheat, rice and coarse grains are procured by the government from farmers at Minimum Support Price (MSP) which is used for supply to States for distribution under the PDS. The minister, however said, the farmers have the option to sell their produce to government agencies at MSP or in the open market as is advantageous to them. (ANI) AAP MP Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday dubbed a Lok Sabha panel formed to probe his video of Parliament a "stunt" even as his party alleged that the government was plotting to arrest him. "The issue is being blown out of proportion and politicized. I have never seen the Akali Dal, the BJP and the Congress joining forces on any other issue. But they are on the same platform against me," Mann told the media here. He said the nine-member committee formed by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to study the security implications of his video was "a political stunt". He reiterated that his intention behind making a video of Parliament procedures was meant to educate the people and was not meant to breach any security. Nevertheless, he said he gave an unconditional apology when leaders of other parties attacked him for allegedly putting Parliament in danger by putting the video on his Facebook account. "But now I am being compared with Afzal Guru and Richard Headley as if I am an extremist and as if I have endangered the entire Parliament," the Aam Aadmi Party leader said. Mann said he had since written to Mahajan asking her to widen the probe panel's reference to include the way Pakistani intelligence agency ISI was invited to the IAF base at Pathankot to probe the January terror attack. "The PM (Narendra Modi) invited the ISI. He should also be brought under its purview. After all it was the ISI which had attacked Parliament... The Prime Minister should also be suspended from the Lok Sabha." He reiterated that he did not shoot anything which was not already in the public domain. AAP leader Sanjay Singh took a more strident line, saying the government was plotting to have Mann arrested. "At today's meeting of the Lok Sabha committee, the Delhi Police Commissioner was called. I apprehend that the Modi government wants Mann arrested. "This is a well thought out plan," Sanjay Singh said, adding that daily the government registered a case against an AAP legislator or leader in the national capital in particular. AAP leader Ashutosh urged the Lok Sabha Speaker to be neutral. "If the Speaker works under someone's pressure or is biased, it will be a danger for democracy." The nine-member Lok Sabha panel is headed by BJP's Kirit Somaiya. It will probe the security implications of Mann's audio-visual recording of his journey to Parliament House which he live-streamed on Facebook on July 21. Mann is set to appear before the panel on July 28. "They say 'Bhagwant Mann ko barkhast karo' (Sack Bhagwant Mann). I say 'Bhagwant Mann ko barkhast mat karo, usey bardasht karo' (I say don't sack Bhagwant Mann, tolerate him)," the MP said. --IANS mak-am/tsb/mr ( 471 Words) 2016-07-26-17:44:03 (IANS) The nine-member committee set up by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to look into the Aam Aadmi Party MP Bhagwant Mann's video incident on Tuesday held a meeting with Parliament security staff. Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma, who also attended the meeting, reportedly accused the Parliament security for the lapse, which apparently did not go down well with the committee led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Kirit Somaiya. IPS officer Yogesh Deshmukh, Joint Secretary (Parliament security), who also attended the meeting, termed the video shooting and posting incident "serious". The panel has summoned Parliament personnel guarding the entry gate - where Mann had shot the video of security procedure - on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the AAP Sangrur MP, who is slated to appear before the committee on July 28, accused the Centre and other opposition parties of giving a political twist to his apology to the Speaker with regard to his controversial live streaming of Parliament. Addressing the media, Mann said, "My apology has not been accepted. It is being given a political twist and colour. The opposition and my rivals are saying that my membership of parliament should be terminated; that I am a danger to this country." On Tuesday, it was expected that Mann would appear before the panel to give his defence of the episode, but he did not. He has, however, downplayed the controversy surrounding the live streaming of his arrival at parliament, and demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi be expelled for compromising national security by allowing a team from Pakistan to investigate the Pathankot Air Force base after a terror attack in January this year. Mann has consistently maintained that he never wanted to jeopardise Parliament's security. He says that he believes that the people who have elected Members of Parliament have every right to know how their issues are raised in both Houses. (ANI) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Centre's decision to provide VVIP security cover to Nita Ambani, wife of Reliance Industries Limited Chairman Mukesh Ambani. "Women raped daily in Delhi. No security for them despite repeated requests. But PM providing security to his friends," Mr Kejriwal wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter.The Chief Minister wrote this as he posted a picture of a news report about the Centre's move to grant full 'Y' category security cover of full armed CRPF commandos to Ms Ambani.Mr Kejriwal has been accusing the Prime Minister of showering favours on industrialists. UNI RG/AR RSA 1829 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0092-856482.Xml Congress Members today demanded setting up of a House committee to probe alleged irregularities in the Rajya Sabha polls in Jharkhand.The issue was raised during Zero Hour in the Upper House by Mr Sanjiv Kumar of the JMM.Mr Kumar alleged that just before the polling for the RS polls, two Opposition MLAs were framed in some old cases while a JMM MLA was arrested in a petty case to prevent him from casting his vote. While other MLAs lodged in jails were allowed to cast their vote, the three Opposition legislators could not exercise their franchise. This, he claimed, led to the victory of the ruling party candidate.He claimed that a CD has appeared which shows how an senior police official threatened the husband of an Opposition MLA.Mr Kumar said he would submit to the Home Minister the copy of the CD in two-three days and demanded action against the police officer.Associating himself with the demand of the JMM Member, Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the said officer should be sacked.He said that the government had been indulging in threats to win elections.He demanded setting up of a House committee to probe the allegations of irregularities in the RS polls in Jharkhand and Haryana and recommend action.Deputy Leader of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma also demanded formation of a House Committee to probe the incident. Describing it as a serious issue, Mr Sharad Yadav (JD-U) said a probe must be ordered.Mr Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) said the CD should be investigated and the guilty punished.Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, however, said the government had full confidence in the ability of the Election Commission to hold free and fair elections.''The Opposition's allegations are far removed from the facts. However, if the said member makes available the evidence available to him, action will be initiated as per procedure,'' Mr Naqvi said.The Opposition Cwas, however, was dissatisfied with Mr Naqvi's response .UNI AR RSA/SB 1430 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0094-855753.Xml Describing as 'baseless' and 'political vendetta' the FIR filed today against her by the Delhi Police for allegedly revealing the name of a rape victim in her notice to the police, Delhi Commission for Women Chief Swati Maliwal said she was not scared of it and would continue to raise more issues in the coming days.''DCW issues Notice to PS Burari for role in 14 year old girls case. 2 days later Delhi Police registers baseless FIR against me. Vendetta?My fault: Raised questions on failure of Delhi Police in protecting 14 year old girl. Will raise more issues. Not scared of FIR. Jai Hind,''the DCW chief said in a tweet.Terming the FIR 'baseless', Ms Maliwal said,'' Firstly, not released name of victim. Instead ensured proper medical care in Pvt Hospital. Police arrested accused only after DCW NoticeAlso, why shud rape victim hide her identity? Shouldn't rapists be hiding? Is it the shame of a victim that she was subjected to cruelty?''She said she was not deterred by the FIR against her.''I have borne blows of batons for justice to Nirbhaya. My entire time is spent in ensuring that there are no more Nirbhayas. I am a revolutionary I am not afraid of any FIR,'' Ms Maliwal said.Police today registered an FIR against Ms Maliwal for allegedly revealing the identity of a 14-year-old girl, who died on Sunday after being raped multiple times and forced to drink corrosive substance by the rape accused. Police said the notice send by the DCW Chief to the SHO of the area, where the girl was raped, allegedly mentioned the name of the victim. Earlier, Ms Maliwal had hit out at the Delhi Police in connection with the rape of this girl, saying, ''How many Nirbhayas does Delhi want? We all simply wait for the next Nirbhaya to die." UNI AR RSA 2003 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0092-856781.Xml Irom Sharmila, who had long been on a hunger fast against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, on Tuesday surprised people with her announcement that she will end her fast on August 9, the next date of her court hearing. Making the announcement in the court of the chief judicial magistrate, Imphal west, L. Tonsing, she further said that she will marry and contest the Manipur assembly elections next year as an independent candidate. The 42-year-old activist, known as the Iron Lady of Manipur, termed a Prisoner of conscience' by Amnesty International and recipient of various prizes, has declined food or drink for the last 16 years, seeking repeal of the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. She is on forcible nose feeding. Sharmila began a hunger strike in November 2000, following the killing of 10 civilians by security forces. She was arrested by the Manipur government in 2000 under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, which prohibits an attempt to commit suicide. However she has been denying she was trying to commit suicide saying that she is using the fast as a weapon. The prosecution could not prove the charge and for the second time the chief judicial magistrate had ordered on February 29, 2016 to release her as she was not guilty of the charge. However she was rearrested on the same charge as she continued the fasting. A court in Delhi, had also acquitted her of the same charge. For a long time she has been appealing to all sections of the people to extend support to her cause, but to no avail. Except for some reporters, there has been nobody to meet her in the court where she is produced every 15 days. --IANS il/vd ( 304 Words) 2016-07-26-22:52:02 (IANS) According to CNN, Satoshi Uematsu, a 26-year-old who worked at the facility until February, broke in through a window. Police said they received a call from an employee of the facility reporting the attack, according to state broadcaster NHK. About 3 a.m., Uematsu turned himself in at the Sagamihara police station, carrying a bloodstained knife and cloth, officials said. The incident sent shock waves through Japan, where mass killings are rare. In June 2001, eight children were killed when a former janitor entered an Ikeda elementary school in Osaka and began stabbing students at random. In June 2008, a man ran over a group of people with his truck and then stabbed 18, killing seven, in Tokyo's famous Akihabara gaming district. (ANI) Reports suggest that the priest's throat had been slit. A French interior ministry spokesman said a second hostage was in a critical condition, reports the Guardian. Earlier today, five people reportedly a priest, two nuns and two worshippers were taken hostage by the assailants in Saint-tienne-du-Rouvray. According to French media one of the hostages managed to escape and raised the alarm. The Paris prosecutor's office has said that the motivations for the hostage-taking were not yet clear but the case had been handed to anti-terrorism judges for investigation. Meanwhile, French President, Franois Hollande, and the Interior Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve were en route to Saint-tienne-du-Rouvray. Condemning the incident, Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, said the attack was a blow to all Catholics and the whole of France. He tweeted, "We will stand together." Even the Vatican reacted and said it was a "barbaric killing" made even more heinous because it happened in a sacred place. The incident comes under a fortnight after the Nice attack, where an Isis supporter drove a lorry into crowds celebrating Bastille Day which left 84 people dead and more than 300 injured. Since the Islamic State's bombings and shootings in Paris last November, France has been on high alert. The Nice attack was the third major strike on France in 18 months. (ANI) Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said dialogue between India and Islamabad is not possible in the prevailing situation due to India's ''hostile behaviour'' towards Kashmir and Pakistan. During the Senate's defence committee session yesterday, the Defence Minister said,''India's hostile behaviour towards Kashmir and Pakistan is an obstacle in carrying out smooth process of dialogue between the neighbourly countries,'' Pakistan daily Dawn said. Reacting to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's statement on Kashmir, Adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz had earlier said a verdict on the future of Kashmir can only be given by the people of Kashmir. On July 23, Ms Swaraj had said Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif must understand that "Kashmir can never become a part of Pakistan". Mr Sharif had earlier described Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani as martyr and observed black day to protest his killing which triggered violence in the valley leading to the death of around 40 people and injuries to hundreds. Ms Swaraj said that in the last few days, leadership of Pakistan, including its Prime Minister had praised as martyr, a wanted terrorist Commander of the banned terrorist organisation Hizbul Mujahideen, Burhan Wani. He was carrying an award of Rs.10 lakh on his head because he had perpetrated heinous crimes including murder of elected representatives of local bodies and security force personnel. ''Even more condemnable than these deplorable attempts from across our border to incite violence and glorify terrorists is the fact that these attempts have been undertaken by Pakistan's state machinery in active partnership with UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed and other leading terrorists belonging to internationally proscribed organizations,'' she said. UNI XC SV 1424 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0103-855372.Xml BEIJING, July 25, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, July 25, 2016. (Xinhua/Ding Lin) BEIJING, July 25 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping on Monday called on China and the United States to effectively manage their differences and respect each other's core interests. Xi made the remarks when meeting with U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. China-U.S. common interests outweigh their differences, Xi said, noting that both sides needed more mutual trust and cooperation. The goal of China's development is to benefit its 1.3 billion people, Xi said, reiterating that China had no intention of challenging the present international rules and order, and it will never seek hegemony. Xi called on both sides to expand economic, trade and investment cooperation, as well as cooperation in climate change and international and regional affairs to make pragmatic cooperation a "ballast" in China-U.S. ties. Rice said the United States agreed to work with China to strengthen mutual trust, enhance pragmatic cooperation and manage issues of difference through close communication. Xi recalled his meetings with U.S. President Barack Obama over the past three years and the consensuses agreed upon. The decision of the two sides to build a new model of major-country relations has produced many solid achievements in bilateral relations, Xi said. Sino-U.S. relations should always stick to the principle of no-conflict, no-confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation, according to Xi. China values ties with the United States and is willing to make joint efforts to make sure the relationship enjoys sustainable, steady growth, Xi said. Rice said the U.S. side viewed its relationship with China as its most consequential ties today and China's success is in line with America's interest. She called for more cooperation to deal with global challenges such as climate change. This year's G20 summit will be held in east China's Hangzhou City in September. Xi said he was looking forward to meeting with President Obama in Hangzhou in September, expressing his hope that the meeting will boost bilateral ties and direct the stable development of bilateral ties. Xi called on China and the United States, as the world's two biggest economies, to work together and make the summit a success, which will send a signal of confidence to the world and inject new vitality into the global economy. Rice said President Obama was also looking forward to the G20 summit and the meeting with Xi. When meeting with Rice on Monday, Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission Fan Changlong and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi reiterated China's position on the South China Sea issue and the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in the Republic of Korea (ROK). On July 12, the Arbitral Tribunal for the South China Sea arbitration issued its so-called award, which attempts to deny China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea. China will continue to firmly safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, Yang said, noting that China opposes the award of the so-called arbitral tribunal in the South China Sea Arbitration. China's stance on the South China Sea issue is unshakable, Fan said, affirming China's staunch position of non-acceptance and non-recognition of the award. Fan said the Chinese military would continue to provide strong backing to safeguarding China's national territorial sovereignty and security. In mid July, the ROK's defense ministry announced an agreement with the United States to deploy the U.S. missile defense system, THAAD, to its southeastern region despite opposition from neighboring countries. Fan said the THAAD deployment would directly damage China's strategic security, escalate the tension in the Korean Peninsula and undermine China-U.S. mutual trust. Yang urged the U.S. side to take China's concern seriously and to halt the deployment of the U.S. anti-missile system in the ROK. Rice said the United States was ready to work with China to properly manage and control differences to avoid misunderstanding or miscalculation. Rice is visiting China from July 24 to 27. Related: Chinese FM warns Japan against intervention in South China Sea issue VIENTIANE, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday urged Japan not to intervene in the South China Sea issue. During talks with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida on the sidelines of an ASEAN foreign minsters' meeting in the Lao capital, Wang said Japan, which is not a claimant in the South China Sea disputes, should avoid interfering in and hyping up the maritime spats. Full Story China, ASEAN vow to promote peace, stability in South China Sea VIENTIANE, July 25 (Xinhua) -- China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) reaffirmed their efforts on Monday to "promote peace, stability, mutual trust and confidence" in the South China Sea. BERLIN, July 25, 2016 (Xinhua) -- German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere addresses a press conference in Berlin, Germany, July 25, 2016. Thomas de Maiziere said Monday a terrorism link to the suicide attack in Ansbach could not be ruled out. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan) BERLIN, July 25 (Xinhua) -- The German government said Monday a terrorism link to the suicide bomb attack in southern Germany on Sunday night could not be ruled out, pledging to take measures to protect its citizens, while warning against suspicion against the overall group of refugees. German Interior Minister Thomas De Maiziere told a press conference here that the investigation into the attack outside a music festival in Ansbach, a city in the southern German state of Bavaria, was still in the early stages. "It could not be ruled out that it had a connection with international terrorism," he said. The attacker, a 27-year-old Syrian who had been denied asylum in Germany, might also have had a mental disorder. It could be "a combination of both," he added. Fifteen people were injured in the explosion, which only killed the attacker himself, according to the latest information provided by police. Four people were in serious condition. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told a separate press conference in Nuremberg on Monday that a video was found on the attacker's mobile phone. In the video, the Syrian referred to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the terrorism militant organization Islamic State, and announced a "revenge" against Germany. Police also found numerous materials to make bombs in his room. According to De Maiziere, the Syrian arrived in Germany two years ago and applied for asylum protection in August 2014. His application was rejected by Germany in December 2014, as officials found similar applications he had made in Bulgaria and Austria. Germany had tried to deport him to Bulgaria, where his asylum application had been approved, said De Maiziere. However, the man managed to stay in Germany because he had medical certificates which proved his mental instability. The attacker had tried to commit suicide twice, according to De Maiziere, and received temporary treatment in a psychiatric hospital. The explosion was the fourth violent attack within the past week, and happened just hours after a 21-year-old Syrian refugee killed a pregnant Polish woman and injured two people with a machete in Reutlingen, another city in the southern German state of Bavaria. "I understand that many people are worried," De Maizere said, "I can assure you that our rule of law is strong and remains strong." He added that Germany had increased the presence of federal police at airports and train stations, and the security authorities would do everything to prevent such violence from happening again. Constant attacks have shocked Germany. Earlier last week, a 17-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker attacked passengers with an axe on a train near Wuerzburg, wounding five people before being shot dead by police. As well, a gun attack in Munich on Friday led to the deaths of nine victims. German police union chief Rainer Wendt on Monday morning urged for the control of refugees coming to Germany, saying it should be tightened in order to limit potential security risks. "Neither the identities of all people that have come to us, nor their mental and physical condition are clarified," he criticized. Over one million refugees entered Germany last year under Germany's open-door refugee policy. "It is more important that we not only accommodate and feed the people, but also determine who is coming to our country and see exactly whether they pose potential risks," Wendt said. However, De Maizere warned against suspicion against the overall group of refugees. "The vast majority come to Germany live here in peace," he told reporters in Berlin, adding that no decision on changing current laws would be made before results of the ongoing investigation come out. RIGA, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Latvijas Pasta Banka is the latest commercial bank in Latvia to be penalized for failing to comply with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing legislation, the national banking regulator informed Monday. The regulator, the Financial and Capital Market Commission, slapped a fine of 305,000 euros (335,271 U.S. dollars) on the bank, taking into account the bank's financial performance and the management's admittance of flaws in the bank's internal control system and promises to deal with them. As part of the probe into the bank's compliance with anti-money laundering requirements, the regulator also scrutinized several clients who, according to a report drawn up by the U.S. investigative consultancy Kroll for the National Bank of Moldova (the Kroll Report), had carried out transactions with the aim to gain control over several banks mentioned in the report. The deals reportedly took place in 2012 and 2013. Under an administrative agreement reached between the regulator and the bank, Latvijas Pasta Banka has committed to dealing with the flaws in its internal control system and to ensure compliance with the law, as well as to consider dismissing the manager responsible. The regulator has promised to follow the bank's progress on meeting these obligations. Latvijas Pasta Banka is among Latvia's smallest banks. In September 2015, it ranked 19th among Latvia's 24 banks by assets. Enditem VIENTIANE, July 25, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a press conference after the meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister and the counterparts from 10 ASEAN members in Vientiane, Laos, July 25, 2016. (Xinhua/Liu Ailun) VIENTIANE, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday urged an end to the political manipulation and sensationalization of the South China Sea issue. Wang made the call at a press briefing following his meeting with the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries in the Lao capital. Wang said the so-called award rendered recently by an ad hoc tribunal handling the South China Sea arbitration is tantamount to filling a wrong prescription for the South China Sea disputes. The South China Sea arbitration was unilaterally initiated by the former Philippine government. The ad hoc tribunal issued an award on July 12, sweepingly siding with Manila's cunningly packaged claims. China has dismissed the biased ruling as "null and void with no binding force." The Chinese top diplomat said the wrong prescription has led to increasingly hot ballyhoo over the arbitration and some countries outside the region have become extremely excited, as if running an unabated high fever. The normal regional order and the overall interests of the regional countries have been undermined, he added. According to Wang, all foreign ministers agreed at the meeting that the South China Sea disputes are not an issue between China and ASEAN and the disputes should not be allowed to affect the overall situation of the cooperation between the two sides. He pointed out that ASEAN, as a whole, did not make comments or take sides on the arbitration, and it expressed support for China and the Philippines to resolve the issue through dialogue and consultation. The Chinese top diplomat said China-ASEAN joint statement calling for full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) has won support from all ASEAN countries. According to Wang, the joint statement embodies a "dual-track" approach, which stipulates that historical disputes should be handled peacefully and properly through direct talks between the parties involved, and China and the ASEAN members should join hands to safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea. Such an approach, first initiated by Brunei and supported by China. is the correct way to settle the disputes, Wang said. ACCRA, July 27, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on July 13, 2016 shows Chinese ICU doctor Zeng Rong carrying a Ghanaian child patient for a Type-B ultrasonic test at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi, Ghana. Cardio experts from the Guangdong Academy of Medical Science's Cardio Institute have wrapped up their second medical mission to Ghana to offer treatment to patients with severe conditions. The team, with support from local counterparts, performed successful surgeries on four patients and implanted pacemakers on five others at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi. (Xinhua/Lin Xiaowei) by Alex Osei-Boateng ACCRA, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Cardio experts from the Guangdong Academy of Medical Science's Cardio Institute have wrapped up their second medical mission to Ghana to offer treatment to patients with severe conditions. The team, with support from local counterparts, performed successful surgeries on four patients and implanted pacemakers on five others at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi, Ghana's second biggest city. The 15-member team carried out successful surgeries for ten cardiac patients at KATH during its first visit to Africa in December, last year. The Chief Executive Officer of KATH, Dr. Joseph Akpaloo, thanked the Chinese team for its continued assistance to the hospital which, he said, aimed to have a longstanding relationship with the Chinese side. "So, we thank the Chinese government for allowing them to come and for helping them to do everything and we hope that the collaboration will continue from time to time," he told Xinhua in a recent interview. "You can see that there are complicated cases which they have never seen at their place because late reporting to hospital has led to complications. But thank God there hasn't been any deaths so far though before operation they thought things would be difficult," he said. The Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute is to set up a cardio risk research centre at the KATH which is the nation's second referral facility to support the treatment of heart diseases. The research will help to identify risk factors of heart or blood vessel diseases in communities and provide timely support and treatment systems, according to Dr Isaac Kofi Owusu, a consultant Cardiologist at the hospital. He said the centre would help identify the actual causes, risk factors and come out with appropriate strategies to address some of them. The Chinese team also donated medical consumables, cardio medication and equipment valued at 200,000 U.S. dollars to the Cardio Unit of KATH. The Chinese side has pledged to bring advanced technical know-how to Ghana and help train more local staff to carry out surgeries. SAN FRANCISCO, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Yahoo Inc., once a Silicon Valley legend and Web pioneer, will turn into an investment company with a different name at closing of its deal with Verizon Communications Inc. A blog posting by Marissa Mayer, chief executive officer of the U.S. tech company based in Sunnyvale, California, on Monday called it "a big day for Yahoo" as the news broke out that it had agreed to sell operating business to Verizon for 4.83 billion U.S. dollars in cash. "Today's announcement not only brings us an important step toward separating Yahoo's operating business from our Asian asset equity stakes, it also presents exciting opportunities to accelerate Yahoo's transformation," Mayer said, noting that the deal "culminates a rigorous, thorough process over many months, and yields a great outcome for the company." However, the clue for the future of Yahoo, founded in 1995 by Jerry Yang and David Filo, two computer graduate students at Stanford University on the U.S. west coast, was in a news release from Verizon, headquartered in New York City on the east coast. "The sale does not include Yahoo's cash, its shares in Alibaba Group Holdings, its shares in Yahoo Japan, Yahoo's convertible notes, certain minority investments, and Yahoo's non-core patents," said the release. "These assets will continue to be held by Yahoo, which will change its name at closing and become a registered, publicly traded investment company." Yahoo's 15 percent stake in Alibaba Group Holdings, a Chinese e-commerce company listed at the New York Stock Exchange, was estimated to worth 31 billion dollars at the end of last year, and its stake in Yahoo Japan was about 8.5 billion dollars. What's left for Verizon Inc., which includes Verizon Wireless, arguably the No. 1 U.S. wireless operator, to grab are Yahoo's search, email and messenger assets and advertising technology tools, which made Yahoo a major player in the early days of the internet. Claiming now to have a global audience of more than 1 billion monthly active users, including 225 million monthly active email users and 600 million monthly active mobile users, Yahoo has been struggling for years to turn around in face of more recent competition from other Silicon Valley companies, mainly Google in search and email services and Facebook in mobile and social media businesses. Mayer, who took over in 2012, said Monday she planned to stay at Yahoo through the deal's close, which is expected to happen in the 1st quarter of 2017. PHILADELPHIA, July 25, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Baltimore mayor and DNC secretary, gavels to open the U.S. Democratic National Convention at Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, the United States on July 25, 2016. Democratic National Convention kicked off on Monday as party leaders and Hillary Clinton scrambled to contain the fallout of damaging revelations of suspected backroom bias against Clinton's rival in nomination contests Bernie Sanders. (Xinhua/Li Muzi) PHILADELPHIA, the United States, July 25 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Democratic Party on Monday vowed to tackle economic inequality and rebuild the shrinking middle class in the party platform to appeal to working and middle class voters as a four-day Democratic National Convention kicked off in Philadelphia. "Democrats believe that today's extreme levels of income and wealth inequality are bad for our people, bad for our businesses, and bad for our economy. Our country depends on a thriving middle class to drive economic growth, but the middle class is shrinking," said the 2016 Democratic Party Platform, which was finalized by the platform committee with 187 members and formally adopted by the Democratic National Convention on Monday. "These trends create problems beyond insulting our sense of basic fairness. Social mobility is far lower than most believe it to be," the platform said, warning that "we all lose" unless the country invests in building a level playing field. In the party platform of over 50 pages that outline the party's policy principles and priorities, Democrats vowed to fight against "the greed and recklessness of Wall Street" and fix the financial system as the first part of efforts to restore economic fairness. "Banks should not be able to gamble with taxpayers' deposits or pose an undue risk to Main Street," the platform said, noting that Democrats support a variety of ways to stop this from happening, including breaking up too-big-to-fail financial institutions that pose a systemic risk to the stability of the economy. Democrats also called on the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations to pay their fair share of taxes as a way to tackle income and wealth inequality. "Democrats will claw back tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, eliminate tax breaks for big oil and gas companies, and crack down on inversions and other methods companies use to dodge their tax responsibilities," the platform said, adding that millionaires and billionaires should also pay the so-called "multimillionaire surtax" regardless of the source of their income. In terms of trade, Democrats acknowledged that the United States has signed "too many trade deals that have not lived up to the hype" over the past decades, but stopped short of opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, a legislative priority for the Obama administration this year. The platform stressed that any future trade agreements must reflect a set of Democratic party's principles, including supporting good American jobs, raising wages, improving national security, and strengthening labor and environment standards. "We believe any new trade agreements must include strong and enforceable labor and environmental standards in their core text with streamlined and effective enforcement mechanisms. Trade agreements should crack down on the unfair and illegal subsidies other countries grant their businesses at the expense of ours. It should promote innovation of and access to lifesaving medicines," the platform said. The platform also called for expanding Social Security, building the 21st century infrastructure and raising federal minimum wage to at least 15 U.S. dollars an hour from 7.25 dollars an hour to support American workers. The platform comes at a time when the middle class is no longer the majority in the United States, and most American voters are angry at the status quo with wages stagnant for years. Most Americans say the federal government doesn't do enough to help the struggling middle class, and neither the Republican party nor the Democratic party is widely seen as championing middle-class interests, according to a survey conducted by Pew Research Center in December. The four-day convention is expected to formally nominate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the Democratic party's presidential candidate and showcase party unity to fight against Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, in general election in November. But a newly disclosed trove of emails by WikiLeaks revealed that officials at the supposed-neutral Democratic National Committee (DNC) appeared to try to sabotage Clinton's rival B ernie Sanders's campaign during the primaries. It was unclear whether the resignation of DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz after convention would be enough to unite the party behind Clinton. Related: Spotlight: U.S. Democrats adopt "most progressive" party platform with clear Sanders imprint PHILADELPHIA, United States, July 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democrats on Monday formally adopted what the party called "the most progressive platform in the history of party politics," in an apparent attempt to rally Bernie Sanders' supporters behind Hillary Clinton, who is poised to clinch Democratic presidential nomination this week. Full story Spotlight: New WikiLeaks email leaks put U.S. Democrats in turmoil Photo taken on July 25, 2016, shows the U.S. Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, the United States. U.S. Democratic National Convention kicked off on Monday as party leaders and Hillary Clinton scrambled to contain the fallout of damaging revelations of suspected backroom bias against Clinton's rival in nomination contests Bernie Sanders. (Xinhua Photo) by Xinhua writer Zhu Lei PHILADELPHIA, United States, July 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democrats on Monday formally adopted what the party called "the most progressive platform in the history of party politics," in an apparent attempt to rally Bernie Sanders' supporters behind Hillary Clinton, who is poised to clinch Democratic presidential nomination this week. The platform, which amounts to an assembled policy statement but is unenforceable on the party's nominee, includes many of the agenda sought by the supporters of Sanders, Clinton's bitter challenger in a bruising primary season. But it lacks concessions they sought on healthcare and trade. The platform was ratified at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) which kicked off here on Monday. "What stands out are support for the 15 dollar an hour minimum wage, free junior college, allowing adults over 55 to participate in Medicare, expanding social security to provide more benefits to those who had to leave the work force for family or other reasons," said Robert Shapiro, professor and former chair of the Department of Political Science at Columbia University, told Xinhua. "These responded to Sanders's positions and those of his supporters," he said. But "the platform did not go as far as Sanders would have wanted on regulation of Wall Street and taking a harder line against Israel, and also universal health care." Having created a campaign that galvanized millions of voters, Sanders has been given a prominent say in writing the party platform in a move party leaders hoped would soothe the bitter split in the Democratic Party. The most notable imprint of Sanders, the senator of Vermont, on the platform is the inclusion of his signature call for raising the minimum federal wage to 15 U.S. dollars an hour from the current 7.25 dollars per hour. Clinton, former secretary of state and former first lady, has favored the minimum 12 dollars an hour. Education also bore a clear mark of Sanders, who called himself "a Democratic Socialist," as the platform sided with his proposal of making free public college tuition for those with incomes up to 125,000 dollars a year. Sanders has called the education proposal "a very bold initiative" and a significant step for party unity, though it fell short of his call for free college tuition for all, a core position igniting his young voters base. Nevertheless, Sanders has lost a battle on his top priority: opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed trade deal involving the United States and 11 other nations. The platform vaguely suggests, "we will oppose trade agreements that do not support good American jobs, raise wages, and improve our national security." Clinton openly pushed for the deal during her tenure as secretary of state of the Barack Obama administration, but backtracked during the primary season. Sanders said he's against it primarily because it will allow corporations to move jobs overseas. Sanders, who won primary and caucus elections in 23 contests garnering nearly 1,900 delegates, has endorsed Clinton, though he has vowed to take his campaign to the national convention. To clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, a candidate has to win 2,383 combined pledged delegates and superdelegates. With Sanders' persistent momentum on the campaign trail and his appeal among the progressives and young voters, the deep discord has overshadowed Clinton's run to the White House. Democrats gathering for the national convention aim to seek party unity to nominate Clinton as their standard-bearer in a general election to fight Donald Trump, who has won the Republican presidential nomination last week in Cleveland, the state of Ohio. But the recent disclosure of emails showing the DNC officials working to undermine Sanders' campaign threatened to ruin the "United Together" theme of the opening night. Sanders, as well as First Lady Michele Obama, is set to deliver a speech on Monday night. In a letter to his supporters on Monday before his night speech at the convention, Sanders acknowledged efforts of his 13 million supporters to carry on the "political revolution" that has helped change the party platform and Clinton's campaign. He also tried to rally his supporters to "defeat Trump, the worst presidential candidate in the modern history of our country." It, however, seemed hard for Sanders to sway his staunch supporters. Outside the convention center, thousands of his supporters were marching down Philadephia's Broad Street in scorching heat, chanting "Hell, NO, DNC. We won't vote for Hillary." LIMA, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of Chinese books are being promoted at an ongoing book fair in Lime, the Peruvian capital, covering a broad range of topics including culture, history, martial arts, and philosophy. The Lima International Book Fair 2016, which is organized by the Peruvian Chamber of Books, also features presentations by several Chinese writers. The book fair opened on July 15 and will end on July 31. Local readers and book lovers would have a chance to discuss crime novels with China's leading thriller writer He Jiahong, who is promoting his book "Crime of Blood," or to have a conversation with award-winning author Chi Zijian, who brings his book "The Right Bank of Erguna River" to the two-week event, said Eduardo Tay, the fair's head of cultural affairs. "The Governance of China" is also on prominent display, added Tay. As China becomes an increasingly important global player, the general public in Peru has a growing desire to get to know the country and learn the Chinese language, he told Xinhua. WELLINGTON, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A surge in exports to China helped New Zealand maintain an overall trade surplus last month, the government statistics agency said Tuesday. China led the way in New Zealand's rising exports, with goods to China increasing by 18 percent, or 125 million NZ dollars (87.47 million U.S. dollars), from June last year. The increase in exports was led by rises in logs, wood, and wood articles, kiwifruit, dairy products and food preparations for infant use, according to Statistics New Zealand. New Zealand had a trade surplus of 127 million NZ dollars (88.96 million U.S. dollars), or 3 percent of exports, in June. That compared with a deficit of 182 million NZ dollars (127.49 million U.S. dollars) in June last year. The agency noted the value of kiwifruit exports had soared by 47 percent year on year to reach 331 million NZ dollars (231.86 million U.S. dollars), led by demand from China and Japan. The quantities of kiwifruit exported were up 32 percent. "Export values of kiwifruit for the months of May and June 2016 are the two highest on record," international statistics senior manager Jason Attewell said in a statement. "Annual kiwifruit exports for the June 2016 year also set a new record - 1.7 billion NZ dollars (1.19 billion U.S. dollars) - up 41 percent from the previous June year." WASHINGTON, July 25 (Xinhua) -- The United States offered its "deepest" condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed in a disabilities care facility, the White House said Monday. A lone male assailant went on a stabbing spree at a care facility for people with disabilities in Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture in the early hours of Tuesday local time, killing at least 19 people and injuring almost 30 others. "There is never any excuse for such violence, but the fact that this attack occurred at a facility for persons with disabilities makes it all the more repugnant and senseless," said Ned Price, spokesman for the National Security Council, in a statement. "The thoughts of the American people are with our Japanese friends as they mourn the lives lost," said Price. DHAKA, July 26 (Xinhua)-- Nine suspected militants were killed as Bangladesh law enforcers on Tuesday conducted a raid on a hideout of banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in capital Dhaka, said the country's police chief. A K M Shahidul Hoque, inspector general of Bangladesh Police, told Xinhua that Nine JMB militants were killed during the special operation of the joint forces. He said the operation "Storm 26" of the joint forces also arrested one suspected militant alive with explosives and grenades. Operatives of the banned militant outfit plotted to carry out an attack similar to that in a Spanish cafe in Dhaka's Gulshan to boast about their existence, he added. Sources said the militants fired and lobbed hand-made grenades as policemen and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) members stormed the hideout at about 5:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday. In retaliation, police also fired at them, saying they left nine suspected militants dead. According to the sources, lots of communication equipments and jihadi books were seized during the raid in an apartment in Dhaka's downtown Kalyanpur area. Since early Tuesday, law enforcers cordoned off a building on receipt of information that JMB militants were hiding there. JMB, campaigning for establishment of Islamic rule in Bangladesh, carried out a series of bombing attacks in 63 out of the country's 64 districts, including capital Dhaka on Aug. 17, 2005, leaving two people dead and 150 others injured. Hundreds of JMB leaders and activists were rounded up while six top leaders of the group, including Shaikh Abdur Rahman, were hanged in 2007. In the wake of the two major terror attacks that occurred here, including the July 1 siege staged by militants who were missing for months in advance of the attack, Bangladeshi law enforcers conducted such a big operation. Before the wounds of the July 1 deadly terror attack at a Spanish restaurant in Dhaka, that left 22 people, including 18 foreigners and two police officers dead, had even begun to heal, Bangladesh suffered a fresh blow on July 7 when terrorists attacked Muslims' Eid prayers. At least four people were killed, including two police officers and one of the attackers, after several explosions and gunfire took place at the entrance of the country's largest Sholakia Eid prayer venue in Kishoreganj district, some 117 km northeast of Dhaka, on the morning of July 7. BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- China will strengthen policy support for high-tech manufacturing during H2, a senior official has said. "The work of building the country into a global manufacturing powerhouse is moving from documents to implementation," vice minister of industry and information technology Feng Fei said on Monday afternoon. Emerging sectors, smart manufacturing and communications are expected to see specific guidelines in H2, while official five-year industrial plans on software, big data and new materials will also be rolled out, he said. Pilot projects will cover industrial Internet, manufacturing standards and aircraft engines. China plans to earmark 5.2 billion yuan (nearly 780 million U.S. dollars) from its central budget to improve manufacturing in 2016, up 50 percent from a year ago. The Chinese government in May 2015 unveiled a national plan, named "Made in China 2025", to develop more high-end products rather than churning out cheap, low quality goods. BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Yang Zhenchao, former vice governor of east China's Anhui Province, has been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC), a statement said on Tuesday. Yang "violated political discipline and resisted a Party investigation," said the statement from the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). Yang violated the Party frugality code by accepting banquet invitations and used public money to cover private expenses. He did not report his personal affairs to authorities according to rules, lied to investigators, took advantage of his position to seek benefits for others and accepted bribes in staff selection and promotions. Yang embezzled public property, sought profits for others and accepted bribes in return for business operations. He abused his power to cause "a great loss of state assets." "Yang violated the Party code of conduct in a serious manner," said the statement. The CPC Central Committee has approved his expulsion from the Party and his office. Yang's illegal gains should be confiscated and the case should be transferred to the judiciary. Yang has been under investigation since May. by Xinhua writer Zhu Junqing BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- If Seoul believes that Washington's missile shield could effectively deter the threats from the North, it is making a strategic mistake. The truth is that the United States does not care about whether South Korea is safe or not. What it truly wants is an anti-missile system that could guarantee America's military supremacy in the Asia-Pacific and beyond. After the United States deployed four THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) systems on its own soil and installed two X-Band radars in Japan, South Korea is now the missing piece. That's why Washington has relentlessly tried to get THAAD into South Korea since 2012. Once letting THAAD in, Seoul will become one of Washington's handy tools, losing its autonomy in crafting and executing an independent foreign policy. The South Koreans also have to know that THAAD would have very limited effectiveness against missiles from the North. On a technical note, THAAD is designed to shoot down missiles at a relatively high altitude of 40-150 km, while rockets of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) fly at a lower altitude of about 20 km, making them incapable of being intercepted by the U.S. system, experts say. In addition, it is reported that THAAD is to be set up at the Seongju county, some 300 km southeast of Seoul, far from the border with the North. That means the capital and its adjacent areas, the country's most populated places, fall outside the battery's protection range. Even if the system is workable, it would only be cited by the DPRK as another good reason to further its nuclear and missile programs. Should the situation further escalate, a regional arms race is well expected and South Korea could bear the brunt of a potential full-blown war. Moreover, Seoul's controversial decision will erode the strategic trust and partnership it has fostered with Beijing, as well as other countries in the region. China has firmly rejected the deployment of THAAD in South Korea. It has warned that the deployment will breach the strategic balance in East Asia, and eat away the chance to peacefully handle the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula. Now the Blue House needs to reconsider its decision. It has to know that allowing THAAD into the country will make even more problems than it could handle. It is advised that South Korea halt the deployment and work for denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. Related: Chinese FM warns of adverse impact on Korean Peninsula by THAAD deployment VIENTIANE, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in South Korea will adversely impact the situation on the Korean Peninsula, regional stability and bilateral ties. When meeting with his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se Sunday on the sidelines of an ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in the Lao capital, Wang said the deployment of the advanced U.S. missile defense system will jeopardize mutual trust between the two countries. Full story News Analysis: Opposition to THAAD deployment in S.Korea gets stronger among villagers PHILADELPHIA, United States, July 25 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic National Convention kicked off on Monday as party leaders and Hillary Clinton scrambled to contain the fallout of suspected backroom bias against Clinton's rival in nomination contests Bernie Sanders. While the four-day event was supposed to showcase party unity with Sanders finally falling in line behind presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Clinton, a newly disclosed trove of emails by WikiLeaks discredited party establishment's claim of neutrality. The event also threatened to derail Clinton's effort to unify disgruntled supporters of Sanders. According to contents from the almost 20,000 emails sent by Democratic National Committee (DNC) officials, committee staff members appeared to discuss ways to hobble Sanders' campaign and make mockery of Sanders. In one email, DNC chief financial officer Brad Marshall asked whether someone can confront an unnamed person about "his belief" in front of religious voters in the South. In another email, a DNC communications official wondered whether it was a good idea to sell a narrative of Sanders' campaign being a mess to reporters. Though the email communications provided merely proof that some officials within the DNC held grudges against Sanders, the revelation justified long-held complaint from Sanders that the DNC was biased against him in the primary season. For many supporters of Sanders, the revelation came as no surprise. "The first inkling I got (as to DNC bias against Sanders) was when they talked about limiting debates," said Asa Gregory, a Sanders supporter from North Carolina at a demonstration just outside the convention venue in Philadelphia. "I know if people heard more from Bernie, they will believe in what he said." Amid the escalating controversy surrounding the revelation, Clinton ally and DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced on Sunday that she would resign at the end of the convention. ' As the news of possible DNC bias against Sanders sank in on Monday, delegates attending the convention were indignant wherever Wasserman Schultz appeared or when her name was mentioned. According to local media reports, Wasserman Schultz, also a House lawmaker from California, faced jeers during a breakfast meeting with delegates from her home state. In a gathering of Sanders supporters on Monday, the mere mention of Clinton's name was raucously booed. Speaking here on Monday, Brian Fallon, press secretary for Clinton, told reporters that Clinton did not condone the attempted sabotage efforts revealed in the emails. "It's very distressing to learn that anybody would contemplate using somebody's religion as an issue in the campaign," Fallon said. "That's completely unacceptable and against our values as Democrats." Though Wasserman Schultz's resignation was welcomed by the Sanders team, the compromising posture from the party establishment had so far failed to abate grassroots aversion to Clinton as the former U.S. secretary of state was attempting to soothe relations with disgruntled Democratic base. "The Democratic National Committee is rigged," said Chaihiandz Diaz, another protester from New Jersey. "Bernie won the election, but they stole the votes. So it's just corruption all around." VIENTIANE, July 25, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a press conference after the meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister and the counterparts from 10 ASEAN members in Vientiane, Laos, July 25, 2016. (Xinhua/Liu Ailun) VIENTIANE, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called for an end to the political manipulation and sensationalization of the South China Sea issue. Wang also urged related parties to get back to the right track of implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), which was signed in November 2002 as a code of conduct for all parties involved in the South China Sea issue. Wang made the call at a press briefing Monday following his meeting with the foreign ministers of the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, The Philippines and Vietnam -- in the Lao capital. END TO POLITICIZATION OF SOUTH CHINA SEA ISSUE Wang said the so-called award rendered recently by an ad hoc tribunal handling the South China Sea arbitration is tantamount to filling a wrong prescription for the South China Sea disputes. The former Philippine government, headed by Benigno Aquino III, unilaterally initiated the South China Sea arbitration in 2013. The move has violated the Philippines' standing agreement with China to settle relevant disputes through bilateral negotiation, violated China's right to choose means of dispute settlement of its own will as a State Party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and abused the UNCLOS dispute settlement procedures. The ad hoc tribunal issued an award on July 12, siding with Manila's cunningly packaged claims and denying China's long-standing historic rights in the South China Sea. "The Philippines' territorial claim over part of Nansha Qundao is groundless from the perspectives of either history or international law," the Chinese government said in a white paper issued on July 13. "The arbitral tribunal established at the Philippines' unilateral request has no jurisdiction over relevant submissions, and awards rendered by it are null and void and have no binding force," said the document. Wang said the wrong prescription has led to increasingly hot ballyhoo over the arbitration and some countries outside the region have become extremely excited, as if running an unabated high fever. The normal regional order and the overall interests of the regional countries have been undermined, he added. In his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting Monday, Wang said he expected the United States to take steps to support China and the Philippines in resuming their talks over the South China Sea issue.x The United States will not take a position on an arbitral ruling of the South China Sea arbitration case, Kerry said, adding that his country supports the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines. In a separate meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, on Monday, Wang said Japan, which is not a claimant in the South China Sea disputes, should avoid interfering in and hyping up the maritime spats. China has always been maintaining the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, Wang said. RETURN TO NEGOTIATIONS According to Wang, all foreign ministers agreed at the meeting that the South China Sea disputes are not an issue between China and ASEAN and the disputes should not be allowed to affect the overall situation of the cooperation between the two sides. He pointed out that ASEAN, as a whole, did not make comments or take sides on the arbitration, and it expressed support for China and the Philippines to resolve the issue through dialogue and consultation. In a joint statement issued after the meeting between Wang and his counterparts from the ASEAN member countries, China and ASEAN reaffirmed their efforts to promote peace, stability, mutual trust and confidence in the South China Sea. According to the statement, the countries recognize that maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea region serves the fundamental interests of ASEAN member states and China as well as the international community. They are also committed to the full and effective implementation of the DOC and working substantively toward the early adoption of a Code of Conduct based on consensus. The statement said China and the 10 ASEAN members "reaffirm their respect for and commitment to the freedom of navigation in and overflight above the South China Sea as provided for by the universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea." It also commits all parties to undertaking to "resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to the threat or use of force, through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned." Related: Chinese FM warns Japan against intervention in South China Sea issue VIENTIANE, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday urged Japan not to intervene in the South China Sea issue. During talks with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida on the sidelines of an ASEAN foreign minsters' meeting in the Lao capital, Wang said Japan, which is not a claimant in the South China Sea disputes, should avoid interfering in and hyping up the maritime spats. Full Story China, ASEAN vow to promote peace, stability in South China Sea VIENTIANE, July 25 (Xinhua) -- China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) reaffirmed their efforts on Monday to "promote peace, stability, mutual trust and confidence" in the South China Sea. BERLIN, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Germany has been shaken by four attacks in a week, three of them by asylum seekers while two of them claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group. Heightened social insecurity prompts criticism again over the German government's open-door refugee policies. Calls for tougher control over refugees renewed after the Sunday explosion in Ansbach in the southern German state of Bavaria, killed the 27-year-old Syrian perpetrator himself and wounded 15 people. The blast that took place at the entrance of an outdoor music festival was claimed by the IS again, following a July 18 axe attack by a 17-year-old Afghan refugee on a train near the southern city of Wurzburg, in which five people were injured and the attacker was shot dead by police. Also on Sunday, hours before the Ansbach blast, a 21-year-old Syrian refugee killed a 45-year-old Polish woman with a machete in what the police said was a crime of passion in the southwestern city of Reutlingen. A deadly shooting spree late Friday in Munich, with no link found with terrorism, killed nine innocents. The attacker, a German-born 18-year-old son of Iranian immigrants, shot himself dead. The incidents damaged seriously the German government's efforts to de-link refugees with terrorism or social disorders after sexual assaults and robberies in Cologne during New Year celebrations raised doubts over its ability to cope with the increasing number of immigrants. In 2015, immigrants to Germany surpassed 2 million, an increase of 700,000 over the previous year, showed official data. Registered asylum seekers were estimated to exceed 1 million. Bavarian Premier Horst Seehofer has demanded a guaranteed disconnection of asylum seekers with the IS group. He is leader of the key partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition. Rainer Wendt, head of the German police union DPolG, on Monday morning urged stricter check on refugees to reduce potential security risks. "Neither the identities of all people that have come to us, nor their mental and physical condition are clarified," he criticized. "It is more important that we not only accommodate and feed the people, but also determine who is coming to our country and see exactly whether they pose potential risks," Wendt said. Burkhard Lischka, spokesperson on interior affairs for the Social Democratic parliamentary group, said after the July 18 axe attack that an estimated 3,000 personnel are needed to beef up the security force, in order to manage the risks facing Germany. The latest series of bloodshed are expected to feed the xenophobic sentiment and the arguments for regarding refugees as a source of increasing violence of terrorism in Germany. The integration of immigrants into German society is another issue that draws public attention again. The axe-wielding attacker in the July 18 assault had lived in Germany for more than a year, but he had apparently received more influence from the IS group. Many acts of terrorism in Western countries are carried out in revenge for the countries' intervention in regional hot spots. In this regard, German military involvement in international and regional affairs ahead is expected to make it more prone to terrorism. SYDNEY, July 26 (Xinhua) -- An Australian study released on Tuesday has found that the iconic Australian Koala to be more smarter than the average bear. The population of the iconic bear is on the verge of extinction in Queensland state, which has prompted authorities to build key passages across major roadways to keep wildlife, especially Koalas, safe as urban development sprawls. In a world's first study, researchers from Griffith University used new technologies to track the movements of the bears through the crossings, or tunnels, over a 30-month period after originally being skeptical the structures wouldn't actually work. The crossings were implemented across southeast Queensland as part of a state government program to stop koalas from becoming roadkill. "We expected the animals to take a while to get used to them. To our great surprise, they were using them three weeks into it," Griffith University professor of environmental ecology Darryl Jones said in a statement on Tuesday, adding the team comprehensively monitored 130 man-made koala passages. "Can you teach koalas new tricks? You can, that's the point, (and) I was the first sceptical person to say they're not that smart." The team used a range of technologies at the same time, which allowed researchers to not just generically monitor whether koalas passed through the crossing, but pinpointed individual koalas and the exact time they entered and left the tunnel. "That's a world first," Jones said. "Nobody has done that so comprehensively before." NAIROBI, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A half brother of U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday that he will vote for Republican nominee Donald Trump in the presidential election this November. Trump is "down-to-earth" and "cool," but Barack Obama has neglected his family since taking office in 2009, Malik Obama told reporters by phone from the western Kenyan village of Kogelo, President Obama's ancestral home. Malik Obama, born in Hawaii, has dual citizenship. He said he has voted in U.S. elections since the 1980s. "This Trump guy is a really cool guy. He appeals to me and also I think that he is down-to-earth and he speaks from the heart and he is not trying to be politically correct. He's just straightforward. It is not like someone is prompting him," said Malik. He also praised Trump's emphasis on national security, saying: "Trump is so much concerned about security and he wants to make America great." He said Trump's stance against Muslims coming to the United States was understandable. "I'm a Muslim, of course, but you can't have people going around just shooting people and killing people just in the name of Islam," he said. Malik, having visited the president in the Oval office and was also best man at Barack Obama's wedding, accused his sibling for not having done more for his Kenyan families and the African country. Last year President Obama paid his first visit to Kenya, but did not visit his extended family in Kogelo. "This is the time we need him most, not when he is out of the White House," said Malik. "I still love my brother, but it still baffles me that when he came to Kenya he told us that he can't associate too much with family back home just because he is the president of the United States. It does not make any sense at all," he said. HANOI, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's farm export revenue is expected to hit 17.8 billion U.S. dollars in the first seven months of 2016, up 5.1 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on Tuesday. During seven-month period, the country is forecast to sell 2.93 million tons of rice to world market, earning 1.32 billion U.S. dollars, down 18.4 percent in volume and 14.4 percent in value year-on-year, said the ministry in its monthly statistics report. China continued to top Vietnam's rice exporting markets, accounting for over 35 percent of the market share, followed by Indonesia with 11.6 percent. Markets witnessing high growth of rice exports include Ghana (up 41 percent year-on-year) and Ivory Coast (31.3 percent). Besides, downward trend has been seen in several markets including the Philippines (down 54.3 percent year-on-year), Malaysia (59.2 percent) and Singapore (34.6 percent). Meanwhile, the country is estimated to earn 988 million U.S. dollars from exporting 122,000 tons of pepper, up over 9 percent in value and 26 percent in volume. Average Vietnam's pepper export price went down some 13 percent compared to the same period last year. The same happens to average coffee export price, with a drop of 15.6 percent year-on-year. However, the item sees an increase of 38 percent in export volume and 18 percent in export value. During the seven-month period, the country pockets 1.98 billion U.S. dollars from exports of 1.13 million tons of coffee. Concerning rubber exports, Vietnam is likely to export 564,000 tons of rubber worth 705 million U.S. dollars, up 8.8 percent in volume but down 7 percent in value year-on-year. Similarly, in January-July period, Vietnam exports 69,000 tons of tea worth 110 million U.S. dollars, up 8.8 percent in volume and down 2.1 percent in value year-on-year. Meanwhile, cashew nut witnesses growth in both export revenue and volume. The country is projected to ship 189,000 tons of cashew nuts to earn 1.46 billion U.S. dollars, up 2.5 percent in volume and 9 percent in value year-on-year. In the first seven months, Vietnam earns 3.65 billion U.S. dollars from seafood exports, up 3.3 percent year-on-year. The United States, China and Japan are major consumers of Vietnamese seafood, wood and wood products in Vietnam, said MARD. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang (Xinhuanet file photo) BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Nepal will not change, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday, following a resignation announcement by Nepalese Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli. Oli announced his resignation on Sunday at the House session before parliament was to vote on a no-confidence motion. "As Nepal's neighbor and friend, we sincerely hope that all parties can keep Nepal's national interests in mind and stay committed to the country's stability and development," spokesperson Lu Kang said at a press release in response to the changing situation in the Himalayan country. China and Nepal share weal and woe, he said, adding that no matter how the international and domestic situations change, the friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries will not change. by Muhammad Tahir ISLAMABAD, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Senior officials and military officers of Pakistan and Afghanistan are scheduled to meet in Kabul on Tuesday under the high level consultation mechanism for coordination on border management and related security issues, the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad said. Forces of the two countries had been involved in the exchange of heavy fire at Torkham, one of the official and busiest border crossings, that resulted in casualties on both sides. Such border skirmishes have raised serious concerns about their negative impact on the security situation in both countries, which are still facing the challenges of violent extremism. The problem started in June following Pakistan's decision to introduce a new mechanism that made it obligatory for all Afghan nationals to carry passports and visas as a prerequisite for entering Pakistan. Earlier thousands of Afghans would cross the border daily into Pakistan without legal travel documents, which was a matter of concern for Pakistan, as militants would take advantage of the unchecked cross-border movement. Pakistani Taliban militants involved in major attacks, including the 2014 terrorist attack on the army-run school in Peshawar, had entered Pakistan via the Torkham border point, according to Pakistani military spokesman, Lt Gen Asim Bajwa. Islamabad had no option, therefore, but to put in place a border management mechanism to stop the illegal movement of the militants. It has subsequently been observed by both military officials and analysts that terrorist attacks in Pakistan have decreased after the introduction of the new border management system. As Pakistani forces are now in the final phase of a major military operation against the Taliban groups in the North Waziristan tribal region, security officials consider a strict border monitoring system as being essential to avoid any harm to the achievements against the armed group. The country's Army Chief, General Raheel Sharif, has declared 2016 as the end of the military offensives, stating that Pakistan will not compromise on the security of its border along with Afghanistan. Most of the nearly 2,600 kilometer Pak-Afghan border is porous and both countries are required to cooperate on its security. For its part, Afghanistan had also long-been complaining of the arrival of militants from Pakistan's territory. As both sides have the same problem, they will have to agree on some sort of effective system to stop the movement of the militants, analysts have suggested. The emergence of the Islamic State, or Daesh group in Afghanistan poses another major challenge for both countries and the region. Led by a former top Pakistani Taliban leader, Hafiz Saeed Khan, the group is trying to destabilize the region with their activities. Daesh initially established its bases in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar that borders with Pakistan. The group has now reached Kabul and killed nearly 80 people on Saturday in the first and deadliest attack since 2001. Pakistan also plans to gradually introduce the border management system along the other crossings including Chaman in southwestern Balochistan. The first meeting of the Pakistani and Afghan officials in Kabul on Tuesday is important to listen to each side's suggestions on how to strengthen monitoring of the border. Afghanistan has some reservations about Pakistan's moves as it insists Pakistan has made some unilateral decisions. Afghan officials could push for its stance on the matter and both could reach an understanding on the sensitive issue, however, experts have proffered. Credit goes to the leadership of both countries to agree on a negotiated settlement with the formation of the high level bilateral mechanism for consultation and coordination on issues including security, cross-border movement of people and vehicles between the two countries. Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz and Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani had provisionally agreed on the formation of the bilateral mechanism in their meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tashkent late last month. BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The performance sheets of Chinese companies reveal an encouraging landscape on reform efforts despite slowdown in the country's economy, Tuesday's Economic Information Daily reported. As of Monday, 1,796 listed companies have released their preliminary half-year results, with 63 percent of them reporting net profit growth, while 449 seeing profits go up by at least 50 percent, according to data given by financial service provider Wind. Performances were split. Emerging industries such as new energy vehicles, film and media reported robust growth, while traditional sectors such as mining saw business falter. According to Wind, 54 of 64 companies in the film and media sector reported profit growth in the first half year, thanks to investment, mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Buoyed by sales growth in new energy vehicles and demand for lithium batteries, Tianqi Lithium forecast net profits would increase 17-fold while Beijing Easpring Material Technology Co., Ltd. expects a 37-fold increase. In contrast, the picture for traditional industries is bleak. Two thirds of companies in the mining sector reported losses. The ongoing reform has helped out iron and steel companies and real estate ventures with reduced supply glut. Wind data showed 63.2 percent of iron and steel companies and 52 percent of real estate firms reporting profit gains. MOGADISHU, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A car laden with explosive devices rammed into the gate of Africa Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) military base in Halane near Mogadishu airport on Tuesday. AU spokesman confirmed the attack to Xinhua by phone but gave no details on casualties. VIENTIANE, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Russian foreign ministers have agreed here to be vigilant to outside forces that stoke regional tension through various excuses and internationalize bilateral disputes. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov made the remarks during their meeting late Monday on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers'meeting held in the Lao capital Vientiane. Wang said that recent successful visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to China and the three joint statements signed by the two leaders enriched China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, expanded the influence of their bilateral ties and was of historical significance to promote the sound and steady development of international situation. Wang said China is willing to fully implement the important consensus reached by the two leaders and well prepared for bilateral high-level contacts in the second half of this year. For his part, Lavrov fully agreed with Wang on the fruitful results made at the two leaders' meeting, saying that the joint statements and other documents signed during President Putin's visit showcased the common position shared by the two countries on developing bilateral relations and on major international issues. The two foreign ministers also exchanged views on such issues as the upcoming G20 Summit to be held in the Chinese city of Hang Zhou, APEC meeting, the Korean Peninsula and the South China Sea. Wang said China hoped that Russia could play a more active and constructive role in East Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. During Wang's meeting with Pakistan's top foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz on Monday, he said that China-Pakistan ties have shown a strong momentum of development which has contributed to regional peace and stability. Wang thanked Aziz for the Pakistani aid of 10,000 tons of rice to residents of flood-hit areas in South China, saying that it embodied the brotherhood between the two countries. Wang said China is willing to work with the Pakistani side to steadily promote constructions of the Belt and Road initiative and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and expand cooperation in other sectors. Aziz said Pakistan appreciated China's support and help, and will continue to support China on defending its core interests as well as further enhance bilateral cooperation on anti-terrorism and cultural exchanges. SYDNEY, July 26 (Xinhua) -- An Australian man playing Pokemon Go has saved a Queensland woman from a failed carjacking attempt at a Pokestop. Queensland state police on Tuesday said that 48-year-old woman was sitting in her car when a Caucasian lady in her late 20s appeared out of nowhere and forcibly removed from her vehicle, something reminiscent of a violent video game. The frustrated lady carjacker then became aggressive and started hitting the owner of the vehicle with a blunt object causing her to suffer from multiple stitches on her face when she could not start the car, Queensland police said. The assaulted women who survived the attack later said on social media that she was fortunate to have been at a "Pokestop" when she was attacked by the carjacker. "Thankfully I am on a Pokestop and a man coming to catch Pokemon saved me and called (the) police etc." It was reported that the woman was sent to a local hospital for treatment. Pokemon Go has proved hugely popular down under with countless reports alluding to "zombie-like" players roaming the streets to catch the digital critters. The ruckus has caused local authorities to issue warnings of where play after many local residents in key PokeStops complained about increased foot traffic and noise at all hours of the night. Court authorities have also issued warnings to players not to enter court precincts as the possession and use of a recording device, aka phone, is illegal. NEW DELHI, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Indian security forces Tuesday claimed to have eliminated four suspected Pakistani terrorists and caught one alive during a gunbattle in Indian-controlled Kashmir. "The operation took place near the Line of Control in Indian-controlled Kashmir's Kupwara district. The security forces surrounded the Naugam sector after a tip-off of terrorists hiding there and in the ensuing encounter, four intruders were gunned down and one caught alive," a senior official said. All the four terrorists had snaked into this country from across the border, the official said, on condition of anonymity. "A search operation is underway in the area to look for more terrorists who could have been there," he added. The Indian government has hailed the nabbing of the suspected Pakistani terrorist. "It's a big achievement to catch a terrorist alive. The truth of Pakistan will come to the fore," said junior Home Minister Kiren Rijiju. India claims that terrorists from Pakistan often sneak into its territory to carry out attacks in the disputed region of Kashmir over which the two countries have fought at least three major wars in the past 65 years. HANOI, July 26 (Xinhua) -- As many as 24.6 percent of Vietnamese children under five years old suffered stunted growth due to malnutrition in 2015, according to statistics by Vietnam's National Institute of Nutrition on Tuesday. The figure posted a slight decrease of 0.3 percent compared to the previous year. Vietnam's Central Highlands area saw the highest rate of stunted growth due to malnutrition with 34.2 percent. The rate in midland and northern mountainous area of Vietnam was 30.2 percent in 2015, Vietnam's state-run news agency quoted the institute as saying. Meanwhile, the number of underweight children of under five years old decreased from 14.5 percent in 2014 to 14.1 percent in 2015. The statistics of stunting and malnutrition situation in 63 provinces and cities across Vietnam are released annually in Vietnam based on anthropometric indicators of World Health Organization in 2006. Among measures to improve nutrition situation for children in Vietnam, in early July, Vietnamese government approved a program to provide milk for all children at kindergarten and primary schools at poor areas across Vietnam by 2020. ABU DHABI, July 26, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Solar Impulse 2 (SI2) arrives at Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on July 26, 2016. The fully-solar energy powered plane arrived in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and completed its global tour. The plane took off for its round-the-world journey in March 2015 from Abu Dhabi, to raise awareness on the viability of renewable energy. (Xinhua/Li Zhen) ABU DHABI, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Fully-solar energy powered plane Solar Impulse 2 (SI2), developed and flown by Swiss psychiatrist and adventurer Bertrand Piccard, landed here safely Tuesday morning, completing the aircraft's world tour that started on March 9, 2015. The last and 17th leg of the 22-meter-long plane from Cairo to Abu Dhabi took around 48 hours. The aircraft arrived at Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), at 4:05 a.m. local time (0005 GMT). "The first thing I will do is after I land, I will thank the team," Piccard told CNN in midair when he overflew Saudi Arabian airspace. Upon arrival at 36 degrees Celcius in the dark, the 58-year-old Piccard was greeted by his Swiss co-founder and pilot partner Andre Borschberg, UAE Minister of State Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Swiss Vice President Doris Leuthard and Prince Albert II of Monaco. Hundreds of media representatives, officials and corporate executives from UAE, Switzerland and Monaco joined the arrival. "Andre Borschberg and myself waited for this moment for 15 years," Piccard said in his first address after landing. "We flew 40,000 kilometers without fuel. It is now up to everyone to change the world by using renewable energy. The future is clean," he added. During its 16-month-long world tour, SI2 made stops in Oman, India, Myanmar, China, Japan, the United States, Europe and Africa. The two Swiss adventurers took turns piloting the plane from trip to trip as SI2 has only one pilot seat. VANCOUVER, July 26, 2016 (Xinhua) -- A Boeing 787-8 aircraft of Xiamen Airlines lands at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, Canada, on July 25, 2016. Xiamen Airlines has begun direct flights linking Xiamen in east China's Fujian Province to Vancouver, Canada. (Xinhua/Liang Sen) VANCOUVER, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Vancouver International Airport (YVR) celebrated the inaugural flight of China's Xiamen Airlines to North America here on Monday evening. The new year-round, non-stop, Boeing 787 service will operate three times weekly between Vancouver and Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport (XMN). "We're delighted to welcome Xiamen Airlines as our fifth airline from mainland China," said Craig Richmond, president and CEO of the Vancouver Airport Authority. "It's no surprise that this very successful airline chose YVR as its first North American destination -- our city has close ties with Fujian Province, while our northwest location and world-class facility make YVR the best gateway to North America for any Asian airline." The new Chinese service originates from Xiamen Airlines' namesake city, which has a population of more than 3.8 million people. Located in southeastern China, Xiamen boasts a warm climate, tropical scenery and tree-lined beaches. It has long been a popular stop for Chinese tourists, but the city is now welcoming more and more foreign travelers. Next to serving Canadians and Americans whose destination is Xiamen, the new route will be bolstered by a 72-hour visa-free stopover program. Xiamen Airlines has been operating for 32 years and for the past three years, it has received the highest honor for service and won the China Quality Award in 2016. The new route to Vancouver was added as part of a rapid intercontinental expansion, and is operated on a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 4 First class, 18 Business class and 215 Economy class seats. Flight MF806 will depart Vancouver at 1:40 a.m. local time (0840 GMT) and arrive in Xiamen at 5:30 a.m. local time the following day (2130 GMT on the previous day). The westbound flight, MF805, departs Xiamen at 9:30 p.m. local time (1330 GMT) before crossing the International Date Line to arrive in Vancouver at 6:40 p.m. local time (0140 GMT on the following day). The new service will add 158 jobs to the British Columbia economy and 9 million CAD (6.84 million U.S. dollars) in gross domestic product for the province. In addition to strengthening business and trade ties, Canada is expecting to see more Chinese tourists taking advantage of the new, non-stop service. JALALABAD, Afghanistan, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Up to 122 militants loyal to the Islamic State (IS) group have been killed in the eastern Nangarhar province over the past 24 hours, spokesman for provincial governor Attaullah Khogiani said Tuesday. "The government forces during ground and air operations against IS rebels in Achin district have killed 122 fighters and arrested 20 others over the past 24 hours," Khogiani told Xinhua. There were no casualties on civilians during the operations, the official asserted. The operation is still going on, the official added. IS militants who have been operating in parts of Achin and the neighboring Kot districts over the past one year are yet to make comment. Earlier local officials reported killing a key IS commander Saad Emarati in Kot district on Monday night. SHIJIAZHUANG, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Standing in front of the gate of Kailuan Hospital, Wang Shubin, 64, can't help but recall memories of the devastating earthquake 40 years ago. For the past four decades, Wang has suffered insomnia and nightmares whenever July 28 approaches. "In spite of myself, I start to recall the painful past," Wang told Xinhua. "Most of the time, I just go to a quiet place and howl." Wang will never forget how the outpatient building of the hospital collapsed suddenly as he was lying on a bed in the ward. He was receiving an intravenous infusion at the time, with his wife at his side. In the early hours of July 28, 1976, one of the deadliest earthquakes of the 20th century toppled Tangshan, an industrial city in north China's Hebei Province, killing more than 240,000 people and injuring another 160,000. On the night of July 27, 1976, Wang, a miner at China's Kailuan Coal Mine in Tangshan, was sent to the hospital by his wife for acute diarrhea. Wang's bed and a piece of fallen concrete formed a narrow space for him to survive. "My first thought was to find my wife," he said. He called her name loudly,"Jinfeng? Jinfeng? How about you?" His wife answered that she could not move as she had been hit by concrete. "I started to remove the debris around me and tried my best to crawl to her," Wang said. A concrete beam blocked his way. He could only reach one of her fingers through a narrow gap under the beam. "With a weak voice, she demanded I promise to live on for our two-year-old daughter, until I could not hear her anymore," Wang said. "I felt so weak and helpless at the time. She was just beside me, but I could not reach her and save her. I didn't understand why such a lively person was gone forever. For the past 40 years, it seems like I have just been living a dream," Wang said, sobbing. Not knowing how long it had been, Wang said he heard a loudspeaker announcement after he was buried in the dark debris. It said the People's Liberation Army was rushing to Tangshan for rescue duties and encouraged the people of the city to be strong. "I thought the Liberation Army would definitely come to save me," he said. "I had a daughter waiting for me. I could not wait to die here." Wang found a bottle of glucose and a pillow in the rubble. Relying on the glucose and the grain that stuffed the pillow, Wang lived for eight days in the debris until he was dug out in the evening of Aug. 4, 1976. "I saw the red star on the rescuers' hats. They were the Liberation Army. I could not help myself and shouted with my last bit of strength, 'Long live the Liberation Army,' and 'Long live the Communist Party of China,' and 'Long live Chairman Mao,'" Wang said. Like other quake survivors, Wang lived on despite his inner pain. He married again in 1984 and his second daughter was born the next year. His elder daughter entered a military college after graduating from high school due to her gratitude for the Liberation Army. She is a military officer now, Wang said with pride. "We are living a happy life," Wang said. "My wife and I have a monthly pension of more than 6,000 yuan (898 U.S. dollars). My daughters treat us well and I always feel satisfied." Still, every July 28, Wang visits the earthquake museum and the quake memorial wall. Then he comes to the spot in front of the hospital, where he sits on the grass and pours his heart out to his long-lost wife. "One day, when I was sitting and talking to myself here, two butterflies flew toward me. I felt thrilled and thought Jinfeng must hear me. I couldn't help but burst into tears again," he said. The failed military coup on July 15, left the Turkish army humiliated when it is facing the Kurdish unrest and the fight against the Islamic State group (IS). (Xinhua/AFP Photo) ANKARA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Monday that the process to make the new constitution has started, local media Daily Sabah reported. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have reached a consensus on the making of a new constitution, Yildirim said at the press conference after the cabinet meeting. "We have agreed to make minor changes in the current constitution, and the process to make a whole new constitution has started," the prime minister added. "We will work together to prepare the infrastructure for this (system)," Yildirim said. On bigger changes to come, he said "We have decided to continue the unfinished process to make a new constitution." Yildirim noted the gendarmerie and coast guard, which were previously under the command of the Turkish armed forces, would be fully tied to the interior ministry. He also announced that the Bosphorus Bridge, connecting the European and Asian sides of Istanbul, would be renamed as "The July 15 Martyrs' Bridge" in honor of civilians who died resisting the July 15 coup attempt. Two monuments to the civilians killed during the failed coup will also be built in Ankara and Istanbul. Separately, in an interview with German broadcaster ARD, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish people want the death penalty reintroduced, and the government must listen to what the people say. Erdogan said Turkey would keep its promises in a migrant deal with the European Union (EU), but arguing that the EU had failed to provide Turkey with sufficient aid. Meanwhile, Turkey's parliament decided to establish a commission to investigate the coup attempt, Anadolu Agency reported on Monday. The commission would be authorized to question suspects in jail or outside like prosecutors, even during the ongoing judicial process, but would have no right to impose punishment. The failed coup attempt on July 15 left at least 290 people, including more than 100 "coup plotters," killed, authorities said. PHILADELPHIA, July 26, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Senator Bernie Sanders delivers a speech on the first day of the 2016 U.S. Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the United States , on July 25, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Muzi) by Matthew Rusling WASHINGTON, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Supporters of former Democratic nomination contender Bernie Sanders are outraged at party corruption, which begs the question of whether they will support Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. In recent days, e-mails have been leaked to show that the Democratic National Convention (DNC) tried to squeeze out Sanders and rig the race in favor of Clinton. The scandal has forced chair of the DNC Debbie Wasserman Schultz to announce her resignation effective once the convention ends. As the DNC kicked off Monday, a number of Sanders supporters held angry protests over allegations that the primary race against Clinton was rigged against Sanders. Dan Mahaffee, an analyst with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua that with Schultz stepping down, Sanders' supporters will lose the target of much of their frustration. There has been much speculation in the U.S. media over whether Sanders' supporters will back Republican nominee Donald Trump against Clinton, but Mahaffee doubts that will be the case because Sanders and Trump have vastly different political visions. However, there may be a few single voters who, trying to disrupt the political establishment, will switch from Sanders to Trump, he added. "Most of the others who are drawn to Sanders because of his progressive politics will focus on circling the wagons around Clinton for defeating Trump," Mahaffee said. If there are people who cannot support Clinton, their progressive viewpoints may have them sitting on their hands and not voting at all or voting for the Green Party candidate Jill Stein, he said. Sanders' supporters are mainly those who are tired of establishment politics and feel that Clinton and other establishment Democrats are too close to corporate America and Wall Street interests. They want to make sure that even if Sanders isn't the nominee, Clinton's platform moves further to the left on issues of banking regulation, trade, non-interventionist foreign policy, and reforms to criminal justice and drug laws. "Ironically, in many ways, they want her to repudiate much of the center-left platform that (former U.S. President) Bill Clinton championed in the 1990s," Mahaffee said. Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua that it is hard to see Sanders' supporters voting for Trump, given his controversial attitudes toward women and minorities as Trump has compared Mexicans to rapists and called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.x Instead, the greater risk to Clinton is those voters who will not vote or will cast a ballot for Stein, if that happens in large numbers. Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, told Xinhua that while Sanders' supporters are protesting, they are more likely simply to stay home on Election Day instead of casting their ballots for Trump. Related: Spotlight: U.S. Democrats adopt "most progressive" party platform with clear Sanders imprint by Xinhua writer Zhu Lei PHILADELPHIA, United States, July 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democrats on Monday formally adopted what the party called "the most progressive platform in the history of party politics," in an apparent attempt to rally Bernie Sanders' supporters behind Hillary Clinton, who is poised to clinch Democratic presidential nomination this week. By Yoo Seungki SEOUL, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Decision between Seoul and Washington to deploy Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) to South Korean soil caused an outcry from college students as they held a rally in central Seoul to block the war risks-escalating U.S. weapons system from being installed in their homeland. About 20 students from six South Korean prestigious universities, including Korea University, Kyung Hee University, Sungkyunkwan University, Yonsei University, Chung-Ang University and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, gathered in Gwanghwamun in central Seoul on Tuesday. The student group, named Nationwide Students' March, held a press conference, saying the United States and South Korea are heightening tensions in the Northeast Asian region, which have already been escalated with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear and missile tests, with the THAAD deployment decision. Lee Jowoon, 24, one of the students joining the rally, told Xinhua that the U.S. missile defense system will raise war risks in his country as the deployment would trigger arms race in the region. "Basically, I oppose any introduction of (U.S.) weapons system (to my home country). the deployment of THAAD will encourage North Korea (DPRK) to produce more nuclear weapons. In the end, it will raise war risks," said Lee. Seoul and Washington surprisingly announced the agreement earlier this month to install one THAAD battery in Seongju, a county some 250 km southeast of the capital city, by the end of next year. It brought on strong oppositions from across the nation, especially enraging villagers living in the site and its adjacent areas. The THAAD battery, consisting of six mobile launchers, 48 interceptors, X-band radar and fire and control unit, exceeds South Korea's actual needs of defense against the DPRK's nuclear and missile threats as the AN/TPY-2 radar can range Chinese and Russian territories. China has expressed strong dissatisfaction with and resolute opposition to the THAAD deployment in South Korean territory as it damaged China's security interests and broke a strategic balance in the region, while Russia indicated a military response by deploying a missile unit in the Far Eastern region. Seoul has claimed that it would adopt the terminal mode radar with a detectable range of 600-800 km, but it can be converted at any time into a forward-based mode that can spot missiles at least 2,000 km. The two modes can be changed into each other as they use the same hardware, and it takes about eight hours to convert. The enhanced THAAD radar allegedly doesn't even need any conversion. The THAAD battery to be installed in South Korea will be operated by U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), which means Seoul military has no right to intervene in the operation. Washington will try to share military intelligence from the THAAD radar with the U.S. Pacific command to supervise China and Russia as well as the DPRK. The THAAD deployment means South Korea joining the U.S. missile defense program, becoming a handy tool of the U.S. military operation. The U.S. anti-missile program is a core part of its Pivot-to-Asia strategy to increase military presence in the Asia-Pacific and beyond. "Though (South Korea's) defense ministry denied its entrance into the U.S. missile defense system, the THAAD deployment actually means becoming a part of it. The THAAD system can be shared by the U.S. military at any time," said the student. Washington doesn't even care about the safety of South Korean people. The THAAD battery would be sited at the southeastern county, which means the exclusion of capital Seoul and its adjacent areas from a protection coverage as THAAD interceptors have a maximum range of less than 200 km. The THAAD battery is incapable of intercepting DPRK missiles. THAAD is designed to shoot down missiles at an altitude of 40-150 km, while DPRK's rockets fly at a lower altitude of 20-30 km. The student activist told Xinhua that relevant parties should turn to dialogue to ease tensions and reduce war risks in the region. "If denuclearization (on the Korean peninsula) is a ultimate goal, (his country) should select dialogue rather than THAAD deployment, which will make dialogue much harder. Blocking the THAAD deployment can be a first step toward dialogue," said Lee. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir (L) welcomes Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas (R) upon his arrival at Khartoum's airport on July 19, 2016. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) KHARTOUM, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A major opposition alliance in Sudan on Monday declared its agreement on an African Union (AU)-proposed roadmap to end war in the country. The opposition Sudan Call, an alliance bringing together Sudanese armed groups and opposition parties, said it would sign the roadmap, proposed last March by the AU. "We will sign the road-map during a meeting between the leaders of the parties and the AU mediator Thabo Mbeki, to be convened soon in Addis Ababa or Johannesburg," Omer Al-Digair, head of the Sudanese Congress Party, a major party in the opposition alliance, said at a press conference in Khartoum, without giving a specific date for the meeting. "The matter depends on the mediator's acceptance of our demands, including the call for a preparatory meeting in Addis Ababa," he added. Mariam Al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, Deputy Chairperson of the opposition National Umma Party, for her part, said "there will be nothing to prevent us from signing the road-map after agreeing on our demands." Last March, the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel on Sudan (AUHIP) proposed a roadmap agreement for the Sudanese rivals, stipulating arrangements related to cease-fire at South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur regions, entering a peace process and involving the armed movements in the national dialogue currently convened in Khartoum. The Sudanese government unilaterally signed the roadmap agreement, while the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)/northern sector, the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLA)/Minni Minnawi faction and the opposition National Umma Party refused to sign the deal. The Darfur armed groups and the SPLM/northern sector insist that a preparatory conference should be held, according to decisions by the AU Peace and Security Council and the UN Security Council, to bring together all the Sudanese political forces to agree on procedures to initiate an equitable dialogue with the government, a demand that the Sudanese government rejects. SHIJIAZHUANG, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Even though Yang Zhensheng has no memories of his own of the earthquake that flattened his hometown shortly before his birth, the disaster will forever be part of his life -- he is named after it. In his given name, "zhen" means earthquake and "sheng" means birth. He was the first baby born in the rubble of Tangshan, a city that lies more than 150 kilometers to the southwest of Beijing, after the 7.8-magnitude event which claimed more than 242,000 lives on July 28, 1976. Chinese parents commonly mark historical events in the names of their children, and many of those who will soon turn 40 have the Chinese character "zhen" in their given names. Zhensheng and Kangzhen (quake resistant) are among the most common. "We didn't experience the horror ourselves, but it left a permanent mark on us," Yang said. Perhaps due to his link to the disaster, after graduation Yang went to work in the local civil affairs bureau, the department in charge of disaster relief, and has been head of the Tangshan sanatorium for paraplegia for 11 years. The powerful earthquake 40 years ago left 3,817 survivors paraplegic, more than 800 of whom are still alive. In the sanatorium, patients receive free treatment, food and accommodation, as well as living allowance. "Born the day of the tragedy. I'm happy to care for them," Yang said. AS THE FISH LOVES THE WATER At noon on Aug. 4, Yu Fengrong gave birth to a daughter in a temporary shack, not long after she was pulled from the debris. She still remembers her misery as, without even the most basic necessities, she held her baby and wept as rain poured through the roof. The desperate mother felt a small measure of relief to see soldiers arrive with hot porridge and boiled eggs -- the traditional food for new Chinese mothers. For the next month, the soldiers helped the family through their hardest of times, visiting them nearly every day with milk powder, noodles and anything else they could find. Yu Fengrong and her husband Yu Zhanshui showed their gratitude to their saviors in the name of their daughter, Yu Shuiqing. The pronunciation of her name is the same as the Chinese idiom to mean literally "the affection between fish and water," which is usually used to describe the rapport between the military and civilians. SHANGHAI SURPRISE Also on Aug.4, Sun Hu was delivered in a tent without water or electricity by Dr. Zhou Juanhua, a member of a rescue team sent by a Shanghai hospital. Sun's mother had a difficult labor, and Zhou knelt on the ground for seven hours to deliver the baby. Sun was given the name "Hu," the abbreviation for Shanghai, the commercial and financial hub on the east China coast, to express admiration for the woman doctor. THE LESSON OF HISTORY The children of the Tangshan earthquake, born among the rubble and squalor, have been taught the true meaning of gratitude by their parents. Following the catastrophic Wenchuan earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan Province in 2008, more than 270 Tangshan people named Zhensheng or Kangzhen together visited the Tangshan quake monument in downtown Tangshan, Hebei Province, and made donations for the victims in Sichuan. "We can't just sit idly by. It was only through the kindness of people all over the country that we are alive today," Yang said. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi addresses an ASEAN Plus Three (China, Japan and South Korea) foreign ministers' meeting in Vientiane, Laos, July 26, 2016. (Xinhua/Liu Yun) VIENTIANE, July 26 (Xinhua) -- China will make joint efforts with other countries within the framework of ASEAN Plus Three (China, Japan and South Korea) or APT to push forward cooperation in East Asia, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday. When attending an APT foreign ministers' meeting in the Lao capital, Wang said, "China has been an active participant and promoter for the East Asia cooperation." The platform of APT or "10 +3" has bolstered the East Asia cooperation, and played a vital role in helping boost understanding, deepen cooperation and confront challenges, he said. Wang called on all APT countries to stick to an integration process suitable to the regional situation and uphold the principle of accommodating the comfort level of all parties so as to make the cooperation benefit all. The top Chinese diplomat also advised the APT countries to properly handle relations between the "10+3" and other cooperative mechanisms in the region, ties between the 10 ASEAN members and China, Japan and South Korea, as well as relationship between the traditional and new areas for cooperation. Affirming the APT's role in promoting East Asia integration, the ASEAN ministers expected China, Japan and South Korea to increase inputs and share their experience and expertise with a view to helping ASEAN nations narrow their development gap and realizing common prosperity. They also hoped that an ASEAN summit in Laos in September could achieve practical results, and the APT countries further boost their cooperation in the fields of trade and economy, culture and education, and effectively deal with non-traditional threat such as terrorism. Foreign ministers from China, Japan and South Korea supported the ASEAN Community and backed ASEAN playing a central role in regional cooperation. They also expressed the hope that leaders from the three countries could meet at a trilateral summit this year. TOKYO, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A string of data manipulation scandals exposed in recent months have costed Japanese automakers dearly, with damage going beyond the country as some foreign manufacturers such as General Motors are forced to recall millions of cars due to defective parts from Japan. Given the fact that not one, but several Japanese enterprises are found to have engaged in such malpractice for years, industry observers and analysts say they could hardly attribute the massive data manipulation solely to an erosion of ethics among Japanese industry giants while ignoring the apparent lack of government's supervision and the problems in Japanese corporate culture. SUPERVISION LOOPHOLES A third-party independent investigation has recently revealed that Japanese automobile supplier Takata manipulated and falsified test data regarding its air bags. Having caused over 100 deaths during the last decade, the defective air bags produced by Takata has led to a worldwide automobile recall from markets in North America, Europe, China and Japan. On May 18, 2016, Suzuki, the second largest Japanese manufacturer of light vehicles, admitted that it had falsified the fuel-economy data regarding 16 types of vehicles sold in Japan, involving over 2.1 million vehicles. On April 20, 2016, Mitsubishi Motors' President Tetsuro Aikawa admitted in a press conference that his company had manipulated the fuel-economy tests, which involved some 600,000 vehicles. Many industry insiders have pointed out loopholes in Japan's auto fuel-economy test system. In Japan, before an automaker launches a new model, the National Agency for Automobile and Land Transport Technology, an organization affiliated to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,Transportation and Tourism (MLIT), will check the safety and environment parameters of the vehicle, and the multi-item check list include fuel efficiency. The problem is, however, the basic data used to calculate fuel efficiency are provided by the same enterprise that produces the vehicle. Following the disclosure of the Mitsubishi scandal, the MLIT investigated the case and found that the agency responsible for pre-market inspection had simply copied seven set of figures provided by the enterprise without any verification. Meanwhile, the shocking length of data falsification, which lasted over decades, also has its roots in a customary practice among Japanese automakers: They use very strict standards in choosing suppliers but once a company has entered their suppliers' list, these auto giants tend to use less-rigid standards in evaluation, and some even does not conduct any reassessment at all. FAULTY CORPORATE CULTURE The underlying defects of Japan's corporate culture also make it difficult to spot malpractices such as fudged data, and if the improper conducts are discovered, it will still take years to correct the wrongdoing. Yasushi Ando, chair of Japan's New Horizon Capital, said that the belated disclosure of the automakers' data manipulation has something to do with the "vertical corporate structure." People stay in the same department for decades and it's difficult for an outsider to know what is happening there, Ando explained. Meanwhile, whistleblowers who expose a defective product or improper corporate practice are seen as a common enemy by his or her co-workers. They are often disdained and fired by the company. So many simply choose to ignore what they see, or are forced to help cover up the scandals. All in all, the recent scandals surrounding Japan's automakers are not isolated incidents, but a result of interweaving factors involving both the government and businesses, and similar cases will keep happening unless there's radical change in the government's supervisory role and in the corporate culture as well. Solar Impulse 2, a solar powered plane, lands at an airport in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates July 26, 2016. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) ABU DHABI, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The solar-energy powered plane, Solar Impulse 2 (SI2), landed Tuesday morning at Al-Bateen Airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital of Abu Dhabi, completing the aircraft' global tour. The plane, developed and flown by Swiss co-founder and adventurer Bertrand Piccard, arrived at Abu Dhabi at 4:02 a.m. local time (GMT0002) on Tuesday after about 48 hours flying from the previous stop of Egypt's capital of Cairo. Upon arrival, Piccard was greeted by UAE Minister of State Sultan Al-Jaber, who is also Chairman of Abu Dhabi-government controlled environmental investment and research firm Masdar, Swiss Vice President Doris Leuthard, and Prince Albert II of Monaco. Piccard and co-founder and partner Andre Borschberg changed as pilot from trip to trip as SI2 has only one pilot seat. "Andre Borschberg and myself waited for this moment for 15 years," Piccard said in his first address after landing. "We flew 40,000 km. It is now up to everyone to change the world by using renewable energy. The future is clean," he added. During the 16-month-long world tour, which also started in Abu Dhabi on March 9 2015, the SI2 made stops in Oman, India, Myanmar, China, U.S., as well as some European and African countries. The Swiss explorer urged the public not to accept the world record as granted, but to "take it further. Who thought history of aviation would once reach the point when a plane can circumvent the globe without fuel? Let us all be pioneers and embrace clean energy wherever possible," said Piccard. Piccard and Borschberg, thanked the UAE and Monaco, where the SI2 main control center is based, for their support to lead the SI2 to a success. Swiss Vice President praised the two explorers who were dressed in orange pilot overalls as Switzerland's new pride and thanked the entire SI2 team with a total of 150 members for their hard work. Piccard is the son of undersea explorer Jacques Piccard, who was one of the two first to explore the deepest part of the world's ocean and the deepest location on the surface of Earth's crust, the Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific Ocean. Piccard's grandfather, Auguste Piccard, broke the altitude world record with a balloon in 1931, reaching 15,781 meters during his flight. "During his last flight from Cairo to Abu Dhabi, we prepared 5 liters of water," said Gaelle Schlup-Olivier, head of Experimental Kitchen, with Swiss nutrition giant Nestle who developed the food for both pilots. She told Xinhua that while Piccard's favorite meal was Swiss Muesli, while Borschberg preferred non-meat meals. The SI2 was not the first Swiss innovative means of transport that was showcased live in the UAE. In 2007, Swiss teacher and green energy activist Louis Palmer did a stopover in Dubai when he circumvented the world on a 54,000 km tour with his Solar taxi, a car solely powered by the attached trail which carried a solar-panel. In January 2012, during the annual World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, MS Turanor PlanetSolar, the largest solar-powered boat in the world owned by Swiss company PlanetSolar SA, stopped at the coast of Abu Dhabi before it completed its two-year trip around the world without using a single liter of petrol, sailing home to its original port in Monaco. MOMBASA, Kenya, July 26 (Xinhua) -- At least five Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers were injured after their vehicle was hit by Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in the coastal town of Lamu on Tuesday. Regional police commander Francis Wanjohi said the military tanker ran over an IED allegedly planted by Al-Shabaab around Ishakani area in Kiunga in Lamu East, wounding five while others escaped unhurt. Wanjohi said the soldiers were part of a multi-agency team constructing a perimeter wall along Kenya Somalia border in Lamu aimed at curbing threats posed by Al-Shabaab militants. KDF and other security units were also deployed to comb the area for the terrorists. "The soldiers were clearing bushes at a site where the security perimeter wall is being put up on the Lamu-Somali border escaped death by a whisker after the unknowingly ran over the IED," Wanjohi said. "All the soldiers who were inside the tanker escaped alive but with injuries," he added. Wanjohi said the Al-Shabaab has planted several IEDs along the highway to target security agents. The East African nation is building the security wall along its border with Somalia in a bid to keep out Al-Shabaab and boost security after a wave of attacks that have claimed scores of lives and provoked severe criticism of the government's response. The wall, a series of concrete barriers, fences, ditches and observation posts overlooked by CCTV stations, is expected to stretch from the Indian Ocean to Mandera, where both countries converge with Ethiopia. He said the team has managed to detonate several IEDs and thwarted terrorist attacks by the militants behind a series of attacks in the coast region in the last two years. The militants who numbered more than 30 had unsuccessfully tried to access the KDF and police camps in Lamu. Recently, KDF soldiers killed four Al-Shabaab militants and recovered weapons in a fierce gunfight in Milimani area near Baure, Lamu County The troops recovered a rocket propelled grenade, a hand grenade, four AK 47 rifles and an improvised explosive device in the incident. KDF spokesperson Colonel David Obonyo said one soldier was wounded in the exchange of fire. The soldier was airlifted to Mombasa Hospital. Obonyo said the militants had attempted to attack a rapid deployment unit camp in Mangai. He said the situation was under control and that Operation Linda Boni was still in full force. The Al-Shabaab has vowed to wage war against Kenya in retaliation over the incursion of KDF troops in Somalia in 2011. TEHRAN, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry denied reports about the presence of some members of al-Qaida in the Islamic republic, semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Tuesday. "Iran has no information about the presence of these people (al-Qaida members) on its soil," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying. On Wednesday, the United States announced that it had imposed sanctions on three senior al-Qaida members staying in Iran, in a move to disrupt the terror group's operations and support networks. The three members are identified as Faisal Jassim Mohammed Al-Amri Al-Khalidi, Yisra Muhammad Ibrahim Bayumi, and Abu Bakr Muhammad Muhammad Ghumayn, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement. They were accused of being "responsible for moving money and weapons across the Middle East," it added. "The Islamic republic has always insisted on its determination to confront the terrorist groups and has taken necessary measures vis-a-vis its relevant international obligations," Qasemi said. He urged the U.S. officials to avoid making a sweeping generalization about the matter and, instead, share accurate information for coordinated international action against terrorist groups. HANOI, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam will hold the fifth export fair of Zhejiang, one of the most prosperous provinces in China, in capital Hanoi on Aug. 4-6, 2016, said Vietnam National Trade Fair and Advertising Company (Vinexad), the event's organizer on Tuesday. Under the theme "Zhejiang Products-Global Outreach," the fair will display products of nearly 100 reputable businesses from Zhejiang province, which represent "Zhejiang Made" symbol, said Vinexad general director Nguyen Khac Luan at a press conference. Around 150 booths at the elaborately-organized fair will showcase three outstanding industries of electric and electronic machines, equipments; building materials, interior decoration, hardware; as well as textile materials and consumer products, said Luan. Hundreds of products will be displayed including machines from Wenzhou, Taizhou, hardware from Xiaxing, garment-textile materials from Hangzhou, Huzhou, and handicraft from Yiwu among others. These products have been popular and have received positive responses of consumers in the Southeast Asia, including those in Vietnam, said the organizer, adding that it is expected that during the fair, Zhejiang will bring attractive feeling of "Zhejiang Made" products to Vietnam and the Southeast Asia. According to Vinexad, Zhejiang is the province that possesses the most favorable natural conditions in China, lying in China's southeast coast and south of Yangtze Delta. The province has enjoyed rapid economic growth and has established direct external economic ties with over 230 countries and regions worldwide. From January to May 2016, the province earned 2.13 billion U.S. dollars from exports to Vietnam, up 13.55 percent year-on-year, said the organizer on its website. COLOMBO, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's military has been told to be alert to the activities of Tamil Tiger rebel supporters, the army media unit said on Tuesday. Major General Milinda Peiris, Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka army briefed the military on emerging terrorist trends at global level and the need for modernized approaches with novel counter-measures. He warned that the army needs to be alert to the sensitivities connected to the possible re-assembling or resurgence of Tamil Tiger supporters and overseas activists who would still be promoting the ideological perception of the rebels while working against Sri Lanka's economic and development aspirations. MOGADISHU, July 26 (Xinhua) -- At least 13 people, most of them UN contractors, were killed and five others were injured in twin explosions on Tuesday near the airport in Mogadishu, security officials have confirmed. Police chief Bishar Gedi told reporters at scene that most of the casualties were UN contractors who operate near the scene of the explosions. A police officer at the scene, Abdifitah Ahmed told Xinhua that the first explosions hit the entrance of the airport while the other one hit a check point nearby. A witness told Xinhua there were huge blasts near the airport. "I heard two huge explosions and there were bodies of people strewn over the place," said Saido Sheikh who sells tea near the airport. Security forces have cordoned off the area to secure the airport. Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the latest attack. NEW DELHI, July 26 (Xinhua) -- An Emirates plane from Dubai to Maldives Tuesday made an emergency landing in Indian city of Mumbai, following detection of smoke in its cabin, local media reports said. Officials said 309 people were on board. Reports quoting local officials said all the passengers were evacuated safely. "After the pilot sent an SOS to Air Traffic Controllers, the Coast Guard rushed ships out on stand-by just in case the plane was not able to cross the sea to reach the international airport," a local news channel NDTV said. The plane was in Mumbai until last reports came in. It was not known whether passengers were arranged with new flights for the onward journey. HARBIN, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Nine people were killed and two others injured after two SUVs collided in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, said government sources on Tuesday. The collision happened on a highway in Fuyuan City at about 12 a.m. Tuesday. Five were killed at the scene and four died in the hospital. Two others are being treated in hospitals. The cause of the accident is being investigated. JALALABAD, Afghanistan, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Militants loyal to the ultra-extremist group of the Islamic State (IS) have suffered major setback as 122 fighters of the armed outfit have killed in the eastern Nangarhar province over the past 24 hours, spokesman for provincial government Attaullah Khogiani said Tuesday. Afghan security forces in the wake of directive issued by President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani have intensified pressure on IS insurgents, targeting the insurgent groups day and night, according to security officials. President Ghani during his visit to the eastern region last week and visiting military commanders of Afghan army's 201 Silab Corps in Laghman province ordered them to eliminate "Islamic State fighters" from the region. Since the tour of Ghani to the eastern region, the military crackdown has been increased on IS fighters in the eastern part of Afghanistan. The government forces, according to security officials almost day and night pounded the militants' hideouts from the ground and air, mostly by unmanned planes. In the latest crackdown against IS outfit, 122 militants have been killed in Achin district of Nangarhar province over the past 24 hours, spokesman for provincial government Attaullah Khogiani confirmed Tuesday. According to Khogiani, 20 more IS fighters have been arrested in the operations which have been continuing. Earlier, a key commander of the hardliner group Saad Emarati was killed in Kot district on Monday night and the headquarters of IS in Saribazar area has been captured and destroyed. The IS group which began its activities in the mountainous areas of Nangarhar province in early 2015 has claimed the responsibility for a deadly suicide attack in Kabul on Saturday which had killed more than 80 people and injured around 300 others, ostensibly as reaction to mounting pressure on its fighters in the eastern region. However, Afghan observers and military officials suggested that keeping on pressure would eventually smash IS outfit in Afghanistan. A Greek police officer escorts a Turkish officer who fled to Greece by helicopter after last week's failed coup, as he leaves the courthouse of Alexandroupoli, near the Greek-Turkish border, on July 21, 2016. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) ANKARA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Two Turkish generals linked to the failed coup attempt were detained at Dubai International Airport early on Tuesday, according to state-run Anadolu Agency. The two detained generals serving in Afghanistan were identified as Turkish Task Force Commander Maj. Gen. Cahit Bakir and Kabul Training, Support and Advising Commander Brig. Gen. Sener Topuc. As a result of Turkish Foreign Ministry and National Intelligence Agency (MIT) officials' cooperation with the Emirati authorities, two generals were brought to Ankara on Tuesday morning for further legal processes, according to the report. Around 13,000 suspects, including military personnel, police, judiciary members and civil servants have been detained so far in a nationwide probe. The failed coup attempt on July 15 left at least 290 people, including more than 100 "coup plotters" killed, authorities said. MEXICO CITY, July 25 (Xinhua) -- The 25th Ibero-American Summit would be held on October 28-29, in Cartagena, Colombia, under the theme of "Youth, Entrepreneurship and Education," Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu said here on Monday. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the forum on Ibero-America at the College of Mexico, the foreign minister added that the Ibero-American Summits are increasingly important for south-south cooperation. According to Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary General of the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), who also attended the forum, poverty has fallen from over 50 percent to 28 percent and infant mortality rate has fallen by two-thirds since the creation of the Ibero-American Conference in 1991. Coordination across the region contributes to these great advances. It also makes Latin America a more important player worldwide and gives "more opportunities" to young people, she said. The Chinese economy now contributes greatly to the Latin American GDP growth, in terms of foreign investment, said Grynspan, adding that the Asian giant is now larger than the 22 Ibero-American countries combined. "While the region is not free of political uncertainty ... it has institutions that are becoming ever more solid in a multi-polar world," she said. "Unfortunately, we cannot say that multilateralism has won, although the only response is to continue pushing for a more peaceful world," she added. TEHRAN, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran has signed an agreement with a Georgian purchaser for natural gas sale, and the agreement will hopefully come into effect in the current year, official IRNA news agency reported Tuesday. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with the visiting Armenian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Levon Yolyan, Iranian Minister of Oil Zangeneh said Iran's gas transit to Georgia via Armenia was the most important topic in the discussions with his Armenian partner. Yolyan has come to Tehran for talks following Iran's call for transit of gas to Georgia via Armenia, he said, adding that an organization will be formed in Armenia to undertake the transit of gas. The minister said expansion of relations with the neighbors in energy, especially gas exports, is among Iran's plans, and the Iran-Armenia-Georgia cooperation concept will allow sale and transit of Iran's natural gas to other regional states. "Of course, Armenia is not a major consumer but can open an important way for Iranian gas exports and in this field there has been agreement between the two sides," Zangeneh was quoted as saying. BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- China reported steady economic growth in the first half (H1) of 2016, and a closer look at the performance of different provinces really shines a light on the world's second largest economy. Some 26 provinces, regions and municipalities have released their H1 GDP data, with the western regions of Chongqing, Tibet and Guizhou all reporting growth rates above 10 percent. Moreover, 21 of the provinces, regions and municipalities saw GDP growth exceeding the country's 6.7 percent for the same period. BRIGHT SPOT Emerging industries become increasingly important to local economies as economic restructuring enhances growth quality. Chongqing Municipality, which has reported eye-catching growth speed for the past ten quarters, shared the fastest growth of 10.6 percent with Tibet in H1. The added value of the city's ten strategic emerging sectors like new materials, robotics and electronics, grew 24.8 percent in the first half, or 14.6 percentage points higher than the city's industrial growth rate. Still, they have robust growth prospects. "Although the added value of emerging industries accounts for only 15 percent of the whole industrial added value, their contribution to industrial growth was 28.3 percent," said Zhang Fumin, deputy head of Chongqing Municipal Bureau of Statistics. The heavily polluted province of Hebei in the north, also made progress in structural reform and posted 6.6 percent growth for the period. Raw coal output fell by 8.8 percent and the production of glass also dropped by 4.5 percent in the first half, according to Hebei Provincial Bureau of Statistics. The proportion of the equipment manufacturing sector's added value in Hebei's industrial added value surpassed that of the iron and steel industries for the first time in H1, reaching 25.3 percent, according to an official with the bureau. Hebei aims to further cut its excessive iron and steel capacity by 17 million tonnes and 14 million tonnes respectively this year. Business startups are booming nationwide, thanks to the "Internet Plus" program, various innovation strategies and administration streamlining. In the eastern province of Zhejiang, the tertiary sector, led by information-based economy, accounted for 52.09 percent of its GDP in H1. The economy of the developed province grew 7.7 percent in this period. Dream Town in Hangzhou, the provincial capital of Zhejiang, attracted 680 Internet-based startup programs, 6,400 talented people and more than 80 financial institutions within about one year. In H1, more than 150,000 new companies were established in Zhejiang, a jump of 35.7 percent year on year. Internet-based management tools have been widely used in product design, transformation of workshops and robotics, said Chen Ailian, chairman of Wanfeng Auto Holding Group in Zhejiang, a leading aluminum wheel manufacturer. FALLING INVESTMENT AND OVERCAPACITY Official data showed China's fixed-asset investment grew 9 percent in the first half of 2016, down from 9.6 percent in the first five months and 10.7 percent in the first quarter. More notably, private investment increased 2.8 percent in the first half, down from 3.9 percent in the first five months and 5.7 percent in the first quarter. Private investment growth varied a lot from province to province in H1. In Shandong Province, private investment grew 2.4 percent to reach nearly 1.7 trillion yuan in the first half. This is lower than the nation's 2.8 percent. "Private investment in Shandong focuses on traditional manufacturing industries. But given the big environment of cutting excessive capacities, private investment has been affected a lot," said Liu Bing, head of Shandong Macro-economy Research Institute. The base figure of private investment in Shandong has been very high and continued rapid growth will be more and more difficult, said Liu. In contrast, private investment grew 19.6 percent in the southern province of Guangdong in H1, the country's manufacturing hub. Early restructuring moves have brought new energy to Guangdong's economy and its manufacturing sector is still in good shape, as reflected by strong private investment, said Wang Yiyang, researcher with the Guangdong provincial government development and research center. China is aiming for 6.5 percent to 7 percent growth in 2016. But it also has to cut overcapacity and ensure job creation, and navigate the weak global economic environment. A number of provinces such as Sichuan and Hebei have struggled to reduce excessive capacity in iron, steel, cement and glass in 2016. VIENTIANE, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during a foreign ministers' meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that the "page of the South China Sea arbitration has been turned over." When meeting with Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak, whose country currently holds the rotating European Union (EU) Council presidency, Monday in the Lao capital, Wang said China and the ASEAN members have reached consensus on returning to the right track of dialogue and consultation between countries directly involved in the maritime disputes with a "dual-track" approach. China has advocated the "dual-track" approach -- disputes should be resolved peacefully through negotiation between the parties directly concerned, and China and ASEAN countries should work together to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea. "The page of the South China Sea arbitration has been turned over," said the top Chinese diplomat, adding that the "dual-track" approach complies with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). He urged countries to focus on cooperation and jointly deal with other pressing challenges such as terrorism and climate change. Lajcak said the EU welcomed the consensus reached between China and the ASEAN members on full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC). The EU will not take sides on the South China Sea issue, and is ready to play a constructive role in helping solve the maritime spats. When meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi on Tuesday, Wang noted that China and ASEAN members issued a joint statement on the full and effective implementation of the DOC, sending a positive signal that they pledged to safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea. For her part, Retno said the ASEAN nations and China achieved positive results on Monday, which will contribute to the further development of ASEAN-China relations. Indonesia is willing to join hands with China to maintain peace and stability in the region, she said. BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- China's central authority has begun a round of supervision over local level leadership transition and promotion, Xinhua learned Tuesday. The Organization Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the CPC's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) dispatched supervision teams to 12 provincial regions including Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Tibet and Xinjiang. An unidentified official from the CPC Central Committee Organization Department said the supervision teams would push Party committees at all levels to ensure smooth, fair leadership transitions, according to a short statement. The central authority wants to prevent bribery and other offenses, ensuring the process is clean and fair. The Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and organization departments at local levels will establish a system to accept offense tip-offs during leadership transitions. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani attend Supreme Leader's meeting with authorities of the country and ambassadors of Islamic countries, in Tehran, Iran July 6, 2016. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) TEHRAN, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran has signed an agreement with a Georgian purchaser for natural gas sale, and the agreement will hopefully come into effect in the current year, official IRNA news agency reported Tuesday. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with the visiting Armenian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Levon Yolyan, Iranian Minister of Oil Zangeneh said Iran's gas transit to Georgia via Armenia was the most important topic in the discussions with his Armenian partner. Yolyan has come to Tehran for talks following Iran's call for transit of gas to Georgia via Armenia, he said, adding that an organization will be formed in Armenia to undertake the transit of gas. The minister said expansion of relations with the neighbors in energy, especially gas exports, is among Iran's plans, and the Iran-Armenia-Georgia cooperation concept will allow sale and transit of Iran's natural gas to other regional states. "Of course, Armenia is not a major consumer but can open an important way for Iranian gas exports and in this field there has been agreement between the two sides," Zangeneh was quoted as saying. MANILA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine Supreme Court ruled Tuesday with finality that the defense pact between the United States and the Philippines is constitutional. Voting 9-4, the high court trashed the motions for reconsideration filed by former Senators Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tanada and the militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan against the court's earlier decision that the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement(EDCA) is constitutional and does not require Senate concurrence. The court said in their latest ruling that "the petitioners do not not present new arguments to buttress their claims of error on the part of this Court," adding the petitioners "hashed their prior arguments." It added "the points being made (by the petitioners) are the same." In dismissing the motion for reconsideration, the high court said EDCA did not go beyond the framework of the constitution. The entry of the U.S. troops in the Philippines has long been allowed under a valid and subsisting treaties -- the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Mutual Defense Treaty. by Yuan Shuai BERLIN, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The refugee problem should not be confused with the terrorist problem, a German expert on terrorism and famous analyst on politically motivated violence said Monday in an interview with Xinhua. "We must be aware of not putting every refugee on the side of terrorism. That is not the truth," said Rolf Tophoven, head of the Institute for Crisis Prevention in Essen, Germany. Germany has been one of the major destinations for refugees in recent years. In 2015 alone, more than 1.1 million refugees arrived in the country. This has already raised worries among quite a few Germans about potential security risks. Multiple attacks carried out by refugees concentrated in one week have once more disturbed German society. When asked about a possible association between recent attacks, Tophoven said there were neither connections between the attackers, nor clues indicating the violence can be directly traced to the Islamic State (IS). The problem is not that the attacks were carried out under the order of the IS, rather than they were more or less under the influence of radical propaganda of IS with audio or video clips on platforms such as social media, which often inspire radical behaviors, Tophoven said. "The persons who carried out these operations are not trained by IS nor did they have any direct connection with it." Tophoven voiced the concern that the refugee problem may be confused with the terrorist problem. "We need to solve the refugee problem effectively and peacefully. It's a task for the politicians to convince people not to associate refugees with potential terrorist attacks," said Tophoven. "Of course we must check refugee centers for anyone who is planning attacks, but again, we have to look at the refugee problems and potential security problems separately," he added. Tophoven said that mixing up the two problems itself is dangerous, as regarding refugees as terrorists and suggesting to drive them out of Germany would be a very simple yet emotional answer. "The problem is that you must separate these individual migration guys who are doing attacks and the huge masses of refugees in Germany, who are living here peacefully. It is a great challenge for our public opinion, for the democratic parties in Germany, and for the German people generally," he said, referring to the potential danger of lumping all the refugees together with the terrorists. "The attacks are only single cases." German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere also said on Monday that refugees in general should not be regarded with suspicion. "But we know that IS tries to infiltrate into Germany and other European countries by sending terrorists disguised as refugees. That could be a danger," Tophoven said. To confront the risk, Tophoven believed that both the government and the common citizens must behave properly. He said that those living in Germany should not panic and just continue their lives as before. "But the sensibility must be a little bit higher to look around what's going on," he said. "The security departments must strengthen the coordination domestically and internationally." "All together, you need to have a complete picture of intelligence on the one hand, and a good communication strategy between authorities and the people on the other hand," he said. Tophoven said he does not think there will be any major adjustment to the current refugee policy of the government after recent events. However, "the immigration authority may handle everyone who comes to Germany with more sensitive and strict registration, and not to overlook any guy with potential terrorist ambition." COLOMBO, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's defence ministry on Tuesday vowed to solve the issues faced by disabled soldiers after they have protested in the capital for two days. The disabled and retired soldiers protested near the city's main railway station disrupting traffic. Police were forced to close one section of the road as the protesters refused to leave until their demands were met. Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi met President Maithripala Sirisena and discussed the concerns of the disabled soldiers. Brigadier Prasana Samarasekera of the Ministry of Defence told reporters that the main demand of the protesting soldiers was to be granted a pension scheme for them. He said that the issue had been discussed at the highest levels and a solution was being worked on but it will take time. Hettiarachchi met the soldiers and briefed them on the proposed solution. Hundreds of soldiers were disabled during a 30-year war between Tamil Tiger rebels and the military, which ended in 2009, leaving thousands of fighters and civilians killed. PARIS, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A priest was "assassinated," and another was seriously wounded on Tuesday after two armed men seized several hostages in a church in northern France, Pierre-Hernry Brandet, spokesman of the French Interior Ministry said. A priest in a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, was killed by the two hostages takers who were later shot dead by police units, Brandet told BFMTV news channel. The motive of the assailants was not immediately clear, according to Brandet. However, "it's clear that it's a violent, deliberated act and which surely was prepared," he said. The hostages included a priest, two nuns and two worshippers. They were taken as hostage after the two armed men stormed the church earlier on Tuesday morning. French anti-terrorist prosecution had taken over the investigation into the attack. French President Francois Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve arrived to the scene of the attack, the second assault in 12 days after Nice carnage in which 84 were killed. by Xinhua writers Zhu Lei, Zhou Xiaozheng PHILADELPHIA, United States, July 26 (Xinhua) -- For supporters of Bernie Sanders, Monday was their last hope for the champion of a "political revolution" to win the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. "My message is I am begging superdelegates to change their minds," Gina Robinson Ungar, a delegate from the state of Indiana, told Xinhua at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia where Democrats began their national convention with a struggle to fully unite behind Hillary Clinton. "The superdelegates still can turn this around if they make a wise choice. The superdelegates need to know how unpopular Hillary is in part of the country," said the dairy owner from Evansville city, who wore a black Bernie T-Shirt and a green hat. She was referring to the party officials and "bigshots" who make up about one-sixth of the delegates in the Democratic Party's system and are free to support any candidate for the presidential nomination at the party's national convention. Clinton, a former first lady and former secretary of state, won 2,205 delegates and 602 superdelegates, while Sanders, a senator of Vermont, garnered 1,846 delegates, as well as 48 superdelegates. A Democratic candidate needs to clinch 2,383 combined delegates and superdelegates to be the party's presidential nominee. Sanders' supporters have long complained that the use of superdelegates and other ways in the primary nomination process favored Clinton, who is poised to clinch the Democratic nomination on Tuesday night. Adding to their anger was that the nearly 20,000 Wikileaks leaked emails on Friday showed that top Democratic National Committee (DNC) officials who were supposed to remain neutral during the primary contest grew increasingly agitated with Sanders and his campaign. They even floated ideas to sabotage his candidacy. With signature calls for free college tuition for all, universal healthcare and a hike of the federal minimum wage to 15 U.S. dollars per hour, Sanders has galvanized millions of Democrats throughout his hard-fought primary campaign with Clinton. As the primary settled its dust, Ungar said she found after talking to hundreds of voters that two voting groups -- independents and Christian conservatives -- still do not trust and will not vote for Clinton in the face-off against the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. "I think Bernie Sanders is the best chance we have," said Ungar, who was visibly emotional. "Today they have not nominated her yet, so we are trying to talk loudly, clearly and talk to everybody we can to say 'please don't make this mistake,'" she said, trying hard to gulp down a sob. Standing at Ungar's side, Indiana delegate Jeanne Smith was also eager to have her voice heard. "Bernie supporters are not at all surprised that the emails existed. I mean we assumed that," said Smith, a 64-year-old transgender woman who calls herself a lifelong progressive. "I think it's going to be much harder for Bernie supporters to come around and support Hillary and I think that's the reason why people are so angry. It just reinforces the anger of the people that support Bernie," she said. "I'm a little bit more concerned about Trump than the lot of Bernie supporters. I think it is making it a lot more likely that Trump is going to be the president," she said. Like the two Indiana delegates, many delegates inside the fully packed convention center of 20,000 seats were wearing Bernie badges. When a reverend mentioned Clinton's name while leading the opening prayer for the convention, a wave of cheers and applause was soon replaced by a loud and persistent chant of "Bernie, Bernie, Bernie." Following a dramatic day of emails leak after-effect and pro-Sanders protests, the Democratic Party tried its best to rescue their four-day national convention from political uproar, with back-to-back speeches by First Lady Michelle Obama, Senator of Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren and Sanders to cap the first night. Though Sanders' full-throated endorsement of Clinton's candidacy brought the crowd to its feet with scattered boos, it is still an open question whether the party will heal the lingering primary wounds and rally around Hillary. When asked whether he would vote for Clinton in the Nov. 8 election, New York delegate Steven Abreu said he didn't know yet. "It is still 100 days from the election," he said, almost drowned out by chanting of "Bernie, Bernie" at the end of the night. TIANMEN, July 25, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Soldiers evacuate trapped people in Huangtan Township in Tianmen, central China's Hubei Province, July 25, 2016. (Xinhua/Xiong Qi) BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Severe flooding across the country has left hundreds dead or missing since the rainy season began in early June, and the disaster response effort has exposed some challenges. China has mobilized soldiers, officials and members of the public to save lives and protect property. Heavy rain across north and northeast China last week left 164 people dead and 125 missing, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA). The central government on Monday allocated 250 million yuan (37.4 million U.S. dollars) to disaster relief efforts in Hebei, one of the worse-hit provinces. The money will cover emergency relocation, temporary housing, reconstruction of damaged houses and bereavement settlement, according to the MCA. The middle and lower reaches of China's longest river, the Yangtze, and some major fresh-water lakes have swollen and caused severe flooding in the southern part of the country. Even in central Beijing, the situation is no better. Last week, the capital experienced its heaviest rainfall in years, causing rail, road and air traffic disruptions. The meteorological authority issued an orange storm alert, the second-highest of China's four-tier warning system. "The heavy rain [this year] is closely connected to El Nino, which appeared to be the strongest since 1951," said Zhou Bing, chief observer of the National Climate Center. President Xi Jinping has ordered all-out efforts to control and fight floods, stressing that people's safety should be the top priority. Xi, speaking at a symposium last week, said that Communist Party of China (CPC) committees and governments at various levels should strengthen leadership over flood control and relief work. He said everything must be done to guarantee public safety, including the relocation of those in areas of risk, particularly the elderly who live alone and "left behind" children of migrant workers. ALL HANDS ON DECK The central and local governments have rolled out a variety of measures to save people's lives. So far, over 59,000 troops of the armed police force have joined the flood rescue work, helping to relocate more than 88,000 people. Wang Qilong of the Chinese Armed Police Force (CAPF) said on Sunday that 16 CAPF corps, seven divisions and other troops had been mobilized. CAPF troops have worked on over 375 km of dikes, repaired almost 1,000 km of road and dredged over 80 km of river bed. Wu Aoxiang, a soldier in east China's Jiangxi Province, has been braving the elements to fix embankments. Jiangxi, one of the 11 provinces, autonomous regions and municipality that the Yangtze flows through, has seen 15 percent more rain than average years. The deluge has caused the water levels of the river to rise. "When the sky clears, the sun comes out and we are at risk of sunburn," said Wu, 23. His arms are red and peeling, and his waterlogged feet are sore and blistered. "Our first priority is to save people's lives," he said. Soldiers are not the only ones on the front line. In Jiangxi's Pengze County, party official and elementary school teacher Yang Kai has spent the past few weeks patrolling an embankment, inspecting it for seepage. Many of the houses in his village have been inundated by water from Poyang Lake, China's biggest fresh water lake. "If we find any signs of seepage, we leave a marker at the spot and then soldiers will come and fix it," he said. It is no easy job. Working in groups of three, officials like Yang have to patrol the 2-km embankment for several hours a day. Facing a lack of manpower, some localities have even appealed to their migrant workers to come home to help fight floods. Zhang Suorong is one of them. He is from Jiangxinzhou, Jiangxi Province, but lives and works 500 kilometers away in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province. Jiangxinzhou, an island in the Yangtze River in Jiujiang County, has a registered population of about 50,000 people. However, like Zhang, many have left for jobs in big cities. The town has called its migrant workers home, with the local government utilizing social media to disseminate its plea for help. "Dear town fellows, we are facing a critical period as floods devastate our home," it said. "We need our 50,000 residents to work together to battle this natural disaster." Days after the notice was issued, more than 3,000 migrant workers returned, said local Party official Zhu Wenbin. "I just had to come back," Zhang said. "It is our home. If we do not return to protect it, who will?" MORE EFFORTS NEEDED While China is moving heaven and earth to protect and clean up its inundated cities and counties, problems have also surfaced out of water. On Monday, a fifth government official in north China's Hebei Province was suspended for dereliction of duty in relation to his handling of the fatal floods. Public outrage mounted, with many questioning why they were not informed of the impending floods, and sparks flew over why the province's leading officials had failed to evacuate its citizens before the flood crested. Dong Xiaoyu, mayor of Xingtai City, which was worst hit by the floods, apologized for his government's inadequate response after storms left 34 dead and 13 missing in the city. "Part of the tragedy is Xingtai experienced heavy rain within a very short time," said Xia Xueluan, a professor with Peking University. "But it also raised questions about the responsibilities of those holding public posts." "It is essential that the public know that officials are doing their jobs," Xia added. "For example, have government funds been properly allocated in river dredging? Have officials been to the flood sites and made proper preparations?" Xia said that the Xingtai incident indicates a lack of preparation. "We need to learn from the Xingtai disaster to win the fight against flooding," he said. 7 people were killed and 13 others injured on Tuesday as a bus carrying workers crashed into a parked truck on Dubai's Emirates Road in the United Arab Emirates. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) DUBAI, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A road accident involving a truck and a passenger bus on Tuesday killed seven people and injured 13 others on Dubai's Emirates Road in the United Arab Emirates, local media reported. The truck was parked in an undesignated area after it collided with a pick-up vehicle, daily Gulf News quoted Dubai Police as saying. A bus carrying workers crashed into the parked truck, killing seven people and wounding 13 others, it added. The passengers suffered moderate and major injuries and were taken to hospitals. KIGALI, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Environment experts from Africa and beyond have called on African governments to put much emphasis on the restoration of forests on degraded land as part of the global efforts to address climate change hazards. They made the remarks on Tuesday while speaking at the Africa high level Bonn Challenge roundtable, and the international knowledge sharing meeting on forest landscape restoration (FLR) in the Rwanda capital Kigali. Rwanda is hosting the forum from July 26 to 27, which seeks to boost global forest landscape restoration commitments to 150 million hectares by 2020. The Bonn Challenge is a global ambition to restore 150 million hectares of the world's deforested and degraded lands by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030. It was launched by world leaders at a ministerial roundtable in Bonn, Germany, in September 2011. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the meeting, Luther Bois Anukur, regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa at International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said that African continent has lost more than half its forests due to human encroachment which puts the continent in the dangers of climate change. "We call upon our leaders and policy makers across Africa to ensure the global forest landscape restoration commitment is implemented. With their support, we are confident the ambitious targets of the Bonn Challenge will be achieved across the continent," he stated. Bois Anukur pointed out that climate change will worsen conditions across Africa's dry lands in the next few years, which are already affected by desertification, if forests are not restored on time. The Bonn Challenge event has brought together participants including ministers, environment experts and conservationist from more than 20 African countries that have demonstrated leadership on forest landscape restoration. At the meeting, delegates are expected to deliberate key aspects for the success of the implementation of FLR including policy, finance opportunities, and assessment of restoration opportunities on-the-ground. Nii Osah Mills, Ghana minister of lands and natural resources, emphasized on the importance of allocating more funds to forest restoration in degraded areas by African governments. "We are talking about planting millions of trees on degraded lands in our countries, but we are forgetting to put into consideration the amount of money needed to ensure the success of this activity. We urge African government across the continent increase expenditures on forestry activities," he said. Osah Mills noted that Ghana targets to restore about 2.6 million hectares by 2017. According to meeting organizers, new pledges of forest restoration by individual African countries at the meeting are expected to take global FLR commitments to 150 million hectares. Christine Sagno, Guinea minister of environment, water and forestry, her country will plant forests on two million hectares of land by 2020. "If we act so fast, we can make our continent free from negative impacts of the worsening climate change. What we need now is a clear commitment to restore plant trees on millions of degraded lands in our countries," she noted. Vincent Biruta, Rwanda minister of natural resources said that Rwanda has committed to restore 2 million hectares of deforested and degraded land by 2020. "With the restoration of forests and land, we can overcome climate challenges and food security issues and help improve the wellbeing of our people. Our policies need to be translated into action and practitioners from all backgrounds must work together and share knowledge." Topics to be discussed include participatory planning, landscape governance, institutional arrangements and regulatory frameworks, market mechanisms, funding and technical aspects of FLR operations on the ground. The meeting is organised by the Rwanda ministry of natural resources, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Global Partnership for Forest Landscape Restoration (GPFLR). [Photo/Xinhua] Xiamen Airlines has begun a direct flights linking Xiamen in East China's Fujian province to Vancouver, Canada. A Boeing 787-8 aircraft, carrying 213 passengers, took off from Xiamen at 9:30 pm on Monday and arrived in Vancouver 12 hours later, the first direct route between the province and North America. Outbound flights will leave Xiamen every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday, and inbound flights will depart Vancouver every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. Previously passengers from Fujian had to fly to Beijing or Shanghai before heading for Vancouver, and the new route shortens the flight time by five to eight hours. During the first half of this year, Xiamen airport saw passenger throughput of 11 million, up by 2.5 percent annually. JERUSALEM, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Israeli authorities demolished 20 illegal structures in Palestinian villages in annexed East Jerusalem overnight between Monday and Tuesday, the municipality said. Border police guards and municipality inspectors took part in the demolition of the houses in Kalandia and Issawiya, Palestinian villages in East Jerusalem, a spokesperson for the Jerusalem municipality told Xinhua. According to the spokesperson, Israeli authorities issued warrants for the demolition of the structures as they were unlicensed. Whereas Israel Radio reported the houses were in their final stages of their construction and were not populated, Palestinian media reported some of the homes were housed by families. Local clashes erupted between Israeli forces and local residents during the demolition, causing no injuries or damage. Israel occupied East Jerusalem, home to more than 300,000 Palestinians nowadays, in the 1967 Mideast War, along with the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Golan Heights territories. The state annexed the east Jerusalem territories in 1981, in a move deemed illegal by the international community. It had also authorized throughout the years the construction of homes in Jewish neighborhoods in these areas, deemed illegal settlements by the Palestinians and the international community. Palestinians living in East Jerusalem areas suffer from poor infrastructure and inadequate services. About 82 percent of the Palestinians in East Jerusalem live in poverty in densely-populated neighborhoods, according to a recent report by the Jerusalem Institute, an Israeli research center. They rarely receive approvals by the municipality to build new structures, creating a severe housing problem for them. Over the last decades, East Jerusalem has grown with no official master plan or outline, which led to a widespread phenomenon of illegal building. The municipality estimates there are about 20,000 unauthorized residential units and public buildings. However, an Israeli planning body approved in April a plan to built 2,200 housing units for Palestinians in East Jerusalem. The new neighborhood, called Arab al-Sawahra, would mark the largest construction project for Palestinian families in East Jerusalem since it was captured by Israel. Earlier this month, Israeli leaders announced 240 housing units would be built in Ramot, Har Homa and Pisgat Ze'ev, all Jewish settlement neighborhoods in annexed East Jerusalem. The announcement was coupled with another statement on the construction of 600 housing units in Beit Safafa, a Palestinian village in East Jerusalem. Settlers and right wing parties in Israel have fiercely opposed the construction plans for East Jerusalem Palestinians, calling authorities to withhold them. GENEVA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A total of 37,890 South Sudanese have been forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in neighboring Uganda since fighting between warring groups broke out on July 8, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported Tuesday. "To put this into context, in the past three weeks there have been more refugee arrivals in Uganda than in the entire first six months of 2016," the agency said in a statement. Most of those arriving are coming from South Sudan's Eastern Equatoria region, Juba and other areas. Newly arrived refugees in Uganda have reported ongoing fighting between factions loyal to South Sudan's President Salva Kiir and his rival Riek Machar, as well as looting by militias, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and indiscriminate attacks on civilians. "Some of the women and children told us they were separated from their husbands or fathers by armed groups, who are reportedly forcibly recruiting men into their ranks and preventing from crossing the border," UNHCR reported. Many transit and reception centers in Uganda are strained as a result of the upsurge of arrivals. Since the conflict in the African nation began in December 2013, some 1.69 million people have been internally displaced by protracted fighting. A further 831,000 South Sundanese civilians have been forced to seek refugee in other countries, mainly in Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda. An aerial photo taken on Sept. 25, 2015 from a seaplane of Hainan Maritime Safety Administration shows cruise vessel Haixun 1103 heading to the Yacheng 13-1 drilling rig during a patrol in south China Sea. (Xinhua/Zhao Yingquan) LONDON, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The South China Sea arbitration is in essence "a political farce under the cloak of law," Chinese Ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming wrote in an article published Sunday. "Such a recklessly partial tribunal creates more problems than it solves, and intensifies rather than solves disputes," Liu wrote in a signed article published by the British newspaper The Sunday Telegraph. In the article, the ambassador stressed that a legitimate arbitration needs to meet certain conditions, but the tribunal fails to do so. "First, the tribunal shall have jurisdiction over the subject matter. Second, the arbitrators shall be impartial and authoritative. Third, the procedure must be reasonable. Fourth, the ruling on the substantive issues should help resolve disputes," he argued, noting that the South China Sea arbitration does not meet any of these conditions. On jurisdiction, Liu said the subject matter of the arbitration initiated by the Philippines, and the real intention behind it, is in essence related to territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation. "Issues of territorial sovereignty are clearly beyond the scope of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and issues of maritime delimitation have been excluded by the declaration that China made years ago in accordance with UNCLOS," he elaborated. "The arbitral tribunal in fact expanded its power into areas outside of its jurisdiction," added the diplomat. The article pointed out that the tribunal is "an ad hoc body having nothing to do with the International Court of Justice" and its composition is "questionable." "None of the five arbitrators is from Asia or has much knowledge of Asian history and culture. Most inconceivable in the arbitration process was that two arbitrators totally abandoned the opinions that they used to hold," the article said. "This only increases doubts about the impartiality, representativeness and the authoritativeness of the tribunal." Liu also wrote that "the procedure of the arbitration went against normal practice" and that the dispute settlement system of the Convention requires that bilateral channels between state parties come before arbitration. "However, disregarding prior bilateral agreements between China and the Philippines to resolve the disputes through negotiations and consultations, the tribunal forced ahead with the arbitration proceedings," he observed. "Such procedure is utterly unreasonable and it contravenes the general practice of international arbitration under the Convention." Quoting an old saying "There's no free lunch", the ambassador said it "sums up the actions of the tribunal, paid with Philippine money." "To cater to the Philippines' claim, the tribunal shrank the Taiping Island into a rock and was denounced by all Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait," he emphasized in his article. To save the Philippines from breaching its own commitment to bilateral negotiations, Liu said, the tribunal "belittled and nullified the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) reached between China and ASEAN countries." The article also quoted the view of a former legal advisor at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Chris Whomersley, who argued in a recently published law research paper that the tribunal is "potentially destabilizing" the overall stability of international relations. "The impressive-looking arbitration is in essence a political farce under the cloak of law. Pretty words about protecting the law cannot gloss over the illegal essence and practice of the tribunal," Liu stressed. Noting that the law has been "a victim of politics" throughout this farce, he further explained: "If such a farce were regarded as international law, and if international disputes were to be 'settled' in this way, the authority of international law and the peace between nations would be compromised." "By not accepting or recognizing the ruling, China is not violating but upholding the authority and dignity of international law," he said. In the article, the ambassador reiterated China's consistent position to resolve issues of territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation through peaceful negotiations. "We welcome the new Philippine government's recent statement about its willingness to re-open consultation and dialogue with China on the South China Sea issue," said Liu. "We hope this positive gesture will be followed by real actions and that the Philippines will return to the track of negotiation at an early date, work with China to properly manage differences and jointly maintain the peace and stability of the South China Sea," he concluded. NOUAKCHOTT, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Arab states have reiterated their commitment to jointly fight terrorism and support "territorial integrity of the member states" at a summit in Mauritania. The 27th edition of the Arab League Summit ended on Monday in Mauritania with the adoption of a document dubbed "Nouakchott Declaration." The declaration summarized recommendations and commitments focusing on the fight against terrorism in the Arab world, the Palestine issue, development and cooperation between member states of the Pan-Arab organization. The statement reaffirmed the need to "harmonize efforts by Arab states to defeat the scourge of terrorism that continues to expand, and also fight all forms of extremism." Although it was on the initial agenda, the issue of setting up a joint military force did not feature in the final recommendations. The document pointed out that the Palestine issue remains a priority for all Arab countries, and its resolution is a major factor for stability and peace in the sub-region. It noted that all Arab countries will continue to support the "fight of the Palestinian people in the face of occupation and systematic aggression from Israel." The declaration said the Arab countries favoured the resolution of the Palestinian problem with respect to the 1967 boundaries. FEWER LEADERS ATTENDED THE SUMMIT Only eight presidents, out of the 22 within the Arab League, attended the 27th edition of the Arab League Summit that was held for only one day, instead of the scheduled two days, in Nouakchott. Besides Syria, which is suspended from the organization, 13 other leaders were represented by their respective government ministers. Those present included heads of state of Qatar, Kuwait, Sudan, Libya, Djibouti, Somalia, Comores and Yemen. The leaders took turns to address the summit, promising to support the resolution of the Palestinian conflict and boost cooperation between the League's member states. Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno, who had been invited as a guest, called for broader cooperation between the African Union and the Arab League, especially in anti-terror war. "Terrorism is the biggest challenge facing the world, and one that continues to threaten security and stability of a number of countries, putting at risk the lives of the population," Deby Itno said. The Chadian president equally invited Arab investors to "take advantage of the opportunities presented on the African continent in order to contribute to the continent's economic development." PROMOTION OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT The "Nouakchott Declaration" that was read out by the Secretary General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit from Egypt, equally emphasized the need for member states to create a favourable environment for economic, cultural and social development of Arab states. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir submitted a proposal in the economic sector, calling for enhanced research to achieve food sufficiency within the Arab world. "We shall offer land and water for large scale agriculture," he said, calling on investors from the League to support the project to achieve food sufficiency." Although the 27th Arab League Summit, the first to be organized by Mauritania, was a success in terms of organization, many observers believe there were fewer concrete decisions from the summit. MANILA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday that the Muslim rebel groups should sever their connection with the terrorist Abu Sayyaf group for the peace process to succeed. Duterte said that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) were supplying weapons to the Abu Sayyaf rebels. "I want to hear from MI(LF) and MN(LF) that they have no connection anymore with the Abu Sayyaf because the arms of the Abu Sayyaf belong to them," he said in a speech in northern province of Nueva Ecija in front of the government troops. Duterte said there would be "no significant result" in the talks if the MILF and the MNLF would not cut their ties with the Abu Sayyaf whom he ordered to be crushed by the military during his first State of the Nation Address on Monday. He even promised to provide a safe conduct pass to former MNLF leader Nur Misuari, who has been in hiding for instigating rogue MNLF members to take arms in southern city of Zamboanga three years ago, so that he can participate in the talks. While the Philippines has signed separate peace agreements with the MNLF and the MILF, they continue to press the government for the implementation of the deals. DALIAN, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A plane took the ashes of the 23 victims of a tour bus fire in Taiwan back to Dalian in northeast China's Liaoning Province on Tuesday. The 23 tourists, who died in the bus fire near the Taoyuan Airport in Taiwan on July 19, were cremated on the island and flown back by a Taiwan UNI Air plane on Tuesday night, Dalian Taiwan affairs office said in a statement. Fifty-one relatives and 20 members of the Dalian city work group accompanied the ashes, it said. Twenty-six people were killed when a tour bus crashed into a highway barrier and caught fire near Taiwan Taoyuan Airport on July 19. They included 23 tourists and a tour guide from the Chinese mainland, a local driver and a local tour guide. The tourist group included 14 women, seven men, two girls and a boy. Each family of the deceased will receive 1.3 million yuan (about 200,000 million U.S. dollars) in compensation. One family has decided to file a lawsuit, the statement said. Members of armed police force take part in a joint anti-terror drill in Kaxgar, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 6, 2011. (Xinhua/Yuan Man) LONDON, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Britain's decision to proscribe the East Turkistan Islamic Movement was taken "after extensive consideration" and "built on robust evidence," the British Home Office has said. Britain's latest list of proscribed terrorist organizations, published on July 15 by the Home Office, has officially proscribed the terrorist group Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), also known as the East Turkistan Islamic Party, East Turkistan Islamic Movement or Hizb al-Islami al-Turkistani. "Decisions on whether and when to proscribe a particular organization are taken after extensive consideration and in light of a full assessment of available information," the Home Office said in a written response to a recent Xinhua interview. "It is important that decisions are built on robust evidence, do not adversely impact on any on-going investigations and support other members of the international community in the global fight against terrorism," the Home Office added. The department also noted that TIP has been banned by the United Nations and is also sanctioned by the United States under the Terrorist Exclusion list. But the Home Office declined to comment on the specific reasons why the British government decided to ban TIP this month, saying, "It would not be appropriate for us to discuss any specific intelligence that informs our decision to proscribe organizations." In its updated list of proscribed terrorist groups or organizations, the Home Office says that,"TIP is an Islamic terrorist and separatist organization founded in 1989 by Uygur militants in western China." TIP aims to establish an independent caliphate in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China and to name it East Turkistan, says the document. It is based in Pakistan and operates in China, Central Asia, South Asia and Syria, says the document. "The group has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in China, the latest of these being in April 2014. TIP has links to a number of terrorist groups, including al-Qaida." In November 2015, TIP released the 18th issue of its magazine Islamic Turkistan through the Global Islamic Media Front, detailing TIP's jihad against the Chinese authorities, says the document. "Video footage from September 2015 shows TIP hosting training camps in areas controlled by the Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan," it says. "More recently, TIP has maintained an active and visible presence in the Syrian war and has published a number of video clips of its activities," says the document. Examples of TIP involvement in Syria from March to April 2016 include TIP claiming a joint attack with jihadist group Jund al-Aqsa in the Sahl al-Ghab region and publishing a video of a suicide bomb attack in April 2016. A video published by the terrorist group in March 2016 promotes the victories of TIP in Syria and calls on Muslims to join jihad; and a video slide show published in April 2016 shows fighters and children in training, the Home Office file says. Earlier this month, British lawmakers debated and passed a draft order to add four terrorist groups, including TIP, to the country's updated list of proscribed terrorist organizations. John Hayes, the then minister of state for security at the Home Office, said during the debate, "These groups are particularly relevant to south and south-east Asia but, significantly, also to the ongoing conflict in Syria." He also noted that Britain "must continue to demonstrate our support for other members of the international community in their efforts to tackle terrorism wherever it occurs." "Proscription is an important tool in those efforts; it is part of the government's strategy to disrupt terrorist activity," he told the British Parliament. SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Authorities Tuesday relaxed curfew in most parts of Indian-controlled Kashmir including Srinagar city, the summer capital after 17 days of strict restrictions. However, offices, educational institutions, and businesses remained closed in wake of a shutdown call given by separatist groups. The deployments of police and paramilitary were withdrawn from the roads and barricades of steel and coils of concertina were lifted to allow movement of people into the city. The curfew was lifted after government announced there would be no restrictions in Srinagar. "According to District Magistrate Srinagar Farooq Ahmad Lone, there will be no restrictions in any part of district Srinagar today," a government spokesman said. Following the withdrawal of government forces, hundreds of angry residents took to roads in old parts of Srinagar city shouting pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. The residents lit bonfires of used tyres and cardboard boxes to demonstrate anger against New Delhi. The mosques dotting the old city at once blared with songs praising militants and advocating the region's secession from India. Locals said clashes broke out in the city with youth throwing stones on the government forces and the latter responding with tear gas and warning shots. Around a dozen people were injured in the clashes. Officials, however, have not relaxed curfew in the southern Anantnag and Pulwama, which erupted after the killing of a top militant commander of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), Burhan Muzaffar Wani, along with two of his associates on July 8. The 22-year-old was poster boy of HM, region's indigenous militant outfit. Wani's death triggered violent protests and clashes after which authorities imposed an indefinite curfew in Muslim-majority areas of the region. Police firing on civilian protesters defying restrictions has so far resulted in the death of around 50 people, mostly teenagers and youth, according to local media reports. The local government has placed key separatist leaders under house arrest fearing their participation in demonstrations would intensify anti-India protests and mobilize people in large numbers. On Monday, police detained Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to foil their Anantnag march. Separatist have given a protest call up to Friday against the civilian killings in ongoing protests. Cellphone and internet services continue to remain suspended in the region since July 8 in a bid to prevent people from mobilizing. Reports of clashes poured in from Anantnag and other places. On Sunday, India's federal Home Minister Rajnath Singh appealed to restore calm during his two-day visit to the region. Singh met several delegations, mostly politicians from pro-India parties, and held meetings with the region's chief minister, governor and security agencies. In 2010, a similar wave of violence hit the region and claimed over 100 lives during clashes that continued for months. A separatist movement and guerrilla war challenging New Delhi's rule has been going on in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989. Source: Xinhua| 2016-07-26 22:27:25|Editor: Tian Shaohui Video Player Close ISTANBUL, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Turkey has been pressing hard on the U.S. to hand over an exiled Turkish cleric for his alleged role in the failed coup plot that roiled the country ten days ago, further straining the soured ties between the two allies. Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin fired the latest salvo of harsh demands on Monday by writing in The New York Times to present "testimony and evidence" obtained from coup plotters that are pointing to Fetullah Gulen and request his extradition once again for being behind the overthrow bid. The Turkish government has confirmed that the failed bid was organized by followers of Gulen, who is accused of running a campaign through his Gulen Movement to topple the government by means of infiltrating Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary, to form a "parallel state." More than 2,300 institutions or entities administered by the Gulen Movement have been shut down in a widening crackdown launched in the wake of the coup attempt, which left at least 246 people dead and 2,186 others injured. In addition, more than 13,000 suspects have been detained over the coup, mostly from the military, police and judiciary. Both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim have called for Gulen's extradition, with the premier even declaring that "any country that stands behind Fethullah Gulen is not our friend." U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have both voiced readiness to consider Ankara's request, but asked for solid evidence presented. They also denied any prior knowledge or U.S. involvement in the plot. "The United States of America is behind this coup," Turkey's Labor and Social Security Minister Suleyman Soylu said in a televised speech. "The psychopath named Fethullah Gulen is being supported by America." Cahit Armagan Dilek, a Turkish security and foreign policy analyst, said Russia had reportedly detected the coup attempt and issued a warning to Turkey, an episode the Kremlin spokesman did not deny. Dilek, a former staff officer in the Turkish Armed Forces, voiced doubt about the U.S. and NATO's failure to do so, referring to the fact U.S. military had moved in equipment after gaining access to the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey in July 2015. Hasan Unal, head of the department of international relations at Atilim University in Ankara, shared the sentiment. "It is not possible for a country like the U.S. with high technology not to detect" unusual communications and other activities within the Turkish military as Russia did, he said. Unal mentioned the facts that many retired American soldiers and experts spoke on TV programs in favor of the coup while it was still unfolding on the night of July 15 and early next morning. "U.S. foreign policies are full of wrongdoings and it did not surprise me in Turkey either," he said. The analyst warned of more damage to be done to Turkey-U.S. relations in case of Washington's failure to comply with Ankara's extradition demand. As Turkey is situated in the volatile Middle East, the Obama administration has been trying to solicit its full support in the battle against the Islamic State. The two NATO allies, however, have been engaged in an escalating war of words for months over how to treat Kurds in Syria. Ankara, fearful of the Kurdish population taking advantage of the chaos to carve out more land for a potential independent state in northern Syria, has called for Washington to halt its aid and list the Kurdish Democratic Union Party and its military unit, the People's Protection Units, as terror groups as Turkey did. Washington, however, sees the Kurish groups as effective ground forces in the operations against the Islamic State and continues its support to them, leading to a rise in anti-American sentiment in Turkey. Turkish journalist Tolga Tanis warned of "a turning point" in bilateral relations if Washington does not change its position on the extradition issue. "As a journalist, I would like to convey the impression I had from the public: If the U.S. continues protecting Gulen, the hypothesis suggesting that the U.S. made Gulen plot the coup will be widely accepted among Turkish people," wrote Yahya Bostan, another Turkish journalist. Image taken on July 29, 2015 and provided by Electroingenieria S.A. (ELGIN) company shows workers receiving materials from the vessel that transports the first machines for the preliminary construction works of the dams "Nestor Kirchner" and "Jorge Cepernic", in the port of Punta Quilla, Santa Cruz province, 2,810 km away of Buenos Aires city, capital of Argentina. (Xinhua/ELGIN) BUENOS AIRES, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Former President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Enrique V. Iglesias said on Monday that Asian investments are increasingly important to Argentina. In an interview with the Cronista Comercial daily newspaper, Iglesias said that Asia, especially China, is showing a strong interest in investment in Argentina. "This is not a bad moment in terms of investments but we must work to maintain the confidence of these countries," he said. Iglesias, currently the director of the Ibero-American Council for Productivity and Competitiveness (CIPC), was in Argentina to discuss with the government about how to improve the country's competitiveness. Asked about whether the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) should seek to grow closer to the Pacific Alliance, Iglesias said the bloc "should first strength itself internally." The taking of the official photograph of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) and Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Health Ministers summit, is held in the Mercosur headquarters in Montevideo, capital of Uruguay, Feb. 3, 2016. (Xinhua/Nicolas Celaya) "We are not doing as much as we can internally. To do, we must make the bloc more modern and flexible," said the economist. "Mercosur covers a very important part of Latin America. From this stance, we must seek openings to other markets, with the Pacific being a very important market." Looking at Argentina, he said the country "is living a macro-economic realignment. This is crucial so it may face the challenges facing Latin America and the world." According to Iglesias, the region is facing a new reality, which means countries like Argentina must seek greater productivity. The former head of the IDB reminded that "countries in Europe see SMEs with 80 percent of the competitiveness of a large company. In Latin America, this hardly reaches 20 percent. We cannot underestimate the fact that this is an important challenge." JUBA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan on Tuesday formally endorsed Taban Deng Gai as the first vice president in a power-sharing government. The swearing-in followed the sacking of Riek Machar on Monday, throwing a peace deal signed in August 2015 into tatters amid fears that the world's youngest country could slide back to civil war. President Kiir on Monday appointed Gai, a former chief negotiator of the former rebels Sudan People's liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) after a faction of senior SPLM-IO members in Juba on Saturday endorsed Gai as head of the movement following Machar's exit from Juba after days of clashes between his forces and those loyal to President Kiir. In his acceptance speech, Gai said he opted to step in as the leader of the SPLM-IO to fill a vacuum created by Riek's absence and also to save the August 2015 pact. "Today I'm swearing in as the first vice president of this country. I have never struggled or dreamt of it, but circumstances forced us to fill a vacuum so that we save our nation. I assure the nation that will help you in moving forward this country," said Gai. President Kiir last Thursday gave Machar a 48-hour ultimatum to return to Juba to join him with the implementation of the peace agreement. Machar, however, declined the request insisting that he will only return to the capital Juba if a neutral regional force is deployed to separate the two rival army factions that clashed on July 7 leading to death of more than 270 people, mostly soldiers. President Kiir on Tuesday defended his actions to appoint Gai as his deputy, maintaining that he followed recommendations from senior opposition leaders in Juba to get a replacement for Machar. "The move taken by the SPLM-IO is a legal move. This was a decision from the top leadership of the opposition. So you have to talk to everybody in the country and internationally," Kiir said. "What I want from you is to silence the guns and stop the war. Let us move forward and implement the peace agreement that we have signed because our people need peace," Kiir said. The South Sudan leader also said he will not allow additional foreign troops to enter his country, adding that he is ready to work with the SPLM-IO and the international community to implement the peace agreement. "The agreement did not stop the war. I want us really to see where we go wrong. Let us continue to look for the loopholes so that we fill them with whatever is needed so that our people remain in peace," he said. A spokesperson for Machar, James Gatdet Dak, said the removal of Machar as the opposition's leader was 'illegal', adding that right procedures and party rules were not followed during the leadership change. South Sudan just recovered from more than two years of conflict following the formation of transitional unity government in April were Machar was put as first vice president before his sacking by President Kiir Monday evening. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (R) attends a meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken (2nd L) in Ankara Turkey, on ,June 17, 2016. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) ISTANBUL, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Turkey has been pressing hard on the U.S. to hand over an exiled Turkish cleric for his alleged role in the failed coup plot that roiled the country ten days ago, further straining the soured ties between the two allies. Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin fired the latest salvo of harsh demands on Monday by writing in The New York Times to present "testimony and evidence" obtained from coup plotters that are pointing to Fetullah Gulen and request his extradition once again for being behind the overthrow bid. The Turkish government has confirmed that the failed bid was organized by followers of Gulen, who is accused of running a campaign through his Gulen Movement to topple the government by means of infiltrating Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary, to form a "parallel state." More than 2,300 institutions or entities administered by the Gulen Movement have been shut down in a widening crackdown launched in the wake of the coup attempt, which left at least 246 people dead and 2,186 others injured. In addition, more than 13,000 suspects have been detained over the coup, mostly from the military, police and judiciary. Both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim have called for Gulen's extradition, with the premier even declaring that "any country that stands behind Fethullah Gulen is not our friend." U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have both voiced readiness to consider Ankara's request, but asked for solid evidence presented. They also denied any prior knowledge or U.S. involvement in the plot. "The United States of America is behind this coup," Turkey's Labor and Social Security Minister Suleyman Soylu said in a televised speech. "The psychopath named Fethullah Gulen is being supported by America." Cahit Armagan Dilek, a Turkish security and foreign policy analyst, said Russia had reportedly detected the coup attempt and issued a warning to Turkey, an episode the Kremlin spokesman did not deny. Dilek, a former staff officer in the Turkish Armed Forces, voiced doubt about the U.S. and NATO's failure to do so, referring to the fact U.S. military had moved in equipment after gaining access to the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey in July 2015. Hasan Unal, head of the department of international relations at Atilim University in Ankara, shared the sentiment. "It is not possible for a country like the U.S. with high technology not to detect" unusual communications and other activities within the Turkish military as Russia did, he said. Unal mentioned the facts that many retired American soldiers and experts spoke on TV programs in favor of the coup while it was still unfolding on the night of July 15 and early next morning. "U.S. foreign policies are full of wrongdoings and it did not surprise me in Turkey either," he said. The analyst warned of more damage to be done to Turkey-U.S. relations in case of Washington's failure to comply with Ankara's extradition demand. As Turkey is situated in the volatile Middle East, the Obama administration has been trying to solicit its full support in the battle against the Islamic State. The two NATO allies, however, have been engaged in an escalating war of words for months over how to treat Kurds in Syria. Ankara, fearful of the Kurdish population taking advantage of the chaos to carve out more land for a potential independent state in northern Syria, has called for Washington to halt its aid and list the Kurdish Democratic Union Party and its military unit, the People's Protection Units, as terror groups as Turkey did. Washington, however, sees the Kurish groups as effective ground forces in the operations against the Islamic State and continues its support to them, leading to a rise in anti-American sentiment in Turkey. Turkish journalist Tolga Tanis warned of "a turning point" in bilateral relations if Washington does not change its position on the extradition issue. "As a journalist, I would like to convey the impression I had from the public: If the U.S. continues protecting Gulen, the hypothesis suggesting that the U.S. made Gulen plot the coup will be widely accepted among Turkish people," wrote Yahya Bostan, another Turkish journalist. TIKRIT, Iraq, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A woman and her four daughters were killed Tuesday as a roadside bomb planted in Shirqat by Islamic State (IS) militants exploded, according to a provincial security source. The source added that the bomb apparently targeted civilians fleeing the militant-seized town of Shirqat in Iraq's Salahudin province. The mother and her four daughters were killed on a road outside Shirqat, 280 km north of Baghdad, after fleeing their homes they sought help from security forces outside the besieged town, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Families from Shirqat were prevented from leaving their homes by IS militants who used them as human shields during armed military attacks. However, the siege upon the town imposed by security forces has forced most extremist militants to flee the town towards the IS major stronghold in Mosul, 400 km north of Baghdad. The escape of several IS militants weakened their grip on the town, enabling civilians to leave their homes, following long-term repeated power blackouts, acute food shortages, scarce drinking water and medicine. Meanwhile, Iraq's Ministry of Migration and the Displaced said on Tuesday that over 6,866 families fled Shirqat and surrounding villages, which have been under extremist militant control since 2014. The mass migration comes as security forces attempt to free the towns of Shirqat and Qayyara during their major offensive targeting liberating the IS's stronghold in Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh. Iraq has witnessed increased violence since the IS took over parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014. Tosday, several people place the blame of the chronic instability, cycle of violence and rise of extremist groups, such as the IS, on the United States. Following the United States' invasion of Iraq in March 2003, under the pretext of existing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, currently exists as a mere rhetorical threat, with no factual evidence presented by International Inspection Committees assigned to the case. The war waged by the United States against Iraq eventually ousted then executed former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, however weapons of mass destruction have yet to be found. HARARE, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A Zimbabwean cooking oil processing company said Tuesday it is seeking removal from the U.S. sanctions list after shedding off a minority stake previously owned by a state-owned entity that is on U.S. sanctions. Olivine Industries, once Zimbabwe's major oil processor and producer of fast moving consumer goods, is struggling to keep afloat after being slapped with U.S. sanctions over a decade ago. The company was put on the sanctions list due to a 1.4 percent stake that was owned by the Industrial Development Corporation of Zimbabwe (IDCZ) which is currently on U.S. sanctions. On Tuesday, chairman of Olivine Industries Peter Madara told a parliamentary committee that the IDCZ early this month disposed of its stake in Olivine to a local shareholder, paving way for the oil processor to start negotiations with the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). "We have changed our shareholding structure and we hope to engage OFAC to see if we can be taken off the sanctions list," said Madara. "So we are now in the process of applying to OFAC to be removed from the sanctions list." Madara said the sanctions made it difficult for the oil processor to trade freely as banks were not keen on doing business with it. He added that the company's 1.9 million U.S. dollars was blocked by OFAC in 2012 and this had severely affected the company's viability. It is currently operating at between 25 and 30 percent capacity utilization owing to shortages of raw materials, a liquidity crunch and stiff competition from imports, among other challenges. The U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe in the early 2000s following a fallout with Harare over alleged human rights abuses. However, the EU in recent years gradually removed the sanctions with President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace and a state arms firm being the only ones still under the bloc's sanctions. The U.S. has largely kept the sanctions in place although in January this year it removed two Zimbabwean banks from the sanctions list. BAKU, July 26 (Xinhua)-- Windows were shattered and homes shaken on Tuesday in the town of Shirvan in Azerbaijan, 125 km west of the capital Baku, after a huge blast rocked the Araz armory owned by the country's Ministry of Defense Industry. Several powerful explosions took place at 15:35 p.m. local time (1035GMT), forcing nearby residents to leave their homes, the ministry said in a statement. According to local media, the fire brought casualties and injuries to onsite workers, although there are no reports on the number of victims so far. More than five ambulances raced to the scene to send the injured to the local hospital. The Ministry of Defense Industry told the media that an investigation is underway. MOSCOW, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Senior Russian and Turkish government officials met on Tuesday in Moscow to discuss bilateral ties as the leaders of both countries are scheduled to meet in August. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich met on Tuesday with his Turkish counterpart Mehmet Simsek to discuss a number of projects hit by restrictions imposed by Moscow on Ankara after the downing of a Russian fighter jet by Turkey. Local media reported that the two sides discussed resuming the building of a stream pipeline for Russian natural gas to be sent to Turkey and construction of Turkey's first nuclear power plant. They also discussed issues related to resuming charter flights between the two countries, the lifting of visa restrictions and the ban on imports of Turkish agricultural products. After consultations between the Turkish delegation and various Russian ministries, Dvorkovich said, "A solid basis for the planned meeting of the heads of states will be prepared." Russian Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev and Turkey's Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci also met on Tuesday to discuss measures to help Turkish companies return to the Russian market, and resume trade and investment cooperation programs. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in St. Petersburg on Aug. 9. "This will be the first meeting for quite a long time, the first after the two leaders have managed to turn the page, so there will be no shortage of topics for discussion," Peskov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti news agency. Contact between the Russian and Turkish governments have already resumed with the aim to mend bilateral trade and economic relations, soured by Turkey's dawning of a Russian Su-24 bomber in November near the Syrian-Turkish border. Russia agreed to restore ties with Turkey after Erdogan sent his apologies last month to Putin over the death of the Su-24 pilot. BANGKOK, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The cabinet of Thailand approved construction of two red railway lines at a cost of 44.16 billion baht (1.26 billion U.S. dollars) in the capital Bangkok on Tuesday. The newly approved 25.9-kilometer-long lines are projects of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT). The Light Red Line runs from Bang Sue to Hua Mark, while the dark one runs from Bang Sue to Hua Lamphong. Deputy Transport Minister Ormsin Chivapruck said the SRT will forward the terms of reference for the two projects to Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak in August and SRT is expected to call bids for both projects in September, Khaosod reported. The construction is planned to start in February 2017, said Kobsak Pootrakool, vice minister at the Prime Minister's Office, adding that both lines are expected to open to public in 2020. "Once this project is completed, it will change the lives of people in Bangkok," Kobsak said. The two new routes will link with another phase of the red line under construction running from Bang Sue, to Don Meuang Airport and finally to Rangsit, which is set to open in 2018. According to Bangkok Post, these train projects are among about 20 infrastructure projects that the government hopes to get underway before 2018, which is an attempt to revive the sluggish Thai economy. TANGSHAN, Hebei, July 26 (Xinhua) -- For 40 years, Zhao Shangang tried to find the two nurses who treated him like family after he was pulled from the rubble of his home in Tangshan following the horrific 1976 earthquake. On finally being reunited with the two women in Qingdao last month, a city 700 km from Tangshan, he was overwhelmed by tears and unable to speak, despite having heavily rehearsed a thank you speech. During the aftermath of the quake, Chu Meiying and Wang Zhenyu were attending nursing school in Qingdao and working as interns at the county hospital where Zhao was treated. Zhao, just 11 years old at the time, was one of more than 100,000 survivors who were transferred to distant cities for treatment after the magnitude 7.8 quake flattened Tangshan, destroying virtually all public facilities, on July 28, 1976. "Chu and Wang treated me like their own brother," Zhao said in an interview with Xinhua Monday. "With their meager allowance, they often bought me nutritious food." Before Zhao returned home, the two nurses completed their internship and went back to school. "They gave me a notebook enclosed with their photos and autographs as a gift. But I was too young to express my thanks properly, and too careless to ask for an address," he said. On returning to Tangshan, Zhao began his 40-year search for the two nurses. He called health authorities in every district and county in Qingdao. "People just told me it was impossible to find someone in a city of nine million people if you only know their names." His letters to the county hospital and the nursing school were never answered, but his dream came true after he posted a message with the two womens' names and photos on WeChat in June. The message was forwarded millions of times among WeChat users, eventually helping him find Chu and Wang, and a meeting was arranged for them in Qingdao's Laoshan District. "No words can express my thanks. Their love and care helped me live through the darkest days," said Zhao. HUMAN KINDNESS Zhao is not the only Tangshan resident who feels he owes thanks. Sun Hu habitually calls an old obstetrician in Shanghai to say hello and send holiday greetings. Dr. Zhou Juanhua, 92, brought Sun into the world in a tent in Shanghai on August 4, 1976, just a week after the quake. Sun's mother was already suffering from labor pains when she was pulled from the rubble of her home. "My mother said she had a difficult labor; there was no water, electricity or even a table in the tent. She was placed on some old newspapers on muddy ground, and Dr. Zhou knelt on the floor for seven hours to help her deliver," said Sun. Her mother named her "Hu", which is an alias of Shanghai, to convey the family's gratitude to Dr. Zhou and her team of medical workers. Coincidentally, Sun's husband was born on the same day. "His name is Guo Zhenjun: Zhen for earthquake and Jun for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) that saved thousands of lives from the ruins of the Tangshan quake," said Sun. The quake claimed more than 242,000 lives and about 7,200 entire families died in their sleep. Within days of the quake, thousands of people flooded into Tangshan to help with the rescue operation. Among them were 100,000 PLA soldiers, 20,000 medical workers and 30,000 technical workers. Many, many others lent a helping hand. Letters and remittance slips sent from unnamed sources nationwide are still kept at a public library in downtown Tangshan. One of the letters, from northwest China's Gansu Province, reads, "Please accept the 200 yuan I have saved and give it to people in need in quake-ravaged Tangshan." A retired civil affairs official in central Henan was collecting relief supplies for Tangshan after the quake when he saw a pig tied to a tree outside his office. "Next to the pig was a big sack of wheat. Under the sack I found a note, which read, 'a little something from my family,'" he said. GIVING SOMETHING BACK Chang Qing, 81, a native of Tangshan and veteran of the Korean War, was working as a photographer at the city's exhibition hall when the quake struck. All seven of his veteran friends died in the disaster. "As a survivor, I felt obliged to do something for the sake of the dead," he says. He began recording scenes of the devastating earthquake, the rescue progress as well as Tangshan's post-quake reconstruction on his camera. "For 40 years, I took photos of Tangshan: how new homes, factories and public facilities rose from the ruins and how the 4,202 quake orphans grew up." His two-bedroom apartment is now piled with photos and negatives, which he treasures. "Tangshan is a city stained with blood and tears. It's just a relief I can do something for it." For quake survivors like Chang, the disaster did not just leave a scar on their minds, but also injected them with a sense of heroism and selflessness, prompting them to lend a helping hand to those in need. Shortly after a powerful earthquake shook southwest China's Sichuan Province in 2008, a team of 600 volunteers from Tangshan arrived to help. Zhang Xiangqing, an orphan from the 1976 quake, donated 110 million yuan in cash, the largest sum from any individual donor. When Dong Huijuan, China's first Ph.D. specializing in the psychology of post-disaster trauma, gave counseling to quake orphans in Sichuan, she could not shake off the nightmares of her youth. The 1976 quake killed her parents and brother, and left the 17-year-old sitting alone in the ruins for three days straight. "It was the same scene in Sichuan, the same rubble and the same tearful children," she said. "History sometimes repeats itself, but I was determined to lift those kids from their nightmares." An Iraqi policeman inspects the aftermath scene of a mortar and bombing attack on the Sayyid Mohammed shrine in the Balad area, located 70 kilometres (around 45 miles) north of Baghdad, on July 8, 2016. (AFP/Xinhua) TIKRIT, Iraq, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A woman and her four daughters were killed Tuesday as a roadside bomb planted in Shirqat by Islamic State (IS) militants exploded, according to a provincial security source. The source added that the bomb apparently targeted civilians fleeing the militant-seized town of Shirqat in Iraq's Salahudin province. The mother and her four daughters were killed on a road outside Shirqat, 280 km north of Baghdad, after fleeing their homes they sought help from security forces outside the besieged town, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Families from Shirqat were prevented from leaving their homes by IS militants who used them as human shields during armed military attacks. However, the siege upon the town imposed by security forces has forced most extremist militants to flee the town towards the IS major stronghold in Mosul, 400 km north of Baghdad. The escape of several IS militants weakened their grip on the town, enabling civilians to leave their homes, following long-term repeated power blackouts, acute food shortages, scarce drinking water and medicine. Meanwhile, Iraq's Ministry of Migration and the Displaced said on Tuesday that over 6,866 families fled Shirqat and surrounding villages, which have been under extremist militant control since 2014. The mass migration comes as security forces attempt to free the towns of Shirqat and Qayyara during their major offensive targeting liberating the IS's stronghold in Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh. Iraq has witnessed increased violence since the IS took over parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014. Tosday, several people place the blame of the chronic instability, cycle of violence and rise of extremist groups, such as the IS, on the United States. Following the United States' invasion of Iraq in March 2003, under the pretext of existing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, currently exists as a mere rhetorical threat, with no factual evidence presented by International Inspection Committees assigned to the case. The war waged by the United States against Iraq eventually ousted then executed former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, however weapons of mass destruction have yet to be found. PARIS, July 26 (Xinhua) -- French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday condemned "heinous terrorist attack" targeting at a church in northern France, in which a priest was killed. Two armed men with knives entered the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, north France. They seized five people including a priest identified as Jacques Hamal, two nuns and two worshippers. The 84-year-old priest was killed by the two hostage takers and a second one remained in critical condition. Pierre-Henri Brandet, spokesman of the Interior Ministry told BFMTV news channel that the two men were shot dead when they came out of the church apparently to attack police units. Hollande who rushed to the attack scene, added the two assailants claimed links with the Islamic State (IS). "The threat is very high ... We are facing the group of Daesh, who declared war on us. We have to battle by all means," he said. Hollande also called for unity as "what do these terrorists want is to divide us." IS claimed responsibility for the attack, the second one targeting France in several days, according to a report by Le Figaro newspaper. Bomb officers accompanied with sniffer dogs have been deployed to dig in any eventual explosives in the church, he added. According to local reports, one of the attackers was known to intelligence services. He was arrested in 2015 for attempts to join Syrian insurgents before being released with an electronic tag. They added one person was arrested on charge of having connection with one of the knives attackers. The church attack came 12 days after a 31-year-old delivery man killed 84 people by driving a heavy truck into crowd celebrating Bastille Day on July 14 in the southern French city of Nice. Already under fierce critics on failure to maintain national security, Tuesday's assault in France likely to further fuel anger. Nicolas Sarkozy, ex-president and head of the conservative party "Les Republicains" called for a change in security strategy, stressing that "pretexts to incomplete action are not unacceptable." Rushing to the attack scene shortly after the attack, the French president promised to use all the means in the war against terrorism. Last Friday, he announced he would send artillery to Iraqi army as soon as next month to support local forces in their battle against IS. Besides, Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier would be sent to the region by the end of September to "... allow us to intensify strikes against terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq by using our Rafale jets," he said. In the wake of Nice truck attack, French lawmakers approved last week to extend the period of emergency rules to late January 2017 which allow more power to police to search homes and arrest suspects without judicial warrant. It also permit them to dig freely their phones and computers. About 10 months ahead presidential elections, Hollande suffers sliding popularity over his failure to preserve security at home. In a recent ifop poll, 33 percent of people still trust the Socialist leader to overcome security challenge, 19 points down from the support ratings reported after last year's two deadly attacks. ANKARA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Two soldiers were killed and four others wounded on Tuesday by the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) militant attacks, Dogan News Agency reported. The PKK militants attacked the southeastern Turkish provinces of Diyarbakir and Van targeting the Silvan Dam in the district of Diyarbakir. Turkish security forces guarding the dam clashed with militants, in which one soldier lost his life while another was injured during the clash. The PKK militants also resorted to remote-controlled bombs in their attack against a military vehicle in the province of Van in the Edremit district Tuesday, killing one soldier and injuring two others along with a policeman. Over 500 members from the Turkish security forces and thousands of PKK members have died during armed conflict both in Turkey and northern Iraq since last July. Over 40,000 lost their lives in clashes with the PKK since 1984, when the group first started its anti-government attacks. The PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Turkey. Enditem BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Brunei held a reception on Tuesday evening to celebrate the 89th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA). Brunei's deputy minister of defence, First Admiral (Retired) Abdul Aziz, commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF), Major General Mohd Tawih and foreign representatives in Brunei attended the reception. The PLA is undergoing a comprehensive reform, which is intended to "make breakthroughs before 2020 in military administration and joint operational command, optimize the military structure, enhance policy systems and civilian-military integration, and build a modern military with Chinese characteristics," said Yang Jian, Chinese ambassador to Brunei, in a keynote speech at the reception. She added that the PLA will "firmly protect China's national sovereignty, security, territorial integrity, and safeguard the interests of national development and the interests of the Chinese people." "China's national defense policy, which is defensive in nature, remains unchanged." Defense cooperation between China and Brunei has been expanding and deepening throughout the years, said the ambassador. "Exchange of visits, personnel training, and multilateral military exercises have helped the two sides to increase mutual understanding," she said. The ambassador expressed confidence that with the joint efforts of the two sides, the bilateral military relationship will be brought to a new height. TEHRAN, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said Tuesday that the security talks between Iran and Pakistan over the past days have made progress. Tehran and Islamabad have managed to make progress in negotiations about ways to combat the threat of terrorism and its spread in the region, Shamkhani was quoted as saying by Press TV. The grounds have been prepared for the two countries' national security councils to improve bilateral, regional and international cooperation, he said. "The Islamic republic regards a developed and stable Pakistan as the guarantee of its own security and will spare no effort in this regard," Shamkhani said in the second round of official talks with Pakistan's National Security Adviser Nasser Janjua in Tehran on Tuesday. Janjua, for his part, said Tehran and Islamabad must make joint efforts to remove obstacles in the way of strengthening cooperation. Pakistan has always attached importance to a fight against terrorism and welcomes bolstering cooperation with Iran, he said. On Monday, Shamkhani called for joint work with Pakistan to stem terrorism in the region. He urged immediate measures with Pakistan in the fight against terrorism, saying that Tehran would not allow its relations with Islamabad to be destroyed by terrorists seeking insecurity along two neighbors' borders. Shamkhani also blamed some unnamed countries for "upsetting Iran's relations with Pakistan by arming and hiring terrorists for creating insecurity along the common borders." The Iranian official, who was meeting with Janjua in Tehran on Monday, also stressed the necessity for ensuring sustainable border security and joint efforts by the two neighbors in the fight against narcotics smuggling, human and arms trafficking and gangs of outlaws. On Sunday, Iranian police said that it seized more than two tonnes of opium in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan bordering Pakistan. Also, Iran announced on Thursday that it had dismantled a terrorist cell and arrested 40 suspects in the areas bordering Pakistan. The Pakistan-based Jaish al-Adl is a rebel group fighting for the greater rights for Sunni Muslims in the Iranian provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan, and is blamed for numerous attacks on Iran's border posts. Enditem The Pakistani security official is in Tehran for a three-day official visit. BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has sent a message of condolences to Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah over a deadly terrorist attack. In the message, Li said he was shocked by the attack in Kabul that had caused heavy casualties, adding that China strongly condemned it. Li, on behalf of the Chinese government, extended deep condolences to the families of the victims while expressing sympathy to the injured. China firmly opposes terrorism of all forms and will continue to firmly support the Afghanistan government's unremitting efforts to maintain national security and stability and to crack down on terrorism. Two explosions occurred on Saturday in Kabul targeting a peaceful demonstration, killing at least 80 people while injuring over 200. BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- China will gradually increase aid to Africa, a Ministry of Commerce (MOC) official said here on Tuesday. "China's aid to Africa has been carried out in accordance with China's capabilities. The aid to Africa accounts for a limited proportion of China's gross domestic product," said Shu Luomei, an official with the MOC Department of Western Asian and African Affairs. Since 2000, China has helped Africa build more than 120 educational facilities, nearly 40 irrigation projects to support agricultural production, and over 70 medical facilities. Shu's remarks at a press conference came three days before a Sino-African coordinators' meeting on the implementation of actions resulting from the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in December 2015. At the Johannesburg Summit, China announced 10 major plans for China-Africa cooperation over the next three years, backed by a package of 60 billion U.S. dollars. Of the financial package, 10 billion dollars was allocated to a China-Africa industrial capacity cooperation fund, which will mainly invest in manufacturing, hi-tech, agriculture, energy, infrastructure construction and finance in African countries. The package also includes 5 billion dollars of free aid and interest-free loans, 35 billion dollars of preferential loans and export credit on more favorable terms and 5 billion dollars of additional capital for the China-Africa Development Fund and the Special Loan for the Development of African small and medium-sized enterprises. "The MOC, for its part, will push forward these projects in an orderly manner and in accordance with the schedule," Shu told reporters. Since 2012, China has provided African countries with over 20 billion dollars in loans to support infrastructure, investment, small- and medium-sized enterprises, agriculture and manufacturing. Shu said Sino-African economic cooperation has diversified in the past few years and expanded to more fields including trade, infrastructure, industrial investment, finance, logistics and regional aviation. "China's investment in Africa is a highlight of Sino-African economic and trade cooperation in the past years. It is set to bring Sino-African economic ties to a new level in the years to come," she said. MOC data showed that China's non-financial outbound investment in Africa jumped 10 percent year on year in the first half of 2016 to more than 1.3 billion U.S. dollars. GENEVA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The director-general of the UN at Geneva (UNOG) Michael Moller on Tuesday welcomed the International Organization for Migration (IOM) as an official organization of the UN system. The move took place as a result of a resolution unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly on July 25, approving the agreement to accept IOM in the UN system. "Having IOM as part of the UN family is crucial at a time when migration has established itself as one of the key realities of our era," Moller said in a statement issued Tuesday He added that the IOM has always been an important UN partner in Geneva and that the collaboration would become even more fruitful with the agreement. The signing of the agreement between UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and IOM Director-General William Lacy Swing is expected to take place in New York during the Summit for Refugees and Migrants on Sept. 19. IOM members agreed to join the UN system at the end of last month in a special conference held here in Geneva. IOM was created in 1951 out of the chaos and displacement of western Europe following the WWII. From its roots as an operational logistics agency, it has broadened its scope to become the leading international agency working with the governments and civil society to advance the understanding of migration issues, encourage social and economic development through migration, and uphold the human dignity and well-being of migrants. On Tuesday, an IOM report said that 3,034 maritime migrant and refugee deaths have been documented so far this year, with the number of migrant sea arrivals into Europe fast approaching the 250,000 mark. SANAA, July 19, 2016 (Xinhua) -- A soldier stands guard during a rally in support of the Houthi movement in Sanaa, Yemen, July 18, 2016. (Xinhua/Hani Ali) SANAA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Kuwait has given the Yemeni warring factions only two weeks to reach a peace deal or leave its land, but the Saudi-backed government and the Houthis have not reached any understanding even when the deadline is drawing near. In fact, the talks have lasted more than three months, and there still seems no prospect for any breakthrough. Meanwhile, crises including a humanitarian catastrophe are worsening, as battles near the Saudi-Yemeni borders and across the country are intensifying. Observers argued that this political failure should be blamed on lack of goodwill from all sides, as it appears to be "a game of conflict and peace by international and regional players in the Middle East." Ahmed Al-Jabr, a political analyst, said "the international community is not serious about putting an end to the conflict in Yemen. They have failed to execute the UN Security Council's resolutions, especially Resolution 2216." "Moreover, the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) states are not serious about a military victory at the moment, as if the GCC states see that keeping a balanced military conflict will force the Houthis to accept a political deal," said Al-Jabr. Practically, each side insists on demands that the other side won't accept. "The Houthis will not accept disarmament and that is one of the most controversial points standing as a roadblock to any peace deal," Al-Jabr added. Fuad Alsalahi, a political sociology professor at Sanaa University, said a key reason the peace talks are unproductive is that all sides don't put the country's interest above anything else. "Yemeni factions are holding talks for one goal: quotas in power. They don't care about the interests of the people," he said. "The problem is getting worse because the international community is backing this trend. All should give priority to what matters most: catastrophic crises. Just if they think like that, a breakthrough will be made," Alsalahi said. Hassan Al-Warith, a political writer and analyst, said "Yemeni factions are walking in a vicious circle because they, along with international and regional players, are ignoring the main cause of the crisis in the country." "There is a Yemeni-Saudi, not Yemeni-Yemeni crisis. The Yemeni government can't make its own decisions. Saudi Arabia makes decisions for it and directs what it should do and what it should not," Al-Warith explained. Some observers argue that the two sides resumed talks under the pressure from the United Nations, which was a political maneuver rather than willingness to work for peace. Observers say the UN and key international players are only trying to save face through peace talks, since military intervention has failed and brought catastrophic consequences, especially humanitarian crises. REQUIRED ACTIONS Observers argue that peace requires two immediate actions, and the first is to find a way to execute the UN resolutions on Yemen. The other is to ensure that regional and international players act as facilitators of peace talks. Actually, military escalation and more crises will ensue if political efforts for reconciliation fail. Yaseen Al-Tamimi, a political writer and analyst, said "all international positions and efforts should be united to push for implementation of UN resolutions, or push all sides to accept a political solution based on these resolutions." "But if both do not happen, there will be only one option left to solve the crisis: a military win by the government and the Saudi-led coalition," Al-Tamimi said. Al-Warith, who sees there is a Saudi-Yemeni instead of Yemeni-Yemeni crisis, said holding Yemeni-Saudi talks could help establish a ground for permanent peace in the country. "Objectively, foreigners must not be part of the crisis. They should help Yemenis reconcile and lift their country out of suffering. Saudi Arabia has become involved in the crisis directly, which is why there is a need for a Yemeni-Saudi dialogue," he added. "Above all, Yemenis should rethink their actions. They need to depend on themselves. If Yemenis don't want peace, no one will bring it for them," Al-Warith said. BACKGROUND Yemen has been locked in a civil war since the Houthis seized power and overturned the Yemeni government in late 2014. In March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition launched a bombing campaign to restore the legitimacy of the government. However, the military intervention has deepened the conflict and crises across the country. The war, along with a blockade by the coalition, has left the country in the worst crisis in decades. The UN says 82 percent of the total population, around 21 million, need basic aid, with 14 million lacking access to healthcare services and 19 million to safe water. The war has also left three million displaced, who are now suffering at camps or host families. The latest warning from the UN was that Yemen is on the brink of an economic collapse and around 10 million people, maybe more, are "one step" from famine. ISLAMABAD, July 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday he would like to visit Pakistan in the near future to review bilateral cooperation and discuss regional issues, the Foreign Ministry said in Islamabad. During a meeting held on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Lao capital Vientiane, Kerry exchanged views with Pakistan Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz on the regional situation with special reference to Afghanistan and agreed on the importance of promoting the Afghan-led reconciliation process. Kerry's statement came amid tensions between the two sides on several issues including the halt of subsidized F-16 fighter planes and a U.S. drone strike that killed the Afghan Taliban chief, Akhtar Mansour in May. Pakistan says that the U.S. attack in Balochistan province has harmed efforts for the peace process in Afghanistan. Kerry appreciated Pakistan's determined efforts to eliminate terrorist groups in Pakistan's tribal belt with considerable success, a Foreign Ministry statement said. The U.S. secretary of state assured Sartaj Aziz that the United States is ready to improve and expand its multi-dimensional partnership with Pakistan. The two sides also reviewed Pakistan-U.S. bilateral relations. BUJUMBURA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- A journalist working for Iwacu Media Group based in Burundi, Jean Bigirimana, was arrested on Friday last week in Muramvya province and his whereabouts are still unknown, his family confirmed Tuesday. "We request security organs to help us find him. We need to know where he is now so that we can give him food. We are also worried about his security," said Godeberthe Hakizimana, wife of the journalist. According to Hakizimana, her husband "did not have any problem" with his neighbors. She said she is worried about how she will raise her two children in case her husband does not come back. The interim manager of Iwacu Media Group also said that Bigirimana's whereabouts are unknown. "The whereabouts of journalist Jean Bigirimana are not known until now. He was arrested on Friday last week at Bugarama in Muramvya by unknown people suspected to be agents of the National Intelligence Service (SNR)," said Leandre Sikuyavuga, interim manager of Iwacu Media Group. Journalist Bigirimana is said to be a relative of Leonidas Hatungimana, former spokesman of Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza, who fled after he expressed his opposition to Nkurunziza's third term bid in April last year. Enditem BUDAPEST, July 26 (Xinhua) -- With migration dominating the discussion between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern here on Tuesday, Austria announced at a news conference that it would send police to the Hungarian-Serbian border to help assure its integrity. Kern said 20 members of the Austrian police force would soon be on the Hungarian-Serbian border, adding that an expert commission was being set up to see what else Austria could do to help. Orban welcomed this, saying Hungary currently had 8,000 police and soldiers on that border and if current measures continued, Austria could be protected from illegal migrants entering the country. However, Orban acknowledged that migrants had been traveling to Austria from Hungary since the European Commission had ordered Hungary to open its closed-off refugee camps. Hungary, Orban added, was only admitting as many migrants as it had the capacity to register and document. The two leaders said Hungary was ready to take back migrants who had crossed into the European Union (EU) for the first time through Hungary, meaning migrants principally from Kosovo and Albania, whom Hungary would then send home. Other migrants, who entered the EU in Greece, would hopefully be sent back there, Kern added, acknowledging there was an ongoing dispute between Hungary and the European Commission on this matter, given that migrants were often not registered before entering Hungary despite having come through another EU country first. Kern said that if all points in his discussion with Orban were implemented, the outcome would be visible by late August or September. That, he said, required reducing the number of migrants who crossed into Austria. However, he warned that forces in Austria were calling for stronger border controls. Closing the border with Hungary was not Austria's primary goal, he added, considering Hungary was one of Austria's most important trading partners. Orban pointed out that the two countries were in slightly different positions regarding the migration wave, especially since Hungary is an EU border country. While saying he understood Austria's restrictions on the common border, he said joint efforts to patrol the Hungarian-Serbian border were the best way to protect the Austrian border. Both men voiced their sympathy with France following the attack there earlier on Tuesday in which one person was killed and another seriously wounded. GENEVA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan De Mistura said Tuesday that he aimed to restart Syrian peace talks seeking to broker a political end to the five-year conflict by the end of next month. "Our aim is to proceed with the third round of intra-Syrian talks towards the end of August," he said after a trilateral meeting with U.S. and Russian representatives here. "Meanwhile, we hope that concrete progress on the Kerry-Lavrov understanding will visibly take place," he added. The diplomat was referring to a recent Moscow-based meeting seeking to advance dialogue on Syria between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his U.S. counterpart John Kerry. "In order to make these talks particularly truthful and hopeful we are certainly eager to see the outcome of the steps agreed upon in Moscow," he said. De Mistura noted that progress was made during the one-day talks Tuesday, though a number of details remained to be worked out. The dire situation in both Aleppo and Damascus was also touched upon by representatives, he highlighted. The UN-mediated peace process seeking to put an end to the Syrian conflict has been on hold since April this year. DAMASCUS, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army on Tuesday offered safe exit to civilians in the rebel-held areas in the northern city of Aleppo, on which it had completed the siege. The military's general command said the army had identified several routes and safe passages for civilians wishing to leave the rebel-held neighborhoods in the eastern parts of Aleppo, adding that maps of the routes were being sent to the cellphones of the civilians. He urged the civilians in the areas to join the government-proposed reconciliations and expel the rebels out of their homes and neighborhoods. The new move comes a week after the Syrian troops and allied fighters succeeded in cutting off the last rebel supply route connecting the northern countryside of Aleppo and eastern parts of the city. Aleppo, located near the borders with Turkey, is Syria's largest city and once an economic hub. It has been a focal point of clashes between the Syrian army and the rebels. In the summer of 2012, thousands of armed militants stormed residential districts of Aleppo, striking the economic nerves of the Syrian government, which has repeatedly accused Turkey of supporting the rebels. After capturing several districts in eastern Aleppo city, the rebels repeatedly tried to expand their presence to government-controlled areas in the west. They laid a siege on western Aleppo districts after cutting the international road to Aleppo in 2014, which was broken later by the Syrian army with the help of Hezbollah. VIENTIANE, July 26, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Participants pose for a group photo before the 6th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, capital of Laos, July 26, 2016. (Xinhua/Liu Yun) by Xinhua writer Liu Chang BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- As foreign ministers from China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) wrapped up their meeting on Monday in Vientiane, the Laotian capital, the conferees have proved that these countries, despite demagoguery and discord, are committed to a lasting peace in the region. Earlier this month a law-abusing tribunal in The Hague issued an award in favor of the Philippines' unfounded claims in the South China Sea. In a statement released by the ministers after their meeting, there was no mention of the tribunal's award, illustrating the determination of both sides to settle their differences and not exacerbate tensions. Also welcomed is the committment by China and ASEAN to resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes peacefully through friendly negotiations. China firmly believes that resorting to force is not the way forward. These reassuring results have not come lightly. Several days ago, the ministers walked into the meeting at a time when the atmosphere surrounding the South China Sea issue was highly-charged. That was a direct result of the former Philippine government's efforts to internationalize its maritime dispute with Beijing by launching an arbitration case in The Hague before a tribunal that has no jurisdiction over sovereign matters. China has reiterated its stance of non-participation in and non-acceptance of the arbitration. To fully respect international law and justice, China will never recognize the award and never be "forced" into accepting it. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in a meeting with the Lao foreign minister, urged ASEAN to issue a joint statement on the recent South China Sea ruling, according to the U.S. State Department. But by not mentioning the invalid award, the statement didn't given in to pressure by those intent on challenging China's sovereign rights in the Asia-Pacific and disrupt Beijing's relations with ASEAN members. The major reason the ASEAN avoided mention of the tribunal award in its statement is simple: many member states realize that China has been a solid security and economic partner. They understand that unity and cooperation are essential in the face of hardship. Though it has failed to put pressure on China in Vientiane, Washington nonetheless realizes that an Asia-Pacific in turmoil or a degenerating China-U.S. relationship doesn't jibe well with its own vital national interests. That's why U.S. President Barack Obama sent his national security adviser Susan Rice this week to Beijing to reassure the Chinese leadership that China's success was in America's interest, and that the two nations can work together on major global issues. Also, before John Kerry flew to the Manila to meet with New Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte late Tuesday, the top U.S. diplomat hoped that China and the Philippines would "turn the page" and hold talks over their disputes in the South China Sea. Now that China and the nations of ASEAN have promised to work toward resolving their differences, Washington should keep its word and stay neutral regarding the South China Sea issue. After all, China and its neighbors can manage their own affairs. LONDON, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The South China Sea arbitration is in essence "a political farce under the cloak of law," Chinese Ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming wrote in an article published Sunday. "Such a recklessly partial tribunal creates more problems than it solves, and intensifies rather than solves disputes," Liu wrote in a signed article published by the British newspaper The Sunday Telegraph. In the article, the ambassador stressed that a legitimate arbitration needs to meet certain conditions, but the tribunal fails to do so. "First, the tribunal shall have jurisdiction over the subject matter. Second, the arbitrators shall be impartial and authoritative. Third, the procedure must be reasonable. Fourth, the ruling on the substantive issues should help resolve disputes," he argued, noting that the South China Sea arbitration does not meet any of these conditions. On jurisdiction, Liu said the subject matter of the arbitration initiated by the Philippines, and the real intention behind it, is in essence related to territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation. "Issues of territorial sovereignty are clearly beyond the scope of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and issues of maritime delimitation have been excluded by the declaration that China made years ago in accordance with UNCLOS," he elaborated. "The arbitral tribunal in fact expanded its power into areas outside of its jurisdiction," added the diplomat. The article pointed out that the tribunal is "an ad hoc body having nothing to do with the International Court of Justice" and its composition is "questionable." "None of the five arbitrators is from Asia or has much knowledge of Asian history and culture. Most inconceivable in the arbitration process was that two arbitrators totally abandoned the opinions that they used to hold," the article said. "This only increases doubts about the impartiality, representativeness and the authoritativeness of the tribunal." Liu also wrote that "the procedure of the arbitration went against normal practice" and that the dispute settlement system of the Convention requires that bilateral channels between state parties come before arbitration. "However, disregarding prior bilateral agreements between China and the Philippines to resolve the disputes through negotiations and consultations, the tribunal forced ahead with the arbitration proceedings," he observed. "Such procedure is utterly unreasonable and it contravenes the general practice of international arbitration under the Convention." Quoting an old saying "There's no free lunch", the ambassador said it "sums up the actions of the tribunal, paid with Philippine money." "To cater to the Philippines' claim, the tribunal shrank the Taiping Island into a rock and was denounced by all Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait," he emphasized in his article. To save the Philippines from breaching its own commitment to bilateral negotiations, Liu said, the tribunal "belittled and nullified the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) reached between China and ASEAN countries." The article also quoted the view of a former legal advisor at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Chris Whomersley, who argued in a recently published law research paper that the tribunal is "potentially destabilizing" the overall stability of international relations. "The impressive-looking arbitration is in essence a political farce under the cloak of law. Pretty words about protecting the law cannot gloss over the illegal essence and practice of the tribunal," Liu stressed. Noting that the law has been "a victim of politics" throughout this farce, he further explained: "If such a farce were regarded as international law, and if international disputes were to be 'settled' in this way, the authority of international law and the peace between nations would be compromised." "By not accepting or recognizing the ruling, China is not violating but upholding the authority and dignity of international law," he said. In the article, the ambassador reiterated China's consistent position to resolve issues of territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation through peaceful negotiations. "We welcome the new Philippine government's recent statement about its willingness to re-open consultation and dialogue with China on the South China Sea issue," said Liu. "We hope this positive gesture will be followed by real actions and that the Philippines will return to the track of negotiation at an early date, work with China to properly manage differences and jointly maintain the peace and stability of the South China Sea," he concluded. VIENTIANE, July 26, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends the 6th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, capital of Laos, July 26, 2016. (Xinhua/Liu Yun) VIENTIANE, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday refuted a trilateral statement issued by the United States, Japan and Australia which touched upon the South China Sea situation, questioning the trio to be peacekeepers or troublemakers. Wang made the remarks when attending the 6th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in the Lao capital Vientiane, in response to the statement issued by the three countries on Monday evening. Wang Yi said the China-ASEAN meeting was held in an amicable and harmonious atmosphere. A joint statement on fully and effectively implementing the Declaration on the Conduct (DOC) was announced at the end of the meeting by the 11 foreign ministers. All parties pledged in the China-ASEAN joint statement to return to the right track of resolving specific disputes through consultations by parties directly concerned. It sends out a positive message that China and the ASEAN will jointly maintain stability in the South China Sea, Wang said. However, regrettably, late last night, the U.S., Japan and Australia jointly issued a statement, further playing up the South China Sea issue and regional tension targeting China, the Chinese foreign minister said, considering the damage this trilateral statement has done, China has to make a response. Wang Yi said since Monday, on the one hand, regional countries are determined to enhance cooperation and want to see the South China Sea situation cool down. On the other hand, this trilateral statement is fanning the flames. On the one hand, regional countries resist taking sides on the arbitration case, believing that it is a bilateral issue between China and the Philippines. On the other hand, the trilateral statement asserts that the so-called ruling which is highly contentious is binding, Wang continued. On the one hand, more than 70 countries have shown their understanding and support to China's legitimate stance in various ways. On the other hand, the trilateral statement still, directly and indirectly, places the blame on China, he said. "This trilateral statement came at a highly inappropriate time and conforms in no way with the development of the situation," Wang said, adding that the trilateral statement is inconsistent with the efforts being made by regional countries to safeguard stability in the South China Sea, inconsistent with the aspiration of regional people to lower the temperature surrounding the South China Sea situation, and inconsistent with the constructive role that non-regional countries should play." "If you truly want stability in the South China Sea, you should support the efforts by China and the ASEAN in implementing the DOC and the settlement of the dispute through dialogue and consultation by countries directly concerned." "Now it is the time to test whether you are peacekeepers or troublemakers, " Wang said. VIENTIANE, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Tuesday that the political manipulation behind the arbitral tribunal will be revealed, in response to the comments made by some foreign ministers on the South China Sea arbitration case. Wang expounded on China's position when attending the 6th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in the Lao capital Vientiane. Wang said China has not participated in the arbitration case and will not accept the so-called ruling, a position that China has made clear since day one and is supported by strong legal basis. By adopting this position, China is safeguarding the sanctity and impartiality of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), said the Chinese foreign minister. First, the arbitration unilaterally initiated by the former Philippine government violated the principle of having the consent of concerned parties as the basis of arbitration and failed to meet the prerequisite of conducting full exchange of views beforehand, thus lacking the legal conditions to be initiated. What the former Philippine government had done also abandoned bilateral agreements between China and the Philippines and violated Article 4 of the Declaration on Conducts of the Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) as well as the principle of estoppel prescribed in international law, according to Wang. Second, he said, the subject matters of the arbitration, however packaged, in fact directly concern territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation which are beyond the scope of the UNCLOS and the jurisdiction of the ad hoc tribunal. It is a typical act of overstepping the power and ultra vires as well as the abuse of dispute arbitration mechanism. Wang said by citing a prominent legal expert from Europe that the arbitration case undoubtedly touches upon territorial sovereignty which is not governed by the UNCLOS. The tribunal's practice of separating territorial sovereignty dispute with the status of islands and reefs is unseen in international law, which is like "putting the cart before the horse." Third, the ruling of the ad hoc tribunal is full of obvious mistakes, Wang said. It blatantly uses its self-invented rules to negate and deprive the lawful and legitimate territorial sovereignty, maritime rights and interests of parties concerned. In particular, it says that Taiping Dao, the largest island in the Nansha Islands with an area of 500,000 square meters, is a rock and has no relevant maritime rights. If such a judgment can legally stand, the sea map of the world will need to be redrawn, Wang said. Wang stressed that this ruling runs counter to the spirit of international rule of law as well as the principle and spirit of the UNCLOS. "This arbitration is imbued with question marks and fallacies in terms of procedure, legal application, fact finding and evidence gathering," he said. The so-called ruling is illegal in three aspects: the initiation of the arbitration is illegal, the set-up of the tribunal is illegal, and the result of the arbitration is illegal. Therefore, China's stance is fully legitimate which serves the purpose of upholding international equity and justice and regional peace and stability, Wang said. The Chinese foreign minister said more and more countries have come to see the nature and danger of the arbitration case, and understand and acknowledge China's stance to resolve disputes through direct negotiation and consultation, calling for respect to the rights of sovereign states to independently choose dispute settlement means including respecting the declaration on optional exceptions made under Article 298 of the UNCLOS. There are also more and more legal experts around the world questioning the legality of the arbitration case and the fairness of the ruling, Wang said, noting that the illegal nature of the so-called South China Sea arbitration case and the political manipulation hidden behind the ad hoc arbitral tribunal will be further revealed. Delegates from South Carolina are pictured during the 2016 U.S. Democratic National Convention at Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the United States on July 25, 2016. The 2016 U.S. Democratic National Convention kicked off in Philadelphia on Monday. (Xinhua/Photo) by Xinhua writers Zhu Lei, Zhou Xiaozheng PHILADELPHIA, United States, July 26 (Xinhua) -- For supporters of Bernie Sanders, Monday was their last hope for the champion of a "political revolution" to win the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. "My message is I am begging superdelegates to change their minds," Regina Robinson Ungar, a delegate from the state of Indiana, told Xinhua at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia where Democrats began their national convention with a struggle to fully unite behind Hillary Clinton. "The superdelegates still can turn this around if they make a wise choice. The superdelegates need to know how unpopular Hillary is in part of the country," said the dairy owner from Evansville city, who wore a black Bernie T-Shirt and a green hat. She was referring to the party officials and "bigshots" who make up about one-sixth of the delegates in the Democratic Party's system and are free to support any candidate for the presidential nomination at the party's national convention. Clinton, a former first lady and former secretary of state, won 2,205 delegates and 602 superdelegates, while Sanders, a senator of Vermont, garnered 1,846 delegates, as well as 48 superdelegates. A Democratic candidate needs to clinch 2,383 combined delegates and superdelegates to be the party's presidential nominee. Sanders' supporters have long complained that the use of superdelegates and other ways in the primary nomination process favored Clinton, who is poised to clinch the Democratic nomination on Tuesday night. Adding to their anger was that the nearly 20,000 Wikileaks leaked emails on Friday showed that top Democratic National Committee (DNC) officials who were supposed to remain neutral during the primary contest grew increasingly agitated with Sanders and his campaign. They even floated ideas to sabotage his candidacy. With signature calls for free college tuition for all, universal healthcare and a hike of the federal minimum wage to 15 U.S. dollars per hour, Sanders has galvanized millions of Democrats throughout his hard-fought primary campaign with Clinton. As the primary settled its dust, Ungar said she found after talking to hundreds of voters that two voting groups -- independents and Christian conservatives -- still do not trust and will not vote for Clinton in the face-off against the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. "I think Bernie Sanders is the best chance we have," said Ungar, who was visibly emotional. "Today they have not nominated her yet, so we are trying to talk loudly, clearly and talk to everybody we can to say 'please don't make this mistake,'" she said, trying hard to gulp down a sob. Standing at Ungar's side, Indiana delegate Jeanne Smith was also eager to have her voice heard. "Bernie supporters are not at all surprised that the emails existed. I mean we assumed that," said Smith, a 64-year-old transgender woman who calls herself a lifelong progressive. "I think it's going to be much harder for Bernie supporters to come around and support Hillary and I think that's the reason why people are so angry. It just reinforces the anger of the people that support Bernie," she said. "I'm a little bit more concerned about Trump than the lot of Bernie supporters. I think it is making it a lot more likely that Trump is going to be the president," she said. Like the two Indiana delegates, many delegates inside the fully packed convention center of 20,000 seats were wearing Bernie badges. When a reverend mentioned Clinton's name while leading the opening prayer for the convention, a wave of cheers and applause was soon replaced by a loud and persistent chant of "Bernie, Bernie, Bernie." Following a dramatic day of emails leak after-effect and pro-Sanders protests, the Democratic Party tried its best to rescue their four-day national convention from political uproar, with back-to-back speeches by First Lady Michelle Obama, Senator of Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren and Sanders to cap the first night. Though Sanders' full-throated endorsement of Clinton's candidacy brought the crowd to its feet with scattered boos, it is still an open question whether the party will heal the lingering primary wounds and rally around Hillary. When asked whether he would vote for Clinton in the Nov. 8 election, New York delegate Steven Abreu said he didn't know yet. "It is still 100 days from the election," he said, almost drowned out by chanting of "Bernie, Bernie" at the end of the night. MANAMA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- As many as 138 suspects will face terror trial on Aug. 23 in Bahrain for charges of activating sleeper cells, links to murder attempts and bomb blasts, official said on Tuesday. The suspects have been booked for being part of Al-Zulfiqar terrorist group who ran sleeper cells, said Terror Crimes Prosecution Chief Hamad Shaheen. They were receiving training on weapons and explosives, attempting on murders of policemen and behind bomb blasts, said Shaheen. Of the total 138 suspects, 86 are in detention and 52 are still at large, he said. He added that the case dates back to last November and they've finished the investigation to "refer it to the court." Bahrain in April approved a list of 68 terrorist organizations that were recognized regionally and internationally, in addition to the list of local terrorist organization. The lists included Hezbollah, al-Qaida, the Islamic State, the Nusra Front and other outlawed groups. NAIROBI, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The UN refugee agency on Tuesday appealed to donors for an additional 115.4 million U.S. dollars for voluntary return, reintegration of Somali refugees from Dadaab camp in northeast Kenya. A statement from the UNHCR said the funds requested will also go toward the relocation of 31,000 refugees from Dadaab to Kakuma refugee camp in northwest Kenya and verification of camp population. The UN refugee agency had previously appealed for 369.4 million dollars for the "Somalia situation". "With this additional ask, and with some re-prioritization of projects, UNHCR's total revised 2016 requirements for this response in the affected countries (Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia) is now 484.8 million dollars," it said. UNHCR's Africa Bureau Director Valentin Tapsoba said funding is also required for related projects and infrastructure in Kenya and Somalia. "UNHCR is committed to ensuring that all returns to Somalia are voluntary and carried out in dignity, safety and with the protection of refugees paramount at all times," said Tapsoba. Kenya in May announced that it will close the world's largest refugee camp, Dadaab and plans to repatriate the more than 300,000 Somali refugees. The East African nation has cited the influence of terror group Al-Shabaab as among the risks of keeping the camps open. UNHCR has developed a plan of action which outlines a process intended to reduce the population of Dadaab, currently 343,043 (326,611 Somalis), by 150,000 by the end of 2016. It said the 115 million dollars requested will go toward relocation of 16,000 non-Somali refugees from Dadaab to Kakuma as well as relocating of 15,000 Somali refugees currently in the resettlement process to Kakuma. According to UNHCR, the funds will also help in relocation, reintegration of an estimated 42,000 Kenyans believed registered as refugees. The UN agency said verification of the Dadaab population and a comprehensive Return Intention Survey and support for an additional 50,000 voluntary Somali refugee returns from Dadaab to Somalia, will also be carried out with additional funds. "This additional funding is also required for the proposed increase in the return assistance package before departure from Kenya and upon return to Somalia. It is proposed to increase the return grant from 150 dollars to 200 dollars for Somalis returning by road," UNHCR said. According to the agency, those with specific needs would receive an additional 75 dollars while for the smaller number of returnees travelling by air, the return grant would be increased from 100 dollars to 150 dollars, with an additional 30 dollars for those with specific needs. "Returnees will also be provided with a package of non-food items," it said, noting that donor support is sought to fund an increase in the return assistance package in Somalia side. The UNHCR is proposing to remove the cap of 600 dollars per family reinstallation grant and instead offer returnees 200 dollars per person, regardless of family size, a move which should see more large families opt to return. "In order to assist with initial reintegration, each returning family will be supported with 200 dollars per family monthly payment for six months in order to help cover basic needs. The possibility of providing health insurance for urban returnees will also be considered," it said. UNHCR plans to increase food assistance from three months support to six, possibly even further if the donor support is received. OSLO, July 26 (Xinhua) -- It is both lawful and reasonable for China not to accept the South China Sea arbitration as the award has no legal effect, Chinese Ambassador to Norway Wang Min wrote in articles published on Tuesday. In an article published on the website of Norway's public broadcaster NRK, Wang said that Nanhai Zhudao (the South China Sea Islands) are China's inherent territory and China's sovereignty over Nanhai Zhudao is solidly grounded in history and law. "The activities of the Chinese people in the South China Sea date back to over 2,000 years ago. China is the first to have discovered, named, explored and exploited Nanhai Zhudao and relevant waters, and the first to have exercised sovereignty and jurisdiction over them continuously and effectively," he said. Wang noted that there had been no territorial or maritime delimitation disputes between China and the Philippines until the 1970s, when the Philippines started to invade and illegally occupy some islands and reefs of China's Nansha Qundao (the Nansha Islands, part of Nanhai Zhudao), and fabricated various excuses to prove the validity of such actions. While resolutely opposing the Philippines' invasion and illegal occupation of China's islands and reefs, China has exercised great restraint, stayed committed to peacefully settling the disputes with the Philippines in the South China Sea, and made tireless efforts to this end, the ambassador said. In an article published on Norway's leading daily newspaper Aftenposten, Wang said for decades some countries continued to expand and deploy artillery, tanks and other heavy weapons on China's islands and reefs illegally occupied by them in the South China Sea. In recent years, China has built necessary defenses on its islands and reefs, which is for self-protection and in response to these military threats. "It is obvious to see which country is militarizing the South China Sea by sending carrier strike groups at the doorstep of China as a show of force. China is not responsible for the deteriorating situation in the region," he said. The Chinese ambassador noted that an editorial of Aftenposten on July 19 made comments on the South China Sea arbitration and was "featured with misreading on the South China Sea issue and prejudice against China." China has consistently advocated that all countries, big or small, should be equal, and China never bullied the weak, Wang said, adding that at the same time, China is firmly opposed to any country's infringement of China's core interests with the excuse of being a small country. However, the former government of the Philippines, plotted and manipulated by certain forces outside the region, unilaterally stirred up trouble, Wang said. "It is neither just nor right for the editorial of Aftenposten to make its judgment on the South China Sea issue based on the size or strength of a country rather than on merits of the case," he said. In both articles, the Chinese ambassador laid out effective arguments to prove that China's non-acceptance to the South China Sea arbitration is lawful and reasonable. "First, pacta sunt servanda (Latin for 'agreements must be kept'). This is the fundamental norm of international law. By unilaterally initiating arbitration, the Philippines has violated its agreement with China to settle the disputes through bilateral negotiation," Wang said. "Second, pursuant to Article 298 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), China made an optional exception declaration in 2006, excluding from the compulsory dispute settlement procedures of UNCLOS disputes, including maritime delimitation and sovereignty disputes. The former government of the Philippines forcefully and unilaterally initiated the arbitration, which constitutes an abuse of the UNCLOS dispute settlement procedures," he said. "Third, one judge in charge of this case was even appointed by the former government of the Philippines. The so-called Arbitral Tribunal is not a United Nations Court at all. The United Nations has made it very clear about this. Therefore, the Arbitral Tribunal has no legitimacy at all, and has no jurisdiction over the case. In this regard, the award has no judiciary effect," Wang said. He said that the award given by the arbitral tribunal "challenges the norms of international law, including respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and undermines the sanctity and integrity of the system of international law of the sea." "More and more countries as well as people with vision have expressed concerns and doubt about the case, especially legal experts worldwide. Over 60 countries have publicly expressed their understanding and support for China's position," Wang said. "These are voices of justice that the international community should well listen to." Up to now, China has signed border treaties with 12 out of the 14 land neighbors, the ambassador noted, adding that China and Vietnam completed the delimitation of maritime boundary in the Beibu Gulf. "China has the ability and will continue to resolve territorial disputes and maritime delimitation through peaceful negotiation and make the South China Sea a sea of peace, cooperation and prosperity," Wang said. PHILADELPHIA, July 25, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on July 25, 2016, shows the U.S. Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, the United States. U.S. Democratic National Convention kicked off on Monday as party leaders and Hillary Clinton scrambled to contain the fallout of damaging revelations of suspected backroom bias against Clinton's rival in nomination contests Bernie Sanders. (Xinhua/Li Muzi) by Matthew Rusling WASHINGTON, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic National Convention kicked off Monday overshadowed by a major scandal, but the attention could quickly shift to targeting Republican nominee Donald Trump, experts said. In recent days, leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) showed that it tried to tip the scales in favor of Hillary Clinton to win against her opponents, mainly Bernie Sanders, in the primaries. The scandal has grabbed headlines nationwide and sparked angry protests by Sanders' supporters outside the convention's venue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sanders supporters said the email scandal showed that the Democratic Party rigged the system to allow Clinton to unfairly grab the party's nomination for president. Moreover, it has allowed Republican nominee Donald Trump to continue his narrative of "crooked Hillary" -- his claim that Clinton is corrupt - which is a major part of the brash billionaire's strategy. "The controversy over the release of DNC emails mars the first day of the convention," Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies of the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua. It revives fears from the Sanders campaign that the nominating campaign was rigged against him, giving opponents grounds to complain about Hillary Clinton and her use of the DNC, West said. Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, told Xinhua that the DNC scandal to allegedly keep Sanders out will energize his supporters to protest the unfair nomination process. "It will also play into the (Trump) narrative that Clinton is someone who does not play by the rules," he said. Still, in the fast-moving and Internet-driven media environment in which the story changes by the day and even by the hour, the news cycle is expected to shift in the next couple of days toward the convention and its array of speakers. Clinton "can still have a successful convention. And given the quick nature of the media cycle, it is possible that the public moves on," Zelizer said. West echoed those sentiments by saying that the story will overshadow the opening of the convention but speakers will quickly move the focus to Republican nominee Donald Trump and his divisive rhetoric. Trump has compared Mexicans to rapists and called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. "Democrats will outline his failed business ventures and how they hurt ordinary Americans and note that his policies are too risky for the country and the world," West said. "They will put together a portrait of a Republican nominee who is too erratic for the presidency," he added. Indeed, Trump has a reputation for skirting questions on his policies when pressed for details. Speakers at the Democratic convention will capitalize on this as they weave together a narrative of what they view as a hot-headed and polarizing figure who is too unpredictable, and even dangerous, to be in the White House. Clinton will need a bounce in the polls to keep ahead of the bombastic billionaire, and the convention provides her a good chance. Trump on Monday surged ahead of Clinton in Real Clear Politics' poll average by 0.2 points, although the reading still means the two candidates are neck-in-neck, given the 2-point margin of error. In a CNN/ORC Poll conducted by telephone on July 22-24 and released Monday, Trump surged ahead of Clinton by 44 percent to 39 percent, marking a significant bounce that has not been seen since the year 2000. U.S. Democratic presumptive presidential candidate Hillary Clinton smiles as she campaigns at East Los Angeles College in Los Angeles, the United States, May 5, 2016. (Xinhua/File Photo) by Matthew Rusling WASHINGTON, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic National Convention kicked off Monday overshadowed by a major scandal, but the attention could quickly shift to targeting Republican nominee Donald Trump, experts said. In recent days, leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) showed that it tried to tip the scales in favor of Hillary Clinton to win against her opponents, mainly Bernie Sanders, in the primaries. The scandal has grabbed headlines nationwide and sparked angry protests by Sanders' supporters outside the convention's venue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sanders supporters said the email scandal showed that the Democratic Party rigged the system to allow Clinton to unfairly grab the party's nomination for president. Moreover, it has allowed Republican nominee Donald Trump to continue his narrative of "crooked Hillary" -- his claim that Clinton is corrupt - which is a major part of the brash billionaire's strategy. "The controversy over the release of DNC emails mars the first day of the convention," Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies of the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua. It revives fears from the Sanders campaign that the nominating campaign was rigged against him, giving opponents grounds to complain about Hillary Clinton and her use of the DNC, West said. Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, told Xinhua that the DNC scandal to allegedly keep Sanders out will energize his supporters to protest the unfair nomination process. "It will also play into the (Trump) narrative that Clinton is someone who does not play by the rules," he said. Still, in the fast-moving and Internet-driven media environment in which the story changes by the day and even by the hour, the news cycle is expected to shift in the next couple of days toward the convention and its array of speakers. Clinton "can still have a successful convention. And given the quick nature of the media cycle, it is possible that the public moves on," Zelizer said. West echoed those sentiments by saying that the story will overshadow the opening of the convention but speakers will quickly move the focus to Republican nominee Donald Trump and his divisive rhetoric. Trump has compared Mexicans to rapists and called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. "Democrats will outline his failed business ventures and how they hurt ordinary Americans and note that his policies are too risky for the country and the world," West said. "They will put together a portrait of a Republican nominee who is too erratic for the presidency," he added. Indeed, Trump has a reputation for skirting questions on his policies when pressed for details. Speakers at the Democratic convention will capitalize on this as they weave together a narrative of what they view as a hot-headed and polarizing figure who is too unpredictable, and even dangerous, to be in the White House. Clinton will need a bounce in the polls to keep ahead of the bombastic billionaire, and the convention provides her a good chance. Trump on Monday surged ahead of Clinton in Real Clear Politics' poll average by 0.2 points, although the reading still means the two candidates are neck-in-neck, given the 2-point margin of error. In a CNN/ORC Poll conducted by telephone on July 22-24 and released Monday, Trump surged ahead of Clinton by 44 percent to 39 percent, marking a significant bounce that has not been seen since the year 2000. LONDON, July 26 (Xinhua) -- China's sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea are part of the international order established after the Second World War, Chinese ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming has said. "China's relevant claims have never exceeded the scope of the current international order; in this sense, China's rejection of the arbitration is to uphold the post-war international order," Liu said in a speech at the British think-tank Chatham House on Monday. "It is to prevent the Convention from being politically hijacked; it is to protect the authoritativeness and the integrity of international law, including the Convention," he stressed. Liu noted that the arbitration unilaterally initiated by the Philippines is "illegal in jurisdictional, procedural or substantive terms," and that "it has been nothing but an illegal political farce." The tribunal has no right of jurisdiction over issues of territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation, its arbitral proceedings are against the rules of UNCLOS, and its ruling is "an aberration from the fundamental purposes of the Convention," Liu said. "The obvious bias of the tribunal has solved no problem or dispute," he told his audience. "Rather, it created problems and intensified disputes. The arbitration thus has no substantive justice." He added that the arbitration has "zero possibility" to become a "watershed" in the developments in the South China Sea, "nor will it be allowed to disturb the overall peace and stability the region now enjoys." The arbitration ruling will by no means affect China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, the diplomat said. The arbitration ruling will by no means affect China's commitment to peaceful solution through bilateral negotiations and consultations, he continued. "The momentum of cooperation between China and ASEAN has not been changed by the arbitration, either," Liu said. The ambassador called on the new Philippine government to "consider the overall interests of China-Philippine relations and the common interests of both countries" and "come back to the track of dialogue and consultations." He stated that "we are opposed to certain countries' 'gunboat policy' under the pretext of 'protecting the freedom of navigation and overflight' and 'maintaining regional peace'." "We are opposed to them taking advantage of the arbitration to hype up or create tensions in the South China Sea," he said. "The South China Sea must not become an arena for some big power from outside the region to flex their muscles." According to Liu, the South China Sea issue is left over from the history, but at the same time it concerns real interests of today, with geopolitics involved. "Resolving this issue will take time, patience and the mutual understanding and respect between countries concerned." "For a solution to be fundamental and enduring, it has to be peaceful, it has to go through equal-footed consultation and negotiation between countries directly concerned, it has to be based on respecting historical facts and international law," concluded the envoy. One year jail for pushing man off wall The sentence was imposed on Reagan Fairley, 35, of Mt Stewart Village, Naparima Mayaro Road, in the San Fernando Magistrates Court. He pleaded guilty to occasioning harm to Rasheed Mohammed, 59, also of Mt Stewart Village. After Fairley pleaded guilty, court police prosecutor, Cleyon Seedan, told the court that the incident occurred at about 6 pm on Saturday at a construction site. Mohammed was in court with his left hand in a plaster-of-paris cast. The accused appeared before magistrate Cherril-Anne Antoine. Seedan said Mohammed was seated on a wall eating a meal when he and Fairley began arguing. During the argument, Fairley pushed Mohammed over the wall and he fell six feet below. He suffered a broken left arm and was rushed to the San Fernando General Hospital. Mohammed underwent emergency medical treatment, Antoine was told. A report was made at the Princes Town Police Station, Seedan said, and when confronted, Fairley told police officers, Officer, I know the man Compress and we had a scuffle and he fall down from the wall and that was it. Mohammed is a mason and the incident happened near a construction site. Antoine asked the prosecutor about Fairleys past record and it was revealed that he had a conviction for larceny, having a weapon, robbery and possession of marijuana. The magistrate asked Mohammed when it is expected that he would have use of his hand, and he said that the doctor told him that within five to six months, he would Inshan Ishmael granted $20,000 bail At 11.20 am yesterday the matter was called and defence attorney, Shiva Boodoo, who held for attorneys Faraz Mohammed, Rajiv Persad and Chase Pegus, represented all three accused. Do u g d e e n - B a l - ly granted new bail in the sum of $20,000 to Ishmael who, attorney Boodoo said, had one pending matter and no previous convictions, Daniel and Partap were each granted bail in the sum of $15,000 and the case was adjourned to November 3 at which time the court will set a date for trial pending disclosure. At 3.35 pm yesterday, after all prisoners were transported out of the compound, Daniel and Partap emerged from the courthouse with Ishmael, a few minutes late Burglars escape attempt foiled According to reports, at about 5 pm, the MTS cleaners were cleaning out the cell when the man pushed open the cell door and attempted to run away. Corporal Mahabir, who was in the charge room, placed his foot out and tripped the man who was subdued by other officers and returned to the cell. In 2013, the same suspect alleged that hot water was thrown on him while at the Sangre Grande police station while he was being interrogated. Twelve officers are currently on suspension due to the allegations leveled against them by the man. Newsday understands that at 4 am last Friday, officers from the Sangre Grande CID were alerted to a burglary at a house in Sangre Chiquito. The officers led by Supt Phillip, Inspector Ken Lutchman and Cpl Randolph Castillo, surrounded the house and detained the suspect. Yesterday he was charged with burglary by PC Gajar and is due to appear before a Sangre Grande Magistrate today. CCSJ: Act urgently on 700 stuck in jail Too many of our key institutions in TT are broken, including our criminal justice system, the CCSJ said in a media release. Now is not the time to sit and wring our hands in despair. Let us turn this scandal and crisis into an opportunity for urgent and decisive action. In light of Attorney General Faris Al-Rawis statement last Friday that 700 are unable to satisfy bail technicalities, the CCSJ called for action. (The CCSJ) calls on those in authority to act swiftly to address the injustice of warehousing people on remand because they cannot meet the requirements to secure bail, the release said. CCSJ understands that while some magistrates release persons on their own recognisance, others insist on surety and land. Is there a need for consistency in this practice? Such a discretion may very well impact adversely on the poor. The Catholic Commission endorsed the views of Seenath Jairam SC, former president of the Law Association, who has urged the State to reset the bail system. The nation should take note of his caution of the possible effects of overcrowding in prisons in inhumane conditions while on remand, the CCSJ said. CCSJ urges the AG and his team to speed up the process, it said. It is more than time that systems are put in place to ensure that conditional release for those affected do not languish in our prisons. In relation to a call from Roman Catholic Archbishop Joseph Harris for the State to pardon people on remand for longer than their maximum sentence, the group said, We also ask for urgent action on Archbishop Harris aforementioned appeal for mercy, where appropriate. CCSJ calls on Catholics and all people of goodwill to reach out in love and compassion to the victims of crime and their families, as well as to offenders who may be released so that, together, and with Gods mercy, we will heal our land, the group said. We encourage parishes to allocate responsibility to specific ministries in your respective parishes to provide practical re-entry assistance to those who are released/to be released and to their families. Let us promote restorative justice by helping to rebuild lives and strengthen family life. Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, meets US Secretary of State John Kerry in Vientiane, Laos, on July 25, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Washington will hopefully "take substantial actions" to support Beijing and the Manila resume their two-way dialogues, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told US Secretary of State John Kerry. The US should also support the joint effort by China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in safeguarding regional peace, Wang said when meeting with Kerry in Vientiane, Laos, on Monday. Kerry delivered support to the joint statement released by China and the ASEAN earlier on Monday and said Washington does not take position over the recent ruling of an arbitration case sought by the Philippines against China. Washington supports the resumption of dialogue between Beijing and Manila, Kerry added. On China-US relationship, the Chinese foreign minister said it is inevitable to see their two major countries having some differences, but the common interests between China and the US "are more than ever before". Kerry said the relationship between China and the US is "without question, one of, if not the most consequential bilateral relationships on the globe". "And that is because we do cooperate on areas of such importance like Iran, the nuclear agreement, counterterrorism, climate change - where we made a huge difference together," Kerry added. CORRECTION Upon examination of the text of the Chamber Presidents speech to his organisations Emancipation Dinner held on Saturday, Newsday wishes to state there was a misinterpretation of what Mr Sookhai said, in both the headline and first paragraph of the story. What Mr Sookhai told the dinner was: I am almost sure that if you are to go anywhere in our nation, and ask some of our young ones what they know about the Black Power Movement, they would be clueless. Some of todays youth lack a sense of identity, they have little or no appreciation about their culture, about their history and an empty vessel is easy to fill with things that are toxic. A statement from the Chamber said yesterday that Mr Sookhai delivered an address in which he honoured the work of persons like the Chambers chief guest speaker Khafra Kambon who is Chairman of the Emancipation Support Committee, and recalled the days of the Black Power Movement which helped shape a new awareness of TTs history and culture. The statement quoted Mr Sookhai as saying also: there is fraction of the youth of our nation who are enslaved to ideals that trap and prevent their positive contribution to society. The statement said that Mr Sookhai is clear that he was referring to a fraction of ALL the youth in our society. Newsday is satisfied that nowhere in Mr Sookhais speech did he single out any one group and accordingly regrets the misinterpretation of what he actually said. Accordingly, Newsday offers apologies to Mr Sookhai for the misinterpretation and sincerely regrets any inconvenience Fishermen: Call in the Coast Guard In a media statement, the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) noted that a team comprising representatives of its Emergency Response and Investigations (ERI) Unit and the Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) headed by Dr Farahnaz Solomon, a fisheries biologist, conducted a site visit to Mosquito Creek to investigate reports of a fish kill. The EMA pointed out the area was surveyed by boat with 99 percent of the dead fish observed being herrings (bait fish), mullet and blinch. The EMA also stated there were no visible signs of an oil spill or a red tide and preliminary results indicate this may be dumped fish. However on Friday last, Boodram observed the Gulf of Paria had become a polluted site due to the presence of heavy industries dotting the coastline from the Point Lisas Industrial Estate to the Union Industrial Estate in La Brea. Not only oil spill can kill fish, toxic waste is also serious and we have to look at this, you have to think very carefully which is the fish that really died, the bottom, (feeding), fish or the top (surface) fish, Boodram said adding, it could be pollution, it could be heavy rainfall bringing down the waste from the river into the Gulf. So I am saying that the Coast Guard should be brought into the investigation because they can venture up into the rivers and see if toxic waste is being dumped into the rivers, he said, and noted the EMA, since they were already leaning towards dumped fish as being the cause may not continue any investigations into the fish kill. We also have to look at the fishing industry too because it would have a heavy impact on the industry, so what happening is people cannot go out further to sea in the deep waters as before since the price of gasoline and diesel were raised, he said. Kamla: AG engaging in cry-baby routine While obtaining statistics is, part of the equation, Al-Rawi said Persad-Bissessar is privy to the same information as the Government due to an affidavit from Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams in High Court proceedings involving attorney Gerald Ramdeen, who has acted as a temporary Opposition senator in the current Parliament. Al-Rawi added that Ramdeen was part of the Opposition delegation which met with the Government on the Bill prior to its debate in the House of Representatives on July 1. In that debate, Minister in the Ministry of the AG and Legal Affairs Stuart Young said the Opposition had that information since May. Al-Rawi said the Judiciary, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Police Service and the Prisons all have intersecting views on this matter. Outside of statistics, Al-Rawi said there must be a clear appreciation of the efficiency and efficacy of the Anti-Gang and Bail laws. He quipped that this was another failed attempt by Persad-Bissessar to remain relevant to TT and wondered why she did not demonstrate this kind of vigour over the last five years, as prime minister. Carmona: Consider families of crime victims The President was speaking as he appointed a new member of the Mercy Committee, Master Ralph Doyle. It is so important that you all contact the victims themselves or the families of the victims, Carmona said. It is important to be empathetic to the families of the victims. He noted trauma can be re-opened when persons are set free after a long period served for a crime. New committee member Doyle was unable to say immediately if a recent call for pardon of prisoners whose, remand has already exceeded their maximum sentence, was a matter within the Mercy Committees jurisdiction. I am not certain, but the point is this. It is a committee. It will be something which the committee will have to deal with should it come there, he said. I think at the end of the day what one has to do is to deal with it objectively and fairly. UNC gets ready to announce local government candidates The regional corporations already screened are the Siparia Regional Corporation (SRC); Mayaro/ Rio Claro Regional Corporation (MRCRC); Toco/Sangre Grande Regional Corporation (TSRC) and the Couva/Tabaquite/ Talparo Regional Corporation (CTTRC). The corporations expected to be screened this week are the Princes Town Regional Corporation (PTRC) at the La Gloria Community Centre; the Penal/ Debe Regional Corporation (PDRC) at Sunsplash Water Park; and the Chaguanas Borough Corporation(CBC) at Couva South Hall. In a post on her Facebook page, UNC political leader, Kamla Persad-Bissessar noted that nominees for seven of the fourteen regional corporations would have been screened by the end of the week. In addition to screening the nominees for each region, we have also been meeting and consulting with the respective Members of Parliament as well as the constituency executives for each area, Persad-Bissessar stated, adding that the response has been quite good and most encouraging as seen in the numbers and quality of the nominees wishing to serve our party at the local government level. The fact that we are actually screening the nominees at venues within the respective regions has also been welcomed by those communities as, in addition to the nominees themselves, more activists/supporters from the communities have been attending the screening sessions, she added. Meanwhile, UNC chairman, David Lee, while expressing satisfaction with the enthusiasm with which party members from all walks of life have been demonstrating their support and confidence in the party by seeking to represent the United National Congress, noted that the party may begin announcing candidates as early as next week. We in the UNC believe that the heightened interest in serving the party at the local government level is as a result of the recognition of the population that this government is incompetent and anti-people, Lee stated. Meanwhile, Rural Development and Local Government Minister, Senator Franklyn Khan, is scheduled to host a Local Government Reform meeting with all Local Government Representatives at the Chaguanas Borough Corporation tomorrow at 10 am. What you need to know about the Octagon Art Festival on Sunday in Ames news Chinese admiral warns: Freedom of navigation patrols conducted by U.S. Navy could end in disaster (NationalSecurity.news) In the wake of a ruling by an international court that Chinas outsized territorial claims in the South China Sea were illegal, some of Beijings top military officers have ramped up their rhetoric, threatening the U.S. and Japanese navies as well as others in the region. In recent days a senior Chinese admiral said that so-called freedom of navigation patrols that the U.S. Navy was engaging in to ensure open sea lanes through one of the worlds busiest trade corridors could end in disaster following a ruling in The Hague that China could not simply claim international waters and land structures as its own. For its part, Beijing has refused to recognize the ruling by an arbitration court invalidating its sweeping territorial claims, and did not take part in any of the proceedings, Reuters reported. And the Chinese government has reacted angrily to demands by the United States and Japan for it to adhere to the ruling. The case was brought by The Philippines after Chinese forces claimed a portion of Scarborough Shoal, which had traditionally belonged to Manila. Though the Chinese have made aggressive moves throughout the South China Sea, Beijing has blamed Washington for stirring up tension in the region, which is a strategic trade waterway in which more than $5 trillion worth of goods move each year. The U.S. has been conducting freedom of navigation patrols close to China-held islands. Beijing has responded by bolstering its military presence on some of the manmade atolls and islands, including adding airstrips, combat aircraft, long-distance radar and air defense missiles. Reuters reported further: Speaking behind closed doors at a forum in Beijing on Saturday evening, Sun Jianguo, an admiral and Deputy Chief of the Joint Staff Department of the powerful Central Military Commission, said the freedom of navigation issue was bogus and one that certain countries repeatedly hyped up. When has freedom of navigation in the South China Sea ever been affected? It has not, whether in the past or now, and in the future there wont be a problem as long as nobody plays tricks, he said, according to a transcript of his comments seen by Reuters. China is the biggest beneficiary of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and is not about to allow anyone to damage it, Sun said. But China consistently opposes so-called military freedom of navigation which brings with it a military threat, and which challenges and disrespects the international law of the sea, Sun said. This kind of military freedom of navigation is damaging to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, and it could even play out in a disastrous way, he added, without elaborating. Last week, Chinese officials threatened Japan over the South China Sea issue, telling Tokyo to essentially butt out. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that his country should stop interfering and hyping up the South China Sea issue, as the dispute took center stage at a key regional summit in Mongolia, Japan Today reported. Japan is not a state directly involved in the South China Sea issue, and thus should exercise caution in its own words and deeds, and stop hyping up and interfering, Li said following the ruling in The Hague, according to Xinhua. Japanese press reported further that Abe informed Li that the rules-based international order must be respected. China claims most of the South China Sea. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. More: NationalSecurity.news is part of USA Features Media. Submit a correction >> Every day another tragedy: 5 bloody terrorist attacks occur in Germany in under two weeks Its getting harder and harder to deny the fact that theres a serious problem in the world today. It seems as though we cant go an entire day without another horrific terrorist attack occurring somewhere in the world. Were reaching a point where these events are occurring so frequently that weve become increasingly desensitized to them. Political correctness be damned, we can no longer ignore the fact that a common thread in these attacks in a connection to radical Islam. By pretending there isnt a serious problem with this ideology isnt helping anything. In fact, one could argue that were allowing it to grow stronger and stronger by not addressing the issue head-on. Take Germany for instance, where five separate terrorist attacks occurred over the course of two weeks. Thats nearly one every other day It all began on July 14, when a 17-year-old Afghan refugee wielding an ax and a knife wounded four people on a train before being shot and killed by police officers. On July 18, a 27-year-old Syrian refugee in Ansbach blew himself up at a music festival, injuring 15 innocent people. Then on July 22, a mentally disturbed 18-year-old who held a dual German and Iranian citizenship shot and killed nine people in Munich before killing himself. Most recently, on July 24, a 21-year-old Syrian refugee killed a pregnant woman with a machete in Reutlingen. The recent attacks havent been exclusive to Germany, though. On July 14, the terrorist attack in Nice, France where dozens were murdered by a man driving a large truck occurred. The perpetrator in that attack had ties to radical Islam as well. Surprise, surprise Where does the madness end? At what point do we stand up and renounce this ideology that is indisputably responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people? Political correctness is literally costing people their lives now. Why are we so afraid to reject this? Its time to get serious about this. It is no longer a matter of debate. The evidence is abundantly clear those who fall into the radical Islamic ideology are evil, violent, psychopaths who want to murder innocent people. Thats just the truth. The sooner we accept it, the sooner we can fix it. Sources: NYTimes.com NYTimes.com NYTimes.com NYTimes.com NYTimes.com NYTimes.com Submit a correction >> You are being Poisoned by thousands of Untested, Unmonitored Chemicals True science is crystal clear when it comes to witnessing and documenting what actually happens to animals who eat genetically engineered (GE) feed. Numerous systems and organs are detrimentally affected kidneys, intestines, stomachs, livers and reproduction abilities and more. This we know beyond a shadow of a doubt, as Global Research describes a letter that confirms these results. It was sent to the British Medical Journal by U.S. activist Rosemary Mason, with hopes to affect the outcome of the European Commissions (EC) vote to relicense glyphosate. Ms. Mason, along with many activists, believe glyphosate must be banned. The EC paid little mind to the letter, or the facts, and in some instances the data from this letter was suppressed. On June 30th, the EC voted to renew the killer chemical for 18 months, according to Popularresitance.org. What Mason sent is a treasure trove of independent scientific research revealing what happens to animals consuming genetically engineered (GE) feed. Here are a few examples. Cows die in Germany after eating Sygentas GE corn. Piglets are marred by birth defect from GE soy in Denmark. Congenital malformations are discovered in Montana wildlife. The first long GE feeding study from the French team headed by Professor Giles Eric Seralini revealed liver congestion, necrosis, severe kidney nephropathies and large palpable tumors, in rats. Read the letter here. And be prepared to shift your spending and eating habits to purchase clean organic food. What about people? The Mason letter also shares the conclusions of researchers Anthony Samsel and MITs Stefanie Steneff who published a paper documenting glyphosates pathway to destruction in many modern diseases like autism, celiac, DNA damage and cancer. But you wont hear about this in your agriculture classes at your Monsanto funded university research centers, your local farm and feed stores, farm bureaus, county extension offices or your nightly news and local newspapers. Instead, youll be peppered with disinformation about how GMOs can feed the world, use less pesticide or herbicide and provide more yield. And its perfectly safe, so no worries. The Federal Department of Agriculture (FDA) approved these novel foods back in the early 1990s without any long term tests on real living persons or animals. In 1992, it was much more important to nurture Washington, D.C.s new, competitive biotechnology export. Remember Vice President Dan Quayle? He job was to ensure companies like Monsanto would not be hampered by unnecessary regulation. So today, as in 1992, the false science to push these foods began in earnest. The false science is illuminated by the language used to describe GE food. They said GMO food is substantially equivalent to regular food. Does that sound scientific to you? Yet that phrase is the pinnacle upon which all approvals were falsely devised. Substantially equivalent was and still is a touchstone for the powers who want you to continue to eat poison. And if they do this for GMOs with such force and fury, how many other chemicals and toxins are thrown in without our knowledge? Back in 2005, the Environmental Working Group discovered an average of 200 chemicals and industrial pollutants in umbilical cord blood. Imagine the load today. When one are faced with overwhelming evidence that you, your children, animals, soil, water and food have been bombarded by thousands of untested and unregulated chemicals and that the information has been suppressed so more money can be made by agri-business conglomerates, like Monsanto, Dow Crop Sciences, Sygenta and others, its past time to consider making serious changes in what we buy and eat. Spread the word. Boycott GMOs! Food should be our medicine, not our poison. Lets grow our own! Sources Globalresearch.ca Popularresistance.org Rinf.com Science.naturalnews.com Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Usrtk.org Ewg.org Submit a correction >> Orientation Workshop under Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme held in New Delhi New Delhi, Tue, 26 Jul 2016 NI Wire Appointing Mahila Police Volunteers and involving NGOs can help in better implementation of BBBP: Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi An orientation workshop under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development was held in New Delhi yesterday. Principal Secretaries of WCD/Social Welfare Departments of states, District Collectors/Deputy Commissioners, and representatives of other relevant district level authorities of 61 additional districts selected under the expansion of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme participated in the workshop. In todays workshop, the Ministries of Women & Child Development, Health and Family Welfare and Human Resource Development shared experiences from their sectoral interventions on improving the Sex Ratio at Birth, initiatives undertaken to encourage girl child education and to strengthen the advocacy initiatives. Addressing the participants, the Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi highlighted the need of gathering support of key stakeholders and involving local champions, and prominent local personalities to ensure effective mindset change in the community. She deliberated with the Collectors on issues related to community mobilization, effective implementation of PCPNDT Act, promoting girl child education and effective monitoring of BBBP. Appointing Special Mahila Police Volunteers (SMPVs) can be very helpful for effective implementation of BBBP, the Minister explained. Smt Maneka Gandhi said that the SMPVs will act as eyes and ears of the district administration and help provide essential information regarding child marriages, girls being prevented from going to school, toilets for girls in schools, violence against women etc , and addressing these factors forms an important component of BBBP. The Minister advised that the NGOs can become another important partner in BBBP and their involvement can be beneficial since they operate even in the remotest parts of the states. Speaking on the occasion, the Minister of State, WCD Ministry, Smt Krishna Raj said Implementation of BBBP is both a challenge as well as a necessity. It is a scheme for everyone and community awareness 'Jan Jagrukta' is the key to achieve its objectives. The Director from Haryana and Deputy Commissioners/Collectors and District Magistrates from select districts from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh shared their journey of successfully implementing the scheme on ground and the various innovative interventions, they have undertaken like celebration of the birth of girl child, display of birth statistics through digital Guddi Gudda boards, holding inspection visits, sealing of unregistered ultrasonography machines, oath taking ceremonies, among others. The scheme was initiated in 100 districts across the country last year and has now been expanded to 61 additional districts in 11 States/ UTs with low Child Sex Ratio. The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme was launched by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on 22nd January, 2015 to address the issue declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and related issues of disempowerment of women over a life-cycle continuum. BBBP is a tri-ministerial initiative of Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development. Source: PIB King Mohammed VI of Morocco made a strong case for reinforcing joint Arab action and unity in order to better address the multiple challenges facing stability, peace and development in the Arab region. This came in a speech readout on his behalf by Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar at the Arab Summit on Monday in Mauritanias capital Nouakchott. The Moroccan Sovereign deplored in his speech the disarray prevailing in Arab countries at a context internal and external risks of division are looming in the region. In this regard he stressed that what matters, above all, is to embed in our collective consciousness the firm belief that unity is absolutely necessary if we want to rise to the cultural challenge which consists in building modern states rooted in civic values, the rule of law and commitment to territorial integrity and national sovereignty. The King stressed the need for Arab countries to complement and supplement each other and highlighted the role of the spirit of citizenship in averting sectarianism and separatism. With regards to violent extremism that is plaguing several Arab nations, the Moroccan Monarch deplored that terrorists resort to biased interpretations and false arguments to distort the pristine Islamic faith. To shield the Arab world form such a cross-border phenomenon, King Mohammed VI called for launching a coordinated action in the region. On the situation in the middle east, the Monarch held Israel accountable for the stalemate in settling the Palestinian issue due to its refusal to abide by the relevant resolutions of international law as well as to its continuing settlement building policy which, day after day, undermines the two-state solution: an Israeli State and a Palestinian State. The latter should be established on the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, and should be sovereign and viable. In this respect, King Mohammed VI said the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative offers a basis for achieving security, peace and integrated development in the region. The Monarch made it clear that any attempt to impose the status quo and the fait accompli policy will be useless and will not change the course of history. In his quality as Chairman of the Organization of Islamic Cooperations Al-Quds Committee, King Mohammed VI stressed the need to safeguard the citys Arab and Islamic identity and its legal status as a part of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 and as the capital of the independent State of Palestine. The King concluded his speech by pointing out to the need for winning the battle for development by ensuring capacity-building, combating poverty and vulnerability and overcoming hurdles to economic and commercial cooperation. He said the Arab world needs to develop innovative thinking and skilled human resources as well as to boost the economies competitiveness through institutional frameworks that can serve as a catalyst for economic and social development. In its latest travel advice update, France warned its citizens from visiting Algeria due to security threats, while listing Morocco as the sole safe country for French tourists in north Africa. The French Foreign Ministry published a map on its website showing Algeria in red color that indicates strong warning to French tourists against visiting the north African country which faces serious terrorist threat. The imminent risk of terrorism was not eliminated by the crackdown by Algerian authorities on terrorists hideouts in the south and the east. In the UKs foreign travel advice, the Foreign Office advises against all travel to several Algerian regions in the south and the east while it advises against all but essential travel in the rest of the country. The existence of several domestic terrorist groups, coupled with the collapse of the state in Libya and the proliferation of violent extremist groups, along with the porous borders with several sub-Saharan countries where all sorts of trafficking is practiced are all reasons that complicate the fight against terrorism in Algeria. Youre with her. Photo: Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images Despite Donald Trumps many ham-fisted appeals to the former supporters of Bernie Sanders, there remain very few democratic socialists who wish to make an authoritarian demagogue their president. A recent Pew poll found that 90 percent of Democrats who had supported Sanders throughout the Partys primary planned to vote for Hillary Clinton over Trump when those are the only choices theyre provided. To minimize the risk of a Trump presidency, Sanders doesnt need to convince his admirers not to vote for a pseudo-fascist insult-comic. Rather, he must convince them not to vote for an left-wing environmentalist whos not sure about vaccines or a libertarian candidate, whos basically just a 420-friendly Republican: In the latest CNN/ORC poll, 25 percent of Sanders voters defected to either Green Party candidate Jill Stein or Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson. In his endorsement of Clinton earlier this month and at the Democratic National Convention Monday night Sanders made an exhaustive case for why Clintons domestic policies are vastly preferable to Trumps. But in both speeches, the Vermont senator neglected to make an explicit case for why his supporters shouldnt defect to Stein, whose platform on climate change and inequality is considerably more robust. After spending most of the past year arguing that it was far too late for Establishment politics, Sanders still hadnt explained why it was, for the moment, too late for anti-Establishment politics. Until Tuesday morning. I dont know the leadership of the Green Party, but I respect what theyre trying to do, Sanders told a crowd of delegates and reporters at a breakfast sponsored by Bloomberg Politics. Theyre focusing on very, very important issues. But I think right now what is it, three, four months before an election youre going to end up having a choice. Either Hillary Clinton is going to become president, or Donald Trump. Bernie: it's easy to boo, much harder to deal with the reality of electing Trump #DemsInPhilly pic.twitter.com/IhMlUrly0m Mollie Reilly (@MollieReilly) July 26, 2016 But from here to November, Sanders plans to explain, over and over, why voting for a center-left technocrat who has publicly committed to the most progressive domestic policy agenda in a generation would do more to promote radical change, in the long-term, than casting a protest vote for a candidate without the resources and support to defeat Donald Trump. Sanders made this point most succinctly when addressing the California delegations breakfast Tuesday morning. After his call for Clintons election was met with a smattering of boos, Sanders replied, It is easy to boo, but it is harder to look your kids in the face if we are living under a Trump presidency. Not quite ready to come together. Photo: SAUL LOEB/This content is subject to copyright. As Eric Levitz noted, Bernie Sanders drew some loud boos in a meeting this afternoon with his delegates by stressing the importance of electing Hillary Clinton as president. Nancy Pelosi got hassled in a meeting of the California delegation by Bernie supporters as well. And Debbie Wasserman Schultz got booed in a meeting of her own Florida delegation, even though her resignation as DNC chair had already been announced, leading to the decision to hustle her out of town instead of letting her gavel in the convention before fading away. The Sanders fury has now spilled over into the actual convention, as mentions of Hillary Clinton from the podium in what is normally a meaningless opening afternoon session were greeted with boos and chants of Bernie, Bernie. Sanders himself has texted his supporters asking them as a personal favor not to indulge in any protests on the floor. Reflecting a growing media preoccupation, Chuck Todds saying the dissension is worse than anything he saw in Cleveland; 1968 analogies are flying around. The big and obvious question now is whether the cavalcade of progressive speakers scheduled for the first night of the convention Elizabeth Warren, three prominent Sanders supporters (Senator Jeff Merkley and Representatives Raul Grijalva and Keith Ellison), and Sanders himself can quell the storm, or if they, too, will get shouted down for saying nice things about Clinton. This atmosphere was obviously fed by the DNC email hack, which no one this side of Russia could have anticipated. But you do have to wonder whats really going on among the People of the Bern (recognizing they have their own differences of opinion), and whether it will quickly, well, burn itself out. Do the We Want Bernie chants of those booing Bernie for wanting to move on to the TrumpClinton challenge mean some of them think (as one delegate interviewed on the floor indicated) theres still some slim, and perhaps even unarticulated, hope of a different outcome to the convention? Thats hard to imagine for us political writers who thought the nomination race ended quite some time ago, but delegates at the heart of what many sincerely believe to be a movement destined for ultimate success may feel otherwise. As for the media fanning this particular wildfire, the story places coverage into the safe territory of equivalence between the two parties, with Cruz dissidents and Sanders dissidents offering the same sort of not-so-quiet protests. The thing is, in Cleveland it was the nomination-contest winners of Team Trump who were booing the recalcitrant loser, Ted Cruz. If things play out as looks likely right now, you arent going to hear any Hillary Clinton delegates booing Bernie Sanders, who has, of course, already endorsed the presumptive nominee. So, even as they are offered as the same story, its a different dynamic altogether. Ex-DNC chair. Photo: Andrew Burton/Getty Images Almost everything about the drama Democrats found themselves in on the first day of their convention the leaked DNC emails roiling the Democratic party, the chorus of boos raining down on every speaker who mentions Hillary Clinton was unexpected. But the least surprising development is the resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The now-outgoing chair, one of the longest serving in her partys history, has been one of the primary targets of Democratic infighting for years so much so that stories venting frustration about the Florida congresswoman have become a biennial hallmark of political journalism. The only thing surprising about her departure as party leader is that it took this long to happen. The griping over Wasserman Schultzs conduct as party leader began in 2011, almost as soon as she took over from outgoing chair Tim Kaine, now Clintons running mate. In Politico, anonymous Democrats fretted over Wasserman Schultzs rough rollout. The complaints centered around a series of gaffes the Florida congresswoman made in her first few weeks on the job. These so-called gaffes that Republicans were waging a war on women by restricting abortion and attempting to legislate womens health, and that Republican-backed voter-ID measures meant that the GOP want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws and block access to the polls to voters who are more likely to vote for Democratic candidates than Republican candidates, seem remarkably tame in retrospect. Both points became key arguments made by party leaders in subsequent election cycles; few would likely contest that kind of language today. But they were a good indication that fellow Democrats didnt like Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and as time went on, those frustrations only mounted. By 2014, the critics, still mostly anonymous, had formed a more substantial critique: More than three dozen Democrats, almost all of them still anonymous, told Politico that Wasserman Schultz was more concerned with her political ambitions than she was with the good of the party. The story was loaded with the kind of devastating anecdotes reminiscent of Republican staffers griping over Sarah Palin following John McCains loss in 2008. Former DNC officials claimed that on more than one occasion for both the 2012 Democratic convention and Obamas second-term inauguration in 2013 Wasserman Schultz tried to get the party to pay for her clothes, requiring intervention from Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett. And Obama loyalists complained she was using meetings with DNC donors to try to pressure them into donating to her leadership super-pac. Her working relationship with the president seemed icy at best: When Wasserman Schultz joined a photo-op line at a Democratic fundraiser in an attempt to get face time with the president, he reportedly turned to her and said, You need another picture, Debbie? Wasserman Schultz and her allies fiercely denied the clothing story and insisted her relationship with the White House was positive. She managed to hang on through the first half of 2016, in part because the White House was reluctant to generate the bad press that would come with replacing her. And she was genuinely good at fundraising, one of the most important parts of her job. What was almost never said by her detractors in the stories slamming her is that serving as party chair is almost always a thankless job: part partisan warrior, and part rule-maker for your own party. Its difficult to tell how much of those early criticisms of her tenure were valid expressions of concern about her leadership style and how many of them were unfair, gendered complaints. But in retrospect, she was particularly ill-suited to helm the party through a heated battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Wasserman Schultz was never particularly well-liked among the progressive wing of her party. As a Florida Democrat, her views conform more closely to the more conservative Democrats who make up her home district. Shes long been opposed to medical marijuana, calling it a gateway drug. She angered feminists last year when she said young women born after Roe v. Wade were complacent, in an attempt to answer a question about whether there was a generational divide in womens support for Hillary Clinton. And she earned the ire of the left when she and other Florida politicians co-sponsored a bill to slow reforms intended to curb predatory payday-lending practices. It was pretty obvious and frustrating to anyone who was watching, that the DNC favored Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary. The fact that Democrats had only six debates, half as many as their Republican counterparts, and that they were always scheduled at such odd hours that it appeared the party didnt want anyone to watch, strongly suggested that they were hoping the Democratic primary process would be an easy path for the early front-runner. Of course, it wasnt, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz underestimated the extent of progressive anger, not only at Hillary Clinton, but at party officials like her. The difference is that Clinton still has millions of vocal supporters on her side. Wasserman Schultz isnt so lucky. Yet still so loud, somehow. Photo: Victor J. Blue/2016 Bloomberg Finance LP Good morning and welcome to Fresh Intelligence, our roundup of the stories, ideas, and memes youll be talking about today. In this edition, Sanders supporters show themselves to be the vocal minority, Bernie gets an apology, and Clinton slips in the polls. Heres the rundown for Tuesday, July 26. WEATHER Itll be another day of heat and storms along the East Coast and down toward the Gulf of Mexico. There will also be storms across the central states with the worst expected in the Plains States, specifically the Dakotas and Nebraska. The West Coast for the most part will be very nice so lets not talk about it while New York City will stay way too hot, with a slight chance of showers. [USA Today] FRONT PAGE DNC Day One: Delegate Cheers of Blue Widely Misinterpreted It was touch-and-go there for a minute. Lets be honest, it is still touch-and-go, but the Democratic National Convention did not go totally off the rails on day one. Throughout the day, protestors filled the streets around the convention, with some borrowing a popular chant from the Republican Convention: Lock her up! Bernie Sanders managed to at once electrify and alienate his supporters, who voiced their displeasure loudly when their leader endorsed Clinton for president. Speeches from Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were for the most part well-received, but there were scattered boos though Bernie himself texted his supporters asking them to keep it down on the convention floor. The obvious fan-favorite of the night no surprise here was Michelle Obama, who attacked Donald Trump without even mentioning his name. EARLY AND OFTEN Everything Solved: DNC Says, Sorry Like all great political conventions, yesterdays Democratic National Convention kicked off with an apology. The Democratic National Committee released a statement apologizing to Bernie Sanders following a series of leaked emails that showed party operatives were openly disparaging Sanderss campaign behind the scenes. The statement read in part: On behalf of everyone at the DNC, we want to offer a deep and sincere apology to Senator Sanders, his supporters, and the entire Democratic Party for the inexcusable remarks made over email. It also confusingly referred to the partys steadfast commitment to neutrality during the nominating process, which everyone now knows doesnt really exist. Illinois Republican Overreacts Representative Ron Sandack, Illinoiss House Republican floor leader and one of the states more influential lawmakers, has resigned from the legislature, saying he is fed up with people making fake Facebook and Twitter accounts in his name. This would all seem like quite the overreaction, unless of course he was resigning over something else and blaming a fake social-media account for it. Were just speculating here. [Reuters] A Nice Reminder That Shadiness in Politics Is Nothing New Good news for everyone whos been missing House of Cards. The real thing is going on in Florida, where a shady Newark businessman wow, Florida and New Jersey, this is going to be good has pled guilty to funneling foreign donations totaling $80,000 to Barack Obamas reelection campaign in 2012. The funds did bear fruit, namely an invitation for Albanian politician Edi Rama to attend an Obama fundraiser in San Francisco. Rama then used a picture of him with the president to claim that Obama supported his bid for prime minister, a position he subsequently won. Oh, and just to keep this topical, the same shady businessman was named as a host committee member for a Clinton fundraiser last year. [Politico] America Polled, Clinton Supporters Scared Everyone expected something of a bump for Trump following the convention, but this is all a bit scary. A series of major polls released yesterday showed Clintons long-time lead shrink to almost nothing. Nate Silver even briefly had Trump projected to win the White House with a 56.7 percent chance of becoming the president Silver now has him trailing by a none-too-encouraging deficit of less than ten points. Other depressing takeaways for the Democratic nominee? More than half of Democrats would still prefer a Sanders presidency, only 38 percent would be proud to have her as their president, and a full 68 percent say she isnt honest and trustworthy. This better be one hell of a convention. [WashPo] THE STREET, THE VALLEY Fed Readies Move Against Goldman Sachs According to the New York Times, the Federal Reserve is preparing to move against Goldman Sachs over a leak that happened more than two years ago, in which one of the agencys employees gave confidential government information to a junior banker at the firm. The Fed is also mulling action against another man, an executive who worked with the offending banker. With an expected penalty of less than $50 million, the move is seen as mostly symbolic, a sign that the government is taking Wall Streets illegal behavior more seriously. [NYT] Our Dreams of Drone-Delivered Humidifiers May Come True Amazon, after much speculation, has won permission to experiment with drones for making deliveries in the U.K. thanks for nothing, Obama. The company, in partnership with the British government, hopes to start using actual flying robots for smaller deliveries as early as 2017. Those Futurama guys were right on the money. [Reuters] All This Sneaker Money Is Getting Out of Hand It has emerged that Nike CEO Mark Parker will receive $46.7 million for the 2016 fiscal year, nearly three times what he pulled in last year. His salary is still a paltry $1.55 million poor thing but he got a big pay bump from stock rewards meant to keep him at the company through 2020. [Bloomberg] Like Obscenity, Judge Knows Money When He Sees It A Florida state judge has ruled that Bitcoin is not real money because among other things it cannot be hidden under a mattress like cash and gold bars. His ruling set free a man who had been caught illegally selling $1,500 to undercover detectives that must have been one tiny briefcase. The ruling will set an important precedent and could sway many cases involving Bitcoins working their way through the courts. [Bloomberg] MEDIA BUBBLE Fox Executives Ouster Has Nothing to Do With Fox Executives Ouster Michael Clemente, who recently acted as Fox News executive vice-president, has been let go from the network less than a week after the ouster of his boss and Fox News founder Roger Ailes. Still, everyone is quick to stress that Clementes removal has nothing to do with Ailess. [AdWeek] Our Drunk Kitchen Never Got Us Anything But Burns and Broken Glasses Hannah Hart, the star of the YouTube cooking show My Drunk Kitchen has been offered a deal from the Food Network. She will produce six episodes of a new show in which she eats her way across the country, trying to stick to a limited budget. Hart is just the latest of popular young YouTube stars who have been approached by television networks in a trend that we will sadly never be a part of. [Hollywood Reporter] The Future of Long-Form: Twitter Now a News Organization The era of Twitter as news source officially began with a blog post from Twitter chief marketing officer Leslie Berland where she unveiled a new ad campaign presenting Twitter as a platform to get late-breaking news. Twitter is especially focused on political news and is hoping to join the ballooning pack of new platforms covering the election. [Twitter] PHOTO OP Ghostbusters Marketing Campaign Spares No Expense Lighting strikes the Empire State building yesterday on what was a very dramatic day to be in the city. Bolt of lightning striking the Empire State Building #caughtoncam pic.twitter.com/KMkIuCLjSi vennela kishore (@vennelakishore) July 26, 2016 MORNING MEME Chuck Norris, It Has Been Too Long Welcome back old friend. Long live Chuck Norris memes. OTHER LOCAL NEWS New HBO Procedural in the Works? Michigan, your tax dollars at work. The case of the theft of a large amount of nail polish from a CVS in Lake Orion has been solved, just a little more than half a year after the crime took place. Derek Michael-Herbert Hill from Utica, Michigan, is now facing up to five years in prison for stealing nearly 200 bottles of nail polish. Another menace off the streets. [Oakland Press] Auto-Correct Has Ruined a Generation Oh, Florida, please invest in some PR. Now a picture has surfaced of a road outside of a high school in Deltona. Unfortunately, where such roads traditionally read SCHOOL SCHOOL, this one reads SCOHOL SCOHOL. An embarrassing mistake that wouldnt be a problem if robots would just take everybodys jobs already. [UPI] HAPPENING TODAY Apple May, in Fact, Fall Far Apple is set to release its second-quarter earnings today, and analysts are concerned that sluggish iPhone sales could lead to another disappointing report. Dont weep for Apple just yet, the company still has about $233 billion in cash, that should be enough to see it through a rough patch. [CNet] Florida About to Get an Excuse for Everything Medical marijuana is coming to Florida! Legal weed will be available to patients starting today, but dont expect Colorado-level legalization or a California-style black-market free for all. Only low-THC pot will be available it will help with pain but wont get you high and only to actual sick people. So, no need to go changing your summer travel plans just yet. [Inquisitr] Mothers of Slain Children to Speak at Convention Today In addition to Bill Clinton, the second day of the Democratic National Convention will feature the Mothers of the Movement. The group consists of the mothers of African Americans whose deaths inspired the Black Lives Matter movement, including Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and Sandra Bland. [CNN] An earlier version of this post incorrectly said Derek Michael-Herbert Hill was from New York rather than Michigan. We regret the error. The church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, blocked by police following an ISIS-linked attack. Photo: Matthieu Alexandre/AFP/Getty Images Two attackers brandishing knives stormed a church in Normandy during a Catholic Mass, killing an elderly priest and gravely wounding another person. French prime minister Francois Hollande said the assailants had ties to ISIS; this strike comes less than two weeks after the massacre in Nice. The attack on the Catholic Church in the Normandy town of Etienne-du-Rouvray began as a hostage situation. The assailants rushed the chapel as Mass was in session or just about to wrap up. They captured a priest, two nuns, and two church attendees. Police, along with a special kidnapping unit, swarmed the church shortly before 11 a.m.; at some point, the attackers emerged and were fatally shot by police. But before they were taken out, the men slit the throat of the priest,Reverend Jacques Hamel, who was in his 80s. A nun, Sister Danielle, who witnessed Hamels murder told a French television station that the knife-wielding men forced him [Hamel] to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And thats when the tragedy happened. She added: They recorded themselves. They did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. Its a horror. A churchgoer, who hasnt been named, was critically wounded. One hostage received minor injuries; the others were unharmed. Police cased the church, searching for explosives. Priest killed in France church hostage taking - AFP latest https://t.co/KVw9zFNiRx pic.twitter.com/bGcYUJmrUO AFP news agency (@AFP) July 26, 2016 ISIS also said its soldiers were behind the church siege, though the murderers have not publicly identified yet. A French official did say at least one of the assailants was a local man who attempted to cross into Syria but was caught at the Turkish border. He was ordered to wear an ankle-monitoring bracelet in March 2016, reports The Guardian. French anti-terrorism police are investigating the latest attack in a string of recent incidents across Europe. The carnage in Nice, where 84 people were killed when Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel plowed through a crowd on Bastille Day, stands out as Frances third major terror attack since January 2015, when gunmen stormed the Charlie Hebdo offices and the Paris rampage in November. At least two smaller-scale attacks linked to ISIS in Germany this past week a train attack and a suicide bombing at a music festival have put the continent on edge. This post has been updated throughout. Sanders supporters gather at City Hall in preparation to march through downtown Philly. Photo: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images As the political focus moves from Cleveland to Philadelphia this week, there is hope among many Democrats that their convention can offer a positive, hopeful balm for last weeks nasty, brutish gathering and its distressing reliance on violent rhetoric. But there is also fear that the heightened anger and antipathy toward Clinton, which last week included calls for her imprisonment and extrajudicial punishment, could be contagious. This is especially disturbing because of where that rhetoric inevitably led last week: to suggestions that someone should do the candidate physical harm. The most widely reported of these calls was made last week by Donald Trumps adviser, delegate, and New Hampshire state representative Al Baldasaro, who said in a radio interview that Clinton should be put on the firing line and shot for treason. Baldasaro explained that he saw Clintons executable offenses as being linked to the right-wing furor over the Benghazi attack and Clintons email server: She is a disgrace for the lies that she told those mothers about their children that got killed over there in Benghazi. She dropped the ball on over 400 emails requesting backup security. This strain of fury was stoked by prime-time convention speakers including Patricia Smith, whose son was killed in the Benghazi raid. For all of this loss, for all of this grief, for all of the cynicism the tragedy in Benghazi has wrought upon America, I blame Hillary Clinton, Smith said. I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son. (Since then, the mother of Ambassador J. Christopher Stephens has publicly asked the Trump campaign to stop invoking her sons death in such an opportunistic and cynical way.) Baldasaro didnt back down, but later amplified his calls for Clintons death, noting in a follow-up interview with BuzzFeed that, anyone that commits treason should be shot I believe Hillary committed treason. This time, it seems, he was referring to the email scandal, claiming that when people take confidential material off a server, youre sharing information with the enemy. Thats treason. Baldasaro was not alone in his calls for the death of the candidate whos about to be the first woman ever nominated by a major party for the presidency. Earlier in the week, Michael Folk, a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, had tweeted at Clinton, You should be tried for treason, murder and crimes against the U.S. Constitutionthen hung on the Mall in Washington, D.C. As several people on Twitter pointed out, this use of the language of treason, even without explicit calls for execution, is far from anodyne. Five thousand copies of a flyer depicting John F. Kennedy as Wanted for Treason, and enumerating his sins, which included appointing anti-Christians to federal office and telling fantastic LIES to the American people, were distributed in Dallas, Texas, in the days before his 1963 assassination. The allegations of treason, lying, and criminality seem to offer moral cover to those who really, really hate Clinton, who hate her so much that their loathing can only be satisfied by fantasies about her violent and public demise. It allows her harshest critics to feel that their desire to hurt her stems from patriotism, perhaps to reassure themselves that their hate is not misogynistic but rather a commitment to moral, righteous justice. On Friday, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani gave a speech in which he reiterated the claim that Clinton is a criminal, running not for office but to try to avoid an orange jumpsuit, and that if Donald Trump becomes president, he will reopen the case. Then, moving on to her electoral prospects, he felt comfortable using this language about her chances at the polls: Hillary, were going to kill you in upstate New York. According to Politico, he raised his voice and added, Were going to take you out in New York. The language of physical harm is catching. When NPRs The Takeaway reported from Cleveland bars last Thursday night after Trumps speech, they interviewed a GOP vice-chair who slurred, Were building coalitions of the Asians, of the Orthodox Jews, Italians, Irish, before growling, Were gonna hurt her. The Takeaway hosts were briefly taken aback but then laughed off how much these jubilant, aggressive hordes had had to drink. All of this is why it is particularly alarming, as the Democratic convention kicks off in Philadelphia, to see protesters on the left voice their dismay with Clinton using the same Lock her up! chants and signs that say, Hillary for Prison. Its why its so disconcerting to hear Green Party candidate Jill Stein stoke those protesters convictions that Hillary is a lawbreaker by telling them, as she did on Sunday, that she will urge Bernie Sanders to withdraw his endorsement of Clinton based on the outright, purposeful sabotage of your campaign by the DNC and by Hillary Clinton. The left certainly has its own longstanding, legitimate beefs with the candidate about her vote to invade Iraq; her hawkishness; her position on Palestine; her relationship to banks; her support of her husbands 1990s legislation, including the crime bill and welfare reform; her tendency toward safe centrism, as seen in her decision to pick Tim Kaine as her running mate as opposed to Elizabeth Warren or Sherrod Brown. But none of these issues are whats being invoked when crowds of purported lefties shout about unproven crimes, fraud, rigging, sabotage, or when they cheer for Clintons imprisonment. Some progressives are eager to turn the hacked DNC emails into a scandal that proves malfeasance that thereby delegitimizes primary results, but it does no such thing. In fact, the email hack, as embarrassing as it might be, provides ample evidence that there was no rigging of the primary process by the DNC. There were a bunch of people who worked for the Democratic Party who hated Sanders, who hadnt been a member of the party for very long, and who was seriously challenging the party favorite. They didnt do anything about it. The one guy who suggested, horribly, that they attack Sanders on his lack of faith got shot down. It should now be abundantly clear that there was no systematic conspiracy to rob Sanders of the Democratic nomination. (And if there had been, it certainly could not have been pulled off by an organization that cannot tell its ass from its elbow. The only good news in all this is that Deborah Wasserman Schultz, who was not good at her job, is no longer in charge of the DNC.) When RoseAnn DeMoro, the executive director of National Nurses United, tweets that our election was stolen, rigged and that Wasserman Schultz was not acting on her own; when progressives cheer for WikiLeaks, which yesterday retweeted Ann Coulters racism and some anti-Semitism of its own; when Democrats are chanting Lock her up! the language and objectives of left and right become increasingly indistinguishable. This isnt issues-based dismay over Hillary Clinton, and if it once were, it has transformed into something far more grotesque and dangerous. The merging of left-leaning political antagonism toward Hillary with the distortions of the right has left us here, with progressives people who care deeply about our planet, about health care, about immigration, about minimum wage and police brutality and voting rights and reproductive rights and the future of the Supreme Court heaping outsized condemnation not at the fascistic ogre who rose in Cleveland last week, but at the only person who realistically stands between him and his stewardship of this country. A vocal portion of the left is now aping the fantasy constructions of the right wing, showing themselves more focused on Hillarys personal destruction than on any of the crucial issues at stake in November. Welcome to the Democratic National Convention. USA Freedom Kids, the latest victims of Trumps business ethics. If there is a secret to Donald Trumps success in business, after (1) inherit a large fortune and (2) use the media to create a famous brand, its (3) dont pay people the money you owe them. Youd be surprised how much more profitable it can be to have people supply you with goods and services and not have to pay them anything than the alternative of reimbursing them at the agreed-upon price. He has famously used bankruptcy to burn the people who have been foolish enough to loan him money, and then explained that it was fair because they were sharks. He has also applied this method to his dealings with non-sharks stiffing contractors is a cornerstone of the Trump business model (as USA Today and The Wall Street Journal, among others, have found). And Trump doesnt quite admit that he habitually refuses to honor his contracts, but he doesnt exactly deny it in the strongest terms, either. Instead, Trump presents his lack of business ethics as a qualification for office. My whole life Ive been greedy, greedy, greedy. Ive grabbed all the money I could get, he said at a debate last year. Im so greedy. But now I want to be greedy for the United States. The USA Freedom Kids, a cheese-ball youth performance troupe, appeared at a Trump rally last summer and became an instant sensation, partly because of the contrast between the adorableness of the performers and the quasi-fascistic undertones of their lyrics (such as Deal from strength or get crushed every time). Jeff Popick, the groups (adult) manager, told Claire Landsbaum he was attracted to Trump not only for reasons of customer synergy but also personal conviction [Trump] knows what hes doing, and he makes the right decisions, Popick explained. Youll never guess what happened next. Yes, Trump refused to pay the group for its time and expenses, reports Philip Bump. First, the USA Kids were told they could have a free table to sell CDs instead of $2,500, they accepted the deal, and no such table was provided. Then they were asked to fly to Iowa to appear at Trumps rally to help veterans, and not only were they not paid, but Trump failed to reimburse the cost of their travel. Popick is rethinking his previous analysis of the campaign: At this point, my position is that I have no position, really, Popick said. What hes done to my group or what hes not done for my group doesnt necessarily make him the best candidate, it doesnt make him the worst candidate. I still have to mull that over. He might still be the best candidate as president of the United States or not. What I think Ive learned, Popick added, is that Im not qualified to be a political commentator. Alternatively, you could say Popicks original beliefs about Trump have been vindicated. He didnt deal with Trump from strength, and he got crushed. Photo: JGI/Jamie Grill/Getty Images One of the things thats always been confusing about working in journalism is that while journalists are professional communicators interviewing smart people, reading smart research, writing about all that in smart way they are also often brazenly awkward in everyday conversation. While Im almost certainly projecting, I find it funny that, if you throw existential or political questions to reporters, theyll be happier than pigs in manure, but if you force them to make conversation, theyll be staring into their phones long before they get to the oh-so-satisfying philosophical debates. Thats because, sociolinguists will say, small talk and big talk are two related, but very different, things. And thats because human speech is a many-splendored thing. Like David Roberts lays out at Vox, anything you say is going to have a mixture of semantic content, or the various meanings of things and the relationships between them, and social function, or the act of finding of commonalities, the sussing out of roles, the establishing of dynamics. Different speech acts lie on different ends of the continuum. When your English professor was mortifying you by unpacking the symbolism of The Death of Ivan Ilych or your friendly human resources coordinator was detailing your dental plan, those were purely communicative its all about about conveying factual information from one human to another. On the other end is chitchat, like how you talk about how insane the weather is with your colleagues or how you ask a fellow party guest about how they know the host youre looking for ways in which you belong to the same tribe. With small talk, the communication of ideas or information is secondary, almost incidental; the speech is mainly meant to serve the purpose of social bonding, Roberts writes. It asks and answers familiar questions, dwells of topics of reliable comity, and stresses fellow feeling rather than sources of disagreement. Increment by increment, youre getting to know each other. This is also possibly why lecturing someone at a party is such a foul: Rather than relating, its communicating your expertise, which works great in front of a PowerPoint but not over a punch bowl. If youre lecturing someone you barely know, youre not only condescending to them, youre also skipping over the commonality-finding that helps to bond people together. the communication of ideas or information is secondary, almost incidental As you may intuit, theres a gender component in the way Western culture talks about small talk, namely that its trivial, shallow, meaningless and it also happens to be thought typical of women. In a 1923 essay thought to be the first on the topic Polish anthropologist Bronisaw Malinowski wrote about how being in silence with another man was unbearable, he reasoned, so talking about the weather was a way to fill it. He observed that the ritual of small talk serves to establish bonds of personal union between people brought together by the mere need of companionship and does not serve the purpose of communicating ideas. (And Ideas, you guessed it, are the Most Important Thing.) The feminist critique, which came in the 1970s, was that the dismissal of relationship-oriented conversation sprang from patriarchal disrespect for traditionally female roles, Roberts writes. Indeed, there seems to be agreed-upon continuum of worthiness for conversation. He quotes Cardiff linguist Justine Coupland, who writes that western societies have whole-heartedly accepted that communication is in fact value-gradable, on a scale from most-to-least authentic, or most-to-least valid. The real talk gets stuff done, she says, and that stuff excludes anything relational. But as all the research on social bonds suggest, having robust relationships makes you happier, safeguards your health, and predicts professional success so the relational effort of small talk isnt that small at all. The woke perspective, then, would be to appreciate the relational and informational aspects of communication. Indeed, in an intriguing 2010 study, researchers attached little recorder devices to 79 undergraduates and found that the people who reported the highest subjective well-being both spent more time with people and had deeper conversations with them. But one does not simply dive into conversational depths immediately; you have to, as they say, make friends first. Its oddly parallel to what a sex researcher told me about getting better in bed: Dont tell your date that you love being choked the first time you hook up; allow for things to be a little conventional. Then grade up from there. So the next time youre trapped at a party, rejoice in your mutual frustrations or schadenfreude with the L shutting down. Contemplate what Kevin Durant will do to the Golden State Warriors offense. Swap tips about surviving the summer. Like they said in kindergarten, its good to share. Patrizia Reggiani, pictured in 1995, arranged for the killing of Maurizio Gucci. Photo: Luca Bruno/AP Once known as Italys Lady Gucci in the 1970s and 80s, Patrizia Reggiani is most famous for hiring a hit man to kill her ex-husband Maurizio Gucci, the last member of the family dynasty to run the label, in 1995. Now, after 16 years in prison with a pet ferret named Bambi, the 67-year-old is working in Milan as a jewelry consultant on parole, which could end in a few months. In a new profile for The Guardian, writer Abigail Haworth found Reggiani and revisited the enthralling murder trial. Interestingly, Gucci has continued to largely ignore the murder: It went to trial in the mid-90s, around the same time the brand began to revive itself under Domenico De Sole and Tom Ford. Even stronger now under the creative direction of Alessandro Michele, Gucci did not comment for The Guardians story. Yet the amnesia is odd, because the saga has everything: glamour, greed, sex, death, betrayal, raging status anxiety, Haworth writes. It probably says more about the primal allure of a name like Gucci than all the sales figures in the world. As outlined here, a scintillating cast of characters give a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the murder, and whats next for Lady Gucci. Guccis last heir: Maurizio Gucci was the grandson of Guccis founder, Guccio Gucci. After he married Patrizia Reggiani in 1972, the two became one of Italys first celebrity power couples, Haworth writes. They had two daughters and led a glamorous life in Italy, throughout the world, and in New York, where a chauffeur drove them from an Olympic Tower penthouse to parties with Jackie Onassis and the Kennedys (the cars personalized license plate: Mauizia). They sailed to private islands on a 200-foot yacht, stayed in a ski chalet in St. Moritz, owned a home in Acapulco, and owned a Connecticut farm. After his father Rodolfo Guccis death, in 1983, Maurizio Gucci took over his fathers 50-percent stake in the company, and the marriage unraveled. As CEO, he dismissed other relatives from the company and tried to rebuild Guccis diminishing status. Maurizio got crazy, Reggiani told The Guardian. Until then I was his chief adviser about all Gucci matters. But he wanted to be the best, and he stopped listening to me. The company lost millions over the next several years, the couple divorced, and Maurizio Gucci sold the company to Investcorp for $120 million. He started living with a tall blonde woman and her 11-year-old son in an opulent apartment on Milans Corso Venezia boulevard. Reggiani reportedly considered her multimillion-dollar divorce settlement and yearly $630,000 allowance a mere bowl of lentils. The gold digger: After leaving Reggiani, Maurizio Gucci lived with his partner Paola Franchi and her son for five years. Now 61, Franchi told The Guardian that Reggiani stalked and often called Maurizo to threaten to kill him. She pleaded with him to hire a bodyguard, but he refused, she said. He didnt believe Patrizia would go through with her threat because of their girls. Franchi was portrayed in the media as a gold digger, but she casts those claims aside now: Actually my previous husband, whom I left for Maurizio, was even richer, so it was all nonsense. A true story of murder, status anxiety and a ferret called Bambi. Great escapism to write and, hopefully, to read: https://t.co/E30q6vogFC Abigail Haworth (@AbiHaworth) July 24, 2016 The doorman: On March 27, 1995, around 8:30 a.m., former doorman Giuseppe Onorato was sweeping leaves at the doorway of Maurizio Guccis private office when the heir appeared, walking up the steps. Mr. Gucci arrived carrying some magazines and said good morning, he remembered for The Guardian. Then I saw a hand. It was a beautiful, clean hand, and it was pointing a gun. The gunman shot Maurizio Gucci three times in the back, once in his head, and fired twice at Onorato. I was cradling Mr. Guccis head, he said. He died in my arms. The psychic: After the murder, Reggiani easily evicted the mistress and her son from the lavish apartment (in a note time-stamped three hours after his death) and lived there for two years with her daughters before her psychic tipped off police. On the day of the trials verdict, Gucci stores reportedly hung silver handcuffs in shop windows. All five involved in the murder were found guilty: Reggiani who was convicted for arranging the murder the psychic, a hotel porter, the hit man, and a getaway driver. The pet ferret: After Reggiani was sentenced to 26 years on appeal, her lawyer negotiated for her pet ferret, Bambi, to accompany her in prison. Reggiani stylishly euphemized her 16-year sojourn at Milans San Vittore Prison while speaking with The Guardian, calling it my stay at Vittore Residence. Prison life was quiet: I slept a lot. I took care of my plants. Bambi was killed after an inmate sat on him. The jewelry designers: Two years ago, after Reggiani was released on parole, the Milan-based costume-jewelry company Bozart hired her as a design consultant. Once famous in the 1980s for outfitting Madonna and Pamela Anderson, Bozart seems to view Reggianis work (reading fashion magazines to report on trends, trying on jewelry, and advising designers) as an image boost for sales. She is now computer-less, after accidentally deleting the companys entire photo archive. I dont like computers. They are quite evil, she explained. She cast aside compliments on her dress before the interview: Its Zara. I dont earn enough at this place to buy proper clothes. The cranky mother: Ordered by the court to live with her 89-year-old mother in a Milan townhouse, Reggiani now occasionally dreams of prison life: Sometimes I wish I was back inside Vittore Residence because my mother is very difficult. She berates me every day for no reason. The daughters: Alessandra and Allegra Gucci are both married, extraordinarily rich after inheriting their fathers fortune, and living in Switzerland. They own the yacht and the familys residences in New York, St. Moritz, and Milan, and seldom make the trip to see their mother. They dont understand me and have cut off my financial support, Reggiani said. I have nothing, and I havent even met my two grandsons. Lost love: If I could see Maurizio again I would tell him that I love him, because he is the person who has mattered most to me in my life. Prompted by Haworth, she imagined Maurizios reply: I think hed say the feeling wasnt mutual. Rude. Photo: TIZIANA FABI/AFP/Getty Images Cool Pope Francis beauty-vlog advocate and normcore enthusiast made a decidedly uncool move when he told Catholic nuns to lay off the tweeting. In a new church document titled Vultum Dei Quaerere (Seeking the Face of God) that addresses Womens Contemplative Life, Francis writes: In our society, the digital culture has a decisive influence in shaping our thoughts and the way we relate to the world and, in particular, to other people. Contemplative communities are not immune from this cultural climate. Clearly, these media can prove helpful for formation and communication. At the same time, I urge a prudent discernment aimed at ensuring that they remain truly at the service of formation to contemplative life and necessary communication, and do not become occasions for wasting time or escaping from the demands of fraternal life in community. Nor should they prove harmful for your vocation or become an obstacle to your life wholly dedicated to contemplation. Surely, everyone should be tweeting less (or not at all, really), but this is coming from a man with 9.6 million Twitter and 2.8 million Instagram followers. Either hes speaking from personal experience in which case, even the Pope gets distracted by Twitter, so go easy on yourself or he doesnt want the nuns to be better at Twitter than he is. As Broadly noted, some nuns have already responded to Franciss suggestions, with active Twitter user Sister Catherine Wybourne writing, When it comes to wasting time online, I think we all know the difference between a creative use of the internet/Social Media and what Id call sheer consumerism. As of press time, nobody has yet to tweet yas mom at Sister Wybourne. bless this post! creepy post Reply Thread Link oh god Hyacinth's boating outfit Reply Parent Thread Link The Strangers one time someone knocked on the writer's door to see if anyone was home, then the neighbor's house got robbed Reply Thread Link lmao wait seriously?! and that's it?! Reply Parent Thread Link lmao yep. sprinkle in some manson murders + the french film Ils and you've got "Inspired by True Events" Reply Parent Thread Link there's a little more to it where the people would knock on the door and if someone came to the door, they'd say "is X home?" and if no one answered the door, they'd rob the house. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Well, that's the basic concept. It's actually better than it sounds. Reply Parent Thread Link lol that movie has always scared the shit out of me. Reply Parent Thread Link omg yes and i also think it's loosely based on keddie cabin murders. just ugh, fuck that movie so much it's so terrifying. i remember not really feeling anything after i watched it in the theater but as soon as i got home i was freaking out. i did not sleep that night lmao Reply Parent Thread Link Omg that was the last scary movie I saw in theatres. After that I was done with horror movies Reply Parent Thread Link this happened to my brother at my dad's house shortly after they moved in about three years ago. some man banged on the door late at night. he kept asking my brother questions about who was in the house. my dad came down, and the guy got spooked and ran off. the next morning, five doors down, the entire family had been killed. my brother was questioned about it and my dad hasn't said zip since and refuses to talk about it. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link no one got killed, but years ago when i first moved in my house my husband was at work and i used to keep the doors unlocked during the day because i figured it was no big deal. a white van pulled into the driveway and someone got out and started pounding on my side door and yelling something. i couldn't see who it was and the way the side door is set up, there's a door in my kitchen that opens to a tiny little hallway with 3 stairs and down to the outside door and if i opened the kitchen door they would have seen me and i was so afraid they'd try to open the door if they saw me. my bathroom is right next to my kitchen and the window was open so they went to that window and started yelling but i couldn't really hear what they were saying, i just kept trying to hide so they couldn't see me. they eventually left and i never found out who it was. i tried asking around, seeing if maybe someone from my husband's family maybe tried stopping by to see our new house or something but he told me they would never pound on the door and yell like that. freaked me out. i definitely keep the doors locked at all times now, and we also have an alarm system. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link The Strangers fucks me up every time I watch it Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah, a cousin of mine lived in the shadier parts of San Antonio and during a house party, there was a knock at the door, and some girl was there asking for someone. He told her no one lived there and she was being really persistent in getting in. Eventually she left and a few days later he learned there were some robberies going on, with a girl who bore the same resemblance as the one who crashed the party acting as a lookout. They were just drug addicts who needed the cash from the stolen stuff, as it turns out. Edited at 2016-07-26 03:42 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link That movie creeped me out right from the trailer. I couldn't get up the courage to watch it. Reply Parent Thread Link One time I didn't answer the door and the robbers broke my door down, I went down stairs and started screaming at them (looking like the girl from the ring ) they left luckily but there was a moment I could see where the contemplated whether or not to keep going. Reply Parent Thread Link what about The Shining? It's based on Taylor Swift in the Jack Torrance role vs all her exes in the Wendy Torrance role Reply Thread Link LOL Reply Parent Thread Link Are the creepy twins the Haim sisters? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I stayed at The Stanley last year. Best bucket list decision ever. Definitely pretty creepy. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I loooove The Shining and all of the ~hidden meanings~ Reply Parent Thread Expand Link We haven't had a good creepy post in a long time. Don't disappoint me y'all. Reply Thread Link WHAT? that's so scary Reply Parent Thread Link bruh omg. When I was growing up my dad had to travel a lot for work so I would sleep in bed with my mom (okay I still do that sometimes, he died in January and when I visit her I'll crawl into bed w her. No shame), we watched the Langoliers one night and I had a bad dream, woke my mom up screaming. When we turned the lights on I had claw like scratch marks all down my back. We still have no idea what caused them. The dream wasn't even about something clawing me, it was bc of the movie. Freakylicious. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Omg. This happened to me in the home I grew up in! We had a lot of things happen there.. Reply Parent Thread Link OH MY GOD NOOOOO! Reply Parent Thread Link ikr, pls let it stick! Reply Parent Thread Link Idk if u still want a creepy comment, but for the past few days my mother keeps waking up at four to see the shadows of two cats sitting on her ceiling window. The way the window is angled and how the roof is in general makes it impossible for cats to be up there, plus the neighborhood only has one stray cat. She has no idea why the cats keep appearing, and last night she woke me up to run outside and see if there were any cats on the window. There weren't any, but the shadows were there. Reply Parent Thread Link All I got currently is a nice ghost story. My mom in the house tends to experience the ghost that lives here far more than I ever had. Not last friday but the onee before that my Grandmother had a mini stroke and ended up in the hospital. She's doing a lot better. But last week, after a trying day, Mom said a prayer, and as she was going to sleep she heard "Everything is going to be ok.", made Mom feel more at ease and Grandma has been doing a lot better. Reply Parent Thread Link pretty sure i have a ghost in my room THE CREEPIEST TIME (!!!): I heard a thump from my large suitcase which is placed on top of a closet in a corner but rationalised it with the fact that it's a semi-hard case and maybe there was a little dent being popped. Later that night we were on our phones in bed before going to sleep and we hear this sound of one of the wheels on the suitcase going around several times. We were both like "is that the fucking wheel going around??", like it was a distinct wheel turning sound. No windows open, nothing. one night me and my bf were almost asleep/not making any sounds and siri comes on saying "here's the search results for.." and we googled that place and it's this super teeny town in america where the only story about it was about some serial killer. Our Siri's will also randomly go on in the middle of the night saying "Sorry I didn't get that" (none of us have our hey siri on and he had his to the shop to check it out after the serial killer town incident lol). There will be random shit falling over as well, things that are stable on the tables, sounds like someone is running their hands over our metal blinds though the window is closed etc. We call her Bookesha and not sure what she wants but she doesn't feel harmful. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I believe Secret Window (and the novella, Secret Garden, Secret Window) were based on Stephen King's experience with writers claiming he stole from them. He got a ton of th threatening letters from one particular person who inspired Shooter. Reply Thread Link yes, just in time for a creepy post! Reply Thread Link is that like, a founding father to the left? wtf Reply Parent Thread Expand Link The story of Sylvia Likens is so beyond fucked up. Reply Thread Link Read her story once and I'll never forget it. People can be so awful. Reply Parent Thread Link Sylvia Likens and Junko Furuta always get me, like just so horrible. And Junko's killers/torturers are out of jail already. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link That's a name I haven't heard in a long time... Reply Parent Thread Link And Shanda Sharer's. 2 of her 4 torturers/killers are out of prison. One was working at a vet's office and their Facebook page got inundated with comments at how they hired a murderer. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link i know :/ Reply Parent Thread Link this post just reminds me how I haven't gotten around to watching the conjuring 2 also the annabelle movie was so fucking dumb I can't believe I wasted a perfectly good work night on watching it Reply Thread Link I'm watching Annabelle right now actually and since I'm also posting on ontd, I obviously agree with you lol. I like the Conjuring movies though so this is kinda disappointing. Reply Parent Thread Link if it would have followed the original story we see in the conjuring, i think it could have been better but idk why they changed who the story would follow so dumb :( Reply Parent Thread Link annabelle follows this stupid trend and lack of imagination from movie writers nobody would keep a doll that looked like annabelle it takes way more creativity and thought to make a doll or toy look scary but maybe something a parent would buy sorry i just really hate this trope Reply Parent Thread Expand Link It was so much worse than I expected and I was anticipating it being p bad. I also agree that no one would ever buy that doll Reply Parent Thread Link That elevator scene was A+ though. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link When my mother-in-law was a child, she distinctly remembers seeing a couple of her dolls walking out of her room. One, an old troll doll, even waved to her. She thought it was a dream at first but she could never find those particular toys again. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Aw that's kind of sweet. I have an old troll that I travel everywhere with named Jeffrey. He wears a purple dress and purple purse that has little notes inside. I'd be sad if I saw him leave, but perhaps he's just ready to go on his own adventure without me. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link it sounds so stupid but i remember being like 5 years old and in my parents bed at our old house, it was the night before Easter and i swore i woke up and saw the actual Easter bunny with someone walking through our house but i chalked it up to a dream. years later when i was a teenager i was talking to my sister about that silly "Dream" i had and she gave me a weird look and said "....was the Easter bunny brown??" and i said "yes he was!" and she told me she had the exact same "dream" complete with the young "girl" that was with him. sounds kind of silly but idk it kind of creeps me out that we apparently had the same "dream" Reply Parent Thread Link UM IMA NOPE RIGHT PASSED THIS Reply Parent Thread Link I'm laughing @ it waving at her Reply Parent Thread Expand Link when i was small, i had several asthmatic inducing ailments that required me to be in the hospital for half a year. whenever i got out, this stuffed cat that my mom's boyfriend bought me, would move around... once i saw it moving under my bed. it stopped whenever i got better. so idk what the hell was going on... but some other strange things were happening in our house. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link my grandma's horror stories about witches and people turning into animals and objects, mostly stories she heard when she was little and things she "saw". I loved to hear her stories and then have nightmares later... Reply Parent Thread Link A friend of mine once mentioned her uncle was in prison and when I asked why she said he'd kidnapped and killed a neighbor girl. Its not a ghost story or anything but theres something about the nonchalant way she said it that always creeped me out. Reply Parent Thread Link John List is usually the first thing that comes to my mind. Idk why, there are certainly more gruesome murders that have happened but something about him... Reply Parent Thread Expand Link My best friend and her "family ghost" And the few "I don't want to do this but my body is still doing it" experiences I had myself. Reply Parent Thread Link Years ago my grandmother was caring for her husband and two kids who were all sick with a flu and was so stressed out that she sat down and cried. She felt a hand on her arm and looked up and her father-in-law, to whom she had been quite close but who had died two years earlier, was standing there smiling down at her. She said she felt calmer immediately and he just faded away. A friend in grad school swore that a man in an old-fashioned sea captain's uniform appeared at the end of her bed several times in the house she was renting. My one experience wasn't really creepy at all. It also happened in grad school in Pennsylvania. Some friends and I went to this Amish quilt shop that was out in the middle of a field. There was a separate building with some antiques across the field, about 200 yards away, and my friends had already gone ahead there. I was walking across the field with a can of soda in my hand and thought I wouldn't be able to bring it inside, so I went to put it on top of an old fence post in the middle of the field, thinking I would pick it back up on my way back. An old lady's voice, clear as a bell and right next to me, said "No, no, dear, you don't want to leave that there. Pick it up." I looked all around but I was completely alone in the middle of this empty field. There was literally no one outside or within a hundred yards of me. So I picked the soda back up and kept going - it was a bright, sunny day and the whole thing didn't even feel scary, just bizarre. So my one personal experience with the supernatural was a ghost telling me not to litter. Lame, I know. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link my bff has a ghost in her house- stuff falls off the walls for no reason, reflections and shadows crossing the tv, a presence, etc. i refuse to go downstairs without someone accompanying me, even though the ghost only dislikes her uncle. Reply Parent Thread Link oh ALSO when my mom was little they moved and they had a spanish war general that watched over their house which i always thought was nice BUT when they first moved in, she, her sister, and the babysitter were in the basement getting a game and they heard footsteps across the ceiling, and my mom told me recently the attic was full of fucked up noises as well Reply Parent Thread Link there was a really great story from an ontder in one of the creepy posts from years back, i wish i would find it. it was about her and her sister driving somewhere isolated late at night, and there was blood on the highway and then someone had put up roadblocks and a 'detour' sign leading down a long narrow gravel road. idk but the way the user explained it was really creepy and stuck w/ me. i have no idea what post it was in tho Reply Parent Thread Expand Link My dad is sensitive to this stuff. One night he went visited a friends new place they just rented/bought and when he went to the bathroom... He saw "snapshots" of a young woman with her throat slit laying in the bathtub. Of course there was nothing actually in the tub but he was freaked out so he left. Weeks later he was talking about that dead girls spirit following him home and bothering him(wanting him to help her in some way). One night it apparently showed up in my parents bedroom and my mom even felt it. Finally my dad told it he was sorry but he wanted to be left alone and they said it was like a weight had been lifted in the room and she never bothered him again... Reply Parent Thread Link this is not a personal story. I don't think i've encountered anything strange. But reading about the original night stalker. The night stalker would stalk his victims and sometimes he would hang out outside their window watching them. He was also known to call them to frighten them. He would tell them that he was going to 'kill them' and then hang up. Reply Parent Thread Link Late but, whateves. There is a story about a girl/jinn/witch that haunts this stretch of road in Karachi and if you ever end up driving that intersection between 2 and 4 am don't ever respond to the tap on your car door when you're stopped at the light. She is supposed to be dressed in white and if you lower your window or attempt to step out of your car to help her, she will make your car crash. Reply Parent Thread Link My aunt told us a scary story. Redondo Beach 1980's: My aunt and her then husband were at the beach one night, camping out. They were alone, it was dark. they heard children laughing. it was like midnight. then they say they saw a tall man with a top hat walking by the coast. they packed up their shit and got the hell out. Reply Parent Thread Link just came back from new orleans this weekend and went to the american horror story house and a drunken ghost tour that ended in front of LaLaurie's mansion. i didnt get to see nicolas cage's pyramid tomb which might have been the creepiest of all.. Reply Thread Link was it the bloody mary tour? i did that a few years ago and was displeased that my hotel was one of the stops lol Reply Parent Thread Link this is why i wanna go to New Orleans, I keep bugging my coworkers about it that are from there. :) Reply Parent Thread Link Ed Gein has inspired a lot of movies and serial killers. When will your favs tbh Reply Thread Link he was also a great decorator... Reply Parent Thread Link his influence!!!!!!! Reply Parent Thread Link i'm super fascinated by bathory but the films i've seen have sucked hard Edited at 2016-07-26 03:05 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link there was a time when i used to read this website with biographies of serial killers but after awhile it was making me feel miserable so i stopped. Ed Gein also inspired Psycho and TSOTL's main villains. there was a time when i used to read this website with biographies of serial killers but after awhile it was making me feel miserable so i stopped.Ed Gein also inspired Psycho and TSOTL's main villains. Reply Thread Link it is and i love it so much because one of my dreams was to become a psychiatrist but if i can't handle serial killer's biographies then idk if I can do it ;_; Reply Parent Thread Link hey everyone listen to 'my favorite murder' it's great Reply Thread Link It is! They seem like such fun friends! Reply Parent Thread Link that's why i like it! they seem like they'd be so much fun to hang out with. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link yes i marathoned it all last week! episode 18 (about mary vincent) stuck out the most to me. what a survivor she's awesome for stickin it out Reply Parent Thread Expand Link don't let sad dracula bite i can't stay so have a fun creepy postdon't let sad dracula bite Reply Thread Link what movie is this? Reply Parent Thread Link that is creepy af would you become a vampire if the opportunity arose? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Apparently the Zodiac killer isn't "horror" enough. Edited at 2016-07-26 01:46 am (UTC) Reply Thread Link dogs cute. Reply Thread Link wrong. that dog is RACIST Reply Parent Thread Link that's her hair Reply Parent Thread Link omg I literally thought it was LOL Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Do you have a problem w/ hair balls Reply Parent Thread Expand Link i wanna pop a cyst and let the pus drain into his eye. THIS UGLY MOTHERFUCKER Reply Parent Thread Expand Link lmfao Reply Parent Thread Link I agree. Reply Parent Thread Link my god.... lmao Reply Parent Thread Link Omg Reply Parent Thread Link wtf he looks totally different was there vaseline on the lens? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Lol at the sudden hatred for him when most of ONTD was drooling over him before the Taylor pics came out. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link dawww back when he was stanable. ;_; Reply Parent Thread Link omg these are great Reply Parent Thread Link Yas kween those coloreds could neva!!! /s Firstly, can you even call those dreads?? It looks like a pathetic attempt to hide the fact that she hasn't washed her hair in weeks. She continues to be nasty. Secondly I was expecting a post on Ezra's white nonsense and instead I got this...a great double dose of tomfoolery. e_e Reply Thread Link ezra koenig? Reply Parent Thread Link Ezra Miller Reply Parent Thread Link Oh Christ, the white bullshit. He even gets Ta-Nehisi Coates's book title wrong. Reply Parent Thread Link omg finally. i kept telling my friends what a DOUCHE he was in rl when my cousin was an extra in this tiny shitty movie he did with zoe kravitz that was so povo they had to ask for extras on TWITTER (which i saw and told her to go to) and my friends were like 'aw but he's so cute as patrick in Perks.' WHAT AN ASSHOLE Reply Parent Thread Link reach it looks cute btw Reply Thread Link sis pls there's nothing cute about them summer camp arts & crafts dreads Reply Parent Thread Link cute? where sis? Reply Parent Thread Link oh good, i was starting to feel too positively towards her after this whole tswift debacle Reply Thread Link I don't trust white people with dreads. Reply Thread Link I was at the hair salon a few months ago and there was a white girl sitting across from me getting dread extensions put in her hair. I couldn't look away. Reply Parent Thread Link It always looks really terrible. Most white people's hair isn't kinky enough to naturally loc, so they have to use a lot of products and it gets really dirty from product build-up. Gross. Reply Parent Thread Link or they just stop washing their hair. Reply Parent Thread Link and they always seem to get dandruff because they don't care for their hair/scalp properly Reply Parent Thread Link omfg Reply Parent Thread Link lmfao her face is killing me Reply Parent Thread Link LMFAO Reply Parent Thread Link rofl Reply Parent Thread Link Lmao she looks like William H. Macy. Reply Parent Thread Link lmaoooooooooooooooooooo she does!!!!! omg dead Reply Parent Thread Link lol Reply Parent Thread Link lol i was about to comment the same thing Reply Parent Thread Link does she actually have "dreads"? she needs to take off her hat Reply Thread Link Maybe she's feeling black today! She could be trans-racial!! dreads on white people is nagl. Reply Thread Link right tho? my friend (whos white) was like i wanna get dreads so bad (which is worse because shes been on this "flower child" kick) and i side eyed her so hard. omg. Reply Parent Thread Link Sorry, but I laughed at your friend when I read that. I just don't think it looks right on my fellow white people? When I see them with dreads I side eye them as well. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link as a teen, like 15/16, i wanted dreads so badly. sooooo glad i never went through with it. i was a dumbass. Reply Parent Thread Link meh Reply Thread Link I can't see shit except that she probably shops at Claire's Reply Thread Link She had an accessories line there lmao Reply Parent Thread Link it is not a cute look but is it really cultural appropriation? Reply Thread Link Vikings didn't have locs. They did braids that they coated with mud and was a way of getting their hair out of the way/out of their faces for fighting iirc. Reply Parent Thread Link Polish plaits Reply Parent Thread Link I'm not sure which Native American tribes but I'm pretty sure there are at least two that would lock their hair. This picture was taken over 100 years ago and there are more just like it. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I don't know if I would call a white person with dreads cultural appropriation, but it does show poor judgement. As I said in another comment, most Most white people's hair isn't kinky enough to naturally loc, so they have to use a lot of products and it gets really dirty from product build-up. For black people, locs are a form of caring for our hair and using its natural texture for styling. For white people, it's a way of avoiding care. Reply Parent Thread Link locs...those are not. but dreadful nonetheless Reply Thread Link dreadful Reply Parent Thread Link LOL IA. Reply Parent Thread Link omg lol Reply Parent Thread Link tbh after this whole t.swift mess etc, etc, i feel like katy seems ignorant/a lil dumb but well-intentioned. like if someone sat down and explained her messiness to her, she would actually try to do better. Reply Thread Link Idk about that but she's definitely so nice and she's so fucking charming... when she came to tour here in Brazil she converted almost everyone to being a fan because she's so cute and nice with her fans. And funny too. Too bad she's messy. Reply Parent Thread Link tell that to ryn weaver Reply Parent Thread Link oh stop. she's a stupid racist. being stupid does not excuse racism. she was indifferent 2 the backlash she received after the geisha shit, she's continued 2 appropriate culture and be a general mess, she's performed as a jewish caricature that any idiot would be able to tell u is offensive, blah blah etc etc. pls don't excuse that. u can hate t swift and still acknowledge that katy perry is a scumbag. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link she feels like the exact opposite to me. like she'd probably say "lol w.e" unless she got major public backlash for it. Reply Parent Thread Link lmao you can be against taylor and katy. they're both shitty ppl. do you see the gifs above? katy is an adult if she can't see how bad that shit is her ignornace is just as bad. Reply Parent Thread Link hmm, i doubt that. Reply Parent Thread Link haha i don't think so Reply Parent Thread Link good joke Reply Parent Thread Link Nah Reply Parent Thread Link The chief of staff of the Libyan army has warned foreign companies the army will fire at any non-Libyan tanker entering the countrys territorial waters. The warning comes after a spike in tensions in Libya brought about by a controversial deal struck by the so-called government of unity and the Libyan Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG). Libyas National Oil Corporation (NOC) firmly believes the deal, struck by the UN-backed government and the PFG to reopen key ports was a mistake, NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla said in a letter to UNs envoy to Libya Martin Kobler and to oil and diplomatic officials. Brigadier General Abdel-Razek al-Nadhouri said NOC its division on Benghazi was the only party that was entitled to close any deals regarding Libyas oil. The PFG, which has been blocking ports across Libya, said on Friday it had agreed to a deal with the Government of National Accord (GNA), backed by the UN, to reopen the Ras Lanuf, Es Sider and Zueitina oil ports within days. PFG head Ibrahim Jadhran started leading blockades of ports in 2013 in what he has said was trying to prevent corruption in oil shipments. Last week PFG protests over unpaid salaries caused delays of shipments at the eastern port Hariga. The UN-brokered deal included initial payment of salaries for PFG, sources in the know told Reuters. Related: Why Are Oil Producers Rushing To The STACK? In his letter, Sanalla said it was wrong to reward Jadhran for the blockade of the ports. According to NOCs chairman, other groups would see the deal as an encouragement to block oil operations in Libya, hoping for payout. Sanalla also said the NOC would pull out its recognition of the Presidential Council, the leadership of the GNA. Libya has been torn by conflict since the removal of Muammar Gaddafi five years ago. This conflict has had a severe effect on its oil industry, with warring factions blockading oilfields and ports alike. Libya, which has the largest crude oil reserves in Africa, has now become second from the bottom in terms of output among OPEC members. Now it seems there is a glimmer of hope with the unification of the two NOC branches, as the opponents begin to realize that nobody wins from the blockades. Four ports in eastern Libya remain shut down for now Es Sider, Zawiya, Ras Lanuf, and Zueitina but there are hopes they will be reopened soon, after the newly unified NOC said this was its top priority. The combined capacity of the four shuttered terminals is 860,000 bpd. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Just as Elon Musks revolutionary Hyperloop technology was starting to look like a serious business model, there are signs that one of the most promising companies commercializing the technology may be facing some serious internal problems. Hyperloop One is one of the two most prominent companies trying to develop commercial versions of the Hyperloop. The company is now facing an explosive lawsuit from one of its co-founders, which may end up permanently derailing the firms ambitions. Hyperloop One is based in downtown LA and claims to be building a fifth mode of transportation based on Elon Musks original concept. The company has reportedly raised roughly $100 million to try and disrupt the transportation industry. In the lawsuit, Brogan BamBrogan, one of the firms co-founders, alleges that the companys top leaders have misused funds, breached their fiduciary duties, and generally lined their own pockets rather than working to develop the company itself. The suit names Shervin Pishevar, Joe Lonsdale, and Robert Lloyd as defendants among others. To get a sense for the magnitude of the lawsuit as well as the backing behind Hyperloop One, consider the following. Pishevar is an early Uber investor and hosted Barack Obama at his San Francisco home for a fundraiser last year. Lonsdale is a co-founder of Palantir Technologies a private company worth roughly $9 billion based on media reports around its most recent VC fundraising efforts. Lloyd was reportedly on the short list to replace Cisco CEO John Chambers. BamBrogan's claims are explosive and could literally upend the venture capital world. Among other infractions, BamBrogan claims that Pishevar started dating the company's outside public relations representative and increased her pay from an already rich $15,000 per month to $40,000 a month (more than any Hyperloop One employee). Lonsdale allegedly insisted that his brother's two-person firm be hired as Hyperloop's exclusive investment bank, despite that two person firm having "no notable experience with companies building hardware and engaged in infrastructure development, and few independent contracts with international and top-tier funds." Related: Kazakhstan Moves Towards Becoming A Top 10 Oil Producer BamBrogans claim is backed by other investors, and it is clear that there is a lot of drama at Hyperloop One right now Pishevars brother was caught on security cameras leaving a noose on BamBrogans chair as the drama started to play out. BamBrogan is a colorful character by all reports, but he does have a serious credible background as an engineer including a stint at SpaceX, another company disrupting the transportation world. BamBrogan has left Hyperloop One, and at this point it is reasonable to see the lawsuit as primarily a mechanism to act as a whistleblower rather than for BamBrogan to see any particular personal gain. With that said, the world of venture capital has always been a high risk one. VCs pour incredible mountains of money into high octane start-ups that either take flight or implode. The result of that process is that it is highly likely many VC portfolio companies waste some amount of their funding. After all, do VC companies really need the ping pong tables, fancy soirees, and lavish new tech perks that sometimes are present? None of this is an indictment of the VC system, which works incredibly well in general, but it is a hard economic truth that VC cash will be wasted if portfolio companies are not monitored very closely. Only time will tell if that is an issue with Hyperloop One, but this is definitely a story with more drama than one would normally find at a typical tech company. By Michael McDonald of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The energy storage market is one of the most exciting and fastest growing new industries in the utility space right now. The market grew by several hundred percent last year, and it looks likely that it will grow by a similar amount again this year. Still, this is a market in its infancy and many market participants are still figuring out the economics. Those economics are set to get a boost thanks to an energy storage tax bill that is making its way through the U.S. Congress right now. The bill in question is co-sponsored by Democrat Martin Heinrich from New Mexico and 8 other members of congress including Dean Heller, a Nevada Republican. Under the bill, energy storage would get the same set of tax incentives that have helped to fuel the meteoric rise of clean energy sources like solar power. That means that Lithium Ion batteries for instance would be eligible for tax incentives when used in utility grid connections at residences and businesses. Flywheels, compressed air, pump hydro, and other storage solutions would also get a tax credit. The bill could change of course, but at present it looks like a 30 percent tax credit would be applied to energy storage provided that the storage levels meet certain thresholds. In particular, residential batteries would need to have at least 3 kwh of capacity, while commercial storage would need to have at least 5 kwh of capacity. Related: The Worst Is Behind Us Schlumberger CEO Sees Reason For Optimism It is very difficult to predict what bills Congress will choose to act on, but the current bill is particularly interesting because of the existing tax credits for energy storage. At present, energy storage does qualify for a 30 percent tax credit, but that credit is subject to the IRS typical set of arcane regulations. In particular, the storage only qualifies for the credit if at least 75 percent of the power comes from clean energy sources rather than from the grid. Also, the storage credit is limited by the percentage of renewable input. If 90 percent of the storage charging energy is derived from solar panels, then the storage is only eligible for only 90 percent of the ITC. In other words, to get the energy storage credit, companies and individuals have to keep insane amounts of records and documentation related to their equipment and how it is used. Of course, thats a pretty good descriptor for many of the IRS rules. The current bill would greatly simplify an otherwise byzantine rule that is very difficult to follow and actually does little to promote the development of the energy storage market or on a related basis, clean energy. As a result, Congress should look at the new bill as an opportunity to clean up an existing IRS morass rather than seeing the bill as creating a new set of tax incentives. From that perspective, the bill should be much more politically palpable on both sides of the aisle. Investors should keep an eye on the outcome of this bill if it does pass that would be a significant boost for many of the new tech companies in the energy space. Tesla in particular would benefit significantly thanks in large part to both its energy storage business and the exposure it is taking on in the solar market through the acquisition of SolarCity. By Michael McDonald of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The rate of oil production decline in the United States will accelerate in the 3rd quarter. It has already started. Per the EIA: In the last six weeks: > U.S. oil production has declined 222,000 barrels per day. > U.S. oil imports have increased by 512,000 barrels per day. Crude oil in U.S. storage facilities has declined 10 of the last 11 weeks, despite the sharp increase in imports. (Click to enlarge) The decline curve never sleeps, and always wins. - David Demshur, Core Labs CEO in their 2nd quarter conference call. "The inevitability of the decline curve guarantees that oil production will slow and the market will find a balance." Coupled with declining production, we live in a world where demand for oil increases "relentlessly" by 1.0 to 1.5 million barrels per day year after year after year. From Core Lab's Q2 press release: The Company continues to anticipate a "V-shaped" worldwide commodity recovery beginning in the second half of 2016. One indication is that several U.S.-based operators have recently announced rig additions. Further, global demand for hydrocarbon-based energy continues to increase, while worldwide crude oil supply peaked in the second half of 2015 and began a decline that Core believes will continue through all of 2016 and 2017. The Company has observed that U.S. onshore oil production peaked in March 2015 and has fallen since then by an estimated 1,000,000 barrels of oil per day ("BOPD"), some of which was offset by new additions to production in the Gulf of Mexico ("GOM") as eight deepwater legacy-field developments came on-line in late 2015. At current activity levels, Core predicts 2016 U.S. onshore oil production will fall approximately 1,100,000 BOPD and will be somewhat offset by deepwater GOM gains of approximately 160,000 BOPD, yielding a U.S. net decline of 940,000 BOPD resulting in a net decline curve rate of approximately 10.1%. Based on currently available worldwide crude oil production data, coupled with internal Core Lab data, Core estimates that the net worldwide annual crude oil production decline rate is approximately 3.3%. That is supported by recent International Energy Agency ("IEA") reports that worldwide crude oil production continued to fall through the second quarter of 2016. In addition to (declining production in) the U.S., Core expects 2016 production declines in Angola, China, Colombia, Indonesia, Iraq, Mexico, Nigeria, and Venezuela, among others. Related: Is This The Next Big Headache For Oil Prices? On the company's conference call they said their forecast of a 1.1 MMBOPD decline for the U.S. may be too conservative and if forced to bet, they would take the "over". The net worldwide decline rate is predicated on sharper decline curve rates for tight-oil reservoirs and the significant reduction of maintenance capital expenditures for the existing crude oil production base. These factors, together with the continuing decline in global production, the accelerated decline in inventories, and the continuing increase in global energy consumption, should create a tight crude oil supply market for the second half of 2016, and result in increased crude prices and industry activity levels worldwide. Core Laboratories (NYSE: CLB) has offices all over the world and they know what is really happening in all of the world's significant producing basins. U.S. oil production peaked at over 9.6 million barrels per day in June, 2015: Based on Core Labs' prediction above, U.S. oil production will fall to under 8.3 million barrels per day before the end of this year and will continue fall to under 7.5 million barrels per day sometime in 2017 before it stabilizes. The only thing that will stop U.S. oil production from falling is a sharp increase in oil prices. In my opinion, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) must move firmly over $60/bbl before we will see the increase in capital expenditures necessary to stabilize U.S. oil production. In my opinion, the only reason for the recent pull back in oil prices is the FEAR that has been created by the Brexit vote. By Daniel Steffens for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: On July 15, 2016, a new chapter opened in Turkish political history. A group of military officers attempted a coup to overthrow the Erdogan regime in Turkey. Recep Tayyip Erdogan was elected as President of Turkey in August 2014, and since then Turkish politics has been experiencing turbulence. The most common criticisms of the Erdogan regime include allegations of corruption, restrictions of freedom, and foreign policy crises, such as with Syria and Russia. It is expected that the post-coup attempt period will also be unsteady. According to some experts, Erdogan may take advantage of the coup attempt to set up a more authoritarian system. As a matter of fact, experts consider it likely that there will be another coup in the months or years to come. The question is, while Turkish politics is in upheaval, what will happen to Turkeys energy security? The waves created by the coup attempt hit the energy bureaucracy in Turkey. Turkish authorities expanded its original massive purge of opponents rapidly, which led some experts to wonder if the lists of opponents were prepared before the coup. Twenty-five people were sacked from Turkeys top state energy institution, the Energy Market Regulatory Authority. Due to such an unstable atmosphere in the country, no one can estimate whether the trend of arresting opponents will jump to energy companies or not. Energy companies that are loyal to opponent groups may be under threat despite holding an anti-coup stance, as there is a possibility that they will be accused by rival companies that are loyal to Erdogan. Henceforth, during the tenders, only companies that prove their loyalty will be selected for the Turkish energy market. But this is an extension of the system that was already in place before the coup. It is tough to estimate the impact of the relationship between Turkey and the U.S. on Turkeys energy security. Since the first minutes of the coup, Turkish authorities began to blame the U.S. for helping the attempted overthrow. Turkish Labor Minister Suleyman Soylu stated that, America is behind the coup because Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is living in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania was accused by President Erdogan of orchestrating the failed coup. For that reason, the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, John Bass urgently gave an interview on CNN Turk and tried to calm relations between Turkey and the U.S. Related: Why Are Oil Producers Rushing To The STACK? At the same time as this political uncertainty, another discussion is going on as to whether Turkey will continue to be a member of the NATO alliance or not. In this context, Turkey has been warned that it could face international isolation, including suspension from NATO in the case of pursuing anti-democratic principles after the coup attempt. In light of this, American energy companies will most likely not operate in the Turkish energy sector. Moreover, in the case of suspension of Turkeys NATO membership, Turkey will be at odds with European countries and European energy companies may well leave the Turkish energy market too. Since June, Erdogan has perseveringly tried to recover diplomatic and economic ties with Vladimir Putin; however, the Russian side is cautious. Even so, isolation of Turkey by the international arena would be a golden opportunity for Russia, as happened before in the case of Iran. In this context, Turkish pilots who were involved in downing the Russian SU-24 aircraft on November 25, 2016 were arrested over links to the coup attempt after almost nine months. Erdogan made a statement after downing the Russian jet: I think if there is a party that needs to apologize, it is not us. Those who violated our airspace are the ones who need to apologize. Our pilots and our armed forces, they simply fulfilled their duties. Afterward, Erdogan apologized to Putin over the death of the Russian pilot in June 2016. Another ambiguous situation is the future of Turkeys war against the PKK terror organization. The PKK remained quiet for the few days during the coup attempt. However, security analysts in Turkey warn that there may be consequences of the Turkish Army being imprisoned in their barracks in the east and southeast Turkey. They argue that the attempted coup in Turkey dangerously threatens to destabilize the region and provides a power vacuum for terror organizations. It has been reported that the PKK has already begun to plant mines in the cities and highways of the eastern region of Turkey. After the coup attempt, the PKK organized its first attack using explosives in Siirt, eastern Turkey on July 20th. Hereafter, the Turkish Armys war against the PKK will be tougher than it used to be. The PKK is more capable than before of exploding pipelines in eastern Turkey. Another issue for Turkey is fighting against ISIS. It is possible that ISIS cells were reorganized and even grew due to the disarray of Turkish politics. Even if Turkey suspends its membership of NATO and approaches Russia, the ISIS threat in Turkey will remain because ISISs biggest enemy is Russia. Related: Libyas Oil Deal Turns Sour As Army Chief Threatens To Bomb Tankers Regarding economics in Turkey, S&P downgraded its rating of Turkey and stated that the attempted coup has further eroded the countrys institutional checks and balances. S&P also added that they expect a period of heightened unpredictability that could constrain capital inflows into Turkeys externally leveraged economy. Considering Turkeys goal of becoming an energy hub, nobody will want to invest pipeline projects in Turkey with the exception of the ongoing TANAP project and the Russian-led Turkish Stream. At present, Turkey is far from being an energy hub due to the instability of its politics and economics. The leading factor that will affect Turkeys energy security will be Russia. Russia has not yet forgiven Erdogan or withdrawn its claims about Erdogans involvement in smuggling ISIS oil. Furthermore, President Erdogan will meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin sometime during the first ten days of August. The exact date and location are yet to be determined. Presently, Erdogan feels alone and thinks that Putin will help direct Turkey in another direction, possibly towards Eurasia. Nevertheless, Putin is acutely aware of the fact that Erdogan has no other option than Russia. For that reason, the Russian President will likely force Erdogan to compromise and accept all the conditions of the Russian side. The biggest threat for Turkey is the likelihood of the Russian demand to be a partner of BOTAS, Turkeys state natural gas distribution and import company. Regarding Russian energy strategy, this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to intervene in Turkeys energy market to dominate the sector and its transportation routes. In conclusion, the political decisions and positions of the U.S. and Europe will inevitably determine the energy security of Turkey and soon not to mention that the current Turkish government is not capable of contributing to Europes or Israels energy security while its own energy security is in great danger. By Turgce Varol for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Mossack Fonseca created 12 out of the 17 companies that are being investigated in Italy for the alleged bribes a middleman had paid to help Italian oil and gas services group Saipem get deals in Algeria, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) reported on Monday in a fresh Panama Papers series investigation. Franco-Algerian businessman Farid Bedjaoui reportedly met with Algerian and Saipem officials to arrange a US$275 million pay off in order to secure contracts worth more than US$10-billion for the Italian company to build pipelines from the Algerian desert to the Mediterranean. Prosecutors in both Italy and Algeria continue their investigation into the alleged bribery. Yesterday an investigative effort at the ICIJ revealed that 12 out of the 17 firms which the Italian prosecutors had listed as belonging to Bedjaoui were created by Mossack Fonseca. Saipem, which has always claimed to cooperate fully with authorities, saw an Algerian court fine one of its subsidiaries in February 2016 in another corruption case linked to equipment supplies for Algerian company Sonatrach. Back then Saipem said it would appeal the ruling, denying wrongdoing. Algerias troubles are not the only legal contentions in which Saipem has been involved in the past few years. In July 2015, prosecutors in Brazil said alleged bribes were paid on behalf of Saipem to secure contracts with scandal-ridden Petrobras, but they fell short of naming the Italian company as a defendant. In August 2015, Saipem said it was notified of impeding investigation by Italian prosecutors concerning a contract which Petrobas had awarded to Saipems French and Brazilian subsidiaries in 2011. The Italian group said it had not received notification regarding the probe from judicial authorities in Brazil. Earlier this year, Saipem filed a 759-million-euro claim against Gazprom after Russia had scrapped the South Stream project for which the Italian group had won orders to deliver pipes worth billions of euros. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The American Petroleum Institute reported an 800,000-barrel draw in crude oil inventories for the week to July 22. Strategic inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, however, were up by 1.4 million barrels. WTI plunged to a three-month low today, before the release of the API figures, to US$42.83 a barrel. Brent crude was trading at US$44.78 at 4.30pm EDT. Last week, the API reported a 2.3-million-barrel draw in crude oil inventories, a figure later confirmed by the Energy Information Administration. Analysts expected gasoline inventories to have gone up by 675,000 barrels in the reporting period and distillate fuel stockpiles to have gained 700,000 barrels. However, a 420,000 barrel draw was reported for gasoline stocks and a 290,000 barrel build in distillates for the week ending July 22. During the week to July 15, gasoline, according to the API, showed a larger build than had been anticipated, with 800,000 barrels in increased inventories instead of a 500,000-barrel drop. This rattled markets, especially after the buildup was, again, confirmed by the EIA weekly inventory report. Expectations were for a half-a-million-barrel draw in gasoline stockpiles but instead they went up by as much as 911,000 barrels in the reporting period. Theres been growing worry about the state of oil and fuels fundamentals in the U.S. over the last few weeks as despite the fact that driving season is in full bloom, demand for gasoline has not risen as much as expected. Earlier this week, Bloomberg warned that the drop in demand for oil and products could still outpace the decline in production, weighing heavily on crude oil prices. As soon as next month gasoline demand is expected to start slowing down as driving season draws to a close and refineries, which as of July 15 were operating at 92.3 percent of capacity, may have to start shutting down for seasonal maintenance earlier, if inventories continue to build up. As of the writing of this, WTI was trading at US$42.76 a barrel and Brent crude was at US$44.58. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The Syrian army wrestled control of a strategic points along a major oil pipeline in Al-Badia in western Syria from ISIS, after several days of fighting in which the army and its allies have been pushing into the desert region of al-Salamiyah. Several local villages have reportedly been freed from ISIS control as the Syrian Army re-established its partial control of the vital oil pipeline. Fighting in the region has been heavy, according to sources, with ISIS using suicide bombers against the army forces, including four bomb-loaded cars, which the Syrian army managed to neutralize, Sputnik reports. The cars were located on a road leading to strategic points of the pipeline. The next target of the army is the city of Tabqah, which is still under the control of the terrorist group. Earlier this month, government forces managed to repel an attack by ISIS in Aleppo, one of the main focal points of the war raging across Syria. According to sources from a militia force aiding the Syrian army, the latter again neutralized a bomb-laden car complete with a suicide bomber who targeted the armys positions in the city. ISIS also used snipers in that attack, causing casualties among the members of the militia. An offensive to take control over ISIS main pipeline in the eastern Hama region was launched by the Syrian army last week. The army quickly managed to capture several sites along the pipeline that passes through the Al-Raqqa governorate then. The long-term goal at the time was to regain full control of the pipeline, which is a significant revenue channel for ISIS. The region where the fighting is going on is referred to as the triangle of death, with non-stop combat, in which no side has so far come out as a clear winner. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Everyone always says that what they want in an elected official mayor, U.S. senator, student council treasurer, POTUS, what have you is an "outsider." It comes in large part from people thinking "the system" is corrupt, that to be a politician is to be a mud-wrestler: Even if you're good at it, you need a shower afterwards to be seen in polite company, and you'll probably still have dirt under your fingernails. If the 2016 presidential election is good for nothing else, it has shown us the fallacy, not to mention the danger, inherent in such a belief. Donald Trump is hardly the first outsider to run for president. In recent memory, both Ross Perot and Ralph Nader, neither with past elected experience, had significant impacts on presidential elections despite their political inexperience. Neither of them, though, ran under the banner of one of the two major political parties. Trump is now, officially, the Republican nominee for president, and his political naivete, as well as his lack of electoral dirt under his fingernails, was on full display at last week's Republican National Convention in Cleveland. I'm writing this before the Democrats finish their convention in Philadelphia, and it's entirely possible that, by the end of it all, presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton and the Democrats will have imploded and the premise of this column will implode with them. But my premise is this: Every major milestone in this election season has demonstrated why, counter to Americans' insistence that it is what they want, running an outsider for president is a horrible idea. Exhibit A: Trump is kind of dumb Many people like Trump because he seems to have no filter between brain and mouth. "He speaks his mind," they say. It is entirely true that even a lightly seasoned political veteran will have learned to speak with measured caution, to install the necessary filter. No one would accuse Clinton, the "insider," of lacking that filter. Indeed, among the biggest knocks against her, often by the same people who like Trump's unscripted riffing, is that she is too calculating in what she says and does. But Trump, though! He has almost literally no message discipline at all. This is glaringly apparent in his Twitter feed, which apparently Trump himself controls most of the time. Rather than focus on his own policies and campaign, Trump mostly uses the account to attack others, including the news media and opponents from both parties. Over the weekend, for example, Trump tweeted concerning the Wikileaks dump of hacked Democratic National Committee emails, attempting to stir up a fight between Clinton supporters and those who supported her primary opponent Bernie Sanders. But the attempt to provoke a fight wasn't even the worst part, since the tweet misspelled two common words. He picked the wrong pair from the waste/waist homophones and didn't even make a homophone error by simply spelling their T-H-I-E-R instead. This tweet was deleted and reposted with correct spelling. Even some nominally liberal national reporters like Matt Yglesias and Dave Weigel said the typo-laden tweet was "charming" and an improvement over Clinton's "this committee has approved a witticism" style, buying into the "outsider" image of Trump. Look, people, Trump is not "charming." His amateurism is dangerous, not cute, and perpetuating the latter is just as dangerous. When Trump is asked simple questions about policy, he can't focus long enough to offer a remotely coherent answer. Perhaps Trump is just not that up on policy he is an "outsider" after all but the ADD style inherent in Trump's off-the-cuff speaking shows the danger of putting someone into office who not only doesn't understand fine points of policy but can't admit it. Rather than say "I don't know" or "That's a question for my advisors whom I trust to point me in the right direction," he veers off into non-sequiturs and jokes. This is not a man you want sitting at the G8 table or in the situation room during a crisis. As I and many others have noted, Clinton is in fact a policy nerd. There's a great story in this profile of Clinton that involves card tables and the notes she takes everywhere she goes. She listens to people, reads the news and analysis, and puts those pieces together to propose actual solutions to real problems. It doesn't sound glamorous it is no "Make America Great Again!" but "card-table time" is how real work gets done in politics. Trump's unscripted speeches (and ad-libbed asides during scripted speeches) have no structure, no through-line a listener can follow and understand. Trump's speech introducing his running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, was a rambling, self-centered mess that barely even mentioned Pence. It was mostly about how awesome he himself was. I cannot imagine what kind of speech Trump would have given if, say, his administration had been the one to find and kill Osama bin Laden. President Obama's speech that night was short, careful and gracious to our military allies and the men and women who planned and carried out the operation. Trump would have thrown himself a ticker-tape parade and crowned himself King Of The Manliest Kings That Ever Kinged! Is that really what we hope for when we ask for an "outsider": a policy-ignorant narcissist? Exhibit B: Trump's big moments are giant failures The whole Pence roll-out overall was a terrible mess beyond just the speech. Yes, the planned timeline was interrupted by the coup attempt in Turkey, but even before that news broke, the process was full of leaks, false-starts and campaign associates mucking up the coverage in the press by suggesting that Trump couldn't make up his mind even after his decision was supposedly final. In selecting Pence, Trump chose a severely reactionary conservative governor who is deeply unpopular in his home state for the sake of "party unity," according to that introductory speech. Pence's history is frightening but in line with the kind of demagoguery Trump likes; for example, Pence first rose to national prominence by using campaign donations to pay his mortgage and credit card bills, something legal at the time but so absurd his case inspired bipartisan consensus to ban such practices. But can't you just see Trump expressing envy at how Pence put one over on the suckers? Compare that to the way Clinton rolled out the selection of Virginia Senator Tim Kaine last week. The process was tightly scheduled and highly scripted. Even as speculation built throughout the day Friday that Kaine was the likeliest choice, there were no stories of "campaign insiders confirm it's Kaine" before Clinton texted America that evening. Kaine is not a tree-hugging, uber-progressive figure at the fringes of his own party, but rather a well-liked and reliably liberal Democrat whose personal history and demeanor are not merely spotless but make Jimmy Stewart's character in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" look positively evil in comparison. Clinton's introduction of Kaine was about Kaine, not herself, and her selection of someone slightly to her own right suggests she is redirecting her campaign to appeal to the most voters possible, rather than just the extreme ideological edge. This is smart politics, something an "outsider" like Trump can't grasp. The Republican National Convention, too, was a disaster. Every night featured some major screw-up that distracted from the message, even though that message America is weak and falling apart is itself a disaster. Speeches were not properly vetted, resulting in everything from plagiarism to Ted Cruz refusing to endorse Trump and getting booed to Ivanka Trump reading what sounded like the Democratic platform before she introduced her father. To an extent, the press latched onto these screw-ups because, of course, it's easier to talk about plagiarism than it is to talk about the absurd policies a Trump presidency would pursue. As I said, there's still most of the DNC to go, and Monday, there were some rocky moments when a few disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporters booed former Sanders backers as they spoke and even heckled Sanders himself when he asked his people to support Clinton. But those iffy moments Monday night were far outshone by brilliant speeches from Michelle Obama and Elizabeth Warren, and I predict perhaps foolishly the rest of the convention will be smooth, without the major gaffes and hitches that dogged Trump's amateurish, "outsider" convention. At the very least, unlike Trump rivals Kasich and Cruz, Sanders forcefully and happily endorsed Clinton, and that alone shows how much more professional Clinton's campaign is running. Exhibit C: Trump is a bully The day after the convention was over, after Trump was able to leave the TelePrompTers behind and get back into free-styling his speeches, the first thing he did was go after primary rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich. Cruz, of course, did not endorse Trump at the convention, and Kasich, as of this writing, also has not given Trump an endorsement. Many other Republicans, too, have said they would not stand behind their party's nominee, drawing wrath from Trump in speeches or press conferences or, again, on Twitter. Throughout the primaries, bullying was Trump's way to deal with his opponents, from shouting over them at debates to mocking them in his speeches and campaign appearances. Now that the primary is open, he's gone all-in on bullying tactics against Clinton, with stupid nicknames ("Crooked Hillary") and even borrowing blatantly anti-Semitic memes he finds on the internet to make fun of and intimidate his opponents. His mockery is not limited to political rivals; he mercilessly made fun of a disabled reporter early in the campaign, for example. Trump's entire oeuvre seems to be punching down: "The Apprentice" is a reality series mostly about Trump abusing and then "firing" contestants, while his entire business empire is built around the skill and he brags about this of taking advantage of others' weaknesses or simply refusing to follow through on contracts and promises. This comes through when Trump does talk policy. His biggest and most popular idea is to "build a wall," a policy he discusses in the context of those on the other side of that wall being monstrous caricatures. His foreign policy ideas are mostly just swinging his big stick (to paraphrase Teddy Roosevelt). If Trump were a ten-year-old boy, his proudest accomplishment would be the "No Muslims Allowed" sign crudely painted on cardboard and hung on the door to his treehouse. Clinton, despite the way she is portrayed as a heartless ice queen in conservative media, is very much the opposite. She listens to people. She does not mock others or tear people down to build herself up. Clinton understands that the way to win in politics is not to be the loudest bully in the room but to build coalitions and find common ground. Where Trump is blithely dismissive of even our most important allies around the world, Clinton has actually worked with the leaders of those countries to promote peace and prosperity around the world. The "outsider" here would be a disaster not just for us here at home, but around the world. Exhibit D: "Make America Great Again" is not a plan My favorite bit about the process of Trump picking a running mate is the opening anecdote to this story. While it may be apocryphal everyone is speaking on the condition of anonymity, etc. it rings true with what we know about Trump's style and ambition. The story is that Trump's campaign offered the VP spot to Ohio Governor John Kasich, a primary rival, with the incentive that Kasich would be in charge of both foreign and domestic policy. "Then what, the (Kasich) adviser asked, would Trump be in charge of? 'Making America great again' was the casual reply." The outsider here admits he can't handle the job of being president and instead is simply running to be CEO of America. CEO is a largely symbolic role that consists mostly of pulling in a paycheck and being the public face of a company while other people the board of directors, the worker bees in the factories do all the real work. He wants to be CEO because he knows he can't actually do any of that work at all himself. While the election of presidents here has long verged on mere popularity contests, there is little doubt in my mind that the major party candidates have all had a real interest in real policy to improve the country, even people I opposed like Mitt Romney and Bob Dole. But Trump's website is devoid of policy ideas and instead full of bombast and show. His speech to the RNC last Thursday was a litany of complaints many of them phony or false without any concrete ideas for how to fix any of it except for electing him to run the place. While I do not know what Clinton will say this Thursday when she speaks, I assure you it will not be 75 minutes of braggadocio and bluster. It will be thoughtful and reasoned and full of specific detail about what policies she wants to pursue in her administration to improve America's standing at home and abroad. Yes, Clinton is the "insider." Yes, that means she carries the stink of Washington upon her. But it also means that she's got the experience, the accumulated wisdom and the respect both of and for others necessary to lead on day one. She isn't running to be CEO; she's running to be president. Updated on July 27 with information from Dave London, owner of The Philly Way. The Philly Way, the sandwich shop specializing in Philadelphia-style cheese steaks located at 405 S. 2nd St., has closed. The announcement was made in an early morning posting to the restaurant's Facebook page. Philly Way opened their doors at the Walker's Point location in 2000. They also maintained locations on Brady Street and in Cudahy; both of which have since closed. We spoke with Dave London, owner of Philly Way, who notes that an increase in rent was the impetus for the closure. "We've been in this space for the last 16 years," he says. "We were one of the first restaurants in Walkers Point, and wed love to stay here. Ive reached out to the new owner of the building to try to negotiate, and he just wouldnt hear it." London says he's been scouting for a new location for the Philly Way business, which he plans to reopen as soon as he can. "We've had such an outpouring of support on our Facebook page since we announced the news," he says. "We don't know that we'll be able to stay in Walker's Point, but we're looking for the right place so that we can re-open." According to a report by the Journal Sentinel, Paul Spencer, the prospective owner of the building is currently in talks with tenants who would like to renovate the space to open another restaurant. Watch OnMilwaukee for additional details as they develop. According to multiple reports published today, the East Side location of Red Dot Bar the restaurant and bar known for its wings and Canadian-style poutine has officially closed. Milwaukee Magazine broke the news earlier today, noting that owner Martin Beaudoin is selling both the building and business to concentrate his energy on the Wauwatosa location of the restaurant. The news follows a July 14 announcement on Facebook stating: "The kitchen will be closed indefinitely. Thank you for your loyal patronage." Red Dot arrived on the scene in 2005 after Beaudoin, a former semi-professional skateboarder, made the decision to purchase the old Calderone Club Restaurant at 2498 E. Bartlett Ave. The Wauwatosa location at 6715 W. North Ave., which originally opened in 2012 as The Sherbrooke, took on its identity as the second location for Red Dot in late 2013. Although it was also closed earlier this month to accommodate renovations, Red Dot Tosa reopened on July 19. Hours are Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. For years, no one knew what became of legendary and influential bluesman Blind Blake. But a couple years ago, Grafton's Angela Mack Reilly found not only where Blake spent his final years, but where he died and is buried. Here's her own diary of discovery. April 3, 2011 Alex van der Tuuk emailed me that some important information had been obtained about Blind Blakes death. He asked if I would be willing to try to search and obtain a death certificate from Milwaukee. I said that I would, especially since it is in such close proximity to me and that my schedule had freed up a bit. He emailed me the small obituary excerpt (from The Chicago Defender newspaper) that Rob Ford had found containing the date of Arthur Blakes death as well as his Milwaukee address. April 4, 2011 I first drove around North 10th Street in Milwaukee to try to find his home. I asked a Time Warner employee for assistance. The neighborhood was African-American and largely run down. I could not find his address. I found some factories, a Baptist church, a school that had been ruined by fire, some newer built multi-unit buildings and Leinenkugels brewery in the area. The area is known as Bronzeville Milwaukees great African-American district that had a thriving music scene at one time. Next, I tried to find the funeral home that buried him. But it didnt seem to be in existence. Oddly, I found a Paramount sign on a building along Cherry Street where his funeral home was. I took pictures. Then I went to the Milwaukee County Courthouse and applied for a non-certified copy of Arthur Blakes death certificate. I filled out a self-addressed envelope and they told me that it would arrive within two weeks. Upon Alexs prompting, I visited the Milwaukee County Historical Society to search city directories for an Arthur Blake. I began with the year that he died. He was listed in the 1934 directory as living at 1844B North 10th St. with Beatrice. He was listed in the 1933 directory as living with Beatrice at 621 W. Brown St. in Milwaukee. He was also listed here as a musician. Arthur Blake was also listed in the 1932 directory as living with Beatrice. His occupation was listed as an artist and living at 621 W. Brown in Milwaukee. He was not listed in the 1931 or '30 directories. I tried to obtain any other information about Blake at the Historical Society but could not find any. When I got home, I emailed Alex immediately with the information that I dug up. He said that Beatrice was certainly a surprise. He was hopeful that Blake was listed as a "musician" and "artist." April 7, 2011 The death certificate from the Courthouse arrived. My initial feeling was fear. I was scared to open it. I knew that the envelope in my hands most likely contained information that would finally lead to more clues about Arthurs life and how he died. I knew that researchers around the globe had long looked for this one particular document in my hands. It was almost like a "Holy Grail" of a document that I felt extremely humbled to open. I hesitated for about 5 minutes and carried it around the house with uncontrollable shouts of elation and fear. My son David was home. I was trembling. I wanted to video the opening but was in too much of an excited state. I took photos of the unopened letter. Finally, I ripped the letter open by hand and took photos of the process. First thing I noticed? Cause of death. Pulmonary Tuberculosis. THAT was a surprise. Next I noticed his birthplace. Newport News, Va. Another surprise. Immediately I emailed Alex that it had arrived. My email text? "OMG OMG OMG" with a request for him to call me ASAP. While I waited for him to contact me, I noticed that Blakes burial place was listed as Evergreen Cemetery. I did some Google searches and was shocked to see that there was an Evergreen Cemetery close by and just south of me in Glendale. It appeared that the cemetery had been renamed as Glen Oaks Cemetery. I called the number listed online. Surprisingly, somebody answered. "I am wondering if there is an Arthur Blake in your cemetery." "Can I ask what this is for?" he asked. "Im doing some research. Is Arthur Blake buried there?" "Let me check the records. When did he die?" "December 1, 1934." "Yes, we have an Arthur Blake here who died in 1934. His address was 1844 N. 10th St.?" "Yes. Thats the one. I will be driving down there right now." I was surprised that the cemetery that Arthur Blake was buried in was so close to me! I started jumping up and down for joy, laughing and shouting, "You son of a gun!" I marveled that his cemetery was on the same road as the pressing plant and recording studio in Grafton. (12th Avenue in Grafton leads into Green Bay Road otherwise known as the historic Green Bay Trail once paved by elk, Indians and recording artists.) I got lost. My mind was in such an excited state. I forgot to write down the address of the cemetery. I just drove. Friends were calling me on my cell phone. But I declined them all. I just wanted to get to Blakes grave as quickly as I could. Nothing else mattered. When I got to Glendale, I noticed that the area contained a lot of African-Americans. I stopped at a gas station to ask where the cemetery was. They didnt know. I asked a lady at the gas station. She didnt know. So I kept driving south on Green Bay Road. At last! There it was! I took a left and pulled in to take a picture of Glen Oaks Cemetery in Glendale. I went to the office. The person manning the office was occupied for a good 5 minutes. So I took photos of my documents and inside of the office to help calm my nervous energy. When he came to greet me, I asked if there was any documentation on Arthur Blake that I could see. He said that he already printed it out and then handed it to me. I asked for directions to the cemetery plot. Realizing that it was in a very remote part of the cemetery, I kindly asked him to lead me to it. Meanwhile, Alex called and I tried to give him as much information as possible over the phone while trying to contain myself. I told him to call me back in a half hour. Hopefully by then I could visit the grave site and give him more information. The employee brought me to a remote part of the cemetery in the back that was obviously unkempt. He tried to help me find Blakes grave. But we couldnt find it. He kept insisting that it was in one place. But I pointed to the unkempt area and said, "Dont you think he might be over there?" "God I hope not. Theyre digging a road there." He said that he would go back to the office to look up names nearby on the computer. He directed me to call him. While I waited for him to drive back to the building, I quickly and frantically looked at all of the gravestones in the unkempt area. I saw a lot of "Mother so and so" and "Brother so and so" names on the stones. I saw a lot of garbage and hidden gravestones. I quickly tried to clean each one up looking for Blakes name. NOTHING. So I called him. "Im at so and sos grave right now." "You need to go to the next row." "OK. Now I am at so and sos grave." "Head north." We went back and forth like this for quite some time. Finally, we determined that the exact location where Blake was buried did not have a tombstone. The records at the cemetery have him listed as being a single large grave 72 Range 115. Caroline Harvey was the closest tombstone to that. She was born in 1896 and died in 1934. Just north of him in Range 114 lies Willie Mae Hess, who died in 1935. Alex called back. I stood at Arthur "Blind" Blakes grave while talking to my world renowned Paramount research friend. It seemed fitting that we should be on the phone together at that particular moment. It was very special. Alex deserved to be a part of that moment. But with him in the Netherlands, it was impossible for him to be there physically. He requested more clarification on Arthurs parents. At that point, the certificate was in my car a good few blocks away. I told him that I would walk to my car, contain myself and go through the certificate information with him once again while sitting in my car. Directly east of Blakes unmarked grave lies a bush. Inside the bush is a forgotten tombstone, garbage and an American flag. Hes buried in the farthest back, farthest east and "forgotten part" among many other presumably African-Americans. I had to tromp through the mud to get there. The cemetery dumps dirt back in that area. Many of the stones are damaged and remote hiding under trees and such. I took photos of the unmarked grave, his neighboring deceased, my muddied feet which had collected burs, as well as my expressive face. Clearly, this has been one of the best days of my life. And I want to stress that this was a team effort between Alex van der Tuuk, Bob Eagle, Rob Ford, Eric LeBlanc and myself. We all did our part. I was just fortunate enough to be able to reel the fish in. This discovery about Blind Blake will surely be remembered throughout history and around the world. I am honored and humbled that somehow a fellow musician and music teacher got to first visit Arthur Blakes grave. It felt very kindred. Definitely spiritual. I am truly honored and humbled. Alex is convinced that it wont be an unmarked grave for long. Arthur "Blind" Blake is among the blues legends. And we finally found our man. AMEN to that. April 8, 2011 I drove to Milwaukee again upon Alexs prompting to try to obtain a marriage certificate for Arthur and Beatrice and to look in city directories for Beatrice. When I arrived to Milwaukee, I noticed Brown Street and tried to find one of Blakes homes. I noted that it was just a few blocks from Martin Luther King Drive. The home is no longer there. Multi-unit housing has been put in its place. There is a very large nursing home in the area, some big churches and a park north of where he lived. I went to the Milwaukee Courthouse to try to apply for a marriage certificate. I was informed that I must search the archives myself and that if I found the information I was looking for, they would mail it to me. I searched the Milwaukee "Index of Marriages" 1928-34 for both bride and groom but did not find any evidence of a marriage in Milwaukee between those years. Unfortunately, I went away from the courthouse empty-handed. I then went to the Milwaukee Historical Society to look in city directories for Beatrice Blake. According to the directories, she lived at various locations in the Bronzeville district between 1932 and 1949. Only one occupation was listed for her in the 1944-45 combined directory as a rag cutter for Acme Sanitary Wiper & Waste Company. I also searched for Beatrice McGee in the 1930 and 1931 directory to no avail. I sent all of the information to Alex along with a few details on an Alice that was listed. I looked at the "Marriage Index" 1926-40. Apparently this is the index of people who register at city hall and not the courthouse. Arthur and Beatrice were not listed. However an Alice (Roben) Blake was listed in October 1932. I inquired about information on Musicians Union Local 8 as well as Bronzeville information. The "Bronzeville Collection" listed in the card index consisted of a thin folder with current newspaper articles, a book that Avena Ivory wrote and a press release about a new "The Streets of Bronzeville Research Collection" at the Smithsonian. I was surprised that the Milwaukee Historical Society has a ton of information about the Italian immigrants to the area but virtually none about the African-American immigrants who occupied a very large part of Milwaukee. Upon Alexs request, I called the Milwaukee Public Library Art, Music and Recreation Dept. for any information about black and/or Musician Union Local 8. The only item available was an article written in 1978. Also upon Alexs request, I called the cemetery back to see what "Part donation" on Arthur Blakes cemetery records meant. Apparently it means that it was a County Burial (the County paid for it) and body parts were donated. I called back a second time and the man who initially helped me answered the phone. I asked him if they had a Beatrice Blake there who might have possibly died around 1950. He told me that Beatrice Blake is indeed there. Grave 35. Row 4. Block 9. Section 3. He told me that this area, too, is a very remote area with very few tombstones. I inquired about other information. He said that she was buried May 23, 1953. She lived at 1015 W. Walnut St. at the time. He didnt think that she has a headstone. I thanked him for his assistance and mentioned that I would be in shortly to get a copy of that record. I said, "Sir, if anything is published in regards to this research would you like to be credited?" "Absolutely not. I want to be anonymous. What is this for anyways? Is this genealogy or just what is it?" "Sir, its ... its just research." "Yeah, but where is this going to be published? Who is this for?" "Sir Im not permitted to say right now." "Well I certainly do not want to be mentioned especially because I dont have any idea what this is about." I could tell that he was getting angry and was probably very confused about all of the fuss over two unmarked African-American graves. So even though I know his name, I will honor his wish to not be "any part of it." April 9, 2011 My husband and I went to the Milwaukee Public Library. Upon Alexs suggestion, I tried to check the December 1934 newspapers in the area. I looked through both the Milwaukee Journal and the Milwaukee Sentinel microfilms for Dec. 1-5, 1934. I did not see any mention of Arthur Blakes death in the obituaries, death announcements or burial requests. I also looked at the entire funeral ads listed near the death announcements and could not find Raynors Funeral home. I asked the librarian if there were any African-American publications around 1934. She said that the earliest (that they have on file at least) is the Milwaukee Globe that began in 1948. I told her that I was looking for additional newspaper documentation of a 1934 death. She said that it cost money to purchase obituary notices, death announcements, etc., so, most likely, somebody who was poor would not have been mentioned in the papers back then. Next we went back to Glen Oaks Cemetery to gather documentation about Beatrice Blake. I showed the employee my Milwaukee Bronzeville book and told him that I was doing historical research on African-Americans in that area. That largely put him at ease. I asked if he had any information on the Raynor Funeral Services and confirmed again that Arthur and Beatrice were "County burials." He confirmed and mentioned that the funeral service probably serviced at a reduced cost. I also inquired for a map of the cemetery. He made some edits to the map particular in section 9. He added two asterisks and broke it down into smaller subsections and pointed out the infant section that is west of Arthur Blakes spot. A lot of the infants were from the late '20s. There is some confusion because Blakes cemetery documentation lists him as being in Block 7. However, in reality I was directed to Block 9. Blake is north of the dirt road indicated on the map and east of the infant section. I wanted to go back to obtain documentation on Caroline Harvey who is allegedly in Block 7 Row/Range 115 and Single Grave number 71. But by the time I got back to the office, he was gone. Pat also noted the disorganization of Block 9 and took photos. The rows and the stones are very unkempt making it difficult to navigate. Like I said, if Caroline Harvey is listed in her cemetery records as indicated above, there is a great chance that is the exact spot where Blake is buried. If not, then a mystery is on our hands. Im concerned/confused because I was told that in Section 7, Single Grave 1 begins south (next to the railroad tracks) and the numbers go up as you go north. However, the grid on Arthurs cemetery document indicates the opposite. South of the railroad tracks is total demolition. There was a huge pile of blown up concrete there today. I am not sure what the grid on Blakes document means. There is not a grid on Beatrices document. Beatrice is listed as being buried May 23, 1953. She lived at 1015 W. Walnut St. at the time. She was also a "part donation" (body parts were donated because its a "County burial"). Undertaker listed at OBee Funeral Home. When I got home, I read through sections of Joe Trotters book, "Black Milwaukee." In it he talks about Raynors and OBee Funeral Home. These African-American-owned businesses were a source of neighborhood pride. Aug. 29, 2012 Thanks to Mathieu Memorials Arthur Blind Blake will have a "grass marker" for his unmarked grave. The stone will soon be shipped from Connecticut to Wisconsin. Reprinted from Greg Palast Website Note: If you're in Philadelphia, I will preview my new film, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy--a Tale of Billionaires & Ballot Bandits" this Wednesday, in FDR Park on the huge Jumbotrons around the main stage. Learn how they will try to steal the election before they steal it; and meet the billionaire bandit behind Donald Trump. [I track down the evidence with help from "detectives" Ice-T and Richard Belzer, a stoner with a guitar named Willie Nelson, and divergent angels, Shailene Woodley and Rosario Dawson.] Shailene Woodley and Greg Palast in Palast's new film The Best Democracy Money Can Buy (Image by Greg Palast) Details DMCA Bernie's campaign is just beginning. No kidding. The real campaign. The one he was chosen for. I got this idea of what Bernie and Berners should do from Satan, from the Anti-Christ. Or, as you might know him from television, the Reverend Pat Robertson. That's correct: the berzerko right wing televangelist -- and one of the most brilliant men I've ever met. Years ago, the Guardian asked me to investigate Rev. Pat's diabolical plan to create the first web-only bank. (The goofy bank caper was foiled when The Guardian reported on his less-than-savory financial dealings that would likely disqualify him from getting a bank charter.) When I visited The Reverend at his TV studio in Virginia Beach, I reminded him that, when he ran for President in 1988, he claimed that God himself had told him to run. My question: With a campaign manager like that, how come he lost? Robertson's answer: "The Lord did not tell me to win. He told me to run." As Robertson and his minions explained it, the race gave him a list of three million names, addresses, phone numbers -- and millions in non-stop donations. From that list of believers and their bodies and checkbooks, Robertson created the fearsome Christian Coalition. And for two decades, no one could run for dogcatcher on the Republican line without the endorsement of Reverend Pat's Christian Coalition. If a diabolical voice called forth Pat Robertson, I'm certain the better a of our nature called forth Bernie not for a political moment but to create a political movement. Unless he's been fooling us, Sanders himself has always said his campaign's moral purpose was not to win the nomination (and surely he must have known the DNC couldn't permit that), it was all about a revolution. Now is the time to create that revolutionary movement that Sanders claimed, correctly, could be more powerful than a mere President. It would be a terrible, terrible waste for the Sanders movement to make its goal some instantly forgotten lines in the Democratic Party platform. (Does anyone remember the 2012 Platform's position on minimum wage?) A Sanders permanent organization could turn American politics toward the sun. He could lead a real political revolution more important than winning the California primary. I'd call it the Un-Christian Coalition -- though I suspect there's a better name out there. I don't, as a journalist, ever endorse candidates. But one can't ignore the movement his candidacy has engendered. It would be a tragedy for our nation if this non-violent insurgency of young people simply floated away because of electoral politics du jour. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Even after his gradually rolled out defection to the dark side of Clinton Inc. was all but complete, many Bernie supporters continued to believe in Bernie, bless their hearts. Some apologists argued that Sanders' surrender to the corrupt Democratic Party had a deeper secret motive. He did it in order to give his Big Speech at the Convention. The Big Speech is now history. It is all Sanders will write in this Convention , other than some changes in the irrelevant platform and possibly in a few rules of unknown prospective value. His uninspired choices to place him in nomination and his ritualized "unity" motion dampened any remaining enthusiasm to fight the rigged process. We can now judge whether this speech was worth the sacrifice of Sanders' integrity by supporting the very plutocrat which it was the ostensible and well-funded purpose of his campaign, and of his supporters, to defeat. The Big Speech had three essential parts. One part recited the list of New Deal-type policy reforms that majorities support and would therefore already be implemented if the US were a democracy. Sanders said these policies were what his campaign was about. The second part of the speech was a pitch for Lesser of Two Evils voting, along with an implicit claim that Clinton is the lesser evil. This part of Sanders' speech surfed on the propaganda about Trump in which the plutocratic media is already awash. It lacked the intellectual integrity of actually dealing with the fact that, on the core progressive issues of imperialism and plutocracy, Trump has leaped right over the rightward march of Clinton Inc. to land on the progressive side of Clinton, thereby outflanking the Democrats on these fundamental concerns. The Democratic Party will not give up identity politics as its principle disguise for its plutocratic ownership. Thus 2016 witnesses a split between those attracted to identity politics and those who understand that the reason for the inequality that gives rise to identity-based claims for relief is the very lack of an effective franchise which deprives everyone of their democratic equality. Political disenfranchisement by plutocracy hurts most of all socially and economically disadvantaged or otherwise isolated groups, of course. But the more Democrats support plutocracy and undermine democracy, the more they can claim to represent such separate identity-based complaints. Plutocracy is thus good for the Democrats' basic business of identity politics. Others have discussed the failure of liberals to honestly assess Trump's stated positions by which he has overtly appealed to Sanders' progressive supporters. It need not be addressed further here, other than to mention that Sanders' added nothing to the general anti-Trump discourse that has been going on for months, other than simply piling on the standard identity politics narrative against Trump. It was gratifying that, when Sanders tried this narrative out on his own delegates on Monday morning, they did not take the bait. Many had already likely heard enough about Trump in their state conventions. What Sanders left off the list of his campaign's policy goals in the first part of his speech was his most clearly progressive goal. This was commonly defined throughout his campaign as its central issue: "Very little is going to be done to transform our economy and to create the kind of middle class we need unless we end a corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining American democracy." This was the statement that made his long list of campaign promises honest, rather than the pie-in-the-sky fantasy that Obama, Clinton and others accused Sanders of dishing out to his followers because they were not "pragmatic." Sanders' qualification that none of his majoritarian New Deal policy reforms can be accomplished unless the corrupt plutocracy is first turned back to a democracy was missing from his Convention speech. Instead of making this clear statement about priorities, Sanders simply tacked on to the end of his list of policies the following statement: " Brothers and sisters, this election is about overturning Citizens United, one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in the history of our country. That decision allows the wealthiest people in America, like the billionaire Koch brothers, to spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying elections and, in the process, undermine American democracy." Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Reprinted from Mondoweiss Clintonites on the Democratic Party platform committee knocked out condemnations of Israeli "settlements" and "occupation" from the platform out of fear of Sheldon Adelson, a Sanders rep on that committee said today in Philadelphia. James Zogby of the Arab American Institute spoke at a panel convened by the US Campaign to End the Occupation and the American Friends Service Committee alongside the Democratic convention. He said that he and other Sanders delegates to the platform committee had a simple plan going into the platform debates: to remove a reference in the platform to Jerusalem being the undivided "capital of Israel" and also strike the platform's opposition to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS). But they lost on those points, and their strategy was off. The fight was instead to knock out Sanders-sponsored language opposing "occupation" and "settlements," and the Sanders side lost. Zogby: "Frankly we wanted to strike the BDS line out, strike out the line on Jerusalem, I thought that would be the fight. I had no idea the fight would end up being over occupation and settlements. And what occurred to me was that, as I looked around the table at the folks who were there, some of whom are good people, and smart policy people -- is that something happens in this game where they take their policy brain out and put it some place, I ain't telling you where. and they substitute their politics brain, which they think is a smart brain. "We can't do it because it's -- Here's what they told me. 'We can't do it because Sheldon Adelson will come out against us.' Jesus he's going to come out against you no matter what you do. And the people who like Sheldon Adelson, they're not going to vote for you." Sheldon Adelson is an 82-year-old Republican who is supporting Trump in this election, and who supported Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney in the last cycle. These members of the platform committee were speaking of the Jewish politics of the issue. They know that Jews give a "gigantic" and "shocking" amount of the money that Democratic candidates rely on, according to a J Street panel of experts this spring, and that Sheldon Adelson, who called on President Obama to nuke Iran, is little different from a lot of other older Jews who regard Israel as a great thing. Indeed, Adelson has teamed up with Clinton megadonor Haim Saban in support of Israel. So the Clintonites were afraid that older Jews will not give money to the Democratic Party, and withdraw their votes too, if the platform didn't grovel to Israel. That's what went down. Zogby said the irony is that Bernie Sanders was "was actually playing to his base by talking about Palestine." Young people, liberals, people of color -- they all increasingly support Palestine. On Wednesday, the Arab American Institute will release polling, Zogby said, that shows how much the American public has changed on the issue and how much it approves of boycott. On the boycott issue -- "Is boycotting Israel a legitimate tool to use to stop them from building settlements?" -- Democrats say yes overwhelmingly, 47 to 14, and the rest are unsure. The numbers aren't bad on the Republican side either: 42-24. The poll also showed that a majority of Americans "for the first time have an opinion that too much foreign aid goes to Israel, that's something that we never saw before," he said to applause. And Zogby spoke of Sanders's achievement in changing the discourse of Palestine: "It took the work of a mass movement and a courageous person like Bernie Sanders. Because remember if Bernie hadn't elevated it, it wouldn't have happened... Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Reprinted from Mike Malloy Website Another week, another mass shooting at a club in Florida, another out-of-control political convention, another high profile politician in trouble, another Hillary email scandal. It's Deja Vu of the absolute worst kind, Truthseekers. Wasn't the Democratic Convention supposed to be a gathering of like-minded grown-ups who would show the Trump circus for what it was? WTF happened? Russians hacked DNC email and Wikileaks released the details that DNC Chair DW Schultz deliberately undermined the Sanders campaign in a covert attempt to influence the US presidential election. Today's top news story reads like the latest Matt Damon/Jason Bourne movie plot. The DNC convention kicked off without Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was booed by her own Florida constituents this morning in the wake of the latest Clinton email debacle and evidence of a rigged campaign, and now the Sanders delegates are protesting in the streets of Philadelphia and on the floor of the convention hall, booing loudly whenever Hillary's name is mentioned, often outshouting the Hillary supporters. The Trump convention was notable for it's lack of big-name Republican supporters, but the wannabe Cheeto-in-Chief certainly had the assembled fanatics in his silk-lined pocket. The opposite is true with Hillaryfest. All the political superstars are on the stage, but there is no unified cheering crowd on the floor. In fact, many of the interviewed Sanders supporters vowed they would vote for anyone but Hillary -- even the Oompa Loompa. No matter what happens next, this pair of conventions will be remembered for their mutual chaos. And you can't help but wonder, what other email might Wikileaks have waiting for the rest of the week? This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here. [Note for TomDispatch Readers: TD is leaving the last day of the Democratic Convention to Hillary C. Next post will be on Sunday, July 31st. Tom] As is often the case, I opened the Monday newspaper curious to find out how the weekend had gone at the movies. The headline read, "'Ghostbusters' Is No. 2 Behind 'Secret Life of Pets.'" That meant Universal Studios' animated film had again been the big winner, taking in an estimated $50.6 million for a two-week domestic total of $203.2 million. In the industry, it was feared that China, the world's number two market and gaining fast, might not let another hit, Ghostbusters, be shown, given its paranormal themes. Still, all in all, it had been an upbeat week for one of the two dominant American product lines that go boom in the night and also have a remarkable grip on their respective global markets. The first of those -- think action films, superhero movies, and space operas -- comes out of Hollywood and, in multiplexes globally, one thing is guaranteed: you're not going to get the next Avengers sequel or Fast and Furious 23 from Russia, France, or China. Not surprisingly, since Hollywood rakes in billions of dollars annually from the rest of the planet for entertaining us all, weekly news about its business successes and failures is a regular feature of our world. And, oh yes, then there's that other business, the one that actually makes things that go boom in the night. I'm talking, of course, about the weapons trade. As TomDispatchregular Bill Hartung, author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex, points out today, it has an almost monopolistic grip on its global market and, like Hollywood, regularly has cheery news to offer about the billions of dollars it pulls in from countries at war or fearing future conflicts. In fact, for a business that -- bottom line -- kills people rather than simply thrilling them with bloody mayhem, it, too, has a remarkably upbeat sense of itself. Take Thomas Kennedy, CEO of Raytheon, a major arms maker, presently cleaning up when, as Defense News reports, it comes to the "missile defense interceptor , as well as air-to-ground missiles and air-to-air combat missiles fired by fighter jets" that it's selling across the Middle East (and in some cases in Asia, too). The company is projecting a revenue rise of 3%-5% this year and, according to Defense One, "When investors visiting Raytheon's factories ask 'How's business?' Kennedy tends to respond like this: 'Did you notice you couldn't get a parking space?... 'Where else can you find a factory in America that you can't get a parking space?'" So here's the puzzle: two major industries with certain similarities grip their global markets in similarly overwhelming ways. One is the focus of almost constant reportage and attention, the other largely avoids notice in our world. Why is that? Fortunately, TomDispatch can call on Hartung's expertise when it comes to the remarkably little known "success" story of America's weapons makers to offer the sort of picture of one of this country's stellar industries that you won't find anywhere else. Tom There's No Business Like the Arms Business Weapons "R" Us (But You'd Never Know It) By William D. Hartung When American firms dominate a global market worth more than $70 billion a year, you'd expect to hear about it. Not so with the global arms trade. It's good for one or two stories a year in the mainstream media, usually when the annual statistics on the state of the business come out. It's not that no one writes about aspects of the arms trade. There are occasional pieces that, for example, take note of the impact of U.S. weapons transfers, including cluster bombs, to Saudi Arabia, or of the disastrous dispensation of weaponry to U.S. allies in Syria, or of foreign sales of the costly, controversial F-35 combat aircraft. And once in a while, if a foreign leader meets with the president, U.S. arms sales to his or her country might generate an article or two. But the sheer size of the American arms trade, the politics that drive it, the companies that profit from it, and its devastating global impacts are rarely discussed, much less analyzed in any depth. So here's a question that's puzzled me for years (and I'm something of an arms wonk): Why do other major U.S. exports -- from Hollywood movies to Midwestern grain shipments to Boeing airliners -- garner regular coverage while trends in weapons exports remain in relative obscurity? Are we ashamed of standing essentially alone as the world's number one arms dealer, or is our Weapons "R" Us role such a commonplace that we take it for granted, like death or taxes? The numbers should stagger anyone. According to the latest figures available from the Congressional Research Service, the United States was credited with more than half the value of all global arms transfer agreements in 2014, the most recent year for which full statistics are available. At 14%, the world's second largest supplier, Russia, lagged far behind. Washington's "leadership" in this field has never truly been challenged. The U.S. share has fluctuated between one-third and one-half of the global market for the past two decades, peaking at an almost monopolistic 70% of all weapons sold in 2011. And the gold rush continues. Vice Admiral Joe Rixey, who heads the Pentagon's arms sales agency, euphemistically known as the Defense Security Cooperation Agency,estimates that arms deals facilitated by the Pentagon topped $46 billion in 2015, and are on track to hit $40 billion in 2016. To be completely accurate, there is one group of people who pay remarkably close attention to these trends -- executives of the defense contractors that are cashing in on this growth market. With the Pentagon and related agencies taking in "only" about $600 billion a year -- high by historical standards but tens of billions of dollars less than hoped for by the defense industry -- companies like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and General Dynamics have been looking to global markets as their major source of new revenue. In a January 2015 investor call, for example, Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson was asked whether the Iran nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration and five other powers might reduce tensions in the Middle East, undermining the company's strategy of increasing its arms exports to the region. She responded that continuing "volatility" in both the Middle East and Asia would make them "growth areas" for the foreseeable future. In other words, no worries. As long as the world stays at war or on the verge of it, Lockheed Martin's profits won't suffer -- and, of course, its products will help ensure that any such "volatility" will prove lethal indeed. Under Hewson, Lockheed has set a goal of getting at least 25% of its revenues from weapons exports, and Boeing has done that company one better. It's seeking to make overseas arms sales 30% of its business. Good News From the Middle East (If You're an Arms Maker) Arms deals are a way of life in Washington. From the president on down, significant parts of the government are intent on ensuring that American arms will flood the global market and companies like Lockheed and Boeing will live the good life. From the president on his trips abroad to visit allied world leaders to the secretaries of state and defense to the staffs of U.S. embassies, American officials regularly act as salespeople for the arms firms. And the Pentagon is their enabler. From brokering, facilitating, and literally banking the money from arms deals to transferring weapons to favored allies on the taxpayers' dime, it is in essence the world's largest arms dealer. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Reprinted from Sputnik US media outlets from the august New York Times to various others were saturated with claims that Putin is trying to determine the forthcoming American presidential elections by damaging Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton in favor of Republican nominee Donald Trump. In an article in Slate magazine, we are told: "Putin plan for destroying the West -- and it looks a lot like Donald Trump." The billionaire property magnate is now being labelled as "Putin's puppet" and the "Kremlin's candidate." This is a re-run of American establishment paranoia that dominated the Cold War decades, when any political challenger for high office in the US could be blackballed by mere assertion that he was a fellow-traveller of the Soviet Union. Today, "communism" is replaced with allegations of being friends with Moscow "tyranny." But let's deal with the facts here. What we know is that a huge leak of emails from the Democrat National Committee was released last week by Western-based whistleblower organization, Wikileaks, run by Australian journalist Julian Assange. The emails are a devastating indictment of how the Democrat party leadership has from the outset sought to make sure Hillary Clinton becomes the presidential nominee by crushing her populist rival Bernie Sanders. Clinton is backed by big business, Wall Street and the Pentagon. The Wikileaks email revelations on the eve of the Democrat convention this week in Philadelphia is proof that what passes for American democracy is a rigged system, ordained by the rich and powerful to elect their candidate to do their bidding when in office. Sanders acknowledged how the political system was unfairly stacked against him and his supporters. Nevertheless, the Vermont senator has gone on to endorse Clinton, to the disgust of many of his supporters. Rather than focusing on what is a teachable moment of corporate control of politics, the US media performed mental gymnastics by shifting this real story on to wild speculation that the Democrat email leaks were masterminded by Russian intelligence. The allegation was flatly denied by Wikileaks. So now, instead of the public examining how powerful American interest prevail on their democratic choice, the narrative becomes one of accusing Vladimir Putin of subverting the US presidential elections. The slander against Russia is only afforded a semblance of credibility because it is piled on a heap of previous slander, in which Moscow is accused of annexing and invading Ukrainian territory, posing a threat to Eastern Europe, assassinating political opponents, shooting down civilian airliners and sponsoring illicit drugs in Olympic sports. Once again, rumor, insinuation and vilification triumph over facts in the Western media's so-called news services. The story of Russian state-sponsored hackers breaking into the Democrat party's email system first surfaced more than a month ago. As pointed out previously, the source of claims that it was Russian cyber-espionage was a private US security firm, CrowdStrike, which is closely linked to the Washington DC-based think tank Atlantic Council. The Atlantic Council is, in turn, tightly aligned with the US-led NATO military alliance. The claims made against Russian state hackers are unverifiable. They are simply assertions from a partisan source, which are then amplified into seeming fact by the dutiful Western media. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). by Dan Lucas Finally a ray of hope. This has not been a pleasant election cycle for me. I have especially been disappointed in my fellow Republican voters in the presidential primary. I have been disappointed with Democratic voters for a much longer time. I have been preparing myself to hold my nose and vote for Trump in November. Hillary would be a disaster for the country. Her scandals are too numerous to count, shes utterly self-serving and untrustworthy, and despite a very long and public career, she has few if any accomplishments. But most concerning would be her ability to appoint more liberal judges to the U.S. Supreme Court. Liberal judges who would legislate from the bench and re-interpret the U.S. Constitution judges whose view of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness doesnt include protecting life or liberty. My choice in November, then, seemed to be vote for Hillary or vote for Trump. Not much of a choice, but I couldnt do anything that would help Hillary get elected. One more grin and bear it moment. You know those grin and bear it moments? When youre a guest and someone has spent a great deal of effort preparing something you cant stand. When you have to pretend youre excited about the latest fad programs and acronyms at work. When you have to act like youre interested in a topic of conversation that is turning minutes into an eternity. Or more seriously, when you know your tax dollars are being used to pay for abortions that deliberately end innocent lives. If I can, I try to avoid those moments. I find the more Im able to avoid those moments, the greater my quality of life and in certain cases the more at peace I am with my conscience. Which takes us back to November. One more grin and bear it moment, right? Or is it? Heres where the ray of hope comes in. Fellow Oregon conservative Thomas J. Miller had an online post recently that pointed out that due to the winner-take-all basis of Oregons Electoral College votes, my not voting for Trump wont help Hillary in this deep blue state. No matter what I do in November, it will not change Oregons seven Electoral Votes going to Hillary Clinton. Recent polling shows Hillary with a 14 percent lead in Oregon over Trump. Regarding Oregons status as a deep blue state: as of the end of June, Oregon had more than an 11% Democratic statewide voter registration advantage the largest Democratic advantage in at least the last 15 years, possibly ever. Last October, The Hill ranked Oregon the 3rd bluest state in the U.S. (behind Washington & Minnesota), and noted that Oregon had voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in the last seven elections. The last time Oregon voted for a Republican for president was 32 years ago, in 1984, for Ronald Reagan against Walter Mondale. In a May 10th article on Hillary Clintonss problem with still losing primary battles to Bernie Sanders, Politco noted Oregon is among the most liberal states in the country. I will definitely be voting this November there are many excellent Republican candidates to vote for down ballot and there are important ballot measures but I am greatly relieved at the prospect of not having to vote for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. It would be much easier to face myself the morning after the election. To read more from Dan, visit www.dan-lucas.com Four new member apponied for ECP ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain ,on the advice of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, appointed four new members to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday. The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has issued a notification in this regard. A parliamentary committee and the ECP had earlier recommended the names of three retired judges of high courts and a retired bureaucrat as new members of election commission through the pick and choose mthod. The ruling and the opposition parties had finalised the names of the new ECP members with consensus and the parliamentary committee put a stamp of approval on these names. The parliamentary committee met at the Parliament House on Monday with Federal Information Minister Pervez Rashid in the chair. All 12 members of the committee from various political parties attended the meeting. National Assembly Special Secretary Qamr Sohail Lodhi presented a letter from the prime minister and the leader of the opposition to the committee chairman. The letter contained the names of 24 nominees for the vacant posts of members at the ECP. Rashid handed over one envelop to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) representative Dr Shirin Mazari and the other to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) represenative Nawab Yousaf Talpur and asked them to open the envelops. Sources said the committee picked four people on top of the list because the government and opposition leader Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah had agreed on these names. However, the PTI representative opposed the names of ECP members from Khyber Pakhtunkhawa and Punjab. On this, the committee chairman called for voting on the ECP members and most of the committee members voted in favour of the members agreed upon by the prime minister and the opposition leader. PTI reprsentative Mazari abstained from voting and boycotted the meeting. She told the media outside the Parliamen House that the parliamentary committee did not consider the names proposed by her party. She said the PTI gave the name of Tariq Khosa for ECP Punjab and Fasih-ul-Mulk for ECP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but the committee rejected both these names. After the meeting, the information minister, who is also chairman of the committee, told the media that former bureaucrat Abdul Ghaffar Soomros name had been approved as member of the ECP from Sindh, Justice (Retd) Shakeel Ahmad Baloch as member of the ECP from Balochistan, Justice (Retd) Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi as member of the ECP from Punjab and Justice (Retd) Irshaq Qaiser as member of the ECP from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. We made the decision with a majority. ANP member Daud Achakzai neither supported nor opposed anyone and said that he was not consulted on this issue. The PTI called into question the nomination of ECP members from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and presented its names, but the committee dismissed those names, the information minister said earlier. He said the approved names had been sent to the prime minister, who would send them to the president and the president would finally appoint members to the ECP. I am hope full that a notification about the appointment of ECP members will be issued any time, the information minister said. Rashid told the media that continuity of ECP members would be ensured like Senate members and two members of the commission would retire on completion of their two-and-a-half years term and the remaining two would complete their five-year term. He said it would be decided through balloting which two members of the ECP would retire after two-and-a-half years. He rejected PTI Chairman Imran Khans critisism of new ECP members and said that he never accepted any decision. If Khan had any reservation about the ECP members, he said, he should have taken up this issue with the leader of the opposition. Pak govt to save Pakistani execution in Indonasia LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: The government has intensified its diplomatic efforts for saving a Pakistani national, Zulfiqar Ali, who is facing imminent execution in Indonesia after being convicted of drug-related charges in a controversial trial. Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, who is in Laos for an Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Regional Forum meeting, has sought a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi on the issue, according to a diplomat. Meanwhile, Indonesian Ambassador Iwan Suyudhie Amri was summoned to the Foreign Office over the expected execution. Indonesian ambassador in Islamabad was also called in by the ministry and asked to convey the government of Pakistans concern to his authorities, Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakariya said. After languishing in jail for 12 years, Ali is set to be executed in Indonesia. The Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), a human rights law firm, has requested the president to take up the matter with the Indonesian government to save the life of an innocent Pakistani. Ali, 52, was arrested in November 2004 in connection with a 300-gram heroine case in Jakarta. A co-accused in the case, Gurdip Singh, retracted his statement against Ali, saying the confession had been coerced from him. The JPP said the Indonesian police had been unable to bring forward any material evidence to support their charge against Ali. Despite this, the Pakistan embassy in Jakarta has received a notification that Ali will be executed in the near future and that the family will be given a 72-hour notice, it said. Ali was arrested at his home without a warrant in Indonesias West Java province. For three days, he was kicked, punched and threatened with death by the Soekarno-Hatta Airport district police until he was forced to sign a self-incriminating confession. The JPP said that at one point he was taken out of the police station and threatened to be tied and dragged by a car. Ali was rushed into an emergency stomach and kidney surgery due to the severity of the physical torture he was subjected to. He remained in the hospital for 17 days, for which the expenses had to be borne by his family, and he still suffered from a number of medical issues as a result, the JPP said. Ali, the father of six, was not provided a lawyer for a month, and no one from the Pakistan embassy was contacted. He was detained for over three months before being brought to the first trial hearing. And even though his confession was coerced, as Ali recalled in detail during the trial, the judge allowed it to be used as evidence. The JPP said Ali did not speak the local language and received limited translation assistance throughout his detention and court proceedings. Ali told the prosecutor that the report against him was false and had been obtained through torture. During the proceedings, the prosecutor asked him to admit whatever the police said, saying that otherwise he would be given a higher sentence. Ali told the court that he had been tortured by the police. Photographs were available to the court which evidenced this. When he refused to accept the report, a bribe of 400 million Indonesian rupiah was demanded to reduce the sentence from capital punishment to 10-15 years. Ali refused to pay the bribe and continued to proclaim his innocence. It said Ali had been denied fair trial and his only legal recourse now was to apply for clemency with the Indonesian president. The JPP pointed out that European citizens were likely to be excused from execution for the same conviction. Ali, a citizen of a fellow Muslim country, will be executed by firing squad if the Pakistan government does not act now, swiftly, it said. Alis wife, Siti Rouhani, has pinned her last hopes on the government. If I get some support from Pakistan, something may happen and my husband may be saved, she said. JPP Legal Director Maryam Haq said: So flimsy a case does not and cannot warrant so final a sentence. He was tortured relentlessly and deprived of his most basic legal rights. Given that there is stronger evidence to support his innocence than guilt, it is now time for the president of Pakistan to appeal to our Muslim allies and save an innocent Pakistanis life. Alis execution would be grossly unlawful with such severe due-process violations during his detention, trial and conviction. Roundworms (Caenorhabditis elegans) with a disabled eri-1 gene can lose their ability to control repetitive DNA. In the absence of eri-1, even two age-matched siblings can look dramatically different. These differences are because of variable expression from high-copy DNA (green) but not from low-copy DNA (magenta) in the worms' intestinal cells. In worms with a functional eri-1 gene, even multi-copy DNA is expressed uniformly in all animals. Credit: Antony Jose Cancers arise in skin, muscle, liver or other types of tissue when one cell becomes different from its neighbors. Although biologists have learned a lot about how tissues form during development, very little is known about how two cells of the same tissue stay identical for an animal's entire lifetime. A University of Maryland research team is the first to discover that a regulatory protein named ERI-1 helps ensure that all cells in a tissue remain identical to one another. The work involved collaboration between developmental biologists and computer scientists, with the latter contributing their expertise with machine learning analysis. The finding could bring biologists one step closer to understanding some cancers and other age-related diseases. The study, which is the first of its kind conducted in a whole animal (the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans) instead of cultured cells, appears in the August 1, 2016 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology. The researchers' approach reveals one important mechanism that animals use to maintain uniform patterns of gene expression. The team's use of machine learning software proved essential for quickly and clearly identifying complex patterns in the data. "Cells can look the same and behave the same, but how? The liver is full of liver cells and doesn't have any heart cells, for example. There's so much that needs to happen to maintain a tissue," said Antony Jose, an assistant professor in the UMD Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics and senior author on the study. "It's a fundamental question that's been hiding in plain sight. We've now proposed an answer that could help advance our understanding of age-related diseases." The results suggest that long sections of repetitive DNA can be read differently from cell to cell. The researchers found that, in healthy tissues, ERI-1 normalizes these differences by ensuring that each cell expresses their genes at the same levels. When the researchers turned off the gene that produces ERI-1 in C. elegans, an abnormal patchwork of gene expression appeared in the worms' intestines. "To understand these processes, we needed to measure single-cell differences in a whole animal," Jose said. "We had to know which cell was related to which others and simultaneously measure various properties in all cells within a tissue. Technically, achieving this is very difficult. But you can't adequately answer these questions outside the context of the whole animal." To achieve this complex analysis, Jose and his colleagues formed an unexpected collaboration. Lead author Hai Le (B.S. '13, biological science), an undergraduate researcher in Jose's lab who is now a student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, presented a poster at UMD's Bioscience Day conference in 2012. Future collaborator Michael Bloodgood, an associate research scientist at UMD's Center for Advanced Study of Language, stopped by to discuss Le's work. The two researchers quickly recognized the potential for machine learning to help facilitate Le and Jose's analysis. "Linguists use machine learning to compare blocks of text to identify nouns and verbs, analyze sentence structures and determine average word length, for example," Jose said. "Hai and Michael recognized that we could use the same technique to analyze gene expression in intestinal cells." Machine learning software can reveal complex patterns that the human eye cannot see. As the name implies, the software can be taught to look for specific patterns and can also "learn" from experience, becoming more efficient with each subsequent analysis. Using this approach enabled the researchers to quickly make objective comparisons that would have been all but impossible using other methods. The researchers chose C. elegans because it is a simple organism that can easily be studied at the level of a single cell while it is still alive. Jose notes that their technique is broadly applicable, and could be modified to work with other genes and different tissues as well. If others adopt the team's whole-animal methodology, Jose believes it could signal a shift in the way cell biologists approach their experimental design. "The effect of cancer drugs is often examined in cultured cells. Our work suggests that studies on cells outside an animal could miss many things. For example, cultured cells can show differences in gene expression that are eliminated in a whole animal," Jose said. "I believe our results could lead to some shifts in thinking about how to imitate a whole animal in cell culture conditions." Explore further New method allows analysis of single neurons from tissues More information: Hai H. Le et al, Tissue homogeneity requires inhibition of unequal gene silencing during development, The Journal of Cell Biology (2016). Journal information: Journal of Cell Biology Hai H. Le et al, Tissue homogeneity requires inhibition of unequal gene silencing during development,(2016). DOI: 10.1083/jcb.201601050 Homes, schools and a day care center near a closed battery recycler in nearby Vernon are contaminated with higher levels of brain-damaging lead than previously disclosed, with soil samples at one property as much as 100 times above California's health standard, state and county records show. Yet it remains unclear where and at what concentrations the poisonous metal has been detected in neighborhoods near the Exide Technologies plant because California regulators have not released pollution readings for the vast majority of properties. The California Department of Toxic Substances Control says it has tested the soil of more than 2,400 homes, but provided readings for just 269 properties. A summary of results for 1,190 homes released Friday by the department was not broken down by property or location, but indicated that thousands of soil samples were above state health standards and hundreds were at hazardous waste levels. Though the department says it informs individual residents of their test results within two months, the lack of disclosure of sampling data prevents the affected communities and the public from gauging the state's overall progress in finding and removing lead-contaminated soil across seven southeast L.A. communities, the largest such effort conducted in California. For three decades, state regulators allowed the plant about five miles from downtown L.A. to operate without a full permit while it racked up environmental violations for spewing lead, arsenic and other dangerous pollutants. They now believe those emissions fouled as many as 10,000 homes within 1.7 miles. Lead is a powerful neurotoxin that poses the greatest risks to children younger than 6. Even small amounts can lower IQs, reduce academic achievement and cause other permanent developmental and behavioral problems. An analysis by state health officials in April found that children living near the facility had higher levels of lead in their blood than those living farther away. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers a soil level of 400 parts per million or higher a health hazard in bare soil in children's play areas. More than half the properties included in the data released Friday registered lead readings above that threshold, an analysis shows. California's health standard for residential soil is even more stringent, at 80 ppm. More than 98 percent of homes had levels of lead above the 80-ppm standard, according to data from the state toxics agency and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. The limited soil sampling results, obtained by The Los Angeles Times under the California Public Records Act, show that 36 properties had lead readings exceeding 1,000 ppm, a level so high it is classified as hazardous waste. The data was collected during a three-month period that ended in late February. More than one-third of those homes are in East Los Angeles, with four on South Alma Avenue. Felipe and Yolanda Soto received a letter from the toxics department in early June warning that their home, about a mile north of the Exide plant on South Alma, is contaminated with hazardous levels of lead and that they should limit their exposure. The Sotos now keep their six grandchildren, ages 1 through 11, inside and don't let them play in the backyard. State regulators told them it will be at least a year before their yard is cleaned. "We are concerned, but what can you do?" said Yolanda Soto, 63. "We are just waiting." The state toxics department says more than 235 homes have been cleaned since 2014, when soil testing revealed lead contamination in neighborhoods near the plant. State officials say the removal of polluted soil from more than 2,000 additional homes cannot begin until next spring, when they expect to complete a lengthy review of the cleanup required under the California Environmental Quality Act. It will take another year to clean those homes at a rate of 50 properties a week, officials say. As regulators spend $176.6 million set aside for testing and cleanup, they say they will give priority to the most-contaminated properties - those above 1,000 ppm - and those with young children, pregnant women, bare soil and other factors that increase the risk of lead poisoning. More time and hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding will be required to clean thousands of other homes that are likely to be contaminated across the communities of Bell, Commerce, East Los Angeles, Huntington Park, Boyle Heights, Maywood and Vernon. The state plans to seek reimbursement from Exide and any other responsible parties. Pollution data are considered open records because lawmakers and the courts have decided that people have a right to know where they may be exposed to a health hazard. The Times began filing public records requests for testing and cleanup data for homes, schools, day-care facilities and parks in March. The state toxics department provided some soil readings but would not release the addresses of the homes sampled, citing the confidentiality of "personal or private information." It released no records on which properties have been cleaned. Officials with the department have told residents at recent community meetings that they are developing a way to post online maps of what areas have been tested and cleaned without publicly posting details that the state asserts would invade individuals' privacy. Other agencies have also been slow or inconsistent in their release of soil-testing data. In February and March, contractors hired by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health tested about 500 homes near Exide in Maywood, Commerce and East Los Angeles. The highest lead level found was 8,442 ppm, or more than 100 times the state's standard. County officials released the readings after multiple requests from The Times, but they, too, withheld the locations - as well as environmental reports and other records detailing how it spent more than $2 million on soil testing and other Exide cleaning efforts. The county kept that information secret on the grounds that sampling by its contractor, Roux Associates Inc., was, at the direction of its attorneys, done "confidentially" - and is therefore bound by attorney-client privilege. Contractors are doing virtually all the environmental testing near Exide. Crews dig up small samples of soil from about 15 locations on each property and analyze them for lead using handheld X-ray fluorescence devices that provide instant results. The state has also ordered soil testing at parks, day care centers and schools. Public health experts say that the lead concentrations found at homes near Exide suggest multiple sources of contamination, including air pollution from the plant and lead-based paint from older homes. "It's very concerning, regardless of what the source is," said Felicia Rabito, an associate professor of epidemiology at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. "If I found out I had 8,000 parts per million in my yard, I would have a fit. That's really, really high." Lupe Del Rio, 57, learned in late June that her family's home on South Alma had lead levels up to 1,700 ppm. Del Rio raised her three now-grown daughters in the house and now worries that the lead in the yard may have affected their health. And she wonders why the state is notifying people that their yards are toxic with a letter someone might easily toss as junk mail. Now, in the midst of summer, she would like to be tending her fruit trees and having barbecues in the backyard, she says. "But we can't because we're thinking, there's something in the soil." Explore further Water tests show a few homes in Ohio village still have lead 2016 Los Angeles Times Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Photograph of the comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) taken on Jan. 19, 2015, from Tucson, Arizona, using a Sky-Watcher 100mm APO telescope and SBIG STL-11000M camera. Credit: John Vermette (Phys.org)Indian astronomers have recently conducted spectrographic observations of long-period Comet Lovejoy to study its gas emission. They found that this comet showcases an asymmetric behavior at perihelion and an increase in the activity during the post-perihelion phase. The findings were detailed in a paper published July 22 on the arXiv pre-print server. Comet Lovejoy, formally designated C/2014 Q2, is an Oort cloud comet, discovered by Terry Lovejoy in August 2014. Its perihelion was on January 30, 2015 at a heliocentric distance of 1.29 AU, offering astronomers an excellent opportunity to observe its activityin particular, the emission of numerous organic molecules in gas. The scientists, led by Kumar Venkataramani of the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, India, utilized the LISA spectrograph to obtain spectra of the comet. LISA is a low-resolution, high luminosity spectrograph, designed for the spectroscopic study of faint and extended objects. The instrument is installed on the 0.5 m telescope at the Mount Abu Infra-Red Observatory (MIRO), Mount Abu, India. The observation campaign lasted from January to May 2015. It covered the period during which the comet's heliocentric distance varied from 1.29 AU, just prior to perihelion, to around 2.05 AU post perihelion. The spectra obtained by the researchers show strong molecular emission bands of diatomic carbon, tricarbon, cyanide, amidogen, hydridocarbon and neutral oxygen. "Various molecular emission lines like C 2 , C 3 , CN, NH 2 , CH, O were clearly seen in the comet spectrum throughout this range. The most prominent of them being the C 2 molecule, which was quite dominant throughout the time that we have followed the comet. Apart from the C 2 emission band, those of CN and C 3 were also quite prominent," the scientist wrote in the paper. When a cold icy body like the Comet Lovejoy passes by the sun near perihelion, its ices start sublimating, releasing a mixture of gas and dust, which form the coma. Studying these emissions is crucial for scientists as comets could hold the key to our understanding of the solar system's evolution and the origin of life in the universe. Therefore, the abundance of volatile material in comets is the target of many scientific studies that seek to reveal the secrets of planet formation and demonstrate the conditions that occurred when our solar system was born. According to the study, the gas production rate increased after perihelion and exhibited a decreasing trend only after February 2015. The researchers also noted a simultaneous increase in gas and dust, indicating an increase in the overall activity of the comet after its perihelion passage. "This kind of asymmetry has been seen in many comets. () Although we do not have data points at exactly the same distance for pre- and post-perihelion passages, we can, perhaps, say that this comet may have a large positive asymmetry," the paper reads. The scientists concluded that this asymmetry suggests that there might be volatile material present beneath the surface of the comet. It is also possible that the surface of the comet's nucleus consists of layers of ice that have different vaporization rates. However, as the team noted, more exhaustive study is required to confirm their conclusions. Explore further Scientists investigate change in activity of comet 17P/Holmes More information: Optical Spectroscopy of Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) from MIRO, arXiv:1607.06682 [astro-ph.EP] Optical Spectroscopy of Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) from MIRO, arXiv:1607.06682 [astro-ph.EP] arxiv.org/abs/1607.06682 Abstract Spectra of comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) were taken with a low resolution spectrograph mounted on the 0.5 m telescope at the Mount Abu Infrared Observatory (MIRO), India during January to May 2015 covering the perihelion and post-perihelion periods. The spectra showed strong molecular emission bands (C2, C3 and CN) in January, close to perihelion. We have obtained the scale lengths for these molecules by fitting the Haser model to the observed column densities. The variation of gas production rates and production rate ratios with heliocentric distance were studied. The extent of the dust continuum using the Af-rho parameter and its variation with the heliocentric distance were also investigated. The comet is seen to become more active in the post-perihelion phase, thereby showing an asymmetric behaviour about the perihelion. 2016 Phys.org Big accounting firms rely on big-name clients to make a profit and build credibility. So how bad is it when a firm loses an industry leader client in its audit business due to performance? And how much does winning a big-name client help an auditor to gain subsequent business? It turns out both the losing and the winning have big spillover effects for the auditor's business prospects, according to new research by Mihir Mehta, assistant professor of accounting at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. Mehta and co-authors Jere Francis of the University of Missouri and Wanli Zhao of Southern Illinois University found that when a Big Six accounting firm loses an industry leader client due to client preferences for a higher quality audit, other companies in that same industry are 36 percent more likely to dismiss the same auditor over the next two years. Conversely, when a Big Six firm wins a major client, other companies in that same industry are 24 percent more likely to hire that firm. "If you lose or win a major industry client, there are significant reputational effects," Mehta said. "When companies in an industry see one of the top names in their industry, switch service firms due to quality, there's likely to be a spillover effect. "We didn't see any crossover effect on clients from other industriesbut within the industry, and specifically, in the same city, word gets around. Our findings likely have implications for other types of professional service firms such as banks and law firms." There are a lot of reasons companies switch auditors, such as changes in management or displeasure over an unfavorable audit opinion. "But changes due to those reasons don't trigger any followers," Mehta said. An auditor-client separation over a "quality" issue is not usually spelled out in a press release. But Mehta and his co-authors looked at public audit firm data and determined that when a leading company switches auditing firms and ends up both paying more to the new auditor and having higher quality financial reports, that is a signal that the client switched due to quality reasons. That's what triggered other companies who closely track their peers in the same industry to follow. The reverse was true when auditing firms gained a new top client despite charging morethey acquired more clients in the same industry. Winning new business comes with a price, however, for the new clients, the research showed. While an auditing firm that wins a big client can charge higher fees to all of its clients in an industry, the actual quality of the audits go down for a couple of years. That's because a Big Six accounting firm office doesn't have the capacity to immediately service a new client and all of the existing clients. "It's not easy to hire for firms a lot of qualified auditors that quickly," Mehta said. It may seem counter-intuitive, but there is a silver lining for companies that don't leave an audit firm after seeing one of their industry peers leave the same auditor. Why? The audit firms that lose business usually have to cut their fees, and their audit quality goes up over the next two years due to excess capacity of qualified auditors who have more time to spend on fewer clients. Mehta's findings are detailed in the paper "Audit Office Reputation Shocks from Gains and Losses of Major Industry Clients," which has been conditionally accepted for publication in the journal Contemporary Accounting Research. Explore further Study calls for audit transparency More information: Francis, Jere R. and Mehta, Mihir N. and Zhao, Wanli, Audit Office Reputation Shocks from Gains and Losses of Major Industry Clients (May 31, 2016). Ross School of Business Paper No. 1317. Available at SSRN: Francis, Jere R. and Mehta, Mihir N. and Zhao, Wanli, Audit Office Reputation Shocks from Gains and Losses of Major Industry Clients (May 31, 2016). Ross School of Business Paper No. 1317. Available at SSRN: ssrn.com/abstract=2787269 Credit: GlebStock/Shutterstock You are now 20 times more likely to have your money stolen online by a criminal overseas than by a pickpocket or mugger in the street, according to recent figures from the Office for National Statistics. The figures, revealed that almost 6m fraud and cyber crimes were committed in the past year in England and Wales alone making it now the most common type of crime experienced by adults in the UK. It is the first time fraud questions have been added to the official Crime Survey for England and Wales and while it has been known for a long time these figures would be significant, it is clear many people didn't realise just quite how significant they would actually be. In fact, the release of the figures led to police chiefs calling for a national campaign against online fraud and other cyber crime on the scale of last century's seat-belt and drink driving campaigns. At the moment, if you are a victim of a cyber crime, contacting Action Fraud the UK's national fraud and cyber crime reporting centre is the main way of logging it. The service is run by the City of London Police working alongside the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau who are responsible for assessment of the reports and to ensure that your fraud reports reach the right place. And yet, despite all this, within law enforcement and the cyber security industry we know cyber crime is still significantly under reported. Tackling cybercrime Back in 2013 I worked on research looking at how people report and measure cyber crime. It identified that the government, local authorities and police and crime commissioners would not allocate resources to tackle the problem until the true scale of cyber crime was known. Now three years on we have the evidence, we know the scale of the problem and now we need to respond. There is, however, a significant challenge in responding to cyber crime, which is a lack of specialist cyber skills such as forensics, investigation, prevention and victim care. And due to this shortage, cyber security experts often command a premium salary. But while schemes such as "cyber-specials" engage these skills in the private sector to support the police service, it is not just the specialists we need to think about. The average frontline police officer also needs to be able to think about the digital crime scene as well as, or instead of, the physical one. Being able to respond and investigate criminal cyber activity should no longer be the domain of police specialists because, as the evidence shows, victims are more likely to suffer a cyber criminal act than any other form of crime. Police and crime commissioners need to factor this into their plans, and specifically work with their law enforcement organisations to understand the local picture. This local understanding is important as there is less clarity on cyber criminality at a regional level and it is this clarity that will drive local policy and resourcing decisions. Stronger together Beyond law enforcement, society must think about the role of the private sector and their duty of care. Everyone online is sitting on an internet service provider's network, which effectively owns the digital land upon which we have set up our digital lives. In the physical world, landlords renting a property have a duty of care to the safety of their tenants, so surely it makes sense for our digital landlords to be held to the same standards. Perhaps this is a market issue, and market forces will drive customers to think twice and consider things like cyber security when choosing their provider, rather than just costs and internet speed. However, this won't happen until the companies in charge of this digital landscape provide more transparency on the level of attacks their customers experience which current legislation does not require. But this situation cannot continue, and examples such as the Talk Talk hack demonstrate customers can and will move to companies that can protect them. To respond effectively we need to look at the data gathered on the nature of these crimes to understand how cyber crimes occur, and who is most at risk. In the long run, this will make it easier for law enforcement to work out how to tackle these cases. But this must be done in a sensible and measured way, as the situation is likely to appear to get worse before it gets better as people become more aware of what these crimes are and how to report them. Similarly organisations, such as the ONS and the City of London Police, will get better at recording cyber crime causing the figures to go up again. For now though, these new figures make it clear that cyber crime must become a significant priority for the police and crime commissioners up and down the country. Explore further UK government report shows local police are not ready to fight cyber-crime This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. In this July 1, 2016 file photo, a ruby star on the Kremlin's Nikolskaya Tower is reflected in a window glass of GUM department store in Red Square in Moscow, Russia. Experts who've followed the leak of Democratic National Committee documents say they believe the party's claim that Moscow had a hand in the hack, lending weight to the extraordinary allegation that the Kremlin is trying to tamper with the U.S. presidential contest. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File) Experts who've followed the leak of Democratic National Committee documents say they believe the party's claim that Moscow had a hand in the hack, lending weight to the extraordinary allegation that the Kremlin is trying to tamper with the U.S. presidential contest. "You're left with all the signs pointing to Moscow," said Matt Tait, a U.K.-based cybersecurity consultant who has put in roughly 20 hours combing through the leaked DNC documents. Tait and others invoke several categories of evidence. The first was provided by threat intelligence firm CrowdStrike, an Irvine, California company that was hired by the Democrats to clean out the party's network. It delivered a report last month identifying Russia's intelligence services as being behind two separate electronic break-ins at the DNC. The second category of evidence was provided by electronic fingerprints on some of the documents suggesting the files had been run through Russian language-configured machines. Most convincing for Tait was evidence that the internet infrastructure tied the DNC hackers to a separate campaign that targeted Germany's parliament last year. In May, Germany's domestic intelligence chief took the unusual step of publicly blaming that attack on Moscow, saying the Kremlin wasn't just spyingit was gearing up for sabotage. "More than anything else I think (that) really puts to rest the 'Who is this?'" Tait said Tuesday. "It's one thing to say that they were typing stuff in Russian or they were coming from a Russian IP (internet protocol) address or their systems were configured in Russian. It's another thing to say this was being run by the same servers being publicly attributed by German intelligence as being Russian." Hillary Clinton's campaign, citing CrowdStrike, blamed Russia for hacking the party's computers and suggested the goal was to benefit Donald Trump's campaign. On Twitter, Trump dismissed that idea as a joke. A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday called the allegation "paranoid." WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who began publishing thousands of the emails last week, said Monday that there was "no proof" Russia was behind the hack. On Tuesday, leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee pressed the FBI and Justice Department for details on the investigation, including how and when federal investigators learned of the breach and what action is being taken in response. Assigning blame in the world of cyberespionage is extraordinarily difficult. Some of the clues uncovered by Tait are easy to forge and attackers routinely use misdirection to lead investigators astray. Others in the field are wary of companies such as CrowdStrike, which may face pressure from clients or investors to spin gripping stories about government hackers with codenames like "Fancy Bear" or "APT28." "I don't like circumstantial evidence when it comes to blaming a foreign government," said Jeffrey Carr, the chief executive of Taia Global, a threat intelligence company. Carr rejected the idea of tying the DNC attackers to previous breaches based on their tools or their methods, saying it was "like finding a gun that was used in the commission of a crime. Anybody could be pulling the trigger." So far the only public claim of responsibility for the breach has come from a previously unknown actor calling himself Guccifer 2.0. The self-described lone Romanian hacker has uploaded several tranches of DNC material to a website in the past month and boasted of handing a larger trove to WikiLeaks. Guccifer 2.0 has not responded to repeated messages from The Associated Press, but doubts about his story are growing. On Tuesday, ThreatConnect, an intelligence firm based in Arlington, Virginia, said it found evidence that the hacker was communicating with journalists via a dedicated virtual private network based out of Russia. Motherboard journalist Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai said the hacker stumbled through an interview over Twitter when quizzed in Romanian last month. "We showed it to half a dozen Romanians and no one had one iota of a doubt that the person behind the keyboard was not Romanian," Franceschi-Bicchierai said in an email. Thomas Rid, a cybersecurity expert with King's College London, first identified the common infrastructure linking the DNC and German parliamentary hacks. He said there was a "very high level of confidence" both attacks were the work of the same group and that it was noteworthy that German officials had tied the group to Moscow. "Traditionally Germany's intelligence has a very good coverage of Russia," Rid said. "When they come out and explicitly name a Russian military intelligence serviceand they do that at significant political costthen we just have to take that very seriously." Explore further FBI investigates DNC hacking; Clinton campaign blames Russia 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Chinese medical worker Yu Chunqing from Wuxi, Jiangsu province, checks a newborn baby in the China-funded hospital in Zanzibar, Tanzania. ZHOU XIAOXIONG/XINHUA The final touches are being made to a new hospital in Zanzibar with Chinese government investment of more than 100 million yuan ($15 million). The Abdulla Mzee Hospital in Pemba is due to open in September. The facility has been built on the site of a hospital that was also funded by the Chinese government in 1970. The new hospital has 160 beds, compared with 61 at the old one. Covering 8,000 square meters, it has an emergency building, office building and a building for patients. Zhao Xin, who heads a nine-member Chinese medical team working in Pemba, said that during the construction period the hospital had rented the warehouse of a clove trading company as its temporary base. "Conditions here are unbelievably harsh," Zhao said, adding that the old hospital did not have anesthesia equipment. In 1964, the Chinese government sent its first medical team to provide services in Zanzibar. Since then, China has sent 26 medical teams, all from Jiangsu province. The current team has been assembled from hospitals in Wuxi. Apart from Zhao's team, another 12 members are stationed at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital, the largest public hospital in Zanzibar. Zhao said the teams face frequent power failures. When these occur during operations, doctors have to use emergency lighting and pump oxygen manually. Despite the conditions, Chinese medical workers have been praised by local patients. Nurse Idrisa Salim said: "They are kind to the patients and they are extremely good. Local patients will come to this hospital especially for the Chinese doctors." Zhao said the Chinese medical teams have been sent not only to treat local patients, but also to help train a permanent medical team. Juma Malik Akil, principal secretary at the Zanzibar Ministry of Health, said, "The Chinese medical team not only helps to cure people, but also passes on experience and skills to local doctors." Since 2009, the Jiangsu government has donated 5.5 million yuan to set up five medical centers in Zanzibar. Note: The age of victim Charlotte McCue was corrected. LAKE GEORGE An 8-year-old California girl was killed and her mother hurt Monday night in a hit-and-run boat collision on Lake George, and police believe the boat that left the scene contained a group that had been at the Log Bay Day party on the lake earlier in the day. The girl was identified as Charlotte M. McCue of Carlsbad, California. She was visiting the area with family, and her grandfather was piloting the boat that she was on. Warren County Sheriff Bud York said McCue was killed and her mother, whose name was not released, suffered non-life-threatening injuries but was admitted to Glens Falls Hospital. The boat that hit McCue crossed her family's boat in the center. The girl's parents, two siblings and grandparents were also on the boat. "She (the mother) was sitting next to her daughter," York said. "One boat just went right over the other." McCue was pronounced dead at the scene, having suffered severe head and upper torso injuries from the boat passing over her. Investigators from the Sheriff's Office, State Police, Glens Falls Police and Hudson Falls Police were working to determine whether alcohol was a factor in the crash for the boat operator who fled the crash scene. That operator was identified by police as Alexander W. West, 24, of Lockhart Mountain Road, Lake George. No charges had been filed against him as of late Tuesday, but York said charges are likely once the investigation was done because police believe he and others in his boat knew they hit another boat but did not call for help or report the collision. A blood sample was taken from West to be tested for possible drug and alcohol use. There were no indication's McCue's grandfather was impaired, York said. Police were looking to talk to anyone who saw West or was with him and his friends at Log Bay Day on Monday, York said. Anyone with information in the case was asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 743-2500. West would not discuss the case Tuesday afternoon as he left the Sheriff's Office to get in a waiting Mercedes-Benz sedan. Night-time collision The collision happened just before 9:25 p.m. near Cramer Point. Police said the boat McCue was on was turning into the bay near Cramer Point when another boat traveling at a high speed collided with it. The boat that went over the top did not stop, despite part of its propeller being torn off and both craft suffering other obvious damage. Police located a damaged boat later Monday night at Tea Island Resort on the south end of the lake, but no one was initially with it. A witness saw it pull into the docks and five people get off of it around 9:30, police said. The passengers were located later Monday, and West went to the Sheriff's Office around 9 a.m. Tuesday to be questioned and to give a blood sample. A woman who answered the phone at the resort Tuesday morning said the boaters were not guests of the business. "They just randomly pulled up to one of our docks and got out," she said, not giving her name. York said the boat is owned by West's father, and was normally docked elsewhere on the lake. West and his friends, whose names weren't released, didn't call to report the accident, one of them instead phoning a friend for a ride away from Route 9N after they abandoned the boat. The locations of the boats at the time of the crash, and their speeds and whether navigation lights were being used, was still under investigation later Tuesday. There were seven people in the 28-foot wooden boat carrying the girl who died, and West and four friends in the other boat, a 21-foot Larson powerboat. "We have identified everyone in the victims' boat and everyone in the boat that hit the victims' boat," the sheriff said. Both boats were damaged but neither sank. York called the death a "heartbreaking" tragedy. Possible charges Investigators are trying to figure out how the facts fit into state Navigation Law, which puts different responsibilities on boat operators than drivers of vehicles on roads. Sheriff's officers were working with the Warren County District Attorney's Office, York said. District Attorney Kate Hogan said she had no comment on a timetable for potential charges. A person who leaves the scene of an accident where a death occurs can be charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident, a felony, as well as any applicable homicide counts. York said those involved have been cooperative with investigators, though West had retained the services of the Glens Falls law firm Fitzgerald Morris Baker Firth. John Aspland, a principal in the firm, said the firm "made initial contact with police on behalf of Mr. West." "It's a tragic situation and we are looking into the facts to try to determine what happened," Aspland said. York said the investigation was continuing Tuesday, as investigators tried to track down people who West was with earlier Monday. He would not say what the occupants of the boat that left the scene told police, and said it was unclear whether the passengers on West's boat could be charged. "If it were up to me, we would charge everybody (on West's boat), but we want to make sure it is done right," the sheriff said. "I want the people of Warren County to know we will get to the bottom of this." Numerous rescue squads, the Lake George Park Commission and Lake George Fire Department responded. A Park Commission patrol boat was first on scene, but the investigation was turned over to the Sheriff's Office when it became clear that a fatality occurred. Park Commission officers are peace officers and have limited law enforcement powers. The Sheriff's Office website showed the accident as reported in front of 41 Cramer Point Road. Residents of the quiet lakeside road said they heard and saw an ambulance pull into the neighborhood Monday night, but did not hear any crash or extensive police activity. Cramer Point is the area of the lake where the Ethan Allen tour boat sunk in October 2005, killing 20 passengers. The last fatal boating collision on the lake occurred in 2014, when a Bolton man drove into shore in Basin Bay, killing himself. The lake has been the site of a number of drownings since then, most recently when a fisherman drowned in Hague in April. Log Bay Day, the annual party on Lake George's east shore near Shelving Rock, is a large gathering of boats on the lake and people on shore to party. It is held the last Monday of July each summer. GLENS FALLS A restaurant and office tenant have signed letters of intent to locate at 14 Hudson, the mixed-use complex under construction on Hudson Avenue next to Glens Falls Hospital. Joann Potrzuski Cassidy, a real estate broker with Julie & Co. Realty Co., which is affiliated with Bonacio Construction, would not disclose the prospective tenants until leases are signed. The goal is to have all of the commercial space leased before the complex opens around May 1, she said. Tori Riley, president and chief executive officer of Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce, offered to help promote the complex to the business community. We can add that into our correspondence and our publications. So please let us help you target the business market, she said during a tour of the complex on Tuesday. Cassidy said there is some serious interest from a number of possible commercial tenants, but so far, not from a supermarket, which had been an original recruitment goal for the complex. Bonacio Construction of Saratoga Springs and Galesi Group of Schenectady are developing the five-story complex at the intersection of Hudson Avenue and School Street, between the hospital and Pizza Hut. The complex is the largest project Bonacio Construction has built outside Saratoga Springs, said Christopher Buskey, the construction companys senior project manager. The first floor has space for retail and commercial tenants, and the second floor for professional offices. The upper floors will have 87 apartments, with rent ranging from $1,150 to $1,825 per month. The basement will have 30 underground parking spaces and secure storage units for use by tenants. Other parking will be available outside the building and in the city-owned parking garage on Park Street. Formal leasing of apartments has not yet begun. But there is serious interest from about 20 potential apartment tenants, so far, and others have requested information, said Laura Hogan, director of property management for West Side Management, which is handling residential leasing. Riley, of the chamber of commerce, said the location, next to the hospital, seems excellent for physicians and for empty nester couples. I cant help but think these are not going to be on the market long, she said. Construction is proceeding smoothly and is expected to be completed in early April, with space ready for occupancy by around May 1, Buskey said. Were starting (to install) drywall in two weeks. Thats kind of a milestone, he said. Buskey said the hallways will be constructed to hotel soundproofing standards, and apartments will have specialized ventilation to absorb cooking smells. About 90 construction workers are on site on any given day, and up to 120 workers will be on site at the height of construction. Buskey said V.P. Supply Corp., formerly J.E. Sawyer & Co., has been gracious to let Bonacio Construction use space for a staging area. National Grid expedited utility work, and city officials have been welcoming. What a great place to build good town, he said. Id do it again. Contacted later on Tuesday, Mayor Jack Diamond said hes glad Buskey had good things to say about Glens Falls. A lot of people have been watching this project, watching it develop, he said. I think its sending a message that Glens Falls is a place of opportunity. Police said the crowd wasnt huge Monday at the annual drinking festival on Lake George known as Log Bay Day. But the people who made their way to the bash kept police very busy. There were a lot of problems, Washington County Undersheriff John Winchell said. At least one person was seriously hurt, an intoxicated young man who dove from the top of a pontoon boat into shallow water and hurt his neck. He was taken to Albany Medical Center but his name was not released. Department of Environmental Conservation law enforcement personnel and Fort Ann Rescue Squad personnel carried him more than a quarter-mile to an ambulance, DEC spokeswoman Emily Kilburn said. The Lake George Park Commission made one boating while intoxicated arrest, and several disorderly conduct arrests among boaters stemming from two fights. Two officers who were on scene termed some of the attendees as obnoxious and out-of-control. Warren County Sheriff Bud York said Sheriffs Office boat patrols who were monitoring boaters said the crowd seemed smaller, possibly because of a weather forecast that called for thunderstorms. The crowd seemed down but the officers there were busy, York said. Joe Johns, the Lake George Park Commission director of law enforcement, said in a news release that there were 225 or so boats in the bay, and about 600 people on them. He said officers had to rescue four swimmers, administer first aid to six people, made seven arrests and issued 29 tickets. Winchell was part of the police contingent monitoring traffic coming and going to state land on Shelving Rock Road. Officers there arrested five people for driving while intoxicated, made 19 arrests for offenses like drug possession, giving false names to police and underage possession of alcohol and issued 20 traffic tickets. A rain shower in mid-afternoon caused some people to leave, but Winchell said police were busy well into the evening. Boaters moor together in the sandy bay on the lakes east shore, adjacent to hundreds of acres of state land in the town of Fort Ann. Many partiers gather on the adjacent shoreline as well. The DEC, sheriffs offices from both Warren and Washington counties, Park Commission and State Police were all involved in the enforcement effort. Inventory needs to be managed and managed well, or you are going to get in recurring trouble, and lose your credibility and hard-earned conversions, whether Read more Reacting to Seth Terkper's supplementary budget statement to MPs on Monday, Dr Akoto said:"They [government] are not putting in enough public resources into agriculture. That is the whole point. There isn't enough investment going into agriculture. The allocation of budgetary resources going into agriculture is has been cut from 3.5% when they came into power to 1.5% in the last two budgets." "For me in the area of agriculture, the revised growth of 2.4 for 2015 is very significant because the first estimate came with 0.04 % which is virtually no growth [in] the sector. "Now it has been revised for the second time to 2.4% and 2.4% to be honest in the scheme of things is very very disappointing," said Dr Akoto. The fact of the matter is that the rate of growth of agriculture has been declining year by year, and yet it is still the biggest in terms of employment generation, and in terms of the involvement of our people in economic activity, he added. Another area, the government has failed, Dr Akoto said, is achieving the Maputo target. The Maputo target for African countries is 6.1 % per year for agriculture. However, Dr Akoto noted that since the NDC gave into office eight years ago, they have not been able to meet the target. He also savaged government food import bill, revealing that $2.1 billion was used to import eight food items into the country. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! This donation was a partnership with Project Cure, a health delivery NGO in the USA whose main aim is to bring about improvement in healthcare delivery in developing countries. Presenting the items, Mr Eric Asubonteng, General Manager and Managing Director of AGA Obuasi Mine remarked that the kind gesture was a demonstration of AngloGolds commitment to supporting the development of Obuasi and its surrounding communities. READ MORE: Illegal Mining AngloGold Ashanti seeks World Bank support on mine invasion He said the company has over the years supported the hospital in various ways, including the provision of Doctors bungalows, generators and the construction of some wards. We intend to continue to support the people of Obuasi as long as it is within our means to do According to him, the management of AGA is currently considering replicating this gesture in other health facilities in and around Obuasi. He was optimistic that the medical facilities would significantly benefit the hospital as they were specifically selected based on the recommendations of the team which was tasked to assess the needs of the hospital prior to the selection process. It is the expectation of both the Management of AGA and Project Cure that these items will be put to the utmost judicious use and also that a very coherent maintenance regime is adopted as far as the equipment are concerned, he added. Mr Nyame-Baafi made the disclosure at the Graphic Business/STANBIC Bank Breakfast meeting in Accra on Tuesday, July 26. READ MORE:Thousands of industrial jobs for the chop if Ghana signs EPA The figure, he said, would have been taxes and duties on Ghana's exports to the European Union. ECOWAS countries will, in turn, have one hundred percent access to the European Market except for rice and sugar. So far, 13 ECOWAS countries have signed onto the agreement except Nigeria, Gambia and Mauritania. Mr Nyame-Baafi said Ghana would have paid 400 million in export taxes if the country had not signed the interim agreement. Meanwhile, the coordinator of the Third World Network Dr Yao Graham has warned that Ghana risks losing 40, 000 jobs in the industrial sector of the economic in the next ten years if Ghana signs the EPA. Speaking at Graphic Business/STANBIC Bank Breakfast meeting Tuesday, Dr Graham said: Overall the term of the EPA are not beneficial for Ghana or West Africa. The EPA will lead to a loss of jobs and other means of livelihood "In the manufacturing and other industrial sectors, the EPA will cost about 40,000 jobs in ten years. We also anticipate that there will be a collapse of domestic industry, especially in the life manufacturing sector. "It will also undermine ECOWAS economic integration and the wider process of intra-Africa trade and lead to the loss of government revenue from trade duties, Dr Graham said. READ MORE: Manufacturers urged to be innovative to stay competitive Also, Dr Graham said a study by the Network reveals that Ghana will lose $126 million in import tariffs. The EPA is an economic trade deal between the Economic Community of the West Africa States (ECOWAS) and the European Union (EU). READ MORE: Manufacturers urged to be innovative to stay competitive ECOWAS countries will, in turn, have one hundred percent access to the European Market except for rice and sugar Speaking at the Graphic Business/Stanbic Bank Breakfast Meeting in Accra on Tuesday, Dr Graham said the job losses would affect nascent industries. Overall the term of the EPA are not beneficial for Ghana or West Africa. The EPA will lead to a loss of jobs and other means of livelihood "In the manufacturing and other industrial sectors, the EPA will cost about 40,000 jobs in ten years. We also anticipate that there will be a collapse of domestic industry especially in the life manufacturing sector. "It will also undermine ECOWAS economic integration and the wider process of intra Africa trade and lead to the loss of government revenue from trade duties, Dr Graham said. Also, Dr Graham said a study by the Network reveals that Ghana will lose $126 million in import tariffs. The figure corroborates a study by the Ministry of Trade and Industry in which it was estimated that Ghana could lose tariff revenue to the tune of $150 million. Dr Graham further noted that the agreements must fit into Ghana's development agenda. "One key thing about trade agreements is that they must fit coherently into a country's development agenda," he said, admitting that they always lowered and gained in such deals. The minister of trade Dr Ekow Spio Garbrah over the weekend warned of market instability if the EPA is signed, urging industries to be innovative. "As the EPA also requires the ECOWAS market to open their markets over a period of time, it is the Ghanaian manufactures not exporters, who if they are not competitive, may face challenges from European imports which may be cheaper better quality and more attractive to the consumers, said Dr Spio Garbrah. Obour wrote (unscripted) Friends, colleagues and loved ones. Thank you so much for your prayers. God bless you all for standing with me and showing solidarity in my difficult time. We did our best but I believe God had his own plans for my mum. Angry Afia fumed at the police for escorting Godson Boakyes brother and the thugs who forced their way into her house and vandalised the place in the full glare of her two children. I want to know if the police is now an escort agent to thugs If anything happens to my children Mr IGPI have You and your men to blame, Afia, who is currently in South Africa, queried the IGP. Her full post reads (Unscripted): Dear IGP, Last night my ex-husband Godson Boakye sent some thugs led by his brother Dennis Boakye into my house to vandalise my children in my absence . Ages 15 and 2. The thugs who claim they are from Nima were escorted by a police Tundra Reg Gp3784. The policemen who by the way were in their uniform folded their arms and watch these people terrorising my children,breaking my doors and breaking my glassesI just want to know from You and your men on what grounds do the police escort someone who is not allowed 5 metres closer to my house by court to that same houseis the police above the court, I want to know if the police is now an escort agent to thugs? If anything happens to my children Mr IGPI have You and your men to blame!!!! The court which was presided over by Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku found the accused, Adolf Sarpei, guilty of the offence of inserting his finger into the vagina of the victim. Read also:Bobby Lover Adolf, who had denied the charge at the preliminary stages of the hearing, was found guilty hence the jail term Prosecution, Detective Inspector Kofi Atimbiri, said the victim lived with the parents at the same house with Adolf. He indicated that the accused lured the victim to a spot where he was said to be sitting listening and to the news and inserted his fingers into the vagina of the girl. Read more:Crime D/Insp Atimbiri stated that during the period, the complainant who is the victims mother who was inside her room heard Adolf calling the victim and peeped outside and saw the accused putting his finger into the victims panties. The prosecutor added that the suspect absconded from the house when he was confronted by the by the Victims mother. The partnership would make UBA a MasterCard issuer in 18 new markets in Africa where UBA would act as the issuer of MasterCard Credit, Debit, and Prepaid cards in all theses markets. Apart from the issuance of MasterCard cards, the partnership would also lead to the provision of point-of-sale devices as well as mobile-point-of-sale infrastructure to equip merchants in facilitating electronic payment transactions. The 18 countries to feel the impact of the partnership are Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Benin, Cameron, Chad, Cote DIvoire, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bisaau, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Congo, Senegal, Seirra Leone, Tanzania Uganda and Zambia.READ MORE: United Bank for Africa UBA Bank announces Relocations and two new branch openings "As the needs of our customers change, we are adapting through strategic innovations and partnerships to provide them with excellent and convenient services. Through these strategic partnerships, we are able to accelerate the drive for financial inclusion and economic well-being across the African continent" said Kennedy Uzoka, Group Managing Director-Designate, UBA plc.Division President for Sub-Saharan Africa, MasterCard, Daniel Monehin said: "This focus on infrastructure and the roll out of easy-to-access solutions is a key part of driving financial inclusion and a move away from cash in these markets. MasterCard's continued innovation in the payments space coupled with UBA's extensive pan-African network will mean the introduction of increased competition and a stronger financial sector in these regions."According to the World Bank, there are approximately 2.5 billion people, who are financially excluded. Access to financial tools creates economic empowerment and reduces poverty. MasterCard has the tools and resources including potential partnerships to drive real change today. On June 27, 2016, MasterCard set a goal to connect 40 million micro and small merchants to its electronic payments network within five years. This expands on the company's Universal Financial Access 2020 commitment made last year. The Mayor of Massachusetts, Joseph M. Petty, presented the young actor with the award at the 2016 edition of the African Youth Excellence Awards held in Worcester, Massachusetts Saturday, July 23. The Mayor congratulated the Attah for his achievements in his acting career and touted the inspiration that he (Attah) is to young people in a citation. Your award winning performance captivated world audiences; these profound strides serve as an inspiration for other young actors like you. You have a unique and bright future ahead of you, the citation presented to Abraham said. Fellow Ghanaian and undercover investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas was also honoured at the event. The African Youth Excellence Awards is one that highlights the accomplishments of young Africans who are making strides in art, education, information technology, entrepreneurship, innovation, and humanitarianism. The 15-year-old actor, who is currently in Atlanta, Georgia, is on set shooting Sony-Marvels upcoming "Spider-Man: Homecoming" film. This comes after the chairman of the Takoradi branch of the Junior Staff Workers union of the ECG, Samuel Tetteh Agbetor, revealed the decision by government is exposing the ECG to unnecessary public attacks. President John Mahama recently said he would not declare load-shedding despite admitting challenges in the power sector. But the Deputy Manager of Public Affairs at ECG Dan Adjei Larbi says , it is not true that the president is sitting on any timetable. According to him, the national load shedding committee has not taken any final decision on the need for a load shedding timetable because the current power challenge is still temporal. Eric Amoateng was alleged to have travelled to Ghana with a female Ghanaian Passport number H2347080 after serving his conviction abroad. The accused person pleaded not guilty and was admitted to bail in the sum of GH 200,000.00. The case of the State was that in December 2005, the accused went to the United States. In the same month, he was arrested for possessing heroin, a narcotic drug and jailed. Mr Amoateng served his sentence and on July 30, 2014 he was released from prison. The prosecution said on August 7, 2014, the accused arrived at the Kotoka International Airport on board a Delta Airline flight at 1420 hours. Fortunately, we have a land at Nsawam. We request that philanthropists, corporate Ghana, churches, mosques help us to put up an ultra-modern hospital for the Ghana Prisons Service. It will be of benefit to us all, he pleaded. Read also:Amnesty International report Rev Dr Stephen Wengam made this appeal a day after the council held a press conference on the first anniversary of the launch of Afiase Project, a plan to improve conditions in Ghanas prisons and its prisoners within a decade, with a target amount of GHS25million from contributions. Ghana's prisons which was designed to house 9,000 inmates now houses about 15,000 inmates with 21 per cent of them being remand prisoners. Rev Dr Wengam however wondered why the Prison's Service cannot boast of a health facility dedicated to prisoners despite the huge numbers. Read more:Ghana Prisons Volunteers can donate to an SMS short code, 9050 which cost GHC1.00 per text. He revealed that GHS200,000 has so far been realised after the launch, which had been used in capacity-building programmes for prison officers. According to her, the rate at which African leaders continue to enter into politics for their pocket is rather worrying. READ ALSO: Atta Mills Memorial Lecture Narrating how she came to know the late Mills, Joyce Banda said: It was in the year 2008 that President John Evans Atta Mills won the elections in Ghana. I watched him on television when he attended a church service at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) in Nigeria to thank God for the opportunity he had been given to serve his people. I watched the testimony that he gave. This is the first time I saw the man we are honouring today standing before God with humility. I have seen how people in power behave, I have seen how they feel so important even larger than God, and by the way, I have been in power myself, [but] what I learned from this great distinguished son of Africa was his love [of] and faithfulness to God, she added. READ ALSO: In Cape Coast The former Malawian President also praised the late John Mills for his tolerance for the mass media. She said: His ability to forgive and how he allowed press freedom in this country, the media in Ghana is indeed very free and any leader with a weak mind cannot withstand. I know so many countries on the continent of Africa where our sons and daughters who are in the media are being abused every single day for expressing or informing the nation , for being honest; people are being thrown in jail. Rafa Iddrisu, who is 25 years old, said that Lance Corporal Amuzu used a screwdriver to abuse her in December 2015. Speaking to Accra-based Citi FM Rafa Iddrisu narrated that the 32-year-old police officer had threatened to kill her, their children and himself as well. Last year [2016] on 10th December, my husband came back from town accusing me of cheating on him. Before I could explain myself, he had removed a screwdriver in an attempt to pierce me, but I had to save it with my hands. He later threatened to kill the children including himself and me she narrated. Iddrisu said she had gone to visit her sister at Ashaiman when the incident happened. Rafa Iddrisu, who had separated with the deceased husband before his death, added that she lodged a complaint with the police after the series of threats. She said, I have filed several complaints with the police for redress, but was told that since he was a police officer, he could not be arrested but cautioned. She also mentioned that the Domestic Violence and Victims Unit (DOVVSU) ordered the deceased to rent a new apartment for her and the children after she lodged a complaint with the unit. After I lodged one of the complaints at the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit, (DOVSSU), asked my husband (the deceased) to rent us a new accommodation since we could not live together under the same roof. While we waited for him to rent a new place of abode for us, we have been perching in an uncompleted accommodation around the Devtraco estates. Background Lance Corporal William Amuzu, is reported to have shot himself after killing his mother in-law and two children. The first child is estimated to be about three years old while the second is barely a year old. It is not clear yet the reason behind the gory incident. The Lance Corporal is reported to have booked an AK 47 rifle for guard duties on Monday (July 25) only for him to go home and commit such an act. Parts of Bolga Municipality in the Upper East region were on Wednesday flooded after hours of rain. The torrential downpour destroyed properties worth thousands of cedis, with farmlands being the worst hit. The rains also submerged some houses, making movement impossible. Work and classes were also disrupted due to the downpour. READ ALSO: The Deputy Interior Minister had subsequently sent some relief items including blankets and mosquito coils to several of the victims and survivors. Even though some of the victims expressed appreciation to the Deputy Interior minister for his gesture, others were of the opinion that the relief items had nothing to do with some of the concerns they have earlier raised. The MP only brought blankets and mosquito coils. Are mosquitoes what caused our areas to be flooded? When we are even talking of the food items and other belongings we have lost, this is what he can bring, Kofi Adjuik, one of the angry victims, told the media at Sandema, capital of the Builsa North District. This is a waterlogged area. We are talking about loss. Look [at] what hes given to us. We need what they would do to make us free (from flooding) every year, not to come and give a mosquito net or a mat. The only thing they can do is to see what they can do about the roads. Thats all! another victim lamented. On his part, the Deputy Minister said the relief items may not be enough. The [president] and the citizens will not elect the Inspector General of Police; it is the police administration that is going to do that. The essence of it is that when the president appoints the IGP, he always works in favour of the sitting president. We want the IGP and the police administration to be autonomous to work without fear or favour or any influence from any power that be. So we are going to give them that autonomy to work without fear or favour. Appointing an IGP has always been the norm, but we need to change that and have a police administration devoid of partisan politics, he stated. I apologise to the Northern School of business, the Ghana education service and to the District chief executive and the officers of the national disaster management organisation. The Northern School of business and GES because parts of my address to the students during the presentation of disaster items ventured into politics which is against the GES codes. Officials of the national disaster management because the media reports have under highlighted the prompt response of the organisation when I approached it to seek support for the disaster affected students. I only assisted in transporting the goods and in supporting the district chief executive and District NADMO officials to do the presentation to the school.I, however, find some of the headlines by the media, especially citifm disingenuous. How they chose a headline that suggests that I said "Northern Region should vote for Mahama like Volta Region did for Rawlings" befuddling when, indeed, they would have still been correct if the headline was that "Northern region should vote for Mahama like Ashanti Region did for President Kufuor". Because I suggested so in the same sentence.Why they chose the former and not the latter may seem nuanced, but not to a clever mischievous political reporter.Meanwhile it is true that Volta Region Voted for Jerry Rawlings and Ashanti Region stood by John Kufuor. Central Region stood by John Mills before he could win and Eastern Region has always been won by Nana Addo but comparing the 2008 results of the NDC when John Mills was candidate to the 2012 election results when John Mahama was candidate it is again correct to say the NDC lost in the President's home region.I am hardly a conformist. I believe in speaking out my mind on issues I believe are right especially when the majority for fear of loud unprincipled condemnation victimisation, or isolation are unable to say it loud.What did I say that the Minorities in the USA did not say to our cheers and applause when they rooted for President Barack Obama in 2008 and 12? What did I say that the Minorities in SA did not say to our cheers and applause when they stood with Nelson Mandela? What did I say that the people of Kentucky did not say about Mohammed Ali? What did I say that Hillary Clinton did not say to New Yorkers or Donald Trump did not say to his home town folks in the just ended primaries in the USA? If what I said is not civil I'm sorry I read from the pages of all these people named above. Dr Mahamud Bawumia recently asked Muslims to vote for his party because he is a Muslim and I disagreed with him ONLY to the extent that he suggested that will lead to the resolution of challenges confronting Muslims and muslim communities in the country.I did not in my call suggest that a vote for President Mahama is a guarantee that people of Northern extraction will have all their problems resolved. When we support our national clubs like kotoko, RTU or Hearts of Oak to win games it is not because we hope bonuses the playing body will receive will make it possible for us to pay our wards school fees or pay our utility bills. Yes politics is different but not insulated from sentimentalism else NDC would have had less opposition in Ashanti Region and NPP would have had appreciable support in Volta Region based on their efforts at developing these regions when they have political power.Finally, when we root for our old schools and show our love, it is not as if we hate colleagues from other schools. My love for my Alma matter Ghanasco doesn't necessarily suggest I hate Tamasco. Your love for Accra Aca or Prempeh College is not an indication of your hatred for Presec or Mfatsipim.So to be proud of my heritage as a Northerner should not be misconstrued to mean hatred for people from other parts of the country. After all we are all proud patriotic Ghanaians with beautiful cultural, social and religious identities that in harmony have been preserved and transmitted over the years. I'm called Suhuyini, you are called Kwesi, Osei, Kodjo, Konlan because of your traditional heritage and there's nothing wrong with that. It is wrong when you disrespect and denigrate others' identities and suggest that on that basis alone they are not worthy of certain privileges in life not when you celebrate yours. The court presided over by Afua Adu-Amankwa fined the one-time Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) and Deputy Minister of Local Government to a tune of GHc1200 or spend six months in prison if he defaults. READ ALSO: Patricia Appiagyei wins Asokwa seat According to the Daily Guide Newspaper, Jumahs campaign manager was also convicted along with him. Oscar Riches was sentenced to pay GHc960 or serve a jail term of three months if he defaults. Kofi Jumah seized and torn the voter register on suspicion that it has been doctored to favour incumbent, Patricia Appiagyei during the NPP parliamentary primary in 2015. He was later arrested together with his campaign manager, jailed overnight and arraigned. The two were charged with two offences; causing unlawful damage to a photo album which belonged to the Electoral Commission and resisting arrest. READ ALSO: Former MP says he is ready to die for NPP The court had earlier in the trial granted bail to the two of them in the sum of GH10,000 each with one surety. READ MORE: NDC aspiring MP jabs rapper EL He told the students that former Presidents Jerry John Rawlings, John Kufuor and John Evans Atta Mills got the backing of their kinsmen in the Volta, Ashanti and Central regions respectively, but bemoaned the fact that in the president's home Region, he did not get enough support. He said: "When a Voltarian stood to be President, the whole of Volta Region voted for him until he stopped being President. "Jerry John Rawlings and when Ashanti man stood to be President, the whole of Ashanti Region rallied behind him until he stopped to become President, President Kufour. "When Professor Atta Mills decided to run for President, the whole of Central Region, his home region, voted massively for him before he could win in 2008. And do you know the sad news? When John Mahama from the Northern Region decided to be President in 2012, the NDC in Northern Region lost 11 constituencies. "For the first time in the history of this country in the fourth Republic, we had a President, who won to be President without the support of his home region. This also means targeted, measurable and interactive marketing through different digital platforms. Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Content Marketing, Social Media Optimization, Social Media Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Email Marketing, SMS and MMS Marketing are all major activities that complete Digital Marketing. Influencer Marketing This is the use of social media influencers as a major drive for your campaign. In this case, a lot of big brands today are making mistakes with the use of this strong social media campaign tool. READ MORE: Facebook RDM Ghana to participate in Facebook Agency Ambassador program Brands in this era get ambassadors and social media influencers based on their followers and fan bases but using this as a main factor to determine who is good for your brand is wrong. This is why most brands end up advertising the influencer instead of the influencer promoting the brand. How? An influencer with 2,000 fans online that talks about fashion products with about 80% of his/her online posts is better for a fashion brand than an influencer with 30,000 fans who talks about general products. As such, it is important to analyse the interest of the influencer, for whatever he/she often posts about will determine the interest of a large percentage of your total fans online. So having 2,000 fans interested in fashion is good for a fashion brand than having 30,000 fans of an influencer that often talks about politics or gadgets and less about fashion. The interest of the influencer matters. So, why dont you give the right influencer your product sample and all you ask in return is honest review. This will help you attract a quality audience. Search Engine Marketing This includes Display Advertisement, Video Ads and Search Marketing on Google and search partners like Yahoo, Bing SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). Search Marketing is basically reaching out to audiences who are already interested in your product, similar products or competitors as they come online to search for certain keywords which you must be bidding for to appear there. READ MORE: If as a publisher, you bid for the key word news, you need to know you are not the only one bidding for this keyword on SERPs. For your ads to claim the top position on search results, you need to be willing to pay more than competitors. If your maximum CPC (cost per click) bid for the keyword is $0.05 and competitor A and B are willing to pay $0.02 and $0.10 as maximum CPC respectively, competitor B will own the position because the keyword will cost a little above yours ($0.05), as competitor B is willing to pay up to $0.10 for the same keyword. The keyword will cost more than $0.10 when another competitor or you are willing to pay above $0.10. When writing high quality ads, its important to ensure the use of relevant keyword(s) in your ad headline. Capitalizing each word in your search ad has proven to get 60% more clicks than without. Do not forget to have a CTA (Call to Action) in your ads as well. CTA is what you want and telling the audience to do with your products or services. Display Advertisement is creating banner ads that are compliant to Google Ad policies and either targeting different websites with keywords or placing ads on different websites directly through Google AdWords. Targeting Apps on mobile and tablets have been very useful in recent times as they are giving more click through rates (CTR). The veteran Hollywood actor turned up for his daughter, Bria's movie, "Amateur Night" premiere in Beverly Hills and he wasn't alone. Murphy was pictured with some of the women in his life, and they all looked super hot! The father-of-nine posed with his current girlfriend and baby mama, Paige Butcher, Bria as well as his ex-wife, Nicole and their daughter, Shayne. The movie is reportedly Bria's first role in a feature feature film and Murphy couldn't have been prouder. ALSO READ: Actor and girlfriend kiss passionately on basketball court ALSO READ: Actress spreads her nipples beneath sheer in London The actress' father has reportedly sent threatening texts to Tarabasov, warning of what he would do if his daughter got hurt. TMZ has obtained the text messages which Micheal sent on Saturday, July 23, 2016, following neighbour's call to the police after hearing Lindsay screaming outside their apartment, accusing the Russian billionaire of trying to strangle her. One of the texts read: "You threaten my daughter, touch her or if anything happens to her and you will have no where to hide mother ducked like weasel." The messages was filled with a lot of errors which alludes to just how angry Micheal had been at the time he sent the messages. "VOME Here And Face ME like a man and bring your daddy and mommy." The TV personality adds: "Return her jewelry you broke phoney or I'll take it out of your ass. I WILL find you." ALSO READ: Actress considering converting to Islam On July 22, 2016 the popular actress announced her conversion into Islam. "Salaam alykun to all my wonderful friends and fans, May almighty Allah grant u all your heart desires. i just want everyone to know that i was born in to a Muslim home my late father's name is Lasisi Alao, so i reverted back to my root through Alhaji Yusuf Adepoju (Acadip) May almighty Allah bless him and all my wonderful friends and fans.... Thanks love you all.. Rohdiat Omolola Alao Ajibola." Lola Alao whose first marriage crashed in 2008 joins other many Yoruba actresses who are now muslims. You can read about them below; 1) Bukky Ajayi The late actress who was born a Christian converted into Islam in the 80s. She went ahead to give herself a new name Zainab. Till her death she was a staunch Muslim. 2) Moji Olaiya In 2014 Moji Olaiya who is the daughter of Nigerian music legend Victor Olaiya and was raised as a Christian became a Muslim. She declared that Islam is a religion of peace and revealed that she wasn't pressurized by any man to change her religion. 3) Liz DaSilva Three years ago this popular actress converted to Islam a few weeks after the birth of her child. She changed her name to Aishat Olaoye during an Islamic name changing ceremony known as Wonka. Liz DaSilva became a Muslim because the father of her child is also a Muslim. His name is Alhaji Olaoye popularly known as MC Oluomo. 4) Lizzy Anjorin 2013 seems to be the magic year for conversion among Yoruba actresses. Lizzy Anjorin switched from Christianity to Islam after the death of her father and adopted the name Aisha. "It happened in a miraculous way which I have been expecting for long, not that I woke up yesterday and decided to change my religion. By birth, I was half Muslim and half Christian. The seriously malnoruished boy was rescued from his father by operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and the State Police Command, after he had been in the state for more than one month. The inhuman case of child abuse has drawn condemnation from every strata of the society, including the hierarchy of the Celestial Church of Christ, which released a statement saying it does not condone such abuse in any form. The licky boy has now been handed over to the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and was received by the Director of Social Welfare Services in the ministry, Shotubo Olumide, and has been moved to the Stella Obasanjo Childrens Home. The wife of the state governor, Olufunso Amosun, is also said to have indicated interest in taking care of the boy. While handing over the boy to the ministry, the State Police spokesperson, DSP Muyiwa Adejobi, said: It is a terrible case. Apart from being criminal, it is inhuman. The command condemns the act in totality. The AIG has directed that the matter be thoroughly investigated." Four of the young men are reportedly undergraduates from the Federal University of Technology Akure, (FUTA) and 1 from Adekunle Ajashin University, Akungba. EFCC disclosed that the suspects who go about with the name, "Tsunnami Gang and Young Pablo Money", are between the ages of 20 and 23. The suspects have been identified as Adeleke Paul, 21, Adebiyi Tayo Abudu, 22, Akinsanmi Olusola Adeniyi, 21, Ogundile Ademola James, 23 and Okali Ugochukwu, 21. The suspects were reportedly were picked up at an Off-Campus residence located at Stateline Hotel Road, off FUTA South Gate, Akure, Ondo State. They are alleged to have scammed foreigners and others of about N16 million in recent times through the use of scam mails. At the point of the arrest, the EFCC operatives reportedly recovered a 2006 black Toyota Highlander, 2010 light-green Toyota Camry, laptops, three Apple iPhone 6 and three Blackberry phones from the suspects. Documents which further implicated the suspects were reportedly found on the laptops and downloaded as evidence. The 26-year-old suspect, Johnson Akilapa, according to the reports, had been operating as doctor for many years even though he had no prior training in the medical profession. While parading the suspect, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Leye Oyebade, said Akilapa offered to terminate Barakat's pregnancy after her lover denied responsibility and the process left the lady in critical condition and she had to be rushed to the University College Hospital, Ibadan, where she is presently battling for her life. "The abortion was carried out in the suspects one apartment which served as clinic located in a slum at the Sasa Area of Ibadan. Shortly after the abortion, the victim developed serious complications which resulted in her being admitted at the UCH where she is presently lying ill. I, a Secondary School Leaving Certificate holder, was only trained as a paramedic nurse and a first aid giver. In spite of his limited knowledge of medicine, the suspect was consistently treating unsuspecting patients who mistook him for a qualified doctor. Exhibits recovered from the suspects are two pieces of stethoscopes, two pieces of Plaster of Paris bandages, four pairs of hand gloves, injection and syringe, Oyebade told journalists. Akilapa who admitted to the crime, said he trained as a paramedic nurse in Port Harcourt. Like several other people with a sense of humanity who saw the video, questions were raised in our minds. Questions like, how does he do it? How can anyone ever survive on such meagre amount? An amount too little to get recharge cards for several people, too little to even get lunch! Moved by these questions within us, and those coming from our numerous followers online, The Pulse TV went back to the streets, brought him in to our studio to learn more about him Gideon Ime Charlie, 25, from Ukanafan Local Government of Akwa Ibom has had a life experience that many people his age, even older people, cannot ever deal with. When asked to narrate the story of his life from the beginning, one of his first statements by him appropriately captured it all I actually come from a good home, but there is no money, he said. Owing to that very fact, he could not get any education beyond JSS 3, dropping out to allow his other five siblings a shot at education, and hopefully, a better life. Having dropped out of CJC Comprehensive Secondary School in Otoro, Akwa Ibom State, Gideon got a call from someone in Lagos about the groundnut-selling business, and found his way to Lagos. About taking up the job, he said [The man already told me hed pay #1500] and Ill be eating there two times per day I accepted because I know that if I should stay in the village, [Ill be] a kind of trouble to my parents. When answering the biggest, most pressing question of how he manages to live monthly on such a little amount, Gideon, who comes off as a humble and determined young man says, It is not easy, but as a man who is looking for something, I try to save #500. However, the money is never enough to spend, let alone save, even with his needs being the most basic toothbrush, bathing soap, body cream slippers, bottles for his groundnut, etc. The 25-year old, despite being on the street always, is still paying attention to his dream of being a musician and songwriter, revealing that he has some songs written and recorded on his phone, and actually taking every opportunity to show what he can do. [And he really can do a lot of singing, cant he?] Away from sarcasm, it is really impressive to see a young man [or anyone at that], forging on resiliently in the face of what Gideon Gideon had had to face you really need to watch the video attached to this article to see where he stays, and how he lives to fully understand how amazing it is to see that his faith in a better tomorrow remains unflinching. Perhaps, this is what moved a number of people and at least an organization, to show an interest in helping out the young man. When asked how hed feel if people decided to assist him, Ill feel so happy, he says. [Ill feel so grateful] and Ill thank my God." As a man who comes from a good home, I think I have plans for my life, I need to think of my past Ill like going to school further my education and while Im in school, I will [do more] on my music because I know I have to do that." Just as he showed when he dropped out of school enable his younger ones continue, Gideon has a deep sense of responsibility to his family and has hopes of assisting his them, citing a new home as the biggest need they have. I have to build and take my mum from the mud house to the normal house. Head of Pulse, Rich Tanksley, who was moved by the predicament of the groundnut hawker, led the way by awarding him a cash gift of #20, 000. Living in Nigeria these days, as many of us can testify to, has become hell. And that is me being really mild about it. But this is not what Gideons story shows. What stands out from all of this, is that there are some hells hotter than some others. And regardless of where you find yourself, theres no point sitting on your backside, blaming everyone but yourself for your status, or situation. Eric Aniva was taken into custody in southern Nsanje district after President Peter Mutharika ordered his arrest on Monday, police officer Kirby Kaunga told newsmen. ``Most of those I have slept with are girls, school-going girls, Aniva said on camera. Mutharika said in a statement that tough action needed to be taken against Aniva for his "evil acts", including deliberately placing girls and women at risk of contracting HIV. Report says sexual cleansing is a traditional practice in some rural areas of Malawi, which requires girls and women to be ``purified through sexual intercourse with a man, who is paid for the ``service. ``The custom is, for example, practiced after first menstruation or when a woman is newly widowed, it added. Vice Health Minister Fernando Ruiz told journalists that the number of infections in Colombia has been falling by 600 cases a week. While Zika is still circulating in the country, Colombia considers the drop-off sufficient to say it has moved into an endemic phase from the epidemic phase. "We can declare that the epidemic is ended. Colombia is the first country on the American continent to declare an end to the epidemic," Ruiz said. The disease can cause the devastating birth defect microcephaly, a condition defined by abnormally small head size which can lead to severe developmental problems in infants, as well as other neurological problems. Brazil has reported more than 1,600 cases of microcephaly linked to Zika, a spike not replicated elsewhere to date. Colombia's Zika outbreak has been closely monitored by infectious disease experts to understand whether the virus will affect other countries in a similar manner to Brazil. Colombia has reported nearly 100,000 cases of infection, with 21 cases of Zika-related microcephaly. Some disease experts say they are reluctant to say the worst of the outbreak has passed in Colombia, particularly with mosquito season due to resume in the country within a few months, and the many unknowns surrounding the first mosquito-borne virus that can also be transmitted through sexual contact. "It's difficult to make predictive statements on an epidemic when the vast majority of cases go unreported," said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas. About 80 percent of Zika infections are believed to be asymptomatic. "There is a possibility that it has not taken hold in Colombia as it has in Brazil and Puerto Rico, but we're not going to know the full impact of this epidemic for several more months until we see whether additional waves of microcephaly cases are born," Hotez said. British scientists predicted earlier this month that it will take two to three years for the current Zika outbreak to come to an end in Latin America, assuming that enough people have been infected and become immune to the virus. Colombia's Health Ministry has also lifted its recommendation that women delay pregnancy because of the virus, Ruiz said, though there may be new outbreaks of the disease in future. Colombia expects that there will be an uptick of cases of microcephaly in September and October, Ruiz said, when pregnant women infected during the peak of the epidemic will give birth. The World Health Organization has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults. Colombia has reported 350 cases of the condition connected to Zika. Though dozens of people in Europe are known to have contracted Zika, usually after spending time in affected countries such as Brazil, it is the first European birth of a baby with the defect by a mother carrying the virus. The woman had been diagnosed with the virus in May and had decided to keep the baby, a spokeswoman for the regional health authorities of Catalonia, where the baby was born, told Reuters. The mosquito-borne Zika virus has been linked to hundreds of cases of microcephaly. Spain had 190 known cases of Zika infections at the latest count, 189 of which resulted from travelling overseas and one was sexually transmitted. Doctors from the Vall d'Hebron hospital in Barcelona said the boy's condition was "stable". While some Nigerians have traced the project's history to the administration of former president Olusegun Obasanjo, others are of the view that it was conceptualized by Late president Umar Musa Yar'Adua. The $1.457 billion project was started by former president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in 2009. The train service is expected to provide Nigerians the much needed alternative link between the Federal Capital Territory and Kaduna state, a corridor which has a huge potential for industries, agricultural activities and a growing labour force. Speaking at the trains main station at Idu, President Buhari said; "the construction of the Abuja-Kaduna Standard Gauge rail track commenced in 2009 and happily, we are on the threshold of presenting to Nigerians a Standard Gauge Railway Train Service that will be safe, fast and reliable." He continued: "The minister of transportation, Chief and his team have put great efforts in the last few months to ensure the successful completion of this project under this administration. "Completion and commissioning of this project is indeed in keeping with our vision of bringing about the desired change to make life easier for the generality of Nigerians through the development and provision of the necessary social and physical infrastructure," the president said. Meanwhile, events surrounding the commissioning ceremony have continued to generate mixed reactions from Nigerians; most of which are divided along party lines. Some accuse the All Progressives Congress (APC) led government of taking glory for "a (PDP) project." President Buhari assured Nigerians that his administration would implement the twenty-five (25) year strategic railway master plan which is aimed at rehabilitating the existing 3,505km narrow gauge rail line and developing and constructing new standard gauge rail lines across the country. Dignitaries present at the official commissioning of the project include Senate President Bukola Saraki; Speaker Yakubu Dogara; Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi among others. The Chairman, ASUU-TASUED, Dr Bayo Adesanya, said this at a news conference organised by the union in its secretariat . Adesanya said the union was issuing a warning notice to Governor Ibikunle Amosun-led government to pay the debt in the next couple of months or the institution would be grounded. He said the state government ``owes the university 15 months subvention, running into over N2 billion which is affecting the smooth running of the institution. ``The current wage bill of the university is N175million and by the governments subvention policy of paying 70 per cent, the Amosun administration owes TASUED about N2 billion for 15 months, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes Adesanya as saying.. According to him, series of meetings held with the governor, top government officials and the state Ministry of Education have yielded no result. The Chairman said the non-payment of the subvention had affected every sector of the university system. ``All efforts made for government to release the subvention to TASUED in the past 15 months have not been positive. ``It is clear that the system will be grounded if this continues, as the university administration will no longer be allowed to face the assignment of steering the university but becoming money manager, he said. Adesanya said the university administration had been incapacitated in fulfilling its obligation of paying staff salary due to insufficient funds. He said the university staff had not been receiving their salaries promptly since January. The lecturer explained that staffs were being owed June and July salary while cooperative and other deductions had been delayed since April. The ASUU boss said cooperative bodies were also owed outstanding 10 months deduction since 2012. Adesanya stated that several arrears of entitlements such as Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure (CONUASS) and hazard allowances were yet to be paid.. He also said that the earned academic allowance from the 2009 Federal Government/ASUU agreement had not been implemented by TASUED. Adesanya noted that the situation had dampened the morale of staff and reduced their commitment because they had been denied their right. The Chairman noted that education was the pivot of development, progress and peace, so must be well funded. He further appealed to Nigerians, the Federal government and Ogun people to prevail on the Amosun-led administration to pay TASUED workers their entitlements through their subventions. According to the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Sanni Usman, the terrorists have been completely dislodged in the north-east, as they can no longer lay claim to any town or place in the region. Usman disclosed this in Lagos while addressing newsmen at the inauguration of Strategic Communication Course for senior officers at the Nigerian Army School of Public Relations and Information, Bonny Camp. We have come to the point that we can beat our chest and decisively say we have dealt with Boko Haram, he said. The situation in the north-east has tremendously improved. The military operations or the fight against terrorism and insurgency in the north-east is hinged on three things. First, defeating the Boko Haram terrorists, which has been accomplished, and making room to facilitate humanitarian assistance, which is also ongoing. Then restoration of law and order for good governance to take place. We no longer have camps of Boko Haram terrorists and we no longer have them conveyed in the territories. Those that were hitherto close are now open to the extent that we have trans-border trade. Take for instance; just recently, the important road that links Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon was reopened. ALSO READ: Missing soldiers, officers found in stable condition Also speaking on theinauguration of the communication course, Usman said that training of officers is crucial to the proficiency the army. Buhari, who was reacting to the allegations that he is protecting corrupt members of his party and those who financed his 2015 election campaigns, affirmed that he will come down hard on any of his loyalists if case of corruption is established against them. The President was said to have made the statement in an interview with a magazine called 'The Interview.' Do you just grab people along the road and take them off to court for trial just because you want to create a semblance of balance?," Buhari said. First, there has to be an accusation which must be properly investigated, and when a prima facie case has been built, you prosecute. If any of my backers or party (APC) members has anything established against them, lets see whether I will shield anyone from prosecution. There seems to be a preponderance of the People Democratic Party members standing trial because they had been in power for 16 years, they had access to the public treasury and abused the trust reposed in them. You can be assured that anybody caught in corruption will answer for it irrespective of party, tribe or religion. Buhari also said that he was pressured to run for the Presidency by people who believed he could save the country, which according to him, was falling apart. He said: You will recall that shortly before the 2011 presidential election, I had said it was the last time I would offer myself for elective position and I meant it, but the following years, we saw our country virtually falling apart on all fronts. People felt a rescue exercise was necessary and a large number believed I could do it. They made overtures to me and the pressure was so enormous that I could not say no. As they say, the rest is history." Responding to criticism that his administration cannot boast of one major achievement due to his slow style of operation, the President said "slow and steady wins the race." If they say we are slow, do they also say we are steady? Then, it means we will win the race eventually. There is no wisdom in being in a rush and messing up everything. You will make avoidable mistakes and end up with a lot of regrets, he said. This is contained in the presidents condolence message to the family, the government and people of Kano State. A statement issued in Abuja on Monday by Malam Garba Shehu, the presidents Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, said Buharis message was delivered by a Federal Government delegation led by Alhaji Sulaiman Adamu, the Minister of Water Resources. Buhari noted that under Magaji's tenure as head of one of the foremost water development agencies, Water Resources and Engineering Construction Agency (WRECA), he helped Kano state to enjoy the best water supply and availability on record, a feat he said was remarkable. The president said the deceased was preoccupied with producing practical results rather than theorising about his job, a quality he noted, made the deceased ``an outstanding engineer who deserves a special place in our countrys engineering profession. According to Buhari, achieving results is the best advertisement for any man's record in office, adding that the late Magaji's notable contributions to the development and progress of Kano state would not be forgotten. The president prayed Allah to grant the deceased an eternal rest in peace and a worthy place in Paradise.Other members of the delegation, according to Shehu, included the Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, the Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity), and the Accountant-General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris. ALSO READ: Yobe Deputy Governor, Abubakar Ali involved in car crash Shehu said the delegation was received by the family of the deceased, the Galadima of Kano, Dr Abbas Sunusi, and Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje. As contained in a statement issued by the NNPC spokesman, Garba Deen Muhammad, the search is in line with the residents order for deeper inquest into the prospectivity of some hitherto neglected finds in some areas in the North Eastern part of Nigeria. According to the statement, the group managing director of NNPC, Maikanti Baru, made this known while receiving Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abubakar, who paid a courtesy visit to the NNPC Towers, Abuja. Baru stated that the renewed search for hydrocarbon deposits in the Chad basin will entail extensive probing of some allocated and non-allocated oil blocks in the region with a view to establishing the magnitude of the deposits. You know that very close home, we have exploration activities on the frontier basin in the Chad and some areas close to the Kolmani river where Shell had made some indicative discovery of hydrocarbons and Mr. President has directed me to go into that area to reprove and further explore the magnitude and prospectivity of those finds, he said. We are taking steps to re-strategize and get into those regions. We will re-invigorate the frontier exploration and see how they collaborate with NNPC that is holding Block A09 where some of the finds have been made and also Department for Petroleum Resources, DPR, for the other blocks that have not been assigned. ALSO READ: Buhari under fire over Baru's appointment Many critics, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had criticised the President for assigning the portfolios to the ex-governor, arguing that it would overwhelm him, which would result to underperformance. Speaking in an interview with a magazine, The Interview, Buhari said Fashola is a hard working man who has proven to be an excellent performer. The economic realities demanded that we merge ministries and we did," he said. Putting three critical ministries under one man was determined by the ability to perform. This is a man who had ruled a state excellently for eight years and as they say, the reward for hard work is more work The Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Mr Rasaq Fadipe, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos. He said that the accident happened at Ijesha, adding that the content spilled into the drainage, which made it difficult for fire service officials to put out the fire on time. ``Two dead bodies were found in the truck after fire-fighting operation. ``The road side market at Ijesha was partially affected, while two trailers and the fuel tanker got burnt, NAN quotes Fadipe as saying. He said that six trucks of water were deployed by fire fighters to put out the inferno. ALSO READ: Two cheat death in fuel tanker accident Fadipe said that the incident also created heavy traffic on both sides of the road. The $72M yacht belongs to Kolawole Aluko, a petroleum and aviation mogul and key ally of former petroleum minister Diezani Alison-Madueke. Aluko who was once rumoured to be dating celebrity model Naomi Campbell, is accused of cheating Nigeria out of $1.8 billion from unpaid dues from crude oil sales. An amount the government says is equal to the combined 2016 budgets of about 4 States, and would be utilized to cater for about 13 million people. He is also accused of smuggling millions of dollars out of the country on behalf Diezani. In a report published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) - Secret Documents Expose Nigerian Oil Moguls Offshore Hideaways, Aluko who alongside some Nigerian oil executives, state governors, ministers, military officers and tribal chiefs are among those mentioned in the Panama Papers scandal. Aluko gained sudden prominence after two of his companies were awarded oil blocks without bidding, even though one of the companies Atlantic Energy, was just a day old. This happened in 2011, just a year after Diezani was appointed petroleum minister by the Goodluck Jonathan administration. In March 2014, Earnshaw Associates one of Alukos companies, which was incorporated just three weeks after Alison-Madueke was appointed Minister of Petroleum Resources, registered a Bombardier Global Express jet in Malta. The 18-seater plane is the same model of aircraft that Diezani reportedly used during her time in office. An order by the Lagos High Court granted the government the permission to freeze his assets which include the four houses in California, properties in London, two penthouses in Manhattan, one penthouse in Dubai, 132 houses in Nigeria and land in both Canada and Switzerland and also his yacht. He is also said to have more than $67 million in four bank accounts in London and Switzerland, 58 cars, three airplanes and a bevy of wristwatches. Aluko who through a representative has denied the allegations told ICIJ that I have never been prosecuted and convicted in any country. I am aware that a criminal investigation was started in the UK. However, to date I have not been made aware of any law enforcement action to be undertaken against me. The criminal charges against Aluko for alleged crude oil fraud have been dropped, because authorities have not been able to locate him to serve him with legal documents. The Comptroller-General (NIS), Muhammad Babandede, stated this at a workshop for the service's image makers holding in Lagos, organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). While declaring the three-day programme open, he stressed the need for training and re-training to tackle challenges ahead and achieve its mandate. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the C-G was represented by ACG, Musa Maza, Zonal Coordinator, zone A Lagos. ``I have always said it that remove training and retraining exercise for security agents, there is no guarantee for a safe world. `` Babandede while commending the UNODC for assisting in capacity building of officers, said ``we still require more support for the task ahead. ``If there is any agency that would remain ever relevant to the NIS in the area of migration management, it is the UNODC, `` he said. Many of the officers observed that the transformation had been slow and that there was an urgent need to embrace new approach for the needed synergy between the service and the media. They believed that through media support NIS could tackle the migrant challenges and cross border crimes. Also speaking, UNODC Country Representative, Cristina Albertin, said this was the third training session for immigration officers at a time. ``We are daily exposed to an overwhelming amount of news relating to migration related to conflict, civil unrest and natural disasters. ``It is now 10 years now that the UNODC was entrusted by its member states to assist in building and strengthening capacity to deal with smuggling of migrants and human trafficking as forms of organised crime. ``I am happy to report that Nigeria has ratified this convention and has consequently adopted two laws that define human trafficking and smuggling of migrants in line with the convention act,`` she said. According to her, interactions and workshops will continue in enforcing and supporting policies and programmes of the agency. In a statement by the group's spokesman, Mudoch Agbinibo, the attack was carried out around 11:30pm. 11:30pm on Sunday, the NDA blew up Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), gas pipeline at Nsit-Ibom L.G.A, Akwa Ibom state," the statement said. The group had last week dismissed claims by President Muhammadu Buhari, that the Federal Government is negotiating with Niger Delta militants. But the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) confirmed holding preliminary talks with the government, even though report said the group is divided over the negotiation move - with some members not inclined to dialogue. President Buhari had last Thursday, while bidding farewell to the outgoing German Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Zinner, said his administration was talking to Niger Delta militants through oil companies and law-enforcement agencies to find a lasting solution to insecurity in the region. Speaking with journalists shortly after the meeting, Obasanjo said he came to deliver messages he brought from abroad. The former president who recently travelled to Liberia and Gambia said: ''I am visiting this time because I have some messages for the president. I have messages that these two countries will want me to deliver to the president. "Also, only yesterday I came back from Seychelles Island where I attended this years Annual General meeting of Africa Export Development Bank. And there are aspects of the proceedings that I think I should update the President on," he said. In a recent interview on Good Morning America, the actor once again revealed his disinterest to succeed Daniel Craig, who ALSO READ: undefined According to the actor, the idea of becoming a James Bond would not be happening. "I keep saying if it were to happen it would be the will of a nation because there hasnt been any talks between me and the studio about any of that. But everywhere I go people want that to happen, so," he said. If Im really honest man, I think Im too old for that man, running around in cars and ladies and martinis, who wants to do that?, he added. ALSO READ: undefined This is not the first time the actor is addressing the issue. In July, 2015, Elba told Radio Times: Its just a rumour. I have no idea." In 2015, Craig who played Bond in the 2015 "Spectre," revealed that he would rather slash his wrist than take up another Bond movie. The All Progressives Congress (APC) took over power in 2015 after the PDP had ruled for 16 years. Dokpesi, who is vying for the position of the PDP National Chairman, said the party lost power because it deviated from the visions of its founding fathers, adding that members must return to those ideals in order for the party to win the hearts of Nigerians again. Speaking to party members and delegates in Asaba, Delta State capital, Dokpesi said the vision of PDP founding fathers was to establish a political party that would promote national unity and would accommodate the opinion and voice of every citizen under a common umbrella." The PDP founding fathers wanted a party whose operations would be guided by democratic principles, create jobs for its teeming population and make life a lot more meaningful for the people, he said. However, over time, the party has shifted focus away from these noble ideals, and has lost track in the process. To get back on track, we must be willing to readjust ourselves to the realities of current political challenges. The only way to do so is to return to the visions of the founding fathers of the party, a vision that guarantees internal party democracy and allows only the best from amongst the people to represent us. Let us sit back and reflect. We have deviated from the visions of our founding fathers and we need to retrace our steps very quickly. While discrediting the embattled chairman of the party, Ali Modu Sheriff, whose emergence, he said, plunged the PDP into crisis; Dokpesi promised to reunite the all aggrieved party members. I have come to properly unite the party and bring all contending forces together and make PDP virile one more. I am confident that with me in charge of the affairs of the party, PDP will bounce back to glory in no time. "If we do our little bits, we will bounce back to glory and it would be good for delta state, he said. The politician, who is currently on a nationwide campaign tour, recalled some of his accomplishments when he was with the South-South Peoples Assembly, pointing how he drew attention to issues in the Niger-Delta, eventually making it possible for a south-south president to emerge. Also speaking, the State chairman of the party, Kingsley Esiso, threw his weight behind Dokpesi's candidacy, saying he is the man for the job and buttressing that the party could indeed regain power in 2019, with him as the chairman. You have the carriage, competence and capacity to deliver on the job, Esiso said. I know you are a builder, I know you have the capacity. We will be in Port Harcourt in full force. We must encourage you as our brother so we must support you. ALSO READ: Dokpesi admits he received N2.1bn from Dasuki The House of Representatives is in the middle of an embarrassing budget padding scandaland unfortunately, members of the APC are at the fore of the controversy. The trouble started when Speaker, Yakubu Dogararemoved Rep Abdulmumin Jibrin as head of the Appropriation Committee. Jibrin is the lawmaker who urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the 2016 budget without knowing the full details. He was also one of those who vehemently denied allegations that the budget had been padded and even went further to issue a veiled threat against Buhari for refusing to sign the document. There is nothing abnormalabout a president assenting a budget before or after seeing the details. In any case, the budget details are usually sent within a week or two after passing the budget, he said via a statement released on Wednesday, March 30. The NASS will continue to exercise its constitutional duty of appropriation to the latter. While recognising the Presidents power to withhold assent, the NASS is also constitutionally required and has power to veto. But we dont want that to happen and we dont see this happening in this case, he added. However, the tables have turned, and Jibrin has become a very willing snitch with a truckload of dirt to spill out. According to him, over N284 billion in constituency projects was smuggled into the budget by lawmakers, including Dogara I am compelled again for the purpose of emphasis to state categorically that my allegations are against the quartet of speaker, Yakubu Dogara; deputy speaker, Yusuf Lasun; House Whip, Alhassan Doguwa, and Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, not the Honourable House as an institution nor other members of the body of principal officers," he said via a statement released on Sunday, July 24. When the Appropriation committee received all the budget reports from standing committees, an analysis was conducted. We discovered that about 10 of the 96 standing committees of the House introduced about 2,000 (two thousand) projects without the knowledge of their committee members, amounting to about N284 billion. Speaker Dogara has completely derailed, remains clueless, keeps on with an unmatched ego and surely leading the House to the biggest scandal it may ever experience, he added. The scandal is all the more amazing because Dogara has been portraying himself as a champion of Buharis war against corruption. The Speaker, in November 2015, warned members of the House to shun corruption and recently even revealed that some persons who looted Nigerias coffers buried the money in farms. If you look at the massive looting of the treasury, actually, I have been in government for quite some time, I never, never could have imagined the scale of corruption that we are witnessing, where people took lots of money running into billions and buried them in farms, Dogara said during a recent interview. Its a shame that the people who should be moving Nigeria forward by creating better and clearer laws are too busy stuffing their pockets to care. Its also very clear now that the APC is not ready to deliver the change it promised because its members are actually no different from the looters who robbed Nigeria blind. The only solution to this problem is for Nigerians to ensure that only honest and honourable people are voted into the legislature when the next opportunity presents itself. Speaking with journalists on Monday, July 25, 2016 in Abuja, the Senate Majority leader, Ali Ndume stated that President Buhari had not committed any impeachable offence. He noted that the Senate had not contemplated the move adding that the Red Chambers alone cannot impeach the president. According to Senator Ndume, the alleged move to impeach the president would fail with the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the major party in the Senate. "The impeachment process is a National Assembly matter not Senate. Senate alone cannot impeach the president. It is the National Assembly that can impeach the president," he said. "It is the National Assembly and it is by a two-third majority and by clearly stating impeachable offences served on the person if he fails to respond. "It is a process, is a long tedious process and in this country we dont even need that; we are not even contemplating it. "Even if anybody contemplates on it, it is not going to work because this is APC Senate; we have the majority. We dont have a president that has issues of corruption, integrity, mismanagement. "We have a president that is straight forward and he doesnt have any mismanagement or abuse of due process, Ndume added. The report was presented by Gov. Dave Umahi, who headed the Zoning Committee, to the party National Caretaker Committee, led by Sen. Ahmed Makarfi. The positions zoned to the North were: Deputy National Chairman 2, National Secretary, National Financial Secretary, National Publicity Secretary, National Auditor and National Woman Leader. Others were: Deputy National Treasurer, Deputy National Organising Secretary, Deputy National Youth Leader, Deputy National Legal Adviser and Deputy National Secretary. The South got the positions of National Chairman, Deputy National Chairman 1, National Treasurer, National Legal Adviser, National Youth Leader and National Organising Secretary. Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Deputy National Woman Leader, Deputy National Auditor and Deputy National Financial Secretary, were also zoned to the South. Umahi, while presenting his report, said: After robust deliberations on proposals presented by members, the committee proposed that all positions should be keenly contested for among the major zones they are zoned to. ``This will open the space and allow for full participation of members. ``That the chairmanship of the party be zoned to the Southern zone bearing in mind that the presidential ticket of the party for 2019 was zoned to the Northern zone. ``This is as was approved by the National Convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers on Saturday, May 21, 2016. In his remarks, Secretary of the Caretaker Committee, Ben Obi, who received the report on behalf of the chairman, commended the committee for timely completion of their assignment. ``This is the new spirit in PDP. When you want to re-brand, your action must speak louder than your voice. ``We assure that justice will be done to the submission, and at the end of the day, you will be happy that you've done for the party and for your country a good job. ChristianToday reports that the Pontiff has warned nuns to resist the temptations of social media and focus on their vocation. He gave the advice in a new document on women's contemplative life in the Catholic Church, where he said: "In our society, the digital culture has a decisive influence in shaping our thoughts and the way we relate to the world and, in particular, to other people. Clearly, these media can prove helpful for formation and communication. At the same time, I urge a prudent discernment aimed at ensuring that they remain truly at the service of formation to contemplative life and necessary communication, and do not become occasions for wasting time or escaping from the demands of fraternal life in community. Nor should they prove harmful for your vocation or become an obstacle to your life wholly dedicated to contemplation." One of Twitter's most active nuns, Sister Catherine Wybourne, @Digitalnun, has responded to this publication. "Those of you who know our community will appreciate we have some concerns over the 'one size fits all' approach of Vultum Dei Quaerere, but we must not allow such concerns to get in the way of what we are about. We may be small and insignificant, and we certainly aren't holy yet, but that is our aim: holiness. Nothing less will do," she wrote in her blog, iBenedictines. It shows evidence of a growing trend that Chinese is becoming more popular globally The Dutch are pleased with a recent announcement that King Willem-Alexander's daughter Catharina-Amalia, the 13-year-old heir to the throne, is about to learn Chinese in the upcoming semester in The Hague, where they live. Some have even dubbed this the royal family's "smartest investment", pointing out the enhanced bilateral relationship between China and the Netherlands. Such a move has already happened in the neighboring Belgian monarchy. Elisabeth, Princess of Belgium, was born in 2001, the first child of King Philippe. She has already studied Chinese in a Dutch-speaking school in Brussels. And when her father acceded to the throne in 2013, the Princess became Duchess of Brabant, a title reserved for the heir apparent. Elisabeth is also likely to become a queen that can speak Chinese as long as she can endure the difficulties of learning a language harder than her mother tongue. Long tradition In fact, the older generation of royal families in Europe have a long tradition in immersing themselves in Chinese culture. Although Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, who just celebrated her 90th birthday this year, doesn't speak Chinese, she has enormous interests in Chinese beliefs, especially Taoism and the tradition of longevity, a prime Chinese value. This month, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, partly supported by the UK royal family, set up an Academy of Sinology, with the goal of nurturing doctorate students studying ancient Chinese religions, texts, language and history. Meanwhile, the Danish monarchy is another European royal family which has shown a keen enthusiasm over China, its culture and language. Apart from Danish, French and English, Chinese is among the four languages used on the royal family's website since 2014. Queen Margrethe II, of Denmark, aged 76, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Belgium's King Philippe have already paid visits to China after Xi Jinping was elected as president. Xi has visited the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom since early 2014. Studying Chinese is becoming popular across Europe. During the Greek debt crisis, when I was interviewing parliamentarians in Greece, one of them even arranged for his 16-year-old daughter, who was learning Chinese, to sit in on the one-hour interview session. And within European institutions, Chinese-language training courses are routinely offered to young officials. On July 21, when I was immersing myself in the crowds for the Belgian National Day parade, a retired Belgian man stopped me, telling me that, when he was young, he studied Chinese in Taiwan for a few years and spent more than ten years in the mainland. I was astonished by his fluency in Chinese and excellent mastering of the Chinese way of communication. This all shows evidence of a growing trend that Chinese is becoming more popular globally because of the attractions of Chinese civilization and the country's modernization in recent decades. Such trends merit an innovative response from China. The UK, United States, Canada, Japan, France and other countries have already set up many schools in China with their own curriculum and their experiences should be copied as China extends its presence globally. All in all, starting from kindergarten to universities, China should consider "smart investment" in overseas education. That should be part of the mission for China's new minister of education, Chen Baosheng, who started to work in this position just this month. fujing@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily 07/26/2016 page10) Adamu made this disclosure during the 32nd combined convocation and Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Kaduna Polytechnic. He added that the present administration was much aware of the issue of dichotomy between HND and degree and would bring an end to it soon. Adamu also added that the government was currently faced with challenge of enormous demands for funds to run public institutions, and that funding of education was capital intensive. He appealed to the staff unions of polytechnics to be patient with the present government as efforts were being made to address all their demands within available resources. He therefore enjoined all well-meaning Nigerians, private sector and non-government organisations to support government in funding education. Both attackers were shot dead by French police. Five people in all had been taken hostage. A police source said it appeared that the priest had had his throat slit. Speaking at the scene of the attack in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, French President Francois Hollande said France should "use all its means" in its war against the militant group, against which France has launched air strikes in Syria and Iraq. The president called it a "dreadful terrorist attack" and told reporters the attackers had pledge allegiance to IS. The IS news agency Amaq said two of its "soldiers" had carried out the attack. "We are put to the test yet again, Hollande said. "The threat remains very high." The attack is the latest in a string of deadly assaults in Europe, including the mass killing in Nice, southern France, on Bastille Day and four incidents in Germany. Many of the attacks have had links to Islamist militants and IS has called for supporters to target countries that it has been fighting, mainly in Iraq and Syria. Tuesday's attack took place during morning mass at the Saint-Etienne parish church, south of Rouen in Normandy. The investigation was handed to the anti-terrorist unit of the Paris prosecutor's office. . SLAIN PRIEST The Archbishop of Rouen identified the slain priest as Father Jacques Hamel and said he was 84, although others sources suggest he was born in 1930. The Vatican condemned what it said was a "barbarous killing". French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-HenryBrandet told France Info radio that the perpetrators have been killed by France's BRI, an elite police anti-crime force, when they came out of the church. Bomb squad officers aided by sniffer dogs scoured the church for any possible explosives. Prime Minister Manuel Valls branded the attack "barbaric" and said it was a blow to all Catholics and the whole of France. "We will stand together," Valls said on Twitter. The attack will heap yet more pressure on Hollande to regain control of national security, with France already under a state of emergency 10 months ahead of a presidential election. The Normandy attack came 12 days after a 31-year-old Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed his heavy goods truck into a crowd of revellers in the French Riviera city of Nice, killing 84 people. Islamic State claimed that attack. "Horror. Everything is being done to trigger a war of religions," tweeted Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a former conservative prime minister who now heads the Senate's foreign affairs committee. Hollande visited the scene with Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, meeting members of the emergency services. Cazeneuve has come under fire from Conservative politicians for not doing enough to prevent the Bastille Day Nice attack. A local government spokesman said migrants from Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia clashed with those from Afghanistan on Monday night, stabbing each other and hitting each other with sticks. A 37-year-old Ethiopian died after being knifed in the chest, he said. Police intervened several times in the clashes. Fights often break out in the sprawling camp, home to thousands of migrants hoping to find a way across the Channel to Britain. On May 26, 40 people were injured in a fight between Afghan and Sudanese migrants. The spokesman said the migrants had also constructed about 30 barricades in the road in a bid to stop and board trucks heading to Britain. Last week a migrant of unknown nationality was found dead on the highway near Calais, and local officials said he likely died while crossing the road or falling off a truck. He was the eighth migrant killed since January trying to make it to Britain. The man, identified only as Silvio S., confessed last year to abducting, sexually abusing and killing Mohamed Januzi, a Bosnian boy whose family was seeking asylum in Germany, prosecutors said. He also admitted kidnapping a six-year-old boy called Elias near the child's home in Potsdam outside Berlin and murdering him in July 2015, the lawyers added. The disappearance of Elias had triggered widespread media attention. The court in Potsdam said the 33-year-old had acted in a "very cruel" way towards the two children and ruled out the possibility of parole after 15 years due to the severity of the offence. However, the judge did not order preventative detention - an indeterminate sentence handed to individuals who are considered a danger to public safety - following the recommendation of an expert who said the man did not have an inclination to commit similar crimes in the future. Silvio S., 33, remained silent for most of the trial but expressed his remorse to the relatives of his victims in a short statement. "There are no words in the world that could describe how sorry I am. If I could make it undone, I would. I can't even forgive myself," German media reported him as saying. The Bosnian boy disappeared on Oct. 1 while waiting outside Berlin's central registration office for migrants with his mother and two siblings. Silvio S. was arrested at the end of October after his own mother told police he had told her he was involved. The child's body was later found packed in cat litter in the boot of his car. "Recently released data from Libyas Ministry of Education paints an alarming picture of education access," the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. Schools had closed "due to partial or complete damage as a result of conflict and fighting," it said. In some cities including Libya's second city of Benghazi, "a number of schools have become shelters for the displaced, preventing children from accessing them," it added. For more than two years, the eastern city has been rocked by fighting between forces loyal to the internationally-recognised parliament and armed groups including the jihadist Islamic State group. The violence has forced most schools in Benghazi to close in mid-2014, with only about a third reopening in December last year. To the west, the coastal city of Sirte has lost more than three quarters of its total population after IS overran it in June last year, OCHA said. It said that since April and May, 35,000 people fled Sirte as forces loyal to Libya's UN-backed unity government launched an offensive to retake the city from the jihadists. "Host communities are struggling to provide assistance" as increasingly more people flee Sirte, putting a burden on infrastructure,OCHA said. ALSO READ: 87 migrant bodies wash up on beach in Libya "Water and sanitation conditions... are deteriorating rapidly and hospitals face shortages of beds and medical supplies to aid growing numbers of patients." Rival militias in Libya have been vying for power since the overthrow of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. The unity government -- the result of a UN-backed power-sharing agreement in December -- has been striving to assert its authority amid the chaos. ------------------------------------------------- Fayez al-Sarraj told French ambassador Antoine Sivan on Monday that their presence in the country's east was "a violation of international customs", his government said on its Facebook page. Sarraj asked for an explanation from the French government at a meeting in Mauritania where the prime minister-designate was attending an Arab summit, the statement said. His comments came after France's President Francois Hollande confirmed last week that his country had soldiers in Libya, after three French troops were killed there during a mission to gather intelligence. The Government of National Accord (GNA) headed by Sarraj, which is the result of a UN-brokered power-sharing agreement in December, has been striving to assert its authority amid the chaos. France recognises the GNA, but also supports forces that are loyal to a parliament and government based in the country's east which are refusing to recognise and cede power to the UN-backed administration. These forces led by General Khalifa Haftar have for the past two years been fighting armed groups including the Islamic State jihadist organisation in the city of Benghazi, located 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) east of Tripoli. Kiir said he had appointed Taban Deng Gai to the post on the "recommendation of the top leadership of the SPLM/A (IO)" -- the group Machar heads and which engaged in clashes with government forces in Juba in early July. Last week Machar said he had fired Deng as minister of mines -- a post that was within Machar's powers to appoint. Then around 100 SPLM/A (IO) members came out to name Deng as the movement's leader and by extension the first vice president, because Machar's absence from the capital meant the post was effectively vacant. In reaction to the show of support for Deng, the "political bureau" of the ex-rebel movement said Sunday it condemned "in the strongest terms possible the attempt to destabilise the SPLM/A (IO) and destroy the (2015) peace agreement." It accused Deng of having a "personal vendetta" against Machar and his supporters of having been "coerced" by the Kiir's camp. Machar and Kiir fell out in 2013, little more than two years after South Sudan became independent, when Kiir accused his vice president of plotting against him. The result was a civil war that killed tens of thousands of people. The latest is a series of peace agreements was sealed in August 2015. Deng was the chief negotiator for the SPLM/A (IO). Kiir had given Machar a deadline of Saturday to return to Juba. Daniel Barrera Barrera, also known as "Loco" (Crazy), was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan after pleading guilty to various narcotic-related charges and to having conspired to engage in money laundering. Woods, who also fined Barrera $10 million and ordered him to forfeit the same amount, called the Colombian national a "smart, talented, maybe even gifted man" who went from working as a farm hand to heading a violent drug trafficking organization. "Simply put, the scope of the offense here is staggering," Woods said. Speaking through a Spanish translator before the sentence was imposed, Barrera said he wanted the opportunity to be released from prison someday and see his grandchildren. "I ask for my family's forgiveness for all of the suffering I have caused them," he said. According to authorities, Barrera, 48, had been one of the most prolific drug traffickers of the last two decades before his capture in Venezuela in 2012 following years in hiding. Prosecutors said that from 1998 to 2010, Barrera ran a cocaine manufacturing and trafficking syndicate that produced an estimated 5,000 kilograms of cocaine a month, resulting in more than 720 tons of cocaine being produced during the scheme. Barrera bought raw cocaine paste from the leftist rebel group FARC and processed it in laboratories in areas controlled by a now-demobilized paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, authorities said. The drug empire generated tens of millions of dollars, which Barrera laundered, and protected by dozens of armed guards and enforcers, many of whom at his direction threatened or killed individuals who owed money or posed a threat, prosecutors said. Barrera was extradited from Colombia in July 2013 to the United States, where he faced three separate indictments in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Miami. Ruben Oliva, Barrera's lawyer, in court called the sentence "unreasonable and greater than necessary." ALSO READ:Nigerian drug dealer arrested after a hot chase by the police He had sought leniency given that his client attempted to cooperate with authorities, including offering information to locate a FARC bomb maker and by encouraging other drug traffickers to surrender. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Soumya Dayananda said authorities declined to extend any cooperation agreement to Barrera. "The magnitude of the defendant's violence and drug trafficking outweighed any cooperation he could provide," she said. --------------------------------------------------- "We benefitted from a common travel area between the UK and the Republic of Ireland for many years before either country was a member of the EU," May said at a joint news conference with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny in London. "There is a strong will on both sides to preserve it and so we must now focus on securing a deal that is in the interests of both of us." The pair said they had agreed that the peace process in Northern Ireland, which ended three decades of fighting between Catholic nationalists seeking a united Ireland and Protestant unionists who wanted to keep the province British, must not be undermined by last month's referendum result. Northern Ireland voted to stay in the EU, with 56 percent voting 'Remain', putting it at odds with the United Kingdom's overall 52-48 percent result in favour of leaving. Some have demanded a referendum to split Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom so it can remain in the EU as part of a united Ireland. Asked about the prospect of a united Ireland, Kenny said he respected Britain's decision to leave the EU and the job now was to work through the Brexit process in "as practical, as imaginative and as creative a manner as is possible". Kenny also said while many obstacles lay ahead, it was in Ireland's interests to see its neighbour prosper outside the EU. In the terse statement on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 and published by QED, it read, UBA is aware of the on-going and spurious media speculation linking our institution to recent events in Turkey. In light of this we believe it is necessary to categorically state that UBA has no involvement in or connection to these accusations, which are clearly false. The Polisario Front's UN representative, Ahmed Boukhari, told reporters that "the resolution has not been implemented" and sent a letter urging the council to obtain "a commitment from Morocco to respect MINURSO's mandate." Morocco this month allowed 25 UN staffers to return to Laayoune, where the MINURSO mission is headquartered, but this represents only about a third of the personnel expelled in March. Morocco unilaterally cut back the UN staff in angry retaliation over UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's use of the term "occupation" to describe the status of the territory it claims as its own. Boukhari said the council must send a strong message to Morocco to allow more UN staff to return to Western Sahara and to agree to political talks on the future of the territory. The UN envoy for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, has been trying for weeks to set a date for a visit to the region, but no firm date has been announced. Boukhari argued that inaction was not an option for Western Sahara, which is located in a volatile region with nearby Libya and the Sahel region in turmoil. "Business as usual is the wrong answer to the Western Sahara case," he said. MINURSO was established in 1991 after a ceasefire ended a war that broke out when Morocco sent troops to the former Spanish territory in 1975 and fought Sahrawi rebels of the Algerian-backed Polisario Front. Morocco maintains that Western Sahara is an integral part of the kingdom despite UN resolutions that task MINURSO with organizing a referendum on self-determination. ALSO READ: Morocco wants to rejoin African Union - king The US-drafted resolution backed by 10 of the 15 council members in April stressed "the urgent need" for the mission to return to "its full functionality" after Rabat unilaterally ordered the UN staff to leave. The resolution stated that if the mission was not fully functioning by the end of July, the council would "consider how best to facilitate the achievement of this goal". --------------------------------------------- Lighting the way to McAfee Pass a waning moon led 21 locals the 10.7 miles that climb almost 3,000 feet to the top of the Silver Peak Range on their way from Fish Lake Valley to the Old School Saloon terminus 34 miles away in Silver Peak for the 22nd annual Silver Peak or Bust hike. A roundup of items of interest from the Democratic National Convention: NO BACON FOR BREAKFAST: Iowa delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia are missing their bacon. Breakfast at the downtown Marriott hotel where delegates are paying about $500 a night for rooms is hearty with eggs, potatoes, fruit and pastries. But no bacon. Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Andy McGuire explained that the hotel told her it would be another $700 to put bacon out for the delegates. Although she knows Iowans love their bacon, McGuire said the money could be spent on campaigns this fall. SLOVENIAN SOLIDARITY: Melania Trump isnt the only one who has Slovenian ancestry. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who spoke the Iowa delegations breakfast meeting Tuesday, joked that her ancestors came from a place about a half-hour away from where the ancestors of the wife of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump emigrated. You can see the resemblance, she said. We think we have enough Slovenians, Klobuchar said, referring to my fellow Slovenian, Sen. Tom Harkin. Their ancestors came to this country from Slovenia to work in the mines Harkins in the Iowa coal mines and Klobuchars in the Minnesota iron mines. IOWA, MY SECOND HOME: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley visited the Iowa delegation Tuesday to, among other things, pay homage to the hosts of the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses. I spent so much time in Iowa it almost feels like home, said Sanders, who spent 54 days in Iowa ahead of the Feb. 1 caucuses. OMalley, who spent 64 days in Iowa, said it was wonderful to be with friends again and called Iowans salt-of-the- earth people youre what America is all about. I feel like Iowa is my second home, he said. The towns and the places and the people of Iowa will always be very, very dear to my heart and the hearts of my family. I have so many stories and so many good friends. MIDWEST PRIDE: Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar sought to assure Iowa Democrats that they can have confidence in Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, Hillary Clintons running mate. Kaine has Midwest roots, she said. Not only did he grow up in Kansas City the son of an iron worker, and he was born in St. Paul, Minn. With our rich history of vice presidents, with Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale, Minnesota is truly a state and Tim Kaine will now add to this tradition where moms bounce their babies on their knees and say, One day you can grow up to be vice president. That is our Minnesota tradition, she said. HARKIN PREACHES UNITY: Tom Harkin, Iowas former Democratic U.S. Senator, used a history lesson to implore Bernie Sanders supporters from Wisconsin to vote for Hillary Clinton in the November election. Harkin spoke at the breakfast gathering of the Wisconsin delegation Tuesday morning at the Philadelphia Downtown Marriott. Sanders defeated Clinton decisively in Wisconsins Democratic primary, 57 percent to 43 percent. Many Clinton supporters have spent the first days of the convention attempting to foster party unity and ensure Sanders supporters will vote for Clinton this fall. Harkin did the same Tuesday morning in speaking to the Wisconsin delegates, using the 1968 election as an example of how party division may have hurt Democrats. Harkin said he thinks supporters of Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy (who was assassinated during the campaign) may not have done as much as they could have to help primary winner Hubert Humphrey in the general election. Humphrey lost to Republican Richard Nixon. Imagine what our country would have been like without eight years of Richard Nixon, Harkin said. So I say to you (Sanders supporters), look, weve got to come together. The other side is way too scary. IOWANS HIGHLIGHT WOMENS HISTORY: During state-by-state roll call voting on the floor, during which representatives often note items of interest about their states, three Iowa representatives noted some of the historic accomplishments of Iowa women. Sruthi Palaniappan, an 18-year-old delegate from Cedar Rapids, noted that in 1857 the University of Iowa became the first state university in the nation to accept women into its degree programs. U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack noted that in 1869 Iowa became the first state to allow women to join the bar, which allowed Arabella Mansfield to become the nations first female attorney. That led to Iowas final roll call, delivered by state party chairwoman Dr. Andy McGuire, who delivered the states 21 votes for Bernie Sanders and 30 votes for Hillary Clinton, who McGuire noted becomes the first woman to be nominated by president by the major political parties. Compiled by the Des Moines Bureau CLINTON LyondellBasell has begun construction on a $50 million administration building at its Clinton complex. Company officials joined Clinton community representatives and representatives of Bush Construction Co., the project's contractor, in a private ground-breaking ceremony two weeks ago. The new state-of-the-art facility will include administrative offices, a control room, laboratory and a maintenance shop. Company spokesman Scott Buchman said the one-story building will bring several departments together with a large portion of the building dedicated to office space. "The new facility will streamline our operations by having multiple departments in one location,'' Christopher Cain, the Clinton site manager, said in a news release. Buchman said in an email that no new functions are coming to Clinton as a result of the expansion. LyondellBasell also did not announce any additional jobs. The company employs about 400 workers in Clinton. The new building is expected to be completed by the spring of 2018. Mike Kirchhoff, president and CEO of Clinton Regional Development Corp., applauded the investment decision by LyondellBasell. "We're especially excited about this project given LyondellBasell's significant presence, economic impact and long history of success in our region." Describing the project as "a large investment," Buchman said it "is one of a portfolio of capital projects and other improvements at the site." The plant, one of the largest chemical plants in Iowa, manufactures ethylene the world's most widely-used petrochemical. The Clinton facility also converts ethylene into polyethylene plastic resins, which serve as building blocks for a variety of products including leak-proof and shatter-proof containers, food packaging and children's toys. MUSCATINE, Iowa A former Muscatine police officer is to be sentenced 9 a.m. Tuesday, July 26 after being convicted of sexual abuse. Tomas A. Tovar, 49, was found guilty of third-degree sexual abuse, a class C felony, in Muscatine County District Court in June. In the wee hours of Feb. 16, 2013, Tovar drove Shari Martin to the Clarion Hotel in Muscatine after her boyfriend, David Faust, was arrested for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Faust was pulled over in a routine traffic stop. Tovar entered Martin's hotel room, and engaged in sexual intercourse with her. According to Iowa Code section 902.9, a class C felony is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Emily Wenger of the Muscatine Journal The man who was shot by Davenport police last week after allegedly ramming a squad car while fleeing a shooting scene is now wanted for violating his probation on two Scott County cases. Rodricco Radell Parks Jr., 19, was not in custody as of Monday night and is no longer hospitalized. Probation violations are filed with the district courts by the Iowa Department of Corrections. On May 19, Parks pleaded guilty to one count of assault while displaying a dangerous weapon (a vehicle), and one count of third-degree theft. Each of the charges is an aggravated misdemeanor under Iowa law that carries a possible prison sentence of up to two years. He was sentenced to two years on probation in Scott County. Under the terms of his probation in Iowa, Parks is not allowed to be engaged in criminal activity of any kind and was ordered to stay out of trouble. Parks is also on probation in Rock Island County on a separate charge. He has been serving a 30-month term on probation for felony theft out of Rock Island County. He pleaded guilty to that charge Dec. 22 in Rock Island County Circuit Court. The charge is a Class 3 felony under Illinois law that carries a prison sentence of two to five years. Rock Island County Circuit Court officials could not be reached for comment about possible penalties for violating probation this case. If the court finds that Parks violated his probation on the Iowa cases he could be sentenced to serve the remainder of the time prison. Bond for Parks has been set at $2,000 cash in each of the probation violation charges in Iowa. Fleeing the scene The probation violation in Iowa is the result of an incident that took place on July 18 about 11:40 p.m. Davenport police responded to the 1300 block of Ripley Street for a report of shots fired. That night, a witness provided information on a possible suspect vehicle, which officers saw leaving the area at a high rate of speed, according to police. Officers attempted to stop the vehicle in a parking lot in the 1600 block of Rockingham Road. The vehicle rammed a marked squad car, and the two officers discharged their service weapons, according to police. Parks drove over the curb and fled westbound on Rockingham Road. His vehicle was later found in the 500 block of Pine Street, according to police. At 12:39 a.m., officers were called to Genesis Medical Center, West Central Park, Davenport, for a report of a man with a gunshot wound, identified by the Scott County Sheriff's Office as Parks. He had been transported to the hospital by private vehicle, according to police. He later was taken to Genesis Medical Center-East Rusholme Street, and then to University Hospitals, Iowa City. Parks was identified as the driver of the vehicle that rammed the squad car, according to police. Officers Shawn Sullivan and Andrew Weingart have been placed on administrative leave, per the police departments policy. When the investigation into the incident is complete the results will be turned over to the Scott County Attorneys Office. Parks has downplayed his role in the incident. Earlier cases The cases in Scott County in which Parks is accused of violating his probation occurred in March and April. Parks was charged with assault while displaying a dangerous weapon when at 11:46 p.m. on March 6 he got into a verbal altercation with another person at the Kwik Shop at 303 W. Locust St. Parks then got into his bronze-colored Pontiac Grand Prix and ran his car into the back of the victims Dodge Nitro. The victim was in the vehicle at the time. That incident was captured by the stores video cameras. Then, at 5:04 p.m. April 9, Davenport police officers were sent to the Kohls department store, at 3910 Elmore Ave. Parks had $176 in merchandise stuffed inside his pants. The merchandise still had the Kohls tags. Parks was arrested also on an unrelated warrant and it was learned he had two prior theft convictions on April 25, 2015, and Dec. 22, 2015. Parks address at the time of these incidents was listed as 808 Brown St., Davenport. One memory summarized 17 years of giving the ultimate summer camp experience to children. Andy Reiff, a Camp Hand in Hand volunteer, remembered leading a group back from Camp Abe Lincolns lake through rain when, like dominoes, they all fell in the mud and got covered head to toe. The laughter was contagious, the 34-year-old from Rock Island said. We were all cracking up. The Scott County Family Y's Camp Abe Lincoln in Buffalo has been Reiffs summer getaway spot since he was 8 years old, going from participant to counselor-in-training to volunteer. As a teenager, Reiff met Mark Smith of Bettendorf, who co-founded Hand in Hand to serve local children and young adults with special needs. Smith invited Reiff to volunteer for the first Camp Hand in Hand in 2000, and Reiff has returned every summer since. On Friday, Reiff was one of about 50 volunteers and caregivers helping 35 young campers through outdoors activities and crafts. Reiff boasted that he owns all 17 Camp Hand in Hand T-shirts and donned this years, which was navy blue and has an Olympics theme. It makes me feel youthful watching their smiling faces, he said. I remember back to the first time I rode horses and shot bow and arrows. Reiff assisted many children with varying degrees of autism, including Maddie Wright, 17, of Davenport. Having attended camp for the last eight or nine years, Maddie enjoys riding horses and swimming and always looks forward to each years theme. We did Egyptians; that was fantastic, she said. Next year, I think pink shirts. My favorite color is pink. Shawna Ricketts, 19, of Davenport, enjoys water games, including one where winning includes filling buckets. I have fun, she said. Both campers will be seniors at Davenport West High School. Good for you, Reiff told Shawna about her senior status, then gave her a hi-five. Im proud of you. Summer break was an easier time for Reiff to escape to camp when he was a kid. Now the grownup rearranges his work schedule he manages a Rudys Tacos in East Moline to join the youngsters for a week. It seems Reiff always had an appetite for the outdoors. When he was 9, the Quad-City Times found him swinging like Tarzan on the branches of a weeping willow tree in his front yard and shot a photo. Smith said he is grateful Reiff can find the time to volunteer, if for nothing else but his patience and empathy. Watching as Reiff responded to a girl who threw herself to the ground on her way to the swimming pool, Smith said, It looks like Andy had a knack to get her going. About 40 percent of last weeks camp participants have some form of autism while the rest suffer other neurological disorders. A second Camp Hand in Hand this week is for children with physical disabilities. A lot of kids cant really make it in regular social groups at school and work, Smith said. Here they really socialize. Smiths son, Peter, now 27, has autism and has attended the camp since the beginning. Peter was part of the inspiration for Smith and his wife, Vinnie, to start Camp Hand in Hand along with Joanie and Dave Steil. The Steils lost their daughter, Tessa, at age 11. She died in her sleep after living her short life with profound disabilities. They used money given to Tessas memorial fund to help subsidize the first Camp Hand in Hand. The camp continues to operate largely on donations. Camp Hand in Hand was Reiffs first opportunity to work with children with special needs. It surprised him how quickly he got along with the camp participants. I was very receptive to them and they were very receptive to me, he said. I enjoy watching them do these camp activities. It really is a good program. PHILADELPHIA Tom Harkin kicked off Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention with a lesson in sign language. The former Democratic U.S. senator from Iowa spoke at the convention on Tuesday, the 26th anniversary of his signature legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act. Harkin told the crowd he was going to teach them a word in sign language. He told the thousands to join their hands by interlocking their fingers, then to make a circle motion. That, my friends, is the sign for America, Harkin said, drawing loud applause. Its a beautiful sign. Think about it: Were all together. No one is left out in this constant circle of life that is America. Harkin celebrated the ADA and said Hillary Clinton, who later Tuesday was to be named the partys nominee for president, will be a champion for people with disabilities. That is the America that we all want, disabled and not disabled alike, Harkin said. It is the beautiful America that Hillary Clinton will fight for, for every person to be respected, valued and treated with dignity. Harkin retired from the Senate in 2014. He said that in his retirement he has extended his work for people with disabilities, working with organizations that help them find employment. Harkin noted the small percentage of adults with disabilities who are working 35 percent in 2014, according to federal data compiled by Cornell University in New York; said the law should be changed to prevent employers from paying employees with disabilities less than the minimum wage; and said disabled adults on Medicaid should be free to live at home, not just in nursing homes. We still have a long way to go before we build a truly inclusive America, Harkin said. Hillary Clinton wants to ensure people with disabilities are judged by their potential and have the tools to secure competitive, integrated employment. PHILADELPHIA Although he finished second to Hillary Clinton 49.9 percent to 49.6 percent in Iowas first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has praise for Iowas caucus process. You all know that Iowa plays a unique role in the American political process, he told Iowa delegates at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday morning. As the first state where votes are cast, what you have done and what impressed me was the degree to which people in Iowa understand the unique role and are really prepared to talk and to contemplate the important issues facing our country. I want to congratulate you for that. His remarks followed a Monday night address to the convention in Philadelphia which Sanders used to call on Democrats, including his disillusioned supporters, to unite to elect Clinton. Sanders did acknowledge there has been criticism of the caucuses, including some from his camp, about the mechanics of the caucuses, such as coin flips to determine precinct caucus winners, the preference groups and the use delegate equivalents rather than count the actual number of caucus participants. There are things to be talked about, he said. On the other hand, Sanders said the Iowa caucuses, warts and all, say to people, 'We live in a democratic society and youre going to have to get involved. Yes, its going to take an hour or two hours of your life to determine the future of this country. So what?' The discussion the caucuses facilitate among friends and neighbors about the issues facing the nation is what we have got to do as a nation, Sanders said. He thinks the more people get involved in the serious discussions facing our country, the less they are going to be voting Republican. Win or lose, Iowa was an important state for his campaign because the caucuses gave us the opportunity to tell the rest of the world that we were a serious campaign. And six months after the caucuses, Sanders still wasnt ready to completely concede losing to Clinton by 1.8 delegate equivalents and being awarded 21 DNC delegates to Clintons 23, not including superdelegates. We ended up coming close to splitting the delegates, he said. I wouldnt be surprised if we ended up with a little bit more of the popular vote. PHILADELPHIA Bernie Sanders most passionate supporters spent Tuesday morning wrestling with pleas from the presidential candidate for whom they have so much affection to vote for the candidate for whom they have so much contempt. Sanders, in giving the final speech of the opening day of the Democratic National Convention on Monday, urged his supporters to vote for Hillary Clinton in this falls election in order to defeat Republican candidate Donald Trump. Sanders repeated that call Tuesday morning as he made the rounds speaking to various state delegations in downtown Philadelphia. One, we have to defeat Donald Trump. Two, we have to elect Hillary Clinton. And three, we have to sustain our progressive movement, Sanders told Wisconsin delegates. While Sanders spoke, a Wisconsin supporter grumbled that national Democratic Party leaders have not sufficiently apologized to Sanders supporters for leaked emails that show national party officials favoring Clinton during the primary election season. When Sanders spoke moments later to the Iowa delegation, a pair of young supporters were moved to tears. Iowa delegate Daniel Clark, 25, of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, said he worked extensively for Sanders campaign in Iowa but had never met Sanders before Tuesday, when Sanders made an unannounced stop at the Iowa delegations morning meeting. Sanders spoke just a couple feet away from Clark, who was emotional throughout the brief remarks. Clark called it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Like many of Sanders most fervent supporters, Clark said that despite Sanders pleas, he cannot envision voting for Clinton. As of right now, I dont feel that its in our best interests, if we are true Bernie Sanders supporters, to back Hillary. Weve been fighting everything she represents for two months, Clark said. He got this huge revolution going, and he started this huge fire, and we all feel the Bern, and its very difficult to put that out. Iowa delegate Jesica Butler, 25, of Hawarden was emotional during Sanders appearance and remained so afterward when discussing Sanders. She said a vote for Clinton would run contrary to everything she fought for in supporting Sanders. Butler said it is disappointing to hear Sanders ask his supporters to vote for Clinton. The whole time weve been fighting against all the things that Hillary Clinton stands for, Butler said. "So to support her is just awful." Iowa delegate Rebecca Mueller, 35, of Muscatine said she resents that some Clinton supporters are warning Sanders supporters that if they do not support Clinton they are enabling a potential Trump victory. We dont like the fear-mongering that is going on within the Democratic Party, that if you dont want Trump, you must vote for Hillary Clinton, Mueller said. She said many Sanders supporters may, instead, vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein and even Sanders calls to vote for Clinton will not sway many. (Sanders) has to make his down decision about how he wants to move forward, Mueller said. Berners are going to go their own way. Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner brought his push for legislative term limits to the Quad-Cities on Tuesday, arguing it's the fastest way to change the culture in Springfield. Rauner, a Republican, made a stop at the Corn Crib Nursery in Coal Valley, where he urged people to lobby their legislators to approve a measure this fall to put a term limits measure on the ballot. The earliest that would occur would be in 2018, he said. Lawmakers are unlikely to approve a term limits proposal, but Rauner is spending two days pushing the idea, arguing that polls show broad support for the move. In Coal Valley, Rauner argued too many elections, whether it's in the primary or the general election, aren't competitive. "The system is rigged to protect incumbents," he said. Rauner has been in a protracted struggle with legislative Democrats over a budget and his reform agenda. He said that term limits aren't a requirement to get his agenda passed. But, the governor added, the proposal is the quickest way to appeal to people, including Democrats, who he said are willing to support things such as pension reform and changing the property tax system. "People want that. We've got to get them to stand up," Rauner said. "Term limits changes the mindset, changes the culture." Rauner's proposal calls for an eight-year limit on statewide offices and 10 years for legislators. The governor also proposed term limits in 2014, but a state court blocked it from going on the ballot, calling the plan unconstitutional. In battleground Iowa, Donald Trump will be the first candidate to land. The Republican presidential nominee will make a pair of campaign stops in eastern Iowa on Thursday, the same day Democratic rival Hillary Clinton will accept her party's nomination. The Trump campaign announced the visits to Davenport and Cedar Rapids on Tuesday. Trump, who officially captured his party's presidential nomination last week in Cleveland, will be the first of the two to visit the state since their respective primary contests ended. As in past elections, Iowa is expected to be a closely contested state this fall. And while some observers didn't attach much importance Tuesday to the idea that Trump will get to the state first, his stops in some of the most Democratic parts of Iowa will put him in front of some of the kind of voters that he's appealing to elsewhere in the country. "Iowa isnt quite the Rust Belt," said Dennis Goldford, a political science professor at Drake University. "But in eastern Iowa, youve got a lot more manufacturing than you have in other parts of the country," he said. Trump, who has been critical of U.S. trade and immigration policies, has been courting Rust Belt voters, and his schedule this week reflects some of that. On Wednesday, Trump will make campaign stops in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Waukesha, Wisconsin, and Toledo, Ohio, before going to eastern Iowa on Thursday. Donna Hoffman, the head of the political science department at the University of Northern Iowa, said she didn't draw too much significance from his stops in eastern Iowa, but she added, "it is significant that he's going to be in Iowa, the week of the Democratic National Convention to try to draw attention from the Democrats in Philly. Trump will hold a 4 p.m. rally at the Adler Theatre, 136 E. 3rd St., Davenport, with doors to open at 1 p.m. After the Davenport rally, he'll head to Cedar Rapids for an 8 p.m. rally at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Cedar Rapids Convention Complex, 350 1st Avenue, NE. The doors to that event open at 5 p.m. "Eastern Iowa is an opportunity for Mr. Trump and for the campaign. We see that in just the full out outpouring of support from people of all backgrounds," said Eric Branstad, Trump's state director in Iowa. The Mississippi River region of Iowa was friendly to Trump in the 2016 caucuses. Of the 10 counties bordering the river, Trump won all but two Clayton and Scott counties. He finished second in both counties, with his loss in Scott County coming by less than a percentage point to Marco Rubio. Trump finished third in Linn County, where Cedar Rapids is located. That said, the general election will mean a broader electorate, and Clinton already has beaten Trump to the punch when it comes to staffing up in the state and on airing television advertisements. Both Clinton and the Super PAC backing her, Priorities USA, have aired ads in the state, while Trump has not done so. Branstad did not say anything about television ads Tuesday, but he said the campaign will be making announcement about a campaign headquarters and staffing "very soon." Polls say the two candidates are running fairly evenly in the state. The RealClearPolitics average in Iowa says that Clinton is leading Trump, 41.3 percent to 40.8 percent. No poll has been conducted though since before the Republican National Convention. AMES, Iowa Iowas annual Sales Tax Holiday is Aug. 5-6. This annual event, in which no sales tax is charged on clothing and footwear items priced under $100, is now fairly routine, but that does not mean that consumers are well-prepared, according to Barb Wollan, a human sciences specialist in family finance with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Making good use of the sales tax holiday means using it for important clothing purchases, Wollan said. When people simply go to a store and pick up items that catch their eye, they may realize when they get home that they should have purchased other more necessary items instead during the tax holiday. In most of Iowa, the sales tax holiday means a modest 7 percent savings on clothing and footwear. However, retailers often plan sales for the same weekend, which can add significantly to the savings. Even 7 percent adds up: if you purchase 10 clothing items at a total cost of $300, you save $21 in sales tax. That $21 might purchase a couple bags of groceries, so it does have value, Wollan said. Wollan reminds consumers that a reduced cost is never, in itself, enough reason to make a purchase. She recommends that consumers plan ahead so they know what they most need or want. Without good planning, the sales tax holiday could actually increase costs for consumers. If they buy unimportant things on the holiday weekend, then go back later to purchase the things they really needed, their total costs are higher, and their total satisfaction may not increase proportionally, Wollan said. When extra purchases are made using credit cards, the added cost goes beyond the price of the item. Depending how quickly consumers pay off their credit card balances, according to Wollan, the interest on the clothing purchases may outweigh the money saved in sales tax. For tips on how to plan ahead to maximize the benefit of Iowas Sales Tax Holiday, go to ISU Extension and Outreachs MoneyTip$ blog, found at www.blogs.extension.iastate.edu/moneytips. The Sales Tax Holiday runs from 12:01 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 5, through midnight Saturday, Aug. 6, at all Iowa retailers who sell clothing and footwear. The sales tax holiday applies to items priced under $100. After spending a career in juvenile law enforcement, Doug Herrmann wanted to help boys before they took a wrong turn in life. Walking into what might be the loudest, yet happiest, place in the middle of a Rapid City summer day last week, Herrmann talked with boys at the Rapid City Club for Boys, gently corrected a boy not following the rules, and hugged one that came up to him. "I always found myself saying 'If we could just reach them when they were younger," the new executive director recalled. Herrmann took over the job from Dave Oyler, who will celebrate 50 years working at the Club in September. Oyler plans to work part-time, still helping with fundraising and spending time with the boys. The Rapid City Club for Boys is a nonprofit recreation center for boys that costs members $12 a year and provides summer activities and after-school activities for boys from ages 6 to 17 years old. Herrmann retired in March as director of the juvenile division of the South Dakota Department of Corrections. While there, he said he was steeped in the latest social science research on juvenile delinquency and how to help prevent it. "We know what leads to delinquency, its family dysfunction, drugs and alcohol," Herrmann said. "Participating in pro-social activities or the lack of it leads to delinquency. It's not really rocket science." He said his goal, however unrealistic, was to work himself and others in the juvenile division out of a job. When he started as director in 2011, there were 1,140 youth under their care and custody. On the day he left in March, they had less than 500, according to Herrmann. "I really became a proponent of I dont think juvenile corrections should be a growth industry," the Custer native said. "The longer I worked, the more I said 'Boy, I wish we could have interacted with that boy earlier in their life,'" the 55-year-old said last week. "First I was saying 'If we could just work with them when theyre 15,' then that became 12, then it was 10." And now he gets to do just that. "Here we get to work with them starting at 6 years old, and I think those formative years are tremendous," he said. "That's where so much development goes on ... socially and skill-wise and academics and all those things." He said he knew these ages are where he wanted to be working with young people and starting them on a positive path in life, instead of the much more difficult job of trying to change behavior patterns. "I still work with youth, but much earlier in their life, and I try have a big impact on the front end of things as opposed to what I used to do, which was kind of repair and mend," Herrmann said. "Now were building young boys from the start and hoping to build them into fine young men." He said he tries to educate people that research shows that for every dollar spent on programs like the Club for Boys, their investment is much greater than trying to fix problems later in these young boys' lives. "That's why I'm glad the community of Rapid City had the vision to have a place like this and to make a difference early," he said. "In corrections, I had a budget of $35 million a year and we were spending $25 (million) of it to place kids in residential beds. That's 3 and 400 dollars a day. Where what we do here, we touch 1,400 boys a year and our budget is not near that. Herrmann said his biggest surprise in the job so far is the sheer number of available activities. "There is something for everyone," he said. There are the sports, but they also had a talent contest last week, music, outdoor activities like fly fishing, a woodworking shop, craft shop, two gymnasiums, library, computer lab. And that's just the beginning, as there are special events scheduled throughout the year like an ice fishing trip for example. "You dont get a full appreciation of what happens and what the choices they have here until you experience it. You have to experience it," Herrmann said. He said the long-term goal is to continue to do what they do really well, and look for opportunities to provide additional services. "And we anticipate that were going to be looking at doing different things along the road as the community develops and grows. We want to be ready for that," he said. In just three months on the job, he's already seeing the impact the Club For Boys has made on the people of Rapid City and the grown men who used to be members. "I'll be wearing my shirt, and former club members will stop me and ask if I work there, and I explain my role and then theyll always ask if a certain individual is still working here because we have a lot of long-term staff, they'll want to hear about them. But then theyll often tell me that 'I don't know what I would've done if I didnt have the opportunity to be essentially raised in the club,' and that it made a big difference in their lives." "When I run into 35-year-old men and they say I went to the Boys Club, that's really powerful long-term because we try to be role models, and it is quite remarkable, and it really is right at the core of just building young men. But while were doing that, were reducing delinquency. This group of 400 kids that are here today are much less likely to be delinquent in the future." Some degree of confidential communications has existed in America since George Washingtons time as general in the Revolutionary War. But as the global landscape became increasingly complex and the stakes of a single information leak rose, the system used to protect that information evolved from a gentlemens agreement to a formal national security classification system. The modern version we operate under today dates back to World War II when at the urging of Albert Einstein and other scientists it became necessary to ensure information related to the atomic bomb remained secure. Just as during World War II, what earns a classification today must remain undisclosed for the continued safety and security of the United States. No exceptions can be made. In January 2009, just days before assuming the role of Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton set up an unauthorized email server in an unsecured location over which both personal and official emails would be transmitted. Few in the general public knew of the set up before a House investigation into the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, uncovered it in 2015. In the months since, we have learned that tens of thousands of State Department emails were sent through that server, including more than 100 that contained classified information at the time they were sent. Eight of those email chains included Top Secret information, which under federal rules means the information would cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security. Despite the sensitivity of the information, the email server was left physically and virtually unprotected. Getting a Gmail account would have been more secure, according to FBI Director James Comey. The consequences are real. Comey explained hostile actors may have gained access to the information. In fact, the FBI was able to confirm hostile actors did gain access to the private email accounts of individuals Clinton was in regular contact with. Despite all this, no indictment of Clinton or her staff was made, a decision the FBI says was because Clinton didnt mean to put our national security at risk with the careless behavior. Regardless of intentions, carelessly mishandling classified information breaks the publics trust and jeopardizes our national security and the safety of our troops and diplomats abroad. With so many serious questions remaining, I am actively fighting to keep Americas classified information and in turn, the American people secure. Following the Democratic National Convention at the end of this month, Clinton is expected to begin receiving classified intelligence briefings. Without the publics overt permission in November, this level of access should not be given to someone who has historically acted carelessly with our national security. Shortly after Comeys announcement, I joined Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul and others in supporting the TRUST Act, which would revoke Clintons security clearance as well as the security clearances of her colleagues at the State Department who were also careless in their handling of classified information. Additionally, the legislation would express Congresss desire to keep classified information out of Clintons hands until she earns the legal right to such access. I have also reached out directly to Comey with questions about the process he used to make a recommendation against indictment as well as the precedent this decision will set. It is imperative we have clarity and accountability on this. I firmly believe there is a great responsibility that comes with access to classified information. Only those who will treat it with the extreme care it merits should have access. No one should get an exception to that rule. Gov. Dennis Daugaards plan to create a new state park at Spearfish Canyon is progressing thanks to South Dakotas Congressional Delegation. Sen. John Thune today introduced federal legislation to authorize a land exchange between the federal government and the State of South Dakota. The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Mike Rounds. Rep. Kristi Noem also today introduced a companion bill in the House of Representatives. We first raised this idea with our congressional delegation in October of last year and asked for their help in creating a state park around Spearfish Canyon. I thank Sen. Thune, Sen. Rounds and Rep. Noem for their efforts at the federal level, said Daugaard. There are still many steps to take before this vision can become a reality, but Im hopeful we will get there. The proposal initiated by the governor was publicly announced in the 2016 State of the State Address in January. The proposed state park will contain natural features in the canyon including Roughlock Falls, Spearfish Falls, Spearfish Creek and Little Spearfish Creek. Under the Governors plan, the Department of Game, Fish and Parks will upgrade facilities and roads and open a new area of Spearfish Canyon to the public. Since the proposal was announced in January, the State of South Dakota has purchased 73 acres surrounding Spearfish Falls from the Barrick Gold Corporation. Another 34 acres in Spearfish Canyon has been gifted to the state from the Spearfish Canyon Foundation. The bills introduced by the South Dakota congressional delegation also include a land exchange for property including Bismarck Lake, which is adjacent to Custer State Park and currently owned by the federal government. If the legislation is successful, Game, Fish and Parks will integrate the parcel into Custer State Park and improve the facilities at Bismarck Lake to better serve visitors. BOX ELDER | The South Dakota Air and Space Museum will host its first community appreciation day on Saturday, July 30. Normal museum hours are 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. The special appreciation day events will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The appreciation day will celebrate the museums mission to preserve the legacy of Ellsworth Air Force Base, the United States Air Force, and the men and women whove served not just in the Black Hills area, but around the world. The museum is off I-90 at exit 67, located at 2890 Davis Dr. outside the main gate of Ellsworth AFB in Box Elder. The appreciation day also celebrates the continuing evolution of the museum by showcasing recent museum updates and future additions. A major landscaping project was recently completed to highlight the many aircraft on static display outside the museum. New aviation-themed merchandise is available for purchase in the museum gift shop. Future additions will include a new Titan missile display, LANDSAT satellite display and interactive F-16 simulator, all of which are expected to be in place by the end of 2016. Museum admission is always free. Some special events for the appreciation day are available for either a nominal cost or a suggested donation. All funds go directly to the museum. Im very excited about the great things happening at the South Dakota Air and Space Museum; its a testament to the support we have from the U.S. Air Force and from our community, said Dan Kuecker, executive director for the South Dakota Air and Space Museum. Tens of thousands of people have served America at Ellsworth, and many more throughout the Black Hills have supported and been supported by the base since it was Rapid City Army Air Base more than 70 years ago. Our job at the museum has always been to honor those whove served, and the community thats given so much to them. Its time we celebrate this relationship. Among the special events taking place during the appreciation day are a planetarium display running all day in the museums gallery one. Guest speakers will share stories throughout the day in gallery three. A special make-and-take model table will be set up for children to build scale model aircraft and take them home. Outside, local fire teams will have trucks on display and K-9 units will hold demonstrations. Hot dogs and beverages will be available for purchase in the afternoon while supplies last. The gift shop will be offering special discounts on all merchandise, with some items up to 50 percent off. Guided tours of Ellsworth Air Force Base and a Minuteman II missile silo are available for a small fee. An exclusive appreciation day t-shirt will be available for anyone choosing to become a member of the South Dakota Air and Space Museum at the $25 level. Memberships are good for one year and come with numerous additional benefits. Proceeds from all events and purchases go directly to the museum. These events are in addition to the many exhibits inside the museum, including a hands-on F-106 cockpit mock-up, a radio control drone simulator, B-1 cockpit mock-ups, aircraft engines, memorabilia, and an extensive history of U.S. Air Force aircraft, strategic missiles, and the missions theyve undertaken. Outside, over 30 aircraft are on static display including vintage World War II bombers, century series fighter jets, numerous support aircraft, the enduring B-52 bomber thats been in service for over 60 years, and of course the B-1B supersonic bomber thats currently based at Ellsworth AFB. We are looking forward to reintroducing the museum to our friends throughout the Black Hills and beyond with our appreciation day, said Kuecker. It will be a family-friendly day that people of all ages will enjoy. For questions regarding the appreciation day, contact the South Dakota Air and Space Museum at (605) 385-5189. Opponents of the Joint Airport Zoning Boards attempts to draft regulations to bring the airport into compliance with state law seemed mostly satisfied with the draft presented at a public hearing but continued to demand that the board disband itself. The Joint Airport Zoning Board presented its fifth draft for public review July 20. This is quite a change from the initial draft, said Jerry Schumacher, adding that it is a step in the right direction. The state Legislature passed the Airport Zoning Act in 2013. The law requires the creation of 10-mile zoning cones off the ends of instrument rated runways. A 1956 resolution between Dawes County and the City of Chadron created and gave zoning authority around the airport to a Joint Airport Zoning Board comprised of two county members, two city members and a fifth member selected by the other four. Under that resolution, the Joint Airport Zoning Board controls zoning in a three-mile perimeter surrounding the airport. When the Joint Board proposed an ordinance to comply with the new state law, the Dawes County Zoning Board and rural residents objected to much of the language included in the draft, which they called overreaching and disrespectful to rural residents. A year after the county Zoning Board received the proposed ordinance for review, it commissioned a citizens committee to write a proposed ordinance of its own, which was approved by the Dawes County Zoning Board at the end of February. That draft was eventually presented to the Joint Airport Zoning Board, which has taken up the task of merging its original draft with that of the countys. The Joint Boards draft presented last week incorporates much of the language suggested by the committee representing rural residents. The two biggest issues yet to be resolved between the various entities include how large of an area around the airport the City of Chadron will be allowed to zone and the composition of the board of adjustment, which will hear appeals on zoning issues in the airport hazard areas. The Dawes County Commissioners have approved a resolution limiting the citys zoning authority to 500 feet around the perimeter of the airport, rather than the previously agreed upon three miles spelled out in the 1956 resolution and the JAZBs fifth draft. The county also rescinded its participation in the Joint Airport Zoning Board; the fact that the remaining three members continue to operate has been a bone of contention. Schumacher said there is an easy answer: for you folks to go away as a board. Don Mandelko, a member of the Dawes County Zoning Board, said residents dont trust the Joint Board because it could authorize changes to the regulations at some point in the future without consulting either the Chadron City Council or the Dawes County Commissioners. Schumacher said the countys draft proposal included language that said future amendments to the regulations would be restricted to those required to mimic changes made by the Federal Aviation Authority, the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics and the state Legislature. Mandelko suggested adding a statement to that affect would ease a lot of peoples minds. The JAZBs fifth draft includes a board of adjustment made up of individuals representing the county (two people), the city (two people) and the two-mile perimeter surrounding Chadron, which falls outside city limits but under city zoning jurisdiction (one person). Mandelko strongly suggested that all five positions be given to rural residents. Schumacher also commented on several more minor aspects of the draft but did request that any board of adjustment hearings be advertised in all three manners described in the draft: a large posted sign, publication in the newspaper and notification by mail. Should only two of the three be selected as is required he urged the board to ensure that newspaper publication is one of them. The Joint Airport Zoning Board will meet again Aug. 10 at 4 p.m. Fire burns 14,000 acres, impacts a dozen ranchers near Edgemont EDGEMONT As of Thursday morning, July 21, the Indian Canyon fire, which began after a lightning strike about five miles southeast of Edgemont, was all but history, 85 percent contained, according to Great Plain Fire Information this despite four days of temperatures topping 90 degrees, and an expanding level of drought. Altogether the fire burned more than 14,133 acres, according to fire officials. Impact Among those hardest hit by the fire was the Stearns family, of Edgemont. Their ranch, composed of both deeded acres and rented acres, was located smack dab in the center of the blaze. Thursday morning, Melissa Stearns, an Edgemont rancher and owner of Three Corners Insurance Agency in both Hot Springs and Edgemont, talked about her familys experiences with the fire and its aftermath, how it impacted them. Stearns is married to Jerry, and they have three children Kaylen, Jared and Jana. Stearns said the family ranch lost 7,000 of a total of 11,000 acres of the ranch to the fire, about 75 percent of their ground. This included 4,000 deeded acres; 1,100 acres of U.S. Forest Service leased grasslands, and 356 acres of Tennesee Valley Authority land that burned. Stearns said the ranch also experienced a significant loss of fencing and a significant loss of grazing land but no cows were lost, none even singed, the calves are okay, too. Stearns recalls the fire starting Saturday, July 16, east of Dewane and Flora Stearns place family who live in town now; the ranch uses their ground for cattle pasture. It burned both sides of Indian Canyon Road, and it was very close to taking Dewane and Floras building, Stearns said. Then it took off southwest, going cross country, and jumped Indian Canyon Road, then Plum Creek Road. Great Plains Fire Information (GPFI) bears this out, noting that by 5 p.m. Saturday, the fire had lit up about 6,000 total acres. Stearns said the family thought the fire was contained on Saturday evening. Sunday morning, Jerry Stearns was moving cows around in the burned area, she said. He barely made it back to the house, she said. Sunday, it turned vicious. The real damage was done on Sunday. It crossed Hwy. 471, and thats open prairie, there was nothing there to stop it. Sunday, it got too dangerous. Due to wind and dry conditions, the fire doubled in size, consuming 12,000 acres by 8 p.m. Sunday evening, July 17, GPFI noted. The fire forced the evacuation of Cottonwood Heights, a small subdivision of about 20 residences, south of Edgemont. Stearns said she worried about the firefighters trying to battle the blaze. Reports of fire truck mirrors and other parts melting from the heat of the blaze have been reported during this time. One of the first things Sundays inferno threatened was the Stearns childrens 4-H barn. (The family is heavily involved in the county 4-H program, competing also in state and regional 4-H livestock shows and other events.) They stood and watched the fire encroach on the barn and there was nothing they could do, Stearns remembered. The 4-H barn didnt burn, but Stearns said experiencing this actually helped stabilize her children, that they matured five years in two days time. She also talked about how the fire put a physical and mental strain on the rest of the family, Sunday, she said, the family was asked to leave their home because firefighters were fearful they couldnt save it. When we were asked to leave, told that they might not be able to save the house, we went a mile down the road. I just couldnt go any further. I didnt want to see it burn, but I just couldnt leave it, she said. There was a lot of physical and mental strain. Our biggest concern was the vital genetics that the family has spent more than 50 years accumulating. Helicopters dropping water and fire retardant saved their house Sunday, she said. and when the very large air tanker (VLAT) got into action, Stearns said she could see the fire starting to respond. Also, Sunday, the Cottonwood subdivision was evacuated and the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Type 1 Team was ordered to the Indian Canyon Fire. Type 1 teams involve a large number of people and equipment and are multi-agency efforts, backed by some level of national resources and are typically called in for very large fires, complex incidents and natural disasters, according to U.S. Department of Interior information. Responding to the fire were about 200 people from the Nebraska National Forest, the Black Hills National Forest, the South Dakota Wildland Fire unit, South Dakota and Nebraska Single Engine Air Tankers (SEAT) planes, and a Very Large Air Tanker (VLAT), dropping fire retardant. The fire held at 12,000 acres. By Monday morning, July 18, at 9 a.m. the fire was still not at all contained. Rainfall Sunday evening helped hold the fire, according to GPFI, but high temperatures and wind remained a concern. About 60 engines and tenders were on scene, along with six hand crews and three single engine tanks. Again, the VLAT, one of only three in the country, was brought in to drop fire retardant. By 4:30 p.m. Monday, the fire was listed as 60 percent contained. At 6:30 p.m., the fire total was upped to 13,500 acres destroyed. On Tuesday morning, July 19, after a global positioning system (GPS) review, the total acres covered by the fire were upped to 14,133 acres. Containment was at still 60 percent, but no injuries and no structure losses occurred. GPFI reported that significant loss to rangeland and hay have been reported, that the fire impacted about a dozen ranches, along with U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management ground. Continuing to contain the fire and mopping up were the order of the day, and Type 1 team resources were demobilized. Aftermath John Koller, a rancher who lives on the other side of the Cheyenne River, north of Edgemont, but lost about 100 acres of ground south of the river in the fire enough for about two cows, he said, smiling was feeling the pain of fellow ranchers whod lost more Thursday afternoon. Every blade of grass matters in a drought, Koller said. If you run out of food for your cattle, you run out of income, an economic impact. You need to fill them up daily. It doesnt have to be high quality food, but something to chew on. He talked about using carryover hay as a substitute feed but said ranchers who lost ground would have to cut back their herds because there simply wasnt enough grass available for forage between the drought and the fire. Thered be some hard choices facing these ranchers, he said: sell off their herds, take them to a feedlot or try to carry on. He believed some were insured against this kind of risk. He was not, however, a personal risk choice. Stearns mirrored some of his statements. Well be using every resource we have to hold on to the ranch. We will sell down some cows, she said, noting also that their hay supply didnt burn. Well wean early, look at cows and make a decision on who stays, who goes to the sales barn. There are always cull cows the fence riders and others. The grass will come back, Stearns said, but we need rain to do that. When it does, it will have taken out cactus, sage and improved the ground. But we also have 30-35 miles of fence to put in. The feds will help with this NRCS and FSA, both are involved on various acreages of the ranch but its not fast with feds. Koller also said the grass will come back, with rain, but with the drought its likely to be weakened, and was not expecting to see the positive side of the burn until perhaps next spring. Stearns was mostly thankful, though. This ranch wouldnt have made it without the Thompson family, the firefighters, the helicopter that saved our house, she said. The community has also been great the Harrison (Neb.) community stepped up to offer help, my (insurance business) customer base has been offering help and letting us know theyre thinking of us, praying for us. Weve had people who helped, calls, Facebook message, well wishes coming from across the USA. It all adds up. For the future, were going to focus on the county fair, and hope for the state fair this year, she said. Meanwhile, on July 19 four more lightning-ignited fires sprang up near Smithwick. One, the Fisher Creek #2, took place about 13 miles southwest of Oelrichs, five miles shy of the Nebraska line. Ignited by equipment running on private land, it burned 56 acres before being contained that afternoon. Fire season came early this year and appears to be sticking around. HOT SPRINGS Winners in the 2016 Miss South Dakota Pageant Parade, held earlier this summer, were recently announced by the Hot Springs Lions Club who organizes the annual Hot Springs event. This years theme of the pageant was Still Living The Dream. Earning the award for the Best Interpretation of the Pageant Theme was the float featuring the first-ever Miss South Dakota in 1947, Roslyn Anderson. The Hot Springs Community Band won the Best Community Organization Entry, while Guss Best Ice Cream won the Best Commercial Entry competition. The Rapid City Ranger Band won Best Youth Organization while the Judges Choice Best Convertible went to Ray and Candy Hussey for their 1923 Bucket-T Ford. The Lions Club says they thank all of the drivers and owners for the convertibles that participated in the parade, as well as those who provided pickups and flat beds along with the Miss SD contestants, workers and local emergency personnel. A state judge has ruled the firearm used in a Rapid City shooting last February will not be returned to the gunmans mother, who requested the weapon to help her grieving. The 9mm handgun Earl Hicks used to shoot a resident of the Cornerstone Rescue Mission on Feb. 28 will remain with the state due to the fact the firearm was used in the commission of a crime, Seventh Circuit Judge Matthew Brown said in a written decision Thursday. The weapon should be used or disposed of according to the law, Brown wrote. Although the court has limited powers to direct how the gun should be handled, the judge said, he agreed with Hicks mother that it should be destroyed if kept by the state. Last Tuesday, Jackie Giago appeared at the Pennington County Courthouse to ask that her sons gun be returned to her. Giago told Brown she had not yet decided what to do with the firearm, but believes having it would help her achieve closure in her sons death. Hicks, 43, was fatally shot by a Rapid City police officer who responded to the Cornerstone shooting. The South Dakota Attorney Generals office, which investigates shootings involving officers, ruled that the use of lethal force on Hicks was justified. The man Hicks shot survived a wound to the upper chest. Hicks Smith and Wesson handgun is being held at the state forensic laboratory in Pierre, where it was tested as part of the state's shooting investigation. It will be kept at the facility until the court makes a final decision on Giagos claim, Attorney Generals Office spokesperson Sara Rabern said Monday. Giago on Monday said she had not decided whether to appeal Browns decision, and will consult with her attorney. I want (the gun) destroyed, and I would like to be sure that thats what it read, she said in a phone interview. Giago also said she did not feel comfortable with the way her court case was handled. She referred to last weeks hearing in which an assistant attorney general cited a Pennsylvania precedent in the absence of one in South Dakota to argue that Hicks gun was a derivative contraband since it was used in a crime. Pennsylvania doesnt have anything to do with South Dakota, Giago said. Im just kind of wanting to get a little bit more clarity. She reiterated to the Journal the need for improved laws and regulations involving people with mental health issues, including how they receive treatment. Hicks had a long history of depression and had voluntarily checked himself into a hospital, at least twice, for mental health problems, according to a report from the Attorney Generals office. It also said Hicks had talked about killing himself about four months before the Cornerstone shooting. Two days before the incident, Hicks acquired a Smith and Wesson 9mm handgun from a Rapid City shop. Im not trying to change the gun laws, Giago said Monday. Im trying to make the people more aware of mental health issues. One man is dead and another suffered serious life-threatening injuries Monday evening after a shooting at a north-side apartment complex in Rapid City. Rapid City Police Chief Karl Jegeris said police received a call of shots fired just after 7:30 p.m. in the Knollwood Heights Apartments at 100 Surfwood Drive. Jegeris said two men were transferred to Rapid City Regional Hospital for gunshot wounds and "appeared to be alive," when they left the scene. Police later reported that one man was pronounced dead at the hospital. The two men's names were not immediately released. According to Jegeris, one man was shot by another in an apartment at the complex Monday evening. The shooting victim then fled outside and was followed by the shooter. That shooter was then also shot just outside the complex on the south side of the building, but Jegeris said he did not have details about how that second shooting took place. It also was unclear which shooting victim died. A private security officer with Rapid Patrol arrived at the scene before Rapid City police. Jegeris said police are investigating whether the security officer was the person who shot the initial shooter. Jegeris said the Rapid Patrol security company has a contract with the apartment complex. The investigation, expected to take most of the evening, included trying to learn what prompted the initial shooting. As the sun set Monday evening, Rapid City police officers stood guard around yellow police tape that flanked the southern end of the brown three-story apartment building. Orange marker flags dotted the green lawn and orange cones stood where the second man was shot. Rapid City Police recovered two guns from the scene but Chief Jegeris would not comment on the brand or caliber of the weapons. He also said police were investigating how many shots were fired during the incident. No law enforcement officers were involved in the shooting and "there is no active risk to public safety," according to Jegeris. Back in the mid-'90s, Alanis Morissette was everywhere on the radio thanks to her hit album, Jagged Little Pill. But I cant say that Ive heard anything by her in years. Is she still actively recording? With certified sales of nearly 25 million copies and claimed sales of 33 million copies worldwide, it is true that Alanis Morissette has not been able to come close to replicating the success of her 1995 album, Jagged Little Pill. However, she has not completely fallen from the musical landscape. She has continued to write and record and tour. We think of Morissette as having come out of nowhere when she released Pill, but lets remember that record was actually her third at the time. She has released five more records since then, the most recent of which, Havoc and Bright Lights, was released in 2012 following her marriage to rapper Mario MC Souleye Treadway. The couple have two children, the most recent, a daughter named Onyx, was born just last month. I recently saw the movie Lost in Translation and heard a song that I really liked. It plays at the end of the movie. Can you tell me the name of the song and who sings it? From your description, it sounds like the song is Just Like Honey by the Jesus and Mary Chain. It originally appeared on the bands splendid 1985 debut album, Psychocandy. It is also available on their best-of album, 21 Singles in addition to being featured on the soundtrack to the movie which stars Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. The song, which features the lyrics Walking back to you/Is the hardest thing that I can do/That I can do for you, seems to underscore perfectly the conflicting emotions both characters feel as the movie ends. My favorite Brooks & Dunn song is Good Cowboy. I noticed that neither Kix Brooks nor Ronnie Dunn are listed on the credits. Is it a cover of another song? The Brooks & Dunn song Good Cowboy is a slightly altered version of Good Texan by the Vaughan Brothers. Famed blues guitarists Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimmie Vaughan had established successful careers separately (Stevie Ray as a session guitarist and leader of Double Trouble and Jimmie as the founder of the Fabulous Thunderbirds) before the brothers decided to record an album together. Tragically, Stevie Ray Vaughan was killed in a helicopter crash in August 1990, just one month before the Vaughan Brothers only album, Family Style, was released. It reached No. 7 on the album charts and Good Texan, written by Jimmie Vaughan and Nile Rodgers, reached No. 18 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 1991. Brooks and Dunn replaced the word Texan with Cowboy in the songs title and lyrics and included it on their 2003 release, Red Dirt Road, which peaked at No. 1 on the Country Album chart and No. 4 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. Although they retired in 2009 to pursue solo interests, they reunited in 2014 and lately have taken up residence at Colsseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. As a fan, it may not surprise you that Brooks and Dunn have sold more records than any other duo in history. For a while now I've been intrigued by Congresswoman Kristi Noem's decision to abandon her seat on the House Agriculture Committee in favor of a spot on the Ways and Means Committee. By rule, she can't serve on both simultaneously, so in order to facilitate her career move she abandoned South Dakota's lone spot on the ultra-important Ag Committee to step into the more nationally-oriented spot on Ways and Means. Noem spokesman Justin Brasell told the Rapid City Journal a few days ago that the move "puts her into a better position to impact congressional action on taxes, trade, health care and other issues of concern to South Dakota farmers, ranchers and other South Dakotans." That response smacks of PR fluffery, especially considering that Noem has been mum about any efforts to revive country-of-origin labeling (thrown under the bus during last winter's budget deliberations), the main competitive edge that South Dakota livestock producers gained in a market place where American meat producers have to compete directly against their foreign counterparts. On a personal level given my interests in the lodging industry around here, I'm still waiting for some explanation as to how she was willing to shut down our autumn 2013 tourist season by voting to close down the federal government during a budget spat that year. This latest turn of events makes me wonder even more if her commitment to herself is overriding her commitment to those she claims to represent. I've always known that a seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, given its tax-writing responsibilities, is a magnet for lobbyists and contributors but didn't know that in recent years its campaign contribution-gathering prowess has grown at a much faster rate than contributions given to congressional representatives in general. In a 2014 study conducted by Arizona State University's W. P. Carey School of Business, researchers concluded that campaign contributions to the "tax writing members of Congress" grew at a faster rate to the tune of 80 percent vs. 60 percent than contributions to members of Congress in general. The period covered was 2000-2008. So, I'd welcome any data showing the trend has reversed since then. For now these are the latest numbers I could find, and I doubt very seriously that there's been much of a change in this dynamic. During that same time frame, the study concluded that contributors to at least five members on the committee saw a substantial decrease (nearly 2 percent) in their effective tax rates, amounting to about $33 million per company. It stands to reason that Noem's departure from an essentially provincial gathering of representatives limited to issues involving the mainstays of their respective ag-oriented states is a change of much personal consequence. By doing so Noem will be moving to a committee whose scope is broadly national and involves the bottom-line interests of the nation's largest and wealthiest private enterprises. Her campaign coffers are bound to swell. It's reasonable to wonder: Is Noem going native D.C., going for the bucks? Or does she sincerely believe that this career move makes her a more effective representative for South Dakota interests? I think it's the former and still need some convincing on the latter. Russian court upholds ruling to launch defamation case against Navalny MOSCOW, July 26 (RAPSI) The Lyublinsky District Court of Moscow has upheld the ruling to launch the defamation case against Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny, RAPSI learned in the courtroom on Tuesday. On July 21, the Moscow City Court dismissed appeals filed by Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny over the personal searches as well as apartment searches in the criminal case over defamation against investigator Pavel Karpov. Searches were conducted in accordance with the ruling that was issued by the Lyublinsky District Court on May 30. A criminal case against Navalny has been launched following the petition filed by Karpov. Karpov, who has been put on the sanctions list over Sergei Magnitskys case, turned to the police over some videos, which accused the former investigator of committing serious and extremely serious crimes including embezzlement, kidnapping, and murder of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer for Hermitage Capital Management. Magnitsky, who worked for Firestone Duncan and represented Hermitage Capital, was arrested after accusing Russian officials of a $230 million fraud and died in prison under suspicious circumstances. He was posthumously found guilty of tax evasion by a Moscow court in July 2013. According to Karpov, Navalny has regularly shared links to the videos created by Hermitage Capital Management CEO William Browder. Moscows Meshchansky District Court has recognized information disclosed in these films as untrue and tarnishing honor and dignity, Karpov says. PHILADELPHIA -- The asking price for the home where Grace Kelly grew up has been dropped by 15 percent about a month after the property in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia hit the market. The six-bedroom home described as a "diamond waiting to be polished and brought back to it's original splendor" is now up for sale $850,000, down from $1 million. Beyond being the place where the Oscar-winning actress spent her childhood, the Henry Avenue estate is also where Prince Rainier of Monaco proposed to Kelly with a 10.5-carat diamond ring. The couple wed in Monaco three months later in April 1956. Princess Grace Kelly waves to cheering crowds lining the road as she rides in an open car with Prince Rainier following their wedding in Monaco in 1956. (AP Photo) The brick estate on that sits on less than an acre of land on Henry Avenue, across from McMichael Park, made headlines in 2013 when authorities found more than a dozen animals, including a dead cat, in the home. The listing agent for the property told Curbed Philly that the property has since been fixed up though it still needs some repairs. The 4,000-square-foot home built by Kelly's father, three time Olympic gold medalist John B. Kelly, features a formal dining room, formal living room with fireplace and a finished basement with a fireplace A door etched with the heights of the Kelly children is also still in the house, according to the listing. Erin O'Neill may be reached at eoneill@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LedgerErin. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Nine militants were killed in a police operation on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka on Tuesday, a senior police official said. All of them belong to a militant group but still it is not clear which group they are, the police official told Reuters. Police have arrested a number of militants in recent days in the hunt for those involved in a bloody attack on a Dhaka cafe on July 1 in which 22 people were killed, most of them foreigners. The five militants were gunned down when security forces moved in on the cafe. Chief Commissioner of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA)Lokman Singh Karki Kathmandu, Nepal: Chief Commissioner of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA)Lokman Singh Karki did not appear before the Good Governance and Monitoring Committee (GGMC), under the legislative parliament. The GGMC had summoned CIAA chief Karki to present in the meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning at Singhdurbar. Kathmandu, Nepal: The Legislature Parliament has endorsed the order to remove constitutional difficulties issued by President Bidya Devi Bhandari to elect a new Prime Minister as per the Constitutional provision through overwhelming majority on Tuesday. The President had issued the order on stating that Article 298 is not clear about the election of a new Prime Minister. The president had made the order as per the recommendation of the cabinet to invoke the article to remove constitutional difficulties so that a new Prime Minister could be elected in line with clause 2 or 3 of Article 298. The Indian Express - July 25, 2016 The Sangh Parivaras claims to being the true repository of Indian history and culture become louder every time it wields political power. It announces purging history of all the impurities that colonialism, and the evils that Marxism, had introduced into it. It promises to rewrite history completely and produce nationalist history in all its pristine purity. However, whether during its earlier stint or during campaigns to capture power or now, it has gone wrong on historical facts. Narendra Modi located Taxila and the site of Alexanderas adefeata in Bihar while campaigning for elections to the Lok Sabha in 2014 while recently a former minister said celebrating Shivaji was necessary to avert the kind of devastation unleashed by Genghis Khan. The minister, of course, assumed that the destroyer bearing the surname Khan was unquestionably Muslim. The former minister (of education to boot) was clearly unaware that Genghis Khan was not a Muslim and that he was, in fact, a scourge of the Muslim states in the region. His grandson, Hulagu, ransacked Baghdad and destroyed the Abbasid caliphate in 1258. We, in the profession of history, were looking forward to serious academic output that would be an alternative a like K M Munshias multi-volume History and Culture of the Indian People or several works of R. C. Majumdar a to the much-maligned and highly overstated acolonialist-Marxista paradigm. After six years of patronage between 1998 and 2004 and another period of over two years, all we have are outlandish claims that all manner of scientific, technological, surgical and philosophical knowledge originated in India with the Vedas. Indeed, even this claim has been repeated since decades. The contributions of ancient India, along with those of many other civilisations, Western and Eastern, Northern and Southern, in the realms of astronomy, mathematics, surgery and philosophy have long been recognised by professional historians around the world. The recent launch of a project by the ICHR to outline the scientific achievements of ancient India is welcome if it adds to the numerous volumes on the theme as well as the respected 50-year-old Indian Journal of the History of Science, published by the Indian National Science Academy. But, by itself, the project is unlikely to shake the earth. There is so little to look up to in the list of alternative history. Far from a well-researched book, there is not even an article so far to lead us to that promised land of purist history writing and understanding of culture. There is good reason for this. The discipline has long moved beyond the framework the Parivar is keen on deploying. History driven solely by the ruleras religious identity was the most significant change colonial historiography effected to the multifaceted explorations of the discipline in ancient and medieval India. Historical time, before that, was unfamiliar with the famous tripartite division of Hindu-Muslim-British periods introduced by James Millas in 1818; some decades later, Elliot and Downson, in their massive eight-volume History of India as Told by its Own Historians, reinforced the deadly effect of this scheme. The intent of the effort was never concealed: aTo teach the bombastic babus the great relief British rule had brought them from the tyranny of the Muslim rulersa a this was divide and rule in its perfect form. Post-Independence, Indian historians of all hues, including Marxists, challenged the assumptions of colonial historiography and new perspectives began to evolve. The major departure was to expand the space and scope of history from the rulers and their courts to the ground level a peasants, artisans and later on the asubalternsa as well ain order to give a multi-dimensional focus to history where religious identity, not of the rulers alone, but also of social and political groups counted as one of the dimensions. The rise and fall of dynasties began to get explained, not in terms of the strong or weak ruler phenomenon, but in a complex set of social, economic, ideational and institutional conflicts and symbioses. Themes of history also underwent radical expansion and that continues at a breathtaking pace: The history of gender relations, of ecology, mindscapes embedded in literature, paintings, folklore, history of the notions of time and space, histories of attitudes towards death and life, sexuality, family, notions of masculinity and femininity, history of perceptions of the past, the list is unending and constantly growing. Such history, written from any perspective, is incapable of being reduced to a model of Hindu-Muslim antagonism driven entirely by the ruleras religious identity. That is the Sangh Parivaras problem. Even as it hopes to divide and rule by pitting the gaurakshaks against the beef eaters, the Parivaras agenda of rewriting history and bringing back the glories of ancient India remains a pipe-dream. Itas not for nothing that there has not been a single book or even an article from its historians that has been under discussion on any platform, right-wing or left- wing, over the past few decades. Perhaps the Parivar is aware of this and has opted for rewriting history at the school textbooks level where the simplistic colonial, Mill-Elliot-Dowson kind of history can be reproduced for young minds. This also stems from the training at the RSS shakhas where such history is, ironically, passed on as anationalista par excellence. This is what Murli Manohar Joshi did as the minister of education in the last BJP-led NDA government. A supplementary strategy is to arewritea history at the local-level where the old syncretic legacies can be purged to yield either exclusive images or, more profitably, images of conflict. This can be done a and is being done a without drawing much attention, although there has been no shortage of resources, as well as patronage, for the endeavour. There is help from the aleft-liberala historians too for this: Their nearly exclusive preoccupation with grand entities, whether empires or peasant uprisings or grand atransitionsa and neglect of regional, especially local history has left space for those who have their sights set on it. The author was professor of history at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi US first lady Michelle Obama speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US July 25, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] PHILADELPHIA - Democrats divided over the future of their party agreed on at least one thing at their national convention in Philadelphia on Monday night: was a star. The first lady gave a speech in support of a former first lady, presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, and described America as "the greatest country on earth", clashing with Republican Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan and bringing an arena crowd riven by a fierce fight for the nomination to its feet. "I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters - two beautiful, intelligent, black young women - playing with their dogs on the White House lawn," Michelle Obama said. Obama's husband, President Barack Obama, for years has drawn praise for his oratorical skills. But Monday night belonged to her. "Don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great, that somehow we need to make it great again, because this right now is the greatest country on earth," she said. The speech triggered wild applause among delegates in the Wells Fargo Center, where anger over Senator Bernie Sanders' loss in the primary elections against Clinton had taken the form of jeers during speeches earlier in the day. Some Sanders supporters had called out at some points early in Obama's speech, but were shushed. Garry Mauro, head of the Clinton delegation for Texas, called Michelle Obama's speech "stunningly good." Several Twitter users said the speech brought them to tears, while others marveled at its positive tone in an election year marked by blunt exchanges. "Mrs. Obama deconstructed Trump's entire campaign without using a single pejorative word," Twitter user @weddady said in a post after the speech. "Mrs Obama's speech also disassembled Trump's entire narrative without ever mentioning his name." sacw.net - 26 July 2016 The question relevant to my purposes here is that is the aexecutive order,a not abilla permitting the issuance of Dogra certificates to the Dogras, Hindu and Muslim, of Jammu province along the lines of Sir Owen Dixonas proposition of the trifurcation of the State along religious and communal lines? This issue surfaced in 2011 and has led to further exacerbation of regional divides in Jammu and Kashmir, restricting the slogan of aself-determinationa to the Kashmir Valley. Why is this vestige of British colonialism still given legitimacy? The Dogra Certificate was initiated by the British colonial government to facilitate the recruitment of the Dogra royals into the armed forces? Who does it apply to now that Indian royals have been incorporated into the citizenry? Why do the young people of Jammu require certificates proclaiming their allegiance to one particular province of J & K and one ethnicity in order to be eligible for recruitment into the Indian Central Reserve Forces? Now that the concerned Tehsildar has the power, vested in him by the State, to issue such certificates to ato eligible desirous persons irrespective of his/ her ethnicity, religion, cultural background and mother-tongue,a is the pluralistic and diverse population of J & K going to go through systemic homogenization or systemic divisions? I quickly attempt to connect Sir Own Dixonas proposition of the trifurcation of J & K with the controversial Dogra certificates. In the interests of expediency, the UNCIP appointed a single mediator, Sir Owen Dixon, the United Nations representative for India and Pakistan, Australian jurist and wartime ambassador to the United States, to efficiently resolve the Kashmir conflict. Dixon noted, in 1950, that the Kashmir issue was so tumultuous because Kashmir was not a holistic geographic, economic, or demographic entity, but, on the contrary, an aggregate of diverse territories brought under the rule of one maharaja. In a further attempt to resolve the conflict, Sir Owen Dixon propounded the trifurcation of the state along communal or regional lines, or facilitating the secession of parts of the Jhelum Valley to Pakistan. Despite the bombastic statements and blustering of the governments of both India and Pakistan, however, the Indian government has all along perceived the inclusion of Pakistani-administered J & K and the Northern Areas into India as unfeasible. Likewise, the government of Pakistan has all along either implicitly or explicitly acknowledged the impracticality of including the predominantly Buddhist Ladakh and predominantly Hindu Jammu as part of Pakistan. The coveted area that continues to generate irreconcilable differences between the two governments is the Valley of Kashmir. Dixon lamented: aNone of these suggestions commended themselves to the Prime Minister of India. In the end, I became convinced that Indiaas agreement would never be obtained to demilitarization in any such form, or to provisions governing the period of the plebiscite of any such character, as would in my opinion permit the plebiscite being conducted in conditions sufficiently guarding against intimidation and other forms of influence and abuse by which the freedom and fairness of the plebiscite might be imperiled.a (The Statesman, 15 September 1950). Sir Owen Dixon nonetheless remained determined to formulate a viable solution to the Kashmir issue and suggested that a plebiscite be held only in the Kashmir Valley subsequent to its demilitarization, which would be conducted by an administrative body of UN officials. This proposal was rejected by Pakistan, which, however, reluctantly agreed to Sir Dixonas further suggestion that the prime ministers of the two countries meet with him to discuss the viability of various solutions to the Kashmir dispute. But India decried this suggestion. A defeated man, Sir Dixon finally left the Indian subcontinent on 23 August 1950. There seemed to be an inexplicable reluctance on both sides, India and Pakistan, to solve the Kashmir dispute diplomatically and amicably. Sir Dixonas concluding recommendation was a bilateral resolution of the dispute with India and Pakistan as the responsible parties, without taking into account the ability of the Kashmiri people to determine their own political future. Is this the anachronistic policy being toed by the governments of India and Pakistan in 2011? Unlike the generation of Kashmiris that grew up in the 1940s and 1950s, the innocence of the generation that grew up in the 1990s and 2000s in J & K was cruelly ripped by the forces of armed insurgency and counter insurgency; the romanticized image of Kashmir fails to hold a lasting appeal for these children of an internecine war; the sense of peace and security historically provided by a democratically elected government has eluded these denizens of a paranoid State; the machinations of electoral politics, including the issuance of Dogra certificates, have vitiated the sociopolitical fabric; this post-lapsarian generation has never known the allure of a political edifice built on a well-defined ideology; it has been bereft of a nationalist and political discourse within which it could blossom; its scarred psyche is yet to be healed. In a democratic set-up, however flawed it might be, the will and aspirations of the electorate are ignored by politicians at their own peril. The youth in J & K clamors for democratic rights, efficient governance, a stable infrastructure, a much less fractious polity, which the coalition government is yet to provide. I would posit that for the masses of J & K, not the handful of missionary-school educated, English speaking professionals, the coalition government lacks a representative character and richness of appeal. The electoral principal is discussion, not autocratic decisions. Once the successors of popular leaders, who established their credibility through ideology, conviction, perseverance, and working for the well-being of their electorate, become complacent and rule with carte blanche, electoral politics become defiled. The prominent cult of personality and deification of leaders in mainstream political organizations in South Asia thwarts the rise of new leaders from the ranks, thereby increasing the dependence of the party cadre on a adynasty.a Much to the chagrin of those of us who have idealistic notions of democracy, in addition to the killings and maiming of non-partisan civilians, the non-elite cadres of the National Conference, the Congress, and the Peopleas Democratic Party are still unprotected and vulnerable. The political bigwigs in J & K have not been able to create either conceptual frameworks or political and sociocultural discourses in which the young people of today would be energized and persuaded to actively participate. The current regime has been unable to revive, let alone reinvigorate, civil society institutions that could initiate uncoerced collective action around shared interests, values, and purposes. For those of us who have learned to respect the strident potency of the voice of the people, the unequivocal and pitiful assumption of mainstream politicians in J & K that power unilaterally flows from New Delhi reeks of a reprehensibly unrepresentative character. I underscore that Kashmir today is split into two nations, the plutocracy and the plebeians, with a lackadaisical middleclass between the two, which lack ideological unifiers across class and other social divides, and icons of national unity in the face of political and military oppression. (Nyla Ali Khan is a faculty member at the University of Oklahoma, and member of Scholars Strategy Network. She is the author of Fiction of Nationality in an Era of Transnationalism, Islam, Women, and Violence in Kashmir, The Life of a Kashmiri Woman, and the editor of The Parchment of Kashmir. She is editor of the Oxford Islamic Studiesa special issue on Jammu and Kashmir. She can be reached at nylakhan@aol.com) If Dajuan Harris Jr. is underrated, its not by those at Kansas Today I returned from a trip to Canada and the United States of America. And as I was on pleasure, not business, I visited the Empire State Building in New York with my family, and shot the (appropriately Dutch-angled) picture above.It was not my first visit to New York, but it never fails to strike me how much that city lives up to its many, many portrayals in the movies. When you're there, and you've seen a lot of films... you can't shake the feeling of "Wow, I'm THERE!"You can't fail to recognize the massive cluster of famous landmarks, big and small, which actually turn out to be real and exactly like they have so often been captured.Which brings me to the question of the week: which film-featured location did you visit which totally turned out to live up to the hype?Chime in, in the comments below, and HAVE YOUR SAY! British scribe Neil Gaiman is a pop culture juggernaut, responsible for a myriad of novels, short stories, films, television series, graphic novels and radio shows. Coming into awareness as a fantasy writer, his magnum opus is a series of graphic novels about Dream, one of the Endless, also known as The Sandman, which he penned for Vertigo. Gaiman, no stranger to either the small nor big screen, created the darker urban fantasy series Neverwhere for BBC Two, which later was turned into a novel under the same title. With the current boom of television production, it would be a sin to omit one of the beloved fantasy authors. The premium network Starz ordered the adaptation of Gaimans bestselling novel American Gods, a project rumored to be in development since 2011. The first trailer has now been released. Partly inspired by his work on The Sandman series, the author wrote a timely novel about old gods from various mythologies, such as Odin, Czernobog, and Anubis, being replaced by new gods of money, technologies, media or stock markets, reflecting the obsessions of the nation. The novel's protagonist Shadow Moon, a recently widowed ex-convict, starts running errands for mysterious Mr. Wednesday. Shadow soon realizes the oddness of Mr. Wednesday's acquaintances, eventually finding himself in a war. Bryan Fuller, who is also busy preparing the television comeback of Star Trek and before that did the Hannibal adaptation, and Michael Green, the writer of the eagerly anticipated Blade Runner sequel and Alien: The Covenant, developed the series. Both serve as showrunners and head writers with Gaimans active contribution. Ricky Whittle of the British soap opera Hollyoaks will assist Ian McShane in bringing the almost forgotten gods to confront the new generations of modern deities. Gillian Anderson will make an appearance under the banner of the new breed as Media and Kristin Chenoweth on the opposite side of the barricade in the role of Easter, the Germanic goddess of the dawn. Gaiman revealed that the series will tackle the first third of the book, adding that the novels narrative arc should unspool over the course of three seasons. The author himself reminded fans of changes to come, one of the major ones being the expansion of the narrator's perspective. Whereas in the book, the story is told through the eyes of Shadow, the series adapts several voices, leading to filling out some blank spaces in the book. Gaiman already has another television project up his sleeve, another novel-to-small-screen, Good Omens, which he co-wrote with the creator of the Discworld universe, Terry Pratchett. The six one-hour episodes should roll out in 2018. American Gods will premiere in January 2017 on Starz. Seguin, TX (78155) Today Showers and a possible thunderstorm in the morning, becoming mostly sunny late. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High 79F. Winds W at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected.. Tonight A few clouds from time to time. Low 53F. Winds NNW at 15 to 25 mph. "The Death Penalty and the Fifth Amendment" | Main | Does Hillary Clinton really have a "bold vision" for criminal justice reform, as claimed by former AG Holder? July 26, 2016 District Court explains reasons for disallowing penile plethysmograph and visual response testing for child pornography offender A helpful reader altered me to a notable sentencing opinion handed down last week by District Judge John Kane in US v. Cheever, No. 15-cr-00031-JLK (D Colo July 18, 2016) (available here). The first part of the opinion provides a thoughtful account of the sentencing judge's accounting of application of the 3553(a) sentencing factors to defendant Shawn Cheever after his plea to a single count of possession of child pornography, but an "addendum" to the opinion is what makes it truly blog-worthy. In the addendum, Judge Kane explains why he is refusing to "authorize a treatment provider to require polygraph, plethysmograph (PPG) and visual reaction time measurements." His lengthy explanation merits reading in full, and here are a few of many interesting passages therein: Proponents of using the penile plethysmograph correlate arousal data to deviant sexual behavior by assuming that individuals with a history of sexual offenses who respond to illicit sexual stimuli are likely to react in furtherance of their responses. There is no scientifically accepted data presented to justify this assumption, nor does it have any logical basis. Rather, just as with the polygraph (lie detector) machine, it is used as a tool of coercion by both law enforcement personnel and treatment providers. The plethysmograph is used to obtain inculpatory admissions, the reliability of which is at best equivocal. The patient or suspect may believe he can manipulate the results and with a modicum of sophistication or psychopathy, he may well be able to do so. Or, the suspect or patient may succumb to the threat, overt or implied, that his refusal to submit to testing has negative implications that can result in further incarceration, withholding of privileges or being held back in the treatment or incarceration processes and therefore lie about his interests or past behavior. Moreover, it is not fanciful speculation that false test results can be conveyed to the individual in order to reduce resistance and gain inculpatory admissions.... [A]dministering a penile plethysmograph test necessitates the person administering the test to be engaged in the possession, use and distribution of child pornography. There is no exception in the statute to exclude therapeutic purposes or intent from culpability. The violation is per se. It is paradoxical that the government would mandate individuals subject to supervised release to join an administrator of the test in conduct so vile that it landed him in prison in the first place. The statute criminalizing the possession, use and distribution of child pornography has no exceptions. Both the administrator and the subject are violating the statute. Moreover, the well-established continuing damage inflicted on the child victims portrayed in the pornography derives from the fact that they are seen repeatedly by viewers and it makes not one shred of difference to the victims that the viewer is a pervert or a therapist.... Prohibiting courts, probation and parole officers and treatment facilitators and providers from using devices that fail tests of scientific validity is necessary, but a further comment about the line Judge Noonan describes so eloquently will perhaps provide a resolution to the underlying debility. Judge Noonan evokes the task of Orwell's "Thought Police" and using what is "discovered" as a basis for further punishment or superficial rehabilitation. Justice Cardozo in Palko v. Connecticut, 302 U.S. 319, 326-27 (1937) stated: "freedom of thought. . . is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom. With rare aberrations a pervasive recognition of that truth can be traced in our history, political and legal."... The established traditions of our law embrace the ancient common law principle that liberty should not be impinged or threatened for what a person thinks, but only for what a person does. The maxim cogitationis poenam nemo patitur (no one is punishable solely for his thoughts) was written long before the invention of the plethysmograph or other machines intended to probe the recesses of the mind.... Penile plethysmograph tests rely on the heavy assumption that stimuli arousal is strongly related to the potential for recidivism. Inferences by the courts about a person's potential for sexual offense based on his innermost sexual desires fail to acknowledge that arousal data is not an ineluctable precursor to deviant behavior. This observation, a fortiori, illustrates the dangerous conflation of thought with behavior. Before administering the penile plethysmograph without questioning its obvious scientific shortcomings (not to mention its ethical implications), it is crucial that the courts, probation and parole officers and PPG evaluators recognize 1) the power of refrain; and 2) the difference between thought and action. The presuppositionless assumption is that any "arousal level" occasioned by the exposure to child pornography stimuli is deviant because convicted sex offenders are unable to resist or subdue their impulses. Urges, however, are not always overwhelming. Otherwise, there would be no opportunity for moral decisions or even so-called enlightened self-interest decisions to be made in the crucible of an experience. UPDATE: Another helpful reader altered me that there is now this Denver Post article about the opinion in Cheever, which is headlined "Judge criticizes federal sentencing guidelines in pornography case: Kane said he would have given sex offender lesser sentence if permitted by law." July 26, 2016 at 06:17 PM | Permalink Comments A courageous opinion but my understanding is that pornography is not used in these tests. Th pictures are of girls in swimsuits, etc. Posted by: Steve | Jul 26, 2016 8:25:22 PM Yeah, I bet those girls didn't consent to their photos being used for this purpose either. ^ Posted by: Rory Fleming | Jul 26, 2016 8:50:02 PM I would like to point out another problem that goes to the heart of one of the revisions the sentencing commission has recommended. Here is what the Denver Post writes, "The FBI examined his computer and found 172 child pornography images including images portraying sadistic or masochistic conduct and other violent depictions," How many non-lawyers are going to read that sentence and understand that age--and age alone--is enough to meet the criteria for sadistic or masochistic conduct? Zero. Here is the exact language from the amendment: The amendment amends 2G2.1(b)(4) to provide for a 4-level increase if the offense involved material that portrays (A) sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence; or (B) an infant or toddler, There are already significant problems with "crimes of violence" being out of tune with out ordinary people think of as violence and this amendment is only going to make it worse. The one thing it will do, however, is allow the press to continue to smear downloaders as violent and cruel even if there is no actual violence in the photos. Posted by: Daniel | Jul 26, 2016 10:11:33 PM My district hasn't allowed the plethysmograph for over 15 years. I was part of making that happen. Abel testing (visual response) is less invasive, but also rarely clinically helpful. What's galling is that even though the sentencing commission has admitted that the CP guideline is broken, the only substantive changes they made are a wash: no enhancement for disribution when done via default setting P2P software, but now an enhancement for certain types of images that previously did not garner one (the amendment that Daniel noted above). The sentencing commision are a bunch of egomaniacs with a bunker mentality. They blame the Courts for making guideline application more complicated, instead of taking a hard look at how they write the guidelines in the first place. Luckily, I work in a district where he judges are comfortable varying from the guidelines and I recommend they do so quite frequently. Posted by: USPO | Jul 26, 2016 11:55:32 PM Some of the pictures used for plethysmography were much worse than some of the CP downloaded according to someone I know who was forced to submit to that vile testing. How is it wrong to view CP but then OK for a tester to show you worse CP? Makes no sense. Posted by: kat | Jul 27, 2016 11:09:34 AM USPO, kudos to you for pushing for rationality. Sadly, it isn't common in all districts. Posted by: jsnsdf | Jul 27, 2016 1:18:27 PM > Urges, however, are not always overwhelming. Otherwise, there would be no opportunity for moral decisions or even so-called enlightened self-interest decisions to be made in the crucible of an experience. This seems like an underrated point and Im glad its being made here. You can also see Seto for more elaboration on this. Posted by: sexy | Jul 27, 2016 1:55:33 PM Yes, kudos to you USPO for halting some of the insanity surrounding CP sentencing. While the Guidelines are, for lack of a better term, goofy as hell in this area, the primary responsibility for CP sentencing lies with Congress. The idiot guidelines are poopy icing on a feces cake from Congress. 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Here are the details: The number of murders in 29 of the nations largest cities rose during the first six months of the year, according to the results of a survey released by the Major Cities Chiefs Association on Monday. Overall, homicides jumped 15% in the 51 large cities that submitted crime data, compared with the same year-ago period. But over half that increase was driven by spikes in two cities: Chicago, which has struggled with rising gang violence, and Orlando, where Omar Mateen fatally shot 49 people at a nightclub in June. A continuing increase in some cities worries city officials who had been hoping last years surge was an aberration in the decades-long decline in the countrys murder rate. After peaking in the 1990s, violent crime rates in the U.S. have in recent years been at their lowest levels in four decades, according to FBI data. Donald Trump seized on the murder rise in his speech at last weeks Republican National Convention, saying that decades of progress made in bringing down crime are now being reversed by this administrations rollback of criminal enforcement. But Darrel Stephens, executive director of Major Cities Chiefs Association, said its still too early to say if the numbers signal real change. Its going to take a bit more to say this trend of 20 years is being reversed, said Mr. Stephens, adding that there may be a rise in a few cities, but not on a national basis. Homicides in the first six months also declined in 22 cities, including some that saw big jumps in 2015, such as Milwaukee, where killings dropped 26%, according to the survey. In addition, New York City, which has seen a decline in homicides this year, and some other large cities werent included because they hadnt yet submitted their data, Mr. Stephens said. Increased gang violence is playing a role in places like Chicago, which saw 316 homicides in the first half of 2016, compared with 211 in the first half of 2015.... The rise in homicides in some large cities last year set off considerable debate between police officials and criminologists over what was behind the increase. Some have attributed increases to the Ferguson effect, a theory that increases in crime can be attributed to the reluctance of police to engage in confrontation in the face of protests around the U.S. since the 2014 killing of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., by a white police officer.... Richard Rosenfeld, a criminologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, wrote in a Justice Department-funded study released in June that the Ferguson effect was a plausible explanation for the sudden jump in killings in 2015. Mr. Rosenfeld also put forth a second version of the Ferguson effect, writing that the police killings in Ferguson and elsewhere activated longstanding grievances in minority communities about police and the criminal-justice system that led to a legitimacy crisis and a rise in crime. Both may have contributed, said Mr. Rosenfeld, who cautioned that more research and data is needed. Vik Paruchuri, who runs a data science tutorial company called Dataquest, was concerned. Moving with his girlfriend from Boston to the Bay Area, how would they find an apartment in one of the most difficult, expensive housing markets in the country? Maybe, Paruchuri thought, he could apply his technical expertise. He decided to build a program and, in the process, write a tutorial about it on his website as a sort of testimonial for his work. After just a week, they found an apartment in Pac Heights for below median rent and signed a lease. Four months later, Paruchuri tells SFist "it's been great, we love the city, we love where we live here." But while he's convinced that they found the place thanks to his code, I'm not so sure. Instead, I'd suggest that the couple succeeded in the same way anyone else does: Through a combination of factors including luck, perseverance, and having enough money and the right credentials to get, and then pay, for an apartment. We read that landlords hold open houses, and that you have to bring all of your paperwork to the open house and be willing to put down a deposit immediately to even be considered. We started exhaustively researching the process, and figured out that a lot of finding an apartment comes down to timing. Some landlords want to hold an open house no matter what, but for others, being one of the first people to see the apartment usually means that you can get it. You need to find the listing, quickly figure out if it meets your criteria, then call the landlord to arrange a showing to have a shot. To give him that shot, Paruchuri built bots on Slack, the messaging app, that would send the couple listings as they met certain criteria on Craigslist. (He includes the entirety of his code for your perusal.) Those were neighborhood, price, and so on just things listed on Craigslist. But those in the apartment hunting game probably know that Craigslist's alert feature will email you listings based on criteria you set, in real time, as they're posted. And frankly, there's little that's different about the complicated, reinvented wheel that Paruchuri put together. When I chatted with him on the phone, he did note that "A couple of people have said you could do this a simpler way," and when I asked what differentiated his bots from existing alerts, he said "I don't know how Craigslist email alerts work... I didn't spend hours researching what's out there, I just made something that works." Paruchuri says that being the first person to see what's now his apartment was important."The code was really critical," he tells me, "and if that hadn't happened, we wouldn't have had real time listings." However, another user with a Craigslist alert or just perusing the site would be able to see it at the same time, and hell, maybe even get to the spot faster with an Uber or better timing and luck. I wish Paruchuri had hacked the housing search process! But I don't think that can be done. Often, for example, landing cheaper rent means moving in to an established apartment with roommates who have been there for some time. You can't write some code to get along with them or meet their requirements or to get the right word-of-mouth tips. Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is, to those who might have seen Paruchuri's technical know-how in his tutorial and thought "cool!" I'l try that!" Go for it, it sounds like good practice and it can't hurt. But if you thought to yourself "I can't do that, how am I going to find housing?" don't despair, either. Previously: New Startup Turns Renting Apartments Into eBay-Like Bidding War Defacing San Francisco public property to promote your latest thing is a surefire way to engender some ill will (just ask the Biebs), and yet people keep doing it. The latest company to soil our (admittedly already soiled) streets is GPS dog-collar company Whistle a fact not lost on San Francisco's 311 Twitter account. "Please refrain from putting illegal posts on public property," someone with the initials JM tweeted at the company yesterday afternoon from the city's 311 Twitter account. JM also included a helpful explainer to just what, exactly, constitutes legal public signage. Surprise! Whistle's attaching of invisible dog leashes to lampposts and parking meters around town doesn't fall into that category. Neither does the plastering of ads to sidewalks. A quick Twitter search turns up numerous instances of the illegal advertisement demonstrating that some time and money was expended in getting these things up around the city. SFist reached out to Whistle, and a spokesperson for the company seemed caught off guard by 311's claim of illegality. "We put out the posts to help spread awareness about National Pet Loss Prevention month and the fact that 1 in 3 pets will go missing in their lifetime," wrote Julia Waneka. "However, we were not aware this was unauthorized placement and are actively working to take them down immediately. We meant no disrespect to our community here in SF and sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended by the posters." San Francisco city officials do not take kindly to this kind of advertising, as evidenced by the City Attorney's threat to sue Justin Bieber's record label last December after it plastered sidewalks with graffiti advertising the pop star's new album. At the time, City Attorney Dennis Herrera noted the record label could face fines of up to $2,500 per instance and explicitly condemned corporate exploitation of public space. "This prohibited marketing practice illegally exploits our Citys walkable neighborhoods and robust tourism," wrote Herrera in a December public letter. "[It] intentionally creates visual distractions that pose risks to pedestrians on busy rights of way; and irresponsibly communicates to young people that likeminded lawlessness and contempt for public property are condoned and encouraged by its beneficiaries including Mr. Bieber and the record labels that produce and promote him." In the same letter, San Francisco Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru hinted that the city would go after any company that followed in the Bieber's lawless footsteps. Our sidewalks in San Francisco are not canvasses for corporate advertising, and we have made that clear," explained Nuru. "Yet these guerrilla marketers believe they are above the law when it comes to blighting our city and we will take a strong stand against them. Whistle is based in San Francisco, and according to CrunchBase has raised $21 million in two rounds of funding. No word yet on whether the hometown nature of the offender will lead the city to go easier on it. Related: City Attorney Threatens To Sue Record Label Over Bieber Graffiti Menlo Park-based Facebook is considering a major expansion into San Francisco barely a month after reports that CEO Mark Zuckerberg would not bow to employee pressure to do just that. According to three separate sources that spoke with the Business Times, this wouldn't be merely a token measure to appease the many Facebook employees sick and tired of the commute from San Francisco to the South Bay. Rather, the company is reportedly eying "hundreds of thousands of square feet in the city." Facebook, of course, has declined to comment on the possible expansion. And while nothing is set in stone, the speed at which Zuckerberg has reportedly changed his tune on the importance of having a single corporate campus is astounding. It was just last month industry journal The Information reported that despite a Facebook San Francisco office being "[one] of the most consistently high-ranking requests Facebook employees make in an annual survey gauging their happiness," Palo Alto resident "Zuckerberg told employees that he believes employees should be clustered together and near the executive team for cultural reasons [...]." If the company does decide to move forward and lease huge amounts of office space right here in SF, it may be a sign that Facebook is facing pressure in recruiting top talent when competing with other companies that have offices in the city. After all, commuting to Menlo Park to work at Facebook may not seem as appealing of a proposition if you can just get a job at Uber or Twitter in San Francisco. It should be noted that while Facebook does already has a small amount of SF office space, that is solely for its Oculus Rift team a fact that likely frustrates those employees venting about their possibly disappearing shuttle stops. It should also be noted that Facebook still has plans for a major expansion of their Menlo Park offices nearly one million square feet, in fact, doubling the number of employees there to over 12,000 and the move to SF could still be scuttled in favor of that. More details on the rumored Facebook expansion should emerge later this year with the expected completion of the Central SoMa rezoning process. If, as The Business Times reports, 250 acres are indeed rezoned to allow for the construction of huge office buildings, Facebook may be one of the first companies clamoring for the new real estate and even more people will probably claim San Francisco is part of Silicon Valley. Update: Sorry, Facebook employees. A spokesperson for the company responded to a request for comment from Curbed on the matter of a future SF office, and it doesn't sound like it's going to happen after all. "We're not looking at space in SF," the spokesperson flatly told the publication. So there you have it. It looks like Zuckerberg stuck to his guns, and you'll be sticking to your shuttle. Related: Facebook Employees Actually Hate Commuting, Beg For SF Office Officer Brendan O'Brien, who committed suicide in September 2015 at the age of 30, has been cleared in the death of his wife a year earlier, who also committed suicide but whose death was briefly considered suspicious. According to ABC 7, an independent investigation has concluded that sought to confirm O'Brien's death was a suicide, and that his wife's had been as well. The East Bay Express explains more thoroughly that the investigation was done by the Alameda County District Attorney's office, and it concluded that "both deaths were investigated professionally and thoroughly, ultimately reaching the reasonable and appropriate determination to classify each death a suicide." As we learned earlier, O'Brien took his own life claiming that he was being blackmailed by then underage sex worker Celeste Guap, who says she was in some kind of romantic relationship with O'Brien for a number of months. Guap said she first met O'Brien when he was patrolling an Oakland neighborhood where she was trying to escape from a pimp. Guap claims that she was out of town in Puerto Rico celebrating her 18th birthday last September when she reached out to O'Brien, seeking some kind of long-distance help. Angry when he ignored her, she admits she lashed out and sent him a screenshot of a text she sent to his commanding officer, telling him O'Brien had sex with her while she was underage. O'Brien subsequently took his own life and left a note saying Guap was blackmailing him, though she denies ever seeking any money from him. Five days after his death, Guap was questioned by police. O'Brien's wife, Irma Huerta Lopez, died over a year earlier, on a night when O'Brien said the two had been fighting. O'Brien said he went out to buy cigarettes at 9:45 p.m. on the night of June 16, 2014, and had a receipt from a nearby store to prove it, and when he returned he found Lopez dead from a gunshot wound from his off-duty handgun. She was lying on her back on the bed, and the investigation found that while both she and O'Brien had gunshot residue on their hands, more of her DNA was on the weapon than O'Brien's, despite the fact that it was his weapon. Her family believed, and some continue to believe that O'Brien was responsible and that it was a homicide, according to CNN. O'Brien is said to have had a history of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and photos from social media show him in military fatigues in a desert setting. Guap claims to have had her first contact with O'Brien in February 2015. It later came to light that Guap may have had sex with at least three other Oakland officers before she turned 18, and she admits to having sexual contact with over 30 officers from seven different law enforcement agencies in the same 12 to 14-month span before this scandal broke in May. As she told ABC 7 news in her only TV interview, her mother's relationship with a cop who was killed in the line of duty in 2009, when Guap was 12, triggered her to fall into the world of prostitution and drugs in her Richmond neighborhood. It seems she sought the attention of cops thereafter, and she says she first had sex with a cop at 16, another friend of her mother's, who is a dispatcher with the OPD. The scandal involving Guap came to light after a federal compliance director assigned to monitor the department as part of a decade-old federal oversight order pertaining to an older scandal discovered "irregularities" during his investigation of O'Brien's wife's suicide. While it remained classified a suicide, compliance director Robert Warshaw found out that an internal investigation involving Guap's connections to O'Brien and other Oakland officers had been going on for months, and he was required to be informed of any such investigation. Other officers have been implicated in sharing confidential information with Guap about police activity and prostitution stings, and all of this combined led directly to the resignation of Chief Sean Whent in early June. Previously: Dozens Of SFPD Officers Were Connected To East Bay Sex Worker Celeste Guap On Facebook Sex Worker At Center Of Oakland Police Scandal Reveals How And Why She Went Public; Three SFPD Officers Involved Too Why break into a house if you don't have to? That's, perhaps, what went through the mind of 18-year-old Hayward man Elisel Jesus Navarro, who was arrested Saturday after allegedly renting an East Bay home through Airbnb then robbing the absent homeowner blind. The East Bay Times reports that Navarro allegedly booked a Piedmont home on Airbnb using someone else's identity, later telling police that "he purchased the personal information that he used to reserve the home." The homeowner had given Navarro the keys and his staycation had commenced, Piedmont Police Department Captain Jeremy Bower says, when the host learned through Airbnb that the reservation was fraudulent. Police were dispatched to the home at 11:20 a.m. Saturday, Bowers says. Navarro threw a bag containing his host's jewelry from an upstairs window, police say, then ran out the front door and into the waiting arms of the law. Navarro, who has an Alameda County rap sheet that includes past arrests for residential burglary, drugs and auto theft, "was also allegedly in possession of property that was stolen from a vehicle in San Ramon on Friday" at the time of his arrest. You might recall that a year ago, a San Francisco Airbnb host suffered a similar fate, when a guest allegedly stole around $35,000 of her possessions and fled from the scene. In that case, the suspect was nabbed a few months later in Sonoma County on narcotics charges. (A call to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office to see where things stand in that case was not returned at publication time.) In the present day, Bowers says this might not be the first time Navarro has pulled this alleged scam. "Investigators are now working with Airbnb to find out if Navarro may have attempted to reserve or has stayed at other homes," the EBT reports. Know anything about the case, or recognize Navarro as one of your Airbnb guests? Then please call Piedmont Police Detective Robert Coffey at 510-420-3010. Previously: Video: San Francisco Airbnb-er Breaks Into Locked Room, Steals $35,000 Of Host's Stuff The National Labor Relations Board has filed a formal complaint against WeWork, a New York-based startup already popular in SF that rents out shared office space to individuals and small startups, after a former employee brought a lawsuit against the company. The Business Times covered that lawsuit in June: Tara Zoumer, a community manager at WeWork's Berkeley office in 2015, says her managers told her to drop complaints including issues with wages and working conditions or else leave her job. WeWork has raised $780 million and is valued at $16 billion according to Business Insider. Yet Zoumer alleges that the company was in violation of California's labor code, lacking meal breaks and overtime. And WeWork's policy is such that employees must seek legal recourse through arbitration rather than in court, a trend for companies the New York Times addressed last year, with sources calling the policy a "get out of jail free" card for corporations, limiting, for example, the potential for class action lawsuits. "Speaking up was going to get me fired any time I asked too many questions," Zoumer told the Business Times, "So, I went the lawsuit route hoping we would have a collective chance to be paid back for the extra hours we had already provided the company 60, 70-plus hours a week." Zoumer was fired when she wouldn't sign an "unlawful mandatory arbitration agreement." Her lawsuit, filed in San Francisco, is now being arbitrated in New York. A hearing for the NLRB complaint will take place in September in Oakland, and WeWork has 10 days to file a response to the complaint. News of the NLRB filing comes days after another incident that might suggest WeWork's character: Reuters had the story of a startup co-founder working from a rented Manhattan WeWork office mocked the company's business difficulties in a Medium post. WeWork ordered the post taken down, alleging the co-founder had stolen information from WeWork's network. Related: Lots Of Tech Talent Trying To Leave SF For NY Canvasses painted by the so-called old mastersEuropean artists who flourished before the 19th centuryare among the most coveted and costly works on the art market. Rembrandt van Rijn, Titian, Peter Paul Rubens, Leonardo Da Vinci et al. enjoy pride of place in prestigious European museums where flocks of tourists elbow their way to the cordon in order to snap blurry selfies. But many works by these venerable artists live a more peaceful existence safely ensconced in private collections. The Milwaukee Art Museums exhibition From Rembrandt to Parmigianino: Old Masters from Private Collections borrows some of these rarely seen masterworks from lucky collectors residing within several hundred miles of the Milwaukee Art Museum. Deserving special mention among these collectors is Alfred Bader, the 91-year-old chemist, philanthropist and art collector specializing in 17th-century Dutch paintings. Bader has gifted two works to MAM by Jacopo Vignali (Italian, 1592-1664) and Onofrio Gabrielli (Italian, 1616-1706), which will be on long-term display in MAMs Collection Galleries. From Rembrandt to Parmigianino: Old Masters from Private Collections is on display from July 29-Oct. 23. American Epics on the Silver Screen: The Searchers Milwaukee Art Museum 700 N. Art Museum Drive In conjunction with American Epics: Thomas Hart Benton and Hollywood, the Milwaukee Art Museum has been screening cinema classics that inspired Benton. The final installment of the series is The Searchers, to be shown at 6:15 p.m. on Friday, July 29. Consistently ranked among the greatest films ever made, the 1956 Technicolor Western finds Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) searching for his young niece who has been abducted by Comanches. To the contemporary sensibility the film is complicated by the unabashed and uncensored racism of Waynes character. Filmmaker Martin Scorsese recalls the strong impression made by the film when he saw it as an impressionable 13 year old, describing Ethan Edwards as a poet of hatred. At once wowed by the cinematography and surprised by the depiction of prejudice, Scorsese has referred to the film as his all-time favorite. Although its unlikely that these days a major studio would produce a film with such a non-judgmental depiction of racism, our news cycle is certainly not without analogues to Ethan Edwards, even if their brand of hatred is much less poetic. Expand Photo by Brian Bzadwka Composer Alan Menkens music is best known in feature films. While he may have done some work in musical theater, most are only familiar with his work in Disney animated movies, which is a pity. Theres an emotional intensity in his narrative work that resonates brilliantly through live musical performances. This month Greendale Community Theatre brings Menkens emotional vitality to the local stage with a production of The Little Mermaid. While there is some cleverly economical work done in set and costume design, the fantasy of the undersea world comes across most vividly in song and movement. The classic Disney adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen story vividly swims out to stage with colorful costuming painting the stage on a large cast, sharply choreographed by Stephanie Staszak. Former Ms. Wisconsin (2008) Briana Lipor is engagingly emotional in the role of Ariel. Nicholas Zajdel is suitably rugged and charismatic as the romantic lead: a prince who would rather live on the high seas than serve as royalty. There are some notably impressive supporting performances here, including the endearing authority of Tom Marks as the Princes caretaker, Grimsby, a charming Shawn Holmes as the lobster, Sebastian, and a delightfully villainous performance by Marcee Doherty-Elst as Ursula. Stripped of the exaggerated fantasy of the classic cel animation, the production focuses on very human things like desire, affection and longing to find a place to call home. These elements play through the narrative in a refreshingly earthbound reality that relies on the music itself for the magic of a story caught between the fantasy of passion and the reality of responsibility. Stay on top of the news of the day Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays. SIGN UP Through July 30 (minus the 25th and 26th) in the Henry Ross Auditorium at Greendale High School, 6801 Southway. For tickets and further information, call 414-817-7600 or visit greendaletheatre.org. Expand Photo by Kevin Miyazaki Its something akin to Bilbo Baggins There and Back Again story for Milwaukee-born Thomas Hauck. He attended culinary school in Hyde Park, New York. From there, it was on to France; thence to Michel Richards famous Citronelle restaurant in Washington, D.C., where he steadily moved up the professional-promotional ladder. In 2011, he returned to his hometown and opened c.1880. As the new chef and owner of Milwaukees 112-year-old Karl Ratzsch, Hauck will presumably (and hopefully) be sticking to his roots for some time to come. Speaking of roots, one of the first things Hauck decided upon was to return the landmark restaurant to its German heritage. In recent decades, Ratzschs seemed to have lost sight of its legendary pastadding more and more Continental and American cuisine to its menu; an experimental formula that didnt last. But thats all changed. The new Karl Ratzsch menu is echte Deutsch, to the degree that its printed in English on one side and German on the other, and every menu itemfrom snacks to main courses to dessertscould have appeared on a Ratzsch menu a century ago. You know youre in a German restaurant when the beer list exceeds the wine list in length and breadth, but even so, the latter has plenty to offerglasses or bottles of whites and reds, both domestic and imported. The beer list is divvied up into wheat, pale and dark and you also have some fruity ciders and ales from which to choose. In addition to the usual appetizer and main course options, the menu offers Snacks for the Table such as herring in sour cream on rye ($6), herbed lard and pork cracklings on pumpernickel ($6), pretzels, salami, Braunschweiger and so forth. Theres also a separate list of side dishes to complement your meal; these include stewed apples, spatzle and sauerkraut. On our recent visit, my partner and I opted for potato salad and potato pancakes (the latter tongue-twistingly called Kartoffelpfannkuchen on the German side of the menu). Sides are available in small ($4) or large ($8) portions. The overall menu bespeaks the great variety that constitutes German cooking; this may surprise some, but the offerings include everything from the anticipated sausage, pork and beef dishes to mussels, shrimp, salmon, goose and duck. We chose to share an appetizer of smoked salmon with sour cream and paddlefish roe over potato pancakes ($9), which was tender and flavorfulsuch a variety of textures and tastes all at once creating a delicious whole. My partner opted for a main dish of gulf shrimp ($25). The shrimp were large, nicely seasoned and served atop a rich spatzle with dill and zucchini. I went for an old favorite, Wienerschnitzel ($21)three breaded slices of veal heaven seasoned lightly with parsley and a lemon wedge. Along with this was a side of warm, smooth, bacony red cabbage. The new Karl Ratzsch restaurant has also been tastefully remodeled. The white interior walls are attractively offset by darkly varnished wood throughout, including some lovely carvings; much more chalet than hunting lodge or beer hall. Traditional German beer steins bedeck the place but in tasteful profusion. Just interested in a cold Weibier? Ratzschs has a full bar. This is a comforting place for great comfort food; the menu, with its plethora of choices, is surely its greatest strength and the main reason to come to Karl Ratzsch. One look at it tells you youre in the right spot for good, hearty, flavorful German dining. Karl Ratzsch 320 E. Mason St. 414-276-2720 $$$ FB, RS karlratzsch.com Handicapped access: Yes Tonys BBQ Unlimited (3510 W. Villard Ave.) is a take-out establishment without dining accommodations where orders are placed in front of a glass partition. Buffet service from behind a screen is another culinary peculiarity unknown in Milwaukee outside the inner city. Tonys is one of the citys longest-running buffets of this kind in business since around the turn of the century. Included in the buffet is Tonys specialty, barbecued pork ribs thoroughly bathed (not drowning) in a sauce complex in its combination of sweet, sour and bitter accents. Swedish meatballs are large and piquant in a brown sauce. Tonys gives distinct spins on sides germane to African American soul food as well. Collard greens were chopped finer and served a bit drier than possibly anywhere else in the city, but no less tasty for the differences. Equally delicious sweet potatoes come in the consistency of a soft pudding, but the star of my three sides may be the sauteed cabbage. Sauteed with chunks of smoked pork for a mellow sweetness. Buffet meals come with a can of Faygo soda and a diminutive corn muffin that could nearly pass for dessert. Chicken, ribs, fish and gyros dinners are among other offerings, but buffet could be the best way to experience Tonys for the first time. Were stunned and saddened to hear that Gov. Scott Walker appointed Waukesha attorney Daniel Kelly to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to fill out the term of Justice David Prosser, who will retire at the end of July. We knew that Walker would select someone conservative, but Kelly is a radical right-winger who comes into the court with some very extreme, very troubling, views. Kelly is a private practice attorney who is also the head of the Milwaukee chapter of the Federalist Society, the organization for right-wing attorneys. He is a close ally of Justice Rebecca Bradleywhom Walker appointed to the bench three timesand was a reference for all of her appointments and also served in her kitchen cabinet during her Supreme Court campaign this spring. Likewise, Bradley is a reference for Kelly in his appointment, as are Walkers attorney, former Republican U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic, and Bradley Foundation-funded Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty attorney Rick Esenberg. Kelly has shown in his career and his judicial application that hes a right-winger through and through. He earned his law degree from televangelist Pat Robertsons Regent University, a training ground for conservative Christian lawyers. In his application Kelly compared affirmative action to slavery, opposed same-sex marriage in the most homophobic terms and wrote that the Affordable Care Act was a frontal assault on the rule of law from the beginning. All of these positions probably made Walkers heart sing. In his legal career, Kelly advised Prosser on his recount, was vice president and general counsel for the right-wing Kern Family Foundation and represented in federal court the Republican legislators defending their gerrymandered legislative districts. He has no judicial experience. After looking at Daniel Kellys career, we have to ask: Is there any chance that Kelly will offer both parties in a caseespecially in a politically or culturally sensitive casea fair hearing? Kelly comes to the court with so many cultural biases and potential conflicts of interest that we doubt he can be impartial. Walker has now selected two right-wing political hacks to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Can the state survive Walkers version of justice? Multi-media personality Sandy Maxx is best known as the host of The Arts Page, MPTVs weekly series (Thursdays at 6:30 p.m.) featuring four to five segments on artists in Milwaukee and around the nation. Two seasons after its premiere, the program was nominated for three Emmys in 2015 and took home a coveted statue for its special on the Jewish Museum Milwaukees exhibition Stitching History from the Holocaust. Maxxs voice is also recognizable to Milwaukeeans from her spot on 96.5 FM, Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Off the Cuff spoke with Maxx about her background and involvement in the local arts scene. Do you have a background in the arts? My parents got me into formal dance training when I was about 3 or 4 years old. I wound up attending the Youth Performing Arts School in Louisville, Kentucky, but like any creative field you get weeded out very quickly unless you are something special. How did you get involved in television and radio? Broadcasting is a wonderful way to tell stories; plus, my father was a broadcaster, which gave the profession legitimacy. I attended Marquette because they have such a good broadcasting school. Milwaukee felt like a great gateway to the rest of my career. Afterwards I worked in radio in Atlanta and Chicago and eventually ended up back in Milwaukee. I love Chicago but not anymore than I love Milwaukee. We have just as much art and culture, but its a friendlier and more accessible city. Where else can you drive to a concert, find a parking spot a block a way and walk right into the show? Stay on top of the news of the day Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays. SIGN UP How did The Arts Page come into being? I volunteered for Milwaukee public television for many years. Around 2006, PBS was producing its annual Arts Fall Festival and Milwaukee Public Television was tapped to film some segments for it. I was fortunate to be asked to host. That was the start of the program. Each episode showcases one or two local artists along with several artists from across the country with features produced by other public television stations. Sharing the cost with these stations enables us to put on a show each week, at least until we find a rich underwriter. But it also gives deserving Milwaukee artists a national profile. Were not only turning on Milwaukeeans to Milwaukee artists, but also people around the country. Public television opens up peoples world. How would you characterize the goal of the program? To share unique stories of the creativity that is flourishing in Milwaukee. Theres always something new to share. I am not a critic or art historian. I am an enthusiast. Art brings people together, thats its beauty. More and more people stop me when Im out and about. Its gratifying to know that they are watching. It also gives me the opportunity to ask what people think about the show. The overwhelming response is that the like the variety. We are always grateful when people use our Facebook page to recommend artists we havent covered. Whats next for The Arts Page? We have some exciting features on the horizon. The Milwaukee Repertory Theatre has given us behind the scenes access to their production of the Christmas Carol. Beth Lipman has an amazing show of large glass sculptures coming to the Jewish Museum Milwaukee. We also have an upcoming feature on Ukranian egg painting. I dont think Id have the patience for that. I feel so privileged to be involved with the Arts Page. The show is a joy to make. We have a great crew and I am blessed to work with Tiff Pua, our incredibly collaborative producer. Ever since the Republicans gerrymandered the state Legislature in 2011, there are very few true swing districts in which a Democrat and Republican can actually compete. As a result, the real competition is in the partisan primaries, which will be held on Aug. 9. Thats true of the Milwaukee-area primary races, which are far more numerous and lively than the legislative races in our area on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. Democratic voters in Senate District 4which encompasses the Northwest Side of Milwaukee, as well as Shorewood, Glendale and a slice of Wauwatosahave a highly competitive Democratic primary on Aug. 9. Longtime Sen. Lena Taylor is being challenged by state Rep. Mandela Barnes, who is vacating his Assembly District 11 seat, which encompasses portions of the North Side of Milwaukee and Glendale, to run for Senate. Both candidates spoke to the Shepherd Express about their campaigns. Mandela Barnes State Rep. Mandela Barnes is a former community organizer who beat then-Rep. Jason Fields, a fellow Democrat, in 2012 to represent Assembly District 11. He said the same issues that motivated him to run four years ago still motivate him today: public education, public safety and economic development. He said he wasnt daunted by the challenge of taking on an incumbent Democrat this year. In 2012, I was a member of the Democratic Party, and I took on my sitting representative, Barnes said. For so long people assume a sense of entitlement when they are elected to a position. We arent elected for life. If someone wants to run against me, then by all means run against me. He said that he and Taylor share many common views, but he said they have big differences on three big issues: the privatization of education, gun rights and economic opportunities. Barnes supports public education and opposes privatization and changes in governance, such as the Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program (OSPP). He and state Rep. Evan Goyke (D-Milwaukee) authored a bill that would allow community schools with wraparound social services to tap state grants for those services. Community schools have been proven to be very effective at addressing the root causes of lack of achievement, Barnes said. When students are going to school hungry, when students are going back to homes that are in despair or where you are in a transient household, or even homeless, those are issues that play a role and have a significant impact on the state. Friends of the Shepherd Help support Milwaukee's locally owned free weekly newspaper. LEARN MORE Barnes noted that in 2009 Taylor introduced a mayoral takeover bill that would have handed control of the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) to the Milwaukee mayor and severely weakened the democratically elected board. Barnes said the bill laid the foundation for subsequent Republican privatization efforts and school takeovers. If Democrats are attacking MPS then the door is wide open for Republicans to do the same thing when they control both houses of the Legislature by significant margins and the governors mansion, Barnes said. Barnes also disagreed with Taylors votes for the Castle Doctrine and implementing concealed carry in Wisconsin, which he called one of the most dangerous permitting systems in the country because, among other things, it prohibits law enforcement from accessing data about permit holders. Youve got a lot of people with long rap sheets who probably shouldnt have a weapon, let alone a concealed one, who are able to get a concealed carry permit, Barnes said. Then the four hours of trainingyou dont ever have to have held a gun a day in your life to get a permit. Barnes and Goyke authored a bill that would require the Department of Corrections to study the Missouri model for juvenile corrections, which would create smaller, and more numerous, facilities in the community for juvenile offenders. (The bill didnt go anywhere in the Republican-controlled Assembly.) He said juveniles returning from Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake need to have plans in place so that they dont go back to the same situation in which they originally got into trouble. If they dont have an education plan set up, if they dont have a plan for employment, then what do we really expect from them? he said. Job training is a necessary component, and using more restorative justice models as well so that they can know the impact of whatever they did to get there. Barnes said hes the best candidate in the race because he wouldnt compromise on his Democratic principles. I cant say things have gotten better over the past 12 years, and I think with the challenges were facing we need a new approach, Barnes said. We need to provide transformational leadership. We need to not get stuck in the same modes and I will say at the very least I wont partner with the governor to make things even worse, which is a charge that I have for my current senator. Lena Taylor Attorney Lena Taylor was elected to the state Assembly in 2003 and won election to the state Senate in 2004. There is so much work to do, Taylor said. Im a champion and I continue to be and I desire to do that work and to serve the people. Taylor said her top issues are reforming the criminal justice system, from policing to incarceration, as well as jobs and education. Taylor said she would push her Love and Faith Initiative, which is a food- and agriculture-based program that would place hubs around the city staffed by a community connector to use hoop houses and orchards to educate and train participants in agriculture, forestry, construction, entrepreneurship and technology. Her initiative is not up and running yet, however, and wont be set up as a nonprofit organization, but Taylor said shed like to use it as a way to build infrastructure in the city. The people I would target are those who already have to do community service work, Taylor said, such as those receiving food assistance or in the W-2 program or individuals with a court order to do service work. She said she would continue to work on reforming the criminal justice system, with a special focus on re-entry barriers for ex-offenders, juvenile corrections and finding a solution to the Lincoln Hills crisis. She has conducted community-based visits up to Lincoln Hills, during which members of the arts community engage with residents. They need to know that someone is watching out for them, Taylor said. Taylor said calling her 2009 bill a mayoral takeover was an unfair characterization and denied that it was a takeover. SB 405, which Taylor introduced in the Senate with then-Sen. Jeff Plale and Sen. Tim Carpenter, would have given the Milwaukee mayor the power to appoint a Milwaukee Public Schools superintendent who would be in charge of MPS and have most of the powers of the MPS board, including staff appointments, the budget, collective bargaining and school closings. The bill also required a public referendum to be held in 2017, nine years after Taylor introduced the bill, on whether the MPS board should be in charge of MPS and appoint its superintendent. Among much controversy, the bill never was scheduled for a vote. I dont think its inappropriate for the mayor to have some engagement, Taylor said. A separate bill, authored by then-Sen. John Lehman (D-Kenosha) to which Taylor signed on as a cosponsor, gave the state superintendent the power to intervene in low-performing schools. That bill passed in April 2010, and Taylor said it has helped to reduce suspension rates. Taylor said she supports public schools and has worked to add more accountability measures to the voucher program. She said she opposes the recent expansion of vouchers. Taylor said she supported concealed carry because she believes gun owners have a constitutional right to do so. She said she introduced amendments to require more training and limit where concealed weapons could be carried, but they didnt pass. We do bills all the time and the perfect doesnt happen all the time, she said. Taylor has authored several bills to improve gun safety and responsible gun ownership, including requiring proof of insurance to obtain a concealed carry permit. The individuals who are doing a lot of the havoc that has existed in our community, they arent the ones with [concealed carry permits], she said. Its not them. Taylor was the only Democratic legislator to vote for Act 14, which stripped the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors of much of its power. Taylor co-sponsored the Senate version with Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), Sen. Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa), Sen. May Lazich (R-New Berlin) and then-Sen. Paul Farrow (R-Pewaukee). Taylor said she helped to limit the supervisors pay cut and require a public referendum on supervisors pay after their powers were cut. I was not asked to be on the sidelines, Taylor said. Somebody has to go in the room. To learn more about Lena Taylor, go to golenataylor.com. Among the handful of Democratic incumbents being challenged in the Aug. 9 primary is state Rep. Christine Sinicki, who has represented this South Shore district since being elected to the Assembly in 1998. Also appearing on the Democratic ballot is Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) teacher Julie Meyer. Both spoke to the Shepherd about their campaigns. Julie Meyer MPS teacher Julie Meyer was inspired to run for Assembly because of the lack of transparency shes seen in government and the dangers of privatizing government services. Ive always been interested in politics and Ive always wanted to run, but I thought I would do that after retirement, Meyer said. But the issues are too pressing now. A top priority for Meyer is rolling back the privatization of public education. As a teacher, she said shes experienced first hand the impact of limited funding and scarce resources on her students. She said class sizes have increased and teachers and students lack adequate books and computers. Ive seen the effects those privatization policies have had on MPS and its not acceptable, Meyer said. As a Democrat, we should not just be holding the line. We need to be walking back vouchers in Milwaukee. She pointed to Sinickis co-sponsorship of a 2006 law that expanded vouchers from 15,000 students in Milwaukee to 22,500 as a turning point in the voucher program. That was a moment in MPS history that was a watershed moment, Meyer said. The line was being held on vouchers at that point. That voucher expansion put us where we are today, where we have unlimited vouchers in Milwaukee. In addition, Meyer has been troubled by the decision-making of the appointed Milwaukee County Mental Health Board, which was created by state legislators in 2014 to take away the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors oversight of the countys behavioral health and substance abuse services. Meyer lives in Uncas Park, the site of a Mental Health Board-sanctioned group home in which two registered sex offenders livedespite being assured by Milwaukee County Health and Human Services Director Hector Colon and the facilitys owner, Karl Rajani, that none would be placed there. Meyer said the Mental Health Board has shut neighbors and the public out of the decision-making process and that even when the board does allow them to testify at meetings, their concerns are not taken seriously. She said that her testimony raising questions about the way the facility is being run and the care being provided to residents in it, as well as the no-bid contracts given by the Mental Health Board to the facilitys owner (worth up to $5 million) and to Kane Communications for PR (worth $430,000), were ignored. Friends of the Shepherd Help support Milwaukee's locally owned free weekly newspaper. LEARN MORE She said the only way to require the board to change is to work at the state level, since the county board has been neutered. As a teacher, Ive taught my students about democracy and government, Meyer said. And to see government in action and the complete antithesis of that, the lack of transparency, the no-bid contracts, the lack of public inputtheyre not listening to the public and Im appalled by that. Meyer said shes also troubled by the highly vitriolic comments on Sinickis Facebook page accusing Meyer and a campaign volunteer of a host of sinswithout providing any evidence. A Sinicki supporter even created a fake Meyer campaign page to ridicule her, and others writing on Sinickis page have called for a Meyer campaign volunteer to be fired from his day job. It really is offensive, the level to which she is going, Meyer said. I guess I shouldnt be surprised considering the way she has conducted herself as a public official. But Im not going to back down. Im not going to be bullied. To learn more about Julie Meyer, go to votejuliemeyer.com. Christine Sinicki State Rep. Christine Sinicki has represented Assembly District 20 for almost 18 years. I feel like there is more that I want to accomplish, Sinicki said. I still have the passion and the fire to fight for the people of Wisconsin. Her top priority is funding education so that its more equitable and also replacing the funding cut by Gov. Scott Walker and Republican legislators. She said the Legislature needed to address the funding problem but she didnt have a specific solution for it. The Legislature as a whole needs to address it, Sinicki said. I am willing to sit down and talk with anyone who wants to take a serious look at it. I would like to see another funding mechanism for education, but dont ask me what that is right now because we havent worked it out yet. That said, she wasnt optimistic that the current crop of Republicans would be willing to address the issue. I think if you were talking 15 years ago, when there were true Republicans, Republicans you could work with, I think some of them would have been willing to address it, Sinicki said. Sinicki said she thought some Republicans would be interested in requiring voucher schools to be more accountable and she opposes the recent expansion of vouchers statewide. I have voted against every voucher expansion bill that they have brought forward, Sinicki said. The attitude seems to be, lets give people as many ways as possible to escape public education in the state of Wisconsin. That said, Sinicki did co-sponsor the 2006 law expanding Milwaukees voucher program from 15,000 to 22,500 students. The law also required voucher schools to be accredited, administer standardized tests to voucher students and provide the scores to researchers, and also increased funding for the SAGE program, which limits class sizes in public schools. It was a compromise bill because we saw the opportunity to start getting accountability into those programs, Sinicki said. Sinicki opposes recent Republican attacks on womens reproductive rights, which have led to the closure of health clinics around the state, as well as the GOPs gutting of workers rights. Im not naive, Sinicki said. I realize its going to be very difficult to get Republicans to back down on their beliefs about right to work, public employees and prevailing wage. Sinicki said shes aware of the negative comments on her Facebook page and said shes privately told her supporters to tone it down when they have stepped out of line. She repeated some of the allegations in her interview with the Shepherd, however, but provided no evidence of the claims. She said she is only Facebook friends with the individual who set up the fake Meyer campaign page. Sinicki said she wants to win on the issues. Im the best candidate because I have the most experience, I know the issues and I know the district and I know how to get things done, Sinicki said. To learn more about Christine Sinicki, go to votesinicki.com. SIOUX CITY | A local church by early August will have created a new place to remember a notable episode in Sioux City history. A few people on Monday evening continued their work on the Cornerstone World Outreach memorial park for Rev. George Haddock, a minister who in 1886 was gunned down in downtown Sioux City. Not only will the work be done near Wesley Parkway within a month after beginning in July, but Cornerstone will hold a special ceremony on Aug. 3, the 130th anniversary of Haddock's death. "I've been working on it for six years," Cornerstone Senior Pastor Cary Gordon said. Haddock, an opponent of Sioux City saloons and prohibition law violations, was shot and killed on Aug. 3, 1886, outside a bar at the corner of Fourth and Water streets. However, the 2014 construction of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino took over that area, where a historic marker that described Haddock's death had been located. The Haddock marker is now housed at the Sioux City Public Museum. Cornerstone officials led by Gordon have sought to create a new place to keep the memory of Haddock alive. The Sioux City Council earlier this year agreed to sell a small parcel near Third Street and Wesley Parkway for $5,087 to the church. "We wanted it to be close to where (Haddock) died," Gordon said. That's where Gordon on Monday delivered bottled water to three church members who worked on landscaping and placed flowers at the memorial. It will cost about $50,000 and includes benches and a monument to Haddock. Gordon said the 6-foot-high likeness of Haddock will be placed by a crane at the site on Wednesday morning. One week later on Aug. 3, an evening ceremony is planned to end about 10 p.m., which Gordon described as the time that Haddock was gunned down. Gordon said no person was ever arrested for Haddock's death, so there is a stain that remains from the episode. He said people during the ceremony will pray humbly, which Gordon said "will break a curse on the city," according to the book of Deuteronomy. Gordon said Haddock is a hero, since he was a prohibitionist and abolitionist who spoke out in the 19th century, receiving criticism for his controversial stances. "He was just a courageous man.... I want people to know more about him," Gordon said. SIOUX CITY | Days after Siouxland saw stifling temperatures in the high 90s and heat index values above 110 degrees, temperatures look to continue cooling down for the rest of the work week. According to the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls, temperatures will reach 88 degrees this afternoon, with sunny skies and a south-southeast wind around 5 to 10 mph. Tonight will bring a 20 percent chance of precipitation, with showers and thunderstorms possible after 3 a.m. The low will be 65 degrees. The NWS has placed Sioux City under a "slight" risk for severe thunderstorms tonight. Wednesday will be slightly cooler, with a high of 83 degrees and a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Precipitation chances increase to 60 percent Wednesday night, with showers and thunderstorms likely before 1 a.m. Wednesday night's low will be 65 degrees. Temperatures will continue to cool into Thursday, with a high expected near 81 degrees. Conditions will be partly sunny, with a 20 percent chance of precipitation. Thursday night will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 64 degrees. Friday will be the coolest day of the week, dropping below the 80-degree mark. Conditions will be partly sunny with a high of 79 degrees. Friday night's low will be 63 degrees, with a 40 percent chance of precipitation. Saturday's high will be 83 degrees, with temperatures climbing back into the upper 80s and low 90s on Sunday and Monday. SPENCER, Iowa | A Lake Park, Iowa, man who shot himself after being stopped by law enforcement officers has pleaded not guilty to the armed robbery of a restaurant. Joshua Mandelkow, 40, entered his written plea Monday in Clay County District Court to first-degree robbery, going armed with intent and intimidation with a dangerous weapon. According to court documents, Mandelkow entered Barb's Corner restaurant, 1290 U.S. Highway 18 near Everly, Iowa, on March 11, brandished a shotgun and pointed it at a worker's head while demanding money. The worker emptied the cash register into a duffel bag, and Mandelkow left. Clay County Sheriff's deputies spotted Mandelkow about 15 minutes later. When a deputy tried to stop Mandelkow, he shot himself. No deputies were injured. Mandelkow's pretrial conference date is set for 9:30 a.m. Aug. 8. His jury trial is set for 9 a.m. Aug. 16. SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City man and woman are facing theft charges after police said they attempted to steal more than $1,500 in merchandise from Kohl's by stashing items in a suitcase. According to court documents, Jennifer Marie Harris, 33, of Sioux City, went into the Kohl's at 5001 Sergeant Road in Sioux City around 1 p.m. Sunday, packed a purple suitcase full of merchandise and hid the suitcase behind merchandise inside the store. Then, her accomplice, 20-year-old Chase Lillibridge, also of Sioux City, picked up the suitcase a short time later. On Monday, shortly after 5 p.m., officers were called to the same Kohl's store for a theft in progress. The store's loss prevention representative took officers inside the store and showed a suitcase the defendant had stashed behind merchandise near the front door. Documents say items in the suitcase would have sold in the store for more than $1,500. Harris was charged with second- and fourth-degree theft and is being held in the Woodbury County Jail on $6,000 bond. Lillibridge was charged with fourth-degree theft, as well as a drug possession charge. He is being held on $3,500 bond. SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday for stealing several motor vehicles during a seven-month period. Mackquiber Bracamonte-Mujo, 28, pleaded guilty in Woodbury County District Court in June to four counts of second-degree theft and one count of driving while license barred. A plea agreement reached in the case called for a 10-year prison sentence. A five-year prison sentence for a prior theft case will be served at the same time. From May 15, 2015, through Dec. 15, Bracamonte-Mujo stole several vehicles and sold them, stripped parts off of them for sale or used the vehicles to commit other crimes. He also was found in possession of three stolen iPads. SIOUX CITY | Many times during her 24 years as a judge, Mary Jane Sokolovske presided over plea-taking hearings, listening as defendants standing before her told her they were guilty. During a lot of that time, Sokolovske, too, was guilty, she said, though not of a serious crime. There were times her conscience nagged her that she was spending too much time with her painting and drawing hobbies instead of working. "I always feel guilty for doing it when I don't have all my work done," Sokolovske said in her office, where two pastels she created of tigers and another of a wolf hang. Her guilty feelings soon will be exonerated. On Thursday, the Sioux City native will retire from her district judge position, though she'll still serve 13 weeks a year as a senior judge. There was a time as a student at Bishop Heelan High School that art was an appealing career, Sokolovske said. "Way back when, if I could have found a career in art, I certainly would have pursued it," she said. Instead she chose law, but not immediately. As a senior at Regis University in Denver, Sokolovske, who was pursuing a history degree and figured she'd be a teacher, took a constitutional law class. It changed her career plans. "I got an A," she said. "That kind of lit the spark a little bit." She'd graduate with a law degree from Creighton University in 1977. Not sure what she wanted to practice immediately after graduation, she returned home and spent a few months working in the family business, Mike's Auto Parts on Dakota Avenue in South Sioux City. A friend told Sokolovske there were three openings in Woodbury County Attorney Zigmund Chwirka's office. She was hired to fill one of them and spent the next eight years there. "I enjoyed the county attorney's office," she said. "I liked the prosecution and learned to try cases." She left to pursue private practice in 1986, then three years later joined the public defender's office. Along the line, she decided she'd like to be a judge, and was appointed a district associate judge in March 1992, the first woman ever to hold the position in Woodbury County. "I was just fortunate that there was a district associate judge opening at that time," she said. Sokolovske enjoyed the fast-paced docket filled with small-claims cases, traffic court and initial appearances. After a few years, she thought she'd like to get a new judicial perspective. "You get to a point where you feel like you want to do something different," Sokolovske said of her decision to seek a district judge position, to which she was appointed in October 2000, the first female district judge in Iowa's 3rd Judicial District. During all that time, she developed an affinity for presiding in juvenile court, a role she'll continue once a week as a senior judge. It was a legal area she came to like, Sokolovske said, because she felt she could help people. "In juvenile court, there are services you can offer them to help families, to help children," she said. "It's rewarding in that sense. It's about finding solutions." In the meantime, Sokolovske always found time to draw and paint. Maybe it took up time that could have been spent researching a legal issue now and then, but it was a great stress reliever. With her full-time legal career over, Sokolovske will turn more attention to a hobby that could have been her career. Sure, she could have been painting animals and landscapes all those years, but it would have meant missing out on being a judge, a job she said has been fulfilling. "I always thank God every day," she said. "It's just unbelievable that someone can be so fortunate to get such a wonderful job." Sokolovske's words paint the perfect picture of contentment in a career well spent. CORRECTIONVILLE, Iowa | A 22-year-old man was killed Tuesday morning in a motorcycle accident along Highway 31 in rural Woodbury County. The victim has been identified as Tanner Hammond of Lawton, Iowa. According to a news release from the Woodbury County Sheriff's Office, Hammond was driving a motorcycle south in the 2600 block of Highway 31 when the vehicle left the roadway and veered into the west ditch. The crash was discovered by a passerby and called in to the sheriff's office at 6:31 a.m. Tuesday. Deputies, along with the Iowa State Patrol, Oto Ambulance and Woodbury County Emergency Services were dispatched to the crash. The crash remains under investigation. ONAWA, Iowa | An 86-year-old Onawa man was taken to Mercy Medical Center -- Sioux City Monday afternoon after being struck by an SUV as the man cut across traffic on his scooter, authorities say. According to an Iowa State Patrol report, 86-year-old Neil Leapley, of Onawa, was crossing Iowa Avenue near its intersection with 10th Street shortly before 1 p.m. Monday. The report said Leapley was not using a designated crossing area, and as he headed south across the street, he cut between two stopped vehicles in the first of the road's two eastbound lanes. The vehicles were stopped waiting for another vehicle to make a left turn. As Leapley emerged into the second eastbound lane, he was struck by a Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by 61-year-old Joy Ohl of Norfolk, Nebraska, the report said. Leapley was initially transported by Minden Fire and Rescue to Burgess Health Center in Onawa, then flown to Mercy Medical Center. Leapley's condition was not immediately available. The Onawa Police Department and Monona County Sheriff's Office also assisted the Iowa State Patrol at the scene. PHILADELPHIA -- After a raucous Republican convention nominated the very conservative Barry Goldwater in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson's campaign ran an advertisement quoting William Scranton, Pennsylvania's moderate governor, describing "Goldwaterism" as a "crazy-quilt collection of absurd and dangerous positions." Welcome to what will certainly be one of the central themes of the Democratic National Convention. Donald Trump's nomination at a dark and angry convention in Cleveland and his acceptance speech embracing a racially tinged authoritarian nationalism open up a wealth of opportunities for Hillary Clinton's campaign. This is the week in which Clinton could nail down the support of the nation's Latino and African-American voters while sowing deep doubts about Trump among what is likely to be the election's key target group: college-educated white voters. If the words "absurd and dangerous" are not used explicitly, the convention's orators can find many synonyms. But Clinton has real work to do on her own behalf, which is why the Democrats' conclave will be far more positive and upbeat than the GOP's gloomy attack-fest. One objective will be to boost Clinton's favorable ratings after a rocky period during which FBI Director James Comey's verbal excoriation of her use of a private email server set her up for a polling tumble. Democrats will be battling what they see as a false equivalency in the media that casts both major party candidates in the same light because of surveys giving each of them historically high negative scores. Clinton's campaign wants Democrats (who will form a large part of the television audience) to come away with new enthusiasm for their candidate, and swing voters to see Clinton as far more ready than Trump, by experience and temperament, to be president. Accentuating the positive will also be important because Trump has bet his candidacy on his ability to persuade a sufficient share of the electorate that the nation really is in the midst of a catastrophic crisis. Here is where the minority of Americans who pay close attention to both conventions will suffer from an acute case of whiplash: Democrats will not only be arguing that Clinton offers a better future; they will be vigorously defending President Obama's legacy. Republicans may thus come to regret their decision to harness Clinton and Obama together as twin authors of national apocalypse. At a time when the president's approval ratings have been healthy, the GOP helped lock in Obama's strongest supporters behind the woman who had once been his political adversary. The ferocity of Trump's attacks on Obama paradoxically make it easier for Clinton to advance the dual-track case she needs to make: that she will build on rather than demolish the president's achievements while also tending to long-standing problems that predated the Obama years. The GOP's picture of Obama is a wildly distorted parody, and parodies are more vulnerable to the facts than are honest descriptions of reality. And this convention will also be an opportunity to offer a gentle reminder that the last time someone named Clinton was president, the nation enjoyed a run of peace and prosperity. During the GOP gathering, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., declared that incomes had not recovered since their high in 1999. Trump made the same point using the year 2000. Neither mentioned who was president back then. But the Philadelphia Democrats also have a moral obligation: They cannot concede the white working-class to Donald Trump. Bernie Sanders, Clinton's primary rival, will play a vital role in seeing that they don't, and shrewd vote counters know that surrendering this constituency could endanger Clinton in states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan. But more than calculation is involved. Democrats have a responsibility to unite a fractured nation. The pain faced by those who work for wages transcends the lines of race and ethnicity. There are also the party's oldest commitments to defend. When the Democrats last met in Philadelphia in 1948, President Harry Truman insisted it was their party that had served as "the haven of the ordinary people of this land and not of the favored classes or the powerful few." It was here 12 years earlier that Franklin Roosevelt declared: "Liberty requires opportunity to make a living -- a living decent according to the standard of the time, a living which gives man not only enough to live by, but something to live for." Clinton has to cut through the static surrounding her to persuade those whom Trump is wooing with the politics of fear that she and her party still offer a credible politics of hope. WASHINGTON -- Crucial political decisions often concern which bridges to cross and which to burn. Donald Trump's dilemma is that he burns some bridges by the way he crosses others. His campaign depends on a low-probability event, and on his ability to cause this event without provoking a more-than-equal and opposite reaction. Extrapolating from recent elections, the turnout of non-college educated whites this November would be expected to be 3 percent smaller as a portion of the total turnout than in 2012, and college educated whites a 1 percent larger portion. The core of Trump's support consists of non-college educated whites, a cohort whose 2012 turnout was 60.4 percent. There is a low probability that Trump can motivate recent non-voters in this cohort to increase the turnout to 67 percent. There is, however, a high probability that the way he stimulates such people -- still more insult oratory and fact-free "policy" expostulations -- will cause other groups to recoil. For the first time since at least 1952 -- the first election for which ample data is available -- Democrats probably will win a majority of voters with college degrees -- a large and growing group (In 1952, 6.4 percent of Americans had completed college; today, about 33 percent have.) Consider, particularly, women with post-bachelor degrees. This fast-growing group -- the percentages of women in law, medical and business schools' enrollments are 48.7, 46.9 and 36.2, respectively -- is already approximately 65 percent Democratic. Can Trump ignite a spike in the non-college white vote without causing a more-than-commensurate increase in the Democratic propensity of the college-educated? Speaking of low-probability events, Trump's literary interests were hidden until his vice presidential search took him to Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield," where he found Mike Pence, whose sometimes unctuous affect resembles Uriah Heep's: So very 'umble. The adjective "oleaginous" might have been invented to describe Pence's performance with Trump on "60 Minutes": Being chosen by Trump is "very, very humbling." Trump is "one of the best negotiators in the world" and will provide "broad-shouldered American strength." Trump -- "this good man" (what would a bad man look like to Pence?) -- "is awed with the American people." Pence, a broad-spectrum social conservative saddened by our fallen world, can minister to the boastful adulterer and aspiring torturer who Pence thinks belongs in the bully pulpit. Actually, the sole benefit of Trump's election would be in making the presidency's sacerdotal role -- the nation's moral tutor -- terminally ludicrous. In May, Pence endorsed Ted Cruz but larded his endorsement with lavish praise of Trump, who excuses Pence for buckling "under tremendous pressure from establishment people." In a year of novelties, now this one: A presidential candidate calls his running mate weak. It will be interesting to see if Pence will defend his defensible opposition, as a congressman, to Medicare Part D, the prescription drug entitlement. When George W. Bush proposed this bit of "compassionate conservatism," House Democrats voted 195-9 against it, deeming it insufficiently compassionate to seniors and excessively compassionate to pharmaceutical companies. Nineteen House Republicans, including Pence, voted against it, largely because this was the first major entitlement enacted without provision for funding. To give the Bush administration time to twist arms and dangle enticements, Republicans held open the floor vote for 2 hours and 51 minutes, twice as long as the previous longest House vote. It passed 216-215. If pharmacology had been as potent in 1965 as it has become, prescription drugs might then have been included in Medicare. Today, will a pliable Pence amend his convictions and repent his resistance to this now immensely popular entitlement? Trump, Pence's new lodestar, sees nothing amiss with the existing entitlement system and disparages those (remember the man who used to be Chris Christie?) who think trillions of dollars of unfunded liabilities are problematic. Pence also has strongly favored free trade, including the North American Free Trade Agreement that Trump calls "the worst economic deal in the history of our country." Never mind. In 1980, George H.W. Bush denounced Ronald Reagan's "voodoo economics" until Reagan selected Bush as his running mate, whereupon Bush decided that it was very good voodoo economics. The malleable shall inherit the earth. As Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort, says, Trump "has changed the face of the Republican Party" just as Ronald Reagan did. Indeed. A snarl has replaced the sunny Southern California smile. Trump, himself a brand, has completed the rebranding of the Republican Party. Congressman Steve King dared to wade into the politically charged environment of racial commentary and offered a counter argument to the prevailing narrow narrative that only certain racially-defined minority groups matter and the politically-correct hatred that has come in response has been very misguided, very inaccurate, and does not reflect the comments nor the intent of this proven Iowa leader. Kings comments did not state that white people contributed more" nor in any way diminish the achievements of any racial group. He was explicitly focused on Western civilization, and the undeniable influence of Christianity on it and the world at large. A small snippet of his comments were used out of context and presented in a way that distorted his words in a way that truly perverted his intent. Until we can respect different points of view (at least long enough to hear the entire conversation before spinning the words we are hearing) we are doomed to increasing rancor, anger and violence. It seems no one is addressing the underlying concept Congressman King raised, but are instead focusing on a few words they (inaccurately) claim he said. The absolutely stifling radical political correctness so rampant in our country today is probably the most serious enemy to civilization I have ever witnessed. - Kevin Alons, Salix, Iowa LARCHWOOD, Iowa | The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has signed off on the final permits standing in the way of the Dakota Access interstate crude oil pipeline. With the permits already approved earlier this year by the Iowa Utilities Board and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the approval by the Corps means the controversial Bakken pipeline is greenlit in Iowa. The corp has jurisdiction over federal lands and water crossings, including the Big Sioux and Mississippi rivers. The pipeline will enter Iowa from South Dakota by crossing the Big Sioux in Lyon County. The project will place 346 miles of pipeline through 18 Iowa counties, including four others in Northwest Iowa -- Sioux, O'Brien, Cherokee and Buena Vista. There are no issues in Iowa, all of Iowa is done, said Ward Lenz, regulatory branch chief for the Corps Rock Island District. Ward said the Corps will spot check certain portions of the pipeline as construction takes place to ensure that wetland mitigation and permit conditions are met. Lisa Dillinger, a spokeswoman for pipeline developer Dakota Access, a division of Energy Transfer Partners, said in a Tuesday email that approval of the remaining 63 Corps permits allows work on the pipeline to begin across the state. Approval had already been given for the majority of the project. Yesterday we received the Nationwide Permit 12 from the Army Corps of Engineers for all four states. We can now move forward with construction in all areas as quickly as possible in order to limit construction activities to one growing season and be in service by the end of this year, Dillinger said in the email. The Corps Monday approval has been met with a mix of criticism and praise from various Iowa groups. Todays decision from the Army Corps isnt a surprise, Cherie Mortice, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) Board President, said in a Tuesday news release. It has been business as usual for Iowa and federal regulators putting corporate interests ahead of the common good and our land. Iowa CCI and Bold Iowa plan to continue to build a team of Iowans to engage in non-violent civil disobedience to delay and halt pipeline construction, the release states. We remain steadfast that oil will not follow through this pipeline. Well continue to fight tooth and nail this is not a done deal, Adam Mason, State Policy Director at Iowa CCI said in the release. We need to leave this oil in the ground and turn the corner to true renewable energies like wind and solar that will create good jobs, protect our environment, and build our communities. Meanwhile, the Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now (MAIN) coalition applauded the approval of permits for the $3.8 billion, 1,168 mile four state pipeline. As a local farmer, I have long supported construction of this project and am pleased that today it becomes a reality, Chairman of the MAIN Coalition Ed Wiederstein said in a Tuesday news release. It will provide untold benefits to the security of our nation and our economic future. The agriculture industry, in particular, relies on affordable, easy to access energy and the Dakota Access project will provide value for decades to come for the thousands of farmers across our region. Iowa was the last of four states to approve the pipeline, which already had a green light from North Dakota, South Dakota and Illinois. PHILADELPHIA | Tom Harkin kicked off Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention with a lesson in sign language. The former Democratic U.S. senator from Iowa spoke at the convention on Tuesday, the 26th anniversary of his signature legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act. Harkin told the crowd he was going to teach them a word in sign language. He told the thousands to join their hands by interlocking their fingers, then to make a circle motion. That, my friends, is the sign for America, Harkin said, drawing loud applause. Its a beautiful sign. Think about it: Were all together. No one is left out in this constant circle of life that is America. Harkin celebrated the ADA and said Hillary Clinton, who later Tuesday was to be named the partys nominee for president, will be a champion for people with disabilities. That is the America that we all want, disabled and not disabled alike, Harkin said. It is the beautiful America that Hillary Clinton will fight for, for every person to be respected, valued and treated with dignity. Harkin retired from the Senate in 2014. He said that in his retirement he has extended his work for people with disabilities, working with organizations that help them find employment. Harkin noted the small percentage of adults with disabilities who are working 35 percent in 2014, according to federal data compiled by Cornell University in New York; said the law should be changed to prevent employers from paying employees with disabilities less than the minimum wage; and said disabled adults on Medicaid should be free to live at home, not just in nursing homes. We still have a long way to go before we build a truly inclusive America, Harkin said. Hillary Clinton wants to ensure people with disabilities are judged by their potential and have the tools to secure competitive, integrated employment. PHILADELPHIA | Bernie Sanders called his campaign a fantastic start to a movement to revolutionize politics and policy, but as the Democratic National Convention got underway, his supporters had mixed feelings about his call for party unity. In fact, the Vermont Democratic socialist was booed Monday when he told a throng of supporters in Philadelphia weve got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine, her running mate. Not everyone was booing. Hes a team player even if its for that team played dirty against him, said Sanders delegate Brent Oleson of Marion. I plan on voting for him Wednesday and supporting the ticket on Thursday. Sanders hoped his other supporters would adopt that attitude because, as Sanders said, Brothers and sisters, this is the real world we live in. Caleb Humphreys real world is Iowas 4th District. Hillary Clinton wont be living in the 4th District. I will, an angry Humphrey said after a Hillary for America staffer declined to answer his questions in front of reporters. Look, we know the numbers, Humphrey said after hearing calls for party unity at the Iowa delegations breakfast Monday. Hes still fighting for Sanders ideas on single-payer health care, the minimum wage and forcing wealthy Americans and corporations to pay a larger share of taxes. Im trying to be there as a Democrat. Another Sanders delegate, Lucas Haffner of Lytton, said he wants to see Democratic and progressive values proceed together, but there is a rift because we consider this is still a contest being played out. Haffner and other Sanders delegates said the Clinton campaign has not made it easy to heal the divisions. They were incensed that the Clinton campaign made Debbie Wasserman Schultz an honorary national campaign chairwoman after she resigned as Democratic National Committee chairwoman following leaked emails that showed party staffers sabotaging the Sanders campaign. They want unity and she brings Debbie Wasserman Schultz on? he said. That was before it was announced that Wasserman Schultz would not gavel in the convention. If she had, Sanders delegate Ingrid Olson of Council Bluffs predicted the outgoing chairwoman would be booed and many would turn their backs. Wasserman Schultzs presence on the stage would be a slap in the face of Sanders delegates, Olson said, and another indication that the Clinton campaign is not reaching out. Theyve done nothing to unify the party and everything to vilify Sanders and his supporters, she said. Theyve done nothing to make us feel that Sanders' progressive ideas are being adopted. The frustration was evident when the convention came to order Monday afternoon. During the opening prayer, when Dr. Cynthia Hale called for the nomination of Hillary Clinton, Sanders supporters responded by chanting Bernie so loud the prayer could no longer be heard. Throughout the next few speakers --- who were convention officials --- Sanders supporters booed any mention of Clinton or Kaine. When such cheering continued through the opening address of new convention chair Marcia Fudge --- who replaced Wasserman Schultz --- Fudge admonished the crowd. A lot of folks in this crowd dont know me, said Fudge, a congresswoman from Ohio. I am going to be respectful of you. I want you to be respectful of me. We are all Democrats and we need to act like it. Meg Ansara, national battleground state director for Hillary for America, told Iowa delegates the campaign has been hiring former Sanders staffers and talking to Sanders supporters about how we approach this convention together to ultimately strengthen this convention. We feel tremendously optimistic. We feel like we all recognize whats at stake and the work we need to do to get there, she said. That may not be enough, according to David Andersen, an assistant professor of political science at Iowa State University. He said the presidential election is Clintons to lose unless she can get Bernie Sanders supporters on board. She has made an effort to reach out to them, Andersen said. If she consolidates the base to make sure that people who want to vote for a Democrat, want to vote for her, the odds are in her favor to win this election. If thats what she wants, then Clinton has to realize that Sanders supporters arent chasing what he called utopian fantasies. What this campaign is about, Olson said, is utopian ideas like opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and supporting free, in-state public education tuition. Clinton needs to take additional steps to get the Democratic base solidly behind her, Olson said. Despite their bitterness and disappointment, Olson and others said they plan to stay involved. We dont want anyone to walk off the floor, Olson said. We need to stay here for down-ballot progressives. Were here for the long haul, to push left of left, she said. Sanders was the opening days final speaker, and his introduction produced a raucous ovation. Sanders stuck mostly to his standard campaign speech, and drew a particularly favorable response when he told his supporters that he looks forward to hearing them deliver their votes for him during Tuesday nights proceedings. But Sanders also added his support for Clinton. Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States, Sanders said, later closing with, Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president, and I am proud to stand with her tonight. Erin Murphy of the Journal Des Moines Bureau contributed to this story. Once a key part of the political season and an important role for newspapers, editorial endorsements of candidates are fading away. A recent announcement that newspapers controlled by the Alden Global Capital hedge fund would no longer endorse candidates for president, governor and U.S. Senate is the latest indicator of the trend. In many cases, endorsements have become victim to both the news industry's troubles and the era's bitter politics. After many newspapers advised against voting for Donald Trump as president in 2016 and he won anyway many news organizations wonder if it's worth alienating readers when they're hard enough to come by. Gov. Pete Ricketts had the proper, proactive response to the latest revenue figures, which showed that state government ended the fiscal year about $95 million short of projections. The governor told state agencies to take various measures, such as postponing or eliminating hiring when possible, limiting equipment purchases to improve efficiency or maintain services and to use video calls and web meetings when possible to avoid travel. The governor also ordered a 1 percent reduction in the 25 percent of appropriations allotted to agencies, boards and commissions. Net tax receipts in June were 5.5 percent below projections, and the state ended the year about 2.2 percent below projections. Revenue has come in below projections four out of the past seven months. The figures underscore how important it is that the state maintain an adequate cash reserve. Mike Calvert, the Legislatures chief fiscal analyst, said state government ended the year with about $617.2 million in the reserve, once transfers already approved by the Legislature are deducted. Another important lesson that lawmakers should draw from the figures is how unwise it would be to enact income tax cuts in the current economic conditions. As the Lincoln Journal Star editorial board has said previously, the Legislature should focus its energy on reducing property taxes. Theres all kind of evidence that taxpayers want that to be the tax cut priority. Meanwhile the Platte Institute for Policy Research is holding meetings across the state in a misguided attempt to gin up support for more income tax cuts. And Sen. Jim Smith, who wants to chair the Revenue Committee, has promised to introduce legislation to that effect. In contrast to the claims of some tax cut advocates, the Legislature has enacted major tax cut packages in recent years. According to an analysis by the OpenSky Policy Institute, most of those cuts were made in income taxes, and the impact will continue in coming years. In the 2014-15 fiscal year income tax cuts amounted to almost $300 million a year, the Lincoln-based think tank said. The decreased reliance on income tax revenue shifts more of the tax burden to property taxes. Making deeper income tax cuts would worsen that trend. When Ricketts announced the measures to control spending, he said it was not a crisis. What we get paid to do is manage our budgets within the constraints of the revenues we project, he said. The states elected officials can continue to keep Nebraskas finances in stable order by keeping a hefty cash reserve and resisting pressure to switch the tax cut focus from property tax relief. Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star If one of your customers left your business unsatisfied or even a little ticked, theres a good chance you and the rest of world may never hear about it. Yes, in a world where its so easy to spout off and drag your business through the mud on social media or with an online review, about 67 percent of consumers say theyll stay silent on a bad experience with a local merchant. Thats the finding from a series of surveys conducted by GetFiveStars.com and its founder Mike Blumenthal. The same study taken from a survey of 365 consumers found that only 34.5 percent will actually complain about a bad experience theyve had at a local merchant. Worried about your online reputation? The complaints will likely be filed in person. Only 12.6 percent of those responding say that theyd write a bad review of the business online and, of course, never go back. More than a quarter of the more than 300 asked 28.8 percent, specifically say theyd remain quiet after a bad experienced but never go back to the place again. And another 24.1 percent say theyd not only remain silent about the poor customer service theyd received. They would likely give the place another try. So, can this apparent reluctance on the part of dissatisfied customers to tell you, others they no or the whole internet about a bad experience they had wit your business be looked at as a good thing even if it means, in some cases, you will never see them again? Hardly, says Blumenthal. The Benefit of Asking for Customer Feedback In fact, he says, you should be asking for feedback from your customers. After all, if youve delivered a bad experience and the customer never says a word, how can you prevent it from happening and again ad again? Youre not asking for complaints, youre asking for feedback. Ask every customer for feedback, Blumenthal said in an interview with Small Business Trends. Most small businesses never ask. In fact, Blumenthal insists that, in the long run, inviting feedback including complaints could actually benefit your business. Its just a matter of phrasing the solicitation for feedback in the right way. He suggests using a net promoter score where customers are asked to rate their experiences at checkout from 1 to 10, for example. The key to using feedback positive or negative is to take it in, decide what it all means and then use it to make your business better. Some small businesses are still not fully tapping into the greatest marketing opportunity of our time: the Internet. Many businesses now have a website and can interact with potential consumers via desktop, but these businesses are still behind the ball because increasingly, online traffic is being conducted through mobile phones. Small businesses are missing out because they either: a.) Do not have a mobile optimized website or b.) Do not have a mobile application. Last year, Google updated its search algorithm to favor mobile friendly websites for mobile Google searches. To mobile-friendly businesses, this was a good thing, but according to eMarketer, 48 percent of small businesses are not mobile optimized and their search listings on mobile have dropped as a result. Mobile traffic is on the rise. Back in 2014, comScore reported that smartphones and tablets already accounted for at least 60 percent of all online traffic. While much of this traffic was going to social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram even at that time, an estimated 35 percent of organic website traffic came from mobile devices too. So in 2016, a small business ignoring the rising popularity of mobile would be missing out on a tremendous and growing market. Whats more, the study concluded that 50 percent of online mobile traffic originated from mobile apps, another trend small business owners should be watching. Still, many small businesses are often afraid of the high price of a developer to build their mobile app Fortunately, there is a much more affordable option out there that many users arent aware of: do-it-yourself (DIY) application software or app creators. More and more businesses are turning to DIY apps because they are cost effective and easy to create. DIY apps are made with drag and drop templates and do not require any specially technical skills to construct. The software can be bought with a monthly subscription that gives business owners access to all of the softwares features. Comparing some of the top DIY app builders, the average monthly subscription is about $62 ($744 a year), which is much cheaper than the average cost of a custom app. A custom mobile app typically requires hiring a developer who charges somewhere around $100 an hour, for a project that, at a minimum, will likely take 250 hours to complete. Thats $25,000 on the low end. Small businesses will likely find that a DIY app is a more efficient and cost effective approach than developing a mobile friendly website. DIY apps can do everything that a web app can, including integrate with social media and eCommerce, and send push notifications. A DIY app maker can be used to create more personal interactions with customers by providing loyalty systems and rewards for customers who download the app. DIY apps are a great choice for a business with a small, but loyal client base. Conclusion: Why You Should Consider Building a Mobile Application It is important for small businesses to understand the value of the mobile app audience. Most trends suggest that consumers will continue to shift to mobile as their modality for surfing the internet and purchasing goods. To stay competitive, small businesses need to address this growing market and work to put mobile first. It doesnt matter how great a deal you got on your last business smartphone, theres one company that almost certainly has it beat. How much would you pay for a phone with the following specs? 6-inch display with a 1,9201,080-pixel resolution Octa-core Snapdragon 617 processor 13-megapixel rear camera 5-megapixel front camera 2GB of RAM 32GB of storage MicroSD card slot 3,400 mAh battery Rear fingerprint sensor Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow software USB Type-C For most people the answer would probably be $300 or more. But ZTE has priced the ZMax Pro, which by the way has all these specs, so low it has many of the leading tech publishers online singing the companys praises. So how much is the ZTE ZMax Pro? The answer is $99. Yes, this feature packed phone is less than $100. The company is known for manufacturing budget phones, but it also has high-end products, such as the Axon 7, which can go toe-to-toe with the leading flagship phones of global brands. So the question has to be asked, why is ZTE pricing a phone with these specs so low? Market saturation is the most obvious answer, because high-end phones are beginning to have a harder time selling than in a saturated market. According to Gartner, Apple had its first double-digit decline year on year, with iPhone sales down 14 percent in Q1 of 2016, and Samsung also saw a decline, although it wasnt as dramatic. As for low-cost Chinese brands like ZTE, they are experiencing a boon as consumers look for high-quality phones that are more affordable. The ZMax Pro fits a Small Business Needs, and Budget For small businesses looking to give their employees company phones, the ZMax Pro has come at the right time. This phone has all the features a business needs to chat, text and video conference by bringing everyone together no matter where they are. The 13 MP camera, HD audio, VoLTE, 3,400mAh battery, 32GB of storage and microSD all means they will be able to communicate across all channels while capturing and storing rich media. As many of the reviewers of the ZTE Zmax Pro have said, there is not a phone out there with these specs anywhere for $99. Whether you are a consumer or a business, this represents an option if you are in the market for a smartphone/phablet at a budget price. The Zmax Pro is only going to be available through MetroPCS, and you can pre-register to get one here. Labour July 26, 2016 Evert Hoogers, Donald Swartz and Rosemary Warskett A major confrontation is in the making at Canada Post. On the one hand, post office management is seeking to extract a series of far ranging concessions from its workers. On the other, those workers and their union, Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), are not simply prepared to resist these demands, but are determined to use the opportunity to negotiate a new collective agreement to pursue an agenda that advances equality within the workplace and the expansion and renewal of vital public services. The importance of this struggle lies in the fact that its outcome will be of enormous significance not only to the lives of postal workers, but to all public sector workers and indeed to future workers as well. Canada Post has once again taken an aggressive approach to the current negotiations, tabling a long list of demands for significant concessions in work rules and benefits that would roll back many of the advances made by postal workers over the past two decades. Indeed, they applied for conciliation, the first step toward putting themselves in position to lockout CUPW before all these demands were even tabled. The Issues The most striking concession demanded was to call for a two-tier pension system where current workers would continue to have a defined benefit plan, but new hires would merely have a defined contribution plan [really just a glorified RRSP], effectively dividing postal workers along generational lines. While the shift to defined contribution plans in whole or just for new workers has become fairly common in the corporate sector, they are rare in the public sector and then have only involved small groups of workers. Canada Posts rationale is that meeting the new legal requirement that all pension plans within federal jurisdiction be fully funded [i.e. have enough funds to cover all liabilities in the event they totally ceased operations entirely] would be unaffordable. However, the requirement itself is unrealistic as the post office, like other public organizations is not about to disappear and the post office should join CUPW in opposing it. This demand, together with demands for changes in the collective agreement to allow for the greater use of part-time and casual labour reflects the permanent austerity imposed on the public sector and is intended to ensure the public sector labour market tracks the spread of precarious work in the private sector. Canada Posts demands for concessions arent the only issues involved in the dispute. The back-to-work legislation in 2011 that brought an end to the previous round of negotiations saddled CUPW members with an iniquitous contract and postal workers have some demands of their own. Understandably, they are looking for a reasonable pay increase, but they are also demanding pay equity for CUPWs rural mail carriers, mostly women, who earn almost 30 per cent less than urban mail carriers. Canada Post had long insisted that rural mail carriers were independent contractors who had no right to unionize. In 2003 CUPW managed to get Canada Post to agree to recognize the rural mail carriers right to unionize but had to acquiesce to their existing lower pay rate. Since then, they have struggled to eliminate it. It was a major issue in the last round of negotiations but progress was derailed by the Tories 2011 back-to-work legislation which referred the dispute to binding arbitration under terms that were extremely unfavourable to postal workers. Underlying these issues is a deep disagreement over the future direction of the post office. Due to technological changes associated with the internet, letter mail volumes have been falling, although parcel volume has grown. While the post office has earned a profit virtually every one of the last 15 years, revenue growth has been quite modest, threatening its ability to meet the requirement to be self-sustaining. But whereas Canada Posts strategy for dealing with this is to place the burden of adjusting to change on the backs of postal workers, and the citizenry by searching for ways to reduce labour costs and services [i.e. replacing door-to-door mail delivery with Community Mail Boxes], possibly in a lead up to privatizing mail delivery, CUPW is urging the post office to expand services. Initially, this centred on calling for the creation of a postal bank using the post offices throughout the country as local branches as is common in many countries in the world from England to Japan. They argued that a postal bank would be a new source of revenue for the post office as well as providing desperately needed banking services in the many towns, reserves and poorer areas of cities that commercial banks have abandoned. Even where banks remain physically present, exorbitant fees and other requirements make them inaccessible to many poor people. Recently, this vision has been substantially expanded. Working with ACORN, the authors of the LEAP Manifesto, the Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association and Friends of Public Services among others, they have developed a view of the post office as playing a central role in building a more ecologically sustainable and more equal society. Titled Delivering Community Power , it envisions transitioning the post office to a green public institution that employs a fleet of renewably powered vehicles, provides charging stations for electric vehicles, serves as an innovation hub, and provides expanded services to the ill and elderly, with much of the financing coming from the revenues generated by a postal bank. This is probably the most imaginative proposal to come out of the labour movement in the west since the 1976 plan developed by Lucas Aerospace workers in England to counter the threat of layoffs due to technological change and spending cuts by converting the arms manufacturer to peaceful production. Developing Community Power is still a work in progress that holds out the prospect of becoming a larger conversation about the future of Canada Post and other public services, as well as union bargaining strategies. State of Negotiations On July 5th, the 21 day cooling off period that is part of the conciliation process under the Canada Labour Code ended, and the post office promptly gave the requisite 72 hours notice of its intent to lockout CUPW members on July 8. It looked as if we were headed for a repeat of 2011 when Canada Post locked out CUPW and the government promptly followed with back-to-work legislation. However, 2016 is not 2011 and the Trudeau Liberals are not the Harper Conservatives. Its not just that the nasty divisive rhetoric of the Harper era, not least the constant vilification of the public sector and public sector workers, [except for the police and prisons] has ceased. There have also been some concrete advances such as the reinstatement of the long form census as well as a long overdue expansion of the Canada Pension Plan. That said, it is important not to overstate the magnitude of the changes or to ignore the many critical continuities. As the Liberals support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) makes clear, the government remains committed to sustaining the neoliberal politics of freer markets that increase the power of capital and impose permanent austerity for the public sector and public sector workers. This pattern of modest positive changes together with continued fealty to an austerity agenda is evident in the Liberals approach to the post office as well. They have left the existing management regime headed by the Harper appointed CEO, Deepak Chopra, in place, and despite promising to restore door-to-door mail delivery, they only halted further cuts pending the completion of review of options for the future of postal services. It is likely that Canada Posts rush to lockout CUPW partly reflected the regimes desire to pre-empt any unwanted outcomes from that review. But, this time around, the government was not so anxious for a work stoppage and/or prepared to legislate an end to one if it happened at this point. This is partly connected to the Ontario Supreme Courts recent ruling that the Harper governments 2011 back-to-work legislation ending Canada Posts lockout of CUPW violated the unions freedom of association and interfered with the balance of collective bargaining. It also seems reluctant to mar the sunny ways aura surrounding it. Nor could it ignore the impact of CUPWs well-conceived bargaining and messaging strategy. As a result, Canada Post was forced to back track. First, it extended the deadline by 3 days and then on July 11, it withdrew the notice of its intent to lockout CUPW and announced a renewed commitment to negotiations. This is not to suggest the government has much sympathy for CUPWs demands. In this respect, Labour Minister MaryAnn Mihychuks suggestion that the parties consider binding arbitration is telling. It is common parlance that no arbitrator would issue a ruling in favour of people who are not yet employed by Canada Post. Further it is quite shocking that the Labour Minister would even suggest binding arbitration on the issue of the wage discrepancy between rural and urban letter carriers. As CUPW President Mike Palecek pointed out: Paying women equally for work of equal value is the law of the land; its not something that can be awarded or withheld by an arbitrator. Looking Ahead It would appear that we are in the midst of the calm before the storm. Evidently, Canada Post is committed to extracting concessions from its workforce and there is little likelihood that CUPW will acquiesce to Canada Posts demands without a fight not least to the demand for an inferior pension plan for future, younger, workers. Two-tier pay systems that require workers with different pay and/or benefits to work side-by-side offends most workers sense of justice and solidarity and many will go to great lengths to avoid this situation. In 2009, for example, steelworkers in Sudbury and Port Colborne struck for almost a year in an unsuccessful bid to block Vale Incos imposition of a two-tiered pension system. [Ed.: see Bullet No. 253 and Bullet No. 395.] CUPW, with its commitment to equality between male and female workers, as well as full and part time workers, that goes back to the 1970s, is unlikely to act any differently. Indeed, when faced with an attempt by management to create a new lower classification in conjunction with the introduction of new technology back in 1974, they struck illegally to block it. For the same reason, CUPW is unlikely to simply abandon its demand for equal pay for rural carriers. Much will depend on the support those of us who are committed to social justice and equality, expanding public services and spaces and ecological sanity, can provide to CUPW. How this will play out remains to be seen with the Federal government being something of a wild card, albeit a crucial one given its ability to invoke the law and the power of the state. We can be certain, however, that much will depend on the support those of us who are committed to social justice and equality, expanding public services and spaces and ecological sanity, can provide to CUPW. In this respect, the grassroots coalitions of union, student, anti-poverty and environmental activists that have already sprung up in cities such as Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax, Winnipeg, Toronto and Vancouver are encouraging, and no doubt there will be many others. However, it will be necessary to engage the major public and private sector unions with their much greater resources and potential mobilizing capacities all of whose members have a real stake in the outcome. This is so clearly the case for unions in the federal public sector whose members will be next in line if Canada Post succeeds in imposing a two-tier pension system on CUPW. But it is also the case that unions in the private sector, many of whom are struggling to overcome the divisiveness created by having accepted two-tier wage and benefit systems, have a real stake in the outcome. A CUPW defeat would only strengthen the forces pushing them into the race to the bottom which is inimical with their members interests. It is urgently necessary that the union leaderships take the initiative in building the requisite mobilization, in concert with CUPW. Unfortunately, past experience reveals that this can by no means be taken for granted. For example, meaningful efforts by USW, let alone the CLC to build support for Vale Inco workers in 2009 were noticeably absent. As for the PSAC, its efforts to build support for a strike by a small group of its members working for the OLG [Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, operates gambling in the province of Ontario] near Ottawa where pension issues were central to the dispute were inadequate and failed to prevent a significant defeat. Activists need to find ways to put pressure on the leaders of both public and private sector unions, insisting that they go beyond perfunctory statements of support, and even promises of financial assistance, to communicate the importance of the issues to their members and to commit significant resources to mobilizing concrete solidarity with postal workers. We also need to communicate support for postal workers to the government. Messages from individuals and groups to the government and individual MPs should not only call on the government to press the post office to drop its demands for concessions and respond positively to CUPWs demands, but also express support for CUPWs proposals for the future of the postal service. For details see www.CUPW.ca/CanadaPostReview. Equally importantly, we should also communicate support for expanding postal services directly to the Task Force on the future of Canada Post at www.Canada.ca/CanadaPostReview PHILADELPHIA (July 25, 2016)Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' supporters in the Maryland delegation at the Democratic National Convention are following his lead in endorsing presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton, even in the aftermath of leaked emails implicating high-level party officials in trying to influence the primary process in favor of Clinton. The Maryland delegate breakfast at the Inn at Penn on Monday kicked off the first convention day. Maryland Democratic Party Chairman Bruce Poole opened the breakfast with a short speech, joking that First Lady Michelle Obama's address later that evening would be a preview of Ivanka Trump's next speech. But signs of disaffection among Sanders backers surfaced quickly. Volunteers from the Sanders campaign collected signatures of delegates pledging support for the Vermont senator at the breakfast. One of the volunteers estimated they had roughly 35 signatures, which totals less than 3 percent of the Maryland delegation. At-large delegate Darrell Cox, of Bowie, was interrupted during his speech when he declared Hillary Clinton the next president, and Sanders supporters shouted "Bernie!" Sandra Falwell, 67, a Clinton delegate, said she supports Sanders for many reasons, but said, "I'm taking Bernie's lead," when it comes to whether she will vote for the former secretary of state. Kendra Ziegler, 32, a delegate from Silver Spring, was a "Bernie or bust" voter for a brief period of time, but said she will follow Sanders' lead. "I trust that he will do a fantastic job leading me as a delegate," she said. An at-large delegate from Bowie, Darrell Carrington, 48, is also a Sanders supporter, but said he was "here to support the Democratic ticket." The opening of the Democratic National Convention comes just three days after Wikileaks published emails from members of the Democratic Party that appeared to show collusion among members of the leadership to ensure Clinton was the nominee. Carrington said "we recognize that obviously our candidate won't be the nominee." But he added the idea that "our party conspired against a candidate is troubling." "I just feel validated," by the email leak, Ziegler said, explaining she always felt the party was working against her candidate. But the resignation of Democratic National Committee Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was not much punishment because "she's getting the job she's already had for a year and a half," as an honorary Clinton campaign adviser, Ziegler said. Falwell said the "total conspiracy to keep a candidate down" is criminal, and Wasserman Schultz was the scapegoat the party needed. "It had to be her," she said. "People have to take responsibility," Carrington insisted. If the party is serious we need a change of leadership." The Democratic delegates were staunchly opposed to Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee. Carrington referred to him as "the evil we see on the other side." Some of the delegates see this year's contest as more than an election. "This is life-or-death for many of us, as a queer woman, this is life-or-death," Ziegler said. She also called Trump a "non-starter." Sanders faced some challenges presenting the most progressive platform for a Democratic candidate, she said. And while the party is trending toward more progressive ideas, Ziegler said, "I have to remind myself, as a progressive, while our party is shifting in my direction, it's not there yet." Sanders "presents the best and brightest of what we can be," Carrington said. COLLEGE PARK, Md. (July 25, 2016)Democratic National Committee emails leaked Friday by Wikileaks revealed that party staff was working to undermine Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign. The leak brought down party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and threw the first day of the Democratic National Convention into disarray. It also revealed that party staffers had some pretty interesting things to say about Maryland and some of its elected leaders. Here are the five most interesting things we found in the staff emailseverything from disparaging remarks on a delightful town on the Eastern Shore to openly cheering for one candidate in Maryland's contested Democratic Senate primary. (We left a message seeking comment with the Democratic Party on the emails included in this story.) 1) A top staffer called Cambridge, Maryland, a "shitty town." National Finance Director Jordan Kaplan was asked by a colleague in May about his visit to Cambridge, on Maryland's Eastern Shore. "It was fine. Shitty town and were(sic) only stayed for a few hours. We spent the night in Annapolis." 2) A party official called news of former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's presidential campaign fundraiser "just sad." After he ended his quixotic bid for the presidency, O'Malley held an "Irish Wake" to raise money to pay down his campaign debt. DNC Mid-Atlantic Finance Director Alexandra Shapiro forwarded a POLITICO article about the event to a colleague, writing, "This is just sad" 3) The party's top spokesman called either O'Malley or the Baltimore Sun's Washington correspondent a "joke." Baltimore Sun Washington correspondent John Fritze emailed the DNC requesting information about how moderators determined how many questions to ask each candidate during Democratic primary debates. In forwarding the message to colleagues to determine how to respond, a staffer noted that Fritze's query came after complaints from O'Malley that he "didn't get enough time" during debates with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Party Communications Director Luis Miranda responded: "Hilarious. What a joke that guy is. You can tell (Fritze) on background that it's entirely up to the networks and leave it at that." It's unclear whether Miranda was calling Fritze or O'Malley a joke. 4) The DNC tried to use Maryland's Steny Hoyer to combat suggestions that the party was in the tank for Hillary Clinton. A reporter for The Hill asked the DNC to comment on allegations by former Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner that the party mistreated Bernie Sanders during the primaries. Miranda suggested the reporter interview Hoyer to "balance out Nina's perspective." Hoyer, an outspoken supporter of Hillary Clinton, "could give you a very different perspective," Miranda wrote. 5) A staffer called Rep. Chris Van Hollen's win in the Democratic Senate primary over a fellow Democrat "so beautiful." A colleague sent Scott Comer, the party's finance chief of staff, a link to a tweet noting that Van Hollen had won a hotly contested battle for the Senate seat left open by the retirement of Sen. Barbara Mikulski. Comer's response from his iPhone: "So beautiful." HOLLYWOOD, Md. For the first time in years, Leonardtown once again hosts a national franchise in its downtown area, once solely the province of locally owned and operated small businesses.But town leaders were quick to point out last week that the opening of the new Dunkin' Donuts on Washington Street was a positive addition to the town's business family, since it too was operated by a local business owner.Maria Icaza, not only heads up the new store but is a fund raiser for the local Special Olympics, a member of the Chamber of Commerce and a Rotary Club member."It's really serving the community well," she said of all the organizations she works with.Scott Murphy, senior vice president for Dunkin' Donuts operations in the Unites States said that Icaza's work in Leonardtown made the opening of the new store a special occasion."We open about 500 stores a year," Murphy said. "But I made a special effort to be here because of a special person."We're a big company but we're locally owned by franchisees."Numerous residents came out to the grand opening, including elected officials including Leonardtown Mayor Dan Burris, council member Roger Mattingly, Sen. Steve Waugh and Del. Matt Morgan.Burris said later that there were concerns by some in the town's business community that having a franchise open up in the downtown, creating stiff competition for smaller proprietorships.But he believed that the new store would be a good mix with the other businesses in town."It's been packed ever since it opened," Burris said during Monday's town council session. "It's really going to bring a lot to the downtown." HOLLYWOOD, Md. The county government is considering paying nearly $2 million for 158 acres on South Sandgates Road in Mechanicsville; the issue will come up for debate at the Aug. 2 meeting of the Commissioners of St. Mary's County.Commissioner Todd Morgan said the reason for the purchase was to provide more boat launch space for access to the Patuxent River."A lot of that money is coming out of Project Open Space funding," Morgan said. The biggest complaint is the lack of access for boats to the Patuxent River."This could be a great way to do it."Morgan called the potential purchase a "good deal" and a "worthwhile proposition."Commissioner Mike Hewitt said the purchase of land was a significant one from a sheer size perspective."It's going to be beach front but there could be fields there, too," Hewitt said. "It has a really big beach."There's a lot of potential there."The $1.8 million price tag was based on an appraisal the county had commissioned, Hewitt said, and was well below the asking price of the owners, described in county notices as the Fortier Farm Family Limited Partnership.The County Times learned that the other assessment appraised the land's value at $1.76 million.The asking price from the sellers was $3.5 million, Hewitt said.The purchase could be funded by half by the Department of Natural Resources, Hewitt said, and when he visited the property he saw that it was about one-half or one-third wooded with some homes and barns on the parcel.He said there was no preliminary plan that he knew of to develop the property.County Attorney George Sparling said the commissioners would have the option to purchase the land Aug. 2 without a public hearing.The Maryland public meeting laws only required that they announce the potential purchase before the scheduled commissioner meeting, he said.Any public comment would be at the allowance of the county commissioners, Sparling said. The Maryland Dove is pictured docked at St. Mary's City in 2005. (somd.com file photo by David Noss) St. MARY'S CITY, Md. (July 25, 2016)The Maryland Dove, a recreated tall ship, is heading to Baltimore! The Maryland Dove whose home port is at Historic St. Mary's City and one of the five important exhibits presenting the story of the first colonists of Maryland tells of the journey to the New World.The Maryland Dove will be docked in the Inner Harbor, at Pier One, from Friday, August 19, 2016 to Monday, August 29, 2016 and open to the general public. An estimated 10,000 visitors will enjoy boarding the Dove and learning more about journey of Maryland's founders.In addition Historic St. Mary's City will host a gala on Pier One, the evening of August 25, 2016 from 7pm to 10pm, tickets costs for the Gala are $125. Your support to the Maryland Dove Voyage and Gala provides a unique opportuntiy for the Baltimore community to learn about the momentous journey. The opportunity for Historic St. Mary's City to bring the experience of Maryland's heritage to Baltimore is both rare and unique.For additional information, or if you are interested in becoming a sponsor for this exhibit or event, please do not hesitate to contact Porzia Purves, at (240) 895-4960, or visit our web site at HSMCdigshistory.org. This sponsorship supports the educational, research, preservation activities and programs of Historic St. Mary's City Museum.Historic St. Mary's City is a museum of living history and archaeology on the site of Maryland's first capital in beautiful, tidewater Southern Maryland. For more information about this program or the museum, contact the Visitor Center at 240-895-4990, 800-SMC-1634, or info@HSMCdigsHistory.org. PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: http://so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at http://so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at http://so.md/expungeme. (July 26, 2016)The Prince Frederick Barrack of the Maryland State Police (MSP) today released the following incident and arrest reports.THEFT: On 7/19/2016 at 5:49 pm, Trooper Kaitz responded to the Holiday Inn in Prince Frederick for a reported theft. Surveillance video revealed occupants going in and out of one of the hotel room had stolen the victim's property. Case remains open pending further investigation.MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT, ASSAULT: On 7/23/2016 at 8:19 pm, Trooper First Class Lewis responded to Buckler Rd. in Huntingtown for a reported robbery in progress. The victim reported being assault by a subject during an arranged meeting in the 1300 block of Avery Rd. The victim was able to get away and run to Buckler Rd. to wait for police. Two subjects got into the victim's vehicle and sped away. Investigation revealed they had taken the victim's iPhone. The case remains open pending further investigation.POSSESSION OF CRACK COCAINE & MARIJUANA: On 7/25/2016 at 6:43 pm, Trooper First Class Barlow stopped a vehicle on Rt. 4 south of Parkers Creek Rd in Port Republic for an equipment violation. A probable cause search was conducted based on the odor of marijuana. Sean Carr, 30, was found to be in possession of Crack Cocaine and Marijuana. He was arrested and incarcerated at the Calvert County Detention Center.Jason R. Jolliffe, 32, of Huntingtown, arrested on 07/19/2016 @ 08:03 am by TFC N. RuckerJoseph N. Coulby, 18, of Pr. Frederick, arrested on 07/22/2016 @ 03:52 pm by TFC S. MatthewsNicholas A. Tomasko, 28, of Pr. Frederick, arrested on 07/23/2016 @ 01:33 am by TFC T. NewcomerJoseph A. Herche, 52, of Silver Spring, arrested on 07/23/2016 @ 04:18 pm by TFC S. LewisSimone F. Varini, 26, of Alexandria, Va., arrested on 07/24/2016 @ 01:04 am by TFC W. Costello LEONARDTOWN, Md. Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: http://so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at http://so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at http://so.md/expungeme. (July 26, 2016)The St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office released the following incident and arrest reports.7/14/2016 ESCAPE: Deputy S. Bowie arrested the suspect,, for failure to report as ordered for incarceration as directed by the sentencing judge. He was charged with Second Degree Escape and Retake Warrant. CASE# 37324-167/15/2016 ASSAULT: Deputy M. Beyer responded to the 48000 block of Leachburg Road in Lexington Park for a reported assault. The victim alleged the suspect,, struck the victim with a motor vehicle. The victim was transported to the hospital for treatment, and Forrest was placed under arrest for First and Second Degree Assault. CASE# 36733-167/16/2016 Deputy J. Kerns responded to the 24000 block of Three Notch Road in Hollywood for the report of a domestic dispute. The suspect,struck the victim with a frying pan and a piece of wood she broke off from a door. She then unsuccessfully attempted to assault the victim with a stun gun. The victim had visible signs of injury and Gould was placed under arrest and charged with Second Degree Assault. CASE# 36790-167/16/2016 POSSESSION: Deputy Bush responded to the 21000 block of Great Mills Road for the report of a possible wanted subject observed by another officer. The suspect,, was located in his vehicle and appeared to be under the influence. In his possession, was a bent aluminum can with holes containing suspected crack cocaine. Boothe was transported to the St. Mary's County Detention Center where he was charged with CDS Possession: Not Marijuana - Cocaine, CDS Possession Paraphernalia, and served an arrest warrant. CASE# 36864-167/17/2016 POSSESSION: Deputy D. Potter was on another call at MedStar St. Mary's Hospital when he was approached by a nurse in the Emergency Room concerned for a patient in another room who became unresponsive. She advised the suspect,, was in the room with the victim prior to becoming unresponsive. Holiva was located in a nearby restroom, with an uncapped hypodermic syringe containing a slightly red substance in his possession. A search revealed in his possession was also a metal spoon, a piece of cotton, and hypodermic syringes being used to prepare suspected heroin. Hovila was transported to the St. Mary's County Detention Center where he was charged with Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance: Heroin, Possession of Paraphernalia, and Possession with Intent to Use Drug Paraphernalia. CASE# 36948-167/18/2016 ASSAULT: Deputy C. Ball responded to the 46000 block of Chapman Drive in Lexington Park for the report of an assault. The victim alleged the suspect,, scratched the victim and made threatening remarks during an argument. Flores was placed under arrest and transported to the St. Mary's County Detention Center. CASE# 37127-167/18/2016 ASSAULT: Deputy L. Johnson responded to the 46000 block of Chapman Drive for the report of an assault. The victim alleged the suspect,, bit the victim on the back multiple times and once on the arm. The victim displayed fresh bite marks. Vasques-Florez was placed under arrest and transported to the St. Mary's County Detention Center. She was charged with Second Degree Assault. CASE# 37101-167/19/2016 POSSESSION: Captain Daniel Alioto was off duty when he observed, operating a motor vehicle in the Great Mills area. Suspect Beggs was stopped and detained. Members of the COPS Unit arrived to assist. Suspect Beggs was observed attempting to discard an item, which when retrieved was found to be a straw with cocaine residue. She was charged accordingly.BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) entered a residence and stole property in the 45000 block of Sea Side View Road in Ridge. Deputy S. Shelko is investigating the case. CASE# 37379-16BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) forced entry into a garage and stole property in the 19000 block of Point Lookout Road in Great Mills. Deputy S. Shelko is investigating the case. CASE# 37428-16THEFT: Between 8/1/2015 and 7/9/2016, unknown suspect(s) stole property from the 28000 block of Gosling Court in Mechanicsville. Corporal J. Kirkner is investigating the case. CASE# 37522-16VANDALISM: Unknown suspect(s) spray painted graffiti in the 45000 block of Foxchase Drive in Great Mills. Deputy T. Payne is investigating the case. CASE# 37493-16BURGLARY: From 7/12/2016 to 7/20/2016, unknown suspect(s) entered a bus parked on a victim's property and stole property in the 21000 block of Arthur Lane in Great Mills. Deputy B. Gaskill is investigating the case. CASE# 37557-16BREAKING AND ENTERING TO A MOTOR VEHICLE: During the overnight hours of 7/19 into 7/20, unknown suspect's entered a motor vehicle and stole property at the Extended Stay America in Lexington Park. Deputy D. Holdsworth is investigating the case. CASE# 37566-16VANDALISM: Unknown suspect(s) utilized construction equipment to drive through the fields damaging portions of grass and two stationary park grills in the Country Lakes subdivision in Mechanicsville. The case is being investigated by Corporal J. Kirkner. CASE# 37692-16BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) forced entry into a vacant home in the 44000 block of Medleys Neck Road. The case is being investigated by Deputy T. Siciliano. CASE# 37705-16RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT: A victim advised they believed shots were fired at their residence in the 21000 block of Stoney Brook Drive in Lexington Park. The case is being investigated by Deputy L. Johnson. CASE# 37831-16BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) entered a residence and stole property in the 21000 block of Autumn Court in Leonardtown. The case is being investigated by Deputy D. Smith. CASE#38760-16BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) entered a residence on the 29000 block of Three Notch Road in Charlotte Hall. Nothing appeared to be missing from the home. CASE# 37893-16BURGLARY TO MOTOR VEHICLE: Unknown suspect(s) forced entry into a motor vehicle and stole property in the 21000 block of Mattie Lane in Lexington Park. The case is being investigated by Corporal J. Mezzos. CASE#38056-16BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) entered a shed and stole property in the 44000 block of Louisdale Road in California. The case is being investigated by Deputy C. Ball. CASE#38078-16THEFT: Unknown suspect(s) removed an outside air unit from a vacant residence in the 38000 block of Point Lookout Road in Mechanicsville. The case is being investigated by Deputy M. Pleisse. CASE#38258-16BURGLARY: During the overnight hours, unknown suspects forced entry into St. Joseph's Church and stole property in the 29000 block of Point Lookout Road in Morganza. The case is being investigated by Corporal E. Johnson. CASE# 38330-16PROPERTY DESTRUCTION: On July 23, 2016, unknown suspect(s) damaged an outside air conditioning unit at the St. Mary's City Visitor's Center in the 18000 block of Hogaboom Lane. CASE# 38361-16BURGLARY: Between 7/23/2016 and 7/25/2016, unknown suspect(s) entered a residence and stole property in the 21000 block of Chancellors Run Road in Great Mills. The case is being investigated by Deputy G. Muschette. CASE# 38376-16BURGLARY: Unknown suspect(s) entered a residence and stole property in the 21000 block of Sanners Lane in Lexington Park. The case is being investigated by Deputy T. Payne. CASE# 38386-16 (WB) Fanned by nearly 100-degree heat, tensions ran high during the first day of the Democratic National Convention as Bernie Sanders supporters booed Hillary Clinton at an event designed to promote her candidacy. After she took the podium at the Wells Fargo Center, Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), chair of the convention, said shes excited to elect to Clinton and her running mate Tim Kaine to the White House. The delegates responded with cheers and chants of Hil-lar-y! Hil-lar-y! but also audible boos from Sanders supporters not willing to back the candidate. I am going to be respectful of you and I want you to be respectful of me, Fudge said. We are all Democrats and we need to act like it. The rocky start to the convention followed controversy in which Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced her resignation as a result of an email dump on WikiLeaks revealing the organization favored Clinton in the primary as opposed to staying neutral. Related: Democrats Ratify Most Pro-LGBT Platform Ever Wasserman Schultz announced she would have a limited role at the convention and gavel in the event, but even that was eliminated as the day progressed. Her role at the convention was completely cut and the convention gaveled in without her. Speaking at an event earlier in the day, Sanders himself was booed when he told supporters to vote for Clinton, even though he admonished them with the message, This is the real world that we live in. Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb sought to calm things down by saying both Clinton and Sanders are good candidates and telling supporters three times in a row, They both deserve our praise. In an attempt to mitigate the disunity, the DNC issued an apology to Sanders supporters for the way their candidate was treated in the primary. The Sanders campaign texted supporters urging them not to boo Clinton during the convention. Diane Russell, a Maine delegate pledged to Sanders, took the stage and appeared to mollify Sanders supporters. She urged delegates to ratify the unity commission, which seeks to reform the Democratic primary process. Among other things, the commission is pledged to reduce the number of superdelegates by two-thirds. Related: Jason Collins: 'I Came Out Privately to the Clinton Family' Before Coming Out to the World Russell said Democrats are working to make reform within the party and led the audience in a chant of Not-for-sale! Not-for-sale! Weve had a real family disagreement over the role of superdelegates in our partys nominating process, Russell said. Working together, it is supposed to be hard work, but we can definitely do more as a party to ensure a fairer, more open process that places everyday voters at the center. Jose Nabarrate, a 22-year-old gay delegate from California pledged to Sanders, expressed anger to the Washington Blade over the revelations in the WikiLeaks email dump and problems he has with Clinton. A lot of people are passionate about Bernie Sanders, Nabarrate said. And ever since we started receiving this kind of information especially from WikiLeaks, and everything that we learn about Hillarys past, we decided we want to go with someone we trust and know is going to get us there, and in a truthful manner. Related: Drag Performers Welcome DNC to Philly Nabarrate said hes unsure of whether hell vote for Clinton in the general election and that the remainder of the convention will inform his decision. Despite the ruckus at the convention, a recent poll found 90 percent of Democrats support Clinton in the general election, undercutting the notion the base isnt willing to support her. Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims (D-Philadelphia), a gay Clinton supporter in attendance at the convention, but not a delegate, denied the discontent reflected any disunity within the party. Honestly, I think what were seeing on the floor is in many ways a classic example of American Democracy, Sims said. We, as a party, have great candidates to select from that people were passionate about, they did fire people up, and theyve brought that passion to the convention and theyre going to use that passion to select the candidate that best exemplifies all of us. Referring to the Republican convention, Sims said, Yeah, passions are flaring, but its better than anger and hate flaring. A transgender nurse working at a prison hospital was denied the right to use the male bathroom after being doused in pepper spray. At the Iowa Correctional Institute for Women, Jesse Vroegh was completing a training exercise where staff members were covered in pepper spray. "All staff were allowed to shower immediately afterward to remove the chemical agent, Vroegh wrote in his complaint. "Because my employer has denied me access to the mens shower facilities made available to other male employees, I could not shower to remove the chemical agent until I got home."p>After, Vroegh faced painful ongoing headaches and had to seek medical treatment. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission because of this incident. Related: Carson compares being transgender to changing ethnicities Vroegh has been working at ICIW for seven years, and he announced his transition to his employer in March 2014. Despite attempts to encourage trans-friendly policies, nothing was done by his employer. Later, Vroegh approached Warden Patti Wachtendorf, Medical Director Dr. Harbans Deol and Union Representative Todd Givens, to request the use of single-sex spaces. Vroegh was denied. Rather than setting a good example for other Iowa employers, the state has denied me the use of gendered spaces as well as the health insurance coverage I need, simply because I am transgender," Vroegh said in a statement. "I hope my fight for fairness in the workplace will make a difference for the many other transgender people who have faced similar discrimination at work." (WB) Democrats ratified a party platform late Monday called the most LGBT-inclusive in history and a unifying document after a bitter primary. As convention chair Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) presided, delegates at the Democratic National Convention approved the platform by voice vote. Although loud nays were heard, the overwhelming yays in favor of the platform carried the day. Jessica Frisco, a Manhattan-based delegate pledged to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), said having LGBT inclusion in the Democratic Party has always been really important to me. Not that its become less of a priority, but I think the Democrats have always been pretty progressive on the issue, at least in recent years, and you know, its been Democrats that have been supporting that type of legislation in contrast to Republicans, she said. I guess I wasnt really surprised to see that that was a big part of the platform and I wouldnt be surprised to know that everyone in the Democratic Party supports that. Related: Jason Collins: 'I Came Out Privately to the Clinton Family' Before Coming Out to the World The 55-page document has a specific LGBT plank titled Guaranteeing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights and includes LGBT references in planks throughout the document. The LGBT plank endorses LGBT comprehensive non-discrimination legislation (although it doesnt explicitly address the Equality Act by name), condemns violence against transgender people, endorses the U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of same-sex marriage and repudiates state laws seeking to undermine LGBT rights. Democrats applaud last years decision by the Supreme Court that recognized that LGBT people like other Americans have the right to marry the person they love, the platform says. But there is still much work to be done. LGBT kids continue to be bullied at school, restaurants can refuse to serve transgender people, and same-sex couples are at risk of being evicted from their homes. That is unacceptable and must change. In contrast, the platform adopted last week at the Republican National Convention seeks to reverse the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage, indicates supports for widely discredited ex-gay conversion therapy and supports state anti-trans bathroom laws. Related: Drag Performers Welcome DNC to Philly Matt Hughes, a 25-year-old delegate from Chapel Hill, N.C., pledged to Hillary Clinton, said the LGBT inclusion is important to him both as a Democrat and a gay man. For me as a Democrat, its important, but also as a gay man that we have these ideals in our partys platform about non-discrimination in terms of employment and transgender rights and really everything, Hughes said, especially when you compare and contrast it to the Republican Party platform that was passed last week, which is definitely the most anti-LGBT platform that the Republican Party has ever put forward. Hughes said he helped draft a North Carolina platform that included similar language, which he said is important because of the recently enacted House Bill 2 in the state. That law bars pro-LGBT city ordinances and prohibits transgender people from using the restroom consistent with their gender identity. That language says to me that for the second time in four years, that on LGBT issues, North Carolina is on the wrong side of not just fairness and equality, but also just the wrong side of history, Hughes said. And I think that the Democrats have always stood up for the marginalized and oppressed in our communities, and so having language that is so strongly in favor of rights for our transgender brothers, I think, is very important. Related: Michelle Obama: Im With Her Other language throughout the document recognizes immigration detention for LGBT people who sought refuge in the United States can be unacceptably dangerous. Referencing the recent end to the ban on transgender military service and Dont Ask, Dont Tell repeal, the platform says the U.S. military is stronger with people of different sexual orientations and gender identities. Delegates ratified the platform after the full platform committee reviewed and made changes to the document during a meeting earlier this month in Orlando, Fla. During the meeting, the committee enhanced the LGBT language further by adding a plank insisting LGBT rights should be part of U.S. foreign policy. The language was based on Clintons 2011 speech in Geneva where she declared, Gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights. Mara Keisling, a D.C.-based transgender advocate and member of the platform committee, called the platform the most progressive platform on LGBT and trans rights in the history of the United States. It says were welcome, it says were going to make life better to make lots of different marginalized people whether its supporting the people of Puerto Rico, people with disabilities or people facing environment racism or LGBT people, Keisling said. Were going to work together and were going to make things better for everybody. Related: Dem Platform More Aware of LGBT Voters as GOP Shunts Them Although Keisling acknowledged the platform is symbolic, she said that symbolism can be a big thing to leverage change. Its just symbolic, but it gives us a hook, it again starts getting more and more people thinking about transgender and LGBT people and thinking about do they support or do they not support us, and it gets some of our issues in front of people who maybe wouldnt have seen it before, Keisling said. In 2012, the platform for the first time endorsed marriage equality in addition to other language rejecting the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act and endorsing a trans-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, but the 2016 document exceeds those milestones. Marveling at the Democratic Partys progression on LGBT inclusion in its platforms was Diego Sanchez, a D.C.-based transgender advocate in attendance at the convention and in 2008 the first openly transgender member of the platform committee. He wasnt a member in 2016. The progress has been tremendous, Sanchez said. In 2008, we didnt have the word marriage by design. We were responsible for three things: Bringing in the definition of same-sex couples as families, to have gender identity included in non-discrimination and to include HIV as a domestic policy priority. Weve come so far from that place of using language that is cautious to where we can boldly be inclusive of the entire community. But one proposed change that didnt make it into the Democratic platform was changing the LGBT acronym throughout the document to LGBTQ to explicitly include people who identify as queer. Related: Clinton Taps Kaine For VP During the platform committee meeting, David Braun, a Sanders appointee from Oakland, Calif., sought the change, which platform committee chair and former Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy said he would take as a request for a technical change to the document. It wasnt immediately clear why the change wasnt made. Vincent Harding, a 28-year-old delegate from Austin, Texas, pledged to Clinton and chair of the Democratic Party in Travis County, said advanced LGBT-inclusive language is important because we need to make sure we treat everyone equally. The ability to love who we want to love is fundamental to all of us, so it is essential that it is part of the platform, he said. I dont know what took so long, but I think things are changing and we have seen Republicans move a little bit, were going to keep pushing them a little bit and hopefully we wont have the situation like we saw in Kentucky where people dont want to grant gay marriages. Hopefully, thatll be universal around the country and well continue to move forward together. Chuck Rocha, a 47-year-old D.C. delegate pledged to Sanders, said the LGBT-inclusive language is hugely important to him because of his opposition to discrimination in all forms. Im one of the only Latino delegates in the nation, the only one from D.C., Rocha said. Discrimination doesnt know a sex or a color, we shouldnt discriminate for no reason, and everybody, no matter who they love, should be able to get married and live their lives the way they want to. (EDGE) On July 26, former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, the first openly LGBT mayor of a major American city, will serve as the keynote speaker for the Barbara Gittings' Residence Historic Marker Dedication ceremony slated for Tuesday, July 26th in Philadelphia, PA. The event will be part of the Equality Forum 2016, held concurrently with the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, PA. "As the nation's first openly LGBT mayor of a major American city, former Houston Mayor Annise Parker is the right person to be dedicating this historic marker to the 'Mother of the LGBT civil rights movement'," said Founder and Executive Director Malcolm Lazin of the Equality Forum, the nation's premier lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights summit. Known as the "Mother of the LGBT Civil Rights Movement," Barbara Gittings (July 31, 1932 - February 18, 2007) resided in Philadelphia, PA with her partner, Kay Lahusen. She was the editor of the first lesbian publication. With Frank Kameny, she organized the Annual Reminders at Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, which launched the LGBT civil rights movement. Related: LGBT Champion Awards Honor Nancy Pelosi, Ed Rendell Gittings spearheaded the successful initiative to have the American Library Association include gay and lesbian books in the nation's card catalogues and libraries. Kameny and Gittings challenged the American Psychiatric Association, resulting in homosexuality being removed from the list of mental illnesses. The marker will be installed at the former residence of Barbara Gittings and Kay Lahusen, at 21st and Locust Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19103 The event will feature Malcolm Lazin, founder and executive director, Equality Forum; plus a special performance by the Anna Crusis Women's Choir, the oldest existing feminist choir in the United States of which Barbara Gittings was a member. Equality Forum 2016 will bring together prominent, national voices for discussions on the state and future of the LGBT movement, and hold two historic marker dedications and award ceremonies from July 25 - 28, concurrent with the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, PA. Barbara Gittings' Residence Historic Marker Dedication ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, July 26 at 21st and Locust Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19103. For more information, visit www.equalityforum.com Washington (United States), July 26, 2016 (SPS) - UN Security Council will meet Tuesday to discuss the return of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), which has not yet resumed its work despite the end of the deadline set to restore it to full functionality. UN Secretary General should inform the Security Council Tuesday on Morocco's implementation of Resolution 2285 (2016), which demands the return of the MINURSO's civilian staff, expelled by Rabat, in three months. The Resolution has given UN chief a 90-day deadline to undertake negotiations with Morocco on the return of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara and inform the Security Council about the outcome of the discussions. A report on the negotiations will be presented by UN deputy secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, Herve Ladsous, and UN secretary-general's special representative to Western Sahara, Kim Bolduc, during a briefing that will probably be held tomorrow afternoon (July 26), according to a UN source. The Security Council seems divided, as France wants to get the UN agency to make a positive statement in which it thanks Morocco for having allowed the return of 25 MINURSO employees. This diversion attempt is aimed at throwing a line to Morocco which has not respected its international commitment, the UN source added. But this tactic will be strongly rejected by many Security Council members, who have already noted that the draft resolution is weak as it fails to mention the root causes of the dismantle of MINURSO. In addition, the draft resolution does not give any information about the measures to be taken to restore the UN mission to its full functionality. SPS 125/090/700 The blasts were in fact twin suicide car bombs tearing through checkpoints near Mogadishu International Airport, according to Harun Maruf, a local journalist. BREAKING: 1st suicide car bomb attempted to "sped through" the checkpoint; 2nd bomber detonated car amongst the security personnel: source Harun Maruf (@HarunMaruf) July 26, 2016 Al-Shabaab, a radical Islamist group, has taken responsibility for the attacks, claiming to have killed over 12 people, Reuters reports. According to Al Jazeera, the first explosion occurred near the entrance used by African Union forces, while the second blast hit a checkpoint manned by Somali government forces. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, at least a dozen people were killed when two vehicles exploded on the way to a base for African Union peacekeepers near Mogadishu International Airport. According to media reports, the Islamic militant group al-Shabaab was behind the explosions. "Al-Shabaab have once again carried out a ruthless attack that has claimed the lives of at least a dozen Somalis. The overwhelming majority of Somalis have rejected such terrorist tactics and the use of violence to achieve political objectives. This horrific incident is a fresh example of the extremists desperate attempts to disrupt political progress," Keating was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the UN office in Geneva. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The United States is determined to supporting Somalia in the countrys fight against terror groups including against the Islamic militant group al-Shabaab, US National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement on Tuesday. "The United States stands squarely with Somalia and our partners in the fight against despicable acts of terrorism that seek to destabilize Somalia," Price stated. "We remain committed to helping Somalia progress along a path towards peace and prosperity and the defeat of terrorist groups, including al-Shabaab." Earlier in the day, at least a dozen people were killed when two vehicles exploded on the way to a base for African Union peacekeepers near Mogadishu International Airport. According to media reports, al-Shabaab was behind the explosions. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The UN-backed government said the presence of French special forces was "in excess of international norms and a totally unacceptable interference with a sovereign state," according to the GNA statement on Facebook. GNA chairman Fayez Seraj called for mutual respect and non-interference in Libyas internal affairs and Libya had "demanded a formal explanation from the French government on what really happened." Paris confirmed last week that three of its special operations personnel died while on a mission last week after their helicopter was downed in eastern Libya. Japan is roughly 650 miles from North Korea. Many have observed that, if the United States is truly concerned about regional security, it would seem that THAAD should serve Japan in the same way that it assists South Korea. Tokyo could also, in theory, help offset the cost of maintaining the system. Another official, speaking to Yonhap, claims that the THAAD battery will require some $3.5 million each year to maintain. On Monday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reiterated Beijings concerns. "The recent move by the South Korean side has harmed the foundation of mutual trust between the two countries," Wang told his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se. "The United States must stop this kind of mistaken action," Fan Changlong, a vice chairman of Chinas Central Military Commission, added. MOSCOW (Sputnik) A total of nine alleged militants were killed as a result of joint operation of SWAT, Rapid Action Battalion and local police in Kalyanpur district of Bangladesh capital of Dhaka, the additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Sheikh Maruf Hassan said Tuesday. We neutralised nine militants in the operation, Hassan told journalists as quoted by the Daily Star newspaper. In early July, Islamist militants took hostages inside a cafe located in the Bangladeshi capital's diplomatic quarter. The army said that 20 people had been killed by the hostage takers before the security forces began their operation to free hostages. Most of these were Japanese and Italian nationals. A total of 13 people were rescued, according to the country's prime minister. TOKYO (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, Uematsu, 26, was arrested in Sagamihara, west of Tokyo, as he surrendered to police after killing 19 and injuring 25 disabled people during their sleep at the facility. The assailant, a former employee of the care facility, had a bag with several blood-stained knives with him when surrendering. According to the Kyodo news agency, Uematsu was in the hospital of the mentally ill in February-March. Uematsu reportedly told one of the facility's employees that he would like to kill the disabled living there. The local police were informed of his intentions and he was committed to treatment. In February, Uematsu was also tested positive for marijuana consumption. MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to the spokesman, cited by the TOLOnews broadcaster, Saeed Emarati, the Daesh senior militant killed by the Afghan forces , was recently appointed the group's local commander. Afghanistan is in a state of political and social turmoil, with government forces fighting the continuing Taliban insurgency, while other extremist groups, such as the Daesh group, outlawed in many countries including Russia, have also expanded their activities both in the country and in neighboring states. The Indian Government has outright denied having any plans to assist the United States in patrolling the disputed South China Sea. Indian Minister of Defense Manohar Parrikar said in parliament, the "government takes all measures to ensure our maritime security. However, at present, these measures do not include joint patrolling with foreign navies including the United States. No talks have been held with United States on conduct of any joint naval patrols." Each of my sisters can tell you how much pain and harassment they had to endure from their husbands and his relatives. There was no peace. However, she said that she is deeply convinced that the problem is not related to domestic circumstances but the fact that women are married off at a very young age in Afghanistan. She does not have any experience or even the ability to think independently and make basic decisions; hence, she doesnt understand much about the complexities of family life, Maliha said. She further noted that she understands the fact that for a father of 5 daughters it is not easy to raise so many children. I know why my dad and even my mother wanted to quickly marry us off so they found me a husband. I remember how I left my parents home when I was going to my husbands house. Even now these memories create a lump in my throat, she said. She recalled feeling sad, anxious and afraid. It was like going into complete unknown but trusting that your parents they have made the right choice, Maliha concluded. Young girls in Afghanistan are commonly used as bartering tools to settle disputes or arrange marriages between families. Despite efforts by the international community to strengthen the countrys formal justice system, where the legal age of marriage for women is 16, Afghans still largely prefer traditional forms of mediation over the countrys legal courts. A recent UN report showed how the Afghan court system fails to provide access for women, with the result that only 5% of domestic violence cases end in criminal prosecution. According to Human Rights Watch, 95% of girls and 50% of women in Afghanistans prisons are jailed for moral crimes, such as running away from home to escape a violent husband. New Delhi (Sputnik) The "Iron Lady" of Manipur, Irom Sharmila has decided to finally break her hunger protest, one of the world's longest running individual protests. Sharmila announced that she would break her fast on the 9th of August, 16 years after she started her lone battle against the Indian state, demanding an end to AFSPA. Sharmila says her decision to end the hunger protest is motivated by her desire to contest elections. "I have decided to end my 16-year fast on August 9 and contest the 2017 state elections as an independent candidate." Activist Irom Sharmila to break 16-year-fasthttps://t.co/Djl6JTbe6g Times of India (@timesofindia) 26 2016 . Sharmila says she would continue to protest the AFSPA, though in a more democratic manner. "My fight so far has been all alone and so I have decided to wage a war against the act democratically by becoming a lawmaker instead of continuing with my fast." The Indian state of Kashmir is a bone of contention between India and Pakistan but the recent unrest in Kashmir has fueled the fire further. India has blamed Pakistan for inciting the unrest in Kashmir while Pakistan is trying to internationalize the Kashmir issue and has been signaling support for Kashmiri separatists. In the latest round of trouble which started after India eliminated Kashmiri terrorist Burhaan Wani, 47 people lost their lives and around 5,500 were injured after 17 days of unrest in the Kashmir valley. This has led to another battle in courts where Pakistani advocate Abdul Hameed filed the petition in the Lahore High Court on the grounds that innocent people were killed in Kashmir on the orders of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "China is willing to work with the US to boost mutual trust, deepen cooperation and manage and control differences in a constructive way," President Xi Jinping told US National Security Advisor Susan Rice, according to a news release issued after the meeting. Rice will be in China from Sunday to Wednesday, for expansive talks with Chinese officials in a lead-up to US President Barack Obamas visit to the G20 summit in the city of Hangzhou, in the countrys Zhejiang province, this September. Prior to the changes, Tokyo adhered to a pacifist ideology secured by Article 9 of the countrys constitution. Adopted under US occupation in 1947, Article 9 allows Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to take part only in operations on their soil, stating that Japan must forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation. I believe, and I know Adm. Kuwano believes, that the Japan-US alliance is the key to peace and stability in (the Asian region), Harris said to Abe on Tuesday, referring to Katsutoshi Kawano, chief of the SDFs Joint Staff, with whom he met on the previous day. The meeting comes in the wake of a non-binding decision by the Hague on the disputed areas in the South China Sea. An international tribunal ruled that Chinas claims on the most of the seas territories are without merit, in a case brought to the court by the Philippines in 2013. The gesture was taken by Tokyo as a glimpse of hope, as it has territorial disputes with Beijing as well. Both countries claim the rights on the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russia and Turkey have discussed the implementation of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant project, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Tuesday. "We discussed some investment projects, including the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant. There is some progress here already. The necessary regulatory framework is being finished by the Turkish side. We expect to be able to move forward quite quickly," Dvorkovich told reporters. In late June, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a letter addressed to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, apologized for the downing of the Russian Su-24 attack aircraft by a Turkish jet in November and extended his condolences to the family of the pilot killed in the incident. For Castaldo, saving banks by using taxpayers' savings and not private investors is a wrong choice that will only make Italians mistrust European and national institutions even more. It "has also threatened the stability of the Eurozone." Matteo Renzi has done nothing to boost economic development, adversely affecting the Democratic Party, he added. The Five Star Movement won local elections held in Rome, Turin and other municipalities in June. "The most recent and the most important elections in our history show that people support us," Castaldo said. The MEP also mentioned that the party restructured its expenditures, saving more than 60 million euros. "These funds were allocated to support small and medium-sized businesses. As a result, a total of 2,247 new companies have been created in the country," he detailed. "These steps are aimed at helping Italy change. We want to support those Italians who are not employed at the moment. We want to help them to learn a new profession and return to the market," he added. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Moscow imposed a number of restrictive measures on Turkey in response to the downing of Russia's Su-24 on November 24, 2015. "I think it is not so fast. We agreed that this is a gradual process, and the process of parity," Ulyukayev told reporters, noting that outstanding issues on meat, poultry and dairy products would be resolved bilaterally. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Monday, Indian media reported that the country's government was set to begin consultations on merging 13 major oil companies, including the leading gas producer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, leading refiner and fuel retailer Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum and the Indian Oil Corporation. The proposed giant would have a bigger market value than Russia' Rosneft estimated at $55 billion, according to reports. "There is no such plan right now. Although few years ago a proposal for merger of oil companies was discussed within the ministry but the whole idea shelved due to its legislative and technical aspects. Government has no plans to merge the 13 Oil Public Sector Units in immediate future," Y.K. Baweja, director (M&C) at the ministry's Press Information Bureau, said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Turkish Economic Affairs Minister Nihat Zeybekci said minutes earlier a political decision has been reached between Moscow and Ankara to implement the Turkish Stream project, as well as the Akkuyu nuclear power plant (NPP) project. "We are open to dialogue [with Russia on energy]. From the viewpoint of Turkeys gas energy needs we are in principle open to the construction of the first leg of the Turkish Stream," Simsek told reporters. The Russian and Turkish energy ministers will establish a working group on the Turkish Stream project, Gazprom Management Committee Deputy Chairman Alexander Medvedev said earlier in the day. Add to it trademark Pentagon paranoia; what if a hostile power decided to block the global trade on which the US economy depends? (even though the premise China contemplating such a move is ludicrous). The Pentagon actually pursues a Freedom of Navigation (FON) program. For all practical purposes, its 21st century gunboat diplomacy, as in those aircraft carriers showboating on and off in the South China Sea. The Holy Grail, as far as the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is concerned, is to come up with a Code of Conduct to solve all maritime conflicts between Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and China. This has been dragging on for years now because mostly the Philippines wanted to frame the Chinese under a set of binding rules but was only ready to talk until all ten ASEAN members had agreed on them first. Beijings strategy is the opposite; bilateral discussions to emphasize its formidable leverage. Thus China assuring the support of Cambodia quite visible early this week when Cambodia prevented a condemnation of China regarding the South China Sea at a key summit in Laos; China and ASEAN settled for self-restraint. Watch Hillary pivoting In 2011 the US State Department was absolutely terrified with the planned Obama administration withdrawals from both Iraq and Afghanistan; what would happen to superpower projection? That ended in November 2011, when then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton coined the by now famous pivot to Asia. Six lines of action were embedded in the pivot. Four of these Clinton nicked from a 2009 report by the Washington think tank CSIS; reinvigorating alliances; cultivating relationships with emerging powers; developing relationships with regional multilateral bodies; and working closely with South East Asian countries on economic issues. Clinton added two more: broad-based military presence in Asia, and the promotion of democracy and human rights. It was clear from the start and not only across the global South that cutting across the rhetorical fog the pivot was code for a military offensive to contain China. Even more seriously, this was the geopolitical moment when a South East Asian dispute over maritime territory intersected with the across-the-globe confrontation between the hegemon and a peer competitor What Clinton meant by engaging emerging powers was, in her own words, join us in shaping and participating in a rules-based regional and global order. This is code for rules coined by the hegemon as in the whole apparatus of the Washington consensus. But lets deal with the facts here. What we know is that a huge leak of emails from the Democrat National Committee was released last week by Western-based whistleblower organization, Wikileaks, run by Australian journalist Julian Assange. The emails are a devastating indictment of how the Democrat party leadership has from the outset sought to make sure Hillary Clinton becomes the presidential nominee by crushing her populist rival Bernie Sanders. Clinton is backed by big business, Wall Street and the Pentagon. The Wikileaks email revelations on the eve of the Democrat convention this week in Philadelphia is proof that what passes for American democracy is a rigged system, ordained by the rich and powerful to elect their candidate to do their bidding when in office. Sanders acknowledged how the political system was unfairly stacked against him and his supporters. Nevertheless, the Vermont senator has gone on to endorse Clinton, to the disgust of many of his supporters. Rather than focusing on what is a teachable moment of corporate control of politics, the US media performed mental gymnastics by shifting this real story on to wild speculation that the Democrat email leaks were masterminded by Russian intelligence. The allegation was flatly denied by Wikileaks. PRAGUE (Sputnik) Eighty Syrians are expected to arrive in the Czech Republic by the end of October. "The process [of refugee relocation] is developing gradually and in detail, due to thorough security checks of all persons intended for relocation," Mala said, as quoted by the Ceske Noviny news portal. In March, the European Union and Ankara agreed on a deal under which Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants who arrive in the European Union through its territory in exchange for Syrian refugees accommodated in Turkey, on a one-for-one basis. They were placed in custody while investigators try to determine whether Tunisian national Lahouaiej Bouhlel has benefited from [their] logistical support," the source told the BFMTV broadcaster. On July 14, a truck driven by Bouhlel rammed into a large crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice. At least 84 people, including children, were killed and hundreds of others were injured of whom 12 remain in critical condition. Daesh (outlawed in Russia) claimed responsibility for the attack. I dont think that many in Turkey are happy about such a prospect and I believe that more than half of our people are against the resumption of executions. I dont know whether there have been any public opinion polls about this held here, but in any case I dont think they will bring back the death punishment because this would be a big step back for Turkish democracy, Murat Bilhan said. Gencehan Babis, an expert on global problems and international security at the Turkish Institute for Strategic Studies in Ankara, told Sputnik that it would be wrong to view EU-Turkish relations from the point of view of the use of capital punishment alone. There has been much talk about the proposed reintroduction the death penalty since the attempted coup earlier this month. 1984 was the last time capital punished was used here and the death penalty was officially outlawed in 2004 but this did not result in any breakthrough in our relations with the EU, Gencehan Babis said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) In an Atlantic Council report Sunday, NATOs former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, General Sir Richard Shirreff, warned that Russia "is capable of surprising the West" by invading Poland "overnight" Asked how he assessed the report, Peskov told reporters, "as pseudo-analysis of madmen." PARIS (Sputnik) Two hostage takers at Saint-Etienne du Rouvray church were killed by police after killing a priest and injuring five other hostages in the Seine-Maritime commune, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet. A second hostage was later reported to be in grave condition. The Elysee Palace announced that, in view of the gravity of the events, President Francois Hollande will arrive at the scene. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve is also reportedly expected to arrive. According to Dobrov, Muslims are especially sensitive to the modern European values ranging from the emancipation of women to gay culture and thus are willing to protest them and "punish" a decadent society. "Perpetrators who commit punitive actions, are confident that they are not criminals, but fighters for justice. Therefore, it does not matter who they are terrorists, maniacs or urban guerrillas. The main thing they want to blow up the system from within," the journalist claimed. There is a growing concern that the migrant crisis has left Germany open to attacks. More than a million migrants arrived in Germany in 2015, especially after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country's doors were open to Syrian refugees. "We need a reformed Islam, so that Islam could belong to Germany," the Internet user under the nickname AUSSTEHEND-ENTFERNT wrote, commented on Die Welt newspaper's publication. "In my perception Islam of in any form doesn't belong to us not to Germany or Europe, because it is based on the Christian culture," posted another under nickname Bert. A person under the nickname nomad wrote: "A decisive point would be the progressive introduction of training for imams in Germany, who could further spread linguistic and social skills. Unfortunately we failed to do it in the past. And of course, one can't do it now in the short run." Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve, however, denied the allegation while Prime Minister Manuel Valls described the scandal as a "political polemic aimed at destabilizing the government." Valls was booed at a memorial service for the victims of the Nice attack. Intel Failures There had been criticism that the national police were not actually deployed and that only a small force of local police were protecting the entrance to the pedestrianized zone, allowing the driver to plow straight into the crowd. The driver of the 19-ton truck plowed into crowds along the promenade in Nice, despite heavy vehicles being banned on public holidays in France and those over 3.5 tons being barred from the promenade all year round. Clashes flared late Monday and continued into early morning between Sudanese migrants and Eritreans on one side and Afghans on the other. Four people were stabbed, one of them severely. A second brawl started around 4 a.m. local time, leading to two people sustaining injuries. A total of 200 people are said to have been involved in the fights. "A patient fired at a doctor in the Benjamin Franklin University Hospital in Steglitz and later committed suicide. The doctor sustained a life-threatening injury and is currently in intensive care," Berlin police said on Twitter. Der Arzt wurde nach ersten Erkenntnissen lebensgefahrlich verletzt & befindet sich in intensivmedizinischer Behandlung. Weitere Infos folgen Polizei Berlin (@polizeiberlin) 26 2016 . "I stood in front of the main entrance, when suddenly a lot of police approached. Heavily armed officers have secured all entrances," a witness told Der Tagesspiegel. The hospital staff were asked to stay in their rooms and lock the doors. Around 20 firefighter, police and rescue vehicles have arrived at the scene. The place was cordoned off. "The site at the Campus Benjamin Franklin in Steglitz is under control. Our colleagues are on the scene. There is no danger," the police said. Lage am Campus Benjamin Franklin #CBF in #Steglitz ist unter Kontrolle. Unsere Kolleg. sind vor Ort. Es besteht zur Zeit keine Gefahr. Polizei Berlin (@polizeiberlin) 26 2016 . Incident in university clinic #Steglitz #Berlin seems to be crime related. Man shot doctor before turning gun on himself. Tonton du Bled (@NextDoorArab) 26 2016 . Germany has been on high alert following a string of attacks. A Syrian national whose asylum application had been turned down and who was to be deported to Bulgaria after living in Germany for a year, detonated a bomb late on Sunday in the Bavarian city of Ansbach, killing himself and wounding 15 bystanders. Turkey Warns Against 'Threatening Statements' The rebuke came in response to comments made by European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker, who raised concern over the Turkish government's actions following the failed military coup, saying any reintroduction of the death penalty would scupper EU membership talks. "I believe that Turkey, in its current state, is not in a position to become a member any time soon and not even over a longer period," Juncker told French television France 2. This then led to further criticism from Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who warned Brussels to stop making "threatening statements" about derailing Turkey's EU accession. There is also disagreement over the issue of visa-free travel for Turks in the EU, which was originally included as part of the EU-Turkey migrant deal. #EU must not make threatening statements on #Turkeys accession process, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said Mete Sohtaoglu (@metesohtaoglu) July 25, 2016 While Turkey had demanded travel restrictions be eased by the summer, EU officials say Turkey still needs to a meet a number of measures before the changes are implemented. In reference to the issue of visa-free travel for Turks, Erdogan once again hinted that he believed EU governments were not honoring their commitments. "I want to say one thing quite clearly: On the refugee issue, we will stand behind our promises," he said. "We have kept our promise, but did the Europeans do so too?" Concerns Over Migrant Deal The latest spike in tension between Turkey and EU comes amid Turkey's hard-line response to the country's failed coup, which has seen thousands of teachers, judges, prosecutors, military and other civil servants either sacked or arrested. Really not looking forward to post-failed-coup erdogan to be honest Sander Wagner (@sanderwagner) July 15, 2016 A number of arrest warrants have been issued for journalists, while some employees of state-owned companies have also been dismissed, in moves considered to be unnecessarily harsh by many western officials. The tension has once again raised concerns about the future of the EU-Turkey refugee deal considered to be crucial to halting the flow of masses of migrants into Europe with many fearing its collapse could trigger further anti-immigrant sentiment across the continent. Earlier in the day, two armed men took five people hostage at the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray church in the Seine-Maritime commune. According to the France Info news outlet, both attackers have been killed by the law enforcement. The BFMTV broadcaster later reported that the dead hostage was a priest. The BFMTV broadcaster later reported that the dead hostage was a priest. French President Francois Hollande has met with the family of the deceased and expressed his support for all Catholics. "Catholics have been attacked, all Catholics, but also all the French," Hollande said, adding the nation must stand united. Earlier, Pope Francis has expressed his horror at the 'barbaric killing' of the priest during the incident. "The pope shares the pain and horror of this absurd violence," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said as quoted by AFP, adding that the attack created "immense pain and worry". Daesh is notorious for its human rights atrocities and brutal tactics, such as public beheadings and the stoning of women. Even Croatias own ex-President Ivo Josipovic criticized Zagreb of having gone too far and, in a letter to his successor, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic asked her to end what he described as non-constructive hysteria about Serbia and stop blocking Belgrades accession talks with the EU. There are more serious domestic problems, both economic and social, we should focus on. What really matters now is to help our neighbors efforts to join the European Union, Josipovic said in an interview with Sputnik. He also said that Croatia had the very same law (on prosecuting war criminals) now in effect in Serbia because of which Croatia was trying to block Belgrades EU accession talks. There is a $27 billion foreign debt we will hardly be able to pay back next year, which means that we have lots of serious problems on our hands to deal with, Josipovic emphasized. The ex-president refused to guess who would win in this years presidential elections but feared that the outcome would be the same as before and that the same party would be calling all the shots. Croatia will hold a snap election on September 11, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said in a statement last week. The European Union's newest member is holding an early election following the fall of Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic's government as a result of a split in the center-right coalition between the conservative HDZ party and its junior reformist partner, Most ("Bridge"). The populist right-wing party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), has seen a huge rise in support as the "migrant" issue has become intertwined with the "terror" issue. There are fears that Merkel's CDU/CSU party will do badly in state elections in September, in Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony. She has yet to decide whether to stand for another term in the 2017 federal election, but the latest terror attacks and the migrant crisis are threatening to overshadow her campaign. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The doctor whose name has not been made public died in the afternoon while in intensive care, shortly after he was shot at by a patient at the Campus Benjamin Franklin (CBF) clinic. "We have currently no indications that the CBF [attack] in Steglitz had terrorist motives," police tweeted. Wir haben zum #CBF in #Steglitz derzeit keine Hinweise auf einen terroristischen Hintergrund der Tat. Polizei Berlin (@polizeiberlin) 26 2016 . The patient killed himself, according to earlier reports. Police said they believed the attacker had acted alone. According to the iTele broadcaster, one of the attackers tried to go to Syria via Turkey in 2015 but was detained and extradited to France, where he was put in prison. The broadcaster added that the arrested attacker was released on March 2 but was ordered by a court to wear an electronic tracking device. Despite initially suggesting an investigation should be carried out by a judge-led inquiry, former Prime Minster David Cameron tasked the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) to look into MI6's role in the rendition of terror suspects, with a particular focus on the 2004 abduction of Libyan dissidents Abdel Hakim Belhaj and Sami al-Saadi, who were at the time opposed to Muammar Gaddafi's government. While the ISC cleared British intelligence services of any illegality, it later emerged that some government agencies had withheld some information from the committee conducting the investigation. Andrew Tyrie another principled and knowledgeable Tory (see work on rendition) speaking against Cameron's foolish bombing plans. Tanya Jones (@decombustion) December 2, 2015 A letter written by Sir Mark Allen, the then head of MI6's counterterrorist operations, to former Gaddafi intelligence chief, Moussa Koussa, revealed details of MI6's role in the abductions of Belhaj and al-Saadi, undertaken in cooperation with the CIA. The two men, accused of involvement in terrorist groups, were arrested and later transferred back to Libya, where they were later tortured and held in prison for many years. Chief MI6 officer at that time, Mark Allen, wrote a letter openly boasting about MI6 involvement in the rendition of Abdel Hakim Belhaj. Daniel Pitt (@infamyreborn92) June 15, 2016 The UK's CPS then announced in June that no UK officials would face prosecution over the investigation, which led to calls for greater transparency. Evidence Vital in Knowing 'What Went Wrong' Tyrie said the evidence gathered as part of the CPS investigation "will be vital in understanding what went wrong and by whom." He said the ISC should "require permanent secretaries of all relevant departments and agencies, including the security services, personally to certify that they have taken all reasonable steps to supply [the ISC] with all relevant information held by their respective departments," acknowledging that the UK must also "examine the issue of detainee transfers in Iraq and Afghanistan", he added. "There is a wide gap between previous government statements, and what we now know. This illustrates the need for an inquiry," he said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The men were neutralized by security forces after they stabbed the 87-year-old priest to death at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, a small community near Rouen in northern France. President Francois Hollande said they had claimed links to Daesh. Timmermans said the violence of the attack "demonstrates the barbarity of a nihilistic and murderous ideology that denies all our core values and which aims to take away our freedoms." The Commissions first vice president stressed that terrorists would fail. "Our convictions are too strong, our solidarity unbreakable. A solidarity that is expressed by all and all through the European Union, or the world," he wrote on Facebook. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, two armed men took five people hostage at the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray church in Normandy. The attackers murdered an 84-year-old priest before subsequently being killed by law enforcement. The Daesh jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attack. "An attack against a religious institution and a man of God is an attack against all religions and faith itself," Moshe Kantor, president of the EJC, said in a statement published on Tuesday, stressing that "this dastardly attack will only strengthen our resolve to defeat the enemy of Islamist terrorism." WASHINGTON (Sputnik) US citizens in Estonia should exercise vigilance after a threat was made to blow up an airplane at Tallinn Airport, the US embassy in the country said in a security message on Tuesday. "The US Embassy in Tallinn informs US citizens of a reported bomb threat of unknown credibility affecting Tallinn Airport," the message noted. "Police and airport security have made the appropriate responses, however the threat is ongoing." The embassy also warned of increased security checks at the airport amid the bomb threat. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Two knife-wielding men stabbed a priest to death after taking five people hostage inside a church in a small commune near Rouen. Daesh, banned in many countries including Russia, claimed responsibility for the murder. "I am shocked by the news from France. Terrorism struck again, this time in northern France, in a church. The fanatic, murderous hate does not even stop before the house of God and worshipers," Steinmeier said in a statement. The German foreign minister said his nation stood by France and mourned together with the victim of this bloody attack. MOSCOW (Sputnik) For years, Italian financial authorities have been looking with suspicion on operations carried out by the Vatican financial institution, with allegations of money laundering being leveled on several occasions. The Financial Information Authority (AIF) and the Bank of Italy signed a cooperation agreement aimed at enhancing the exchange of information in the field of financial supervision, on the basis of reciprocity, a statement published by the Holy Sea Press Office said. Supporting fascist ideology is taboo, whether your party is right or left. Unfortunately there is a wealth of neo-fascist websites and Facebook pages full of swastikas and other fascist and Nazi symbols, which I believe should be banned. She also wondered why no one has yet brought movements like these to book. I know the mayor of Rubino and if she says that this movement [Fascismo e Liberta] insists on its legitimacy this means that she has come up against a brick wall she is unable to break, she complained. After Fascismo e Liberta posters first appeared in one of our provincial towns, ANPI held a protest march there. The fact that they appeared again is a very worrying signal. We will keep urging the regional authorities to come forward and put this situation under control. We will fight on, Floriana Rizzetto wrote in conclusion. The Fascism and Freedom Movement is an Italian fascist political party formed in July 1991 by Senator Giorgio Pisano. Incomprehensible Verhofstadt is proposing two kinds of cooperation: "full membership" and "associate status," suggesting the is new set-up could also be used as a blueprint for the future relationship between the UK and the EU. "The current set up is incomprehensible for Europeans. The current 'Europe a la carte' prevents member states from showing more commitment. If we want to give the Union more direction, we have to go back to the ideas of the founding fathers, who proposed a clear system in which countries have to choose between full membership and associate status." He proposes making the European Commission more effective and less bureaucratic by reducing the number of commissioners and cutting the number of vice-presidents to two: for Foreign Policy and for Finance. Verhofstadt said: "We need to make the Commission more relevant and more effective. We do not need 28 Commissioners for whom it is difficult to find 28 portfolios. A new European government should focus on the big issues where European integration has a real added value, while leaving more detailed regulation to the Member States." Verhofstadt's proposals envisage that the economic governance will be supported by a European budget based on its own resources and a European Treasury. PARIS (Sputnik) Police are inspecting the house of one of the hostage takers' parents, according to preliminary information cited by BFMTV. The assailant and his accomplice were killed by police after slitting the throat of the 84-year-old priest and seriously injuring another victim in a small commune near Rouen. Several people were seen being escorted from the building, according to the broadcaster. The Daesh terror group, banned in many countries including Russia, claimed responsibility for the attack condemned by French, European and religious figures. There are 170,000 people currently living in Germany none of whom has been officially recognized as refugees and yet the government lets them say. The Ansbach terrorist was one of them. Alexander Gauland said that all those 170,000 should be sent out of the country, including psychologically disturbed persons, like the one who blew himself up in Ansbach. The recent terrorist attack in Munich was not directly linked to the migrant crisis though, and Alexander Gauland said that there was no way anyone could possibly guess the actions of these people. He then reiterated his demand for all such people to be deported as soon as possible. Yesterday several psychiatrists went on television urging us to resign ourselves to this potential threat. It looks like they are trying to make us believe that terrorism in this country is a natural thing. Our party does not accept this. These people must be sent back, period. Commenting on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans recent interview with German TV channel ARD where he complained that his country had received only a fraction of the 6 billion euros promised it by the EU as part of the recent refugee deal, Alexander Gauland said that as long as the agreement remained in force, the sides should stick to it. This agreement is based on international law. I consider it nil and void and would like to have it nixed, but as long as it is in force, we should honor it, he noted. In mid-March, the European Union and Ankara agreed on a deal under which Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants who arrive in the European Union through its territory in exchange for Syrian refugees accommodated in Turkey, on a one-for-one basis. In return, the 28-member bloc pledged to accelerate the Turkish EU accession bid and introduce a visa-free regime between Turkey and Europe. Under the deal, "irregular migrants" in Greece those deemed ineligible for asylum are returned to Turkey on a one-for-one basis in exchange for a Syrian refugee being relocated from refugee camps in Syria to EU member states. When asked if the agreement differed from his partys goals, Gauland said that it was up to the German state to protect its borders. The closure of the Balkan track showed that this can be done. We have a foreign dictator doing the dirty job for us. This is disastrous policy, I have always said that. Speaking about an alternative way of solving the problem, Gauland said that the German army should protect the countrys border just like the French and British soldiers do. Instead of running around the world pursuing goals that are at variance with our countrys interests, the Bundeswehr should defend our country, not fight a senseless war in Afghanistan, Alexander Gauland said in conclusion. The AfD currently has seats in eight of the 16 local parliaments and is among several European parties that are calling for the anti-Russia sanctions, imposed by the European Union in 2014 over the situation in Ukraine, to be scrapped as they are counterproductive and harmful to the German economy. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The suspect, identified only as HB, had purportedly known one of the terrorists, referred to as AK by French magazine Le Point. According to the outlet, AK was under house arrest at his parents' home in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in northern France when he took five people hostage inside a local church. He was ordered to wear an electronic bracelet by a judge after returning in March 2015 to France from Turkey where he was stopped from crossing into Syria to fight alongside Daesh militants. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, two knife-wielding men stabbed a priest to death after taking five people hostage inside a church in a small commune near Rouen. The Daesh terror group, banned in many countries including Russia, claimed responsibility for the murder. We commend French law enforcement for their quick and decisive response and stand ready to assist the French authorities in their investigation going forward, Price said. France and the United States share a commitment to protecting religious liberty for those of all faiths, and today's violence will not shake that commitment. Price also offered condolences to the priest's family and friends, and the victims of the assault. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Turkey changed its air incident response rules entrusting pilots with decision-making in November 2015, prior to the downing of a Russian Su-24 jet near the Syrian border, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said Tuesday. The response rules were changed because Syrian planes were downing Turkeys planes. According to the modified rules, a decision on whether or not to shoot down a plane was delegated to pilots, Simsek told reporters in Moscow. Relations between Russia and Turkey deteriorated when a Russian Su-24 attack aircraft was shot down on November 24, 2015, by a Turkish fighter near the Turkish border in Syria. Following the incident, Moscow imposed a number of restrictive measures on Turkey. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) James noted that Ukrainian officials are "very full of hope" that the United States will continue supporting them. Since 2014, the United States has provided $600 million in non-lethal security assistance to Ukraine, though many lawmakers have pressed the White House to provide lethal arms to Kiev. "We had discussions about additional types of training that we might be able to provide to them, and of course we have extensive training programs in the air force," James said of recent talks with the Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister. In mid-July, James visited eight countries in eastern Europe, including a stop in Ukraine to discuss ongoing US assistance. During her trip, James also met with her counterparts in Bulgaria, as well as Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, where the United States is part of the Baltic air policing mission. Regarding such manifestation, Ozerov said, General background of information affects the psyche of people today, as media reports about terrible cases increasingly it has started affecting Europe. Of course, if someone's sick shattered psyche is further influenced by screens and tabloids it wont lead to anything good. In addition, today the economic situation is also unstable and has its influence, the psychologist said. He further said that during times of strong economic shocks, there has always been an increase in crime. Moreover, not only organized, but at an individual level too. When people are socially very tense, they lose their jobs. That may significantly affect their status, which they had before the crisis. It affects the psyche of even quite strong-minded people, not to mention the weak and vulnerable, Ozerov said. He added that, Morally-strong people also restrain their manifestations, but inwardly their stress also increases. Germanys Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned in the strongest terms Tuesdays terrorist attack on a church in northern France, saying it was an assault on European unity. Two knife-wielding men stabbed a priest to death after taking five people hostage inside a church in a small commune near Rouen. The attack has come just days after attacks in Germany which also resulted in the death of civilians. While the United States has the largest fleet within the alliance, it is spread across the globe. With President Barack Obamas Asian pivot, much of the US Navy has been stationed in the Pacific. With the Pentagons focus on the South China Sea, only a portion of its ASW capabilities are deployed in Europe. France has the strongest fleet in Europe, but much of its focus remains on the Mediterranean, displaying diminished interest in the North Atlantic or the Baltic. "Bottom line is yes, NATO ASW declined," Jerry Hendrix, a retired Navy captain with Center for New American Security, told Breaking Defense. "Were in a bad place as an alliance with regard to Russias underwater resurgence." PARIS (Sputnik) Hollande was scheduled to pay an official visit to the Czech Republic on July 27. He was due to meet with his Czech counterpart Milos Zeman, as well as with Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka. Hollande was initially set to visit the Czech Republic on July 20, as part of his tour to a number of European countries aimed to discuss reforming the European Union following the public vote in the United Kingdom to leave the bloc, but the tour was postponed after the terrorist attack in Nice. The French anti-terror prosecutor is still attempting to identify the second attacker. Two attackers stormed a Catholic church in Saint Etienne-du-Rouvray during morning mass on Tuesday. Four hostages were taken, with one in critical condition, and an 84-year-old priest was killed. The attackers claimed they were with the terrorist group Daesh, also known as IS/Islamic State, and the group has claimed responsibility for the incident. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, Steinmeier arrived to Moldova to meet with Speaker of Parliament Andrian Candu, Prime Minister Pavel Filip, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Andrei Galbur, and Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration and Moldovan Political Representative Gheorghe Balan. He also met with representatives from the Transnistrian leadership. "With a view to the Transdniestrian conflict we have recently made considerable efforts to inject new momentum to the negotiation process between the sides which had come to a standstill for quite some time. We must now, as a first step, tackle those problems that can be solved pragmatically in order to enhance the trust between the sides that is necessary for more far-reaching measures," Steinmeier said at a joint press conference with Filip. Transnistria, a region dominated by an ethnically Russian and Ukrainian population, broke away from the Soviet Republic of Moldova in 1990, fearing the country might seek to reunify with neighboring Romania. The move triggered a war that ended in a ceasefire in July 1992, but the conflict has remained unresolved. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Council of the European Union on Tuesday made a decision on a revised order of presidencies in the institution until 2030, following the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union, the Council's press services said in a statement. "On 26 July 2016, the Council adopted a decision establishing a revised order in which the member states will hold the presidency of the Council of the EU until 2030. Following the UK decision to relinquish the Council presidency in the second half of 2017, the Council decided to bring forward by six months the order of presidencies, starting from 1 July 2017," the statement said. The statement added that the Croatia, which was not an EU member state, when the previous decision on the presidencies' order was made, was also added to the list and would hold the presidency of the Council for the first half of 2020. MOSCOW (Sputnik) At least 14 people were killed and 30 wounded by a suicide car bomb attack in a town of Khalis, eastern Iraq Monday, local media reported. Suicide bomber targeted a checkpoint in the town located some 37 miles north of Baghdad, NRT news outlet reported. No group took responsibility for the attack yet. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a meeting with chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu and leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Devlet Bahceli with Yildirim, who is the head of the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP), also taking part in the meeting. "We [leaders of three parties] have agreed to make minor changes to the current constitution, and the process to draft a whole new constitution has started," Yildirim said Monday, as quoted by Daily Sabah newspaper, speaking after the meeting of Council of Ministers. Selahattin Demirtas, co-chair of the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), condemned the party's exclusion from the meeting. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On July 15, a coup attempt took place in Turkey and was suppressed the following day. The government has blamed Gulen and his followers of having played a key role in it. Over 240 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured during the failed coup excluding the victims among the plotters, according to the country's authorities. "Despite my unequivocal protest, similar to statements issued by all three of the major opposition parties, Turkeys increasingly authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, immediately accused me of orchestrating the putsch Mr. Erdogans accusation is no surprise for what it reveals about his systematic and dangerous drive toward one-man rule," he wrote in an opinion piece published in the New York times magazine Monday. The dissident also said that Turkish president is blackmailing the United States with curbing the support for the anti-terrorist coalition in Iraq and Syria in order to ensure his "extradition, despite a lack of credible evidence and virtually no prospect for a fair trial." MOSCOW (Sputnik) Last week, the US Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on three al-Qaeda senior members that it claimed were currently located in Iran. "The Islamic Republic of Iran does not have any information at hand regarding presence of the individuals in its territory," Qassemi told reporters, as quoted by the IRNA news agency. During their recent meeting in Washington, the foreign ministers of the countries members of the US-led coalition against Daesh prioritized the need to liberate Mosul. Helgurd Hikmet said that the army would need about a year to completely flush out Daesh forces defending the strategic northern city. The Peshmerga forces that now control the citys western, northern and eastern suburbs will be advancing towards the city center. The Iraqi army now controls the southern and southeastern suburbs and the outskirts of the town of Makhmour, Hikmet explained, adding that the Iraqi army had recently killed one of the leading Daesh field commanders, Omer ash-Shishani. He also said that said that Americans didnt like Baghdads idea of the Shiite militia taking part in the operation to liberate the predominantly Sunni-populated Mosul. The Shiite fighters, who earlier took part in operations to liberate Fallujah and many other Iraqi cities, are accused of committing atrocities against the Sunni population, further igniting divisions, which could result in a serious interfaith conflict. Another reason why Washington wants the Shiites to stay away is their close links to Iran. On the other hand, the Americans welcome the participation of Turkish-trained Turkmen fighters. Turkey, for its part, is against the participation of Shengal self-defense forces of Yazidis and people linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party, which are banned in Turkey, Helgurd Hikmet noted. The Iraqi army, Peshmerga and other forces need to iron out their differences before the operation to liberate Mosul actually starts, Hikmet emphasized. In an interview with Sputnik, Aydin Maruf, the coordinator of the Iraqi Turkmen Front in Erbil and a member of the Kurdish parliament in Iraq, said that an operation to drive Daesh militants out of Mosuls suburbs had already begun. What we dont know yet is when exactly the operation to liberate the city itself is going to start. Before this happens all the participating forces need to reach agreement. We, Turkmens, will certainly take part in that operation because there are more than half a million of our people living there and liberating them is a topmost priority for us, Aydin Maruf said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Following a coup attempt, on Saturday, Ankara issued a decree ordering the closure of thousands of private educational institutions, hospitals and associations as well as permanently discharging hundreds of judges, prosecutors, and civil servants without any investigation or means to appeal the decision. The decree also allows law enforcement to detain suspects for up to 30 days without a court decision and restricts detainees right to private communication with lawyers. The first state of emergency decree goes well beyond the legitimate aim of promoting accountability for the bloody July 15 coup attempt. It is an unvarnished move for an arbitrary, mass, and permanent purge of the civil service, prosecutors, and judges, and to close down private institutions and associations without evidence, justification, or due process, Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey director for Human Rights Watch (HRW), was quoted as saying in the organizations statement. According to Sinclair-Webb, the wording of the decree allows for any public official to be fired for alleged contacts with members of "terrorist organizations" without the need to provide any evidence. The UN-brokered talks to end the Yemeni conflict started in Kuwait on April 21. On July 20, the Kuwaiti government gave the warring sides 15 days to settle the crisis before it would stop hosting the talks. Since 2014, Yemen has been engulfed in a military conflict between the government headed by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Shiite Houthi rebels, the countrys main opposition force, who are supported by army units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Russian forces have maintained "a remarkably honest" position by fighting terrorism in Syria while not meddling in the country's internal political affairs, Russia's Orthodox Patriarch Kirill said Tuesday. "We know that today, Russia's armed forces play a decisive role in fighting terrorism in Syria. They are not involved in the country's internal political struggles and are not offering any plans for political change that do not stem from the Syrian people's will. This is a remarkably honest and honorable position," the patriarch said during a service at the Antiochian metochion in Moscow. ROME (Sputnik) Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Tuesday that the Daesh funding has seen a 40-percent drop. "The funding of the IS [Daesh] has decreased by 40 percent, among other things due to [the activities of] the [international] working group, headed by Italy [along with the United States and Saudi Arabia]," Gentiloni said at a session of the Foreign Committee and the Defense Committee of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russian and US military officials held on Tuesday a videoconference addressing flight safety during combat missions in war-torn Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said. "The sides discussed additional flight safety measures in the Syrian airspace," the ministry said in a statement. According to the statement, the Safety of Flight Memorandum of Understanding agreed between Moscow and Washington on October 20, 2015, has proven its high effectiveness in preventing combat flight incidents in Syria. The source further said, It is there, in an easterly direction from the town of Al-Salamiyah, that Daesh intends to pave the way for a new supply line where weapons, ammunition and other necessary material will pass through. The source added that the ambush of the militants by units of the Syrian Army and its allies, as well as equipment of tactical control points in an easterly direction parallel to the strategic pipeline, has given it a successful outcome. The measures have prevented a terrorist attack on the villages of Tell al-Tut, Aqarib, al-Mufakker and Beri. The source further stated that for the first time it is becoming impossible for Daesh to move forward by making full use of mined cars with suicide bombers. The militants are also facing massive airstrikes inflicted on places where they have accumulated heavy artillery in the villages of Abu Hbeilat, Uqayribat, Abu Hanaya and Qubaybat. Serious casualties, the destruction of weapons and military equipment have recently forced Daesh to curtail their offensive operations in the area, the source concluded. Mr. Trump could be very interesting, actually, because he has this bromance with Mr. Putin. How that would manifest itself is anybodys question, but if it were to be continued I think Donald Trump would want to put his own thumbprint on it, Wagner said. Addressing current diplomatic efforts to work together to resolve the Syrian crisis, the expert said that if it leads to something positive, that would be a good thing. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov has called for a new round of intra-Syrian negotiations to be convened as soon as possible. He stressed that UN's Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, has so far been unable to gather all those together who should take part in forming Syria's future. Lavrov also said he had discussed measures that could be taken to implement Russia-US agreements on Syria with US Secretary of State John Kerry. According to the minister, if prior agreements reached with Kerry in Moscow are implemented, it will be possible to guarantee the separation of normal opposition members from Daesh and al-Nusra Front terrorists. Kerry has also noted progress in talks with Russia on a potential military partnership. He described the plan on intelligence sharing and targeting information as the best chance to limit the fighting that is driving thousands of Syrian civilians out of their home country. Addressing this renewed effort by US officials to work with Russia, Wagner said, I think the question of trust is central. Whether each side, Russian and American can trust each other, whether they will both do what they are saying they will do and whether the intended objective will ultimately turn out to be the case. He added that it is crucial to understand that those who make policy are not necessarily the ones making war. Those are two different departments and they are supposed to converge at the executive level. Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to President Bashar Assad fighting a number of opposition factions and extremist groups. On February 27, a US-Russia brokered ceasefire came into force in Syria. Terrorist groups such as Daesh, as well as al-Nusra Front, both outlawed in Russia and a range of other states, are not part of the deal. MOSCOW (Sputnik) There is a number of significant differences between the new BTR-82A and their predecessors , the commander noted. The armored vehicles firepower has been increased due to a 30-mm aircraft cannon being installed, while high angle barrel lifting allows for a more efficient attacks in mountainous areas. Soldiers stationed in Tajikistan as part of the 201st Military Base used the new BTR-82A for the first time during maneuvers in the foothills of the Eastern Pamirs, Col. Yaroslav Roschupkin told reporters. The motorized infantry troops managed to strike targets at a distance of 1.2 kilometers (0.75 miles) and 1.7 kilometers on complex terrain, Roschupkin added. "In the upcoming evaluation on the THAAD battery's environmental impact, we will conduct the same test again to ensure that the anti-missile system does not pose any major health risks to Seongju residents in a reasonable and subjective manner," a spokesman for the Defense Ministry told reporters, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency. On July 13, the countrys Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn together with Defense Minister Han Min-koo visited the county in a bid to persuade local residents to accept the deployment of the THAAD system. The attempt failed, with locals throwing eggs and water bottles at the officials. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The US-led coalition of more than 60 nations has been carrying out airstrikes in Syria and Iraq since the summer of 2014. "In Syria, coalition military forces conducted seven strikes using attack, ground-attack, and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL [Daesh] targets," the release stated on Tuesday. "Additionally in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 13 strikes coordinated with and in support of the Government of Iraq." WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The United States does not plan to move its airmen or other personnel off the Incirlik air base in Turkey, despite tensions following the recent military coup attempt in that country, US Air Force Secretary Deborah James said on Tuesday. "There is no plan to move out of Incirlik whatsoever," James stated at a forum hosted by Defense One. On Monday, James discussed the situation at Incirlik with the US commander at the base. She noted that US officials are closely monitoring the situation, "but for now the operations, the missions are ongoing." "It was an assassination attempt against Erdogan and this is being taken very seriously," an official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Searches are continuing in Marmaris and the surrounding areas with around 1,000 members of the security forces. "Searches will continue uninterrupted until these people are found." According to Hurriyet Daily News, seven soldiers thought to be responsible for the kidnap attempt have been captured. Authorities seized weapons and ammunition in the surrounding countryside. On Tuesday, the White House issued an unprecedented warning about a "revolution" in cyber threats, citing "aggression" from Russia and North Korea. The Obama Administration also announced, for the first time, a color-coded response plan for federal government agencies to use in the event of a major cyber attack. The Obama Administrations homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, Lisa Monaco, claimed that, while Russia and China grow "more assertive and sophisticated" online, it is Iranian operatives who have used hacks to create kinetic effects, attacking American banks and hydroelectric facilities. Monaco also warned about a growing online danger from non-state actors, including Daesh, as well as hacktivists like Anonymous, whose online capabilities often rival that of government actors. VIENTIANE (Sputnik) On Friday, the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks published nearly 20,000 emails from the DNC. The campaign of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said Russian hackers could be behind the leak. "I wouldn't like to use profanity," Lavrov told reporters asked whether Russia was behind the alleged hacking. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to President Bashar Assad fighting a number of opposition factions and extremist groups. On February 27, a US-Russia brokered ceasefire came into force in Syria. Terrorist groups such as Daesh, as well as al-Nusra Front, both outlawed in Russia and a range of other states, are not part of the deal. "Today, we discussed what needs to be done for this agreement to start working in practice in the form of actions taken by our Aerospace Forces, the US Air Force and the coalition headed by them," Lavrov told reporters. According to the minister, if agreements reached between him and Kerry in Moscow are implemented, "it will be possible to guarantee the separation of normal opposition members from Daesh and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists." Germany's migration policy has its major drawbacks. Programs aimed at helping migrants siphon funds away from resources allocated for local population. This has fueled unemployment and hampered economic growth, the expert added. Less than 12 months ago the situation was different. Germans and foreigners praised Merkel for her efforts and readiness to help those fleeing violence in the Middle East and Africa. She was even rumored to have been on the Nobel Peace Prize short list. Merkel's domestic popularity was first put to the test by the New Year's Eve sexual assaults in the city of Cologne. Meanwhile, rightwing populist party Alternative for Germany has significantly improved its poll standings, a testament to the fact that establishment parties are not doing a very good job of tackling the crisis. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on August 9 in St. Petersburg, where "no shortage of topics" is envisioned on the agenda, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday. "As such, the agenda has not yet been discussed, there is an exchange of various proposals. This will be the first meeting for quite a long time, the first after the two leaders have managed to turn the page, so there will be no shortage of topics for discussion, we can say with confidence," Peskov told reporters. In late June, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a letter addressed to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, apologized for the downing of the Russian Su-24 attack aircraft by a Turkish jet in November and extended his condolences to the family of the pilot killed in the incident. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Turkish delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli arrived in the Russian capital earlier in the day for a two-day visit, aimed at finding ways to increase cooperation in the fields of energy, food, agriculture, tourism, transportation and foreign trade. "The past seven month were challenging for our businessesm <> We aim to restore all the best that existed before November," Ulyukaev said at a joint press conference with Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci in Moscow before departing for bilateral negotiations. On Monday, Ulyukayev said that no agenda was agreed beforehand, but supposed that talks would include such topics as tourism and lifting restrictions on imports of Turkish food products. A freedom of information (FOI) request has revealed that the Metropolitan police have been spending nearly US$28,000 a year on former London mayor Boris Johnson's, unused water cannons. The secondhand water cannon were purchased from Germany for more than US$262,000 two years ago, to cope with events like the 2011 London riots. However at the time, Home Secretary Theresa May blocked Johnson's request to use the cannon. "Last time #BorisJohnson negotiated with Germans, he brought back 3 water cannons". (T-May vetoed them)#TheresaMay pic.twitter.com/45g3hGrjrc Bonnie Greer (@Bonn1eGreer) 30 June 2016 Since then, there have been other riots in London, but the cannon have been quietly sitting in storage believed to be at a Metropolitan Police training facility in Gravesend, Kent. They also have to be serviced constantly with the taxpayer footing the bill. Ankara has insisted that Gulen, who has lived in the US since 1999, is behind the coup. The influential scholar has denied these allegations. Relations between Turkey and the US will not be the same, but it is nothing compared to Turkey's ties with Europe, the expert observed. It has long been a rocky relationship that now risks sliding into a deep freeze, particularly if Ankara reinstates death penalty. It is against this backdrop that Turkey and Russia will continue their rapprochement. But there could be more to it. If unconfirmed reports in the media are to be trusted, Russian intelligence services were the ones who warned the Turkish strongman about the looming coup, the analyst said. Ankara and Moscow were deeply divided over Syria, but now "one cannot rule out that both countries could join efforts to decide the fate of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad," he added. CAIRO (Sputnik) Earlier in July, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura expressed hope that the talks would restart in August. "At the moment we have not been informed about the date of a new round of Geneva talks. The date of the negotiations has not been scheduled officially. De Mistura said that the negotiations would take place in August," George Sabra said. Syria has been mired in civil war since March 2011, with government forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups. The Syrian government delegation, as well as three opposition groups the Riyadh-formed HNC, the Moscow-Cairo and the Hmeimim groups have been taking part in the UN-mediated Geneva talks on peaceful settlement of the conflict. The latest round of the talks took place in Geneva on April 13-27. The start of the next round of intra-Syrian talks should not be tied to the improvement of the situation on the ground in Aleppo and Damascus, de Mistura said. "Today obviously we were unable to very much talk about both Aleppo and Damascus. The rockets have been motor-shelling in the center of Damascus, and horrible events have taken place in hospitals in Aleppo. What everyone feels is the sense of urgency The talks are certainly not going to wait for improvement in Aleppo and Damascus, but we really hope that meanwhile, even tomorrow, the sooner the better, there will be some improvement there." Other experts have made a similar point. After all, it is NATO that has expanded towards Russia's borders, not the other way round. The analyst also described one of NATO's latest massive military drills, Anakonda 2016, as a "dubious enterprise to say the least." On June 28, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexey Meshkov referred to the bloc's war-gaming as unjustified. A day later, Anton Mazur, head of the Russian delegation to the Vienna Negotiations on military security and arms control, referred to the bloc's eastward expansion as "counterproductive and dangerous." He also mentioned that NATO's activities posed "risks and challenged Russia's security interests" even before the recent cold spell in bilateral relations. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin "was in no way belligerent towards Poland or the Baltic region, as opposed to how they act," Hureaux noted. "But let's imagine that these countries are indeed in danger. Isn't it clear that all NATO's activities provide solely illusory protection?" The analyst maintained that Poland and the Baltic states "have no interest in playing with fire" when they overhype the non-existent threat from Russia, but they do it anyway. In this sense, their blame for "fanning the flames" with regard to Russia is equal to that of the US, he added. It is important that the West does not allow Russia to dominate in the Black Sea, Paul Coyer of Forbes insists, pointing to the fact that Russia has largely upset NATO's applecart in the region. "Ceding control of the Black Sea to Moscow would have negative strategic consequences far beyond the issue of military advantage in the Black Sea itself, and the lack of a comprehensive strategy toward Russia (and such a strategy has been lacking since the end of the Cold War) on the part of the United States and NATO has given Vladimir Putin room to maneuver that he otherwise would not have had," Coyer claims in his recent article. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Simsek is heading a high-ranking Turkish delegation on a visit to Moscow to discuss a wide-range of bilateral issues following the thaw in relations between Russia and Turkey after an incident with the Russian Su-24 military plane last year. "We have not discussed this issue at the talks [in Moscow]," Simsek told reporters. Meanwhile, Turkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak said in an interview with Haberturk television on Tuesday that Ankara will most likely conduct a new an investigation into the downing of the Russian plane. Filippov was not referring to Trump's aides or other members of his team, but rather hawks among US lawmakers, senior military commanders, like NATO's former Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Philip M. Breedlove and the military-industrial complex. Indeed, several high-ranking military officials in the US have placed Russia as a top threat for Washington and its allies. For Filippov, this is a clear indication that Moscow is targeted because it stands in the way of America's global dominance. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On July 15, a coup attempt took place in Turkey, which was suppressed the following day. Soon after the attempt, media reported that Russia had allegedly intercepted Turkish military communications indicating preparations for a military uprising were underway. The information was reportedly passed on to the Turkish leadership hours before the beginning of the coup. "I do not have information about it," Simsek told journalists. Simsek is currently heading a high-ranking Turkish delegation on a visit to Moscow to discuss a wide-range of bilateral issues following the thaw in relations between Russia and Turkey after Ankara shot down a Russian Su-24 military plane last year. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The two leaders met in London to discuss the way forward in relations between their countries after Britains vote to leave the European Union in June. The Republic of Ireland is an EU member. "It is testament to the importance of the relationship between the United Kingdom and Ireland that Enda is amongst the first leaders that I have met since I took office," May said. "I want to underline my personal commitment to nurturing this relationship." Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to demand that Washington extradite Muhammed Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric, writer, and political figure, who is living in exile in Pennsylvania. While Erdogan is blaming the recent failed coup attempt on Gulen and his followers, the latter is lambasting "Turkey's increasingly authoritarian president" for purges in the country. What lies at the root of animosity between the two political figures? MOSCOW (Sputnik) In March, the European Union and Ankara agreed on a deal under which Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants who arrive in the European Union through its territory in exchange for Syrian refugees accommodated in Turkey, on a one-for-one basis. In return, the bloc pledged to accelerate the Turkish EU accession bid and introduce a visa-free regime. "The EU has failed on their part of the bargain," Simsek said. According to the deputy prime minister, the Turkish side not only agreed to readmit all illegal migrants, but also issued working permits for Syrian refugees in the country, as well as provided education, care and catering. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Monday, Israeli authorities unveiled a plan to build 770 housing units in the Jerusalems settlement of Gilo. "Israel's recent decision to advance plans for some 770 housing units in the settlement of Gilo, built on occupied Palestinian land in East Jerusalem, undermines the viability of a two-state solution. It contributes to the establishment of a ring of Israeli settlements around the city, thus further cutting East Jerusalem off from the southern West Bank," the EEAS statement said. The European Union urges Israel to reverse this decision and to cease its settlement activity, the statement added. "Well never know if they changed the outcome of the election because the primary is already over and there doesnt seem to be any real accountability about this." "The DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepped down, but she was immediately hired up, without a blush, brazenly, by the Clinton campaign, in effect rewarding her for conspiring on behalf of Hillary Clinton, and even President Obama came out with a statement praising Debbie Wasserman Schultz for her work for the Democratic Party," he said. "I hope that the Bernie Sanders supporters react not lightly to this. Everything that they have done for the past year, all of the accomplishments that they made, has not only been disvalued by what happened, but has been spit on, by the hiring of Debbie Wasserman Schultz in the aftermath of this and the praise by President Obama," said Sleboda, suggesting a call to action is in order. Is there any evidence that Russia is in fact behind the leaked emails? "The other question, are the allegations that the DNC was hacked and that these emails were given to WikiLeaks by the Russians, in order, so the narrative goes, to embroil the US in political scandal and ensure that Trump wins the election," said Sleboda. "There are a lot of problems with this." Lavrov's reaction to the question may have been negative because many US mainstream media outlets are again searching for the influence of the Kremlin in the email scandal, as, without proof, the responsibility for the Democratic Party's public relations disaster has been placed on Russia. It's not hard to imagine the same type of media campaign being launched against the United States; for every single piece of computer malware that, along the way, picked up a Washington DC timestamp and a few English-language comments in the code. The majority of the Lavrov-Kerry talks in Vientiane, as expected, concerned Syria. Even though both sides agree on several basic aspects of the Syrian peace process, the devil is in the details, and there are still disagreements on how to separate the warring sides, and how to tell the good guys from the bad among hundreds of armed groups in the war-torn country. "So far we've been seeing that our US partners from the very beginning of this year were telling us, that they will be able to separate the opposition groups they are supporting from cells, but until now they have not been successful in doing so," Lavrov said. The Russian foreign minister added that, in order to give a fresh start to talks on Syria, there should be a new round of negotiations, and it must be based on UN Security council principles. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Turkey is "heartbroken" by the way in which the United States treat the issue of the extradition of Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara suspects to be the mastermind behind the recent coup attempt, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in an interview published Tuesday. "The evidence is crystal clear. We know the terrorist cult responsible for vicious attacks against us and the Turkish people," Yildirim told The Wall Street Journal. "We are heartbroken at the way that the U.S. has treated this matter. We simply can not understand why the U.S. just cant hand over this individual." On July 22, US President Barack Obama said that Ankara needed to present evidence that Gulen was involved in the recent coup attempt in Turkey before the United States could begin the extradition process. On this episode of "By Any Means Necessary" host Eugene Puryear is joined by Congressman Dennis Kucinich and former Presidential candidate to talk about the fall out at the DNC over leaked emails exposing their coordination with the Clinton campaign. And later in the show Eugene is joined by David Swanson, author, activist, and journalist and Reece Chenault, National Coordinator for US Labor Against the War to talk about the Democrats false narrative of supporting the rebuilding of American communities while at the same time supporting foreign war. The group also discusses the current state of the anti-war movement and its intersection with the labor movement within the United States. The Democratic National Convention opened yesterday after Party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz was forced to resign after release of almost 20,000 emails that reveal shocking abuse and misconduct by the Democratic National Committee to undermine Bernie sanders at the same time as people were going to the polls in the primaries. Is there any credibility to the accusation that Russian hackers are behind the leak in an attempt to bolster the campaign of Donald Trump, or is this simply another case of slander aimed at Moscow to demonize the country? Bernie Sanders has endorsed Hillary Clinton, but will his supporters line up behind her? Thousands of Sanders supporters rallied against Clinton ahead of the DNC in Philadelphia on Sunday, expressing their frustration at the Party machine. Becker is joined by Radio Sputnik producer Walter Smolarek and editor of LiberationNews.org Jane Cutter for an eyewitness account of the protest. On Sunday, people packed the main hall of a community center to demand freedom for political prisoners on the eve of the DNC. President Obama has the power to free all political prisoners held in federal custody, but hasn't done so. Joining Becker to discuss the DNC event is Kashara White of the Black Radical Organizing Collective and Theresa Shoatz, daughter of imprisoned activist Russell "Maroon" Shoatz. "Employees of the Russian Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service of Russia <> detained supporters of the Islamic State terrorist organization, which is banned in Russia," the ministry said in a statement. Another two Daesh members were detained in the Russian republic of Ingushetia. "Law enforcers detained two residents of the Ekazhevo village in the district of Nazran. The young men had joined Daesh ranks through social media and were planning to go to Syria in the nearest future to take part in hostilities on the side of the terrorists," the ministry said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a meeting with the national Security Council, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday. We expected the President to hold the Security Council today, that is, a briefing with permanent Security Council members, Peskov told reporters. During the meeting Vladimir Putin will discuss preparations for his Turkish counterparts visit to St. Petersburg next month. Bokova invited Washington ire back in 2011 when UNESCO officially recognized Palestine. Israel and the US even stopped paying their dues to the organization. As a result, the UNESCOs budget dropped by a hefty 22 percent. Before that they held her in very high regard while now because of her onetime studies in Moscow, they say she is allegedly chummy with President Putin! Thats why the Americans and their British friends are now persuading all other Security Council members to vote against her, Manukov said. He added that it was probably why Bokova ended up in third place in the first round of voting, even though she had previously been considered a hands down favorite. First, because with her good rapport with Moscow she would find it easier to align the interest of conflicting groups within the Security Council and, secondly, because she could also serve as a peacemaker. When asked by Sputnik whether the West is prepared to have the UN run by an Eastern European representative, Georgy Toloraya, head of the Korean affairs desk at the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Economics in Moscow, said that he doubted it because the UN has long become a battleground for the West. Thats why they need a referee who would be kowtowing to the needs of those who have a decisive say on who is going to become the new UN Secretary General, he added. Acknowledging the work done by the current UN chief Toloraya said that during his decade-long stint ban Ki-moon had managed to stay friends with everyone, always demonstrating a great deal of flexibility. Even though he has failed to resolve many major international problems, he still managed to at least keep them from metastasizing. The United Nations is losing its clout, increasingly turning into a discussion club instead of being able to enforce its decisions, Georgy Toloraya said in conclusion. Aside from Bokova, the candidates' list includes former Prime Minister Helen Clark of New Zealand, who previously refused to send her country's troops to Iraq and "proved her independence from the United States, Britain and Australia. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Sunday, the plane took off from Cairo heading for Abu Dhabi. The flight was scheduled for the week before but delayed because Bertrand Piccard, the pilot, was ill. "Solar Impulse 2 & Bertrand Piccard successfully landed in Abu Dhabi," it was posted in project's official Twitter page. Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard are the founders of the Solar Impulse project and both are taking turns piloting the single-seater SI-2 during the round-the-world flight, which started in March with the planes departure from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. NASA has put out a call that could see the commercial use of the ISS expanded to private outfits, who may wish to take advantage of its unique capabilities. One example is to use the low-Earth orbit (LEO) facility's underused attachment ports. Companies have been soliciting ideas about this since the start of July and they have until the end of the month to get all of their ideas in. The agency put a call out to private firms that may which to use the facilities for commercial purposes. This move is an opportunity for commercial space technology service companies. It is not every day that NASA welcomes commercial space groups to use the ISS, strategically located in space to accommodate other companies. Currently, there are about 300 active experiments being conducted on board and NASA thinks the ISS can handle more activities involving commercial use. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The International Olympic Committee (IOC) in its Sunday announcement delegated to individual federations the decision whether to ban Russian athletes from the August 5-21 games. "Further, all Russian athletes are being carefully monitored as part of ISSFs intelligence based testing program. Therefore, the ISSF Executive Committee unanimously voted confirming that all 18 Russian athletes fulfill the criteria set by the IOC further to its Executive Board meeting decision of Sunday July 24, the federation said. Are you sure you want to serve in the Presidential regiment? is the first question commander Major Artem Kunakin poses to the soldier recruits. Service in it is quite difficult, so the requirements are very stringent: a soldiers height must be no less than 175 centimeters, he must be inexcellent health and have impeccable physical training. Piercing, tattoos and facial scars are strictly forbidden. Soldiers that do not get into the first guard of honor are placed in other units of the regiment. In most cases they end up protecting the Kremlins territory. I immediately understand after speaking with someone whether or not they are a good fit. If the candidate cannot control certain gestures or has behavioral issues, then they will not pass. We specially design provocative questions to see the persons reaction. For example, we ask about how they would react in certain situations, like if someone hits them while they are at their post or if the President comes in for a handshake, says Artem Kunakin. The regiment welcomes dynasties. Many soldiers come here after their fathers and granddads have served. We have a soldier who started with conscription then switched to contract service. Today his younger brother signed up to serve. In the case of twins we have an unspoken rule not to separate them, but sometimes it happens. A while ago, one soldier passed all physical and health examinations but the other one failed, the major continued. One day in the regiment Soldiers barracks are situated in the historic Arsenal building. Separate divisions are scattered throughout the territory of the Moscow region. Their daily routine in similar to all of the other soldiers. They rise at 6 am, after which they form up and go for their morning work-out. We do exercises, running for about two kilometers. Soldiers are trained at the Kremlin premises in a place specially designated for this. After physical training we take a shower. After examining their appearance, we head to the dining room, which is located in the Arsenal. Then soldiers attend class, soldier Nicholas Tarov explained. On Friday, WikiLeaks posted 19,252 emails from key DNC staffers that made it clear that the committee was conspiring against Sanders in the ongoing presidential campaign, using the Vermont Senators ancestry, religious beliefs and his campaign logistics as taglines in a number of high-profile media attacks. Above all, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the recently deposed DNC chair, said, in one of her emails, that it would be silly to anticipate that Sanders could become the President of the United States. Following the email leak, Schultz resigned, and the DNC issued an unprecedented apology to Bernie Sanders. As for Sanders' chances to be the nominee after all, McAdams agreed that "anything is possible," but noted that democratic voters are "disciplined people." The Vermont Senator himself is no exception, McAdams said, as he endorsed his rival earlier in July. "What happened with Sanders; he endorsed Clinton, even though he ran a campaign against Wall Street. He endorsed the Wall Street candidate," McAdams said. "The question is, the ball now is in Bernie's court. And more importantly, what is Hillary Clinton going to do?" According to McAdams, the current disarray in the DNC is serving as a wakeup call to those who still believe that voting can change the status quo. "It's outrageous as it is. Partly because we have the evidence right in front of usHopefully people will wake up to the idea that these two parties are just a couple of crooked operations." Ahead of the Democratic convention, hundreds of Sanders supporters rallied in Philadelphia, calling on Clinton to withdraw from the race. According to McAdams, the recent revelations will trigger second thoughts among many voters. "The Democrats will have to do something quick to get Bernie's voters on board," he said, given Trump's surging popularity in the polls. "It could be very dramatic in these last couple of days of the convention," he suggested. McAdams also dismissed allegations that Moscow could be involved in the DNC leaks. "Robby Mook, Clinton's campaign managerwas on CNN yesterday, trying to make the assertion. Of course he didn't make it himself. He didn't have the courage to stand up and make it. He said that some experts have said that Moscow was behind it. Well, which experts and what evidence did they have?" McAdams asked. "I certainly saw a lot of things from neocon advisers yesterday, who make a profession out of attacking Russia, and trying to ruin US relations with Russia. Which reminds me a lot of stories of the Russian invasion' of Ukraine. Where is it? Let's see the photos? So there's nothing there." McAdams called the accusations a "desperation move" and a "propaganda ploy" aimed at making Westerners think that, absurdly, Russia is fixing the US election. Suzanne Lachelier, another attorney, said agents were allowed to remove "fixtures," which she described as sounding like "contraptions or devices." Defense attorney Jay Connell said that instead of getting permission from the prison to "exercise our own professional judgment as to what to document about the black sites," prosecutors received a judges permission to offer diagrams and top secret photos of the CIAs overseas network of secret prisons, as an alternative. From 2002 to 2006, inmates in these black sites were kept in diapers or naked; abused, waterboarded, subjected to extremes of hot and cold temperatures, and forced into cramped boxes by CIA agents. The Senate Torture Report concluded that these tactics were almost entirely ineffective. Two of these black sites were located at Guantanamo. Apparently, they felt that the climate was anything goes in support of the Clinton campaign, and anything goes with respect to denigrating Bernie Sanders and his movement, even to the extent of trying to inject his religion into the discussion in specific states. Kucinich asserted that no matter who hacked the emails, the revelations contained within them justify the hack. The DNC, he said, engaged in behavior that was distasteful, undemocratic and anti-democratic. That goes right to the heart of the Democratic National Committees duplicity, he said, their unwillingness to run a fair campaign, their attempt to rig an election, to foreclose any opportunities for Bernie Sanders and his very large movement to be able to have their position fully reflected. The concept of fairness in American politics is something that many people take seriously, and, apparently, the DNC did not, the former candidate said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On July 15, there was a coup attempt in Turkey that was suppressed the following day. Turkish officials have accused Gulen, who has lived in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999, of orchestrating the failed military coup and are demanding that Washington extradite him. "On July 15, 2016 there was a coup attempt to overthrow the legitimately and democratically elected government of Turkey. Since than it has become clear that perpetrators were a small group of soldiers loyal to Fethullah Gulen and his FETO terrorist organization. Turkey has been and is our most dependable and long time ally in the Middle East. Gulen has been classified a terrorist by our allies in Turkey Please help me to convince our president and our government that we as the United States should work with democratically elected authorities & governments. I would like our government to stop providing a safe haven to Fethullah Gulen and I want him delivered to turkey," the petition reads. According to the White House website, the petition needs some 28,000 more signatures by August 16 to merit an official response from the authorities. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Participants face misdemeanor public nuisance charges for their protest over the police killing of a 32-year-old black man, Philando Castile, during a routine traffic stop earlier this month, local television station KMSP reported. "The State Patrol supports the right to exercise ones First Amendment rights, but the freeway is not the place to do so," Minnesota State Patrol Chief Colonel Matt Langer said, as quoted in the newscast. NEW YORK (Sputnik) A Lebanese citizen has been charged for his alleged involvement in a counterfeit currency scheme in the United States with ties to Lebanon and Iran, the US Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of New York said in a statement on Tuesday. "[Louay Ibrahim Hussein] is charged in connection with his leadership role in a wide-ranging scheme to distribute large quantities of high-grade counterfeit US currency believed to be produced with support from sponsors in Lebanon and Iran for sale and use in markets across the globe, including in the United States and Europe," the statement noted. Hussein, 42, was arrested in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2014, and was extradited to the United States on July 21. "He said, 'I didnt want to leave your mother and your sister, but I didnt want leave this rotten system for you to grow up in.' Hes happy to see that this generation has taken up this struggle and is moving forward." Describing how the struggle of political prisoners from decades past influences young activists today, White said, "The youth in Philadelphia really want to connect with those revolutionaries and we want the youth movement to be a movement of liberation for those who have sacrificed so much for us." She added, "I think this issue is really energizing the youth, because when these young people become radical it is from the writing and the speeches of Mumia Abu Jamal and from the actions of the MOVE family and of people like Russell 'Maroon' Shoatz, and we need those people to be liberated from their prison cells because they are leaders and I think thats what the youth are coming around to see, that we cant have a movement for black lives that doesnt include incarcerated people." White also said that the strength of the current Black Lives Matter movement is its diversity and increasing radicalism. "I think this movement is very eclectic right now, and I think thats a good thing because its very vibrant. What we see now is an effort to co-opt this movement and thats how you know its strong and powerful." PHILADELPHIA (Sputnik) Hundreds of protesters marched from Philadelphia City Hall to the Democratic National Convention (DNC) site in South Philadelphia against racial injustice, the US Democratic Party and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Tuesday. Protesters vowed to "shut down the Democratic National Convention " in opposition of the Democratic Partys policies they view as racist and biased. The march is organized by the Workers World Party and the International Action Center. PHILADELPHIA (Sputnik) If Hillary Clinton is elected president it will fuel right-wing extremism in the United States, US Green Party candidate Jill Stein told reporters. "Putting [Hillary] Clinton in the White House will fan the flames of right-wing extremism," Stein said on Tuesday. Clinton won the Democratic nomination for president of the United States on Tuesday by a roll call vote of delegates at the party's convention in Philadelphia. Last Friday, as the attempted military coup in Turkey was unfolding, NBC News reported, citing a senior US defense official, that Erdogan had been refused landing rights in Istanbul and was seeking asylum in Germany. Contrary to the reports, Erdogan arrived in Istanbul that night and gave a televised speech. After the situation in Turkey stabilized, NBC News received a letter from the Turkish Embassy in Washington DC, accusing the news channel and producer Kyle Griffin of irresponsible actions, and demanding an apology. According to the Turkish embassy, the false report aggravated an already tense situation. The tear-gas incident occurred in August 2014. Before the video evidence emerged, it was referred to as a "riot" by officials, with media reporting that multiple boys had escaped their cells and threatened prison staff with weapons. But it is clear from the newly released CCTV vision and handy-cam recordings made by staff that only one boy escaped his cell, and that because a guard had left it unlocked. Former corrections commissioner Ken Middlebrook told ABC last year that no overuse of gas took place, as there were just "two sprays from an aerosol in the area." But the video shows 10 bursts of tear gas sprayed into an enclosed area within 90 seconds. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, Uematsu, 26, was arrested in Sagamihara, west of Tokyo, as he surrendered to police after killing 19 and injuring 25 disabled people during their sleep at the facility. The assailant, a former employee of the care facility, had a bag with several blood-stained knives with him when surrendering. "The crime committed against defenseless people with disabilities is shocking in its brutality and cynicism," the Russian president said in a message to the Japanese leader. CAIRO (Sputnik) The delegation also includes Ayman Muqaddam, the head of the Egypt-led A321 crash investigation committee, as well as Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi, the Middle East News Agency reported. Earlier in July, Fathi visited Moscow and held a meeting with Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov. During the visit, Fathi announced that the investigation has entered its final stages. The minister also invited the Russian Transport Ministry experts to visit Egypt in order to resolve the remaining issues. The Russian side said that the visit depends on Egypt's fulfillment of its obligations on ensuring airport security. Later, Sokolov said that Russian flight safety experts may visit Egypt in September. He underscored the need for an improved humanitarian situation in the northern Syrian region for the next round of talks to go forward, but maintained that it too is not a precondition for dialogue. "We had a fairly frank exchange of views, taking into account the latest developments in Syria and around this country. We came to a consensus on the need for further efforts to promote the political process and the resumption of intra-Syrian dialogue," Gatilov added after trilateral Russian-US-UN talks. Moreover, Russian and US military experts will hold talks on Syria in Geneva in a "matter of days," Gatilov said. "It was agreed that in the near future, Russian and US experts will continue this work [regular military working contacts]," Gatilov told reporters following trilateral Russian-US-UN talks, adding that the next military-to-military meeting is a "matter of days." He stressed that the experts of both countries will continue working to coordinate maps locating terrorist groups in Syria, adding that the sides also agreed to hold additional talks in the Russia-US-UN format. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Two members of an armed group, which has earlier seized the police building in Yerevan, surrendered after a gunfight with police, head of Information and Public Relations of the Police of Armenia Ashot Aharonian said Wednesday. "Two members of the armed group which seized the police building in Yerevan Gagik Egiazaryan and Aram Akopyan have surrendered to police," Aharonian posted in his official Facebook account adding that there was a gunfight in the building and "as a result [of a gunfight] a police officer and Pavel Manukyan and his son Aram [both members of the armed group] were wounded." All three have been transferred to the hospital. The gunfight is now over and the complete surrender negotiations continue. The Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association of New Jersey has announced that this years Caretaker of the Meet at the Meadowlands Racetrack is Natalie Svensson. Svensson was nominated by her employer, Henrik Lundell. His reasons for nominating her were simple. "She's worked for me for five years and never missed a day. She's always reliable and gives 100 per cent to each horse, we couldn't do it without her," he said As this years Caretaker of the Meet, Svensson will receive a $200 visa gift card, a $150 Joes Kitchen gift card, dinner at Pink for her and her family, and a plaque of recognition at the Meadowlands on August 5. (With files from the SBOANJ) Family Research Council Submits 92,000 Petition Signatures in Support of Airman Forcibly Removed from Retirement Ceremony Contact: J.P. Duffy or Alice Chao, Family Research Council, 866-372-6397 WASHINGTON, July 26, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- Family Research Council and American Family Association sent the Air Force over 92,000 petition signatures in support of retired Senior Master Sergeant Oscar Rodriguez. The petitions and cover letter were addressed to the leadership of Travis Air Force Base in California concerning an incident on April 3rd involving retired Sgt. Oscar Rodriguez who was dragged out of a retirement ceremony for another service member. Sgt. Rodriguez was forcibly removed from the event by military personnel for simply reciting a speech that mentioned God in his flag folding ceremony. The letter signed by Family Research Council Executive Vice President Lt. General (Ret.) Jerry Boykin, read in part: "I am writing to you as my organization's representative to the Restore Military Religious Freedom Coalition, a partnership committed to reinstating and ensuring the religious freedoms of military men and women in all branches of the armed forces. With this letter, I am conveying petitions containing over 92,000 signatures gathered by the Family Research Council and American Family Association. "The petitions condemn the April 3, 2016 'forcible eviction and assault of Senior Master Sergeant Oscar Rodriguez (Ret.) from the retirement ceremony of Master Sergeant Charles Roberson because he was reciting a speech that mentioned God.' They 'strongly urge' Colonel Raymond A. Kozak, commander 349th Air Mobility Wing at Travis, 'to apologize to Oscar Rodriguez for assaulting him and infringing upon his First Amendment rights, apologize to Charles Roberson for disrupting his ceremony, and hold accountable those responsible for this egregious action that violated the free speech rights of a service member and his invited guest. "Our country has enough enemies. Our military should be united in attacking the real forces that threaten our nation, not those who have served with dignity in protecting it," concluded Boykin. Click here to read the full letter. Tuesday, July 26, 2016 Following up on my previous posts (links below) on the financial difficulties at Vermont Law School: VT Digger, Vermont Law School Seeking Federal Loan to Ease Debt Costs: Vermont Law School is hoping to borrow $15 million from the federal government to help restructure its debts and take advantage of lower interest rates. VLS officials said the school has put the worst of its financial woes behind it, and the proposal would fund a land-lease transaction involving its 15-acre South Royalton campus. It means significant operating savings for VLS, said Lorraine Atwood, vice president of finance at the school, which she said currently spends about $1.2 million annually to service about $13.5 million in debt. The school, which has an annual budget of $28 million, is hosting a public information meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday at Oakes Hall about the plan, which would create a land-lease agreement with a separate entity, VLS Campus Holdings LLC. The law school would continue to own its land and 22 buildings, which have a combined net book value of $22 million, according to Atwood. The school is seeking the loan from the USDAs Rural Development Community Facilities Direct Loan Program, which develops essential community facilities in rural areas. ... In order to qualify for a loan, the school must demonstrate that it provides an essential service to the local community for the orderly development of the community in a primarily rural area, and does not include private, commercial or business undertakings, according to guidelines on the program website. Vermont's enrollment has declined 33% since 2011 (from 566 to 375). Prior TaxProf Blog coverage: https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2016/07/vermont-law-school-seeks-15-million-federal-loan-to-restructure-its-debts-via-sale-leaseback-with-re.html The first 10 days of voting showed a low turnout among Cowlitz County residents. Primary election ballots were mailed out on July 15, and so far the county has received a voter turnout of only 8 percent, according to Cowlitz County Elections. Supervisor Carolyn Fundingsland said she suspects people need more time to review the candidates and make an informed decision. "It's an extremely large ballot," Fundingsland said. "We're in new territory here." The "top two" primary whittles the number of constants to two, even if the two are from the same party. Two commissioner races are highly contested, with a total of nine candidates in the running for the District 1 and District 2 seats. Four candidates are also running for the district 3 PUD commission seat that Ned Piper is giving up. Both commissioner and the PUD race will be decided only by voters in the those districts. The general election will be countywide in those races. District 19 legislative seats are also hotly contested with five candidates vying for the seat how held by J.D. Rossetti and three in the seat held by Brian Blake. Fundingsland said she expects a "mad rush" of ballots this week ahead of the Aug. 2 primary. Typically the voter turnout for primary elections range from 33 percent to 35 percent, and the vast majority of the votes are cast in the last few days before the election deadline Ballots must be postmarked by Aug. 2 to be considered valid. An online voters' pamphlet is available on the Cowlitz County Elections website. Other guides include a TVW video voters' guide, and KLTV posts candidate forum debates on their website. Eighteen months ago Andy Wilder stood on the Cowlitz Way Bridge, considering ending his life. The veteran was homeless, suffering from epilepsy and drug addiction. I was standing (on) the bridge ready to just give it up and I said, You know what God, if youre really here, I need some help, Wilder recalled. At that moment, pain shot through his abdomen and he collapsed on the sidewalk. A passerby noticed him, and he was taken to St. John Medical Center. He was treated and released a few days later. The experience was a turning point for Wilder, who has seizures as the result of a head injury from his service the U.S. Navy in the 1970s. After his hospital stay, he lived with friends for a few weeks before moving into a veterans emergency shelter. He entered a drug treatment program, and last July landed a flat in the Stratford Apartments on Hemlock Street in Longview. Wilder shared his story as a part of a tour provided to Congresswoman Jaime Herrera-Beutler Monday morning of the Stratford Apartment, which offers housing to veterans, and the Phoenix House in Kelso, which houses mothers recovering from drug abuse. Both affordable housing programs are run by Housing Opportunities of Southwest Washington (formerly Longview Housing Authority). I wouldnt be here today if it wasnt for this program, said Wilder, 60. With her two-month-old son Ethan in tow, Rep. Herrera-Beutler listened to success stories from residents and case managers. As a member of the Appropriations Committee, the Camas Republican said she has helped secure funding for federal programs that support the Stratford, Phoenix and other affordable housing developments in the region. Ive gone to bat for the funding in appropriations, but this is my opportunity to see what it looks like, Herrera-Beutler said. When I see cuts in a line item, I now know what that means and it allows me to effectively advocate for the funding or in some case plus it up, she said. Jillian Gillum told Herrera-Beutler that she was able to get clean and regain custody of her 3-year-old son after moving into Phoenix House I feel really blessed to be here. It helps a lot that there are boundaries ... set to keep us on track, said Gillum, 34. Wilder also is committed to staying on track. He keeps a copy of his old license in his wallet. In the photo I.D., the vet is 100 pounds lighter because he wasnt eating well and using drugs. I keep that piece of I.D. (to remind me) ... this is an area of life that I never want to go back to, he said. Im just spiritually happy and smiling for the first time in years. CASTLE ROCK Susann Pulse has spent most of her life surrounded by flowers. When she began working at the Flower Pot as her aunts part time employee in 1983, bridal bouquets trailed to the floor and grocery stores had not begun selling flowers or hiring their own florists. But Pulse and the Flower Pot have endured changing tastes and growing competition, and her floral shop recently marked 45 years in business. Located in the Crossroads Plaza on Spirit Lake Memorial Highway, the shop was started by Pulses aunt Ann Buker, who died this past May. Buker ran the business out of an addition to her house for nine years before she and her husband built what would become the Crossroads Plaza building. Pulse delivered flowers for her aunts shop briefly while in high school, working mainly during the holidays. I was her first delivery person that she hired out, Pulse said. Pulse joined the shop as a part-time employee in 1983 and bought the shop outright in 1993. Thus began the task of carrying on Bukers 22-year tradition of arranging flowers for the birthdays, weddings, graduations and funerals. Pulse became like a minister of sorts, serving her clientele in times of joy and sorrow. Over the decades, Pulse has seen the lavender and green wedding bouquets of the 1990s replaced by the pastels and Babys-breath bouquets popular today. Back then, it was not uncommon to see a bride holding a cascading floral arrangement that trailed to the floor. Today, the newlywed is more likely to hold a neat clutch as she walks down the aisle. You always have to change, you always have to keep up with style and you always have to be aware, Pulse said. When Pulse first bought the shop from her aunt, she initially kept a tally of all the weddings for which she did floral arrangements. After 10 years she gave up the practice, though she still has stacks of photo albums documenting hundreds of arrangements. Everything from birth to death, Pulse said, referring to the broad range of life events her shop helped mark. Since its a small town, you do touch everybodys life. Weddings make up the majority of her business from May through September. Pulse said that all of her employees are key when handling increased demand. Pulse recalled a stretch last summer when she and her employees did the flowers for six weddings in a 10-day stretch. I took the girls to a spa afterwards they deserved it. Some of those weddings were big, too, Pulse said. While weddings are Pulses favorite, she holds reverence for her sympathy work as well a solemn but constant source of business. Funerals are helping someone doing something for that person for the last time. And you have to be very honorable with that, Pulse said. I like being there to help them through that. Two men have been hospitalized, one in serious condition, after separate motorcycle accidents Saturday. Niconor Garcia, 70, was flown by Life Flight to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver after an accident around 5 p.m. on the 4400 block of Constitution Lane in Longview. He was in critical condition Monday, according to the hospital. Longview police still are investigating, and no criminal citations have been issued. Garcia was wearing a half helmet. Henry Li, 28, of Longview is in satisfactory condition at PeaceHealth Southwest after his motorcycle crashed around 11:30 p.m. in the 500 block of Tennant Way in Longview. According to a Washington State Patrol press release, Li was westbound on Tennant Way at high speed when he struck a Jeep Wrangler. Lis motorcycle came to rest in the left lane, where it burst into flames, according to authorities. Li was wearing a full helmet. The driver of the Wrangler, Rodolfo Lopez, was not injured. Charges for Li are pending, according to the WSP press release. Mouth Sakurajima located in Japan erupted 5,000-metre high column of ash on Tuesday. The incident took place at 12:02 am at the mountains Showa crater. As of now, no casualties were reported and the volcano hasnt done any major damage. It is the first time in the last three years that the volcano has erupted so much ash. Previously back in 2013, an active volcano in southern Kyushu ejected smoke that high, said Kagoshima Meteorological Office in a report. The report further added that it is the 47th eruption in Japan this year. Volcano is still erupting and no major change has been recorded in the rate of ash spewed by the volcano. Seeing this, the JMA has issued a 3 level alert and asked people to stay away from the volcano, which is located about 50 km from the nuclear plant in Sendai, reactivated last year after a shutdown of nuclear power in Japan post an accident at the Fukushima power plant in 2011 owing to an earthquake and tsunami. Also, flight routes have been changed due to ash present in the air as it makes the route invisible. Volcanic eruption is Japan is very common as it lies in one of the most active seismic zones of the world, also known as Ring of Fire. More than 100 active volcanoes exist in the region. hidden By Amaresh Godbole The news of Verizons buyout of Yahoo has taken the business and digital world by storm, with a lot of speculation about the thinking, valuation, implications and so on. The strategic play is quite simple to understand really. We live in a world where Google is happy to foray into cars and set up balloons to deliver data and Amazon is the largest cloud service. An infrastructure player like Verizon is a just a pipe and a commodity from an end consumers standpoint. The acquisition of AOL and now Yahoo is clearly about having a true B2C presence and opening up ad revenues as a new income source. Its also a way to safeguard the future by evolving into an ecosystem rather than just an infrastructure player. Closer home, new age players such as Reliance Jio are launching with exactly that vision in mind. The belief at Verizon seems to be that by combining the power of AOL and Yahoo and leveraging their mobile network to drive subscribers, they can hope to compete with the Googles of the world. The challenge they will have to overcome is that AOL and Yahoo, while great legacy names are seen as just that strugglers in the new age of content, social, mobility and cloud. This perception will need to change if they are to attract serious advertising money. And perception usually lags actual change, so it will be an uphill battle. First of all they will need to restructure the companies, find a way for rapid cultural integration so they play as one team and deliver one proposition, well suited to the new age world of content consumption. Beyond that, theyll have to demonstrate the sustainability of their content ecosystem before serious advertising budgets are diverted. If they do manage that, then we may be in for some exciting times. Perhaps well see more competition which could accelerate innovation and drive down rates in the medium term. Being a wireless provider will give Verizon access to invaluable consumer behaviour data, which if smartly mined and deployed could be a competitive advantage in the content game. I think were likely to see the battle played out in the U.S. market first, it will be a while before we experience any dramatic shifts in India. But this is definitely a journey everyone in the marketing sphere should track keenly. I know I will. The author is Managing Director, India at DigitasLBi tech2 News Staff Xiaomi is continuously expanding its device portfolio to accommodate more and more consumer electronic devices. The company recently celebrated its two year anniversary in India with a 3-day flash sale event giving their devices at discounted prices. The anniversary celebration will be followed by an event planned by Xiaomi. It is expected that the company will launch its notebooks at the event along with the Redmi Note 4. However after a number of rumours regarding Xiaomi coming up with a lineup of Notebooks to expand its device range, photos and prices of the device leaked online. The leak was reported by gizmochina.com which showed all metal notebooks being used in the real world. The notebooks are rumoured to come with Standard and Pro variant where the standard variant will be powered by an Intel Core-i5 processor. It will pack a 256GB SSD and 8GB DDR4 RAM. It will be priced at approximately 3999 Yuan which roughly amounts for Rs 40300, while the pro variant will be powered by an Intel Core-i7-6700HQ coupled with 16GB DDR4 RAM. It will further sport Nvidia GTX 970M 4GB DDR5 graphics card and 512GB SSD storage for high-end performance. The price of Pro variant according to the report is around Rs 67500. In addition to the rumoured notebooks to be launched tomorrow, Xiaomi launched 'Mi Pen' yesterday. The pen doesn't have any computing tricks up its nib and is a common ballpoint pen instead. It uses an ink jet system which was developed in collaboration with the Swiss PREMEC. PREMEC is a company specialised in modern formulation of inks. The 'Mi Pen' is 9.5mm in diameter with a 0.5mm tungsten tip. The pen will go on sale at approximately Rs 200 in China as reported by HBlog.it. Nash David In 1997, Marissa Mayer graduated from Stanford University. Two years later, she ditched about 14 job offers to join Google as employee number 20. That was 1999. When the online space was ruled by Yahoo. Was. Back then, if you wanted to make it big in the online world, you had to compete with Yahoo. When Mayer joined Google, she was the first female engineer on Googles rolls. Over the years, she rose through the ranks to become the Director of Consumer Web Products. Primarily she was responsible for the layout of the least cluttered homepage we've grown fond of. In fact, she was also responsible for approving doodles that went on the most popular search engine. Switch to 2012, after spending 13 years at Google, she was appointed President and CEO of Yahoo. The prognosis of Yahoo at the time was similar to BlackBerry. In both cases, the patients needed the able care of a specialist. BlackBerry eventually found a specialist in the form of John Chen, whos known for turning around companies in a similar state. While BlackBerry is a story by itself, Yahoo was different. Yahoo was far bigger. And unlike titans who met a fading fate, Yahoo had hope. It was, however, guilty of the blunder BlackBerry and Nokia committed not catching up with the changing times. Soon they were outnumbered. Four years since Marissa Mayer has been at the helm of affairs at Yahoo, the company has been bought out by Verizon for a little under $5 billion. In 2007, when Steve Jobs launched the Apple iPhone, BlackBerry didnt pay enough attention. That coupled with the new found threat in the form of yet another Google product Android ensured that the nails were completely entrenched in BlackBerrys coffin. It was a tough, yet enduring collapse. In case youre wondering why Im harbouring around BlackBerry and Nokia, its because both products have had interests in the consumer facing side of the market, as well as some interests in the business side. Nokia, not so much. But for BlackBerry, enterprise was big. Following the 2008 global financial meltdown, the automobile industry faced a terrible crisis between 2008 and 2010. Whats the connection? There was yet another famous hire made. In 2013, Mary Barra was hired CEO and President of General Motors, which was battling many problems. She is the first female CEO of a global automaker. Having set the context here with 3 ailing companies, and two companies with female CEOs given the responsibility of turning around a company, Id like to draw your attention to some specifics. Both Mayer and Barra received attention for being women CEOs. Im sure many of you hadnt heard of Barra before. Some of you may blame it on the lack of interest in the automobile sector. Thats a fair argument. But if you care about empowered women steering huge corporations away from perdition, then you must know more about Mary Barra for being successful with General Motors. In her first year at GM, Barra had to issue 84 product recalls resulting in about 30 million cars being recalled. Thats no joke. Having endured difficult times at GM, she has been listed as the worlds most powerful women for the third time in 2014. In 2013, she started out at number 35, reaching 7th position within one year. She topped Fortune magazines list of most powerful women in 2015. On one hand, we hear so much about the rise of Marissa Mayer. On the other, many wonder who Mary Barra is. Such is life. Wonder why this happened? The tech world needed an iconic leader to turn around Yahoo. When I was mentioning BlackBerry earlier, I remember Thorsten Heins. Immediately after the co-founders of BlackBerry stepped down, an insider was appointed to lead the team and turn it around. What happened a couple of years later? He was ousted. The damage was too deep and it didnt seem that BlackBerry 10 was doing anything remarkable for the fortunes of the company software or devices. We love personalities who do the impossible. Who turn sagging fortunes of titans. In them, we find inspiration. Sometimes, they stand up those expectations. Sometimes, they go down with it. And some walk with their head held high. And I wonder which category Mayer falls under. What I do realise though, is there was hardly any reason that justified the hype and attention around her rise as a star who the world expected to turn Yahoo around. Through the years, instead of clamping down on the deadweights at Yahoo, it was taking the route of some expensive acquisitions. There was a time, long ago, when Yahoo rejected an offer to buy Google! Sure, no one can time the industry, or accurately predict outcomes. Everything's a risk. But then, not very long ago, Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo for $40 billion. Despite the attention she received for being a woman CEO with the responsibility of turning the company around, the fact is technology is gender agnostic. Innovation is gender agnostic. And customer delight is gender agnostic. Many times in the past, debates have taken place over sexism in the Valley. The turn of events in the past few years have shown women who have turned around companies at graver situations. And instances where the turn around has been impressive. Perhaps a lot of time has been lost for Yahoo. I feel it's similar to Nokia. Clearly from $40 billion to $4 billion, it's come a long way. Vodafone M-Pesa has partnered with Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), offering millions of people in Punjab a simple, easy-to-use option to pay their electricity bills instantly. Vodafone M-Pesa offers customers a cashless, secure platform for electricity bill payments with the largest network of agents (or CashIn Points) to enable digitization of money for Cash holding population. Vodafone has more than 3000+ outlets (or CashIn Points) including Vodafone Company owned stores, franchisees, and multi brand outlets in Punjab. These CashIn Points provide convenience and ease to Customers to convert cash into digital money facilitating digital payment of Bills and e-commerce /m-Commerce. The bill payment touch points are easily available at every nook and corner, including all 31 Vodafone brand stores in Punjab. Inviting the residents of Punjab to reap the benefit of instant electricity bill payment on the go through Vodafone M-Pesa, Arvind Vohra, Operations Director Vodafone India said It has been our constant endeavor to deliver and bring innovative and simplified service offerings relevant to the needs of our customers. Vodafone M-Pesa partnership with the PSPCL is one such initiative that bridges the need for a simple, timely and cashless electricity bill payment solution through the mobile phone. Customers across various segments can access M-Pesa on either a smart phone by downloading (Google Play store > M-Pesa customer app > Download > Register with basic credentials > Confirmation SMS > Login and change the PIN) the M-Pesa App or by dialing a USSD short-code (*400#) from any phone including any feature phone. This facility is aimed at driving financial inclusion further along with providing the State Electricity Board subscribers in Punjab the benefit and comfort of making payments instantly. As an added benefit, new users of M-Pesa can earn 5% cashback on the payment made through the App (cashback of maximum Rs.50 each month for a period of 3 months). Elaborating further on the service, Suresh Sethi, Business Head, M-Pesa, Vodafone India said We are delighted to facilitate payments via M-Pesa (mobile wallet), safe, fast and convenient way of bringing bank to the mobile. With this facility, customers now have an access to multiple touch points for electricity bill payments in a simple and hassle free manner. From process automation to instant and secure transaction, we are confident M-Pesa will bring transformational benefits to the people in Punjab and further drive financial inclusion in the state. Serving the needs of the unbanked and under-banked customers, Vodafone M-Pesa is a safe, fast and convenient way of bringing bank to the mobile. Also, with a pan India distribution network of over 120,000 CashIn Points and with more than 5.4 million customers, Vodafone M-Pesa is the largest banking business correspondent in the country. M-Pesa today plays a vital role in enabling financial inclusion and m-commerce. M-Pesa effectively leverages the combined strengths of Vodafones global expertise in the domain of mobile payments and significant distribution reach in India plus the security of financial transactions provided by ICICI Bank. @Technuter.com News Service 9 `militants` killed in Kalyanpur police operation Dhaka, July 26 (UNB) - Nine suspected militants were killed in police firing during an operation by a special team of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) in the city's Kalyanpur area early Tuesday. DMP Deputy Commissioner (Media) Masudur Rahman said members of law enforcement agencies cordoned off a 5-storey building of Atahar Uddin Ahmed known as Taj Manjil at house no-53 and road no-5 in Kalyanpur area after 12:00 am following information that it was a den of militants. The house was reportedly being used by militants as a mess-house. Sensing the presence of police, two militants from the 4th floor of the building jumped off and tried to escape. Police opened fire on them which left a militant, Hasan, injured while another managed to flee. The injured man was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). Earlier, police alerted the residents of the house. To avoid general causality, police did not conduct any drive at midnight and took time to evacuate the house. Later around 5:51 am, members of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) and Bomb Disposal Unit, two special teams of Detective Branch started their operation named, 'Operation Storm-26' and continued for an hour, the DC (Media) said. At one stage, he said, the militants hurled grenades and fired shots at the law enforcers, forcing them to fire back that left the nine 'militants' dead on the spot. Later, DMP Additional Commissioner (Crime & Ops) Shiekh Maruf Hasan briefed reporters on the spot. Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Hoque visited the spot around 7.45am. "We're primarily suspecting that the militants are members of the banned outfit Jama'atul Mujaheed Bangladesh (JMB) and they had no link to IS members," said the IGP. Shahidul Hoque also said these militants had similarity with the Gulshan cafe attackers who had worn black clothes and turbans on their heads and carried bags. "They were preparing to carry out sabotage," added the police chief. DMP Commissioner Md Asaduzzaman Mia said a bomb disposal unit is working at the house to defuse bombs. It will take some one hour more to complete all formalities inside the terror den and the bodies of the militants will be sent for autopsy after completion of those formalities, added the DMP chief. Terming the incident unexpected, local ruling party lawmaker Aslamul Haque said: We will raise public awareness against such activities and will inspire locals to extend more support to the law enforcers in busting such gangs. Meanwhile, Mizanur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Mirpur Police Station, said seven people rented the house but the owner did not submit any information about the tenants. Ashik, a resident of 5th floor of the building, said there were seven people in their room at night and he heard sounds of three bullets and Allahu Akbar slogan being cited around 12.45am. Anik, another resident of the floor, said he also heard the same sound and lay down on the floor. Besides, a policeman suffered injuries as militants opened fire on the law enforcers. One Motiur Rahman told the journalists that he failed to contact his cousin Abu Sayem Ashiq, who is a resident of the building and also a student of Mirpur Polytechnique Institute. Motiur said: I heard about the incident and came here in search of my cousin. He was trapped in the fifth floor during the raid and talked to me over phone. But, right now I am failing to reach him. On July 1, the country witnessed its deadliest terror attack when gunmen raided a Gulshan cafe, killing 20 hostages, 17 of them foreigners, and two police officers during a 12-hour siege. The hostage situation ended when army commandos stormed the restaurant on the morning of June 2, killing five attackers and one employee of the cafe who, law enforcers claim, was a suspect. Later on July 7, the Eid day, militants killed two police constables in an attack at a security checkpoint near Sholakia Eidgah. One woman was killed when hit by stray bullets in her home nearby, while police shot and killed a suspected attacker. Female worker strangled to death in Nilphamari Nilphamri Correspondent : Police of Sadar thana recovered the dead body of a female worker of a factory in Uttara EPZ on Sunday morning from a farmland at Baucha Para village near EPZ under Sangolshi Union of the upazila. The victim was identified as Shukla Rani Sen (20), daughter of Jogesh Chandra Sen of Bagpur village under Boda upazila in Panchagarh district who was also a worker of a foreign spectacle factory Mazen (BD) Ltd in Uttara EPZ. Younger sister of the victim Lipi Rani Sen (18) informed police that she along with elder sister Sukla Rani worked as worker in the factory and stayed in a rented house in Bauchapara village. She also said that though they were workers of same factory but had separate shifts. The victim's work period was likely to end at 7.30 pm and Lipis's work time ends at 6.30 pm. On Monday evening, as Lipi returned her rented home from work was waiting for coming of her sister. But after long time of wait Shukla didn't return which made her worried and came to the factory to know whether her sister was working overtime. As the officials of Mazen factory informed that Sukla was not there, she along with her neighbours started looking for her elsewhere. In the morning, locals found the dead body of Shukla in a cultivating field at Baucha Para village near her rented house. Being informed, police of Sador police station reached the spot and recovered the dead body and sent it to Nilphamari 100-bed hospital for autopsy. Regarding the matter father of the victim filed a case accusing unknown miscreants. Guardians of Khulna city, 8 UZs worried for their children Ahsanul Amin George, Khulna : Guardians of Khulna city and nine upazila are anxious about the safety of their children following the involvement students in militant attacks at Gulshan and Sholakia on July 1 and 7. Some four persons including two students have been missing for a long time from city's Daulatpur area. The missing persons are : Monir Hossain, 35, son of late Atiar Rahman, resident of South Pabla Shobuj Shangho area under Daulatpur police station, Md. Sohel Sultan,25, son of late Sayeedur Rahman, resident of Pabla Karikorpara under Daulatpur police station , Zakir Hossain Hridoy, 19, son of Nurul Islam , Zakir was missing from Government Shishu Sadan, located at Moheswarpasha under Daulatpur police station and Elias Molla, 15, son of Abdul Jabbar, hailing from village Deypara in Bagerhat district. Among the above-mentioned persons first two were working at a Biskuit company, the later was working at a Bkash agent and two other missing persons were students of a Shishu Sadan. A general dairy (GD) was lodged for Elias with Daulatpur police station. However, recently bomb blasting also occurred at different points in Khulna city. Only after two days of the Sholakia occurrence, miscreants hurled bomb in front of Khulna jail gate on July 9. Earlier, on June 7, bombs were blasted in front of the residence of Jailor of Khulna Jannatul Ferdaus. On May 15, miscreants hurled bomb in front of the residence of Khulna jail Superintendent Md. Kamrul Islam. Md. Shafiqul Islam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Khulna Kotwali police station said, the accused persons of bomb blasting cases in front of jail gate were already arrested and they are now in jail custody. Some other bomb blasting also occurred last year. On January 29, 2015, in front of the residence of Khulna Range DIG SM Moniruzzaman, on January 31, 2015, inside the office of Khulna Metropolitan Commissioner Nibash Chandra Majhee and on February 4, 2015, at the garage of the then Khulna police superintendent (SP) Md. Habibur Rahman, bombs were blasted. But it is a matter of great wonder that law enforcing agencies could not unveil the mystery of these occurrences. A reliable source said, four college students are missing for long from city's Daulatpur area, but no activities are found by OC or other officers of Daulatpur police station. Amid this situation, guardians of Khulna city and nine upazila areas are fearing to send their kids to School. Even after Eid vacation, some students are not being sent to schools in fear of attacks by the miscreants. Nahida Sultana, a guardian of city's Boshupara area told this correspondent that police can not assure their own safety, then how they will give safety of their children. Ashit Mondol, a guardian of Khalishpur area also echoed with Nahida. SM Selim, resident of Shovna in Dumuria upazila of Khulna district said, "We are very much anxious about our kids, because the law and order situation of our area is not good at all." SM Mamun Shikdar, resident of Deara area in Digholia upazila and also a journalist said, "We are always in anxieties because we can not send our children to school in fear of militant attacks." On a recent visit at several schools in Khulna city and different upazilas , this correspondent found that guardians are standing near school gates as they are not allowed to enter into the schools. Rangpur jute growers still adopting traditional method of rotting, polluting water bodies Mintu Abdur Rahman, Rangpur : Most of the jute growers in Rangpur agriculture region are still adopting traditional method of rotting jute plants and thus polluting different water bodies as ribbon retting method, a technology for rotting jute plants is yet to become familiar to them. Harvesting of jute is going on in full swing across the region and the farmers are passing busy time decomposing jute plants in almost all the river and other water bodies , causing serious pollution of water, it is alleged. According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Rangpur sources said, farmers cultivated jute on around 64,000 hectares of land in five districts under the zone this year. The districts are : Rangpur, Nilphamari, Kurigram, Gaibandha and Lalmonirhat. The growers are much happy with production of the crop. DAE official sources said ribbon retting is a method to separate fibre from jute stick and rot those in ditch to get the expected golden fibre. This technology needs less water for rotting jute stick than the traditional method. By using this technology the separated fibre are kept under water ofditch to decompose those properly. The size of a ditch should be sixmetre in length, two metre in width and one metre in depth where fibers are kept under water for at least 12 to 15 days. Helal Uddin, a jute farmer of Akondapara village in Mithapukur upazila under Rangpur district told The New Nation that ribbon retting method seems to be easy but he and many farmers of his area do not have sufficient training on it. DAE Rangpur, sources said though farmers were informed about the technology but most of them are showing their unwillingness to adopt it. This year farmers are getting adequate water in water bodies which is another reason for their reluctance. The department is trying to make the technology popular among the farmers by providing necessary training, equipments, sources added. Mobilisation of social forces for reducing corruption stressed BSS adds: Anti-corruption activists at a quarterly meeting here have stressed on mobilisation of social forces and engagement of the local communities for launching a vigorous effective movement to reduce corruption. They also mentioned that members of the district and upazila level Corruption Prevention Committees (CPCs) have been contributing a lot in inspiring the common people to launch anti-corruption movement at all levels. They expressed the views at the quarterly coordination meeting of District Corruption Prevention Coordination Committee (DCPCC) held on Monday afternoon at the Training Centre of RDRS Bangladesh in the city. The Combined District Office of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and RDRS Bangladesh assisted in arranging the meeting under the Justice Reform and Corruption Prevention (JRCP) project being funded German Development Cooperation. President of District Corruption Prevention Committee (CPC), also President of DCPCC, Professor Mozammel Haque presided over the meeting participated by members of the district CPC, Presidents and General Secretaries of its upazila units. Newly appointed Deputy Director of Rangpur District Combined Office of ACC Mozahar Ali Sarder attended the meeting as the chief guest. Moderated by District Manager of JRCP Project Ershad M Rasel, General Secretary of District CPC, also General Secretary of DCPCC, Akbar Hossain discussed organisational issues and future plans of corruption prevention activities in the meeting. Presidents and General Secretaries of its upazila units presented their activities conducted so far in preventing corruption, limitations and problems with suggestions for further enhancing their performance. The meeting also discussed about principles, rules and regulations for public hearings, constitution and working guidelines for city, district,upazila and union level Corruption Prevention Committees and necessary directions towards the directions. Mozahar Ali Sarder highly appreciated the activities already conducted by members of the district and upazila level CPCs in mobilising social forces and engaging local communities to create public awareness against corruption in the district. US neutral on SCS, wants China to follow laws: Kerry U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, talks to Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. before the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-U.S. Foreign Ministers Meeting in Vientiane, Laos on Monday. AP, Vientiane : After months of confrontations in the South China Sea and days of high-stakes diplomacy, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday the time has arrived to "move away from the public tensions and turn the page." Kerry met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on Monday on the sidelines of a regional gathering of Southeast Asian countries. China had scored a diplomatic victory when a watered-down joint statement from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations did not criticize China for its actions in the South China Sea and did not mention a tribunal ruling that eviscerated China's historic claims to the waters. Kerry said at a news conference that the U.S. is not taking sides on the substance of maritime disputes from countries such as the Philippines, which took the case to the tribunal in The Hague, but believes "rule of law must be upheld." China has said it will ignore the ruling, which it deems illegitimate. It leaned on Cambodia and other close allies to prevent ASEAN from making a critical statement, saying the disputes should be handled in one-on-one negotiations and not by the regional bloc. But with The Hague ruling in the past, Kerry said he and Wang agreed it is time to lower the temperature. Kerry flies to Manila on Tuesday and is scheduled to meet with the Philippines new president, Rodrigo Duterte, on Wednesday. He said he will urge Duterte to negotiate with Beijing. "Hopefully this can become a moment that we can all take advantage of, where we work out some of the modalities of how do you deal with the fishing? How do you deal with natural resources? How do you deal with the movement, the free movement of vessels and protect the rights of everybody?" Kerry said. "This could be a very important moment of shifting how this discussion is taking place and not being played out through public moves unilaterally and challenges, but in a constructive and thoughtful, engaged diplomatic manner." Philippines Secretary of Foreign Affairs Perfecto Yasay Jr. said Duterte had sent him to Laos with simple instructions. "I was just conscious of the fact that our president had said that whatever we will do, we will not violate the law, we will uphold the constitution and we will promote the paramount national interest," Yasay said. Wang emphasized earlier that the Philippines' previous administration brought the case to the tribunal - suggesting an opening with Duterte, who took office in June. Govt firm to uproot militancy, terrorism Staff Reporter : Publicity and Publication Affairs Secretary of Awami League Dr Hasan Mahmud on Tuesday said, the government along with the people is determined to uproot militancy and terrorism from the country. "BNP has given the call for national unity against terrorism and militancy in its bid to fish in the troubled waters," he said. Dr Hasan Mahmud said this at a human chain and oath-taking ceremony in front of the National Press Club organised by The Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh (IDEB). The organisation arranged the programme with a view to creating public awareness to resist terrorism, militancy, evil activities and conspiracies of the anti-liberation forces against the backdrop of recent militant attacks with a view to consolidating national unity under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. IDEB president AKMA Hamid presided over the function, also addressed, among others, by state minister for Jute and Textiles Mirza Azam, former state minister for Home affairs Advocate Shamsul Haque Tuku, chairman of the central command council of Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad Maj Gen (Retd) Helal Morshed Khan and IDEB general secretary Md Shamsur Rahman. Dr Hasan Mahmud said, "National unity has already been created against terrorism and militancy under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. We all have to work together with dedication and motto of self-sacrifice to retain the unity upholding the spirit of the Liberation War." "The anti-liberation forces have started conspiring resorting to various propaganda tactics to jeopardise the unity forged under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. All should have to remain vigilant. No evil force can raise its hood if we all remain united and organised on the spirit of independence," the Awami League leader added. World media on 9 militants killed in predawn raid Staff Reporter :The international media have given coverage on nine militants killed in predawn security clampdown in capital Dhaka's Kalyanpur area on Tuesday. At least nine alleged militants were killed and another detained with bullet injuries as security forces overnight raided a terrorist hideout at a multi-storied residential building at Kalyanpur in the capital Dhaka.BBC in its headline writes, 'Bangladesh police kill nine suspected militants in raid'.Police in Bangladesh have killed nine suspected Islamist militants after a gun battle in Dhaka, officials said. Police were searching the residential area of Kalyanpur when they were attacked by handmade bombs.It was not immediately clear which group the suspected militants killed on Tuesday were part of. One suspect was taken into custody by police.Al Jazeera says, 'Nine killed in gun battle with police'.Police said nine suspects were killed in a safehouse after a two-hour gun battle in the capital, Dhaka.Nine suspected gunmen were killed by police in an early morning operation in Bangladesh's capital city of Dhaka, according to police.The operation, which the police named Storm 26, lasted an hour. A tenth man who was shot by police survived and was taken to hospital. The Times of India reports, 'Nine militants killed in police raid in Bangladesh'Bangladeshi police stormed a militant hideout in a Dhaka neighbourhood and killed nine suspected Islamist extremists after a gunbattle on Tuesday morning, officials said."Nine Islamist militants were killed after two hour-long gunfight," Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Masud Ahmed said, adding another extremist was shot and arrested during the raid in Kalyanpur neighbourhood.The New York Times in headline writes, "Bangladesh Police Say 9 Militants Killed in Raid in Dhaka."Police in Bangladesh's capital raided a five-storey building Tuesday that was used as a den by suspected Islamic militants, killing nine of them, the country's police chief said.Authorities were investigating to see which group the men belonged to, but evidence showed they likely were from the banned local group Jamatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, said A.K.M. Shahidul Hoque, Bangladesh's police chief. AFP in its headline reports 'Bangladesh Police Say 9 Islamic State Militants Killed in Raid in Dhaka'.Bangladeshi police stormed a militant hideout in a Dhaka neighbourhood and killed nine suspected Islamist extremists after a gunbattle Tuesday morning, officials said.JMB is blamed for a July 1 attack in Dhaka's Gulshan diplomatic area in which 20 people, including Italians and Japanese, were killed when armed gunmen stormed a restaurant. Prepare for next polls, PM asks AL MPs UNB, Dhaka :Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday asked the ruling party MPs to prepare for the next general election as half of the tenure of the current Parliament has already passed."Two and half years of this government's five-year tenure has passedthe next election will be held after two years and three months. So, prepare for the next election," she said. The Prime Minister said this while presiding over the Awami League Parliamentary Party (ALPP) meeting at Sangsad Bhaban as the Leader of the House. The MPs should focus on development works that have already been completed under the government when they will visit their respective constituencies, Hasina said adding that all the ongoing development programmes have to be finished properly. A number of MPs who were present at the meeting said the Prime Minister asked them to visit their constituencies on completion of the current session of parliament and guide anti-terrorism and militancy committees alongside creating awareness among local people against militancy.Meeting sources also said the women MPs of the reserved seats will not be considered to take party nomination for direct election. About the recent terror attacks in the country, the Prime Minister told the MPs not to worry about it as the government has solved many problems in recent times. "We'll solve this matter this time, too. Militancy is not a crisis at all and the government will tackle it."She went on saying, "Terrorism and militancy are now global problems, which are now occurring around the globe. We'll be able to contain this problem although many countries of the world failed to do it because we've party activists and our party is very much strong." The Prime Minister praised the police and SWAT action at Kalyanpur earlier in the morning to demolish a militant den.Former Chief Whip Abdus Shahid, BH Haroon, Shamim Osman, AKM Jahangir Hossain, Whip Atiur Rahman Atik, Fazilatunnesa Indira, Dr hasan Mahmud also spoke at the meeting. DBCCI chief`s body found in Buriganga Staff Reporter :Four days after missing from the city's Dhanmondi area, the body of Hassan Khaled, President of Dutch-Bangla Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DBCCI), was found in Buriganga river on Tuesday.Keraniganj Police Station Sub-Inspector (SI) Ilias Sharif said that they recovered the floating body from Kholamora Ghat area near Kamrangichor of Keraniganj following information in the afternoon.Police confirmed the identity of Hassan Khaled, 55, through a visiting card found with the body, the SI said. Few hours before the recovery of the body, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia told reporters that police informed the missing news of Hassan Khaled through wireless to all police stations across the country to trace him alive."We have taken all types of steps to trace Hasan based on information from the members of family and office," he said. The DMP boss said that several teams of law enforcing agencies worked in the field to find him in any means. He also informed that a police official already has been assigned to investigate the missing incident. The body of Hassan Khaled was found floating in Keraniganj area of Buriganga river on Tuesday afternoon, Dhanmondi Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Noor-a-Azam Miah told The New Nation.He claimed that no injury mark was found in the body by preparing the inquest report but it has been swollen."We will be sure about the body after receiving the postmortem report," the OC said. "Police were clueless about Hassan's whereabouts. They went through surveillance cameras in the neighborhood but could not reach any definitive conclusion," the OC said. In a query, he admitted that we had failed to trace him alive after taking all steps by filing a general dairy in this regard on Saturday night. The body has been sent to Mitford Hospital for autopsy, the police official said. Hassan's brother-in-law Shariful Alam said that he left his Dhanmondi home around 9:00am Saturday to buy medicines from a nearby shop but did not return."We could not reach him by phone, as it was found switched off. We looked for him in different areas of the capital. Failing to trace him, we filed a general diary (GD) with the police station the next day (Sunday), he said.His death was mysterious as no one demanded money from the family members and also he had no enemy so far, Shariful Alam said. Hassan is one of the founders of the DBCCI, established in November 1999 and also the chief executive officer of New Era Trading, he said. He has been involved in advocating bilateral trade between Bangladesh and the Netherlands, he said. Hassan Khaled was a student of Dhaka University in the 1980s. He was also the Managing Director of Chemico Bangladesh Ltd.Dhanmodi Police Station SI and the Investigation Officer (IO) of the case Khairul Islam said that Hassan was involved with export-import and plastic goods trade for the last 25 years. Fight militancy with full strength Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina addressing at the Deputy Commissioners\' conference at her office on Tuesday. UNB, Dhaka : Laying out a19-point directive to the Deputy Commissioners (DCs), Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday asked all concerned, including the DCs, to unitedly combat terrorism and militancy with their utmost efficiency, strength merit and talents. "We'll have to unitedly combat terrorism and militancy, as there'll be no place for terrorism and militancy in Bangladesh, and that's our policy," she said. Sheikh Hasina was addressing the inaugural session of the four-day long Deputy Commissioners' Conference 2016 held at the Prime Minister's Office. She asked the DCs to discharge their duties with more cautiously and strictly to maintain peace, discipline and stability in all spheres of social life through eradicating militancy, terrorism and communalism. "Although we'll have to face questions for one or two incidents, we'll be able to overcome this situation as there'll be no place for terrorists and militants in the country. If we work accordingly taking firm decisions, then we'll be able to overcome this obstacle and thus continue the pace of development," she added. The Prime Minister also asked the DCs to discharge their duties with self-confidence and sincerity in facing any natural and manmade disaster taking united efforts for the sake of the country and the nation. "No matter what barrier comes in, you'll have to take the country ahead overcoming that, "she added. Referring to the Holey Artisan Restaurant terror attack in the city's Gulshan area on July 1, Sheikh Hasina said it had been possible to save 13 lives, including two foreigners, in just 12-13 minutes of the operation due to the joint operation of Army, Air Force, Navy, Police, RAB, BGB and other forces through the 'Operation Thunderbolt'. Referring to the militant and terror attacks like bombing in 500 places across the country in 2005, killing of former Finance Minister Shah AMS Kibria and Ahsanullah Master MP, and grenade and bomb attacks on her time and again, Hasina said the recent terrorist and militant attacks are not new as such attempts were made repeatedly after 1975. She asked the DCs to tackle such symptoms by any means like they did before and after the January 5 polls and then again for three months from January-March 2015. The Prime Minister also took a swipe at the BNP-Jamaat clique for patronising terrorists and militants in the country during their misrule. Mentioning that a national consensus has already been created against terrorism and militancy, she asked the Deputy Commissioners to play their due role in forming anti-terrorism and anti-militancy committees at ward, union, upazila and district levels. "The nation is now very much conscious against terrorism and militancy and no guardian wants to see their children to go to a wrong path," Hasina said adding those walking on the wrong path of terrorism and militancy should be hunted down. Noting that still there are some 2.80 lakh homeless people in the country, she reiterated her vow that there will be no homeless in Bangladesh and no one would starve either and die without treatment. The Prime Minister directed the DCs to make lists of homeless people, find out khas land and build homes for them there and arrange necessary loan and training facilities for them to earn their livelihood. In the project formulation process, she also asked the authorities concerned to consider the necessity so that there is no unnecessary expenditure of state fund, and instructed the DCs for proper monitoring of the implementation of development projects. In her 19-point directive, Hasina asked the DCs to be mindful so that common people are not subjected to harassment and deprivation while availing of government services, work with due responsibility to free the country from the clutch of social diseases like women and children repression and trafficking, curbing misuse of drugs, dowry, eve-teasing and child marriage, taking special measures for minorities, ethnic groups, disabled, autistic and underprivileged communities. Her directives also include rural infrastructure development, flourish of potential local SMEs, and devoting themselves in poverty alleviation through creating jobs, giving leadership in development and flourishing ICT to reach the services at the doorsteps of common people, increasing the rate of female education in all spheres of education, reducing the rate of leaving from school by students, and bringing the dropout students in to the mainstream, keeping strong vigil and increasing transparency and efficiency in land administration and management and protecting public land, taking all necessary steps for ensuring smooth supply of fertilizer, seed, power, energy to boost agricultural production, creating massive awareness in protecting marketing of adulteration of food and curbing such illegal activities increasing awareness for protecting the environment and ensuring proper enforcement of related laws and regulations, taking right steps in right time, making effective the village courts to reduce the case log in courts and giving justice to common people with ease, taking steps for maintaining peace in industrial belt, making smooth goods transportation and import and export activities and rooting out extortion, tender manipulation and mussel power. Hasina also directed the DCs to give an institutional shape to consumer rights, and curb any ill attempt to create any artificial crisis in the market, strictly follow the Women Development Policy, 2011, ensure due legal steps for stopping violence, torture and in-discriminatory behavior again women and curb women and children trafficking, drug peddling and its smuggling and its misuse, expediting development at the Chittagong Hill Tracts alongside preserving its geopolitical features, forestry, rivers, waters and livestock and the hills, alongside extending all-out support in flourishing tourism, SME, and traditional cottage industries. Public Administration Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, State Minister for Public Administration Ismat Ara Sadique, Dhaka Divisional Commissioner Heleluddin Ahmed, Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong Mohammad Mesbahuddin, Deputy Commissioner of Rajbari Begum Zeenat Ara, Deputy Commissioner or Sunamganj Sheikh Rafiqul Islam also spoke on the occasion. Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam delivered the address of welcome. Whether these 9 slain people militants? Doubts BNP BNP senior leader ASM Hannan Shah on Tuesday expressed doubt whether those killed in the 'Operation Storm-26' in the capital's Kalyanpur area are militants or innocent people. "Police said they've killed nine militants in a drive at Kalyanpur. I' ve doubt whether the innocent people were killed in itwe've seen several hundred police were roaming the area during the Gulshan incident, but they didn't face the 5-6 armed terrorists," he said. Speaking at a discussion, he further said, "When law enforcers say about encounter or gunfight, a question comes in public mind that whether the criminal or innocent people have got killed by them. There're many such incidents took place at the behest of this regime." Awami National Party, one of the components of the BNP-led 20-party alliance, arranged the programme at the city's Photojournalists Association auditorium, marking its 59th founding anniversary. Earlier in the morning, nine suspected militants were killed and one suffered bullet wounds during an operation by a special team of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) in the city's Kalyanpur area Tuesday. Police claimed that the militants killed and injured during the Kalyanpur operation had a plan to carry out acts of sabotage like the Gulshan one as they belonged to the same extremist outfit that attacked Holey Artisan Bakery. Hannan Shah, a BNP standing committee member, also alleged extremists with the help of some foreign countries are carrying out their activities to destabilise the country, harm its economy and demoralise people. Another BNP standing committee member, Nazrul Islam Khan, alleged that the government itself is making the militancy issue alive to hide its failures and misdeeds. "Our leader (Khaleda) has offered to work together to curb terrorism and militancy. We think it's not possible to tackle terrorism and extremism by police and the administration without people's involvement. But, the government is not willing to do that," he told a discussion at the Jatiya Press Club arranged by Doctors' Association of Bangladesh. Mentioning that they have long been on a fight to establish a pro-people government through a free and fair election, the BNP leader said the government is creating various issues one after another to shift people's focus to a different direction from their movement. Speaking at the programme, party senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said there is no difference between the ideals of militants and the current government. "The militants think the country will have to run as per their ideals while this regime wants to run the country as per their whims we must now get rid of both the militants and the government," headed. Block raid will continue: Kamal Staff Reporter : Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Tuesday said that the law enforcement agencies will continue block raiding at the of militants' den. "It's a routine work, and the Kalyanpur raid was part of the 'block raid' and it will continue," he told journalists at his Secretariat office in city yesterday. At least nine alleged militants were killed and another detained with bullet injuries as security forces overnight raided a terrorist hideout at a multi-storied residential building at Kalyanpur in the city. "The militants killed in the Kalyanpur operation were members of banned terror outfit Jamiatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB). They were plotting to commit big subversive acts. Acting on a tip off, the members of law enforcement agencies conducted the block raid," he said. He called upon the people to inform the police about any suspicious militant activity in their surrounding. Replying to a query, Asaduzzaman said JMB, Harkat Ul Jihad and Ansarullah Bangla Team, all are the same. "They are hatching conspiracy to destabilise the country and embarrass the government. There's nothing to be worried about it," he said. He said after observing the clothes and explosives found from the Kalyanpur den, it could be said it has a link to the Gulshan-Sholakia terror attacks, but the law enforcement agencies are investigating it and it can be confirmed after the investigation. Besides, samples from the bodies of the nine suspected militants will be sent for visceral test to confirm the presence of any drug, he added. 9 militant suspects shot dead Jt forces storm city's Kalyanpur den: They planned Gulshan-type terror attack: IGP Photographs of nine alleged militants killed in city\'s Kalyanpur released by DMP. Sagar Biswas :Security forces gunned down nine suspected militants, all members of banned Islamist militant outfit Jamatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh [JMB], storming a bachelor's mess in the city's densely populated Kalyanpur area on Tuesday morning. The assault operation of joint forces, named "Operation Storm 26", started at 5:51 am and continued till 6:51 am. The main target of the operation was a six-storied Taj Manjil, locally known as Jahaj Building, at Road No-5 near Kalyanpur bus stand. Most of the flats of the building have been given rent as messes to the bachelors. The joint forces launched the operation at the fourth floor mess. The law enforcers cordoned entire area during the operation. Vehicular movement was also stopped in the area since midnight. Police said, in line with its country-wide anti-militant drives, the law enforcement agencies cordoned the mess at about 12:10 am on Tuesday. When the police tried to enter the mess, the terrorists shouting "Allahu Akbar" shot bullets and hurled bombs targeting the police. Police retaliated with gunfire where nine alleged terrorists were killed. Besides, an alleged militant Hassan received bullet injuries. An unidentified militant escaped the scene.Injured Hassan was rushed to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital [DMCH] for treatment. Father's name of Hassan was registered at DMCH as Rezaul Karim, resident of Jamil Nagar in Bogra. According to doctors, Hassan received injuries in the leg and head. After getting resistance from militants, the security forces increased presence of law enforcers. Police claimed that the second-phase gunfight between the law enforcers and militants initiated at about 1:30 am. At that time, the members of SWAT, RAB and CTTCU came to the spot. The third-phase gunfight began at about 3:30 am. Finally, the joint forces launched assault operation at 5:51 am. At that time, some militants tried to flee away spraying bullets on the law enforcers. Nine militants were killed on the spot when joint forcers conducted counter attack. Members of Strategic Weapons and Tactics [SWAT], Rapid Action Battalion [RAB], Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes Unit [CTTCU], Bomb Disposal Unit, Fire Service and Civil Defence [FSCD] and police jointly conducted the operation.Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Haque and Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police [DMP] Asaduzzamn Mia visited the spot at about 8:00 am. The IGP claimed all the slain terrorists were members of JMB. "Police have got information that they were planning to conduct a large-scale terror act like Gulshan carnage. One militant was caught alive from the spot. Although the militants claimed themselves as ISIS, we've not got any connection in this regard." he said.While visiting the area, a resident of the flat named Alamma Iqbal Anik told this correspondent that most of the flats of the building have been given rent as messes to the bachelors. The family of the landlord lives on the first floor. The landlord Atahar Uddin Ahmed doesn't stay there. His relatives oversee the tenants' affair. Sub Inspector of Mirpur Police Station said: "A group of seven rented the house on June 20, a few days before the Eid-ul Fitr. Of the dead, bodies of seven were recovered from the corridor of fourth floor. Two other bodies were recovered in two separate rooms."The educational institutions, including schools and colleges, in the Shyamoli area were closed yesterday to avert any untoward occurrence. Additional Commissioner of DMP Sheikh Maruf Hassan said the anti-militant drive was primarily started by RAB and police at 12:30 am. "Later, the SWAT team started final operation at 5:51 am, which continued for an hour."Deputy Commissioner of CTTCU Sanwar Hossain said: "The slain militants wore black pajama-panjabi. We've also recovered some other brand new black pajama-panjabi. All of them were carrying backpack. Besides, the police recovered a grenade and a pistol from the house.""The militants also posed in the picture wearing black pajama-panjabi before Gulshan attack, which were later circulated by SITE Intelligence website," he said.After completion of joint force's drive, the members of Crime Scene Unit of Criminal Investigation Department [CID] came to the spot to collect evidences. More need to be done to end child labour in factories MEDIA report on Tuesday said police rescued 27 minor children from the same factory of Narayanganj in the previous day where some employees killed a teenage boy early this week by pumping air from a compressor into his body through rectum. This textile factory is employing child labour at low cost and 10-year-old Sagar Barman was working there with his father to help the poor family with some extra income. Report said this factory pays Tk 2,000-3,000 a month to child worker. The children carry out risky work in the textile mills, which is illegal and not also allowed by importer of garment from Bangladesh. But around 3.2 million children are believed still working in factories and workshops and in doing so they are not attending schools. This is yet another crime that the factories are committing by engaging child labour and surprisingly, the labour directorate is not giving much attention to the problem contributing to school drop outs. The sad demise of Sagar Barman is just a big blow to the family and the nation as a whole. His killers must be tried without delay. But we are also concerned whether other children were subjected to such cruelties that need to be investigated by concern labour officials and human rights organizations. In fact poverty of poor families force their children to take jobs without going to schools. As a result, children are compelled to work under exploitative conditions. We must say extra policing of regulatory establishments is urgently needed, and the existing law against child labour should be strictly enforced. Besides, the government must improve co-ordination of social safety net schemes to direct more help to poor families so that their children can attend schools to become educated and at least a skilled labour at the end. We need to extend better help to large numbers of children still deprived of the education, the opportunity; which is their rights. High drop out rates from schools are the biggest drag on efforts to end child labour. Within primary schools, there is evidence that programs to distribute breakfasts and mid-day meals, or to pay stipends to poorer families, are proving very successful in keeping children within the education system. In our view poor children's access to such facilities must be increased while vigilance at factory level must similarly be strict so that physical abuse of children and their exploitation as workers must end. We must say factories should not engage cheaper child worker and where they will be still working should have scope for primary lessons and training for skill development. All killings create panic, not a sense of security The city woke up in panic again on Tuesday morning as the news of killing of nine suspected militants by Joint Forces at a house in Kalyanpur on the Mirpur Road spread. It appears that the nation is open to any shock now anytime. All educational institutions in the area were shut yesterday to allow people to overcome the panic from the fact that militants were living in the area and from police shootouts in early morning. It came no sooner had the dust of militants' attacks settled that profoundly panicked the nation by killings in Gulshan Cafe and Sholakia Eidgah ground. Militants were able to kill so many people on those occasions but police this time killed militants found together in a house. The question remains why they could not be arrested alive. That would have given the general public a sense of security. What we think should be seriously pursued is that police do not behave like militants and do not kill the innocents. The police actions should be very transparent for the people to know they have the confidence that police story cannot be doubted. That is why many wondered whether police had any other option like arresting them alive. If they were arrested alive, it would have promoted public confidence in police that they are not just a killing machine but really fighting crime while remaining anxious to save lives. In yesterday's action militants were not in a position to challenge the police. They were attacked in surprise. Media report said the militants who were killed yesterday were aged between 22 and 25 and highly educated living in the mess-house. Police said they went for action on information that the militants were preparing for a big operation similar to earlier mindless killings. But it is the police version. Our well-trained police should not have acted so hurriedly without following them to catch them at the place of operation. That would have been very convincing. Police, RAB and SWAT forces cordoned the area and easily killed them. One suspected militant was able to flee while another who claimed to be a cook was arrested with bullet injuries. He is now receiving treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. We appreciate police anxiety to fight terrorism, and provide security to the people. Killings whether done by police or militants mean loss of lives. Police action must be saving lives and saving evidence to know more about the militants. When killings take place in the hands of police then it has to be justified by producing evidence. So killings must not be taken as an easy option by law abiding forces while fighting terrorism.The disappearance of a leading businessman and President of Dutch-Bangla Chamber of Commerce and Industry from the city three days ago and the recovery of his body from a river shows killings are only growing in all walks of life. His killing will not help to revive confidence of business community. Whoever picked up and killed, the government will be seen as failing to provide security. The militants and police cannot compete in killing. The police is for saving lives unless their own lives are threatened. Police can justify killing only when unavoidable in confrontation with the militants. Putin Wants Donald Trump to Elect as President "There have been larger forces at work to hurt Hillary Clinton," Mook said. "They [the emails] are being released at this time to create maximum damage to Hillary Clinton to help Donald Trump." "He praises dictators like Vladimir Putin and picks fights with our friends," Clinton said last month. "Putin will eat your lunch," she once said. Moreover, if Trump were elected President, it would be like "Christmas in the Kremlin," she said. The FBI is Investigating the DNC Hack "A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously, and the FBI will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace," the FBI said on Monday. Edward Snowden on the DNC Hack On Friday, just three days prior to the start of the party's national convention, WikiLeaks released almost 20,000 e-mails with more than 8,000 stolen from the US Democratic National Committee (DNC) following a cyber attack in June.Two days later, on Sunday, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced her resignation and now had no major role on the party's convention stage.Many of the leaked emails indicted that the top DNC officials were actively working against the campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders and strongly favoring Hillary Clinton over Sanders during the primaries, when they were supposed to be neutral.The controversy ruined the start of the DNC's national convention in Philadelphia and forced the Wasserman Schultz to resign.The leak, from January 2015 to May 2016, is believed to be an attempt by the Russian government to influence the presidential election, some U.S. lawmakers and cybersecurity experts say.The leak features DNC staffers debating on things like dealing with challenging media requests and coordinating the party's message with other powerful interests in Washington.The emails were leaked from seven DNC officials' accounts. One email shows how DNC staffers attempted to reference Bernie Sanders' faith in an effort to weaken him in the eyes of Southern voters.Another represents an attorney advising DNC on how to defend Clinton against Sanders campaign's accusation of not living up to a joint fundraising agreement.From the beginning of the DNC hack, it has been speculated that the breach of the committee's systems exposed in June was the work of Russian intelligence.Multiple security firms, including CrowdStrike, Mandiant (part of FireEye) and Fidelis, have conducted a forensic analysis of the DNC's systems and found strong evidence linking to "the Russian government's powerful and highly capable intelligence services."The Clinton Campaign Manager Robby Mook has also argued that Russian intelligence officials are trying to ensure that Republican Donald Trump, who has had an interesting relationship with Vladimir Putin, wins the White House.Although Trump has always praised Putin, Clinton has tried to tie Trump to the Russian leader throughout her campaign.The Federal Bureau of Investigation is now investigating the DNC breach and is workingThe NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden , currently residing in Russia, has also blasted his host country for its alleged DNC hack.Despite a staunch supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders, Snowden condemned the DNC email leaks but pointed NSA's secret data analysis programthat can be used to easily determine the location from which the organization is hacked."Even if the attackers try to obfuscate origin, #XKEYSCORE makes following exfiltrated data easy. I did this personally against Chinese ops," Snowden tweeted . Though, he criticized the NSA for not sharing information. 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 City Council members heard updates on items related to the new city hall building at a meeting at 6 p.m. Monday. The city is in the process of relocating to a building that formerly housed the Benton Grade School District 47 offices, located at 1403 S. Main St. The official moving date is Aug. 19. Commissioner Dennis Miller provided an account and finance report that included several items related to the move. The council voted to hire a moving company for about $1,200 for 10 hours, as city hall department employees have been too busy to help with the process. Council members noted that they would try to get the time down to five hours to cut costs. The council also voted to replace the lighting fixtures on the main floor of the new facility, to obtain two estimates for resurfacing the parking lot and to remove two evergreen trees by the rear entrance. For those of you who havent seen it, its really starting to take shape. I think once its completed we are going to be really proud of the facility that we have, Miller said. Benton Mayor Fred Kondritz also invited the public to voice complaints about an alleged illegal dumping problem in an otherwise residential area on Pope Street. A local resident said that the dumping began in mid-April by Earth Services, a Benton-based contracting company. Kondritz said the city hopes to resolve the issue by making the lot residential. We are sympathetic to you, because its in my backyard too, he said. I drive by there every day on the way to work. The council has been considering the purchase of a new fire truck for the Benton Fire Department and heard a presentation by a representative of Smeal Fire Truck Apparatus Co. After the meeting, council members went into executive session to discuss the possible acquisition or sale of a new property, along with potential or pending litigation and an item related to specific employees or legal counsel. The city will hold a special town hall meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday to hear public comments regarding the possible purchase of the new ladder truck for the fire department. City leaders will also invite the public to comment on the possible construction of a new police department, which would be built on the site of the old Boy Scouts cabin on W. Washington St. The meeting will be held at the current city hall building at 500 W. Main St. CARBONDALE Daniel D. Holmes, one of the four men alleged to be involved in the Easter Sunday shooting March 27 that resulted in the death of Carbondale musician Tim Beaty and the injury of Nehimah Greenlee, remains at large. Holmes, 21, is also a suspect in the March 29 shooting at the Evolve Apartment Complex in the 700 block of South Illinois Avenue, where a 19-year-old man from Florissant, Missouri, was injured after he was shot once in his lower back. According to a news release from the Carbondale Police Department, the investigation into the whereabouts of Holmes, who is wanted on two arrest warrants, is ongoing. Detectives had previously obtained arrest warrants for Holmes on charges of aggravated discharge of a firearm and aggravated battery with a firearm, the release says. Carbondale Police said Holmes location at this time is unknown and he should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with any information on the location of Holmes or these incidents is encouraged to contact the Carbondale Police Department at 618-457-3200. The release says a cash reward for information that leads to Holmes' arrest is available. Southern Illinois University Police and the Jackson County States Attorney's Office are assisting in the investigation. Three other men have been charged in relation to the Easter shooting. Carbondale Police and SIU Police team up to feature "Crime Stoppers Crimes of the Week" in order to raise the awareness and seek public assistance in solving crimes. Five people were taken by ambulance to Heartland Regional Medical Center following a crash involving three vehicles on Monday afternoon in Williamson County. The three drivers and two passengers injuries were non-life threatening, according to a news release from the Illinois State Police. According to a preliminary investigation, Dylan Fuehne, 18, of West Frankfort, was traveling southbound on Illinois 37, just north of Spillertown Road when his Ford Focus crossed over the centerline for unknown reasons into the northbound lane of traffic, ISP stated in a traffic crash alert. In doing so, Fuehnes vehicle broadsided a Mercury Sable driven by a 17-year-old female from Marion whose name was withheld because she is a juvenile. The impact caused her vehicle to roll over before coming to a rest in the ditch, according to the release. Fuehnes vehicle then struck a Chrysler mini-van driven by Mark Fitzpatrick, 53, of West Frankfort. The mini-van was struck head-on in the northbound lane, police said. Fuehne was issued an improper lane usage citation, the traffic crash report stated. There were two other juvenile females from Marion in the Mercury Sable driven by the Marion teen. And Lori Fitzpatrick, 55, of West Frankfort, was a passenger in the mini-van driven by Mark Fitzpatrick. There were no passengers in Fuehnes vehicle. All three vehicles were towed from the scene, and both lanes of Illinois 37 were closed on Monday afternoon for about 45 minutes. AUBURN Although the issue wont be on the Nov. 8 ballot, Republicans are making term limits part of their pitch to voters in races for the Illinois General Assembly. Gov. Bruce Rauner launched the effort Monday in Chicago and is on a two-day tour of the state to promote the idea, which he wants the General Assembly to vote on during the fall veto session. Given opposition from House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, its unlikely that a proposed amendment to the Illinois Constitution limiting officials time in office would muster enough support in the Democratic-controlled House and Senate to be put to voters. Even if it did earn the three-fifths majorities needed in each chamber, voters wouldnt weigh in until 2018. Speaking from a flatbed trailer to a crowd of supporters gathered Tuesday at Niemeyers Circle N Farms in Auburn, about 15 miles south of Springfield, Rauner noted that nearly 80 percent of voters support term limits, a figure supported by a poll from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University. He decried court decisions that have blocked referendums on term limits and legislative redistricting reform from the ballot. Cook County judges have ruled on multiple occasions most recently last week in a case on redistricting that those efforts have gone beyond the scope allowed for petition-driven initiatives. Thats why lawmakers need to act, Rauner said. Speaking to reporters afterward, Rauner dismissed questions about his own ambitions for re-election in 2018, saying, For me, the election is years away, and Im not focused on that at all. However, while it will be at least that long before voters can have their say on term limits, Rauner said lawmakers must address the issue now. Time is clicking, he said. We need to send a message. We have to change the culture. When we get this passed, the people of Illinois will have made their voices heard. State Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Raymond, whos running for the seat she was appointed to in 2015, joined the governor in Auburn and voiced her support for term limits. Weve seen what happens when we dont have government reforms, Bourne said. We have this long budget stalemate. We have sides who wont speak to each other. We have really entrenched interests who arent being responsive to what our constituents are asking for. Enacting term limits isnt an issue on which Bourne will be able to distinguish herself from her opponent, however. Democrat Mike Mathis of Gillespie, the former Macoupin County circuit clerk, also favors them. I listen to what the constituents have to say, Mathis said. I think its clear that most people would like term limits. Bourne isnt the only Republican campaigning on the issue. Shortly after Rauners Monday news conference, Dave Severin of Benton, whos challenging state Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, and Paul Schimpf of Waterloo, whos running against Democrat Sheila Simon of Carbondale for an open Senate seat, issued statements supporting the governors effort. Term limits will help put an end to the stranglehold that career politicians have on our state, Schimpf said in a prepared statement. Simon said she generally doesnt support term limits because I think in some ways they take choices away from voters. She noted that shes running to replace state Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, whos retiring after more than 20 years in office. The former lieutenant governor said she supports term limits for legislative leaders because voters dont get a say in their selection. The Orangeburg County Fine Arts Center is seeking a new look for its 30th anniversary. Its something weve known for a long time weve needed, Fine Arts Center Executive Director Beth Thomas said. Its very exciting because we have a wonderful building in a beautiful location, she said. Itll have that art center, museum feeling. Plans for the building include new flooring and bathrooms, the creation of a community gallery in the lobby and updated classrooms. The center has been a place for arts education, activities and events since it opened its doors in 1986. The building was previously the old River Pavilion, which was built in the 1920s and renovated in the 1950s. This year, the Fine Arts Center is looking to begin renovations to bring new life and visitors to the center. We have finished what we called our Phase I, which was the silent phase, basically talking to the city and the state, Cliff Emery said. Emery is the chairman of the renovation committee. Now were about to start our community piece which is meeting with local businessmen and business corporations as well as doing some fund raising to our goal, he said. The project is currently budgeted at just under $500,000, but Emery notes the number could change. We wont know exactly what were dealing with until we get the final estimates in, which will probably be September/October because thats when we expect to go out to bid after weve finished raising the funds, he said. If we raise more, we will do more. If we raise less, we will adjust what our wish list is, Emery said. Well be economical and realistic. To date, the center has raised more than $300,000. Our thinking is that after 30 years, weve established ourselves. Were a vital and dynamic part of the cultural fabric of the community, Emery said. The center is used by various organizations in the county for programs and events. The center has hosted activities including the Air Force jazz band, lunches on the terrace, and a Jazz and Stew event which brought out 150 to 200 people. Next month, the center will hold a bluegrass concert featuring Flatland Express and has scheduled a classical music concert. Wade Dean, who is one of the top young jazz saxophonists out of Philadelphia, hes from Orangeburg. Hes performed here, Emery said. Theres a lot of stuff, he said. And its almost all free. Through the years, the center has been visited by people from 49 of the 50 states, Hawaii being the only state not represented. Visitors have also come from England, Ireland, Germany, France and Argentina. Emery said that students are coming in almost daily for drum lessons, voice lessons and guitar lessons. Were averaging almost 7,000 people a year coming through this building, he said. That creates a lot of wear and tear. Some renovations will include the removal of the carpeting, which will be replaced with polished concrete. The bathrooms will be renovated, with the ladies room being moved to the end of the hallway to make it larger. Everything is going to be updated, Emery said. Were an art center. Weve got to look like one. Also, Were putting signs at each entrance, he said. The center is also in the process of building a new website which will include PayPal so people can get memberships, renew current ones, make donations or sign up for classes. We havent been able to do any of that, Emery said. Thomas has seen the center grow and says, I will always identify with the way it is now, but she welcomes the change. She said that many visitors comment on the center needing to be updated but now they come in and see our plans, and the enthusiasm in the community has been wonderful. Emery said, You walk in and you see that versus what you see now, youre going to feel like youve walked into an art center and thats what were trying to accomplish. The center is looking for contributions and support from the community. They look to complete their fundraising by the end of the summer. For more information, visit www.ocfac.net, email oarts@bellsouth.net or call 803-536-4074. The year was 1968. The community experienced one of the worst tragedies of the civil rights era when three students were killed and 28 others were wounded in the Orangeburg Massacre. That Orangeburg County did not explode in further violence following the incident in which state troopers fired shots at anti-segregation protesters is considered miraculous to this day. To the credit of many, it did not. And even through the ensuing years of transition with race-based battles over education, government representation and equal access, Orangeburg showed violence would not be an agent of change. A valuable tool nearly 50 years ago was the Orangeburg Human Relations Council made up of black and white leaders and citizens. Its goal was to promote communications and understanding in dealing with fundamental changes that are taken for granted today as the norm. Orangeburg wants to continue as a model for change in an era that has produced new racial tensions. That was stated this past Saturday during a downtown march by a group of citizens and pastors calling for solidarity and unity following violent episodes around the country. The Rev. H.T. Gainey of Good Shepherd Community Ministries said it is important for citizens in Orangeburg to come together and know its not us against them or you against me but we are together. When all groups come together on one accord with a common ground to having peace, unity and love nothing but great results can come from it, Gainey said. We want Orangeburg to be the pillar where other cities and counties across the state and nation can look and see how weve done it and how they can do it as well. The march came as Orangeburg County Council is taking an important step by reinvigorating the process whereby people can communicate, particularly in matters pertaining to race. Following the guidelines of the South Carolina Human Affairs Commission, council is creating a community relations council. Its functions would include: Encouraging citizen participation. Informing citizens. Fact-finding. Developing public understanding and support. Encouraging cooperative action. Following through on programs. According to the S.C. Human Affairs Commission, a community relations council may serve as: A forum for the hearing of citizen grievances and complaints relative to human relations with a view toward solving problems. A conciliation mechanism between factions experiencing differences. A bridge between local officials and citizens. The local council is a conciliatory body resolving tension, conflict and preventing problems of concern to the community before they become a state or federal crisis situation requiring official intervention. With regular exchanges among community people and elected officials, the council is able to identify and act on potential problems. It is this close communication which makes it possible for your community to put its energy in to solving potential problems and using the resources of the community to solve them. As a large county with a black-majority population in a state with a white majority, Orangeburg has long been a litmus test regarding issues of race relations. It is a role that we should continue to welcome in striving to be a model of how a community can work harmoniously for the good of all. Further direct communication among and leadership by people of good will via an Orangeburg County community relations council will enhance the effort. Please stop our four days of suffering. Each major political party should reduce its presidential nominating conventions to a day. The formal business could be accomplished in an hour or two. Place candidates in nomination, rush through the roll call, and spend the rest of the time shaking fists and caterwauling at repeated mentions of the other partys nominee. Do in one day what they now repeat in four. It could avoid needless trouble. A one-day Republican convention of hollering about Hillary would have meant no time for the brilliant (do you know she speaks five languages?) Melania Trump to make a hash of her national political debut by plagiarizing an inspiring 2008 Michelle Obama convention speech on Monday night. Two astonishing days of denials that an extended section of uplifting bromides came from the 2008 speech to the Democratic convention reminded millions of witnesses that the Trump campaign will not hesitate to disparage the truth if lies fit better into their delusions of perfection. When the campaign tried to draw a line under the controversy on day three of the convention, its explanation was that Melania Trump had suggested the passages to a corporate speech writer but apparently did not recognize them when they appeared in the speech that the candidates third wife claimed shed written herself. By Wednesday afternoon, the original purpose of the fortunate immigrant putting a kinder face on the snarling narcissist was a distant memory. The most vivid memory was the number of party soldiers who marched out in front of the press to insist, depending on the answer of the hour, there was no plagiarism, they were just similar words, these were common thoughts, its the medias fault, Hillary Clinton always undermines strong women, and, finally, it was the fault of Melanias groveling corporate Boswell. The Democrats will be little better. Hillary Clinton surrogates in Cleveland to refute Republican claims through the week gave a preview of the excruciating theme Democrats will adopt in Philadelphia for their unpopular nominee. She is, they say with robotic consistency, the most qualified person ever to run for president. Garnishing that absurd claim will tax the credibility of Democrats who insist on making the case for Clinton. Even the most relentless spinner will need to tread carefully around unhappy facts. In 2000, the ambitious and humiliated first lady parachuted into New York to claim an open U.S. Senate seat as a reward for defending her heedless husband. Clinton embarked on a long listening tour that year as a substitute for sharing the ideas candidates familiar with their state traditionally offer. Clinton stumbled when she pledged to bring 200,000 jobs to the declining upstate New York economy. During the eight years she represented New York in the Senate, Clinton achieved nothing toward reaching that goal because shes an unabashed ignoramus on how jobs are created in a free market. A detail in a Quinnipiac survey released last week provided one inconvenient reminder of Hillary Clintons stark failure in her venture into economic development for anyone but herself. Zero upstate respondents to the poll said the upstate economy was very good. It is unusual to find not one person who is thriving in a region and thinks things are going just fine. Economic fluency and Hillary Clinton will be not be paired in any sentences exclaimed from the podium in Philadelphia. Dont mention national security. Everyone knows that. The Chappaqua server and trail of false explanations make that a bright no-go zone for Clinton convention witnesses. Foreign affairs are not an inviting topic for the former secretary of states boosters. ISIS refuses to play on the jayvee team President Obama consigned them to. The terrorist organizations murderous reach grows. Libya, Clintons personal project, has the look of a failed state, inflicting misery on millions. The Middle East is a mess. Our allies are drifting away. Israel has become a frequent target of the Obama administrations feckless foreign policy. Millions have been forced to become refugees. Christians are slaughtered for their faith. Turkey, our stalwart ally for decades, is on the verge of becoming an Islamist dictatorship. A tough terrain for Democrats. So they will unleash their most potent weapon: Donald Trump quotes. Howls will follow and the nation will shiver at its choice. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Armenian armed forces have 20 times violated the ceasefire on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops over the past 24 hours, said Azerbaijans Defense Ministry July 26. Armenian armed forces, stationed on the nameless heights of Armenias Noyemberyan and Krasnoselsk districts, opened fire at positions of Azerbaijani armed forces on the nameless heights of Gazakh and Gadabay districts. Azerbaijani positions also took fire from the positions located near the village of Ashagi Seyidahmadli of Fizuli district and Kuropatkino of Khojavend 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. Azerbaijani Embassy to the US has hosted a reception in honour of the participants of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop. The workshop titled Identification of Potential Terrorists and Adversary Planning Emerging Technologies and New Counter-Terror Strategies was organized by the Millennium Project and NATO. Addressing the event, Counselor of the Embassy in the US Mammad Talibov highlighted the importance of the conference, spoke about Azerbaijan`s contributions to fighting against the terrorism. The Counselor also provided an insight into large-scale regional projects carried out under the leadership of Azerbaijan. These projects play an important role in the development of region, he added. Mr. Talibov spoke about the cause and consequences of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Co-Director, CEO of the Millennium Project Jerome C. Glenn spoke about the project, as well as his visit to Azerbaijan. Director of FIRS2T Group Yair Sharan recalled his Baku visit, highlighted close relations between Azerbaijan and Israel. Founder and head of the Azerbaijan Futures Studies Society Reyhan Huseinova highlighted the activity of the Organization. /By Azertac/ Plans and policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways in the Hassan Rouhani Administration are focused on establishing new routes, especially the routes which complete corridors, Hossein Ashoori, vice president of operation and international transportation of Islamic Republic of Iran Railways told Trend. He said that the Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railroad project, which completes the North-South Corridor, is a prioritized plan. "Other projects include the railway connecting Iran to Afghanistan, which hopefully to come on stream by the end of the current Iranian fiscal year (ends on March 2017). Also, a new railway is planned to be established from Mianeh city to Bostanabad city to make a shortcut along the Tehran-Ankara route," Ashouri added. Ashoori said that some of the projects inside the country are important in terms of cargo transportation. "Electrification of Tehran-Mashhad railway as well as construction of the Tehran-Isfahan high-speed railway are among these projects which are underway and hoped to be inaugurated within the next few years." Iran increases railway transits Regarding the operations, Ashoori said that Iran Railways set targets three years ago to increase both national and international cargo transportation. "Cargo transport rose by 10 percent in the current year. Although imports via the rail network dropped this year, the exports rose by 60 percent. Currently, the highest volume of cargo is transited via the Sarakhs-Bandarabbas route," he said. As per agreements with railways of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Russia, we are making attempts to activate the North-South, the Persian Gulf-Black Sea, and the Tehran-Ankara corridors," Ashoori said. Considering the economic recession in the world, which has reduced prices of goods and raw materials sharply and has decreased demand for transport, competition among producers has been intensified, said the official. Ashoori said that the transport sector can help producers greatly through reducing prices and in recent years, both producers and buyers have increased demands for reducing rail transport prices. "We have been trying to offer discount prices to cargo owners. For example, we offered 15-40 percent discounts to Central Asian routes based on type and volume of cargoes. the highest discount for the Sarakhs-Bandarabbas route was 35 percent, while the discount in the Sarakhs-Mirjaveh route, through which cargoes are transited to Pakistan, is up to 40 percent. A similar agreement was made regarding the North-South Corridor between Iran, Azerbaijan, and Russia". The North-South transportation corridor is meant to connect Northern Europe to South-East Asia. It will serve as a link connecting the railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia. Currently Iran should complete Rasht-Astara sector for completion of the corridor. By that time, which was estimated to take about 3-4 years, the participant countries would carry the cargoes by combined transportation way. At the initial stage, the North-South corridor will transport 5 million tons of cargo with further expansion of transportation to over 10 million tons. Iran increases train speeds By the last year, cargo trains were allowed to move at a maximum 60 km/h speed in Iran. The maximum speed for passenger trains was 160 km/hr. "We approved a plan to raise the maximum speed for cargo trains to 90 km/hr. this requires boosting infrastructures and improve traffic control systems. For instance, necessary works were done along the Sarakhs-Bandarabbas route and after doing required tests, cargo trains were allowed to raise speed to 90 km/h," Ashoori said. Ashoori added that in the international transport section, meetings were held with officials from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan railways regarding the corridor from China to Tehran. "We announced our readiness to work on reducing the transport time from the currently 14 days to 12 days, one day of which is related to the Iranian railways and the other is related to overseas railways," he explained. Railway issue on Rouhani's agenda in Baku trip Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia's presidents are scheduled to meet on August 8 in Baku. Ashoori said that during presidential meetings, part of the negotiations is naturally regarding previous agreements, including the railways. "The completion the North-South Corridor is one of the main issues Iran is interested to be discussed and finalized during trilateral meetings of presidents. Moreover, there are some other grounds for investment in the rail sector. Some projects have been introduced to Azerbaijan and Russia and we are looking forward to their final viewpoints". Former Istanbul governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu has been detained over the military coup attempt in Turkey, the TRT Haber news channel reported July 26. Mutlu was detained after a conducted search at his house. Reportedly, the former Istanbul governor is accused of supporting the terrorist organization of Fethullah Gulen. Mutlu was appointed Istanbul governor in 2010 and was dismissed in 2014. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. /By Trend/ /By Azernews/ By Gunay Hasanova The Turkey-Russia relations, cracked after the jet incident last November, gain a new pace to get normalized as the two countries have intensified efforts to eliminate the unpleasant outcome. Turkey and Russia need to normalize their relations as soon as possible, says Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek. "We are here to normalize the situation and our relations at an accelerated pace after it was ceased on November 24," RIA News quoted Simsek as saying at the meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. Turkey told the Russian Federation regarding the measures taken to ensure aviation security, he added. The crisis in relations between the two countries began after the incident with the downed Russian plane. After the incident, the Russian president signed a decree on measures to ensure national security and launch special economic measures against Turkey. On June 29 the presidents of Russia and Turkey held a telephone conversation. The heads of two states agreed to work out the possibility of holding near-term personal meeting. The last talks between the two leaders were held last fall at the summit of "Big Twenty" in Antalya. Also, previously President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to his Russian counterpart, where he expressed condolences to the family of the deceased pilot of SU-24 and regret over the incident with the Russian aircraft. In turn, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich at the meeting with Simsek said that apologies of the Turkish side served as a basis for the restoration of relations between Russia and Turkey. Previously, Turkish media reported that Ankara might allow Russia to use the Incirlik airbase for the common fight against Daesh. "The prime minister has signed a decision to resume the work of the intergovernmental commission. I think this will allow us to move forward," said Deputy Prime Minister. Moreover, the Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 9 in St. Petersburg. The issues of normalization of relations and a series of economic and political issues are expected to be discussed during the visit. Commenting earlier on the warming in relations between Russia and Turkey, the Prime Minister of Turkey Binali Yildirim thanked Azerbaijan for assistance in normalization of relations with Moscow. /By Azernews/ By Nigar Abbasova Turkmenistan and Canada have discussed the prospects for expanding the trade and economic relations, especially, in the oil & gas and transportation fields, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry reported. This issue was on the agenda during the meeting with Canadas Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador John Holmes held at Turkmenistans Foreign Ministry. The sides exchanged views on the international politics, regional and global security. The meeting participants expressed commitment to further expanding the cooperation in politics. The parties also emphasized the necessity of improving the legal framework between the two countries through regular meetings and consultations as well. The priority areas of cooperation between Turkmenistan and Canada are trade and energy. Particularly, Buried Hill oil and gas exploration Company is conducting exploratory drilling in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea at licensed Block 3. The production sharing agreement (PSA) was signed in 2007. The Block III area includes the Serdar field which was discovered in the late 1980s. The Serdar field is situated on the prolific Aspheron sill and contains highly productive hydrocarbon reservoirs. Thermo Design Engineering Ltd, which is considered to be one of the leading companies that specializes in petroleum and petrochemical process systems, is a long-time partner of Turkmenistan. Canadian exports from Turkmenistan in 2014 were mostly in machinery and mechanical products and stood at $13.9 million. /By Azernews/ By Gunay Hasanova Russia and Turkey agreed to hold consultations on the abolition of visa regime with Turkey at the level of Foreign Ministries and the law enforcement agencies, RIA News reported. "We agreed on consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and competent authorities who deal with law enforcement and special services. We need to provide the necessary assurance regarding the movement of individuals involved in extremist and terrorist activities to Russia. Once the relevant services achieve mutual agreement and cooperation, the visa regime can be abolished," Arkady Dvorkovich said. In addition, the Russian Federation and Turkey discussed the implementation of the project of Akkuyu NPP. By force of the unconstructive position of the EU, Russia decided in December 2014 to reject the South Stream, which was supposed to pass through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, in favor of a new gas pipeline to Turkey ("Turkish Stream"). However, this project was frozen on the background of the cooling in political relations between Moscow and Ankara. Russia and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement in the sphere of construction and operation of the Akkuyu nuclear plant in Mersin on the south of Turkey in 2010. Cost of the project was reported to be approximately $ 20 billion. Earlier, it was reported that the company that will construct the Akkuyu nuclear plant plans to receive the license for the electricity generation in the future station in 2016. The license for the construction of nuclear power plants is expected to be received in 2018. It is also planned to lunch the construction in 2018. Meanwhile, the Energy Ministries of the Russian Federation and Turkey will establish a working group on the implementation of the "Turkish Stream", as Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekchi confirmed interest in the project at a meeting with his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak. The crisis in relations between the two countries began after the incident with the downed Russian plane. After the incident, the Russian president signed a decree on measures to ensure national security and launch special economic measures against Turkey. On June 29 the presidents of Russia and Turkey held a telephone conversation to normalize their cracked relations. Previously President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to his Russian counterpart, where he expressed condolences to the family of the deceased pilot of SU-24 and regret over the incident with the Russian aircraft. Experts in the field of corrosion technology will discuss the latest innovations in anti-corrosion technologies at a major event in Saudi Arabia in November. Fleming's fifth Annual Corrosion Management 2016 conference, taking place from November 28 to 29 in Al Khobar, will showcase and highlight all major aspects and areas of concern and the importance to safeguard assets from any such occurrences. The core areas of discussion during the event will be based on how to enhance anti-corrosion methods to reduce costs, role of innovations in inspecting technologies and mechanisms, how critical asset integrity is achieved through corrosion mitigation and also how protective coating is fundamental for corrosion management, said a statement. Corrosion experts will also look at aspects that will implement corrosion management steps into the design of the oil and gas industry's piping system at an earlier stage and also focus on how to manage corrosion in critical systems, it said. The event will see key representation from Saudi Aramco, Arabian Gulf Oil Company, Petronas and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic). - TradeArabia News Service wasl properties, a subsidiary of wasl Asset Management Group, has announced the completion of a large art project, which has transformed the facades of Karama Shopping Complex in Dubai, UAE, into an open street art gallery. The initiative aimed to provide colourful and creative additions to the buildings, ensuring an enhanced shopping experience for the areas residents and tourists. Chief property management and marketing officer at wasl properties, Zainab Mohammed, said: A key objective for wasl is to boost Dubais position as a leading destination to work, visit and live in, through a range of activities, partnerships and collaborations. This project provided creative works produced by experts in street art, which transformed Karama Shopping Complex. It will also result in increased footfall from tourists and local residents alike visiting the centre to indulge in shopping and a day out, as well as greatly contributing towards a beautified Karama. wasl properties partnered with street art specialists 'Graffiti in the creation of the artworks on 24 walls across all 12 buildings of the Karama Shopping Complex. - TradeArabia News Service Iran has revealed that South Korean investors plan to invest in the countrys oil terminals, solar power plants, synthetic cycle power plants and port facilities in the Hormuzgan Province. Investors will extend $96 million to the province's mining sector for the first time, governor general of Hormuzgan Province Jassem Jadori was quoted as saying in an Iran Daily News report, citing Shana. Jadori said a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed to this effect by the private sector and South Korean investors based on which a joint Iranian-Korean company will be registered in the next two months to follow up South Korean investment in Hormuzgan Province, it said. Additionally, representatives of Hyosung Corporation, a South Korean industrial conglomerate, visited Mahshahr Special Petrochemical Economic Zone in Khuzestan Province. A delegation from Hyosung Corporation recently toured Fajr Petrochemical Company (FPC) to explore business and investment opportunities in the economic zone, added the report. Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower), the worlds largest district cooling services provider, will support the State of Green Economy Report 2017 for Dubai Carbon as its platinum sponsors. Since its launch, the Green Economy Report sheds light on Dubais accomplishments and achievements in developing and applying green economy charters in all the different sectors. It also highlights Dubais support for green economy and the reduction of carbon emissions. The report also outlines initiatives which encourage innovation and policies which speed up the transition to an economy rooted on environmental sustainability. The UAE strives to be a role model in the transition to a green economy by preserving natural resources. The report is also a guide to how the UAE can reduce carbon emissions in the energy sector and encouraging the market to adopt alternative energy sources. Moreover, it points out that knowledge leads to change and reformulation of strategies as it offers valuable information to decision makers and specialists in the energy sector. Empowers sponsorship of the report is consistent with its vision and its strategy which supports the UAE Vision 2021 and its strategic goals which encompass the protection of the environment and facing the climate change challenge, the company said. Being the worlds largest district cooling services provider, we serve a large proportion of society and have a joint responsibility with society to protect the environment for generations to come. Carbon emissions are directly caused by global warming; this makes the report a wakeup call for everyone to be responsible towards the environment and to develop technological devices in the energy sector in order to meet the highest international standards. Our sponsorship of the report is an extension to what we do on a daily basis, said Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO of Empower. Bin Shafar said Empowers cooling systems save 50 per cent electricity compared to conventional cooling systems. Moreover, the corporation has succeeded in saving millions of gallons of water and thousands of megawatts of electricity in the past few years, through the use of district cooling. Empower currently operates more than 1.1 million tonnes of refrigeration (RT), providing environmentally responsible district cooling services to large-scale real estate developments. TradeArabia News Service More than 8,000 new companies joined the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) during the first half of 2016, pushing its total membership to 193,000, a growth of 4.3 per cent in comparison to the same period last year. The new additions take DCCI's, a non-profit public entity, overall membership closer to 200,000 while enhancing the chambers reputation as one of the largest chambers of commerce in the world, said a statement from the organisation. According to a recent report on its half-year activities, while DCCIs membership maintained a pace of sustained growth, its members total exports and re-exports reached Dh138 billion ($37.5 billion) with Saudi Arabia ranking as the top-most destination with members exports and re-exports in the region at Dh44 billion ($11.9 billion), it said. Additionally, DCCI registered a growth of 2 per cent in the issuance of certificates of origin (COOs) in the first half of this year totalling more than 478,000, compared to 469,000 COOs issued during the same period last year. Hamad Buamim, president and CEO of DCCI, said: Dubais economy has once again showed its resilience in facing the adversities of global economic challenges while sustaining its trade sector which has time and again proved its competitiveness on a global level. The emirates capability in reducing the effects of the global economic slowdown comes from its competence based on the economic diversity and the UAE's strategy to move away from oil resources which actually complements the vision of the countrys wise leadership in creating a competitive economic order, he said. He also stated that DCCI is putting the finishing touches to this years launch of its new strategy for 2016-2021 in line with the Dubai Plan 2021, to enhance the emirates lucrative business environment and the competitiveness of its businesses in the overseas markets. TradeArabia News Service Republican nominee Donald Trump said on Monday that if elected U.S. president he would weigh an alliance with Russia against Islamic State militants but rejected any suggestion Russian President Vladimir Putin might be trying to help him win. Speaking at a rally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Trump dismissed any suggestion that Putin's intelligence services might have had a hand in hacking the Democratic National Committee's email system. Emails leaked last week disclosed that some party officials had been in favor of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton winning the Democratic presidential nomination over U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and sought ways to thwart Sanders. The uproar over the WikiLeaks revelations prompted Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign as DNC chairwoman, and Trump eagerly injected himself into the controversy. Trump dismissed a charge from Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook that Russian hackers might have stolen the emails and leaked them to embarrass Democrats and help Trump defeat Clinton in the Nov. 8 election. "I don't think it's coincidental that these emails were released on the eve of our convention here, and I think that's disturbing," Mook told CNN's "State of the Union." Trump dismissed what he called "one of the weirdest conspiracy theories" he said he had heard. He said he had never met Putin. But over the course of his year-long campaign, Trump has praised the Russian leader and one of his top foreign policy advisers, retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, had dinner with Putin last December. "When you think about it, wouldn't it be nice if we got along with Russia?" Trump said. "Wouldn't it be nice if we got together with Russia and knocked the hell out of ISIS?" he added, using another name for Islamic State. As it happens, skeptics in the U.S. government, European allies in the anti-Islamic State coalition and the main Syrian opposition, distrustful of Russia's intentions, are questioning Secretary of State John Kerry's own latest proposal for closer U.S.-Russian cooperation against militant groups in Syria. TRUMP ASSAILS AIR CONDITIONING Trump, kicking off a three-day campaign swing with his vice presidential running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, returned to his freewheeling style after giving a scripted speech on Thursday accepting the Republican presidential nomination. During an earlier event in Roanoke, Virginia, Trump labeled Clinton "low-energy," the same characterization he lobbed at Republican rival Jeb Bush; attacked her running mate, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia; and complained about the air conditioning in the hotel ballroom where he spoke. "I think the ballroom and the people who own this hotel ought to be ashamed of themselves," Trump said. Trump made light of Democratic disunity as party loyalists gathered in Philadelphia on Monday to anoint Clinton as their nominee this week, after a week in which Republicans struggled to unite behind Trump at their convention in Cleveland. Trump waved away Republican disunity as essentially isolated pockets of resistance and made an apparent reference to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, who was booed in Cleveland when he would not endorse Trump after losing to him in a bitter primary race. "We had a couple people who probably destroyed their career, but who knows," Trump said. "Look what's going on in Philadelphia. ... We had no riots, no nothing. It was unbelievable. I'll never forget it as long as I live." On Twitter, Trump added, "Wow, the Republican Convention went so smoothly compared to the Dems total mess." Reuters Sage, a global market leader in cloud accounting software, has extended its existing partnership with Microsoft, which will see the integration of cloud solution Sage 50 with Microsoft Office 365. The announcement came during Sage Summit 2016, the worlds largest gathering of entrepreneurs and business builders in the US city of Chicago. The new solution also allows customers and the joint ecosystem to grow, extend and innovate on top of the combined solution. Sage has also become an Office 365 reseller and first-line support provider under the Microsoft Cloud Solutions Provider (CSP) program. As a CSP partner, Sage will be one of the first global ISVs to bundle Office 365 with their own solution and resell it to small business customers around the world. By integrating Sage 50 with Microsoft Office 365, Sage has enhanced the power of its business solution with greater mobility, analytics and cloud capabilities. Now customers can manage their businesses with Sage 50 and Office 365, across multiple devices and multiple locationswith confidence that their information is live and up to date. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who joined the Sage Summit via a video message, said:Together, with partners like Sage, were focused on empowering professionals to get more out of every moment and for small and medium businesses to grow and seize the opportunities ahead. As well as improving productivity and helping customers shift to a mobile first, cloud first world, the Sage 50 and Office 365 solution will allow businesses to: Do businesses anywhere: Track business performance and history, work with customer and supplier records and transactions on the go as they collaborate across all devices. Instantly see available credit position and trading history, see how much money is owed and make important business decisions using information from Sage 50 and Office 365. Make faster, better decisions: Make sense of data quickly, with powerful interactive Microsoft Excel reporting and business performance dashboards. Communicate quickly and easily: Share contacts, schedules, and more without switching between Sage 50 and Office 365. Go Paperless: Store business documents in a secure environment and transactions received electronically. Photos of receipts or invoices can also be stored and accessed along with all records, from Sage, Outlook and OneDrive on your favourite smartphone device. Speaking live from Sage Summit, Sage CEO Stephen Kelly said: Working together with Microsoft we are reinventing Sage 50, one of the worlds best-loved business applications. With the rapid growth of the Office 365 user base, the opportunity for future innovation on the Office 365 platform is incredibly exciting. We want to put the power of Sage and Microsoft behind more than 72 million Small & Medium Businesses around the world to liberate them from time-consuming tasks, and super-charge their productivity. Sage 50 with Microsoft Office 365 will be available in all Sage 50 countries, starting with the US, Canada, UK and Ireland this winter and extending to other Sage 50 countries through 2017. TradeArabia News Service Louis Moinet has launched a new timepiece to celebrate the 200th anniversary of inventing the chronograph, and to salute its founder's indomitably brilliant creative genius. In 1816, Louis Moinet created an artistic and technological masterpiece that created haute horological history. Beating at a rhythm of 216,000 vibrations per hour, designed to observe the orbits of the planets in the heavens, the world's first chronograph was a harbinger of finer things to come. Two hundred years on, in salute to that spirit of sheer creative genius that drove their founder, Louis Moinet is presenting Memoris, the first chronograph-watch clothed with light. The stunning timepiece clad in a canopy of stars blazing out of the night sky, is the first of a series of Limited Edition creations dedicated to the bicentenary of the invention of the chronograph, the company said. Using an engraving technique that is unprecedented in the history of watchmaking, the Memoris 200th Anniversary features a series of individual stars scattered across the night sky, each one worked on individually by the craftsman to imbue a natural sparkle, it said. The three main differentiation points of the Memoris 200th Anniversary are: A new hour dial made in enamel for the first time in history of the piece; A new mainplate, painted and decorated with star constellations; A new translucent flange and counter bridge The starry back consists of a brass plate coated in a translucent blue. The stars have been created using an entirely new fixed graver process. Devised by one of Louis Moinets craftsmen, this involves attaching a specially-made lathe to a traditional rose engine (also known as a guillocheuse). The idea is to combine the power of the rose engine with the precision of a handheld graver. The result differs from that produced by milling or stamping: while it resembles the effect traditionally associated with a guillocheuse inasmuch as material is removed, here this is focused on a tiny area with varying levels of depth two characteristics that traditional engine turning seeks to avoid at all costs. What is more, individual stars are all fashioned to feature different angles and depths, so that each and every one captures as much light as possible. Several fixed graver sessions are required per star. The process used is unprecedented in watchmaking and the outstanding result gives the novel impression that certain stars really are shining. New, crystalline transparency For the flange and counter bridge, Ateliers Louis Moinet have used a revolutionary translucent material. Its precise makeup, produced by combining a number of composite materials and high-temperature vacuum moulding, is a closely-guarded secret. It offers a unique advantage that has won over Ateliers Louis Moinet: it is through-coloured and yet the same time maintains a certain degree of transparency. Using it in translucent dark blue on the flange of the new Memoris adds an exclusive sense of depth, whereas an opaque flange would have locked down the timepiece. In its natural state, this material is as just as pure and translucent as crystal, but nowhere near as fragile, allowing it to be used for the counter bridge, too; and the latters ensuing transparency ensures the wearer can admire the night blue sky without missing a single star, the company said. TradeArabia News Service To celebrate the 40th anniversary of its Eco-Drive light-powered technology, watch manufacturer Citizen will be showcasing the technology and its flagship models at Eco-Drive Lounges across Dubai International Airport and other international gateway airports across the world. The Citizen Eco-Drive Lounges, which will be located in Concourse A and Concourse D of Dubai International Airport, will showcase the cutting-edge technology and a range of frontline timepieces at all through the month of September. In addition, these lounges will offer attractive prizes and special offers for travellers. This will be the Middle Eastern leg of the exhibition, which will also make stops in other leading international hub airports in: Sydney, Singapore, Frankfurt, Shanghai, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Sao Paulo all through 2016. Through the Eco-Drive Lounge, Citizen will demonstrate Eco-Drive technology, which converts any source of light into electrical energy to keep watches running and introduce Citizen as a true manufacture d'horlogerie, that produces all components in its timepieces, down to the movement, to a global audience. At the Eco-Drive Lounge, the brand's flagship Eco-Drive One models for 2016 will be on display. Eco-Drive One is the world's thinnest, light-powered watch and was unveiled at Baselworld earlier this year. The Eco-Drive One is just 2.98 mm thick with a 1.00 mm thick movement. Citizen has over the years improved on the Eco-Drive technology and created a series of Eco-Drive watches that are thinner, smaller, lighter, more multifunction and more beautiful than ever before. - TradeArabia News Service Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, chairman of the Board of Trustees of UAE Water Aid Foundation (Suqia), has extended the deadline to apply for the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Water Award to September 30. The $1 million award was launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, under the umbrella of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI), to find solutions to international water scarcity. Suqia is a major contributor to implementing the objectives set by MBRGI, to combat poverty and disease by finding sustainable solutions for water scarcity. Suqia also works in water-scarce or water polluted areas by using desalination and purification technologies to provide clean water. The award encourages leading corporations, research centres, institutions, and innovators from all over the world to find sustainable and innovative renewable-energy solutions to the problem of water scarcity. The award also encourages studies and research to address water pollution, by using solar energy, in cooperation with a number of international educational institutions, said Al Tayer. Suqia is a beacon of the UAEs attempts to do good for the planet, by providing sustainable solutions for water scarcity, and to reduce contamination of drinking water throughout the world. Suqia also participates in international efforts to supply clean water, and eliminate water-related life threatening diseases, while protecting clean water from being polluted, added Al Tayer. The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award worth $1 million comprises three categories: The Innovative Projects Award is worth $500,000; the Innovative Research and Development Award is worth $400,000 in the category of national and international institutions, and finally the Innovative Youth Award is worth $100,000, said Mohammed Abdulkareem Al Shamsi, acting executive director of Suqia. - TradeArabia News Service Hyundai has officially released its ground-breaking IONIQ range of alternative-fuel cars for sale during a recent global launch in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The IONIQ is the first Hyundai platform to be purpose-built for alternative-fuel drivetrains, and represents Hyundais flexible approach to moving its products towards zero-emissions technology, said a statement from the company. Instead of offering just one power source, the Korean carmaker is giving buyers a choice of three proven technologies within a single vehicle architecture: the IONIQ Hybrid, IONIQ Plug-in, and IONIQ Electric, it said. Each alternative offers low emissions, and will also be comfortable and offer sporty performance and be fun to drive, it added. With demand expected to exceed the initial supply, Hyundai hopes to begin shipments to the GCC by the end of 2016, starting with Hybrid and Electric versions, said a statement. Hyundai expects Hybrid models will account for the bulk of sales when the car arrives in the GCC, it stated. The full hybrid version features a 1.6 litre direct injection petrol engine with a 32 kW electric motor, the two offering a combined 103.6 kW of power and 265 Nm of torque, with a top speed of 185 km/h. The IONIQ Electric has less power at 88 kW, but more torque at 295 Nm, and an estimated maximum range of around 250 km on a full charge, it said. Mike Song, head of operations, Hyundai - Middle East and Africa (MEA), said: There is a growing demand for cars that can minimise our environmental impact, and most of us within the industry are aware that electric power is the future, but it is clear that different buyers and markets have very different needs. For example, range anxiety with electric cars remains an issue for some buyers, particularly those whose driving includes long distances in fairly remote areas. By offering options to fit every circumstance, IONIQ will play an essential role in taking electric power mainstream, offering a practical stepping stone towards ever-more advanced technology in the next few years, he added. TradeArabia News Service Epson has launched its new satin ribbon tapes bringing new possibilities for retailers and hospitality companies with their ability to easily customise gifts or services. The tapes can display any text, whether its a persons name, a company name, or a message such as thank you, and can be used on a range of gifts or even promotional materials. Khalil El-Dalu, general manager, Epson Middle East, said: Personalization is being increasingly used for differentiation, with some global brands, such as Apple and Coca Cola, using it to make their products stand out, and it works. In keeping with this growing trend, we are now providing this unique solution to smaller companies, such as retailers or hospitality businesses looking to do this in real-time, either in-store or at a venue, such as a wedding or party. We have the best solution for them, whether they want to add a message for a customer, or a ribbon with their brand name. The 12mm Satin Ribbon tape is available till now in two colours: black on gold, and gold on navy. Three further colours have been launched: black on sky blue, black on pink, and gold on red. Epson recommends the LW-400 Label Maker for companies wanting to print labels front-of-house; perfect for on-demand production while a customer waits. The LW-1000P is recommended for bulk, back-of-house production for events and retail purposes, and helps to boost productivity. TradeArabia News Service The UAE's hospitaity sector continues to grow with 183 hotel projects and 54,000 hotel rooms currently in the pipeline, a new report has showed. The hotel construction report by Tophotelprojects prepared exclusively for The Hotel Show Dubai 2016 reveals that the majority of the new hotels are expected to open before 2020. The busiest years are forecast to be 2017 (56 project openings) and 2018 (58 project openings). Hotels opening in this time include: Paramount Hotel Dubai (2017); Hard Rock Hotel Abu Dhabi (2017); Citymax Hotel Ras Al Khaimah (2017); and Marriott Dubai Jumeirah (2018). Thomas van Vliet, CEO of Paramount Hotels & Resorts, said: Paramount Hotel Dubai, expected to open by the end of 2017, will be the first ever Paramount Hotels & Resorts property as well as the operators UAE flagship hotel. The hotel, part of a mixed use complex also housing 1,197 serviced residences, offers a luxurious experience with a Californian edge and Hollywood vibe, housing 823 guest rooms and suites, some of which are themed after Paramount Pictures movies. We have three more projects underway in Dubai, with a total of 1,383 keys. W Hotels & Resorts opened its first hotel in the UAE in June of this year. Peter Katusak-Huzsvar, general manager of W Dubai Al Habtoor City, said: It has been a long-time coming, but the first W Hotel in the UAE has opened its doors. As a leading lifestyle hotel, it is fitting that W Dubai opens within a unique and first of its kind urban resort like Al Habtoor City Starwoods largest hospitality project in the Middle East. As a city, Dubai represents everything that W Hotels are passionate about Fashion, Music, Design, and Fuel. Following the launch of W Dubai Al Habtoor City, the brand is set to rapidly grow its portfolio in the Middle East with four new openings in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, UAE; Amman, Jordan; and Muscat, Oman. Dubai and Abu Dhabi continue to lead in hotel construction across the UAE with a combined 155 hotel projects and 47,619 rooms in the pipeline. Other Emirates with hotel construction underway include: Sharjah with six projects (959 rooms) and Ras Al-Khaimah with five projects (1,847 rooms). Tophotelprojects will discuss the latest hotel construction trends across the UAE and the wider Middle East and Africa at the Vision Conference 2016, part of the 17th edition of The Hotel Show Dubai. - TradeArabia News Service Emirates Flight Training Academy, developed by Emirates airline, has signed an agreement with Boeing under which both organisations will collaborate on a comprehensive training curriculum and software infrastructure to support academy operations. Emirates Flight Training Academy, currently under construction at Al Maktoum International Airport- Dubai World Central (DWC) and scheduled to open in October 2016, will combine best practices in education with state of the art learning technologies and cutting edge training aircraft. Under the agreement with Boeing, Emirates Flight Training Academy will receive an integrated software system, based on the Peters Software system acquired by Boeing, for managing cadet learning and training flight operations, and an enhanced curriculum customised for Emirates. Cadets will learn with highly interactive digital content delivered in purpose-designed classrooms and on personal tablets. Our programme is designed to produce career-ready pilots. Exceeding regulatory requirements, the curriculum will, for instance, see cadets complete at least 1,100 hours of ground and 315 hours of flight training using a competency-focused approach. We are leveraging Boeings expertise in airline pilot training to identify opportunities to enhance the Academys curriculum, said Captain Alan Stealey, principal, Emirates Flight Training Academy. Emirates designed the academy to promote advancements in four key areas of pilot training: interactive learning for theoretical subjects in classrooms, practical learning in the most capable training aircraft, practical learning in advanced flight simulators, and airline-focused line-oriented flight training. When fully operational, the Academy will be able to accommodate over 600 students at a time. Emirates recently placed an order for 27 aircraft allowing ab-initio pilots to receive 100 per cent of their training in the UAE at the most advanced pilot academy in the world with a purpose-built learning environment for developing professional pilots. Ab-initio pilots in the airlines long-running Emirates National Cadet Programme currently complete their training at a variety of overseas locations. When the academy opens its doors later in the year, all aspects of pilot training for the airline will be established in Dubai. Emirates Flight Training Academy will initially focus on cadets in Emirates existing prestigious National Cadet Pilot Training Programme for UAE nationals. However, the academy intends to welcome international cadet pilots in the near future. - TradeArabia News Service Hyatt Regency Dubai, an iconic five star hotel in Dubai, has appointed Pranav Vohra as director of sales and marketing for the hotel. Vohra will oversee sales planning, strategic marketing, revenue and annual budget for the 421-room property located in the heritage heart of Dubai. Vohra joins Hyatt Regency Dubai from his role of sales director for both Grand Hyatt Dubai and Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek Heights. He became a part of the Hyatt Family in 2005 as guest service officer at Grand Hyatt Dubai. He moved to the Sales Division in 2006 where he held various positions including associate director of sales at Grand Hyatt Dubai. He later transferred to the opening team of Hyatt Place Dubai/Al Rigga and also assisted with the opening of Hyatt Place Dubai/Banyas Square. He was the cluster director of sales and marketing for Hyatt Place hotels in Dubai before moving back to Grand Hyatt Dubai in February 2016. Vhra has completed his education in Hospitality Management from University of Huddersfield, UK as well as 'Marketing, Revenue and Strategy' studies from Cornell, Singapore. "It is a privilege to be a part of the team at Hyatt Regency Dubai, an iconic hotel in the city. I look forward to connecting with guests and colleagues to create energizing experiences at this landmark property surrounded by the charming old town of Dubai and the upcoming new Deira Islands," Vohra said. - TradeArabia News Service Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, has announced plans to increase its Airbus A380 service between New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport and Abu Dhabi International Airport in response to heightened demand from guests traveling between the two destinations. Beginning on June 1, 2017, the airline will upgrade its second flight between Abu Dhabi and New York JFK to its award-winning A380 aircraft which features The Residence, the only three-room suite available in commercial airline operation, and its award-winning First Apartment cabins. The new service will join the airlines existing daily A380 service, replacing the current daily Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. Etihad Airways first began welcoming guests on board its first A380 flight between New York JFK and Abu Dhabi in November 2015. The response we have received from Etihad Airways guests traveling between Abu Dhabi and New York since we launched the service nearly a decade ago has been phenomenal, and we are delighted to further expand our world-class product for all guests traveling to and from New York, said Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways chief executive officer. Baumgartner continued: Our commitment to our guests has always been to be the very best airline in the world by totally reimagining the travel experience and delivering the highest levels of comfort, luxury and world-class hospitality at every point in their travel journey on the ground and in the air - across all classes of service. Etihad Airways currently offers 45 weekly return flights between Abu Dhabi and six US cities, including Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York JFK, San Francisco and Washington, DC. Through Etihad Airways hub in Abu Dhabi, the airline offers passengers from the US direct access to the UAE capital, and seamless connections to the Middle East, Africa, Indian Sub-continent and South East Asia. - TradeArabia News Service Alpha Natural Resources emerged from bankruptcy Tuesday, following the approval of a restructuring plan for the coal company on July 6 that was widely considered a victory. Alpha, which filed for bankruptcy in August 2015, was the first of three large coal companies operating in Wyoming to seek Chapter 11 protection in the last year, when the coal industry faced three-decade lows. A federal judge approved the firms plan to split into two companies, set aside $13 million to fund 4,580 former employees health benefits and end self-bonding in its Wyoming mines. Alpha has $411 million in self-bonds in Wyoming, which under the agreement will be replaced with secured financing. The practice of self-bonding, wherein a company bets its assets against the eventual cost of cleanup, is hotly contested by environmentalists. The Alpha deal was partially brokered by the Department of the Interior, which threatened to block the transfer of federal mining leases if the self-bonds were not replaced. Some hope that Alphas story will set a precedent in self-bonding in Wyoming for Arch Coal and Peabody Energy. The bankrupt companies have not had emergence plans approved. Together they have $1.2 billion in self-bonds in Wyoming. The new Alpha will operate 18 mines and eight preparation plants in Appalachia, while a newly formed company, Contura Energy, will continue the more lucrative operations in Wyoming. Contura is owned by Alphas senior lenders. Analysts have questioned the viability of Alphas Appalachian company going forward. The newly emerged company will have limited cash flow despite heavy reclamation obligations. The same is not being said of Contura, which despite a projection of tight liquidity in the next few years inherits the best of Alphas assets and the least of its cleanup obligations. Railroad companies and their workers disagree on the minimum crew size to keep the rails safe, but the issue may be out of both of their hands soon. Businesses say there is no evidence to support the Federal Railroad Administrations proposed mandatory minimum of a two-man crew, the current industry standard. The issue should be left to companies and their workers, they say. However, many workers argue that the industry shouldnt be making that decision and that federal regulation will keep railroad workers and communities safer. On major rail lines, an engineer runs the train, and a conductor assists. A fraction of smaller lines operate with one-man crews. To allow companies to man large trains with one person is ludicrous, said Ron Kaminkow, general secretary for Railroad Workers United. The unofficial union supports the change and has lobbied in favor of it. No one questions that a plane would have a pilot and a co-pilot, Kaminkow said. A long train can stretch 1 to 2 miles in length, carry hundreds of passengers or ferry hazardous materials, he said. However, companies such as Union Pacific, which employed about 1,200 people in Wyoming in late 2015, oppose the rule. For their part, companies say they are not in opposition to two-man crews but to the source of the regulation itself. Though we have no current plans to implement single-person crews, Union Pacific believes the determination for appropriate crew size decisions is best placed in the collective bargaining process with labor, while recognizing advancements in technology and operating practices, said Calli Hite, spokesman for the company, in an email. For the industry, crew size is currently a non-issue, said Ed Greenberg, spokesman for the American Association of Railroads. Major freight railroads currently operate with two-person crews on their mainline operations, he said. Crew size cannot be done unilaterally, and it requires discussion with rail labor. Historically, crew size has been treated as a labor issue, he said. However, bargaining with railroad unions is complex, Kaminkow said. There are 13 unions representing the jobs involved in railroads, from engineers to track workers, he said. This is a fatal flaw of labor on the railroads, because how do you have a union with 13 different pieces? he said. We are going up against some of the most powerful companies on the planet. Fighting to keep two workers on a crew is one of the Railroad Workers Uniteds main campaigns, Kaminkow said. Companies say they have no intention of cutting back their crews, but workers are not convinced, he said. The issue has been proposed before and defeated by local unions, he said. When the railroad industry says trust us, we have your safety interests at heart, the community needs to be up in arms, he said. These trains run right through our back yards We dont want the fox to guard the hen house. The discussion of crew size comes during a historic downturn in the coal market, which has put increasing strain on railroad companies. Coal production has taken a hit from low natural gas prices, which along with looming federal regulations have decreased the amount of coal being carted out of Wyoming, the top coal-producing state in the U.S. BNSF Railway, which employs about 1,200 people in the state, has furloughed 2,900 transportation workers nationwide, a spokesman said. Union Pacific, which employed about 1,200 employees in Wyoming late last year, is facing the same constraints. The company has 3,900 employees on furlough and 1,700 locomotives in storage, Hite said. The proposed rule changes public comment period ends in mid-August. Stuff the Bus with school supplies Each year, it costs families between $60 and $100 for basic school supplies for one child. Common supplies include pencils, crayons, highlighters, permanent markers, colored pencils, markers, dry erase markers, binders, safety scissors, erasers, notebook paper, glue sticks, spiral notebooks, composition notebooks, pocket folders, white school glue, backpacks and a plastic supply box. The Casper Area Education Foundation (CAEF), the Natrona County School District (NCSD), and The Salvation Army have once again partnered to conduct the annual Stuff the Bus drive; a community-wide school supply drive to benefit students in need. The campaign encourages the community to donate simple school supplies at local businesses. Donations will be distributed to families in need at a School Supply distribution event prior to school starting in August. Donations can be dropped off around town at Reliant Federal Credit Union (Plaza Drive and Landmark Drive branches); Platte Valley Bank, 3131 SW Wyoming Blvd; NCSD Central Services, 970 N. Glenn Rd.; SunSations Tanning Salon, 1220 W. Collins Dr.; Keefes Flowers, 632 CY Avel Foxhill Apartments, 1900 S. Missouri Office Bldg. 30. Cash donations are also accepted at casperedfoundation.org. Make fleece blankets The Fleece Blanket Project provides a time of fun and fellowship while working on a community service project to benefit others. The group will be meeting at First Christian Church, 520 CY Avenue, Saturday, August 20, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Saturday, September 17, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This informal group welcomes volunteers of all ages from churches, agencies, and groups, as well as anyone who would like to help cut and tie fleece to make blankets to be given to the homeless and those in need in Natrona County. To date, volunteers have made 190 blankets which were given to individuals and agencies that provide help to those in need of warmth and comfort. In addition to volunteering your time, you may donate fleece (2 yards each of two complementary colors/patterns). Bring sharp scissors if you have them or just come and tie! Parking is in back of the church. If you have any questions, please call First Christian Church at 234-8964. Blood donors have chance to win Ranger Blood Donors who give at United Blood Services blood center or blood drives through September 9, 2016, will be automatically entered to win a 2016 Polaris Ranger 900XP in the Rollin Up for a Ranger Giveaway. We are excited to offer this giveaway particularly now because donations have been down, said Jennifer Bredahl, regional donor recruitment cirector, United Blood Services. We encourage new and existing donors to participate in this fun promotion to ultimately save lives and to ensure our supply is strong enough to respond to any emergencies or traumas. To make an appointment please call 877-827-4376 or go to www.UnitedBloodServices.org. To save time, donors can now fill out their Fast Track Health History Questionnaire online at www.UnitedBloodServices.org the day of their donation. To donate blood, volunteers must be at least 16 years old (16 year old donors need a minor donor permit which is available online) and be in good health. Must be 18 years or older to win. Offer applies to participating United Blood Services blood centers and mobile blood drives operated within Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana. Thanks to Blue Envelope Pathfinder Boat and Fishing Club would like to thank Blue Envelope Health Fund for their donation of an AED. This piece of equipment will be housed at Pathfinder Marina and would be used in a life saving event. The board and members of Pathfinder Boat Club thank you for your generosity. Suggestions for food bags The Wyoming Food for Thought Project is now providing weekend food bags to nearly 600 children in Natrona County weekly. While all donations are appreciated and used, this year the staff has compiled a list of things to donate monthly, in order to stock the shelves of the pantry at the program center. Here is a list of suggestions for the entire year: July, canned vegetables; August, Chef Boyardee products; September, pork and beans; October, cereal; November, soup; December, canned chili. Donations can be dropped off any time at Food for Thought drop site locations, which include Great Harvest Bread, eastside WAC, Reliant FCU, Mary Anns Beans, Casper College Library, Aspen Ridge Dental, and the Food for Thought Program Center, 900 St. John St. Natrona County School District officials cut $4.4 million from this years budget, largely by eliminating 17 vacant positions and reducing costs at individual schools. School funding cuts, approved by the state Legislature in February, have been on the forefront of district budget planning across the state, with some areas struggling to meet the new bottom line. But the Casper-area district was able to absorb a 1 percent reduction in state funding and avoid layoffs, officials said. The Wyoming Legislature continues to be very supportive of education, said chairman of the school board Kevin Christopherson. They have asked us to operate on 1 percent less in the year ahead. Natrona County School District is prepared to do our part given the current state of Wyomings economy. The districts board of trustees approved a $348 million budget last week, a 2.1 percent reduction from the previous year including the state cuts. That figure includes construction, food services and reserves. The largest portion of district expenses will go to personnel, with elementary instruction topping the list at a cost of $44 million. Support services like counseling, libraries and special education amount to about $17 million of the budget. The second largest school district in the state, Natrona County began the process of setting this years budget in September. Projections for Wyomings revenue were dire, reflecting the downturn in the states energy economy. Anticipating a reduction in state and local dollars, the district began looking at cost cutting strategies, said Steve Hopkins, district superintendent. The district operates a ground-up budgeting strategy, allowing different schools and departments to submit individual budgets that are then grouped by the district. The employees of the district get the credit for this budget, Hopkins said in a statement. They came forward with great ideas on how to operate the district with less funding. They stepped up and rallied around the process to balance the budget. The district has a long list of cost-saving strategies, some of which were implemented this year, while others will help the district cut costs in the future, said Paula Reid, treasurer for the districts board of trustees. District employees reduced overtime, she said, as well as the cost of utilities and supplies. Because of those efforts, and the elimination of the 17 vacant positions, the district was able to avoid layoffs for the time being, she added. We are operating the district more efficiently and will continue to do so going forward, she said. Wyomings schools rely heavily on energy industry tax dollars, both locally and from the state, to operate. The state guarantees that each district will have enough cash to run its schools, a cost determined by the average number of students in attendance. The state makes good on the guarantee by redistributing the income of various districts. Energy revenues in districts like Campbell County, where coal provides millions in mineral royalties, help supplement districts like Goshen, where local dollars fall short of the state standard. The state of Wyoming will give Natrona County School District $142 million in entitlement funds this year to meet the guaranteed level of funding. The state also taps energy revenue, in the form of a rapidly disappearing coal lease fund, to build and maintain its schools. The districts budget includes an $86 million capital construction grant this year from the state for projects like the Lincoln Elementary preschool, continued work on Kelly Walsh and Natrona County High Schools, and a new elementary school. Caspers network of trails near the North Platte River and around the city help residents and visitors alike make the most of the states fleeting summer months. The Platte River Trails Trust has been in the community for 34 years, said the trust's Executive Director Angela Emery. Incorporated in 1982, its original mission was to construct 10 miles of riverfront trail, which was eventually expanded to focus on creating a network of trails throughout the community. Now, it's continuing that mission and hopes to draw awareness to the trails system. Way back, in the late 1960s, the city of Casper began to realize the river was a resource, Emery said. Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, which required states to clean up all waterways. Before, the river was used as a dumping ground, she said. The city soon began to realize the river was a great resource, which prompted the building of trails inspired by the river walk in San Antonio, Texas, spurred cleanup and boosted conservation efforts. The backbone of the trusts trails project funding comes from WYDOT's Transportation Alternatives Program, Emery said. Alongside that, the nonprofit uses money from 1-cent sales tax allocation, reaches out to other public and private agencies and writes grants to further fund its projects. Upcoming projects The Platte River Trails Trust is hoping to buy about 30,000 square feet of land north of the power substation on Robertson Road to build an underpass. Emery hopes an agreement can be reached by Aug. 1 with Rocky Mountain Power to buy the property. If all goes as planned, the project will be completed by fall of this year or spring of 2017. The west side of town has grown a lot over the past few years and theres no sidewalk on Robertson Road, she said, noting children and families need a safe place to walk and ride bicycles in the area. The trail will be built on the west side of Robertson Road, close to Oregon Trail Elementary School. The project will dovetail north of the school with a city of Casper project south of the school and will continue north past the substation to the underpass, Emery said. From there the trail will continue north on the east side of Robertson Road next to the river. The project is fully funded by the WYDOT TAP program. A second project in the works is Phase I of a trail from Casper Mountain Road to Rotary Park. WLC, an engineering, surveying and planning firm, is in the process of completing the trails design, said Emery. The project is expected to be put to bid this winter and construction is expected to begin in spring of 2017. The project will be an expansion of the bike lane along Durbin Street and will eventually create a connection between downtown and Casper Mountain. View this trail as an extension of the city of Casper bike lane, she said. The bike lane ends a little south of the YMCA, will pick up at the entrance of (Casper College) and keep to the west side of campus. The hope is to keep the trail near the colleges parking lots so it can benefit students as well as walkers and cyclists. Once the trail moves farther south of the college, it will move closer to Casper Mountain Road. The project was originally intended to stretch across three phases, but Emery hopes the trust can receive further grant funding so it can be compressed into two phases, with Phase I ending at Wyoming Boulevard. Upon its completion, the trail will reach Rotary Park at the base of Casper Mountain. Summer events The board of directors of the Platte River Trails Trust will host two more Food Truck Friday events in the parking lot of the Tate Pumphouse. Vendors will offer everything from barbecue to shaved ice at these family-friendly gatherings. Food trucks are expected to start showing up at noon so patrons can enjoy lunch by the river. We just felt like Fridays are a good day for people to want to be outside for lunch, Emery said. From 5 to 8 p.m. on both Fridays, there will be live music and lawn games. Zachary Schommer will entertain on July 29, with Indie Soul performing Aug. 26. Parking is available at the Pumphouse or at Amoco Park, just east of the Pumphouse. What: Food Truck Friday Food Truck Friday When: noon to 8 p.m. July 29 and Aug. 26 noon to 8 p.m. July 29 and Aug. 26 Where: Tate Pumphouse, 1775 W. First St. Tate Pumphouse, 1775 W. First St. Cost: free Another upcoming event the 2016 Riverfest, presented by the Platte River Trails and Foss Motors at Crossroads Adventure Park. The trust partners with the Casper Rotary during the festival for the Great Duck Derby. The festival, which began in 1992 as a way to celebrate the completion of a portion of the river trail, is a family-friendly event featuring live music, food, games, craft beer tasting and more. New to the festival this year, Emery said, is a cornhole tournament. There will also be giant Jenga and fly-fishing activities, and the Science Zone and Audubon of the Rockies will offer activities for children. What: 2016 Riverfest 2016 Riverfest When: noon to 6 p.m. Aug. 20 noon to 6 p.m. Aug. 20 Where: Crossroads Adventure Park, 1101 N. Poplar St. Crossroads Adventure Park, 1101 N. Poplar St. Cost: free Resources The Platte River Trails Trust offers several resources for those interested in taking advantage of the citys numerous trails. Hard copy maps are free to the public and are available at the Tate Pumphouse or on the trusts website. The Pumphouse also offers public restrooms, which are open from 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. during the summer months. One of the trusts newest resources is its Outdoor Explorer Kit, which is free to kids of all ages, Emery noted. The booklet is filled with activities ranging from art to history that kids and families can use when exploring the Platte River Trail. Copies of the booklet are available at the Tate Pumphouse, the Nic, the Science Zone, Natrona County Public Library, Art 321 and Game and Fish. For more information about the Platte River Trails Trust, news about the citys trails or upcoming events, visit www.platterivertrails.com. Our trails are free to everyone, regardless of income level or ability, said Emery. Everybody is welcome on the trail. MEETEETSE On Tuesday, following a bit of celebration at a local school, biologists plan to release 35 black-footed ferrets raised in captivity on two local ranches. The release will complete the circle of a story that began in 1981, when a ranch dog named Shep brought home a dead black-footed ferret and let the world know the species wasn't extinct after all. Five years later, biologists captured the area's remaining wild ferrets for a successful captive-breeding program that since the 1990s has released hundreds of ferrets. Now, some of those descendants will return to Meeteetse at last. "It's only fitting that we bring ferrets back to the place where they were last discovered," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Ryan Moehring said Monday. "This is a reintroduction unlike any other." The Fish and Wildlife Service breeds black-footed ferrets at a facility near Fort Collins, Colorado. There, the young ferrets go through a "boot camp" where they learn how to catch prairie dogs. Ferrets have been released at 24 sites in Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, South Dakota, Arizona and Kansas, as well as Canada and Mexico. Recent release sites include the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge near Denver last fall. In Wyoming, black-footed ferrets were reintroduced in the sparsely populated Shirley Basin in 1991. Additional animals have been released in the basin several times since. This will be the first ferret release in Wyoming in almost a decade. Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated all of Wyoming as a zone for "experimental, non-essential" populations of black-footed ferrets. The designation relaxes some of the restrictions to private landowners who have endangered species on their property. Check back for more on this developing story. GILLETTE A Gillette man accused of killing his girlfriend's 2-year-old son will not be facing the death penalty when he goes to trial in October. Prosecutors have withdrawn their request to seek the penalty for Donald Foltz Jr., who is accused of abusing and killing the toddler in December 2014. Foltz has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. Forensic experts had testified that the boy died of trauma to his abdomen area. About a week before his death, the boy was taken to the hospital after complaining of pain in one of his legs. Charging documents say the doctor raised the possibility of child abuse. Foltz has a previous child abuse conviction involving a 2-year-old child in Greeley, Colorado. JACKSON A Wyoming teenager has pleaded no contest to molesting a toddler at his mother's day care. The Jackson teenager was 15 when prosecutors say he molested a 3-year-old girl, but a Pinedale judge ruled that he would be tried as an adult. The teen submitted a written plea Monday, a week before he was scheduled to go to trial on the sexual assault charge. Judge Timothy Day questioned his understanding of the plea agreement before accepting it. The plea gives the court flexibility in determining the boy's punishment. Day described several possible sentences, including the possibility of the conviction being dismissed if the teen successfully completes probation. The teen will undergo a presentence investigation that could take up to two months. CHEYENNE A large wildfire burning out of control in the Shoshone National Forest in northwest Wyoming forced the evacuations of hundreds of people and prompted fire managers to bring in more firefighters and other resources, including a Wyoming National Guard unit. The Lava Mountain Fire west of Dubois has burned nearly 11 square miles and is threatening about 290 homes and guest ranches in the area. No structures have been lost so far, but Wyoming state forester Bill Crapser said about 900 people have been evacuated. One summer youth camp accounted for about 200 people alone, Crapser said. Gov. Matt Mead activated a National Guard medivac helicopter and its crew to assist if needed. In addition, more specialized firefighters and large air tankers were added to the fight. More homes are being threatened, more people are being evacuated, and the threat and projected movement of the fire is such that the landowner, the Forest Service, has decided that its time to bring in the national type 1 team, fire spokesman Nick Mickel said. The rough terrain, the dry fuels and windy weather make the fire particularly difficult to battle, Crapser said. Its been a really hard fire for them to be able to put crews in to get any type of containment of the fire, he said. Firefighters have yet to gain any containment on the fire, which was started July 11 by lightning. More than 600 firefighters are assigned to the fire. Residents and campers in the Union Pass, Porcupine, Warm Springs and Hat Butte areas were told to evacuate Monday afternoon. Residences from Timberline Ranch to the Long Creek Subdivision were evacuated last week, along with the Teton Valley Ranch Camp. The Red Cross has opened a shelter in the old Dubois High School at 314 Helmer St. In neighboring Bridger-Teton National Forest, the Cliff Creek Fire in Sublette and Teton counties has grown to 26 square miles and is about 10 percent contained. Two smaller fires are burning in the Bighorn National Forest, including the Hatchery Fire which has burned about four square miles northeast of Ten Sleep. It was started last Friday by a hot brake lining that broke off from a passing vehicle, according to fire officials. The Wyoming Highway Patrol on Tuesday reported two fatal accidents on state highways. Richard Weeks, 81, of Cheyenne, was struck by a pickup Monday while attempting to cross Interstate 25 on a Honda motorcycle. Weeks had stopped at a southbound pullout at the "Welcome to Colorado" sign, according to a news release. He then attempted to cross the southbound lanes to reach the northbound lanes but was struck by the truck driven by a 45-year-old Colorado resident. The driver of the pickup applied his brakes but was unable to avoid the collision. Weeks was wearing a helmet but sustained fatal injuries at the scene. On Sunday, 30-year-old Steven Gunderson, of Rawlins, died from injuries sustained when his commercial truck rolled on Interstate 80. Gunderson was traveling east Friday when the truck's front driver's side tire failed, sending the truck into the median where it rolled. Gunderson was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected during the crash, according to a news release. The deaths of Gunderson and Weeks were the 52nd and 53rd highway fatalities in Wyoming this year. WASHINGTON (AP) Jet engine exhaust from airliners endangers human health and adds to climate change, the government found Monday in taking the first step toward regulating those emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency said it will use its authority under the Clean Air Act to impose limits on aircraft emissions. Jet engines spew significant amounts of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, into the upper atmosphere, where they trap heat from the sun. But proposed rules such as imposing fuel-efficiency standards have faced stiff opposition from aircraft makers and commercial airlines. Aircraft emissions were not addressed as part of the landmark global climate agreement agreed to in Paris in December. "Addressing pollution from aircraft is an important element of U.S. efforts to address climate change," said Janet McCabe, EPA's acting assistant administrator for air and radiation. McCabe said aircraft are the third largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. transportation sector, and that is expected to increase. Cars and trucks already are regulated. The EPA's findings do not apply to small piston-engine planes or to military aircraft. A U.N. panel in February recommended new emissions standards for international flights that require an average 4 percent reduction in fuel consumption during the cruising phase of flight. The new regulations from the International Civil Aviation Organization require that new aircraft designs meet the standards beginning in 2020, and that designs already in production comply by 2023. Environmental groups have criticized those new international standards as too weak to actually slow global warming. Planes burn the most fuel during takeoffs and landings. Cruising at high altitudes is the most fuel-efficient period. Environmentalists say aviation accounts for about 5 percent of global greenhouse emissions, though the U.N. and EPA cite studies concluding it's actually less than 2 percent. The EPA finding announced Monday is expected to result in fuel-efficiency standards for domestic carriers, which critics call long overdue. The EPA acted after a coalition of environmental organizations filed notice of their intent to sue the agency over its inaction. "People should not have to choose between mobility and a healthy climate," said Marcie Keever, legal director for the environmental group Friends of the Earth. "Now it's time for the Obama administration to issue a strong rule, to hold the aviation industry accountable." Though environmental groups are pushing EPA to adopt stricter standards, the airlines and aircraft manufactures want to U.S. to adopt the more modest reductions proposed for international routes. U.S.-owned airliners account for nearly one-third of all aircraft pollution worldwide. While carbon emissions from land-based sources are largely in decline, pollution from airplanes is projected to triple by 2050 without stricter limits. TEXAS Birth certificates now easier for immigrants AUSTIN Parents who entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico and Central America will have an easier time getting birth certificates for their children born in Texas following a lawsuit settlement with the state, lawyers for immigration advocates said on Monday. The deal for now ends a legal fight that erupted last year when Texas was accused of denying birthright U.S. citizenship amid heightened national debate over immigration. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman signed an order that sets aside the lawsuit so long as Texas lives up to the agreement. Although ID cards issued by Mexican consulates still wont be accepted as many wanted, Texas will now accept valid Mexican voter ID cards that can now be obtained at consulates in the U.S., said Efrin Olivares, a lead attorney on the lawsuit for the Texas Civil Rights Project. It is unknown how many parents were denied a birth certificate for their Texas-born children. GEORGIA Court says upskirting doesnt violate laws ATLANTA A man admitted he surreptitiously took cellphone video up a womans skirt while she shopped at a grocery store, but a Georgia court said he didnt break the law. A divided Georgia Court of Appeals this month tossed out the conviction of former grocery store employee Brandon Lee Gary, who recorded videos up a womans skirt known as upskirting while she shopped. The 6-3 majority opinion said Garys behavior, while reprehensible, doesnt violate the states invasion of privacy law, under which he was prosecuted. In a ruling issued July 15, Judge Elizabeth Branch said it is regrettable that no law currently exists which criminalizes Garys reprehensible conduct. In a strongly worded dissent, Judge Amanda Mercier argued there is no gap in the law and that Garys actions were clearly illegal. NEW YORK Major drug dealer gets 35 years in prison NEW YORK A Colombian described as one of historys biggest cocaine dealers was sentenced to 35 years in prison Monday by a Manhattan judge who called the scope of his crimes staggering. Known as El Loco, Daniel Barrera Barrera, 48, was sentenced by Judge Gregory Woods, who rejected a defense lawyers request for leniency on the grounds that his client tried to cooperate, urged others to surrender and had rescued victims of kidnappings. The sentence included a $10 million forfeiture and a $10 million fine. Prosecutors said Barrera shipped at least 720 tons of cocaine from Colombia to the United States as part of a massive drug dealing operation that sent drugs to four continents and utilized a submersible vehicle to transport drugs. Barrera had admitted distributing 400 tons of cocaine annually from 1998 to 2011 with an organization backed by lethal drug cartels and terrorist groups. NEVADA Judge orders mans tattoos to be covered LAS VEGAS A Las Vegas judge has ordered a cosmetologist to cover up a defendants neck and facial tattoos that include a swastika and the words Most Wanted on each day of his robbery trial. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that District Judge Richard Scotti decided that Bayzle Morgans tattoos should be concealed in an effort to get him a fair trial. Morgan has tattoos including a swastika inside a clover under his eye, the words Skin Head on his eyebrows and Baby Nazi written across his neck. It comes after an entire group of potential jurors said last month that they couldnt be impartial after seeing Morgans tattoos. A new group will see him in makeup starting Monday. Wire reports Odell Baskerville, who left a career in retail management 25 years ago to fulfill a lifelong dream of cooking and went on to became one of Tucsons most respected chefs, died on July 21. He was 60. Baskerville had been battling twin cancers gastric and brain for nearly two years and had been able to keep both at bay until 10 days before his death, said his widow, Alison Owen. On the morning of July 11, Baskerville taught classes at the Art Institute of Tucson, where he was on the culinary faculty, and that night was admitted into St. Josephs Hospital. Even a few weeks prior to him going back to the hospital this last time, he was still going to work and teaching his classes. You couldnt stop him, said Baskervilles son, Peter, who attends Pima Community College. He just wanted to keep going. He didnt want to let the illness stop him from doing what he loved to do. He was so passionate about what he did, about cooking and teaching others how to cook. Baskerville had no formal culinary education. He grew up in Fulton, New York, not far from Syracuse, with five sisters and a brother. Their mother attended night school, so the siblings would race one another home from school, and whoever go there first got to cook dinner. They all enjoyed cooking dinner, said Owen, noting that one of her husbands brothers also pursued a cooking career. Baskerville earned a degree in English literature and had his teaching certificate, but after a short teaching stint, he pursued a career in retail management. He worked at Montgomery Wards and moved to Tucson in 1984, taking a job at in the late 1980s with Thrifty Drugs. When Thrifty announced plans several years later to leave Tucson, Baskerville decided to pursue cooking, Owen said. He went to Loews Ventana Canyon Resort for a job interview and expected to get a job as a dishwasher just to get in the door, she recalled. Instead, He was given a job in garde manger, an entry-level cooking position. Within six years, Baskerville worked his way through the ranks to become sous chef, the kitchens second-in-command. His other stops included Janos and Miraval Life in Balance Resort and Spa before he joined the Arizona Inn as sous chef in 1998. It didnt take long for the University of Arizona-area resort to name him executive chef, a position he held for nine years, helping the resort earn its first-ever AAA four-diamond ranking for the main dining room. Baskerville left the restaurant in 2009 and worked at a few restaurants, including a short stint with Albert Hall at his Foothills restaurant, Acacia Real Food & Cocktails. Odell was probably one of the most even-tempered chefs that I met in my life to the point that he was unflappable, Hall said Monday from Oregon, where he moved recently after closing Acacia in May. His knowledge of food was fantastic. And he was just a wonderful human being. Baskerville in recent years turned his attention away from cooking and focused more on teaching. He loved teaching. He loved passing on his knowledge, said Elizabeth Mikesell, a PCC culinary instructor who worked with Baskerville in the schools internship program and on the board of the Tucson chapter of the American Culinary Federation Chefs Association of Arizona. He was very, very witty, but also a very talented chef, said Art Institute colleague Brian Burton, who directs the culinary program. Hes the type who would take his time and build his team at the restaurants he worked at. Even as a chef instructor here, he would stop and help our students, whether it was in culinary or in life. He would circle back around and have that conversation with a student to maybe help them be a better cook or just to give them some advice. Peter Baskerville, who said his favorite times with his father were spent watching movies from his dads vast DVD collection, said his father gave him great advice throughout his life. He was patient and kind, loving and very wise. He had a lot of good advice that he gave to me; I could pretty much come to him with any problem I had and he could help me through it, he said. The best advice his father gave him: Do what you love and the money will follow. That really stuck with me, and its good advice for anybody, Peter Baskerville said. The amount of the settlement with Starbucks was not disclosed, but the chain said the men will be given the opportunity to complete their undergraduate degrees through a partnership with Arizona State University. SAWMILL NO MENACE TO TIMBER SUPPLY No Timber for Export Will Be Cut From Local Forests, Says Johnson That no timber would be cut in the Coronado-Chiricahua national forest for export and that only timber for domestic use would be cut, was the statement of Forest Supervisor Don P. Johnson of the local station, who returned yesterday from a visit of a week in the Catalinas. Mr. Johnson stated that there was some apprehension among local people that an excess of timber would be cut because a new saw mill was being erected on the Webber homestead by Jim Westfall, forest ranger. This is a saw mill of small capacity, Mr. Johnson stated yesterday, and is being erected by Westfall entirely as a private proposition. It is for the purpose of cutting timber for the erection of bungalows and houses for residents on the Webber homestead, which has been taken over by the Summerhaven company, composed of Tucson capitalists. Timber from trees on the Webber homestead will be cut, starting September 1. Only trees that should be cut to make room for the natural growth will be sacrificed, and then the timber will be used only in the district. There is no danger of and first devastation, Mr. Johnson declares, and people need not worry about this feature. The Catalinas for climate and scenic beauty are far beyond what Mr. Johnson had expected, and he declared that with the exception of water, the mountains were fully up to the New Mexico mountains in every particular. The trout streams in the Catalinas, he stated, were worthy of comment. He stated that Stanley [unreadable name] Jr., caught 24 trout in one day while he was there. While in the mountains, Mr. Johnson also surveyed the land requested by the University of Arizona. Two sections on top of Mount Lemmon will be used for a biological laboratory. The altitude is approximately 9000 feet. Another two sections in Rock Canyon will be used for a spring and fall military camp for the University cadets. The location is rather low and would be too hot for summer for camping purposes, but in the spring or fall it is just right. There is running water at the camp site and thickets of cottonwood trees. Two were arrested this weekend at the international border in Nogales, Arizona in separate attempts to smuggle more than $822,500 worth of heroin and cocaine, authorities said. On Sunday, more than 37 pounds of heroin and more than four pounds of cocaine were found in a Chevrolet Malibu at the DeConcini crossing by Customs and Border Protection officers, according to a news release. A drug-sniffing dog alerted officers during a secondary inspection of the vehicle that was driven by a woman from Mexico. The drugs were valued at more than $704,000, officials said. The woman was turned over to federal authorities, and her car and the drugs were seized. On Saturday, a teen was taken into custody at the Mariposa crossing after officers found nearly seven pounds of heroin in his laptop computer, a keyboard and other belongings, authorities said. The heroin was valued at more than $118,500. The findings occurred during a secondary inspection of a Tufesa passenger bus. The teen, who is a U.S. citizen, was turned over to federal authorities and the drugs were seized. The first official statement made by a Border Patrol agent after a 2012 cross-border fatal shooting in Nogales might not be heard in federal court, documents show. But other statements reportedly made by Agent Lonnie Ray Swartz to a supervisor, such as I shot and theres someone dead in Mexico, were entered into the public record July 22 in U.S. District Court in Tucson, marking the first public account of the shooting from the agents perspective. A grand jury indicted Swartz on a second-degree murder charge in September for shooting through gaps in the border fence and killing 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez in October 2012. An autopsy report by the government of Sonora, Mexico, showed Elena Rodriguez was struck as many as 10 times. Border Patrol officials said the shooting occurred during a rock-throwing incident. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has refused to release footage of the shooting taken by a border surveillance camera. Swartzs trial is to begin in November, and defense lawyer Sean Chapman made a motion, which is not available through the online federal court record system, to suppress Swartzs answers to the eight questions asked of agents following a serious use-of-force incident. Chapman argued Swartzs comments were coerced because Swartz feared he would be fired if he did not answer them, federal prosecutors said in their response to Chapmans motion. Prosecutors cited grand jury testimony from Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Leo Cruz Mendez, who oversaw the aftermath of the shooting, to show Cruz Mendezs questions were akin to Swartz being asked to make a routine report so his superiors could respond to the incident. Cruz Mendez testified he was surprised to see Swartz at the border fence because Swartz was assigned to the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry that night. The port of entry is located several hundred yards from the site of the shooting. Cruz Mendez approached Swartz and told him everything was OK. He then asked Swartz if he was OK, and Swartz began to vomit. Cruz Mendez said prior to asking the eight questions, Swartz told him they were throwing rocks, they hit the (K-9) dog, and I shot and theres someone dead in Mexico. Cruz Mendez asked Swartz how many shots he fired, and Swartz said he could not recall. Swartz handed over his P2000 semi-automatic pistol and an empty magazine. Prosecutors said Chapman did not object to those comments being used at trial. Instead, his objection dealt solely with the responses to the eight questions. With regard to those responses, prosecutors said Cruz Mendezs testimony shows Swartz knew the questions were routine and not meant to incriminate him. Cruz Mendez testified that he told Swartz Hey, per policy, I have to ask you eight questions. These eight questions are not incriminatory. Theyre just basic basic information that I need so I can pass on to my supervisors. ... I assured him he wasnt in trouble. I go, Youre not in trouble. A ruling has not been made on whether Swartzs answers can be used at trial. In a separate motion July 1, Chapman argued the murder charge should be dismissed because the shooting did not take place on federal land and therefore was not within federal jurisdiction. In their July 22 response, prosecutors said the shooting occurred on the Roosevelt Easement, a 60-foot wide strip of federal land that runs along the border fence in Nogales. In the four-person race for the U.S. Senate seat in the Republican primary, Sen. John McCain has a multi-million dollar lead over his opponents. Seeking his sixth term in the Senate, McCain raised slightly over $1.8 million between the beginning of April and the end of June, according to Federal Election Commission records. McCain took in more than $1.2 million in individual donations and another $310,100 from political parties and political action committees. He had $5.8 million in his campaign coffers at the end of June. His closest Republican rival, former state Sen. Kelli Ward, in the second quarter of 2016 raised $315,353 in individual donations, according to FEC records. This was an improvement over the previous fundraising period, in which she raised $178,836. Ward is being targeted by third-party groups, including the Arizona Grassroots Action Political Action Committee, which have spent more than $1 million this year on negative ads. The same group has released ads targeting Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, the sole Democrat in the statewide race. Republican Alex Meluskey raised $14,839, according to his campaign finance report, and GOP candidate Clair Van Steenwyk did not submit any campaign finance reports, according to the FEC. Kirkpatrick raised the most of all the candidates with $1.85 million in donations, primarily from individuals. Her campaign war chest still had $2.4 million at the end of January. Help India! By TCN News, New Delhi: Many social activists, academicians, researchers and prominent citizens took part in a discussion on Liberty and Fraternity in the Constitution: A Review organized by Institute of Objective Studies (IOS) at Nehru House, Jamia Millia Islamia in association with the Democratic Peoples Lawyer Association (DPLA), Citizens For Democracy (CFD) and the All India Milli Council (AIMC). Support TwoCircles The program was held on July 16 where a seven-point resolution was adopted by a voice vote. The resolution read out byProf. ZM Khan, Secretary General, IOS said: 1. This meeting reaffirms the right to liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship as guaranteed in the Constitution. 2. The said freedoms can only be guaranteed on the basis of non-violence. The concept of liberty is directly connected to democracy as observed by one of the fathers of the Indian Constitution, Acharya J B Kripalani. 3. These minimal rights are to be enjoyed by every person for free and civilised existence in society. 4. This meeting asserts that the right to liberty and personal freedom is an important fundamental right given by the Constitution of India under the articles 19, 20, 21 and 22 and is a tool for ensuring a democratic framework. 5. The term fraternity added to the Preamble of the Constitution, is in the spirit of brotherhood with the feeling that all people are children of the same soil, and is the cementing factor of the inherent diversities, and is not possible unless the dignity of each individual is preserved and mutually respected. 6. This meeting strongly feels that any proposed steps to deprive the educational institutions established by the minority communities, as per the provisions of the Constitution, of the right of governing and running with minority character, are denial of the basic rights of the minorities, hence of fundamental rights. It also sees the efforts to raise the demand for a uniform civil code interference in the personal laws of different communities. 7. Democracy, fraternity, liberty can flourish only in an environment of equality, mutual respect and respect of the rule of law. Speech, words, writings and abuse of social and audio-visual media that incites violence and divisiveness, hate and targeting of communities, must invite action under the law. L-R: John Dayal, Eminent journalist and human rights activist; Dr ND Pancholi, Secretary General, Citizens for Democracy; Dr M. Manzoor Alam, Chairman, IOS; Prof. M. Aslam, Vice-Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University; MD Thomas, Founder Director, Institute of Peace and Harmony; Introducing the theme, Prof. M. Afzal Wani, Professor, school of Law & Legal Studies, G. G. Singh Indraprastha University and Asstt. Secretary General, IOS stressed that it was fraternity that was cardinal for integrating humanity. It strengthened the belief that all human beings belonged to the same earliest parents. In the absence of basic traits of humanism, human vision got narrower. If that happened, man would destroy everything before being destroyed himself. Referring to the Quranic teachings, Best among you is one who performs best he said that this was also applicable to our Constitution which set for itself the goal of fraternity. Violation of the Constitution meant violation of humanity. Noting that the Prophet (pbuh) established norms of humanity, he maintained that global humanity was possible only by promoting fraternity. Vice-Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University, Prof. M. Aslam, lamented that even after more than six decades of the adoption of the Constitution, we were still discussing its finer points. We failed to educate people about liberty and fraternity that were the corner-stone of our Constitution. It would have been better if students were also taught about the basic features of the Constitution. Commenting on the situation obtaining in the country, he laid emphasis on the need for inter-community dialogue between Muslims, Christians and among other minorities. He also suggested inter-community dialogue between Muslims and the majority community in order to reach a consensus on broader issues confronting the nation. Calling for starting the process of dialogue without loss of time, he said that reconciliation, not confrontation was the need of the hour. Giving a wakeup call, he said that we must act before it was too late. He also stressed the need for legal literacy at the grassroots level for better understanding of law and the Constitution. Eminent journalist and human rights activist, John Dayal assailed the new education policy which he said was laced with saffron colour. He objected to the use of rites according to the customs of a particular religion at foundation-laying on governments inaugural functions. In this connection, he cited the function held at Amravati to lay the foundation for the new Capital of Andhra Pradesh where Sanskrit hymns were chanted in complete disregard of the secular character of the state. Similarly, Shri Vedic shlokas were chanted at a ceremony organised to mark the induction of the indigenously-built Tejas fighter plane into the Indian Air Force. He said that there was a bagful of contradictions in the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Indian Constitution. While ban on cow slaughter was being vigorously pursued, other finer points in it did not attract the attention of the protagonists. He accused the Central government of squeezing out the non-governmental organisation (NGOs) by arbitrarily using provisions of Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA). This had forced several of them to close down or sell out. He disfavoured ban on communal organisations, like RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), asking for putting restrictions on their leaders in order to circumvent them from vitiating the atmosphere of peace and harmony. He said he would drag them into a court of law if they incited people to violence. Founder Director of the Institute of Peace and Harmony, MD Thomas held that we were part of a process that was on for the betterment of society. Quoting Dr Ambedkar he said, If we live by the Constitution, it is good and if we do not live by it, it is bad. He explained that the core of our existence was freedom and it was fraternity that had integrated us with the rest. We claimed to be a religious country but if we violated fraternity, we would be violating the Constitution. Thus as concerned citizens we cherish certain values which enjoin upon us a duty to love our countrymen irrespective of their gender, caste and creed. Calling for the evolution of national solidarity, he said that we must put our mind and concern together. Chairman, Democratic Peoples Lawyer Association, Arun Kumar Majhi, advocate, opined that the Indian Constitution was based on lofty ideals, but the ruling class had taken all the three branches of government in its control. He cautioned that liberty and fraternity were in jeopardy due to their usurpation by the ruling class. He held the Brahminical order responsible for destroying the liberty of Muslims and Dalits. He brought home his point by saying that Muslims and Dalits constituted 90 percent of jail inmates in the country who were languishing in jails for years together for want of access to legal aid. The Chancellor of Bharti Shree Peitham, New Delhi, Swami Sarvanand Saraswati, held that religion never came in the way of the promotion of humanity. He said that the one who promoted humanity and human values was dear to God. He called upon the people to rise above caste and creed and strengthen humanity. Secretary General, Citizens for Democracy, Dr. ND Pancholi, said that we had to go deep into history in order to understand the true meaning of liberty and fraternity. Man had struggled hard to attain freedom. Thus freedom was of utmost value. He said that obstacles to liberty, freedom and fraternity were placed by bringing in harsh laws like TADA, POTA and UAPA. He stressed the need for awakening the people against the curbs on freedom and for building up a campaign against UAPA. In his presidential remarks, the Chairman of the IOS, Dr M. Manzoor Alam, exhorted the youth to come up and define their role in the present context. He quoted a line from the famous poem of Dr Iqbal, Mashriq-o-maghrib mein teray daur ka aaghaz hai (this is the beginning of your time from east to west). He said that we had been debating Fundamental Rights under the Indian Constitution for the last 65 years and this debate would last till the Constitution lasted. Echoing views of Prof. Aslam, he said that the All India Milli Council had already been organising such inter-community dialogues. He held that the course would be further pursued. In order to take the course of inter-community dialogue forward, he informed, a two-day function in this connection would be organised in Gaya (Bihar) on September 24 and 25, 2016 in collaboration with the Magadh University, Bodhgaya. Gaya had been advisedly selected as the venue of the meet on religious understanding because of its significance as one of the most important seats of Buddhism, he said. He was at pains to explain that a hate campaign in the form of Islamophobia was being spread through the width and length of the world. This misinformation campaign could be put to an end by concerted efforts of enlightened people of the communities other than Muslims. He complained that on hearsay Muslims were judged and no action was initiated against those who openly promoted hatred and ill-will against a particular community. Though the recorded statements of such leaders had gone viral, no action against them was forthcoming. He said that the law meant for the protection of Muslims and Dalits seemed to have become null and void. He urged intellectuals of all hues to work together. Help India! Surat : The Surat police on Monday booked its own Sub-Inspector N.S. Patel on charge of murdering a 25-year-old Dalit man, who died under mysterious circumstances. Mahendra Makwana was reportedly picked up by a police team during a raid at a gambling den in the citys Dabholi area. Support TwoCircles Police claimed Makwana tried to escape from its custody but during the chase, he fell due to an alleged epileptic attack and died on the spot. Enraged locals said Makwana died of severe police beating since he was a Dalit. A mob then attacked Patel with sticks and stones. He has been hospitalised. A case was registered for thrashing a policeman on duty, further infuriating the family of Makwana and other community members. Though police continued to maintain that the man fell unconscious while escaping and died, it registered a first information report against Patel on the charge of murder and under other provisions of the law related to prevention of atrocities against the Dalits. Meanwhile, doctors at a local hospital who conducted an autopsy on Makwanas body said they did not come upon any conclusive evidence but they did find injury marks on his leg. Help India! Hyderabad : Pharma major Dr. Reddys Laboratories on Monday presented scholarship to 250 students of government-run schools in Telangana for the academic year 2015-2016. The scholarships were awarded to those students of 22 Zilla Parishad High Schools who completed their Secondary School Examination (SSC) with remarkable grades. The company has contributed Rs 25 lakh towards this initiative. Support TwoCircles There are several students from schools around Dr. Reddys manufacturing locations who are consistent top performers. However, due to lack of financial aid the students discontinue the education. To bridge this gap, the company identifies bright students every year and reward them with the post SSC Scholarship to pursue their higher education, the company said in a statement. Dr. Reddys firmly believes that access to a good education is every childs right and this scholarship programme is a step towards making secondary education accessible and affordable to all young students, it added. The scholarships were presented to the students at Kallam Anji Reddy Vidyalaya (KARV), Madinaguda, in the presence of Anuradha Prasad, Managing Trustee, Dr. Reddys Foundation, Dr. V Narayana Reddy, Vice President Head IR & Corporate Affairs and Ramesh, District Education Officer of Rangareddy district Rouen Normandy. A Priest was killed by church hostage-takers by having his throat cut with a knife blade. This has met with strong condemnation from the Vatican. Reuters report that the Vatican said the attack was even worse for happening in a sacred place. AFP wrote that the Pope was filled with pain and horror over the incident. While initial reports were that the Priest merely had his throat cut, which is bad enough, newly updated reports via i24 News, indicate he may have been beheaded. Early reports suggest that at least two nuns were also held hostage. Morning church-goers terrorized. The attack took place on the morning on 26 July, in a church at Saint-Etienne-du Rouvray, near Rouen in Normandy, France. Within minutes of reports received that hostage-takers were threatening people in the church, the Mayor, and Police arrived on the scene and elite anti-terror units were quickly dispatched. The attack ended when the hostage-takers were killed, but help arrived too late for the priest who was brutally butchered and at least one other hostage is hovering between life and death, according to a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior. According to the spokesman, Mr. Pierre-Henry Brandet, the attackers came out of the church and were quickly taken down by the special unit. The investigation will be done by Anti-terror unit. Within two hours or so of the terror event, the French President - Francois Hollande was on his way to the scene of the crime. Whilst it is unknown at this time, what the motive for the attack was, the incident will be investigated by the anti-terror unit of the Public Prosecutors office, Reuters report. It is too early to know if the attackers were on a Jihad, or were ISIS or even of Muslim origin, but public opinion is greatly influenced by previous such attacks in France, and this most recent one is the fourth reported this year. Many people on social media believe the problem lies with Muslims being given refugee status in Europe, and some blame the Pope in part, for endorsing the influx of refugees from Syria and other Muslim conflict zones. @Conflicts he's part of the problem asking Europe to let in as many muslim refugees as possible Duncan Rimmer (@duncr) July 26, 2016 Already, it is being widely reported that this was an Islamist attack, but so far, the BBC is not committing to this angle of the story, but according to Breitbart News, Marine Le Pen, leader of the Front National Party, tweeted that, The modus operandi makes it clear that we have to fear new attacks by Islamist terrorists. The attack took place where there is a very strong Christian culture, as Rouen is the site where Joan of Arc was put to death. Breitbart also reported that local sources have named the murdered priest as 86-year-oldFather Jacques Hamel who was ordained in 1958. Jeremy Corbyn may be defined as the epitome of democracy he has been standing up for democracy, and has been a MP for 33 years. Not only that, but unlike many political allies and opponents he has stood up and remained Labour after a time when many people would believe that he should stand down. This move will be detrimental to his role either he will lose his power completely, as shadow chancellor John McDonald explained on the Andrew Marr show on Sunday 24th, or will his determination to remain leader overthrow the motion of no confidence and the rebellion against him within the party. Although many people disagree with Corbyn and his stance of enduring his role against many other Labour politicians, Corbyn has been praised due to the clarity and ability to succeed at his policies, as they are achievable. Economics Dubbed Corbynomics, the leader of the opposition has support of over 40 economists, including the former advisor to the Bank of England. The policies are anti-austerity, austerity being defined as spending cuts by the Government, and a period of higher taxes, especially in a recession, which the world has been in since 2008. He has promised to introduced a maximum wage, mirroring the introduction of minimum wage by, former Labour leader, Tony Blair in 1999. Furthermore, reverting changes by Thatcher, he wants to renationalise energy companies, railways and theorises to reopen coal mines. With the support of over 40 economists in an open letter that was signed Corbyns economics policies seem to have sight of some success. Education Jeremy has very clear education plans, if he were to become Prime Minister. Firstly, he wants a National Education Service similar to that of the NHS. He has described education as a collective good. He also promised minimum wages to apprentices, with the current rate being 3.30, being 2.00 an hour under the working minimum wage. Corbyn wants to completely dismiss tuition fees for university students, something brought under the 2010 coalition government of Cameron and Clegg. Personal Attacks Jeremy is against personal attacks completely especially when making debates about the future, or the government. He explained in 2015 that I dont do personal abuse and I dont expect anyone else to do it either. Jeremy Corbyn seems to have a humble approach, and his ability to shake off the recent attacks against him may suggest his stance, and may hint as his potential to take intense criticism if Corbyn were to become Prime Minister. Taxation Corbyn has two main aims, based around taxation. Firstly, he wants to raise taxes for the rich in a task to eradicate grotesque inequality. Secondly, Corbyn wants to crack down on Tax evaders, ensuring the HMRC have available resources to do be able to do. It was reported in The Guardian that tax evaders costs the government 16bn a year. The idea According to Phoenix-based LabelHorde director Angela Johnson, Arizona Fashion Source (AFS), LabelHorde (LH), and Arizona Apparel Foundation (AAF) have joined forces to take the steps needed to launchmetropolitan Phoenix into the nextmajor fashion market. Together, the entities will provide industry education, consulting, design services, apparel manufacturing, co-working, fashion makers studio, event space, incubator services, design studio supplies, and showroom space all under one roof. The goal is to create anindustry environment in one building to make it easier for Arizona students, brands, and fashion lovers to learn, source, create, network; ultimately giving industry professionals and students every reason to stay in Arizona. Even Arizona models will benefit, being able to work so closely with designers and the core of the Phoenix fashion scene. What's the point? Arizonas fashion designers/brands and students graduating from the many local programs have had to seek resources and employment in other cities such as Los Angeles and New York. However, the growing trend in locally and domestically made products combined with the re-shoring movement and the convenience of digital marketing has inspired a new generation of clothing brands to establish their businesses outside of traditional fashion industry cities. These brands are then faced with the obstacle of sourcing the materials and manufacturing services they need. AFS/LH/AAF is dedicated to helping local brands navigate these obstacles by providing solutions and the resources they need to start up, grow and thrive in Arizona. The ultimate goal is to keep local brands from having to source their manufacturing outside of the state, while attracting out-of-state brands looking for resource alternatives. Producing apparel locally keeps money in the state while creating jobs and bringing in a new, creative, sustainable and in-demand industry. The companies involved: AFS/LH/AAF is Arizonas first and most comprehensive networking resource for independent companies to reach the community and all of the fashion related services that they need to operate and grow their businesses. AFS/LH/AAF is temporarily located in Mesa, Arizona, but will be moving in August 2016 to a 20,000+ sq. ft. building that will house the entire effort under one roof. Arizona Fashion Sourceis an apparel manufacturer that uses sustainable and state-of-the-art manufacturing processes to create samples and production runs with no minimums. AFS manufactures heavy and light weight knits and wovens on industrial sewing equipment and the latest CAD programs. LabelHordeis a category-driven directory of fashion businesses enabling users to easily locate local emerging and established designers, boutiques, manufacturers, photographers, models, stylists, industry supplies, fashion schools and all things fashion-related in Arizona. LabelHorde also features a classifieds page for local fashion jobs, a calendar that lists all local and important national fashion events, lessons/classes, consulting, and design studio resources that designers need to start and run their businesses. Arizona Apparel Foundationis an Arizona non-profit corporation applying for 501(c)(3) status. The Foundations mission is to provide the knowledge and resources needed to foster Arizonas fashion industry. Its vision is to create the next U.S. fashion city in metropolitan Phoenix, to support cutting edge research and innovation in wearable tech and to build a sustainable and exciting new industry in Arizona. Timothy Taylor picks Shanghai artist for Europe Updated: 2016-07-26 07:35 By Lin Qi(China Daily) Timothy Taylor and his London gallery are reaching out to China's booming art market. Photo provided to China Daily Abstract artist Ding Yi from Shanghai has become the first Chinese to be represented in the United Kingdom by the British gallery Timothy Taylor. Ding, 64, is known for his distinct style that features patterns of crosses and grids arranged in varying arrays. Some of his pieces are with museums such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and have been acquired by the auto company Daimler for its art collection. Timothy Taylor, after whom his London gallery is named, tells China Daily in an interview over email that he has followed Ding's career for the past decade and that he felt Ding's works should be introduced to European audiences. Taylor has been visiting China for a few years now, scouting for artists he would like to work with. "Up to this point the only artist who has interested me at that level is Ding Yi," Taylor says. "I don't see him as a Chinese artist but as an international artist whose work engages in a global dialogue." Taylor's gallery of two decades occupies a 464-square-meter space in the upscale Mayfair area in London, and represents 24 artists, including modern American artists Sean Scully and Kiki Smith. Representing Ding is just one of its plans to reach out to China's booming art scene. The gallery has appointed Chinese-Canadian Kate Wong as its associate director to develop its presence in China, including working with prestigious museums, galleries and cultural institutions here. Wong runs her own gallery in Vancouver, and has been working with Timothy Taylor for the past three years. The gallery will participate in this year's West Bund Art & Design fair to be held in Shanghai in November. Taylor says they have ambitious projects lined up for the next year and will continue to invest resources into developing relationships with local art communities. Asia - particularly China - has become a priority for international galleries in recent years. In May, Hauser & Wirth, a gallery that operates spaces in several cities, including Zurich, London and Los Angeles, appointed Guo Qianqian, a former Christie's employee born in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province, as a director to focus on Asia, with an emphasis on the Chinese market. Taylor, whose 20-year-old son now lives in Shanghai, says he is attracted to China by the same energy he experienced in New York in the early 1980s, when the city's art market was picking up, with dealers, artists and general art lovers all equally involved in figuring out trends. In 2014, Taylor established a connection with China by co-organizing Scully's touring exhibition in Shanghai and Beijing. The Irish-American artist's exhibition in China toured the eastern city of Nanjing two months ago and will travel to Guangdong in September and Hubei provinces in January 2017. Taylor says Chinese galleries, museums, curators and artists will only continue to become more interesting and relevant to the world. At least 15 dead in knife attack outside Tokyo Updated: 2016-07-26 05:44 (Xinhua) Print Mail Large Medium Small 0 TOKYO -- At least 15 people were killed and many others injured in a knife attack in Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture early Tuesday, Kyodo news agency reported. Display of queen's wardrobe includes outfit she wore at Great Wall in 1986 Updated: 2016-07-26 07:49 By Wang Mingjie in London(China Daily) The dress worn by Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to the Great Wall in 1986, is on display during a special exhibition at Buckingham Palace to celebrate her 90th birthday. Wang Mingjie / China Daily Queen Elizabeth II visits the Great Wall with Prince Philip in October 1986. Provided To China Daily To celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday, a special exhibition of the British monarch's wardrobe is on display through Oct 2 at Buckingham Palace. The exhibition, Fashioning a Reign: 90 Years of Style From The Queen's Wardrobe, includes two outfits that the queen wore during her historic state visit to China in October 1986. Exhibitions also are scheduled for her two other official residences. "The pink silk evening dress embroidered with sprays of tree peony blossoms, the national flower of China and a revered symbol in Chinese art and culture, was worn for a state banquet in Beijing," said Caroline de Guitaut, curator of the Royal Collection, which manages public events at the queen's official residences. "The queen was the first British reigning monarch to visit China on a state visit, and it is a very key piece of her wardrobe on display here," she said. Another piece that has a strong connection to China is the purple ensemble designed by the late Hardy Amies, a leading couturier who worked for the queen. The queen was photographed wearing this ensemble when she visited the Great Wall of China with Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, in 1986. The show at Buckingham Palace, featuring more than 80 dresses and 60 fashion accessories, examines how clothes and fashionable dresses have supported the queen in various roles as head of the state, head of the armed forces and head of the Commonwealth. It presents the fashions of 10 decades, from the 1920s to the present, showing the unique requirements of royal couture. The Buckingham Palace exhibition, which opened on Saturday, includes ceremonial attire as well as outfits worn at family celebrations, such as weddings and christenings. Wardrobes from the queen's early childhood, her wedding to the Duke of Edinburgh and her coronation, as well as outfits created for royal tours and state visits, also are represented. Also on display is the dress she wore for the Thames River Pageant, part of the celebrations marking the queen's Diamond Jubilee in June 2012.Another very recognizable outfit is the one she wore when she appeared at the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games in 2012. wangmingjie@mail.chinadailyuk.com Sanders supporters unbowed in protest Updated: 2016-07-26 10:56 By Chen Weihua in Philadelphia(China Daily USA) Thousands of supporters of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Green Party candidate Jill Stein defied the 97-degree temperatures in a protest at City Hall in Philadelphia on the first day of the 2016 Democratic National Convention, which got underway fewer than 4 miles south at the Wells Fargo Center. The Sanders supporters said they will not give up and vote for presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, despite Sanders' endorsement. Sanders told his delegates on Monday at the convention to support Clinton, but he was booed by many of them. Sarah Ruggiero, from Brooklyn, New York, said it is not acceptable for her to vote for Clinton. "We cannot vote for someone whom we cannot trust, who doesn't share our values," she said. "Hillary Clinton systematically attacked everything I believed in," said Jerry Goldstein, who came with Ruggiero. The two had campaigned heavily for Sanders in Brooklyn in the past year. Goldstein brought up the influence of money in politics and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which he said ships American jobs abroad. He stressed that he will not vote for Clinton. "People support candidates; we represent ideas," he said. Ruggiero said that the next few days will be telling. "This is a revolution; it takes time, not based on one election," she said. Like Sanders, both said they were not surprised by the email scandal over the weekend in which Democratic National Committee staffers were found working in favor of Clinton against Sanders, including questioning Sanders' religious belief and organizing news media to defame the Sanders campaign. Thousands of emails released by wikileaks.org ultimately led to the resignation on Sunday of DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. "It was liberating, because we have been told that we are whiners, sore losers, (that) we were fringe people," said Goldstein. "We knew all along that they were cheating. It's not surprising," Ruggiero said. "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable," said Goldstein, quoting former US president John F. Kennedy. The massive protests on Monday were peaceful. Scores of police, many on bicycles, were watching just off the sidewalks. It is estimated that Philadelphia will see some 35,000 to 50,000 protesters throughout this week's DNC, mostly supporters of Sanders. Robin Reedes, from Bloomington, Indiana, drove almost 10 hours to Philadelphia on Sunday with her two brothers. "I just want to show my disapproval for the entire primary," she said. "The way the primary has been basically taken from Bernie Sanders and handed to Hillary Clinton has been a very undemocratic process." She said the email scandal confirmed what she already believed previously. "I decided to come here months and months ago. I was angry at that time, and I am still angry now," she said. Reedes said she understood that Sanders was endorsing Clinton for political reasons. "But I don't follow him with the endorsement," she said. "My plan is that if Hillary is the nominee, I will vote for Jill Stein of the Green Party," she said. "The process is not democratic anymore. We have to fight for the future of democracy, and I have to be on the right side." Waving the flag of Socialist Alternative, Daniel Keating, from Massachusetts, said dozens of people from the organization were coming to Philadelphia. He said the organization supports Jill Stein, and members want to win over Sanders supporters. "We are coming here to talk about how the Democratic Party is a corrupt party. We need to build a party for working people and the 99 percent," he said. Like others, Keating was not surprised by the email controversy. "I assume that they do things like that every day, right?" he said. The Green Party had a rally of hundreds outside City Hall on Monday afternoon, featuring people such as Cornel West, a noted African-American professor and social activist. One of the biggest crowds on Monday was a group led by Revolt Against Plutocracy. Standing in front of the crowd, YaNe Ndgo said they love Sanders, but at this juncture, the group is moving forward. "We are not staying with the Democratic Party unless Bernie is the nominee," she said. Victor Tiffany, co-founder of the organization, said he hoped that the superdelegates are smart enough to keep the door open, indicating that if not, it will help Republican candidate Donald Trump. A CNN poll released on Monday showed that Trump led Clinton, 48 to 45 percent. YaNe Ndgo of Revolt Against Plutocracy leads a protest on Monday outside Philadelphia City Hall in support of Bernie Sanders. Monday was the first day of the four-day 2016 Democratic National Convention at the city's Wells Fargo Center. Chen weihua / China Daily Natasha Masters, a nurse from Tennessee, said she is a Sanders fan and not switching to Clinton "because I don't trust her". The CNN poll also found that 65 percent of the people said Clinton is not honest. She regretted that she could stay only one day in Philadelphia because she has children at home. Drawing a huge crowd was Nina Turner, a former state senator from Ohio and a Sanders supporter. Chatting with and signing posters for Sanders supporters, she called on people to support progressive candidates for Congress, city council and mayor. "Please don't be discouraged, because that's what the establishment wants. Keep pushing. We know we are right," she said. "We know Trump is dangerous, but that is not the way to win people over. You cannot win by fear; we want you to win by talking about what 'I will do for you and future generation.' That's the message I am looking for," she said. Closer to the arena, at FDR Park, thousands of Sanders supporters shouted slogans at the delegates as they made their way to Wells Fargo Center. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com US agrees it's time to 'turn the page' Updated: 2016-07-27 01:53 By Zhang Yunbi in Vientiane, Laos, and Wang Qingyun in Beijing(China Daily) Kerry says he will encourage Manila to pursue negotiations with Beijing Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi(right) meets with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Vientiane, capital of Laos, July 25, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Washington agrees with Beijing that "the time has come" to move away from the tensions in the South China Sea and to "turn the page", US Secretary of State John Kerry said, adding that he will encourage the Philippines to pursue dialogue and negotiation with China in their dispute. He made the comments to reporters in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, while recalling his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday. Both Wang and Kerry attended a range of multilateral meetings of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations from Sunday to Tuesday. Kerry told a news conference on Tuesday that "we don't take a position, as I said earlier, on the claimants" in the South China Sea issue. He said the US "would like to see a process of dialogue" between Beijing and Manila. "I will be leaving to the Philippines this afternoon, meeting with President (Rodrigo) Duterte tomorrow, and I would encourage President Duterte to engage in dialogue and in negotiation," he said. The consensus between Kerry and Wang surprised many observers, since Washington has publicly pressed Beijing to accept the recent ruling by the Arbitral Tribunal of The Hague in a case unilaterally initiated by Manila in 2013. Wang told China Daily on Tuesday night that the three-day meetings were a success, and "the biggest consensus between China and ASEAN this year is to return to the track of resolving disputes through dialogue and consultation" after the arbitration ruling. Wang said that since ASEAN said during the meetings that it takes no position as a whole on the arbitral ruling, the hyping about the South China Sea did not resolve the issue, but instead "offered excuses to forces outside the region to impose intervention". Chen Qinghong, a researcher on Southeast Asian and Philippine studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Research, welcomed Washington's milder tone. "The possibility cannot be ruled out that Washington may require Manila to make the ruling a condition for future talks with China, while this condition has been refused by Beijing," Chen added. On the sidelines of the meetings, Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak of Slovakia, which assumes the chairmanship of the European Union this year, told China Daily that the EU believes the South China issue should be solved "in a direct dialogue of parties affected". He said that "we are pleased by the joint communique" achieved on Monday in the meeting between ASEAN member states and China, which renewed commitment to managing the disputes. "We believe that this is a step in the right direction, and we believe that in this spirit, the progress will continue in the future," he added. Zhou Fangyin, a professor of Chinese foreign policy at Guangdong Institute for International Strategies, said the meetings "set a tone" for ASEAN's future South China Sea policies, and ASEAN's not taking a position on the arbitration ruling "will be a restraint for Manila". My people, I almost had a heart attack. Let me tell you what happened! It was before Igwe traveled to Nigeria for a couple of weeks. On the night it happened, Igwe and Ada Verastic went to bed at about the same time, while I stayed up in the living room writing. It was past 1:00 AM, and I had just shut down my laptop when Igwe came out to the living room with Ada Verastic. He said she had woken up crying, so I told him to go back to bed while I fed her. I warmed her milk and attempted to feed her, but the girl refused it, and she was crying incessantly, which was very unusual for Ada Verastic. I usually know why shes crying, and Im usually able to quickly console her. This time, however, she was inconsolable. The crying was not going away. Then I held her close to me and realized that her body was warmer than normal. In fact, forget warm; she was hot. I could have fried an egg on her. I pulled out my thermometer and attempted to check her temperature via her rectum. When I gave birth to her, the nurse had told me that the best place to get the most accurate temperature was in the rectum, so I tried. I tried three times and got three different readings because she refused to stay still and was still crying. I attempted to feed her again and she started throwing up. I attempted to give her a dose of her Infants Tylenol and she threw up the little bit that went into her mouth. That was when I knew that dis thing don commot for play-play (this was a serious matter!). At this time, Igwe woke up and came back to see what was going on. He thought maybe she was crying because I didnt give her enough milk, or maybe I walked away. By this time, I was already panicking. I knew that any temperature that was 100.4 degrees or higher in a baby meant she had a high temperature, but I didnt know what her temperature was because I couldnt get an accurate reading. Meanwhile, my baby was still crying screaming and refusing her milk and medicine. She even refused her snacks, which she loves. That was a sure sign for me that she was not okay. Igwe and I immediately decided to rush her to the emergency. At the hospital, we waited for about twenty minutes before we were called in, and if you have ever gone to the emergency room here, then you know that that was FAST! Apparently, the pediatric emergency is a lot faster. In the adult emergency, youd have to be caught in the jaws of a lion with your head dangling by one vein before you get seen. Otherwise, you will wait until your illness almost sends you to your maker. While I was getting dressed and packing for the hospital, I was crying. While we were driving there, I was crying. In the hospital room, I was still crying. They checked her temperature, and she was 104. Aaahh!! Doctor, is this regular feefa or spirishua feefa? Did they send it from the village? Immediately, she was given Childrens Motrin. Not sure what was ailing her, they checked for ear infections. Negative. Then the doctor said they had to check her urine for infections. Since you cannot send Ada Verastic into the bathroom with a urine cup, the only way to get clean urine was to put in a catheter. More crying for both me and her. It was a tiny, little catheter, but still, it was difficult to watch. They got the urine and took it for testing. By the time they returned, her fever had reduced. She still had a fever, but it was not as high. However, it was obvious that she was feeling better. She had gone back to babbling very loudly; you could hear her from the hallway. So, we waited anxiously for the doctor to tell us what was wrong with our baby. My people, she was teething. It was just about a week prior that she had started releasing her first set of teeth one up and one down. And it was these two tiny, little teeth that caused the spike in her temperature. I knew prior to this that teething could cause fever, but in the moment that she had the fever, everything I knew and everything I had read just flew right out of my head. I completely forgot everything. We took our teething baby home where she has lived happily ever after. The next morning, I bought a bottle of Childrens Motrin. She had a little fever the next day, and I was right there with the medicine, feeling like an expert fever reducer. It was past 4 in the morning by the time we went to bed. She now has four teeth. Two up and two down. And shes been biting us every chance she gets. She has also been improving on her paper-eating skills. Yesterday, she tried to eat the box that her new feeding bottles came out of. Judging by the pain of the bites we have received, we can confirm without a shadow of doubt that her teeth work. Please watch out for our blockbuster movie, full of suspense, drama, and action. It will be called, Teeth Of Platinum & Favor: Ada Verastic Chopping Roasted Corn. [Title inspired by Nollywood, in case youre wondering]. All hail Ada Verastic. Na she dey reign. P.S. After the incident, every parent we told about it told us she was teething before we even finished our story. Obviously, Igwe and I were really rookie parents. Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Loading... Checking your browser before accessing the website. This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly. Please wait a few seconds. HCM CITY HCM City has exported 8.6 million ornamental fish in the first seven months of the year, an 18.2 per cent increase year-on-year, according to its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The countrys main ornamental fish production hub is home to around 300 businesses, mostly situated in districts 9, 12, Binh Chanh, and Cu Chi. They breed more than 60 varieties of fish and mostly export to the EU, America, Africa, and Asia. However, the domestic market has not developed much, ornamental fish producers and exporters said. Tran Van Son, deputy head of the city Sub-department of Quality Management and Fisheries Resources Protection, said the domestic market has not developed much because of the limited space available to sell the fishes and the fact that sellers lack close linkages. To address the shortage of space, the city administration has tasked districts with suggesting a place to build an ornamental fish trading centre, he said. They have been instructed to co-operate with neighbouring provinces like ong Nai, Long An and Tien Giang that have advantages in terms of land, water and experience in ornamental fish farming to raise the fish in natural ponds, he said. The businesses should be provided with favourable investment conditions to produce high-quality fish fries and adults for export, he said. The city Peoples Committee has approved a plan for ornamental fish farming that targets production of 150-180 million fish a year by 2020 and export of 30-50 million fish worth US$50 million. Last year exports were worth more than $12 million.VNS HA NOI The Ministry of Transport divested from several companies following Government directives, gaining more than VN2 trillion (US$88.9 million) during the first half of this year, said an official from the ministry. Vu Anh Minh, Director of the Enterprise Development Department, told the local press that the amount represented about 130 per cent of the book values of the firms, and the ministry sent it to the enterprise rationalisation fund of the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC). The ministry withdrew all State stakes from four companies, including Civil Engineering Construction Corporation No 6 (Cienco 6), Transport Engineering Design Inc, Waterway Transportation Corporation, and Viet Nam Motors Industry Corporation. It withdrew a 23 per cent stake from Cienco 5. During H1, the ministry also directed its corporations to divest from 11 joint stock companies, collecting nearly VN141 billion, or 160 per cent of their book values. It was conducting schemes to divest from two inland waterway management and maintenance joint stock companies, Wamico No 1 and Wamico No 10. It proposed with the Government plans to divest from some other joint stock companies, including three road construction and management firms, a company of the Viet Nam Maritime University, and a company of the HCM City University of Transport. Minh said the ministry transferred the right of State ownership at Thang Long Corporation, a traffic infrastructure construction company, to the SCIC. A similar transfer process is underway at the Transport Investment Cooperation and Import Export JSC. The SCIC will also represent the rights of State ownership at Cienco 5, Cienco 8 and Waterway Construction JSC, instead of the ministry, in the future. Minh said the ministry will continue to direct some other corporations, including Viet Nam Railways, Viet Nam Maritime Safety North and Viet Nam Maritime Safety South, to withdraw capital from non-core lines of business. Vietnam Airlines, Cuu Long Corporation for Investment Development and Project Management of Infrastructure, Viet Nam Expressway Corporation and Viet Nam Maritime University are also to do the same, he said. The ongoing divestments, along with the equitisation of State-owned enterprises, are part of national efforts for economic reforms that need to be accelerated in Viet Nam. In a related development, the Government is mulling the establishment of a special committee to manage capital at dozens of SOEs in various areas, in a context that they are ineffectively administered by ministries and sectors. Although the SCIC was established 10 years to manage State interests in companies and projects, ministries and sectors still reportedly assume a dominant role in administering State utility firms for certain interests. VNS Cross ownership carries systemic risks and reduce the competition of the banking system Photo vietstock.vn HA NOI Five months after the deadline set by the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) for resolving cross ownership in the banking system, the problem persists. In 2014, SBV announced that by February 01, 2016, commercial banks with stakes in more than two other credit institutions, or holding five per cent of stakes in a credit institution, have to reduce them to less than five per cent. So far, only VietinBank sold 16.9 million shares of Saigonbank to 10 individual subscribers on June 28 in accordance with the new regulation. Vietcombank also announced the divestment in Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank and SaigonBank, while Eximbank is proposing a divestment of seven per cent of its shares in Sacombank. However, these actions are only initial steps in the divestment process stipulated by SBVs directive and the divestment rate by commercial banks is still very slow. Currently, Vietcombank is holding 8.19 per cent of Eximbank, 4.3 per cent in Saigon Bank and 9.59 per cent in Military Bank, 5.07 per cent in OCB and 10.91 per cent in Cement Finance Joint Stock Company (CFC). BIDV owns 65 per cent in LaoViet Bank, 50 per cent of stakes in Viet Nam-Russia Bank. Eximbank holds 8.76 per cent of Sacombank. Most banks think the slow pace of implementing the law is due to the low prices of bank shares. A leader of a commercial bank in Ha Noi told the media that selling stakes for low prices was not fair to shareholders. Hoang Trung Viet, deputy director of the central banks Ha Noi branch, explained that while cross ownership could be positive in terms of improving capital, technology, experience and business management in some banks, it could also result in manipulations. Some banking experts agree that limiting ownership in another bank to less than 5 per cent was reasonable in order to ensure a secure banking system. They warned that having a stake greater than 5 per cent could enable a group of 10 shareholders to carry out a hostile takeover of a bank. Cross ownership and cross investment among banks carry systemic risks and reduce the competition, given that a union of banks could be powerful enough to influence interest and exchange rates and cause market distortion and damage to the economy. In addition, cross ownership and investments among banks also increase risks to financial markets. VNS BINH DUONG Taiwans Chin Li Plastic Industrial Co Ltd yesterday launched the construction of a factory to make shoe soles in the My Phuoc 2 Industrial Zone of the southern Binh Duong Provinces Ben Cat Town. The US$50-million factory will be built on an area of 5ha and is scheduled to be completed by July 2017. The factory products will meet the demand of local footwear companies, which are receiving more orders from the American and European markets. Chairman of the provincial peoples committee Tran Thanh Liem asked the company to complete necessary administrative procedures related to the construction and to apply advanced and environment-friendly technologies to put the factory into operation on time, creating jobs for the local people. Footwear is one of the 24 key exports of the province since the beginning of the year, with the revenue reaching $1 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 17 per cent. VNS HA NOI The countrys stable growth rate and improved business and investment environment over a long period has enticed large French corporations to invest or expand their projects in Viet Nam. This was the conclusion reached by participants at a Viet Nam-France business meeting that took place on Sunday at the Vietnamese embassy in France. The meeting was organised on the sidelines of the fourth high-level economic dialogue between Viet Nam and France, attended by leading French corporations such as Airbus, Alstom, ADF and EDF, besides Areva and La Poste, and Vietnamese businesses such as FPT and Viettel. Speaking at the meeting, Vietnamese Ambassador to France Nguyen Ngoc Son said the Viet Nam-France relationship had expanded since the beginning of 2016, following the visits of President of the French National Assembly Claude Bartolone and French Minister of Defence Jean-Yves Le Drian. The year 2016 will also be marked by three major events, which are the fourth high-level economic dialogue in Paris, the Viet Nam-France Decentralised Co-operation Conference in Can Tho City in September and the Viet Nam-France Business Forum in HCM City in October. French President Francois Hollandes visit, scheduled to take place in September, is expected to boost the development of a diversified, deep and comprehensive relationship between Viet Nam and France, further promoting the comprehensive strategic partnership the two countries signed in September 2013. For his part, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen The Phuong reviewed Viet Nams economic situation in 2015 and in the first half of this year. He said Viet Nam achieved a growth rate of 6.48 per cent in 2015, the highest since 2009, and set a target of 6.5 per cent for this year. Phuong said the country has signed many bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and has concluded negotiations on the European Union-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). According to Phuong, foreign investors have been pouring money into Viet Nam to take advantage of the FTAs when they take effect, as evident from the steady increase of foreign direct investment in Viet Nam in recent years. Viet Nam is also perfecting legal corridors for investment and business with the introduction of the modified Law on Investment and Business 2014 and the Law on Bidding 2015, besides focusing on reforming administrative procedures. At the meeting, French companies introduced their technological advantages and financial capability and indicated that they wished to expand their operations or seek new opportunities in Viet Nam. Phuong said he hoped French corporations would boost technology transfers so that Viet Nam could manufacture many technology-intensive products. VNS HA NOI The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) has been intensifying inspections of hot spot areas in northern provinces of Thai Nguyen and Bac Giang, and the central city of a Nang, where environmental pollution is said to be reaching record highs. The ministry said yesterday that inspections were ordered by Minister Tran Hong Ha after residents reported environmental violations to the ministry. As part of its inspection of Nui Phao Mining Company Ltd in Thai Nguyen Province, which was reportedly causing serious pollution affecting the living conditions of residents in ai Tu District, the ministry last week met with Thai Nguyen Province Peoples Committee and heard a report about the violators. The provincial Peoples Committee said it would ask Nui Phao to take appropriate measures to prevent and solve the environmental problems it has caused. Based on the result of inspections, the ministry asked the company to assess the impact caused by its operations to the environment and living conditions of local residents at hamlets 3 and 4 in Ha Phuong Commune, ai Tu district, who might need to be evacuated. The company was also requested to provide a specific report detailing the scale, capacity, processing and technologies of its mining activities, as well as changes made in adherence to the approved environmental impact report. It is also directed to install an automatic environment monitoring system. The provincial Peoples Committee is also asked to report on Nui Phaos implementation of evacuation and resettlement plans in all areas affected by the companys project. On July 18, the ministry issued a decision to inspect A Cuong Group in Son ong District, Bac Giang Province. An interdisciplinary inspection group was formed for the task. Three days later, an inspection group from the Viet Nam General Administration of Environment, led by deputy head of the Department for Environment Protection Control, Hoang Van Vy, announced a decision to examine 30 firms in a Nang. Waste water causes fish deaths Chu Lai Soda Processing JSC Company has been caught discharging untreated wastewater into the nearby Truong Giang River and neighbourhood ponds, causing mass fish deaths, MoRT inspectors reported. The company is located in Chu Lai Open Economic Zone in Nui Thanh District in the central Quang Nam Province. The companys wastewater discharge was discovered and reported by the local people to the environment ministrys inspectors two days ago. The inspectors said the water in the canal near the company was black in colour and dead fish were floating in it. The company does not have a licence to discharge wastewater. In February, the company was fined VN731 million (US$33,200) for the violations of wastewater discharging. But so far, the company just paid VN200 million ($9,000). This was the third time of mass fish death due to the companys untreated wastewater since the company put into operation in June last year. Residents have complained several times that their daily life has been disrupted by environment pollution caused by the soda company, ever since it began operations. More than 400 households in Tam Hiep Communes ai Phu Village had been affected by the water, air and noise pollution, head of ai Phu Village Le Minh Sa said. VNS A NANG The ong A College has launched an 8,000sq.m open-air library for students and the community the first of its kind in this coastal city and the central region. Its also the first college in a Nang to offer a free reading space for the community in the 11,000sq.m newly constructed college. The college has also opened a digital library for students in the 10-storey building. The chairman of the private ong A College, Nguyen Thi Anh ao, said they aimed to develop the open library as a favourite destination of the local people, tourists and young people who want to read and borrow books. The college has also introduced three bookcases with topics such as Viet Nams sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracels) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos, safe food and environment and life skills in the open library. Earlier this year, the college opened its first reading space, the Green & Brown Bookstore, with 10,000 books, comprising a library, a bookstore and a coffee shop on Tran Cao Van Street. The private college and William Angliss Institute from Australia have started a personnel training programme for the hospitality, tourism and culinary arts sectors for the 2016-17 period, as well as Japanese language training in co-operation with Route Inn Group from Japan. The central city also plans to build the first public book park for the community in Son Tra and to design a book street to boost the reading habit among young people. VNS Luong Ngoc Khue, Director General of the Medical Examination and Treatment Department under the Ministry of Health, spoke to the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper about the efforts by Vietnamese hospitals to improve their service and attract patients. Viet Nam now has more than 1,300 public hospitals. Why have none of them been awarded the title of the Joint Commission International (JCI)? Only two private general hospitals in Viet Nam [Ha Noi-based Vinmec International Hospital and HCM City-based FV Hospital] have been awarded the JCI title so far. The JCI award is an international acknowledgement of hospitals high quality and safety. Vietnamese public hospitals are now implementing a Government directive on applying market financing mechanisms. But so far, hospital fees cover just about 30 per cent costs, posing a big challenge to implementation of the decree. To receive the JCI award for our public hospitals remains a big challenge for health workers, hospital infrastructure and management. Though our public hospitals have not yet applied the JCI criteria, their activities have to focus on patient satisfaction. In other words, public health workers should try their best to offer high quality service to their clients the patients. What do you think about the service quality of nearly 200 private hospitals in term of their facilities and management? Many have been rated as good. Yet, they still have to do more to make their service better. In my opinion, even the two hospitals awarded the JCI titles still have a lot of work to do. Private hospitals in Viet Nam are run under the Enterprise Law. That means their operation must generate profits. Thats why they have also faced fierce competition. If they have good physical infrastructure and high quality services, including highly skilled doctors, they will attract more patients. In other words, nowadays, patients care a lot about the service quality and the health workers conduct. How do you compare the hospital quality criteria issued by the Ministry of Health (MOH) with the JCI standards? It is a long story. But what I want to say is that the criteria guiding our public hospitals are a combination of MOH standards and standards set by foreign hospitals, including the JCI standards. To improve their service quality, all Vietnamese public hospitals have established their own quality management departments to oversee the service, particularly in the consultation rooms and patient wards. In the long run, Viet Nam will establish a quality management council in each region and a Viet Nam Hospital Association. The key function of the regional councils and the Hospital Association will be to oversee the State management of healthcare quality in the course of the countrys international integration. VNS Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc made the remark while receiving the Deputy Prime Minister of Laos, President of the GIA and Head of the Anti-Corruption Authority, Bounthong Chitmany, in Ha Noi yesterday. VNA/VNS Photo Thong Nhat HA NOI The Government Inspectorate of Viet Nam (GIV) and the Government Inspection Authority of Laos (GIA) are hoped to expand and deepen their comprehensive co-operation, especially in experience exchange. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc made the remark while receiving the Deputy Prime Minister of Laos, President of the GIA and Head of the Anti-Corruption Authority, Bounthong Chitmany, in Ha Noi yesterday. The PM hailed the Lao Government for launching anti-corruption campaigns. He told the guest about corruption prevention and prosecution in Viet Nam and reiterated the countrys strong determination in this drive. Bounthong Chitmany said the Lao Government resolutely prevents and handles corruption while reinforcing Party building from the central to grassroots levels. He welcomed PM Phucs order for closure of natural forests in the Central Highlands to mitigate illegal logging. The GIA hopes to continue exchanging professional experience with Viet Nam in inspection work, particularly handling complaints and denouncements, and preventing corruption, he said, adding that this will help further the traditional friendship, special amity, and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries. During earlier talks, Bounthong Chitmany and Governor Inspector General of Viet Nam Phan Van Sau agreed on necessary measures to sign further cooperation agreements between the two sides at the end of 2016. PM bids farewell to Cambodian ambassador HA NOI - Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc yesterday hosted a reception for Cambodian Ambassador Hul Phany, who came to say goodbye at the end of his tenure in Viet Nam. The PM praised the diplomat for his contributions to boosting relations between Viet Nam and Cambodia across many fields. He suggested the two countries coordinate with each other to promptly complete border demarcation and marker planting, and build a shared border of peace, cooperation and development. The host called on the two sides to raise the sense of vigilance against hostile forces who aim to sabotage the sound bilateral relationship, while maintaining the friendship and solidarity between the two countries people. For his part, Ambassador Hul Phany applauded Viet Nams outstanding performance in all sectors, especially in infrastructure. Cambodia attaches importance to and wishes to work together with Viet Nam to strengthen the friendship and fruitful cooperation, he said, pledging to continue fostering bilateral ties. VNS VIENTIANE Foreign ministers from Japan and five Mekong River countries got together at the 9th Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers Meeting held in Vientiane, Laos, on Monday, alongside the 49th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM 49). The meeting was chaired by Japans Foreign Minister, Fumio Kishida, and Lao Foreign Minister, Saleumxay Kommasith, with their counterparts from Viet Nam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand in attendance. Ministers reviewed Mekong-Japan co-operation based upon the New Tokyo Strategy 2015 and the Mekong-Japan Action Plan for Realisation of the New Tokyo Strategy for 2016-2018. They also discussed preparations for the 8th Mekong-Japan Summit Meeting to be held on the sidelines of ASEAN Summit in Laos in September. The ministers of Mekong countries welcomed the Mekong-Japan Connectivity Initiative proposed by Japanese Foreign Minister Kishida in his ASEAN policy speech in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 2, and decided to establish senior-level working groups to advance the Mekong-Japan Action Plan for Realisation of the New Tokyo Strategy, which was funded with JPY750 billion (US$7.2 billion) from Japan. They expressed their appreciation for the Expanded Partnership for Quality Infrastructure of the government of Japan with financing of approximately $200 billion. The ministers emphasised the importance of human resources development, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, and sustainable management of water resources. They agreed to strengthen collaboration between the Mekong-Japan co-operation and the Mekong River Commission for sustainable development towards a green Mekong. They also discussed issues of common concern, particularly recent terrorist attacks, territorial disputes in the East Sea and the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Speaking at the event, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh affirmed Viet Nams commitment to Mekong-Japan co-operation. He proposed that more focus should be placed on environmental protection, green growth, adaptation to climate change, and sustainable use and management of water resources. The 10th Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers Meeting is scheduled to convene in the Philippines in 2017, coinciding with the AMM 50. VNS HA NOI As many as 485 out of 489 deputies present at the July 26 plenary session of the 14th National Assembly, or 98.18 per cent, voted for Nguyen Xuan Phuc as Prime Minister for the 2016-2021 tenure. A resolution on the election of the new Government leader was also passed by 482 deputies, or 97.57 per cent. In his swearing-in ceremony today, the newly-elected PM spoke of the great responsibility assigned to him by the Party, NA, voters and people nationwide, affirming that he would make every effort to serve the nation and people. PM Phuc stressed that Viet Nam is facing both development opportunities and challenges, which require the country to optimise its internal strength and make full use of outside support with the goal of developing into a rich country with increased status in the world arena. Currently, Viet Nam is ranked 14th worldwide in population, but only 48th in terms of economic scale and 133rd in per capita GDP, he noted. The new Government leader emphasised that faster growth is also urgent to cope with the risk of population aging surpassing growth, as the golden period of average population age is to end in the next 10 years. In the context of high public debt and debt payment pressure, along with inefficiency in bad debt settlement and limited resources for development in the next period, the Government must work harder to streamline the administrative system at all levels, while taking the initiative in saving public funds and property, he said. The PM underscored that in order to grow in a sustainable manner, it is crucial to increase investment effectiveness; pointing to the need to speed up institutional reform and improve education and technology. The recent natural disasters, drought and saltwater intrusion, which have caused unprecedented and massive losses, required the country to stand more actively ahead of the great challenges brought about by increasingly fast and devastating climate change, he stated. Particularly, the PM highlighted how essential environmental protection is during the countrys development process, reiterating the Formosa Ha Tinh lesson. "This is a bitter lesson in getting and managing foreign-investment projects, which must not recur," he stressed. He also pledged to review major projects and keep a closer watch on their commitments in environmental protection and technology transfer. As the leader of the top State administrative body, the Government and I will inherit and promote the achievements of the 30-year renewal, tapping all the opportunities and advantages, fixing shortcomings and weaknesses, overcoming difficulties and challenges, and working hard for a Government which works to spur growth, upholds integrity, and serves the people, vowed the PM. Nguyen Xuan Phuc was elected Prime Minister by the 13th National Assemblys 11th session in April 2016. High-ranking positions proposed President Tran ai Quang has proposed candidates for the positions of Vice President, Chief Justice of the Supreme Peoples Court and Prosecutor General of the Supreme Peoples Procuracy. The proposal was submitted to the 14th National Assembly yesterday afternoon during the new parliaments first session. The President proposed that ang Thi Ngoc Thinh, a member of the Party Central Committee who was Vice President since April 2016, be re-elected to this post for the 2016-2021 tenure. The President proposed Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Nguyen Hoa Binh, be voted in as Chief Justice of the Supreme Peoples Court in the 2016-2021 tenure, a position in which Binh has served since April this year. The candidate for the Prosecutor General of the Supreme Peoples Procuracy is Le Minh Tri, who is a member of the Party Central Committee and was also voted to the position last April. Following the submission, National Assembly deputies discussed the candidacies. Election results will be announced at the morning session tomorrow . VNS Gia Loc HCM CITY In a small house used for cultural, social and educational activities in Binh Thanh Districts Ward 26, a group of young people was initially embarrassed when a young doctor explained how to use condoms. They were reluctant to answer questions about safe sex, causes for childlessness, reproductive health care and contraceptive methods. Gradually, the embarrassment faded. They were open to discussing these issues, occasionally bursting into laughter. They were told that health checks before marriage would help identify problems such as an inherited form of anaemia, Thalassemia. If such problems are treated in a timely fashion, they will not affect their future children. The doctors talk is a part of the Ward 26s Pre-Marriage Club, held once a month. Le Ngoc Ha, 25, of the Binh Thanh District, who attended the doctors talk, said it gave her a deep understanding about reproductive health and what she should do when she prepares to get married. I need this knowledge, which is not taught carefully at schools and seldom by parents. When I have had question about my reproductive health or love, I often had to look on the internet and talked with my close girlfriends. Too early? In Viet Nam, these issues are difficult to talk about openly between young people and parents. Many parents think they are taboo because knowing about these issues at an early age may encourage children to try having sex. Dr Nguyen Huu Hung, deputy head of the city Department of Health, said Vietnamese children reached puberty at the age of 10 to 11 compared to 13-14 in the past. When changes occur in childrens body, they feel curious. It is vital to provide the right knowledge by doctors or teachers, instead of letting children find out things on the internet, Hung said. Moreover, with easy access to information and different cultures on the internet and social media, many have a complaisant point of view about married life and sex, he said. They live together without marriage, he said, adding: That is the reason why it is important to provide knowledge on reproductive health and health examination before marriage to young people. Health examinations before marriage were not common in most places and it was difficult to convince couples, especially men, to undergo testing, Hung said. Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan of District 12, who is going to get married, said she never thought about having an examination. Efforts The citys health officials work with local judicial divisions to encourage couples who come to register for marriage to take health tests. Moreover, nine centres providing free counselling about reproductive health and health examinations have been set up since 2011 in many of the citys districts, as well as those with a high number of migrants. The centres aim to improve knowledge and practical skills in reproductive health care and married life, reducing abortion and increasing voluntary health examinations before marriage among young people and juveniles in the city. As of 2015, more than 30,000 people have received the counselling. The sites health officials have also worked with schools, landlords and companies to provide this knowledge to students and workers. Dr ang Phi Yen at HCM City Family Planning and Population Division, which manages the sites, said that they encouraged 3,157 couples to come to the city obstetrics hospitals and Centre for Reproductive Health Care for health examination before marriage. The division conducted a study on satisfaction and found that 69.9 per cent were satisfied with the methods of counselling such as via email, face-to-face and telephone. Of those polled, 85.6 per cent were pleased with the counsellors communication and other skills. Challenges Nguyen Thi Thu Nguyet, head of the management board for the counselling site in District Thu uc, said that young couples often agreed to undergo health examination before getting married after counsellors encourage them. However, they are reluctant to go to the citys obstetrics hospitals, which are always crowded with patients waiting for health checks, Nguyet said. The citys Department of Health should instruct district-level hospitals with obstetrics wards to conduct the examination, she added. ao Thi Hong Hanh, a population specialist in Ward 26, added that some couples could not afford the cost of the examination. Le Thi Kim Huong, head of the Management Board for Counselling Site in District 4, suggested the city train more counselors for the sites. VNS HCM CITY HCM Citys Party Committee plans to establish a steering committee to provide guidance on developing the southern metropolis into a smart city that would improve the quality of life of its residents. The citys Party Committee secretary, inh La Thang, said the chairman of the HCM Citys Peoples Committee would head the steering committees management board, which also includes an advisory board. Speaking at a meeting between HCM City leaders and the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee on Sunday (July 24) in Ha Noi, Thang assigned specific tasks for each agency and requested that an appropriate roadmap suited to the city rapid IT development be drawn up. He said the city needed to integrate the citys IT infrastructure to avoid wasteful usage. For example, thousands of security and traffic cameras would be connected under the smart city plan. HCM City has implemented seven breakthrough missions, including smart city development, to realise the resolutions of the 12th Party Congress and the 10th City Party Committee Congress. Smart city plans should start now, instead of waiting for eligibility, Thang said. Nguyen Thien Nhan, chairman of the Fatherland Front Central Committee, said a smart city would improve the living environment and economy, as well as reduce pollution. More importantly, with a smart city, residents will play a critical role in supervising Government activities, he said. Nhan asked the city leaders to create a short- and long-term smart city development project for the next 10 years. He said the project should be completed in the next three or five years with three main components: a common database and plan; smart services such as traffic, healthcare and education; and improved citizen participation. A database will include information about socio-economic development policies that can be accessed by businesses, citizens, managers and investors. Nhan said that leaders should be less reactive and more proactive in management by forecasting and preventing problems before they occur. Among the initiatives, smart systems of traffic management, parking-lot and toll collections and environmental management would update air, water, waste and noise parameters daily, quarterly and yearly. Industrial, household and medical waste treatment policies would have five, 10 and 20 year plans, while a list of polluting businesses and sanctions would be made public. In recent years, the HCM Citys Peoples Committee and agencies have conducted many measures to develop a smart city, including creating a smart traffic management centre with more functions over the bus system, expected to be completed by 2018. E-govt HCM City is also setting up e-government, which will play a critical role in building a smart city through information and communication technology. Speaking at a recent meeting on smart cities in HCM City, Le Thai Hy, director of the citys Department of Information and Communication, said a smart city would better manage traffic, power, healthcare and environmental systems, including waste treatment. Hy said local agencies would work with enterprises to identify solutions that need to be carried out first. A detailed roadmap for implementation would then be created. In smart traffic management, sensors and cameras would help collect real-time information about traffic density. Information would be transmitted to transport agencies, which can intervene quickly if accidents or congestion occur. Sensor data would also be used in the management of waste treatment and power. Experts said smart city development had become popular worldwide and residents awareness was of paramount importance in developing a smart city. VNS HA NOI The 11th Korean language test will be held this October for those wishing to work in South Korea, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairss Overseas Labour Management Department said. The test is part of the Employment Permit System (EPS) programme. South Korea had suspended the test over the past three years due to the large number of illegal Vietnamese workers going to the East Asian country. Clearing the language test, conducted by South Koreas Human Resources Development Centre, is a requirement for Vietnamese workers who want to work in South Korea under the EPS programme. The candidates must be between 18 and 39 years old, not have any criminal record, and should not have been deported from South Korea or banned from exit from Viet Nam. The exam fee is US$24 and the registration period is from August 16 to 19. Detailed exam schedules will be published at the registration venues or on the website of Viet Nams Centre of Overseas Labour at https://www.colab.gov.vn. Those who worked illegally in South Korea, but volunteered to return home between April 1 and September 30 this year, will be considered for re-entry into South Korea for work. According to the law, those who fail to meet health requirements as per South Korean regulations or those who lived illegally in South Korea will be denied entry into that country for work. Viet Nam and South Korea re-inked the regular memorandum of understanding (MoU) in May to resume granting of permission to Vietnamese labourers to work in South Korea under EPS in 2017. Under the framework of the programme, more than 75,000 Vietnamese workers have been sent to work in South Korea since 2004. According to the MoU, there will be limitations on workers in some localities in Viet Nam from taking the test in October to curb the increasing numbers of illegal Vietnamese workers in South Korea. The details will be announced by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and SocialAffairs later. Thanks to joint efforts by the two sides, the rate of illegal Vietnamese workers in South Korea declined to about 35 per cent in 2015 from 47 per cent in 2013. - VNS HA NOI Viet Nam and the United States will work together in conducting humanitarian activities, especially in community-based disaster risk management and climate change adaptation projects. This confirmation came from Viet Nam Red Cross Society (VNRC) President Nguyen Thi Xuan Thu, who was speaking at a meeting today in Ha Noi with a delegation from the American Red Cross Society (ARC), led by the societys Senior Vice President for International Operations, Harold Brooks. The VNRC expects the ARC to expand cooperation programmes to other fields, including taking care of the elderly, the disabled and Agent Orange victims, especially in providing rehabilitation for the disabled, charity health exams, medical treatment and cancer prevention treatment, said Thu. Thu also praised the ARCs support of the VNRCs humanitarian programmes in previous years in Viet Nam. At the meeting, Brooks expressed his wish to continue supporting the VNRCs humanitarian programmes in the coming period. He said priority would be given to cooperation programmes for disaster prevention and response and environmental and climate change issues. On the occasion, VNRC Chairwoman Thu presented Brooks with the For the cause of the Red Cross insignia. Since 2002, the ARC has helped Viet Nam conduct 14 humanitarian programmes and projects, worth a total of US$20 million, in 22 cities and provinces across the country, mainly focusing on health care, assistance for the disabled and disaster and climate change response. During their Viet Nam trip from July 26 to July 29, the ARC delegation will visit the Viet Nam Forests and Deltas Climate Change Project in the northern province of Nam inh and the Red Cross and Social Work model in neighbouring Ha Nam Province. VNS Family of Aboriginal teen who died in apparent suicide after sexual abuse back calls for inquiry Police believe 15-year-old Layla Leering took her own life after being raped in the Northern Territory community of Bulla in 2015. Duttons declaration to voters amid Labors big mess The Opposition Leader said the Prime Minister "might write me off" but he believes Australians will vote the Coalition back into power in 2025 to clean up "the big mess" Labor will leave behind. Another Andrews Government minister calls time ahead of election Another Victorian minister has called time on her career in politics, as a new poll reveals support for the Andrews Government is dropping ahead of the November election. Id like to be included: Frustrated flood victim left out of $800 million scheme Flood victim Andrew Barker said his home is now unliveable and he is tasked with the massive job of repairing it after the property was inundated for the second time in recent months. HAMPTON The Franklin County Historic Jail is ready to begin accepting guests. Listed on the National Register of Historic places, the Italianate-style home on Central Avenue East in Hampton once housed the countys inmates and served as the sheriffs personal residence. It hasnt booked a real prisoner since the 1980s, but later this month will begin its new life as a host for historical role-playing. Owner-operator Mark Gudmundsen says his friends recently tested it out, going through the process of getting booked, put in an isolation cell and spending the night in one of the homes three steel cells. Theyll even get to spend time in the prison yard, which is still surrounded by tall chain-link fence and three strands of barbed wire. Itll be fun, Gudmundsen said. When we played with the other guys that came it was kind of fun to do it. It was interesting for them. He still plans to open a museum in the rest of the house, but isnt finished with construction. The restoration is still underway. The impending opening of the jail portion is especially exciting for Gudmundsen, because three months ago his dreams of operating the role-playing business were facing obstacles. Although Gudmundsen says he ran his plans by city officials prior to buying the building, he was informed in March that his business would violate Hamptons zoning ordinances that restrict adult-oriented businesses to industrial areas. That came after the existence of Gudmundsens personal website was made public, which he suspects was not a coincidence. The website features photos and writings that explore the concept of extreme non-sexual bondage. It includes photographs of Gudmundsen in various types of restraints, including chains and cages. Gudmunsen always maintained the site was personal and not indicative of what he planned for his business, which has its own website, hamptonjail.com. Officials never said exactly what about the business would violate the laws. On Friday, City Manager Ron Dundt said officials wont take action unless they believe the business is violating the city code. Hes aware and he needs to run a business thats in compliance, so if we determine that he is doing something that isnt in compliance then we would do something about it, Dundt said. Hampton Chamber Executive Director Newton Grotzinger has stopped in the jail to see Gudmunsens progress. The jails application to the chamber remains on hold until it opens and officials can see what the business is like, Grotzinger said. We just wish him the best, he said. Well just see what he comes up with. ... Hes been working hard on it. Gudmunsen, who lives in the former sheriffs quarters on the second floor, says hes made some changes to his booking process in order to be sure he complies with the ordinance. First, there will be no pat-down. During booking, role players will run their fingers through their own hair, stick out their tongue, run their fingers over their gums and show Gudmunsen theyre not hiding anything behind their ears. What I say (next is), now, if we were continuing the search, this is what would happen, he said. And Id tell them what happens, because Im not going to go any further than that. He laughed. In addition, the booking process requires role players to sign a contract saying theyll abide by Hamptons vice ordinance while at the Franklin County Historic Jail. On (hamptonjail.com) I now actually have the city ordinance for Hampton and I am telling people Read that ordinance because youre going to be signing and initialling that you wont be doing anything on there thats on that ordinance, because Im covering my butt on this. People are going, Arent you kind of overkilling? I said, Yes. I am. FLOYD A public meeting will be held today to discuss whether safety improvements are needed at the site of a fatal crash in Floyd. T.J. Houdek, 23, of Charles City, was killed on the Avenue of the Saints when the motorcycle he was riding was hit by a semi at the junction of Quarry Road and U.S. 218 on July 18. State troopers say he pulled in front of the big rig, whose driver also was injured. In the wake of Houdeks death, state Sen. Mary Jo Wilhelm, D-Cresco, and state Rep. Todd Prichard, D-Charles City, called Tuesdays meeting to hear what the community thinks should be done about the intersection, which some local officials have considered hazardous for years. The meeting will be at 5 p.m. at the Floyd Community Center, 706 Fairfield St. Wilhelm, who says she frequently drives through the intersection, says many worry the conditions could become worse due to the construction of a Loves truck stop on the north side of the road. The people that use that intersection a lot think that theres poor visibility because of all the cross traffic, she said. And now with the potential increase of usage with Loves, I think thats a big concern, too. Some think an overpass with on-ramps and off-ramps may be the answer. An online petition calling for the Iowa Department of Transportation to build an overpass at the intersection has garnered more than 2,800 signatures since July 18. Because the site involves state roads, any changes would be approved and executed by the Iowa DOT. Although the DOT has not approved an interchange, state transportation officials have taken the first steps to make that a reality in case officials determine one is needed, said Pete Hjelmstad, DOT field services coordinator. It has explored several design alternatives and last month completed a required environmental impact study. It began the study due to the traffic volume, including the amount of trucks, Hjelmstad said. We dont have any decisions on it now, he said. Its something we looked at and, if that is something we needed, we wanted to be ready. Thats why we did this study and thats why were moving through the process. The next step is for the agency to present a preferred design alternative at a public meeting. That is tentatively slated for Nov. 9. If an interchange is approved, it would take another three years for construction to start, Hjelmstad said. The current cost is pegged at approximately $18 million. Floyd County Sheriffs Office Chief Deputy Jeff Crooks hopes an interchange is built, saying the site remains a problem in spite of changes the Iowa DOT made several years ago to increase safety. Its better than it used to be, but cars and semitrailers in the middle still block traffic and people still seem to get confused once they get into the middle of the divided highway, he said. Sheriffs Office data shows 35 crashes have been reported at the intersection since June 1, 2011. Sixteen of those were injury accidents, including two fatalities, he said. We just cringe every time that a call comes out to (that intersection) because you just fear the worst when youre there, because we know what kind of mess that intersection is to start with and the amount of traffic thats there, said Crooks, who plans to attend Tuesdays meeting. And the speeds that are involved normally its a car that isnt moving very fast versus a car that is moving very fast. CEDAR FALLS The city is trying to promote use and upkeep of the newly expanded Veterans Park. The city is waiving shelter reservation fees for the structure and also taking orders for another semi-annual sale of commemorative bricks to finance the parks upkeep. About 77 bricks were laid in the park from sales this spring, and orders are being taken from now through Sept. 15 for bricks to be laid this fall, said former City Council member Sid Morris, who has headed up the brick sale effort the past few years. Application forms are available in Cedar Falls at Caseys stores, First National Bank, City Hall, the Cedar Falls Recreation Center, the Cedar Falls Tourism & Visitors Bureau welcome center on Hudson Road, Farmers Bank and the Cedar Falls Senior Center. The bricks cost $50 each and are engraved with a veterans name, branch and years of service, with revenues after engraving costs going toward ongoing park maintenance. Bricks ordered before Sept. 15 should be in place by Veterans Day, Nov. 11. Morris has sold more than 400 bricks since he took up the cause in spring of 2013, raising almost $22,000, said Mark Ripplinger, the citys director of municipal operations and programs. The money is held and invested in a Cedar Falls Civic Foundation fund until it is needed. After all these years its still very popular, Morris said. Several of the ones were getting now are from the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and conflicts preceding Iowas settlement and statehood. There are families who had veterans in those wars and are interested. Weve very pleased. Veterans Park was recently expanded to add a shelter and a public use area to encourage use of the park, which is open to anyone, not just veterans. It also features the Black Hawk County Freedom Rock. Anyone can use the park, Morris said. Some people think this park is just for veterans and veterans families. It is not. Its for the community. Call 273-8636 to make reservations. Were hoping people will try it out. Weve never really done that before, but its not a traditional park. The facilitys going to be more geared toward luncheons and reflection as opposed to play and recreation, Ripplinger said. WATERLOO A judge has determined a Waterloo man was trying to kill his girlfriend when he stabbed her 15 times in March 2015. Attorneys for Reuben Anthony Stigler, 51, had argued during an April bench trial he had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and hadnt slept in days because of methamphetamine use and wasnt able to form the intent to kill Angela OConnell, who survived the attack. In a decision issued July 7, Judge Kellyann Lekar found Stigler guilty of attempted murder, going armed, domestic assault with intent to cause serious injury, willful injury causing serious injury, false imprisonment and domestic assault causing bodily injury. The court finds Mr. Stigler did have specific intent and specific purpose in committing the actions at issue in this case, even when considering the defense of diminished responsibility. The court finds Mr. Stigler was aware of his actions at the time he committed them, Lekar wrote in her order. She noted officers who talked with Stigler shortly after the incident said he didnt appear to be under the influence, and Stigler himself told police he hadnt used drugs that day. Stigler also told police he stabbed OConnell because he thought she was lying to him, and he told investigators he didnt think she would survive her injuries. He intended for those actions to cause of the death of Ms. OConnell, Lekar wrote in her opinion. Stigler had broken off the attack when a roommate called police. Attempted murder carries up to 25 in prison with a 70 percent mandatory minimum before parole, and sentencing will be at a later date. WATERLOO A Vinton woman has pleaded guilty to federal drug trafficking charges. Angelika Maria McAtee, also known as Angelika Dunlap and Angelika Berendes, 58, a German citizen living in the United States as a lawful permanent resident, entered her plea to one count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute methamphetamine on Monday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. Sentencing will be at a later date, and the charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. She remains detained pending sentencing. Details about the incident werent available, but McAtee admitted to possessing 48 grams of meth at her Vinton home on April 29. Court records show that agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement sought to charge McAtee with making a false claim to citizenship in April. McAtee, who entered the United States in 1978, allegedly told authorities she was a citizen when she was booked into the Benton County Jail on prescription drug charges in April 2016 and paraphernalia and driving charges in February 2016, according to court records. She was later indicted on the methamphetamine charge and a charge of being a drug user in possession of a firearm --- a Remington 870 Express shotgun --- in June. A firearm charge will be dropped during sentencing as part of the plea agreement. The case was investigated by Vinton Police, Benton County Sheriffs Office, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Homeland Security, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, Benton County Conservation Commission and the Iowa State Patrol. CEDAR FALLS Goodwill Industries of Northeast Iowa is falling in line front and center for military veterans. The Waterloo agency has rented a home in the College Square mall area to house about four to five veterans with various needs. The home is ready to move into, agency officials said, and its hoped veterans can take up residence there next week. Itll be a transitional home for veterans with various employment, education or transportation needs and lacking a permanent home, until they can sustain themselves, officials said. Its part of a new initiative by Goodwill to launch into services for veterans, to address those with chronic homelessness and transportation needs executive director Dave Boyd said, in cooperation with the Black Hawk County Veteran Affairs Commission. Its a brand new program, Boyd said. Weve never done it before. But it fits into the scope of Goodwills overall mission of aiding the disadvantaged in the community. Its because of the support of the community that we can afford to operate this. Boyd said he entertained the idea because he was impressed with new county Veteran Affairs director Kevin Dill and his appeal for assistance to homeless and disadvantaged veterans. So we rented a four-bedroom house in Cedar Falls, Boyd said. He (Dill) said hes got an immediate need for four or five veterans who need some help with transportation, benefits, and have various and sundry mobility issues. Hopefully, they can bridge that independence barrier and become self sufficient. Jenny Ruether, manager of the Goodwill program, said the landlord has made renovations to the home and its ready to move into. Most of the first group of individuals to take up residence there will be mainly Vietnam veterans. The house just scratches the surface of local veterans needs, Boyd and Ruether said. Its their understanding there may be at least 30 veterans in the county with needs similar to those of the Goodwill homes potential residents. Dill confirmed those numbers and said Goodwills offer of help is a blessing for area veterans. Another agency, Americans for Independent Living, also is renovating a Waterloo home for veterans, in part with some $100,000 donated by the Trump Foundation. But Dill said the Goodwill offer addresses the need immediately and he said the commission is trying to work with related agencies to take a more pro-active stance to help local veterans. Ruether emphasized Goodwill is willing and able to help and employ any similarly needy veterans, not just those taking up residence at the home. Interested individuals may call her at 234-4626. A roundup of items from the Democratic National Convention: Clinton, Sanders may come to Iowa A Hillary for America staffer said Iowans will have the opportunity to see Hillary Clinton in the first-in-the-nation state that gave her a razor-thin caucus win over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders soon. National Battleground State Director Meg Ansara also said Monday it is possible Clinton will campaign in Iowa with Sanders. The New Hampshire event was a huge success and an opportunity to bring people together, Ansara said about the July 12 campaign appearance where he endorsed Clinton. The Clinton campaign has been in talks with Sanders people and were very eager to do that in other places. Iowa is a place where we hope to see that happen. Getting the hook This afternoon wont be the first time retired Sen. Tom Harkin will address the Democratic National Convention. He hopes it goes better than the first. As a U.S. House member running for the Senate in 1984, Harkin was given a speaking slot along with several other candidates at the San Francisco convention. I kind of got going, Harkin said, and two or three minutes went to four to five minutes or six minutes. There were these potted plants along the front and I looked down and saw this guy crawling underneath the plants and reaching up on the podium and putting a piece of paper in front of me: Stop talking. Harkin said hes been budgeted four minutes at 3 p.m. today Iowa time. Worse than Branstad AFSCME Local 61 President Danny Homan has never been shy about criticizing Gov. Terry Branstad. But always with respect for the office, Homan told Iowa delegates to the Democratic National Convention on Monday. I disagree with our governor every day of the week, he said to applause, without calling him names in public and the press, because I have to respect the office. That was right after he warned state employees who he represents in contract negotiations only will be able to retire with a decent pension if you can keep Branstads grubby hands off your pension. Homan warned as bad as Branstad has been for state employees, theres someone who poses a bigger threat: Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds. Two years from now, folks, I believe you will have a choice between a Democrat and Kim Reynolds, Homan said. God help us all if we elect Kim Reynolds, Homan said. Too pricey Retired Sen. Tom Harkin expressed concern some Democrats may have been priced out of participating in the Democratic National Convention because of the high price of hotel accommodations. It is criminal what theyre doing here, said Harking about the room rates of as much as $700 a night at Philadelphia hotels. I got a matchbox thats 600-and-some bucks a night, the Cumming Democrat told reporters. Look, I can afford it, but my God theres a lot of people who come here who cant afford that kind of money, not just from Iowa, but Im hearing from other states, too. Delegates to the Democratic National Convention as well as the GOP national convention last week said they had to raise anywhere from $3,000 to $8,000 per person to cover travel, lodging and meals. WATERLOO Hawkeye Community College won zoning approval Monday for a new downtown campus. Waterloo City Council members voted 6-1 Monday to approve rezoning roughly two acres of land for HCCs planned two-story, 40,000-square-foot building at U.S. Highway 63 and Jefferson Street. Councilman Tom Lind supported the project on the first reading but voted against the final reading, which hed wanted to delay. There were no public objections to the zoning change, but several council members raised concerns about traffic and surface flooding. That area floods a lot, Lind said. Are they going to provide storm water retention in that facility? Councilman Pat Morrissey worried about planned reconstruction of U.S. Highway 63, ongoing construction of Grand Crossing Condominiums and traffic at the Cedar Valley SportsPlex and Young Arena coinciding with the planned HCC building. It seems to me it could become a jumbled-up mess down in there that is going to create nothing but headaches for that portion of Waterloo, Morrissey said. But city staff said the city is working with the Iowa Department of Transportation and others to ensure traffic is maintained during the project. The AECOM engineering firm is working to develop a storm water pump station for the highway project and a retention area for the HCC building. City Engineer Eric Thorson said the pump station should help reduce flooding while AECOMs involvement on both projects should ease confusion. Its going to take a lot of coordination, Thorson said. It will be a pretty exciting couple of years while this is going on, but I think everybodys looking at the right things. The former Waterloo Bowl-In site, bounded by Jefferson and First streets, Mullan Avenue and U.S. Highway 218, is currently zoned M1 light industrial, which would allow the educational building. The change to C3 central business district lets the project be constructed without building setbacks. HCC is planning the estimated $8 million project to replace the current Metro Center, at 844 W. Fourth St., and the King Center, at 515 Beech St., which offer adult basic education, high school completion, high school equivalency testing, English language learner services and limited career courses. DAVENPORT Donald Trump will stop in eastern Iowa on Thursday as Democratic rival Hillary Clinton accepts her partys presidential nomination. Trump will visit Davenport and Cedar Rapids. Trump officially captured his partys presidential nomination last week in Cleveland. Iowa is expected to be closely contested this fall. Trump will stop in some of the most Democratic parts of the state, part of his effort to court blue-collar voters across the country. Iowa isnt quite the Rust Belt, said Dennis Goldford, a political science professor at Drake University. But in eastern Iowa, youve got a lot more manufacturing than you have in other parts of the country, he said. On Wednesday, Trump will make campaign stops in Scranton, Pa., Waukesha, Wis., and Toledo, Ohio. Donna Hoffman, the head of the political science department at the University of Northern Iowa, said it is significant that hes going to be in Iowa the week of the Democratic National Convention to try to draw attention from the Democrats in Philly. Trump will hold a 4 p.m. rally at the Adler Theatre in Davenport, with doors to open at 1 p.m. Hell head to Cedar Rapids for an 8 p.m. rally at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Cedar Rapids Convention Complex. Doors open at 5 p.m. Clinton has beaten Trump to the punch when it comes to staffing and television ads in Iowa. Both Clinton and the super PAC backing her, Priorities USA, have aired ads in the state, while Trump has not. A Trump spokesman Tuesday said the campaign will make an announcement about staffing very soon. Polls say the state is a toss up. The RealClearPolitics average in Iowa says Clinton leads Trump, 41.3 percent to 40.8 percent. But no poll has been conducted since the Republican National Convention. WATERLOO City leaders have agreed to accept $28 million from the Iowa Department of Transportation to assume responsibility for crumbling University Avenue. Early feedback suggests theyll also get an earful of public opinions on how to fix it up. Waterloo City Council members voted unanimously Monday to approve the transfer of jurisdiction for the state highway running from U.S. Highway 63 to the west city limits at Midway Drive. The agreement, which still needs approval from the Iowa Transportation Commission, would give the city $18 million in state funds in the fall and $5 million more in both 2017 and 2018. The city then would be responsible for maintaining and repairing the road. Several residents suggested the city wait until final repair costs are developed or to hold out for a better offer. But Mayor Quentin Hart said rejecting the proposal would force the city to wait at least five years, maybe longer, before it would get another shot. Meanwhile, IDOT would do only minimal maintenance. If we dont take that $28 million right now its off the table, Hart said. University Avenue is off the table for the next five to six years without any discussion about it. We have a struggling business community from Midway to Ansborough (Avenue), he added. We need to make sure that were moving that area forward. Councilman Bruce Jacobs weighed in with strong support. The mayor has spent quite a bit of time researching this and working with the state to get up to $28 million, he said. We really owe it to those businesses in there to have a usable road. Its probably not as much as we wanted, Jacobs added. But weve got to find a way within that to make this happen. We dont want to wait another five years to do this. Several residents were anxious to discuss the design of the road, including Larry Wyckoff of Cedar Falls, who led a protest in that city against roundabout intersections and improvements now under construction. Others urged the city to avoid replacing standard traffic signals with roundabouts. Hart said those decisions will come following public input meetings after a consultant is hired. Preliminary cost estimates to reconstruct University in Waterloo were based on reducing it from six to four lanes, not adding roundabouts and providing bicycle and pedestrian accommodations. There will be community input meetings to talk about the project and how we do it, how we reshape it, Hart said. Theres not guarantees already that it will go to four lanes or six lanes. City Engineer Eric Thorson joined Hart in saying the city may need to look for additional funds beyond the states contribution to rebuild University. We believe were going to have to work very hard to make the $28 million stretch, Thorson said. The Iowa Transportation Commission is expected to vote on the agreement later this summer or in early fall. WATERLOO Main Street Waterloo will host its fifth event of the 2016 FridayLoo season Friday with musician Jake McVey. FridayLoo runs from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. A special happy hour from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. is a new addition to this years concert series. Jake McVey has opened and toured with country musicians like FGL, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Darrius Rucker and many others. Admission is free. Sponsors for the year include Woodruff Construction, JSA Development, Greenwood Family Pharmacies, Comfort Inn & Suites, Days Inn & Suites, The VGM Group and UICCU. WATERLOO A Waterloo woman who was involved in a Friday afternoon crash has died. The 26-year-old woman died Sunday night at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, according to police. The police department report said speed appears to be a factor in the crash. The dead woman was identified as Samantha Weber According to the report, the woman was driving a 2008 Dodge Nitro north on West Sixth Street at about 3:55 p.m. when she apparently lost control on a curve in the area of Randolph Street. The sport utility vehicle drove onto the right curb and struck a street sign before ramping up the inclined yard of 803 W. Third St. and going airborne, the report states. The vehicle landed on some bushes and flipped before hitting a tree and coming to a rest on its top, the report states. The driver, who was wearing a seatbelt, was unconscious when police and paramedics arrived. Crews with Waterloo Fire Rescue removed her from the vehicle and took her to UnityPoint Health-Allen Hospital, and she was later transferred to Iowa City. Weapons recovered in Waterloo arrest WATERLOO Waterloo police recovered two firearms during separate incidents overnight Sunday. One of the weapons had been stolen during an earlier home burglary, and one person was arrested. Nathaniel Taylon Matlock, 19, of 505 Keystone St., was arrested for felon in possession of a firearm, carrying weapons and possession of marijuana after a Mercedes-Benz he was riding in was stopped about 8:11 p.m. Sunday in the area of Columbia and Edwards streets. Officers found the stolen .40-caliber handgun in his waistband during a pat down search, according to police. Police said Matlock is barred from handling firearms because of a conviction for intimidation with a weapon in a July 2014 shooting. He is currently on parole for a weapons charge, according to the Iowa Department of Corrections. Then at 9:58 p.m. Sunday, police were called to a report of gunfire in the 400 block of Reed Street. They made contact with a group of people one block over on Cutler Street and discovered a revolver. Charges are pending. Police also are investigating a Saturday afternoon shooting that damaged an occupied vehicle. Neighbors called police after hearing gunfire in the 100 block of Warneka Street about 4:19 p.m. Officers stopped a vehicle in the area and found a bullet hole in the passenger side, according to police. The vehicle was occupied by David Quinndale Wright Jr., 18, and 15-year-old Demond Deon Rollins. No injuries were reported, and police found several spent shell casings at the scene. Rollins had been shot in the ankle in September in the 200 block of Courtland Street, according to Courier archives. Woman pleads to meth charge WATERLOO A Vinton woman has pleaded guilty to federal drug trafficking charges. Angelika Maria McAtee, also known as Angelika Dunlap and Angelika Berendes, 58, a German citizen living in the United States as a lawful permanent resident, entered her plea to one count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute on Monday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. Sentencing will be at a later date, and the charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. She remains detained pending sentencing. Details about the incident werent available, but McAtee admitted to possessing 48 grams of meth at her Vinton home April 29. Court records show agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement sought to charge McAtee with making a false claim to citizenship in April. McAtee, who entered the United States in 1978, allegedly told authorities she was a citizen when she was booked into the Benton County Jail on prescription drug charges in April and paraphernalia and driving charges in February, according to court records. She was later indicted on the methamphetamine charge and a charge of being a drug user in possession of a firearm a Remington 870 Express shotgun in June. A firearm charge will be dropped during sentencing as part of the plea agreement. 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Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (12) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (4) Oct 29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1) Jul 25, 2016 | By Benedict Governor of California Jerry Brown has passed a law requiring makers of 3D printed guns and other homemade firearms to apply for an official serial number from the Department of Justice, a process which requires a background check. The new law aims to close firearm loopholes exposed by 3D printing. Image: Popular Mechanics The fabrication and distribution of 3D printed firearms is, alongside 3D printed keys and security breaches, perhaps the most controversial area of additive manufacturing at present. Using digital blueprints, makers can easily print their own homemade, unlicensed, and often crude weaponry, leaving absolutely no trace of their existence. These weapons can then be distributed, sold, and used, all behind the backs of the necessary authorities. This dark side of 3D printing, which has provided cause for concern for governments all across the world, has even found its way into Ubisofts Watch Dogs 2 video game. California, a state known for its liberal tendencies and political trendsetting, has just taken a huge step in the battle against 3D printed weaponry, passing a new law which requires 3D printed guns and other homemade firearms to be officially registered at the Department of Justice. The law, signed into legislation by Governor Jerry Brown last Friday, means owners of such devices must now pass a background check before being granted a serial number for their weapon. More importantly, a ban has been imposed on the sale or transfer of such homemade firearms, as the state attempts to clamp down on the distribution of 3D printed guns and "unfinished" lower receivers. In addition to the registration and non-distribution laws, California has also introduced legislation which requires plastic firearms to have a piece of stainless steel embedded in them. This requirement will enable metal detectors to detect the presence of so-called ghost guns, plastic firearms which are currently untraceable with normal detection systems. However, critics of this law have speculated that such a measure will have little positive impact, since the most vital elements of a firearm, 3D printed or otherwise, are metal. Image: PBS AB857 by Assemblyman Jim Cooper of Elk Grove is one of seven new gun-control measures introduced earlier this month aimed at reducing gun crime in California. The laws will come into effect in 2018, by which time owners or creators of homemade firearms will need to apply for the serial number and permanently affix it to their weapon. Gun rights lobbyists have been critical of the new legislation, with the president of the Firearms Policy Coalition giving it both barrels with the following statement: Todays action by Governor Brown shows how craven Californias despotic ruling class has become. The Legislature has abandoned the Constitution, representative government, and the People of California. I fully expect the People to respond in kind. The success or failure of California's new legal measures could determine how other US states decide to tackle the issues surrounding 3D printed weaponry, should they choose to address them at all. Extract from AB857: Existing law authorizes the Department of Justice to assign a distinguishing number or mark of identification to any firearm whenever the firearm lacks a manufacturers number or other mark of identification, or whenever the manufacturers number or other mark of identification or distinguishing number or mark assigned by the department has been destroyed or obliterated. This bill would, commencing July 1, 2018, and subject to exceptions, require a person who manufactures or assembles a firearm to first apply to the department for a unique serial number or other identifying mark, as provided. The bill would, by January 1, 2019, and subject to exceptions, require any person who, as of July 1, 2018, owns a firearm that does not bear a serial number to likewise apply to the department for a unique serial number or other mark of identification. The bill would, except as provided, prohibit the sale or transfer of ownership of a firearm manufactured or assembled pursuant to these provisions. The bill would prohibit a person from aiding in the manufacture or assembly of a firearm by a person who is prohibited from possessing a firearm. The bill would make a violation of these provisions a misdemeanor. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Richard wrote at 8/2/2016 2:26:23 PM:Do we follow the Constitution or state law that violates the Constitution? Those who wrote the Constitution considered any law that violates the Constitution is null and void, i.e. an illegal law, and not to be obeyed. Further, its the responsibility of the individual to know the Constitution in order to recognize those laws that violate the Constitution. So where does that leave these state laws? Does that not make it that a law-abiding citizen should break these state laws? Likewise with illegal federal laws and unConstitutional Supreme Court rulings? California already years ago was and still is illegally making a database of gun owners, so if the state is already breaking the law, why should its citizens follow the law?Anon wrote at 7/26/2016 9:15:45 PM:To follow up: FEDERAL law states that firearms/weapons shall contain a certain level of material detectable by current weapon detection methods. I.e. x-ray scanners, metal detectors. Fully 3D printed firearms/weapons are illegal at the Federal level already. The state of California is only proving they don't know how to read and need to go back to pre-school for nap time before someone puts them in the corner. The article presented quotes the markings section of the BATF regulation which is incorrect for 3D printed weapons. A self built weapon does not require does not require markings of any kind. Might want to do more research before you copy/paste articles.Anon wrote at 7/26/2016 9:11:43 PM:Oh look, California passing laws that override the Federal level yet again. What a circus this country is.JohnLennon wrote at 7/26/2016 4:07:52 PM:In addition to likely being unenforceable law designed to make people who pass laws feel good about themselves. It is in direct competition with existing law that governs homemade metal guns (which under ATF policies and US Law are already legal to make and use, just not sell or distribute, the whole 80 percent lower is part of this law) So by making material and method part of the law it creates unequal law (the 80 percent lower battle has been fought and won in favor of gun "makers") this violates equal protection under the law and may be nixed on that ground. It would be nice if legislatures spent any time considering the amazing waste of time and resources at a judiciary level to re-fight already decided cases. Ultimately California is in more danger from it's own fiscal policy than from any tyrannical impulse paranoia about guns.RobinLeech wrote at 7/26/2016 12:36:47 AM:Such infringements require an amendment to the Constitution first, to be valid. Otherwise they're usurping the highest laws, making it what's known a "rogue legislature". There is no "loophole" in the Constitution that allows them to infringe in this way. The right of the people to bear arms is not a "firearms loophole" unless you operate from the perspective of a tyrant that intends to confiscate guns like Hitler did from Jews. Organizations like "Jews For The Preservation Of Firearms Ownership" exist solely because this is dangerous for the people, and doesn't protect them or stop bad guys at all. Furthermore, what's to stop people from putting the same number on 100 guns? You may as well put up "Jihad Free Zone" signs everywhere like bad guys are going to go "I was going to kamikaze you, but now that I see it's illegal I'll go watch TV at home".Spaceman wrote at 7/25/2016 11:47:57 PM:Hhahahahahhaa goodluck with that Jul 26, 2016 | By Alec If youve ever been lucky enough to board a small plane to explore the vast emptiness of Canadas forests, for instance, chances are you were doing so in a Cessna propeller aircraft. In many ways, Cessna (which is part of US conglomerate Textron) has even become synonymous with those kinds of small tourist aircraft though they also produce a wide range of other airplanes, including private jets. And for that high-end portion of their clientele, Textron just unveiled a brand new business aircraft called the Cessna Denali, which will feature a powerful 3D printed propeller engine that is strong enough to fly from Miami to New York. This brand-new aircraft is remarkable for a number of reasons, of which its target audience is one. While private jets are typically the forte of billionaires, Textron is now aiming at the group just below them with the Cessna Denali. Costing just $4.8 million, its a business aircraft featuring many of the comforts you can find on a private jet, but then at an entry level price. Its also a bit bigger than a typical Cessna aircraft, featuring a cabin that seats up to eight people. But we here at 3ders.org are more interested in the mechanics that power this entry-level private aircraft, which features an engine with multiple 3D printed parts developed by GE Aviation and Textron Aviation. GE, of course, is no stranger to 3D printed engines back in April, they delivered the first two highly efficient LEAP-1A engines featuring 3D printed fuel nozzles to Airbus. Specifically, GE turned to 3D printing to make the whole design process a lot more efficient. Hundreds of small individual components have therefore been replaced with a handful of 3D printed titanium and steel components with complex geometries. Together with a host of other innovations, this makes the whole engine far more efficient than competing models. The engine is, in fact, a turboprop model that has been based on jet engine technology. As a result, the pressure and temperature inside the compressor and the turbine is increased, creating a lot more power. As a result, the engine will burn up to 20 percent less fuel and achieve 10 percent more power than other engines in the same class, its engineers said. Jeff Immelt, GEs chairman and CEO, even admitted that they are expecting this innovative model to bring in $40 billion in revenue within 25 years. The roots of the new engine go back to 2008, when GE Aviation purchased the small Czech turboprop builder Walter Aircraft Engines. This brought propellers back on the GE agenda, which they hadnt made in decades. Over the next seven years, the Czech/American team worked on a new design that could produce as much as 1,650 shaft horsepower bring propellers into a whole new market segment. That powerful engine is now being brought to the Cessna Denali, though it first completed more than 20 million hours of flight time on 30 different types of aircraft. By cross-pollinating their results with GEs far more experienced jet engine department, a very potent engine was born. Among others, the engine also features variable stator vanes and gas turbines used on jet engines, while the air-cooled turbine blades and integrated propulsion control makes the whole system easy to pilot. Development lead Brad Mottier even believes that these breakthroughs can extend time between engine overhauls by more than 30 percent. While propeller aircraft can seem to be outdated, this 3D printed engine by GE shows that they will doubtlessly stay around for years to come. The Cessna Denalis maiden voyage, complete with 3D printed engine, has been scheduled for 2018, with testing expected to take a whole year. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: flyboyfly wrote at 8/18/2016 8:08:53 AM:Nice copy of Pilatus PC-12NGPW wrote at 7/27/2016 12:35:58 PM:Propeller aircraft aren't outdated. They serve a different purpose. Jul 26, 2016 | By Tess If youre a space enthusiast who has been following NASA led maker challenges and have been dreaming about having your own 3D printed design made aboard the International Space Station you may now have another chance to. Electronics distributor Mouser Electronics has teamed up with engineer Grant Imahara, whom you might recognize from MythBusters and BattleBots, and retired Canadian astronaut Colonel Chris Hadfield, who served as commander for the International Space Station (I.S.S.) to launch a brand new ISS 3D design challenge. Dedicated readers might remember that only months ago the I.S.S. on board 3D printer manufactured its very first tool in space, and subsequently created a student designed multitool, which was the product of a Future Engineers student design challenge. This latest challenge, however, is a bit broader in scope as it is geared towards college and university students, engineers, and makers and encourages participants to include electrical components in their 3D printable designs. Col. Chris Hadfield Glenn Smith, President and CEO of Mouser Electronics said, Imagine how exciting it would be to see your design made in space. We are really excited to present this unique contest. We hope our wide range of electronic components will enable people to create whatever their imagination sparks. Mouser Electronics ISS Design Challenge has been sponsored and organized in partnership with Intel, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Made in Space, Hackster, and MacroFab. As mentioned, the challenge has also enlisted the help of celebrity engineer Grant Imahara and astronaut Chris Hadfield, who became famous for his enjoyable social media presence while in space (not to mention the creator of the first music video filmed in space!). Both Imahara and Hadfield will serve as guest judges for the contests entries. Grant Imahara If you think you have an idea for a 3D printed electronic tool that could benefit the astronauts aboard the I.S.S. and are interested in entering the maker challenge, there are a few things you should note. First, because of the size constraints of the I.S.S. 3D printer, designs must be contained within a build volume of 14x10x10cm with a resolution of 0.15mm and 75 micron layer height. In terms of materials, you should plan for your design to be created out of either ABS, HDPE, or PEI+PC polymers as they are the available materials aboard the I.S.S. For the part to be structurally sound, the challenge organizers suggest that designs have a minimum wall thickness of 1mm, and they must not necessitate any support structures. For the electrical components, Mouser has listed a number of featured products including Intel quark microcontrollers, Amphenol industrial connectors, advanced sensors, and more. Importantly, in designing your tool you must bear in mind that its electrical components cannot require external power from the space station and must be powered by either alkaline or coin cell batteries. Access to wifi through the tool should also not be necessary. And, while this goes without saying, designs must be as safe as possible so as not to endanger the astronauts aboard the I.S.S. Entries can be submitted through the design challenge website until October 7, 2016. After that date the panel of judges will determine a winner, who will not only have their design made in space, but will receive a 3D printer, and a consultation with Made in Space. Col. Hadfield expressed excitement for the project saying, Im honored to help judge the hard work of brilliant engineering minds. The I.S.S. 3D design challenge is the latest series in Mousers Empowering Innovation Together program. Posted in 3D Printing Events Maybe you also like: Kim wrote at 4/15/2019 4:51:27 PM:Nice blog so far Jul 26, 2016 | By Tess Ohio-based America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, has just announced the seven awardees of its latest Project Call for additive manufacturing advancement programs. The Project Call, which was launched in March 2016, is focused on areas within five groups, which include Design, Material, Process, Value Chain, and AM Genome. Among the awardees were Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), Wolf Robotics, and more. In association with the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM), America Makes is expecting to release $5.5 million in funding for the awardees, which will be matched by another $5.5 million from the awarded project teams, making for a total of $11 million in funds. According to a recent press release by America Makes, the organization is nearing the $100 million mark in its portfolio of public and private funds invested for the purpose of advancing and developing additive manufacturing technologies. The areas of interest or swim lanes listed for the Project Calldesign, material, process, value chain, and AM genomeare the key groups within the Technology Roadmap laid out by America Makes and the Roadmap Advisory Group (RMAG), which are expected to have the biggest impact in terms of advancing 3D printing technology on the whole. In addition to the five swim lanes, the Project Call also included a focus on the role of workforce, education, and outreach (WEO). The latter was also divided into five areas of focus which included Knowledge & Awareness, Hands-on Learning, Trainee Programs, Talent Pipeline, and Industrial Genome. These areas were emphasized to help solve issues surrounding gaps in the workforce, education, and training. The seven awardees announced by America Makes include the Optimal Design and AM of Complex Internal Core Structures for High Performance Aerial Vehicle Production project that was submitted by a team from Carnegie Mellon University in partnership with Automated Dynamics Corporation, Aurora Flight Sciences, Lockheed Martin, Stratasys, and more. The project aims to develop a computational and educational system for the creation of optimal 3D printed structures within the aerospace industry. The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) was also awarded for its Multi-functional Big Area AM (BAAM): BAAM with Multi-purpose Wire Embedding project, which if you havent already guessed is centred on advancing 3D printing build volumes, as well as production rates, through the incorporation of wire embedding. Wolf Robotics, LLCs MULTI: Source/FeedStock/Meter-Scale METAL AM Machine was also chosen by America Makes. This project, which is being developed in conjunction with Caterpillar Inc., Lincoln Electric Company, the Oak Ridge National Lab, and more, is hoping to position the AM industrial usr base to take advantage of the lower cost and increased flexibility associated with scalable, multi-axis robot systems. The other awarded projects include 3D Systems Corporations Biomimetic Multi-jet Materials; Phoenix Analysis & Design Technologies, Inc.s A Non-Empirical Predictive Model for AM Lattice Structures; Youngstown Business Incubators AM for Metal Casting (AM4MC) project; and Raytheons Multi-material 3D Printing of Electronics and Structures project. John Wilczynski, America Makes Deputy Director of Technology Development, said, With this Project Call, we made some modifications to the proposal process and those changes yielded positive results in membership involvement, proposal quality, and overall, a more productive proposal process. We look forward to officially kicking off these projects next month. The anticipated start date of the Project Call is August 2016. The seven selected America Makes Project Call Awardees are as follows: Optimal Design and AM of Complex Internal Core Structures for High Performance Aerial Vehicle Production - Carnegie Mellon University Led by Carnegie Mellon University, in conjunction with Automated Dynamics Corporation; Aurora Flight Sciences; Lockheed Martin; Siemens Corporation; Stratasys Inc.; and United Technologies Corporation, this project will develop a computational system and educational materials for the optimal design and AM of 3D core (i.e., tooling) structures central in the aerospace industry. This project aims to overcome the immense and industry-wide challenges faced during the current manual design of and fabrication of core structures using conventional methods, as well as the subsequent performance of said structures. Advanced solutions will be developed using nite element methods, non-linear high-dimensional optimization, and design for AM (DFAM). In addressing WEO requirements, the project team will develop learning materials in the form of digitally disseminated lectures, software, and tutorials, and deploy a large-scale grand competition challenge. Multi-functional Big Area AM (BAAM): BAAM with Multi-purpose Wire Embedding - University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Led by UTEP, in conjunction with Cincinnati Incorporated and Autodesk, Inc., this project will strive to advance AM build volumes and production rates by exploring the combined capability of large-scale AM with wire embedding due to its ability to introduce wire harness features directly into structural components. Wire embedding in 3D for large-scale AM will require a two-fold approach with the development of hardware and software solutions. In parallel efforts, this project will develop software solutions that will enable the conversion of 3D wire patterns into five-axis motion toolpaths that can be executed by the BAAM + wire embedding machine and integrate wire embedding technology into the BAAM machine. To satisfy WEO requirements, the team will guide the development of a graduate certificate program, tailored to accommodate remote engineers from throughout U.S. industry and government organizations. MULTI: Source/FeedStock/Meter-Scale METAL AM Machine - Wolf Robotics, LLC - A Lincoln Electric Company Led by Wolf Robotics, in conjunction with Caterpillar Inc.; EWI; GKN Aerospace; IPG Photonics Corporation; ITAMCO; Lincoln Electric Company; Oak Ridge National Lab; United Technologies Corporation; and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, this project will position the AM industrial user base to take advantage of the lower cost and increased flexibility associated with scalable, multi-axis (nine and above) robot systems. The project team will build upon an existing alpha generation CAD to Path AM Robotic Software tool; test and refine the CAD to Path tool for a commercial first release; and conduct basic process testing to bundle it with a multi-process, multi-meter, multi-material, production-ready robot-based 3DP system. Upon project conclusion, it is anticipated that a commercially available, multi-planer CAD to Path Software Tool will be developed as the key WEO component, enabling the production of Medium Area AM (MAAM) and Big Area (BAAM) manufactured parts within the mainstream marketplace. Biomimetic Multi-jet Materials - 3D Systems Corporation Led by 3D Systems Corporation, in conjunction with Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) and the United States Army Research Laboratory (ARL), this project will endeavor to develop physiologic-like printable materials for multi-jet printing (MJP) to address the current lack of printable materials suitable for biomimetic modeling within the healthcare field. Specifically, the project will deliver standardized feedstock materials, benchmark property data, microstructure control, process window definition, and processing specifications. The project teams technical approach will be tailored to meet specific market requirements, following the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) guidelines for medical device development. In addition to standard MJP material and chemical characterization, the project team will also leverage ARL resources to assess mechanical properties corresponding to physiological attributes. For the WEO component, canned training courses will be developed, customized initially for WRNMMC surgeons at varying experience levels on how to integrate medical modeling into their surgical planning processes. A Non-Empirical Predictive Model for AM Lattice Structures - Phoenix Analysis & Design Technologies, Inc. Led by Phoenix Analysis & Design Technologies, Inc., in conjunction with Arizona State University; Honeywell International Inc.; LAI International, Inc.; and Howard A. Kuhn, Ph.D., this project will focus on lattice structure design and manufacturing, one of the most promising areas of AM research today, by developing robust, validated material model that accurately describes how they behave with the goal of elevating the performance of theses complex structure at reduced material utilization. Three AM processes, Fused Deposition Modeling, Laser-bed Powder Bed Fusion, and Electron Beam Melting, will be addressed, using thermoplastic and metal materials. Specifically, a physics-based, geometry-independent model that can predict 3D-printed lattice structure stiffness and failure for use in design optimization and simulation will be developed and validated. The development of an online, living textbook and a customizable class on implementing lattice structures with AM will meet WEO requirements. AM for Metal Casting (AM4MC) - Youngstown Business Incubator Led by the Youngstown Business Incubator, in conjunction with the American Foundry Society; Ford Motor Company; Humtown Products; Northeast Iowa Community College; Pennsylvania State University (ARL); Product Development & Analysis (PDA), LLC; Tinker Omega Mfg. LLC; the University of Northern Iowa; and Youngstown State University, this project will strive to transform the U.S. industrial base via the development of next-generation sand printers that offer line speed production of printed cores and molds that are also economically viable for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to procure and integrate into full production lines. To transform metal casting via large-scale integration of AM technology, components need to be designed without the constraints of conventional manufacturing and then produced economically via these next-gen printers. This project will focus on the development of a next-gen production sand printer and knowledge-based design tools to overcome production barriers. The team will leverage the American Foundry Societys state, regional, and national forums to hold workshops; offer instructor-led classes; develop e-learning modules; and engage in business-focused presentations to satisfy WEO requirements. Multi-material 3D Printing of Electronics and Structures - Raytheon Led by Raytheon, in conjunction with General Electric Company (GE); nScrypt; Rogers Corporation; UMass-Lowell (UML) Research Institute (RURI); and the University of South Florida, this project will seek to advance AM from 2D-constrained designs to conformal and embedded solutions to enable multi-material printing of integrated 3D electronics and non-planar structures as the commercial, aerospace, biomedical, and defense industries have many applications that could benefit from novel, dense, and affordable 3D electronic packaging. The project team will apply its strength in printed electronics through an integrated system approach to improve and characterize 3D printing of multi-material and embedded electronics by working across the supply chain (inks, materials, printers, design, and control software) to establish a best practices baseline. To meet WEO requirements, the project team will develop online, certificate courses; instructor-led labs; R&D mentoring of undergraduates, graduates, and postgraduates; and customized and canned training programs. Posted in 3D Printer Company Maybe you also like: David Sloan Wilson in Evonomics: Any serious student of economics cant help but notice that the academic and popular versions are as different from each other as Dr. Frankenstein and his monster. Take Friedrich Hayek, for example. His books could fill a bookshelf and the commentary could fill a small library, but the monstrous version can only speak in two-word sentences. Government bad! Market good! Likewise the monstrous version of Adam Smith, the father of economics, can only say Invisible hand! Just as Dr. Frankenstein couldnt prevent his monster from running amok, it seems that economists cant do anything to stop the monsters they created from sowing confusion wherever they go. Some economists act genuinely alarmed but I strongly suspect that others like it that way. They are mad economists and the monsters do their dirty work for them. The creation of the Hayek Monster is well documented and nicely summarized in a 2010 New York Times article prompted by the sudden appearance of Hayeks 1944 book The Road to Serfdom on the New York Times best seller list. That book was Hayeks own attempt at popularization but it received two other boosts by a Readers Digest version in 1945, which sold more than a million copies, and a cartoon version that was published by the General Motors Corporation in Look Magazine during the same year and widely distributed by GM as a pamphlet. By then the transformation from man to monster was complete. According to the cartoon version, any step in the direction of government planning leads to a totalitarian state. The final panel of the cartoon shows John Q. Citizen being shot by a firing squad. Im not here to demonize Friedrich Hayek the man. Im here to demonize Friedrich Hayek the Monster. The man was complex and so was his time. More here. It's common knowledge that Ari Shapiro, host of the NPR program All Things Considered, is a rock star reporter with an iconic radio voice, but for two nights this month, Shapiro will put his vocal prowess on display when he joins the San Francisco symphony and "little orchestra" Pink Martini for a two-night run at Davies Symphony Hall. A cross-genre ensemble founded by pianist Thomas Lauderdale, Pink Martini has a wildly diverse repertoire that is influenced by classical, pop, jazz, and world music. Described by Lauderdale as "an urban musical travelogue," the Portland-based ensemble sees themselves as global ambassadors of a broader, more inclusive America. NPR host Ali Shapiro Shapiro will share the mic with songstress Storm Large, a powerhouse performer who got her musical start on Haight Street. We caught up with both vocalists at the start of a two-week tour to get the inside scoop on singing with Pink Martini. Storm Large 7x7: How did you land a spot with Pink Martini? Shapiro: They're from my hometown [Portland] and over time I became friends with them. One evening I threw a barbecue [in DC] that turned into sing along around my piano. The next day Thomas called and said, "We have an idea for a song that we want a man to sing on the next album. Why don't you come record with us?" A few months later I was in the studio. Large: China Forbes was a good friend of mine and when she needed vocal surgery Thomas called me. I said no, but he and China insisted. When I agreed, I had to learn 10 songs in five languages in four days and I managed it somehow. 7x7: Tell us about your first live performance with Pink Martini. Shapiro: The first time I ever performed with the band was at the Hollywood Bowl in front of [nearly] 18,000 people. It felt completely surreal. Large: My first show was four sold-out concerts at the Kennedy Center. After every show people would stop me and say it was amazing and I would say, "Don't congratulate me until all four are done. When I grab a towel and a glass of wine you can tell me I'm awesome." 7x7: As guest performers, what is it like to work with one another? Shapiro: Storm is incredible. The first time she ever performed it was with less than a week's notice and it was nerve racking for both of us. We held each other's hands and got through it and it created a bond that has existed every since. Large: Ari is kind of an annoyingly perfect human being. He makes everything better and I love him with the fury of a tire fire on the sun. The very first time [we performed together] he was really helpful in keeping me calm. He should be detestable, but he is just love on legs and one of the kindest most genuine, intelligent people I know. 7x7: How does performing with a full symphony compare to your typical performance? Shapiro: It's an incredible feeling to have 50-60 phenomenal musicians lifting you up. Twelve people is a really full sound, but nothing like the complete wall of music you get from a symphony. Large: Pink Martini is a little orchestra, and I love that, but when you add a full-size orchestra it's just this oceanic sound. It adds emotional emphasis to what we're doing and makes everything much more grand. 7x7: Do you have a most memorable performance with Pink Martini? Shapiro: There was an outdoor performance on Mount Lycabettus in Athens during the worst of the economic crisis. We were outdoors with a young audience on a hot August night and there were people sitting on cliff edges watching the show for free. You could hear the cicadas and smell the pines and it was like a moment of relief from the onslaught of bad news. [Pink Martini] is always sort of like thata little escape into a world that's a little sunnier a little more joyful. Large: Thomas really curates for the [whole] world. I think it's incredibly rare for smaller countries to experience Americans coming to their town and honoring their culture. There's a Romanian song [Pana cand nu te iubeam] that we learned from Maria Tanase just for Romania. As I started singing it [during a performance in Timisoara] you could feel everyone in the audience holding their breath. When I took a break they erupted. It really brought home for me the truth that music brings people together. Sometimes the only pleasure people know is when the pain is suspended. If you can fill someone with hope and pride and joy and light, if they can just get a breath, then maybe something can change. 7x7: What are you looking forward to on this two-week tour? Shapiro: I love summer toursso many venues are outdoors and people picnic and bring bottles of wine. The zoo in Portland will be great. Large: Seeing Charleston, South Carolina and getting back to San Franciscothat's where I got my start. I have a lot of friends there and I just love it. // Ari Shapiro and Storm Large will perform with Pink Martini and the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Hall (Civic Center) on July 28 and 29, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $30-$95, sfsymphony.org Verizon announced on Monday that it has set it sights on Yahoo!, one of the original Silicon Valley Internet pioneers (they invented the banner ad), for a purchase price of $4.83 billion. After months of speculation, the two parties reached a deal that entails Yahoo! selling its core businesses to Verizon, allowing one of the nation's largest wireless telecommunication companies to begin competing in the digital advertising space with giants Google and Facebook. The sale does not include Yahoo! selling its cash and equity investments in Alibaba, Yahoo! Japan and other investments. After the sale, Yahoo! shareholders will be left with about $41 billion according to New York Times. Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer is expected to step down and receive a severance package worth $55 million(!). Mayer was plucked from Google in 2012 after being passed over for a promotion. In 2013, Yahoo! acquired social network site Tumblr in hopes of attracting younger users. The proposed deal involves integrating many of Yahoo!'s consumer services such as email, news, Tumblr, and other services into Verizon's AOL unit, acquired in May 2015 for $4.4 billion. Mayer states in a letter to Yahoo! employees that the sale is "a great opportunity for Yahoo! to build further distribution and accelerate our work in mobile, video, native advertising, and social." Having too many rules may backfire. A few years ago, a friend was preparing to host her three adult children, their spouses and her assorted grandchildren, ages infant to 12, for a month at her summer home. An organizational whiz, she sent them all an email with a list of ground rules. Among them: Parents will do their best to stop their children from climbing on the family room furniture. After dinner will be quiet time: resting, reading or playing quietly upstairs. There will be scheduled meal hours to avoid a restaurant short-order dynamic and too many seatings. Nobody will leave dishes, glasses or silverware in the sink. Rinse and put them in the dishwasher. I checked in recently with this grandmother to see how she survived. Among other headaches, she faced dirty dishes piled in the sink and her guests eating at any and every hour. "It was a bloody diner, day after day. Meals stretched over several hours and sittings with different food for every eater and different periods of consumption," she says. Despite her vow to never do it again, she says the group will descend again this month, but for a shorter stay. Her rules are down to a few pet peeves: "I still will vehemently oppose the dishes in the sink." And under extreme duress, "There's always my hiding places for a fast retreat." Mary W. Quigley, a journalist and author, has written two books about motherhood and work. A New York University journalism professor, she is the mother of three adult children and blogs at http://mothering21.com Distribution of company announcements to the professional platforms, finance portals and syndication of important corporate news to a wide variety of news aggregators and financial news systems. Supporters from Wisconsin of former Democratic Presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., yell during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Monday, July 25, 2016. (AP Photo/John Locher) Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., show signs to convention goers during a protest, Monday, July 25, 2016, in Philadelphia, during the first day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., cool off during a protest in downtown on, Monday, July 25, 2016, in Philadelphia, during the first day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., yell to convention goers during a protest, Monday, July 25, 2016, in Philadelphia, during the first day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., waves as he walks off the stage after checking out the podium before the start of the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Monday, July 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Philadelphia's Rocky statue. Prev 1 of 6 Next PHILADELPHIA Good afternoon from the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Delegates including New Mexicos flooded into the City of Brotherly Love yesterday and continue to arrive today. The action starts on the convention floor this afternoon at 2 p.m. mountain time and features speeches by first lady Michelle Obama and Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose supporters are in something of an uproar about an email scandal connected to the Democratic National Committee. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Sunday that she would resign after WikiLeaks published thousands of emails suggesting the committee favored Clinton during her primary contest with Sanders, despite vowing to remain neutral. I caught up Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, a New Mexico Democrat who is chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, at a delegation breakfast this morning. Lujan told me Wasserman Schultz did the right thing when she resigned over the controversy. Democrats seems to be relieved that the unpopular chairwomans tenure is over. But the DNC controversy couldnt come at a worse time, as Democrats deeply divided between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are trying to show unity at their convention. Those emails at the DNC should have never been written, they have no place in our discourse, and they are just wrong, Lujan told me. Debbie Wasserman Schultz made a decision to put the country ahead of herself personally, and she made the right decision by stepping down. That was the right thing to do. Lujans office at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is in the same building as Wasserman Schultzs in Washington. Asked whether other Democratic National Committee staffers involved in the email scandal should be fired, Lujan said he wasnt sure but possibly. There needs to be a thorough look at this and people need to be held accountable, he said. Then as the in-demand Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman was rushing off to a waiting car to take him to another event I asked him about speculation that the Russian government hacked into the Democratic National Committees emails and leaked them because they want to hurt Democrats and help Republican nominee Donald Trumps candidacy. Lujan said he couldnt comment in detail. Were still trying to get more information about all of that stuff, Lujan said. I didnt have a chance to ask Lujan about whether this lends credence to Sanders supporters claims that the Democratic Partys presidential nominating process is rigged, but Ill have more on this in tomorrows newspaper, including comments from at least one New Mexico delegate for Bernie Sanders. Speaking of New Mexicos delegates, they hit the jackpot with their hotel location in Philadelphia. The delegation is staying at the fancy Franklin Hotel at Liberty Park, literally a stones throw from Independence Hall in downtown. Its a historic area and shows that even though New Mexico may not be a hotly contested swing state, its still has clout within the Democratic Party. Im going to speculate that Lujan as chairman of the DCCC deserves a lot of the credit for the New Mexicos primo location. And heres video of Bernie Sanders supporters voicing some enthusiasm for their candidate at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Former U.S. Department of Interior Sec. Ken Salazar laid out a template Monday for reaching across the ideological divide for business owners to work better with regulators and government agencies. Salazar, now a water and environmental lawyer in Denver, referred to the 80/20 rule he learned in the U.S. Senate to foster common ground between regulators and business and industry players. We start with things we have in common first, and that often covers 80 percent of what we have to talk about, said Salazar in an address to NAIOPs monthly luncheon. Then we can talk about the harder things. Someone who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is your friend, not your enemy, said Salazar, who learned the approach from the late Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Republican Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming when he entered the august chamber as the junior senator from Colorado. Salazar, whose family roots are in northern New Mexico, detailed several anecdotes where he brought opponents together to find consensus on issues and broker agreements relevant to New Mexico. As President Obamas secretary of interior, Salazar said the first thing he told agency folks was to find people in communities who are leaders civic, office holders and chambers of commerce members. Salazar detailed several examples during his tenure where consensus was reached in New Mexico on controversial issues: ranging from protecting the dunes sagebrush lizard, to green lighting the San Juan Chama Drinking Water project and resolving conflicts between oil and gas developers and the potash industry. Salazar made his prepared remarks in a casual, anecdotal style. He answered questions with few specific answers. One exception was when he took a question on Republican nominee Donald Trumps plans to eliminate job killing regulations to support small business owners if elected. Salazar, an unabashed Hillary supporter, said a lot of decisions are out of a presidents control because of judicial oversight. About 200 people attended the luncheon meeting of the New Mexico chapter of NAIOP The Commercial Real Estate Development Association at the Albuquerque Marriott in Uptown. PHOENIX A small group in Arizona on Monday protested a decision not to charge a police officer in the shooting death of a woman accused of shoplifting and threatening the lawman with scissors. The shooting of 27-year-old Navajo woman Loreal Tsingine in March led tribal officials to urge the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the treatment of American Indians who live in towns that border the reservation. Maricopa County prosecutor Bill Montgomery announced Friday that his office found no evidence of criminal conduct on the part of Winslow, Arizona, Officer Austin Shipley in Tsingines death. About 20 people chanted Justice for Loreal and Shame on Bill Montgomery outside the prosecutors office in Phoenix as employees arrived for work Monday morning. The Phoenix protest came amid a wave of demonstrations and racial tension over police shooting of black men as well as the fatal attacks on law enforcement officers. Members of the Navajo Nation Council said in a statement they were appalled by Montgomerys decision and demanded a federal investigation. A phone number listed for Austin Shipley was disconnected, and its not clear whether he has an attorney. Records show that at least two officers who trained Shipley had serious concerns about his work and that one recommended the police department not keep him on the force. The concerns included that he was too quick to go for his service weapon, ignored directives from superiors and falsified reports, according to records obtained by The Associated Press. Tsingines family has filed a $10.5 million notice of claim against the city, saying Shipley violated her civil rights and Winslow was negligent in hiring, training, retaining, controlling and supervising the police officer. The wrongful-death claim, filed July 1, is a precursor to a lawsuit and seeks $2 million for Tsingines husband and $8.5 million for her 8-year-old daughter. Our position remains that even though (Shipley) may not be held criminally liable, it was careless for the city of Winslow to give him a gun and a badge, said the Tsingine familys Phoenix-based attorney, Robert Pastor. Lawyers for the city have declined comment on the claim, saying its the citys policy not to talk about pending litigation. Shipley is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation that will be conducted by the Mesa Police Department, Winslow officials said Friday. Shipley fired five shots at Tsingine after responding to a shoplifting call at a Winslow convenience store. According to a police report, Shipley attempted to detain Tsingine, but she resisted arrest and was taken to the ground. The officer said Tsingine swung the scissors at him, and he retreated with his gun drawn and gave multiple commands for her to stop and drop the scissors. The police report said Tsingine didnt comply and got up and aggressively ran at Shipley with scissors in hand before he fired. She was pronounced dead at the scene. ___ Associated Press photographer Matt York contributed to this report. CLINTON, Miss. A woman who left her infant locked in a hot van in a store parking lot will face a charge of child neglect, Clinton police said Monday. The incident occurred outside a Wal-Mart on Saturday afternoon, when temperatures were in the upper 90s, Clinton Police Chief Ford Hayman said. The 6-month-olds mother, Sherika Green, 32, of Sierra Vista, Arizona, told investigators differing reasons the baby was in the car. Investigators are still trying to piece together exactly what happened, he said. Her first story was that she stopped to see some friends and needed to go to Wal-Mart and believed her husband had removed the child from the car seat. The second story, she said she was only in the store for a minute. Hayman said passers-by saw the baby in the van and felt the situation was serious enough to warrant breaking a window to get the baby out. I applaud them and thank them for being aware and undertaking the rescue, he said. Being locked in a vehicle without any air, you dont know how quickly that situation can turn tragic. Department spokesman Mark Jones said off-duty Jackson Police Officer Lafayette Martin was among more than a dozen people who ultimately helped rescue the baby by shattering a rear window. The left rear window, which is a pop-out window, I call it, was open, Martin told WAPT-TV (http://bit.ly/2a1Mar1). The gentleman pulled the glass out and it shattered, and he climbed inside (and) unlocked the doors so we could get the baby out. As soon as the baby was out of the van, the mother came out of the store, Martin said. She was hysterical. She was telling the paramedics, or the people involved, that she was only going to be in there for a few minutes. She was only going to be gone for a minute or two, he said. Emergency personnel examined and cleared the baby but transported the infant to a childrens hospital as a precaution, Hayman said. There were enough facts to issue an arrest warrant for the mother, Hayman said. We hope shell turn herself in. Once in custody, Green will have bond set and be given a court date, Jones said. Hayman said the charge carries up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine. ___ This story has corrected the babys age to 6 months old. What if Hillary Clinton were a man? What if she were a 68-year-old man rather than a 68-year-old woman? Would we think differently of her? Her raised voice would be lower. She would be better at physically commanding the stage. Her indomitability might be seen as manly. If she were taller and bigger, might she have been able to get away with saying nothing about her email server as Donald Trump has with his tax returns? As they say, Im just askin. I am asking because the dislike of Hillary Clinton is so palpable that it has become akin to a prejudice. I understand the criticisms and dont reject them out of hand. She has been slippery. She has fibbed. Shes used a private email server, which was wrong and careless. She has been the marital partner of a man who has taken other partners. She did not leave him, as many women wanted her to do. To them, she became the personification of the female doormat. Still, it does not all add up. I know her a bit but I know others who know her quite well. In the corners of rooms dedicated to ugly gossip and whispered betrayals, what you hear from those who know her is not agreement with the general consensus, but puzzlement: Shes warm. Shes bright. Shes charming. She has a great sense of humor. And yet, on the podium, these qualities are rarely in sight. Her voice escalates, the pitch rising, the emphasis misplaced. She is often rhetorically wrong-footed. Her smile seems fake, the wave is to no one, the laugh sounds manufactured. She is defensive. She fights for privacy, yet she has chosen politics played on the most expansive of all scales. If she wins, she will be a renter in a house owned by all of us. She will remain under continuous observation. I met Hillary Clinton during her husbands first campaign for the White House. It was 1992, New Hampshire, and both Clintons had stopped at a coffee shop to greet the folks and get something to eat. It was Bills campaign, so he took question after question, exhausting much of the county before finally sitting down at the counter. Hillary joined him. So did I. There was one more question to go. The waitress was a single mother. She wanted to go to college. Was there some sort of program that could help her? Bill started to answer. There was this and there was that, all of them designated with some government number, and there was yet another and here he stopped to put some eggs in his mouth and Hillary finished the sentence for him. They werent a team. They were a machine. She was no ordinary political spouse, whatever that may mean or might have meant. This one was different. This was Hillary Clinton. I would, to get right down to it, vote for Kim Kardashian over Donald Trump, so support of Hillary Clinton comes easy. Still I am vexed by her rampant unpopularity, especially among the young women who found Bernie Sanders so exciting. I had to recall the wisdom of Gloria Steinem, who knew, because she had once been a young woman herself, that aging is tough on women. When they are young, they are cherished, adored. But as they age, they become less adored by men, sometimes, but by employers, too. They have children, complicating their lives. Every day-care center is constructed out of glass ceilings. Sanders somewhere along the line had a child out of wedlock. Imagine if Hillary had done the same. After Bill Clintons sex scandal broke, I never thought Hillary would accept Rep. Charlie Rangels suggestion and run for the Senate. I thought shed seek privacy, a place to nurse her wounds. But she jumped into the race. She worked New York State hard, campaigning in every county, eschewing her usual outfits. Gail Collins reminds us in The New York Times that she wore nearly the same thing nearly every day. She won. She will win this time, too. But it will be harder than it ought to be. It will be hard because she is a tone-deaf politician, because lots of people find her to be shrill and because she has an awesome ability to turn a political misdemeanor into a firestorm. But as Trump lazes through the campaign, relying on his unreliable instincts, she will work harder than he knows how. After all, as a woman, shes always had to. Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group. PHILADELPHIA The Republican convention generated a modest increase in Donald Trumps poll standing, moving the New York businessman back into a lead over Hillary Clinton. Through Sunday, the University of Southern California Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Daybreak tracking poll of the race shows Trump gaining about 3 percentage points in the aftermath of the convention. That would be roughly in line with the convention bounces enjoyed by Democratic and Republican nominees in the last three election cycles. As of Sunday, the poll, which is updated daily, showed Trump leading Clinton 45 percent to 41 percent. The lead is within the polls margin of error of 3 percentage points in either direction, meaning that the apparent lead could be the result of chance. Trump led Clinton by a similar margin a week before the GOP convention started, after the sharp criticism she received from FBI Director James B. Comey over her handling of classified information in her emails when she was secretary of state. But Clintons support rose in the days immediately before the GOP convention, and the two were tied in the poll for much of the last week. Though the Republican convention appears to have shifted some voters to Trump, it also seems to have deepened the intent to vote among Clintons backers. In addition to asking respondents to rate from zero to 100 the likelihood of their voting for Clinton, Trump or for someone else, the Daybreak poll also asks them to rate their likelihood of voting. Among Clinton backers, that likelihood has gone up over the last two weeks by an average of about five points again, within the polls margin of error, but suggesting that recent events may be motivating her supporters. The poll suggests that Trump has also started to seem like a plausible winner to more people. Two weeks ago, poll respondents, by 53 percent to 41 percent, said they expected Clinton to win the presidency. Now, that gap has narrowed significantly, to 50 percent to 44 percent still a Clinton advantage, but a much tighter one. The question of which candidate people think will win is sometimes although not always a better predictor of the election than asking people whom they plan to vote for. Thats particularly true when the election remains many weeks away. Since the start of the GOP convention, Trump appears to have gained ground among young voters, with fewer saying they expect to vote for a third-party candidate. And what was a clear lead for Clinton among voters with a college degree has tightened so that her advantage with that group is now within the surveys margin of error. A similar increase for Trump has showed up in some other surveys. A poll by Morning Consult, a polling and media firm, showed him taking a 44 percent to 40 percent lead, the first time he has had the advantage in that poll. Trump got a slightly larger increase in the latest CNN/ORC survey a 6-point bump, which moved him from trailing Clinton in that poll to leading, 48 percent to 45 percent. When tested in a four-way matchup that included Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, and Jill Stein of the Green Party, Trump led 44 percent to 39 percent, with Johnson getting 9 percent and Stein 3 percent, the CNN/ORC poll found. Not all surveys showed an increase for Trump. A poll for NBC by SurveyMonkey showed his support flat, with a small gain among Republicans offset by a negative reaction from independents. Like the others, it showed a tight race. The question for this week will be whether Clinton can generate an increase of her own out of the Democratic convention. At a briefing for reporters Monday morning, her pollster, Joel Benenson, said he believed Republicans had left a significant opening for her to do so. Republicans solidified their base at their convention, he said. What they didnt do was reach out to voters who werent already in their base. Hillary has a commanding advantage on the question of which candidate is going to fight for me, he said. What we really want to do is to drive that on the positive side. Democratic pollster Geoff Garin, who also spoke at the briefing sponsored by the Atlantic magazine, acknowledged that some voters are attracted to Trump because he promises change, even if they are not sure what his change would mean. Clinton needs to convince them that she is on their side, and that she will make their lives better as president, he said. Republicans set out very clearly and forcefully that they want the election to primarily be about which candidate voters believe will keep the country safe, he added. What we need out of this convention, he said, is a clear definition of what the election is about what kind of country they want to lead us toward. Both men asserted that Clinton has a strong shot at winning a couple of swing states that President Barack Obama lost in 2012, most notably North Carolina, which Obama carried in 2008. Benenson also listed Arizona, a state with a large share of Latino voters, as a target for the Democrats. On the flip side, Garin said that of the industrial states that Obama carried in 2012, where Trump hopes his opposition to current trade deals and his tough image will attract blue-collar voters, Ohio is the toughest to hold. Ohio is qualitatively different from the others. Clinton is farthest ahead in Michigan, he said an assessment shared by Republican pollsters in Cleveland for their partys convention last week. Both parties usually experience an increase in support after their conventions, which typically are among the few events in a presidential race that actually move large numbers of voters. The increase usually stems from two things: Conventions tend to strengthen partisan feelings, so a partys voters typically coalesce around the nominee during or just after the gathering. The convention is also the one time during a campaign in which one party gets disproportionate attention to its message. That typically sways some voters who dont have strong partisan feelings. In some cases, candidates can get a large and lasting increase from the convention. This happened most notably in 1992, when then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton gained as much as 14 points in some surveys taken just after the Democratic convention. More recently, however, the trend has been toward smaller post-convention bounces, probably because the country has fewer swing voters. The Daybreak tracking poll is part of the Understanding America Study conducted by USCs Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research. The election survey is being done in partnership with the Times and USCs Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics. Mari Bennett, a well-known news reporter and anchor on KOB-TV, Channel 4, from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s, died at her Denver-area home July 20 after a 6-year battle with breast cancer, KOB sources confirmed Monday. She was 55. Bennett, who was born in the Chicago area as Mari Szatkowski, was a broadcast journalism graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Bennett came to Albuquerque in the early 1980s, taking a job as a reporter and program manager for a local radio station. There she worked with Steve Stucker, then a top-40 afternoon announcer who would later become a long-time co-host and weatherman on KOB -TVs early morning Eyewitness News 4 Today. In 1985, Bennett was hired by KOB-TV as the anchor for the stations then new half-hour morning newscast as well as its weekend news programs. Three years later she became a co-anchor of the weekday 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts. She declined to renew her contract, which expired in December 1991, saying she wanted to try other pursuits, including traveling, free-lance writing, talk radio and theater. Two months later, she was co-starring in the Albuquerque Little Theatres production of Isnt It Romantic, and billed under her real name. She later appeared in the New Mexico Repertory Theatres production of Our Lady of the Tortilla. Stucker recalls that Bennett had these piercing blue eyes, and after she became a staple on TV, a morning radio announcer did a parody of the popular Kim Carnes song Betty Davis Eyes, substituting the lyric, shes got Mari Bennett eyes. KOBs Tom Joles, who early on co-anchored the evening newscasts with Bennett, also remembered her eyes, which he said were intense, like her, but they also spoke of compassion, playfulness and a complexity that made her stand out in a crowd. Bennett, whom he called a very engaging friend, was in the delivery room with Joles and his wife when their first child was born. Mari was bright beyond belief and insanely complex, he said. She is survived by her husband, Jonathan Wiesel. SANTA FE Gov. Susana Martinez returned to New Mexico late last week from the Republican National Convention to a jolt of cold water renewed bipartisan alarm over the states budget situation and calls for a special session from the Senates most respected budget voice. Martinez, who has touted her administrations budget-balancing acumen in the past, will face tough decisions in the coming months over how to address the current budget crunch in the midst of an election year. She has not announced a plan for plugging projected budget shortfalls for both the current and just-completed budget years that could together exceed $600 million, but a spokesman said last week that Martinez is open to meeting with lawmakers and plans to tread carefully. There was no update Monday from the Governors Office about a possible special session, but some lawmakers said theres no sense in delaying budgetary decisions for too long. Weve got to get ahead of the eight ball, said Sen. Steven Neville, an Aztec Republican. Our priority, whether we get re-elected or not, is to run the state the way its supposed to be run. He said he largely agrees with Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, who recently described New Mexicos finances as in crisis and urged Gov. Martinez to call a special session as soon as August. Smith also said last week that the state is facing a $150 million-plus deficit for the budget year that ended June 30, along with a potential shortfall in the new budget year of up to $500 million. The budget crunch is largely due to falling oil and natural gas prices, which have had a ripple effect and meant lower-than-expected tax revenues in several sectors. Rep. Jimmie Hall, R-Albuquerque, vice chairman of the Legislative Finance Committee, said hes had recent talks with Martinez administration budget officials, but nothing has been decided. Im looking for her leadership and her teams leadership on which way to go, Hall said in an interview. Meanwhile, Rep. Luciano Lucky Varela, D-Santa Fe, a former LFC chairman, said a special session could be limited to a few days if legislative leaders could cobble together a budgetary plan beforehand. He also urged Martinez not to rigidly adhere to a no tax increase stance she has held since taking office in 2011. Im very concerned the governor will not consider revenue enhancements, said Varela, a 29-year lawmaker who is not running for re-election this year. I wish she would reconsider. The Martinez administration has taken a restrained approach on the budget, limiting nonessential spending by reducing state employee travel across all agencies, while urging legislators not to overstate the problem. Martinez has called two special sessions since taking office in 2011 a 2011 special session focused on the once-per-decade task of redistricting and a 2015 special session was called to revive a $295 million public works bill that died during that years 60-day regular session. A special legislative session this year would likely cost $50,000 for each day lawmakers spend in Santa Fe, based on figures from recent special sessions. State Democratic Party Chairwoman Debra Haaland recently blamed Gov. Martinezs economic policies for the states budget woes, saying Republicans had put corporations ahead of teachers and students. A spokesman for the two-term GOP governor said Monday that its ridiculous for critics to suggest Martinezs handling of the state economy has played a role in the steep revenue downturn. If Democrats want to argue that we shouldnt be diversifying our economy, or that we shouldve been raising taxes on business as opposed to cutting taxes, they have the right to do that, Martinez spokesman Michael Lonergan said. But thats an approach that has failed New Mexico for decades and, now, it is more important than ever before that we grow the private sector across a diverse set of industries so that were not so reliant on federal government spending and oil/gas activity. Sen. Bill Soules, D-Las Cruces, said in a recent social media posting that the governor and House GOP leadership have been in denial about the states budget crunch, a claim he reiterated in a Monday interview. However, he also said both sides must be willing to give ground to find a budget deal, adding, The fact theres an election shouldnt come into play with us having to do our jobs. Thousands of leaked emails have sealed the fate of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultzs uneven five-plus-year tenure as DNC chair. Wasserman Schultzs resignation announcement came as a bad situation kept getting worse and appears as though it might continue to do so. WikiLeaks has released nearly 20,000 emails, new details are still being discovered and there is still the prospect of additional, damaging emails coming to light. Many of the most damaging emails suggest the committee was actively trying to undermine Bernie Sanders presidential campaign. Basically, all of these examples came late in the primary after Hillary Clinton was clearly headed for victory but they belie the national party committees stated neutrality in the race, even at that late stage. Below are some of the controversial emails. Targeting Sanders religion? On May 5, DNC officials appeared to conspire to raise Sanderss faith as an issue and press on whether he was an atheist. Sanders is Jewish, but has previously indicated that hes not religious. One email from DNC Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall read: It might make no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief. Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist. Marshall added in a later email: Its these Jesus thing. In response, CEO Amy Dacey said: Amen. Sanders aide called a damn liar On May 17, after controversy erupted over the Nevada state Democratic convention and how fair the process was there, Wasserman Schultz herself took exception to Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weavers defense of his candidates supporters. Damn liar, she wrote. Particularly scummy that he barely acknowledges the violent and threatening behavior that occurred. Sanders has no understanding of the party In one late-April email, Wasserman Schultz questioned Sanderss connection to the party. Spoken like someone who has never been a member of the Democratic Party and has no understanding of what we do, she said in response to a Politico story about Sanders saying the party hadnt been fair to him. Sanders, for what its worth, wasnt a Democrat before entering the Democratic primary. He caucused with the party, but has long been an independent. Clinton lawyer gives advice When the Sanders campaign alleged that the Clinton campaign was improperly using its joint fundraising committee with the DNC to benefit itself, Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias offered the DNC guidance on how to respond. My suggestion is that the DNC put out a statement saying that the accusations the Sanders campaign are not true, Elias said May 3 in response to an email about the issue sent by communications director Luis Miranda to other DNC staffers that copied Elias and another lawyer at his firm, Perkins Coie. Elias continued: The fact that CNN notes that you arent getting between the two campaigns is the problem. Here, Sanders is attacking the DNC and its current practice, its past practice with the POTUS and with Sec Kerry. Just as the RNC pushes back directly on Trump over rigged system, the DNC should push back DIRECTLY at Sanders and say that what he is saying is false and harmful the the Democratic party. More criticism On May 21, DNC national press secretary Mark Pautenbach suggested pushing a narrative that Sanders never ever had his act together, that his campaign was a mess. After detailing several arguments that could be made to push that narrative, Paustenbach concludes: Its not a DNC conspiracy, its because they never had their act together. WANT A TASTE of the Albuquerque Rapid Transits traffic impact right now? Head to westbound Central between University and I-25 where construction has reduced traffic to one lane. On a recent Tuesday afternoon: Totally backed up the whole distance. Watch out, residents along Coal, Lead, Silver and (UNM) campus; thats where drivers will go. C.R. THE BIGGEST threats to our earth are not fossil fuels, meat eaters, GMOs, (gas-emitting) cows or clean drinking water supply, but they are all related to the most dangerous culprit: overpopulation. R.M. VERY FEW HUMANS can do recreational drugs without becoming addicted. Very few politicians and bureaucrats can resist becoming addicted to power, money and corruption. We thank founding father Thomas Paine for the statement, government is but a necessary evil. J.C.G. WE CAN DRAW a couple conclusions from the tragedy in Nice, France: One, you dont need an assault rifle to cause massive casualties, and two, given this, why do we think we need our guns so much? C.K. NO ONE IS against paid sick leave. We just want employers and employees to work it out on their own. We have too many laws and too many mandates already. We dont need the government telling entrepreneurs how to run their businesses. And, if you havent noticed, we are having trouble getting employers to come here. L.W. ELECTRIC BUSES, thats great! Now PNM can open its coal-fired generating unit back up to supply the electricity for these buses that are made by a company owned by the Chinese also, great polluters. W.D.L. DO THE GENIUSES in Congress not realize that more labeling of food products, such as the GMO labeling bill, just increases the cost of products to the consumer? Get over yourselves. GMO is not a bad thing. Its been around for decades. J.E.H. RE: SUPPORTERS of Albuquerque sick leave initiative say they have 24K signatures: Do not leave this up to the voters! They will vote for this and it will cripple small business. The people weve voted into office to lead should make the right decision and say no to this. S.A.G. EMPLOYMENT IS a contract between an employer and employee. Government should stay out of it. If you want a better job, finish school, do a good job at the job you have and get good references, get training or more education and qualify for a higher-paying job. This is how it is done. L.W. DOWNTOWN DESPERATELY needs green space to balance out the masses of pavement. E.L. I DONT USE the city buses anymore after seeing the groups that use the city service it is scary, especially on Central. There you get them all! So, the bottom line is they dont really serve the working people, students, the law-abiding, who are not drunks, drug addicts, weirdos, criminals, etc. D.C. WE MUST END New Mexicos addiction to oil and look to Colorado for economic development miracles. H.P. TIME FOR RENEWABLE energy in the land of endless wind and sunshine? Can we please elect some political leaders who have some vision and can lead New Mexico into the future? D.L. THE ABHORRENT violent crime rate and the poor economy are the two primary reasons I left New Mexico. Absolute failure of leadership to address these two major problems. D.B. PREDATORS SHOULD be protected, not killed, and all trapping should end. D.E.S. PLEASE OBEY the fire restrictions. Forest fires are expensive to fight and do much damage. J.O. RADICALISM, WHETHER of deities or guns, is our common enemy. B.F. ELECTRIC BUSES may not cause pollution locally, but the electricity will produce increased pollution where it is generated. O.M. A New Mexico state lawmaker is pushing for a law to allow terminally ill patients to end their lives with help from doctors a month after advocates for the practice suffered a court defeat. Rep. Bill McCamley, D-Las Cruces, discussed his proposal Tuesday before a Legislative committee in Albuquerque and could launch the beginning of a heated debate going into the next legislative session. Five other states allow residents to end their lives legally with medication prescribed by a doctor. McCamley said he was prompted to act after the New Mexico court decision and because it is a personal fight for him. The Las Cruces lawmaker lost his father two years ago because of a debilitating neurological disease, and he saw how he suffered. This shouldnt be the governments call, McCamley said. It should be your call. Last month, the New Mexico Supreme Court refused to overturn a state law preventing doctors from ending the lives of terminally ill patients. The states assisted suicide law classifies such act as a fourth-degree felony. The case involved a Santa Fe woman with advanced uterine cancer who wanted courts to clarify New Mexicos laws preventing her from ending her life and putting doctors at risk. In oral arguments, the New Mexico Attorney Generals Office said that the final decision on the legality of the practice should be left to state lawmakers, not the courts. After the court defeat, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, which launched the legal challenge in the state in 2012, vowed to take the fight to lawmakers. McCamley says a task force on the bill will submit ideas crafting a piece of legislation that might gain support in the Democratic-controlled Senate and the GOP-led House. Michel Lonergan, a spokesman for New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, said the governor opposes assisted suicide. California last year joined the four other states in passing a law that allows residents to end their lives legally with medication prescribed by a doctor. State lawmakers approved the measure following the heavily publicized case of Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old California woman with brain cancer who moved to Oregon to legally end her life in 2014. Terminally ill patients can also end their lives in Oregon, Washington, Montana and Vermont. Advocates have spurred debate in dozens of other statehouses around the country. So far, they have been unsuccessful. SMYRNA, Del. The Delaware Forest Service is sending a team of 20 wildland firefighters to the Rocky Mountain region to help battle wildfires. State officials said in a statement that the crew left Blackbird State Forest in Smyrna on Monday for Denver, where they will be pre-positioned for their two-week assignment. The National Interagency Fire Center increased its preparedness level on Monday, reflecting increased fire activity nationwide and hot and dry conditions across most of the West. Delaware has been dispatching a crew almost every year since 1998. Last year, Delaware sent a team to the 36,500-acre Fork Complex Fire in northern California. Mark Klaene is not sitting back and waiting for the National Science Foundation to decide the fate of the Sacramento Peak Observatory at Sunspot just 16 miles southwest of Cloudcroft. Klaene who is the Apache Point Observatory Operations Manager is trying to put together a proposal to keep the SPO visitor center open, host star parties and use the facility for educational research. I want to turn that visitor center into a huge tourist attraction, Klaene said. I want to turn it into a nighttime visitor center. I want to do star parties. He said he was at a star party at McDonald Observatory northwest of Fort Davis, Texas. In the middle of nowhere and 2 1/2 hours from El Paso, Texas, it was a rainy Tuesday night with school still in session and 400 people showed up for it, Klaene said. This close to El Paso and Ruidoso if I can put a program together with a quality presentation and staff, theres no reason I couldnt get 300 or 400 tourist and do it a couple nights a year. Every one of those tourists will spend money here. I think its possible. I think I can do it. Recently the National Science Foundation has moved most of their operations from Sunspot and other observatories nationwide to Boulder, Colorado. NSF is trying to cut spending in their budget. NSF is also building one of the most powerful telescopes atop the Haleakala Crater in Maui, Hawaii. The Haleakala telescope is estimated to cost about $30 million a year to run. Klaene said he believes Sunspot is an important teaching facility. I cant build a new one but I can sure use the one thats there, he said. Most of these jobs weve lost or are losing at Sunspot are career professional jobs. Many of them are scientists, their spouses are scientists and their children are amazingly smart. Many spouses volunteered and taught at Cloudcroft and other schools. There all gone. Klaene said Sunspot has a volunteer fire department with equipment at the Sacramento Peak Observatory. We had apparatus at the Timberon Fire, he said. If we loss that we loss Timberons nearest mutual aid for any kind of emergency. The nearest mutual aid is Cloudcroft thats an hour away. Klaene has been working at Apache Point Observatory since 1992, which sits next to the Sacramento Peak Observatory at Sunspot. If we loss Sunspot it shows a reduction in our science and research support, he said. At a time when science, technology, engineering and mathematics are supposed to be the focal point of all our educational systems. STEM is the magical word. Were taking away jobs these children can look and say I would like to do that. We keep take away things they can come and see how its being used. Klaene said he believes the educational loss is huge at a very bad time and the history of Sunspot. The main telescope built in the 1960 is 200 feet in the ground, he said. Its a great engineering feat. Theres a sign at the visitors center with all the names of children born at Sunspot. This was a remote outpost. Its a huge part of New Mexico history. I think that would be a terrible loss. Not only the loss of the telescope but the people could be described as modern day pioneers. 2016 the Alamogordo Daily News (Alamogordo, N.M.) Visit the Alamogordo Daily News (Alamogordo, N.M.) at www.alamogordonews.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. _____ Coffee made in Albuquerque from beans grown in Colombia will find a new home in Hong Kong. Villa Myriam Single Source Coffee, an Albuquerque company run by brothers Juan and David Certain, announced Tuesday its first sales to two Asian companies. The Certains, whose family runs a coffee farm in southwestern Colombia, also own The Brew cafe in Downtown Albuquerque. The products that captured the attention of the two Hong Kong companies were Villa Myriams Nitro Cold Brew coffee and two types of tea, said David Certain. The cold brew coffee, made with beans from the family farm, is never heated. It is steeped in cold water and infused with nitrogen. The brothers started their company in 2011 at a community kitchen in the South Valley with one small portable roaster. They now have a warehouse with two more roasters, The Brew coffee shop and 16 employees. Certain attributed their success to connecting with the right people and hard work. In general, its been the hard work and the amount of effort, he said in an interview from Belarus, where he was visting family. Its been non-stop, never giving up to show people what good quality coffee is all about. Villa Myriams international deals came after the company participated in a trade mission to Singapore and Hong Kong in April. The trade mission was the result of a partnership between the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Trade Alliance and the states Office of International Trade. One of the new Asian customers is citysuper, a grocery store with 21 Hong Kong locations, seven in Shanghai, and six in Taiwan. The other is Health Addiction, which owns and operates close to 200 snack food vending machines in office buildings, schools, hospitals, and residential areas throughout Hong Kong. The company also imports and distributes international products to supermarkets and convenience stores. During the trip, Villa Myriam also identified other possible Asian markets and is in the early stages of new product development to meet the demand. That market really appreciates very sweet products, he said. He said single-source coffee such as the kind his company sells is a quality product because everythings been hand-picked and hand-selected. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Federal authorities are seeking a warrant for the return of a tribal shield from a Paris auction house that has come under criticism for selling Native American ceremonial items. The U.S. Attorneys Office for New Mexico requested the warrant in a federal court filing Monday as part of a civil forfeiture case arguing theres reason to believe the Pueblo of Acoma shield was stolen sometime in the 1970s before eventually being sent to France where U.S. laws prohibiting the sale of tribal ceremonial items typically hold no weight. The shield was listed for bidding in May before auction organizers pulled it from the sale amid pressure from top U.S. officials advocating for the tribe. Its unclear whether the French government would allow for the U.S. Marshal Service or another federal agency to seize items under a warrant approved by an American judge. Through the French courts and by other means, tribes particularly several in the Southwest, including the Hopi, Navajo and a handful of New Mexico pueblos have sought the return of ceremonial items that they say vanished from their reservations only to emerge years later in the catalogues of foreign auction houses. But in most cases, tribes efforts to have items returned have not been successful. Several U.S. agencies, including the State and Interior Departments, also have attempted to intervene by framing the Paris auctions and tribes push to have items returned as a diplomatic issue. In a statement Tuesday, Acoma Pueblo officials welcomed the most recent move by the U.S. Attorneys Office in New Mexico to seek a warrant for the shields return, saying they feared the shield was at risk of disappearing if the French government decided not to allow for U.S. authorities to seize it. Unfortunately, if that happens, it may be a very long time before the Acoma shield finds its way back to the traditional homelands of the Pueblo, said Aaron Sims, an attorney for the pueblo. Our hope is that it will be retrieved and become repatriated so we can begin the healing process and have the shield used in its cultural context and for its intended purpose namely to protect the Pueblo, its people, its traditions, and its lands from harm. The pueblo planned to file a claim on the shield in federal court in the Justice Department case that seeks the shields return. The shield was one of seven taken from Pueblo of Acoma, a centuries-old village atop a mesa southwest of Albuquerque, federal authorities said in a complaint filed last week in federal court. One shield was recovered by Bureau of Indian Affairs agents executing a search warrant at an art gallery in Bozeman, Montana, last year. Like the shield in Paris, the one recovered in Montana was circular, multi-colored and featured a painted image on the front depicting what a cultural preservation officer describes as the face of a kachina a deified ancestral spirit in Pueblo culture. EVE auction house did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment on the U.S. Attorneys Office move to seek a warrant. Albuquerque Public Schools board member Analee Maestas attended a special board meeting this morning but left by a back door and did not address the state auditors finding that she committed fraud. Board President Dave Peercy and APS Superintendent Raquel Reedy declined comment after the meeting a closed session to discuss an employees termination. Maestas has yet to make any statement on Auditor Tim Kellers report, released last week, showing she paid about $340 for duct cleaning at her home a year ago, then wrote over the receipt to make it appear the cleaning company had worked on carpets at La Promesa Early Learning Center, a charter school she founded in 2008. La Promesa sought reimbursement for the cleaning from the New Mexico Public Education Department, which sent the suspicious receipt to the State Auditors Office for further investigation in February. According to Kellers report, the cleaning company owner swears he never did any work at La Promesa. In addition, the school has no records of carpet cleaning services performed in summer 2015 other than Maestas receipt. Keller also raised concerns about nepotism in La Promesas administration Maestas daughter is the assistant business manager and signed off on the questionable reimbursement. In effect, the Assistant Business Manager (daughter) reports to the Executive Director (mother), the report states. At a minimum, this creates appearance of impropriety. PED is taking a deeper look at La Promesas finances and could pull Maestas teaching and administrative licenses if it determines she is guilty of unethical behavior. The long-time administrator may also face criminal charges, including two felonies. A spokesman for District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said her office received the report late last week and is investigating. Maestas joined the APS board in 2011, representing District 1, and won re-election to a second four-year term in 2015. She has served as board president, vice president and audit committee chair. SANTA FE A special legislative session to address a potential New Mexico budget shortfall of up to $600 million in both the current and just-finished budget years seems increasingly inevitable. Gov. Susana Martinez, in remarks during a Tuesday meeting of the State Investment Council, said her staff has been tracking financial data for weeks. And although the Martinez administration previously indicated it had no plans to call legislators back to Santa Fe for a special session, the governor suggested Tuesday that such a session could be an in-and-out job though she did not say exactly when she might call it. Referring to a one-day special session last year to revive and pass a $295 million public works bill, Martinez said, I'd really like to see this resolved with (another) four-hour special session. We walk in and walk out. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats on Tuesday urged Martinez to call the special session soon but said their caucus, which holds a majority in the Senate, would oppose cutting public schools or universities as part of any budget fix. The longer the governor delays in calling back the Legislature to deal with this pressing crisis, the worse it is going to be for children, families and communities across New Mexico, Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, said in a statement. He also said the state appears to be spending money that we don't have. Recent revenue-tracking figures show that state could be facing a $150 million-plus deficit for the budget year that ended June 30, along with a potential shortfall in the new budget year of up to $500 million. The budget crunch is largely due to plummeting oil and natural gas prices, which have in turn led to lower-than-expected tax collections in several sectors. State spending on public schools makes up nearly $3.6 billion or roughly 57 percent of the state's $6.2 billion budget for this year. Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, and other lawmakers have suggested the state could tap a fund created in response to a 1999 legal settlement with big tobacco companies to plug at least the budget hole from the just-completed fiscal year. During Tuesday's meeting, the governor and other SIC members considered whether to cash out investments in the $224 million tobacco fund in advance of a possible special session, but ultimately opted to hold off until given the green light by the Legislature. About two-thirds of the money in the tobacco settlement fund is invested in stocks, and the fund's value could rise or fall in the coming weeks based on stock market performance. Rep. Jimmie Hall, R-Albuquerque, vice chairman of the Legislative Finance Committee, said earlier this week that he hoped the Legislature and executive branch could fix the budget crunch without mass layoffs of state workers. He also said he believes there is between $40 million and $70 million available in various state accounts that could be used to assist in the budget-balancing efforts. A special legislative session this year would likely cost $50,000 for each day lawmakers spend in Santa Fe, based on figures from recent special sessions. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. Some New Mexico jurors have been left waiting for their pay because money in the payment fund ran out. Bernalillo County t spokesman Tim Korte told KOAT-TV (http://bit.ly/2a98nbR ) that the fund that pays jurors is the same one that pays English interpreters, and the Bernalillo County has had to hire more interpreters than expected. Korte says this is a statewide issue and all counties are affected. Jury duty pays $6.75 per hour in addition to mileage. The payments resumed in July when the new fiscal year started. Pay for the interpreters must be prioritized because the state Constitution requires the courts to provide interpreters for all defendants and jurors who speak limited or no English. ___ Information from: KOAT-TV, http://www.thenewmexicochannel.com/index.html The man at the center of multiple carjackings and one-day crime spree in Albuquerque last July that included using a gun to commandeer a car from a woman and her three children was sentenced to 27 1/2 years in prison Tuesday on a pair of federal convictions. The sentence for Thomas Martinez, 26, of Albuquerque was announced by U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez, 2nd Judicial District Attorney Kari E. Brandenburg, Special Agent in Charge Thomas G. Atteberry of the Phoenix Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Chief Gorden E. Eden, Jr., of the Albuquerque Police Department. Martinez was prosecuted as part of a federal worst of the worst initiative. Periodically, we prosecute individuals without prior serious convictions because they are have engaged in extraordinarily violent conduct that seriously jeopardized the communitys safety, said U.S. Attorney Martinez in a statement. Martinez was prosecuted under the initiative based on a one-day violent crime spree on July 22, 2015, which endangered the lives of numerous Albuquerque residents and several officers. This case reflects the partnership we have with the U.S. Attorneys Office and other critical agencies. Our community is safer when we work together, said 2nd Judicial District Attorney Kari E. Brandenburg. Thomas Martinez showed a blatant disregard for our victim, three children, our officer and our community during his dangerous crime spree, APD Police Chief Police Gorden E. Eden Jr. said. Martinez committed a total of four carjacking and firearms offenses on July 22, 2015, in the Albuquerque area as he attempted to evade APD officers who were seeking to arrest him on a warrant arising out of an unrelated state court case. He committed his first carjacking as he attempted to flee from officers who were conducting surveillance near a hotel in northeast Albuquerque. The U.S. Attorneys Office said he ran to a sedan occupied by a driver and three children as the driver was entering a ramp onto Interstate 40. Martinez showed a gun, pushed the driver into the passenger seat, and used the sedan to continue his flight. The children got out of the vehicle before Martinez drove away with the driver. An APD officer was dragged by the Chevrolet as Martinez drove away. Eventually, when Martinez slowed down, the driver was able to jump out of the sedan. Martinez abandoned that vehicle in a neighborhood in southeast Albuquerque. There Martinez forced his way into another vehicle which was occupied by an older man seated in the front passenger seat. As Martinez began to drive away, another man got into the vehicle and began fighting with Martinez. The man was able to disarm Martinez, and Martinez was arrested by APD officers on state charges. On Dec. 11, 2015, Martinez pled guilty to two counts of carjacking and one count of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. 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. The Internal Revenue Service spent $10.71 million on guns, ammunition and other military-style equipment from fiscal year 2006 to FY 2014, according to a new report. The report, from an advocacy group known as American Transparency, describes the spending by various non-military federal agencies, including the IRS, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, on such purchases. It points out that the number of IRS special agents has starkly declined by more than 1,000 from an all-time high in 1995 to about 2,316 law enforcement officers in fiscal year 2015, even as spending has gone up to about $450 per officer. However, the report also acknowledges that the IRSs Criminal Investigation division has increasingly needed to deal with identity theft cases, which can involve organized criminals. IRS Special Agents devoted 20 percent of their time to ID theft cases between 2010 to 2012, said the report. IRS Special Agents are also frequent members of Joint Terrorism Task Forces investigating very dangerous criminals. Additionally, 12 percent of the IRS budget is devoted to drug-related financial crimes. In addition to various makes of handguns and long guns, the IRS also bought bulletproof vests and other forms of body armor, along with night vision scopes and contraband inspection kits. Brian Croteau, deputy chief accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commissions Office of the Chief Accountant, plans to step down. Croteau manages the activities of the offices Professional Practice group where he helps oversee the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, manages auditor independence matters, and monitors standard-setting. His departure, which the SEC announced last Friday, comes on the heels of another shakeup in his office, after Chief Accountant James Schnurr was seriously injured in a bicycle accident (see SEC Chief Accountant Injured in Bike Accident). Deputy Chief Accountant Wesley R. Bricker was named interim chief accountant until Schnurr recovers from the accident. The SEC did not announce where Croteau is going, but before joining the SEC he was an assurance partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. It has been a privilege to work with the many talented and dedicated individuals at both the Commission and the PCAOB during my leadership of OCAs Professional Practice Group, Croteau said in a statement. We have worked closely to advance numerous audit quality and internal control over financial reporting initiatives, and I am pleased with what we have accomplished to support and enhance the usefulness and reliability of financial reporting to investors. (Bloomberg) Morgan Stanley added Dennis M. Nally, a four-decade veteran of PricewaterhouseCoopers, to its board after long-serving director Laura D. Tyson stepped down in May. Nally, 63, will join Oct. 1, New York-based Morgan Stanley said Tuesday in a statement. The move returns the board to 15 members after the departure of Tyson, a former head of the White Houses National Economic Council who served Morgan Stanley for almost two decades. Nally, a former chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Ltd., brings advisory and accounting experience. He has counseled across several industries with a focus on technology and life sciences, according to a biography. Another former PricewaterhouseCoopers executive on Morgan Stanleys board, Donald Nicolaisen, has been a director for 10 years. Nicolaisen was chief accountant for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 2003 to 2005. Nally brings significant financial experience and risk management acumen, honed from his decades of experience advising multinational clients in navigating the global business environment, James Gorman, chairman and chief executive officer of Morgan Stanley, said in the statement. With assistance from Jenny Surane IMGCAP(1)][IMGCAP(2)]With the unauthorized publication of the Panama Papers, many clients and even some professionals question why companies with no active trade or business even exist. Arent companies supposed to make widgets or sell services and not exist on paper simply to own shares of stock or a bank account? Arent they only for money launderers and tax cheats? Shell company is a term of art that has been used by politicians and pundits as being associated with structures created for illegal purposes. The more substantive term for such companies would be single-purpose entity, as the reasons for their creation vary and depend on each companys and persons goals. In reality, single-purpose entities have been around for centuries, dating back to the East India Trading Company in Great Britain and earlier. They provide valuable vehicles for commerce, legitimate minimization of taxation, and privacy for those who have done nothing wrong. Those seeking to fashion remedies for abuse should always keep the many proper uses in mind. Historical View In the early 1900s, the single-purpose entity was utilized during the expansion of the growing and robust utilities industry in America. In capitalizing on the expansion of the utilities industry, equipment manufacturers would employ these structures to attract investors to their enterprises while shielding the investor from personal liability. An early example of this was the Electric Bond and Share Company, created by General Electric in 1905. The use of these companies helped develop the current finance industry and todays world economy. More recently, the Bacardi story of exile from Cuba illustrates the valuable use of shell companies. Fearful of the dictator Batista, company executives and lawyers organized a single-purpose entity in the Bahamas to own Bacardis intellectual property and license it to the manufacturing company in Santiago de Cuba. When the Communist confiscation occurred years later, the Bacardi family was able to convince the world that they owned their trademark outside of Cuba and not the Cuban company. It made all the difference in what happened to the shareholders in the ensuing decades and created the successful worldwide spirits company we all know today. Living in an unstable world, the desire to hedge financial bets has always found a vehicle in companies created for a single purpose with no trade or business of their own. Uses of Shell Companies There are a wide variety of perfectly legitimate uses for shell companies. To catalog some of them: Probate: The creation of the single-purpose entity has often been utilized by estate planners to legally and efficiently structure succession plans for individuals wishing to avoid the costly process of opening an ancillary probate proceeding in multiple jurisdictions. The single-purpose entity has also been used for the purpose of avoiding outdated forced heirship foreign jurisdictions, which require the decedent to devise property to their children, regardless of his or her wishes. Joint ventures: Single-purpose entities are sometimes used in joint venture situations in order to provide a vehicle to serve as the face of the project. For example, a company is created, owned equally by two joint venturers. The actual assets and employees can be owned by the shareholders with only the invoicing run through the joint venture. The joint venture project can therefore be segregated from other businesses owned by the parties. Start-up companies: While every entrepreneur dreams of starting a conglomerate or at least selling their business to one, many new businesses start as a company on paper and nothing else. State laws do not generally require any minimum capital to begin or any active business dealings. Silicon Valley technology companies often begin life owning nothing more than intellectual property. Liability: While the public may think of a Fortune 500 company as a single investment, accountants and lawyers know they comprise many different entities. Single-purpose entities are used by these companies to isolate operations and therefore liability. Sometimes they are stacked such that one activity is far removed from other activities and assets. Coming to America and taxes: Many single-purpose entities are created by foreigners to invest in the United States in order to circumvent many unfavorable tax consequences that would result had they owned such investments outright. For example, if a foreigner were to die owning U.S. real estate in his or her own name, the estate would be subject to the U.S. estate tax and a credit of $60,000. Legally utilizing these structures ensures investors are successfully maximizing their investment by minimizing costs. Other times these structures may be put in place abroad to plan for a foreigners business activities before applying for U.S. citizenship. On the ocean: Corporations are often used in the ownership of sailing vessels. They can isolate liability for the beneficial owners from other vessels or assets or even personal liability. Many merchantmen are registered as single-purpose companies under flags of convenience in countries such as Panama and Liberia for regulatory and cost-saving reasons. Privacy: Although gossip columns in which celebrities announce the price and location of their homes suggest otherwise, many people prefer to hold their assets in single-purpose entities to shield them from the public eye. Single-purpose entities with outside directors can serve this purpose well. Clients who are domiciled in countries with a high amount of violent crime such as kidnapping usually hold assets in companies, trusts and other vehicles and often request the same treatment for their assets here. Some clients even prefer the use of entities so their own children cannot track down the value of the familys wealth! Foreign asset ownership rules: Some countries have rules as to the amount of foreign ownership that can be vested in a single foreign entity. For example, at one time a multinational company we know sought to purchase its sole national distributor abroad and was met with the objection that no more than 25 percent could be owned by a single foreign company. Fortunately, in that civil law jurisdiction, regulators accepted the concept that four separate single-purpose entity subsidiaries each owning 25 percent of the distributor would satisfy the letter of the law. Investors: Both those seeking to invest in a company and those already owning it sometimes have reasons to limit the participation of new members. For example, shareholders may create a single-purpose entity to own the companys intellectual property, just as Bacardi did years ago. If the new investor were not to be involved in this company, IP decisions as well as any royalty stream would not concern him or her. Professional Responsibilities In many situations, professionals have a duty to review the use of single-purpose entities with clients, even despite the unfavorable publicity generated by news stories such as those surrounding the Panama Papers. We find that such review often leads to greater efficiency. While clients are free to reject the advice, not offering it may have consequences. Todays newspapers are filled with abuse allegations involving single-purpose entities, some of which even have involved foreign heads of state. We carry no brief for those abusers who will no doubt have their day in court. But given the rich and varied legitimate uses of such entities, any talk of remedies must be sensitive to the legitimacy of so-called shell companies and the rights of the honest to employ them. Steven Naclerio is counsel at the law firm Richman Greer and focuses his practice on corporate transactions and consulting with high net worth individuals as well as general business matters. He may be reached at snaclerio@richmangreer.com. George L. Metcalfe, Jr., is an associate with Richman Greer, where he focuses his practice on taxation, international and domestic estate planning, corporate law, and probate law. He may be reached at gmetcalfe@richmangreer.com. Several years back, a new patient came to see me to find out if he had ADHD. He had all the classic symptoms: procrastination, forgetfulness, a propensity to lose things, and, of course, the inability to pay attention consistently. But one thing was unusual. His symptoms had started only two years earlier, when he was 31. I treat a lot of adults for ADHD, but the presentation of this case was a violation of an important diagnostic criterion: Symptoms must date back to childhood. It turned out that he first started having these problems the month he began his most recent job, one that required him to rise at 5 a.m., despite the fact that he was a night owl. The patient didnt have ADHD, I realized, but symptoms of insomnia, which caused a chronic sleep deficit. I suggested some techniques to help him fall asleep at night, like relaxing for 90 minutes before getting into bed at 10 p.m. If necessary, he could take a small amount of melatonin. When he returned to see me, two weeks later, his symptoms were almost gone. I suggested that he call if they recurred. I never heard from him again. The Sleep Theory For ADHD Many theories are thrown around to explain the rise in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in children and adults. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 11 percent of school-age children have now received a diagnosis of the condition. I dont doubt that many people do, in fact, have ADHD; I regularly diagnose and treat it in adults. But what if a substantial number of cases are sleep disorders in disguise? For some people especially children sleep deprivation does not necessarily cause lethargy; it makes them hyperactive and unfocused. Researchers and reporters are increasingly seeing connections between dysfunctional sleep and what looks like ADHD, but those links are not yet understood by parents and doctors. [Free Download: Mobile Apps for Better Sleep] We all get less sleep than we used to. The number of adults who reported sleeping fewer than seven hours each night went from 2 percent in 1960 to more than 35 percent in 2011. Good sleep is crucial for children, who need delta sleep the deep, rejuvenating, slow-wave kind for proper growth and development. Yet todays youngsters sleep about an hour less than children did a hundred years ago. And for all ages, stressful daytime activities marked by nonstop 14-hour schedules and inescapable melatonin-inhibiting iDevices often impair sleep. It might be a coincidence, but our sleep-restricting lifestyle became more extreme in the 1990s, the decade that saw the explosion in ADHD diagnoses. A number of studies have shown that a huge proportion of children with an ADHD diagnosis also have sleep-disordered breathing, like apnea or snoring, restless leg syndrome, or non-restorative sleep, in which delta sleep is frequently interrupted. One study, published in 2004 in the journal Sleep, looked at 34 children with ADHD. All of them showed a deficit of rejuvenating delta sleep, compared with only a handful of the 32 control subjects. A 2006 study in the journal Pediatrics showed something similar, from the perspective of a surgery clinic. This study included 105 children between ages five and 12. Seventy-eight of them were scheduled to have their tonsils removed because they had problems breathing in their sleep, while 27 children scheduled for other operations served as a control group. Researchers measured the participants sleep patterns and tested for hyperactivity and inattentiveness, consistent with standard protocols for validating an ADHD diagnosis. Of the 78 children getting the tonsillectomies, 28 percent had ADHD, compared with only 7 percent of the control group. Even more stunning was what the studys authors found when they followed up with the children. A full half of the original ADHD group who received tonsillectomies 11 of 22 children no longer met the criteria for the condition. In other words, what had appeared to be ADHD had been resolved by treating a sleeping problem. But ADHD-like symptoms may persist even after a sleeping problem is resolved. Consider the long-term study of more than 11,000 children in Britain, published three years ago, also in Pediatrics. Mothers were asked about symptoms of sleep-disordered breathing in their infants when they were six months old. Then, when the children were four and seven years old, the mothers completed a behavioral questionnaire to gauge their childrens levels of inattention, hyperactivity, anxiety, mood disorders, and problems with peers, conduct, and social skills. The study found that children who suffered from sleep-disordered breathing in infancy were more likely to have behavioral difficulties later in life 20 to 60 percent more likely to have behavioral problems at age four, and 40 to 100 percent more likely to have such problems at age seven. These problems occurred even if the disordered breathing had abated, implying that an infants breathing problem might cause some kind of potentially irreversible neurological injury. There is more going on in the nocturnal lives of our children than any of us have realized. Typically, we see and diagnose only their downstream, daytime symptoms. There has been less research into sleep and ADHD after childhood. But a team from Massachusetts General Hospital found, in one of the few studies of its kind, that sleep dysfunction in adults with ADHD closely mimics the sleep dysfunction in children with ADHD. There is also some promising research being done on sleep in adults, relating to focus, memory, and cognitive performance. A study published several years ago in the journal Nature Neuroscience found that the amount of delta sleep in seniors correlates with performance on memory tests. And a study published several years ago in the journal Sleep found that while subjects who were deprived of sleep didnt necessarily report feeling sleepier, their cognitive performance declined in proportion to their sleep deprivation and continued to worsen over five nights of sleep restriction. [Wired, Tired, & Sleep Deprived] As it happens, moves about excessively during sleep was once listed as a symptom of attention-deficit disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. That version of the manual, published in 1980, was the first to name the disorder. When the term ADHD, reflecting the addition of hyperactivity, appeared in 1987, the diagnostic criteria no longer included trouble sleeping. The authors said there was not enough evidence to support keeping it. What if doctors, before diagnosing ADHD in their patients, did have to find evidence of a sleep disorder? Psychiatric researchers typically dont have access to the equipment or expertise needed to evaluate sleep challenges. Its tricky to ask patients to keep sleep logs or to send them for expensive overnight sleep studies, which can involve complicated equipment. (And getting a sleep study approved by an insurance company is by no means guaranteed.) As it stands, ADHD is usually diagnosed with only an office interview. Some of my patients have resisted my referrals for sleep testing, since everything they have read identifies ADHD as the culprit. People dont like to hear that they may have a different, stranger-sounding problem that cant be fixed with a pill though this often changes once patients see the results of their sleep studies. ADHD And Sleep: Its Personal Beyond my day job, I have a personal interest in ADHD and sleep disorders. Beginning in college, and for nearly a decade, I struggled with profound cognitive lethargy and difficulty focusing, a daily nap habit, and weekend oversleeping. I got through my med school exams only by the grace of memorization skills and the fact that ephedra was still a legal supplement. I was misdiagnosed with various maladies, including ADHD. Then I underwent two sleep studies and was found to have an atypical form of narcolepsy. This was a shock to me, because I had never fallen asleep while eating or talking. But, as it turned out, over 40 percent of my night was spent in REM sleep or dreaming sleep, which normally occurs only intermittently throughout the night while just 5 percent was spent in rejuvenating delta sleep. I was sleeping eight to 10 hours a night, but I still had a delta sleep deficit. It took some trial and error, but with the proper treatment, my cognitive problems came to an end. Today, I eat well and respect my sleep needs instead of trying to suppress them. I also take two medications: a stimulant for narcolepsy and, at bedtime, an SNRI (or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor) antidepressant an off-label treatment that curtails REM sleep and helps increase delta sleep. Now my daytime focus is remarkably improved. Attention-deficit problems are not the only reasons to take lack of quality sleep seriously. Laboratory animals die when they are deprived of delta sleep. Chronic delta sleep deficits in humans are implicated in many diseases, including mood disorders, heart disease, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and cancer, not to mention thousands of fatigue-related car accidents each year. Sleep disorders are so prevalent that every internist and psychiatrist should screen for them. The National Institutes of Health spent only $233 million on sleep research in 2013, a decrease from 2012. One of the problems is that the research establishment exists as mini-fiefdoms money given to one sector, like cardiology, rarely makes it into another, like sleep medicine, even if they are intimately connected. Adults with ADHD cant wait any longer to pay attention to the connection between delta sleep and ADHD. If youre not already convinced, consider the drug clonidine. It started as a hypertension treatment, but has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat ADHD. Studies show that when it is taken only at bedtime, symptoms improve during the day. Many physicians may not know that clonidine can be a potent delta sleep enhancer. [Tired of Feeling Tired? How to Solve Common Sleep Problems] This piece was originally published in The New York Times. How to Get an IEP or 504 Plan for ADHD The process of securing academic accommodations for your child with attention deficit disorder (ADHD or ADD) can be confusing and intimidating. Follow these eight steps to take the hassle out of requesting and establishing an IEP or 504 Plan for ADHD. 1. Get an Accurate ADD Evaluation Write a letter requesting an evaluation to see if your child with ADHD might benefit from academic accommodations. Address it to the chairperson of the Committee on Special Education Services aka the Director of Special Education Services. (Its often a waste of time to send the letter to the childs teachers, guidance counselor, or principal.) Should the school decline your request, or if youre dissatisfied with the evaluations findings, arrange for a private ADHD evaluation. (In some circumstances, the school may have to pay for the outside assessment.) TIP: Send your letter by certified mail or hand-deliver it and keep a dated proof of receipt for your records. [Quiz: How Well Do You Know Your Childs Legal Rights at School?] 2. Meet With the Evaluation Team A school-sponsored evaluation is conducted by a multidisciplinary team including special-education teachers, the school psychologist, and other professionals. As part of the process, theyll want to meet with you to learn more about how your child functions in school. Team members will review your childs academic records, conduct a behavioral assessment, and observe her in the classroom. Following the assessment, you will discuss the results with the evaluation team and together you will decide whether your child needs special-education services to address how ADHD impacts her ability to learn. TIP: Bring copies of your childs report cards, standardized test results, and medical records, as well as a log of your communications with the school and other professionals to the meeting. (See our checklist of academic records that every parent should keep!) 3. Decide Which Laws Are Applicable Two federal laws provide for free, public special education services: the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act. IDEA IDEA covers kids with very specific conditions, including intellectual disability, emotional disturbances, hearing impairments, and speech and language difficulties. Kids may qualify for coverage if they frequently have one of these problems in addition to attention deficit. Some qualify under another IDEA category: Other Health Impairments. If your childs ADHD is so severe that hes unable to learn in a regular classroom, he may qualify. Section 504 Section 504 covers ADHD kids who dont qualify for special-ed services under IDEA, but who need extra help in the classroom. The law prohibits schools from discriminating against students because of physical and mental impairments. Just as the school must provide ramps for kids in wheelchairs, it must make modifications (such as preferential seating, extra time on tests, or help with note taking) for kids with brain-based learning barriers. [Downloadable Card: 30 Great Accommodations for Kids with ADHD] FYI: If the team decides your child doesnt need special ed, youre entitled to appeal your case in a due-process hearing a legal proceeding that often requires legal representation for the family, testimony from independent experts, and a review of meeting transcripts, test scores, and other documents. 4. Develop an IEP or 504 Plan If your child qualifies under IDEA, you should meet with the team to develop an Individualized Education Program (IEP), which specifies your childs educational goals and how those goals will be met in the least restrictive environment which generally refers to a regular classroom. Parents must be assertive. Make sure the IEP spells out exactly how the school will help your child meet his goals, which should be specific, measurable, and achievable. Include time limits: By month three, James will reduce his interruptions from 10 per day to 2 per day. The IEP should explain exactly how James will be taught to stop interrupting. Unless the strategies are specified, theres no way to enforce them. If your child qualifies under Section 504, a school representative will help you and your childs teacher compile a 504 Plan, or a written list of accommodations that must be followed at all times. Unlike an IEP, there are no legal requirements about what should be included in a 504 Plan, and the school isnt required to involve the childs parents in the process (although many schools do). TIP: Learn more about writing and implementing an IEP including required provisions and the evaluation-team composition on the federal Education Departments web site. 5. Insist on a Customized IEP or 504 Plan The school may try to tailor your childs IEP around its existing programs, even though IDEA requires schools to customize the plan based on the childs needs. If youre not satisfied with the IEP, dont agree to it. The school may offer something more, or you can request a due-process hearing. If you prevail, the school district may have to pay for your childs education in another school that offers the needed services even if its a private school. TIP: For specific accommodation ideas, check ADDitudes Free Download: Classroom Accommodations for School Children with ADHD. 6. Monitor Your Childs Progress By law, the educational team must meet annually to review your childs IEP. Many school districts schedule the annual meeting in the spring, so that team members can review current strategies and your childs progress, and set goals for the coming year. You can request a meeting whenever you think one is needed like the beginning of each school year. Your childs progress during the summer, or the demands of the new grade, may necessitate plan changes. If your child receives special services under a Section 504 Plan, the school is not required to hold an annual review or to involve parents in meetings. However, you may still request a meeting at any time, and many schools invite parents to participate in the process. 7. Create a Paper Trail As you secure services for your child, put all requests, concerns, and thank-yous in writing and keep copies on file. A note asking the teacher for your childs test scores can be valuable if you later have to document that the request went unmet. After each IEP meeting and conference with school staff, summarize the main points in a letter to participants. This establishes a written record of what was said. A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision underscored the importance of good record-keeping. The Court ruled that, in a due-process hearing, the legal burden of proving that a plan fails to meet a childs needs falls on the parents. Its more important than ever to document your childs difficulties, to be assertive about receiving progress reports, and to push for changes to the IEP as the need arises. 8. Seek Support If at any point you reach an impasse with school authorities or if you just want an expert to accompany you to meetings contact an educational advocate or attorney. Many offer free or low-cost consultation. To find one in your area, look online at: [Our Experts Recommend Assistive Tech to Close the Learning Gap] What Accommodations Can Be In a 504 Plan or an IEP? Good accommodations depend on your childs specific challenges and needs, but if you need help getting started, here a few that work well for many students with ADHD or LD: Seat the student close to the teacher or to a good role model Allow the student to share notes with a buddy Daily report cards or progress reports tracking behavior Extra time for tests or homework assignments Frequent breaks between assignments or tasks ADHD Accommodations: Next Steps SUPPORT ADDITUDE Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you. After Udta Punjab and Great Grand Masti made available on various illegal websites even prior to their theatrical release, now the makers of the forthcoming Hindi Film Dishoom, produced by Sajid Nadiadwala and Eros International Media Ltd., releasing on 29th July 2016 are geared up to combat the threat. In order to address this matter, prominent Hindi Film producers and Studios met on 21st July, 2016. The producers of the film Dishoom are in the process of obtaining John Doe order from the Honble Bombay High Court which gives directions to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Telecom Operators and other platforms to ensure that any illegal content from Dishoom is not made available on their services. All the producers in the meeting unanimously supported the need to take adequate measures to ensure that the film content is safeguarded at every stage of its release process including certification, supplies to worldwide distributors and also to the digital operators in India by way of a secured DCI Compliant distribution model only. Mukesh Bhatt, President of the Film and Television Producers Guild of India stated that This issue should not be treated in isolation as piracy for films but the sheer impunity and brazenness with which this illegality is being propounded indicates a structured attempt to damage the industry on the whole and should be considered as a serious threat to the security of the nations intellectual assets. He further added, In essence we require the highest level of probe from the intelligence services of the country and even an intervention by the Honble Prime Minister. Forbes India has unveiled its Indias Super 50 Companies List for 2016, which celebrates corporate excellence based on a series of detailed parameters. The List, in its second year, has 14 newcomers. Drawn up with knowledge support from PwC India, the Forbes India Super 50 list, given in alphabetical order (it is not a ranking), is a major annual offering from Forbes India, a part of Network18. Among the names featuring in this years Super 50 list is IndusInd Bank, the private sector entity which features on the cover of the Super 50 special issue. The bank clocked a three-year shareholder return of 137 percent, three-year sales compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18 percent and three-year average return on equity of 17 percent. IndusInd, which was seen as a laggard in 2008, has now become one of the major players in the private sector space through its strategy of differentiation, domain leadership and diversification. Other names include Alembic Pharmaceuticals, logistics major Blue Dart Express, adhesives company Pidilite and consumer electricals major Havells. HDFC Bank, Eicher Motors, Infosys, Lupin, Dabur India and Axis Bank also feature. Among the notable dropouts from last years list are MRF, Tata Motors, Glaxo SmithKline Consumer Healthcare, Hindustan Unilever and Pfizer. Sourav Majumdar, Editor, Forbes India, said, A sharp focus on capital efficiency, innovation and customer centricity defines this years Super 50 companies. Despite their diverse nature, these common threads make these companies benchmarks in excellence. Joy Chakraborthy, CEO, Forbes India, said, The Super 50 issue, in its second year, has become the definitive compilation of the top performing Indian companies based on select parameters. This is in line with Forbes Indias focus on offering its readers the finest coverage of corporate excellence and leadership. The three-stage methodology followed by Forbes India together with PwC India for the listing entails using a set of eliminators to arrive at a critical mass of companies. These were then subjected to the tests of market capitalization growth, sales growth CAGR and return on equity over a three-year period to ensure consistency in performance. What emerges is a set of companies which has delighted shareholders, customers and employees. Click here for full list of Indias Super 50 Companies Link: https://forbesindia.com/lists/ super-50-companies-2016/1551/ all Meru Cabs, Indias most preferred cab service has launched a brand new marketing campaign- True Rupees Per Km. The new campaign highlights Merus brand proposition of providing honest and trustworthy services to the fast evolving transportation requirements of customers. Launched on July 21st 2016, the campaign has been rolled out in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore followed by a national launch across 9 key markets including Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Pune. Lured by attractive discounts and low price points, today radio taxis have become popular and a convenient travel option amongst customers. However customers often have limited knowledge on how their fare is calculated and sometimes end up paying a higher value than the promised amount. While surge charge of 1X, 2X etc. is displayed upfront, there are many hidden costs such as ride time charge on total travel time and base fare charge which are hidden and gets calculated in the final fare. These hidden costs are often mentioned in asterisk (*) or mentioned in small fonts as conditions apply at the end of transactions, documents or marketing collaterals which goes unnoticed. Commenting on the launch of the brand campaign Mr. Siddhartha Pahwa, CEO, Meru Cabs said, Our new campaign NO hidden, NO Surge, NO Ride Time or NO Cancellation Charge aims to educate customers on hidden costs applied by several taxi aggregators. Through this campaign, we reiterate our commitment to customers that with Meru as their trusted travel partners they pay True rupees per km for all transactions promising transparency and open communication. Merus new brand campaign (Print, Radio, OOH) has been conceptualized, created and executed by Enormous Brands with an effective media strategy recommended by OMD India. The campaign will be further amplified through digital media with hashtag #PayTrueRupees on social media, Youtube, online banners, OOH channels. Meru will be offering a 20% instant discount offer (with no upper limit on the discount amount) using code TRUE on Meru Cabs mobile app till 31st August 2016. All the offer details are available on its website merucbas.com/offers. Ashish Khazanchi, Managing Partner, Enormous brands explains the idea behind True Rupees per km, Meru prides itself in the extreme transparency with which it services its customers. Under the marketing clamour of discounts, cash backs and offers in the taxi industry, Meru wanted to make a bold move to highlight the fact that most competitors prices/fares seem attractive in the forefront but always have unnecessary hidden costs. The idea behind coining the phrase True rupees was to send out a clear message upfront to the customer that Meru operates transparently and honestly unlike other prominent cab aggregators. Focused on providing quality service based on a sustainable business model, Meru recently raised investments of Rs.150 crore (USD 25 million) from Brand Capital, which will be deployed to strengthen its foothold in the Indian market. A gripping extravaganza, honouring the start-up dreams of the biggest names in India's most exciting space in business. The world of start-ups is bursting at the seams and India is becoming the start-up capital of the world. NDTV's series Unicorn -- Chasing the start-up dream has been leading the charge in discovering the next big idea from India's belly which can be the next billion-dollar valued start-up. Carrying forward this anticipation NDTV presents the first ever Unicorn Start-up Awards in association with Vestige and Indigo Nation to honour those who have astonished the market with simple ideas and some great execution. The awards will witness some of the biggest mentors and venture capitalists from the start up space in attendance, including Deep Kalra, Founder and CEO, MakeMyTrip, and Sandeep Aggarwal, Founder, Shopclues & Droom. The awards will recognise the most credible dream-chasers who are going to change the way India does business with a stellar jury panel including R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM, Suchi Mukherjee, Founder and CEO, Limeroad, and Raman Roy, a seasoned investor, to name a few. Start-ups like Grofers, Oyo Rooms, Ola, FlipKart and Shopclues will compete for coveted titles. NDTV has tied up with NASSCOM 10,000 Startups, as knowledge partner for the awards, and with Tracxn, a start-up intelligence and market research platform, as research partner. The exciting evening will be hosted by the glamorous Mandira Bedi, tech guru Rajiv Makhni and Vikram Chandra, Group CEO, NDTV. Vikram Chandra, Group CEO, NDTV is all geared up for the first innings of these awards. We have entered a new business era of start-ups, and it could transform India. NDTV too has expanded its wings in the e-commerce arena and we are growing rapidly. The Unicorn Start-Up Awards is our attempt to honour the unique ideas which have made a mark. From here on, we expect the awards to get bigger and better, and to be the benchmark for entrepreneur recognition. Rajiv Makhni, MD Technology, who is the brainchild behind these awards said, From nascent ideas cooked up in a warehouse to booming ventures that are eating up market share and attracting consumers at breakneck speed, NDTV Unicorn Start-Up Awards will lift the iron curtain off them all. This is the highest form of recognition for those that have blazed a trail of their own. This is the start-ups' moment to shine and occupy centre-stage on a prestigious platform like NDTV. The awards will be presented and the webcast will be live on ground on July 29th at the Taj Palace, New Delhi, 7 pm onwards. Bootstrapped start-up of the year - this category will award start-ups that are bootstrapped all the way and have made notable progress without external funding or support and own nothing outside of their start-up. New Kid on the Block- this category will award the start-up that has an exceptional idea and is now attempting to scale up into a business. It should be an original idea with the potential to disrupt the market. Dream-chaser of the year- this category will award the start-up that has a concrete plan and is now scaling up through funding. Woman Entrepreneur of the year- this category will recognise a start-up helmed by a woman entrepreneur which has disrupted the market. Health start-up of the year- this category includes health start-ups across wellness and fitness and more that have made an impact. Unicorn of the Year- this category will be awarded to the billion-dollar start-up, or Unicorns that has shown highest year-on-year growth in the financial year gone by. Start-up of the future- this category will award the start-up that has the ability to be the next big thing and has a fantastic idea at its core and is looking at establishing itself in a developing market. Global Start-up of the Year- this category will award an international start-up that has revolutionised its segment and has shown remarkable growth in the last financial year. Start-up mentor of the year- this category will recognise an investor, a big shark, an incubator, which has funded start-ups. This individual or venture capital firm will be awarded for great investment acumen and success rate. Good Samaritan of the year- this category will award start-ups that are making a social impact through their idea. Peoples Start-up of the Year: this will be the only category thrown open to public voting through a microsite and will not be part of the jurys decision-making process. This convenience start-up will be awarded for pleasing consumers through great service, marketing, and brand retention. Start-up Person of the Year- this category will award and recognise Indian personalities who have played an important role in shaping Indias start-up sector. He or she could be a government representative, a leading investor, a Unicorn founder. Brand Ambassador of the Year- this category will award the person who has upheld his/her responsibilities as a start- up brand ambassador and is a true start up evangelist! Tourism New Zealands integrated campaign Everyday a different journey has been recognised and awarded by 2016 SABRE South Asia Awards. The campaign has been designed to create awareness for the destination and to develop a strong bond with the Indian travellers. The brand has been awarded the top honours in two distinctive categories SABRE Gold for Travel + Leisure and Certificate of excellence for Superior Achievement in Brand Building. As part of the campaign, Tourism New Zealand engaged with a Bollywood actor Sidharth Malhotra last year for the first time. Sidharth, a lead actor from successful films such as Kapoor and Sons, Student of the year and Ek Villain became the face of the brand for the Indian market. This endeavour was designed to attract independent professionals looking to experience a unique holiday in New Zealand. Sidharth Malhotra, Ambassador of Tourism New Zealand for India visited the destination in October 2015 and experienced the diverse offerings of New Zealand including activities such as the Skywalk, skydive, sand surfing, diving, hot air ballooning and many more activities. Speaking about the awards, Steven Dixon, Regional Manager - South & South East Asia, Tourism New Zealand, says, We are thrilled with the recognition our campaign has received. After the big wins at PR Week Asia, being appreciated at SABRE is another huge achievement for us. Our campaign was designed to demonstrate the wide range of experiences available in New Zealand, which are all in easy reach of one another. The campaign has been well received in India and Sidharth Malhotra has been the perfect fit for the role of Tourism New Zealand brand ambassador. SABRE Awards South Asia 2016 was hosted at the industrys premier gala event in New Delhi, on July 21, 2016. SABRE Awards recognize campaigns that demonstrate the highest levels of strategic planning, creativity and business results. SABRE Awards attract more entries from around the world than any other PR awards program, winning campaigns can honestly claim to have been measured againstand triumphed in competition withthe best public relations campaigns in the world. (This feature is part of the " Through Airmen's Eyes " series. These stories focus on individual Airmen, highlighting their Air Force story.)Then-Tech. Sgt. Janet Lemmons realized she couldnt breathe in the hospital room. It was as if there wasnt enough space for her familys grief and the air collectively. She had to get out.Lemmons stepped into the elevator that would take her someplace where she could breathe, but the cold steel walls provided no comfort as they sealed her in. She took several deep breaths as the elevator descended. The doors opened on friends and family, and they all knew exactly what had happened as soon as they saw her.Her oldest son, Tommy, was dead.Lemmons stepped out into a surreal world where nothing was as it should be, and didnt feel like it ever would be.How am I going to laugh again? said Lemmons, now a senior master sergeant and the sustainment services superintendent for the 176th Force Support Squadron. What is life going to be like? How am I going to eat again? How is anything ever going to be enjoyable again?Before Tommy grew into a 6-foot, 4-inch tall bodybuilder, he was a small child with large ambitions. Lemmons said by 12, he was pretty much running the family business, a drive-thru coffee shop, as the self-proclaimed manager.He had an important task, to relieve his mother from her shift, so he was always on time. When he wasnt making money at the coffee shop, he was buying bulk candy and selling it for profit at school, Lemmons said.I remember one day I asked him if I could have an Airhead and he said Only if you have a quarter. He was not going to eat his profits, Lemmons said. He was so cute.As Tommy grew up, so did his ambitions. He started working at a bank as a teller and worked his way up the corporate ladder. By 21, he was selling mortgages to would-be homeowners. His interests branched off into mixed martial arts and bodybuilding, but Lemmons said hell always be her ambitious little son.It was three in the morning when she got the call.I usually never keep a phone in our bedroom, Lemmons said. But that night I just happened to plug it in. I answered it and heard, This is trooper so-and-so, are you Tommy Blairs mom?He got into a fight with someone and hes in jail, she thought. But it was much worse.The trooper said, Tommy was at a party, there was a gun and he shot himself, she recalled. Confused, she tried to process the words, still struggling out of sleep. Well, where did he shoot himself? she asked.In the head, the trooper replied.Lemmons asked the trooper to call Rick Cavens, the wing chaplain, and spat out the command posts number. Her husband wasnt home; he was two hours away on business.In thick fog of interrupted sleep, Lemmons assumed the injury was just a graze. The thought of a fatal accident was an alien concept. That kind of thing happened on the news, not at home where its safe.As she washed her face Lemmons recalled thinking, Is this real? Am I dreaming or am I awake?Thats when the police started pounding on her door and the house went from very quiet to very loud. Her son Ausdin hollered, Whats going on? and answered the door.Are you Janet Lemmons? the police officer asked. Get to the hospital, now!Still thinking hed grazed himself, Lemmons reacted as any mother awakened by her sons shenanigans might. She started explaining to Ausdin, her youngest son just how bad Tommy was in for it when she got there to chew him out.When I got there, I thought oh this is not what I thought, Lemmons said. I saw the wing chaplain standing there waiting for me. He said, Whats going on? I told him I didnt know.I walked into this small little room and all the chairs were just full. Everybody was crying.The hospitals chaplain pulled Lemmons and Cavens aside to explain what had happened.It was really weird, Lemmons said. She was explaining how he shot himself in a lot of detail and the impact to his body. He was this vibrant, full-of-life young person. Hed never talk again; he was basically going to be a vegetable.Then, the hospital chaplain said something much worse -- he was going to die.Walk, sit, walk, sit. It was all she could do as she tried to process what was happening.She sent a police officer to fetch her husband from Glenallen, and called Tommys dad. He started screaming.No! Keep him alive! Just keep him alive until I get back! he shouted at her from where he worked on the North Slope, thousands of miles away.I promised I would, Lemmons said. How could I promise that? It felt like a lie.Neither her husband nor Tommys father would make it to Anchorage in time. Lemmons went upstairs, where she was met by a team of doctors who pulled her into another room to explain to her again that her baby boy was going to die.He lay on the hospital bed, wearing nothing but a sheet pulled up just below his chest. Lemmons couldnt kiss her son, who had tubes and cords spilling out of him, robbing her of one last moment of intimacy.You couldnt even tell anything had happened, Lemmons said. He had a bandage on the back of his head. There was no swelling or anything. He couldnt talk, he was unconscious.She sat watching with her daughter Andrea, a few years Tommys senior, and Ausdin. The whirring of the various machines keeping her son alive began to get quieter and quieter as the nurses shut them down.Ausdin couldnt stay; Lemmons said he couldnt watch his big brother pass away. She called in Tommys girlfriend, knowing shed want to be there. There they sat and she could feel his hand getting colder, then his arm, as she followed the receding warmth to his chest -- and then it was gone.The first week was the worst.I remember that first day, I could count every half hour of that first day, Lemmons said. I lay in bed that night, staring at the ceiling. I was too tired to cry anymore and I could hear my son Ausdin, my sister and my niece wailing -- it was as if my house and walls were mourning the loss of Tommy.Then, Lemmons found out she wasnt done crying yet. She wept silently, because her family was hurting.Every moment was a different emotion as Lemmons began the process of healing in her own way. The feelings werent consistent or logical, just powerful waves of raw emotion.She woke up the next day, furious.I wanted to throw the biggest fit, Lemmons said. Nobody was awake yet and I thought I was going to break something.Lemmons wasnt going to let the cold, hard ground take her son, she said. When the day came for her family to pick an urn at the funeral home, the director peppered her with questions. He kept referring to Tommy with deference and distinctly in the past tense.I wanted to scream at him to stop it, Lemmons said. Then he asked me to sign documents to release the body and I felt like I was signing the last time as his mom.Mixed with her sorrow, she found confusion and its accomplice -- anger.Why did they do this to themselves? If it was an accident, youd want to blame somebody, the brakes, the rain, circumstance, Lemmons said. But with suicide, you blame the person, because they did it to themselves.Tommys death was ruled a suicide, but it was also different. Hed had 14 drinks and no food. He wasnt himself and packed a pistol for a planned hike for protection from bears. Lemmons suspects it was an accident during a drunken, angry argument, but the doubt will always be there -- and with it the emotions.Couldnt we have done something to help him process? she said. Why didnt he want to reach out to us? When someone takes their life, they might think they are taking away their pain, but what they dont realize is they are leaving their pain with their loved ones left behind.The week following his passing was the worst of her life, Lemmons said. Her house was flooded with well-wishers and family, in whom she found great comfort. But explaining to each new person forced her to relive the worst night of her life again and again.I knew it was hard for my friends and co-workers, Lemmons said. I used to hear, I just cant imagine what youre going through, I felt so alone -- it was as if the world was saying, Whatever you have, I dont want it.Eventually, the friends had to leave and the family members had to fly back home. That left Lemmons and her family alone in their grief.When she went to pick up Tommys Social Security card from the bank, a young lady at the counter greeted her with all the cheer of a good customer service agent, inquiring as to the quality of her day.I wanted to scream at her, My son just died! Lemmons said. I took a deep breath and tried to smile and said, Fine. I had to put on a fake smile. I just kept thinking fake it until you make it; I thought if I kept faking it, itd be true.Lemmons realized she didnt want to be alone; it scared her, so she started reaching out for help.Sharing my story helps me in my grief recovery, she said. If one person is touched by Tommys story, then my prayer has been answered.Lemmons and her family spent the first year following Tommys death picking up the pieces of their life and began to put them back together into something distinctly different than it had been, but functional all the same.I couldnt stop crying at first, Lemmons said. Until at one point my husband just said, Thats enough. You have two other children, and you have me. You can grieve Tommy, but this is enough. You cant make the other two feel guilty. It really put perspective to my grief. I was making my kids feel like he was more special because he was gone, and theyre still here.I just dont want these strongholds in my life, she continued. I want to enjoy my other two children. I want to have goals and dreams myself. I dont want to be stuck in grief. I want to live.Determined to make something of her grief, Lemmons applied to be a first sergeant.After I got the job, one of the security forces young men killed himself, Lemmons said. His brother was in my unit; he was 22. I remember how Ausdin felt losing his brother. I was always checking up on him. I asked (the unit) if they were checking on (the brother). I reached out as much as I possibly could, but a couple months later, the brother killed himself.I remember talking to his mother, thinking she lost two of her four children in less than six months, she continued. I remember just bawling and crying together. I realized thats where I was supposed to be.Lemmons spent the next six years wading through the weeds of grief, using her experience to help others vocationally while she led grief share groups on her own time. When her time was up as a first sergeant, she began taking speaking opportunities to thousands of troops all around the Pacific theater.One day, Lemmons got another phone call, this time it was from Ausdin. He told her that he was officially older than his big brother. Lemmons grieved, not just for herself, but for her son who counted the year, month and day to his brothers death.I realized then that life would always be bittersweet and I had to make a decision, she said. That decision was, I choose to be happy. One thing about grief is you have to lean into it, not run from it. On this look around the Air Force the chief of staff of the Air Force and chief master sergeant of the Air Force address basic allowance for housing concerns, Airmen partner with Kenyans to provide aid, and weapons loaders load missiles internally and externally on an F-35A Lightning II. Hosted by Senior Airman Corey Kingsbury.For previous episodes, click here Related links: Two C-130s and approximately 70 Airmen from the 908th Airlift Wing, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, arrived here Sunday evening. Over the next two weeks, they will be conducting flight familiarization and partnership building with the Romanian Air Force. This is the first deployment by the 908th Airlift Wing to Romania. However, this visit is an extension of a 23-year old National Guard State Partnership Program between the State of Alabama and Romania. The 908th joins the 187th Fighter Wing of the Alabama Air National Guard, in building close ties with their Romanian counterparts. This is the first of what may be dubbed the "Reserve Partnership Program," since it is the first time an Air Force Reserve Command unit has participated. Both Romania and Alabama units fly C-130s and F-16s. This is a natural partnership intended to increase U.S. Air Force interoperability with Romania, a NATO ally. "We've learned a lot from our discussions and interaction with our Romanian counterparts. They are great people, who are interested and excited to learn what they can about flying and maintaining F-16s, as they make the transition to flying the same aircraft we do. Now that the 908th is joining this partnership, we'll look for ways we can work together, perhaps with joint visits, to further strengthen U.S. ties with Romania," said Col. William Sparrow, 187th FW vice commander. The U.S. and Romania mutually benefit from interactions such as this to build relationships and improve coordination between allied military services. Get AfricaFocus Bulletin by e-mail! Format for print or mobile Africa/Global: Not Yet "End of AIDS" AfricaFocus Bulletin July 26, 2016 (160626) (Reposted from sources cited below) Editor's Note At the 21st International AIDS Conference in South Africa last week, "optimism faded as delegates arrived to news that donor countries had reduced global HIV funding by more than $1 billion from 2014 to 2015. ... Nearly 20 million people are [still] in need of antiretroviral therapy. [and] nearly half of the $44 billion cost could be unfunded between 2016 and 2020." - Washington Post, July 25, 2016 Overshadowed by the U.S. presidential campaign and by acts of terrorism around the world, the 21st International AIDS Conference was held in Durban, South Africa earlier this month. Sixteen years after the previous International AIDS conference in Durban in 2000, which marked a turning point in international action on AIDS, there were successes to celebrate. In 2000, the only people receiving life securing antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in Africa and other developing countries were accessing medicines through clinical trials. The few that were rich enough purchased life through private healthcare. Sixteen years later, 17 million people across the world receive ARVs, mostly through public health care systems. This accomplishment is unprecedented, and UNAIDS has laid out the goal of putting "an end to AIDS." But there were also dire warnings of the danger of reduced international commitment to confront the continued death toll. Africa, and in particular South Africa and neighboring countries in Southern Africa, continue to be the epicenter of the pandemic. Worldwide, the reality is that only 51 percent of people know their status and of the 37 million people living with HIV, only 17 million are on treatment. Almost one in five South African adults are living with HIV, and the percentages are even higher in Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland. And, noted International AIDS Society president Linda-Gail Bekker, "there is a horrible funding gap we have to address. We had so much money when we didn't have the tools. Now we have the tools and we don't have the money." This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains one essay by South African AIDS activist Mark Heywood, and interviews with UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibe and International AIDS Society president Linda-Gail Bekker. For an excellent series of maps, tables, and charts on the current status of HIV/AIDS in Africa, visit http://www.afri-dev.info/ - Direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/hhzaln9 For coverage of the Durban conference by South Africa's Daily Vox, visit http://tinyurl.com/hfnjmns For the Washington Post article quoted above, go to http://tinyurl.com/hjr4vf2 For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on health issues, visit http://www.africafocus.org/intro-health.php +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ AfricaFocus Break from Publication AfricaFocus Bulletin will be taking a break from publication for the next six weeks. Automated news feeds on the website (http://www.africafocus.org) will continue to be updated regularly. AfricaFocus social media will also be updated occasionally during this period. Many thanks to those subscribers who have sent in a voluntary subscription payment this year to support AfricaFocus Bulletin. Your continued support is needed to continue publication and to expand AfricaFocus outreach. Send in a check or pay on-line with Paypal. See http://www.africafocus.org/support.php for details. ++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++ The response to AIDS has shown another world is possible Mark Heywood Daily Maverick, July 19, 2016 http://www.dailymaverick.co.za - Direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/hk6kosx [Mark Heywood is Executive Direction of Section27 and an executive member of the Treatment Action Campaign] We live in a nasty, fragmented, divided world, where hatred is more and more ruling the roost. Glorious bastards who have been pushed beyond the pale of civilised behaviour are on a killing spree. Their intention is to provoke new wars and civil wars where person fights person on the basis of differences based on race, or religion or ethnicity. A gleeful arms industry has found a new market for drones with bombs. The indiscriminate 'fightback' against terror frequently make matters worse. Ironically groups like ISIS are aiming to push people into the hands of bigots like Trump, Marie Le Pen and Nigel Farage. They want more violence against marginalised people. They want racial and religious civil wars. It's a zero-sum war game. While reports of these horrors washed across our TV screens, the 21st International AIDS Conference began in Durban. Sadly, the energy and idealism that is evident here risks being eclipsed by global instability. Yet, in the AIDS activist movement and the 30- year response to AIDS, we have seen glimpses of another world; another way of living and loving, dying and doing business. It is extraordinary. Sixteen years ago the International AIDS conference first came to Durban. At that point, the only people receiving life securing antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in Africa and other developing countries were accessing medicines through clinical trials. The few that were rich enough purchased life through private healthcare. Sixteen years later, 17-million people across the world receive ARVs, mostly through public health care systems. This accomplishment is unprecedented in the history of any medicine. Seventeen million deaths have been averted. Although activists are rightly critical of UNAIDS' (http://www.unaids.org) talk of the end of AIDS, the fact that an end can even be discussed and that it is theoretically possible indicates just how far we have come. How did we come so far? People who stood up for their human rights achieved this. Activists achieved this. In the 1980s AIDS began its deadly rampage as an epidemic of recrimination and prejudice. Stigma is by no means over. Yet, the way in which people with HIV have stood up for each other has gone a long way towards breaking the stigma. Solidarity with people most at risk has won greater acceptance and recognition of sex workers, understanding of difference in gender and sexual orientation and the rights of drug users, prisoners, migrants. Where once AIDS was marked by total hatred, there are now significant pockets of respect for love and diversity, solidarity and empathy, in every country in the world. A long way to go, yes, but a start. Other profoundly important things have happened. Once upon a time almost every poor person with HIV was denied life by pharmaceutical companies intent on amassing vast profits from essential medicines. Activists shamed drug companies, challenged them in court, exposed their corrupt practices. Prices tumbled. As a result different business models began to emerge, ones that could make smaller profits from meeting the needs of larger numbers of people. Prices tumbled and tumbled. Activists confronted the whole model of intellectual property 'rights' and by doing so were able to push back the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property, an 'agreement' that had been forced on developing countries in 1995 at the height of capitalist triumphalism. As a result a massive market opened for generic companies based in India in particular. If similar challenges were mounted around drugs for cancer or other causes of illness millions more lives are there to be saved. Learning how to make a market out of genuinely meeting needs and human rights is something other corporates must learn, including for decent food, housing and a hundred other of life's necessities. That battle must still be joined by other advocates, that wisdom still acquired by a short-sighted business community. So, AIDS is about AIDS. But it's also about so much more than AIDS. It's about justice and social justice. In the words of Edwin Cameron: "AIDS has taken us on a journey of light." In the weeks before this conference I warned that the job is only half done. The global statistics remain frightening. According to UNAIDS: There are 1.1-million deaths due to AIDS a year; There are 5,700 new HIV infections a day; Epidemics of TB and MDR-TB run largely unchecked. My fears were not unfounded. As we sit in our padded seats, or rather as we march, sing, argue, meet, learn from each other, debate, shout, advocate, commiserate and occasionally cry, it's becoming clear that this glimmer of hope risks being snuffed out. Conferences like this that refocus human rights activism, where politicians come to account to people, might be the last kick of a dying horse. In activist meetings a very different picture is emerging to the optimistic one that government officials, ours included, wanted to make the AIDS story. There are medicine stock-outs in many countries. Sex workers and drugs users are humiliated, imprisoned and sometimes murdered. Poor people in rich countries are being left behind by the artificial segmentation dreamed up by some bright spark in the World Bank that declares certain developing countries 'middle income', ignoring the local context of inequality, corruption and severe deprivation. Try telling the 12-million hungry people in SA or 25% unemployed that ours is a middle income country. "Dream on", they will reply, "we would be happy if it was a 'some-income' country, rather than a no-income country." Human rights respecting countries like South Africa are silent on the human rights abuses by our economic allies in countries like China, India and Russia. Attacks on civil society organisations and activists are growing. In India, the Lawyers Collective an organisation that has shone a light for human rights for 35 years and 15,000 other NGOs are under attack. Finally donor funding from developed countries for preventing and treating HIV and TB is declining fast. As right wing governments rise in the West and as the unwinnable 'war on terrorism' consumes ever greater resources, the appetite for matters-just is declining. If we are to meet the target of universal access to ARV treatment UNAIDS has announce that there is a funding gap of $7 billion a year. But apparently taxpayers in developed countries feel that they have done enough now. My answer to that, dear US Ambassador Gaspard and others, is to appeal to you that your governments try a little harder to talk to your taxpayers. Show your citizens how their investments in others' lives have brought us half way across the river to the "end of AIDS". Appeal to them to continue their largesse. Explain to them why their investment in AIDS is something they should take proud ownership of, how it has been an investment in humanity, health systems and social fabric. It has saved millions of lives. Tell them the job's not done. Tell them the world will be safer for it. Try also to persuade them that today's way to win the war on tomorrow's terrorism is in large part with love and respect for human rights, solidarity and empathy, inclusion rather than exclusion. If we do not arrest these developments the response to HIV risks evolving once more into one based on market calculations about profit and investment frameworks rather than fundamental human rights. We will never come back to Durban to celebrate. The question we have to ask, the question you have to ask, is whether we will allow this recession? There are 18,000 people at this AIDS conference. We are 0.00000000000000000000001% of the world's population. We are 0.000000001% of the 37-million people still alive with HIV in the world. We have a huge burden on our shoulders. But we also have the power of human rights law, of advances medicine and scientists, of morality, of love. In the words of the Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who opened the conference, "We must throw ideas at each other, not stones. It is through human action that we will end this epidemic." So, will this conference be the last kick of a dying horse? It depends on you. Step by step: The road to ending the AIDS epidemic By Sophie Cousins Devex, 18 July 2016 http://www.devex.com - Direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/jrfz3p8 Michel Sidibe has a big job ahead of him. By 2020, the executive director of UNAIDS wants 90 percent of people living with HIV to know their status, 90 percent of people who know their status to access antiretroviral treatment, and 90 percent of people on treatment to have suppressed viral loads. While achieving these 90-90-90 goals would set the world on course to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030--in line with the Sustainable Development Goals--the reality is that only 51 percent of people know their status and of the 37 million people living with HIV, 17 million are on ART. As the 21st International AIDS Conference opens this week in Durban, South Africa, activists are calling for treatment for all. Meanwhile, HIV infections among adults are not on the decline. In fact, infections are on the rise across some regions. While there are promising new prevention tools such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), it's not yet widely available in many settings, particularly for key populations. And all this is happening while funding for response is on the decline, with more emphasis on countries most affected by HIV to finance their own responses, as many transition to middle-income country status. Devex sat down with Sidibe at AIDS2016 to discuss the road ahead. Here are some highlights from that conversation: Q: UNAIDS has set the very ambitious 90-90-90 targets to be achieved by 2020. There's 17 million people out of 37 million living with HIV on ART. What needs to be done to scale up people's access to ART? We have been ambitious because during the last five years we've been able to double the number of people put on treatment, which means that countries were not overwhelmed by the problem and they were able to define their strategy, to reach people and make sure that treatment was available. The biggest challenge I personally feel will be this one: the health systems. The huge number of people [receiving] treatment is [shedding] light on the inefficiencies of our health systems and the capacity of the health system to absorb and to be able to scale up quickly, more than they have been able to do. If we don't have a shift in the service delivery approach--to think about strengthening the community, reinforcing the interface between the last service provider and the community, and bringing civil society and others to become providers of services--it will be very difficult for us. That's why I'm calling for 1 million community health workers to be implemented really quickly. [Secondly], financing will be critical. What I'm seeing right now has scared me, if we continue to harbor the flattening and reduction of funding. We cannot lie to each other. I cannot see how Malawi, Zambia, even South Africa can get to 6 million people on treatment without any financial support. We need to continue to call for global solidarity. I think financing will be a key issue. [Thirdly], how we will reach hard-to-reach people--those key populations who are today representing 35 percent of new infections? If we don't have a strategy that can really quicken the pace and reach them and get them treatment services, then our ambitious goals will not be achieved. Q: A recent UNAIDS report found that new HIV infections among adults have stalled, failing to decline for at least five years. In eastern Europe and central Asia, new HIV infections rose by 57 percent between 2010 and 2015. What role do you think PrEP can play in HIV prevention and how can you expand its use among countries that are against it? We are completely supportive of PrEP. We are working with countries to try and introduce PrEP in countries such as South Africa among sex workers. We are [also] trying to see how in Eastern Europe and Central Asia we can start pushing to make sure they can have the appropriate policy reform which can help them to target people who inject drugs so it can reduce infections. I think they are not closed to that [idea], even though we face the dilemma that we continue to believe that harm reduction programs should be put in place, that people should not be criminalized, and that people should not be facing prejudice and exclusion. Even if with PrEP, if you cannot come for services, you cannot get the pill that is the trade-off we need to manage properly--not just making sure that a pill becomes the magic response but restoring the dignity of people, making sure they are not hiding and not discriminated against. There's a tendency to think that with PrEP pills will help us to resolve issues of infection. That's true, but if you don't reach people, if you have a series of bad laws that are not removed, it will be impossible for us to implement because the impact will be little. Q: There's insufficient coverage of harm reduction programs across the globe and policies that criminalize people who inject drugs. The United Nations' target to reduce HIV transmission among people who inject drugs by 50 percent by last year was missed. How can UNAIDS better advocate for harm reduction programs? A good example is China: It was [previously] zero tolerance for people who inject drugs previously. What we did, was really bring the leadership of China to really understand the evidence--the science and the strategy information--coming from other countries. China today has the biggest harm reduction program in Asia. I think groups that are put on those programs are close to zero new infections. So it means that the pragmatic approach of China helped to completely change the face of the epidemic among drug users. And there's a lot of uncertainty around funding for AIDS response in the future. How will UNAIDS advocate for funding for key populations? We are working closely with PEPFAR who in New York announced $100 million for key populations. I think it's a catalytic fund and, for me, that's what we need, to have the courage to say "these are targeted funds" [that] will help us to see how to better reach those people with a community network. I think it will certainly bring different modalities in the future--how to finance those groups and how to support them--because until now they were part of a package of financing. Having the courage to say that we have $100 million behind you and want to succeed, that really could completely change the way we can leverage [the funding] to scale up. We will see a lot of community groups who will start to be more vocal because they can get small amounts that help them to demonstrate that they can have an impact if they are given more resources. Q: Given that only 51 percent of people know their status, what role do think self-testing is going to play in the future? How can we increase its outreach? I think we need to completely change our approach to testing. It's good to go for routine testing and make sure that we make testing more convenient. Self-testing can therefore play a very important role, on one condition: we need to think about our service delivery approach. It's not possible to have self-testing when you don't have a different health system, which can be really big not on just the health system per se but a system for health. We need to think about systems for health--the community approach, so we have community health workers, a subsystem of health, which will be able to really deal with this self-testing [and] go door-to-door because they are trusted, have the capacity and are close. But, if not, we cannot tell people to go self-test ... It will fail completely because again we'll have a lot of people who will test positive but will not have the ability to access services--they will be scared and they will not trust anyone. What we need to think about in this period is how we electrify a different type of communication approach. Most young people are complacent. They don't see people dying of AIDS. So we have a bulk of young people that need not just to be protected, but becoming actors of transformation in terms of prevention. That is, for me, a future challenge. Aids Conference 2016 - the Gains, the Gaps, the Next Global Steps The Conversation (Johannesburg), July 22, 2016 http://allafrica.com/stories/201607220830.html Interview By Linda-Gail Bekker, University of Cape Town As the 21st International AIDS Conference wraps up in Durban, South Africa, Professor Linda-Gail Bekker, incoming International AIDS Society President, talks to The Conversation Africa health and medicine editor Candice Bailey about what was achieved and what still needs to be done. Q: What are the three interventions or innovations that stand out at the conference in terms of taking the fight against HIV forward? There has been exciting work about how we do treatment better to make sure we get to the 34 million who are infected. And that's absolutely critical. We have to reach those 34 million people but we know that health systems, particularly in the sub-Saharan region, are struggling. So there was some wonderful work on differentiated models of care, how we can do business more effectively and efficiently and ways we can do the steps in the cascade more efficiently. And I've loved some of the testing innovations. Addressing all the steps from testing is critical. Secondly I'm passionate about primary prevention but I think we've got some gaps on how we can do it. I'm a great proponent of daily pre-exposure prophylaxis and I really think we should roll it out because it works. But I'm very excited about the prospect of what's coming down the road in terms of less frequent dosing for preexposure prophylaxis. Number three is a fresh approach to adolescents. This conference has reinvigorated the notion that we have to get adolescents to the table. We have done well, I think, in getting adolescents to be really well represented. And it works. You feel their voice. The message I have heard here is that we need to have an integrated approach. We can't just talk HIV treatment or just HIV prevention. It has to take into consideration structural issues, behavioural issues, rights, access -- a lot of issues. And I think it becomes a model of how we really look after our adolescents around the world and HIV is a great catalyst within that. Q: Based on the discussions at the conference where are the gaps in the global HIV response? At the moment it's money. There is a horrible funding gap that we have to address. We had so much money when we didn't have the tools. Now we have the tools and we don't have the money. I feel desperate about that. In 2000 we missed opportunities because we didn't have our systems and our thinking right. I'm taking collective responsibility but there was a leadership gap and we lost lives because of that. Here we stand now and if we don't act in the way that we should, we will have lots of lost lives and infections that we don't have to. And I don't want that on my record. When we get help from Sir Elton John, Prince Harry, Princess Mabel from The Netherlands and Charlize Theron to shine a focus on this we are eternally grateful. We need help from everyone to carry the message that the job isn't done. Otherwise we will miss the moment and we will have regrets. And I don't want to be in that camp. I am very pleased that the Replenishment of the Global Fund Conference is being held in Canada because I think the Prime Minister of Canada is really showing that he can get the job done. Justin Trudeau's a great example of moving forward when he needs to move forward and doing uncomfortable things when they have to be done because it's right. I have a sense that he does what's right. So I'm excited about that because I think that's important. We have to keep showing people that it's not only the right thing and the compassionate thing and the humane thing but that it makes good financial sense. We are bleeding where we don't need to bleed in terms of finance. And if we can shut it down earlier we will do the world a favour. Q: What is the message that is coming out of this conference? The job is not done. We have tools that can be deployed; we have a lot of work to do. We have the energy but this is not the time to not have the resources. It's a collective global effort. And we're excited. Durban has reenergised the whole sense of community and engagement. Now we need the rest of the world to get on board. And I think we can do it. The optimism that I have felt here is real. But the reality is that if we don't move forward from today that trajectory will flatten out. ... AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus Bulletin is edited by William Minter. AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please write to this address to subscribe or unsubscribe to the bulletin, or to suggest material for inclusion. For more information about reposted material, please contact directly the original source mentioned. For a full archive and other resources, see http://www.africafocus.org East Africa: UK and IOM Support East African Community in enhancing free movement of people between partner ptates The United Kingdoms Department for International Development (DFID) is to sign an agreement with IOM today supporting the East African Community (EAC) in efforts to harmonize migration management in the region. At least 13 people were killed when two vehicles packed with explosives went off as they were driven towards a base for African Union troops in the Somali capital, according to officials and witnesses. Local journalists said the blasts had been caused by two bombs. At least one was detonated by a suicide attacker in a vehicle near a checkpoint, they said. There are reports of casualties among security guards on the checkpoint. The militant Islamist group, al-Shabab, which is allied to al-Qaeda, has carried out frequent attacks in Somalia, including in Mogadishu, in an attempt to oust the UN-backed government. The group has been pushed out of most of the main towns it once controlled, but analysts say it remains a potent threat. It has been increasing its attacks ahead of planned elections in Somalia. This is a developing story, more details awaiting. (With Agency Inputs) Chinas foreign minister has asked US secretary of state John Kerry to support the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea, following a ruling against Beijing over the dispute earlier this month. China did not participate in and has refused to accept the July 12 ruling by the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration, in which US ally Manila won an emphatic legal victory. Meeting in the Laos capital Vientiane on Monday during a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Kerry that China and ASEAN had agreed the dispute should get back onto the correct track of being resolved by direct talks with the parties concerned. China hopes the United States side takes actual steps to support the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines, and support the efforts of China and ASEAN to maintain regional peace and stability, Wang said, according to a foreign ministry statement released on Tuesday. China has repeatedly blamed the United States for stoking tensions in the South China Sea and of taking sides in the dispute, accusations Washington denies. Competing claims with China in the vital shipping lane and resource-rich sea are among the most contentious issues for the 10 members of ASEAN, who are pulled between their desire to assert their sovereignty while fostering ties with an increasingly assertive Beijing. Speaking to reporters in Vientiane, Philippines Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay said the dispute was not a fight between China and the United States but between China and the Philippines. We would like to pursue bilateral relationships in so far as the peaceful resolution of the dispute is concerned that is between the China and the Philippines. The others are not concerned with that dispute, said Yasay. China has also accused Japan of interfering in the dispute. Entire nation paid tributes and expressed deep gratitude towards the Indian Armed Forces on Kargil Vijay Diwas, memorising the heroism and sacrifice of the armed forces in defending our borders. Their sacrifice and spirit of Nation above self continues to inspire an entire generation. Every human and each political party came together on this issue leaving aside all the differences. Kargil war is over long back but Kashmir is still burning. Our army personnel are still fighting the battle. Indian and Pakistani armies are on the war mode, because the terror groups based in Pakistan are luring youth towards militancy and disrupting the peace here. On 26th July, 1999, the Indian Armed Forces, as part of the Operation Vijay, recaptured Indian posts in Kargil which had been occupied by the Pakistans army. The cause of the war was the infiltration of Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants into positions on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC), which serves as the de facto border between the two nations. During the initial stages of the war, Pakistan blamed the fighting entirely on independent Kashmiri insurgents, but documents left behind by casualties and later statements by Pakistans Prime Minister and Chief of Army Staff showed involvement of its paramilitary forces, led by General Ashraf Rashid. The Indian Army, later on supported by the Indian Air Force, recaptured a majority of the positions on the Indian side of the LoC infiltrated by the Pakistani troops and militants. With international diplomatic opposition, the Pakistani forces withdrew from the remaining Indian positions along the LoC. This war is one of the most recent examples of high-altitude warfare in mountainous terrain, which posed significant logistical problems for the combating sides. It is one of the very few instances of direct, conventional warfare between nuclear states (i.e., those possessing nuclear weapons). India had conducted its first successful test in 1974; Pakistan, which had been developing its nuclear capability in secrecy since around the same time, conducted its first known tests in 1998, just two weeks after a second series of tests by India. It is also one of the few instances of direct, conventional warfare between two democracies, as Pakistan had a democratically elected government at that time. Kargil was the first war between India and Pakistan after the one in 1971 which had led to the formation of Bangladesh as a separate country. Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government was in power at the time of this war. The war took place despite the two nations signing the Shimla Agreement that stated no armed conflict shall take place on the said boundary. The Indian and Pakistani armies fought the Kargil War in May-July 1999 in Kargil and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). Safed Sagar, the Indian Air Forces operation, was a major part of the Kargil war. It used air power at the height of 32,000 feet for the first time. From identifying the Pakistani troops and Mujahideens to interdiction, all the actions were performed well by the pilots and engineers despite receiving just one week of training. As India witnessed television grabs of its army men in Kargil fighting Pakistan, Operation Vijay was termed successful on this day, 17 years ago. While then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared the operation successful on July 14, the operation was officially declared closed on July 26, 1999. India lost more than 500 military men on the Kargil territory while reports from Pakistan claimed that more than 3000 of their soldiers, mujahideens and infiltrates died. Built by the Indian army, the Kargil War memorial wall in Dras has inscriptions of all the Indian soldiers who lost their lives in the war. The Memorial also has a museum with documents, recordings and pictures of the Indian soldiers at Kargil. Well, this is not enough. The Indian Armed Forces are the prime guardians of our national integrity and sovereignty. The Armed Forces, consisting of the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force, the Indian Navy, and the Indian Coast Guard, are widely respected for their bravery, discipline, and unconditional patriotic values. From controlling the worlds highest battlefield in Siachen, to executing the worlds biggest helicopter rescue mission in the form of Operation Rahat, the Indian Armed Forces have fought adversities and locked horns with intruding enemy forces to ensure a safe and secure India for all of us. However, did you know about the inclement weather conditions which the Armed Forces face for you? Do you know what emotional trauma they go through? In the past, thousands of Army personnel retired from services but their families are yet to be given what they deserve. The government has failed to honour promises made to Kargil war widows and compensation is denied to them. Every day army men get killed, we pay tributes and forget but their families who are deprived of one beloved, are neglected by the system. Army men of this country are least privileged that they have to fight for their pensions. We need to assure that the people who are guarding us are guarded by government, when they are alive as well as when they pass away. (Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com) Manipuri rights activist Irom Sharmila, who has been demanding the repeal of controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), has decided to break her fast of 16 years and will fight elections. The 44-year-old told a district court in Manipur today that she will end her fast on August 9. I will break my fast as the government has failed to give any positive response I will fight elections to resolve the issues, she said. She also informed the court where she is required to mark attendance every 15 days that she wants to marry. Irom decided to not eat a morsel of food further after a contingent of the Assam Rifles gunned down 10 civilians in a bus stop at Malom in 2000. Her demand was that AFSPA, a draconian rule that allows for the Indian army to have punitive powers, be taken out of Manipur. Three days after she started her fast, in November 2000, Irom was first arrested under the charge of attempt to commute suicide under the IPC. She has been arrested dozens of times since. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court strongly rebuked the army, saying it cannot use excessive or retaliatory force even in troubled areas. With regards to Manipur, it said the situation was never a war-like threat to national security that warranted the act. The apex court further directed a thorough probe into the alleged fake encounter killings there. In December 2014, the Centre decriminalised attempt to suicide by deleting the relevant section, effectively dismissing the case against Sharmila. Then, this year in March, the Delhi court acquitted the Manipuri in an attempt to suicide case filed against her in 2006 for holding a fast-unto-death protest at Jantar Mantar. Irom Sharmila had earlier rejected Aam Aadmi Partys offer to contest Lok Sabha elections under its banner from the inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat in 2014. Recently, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis celebrated his 46th birthday along with his followers. We have seen their enthusiasm from all over Maharashtra. Like previous year, the CM had appealed his admirers (read Fans) not to waste money on hoarding and banners and instead donate the entire amount to Jalyukta Shivar Yojana which is one of his dream projects. Through this project government is trying to resolve the agrarian crisis faced by the state. Coincidently, the former Deputy Chief Minister from erstwhile state government, Ajit Pawars birthday also falls on the same date, i.e. on 22nd of July. Although, junior Pawar belongs to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ideologically different party from BJP both the young and dynamic leaders have their own followers and are popular among masses. However, their styles of functioning are poles apart. Ajit Pawar is aggressive by nature whereas CM Fadnavis is calm, as described by their opponents. This coincidence is not the only one in the history of Maharashtra politics. Former CM and Ajit Pawars uncle Sharad Pawar (NCP) and former Dy.CM of Maharashtra Gopinath Mundes birthday also fall on the same date, i.e. 12th of December. Coincidentally, they both were cabinet minister at the centre also. Senior Pawar as well as Late Munde (saheb) both are mass leaders and were considered as grassroot leaders of this state. Even in this case also, the former is known for his patience while the latter is known for his aggressive approach. Surprisingly, the aggressive Ajit Pawar has learnt politics from his calmed Sharad Pawar while tolerant Devendra Fadnavis has taken lessons of politics under aggressive Gopinath Munde. This reminds me of the tussle in the Congress leadership in the first and second decades of the 20th century, when the aggressive Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak locked horns with the poised Gopal Krishna Gokhale. The fact is Mahatma Gandhi who always hailed Gokhale as his political Guru, carried his patient ideology further and successfully led Congress till the Indian Independence. Another such combination leadership in the history of Independence was observed in the 1930s. In the second generation of Congress leadership, when aggressive Subhash Chandra Bose, at his peak of popularity, became Congress president sidelining composed Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. However, Nehru led the party till 1964 after that. The third opposite nature individuals we have seen in the 70s and 80s, when a young leader in the form of Sanjay Gandhi rose to indirectly lead Congress a few years prior to the emergency. The nation witnessed the dynamic and aggressive nature of Sanjay Gandhi, however ultimately it was his poised brother Rajiv Gandhi, who became the Prime Minister in 1984. Even in my party also, if you see, then the veteran, calm and legend of modern politics Shri. Atal Bihari Vajpayee became Prime Minister of India while aggressive Lal Krishna Advani had to satisfy himself as a Deputy Prime Minister. In Maharashtra as well, the legacy of Balasaheb Thackeray, the founder of a very aggressive party, Shiv Sena is successfully carried out by his calm son Uddhav Thackeray with 63 MLAs and 18 MPs in his arsenal, while the aggressive nephew is still trying to establish his party in his own home ground Mumbai for more than a decade now. Although, it is impossible to predict the future of either Devendra Fadnavis or Ajit Pawar, the history shows that a patient leadership tastes the fruits of success while an aggressive leadership fails to appeal to the masses in the long run. (The author is a spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) Maharashtra unit) Avadhut Wagh (The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.) Sena has wasted 25 years by remaining in alliance with the BJP says Uddhav Thackeray. The rift between Shiv Sena and BJP is widening each passing day as the party has threatened to quit the alliance if its legislators are not allowed to perform their work efficiently. Sena is unhappy playing second fiddle to BJP which may prove detrimental to its existence. According to sources, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray had a meeting with his party workers as many of them complained about the step motherly treatment meted out against them by the BJP. They also had discussed about severing ties with the saffron party even though no final decision has been taken in this regard. Uddhav will soon have a dialogue with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to iron out the differences between both the parties and if issues remain unresolved then Sena may snap ties with the BJP. Uddhav Thackeray has already said that Sena has wasted 25 years by remaining in alliance with the BJP. Even though he had mentioned about severing ties with BJP but his party wont blackmail of backstab the ally. In last June, we completed 50 years since our advent and half the time, which means 25 years, we were in alliance (with the BJP). Twenty five years is a long time and we grew up by holding hands of each otherbut the way certain things unfolded, including breaking up of alliance in previous (assembly) electionsnow I feel that we wasted all these 25 years being in allianceand these years got rotten, Thackeray said. In those days, the base of our alliance was Hindutva, but now we need to work out what is the base of this alliance right now. Rest, I am in touch with the Chief minister who is new, but I am closely monitoring his commitment and restless efforts, and I wish him to do well in future, he added. BJP had won 125 seats while Sena managed to win 63 seats in the 2014 Maharashtra assembly election. Both parties had severed ties before the polls. Sena had initially did not join the government as BJP had to rely on outside support from NCP. After two months, NCP had withdrawn the support to BJP as Sena came to BJPs rescue and it was formally inducted into the government. Even though we have an alliance with BJP but they dont allow our legislators to perform their duties and create hindrance for them. BJP dont cooperate with us and wants to take credit for every work, said a Shiv Sena leader on the condition of anonymity. Even though the Fadnavis government is yet to complete two years but the relations between both the parties have strained. Sena often takes a jibe at BJP through its mouthpiece Saamna. The US has warned North Korea that it faces real consequences over its continuing nuclear and missile tests. Tensions have risen since Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by a series of missile launches the latest was last week which analysts say show it is making progress towards being able to strike the US mainland. At a meeting of the 10-members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), US Secretary of State John Kerry said: Together we are determined to make absolutely certain that DPRK (North Korea) understands that there are real consequences for these actions. The issue is a major theme of talks in the Laotian capital, which are attended by 10 Southeast Asian nations and key players in the region including China, the US, Russia, Japan and South Korea. Mr. Kerry continued: (The) issue that came up in nearly every meeting I had so far this week is the provocative and deeply concerning behaviour of the DPRK. North Koreas actions present a very serious threat, not just to this region but to international peace and security. UN sanctions against North Korea have been tightened following the tests but Pyongyang has defiantly continued with its programme. Washington and Seoul agreed earlier this month to deploy a sophisticated anti-missile system in South Korea, which can shoot down incoming enemy projectiles. That, in turn, is worrying Beijing and Russia who are unhappy about having a US-made system so close to their territory. Beijing is Pyongyangs main friend, both diplomatically and economically, but reports say even it seems to be growing impatient at its neighbours refusal to pull back on its tests. By Kim Stagliano Where oh where to begin with our Presidential race? I don't know many friends or family who aren't dismayed in some fashion, groping for reasons to choose one of the two major party nominees, or not. Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's choice for Vice President is Tim Kaine of Virginia. In 2007, then Governor Kaine passed legislation requiring Merck's Gardasil (genital wart/HPV) vaccine for 6th grade girls. He expressed concerns about parental rights, however. Kaine Wants Stronger Opt-Out for HPV Vaccine . The "opt out" as it is known, has allowed parents to vote for their own daughters' healthcare - and the majority have said, "NO" to this vaccine. Why Virginia Girls Aren't Getting HPV Vaccine . Republican nominee Donald Trump's VP pick is Indiana Governor Mike Pence. A Gardasil mandate bill failed in that state. Indiana is the home of Eli Lilly, which could lead some of us to wonder about where Governor Pence's financial and political allegiance might lie. HPV Vaccine Effort Fails Indiana House Pence said he supports the vaccinations for the measles and other illnesses now required in state law and added that the Health Department would continue promoting HPV immunizations. But he said he shared the concerns that some lawmakers and the public had raised about the legislation. "By establishing a goal of 80 percent immunization that may set Indiana on the path toward mandate, (that) created a concern for many people," Pence said. "I think it is a decision that's best left to parents in consultation with their doctors." Cain killed Abel. Penser in French means "to think." Merriam Webster defines "trump": a decisive overriding factor or final resource called also trump card and a dependable and exemplary person. Hillary is derived from the Latin hilarius meaning cheerful, merry. And I don't feel any of them are dependable or hilarious. How about you? Let us know your thoughts on the race and all topics that matter to your family. Kim Stagliano is Managing Editor for Age of Autism. Editors Note: Agri-Pulse and The Chicago Council on Global Affairs are teaming up to host a monthly column to explore how the U.S. agriculture and food sector can maintain its competitive edge and advance food security in an increasingly integrated and dynamic world. Preserving and improving global food security smartly creates economic opportunity here by alleviating poverty overseas. Recently Congress passed and President Obama recently signed into law the Global Food Security Act which authorizes U.S. efforts on international agricultural development. While it seems increasingly difficult, but important, to find areas of bipartisan support, we applaud Congress for acknowledging the problems of global hunger and coming together to solve those problems. Another area of opportunity where the Senate can achieve a bipartisan consensus on alleviating global food security while at the same time enhancing US economic potential is the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has already moved the treaty out of the Committee without opposition and the agreement is currently awaiting consideration on the Senate floor. The agreement enhances U.S. competitiveness and global food security by providing continued access and exchange of plant genetic materials used to improve seeds for farmers. The development and commercialization of high quality seed is a high priority for the American Seed Trade Association and it is critical to global food security. Many people are not aware of the highly interdependent nature of our global food system. No country, including the U.S., is self-sufficient when it comes to seed for the future. In fact, seventy percent of the food we eat and grow comes from crops that are not native to the U.S. American seed banks store, maintain and distribute to U.S. researchers over 560,000 crop varieties. However, over two million more crop lines and their relatives are held in seed banks outside of the country. In order to ensure diversity and improve variety, U.S. seed companies and public researchers must be able to move seed and plant materials between countries. The most notable example of the impact of exchanging plant materials is the Green Revolution which is credited with saving millions of lives. The wheat that Norman Borlaug developed was based on a combination of materials from the U.S., Japan and Mexico which, in turn, thrived in India and Pakistan. We still use relatives of that wheat today in our breeding programs. Wheat is just one example of hundreds of cropslike carrots, strawberries, potato, corn and beanswhich are produced in the U.S. but rely on exotic germplasm. Public and private plant breeders once enjoyed much freer access to seeds for research and development. However, certain countries began restricting access to their germplasm and the treaty was drafted to try to stabilize this situation. The U.S. played a key role in negotiations leading up to the creation of the final text of the treaty during the Bush Administration. The intent is to create international rules and standards around access and benefit sharing for seed used for agriculture research and development. Related Articles Opinion: Seed industry is open for business Currently, the treaty has 139 Contracting Parties, many of which are important sources of seed exchange, including all EU countries, India, Brazil and Japan. Given its importance to all sectors of U.S. and global agriculture, more than 80 companies, organizations and universities representing plant breeders, academics and seed users have expressed support for ratification. In addition to the American Seed Trade Association, these groups include the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Society of Plant Biologists, Crop Science Society, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities' Board on Agriculture Assembly, National Corn Growers Association, National Cotton Council, National Farmers Union and National Wheat Growers Association. Better seed is the foundation for better life everywhere. Through ratification of the International Treaty, public and private plant breeders in the U.S. will have guaranteed access to the full range of global seed materials, in order to adapt crops to address numerous challenges. With the appropriate commercial rules and regulations in place in countries around the world, we expect these seeds to have a lasting impact on global food security. About the Author: Andrew W. Andy LaVigne has more than 25 years of experience in government relations, public affairs advocacy and management. Prior to being named president & CEO of the American Seed Trade Association in 2006, Andy was Executive Vice President/CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual, representing citrus growers on issues affecting their business. Earlier, he spent four years as President and Executive Director of Florida Fertilizer and Agrichemical Association, a non-profit agricultural trade organization representing companies that specialize in crop protection and plant nutrition products. Andy previously worked for a decade on Capitol Hill, as Legislative Director for Rep. Charles Canady, and earlier, as Agriculture Committee staffer for Rep. Tom Lewis. He holds a B.A. in political science with a minor in economics from the University of Florida. #30 For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com The H135 and H145 helicopters play a critical medical transport role in the United Kingdom, being well-equipped to meet the specific needs of a medical-based mission. Three air ambulance charities share their experiences. When responding to patients who are in life-threatening situations, it is essential that every aspect of our service provides the very best chance for the patient to survive. Every minute matters, so we need a reliable aircraft that is quick to deploy and has a fast cruise speed so that we can reach the patient and transfer them to hospital quickly, while also being smooth and stable in flight to prevent the patients condition from deteriorating, says Hare. The additional requirement of having an aircraft with sufficient endurance to enable us to respond to the next patient resulted in us choosing the H135. Further north in county Yorkshire is the headquarters of The Although located at opposite ends of England, the large counties of Devon and Yorkshire share much geography in common: hills, moors, forests, coasts and beach. Small villages dot the countryside, some so geographically remote that, when a medical emergency occurs or a patient needs to reach medical care, prompt access to transportation is of the essence. Helicopters play a critical medical transport role in these two counties in both emergency and non-emergency also known as air ambulance situations. Air ambulance is a form of public transport in which patients, often fairly sick, are transported from one hospital or location to another. Helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) refers to missions where life is at risk. The vital role of the helicopter in medical situations scales to the entire United Kingdom, where a fleet of 37 helicopters provide the primary pre-hospital medical transport service according to the Many helicopter operators perform both of these services, including all 19 of the AAAs members. Among them is the East Anglian Air Ambulance, based in Cambridge, which was Three operators, two helicopters Devon Air Ambulance, Yorkshire Air Ambulance and East Anglian Air Ambulance have fleets comprised entirely of Airbus helicopters two H135s for Devon, two H145s for Yorkshire, and two H145s for East Anglian. These air ambulance charities are far from alone, as worldwide the When we first bought the H135 in 2008, we asked ourselves how we could best meet the needs of the patient, says Nigel Hare, operations director at Devon Air Ambulance , a helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) and air ambulance operator serving Englands south western county of Devon.When responding to patients who are in life-threatening situations, it is essential that every aspect of our service provides the very best chance for the patient to survive. Every minute matters, so we need a reliable aircraft that is quick to deploy and has a fast cruise speed so that we can reach the patient and transfer them to hospital quickly, while also being smooth and stable in flight to prevent the patients condition from deteriorating, says Hare. The additional requirement of having an aircraft with sufficient endurance to enable us to respond to the next patient resulted in us choosing the H135.Further north in county Yorkshire is the headquarters of Yorkshire Air Ambulance , likewise a HEMS and air ambulance operator, which recently received its second twin-engine H145 on July 13 at the Farnborough International Air Show The H145 performs well with near 360-degree visibility for a HEMS pilot who needs to get into tight, small sites near where casualties need to be evacuated, says Yorkshire Air Ambulance chief pilot Andrew Lister.Although located at opposite ends of England, the large counties of Devon and Yorkshire share much geography in common: hills, moors, forests, coasts and beach. Small villages dot the countryside, some so geographically remote that, when a medical emergency occurs or a patient needs to reach medical care, prompt access to transportation is of the essence.Helicopters play a critical medical transport role in these two counties in both emergency and non-emergency also known as air ambulance situations. Air ambulance is a form of public transport in which patients, often fairly sick, are transported from one hospital or location to another. Helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) refers to missions where life is at risk.The vital role of the helicopter in medical situations scales to the entire United Kingdom, where a fleet of 37 helicopters provide the primary pre-hospital medical transport service according to the UK Association of Air Ambulances (AAA), the organisation representing 20 UK air ambulance organisations.Many helicopter operators perform both of these services, including all 19 of the AAAs members. Among them is the East Anglian Air Ambulance, based in Cambridge, which was the first air ambulance service to save lives with the H145 in the UK in 2015.Devon Air Ambulance, Yorkshire Air Ambulance and East Anglian Air Ambulance have fleets comprised entirely of Airbus helicopters two H135s for Devon, two H145s for Yorkshire, and two H145s for East Anglian. These air ambulance charities are far from alone, as worldwide the H135 and H145 account for over 40 percent of the HEMS market. Yorkshire Air Ambulance chief pilot Lister says their new H145s are modern and easy to fly with a small footprint: Flying is a dream. The Helionix software to me, as a new end user, is intuitive and does what you want it to do. Very quickly I found myself engaging the higher levels of the autopilot. Steve Rush, a Devon Air Ambulance pilot with 24 years of flying experience, describes a similar experience with the H135: The H135 feels like it was built around the pilot. When you sit in it and put your hands down to where they naturally want to be to fly, thats where the controls are and the aircraft is wrapped around your comfortably. Its a swift process to get aircraft started and online. We can get airborne in a time frame not limited by the aircraft.. Both aircraft are likewise well equipped to meet the unique needs of a medical-based mission performed in challenging landscapes. Devons various landscapes provide different challenges. The H135 is well equipped for landing in confined areas thanks to its small footprint, or land in marshes or sandy beaches with the bear paws. The cockpit visibility from where the pilot sits is very good, says Rush. The H145 is a larger aircraft with better endurance and a longer range than were used to, which helps us cover Yorkshires 5 million acres, but the overall footprint is small enough for reaching patients in tight areas, adds Lister. Speaking in 2015, East Anglian Air Ambulance medical consultant, Dr. Jeremy Mauger, commented, The H145 has more space, better equipment, and is smoother than I had imagined. He adds, The loading with the new stretcher worked superbly and we were able to make a significant difference in the care of that patient. Charity services for the local communities Devon Air Ambulance, Yorkshire Air Ambulance and East Anglian Air Ambulance share another thing in common besides flying Airbus helicopters: much of their air ambulance services are charity based. Devon Air Ambulance for example started as a local community charity to raise funds to provide a medical resource that could respond more quickly in certain cases than a land ambulance could. They flew their first mission in 1992. Yorkshire Air Ambulance chief pilot Lister says their new H145s are modern and easy to fly with a small footprint: Flying is a dream. The Helionix software to me, as a new end user, is intuitive and does what you want it to do. Very quickly I found myself engaging the higher levels of the autopilot.Steve Rush, a Devon Air Ambulance pilot with 24 years of flying experience, describes a similar experience with the H135: The H135 feels like it was built around the pilot. When you sit in it and put your hands down to where they naturally want to be to fly, thats where the controls are and the aircraft is wrapped around your comfortably. Its a swift process to get aircraft started and online. We can get airborne in a time frame not limited by the aircraft..Both aircraft are likewise well equipped to meet the unique needs of a medical-based mission performed in challenging landscapes.Devons various landscapes provide different challenges. The H135 is well equipped for landing in confined areas thanks to its small footprint, or land in marshes or sandy beaches with the bear paws. The cockpit visibility from where the pilot sits is very good, says Rush.The H145 is a larger aircraft with better endurance and a longer range than were used to, which helps us cover Yorkshires 5 million acres, but the overall footprint is small enough for reaching patients in tight areas, adds Lister.Speaking in 2015, East Anglian Air Ambulance medical consultant, Dr. Jeremy Mauger, commented, The H145 has more space, better equipment, and is smoother than I had imagined. He adds, The loading with the new stretcher worked superbly and we were able to make a significant difference in the care of that patient.Devon Air Ambulance, Yorkshire Air Ambulance and East Anglian Air Ambulance share another thing in common besides flying Airbus helicopters: much of their air ambulance services are charity based.Devon Air Ambulance for example started as a local community charity to raise funds to provide a medical resource that could respond more quickly in certain cases than a land ambulance could. They flew their first mission in 1992. Yorkshire Air Ambulance similarly owes many of its operations to public donations. Our H145s are essentially owned by the public from contributions donated to the air ambulance cause, says Lister. The pre-hospital air ambulance sector in the UK is operated predominantly by 20 air ambulance charities working closely with ambulance services who task the aircraft. Only the Scottish Ambulance Service provides a state-funded fleet of aircraft. Clive Dickin, national director of the AAA comments: Some countries look on in disbelief that the UK has a charity-funded HEMS fleet, thinking that it is unsustainable or unprofessional. Nothing could be further from the truth. The sector is very well supported and during the 2014/2015 fiscal year raised over 146M which is an amazing feat. Since 1987 when the first charity was established, there has been a constant drive to improve the service through patient focus, which now sees an ever-improving and enhanced fleet of aircraft with increasing and expanding clinical capability. This would not be possible without the continuous and ongoing generous support of the charities' supporters. The AAA recently worked with the UK Treasury to acquire more funds to support air ambulances, something that has allowed many operators to extend or renew operations and aircraft. This financial independence is a source of pride for many operators. We are not reliant on other organisations, says Hare of Devon Air Ambulance. If we know there is a particular type of treatment we need to provide or equipment to carry, we can do that if thats what the patient needs. As always for these helicopter users, the patient comes first. Medias: July 26, 2016 An Egyptian Medical Syndicate internal investigative committee recommended the initiation of disciplinary action against four physicians found to have participated in promoting a device that treats patients with hepatitis C and HIV, prior to the completion of recognized scientific efficacy tests. In a July 18 statement published on its official website, the syndicate stated that the physicians deliberately caused harm to millions of Egyptians who sought treatment with the device, which the syndicate characterized as dubious. On Feb. 22, 2014, the spokesperson for the Egyptian army had announced on his Facebook page that the engineering authority of the armed forces had invented a device to diagnose and treat hepatitis C and HIV, with the patent for this device registered after receiving approval from the Egyptian Ministry of Health. On that same day, the official Egyptian TV channel aired a public service announcement produced by the armed forces that theoretically explained the functioning of the virus detecting device and confirmed the invention of the virus-killing device dubbed the CCD, which it described as the scientific culmination of 10 years of research that was achieving great results during trials on patients infected with hepatitis C and HIV. The announcement included interviews with people who said that they were completely cured after receiving treatment at hospitals run by the armed forces. The research team set June 30, 2014, as the date for treatments to begin at the armed forces' hospitals for millions of Egyptians infected with hepatitis C. But prior to that date, the engineering authority announced that further research would be conducted for an additional six months before treatments would start. Thus, talk about the device waned and the second deadline expired. In the meantime, Egypt announced the importation of a drug called Sovaldi, which would be given to the 7% of Egyptians who are infected with the hepatitis C virus, according to statements by Egypts Minister of Health Ahmed Emad El-Din Rady. The Brotherhood controls the Medical Syndicates board, and the decision is linked to the latters row with the state, such was the explanation given by gastroenterologist Ahmed Mouanes in regard to the boards decision to refer him to an internal disciplinary committee. Mouanes said that tests on the device were ongoing and refused to view the syndicates decision as an indication of the device's failure. Mouanes affirmed his eagerness to appear before the disciplinary committee and submit new evidence the nature of which he refused to disclose to Al-Monitor that proves the efficacy of the device in treating patients with hepatitis C and HIV. The relationship between the Medical Syndicate and the government has been tense since February for, after police officers assaulted physicians at the El Matareya Educational Hospital in Cairo, the syndicate held a meeting of its extraordinary assembly, in which it decided to go on a partial strike throughout the country and refrain from providing paid services to citizens in public hospitals. It also requested the resignation of the minister of health, who filed a lawsuit before administrative courts to halt the implementation of syndicate resolutions, with this case remaining unresolved. In this regard, the chairman of the syndicate's ethics committee, Tarek Kamel, told Al-Monitor that the syndicates decision was not political, but purely professional. He affirmed being against the politicizing of any syndicate internal matters. Kamel said that the committee that investigated the hepatitis C and HIV treatment device leveled ethics-related charges against the four physicians, because they promoted the device prior to it being subjected to standard scientific testing and its approval for treatment by the Egyptian Ministry of Health. He emphasized that these physicians misled millions of Egyptian patients, and that the four physicians were subject to penalties ranging from a temporary prohibition to practice medicine for up to one year, to the revocation of their syndicate credentials and a complete ban on practicing medicine. Referring the physicians to the disciplinary committee came after reviewing the statements that they made to the media about the device, Kamel said. He added that, in 2014, the syndicate had opened an investigation into complaints submitted by physicians and ordinary people against those who promoted the device. The investigation was prematurely halted, but reopened seven months ago with the investigative committee that he chairs, finding four physicians guilty of promoting the device and acquitting five others who discussed using the device when making diagnoses. According to Kamel, the Ministry of Health approved the use of the device for diagnoses and not treatments. But ministry spokesman Khalid Mujahid told Al-Monitor that the Ministry of Health had not approved the device, neither for diagnostic use nor treatment. He said that no patients at ministry-affiliated hospitals ever underwent trials using the device. I am a gastroenterologist and I know nothing about this device, Mujahid said. He added that the hospitals in question currently rely on a regimen of new drugs to treat hepatitis C, most prominent among them Sovaldi. He also denied the existence of any HIV treatments in Egyptian hospitals. However, in April, Maj. Gen. Al-Sayed Nasr, the governor of Kafr El-Sheikh, one of the governorates located in Egypts delta, stated during a campaign promoting early detection of the disease that the Kafr El-Sheikh Military Hospital utilized a device to diagnose hepatitis C. He added that the device was 100% accurate, a statement confirmed by Lamis El Madawy, the deputy minister of health in the governorate. A source within the research team evaluating the hepatitis C and HIV treatment device refused to acknowledge the failure of the device. He told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the team was waiting for the results of the investigations being conducted by the Medical Syndicate, and affirmed the existence of what he called sovereign orders compelling the research team not to discuss details pertaining to the device. The source addressed what he characterized as the slow death of patients suffering from hepatitis C due to the use of Sovaldi. He said that the ministrys adoption of the drug for treatment was but part of the corrupt nature of the ministry, for, according to him, the condition of numerous patients deteriorated after they began taking doses of the drug. Gastroenterology professor at Mansoura University Gamal Shiha denied the existence of any negative impact due to drugs used by Egyptian hospitals, such as Sovaldi, in the treatment of hepatitis C. He stressed that cure rates using this drug exceed 90%. Shiha told Al-Monitor that the program adopted by the Ministry of Health to eradicate hepatitis C with new drugs had cured 300,000 Egyptian patients in 2015. He expects that number to reach half a million individuals this year and said that the virus-killing device was not part of the ministrys plan because there was no scientific basis for its use. July 25, 2016 Egypt's outcast Muslim Brotherhood would be hard-pressed to find a country more welcoming than Turkey, and it appears the group's support might have played a role in quashing the July 15 attempted coup. Ankara has not demanded the departure of any of the groups leaders, as Qatar did in September 2014, nor has it opened numerous investigations into the extent of the Brotherhood's involvement in terrorism, as Britain has. Perhaps that is what drove the Brotherhood to call upon Egyptians and Syrians living in Turkey, as well as governments around the world and Turkish civil society, to defend Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after he was targeted by a coup launched by some members of the army. On its official webpage, the Muslim Brotherhood posted a statement dated July 16 saying it would stand in solidarity with the Turkish people and their right to rally around their elected government. The statement also called upon all free people around the world, peoples, civil society groups and elected governments to support democracy in every nation equally and reject backward [rebel] ideas. Different factions of the Brotherhood have converged around that same stance, despite some splits in the Brotherhoods ranks. On one side stand the historic leaders of the Brotherhood, foremost among them interim leader Mahmoud Ezzat and Secretary-General Mahmoud Hussein, and what remains of the leadership's membership and the Shura Council, both of which fled abroad. On the other side stand some second-rank leaders and younger members of the Brotherhood. Amr Farrag, one of the founders of the Rasd Network, which supports the Muslim Brotherhood, wrote the following on his personal Facebook page: I call on the Arab youth generally, and the Egyptian and Syrian youth present in Turkey [specifically], to go out into the street and support [Erdogan] in confronting the military coup against him by the Turkish army. The coup against Erdogan now taking place in Turkey will have a major impact on the continued existence of the Brotherhood in Turkey. Go out and try to defend the last place where you can live with a bit of dignity and peace of mind. Al-Monitor spoke with experts on Turkish affairs and Islamist movements, including the Muslim Brotherhood, about the Brotherhoods capacity for mobilizing on behalf of Erdogan in Turkey and exerting influence on Turkish politics. Salah Labib, a researcher specializing in Turkish affairs at the Arab Center for Humanistic Studies, told Al-Monitor it is difficult to gauge the extent of the Brotherhood's influence. There must be clear facts upon which to base an analysis," he said. However, he said the Brotherhood might have tried to help Erdogan to prove its importance in Turkey, especially since Turkey's government has been seeking to reconcile with some other states, especially Egypt. "Recently, this orientation toward reconciliation had produced a marked improvement in relations between Turkey on the one hand and both Russia and Israel on the other, he said. Mohamed Abd al-Qadir, chief editor of Turkish Affairs magazine and an analyst at Al-Ahram Center for Political & Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor he is certain the Brotherhoods leadership and young people in Turkey played a significant role in mobilizing Egyptians and Syrians. "The Syrians [living in Turkey] number around 2.7 million, and the Egyptians numbers are also massive, with a significant portion of them being students who are [beneficiaries of] Turkish scholarships and initiatives." These young people in Turkey are in contact with a wide network of their counterparts in Egypt and Syria, who "have a great deal of experience in mobilizing in the streets through [the social media networks] that spread throughout Egypt following the January [2011] revolution and during the Brotherhoods rule," Qadir said. "They [use the networks] to spread notions of participating in some demonstrations and protests." Much of their knowledge is being extended to Turkey, "and they have a great deal of experience in dealing with military operations, he added. However, Kamal Habib, a specialist in Islamist movements, said it is difficult for the Brotherhood to mobilize in Turkey because its numbers there are not large enough to cover many cities, and a high proportion of their leaders are old and not particularly mobile. He noted, though, that these leaders, through their contacts with sovereign entities loyal to Erdogan in Turkey, might have offered advice concerning how to initiate and secure a mobilization. The Brotherhoods traditional leadership, second-tier leaders and young members all united around a single stance concerning the attempted coup. This testified to the strategic importance they place on Erdogans regime. However, the attempted coup did not reveal the full extent of the Brotherhoods importance to Erdogan in terms of the mobilization that defended him. So the Brotherhood is left to wonder: How will Erdogan deal with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisis demand that, for any reconciliation, Brotherhood leaders must be extradited back to Egypt? July 25, 2016 GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip In a press conference in Gaza on July 12, Palestinian Labor Minister Mamoun Abu Shahla announced the start of the registration process for the first phase of a short-term employment project: hiring 4,000 university graduates and laborers for positions to last six months. Abu Shahla told Al-Monitor, The projects first phase provides 4,000 jobs for graduates, blue-collar workers and technicians equally, each 2,000, in the health and education sectors and municipalities, as well as economic facilities affected by the 2014 Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. He added, This number of people will be actually hired in early August 2016, after their names are selected and the ministrys employment priorities and needs are determined. Abu Shahla had announced in May that the ministry's employment program would be funded by the government with 60 million shekels ($23 million) every six months. The government will be looking for additional foreign funds provided by foreign or Arab countries in order to be able to continue with the project in case it ran out of money. The Labor Ministry's public relations director Nabil al-Mabhouh told Al-Monitor, The employment projects are designed to reduce unemployment rates in Gaza, empower the recent university graduates and other young job seekers, and provide them with the necessary knowledge, skills and expertise to join the Palestinian labor market. On the selection criteria, Mabhouh said, It depends on the academic credentials and graduation year. Priority is given to those who have never had a government job. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reported in July 2015 that more than 150,000 university graduates are unemployed in Palestine, where 9,454 men and 9,371 women graduated from college in 2015. Some 2,500 students graduated that year from 29 higher education institutes in Gaza, where job opportunities are sparse. Asma Baroud, who studied Arabic at the Islamic University in Gaza, told Al-Monitor, I have been looking for a job since I graduated in 2010 to help my husband, who is underemployed, given the lack of jobs in Gaza. Unfortunately, I have failed to find myself one, because there are no appropriations for Gaza in the PA budget, there are no job opportunities in Gaza and because the Gaza government failed to create jobs for the large number of graduates. This is why I hope to get a job as part of this project. Mohammed Disht, who holds a degree in sociology from Al-Azhar University in Gaza and provides for a family of four, told Al-Monitor that he has been working as a volunteer at the Social Affairs Ministry for two years, in return for food aid packages each month. He said, It is a treasure to find a job in Gaza, in light of the increasing number of graduates, high unemployment rates and lack of jobs. I hope to be selected to get a temporary job to meet my and my familys needs. Tareq Mahmoud, a construction worker from Gaza, hopes to get a temporary job as part of this project. He told Al-Monitor, I hope to get the chance to find a job in line with my skills and capabilities as construction worker in this employment project, and not to work as garbage collector, as was the case in previous employment projects. For his part, Aziz al-Madhoun, director general of welfare services at the Social Affairs Ministry, told Al-Monitor that many Gazans provide for their families "benefit from the ministrys programs and receive aid from the ministry." He said, "Every three months, 14,401 families benefit from the cash assistance program, and 4,749 out of the 70,000 families in Gaza benefit from the UN World Food Programmes food items such as flour, rice, sugar and other goods. Coordination between the Social Affairs Ministry and the Labor Ministry will prevent Gazans from benefiting from both programs at once. Maher Tabbah, the public relations and media manager at the Gaza Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told Al-Monitor, The employment projects announced by the government are temporary. They do not achieve sustainable development, nor do they contribute effectively to resolving the unemployment problem. Yet, in light of the economic conditions and high unemployment rates, they temporarily contribute to finding jobs, which may give the graduates and unemployed a glimpse of hope to provide for themselves, if just for a limited time. He noted, There is a need to continue work on such projects by integrating the workers into the ministries and make sure that the workers' experience and skills are appropriate to their jobs. He stressed the need for the jobless to be employed in creative construction projects such as the maintenance of public places, facilities, government buildings and civil institutions, rather than including them in street-cleaning projects, as in previous projects. July 25, 2016 GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip The Hamas movement agreed to hold local elections in the Gaza Strip for the first time since its takeover in 2007. The Palestinian government, headed by Rami Hamdallah, issued a decree June 21 to organize the elections on Oct. 8 in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The elections will be held in 416 local bodies at once; 25 are located in Gaza and the other 391, which include 275 village councils, in the West Bank. In this context, Hamas issued a press statement July 15, saying, Hamas is keen to fix the Palestinian situation, consolidate the principle of partnership and assume national responsibility in this delicate phase and this national cause that our people are going through. Therefore, the movement believes it is essential to hold local elections and renew the bodies in the West Bank and Gaza based on the free will of the people, i.e., through the ballot box that leads to the development and improvement of the services provided to the Palestinian people. The statement continued, The movement will work to facilitate the conduct of the elections and ensure their success in a bid to serve the interests of our people and our cause all the while guaranteeing fairness, equal opportunities and respect for the results of these elections. In its statement, Hamas did not indicate its intention to participate in the elections. However, Hamas political bureau member Khalil al-Hayya said in a speech he delivered during a ceremony in Gaza City July 20, We have clearly announced that we will take part in the local council elections in Gaza and the West Bank no matter the circumstances. We will work on ensuring the success of these elections, and we hope [the elections] will also be secured in the West Bank. Hayya explained the reason behind Hamas approval to conduct and participate in the elections, saying, These elections are local and aimed at serving a cause, so let us put all our efforts and dedication to serve our community and prioritize partnership. He said that his movement agreed to hold elections to protect the interests of the people and respond to their aspirations, and to defy all those who had said that Hamas did not believe in and did not want elections. The last local elections were held in the West Bank in 2012 without the participation of the Hamas movement. But in 2005, elections were held in some of the municipalities, rather than all of them, in the West Bank and Gaza with the participation of Hamas. Palestinians, however, are skeptical of the possibility that local elections will be held on time amid the Palestinian political division between the West Bank and Gaza, Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip and the lack of trust between political adversaries. A Hamas leader confirmed his movements desire to conduct local elections in the West Bank and Gaza. He told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the decision was serious, and not a political maneuver, saying, We were surprised by the Palestinian government's decision to hold elections. But following internal consultations, the movement decided to approve the holding of these elections and fully take part in them, so it announced its decision and informed the Central Elections Commission in order for it to proceed with the technical preparations. The source added, The consultations included the institutions of the movement in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and abroad. Following examination, the movement's leadership concluded that the elections can prove Hamas popularity in all of the Palestinian cities." In the general elections that were held in January 2006, Hamas won most of the votes in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem, receiving 74 parliament seats out of 132. But the movement's experience in governance, its control of the Gaza Strip and the Israeli blockade ever since are factors that have affected its popularity among the Palestinians. The same source said that Hamas may not reap the same results of the 2005 local (and incomplete) elections and the 2006 general elections. In contrast, Fatah is still weak, and a lower proportion of votes for Hamas would not be met with a higher proportion of votes for its rival Fatah. The elections would be politically and economically positive, as the new generation of youth within the movement would be reactivated. There will be also an economic recovery [with the jobs the campaign will generate] in the Gaza Strip, which will be of benefit to the Palestinians in light of the existing economic recession that resulted from the blockade and the lack of employment opportunities. We are also sure that Hamas will win in the elections, regardless of the proportion of votes, he said. He added, Hamas secretly conducted its own opinion polls to check the public mood in the Palestinian street, and the results showed that the movement was ahead of Fatah. However, he offered no figures in this regard. Political author Mustafa Ibrahim voiced concerns that the political division would stop the holding of the elections. He also stressed that the elections can help restore the political life in the Palestinian street and set the stage for legislative and presidential elections. Ibrahim told Al-Monitor, Hamas could not refuse the holding of the elections, being the one calling for legislative and presidential elections. The movement is betting on the organizational weaknesses of the Fatah movement, knowing that it [Hamas] has a wide popularity in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. He added, According to the electoral list system, the coefficient or electoral quotient which is the minimum that any list should get from total votes to be able to get seats in a council and is equivalent to 8% will benefit the Hamas and Fatah movements being the biggest movements, while the left forces and the independent lists will be negatively affected by this high rate. The Fatah movement is suffering from internal divisions as a result of the conflict between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and dismissed Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan, who enjoys wide popularity in Gaza. Member of the Fatah Central Committee Nabil Shaath expressed concerns in an interview July 20 with Donia al-Watan website, as he said, Fatah is legitimate, and no subsidiary organizations should be allowed [to separate from Fatah], conspire against it or encourage the election of competitors. There is a committee within Fatah tasked with controlling and verifying such incidents. All those who are accused of dissidence or cooperation with Hamas or those who are violating Fatahs laws should be stripped of their [Fatah] membership. Asked about the possibility of an alliance with Dahlan for the formation of joint lists or the exchange of support for electoral lists, the Hamas source said, There are no taboos in politics. July 26, 2016 On July 2, Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan lambasted Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, holding him partially responsible for the terrorist attacks plaguing Israel. The young generation runs its entire discourse based on incitement that has been piled up on Facebooks platform and in the end it launches terror attacks, Erdan charged, claiming that if the management of the social network cooperated with Israel, the inciters could be arrested and the attacks averted. The blood of some of the victims is on Mr. Zuckerbergs hands, Erdan said. Yet, incitement and violence on the web is not the exclusive domain of young Palestinians. On July 22, Ahmed Dawabsha, 6, the only survivor of a hate crime perpetrated by radical right-wing Jewish terrorists in the West Bank village of Douma a year before, was discharged from Shiba Hospital. His father, mother and little brother were burnt alive after their house was set on fire. Suffering from serious burns, Ahmed fought for his life in a hospital. He underwent a yearlong rehabilitation with his grandfather never leaving his bedside. The hospital staff threw him a sixth birthday party, and when he was discharged the villagers gave him a warm welcome. Right-wing circles, by contrast, chose to mark the joyous occasion differently. Hateful comments, curses and death wishes to the Douma child were posted on right-leaning websites as well as on leading Israeli news outlets, mainly on Walla!, whose editors did not filter out any of the nauseating comments. ''It's a shame that they wasted bandages on him,'' someone wrote. Others wondered why the media had decided to cover the story of the child's discharge from hospital. There were even those who claimed that what happened in Douma was not a terror attack but an internal village conflict between clans. All these comments shared the same sentiment of wishing for Ahmed to die. God willing, [the child] will soon join his parents six feet under, wrote G. Aharoni. Its a shame he didnt die, because he would have been a shahid [martyr] and then there would have been a real celebration, wrote Nati. And the list goes on and on. Even the website of one of Israels leading newspapers, Yedioth Ahronoth, carried alongside well-wishers advice from some readers to the Jewish terrorists who torched the Dawabsha home. Its a shame he didnt die; its a shame they didnt burn down the entire village, R. Koller wrote. If one were to echo the statement of Erdan concerning Facebook, we can say that the editors of Israeli news websites also have blood on their hands. The death-fest relating to the Dawabsha family is hardly a new phenomenon in Israel. In December 2015, Channel 10 News broadcast a video clip showing young people celebrating at the wedding of right-wing activist Yakir Eshbal from the settlement of Tapuach. The revelers, including children, are seen holding guns and firebombs. When the wedding party was in full swing, a knife is seen impaling the photo of toddler Ali Dawabsha who was burnt to death in the Douma attack. The police summoned Eshbal for questioning at the end of which he and 10 other revelers were arraigned. The ''hate wedding'' video clip was in police hands three weeks before the report about it was broadcast on Channel 10, but nothing was done about it. Only after the public storm broke out, the groom was called in for questioning, and indictments were submitted. The police clearly do not need to wait for an exclusive investigative report in order to eradicate incitement in Israel. All they have to do is log onto the leading news outlets and call in for questioning Jewish inciters who are not afraid of revealing their full identity and they are many. The investigators do not need Zuckerbergs help to reach them. Incitement and hate on the web are almost a daily occurrence. They are reflected in most reports and posts on social networks dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Arab Israelis or human rights organizations such as Btselem and Breaking the Silence. Comment sections have become a battleground rife with evil. On May 8, 2015, a Channel 2 affiliate carried a report on the birth of identical triplets at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in the town of Hadera. The parents were Arab Israelis from Zemer, a local council in the center of Israel, east of the city of Netanya. The doctors and nurses at the hospital celebrated the rare birth. The following are some of the online comments: Lets pray that in an hour we will see a photo of the mom with dead babies in her hands (N. Kessner) and Terrorists from age zero cerebral cancer for the first, clinical death for the second, asphyxiation for the third, dad committing suicide, mom shooting herself in the head, God willing (Y. Wisman). A few hours later, the affiliate removed all the comments from the website. However, in this case, too, the information about the inciters, whose identity was readily available, was not handed over to the police and none of the respondents were called in for questioning. By contrast, the Palestinian poetess Dareen Tatour, who posted a poem of protest on Facebook, has been detained in Israel for the past nine months. July 25, 2016 Susan Jaber says her life changed four years ago when she began volunteering with the Israeli human rights organization BTselem. When they gave me a camera and I began using it, the level of harassment and attacks by settlers and soldiers went down a lot, Jaber told Al-Monitor. Jaber, 39, lives in Hebron very close to the Ibrahimi Mosque and in the path of Jewish settlers who would be happy to see her leave. Before we began filming and Btselem was publishing videos of settlers harassment, our family was living in constant fear. We are now able to live a normal life. The cameras that we have are our strongest weapon, Jaber, a mother of seven children, said. She pointed to the Facebook page showing her and other volunteers filming. Like other Palestinian volunteers working with BTselem, Jaber has heard about the new Israeli law restricting the work of all Israeli nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), but she is not surprised by it. It is normal that the occupiers do that, because they can see that BTselem is doing a good job documenting and exposing Israeli crimes, she said. Jaber, who said that BTselem is working in a legal and proper way and is very serious about its documentation efforts, vowed that she and her co-volunteers will cooperate with BTselem until the last moment. Manal Jaabari, who has been working as a field researcher with BTselem for six years and is in charge of the Camera Project, recruited Jaber along with some 50 other volunteers. Since 2007, B'Tselem has trained Palestinians and provided them cameras with the aim of documenting human rights violations. Volunteers in high tension areas regularly film Israeli soldiers and settlers interactions with Palestinians and publish what is filmed. Jaabari told Al-Monitor that she has raised concern about the future of working with BTselem a number of times to her superiors. We are all worried that this law will be the beginning of further restrictions on the organization. We have talked to them [B'Tselem] about it and they insist that they are not shaken and will continue to do the human rights documentation work that they have always done, Jaabari said. The Israeli law aims to embarrass NGOs in the eyes of the Israeli public by forcing NGOs to reveal all their foreign funding sources. BTselem will abide by the law and doesnt expect it will affect its work in the occupied territories. Kareem Jubran, the manager of all the Palestinian field workers at BTselem, believes that the new Israeli law is only the first step in a new escalation against human rights organizations such as BTselem and Breaking the Silence. When we published the names of all the Palestinian children who were killed in the 2014 war on the Gaza Strip and used our film equipment to document human rights abuses, pro-government pundits began trying to discredit our work and claim that we are fabricating stories, he told Al-Monitor. On July 11, the Israeli Knesset passed the law formally called Transparency Requirements for Parties Supported by Foreign State Entities, with the ultimate aim of curtailing Israeli human rights organizations fighting against human rights abuses in the occupied territories. Jubran said that the current campaign calling BTselem and other human rights organizations traitors began when Avigdor Liberman was foreign minister; the campaign is still ongoing as the right-wing Liberman is now minister of defense and directly in charge of life in the occupied territories. But Jubran is confident that this law and any further law will not deter BTselem or Palestinians from working with the organization. This law itself will not have a direct effect on us. The aim of the law is to embarrass BTselem in the eyes of the Israelis and to make them look like traitors, he said. Right-wing Israelis expect that organizations such as BTselem will be judged by the Israeli public when it becomes clear that they are receiving foreign funding. BTselem spokesman Sarit Michaeli also insists that the new Israeli law will not affect the Israeli organizations work in the occupied territories. I think this law will have virtually no impact on our Palestinian staffers and volunteers, considering it is not going to make a major change on how we operate in practical terms, especially regarding our research, documentation and fieldwork in the West Bank. But it [the law] is primarily intended to shame us vis-a-vis Israeli audiences, Michaeli told Al-Monitor. Jubran said BTselem has eight Palestinian employees in the West Bank and three in Gaza, in addition to some 200 volunteers throughout the occupied territories. He said, Our staff and volunteers are strong and resilient and understand that we are not going to abandon them. But they are concerned about the future. Will there be more laws and how will all this affect our work and our relationship with them? The importance of organizations such as BTselem, however, is not new. In an interview with an Israeli newspaper in September 1993, the late Yitzhak Rabin was quoted as saying, The beauty of empowering [Yasser] Arafat was that Arafat could operate 'bli bagatz uvli BTselem' Hebrew for 'without the Supreme Court and without BTselem.' Palestinians working and volunteering with organizations such as BTselem have at times been worried about the futility of their efforts. Painstakingly documenting human rights abuses is not always pleasant and is often frowned upon by Palestinians who fear that some of the information could be harmful to the community if it gets into the hands of the Israeli army and is used in military courts. But the more the Israeli government and the Knesset put pressure on some of these human rights organization, the more people such as Jaber, Jaabari, Jubran and others are confident that they are doing the right job for the ultimate benefit of the Palestinian people. July 26, 2016 ERBIL, Iraq Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visited the city of Sulaimaniyah on July 18 for a meeting with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Movement for Change (Gorran) in his capacity as the head of the State of Law Coalition and the secretary-general of the Dawa Party. The visit has raised much controversy as to whether it would further deepen internal political differences in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Maliki visited the city to bless the recent alliance between the PUK and Gorran. Upon his arrival in Sulaimaniyah, Maliki met with PUK Secretary-General Jalal Talabani and then visited the party's political bureau before heading to Gorran's offices. The leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) cautiously welcomed Maliki's visit, although there was some criticism that Maliki was not clear about his intentions. Nechirvan Idris Barzani, KDP deputy president and prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), said his party would receive Maliki if he decided to visit Erbil. However, he had previously criticized the former prime minister, saying, "Had he had good intentions, he would have asked to visit Erbil as well, but we do not know what his intentions are." This reflects KDP leaders' discomfort with this visit. There was explicit criticism from the chairman of the party council in Sulaimaniyah, Adham Barzani, who said, "I hope Maliki's visit will not adversely affect the latest initiatives of [KRG] President [Massoud] Barzani," in reference to the latter's call for a referendum on the independence of Kurdistan. Adham Barzani made scathing comments against Maliki, accusing him of "denying people their livelihood and salaries," in reference to Maliki's cutting off salaries of KRG employees in the political row with the region when Maliki was prime minister. Adham Barzani is known for his strong stances against Baghdad and his full support for the secession of Kurdistan from Baghdad. In the same vein, even some of the PUK leaders were also not very welcoming of Maliki given his previous stances vis-a-vis the KRG. PUK leader Mustafa Jawresh told the Rudaw news website that he "would not have received Maliki even had it been by PUK request." Jawresh added that Maliki's visit came only to deepen the rift and increase tensions because of his negative stances toward the Kurdish people. Maliki's schedule called for a visit to Halabja province, but the trip was canceled suddenly with no reason given after the city's administration had taken the necessary measures and preparations for the appearance. Rudaw reported that the visit had been canceled following the outbreak of demonstrations by people refusing to receive him in the city. PUK sources did not confirm this, however. Maliki's visit comes in light of the political and legal divide in Kurdistan between the KDP and Gorran. When the term of the KRG president came to an end in August 2015, Gorran abstained from extending Barzani's mandate. When the KRG parliament failed to quickly reach a compromise on the issue, the Judicial Council extended Barzani's term for two years. On Oct. 12, KRG parliament Speaker Yusuf Mohammed Sadiq of Gorran was banned from entering Erbil, exacerbating the political tension. In a statement to Al-Monitor, Adnan Othman, a journalist and a Gorran official, said, "Disputes revolve around the KRG's management and the KDP's insistence on not surrendering the presidency of the [Iraqi Kurdistan] region at the end of the president's term." He said Maliki's visit was not that big of an issue. "The deepening of already existing differences is not of great significance. We have already stood up to Maliki's face," Othman said. Jabbar Qadir, a member of the Kurdish Academy, told Al-Monitor, "The dispute has political, economic, social and even regional dimensions and Maliki's visit adds fuel to the fire." Adel Bakhwan, an expert in Kurdish affairs and researcher in the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris, told Al-Monitor, "The differences between the two sides come within the framework of a string of failures over the past 25 years, of which one could mention the Kurdish parties' inability to create an independent political space, build a national army beyond the parties' influence, failure to strengthen the infrastructure of the national economy and [failure to address] sharp social disparity." He said, "The split has been gradually deepening between the affluent minority at the summit of power and the poor majority of people. This is not to mention the diplomatic failure in managing these differences." Bakhwan added, "Maliki's visit will further increase the tension between the two sides, as Kurds still remember that he was the one to cut off the livelihood of people in the region and threatened to use the military. This visit suggests that Kurds are ready to use whatever distasteful political card against each other." In addition to the already existing differences, the gap is widening between the citizens in the region and the KRG institutions, given the government's poor management of public services and failure to pay the salaries of employees. According to a report by Radio Nawa, the estimated number of KRG employees in the region is 1.4 million and they are being paid only a quarter of their monthly salary. In light of the lack of confidence between the two parties, it seems that the Kurdistan Region is divided into two separate regions of influence between the KDP and the PUK, where any action from Baghdad such as the Maliki visit can deepen the split. July 25, 2016 The Turkish government has detained so many military personnel since the July 15 coup attempt that it has moved up a Supreme Military Council (SMC) meeting to determine what to do next and what reforms are needed in the Turkish military (TSK). The massive number of detained military personnel continues to rise. According to Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, as of the evening of July 23, 8,838 military personnel had been detained. Of those, 163 are generals and admirals about 40% of the TSK total in those ranks. Another 2,339 are officers, 6% of the TSK total. Of those who were brought before a judge, 123 generals and admirals and 1,009 officers were arrested and sent to prison. The incredibly high number of generals removed from duty makes the upcoming council meeting where promotions, appointments and retirements of generals are decided extremely important this year. As I pointed out in a July 19 column, one of the key reasons for the coup attempt was the fear of the coup plotters that the council was planning to discharge most of them from the TSK. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames the so-called Fethullah Terror Organization (FETO), which he said had penetrated the TSK and hastily decided to stage a coup when it heard of the coming purge. This week, meeting planners decided to move the SMC meeting up to July 28 instead of the originally scheduled Aug. 1-4, and to change the venue. Traditionally the SMC meets at the headquarters of the chief of general staff; this year it will be meeting at Cankaya Palace. Many see this location change as evidence of Erdogans continuing lack of confidence in the TSK. Also, files for personnel actions, which used to be prepared by the chief of military staff's personnel department, this year are being prepared by the ground forces' personnel department and the national intelligence service, MIT, as the key officers responsible for this work primarily the head of personnel of the chief of staff headquarters are in custody. The most important SMC agenda item this year will be to decide what follow-up actions to take because of the coup attempt and what reforms to make in the TSK. The first question the SMC will tackle will be to determine who was involved in the coup attempt. Depending on their findings, more officers may be purged. This is where the confusion begins. The first thing to note is that there is no common, basic ideology uniting the coup participants. There are diverse motivations: Various small cliques have personal interests and divergent aims for the TSK. So far the main groups that have been discerned are: Pro-FETO: I think those in this group were the best-prepared and most-powerful. Anti-Erdogan and anti-government: Looking at the list of detainees, it's not hard to identify people who resent both. Secularists and Kemalists. Self-interest pragmatists who are after their own promotions and key appointments. Those who were compelled to join the coup by the military culture of absolute obedience to commanders' orders. Those forced to join through the use of blackmail and threats. The engine pulling all these motivations is the pro-FETO group. Continuing the train analogy, it is possible to classify the TSK as: Those who were on the train from the beginning and stayed on as it left the station. Those who boarded one of the relevant cars when they heard the train was about to leave. Those who got off the train at the last moment when they heard it was about to leave. This group no doubt played a key role in the failure of the coup attempt. Those who felt the train was about to move and, instead of getting on it, wanted to prevent it from moving. Those who felt the train was about to leave but preferred to miss it. Those who had no idea of the trains existence. Two of the groups probably make up 70% of the total number of TSK officer corps: those with the ranks of major and above who were on the coup train that night, but who jumped off at the last minute when they heard the train was leaving, and generals who got on board at the last moment. Now the Turkish judiciary is trying to classify those TSK personnel involved, and civilian rule will decide what to do with them. Judging from Erdogan's statements, it is not hard to guess that the government will be pitiless when deciding on purges. So what are the questions this critical SMC meeting will clarify? Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar and his deputy Gen. Yasar Guler, who was slated as the next of commander of the gendarmerie, were both taken hostage by the coup plotters. Will they continue in their posts? One can detect from Erdogans remarks his discomfort with these key commanders' inability to prevent the coup attempt. In the meantime, there are increasing calls in the media for Akar to resign. From Erdogan's attitude, analysts expect that instead of abruptly removing Akar and the chief of national intelligence, Hakan Fidan, from their posts, he will keep them there for a while and then ask them to resign. The fates of three commanders will be clear after the meeting: Gen. Salih Zeki Colak (ground forces) and Gen. Abidin Unal (air force), who both had been taken hostage during the coup, and navy Adm. Bulent Bostanoglu, who took refuge with the police. The gendarmerie commander, Gen. Galip Mendi, currently ailing from heart disease, will definitely be leaving. A major decision that could come from the meeting would be to attach the gendarmerie as a general directorate fully subservient to the Ministry of Interior, to be administered by a civilian bureaucrat. Two members of the TSK upper echelons shone July 15: Gen. Umit Dundar, commander of the Istanbul-based first army, who informed the public that the coup was not the work of the TSK chain of command, and the special forces commander, Maj. Gen. Sezai Aksakalli. If Erdogan appoints Dundar, who influenced the outcome of the coup attempt, directly as the new chief of general staff, it will mean that the president favors a speedy TSK reform. But if he keeps Akar in his post and appoints Dundar ground forces commander, that will mean he prefers a paced, deliberate reform process. Another star in the TSK is Lt. Gen. Metin Temel, who commands forces battling the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in southeastern Turkey. An important development will be the determination of Temel's next post. He is now acting leader of the second amy, whose commander, Adem Huduti, has been arrested. In sum, the critical SMC meeting at which Erdogan will determine the next command echelons of the TSK will offer concrete clues as to the scope and pace of TSK purges and the TSKs institutional transformation. Government leaders must watch out for the danger of turmoil in the TSK if the purges are too massive and made too quickly. Although such disturbances many not devolve into a major uprising like the one of July 15, they could instigate skirmishes here and there. This could negatively affect the crime-deterrence effect of the TSK, which is already battling the PKK and Islamic State and is conducting major border security operations. Erdogan reportedly wants to ensure there will be no threat of another TSK coup by attaching it to the presidency instead of to the prime minister as it is now, by changing the military education and training systems and by ensuring structural reforms in promotions and appointments. Some would say the TSK today is like a bird in Erdogans hands: Hold it too tight and it will die of suffocation, but hold it too loose and it will fly away. July 25, 2016 In the first hours of the failed coup attempt on July 15, the pro-government figures that appeared on television called upon the Religious Affairs Department (Diyanet) to rally the Turkish people in defense of democracy. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, along with Mehmet Gormez, head of the Religious Affairs Directorate, Turkeys official religious body, encouraged people to take to the streets to show solidarity against the military coup attempt. Before midnight on July 15, Gormez had issued an order to all imams of the Turkish Republic to go to their mosques and call upon the people to do the same. This is when the public heard the first sala prayer being read at mosques around the country almost simultaneously all night. Traditionally, sala prayers are read to announce a funeral at the mosque. During the Ottoman era, sala prayers were called to announce difficult times during wars. The voice of the imams is known as the single voice that has the power to reach all the people instantaneously. However, with the demise of the empire and the establishment of the secular Republic, sala prayers have not been heard in times of distress in Turkey. On July 15, Diyanet sent a text message to the phones of 110,000 imams, who are government employees themselves, asking them to recite the sala prayer at 85,000 mosques. Some imams just read the sala prayer periodically, while others also read announcements to the public informing them where to assemble and encouraging them to be courageous. In more pious and active neighborhoods, when the imam called Takbeer (a call during distress and war), the people passionately replied Allahu Akbar (God is greatest) while marching on streets. On the scary night of the coup attempt in Ankara and Istanbul, as F16s flew low with deafening sounds in the midst of gunshots and bombs exploding, hearing the voice of a human calling upon a greater power had a soothing effect even on those who are not observant Muslims. Dozens of the diverse people I spoke with in Ankara and Istanbul said, Two voices helped me through the night: One was Erdogans, and the other was the imams'. Several pundits penned pieces praising Diyanets brave stand during the coup attempt. For example, Mustafa Unver, a scholar of theology, wrote that it was a blessing that those who attempted the coup did not try to occupy the mosques, but rather targeted the television and radio stations. Yet not everyone was happy about the involvement of Diyanet in the civilian resistance against the coup. In both Izmir and Istanbul on that eventful night, attacks on mosques for reciting the sala prayers have been reported. Once the coup attempt was suppressed, police forces investigated and found those who attacked the imams and arrested them. In addition, some imams failed to follow the orders. In the following days, those imams were taken into custody. Important critical voices have been heard on social media. Muharrem Ince, a seasoned opposition parliamentarian from the Republican Peoples Party (CHP), tweeted, The call to prayer is not just a call to pray, but it is also a sign of our freedom, independence and our claim to this land. Same is true with the sala prayer. But I cannot stand it anymore that the mosques have become the backyard of a political party. Melda Onur, former parliamentarian from the CHP, tweeted, For the last 45 minutes sala prayer is being read nonstop. From now on when we have a funeral we will mistake it with a coup or vice versa. Levent Gultekin, a prominent columnist for Diken website, tweeted, The coup is repelled, suspects are taken in custody. So why are they still calling the sala prayer, encouraging people to the streets. What is wrong with you guys? The secular sections of society, although remaining mostly quiet, were rather perplexed about the sala prayers, Allahu Akbar chants, and how the concepts of democracy and jihad can be used interchangeably with such ease. One staunch secular professor of economy, who asked to remain anonymous, told Al-Monitor, I did not even know what the sala prayer is, to be honest. We first thought the chants from the mosque was ezan [call to prayer]. I would have gone out to the street against the coup. However, I saw the images of men with long beards and knives on television and heard the chants for jihad. Frankly, I am as scared of Islamists as I am of soldiers. Currently, the situation feels like lose-lose for secularists in Turkey. Mahmut Kar, Hizb ut-Tahrirs media bureau chief, provided a poignant analysis for Al-Monitor: The call to resist against the coup against the terror was not made from the loudspeakers of the municipalities, but from the mosques to the public. The role of Diyanet against the coup attempt is crucial, because from midnight till dawn we heard the sala prayers from the mosques. In no city can you see people screaming democracy and marching towards the tanks, the believers courageously stood against bullets chanting Allahu Akbar. Although media may try to portray this as a victory of democracy, thanks be to God they did not succeed, because the impact of the calls from the mosques is potent on the people. Also highlighting the publics reaction was a strong message to Erdogan that people love Erdogan, not because of democracy but because of Islam. Now everyone saw against the power of believers, tanks and bullets are meaningless, he added. Zeynep Bozdas, foreign relations adviser for the Free Cause Party (Huda-Par), gave Al-Monitor her personal viewpoint rather than that of her political party. Bozdas, an observant Muslim, said, I think July 15 is a turning point in the relations between Diyanet, the public and the state. Diyanet clearly stood by the people, going against the statist edict state and religion are separate. Diyanet destroyed this motto by taking an active role against any sort of military rule. Several pious Turks compared Turkish Diyanet to Egypts Al-Azhar arguing Diyanet stood tall with the people against the power of the bullets tilting the balance. After the coup, Diyanet announced that it will not provide Islamic burial services to the coup suspects. Those who are believed to be involved in the coup were denied burial places in Muslim cemeteries. Some of the families did not claim their bodies, while others were obliged to bury the bodies in their backyards. Those who had fallen dead either soldier, police or civilian fighting against the coup were declared martyrs, and the government agreed to provide them with all due financial and procedural martyrs status. As odd as it may be while the mainstream media and most of the government elites portray the civilian resistance to the military coup attempt as a victory of democracy, neither pious Muslims nor staunch secularists agree. Both of these groups believe the reciting of sala prayers from the mosques were a call to jihad. While secularists are scared, observant Muslims and Islamists find comfort and encouragement in knowing that Diyanet is now out of the closet. Diyanet has been a growing force in Turkey on multiple fronts, but the July 15 coup attempt has made this fact official. Diyanets power has resisted that of the armed forces as never before in Turkish history. The next step will be to see how those in religious garb and soldiers in uniform play out their redefined power relations. July 26, 2016 DIYARBAKIR, Turkey It was May 26, and fierce clashes were underway between the security forces and urban Kurdish militants in Turkeys southeastern city of Sirnak. The Kulter family, which had fled the city, got an unsettling text message from their 32-year-old son Hursit, a senior local member of the Kurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP), who had stayed behind at home. They are coming closer. Give me your blessing, read the message, which was to be their last communication with him. The next day, an anonymous Twitter handle believed to be used by members of the security forces posted a derisive message suggesting Kulter was being held in an armored vehicle and interrogated. The family quickly contacted the prosecutors office and then the police, the military and anyone they could think of, but the answer never changed: No one by the name Hursit Kulter had been detained. As time passed, the familys apprehension grew. Having been through the height of the Kurdish conflict in the 1990s, they knew such disappearances did not bode well. According to human rights activists, about 2,500 cases of disappearance remain unresolved in Turkey, most of them in the mainly Kurdish southeast, where arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial killings terrorized the population on a daily basis two decades ago. Kulters disappearance soon became a matter of national public interest. Parliament members from the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) brought up the issue with competent ministers, campaigns were launched on social media and protests were staged, but to no avail. HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas claimed the young politicians disappearance was meant to intimidate Kurdish youths standing up against oppression. They are trying to give a message to Kurdish youths who may consider joining the resistance. They are telling them, This is what is going to happen to you, and you can do nothing about it and no one will look out for you, Demirtas said. So far, the only concrete move has come from the Sirnak police, which last month invited the familys lawyers to examine police premises to see that Kulter was not held there. Lawyer Seyma Urper told Al-Monitor the visit could not take place because of the dire security situation in the region. The lawyers have lodged applications with the European Court of Human Rights and the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to intervene, but they are still awaiting action, according to Urper. The second of 11 siblings, Kulter landed behind bars in 2009 as part of a massive crackdown on Kurdish activists in the southeast. While in prison, he enrolled in a distance-education program and studied international relations. Following his release two years ago, he returned to the Kurdish political scene in Sirnak, only to meet the fate of two of his predecessors, Ebubekir Deniz and Serdar Tanis, who have remained unaccounted for since 2001. Officials have raised the possibility that Kulter may have joined the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and gone underground. Yet his brother Cihat Kulter says that the family has no information to that effect and that the claim should be investigated. We have no idea whether or not he has [joined the PKK]. If such a claim has been raised, we want to know why, Cihat told Al-Monitor. He stressed the family was very much worried but was trying to keep its hopes alive. Hopefully, well have him safe and sound, even if he is being held somewhere, he said. There have been people who came up after going missing for a while. Cihat urged authorities to find those behind the social media accounts that claimed members of the security forces held his brother. Those accounts may not be [official], but still they claimed Hursit Kulter had been detained. The state has the obligation to shed light on that, he said, adding that the farewell message his brother texted was a clear indication he felt in danger. Even if he is not in custody, it is still up to the authorities to find what happened to him. My mother has the right to know that, he said. He recalled how the Justice and Development Party government had pledged to stamp out human rights violations in the southeast, including disappearances, when it came to power in 2002. So the government must investigate what happened. Administrative inspectors have been assigned, but there has been no progress so far, he said. It wouldnt have hurt that much even if he had turned up dead. We would have find solace in a grave. Kulters fate has been brought up in Washington as well. State Department spokesman John Kirby has urged Turkey to give the UN and nongovernmental groups access to the [southeast] to document what is taking place in the region, where a massive crackdown on the PKK since last year has left dozens of civilians dead and caused large-scale destruction in residential areas. Urper, however, is losing hope that their efforts will succeed even with international pressure, given the sheer scale of rights violations committed during the security crackdown. There have been so serious human rights violations during this process that, honesty, I dont believe well get a result, the lawyer said. Commenting on what could have happened to Kulter, she said, We want to believe he is in custody and that the authorities refrain from acknowledging that because of the current circumstances. Yet while acknowledging that all possibilities remain open, she stressed the authorities failure to provide an answer for such a long time deepened their pessimism. The prevailing thought is that he was disappeared after being tortured in custody, she added. Dozens of people killed in the security operations have been buried in potters fields because they could not be identified. The possibility that Kulter could be one of them has been eliminated through DNA tests. The young politician may return safe and sound one day, or he may be found dead. The worst possibility, however, is the continuation of uncertainty. Just as in the case of Deniz and Tanis, who have remained missing for 15 years despite the accounts of witnesses who saw them entering a military garrison and other clues pointing to the involvement of the security forces. unspecified.jpg Jay Leno on a Motus Motorcycle Alabama-made Motus motorcycles got some attention today from Jay Leno - one of America's top gearheads and a pretty well known talk show host. Leno is reviewing a Motus bike on his YouTube channel today. Also in Monday's business news, uptown Birmingham is about to welcome Eugene's Hot Chicken and Your Pie, and Regions Bank made off with one of its competitor's key executives. Here's the top news in business for Monday, July 25, 2016. Read all of Alabama's business news here anytime. IMG_4313.JPG Das Stahl Bierhaus will be a 2,603-square-foot bottle shop and taproom on 7914 Memorial Parkway S.W. (Courtesy photo) A friendship that started through the local chapter of Free the Hops will bring a new craft beer destination this fall to south Huntsville. Mark Stahl, a longtime Huntsville resident, is partnering with new general manager, Rich Partain, to launch Das Stahl Bierhaus, a 2,603-square-foot bottle shop and taproom on 7914 Memorial Parkway S.W. Partain said buildout at the former title pawn facility could take anywhere from six to eight weeks. Renovations will include new bathrooms, a bar, walk-in cooler, draft beer system, fixtures, shelving, floors, ceiling treatments and decor. "It has been my experience that no operation with so many moving parts and inherent red tape ever opens exactly on time so that (six to eight week) estimate might be conservative," Partain said. Das Stahl Bierhaus will be a mixture of traditional, rustic Old World decor found in classic German beer halls, along with some modern European touches. Partain said the store also will have retail, bar and seating areas that emphasize comfort and atmosphere. Stahl and Partain hope to create an environment where beer lovers can discuss and share their love of the craft with others who have the same passion. "One of the things I have always admired about some of the best beer bars in America is that they tend to have a transformative, transportive effect on patrons," Partain said. "They make you forget for a little while that you're sitting in a strip mall or a metal building or somewhere built for an entirely different purpose, and they transport your mind to some little dingy basement bar in Belgium or Germany with a great selection of brews and an inviting, lived-in feeling to them. That is what we are shooting for with this concept." Customers will be able to swing by Das Stahl Bierhaus for a growler of draft beer or six-pack on their way home, as well as stop in after work or on the weekend to enjoy a pint with other craft beer lovers in the community. The business will specialize in what Partain simply calls "good beer," from craft breweries across Huntsville and the state to establishments throughout the region and U.S. Das Stahl Bierhaus will also have a selection of international styles when it opens in early October. "We want to carry some of the classic and innovative styles from breweries around the world who have spent centuries creating and defining what good beer is for future generations," Partain said. "To ignore any of those would be doing a disservice to our patrons." Stahl approached Partain several months ago about spearheading the new venture. Partain, who worked as a sales manager for Yellowhammer Brewing and was a rep for Yellowhammer and Straight to Ale for four years, said his own knowledge and experience with craft beer make him a natural fit for the job. Yellowhammer co-founder Ethan Couch said the position with Das Stahl Bierhaus is "right up Rich's alley." He hopes the ongoing road construction along South Memorial Parkway won't keep beer enthusiasts from enjoying the destination. "He has an extensive knowledge of beer history and takes craft beer very seriously," he said. "He's devoted the past five years of his life to enriching the beer culture of North Alabama, and we will miss him on our side. The venture Mark is opening in south Huntsville is one I've thought would be successful for several years. There is just not a convenient craft beer mecca in south Huntsville." Keep up with Das Stahl Bierhaus' progress on Facebook. Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby and Calhoun County Sheriff Larry Amerson called on the Obama Administration this week to reverse a decision last year banning the use of military surplus gear in law enforcement. In a joint statement, Shelby and Amerson called on President Obama to rescind "his dangerous restrictions on the ability of local police departments to have the tools they need to keep our communities safe." Multiple news agencies last week reported that the Obama Administration is reconsidering a ban imposed last year on police use of such equipment following attacks on police in Dallas, Texas and Baton Rouge, La. Amerson has been outspoken on the issue since his department had to return two tracked, armored vehicles acquired in 2004 through the federal 1033 program, which transferred excess military equipment to civilian law enforcement agencies at no cost - only shipping and handling fees. One was a command and control vehicle which could also function as an armored ambulance, while the other had a slightly smaller body. The vehicles were used in searches in wooded areas for armed suspects, during ice storms and during a search for victims of a plane crash. The change in policy last year came following public criticism of the use of military equipment during police responses to unrest in Ferguson, Mo. and Baltimore, Md. Shelby became involved after Amerson's department was the first in the state to have to return the equipment. In the statement, Amerson cited examples of how armored vehicles and ballistic helmets were used in the Orlando Pulse Club shooting and the Baton Rouge police shootings to end standoffs and protect officers. "We are subject to the rule of law and held accountable for our actions both civilly and criminally as we should be," Amerson said. "Simply stated this equipment saves lives of both law enforcement and civilians. We just ask that these resources paid for by the American taxpayers be made available to us again." Shelby said he would continue to push for a change in policy. "The senseless attacks on our law enforcement coupled with the threat of terrorism here at home underscores the need for our police to have the support and tools they need to keep us safe," Shelby said. "The rule of law and the security of our citizens should be a top priority, yet the Obama Administration's misguided restrictions on the Section 1033 program only make it more difficult for those who wear blue. While it is a step in the right direction that our law enforcement is finally getting attention from the White House on their needs, I am concerned that their pleas could fall on deaf ears." Gov. Bentley Tours Hyundai Gov. Robert Bentley watches the assembly lines Tuesday, June 28, 2016, during a tour of Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama LLC in Montgomery, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com) (JULIE BENNETT) Gov. Robert Bentley's office has refused to release the vast majority of the governor's calendar records, which include details about his scheduled appointments, transportation arrangements and the people with whom he spends his working hours. On Monday, Bentley spokeswoman Yasamie August sent AL.com an email stating that the governor's office will not provide any schedule or calendar records from before Jan. 1, claiming a number of exemptions from public disclosure rules, including that their release would allegedly "be detrimental to the best interests of the public." Calendar records from the period before Jan. 1 would also likely provide volumes of otherwise unattainable information about Bentley's interactions with Rebekah Caldwell Mason, a former top Bentley aide who resigned in March amid widespread allegations that she and the governor were having an affair. In May, Bentley's office provided AL.com with calendar records covering the period from Jan. 1 to April 8. But August said in the Monday email that no more such documents would be forthcoming. "In response to your request for the remaining calendars entries, we are unable to provide those to you at this time because these involve recorded information received by a public officer in confidence, sensitive personnel records, pending criminal investigations, and records the disclosure of which would be detrimental to the best interests of the public are some of the areas which may not be subject to public disclosure," August wrote, adding that AL.com should "see" the Alabama Supreme Court's 1981 ruling in Stone v. Consolidated Publishing Co. Her statement is largely composed of a copied-and-pasted segment of the Stone ruling, which established that though the Alabama state code says that "[e]very citizen has a right to inspect and take a copy of any public writing of this state, except as otherwise expressly provided by statute," certain records are exempted from that right. A number of Alabama politicians have attempted to use the Stone ruling as an excuse for not releasing records in the past, though such assertions often fail to hold up in court. August did not clarify exactly why Bentley's office believes the remainder of his calendar records now should be considered exempt under the Stone decision, despite the fact that it provided such records for the period from Jan. 1 to April 8. But the governor is currently being sued by former Alabama Law Enforcement Agency head Spencer Collier, who claims Bentley improperly fired him. During the Ebola crisis, Hannah Gibson never stopped working and even learned how to perform life-saving surgery. Hannah Gibson, 36, first heard about Ebola when she arrived in Liberia in March 2014. At the time she was stationed at C B Dunbar Maternity Hospital in rural Bong County, about 200km west of the Liberian capital Monrovia. Gibson was also just six months into a pilot training programme teaching midwives advanced obstetrics, such as emergency Caesarean sections. In July 2014, a patient with perceived malaria symptoms arrived at Phebe Hospital, a half-hour drive from C B Dunbar. The patient deteriorated despite treatment and the staff realised that this was the first Ebola case in the county. Five nurses died as a result of the initial misdiagnosis and panic spread across the countys healthcare services. There was a lot of fear in me and the other midwives regarding the disease and how it kills people very fast, Gibson recalls. She says most of the midwives at C B Dunbar fled, leaving the hospital in the hands of the medical director and us, the trainees. Phebe Hospital had a lot [of] nurses die but we took the challenge because C B Dunbar is a maternity hospital, the only maternity hospital in the county and all the referral counties so we had to work. We stayed at the hospital working. Fear pervaded the small C B Dunbar team as they operated with very limited medical supplies, a lack of protective gear and no external support. They continued to manage maternity care for the countys population of 330,000 people, while struggling to obtain further medical supplies. It was scary. Every time you go to work and you leave and go home, you start to worry. Have I come in contact with anybody? You have to tell your children to go away, not to come around you, Gibson, a mother of three girls, recalls. Patients showing symptoms of Ebola were turned away at the hospital gate and sent to the countys Ebola treatment unit, which was set up in September that year and was the second to open in Liberia. Gibson says it was difficult to go against her instinct to help but acknowledges that the maternity hospital didnt have the safety equipment or staff to admit Ebola patients. READ MORE: Sudans midwives tackle FGM Eventually, the risk became too high and the staff partially closed the hospital, only accepting cases involving emergency pregnancy complications. Gibson and some members of her team quarantined themselves for six months within the hospital walls. They worked overtime, eating and sleeping with the patients while continuing to deliver babies and perform Caesarean sections day and night. During this period, Gibson was able to see her family only on a few occasions. In May 2015, when Liberia was first declared free of Ebola, fears were slightly allayed and C B Dunbar reopened. Limping healthcare system The outbreak killed 184 Liberian health workers and, according to the Ministry of Health, only 117 doctors were available for a population of more than four million in February 2015. Ebola damaged an already limping healthcare system. Many doctors had fled when armed conflict ravaged the country between 1989 and 2003, and the temptation of better-paid positions overseas ensured an exodus of skilled healthcare professionals in the years that followed. The more education people get the more money people want. You also want your education to impact your life and so we realised that we are training people that we do not have the market for, says Dr Bernice Dahn, Liberias minister of health. Dahn says Liberian medical schools follow a Western curriculum and standards, which enable doctors to transfer their skills over to healthcare systems in countries such as the United States, where the quality of life and pay are much higher. The rule is that you do at least two years of service, Dahn says. And right after those two years people find their way out of the country. According to estimates, more than three quarters of Liberias trained doctors emigrate to practise in other countries. Maternal health is one of the areas which has been hardest hit by the shortfall in medical personnel. The by Dr find their way out of the country.] In 2011, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf set out a five-year plan to dramatically reduce maternal mortality rates in Liberia. But it remains high. It was around 990 deaths per 100,000 births in the period between 2012 to 2014, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Dahn says the rates are likely to have increased owing to the continuing brain drain and the impact of Ebola. At the moment in [the] country there are very few obstetrician gynaecologists, Dahn says. I think there are fewer than five. In other words, there are just a handful of specialists to manage more than 100,000 births in Liberia each year. If we were as a country to train obstetrician gynaecologists who have to go through medical school for five years first for the basic training and then an additional three years, and maybe another two years for fellowship, thats 10 years. All our mothers would die, Dahn says. So there must be an innovative way of doing it. Empowering and training midwives The innovation came when the British NGO Maternal and Childhealth Advocacy International (MCAI) initiated a task-shifting training programme in Liberia to teach midwives advanced obstetric skills in October 2013. The goal was to bridge the obstetric skills gaps through a sustainable programme and relieve some of the pressures on the already overstretched and overworked doctors who would normally enter the operating room particularly in rural areas. For the pilot, two experienced midwives were recruited to undergo a two-year training course followed by a year-long internship. WATCH: The Cure Liberia after Ebola: Turning midwives into surgeons Gibson was one of these first trainees and MCAI paid her a salary throughout. During the Ebola outbreak, Gibson took classes in pelvic anatomy and basic ultrasound, learning how to identify malpresentations that would require a Caesarean section. As the training became more practical, Gibson would assist the senior doctors in surgical procedures. By the end of the first year, while the country was in the midst of the Ebola crisis, Gibson was managing her own cases and performing surgeries in the operating theatre. It is a responsibility that she relishes. You no longer have to wait for a doctor. You can take action, she says. Despite the hurdles, Gibson has participated in hundreds of successful Caesarean sections. According to Dr Obed Dolo, master trainer at C B Dunbar for the task-shifting programme, the training has enabled doctors at the hospital to focus on other cases and has increased the capacity of the hospital to treat simple pregnancy complications, saving many mothers lives as a result. Now in her third year, Gibson is currently stationed at Redemption Hospital in Monrovia with two new trainees. READ MORE: The midwife who fled Boko Haram She helps the senior doctors provide training and mentors the new recruits. But there, she has encountered a whole new set of challenges. It is difficult due to the lack of adequate working materials and limited doctors, Gibson says. Frequent power outages at the hospital mean that it is not unusual for her to deliver newborn infants using her mobile phones flashlight. You no longer have to wait for a doctor. You can take action. by Hannah Gibson, midwife There are also difficulties presented by other colleagues. Some doctors feel that our training will be a threat to their jobs, making them give us the cold shoulder on the training ground. Despite this situation, I want to encourage the new trainees to keep focus on their calling, Gibson says. Liberias Ministry of Health has deemed the programme a success and with financial support from the WHO, the government late last year decided to roll out the programme to two more hospitals in Liberia and train nine new recruits with the aim of dramatically reducing maternal mortality rates across the country in the next five years. As of May 2016, Gibson and the second initial trainee Naomi Lewis had between them participated in 422 Caesarean sections and saved the lives of hundreds of other mothers. Gibson hopes to graduate in September and if successful, she will receive a five-year licence to practise as an obstetric clinician in public hospitals selected by the Liberian Ministry of Health. While her new qualification is only recognised in Liberia, Gibson is adamant that she wouldnt leave even if she had the opportunity. I will go where Im needed, she says defiantly. This is my calling. Follow Dan Boaden on Twitter: @DanBoaden READ MORE: The female surgeons of Somalia Muslim leaders urge members of their community to use their vote to challenge rising Islamophobia and to defeat hate. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania On the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention, where delegates will formally nominate Hillary Clinton as the partys presidential candidate, Muslim leaders gathered to push the community to vote, calling the ballot a powerful means to challenge the growing problem of Islamophobia. You dont have to go to Canada, just register and vote, Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), told members of the Muslim community who had come to Philadelphia for the four-day event. We can defeat hate, he added. Islamophobia is not a Muslim issue, its an American issue. Hate crimes are on the rise. The biggest victim of Islamophobia is America and its future prospect. Awad and other Muslim leaders are encouraging members of the community to get involved in politics, a field in which they believe they are under-represented. Believing that Islamophobia, along with xenophobia and misogyny, are flourishing within the Republican party, they said the stakes now were higher than ever. This is not like prior elections where we are debating the role of government, whether taxes should be higher or lower and the like, said Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota. We never had a leader of a major party openly calling for religious hate against a particular community. Republican nominee Donald Trump has called for Muslims to be banned from entering the US, and made it a centrepiece of his candidacy. Last week, in an interview with 60 Minutes, Trump called for vetting people hailing from countries with a history of terror. Other American politicians have followed suit: a few days ago, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said in an interview that people from a Muslim background should be tested to see if they believe in Sharia law, and be deported if they do. His comments, which came shortly after an attack in Nice, France, which left more than 80 people dead, were criticised by US President Barack Obama as repugnant. A recent report found that more than 70 groups in the US were contributing to some extent to propagating Islamophobia. The report, released by CAIR and the University of California Berkeleys Centre for Race and Gender, said 33 of those groups have a primary purpose of promot[ing] prejudice against, or hatred of, Islam and Muslims. Islamophobia is on the rise because we have people stoking and promoting it, Ellison said. They actually have organisations dedicated to pumping it up. Its on the rise because people who are going through difficulties are being offered reasons for their difficulties, and theyre saying its the Muslim community. US election: Bernie Sanders urges support for Clinton Going beyond the election Many fear that Trumps ideology could have a devastating impact on the political landscape of the US. In his nominating speech, he seized on the theme of law and order to paint a dark picture of America: one dominated by a deceitful liberal media and terrorism from within and abroad. He offered himself as the solution to these problems, but did not provide details. Muslims, many of whom believe they are being scapegoated for political reasons, make up 1 percent of the total US population but, according to the Pew Research Centre, their numbers will double in 2050. Theres a lot of communities here that are critically important, and Muslims are well over 1 percent in Michigan, Virginia, Minnesota, California, New York, Ellison said. There are a lot of places in this country where the Muslim vote is crucial, and I think the best way to push back on Donald Trump is be active and participate, vote, organise and then go beyond the election. Going beyond the election is something that Muslim groups are hoping to capitalise on in this cycle, mainly by organising and campaigning to register one million new voters. Since Trumps rise to the nomination, civil rights groups have noted a rise in attacks on Muslims, some of which have been deadly. The problem is that we wake up every four years, said Linda Sarsour, a civil rights activist and executive director of the Arab American Association of New York. This is about long-term organising, working for social justice for all people. Join me in building a movement for this election, but more so beyond this election. READ MORE: Muslim voters between Hillary Clinton and a hard place Follow Dalia Hatuqa on Twitter: @daliahatuqa After hosting Chinese asylum seekers for years, Thailand is now sending increasing numbers back to China. Bangkok, Thailand Li Xiaolong knew the time had come to flee his homeland. The Chinese governments patience for political dissent was fast running out, and the ring of surveillance surrounding Li and his fellow democracy campaigners was tightening. Like many Chinese dissidents before him, Li decided to escape to Thailand, hopeful that the Southeast Asian nation would provide a safe haven for his young family. But Li was wrong. After hosting Chinese asylum seekers for years, Thailand is now sending increasing numbers back to China, as this 101 East documentary reveals. Right now, I want to get my wife out of prison first before thinking about what to do next. by Li Xiaolong, political dissident Rights advocates warn they face an uncertain future in China, including criminal charges and prison terms. There is no acceptable explanation or justification whatsoever for the Thai government to cooperate with Chinese authorities in breaking international human rights laws and human rights standards by returning asylum seekers and refugees to face danger in China, says Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. Dozens of asylum seekers from China have been sent back since July last year. Last October, veteran dissident and political cartoonist Jiang Yefei was taken away by Thai police. Jiang had escaped from China to Bangkok six years earlier. He had been recognised as a refugee by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Human rights activist and former political detainee Dong Guangping was arrested in the same raid. He had only recently arrived in Bangkok. Despite efforts by activists and the UN to secure Jiang and Dongs release, the two men were deported to China a few weeks after their arrest. Their deportation came just months after Thailand sent more than 100 Uighur refugees back to China. READ MORE: Youre always wondering if someone is following you The deportations are instilling fear and paranoia among Chinese dissidents in Thailand, who had believed they were beyond Beijings reach. Li Xiaolong, the democracy campaigner who came to Thailand with his wife and young family, has more reason to be fearful than many. His wife, Gu Qiao, is being held in a Bangkok detention centre. Even though she has a refugee card issued by the United Nations, authorities detained her after discovering her visa had expired. Li has been charged with human trafficking after an ill-fated attempt to sail to Australia with his family and five other asylum seekers. His one-year-old son is with his mother behind bars, while Li, who is on bail, looks after their eight-year-old son in Bangkok. Afraid that he could be imprisoned and that his entire family could be sent back to China and with his health deteriorating, Li is struggling to care for his son. Right now, I want to get my wife out of prison first before thinking about what to do next, he says. Although Thailand does not officially allow refugees to settle in the country permanently, the UN estimates that it has hosted a million refugees in the past 40 years. The deportations come against a backdrop of improving relations between Thailand and China, and as Beijing continues an unrelenting crackdown on democracy campaigners, human rights activists and lawyers at home and abroad. More than 57,000 Chinese had asylum claims pending with the UNHCR at the end of last year, a fivefold increase in five years, according to the agencys Global Trends Report. Recent events, such as the disappearance of the Hong Kong booksellers, show that Chinas determination to silence dissent goes far beyond its own borders. Last year, five men linked to a Hong Kong bookstore disappeared one after another one from Thailand; one from Hong Kong; and three on the Chinese mainland. The bookstore dealt in publications critical of Chinese leaders. All five men have since resurfaced. While most have revealed few details, Lam Wing Kee has said that he was held by Chinese authorities for more than eight months, that he was kept in a small room and repeatedly interrogated. READ MORE: Prison slaves In Bangkok, Li Xiaolong continues to visit his wife and young son in detention as often as he can. Two of his fellow political dissidents say they also live in constant fear. Yan Bojun and Yu Yanhua arrived in Bangkok last year, after hiding in a trucks secret compartment. It was the final leg of a complicated journey that had already taken them from China to Myanmar and then to Laos. Yan says he decided to leave his homeland after witnessing the arrest of a fellow democracy activist. The pair suspect that undercover Chinese agents are following them, citing suspicious men coming to their apartment block to demand their names and passports, and tailing them on the street. When a person like this takes an interest in us over a long period of time, we cant help being suspicious, says Yan. The Thai and Chinese governments did not respond to Al Jazeeras requests for comment. But when a Chinese government spokeswoman was asked about Thailands repatriation of the ethnic Uighur refugees at a news conference last year, she said: Repatriating these illegal migrants to China is how countries deal with illegal immigration and human smuggling through the normal course of cooperation. Its also what we should do to fulfill our international obligations. From the 101 East documentary, No Safe Haven. Watch the full film here. Follow Lynn Lee and James Leong on Twitter: @lianainfilms Follow Liz Gooch on Twitter: @liz_gooch Ukraine deserves to break out of the sick man of Europe mould, known primarily for the protracted war and corruption. As with every other analyst, activist, journalist, critic and pundit involved with Ukrainian politics, it was with extreme sadness and trepidation that I heard about the assassination of Pavel Sheremet. The prominent investigative reporter for the respected Ukrayinska Pravda had been driving to work when the car he was in was blown up with an explosive placed under his seat. The intrepid Belarusian-born journalist was killed in the centre of Kiev, a short distance from the ornate 19th-century opera house. He had loved his adopted city, to which he had been exiled from his native country and had become a household name across Ukraine and far beyond its borders for his intrepid muck-raking exposes. It is a well-known truism that investigative journalists have many enemies. Sheremets death has already roiled the capital, and threatens to create serious fissures within the Ukrainian political life. This wanton killing of a respected foreign-born journalist will require a serious response and investigation from President Petro Poroshenkos embattled government. It can happen to anyone I had come to know Sheremet slightly over the years, and have grown to like him, but the news of his death was much more than a personal blow. Such killings always have a chilling effect on the profession, and it is likely that Sheremets death will haunt Kiev for a decade or more in the same way that Georgiy Gongadzes kidnapping and killing in 2000 has. All of us in this trade understand our utter vulnerability in such moments. In fact, I myself had driven through the same intersection where the journalist was killed a mere 20 minutes before the explosion took place. There has been a veritable influx of talented foreign journalists to Ukraine to report on the war and peace realities here. The world, on the other hand, needs intelligent cultural criticism and coverage of Ukraine and its exciting new civic-based culture now more than ever. by How the reverberations of this assassination will be felt among this cohort is yet to be seen. But Ukraines political crisis over the past three years has created myriad opportunities as well as an acute need for communicating the complexity of the political situation here with the outside world. Gifted foreign journalists and writers have come from all over the world with the express ambition of telling the stories of a country and society under siege, waging a war for survival, and engaged in the reconstitution and revitalisation of its culture. OPINION: EU can still protect the spirit of Ukraines revolution Post-Maidan Ukraine has been in the spotlight of world news as it struggles to balance the war in its eastern parts with its proclaimed aspiration to find a rightful place in the European family of nations. That idealism has led an authority no less than George Soros to declare on multiple occasions that Europe needs Ukraine even more than vice versa. The country is now in the midst of a romance with the outside world, which led President Poroshenko to declare that 2016 be the year of English language. Breaking the mould As it happened, I had been driving down the same road on which one of Ukraines leading voices was about to be silenced, and accompanying a prominent Western reporter to see another talented expatriate journalist in Odessa. We arrived in this city in the midst of its marquee annual cultural event: the 7th annual Odessa Film Festival, which is a bridge to the West and to international film culture. Vladislav Davidzon is a consummate cosmopolitan: he was born in Uzbekistan and had spent his childhood in Moscow before immigrating with his family to New York. He had worked for Ukraine Today as its Paris correspondent. Having roots and family in Odessa, he had returned to Ukraine with his Odessa-born wife to found an English-language cultural magazine. OPINION: Ukraine is more complicated than it sounds The Odessa Review joins the newly revamped Kyiv Post and the Hromadske international television station as exciting fonts of dedicated English language journalism and analysis of Ukraine. This smart and glossy magazine is published bimonthly and is a perceptive cultural publication, one that focuses on the new Ukrainian civic cultural identity as well as obsessing about the glorious past of the romantic Black Sea port town. We plan to be a bridge between Ukraine and the rest of the world, and we hope that the traffic goes in both directions, Davidzon explained to me in between editing the review of a screening at the film festival. The energies that have been unleashed by the Maidan are reshaping the culture in all sorts of remarkable ways, and the cultural ferment that has resulted needs to be brought to the worlds attention. Ukraine deserves to break out of the sick man of Europe mould, known primarily, if not solely, for the protracted war in the east and pervasive corruption. The world, on the other hand, needs intelligent cultural criticism and coverage of Ukraine and its exciting new civic-based culture now more than ever. We must honour the memory and work of a courageous journalist like Pavel Sheremet by continuing his work of explaining the diverse happenings in Ukraine to the outside world. Peter Zalmayev is director of the Eurasia Democracy Initiative, an international non-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion of democracy and rule of law in post-Communist transitional societies of Eastern and Central Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Despite Afghans proven records in ethnic harmony, the growing ethnic polarisation can easily spread across the society. Davood Moradian is the director-general of the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies. In Afghanistans theme park of challenges, ethnic politics is becoming a key contested debate, alongside the usual and known issues. The Saturday terrorist attack that targeted predominantly the Hazara community has heightened political tension. From harsh exchanges among growing Afghan social media users (PDF) to the controversy over how to name universities, the disputed 2014 presidential election to the stalled electoral reforms, ethnic politics is polarising political elites and the state bureaucracy. While most Afghan political actors engage in one way or other in ethnic politics, they are hesitant to publicly and openly articulate their ethnic views particularly to their external interlocutors. Such a polarisation and, more importantly, its collective denial, could take the country into unchartered territory. The land of a thousand cities Afghanistan is a wonderfully diverse nation. The ancient Bactria in todays northern Afghanistan was known as the land of a thousand cities in 4th century BC. The diversity is visible in every corner of the country. Apart from traditional Islam as the religion of the majority of the country and Dari/Persian as the lingua franca of the nation, Afghanistan is a nation of minorities with overlapping, duplicating and parallel interactions. The nation-state of Afghanistan is a hybrid polity, partly historical-natural and partly colonial and elite-constructed. Since its consolidation in the late 19th century, it has struggled to settle its territorial space, build institutions and define its national identity. Despite Afghans' proven records in ethnic harmony, the growing ethnic polarisation among the elites and state machinery can easily spread to other sectors of society. by The struggle over national identity has been between civic nationalism and tribal nationalism. One perspective construes Afghanistan as the land of the Pashtuns and hence Pashtuns political mastery. Their opponent discourse describes the country as the heartland of ancient Khorasan and ensuing political-cultural prominence of non-Pashtuns. However, the majority of Afghans believe in the pluralistic nature of Afghan society and the need for an inclusive and representative state. Furthermore, in the absence of any national census, the claim and counter-claim of being the largest ethnic group remain political, rather than factual. OPINION: Afghan peace process Desperation versus strength Elites ethnic politics has been a key driver of Afghan state weakness and its decades-old hybrid conflict. This includes the controversy over the Durand Line, the collapse of the Afghan constitutional monarchy in the mid-1970s, the disintegration of leftist and Islamist parties, the inter-factional wars of the 1990s and the post-2001 elite factionalism. Moreover, the absence of any separatist movement, organised or widespread sectarian violence, communal violence, and Afghans legendary determination for national independence show the resilience and strength of their national unity. Post-2001 and lost opportunities The collapse of the Taliban regime in late 2001 heralded Afghanistans third democratisation endeavour and laying the foundation of a functioning democratic state. The process of drafting a new constitution and the eventual outcome became once again a struggle between competing visions and constituencies, including the century-old tribal nationalism versus civic nationalism. While it had successfully codified some impressive civic and political rights, gender equality and participatory politics, the new Afghan constitution has unfortunately also institutionalised tribal nationalism and ethnic hierarchy. It adopted a strong presidential system to be accompanied by two symbolic vice presidents and almost no role for political parties. The drafters assumption and ensuing implementation was the allocation of presidency to a Pashtun and two slots of vice presidency to be given to the remaining ethnic groups Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, and others. Such a strong presidential distribution of power has become a winner-takes-all system. The main advocates of a strong presidential system were expat technocrats, while the Mujahedeen groups were mainly in favour of a parliamentary system. The formers choice became aligned with Washingtons preference to deal with a strongman and Londons historical ethnic prejudice and its Pakistan-oriented policy. OPINION: Afghanistans shaky foundations The concentration of power in Kabul had further widened the gap between the centre and remote provinces, particularly in Taliban-infested areas. The controversial 2014 presidential election has significantly exacerbated and deepened ethnic politics; an election that was characterised by the European Union observers as a North Korea situation. The arrangement in the aftermath with the formation of the National Unity Government brokered by the United States Secretary of State John Kerry helped a peaceful transfer of power, but not a legal and constitutional one. President Ashraf Ghanis refusal to implement political and electoral reforms, and growing accusation against his ethnic and exclusionary politics have exacerbated the 2014 disputed presidential election. The way forward Ethnic identity and occasional ethnic tension are the features of every multi-ethnic society involving power, interest, identity, grievances, fear, envy and hatred. However, the failure to manage ethnic politics is one of the drivers of socioeconomic underdevelopment, ethnic and civil wars, state collapse, ethnic cleansing and even genocide. Despite Afghans proven records in ethnic harmony, the growing ethnic polarisation among the elites and state machinery can easily spread to other sectors of society. There are vivid and recent examples that show no country is immune from the poisonous politics of hatred and division. A transparent, rational, emancipatory, ethical and political intra-Afghan dialogue is the way forward in transforming tribal nationalism into a fully rooted civic nationalism, with ensuing institutional and constitutional reforms. Davood Moradian is the director-general of the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies, former chief of programmes in President Hamid Karzais office and chief policy adviser to Afghanistans Ministry of Foreign Affairs. UNs Syria envoy targets August for restart of peace talks as intense air strikes kill at least 18 people in Aleppo. Air strikes in Syrias divided city of Aleppo have killed dozens of people, according to a monitor, as fighting intensifies across the country despite UN appeals for greater humanitarian access and the resumption of peace talks. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday that Syrian government helicopters targeted the al-Mashhad neighbourhood in the rebel-held half of the city, killing at least 18 people. The Observatory added that the number of casualties was likely to rise owing to the high number of people critically wounded. Zouhir Al Shimale, an Aleppo-based journalist, said air strikes, including on a residential building, have killed at least 32 people over the past two days. Residents say the building was full of families [internally displaced] from other areas, he told Al Jazeera by telephone. Separately, at least 42 civilians were killed on Monday in Syrian government air strikes on al-Atareb, a city in the Aleppo province. Reconciliation Aleppo has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012. In recent weeks, government forces advances around the citys outskirts have severed the only remaining route into the rebel-held eastern neighbourhoods, effectively placing them under siege. There are around 400,000 civilians in the besieged city of Aleppo on the brink of starvation. Just last Sunday, two days ago, the Russian and the Syrian regime air forces bombarded the six remaining hospitals and medical facilities in [the city], Farah al-Atassi, of the oppositions High Negotiations Committee (HNC), told Al Jazeera on Tuesday. Syrian government air strikes over the weekend put five medical clinics in Aleppo out of action, according to local rescue workers and the Observatory. On Tuesday, the general command of the Syrian army called on opposition fighters in eastern Aleppo to lay down their weapons, the government-run SANA news agency reported. In text messages to civilians and fighters, the army urged residents to join the national reconciliations and expel the mercenary outsiders from the areas where the citizens reside, SANA added. READ MORE: What hope is there for Syrias besieged? Opposition groups associated to the Free Syrian Army, however, insisted that the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front and armed groups like it have only a minor presence within the city. Diplomatic push The latest attacks came amid a renewed international push to restart the stalled Syria political talks next month. Speaking in Geneva on Tuesday, following a closed-door meeting with US and Russian officials, UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura said Washington and Moscow had been discussing ways to work towards the reintroduction of a ceasefire. De Mistura told reporters that a third round of intra-Syrian peace talks is set for August. In the context of the bilateral meeting today, it was also agreed that we, the UN the facilitator, the mediator should continue preparing proposals for addressing difficult issues that are related to the [talks]. But the HNCs Atassi told Al Jazeera that de Mistura had said nothing new, and that there was no progress on the ground to convince the opposition to return to the negotiating table. The HNC, the oppositions main negotiating bloc, has previously said progress must be made on the implementation of ceasefires, the lifting of sieges and access to humanitarian aid before it will return to Geneva. Al Jazeeras Paul Brennan, reporting from Geneva, said de Mistura used the word homework during Tuesdays press conference, meaning the technical delegations from both the American and the Russian sides needed to figure out how and if they could somehow work together. The Americans, added Brennan, would have to compromise on how to discern between groups like al-Nusra, which the UN describes as a terrorist group, and moderate opposition rebel groups, as the two often fight side-by-side. READ MORE: As war rages on, Syrian children starving to death The Syrian conflict started as a mostly unarmed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, but it quickly escalated into a full-blown civil war between the government, armed opposition fighters and hardline groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS). The Observatory estimates that more than 280,000 people have been killed throughout the five years of bloodshed. Efforts to negotiate a lasting ceasefire have collapsed time and again. More than 4.8 million Syrians have become refugees displaced from their homeland, while more than 6.5 million people are internally displaced within the countrys borders. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has ordered an inquiry into the treatment of children in detention after the airing of videos showing prison guards tear-gassing teenage inmates and strapping a half-naked, hooded-boy to a chair. Footage of the abuse of six aboriginal boys in a juvenile detention centre sparked renewed criticism of Australias treatment of Aborigines and their high imprisonment rate. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) aired CCTV footage late on Monday of boys in a Northern Territory juvenile detention centre being stripped naked and held for long periods in solitary confinement. The CCTV video also showed guards mocking inmates, carrying a boy by the neck and throwing him on to a mattress in a cell, and covering a teenagers head with a hood and shackling him to a chair with neck, arm, leg and foot restraints. Like all Australians, Ive been deeply shocked shocked and appalled by the images of mistreatment of children, Turnbull said on ABC radio on Tuesday as he announced a Royal Commission, Australias most powerful state-sanctioned inquiry. The CCTV footage from the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in Darwin was shot between 2010 and 2014. A lawyer representing two of the boys told the Reuters news agency all six boys abused were of aboriginal descent Aborigines make up the majority of the Northern Territory population and 94 percent of juvenile inmates in the territory. Lawyer Peter OBrien said he was suing the state on behalf of the two young aboriginal men, alleging assault, battery and false imprisonment. READ MORE: Australia Day, a day of mourning for Aboriginals It seems as if this abuse is built into the very core of the system, he said in a statement, calling for the immediate release of one of his clients, who is now in an adult prison, and all children imprisoned in the Northern Territory. Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda described the video as an absolute disgrace. Our (indigenous) people have known about things like this and to just see it laid bare in front of us last night must be a wake-up call to everyone in Australia that somethings got to be done about the way we lock our people up in this country, and particularly the way we lock our kids up, an emotional Gooda, who is an Aboriginal, told reporters. READ MORE: No easy answers to Australias Aboriginals debates A report into some of the incidents by the Northern Territory Childrens Commissioner in 2015 found fault with the guards behaviour, but the findings were disputed by the then head of prisons and not acted upon, said the ABC. Northern Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles sacked his corrections minister within hours of the broadcast and said that information about the abuse had been withheld from him, blaming a culture of cover-up within the corrections system. Some Aborigines in the territory called for Giles to be removed. A coalition of Northern Territory Aboriginal organisations called for the national government to dissolve the territory government, which it has the authority to do. Any government that enacts policies designed to harm children and enables a culture of brutalisation and cover-ups, surrenders its right to govern, spokesman John Paterson told Reuters. Excessive use of force Residents in Alice Springs staged a peaceful protest against the abuse of children in detention, while the ABC reported that at least eight people were protesting on the roof of a prison in the town. Al Jazeera could not independently confirm the prison protest. Excessive use of force, isolation and shackling of children is barbaric and inhumane, Human Rights Watch Australia Director Elaine Pearson told Reuters. The ABC reported that only two detention staff members identified in the footage remained within the youth justice system. Indigenous young people aged 10-17 were 17 times as likely to be under Australias youth justice supervision, according to data gathered by Reuters. They were 28 times as likely to be detained. Australias Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs, who backed the inquiry, said: We have been reporting on this question of indigenous incarceration, particularly of juveniles, for many, many years and we have had many, many reports on the appalling conditions in which they are held. Aborigines comprise just 3 percent of Australias population but make up 27 percent of those in prison. Police said nine suspects were killed in a safehouse after a two-hour gun battle in the capital, Dhaka. Nine suspected gunmen were killed by police in an early-morning operation in Bangladeshs capital city of Dhaka, according to police. Police said they stormed the fourth floor of a rented block of flats in the Kallyanpur area at 5am on Tuesday morning, where they killed nine men who were wearing black clothes and white turbans. The operation, which the police named Storm 26, lasted an hour. A tenth man who was shot by police survived and was taken to hospital. They were university students. We got some of their ID cards from their clothes, Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Masud Ahmed told Al Jazeera. We are now searching the property, and a bomb squad is present. The incident followed a routine block raid operation in the area conducted by the Dhaka Metropolitan police which had started after midnight. During the operation, someone from inside one house threw a cocktail and a few of the men tried to escape from the building, Ahmed said, referring to a petrol bomb. WATCH: Bangladeshs new reality The police did not release the names of the suspects or the universities they attended. Right now, for sake of investigation, we cant tell you their identities, but I can confirm that they are Bangladeshi, Ahmed said. The operation came a month after gunmen stormed a restaurant and bakery in an upmarket area of the capital and killed 22 people after a hostage siege, including nine Italians, seven Japanese, an American and an Indian. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL) later claimed responsibility for the attack. Many Bangladeshis were shocked to discover that three of the five attackers, who were all killed in an army raid that ended the siege, had attended some of the countrys most prestigious private schools. The men had gone missing from their homes in the months before the attack. On Monday, authorities released a list of 68 names of young people whose families had reported them missing, suggesting some of them could have joined armed groups. As wounded soldiers continue to pour in, doctors say they are struggling with shortages of staff and medical supplies. Sirte, Libya Every day around 5pm, the Libyan army bombs the Ouagadougou conference centre in central Sirte the de facto Libyan headquarters for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group. The area has been under siege by Misratan troops for two months, and for soldiers on the frontline, these bombings have become a daily ritual. In nearby Zafran, which was liberated a few weeks ago, fighters stand in front of sand heaps that divide areas under their control from areas populated by snipers with ISIL (also known as ISIS). They await the sound of the bombs from Ouagadougou, and when they see the smoke rising on the horizon, they shout: We want our Libya free. READ MORE: Who will take on ISIL in Libya? Almost all of the Libyan soldiers aiming to oust ISIL from Sirte are from Misrata, a strategic city about 200km to the west. Many of these men are young and inexperienced in battle. Since the start of the Sirte offensive in May, more than 200 soldiers have died, while hundreds more have been wounded. Up until a few weeks ago, the main roundabout in Zafran was a site of carnage: It was here that ISIL fighters executed people, beheading them and hanging their bodies as a warning to other residents. But since the liberation of Zafran in June, the ISIL flag has been replaced by the Libyan one. Next to this roundabout is one of two local field hospitals for the war wounded. On a recent evening, ISIL attacked Zafran with mortars, sending several Libyan soldiers to hospital with shrapnel embedded in their arms, legs and chests. Omar Hassa, 27, who leads the brigade in Zafran, suffered injuries to his leg and arm. In Misrata, there are too many women, mothers, sisters who are crying for this war; too many young girls who are already widows, Hassa told Al Jazeera. Many of my men, even the youngest, five years ago fought against [former Libyan leader Muammar] Gaddafi, and today we are gathered here together again to fight a war in which we should be supported but we do not feel supported enough, he added. We dont have enough ammunition, and the boys are not sufficiently prepared to fight. After an attack in Sirte earlier this month killed at least 36 soldiers, Libyan flags in Misrata were brought to half-mast. Hassa said fighters were proud of their work, but the tactics employed by ISIL have made it an extremely difficult battle. This is a dangerous war. Their strategy is shots of mortars, suicide attacks, booby traps, he said. Im losing a lot of men who die trying to defuse the booby traps left everywhere by ISIL fighters. It's a dirty war. The enemies are ruthless and ready to die, and our soldiers know it. This is why they are more afraid. by Sadek Mami, doctor The two field hospitals in this area are equipped with blood supplies for emergencies. Here, the doctors are tasked with stabilising the wounded, so that they can stay alive long enough to be transported to Misrata. The field hospitals have dealt with an influx of wounded that, on the worst days, reached as high as 150 people, doctors say. Every morning, a list of the names of the wounded is hung in front of each field hospital, because phones and other communication methods are unreliable in these frontline areas. Often we receive bodies that are impossible to identify; they are torn apart by bombs. For us, its heartbreaking, but we know that it is even more so to the relatives of the victims, who often have to wait days to get to know the fate of their sons, Sadek Mami, one of the field hospital doctors, told Al Jazeera. We have many problems here in the hospitals at the frontline. Of the 10 or so doctors who work at Mamis hospital, most are still students, he said. In addition, the hospital faces shortages of critical surgical supplies, which may prevent soldiers from getting the emergency treatment they need. Its a dirty war, he said. The enemies are ruthless and ready to die, and our soldiers know it. This is why they are more afraid. INSIDE STORY: Can Libyas new government end the chaos? Treatment in Misratas central hospital is not always enough, either. Out front, like at the field hospitals, is a list of names of wounded soldiers. Stretchers are scattered throughout the hospital, even in the waiting room. One doctor who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity said the hospital lacked sufficient staff and medicines, with even basic antibiotics often unavailable. Also, we face the torment of many too many amputations, he said, citing precision shots by ISIL snipers. Its a great sorrow for us to see our young people in these conditions. Mohamed Mohrog, an 18-year-old soldier who was taken to the Misrata hospital after a car bomb attack in Zafran, had to undergo an operation to remove pieces of shrapnel from his legs. It was early morning when we were hit. I just remember a loud noise and blood everywhere, and my comrades around [were] injured too, Mohrog told Al Jazeera. But I want to get back on my feet and return to combat. 160 people drown in heavy flooding, which residents in Hebei Province, blame on government negligence as much as nature. Residents in flood-hit areas of northern China are accusing authorities of negligence and inaction, following a disaster that killed more than 160 people in Hebei Province. Six days since the flood destroyed the village of Daxian, residents told Al Jazeera that officials failed to warn them in time about the incoming storm. As soldiers from the Peoples Liberation Army cleared away on Tuesday all the mud and debris from the village, residents continued to grieve for their losses. I dont know who I can talk to. No one listens to me, Zhang Erqiang, father of two missing children, told Al Jazeera. Instead of answers, Zhang was questioned by police demanding to know what he had told Al Jazeera. This area was cursed by nature. But man gave it a helping hand, Al Jazeeras Adrian Brown, reporting from Daxian, said. Four months before the flooding, a heating company began laying giant pipes in the village. According to local residents, the dug-up dirt was dumped under a bridge, blocking the Qi Lie river. READ MORE: Floods in China kill scores, displace tens of thousands Villagers said they had asked officials to move the pile, but the floodwaters came before any action was taken. On the evening before the flooding, power was cut off in Daxian as the rain poured, according to resident accounts. As the river swelled, a few people called the local village chief to ask him what they should do. Residents said the chief had told them not to worry, because if it was serious then officials in the nearby city of Xingtai would have contacted him. It seems many people here had more idea about the imminent danger they faced, than local officials did, our correspondent said. Taking her place in US history, Hillary Clinton is set to become the first woman to lead a major party toward the White House, a triumphant moment for Democrats to relish before plunging into a bruising general election against Republican Donald Trump. After the roll call of states formalising Clintons nomination on Tuesday, former President Bill Clinton will take the stage for a history-making appearance of his own at the Democratic National Convention (DNC). Former presidents often vouch for their potential successors, but never before has that candidate also been a spouse By nights end, the Clinton campaign hopes to have moved past the dissent that somewhat tarnished the conventions opening day. Supporters of Bernie Sanders, Clintons primary rival, repeatedly interrupted Mondays proceedings with boos and chants of Bernie. Although the outcome is a foregone conclusion, the vote could be an occasion for protests on the convention floor by supporters of Sanders frustrated with recent revelations that the DNC was biased against him in favour of Clinton. Sanders, however, took the DNC podium on Monday to urge his supporters to come together and vote for Clinton, telling them they cannot sit out the election. Amid a hearty welcome and sustained applause that lasted almost three minutes, Sanders told his followers that Clinton must become the next president of the United States, and urged unity. What we must do, or forever look back in regret, is defeat Donald Trump and elect Hillary Clinton, Sanders also said on Tuesday, while addressing the California delegation. In my view, its easy its easy to boo, but it is harder to look your kids in the face who would be living under a Donald Trump presidency, he said. OPINION: Why Bernie Sanders still matters Trump, meanwhile, took the usual shots at Clinton during a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Charlotte, North Carolina, calling her crooked Hillary and charging that her use of a private email account as secretary of state put Americas entire national security at risk. A Clinton campaign official said Tuesdays events aim to draw a sharp contrast with Trump, with a line-up of speakers who will talk about her life-long fights to make a difference. Chief among them will be former president Clinton who will take the stage during prime-time to hail his wife as a change-maker, the official said. But Clinton and the others who include mothers who have lost children to gun violence or in clashes with police will also have the unstated mission of mending fences with Sanders army of vocal young activists. Michelle support Speaking at the conventions opening day, US President Barack Obamas wife Michelle also announced her support for Clinton. She also offered a thinly-veiled jab at Trump while discussing how her family has had to adapt to the shrill tone of todays politics. We insist that the hateful language they hear from public figures on TV does not represent the true spirit of this country, Obama said. Sanders called on his supporters to get behind Clinton twice on Monday before his prime-time endorsement speech, including by texting supporters asking them not to protest on the convention floor, as a personal courtesy to him. But many of Sanders supporters seem discontent with the Democratic partys business-as-usual politics and instead continue to call for the more widespread economic and political reforms championed during the his campaign. Sanders himself was booed by some sections of the audience when he told the crowd: Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her tonight. OPINION: The US election is about the past Michigan delegate Charles Niswander, 28, said he and other Sanders delegates would never line up behind Clinton. None of them want her. The people who voted for Bernie, Niswander told the AFP news agency. There is obviously more than four days work necessary to heal all the wounds, and everybody accepts that, said Clinton delegate Josep Carlson, 64, of Massachusetts. The party is reeling from leaked DNC emails which show nominally neutral party staff trying to undermine Sanders campaign and attempting to place an emphasis on his alleged atheism. WikiLeaks at the weekend released nearly 20,000 emails from between January 2015 and May 2016, gleaned by hackers who apparently raided the accounts of seven DNC leaders. Former candidate for the Democratic nomination urges party unity in speech at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania To both tears and cheers, former presidential nominee Bernie Sanders took the podium at the Democratic National Convention to urge his supporters to come together and vote for Hillary Clinton, telling them they cannot sit out the election. Amid a hearty welcome and sustained applause that lasted almost three minutes, Sanders told his followers that Clinton must become the next president of the United States, and urged unity. Sticking carefully to his script, the Vermont senator painted a picture of a dark America should Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, win the elections in November. Take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate and what that would mean to civil liberties, equal rights and the future of our country, he warned the crowds clad in T-shirts and waving signs bearing his name. While clutching his hands to articulate togetherness, Sanders spoke about both camps working to create the partys most progressive platform, which now included anti-Wall Street provisions and opposition to job-killing free trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. READ MORE DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to quit Amid shouts of Bernie, Bernie, he acknowledged that the primary season had divided the party, which was recently hit with an email leak that showed Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz expressing favouritism to Clinton. I understand that many people here in this convention hall and around the country are disappointed about the final results of the nominating process, Sanders said. I think its fair to say that no one is more disappointed than I am. But to all of our supporters here and around the country I hope you take enormous pride in the historical accomplishments we have achieved. Democrats divided Throughout the night, party speakers attempted to bridge the schism that had been brewing over time. Comedienne Sarah Silverman admonished Sanders supporters, calling them ridiculous, before introducing Paul Simon with his 1970 classic Bridge Over Troubled Water. Earlier on Monday, the divide within the party was apparent when supporters, angered by the Democratic National Committees treatment of their candidate of choice, drowned out speakers with shouts, and even ignored appeals by Sanders himself to unite for the sake of the party. Efforts to avoid signs of discord on the first day of the DNC intensified on the convention floor, as Sanders delegates chanted his name, prompting his campaign to send an email urging them not to walk out and warning that it could damage our credibility as a movement. Some Sanders allies even shouted lock her up, an echo of the sentiments voiced by Republicans at their own national convention in Cleveland just last week. Trying to pacify the Vermont senators supporters, the partys leadership issued a formal apology for the inexcusable remarks made over email. POLL: Most Americans fear election of Clinton or Trump Schultz had resigned on Sunday but earlier today, after she was heckled while trying to speak at a Florida delegation breakfast, she also gave up her right to gavel open the convention. That did not seem to sway the delegations; at one point Sanders himself was met with a cacophony of boos, followed by chants of We want Bernie, as he addressed a rally and urged his followers to elect Clinton and her vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine. Prominent Democratic elected officials who supported Sanders in the primaries, however, said that despite the discord over the leaked emails, the party had come a long way and achieved a milestone. Sanders and Clinton came together to write the most progressive platform that we have ever had, Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota told Al Jazeera. Im feeling confident that were going to be united. OPINION Why Bernie Sanders still matters Some of Sanders supporters were not ready to hear calls for unity or voting for Clinton. Daniel Martin-Mills, who came to Philadelphia from Michigan, said that he would not vote for Clinton, even if it means it would give Donald Trump an edge. I dont believe that Hillary Clinton has anyones interest in mind but her own, he said. If she were elected, it would be a tragedy for our nation. I think she would sell us out for her own gain. I dont care for Trump either, but theres no way in the world I would vote for Hillary. It wont be my fault [if he wins]. I vote with my conscience and there are more than two choices. Id vote for Jill Stein. Hong Kong magazine executives found guilty of running an illegal business that sent political publications to China. Two Hong Kong journalists have been jailed in China, accused of running an illegal business that sent political magazines to the mainland, one of their lawyers said. Publisher Wang Jianmin, 62, was jailed on Tuesday for five years and three months, while editor-in-chief Guo Zhongxiao was given two years and three months by the court in Shenzhen. The two both admitted guilt to the court and said they will not appeal, Chen Nansha, Wangs lawyer, told the AFP news agency. Hong Kong and China: A special relationship and rising political tensions The men, who were arrested in mainland China in 2014, worked for the political magazines New-Way Monthly and Multiple Face. Wang was a magazine founder and Guo a chief editor. The South China Morning Post also reported that Wangs wife, Xu Zhongyuan, and a freelance contributor from China, Liu Haitao, had also been convicted. Xu, who reportedly sent copies of the magazines in the mail, was sentenced to a year in jail, suspended for two years. Liu got two years in jail, suspended for three years. Press crackdown This move is seen widely as another attempt by the mainland authorities to curb the influence of the Hong Kong press in China. The magazines are published legally in Hong Kong, yet Beijing exerts much heavier control on the media in the mainland. With the conviction of the two Hong Kong journalists, it seems that the Chinese government continues on a path of suppressing and intimidating critics outside mainland China, to say nothing of its detractors inside China, Yaqiu Wang, a spokesman with the New York-based-Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement to Al Jazeera. Wang said it seems that China has also been unfazed by international scrutiny and criticism following the disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers last year. Sham Yee-lan, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, also said that China appeared to be steeping up its crackdown. The jail terms were very heavy. The publications were in fact printed in Hong Kong by registered companies here, she told the Post. It appears that the Chinese government has intensified its crackdown on such publications. READ MORE: Hong Kong bookseller defies China by leading protest The sentences come after five booksellers from Hong Kong, whose publishing house was known for gossipy titles about Chinese political leaders, went missing and resurfaced in the mainland last year. One of the five is still detained and another, who skipped bail and returned to Hong Kong, has revealed how he was blindfolded and interrogated for months during his detention. Wang and Guos magazines are widely available in the former British colony, which has greater freedoms than the mainland under agreements signed with Britain during the 1997 handover. At the time of their detention in 2014, Shenzhen police said the men were operating an illegal publication. Concerns on press freedoms According to reports at the time of their trial in November, prosecutors said their Hong Kong-registered company National Affairs Limited had earned $900,000 from the New Way Monthly and Multiple Face publications. But the defence insisted that only eight copies were sent to the mainland, all to friends of the publisher, the South China Morning Post said. Concerns are mounting about press freedoms in Hong Kong, where mass rallies in 2014 for fully free leadership elections failed to win political reform. Young campaigners are increasingly demanding more distance from Beijing. Although the city has the status of a special administrative region of China, the two have separate legal systems, distinct police jurisdictions and maintain strict border controls. Pro-democracy Hong Kong politician Lee Cheuk-yan told AFP that the sentences imposed on the journalists were a warning to anyone who wants to do business in China especially in the area of publication they will be subjected to suppression and censorship and if they are not following the party line, then they will be jailed. Willy Lam, a China expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the magazines which covered Chinese politics were printed in Hong Kong, then distributed in the mainland through unofficial networks. Beijing is sending an additional warning apart from the arrest of the Causeway Bay booksellers, not to play with fire, he said. Second victim fighting for life after police shoot dead two ISIL-linked hostage-takers at church in Normandy. An 84-year-old priest has been killed with a knife, and another person seriously wounded, after two men with alleged links to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took several people hostage in an attack on a church in northern France. Father Jacques Hamel reportedly had his throat slit on Tuesday before French police entered and shot dead the attackers, a French police source told the Reuters news agency. The Paris-based AFP news agency, citing the ministry, said a second hostage was fighting for life after the incident in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, but indicated that the other three hostages had made it out unharmed. Later on Tuesday, French prosecutor Francois Molins identified one of the attackers as 19-year-old Adel Kermiche, who was reportedly under surveillance after having tried to travel to Syria twice. He was under house arrest and wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet at the time of the attack. Speaking outside the church, French President Francois Hollande called it a dreadful terrorist attack and told reporters the assailants had pledged allegiance to ISIL, also known as ISIS. The ISIL-linked Amaq website said two of its soldiers had carried out the attack. We are put to the test yet again, Hollande said. The threat remains very high. In a separate televised national address on Tuesday evening, Hollande declared our country is at warthis war will be long. READ MORE: Is Europe under attack? Al Jazeeras Natacha Butler, reporting from Paris, said the two assailants entered the church during a morning service. There were worshippers there; there were nuns; and they took those people hostage, including that priest who was killed. One of the nuns managed to escape, French radio reported, and it was that person who raised the alarm and called the police, Butler said. Special forces arrived shortly after and the hostage-takers were then killed when they tried to leave the church. The Paris prosecutors office said the case had been handed to anti-terrorism judges for investigation. French police arrested one person in connection with the attack, a source close to the inquiry told Reuters on Tuesday afternoon. The Vatican in a statement called the incident a barbarous killing, saying it was even more heinous because it happened in a sacred place. String of attacks The attack comes as France is on high alert after an attack in Nice that killed 84 people and a string of deadly attacks last year claimed by ISIL. The country is in a state of emergency and boosted visible police presence in the wake of the attack in Nice this month. The security measures have been extended four times since assailants, who pledged allegiance to ISIL, struck Paris in November, killing 130 people at restaurants, a concert hall and the national stadium. The Nice massacre has triggered a bitter political spat over alleged security failings, with the government accused of not doing enough to protect the population. READ MORE: The future of Europe after the Brussels attacks Prime Minister Manuel Valls had warned earlier in the week that the country would face more attacks as it struggles to handle fighters returning from wars in the Middle East. France has been concerned about the threat against churches ever since a foiled plot against one in the Paris suburb of Villejuif in April last year. Sid Ahmed Ghlam, a 24-year-old Algerian IT student, was arrested in Paris on suspicion of killing a woman who was found shot dead in the passenger seat of her car, and of planning an attack on a church. Prosecutors said they found documents about al-Qaeda and ISIL at his home, and that he had been in touch with suspected fighters in Syria about the plan to attack a church. At least 13 people killed in attack that targeted base used by AU troops near main airport in capital Mogadishu. At least 13 people were killed when two vehicles packed with explosives went off as they were driven towards a base for African Union troops in the Somali capital, according to officials and witnesses. The first blast happened near an entrance to the base, which is beside Mogadishus main airport, and the second at a nearby checkpoint manned by Somali government forces. White smoke could be seen billowing over the city after the blast on Tuesday. Thirteen people died in the two suicide vehicle explosions, Abdifatah Omar Halane, spokesman for Banadir administration, the local government, told Al Jazeera by phone from the scene of the blasts. READ MORE: Meeting al-Shababs elusive leader Nine of the dead were security for the UN and three were civilians. Five people were also injured in the explosions, Abdifatah added, not giving details of the 13th death. A journalist at the scene said ambulances were ferrying the wounded to hospital. The al-Shabab armed group told Al Jazeera it was responsible for the attack. Our Mujahideen targeted Halane which is base to the foreign forces occupying our Muslim country. We have killed dozens of them, Abdulaziz Abu Muscab, a spokesman for the group, said. AMISOM, the African Union peacekeeping force, said on Twitter that it condemned the attack. These senseless attacks aim to disrupt the lives of ordinary Somalis, it said. Farhan Haq, spokesman for the UN secretary general, also denounced the attack. It is disturbing, both the attack and the scale of the attack, he told reporters on Tuesday. Its clear that the explosives in the trucks were of immense firepower, Haq said, adding that if the guards had not stopped one of the cars from entering the UN premises, there would have been considerably more damage and loss of life. It is not the first time that the armed group has attacked the AU forces heavily fortified headquarters in the city. In December 2014 fighters from the group breached the bases security perimeter before engaging troops in a gun battle that lasted several hours and killed at least three soldiers. The AMISOM force, deployed to Somalia since 2007, currently has some 22,000 soldiers from Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi and Djibouti. They have managed to push al-Shabab out of the capital, but the group still holds large swaths of territory and frequently launches hit-and-run attacks. Faustin-Archange Touadera, the president of the Central African Republic (CAR), was elected in February in a peaceful election that many lauded as a first step towards restoring peace after years of sectarian violence. He took office in March but his government is weak, has very little control outside the capital Bangui and is struggling to implement a disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme. Al Jazeeras Catherine Soi spoke to him in Bangui. Al Jazeera: You got elected on a platform of peace and disarming and demobilising armed groups. How is that going? Faustin-Archange Touadera: Peace and security is still our priority. For the past three years, our country has gone through a major crisis which has completely divided our people and a lot of crimes were committed. We had a successful election this year, sending a message to the international community and our local leaders that Central Africans want peace. As we speak, we still have armed groups in the country. Were in the process of negotiating with some of the groups to disarm, demobilise and be reintegrated back to the community. Weve created a structure and committees to implement the programme. Representatives from the different groups will sit in these committees. The international community is helping us to push this agenda. We also need to restructure our national defence forces and also, importantly, we need reconciliation. This is our initial agenda and were already making good progress. READ MORE: Healing Central African Republics traumatised children Al Jazeera: Weve spoken to many people, including some rebel leaders, who say that the process seems to have stalled. What would your government ask for to jump-start the programme? Touadera: Were working with the United Nations and other partners. Such processes take a long time and need to be handled delicately. We need experience, expertise and patience to see this through. We also need financing. We have to identify all the combatants and only after the census is done can we begin the process of possibly rehabilitating and reintegrating them back to the community. Were also looking into the possibility of training some of them and assimilating them into the national forces if they are eligible and interested. For them to be reintegrated back to the community, they need to be prepared psychologically and we have to provide them with incentives, like help them in agriculture, for example. The community also has to accept them back. All these elements must go hand-to-hand if there is going to be any chance of reconciliation. Our country has gone through very tough times and we have difficulties mobilising the resources to effectively do this, and this is why were asking the international community to help. READ MORE: Central African Republic Touadera wins elections Al Jazeera: You inherited a country that is basically on its knees, your government is still very weak it doesnt have a proper functioning army or police force. How is this aspect a hindrance to DDR (Disarmament, Demobilisation, Reintegration)? Touadera: We have a constitution which is very clear. There is a single national armed force and the government has to ensure security and protection of its citizens. Its not the responsibility of any armed group. We are restructuring the national army and there will be no room for armed groups after DDR. We will have a professional army thats free from politics and ethnicity and will have the mandate to fulfill their mission which is national peace, protection of the territory and livelihood of citizens of Central African Republic. Of course there are some groups that dont want to be reintegrated back into the system but we cant have it. It would mean total anarchy, total disorder. I believe everyone, every group weve been talking to agrees with our position. We dont have two Central African Republics; we have one and we must be united. Al Jazeera: What will happen eventually to the groups that refuse to disarm? Touadera: I think we will not take a defeatist attitude. Well continue to discuss with each group to reach a desired end. There is no other way. Today, everyone in Central African Republic wants dialogue. I think peace is the desire of all Central Africans. We shall try to convince those who are still unconvinced on the importance of the peace process and how a vital key to this is laying down arms. It will be a transparent and inclusive process. We cant be divided about rebuilding our country. Aljazeera: Away from disarmament to another issue that is also making headlines. There have been many allegations of human rights abuses, including sexual violations against international peacekeepers in CAR. What is your government doing to protect the people, to put more pressure on the UN and troop contributing countries to expedite investigations and punish those found culpable? Touadera: This is are a very serious matter which I and my government condemn in the strongest way. Its important that the government is kept informed on such cases and we work together with the missions so that were able to go through the process of verification in an open way. There must be justice for those whose rights have been violated. The government has been working with the United Nations on this. The ideal situation would be to involve the different nations who contribute troops to peacekeeping missions. They need to be engaged in the process. We will continue to work with these countries to make sure that their troops use their positions in the right way and not to cause harm. The government will continue working with relevant authorities and our local communities to make sure that this does not happen again. New presidents stance on independence from China and territory disputes affecting life on the self-ruled island. Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan From politicians to market stallholders, an adage is doing the rounds in Taiwan: dont put all your eggs in one basket. It rings especially true, now that China is turning the screws on the islands new, pro-independence government. Tsou Jin-pen, 86, adheres to that proverb. She also knows plenty about eggs, which she boils in a homemade broth of tea and mushrooms and sells to the tourists that flock to Sun Moon Lakes turquoise waters in central Taiwan. But business is bad. The flow of vacationers from mainland China is drying up widely viewed as a sign of Beijings displeasure at the autonomous streak shown by Taiwans new president, Tsai Ing-wen, who took office in May. Theres an obvious decrease, said Tsou, who has been in business since the 1950s, before roads were built around the lakes shoreline. She still sells thousands of her salty eggs each day, but queues of hungry tourists are shorter than before. Taiwans government says a sharp decline in Chinese tour groups accounts for a 15 percent drop in overall arrivals. Tsou said it is more like one-third. Flights have been cut. Hotels and travel agencies are taking a hit. We should focus our efforts evenly on different markets, not just on China, the egg-boiling grandmother told Al Jazeera. Tsous sentiments are echoed across this island of 23.4 million people, which in January voted to oust a pro-China government and elect Taiwans first woman president, Tsai, who heads the go-it-alone Democratic Progressive Party. The issue is deeper than just China-Taiwan tensions. The US said recently it would continue to operate in the South China Sea, only weeks after a court ruled against Beijings territorial claims in a tense region in which China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. By distancing itself from Beijing, Taiwan may have to rely less on China for sending four million tourists each year; as well as receiving 38 percent of its exports and more than 60 percent of its outbound investment. Do we really want to depend solely on China, or do we have to actually diversify? Connie Chang, the planning chief of the governments National Development Council, told Al Jazeera from her office in central Taipei. Southeast Asian markets are the new frontier for Taiwanese goods and a source of holidaymakers, Chang said. Peeved Chinese officials may hit us hard, she added. The cost or the pain, it is still too early to measure. Realignments are easier said than done. Taiwan touts itself as a paradise for mountaineers, cyclists and gastronomes, but it lacks the broader appeal of Bangkoks nightlife, Cambodias iconic temples, or beaches in the Philippines. The island has flagship electronics brands, such as Asus, HTC and Acer that sell anywhere. But it also makes many superconductors and flat-screen monitors that fit inside other devices. Chinese factories take much of this stock. A long-discussed free trade deal with China is now on the backburner, said Roy Chun Lee, a deputy director at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, a think-tank. Should Beijing wish to further hurt Taiwans economy, it has many options. Theres huge room for discretion enjoyed by Chinese authorities. They have many tools to implement their political policy, Lee told Al Jazeera. Officials can use everything from tax codes to environmental protection laws to halt Taiwanese imports. When Taiwan targets a new trade partner, Beijing can weigh in and cool their enthusiasm, he added. Meanwhile, Taipei is outgunned by Beijings mega-projects, such as the One Belt, One Road trade and transport web linking Asia, Europe and Africa. Instead, it must plug gaps in a crowded market, such as by offering solar energy systems to small, remote islands. As the Asia-Pacifics most trade-dependent country, anything to drum up business is good for Taiwan, Lee added. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) had raised Taiwanese hopes of a trade boon, but lacklustre support from the presumptive Democratic and Republican 2016 presidential nominees, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, suggest the trade deal may yet flop. Beijing has viewed Taiwan as a wayward province since defeated Nationalist forces fled there after a civil war with the Communists in 1949. It has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Chinese officials declined interview requests. Tsai, who heads the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, said she wants to maintain the status quo with China and is committed to ensuring peace, but Beijing suspects she will push for formal independence. Last month, China closed a communication link with Taiwan, saying Tsai had refused to accept the so-called 1992 consensus reached between Beijing and Taiwans then-ruling Nationalists an agreement that there is only one China, which can be interpreted flexibly by either side. The communication mechanism was set up in more amicable times under the rule of Taiwans then-president Ma Ying-jeou, who took office in 2008 and signed a series of landmark trade and tourism deals with Beijing. Relations are at their lowest point in years. This month, Taiwans navy misfired a supersonic anti-ship missile and struck a Taiwanese fishing boat, killing its captain and jangling nerves on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Days later, Beijing angrily disavowed the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitrations rejection of its vast territorial claims in the South China Sea further raising fears of an island dispute escalating into a full-blown confrontation. US Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson said last week US forces would continue operating in the South China Sea in accordance with international law. China accuses the US of stirring up trouble on a strategic route through which some $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Speaking in Sydney, US Vice President Joe Biden assured Australia, an ally, there would be no retreat from Washingtons pivot to the Asia-Pacific region, regardless of who wins the presidential election in November. Against this backdrop, pro-China voices in Taiwan have fallen largely silent. The islands population is mindful that, on average, they live for some five years longer than and are more than three times richer than their mainland counterparts. The tourist industry and farmers will be affected, but still people vote for Tsai because they want to show that Taiwan will not be absorbed by China, David Chang, chairman of Storm Media, an online publisher, told Al Jazeera. We want de facto independence. We want to maintain our democracy and our way of life. Back at Sun Moon Lake, half-empty boats ply the waters, ferrying tourists to take selfies in front of Xuanzang Temple. Others ride a cable car, or pose for photos alongside indigenous dancers at a tacky aboriginal theme park. Many had heard of Tsous eggy delicacy and longed to sample her treats. They line up and take photos. But Tsou is coy, refusing to reveal her secret recipe. Her ingredients are grown locally, and I prepare the eggs with my heart, she said. Business is slow now, but will recover, she added. When she was born, Taiwan was under Japanese colonial rule. Her first customers were monks, not tourists. Over the decades, her business and the island have seen big changes. Telling Tsou not to fret about business is to use another fitting adage like teaching grandmother to suck eggs. The tourists will come back. It comes and goes in cycles, Tsou said. Follow James Reinl on Twitter: @jamesreinl Interviews with 54 ex-detainees describe physical and mental torture allegedly used by soldiers and police in the south. Thai authorities have charged three human rights activists with criminal defamation over a rare report describing torture suffered by detainees in the countrys restive south. Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, Anchana Heemmina and Somchai Homlaor were charged on Tuesday with defamation, which carries a two-year prison sentence, and violating the computer crimes act, which carries three years. Rights groups said both broadly worded laws are routinely used by powerful interests to silence critics. All three denied the charges and will submit written testimonies later, Winyou Tiamrat, the police officer handling the case in the southern province of Pattani, said. The report, which was based on interviews with 54 former detainees, described a host of physical and mental torture tactics allegedly used by soldiers and police. READ MORE: Is Thailand on its way back to democracy? Beatings, threats at gunpoint, sensory deprivation and partial suffocation were all routine during detention, the report said. The military, which denied the reports findings, has in the past admitted rights abuses but prosecutions of soldiers are extremely rare. The rebels have also employed brutal tactics including shootings, beheadings and bombings. Expressing grievances Pornpen, one of those charged, said she feared her case would deter others from investigating the heavily patrolled region and push victims of abuse back into the shadows. We are trying hard to create a space for people [in the south] to express their grievances, she told the AFP news agency. READ MORE: Deadly blasts strike southern Thailand Thailand is a Buddhist-majority country but the south is Muslim-majority, and resistance to Buddhist rule has existed for decades. More than 6,500 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since an uprising erupted in 2004 in the largely Muslim south. Thailands military junta, which came to power through a coup in 2014, has failed to revive peace talks with the rebels. Observers say peace is unlikely while a tight security net remains over the region. Political appointments must be consistent with peace deal last year, UN says after Dengs appointment as vice president. The UN has warned South Sudans President Salva Kiir that any political appointments must be consistent with a peace deal that ended nearly two years of civil war. The warning came a day after Kiir replaced his vice president and rival Riek Machar with Taban Deng, in a move that could potentially undermine Augusts peace agreement and send the worlds youngest country back to all-out conflict. Any political appointments need to be consistent with the provisions outlined in the peace agreement, UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters in New York on Tuesday. Machar left the South Sudanese capital, Juba, earlier this month after violence broke out in the city when forces loyal to him and Kiir battled each other for several days with tanks, helicopters and other heavy weapons. Hundreds of people, mostly soldiers, were killed in the fighting, raising fears of a slide back into civil war. Kiirs appointment of Deng came after the president issued an ultimatum last week, demanding that Machar contact him within 48 hours and return to Juba to salvage the peace deal under which the vice president must be chosen by the South Sudan Armed Opposition or face replacement. DENG INTERVIEW: Machar missing, Im ready to fill S Sudan vacuum Deng, a former mining minister and the chief negotiator for Machars SPLM-IO group during the peace talks, backed Kiirs ultimatum. Machar said on Friday he had fired Deng and accused him of defecting to Kiirs party. We call on all parties to ensure that the ceasefire is maintained and that any divisions within the opposition or between the parties be dealt with peacefully through dialogue, Haq said. Ruinous conflict South Sudan was founded with optimistic celebrations in the capital on July 9, 2011, after it gained independence from Sudan in a referendum that passed with close to 100 percent of the vote. The country descended into conflict in December 2013 after Kiir accused Machar, his former deputy who he had sacked earlier that year, of plotting a coup. Civil war broke out when soldiers from Kiirs Dinka ethnic group disarmed and targeted troops of Machars Nuer ethnic group. Machar and commanders loyal to him fled to the countryside, and tens of thousands of people died in the conflict that followed. Many starved to death. A peace agreement signed in August saw Machar rejoin the goverment and his forces re-enter Juba as the first step towards integration into a national army. The lights and speakers on Florida Fun Bikes 16-person bike will now be powered by a small rooftop solar panel. Sprightful Solar, a company founded in 2015 by UF alumnus Pablo Corredor, recently installed the panel, according to a press release. As a UF student, Corredor wanted to have solar powered tables installed near the Hub, allowing other students to charge their phones and laptops. He researched solar power by buying his first solar panel and battery from Amazon. Its very satisfying once you plug it in and turn on the system, Corredor said. Energy starts flowing and people get these huge smiles on their faces. Gainesville resident Derrick Robinson and his fiancee, Amber Shelton, said they opened Florida Fun Bikes in February after they rode similar attractions in other cities. We wanted to bring a fun attraction to Gainesville, Shelton said. We want to make an effort to help revitalize downtown and make it a hangout spot. We thought this would be the perfect vehicle for that. The company takes customers on pub crawls throughout the city or on hunts for Pokemon, according to its website. We want to give people something they can enjoy without hurting the environment, Shelton said. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Gainesville Police focused on police violence at its monthly Police Advisory Council meeting Monday, which took place from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Gainesville Technology Enterprise Center. The Northeast Gainesville/Duval Area Front Porch Florida Community, Inc. joined the meeting to discuss the perception of increased violence between cops and citizens in America. Chief Tony Jones said officers are trained to recognize Disproportionate Minority Contact, which describes how young black people are more likely to receive harsh treatment from law enforcement than their white counterparts. Along with the training, new officers are put on probation, which ends once they become a positive part of the community, Jones said. Because the department has a good relationship with the community, race relations in Gainesville have not been an issue for law enforcement, said Bob Cohen, chairman of the council. He said citizens should know their rights and responsibilities in the community, and people should voice their concerns to the department. Officers are nervous, citizens are nervous because both are scared of being shot, he said. Lois Harrison voiced her concerns Monday evening. Harrison said she has been pulled over several times and that, while her experiences with older officers has been pleasant, many of her experiences with younger officers have been frightening. They yelled at me to get out of the car, she said. Its scary impolite. Im 80 years old I dont need that aggravation. Earlier in the meeting, council member Juanita Miles-Hamilton asked if officers record their interactions. Chief Jones said half of the departments cars have dash cameras, adding the rest would be installed in two years. He also said body cameras would cost about $430,000 to maintain in a year, which he requested from the U.S. Department of Justice. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now On July 15 in Istanbul, Turkey, soldiers closed the two bridges across the Bosphorus, the first indication that elements of the army were planning to remove the government of President Recip Tayyip Erdogan. In Ankara, the national capital, other soldiers took control of television stations and shelled the parliament building. President Erdogan had to use social media to rally his supporters. But by morning it was all over with Erdogan in full control. A short-lived effort at regime change in a faraway country can't affect us, but the government response has an impact on our campus and many others. Academics are forbidden to leave the country, and any currently abroad are required to return. The day before the coup, 25 faculty from Gazi University in Ankara arrived in Gainesville, several with their families, to begin an intensive program in the UF English Language Institute. They have been informed that administrators at their university have "resigned," and they await an order to return home immediately. A friend at a university in Virginia reported a Turkish colleague on a one year exchange has been ordered back to Turkey "to be investigated." Turkeys Ministry of National Education has summarily dismissed thousands of educators, from research professors to primary school teachers, from their jobs. Since UF has long welcomed large numbers of Turkish students, UF alumni are certainly among them. If they are found to have ties to the Gulen movement, they will never be able to teach in Turkey again and unable to take posts abroad. Erdogan has taken the excuse of a failed coup to launch a full-scale purge of suspected members of the Gulen movement from the military, the judiciary and education. Although Gulenists were his staunch allies in his rise to power, he broke with them and now wants to eliminate their influence altogether. Who are the Gulenists? A movement grown around Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim religious scholar, that spread within Turkey and around the world. Its members everywhere promote interfaith dialogue and understanding, operating a network of charities and secular schools, encouraging good relations with Israel and opposing hardline groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, as well as all violence in the name of religion. To President Erdogan, its continued existence makes it "a state within a state," and a rival to his own government and the Islamist party he heads. In the 1930s, American universities stood up for scholars who were excluded from academic positions because of race, religion or political opinions and sponsored many of them who came to this country. The current situation may or may not be as dire, but every institution of higher learning ought to do everything possible to assist former students, classmates and colleagues who are caught in this government crackdown. Will UF lead the way? Richard K. MacMaster is a retired UF professor of history. My roommate, a modest conservative, had to endure the sight of me last week going full-fetal on our sofa, hugging a pillow, while I watched Fox News coverage of the Republican National Convention. Why are you even watching this? he asked, knowing full well my left-of-center views. Its like a train wreck, I replied. You just cant look away. Now the cool thing about this particular train wreck is that the train was carrying the circus. For four days, I glued myself to my television and watched Rep. Steve King support white supremacy, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani gesticulate himself to death, Melania Trump become immortalized via meme-hood for her copied speech, former candidate Ted Cruz tell people to vote their conscience instead of Trump (when booing, I can only assume Republicans know full well theyre not voting their conscience when they cast a Trump ballot) and, my personal favorite, Laura Ingraham leaving no room for ambiguity with a classy Sieg Heil. Meanwhile, WikiLeaks recently released information that Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and the rest of the left leadership were planning on sabotaging the Sanders campaign by pressing him on his darkest and most vile secret: his Judaism. To make matters worse, more documents showed federal appointments would be given to big donors to the Democratic National Convention. These political moves are disgusting, inappropriate and would probably be effective (sadly). Political moves, mind you, Wasserman-Schultz probably learned while she was here at UF Student Government, given that nepotism is rampant and campaigning here has a dirty history. But in a battle of political suicide (Democrats going from #NeverHillary to #Hillary2016, Republicans going from #NeverTrump to #Trump2016), the winner of this election will simply be the ones who destroy themselves less. Trump does that every time he opens his mouth or waves his tiny hands around. Clinton did it by appointing Wasserman-Schultz as the honorary chair of her campaign team. Like cmon Hillary (stop trying to make Hilldog happen, its not going to happen), your biggest problem this election is trustworthiness. We as a nation know youre power-hungry, kind of corrupt and totally not-transparent. But when you pull shit like this, it becomes hard (read: harder than it already is) to come to your defense. It seems every time Trump tries to throw this campaign down the shitter, Clinton counter-throws with equal, if not more, impact. But theres something about party anatomy that really plays into why I think Hillary will lose this election. During the primaries, the #NeverTrump movement was popular amongst party leaders, but the voters didnt agree. The leaders did everything in their political power to stop the nomination, but the people shouted louder, so the Republicans backed off and unified behind Trump. In our camp, Sanders was fighting a rigged system from the start, and we all knew so obviously that our partys leadership was doing everything they could to stop him. But attacking him because hes Jewish? Prohibiting voting access such that literal class action lawsuits are filed? The DNC planning to appoint top donors to federal boards and commissions? Thats some shady shit. It has completely validated the Bernie Or Bust movement because its embarrassing to be affiliated with a party thats so unbelievably corrupt. All those voters that would have otherwise voted blue (regardless of the candidate) now either dont vote, or worse, vote for Comb-over. Even more importantly, such behavior alienates independents the deciders of elections, let us not forget who would otherwise vote blue. The democrats are committing political suicide at a much more alarming rate than the republicans. As a liberal, Im humiliated at seeing such dishonorable conduct by the leadership, and Im sad that it seems so rampant. President George W. Bush said behind closed doors he was going to be the last Republican president. Hopefully, something new will emerge from the wake of our tumultuous Democratic Party. Hopefully, it doesnt resemble whats happening with our neighbors. Zachary Lee is a UF philosophy senior. His column appears on Tuesdays. Who doesnt love a good conspiracy film? A lone fighter struggling against a governmental authority responsible for controversial, covert schemes and robbing our fighter of his identity? Matt Damon as Jason Bourne has satisfied such spy inklings for years and will now return. First, there was The Bourne Identity. Then, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. Now, we have The Bern Conspiracy. Wait, what? Yes, Bernie Sanders and the Democratic National Convention. In reading through the @dnc.org emails WikiLeaks published Saturday, its hard to call the DNC leaks anything other than a conspiracy. On May 5, DNC chief financial officer Brad Marshall wrote to three of his colleagues if they should get someone (presumably from the press) to press Sanders on the authenticity of his Jewish beliefs. This could make several points difference with my peeps, Marshall wrote ahead of the Kentucky and West Virginia primaries. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist. Heres a top official in an organization that proclaims itself as neutral suggesting to exploit one candidates religious, personal beliefs and manipulate voters perception at the expense of that organizations preferred candidate. Adding insult to injury, a DNC staffer wrote to DNC Communications Director Luis Miranda on May 21, Wondering if theres a good Bernie narrative for a story, which is that Bernie never ever had his act together, that his campaign was a mess. Its almost as if these officials were campaigning for Hillary Clinton. Of course, you could argue all this is really only the fault of the DNC and has nothing to do with Clinton herself. Theres no email evidence of Clintons overt validation of the DNCs biases: We can speculate, but we can only make concrete declarations based on whats evident. So, Clintons camp was in the clear, right? Well, yes, until Clinton hired former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, immediately after her resignation too, stating: I am glad that she has agreed to serve as honorary chair of my campaigns 50-state program and will continue to serve as a surrogate for my campaign nationally. Put it this way: What the DNC did was so nefarious and indisputably corrupt that Donald Trump may have actually tweeted the first truthful thing this entire campaign: How much BAD JUDGEMENT was on display by the people in DNC in writing those really dumb e-mails, using even religion, against Bernie! When youre so in the red a perpetually lying, neo-fascist oompa loompa can tell a sad truth about you, youre not in very good shape. The worst thing about this entire conspiracy is we would know nothing about it were it not for hackers and WikiLeaks; left to their own devices, the DNC wouldve carried on, business as usual. So rest assured, you can walk into Jason Bourne in theaters this Friday without brushing up on the Bourne trilogy to get re-accustomed to high-action conspiracy thrillers. We just had the greatest conspiracy take place right before our very eyes: with a party organization conspiring against one of its affiliated candidates behind closed doors and investing all of its resources into a flawed, highly unfavorable candidate who fluctuates between barely winning and outright losing to an orange Frankensteins monster. What film conspiracy could top that? And as far high-action, well, did anyone watch Rudy Giulianis speech at the Republican convention? Theres no way the image of Giuliani raging and belting America! hasnt given some poor child nightmares. #RatedRforRudy Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Princess Diana also made a notable appearance in the much-buzzed-about Justice League footage that made the rounds at SDCC. Much of the debate has centered around which of the two was the best trailer of Comic-Con. Considering that Justice League is set for release just a few months after Wonder Woman's solo romp, we're officially calling 2017 the year of the Amazon. Suicide Squad Not to be ignored, the women of the Suicide Squad got their due in the final official trailer before the movie hits theaters August 5. One of the most anticipated is Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, whose own spinoff has already been greenlit. (Expect to see everyone you know wearing her outfit this Halloween.) Cara Delevingne's Enchantress, Karen Fukuhara's Katana, and of course Viola Davis's spot-on Amanda Waller (never underestimate the Wall, y'all) are sure to have tricks up their sleeves. At this point it would be no exaggeration to call Suicide Squad the most anticipated movie of the year. Marvel's Mavens While DC's ladies may have stolen the trailer thunder, Marvel blew everyone out of the water with casting news. The biggest, of course, was the end to the ongoing speculation over who will play Carol Danvers, a.k.a. Captain Marvel, in the company's first female-led solo film. After months of having her name thrown around, this year's Oscar winner for best actress, Brie Larson, has been announced as Marvel's first titular heroine. She won't be the only Oscar winner joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as Lupita Nyong'o is joining the cast of Black Panther as Nakia, a warrior who serves as a bodyguard to Chadwick Boseman's King T'Challa, a.k.a. Malice. Nyong'o will also be joined in the film by her Broadway collaborator Danai Gurira, whom you might have seen in productions such as The Walking Dead. It wasn't all casting news for Marvel, thoughSDCC audiences also got a teaser of Jessica Jones's future. She'll be joining Netflix heroes Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist in the new Defenders series. We also got a longer look at Tilda Swinton's Ancient One in the second trailer for November's Doctor Strange, a clip of Zoe Saldana's Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, as well as a sneak peek at Cate Blanchett's goddess of death, Hela, in Thor: Ragnarok. 2005 .. I would like to thank the World Trade Centre for inviting me to talk about BREXIT this morning. I want to make a few points on the referendum and the UKs trading relationship with Ghana before opening the floor for questions, and I am sure you have many. I willll try to answer them but [] I would like to t... Source : http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric... English News Venkaiahji, two-nation-theory winning in Kashmir as secular-socialist ideology betrayed by India Alwihda Info | Par Hem Raj Jain - 26 Juillet 2016 Bengaluru, India Dear Editor Sub: - (i)- Two nation theory presently being buttressed by Caliphate factor (ii)- Pakistan important to Sunni Muslims due to its Nukes (iii)- Without being true to secularism & socialism India cant solve Kashmir problem (iv)- BJP can practice secularism & socialism only when adopts patriotism, what Venkaiah is preaching (v)- Government of India need not through-up its hands (vi)- But Key lies in retrieve of POK ---- Four conclusions can easily be drawn from the article A Proxy War In Kashmir in TOI on July, 26 by Union Minister for I&B and Urban development M Venkaiah Naidu (i)- It is extremely superficial analysis of the situation in Kashmir which gives a clue about confusion & policy paralysis in Government of India (GOI) (ii)- It is an abject defense of security forces of India including Indian military which does not have courage to take-on the military of Pakistan for the retrieve of POK and instead showing its bravery by training guns at the civilians / citizens of India in Kashmir (iii)- It does not realize that two nation theory can be defeated only by secularism and socialism which BJP too (like Congress) is not practicing (iv)- It is not prepared to understand that still the key to the solution of Kashmir problem, lies in retrieve of POK. Venkaiah does not realize that two nation theory (the basis of Indias partition in 1947 on the basis of religion) is presently being buttressed by Caliphate factor aroused by ISIS which even triggered recent failed coup in Turkey where disgruntled elements in Turkey were against President Erdogan who is allegedly trying to bring Caliphate back in Turkey and then in all Muslim majority countries (which was dismantled after World War I and which triggered mass movement in India by Congress under the leadership of Gandhi for the restoration of Caliphate). The Caliphate is appealing to all the Sunni Muslims ( ~ 87 % of global Muslim population) because like three other major human blocks namely Christians (with NATO), Chinese and Hindus it will bring Sunni Muslims also under one military authority (which will help Sunni Muslims in finding solution to gory and chronic problems like Palestine problem, Kashmir problem etc). In this caliphate factor Pakistan is important to Sunni-Muslim-World due to its Nukes which will further give teeth to Sunni Muslim military power under Caliphate. Moreover Venkaiah is grossly underestimating the intelligence of Kashmiris when in said article is unnecessarily giving importance to what former Home Minister Chidambaram said in a TV interview about honoring the grand bargain promised by India (of keeping only defense, foreign affairs, currency and communication with Union) at the time of accession of J&K to India. The Kashmiris have refused to be fallen in the trap of Venkaiah and Chidambaram and no less than a person former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in a TV interview has already said that the problem is now political [because now separatists (whos numbers are increasing rapidly after killing of Burhani) are questioning the very accession of J&K to India] Hence India is unnecessarily fretting & fuming [at what Pak PM Nawaz is saying and doing for snatching Muslim Kashmir (if not entire J&K) from India] without understanding that if Nawaz does not do so then Jihadi-Islam of Pakistan [which, as per media, has already laid down the lives of ~ one hundred Thousand Jihadis (including from J&K, including POK) for Kashmir] will make political life of Nawaz untenable and if these Jihadis do not do so then the chances of the entry of ISIS / Caliphate will increase exponentially in AF-PAK-Kashmir region. Therefore it is dishonest on the part of India in general and Venkaiah in particular to blame Pakistan for still relying on Islam, because it is the very basis on which Pakistan came in existence in 1947. If there is one which can be blamed for the apparent success of Islamic ideology being pursued by Pakistan then it is India which has not been true to secularism & socialism and that is the reason, as given below, Hindu majority India has not been able to defeat two nation theory:- (1)- To what extent India compromised on Secularism is evident from six writ petitions which, in order to restore secularism in India, I repeatedly ask Muslims / secularists to file in Supreme Court of India about (i)- Legally expected restoration of Status-quo-ante of Babri Masjid which was demolished in 1992 in the presence of Observer of Supreme Court (ii)- Query about retrieve of POK in the interest of removal of AFSPA etc from J&K (unlike Hindu majority Goa the POK has not been retrieved by so-called secular India and even Bangladesh was not assimilated in 1971 despite collapse of two nation theory because both are Muslim majority) (iii)- Prosecution against guilty found by Sri Krishna Commission about 1992-93 communal riots in Mumbai / Maharashtra (while rightly asking for deportation / action against Dawood Ibrahim etc, the guilty of serial blasts which were direct fallout of said riots) (iv)- Identification, tracking and deportation of illegal immigrants, mainly from Bangladesh (v)- Quashing of discriminatory (especially against Muslims) Reservation Policy (vi)- Delhi 1984 & Gujarat 2002 riots about section 130 & 131 Cr.P.C. (2)- As far socialism which is nothing but joint-capitalism or mixed-economy where State-capital should also have sanctity and should be deployed (like private capital) profitably especially in the interest of eliminating unemployment. But in India (like in USSR which got dismantled as it too squandered State-capital) most of the Public Undertakings have been allowed to run in loss. The worst part of it is that State-capital (out of Tax) to the tune of ~ $ 15 Trillion is not being recovered by GOI. Hence two writ petitions are needed in Supreme Court about (i)- Constitutional obligation about Public debt under Article 292 & 293 and not under unconstitutional FRBM (ii)- Recovery of Rs ~ 1,000 Trillion tax out of black money (declared illegally as agricultural income to avoid tax) which, if recovered, can solve most of the problems being faced by India especially arising due to economic hardship. Though given the nature of political party of Venkaiah the BJP, it will be difficult for BJP to change the course in favor of secularism and socialism. But if BJP is really serious about patriotism and national interest what Venkaiah is preaching in said article to rest of India, then it needs to be honest about secularism & socialism. At the same time GOI need not through-up its hands as has been done in said article of Venkaiah. Instead of knocking at wrong doors the GOI led by BJP should understand that the key to the solution of the problem of Kashmir lies in retrieve of POK. Hence without wasting any time India should talk to Pakistan for retrieve of POK. In case Pakistan refuses to hand over POK on table then India should retrieve POK militarily [without bothering about Nukes of India and Pakistan because in ultimate analysis after-all it is white-mans burden. Especially after BREXIT where under international pressure (of West, the USA & Europe who are increasingly the victim of terrorist attacks) the Common Wealth will be REALIZED sooner than later, in the interest of eliminating global Jihadi terrorism]. Regards Hem Raj Jain (Author of Betrayal of Americanism) Bengaluru, India Dans la meme rubrique : < > China brings new hopes to Tanzanian villagers through maize-corn intercropping program Chinese hybrid rice technologies contribute to Philippines' agricultural development CIIE makes huge Chinese market a big opportunity for world Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena) While tech titans have long had ambitions in payments, it's been a tough slog. But they're still coming and the payments industry should be on alert. When Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 1994 declared banks "dinosaurs," a ripple of fear went through the industry. However, the storied software giant's unsuccessful efforts in financial services underscore that notwithstanding enormous resources, reach and technology prowess, displacing banks and traditional payment systems isn't so easy. It threw in the towel on Microsoft Money in 1999 and on TransPoint, its joint electronic bill-payment venture with Citigroup and First Data, in 2000. But despite such failures, the payments industry shouldn't get complacent. Tech colossi remain keenly interested in payments. It was with a mix of fear, envy and resentment that the French dubbed Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon as the "GAFAs." These American technology titans are formidable networks. While they aren't payments businesses, they use and have further ambitions in payments to enhance their core franchises. European regulators worry about their cultural influence and platform dominance. It is similar to how they also are troubled by the reach of the world-reigning retail payment networks headquartered in the U.S.: Mastercard and Visa. When Google Checkout was launched in 2005, some worried the search giant would displace existing payment systems. While that was unlikely Google's ambition, traditional networks remain entrenched and Google is still trying to make waves in the payments world. Google's search, browser, YouTube, email and mobile-OS assets directly or indirectly support its core business: enabling commerce. To reduce payments friction, Android Pay is its latest digital-wallet contender. In a similar vein, Google, along with companies like Facebook, are also experimenting with buy buttons as an intuitively appealing means of improving ad-click-through-purchase performance. Despite these companies' hurdles in integrating merchants' delivery systems, and the lukewarm consumer reception to these innovations, these efforts bear watching. Google is willing to lose money with Google Wallet and Gmail-anchored person-to-person payments to boost engagement. With the same aim, it is reportedly readying a Gmail-based bill-payment service, called Pony Express, through which consumers could manage day-to-day finances. While this would not be good for banks, it would be potentially a win for an Electronic Bill Payment and Presentment network and backend partner like Fiserv, FIS, ACI Worldwide or Mastercard. The most valuable company on the planet and senior GAFA is a mobile engagement platform: Apple. Many worried that Apple Pay was an attempt to upend the payments ecosystem. Instead, Apple has astutely leveraged the existing system to advance the digital-wallet service. The Cupertino tech behemoth wants to enrich its iOS platform and customer relationships, not displace payment networks and processors or banks. However, as Apple Pay gains traction it will diminish banks' customer relationships, and make it more likely Apple will demand a greater slice of interchange. While merchants use iPhones and iPads to accept payments, Apple's greatest potential for dominance is in the services it could offer to consumers. Facebook, meanwhile, with its 1.7 billion active users, is the social network gargantuan. Users of its WhatsApp and Messenger services generate a whopping 60 billion messages daily. Facebook supports profitable retail and unprofitable P2P payments platforms. More awareness of Facebook's payments services, and a more aggressive foray into digital wallets by the social networking giant, would increase users' on-platform engagement and therefore boost ad revenue. Amazon may be the world's most successful merchant and logistics platform, albeit still unprofitable. Aside from a stumble in mobile acceptance, Amazon's incremental payments approach has worked. It is extending payments services to online merchants beyond Amazon, though many retailers may ultimately balk at accepting a competitor's wallet. While GAFAs could have a go at disrupting the payments ecosystem, a more likely and sensible strategy for them is continuing to leverage existing systems to bolster their core businesses. Nevertheless, as former Intel CEO Andy Grove would counsel the payments industry, "only the paranoid survive." Massive GAFA networks will generate payments and money-transfer volume but, like Goliath banks, they have the potential to do more. They could become payment-concentration points, able to influence the mix of payments services in the market, and consequently squeeze networks' brands and economics. Like Mastercard, Visa and the Goliath banks, the technology four horsemen have powerful trusted brands and reach. Adoption of their digital wallets and payment products reduces network brands' prominence. It matters. The brand conveys the network promise. The neutered brands of PIN-debit networks like Star, NYCE and Accel are invisible to consumers and merchants. Consequently, banks treat them like backend utilities and their transaction economics are thinner than that of high-octane-branded networks. The GAFAs will focus on enabling payments and financial services on their platforms, reinforcing their centrality in consumers' lives, while avoiding or minimizing participation in the most regulated aspects of financial services. Banks and payment networks must engage with these tech giants with care, with a view to safeguarding their brands and relationship equity with consumers and merchants. Easier said than done. Eric Grover is principal at Intrepid Ventures, a corporate development and strategy consultancy advising payment issuers, networks and processors, and other payments companies. PHILADELPHIA Sens. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton would ensure big banks do not again threaten the financial system. Speaking during prime-time spots at the Wells Fargo Center, Sanders cited the Democratic platform's call for a restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act as a top reason to vote for Clinton in November. "It is no secret that Hillary Clinton and I disagree on a number of issues," Sanders said. "I am happy to tell you that at the Democratic Platform Committee, there was a significant coming together the Democratic Party now calls for breaking up the major financial institutions on Wall Street and the passage of a 21st-century Glass-Steagall Act." Clinton herself has stopped short of calling for a return to Glass-Steagall, a 1930s-era law that separated commercial and investment banking and was repealed by her husband, former President Bill Clinton. She has suggested instead that policymakers should target large nonbanks. But her campaign agreed to make changes to the Democratic platform as a way to make peace with Sanders, her only significant rival during the primaries. That peace was clearly still fragile. Earlier in the day, Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned after hacked emails revealed efforts within the party to undermine Sanders and ensure Clinton's nomination. Sanders' supporters quickly took to the streets in oppressive, 90-degree heat while the DNC and Clinton campaign worked to defuse the turmoil and eventually issued an official apology. During the evening speeches, disgruntled Sanders supporters interrupted several, including for progressive hero Warren. A few in the crowd could be heard chanting "We trusted you" during her remarks, apparently implying she had betrayed her ideals by supporting Clinton. But Warren ignored the gibes, instead calmly laying out a case in favor of Clinton and against GOP nominee Donald Trump. That included a prominent mention of Clinton's banking policy. "We don't need weaker rules on Wall Street. We need stronger rules and when big banks get too risky, break them up. Hillary will fight to keep big banks accountable," she said during her address just minutes before Sanders took the stage. Warren also attacked Trump's call to repeal the Dodd-Frank Act and vowed to defend the legislation and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which she helped create. "Donald Trump wants to roll back financial regulations to turn Wall Street loose to wreck our economy again," Warren said. "Democrats fought for a strong consumer agency so big banks can't cheat people. We won, but Republicans and lobbyists battled us every step of the way. Five years later, that consumer agency has returned $11 billion to families who were cheated, and Republicans they are still trying to kill it." The calls by Sanders and Warren appeared to satisfy some progressives within the party. "Tonight, Senator Warren and Senators Sanders will lay out a bold agenda. That agenda breaking up the too-big-to-fail banks, ending obscene tax loopholes, making Wall Street work for Main Street instead of the other way around is what is going to energize and motivate voters this fall," Jon Green, a spokesman from the Take on Wall Street Coalition, said in a statement. Look, I dont know if the Republican National Convention was a shambles or a cunning trick. I dont know if Ted Cruz is a genius or a cad. I dont know if Trumps speech was dark and dismal or if it said exactly what the average voter is wanting to hear. All I know is that the good old gentlemanly conservatism that I have adhered to since my introduction to Hayek and Mises 40 years ago is dead. Clue One is Jonah Goldberg driving from Cleveland to Maine to join his wife and daughter. So last night after driving for five or so hours to flee the Cleve, I was pretty tired. I penned a down payment on a downright downbeat G-File. I hadnt slept much the previous week -- I made my share of mistakes by the lake -- and I was in a foul mood. Jonah Goldberg is a great guy, and his Liberal Fascism is a magnificent takedown of liberals and everything they stand for. But today he is shivering in a lifeboat watching the conservative Titanic slip beneath the waves. What went wrong? Id say that the fatal flaw was that the conservative movement couldnt transform itself from a debating club into a militant movement to take the fight to the liberals. Mencius Moldbug had it exactly right. The universities and the media are the Cathedral, the Democratic Party is the Inner Party that gets to rule when in power and the Republican Party is the Outer Party that gets to govern when in office. The Outer Party is never going to take the fight to the Inner Party. Years ago I picked up from a woman the simple notion that Government is Force: it is not kindly librarians helping people. Since then Ive proposed that politics is division, because every election attempts to split the electorate, and system is domination, as in every administrative government program. Now, after a looking into the liberal activism culture Ive decided that politics is violence, for that is what every peaceful protest threatens if its non-negotiable demands are not met. Finally, government is injustice. It must be so, because every government program takes money from people by force and hands it out to the governments supporters. By supporters I dont just mean community organizers, but people like me: Social Security and Medicare recipients. Of course, liberals dont think that their rule of the experts is injustice. Not at all. They listen to NPR and read the New York Times and comfortably know that they are bending the arc of history towards justice. You would think that too if you were a comfortably tenured member of the ruling class. But government is force, and government is injustice, so any ruling class is likely to provoke unrest and unhappiness among the people. The point of all the checks and balances and separation of powers and bills of rights is to limit the damage the ruling class can do. So if the ruling class had a lick of sense it would listen to the opposition. It would compromise with the opposition instead of passing ObamaCare without a single Republican vote. Only it doesnt. Instead liberals corrupt the election process, they want to cut back the First Amendment, and they force their opponents into silence with their accusations of hate and racism, sexism, and homophobia. Sad. I say that this is a huge strategic mistake. It makes the voters angry. And that is why the voters are looking for a president to smash things up after seven years of a president that thinks politics is all about activism and organizing. Of course, its not just gentlemanly conservatives that have suffered under the liberal yoke. Others have suffered more. The white working class is dying from despair after half a century of liberal injustice. Black Lives Matter aside, African Americans have surely suffered a cultural tsunami from government programs designed to help them. The millennial kids are suffering under the college loans that crank up college fees and help hire more diversity administrators, and mom-and-pop savers are getting near-zero interest on their life savings so that the government can keep the deficit down. And how about the Asian quota at the nations selective colleges? All because liberals dont get that every time you start some wonderful program to bend the arc of history towards justice you stick it in someones eye. Because government is force. And very often you hurt the very people you are trying to help. Because force is a very blunt instrument. Still, its a shame that gentlemanly conservatism is finished; it was worthy and noble, as far as it went. As always, liberals will learn to love it once they get to experience the Trump replacement -- right in the solar plexus. Christopher Chantrill @chrischantrill runs the go-to site on US government finances, usgovernmentspending.com. Also see his American Manifesto and get his Road to the Middle Class. The Democratic Party is about to approve the most radically pro-abortion platform in its history. Its a Hillary platform, a Hillary party, and a Hillary convention. Tragically, making it easier to kill unborn children has been a Hillary Clinton priority throughout her long career. In 1992, she and Bill Clinton told Americans that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. That seductive message helped them to win the presidency. Liberals claim that killing unborn children is a fundamental constitutional right. But no reporter ever asked Bill and Hillary why this constitutional right should be rare. Of course, they didnt want abortion to be rare at all. Hillary as First Lady tried to force every county in America to open up abortion killing centers. Thats what would have happened if a Democratic Congress approved her bill to take over our health care. But her bill failed in 1994. Hillary was so burned by her experience with abortion and health care mandates that she told Newsweek Magazine (October 31, 1994), abortion is wrong. She never explained how something she admits is wrong can ever be a right. Reporters never asked her. But even that concession to reality didnt help Hillary and Bill to save their Democratic Congress. Republicans triumphed at the polls in 1994. And 43% of all those who came out to defeat Bill and Hillary told pollsters the Pro-Life cause was paramount for them in their voting that year. The Republican Party continued through the 1990s and into the 2000s to uphold the right to life. Every Republican Platform since 1976 has taken a pro-life position on the abortion issue. In fact, Ronald Reagan even invented the term pro-life. The media hated to use that term, but when the President of the United States speaks those powerful words, it is hard even for the pro-abortion press to suppress them. And Ronald Reagan was the Republican Partys biggest winner since Ike. By 2010, however, Barack Obama had ingeniously found ways to get around the Hyde Amendment. His health care takeover did not force Americans to pay for abortions directly. It just forces Americans to have health insurance. And the Obama administration mandates that insurers must cover killing the unborn in their plans. Dozens of pro-life Democrats in the House of Representatives -- veteran Congressmen like Jim Oberstar (DFL-Minn.) and Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) -- lost their seats and their political lives over this issue. They fell for an Obama Executive Order that falsely promised to protect taxpayers from having to subsidize these killings. Now, Hillary Clinton wants to go all out for abortion. Her 2016 platform calls for a repeal of the Hyde Amendment. That bi-partisan measure was first signed by liberal Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1977. The Hyde Amendment is a law that has prevented direct funding of abortion. Planned Parenthood and others who kill unborn children complain that millions of abortions have not been done because of the Hyde Amendment. Thats why we cherish the memory of Henry Hyde. There are millions of Americans alive today because of his heroic stand for life. Rep. Hyde (R-Ill.) was happy to work with Rep. William Natcher (D-Ken.) to protect unborn childrens lives. And those whose lives were spared can vote! Last summer, the Washington Post had to give front-page treatment to a ghastly story. Planned Parenthood was caught on camera selling hearts and lungs and livers from their little victims. Pro-life activist David Daleiden shocked the country with his in-depth investigative reporting. Daleiden got inside the Planned Parenthood killing project and brought out evidence of their scavenging organs from these victims. Daleidens Center for Medical Progress posted their expose online here for the world to see. At that time, candidate Hillary said she found it disturbing. Reporters did not rush to ask her: Madame Secretary, what is disturbing? The fact that Planned Parenthood kills these unborn children and sells their organs? Or the fact that they got caught on video admitting to it? Or might it be this disturbing story could interrupt your march to the nomination? While we are discussing the Black Lives Matter movement, we should note that a highly disproportionate number of these little victims are black. Black Americans constitute 13% of the U.S. population. But abortions for black women make up 31% of all abortions. With 78% of Planned Parenthoods killing centers in or near minority communities, it is obvious they are targeting unborn children who are black. Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party establishment want to declare open season on the unborn. They want to force us to pay for Planned Parenthood killings. They want no protections whatsoever for mothers or their unborn children. They want no waiting periods. No informed consent laws. No bans on partial-birth abortions. No bans on killing unborn children because they happen to be female or black. It is Hillary Clinton and her Democratic Party leaders who are all in for the most extreme position on killing unborn children. The Gallup Poll recognizes that most Americans oppose most abortions. It is Hillary and the Democratic leaders who are truly extremists on this painful and divisive issue. That is why author Ramesh Ponnuru called the Democratic Party the Party of Death Like many other minorities, Ramesh Ponnuru knows that Planned Parenthoods racist roots and eugenic practices go back a century and more. Against such, the Republican Party must always stand strong. Abraham Lincoln was not talking about unborn children, but about black folks, when he said: Nothing stamped in the divine image was sent into the world to be trod upon. Now, though, we can ask: Are not unborn children so stamped? Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party leaders gathering this week in Philadelphia have already given their answer: a resounding NO! Ken Blackwell is the senior fellow for human rights and constitutional governance, at the Family Research Council, in Washington, DC. I have not been a Trump supporter from the first. I much preferred Rubio, many of whose positions I still support. As a military aviator, John McCains story of heroism made him something of a secular saint, and I strongly supported him during his election run. As a believing Christian I was and am skeptical of Trumps relationship with faith. But I was won over by Trumps acceptance speech this last Thursday. What I heard was a plan: A plan with attainable, measurable objectives with outcomes directly tied to their accomplishment. This simplicity, modesty in scope, and realistic attainability completely changed my opinion about Trump. First, Trump said that he will improve Americas security by building a wall. Building a serious border wall is a practical action that can be completed. Once complete it will improve security if supported properly. Examples from countries around the world prove this: For example, many years ago, I lived in the Palestinian West Bank territories. There was no real border, and weekly, suicide bombers would go from the Palestinian areas and blow themselves up wherever Jews would gather. Eventually Israel built its wall. This was very controversial. But no longer do suicide bombers attack. The wall worked. The same had to be done on Israels southern border as thousands of African refugees walked across the Sinai and into Israel. That wall also stopped the in-flow. Illegal immigration has been a subject of conversation ever since I could read the newspapers. A wall might finally end this conversation at least regarding the southern border. Secondly, Trump said that he would re-negotiate our trade deals. This, he said, would improve the economy. When people ask: When was America ever great?, I think back to the mid-80s to the mid-90s. At that time, I remember Walmart being full of products that were Made in America. I remember visiting friends in small country towns that worked at factories making clothes. After NAFTA was enacted our factories made their way south of the border. Then came Chinas entrance into the WTO: the shelves filled with Chinese products. Yes, things were cheaper -- but at what cost to our economy and our society? For 20 years wages have not risen for most workers. The American dream -- that our children will do better than us -- is in danger. Bernie Sanders popular candidacy showed that right and left, Americans want a re-negotiation of our trade deals. So, who better to work on a better deal for the country than the author of the Art of the Deal? Thirdly, Trump said that he would win the fight against ISIS. This is also eminently achievable. Under Obama we have fought ISIS with both hands behind our back. We have not tried to win, but rather have tried to use the minimum force necessary to prevent a total collapse. This gave ISIS years of safe haven. Years to perfect its recruiting strategies and plan attacks upon the weaknesses of the West. If ISIS had been swiftly defeated sometime around 2013 most likely the horrifying recent terrorist attacks around the world would also not have happened. As a veteran of the successful struggle against ISIS -- at that time called the Islamic State in Iraq -- I was maddened by Obamas choice to throw our success away in 2011 and 2013 by first withdrawing and then choosing to only minimally assist the Iraqi Forces when ISIS invaded Iraq. Obamas strategy has proven unrealistic and dangerous to the worlds safety. If we want to win, can we? Yes. Will Americans die in the fighting? Most likely. Can it happen quickly? Upon the presidents orders, the planning and preparations can begin; against such a militarily weak enemy, victory on the battlefield (defined as defeating militarily significant formations, not complete pacification) is merely a matter of time. Trumps three major proposals are all very possible and could be completed within a few years. There are 1,989 miles along our southern border. 700 miles of fencing have already been completed after 4 years of work. That leaves 1289 miles to go, almost all in Texas. As for trade deal re-negotiations, these can be accomplished relatively quickly: NAFTA negotiations began in 1991, and the agreement was signed by the end of 1992. Regarding winning against ISIS, the French faced a similar Islamist foe in Mali in 2013. They began serious combat (eventually involving 4,000 soldiers) on 11 January, and were mopping up fleeing remnants by March 31, 2013. Trump is not a messiah. He is not claiming to heal the planet and slow the oceans rise as Obama proclaimed in his acceptance speech. Instead, Trump is an executive, one who has listed his relatively modest objectives and milestones along the way. That is what I heard in his acceptance speech and I was won over. Democratic congressman from Georgia Hank Johnson evoked comparisons to the notorious Nazi war criminal Julius Streicher by comparing Israeli settlers to termites. Streicher's anti-Semitic newspaper, Der Sturmer, often portrayed Jews as insects, rats, and other vermin. Now Johnson has gone him one better. Washington Free Beacon: There has been a steady [stream], almost like termites can get into a residence and eat before you know that youve been eaten up and you fall in on yourself, there has been settlement activity that has marched forward with impunity and at an ever increasing rate to the point where it has become alarming, Johnson said during an event sponsored by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, an anti-Israel organization that galvanizes supporters of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, or BDS. It has come to the point that occupation, with highways that cut through Palestinian land, with walls that go up, with the inability or the restriction, with the illegality of Palestinians being able to travel on those roads and those roads cutting off Palestinian neighborhoods from each other, Johnson continued. And then with the building of walls and the building of check points that restrict movement of Palestinians. Weve gotten to the point where the thought of a Palestinian homeland gets further and further removed from reality. Johnson, who in 2010 voiced his fears that Guam would tip over and capsize if too many people resided on the island, said that Jewish people routinely steal land and property from Palestinians. You see one home after another being appropriated by Jewish people who come in to claim that land just because somebody did not spend the night there, he said, referring to claims that Israeli settlers plot to seize Palestinian land. The home their [Palestinian] ancestors lived in for generations becomes an Israeli home and a flag goes up, he said, adding, the Palestinians are barred from flying flags in their own neighborhoods. Johnson went on to compare Lieberman to Trump as he lashed out against the Israeli government. The fact is the Israeli government, which is the most right-wing government ever to exist in the state of Israel in its history, the most right wing government, you got a guy like Trump who is now the minister of defense in Israel calling the shots on defense, he said, adding that he is not the only member of Congress who holds these views. American cyber-security experts strongly believe that Russia's fingerprints are all over the hack job that exposed more than 20,000 emails from the Democratic National Committee. The creator of the website Wikileaks that published the emails, Julian Assange, denies Russian involvement. But it's the question of why Vladimor Putin would seek to influence the U.S. election that has become controversial. The White House says Putin hacked the DNC to elect Donald Trump president. There is zero evidence for that it's pure speculation. But by inference, Democrats are accusing Trump of the crime, desperately looking for a way to deflect attention from the corruption and hypocrisy discovered in the emails. The Hill: I think we are probably in full-scale, Yes, this is Russia trying to influence the election so they can have the person they prefer at the top of the American government, said Jason Healey, a director at the Atlantic Council who has worked on cyber defenses at the White House. The leak of the DNC emails last week was a bombshell, providing clear evidence that officials in the committee were actively working against the campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). The controversy has marred the start of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia and forced the DNC chairwoman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), to resign. From the beginning, there has been little doubt that the breach of the committee's systems exposed in June was the work of Russian intelligence. Multiple security firms have conducted a forensic analysis of the committees systems and found strong evidence pointing to a pair of well-known groups affiliated with the Kremlin. At the time, the breach looked like traditional intelligence gathering. Political committees are a high-value target for any government seeking to predict the outcome of a national election, experts say. Some security experts then posited that the hack could be a bid by the Russians to influence the election in some way, but the underlying evidence was too tenuous to make a strong case. But the timing of Fridays email dump on the eve of the Philadelphia convention changed that assessment for many. Experts say they no longer have any doubt that Russia is trying to influence the outcome of Novembers contest. The timing, the way this is being done, makes it obvious that this is an attempt to damage the Democratic presidential campaign, said Scott Borg, director of the nonprofit research institute U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit. The FBI on Monday said it has opened an investigation into the DNC hack to determine the nature and scope of the matter." A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously, and the FBI will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace, the FBI said in a statement. This is an example of taking an outcome the release of emails before the DNC and using it as "evidence." It is suggestive nothing more. Beyond that, those who think Putin is trying to get Trump elected have to come up with a reason why he would want Trump instead of Clinton to deal with. The mutual admiration society is one thing. Trump also admired Saddam Hussein and has said nice things about North Korean leader Kim. That certainly doesn't mean Kim cares whether Trump is elected or not. Putin may like Trump, but does he really want an "America First" president to negotiate with? There's scant evidence of that. Trump might bend in some areas of mutual concern, but he would take a stand in others. As far as Hillary Clinton is concerned, she is a well known quantity with the Russian government a predictability any nation craves. Put simply, there is no discernible advantage for Putin to favor one candidate over the other. That said, Putin likes stirring the pot. If they are responsible for the hack, this could be nothing more than Putin reminding the American government of what he's capable of. A lot of big government and big business supporters say we have to take in more immigrants for various reasons including the economic benefits they bring. Let's look at immigration and jobs for the last few years and see what the numbers look like. First, a nation-state has a sovereign right to allow in immigrants as it sees fit and for the purpose of benefiting the host country, not primarily for the benefit of the immigrants. According to the Migration Policy Institute, in 1990, the immigrant population of the United States was 19.8 million or 7.9 percent of the population. By 2014 it had risen to 42.4 million or 13.3 percent. This chart from the Center for Immigration Studies illustrates the magnitude of the surge, with a historical comparison starting in 1900. Meanwhile, from 1990 to 2014, the U.S. economy created a little over 31 million new jobs per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By extrapolating from the Migration Policy Institute's numbers, we see that from 1990 to 2014, U.S. population growth increased over 68 million people, split between over 45 million citizens and over 22 million immigrants. Therefore, 31 million new jobs were produced for 68 million new residents. In the United States today, there are over 90 million people out of the labor force, who have given up looking for jobs. The United States has added more people than jobs in the last 25 years. Part of the reason for that is the extremely high immigration numbers. If the immigration numbers were reduced, it would provide more opportunity for people who already live in America to work and produce. Why wouldn't immigration be reduced by the federal government so as to allow the people already here, preferably citizens, to fill the jobs? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports higher immigration and politicians who support higher immigration. That is presumably because many of the Chamber's influential members can make more money hiring immigrants who will work for less than Americans. Disney, as an example, has been accused of this. That may be partly why some Republicans support higher immigration. For them, it's follow the money. The Democratic Party likely supports increased immigration also because the majority of immigrants who become citizens will become Democrats. For them, it's follow the power. Notice the percentage comparison between 1980 and 2012 of party registration changes in Table 4 of this article. Immigrants who become citizens overwhelmingly vote Democrat. Republicans should call for lower immigration to stop the Democrat voter recruitment. But more importantly, all Americans should call for lower immigration in order to offer a better opportunity of finding jobs for those millions of their fellow Americans of all political persuasions who would like to work. Even if a new administration faithfully enforces border security, the number of immigrants coming in will need to be drastically reduced. That is one obvious way to provide jobs for Americans who currently can't find work. Our elected representatives should be made aware of these facts. President Obama's decision to increase the number of Syrian refugees the U.S. will take in this year is unaffected by the terror attacks in Germany carried out by three refugees, the White House says. Washington Examiner: The 10,000 Syrian refugees the president wants to admit by October are subjected to more thorough screening and vetting than anyone trying to enter the United States, White House spokesman Josh Earnest stressed Monday. "That's why the president has confidence ramping up the number of refugees admitted to the United States," Earnest told reporters during his daily briefing. "Obviously, almost all of them are innocent people fleeing violence in their own countries some of them are innocents fleeing genocide. "The president feels like the U.S. has a responsibility to do our part to try to provide relief for people fleeing that type of violence," he said. Stressing that Obama's top priority is the safety and the security of the American people, Earnest said the screening process for Syrian refugees involves running their names through a wide variety of U.S. and international law enforcement, military and intelligence agency databases. "So I can understand why people are concerned about our national security the president is concerned about our national security ... That is why he has ensured that refugees admitted to the United States are subjected to all the screening," he said. The total number of Syrian refugees admitted to the United States this fiscal year has risen to roughly 6,700, according to several reports that cite the State Department. After a slow start, the State Department hired more employees to provide screenings, and began admitting refugees at a more rapid clip this summer. German authorities have said two Syrian refugees and one Afghan refugee are responsible for three attacks over the last week. We'll be right. When Donald Trump wins the presidency on Nov. 8, some of us can cheer our seer power. Ann Coulter called Trump a lock atop the Paris slaughter of Nov. 13. I guaranteed a Trump triumph way before the Muslim massacres in Europe and California and wrote a column to make it official in February. WorldNetDaily's Joseph Farah recently predicted a Trump landslide of Reagan proportions. Also the other day, Reagan: The Movie producer Mark Joseph said over lunch that he could see everything breaking for Trump at crunch time. We're on the winning side. Just as the rare Trumpeters of 2015 Jeff Lord, Charles Hurt, Michael Savage have enjoyed higher volume with TV and radio voices Gina Loudon, A.J. Delgado, Kayleigh McEnany, Laura Ingraham, Jesse Lee Peterson, Bill Mitchell, Tucker Carlson, Andrea Tantaros, Kim Guilfoyle, Pat Buchanan, Scottie Hughes, and Sean Hannity. And yet. The conservative holdouts are maddening. Sure, Van Jones and Paul Begala will never leave the lefty reservation. But GOP hands Mark Levin, Hugh Hewitt, Jonah Goldberg, Rich Lowry, S.E. Cupp? Their conversion to Trump is slower than a Hillary fashion change. Speaking of which, what do those righties want? The pantsuit hag kicking down the Constitution and borders? Evidently, such old-guard Republicans don't care if the White House stays flaming red. Which leads Trump fans to ask: why? What is it about Trump's dead-on positions that the George Will gang can't stomach? What exactly don't they like about these? Build the wall. Stop the Muslim terror flood. Kill Obamacare. Erase Common Core. Solidify gun rights. Slash taxes. U-turn inversions. Paint the art of the trade deal. In reality, Bill Kristol & Co. love Trump's takes. What they can't stand is being wrong exactly how they've been for a year as Trump: Announced his candidacy. Won every debate. Spelled out policy details such as how to fix the VA. Drew expanding throngs. Dominated the primaries. Won the nomination in a delegate rout. Charles Krauthammer and fellow travelers went down the Trump-can't-win path. And can't handle getting exposed for such spectacular idiocy. You know what's at the heart of conservatives' anti-Trump drumbeat? Embarrassment. People hate wiping egg off their faces. I felt that in my office from the Summer of Trump through New Hampshire and Indiana. Professional pundits full of themselves promised that Rubio would topple the real estate titan. And when I stood tough with Trump, they dismissed me to cover up their humiliation. As the faulty faction remains intransigent vs. Trump, these political nuts are looking more like the pouting Cruz. Get over it, people. Listen to Tennessee's Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who delivered a harsh counter in Cleveland: Hurt feelings are not qualifiers for leadership. Or for the last word in Coulter's new book: In Trump We Trust. Bucky Fox is an author and editor in Southern California. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker spoke at the DNC last night and proceeded to create an alternate past for America. There was no such thing as a "Declaration of Independence," said Booker. It was a "declaration of interdependence." And he pooh-poohed the notion that America was built on "rugged individualism." Instead, all major accomplishment of the U.S. were done "together" meaning, of course, thanks to the government. Washington Examiner: "I respect and value the ideals of rugged individualism and self-reliance, but rugged individualism didn't defeat the British, it didn't get us to the moon, build our nation's highways. Rugged individualism didn't map the human genome. We did that together," Booker said. "We can't devolve into a nation where our highest aspiration is that we just tolerate each other. We are not called to be a nation of tolerance. We are called to be a nation of love." Booker called on the "nation of love" to stand against Trump and noted the GOP nominee's disparaging and mocking comments about women, Mexicans, and a disabled journalist as chief among the reasons why. "We have a presidential nominee in Hillary Clinton who knows that, in a time of stunningly wide disparities of wealth in our nation, America's greatness must not be measured by how many millionaires and billionaires we have, but by how few people we have living in poverty," Booker said. "She knows that debt-free college is not a gift, it's not charity, it's an investment. It represents the best of our values, the best of our history, the best of our party." He continued, "Hillary Clinton knows what Donald Trump betrays time and again in this campaign: that we are not a zero-sum nation, it is not you or me, it is not one America against another America. It is you and I, together, interdependent, interconnected with one single interwoven destiny." Booker's message to the full convention differed somewhat from his message to the Democratic black caucus on Monday morning. His speech before the full convention touted Clinton over Trump, but his speech to the black caucus used Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine to sell the Democratic ticket. "As much as I love our ticket, and I served in the Senate with Tim Kaine, he's ... extraordinary, when America discovers the gem that he is, I think you're going to be very excited," Booker told the black caucus. "I'm very excited about the top of the ticket, but I want you to know that ultimately the test of our future's not going to be about who's on the ballot, but it's going to be about us." Booker's reinvention of American history is laughable. More importanly, he misses the point about "rugged individualism." "Rugged individualism and self-reliance" are the cornerstones of personal liberty. With the exception of the defeat of the British (or any other enemy against which America has fought a war), all of those government projects he mentioned are inventions of post-World War II America, when government expanded to the Leviathan it is today. What of the previous 175 years? As far as road-building, the states were wholly responsible for that. Other transportation projects like the Erie Canal were built by "rugged individualists." Villages, towns, and cities were founded by one individual or a group of individuals in voluntary association. Universities were established by religions or rich benefactors. Booker's comments bring to mind Elizabeth Warren's observation that "you didn't build that." She, too, missed the point. Government can build roads, establish schools to educate workers, and accomplish other infrastructure that helps a private business thrive. But for the most part, all of the things that government does would have been built anyway. The spark of creativity in individuals is the defining characteristic of the American people, and more often than not, government has gotten in the way of progress rather than helped it. Like Michelle Obama exaggerating the notion that the White House was built by slaves, Booker deliberately exaggerates the role of government in building America. More than that, he cheapens the idea of individual liberty as the driving force in American history. I made it all the way through the Republican Convention without getting so enthused that I ran to this computer and made a contribution to the Trump campaign. I usually wait until fairly late in presidential campaigns to donate because past experience has taught me the hard lesson that the first donation opens the floodgates of solicitation via email, snail mail, and telephone. Besides, I figure that's when my candidate needs cash the most, in the late stages of the fight, when it's getting down to the nitty-gritty and a lot of the early supporters are beginning to feel tapped out. But damn all, that phony redskin, Fauxahontas Warren, just sent me frothing to this keyboard to donate my first hundred bucks way too early by my normal practices. I simply could not help myself; listening to the litany of lies flowing so glibly from that self-proclaimed savage, who has spoken with a forked tongue throughout her career to gain advantage over her peers, utterly drove me to violate my own policy. I know, I know: it's gonna cost me bucks a few hundred more than usual, most likely because now those Republican fund-raisers are going to be coming after me from every point of the conservative compass. You know what? I don't care. I am so determined that a conniving, corrupt criminal and her pedophile husband will not sit in our White House that I'm willing to put my bucks where Donald's mouth is. He's not perfect, but he's a damned sight better than the alternative. So tonight, way ahead of my normal schedule, I sent him my first hundred bucks, and I'll certainly send more I hope not before this Democrat Convention is over, but that depends on who they put up there as speakers and how gratingly irritating they are. I'm praying they don't put that phony, shrieking Fauxahontas back on stage, because I'm here to tell you, folks: that woman may not be a natural Native American, but she's for damned sure a natural fundraiser for Trump. And it's gonna cost me money... Joanie seemed to lose connection to the world when her beloved daughter died of cancer. Suddenly, Joanie was 88 years old. Much of the day she lies in bed, her thin limbs gleaming white wisps. But sometimes she can be coaxed to her porch, which is usually invitation only. There she lights a cigarette and, in a gravelly New York drawl, tells the stories of her life, which she has lived as a conversation with God. Joanie tells about meeting Eleanor Roosevelt at the Ethical Culture Society in New York. Mrs. Roosevelt selected Joanie for more get-togethers at the first lady's New York apartment. Joanie remembers she was sent away to summer camp so her parents could do their own thing. She recalls that one of her bunkmates at camp was a skinny girl with long, stringy hair named Barbara Walters. She and Barbara would sit on the floor in their bunk, whispering and laughing, reading letters from the celebrities who frequented Barbara's father's nightclub. Joanie wanted to be an actress. Her father told her he would pay for NYU drama school as long as she also got a teaching certificate. She agreed to the bargain. Joanie wanted to be as independent as possible, so she found a 6'-by-6' room for $7.50 a week, walking distance to NYU. When her father saw the room, he said, "For crying out loud, they give you better cells at Sing Sing." One day Joanie was walking to a dress rehearsal, struggling to carry packages and props in her small arms. A tall man walking ahead of her turned and asked in a polite voice, "Can I help you carry anything?" He introduced himself. His name was Henry Fonda. They talked keenly about their voices and their craft. Eventually, practicalities prompted Joanie to move to Queens. One day when she was out walking her doggie, a cute blond boy came up to her and asked if he could walk the doggie with her. His father owned the apartment building where Joanie was living. She recalls, "I had an immediate heart connection to Donald Trump. He is good. I know he is good. He is doing God's work." Joanie worked as a classroom teacher for only a few years. Given her mix of childlike astonishment and firmness with a touch a fire, she was quickly grabbed up into administration. She chose to work for the United Federation of Teachers, right-hand man to Albert Shanker. In the '60s, when qualified white educators were being thrown out of predominantly black schools in Brooklyn and Queens, Joanie was welcome everywhere. She spent her adult life in the unremitting forefront of left-wing Democrat politics. Yet Joanie says, "I can't look at her. I know she is evil," referring to Hillary Clinton. Joanie gets impatient when asked about what she means by Hillary being evil. She snaps back, "I just know." It is said that hypocrisy is the most pitiable state, that even God can't reach a hypocrite. This is because weakness some call it sin comes straight from a wavering heart, but hypocrisy wraps round and round the heart, making it almost impossible to enter. Is this what Joanie is seeing in Hillary? Hillary Clinton has been engulfed in hypocrisy for so long, it seems without the scandals she would have no narrative at all. Hillary is doubly untouchable. She is untouchable in being placed above the law, and her corruption has also made her untouchable to the people on the level of the heart. Whether the voter is informed or misguided by the mainstream media, electing the president comes down to the level of the heart. Unless the Democrats steal the election through fraud, Hillary will have a very bad day next November. Mount Bromo in East Java, Indonesia, is the youngest of several volcanoes in the Tengger massif, and is one of Javas most active volcanoes. When its erupting, which it currently is, it emits thick, white, sulphurous smoke. When active, visits to Mount Bromo is generally advised against. Otherwise, the 2,300-meter peak is a popular tourist destination, famous for its scenic location and magnificent sunrise views. Mount Bromo is located in the middle of a wide expanse of sandy plain called the "Sea of Sand". This barren terrain is also home to around 90,000 Tengger people, a Hindu ethnic minority in the predominantly Muslim Indonesian archipelago. Every year, irrespective of whether the mountain is spewing smoke and fire, hundreds of Tenggerese from nearby villages travel up the mountain in order make food offerings which they throw into the live caldera of the volcano. Aside from fruit, rice, and vegetables, livestock such as goats, chicken and even cows are thrown into the volcano. The offerings are made as part of a festival called Yadnya Kasada, which lasts about a month. Photo credit: sara marlowe/Flickr The Yadnya Kasada festival is organized by Pura Luhur Poten, a Hindu temple that sits on the "Sea of Sand. On the 14th day of the festival, the Tenggerese congregate at Pura Luhur Poten to ask for blessings from Ida Sang Hyang Widi Wasa and the God of Mahameru. Then the crowd proceeds along the crater edges of Mount Bromo and throw their offerings into the crater. Despite the danger, some try to climb down into the crater to retrieve the sacrificed goods, which are believed to bring them good luck. Others try to catch the offerings using nets. The Tenggerese people are said to be descendants of the once powerful Majapahit kingdom that ruled Indonesia and most of Southeast Asia from the 13th century until 1500 when it fell to Islamist invaders. At the fall of the Majapahit empire, many fled and took refuge in the Tengger mountains. Among the escapees were the daughter of King Brawijaya of the Majapahit kingdom, and her Brahmin husband. The royal couple were, however, childless. In their desperation, they climbed to the top of Mt. Bromo to beseech the mountain god, who promised them many children on the condition that the youngest child must be sacrificed in the crater of the volcano. To escape the terrible clause, the couple continued to beget children until the twenty-fifth child was born at which point they decided to fulfill their pledge. According to some versions of the story, the couple refused to offer sacrifice causing Mount Bromo to erupt in fury and the flames consumed their child. In another version, the couple willingly sacrificed their child. The tradition of Yadnya Kasada is said to originate from this legend. Photo credit: Juni Kriswanto/AFP Photo Photo credit: Beawiharta/Reuters Photo credit: Fully Handoko/EPA Photo credit: AP Photo/Trisnadi Photo credit: Beawiharta/Reuters Photo credit: Beawiharta/Reuters Photo credit: Beawiharta/Reuters Photo credit: Juni Kriswanto/AFP Photo Photo credit: Fully Handoko/EPA Photo credit: Fully Handoko/EPA Photo credit: Fully Handoko/EPA Photo credit: Fully Handoko/EPA Photo credit: Fully Handoko/EPA Photo credit: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images Sources: Indonesia.travel / Wikipedia / roadsandkingdoms.com The smartphone market has plenty of models for prospective buyers to choose from especially if they aim for an Android device all thanks to fragmentation, which has become a blessing and a curse in Googles mobile world. With so many smartphones on offer, opinions in regards to which smartphone is better are usually split between consumers, but AnTuTus latest report aims to give Android users a more detailed picture in regards to which models have dominated the market throughout the first half of the year. The study includes the global market, Mainland China, the US, India and more. According to data gathered by AnTutu from January 2016 to June 2016, the most popular Android smartphone in the world was the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, accounting for 7.82% of the market. Unsurprisingly, it was followed by three other Samsung models, including the Samsung Galaxy S6, the Galaxy S6 Edge, and the Samsung Galaxy S7, ensuring the companys spot as the worlds most influential smartphone manufacturer. However, in Mainland China, it appears that Xiaomi has won the race with the Redmi Note 3, which accounted for 12.30% of the mobile market in the said region. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 was followed by the Samsung Galaxy S7 with 4.08%, the LeEco 2, and the Xiaomi 4C. Moving on to the United States, AnTuTu shows that, once again, the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 took the lead, with 9.99% of the market. Oddly enough, it was followed by the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 which was originally released in October 2014, and Googles own Nexus 6P which was built by Huawei. Last but not least, it appears that Samsung hasnt really made as much of an impact in India throughout the first half of 2016. Instead, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is leading the pack with 12.45% of the market under its belt, followed by the OnePlus 2 (7.70%), the LeEco 1S, and the original OnePlus One which was initially launched in June 2014, but arrived in India through Amazon a year later. Lenovo also seems to have made a bigger impact in India than anywhere else in the world, with the Lenovo K3 Note accommodating 3.12% of the market, and the Lenovo A7010 following in its footsteps with 2.60% of the market. The gallery below includes more Top 10s by AnTuTu for additional regions, so feel free to browse. BlackBerry announced their second Android-powered smartphone today, in the DTEK50. The company did say that they used a reference design from a partner for the DTEK50. So while not specifically stating that they did grab the Alcatel Idol 4 from TCL and use it for themselves, they did hint at it. Which is what most people had speculated ahead of the launch. After announcing the device, BlackBerry held a Q&A session, where they confirmed that there would be more Android smartphones coming from the Waterloo company later this year. While BlackBerry wouldnt commit to how many Android-powered smartphones are in the pipeline, they did say a couple which for most people would mean two. However, they did elaborate on the fact that there would be one with a physical keyboard. Not a slider, like the PRIV, but a physical keyboard. Think of the BlackBerry Classic, but running Android. Thats essentially what the company is working on right now. There was no time frame given, of when the next Android-powered smartphone would be made available, however we expect to see that launch in the next few months, especially with the holiday season right around the corner. Its also worth noting that while BlackBerry has now launched two Android-powered smartphones, and has plans for at least a couple more, the company is not getting rid of BlackBerry OS. They confirmed multiple times today that BlackBerry 10 is going nowhere, and in fact there is a rather large update coming in the next few weeks, for those that are using BlackBerry 10 devices. This shows that BlackBerry has really pivoted into being a software company. Where they are still working on their own smartphone operating system, but also using Android for their newer smartphones. Advertisement While the BlackBerry PRIV didnt sell as well as many had hoped largely due to the large price tag many are hoping that the DTEK50 sells a bit better. And it likely will, considering it is priced at $299, and has pretty decent specs, even for a mid-range smartphone. The BlackBerry DTEK50 is up for pre-order today at ShopBlackBerry.com for $299 and will be shipping the week of August 8th. Which is less than two weeks away. Chinese smartphone and telecom equipment giant, Huawei Technologies, on Monday released its financial report for H1, 2016, revealing that its revenues for the first six months of this year grew a whopping 40% over its revenues for the corresponding period last year. While Huaweis telecom equipment business as well as its consumer devices unit were both believed to have contributed handsomely to its growth, the company earlier today finally shed some light on exactly how well its consumer business is doing globally. According to the details released by Huawei on Tuesday, the companys consumer electronics business earned revenues of 77.4 billion yuan ($11.6 billion) during the period, growing 41% over the same period last year. The company also says that it shipped 60.5 million handsets globally during the first six months of this year, making it the third-largest smartphone vendor in the world. The figure represents a 25% rise over the companys sales during the first half of last year, and much of it, according to Huawei, is because of the demand for its premium smartphones from consumers around the world. The company, its worth noting, unveiled its flagship P9 and P9 Plus smartphones earlier this year at a high-profile event in London, England. According to Mr. Richard Yu, head of Huaweis consumer business, traditional markets for premium smartphones, like Europe, contributed heavily to the companys topline during the period. He also revealed that in recent months, the company has seen high growth in a number of emerging market economies, like those in North Africa, Central Asia and Latin America. Huawei recently replaced Xiaomi to become the largest smartphone vendor in China, thanks in part to the popularity of its Honor sub-brand that is known in many parts of the world for its value-for-money offerings, with devices like the Honor 5X competing against mid-range smartphones like the Moto G and the Redmi Note 3 in countries like India. The company is also in responsible for manufacturing and marketing the Nexus 6X, which happens to be Googles latest flagship smartphone. Now that Huawei has well and truly established itself as a force to be reckoned with in the global smartphone business, it remains to be seen if the company will be able to maintain its momentum going forward. For a long, long time now Samsung has been producing some of the best large screen smartphones on the market in the form of the Galaxy Note. It all started back in 2010, when Samsung introduced the original Galaxy Note during IFA 2010 in Berlin. A 5.3-inch device with a stylus, launched during the days of the smartphones rise to power, which had previously shunned the stylus, seemed like a bad idea. The original Galaxy Note, and even the Galaxy Note II that came a year later, were considered niche products for people that needed something more than the average smartphone. They were considered too big, too bulky and too expensive. Fast forward to today, and the Galaxy Note has become one of Samsungs big money spinners, working as part 2 of a 1, 2 Punch alongside the Galaxy S series of devices to bring in the big bucks every year. This year is no different, and judging from all the rumors and leaks, were all in store for a pretty nice treat, too. Easily the biggest and most talked about feature of the upcoming Galaxy Note 7 is the Iris Scanner. This is pretty much exactly what you think it is; an extra sensor that uses your eye to unlock your device or keep certain things locked away. This technology is not new, and has been used in smartphones launched in Japan before, but Samsung will no doubt be the first name to bring it to the wider market. In terms of design, this new feature adds what looks like another small camera to the front array of sensors and such near the earpiece, but its the functionality of this feature that counts the most. Weve seen screenshots of the software on the Galaxy Note 7, and while it appears to be only able to remember one Iris, it should prove a lot more secure than the fingerprint sensor many of us use now. Glasses and contact lenses might not play nice with the Iris Scanner either, which is a little bit disappointing, but is to be expected, given the need to get a good look at you. Advertisement This whole feature might seem a little strange to include on a smartphone, but with Samsungs KNOX security suite and the S-Pen, which makes getting work done much easier, its clear Samsung is really going after the Pro market here. With a larger display, a very functional stylus, and a long-lasting battery life, its not hard to see why Samsung is going after this market. Along with the Iris Scanner, they also have the security element to offer customers as well, and were sure that Samsung has some more features available besides just being able to lock or unlock content. Display wise, the status quo for Samsung devices seems set to remain the same with the Galaxy Note 7. Samsung is poised to release a device with a 5.7-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED, and theres no doubt that they will have made some subtle changes to its overall appearance from last year. One thing that will be different from last years Galaxy Note 5, is that the display will be curved on the left and right sides of the panel, just like the Galaxy S7 Edge is. Samsung has probably gone down this path to make sure that their premium options sport similar features, and there will probably be some interesting new software for the edge display in the Galaxy Note 7, too. It was rumored that Samsung would be launching two different versions of the Galaxy Note 7, one with and one without this curved display, but it doesnt appear as though thats the case, as only the former has been spotted more often. Advertisement With a 5.7-inch Quad HD, thats 2560 x 1440 for those precise folk out there, display the Galaxy Note 7 is going to need some serious horsepower under-the-hood. Either a Snapdragon 820 or Exynos 8890 is rumored to be running the show here. That might not be all that exciting to many of you, as these are the same CPU configurations offered by the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, but the Snapdragon 821 only offers a small increase in performance over the Snapdragon 820, and has probably entered mass production a little too late for Samsung. Keeping the same CPU between the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy Note 7 will make software updates easier for Samsung to deal with for everyone involved though, and theres nothing wrong with the performance inside the Galaxy S7 Edge. The rumored 6GB of RAM however, will probably help persuade people that Samsung still cares about the Galaxy Notes performance. This is a figure that weve seen in the OnePlus 3 earlier this year, and if anyone knows how best to take advantage of more memory, itd be Samsung. Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow is guaranteed to be launching with the Galaxy Note 7, but there are rumors of the device launching with Android 7.0 Nougat. While this would be a great way of getting a lot of publicity, and showing once and for all that Samsung cares about updates, it might be cutting it a little fine even for Samsung. The defining feature of any Galaxy Note device is of course the S-Pen, a stylus that gives the Galaxy Note, well, its name. The S-Pen has always been great, it allows for true pen input on to the display, with no sticky rubber stylus tip, barely any lag and lots and lots of precision. Over the years, its been improved with a number of different changes, such as better floating touch, to get info on emails and other items by just hovering the S-Pen on top of them. Air Command is included as one of the bigger features that was added some time ago, but this year it appears that Samsung is making the S-Pen even more powerful. We heard a rumor not too long ago that Samsung had figured out a way to make the S-Pen waterproof. Whether or not this is just a rumor remains to be seen, but its not entirely crazy, and would go hand-in-hand with the phones IP68 water and dust resistance, too. Weve seen evidence of new features coming to the Galaxy Note 7 and the S-Pen, such as the ability to create GIFs on the move and record certain parts of your display, too. The S-Pen has always been one of the easiest ways to share whats on your screen, and this time around things seem no different. Advertisement Keeping everything ticking is of course the battery, and the Galaxy Note line of devices have always been known for their quality battery life. This year, its been rumored that it could be packing a 3,500 mAh battery, or perhaps even as large as 4,000 mAh. The 3,500 mAh figure is perhaps more realistic for a device like this, after all Samsung does have to make room for the S-Pen, and theres a good chance that they have some extra circuitry for the Iris Scanner to account for as well. Needless to say though, Samsung will need to get the battery life in the Galaxy Note 7 right, otherwise users will be left with a device that quits on them before they want it to. Speaking of measurements, the rumors and leaks are pointing to a device that comes in at 153.5mm x 73.9mm x 7.9mm. Clearly, the Galaxy Note 7 is going to be a thicker device than most out there, but with a 5.7-inch display in there as well, there should be plenty of room for a large battery in there. Still, any device below 8 or 9mm thick is still nice and svelte, and what we need to remember here is that a thicker device is often easier to keep a hold on, and a thicker Galaxy Note 7 will probably be better for everyone to keep secure in their hands. Elsewhere, weve seen a number of leaks about the different colors that the Galaxy Note 7 is to launch in, and it looks set to appear in a fetching blue hue, the familiar gold look as well as the classic black look, too. Of course, these are likely to have different names given to them from Samsung, such as Platinum Gold or Onyx Black, but well have to wait and see just exactly what Samsung has in store for the names for these colors. So too, will we have to wait and see what Samsung is planning to do with pricing, but its likely that the Galaxy Note 7 is not to be an affordable device, the Galaxy Note 5 wasnt exactly cheap, and a pro device like this, often comes with a price tag to match. While the industry as well as Samsung fans the world over will be looking forward to the recent launch of the Galaxy Note 7, theres always something else over the horizon. For Samsung, their two biggest devices are the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lines of devices, and while the latter launches later in the year, the Galaxy S line launched towards the beginning of every year. That means that, with the Galaxy Note 7 just over the horizon, the Galaxy S8 is next in line and according to rumors, key features and specifications have already been locked in. Including a big push to make mobile virtual reality a hell of a lot better. Samsung is known for their high-resolution displays, and for the Galaxy S8, a 4K display is rumored to be the chosen resolution. Weve seen devices launch with 4K displays before, like Sonys 5.5-inch Xperia Z5 Premium, and Samsung recently displayed their own 5.5-inch 4K display during the Society of Information Displays event. This display is put together with their new Bio Blue technology, which has been designed to emit less blue light, which should help combat the blue tinge and cold look that some Super AMOLED displays have exhibited in the past. On top of that, a 4K display is great for virtual reality, considering that the display is effectively split in two when used in a headset, the more pixels it has in the first place, the more pixels each lens of the headset will have. Right now, this device is of course mostly rumors and speculation, with a rumored codename of Project Dream, which some think could hint at Daydream certification for Googles upcoming new virtual reality platform. Regardless of the rumors and speculation, it is more than likely that the next Galaxy S smartphone is already underway, after all this is Samsungs biggest release of the year, and theyll definitely want to make sure they have something great in store for consumers. With virtual reality one of the biggest tickets right now, its no surprise that Samsung will be upping their game next year, and as always, its one more feature Samsung can offer that Apple simply cant. Never one to miss an opportunity to toot their own horn T-Mobile did some testing of their own this year, at the 2016 Republican National Convention and discovered that T-Mobile was the fastest carrier with an average speed of 35.8Mbps. They were followed by AT&T, Sprint, and coming in last was Verizon. Of course, each network has their strong areas and Cleveland, Ohio happens to be a T-Mobile stronghold, so they must have loved the fact that the Republicans held their conference there. T-Mobile shows an average of 28.6Mbps typically in Cleveland while Verizon averages 23.7Mbps, Sprint is at 22.4Mbps, while AT&T comes in last with 21.4Mbps. Another interesting twist on this study is the fact that T-Mobile also kept track of what everybody was doing with their mobile phones during the Republican National Convention. For starters, total data was up 49-percent over the average week. A good portion of that data 24.6-percent of all data used was for video streaming. There was an average of 19 Snaps per person, per day (PPPD), 19 Tweets PPPD, 23 Pokemon Captures PPPD, 19 Camera Posts PPPD, there were 12 Facebook posts PPPD, 5 minutes of streamed video PPPD, 20 minutes of Netflix streamed PPPD, and 3 minutes of Periscope PPPD. T-Mobile has prided themselves on being the Uncarrier for the past few years and at each event, they add something of value. For instance, the first big announcement was getting rid of contracts oh you still had to make a commitment to pay off your device, but if you did that, you were free to leave T-Mobile. The changes they made really stopped them from losing customers and they actually gained many back into their fold. Next, T-Mobile started paying customers to switch over to their service. Then, they made it easier for all customers to do WiFi calling. The newest T-Mobile Uncarrier 11 event is all about thanking customers for instance, T-Mobile Tuesdays allowed you to get free rewards from Dominos during the fist couple of weeks, a free Wendys Frosty continues to be part of the rewards, and free movies from VUDU were on the list as well. Each week T-Mobile also announces a really epic prize. New prizes can crop up at any time so be ready to take advantage of them. T-Mobile continues to grow and improve their network it will be interesting to see just which service will be the fasted at the Democratic Convention this week. Rogers has slowly and quietly started to roll out support for Android WiFi Calling the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 was the first device, and then just less than a week ago, Rogers rolled it out to the LG G4. Today, the Galaxy S7 Edge seems to be the next in line as one Rogers user has reported receiving a 266MB update that would allow support Android WiFi Calling. This type of calling is a great convenience for customers that make calls within a building, down in the parking garage, or where there is no signal or a very weak one. Your phone can make the call over the nearby wireless network rather than be trying to go through the 2G 4GLTE network. Please remember, just because you are calling or SMS texting via WiFi, the number of minutes and texts are deducted from your total monthly plan there is no free ride here. This year, Samsung cut down on the number of models by on having one Galaxy S7 Edge with a 5.5-inch display. The device was released in March 2016 and is having a productive run people just cant seem to get enough of the dual-curved displays. It has been so popular, that it looks like the new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will only come with the dual-curved display. The Galaxy S7 Edge uses Samsungs Super AMOLED display with a QHD resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels and about 534 pixels-per-inch. Samsung incorporated the Always-on display to help save battery life. It is IP68 certified against dust and water. A 3600mAh non-removable battery powers the Galaxy S7 Edge. Samsung used two different processors in the Galaxy S7 Edge if you live in the US, you will be treated to the Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor with dual cores clocked at 1.6GHz and dual cores clocked at 2.15GHz, and if you live outside the US, you will be treated to an Exynos 8890 Octa-core processor. Each model comes with 4GB of DDR4 RAM and 32GB of the faster UFS 2.0 internal memory expandable to 256GB via a microSD card. Samsung changed the camera area around this year and is using 12MP Dual-Pixels with a large f/1.7 aperture, faster phase detection autofocus (PDAF), LED flash, and OIS. A 5MP handles the front-facing camera (FFC) selfies and video chats. The FFC also keeps the large f/1.7 aperture and auto HDR. The Galaxy S7 Edge has Hi-Res audio for earphone listening, a fingerprint sensor, heart rate monitor and Oxygen saturation sensor. MEPs call on EU to ensure right to boycott Israel Appeal to foreign affairs chief to protect BDS group's freedoms (ANSAmed) - ROME, JULY 26 - A group of European Parliament members appealed on Tuesday for the EU to make efforts to guarantee freedom of speech for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which aims to increase pressure on Israel to recognise Palestinian rights. In a letter, a total of 32 deputies urged the bloc's foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini to introduce measures to protect and assist members of the group. Expressing concern over Israeli aggression against activists who support the movement, the deputies said that its co-founder Omar Barghouti needed to be recognised as a "defender of human rights". "This letter is another example of the support of the rights of citizens and organisations to participate in the BDS movement, which continues to grow in Europe as in the rest of the world," said Riya Hassan, manager of European campaigns for the movement. (ANSAmed). Tunis - Several hundred people turned out on Monday to protest against a draft economic reconciliation law currently before parliament on grounds it is a masked amnesty for corrupt entrepreneurs and public servants linked to the former regime of Ben Ali. The protest was organised by opposition parties and voluntary organisations under the slogan 'Manich Msamah' (I won't forget) and called for the bill to be withdrawn. The Tunisian Human Rights League considers the draft law an affront to those who were injured or died in the revolution, while NGOs Al Bawsala and I Watch say it would favour impunity and the inequality of citizens before the law. (ANSAmed). ANSAmed - Today in the Mediterranean (ANSAmed) - ROME, JULY 26 - Here are some of the main events of interest to Euro-Mediterranean countries scheduled for today. GENEVA - Russia-US-UN summit on Syria. MADRID - Start of formal consultations for the formation of a new government. TUNIS - Presentation of the project 'LEMMA, Together for mobility' funded by the EU to support the Tunisian institutions on migration and professional mobility. RAGUSA - Concluding conference on the results achieved by the projects DASF (Artisans without borders) and Entrepart (Sharing Italian and Tunisian entrepreneurial experience) for the creation of a transnational artisan district across Italy and Tunisia. (ANSAmed). Berlin - There are hundreds of potential terrorists in Europe who represent a threat to security, European law enforcement agency Europol has warned. Between 1,500 and 1,800 foreign fighters are believed to have returned to Europe from Syria and Iraq, the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung quotes Europol officials as saying. "Many of these do not have the desire or the capacity to carry out attacks but there remain hundreds of potential terrorists who constitute a threat to security in Europe," the officials said. However Europol played down fears that migrant routes might be used by the jihadists to enter Europe. "In general militants of terrorist groups or returning foreign fighters with an EU passport do not travel with false documents and they do not entrust themselves to the traffickers who transport refugees," the German daily cited Europol officials as saying. (ANSAmed). Migrants: 3,034 deaths in Mediterranean since start of year Figure significantly higher vs 2015 (ANSAmed) - GENEVA, JULY 26 - The number of asylum seekers that have died while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe this year has risen to 3,034, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday. The figure is significantly higher compared to the same period in 2015, when 1,917 deaths had been recorded at the end of July. The IOM also estimated that 249,854 migrants and refugees have reached Europe via sea since the beginning of 2016 up to July 24, mostly in Italy and Greece, and that the 250,000 figure will be crossed in coming hours. That number is only slightly more compared to the same period of 2015. (ANSAmed). Tunisians protest against economic reconciliation bill Draft law masked amnesty against corrupt Ben Ali o (ANSAmed) - Tunis, July 26 - Several hundred people turned out on Monday to protest against a draft economic reconciliation law currently before parliament on grounds it is a masked amnesty for corrupt entrepreneurs and public servants linked to the former regime of Ben Ali. The protest was organised by opposition parties and voluntary organisations under the slogan 'Manich Msamah' (I won't forget) and called for the bill to be withdrawn. The Tunisian Human Rights League considers the draft law an affront to those who were injured or died in the revolution, while NGOs Al Bawsala and I Watch say it would favour impunity and the inequality of citizens before the law. (ANSAmed). BERLIN - European governments are "insincere" because they have not kept their promises on migrants, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told German public broadcaster ARD Monday. "Of the 3 billion euros pledged only a symbolic amount has arrived," Erdogan said. The sum is in the region of 1-2 million euros, he added. "We keep our promises, but does the EU keep its promises?" Erdogan continued, reiterating the demand to enact an agreement on visa liberalisation. The president also justified the possible reintroduction of capital punishment in response to the recent abortive coup in Turkey. (by Patrizia Antonini) BRUSSELS - The doors to Europe remain "open to those fleeing war and persecution and in search of asylum" but not to those who "attack our way of life", European Commission (EC) spokesman Margaritis Schinas said Monday. "The feeling of compassion cannot and must not be at the expense of security," Schinas added in the light the attack by Syrian failed asylum seeker Mohammed Delel who blew himself up outside a concert hall in the German town of Ansbach late Sunday evening, injuring 15 people. However, the proposed clampdown on firearms has lain idle since November, while the EC "recommendation" to the European Council and Parliament is to "maintain the level of ambition to guarantee security for citizens". Diplomatic sources say negotiations between the institutions will begin in late September. The hope is that "the recent tragic events provide a strong drive for a good and swift agreement". In Germany rules governing the purchase, detention and use of firearms were tightened following the massacre at a school near Stuttgart in 2009, when a 17-year-old killed 15 people using a sporting rifle belonging to his father. The EC has also introduced measures to combat ISIS, including a revision of the definition of terrorism and consequent sanctions (negotiations began last week); reinforcing external border controls with soon-to-be-deployed EU border police; information exchange (the European centre was established under the auspices of Europol in January); and the fight against terrorist financing. Meanwhile, Dutch populist leader Geert Wilders has attacked Angela Merkel for her open-door policy towards Syrian refugees, with a photo posted to his Twitter account of the German Chancellor with her hands and face covered in blood. "We must leave the EU, recover national sovereignty, close our borders and make the Netherlands safe again," he wrote in a subsequent Tweet. Czech President Milos Zeman has also said he is in favour of allowing people to carry weapons for protection against terrorists. The sun was succeeding in boiling me while I was walking around the premises of EXPO last summer. When I finally found a shaded area devoid of crowds with casually placed chairs and tables on the side of a pavilion, I almost made a lunge towards it. I had about a quarter of an hour to relax my tired feet and to gain back some energy. When I finally gained enough consciousness to look around, there were smiling faces looking at me and they were speaking in an odd language to me. When they understood that I was clueless about what they were saying, they switched to English. They wanted to know if I was a journalist, pointing towards the colossal ID that was hanging around my neck. It said Media. I told them that I was a food - travel writer and I also create recipes and I was there to They wanted me to know more about the food in their country. Indonesia. When I finally found a shaded area devoid of crowds with casually placed chairs and tables on the side of a pavilion, I almost made a lunge towards it. I had about a quarter of an hour to relax my tired feet and to gain back some energy.When they understood that I was clueless about what they were saying, they switched to English. They wanted to know if I was a journalist, pointing towards the colossal ID that was hanging around my neck. It said Media. I told them that I was a food - travel writer and I also create recipes and I was there to visit a couple of pavilions that were hosting a group of us to get to know their cuisines. That got the excitement going. Indonesia seems so familiar to me even if I have never set foot on it. Being a neighbor of the Philippines, there is kinship between the two countries especially the cuisine. Indonesian restaurants are not as dispersed as the other Asian cuisines and whenever I spot one, I usually go in because I find comfort in the flavors of their food because of the similarity to the ones from the Philippines. They pointed towards a big transparent bowl filled with pink liquid, lots of ice and colorful fruits. They called it Fruit Ice or Es Campur in Indonesian and just by looking at it, I can already feel myself cooling down. I got a glass and tried it. It was a very refreshing drink - dessert that's filled with fresh fruits. I could already guess what the ingredients were because in the Philippines, there is one that's similar to it, filled with sweetened beans and fruits and it's called halo-halo. The Indonesian version instead uses fresh fruits, jellies, sweetened palm beans, strawberry syrup (thus the pinkish tint) and coconut milk (condensed milk can also be used). I learned that the fruits, jellies and beans can vary, depending on who makes it. After a couple of glasses, I left them, promising that I will create my own version too. It was too delicious to forget and I was hoping that my kids would love it. I did make it weeks after I met the Indonesians in the EXPO but being so busy with work before, this is the only chance I got to unearth my collection of unpublished recipes and share them one by one. Instead of coconut or condensed milk, I used almond milk and not having fresh strawberries towards the end of summer, I used store-bought strawberry syrup instead. It cannot be any pinker than this because the almond milk that I used is already sweetened. If you are able to get an unsweetened almond milk (or whatever kind of milk you like) then maybe you can add more strawberry syrup to sweeten it. I skipped the preserved palm seeds or anything similar and just used fresh fruits. I just wanted my version to be as simple and fresh as possible. I couldn't be happier with the result. It was as refreshing as I remember it during that extremely hot afternoon. And everytime I make this fruit ice, I will always remember the friendly Indonesians who tried to explain to me how their cuisine is. If only I had more than fifteen minutes that time, I would have listened to them the whole day. It's probably the best way to learn about food from other countries - spoken by the people from their own hearts. More Summer Fruit Recipes: Fruit Ice You can adjust the quantities of the ingredients according to your taste and you can also substitute the ingredients with other fruits and sweetened beans or seeds. Serves 6 Ingredients: We are leveraging Boeings expertise in airline pilot training to identify opportunities to enhance the Academys curriculum said Captain Alan Stealey, principal, Emirates Flight Training Academy. Boeing is creating a customized, integrated software system for managing cadet learning and training using software developed by the recently-acquired Peters Software GmbH. Peters Software is a leading provider of European Aviation Safety Agency-based training systems and content for early stage (ab-initio) aviation training. The program developed by Boeing will enhance the Emirates Flight Training Academy to efficiently train pilot cadets by integrating everything the academy needs into one place, said Sherry Carbary, vice president, Boeing Flight Services. Boeing has forecasted the industry will need 617,000 pilots by 2035. We are dedicated to work with customers to create programs to help fill that demand. The agreement with the Emirates Flight Training Academy is part of Boeings Pilot Development Program, a comprehensive program designed to meet the training requirements to become a qualified airline first officer. Emirates Flight Training Academy, currently under construction at Al Maktoum International Airport - Dubai World Central (DWC), is scheduled to open in October 2016. Embraer will contribute with its experience as an OEM, training engineers in Brazil. The Company will work closely with AIAC to identify and implement initiatives to develop world-class training programs for engineers in aeronautics related fields, in this region of Africa. We are pleased with the opportunity to share with AIAC our expertise in the preparation of highly skilled engineers to address the challenges of such a demanding industry like aerospace, said Humberto Pereira, Embraer vice president for engineering and technology. As a leader in commercial aviation, and with 46 years of experience in designing and manufacturing aircraft that operate in more than sixty countries, we are always honored to share our knowledge with organizations that aim to play an important role in such a competitive industry. Abdellah Menou, the managing director of AIAC, said: This MoU with Embraer represents an important step in our strategy of working with globally renowned organisations, such as Embraer, willing to collaborate and to support us in our goal of preparing aeronautical engineers in Morocco, with world-class standards. Beginning on June 1, 2017, the airline will upgrade its second flight between Abu Dhabi and New York JFK to its award-winning A380 aircraft which features The Residence, the only three-room suite available in commercial airline operation, and its award-winning First Apartment cabins. The new service will join the airlines existing daily A380 service, replacing the current daily Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. Etihad Airways first began welcoming guests on board its first A380 flight between New York JFK and Abu Dhabi in November 2015. The response we have received from Etihad Airways guests traveling between Abu Dhabi and New York since we launched the service nearly a decade ago has been phenomenal, and we are delighted to further expand our world-class product for all guests traveling to and from New York, said Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways chief executive officer. Baumgartner continued: Our commitment to our guests has always been to be the very best airline in the world by totally reimagining the travel experience and delivering the highest levels of comfort, luxury and world-class hospitality at every point in their travel journey on the ground and in the air - across all classes of service. National Archives and PBS series American Experience Launch #ElectionCollection Challenge Press Release Washington, DC Get out your historic buttons, bumper stickers, hats, and banners! Today, the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives and the PBS series American Experience are partnering for the first time on social media to host #ElectionCollection, a weekly Instagram challenge to feature Presidential campaign memorabilia. In honor of Election Tuesday, Presidential Libraries and American Experience will feature a new #ElectionCollection challenge every Tuesday from July 26th until the Presidential election on November 8, 2016. Each challenge will ask people to feature election memorabilia from a new category. To kick off every challenge, the National Archives will highlight historic campaign memorabilia from the 13 Presidential Libraries and Museums and American Experience will feature footage from their award-winning series of Presidential biographies, The Presidents. Each #ElectionCollection challenge will also invite the public and cultural organizations to post images of mementos they have kept from previous elections and tag them with #ElectionCollection. Memorabilia from the National Archives Presidential Libraries reflect the excitement and advocacy of those who shaped our national campaigns, said Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero. These personal touchstones for political activists and regular citizens alike uniquely show the personality and passion behind the politics. We are happy to partner with American Experience on this #ElectionCollection Challenge. Each campaign memento from the past gives us the opportunity to go back to that moment and reflect on how the outcome of each election changed the course of history, said Mark Samels, American Experience Executive Producer. This partnership provides us with a unique way to explore all those stories. Beyond the eye-catching pageantry of campaign memorabilia is a unique history of the American Presidency. Cultural organizations think these mementos are historically important, and people save them for the feelings they evoke on a personal level. #ElectionCollection is a space for people to share the mementos that they cared enough to keep from past campaigns. #ElectionCollection is a space for cultural organizations to share and discuss historic memorabilia. Platforms: Instagram. #ElectionCollection challenges and images of quirky, cool, and surprising historic memorabilia will be featured every Tuesday on Instagram. More memorabilia will be highlighted on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and the blogs of the National Archives, the Presidential Libraries, and American Experience. Instagram: @USNatArchives @WJCLibrary Facebook: @USNatArchives @HooverPresLib @FDRLibrary @TrumanPresidentialLibrary @JFKLibrary @IkeLibrary @LBJLibrary @NixonPresidentialLibrary @FordPresidentialLibrary @CarterPresidentialLibrary @ReaganLibrary @Bush41Library @GWBLibrary Twitter: @OurPresidents Pinterest: @USNatArchives Tumblr: @OurPresidents American Experience: Instagram: @AmericanExperiencePBS Facebook: @AmericanExperience Twitter: @AmExperiencePBS About the Presidential Libraries The Presidential Library system is administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. The Presidential Libraries and Museums house the records of Presidents Herbert Hoover through George W. Bush and preserve and provide access to historical materials, support research, and create interactive programs and exhibits that educate and inspire. See more online. About the U.S. National Archives The National Archives and Records Administration is an independent Federal agency that serves American democracy by safeguarding and preserving the records of our Government, so people can discover, use, and learn from this documentary heritage. The National Archives ensures continuing access to the essential documentation of the rights of American citizens and the actions of their government. From the Declaration of Independence to accounts of ordinary Americans, the holdings of the National Archives directly touch the lives of millions of people. The agency supports democracy, promotes civic education, and facilitates historical understanding of our national experience. The National Archives carries out its mission through a nationwide network of archives, records centers, and Presidential Libraries, and online at: archives.gov. About American Experience For more than 28 years, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE has been televisions most-watched history series. The series has been hailed as peerless (The Wall Street Journal), the most consistently enriching program on television (Chicago Tribune) and a beacon of intelligence and purpose (Houston Chronicle). On air and online, the series brings to life the incredible characters and epic stories that have shaped Americas past and present. Acclaimed by viewers and critics alike, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE documentaries have been honored with every major broadcast award, including 30 Emmy Awards, four duPont-Columbia Awards and 17 George Foster Peabody Awards; the series received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature in 2015 for Last Days in Vietnam. Visit pbs.org/americanexperience and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to learn more. # # # For press information contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at 202-357-5300. 16-84 YEREVAN, JULY 26, ARMENPRESS. Michelle Obama publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton for the first time during a primetime address in Philadelphia, giving her full support to her husbands former secretary of state, reports The Washington Post. The first lady, who is one of the most popular political figures in the Democratic Party, said in this election Im with her. When she didnt win the election eight years ago, she didnt get angry or disillusioned, Obama said. Hillary did not pack up and go home because as a true public servant Hillary knows that this is so much bigger than her own desires and disappointments. She proudly stepped up again to serve as secretary of state She could have decided that she was tired of being picked apart for how she looks or how she talks or even how she laughs Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life. Obama did not mention Donald Trump by name, but she had a pointed critique of the Republican nominee. When you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military in your command, you cant make snap decisions. You cant have a thin skin or a tendency to lash out. You need to be steady and measured and well informed," Obama said. Obama marveled that it has been eight years since she stood before a similar crowd asking that Democrats to nominate her husband to be president. But she lamented that political discourse has become so harsh. Regardless, she urged Democrats to remain focused on keeping the White House. When they go low, we go high, she said, repeating a mantra she heard as a child. She delivered a passionate defense of Hillary Clinton touting her lifelong devotion to our nations children -- not just her own daughter who she has raised to perfection, but every child who needs a champion. YEREVAN, JULY 26, ARMENPRESS. In an interview with Armenpress, the NKR Presidents Spokesman Davit Babayan said the internal-political developments of Azerbaijan contribute to the activation of the Azerbaijanis in the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan border. In general, Azerbaijans activity is not directly linked with any circumstances, Azerbaijans behavior in the border shows its real essence. Azerbaijan is a terrorist, fascist state, and such state must act in that way. It is a one type of disease diagnosis. But there are also certain developments which more contribute to that behavior. And this time I think that their activities in the border are connected with the constitutional reforms which are being held in Azerbaijan, Davit Babayan said. He said Azerbaijan changes the Constitution, the Presidents term is going to be 7 years. There is not going to be any restrictions and the Azerbaijani President can be elected for several times. Based on the proposed changes, two positions of the Vice-President will be added and the Presidents institute will be strengthened. The process of achieving this goal demands active work with the society. It is important to state that the Azerbaijani society does not have so positive attitude towards such developments, thus, the image of the foreign enemy will be again speculated, they are going to show that Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia are their enemies. In other words, foreign enemy, in this case Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh are again being selected as a mean to divert the public attention for legitimizing their plunder, he said. Davit Babayan said regardless of what is happening in Baku, the Armenian side is always ready. Our army must always be strong, and the society united. In this case it will be impossible to defeat us, he stated. YEREVAN, JULY 26, ARMENPRESS. Republican nominee Donald Trump said on July 25 that if elected U.S. president he would weigh an alliance with Russia against Islamic State militants but rejected any suggestion Russian President Vladimir Putin might be trying to help him win, reports Reuters. Speaking at a rally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Trump dismissed any suggestion that Putin's intelligence services might have had a hand in hacking the Democratic National Committee's email system. Emails leaked last week disclosed that some party officials had been in favor of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton winning the Democratic presidential nomination over U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and sought ways to thwart Sanders. The uproar over the WikiLeaks revelations prompted Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign as DNC chairwoman, and Trump eagerly injected himself into the controversy. Trump dismissed a charge from Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook that Russian hackers might have stolen the emails and leaked them to embarrass Democrats and help Trump defeat Clinton in the Nov. 8 election. "I don't think it's coincidental that these emails were released on the eve of our convention here, and I think that's disturbing," Mook told CNN's "State of the Union." Trump dismissed what he called "one of the weirdest conspiracy theories" he said he had heard. He said he had never met Putin. But over the course of his year-long campaign, Trump has praised the Russian leader and one of his top foreign policy advisers, retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, had dinner with Putin last December. "When you think about it, wouldn't it be nice if we got along with Russia?" Trump said. "Wouldn't it be nice if we got together with Russia and knocked the hell out of ISIS?" he added, using another name for Islamic State. YEREVAN, JULY 26, ARMENPRESS. The gunmen who have seized a police precinct in Yerevan despite numerous urges to refrain from new crimes continue harassing actions and encroachments endangering the lives and safety of law enforcement officers, as well as destruction of property. The National Security Service issued a statement: During the night of July 26 the chain of such actions led to a firefight, which resulted in wounded people. The National Security Service announces that the criminal behavior of the gunmen, which becomes gradually more and more dangerous, crosses all lines where it is possible to display reasonable restraint. Therefore, in order to prevent and thwart new crimes the National Security Service will form now on be forced to take tougher measures as dictated by the specific situation. Being well aware of the gunmens intentions and prepared criminal actions, we warn that all threats to the lives and safety of citizens will immediately be neutralized by legitimate counter actions. The aggressive and provocative nature of the gunmens actions is evidenced by the following legally acquired recording. YEREVAN, JULY 26, ARMENPRESS. Passengers have boarded the UTai Moscow-Yerevan plane which was delayed earlier, UTair Armenian representation told ARMENPRESS. The boarding began, the plane will take off in a few minutes, the representative said. Harutyun Mnatsakanyan posted on Facebook that passengers of Moscow-Yerevan Flight 873 in Vnukovo airport have been told to leave the aircraft after boarding, due to technical malfunction. After a 4-hour delay, airport officials tried to board the passengers on the same plane, but passengers refused and demanded another aircraft. The representative of UTair said they have been told the aircraft has been changed; there is nothing to worry about. UTair reported the flight will land in Yerevan after 2.5 hours. I seem to have landed the museum-tech beat on the Wall Street Journals Arts in Review page. In tomorrows Personal Journal section (online now), you can read: At SFMOMA, Tech and Culture Meetmy mixed review of the newly expanded San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts digital transformation. In my previous digital adventureThe Brave New Museum Sputters Into LifeI groused that several art museums high-tech interpretive aids were unintuitive, inadequately explained, or exasperatingly dysfunctional. SFMOMAs robust new app, by contrast, works remarkably well. Particularly impressive was its precise location awareness, providing visitors with almost flawless navigational guidance throughout the galleries. For this, these two SFMOMA staffers deserve much of the credit: What exasperated me this time around were SFMOMAs vaunted immersive tours of works on display. My articles subhead suggests what went wrong there: When it comes to museums digital offerings, content is best left to curators. Heres how Gary Garrels, SFMOMAs senior curator of painting and sculpture, described how he reconciled himself to the apps eccentricities, during our wide-ranging conversation (not primarily tech-related) when I visited the museum in June: I am not a purist. I think there are lots of ways for people to look at art. I dont think there is any one right way. I dont think there is any one right interpretation about a work of art. So I gave my colleagues in content [Winesmith and Coerver] a lot of leeway. I have to say, they didnt expect and didnt ask to get involved in the curatorial decisions about what was in the gallery or how galleries were laid out. So I think there is a mutual respect of each others areas of expertise. When I asked him how much of the apps audio he had listened to, Garrels replied: Not a lot.I have certainly been told what they were intending to do and who they were talking to and the different types of interpretations that were going to be provided. I do respect them and I am not an expert at how to approach a general audience. I have been involved with contemporary art for so long that I am, I guess, what you would call an insider. So Ive got my blinders on, in certain ways. With a long, distinguished track record of organizing serious, appealing exhibitions (including the current Bruce Conner retrospective, now at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, before traveling to San Francisco), Garrels should have given himself more credit. Along with the other curators, he should have assumed a lead role in determining and narrating the tours contents. Instead, many of the insights are offered by amateurs. When I frankly discussed my misgivings about the tours with Chad Coerver, who was a Renaissance art specialist before shifting to publishing, he told me this: You are not the target audience.The big sea change over the last few yearsand it took our curators a few rounds to get used to itis moving from authority to expertise.The key is: What cool story or what cool voice could go with that artwork in such a way that it would open it up to new possibilities? Brandishing SFMOMAs latest magnum opusthe weighty tome for the Conner showCoerver confided that as long as we still make Gary [Garrels] happy with very large, beautiful catalogues that speak to the scholarly community, hell let us invite a few crazy people to talk about art on the app. The audience for the app and that for the Bruce Conner catalogue are not the same, but we need to serve them both. I hope to have more to say about the app, along with more information on its many features and on the museums other digital initiatives, in a future post. For now, you can read tonight what many WSJ readers will be seeing in tomorrows paper, and get to meet some of the crazy people who talk about art on the app. by Sumon Corraya The "Storm 26" operation lasted about an hour. It involves special forces, police and anti-terrorism agents. Yesterday evening the police were attacked by grenades by militants shouting "Allahu Akbar" and returned fire in a blitz. It is the first anti-terrorist operation since Dhaka massacre. Dhaka (AsiaNews) - Police in Dhaka killed nine people suspected of having links to Islamic fundamentalism and has taken two more into custody. The special forces operation, called "Storm 26" took place in the early hours of today in Kallyanpur district, on the outskirts of the capital, and lasted at least an hour. The agents also wounded another alleged terrorist, who is now hospitalized at the Medical College Hospital. The joint blitz of various security forces started last night around 11:30 am (local time). The police was conducting inspections in the area, looking for Islamic militants. On the second floor of building number 5 in Road 5, known as "Jahaj Bari", the agents were attacked by grenades and gunfire from the fourth floor, where Islamic radicals were residing. Inspector General of Police, Sheikh Maruf Hasan, said the nine men, who attacked them, shouting "Allahu Akbar", "have been neutralized. The other militants that we have arrested declared to belong to the Islamic state, but we believe instead that they were members of the Islamic group Jama'atul Mujahid Bangladesh (JMB) stated the government official. The terrorists' apartment was searched and several books praising jihad were found, as well as weapons of various types. This is the first exchange of fire between security forces and terrorists after the bloody attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery Cafe earlier inJuly, in Dhaka. Following the attack, the government ordered a large security operation, including the inspections that took place yesterday. In recent weeks, the authorities have launched an appeal to the nation, so the parents of young people who have disappeared from home to join the terrorists denounce the disappearance of their children. The investigation also revealed the complicity of a former professor of a private university in the capital and the direct influence of fundamentalist ideas of television preacher Zakir Naik. Mgr Felix Lian Khen Thang talks about the life of the Church in Chin State, where Christians are the majority. Catholics are only 6 per cent, but their numbers are growing. Some people come back from foreign lands after seeking work abroad. The Holy Year and preparing for WYD have seen a flourishing of works of mercy and a greater awareness of confession and Gods forgiveness". Kalay (AsiaNews) The situation of the Chin people is "getting better than before, from my point of view. It is in the process of developing in certain areas [of my diocese]. Some people come back from foreign lands to resettle in the mother country, but many are still trying to go abroad to make money, said Mgr Felix Lian Khen Thang, bishop of Kalay. The diocese is located in northwestern Myanmar, and is home to the ethnic Chin, a predominantly Christian group. For years, the region has been affected by depopulation, with peasants fleeing poverty and hopelessness. About 85.4 per cent of the population of Chin State is Christian, but only 6 per cent is Catholic. "We live among other Christian communities, the bishop noted, and sometimes it is difficult to pass on the Catholic faith, but we do our best to keep the faithful on the right path and teach catechism well." In the diocese of Kalay, established by Pope Benedict XVI on 22 May 2010, the number of believers is growing. In some parishes we get people from other Christian denominations, Mgr Felix said. Generally speaking, he added, Catholics live a simple life and follow the priests. Our work gives us a lot of satisfaction." Now the diocese includes 22 parishes and about 54,000 members, 50 priests, one deacon, 17 religious, 43 seminarians and 120 catechists. For the prelate, the life of the Church has been enriched in recent months by the Jubilee of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis and the preparation for the 31st World Youth Day, set for this week in Krakow. "It is a great privilege for youth to participate in World Youth Day in Poland, Mgr Felix said, but our kids cannot go. Fr Joseph Kham, the dioceses youth director, travelled to the event and promised that he would bring back all the experiences and share them with young people. The Holy Year has seen a flourishing of charitable activities, as well as works of mercy, both spiritual and material. "We have planned many activities, including visits to the sick and to those in prison. We give a hand to the poor and needy. Until now all the initiatives have been a success and we continue them. I encourage my priests to devote time to the confessions, to allow the faithful to receive Gods forgiveness. Before confession we prepare people, and explain to them the great importance of what they are doing." Finally, Mgr Felix spoke about the first months of the new government led by the National League for Democracy and Aung San Suu Kyi. "It is still early to say what effect they will have on the country, he said, but one can already see a change in people's minds, moving towards what is better. There is a sense of transparency, where everything is out in the open, and nothing is hidden." by Samir Khalil Samir The kidnapping and murder of a priest near Rouen (France) and the various attacks in Wurzburg, Munich, Ansbach (Germany) were carried out by young people, who were indoctrinated with ease. Germany was a model for the integration of refugees. But radical Islam cannot be assimilated. It is supported by Saudi Arabia and Qatar. There is no other road other than integration. But we must tell the truth: the Koran contains elements of war and violence. Western politicians suffer from ignorance and a loss of all moral sentiment. Munich (AsiaNews) - A priest, Fr. Jacques Hamel, of Saint-Etienne in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray (near Rouen, France), was slain this morning by two individuals who also took hostage a nun and some of the faithful while they were celebrating Mass. The religious sister is now seriously injured, as are some of the other hostages. The two attackers were killed by the army and President Francois Hollande said that they had links with Isis (Islamic State, or Daesh) and indeed considered themselves "soldiers of the Islamic State." The French Council of the Muslim Faith condemnedt the "vile and barbaric" act, calling for compassion and unity among all French people. Pope Francis, in a statement released by the Vatican, expressed his pain and horror" and condemned what he described a "barbaric murder". The series of killings and attacks that have taken place in Germany in recent days and in France today is challenging the political integration of Muslims in Europe. But it also highlights the stupdity and "lack of morality" of European politics and perhaps also its"ignorance" when it comes to Islam. These are the thoughts of one of the greatest experts in the world on Islam, Fr. Samir Khalil Samir, a Jesuit, at present professor at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, who during the summer, moved to Germany to work. Of the three major accidents to hit Germany (Wurzburg, Munich, Ansbach), only one of these appears to be unrelated to the Islamic world, that of Munich. So far the police have not found any relationship between the young German-Iranian and Isis. In addition he was in psychological care. It was - it seems - an act of madness. His friend saved him, taking away a bag with 300 bullets. So far rthe police say there is no evidence of links with Islamism. In the case of the attacks in France (Rouen, Nice, Paris, etc ...) the link with IS is clear. For the youth responsible for Wurzburg, who injured five people on a train, his ties to IS have been proven. As well as for the young man who blew himself up in Ansbach. The amazing thing is that they are all young; all people known not to be fanatical, or particularly religious; all from relatively tranquill backgrounds, without any particular problems. The youngman from Wurzburg had been in a care home, but had stopped going there. In any case no one could have forseen such a dramatic development. All three cases are surprising because they involve very young people who had no formation in any training camp; all of them went to school ... It is still unclear how they came into contact with Isis. Certainly not directly, but through the Internet, where violent proposals are visible in broad daylight. So many attacks in a matter of a few days have created confusion in Germany, although the police has proven its efficiency, especially in Munich: they managed to take control of the situation really admirably. In the case of Wurzburg, the young man was killed by a police officer. Some reproached him for having fired, but the interior minister has praised him. They were all from peaceful backgrounds, neither poor, nor ideological. This is quite different from the case of Nice, where the bomber had calculated his attack in detail. He had even closed his account in the bank and sent 100 thousand Euros to his relatives (a gift to Isis?). Even his friends said the young Tunisian had it all planned. In the Arab world it is said that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are really behind all of this Islamic terror. Early in its history, the fundamentalist movement was bent on destroying the Shiite in Iraq and Iran. Then it became a struggle against everyone. The attacks on Germany have shocked everyone: the nation has received a million and more migrants and treats them fairly well. A refugee center near my home works very well: the children go to school, receive grants, adults can go to school German in the evening The sudden change demonstrated by these young people is unusual and quite new. Now criticism is raining down on Angela Merkel, blamed for being overly generous in welcoming refugees. Perhaps the situation is changing: as long as they were a few thousand, integration was qualified. Now that the refugees have become hundreds of thousands, perhaps the integration program is beginning to crack. Many Germans say it's a crisis in the integration project because the number of migrants is too great. I say though that in comparason with the rest of Europe, Germany was really a model in efforts to integrate immigrants. And still the solution is integration, and not the rejection of migrants. Unfortunately, Islam is hard to integrate because it has a culture in many ways that is the direct opposition to the current Western culture. Religiously, socially, of male-female relationships, in relation to eating ... it is a complete system. The fact it is a different religion is not a problem. But the fact that in Islam religion is tied to a political, social, cultural, historical, system, which affects everything, is: how one dresses, how one shakes hands, social relations .... So many things make it difficult to assimilate the ideas of the West. In the past, when there were North Africans who arrived in Europe, they were already a bit 'secularized, either because they had suffered the French colonization and the lifestyle imposed by their leaders (Tunisia and Algeria), or because they were Berbers, local ethnic groups who refused to be called "Arabs". Today, however, the radical Islamist influence that proposes a different world in all aspects, makes integration much more difficult. If the Islamist position is upheld (the Muslim Brotherhood, Salafis, etc ...) then integration is difficult. But if Muslims are more open, if they agree to learn from Western society, then it is possible. Once it was so: Western society was considered a model for development and emancipation. But today it is the opposite: for many Muslims Western society is to be rejected. And so they create a new model of Islam or Islamism (fundamentalist). This is the great conflict of our era. We also must have the courage to say that Islam has elements of violence in the Koran and the life of Muhammad. If we continue to say that "Islam is a religion of peace," we only create confusion and mystification. Yesterday I listened to a speech by the British Prime Minister Theresa May, before she was prime minister - three years ago - when, in a meeting with Muslims she repeated a thousand times: "Islam is a religion of peace, Islam is a religion of peace ! There is not a single verse in the Koran that is violence!", to the enthusiastic applause of those present. All this is amazing: it is an attempt to minimize the problem. And this is done mainly by European political leaders, rather than by the people. Why do they do this? To get the votes of Muslim communities. This is the case in France: for several years in France the government donated land for mosques and Islamic centers with free rent for 99 years. Thus France id being filled with mosques financed by countries that support terrorism. Among politicians there is a loss of moral sense, since they are willing to do anything to earn votes. And there's even a hint of ignorance: no one would say that in the Koran there are no violent verses! And the combination of ignorance and loss of a moral sense is explosive. A former vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission and Politburo member, the senior officer used his influence to get promotions and took bribes. However, many believe his real crime was his loyalty to former president Jiang Zemin, not current leader Xi Jinping, and maintaining close ties with him even after he left office. Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) A military court sentenced General Guo Boxiong to life imprisonment for corruption. The senior officer, 74, was accused of using his influence to seek promotions for others and of accepting bribes, the Xinhua news agency reported. Guo was stripped of his rank of general, and his personal assets were seized, the news agency added. No details were given about how much money he is supposed to have taken. In April, the South China Morning Post spoke of US$ 12.3 million, but that was only a small portion of the wealth the former general is said to have accumulated. Guo was one of the most senior officers under former President Hu Jintao. Between 2002 and 2012, he was deputy chairman of Central Military Commission, Chinas supreme military policy-making body. During that time, he was also a member of the Politburo, which oversees the Chinese Communist Party. The Communist Party expelled him last year after he was charged with corruption. Since he took over almost four years ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping has made eradicating corruption the centrepiece of his action. Since then hundreds of thousands of officials have been charged. Guos trial took place behind closed doors. The court said Guos crimes were extremely serious, Xinhua reported, but that he had confessed, owned up to his misdeeds, repented in good faith, and all the proceeds of his crimes have been recovered. The court also said that Guos wife, daughter and son Guo Zhenggang had all been involved in his corruption. Many believe, however, that the retired generals real crime was his loyalty to former president Jiang Zemin with whom he maintained close ties, even after the latter left power, and not to Xi. The big Chinese delegation in Krakow for 31st World Youth Days has not lost hope. The government has done so much to discourage us, but they cannot win all the time. One day the Pope will celebrate young people in China." Participants express the joy and the wonder of being in Poland. Religious aspect of this trip aside, the trip is a source of wonder. At home, it is like living in a kind of cultural prison; what impresses here the most so far is meeting the world. Krakow (AsiaNews) AsiaNews met a group of young people from mainland China, who are in Poland to celebrate the great festival of Mercy with other young people from around the world. Despite government tricks and violence, these young Chinese Catholics in Krakow have a dream: "bringing World Youth Day to China. The government has done so much to discourage us, they said, but they cannot win all the time. The Party is 70-years-old; the Church is 2,000-years-old. We are confident that sooner or later the pope will join young people from around the world from China. The group includes parishioners from Beijing, Xian and Guangzhou. The latter are the luckiest, because "we had almost no problem. Still, so many of our friends had to stay home even though they wanted to come, out of fear or veiled threats from the authorities. But now we are here and we want to enjoy this meeting until the end. " Hosted by several Polish families, they have been in Poland since 19 July, working on preparing the gathering. They are set to return home on 5 August, but before they go they plan to visit a Marian shrine in Europe after the WYD. Chen, 20, comes from the Chinese capital. "The religious and spiritual aspects of this trip are of course very important, but what impressed me the most so far is meeting the world. I travelled abroad four years ago with my parents, but it was with a Chinese tourist group. We visited Venice, Milan and Paris. But it was still like being in China, including speaking Chinese and eating Chinese. Instead, here we have the whole world, without filters. It is really wonderful." The wonder is heightened by Chinas current situation. "At home, it is like living in a kind of cultural prison. We have become richer, we have more things, but school and the authorities push us to live always and only in our world. Even chatting with young people in other countries is seen as evil. Imagine trying to learn more about other cultures. In this sense, government 'sinicisation' appears to have won the battle." By contrast, events like World Youth Days knock down barriers, and not just in relation to religious freedom. "We are concerned about what will happen when we get home, of course. Still, what is done is done. We want to enjoy this great opportunity all the way. We will participate in all the events that include Pope Francis, including the morning catechesis in various Krakow churches. As time goes by, we realise more and more that this trip will change our life." The pontiff will arrive in Poland tomorrow afternoon. The official opening of World Youth Days is instead this afternoon with the Mass at BoniaPark celebrated by Card Stanisaw Dziwisz. The young Chinese will follow the whole schedule. "It would be a dream to hear Francis speak about our country. Do you think he will? I hope so. Sure, I understand that there are many things at stake: the relationship between Beijing and the Vatican, the freedom of movement of our priests, bishops in prison . . . But if he could spare a moment for us, that would be great, even just a prayer. I do not think Beijing would be angry . . . ". Fr Peter Geremia speaks about renewed talks between the government and the New People's Army. About 150,000 people have died in 50 years of guerrilla war. President Duterte announced the ceasefire in his first state of the nation address. It was high time to end this conflict that harms civilians caught between the two sides. Manila (AsiaNews) The ceasefire between the Filipino government and Communist rebels "is great news. We thank God that he heard all the prayers for peace, said Fr Peter Geremia, a missionary of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) in Mindanao, reacting to President Rodrigo Dutertes ceasefire announcement with the News People's Army, which has been battling the Filipino government for almost 50 years. The president made his statement yesterday during his first state of the nation address, confirming his willingness to reach "permanent peace" before his six years in office come to an end. Communist leaders welcomed the announcement. "The great founder of the movement, Jose Maria Sison (who is in self-imposed exile in Europe), has agreed to the ceasefire, Fr Geremia said. Many other rebel chiefs have participated in several forums and consultations with members of the government. Soon there will be a full peace accord." Addressing the New Peoples Army guerrillas, new president, who was sworn in on 30 June, said, Let us end these decades of ambuscades and skirmishes. We are going nowhere and it is getting bloodier by the day. Let me make this appeal to you, he added. If we cannot as yet love one another, then in Gods name, let us not hate each other too much. Filipino communist guerrillas have been fighting the Filipino government since 1968 in what has become Asias longest and bloodiest armed rebellion. In almost 50 years, at least 150,000 people, military and civilians, have been killed. Peace talks between the two sides have been held the Netherlands, but they were interrupted in 2004. Attempts by former President Benigno Aquino, who had made negotiations with Communist rebels one of the first goals of his mandate, floundered in April 2013, rekindling the fight with new intensity. The people of Mindanao are very happy about this agreement, Fr Geremia said. Those who suffer the most from this conflict are tribals and Muslims, small mountain peasants, civilians caught between the two sides. It was high time to end this conflict that made no sense and go back to negotiations." Filipino generals welcomed Dutertes decision, announcing that they will remain alert, vigilant and ready to defend themselves and hunt down attackers, if they are challenged by armed elements of the New People's Army. However, not everyone is happy with the ceasefire, warns Fr Geremia. "There are groups within military and the government who want to wreck the negotiations. Some groups of paramilitary fanatics in the mountainous areas have weapons and the support of some politicians. It is not yet clear whether they will turn to banditry or be used to continue the fight against Communist rebels." Still, President Duterte did in a month what the Aquino government could not achieve in six years, the missionary said. Aquino would always put off negotiations after peace proposals were made. Duterte however comes from Mindanao, where the situation of conflict is every day life, and has many contacts with the rebels." The religious leader is accused of being the mastermind behind the "failed coup". But some analysts say the coup "succeeded" because it has given Erdogan total power. Media campaign against Gulen and the United States. West's growing mistrust of Turkey. Ankara (AsiaNews) - In a live interview released yesterday with Haberturk TV, a private television network, Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, threatened the deterioration of relations with the US two, should Washington fail to extradite the religious Fethullah Gulen, who is not onlyErdogan's biggest rival but also accused of being the mastermind of the "failed coup". The coup attempt took place on 15 July (lasting around less than six hours). The Turkish government accused the leader of the Hizmet movement, with such haste so as to exclude any serious foundation based on an actual investigations. Even the arrests in the early hours just after the "coup" indicate the existence of a prior list of "most wanted" people all of whom were immediately accused and neutralised. Judges, journalists, the military, the raids took place in a few hours, so that an analyst at Mediapart, Djordje Kuzmanovic, ironically used the expression "the successful coup". Fethullah Gulen has lived in exile in Philadelphia in the US since 1999. A former ally of Erdogan in his political struggle, against Gul and Erbacan, he suffered the horrors of coups, and was even imprisoned by the military, together with Erdogan. He immediately denied any involvement even going so far as to say he was "insulted" by this accusation which he characterized as "unfounded." The Turkish government instead is convinced that "the terrorist organization (the fetus) leader Fethullah Gulen" created the coup by mobilizing his sleeper cells in Turkish institutions to bring the final bite [meaning poisonous-snake bite -ed] to Turkish democracy, but failed due to the overall strength of the Turks". The Turkish press (almost all pro-Erdogan) has even discovered the means of communication used by the coup that "resorted to Chinese QQ software for transatlantic communications, while for internal communication "the video game 'Clash of Kings 'was used with names and languages in the war games code to avoid being traced by Turkish intelligence. " The press has unleashed an unprecedented.anti-American campaign Ibrahim Karagul, in Yeni Safak newspaper even accuses the United States of "open war" through "its terrorists" to implement a "domestic invasion" and attacks the administration of President Barack Obama : "President Barack Obama has added a page to spite his presidential career that will end in two months. He attacked Turkey through terrorist organization directed by his intelligence. He wanted to target the entire nation with an organization that receives instructions and acts according to [directives] of his intelligence and bombed the Parliament of the People. The US Intelligence attempted to eliminate Erdogan and take over the country". Karagul has even talked about using "September 11 methods against us," saying that "as soon as the Syrian issue is over they [the US and Europeans] will attack Turkey. They have even begun to do so before the end". The campaign is one of mutual distrust: in the West skeptical voices related to the strategic alliance with Turkey, or to his candidacy in the European Union are growing, especially after the news of an agreement between Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iran and excluding Armenia, to open a road between India and Europe, with strategic and economic changes that are likely to flip all the long standing agreements undertaken between the various actors in that troubled global chessboard. After numerous evidence of Turkish support for Daesh in Syria and Iraq there are many doubting voices even in the US, on whether to continue to have such a problematic nation within NATO. (P.B.) Its five answers to five questions. Here we go 1. Im being required to sing on camera for work Each year, the government-funded organization that I work for has a roadshow which the government are invited to its basically an excuse to showcase why our services are required and to encourage the government to finically support us. I completely understand this. In the weeks leading up to this, we were persistently asked to record a speech in front of a camera about how fantastic it is to work for my employer. This would then be shown in a presentation. If we refused (which I did), we were pressured into holding up a piece of paper with something written on it and this would be shown in the presentation along with the videos. To make matters worse, they played awful cringey music during this presentation. I was very unhappy that I felt pressured and forced to take part in this I felt mortified. That was several months ago. Recently someone in their wisdom has came up with the great idea that we could sing this cringey song in our individual teams! We are a very small team and I dont know how to get out of this. Singing in public is my worst nightmare! I was very angry when we were told were doing this Ive done psychometric tests for them but yet they still dont seem to appreciate what type of person I am. I am introverted and just want to get on with my work and doing this makes me break out in a sweat. They want to make a video of us singing this awful song and it will be done during office hours. Theyre deliberately not telling us exactly when this be apart from itll be Thursday or Friday. Weve also been told that we cant take annual leave, which I find very unfair. I dont want my face or voice to be used for any promotional or marketing reason. How can I get out of this? I dont sing, and Im not comfortable appearing on camera. Id be glad to do other things to support the project behind the scenes, though. What else would be helpful? If they tell you this is required, say this: Im really not going to sing. Is there something else youd like me to do, off-camera? A reasonable employer wont insist. Your employer, however, may not be reasonable. If thats the case, youll need to decide how much you want to push this. Ultimately, they can require this as a condition of your job. Shouldnt, but can. If it comes to that, you might just mouth the words to the song (if youre in a group where it wont be obvious) or go for a spoken-word rendition. You have my sympathies. Read an update to this letter here. 2. My new hire sprang major time off on me after Id already hired her I recently hired an employee, Sally. The day after she accepted my offer and everything was settled, she sent an email to me explaining that she had two trips planned for the near future. The first one is a Wednesday Monday trip where she intended to work remotely and only take off a half day on Monday for travel. This trip is one and a half weeks (seven working days) after she starts work. Her next trip is two weeks (10 working days) later and it is a two-week trip to Europe with her husband. She did acknowledge that the timing was poor but did not mention anything about why she didnt say anything during the lengthy interview process. She offered to postpone her start date until after all of her travel is complete, which is quite a long time for me to wait. What are your thoughts on how to address this with her? Id like to make sure I communicate to her that it is not okay to spring this on me when she had ample opportunity to tell me sooner. I feel like this is an opportunity to set the standard for the employee-manager relationship at the onset of her employment. Yeah, thats not good. She should have brought it up as part of the offer negotiation, and if for some reason she forgot to, she should have apologized profusely, not been matter-of-fact about it. I would say this: I want to make sure you understand that we normally wouldnt approve this much time off so soon after someone started, and its going to be pretty disruptive to our training schedule. Im willing to try to make it work, but I wish wed known about these dates while we were still working out the offer. And if you dont want her working remotely so soon after starting, address that too I can let you take unpaid time off for the first trip, but it wont make sense to work remotely since youll still be so new. And you should talk about what your expectations are time off going forward. Also, has she otherwise seemed scrupulously professional and displayed good judgment? If anything else has happened that has given you pause, Id be bracing for further issues in which case, youd want to be really hands-on during her first few months so that if there are additional issues, youre able to spot them and address them quickly. Updated to add: Commenters have asked why I didnt think this is problematic enough to suggest rescinding the offer. Ive gotten too many letters from people who dont bring up planned vacations at the offer stage (and then write to me in a panic afterwards, asking what to do its why I wrote this post) to think its necessarily a deal-breaker on its own. The fact that her trips are coming up so soon after she starts makes this way more egregious than most, but especially if shes early career, its possible this is a single misstep that you can remedy. That said, if youve seen anything else that has alarmed you or if shes experienced enough to know better, I agree its worth rethinking the offer. 3. Giving cash to an employee whos getting married One of my reports recently invited me to her wedding in September. As it happens I cant go due to a work commitment but want to give them a card and some cash (registries be damned all newly married couples need cash). I would usually give $100-$150 if I wasnt particularly close (friend of a friend, cousin of a partner, etc.) I presume this level is appropriate for this case. She is a good contributor and we have a good professional and personal relationship. Any issues from a management perspective? Id actually go with something off the registry in this case, even though its not your normal preference, just because it can be a little weird to give an employee cash (and can feel weird to other employees who hear about it). 4. Employer refuses to give me any documentation about their benefits Ive been offered a position with a prominent law firm in town. They want my answer in a week, but they were hesitant to give me that much time. I am waiting to hear back from another company (my preferred company) that would actually relocate me to my hometown, but this current offer where I am seems like a really good offer. One thing that has me very uneasy is that they told me the benefit package over the phone, but wouldnt give me any documentation to review it. That seems strange to me. They told me that it is because theyve been burned before and their benefits package is what makes them competitive. I wanted to talk to my financial advisor, but I have nothing to show him. I explained to him what they told me, but he said it is hard to make any firm statements without seeing something on paper. Is this normal? Should this make me uneasy? No, its not normal. They should be willing to give you at least a summary of their benefits in writing, even it its an informal email. It would make me uneasy too, especially if youre making a decision about the job offer based on the benefits info. 5. Should I tell employers Ill do any kind of job? I am multitalented and have worked as a call center agent, a teacher, and made some volunteer graphic art work for church. I want to move to South Korea for a personal goal reason, but I cant go there as a tourist because I dont have enough money (Im still depending on my father) so I need to have a job to be able to settle there and I need to do that before February 2017. I tried emailing some Korean companies asking for job opportunities of any kind in any field but I wasnt successful, so can I actually tell them that Im available for any kind of job? Or do I need to focus on one field? The thing about saying Im available for anything is that its not actually attractive to employers. It requires them to do the work of figuring out what youd be good at and interested in, and its a lot less appealing than a candidate who says I really want this specific job and heres why Id be great at it. So yes, you are likely to have much better luck if you focus in on one type of work in particular and tailor your cover letter and your resume to that job. Former Playboy Model Arrested For Elaborate Planned Prison Break Trending News: A Playboy Model's Prison Break Plans Were Insane Why Is This Important? Because this could be a movie script. Long Story Short Former Playboy model Marissa Christopher was arrested for attempting to break her boyfriend, a friend of disgraced Olympian Oscar Pistorius, out of prison. The elaborate plan involved hidden guns and a private jet. Long Story You know it's going to be good when Oscar Pistorius the formerly glorified (now disgraced) Olympian and Paralympian in jail for murdering his fiancee is the least interesting part of the story. But that's the truth, because Hollywood scriptwriters would be hard-pressed to come up with a better story about the time a former Playboy model tried to help break her Czech gangster boyfriend out of prison. Facebook According to the Daily Mail, Marissa Christopher was arrested in what's described as a $15 million escape plan. She was to act as the middleman between Czech mobster Radovan Krejcir and corrupt government officials, facilitating the escape that would have eventually ended with armed guards storming the prison compound and a private jet swooping in to carry Krejcir (and Christopher, presumably) to Argentina. Facebook If all went to plan, 10 heavily armed men would have attacked, while a helicopter would have lifted Krejcir from Pretoria, South Africa across the border to Mozambique where his private jet awaited. Alas, it wasn't to be. Facebook The plan was foiled when prison guards discovered guns, ammunition and fake guard uniforms in Krejcir's cell, as well as a handgun concealed within his private treadmill, which is apparently a thing you can have in South African prison. Christopher was arrested while driving to visit Krejcir with their two year old daughter. Facebook The Oscar Pistorius connection is a small one the two met and allegedly became friends while Pistorius was serving his first sentence for the killing of Reeva Steenkamp in the hospital wing of Kgosi Mampuru II prison. Krejcir was soon moved to another prison for security concerns (you don't say!), but not before the two could strike up a friendship. Christopher's attorney is reportedly asking the magistrate to dismiss charges against his client, saying that she denies any participation in the planned escape. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question Is this clear evidence of corruption in South Africa's legal system? Disrupt Your Feed I know it's wrong, but I'd watch the hell out of a movie about this. Drop This Fact This is Krejcir's fourth known attempt at escaping custody. Baker & McKenzie is warning that the impact of a disorderly exit of the UK from the European Union may cost the global M&A market up to $1.6 trillion. According to a Forbes report, the global law firm in partnership with Oxford Economics has found that a lack of a clear plan for the Brexit may bring about a more damaging cycle of political and market uncertainty. Though this scenarios effects will expectedly damage the UKs M&A market the most, the effect will likely impact the whole global market, Baker & McKenzie found. The firms central scenario, Forbes said, forecasts M&A activity worldwide to only be slightly down in the next couple of years and then recovering. Nonetheless, Baker & McKenzie London M&A partner told to the publication that there will still be an ample number of London-based activity despite a slump in domestic M&A deals in the UK because of the primary of English law in cross-border deals even with deals not involving UK assets. London will also retain a remarkable concentration of financial, legal and economic talent. In the last few days we have seen evidence that the M&A market in the U.K. wont come to a crashing halt even if it wont be at its previous pace. There are still plenty of buyers and sellers for the right deal at the right price, he said. In a report published by MPs yesterday, Magic Circle firm Linklaters and international law firm Olswang were found to be among advisers who are all culpable in the fall of British Home Stores (BHS).The report comes after weeks of hearings by the Work and Pensions Committee and Business, Innovation and Skills committee which heard partners from Linklaters and Olswang, as well as firms Eversheds and Nabarro.According to a report from The Law Society Gazette, Frank Field MP, chair of the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee, said that Linklaters and Olswang failed so sadly to properly do due diligence on the buyer of BHS.Linklaters advised Arcadia in its divestment of the UK retail giant and Olswang advised Retail Acquisition Limited (RAL), 90 percent owned by Dominic Chappell, in its acquisition of BHS.Chappell, who had previously filed for bankruptcy thrice according to a BBC report, took control of BHS after it was sold to RAL for 1 in 2015.We have got people like Sir Philip Green and Lord Grabiner QC who are very busy people who paid two legal firms to check up on the proper nature of the person they were selling to and it turns out this person was twice bankrupt, where do you think it puts those firms who told these key people that this was a good person to sell to? Field is quoted by the The Law Society Gazette.Dont you feel responsibility that there are people paying you presumably very good fees and that there were two lots of firms involved and neither discovered the most obvious thing about this person? added Field.According to a report from The Lawyer, RAL was a new Olswang client when the deal was being discussed and the law firm was noted for its detailed and rigorous due diligence.It ended up cautioning on insolvency, concessions agreements and pension schemes but had been increasingly aware of RALs manifold weaknesses as purchasers of BHS, according to the report by the MPs.The report notes that advisers were content to take generous fees and let their names prop up the reputation of the deal.The report also argues that advisers such as Linklaters and Olswang depended solely on each others presence and that other advisers got comfort in the fact that renowned law firms were involved in the deal. MPs also said that advisers were heavily incentivised to progress the deal. The current market is making small law firms increasingly vulnerable according to the head of consultancy Altman Weil.Eric Seeger said Theres more competition for less work, and small firms need a strategy to avoid being squeezed out. That may mean building a bigger platform or being acquired by a firm that already has a broader foundation.Seegers firm records mergers and acquisitions in the US legal market, including overseas acquisitions. There were 28 combinations in the second quarter of 2016 and 48 in the first half of the year, matching the first half of 2015.Most of the acquired firms had fewer than 25 lawyers while almost half of the acquiring firms had fewer than 50 lawyers.A team of 5 lawyers has been hired by Jones Day in Singapore from Hogan Lovells including its head of infrastructure and regional energy & resources James Harris.Three of Harris team will join him in Singapore while another while join Jones Days Beijing office. The firm has expressed a commitment to grow its practice in Asia and Australia. Norton Rose Fulbright is expanding its global footprint with a new alliance in Kenya. Its partner is local law firm Walker Kontos which has 18 fee earners including 9 partners in Nairobi.The formal alliance will launch in October and will see the two firms collaborating on selected client matters particularly in the areas of financial institutions, energy and infrastructure.Simmons & Simmons has added a new partner to its financial markets practice in Hong Kong. Simon McKnight has joined from Linklaters where he was a capital markets counsel.A U$4.8 billion acquisition of internet firm Yahoo! by telecoms and software firm Verizon has put Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Gotshal & Manges and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in key legal advisory roles.The transaction comes following a long period of speculation as to the future of Yahoo! and its decision not to spin-off its big money stake in Alibaba due to tax implications. Australian companies need to craft and implement data breach programs and they need to do it now lest they face increased risk of aggressive litigation, Jones Day warned.The warning comes as Australia is likely to require compulsory data breach reporting requirements this year."Based on our experience in other jurisdictions that have introduced mandatory data breach notification, such as the U.S. and the EU, companies that are not adequately prepared are at greater risk of being sued by their corporate customers (for breach of privacy obligations embedded in their customer contracts) and by consumer customers," said Adam Salter, partner in Jones Days Cybersecurity, Privacy and Data Protection practice.Noting that the bill for data breach requirements currently before the Parliament has bi-partisan support, Salter said that businesses should be taking action now to ensure they are ready to comply with the law once it takes effect.In the 2016 Cost of Data Breach Study: Australia by the Ponemon Institute, it was found that the average total cost of a data breach is $2.64 million while the average cost per lost or stolen record is $142.Though it was found in the study sponsored by IBM that the average total cost of data breach decreased 6.6 percent and the per capita cost decreased 1.4 percent, the financial impact is still very substantial.In the 2016 Cost of Data Breach Study: Global Analysis, it was revealed that the average total cost of a breach is $4 million, an increase of 29 percent since 2013. The per capita cost is $158, an increase of 15 percent since 2013.These costs are likely to increase if companies face more aggressive litigation if they neglect to comply with new requirements such as mandatory disclosure of a breach, hence the warning from Jones Day.Alastair MacGibbon, Australia's first Special Adviser to the Prime Minister on Cybersecurity, agreed with the global law firms advice."The Australian government recognizes that we must lead by example when it comes to detecting, deterring, and responding to cyber threats and risks. But we cannot do this in isolation. It is absolutely critical we partner with and have the support of businesses to drive and implement the initiatives we outlined in our Cyber Security Strategy," MacGibbon said."Strong cyber defenses have much wider-ranging implications than most people realizeit has huge benefits to our economy, improves social opportunities of connecting online, and boosts our national prosperity," he added.Meanwhile, while data breach disclosure benefits potentially affected people from harm, it can also negatively impact companies, Mauricio Paez, a New York-based partner in Jones Day's Cybersecurity, Privacy & Data Protection practice, noted.Breach notification also means that cyber breaches could now be very public events that can result in private litigation and reputation and brand harm, and lead to governmental investigations, thereby increasing the legal risks to the reporting business, Paez said.The key steps for Australian businesses to be prepared are to regularly review and strengthen their IT and data security systems, policies, and procedures and prepare for how they would report a potential data breach to authorities and customers, Salter said."In particular, businesses should review (or, if not already in place, develop) risk management and compliance policies and procedures to both prevent data breaches and deal with them, in the unfortunate but increasingly likely event that they occur," Salter explained. Under screening arrangements connected with the new simplified student visa in Australia all prospective international students must prove to be genuine.A pre-visa screening assessment is usually conducted by the International Admissions department of the university in Australia and education providers are required to ensure that all applications are from students who meet genuine temporary entrant requirements. Under the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP)'s Simplified Student Visa Framework (SSVF), overseas students must have the financial capacity to support their study in Australia.The university requires each international applicant to submit a detailed personal statement of study purpose with their application and they must provide documentary evidence of financial capacity.Students must have genuine access to either sufficient funds to cover themselves and any accompanying family members for their first 12 months in Australia or sufficient ongoing income to cover these costs. Students may also be asked to provide further documentation and/or speak with a university representative for a quick interview.'If the university forms the opinion that you did not pass the pre-visa screening, it may refuse to assess your application, withdraw an offer of a place or cancel your Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE),' said a Department of Immigration spokesman.The rules also mean that universities do not generally accept applications from students who have been refused a student visa within the previous two years. Any students found submitting fake information such as documents, work experience, and financial claims will be banned from applying for a visa in Australia for a three year period.Australia's simplified student visa framework came into effect at the beginning of July and is designed to make the process of applying for a student visa simpler to navigate and all online. That means that all students and student guardians will generally be required to lodge their visa application online by creating an account in ImmiAccount with the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP)To help with online applications a new Student Document Checklist Tool on the DIBP website allows students to check their financial and English language requirements before applying for their visa. My husband have decided to apply for permanent residency in Australia for ourselves and our two children (aged 3 and 1). I am a teacher and he is a Health Promotion officer at the moment. We also have a dog. We are starting to save up while we get things in order before applying for our visas and we were wondering if anyone could give us some advice. We've looked at How to Move to Australia. Looking at the Process, Start to Finish. so we think we know the process, however we're not sure what we need to have at hand before we even start. Also, if anyone would mind giving us a rough estimate of how much it cost for them to move (from start to finish), so that we know approximately how much we will need to save up, that would be much appreciated. We're so excited about moving although we know it is going to take a while so we are trying to keep our feet on the ground as much as we can. Hi there my girlfriend is currently in UK with an Australian 457 but has left her job and would like to cancel it so she can come back to aus in August on an eta visa. I hear it takes a month to cancel the 457, is there anyway to expedite this ? After the immense popularity of the Duster and Creta, Honda has brought in its own contender with an ace up its sleeve a third row of seats. With every new model thats launched in this segment, the segment itself gets harder and harder to classify. Its no longer the compact SUV segment, as that belongs to sub-four-metre offerings like the Brezza and EcoSport. And with rivals like the Hyundai Creta pushing the price well beyond the Rs 15-lakh mark, maybe we should be calling it the premium SUV segment. The new Honda BR-V confuses matters even further. At 4,456mm in length, forget compact its really a mid-size SUV. And because it has a third row of seats, it should technically compete with even more expensive SUVs like the Mahindra XUV500. But then, Honda has priced it at a competitive Rs 8.75-12.90 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), which brings it back down to earth again. So, just where does this rather unique SUV fit into the scheme of things, who is it for, and whats going on under that familiar-looking body? Only a full Autocar India road test can give you the answers. NHTSA The company has notified safety regulators of the recall campaign. As officials have explained in the respective documents, the glass panel of the sunroof in these models was insufficiently bonded to its frame.In the case of the affected vehicles, the glass panel could come loose when the car is in motion, and then pose a safety hazard to other road users if it flies off while driving.The recall has been announced in Australia and Canada, but has yet to be revealed in the USA, Europe, or other global markets. In the case of Australia, only 12 vehicles will require a check and fitment of the sunroof glass panel. Only ten Canadian customers of the Bentley Continental Flying Spur are affected by this recall campaign.American customers are probably affected as well, but thewebsite does not reveal an active recall campaign for this model. There is a slight possibility that Bentley did not sell any Continental Flying Spur vehicles in the USA with the 2007 or 2008 model year and without a sunroof, which would explain the lack of any recalled vehicles sold in the USA.If this issue seems familiar to you, this might happen because we reported an Audi A8 and S8 recall for the 2007-2009 model year vehicles fitted with a glass sunroof. As with their Bentley equivalents, the fitment of the glass panel of the sunroof was not strong enough, and there is a risk that the part could fly while the vehicle is driving.Since nobody wants to be hit with a flying (pun intended) piece of glass, you can understand why the two automakers want to fix the issue that affects the platform siblings. Fortunately, no reports of accidents, fatalities, or injuries related to this potential problems have been made. So it happens that none other than Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone's new mother-in-law has been abducted by criminals in Sao Paulo, with the kidnappers demanding a ransom of no less than 120 million reais (approximately $36,5 million).According to Brazilian new magazine Veja , Aparecida Schunck, the mother of Fabiana Flosi, who is Ecclestone's latest wife, was kidnapped on Friday, although local police have yet to confirm or at least comment on the matter.As most of you know, Bernie is likely the richest man in motorsport, since he is worth approximately $3.1 billion, so the motive behind the kidnapping is rather clear.He married Fabiana Flosi, Schunck's daughter, in 2012, after meeting her at the Brazilian Grand Prix on multiple occasions. Aparecida Schunck was taken on Friday in the neighborhood of Interlagos, Sao Paulo.Kidnappings were a lot more common in Brazil in the early noughties, when tens of people were being abducted for ransom every day, but only the equivalent of a few hundred U.S. dollars was usually asked by criminals.The formation of a special police division dedicated to cracking down the number of abductions made things a little better from this point of view, but the risk has remained. Brazil is currently going through its biggest economic crisis in modern history, while next month is scheduled to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, despite ongoing concerns regarding an outbreak of the Zika virus, heavy pollution and increase of crime rates.Neither Bernie, nor his wife Fabiana has issued any statements regarding the kidnapping so far, but we will keep you posted if the situation progresses. It's worth nothing that the vast majority of abductions in Brazil end without any violence against the victim, so hopefully this one improves those statistics. The idea makes sense, as you can hire someone with proven talent and experience in the field you want to operate a business to ensure things go right from day one. The latest hire made by Faraday Future is a designer from Toyota, Jin Won Kim. His new job will be leading the Exterior Design Department at Faraday Future.Even though his name is not as resounding as Chris Bangles or other famous figures in the automotive industry, we will have you know that Jin Won Kim was a 15-year veteran of Toyota s Calty Design Research Studio, where he focused on exterior design. His best-known work includes the Toyota FJ Cruiser , Toyota FT-HS Concept, and the new Toyota Corolla Furia Concept.The latest hire at Faraday Future has already confirmed the move on his Linkedin page, Electrek reports. Jin Won Kim will report to Richard Kim, Faraday Futures Head of Design.Mr. Richard Kim (name coincidence) used to work for BMW , and is the designer responsible for the exterior look of the BMW i3 and i8 models. Together, the two talented individuals should lead their teams into making beautiful cars for the newly-founded brand.Starting with a new automaker does have its advantages. Even though Faraday Future has only revealed a concept car until now, the two designers have the opportunity to set a design language for the brand, which will make or break the company over the years.We must note that the new lead exterior designer for Faraday Future will have limited input in the first production model designed by the newly-founded brand. As most of you know, the independent automaker funded by a Chinese billionaire is expected to showcase its first model by the end of the year, or in early 2017.Considering the challenges ahead of the design team, Jin Won Kim will have limited input on the first production car from Faraday Future if it will be released less than a year from his appointment. The Sterling Heights Assembly Plant will receive this massive investment in the form of a retooling so that it will make the next generation of the Ram 1500 pickup truck.Currently, the facility builds the Chrysler 200, but the model will be discontinued, and FCA has decided to shift its Ram 1500 production from Warren to Sterling Heights as part of a bold investment plan. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is not at its first investment announced in recent weeks, as the automaker has pledged to improve some of the facilities it operates in Ohio and Illinois . According to FCA, their total investment in the USA has risen to $8.3 billion since June 2009, and nearly 25,000 jobs were created in the process.In the case of the Sterling Heights plant, FCA previously announced it would discontinue the Chrysler 200 , so employees were wondering what the future will bring for them, in spite of the fact the automaker disclosed plans of a production shift towards Sterling Heights. The last Chrysler 200 is set to leave the Sterling Heights Assembly facility at the end of December 2016.Once the last 200 leaves the production line, FCA will have its employees and contractors prepare the transformation of the factory to suit the Ram 1500 . Todays announcement brings the size of the investment, as well as the timeframe in which it will be operated. FCA has underlined the fact that the production action is subject to the formal approval of state and local entity incentives. The decision was announced today, after the Michigan Strategic Fund board has approved a tax break valued at $11.38 million over a 15-year period. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will announce its plans for the Warren Truck Assembly Plant, also located in Michigan, at a later date. The factory currently builds the Ram 1500 , but it is expected to receive a different model. This, though, is a textbook PR reply where the automaker places the blame on the driver without looking too eager to do so. You don't get the feeling that Tesla takes any pleasure in reminding Mr. Pang that he's the only one at fault for what happened - even though, with all the unwanted attention lately, you can't help imagine there's a sense of relief every time the investigation of an Autopilot crash shows it was the driver who used it improperly.As far as Tesla is concerned, that was long settled for the Montana incident. The company analyzed the vehicle's logs and issued a statement that basically said Mr. Pang did almost everything wrong. He activated the Autosteer system on an inappropriate road, he didn't keep his hands on the wheel, and he didn't respond when the car prompted him to do so. In other words, he was asking for it.That was Tesla's response from almost two weeks ago, but since Mr. Pang was unhappy with the whole procedure and wrote a letter of his own, the company needed to address that as well. So it did, focusing on two of the key aspects invoked by the Model X driver: Tesla's failure to contact him after the accident and the fact the motor kept running after the car had come to a halt.For the first issue, the company says that it spoke with Mr. Pang's translator the following morning, and with the driver's wife the next day. After that, it claims to have made multiple attempts at contacting Mr. Pang, but to no avail. The Tesla team used this occasion as well to inform Mr. Pang he is free to call at any time if he wishes to get in touch with a Tesla representative.This second response also contains an explication for why the motor kept running after the car was stopped. It says that "since the vehicle had been left in Drive with Creep Mode enabled, the motor continued to rotate." It also welcomes the feedback and admits this might be a little "disconcerting" after a crash, and so promises to look into it in the future.So, what's basically happened here is that Tesla is maintaining its position, but it's also trying to solution the incident behind closed doors. That doesn't necessarily mean it has anything to hide, but rather that it enjoys more attention than it would like to, so anything to calm the spirits down would be welcome. OK, Mr. Pang, now it's your move.Dear Mr. Pang,We were sorry to hear about your accident, but we were very pleased to learn both you and your friend were ok when we spoke through your translator on the morning of the crash (July 9). On Monday immediately following the crash (July 11), we found a member of the Tesla team fluent in Mandarin and called to follow up. When we were able to make contact with your wife the following day, we expressed our concern and gathered more information regarding the incident. We have since made multiple attempts (one Wednesday, one Thursday, and one Friday) to reach you to discuss the incident, review detailed logs, and address any further concerns and have not received a call back.As is our standard procedure with all incidents experienced in our vehicles, we have conducted a thorough investigation of the diagnostic log data transmitted by the vehicle. Given your stated preference to air your concerns in a public forum, we are happy to provide a brief analysis here and welcome a return call from you. From this data, we learned that after you engaged Autosteer, your hands were not detected on the steering wheel for over two minutes. This is contrary to the terms of use when first enabling the feature and the visual alert presented you every time Autosteer is activated. As road conditions became increasingly uncertain, the vehicle again alerted you to put your hands on the wheel. No steering torque was then detected until Autosteer was disabled with an abrupt steering action. Immediately following detection of the first impact, adaptive cruise control was also disabled, the vehicle began to slow, and you applied the brake pedal.Following the crash, and once the vehicle had come to rest, the passenger door was opened but the driver door remained closed and the key remained in the vehicle. Since the vehicle had been left in Drive with Creep Mode enabled, the motor continued to rotate. The diagnostic data shows that the driver door was later opened from the outside and the vehicle was shifted to park. We understand that at night following a collision the rotating motors may have been disconcerting, even though they were only powered by minimal levels of creep torque. We always seek to learn from customer concerns, and we are looking into this behavior to see if it can be improved. We are also continually studying means of better encouraging drivers to adhere to the terms of use for our driver assistance features.We are still seeking to speak with you. Please contact Tesla service so that we can answer any further questions you may have.Sincerely, The Tesla team AMG While we're now familiar with the Mercedes-GT trading off its rear hatch for a canvas top, we can assure you the fabric roof of the vehicle won't make you cry over spilt metal - for one thing, the soft top of the SLS AMG Roadster was one of the best on the market, in terms of both thermal and aural insulation.Speaking of the GT's forebearers, the upcoming release of the Roadster (more on that at the bottom of the page), along with the derivatives this will borrow from the Coupe, only comes to confirm Mercedes' GT master plan, as we mentioned in the title.It all started back in the 1990s, when the German automaker joined forces with McLaren to deliver the bewildering Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. While the Brits were targeting for stratospheric performance, uber-limited production numbers and nothing else, the Germans had other plans.Those plans started becoming visible with the no-Mclaren SLS AMG that followed. This moved from hypercar territory to Gran Touring land, a battleground more in tune with Merc 's ways.With the GT continuing that transition, Mercedes-AMG can finally do what Germans do best, namely come up with a never-ending range that offers something for every taste. And if we look at how Porsche has been squeezing every possible derivative out of the Neunelfer platform for decades now, it's difficult to disagree with Mercedes.When it comes to the Roadster's various versions, a recently-leaked slideshow that claims to be part of an internal presentation shows a GT C Roadster is coming in the first half of 2017, while a GT C Coupe is planned for the second half of next year - you'll find the slide in the gallery.In our book, while the Roadster will debut as a 2018 model year, the C means that the fixed-roof GT will get its mid-cycle revamp next year, with the C standing for the standard model, which will join the GT S and the GT R. Will the GT Roadster also get the all-out R badge? That's exactly the kind of question Mercedes-AMG likes to use to keep us on our toes. Powered only by sunlight, the Solar Impulse aircraft has completed its odyssey around the planet, and landed tonight back in Abu Dhabi, where it took off in March 2015. Bertrand Piccard flew the final leg, and guided the airplane in to the airport where he was greeted by dozens of crew members, a marching band and scores of local officials. The flawless landing was streamed live on the internet. Thank you to each and every one of you, said Piccard to the crew. It is so amazing what youve done. Piccard and Andrew Borschberg took turns flying the aircraft on its 17-leg flight. The epic journey covered more than 21,747 miles, including a 5,545-mile, 118-hour flight from Japan to Hawaii, which set a new world record for longest uninterrupted solo flight. The future is now, Piccard said after exiting the airplane tonight. Lets take it further. The aim of the project was to promote the use of clean technologies around the world. The top surfaces of the lightweight airplane are covered with solar cells, which charge the energy-dense batteries that power the four propellers. This video, posted today by the Solar Impulse team, flashes through the global journey in a minute and a half. Sonex aims to work with local partners to promote the idea of home-building airplanes from kits in China, the company said this week in a news conference at EAA AirVenture. Sonex will work with Francis Chao, of the Beijing Aviation Technology Company, to promote its line of kit airplanes and help grow the base of aviation enthusiasts in the country. [Chao] clearly has the right vision for GA in China, and the tenacity to make it happen, said Mark Schaible, general manager of Sonex. BAT has established a new Aviation Education Center in Beijing, where the companies hope to attract new people to aviation. The downtown location of the Center will attract people off the street, Schaible said. We want to bring the private citizen into aviation. The current aviation infrastructure in China supports training mainly for the airlines and military, Schaible added, with little infrastructure in place to support private flying for business or recreation. In order for privatized GA to grow and succeed in China, a network of private A&P and flight schools must be established, Schaible said. Listen to a podcast interview with Chao by AVwebs Elaine Kauh on the future of personal flying in China. After purchasing every model in the CubCrafters line, TacAero now offers a certified five-day transition course to prepare CubCrafters customers for the challenges of flying a high-performance tailwheel airplane. Aviation Consumer editor Larry Anglisano spoke with CubCrafters John Whitish and TacAeros Jeremy Young about the program. ForeFlight has become just as popular for business aviation/turbine aircraft ops as it has for the lower end of the market, and the ForeFlight... Yall know good and damb well that Bernie Sanders be leaving the house looking like he just got out from inside a dryers spin cycle. Hair be everywhichway and suit all wrinkled. He was on the campaign trail looking like you did after a particularly TURNT recess period. But last night at the Democratic National Convention, our boy showed up with his shit together. PRAISE THE GOD OF HAIR GEL AND GOOD BRUSHES. Someone put a comb through Uncle Bernies hair and it was well. I mean, LOOKATGAWD. Aint He a good God? Struggle hair no more! His hair is fried, dyed, laid to the back and I am thankful for it. I feel like someone showed him the aisle where coconut oil is sold at Costco. Why? Because teamwork makes the dream work. Bruh looked gooder dinnamug, and he stood on that stage and took one for the team, enthusiastically endorsing Hillary Clinton for president. I was so proud of him, that I might just send him a giant tub of shea butter before we BLAXIT so he can stay moisturized. Salute, sir. Out here looking like the calmed but formerly trouble waters under the bridge. God is good. Chile, my Facebook friends and folks on my Awesomely Luvvie page have no chill and they were equally impressed. Shatani: He lookin kempt as fuck! Karin: Michelle probably did it backstage with some spit and her hand! NiShele: or maybe she used some of baracks dax Sili: I think they might have some SheaMoisture back there #breakthewalls. Upon further inspection, it looks like his ends have finally been clipped. Hes been moisturizing. #SlickItSamson Kymberly: He got that slick down tonight, somebody gave him a touch of that good conkaline lol Anitra: Bernie out here using the good Eco-stylin olive oil gel cause Michelle hooked him up. Proud of wrinkly boo stepping his hair game up. Zoohey: Bernie with the good hair Lesle: His hair laid with that good brown gel and fished with some aqua net #StyleItShiva Tamara: Gawd of Shadrach, Meshach Taylor, and Ampro. Alicia: Hes got one last time in the spotlight. You know Representative Nina Turner wrestled him down and took a comb to that nest before he stepped out there. Candace: He cowashed. Cortney: Washed. Deep conditioned. Dab of Argan oil. Couple pumps of that good blue mousse. Wrapped. Edges tied down with white wrapping paper. 55-60 mins under hooded dryer. Dab of Biosilk. Combed down to perfection with wide toothed comb. 2 sprays of shine mist. Avoid humidity until showtime. #MyBooWasTightTonight Brent: They must have turned off the AC like they used to do with Whitney for her voice, but this was so Bernies hair would sit still. Ava: I was not expecting or prepared for his hair to look so beautiful. Even Bill Clinton looked teary eyed Liz: Bernie combing his hair for someone is really all the endorsement I need. Ten bucks says Michelle made him do it. Loretta: Yep, even Bernies hair got into formation! Mia: Bernie got Argan Oil silky on em! Let em know, Bern! #SoulGlo ZaKiya: When you go to visit the sistahs and they do your hair! Look at edge control Rachael: That man looks like a post Thanksgiving dinner nap. Kim: Uncle Bernie used those juices and berries on this day!!! Barbara: Somebody got him a keratin treatment. Carrie: The Lord works with Mysterious Waves. LMAOOOOO! Everyone is ridiculous and I love them. I am at the DNC for the rest of the week, so Ill be bringing yall randomness from the hall and the events! They messed around and gave your girl a credential! YES! Follow me on all social. Im @Luvvie everywhere. I still owe you a post on FLOTUS Michelle Obamas AMAZING speech so Ill be back for that. 26 July 2016 10:14 (UTC+04:00) Armenian armed forces have 20 times violated the ceasefire on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops over the past 24 hours, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry reported on July 26. Armenian armed forces, stationed on the nameless heights of Armenias Noyemberyan and Krasnoselsk districts, opened fire at positions of Azerbaijani armed forces on the nameless heights of Gazakh and Gadabay districts. Azerbaijani positions also took fire from the positions located near the village of Ashagi Seyidahmadli of Fizuli district and Kuropatkino of Khojavend 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. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 17:29 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Huseynov The situation around the police patrol station in Yerevan, which for over a week is being seized by an armed group Sasna Tser, remains tense. In the late hours of July 25, the attackers set fire at a police bus and then rolled it outside the gates of the police station, burning two other police cars. All this was accompanied by periodic gunshots. Although the government says that negotiations with the opposition continue, its representatives still did not succeed in disarming the attackers of police station. Activists put all the responsibility for the possible bloodshed personally on President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan. The police continues to prohibit the opposition of transferring food and water supplies to the members of the armed group. The activists, who continue gathering around the police station and main squares of Yerevan, claim that a number protesters were beaten and held without food and water for hours. They were taken to police regiments not designed as detention centers, human rights activist Zara Hovhannisyan says. At least 50 people, including 25 officers, were wounded in Armenia after a night of clashes between police and protests linked to a four-day hostage, Armenian Health Ministry claimed. "While the crisis began as a criminal act by small, radical and fringe opposition group with a little support, the incident has escalated into a deeper and more divisive confrontation driven by a combination of serious discontent within the country and a sense of accumulated frustration with an unpopular government," said Director of Armenia's Regional Studies Center. On July 17, a group of armed men entered the territory of the Armenian police patrol department in the Erebuni district of Yerevan and took several people hostage. The attackers demand the release of Armenian opposition figure Jirair Sefilyan, who was arrested nearly a month ago on charges of illegal possession of arms. They also claim resignation of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. During the seizure of the building one policeman was killed and four were injured. For almost a week, the attackers held four policemen in hostage, including the deputy chief of Armenian police major-General Vardan Yeghiazaryan and the deputy chief of Yerevan police, Colonel Valeri Osipyan. Following the long-lasting talks, the armed group on July 23 released all of the hostages. Nevertheless, the armed group refuses to lay arms down and surrender to the authorities. Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 11:18 (UTC+04:00) By Martin Wagner and Noni Austin Climate change has claimed another victim. Almost one-quarter of the coral in Australias Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area one of the worlds richest and most complex ecosystems has died this year, in the worst mass coral bleaching in recorded history. Even in the far northern reaches of the Reef, long at a sufficient distance from human pressures like coastal development to preserve, to a large extent, coral health, a staggering 50% of the coral has died. The above-average sea temperatures that triggered this bleaching were made 175 times more likely by climate change. As the ocean continues to absorb heat from the atmosphere, large-scale coral bleaching like that which has decimated the Great Barrier Reef not to mention other destructive phenomena spurred by rising temperatures is likely to become even more frequent and devastating. The future of priceless World Heritage sites and, indeed, our planet depends on the immediate reduction of climate-change-inducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Yet many of the governments responsible for protecting these sites within their borders are not only failing to take strong climate action; they are actively pursuing dirty energy projects like coal mines and coal-fired power plants. Even as the Great Barrier Reef dies before our eyes, Australia continues to increase its exploitation of dirty fossil fuels. In the past year, the Australian government has approved both the massive Carmichael coalmine and the Abbot Point terminal, located near the Reef, to facilitate the global export of output from the Carmichael mine. The emissions attributable to the Carmichael mine will be some of the highest resulting from a single project anywhere in the world. And the problem isnt limited to Australia. In low-lying Bangladesh, one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, the government supports a proposal to build two huge coal-fired power plants adjacent to the Sundarbans World Heritage site. India, too, supports the proposal. Not only will these power plants emit large quantities of greenhouse gases; they will also devastate the Sundarbans, where the Ganges and other rivers meet the Bay of Bengal in a spectacular delta of mangrove islands that is home to endangered Bengal tigers and river dolphins. The power plants will pollute the waters with toxic coal ash, bring constant coal-barge traffic, and require the dredging of riverbeds. Mercury from the smokestacks will accumulate in the marine life, permanently contaminating the food supply of hundreds of thousands of people and vulnerable wildlife. It is true that Bangladesh is energy poor, a problem that must be addressed if it is to continue to develop economically. But there are alternatives. The country has significant potential for renewable-energy production, and it is already a world leader in rooftop solar energy. Of course, the responsibility to avert dangerous anthropogenic climate change does not fall only on countries that are home to World Heritage sites. But, knowing what we know today, initiating such damaging dirty energy projects is indefensible. With governments failing to protect our natural heritage, the World Heritage Committee must step up, in order to help bring an end to the relentless exploitation of fossil fuels. Specifically, the WHC should make recommendations to governments for reducing fossil-fuel-related threats, identify sites that are in particular danger from such threats, and carry out monitoring missions. The objective should be, first and foremost, to encourage governments with the capacity to reduce fossil-fuel-related threats to designated sites to take action. Such action from the WHC would also help to educate and empower civil society, while placing pressure on financial institutions to withhold the funding required for massive development projects. The WHCs annual meetings, such as that which just ended in Istanbul, are the ideal forum for such an effort. Already, dozens of organizations and more than 60,000 individuals have called on the committee to urge India and Bangladesh to cancel the proposed coal plants and invest in renewable energy instead. Similarly, dozens of renowned scientists, NGOs, and international and Australian lawyers have demanded that the WHC counsel Australia not to continue supporting developments that will exacerbate the impact of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef. As the threat of climate change grows increasingly menacing, influential institutions like the WHC must take a stand against the toxic and insidious legacy of dependence on coal and other fossil fuels. If the committee remains silent on this crucial issue, World Heritage sites around the world will suffer. Copyright: Project Syndicate: The Death of World Heritage Sites --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 16:07 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The State Committee on Property Issues of Azerbaijan presented the new portal for privatization on July 26 privatization.az. The Deputy Chairman of the Committee Rafig Jalilov claimed that the portal is expected to significantly simplify the process of privatization and to increase transparency in this area. The portal will contain all information about the objects offered for privatization, their addresses, area, location and their initial cost. In addition, the portal will give the opportunity to participate in online auctions. The head of strategic planning, innovation, monitoring and analysis department of the State Committee on Property Issues, Shamil Shirinov, said that the new portal will allow foreign companies to participate in privatization as well. The portal was designed in two languages - Azerbaijani and English, which allows foreign investors to actively participate in the privatization process. In addition, the portal has a special section called Why Azerbaijan? that explains foreign investors why they should invest in our country, Shirinov mentioned. Today, the website presents information about two enterprises, the privatization process of which has already begun. They are the Dashkesan Ore-Dressing Plant and JSC Baku Elektroavtomat. The portal was launched in accordance with the recent order of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on different measures over acceleration of privatization and increasing the efficiency of state property management. Under the order, the Cabinet of Ministers is eligible to collect from the State Committee for Property Affairs and other related organizations the proposals for the list of enterprises to retain in public ownership, to implement their restructuring and to provide for privatization non-profile businesses and facilities. The Cabinet will also take measures for structural changes and introduction of corporate management principles to improve the transparency and efficiency of financial and economic activities of large state-run enterprises. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 10:43 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova Famous Azerbaijani couturier Fakhriya Khalafova has been awarded FASHION FOR EUROPE 2016 for her professional and creative achievements in fashion and design field, Trend Life reported. A whole year the national designer will be honorable guest of fashion events held in Europe. FASHION FOR EUROPE brings together European designers and brands in the world famous Vienna State Opera. In 2016, the international fashion highlight moved to the world famous Vienna State Opera. European designers and brands transformed the Opera house into an exclusive boutique and runway area and represented their nation. Each brand represents its nation in this world famous building. Tradition meets trend in exclusive runway shows and showroom areas. Visitors have the possibility to actually shop the styles presented on site. In her interview with Australian public service broadcaster (ORF) Khalafova shared her his secrets of success. "The secret of my success lies in confidence and a special approach to the work, ingenuity and originality in process of creation that helps me to get high reviews. I pay special attention to the clothing which will fully represent Azerbaijani culture. The ideals of East and West are originally merged in my fashion collection", said the designer. Khalafova went on to say that the popularity of evening dresses is increasing year by year, and will enjoy its peak popularity this year. "Modern fashion dictates the latest trend, according to which festive image should be mysterious and romantic, brilliant and unique," said Khalafova. Currently Fakhriya is the head of the Fashion and Design Centre. She is an author of collections, which were winners of various International awards (Lider in prestige & quality europe 2006, Academician Yusif Mammadaliyev prize 2004, Meritorious Science Art 2006, Professional prize Golden scissors-2007). The couturier is also involved in such businesses as television, artistic photography, and advertising and creative brand development. Her aspiration is focused to reflect all main features of current fashion trends: womanly, simplicity, naturalness. The main credo in Fakhriya Khalafovas fashion is nothing excessive, integrity of image and well thought-out design of costume. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 14:52 (UTC+04:00) A soiree dedicated to Azerbaijani classical music was held at Azerbaijans Consulate General in Los Angeles on July 22, 2016. Members of the Save a Heart Foundation of the world-famous Cedars-Sinai Medical Center attended the event. Welcoming the guests, Consul General Nasimi Aghayev noted that the first opera (Leyli and Majnun, 1908), operetta (Cloth Peddler, 1913) and ballet (Maiden Tower, 1940) of the Muslim world were all composed and staged in Azerbaijan. Speaking of great Azerbaijani composers such as Uzeyir Hajibeyli, Qara Qarayev and Fikret Amirov, the diplomat highlighted the significance of their works for the worlds cultural heritage. Stressing the importance attached by the Consulate General to making the Azerbaijani music more known in the U.S., the Consul General spoke of the successful U.S. premieres of Uzeyir Hajibeylis Cloth Peddler operetta in Los Angeles in 2013 and Qara Qarayevs Seven Beauties ballet in San Diego in 2014 - to the audiences of thousands of American spectators. Then some fragments from these premieres were screened. He also informed the audience about the enormous work carried out by Azerbaijans Heydar Aliyev Foundation under the leadership of First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva in preserving and promoting the Azerbaijani musical traditions in Azerbaijan as well as globally. Highlighting Azerbaijans traditional music genre Mugham, which has been recognized by UNESCO as Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Aghayev mentioned that as a sign of tremendous musical value of this genre, NASA decided to make Azerbaijani Mugham a part of an exclusive collection of only 27 songs representing the Earths musical heritage sent to space on the Voyager spacecraft. Various publications on Azerbaijan and discs of Azerbaijani classical music were presented to the attendees of the soiree. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 10:48 (UTC+04:00) In response to an inquiry from The European Azerbaijan Society Max Straubinger, member of the German Bundestag, Parliamentary General Secretary of the Christian Socialist Unions Regional Fraction, has issued a statement on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. His statement reads: It is clear to the CSU regional fraction of the German Parliament that the respect for International Law as well as for the territorial integrity of states are not to be doubted. Resolutions of the United Nations Security Council have to be followed. So it is out of question that the occupation of Azerbaijani territory against international law has to be ended and the refugees have to be enabled to return to their home. A peaceful settlement of the conflict will contribute to a stabilization of the entire region. The talks in in the framework of the so called OSCE Minsk Group, that started in 1992, revealed a reasonable way for a peace treaty (Madrid Principles), based on the pillars of territorial integrity, peaceful conflict settlement and the right of nations of self-determination. Regrettably, there has been no progress for a considerable time within these talks - in April 2016 there has yet again even been an eruption of violence with lots of civilian casualties on both sides. We explicitly deplore and condemn this escalation - especially the civilian victims. In the perception of the CSU regional fraction, Germany -as current OSCE-chair- bears the responsibility to go to any lengths to prevent any resurgence of the conflict and pursue the path leading to peace. Therefore we require a consolidated cease-fire, confidence-building measures and an initiation of negotiations. The German Government is campaigning for the accomplishment of these targets, too: Foreign Minister Steinmeier travelled to the South Caucasus for political talks recently. On the occasion of the opening of the OSCE Parliamentary Assemblys annual conference in Tiflis on July 1st 2016 he correctly emphasized that swift and surprising solutions for deadlocked conflicts in the OSCE area are rarely expectable. However, Germany is trying to gradually build a minimum of confidence between the parties and to ease the everyday life of the population on-site. The Foreign Minister assured that Germany will endeavor intensively to raise the team size of the special representative mission of the OSCE for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, establishing a mechanism of investigation for military incidents and stabilizing the cease-fire by further measures, e.g. with enhanced monitoring. Then, it will be possible to take first steps in serious negotiations. Furthermore, Germany strives to revive and intensify negotiation formats and channels like the OSCE Minsk-Group, not for cementing the status quo but for achieving progress in the conflict settlement process. This two-way approach is supported by the CSU regional fraction. However, the role of the opposing parties will be crucial: They have to renounce any escalation and must not set too many insuperable prerequisites for an admission of negotiations - otherwise a real negotiation progress is impossible. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 14:00 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Camal The settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is as important for Turkey as for Azerbaijan. Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ismayil Alper Coskun has made the remark while commenting on reports about the possible opening of borders between Turkey and Armenia amid Ankaras policy of improving its ties with regional countries. Turkey holds a clear stance on normalization of the relations with Armenia. Ankara has repeatedly stated that the relations can be normalized after liberation of Azerbaijani lands from occupation, Coskun said while talking to AzTV on July 26. The ambassador of the brotherly country emphasized that only after this; there will be made a decision jointly with Azerbaijan on this issue. The Turkish-Armenian border was closed in early 1990s in response to Armenia's so-called "genocide" claims against Ankara and occupation of Azerbaijani territories, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. Ankara set Armenia's withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions of Azerbaijan as a precondition for establishing diplomatic relations with the country. In 2009, the Foreign Ministers of Turkey and Armenia Ahmet Davutoglu and Edward Nalbandian signed protocols on normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia. However, the protocols have not been ratified by the countries' parliaments yet. Armenia, which is in a state of isolation in the region because of its aggressive policy against its neighbors, and West periodically urge Ankara to open the borders, while Turkey repeatedly stated that the Ankara-Yerevan normalization of ties is impossible without the liberation of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. Alper Coskun has once again reiterated that Turkey will continue to act jointly with Azerbaijan in the peaceful settlement of the conflict within the principles of territorial integrity and inviolability of Azerbaijans borders. "As Cavusoglu said, the solution acceptable for Azerbaijan will be acceptable for Turkey as well," said the diplomat. "During my last visit to Azerbaijan we discussed our support for all proposals the brotherly country will take on the settlement of the issue and our joint steps on a number of other issues," stressed Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, in his interview with Haberturk TV channel. Pointing to the recent intensified negotiations towards the liberation of the occupied Azerbaijani territories, Cavusoglu hailed Russia's and Minsk Group co-chairs' increased efforts towards the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "We always stand by Azerbaijan on all these issues," he said. Historically, the relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey have been brotherly, friendly, and collaborative. Turkey has always been the strategic partner of Azerbaijan, the people of both countries being of Turkic race, sharing similar histories, cultures, religions and traditions. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 11:28 (UTC+04:00) The Azerbaijani Embassy in the United States has hosted a reception in honor of the participants of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Azertac reported. The workshop titled Identification of Potential Terrorists and Adversary Planning Emerging Technologies and New Counter-Terror Strategies was organized by the Millennium Project and NATO. Counselor of the Embassy in the U.S .Mammad Talibov, addressing the event, highlighted the importance of the conference, spoke about Azerbaijan`s contributions to fighting against the terrorism. He also provided an insight into large-scale regional projects carried out under the leadership of Azerbaijan. These projects play an important role in the development of region, he added. Talibov further informed the guests about the cause and consequences of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Co-Director, CEO of the Millennium Project Jerome C. Glenn spoke about the project, as well as his visit to Azerbaijan. Director of FIRS2T Group Yair Sharan recalled his Baku visit, highlighted close relations between Azerbaijan and Israel. Founder and head of the Azerbaijan Futures Studies Society Reyhan Huseinova highlighted the activity of the Organization. The North alliance and the South Caucasus country of Azerbaijan enjoy strong partnership ties. Azerbaijan actively participates in the programs such as Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), Planning and Review Process (PARP) and Operational Capabilities Concept (OCC) of NATO. The country also provides transit opportunities for NATO forces, as well as contributes for the International Security Assistance Force and Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan in order to support the international peace and security. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 13:14 (UTC+04:00) European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Gunther Oettinger intends to hold a meeting at the ministerial level with six Eastern Partnership countries in the beginning of autumn, the EU Delegation to Ukraine reported. Oettinger plans to meet with ministers of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine to continue discussing the idea of creating a digital community, according to the message. Relations between Azerbaijan and the EU are regulated based on the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement which was signed in 1996 in Luxemburg and entered into force in 1999. Currently, the EU is the main trade partner of Azerbaijan. European countries accounted for 46.96 percent of Azerbaijans foreign trade in 2015, according to the State Customs Committee. Currently, the EU countries account for 31.92 percent and 59.1 percent of Azerbaijans import and export, respectively. European countries primarily supply machinery and transport equipment to Azerbaijan and import oil products from the country. Azerbaijan has initiated signing a strategic modernized partnership agreement with the EU instead of the association agreement. It is not a legal document, but a program, or an action plan aimed at expanding the cooperation with the EU beyond the energy sphere. The agreement will determine the new areas of partnership such as education and so on. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 19:10 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov It is necessary to tear down about 1,000 houses, resettle over 30,000 people and build around one million square meters of new housing in the framework of a pilot project in Baku, said Abbas Alasgarov, Chairman of the Azerbaijani State Committee for Architecture and Urban Planning. He made the statement on July-26 meeting with the deputy heads of executive authorities and chief architects of Baku districts. The pilot project is envisaged in the Cabinet of Ministers decision dated February 25. The main task is acceleration of the socio-economic development and development of the housing stock in administrative districts of Baku Surakhani, Nasimi, Khatai, Narimanov, Nizami, Yasamal, Sabail, Khazar and Pirallahi. The program, provides modernization of Baku covers 5 years and stipulates tearing down 63 houses in Surakhani, 226 in Nasimi, 99 in Khatai, 219 in Narimanov, 131 in Nizami, 18 in Yasamal, 41 in Sabail, and 297 in Pirallahi district. Demolition of old buildings, which was recently announced by the countrys authorities, is expected to affect the real estate market. The Emergency Ministry has recently declared that a construction company should demolish old buildings and construct another instead. This solution will give an impetus to revitalization of construction firms activities, experts believe. The population of Baku is expected to grow by 745,000 people to 3.35 million by 2030. That will double housing to 64.147 million square meters respectively, and the provision of housing for one person will be 25 square meters of total area compared to the current 17.3 square meters. Baku is also expected to see 22,000 hectares of its oil-field lands reclaimed by 2030. Most of this territory will be reserved for the woodland park zone. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 18:33 (UTC+04:00) There are no killed as a result of the explosion at the Araz arms plant in Azerbaijans Shirvan city, said Azerbaijans Ministry of Defense Industry which is the plants owner. Eleven people were slightly injured as a result of the incident, said the ministry. 17:53 Azerbaijans Ministry of Emergency Situations has disseminated information about the explosion that occurred at an arms factory in the countrys Shirvan city. The explosion occurred at Araz arms factory of Azerbaijans Ministry of Defense Industry at around 15:30 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours). The relevant forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations immediately arrived at the scene and started to take necessary measures. Currently, security measures, as well as the work on eliminating the consequences of the incident are being taken jointly with the forces of relevant authorities. The senior staff of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and heads of the ministrys relevant structural divisions have arrived at the scene. 17:49 The number of those injured during the explosion at the Araz arms factory has reached twenty, Azerbaijans Health Ministry told Trend. There are no victims as a result of the explosion. 17:28 A huge explosion occurred at the Araz arms factory in Azerbaijans Shirvan city. The factory is owned by the Ministry of Defense Industry of Azerbaijan. The injured people are being hospitalized, Trend learned from the Central Hospital of Shirvan city. Eleven people have been placed to the Shirvan city central hospital, the countrys Ministry of Health told Trend July 26. The injured peoples condition is serious. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 16:23 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova Term of office of the Azerbaijani Parliament [Milli Majlis] elected on a snap elections may be shortened and be less than five years. The relevant decision was taken by the Constitutional Court of Azerbaijan, as it approved the draft amendments to the Constitution on July 25. In this case, the next election to the Parliament is held on the first Sunday of November of the fifth year of the term of the convocation of the parliament, elected in the snap election. The legislative poll is held every five years on the first Sunday of November, according to the law. Additionally, according to the proposed amendments, persons who have the right to participate in the parliamentary elections (at the age of 18) can be elected to the Parliament. Previously, the age limit for being nominated for the participation in parliamentary elections was 25 years. The Constitutional Court concluded that the changes proposed to the Constitution by President Ilham Aliyev are in line with the requirement of the Constitution of Azerbaijan. Earlier, Ziyafet Askerov, First Deputy Speaker of Parliament and chairman of the parliamentary committee on security and defense said that the proposed changes do not cut the power of the Parliament but offer new mechanisms for its normal operation. President Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree on holding a referendum on amendments to the countrys constitution on September 26, 2016. -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 18:00 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijan`s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has met Dutch Ambassador to the country Robert Jan Gabrielsen upon the termination of his diplomatic term, Azertac reported. The parties expressed satisfaction with the development of bilateral relations over the past years. They also highlighted favorable opportunities for further enhancement of cooperation. During the meeting fruitful cooperation between the two countries in the fields of environment, agriculture, emergency situations, logistics and others was also underlined. The ambassador expressed his gratitude for the support to fulfill his diplomatic mission in Azerbaijan successfully. Mammadyarov extended his appreciation to the Ambassador for his contributions to the development of relations between the two countries. The relations between the Netherlands and Azerbaijan have strengthened over the past years. About 112 companies with Dutch capitals operate in Azerbaijan, in the spheres of shipbuilding, logistics, ecology and banking. Earlier the Netherlands showed an interest in cooperation with Azerbaijan in agriculture, in particular water industry and lake water purification. The trade turnover between the Netherlands and Azerbaijan amounted to $44.71 million in the first quarter of 2016, $21.65 million of which fell on exports to this country, according to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 16:16 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Camal Debt-laden Greece has accused the European Commission of delaying a deal on selling a share in Greece's DESFA gas transmission system operator to Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR. Greek Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Panos Skourletis, addressing the parliament, said that a number of conditions, set by the European Commission, greatly slowed the privatization process of the gas operator, Greek media reports. The minister reminded that the company will become a passive shareholder, not entitled to vote in the management of DESFA, as a result of decreasing SOCARs share in DESFA from 66 to 49 percent. SOCAR clinched a deal in 2013 to buy a 66 percent stake in DESFA for 400 million euros but faced EUs anti-trust concerns. The EC Directorate-General for Competition launched an in-depth investigation on the matter in November 2014, then later in January, 2015, four days ahead of Greeces snap elections suspended its deadline on the check. Still, SOCAR hopes it can overcome the European Union obstacles, as Italys Snam SpA may purchase at least 17 percent of SOCAR shares, which is required so that its stake drops to 49 percent. Greek MPs stressed that the problems with the privatization of DESFA may deprive the countrys economy of SOCARs huge capital injections. The Greek government would cash in 188 million euros from the deal, while its biggest oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum, which also owns 35 percent in DESFA, will get the rest. Complicating the sale further, Greece last week tabled a bill stipulating changes the way gas tariffs are calculated retroactively from 2006. The move will contain tariff hikes from 2017, but much lower than expected, potentially hurting the profits SOCAR estimated to get from DESFA when it inked the deal. Chief Executive of SOCAR Energy Greece, Anar Mammadov met Energy Minister Panos Skourletis to discuss the issue and warned after the meeting that enacting the bill would put the deal at risk. If implemented, those changes would reduce the value of the company and its future profitability dramatically, Mammadov told Greek news website capital.gr, adding that SOCAR would decide how to proceed after a parliamentary vote on the bill. Should SOCAR indeed drop its bid, DESFA will need to search for another foreign investor that would be able to guarantee its investment strategy since the Greek economy is still weak. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 13:35 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Hasanova The Turkish president criticized the EU's position on possible return to death penalty, calling it unfair since the decisions in a democratic country are taken by citizens. "The people require the death penalty back," RIA news quoted Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying. The EU states it will stop the process of negotiations on Turkey's accession to the European Union if Ankara restores the death penalty. This was announced by the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Reuters reports. Erdogan made a return to the sentence of the death penalty in the Constitution in connection with the attempted military coup in Turkey. This was his response to those who demanded from the president the return of death penalty. "The demands of people cannot be ignored in a democracy," RIA News quoted Erdogan, speaking at the funeral of the victims of coup attempts, answering audience, who chanted "we want the death penalty back". "It is your legitimate right. This will be considered in the framework of the Constitutional process by the relevant authorities, who will make decision," On the night of July 16, a group of soldiers attempted a coup d'etat in Turkey. On the morning of 16th the state television and media reported that the Peace Council took the situation under control and the rebellion was suppressed. Erdogan accused Gulen, the supporter of opposition, who, according to his words, was giving orders from Pennsylvania. According to the latest data, as a result of attempted coup 265 people were killed and thousands were injured. Immediately after the failed attempt for coup d'etat many countries, in particular the world powers voiced their support to the legitimate state power in Turkey. The European leaders backed this triumph of democracy in Turkey, stating any impossibility of any change of power by force. Turkey has along waited for its EU membership, while each application to accede to the European Union was frustrating for the government. Turkey, holding a status of an associate member at the Economic Community the predecessor of the EU since 1963 made his, made an official for entry on April 14, 1987. The membership bid has become a major controversy of the ongoing enlargement of the European Union. Turkey started negotiations on October 3, 2005 and out of 35 chapters necessary to complete the accession process, 15 were opened and one was closed -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 11:07 (UTC+04:00) Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay a visit to Russia August 9, said the press office of Turkish president. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet in St. Petersburg on August 9, RIA Novosti agency quoted Dmitry Peskov, Russian presidents spokesman, as saying . Peskov added that the agenda of the presidents talks is being worked out. Many topics will be discussed at the meeting, he added. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while talking to France-24 on Saturday, voiced a hope to have a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in mid-August. Right now, the Turkish Foreign Ministry negotiates it with the Russian counterparts," he said. "Of course, the recent events in Turkey, apparently, will change the visit timing. But I think, if nothing extraordinary happens, a meeting with the Russian president may take place about mid-August." --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 11:44 (UTC+04:00) Turkish generals, who are accused of being involved in the military coup attempt in the country, have been detained in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Milliyet newspaper reported July 26. Commander of Afghanistan Turkish Task Force, Major General Cahit Bakir and Brigadier General Sener Topuc escaped from Afghanistan to the UAE where they were detained. Reportedly, Turkish intelligence participated in detaining the generals. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 12:42 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Hasanova The Turkey-Russia relations, cracked after the jet incident last November, gain a new pace to get normalized as the two countries have intensified efforts to eliminate the unpleasant outcome. Turkey and Russia need to normalize their relations as soon as possible, says Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek. "We are here to normalize the situation and our relations at an accelerated pace after it was ceased on November 24," RIA News quoted Simsek as saying at the meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. Turkey told the Russian Federation regarding the measures taken to ensure aviation security, he added. The crisis in relations between the two countries began after the incident with the downed Russian plane. After the incident, the Russian president signed a decree on measures to ensure national security and launch special economic measures against Turkey. On June 29 the presidents of Russia and Turkey held a telephone conversation. The heads of two states agreed to work out the possibility of holding near-term personal meeting. The last talks between the two leaders were held last fall at the summit of "Big Twenty" in Antalya. Also, previously President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to his Russian counterpart, where he expressed condolences to the family of the deceased pilot of SU-24 and regret over the incident with the Russian aircraft. In turn, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich at the meeting with Simsek said that apologies of the Turkish side served as a basis for the restoration of relations between Russia and Turkey. Previously, Turkish media reported that Ankara might allow Russia to use the Incirlik airbase for the common fight against Daesh. "The prime minister has signed a decision to resume the work of the intergovernmental commission. I think this will allow us to move forward," said Deputy Prime Minister. Moreover, the Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 9 in St. Petersburg. The issues of normalization of relations and a series of economic and political issues are expected to be discussed during the visit. Commenting earlier on the warming in relations between Russia and Turkey, the Prime Minister of Turkey Binali Yildirim thanked Azerbaijan for assistance in normalization of relations with Moscow. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 17:09 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Hasanova Russia and Turkey agreed to hold consultations on the abolition of visa regime with Turkey at the level of Foreign Ministries and the law enforcement agencies, RIA News reported. "We agreed on consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and competent authorities who deal with law enforcement and special services. We need to provide the necessary assurance regarding the movement of individuals involved in extremist and terrorist activities to Russia. Once the relevant services achieve mutual agreement and cooperation, the visa regime can be abolished," Arkady Dvorkovich said. In addition, the Russian Federation and Turkey discussed the implementation of the project of Akkuyu NPP. By force of the unconstructive position of the EU, Russia decided in December 2014 to reject the South Stream, which was supposed to pass through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, in favor of a new gas pipeline to Turkey ("Turkish Stream"). However, this project was frozen on the background of the cooling in political relations between Moscow and Ankara. Russia and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement in the sphere of construction and operation of the Akkuyu nuclear plant in Mersin on the south of Turkey in 2010. Cost of the project was reported to be approximately $ 20 billion. Earlier, it was reported that the company that will construct the Akkuyu nuclear plant plans to receive the license for the electricity generation in the future station in 2016. The license for the construction of nuclear power plants is expected to be received in 2018. It is also planned to lunch the construction in 2018. Meanwhile, the Energy Ministries of the Russian Federation and Turkey will establish a working group on the implementation of the "Turkish Stream", as Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekchi confirmed interest in the project at a meeting with his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak. The crisis in relations between the two countries began after the incident with the downed Russian plane. After the incident, the Russian president signed a decree on measures to ensure national security and launch special economic measures against Turkey. On June 29 the presidents of Russia and Turkey held a telephone conversation to normalize their cracked relations. Previously President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to his Russian counterpart, where he expressed condolences to the family of the deceased pilot of SU-24 and regret over the incident with the Russian aircraft. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 26 July 2016 19:30 (UTC+04:00) Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has expressed gratitude to the Secretary General of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States [Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Kyrgyzstan], Ramil Hasanov for solidarity in the fight against the movement of Fethullah Gulen. The remarks were made by Cavusoglu on Twitter. Earlier, he also thanked Azerbaijan for supporting Ankara during the military coup attempt in Turkey. As we expected, Azerbaijan strongly supported Turkey during the military coup attempt. This support was reflected in the steps taken, said the foreign minister, adding that this shows the brotherly relations between the two countries. The July 15 coup attempt occurred when rogue elements in the Turkish military tried to overthrow the country's democratically elected government. Turkey's government has repeatedly said the deadly plot, which martyred at least 246 people and injured more than 2,100 others, was organized by followers of U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen. Gulen is also accused of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary, forming what is commonly known as the "parallel state". Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Matt Fountain, founder of Glasgow-based business Freedom Bakery, has been left devastated after a thief stole the companys van and demanded money for its return. The culprit stole Fountains white transit van last week, which was pivotal to operating the bakery in Glasgow. However, the thief took matters further by ringing the 29-year-old to try and make him pay 500 to return the vehicle. Fountain set up his business last year in June to specialise in helping criminals learn how to bake to provide them with skills and job prospects. In Scotland, there is a shortfall of well-trained bakers and a large market to share in the food industry. The likelihood of someone trying to get a job when they come out of prison is extremely low. Speaking to British Baker about the ordeal, Fountain said: The driver was extremely upset about it. The van was unmarked and was left in a back street with low visibility. He added: We havent heard any developments from the police and I think we will probably not be able to get reimbursed. He strongly refuted the idea that the incident had links to the nature of how his bakery was operated, and said he was looking to do some fundraising in order to get his business back up and running. In March, due to growing demand, Freedom Bakery launched a second crowdfunding campaign. Biscuit company Tunnocks has submitted plans for a multi-million-pound extension to its Lanarkshire factory in Uddingston. The aim is to accommodate new production equipment and increase production of its existing product ranges. According to Scottish Construction Now, South Lanarkshire Council has received a submission from the firm for a 1,900sq m extension on three storeys, which will also allow the company to add 30 jobs to its current workforce of over 500 employees. Tunnocks told the construction journal: This proposal will future-proof the present factory to accommodate increased worldwide demand for Tunnocks products. The effect of the proposed extension is to allow new and improved equipment to be installed. This additional investment of several million pounds into the existing bakery premises will additionally safeguard current employment on the site. British Baker contacted Tunnocks, but was told the company had no comment on the proposal. In April, the company saw sales of its tea cakes soar following a boycott by hardline Scottish nationalists Leicestershire baker Michelle Orme has won her third national baking award within a period of 10 months after being crowned the Best Vegan cakes/desserts category at the Vegan Awards UK in Sheffield over the weekend. Orme, who runs her business, The Vegan Cakery from her home in Fleckney, received the award from Guinness World Record holder and vegan athlete Fiona Oakes. The baker set up her company in June 2012, and has since won four honours being named the Best Vegan Company at the 2013 UK Vegan awards and winning two more awards at the 2015 Vegfest UK Awards. Orme was delighted to have added several more awards to her collection: I cant express how grateful I am to all of the people who voted for TVC in the first ever Vegan Awards UK. My amazing customers are the ones who help to make the cakery what it is. This is all thanks to them. She added: As raising money for animal charities and sanctuaries was one of the main driving forces behind starting the business in the first place, I like to think as many votes were because of that as they were for the quality of my cakes and treats. The baker has been determined to show that her vegan products can be tasty alternatives to any regular baking foods that can contain animal-derived ingredients. She is also part of The Vegan Society, which was founded in Leicester in 1944 by Donald Watson PRESS RELEASE UniCredit streamlines organisational structure The UniCredit Board of Directors, further to the recommendation of the Nomination Committee, today approved a new organisational structure aimed at simplifying the Group, establishing a more efficient operational set-up, clarifying roles and responsibilities of senior management and bolstering accountability through shorter reporting and decision making lines. The new structure will involve the reduction of the number of CEO direct reports, with the CEO focusing on the group's strategy, risks and costs structure. As such, he will retain direct oversight of strategy, risk management, compliance, human resources, as well as operating activities. All business related activities across the Group will be under the responsibility of GianniFranco Papa, currently Deputy General Manager of UniCredit and Head of the Corporate and Investment Banking division, who will take up an expanded and strengthened General Manager role, with the primary focus on developing further UniCredits client offer, maximizing cross-selling and value creation throughout UniCredits different divisions and areas of activities as well as driving the digital strategy and the change of the banks services model. Operating activities will be lead by newly appointed co-Chief Operating Officers, Ranieri de Marchis, currently Head of Internal Audit, and Francesco Giordano, currently Chief Financial Officer of HVB, who will both report to the CEO. Their explicit brief will be to transform the operating model of the Group, to reduce costs, streamline and simplify processes and procedures and to instill greater accountability and transparency at all levels. Mr de Marchis will take charge of IT and operational activities, security and internal control systems, whilst Mr Giordano will have specific responsibility for cost management, purchasing, real estate and all finance functions. The latter will be lead by Mirko Bianchi, currently CFO of UniCredit Bank Austria, who becomes Group CFO. Ranieri de Marchis and Francesco Giordano will jointly supervise the strategic planning and rationalization of the IT development program, working closely with the different operational units to respond to business critical needs. Also reporting directly to the CEO is Marina Natale, who will head the Strategy and M&A team for the period of the strategic review. The Groups Italian franchise will have an expanded leadership team under the supervision of General Manager GianniFranco Papa, with the nomination of Andrea Casini, General Manager Bulgaria, and Giovanni Ronca, General Manager New York branch, as co-Heads of the Groups Italian network. Mr Casini, with Remo Taricani as deputy, will focus on the transformation of the retail side of the network, and Mr Ronca, with Lucio Izzi as deputy, on the corporate side. Gianfranco Bisagni and Olivier Khayat, currently Deputy co-Heads of the CIB division are promoted to co-Heads of CIB, which will continue its successful development and reinforce its European leadership in capital markets and global transaction banking. Gianfranco Bisagni and Olivier Khayat will keep on reporting to GianniFranco Papa. All the above appointments will become effective on 1 September 2016. As previously announced TJ Lim, previously Global Head of Markets, has been appointed Group Deputy Risk Officer to ensure a proactive approach to the management of UniCredits non-core credit portfolio. Mr Lim is reporting to Massimiliano Fossati, UniCredit Group Chief Risk Officer. Gabriele Piccini will be stepping down from his role as head of Italy and take up another position within the Group. With the in-depth reorganisation of the management team, Paolo Fiorentino currently COO will be leaving the Group shortly as will Bernardo Mingrone, currently Group CFO. On behalf of the Board of directors the CEO expressed his sincere thanks to Mr Fiorentino, and Mr Mingrone for their valuable contributions to the Group. Jean Pierre Mustier, CEO of UniCredit Group, commented on the changes: The reorganisation announced today is the first step in the simplification of the Group. My objective is to streamline and improve its efficiency. Thanks to a leaner structure, shorter reporting lines and increased accountability we will foster a culture of strong risk and cost discipline and focused execution. With the right people in the right place, our teams will be able to focus fully on creating sustained and recurring value for all UniCredits stakeholders. These changes will allow us to develop further our deep pool of talents, and promote new managers from within whenever possible, to safeguard the future management strength of the Group. Whilst the outcome of our strategic review will be communicated before the end of 2016, our core objectives are to optimise our capital structure, further reduce costs and drive cross selling across the Group. Milan 26 July 2016 Enquiries: Media Relations tel +39 02 88623569 e mail: mediarelations@unicredit.eu Investor Relations tel +39 02 88621872 e mail: investorrelations@unicredit.eu Notes to editors Biographies Gianni Franco Papa, General Manager Gianni Franco Papa started his career at UniCredit Group at predecessor company Credito Italiano in 1979, after completing a law degree at Universita Cattolica in Milan, Italy. He was most recently Deputy General Manager of UniCredit and Head of the Corporate & Investment Banking Division since January 2015, supervising activities in Austria, Germany, Poland and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Having worked in different positions within the Group, Gianni Franco Papa was appointed manager in the International Division in 1986. From 1988 to 1992, he served as Assistant General Manager at Credito Italiano in Hong Kong. Following a period at the Group's internal financial department in Italy, Gianni Franco Papa was appointed Deputy General Manager of the Singapore Branch in 1998. Following this, his responsibilities were extended to additionally include the role of Director for Asia (without China) for UniCredit. Between 2003 and 2005, he worked as General Manager of the New York branch, serving at the same time as Director for the Americas for UniCredit. Gianni Franco Papa further pursued his international career in the Central and Eastern Europe Division for which he took over responsibility in 2010. During that period, in addition to senior management positions held at UniCredit's banks in Slovakia and Ukraine, Mr. Papa held various positions on the Division's control and steering committees, including: President of the Supervisory Board of UniCredit Bank Slovenija, Vice President of the Turkish companies Koc Finansal Hizmetler AS and Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi AS, and Vice President of the Supervisory Board of PJSC Ukrsotsbank. He is member of the UniCredit Executive Management Committee. Ranieri de Marchis, Co-Chief Operating Officer Mr de Marchis holds a degree in Economics from the L.U.I.S.S. University in Rome and a Master in Business Administration - INSEAD - Fontainbleau. He joined UniCredito Italiano SpA in May 2003 as CFO for the Group and he is currently Head of Internal Audit Department of UniCredit Group. Prior to UniCredit, in 1987 he joined Italcable as Financial Analyst and in 1988 he moved to Procter & Gamble. From 1990 to 2003 he worked for General Electric Group. In 1990 he joined GE in the Corporate Audit Staff and he held several positions in the Group before being promoted in 2001 to Vice President Chief Financial Officer of the Oil and Gas Division. Francesco Giordano, Co-Chief Operating Officer Mr Giordano holds a degree in Economics from Universita di Genova and a Master in Economics from University of Warwick, UK. He joined UniCredit Group in 2000 as Head of Research. He has since then held various positions in the Group, including Head of Group Planning, Research and Strategy and CFO and Head of Marketing and Strategy for the Corporate and Investment Banking Division. From 2011 to 2015, he was CFO of Bank Austria, with responsibility also for CEE. Most recently he was CFO Finance and Member of the Management Board at UniCredit Bank AG/Hypovereinsbank in Germany. Prior to UniCredit, he was a senior Economist at Credit Suisse First Boston in London and before that he was working as an Economist at San Paolo Bank. He started his career in 1992 as an Economist at MMS/Standard & Poors. Mirko Bianchi, Group CFO Mr Bianchi holds a Master degree in Finance from Fordham University, New York, USA and a Master in Chemical Engineering from ETH-Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. He joined UniCredit Group in 2009 as Head of Group Finance and has been the CFO of Bank Austria Group since 2015. Prior to joining UniCredit he was a Managing Director, Global Head of Ratings Advisory at UNS Investment Bank. Before then he was a Director, Debt Capital Markets, Ratings Advisory at Deutsche Bank. He started his career in 1992 as an Equity Analyst at Banca Commercial Italiana. Giovanni Ronca, Co-Head Group Italian Network Mr Ronca holds a Doctors degree in Economics from Universita di Torino, Italy. He joined UniCredit Group in 2007 as a senior banker at HVB Milan. Since then he has held various positions in the Group, including Head of Investment Banking Corporate Network and most recently as Head of CIB Americas. Prior to UniCredit he was SVP Financial Markets, responsible for Group funding, rating agencies relationships and part of the Group M&A team at Fiat Group and before then he was working at Exor SpA. Andrea Casini, Co-Head Group Italian Network Mr Casini holds a Doctors degree in Economics from University of National and World Economy, Sofia and a Master of Finance from Bulgaria. He joined UniCredit Group in 1989 and has since then held various positions across multiple markets including most recently being the Deputy Chairman of the Management Board and COO of UniCreditBulbank in Bulgaria. Lucio Izzi, Deputy of Head of Corporate Italy Mr Izzi holds a degree in Law from LUISS, Rome and a MBA from Universita' Bocconi / MIP Politecnico, Milan. He joined UniCredit Group at predecessor company Credito Italiano in 1993 and has since then held various positions in Italy, most recently as Head of Corporate Sales and Marketing, Italy. Remo Taricani, Deputy Head of Retail Italy Mr Taricani holds a degree in Engineering from Bologna University and a MBA from Bologna University. He joined UniCredit Group in 2007 in Retail Italy and has since then held various positions in the Group, including most recently as Head of Individual and Small Business Sales and Marketing in Italy and a being a Board member of UNIS. Before joining UniCredit he was a Manager at Arthur D. Little. He began his career in 1999 at CEPRA (Research Centre for Concurrent Engineering). Olivier Khayat, Co-head of CIB Mr Khayat holds a Master degree in Economics from ENSAE and a Master degree in Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique, France. He joined UniCredit Group in 2012 as Deputy Head of CIB. Prior to this he held various positions at the Corporate and Investment Banking arm of Societe General in London and Paris, including being Advisor to Head of Investoirs services, board member of Newedge and Board member of TCW as well as being head of Fixed income, Currencies and Commodities. Gianfranco Bisagni, Co-head of CIB Mr Bisagni holds a degree in Economics, Business Administration and Distinction from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMTI), Hong Kong Campus. He joined UniCredit Group in 1977 in Genoa and La Spezia and has since then held various positions in the Group, including Head of Corporate Banking Asia Pacific & Chief Manager HK Branch, Head of CIB CEE and Deputy Head of CEE Division. He was most recently Yahoo was a game changer in the online world. It was the front door to the web in the 90s, founded in 1994 by Stanford University students David Filo and Jerry Yang. Yahoo was created as a type of directory for the internet. Its initial public offering in 1996 was the largest for a tech startup at the time. Yahoo was once as big in its time as Facebook or Google are today. But later Google started dominating search & online ad market. Today Yahoo handles just 7.7 percent of global online searches compared with 70 percent for Google and 11 percent for Microsoft's Bing. For online advertising, Yahoo is only 1.5 percent of the worldwide digital advertising market this year. However, it gets 204 million regular visitors in the United States, which ranks it as the third-largest digital media property in the US. Yahoo is for sale since February and it got multiple bids from almost 40 different types of buyers. Finally Telecom giant Verizon bought Yahoo for $4.8 billion. Verizon has earlier bought AOL for USD 4.4 billion last year. Verizon acquisition is of core Yahoo, which includes search, email, advertising products, and the media business (including Yahoo Finance). In addition to getting the fifth-most visited web site in the US, Verizon gets assets like Tumblr, Flickr, Polyvore and digital ad tools Flurry and BrightRoll. Nothing is expected to change in the short term for the Yahoo users. Yahoo is the second most-popular email service behind Google's Gmail. It makes sense for Verizon to keep that brand affinity intact. The Huffington Post, TechCrunch and other sites part of AOL kept their separate identities even after AOL was bought by Verizon. So Yahoo may become a sub-brand just like AOL & Verizon may allow the brand name to continue. Whatever may, it is end of an era! Heres how the rule of 55 can help you take an early distribution from your 401(k) or 403(b). 5 min read A St. Petersburg tree trimmer is lucky to be alive after he was shocked by 7,200 volts of electricity. Tree trimmer Bradley Cater shocked while working last month He's almost blind in one eye and unable to feel some of his fingers and left leg Says wife and 6-month-old daughter kept him fighting In June, Bradley Cater was working at a home on 25th Avenue North when his pole hit a power line. It just hits you out of nowhere, Cater said. It doesnt even feel like youre getting shocked. Its more like lava going through your insides. Cater said he was knocked unconscious and when he woke up he was still being shocked. He couldnt move his arms or legs so he used his mouth to get down to safety. I crawled on the scissor lift and put my hand on the pedal and bit down on the toggle switches and eventually saved myself, Cater said. Firefighters were waiting below and Cater was airlifted to Tamp General Hospital. Caters wife, Natasha, said she was out shopping for her husbands first Fathers Day gift when she got the call. "I have always been worried about that call, Natasha Wood said. He always told me if he ever hit that wire, I mean they call it a widow maker, its not something you normally come home from." Cater spent a month in the hospital. He has had multiple surgeries and the shock has left him almost blind in one eye and unable to feel some of his fingers and his left leg. Doctors say its a miracle he survived, but Cater said his wife and six-month-old daughter McKenzie kept him fighting. "You think to God why me? Why save me? You get emotional and you start thinking He put me back here so I could watch my daughter grow, Cater said. Cater said he has emptied his savings to pay his medical bills and has more surgeries ahead of him. He is his familys sole provider and wont be able to work again for at least another nine months. A gofundme account has been set up to help with expenses. This Gofundme.com site is not managed by Bay News 9. For more information on how the site works and the rules visit http://www.gofundme.com/safety. Currently Reading 20 Home organizing before and afters that will practically give you chills This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate After two-plus years of speculation, ExxonMobil's planned upgrades to its two Beaumont complexes are coming into focus, with one of the area's largest employers introducing dozens of new jobs even as it falls short, for now, of a more-ambitious goal. The company on Tuesday announced a $450 million expansion to its Beaumont refinery, the second wave of growth at that property that will together increase capacity by 17 percent. Those projects are separate from the company's proposed $1 billion-plus polyethylene plant at its petrochemical complex on the city's western outskirts. That would entail 40 new permanent jobs, according to a tax abatement agreement with Jefferson County. Combined, the three announced or publicly known projects will cost the company in excess of $1.5 billion. "Southeast Texas is a great place to do business," ExxonMobil Beaumont spokesman Patrick Trahan said. Construction of the 40,000-barrel-per-day addition announced Tuesday is expected to start this year and be finished by 2018, the company said in a press release. The segment will produce ultra-low sulfur fuels in line with EPA gasoline standards that go into effect next year. "This project represents the largest capital investment in our Beaumont refinery operations in more than a decade, and will benefit the local economy with both temporary and full-time jobs," Fernando Salazar, the refinery's manager, said in a press release. It will complement a 20,000-bpd expansion already underway to handle the light variety of U.S. crude unlocked from shale plays at such a volume that it has helped sink trading prices. ExxonMobil's Beaumont growth ExxonMobil is planning two expansions - one at its Beaumont refinery and a new polyethylene plant at its petrochemical complex. The run-down below does not include a separate, ongoing 20,000-bpd expansion at the refinery: Ultra-low sulfur unit Where: Beaumont refinery Capacity: 40,000 bpd Investment: $450 million Construction jobs: 750 Permanent jobs: 5 Est. completion: 2018 Polyethylene plant Where: Alongside existing polyethylene plant on U.S. 90 Capacity: unknown Investment: $1 billion-plus Construction jobs: 1,400 Permanent jobs: 40 Est. completion: January 2020 Source: ExxonMobil and Jefferson County public records See More Collapse Those low prices, according to the wire service Reuters, cut into ExxonMobil's capital budget, postponing plans to double the refinery's capacity to 850,000 bpd. That would have made the refinery the largest in the U.S. and among the world's biggest. The two refinery expansions would boost ExxonMobil to a daily capacity of 405,000 barrels, about two-thirds of capacity at Motiva's Port Arthur refinery, currently the largest in the U.S. ExxonMobil's Beaumont refinery would still rank eighth in size in the U.S., fourth in Texas and second in Jefferson County. The news came one day after ExxonMobil and Sabic announced plans for a jointly owned, multi-billion dollar ethane cracker. The companies are looking at sites in Texas and Louisiana, according to a press release, but it does not appear Beaumont-Port Arthur is on their radar. Jefferson County commissioners agreed to abate 100 percent of new property taxes for 10 years to help entice development they hope will be on the tax rolls for several decades. ExxonMobil also worked out a deal with Beaumont to pay annual lump sums in exchange for promises the city won't annex the properties. At its two complexes, ExxonMobil employs more than 2,000 workers and 1,000 contract workers in a county where total employment was 101,000 in June. The company and economists say expansions and the permanent jobs they create cascade throughout the area's broader economy. ExxonMobil is also one of Southeast Texas' largest polluters. The refinery and polyethylene plant emitted a combined 2,100 tons of volatile organic compounds in 2014, or about one-fifth of all VOCs released in the three-county area that year, according to TCEQ records. VOCs, depending on the specific compound, range from being extremely toxic to having no health impacts, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. EBesson@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/EricBesson_news A Houston woman pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to allegations that she stole nearly $400,000 in federal rental and utilities aid while requiring tenants at the Groves apartment complex she managed to pay full price. U.S. Attorney John M. Bales said 44-year-old Nhung Tuyet Nguyen, also known as Sandy Nguyen, pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government property before U.S. Magistrate Judge Zack Hawthorne. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Is a storm surge protection levee from the Port of Beaumont to Port Freeport in Brazoria County, about 160 miles down the Texas Gulf Coast, worth an estimated $4 billion to build? It's a question in which the Sabine-Neches Navigation District hopes to supply at least a partial answer. On Monday, Jefferson County commissioners approved an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to allow the navigation district to begin a study of whether it's good investment. Here's what's at stake, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency: "With 27 petroleum refineries that can process more than 5.1 million barrels of crude oil per day, Texas leads the nation in crude oil-refining capacity," EIA said in January. "More than one-fourth of the nation's total refining capacity is located in Texas," EIA said. The four motor fuels refineries in Jefferson County - Motiva, ExxonMobil, Total and Valero - exceed much more than a million barrels a day in gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. As Hurricane Ike showed in 2008, a Category 2 or 3 hurricane can push a storm surge far inland. The Port Arthur sea wall, built after Hurricane Carla in 1961, barely contained the Ike surge that rolled over the Bolivar Peninsula, virtually destroying almost every structure. The surge also pushed inland to the city of Orange, swamping Bridge City along the way and flooding Rose City, which seldom had seen such high water from a tropical storm. Such a levee would not be a continuous structure, like the Great Wall of China, but would protect the most vulnerable areas where industry predominates. Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick said the navigation district would use a lot of the same data that is available from other studies. However, it would differ from the study that eventually produced an authorization from Congress to dredge the Sabine-Neches Ship Channel to 48 feet from its current 40 feet. Though the deepening hasn't yet begun, the study behind it plodded along for 12 years. In this case, the Corps of Engineers will maintain a sharper focus and tighter timelines, intending to spend $3 million in the span of three years to determine whether the cost-benefit is worthwhile. "That's the bulk of the petroleum industry in the United States," Branick said. It supports tens of thousands of direct, indirect and induced jobs and associated incomes along the Upper Texas Gulf Coast. The overall authority for the study is the Texas General Land Office through its supervision of a federal disaster recovery program. Dubbed the Storm Surge Suppression Study, it aims to conduct a technical and scientific-based effort to determine how to lessen the vulnerability of the upper Texas coast to storm surge and flooding. DWallach@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/dwallach A police officer who witnessed Sandra Bland's traffic stop said the Waller County district attorney would not let him testify before a grand jury about facts favorable to Bland, a community activist and former Waller County justice of the peace said Tuesday. The officer - whose comments over the telephone with activist DeWayne Charleston were recorded - said an official with the district attorney's office then threatened to retaliate against him if he went public with his story. "This is what happens when you try to cross the thin blue line," Charleston said. Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis responded to the allegations of retaliation Tuesday afternoon, saying the allegations were "fictional accounts." "I unequivocally state that he never approached me, my first assistant, or any member of my staff with any such information," Mathis said in a written statement emailed to the Chronicle. "His job was never threatened by me or my staff, and I barely knew who he was before he was indicted." He continued, "These matters will ultimately be decided by judges/juries in the state and federal courts, and we anxiously look forward to resolutions and the truth being presented in the courts of law, not the tabloids, and not at the behest of those that seek to profit financially or personally off of Ms. Bland's death." Charleston said the audio recording released Tuesday was made earlier this year. READ MORE: Jailer testifies he falsified jail log in Sandra Bland case, lawyer says Bland, 28, died three days after being booked at the county jail for allegedly assaulting an officer. Her death was ruled a suicide, and spurred outrage from civil rights activists concerned with police treatment of African-Americans. Charleston has been active in the protests surrounding Bland's death, and was sentenced to 12 days in jail for trespassing after he refused to leave the jail lobby during a protest. In 2003, Charleston became the first black person elected in Waller County as justice of the peace but in 2010 he pleaded guilty in federal court to involvement in a conspiracy involving payment of $14,500 in contractor bribes. He received five years probation and a $2,000 fine. On Tuesday, outside the federal courthouse in Houston, Charleston said that Prairie View Police Officer Michael Kelley told him in a recorded conversation that heard he Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Brian Encinia say after he already detained Bland that he still hadn't decided what charge he would book her on. READ MORE: A year later, Bland remembered with milestones and poetry Encinia, who has since been fired from the department, faces a criminal charge of perjury for allegedly lying about what occurred. "He says Brian Encinia made sure he was not in ear shot of the car. He turned off his own microphone so no one would hear. And then he called his supervisor. He said, 'I have no idea what I'm going to arrest her for, but we'll figure it out when we get to the county jail,'" Charleston said Monday. Kelley says on the recording he tried to share what he'd heard with an official at the district attorney's office. "I wanted to testify on Sandra Bland's behalf and they told me if I said anything they're going to come after me," he said in the recording. READ MORE: Findings of Sandra Bland jail death probe released "He [Kelly] told me a lot of stuff," Charleston explained, "but the most important is this bit about him being on the scene and making a request to testify and being denied." In addition, Kelly apparently told Charleston in the audio that a written statement he submitted to the Prairie View police chief never made it into the official DPS report about Bland's traffic stop for changing lanes without signaling. RE MORE: Read a transcript of traffic stop where Sandra Bland was arrested Charleston said Kelley said on the recording that he offered to testify but that the Waller County District Attorney did not call him. READ MORE: Officials release Sandra Bland jail video Kelley has been indicted on charge of misdemeanor official oppression related to an incident in which he used a Taser on a Prairie View city council member who allegedly did not follow police orders. The councilman was also charged with resisting arrest but the grand jury declined to indict him. Mathis said in the written statement that the allegations are "an attempt to divert attention away from the crime committed against Councilman Miller and to cash in on the media attention and sad circumstances surrounding Ms. Bland's death last year for which we all still mourn." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A street brawl in South Texas that was caught on video Friday night has people in the neighborhood asking questions, none of which could be answered Monday. RELATED: Houston road rage incident leads to street brawl (video) Multiple women in dresses and men in more casual attire were seen fighting outside a Dairy Queen in Corpus Christi late Friday night. At one point in the now-viral video someone falls to the ground, and the crowd continues punching and kicking the hapless individual. The video was taken by Corpus Christi resident A.J. Sanders who was walking to a nearby Sonic Drive-In when the fight broke out. The video on Sanders' Facebook had more than 102,000 views on Monday morning. RELATED: Video shows Corpus Christi drivers really are the worst Corpus Christi police on Monday did not have any information on injuries, charges, arrests or what sparked the brawl. Toward the end of the video, a police vehicle with its lights on appears and many people in the crowd run away. The manager of the Dairy Queen location would not comment on the incident Monday afternoon. >> Click the gallery above to see photos from the fight and other brawls that have gone viral Three physicians affiliated with an AmSurg-partnered center argued in a federal antitrust lawsuit the ASC company has a monopoly over outpatient surgery centers and their non-compete agreement was overly restrictive and unenforceable, according to a report from The Bulletin. However, an out-of-court arbitration panel disagreed and found in favor of AmSurg. The judge put the antitrust case on hold until the panel went through its process. Here are five key notes: 1. Two of the three physicians associated with the case signed a non-compete with AmSurg when the company purchased stake in their Bend (Ore.) Surgery Center. The non-compete barred physician owners from opening their own centers within five years of the agreement or two years after terminating the agreement whichever came last, according to the report. 2. Less than two months after signing the non-compete, the two neurosurgeons leased property they intended to use as offices and a surgery center. The surgeons argued procedures they would perform at the new center werent typically performed at Bend Surgery Center. 3. The third physician in the case never signed the agreement with Bend Surgery Center, but the contract still prevented him from opening a surgery center for interventional spine procedures, according to the report. 4. The arbitration panel found the non-compete agreement extended to any services, in the ASC or physician offices, when facility fees were charged. The panel wrote, This may somewhat limit [the surgeons] desire to maximize their own income, but it hardly can be said to remove them from the ranks of the medical profession or otherwise threaten the public good. 5. Bend Surgery Center had restrictive non-competes in place before AmSurg purchased ownership stake as well, according to the report, and AmSurgs attorney disputed any claims of a monopoly in Central Oregon. Olympus' internal emails reveal the company told U.S. executives not to issue a broad warning to hospitals regarding a deadly infection from tainted scopes that was later linked to numerous deaths at major hospitals, according to Kaiser Health News. Here are 10 takeaways: 1. Olympus officials allegedly told European customers in January 2013 about a contaminated scope after French and Dutch hospitals reported two dozen infections. Laura Storms, vice president of regulatory and clinical affairs at Olympus America in Center Valley, Pa., became concerned about a similar outbreak in Pittsburgh, and asked Tokyo officials if they would be communicating the same information to U.S. customers regarding the outbreak. 2. Susumu Nishina, the company's chief manager for market quality administration, replied via email that it was not necessary "to communicate to all the users actively" because a company assessment of the infection outbreak in Europe found the risk to be acceptable. 3. Following Ms. Storm's email exchange with Mr. Nishina, Donny Shapiro, a director of regulatory affairs for Olympus in San Jose, Calif., drafted an email to Ms. Storm and seven fellow staff members with a subject titled "Duodenoscope safety recall??" In the email, Mr. Shapiro detailed issues in Europe and lab results which showed the scopes tested positive for bacteria at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. When asked why the alert was only issued in Europe, Ms. Storms wrote, "Donny, [Olympus Japan] has determined that a global communication is not required." 4. Ms. Storm continued to question Tokyo officials, according to KHN, asking how Olympus reached the conclusion UPMC conducted inadequate reprocessing. A Tokoyo official said UPMC did not follow Olympus' cleaning instructions and discounted the lab results. The company reportedly mirrored this type of response in other federal injury reports, claiming the medical centers did not follow instructions properly. 5. In March, emails surfaced showing Olympus increased the price of its duodenoscopes following a fatal Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteria outbreak at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center. Three people died from the infection. 6. The company continued to sell its duodenoscopes despite discovering the outbreak in January 2015, and linking the outbreak to improperly cleaned duodenoscopes. Olympus implored the medical center to purchase more scopes at a discount and reportedly rebuked two physicians who did not buy the amount of equipment they were obligated to buy based on their contract with Olympus. 7. Since 2013, almost 35 U.S. patients have died from infections due to contaminated gastrointestinal scopes Olympus manufactured. Severe outbreaks occurred at hospitals in Milwaukee and Denver. Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai Medical Center reported four patients contracted CRE from contaminated duodenoscopes. 8. In 2015, the Senate released a report which found the company was aware of at least three outbreaks at hospitals in the Netherlands, France and Pittsburgh. The outbreaks impacted an estimated 46 patients, according to KHN. 9. Various patients and their families have filed lawsuits against the company, claiming Olympus' negligence led to the outbreaks and deaths. Federal prosecutors are investigating the company's actions. Investigators may use the emails in future cases against the company. 10. Olympus did not comment to KHN regarding the emails or the ongoing investigation by U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey. However, the company said in a statement, "patient safety is our top priority. The duodenoscope issue continues to receive the highest level of attention at Olympus, and we remain committed to working with the proper authorities and our stakeholders to understand and address the potential root causes." More articles on GI/endoscopy: 5 most read GI/endoscopy stories: July 18 22 Schizophrenic son of gastroenterologist Dr. William Wu found guilty of stabbing him: 5 notes LifeBond's surgical sealant kit receives FDA IDE approval: 4 things to know CMS proposed Monday a new mandatory bundled payment program for heart attacks and bypass surgeries. The proposed rule also includes an expansion of the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Model to include hip and femur fractures. This proposal is the latest from CMS aimed at redesigning Medicare fee-for-service. Here is how five industry experts reacted to the announcement. 1. Though the American Hospital Association's Tom Nickels, executive vice president of government relations and public policy, lauded CMS' work to redesign care and the new program's inclusion in the advanced alternative payment models under MACRA the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act he said in a statement that the program could overload hospitals. "The proposal to bundle payments for cardiac care is the third mandatory demonstration project from CMS in a little over a year. Further, the agency is layering this new program on hospitals already working to implement the mandatory hip and knee bundled payment model. CMS also is proposing to expand and further complicate the hip and knee program less than four months after it began and before evaluating its results. CMS is putting the success of these critical programs at risk. Hospitals are under a tremendous burden to help ensure these complex models work for patients." 2. Topher Spiro, vice president for health policy at the Center for American Progress a progressive public policy institute said in a statement he hopes the new bundled payment program will encourage other payers to adopt similar models. " Bundled payments are an important tool of the Affordable Care Act. We hope that the previously adopted bundled payment model for orthopedic procedures and this one will catalyze other payers to adopt similar bundled payments." 3. Phil Newman, CEO of ViiMed, a telehealth company that offers a care coordination platform to support bundled payment models, said the program is a huge step toward higher quality care. "Since hospitals are responsible for the total cost and quality of care, this insight is critical in preventing complications and avoiding unnecessary costsIt's great to see this expansion of CJR to include hip and femur fractures, as well. What we've learned is that these can be even more complicated than hip and knee replacements, and can often lead to total replacement surgeries. We're humbled and honored to work with some of the industry's leading healthcare organizations to help solve their bundled payment challenges." 4. Susan Nedza, MD, senior vice president of clinical outcomes management at MPA Healthcare Solutions an analytic healthcare consulting firm said in a statement the proposed rule signals the push for alternative payment models will continue from both CMS and private payers. "The financial health of hospitals will become increasingly tied to alternative payment models as these product lines total joint replacement and cardiac care represent a significant contribution to their bottom line. Effective and efficient care requires increasing efforts to align quality and financial incentives with physicians and post-acute care providers." 5. Michael Abrams, vice president and co-founder of Numerof and Associates, a healthcare management consultancy, said the extension of the bundled payment program to cardiac care was expected and is a step in the right direction. "That said, this program does not give us the market based approach that we've advocated as the only real hope for a more patient-oriented delivery system. It's still top-down and relies on regulation rather than market mechanisms." More articles on finance: 10 things to know about CMS' new mandatory cardiac bundle Covenant Health taps Cerner for integrated RCM platform Medicare's top 20 costliest drugs UMMC Holmes County in Lexington, part of University of Mississippi Medical Center, is slated to open a prenatal clinic for some of the state's poorest residents, according to a Mississippi Public Broadcasting report. The decision to open the clinic comes as the Mississippi State Department of Health had to discontinue its prenatal service due to budget constraints and a decrease in the number of patients taking advantage of prenatal programs, according to the report. The state has directed patients to federally qualified health centers for care, but Holmes County's federally qualified health center does not offer the service, the report notes. So UMMC Holmes County is stepping in. "We've got a visiting OB-GYN that started two weeks ago coming from Grenada, [Miss.], to see these patients," Paige Lawrence, the hospital's clinical director, told Mississippi Public Broadcasting. "It was more community service to give these people somewhere to go because there's nowhere. They were all using the health department." The prenatal clinic is expected to officially open this fall. More articles on finance: Ozarks Community Hospital CEO says Medicare termination is 'warning for small hospitals' 5 most-read finance stories: Week of July 18-22 New physicians enrolling in debt forgiveness program A collaboration between data and genomics company NantHealth and Salt Lake City-based University of Utah seeks to analyze the genomic profiles of at least 1,000 individuals with a history of rare and life-threatening diseases with the hope of discovering the cause of these diseases. The research project, called The Heritage 1K Project, will focus on 25 conditions, including breast cancer, colon cancer, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, autism, epilepsy and other hereditary conditions. Researchers will use NantHealth's genomic sequencing platform and hope to explore the underlying genetic causes of these diseases at a cellular level. University of Utah has been on the forefront of genomic research. In 2012, the university launched the Utah Genome Project, an analysis initiative to discover and study disease-causing genes and ultimately develop genetic diagnostics and precision therapies. The Heritage 1K Project seeks to build on the Utah Genome Project. "As the industry continues to focus on personalized medicine, it has become more important to have tests which can not only provide clinicians with information necessary to develop personalized treatment strategies for their patients, but also has the potential to help physicians identify treatments for debilitating diseases at a targeted level," said Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, chairman and CEO of NantHealth. More articles on genomics: Viewpoint: Privatized data contributes to health inequities, slow scientific progress International initiative aims to increase cancer genomics database Watson's data capabilities to help VA personalize cancer care for 10,000 veterans Terika Richardson has been appointed president of Advocate Trinity Hospital in Chicago, The Chicago Defender reports. Here are four things to know about Ms. Richardson. 1. She began her new role June 20. 2. Prior to joining Advocate, Ms. Richardsonwas CEO of Retreat Doctors' Hospital in Richmond, Va., since May 2014. 3. Accomplishments during her tenure at Retreat Doctors' Hospital include growing outpatient surgery by 48 percent within two years and implementing a robotic surgery program to drive inpatient volume growth, according to the report. 4. Ms. Richardson 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. More articles on healthcare executive moves: Continuum Health Alliance names 3 leaders: 9 things to know 17 latest hospital, health system executive moves St. Joseph Medical Center CEO resigns Manchester, N.H.-based Elliot Health System has appointed Gary Muller as interim CEO. Here are four things to know about Mr. Muller. 1. He began his new role July 18. 2. Prior to joining Elliot Health System, he was CEO of Marquette (Mich.) General Hospital, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, from 2007 to 2014. 3. During his tenure in Marquette, Mr. Muller led the sale of Marquette to Duke Lifepoint in Brentwood, Tenn., from the strategic planning stages in 2011 until the final close more than two years later, according to Elliot Health System. 4. Since his time at Marquette, Mr. Muller has worked as an independent consultant to healthcare organizations, focusing on quality improvement and staff and physician development. More articles on healthcare executive moves: Continuum Health Alliance names 3 leaders: 9 things to know 17 latest hospital, health system executive moves St. Joseph Medical Center CEO resigns Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton chose Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) Friday to be her No. 2. Sen. Kaine was considered to be on the shortlist for President Barack Obama's vice president too, according to The New York Times. He is a Roman Catholic who grew up around Kansas City, Mo., and established himself early in his career as a proponent for fair housing and civil rights issues, according to the report. Here are seven things to know about where Sen. Kaine stands on healthcare. 1. Sen. Kaine supports the Affordable Care Act. "I am committed to improving our healthcare system and lowering the growth in healthcare costs," a statement on his senate website reads. In particular, Sen. Kaine voiced support for the law's health insurance expansion, tax credits to make care more affordable and ban on denying care to those with pre-existing conditions. 2. However, Sen. Kaine says more fixes to the ACA are needed. In particular, Sen. Kaine introduced legislation to do away with the ACA's "family glitch," which defines health insurance affordability based on the cost of individual rather than family coverage. He cosponsored legislation to prevent premiums from increasing and cosponsored legislation to add a "copper plan," which would create more choice for consumers on the exchanges. 3. Addressing the opioid crisis is a top priority for Sen. Kaine. His website says he is closely focused on this issue in the Senate. "From the coalfields in southwest Virginia to the suburbs in Fairfax County, I have heard from families who have lost children to drug overdoses, law enforcement who are facing increases in drug-related crimes, and businesses who struggle to find workers who can pass a drug test," his site reads. He has introduced legislation to increase access to naloxone, the opioid-overdose reversal drug, as well as a bill addressing FDA approval of new opioids. 4. He is also positioning himself as a champion of preventive care. America's Health Insurance Plans President and CEO Marilyn Tavenner told STAT that Sen. Kaine was very interested in prevention when she served as Virginia's health secretary under his governorship. While he served as governor of Virginia, Sen. Kaine backed restaurant smoking bans and initiatives to reduce infant mortality, according to STAT. 5. Sen. Kaine supports a woman's right to choose. Though Sen. Kaine is of the Roman Catholic faith, he does not oppose abortion. "I have a traditional Catholic personal position, but I am very strongly supportive that women should make these decisions and government shouldn't intrude," Sen. Kaine told CNN. "In government, we have enough things to worry about. We don't need to make people's reproductive decisions for them." 6. He has a substantial background in health IT. According to POLITICO's Arthur Allen, Sen. Kaine "helped build one of the country's best statewide telemedicine networks" during his tenure as governor. During this time, he built telemedicine services across the state and pushed for legislation requiring payers to reimburse for technology services, according to the report. 7. Sen. Kaine supports allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. In 2015, he introduced legislation to give Medicare this right, which he said would save billions of dollars for Medicare and its beneficiaries. More articles on leadership and management: Former CDC Director Dr. Bill Foege on why he stands behind Theranos, how to build an effective coalition & what presidential candidates must address this fall What happens when there is too much transparency? Here's what 14 CEOs are reading this summer The world's brightest minds work every day to untangle the complex issues that plague healthcare. And while many problems remain, occasionally someone succeeds. One of those breakthroughs was led by William H. Foege, MD, MPH, an epidemiologist and former director of the CDC. Dr. Foege is credited with developing a strategy to eradicate smallpox when vaccine supplies ran out in the late 1970s. His resourcefulness and advocacy became an integral part of the World Health Organization's global immunization campaign, helping wipe out an infectious disease for the first time ever. Now, more than 35 years later, Dr. Foege has set his sights on another project with the capacity to change global health: miniaturized blood tests. Dr. Foege serves on the Board of Directors and Scientific and Medical Advisory Board for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Theranos, a startup developing affordable blood tests with smaller sample sizes. Though the company has faced significant challenges over the past several months including class-action lawsuits, investigations and lab license revocation Dr. Foege says he stands behind the Theranos' technology and promise. We checked in with Dr. Foege to discuss why he is so excited about the global health potential behind Theranos' technology, what implications Zika could have on the U.S. and his advice for those leading change in healthcare today. Editor's note: Responses have been edited lightly for length and style. Question: In your May commencement speech at Emory University, you advised graduates to always question tradition. Are there any traditions in healthcare you think our readers should question? Dr. William Foege: When I graduated from medical school 55 years ago, I was receiving a lot of warnings from the American Medical Association about the possibility of socialized medicine. They had all of us looking over our left shoulder to see if socialized medicine was gaining ground, and no one ever said, 'Look over your right shoulder to see if capitalism is gaining ground.' And of course, it did. Our tradition has been that the marketplace is the place to deliver medicine. We're now in the position of spending more money per person on healthcare than any country, but our outcomes don't reflect that. We are not in top five, 10, 15, or even 20 countries when it comes to health outcomes. It's time to challenge the tradition: Is the marketplace the best place to deliver medicine? I don't think it is because once profits become the bottom line, it skews everything. Another tradition that's worth looking at is the concentration on process measurements. We put a lot of attention on process measurements rather than on health outcome measurements. In 1993, the World Bank came up with a new way of looking at this called disability-adjusted life years. It changed global health because you could combine illness, suffering and death into a single number. We should be clever enough in healthcare to figure out how to do a better job of measuring health outcomes, and at least part of reimbursement should be based on health outcomes. Q: When you first came up with the "surveillance/containment" technique to eradicate smallpox, people felt it was a top-down approach. But, as William Watson Jr., then-deputy director of the CDC, said in Columns Magazine in 1994, "Bill has a great talent for coming up with creative ideas and presenting them in a way that doesn't threaten people." How did you convince people to get on board with this technique and based on your experience what advice would you give hospital and health system leaders who want to lead innovation and change at their organizations? WF: I have to admit coming up with that approach was largely by accident. We did not have enough vaccines to do what we had been trained to do, which was to mass vaccinate. We were looking for shortcuts. [The surveillance/containment strategy] worked so well, we [took it] from an individual outbreak [and applied it] to all of eastern Nigeria, from there to other places in Africa, and finally we tried it in India. That was the most difficult place because in 1974, in one state alone, there were 1,500 new cases of smallpox every day. That's a new case every minute. It was just massive and overwhelming. The bottom line is we had the vision, and then we worked on managerial improvement. One thing that became clear to me is we don't do anything without a coalition. No one does anything on their own. So the question becomes: How can you better the coalition? Leadership today is defined by the person who can make the coalition truly productive. The most effective coalitions are those built around an outcome a definition of a last mile rather than an interest. If you get people together because they are the same religion or the same political party, that's not nearly as good as getting them together against an outcome that is defined from the beginning. We also know leadership has to practice ego suppression for the coalition really to work. Success becomes group success, not a turf some person gets. An example of all of this in healthcare would be if a health system decides we are not only going to have the best, state-of-the-art treatment for heart attacks, but we are also going to reduce the number of people who come in with heart attacks. That would force them to get prevention involved. That's the sort of last mile objective that could really change things. The best decisions are based on the best science, but the best results are based on the best management. It's this combination of science and management that can make a coalition really work. Q: What are one or two healthcare issues you feel are absolutely essential for the presidential candidates to address in the coming months? WF: I would sure like to see them address the issue of prevention. Each day, life expectancy for the average American increases by 6-7 hours. That's just an incredible figure, and a big share of that is prevention. Yet prevention is always the last thing funded. We don't seem to learn the lesson. This is true for individuals, cities, states and the nation: We don't truly value health until we lose it. It's hard to get people to speak about prevention ahead of time. The other thing I would like to see them discuss is global health. When I started at the CDC, I was told over and over we had to justify everything we did on the basis of what it meant for the health of an American, and not the health of the world. All you have to do is look at Ebola and Zika and you realize how short-sighted that is. It's the same with smallpox eradication. The U.S. saves as much money every 3 months because of smallpox eradication as its total investment in smallpox eradication. Every year we get four times return on our total investment, and that will continue forever. It becomes almost an infinite figure. We should have more discussion on how related we all are in this world and how important it is to be investing in global health. It's especially important when you see the political discussions now becoming very nationalistic. Einstein said nationalism is an infantile disease. He called it the "measles of mankind." When it comes to health, we have to talk globally. Q: Do you expect the Zika virus to be a major challenge for U.S. healthcare providers this summer? Why or why not? WF: I don't know what's going to happen with Zika. This virus has been known about for decades. It was recovered in Africa and other places, and the vector was in the Americas for a long time, but for some reason it didn't spread. When it did spread, it spread fast. I would expect that's what will happen in part of the U.S., but I can't be sure. I know we have to be ready for the worst-case scenario. One of the good things that Zika has done it's caused people to do a better job of conveying their research findings. Just [recently] The New York Times talked about how people are putting their findings online before they even publish them. That's a nice step in medical research. Q: You mentioned we have to be ready for the worst-case scenario with Zika. What is that? WF: The worst case would be massive spread wherever we have Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, and we pretty much know where that is. Then, it's pregnant women becoming infected and having infected children. One of the hard things about Zika is this is the first virus we've ever known about that is spread by a mosquito that causes birth defects. It isn't as if we have a track record of knowing how this will play out. Q: You recently were named to Theranos' Board of Directors and its Scientific and Medical Advisory Board and previously served on the company's Board of Counselors. What first attracted you to this company and what made you decide to stick with it through its recent troubles? WF: My interest initially was very much around global health. What they have done is what the computer industry has done. That the industry has gone from computers that take up an entire room to desktop computers, to laptops, to smartphones. This miniaturization is now being done by Theranos in technologies and equipment. This means it is possible to consider using this technology in developing countries, even without electricity. You could hook up this technology to a car battery. Why is that so important in global health? One example: You see a person with tuberculosis in a clinic in Nigeria. You take a sample and it takes three weeks to see if that person has tuberculosis or not. By the time you get the result back, you may or may not be able to find that person again. But with Theranos and this miniaturization, you can actually make a diagnosis in the clinic the day you see a patient and you can tell whether that organism is resistant to antibiotics. It's a huge leap forward. That's what originally attracted my attention. Having had the opportunity to look at their technology, it's very robust. The problems they have been vilified for have to do with lab operations and the fact that they have not published in peer reviewed journals. They are correcting the operational problems, and changes are being made. As for the science, they are preparing to send articles to peer reviewed journals. For me, the bottom line is that global health needs this sort of technology and Theranos is going to solve the problems to provide it. That's what has me excited. Q: Why didn't they initially choose to publish in peer review journals? WF: Theranos was trying to get to a point of development where they had the entire package before they released the specifics of it. Now they realize that did not work so well, and they are going to share their technologies with the scientific community. Q: Are they at the stage now where they have the whole package or are they still working on it? WF: They have tests now for many entities, but the number of things to be tested continues to increase. In one sense, [Theranos has] a platform in which they will be working on new technologies forever. Not only are there so many organisms we don't know about, but one new problem organism emerges every year, like Ebola and Lassa fever, and the other hemorrhagic fevers of the past. More articles on leadership and management: New Swedish Covenant Hospital CEO Anthony Guaccio visits 30 floors in first 30 days Lurie Children's: Lollapalooza causes 3-fold spike in ER visits Arianna Huffington: Why leaders must dispel their 'sleep delusion' The union representing nurses at Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital in Elko said a lack of security at the facility contributed to an emergency room physician using a taser on a patient, the Elko Daily Free Press reports. Service Employees International Union Nevada claims the physician used a taser on an allegedly combative patient transported from Carlin, Nev., over the Fourth of July weekend. SEIU said the physician was placed on administrative leave and is expected to return to work Wednesday. "Sources close to the incident say combative patients at NNRH and a lack of trained security have resulted in staff resorting to tasers, pepper gel and fisticuffs to protect themselves, requiring medical professionals to use force against the patients they are treating," the union claimed. The hospital told the Elko Daily Free Press it has security personnel "24/7" but would not comment on the specifics of the incident. "This is an internal matter that we are actively investigating, and we cannot comment any further due to confidentiality," NNRH Director of Marketing and Community Relations Bill Applegate told the publication. The hospital added, "There is no question that the incidence of violence in our communities today is increasing, and hospital emergency rooms are no exception. At NNRH, patient care and safety are our top priority. We are committed to ensuring that every person who enters our facility staff, physicians, patients and visitors has the best possible experience, and we continually work to ensure that we have the necessary policies and security measures in place to make this possible. We consider it a privilege to continue our nearly century-long legacy of serving the healthcare needs of Elko and the surrounding region." More articles on human capital and risk: Nathan Littauer Hospital to pay nurses back wages following January lockout Baptist Health South Florida offers buyouts to reduce workforce: 4 things to know Ocean Beach Hospital nurses to vote on tentative contract agreement Montana, which reports a higher rate of opioid abuse than the national average, has cracked down on physicians prescribing painkillers in recent years. Some Montana residents, who call themselves pain refugees, say it's almost impossible to find a physician willing to treat chronic pain, so they have to fly out of state to receive treatment, according to Kaiser Health News. One of those pain refugees is Gary Snook, who had spine surgery for a ruptured disk 14 years ago and has taken opioids ever since. He describes his pain as the feeling of being boiled in oil from the waist down 24 hours a day. "I got a surgery, epidural steroid injections, acupuncture, anti-inflammatories, physical therapy, pool exercises," he said. "I've tried anything that anyone has ever suggested me to try. Unfortunately what I do right now is the only thing that works." Mr. Snook flies to California every 90 days to visit a small strip mall clinic in Los Angeles and get a prescription for an opioid painkiller from Forest Tennant, MD. Dr. Tennant has about 150 patients at his clinic, half of whom are from out of state. While he admits there are legitimate reasons for concern about opioids, Dr. Tennant believes they should be used responsibly as a last resort to help patients who have not responded to any other type of pain treatment. "I believe pain control is a fundamental human right, or at least an attempt at pain control," said Mr. Snooks. "To deny someone with a horrible disease like me access to pain medications is the worst form of cruelty." More articles about supply chain: Technological advancements and the rise in minimally invasive surgery cases will spur the spine biologics market growth. Here are five key points: 1. An increasing geriatric population and government funding will also boost the market. 2. The Americas is experiencing the highest demand for spine biologics and captures the largest market share. 3. Between 2016 and 2026, North America will see growth in the spine biologics segment due to an increasing population, growing awareness of new technologies and rising per capita income of hospitals and the population. 4. The procedures' costliness and availability of substitute products will hinder market growth. 5. Alphatech Spine, Medtronic, Zimmer Biomet, Globus Medical, Exactech, RTI Biologics, Small Bone Innovations, Stryker, Amedica, K2M, NuVasive, Precision Spine and TranS1 dominate the market. In June, a hacker obtained access to Athens (Ga.) Orthopedic Clinic's patient electronic health records, according to Online Athens. Here are four things to know: 1. Hackers may have accessed patients' Social Security numbers, names, addresses, telephone numbers and pieces of medical data. 2. AOC is in the process of notifying patients about the breach. 3. AOC CEO Kayio Elliott said the hackers used a third-party vendor's log-in credentials to get access to the system. 4. A Ponemon Institute report found data breaches cost the industry $6.2 billion over the last two years. Ms. Elliot said, "Rest assured that we are taking all necessary measures to ensure that any resulting damage is limited to the extent possible and working to retain your trust in our practice. We advise that our patients contact credit reporting agencies to create a fraud alert as soon as possible; we have posted a statement on our website that includes credit reporting agency contact information." More articles on practice management: How Beverly Hills Spine Surgery builds value in a competitive Beverly Hills market Scoliosis Treatment Clinic provides accelerated program for far-away patients: 5 insights OrthoGeorgia completes 17k-sq-ft expansion: 5 observations Angela McGowan will take up her new role as CBI director in October The first woman to become director of business group the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in Northern Ireland will start her new job in October. Belfast economist Angela McGowan, who has been with Danske Bank for eight years, is taking over from Nigel Smyth. It means two of Northern Ireland's big business organisations will soon be headed by women. Ann McGregor has been the chief executive of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry for eight years. Ms McGowan was a strong voice in opposition to a UK exit from the EU, and will lead the local CBI during one of the most uncertain periods in business following the vote for Brexit. Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI director-general, said Ms McGowan's "business experience and wealth of economic knowledge would help the CBI create the best possible conditions for its members in Northern Ireland". "Following the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU, Angela joins us at an important moment for Northern Ireland's economy, when businesses will be looking for political stability and certainty," she added. "I look forward to working closely with her to achieve this." Danske Bank's chief financial officer, Stephen Matchett, said that Ms McGowan "has played an important part in bolstering our reputation through her public-facing role as chief economist. "As long-time CBI members, we wish her well in her forthcoming new role as we continue to work alongside the CBI and other stakeholders to help ensure continued growth in the local economy," Mr Matchett explained. Ms McGowan began her career with Danske Bank, just as the UK entered the worst period of financial decline since the Great Depression. Originally from the Cavehill Road in north Belfast, she is the youngest of four girls and the only one in the family to choose economics as a career path. She went to school at Belfast Royal Academy, before moving on to Queen's University, and then Ulster University to study a master's degree in business. David Gavaghan, the CBI's Northern Ireland chairman, said Ms McGowan's "strong grasp of public policy issues and a deep understanding of the regional economy will be very important". "The CBI is recognised as the voice of business and, as we all face a new set of challenges, Angela is ideally placed to lead the local team and engage widely in representing the interests of the business community in Northern Ireland," he added. The economist's first job was as a researcher for a European Commission project at Queen's that saw her travel the length and breadth of Ireland. She then worked at the Northern Ireland Economic Council, where she was later bumped up to the role of senior economist after around three years in the job, before joining Danske Bank in 2008. She has arguably been the most visible and public face of the bank, and she has helped to promote its international arm, which has its parent company in Denmark. Ms McGowan is married to fellow economist Peter Dunne, and has two teenage sons, Dermot and Rory. Her husband is also prominent in the field, working for the Central Bank of Ireland in his native city, Dublin. During a debate on Brexit last month, Ms McGowan warned that Northern Ireland voters were "sleepwalking" into a decision to leave the EU. She added she was "worried the vote will go the wrong way" and that "people are not fully informed" about the implications of Brexit. Wilfred Mitchell, the FSB's Northern Ireland policy chairman, said he looked forward to working with Ms McGowan when she takes up her role on "issues that engage all businesses" across the region. Flagship Centre Ltd, a company owned by KFC tycoon Mr Herbert, bought the centre back from US vulture-fund Cerberus at the end of May. A struggling Co Down shopping centre has been sold twice in two months - including a deal involving former owner Michael Herbert, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal. Flagship Centre Ltd, a company owned by KFC tycoon Mr Herbert, bought the centre back from US vulture-fund Cerberus at the end of May. And English property developer North Hold Group has become the latest buyer of the Flagship shopping centre in Bangor after it hit the market again last month. The deal is expected to be completed in the next few weeks, when retail agency Colliers will being managing the outlet. The sums paid by Flagship Centre Ltd or North Hold Group have not been revealed, but the complex had an asking price of 1.5m when on sale through Osborne King. As part of its deal, Flagship Centre Ltd took back the residual debt. However, the debt is not part of the deal with North Hold Group. Currently the centre only has eight tenants, including anchor retailer Dunnes, out of a possible 30 units. In 2012, an exodus of retailers left the future of the Bangor shopping centre in doubt. Game Stop, Woodsides Department Store, Focus mens clothing shop, D2, Ethel Austin, Peacocks and Bon Marche were among those to leave. And since then several units in the centre have remained vacant. Retailers currently occupying the centre also include Superdrug, Pound World and Argos. The centre also includes a food court with tenants KFC, Burger King and Subway. However, new owner North Hold Group a commercial property firm in Manchester specialising in retail and leisure schemes is understood to have secured new tenants including an opticians, a gym and a jewellers. The centre was previously owned by Michael Herbert whose business Herbel Restaurants runs several KFC franchises around the UK and Republic of Ireland. In 2006, he was named Northern Irelands property personality of the year. The Bangor centre was sold to Cerberus before it was listed for sale with Osborne King last month. The sale includes an adjoining 550 space multi-storey car park. Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association (NIIRTA) chief executive Glyn Roberts welcomed the news of the sale. This is great news for Bangor town centre there have been some concerns that the centre could have been used for residential development but the town really needs more independent retailers. Im optimistic that will bring more life into Bangor town centre. Traders in Bangor have been hit badly by out of town developments. Despite North Down being an affluent area with a lot of disposable income recently, Bangor town centre hasnt been as strong as it should be. The council has a duty to develop the town centre in Bangor. The town centre has a strong hospitality and night economy but the day economy needs to grow. The council needs to effectively carry out an audit of the vacant units and see what it can do to get more retailers to move in. I would like to see more residents shopping locally Newtownards is a great example of that and has done very well recently. Just five miles away Ards Shopping Centre announced it will undergo a 7m revamp and has secured tenancy deals with TK Maxx and JD Sports. Donegall Place Investments another Michael Herbert company was the owner of Bloomfield Shopping Centre, also in Bangor, and Bow Street Mall in Lisburn. Receivers were appointed to Bloomfield Shopping Centre in 2014. It was sold to London investment firm Ellandi and Tristan Capital Partners for 54.5m in January this year. Energy giant EDF is due to make its long-awaited final investment decision on the planned nuclear power station at Hinkley Point The Government should negotiate a price for electricity at a planned new nuclear power station in Wales below that agreed for the delayed site at Hinkley Point, according to a committee of MPs. Ministers have agreed a so-called strike price with EDF Energy of 92.50 per megawatt hour (Mwh), or 89.50 if the French giant develops another new reactor in Sizewell, Suffolk. Environment groups have criticised the figure, arguing that renewable energy could be produced much more cheaply. The Welsh Affairs Committee said there was great potential for developing nuclear power in north Wales, with a proposed new power station at Wylfa on Anglesey, as well as at Trawsfynydd. But the MPs said the Government still had more work to do to prove the financial viability of the proposed projects. Local communities should benefit because of the disruption major infrastructure developments would cause, said the committee. The Government was urged only to build the Wylfa Newydd plant if the strike price is below that agreed for the Hinkley Point C and competitive with renewable sources. "They must be transparent on cost and provide a clear and comprehensible explanation of the lifetime cost of the project, including decommissioning and waste disposal," said the report. Committee chairman David TC Davies (Conservative, Monmouth), said: "We know that proposals for new nuclear power plants cause concern amongst the general public. "The key questions that need to be answered for future development of nuclear power at Wylfa and Trawsfynydd to be viable centre on value for money and local impact. "The Government must prove that the cost of any nuclear development is well understood and competitive with renewable sources. These costs must be made public in a format that can be easily understood. "There has to be a demonstrable benefit for the local community as well. Local businesses must form a key part of the supply chain and be given sufficient information to allow this to happen. "We must also make use of the many skilled nuclear workers currently based in Wales, and provide sufficient training to develop the next generation." There was a "notable" lack of public confidence in nuclear power, so the Government, and Horizon Nuclear Power, which will operate Wylfa, should do more to educate people about how nuclear is regulated and operates safely in the UK, the report added. EDF's board is meeting on Thursday and looks set to make a final decision to go ahead with the Hinkley project. Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, said: "The nuclear industry has been a significant part of the Welsh economy creating jobs and prosperity for Wales for over 50 years, as the committee's report makes clear. "The select committee has highlighted the civil nuclear expertise which already exists in Wales and how future projects will be able to benefit from that knowledge and skill. "Wylfa Newydd will create thousands of jobs during construction and operation, and is already actively engaging with schools and businesses in Wales to ensure the local communities benefit from the new power station." A spokesman for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: "New nuclear power stations will provide secure, clean and affordable electricity for consumers across the country. "We are constantly working to get the best deal for consumers and any proposals for new sites, including Wylfa, will need to offer value for money for the taxpayer. "We expect local communities to see substantial benefits from investment in new nuclear. It's estimated that the local North Wales economy around the proposed Wylfa site will benefit from around 50 million and hundreds of jobs." Irish food firm Greencore is the latest company to snap up a UK business since the Brexit decision. Greencore has bought The Sandwich Factory in a 15m deal as it looks to extend its presence in the high-growth food-to-go category. The Sandwich Factory, which operates from a single facility in Warwickshire, brought in 42m in revenue last year. Greencore chief executive Patrick Coveney said the deal makes "strong strategic sense" for the business. "The Sandwich Factory will extend our reach into customer channels in which we are currently under-represented, notably convenience stores and the travel sector, and will also bring new product types into the Greencore portfolio," he added. "We are delighted to be adding more capacity to our manufacturing network, and to be welcoming new colleagues to our business." Liam Igoe, a food and drink analyst at Goodbody Stockbrokers, said: "This acquisition makes strategic sense for Greencore as it not only increases the group's overall capacity across its UK food-to-go network but also extends its reach in channels that it is currently under-represented." He said a trading update from Greencore was expected to report like-for-like sales growth of 6.8% and 11.7% for the UK and US divisions respectively. The Sandwich Factory had been part of Cranswick plc. Northern Ireland meat giant Dunbia was last year tipped to sell its pork division to Cranswick or Danish Crown. Premium Margaret Canning Opinion Conservatives have gone back to traditional territory with a mini-budget that just might cost the party the next election Many of the measures in Kwasi Kwartengs first big statement as Chancellor had been trailed in advance changes to stamp duty, the cancellation of both the rise in National Insurance and the rise in corporation tax, and bringing forward a cut in the basic rate of income tax to 19 pence. Sir Roger Moore has paid tribute to step-daughter Christina following her death Sir Roger Moore has paid tribute to his step-daughter Christina after her death from cancer. The former Bond actor 88, posted the news alongside photographs of her on Twitter. He wrote: "Our beautiful daughter Christina (aka Flossie) lost her battle with cancer 25 July at 10am. We are heartbroken. "We were all with her, surrounding her with love, at the end." Known by her full name Christina Knudsen, she was the daughter of his fourth wife, Kristina "Kiki" Tholstrup. She was thought to be aged in her late 40s at the time of her death. Ms Knudsen was previously married to investment banker Nikolaj Albinus. The couple married in the south of France and their high-profile wedding was featured in Hello! magazine, but only lasted 13 months. She had lived in London since 1997 and had worked in interior design and property development. In 2014 she launched Ochun, a private social club for single people. She told the Evening Standard: " After I divorced I realised how difficult it was to meet like-minded people who were single. I was in my early 30s. All my friends were married, having kids, and I remember thinking 'Will I have to go on the internet?' It was a really shocking wake-up call." Following her divorce, she was involved in a long-term relationship with Skype co-founder Janus Friis. Her father, businessman Hans Christian Knudsen, committed suicide, and many years later her stepfather Ole Tholstrup died from alcoholism. She was very close to Sir Roger and is quoted as crediting him with "turning her life around". Wildlife activist and author Lauren St John was among the people who sent Sir Roger a message of condolence on Twitter. She wrote: "@sirrogermoore Christina was so beautiful, vital, generous and loving. I'm stunned she's gone. Thank you for being so wonderful to her." It didn't seem likely a few years ago that a lot of people would want to spend their summer holidays at school. But they do, and the proof of that is the success of the summer schools dedicated mostly to Irish writers, such as Brian Merriman, Patrick MacGill and John Hewitt, running this week in Armagh. Some in the audience were there for free, on bursaries provided by local councils. Some were regulars who have been coming for decades and would not swap the Market Place Theatre in Armagh in July for a beach in Benidorm at any price. They packed the lecture theatre to hear Jo Baker read from a novel based on the life of Samuel Beckett, one of the most difficult of writers in two languages. Jo looks like a wee girl and talks like a sage. And she actually brings an occasional sing-song lilt to her readings, so who wouldn't love to be in her presence for an hour? Or Leontia Flynn confessing that all she ever wanted to be for years was clever, then poetry found her out. She said, emotionally, that she was going to risk being sincere and saying that reality and values do matter, but that her education in poetry never entertained such ideas. That was in a lecture about the digital age and how it devalues text. People in summer schools like that kind of candour. They like readers who pause to explain what they mean after using a word such as 'deconstruct'. They are thrilled when the same speaker uses words such as 'smart-arse'. Human failing is an unabashed part of it. This year, the joke was that some of the projected names were misspelt. Jo Baker was Barker. Leontia Flynn was Leonita, but all of this seemed forgiveable in an atmosphere in which volunteers were still frantically putting it all together. The genius of the Hewitt over the years has been to include people and to give them some heavyweight content, without ever making them feel small for not taking it all in. People travel from all over Ireland to Armagh to be at the John Hewitt Summer School. There is now also an Armagh Project based in the US, which brings over a dozen students to the summer school every year. They are part of the growth of actual teaching at the Hewitt. Several writers now come for the week to teach memoir writing (Maureen Boyle), the short story (Carlo Gebler), and writing for stage and screen (Kimberley Lynne). So, there is organised instruction as part of it, some of it sponsored by the Open University. The whole thing is a celebration of reading and an opportunity for readers to meet writers at the lavish No Alibis bookstall. But you do not actually have to sign up for it all. Nobody in their right mind goes to everything. The evening events at the Market Place include a poetry reading by Paul Durcan on Friday, now moved into the main theatre with demand for tickets so high. Which is a relief. The last time he read in the theatre he asked for the fans to be turned off, and the place was like a sauna. There are still tickets for Sam McCready and Kyle Riley doing Percy French on Friday. But do not be surprised if a couple of pensioners are behind you discussing the digital age, or a couple of Americans in the bar are trying to get their heads round Beckett and their chops round a pint of Guinness. It's July. It's Armagh. It's like this every year. A man in his 60s from Co Down who died during a clay pigeon shoot on Sunday has been named as Terry Fitzsimmons. It is understood the grandfather was from the Ballykinlar area, near Downpatrick, and had been taking part in a shooting competition in Lough Money Forest near the town. Police inquiries into the exact circumstances of the death are still continuing. PSNI Detective Inspector Will Tate said in a statement: "We will be conducting a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding this death, but initial enquiries would indicate this to be a tragic accident." It still remains unclear who fired the weapon thought to have killed Mr Fitzsimmons But yesterday, a source close to the shooting club told the Belfast Telegraph: "We have been told that he accidentally discharged his own (gun) and shot himself. It was a freak accident." SDLP councillor for Downpatrick Gareth Sharvin was yesterday reported as saying another member of the club had been holding a loaded gun when he fell down and inadvertently shot Mr Fitzsimmons in the head. The death has led to calls for a closer look at safety regulations for clay pigeon shooting. SDLP MLA Colin McGrath MLA said yesterday: "This appears to have been a tragic accident, and my thoughts and prayers are with the man's family at this time. "I will be contacting the PSNI and council to ensure that a full and robust safety investigation is conducted to see if any lessons can be drawn from this terrible event to ensure that such an accident doesn't occur again in the future and to maximise safety at such events." His party colleague Margaret Ritchie, MP for South Down, offered her condolences to the family. "I am deeply saddened to learn of the tragic death in Downpatrick of a man at the scene of a clay pigeon shoot," she said. "Undoubtedly, the family and friends of this man are experiencing unspeakable grief, and my deepest sympathies are with them at this time." A family has claimed that a diamond and sapphire Princess Diana-style ring went missing from their 85-year-old grandmother's finger while she was being treated at the Ulster Hospital A family has claimed that a diamond and sapphire Princess Diana-style ring went missing from their 85-year-old grandmother's finger while she was being treated at the Ulster Hospital. The pensioner - a retired civil servant - was rushed to the hospital on the outskirts of east Belfast last week after suffering a stroke. Her granddaughter said her grandmother cannot remember anything about the ring going missing apart from waking up to find the ring was gone from her finger. Determined to pursue the matter, the family contacted the Belfast Telegraph yesterday to tell of their family's heartbreak and concern at what has seemed to have happened - and also to launch an appeal for help. The ring comprised of real diamonds and a sapphire, exactly like Princess Diana's famous engagement ring. The pensioner's granddaughter said within minutes of sharing what happened on Facebook, it had been shared more than 30 times, with people expressing their horror. A spokeswoman from the Ulster Hospital was unable to respond to the Belfast Telegraph's inquiry by the time of going to press last night. The granddaughter said her entire family has been left devastated by the incident and begged for the ring would be returned - even anonymously. "It is not just any diamond ring, it was the real thing, and a copy of Princess Diana's engagement ring," she said. "My grandfather gave it to my grandmother for a special anniversary. "It has never been off my grandmother's finger from the moment my grandfather put it on her finger. "She does not have much jewellery and this ring means so much to her. "Everybody is so distraught at the idea this could have happened to an ill, and such a vulnerable, lady." She said her grandmother suffers from dementia but is aware the ring is missing and very upset that it is gone. "We have made a complaint to the hospital but we wanted to make this public appeal so we can find this ring," she said. "We are hoping that by making this appeal, we will be able to get the ring back. "However it comes back, we just want it back on my grandmother's finger. "She is still in a bad way, that is why we have gone public." The determined granddaughter, who did not wish to be named, even said she will scour pawn shops in the hope of finding the ring. "Even if this ring ends up in a pawn shop, I will buy it back for nanny," she added. Emotional farewells being said yesterday at the funeral of mother-of-three Valerie Armstrong, who died after being struck by a dirt bike last week. Mrs Armstrong is survived by her husband of 11 years, Seamus, and her three children Dylan (10), Lucy (7) and five-year-old Sophie-Belle. Family, friends and the familys pet dog were at the service in the Church of the Nativity, Poleglass Emotional farewells being said yesterday at the funeral of mother-of-three Valerie Armstrong, who died after being struck by a dirt bike last week. Mrs Armstrong is survived by her husband of 11 years, Seamus, and her three children Dylan (10), Lucy (7) and five-year-old Sophie-Belle. Family, friends and the familys pet dog were at the service in the Church of the Nativity, Poleglass Emotional farewells being said yesterday at the funeral of mother-of-three Valerie Armstrong, who died after being struck by a dirt bike last week. Mrs Armstrong is survived by her husband of 11 years, Seamus, and her three children Dylan (10), Lucy (7) and five-year-old Sophie-Belle. Family, friends and the familys pet dog were at the service in the Church of the Nativity, Poleglass Emotional farewells being said yesterday at the funeral of mother-of-three Valerie Armstrong, who died after being struck by a dirt bike last week. Mrs Armstrong is survived by her husband of 11 years, Seamus, and her three children Dylan (10), Lucy (7) and five-year-old Sophie-Belle. Family, friends and the familys pet dog were at the service in the Church of the Nativity, Poleglass Emotional farewells being said yesterday at the funeral of mother-of-three Valerie Armstrong, who died after being struck by a dirt bike last week. Mrs Armstrong is survived by her husband of 11 years, Seamus, and her three children Dylan (10), Lucy (7) and five-year-old Sophie-Belle. Family, friends and the familys pet dog were at the service in the Church of the Nativity, Poleglass Tearful farewells have been said to devoted wife and mother-of-three Valerie Armstrong, who died last week after being struck by a scrambler motorbike. Family and friends packed the Church of The Nativity, Poleglass, where Mrs Armstrong was an active member of the congregation, to pay their respects to the woman described as "caring, thoughtful and generous". Her children Dylan (10), Lucy (7) and Sophie-Belle (5) and husband Seamus led the procession into the 500-seat chapel, which was filled to capacity. Many mourners signified their respect by wearing neck scarves and markers on their lapels to commemorate Mrs Armstrong's love of the colour purple. A solitary wreath of white flowers bordered with purple blooms was placed at the entrance to the chapel, simply spelling out the word "Mum". Also in attendance was treasured family pet husky Kaya, who Mrs Armstrong had been walking through Colin Glen Park last week when she died after being hit by a teenager on a dirt bike. The 35-year-old had settled in Poleglass in west Belfast with the "love of her life", husband Seamus, who she married 11 years ago on what was the "happiest day of his life". Originally from Rochfortbridge in Co Westmeath, she came from "a happy and loving family" which included her parents Sonny and Christina and her siblings Johanna, Colette, Ann, Ben and Aidan. A waitress at Cafe Vaudeville in Belfast, Mrs Armstrong was remembered as "a cheerful and positive person; a person of faith and hope." A devout Catholic, Mrs Armstrong attended The Church of the Nativity with her children each week and often on other days to take part in activities there. The congregation was told how Mrs Armstrong loved helping others, especially her children, and how she loved doing puzzles and teaching them arts and crafts. To mark this the children had placed hand-painted pictures of purple angels inside her coffin "to accompany her on her journey to God". Fr Patrick Sheehan said that Mrs Armstrong showed immense kindness in life and in death: "We are inspired by Valerie's thoughtfulness and generosity," he said. "For years she has had an organ donor card so that, in the event of her death, others might have the opportunity of new life by transplanting her organs. That has been done. "People's lives, that were once burdened and limited by sickness, are now restored to health because of her concern for and commitment to the sick." He added that her death was unintended but was a reminder to all to make better choices. "Each of us who knew Valerie will remember how and where we heard the news of her death with shock and disbelief," he said. "On a sunny summer evening she went out to walk her dog in a public place, but did not return home alive. "As we heard the circumstances of her death, that shock turned to anger, because it was a terrible death that could have been avoided and should have been avoided. "I know her death was not intended but it happened, and it happened because others made bad choices. "Young people made choices to ride scramblers irresponsibly in public places. "Adults, maybe giving into pressure, made choices to buy scramblers for young people living in built-up areas. "I sometimes wonder, 'would it bring people to their senses if they had to face the heartbreak that has been caused?' - not to shame them, to help change them. What if they had to listen to Seamus' heartbreak; a young man who has lost a wonderful wife? What if they had to answer the questions of three young children who wonder why this terrible thing has happened to their mother? What if they had to explain to Valerie's broken-hearted parents that it was meant to be just fun?" Son Dylan carried a photo of his mother as the procession left to take Valerie to her place of rest at Blaris Cemetery in Lisburn. A fundraising page set up to help the family with any financial costs has raised more than 3,000. Terry Lockhart (back) at his orphanage in the Philippines Terry Lockhart in the Philippines, where he set up an orphanage A man who set up a charity to help homeless children in the Philippines in memory of his La Mon bomb victim wife Christine has died. Terry Lockhart (72), who performed country and western music under the stage name Terry Nash, left Northern Ireland two years after the 1978 IRA massacre in which 12 people died. Mr Lockhart, who was originally from Loughilly, Co Armagh, is believed to have been suffering from Alzheimer's disease. It was reported last night that he had died peacefully at his home in the Philippines. Mr Lockhart was due to attend the event that turned to unimaginable tragedy at La Mon House Hotel on February 17, 1978, but instead got a last-minute call to play a gig in Dungannon. His world was turned upside-down that night when he heard about the fire-bomb horror on the radio as he travelled from Co Tyrone towards the hotel on the outskirts of east Belfast. Prior to the IRA attack, Christine Lockhart had survived cancer. Her left leg was amputated and half her pelvis removed in an operation that was pioneering at the time. Her love of dogs led her to become involved with the Irish Collie Club, a dinner for which she was attending when the device exploded. The 12 people killed in the La Mon atrocity were all Protestants and included three married couples. Twenty-three people were seriously injured in what witnesses described as a huge fireball. Expand Close Terry Lockhart (back) at his orphanage in the Philippines / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Terry Lockhart (back) at his orphanage in the Philippines Mr Lockhart previously spoke about how the loss of his beloved wife had left him completely shattered. An offer by the authorities of just 90 in compensation for his wife's life convinced him to move halfway around the world. "That's how they valued our loved ones, so I thought the best thing to do was get out of Northern Ireland," Mr Lockhart said in an interview. "I'd sung in places like Australia, New Zealand, Norway and the Philippines, so I plumped for the Philippines and settled there in 1983." The widower set up an orphanage - Christine's Children - in memory of his wife. The Co Armagh man went on to have two children with his second wife, Sheelagh. His son Dillon was born at the same time and date as the bomb - 30 years later - and provided much solace to his father. However, Mr Lockhart never lost hope that all those responsible for La Mon might one day be convicted and punished. In 2012 a report by the Historical Enquiries Team into the atrocity found that crucial police documents pertaining to it had been lost. Only one person was ever convicted in connection with the blast. West Belfast man Robert Murphy was sentenced to life imprisonment for manslaughter in 1981. He was released in 1995 and died in 2006. A second man was acquitted. Prime Minister Theresa May with First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness at Stormont Castle, Belfast, during her first official visit to Northern Ireland yesterday The Prime Minister has insisted she will do all she can to ensure there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic after Brexit. Theresa May said that "nobody wants to return to the borders of the past" during her first official trip to Northern Ireland as Prime Minister. In a bid to allay fears over the UK's departure from the EU, the Tory leader promised to find a "practical solution" for everybody and emphasised her commitment to the whole of the UK. Mrs May arrived at Stormont Castle yesterday morning and spent some 90 minutes in discussions with First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, focussing mostly on the impact of the Brexit vote and what it means for Northern Ireland. The new Prime Minister described her talks with Mrs Foster and Mr McGuinness as "very constructive" and "positive". "We've had a common travel area (CTA) between the UK and the Republic of Ireland many years before either country was a member of the European Union," Mrs May said. "Nobody wants to return to the borders of the past. "What we do want to do is to find a way through this that is going to work and deliver a practical solution for everybody - as part of the work that we are doing to ensure that we make a success of the UK leaving the European Union - and that we come out of this with a deal which is in the best interests of the whole of the UK." In Northern Ireland, 56% of voters opted for remaining in the EU, and the UK-wide vote to leave triggered intense political wrangling. The result also sparked a renewed debate on a potential referendum on reunification with the Republic of Ireland. The Stormont Executive is divided on the EU, with Mrs Foster's DUP backing Brexit and Sinn Fein advocating remaining in the bloc. But Mrs May insisted that Brexit meant Brexit. "I am clear that the Northern Ireland Executive and the other devolved governments will be involved in our discussions as we set forward the UK position," she said. "I recognise there's a particular circumstance in Northern Ireland because, of course, it has a land border with a country, the Republic of Ireland, that will be remaining in the EU. "We've had constructive talks about the will that we all have to find a way through this which is in the best interests of Northern Ireland and the best interests of the UK as a whole." Following the meetings, Mrs Foster and Mr McGuinness addressed the media separately, with the DUP leader insisting that no one wanted a return of the borders that were seen at the height of the Troubles. Referring to her discussion with the Prime Minister, she added: "We had a good discussion around free movement of people and the CTA, and no one wants to see a return to the borders of the 70s, 80s and 90s. "Of course, those borders were there for security reasons - they were not there for any membership of the EU - and what we want to see is the free movement of people in terms of the CTA and dealing with the other issue of immigration in a very different way, and that's where we are focusing. "One of the most fundamental points I put to her was that there must be no internal borders within the UK, and I was very clear about that. She responded positively about that." However, Mr McGuinness said that with most of voters in Northern Ireland wanting to remain part of the EU, he spoke for the majority of the electorate. "Unionists, nationalists and republicans have made it clear they see their future in Europe," the Deputy First Minister added. "It will come as no surprise that our assessment is that there is absolutely no good news about Brexit. "There are no good opportunities flowing from Brexit. There are huge challenges for all of us in the time ahead. "It is my view that she (Mrs May) needed to recognise that there are special circumstances in the North, and she has a duty to respect the democratically expressed wishes." But Mrs Foster insisted that politicians should be working together for all the people of Northern Ireland. "We all know that there was an election in May, and the DUP as a result of that had 38 members and he has 28 members, so I think we jointly speak for the people of Northern Ireland," the First Minister explained. "I speak for the unionist majority and he speaks for the nationalist majority. But together we should be looking to achieve what is best for all of the people of Northern Ireland, and not trying to make political point-scoring out of what's occurred." Some of the pictures of Hankhis owner has shared online Owners of Hank the dog say he is a Staffie/Labrador cross but dog wardens maintain they think he might be a pit bull which is a banned breed Hank was taken from his home by dog wardens Leonard Collins with his dog Hank, who was seized by authorities amid claims that he looks like a pit bull (Leonard Collins/Joanne Meadows/PA) Leonard Collins and Joanne Meadows at home after their dog Hank was seized by Belfast City Council Well-wishers have raised over 16,000 towards the legal battle to save Hank - the family pet which could be destroyed due to its breed. Efforts to save the dog - whose breed is still under question - from destruction topped the figure yesterday. And more than 150,000 people have already put their names to a petition to save the pet. Hank was seized by Belfast City Council after a member of the public reported him because he "looked like a pit bull". Despite the furore, politicians have been reluctant to weigh in on the row. The Belfast Telegraph contacted dozens of Belfast councillors about the issue, but only a handful would speak out. Hank's owners Leonard Collins and Joanne Meadows set up the page just 10 days ago. Despite hitting their initial target to raise 5,000, donations have continued to flood in. But now the couple say they are willing to take the fight to save his life as far as the European courts and reckon it could cost as much as 15,000 to prove Hank is not a danger. On a fundraising page - which aims to raise money towards legal fees - the couple said: "He has been condemned to die because he looks like a pitbull. "We will do anything to save Hank, he is a much-loved part of our family. He is more than a pet. "The best chance at returning Hank to his home is to prove that he is not dangerous, but this is costly, to do this we would have to find the money to pay for a professional opinion." The couple also said they have not been able to see their dog since he was seized on July 14. SDLP councillor Declan Boyle said he felt the owners should be allowed to see Hank, but was loath to get involved in the controversy. His party colleague Patrick Convery said the council was "only following the rules". He said: "As far as we are concerned as councillors, there's nothing we can do about it. I think we should stick with the rules and regulations." DUP councillor Tom Haire added: "The council is only following the procedures which are laid out by the government. "If it's the law, it's the law and you're either outside or inside of it. It's sad to see this happen to a pet, but we don't make the law." But Green Party councillor Ross Brown said "immediate change" was needed. He said: "I am just as devastated to see the impact that this situation has had on all concerned and I want to see Hank released. "I have been in regular contact with the officers in the council all last week and today I have asked why it has been reported that the dog was not walked for 10 days and why after 10 days no assessment has yet been undertaken. "Given the rightful outpouring of support for Hank and the family, I want to assure the public that council officers are under immense pressure from councillors and the public to ensure that the correct processes are followed. "The elephant in the room in all of this, however, is the law. Until this law is overturned, every dog of a similar appearance and families owning those dogs are under threat. "It is crucial that we demand an immediate change to the law, so that this never, ever happens again." In a statement, the council said Hank's future will be determined according to his physical characteristics and temperament. The statement added: "Our principal duty is protecting the health and safety of the public. "We would like to assure those who have expressed concern about the dog's welfare that he is being well looked after and his medical needs are being met." James Brokenshire said it was important to instil confidence in victims' relatives The new Northern Ireland Secretary has warned that perpetrators of Troubles' crimes must face justice. James Brokenshire said it was important to instil confidence in victims' relatives who have waited decades for proper investigations. Protecting security should not be used as a measure to avoid embarrassment, he added, but he had a duty to keep everybody in Northern Ireland and the UK safe. Mr Brokenshire met members of the Pat Finucane Centre (PFC) a human rights organisation in Derry which represents mainly nationalist victims. He said: "If there is criminality I am looking for appropriate justice." Among those Mr Brokenshire met was Tony Brown, whose nephew, Paul Whitters, was 15 years old when he was shot in the head with a plastic bullet. The Northern Ireland Secretary said: "Do I want to see people brought to justice as a consequence of information - I absolutely do." He said his approach was about: "Getting this right in ensuring national security but also doing what we can to give confidence to those looking for answers." A series of mechanisms were agreed at Stormont House in Belfast between the local parties, including a cold case review by law enforcement officers and information retrieval where no prosecutions were possible. Their implementation has been delayed by nationalist concerns that national security prohibitions will be used over-zealously to prevent the release of information about wrongdoing by members of the security forces. Mr Brokenshire added that the majority of people affected would have been as a consequence of terrorist activity. He said it was important to "give confidence across the whole community here that this is a robust process which is where the framework set by Stormont House really matters and is really important and I am keen to build on that approach so that we can move this issue forward and start to respond to the concerns." Pat Finucane Centre worker Sara Duddy said Mr Brokenshire requested the meeting and he believed dealing with the past was a priority. "We took that as a positive sign and a breath of fresh air to get this up and running. "We work with families waiting 30 or 40 years for their cases to be investigated. "It is being passed on to the next generation, it is poisoning society, people cannot move on because the past is always there poisoning the situation. "We are cautiously optimistic and we think the meeting was positive." The British Government, Sinn Fein and some victims have held differences over national security prohibitions on the release of information relating to Troubles' violence but Ms Duddy said it was a matter of agreeing the "finite details". "We would be of the view along with the Irish and British governments that there is a way forward." Stormont Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said: "James Brokenshire has said it is important to instil confidence in all victims. "He can do that by changing the policy of his predecessor and putting the needs of grieving families ahead of bogus national security concerns by immediately approving the Lord Chief Justice's request for funding to enable him to fast-track some 56 inquests involving up to 100 deaths." Apart from going out to get drugs Michael Murray never left home, according to his barrister. A "recluse" only ventured out of his house to get cannabis and diazepam for self-medication, a court heard today. Michael Murray was fined 200 after admitting possession of Class B and Class C drugs. The 24-year-old, of Essex Grove in Belfast, was arrested following a police search at his home in February. A judge at the city's Magistrates' Court was told officers found around 80 diazepam tablets and a small quantity of herbal cannabis. Defence counsel John O'Connor said his client suffered from panic attacks and depression. Apart from going out to get drugs to help with his issues, Murray never left home, according to his barrister. "He's a recluse," Mr O'Connor claimed. "He now realises that he can't self-medicate, and the way to deal with his drug (problem) is to go to his general practitioner." Imposing a 100 penalty for each offence, District Judge Fiona Bagnall said: "If he can buy the drugs he can pay the fines." She also warned Murray that any non-payment could result in imprisonment. A Tyrone woman has been told she could face jail after admitting wasting police time in the row which led to Jim Wells' resignation as Health Minister. Dorothy Elaine Dawn Gardner (49) from Dungannon pleaded guilty for the first time to charges of "knowingly making a false report or statement" over the DUP MLA's allegedly homophobic remarks at a pre-election hustings meeting last year. The veteran South Down politician immediately welcomed the defendant's admission as the first step towards his vindication and restoration of his public reputation. "My political career was destroyed by a series of totally false reports of what I said at that hustings meeting," he told the Belfast Telegraph. "As a result I was forced to resign as Health Minister and suffered months of online abuse." Deputy District Judge Neil Rafferty told Ms Gardiner, of Killycanavan Road: "You have now pleaded guilty to charges which amount to a serious offence." And he made clear he is "considering a custodial sentence". However, the judge then adjourned the case until August 25 for pre-sentencing reports, saying he wanted to have "as much information as possible". He also said he wanted the amount of police time which was said to have been wasted in the case to be quantified. Frail-looking and sitting in the dock in a parka jacket, with the hood partly raised, Ms Gardiner, who is known as 'Dee', spoke only to confirm she understood what was happening. Mr Rafferty told her if the probation service had not been in touch with her in the next fortnight, she should contact her solicitor. The hearing at Downpatrick was the sixth in relation to the case and was listed at the start of proceedings as a 'contest'. But in the end, Ms Gardner admitted the charge of causing "wasteful employment of the police by knowingly making a false report or statement tending to show that an offence had been committed by Mr James Wells MLA". Her case was not connected, however, to a separate police inquiry into the taping of remarks by Mr Wells at the public event in Downpatrick during the run-up to last year's General Election. Mr Wells has long claimed that a recording of allegedly anti-gay comments was "doctored" and gave a misleading impression. However, a few days later after the meeting, he was involved in an altercation with a lesbian couple while canvassing in Rathfriland. The PSNI investigated both incidents and concluded there was no basis for a prosecution of Mr Wells. At the hustings debate, he had said: "All evidence throughout the world says the best way to raise children is in a loving, stable, married relationship; the facts show that, the facts show that certainly you don't bring a child up in a homosexual relationship." Immediately afterwards, against a backdrop of uproar from the audience, he then added: "I say again, I say again, a child is far more likely to be abused or neglected in a non stable marriage situation, gay or straight." Mr Wells argued that in the full context his remarks overall made clear he was talking about unstable relationships, whether heterosexual or homosexual. After a full transcript emerged, he said last year: "Essentially I resigned over remarks which it now turns out I did not say. I feel a huge sense of injustice. "My whole career in politics over 33 years came crashing down in 17 seconds ... I felt I was beginning to come to terms with the job, which I enjoyed. But it all came tumbling down." Yesterday he added: "I am relieved by today's guilty plea as it represents a first but major step towards my total vindication. I now hope that Ms Gardner and the other individuals who sought to destroy my reputation will now publicly apologise for the huge damage they have caused me over the last 14 months." An ex-SDLP councillor has blasted one of the party's MLAs over his support for Ulster Unionist Ross Hussey after the Sunday Life's report of the politician sending naked pictures of himself. The Sunday Life reported about how West Tyrone MLA Hussey met strangers for sex and sent unprompted naked pictures of himself to someone he met online. More: Read More The story sparked anger and an outpouring of support for the Policing Board member. West Tyrone MLA Daniel McCrossan joined with the scores of people to offer his support. On Facebook he wrote: "The Sunday Life are a disgrace to journalism! Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close West Tyrone MLA Ross Hussey Ross Hussey MLA leaving Ramada hotel Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Ross Hussey MLA leaving Ramada Liam McBurney/RAZORPIX Ross Hussey talking to an undercover Sunday Life reporter at the Ramada Hotel, Shaws Bridge. He had arranged to meet the reporter for sex after sending naked images of himself and filthy messages via a sleazy sex website. Ross Hussey talking to an undercover Sunday Life reporter at the Ramada Hotel, Shaws Bridge. He had arranged to meet the reporter for sex after sending naked images of himself and filthy messages via a sleazy sex website. Images sent to an undercover Sunday Life reporter by Ross Hussey (West Tyrone Unionist MLA and Policing Board member) via stranger sex website. Ross Hussey talking to an undercover Sunday Life reporter at the Ramada Hotel, Shaws Bridge. He had arranged to meet the reporter for sex after sending naked images of himself and filthy messages via a sleazy sex website. Ross Hussey Danical McCrossan's Facebook post has been removed. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp West Tyrone MLA Ross Hussey "Appalling, shameful & disgustingly low journalism in today's Sunday Life. Ross Hussey has been targeted & abused by journalists who've attempted to use his private life to increase the sales of their paper. "Every man or woman has a right to a private life- politician or otherwise. Ross is a good public representative who works tirelessly for our constituents. "Is this really in the public interest? NO." He also included a link to newspaper regulator IPSO for people to make a complaint. However, one former member of the SDLP took issue with the remarks. Jimmy Carr resigned as a Derry councillor and from the party in 2014 following similar allegations in the Sunday Life that he sent explicit pictures of himself on a council-owned tablet to a reporter. Read More On Facebook, he said: "Incase anyone missed it, this is a statement from the sdlp... the same party who stitched me up...... they were a laughing stock before and they are an even bigger one now... oh and there is even a link to encourage people to make a complaint about the newspaper.... you can be sure Daniel never posted anything like this when it was me front page..." The Belfast Telegraph has asked the SDLP for a response. The posts were later removed from Facebook. Gardai investigating the 2006 murder of Denis Donaldson at Cloghercor, Doochary in Co Donegal, have arrested two men. A man in his 40s and one in his 70s were arrested in connection in the Donegal area on Tuesday. Both men are currently being detained at Letterkenny Garda Station under the provisions of Section 30 of the Offences against the State Act 1939. Mr Donaldson (55), a senior Sinn Fein official and close colleague of party president Gerry Adams, was shot dead at an isolated cottage near Glenties in Co Donegal in April 2006. The Belfast man had been living there since his exposure as an MI5 agent the previous year. In the early 2000s, Donaldson was appointed Sinn Fein's Northern Ireland Assembly group administrator in Parliament Buildings. Dissident republican group the Real IRA claimed responsibility for the murder, but the circumstances surrounding Mr Donaldson's outing and subsequent murder have been shrouded in mystery. A long-delayed inquest into the shooting has been adjourned almost 20 times. Gardai have repeatedly urged the coroner to postpone the probe, citing concerns it might compromise their criminal investigation. The delays have been a source of anger for Mr Donaldson's relatives. They have launched a legal action against the Irish state as a consequence. In 2014, the Garda made a mutual assistance request to a police force outside the Irish Republic in a bid to gain what it described as potentially "significant" evidential material. That material was secured in March this year. Gardai appealed to any persons who may have information in relation to this investigation to contact them at the Incident Room at Letterkenny Garda Station at 074 9167100, the Garda Confidential Line at 1800 666111 or any Garda Station. Prime Minister Theresa May will today hold talks with Taoiseach Enda Kenny on how Brexit will unfold. Mr Kenny is set to travel to London to meet Mrs May, after last week attending talks with French president Francois Hollande on the same issue. Mr Kenny last night indicated that he hoped the meeting would give both leaders the chance for constructive discussions. "I look forward to meeting with Prime Minister May," the Taoiseach added. "This meeting will provide an opportunity for us to have a strategic and constructive discussion on the impact of the referendum and how we are going to work together to protect the interests of all our citizens on these islands." The British and Irish leaders will hold the talks in Downing Street at lunchtime. The meeting will take place a day after Mrs May met the First and Deputy First Ministers Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness in Belfast. The Irish Government said the meeting would allow Mrs May and Mr Kenny to exchange views on a wide range of issues of mutual interest, including the situation in Northern Ireland. Mr Kenny told the British-Irish Council last week that he did not want to see the imposition of an internal European border on the island of Ireland. "There will not be a hard border from Dundalk to Derry," he explained. The luxury Range Rover driven by the Duke of Cambridge when he picked up his newborn son Prince George from hospital is being sold in aid of charity. When William and Kate left the private maternity unit at London's St Mary's Hospital they were travelling in an exclusive 4x4, now up for auction to raise funds to buy IT equipment for schools, hospitals and orphanages in developing nations. Nathaniel Comer, founder of charitable company Sun Screen IT which supplies the computers, has given the Range Rover a guide price of 150,000 and is inviting sealed bids for the vehicle being sold on the Auto Trader website. He said: "Now seems an opportune time to sell as it's (virtually) three years to the day the car was seen by billions around the world when Prince William fitted the baby seat very well and drove off." George celebrates his third birthday today and he first appeared in public on July 23 2013 when his parents left hospital. An Auto Trader spokesman said the Range Rover was given to William and Kate for their personal use by Land Rover's VIP department and it features an array of kit that owners of luxury cars will be used to, including leather upholstery, electrically adjustable and heated seats, and climate control. The couple were presented with the keys in 2013 and went on to clock up many thousands of miles on personal trips before it was returned to the car firm and later sold to a private buyer. Mr Comer became the next owner of the Range Rover after buying it in April for an undisclosed sum. He spotted the famous vehicle for sale in Auto Trader and realised he could raise some funds for his charity. He said: "It drives like a boat gliding through a velvet sea - very smooth and very power. It's refined but it can shift as it has got a 4.4 litre engine. "It's got a little fridge in the central console which had a few crumbs in it when I bought it but I told the last owner not to clean it in case they came from George's food." The auction for the 4x4, which has done 31,000 miles, ends on August 19 and proceeds from the sale, after costs are covered, will not only go to Sun Screen IT but the military mental health charity, Stand Down. Jon Quirk, Auto Trader's editor-in-chief, said: "The Range Rover has long been considered the ultimate statement in luxury transport, and its go-anywhere ability makes it a fine royal conveyance. "However, with two children and a royal reputation to uphold, Prince William may now have to consider the new Bentley Bentayga as his next family chariot - a brand that also proves very popular with his grandmother". French police vehicles and firemen arrive at the scene of a hostage-taking at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, northern France, on July 26, 2016 that left the priest dead. / AFP PHOTO / CHARLY TRIBALLEAUCHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images French police officers and firemen arrive at the scene of a hostage-taking at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, northern France, on July 26, 2016 that left the priest dead. A police source meanwhile confirmed that police killed two hostage-takers. / AFP PHOTO / CHARLY TRIBALLEAUCHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images French police officers and firemen arrive at the scene of a hostage-taking at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, northern France, on July 26, 2016 that left the priest dead. A police source meanwhile confirmed that police killed two hostage-takers. / AFP PHOTO / CHARLY TRIBALLEAUCHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development Jean-Marc Ayrault (C) holds a press conference in Tours on July 26, 2016 after the announcement of a priest killed by two armed assailants during an hostage-taking at a church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near the northern French city of Rouen. / AFP PHOTO / GUILLAUME SOUVANTGUILLAUME SOUVANT/AFP/Getty Images A French police officer stands guard by Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray's city hall following a hostage-taking at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, northern France, on July 26, 2016 that left the priest dead. A priest was killed on July 26 when men armed with knives seized hostages at a church near the northern French city of Rouen, a police source said. Police said they killed two hostage-takers in the attack in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, 125 kilometres (77 miles) north of Paris. / AFP PHOTO / CHARLY TRIBALLEAUCHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images French President Francois Hollande (C) flanked by Hubert Wulfranc mayor of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray (L) and French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve (R), speaks to the press as he leaves the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray's city hall following a hostage-taking at a church of the town on July 26, 2016 that left the priest dead. French President Francois Hollande that two men who attacked a church and slit the throat of a priest had "claimed to be from Daesh", using the Arabic name for the Islamic State group. Police said they killed two hostage-takers in the attack in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, 125 kilometres (77 miles) north of Paris. / AFP PHOTO / CHARLY TRIBALLEAUCHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP/Getty Images In this grab made from video, emergency services transport a person into a waiting ambulance in Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers seized hostages in a church near the Normandy city of Rouen on Tuesday, killing one hostage by slitting their throat before being killed by police, a security official said. The identities of the attackers and motive for the attack are unclear, according to the official, who was not authorized to be publicly named. (BFM via AP) French soldiers stand guard as they prevent the access to the scene of an attack in Saint Etienne du Rouvray, Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) One of the terrorists involved in slitting the throat of a priest in Normandy was wearing an electronic surveillance tag at the time of the attack. France's anti-terrorism prosecutor said the man, identified as 19-year-old Adel Kermiche, also evaded police twice using relatives' identities in attempts to reach Syria. Francois Molins, Paris prosecutor, said Kermiche's tag was deactivated for a few hours every morning, corresponding with the time of the attack. Speaking at a press conference, he explained the attacker - who was shot dead by police - was arrested in Germany in March 2015 trying to join extremists in Syria using his brother's identity, and then was arrested in Turkey two months later using a cousin's ID. Kermiche, was a local teenager whose parents flagged his radical behaviour to authorities and grew up in a housing project in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, the town where father Jacques Hamel was slain. The second assailant has not yet been identified. French authorities said the men had fake explosives and used nuns within the church as humans shields as police tried to enter the place of worship. One had three knives and a fake explosives belt, while the other carried a kitchen timer wrapped in aluminum foil and had fake explosives in his backpack. Mr Molins said the attackers, who claimed allegiance to Islamic State, also cried "Allahu Akbar" during the attack on 86-year-old Father Jacques Hamel. He added that a minor, believed to be a 16-year-old younger brother of somebody wanted by police for trying to go to Syria or Iraq in 2015, has been detained in connection with the investigation. Police raids are still under way. A nun, identified as Sister Danielle, described how Father Hamel was forced to kneel on the floor before his throat was slit during the hour-long hostage-taking incident which began as the two knifemen burst into the parish church by a back door during morning mass. She said: "They forced him to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And that's when the tragedy happened. "They recorded themselves. They did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. It's a horror," she told BFM television. Sister Danielle went on to describe the minister as a "great priest". One elderly parishioner was also wounded in the attack, but was no longer in a life-threatening condition on Tuesday night. French president Francois Hollande pledged to fight the Islamic State terror group "using all means possible". Addressing France on Tuesday, he said: "To attack a church, kill a priest, is to profane the republic." Adding that the country was "waging war", he urged his compatriots to stay united and not turn against each other. Mr Hollande said: "What terrorists want is to divide us, separate us, set us against each other", vowing: "We will win this war." The attack in Normandy sent shock waves through a nation already reeling from the murder of 84 people in Nice on July 14, when a Tunisian national drove a lorry into crowds enjoying Bastille Day fireworks, as well as earlier atrocities directed at rock fans and sports crowds and the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris. At a press conference in Downing Street, Prime Minister Theresa May offered her condolences to the French people, saying: "Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected. "We all face a terror threat. If you look at the national threat level here in the United Kingdom, it is at severe. That means that a terrorist attack is highly likely. "What is necessary is for us all to work together, and stand shoulder to shoulder with France. We offer them every support we have in dealing with this issue and this threat that they, and the rest of us, are facing. "But on one thing, I think, we are all absolutely clear, and that is the terrorists will not prevail. "They are trying to destroy our way of life. They are trying to destroy our values. We have shared values and those values will win through and the terrorists will not win." Despite there being no specific intelligence relating to attacks against the Christian community in the UK, the National Police Chiefs' Council is urging the community to be alert but not alarmed, report concerns and review their security as a precaution. National Operational Police Lead for Protect and Prepare, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said: "There is no specific intelligence relating to attacks against the Christian community in the UK. However, as we have seen, Daesh and other terrorist groups have targeted Christian as well as Jewish and other faith groups in the West and beyond. "Following recent events in France, we are reiterating our protective security advice to Christian places of worship and have circulated specific advice today. We are also taking this opportunity to remind them to review their security arrangements as a precaution." Following the attack, religious leaders, including those from the Muslim community, issued messages of sympathy and solidarity in the wake of the killing. In a statement, the Vatican said Pope Francis shared the "sorrow and horror" felt over the incident, adding: "We are particularly struck because this horrible violence has occurred in a church - a sacred place where we pronounce God's love - with the barbaric murder of a priest and worshippers affected." Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: "Evil attacks the weakest, denies truth and love, is defeated through Jesus Christ. Pray for France, for victims, for their communities." The Islamic State group crossed a new threshold on Tuesday in its war against the West, as two of its followers targeted a church in Normandy, slitting the throat of an elderly priest celebrating mass and using hostages as human shields before being shot by police. It was the extremist group's first attack against a church in the West, and fulfils long-standing threats against "crusaders" in what the militants paint as a centuries-old battle for power. One of the attackers, who grew up in the town, had tried twice to leave for Syria; the second was not identified. "To attack a church, to kill a priest, is to profane the republic," French president Francois Hollande told the nation after speaking with Pope Francis, who condemned the killing in the strongest terms. Father Jacques Hamel was celebrating mass for three nuns and two parishioners on a quiet summer morning in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray when the attackers burst in and forced the 85-year-old priest to his knees before slicing his throat, according to authorities and a nun who escaped. She described seeing the attackers film themselves and give a sermon in Arabic around the altar before she fled. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said the other hostages were used as human shields to block police from entering. One elderly parishioner was wounded. The two attackers were killed by police as they rushed from the building shouting "Allahu Akbar", Mr Molins said. One had three knives and a fake explosives belt; the other carried a kitchen timer wrapped in aluminium foil and had fake explosives in his backpack. One of the assailants was identified as Adel Kermiche, a 19-year-old who tried to travel to Syria twice last year using family members' identity documents, but was arrested outside France and handed preliminary terrorism charges. Kermiche had an electronic surveillance bracelet after a judge overruled prosecutors and agreed to free him, Mr Molins said. A statement published by the IS-affiliated Amaq news agency said Tuesday's attack was carried out by "two soldiers of the Islamic State" who acted in response to calls to target nations in the US-led coalition fighting the extremist group in Iraq and Syria. Haras Rafiq, managing director of the Quilliam Foundation, described the attack as a turning point. "What these two people today have done is ... shifted the tactical attack to the attack on Rome ... an attack on Christianity," he said. He warned that it could "radicalise people from both sides of the communities. Muslim and non-Muslim". As Europe becomes painfully inured to a summer of repeated bloodshed, the extremists are looking for greater ways to shock, Mr Rafiq said. "This is going into a house of God. This is attacking and killing a priest." "We've been talking about the danger of the global jihadist insurgency. This is what it looks like," he said. The increasing speed with which IS has claimed responsibility and the growing number of attacks this summer have left Europe alarmed and fearful. Targeting a church in the rural Normandy heartland resonated with France's leadership and Christians across Europe. While France is officially secular and church attendance is low, the country has deep Catholic roots. Islamic State extremists have urged followers to attack French churches and the group is believed to have planned at least one earlier church attack that was foiled when the assailant shot himself in the leg. The priest had been at the church for the past decade and "was always ready to help", said Rouen diocese official Philippe Mahut. "His desire was to spread a message for which he consecrated his life," Mr Mahut told The Associated Press. "And he certainly didn't think that consecrating his life would mean for him to die while celebrating mass, which is a message of love." A nun who escaped said the priest was forced to the ground before his throat was slit. "They forced him to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And that's when the tragedy happened," said the woman, identified as Sister Danielle, speaking on BFM television. She said the attackers filmed themselves. "They did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. It's a horror." One person, a minor, was arrested in the investigation. Mr Molins said he is believed to be the 16-year-old younger brother of someone wanted by authorities for trying to go to Syria or Iraq in 2015. Mr Hollande, visiting the scene of Tuesday's murder, denounced what he called "a vile terrorist attack" and one more sign that France is at war with the Islamic State group, which has claimed multiple attacks on France over the past year and a half, and two in Germany over the past week. The pope condemned the attack in the strongest terms. The Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said in a statement that the pope expressed his "pain and horror for this absurd violence, with the strongest condemnation for every form of hatred and prayer for those affected". The town's mayor, Hubert Wulfranc, in tears, denounced the "barbarism" and, breaking down, pleaded: "Let us together be the last to cry." A sombre quiet surrounded Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, a suburb of the medieval city of Rouen composed of genteel residential neighbourhoods and working-class quarters with massive apartment blocks. The cluster of towns near Rouen had already been linked to the Islamic State group. A micro-cell of recruits from the area included a Frenchman seen cutting the throat of a Syrian soldier in a November 2014 video. Maxime Hauchard was among at least four people who met at a local mosque and later left to join the extremists. The violence, currently pivoting between France and Germany, appears unlikely to slow soon because the IS reaps benefits even when attackers have no particular connection to the extremists fighting and losing territory in Iraq and Syria. "Isis seeks to recreate the same image that helped it attract thousands of foreign fighters to Syria and Iraq and elsewhere," said Michael Horowitz, an analyst with the Levantine Group security firm. "The pace of these attacks is aimed at painting Isis as an omniscient group capable of humiliating the West, and defying expectations." The attack renewed fears of social and religious tensions in France. Support is rising for the anti-immigrant far right, and the country's millions of moderate Muslims fear a backlash - fears IS has been feeding with a constant stream of propaganda. "It's a shot directly at Western Christianity," said Daniel Shoenfeld, an analyst with the Soufan Group. "It's this effort by the Islamic State and their supporters to drive a further wedge between broader Western society and Muslims." Father Alexandre Joly, who knew the murdered priest, said "If we are afraid, they have won. They must not win. ... We must not enter in the game of fear, of rejection." It was unclear how the attacker who was under surveillance carried out the violence without attracting police attention. France's security services are stretched after eight months under a state of emergency imposed following attacks in November in Paris. They have been under new strain since an attack in the southern city of Nice on Bastille Day - July 14 - that killed 84 people and was claimed by IS. French authorities increased security at places of worship after attacks in Paris last year, but ensuring constant, blanket security is difficult in a country with a church in every town and village. AP A pile of rubbish left at the spot where the lorry stopped and the terrorist driver was killed on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice Two new suspects have been detained in the investigation into the Bastille Day attack in Nice in which more than 80 people were killed. The Paris prosecutor's office said on Tuesday that two men have been in custody in southern France since Monday. It gave no details about why they had been arrested. Five people have already been jailed on preliminary terrorism charges linked to the July 14 truck rampage by Tunisian driver Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, accused of helping him obtain a pistol and other support. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the massacre on the Promenade des Anglais. French authorities say 31-year-old Bouhlel was inspired by the extremist group's propaganda, but have uncovered no evidence that IS orchestrated the attack. The new arrests come amid political scandal over limited police presence in Nice on the night of the bloodshed. AP Relations between Northern Ireland and the Republic should not be allowed to suffer because of Brexit If you really want an adrenaline rush, a young friend was advised recently, forget extreme sports. Just go to a London dinner party with Left-wing economists and tell them you voted for Brexit. There are plenty of other liberal groups which believe that only old, stupid, ill-educated, selfish bigots could have voted Leave. To them it implies turning ones back on Europe in favour of Little Englandism. And if youre Irish, youre accused of callously ignoring the interests of your native island. When confronted by people they expect to be like-minded, such Remainers react with incredulity and rather than have a calm discussion are frequently very hostile. The Right, Ive found over the years, are a lot more tolerant that the Left, which has a tendency to think itself the sole occupant of the moral high ground. After more than 20 years as a journalist challenging fashionable opinions Im battle-hardened, so after several weeks of talking about the EU with open-minded friends I rather nervously sent off my postal vote a couple of weeks before referendum day and then came out as a Brexiteer. One result has been that Leave voters still in the closet confide in me. Over the last few weeks people have told me theyve persistently lied about their vote because they dont want to be written off at work, denounced by their children as wreckers of their future or shouted at socially as some kind of enemy of humanity. One friend who works in the literary world told me hed said nothing about how he voted since his colleagues seemed to be Remain to a man and woman and he feared that if he told them hed voted Leave large question marks would be put over his judgment. Another was at a family gathering recently where she kept her mouth shut as Leavers were denounced lest she precipitate a row, until her 90-year-old grandfather whispered to her in a corner that he had voted Brexit, after which they had a happy, but discreet, conspiratorial celebration. Among my Leave friends, although uncontrolled immigration was an important consideration, what had most influence was the apparent unreformability of the EU. Weve been appalled that the likes of Jean Claude Junker, President of the Commission, seem to learn nothing from the EUs failure to deal with such tragedies as the shambolic migrant policies which have caused such misery, the precariousness of the euro, the state of Greece, the youth unemployment in Portugal and Spain, the rise in extremism, and the anti-EU sentiments in opinion polls. Their imperialist aspirations remain intact and they call for a more and deeper Europe. It is not ignoble to unshackle yourself from a failing institution before it drags you down. The UK can stay friends with Europe but rule itself and enjoy the adventure of forming closer relations with the rest of the world. And it certainly wants to stay close to the Republic of Ireland. The tone of the Republics commemoration of the Easter Rising and the Somme has shown it has left Anglophobia behind. As Queen Elizabeth pointed out on her 2011 State visit, the UK and the Republic have become firm friends and equal partners. They became close allies in the EU, and need now to be creative and constructive in fashioning a mutually beneficial next stage in their relationship. On the island of Ireland responsible politicians in Belfast, Dublin and London need to forget about the distracting nonsense of a border poll and find pragmatic ways of achieving the softest possible border. Thoughtful people in the south should be giving serious consideration to how the Irish Government might think more globally. At a time of threats and unheavals, the country needs all the friends it can get. Why should it not, for instance, reconsider rejoining the Commonwealth, a loose co-operative organisation of 53 independent countries, only 16 of which have the British monarch as Head of State? The trade advantages of being in an organisation representing 2.2 billion people in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific are pretty obvious. And in the UK, Leavers and Remainers should kiss, make-up and get down to work. Tourism is now one of the main economic drivers which Newry, Mourne and Down District Council are continuing to promote as part of their strategy to regenerate the region. Council tourism and events teams are working hard to promote tourism areas, such as Dundrum, and deliver a product for the betterment of the people in this area. Therefore, it is greatly disappointing to learn that a party of Americans travelled from Belfast, but once they got to Dundrum village, they turned around again because they felt uncomfortable with the flags. How deeply disappointing it is to learn of tourists deciding not to stop off in Dundrum village because of the proliferation of flags. If both council and business owners in Dundrum are seeking to encourage visitors and tourists to stop off, then there needs to be a solution to the whole issue of flag-flying. People should realise that when they erect these flags, all they are actually doing is discouraging international tourists from stopping, the total opposite of that which the council and business owners are trying to do. CLLR PATRICK CLARKE (IND) Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Should the Assembly finally amend Northern Ireland's libel law to bring it into line with Westminster? As a London-based journalist and author with experience of being both sued for libel and defamed in the UK Press, it seems obvious that Northern Ireland's libel laws need to be liberalised. But Westminster's 2013 Defamation Act is not necessarily the ideal role model for defending free speech, either. The caricature view from London is often that Northern Ireland is a place still "living in the past". Libel is one area where Northern Ireland's politicians have so far done their best to live up to that caricature, preserving laws which would look more at home in the 19th century than the 21st. Now a top-level report has recommended that libel law be amended to bring it into line with Westminster's Defamation Act of 2013. Defamation law has long been the worst piece of legislation on the UK statute books - a prize won in the face of some pretty stiff competition. Contrary to all normal ideas of justice, it effectively rules that a defendant should be assumed guilty until proven otherwise. Little wonder that libel law has had a "chilling effect" on the Press, with the threat of punitive costs and damages making many wary of publishing controversial stories. The legal inhibition on freedom of speech and of the Press posed by Britain's defamation laws made London the libel capital of the world - "a town called sue". An international elite came to the Royal Courts of Justice to sue for libel, using the UK's more plaintiff-friendly laws to try to silence their critics around the globe. The UK Defamation Act 2013 introduced changes designed to end this "libel tourism" and make the law more liberal. Before that Act was passed, however, DUP ministers had already secretly decided that Northern Ireland would not be covered by the reforms. When the Executive's decision to retain the punitive old defamation laws became known it raised fears that Belfast could become the new home for global libel tourism - which, unlike the new wave of international visitors to the Titanic Quarter, would surely not be a good thing for anybody except the lawyers. When UUP leader Mike Nesbitt then announced plans for a Private Member's Bill to force Northern Ireland's libel laws into line with the British reforms, DUP Finance Minister Simon Hamilton responded by commissioning a report into the issue. Reformers feared this was a ploy to prevent Nesbitt's Bill going ahead. Meanwhile, last year Sky Atlantic temporarily pulled the broadcast of a film about Scientology across the entire UK for fear that the church - no stranger to libel tourism - might sue at the High Court in Belfast. Now, the report by London legal academic Dr Andrew Scott has finally been published. Among other reforms borrowed from the UK Act, it recommends that Northern Ireland's libel law be amended to end libel tourism and introduce a new "defence of truth", along with a "defence of publication on a matter of public interest" and a "serious harm test", so that plaintiffs have to prove the alleged libel has done them harm, rather than simply asserting it in court and being automatically believed, as they are now. These proposals have been welcomed by many. SDLP MLA Claire Hanna insisted the "antiquated libel laws" must be reformed to avoid Northern Ireland becoming "a legal back channel to hide the dirty linen of the wealthy or the privileged". However, concerned reformers noted the initial response to Dr Scott's report in the Press release issued by Sinn Fein minister Mairtin O Muilleoir's Finance Department. This statement highlighted the report's rider that "neither international, or domestic, human rights laws compel the introduction of reforms" by the Assembly. Instead, reform is "a matter of political choice". To some eyes, perhaps jaundiced by experience, that emphasis from Stormont seemed to suggest that the Executive could choose to shelve the reforms once more. So, as libel law comes back to the table, which "political choices" should reformers be pushing for? Any changes adopted from the Westminster Act, which could make Northern Ireland a safer place for free speech, should surely be welcomed? Like, for example, the proposed new "defence of truth". Some of us might have naively assumed that "truth" would always be a pretty solid witness for the defence, anyway. But not in the bizarre world of the libel courts. But the UK Defamation Act 2013 is no liberal charter for freedom of expression. It accepts that the courts can impose strict limits on what can be said or written. Worse, it hands the power to impose those limits to judges alone, effectively abolishing jury trials in libel cases. This assault on the precious jury system is justified on the grounds of saving money. It smacks, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde, of a legal system that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. As ever, decisions as to what might be in "the public interest" will not be left to the public, but to those who consider they know what is best for the rest of us. Dr Scott's proposals would also import the elitism of the new Westminster law by giving extra legal protection to "peer-reviewed scientific, or academic, statements". The implication is that protecting freedom of expression only really matters for those deemed "responsible". Yet, if it is to mean anything, the indivisible liberty of free speech must also be defended for those the mainstream considers "irresponsible", which, incidentally, would have included many great thinkers in their time, from Galileo to Darwin. Like the right to jury trial, the right to free speech ultimately rests on the idea that people should be trusted to think for themselves and make their own choices, rather than entrusting everything to judges, lawyers, academics and politicians. In that spirit, it might be better to look to America, rather than the UK, or "international human rights law". Since 1964 the US Supreme Court has effectively held that no politician or public figure can sue for defamation unless they can prove that publication was motivated by malice. In the words of the ruling on which US libel law is based, this is because "debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust and wide open", which "may well include vehement, caustic and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials". Now, that sounds more like a Belfast argument to me. Mick Hume is the author of Trigger Warning: Is The Fear Of Being Offensive Killing Free Speech? A new concise edition is published by Williams Collins, priced 6.99 A Hank the dog lookalike from Co Down has been spared the death sentence despite being categorised as a pit bull one day after the Belfast dog was seized. Ashton Gillespie, 18, faced a court battle to keep her 11-month old pitbull Ruby after she was officially listed as belonging to the banned breed. But a judge at Newtownards Magistrates Court ruled on July 15 that the young Donaghadee woman could keep her beloved pet after the prosecution said the animal had passed a good temperament test. Ruby has been spared destruction with a series of strict conditions including that she must be muzzled and kept securely on a lead at all times in public. Relieved owner Ashton was also ordered by the judge to have a third party insurance policy to cover for the death or bodily injury caused to any person by the powerful pitbull. East Belfast dog Hank was taken from his home by council officials for looking like a pit bull and has not been returned. But Ruby spent just 90 minutes away from his teenage owner before being returned to her. It doesnt matter if a dog is a pit bull or not, Ashton told Sunday Life. Any dog can have an a bad temper with a bad owner, but if youre a dog owner and you train your dog the right way then they should have a good temper, which Ruby does. Four types of dogs are currently banned by law in Northern Ireland; the pit bull terrier, Japanese Tosa, Dogo Argentino and Fila Braziliero. But the Government website explains that just because a dog belongs to a banned breed it does not have to be destroyed. The court has the discretion to spare a dog if it believes it would not be a danger to the public if kept under certain strict conditions. The court may make a contingent destruction order exempting it from the ban as long as the exemption conditions are met. Ards and North Down council recommended that Ruby be spared after a series of tests determined her good nature. Ruby is an absolute credit, said Ashton. Ive never in my life met a better dog and the council even said how beautiful and calm Ruby was, and they knew that she was a pit bull. The council told me that there are times they go to peoples houses and they cant get through the door because the dogs are so bad, but not Ruby. Exemption The Co Down teen lives in a flat in the seaside town with Ruby after getting her as a five-week old pup from a woman in Londonderry. Ashton said: The dog warden came round and I invited her in and Ruby came wandering in to see what was going on. The girl said that she was a lovely wee dog and then asked me what breed it was and I told her it was a staffy (Staffordshire bull terrier) because thats what I got Ruby as. She said how nice Ruby was but that she thought she was a pit bull. They never seized her because she was so tiny but over a number of months, the girl called out to see Ruby and have a bit of a chat with me and talk me through the new legislation. She told me that they dont take pit bulls and put them down, thats not what happens, they give you an exemption order and you have two months to get the dog fully licensed, insured, muzzled at all times, microchipped and spayed, which I had already done. Ruby was taken for tests on July 11 before Ashton appeared in court the following Friday. Prosecution claimed that the dog was a pit bull but the council was satisfied with the test results and asked for the dog to be taken off death row. Judge Hamill took the prosecutions advice but warned that if Ruby attacked someone Ashton will be civilly liable. She said: Ruby was seized on the 11th but she was returned within an hour and a half. I have all the paperwork from that day, including her measurements, her breed as a pit bull and the results of her temperament tests, which were amazing. The court ordered that Ruby must be licensed, kept in an enclosed area and muzzled and on a lead when in a public place. Ashton must also cooperate with the exemption order and allow the dog to be inspected at any time by the council. Its a shame that she doesnt have the freedom she used to, but they are the rules that we have to go along with. If I was Hanks owner, I would be fighting for him with everything I could and I wouldnt be giving up. If I didnt have Ruby, I dont know what Id do. Shes my best friend. In court District Judge Hamill issued a stern warning to people who keep dangerous dogs. I do not know this dog, so I will be guided by the prosecution authority on this. But people who have dangerous dogs better be well insured. If this attacks someone they will be civilly liable. Observing Ms Gillespie, he added: And you can smirk all you like, you may remember these words. Afterwards, Ashton Gillespie told Sunday Life that she was nervous in the courtroom which was why she may have appeared to smirk. An Indian Dalit woman waits for a relatives to be released from a police station in Dholka, Gujarat state, after protesters were detained for damaging vehicles and disturbing the peace, July 21, 2016. A spate of attacks on a lower-caste Indian community, which prompted a wave of anti-government protests, may come back to hurt Indias ruling Hindu nationalist party in key state assembly elections next year, experts said. As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prepares for March 2017 polls in Uttar Pradesh state, where low-caste Dalits make up more than 20 percent of its 204 million voters, the BJP-led coalition will have to tread a cautious path, political commentator Ajoy Ashirwad said. [T]here seems to be a vibrant Dalit movement, mostly comprising of youth, fast emerging in various parts of rural India. While the BJP refuses to acknowledge it, many other parties have upped the ante and launched both direct and indirect attacks against the BJP, Ashirwad wrote on The Wire, an Indian website. As Dalits begin to fiercely assert themselves in mainstream politics, even traditionally upper caste parties like the BJP will have to rethink their political strategy in future, he added. The nearly 180 million-strong Dalit community, relegated to the bottom of Hinduisms rigid caste hierarchy, has been at the receiving end of frequently violent caste-related discrimination for centuries. But the attacks have increased since the right-wing BJP took power two years ago, government critics say. According to the latest figures from the National Crime Records Bureau, violence against Dalits, who comprise of 17 percent of the countrys 1.25 billion people, is up by 44 percent since 2010. The BJP, however, has rejected the charge that attacks against the lower-caste community have increased during its rule. Our government is not about to tolerate any physical or verbal abuse against Dalits, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in parliament, adding that the same number of such incidents took place even when the previous government was in power. String of assaults On July 11, four Dalit men who work at a tannery in Gujarat the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi were tied to an SUV and publicly flogged for hours by self-styled cow vigilantes after they were found skinning a dead cow, according to reports. The assaulters, who claimed to be affiliated to one of the countrys many gau raksha samitis or cow protection committees also posted a video of the thrashing on YouTube as a warning. This triggered protests in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. In Hindu majority India, consumption of beef is banned because the cow, known as gau mata, or mother cow, is considered holy and is worshipped because she gives milk. As of late Monday, at least 15 Dalits in Gujarat had attempted suicide as a show of protest against the assault on members of their group, local news reports said. The police so far have arrested 16 men who allegedly partook in the assault. In an incident in south Indias Karnataka state, the police over the weekend booked seven members of the right-wing group Bajrang Dal, after they allegedly beat a Dalit family over suspicions that they had slaughtered a cow last week. In Maharashtra on Friday, two Dalit youths alleged that they were beaten up by a group of 25 people for overtaking a vehicle in the states Beed district. The beating got worse after the group spotted a photograph of a Dalit rights icon on the duos motorcycle, the two men said in a complaint file with police. And on Sunday, a 14-year-old Dalit girl who was kidnapped and raped repeatedly by an upper-caste man for days, died of related injuries at a New Delhi hospital. Her pain is over now According to the girls relatives, the accused, who was arrested Saturday, forced the girl to drink a corrosive substance after raping her. She was forced to drink some sort of acid. For two months since she had been in hospital, she was suffering from excruciating pain. At some level, I am relieved that her pain is now over, the girls uncle told BenarNews. In Haryana on Sunday, police said they had arrested four of five men who allegedly gang-raped a 21-year-old Dalit woman for the second time in three years. The accused, who had allegedly first raped the woman in the states Bhiwani town in 2013 but were later let out on bail, drugged and raped her again earlier this month after she refused to drop the case against them, according to the victims complaint to the police. The victims brother, requesting anonymity, told BenarNews that the accused tried to dissuade the family from pursuing the case forcing the family to move to another town. But they continued to threaten us. Even the police did not pay heed to our repeated complaints, he said. Rejecting the familys allegation of police negligence, Deputy Superintendent of Police Pushpa Khatri said the investigation into the victims complaint was ongoing. The condition of the girl is stable, and we are offering her psychological counseling to her to overcome the trauma, Khatri told BenarNews. The recent incidents of violence against Dalits are bound to affect the BJPs performance when Uttar Pradesh went to polls next year, according to political analyst Rupesh Verma. Such incidents have come at a time when the BJP was trying to win back Dalit confidence. And they could very well prove costly, he told BenarNews. Soni Sangwan and Akash Vashishtha in New Delhi contributed to this report. Susan Coppedge, U.S. ambassador-at-large to monitor and combat trafficking in persons, meets with Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in Putrajaya, July 26, 2016. Malaysian authorities need to prosecute more human trafficking cases if they are serious about tackling the problem, NGO leaders said Tuesday as a U.S. ambassador at-large who specializes on the issue was visiting the country. Representatives of several local NGOs voiced such concerns during a Monday night meeting in Kuala Lumpur with Susan Coppedge, the U.S. State Departments envoy for the monitoring and combating of human trafficking, according to one of them. They also told Coppedge about their frustration over a lack of official follow-up after last years discovery of scores of graves in the jungles of northern Perlis state that held the remains of smuggled people. We feel that we can have all the laws on trafficking that we want in Malaysia, but if there is not enough implementation on the ground, nothing is going to work, Sumitha Shaanthinni Kishna, coordinator of the Migration Working Group, one of the NGOs, told BenarNews. Thats what we told her, we are more concerned on whats being implemented on the ground rather than what being put on paper. According to Kishna, Malaysia needs to work on protecting victims. She expressed the hope that Coppedge would convey those concerns to the Malaysian officials during her two-day visit. Coppedge arrived in Malaysia amid complaints that the Southeast Asian nation had failed to investigate mass graves of suspected trafficking victims and prosecute the criminals who put them there. The State Department has faced widespread criticism after it kept Malaysia, a key U.S. trading partner, off its blacklist of countries that fail to meet minimum standards against modern-day slavery, in the recently published 2016 edition of its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. The report pointed out that graves on both sides of the Thai-Malaysia border, which contained remains of trafficked Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar and Bangladeshi migrants, were discovered in May 2015. The (Malaysian) government questioned several officials after the discovery of mass graves on the Thai border, but did not prosecute any officials during the reporting period for complicity in trafficking crimes, the report said. The TIP report also noted that the number of investigations of potential trafficking cases decreased by 24 last year compared with 186 cases that were investigated in 2014. After it the State Department published the report last month, it drew a rebuke from U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who questioned the credibility of Malaysias ranking. I believe that rankings must be based on an objective assessment of the minimum standards in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, a countrys efforts to meet them, and the impact that government actions are having on improving the lives of trafficking victims. No other considerations should enter into it, he said. Lack of political will A shortage of prosecutions proves there is a lack of political will to solve the problem of human trafficking, according to Glorene A. Das, who directs Tenaganita, a Malaysian NGO that has advocated rights for migrants and refugees for the past 25 years. The discovery of the graves in the jungle led to the arrests of 12 policemen, who were allegedly linked to human smugglers at the Malaysia-Thailand border, but none of them have been prosecuted so far, she said. There were several arrests of foreign nationals, Malaysians as well as the Malaysian authorities but as of now, only one Bangladesh national has been charged and prosecuted. However, no government authorities or officials have been prosecuted, Das told BenarNews. Prosecution rates continue to be dismal. It was evident that there was a lack of cooperation and coordination between the different government agencies who, incidentally, all sit as part of anti-trafficking enforcement agencies, she added. According to Das, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi must take responsibility for and be transparent about prosecuting all officials or Malaysian citizens involved in the mass graves, because this is long overdue. In June, a Malaysian court sentenced a Bangladeshi man to 10 years after he pleaded guilty to three charges of human smuggling and trafficking in the area, where 106 graves believed to contain the remains of Rohingya Muslims were found in May 2015. On Tuesday, Coppedge met with Zahid, who also serves as Malaysias deputy prime minister. In a statement after the meeting, his office said it had undertaken efforts to combat human trafficking. The deputy prime minister has expressed the countrys readiness to cooperate with the U.S. in the area of capacity building, which touches on the aspect of prosecution, conviction, including identifying individuals who are the potential victims of labor exploitation and forced labor, the statement said. Movie producer Riza Aziz (left) appears with actor Leonardo DiCaprio (center) and fellow producer Joey McFarland on the red carpet at the British Academy Film Awards at Londons Roya Opera House, Feb. 16, 2014. Individuals targeted in U.S. lawsuits that seek to recoup more than $1 billion in money allegedly stolen from state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) must clear their own names, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Monday. Although he is referred to many times as Malaysian Official 1 in court papers filed by the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) according to a source close to the investigation, the prime minister seemed to distance himself in a Facebook post from some people close to him who were identified by name as targets in the suits. The civil suits brought by the U.S. Justice Department regarding 1MDB must be given space and opportunity for the judicial process to be carried out. Any individual who has been named must clear their own names, Najib wrote. The government will fully cooperate in this case and, God willing, sooner or later we will know the truth. As has often been emphasized, the government will ensure that no public money has been misused, he added. When news about the suits broke last week, it deepened a corruption scandal surrounding 1MDB, a sovereign wealth fund that Najib launched in 2009, and armed his political opponents with fresh ammunition in calling for his resignation as PM. Since July 2015, the Malaysian opposition and Najibs critics have called for him to step down following reports that nearly $700 million in 1MDB-linked cash was deposited into his private bank accounts during the run-up to the 2013 general election. Najib has acknowledged that he received the money but has denied any wrongdoing. Six months ago, Malaysias attorney general cleared the prime minister in a corruption probe into the bank deposit, saying it was a political donation from Saudi Arabias royal family used to fund candidates in the 2013 election. On Thursday, a day after the news broke, Najib told reporters in Kuala Lumpur that his administration was serious about good governance. Over the weekend, the information chief for Najibs political party stressed that neither the prime minister nor 1MDB were named as parties in the civil cases, by which U.S. justice officials are seeking to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in assets paid for with money that was missing from 1MDB and had allegedly been laundered. "In fact 1MDB does not have any asset or interests in the United States, and we are confident that this process (civil suit) will also dispel all the wild allegations made against those who are not guilty," Malaysia's Star newspaper quoted Tan Sri Annuar Musa, information director of the United National Malays Organization (UMNO), as saying. However, an official close to the DOJ investigations into 1MDB told the Wall Street Journal the newspaper that broke the first story about the large deposit into Najib's accounts that Najib was in fact the person identified more than 30 times in the U.S. lawsuits as Malaysian Official 1 (MO1). The lawsuits cited a statement made in January by Malaysian Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali over the transfer of $681 million accounts belonging to Malaysian Official 1. The lawsuits traced funds that flowed between the account of Malaysian Official 1 and "Eric" Tan Kim Loong, a business associate of Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low who is a close associate of Najib. Both men are named as targets in the suits. Also named in the lawsuits was Najibs stepson Riza Aziz, the founder of Red Granite Pictures, which produced the Oscar-nominated film "The Wolf of Wall Street. The suits allege that Rizas company received $238 million from transactions linked to 1MDB, of which some of the money was used to fund Red Granite Pictures and to purchase luxury real estate in the U.S. and Britain. Among assets that the U.S. government is seeking to recover are a private jet, penthouses and condominiums in New York City, properties in Beverly Hills, Calif., including a mansion. Jamalul Kiram III, the self-proclaimed sultan of Sulu, addresses reporters in Manila about a standoff involving his supporters in Sabah, Malaysia, Feb. 22, 2013. A court in eastern Malaysia on Tuesday sentenced nine Filipinos to life in prison for playing major roles in a deadly incursion by an armed group from the nearby southern Philippines three years ago, according to local reports. The Kota Kinabalu High Court also handed jail sentences ranging from 10 to 15 years to five other Filipinos and three Malaysians, whom it convicted on terrorism-related charges for lesser roles in the incursion mounted along the coastline of Sabah state by the group known as the Royal Army of Sulu, reports said. A special session of the high court, which sat at the state prison in Kepayan, had convicted the 17 defendants a day earlier for their roles in waging war against the Malaysian king (Yang di-Pertuan Agong). Royal Sulu Army members, who identified themselves as followers of the self-proclaimed Sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram III, launched the incursion into Malaysian territory on Borneo island, which lasted from February to March 2013. Datu Amirbahar Hushin Kiram, the nephew of the late sultan, was among the nine Filipinos who received life sentences and were spared the death penalty at the end of a trial that began in January 2014. The courts ruling nonetheless sends a strong message that any encroachment on Malaysias sovereign territory will be punished severely, according to a Sabah-based security analyst. It is our absolute right to protect our sovereignty. The actions and decision taken [by the court] is all about protecting and safeguarding the well-being of the country and its people, Zaini Othman, who directs the Strategic and Security Research Center at Universiti Malaysia Sabah, told BenarNews. In 2013, Malaysian security forces put down the incursion by some 200 fighters who had traveled by boat from Sulu a neighboring province in the southern Philippines. Seventy-two people, including 56 Sulu gunmen, 10 members of the Malaysian security forces and six civilians were killed in fighting spread over several weeks. The Filipino group demanded to be recognized as representatives of the Sulu Sultanate that used to rule Sabah. In the past the sultanate was spread over several southern Philippine islands and parts of Borneo, including Sabah before it became a British protectorate in the 19th century. Sabah was incorporated into Malaysia in 1963, but the country still pays token rent to the Sulu Sultanate on an annual basis. Two months ago, Malaysian authorities announced the arrests of another 22 people, including 12 foreigners, suspected of being linked to the crushed incursion. The 22 suspects are being held indefinitely without trial under Malaysias Security Offences (Special Measures) Act, reports said. Filipinos spared death penalty In handing down sentences on Tuesday against the nine Filipinos who had faced the prospect of being put to death for their roles in the incursion, Justice Stephen Chung Hian Guan said there was no evidence that the defendants were directly involved in the skirmishes in Sabah or that any of them had killed members of the Malaysian security forces. The state-run Bernama news agency quoted the judge as lamenting the fact that the two suspected masterminds of the incursion, Datu Agbimuddin Kiram and General Musa, were never arrested over the case. The nine Filipinos were also sentenced separately to between 13 and 18 years on terrorism-related charges, and will serve their two sentences concurrently, local reports said. On Monday, the court acquitted a Filipino national, Basil Samiul, 35, of charges of supporting and soliciting a terrorist group. Another Filipino defendant, Hadil Suhaili, 68, died of illness on April 23 while in Malaysian custody, reports said. Updated at 4:50 p.m. ET on 2016-07-27 Authorities in Thailands Deep South have charged three human rights activists with criminal defamation over a report that alleged systematic torture of suspected insurgents in Thai military and police custody. The three activists, who are associated with NGOs that co-published the groundbreaking report six months ago, said they were freed Tuesday after they turned themselves in to police in Pattani province. They went there to answer to charges of defaming the security services and violating Thailands Computer Crimes Act in connection with the publication of the joint study, their lawyer said. The suspects came to acknowledge the charges and denied all charges. They asked for permission to write a testimony to explain the circumstances around the report. The police approved and released them without bail, said lawyer Anukul Awaeputeh, who represents activists Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, Anchana Heemmina and Somchai Hom-la-or. In May, officials with the regional branch of Thailands Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC 4) which covers the insurgency-wracked Deep South filed a complaint with Pattani police. It named Pornpen, director of the Cross-Cultural Foundation (CrCF); Somchai Hom-la-or, an adviser to CrCF; and Anchana, who is with the Duay Jai (With Heart) Group, as targets of a criminal defamation suit ordered by Army Commander-in-Chief Gen. Teerachai Nakwanich. The 49-page study, co-published by CrCF, Duay Jai and a third local NGO the Pattani Human Rights Organization (HAP) detailed allegations of torture of suspected insurgents in custody between 2004 and 2015. The report cited accounts given by 54 people ranging in age from 19 to 48 years old, who alleged that they had been subjected to physical torture, psychological torture, or other inhumane treatment while incarcerated in the Deep South. More than 6,500 people have been killed in violence associated with a long-running separatist insurgency in Thailands predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking southern border region. Officials have questioned the accuracy of the allegations contained in the report and whether it was one-sided. After an initial investigation gathered evidence against the three, they were charged with defamation and disseminating false information over the internet, according to Pol. Lt. Col. Winyu Tiemraj, deputy superintendent of Pattani police. The police summoned them to answer to the charges on June 8, but the three defendants only turned themselves in on Tuesday, he said. I think ISOC 4 should not have used this method [a legal suit] against us because we did not produce the report on a personal basis but in the capacity of human rights organizations in order to expose cases of torture in the Deep South so that the government, the public and organizations can learn about the problems and solve them together, Somchai Hom-la-or told reporters outside the police station in Pattani. A security official who was involved in bringing the complaint against the three also came to meet them. If the three defendants can clarify the allegations of torture that were published in the study or discuss them with senior officials, the military might drop the charges, the official told BenarNews on condition of anonymity. [The case] must go according to the law and the prosecution must go at it full throttle. Nevertheless, if they have information to support the claims or just talk to senior officials about it, [we] can withdraw the suit, the official said. An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the activists were freed on bail. ein Google-Unternehmen Google-Dienste anzubieten und zu betreiben Ausfalle zu prufen und Manahmen gegen Spam, Betrug und Missbrauch zu ergreifen Daten zu Zielgruppeninteraktionen und Websitestatistiken zu erheben. Mit den gewonnenen Informationen mochten wir verstehen, wie unsere Dienste verwendet werden, und die Qualitat dieser Dienste verbessern. neue Dienste zu entwickeln und zu verbessern Werbung auszuliefern und ihre Wirkung zu messen personalisierte Inhalte anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen personalisierte Werbung anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen Wenn Sie Alle ablehnen auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies nicht fur diese zusatzlichen Zwecke. Nicht personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung werden u. a. von Inhalten, die Sie sich gerade ansehen, und Ihrem Standort beeinflusst (welche Werbung Sie sehen, basiert auf Ihrem ungefahren Standort). Personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung konnen auch Videoempfehlungen, eine individuelle YouTube-Startseite und individuelle Werbung enthalten, die auf fruheren Aktivitaten wie auf YouTube angesehenen Videos und Suchanfragen auf YouTube beruhen. Sofern relevant, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auerdem, um Inhalte und Werbung altersgerecht zu gestalten. Wir verwenden Cookies und Daten, umWenn Sie Alle akzeptieren auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auch, umWahlen Sie Weitere Optionen aus, um sich zusatzliche Informationen anzusehen, einschlielich Details zum Verwalten Ihrer Datenschutzeinstellungen. Sie konnen auch jederzeit g.co/privacytools besuchen. Two men took a priest, two nuns and two churchgoers hostage on Tuesday during a mass in the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, a town near Rouen, Normandy. The hostage-takers killed the priest, slitting his throat. Victim was identified as Father Jacques Hamel, 84. One of the churchgoers was also hurt. Both hostage-takers were killed by law enforcement in front of the church. For Immediate Release, July 26, 2016 Contact: Tierra Curry, (928) 522-3681, tcurry@biologicaldiversity.org New Federal Policy on Endangered Species Decision Process Will Push Less-studied Species to Extinction WASHINGTON In a move that will condemn uncharismatic, little-studied species to greater risk of extinction, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today finalized a new methodology for prioritizing decisions on whether species petitioned by citizens and conservation groups warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act. The Service claims the policy, which places species into one of five categories or bins, is intended to provide clarity and transparency as the agency evaluates nearly 500 plants and animals backlogged for protection decisions. But in practice the policy will leave species vulnerable to extinction when limited information is available about them, or when conservation efforts or new science is underway but not completed. This policy will create a purgatory where decisions are postponed but threats arent addressed, said Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center. Conservation agreements can take years to decades to develop, and the need for more study is a well-worn excuse that can always be used to delay protection decisions. Pending status reviews will now be placed into one of five categories, based on available data, threats, conservation efforts planned or underway, and any new or developing science: 1) High Priority Critically Imperiled Species; 2) Strong Data Available; 3) New Science Underway; 4) Conservation Efforts Underway; and 5) Limited Data Currently Available. Giving lowest priority to species where limited information is available will bias decisions toward certain groups. For example, 99 percent of mammals have been evaluated for extinction risk, but less than 1 percent of insects and less than 4 percent of plants have been evaluated. Unpopular species, like mollusks and crayfish, will unfairly wait longer for protection because not as much is known about them, even though they are highly threatened. This is a sad day in the battle to protect all the species that make up the web of life we all depend on, said Curry. Under this industry-friendly policy, species will simply be sacrificed to extinction while the Service plans conservation efforts or waits for better research. Of further concern, the prioritization categories have considerable overlap, which will foster confusion and controversy. For example, a high-priority critically imperiled species could experience prolonged delay in listing if it is being studied or conservation plans are in development. Were in the midst of an extinction crisis, and what we really need as a nation is to prioritize funding so that the Fish and Wildlife Service has the staff to be able to actually protect all the species that are at risk of extinction before we lose even more of our natural heritage, said Curry. 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, July 26, 2016 Contacts: Katie Davis, Center for Biological Diversity, (801) 560-2414, kdavis@biologicaldiversity.org Greg Dyson, WildEarth Guardians, (503) 730-9242, gdyson@wildearthguardians.org Sandy Bahr, Sierra Club Grand Canyon (Arizona) Chapter, (602) 999-5790, sandy.bahr@sierraclub.org Andy Laurenzi, Archaeology Southwest, (520) 882-6946, andy@archaeologysouthwest.org Challenge Filed to Plan for Excessive Motorized Travel on Tonto National Forest Proposal Likely to Result in Death of Endangered Species, Damage to Habitat, Rivers, Streams PHOENIX Five conservation groups have filed a joint challenge to the Tonto National Forest Travel Management Plan. In their administrative objection, the groups charged that the Tontos management has allowed far too much motor vehicle use across the forest, leading to reduced air quality and damage to wild and scenic rivers, Mexican and narrow-headed garter snakes, southwestern willow flycatchers, yellow-billed cuckoos and historical resources, all in violation of federal law. The Tonto National Forest Travel Management Plan decision authorizes public motorized use on more than 3,600 miles of roads and trails and includes more than 2,000 acres of off-road vehicle recreation areas. In addition, the decision grants big-game hunters special privileges, allowing motor vehicle big-game retrieval across 1.9 million acres, or approximately two-thirds of the forest. We cant stand idly by while the Forest Service allows the continued loss of native wildlife and damage to our public lands, said Katie Davis, a public lands campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. Through this objection we intend to secure greater protections for wildlife without sacrificing the opportunity for everyone to enjoy the Tonto National Forest. One of the primary reasons the Tonto National Forest was created in 1905 was to protect the watersheds of the Salt and Verde rivers. Off-highway vehicles (OHVs) and user-created roads have devastating long-term impacts on streams and rivers even a single vehicle driving through these areas can destroy riverbanks and result in the death of tortoises, snakes and other animals. The objection challenges the Forest Services decision to allow motorized use that will result in the death of wildlife and undermine the purpose of the Endangered Species Act, designed to allow for the recovery of species on the brink of extinction. Motorized cross-country travel causes severe damage to watersheds and wildlife habitat, said Greg Dyson of WildEarth Guardians. The Tonto was required to close motorized cross-country travel, which they did, but they then used the big game retrieval exception an exception that must be used sparingly to allow OHVs to damage and abuse two-thirds of the forest. Many of the roads in the plan would also provide motorized access to fragile ancient and historical sites. The current proposal would leave 3,600 miles of roads open before many archaeological sites have been properly identified and fails to provide adequate protections for irreplaceable cultural artifacts. The objection challenges the Forest Services decision to defer proper study and protection for these sites. A study by Archaeology Southwest showed a greater risk of vandalism for rock art and habitation sites in close proximity to roads open to motorized travel. The Tonto's decision appears to indicate that natural and cultural resource management on the Forest is secondary to motorized recreation, said Andy Laurenzi, Southwest field representative for Archaeology Southwest. The objection also alleges violations of the Clean Air Act. Motorized use on the Tonto National Forest directly impacts the air quality of the Phoenix metro area, which suffers from high levels of dust and ozone pollution. The objection highlights concerns for declines in both public health and the welfare of wildlife under the proposed plan. The Tonto National Forest provides clean air, clean water and opportunities for quiet recreation, as well as significant wildlife habitat, said Sandy Bahr, chapter director for Sierra Clubs Grand Canyon (Arizona) Chapter. Irresponsible off-road vehicle activity and the excess of user-created roads associated with it have devastating long-term impacts on streams and rivers. The Forest Service travel plan fails to limit damage to the land, its waters and its wildlife. The groups objection is here. 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. A new campaign from FCB Joburg, Team Best and Hungry Films for Famous Brands' casual dining destination chain, Wimpy, is promising South Africa's meat lovers a 'thrill' the next time they opt for a grill in one of its restaurants. Targeting consumers within the LSM 6-7 groupings, the two television commercials launching the campaign Pasta and Wraps were conceived by the agencys Executive Creative Director Jonathan Deeb, Creative Director Suhana Gordhan, Copywriter Thabang Manyelo and Art Director Tshepo Mosoeu. They introduce viewers to Papa, a man who wont accept that a meal without meat just isnt a proper meal. To increase brand relevance and grow market share, Wimpy wanted to enhance its positioning as a casual dining destination offering big eat and value grill meals, said Marketing Manager, Luise Peters. To do so, it created the Thrill of the Grill promotion for just R59.90 demonstrating that, when it comes to satisfying their meaty craving, consumers can do so at Wimpy, without breaking the bank. The agency then created Papa, a man who is firmly against meals that do not feature meat to demonstrate the Wimpy offering. Whenever Papa hears words from the kitchen that imply that his wife is planning a meatless feast, he interrupts her, distracts the family and whisks them off to Wimpy. Papa is a slightly cheesy character, making silly puns and attempting to be hip as he distracts his teenage boys and their mother from the planned salad wrap and pasta meals, added Gordhan. However, while his behaviour in the kitchen fails to impress them, the entire family is impressed with the Thrill of the Grill, such is the power of Wimpy. The ads are flighting on SABC 1, 2 and 3 as well as M-Net, eTV and DSTV. They were shot over two days in Melville. Credits: Client: Famous Brands Brand: Wimpy Marketing manager: Luise Peters Creative agency: FCB Joburg Key account management: Mike Di Terlizzi, Musa Phanga and Muzi Mabhena Executive creative director: Jonathan Deeb Creative director: Suhana Gordhan Copywriter: Thabang Manyelo Art director: Tshepo Mosoeu Strategic planner: Thobeka Sibiya TV production: Vanessa Borthwick Media planners: Tahnee Cokayne Production companies: Team Best and Hungry Films Director: Bryan van Niekerk and Asher Sholtz (Team Best), Ian Difford (Hungry Films) Post-production: Mushroom Some South African universities are demanding medical cover from SADC students before registering them, even when they already belong to a medical scheme in their own countries. Some students have been refused registration if they do not have the cash to pay a years policies in advance, says Callie Schafer on behalf of Namibias healthcare funders. This is in spite of the fact that the medical schemes in the SADC countries provide guaranteed cover for South Africa and this is accepted by some of the South African embassies that issue the student visas. One Batswana student who was studying by correspondence had to pay for medical cover before a university would accept a document that had to be hand delivered. He was in South Africa for one day! says Duncan Thela, MD of Associated Fund Administrators in Botswana. Duncan Thela Most of the medical schemes in the SADC countries have arrangements with all the major South African healthcare provider networks. There is mutual recognition and facilitation of cross border payments and a system of pre-authorisation is in place. The requirement for students to have a South African medical aid is at odds with the SADC Protocol on Education which South Africa has signed and ratified, Thela says. This requirement has serious implications, Schafer explains. It is illegal for a Namibian to belong to two medical schemes, so they must resign and rejoin, with a waiting period, when they return. There are cost implications to changing from a dependent to a main member of a scheme. Very often, the parents have to choose between continuing to have medical aid in Namibia and paying for their child in South Africa. He also says that some universities favour certain medical schemes. Two or three schemes have booths at registration. Some universities for example recommend two schemes who have weekly consulting hours on campus. There have been moves to solve the issue since 2011, when a letter was written on behalf of the SADC schemes to the acting director general in the Department of Higher Education and Training. The Council for Medical Schemes was approached by Namibian schemes in 2015, but there has been no feedback to a request to convene a meeting between CMS, BHF and the SADC medical schemes. The question is whether there is any basis in law in terms from which this requirement may be departed, or whether it ought to be dispensed with as a matter of law, says Andrew Molver, a partner in the legal firm Adams & Adams, which looked into the matter. His conclusion is: There are no prescribed statutory exemptions to the requirement that foreign students must be covered by locally registered medical schemes. There is no legislative basis on which to recognise foreign medical schemes as constituting medical schemes registered in terms of the MSA for purposes of their members applying for study permits. There are no treaties and/or protocols which, through municipalisation into South African domestic law, permit a deviation from the prevailing statutory provisions that require foreign students to be registered with medical schemes registered in terms of the MSA. Molver mentions that although it might theoretically be possible to challenge the constitutionality of the relevant provisions of the immigration regulations to the extent that they unreasonably and unjustifiably limit the right to access education in terms of section 29(1)(b) of the Constitution, this would be an extremely difficult case to make out. The current situation is unfair and discriminating, Thela says. Schafer agrees, saying: The fact that this is inconsistently applied raises many questions. There are good reasons why we need to at least get a meeting to put our case and to consider our options going forward. Prof Umezuruike Linus Opara, Stellenbosch University professor and research chair, has been elected as the incoming president of the International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (Commission Internationale du Genie Rural or CIGR) - a worldwide umbrella agriculture engineering organisation. CIGR - Prof Opara and Prof Juliszewski The organisation consists of a network of regional and national societies of agricultural engineering as well as private and public companies and individuals globally. Prof Opara was elected to the position during the recent International Conference on Agricultural Engineering held in Denmark and organised by the European Society of Agricultural Engineers under the auspices of the CIGR. The election means that he will first serve on the Presidium of the CIGR for two years as incoming president, before taking up the position as president around 2019. He will then serve the CIGR for another two years as past president. Prof Opara is the first engineer from sub-Saharan Africa to be elected into this position and his term coincides with the 90th anniversary of the CIGR. He will juggle his new responsibilities in tandem with those placed on him as the holder of the DST-NRF South African Research Chair in Postharvest Technology at Stellenbosch University and as a distinguished professor in the Department of Horticultural Science. Prof Opara, who has been an SU staff member since 2009, is a recipient of the 2016 African Union Kwame Nkrumah Continental Scientific Award for senior researchers. He qualified as an agricultural engineer from universities in Nigeria and New Zealand, and serves on numerous international committees and editorial boards. He is a fellow of the South African Institution of Agricultural Engineers. Prof Opara is also the founding president of the Pan African Society for Agricultural Engineering (AfroAgEng), which was established during a CIGR International Technical Symposium held at Stellenbosch University in 2012. His multi-disciplinary research team is the leading group worldwide working on postharvest practices that improve the postharvest handling, packaging and marketing of pomegranate fruit. His research group also tests and develops packaging and quality control methods relevant to the handling and storage of fresh fruits and vegetables such as table grapes, citrus and apples. These efforts are focused on alleviating unnecessary food loss and waste, maintaining quality and adding value in the fruit and vegetable sector. Although Stellenbosch University does not have a degree in agricultural engineering per se, Prof Opara says he is looking forward to using the new opportunity presented to him. He hopes it will help to deepen and strengthen the contributions of engineering and related programmes at SU in the agriculture, food and related sectors. The work of individual SU staff and postgraduate students in these areas are widely recognised by our peers, locally and internationally, he says. Through collaboration and co-supervision we have several PhD and MEng students registered in the faculties of Engineering and AgriSciences working on different research topics in agricultural and biosystems engineering. SAN FRANCISCO - Amazon announced Monday plans to test delivery drone technology in Britain, as the US online commerce giant tries to advance the idea safely. Amazon delivery via Prime Air drone.Source: Amazon.com The partnership aims to understand how drones can be used safely and reliably, and identify the regulations to put in place, it said in a statement. Amazon got British approval for three new types of tests: flying drones that are no longer within sight of their operators in rural and suburban areas; having one person operate several highly automated drones; and testing devices to make the drones able to identify and avoid obstacles. "Britain is a leader in enabling drone innovation; we've been investing in Prime Air research and development here for quite some time," said Paul Misener, Amazon's Vice President of Global Innovation Policy and Communications. "This announcement strengthens our partnership with the UK and brings Amazon closer to our goal of using drones to safely deliver parcels in 30 minutes to customers in the UK and elsewhere around the world." Last month, the US Federal Aviation Administration unveiled long-awaited new rules that clear the way for small, commercial drones to operate across US airspace. Under the FAA's rules, drone operators will be allowed to fly commercial craft weighing less than 55 pounds (25 kilograms) during daylight hours, provided they can maintain a clear view of the drone at all times. While that effectively precludes the sort of robo-delivery services being developed by Amazon and other major vendors, the new rules will nonetheless ensure drones become increasingly commonplace in the skies. The White House cites industry estimates suggesting drones could generate more than $82bn for the US economy over the coming decade, creating some 100,000 jobs. Anheuser-Busch InBev raised its offer for SABMiller to 45 from 44 and sweetened its share alternative on Tuesday. The commission says the guidelines seek to clarify its approach to analysing mergers. Picture: Reuters AB InBev said this revised offer was final. The ratio of AB InBev shares SABMiller shareholders can opt for remained unchanged at 0.483969, but AB InBev raised the cash it was offering with its share alternative to 4.6588 from 3.7788. The AB InBev shares that SABMiller shareholders can opt to receive instead of 45 cash remained "restricted", which means they have to be held for at least five years. AB InBev said in Tuesdays statement it had irrevocable undertakings from SABMillers largest shareholders Altria and Bevco to support this final offer. Altria and Bevco have also agreed to accept the share alternative. At SABMillers annual general meeting on 24 July institutional shareholders called on management to push AB InBev for a higher bid following the pounds post-Brexit crash. Using Mondays closing prices of R834 for SABMiller and R1,818 for AB InBev, the cash and share alternative translates to R880 plus about R87.26 at Mondays exchange rate of about R18.74 to the pound. Shareholders willing to hold AB InBev shares for five years get about a 16% premium at prevailing share prices and exchange rates. AB InBev said its offer was about 53% higher than SABMillers closing share price of 29.34 on 14 September 2015 "prior to renewed speculation of an approach" from it. Anglo American has made changes to the top jobs at its coal and iron ore operations following Norman Mbazima's decision to step down after four years at the helm of Kumba to focus on his role as deputy chairman of Anglo American South Africa. Seamus French Themba Mkhwanazi will step into his shoes as CEO of Kumba, while July Ndlovu, executive head of processing operations at Anglo American Platinum since 2007 is appointed CEO of Anglo American's coal business in South Africa. Both roles will report internally to Seamus French, CEO of Anglo American's bulk commodity business. French says: "Both have proven abilities in leading safe and productive complex operations at a time when cost competitiveness is critical to the sustainability of any mining business. Our priority for both businesses is to lead them safely through their divestment from Anglo American. We expect the price environment for both thermal coal and iron ore to remain under pressure and our operational focus is firmly on building upon the excellent work of the teams to date to further improve performance and value." Mbazima will remain a member of the group management committee and will oversee the restructuring and divesting of Anglo American's non-core assets in South Africa, including its interests in the Kumba and thermal coal businesses. Joburg residents may spot bright posters on busy roads over the next few days, calling them to join the election spirit and "vote for a living planet". WWF South Africa hs spearheaded a street poster campaign which uses local election fever to invite people to livestream its annual Living Planet Conference - "Why SA's Future is Brighter Than You Think". In the midst of all the gloom and doom, environmental organisation WWF is taking a positive spin on the state of the nation and giving us a case for optimism. Now in its fourth year, WWF-SAs Living Planet Conference takes place in Sandton on 28 July 2016. It will consist of keynote speakers and lively panel discussions on todays biggest challenges and issues. In a recent survey conducted by WWF-SA in the lead-up to the conference, it was found that on average 70% of media stories in national and regional papers are negative. The most commonly used words in page one stories are murder, protests, and violence. There was not one instance in the sample where positive impressions outweighed the negative. "With this kind of news crowding our personal and mental bandwidth its hard to have space or curiosity for anything else," says Morne du Plessis, CEO of WWF-SA. However, if we are to successfully tackle the rising inequality and meet the governments National Development Plan Vision 2030, there are some positive signals that we can harness to steer our society onto a better pathway and ensure our long-term environmental resilience. And its these signals that WWF will highlight. Join the online #LPC2016 conversation Running from 9am until lunchtime on Thursday 28 July 2016, WWF-SA extends a wide invitation to join the online #LPC2016 conversation (which is being live streamed at WWF LPC) where interesting opinions, facts and figures about South Africas social, economic and environmental issues will be debated. Framing these aspects positively and from a fresh perspective while honing in on food, energy and water as key elements of our daily lives WWF-SA intends to inspire South Africans to look at the ways in which our country is collectively making great strides towards a sustainable future, and to consider what else can be done. Panelists and speakers With engaging political analyst Eusebius McKaiser as the host, the conference brings together exceptional new leaders in business, politics, science, religion and the arts. Panellists include futurist Clem Sunter, activist Tasneem Essop and WWF experts Saliem Fakier on energy and Dean Muruven on water. Keynote speakers consist of passionate water expert Jackie King, Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba and 25-year old eco-entrepreneur Ludwick Marishane. A large part of the physical audience will be made up of young South Africans who earned themselves a seat by posting a "selfie" on WWFs social media channels and sharing why they think they are the future in response to the hashtag #IAmTheFuture! This energetic group is the future of our country, and hence why WWF wishes for them to be involved in the #LPC2016 conversation where they can hear the facts first-hand about why our future is brighter than we think. The entire event will be shared in real time online for those with a good internet connection who wish to join individually from a laptop or to coordinate a live stream gathering in their organisation. The next #cocreateSA initiative from the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, #CoCreate2Accelerate, will bring together five South African companies and five Dutch innovators to tackle five different challenges. Bonnie Horbach The program will take place from 10-21 August 2016 at the Open Design Festival.The Dutch Consulate General has also invited disruptive thinker Martijn Aslander who will be a keynote speaker at SA Innovation Summit on 16 August 2016. Dutch Consul-General, Bonnie Horbach explains, South Africa and the Netherlands are both innovation hubs, and the companies participating in #CoCreate2Accelerate are some of the most innovative in their field. It is important for us to support South African SMEs by creating mutually beneficial long-term partnerships and economic growth. The participants in the program include gaming development companies Sea Monster and RetroEpic; app builder Polymorph; the app and innovation specialist &Innovation and mobile first agricultural technology business GreenFingers Mobile. The team of Dutch innovators includes disruptive thinker and public speaker Jan Henk Bouman, digital nomad Esther Jacobs, global entrepreneur Kevin Weijers, gaming entrepreneur Anke Kuipers and business strategist Jabbo Smulders. The five challenges that will be addressed range from expanding a company using a flat organisation structure, to taking a business overseas. The teams will collaborate extensively to co-create solutions to local business challenges and establish international partnerships. New Dutch investors CM Telecom and T-Mobiles innovation lab, T-Next, have partnered with the #cocreateSA to share knowledge and experience among the participants. Arriving at the Michelangelo Hotel , situated in the heart of Sandton on Nelson Mandela Square, we were immediately struck by the elegance and prestige of this beautiful establishment. From the minute we set foot on Legacy land, we were drawn in by the majesty surrounding us alluding to a very luxurious stay to ensue. Of course, what else can be expected of one of the Leading Hotels of the World. Check-in was a breeze with swift, helpful and genuinely friendly doormen ready to assist with valet parking and carrying our luggage, and reception smiling sweetly as were handed access cards, used to access certain floors of the hotel and unlock the room door. For travellers who arrive early, the hotel offers a business lounge, equipped computer and printing facilities and bathrooms amenities to accommodate the waiting period. A site to behold We journeyed up to our suite in the glass elevator, providing us with a glimpse into a world of splendour and breath-taking architecture. The renaissance architecture of the hotel is something of a masterpiece Every detail, from the creatively positioned koi pond (complete with sculpture) to the romantic courtyard framed by archways spanning the entire seven stories of the hotel, and the spectacular infinity pool in the spa, reinforcing a feeling of romance and grandeur. Our lovely executive suite was located on the third floor. Decadently adorned with luxurious carpeting, furniture that is both beautiful and functional, a Nespresso machine, two lavatories and two air-conditioning units, the suite offers abundant comfort, not to mention a killer view of the city. Outside our suite door we found ourselves immersed in world of sensory wonder, with an unusual (but very nice) outdoor feeling, as the rooms surround the enclosed picturesque courtyard its what I would imagine it would be like to roam the cobblestone (or in this case, neatly tiled) streets of an Italian city. The fact that the hotel is on Mandela Square further enhances this sentiment as you wonder from one courtyard to the next (this time outdoors), and the bustle of the square surrounds the Madiba statue. All you need and more Further to my sensory reference, the spa and gym facilities are the perfect combination for making sure your wellness stays in tip-top shape. The spa offers a range of treatments (definitely make time for the neck, shoulder and back massage), as well as a rooftop lounging area complete with outdoor jacuzzi and shower, and a gloriously heated indoor infinity pool. The gym caters for most gym rats, with cardio equipment, a variety of weights and equipment and yoga balls. Wellness is not the only thing on the agenda at the Michelangelo with the hotel being a hub for international activity, it also offers a conference and event venue to cater for business seminars as well as personal functions. The LIncontro venue, located on the ground level of the hotel, can also be subdivided into two rooms to accommodate a variety of events - everything from formal business conferences to the most beautiful weddings are comfortably executed. Dining at the Piccolo Mondo Dinner and breakfast were at the Piccolo Mondo restaurant. Let me start off with saying that the service is impeccable with every member of staff on duty making the patron their top priority, something I can appreciate. The chef sent a pre-starter to our table to get us started, this consisted of avocado and mascarpone set on a sliver of brinjal very different to anything Ive ever tasted, my taste buds were a bit confused but happily so. For starters we ordered the popular 5 Spiced Duck Breast (Asian rubbed duck breast, glass noodles, broccoli, roasted cashew nuts and sweet sesame dressing) and the Oxtail Creme Caramel (braised oxtail savoury creme caramel, parmesan foam, crispy pulled oxtail salad and galette potatoes). Both were equally delicious, with the duck being the centre of the duck dish, allowing a succulent gamey flavour to dance around your mouth, while the oxtail dish was rich and decadent and perfect for a cold winters evening. Dinner and a show Our main course comprised the Pork Belly (braised pork belly, pulled pork open ravioli, sweet potato and apple dauphinoise and roasted apple jus) and the Butter Poached Crayfish (crayfish poached in sage infused butter, rice pilaff and almond snow peas). As amazing as the crayfish was, the pork belly took first place here Ive always been a fan of the dish, but this one surpassed any pork dish Ive had to date. The different techniques that the pork was prepared added subtle differences and textures to the plate, and the sweet potato and apple dauphinoise (a traditional regional French dish based on potatoes and creme fraiche) was the perfect accompaniment. Our pallet cleanser came in the form of a mixed berry sorbet the perfect combination of sweet and sour a delicately fresh burst of flavour. On to dessert I opted for a slice of baked cheesecake served earlier in the day as part of the restaurants Lindt high tea, while my guest ordered the infamous Michelangelo Berry Creme Brulee (signature creme brulee, berry compote and berry salad). Theres no question that the creme brulee won hands down Im not a creme brulee person, but this one was to die for with a production-like presentation of the beautifully appetizing pudding (complete with dry ice special effects), the custard-based dessert was the first that Ive ever noticed was still warm when it arrived at the table, obviously just-made and oh-so-heavenly fresh. The Piccolo Mondo also offers an exquisite Lindt high tea on Saturdays and Sundays, as well as very popular gourmet evenings once a month. All buttered up and time to checkout Breakfast felt more like being invited to a special event, with a full buffet of warm breakfast foods, cereals, fruits and pastries as well as teas, coffee and fresh juices. We were also advised that if we dont see something that wed like, we could just place our order, sit back and relax while the chef prepares it for us. After breakfast had fuelled us for the day ahead, we were ready (not really) to check out and head back home. From my experience, I can say that this African icon of status and splendour is very deserving of the fame it has gathered over its 20 years in existence, but its definitely more than the glitz and glamour you perceive its a place where imagination and magic came together for me and sent me home richer for having stayed there. About the Legacy Group The Legacy Group is more than a group of hotels; it also offers a loyalty programme in the form of Legacy Lifestyle which offers great benefits through brand affiliates, while the group also pays tribute to those affected by crime in South Africa through the Legacy Groups CSI initiative, Legacy Pride, as well as Blow the Whistle and supports a number of other charity groups. Juniper Research has revealed the top tech companies it says will disrupt the market in 2016, whose offerings have the power to transform how we interact with technology and the world at large. The top three companies heading the 'Top 25 Technology Innovators & Disruptors: 2016' list are: 1. Cybereason Cybercriminal tracking for future prevention Israeli firm Cybereason tops the list, for its use of big data, behavioural analytics and machine learning to automatically hunt down complex cyberattacks in real time. What Cybereason does differently to other security companies is to determine the exact timeline of an attack, including information on what the hacker extracted at any moment. This is crucial because attackers can squat for weeks inside a system before deciding to take action. Cybereasons solution allows accurate tracking of the specific vulnerability that the attack exploited, to prevent attacks happening again. 2. Klarna Frictionless delayed payments Klarna wants to bring the one-click payment experience, currently used with trusted brands such as eBay and Amazon, to all online merchants. Many companies are dedicated to providing a smoother checkout on eCommerce and mCommerce sites, where shoppers routinely abandon a planned purchase. Klarnas offering goes further by not just easing the payment process, but delaying it completely, with customers entering an email address and a postcode to check out. Klarna then pays the merchant and collects the funds from the shopper within 14 days. This method radically improves conversion rates. 3. what3words Addresses for all London-based startup what3words comes in third, for its simple strategy of giving every location an address through short three word combinations. The idea means that millions of people in developing markets could have an address at last. The benefits in terms of citizenship and commerce could be huge. what3words says around 4 billion people may be able, for the first time, to report crime, receive deliveries or exercise many of their statutory rights. Technology is becoming an integral part of many peoples lives across the globe, remarked research co-author James Moar. Many of the most exciting aspects of technology today, and many of the innovative start-ups, are not so much about new technologies, but how the vast connected computational power already available is being applied. Adapting the technology thats already in peoples lives in new ways is the best kind of innovation. The whitepaper, Top 3 disruptive innovators to watch in 2016, is available to download together with details of the new research and interactive data-set. Klipstone Transport (Pty) Ltd, a joint venture with Unitrans and AfriSam, assigned Acorn Foundation as their Corporate Social Investment representatives in a bid to provide Eldorado Park Primary school with a sustainable food solution and education. The project was launched on Mandela Day and will be completed by the end of September. Donations included a kitchen, two vegetable tunnels, bulk rainwater storage tanks, a junior driving school and educational materials. Tell us more about the donations from Klipstone Transport. Why these donations in particular? Klipstone: Unitrans Klipstone wanted to invest in a project which would have a long lasting meaningful impact in a community where the community leaders would take accountability to ensure that the investment is secure. Their brief was that the project should address hunger, sustainable food solutions and include an activity for children where they could play and learn in a safe environment How will these donations impact on the recipients? Klipstone: The building of the kitchen created an opportunity for local unemployed and unskilled workers to earn an income and learn, by pressing the bricks which will be used to build the kitchen. The kitchen will give the school more space to prepare meals for more people than they serve on a daily basis currently. The vegetable tunnels will provide fresh organic produce within six to eight weeks and is a sustainable solution to address a part of nutrition that children need to learn better. Community members are trained to manage the veggie tunnels watering, harvesting, planting seedlings seasonally and to record details of the produce they harvest to establish the impact it has had on the community. In addition to providing for the kitchen and feeding scheme, excess produce will be shared with people in need in the community. The mini driving school will not only provide a healthy workout for the kiddies through exercise, but they will also learn about road signs and rules of the road in a fun, playful manner. Bulk water storage tanks will be installed to harvest rainwater. All the above will impact the school and community for many generations to come. How and why was Eldorado Park Primary chosen? Klipstone: Eldorado Park Primary School has been on the list of schools Acorn Foundation had hoped to help as soon as we had the funding, as it is a very underdeveloped, but passionate community, who just needed someone to reach out and help the more than 1,000 children and other people who are vulnerable. After the assessment, we connected with the principal and community and we are happy that Unitranss investment is secure and that the community is committed and accountable. What drives Klipstones CSI initiatives? Klipstone: Klipstone wants to be involved in giving back to the communities in the areas in which they work and where their employees live. Their main focus being on education and sustainability. Children cant learn on an empty stomach, and if they get the right nutrition, they will be physically equipped to absorb information and become educated. Beyond the donations made on Mandela day, will Klipstone stay involved in the project? If so, how and to what end? Klipstone: Klipstone, in conjunction with Acorn Foundation, will visit the school on a regular basis to monitor and evaluate the success and impact of this project. Needs change and Klipstone wants to be there to identify any further assistance required so that this can be addressed immediately. This is a long term investment, in time, money and passion. How did Klipstone spend 67 minutes for Mandela day? Klipstone: Klipstone, local councilors, Acorn Foundation, school children and staff and community members pressed bricks which would be used to build the kitchen. Trenches were dug for water and electricity supply to the kitchen. After a beautiful rendition of our National Anthem, scholars entertained everyone present with happy smiling faces and beautiful songs, celebrating the life and legacy of Madiba. Transnet Port Terminals received a number of awards at the NOSA Eastern Region Awards 2016. Recipients included TPT's Ngqura Container Terminal, Port Elizabeth Car Terminal and East London Car Terminal who were all awarded the Top Companies Award, achieving excellence as a leading Safety, Health, and Environmental (SHE) company. Recipient of the NOSA award in the middle, Vuyani Mtati, SHEQ Manager PE, received six awards. Recipient of the NOSA award in the middle Sinegugu Shangase, technical supervisor DCT, who received the SHE Rep award. Furthermore, Ngqura Container Terminal (NCT) won first place in the NOSA Eastern Region Award, Sector I - Transport Storage and Communication, and PEs Container Terminal and their multi-purpose terminal came in at second and third place respectively within the same sector category. Durbans Container Terminal also received top honours with Sinegugu Shangase from the terminal winning the prestigious SHE REP Award for the Eastern Region. TPT has been undertaking NOSA audits since 2002 when the first set of audits commenced with the newly formed operational entity. The NOSA audit, which is recognised as an international benchmark in the management of Occupational Health, Safety and Environmental risks, entails 72 elements and was based on CMB253 and CMB0001, both of which are NOSA Integrated 5 Star systems, as a guideline for general industries. Some of the criteria measured during the NOSA audits include mechanical, electrical and personal safeguarding, management of fire and other emergency risks, SHE incident recording and investigations (DIFR) and Organisational Management, etc. Until now, TPTs car terminals in Port Elizabeth and East London have been the shining beacon and last October were recipients of NOSCAR awards for the fifth and tenth years respectively. Earlier this year, NCT was the very first container terminal in Africa to be the recipient of a NOSCAR scoring of 95%, putting the terminal in prime position to become a NOSCAR accredited terminal in the next three years. TPT subscribes to and complies with industry best practice in the areas of Safety, Health, Environment and Quality (SHEQ) management systems. The SABC will not say whether the four journalists who won their case in the Labour Court on Tuesday, 26 July 2016, will be allowed to return to work. In a resounding defeat for the broadcaster, the Labour Court on Tuesday ordered that four dismissed employees are entitled to return to work. The four were dismissed for objecting to the public broadcaster's ban on the broadcast of violent protests showing the destruction of public property. The ban was widely condemned and found to be invalid by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa), which ordered the SABC to reverse it. The reinstated journalists - Foeta Krige, Suna Venter, Krivani Pillay and Jacques Steenkamp - hope to return to work on Wednesday. "The question will be, will we be allowed to go back because obviously the SABC can appeal and they can keep us outside until the appeal is heard," Steenkamp said. "We'll see tomorrow if we (are) allowed (back)." Pillay said she was looking forward to getting back to work and was confident they would be allowed in. "The courts have spoken and we have work to do. We are in the business of news and we've got a week to go to elections and we have a lot of work, not only to catch up on, but to get going," she said. Labour Court Judge Robert La Grange found the journalists' dismissals to be invalid as they breached their contracts of employment, which entitled them to a formal hearing before being fired. SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago would not comment on the judgment or say whether the journalists would be allowed back into the building on Wednesday. "We (are) still studying the judgment. It's a long judgment. All they read was the order, therefore we need to study it, our lawyers are looking at it. We (are) not going to comment until we know what the way forward will be." Trade union Solidarity, which represented the four journalists, said the SABC had to adhere to the judgment otherwise it would be in contempt of court. "The order is quite clear. If the SABC does not adhere to this specific order " we will then definitely go back to court. Contempt of court is a serious thing," CE Dirk Hermann said. In his finding, La Grange referred at length to the journalists' argument that their dismissals breached their Constitutional right to freedom of expression. He said in argument the journalists' counsel Steven Budlender had acknowledged that freedom of expression did not entitle employees to say whatever they wanted about their employer, which might put their employer in a bad light. But the SABC had "exceptional features". It was the public broadcaster and "the public has an interest in how it is run". Journalists also had ethical and constitutional obligations, "which they must at least aspire to". Codes of conduct that regulate the media required news to be reported truthfully, accurately and fairly, he said. These duties applied particularly to those journalists who worked at the public broadcaster, because of its special mandate. La Grange also said the case was indeed urgent because "it cannot be reassuring" for journalists currently working at the SABC to know that their colleagues remained dismissed even while the SABC had agreed not to enforce the ban. It was also important that the SABC's "will and ability to fulfil its mandate" would not be questioned "at a time when the role of the SABC will be in the spotlight in the course of the imminent local elections". Solidarity said that if the SABC appealed the judgment, it would approach the court again on an urgent basis asking that the order stand pending the outcome of other legal proceedings. Asked if the journalists were worried about being victimised by SABC management when they returned, Hermann said the union would keep an eye on this. "The Labour Relations Act is very clear on victimisation and we will do everything in our power to make sure that we protect them." Some of the journalists were emotional, shedding tears of relief after the order was handed down. Eight journalists were suspended for questioning an editorial decision taken to ban the footage of violent protests where public property was being burned. Following this seven of the eight were fired. The eight journalists are still proceeding with a Constitutional Court application. Steenkamp said the journalists would meet on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the way forward in the Constitutional Court matter. Another three of the journalists - Lukhanyo Calata, Busisiwe Ntuli and Thandeka Gqubule - will challenge their dismissals in the Labour Court on Thursday. Source: BDpro via I-Net Bridge When Akinwumi Adesina, the president of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), visited Maputo, Mozambique in April 2016, he reaffirmed the commitment of the Bank to continue to support the growing Mozambican economy. Leading a team of senior bank staff, Adesina had a joint meeting with the Minister of Economy and Finance and Governor of the Bank Group, Adriano Maleiane; Energy and Mineral Resources Minister, Pedro Couto; Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Jose Pacheco; as well as the Governor of the Bank of Mozambique and AfDB Alternate Governor, Ernesto Gove; and the Chairman of the electricity utility company (EDM), Mateus Magala. Priority areas "We are in a process of revitalizing our economy and we focus on the following priority areas: agriculture, energy, and infrastructure. We need a lot of investments and AfDB has a lot to give," the Minister of Economy and Finance said. The bank will increase the allocation of funds in the energy sector to provide maximum support for Mozambique in this regard. The banks plans include creating an energy sector fund of $12bn over the next five years and further mobilising about $50bn from the private sector to ensure universal access to electricity in Africa by 2025. The Bank also plans to establish transformative partnerships for agriculture with the common goal of feeding Africa. With regard to infrastructure, Adesina has encouraged the development of regional projects and transnational roads. He also pledged the banks assistance in areas such as job creation for young people and the fight against floods and drought. Drought response While cycles of drought and floods are natural phenomena, integral to tropical weather and climate systems, droughts and floods had been occurring with increased severity, frequency, and variability in many parts of the Africa in recent years, Adesina said. On 1 April 2016, the African Development Bank president announced a package of US$549m in support of the 14 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa most affected by extreme drought. Six countries are severely impacted and require immediate assistance from the Bank's emergency resources. These include Ethiopia, Somalia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, and Swaziland. The drought response package consists of $5m in emergency relief and $361m in short-to long-term support from various windows of the banks financial instruments. The bank noted that this package represents new financial resources. Further, the AfDB will implement a mechanism that will ensure faster disbursements of funds in ongoing projects to help strengthen the affected countries resilience to drought, for which an additional $183m would be made available this year, Adesina concluded. Since the beginning of its operations in Mozambique in 1977, the AfDB Group has contributed approximately US$2bn for 95 operations. These funds were allocated essentially to the transport, energy, agriculture sectors in addition to general budget support. The current portfolio of the AfDB in Mozambique consists of 19 projects both in the public and the private sectors totaling more than $600m. Africa will feed the world by 2025 Speaking at the World Bank/IMF meeting in Washington, Adesina said Africa would feed itself and feed the world by becoming a net exporter of food by the year 2025. Adesina who was represented by Kapil Kapoor, AFDB acting vice-president for operations, said two billion people are undernourished while another two billion are obese. We need to look afresh at agriculture in Africa as a series of systems, and to see it not as a way of life, but a business, Kapoor said while speaking on The Future of Food. He said the challenges of food and agriculture were global, and lamented the effect of waste. While two billion people in the world are undernourished, two billion are obese or overweight. The world wastes one-third of the food it produces. How is it that the continent with two-thirds of the worlds arable land and plentiful water resources, struggles to feed its own people to the extent that it imports US$35bn of food a year and creates so little agricultural produce? He announced the continent-wide strategy to Feed Africa,explained at the AfDBs annual meeting in Lusaka, Zambia. The strategy is in part the result of new and holistic thinking among our partners in government. Last October, in Dakar, the bank convened a Feed Africa conference which brought together ministers of agriculture, finance and health in an almost unprecedented move to see agriculture across all its component parts, at the nexus of health, economic growth, and a sustainable planet. The goal is nothing if not ambitious: we believe that by 2025, the continent of Africa can be a net exporter, not an importer, of food. Africa has a huge matrix of players in agriculture, but little coordination. And the role of the private sector is key: every conversation we have with governments is essentially a conversation with and about the role of the private sector. It is the private sector which will bring about change. Telecommunications Minister Siyabonga Cwele is taking the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) to court to challenge its decision to invite applications for spectrum licences from companies wishing to provide mobile broadband wireless access services. 123RF On 15 July, Icasa invited interested companies to apply for spectrum within the 700MHz, 800MHz and 2,600MHz bands. The spectrum will be auctioned, with the minimum bidding price set at R3bn, which Icasa said was in line with international benchmarks. The shortage of spectrum has hampered the roll-out of infrastructure that would facilitate high-speed wireless connections in SA. Cwele on Monday said the decision to turn to the courts came after two meetings held with Icasa in a bid to resolve the matter had not reached the desired outcome. The government was concerned that Icasa's invitation to apply for the auctioning of the spectrum was issued without consultation and prior notification to it as the policy maker. "The position of the government is that it is the custodian of spectrum, which is a national and public resource and whose utilisation must benefit all the people of SA," said Cwele. "There is presently no policy direction on spectrum that has been issued. The policy process is ongoing, but as yet is still incomplete." Icasa was also not prepared to subject itself to the intergovernmental co-operation governance procedures, Cwele claimed. The minister said by publishing the notice, Icasa had failed to adhere to the prescripts of the relevant policies, legislation and regulations. The government had asked the authority in September 2015 to halt the process after it published the information memorandum for international mobile telecommunications, but this was ignored, Cwele said. MTN and Vodacom had welcomed the decision to issue spectrum licences because it would accelerate the roll-out of 4G wireless network, while Cell C raised concerns about the decision to set the minimum bidding price of spectrum licences at R3bn, saying that the four spectrum lots were not equally valuable. When it issued the invitation earlier in July, Icasa said mobile telecommunication technologies were a critical component in achieving the goal of broadband for all citizens in the country and the aim of licensing 700MHz, 800MHz and 2,600MHz was to ensure nationwide broadband access for all citizens by 2020 in line with the National Development Plan (NDP) and SA Connect policy. At the time, Icasa spokesman Paseka Maleka said that the licensing would go a long way in promoting investment in the sector to facilitate economic growth and the implementation of measures to promote affordability of services, among other things. Source: Business Day A new report from the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, Building Brands That Attract and Engage Fans, taps into expert opinion from PepsiCo, Visa, J&J, PetSmart, Cox Communications, Opus Bank and Overwaitea Food Group to learn more about how culturally connected brands stay valued, real and relevant with consumers. With 195 countries and 6,500 languages around the world, the challenge is daunting, as brands seek new methods and motivators to connect and engage with audiences through social, mobile, experiential, digital advertising and e-commerce channels. Iakov Filimonov via 123RF Reincarnation: The Death and Rebirth of Marketing The CMO Council teamed with Fresh Squeezed Ideas to explore the cultural connection to brand attraction. The report underscores the theme of a new book, Reincarnation: The Death and Rebirth of Marketing, authored by Fresh Squeezed Ideas president, John McGarr. In his new book, he notes that todays most successful brands must build strong bonds with current and future consumers by: Developing a deep understanding of those they want to have a relationship with their aspirations, values and higher-order needs all within the cultural context that shapes their value perception Having a clear brand purpose, the unique role the brand plays in helping to improve the lives of those the brand cares about most Creating a brand engagement model that is based on attraction, in which the customer is drawn to the brand by choice According to McGarr, the critical need is to understand, make sense of and track how culture defines and alters the context in which the brand exists over time. Culture is always ebbing and flowing and therefore, the value attributed to certain goods and services will change as well. Marketers must accurately situate their brands within a cultural, consumer and competitive context. Using a brand ecology model, there are endless possibilities to create new communications, new strategies and new marketing interventions by tapping into the power of a culturally informed brand strategy in a structured way. The CMO Council report notes that brand attraction is harder to achieve than brand recognition. Brand attraction is unconscious people are inexplicably attracted to brands that reflect their values. Based on this definition of brand attraction, the CMO Council interviewed a select group of members to find out how they view their brand ethos, relevancy and following, as well as to what degree this is creating differentiation and distinction in the market. PepsiCo: putting more pep into enduring brands Around the globe, we see that consumers are becoming omni-cultural, and geographical boundaries dont necessarily divide them. They are not defined by where they were born or where they live. Rather, their passions unite them with like-minded people around the world, notes Ram Krishnan, chief customer officer for PepsiCo. Consumers have become very engaged and are no longer passive. They want to have a two-way conversation with brands, and they often even dictate what that conversation should be. Whether it is on social media or within the consumer relationship, the challenge for us is to aggregate that entire customer data into one place, so that we can get a better picture of what consumers expect. Visa: bringing everyone together everywhere Because of the nature of our brand, some of the cultural icons that we have used are Olympic athletes that convey a global sense of everybody coming together and focusing on the same thing for a period of time, says Diane Salmon, senior director of loyalty and offers at Visa. People tend to feel positively about this kind of human effort and that is one of the reasons we value that positioning as much as we do. Johnson & Johnson: finding micro-moments in the lives of millennials When it comes to anticipating customers needs, J&J is able to do some predictive marketing and create micro-moments for the brands. For example, it knows that interaction with babies is very important and have underscored that with health research in its communications to ensure moms understand that it is important. Touch, smell, hearing, seeing and tasting are all very important, so we translate that into our messaging for the brand, so that we remain relevant to moms and give them information that is helpful for their babies development, notes Alfie Ang, head of digital analytics in Asia. Overall, were seeing that consumers want much more personalised information, so we need to be able to balance that level of personalization while also making sure that we arent overloading them with content. For those looking to assess their level of cultural connectivity, the CMO Council executive brief available today provides a self-assessment tool to see where they might lead or lag in this important strategic area of focus. The strategic brief can be accessed here. As I walked through the glass doors, wet behind the ears, ready to learn everything there was about brand building and execution, I was ready to take on the world. How do these guys do it? That was the question I wanted answered. Yes, I was at the university of brand building and my career had just started. As the years went by and I job hopped, like most young marketers tend to do, in search of job satisfaction and a better pay day, it soon became evident that we were all missing it at the least and killing it at the most. Sitting at 16-seater boardroom tables, I have heard it all; emerging black middle-class, black diamonds, the black consumer, BOP consumer. The terms are endless, and there is always that scene when the lead agency rolls in a Lebo or Thabo or some black ECD who has coined a phrase that will finally get the black consumer to buy more washing powder, open a bank account or buy more airtime. There is high-fiving in the room, and visions of an overseas holiday with that bonus from the clients side, as the black consumer that has been evading the brand has finally been conquered. Surely, I will get promoted to marketing manager or director with this campaign or product launch, one believes. Then BOOM!!! The product fails, then the walk of shame from the boardroom, after the board finally pulls it. After millions poured into R&D, internal launches, ATL & BTL comms and PR, some products and campaigns just dont make it. But why, how could this happen to us!? I thought we understood the black consumer. Feeling betrayed, the end result is the business goes out to pitch and the cycle starts again. Ion Chiosea via 123RF Why do some brands like Capitec, the Economic Freedom Fighters (this is not an endorsement of their policies nor support) and MAQ come out tops with a fraction of the budget that, the big four banks, two big political parties or a company with a stable of brands, have? Why did Sunsilk not crack the ethnic hair market or after more than two attempts Vodacom finally had to pull M-Pesa, which has been such a huge success in Kenya for Safaricom? Did the opportunities seize to exist? I think each case of brand or product failure in South Africa has its unique set of circumstances, from poor economic conditions to the ECDs ego. But on a closer look, there are a few common denominators which I have identified having worked on both sides of the brand story, as a client and MD of an agency. I will explain the shortfalls by looking at what Capitec, the EFF and MAQ have done right, this in the spirit of being positive and encouraging marketers/admen in South Africa to stick to the basics. We still are the hub of creativity on the continent and I believe we have a lot to contribute not only to the continent but the world. These three brands did not look at the black consumer (whatever that is) as one group that just needs one magic formula and our brand growth problem will be solved. These brands identified the opportunity, developed the innovation and stuck to the messaging. With Capitec, the opportunity was not about the unbanked, it was about glass between the customer and the teller. It was about the well-dressed men and women being walked into the corner offices with a smile. It was about the customer who was made to feel not welcomed by structure and process. Capitec simplified banking for the majority of South Africans, of which most happen to be black and lower LSM. Capitec did not go in with an atom bomb approach to the opportunity, they took the customer on a journey. This approach has paid off, with assets of R63bn, not bad for 15 year old. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication! I open this paragraph with this statement; this is not an endorsement of the EFF as a political party, but a marketers observation of the EFF brand. When the founders of the EFF were given their marching orders out of a building in Joburg, they still had with them huge insight; 52% of South African youth are unemployed. Unless jobs were going to fall out of the sky in the next two years, this problem was going to stay with us for a long time. These youth feel sidelined and let down by the government of the day. Yes, the debates are a lot about how to resolve this serious problem that faces us as a nation. However these founders, whether you agree with them or not and remember this is about branding, founded the Economic Freedom Fighters (innovation). The perfect vehicle to represent these disenfranchised youth. In a short period, they made it to parliament and we are yet to see how they will perform in this years local government elections. They seem to be the only brand a majority of our youth, who happen to be black and lower LSM, can relate to. If you thought the powder war was started by the entry of Ariel into South Africa, you are wrong. About 10 years ago, with the fraction of the budget, out of one factory in Johannesburg, MAQ decided to take on Unilever. Like most brands that challenged Unilever with its basket offering of Omo, Sunlight, Surf and Skip, everyone in the industry wrote them off. We give them a year, two at the most and they would have packed their bags and headed into the sunset. 10 years later even after P&Gs launch of Ariel, MAQ is still in the fight with product extensions including auto. MAQ stuck to its brand message; stain removing without breaking the bank. They further challenged us, Go AheadTry It, and we did! Who can forget Mac-Mac-Mac-Mac. They understood their target market, lower LSM consumer across all races, hence they launched in Shoprite and independent wholesalers first. To close, as I sit on other 16-seater boardroom tables in 2016, I #smh as marketers and admen are trying to crack the African consumer or stokvels. We need to learn from these three brands who did not have a homogeneous approach but stuck to a tested formula OPPORTUNITY+INNOVATION+MESSAGING. A 25-member team of PR students from the University of Johannesburg has won the Golden World Award from the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) in July 2016, following its win in April 2016 of the PRISA Gold and Silver Award in the South African Public Relations Campaign of the Year category. The students were required to produce an innovative public relations campaign for South Africa's first dance film, Hear Me Move. The public relations campaign involved a 360-degree approach to create awareness. This included publicity, dance flash mobs, social media engagement and giveaways, a digital influencer campaign, cinema activations, streetlamp billboards and brand affiliated dance themed get-togethers. 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. The spokesperson of the Czech president calls Germany "The Reich" 26. 7. 2016 cas cteni 1 minuta Jiri Ovcacek, the press spokesperson of the Czech President Milos Zeman, has been making some remarkable comments on his Facebook profile. After the Munich shootings which took place last Friday, Ovcacek wrote on Facebook: "The press in the Reich is now calling on the citizens to be calm." Ovcacek also sharply criticised Czech public service Television: "Czech TV broadcasts horrifying nonsense which downplays the terror occurring in Germany," he wrote. Ovcacek also said on Facebook that those citizens who welcome refugees, are criminals. He reiterated President Zeman's convictions that refugees are terrorists. "Those who exclaim 'Refugees Welcome' ie. those who allow 'voluntary' acceptance of muslim immigrants, refugees, commit crimes by which they threaten the lives of the citizens of the Czech Republic. Such people are a direct threat to the Czech national security," said Ovcacek, adding, "Mr. President has unambiguously spoken against the acceptance of muslim refugees. It is high time for every top politician to assume a clear stance. Let us demand clear answers: Do they support the acceptance of muslim refugees or not?" Source in Czech HERE 0 The victim was identified as--- Maulana Jubair (50), son of Maulana Saley, principal of the Udaung Madrasa, hailed from Udaung village under the Myient Hlut village tract of Maungdaw Township, he more added. The said mosque is in the compound of Udaungn Madrasa. On that day, in the morning, when the Maulana Jubair saw the mosque was slightly inclined for heavy rain and recent flood, he called two villagers to set up three pillars in the mosque to upright the wall, according to villagers. On receiving information, the village Admin officer and his collaborator Korim Ullah (40), immediately called the principal Maulana Jubair to the village Admin office and asked him who gave him permission to renovate the mosque, said a businessman Jalal Sha from the village. The religious leader told the Admin officer that he didnt repair the mosque; he only set up three pillars for standing the wall made of bamboo, a trader said from the locality, on condition of anonymity. However, the Rakhine Admin officer fined the Maulana Jubair Kyat 500,000. But, the principal (Maulana) was called to Maungdaw Township administration office (Mayaka) through village admin officer on July 14, Rumi another villager said. The Maungdaw Township administration officer U Hla Myint said, We respect you as a Muslim religious leader, please dont repair mosque in next time. If you want to repair mosque, you have to take permission from Maungdaw Township administration office or Maungdaw District administration office, he further said. Rohingya villagers have been barred from renovation of houses, mosque, religious school and even a hut of cow since long. If a Rohingya villager wants to construct a house or even to renovate a hut, he must take permission from concerned authority by giving huge money. Speaking at the event on July 21 at the institute German Ambassador Christian-Ludwig Weber-Lortsch said the foreign partners of Myanmar Journalism Institute, including the German Embassy, are proud of their commitment and success. You have chosen a noble guild. After all, it makes a difference whether one sells news or nuts, he said. The media industry requires a special dedication. As Albert Einstein put it: The search for truth is more precious than its possession. Very true, indeed! he told the attendees at the ceremony. He said they had passed the first test. Now you have to implement and live the lessons learnt. For the benefit of your great Nation and the people of Myanmar. As he said in his speech, noting he started his Asian career as Spokesman of the German Embassy in Beijing in the mid-eighties: Today, professional media compete with twitter, Facebook and amateur bloggers. Speed can distort the truth. Quality journalism requires time and research, whether online, print or TV. Facebook and friends only provide a platform, a market place for both, trash and treasures. Quality makes the difference and will help you to make a decent living in the future. Like every craft, the essential skills and ethics of journalism have to be and can be learned. Myanmars Media today range among the freest in the region.You are the first generation to enjoy this freedom. Use it or loose it! You are privileged: Our guest of honor, U Aung Shin, spend 14 years in prison before he could reach todays position. Government and Media are neither natural friends nor eternal enemies. They are professionals that need each other: Politicians have to explain and sell their views, Journalists want to peep behind the screen into the kitchen of power to pick up and sell the unfiltered story. In the end, all sides will profit from a free flow of information. Censorshipped countries lose opportunities. Dont take me wrong: Press-freedom does not include a license to snipe and kill. Professional reporters investigate independently, but they should write respect- and tactfully, avoiding insulting or poisoning attacks on people and institutions. After spending half of my professional life in Asia, I know about the cultural differences and sensitivities. However, I believe in a few universal rules: Be short, simple and straight! To quote George Orwell: The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. Dont squirt ink like cuttlefish, he said. An announcement by the Peace Commission extending its assistance to attendees of the upcoming ethnic summit. The government led commission that formed last July is tasked with facilitating peace talks. Ethnic armed groups will meet in Maijayang--the second largest city controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization--from 26 to 30 July, mainly to discuss the Union Peace Conference scheduled for late August. Dr Nai Shwe Thein, joint secretary of the Ethnic Armed Summiting Organising Committee, said the commission is obligated to help. They (the government) want peace so they have to provide [their assistance]. We have also been providing assistance. All of the countrys 21 armed groups have been invited to attend the ethnic summit; including 8 groups that signed last years so called nationwide ceasefire agreement. At the time of press, it wasnt exactly clear what kind of assistance the Peace Commission is offering. The commission also stated that preparations for the Union Peace Conference are being made to ensure its as inclusive as possible. Invitations have been extended to non-NCA signatories to attend the review of the framework for political dialogue that will take place at the conference. A conference organizer had previously stated that only NCA signatories will be able to vote on decisions. Reporting by Aik Su for M.N.A. Translated by Thida Linn Edited by BNI staff In the world of propaganda and disinformation, there can be little lies and big lies. The Military Councils version of their bomb attack on a... A photo of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of the Union of Burma (Second Draft) A photo of the Constitution of the FederalRepublic of the Union of Burma(Second Draft) A summit attendee that wished to remain anonymous said the military isnt very happy about it, seeing it as a threat to the existing one. They already have the 2008 Constitution so they dont want to another one. The summit that runs until 29 July in Kachin Independence Organization controlled territories is an opportunity for the ethnic armed groups to prepare for the government organized Union Peace Conference (also 21st Century Panglong Conference) in late August. All of the countrys twenty-one groups have been invited to the summit. At the time of press its unclear how many have actually attended. Other topics on the agenda are the establishment of a federal union, formation of a union army, amending the framework for political dialogue and recognising the drafted Panglong Handbook. A photo of the Panglong Handbook A photo of the Panglong Handbook Pyidaungsu Institute for Peace and Dialogue director U Khun Sai said: At first, I was told that four main topics will be discussed [at the summit]. I didnt know about the plan to discuss this Constitution of the Federal Republic of the Union of Burma that has been submitted by the UNFC (United Nationalities Federal Council). They will submit the points that have been amended by the UNFC. I dont know whether we will have enough time to discuss and agree on it. Reporting by S.H.A.N. Translated by Thida Linn Edited by BNI staff One of the organizers of the National Ethnic Youth Conference, Sai Aung Myint Oo of the Shan Youth Network, confirmed that they received an official letter yesterday evening signed by Dr. Aung Than Maung, the Burman Shan State Minister of Ethnic Affairs, requesting that the youth forum be suspended. The National Ethnic Youth Conference is scheduled to be held in the town of Panglong, 100 kilometers east of Shan State capital Taunggyi, on July 2731. All the representatives have already arrived in Panglong, said Sai Aung Myint Oo. The meeting will carry on as scheduled because we are working for the Union. We dont have any weapons. We are working peacefully in accordance with the law. The conference itinerary includes talks on peace-building and federalism, and has gathered 600 ethnic representatives from across Burma, including Arakanese, Akha, Burman, Chin, Danu, Dawei, Intha, Kachin, Kadu, Kanan Karen, Karenni, Kokang, Lahu, Mon, Myaung Zee, Naga, Shan, Pa-O, Palaung (Taang), Taung Yoe, Wa, and Yaw. Next week sees the restart of peace talks, the so-called 21CPC, between the government, the Burmese military, and ethnic armed groups. The meeting is slated to take place in Mai Ja Yang in Kachin State. The 21CPC is a continuation of political dialogue initiated by the previous Thein Sein administration; however the new government, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, says it intends maintaining the momentum of the peace process. Speaking to Shan Herald, youth conference organizer Sai Aung Myint Oo said, We have been planning this ethnic youth conference for many years. Because of the preliminary meeting in Mai Ja Yang, and the 21CPC that will follow in late August to be attended by State Councillor Aung San Su Kyi the Shan State government tried to dissuade us from holding the forum. They said they were worried our conference would affect the peace talks. Sai Aung Myint Oo defended the youth conference, saying, What we are doing, we do for national unity. The organizing committee for the National Ethnic Youth Conference said it had confirmed permission for the event three times, the final time being last week on July 22. Sai Aung Myint Oo said that since receiving the letter last night, he had requested a meeting in person with the Shan State chief minister, but was denied. He said that Panglong was chosen as a venue for the forum via a democratic vote by representatives of the ethnic youth groups, a decision which also factored in travel expenses and organizing costs. The Coordination Committee for National Ethnic Youth Conference (CCNEYC) was initiated in June 2012, and has since sat for several meetings. In October 2014, they held a conference in northern Shan State which led to the formation of a committee to implement the national-level conference which is due to begin tomorrow. The Shan town of Panglong is famous in recent Burmese history as the seat of negotiations in 1947 between Burman and ethnic leaders in preparation for independence from Great Britain. By: Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) In the following interview conducted recently with Mizzima Editor-in-Chief SoeMyint, EU Ambassador Kobia talks about engagement, trade and investment, the peace process, and the development of Myanmar. The 28 European Union foreign ministers recently adopted a new strategy for the EU relations with Myanmar. Can you tell us more about this new EU strategy on Myanmar? What are the changes or what are the key areas? The whole idea was to have a new strategy very early into the new administration. We wanted to do this at the very beginning to show our political commitment. The new strategy is meant to be a strong message of support. The EU is here to assist Myanmar in a constructive way. We also wanted to reiterate our commitment to key areas of EU support: the peace process, development, human rights and economic growth and trade. In certain areas we are proposing a paradigm shift. One area is notably the military cooperation. The military continues to be a very important actor in Myanmar. It is sitting in parliament, holds ministerial portfolios, is involved in politics and the economy. We would like to engage more with the military and share our experiences. In Europe, we have had several military regimes not too long ago and those countries then moved from military regimes to civilian governments. Today, the national armies under civilian control in Europe are well respected, proud and modern armies with state of the art equipment. They have an important role in society, they are there to ensure sovereignty and independence, and defend the people; but they have changed in the way of operating in our countries. We would like to engage in more dialogue with the Myanmar military about what could be a new vision for Myanmar. We propose to talk about the role of the military in a modern democracy. The strategy also introduces the possibility to change the modality of our development cooperation. We are currently discussing ways to complement our classic aid channels where you engage through projects that are implemented by NGOs or other international partners. Another possibility is to transfer European funds directly to the national Myanmar treasury. To the government? Yes, to the government, onto the national treasury account. This is called budget support. On the one hand it improves the government's cash flow, and on the other hand it enables Myanmar to be in the driving seat, to develop their own policies. The EU believes in the principle of local ownership. That is why we are considering this possibility and have begun discussing it with the Myanmar government. There will be an accompanying framework to ensure the money is well used, in the way and for the purpose we agree upon. The member states of the European Union need to agree and if we successfully conclude these negotiations, around a fifth of the EU's development envelope (of a total of 688 million EUR) would be given directly to Myanmar for the country to lead their own policies in social sectors. We are targeting education and health as priority sectors, because these are the areas where the population expects to see very rapid improvements. The education and health sectors are also those that have the most immediate effect on the quality of life of the people. Budget support is one of the instruments to help the government to deliver quicker on the peoples' expectations and hence show that democratic changes will lead to concrete improvements. A democratic transition needs time. Direct budget support can facilitate quick results in the reform process so that concrete improvements are happening for benefit of the people, their children and their families. Just to clarify the military to military relationship. When you are thinking to propose the military to military relationship, my understanding is it doesnt include the arms support because the EU has sanctions against Myanmar. Am I right? You are entirely right. When we talk about military cooperation, we talk about soft cooperation, a military dialogue. It can also be technical assistance, training, study trips to learn about the role of the military in modern democracies. We propose to discuss about how the military can find its place in the new Myanmar. As far as weapons are concerned, the EU has just renewed, a few weeks ago, the embargo because we cannot sell weapons and ammunitions to a country that has ongoing conflict. This is a fundamental principle of the European Union that applies around the world. With the so-called "Everything but Arms" scheme we are limiting our own trade opportunities but remain consistent with our primary goal, which is to promote peace. The EU has been a formal witness of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement such a role would be inconsistent with delivering weapons. I would like to stress that the EU's embargo only concerns weapons. There are no other economic sanctions anymore. On the contrary, Myanmar enjoys a preferential trade agreement that gives customs free access to the EU market of more than 500 million people. We have lifted all sanctions but the arms embargo in 2013. Regarding the peace process that the EU has been very actively supporting over the last few years, we still have some fighting and conflicts going on. In your opinion, what are the challenges, what are the problems in terms of this inclusiveness in the peace process? One of the challenges in Myanmar's peace process relates to the fact that there are many groups involved. I have worked on different peace processes around the world in my previous posts. In most countries the situation is a bit simpler, because there are government forces and one, two or three groups on the other side. Here you have twenty plus groups that have military capacity, armies, political aspirations. Some of them have already joined the NCA, but others have not. So inclusiveness is a difficult issue because you need to determine at a certain stage who will sit at the table. The European Union promotes an inclusive peace process because we believe that this is the key to a lasting, sustainable peace agreement. There is a principle of negotiation saying "Never about them without them". This is why we welcome all efforts made by the government and groups to be as inclusive as possible. Let me stress though that it is for the government and others to take the ultimate decision, not for us. The peace process is by definition something that should be owned by the country. The international community can be helpful, share experiences, give advice, and provide political and financial support. The EU is very much engaged in that sense. But at the end of the day, it is a decision of national sovereignty. The EU fully respects the sovereignty of Myanmar. We do not want to interfere. It does not mean we do not have a strong political dialogue, share our opinions, but the decisions are made by Myanmar and have to be respected. The peace process is extremely complex. It will probably take some time to be settled but we are very encouraged to see that this new administration, notably DawAung San SuuKyi herself, has taken a very strong leadership in working on the peace process, making it a priority very early into her new administration. This is a very courageous and a very important decision, because peace is the foundation of everything else in Myanmar. Democratization, security, stability, prosperity and socio-economic development cannot take place as long as there are ongoing conflicts. So how will the EU support the peace process under the new EU strategy? The EU is ready to continue supporting the peace process in two ways: politically and financially. I think we are a trusted partner and have a track record of efficiency and reliability. The EU foreign ministers just reiterated their strong support for peace in Myanmar as a top priority. The European Union has been helping the peace process for several years. Now we have initiated with other partners a new instrument that is called the "Joint Peace Fund", the JPF. The Joint Peace Fund is today comprised of 10 different countries. We have a substantial amount of financial pledges, up to 100 million dollars. About 40 million have already been transferred to the JPF. The Myanmar peace process is costly with people coming from many different regions. You need to organize meetings, provide technical assistance, training. You need to work on the vision and the future of Myanmar when it comes to sharing, decentralization of powers, federalism. All this takes time and money. The Joint Peace Fund is ready - we only wait for the green light from the government that allows us to start. It is a matter of respect for the sovereignty of Myanmar that we can only start disbursing funds once we have received this green light. We have had many requests, from different parties, ethnic groups and constituencies, asking us to support them to prepare for the 21st Century Panglong conference. We also already received project proposals regarding more long-term issues like federalism, to try to determine what would be the best federal system for Myanmar. How do you view the human rights situation in Myanmar, especially in terms of minority rights and religious rights? The human rights situation has improved over the last years in Myanmar. This is actually one of the reasons why the EU has believed in this transition altogether because we have seen concrete improvement in the human rights and fundamental rights situation. But the situation, like anywhere, is not perfect. Perfection is unfortunately not a concept that is human, it is an ideal concept we need to aim at but never reach. So there are still outstanding issues that the new administration will have to address: freedom of movement, freedom of assembly, ethnic rights, labour laws to name just a few. One particularly complicated issue is the issue of minority rights in Rakhine State. It has been on the table for quite a while, it is not a new issue, contrary to what many people think. Its an issue that goes back in time, and hence it is a complex, deep-rooted issue. The EU certainly does not want to add another layer of complexity. We know it is a very sensitive issue.We want to act in a way that tries to build bridges instead of erecting walls. We know that the issue of terminology is disputed, is very emotional, and we believe it is better to deal with complicated issues through reason, rather than emotions. The European Union has strong values of human rights and wants to see progress on the ground for human rights for minorities, notably for the Muslim minority, which is particularly segregated in Rakhine. Respect for human rights conventions and for the right to self-identify are important. We need to work in a way that allows people to talk to each other, reduce the tension. We need to build trust. We have the impression that what people are expecting in Rakhine State is development, is an improvement in their fundamental freedoms, notably the freedom to move, tackling poverty and access to basic social services, health, education, etc. So we want to see work on the ground. We are encouraged by the fact that the new administration, under the direct leadership of DawAung San SuuKyi, has taken the decision to work very early on the issue of Rakhine. I think this is also very courageous move that needs to be commended, because it is extremely sensitive, and there are very different ways of thinking on this issue, notably among the Myanmar community and the international community. We stand ready to help but again it is a question of sovereignty. We will not be able to settle and find solutions to this issue for which the Myanmar people need to decide. Our role is to raise awareness of international law principles Myanmar is part of the United Nations, you have signed international conventions, so Myanmar needs to abide by international law, and a lot of human rights conventions. It is our role to remind people that there are international obligations and perhaps even a certain moral duty to be tolerant, to be open, and not to discriminate against people. The new government has assured the international community that they are seriously working on this, and I think it is our duty to help them create an environment that will help find solutions. Will the EU support for Myanmar, including developmental aid, be linked and tied to the improvement of human rights? This is what happens in all countries around the world. We decide to engage with the government through political dialogue, through development aid, but our action is always accompanied, should be accompanied by progress and development in the country. There have been cases in which a country was acting in breach of fundamental values of the European Union and the development aid has been stopped as a consequence. It has happened in some cases, but it is not the case for Myanmar for the time being. We are encouraged by the steps this new administration has taken early on to tackle some of the most pressing issues. I would like to discuss the opportunities and challenges for trade between the EU and Myanmar. What are the opportunities with the new government in Myanmar and what are the expectations from the business community in the EU? Myanmar undoubtedly offers very attractive opportunities for foreign direct investment. The country needs to be rebuilt in many sectors. Myanmar needs technology knowhow, expertise, and equipment that European companies can provide. So I would say there is certainly an interest of businesses around the world, and also in the European Union, to contribute to the development of Myanmar. The beauty, I see, when you look at Myanmar and the EU, is the extreme complementarity of the two economies. We are hardly competitors in any sector. Myanmar competes with many countries in the region, in the textile sector, in the agricultural sector, in the fisheries sector, and you compete on the same export markets. But with the EU, there is no competition, but complementarity. Myanmar needs what the EU can provide, and the EU needs what Myanmar can provide. It is a perfect match. So I think we should build on this pattern of cooperation. The World Bank is doing a yearly assessment, the "doing business" - report. It shows that investing in Myanmar remains an enterprise full of challenges, because of different parameters. What the country, I believe, needs to do now is to send the right signals very early on. We know that the administration will need time to complete the legislative framework and set the investment framework. But if we get clear and strong political signals that foreign direct investments are welcome, this will already boost European interest in investing in Myanmar. European companies will of course be interested in establishing business, and make profits. But European investments will also create jobs for the people. The unemployment rate is high in Myanmar. The creation of jobs will contribute to raise the standard of living. It is very important that these European investments are defending labour laws, the rights of the workers, the minimum wages this is why we are negotiating an investment protection agreement with Myanmar, to set responsible standards for sustainable EU investments. Quality investments will balance business interests with corporate social responsibility. This is also a commercial argument: businesses have a commercial interest in respecting corporate social responsibility standards and labour laws because consumers around the world expect them to do so. Consumers want to buy from companies that are producing in a fair way. This is an incentive for the companies to do quality investments that protect the rights of the workers. Since we lifted the sanctions, trade has already increased by 300 per cent. But there is a huge potential for further increasing trade between the EU and Myanmar in the future. Can you update us about this draft EU-Myanmar investment protection agreement, because my understanding is there were discussions with the previous government, and now with the new government there has not much moving forward with the draft? We started negotiating an investment protection agreement in late 2014/early 2015. The agreement aims at mutually protecting Myanmar investments and European investments. The current legislative framework in Myanmar does not yet provide all the safeguards needed to attract more foreign direct investments. Myanmar has already signed around 10 bilateral investment agreements with different countries. The EU is negotiating a framework agreement for all the 28 EU member states. So far we have had three rounds of negotiations. We are basically in agreement on the text, with one or two small things that need to be settled. We are now waiting for a signal from the new government. We are ready on our side, but fully understand that the government has a long list of policy priorities to address. Once they are comfortable with moving ahead, the government can send a concrete signal to European investors that they are welcome by signing the investment protection agreement. This would also be another step forward in the reform of the legislative and regulatory framework of the country. For businesses, the availability of electricity is a big issue in Myanmar, a big challenge. What is the EU doing in support of this electricity and energy in the country? Access to electricity has a horizontal impact on basically all sectors. Not only on businesses, but also on families, on education. If households do not have electricity at home, the children cannot study in the evening. So electricity generation is key to the development of any country. It should be a top priority for the country to substantially increase the current level, which is about 30 percent of the population having access to electricity. This is very, very low. The difficult access to steady power supply is also an impediment for companies to invest here. So this should be a priority. As far as the EU is concerned, we have decided to concentrate on a number of development sectors which do not directly include electricity. Some of our member states are looking into this through bilateral initiatives. In addition, the European investment bank - which is a public bank, not a commercial bank, owned by the member states of the European Union, is starting to work in Myanmar. The European Investment Bank notably has a very high expertise in sustainable energies, green energies, renewable energies and promotes solar energy, wind energy and off-grid hydro, so small hydropower. Myanmar is blessed with many sources of renewable energy: solar and wind, but also geothermal and biomass. Personally speaking when I see that you have an energy mix using about three percent of coal, and some countries advise you to go up to 30 percent, I find this a missed opportunity in the long term. To generate enough electricity for businesses and households, one needs baseload energy, of course, but that can be done through gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is a less polluting source of energy. Coal is a sub-optimal option because there is no coal in Myanmar, apart from little in Shan State, and it is a very polluting energy source. Myanmar has signed up to the climate change objectives, but if you engage massively in coal energy, you will have a lot of difficulties in meeting your own targets. Personally speaking, I think Myanmar needs a good compromise between baseload energy through gas, and renewable energies that the country has plenty of. You have been here in Myanmar for some years. You have witnessed the 2015 elections, when you look at the last five years, what do you think about the progress, especially for Myanmar moving towards democracy? I am very proud of Myanmar. Its a country that constitutes an example for many countries around the world. Of course, not everything is perfect. No country is, no people is. But when you look at the overall trend that has been taking shape over the last years, it is quite remarkable what has happened. It is important that now people start to see and feel this progress in their daily lives. And they have high expectations They have high expectations and they want to have better access to education, better access to health care, they want to see their standard of living improve. On the other hand, change needs time. Democracy does not come in one day, socio-economic development does not come in one day either. We need to give time and space to the new administration to reach their objectives. If you look at the state of the world today, what is happening in Myanmar is something that we need to support. I sometimes hear criticism. I am not someone who likes criticizing, I rather look at how you can optimize things, how you can contribute to improvements. I think it is a much better approach than trying to look negatively at everything that is happening. So this is what the EU is trying to do here: we remain vigilant, cautious, we observe, we express our opinion, but we are supportive of the efforts. I am very proud of the country and I feel very honoured to be posted here at this historical moment of your country. And in spite of the many challenges and we are not naive, we know the country is facing many challenges, at very different levels - but in spite of this I am optimistic. I see a new generation that is really willing to change the country, to have a new vision for the future. We see a lot of construction here in Myanmar and infrastructure is important building houses and roads. What is maybe even more important is building the human capital. Building the human capital educating the people is the soft infrastructure that will develop this country. If you have a brand new hospital full of good equipment but you have no good doctors, you cant get cured. If you have a brand new school with teachers who are not educated enough, you dont get a good education. So to me the capacity building, the work on the human capital is key for the future of this country. It is very interesting when I look at your previous postings in South Africa, Congo, Kenya and Azerbaijan, there is quite a contrast. But what do you think Myanmar could learn from these other countries which has similar challenges? I like what you say because it is true that no country is totally different from the others. One can always find similarities between processes. Of course every country is specific. Every country has its own culture, its own history and this creates a country's very unique environment. But you can draw lessons from history and learn from others' experiences. I have lived and worked in seven countries in my life on three different continents. I have learned much more from these countries than I have been able to teach anyone. And it is the same in Myanmar. I have learned personally a lot from the Myanmar people because you have a beautiful culture, you have a beautiful society that is proud of its history and culture, that is proud of its people, and this is something that some people of Europe sometimes forget. You have family values that are remarkable, and I have learned a lot in Myanmar about human values and about the resilience that the Myanmar people have shown throughout history. People remained optimists in difficult periods. People took action to bring about change, rather than waiting for change to happen. So it has been quite it is not finished yet but it has been quite a remarkable three years of personal experience. I hope we have also contributed to the transition, but it is impressive what is happening here. Myanmar's change for democracy is due to its people, it is not due to the international community. It is Myanmar that has taken its faith in its hands and is steering the course of its history. Many wondered if the steadfast Burma Armys denial mode for its nefarious behaviour is now starting to change, given the two highest profile gross human rights violations over the recent years remained unresolved and the culprits unpunished. One is the October 2014 killing, while in military custody, of freelance journalist Ko Par Gyi, and the other, the deaths of two Kachin schoolteachers in northern Shan State in January last year that were widely alleged to have been perpetrated by Burma Armys (Tatmadaw) soldiers. Let us look into what might seem to look like the change of heart from the part of Tatmadaw, and if this is a new start to become a standard army or genuine union army, taking orders from the civilian government, rather than positioning itself as a state within a state. How it happened Seven Mong Yaw villagers were reportedly killed by the Burma Army late last month. According to eyewitnesses, five were arrested by a unit of Burmese government forces on June 25, and later found buried in shallow graves near an army camp. The other two were shot dead that same day when they failed to stop their motorbike at an army checkpoint in the town. While Mya Tun Oo said the Burmese soldiers were responsibly for the death of the five, the responsibility for the two others, who were shot down from their motorcycle were somewhat not clear and still need to investigate for clarity. He would concede only the possibility that it was Tatmadaw bullets that killed the men, indicating an equal likelihood that an ethnic armed group could also be responsible. During the press conference on 20 July, he said: They drove their motorbike into the fighting zone, asserting that the two had entered an area of active conflict between the Tatmadaw and an unspecified ethnic armed group. We dont know whose bullets they were shot by. We found their dead bodies. And also found them [in possession] of drugs. We still dont know who they are. We will certainly investigate. The Shan Human Rights Foundation, however, has already conducted its own investigation into the incidents, identifying the two victims on the motorbike as brothers Sai Naw Tint and Sai Hla, fathers of two and three children, respectively. Their badly decomposed bodies were found in a ditch beside the road on which they were shot on June 29, four days after the incident, according to SHRFs report, which cited testimony from the two mens uncle. The shooting occurred on June 25, the report said, when Tatmadaw Light Infantry Battalion 362 set up a blockade of the road linking Mong Yaw village to Lashio town. Based on testimonies from other motorists pulled over, the SHRF said Tatmadaw troops ordered the men to stop but they did not heed those calls, prompting gunfire from soldiers in the battalion first into the air and then at the men, killing them both. I heard the military tried to stop them, but they didnt stop. There are witnesses that say the military shot them, Nan Shwe Yone, said a resident of Mong Yaw, corroborating SHRFs report. The court martial found that they [soldiers] violated the rules, and failed to follow certain procedures that led to the death of the victims during interrogation, Lt-Gen Mya Tun Oo admitted at a public news conference in Rangoon. He said a court martial was in progress, and that the verdict would be made open to the public. Public uproar after the killings Following the tragic incident, on 4 July, five Shan Civil Society Organizations Tai Youth Network, Tai Youth Organization, Kachin Youth Organization, Taang Women Organization, Taang Students and Youth Organization issued a statement, condemning the killings, cautioned that it could derail the 21st Century Panglong Conference and demanded the speedy investigation, bringing justice to the case. On 15 July, Nang San San Aye, a Shan Nationalities League for Democracy MP representing Hsipaw township, put forward the urgent proposal addressing both the Shan State and also the Union governments to stop all the wars as soon as possible, mediating as a go-between among warring parties and help mapped out to avoid future conflicts. The tabled proposed motion, during the fourth session of the state legislature was submitted a day earlier, which the state border and security affairs minister Colonel Soe Moe Aung, on July 15, advised Shan State lawmakers to put the proposal on record, a less forceful parliamentary motion, but MPs anyhow voted on it. The motion was approved with a wide margin approval of 76 votes to 57 rejection votes, which were military appointed MPs. The huge success was due to the fact that all Shan State citizens MPs, regardless of political affiliation, all voted for the anti-war urgent resolution, according to Nang San San Aye. Simultaneously, on 16 July, more than 1,000 protesters held a rally in Lashio town demanding an end to the killing of innocent civilians. According to Sai Pha Seng, who was present at the event, the demonstration started at 9am, and included participants from Lashio, Kutkhai, Hsenwi, Tangyan, Mongyai, Kyaukme and Hsipaw townships, The peaceful protest was conducted through the streets of Lashio city. Innocent civilians have been killed arbitrarily, but no group is taking responsibility, he said. The Tatmadaw and ethnic armed groups must work together through the peace process and show respect for human rights. Earlier, the civil society organizations leading the rally had also demanded the National League for Democracy (NLD) regime to lead the investigation and bring the culprits to justice. Dim prospects This brings us back to the point if the Tatmadaw is becoming enlightened and is determined to strive for a standard or professional army, going back to the barracks where it really belongs to and taking orders from a democratically elected, civilian government. But seen from the point of a well-known rights group, the government and the military might need to do more, if such incidents are to be avoided and handled in a proper way. In a statement on July 20, Amnesty International urged the NLD-led government to take action against those who were involved in the incident. While its positive that the authorities are investigating this case, the reality is that all too often victims and their families are denied access to justice, truth and reparations, and have faced reprisals when reporting cases of military abuse. This has to stop and Myanmars [Burmas] new government must make it clear that no one is above the law, said Rafendi Djamin, Amnestys director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. This case is an important reminder of the need to reform the military and judicial systems in Myanmar, he added. Although it is important that steps are taken to ensure those responsible for serious human rights violations are held to account, military tribunals are not the solution. The authorities in Myanmar must take immediate action to ensure that human rights violators can be effectively tried before independent, civilian courts anything less would only serve to perpetuate the cycle of impunity. Apart from this, the Burma Armys indoctrination of its soldiers mindset to hate and treated the ethnic population as enemies, as they are supporters of the ethnic armies, must be changed through detoxification program, leading to a more humane, standard army behaviour that is in line with a democratic state. Of course, this also has to be coupled with the promulgation of enforcement law and harsh punishment for perpetrators in committing such extra-judicial killings of innocent civilians. Furthermore, the Tatmadaw would need to cater to The Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols-Basic Rules that emphasizes the Basic rules of international humanitarian law in armed conflicts, where those who do not take a direct part in hostilities are entitled to respect for their lives and their moral and physical integrity and they shall in all circumstances be protected and treated humanely without any adverse distinction; forbidden to kill or injure an enemy who surrenders or who is hors de combat; among others. According to Wikipedia, person is hors de combat if: (a) he is in the power of an adverse Party; (b) he clearly expresses an intention to surrender; or (c) he has been rendered unconscious or is otherwise incapacitated by wounds or sickness, and therefore is incapable of defending himself; provided that in any of these cases he abstains from any hostile act and does not attempt to escape. And the poor innocent villagers were not even running away, but killed under interrogation and torture. Hundreds of such victims could be counted, if one cares to go through the human rights abuses documentation, gathered by reputed rights organizations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and United Nations Human Rights Council, during this decades-long and ongoing war of ethnic conflict. The Shan State parliament restoring peace and anti-war resolution wont be able to do anything concrete on the ground, so long as the military is not onboard and political settlement still out of reach, as the rejection of the military MPs have shown during the urgent proposal to stop the war voting on 15 July. As such, it is quite clear that only the about turn policy of the military from war-like posture to peaceful settlement, coupled with the absence of war, doing away with the human rights abuses and finally returning to the barracks, would be able to resolve this continuous and lingering crime against humanity, not before all these conditions are met or have taken place. The Most Extensive and Reliable Source of Information Related to the Mexican Drugs Cartels. You will not find this level of coverage anywhere else, join us! WARNING: Posts may contain strong violent material, discretion is advised. COMMENTS: We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. Botswana based financial services institution, Letshego Holdings Limited last week celebrated an eighteen year history of growth, diversity and improving lives across its 10 country African footprint. Today it prides itself as the largest indegenous company in the Botswana Stock Exchange by market capitalisation. Letshegos history Letshego was incorporated in March 4, 1998 as Micro Provident Botswana Limited, a microfinance institution whose core function was to provide unsecured loans to clients. It then commenced trading in September 1998 and eventually listed in the Botswana Stock Exchange in 2002 through a successful initial public offer with an aim to go on regional expansion. The company started with an establishment of a small team of 30 professionals in Gaborone issuing loans of up to P1,000. Today the group employs over 2,300 team members, across more than 20 nationalities. Letshego is a Setswana word meaning support that epitomises the groups ability to partner with individuals as well as micro and small enterprises (MSE) through provision of financial services. Since September 2002, the company has been dealing directly with its clients who are mainly employees of the central and local governments, parastatals or quasi government and some private companies. Today Letshego is the largest indigenous company on the BSE by market capitalisation in excess of US$634 million as at 31 December 2015 and profitability in excess of US$104 million profit before tax for the full year 2015. The company currently ranks among the top 40 market value sub-Saharan Africa companies excluding South Africa. The group has more than 250,000 consumers being served by its micro lending subsidiaries across ten countries in Southern and East Africa. These subsidiaries provide short to medium-term unsecured loans to formally employed clients. Letshegos regional presence Between 2005 and 2007, the group expanded to Uganda, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia. These were all through greenfield investments in these countries. In August 2008, the group made its first foreign acquisition when it acquired a majority stake in Eduloan, an MFI in Namibia. In the same year, the company adopted the Letshego brand as its official name. The expansion drive continued into 2009 with the setting up of a subsidiary in Mozambique. In 2011, the group commenced its operations in Lesotho. In the same year, the group announced its intention to acquire a 62.52 percent in Micro Africa Limited, a Kenyan based MFI with subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan. This acquisition gave the group access to three new countries and an increase in its Ugandan customer base due to its existing presence. This acquisition was completed on June 1, 2012. This saw the group having presence in 11 countries. Letshego Holdings took full control of Micro Africa Limited in 2013.On December 1, 2013 the group divested from Letshego Financial Services Zambia. This saw its exit from Zambia reducing the group's presence to 10 countries. Letshegos current loan book As from 31st December 2015, Letshego evidenced strong growth, performance and returns to shareholders with a number of firsts recorded.Net advances exceeded P6billion, total revenues exceeded P2billion and profit before tax crossed the P1billion mark, making it the largest indegenous company on th BSE by market cap. Financial inclusion goals Letshego continues to embrace financial inclusion; this includes responsible lending practices and encouraging productive use of loans.The group highlighted that they have completed research indicating the social impact it had achieved across its markets pointing to loans being used for education, health, business, or livelihood purposes. In markets such as Mozambique, for example, this figure is at 70 percent, while Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda see 60 percent each.Speaking at the anniversary last week, the groups Managing Director, Chris Low emphasised that since 1998, what has set the company apart from the rest of other financial institutions is their deliberate positioning and clear focus to cater for those who conventional institutions see as risky. We are humbled by, and proud of our invaluable niche that has improved lives by servicing hundreds of thousands customers, that in turn has positively impacted their families and their communities. Through our assistance to the underserved, we are grateful to have contributed towards Africas development. Low highlighted that Letshego is focused on strategic partnerships to accelerate execution capabilities.As an example, new innovative financial solutions piloted by the business currentlyinclude micro insurance, agriculture supply chain financing and asset financing. Also, he shared that Letshego has done well in servicing the renewable energy industry through the provision of big loans for farmers, water tank loans, and energy efficient jiko stove loans and solar power loans all of which they are working to roll out beyond the East African region. What does coming of age symbolise? According to Chris Low, who has been sitting at the helm for the past three years after the departure of Jan Claasen, to me when I think back to my 18th birthday, I can vividly recollect standing on the prow of an Australian naval ship entering Sidney Harbour with the imposing architectural structure that is the Sydney Harbour Bridge ahead of me, the beautiful opera house to one side and dolphins chasing the bow waves. I was alone in that few knew my story of how I came to be on that ship, I had a sense of trepidation of what was next, yet also I had a feeling for the great things to come ahead of me the whole world was there for taking and with my schooling and parenting, I was well placed to take advantage of the opportunities that the world presented. According to Low, Letshego feels somewhat the same as he did back then. We have a vision to be Africas leading inclusive finance group. We have developed a strong business platform that will enable us to deliver on this intent and yet there are many challenges ahead and fast changing world from a technology perspective that we have yet to fully adopt. Success will come through our people and will require growth, an approach to diversity and a commitment to improving lives. Govermnet calls for private sector partnerships Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Kenneth Matambo has stressed for the urgent need for increased collaboration between the government and private sector to drive national development. Matambo, who was the key speaker at the anniversary said, as government, we remain committed to adopting policies and programmes aimed at stimulating local economic development. I therefore urge the private sector to take responsibility for aligning their operations with our National Development Goals so that, together, we move Botswana forward into the realisation of Vision 2036 and beyond. Transport and Logistics Sector Chairperson, Gobusamang Keebine has appealed to investors to invest in the aviation industry of Botswana as the sector needs to grow. Addressing Namibia business delegates recently, Keebine said Namibia and Botswana should work together in the aviation sector. There is no air connection between Namibia and Botswana but Air Namibia used to fly to Botswana but it only lasted for about some months. There is a gap in this area, he said He said the two countries should avoid competing in certain areas and work together. Instead of working together we like to compete over little issues that we ourselves are not able to fulfil. There are lots of opportunities in the transport sector between the two countries, said Keebine. Currently there is one flight from Windhoek to Gaborone operated by Kenya Airways. For his part, the Namibia Minister of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development, Immanuel Ngatjizeko said Namibia is prepared to take its economic cooperation to greater heights by affording more opportunities to Botswana entrepreneurs to exploit further trade and investment opportunities between the two countries. We believe the two governments have put in place mechanisms to enhance business, he said. He said the two countries already share a great amount of tourism related visits. This relationship can further be improved by investments in infrastructure that support the demands of each party. Although we relatively possess the same population sizes, it is impressive to look at what our countries have achieved in a short period of time, said Ngatjizeko. Minister of Transport and Communications, Tshenolo Mabeo has said efforts are still under way to obtain a commercial banking licence for Botswana Savings Bank. BSB currently operates with a development banking licence and its merge with BotswanaPost has long been overdue. Responding to Member of Parliament for Gaborone Central, Phenyo Butales inquiry last week, Minister Mabeo confirmed that BSB has not obtained a commercial banking license yet, but I can confidently assure this House that plans are at an advanced stage to submit an application to Bank of Botswana (BoB) for consideration before the end of this year. He added that it has come to the attention of the government that there are some Batswana who are unable to bank, therefore talks with BoB are still underway. Meanwhile, at a recent BotswanaPost media brief, the chairman Polokoetsile Motau highlighted that, for BSB to be granted a commercial banking licence, they will have to merge with a profit making entity. Therefore we have to be profit making as BotswanaPost.Motau could not be drawn to discuss more details on the merger progression, but just said efforts are still underway. On the other hand, BotswanaPost, which has been on its transformation journey, has finished the year 2014/15 with a total loss of P47million. The BotswanaPost expects modest revenue for the 2015/16 financial results, which are understood to be at an audit level and will be released soon. Giving an update on the banks performance over the last five years, Mabeo indicated that BSB has consistently delivered good results over the period. He told parliament that, for the period spanning from 2011 to 2015, BSB profits increased from P4 million to P20 million. Its revenues increased by up to 64 per cent from P52 million to P85 million. At the same time, BSB has more than doubled its asset book from P606 million to P1.57 billion. Meanwhile, as part of the Botswana Savings Bank and Botswana Post merger, BSB has developed an overarching strategy that defines a transformation phase taking into consideration new value proposition for customers. BSB has undertaken initiatives to turn the business around such as the successful completion of a restructuring project in 2014 to align human resource planning to the current operating model; the bank launched three new products namely Debit card, Express loan and Lecha Loan. The bank is enhancing its technological systems as well by implementing a multi-channel network that embraces other self-service options like Point of Sale (POS), ATMs and co-branded branches within selected post offices. The aim is to turn the business around to drive the financial inclusion agenda with the intention to provide customer-centric financial services at affordable costs to disadvantaged and low-income segments of the society. Amongst its many initiatives to increase its channels, BSB has recently successfully rolled out ATMs on its network of branches for faster and easier access to financial services. Mabeo revealed that the project will be officially launched at the end of this July. Member of Parliament for Gaborone North, Haskins Nkgaiwa has called on Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) to bring a Bill on declaration of assets if they are serious about fighting corruption. He made this call when debating the Whistleblowing Bill in Parliament this week. Nkgaiwa said BDP cannot bring the Whisleblowing Bill in Parliament and expect that the fight against corruption will be achieved when it has left behind declaration of assets, which is the backbone of the Bill to end corruption. This Bill can only be effective if laws such as declaration of assets are introduced. If us as leaders disclose what assets we have I believe the fight against corruption could be achieved, said Nkgaiwa.He also expressed displeasure at Clause 9 of the Bill, which says a declaration of information made by a whistleblower may be made in writing or orally. A disclosure of impropriety shall contain as far as practicable, the full name, address and occupation of the whistleblower. The nature of the impropriety in respect of which the disclosure is made. The name and particulars of the person alleged to have committed, who is committing or is likely to commit the impropriety, reads clause 9 of the Bill.Nkgaiwa said this clause would deter would-be whistleblowers that are determined to end corruption. This looks like you want to gag those who want to be whistleblowers. People should be allowed to report if they have any doubt about something, said Nkaigwa. According Clause 17 of the Bill, a person who knowingly makes a disclosure alleging impropriety knowing the information to be false commits an offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding P10 000 or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding five years or to both.But Nkaigwa thinks that people should be allowed to report freely so that they can fight corruption. He said Clause 19 will not help because it will victimise potential whistleblowers that want to talk about corruption. A whistleblower who, after making a disclosure of impropriety under this Act, proceeds to disclose the same information to a third party, commits an offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding P10 000 or to a term imprisonment not exceeding five years, or to both, reads the bill.Sharing the same sentiments, Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi said the Bill is one of the key instruments for tackling corruption but expressed uneasiness with Clause 9 which requires that a whistleblower state his or her details. This kills the motive of this Bill and might undermine our true intentions of ending corruption, he said. Kgatleng Beef Producers Association (KBPA) has expressed concern about the impending overstocking of cattle in their area, which would have adverse impact on the environment. The association has on several occasions approached the Kgatleng Land Board about the issue with no positive feedback as the land board has never addressed the issue or responded to any communication that has been forwarded to their office. KBPA has now placed their hopes on the Minister of Lands and Housing, Prince Maele for intervention. The association is however racing against time as the land board has short-listed people and is undertaking interviews on allocating livestock water points in Kgatleng. Last year the association wrote to the land board Secretary, Abednico Maphuru expressing concern about the advertised invitations for application for livestock water points. KBPA Chairman, Dr Christopher Tsopito through a letter to the land board decried lack of consultation by the land board on new developments that could affect adjacent stakeholders. These, he maintains, are procedures stipulated in the land boards requirements for new land allocations.Our members in the affected borehole syndicates have come to voice complaints regarding the decision by Kgatleng Land Board to go ahead with this decision without consulting the syndicates surrounding the water points, he stated. The association argues that the current six kilometre radius between boreholes has not considered syndicates already within stated radius, a factor which had led these cattle from these syndicates encroaching on adjacent boreholes grazing rights and thus leading to overstocking and reduced carrying capacities in those adjacent boreholes. Dr Tsopito says such borehole syndicates as Tlhagale, Monametsana, Ditladi, Moduane and Monoga on the western side of A1 road and railway line and Morekhuru, Dikgama and Sesobane on the eastern side use other boreholes grazing rights leading to overstocking. Livestock census figures compiled by Department of Veterinary Services (Kgatleng) should be used to determine the current stocking rates and carrying capacities given the various livestock species utilizing the areas. The area is overstocked and overgrazed. The vegetation distribution in these areas should also be considered since there is a lot of bush encroachment, revealed Dr Tsopito. It appears the lands ministry has turned a blind eye on the request by the association for intervention. According to the association Chairman, the ministry has not replied to their letter of December last year. In a follow up letter of March this year, the association requested an urgent intervention by the ministry as the Kgatleng Land board has denied them audience on the allocation of watering points. The contention by the association is that there has been an inadequate assessment of the intended land use given the current rangeland assessment criteria provided by the Range Ecology Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture. Principal Scientific Officer at the Department of Animal Production- Ministry of Agriculture, John Mothetho told this publication that his office is not aware of the concerns raised by the association. He said when such an allocation is made their involvement is where they deal with range resources that livestock could use. But the only difference is that we cannot quantify such resource. When we do quantify it is done in general terms. The issue could have not reached our office probably on the basis that it was dealt with at district level; he said adding that Ecology Unit has since been moved to the Ministry of Environment Wildlife and Tourism. Officials at the Kgatleng Veterinary office could not be reached for comment. Minister Maele said he could not comment at press time because he was still in a meeting. The Speaker of the National Assembly has suddenly found herself on the other side of the aisle as the opposition parties, Botswana Congress Party (BCP) and Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) take her for just another Botswana Democratic Party legislator. In their mission to oppose the proposed Bill for Presidential Gratuity and increment of Specially Elected Members of Parliament and Ministrys Bill, the two parties accuse the speaker of mischief in favour of the ruling party and therefore promise no generosity towards her.The speaker has been identified as a major stumbling block following her decision to invoke standing Order 60.4, which she vowed to use on her quest to tighten screws against misbehaving MPs. The opposition whip, Wynter Mmolotsi told a media briefing recently that they were aware that the Speaker would try to intimidate them with the newly discovered Parliament Standing Order. Under this standing order, Kokorwe has so far suspended from Parliament two opposition MPs, Haskins Nkaigwa and Dithapelo Keorapetse of Gaborone north and Selibe Phikwe West respectively. Kokorwe revealed at the start of the current session that she has been lenient on the MPs and she would stop at nothing to use Standing Order 60.4 against any MP whose behaviour would be un-Parliamentary. Mmolotsi, who is also UDC Member of Parliament for Francistown South stated that Kokorwe is serving the interest of the BDP. He said as opposition MPs they do not need the Speakers leniency. This standing order was just discovered when Parliament went on recess. This is the same discovery as that of some clauses of the Constitution that have been discovered on several occasions and used. The current administration would continue to use such clauses or pieces of legislation that would work to their advantage. We would not be silenced by the speaker to speak what we believe is true or oppose anything that is of no beneficial to Batswana and our country, the legislator stated.He revealed that they have expressed their concerns on several occasions during the General Assembly. According to Mmolotsi they have reached a point where they have no confidence on the speaker. He said they would also oppose the Bill that calls for the increase of Specially Elected MPs and increase of Ministers, which according to Mmolotsi, would be a costly exercise. Mmolotsi said they were surprised to learn that the Bill would propose for a housing allowance as opposed to the current arrangement where government provides a retirement home for any President leaving office.The MP for Maun West, Tawana Moremi indicated that as the opposition they are against this development. He said they are already constrained to do parliament business, as there are a few backbenchers from the BDP. It is Moremis opinion that government was supposed to have first identified problems then look for resources to fix such problems. You cannot fix the problem at education ministry by splitting the ministry. You need to assess what you are trying to achieve. Then get resources to fix the problem. There has never been any mention of increasing MPs or ministries during the 2015 State of the Nation Address or even during the budget speech in February this year. Then all of a sudden the issues comes in June, who are they intending to reward? The academic wing of Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) - the Institute of Developing Economies (IDE) is poised to participate at next months sixth Summit of Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI). This was confirmed by Katsumi Hirano, the executive director of JETRO in his offices last week in Osaka, Japan when briefing visiting African journalists. JETRO is a government agency tasked with promoting mutual trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world, while IDEs mission is to do research on the developing world and prides itself as the countrys biggest institute in social sciences. Hirano said that three of IDEs researchers will be travelling to Nairobi, Kenya to present on economic seminars that will be organised alongside the Summit. It is also expected that JETRO Chairman Ishige, will be at hand during this high-level summit bringing Africas leaders and Japans prime minister, Shinzo Abe and the TICAD co-sponsors, World Bank, UNDP and African Union Commission together. There are some 650 Japanese companies doing business in Africa, 70 per cent of which JETRO undertakes research for. Closer to southern Africa, JETRO has offices in Johannesburg, according to Hirano. Ahead of the historic summit, JETRO called the second African Investment Promotion Forum early March in Tokyo at which investment promotion organisations from Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, South Africa, Nigeria and Tanzania, where 70 percent of Japanese companies in Africa are located, participated.The IPOs and JETRO mulled over direct investment prospects for Japanese companies in anticipation of TICAD VI, which is likely to be biased towards investment especially after the Yokohama Declaration adopted at the 2013 TICAD V, called for intensified promotion of direct investment into Africa by Japanese companies. Information sourced from JETRO shows that Ethiopian Investment Commission was received as a member of the investment promotion forum at the March meeting in light of the attention that the countrys economy has attracted most rapidly growing in the continent.Briefing journalists, Hirano said JETRO is organising a business forum and fair at Kenya International Convention Centre pavilion where they will mount some 100 or so booths in which Japanese companies will display their products, services and technologies. He said they expect each African president attending the Summit to be accompanied by three chief executives from private companies of their countries. We expect that there will be business matching at the end of the summit, he said.Hirano believes that Africa must emulate Asia, by making regulations easy and arranging flexible conditions for doing business in the continent. He cited Thailand and Japan as some of the Asian countries that have long relaxed conditions of doing business. As for China, he conceded that it was enjoying a big share of investment in Africa relative to Japan, which he said needs to do more to enhance economic activity in Africa. China has built railways and are generating electricity which efforts are helpful to Africas development, he said. Hirano is confident that Japan has strong advantage in health care technology and should do everything in its power to exploit this niche especially that health is one of the thematic areas identified for support under TICAD VI. I am certain that if African hospitals could adopt Japanese health technologies, they would advance, he said.But Hirano reckons that Japanese automobile industry, a good example being Toyota, whose presence in South Africa is double that of Malaysia, could be intensified in Africa to create the much-needed jobs and diversify African economies. As for Botswana, he mentioned Japan Oil, Gas and Metals Corporation (JOGMEG) which has deployed its satellite information for minerals resources into the country. JOGMEG set up a Geological Remote Satellite Sensing Centre in Botswana in July 2008 in collaboration with the Department of Geological Surveys (now known as the Geo-Science Institute of Botswana). By last year, it was reported that more than 300 geologists from some 12 countries had participated in the joint satellite image and analysis project as well as field surveys. Hirano told the African journalists that TICAD VI provides a good opportunity to prevail Japanese products and technologies in Africa in the true spirit of partnership and mutual benefit. There will also be a mounted Africa-Japan Public Private Conference for High Quality Infrastructure at Sarova Stanley hotel from August 25 to 27th in Nairobi at which Japanese companies will showcase some of their cutting edge technologies for high quality infrastructure in ports and harbours and roads and bridges. Urban planning and urban transportation will also be considered as will ways and means to finance high quality infrastructure. Kabomo Mongweotsile, Mokgweetsi Kabomo and Batladira Radipitse are the winners of the 2016 edition of the Traditional Instruments in the just-ended ninth edition of the Presidents Day Celebration competition. The trio was competing in the categories of Segaba, Setinkane, and Katara. Mongweotsile, Kabomo and Radipitse were crowned winners in the categories of Segaba, Setinkane and Katara respectively. They were battling for the top spots with 21 other performers from across the country. The finals were held at Mantlwaneng Theatre on Thursday evening. A darling to watch and listen to, Kabomo who was representing the Gaborone region, was in his best element, holding his prized possession like it is the last thing on earth that he owned. Performing a song that spoke about witchcraft and how the people of the dark were using him as a donkey to traverse the country, everything about him was just right. Even though the guitar category went to Radipitse, Sebotso came prepared for war. There is something in the way that Sebotso plays his guitar. Whether he is using the Electric or Acoustic, he still maintains the extraordinary way of strumming the guitar. He played with the experience of someone who has been doing this thing for a long time. Speaking during an interview, Joseph Dikgomo of Botswana Folklore Association said that they were greatly impressed by the level of talent that was displayed. They had noticed that most of the artists who made it into the finals had polished their acts and were ready to compete. An improvement worth celebrating, is that most of the performers were now going the route of composing their own songs. Others such as Kabomo were taking their performance to a different level. In the past Kabomo used only one hand to serenade the audience, but this time around he used both hands. He said that others such as Godfrey Moeng and Katane Lucas from the Setinkane category were taking their craft to another level and showed immense growth. What we have observed is that taking part in the finals exposes them to so many things. Being in the finals also means that the artists need to really show why they have been given that chance especially for those who were returning to the big platform.Performers such as Mothoosele Xlalekego, who in his first appearance in the finals was lacking in some departments, has matured and is now a totally different artist, he said. He now understands what a Setswana song is all about, and the many components that make it. Meanwhile he said they used platforms such as the constituency competitions to workshop their members. The recent visits by artists from Japan and Israel also gave their members an opportunity to learn more. The new amphibious aircraft of China. A Xinhua photo BEIJING (BNS): China has officially unveiled an indigenously built massive amphibious aircraft which it intends to use for fighting forest fires and marine rescue missions. The large sea plane having a maximum take-off weight of 53.5 tonnes was rolled off a production line in the southern city of Zhuhai on July 23. The AG600, built by the state-run Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), has a top cruising speed of 500 km per hour and a maximum flight range of 4,500 km. The 37-meter-long AG600 with a wingspan of 38.8 meters is by far the world's largest amphibian aircraft, about the size of a Boeing 737, AVIC deputy general manager Geng Ruguang was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency. In addition to taking off and landing like an ordinary plane, the AG600 can also take off and land from stretches of water that are at least 1,500 meters long, 200 meters wide and 2.5 meters deep, the news report said. Besides conducting marine rescue operations and dousing forest fires, the aircraft would be useful in developing and exploiting marine resources, being adaptable to conduct marine environmental monitoring, resource detection and transportation, the Xinhua report said. The aircraft is primarily aimed at the domestic market with AVIC receiving 17 orders for the plane so far. The unveiling of the AG600 comes shortly after another Chinese heavy transport aircraft Y-20 officially entered military service on July 7. The P-3B orion aircraft. ATHENS (BNS): Modernisation of the Greek military's P-3B Orion maritime patrol aircraft has started with the Hellenic Navy, Lockheed Martin and Hellenic Aerospace Industry (HAI) hosting a ceremony at HAI's Athens facilities on July 25. The mid-life upgrade of four P-3B Orion aircraft will be carried out under a $141.9 million contract awarded by the US Navy to Lockheed Martin in February 2016. The contract provides for the reactivation of one Hellenic Navy P-3B aircraft and procurement of software and hardware kits for the upgrade/modernization for a total of four Hellenic Navy P-3B aircraft. In addition, it provides for phased depot maintenance; a Greece indigenous mission integration and management system; new avionics; and other ancillary hardware and services, Lockheed said. The upgrade will provide an extension of service life of each aircraft by 15,000 flight hours. The P-3 Orion is the standard for maritime patrol and reconnaissance, and is used for homeland security, anti-piracy operations, humanitarian relief, search and rescue, intelligence gathering, anti-submarine warfare and, recently, to assist in air traffic control and natural disaster relief support. In addition to the HAI facilities near Athens, in Schimatari, Greece, work on the P-3Bs will be performed in Marietta, Georgia; Greenville, South Carolina; and Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States. INS Viraat leaving Mumbai harbour for one last time under own power on Saturday. Photo: Indian Navy. MUMBAI (PTI): India's majestic aircraft carrier INS Viraat, which is slated to be decommissioned later this year, set sail for the last time from Mumbai for Kochi on Saturday. This is the last sailing under her own propulsion before the iconic naval vessel goes for decommissioning. The ship set sail for Essential Repairs and Dry Docking (ERDD) at the Cochin Shipyard. Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command and other senior officers of the command, visited the ship and interacted with the crew prior to her departure. The carrier was escorted out of harbour by Fast Interceptor Craft and helicopters from the Western Naval Command. "It was an emotional moment for the Navy, as INS Viraat leaves Naval Dockyard Mumbai, for one last time under own power. The ship will be towed back to Mumbai on completion of ERDD, for the decommissioning ceremony later this year," a defence spokesperson said. INS Viraat was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 12 May 1987. The ship operated Sea Harrier (White Tigers - fighter aircraft), Seaking 42B (Harpoons - Anti Submarine helicopters) & Seaking 42C (Commando Carrier helicopters) and Chetak (Angles - SAR helicopter) as her main air elements. The Sea Harrier fleet was also recently decommissioned at Goa in May 2016. Under the Indian Flag, various aircraft have flown more than 22,034 hours from the decks of INS Viraat. She has spent nearly 2,250 days at sea sailing 5,88,288 NM (10,94,215 km). This implies that Viraat has been at sea for over six years covering the entire globe about 27 times. She played a major role in the Operation Jupiter in 1989 (Indian Peace Keeping operations in Sri Lanka) and Operation Vijay in the year 1999 (Kargil War). The ship has also participated in various international joint exercises like Malabar (with US Navy), Varuna (with French Navy), Naseem-Al-Bahar (with Oman Navy) and has been an integral element of all major naval exercises, the spokesperson added. The last operational deployment of the ship was for participation in International Fleet Review (IFR-2016) at Visakhapatnam. Having served the country and the Navy for nearly three decades, INS Viraat handed over the mantle of carrier operations to INS Vikramaditya, which was commissioned in the year 2013. The second aircraft carrier of the country has spent 29 years under the Indian Flag and 27 years with the Royal Navy (United Kingdom). The ship holds the Guinness Record for being the oldest serving warship. INS Viraat is a Centaur-Class Aircraft Carrier and served in the Royal Navy as HMS Hermes, which was the flag ship of Royal Navy during the Falk Lands Campaign of 1982. She is commonly referred to as the 'Grand Old Lady' among Indian Naval Officers and Sailors. Army Commander, Northern Command Lt Gen D S Hooda paying tributes at the Kargil war memorial on the occasion of Vijay Diwas at Drass in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday. Photo: PTI. DRASS, KARGIL (PTI): The Chief of Northern Army Command, Lt Gen D S Hooda on Tuesday paid homage to the soldiers, who laid down their lives during the Kargil war in 1999, at the war memorial in Jammu and Kashmir's Drass sector. Lt Gen Hooda paid homage to the martyrs of 'Operation Vijay' on the 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas at the historic War Memorial in Drass today, the Defence spokesman said. Celebrations to commemorate the victory of Indian troops over Pakistani intruders in the 1999 war, started with great fervour and enthusiasm under the aegis of Leh Corps on July 21. Hooda was accompanied by General Officer Commanding of Ladakh-based Fire and Fury Corps Lt Gen S K Patyal, the spokesman said, adding, he also interacted with the 'veer naaris' (wives of the slain soldiers), awardees and relatives. Speaking on the occasion, Gen Hooda paid glowing tributes to the sacrifices and expressed his gratitude to the slain soldiers, their next of kins and wives. A memorial service which included prayers by religious teachers and lighting of lamps was organised at the War memorial last evening. The week long celebrations, ending on Tuesday, included many events involving the local citizens, especially the youth and children from Drass and Kargil regions. Army Chief General Dalbir Singh on Monday paid homage to the soldiers, who laid down their lives during the Kargil war in 1999, at the war memorial in Jammu and Kashmir's Dras sector. "Gen Dalbir Singh, Chief of the Army Staff, paid homage to the martyrs of Operation Vijay at the historic war memorial at Dras on Monday," a defence spokesman said. The Army Chief was accompanied by General officer Commanding in Chief of Northern Commander Lt Gen D S Hooda and General Officer Commanding of Ladakh-based Fire and Fury Corps Lt Gen S K Patyal, the spokesman said. Gen Singh also interacted with the wives and the relatives of the slain soldiers. The army is celebrating the 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas to commemorate the victory in the war against Pakistan. Coast Guard IG Rajan Bargotra briefing on the search operations of missing IAF's AN-32 aircraft at a press conference, in Chennai on Monday. Photo: PTI. NEW DELHI (PTI): There are 4-5 "small" leads with regard to the AN-32 aircraft of the IAF which went missing four days back with 29 people on board, the government told the Rajya Sabha as it faced questions over the issue. During the Question Hour, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was asked about the status of the plane which disappeared during a flight from Tambaram airbase in Tamil Nadu to Port Blair on Friday last. "There are 4-5 small leads and attempts are being made to verify them," he said, adding, however, that there has been no confirmed finding yet. Asserting that the government had spared no efforts in locating the plane, Parrikar said the government had used satellite imagery and deployed 30 ships and submarines for the purpose. Responding to questions about quality of AN-32, he said it is one of the safest aircraft and there have been reports of only two accidents in the last ten years. There have been some minor snags at times, he said. Parrikar was also asked if the government was in talks with the US for conducting joint naval patrols in the South China sea over which China has laid a claim. He replied that there have been no such talks. The government takes all measures to ensure the country's maritime security, he said, adding these measures do not include joint patrolling with foreign navies including the US. Asked about the implications of the China's refusal to accept international court's decision on the South China sea, Parrikar, without naming China, said any country should respect International Courts, whichever decision they have given. He added that "freedom of navigation cannot be compromised." The search for the Indian Air Force's AN-32 aircraft, which went missing over Bay of Bengal with 29 defence personnel on board three days ago, was intensified after satellite imagery pointed to possible floating objects but nothing has been found yet. "Indigenous imagery satellite did give us some pointers to possible floating objects. The area indicated are being searched intensively by ships and aircraft. Nothing sighted as yet," defence sources here said. Efforts are on, sources said, adding another indigenous satellite would be used for further search. A total of 12 Naval ships and four Indian Coast Guard vessels, along with 17 aircraft from the Indian Air Force, Indian Navy and ICG have been mobilised for this operation. "The weather improved marginally, thereby aiding deployment of additional assets and aiding intensification of the search in a larger area. "The sea state, however, continues to be rough, making the conditions challenging," a statement by the MoD said. An AN-32 aircraft of the IAF, with 29 personnel on board, including four officers, went missing on Friday over Bay of Bengal on its way from near Chennai to Port Blair. If you need some cheering up, we highly recommend this video of an Irish girl arriving home from Australia - to the shock and absolute delight of her mother. On Saturday, Ciara Redmond, whos from Glanmire in Cork, arrived in Wexford where her mam is staying for the summer. It took her four days to travel back from Melbourne, including a 19 hour layover in Delhi and a cancelled flight from Frankfurt but she says "it was well worth the surprise!". Taoiseach Enda Kenny will holds talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May today in the latest meetings on how Brexit will unfold. Mr Kenny, who last week met French president Francois Hollande on the issue, said his trip to London offers a chance for constructive discussions. The High Court has rejected a request to extradite a mother to France to face an allegation that she abducted her own son. The French woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had claimed that she came to Ireland to protect her son. But French authorities said she is wanted for child abduction and for failing to deliver the boy to his father, who is entitled to joint custody. The boy is now 17 years old. The court previously heard that the mother flew to Ireland with her son one day after she was due to hand him over to her ex-husband. She said that she feared that if she returned her son to his father, the boy could end up in a psychiatric institution and become institutionalised for life. The boy was aged 16 at the time. Today, Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly rejected the French authorities' request to surrender the woman for extradition. The issue in the case, the judge said, was if the child lacked the capacity to consent to being taken to Ireland. During earlier hearings, counsel for the Minister for Justice Vincent Heneghan BL made the argument that the charge of child abduction in France was equivalent to a charge of false imprisonment in Ireland. Michael Lynn SC, representing the French woman, argued that the boy came to Ireland willingly. The boy's autistic condition did not mean that he was incapable of making a decision for himself and no evidence had been heard to contradict that, he said. Mr Lynn further stated that the boy was not forced in any way and that as a 17-year-old he was considered capable of making his own decisions under Irish law. In her judgement, Ms Justice Donnelly said she was satisfied that the facts set out in the European Arrest Warrant and the case did not demonstrate a lack of consent on the boy's part. Therefore, she said, there was no correspondence between the offence of child abduction and that of false imprisonment. The woman was discharged from the court and her case was listed for mention again on Thursday morning. Teaching time for Religion classes in schools may be significantly reduced if new proposals before Government are accepted. The State advisory board is considering reviewing proposals on the curriculum. Currently, most State schools spend around two and a half hours teaching the subject each week. State-backed curriculum subjects such as Maths and English would be prioritised under the new proposals. Chairperson of Atheist Ireland, Michael Nugent, believes there is a bigger issue than timing. "The amount of time that's formally given to religious faith formation in schools isn't really the issue, because they implement the religious ethos throughout the entire school day," he said. "During Nature Studies they are told that God created this, that and the other. During Music, they're singing hymns, during art, they're drawing pictures. "So what needs to be done is that the Government needs to change the Education Act to ensure that the curriculum is delivered in an objective manner." There will be no return to customs posts and checkpoints along the North's border, Enda Kenny has declared, as he and British Prime Minister Theresa May held their first meeting since Brexit. Instead, Mr Kenny signalled that measures to monitor the movements of people and goods over the border could involve modern technology, writes Juno McEnroe, political correspondent. In the face-to-face meeting lasting just over an hour at No 10 Downing Street in London, the two leaders discussed trade, the peace process and the next steps since the Brexit vote. Prime Minister May earlier this week said that practical solutions would be worked out for the whole of Britain, including the North, before the move to leave the union is triggered. In his statement afterwards, Mr Kenny said both leaders had agreed that there would be no formal hard border: We are in agreement that we don't wish to see any return to the borders of the past on the island of Ireland. Speaking outside afterwards, Mr Kenny said this meant no more check points or customs points. But there were alternative methods of tracking movements over the border, he said, including the use of modern technology. Asked by the Irish Examiner whether a model in Canada which tracks licence plates with cameras could be used, Mr Kenny signalled that this could be examined in the next steps for the North. Mr Kenny, the first leader to visit Downing Street since Brexit, also invited the British Prime Minster to visit Ireland at a time that suits. However, Mr Kenny yesterday was also asked several times about whether a United Ireland was now a possibility after Brexit. He refused to be drawn on this issue and instead said the discussion between the two was about an agreement that there would be no hard border. A priest has been remanded on bail, charged with indecently assaulting a boy, writes David Raleigh. The accused who cannot be named appeared before a sitting of Limerick District Court this morning. He is charged with eight counts of indecent assault against the boy, contrary to Common Law, and Section 62 of the Offences Against the Person Act, 1861. The offences are alleged to have taken place on dates between September 1, 1988 and August 1, 1990. Detective Garda Mike Reidy, Roxboro Road station, gave evidence that he "met the defendant by appointment before the court at 10.15am and formally arrested him". "In reply to all of the charges he had nothing to say...no reply to the charges," Dtc Gda Reidy said. He told the court the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had, "consented to trial on indictment, in respect of these matters". Gardai did not object to bail and sought no special conditions. Gda Reidy said it was "a Co Limerick matter" and he sought "a remand to Kilmallock court on September 13 for (production of) of Book of Evidence." The accused was granted free legal aid and was represented in court by a solicitor. Judge O'Leary ordered the media not to disclose the identities of either the accused or the injured party. She remanded the accused on bail of his own bond of 300, to appear before Kilmallock District Court on September 13, for production of a Book of Evidence. Three Irish films have been selected to be shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. Jim Sheridan's new movie The Secret Scripture, which starts Rooney Mara, Vanessa Redgrave and Jack Reynor will have its world premiere at the festival.l, along with new film Unless from Alan Gilsenan and a new film from Irish filmmaker Aisling Walsh called Maudie, which stars Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke. https://youtu.be/HznF0uTEIU8 All three were produced with the support of the Irish Film Board. Commenting on the selection director Jim Sheridan (pictured) said: "It was so good to be back home to make this film. I loved bringing Sebastian Barry's moving novel to the big screen and I feel honoured for the freedom he gave me. Embed code has no external id. "Irish novels and stories are loved by people all over the world. Like Robbie Brady, I hope we can hit the back of the net with this one like Room and Brooklyn did. Fingers crossed. Im also delighted to have a chance to bring the amazing cast back together for the world premiere." Produced by Ferndale Films, The Secret Scripture was filmed on location in Dublin and Kilkenny with some scenes shot on Dollymount Strand and Portrane Beach. Maudie will have a gala presentation at the festival and tell the unlikely love story in which a curmudgeonly miser hires a tiny disfigured woman to be his housekeeper, who becomes a well loved folk artist. Unless stars Academy Award-nominated actress Catherine Keener as a mother whose eldest daughter Norah suddenly drops out of college, runs from the family and is found on a Toronto street corner, with a hand-lettered cardboard sign reading Goodness on her chest. The story follows her family as they struggle first to rescue Norah, then to understand her incomprehensible decision in taking this strange path. Unless is produced by Subotica with support from the IFB. In England, a company making the latest Star Wars film has admitted health-and-safety breaches - after Harrison Ford broke his leg. The actor - who plays Han Solo - was crushed by a hydraulic door on the Millennium Falcon spaceship just over two years ago at Pinewood Studios near London. Ten people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden car outside the United Nations Mine Action Service offices in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, a police official said. Seven of the dead were UN guards. Unlike previous attacks blamed on the al Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab, gunmen did not accompany the suicide bomber, Captain Mohamed Hussein said. He said the bomber tried to speed through the barrier at the UN office but guards opened fire on the car. Capt Hussein said a second suicide blast targeted a checkpoint manned by Somali security forces near the African Union base in Mogadishu. Casualties there remain unclear. Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the attacks, according to the group's Andalus radio station. Al-Shabab is waging an insurgency against Somalia's weak UN-backed government. Al-Shabab wants to establish an Islamic emirate in the country based on a strict form of Islam. Eight soldiers were killed when an al-Shabab suicide car bomber targeted a Somalia military training camp and attackers then entered the base on foot earlier this month. A man has shot dead a doctor before killing himself at a Berlin hospital. It is understood the man was a former patient of the doctor's. The shooting happened at the mouth, jaw and face surgery unit of the Benjamin-Franklin Hospital in the south-western district of Steglitz, said officials. Turkey's president has accused the European Union of failing to honour its side of a deal to stop refugees entering Europe - and defended a possible reintroduction of the death penalty. Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the EU has transferred only up to two million of the 3bn promised to Ankara as part of the agreement. Hillary Clinton has claimed the Democratic White House nod in a historic moment for America - the first woman to win the presidential nomination of a major US political party. Her triumph came after former rival Bernie Sanders asked delegates at the party's national convention in Philadelphia to nominate her by acclamation, in a dramatic end to the roll call of states. Mr Sanders told the convention that he wanted the procedural rules to be suspended and that Mrs Clinton be selected as the party's nominee. Former secretary of state, New York senator and first lady Mrs Clinton wants to be the first woman president in US history and to do that she will have to beat Republican Donald Trump in the general election in November. Delegates erupted in cheers as Mr Sanders helped make it official when the roll call got to his home state of Vermont - an important show of unity for a party trying to heal deep divisions. "I move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the nominee of the Democratic Party for president of the United States," he declared, asking that it be by acclamation. It was a striking parallel to the role Mrs Clinton played eight years ago when she stepped to the microphone on the convention floor in support of her former rival Barack Obama. For Democrats, it was a jubilant start to a night that was to include former president Bill Clinton taking the convention stage to deliver a personal validation for his wife. The roll call of states was one more opportunity for Sanders supporters to voice their fierce loyalty to the Vermont senator, who sat in the arena soaking up the cheers and waving to the crowd. But the convention belonged to Mrs Clinton, who will take on Mr Trump in November. Her landmark achievement saturated the roll call with emotion and symbols of women's long struggle to break through political barriers. A 102-year-old woman, born before women had the right to vote, cast the ballots for Arizona. Martha McKenna, a Clinton delegate from Maryland, said the night felt like a celebration for Sanders' campaign as well as Mrs Clinton's. But the mother of two young girls said she was most excited to see Mrs Clinton officially named. "The idea that I'm going to be here when the first woman president is nominated is overwhelming," she said. Mrs Clinton's campaign hoped the night of achievement, personal stories and praise could chip away at the deep distrust of her many voters, including some Democrats, have. Much of the convention's second night was being devoted to introducing voters to Mrs Clinton anew, including three hours of speakers highlighting issues she has championed for years, including health care and advocacy for children and families. "Tonight we will make history, about 100 years in the making," said Karen Finney, a senior adviser for Mrs Clinton's campaign. "What we're really going to focus on tonight is telling that story, and telling her story, talking about the fights of her life." Watch: Hillary Clinton wins U.S. presidential nomination, a first for women in U.S. history https://t.co/2g2jCnEsuf https://t.co/XleyPhNYqN Newsweek (@Newsweek) July 26, 2016 The stories were being told by a long list of politicians, celebrities and advocates. Among those pledging support for Mrs Clinton were the "mothers of the movement" - several black women whose children were victims of gun violence. Clinton aides believe a focus on policy is another way to rally Mr Sanders' supporters, especially those who threatened to stay home or vote for Mr Trump. While the opening night was interrupted by boos and chants of "Bernie" there were fewer signs of discord on Tuesday. Mr Sanders had implored his supporters to not protest during the convention. Still, several hundred people gathered at Philadelphia's City Hall under a blazing sun on Tuesday chanting "Bernie or bust." Mr Trump cheered the disruptions from the campaign trail. In North Carolina, he told a convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars that, "our politicians have totally failed you". When he mentioned Mrs Clinton's name, the group answered with shouts of "Lock her up!" - an echo of the chants at last week's Republican convention. Mr Trump has been a frequent target at the Democratic gathering, where several videos featured his comments about women and the disabled, and tried to discredit the real estate mogul's business record. First lady Michelle Obama was a star of the opening night, making an impassioned case for Mrs Clinton as the only candidate in the presidential race worthy of being a role model for the nation's children. Barack Obama and US vice president Joe Biden will speak on Wednesday, along with Virginia senator Tim Kaine, Mrs Clinton's new running mate. Two attackers slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest celebrating Mass in a French church, killing him and gravely injuring one of the few worshippers present before being shot to death by police. A nun who escaped said she saw the attackers video themselves and "give a sermon in Arabic" around the altar at the church near Rouen in Normandy. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the first attack in a church in the West. Police rescued three other people inside the church - including a second nun - in the small north-western town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, said Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet. A regional Muslim leader said one of the two attackers - both killed outside the church - was known to police. A police official said he had tried to go to Syria. It was the first known attack claimed by IS inside a church in the West. A church outside Paris was targeted last year, but the attack never was carried out. A statement published by the Islamic State-affiliated Amaq news agency said the attack was carried out by "two soldiers of the Islamic State" who acted in response to calls to target nations in the US-led coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria. The statement echoed claims in other recent attacks in France and neighbouring Germany. It repeated its threat to Western "crusaders." The RAID special intervention force carried out a search for possible explosives in or around the church. "The investigations are ongoing. There are still unknowns," said Mr Brandet. "There are dogs, explosive detectors and bomb disposal services" at the church outside Rouen. A nun who was in the church said the priest was forced to the ground before his throat was slit. The nun, identified as Sister Danielle, told BFM television: "They forced him to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And that's when the tragedy happened." She said the attackers recorded themselves. "They did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. It's a horror" Dominique Lebrun, the archbishop of Rouen, confirmed the death of 85-year-old Rev Jacques Hamel. "I cry out to God, with all men of good will. And I invite all non-believers to unite with this cry," Rev Lebrun wrote in a statement from Krakow, Poland. "The Catholic Church has no other arms besides prayer and fraternity between men." The priest "was always ready to help," said Rouen diocese official Philippe Mahut. He said Hamel had been at the church for the past decade. "Sometimes he was running all around, and his desire was to spread a message for which he consecrated his life," Mahut said in an interview with AP. "And he certainly didn't think that consecrating his life would mean for him to die while celebrating a Mass, which is a message of love." French president Francois Hollande, arriving on the scene, called it a "vile terrorist attack" and one more sign that France is at war with the Islamic State group, which has claimed a string of attacks on France plus two in Germany. "We must lead this war with all our means," he said, adding that he was calling a meeting on Wednesday of representatives of all religions. He expressed solidarity with local Catholics, saying "they have been terribly hit by the killing of the parish priest by two terrorists claiming to belong to Daesh. I have met with the family of the priest." The town mayor, Hubert Wulfranc, in tears, denounced the "barbarism" and, breaking down, pleaded: "Let us together be the last to cry." A police official said one of the attackers had been turned back after trying to go to Syria. The official said the man was under police supervision and wore an electronic bracelet to monitor his movements. Mohammed Karabila, head of the Regional Council of the Muslim Faith for Haute-Normandie, said French security services knew the name of one of the attackers. "The person who committed this odious act is known and he has been followed by the police for at least one and a half years. He went to Turkey and security services were alerted after this," he said. The Pope condemned the attack in the strongest terms. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev Federico Lombardi, said in a statement that Pope Francis expressed his "pain and horror for this absurd violence, with the strongest condemnation for every form of hatred and prayer for those affected". France is on high alert and under a state of emergency after an attack in the southern city of Nice on Bastille Day - July 14 - that killed 84 people that was claimed by the Islamic State group, as well as a series of attacks last year that killed 147 others around Paris. Islamic State extremists have urged followers to attack French churches and the group is believed to have planned at least one church attack earlier. The attack once again demonstrates the challenge of combating the threat. French authorities increased security at churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship after attacks in Paris last year, but ensuring constant, blanket security is difficult in a country with a church in every town and village. In April 2015, an Algerian student who was arrested after shooting himself in the leg was found with heavy weapons, bulletproof vests and documents linked to Islamic State. He is charged with killing a young woman inside her car the same day. According to French authorities, the suspect, Sid Ahmed Ghlam, was sent by the Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud to attack a church in Villejuif, just outside Paris. A cell directed by Abaaoud later carried out the November 13 attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead and the March 22 attacks in Brussels that killed 32 people. Update 10.48am: Local reports have quoted police sources as saying that "at least" one of the hostages have been killed during a siege of a church in France today. Later reports have suggested that the priest died from a slashed throat during the incident, while one of the members of the congregation was seriously injured. Newspaper Le Figaro quoted police sources as saying that at least one of the two hostage-takers had a beard and was wearing a "chachia" skullcap of the kind worn by some Muslims. The hostage-takers entered the church armed with knives shortly before 10am local time (9am Irish time), said French media sources. A number of shots were heard over a period of around 15 seconds as the incident came to an end. President Francois Hollande is said to be travelling to the scene. Update 10.32am: A hostage has died after a siege at a church in France today, according to reports in local media. The French Police Nationale gave no details about the situation but sent a Tweet urging media not to cross security tape at the scene or take pictures or video. The police operation was completed by 11am French time (10am Irish time). Officers from the elite anti-terrorist Raid squad were called in to assist local police. The area around the church remained cordoned off and the old town was declared out-of-bounds. French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve was reported to be on his way to the scene. Earlier: Two knifemen have been shot dead after taking hostages in a church in France, local media have reported. A priest, two nuns and several worshippers were involved in the incident in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, south of Rouen, in Normandy. According to unconfirmed reports, the hostage takers were shot dead by police. The French Police Nationale gave no details about the situation but sent a Tweet urging media not to cross security tape at the scene or take pictures or video. Update 3.15pm: One person has been arrested in France after an attack on a church in which an elderly priest was killed. Update 2.04pm: The so-called 'Islamic State' group has claimed responsibility for the attack in France in which two people killed an 84-year-old priest. The claim, which came in a statement published by the IS-affiliated Aamaq news agency, said the attack was carried out by "two soldiers of the Islamic State." Update 1.15pm: French president Francois Hollande has suggested that the so-called 'Islamic State' group is behind the church attack in Normandy that left an 84-year-old priest dead. Mr Hollande called the incident a "vile terrorist attack" and said it is another sign that France is at war with 'IS', which has claimed a string of attacks on France. "We must lead this war with all our means," he said. Mr Hollande expressed support for all France's Catholics but said the attack targets "all the French." Earlier: Two attackers killed an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat before being shot and killed by police after they seized hostages in a church in Normandy. Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen confirmed the identity of the priest as Father Jacques Hamel, 84. Another person inside the church near the city of Rouen was seriously injured and is between life and death, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. Police managed to rescue three people from the church in the small north-western town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, said Mr Brandet. The hostage-taking occurred during morning Mass, he told reporters. The French president has suggested the so-called Islamic State group is behind the attack. Police said two attackers entered Father Hamel's church in the small Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, slit his throat and took hostages before being shot dead by police. In a statement from Krakow, Poland, where Pope Francis was visiting, Archbishop Lebrun said: "I cry out to God, with all men of good will. And I invite all non-believers to unite with this cry ... The Catholic Church has no other arms besides prayer and fraternity between men." The identities of the attackers and motive for the attack are unclear, according to a security official. Tuesday's slaying inside a church "is obviously a drama for the Catholic community, for the Christian community," Mr Brandet told reporters. French president Francois Hollande and interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve were heading to the town. Mr Brandet, speaking on BFM TV, said the RAID special intervention force was searching the church and its perimeter for possible explosives and terrorism investigators had been summoned. The hostage-takers entered the church armed with knives shortly before 10am local time (9am Irish time), said French media sources. As the situation developed, officers from the elite anti-terrorist Raid squad were called in to assist local police. A number of shots were heard over a period of around 15 seconds as the incident came to an end around 40 minutes later. Anti-terrorist authorities in Paris have opened an inquiry into the hostage-taking. Eulalie Garcia, who works in a beauty parlour, is on the same road as the church, and told reporters that she knew the 92-year-old priest, who had taught her the catechism as a young girl. "My family has lived here for 35 years and we have always known him," she said. "He was someone who was treasured by the community. He was very discreet and didn't like to draw attention to himself." She said she was very shocked by the death of the priest, who lived opposite his church. "It can happen to anyone," she said. The area around the church remained cordoned off and the old town was out of bounds. French newspaper Le Figaro reported that the church was suspected to have been on a list of Catholic places of worship in the area around Paris drawn up as possible targets by Sid Ahmed Ghlam, an Algerian student arrested last year on suspicion of murdering a mother-of-one during a botched attempt to attack a church in Villejuif. In an impromptu press conference at the scene, Mr Brandet said that a careful investigation of the church building was being conducted by anti-terrorist officers, using sniffer dogs to ensure that no bombs had been left behind by the hostage-takers as booby-traps. The scene was being investigated by forensic officers, in an operation which was expected to last throughout the day, he said. Mr Brandet said: "I will not talk about the motives of these individuals. "I cannot tell you more about the persons who have been seriously injured and who have been assassinated, for the simple reason that investigations are ongoing and the explosive sniffer dogs are carrying out their work. "We face a dramatic situation that we have to face up to once again, less than two weeks following the Nice tragedy." Mr Brandet was unable to say whether the hostage-takers had firearms. "The investigation will continue throughout the day," he said. "We are at the start of the operation. The priority was to make sure we got the assailants and rescued as many hostages as possible. "Unfortunately the toll has been extremely high. One person was assassinated and another was seriously injured." French prime minister Manuel Valls said in a message on Twitter: "Horror in the face of the barbaric attack on a church in Seine-Maritime. All of France and all Catholics are bruised. We stand together." High alert France is on high alert after an attack in Nice on Bastille Day - July 14 - that killed 84 people and a string of deadly attacks last year claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 147 others. The country is also under a state of emergency and has extra police presence in the wake of the Nice attack in which a man barrelled his truck down the city's famed Promenade des Anglais, mowing down holiday crowds. Islamic State extremists have urged followers to attack French churches and the group is believed to have planned at least one church attack earlier. In April 2015, an Algerian student who was arrested after shooting himself in the leg was found with heavy weapons, bulletproof vests and documents linked to Islamic State. He is charged with killing a young woman inside her car the same day. According to French authorities, the suspect, Sid Ahmed Ghlam, was sent by the Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud to attack a church in Villejuif, just outside of Paris. A cell directed by Abaaoud later carried out the November 13 attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead and the March 22 attacks in Brussels that killed 32 people. The Afghan military has launched a major offensive against the Islamic State group in the country's far eastern region near the border with Pakistan, after a massive attack on Kabul. The offensive began over the weekend in Nangarhar province, where IS has had a presence for the past year, said Dawlat Waziri, spokesman for the Defence Ministry. The offensive, part of the government's Operation Shafaq - or Dawn in Pahsto - started hours after an IS suicide bomber killed at least 80 people who were taking part in a peaceful demonstration in Kabul on Saturday. It was the deadliest attack to hit the Afghan capital since the 2001 US-led invasion. President Ashraf Ghani gave the orders for the offensive, which Mr Waziri said will consist of air strikes and ground attacks, including those by special forces. Clean-up operations aimed at ensuring that IS loyalists do not return to the area would follow, he added. The offensive marks a new chapter in Afghanistan's war against insurgents. Until now they have been a largely defensive force, and have struggled to take the lead on the battlefield since the withdrawal in 2014 of most international combat forces. The head of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, has pledged to transform the Afghan military into an offensive force so they can take the fight to the insurgents, and reclaim battlefield initiative. The main fight is against the Taliban who have been battling to overthrow the Kabul government for 15 years. But this counter-terrorism operation against the IS group will enable General Nicholson to implement an aggressive new strategy, working closely with the Afghan military and using more air strikes against the enemy, said analysts. US President Barack Obama recently expanded the conditions for US troops in Afghanistan to support Afghan offensive operations. General Nicholson can make the strategic shift from using air power only to defend US and Nato positions, to striking in support of Afghan offensives. President Obama's directives, issued in June, enable the US military to work alongside Afghan forces in the field on offensive missions against insurgents, though still in a non-combat role. Since 2014, their role was confined to battles in which the Taliban directly threatened US and Nato. They also allow US involvement when Afghan forces face "strategic defeat," as they did in the northern provincial capital of Kunduz, which briefly fell to the Taliban last September and was threatened again in April. The US military spokesman in Kabul, Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, said American forces have been involved in the current operation in the east and are conducting "multiple counter-terrorism strikes." He said that since January 1, US forces conducted "more than 450 kinetic strikes" both under the new authorities and for force protection. Haqiqullah Walizada, spokesman for the fourth regiment of the Afghan army's 201 Corps, said 260 IS gunmen had been killed in the Kot and Achin districts since the offensive began. Another 122 had been wounded, he said. Mr Walizada said that Kot, which shares a border with Pakistan, was the main IS stronghold in the region. "During the operation a large number of IS fighters were killed, including the recently-appointed group commander Saeed Emarati," he said. Emarati was a Taliban fighter but swapped allegiance after it was revealed last year that the founder and then-leader of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar had been dead for more than two years, said Mr Walizada. The formal start of the US-backed offensive in Nangarhar appears to be an extension of months of attacks on IS positions in the region. Afghan authorities have claimed huge numbers of IS loyalists killed in these operations, though without details or verification. Officials have said that IS loyalists in Afghanistan are mostly former fighters for the Taliban or other insurgent groups including the Pakistani Taliban known as Tehrik-i-Taliban or TTP. Elsewhere in the country, Taliban gunmen attacked police checkpoints in Uruzgan province, in the south, where they have been active for many months. The director of the Uruzgan provincial council, Abdul Kareem Khadimzai, said the militants launched their attack on checkpoints on the strategic Kandahar-to-Uruzgan highway, killing three policemen and taking five others hostage. Two new suspects have been detained in the investigation into the Bastille Day attack in Nice in which more than 80 people were killed. The Paris prosecutor's office said on Tuesday that two men have been in custody in southern France since Monday. HANOI: Vietnams rice exports in the first ten months of this year are forecast to rise 17.2% from a year earlier to... In one of the biggest upsets of the ongoing T20 World Cup, Zimbabwe defeated Pakistan by one run in a nail-biting... BERLIN: German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived in Ukraine for a surprise visit on Tuesday, his first trip... The hundreds of trees struck down by unseasonably wild weather at the weekend took its toll on stretched ACT government services. Transport Canberra and City Services operations supervisor John Peri said about 400 trees had either fallen or lost major limbs since Friday evening. Tree operations supervisor with TAMS John Peri has been kept busy cleaning up from the recent windy weather. Credit:Elesa Kurtz He said ten 10 staff attended 76 calls from the public in relation to fallen trees, many of which caused significant damage around Canberra, on Saturday. "There has been a lot of great danger, a lot of fallen trees that have been potentially hazardous," he said. The a2 Milk Company's long-running claim that its A2 protein-only product helps consumers "feel better" and lessen digestive discomfort is set to be tested in court for the first time. The court battle between a2 and Lion Group, which owns milk brands Pura and Dairy Farmers, was originally going to focus on the right to use the term "A2 protein" on labels. But in the Federal Court on Tuesday, the defendant Lion said as well as protecting its "Naturally contains A2 protein" claim, it was planning to scrutinise the science behind a2's health-related claims. International fast-fashion giant Zara has been accused of plagiarising the print and accessory designs of more than 40 independent artists around the world. Artists across the US, UK, Europe and Australia have connected over the alleged plagiarism of graphic designs, badges and pins, starting an online campaign to "hold the company accountable". Melbourne-based graphic artist Georgia Perry is the only Australian artist who claims her designs have been stolen and said it is not the first time. Parochialism makes sense in many areas of journalism, such as reporting on local communities or advocating for a minority. But it often fails us when the issues are global. Group loyalty can prompt us to ignore inconvenient facts and other perspectives, becoming a form of ideology. This journalism was on display in the worst of the British media coverage of the Brexit vote and the refugee crisis in Europe. An excessive nationalism combined with bigotry to invent fear-mongering facts, misrepresent the problems and offer simplistic (and discriminatory) solutions. In tough times, populists use the emotions of parochialism to turn groups against other groups. Patriotism, as a form of parochialism, becomes an ugly and xenophobic attitude. Yet I have chosen to give a public talk this week about the poverty of parochial journalism in a global world, and the need for a global journalism ethic. Am I being too esoteric? No. The strong emotions of parochialism are among the chief causes of these dubious journalistic forms. To be parochial is to make decisions based on what is "mine" what is near and dear. To be parochial is to put the interests of my local group ahead of any other group. Group loyalty is primary. Parochial journalists see their first duty as the promotion of the interests of their local or national groups. They serve a parochial, not a global public. They write stories from the perspective of their local audience. The Sun urged readers to vote to leave the EU: Parochialism often fails us when the issues are global such as with some of the British media coverage of the Brexit vote. Credit:Luke MacGregor When citizens complain about their news media, they typically say reports are biased, inaccurate or sensational. They complain about the offensive shock jock, the partisan commentator and the racy tabloids that paint immigrants as dangerous extremists. Yet we already know how narrow parochialism works from the history of journalism. Parochialism has been the dominant but understated norm of journalism ethics down the centuries. All other principles, such as objectivity or independence, have been compromised if that is what parochialism demands. The history of war reporting is, in large part, an unedifying tale of narrow parochialism at work: journalists uncritically supporting questionable wars, spreading propaganda and demonising other races. Today, as journalism becomes more partisan, more opinion-based and more desperate to capture audiences with "hot talk", we can expect negative forms of parochial journalism to increase, not decline. In a global, media-linked world where stories cross borders and can incite violence, we need a globally-minded journalism. We need to construct global journalism ethics that transcends parochialism in two ways. First, we use global values to restrain the worst forms of parochialism. Second, we replace parochialism with globalism as the norm. Globalism makes global values primary. What are global values? They are things we value, and principles we adhere to, not because they are "mine" or belong to my local group. They are universal in applying to all people regardless of their parochial origins, race or nationality. Human rights, for example, hold for all people simply as people. Such global principles should be at the basis of our journalism value system and they should trump parochial values when they conflict. Journalists should see themselves as global communicators promoting humanity. They should reject calls to be patriotic if it means supporting an unjust war. They should reveal their group's violations of human rights and environmental policies in other countries. When a global issue is at stake, they should not view it only from their nation's perspective what's in it for us? They should approach the issue with a broader global view that includes multiple perspectives, and inconvenient counter-facts. They should exhibit a knowledge of, and respect for, strangers. I and others have sketched the conceptual basics of global journalism ethics. We have shown how it would change the coverage of Islam, terrorism and other complex issues. But such work will go for naught unless news media and journalism schools adopt globalism and put it into practice. It would be a radical change in journalism morality. The time has come to move from theory to practice. My message is simple: we need to be globalists. A royal commission is a good start but it's not enough ("PM calls for Royal Commission", smh.com.au, July 26). What needs to happen - today: Charge whoever committed torture. There is video evidence. Place charges today. Send in Amnesty International and a psychologist and a collection of aunties/women to watch over every child in juvenile detention. Send them in today. Sack the Northern Territory minister in charge and do it today. Tell those children they are loved and that the people of Australia will watch over them as best we can. Tell them today. Officers restrain a youth detainee in the Northern Territory in 2010. Credit:ABC Four Corners Alison J Anderson Denistone After watching Monday night's Four Corners, I am speechless . What the hell has happened to our country? Bill Young Greenwich The Northern Territory has the highest rate of youth detention in Australia. It locks children up at almost five times the national average. Monday night's Four Corners episode also revealed that cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment is endemic in its principal youth detention facility. Stripping, hooding, tear gassing, holding young people in solitary confinement, or restraining them in chairs are all inexcusable practices. No circumstances ever justify exposing a child in our care and custody to such treatment. The Northern Territory is, without a doubt, in breach of its human rights obligations under the Convention against Torture and mistreatment; and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Human rights law is clear. Everyone, and in particular children, should be protected from, rather than subjected to, this type of abuse. I have known one of the young people who featured in Monday's Four Corners episode for close to a decade. I was his lawyer when he first came into contact with the criminal justice system. I know that there were countless missed opportunities for positive rather than punitive intervention in his life: for the system to make things better for him, rather than worse. Australian doctors will launch a High Court challenge to controversial laws they say gag them from speaking out over child abuse and other threats to asylum seekers in detention centres. Lawyers for the doctors in the case, due to be filed on Wednesday, will argue that the court should declare invalid laws that threaten detention centre staff with two years' jail for disclosing information about conditions they observe behind the wire. Doctors and health professionals at a Sydney protest last year. They stood with their hands over their mouths indicating they are being silenced by the new laws. Credit:Fiona Morris Doctors for Refugees, represented by the Fitzroy Legal Service, said the case will question if the secrecy provisions breach health professionals' constitutional freedom to engage in political communication in this instance, highlighting and debating the effects of the detention regime on their patients. "If doctors stand by and allow people [in detention centres] to walk through raw sewage, just to get to the meal area, they're failing their patients and their profession," said Dr Barri Phatarfod, the group's convenor. Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion has conceded that previous revelations about the shocking conditions inside the Northern Territory corrections system failed to "pique [his] interest sufficiently" and that he wasn't fully aware of the treatment of incarcerated youth until seeing the vision aired by ABC's Four Corners on Monday night. Lamenting that "you don't know what you don't know", Senator Scullion said an agitated Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had to ring him and tell him to watch the explosive Four Corners investigation, which has immediately triggered a royal commission. Senator Scullion's remarks came as the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency said "none of this is new". The agency rubbished Chief Minister Adam Giles' claims that he and other government figures were not aware of the extent of mistreatment and that there was a cover-up culture in the corrections system. "It was some of the most disturbing footage I have ever seen, I have ever seen. And it beggars belief that the people that we put in charge of caring for vulnerable children in detention, and - that's right - caring for them and looking after their welfare, were in fact brutalising those children," Senator Scullion said. Former Coalition frontbencher Sophie Mirabella says she's finished in frontline politics and will turn her focus to being a commentator. Speaking after her second consecutive defeat in the Victorian seat of Indi, the conservative Liberal blamed unions, activist groups and "Melbourne-based feminists" for her loss on July 2, as independent MP Cathy McGowan recorded a 4.5 per cent swing in the regional seat. "I'll always have an interest and I will always support good people because I think that's important but it's time to think of my family and to do other stuff," Mrs Mirabella told Sky on Monday night. "I'm young. I've got a lot of experience, a lot of skills and I'll be on this side and be a commentator rather than a participant." Dylan Voller, the boy strapped to a restraining chair and with the hood placed over his head inside a Northern Territory detention centre, has penned a letter thanking his supporters for "getting the truth out there". In the handwritten letter circulated on Tuesday by his lawyer Peter O'Brien, the 17-year-old thanks the "whole Australian community for the support you have showed us boys as well as our families." "I would also like to take this opportunity to apologise to the community for my wrongs and I can't wait to get out and make up for them," he writes. People with bipolar disorder are missing out on crucial early intervention because of lengthy delays in diagnosis. An Australian study has found that, on average, people with bipolar are not diagnosed until six years after the onset of symptoms. The delay in diagnosing bipolar is often longer for young people because their moodiness is sometimes mistaken for teenage angst. Researchers at the University of New South Wales' School of Psychiatry analysed more than 9000 patients from 27 studies. They found many patients experienced distressing symptoms for many years until receiving proper treatment for bipolar disorder - previously known as manic depression. A hidden camera has captured a shocking attack on an elderly man by his carer at a nursing home in Adelaide, prompting calls for better monitoring of people in aged care. The footage, broadcast on Monday night's 7.30 program, appears to show a carer attacking bedridden 89-year-old Clarence Hausler at the Mitcham Residential Care Facility. In the video, Mr Hausler is sneezed on, flicked, held down, force fed and finally suffocated with a large napkin. Daughter Noleen Hausler told the program that she installed the secret device in the room after she became worried about bruises on her father's face. "I got to a point that I felt I wasn't being heard and I was suspicious of a certain staff member," she said. Eight male inmates who have spent seven hours protesting on the roof of an accommodation unit at Alice Springs Correctional Centre are yet to make any demands. The protest comes after disturbing footage aired on Monday night of teenagers being mistreated at youth detention centres in the Northern Territory. A spokesman for the Northern Territory Department of Corrections confirmed eight prisoners had been on the roof since 2.45pm local time. He said there were no weapons involved in the protest and there were no reports of injuries. Brisbane Baroque played a starring role in Monday night's Helpmann awards, taking home four trophies, and it again played a starring role in Tuesday's estimate hearings. Tourism and Events Queensland CEO Leanne Coddington faced a grilling from opposition leader Tim Nicholls over the range of issues facing the beleaguered festival. Shannon Pigram poses with the award for Best Opera in the awards room at 16th Annual Helpmann Awards. Credit:Brendon Thorne Earlier this year it was revealed by Fairfax Media that a number of artists and arts organisations were yet to be paid by the company behind the event Brisbane Baroque Pty Ltd, in the wake of sister event Sydney Sings being cancelled. The director of the event Jarrod Carland checked himself into hospital with an undisclosed medical condition, where he has remained since, leaving his business partner and boyfriend Shannon Pigram to field the calls. Brisbane's bid to host the 2028 Olympic Games climbs to the next rung from Wednesday as Lord Mayor Graham Quirk releases the findings of the first 12 months' preparations. Former Queensland premier and 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation chairman Peter Beattie raised the key question of finances ahead of the anticipated release. He appeared to hedge his bets on a possible bid, saying the event could be a "significant injector of economic activity" and he "admired" south-east Queensland councils for putting together an option to make a bid. "The real problem is cost," he told The Today Show. Crown barrister Walter Sofronoff described the former real estate agent's conduct from the time he killed his wife through to the end of the trial as "calculated and cold-blooded". Five High Court justices on Tuesday heard the Crown's appeal against the controversial downgrading of Baden-Clay's murder charge to manslaughter, following an appeal last year. Gerard Baden-Clay was "cold-blooded" and "capable of murder" while his own evidence was "inconsistent" with accidentally killing his wife, the country's highest court has heard. He said the 45-year-old left his children worrying about their missing mother for days despite knowing he had dumped her body in Kohlo Creek, about 13 kilometres from their south-western Brisbane home. Gerard Baden-Clay at the funeral of his wife Allison, who he was later found to have killed. Credit:Michelle Smith "To then use one of his daughters as some sort of amateurish corroboration by telling her he had cut herself shaving and asked her to put a bandaid on his marks ... One can look at that and conclude this is a man who at least is capable of murder, and let's look at the evidence to see if we're satisfied." The Court of Appeal found this behaviour was "neutral" when it came to intent to kill but Mr Sofronoff argued that was wrong, along with the court's finding that manslaughter was a reasonable explanation of the death. Baden-Clay told police marks on his face after the search began for Ms Baden-Clay on April 20, 2012, were caused by shaving but three experts unanimously agreed there were two separate sets of marks on his face following Ms Baden-Clay's death. A Brisbane learner driver has been caught allegedly driving drunk down a West End street searching for Pokemon. Police officers spotted a vehicle allegedly driving erratically down Riverside Drive without headlights on about 2.30am last Thursday. Police say a woman was playing Pokemon Go when she was pulled over. Credit:Bloomberg When police pulled the woman over they discovered she was playing Pokemon Go and seemed drunk. The 27-year-old, was driving on a learner's permit without the required passenger and when breath tested, allegedly returned a positive reading of 0.156 per cent. And after watching the MPs reach the delirious point where everyone starts laughing about how nicely they have all been getting on with each other, and then giggling and laughing some more, we might leave estimates until tomorrow. Leeanne Enoch grill factor - slightly seared. MVP - Kate Jones. While the Premier jokes about estimates being her favourite time of year, it might actually be Ms Jones. Theme of the day - There is no such thing as too much interjecting. Coming up - small business. We'll keep listening so you don't have to. That's just the type of peeps we are. Tomorrow will bring Shannon Fentiman, Coralee O'Rourke and Cameron Dick. Won't that be fun! Thank you for once again playing along and for making the time go faster. As fast as is possible, given the subject matter. Keep those dixer requests rolling and we'll see you back here just after 9am. Apple, the world's most valuable company, has thrown its weight behind marriage equality in Australia as debate over the federal government's plebiscite on the issue intensifies. The tech giant added its logo to the Australian Marriage Equality website on Tuesday. It joins hundreds other companies publicly backing the movement to legalise same-sex marriage, including the big four banks and Telstra, which came under fire earlier this year for appearing to renege on its support, only to then reaffirm it. In a statement, Apple said it "believes all people should be treated equally". An investigation is under way after a child spent ten days in solitary confinement in a Victorian juvenile jail. It is one of two active probes into alleged abuses of children in Victoria's youth detention system. A youth is left in solitary confinement in the ABC footage. Credit:ABC Four Corners Both have been ordered by the state's new Commissioner for Children and Young People, Liana Buchanan, who began the role in April. She ordered the first probe in her first week as Commissioner for Children after a 13-year-old boy fractured a "limb" in an incident with a staff member at the Parkville youth residential centre. In the wake of Monday's evidence of horrific abuses in the Northern Territory on the ABC program Four Corners, Ms Buchanan said: "Any closed environment with vulnerable kids needs to be scrutinised." Housing groups have strongly criticised plans for a massive redevelopment on public housing land that will increase social housing by just two properties. The groups say the government is missing an opportunity to substantially increase desperately needed public housing at the Hampton railway station precinct redevelopment, a site that includes just 16 public housing units. The area in Hampton earmarked for development. Credit:Stephanie Costa The refusal to significantly increase the number of public housing units comes despite a waiting list of more than 32,000 for government housing in Victoria. VicTrack has confirmed the redevelopment is expected to include up to 240 apartments for private sale. Four people have been arrested for trespassing in Kensington as authorities cut down a 94-year-old tree on Flemington Road. The arrests occurred after a group of about 10 protesters chained themselves to a tree. The four protesters who were arrested have been released pending further inquiries. Police speak to protesters at the Parkville tree protest on Tuesday. Credit:Joe Armao VicRoads is cutting down the tree to make room for the CityLink-Tullamarine Freeway widening project. Christine West, from Parkville, was among the group of protesters who were told to leave the area so the native tree could be cut down. It has been slammed as a sexist relic from a bygone era. An elite gentlemen's club where women are not welcome as members. But that didn't stop a leading hospital and Melbourne University from choosing the Melbourne Club for a surgical conference aimed at budding doctors this week. Exclusive men's club, The Melbourne Club on Collins Street. Credit:Craig Sillitoe Despite months of negative publicity about sexism in surgery, The Melbourne Club was hired to host medical students and training doctors at the St Vincent's Surgical Forum dinner on Tuesday night, a move that has angered some invitees. Although female medical students and young doctors were invited to attend Tuesday night's forum dinner - as long as they "dress in a manner that is appropriate to the Club" - critics say it shows not enough has changed in the "old boys club" surgical profession. Philadelphia: Day 1 at the Democratic Party convention was as chaotic and fraught as last week's GOP follies in Cleveland, with the mere mention of Hillary Clinton's name provoking booing on the convention floor, sacked party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz being howled down at a fringe event and even Bernie Sanders being booed by his own supporters as he tried to bring them into line. At the end of an ugly day, party officials were at a loss as to what else they might do to appease Sanders supporters enraged by WikiLeaks revelations on Friday, of the extent to which DNC staff conspired to promote Clinton's campaign over that of Sanders. Refusing to surrender, the protesters' anger infused the day's proceedings, with some even adopting the "Lock her up!" slogan used by Trump supporters to denigrate Clinton. Berlin: A patient shot a doctor in a university clinic in Berlin on Tuesday before killing himself, but there were "no signs at all" of a link with terrorism, police in the German capital said. Germany is on edge because of a spate of violent attacks on civilians by men of Middle Eastern or Asian origin since July 18 that have killed 10 people. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for two of those four attacks before Tuesday. Armed police officers walk in front of the Benjamin-Franklin Hospital in Berlin. Credit:AP Berlin police said the doctor had sustained life-threatening injuries in the attack at the Benjamin Franklin campus of the Charite university hospital in the south-west of the city and died shortly afterwards. They added that the situation at the hospital in Berlin's Steglitz district was now "under control" and investigators were on the scene to determine the background to the crime. Latest News Westpac announces major partnership with NRL, NRLW Funding designed to grow sport for both women and men Westpac predicts another RBA double hike If it is correct, an average borrower with a $500k loan could be paying an additional $800 a month, expert says More than nine in 10 Australian homebuyers believe that foreign buyers are placing upwards pressure on house prices, as the comprehensive Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Report (HILDA) shows home ownership is in sharp decline. Ninety-four percent of survey respondents to the latest CoreLogic and TEG Rewards Housing Market Sentiment Survey believe that foreign buying activity is placing some degree of upwards pressure on Australian home values. Almost one in five (17%) believe foreign buying is placing extreme upwards pressure on home values. Those most likely to report extreme upwards pressure on house prices from foreign investors were from Sydney and Melbourne -- where approvals through the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) were the highest. One quarter of Sydney respondents thought foreign buyers were placing extreme upwards pressure on dwelling values, and 22% of Melbourne respondents thought this was the case. However, these are also the two capital cities where capital growth has been the most substantial and housing affordability has been stretched the most. According to house price data from CoreLogic, home values in Sydney have been rising for four years, and have increased by a cumulative 59% over this growth cycle. Melbourne prices have moved 41% higher over the growth cycle to date. As a result, home ownership rates have been tumbling. The HILDA report, the most comprehensive long-term study of Australians, released last week, shows that entry-level properties are more expensive than ever and home ownership is dropping. The report revealed that the number of owner occupied households dropped to 64.9% in 2014, from 68.8% in 2001. Home ownership among Gen Y those aged between 25 and 34 declined from 38.7% in 2002 to 29.2% in 2014. In addition, the 10th percentile of homes or the cheapest in the market had grown 108% in value between 2001 and 2014, compared to a 47% growth for 90th percentile properties at the top of the market. Latest News Westpac announces major partnership with NRL, NRLW Funding designed to grow sport for both women and men Westpac predicts another RBA double hike If it is correct, an average borrower with a $500k loan could be paying an additional $800 a month, expert says The managing director of peer-to-peer invoice funder, The Invoice Market, has warned of a growing trend in the debtor financing market resulting in risky credit underwriting. According to Angus Sedgwick, there is worrying market talk that some local participants are following trends seen in the UK and US markets, whereby diligent credit underwriting is being replaced by algorithms. Whilst this may help service a higher volume of transactions, Sedgwick said it also results in higher than expected loss ratios. Typically, if funders are experiencing higher than expected loss ratios it may be a reflection of a heavy reliance on algorithmic credit underwriting processes. They may allow for higher volume of transactions but typically are not intuitive or robust enough to accurately assess the quality of transactions in the SME space, particularly where the business is a start-up. In contrast, by adding back an element of human assessment to both the credit assessment and invoice verification, tim has maintained a loss ratio of less than 0.4% of the total book over the past two years. At the same time, we have been able to offer very competitive funding rates to our clients. However, as debtor funding becomes more widespread, Sedgwick said the industry has also seen many positive changes. Undoubtedly, the main positive for businesses is that they are no longer restricted to on balance sheet funding, which many do not want or are unable to get. We can attribute tims growth in funding levels to three key areas an increased awareness by businesses; our work with traditional funders to set up joint referral processes that ultimately enhance client experience; and acting as an incubator for clients currently falling outside normal banking criteria. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams These comics are in the know! The new stand-up show Comedians You Should Know has recently blown in from the Windy City. Produced by Saurin Choksi, Mike Lebovitz, David Drake and Jeff Steinbrunner, the show has taken over the Spare Room of the Gutter bar and bowling alley in Williamsburg. Over the last few months, the energetic hosts Comedians You Should Know, or CYSK, have been scoring strikes with the local comedy scene. We caught up with Lebovitz to discuss his move from Chicago and what he enjoys about hosting the show. Where did the show begin? We started the show just about eight years ago in Chicago. It quickly became one of the best shows in town. Its turned into a thing where the first time you got to do CYSK, it was something youd been trying to do for a while and it meant something. When did you decide it was time to move it to New York? It happened more organically than that. I didnt move to New York to start the show. I moved to New York to take the next step in my stand-up career, and then after I was here for a while it felt like a good idea. I missed having that show, and I felt like the way we produced and ran it, there werent a whole lot of shows like that here. Its just nice to have a show thats your home base where you can develop your act in a somewhat controlled environment. My friend Jeff Steinbrunner, one of the guys running the show in Chicago, moved out here and found this great spot at the Gutter and we said Yeah, lets go ahead and do it. How does this show compare to others in the city? There are a lot of great comedy shows in New York. A lot of the bar shows are great, and a lot of them are not great, and theres a huge variety. A lot of times it is sort of like Yeah, turn on a microphone and start a show but with CYSK weve always asked the audience to pay admission. Its a small admission, but we feel like if youre going to pay money to come in the room, you deserve to see a real show. Whats unique about your style of hosting? Its a style of hosting that weve always done that we didnt see as much in New York. I dont know if its a Chicago style thing or a CYSK kind of thing, but we wanted to say Host the s out of the show! So we wanted that to be a part of it. What does that look like? I always figured that when Im performing, I know where the punch line is, but the audience doesnt know where the punch line is or when its coming if Im doing my job well, so I figure the whole thing should be funny. I love getting laughs just from facial expressions or weird movements or sounds or whatever throughout, so you keep them guessing. The goal is that its engaging the whole time. Comedians You Should Know at the Gutter [200 N. 14th St. in Williamsburg, www.thegu tterb rookl yn.com , (718) 3873585]. Next show July 28 at 8:30 pm. $5. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams Police are searching for a guy who they say flashed a straphanger on a 2 train Downtown on July 20. The creep sat down across from a 25-year-old woman on the Manhattan-bound train at 6:10 pm, locked eyes with her, and pulled out his junk, according to a police report. The woman then took out her phone and snapped a photo of the miscreant, and he got off the train at Borough Hall station, according to authorities. Police describe the suspect as 4050 years old. He was last seen wearing a black tank top, blue jeans, and white sneakers with red shoelaces. Police ask anyone with information about the guy to call (800) 5778477, submit tips at www.nypdc rimes toppe rs.com , or text 274637 followed by TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams Theyre works of arf! A Ditmas Park painter and doggy-clothing-designer is combining her two passions by offering her services as a pooch portrait artist, selling one-of-a-kind masterpieces she says will preserve your beloved canines unique personality in pencil or watercolor for generations to come. I really try to capture their spirit, their eyes and expression, said artist Chrissie Dowler. I try to capture what makes them special. Dowler says she has already immortalized several celebrity pups, including Mama Biscuit a 16-year-old rescue pug whose three teeth, comically long tongue, and fashion blog have endeared her to canine fashionistas the world over. For her portrait, Dowler draped Mama Biscuit in a Vivian Westwood gown and placed her on a pile of trash, eliciting a striking contrast she says symbolized the pups rise from poverty to power. Its like a rags to riches story, said Dowler. That was a great project. Dowler has been illustrating dogs commercially since 2005, when she was hired as a canine clothing designer for pet supply company Ethical Pets. The industry was really booming thanks to hotel heiress Paris Hilton trotting out her chihuahua Tinkerbell may she rest in peace in pink, designer digs, she said. It was a very good year for dog apparel, said Dowler. She has since worked with several high-end clothing brands, including Juicy Couture, Henry Bendel, and Lucky all of which wanted their own lines of doggy digs to compete in the flea-bag fashion war. Her puppy penciling skills can be found in other mediums as well, including childrens books Madison in Manhattan and Madison Visits the Doctor, which follow the adventures of the eponymous West Highland terrier as she explores the big city. Overall, the artists career has left her with a well-honed understanding of dog anatomy, and an eye for the distinct personal traits that make each pup unique, Dowler said. I have a lot of dog illustrations in my portfolio, she said. Dowlers portraits range from $150 for a sketch to $900 for a painting, but she is offering a 15 percent discount through September. Contact Dowler for a quote through her website www.chris siedo wler.com . Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams Time to get the L outta Williamsburg! The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will shut the Hurricane Sandy-ravaged L train tunnel to Manhattan for 18 months of repairs starting in January 2019, the agency announced on Monday, and local straphangers are already packing their bags for greener subway lines. Its something that will motivate me to likely leave Williamsburg, said Haley Garofalo, who rents off the Lorimer Street stop, and says her roommates are also eying an exit. I know people who have already started leaving, moving to Fort Greene. The transit agency had been deciding between the year-and-a-half full closure or a three-year partial shutter that would have reduced service between the boroughs by 75 percent, and announced its final decision after months of meetings with anxious locals the majority of whom favored the faster option, according to a survey by rider advocacy group Riders Alliance. Garofalo said she does think the full closure was the best choice she just doesnt want to be around to endure it. In addition to visiting Manhattan in her spare time, she takes the J and Z line to work every day, and fears theyll be overflowing with many of the 225,000 straphangers who currently traverse the L tube every day. It is already crowded and I can only imagine how much more crowded it will get, she said. Im not looking forward to that commuting in New York already stinks. Transit officials do plan on easing the blow by running more trains on the J, M, and G lines, beefing up the Gs with more carriages, and offering free transfers between the Broadway G station and the Lorimer stop. And L trains will still run in the Borough of Kings as a local service between the Bedford Avenue and Canarsie stations, with around one train stopping every eight minutes, according to the agency. But many of the tourists and Manhattan visitors who flock to the area on evenings and weekends arent going to get on board with some convoluted route, said a local real-estate broker, and the nabes nightlife scene will likely take a hit. If youre a tourist, youre going to take the most convenient form of transportation, said Jakub Nowak, a commercial broker with Marcus and Millichap. I do think it will have an impact. It has been particularly tough luring new tenants to the neighborhood during the uncertainty over the closure since the news broke in January, Nowak said. The market will improve now there is a concrete timeline, but landlords will still have to offer cheaper rents, replacement buses, and other perks to court tenants, he said. We can build out space for you, give you free rent, he said. On the residential end of things, I think there will be people who are willing to live there, but theyre going to want a discount for it. And its already happening luxury developer Douglaston Development has been promising free shuttles to alternative stops for residents of its One North Fourth Place tower since March. Was there a murder 100 years ago at Yardley's Continental Tavern? Frank Lyons began excavating the basement of the Continental Tavern in Yardley. He found a gun, bloody corset and part of a woman's purse. What you need to know to sign up for NJ Obamacare this year Amazon has launched its Prime service in 100 cities across India, an offering that has helped it build customer loyalty and subscription revenue globally, to take on larger Indian rival Flipkart in the country. As it battles its way out of a mammoth debt by selling assets, Delhi-based auto component maker Amtek Auto has caught the fancy of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs). The FPIs have almost doubled their stake in the company to 9.17 per cent in the quarter ended June 30, against 4.77 per cent as on March 31. Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app. Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006. Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more. Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them. 26 years of website archives. Education services company is divesting its entire shareholding in Vidya Mandir Classes. The company on Tuesday informed the exchanges that it has entered into negotiated settlement with ICICI Bank. Agrotech, a part of the Group, will invest Rs 300 crore for expansion of its edible oil refining capacity by 1,000 tonnes per day (tpd) at its Haldia plant in West Bengal, a top company official said on Tuesday. "With the expansion of the Haldia unit at an investment of Rs 300 crore, the capacity of the plant will increase by another 1,000 tpd, taking up its total capacity to 4,000 tpd," said group's Director Aditya Vardhan Agarwal. He explained, "Our present manufacturing capacity in edible oils is around 4,000 tpd between our two plants at Haldia and Krishnapatnam (in Andhra Pradesh). The Krishnapatnam unit has a production capacity of 1,000 tpd, while Haldia unit produces around 3,000 tpd." West Bengal Transport Minister and Haldia Development Authority Chairman Suvendu Adhikari laid the foundation stone of the expansion work on Tuesday. The minister said around Rs 10,000 crore investment has come to Haldia in the last one year after the moratorium on environment clearance for new industries was lifted by the Centre in 2013. Agarwal said the expansion is expected to be completed by end of this year and this will make our Haldia facility the largest single location edible oil refinery in India. The expansion will also include setting up of a 7.5 megawatt captive power plant. The company has invested Rs 700 crore in the plant already, and with the Rs 300 crore, total investment in the plant will be Rs 1000 crore. The company will come up with two new plants near Kandla port in Gujarat and Karnataka in a little over a year, a company statement said. The investment in the plant near Kandla port will be around Rs 300-350 crore, Agarwal added. According to the company, one mustard plant is also in the offing in Rajasthan. "We aspire to become the number two edible oil manufacturer in the country and increase our market share in the Indian edible oil industry from the present 5.5% to 10-11% by 2018," said the group's Director, Manish Goenka. Tata Steel might finally see some better days ahead for its European units as worlds top economies seem to have had enough of Chinas domination in the steel market. In a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Chinas city of Chengdu, it was decided by the world's top economies that they will work to tackle excess production capacity in steel and some other industries. Ltd, a Group company of the $96 billion Japanese multinational Hitachi Ltd, which launched its commercial vehicle batteries range for the Indian market through a strategic tie-up with an Ahmedabad based firm today, is eyeing a 10 per cent market share in the automotive batteries space in India in the next three to five years with a projected turnover of Rs 250 crore. LinkedIn, the resume brag site and online mixer, allows people to supplement the online profiles of others from a shopping list of more than 35,000 touted job skills, including such stalwarts as "marketing" and "data analysis." Also included in the list of achievements are "foxtrot," "fire alarm" and "butter." A couple of Rhys Wilson's customers recently asked about his expertise in "fly fishing," a listing that reeked of payback. Mr. Wilson, a manager at a software startup, had earlier endorsed a friend's skill in the use of "lubricants." Profile pranks, also known as endorsement bombing, sprang from the feature intended to highlight laudable skills. Instead, some people fluff the digital profiles of friends with skills of no particular relevance. Unless, of course, "round tables," "cheese" or "chairs" is your thing. German luxury car maker Mercedes Benz, the largest player in its segment in the Indian market, will convert all its models to petrol from September. The decision comes in the wake of a Supreme Court decision that has banned sales of diesel cars (2,000cc and above) in the national capital region (NCR). The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to intervene in the attachment process of Financial Technologies India (FTIL)s assets including its bank accounts and Tower, the companys headquarters. The court asked the company to file a separate petition seeking permission to use its bank account for meeting day-to-day operations. As of now, that is not permitted which has put employees salaries at risk. Pursuant to the judicial proceedings initiated by Japanese telecom giant NTT Docomo, Tata Sons Ltd on Tuesday agreed to deposit the full sum of $1.17 billion, in line with a June 23 London Court of International Arbitration award against them with the registrar of the Delhi High Court by August 2. Amit Agarwal, India head of Amazon, spoke to Nivedita Mookerji in a conference call from the e-commerce majors Seattle headquarters Tuesday morning, following the launch of the Prime Membership Program in India. The new offering includes free one- and two-day deliveries, along with access to deals as well as original programming video for a subscription fee. Besides Prime, Agarwal takes a question on drones, but leaves one guessing. Edited excerpts: How is Prime going to play out against competition in India? The product is meant to unlock innovation and is unique in nature. It does not exist anywhere else in India. We want Indian consumers to access fast delivery and attractive deals as well as be entertained as in other parts of the world. We want Indians to love Prime the way the world does. The Delhi Police on Tuesday registered a case against Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chief for allegedly revealing the identity of a 14-year-old Dalit rape victim. The victim, who was brutally raped in north Delhi's Burari, died on Sunday at a Delhi hospital after being forced to drink a corrosive substance by her alleged attackers. "We have filed a case against DCW Chief for naming the Dalit rape victim," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Aslam Khan told IANS. The Dalit girl was kidnapped by the accused before she was to testify against him at a local court for allegedly raping her. She was again repeatedly raped by the accused, and forced to drink a corrosive substance by his maternal aunt and uncle. The substance damaged the victim's internal organs and she was immediately admitted to a hospital. Maliwal had visited the girl on Friday night and subsequently issued notice to Burari police station Chief Satbir Singh, seeking the reason for "not arresting the accused till date". Vice President M Hamid Ansari on Tuesday condoled the death of former diplomat Arundhati Ghose, saying she will be remembered for her role as head of the Indian delegation that participated in the CTBT (Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty) negotiations. Ghose passed away on Monday night in the capital due to age-related problems. "I am deeply grieved to hear about the passing away of former diplomat . An eminent diplomat, she will be remembered for her services to the nation, including for her role as head of the Indian delegation that participated in the CTBT negotiations at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva in 1996," said Ansari in his condolence message. "I offer my heartfelt condolences to her family members and pray for eternal peace for the departed soul," he added. Ghose was the first Indian Permanent Representative to the UN Offices in Geneva and was head of the Indian delegation that participated in the CTBT negotiations at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva in 1996. She also served as Ambassador to the Republic of South Korea and the Arab Republic of Egypt. Sixteen years after starting her path-setting hunger strike demanding repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, Manipurs Iron Lady Irom Chanu Sharmila (pictured) has decided to end her fast on August 9 and contest Assembly elections as an Independent candidate. The 44-year-old rights activist, who has been forcibly fed through a nasal tube since 2000, said she would join politics as she no longer believes that her fast will lead to the repeal of the draconian AFSPA. I will end my fast on August 9 and contest elections on an independent ticket," Sharmila told the media after coming out of a local court here where she is facing a trial for attempting suicide. "I will join politics and my fight will continue," Sharmila, who has refused to eat or drink anything since November, 2000 and is forcibly fed through a nasal tube in Imphal's Jawahar Lal Nehru Hospital, a special ward of which acts as her prison. Assembly elections in Manipur are scheduled early next year. In the past, many political leaders have met Sharmila and tried to cajole her into joining politics but she has rejected all offers. Sharmila also expressed her desire to get married after coming out of prison on August 9. She is known to have a boyfriend, a British of Indian origin, who has in the past been in trouble with her supporters. On the charge of attempting suicide by means of a fast unto death in 2006 at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, she has been arrested, released and then re-arrested from time to time. The maximum punishment under Section 309 of IPC is a one-year jail term. A day after the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which is the largest force deployed in civilian areas for controlling law and order, said it would continue to use the weapon in the valley, the Indian Army on Tuesday backed it saying the guns were the 'least lethal' option of controlling the mob. Lieutenant General D S Hooda (Northern Command Chief) said there is a requirement of non-lethal weaponry, adding that pellet guns are classified as part of the weaponry. "There is a requirement of non-lethal weaponry and pellet guns are classified as part of the non-lethal weaponry. Unfortunately, they have caused some casualties. It's still a better form than using fire arms or weapons. There is much better non-lethal weaponry which is available around the world. The Home Minister has said that they are going to explore whether we can get some better and more modern non-lethal weaponry," Hooda said while interacting with media here on the occasion of Kargil Vijay Diwas. He pointed out that at present there are not too many options, but expressed hope that surely they would find better means to deal with the crowd. Hooda's statement came days after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh urged the security forces in Kashmir to avoid using pellet guns against the protestors. Talking on civil disturbance in the valley over protests following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani, Hooda said the army is not at the forefront in tackling this civil disturbance. "It's more of the police and the CRPF which is doing they are doing it with utmost restraint. We are there on ground, we are seeing it happening. The police have been dealing with the situation for the last 20-25 years and they know exactly what is to be done," he added. He however, said one gets into a situation where one is forced to adopt other measures. "When police stations are being looted, there is murderous mob sorting of attacking you, your own lives are at danger. It's only in those situations that people are forced to take some more measures," he added. Appealing to the youth of Kashmir, Hooda acknowledged that there is angst among the population and asked whether there is some other way of dealing with the situation. "Can we do this in a manner in which people don't get hurt and life doesn't get disrupted? Our appeal to the youth is that there is a time we can sit and talk about it. Those who are trying to pick up the guns or picked up the gun, we have said this before that please come back in the mainstream and we assure that proper rehabilitation will be carried out," he added. Prime Minister on Monday praised President Pranab Mukherjee for helping him as a "guardian and mentor" in the last two years. Modi said the President had implemented and promoted the Democratic Alliance (NDA) government's flagship programmes despite the fact that the latter came from a different political background. "I was new to Delhi (as the Prime Minister). The atmosphere was new to me. On many subjects, the President, like a guardian, a mentor, held my finger and guided me. Only a few people get this privilege," Modi said while inaugurating the second phase of Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum here. "We can learn from President Mukherjee as to how people from diverse political backgrounds can work shoulder to shoulder," he added. "Today, I can proudly say that all the policies of the Government of India have been implemented at Rashtrapati Bhavan, be it renewable energy, water conservation, environment-related policy and Digital India," Modi said. The Prime Minister said President Mukherjee's contribution to India is immense. "He has given a lot to the President's Office as well," said Modi. Speaking on the occasion, President Pranab Mukherjee said Indian democracy has moved from strength to strength as transfer of power from individuals as also from political parties has never posed any problem. "When I was elected (President) and before, I had been a Congress man throughout my life. After receiving a huge mandate (in the 2014 general elections), Prime Minister came to see me and he correctly pointed out that my political background was different from his." "But that is the constitutional responsibility of the Indian President; not only me but all 13 presidents took the correct decisions," Mukherjee said. Sharing his experience about Rastrapati Bhavan as the 13th President of the republic of India, he said he had no idea about what lay inside this magnificent building. "My knowledge of Rashtrapati Bhavan was primarily limited to the Banquet Hall, Ashoka Hall, where I was sworn in as a union minister number of times, and the study of the President." "I had spent 43 years of my life near Rashtrapati Bhavan but I had no idea about it," the President said, while remembering his last four years on its premises. He said after seeing it closely, he thought of making it people-friendly by allowing more and more commoners to visit it on a regular basis. "This magnificent building belongs to the people of India and it should remain open to them," he said. Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari said the day when Mukherjee completed four years in the magnificent Rashtrpati Bhavan "was an occasion enough to be celebrated". A UN body on Tuesday has expressed serious concern over the changes made in India's child labour law, which allows children to work in family enterprises and reduction of hazardous professions, saying it could lead to more children working in unregulated conditions. Although welcomed the law, which prohibits children under the age of 14 from working, it also expressed concern over the provision of children working in family enterprises as it could further "disadvantage" the most vulnerable children. Referring to the 2011 census, which says that child labour rates in India are highest among Scheduled Tribes (ST) at 6.7 per cent and Scheduled Castes (SC) at 3.9 per cent, said that in both groups, children in rural areas are more likely to work than children from cities while many girls and boys working are forced to leave school. "The provision, where the child helps his family or family enterprises, which is other than any hazardous occupations or processes set forth in the Schedule, after his school hours or during vacations' raises serious concerns, as it legitimizes family work and could further disadvantage children from poor families. " is also concerned that the amended Bill substantially reduces the list of professions considered hazardous, which could potentially lead to more children working in unregulated conditions," the body said. Rajya Sabha on July 19 passed the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, which prohibits employment of children below 14 years in all occupations or processes except where the child helps his family, with the provision for imprisonment up to two years for any violation. The bill makes employment of children below 14 years as cognizable offence for employers and provides for penalty for parents. "Under the new Child Labour Act, some forms of child labour may become invisible and the most vulnerable and marginalised children may end up with irregular school attendance, lower levels of learning and could be forced to drop out of school. "Secondary enrollment is still lagging behind, especially for the most vulnerable children, who are working," said Unicef India's Chief of Education Euphrates Gobina. Corp, the commercial arm of Indias space agency Isro, has lost a case for the second time in an international tribunal over cancelling a deal with Devas Multimedia, a satellite firm backed by Deutsche Telekom and two US investors. will soon undertake a massive five-year long rural investment programme of Rs 30,000 crore to double the income of agricultural farmers in the state. The programme is named as Chief Minister Samagra Gramya Unnayan Yojana (CMSGUY), the mission will start from the current financial year and culminate in the year 2021-22, coinciding with 75 years of Indias independence and is in unison with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to double agricultural income. Minister of State for Finance on Monday called upon the industry to make legitimate suggestions in case they find flaws with the Income Disclosure Scheme (IDS 2016). "Industry should come out in open and make legitimate suggestions in case it finds certain flaws in the scheme... the government is open to stand corrected. Although, the scheme has been designed in a manner so that its inclusiveness is retained at all cost," Meghwal said at the conference on IDS 2016 organised by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He asked India Inc to weigh the pros and cons of the scheme with positive mindset and accordingly make honest disclosures and reap their maximum benefits. "The scheme has been designed to profit those that have hitherto refused to disclose their evaded income," he said. "Now with this scheme in place, the Modi government has made it amply clearer that disclosures hidden with ulterior motive by tax payers should not be spared at the cost of those that have been making honest declaration of their income at an average rate of 30-35%," the minister added. The government recenlty announced relaxation in the time schedule for making payments under the four-month window to declare their undisclosed income and assets, that started from June 1, 2016. Only a minimum amount of 25% of the tax, surcharge and penalty needs to be paid by November 30, 2016, while a further 25% of the tax, surcharge and penalty is to be paid by March 31, 2017. The balance amount needs to be paid on or before September 30, 2017. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that the government is looking to gradually put an end to the mindset of the assessee which makes him believe that he can evade the payment of taxes. Warning the defaulters, who are refraining from making use of the IDS' four-month window, he had said that such people are taking a big risk as for the taxman detecting violation is going to become easy with increasing technology. Sangh Parivar affiliates, senior government ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Tuesday met to discuss the Narendra Modi governments foreign direct investment (FDI) policy, particularly the easing of norms across several sectors in June. Arvind Kejriwal's radical transformation Vir Sanghvi Kejriwal may have shrewdly given up his secular positions, but he is no Hindutva hero. He has simply been able to sense which way the wind is ... A high-powered panel, constituted under NITI Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya is likely to recommend winding up of the Medical Council of India (MCI) and replacing it with a new institution, comprising nominated members, to bring transparency and improve the quality of medical education in the country. Central trade unions on Tuesday walked out of a meeting of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) that was supposed to take a decision on increasing the quantum of investment by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in equity. CBT is the highest decision-making forum of the . Lenders of Ventures have invoked strategic debt restructuring (SDR) on Monday to acquire a significant stake in the company and convert part of its ballooning debt into equity. The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has extended his greetings and felicitations to the Government and people of the Republic of Maldives on the occasion of their Independence Day (July 26, 2016). . . In a message to His Excellency Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, the President of the Republic of Maldives, the President has said, On behalf of the Government, the people of India and on my own behalf, I convey warm greetings and felicitations to you and the people of the Republic of Maldives on the occasion of your 51st Independence Day. . . India and Maldives share a common strategic interest in peace, stability, progress and prosperity of our countries and the Indian Ocean region. I am confident that the strong foundation of our bilateral relations and the continuing efforts of both Governments will help us to meet common challenges. Recalling your visit in April 2016, allow me to reiterate that India is committed to support Maldives in the achievement of its national goals. . . Please accept, Excellency, my best wishes for continued progress, prosperity and happiness of the people of Maldives". . . The Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari has condoled the passing away of former diplomat Ms. Arundhati Ghose. In a message, he said that she is an eminent diplomat and she will be remembered for her services to the nation, including for her role as head of the Indian delegation that participated in the CTBT negotiations. . . Following is the text of Vice Presidents message: . . I am deeply grieved to hear about the passing away of former diplomat Ms. Arundhati Ghose. . . An eminent diplomat, Ms. Arundhati Ghose will be remembered for her services to the nation, including for her role as head of the Indian delegation that participated in the CTBT negotiations at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva in 1996. . . I offer my heartfelt condolences to her family members and pray for eternal peace for the departed soul." . . In a string of deadly assaults in Europe, two men armed with knives slit a priests throat and took four to six people hostage in a church in Frances northern Normandy region, a police source said Tuesday. The Democratic convention to anoint Hillary Clinton as the presidential nominee at the party's convention Monday in Philadelphia met with political tension over 20,000 leaked emails by Wikileaks that indicated Russias intelligence agencies involvement in support of Republican candidate, Donald Trump and ousting DNC nominee Bernie Sanders. Democratic Party bosses have apologised to Bernie Sanders for "inexcusable" emails aimed at undermining his White House bid, as they tried to patch up an embarrassing party feud. "We want to offer a deep and sincere apology to Senator Sanders, his supporters, and the entire Democratic Party for the inexcusable remarks made over email," the Democratic National Committee said in a statement on the opening day of the party's convention set to nominate Hillary Clinton for the presidency. "These comments do not reflect the values of the DNC or our steadfast commitment to neutrality during the nominating process,"the committee added. The Democratic Party Convention to nominate Hillary Clinton for the presidency of the United States opened on Monday with the party's leadership thrown into unprecedented disarray as Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned following leaks of party emails allegedly by Russia. Accusing Moscow of interfering in US presidential elections, Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook said Russians hacked the party national committee's computer system and released the emails to help her Republican rival, Donald Trump. He told CNN on Sunday that "experts" traced to "Russian state actors" the leak of emails showing that the party leadership tried to undermine the insurgent Clinton rival, Bernie Sanders. WikiLeaks, which has previously publicly posted various secret government and corporate emails and data, did not identify the source of the more than 20,000 Democratic emails it published. The emails infuriated the left wing of the Democratic Party still smarting over the defeat of Sanders by Clinton, whom it sees as the establishment candidate. Even though Sanders has endorsed Clinton, his supporters continued their battle against her with protests on Sunday and vowed to take it to the convention floor clouding the image leaders hoped to project of a united front against Republican candidate Donald Trump. Some of the leaked emails showed the party officials looking at portraying Sanders, who is Jewish, as an "atheist" to undercut his appeal in a nation where religion openly plays a role in . In others, officials discussed ways of undermining Sanders who rode a wave of anti-establishment fervour to challenge Clinton. Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort denied suggestions of any links between Trump and Moscow calling them in an interview to ABC "pure obfuscation on the part of the Clinton campaign". The 4,762 delegates elected to the convention by rank and file include several Indians. Amit Jani, the media person for South Asians for Hillary, said that South Asians were involved in the Convention and the campaign at all levels. "We are excited to be a part of the historic Convention and working for Hillary Clinton's victory." About India, the party manifesto for the November election that will be adopted at the Convention says, "We will continue to invest in a long-term strategic partnership with India -- the world's largest democracy, a nation of great diversity, and an important Pacific power." When the Convention opens on Monday evening, the party will try to forge unity against Trump overcoming the polarisation between the party's establishment and the traditional membership on one side and on the other, the party's progressive wing and the newly-enthused supporters of Sanders entering the election arena for the first time. Donna Brazille, the interim chair of the Democratic Party, acknowledged, "There may be stuff we have to apologise for." She said the party would emerge united for Clinton and Tim Kaine, her vice president pick, to take on Trump. Sanders has been given a major speaker at the inaugural session of the Convention in a city sweltering under a record heat wave. The party manifesto has co-opted several elements of the Sanders campaign like a minimum wage of $15 per hour, higher taxes for the rich, ending death penalty, and eventually legalising marijuana. Clinton's model of the presidency hews to essentially a continuation of President Barack Obama's eight-year rule of moderation and involvement, with a progressive shift reaching out to the middle classes and the poor who feel insecure despite the economic rebound from the Great Recession legacy of George W. Bush. She goes up against Trump, who has made terrorism and law and order the centerpiece of his campaign, while also railing against Wall Street which he - and Sanders supporters - link to Clinton. Republican presidential nominee today blamed his rival Hillary Clinton for the email scandal that has hit the Democratic party resulting in resignation of head of the Democratic National Committee. Trump tweeted, a day after the DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced her resignation: Hillary was involved in the e-mail scandal because she is the only one with judgement so bad that such a thing could have happened! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2016 Schultz resigned following release of DNC emails by Wikileaks which shows her taking side in the primaries. She favored Clinton against Senator Bernie Sanders of Virginia. As head of the party, Schultz is supposed to be neutral. During the primaries, Sanders campaign had alleged that the party was not staying neutral. Clinton, the former secretary of state, has emerged as the winner of the Democratic presidential primaries defeating Senator Sanders. Trump said in another tweet: If Bernie Sanders, after seeing the just released e-mails, continues to look exhausted and done, then his legacy will never be the same. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2016 The allegations have been denied by the Clinton campaign, but Trump insisted that she was behind this. Crooked Hillary Clinton knew everything that her "servant" was doing at the DNC - they just got caught, that's all! They laughed at Bernie. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2016 The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is looking into the hacking of email account of DNC. Trump said in another tweet: The new joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNC e-mails, which should never have been written (stupid), because Putin likes me Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2016 Jet engine exhaust from airliners endangers human health and adds to climate change, the government found it on Monday by taking the first step toward regulating those emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency said it will use its authority under the to impose limits on aircraft emissions. Jet engines spew significant amounts of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, into the upper atmosphere, where they trap heat from the sun. But proposed rules such as imposing fuel-efficiency standards have faced stiff opposition from aircraft makers and commercial airlines. Aircraft emissions were not addressed as part of the landmark global climate agreement agreed to in Paris in December. "Addressing pollution from aircraft is an important element of US efforts to address climate change," said Janet McCabe, EPA's acting assistant administrator for air and radiation. McCabe said aircraft are the third largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the US transportation sector, and that is expected to increase. Cars and trucks already are regulated. The EPA's findings do not apply to small piston-engine planes or to military aircraft. A UN panel in February recommended new emissions standards for flights that require an average four per cent reduction in fuel consumption during the cruising phase of flight. The new regulations from the Civil Aviation Organization require that new aircraft designs meet the standards beginning in 2020, and that designs already in production comply by 2023. Environmental groups have criticized those new standards as too weak to actually slow global warming. Planes burn the most fuel during takeoffs and landings. Cruising at high altitudes is the most fuel-efficient period. Environmentalists say aviation accounts for about 5 percent of global greenhouse emissions, though the UN and EPA cite studies concluding it's actually less than two per cent. The EPA finding announced today is expected to result in fuel-efficiency standards for domestic carriers, which critics call long overdue. The EPA acted after a coalition of environmental organizations filed notice of their intent to sue the agency over its inaction. Private companies like Uber and Snapchat are not legally required to share financial information such as their valuation or the number of shares held by investors. For investors, that lack of transparency is something of a hazard. The United States warned on Tuesday, that it faces "real consequences" over its internationally condemned nuclear and missile tests, which have inflamed tensions in East Asia. "Together we are determined, To make absolutely certain that DPRK (North Korea) understands that there are real consequences for these actions," US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of Asian nations in Laos. Tensions have soared since Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by a series of missile launches. Analysts say these show it is making progress towards being able to strike the US mainland. The festering issue has been a major theme of the talks in Vientiane, which are being attended by Southeast Asian nations as well as key regional players including China, the US, Russia, Japan and South Korea. North Korea's new foreign minister and former nuclear negotiator Ri Yong-Ho is also attending the meeting hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The annual gathering is one of the rare moments in the diplomatic calendar when all members of the stalled six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear programme are in the same room. Kerry, who has held a flurry of closed-door meetings with his regional counterparts over the last two days, said efforts to denuclearise the Korean peninsula had dominated discussions. "The issue that came up in nearly every meeting I had so far this week is the provocative and deeply concerning behaviour of the DPRK," he told reporters. "North Korea's actions present a very serious threat, not just to this region but to peace and security." Later today afternoon all six-party members the US, China, Japan, Russia and North and South Korea will attend the ASEAN Regional Forum, a security meeting that groups most of Asia. UN sanctions against have been ratcheted up following the nuclear and missile testing. But Pyongyang has continued to carry out missile launches most recently last week in a bid to prove that sanctions are ineffective in curbing its weapons development. The continued sabre-rattling by the North prompted Washington and Seoul to agree earlier this month to deploy a sophisticated anti-missile system in South Korea, which can shoot down incoming enemy projectiles. learned "with pain and horror" of an elderly priest's killing at a church near the northern French town of Rouen by suspected jihadists and is praying for the victims of the "absurd violence", the Vatican said Tuesday. "The Pope has been informed and shares people's pain and horror at this absurd violence and the strongest condemnation of every form of hatred and joins in prayers for those involved," said Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi. "We are especially shocked that this horrible violence, the barbaric killing of a priest and the involvement of worshippers, took place in a church, a sacred place for the love of God," Lombardi added. He said the Vatican was following news developments on the morning attack and siege at the church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen. The incident had caused the Holy See "immense pain and worry," Lombardi added. "We express solidarity with the Catholic Church in France, the archdiocese of Rouen, the local community involved and the French people," he said. In the assault on the church, two armed men allegedly slit 84-year-old priest Jacques Hamel's throat and took hostage two nuns and two worshippers, critically injuring one before being 'neutralised' by police. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has expressed his horror at the "barbaric attack". Thousands of firefighters battled to contain a blaze tearing through California's Santa Clarita valley, destroying homes and a popular filming location and threatening actress Tippi Hedren's animal sanctuary. The so-called Sand Fire in suburban Los Angeles has scorched more than 132 square kilometres of brush, threatening at least 2,000 properties and forcing an estimated 20,000 residents to flee. About 10,000 homes have been evacuated since the fire broke out Friday near Sand Canyon Road in Santa Clarita, according to law enforcement officers. Eighteen homes had been destroyed, officials said, including two belonging to firefighters. Police are investigating the death of a badly charred unidentified man, found in a car parked in the driveway of a house in the fire zone. The blaze was just 10% contained as of yesterday morning, according to Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby. Around 3,000 firefighters and 26 helicopters have been deployed to tackle the inferno, which blackened the skies over Los Angeles over the weekend. Many roads and highways were partly closed. The ferocious blaze destroyed much of Sable Ranch in Santa Clarita, which has Western-style buildings used for movie locations. "Unfortunately you can only do so much... It was a horrific fire storm, I guess you could say, as it came down through there on us," owner Derek Hunt told NBC Los Angeles. "But at some point you know you're defeated and you have to step back and save what you can. We fought as best as we could." The ranch has been the site of various television and film shoots, including "24," "The A-Team," "Robin Hood: Men in Tights," and "Maverick." Hedren's animal sanctuary, Shambala Preserve, was also forced to move 340 of its more than 400 residents, including Bengal tigers and a mountain lion, according to the Hollywood Reporter. "Please say a prayer for all residents in the path of the #SandFire. My Moms place Shambala is being evacuated," the actress Melanie Griffith, who is Hedren's daughter, tweeted on Sunday. Hedren, who founded the sanctuary in the desert community of Acton in 1972, kept a lion in the family home when Griffith was a teenager. Around five hours later she added: "Mom is safe! Shambala is safe. Now sending love and thanks to all the firefighters who saved her and the cats..." Meanwhile a wildfire about 300 miles up the coast, outside the Big Sur tourist region, has grown to more than 23 square miles, destroying 20 homes and threatening at least 1,600 more. The United States, Japan and Australia have urged China not to construct military outposts and reclaim land in the disputed South China Sea, in a strong show of support for Southeast Asian nations that have territorial disputes with Beijing in the resource-rich area. A joint statement by the three allies, issued late Monday, ironically fills the vacuum created by Southeast Asia's main grouping, which during its meeting of foreign ministers on Sunday failed to take a stand against China because of disunity among themselves. "The ministers expressed their serious concerns over maritime disputes in the South China Sea. The ministers voiced their strong opposition to any coercive unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions," said the statement issued by Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers Fumio Kishida and Julie Bishop. The three met in Vientiane on the sidelines of a series of meetings organised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or . The grouping could have leveraged the recent decision by a permanent arbitration panel in The Hague, which ruled in favour of the Philippines in a case it brought against China in their dispute in the South China Sea. The panel ruled that China's claim that amounts to claiming almost all of South China Sea was illegal. Implicit in the ruling is that China has no standing in its other disputes with Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam, which also are members. But became divided because of China's divide-and-rule diplomacy by winning support from Cambodia, and to some extent Laos, which resulted in the grouping issuing a joint statement on South China Sea that did not mention China by name or the arbitration ruling. Instead, it fell upon ASEAN's allies to rush to their support. In their joint statement, the ministers of Japan, Australia and the United States also expressed "strong support" for the rule of law and called on China and the Philippines to abide by the arbitration panel's award, "which is final and legally binding on both parties." "The ministers stressed that this is a crucial opportunity for the region to uphold the existing rules-based order and to show respect for law," they said in one of the strongest and most detailed post-arbitration warnings by the allies against China. In a clear broadside at China, the statement urged all parties to refrain from "unilateral actions that cause permanent physical change to the marine environment . And from such actions as large-scale land reclamation, and the construction of outposts as well as the use of those outposts for military purposes. Turkey is to rename a bridge over the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul after the victims of the failed July 15 coup bid aimed at unseating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister has said. The bridge, opened in 1973 and known until now simply as Bosphorus Bridge, will now be known as July 15 Martyrs' Bridge, Binali Yildirim told reporters after a late night cabinet meeting yesterday. He said that the bridge had been chosen to be renamed as it was the "first target of the coup plotters" on the night of July 15, resulting in the deaths of several civilians. The bridge a key strategic point linking Europe to Asia had been blocked by armed rebel soldiers late on July 15 in one of the first signs to Istanbul residents a coup was in progress. Backed by attack helicopters, they fired on the crowds of pro-Erdogan supporters who converged on the bridge. The rebels eventually surrendered on the bridge after being overwhelmed by sheer numbers protesting. Dr Reddy's performance for the June quarter was disappointing. Even as the Street expected a decline in the US sales given that the company has been grappling with FDA issues at its three plants, the actual impact was far worse. With other geographies (Europe and emerging markets) too disappointing, consolidated revenues at Rs 3,234 crore were 14 per cent lower that the year-ago quarter. Analysts were disappointed as the actual revenues were 19 per cent lower than consensus estimates of Rs 3,995 crore. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had a telephonic conversation with Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today to get an update on the current flood situation in the state and assured that the entre will soon send a team to assess the damage. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had a telephonic conversation with Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today to get an update on the current flood situation. Calling on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Singh assured all Central helps to the state. This was informed by state Water Resource minister Keshab Mahanta in the state Assembly today. The Assam government has said relief and rescue measure in flood hit areas is the priority of the government at present. Making a statement in state assembly today, Parliamentary Affairs minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal will take up the matter of release of water from Bhutan's Kurisu dam with the Centre. The release of water of the dam reportedly submerged several areas in Lower Assam. The Minister said that the Chief Minister has instructed all Deputy Commissioners of affected districts to remain vigil. Nearly 13 lakh people are reeling under the fury of flood in 18 districts. Over two thousand villages are affected in the current floods. Two world heritage sites, the Kaziranga and Manas parks have also been submerged in flood water. District administration has set up more than 200 relief camps and intensified relief measures. The Army, and State Disaster Response Force teams have been deployed for relief and rescue works. A suicide attack on a girls' school in Kabul has been foiled by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) on Tuesday. The security forces shot and wounded the would-be suicide bomber, who is a militant of the Haqqani network, reports Tolo News. The plan had been to bomb a girls' school in Chahar Asiab district of Kabul. The NDS said in a statement that the shooting incident occurred in Khoshi district of central Logar province, where the would-be bomber, Bakhtullah, had plotted the attack. According to the NDS, Bakhtullah confessed to the plot during preliminary investigations and said he had been appointed by Rehan, a commander of Haqqani network, to carry out the bombing. He further said that he had undergone training and had been given his suicide vest by Panjabis in Miranshah in Peshawar, Pakistan. China on Tuesday said that it hopes all parties in Nepal will put national interest first and work for stability, following the resignation of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli. Oli resigned on Sunday, minutes before parliament was to vote on a no-confidence motion which he was likely to lose. The no-confidence motion was brought by former Maoist rebels who endorsed Oli, nine months ago, but fell out after accusing him of failing to honor a power-sharing deal. The Chinese foreign ministry in a statement said that Beijing and Kathmandu's friendship and mutually beneficially cooperation will not change. "As a neighbour and friend, China genuinely hopes that all parties and sides in Nepal put the national and people's interests first, and dedicate themselves to effecting Nepal's stability and development," the Himalayan Times quoted the statement as saying. Oli had visited China in March this year, where he signed a deal allowing Nepal to use China's ports for trading goods with third countries. "China and Nepal have been through thick and thin together, and no matter the changes in the international or domestic situation, the direction of China and Nepal's friendship and mutually beneficially cooperation will not change," the statement added. Oli's departure puts the Himalayan nation country in a whole new round of political uncertainty already plagued by political turmoil. This is Nepal's 23rd government to fall since a multi-party democracy that began in 1990 after bloody protests and political tumult. Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China had no intention of challenging the present international rules and order, and it will never seek hegemony adding that Sino-U.S. relations should always stick to the principle of no-conflict, no-confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation. He made the remarks on Monday while meeting with U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice who is visiting China from July 24 to 27 and called on Beijing and Washington to effectively manage their differences and respect each other's core interests, reports Xinhua. President Xi called on both sides to expand economic, trade and investment cooperation, as well as cooperation in climate change and international and regional affairs to make pragmatic cooperation a "ballast" in China-U.S. ties. On her part, Rice said the United States viewed its relationship with China as its most consequential ties today and that Washington has agreed to work with Beijing to strengthen mutual trust, enhance pragmatic cooperation and manage issues of difference through close communication. However, when meeting with Rice, Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission Fan Changlong and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi reiterated China's position on the South China Sea issue and the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in the Republic of Korea (ROK). Yang urged Washington to take China's concern seriously and to halt the deployment of the U.S. anti-missile system in the ROK. He added that China will continue to firmly safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, noting that China opposes the award of the so-called arbitral tribunal in the South China Sea Arbitration. Rice said that the United States was ready to work with China to properly manage and control differences to avoid misunderstanding or miscalculation. A CBI special court on Tuesday convicted a private company, Rathi Steel and Power Limited, it's three promoters and three top officials in the Kesla North coal allocation scam case. RSPL and its three officials-- MD Pradeep Rathi, CEO Udit Rathi and AGM Kushal Aggarwal have been held guilty of charges of cheating and conspiracy in a coal scam case Court will hear the arguments on sentencing of the four convicts in the case at 2 pm. Case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of Kesla North coal block in Chhattisgarh to RSPL. The CBI has alleged that RSPL and its officials had "misrepresented" facts before the 36th screening committee regarding acquisition of 250 acres of land to acquire the coal block. CBI had only chargesheeted RSPL and Udit Rathi as accused in the case for the alleged offences of criminal conspiracy and cheating. However, after considering the charge sheet, the court also summoned the other two, Pradeep Rathi and Kushal Aggarwal, as accused in the case. A Daesh's military leader, Saeed Emarati, has been killed during a military operation in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province. Local officials said that Emarati was killed yesterday, after insurgents clashed with Special Forces during the operation in Kot district of the province. A spokesman for the provincial governor Attaullah Khoghyani said that Emarati was recently appointed as the group's military leader in Kot, reports Tolo News. No further details were provided regarding the clash. The Afghan military is trying to retake the initiative in the war against militants with a new offensive planned for this week against Daesh. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani recently announced a major assault against fighters loyal to Daesh. And the urgency to uproot Daesh from Afghanistan has only accelerated in the wake of Saturday's deadly suicide bombing at a protest march in Kabul that killed at least 80 people. U.S. President Barack Obama last month gave a green light to a more assertive role for its roops in Afghanistan acknowledging the deteriorating security situation. With the threat of dengue rearing its head again in the capital as a 17-year-old girl succumbed to the vector-borne disease in a city hospital last week, Health Minister Satyendra Jain on Tuesday said the Delhi Government is preparing to open 350 clinics. "The Delhi Government has the part of treatment. It will be very difficult to say that there won't be dengue from tomorrow. Last year we opened 55 dengue clinics. This time we are preparing to open 350 dengue clinics. 95 percent of cases can be treated at home," Jain told ANI. Jain said the government has never stated that dengue has ended in India "We have made preparation for treatment of dengue patients. We have held many meetings as well. There are two things for dengue-prevention and cure. Preparation is the part of the corporation. They are doing the work of prevention," he added. The capital has recorded its first dengue casualty of 2016 to the vector-borne disease. Senior health officials confirmed that the death has been reported by the Lok Nayak Jaya Prakash Hospital in the city. The deceased has been identified as Farheen, who died at the city hospital at 1:46 a.m. where she was undergoing treatment. As of July 16, a total of 50 patients have been confirmed this year. Last year, there had been 29 cases of dengue recorded as of July 16. Delhi had seen a record-high number of cases last year, with 15,867 recorded cases of the disease. Earlier, Jain said around 250-300 fever clinic corners would be set up in the hospitals, dispensaries and mohalla clinics by September. "Right now, we need to prevent mosquitoes from breeding. Since very few cases are from within Delhi, treatment facilities don't need to be scaled up right now," he said. The nine militants that were killed in a special drive by joint forces in Dhaka were all very young and 'highly educated' and they shouted "Allahu Akbar" before attacking the law enforcers during the standoff. The militants were aged about 20, wore jeans and sneakers and were highly educated, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia and added that "Allahu Akbar" inscribed black flags were recovered from the den. 13 handmade grenades, one sword, one pistol, seven magazines and were also recovered. SWAT, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Detective Branch of police (DB) and Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) jointly carried out a one-hour operation "Storm 26," at Jahaj Building in Dhaka's Kalyanpur area on Tuesday. The militants had rented the apartment on June 20 and had gathered there to carry out terror attacks, said officials. The occupants of the building and adjacent ones were evacuated overnight to carry out the raid. A militant identified as Hassan, who was held alive during the drive, has reportedly confessed to be an operative of the Islamic State and was a student of Bogra's Government Shah Sultan College. However, the police suspects they are members of the banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) who were trying to wield the emblem of the Islamic State The DMP Commissioner added that police suspect these attackers belong to the same group that attacked the Gulshan cafe because similar kind of red handkerchiefs, black dresses and backpacks were found. Two men were shot dead after taking several people as hostages in France's northern Normandy church on Tuesday. The duo, armed with knives, took the people hostage in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, reports the Guardian. Reports suggest that five hostages were being held, and that a sixth escaped and raised the alarm. Among the hostages were a priest, two nuns and two worshippers. France's national police force has urged people not to cross the security cordon or take photos or videos of the scene in a tweet. The incident comes under a fortnight after the Nice attack, where an Isis supporter drove a lorry into crowds celebrating Bastille Day which left 84 people dead and more than 300 injured. Since the Islamic State's bombings and shootings in Paris last November, France has been on high alert. Online social networking site Facebook has reportedly deleted the Facebook page of hardline HUrriyat Leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. According to Geelani, the deletion has taken place because he shared an image of Burhan Muzaffar Wani, the recently slain commander of the Kashmiri militant group Hizbul Mujahideen, whose social media campaign had an outreach among a section of Kashmiri Muslim youth. Taking to Twitter, Geelani said "Our fb page hs bn deleated by Facebook for sharing ds image of Burhan Wani. It didn't meet their community standards." Geelani shared this information on his Twitter handle. When you go to his Facebook page -- facebook.com/syedaligeelani -- the message that appears is as follows: "Sorry, this page isn't available. The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed." On Monday, Geelani was detained by the police outside his residence in Srinagar's Hyderpora area while trying to defy curfew-related restrictions. on Monday. He was attempting to lead a march towards Anantnag. Earlier on July 13, he was placed under house arrest while trying to take out a march on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of those people who laid down their lives fighting aristocratic rule in the state in 1931. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will on Tuesday meet his counterparts in states to discuss the proposed amendments to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill that has been passed by the Lok Sabha but is stuck in the Rajya Sabha. The proposed tax reform, the biggest since India's independence 1947, seeks to replace a slew of central taxes and levies in its 29 states, transforming the nation of 1.3 billion people into a customs union. Jaitley met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the weekend and has been earlier meeting the leaders of the Congress Party to garner support for the proposed . Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi earlier on Friday told the Rajya Sabha that the will come up for discussion next week. The GST was first mooted by the Congress-led UPA government. It has been already passed in the Lok Sabha but is pending in the Rajya Sabha where the BJP-led NDA government lacks a majority. The Congress has been demanding that the overall GST rate be capped at 18%, as well as scrapping of an additional 1% tax to compensate manufacturing states. Following a meeting of the state finance ministers in Kolkata last month, Jaitley announced that every state had either supported or accepted the proposed GST, except Tamil Nadu which expressed its reservations and offered suggestions. A spokesman for the Afghan Foreign Ministry, Ahmad Shekib Mustaghni said that Pakistani military delegation is set to visit Kabul on Tuesday for talks with Afghan officials. Mustaghni said the officials from the Ministry of Defense of both countries will discuss common threats, the fight against insurgency and other issues, reports Tolo News. During the visit, the officials will also set a date for the next meeting between the two sides. The meeting comes after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in an interview with a Pakistani media outlet said his country's biggest problem is the state-to-state relationship with Islamabad. On being asked whether he thought state-to-state relation problems with Pakistan was a bigger problem than that of the Taliban, Al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups. Ghani replied, "Yes, absolutely. Those are threats. This is a fundamental solution (to those threats) because there are sanctuaries. Can anybody deny that there are Taliban offices in Quetta? You go and interview with them; if you want the addresses, I will give you all the addresses... Of course, I can give you the addresses. Our corps commander went and gave, and asked to take a ride corps commander of Quetta to give them the addresses. They are openly recruiting. They are financed. Their logistic and supplies, and sanctuary is against international rules." "Trust needs to be established. We need to be assured that Pakistan is not going to give sanctuary to groups whose aim is (to) overthrow of a legitimate government. You cannot have it both ways. We tried that. I overcame years of distrust, years of discord; I came with an open mind and an open heart," he added. Following the development, Sartaj Aziz, the adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs said that Islamabad will bring the Taliban to the tables of negotiations in the upcoming two or three weeks. Hailing the sacrifices of India's courageous soldiers on the 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said India will never forget the fearlessness with which the soldiers gave a befitting and unforgettable reply to the intruders. "On Kargil Vijay Diwas, I bow to every valiant soldier who fought for India till the very last breath. Their heroic sacrifices inspire us. India will never forget the fearlessness with which our courageous soldiers gave a befitting and unforgettable reply to the intruders," Prime Minister Modi tweeted. He also took the opportunity to praise the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government for displaying firm political leadership and said, "We recall with pride, the firmness demonstrated by India's political leadership in 1999, which ensured a decisive victory in Kargil." Meanwhile, the Army officers and Kargil war heroes kins' paid homage to Kargil war heroes in Jammu and Kashmir's Dras. Indian and Pakistani armies fought the Kargil War in May-July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). India launched 'Operation Vijay' to clear the Kargil sector of infiltration by the Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants on the Indian side of the Line of Control. The day is observed on July 26 every year in honour of the Kargil War Heroes. Defence Minister Manohar Parikar, India Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha will pay homage to Kargil martyrs at Amar Jawan Jyoti, India Gate in the capital today. It was on this day in 1999 that the Indian Armed Forces, as part of the 'Operation Vijay', recaptured Indian posts in Kargil which had been occupied by the Pakistan army. With Navjot Singh Sidhu saying he resigned from the Rajya Sabha as a BJP MP because he had been asked to "not even look at" Punjab, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) spokesman Prem Singh Chandumajra on Tuesday said there were other reasons behind the sudden change in his behaviour, because what he had said was not going down well with anybody. "Navjot Sidhu is my friend, but we cannot understand the logic he has given behind his resignation. It is indigestible to everybody. Had Akali Dal been interfering into his affairs, the party could have also stopped him from becoming a member of the Rajya Sabha. Moreover, after taking oath, he had said he would work for the BJP. Thus, there are other reasons behind the sudden change in his behaviour. Sidhu must talk about that, because what he has said is not going down well with anybody," Chandumajra told ANI. "Why will we stop him from coming to Punjab? If he says that he wants to be in Punjab for the betterment of the state, he should have stayed with the BJP-Akali Dal, because no other party is more concerned about Punjab," he said while rejecting Sidhu's allegations. Slamming Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann for accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asking him not to attend the House sitting till a decision on the matter is reached, the SAD MP from Anandpur Sahib said: "Had Modi Sahab told him to shoot video and post on social media? When Mann is at fault, how could BJP or other parties be responsible for that? A person who does not know the rules of Parliament and does not understand his responsibility as an MP will put onus on others. He should have respected the decision of the Speaker. If he was not wrong, why did he offer apology to the Speaker. He will have to accountable for his mistakes." He further said Bhagwant Maan wanted to become popular by posting Parliament's video and attending the House in inebriated condition, adding that as far as his allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP or any party are concerned, they are wrong. As AAP MLA Naresh Yadav was remanded in police custody for two days in connection with an incident of alleged sacrilege last month, the SAD general secretary said, "Even toady I raised the matter in the Lok Sabha that there are people who want to disturb and divide the country. They are toying in hands of anti- forces working under the umbrella of a political system. "AAP's MLAs have become a pawn. At least 11 AAP leaders are accused of disrespecting women and FIRs have been registered as well. Second, they desecrated Quran Sharif in Malerkotla and Vijay Kumar took holy Quran Sharif from Jama Masjid from Delhi, which make us think that they had their hands in desecration of holy books." "Now we doubt that they were behind the Bargadi incident as well; because, they had delivered provocative speeches at the so-called Sarbat Khalsa to instigate them. They had also sent pictures to those people who are indulged in anti- talk," he alleged. "All these show that under the political umbrella, they want to break and ruin the nation by instigating communal riots. Lieutenant General D S Hooda (Northern Command Chief) on Tuesday said there is no doubt that Pakistan has been interfering in Kashmir and has a direct role in what can be termed as 'proxy war' in Kashmir. "There is no doubt in our mind that Pakistan has been interfering in Kashmir and has a direct role in what we are calling the proxy war in Kashmir. So there is no doubt in our mind.we are seeing it every day along the borders, we are seeing from the manner in which support is being given to it. We have seen how sometimes ceasefire violations along the Line of Control are actually in support of people who are infiltrating inside," Hooda made the statement while interacting with media here on the occasion of . He asserted that if there is an internal disturbance, Pakistan will directly take advantage of it. "You have heard statements by Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba trying to say, they are supporting whatever is happening in Kashmir. It is absolute physical support and there is no doubt on that in our minds," he added. Addressing the issue of radicalisation, Hooda said there is an increase in radicalisation, mostly driven by the social media where people are quite active. "I think we need to do something about it. Everyone at all levels have to put their heads together and see how we can reduce this," he added. Pointing out that there have been more infiltration attempts this year, Hooda said he doesn't see any let down in this, adding that the army is quite well-prepared to deal with it. "I think, as there is little internal disturbance there will be attempts which are going to be made to push in more and more infiltration. We are quite well-prepared to deal with it," he added. Hooda also pointed out that the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China is peaceful. "As far as transgressions are concerned, they do take place. But they take place only in areas where there is a differing perception of the LAC. So there are five or six pockets over that 800 km where actually these transgressions are taking place. In terms of numbers, they are on the decline," he added. Ex-Navy officer Ravi Kant Soni whose daughter is critically ill, sought help from Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a string of tweets, requesting an air evacuation for his daughter who was fighting for her life on a ventilator at a hospital in with insufficient medical facilities. Soni, who served in the navy for 20 years, said she needs to be moved to Army Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi as soon as possible. "All hopes due to the absolute positive response of the Air Force seem to have died down at the last moment due to some bureaucratic reason," he tweeted. "We're losing valuable time. It is not possible for civil air ambulance to operate in weather conditions prevailing at Raipur and Delhi with such a critical patient. Also, civil air ambulances are not allowed to operate/land at Delhi airport post 1800hours. Sirs you can still help," he said. "Your much needed help will go a long way in reinforcing the faith of lakhs of serving as well as retired defence personnel that they place in the Indian Armed Forces," he said in a series of tweets. Parrikar, in a most generous manner swung into action as soon as he saw the tweet and ordered immediate air evacuation from Chhattisgarh to the Army Research and Referral Hospital here. The ex-navy officer tweeted back four hours later, saying, "Extremely grateful to the hon'ble Defence Minister @manoharparrikar and the entire IAF team which has always been supportive in getting us out of this emergency. This monumental support can never be forgotten. Proud to be a part of the Indian Armed Forces. Continuing his trend of interacting with the masses through his radio programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called on the nation again to contribute ideas and thoughts for next Sunday's 'Mann Ki Baat'. This will be the 22nd edition of the Prime Minister's radio programme. Prime Minister Modi said in a series of tweets: Have been going through ideas received for #MannKiBaat on the App & must say they are enriching & innovative. Kudos to the contributors. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 We recall with pride, the firmness demonstrated by Indias political leadership in 1999, which ensured a decisive victory in Kargil. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 Will urge you all to keep sharing your ideas for this Sundays #MannKiBaat on the App. https://t.co/TYuxNNJfIf Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 Last edition of the show was on 26th June, where he branded the 1975 emergency period as a black day for the country and expressed happiness over the fact that the people in India have always given importance to democracy. "Very often 'Mann Ki Baat' is criticised, but this is possible because we are in a democracy. Do you remember June 25-26, 1975.it was the darkest night for democracy. Democracy is our strength and we will have to always make our democratic fabric stronger," he said. Last Sunday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addressed the nation in a similar style of programme titled 'Talk to AK', where he hit out at the Modi government of turning its ties with Delhi government into an "India-Pakistan" type situation and said absence of obstacles would have helped him achieve four times of what has been done so far in the city. French police on Tuesday said that a priest has been killed in the Normandy region of northern France after two men armed with knives took hostages in a church before being shot dead. Reports suggest that the priest's throat had been slit. A French interior ministry spokesman said a second hostage was in a critical condition, reports the Guardian. Earlier today, five people reportedly a priest, two nuns and two worshippers were taken hostage by the assailants in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. According to French media one of the hostages managed to escape and raised the alarm. The Paris prosecutor's office has said that the motivations for the hostage-taking were not yet clear but the case had been handed to anti-terrorism judges for investigation. Meanwhile, French President, Francois Hollande, and the Interior Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve were en route to Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. Condemning the incident, Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, said the attack was a blow to all Catholics and the whole of France. He tweeted, "We will stand together." Even the Vatican reacted and said it was a "barbaric killing" made even more heinous because it happened in a sacred place. The incident comes under a fortnight after the Nice attack, where an Isis supporter drove a lorry into crowds celebrating Bastille Day which left 84 people dead and more than 300 injured. Since the Islamic State's bombings and shootings in Paris last November, France has been on high alert. The Nice attack was the third major strike on France in 18 months. The American embassy in Yangon apologised after a tear gas test gone awry led to reports of bombing and temporarily affected the flow of traffic along the University Avenue. On Sunday, tear gas fumes emerged from the embassy compound which led to passers-by complaining of eye irritation. Three senior Yangon police officials were then dispatched to the scene to investigate the situation and emergency responders were called in, including fire-fighters and ambulances, reports the Myanmar Times. The US embassy said a "routine security drill" in its compound had "inadvertently inconvenienced passers-by and a neighbouring business". The Embassy security officer Laughn P Rowe said it was the first and would be the last time tear gas was able to spill out onto University Avenue, a busy thoroughfare. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Daw Aye Aye Soe, said the US embassy had failed to inform the relevant authorities of the security drill and that the US mission was instructed that it must provide advance notice in the future. The embassy was also instructed to not conduct routine security drills with real weapons while acknowledging that it has a right to conduct such drills within its compound in line with diplomatic standards. An official belonging to a security agency was killed, while another was critically injured, after unidentified assailants fired at their vehicle in the Karachi's Saddar area. The personnel were rushed to Jinnah Hospital for treatment, but a security official identified as Razzaq succumbed to his injuries while the other injured official, Khadim, reports the Dawn. The military vehicle was fired upon by unidentified gunmen near Parking Plaza on New MA Jinnah Road. Security officials have cordoned off the area while forensic officials have reached the spot to collect evidence that will aid the investigation. In December last year, two Military Police officials were killed after their vehicle was fired upon by unidentified gunmen near Tibet Centre on MA Jinnah road. Responding to its party chief Uddhav Thackeray's admission that 25 years of its alliance in Maharashtra with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended in 2014 ahead of the assembly elections, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday said the birth of the party was not because of politics, it was for the country, for Hindutva and for the people. "You can take out any meaning out of what he has said. Shiv Sena has never worried about politics. The birth of the party was not because of politics it was for the country, for Hindutva and for the people.... Our policy is people and Hindutva. So, there can be many meaning out of what Uddhav Ji has said," Raut tola ANI here . "It is not about our 'loss' or something, we did this alliance with the BJP for hindutva. But that very BJP after 25 years without keeping this ideology in mind broke this alliance," he added. The Sena leader also asserted that if the party would have stood on its own from the very beginning then in not only Maharashtra or Uttar Pradesh they would have ruling the country with the power of Hindutva. Party chief Uddhav Thackeray said on Tuesday that the party "rotted" during the 25 years of its alliance in Maharashtra with the BJP, which ended in 2014 ahead of the assembly elections. "For 25 years or at least two generations, we held each other's hands and moved on. We could have come to power on our own strength long ago but we rotted in this alliance with the BJP," Thackeray said. He said the alliance may have been necessity then, "but if Shiv Sena had gone independently, the picture would have been totally different now". In the final of a three-part interview published in the party mouthpieces Saamana (Marathi) and Dopahar ka Saamana (Hindi) on Tuesday, ahead of his 56th birthday on Wednesday, Thackeray spoke to Executive Editor and MP Sanjay Raut. He said there was a time when all top leaders of the state and the masses were solidly behind then Sena chief Bal Thackeray but unfortunately "we had to rot in the alliance for 25 years". "Bal Thackeray never hankered for power. He was only concerned about preventing a split in Hindu votes. But now, the BJP broke the alliance," Mr Thackeray said. He said after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) snapped its 25 years of ties, the Sena fought the 2014 polls independently but got only two weeks to prepare. Otherwise, the situation would have been different. Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday paid tributes and expressed deep gratitude towards the Indian Armed Forces on Kargil Vijay Diwas. "Remembering the valor and sacrifice of the armed forces in defending our borders. Their valour, sacrifice and spirit of 'Nation above self' continue to inspire an entire generation," she said in a statement. Gandhi paid homage to the jawans, JCOs and officers of the Indian Army who laid down their lives during the 'Operation Vijay' which culminated this day. Indian and Pakistani armies fought the Kargil War in May-July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). India launched 'Operation Vijay' to clear the Kargil sector of infiltration by the Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants on the Indian side of the Line of Control. The day is observed on July 26 every year in honour of the Kargil War Heroes. It was on this day in 1999 that the Indian Armed Forces, as part of the 'Operation Vijay', recaptured Indian posts in Kargil which had been occupied by the Pakistan army. At least 10 people were killed after a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden car outside the United Nations Mine Action Service offices in Mogadishu on Tuesday, a a Somali police official said. Captain Mohamed Hussein said that unlike previous attacks blamed on the al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab, gunmen did not accompany the suicide bomber, reports the New York Times. Hussein said that the suicide car bomber tried to speed through the barrier at the U.N. office but guards shot at the car. He added that a second suicide blast targeted a checkpoint manned by Somali security forces near the African Union base in Mogadishu. The casualties there remain unclear. Reports suggest that Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the blasts. The militant group is waging an insurgency against Somalia's weak U.N.-backed government and wants to establish an Islamic emirate in the country based on a strict form of Islam. Tolexo, India's largest online marketplace for goods and supplies has signed an MOU with Madhya Pradesh Laghu Udyog Nigam Pvt Ltd (MPLUN) to yield tremendous benefits to the state's MSMEs and help them leverage the extensive reach and tech infrastructure of the country's leading B2B e-commerce platform. The MoU was signed in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan on July 17th. It incorporates promotion, marketing and distribution of goods manufactured by MSME units of Madhya Pradesh on Tolexo's online platform. The joining of hands between MPLUN and Tolexo will yield tremendous benefits to the state's MSMEs and will help them leverage the extensive reach and tech infrastructure of the country's leading B2B e-commerce platform. The MOU will open up new avenues for existing as well as prospective MSMEs and young entrepreneurs of the state to sell their products and services to a massive buyer base across the country. Tolexo will also provide the necessary back-end infrastructure, i.e. account management, customer care centers, order management systems for creating and maintaining a database of buyer and order details to assist MSME sellers in their smooth functioning. Tolexo plans to help MPLUN to evaluate the performance of the sellers by periodic information sharing which can be used to further align practices. In more good news for the owners of these enterprises, Tolexo will offer marketing and selling services at rebated prices in order to enhance the propensity of MSMEs to explore the realm of online commerce. Serving as a significant step towards integrating the state's manufacturers with nation-wide marketplaces, Tolexo and MPLUN have entered into a Vendor Development Program. They will jointly hold awareness campaigns as well as workshops and seminars at industrial clusters established throughout the state to teach the MSME owners of the benefits of online marketing. These interactive sessions will also provide know-how regarding capacity building for the MSMEs and developing online product catalogues, customized product portfolios and better understanding of the virtual buyer. "This is an extremely significant milestone for Madhya Pradesh's MSME owners and for the B2B e-commerce eco-system in India at large. MPLUN and Tolexo share the same vision of empowering MSMEs to reach their full potential by leveraging technology and innovation," said Co-Founder Tolexo, Prashant Chauhan. "This is what makes the two entities a perfect synergistic match and we are certain that this MoU will become an effective tool for the MSME enterprises of Madhya Pradesh to maximize their market reach and sales. We have already extended the benefits of our technology innovation and logistical support to over 7,000 sellers in India and are delighted to further bring MPLUN-empanelled businesses within the fold of this inclusive growth," added Prashant Chauhan. The MOU will be in effect immediately as 580 MSME vendors of Madhya Pradesh already registered on the MP Vendor Development Online Portal www.mpvdp.in will be enrolled on Tolexo. Tolexo further promises to assist MSMEs in allied e-commerce activities such as doorstep pickup and delivery along with procuring online payments. Tolexo, a fully owned subsidiary of the world's third largest online marketplace IndiaMART, has established its market leadership position as the country's number one B2B e-commerce platform with its 28+ product categories, 10,00,000+ products and 8000+brands. It caters to a buyer base of over 2,00,000, giving the SME community an unprecedented market base to connect with and boost . For placing Rupee Dominated Masala Bond of Rs 500 crore Adani Transmission announced that the Company has signed a Purchase Agreement with Credit Suisse AG, Singapore Branch (purchaser) for its Indian rupee dominated Masala Bond of Rs 500 crore with coupon of 9.10 per cent. The Notes will be listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading. Moody's has assigned a provisional (p) Baa3 rating to the Notes. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Budgetary provision of Rs.12,456.66 crores is made in the Financial Year 2016-17 for implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) (Rs. 4,967.96 crores towards payment of two instalments of OROP arrears and Rs. 7,488.70 crores towards annual recurring expenditure for the revised pension at current rates). So far 18,90,635 out of 20,68,292 Ex-servicemen / family pensioners have been paid Rs.3,819.33 crores as arrears / revised pension under OROP Scheme. A Judicial Committee on OROP headed by Justice L. Narasimha Reddy, Retired Chief Justice of Patna High Court has been appointed vide notification dated 14.12.2015 to look into anomalies, if any, arising out of implementation of OROP. The Committee will submit its report within one year of its constitution. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Hindustan Construction Company rose 1.9% to Rs 24.10 at 12:53 IST on BSE after the company won a contract worth Rs 1749.59 crore from IRCON International to construct two tunnels and a bridge. The announcement was made during market hours today, 26 July 2016. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 30.06 points or 0.11% at 28,125.40 On BSE, so far 12.87 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 8.13 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 24.75 and a low of Rs 23.30 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 29.20 on 21 October 2015. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 16.35 on 25 August 2015. The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 25 July 2016, rising 24.15% compared with Sensex's 6.43% rise. The scrip, however, underperformed the market in past one quarter, gaining 8.24% as against Sensex's 9.41% rise. The small-cap company has equity capital of Rs 77.92 crore. Face value per share is Re 1. Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) won contract from IRCON International to construct two tunnels and a bridge on Katra - Banihal Section of Udhampur Srinagar Baramulla New BG Railway Line Project. The project will be completed in 30 months. HCC said. The contract involves construction of two main tunnels totaling 12.8 km along with parallel safety tunnels, a 200 m bridge adjoining these two tunnels and a station yard at Basindadhar, the company said. IRCON International, an autonomous constructing agency for the Indian Railways, was entrusted with the task to construct of Baramulla to Dharam section of the Udhampur Srinagar Baramulla rail link. The railway line from Baramulla to Quazigund (119 km) was operational for public since October 2009. The Pir Panjal tunnel constructed between Quazigund and Banihal was inaugurated in July 2013, extending the train service till Banihal. HCC's net profit declined 7.3% to Rs 19.14 crore on 4.6% growth in net sales to Rs 1171.88 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. HCC is into infrastructure development in transportation, power and water segments. HCC is developing a planned hill city named Lavasa near Pune in Maharashtra. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Launched of Feed the Future- India Triangular Training Programme The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) launched the second phase of the Feed the Future India Triangular Training Programme, bringing specialized agriculture training to 1,500 agricultural professional across Africa and Asia. The Secretary of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri S.K Pattanayak and U.S Ambassador to India Shri Richard R. Vera launched the programme together at the National Agriculture Science Complex in New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, Secretary of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare said that in order to continue our successful partnership programme covering more countries in Africa and Asia, MANAGE as lead institution representing Govt. of India and USAID representing US Government signed a Limited Scope Cooperation Agreement( LSCA) on 7th November, 2005. The new programme will be called as Feed The Future: India Triangular Training Programme, in which 32 Training programme of 15 days duration will be conducted in India and 12 Training programs of 10 days duration will be conducted in selected African and Asian Countries during 2016-20 i.e., for 4 years. The entire expenditure including participants travel, insurance, lodging, boarding, local travel and programme fee will be met by USAID and MANAGE. The training areas will be identified based on demand analysis conducted in participating countries. Shri S.K Pattanayak informed that 17 countries covered under the programme are Kenya, Malawi, Liberia, Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Tanzania, Sudan, Botswana, Ethiopia in Africa and Afghanistan, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Mongolia, and Vietnam in Asia. Also faculty of MANAGE visited Cambodia and Vietnam in Asia and Tanzania and Mozambique in Africa as part of Demand analysis. The U.S Ambassador Shri Richard R. Verma said that by harnessing the expertise and innovation of out two great countries, we are unlocking new opportunities to address global development challenges, bringing us closure to our shared objective of eliminating global poverty and hunger. Shri Richard R. Verma emphasized that the United States and India remain committed to their partnership of working, together to break the vicious cycle of poverty and hunger. Through sharing agriculture innovations worldwide, the U.S and India will help other countries develop their agriculture sectors, helping promote global prosperity and stability. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Maruti Suzuki India dropped 0.36% to Rs 4,534.20 at 15:10 IST on BSE after net profit rose 23.01% to Rs 1486.20 crore on 13.45% rise in total income to Rs 15410.60 crore in Q1 June 2016 over Q1 June 2015. The result was announced during market hours today, 26 July 2016. Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 82.29 points, or 0.29%, to 28,013.05. More than usual volumes were traded on the counter. On BSE, so far 1.3 lakh shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 77,137 shares in the past one quarter. The stock was volatile. At the day's high of Rs 4,584.95, the stock rose 0.75%. At the day's low of Rs 4,488 hit so far during the day, the stock declined 1.37%. The stock hit a record high of Rs 4,789 on 23 November 2015. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 3,202.10 on 29 February 2016. The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 25 July 2016, rising 11.83% compared with 6.43% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, gaining 21.86% as against Sensex's 9.41% rise. The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 151.04 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5. Maruti Suzuki India said that higher profit in Q1 June 2016 was helped by a higher turnover, material cost reduction, higher non-operating income and lower depreciation. Adverse foreign exchange movement reduced profits to some extent. The company said that the unfortunate incident of fire at a key vendor of the company resulted in lower sales in June 2016. The company hopes to recover the lost sales during the course of the year. Maruti Suzuki India is India's biggest car maker in terms of market share. Japanese parent Suzuki Motor Corporation currently holds 56.21% stake in Maruti (as per the shareholding pattern as on 30 June 2016). Powered by Capital Market - Live News MOIL rose 2.33% to Rs 247.95 at 11:19 IST on BSE after the company received approval from the Government of Madhya Pradesh for mining lease of over 76.409 hectare land in Bharveli Awalajhari village. The announcement was made after trading hours yesterday, 25 July 2016. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 38.53 points or 0.14% at 28,133.87 On BSE, so far 26,819 shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 17,767 shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 251.20 and a low of Rs 246 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 255 on 3 June 2016. The stock had hit a record low of Rs 180.10 on 12 February 2016. The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 25 July 2016, rising 3.02% compared with Sensex's 6.43% rise. The scrip also underperformed the market in past one quarter, gaining 2.5% as against Sensex's 9.41% rise. The mid-cap company has equity capital of Rs 168 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10. MOIL said that the company has received approval from the Government of Madhya Pradesh (MP) for mining lease of over 76.409 hectare land in Bharveli Awalajhari village of MP. This area is adjacent to the existing Balaghat mine of the company, MOIL said. The company is taking necessary steps to register and execute mining lease at the earliest possible, it added. MOIL's net profit declined 79.1% to Rs 21.38 crore on 29.9% growth in net sales to Rs 209.62 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. MOIL produces and sells different grades of manganese ore. It currently operates 10 mines, six located in the Nagpur and Bhandara districts of Maharashtra and four in the Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh. Powered by Capital Market - Live News From Public Works Department (PWD), Uttar Pradesh PNC Infratech has been awarded a project involving four laning of Etah to Kasganj road in Uttar Pradesh for a contract value of Rs. 232.91 crore. The company received the Letter of Award (LoA) from Public Works Department (PWD), Uttar Pradesh, on 25 July, 2016. This is the third EPC contract won by the company in the current financial year. Previously the company has won one state road project and one airport runway project in the current year, aggregating to Rs.260 crore. The company's order book now stands at over Rs. 5400 crore including the above two L1 projects, for which letters of award are yet to be received. PNC also won a highway project of NHAI in Rajasthan on 14th July 2016 on hybrid annuity model for a bid project cost of Rs. 881.00 crore. Powered by Capital Market - Live News For lapses in adherence to KYC / AML guidelines UCO Bank announced that the Reserve Bank of India in exercise of power conferred under Section 47(A) (1) (c ) read with Section 46 (4) (i) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, has imposed a penalty of Rs 2 crore on the Bank on account of few lapses in adherence to KYC/AML guidelines. The Bank has taken necessary corrective measures / action plans to strengthen its internal control mechanisms to avoid such recurrence. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Tata Motors rose 0.21% to Rs 509.95 at 10:00 IST on BSE after the company said that it is planning to offer the fourth series of its rated, listed, unsecured, redeemable, non-convertible debentures aggregating to Rs 400 crore. The announcement was made after trading hours yesterday, 25 July 2016. Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 15.12 points, or 0.05%, to 28,110.46. On BSE, so far 1.12 lakh shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 8.94 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 513.50, which is also a 52-week high for the stock. The stock hit a low of Rs 506.10 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 266 on 11 February 2016. The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 25 July 2016, rising 13.34% compared with 6.43% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, gaining 23.71% as against Sensex's 9.41% rise. The large-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 577.44 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2. Tata Motors said that the company is holding a meeting of its duly constituted committee of the board on 28 July 2016 to consider the offering of non-convertible debentures (NCDs). The proposal to issue NCDs is pursuant to the approval of the shareholders passed vide special resolution at the 70th annual general meeting of the company held on 13 August 2015 and the board of directors' resolution passed at its meeting held on 30 March 2016. Tata Motors' consolidated net profit jumped 201.6% to Rs 5177.06 crore on 18.8% growth in net sales to Rs 79926.12 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. Tata Motors is a market leader in commercial vehicles in India. The company's British unit JLR sells premium luxury cars. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Bandipur National Park (Karnataka): For someone whose cow -- valued at Rs 20,000 ($300) -- was killed by a tiger in August 2015, Mahadeva Gowda is calm, as is Shiva Murthy, whose sugarcane crop was trampled by elephants in July 2016, the fifth such pachyderm raid over the past year. Gowda and Murthy are the latest beneficiaries of a new programme called Wild Seve, or wild service, which deploys specially trained locals called "field agents" who hand-hold villagers to navigate formidable government compensation procedures. What once took up to 15 days -- if farmers bothered to apply at all -- now takes as little as four days. In doing so, Wild Seve -- run by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), a nonprofit that works with the government's forest departments in 284 villages in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu -- helps soothe the tension and violence evident between India's rising human population and falling population of wild animals. "Earlier it was difficult to interact with villagers when there was wildlife conflict, as they used to get aggressive. From the time Wild Seve started, it has educated them about the importance of wildlife and sustainability," said a forest official, who asked not to be named, as he is not authorised to talk to the media. "It has brought a sense of calmness in villagers while dealing with our department." In Murthy's village of Chillakahalli and Gowda's Vadeyannapura on the bucolic outskirts of south Karnataka's largest national park -- as on populated forest fringes nationwide -- human-animal conflicts are a growing issue, as IndiaSpend reported in May 2014. Gowda received Rs 9,000 as compensation for his cow, but he is satisfied. "Previously, we had to pay money to get compensation," he said. "First, we had to hire a photographer to take photos of crop raids or cattle kills. Then we had to travel by bus to the forest department, and there was no guarantee we would find them (officials)." Murthy used Wild Seve's toll-free number when elephants destroyed his sugarcane crop. Field agent Mahadevaswamy -- who also attended to Gowda's call -- informed and brought along a forest official to validate and document the claim. Photos must be taken and official documents filled, all of which are handled by field agents. Mahadevaswamy said he gets a call a day -- if not more -- for crop raids and more occasional cattle or poultry kills. His jurisdiction extends to 70 villages within a 20-km radius of Bandipur's forests, and he attends to a call within eight hours of receiving it. Since its launch last year, Wild Seve's team of seven field agents has helped file claims for 3,261 incidents of crop and property damage by elephants and other herbivores, 148 cases of livestock predation by big cats and wild dogs, 11 cases of injury and two human deaths. Of these, 2,998 toll-free calls came from Bandipur and 422 from Nagarahole. Until July 2016, nearly 1,000 families have either received or are about to receive compensation. The hope is that as villagers receive compensation for their losses quickly and clearly, they will be more willing to live with wildlife. "The compensation is now coming in good time, and so it has built a sense of relief and confidence in us," Gowda said. "Even if the crop is raided several times, we believe it will be compensated." In the absence of easy compensation, many species are attacked. There have been reports of villagers retaliating by poisoning tigers or forcing the government to shoot big cats. Krithi Karanth, the scientist behind Wild Seve In 2014, conservation scientist Krithi Karanth found that between 74 per cent and 86 per cent of households around five areas in Karnataka (Nagarhole, Bandipur, Dandeli, B. R. Hills, Bhadra) and one each in Madhya Pradesh (Kanha National Park) and Rajasthan (Ranthambore National Park) reported conflicts with wildlife. Her previous research found that less than a third of villagers who lost crops, livestock, property and family to such conflict received government compensation. "Along with mitigation, compensation has a role to play, as conflict will continue to occur," said Karanth. "My research showed that although people were trying multiple mitigation measures -- fences, guarding fields, noise (firecrackers or drums) -- very few measures worked. Hence, the solutions have to include both pre- and post-conflict assistance to people." Using her data and research, Karanth, in July 2015, in collaboration with the WCS, launched Wild Seve, now running in 284 villages around Bandipur and its contiguous area in Tamil Nadu, the Nagarhole National Park. Wild Seve is challenging because compensation procedures vary across forest ranges in Bandipur and Nagarhole. Some require a certificate from a veterinarian, confirming that cattle were indeed killed by wild animals. Others ask for proof of land ownership. Field agents now take care of these procedures, which often deterred villagers from seeking compensation. Recently, Wild Seve distributed identity cards with unique identification numbers to villagers who face repeated wildlife conflicts. Every conflict is now recorded against this number, building a conflict database, which allows easy tracking and follow-up of the compensation processes "Basically, Wild Seve has helped in simplifying the logistics and cutting down bureaucracy," said Ghanshyam Iyer, project coordinator of Wild Seve and a WCS member. Back in Chillakahalli village, near gently swaying saplings of sugarcane and cotton, women chat as they harvest tomatoes, aware that they share space with tigers, leopards, wild dogs and elephants and that, at some time, damage from visiting animals might set off a burdensome compensation process. As Gowda said, "Now, all it takes is one phone call." (26.07.2016 - In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform. Deepa Padmanaban is a Bangalore-based journalist who reports on environment and energy. The views expressed are those of IndiaSpend. The author can be contacted at respond@indiaspend.org) --IANS/IndiaSpend deepa/vm The government on Tuesday announced it will step up efforts to ensure protection of civilians as violence is constantly rising in the country since the withdrawal of foreign forces in late 2014. UN Assistance Mission in on Monday reported that the civilians casulties have reached a record-high in the first half of the year since 2009, Xinhua news agency reported. "Between January and June, the Human Rights team of UNAMA documented 1,601 civilian deaths and 3,565 injured. This represents an increase of 4% in the casualties compared to the first six months of 2015, and is the highest half-year total since 2009," UNAMA report said. "Afghan government is committed to implementing its obligations as enshrined in the Constitution concerning protection of civilians, and has made them an integral part of the conduct of the Security and Defence Forces of the country," the Presidential Palace said in a statement. In the report, the UN Office attributed 60% of civilian casualties to anti-government militants. However, it also noted an increase in the number of civilians killed and injured by pro-government forces in the first half of the year. The security forces were responsible for some 1,180 civilian casualties over the period, said the report. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has ordered the security forces to place protection of civilians on top of their priorities, said the statement. "Afghan people and history will never forget the terrorists' crimes, and it is our commitment to take the perpetrators to court and ensure justice," Ghani said in the statement. "The government has finalised the policy on protection of civilians, and as UNAMA has recommended in the report, will soon have it passed," the statement noted. After the release of the report, Save the Children, an agency working for safety of children, also called for protection of children in the war-torn country. "These findings are truly shocking, and represent a significant backtrack on progress for Afghan children," Ana Locsin, Director of Save the Children in Afghanistan, said in a statement on Monday. Locsin said the Save the Children condemns any attacks on children and urges all parties to make sure the protection of civilians, especially children, a priority. Japan, Australia and the US on Tuesday urged China to recognise the ruling by The Hague's Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in favour of the Philippines over its South China Sea dispute with Beijing. In a joint statement, US Secretary of State John Kerry, and his Japanese and Australian counterparts, Fumio Kishide and Julie Bishop, who are set to attend multilateral meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) here on Tuesday, expressed their "strong support for the rule of law and called on China and the Philippines to abide by the Arbitral Tribunal's Award of July 12 in the Philippines-China arbitration, which is final and legally binding on both parties," EFE news reported. The three ministers, who met in Laos' capital city on Monday, defended freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea and criticized the construction of outposts and their use for military purposes in the area. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Asean counterparts had agreed in a joint statement on Monday to resolve the disputes through talks and sign as soon as possible a code of conduct to prevent conflicts. In a press conference after the meeting, Wang reiterated China's rejection of the decision of The Hague court and accused the court of acting under the influence of foreign forces. Wang added that the Asean ministers had assured him that the bloc will not take sides in the arbitration despite the Philippines being one of its founding members. With this agreement, China had brought back the Asean to bilateral talks at the expense of multilateral negotiations, backed by the former Philippine government and the US. Kerry, Fumio and Bishop also condemned the nuclear and missile tests conducted by North Korea in recent months and urged the Communist regime to comply with UN resolutions against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. They also urged Pyongyang to respect human rights and resolve the cases of abductions of Japanese, South Korean and Thai citizens, among others, by North Korean intelligence services. Founded in 1967, Asean is composed of Myanmar, Brunei, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. --IANS ksk/vm Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was booed by his own delegates after calling on them to support presumptive presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on the opening day of a Democratic National Convention (DNC) here on Monday evening. Sanders lamented his 2016 primary loss but insisted that "Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the US", NBC News reported. "This election is about which candidate understands the real problems facing this country and has offered real solutions - not just bombast, fear-mongering, name-calling and divisiveness," Politico quoted Sanders as saying. "We need leadership in this country which will improve the lives of working families, the children, the elderly, the sick and the poor. We need leadership which brings our people together and makes us stronger - not leadership which insults Latinos, Muslims, women, African-Americans and veterans - and divides us up." "By these measures," he continued, "any objective observer will conclude that - based on her ideas and her leadership - Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close," Politico reported. The former presidential hopeful received a rousing round of applause, and also some "Bernie!", "We want Bernie!" and "Take it to the floor!" chants from his nearly 1,900 characteristically enthusiastic supporters. Sanders supporters' cheers and applause drowned out the Vermont Senator for several minutes when he first took the stage at the DNC for a prime time address. Several supporters appeared to have tears in their eyes during Sanders' appearance. Sanders addressed his "disappointed" supporters, who have been a vocal presence throughout the first day of the Convention, NBC News said. They booed and jeered outgoing DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz earlier on Monday. During a speech, they even booed Sanders when he mentioned Clinton by name. The Vermont senator also hit on the major themes of his campaign, including income inequality and Wall Street malfeasance, money in and universal health care. "Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president, and I am proud to stand with her tonight," NBC News quoted Sanders as saying. According to a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, 76 per cent of Sanders supporters said they would vote for Clinton against Republican rival Donald Trump. According to CNN, Sanders spent much of Monday making a last-ditch effort to quell the anger among his backers, including texting supporters asking them not to "engage in any kind of protest" on the floor. "Our job now is to see that platform implemented by a Democratic Senate, a Democratic House and a Hillary Clinton presidency - and I am going to do everything I can to make that happen," Sanders said while concluding his speech. The DNC which opened on Monday night will last until Thursday evening. Delegates from 50 states on Tuesday will officially select Clinton as the first female presidential nominee of one of the country's two biggest parties. Clinton will formally accept the nomination on Thursday evening with a speech closing out the convention after being introduced to the assembled delegates by her daughter Chelsea. --IANS ksk Can financial intelligence be found in the "twitterverse" which can provide clues to how a stock will perform? Yes, says a team from Johns Hopkins University. A strong co-relation does exist between the mood of a day's worth of tweets about a particular stock and the performance of that stock, added Jim Kyung-Soo Liew from Hopkins' Carey Business School. "When Apple does well within the day, participants are tweeting with bullish sentiment, showing that a positive correlation exists between contemporaneous price movements and tweet sentiments," Liew stated. The new paper, forthcoming in The Journal of Portfolio Management, shows that tweet-like posts on the StockTwits financial micro-blogging platform are strongly related over a given day to the behaviour of the stock being tweeted about during that day. According to Liew, this use of social media to determine stock performance should be added as a "sixth factor" to the Fama-French five-factor model well known in financial circles as a method for explaining market behaviour. Liew and his co-author associate professor Tamas Budavari of the Hopkins Krieger School of Arts and Sciences were granted access to all StockTwits posts about 15 companies that drew the most Twitter commentary from January 2012 to October 2015. The companies were Apple, Facebook, Netflix, Yahoo, Amazon, Google, Disney and American Airlines, among others. People who post on StockTwits can state in their tweets whether they feel positive ("bullish") or negative ("bearish") about a stock. Mining this data, the researchers discovered "a particular intuitive relationship between tweet sentiment and prices over time." "Namely, we show that the aggregated daily sentiment matters for equity daily returns. Positive sentiment is associated with positive returns," they wrote. Some critics say the real-time status of a tweet can make it irrelevant after, say, minutes or hours. But Liew begs to differ. "There appears to exist a strong positive relationship between the daily time-series of aggregated tweet sentiments and their corresponding security returns," he pointed out in a university statement. A previous study that Liew wrote for The Journal of Portfolio Management found a strong link between the mood of Twitter posts and the performance of an initial public offering (IPO). --IANS na/vm After the Rajasthan High Court on Monday acquitted Salman Khan in two cases of chinkara poaching in 1998, Bollywood superstar thanked all his fans and well-wishers for the support. Salman had appealed before the Jodhpur bench of the high court challenging a lower court verdict of 2006 handing him a one year and a five-year jail term in the two separate incidents of poaching. On Monday, Justice Nirmaljit Kaur, while allowing the actotr's appeal, acquitted him of all charges. Salman on Monday night took to Twitter to thank all. "Thank you for your prayers and support," the "Wanted" star wrote. One of the animals was killed at Bhawad on the outskirts of Jodhpur on September 26, 1998, and the other at Ghoda Farms on September 28, 1998. Shooting for the film "Hum Saath Sath Hain" was on at the time. It is the second time the 50-year-old has won acquittal in a criminal case. Last year, the Bombay High Court acquitted him in 2002 accident case that killed one man and injured four others on a Mumbai pavement. The actor had been found guilty by a sessions court for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sentenced to five years in jail. Salman's sister Alvira was present in the packed court room when the judgment was pronounced. His other sister Arpita Khan Sharma hailed the verdict. "Thank you god for always showering us with your grace and blessings. Today is a big day for us... Salman Khan. Thank you to all bhais and the family's well-wishers for your prayers, support, love and best wishes," Arpita tweeted. "This wouldn't have been possible without you." --IANS dc/nv/vm The Congress in Kerala on Tuesday expressed "surprise" at the appointment of Harvard University professor Gita Gopinath as the economic adviser to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Reacting to 38-year-old Gopinath's appointment, Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said: "This appointment is surprising. People of Kerala would like to know why development economist and Finance Minister Thomas Issac was being ignored. The Marxists speak against new liberal economic policies, but they have appointed an expert (Gita Gopinath) in this field as the Chief Minister's adviser." Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy also expressed his surprise. "It's surprising that the Chief Minister's economic adviser will operate from the USA," Chandy told IANS. Finance Minister Issac declined to comment despite repeated questions from media persons. Reacting to the criticism, Gopinath said in a statement that her position is just honorary and she is not moving to Kerala and will not be involved in economic policy decisions. "I will respond to any requests from the CM for advice on the impact on Kerala's economy of global, national and state events and policies. I hope to play a convening role to connect various state departments to knowledge leaders from around the world in sectors relevant to Kerala," said Gopinath, whose parents hail from Kannur district. The top leadership of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist has also expressed displeasure over Gopinath's appointment, sources told IANS. --IANS sg/rn/vt The Congress in Kerala is not impressed with Gita Gopinath who has been appointed the economic adviser to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Gita Gopinath is a professor at the Harvard University, but her appointment has surprised the Congress. Reacting to 38-year-old Gita Gopinath's appointment, Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said: "This appointment is surprising. People of Kerala would like to know why development economist and Finance Minister Thomas Issac was being ignored. The Marxists speak against new liberal economic policies, but they have appointed an expert (Gita Gopinath) in this field as the Chief Minister's adviser." Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy also expressed his surprise. "It's surprising that the Chief Minister's economic adviser will operate from the USA," Chandy told IANS. Finance Minister Issac declined to comment despite repeated questions from the media persons here. Meanwhile, top leadership of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist also has expressed displeasure over Gita Gopinath's appointment, sources told IANS. After assuming charge, the Chief Minister has been appointing advisers in different fields. However, one such appointee -- M.K. Damodaran -- decided not to take up the position of legal adviser as it was alleged he had been counsel of entities that filed cases against the government. --IANS sg/bim/vt A local court in New Delhi rejected the bail plea of (AAP) legislator Amanatullah Khan on Tuesday, arrested on the charge of threatening a woman, and sent him to 14 days judicial custody. Khan, who represents Okhla, was presented in the court after the expiry of his one day police custody. The 35-year-old woman had filed a complaint against Khan on July 20 for threatening her with dire consequences. A case was registered against the legislator under Sections 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code at the Jamia Nagar police station in south Delhi on July 20. Police arrested Khan on Sunday. Khan filed a counter-case on Saturday and claimed he was not even in Delhi when he is alleged to have threatened the woman. The AAP released a secretly shot video of the woman on Saturday, wherein she is allegedly heard saying she was told by the Station House Officer concerned to level rape charges against Khan. The Pakistani government has intensified diplomatic efforts for saving a national, Zulfiqar Ali, who is facing imminent execution in Indonesia after being convicted of drug-related charges. Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, who is in Laos for an Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Regional Forum meeting, has sought a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi on the issue, according to officials. Meanwhile, Indonesian Ambassador Iwan Suyudhie Amri was summoned to the Foreign Office over the expected execution. "Indonesian ambassador in Islamabad was also called in by the ministry and asked to convey the government of Pakistan's concern to his authorities," Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakariya told Dawn online. After languishing in jail for 12 years, Ali is set to be executed in Indonesia. The Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), a human rights law firm, has requested President Mamnoon Hussain to take up the matter with the Indonesian government to save the life of "an innocent Pakistani". Ali, 52, was arrested in November 2004 in connection with a 300-gram heroine case in Jakarta. A co-accused in the case, Gurdip Singh, retracted his statement against Ali, saying the confession had been coerced from him. The JPP said the Indonesian police had been unable to bring forward any material evidence to support their charge against Ali. "Despite this, the Pakistan embassy in Jakarta has received a notification that Ali will be executed in the near future and that the family will be given a 72-hour notice," Dawn online quoted JPP as saying. Ali was arrested at his home without a warrant in Indonesia's West Java province. For three days, he was "kicked, punched and threatened with death" by the Soekarno-Hatta Airport district police until he was forced to sign a "self-incriminating confession". Ali was rushed into an emergency stomach and kidney surgery due to the severity of the physical torture he was subjected to. He remained in the hospital for 17 days, for which the expenses had to be borne by his family, the JPP said. It said Ali had been denied fair trial and his only legal recourse now was to apply for clemency with the Indonesian president. Ali's wife, Siti Rouhani, has pinned her last hopes on the government. "If I get some support from Pakistan, something may happen and my husband may be saved," Dawn online reported citing Siti as saying. --IANS ksk The army said on Tuesday that four guerrillas were killed and one was apprehended in a gunfight in Nowgam sector of the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir. Defence sources said the fighting took place in the northern district of Kupwara. "The operation against the terrorists is still on," an officer said. "The group of terrorists had most likely infiltrated into the Indian side from Pakistan recently." --IANS sq/mr A priest and two armed men were killed and a person was injured in a hostage-taking incident in a church in France's Normandy region on Tuesday, President Francois Hollande said. Rev. Jacques Hamel, 84, was killed when two men armed with knives stormed the church and took five people hostage during a morning Mass at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray area of Rouen, CNN quoted Hollande as saying. The Islamic State said its "soldiers" slaughtered the elderly priest and critically injured a worshipper. "The perpetrators of the attack on a church in Normandy, France, are two Islamic State soldiers," the jihadist group's Amaq news agency said, citing an IS security source. "They responded to an appeal to strike countries belonging to the Crusader coalition," AKI quoted Amaq as saying. Earlier, Hollande said that the attack was a "cowardly assassination" carried out "by two terrorists in the name of Daesh (the IS)". The attackers were shot dead by the police. "The two killers came out and they were neutralized," French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. Besides the slain priest, two nuns and two churchgoers were taken hostage, BFMTV reported. The injured hostage was "between life and death", Brandet said. The priest's killing follows a string of violent attacks across the Europe in recent days, most of them claimed by the IS, most notably July 14 attack in the French city of Nice that left 84 dead and more than 300 injured. France has been under a state of emergency since the November 13 Paris terror attacks last year. At least 130 people were killed and over 350 were injured in a serious of attacks. French police told CNN that one of the church attackers had tried to go to fight in Syria last year, but had been stopped in Turkey by authorities. He was then sent back to France and sent to prison in May 2015. Before he was released, he was placed under police surveillance and forced to wear an electronic monitoring tag. French authorities have struggled to monitor the thousands of domestic Islamic radicals on their radar, and, in response to the heightened terror threat, President Hollande has vowed to double the number of officials charged with the task. More than 10,000 people were on their "fiche S" list, used to flag radicalised individuals considered a threat to national security. "Daesh has declared war on us. We have to win that war," Hollande told the media after the hostage situation was neutralised. He also urged the public to remain unified in the face of the threat. "All people feel affected so we must have cohesion ... no one can divide us," he said. "Terrorists will not give up on anything until we stop them." The Paris anti-terror prosecutor has taken over the investigation into the attack, France's Interior Ministry said in a statement. The Vatican condemned the attack, particularly the killing of the priest, calling it "terrible news". It said the Pope shared the pain and horror in response to the "absurd violence". A statement said the violence was particularly horrific as it took place in a church, "a sacred place where the love of God is announced". French Prime Minister Manuel Valls tweeted his horror at the "barbaric attack" on the church, and vowed a defiant response. "We will stand together," he said. A police cordon has been set up around the scene, about 108 km northwest of Paris. --IANS lok/vt The central government on Tuesday said that more organic fertilisers will be encouraged in the agriculture sector even as the "neem coating" ensured that the urea meant for farmers is not diverted to the chemical industry. "We will promote organic fertilisers to see that there is a balanced fertilisation," Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar told the Lok Sabha during question hour. Answering supplementary questions from members including from K.V. Thomas of the Congress and Thota Narasimham of the Telugu Desam Party, the minister shared the concern about the need for maintaining healthy soil. He said the NDA government at the Centre is committed to the policy of 'Zameen bachao, Kisan bachao' (Save agri land and save farmers)". He said soil the health card as proposed by the agriculture ministry will come in handy for the farmers. "Because of the soil health card, soil health laboratories and such other measures, the farmer will get a correct feedback about the health of his soil and the requirement of the soil based on which he can go for fertilisation," he said. Kumar also informed members that the 'neem coating' of urea has prevented its "misuse" by the chemicals industry and also such fortification of urea has ensured that lesser quantity is required to vitalise the crops. Moreover, he said to help farmers for the first time in 30 years the government has reduced the prices of various fertilisers like diammonium phosphate (DAP), muriate of potash (MOP) and nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous. "For DAP, we have reduced it to the tune of Rs 2,500 per tonne, that is Rs 125 per 50-kilogram bag. For MOP, we have reduced it to the tune of Rs 5,000 per tonne, that is Rs 250 per bag. I think this has never happened in the past," he said. --IANS nd/bim/bg French President on Tuesday reiterated calls for the nation's unity to win a long battle against terrorism in a brief televised address after two men claiming allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) slaughtered a priest. Earlier on Tuesday, two armed men with knives entered a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, in France, during a morning mass and seized five people including the priest, Xinhua news agency reported. The priest was killed by the two hostages takers who were later shot dead by police units. A second victim was in critical situation. The Islamist militant threat to France and Europe has never been so severe as now, he said, pointing that the war against terrorism both abroad and at home will be long. "It is our unity that will make us strong. We need to form a bloc to win this war... but I assure you, we will win this war," the President said. Denouncing "an unforgivable act", he insisted that the government will be determined to apply the anti-terrorist laws while respecting rights and freedoms. Actor-filmmaker Srinivas Avasarala, who will play the lead in the yet-untitled Telugu remake of Hindi adult comedy "Hunterrr", says the upcoming project will be a bold yet emotional film. "The second half of the film is so emotional, I was moved by it. People assume it's an adult comedy but the story and the character has a deeper meaning to it. The remake will be bold, but at the same time equally emotional," Srinivas told IANS. Srinivas will reprise Gulshan Devaiah's role of a sex addict in the remake, which is being helmed by debutant Naveen Medaram. "I'm yet to sign the project officially. Everything should be finalized in a few days. The film has already gone on the floors and they are currently shooting the childhood portion of the protagonist. I'll be joining the sets in August," he said. While the leading ladies are yet to be finalised, the cast also includes Tanikella Bharani. Asked if he feels Telugu audiences are open to these kinds of subjects, he said: "I don't know. I consider myself an audience and I can't think for others. You can't keep the end result in mind and make a film." --IANS hp/nv/vm India has invited Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to attend the BRICS and BRICS-BIMSTEC summit in October in Goa, Indian envoy Harsh Vardhan Shringla said here on Tuesday. India will host the Eighth Annual Summit of BRICS on October 15-16 in Goa, in its capacity as chair of the bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. This is the second time that India is hosting a BRICS summit, after the fourth one in New Delhi in March 2012. India assumed the rotating chairmanship of BRICS from Russia on February 15 and will hold the position till December 31, 2016. Speaking at the National Defence College (NDC) in Dhaka, Shringla condemned the terror attacks which struck Bangladesh earlier this month and said the armed forces had played "a valiant role in effectively subduing the terrorists", bdnews24.com reported. "..we salute your contribution and commitment towards peace and stability in your country," he said. He also reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resolve to stand by Bangladesh in the fight against terrorism. Referring to the foreign policy of India, the envoy said, "The policy has been more 'proactive', with a sense of renewed energy, vigour and planning in India's engagement with the rest of the world." He also said India's foreign policy sought "a fair and just global order" attuned to the realities of the 21st century. BRICS countries together represent 42 per cent of the world's population and their combined economic output exceeds $16 trillion. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) groups seven nations of South and Southeast Asia -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. --IANS ss/rn/vt India on Tuesday called for peaceful solutions to the disputes in the South China Sea as the safety of the shipping routes through these waters was crucial for stability in the region. "The sea lanes of communication passing through the South China Sea are critical for peace, stability, prosperity and development," Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh said while addressing the 5th East Asia Foreign Ministers Meeting in Vientiane, Laos. "India supports freedom of navigation, over flight and unimpeded commerce, based on the principles of international law, as reflected notably in the Unclos (UN Convention on Law of the Seas)," he stated. "India believes that states should resolve disputes through peaceful means without threat or use of force and exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that could complicate or escalate disputes affecting peace and stability." Referring to the ruling by an international arbitration tribunal in The Hague earlier in favour of the Philippines over China on the South China Sea dispute, Singh said that as a state party to Unclos, India urged all parties to show utmost respect for Unclos which establishes the international legal order of the seas and oceans. He called for an international legal regime to fight the global scourge of terrorism. "The spate of terrorist attacks in country after country have shocked humanity to the core," he stated. "In this scenario, it is vital to construct a strong international legal regime, built upon the principle of 'zero tolerance' for direct or indirect support to terrorism." Without naming Pakistan Singh said deepening of security cooperation "must be based on an outright rejection of state sponsored terrorism and isolating those who harbour, support, finance or sponsor terrorists, without distinguishing between 'good' or 'bad' terrorists, and while de-linking religion from terrorism". "Acts of terrorism are sustained by the ideological, logistical and financial infrastructure that exists in parts of our region," he said. He also sought support for the India-initiated Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) at the United Nations. "Today's realities warrant that nations act for its urgent finalisation, to rein in the human and material toll inflicted by acts of terror. I urge EAS support for this initiative," he said. Singh said India wanted North Korea to take concrete actions towards denuclearisation and fully comply with its international obligations, including relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the commitments it has undertaken under the 2005 Joint Statement. "We call for heightened vigilance on proliferation of materials and technologies related to nuclear weapons and missiles," he stated. He said the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (Asean) should be at the heart of the security architecture of the region. "The evolving regional security architecture in the Asia-Pacific should be open, transparent and inclusive," Singh said. "At this stage, it must be dialogue-centred, and Asean must remain at its heart. For us, Asean centrality is as much a practical construct as it is an acknowledgement of Asean's historic role in Asian regional cooperation and integration." Jharkhand's "ruling party" used money power and other unfair means to win the June 11 Rajya Sabha elections in the state, JMM member Sanjiv Kumar said on Tuesday in the upper house of parliament. He was supported in his assertion by Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Congress, who said it has become a "modus operandi" to sabotage elections for the Rajya Sabha. The Congress, however, protested when Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi referred to Karnataka, where also the media had reported manipulation in Rajya Sabha elections. Raising the issue, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's Sanjiv Kumar said the MLAs were lured with money power and when that did not work, old cases against two MLAs were misused. "The ruling party crossed limits in the election. When they could not make the MLAs vote for them by money power they used two old cases to target two MLAs. They could not vote and ruling party won by one vote," he said without naming Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He added that a CD proved that the ruling party tried to bribe MLAs. "This is not about one seat; it is about the dignity of Rajya Sabha," Sanjiv Kumar said. "I leave this matter on the conscience of home minister and leader of house," he added. He was joined by Azad who said: "This is not first time. This has become a modus operandi to threaten MLAs to make their candidate win." Azad demanded a house committee to probe the issue. Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav urged the government to take the issue seriously. "This is about the reputation of Rajya Sabha election," Yadav said. Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury also demanded investigation of the CD that was mentioned. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi then referred to Karnataka Rajya Sabha election. "The issue is related to Jharkhand and Karnataka... " Naqvi said, which was met by protests from Congress benches. "We must have faith on the election commission," Naqvi said, "If there is any CD, processes will be followed". Earlier, the issue of alleged unfair practice in Haryana Rajya Sabha election had also been raised in the upper house. --IANS ao/kb/vm Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation on the 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas on Tuesday in paying glowing tributes to the martyrs of the 1999 Kargil War with Pakistan. Paying tributes to the soldiers, Modi said: "The country will never forget the fearlessness with which they gave a befitting and unforgettable reply to the intruders." In a series of tweets, he also lauded the firmness demonstrated by the then political leadership (National Democratic Alliance government) which ensured the victory in Kargil. "We recall with pride, the firmness demonstrated by India's political leadership in 1999, which ensured a decisive victory in Kargil," tweeted Modi. "On Kargil Vijay Diwas, I bow to every valiant soldier who fought for India till the very last breath. Their heroic sacrifices inspire us," the Prime Minister said. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, along with the three Service chiefs -- Army chief General Dalbir Singh, Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, and Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba -- paid homage to the martyrs at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at the India Gate here. Congress President Sonia Gandhi also paid homage to the soldiers who laid down their lives during 'Operation Vijay', which culminated on this day in 1999. "Their spirit of nation-above-self continues to inspire an entire generation," the Congress leader said. Indian and Pakistani armies fought the Kargil War in May-July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). India launched 'Operation Vijay' to clear the Kargil sector of infiltration by Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants on the Indian side of the Line of Control. On July 26, 1999, India successfully retook the high outposts lost to Pakistani intruders to end the Kargil War. The nearly week-long 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas celebrations began under the aegis of the army's Fire and Fury Corps on July 21. Army chief General Dalbir Singh paid homage to the martyrs of 'Operation Vijay' at the historic Kargil War Memorial at Drass in Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday. --IANS ao/tsb/vt US space agency will launch a spacecraft in September to a near-Earth asteroid known as Bennu to harvest a sample of surface material and return it to the Earth to scan for signs of life. NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will measure the spectral signatures of Bennu's mineralogical and molecular components. Ideally, the sample will come from a region in which the building blocks of life may be found. Known as OVIRS (OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer), the instrument on board will measure visible and near-infrared light reflected and emitted from the asteroid and split the light into its component wavelengths, much like a prism that splits sunlight into a rainbow. "OVIRS is key to our search for organics on Bennu. In particular, we will rely on it to find the areas of Bennu rich in organic molecules to identify possible sample sites of high science value, as well as the asteroid's general composition," explained Lauretta, principal investigator for the OSIRIS-REx mission at University of Arizona in Tucson. OVIRS will work in tandem with another OSIRIS-REx instrument the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES). While OVIRS maps the asteroid in the visible and near infrared, OTES picks up in the thermal infrared. This will allow the science team to map the entire asteroid over a range of wavelengths that are most interesting to scientists searching for organics and water. In the visible and infrared spectrum, minerals and other materials have unique signatures like fingerprints. These fingerprints allow scientists to identify various organic materials, as well as carbonates, silicates and absorbed water, on the surface of the asteroid. The data will actually allow scientists to make a map of the relative abundance of various materials across Bennu's surface. "I can't think of a spectral payload that has been quite this comprehensive before," said Dennis Reuter, OVIRS instrument scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. As the spacecraft approaches Bennu, OVIRS will view one entire hemisphere at a time to measure how the spectrum changes as the asteroid rotates, allowing scientists to compare ground-based observations to those from the spacecraft. Once at the asteroid, OVIRS will gather spectral data and create detailed maps of the surface and help in the selection of a sample site. Despite its capabilities to perform complex science, OVIRS is surprisingly inexpensive and compact in its design. The entire spectrometer operates at 10 watts, requiring less power than a standard household light bulb. Unlike most spectrometers, OVIRS has no moving parts, reducing the risk of a malfunction. "We designed OVIRS to be robust and capable of lasting a long time in space," Reuters said in a statement. The team also had to plan for another major threat: water. Immediately after launch, the team will turn on heaters on the instrument to bake off any water. The heat will not be intense enough to cause any damage to OVIRS, and the team will turn the heaters off once all of the water has evaporated. Rome, July 26 (IANS/AKI) Over 3,000 migrants and refugees have died in the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe in 2016, a far higher toll than during the same period of 2015, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said. The discovery of the bodies of 39 migrants which washed up on Libya's beaches this week brings the number of deaths to 3,034, a "significantly" higher number than the 1,917 people who lost their lives in the first seven months of 2015. "This means that for the third straight year, IOM will report migration fatalities of at least 3,000 men, women and children on these dangerous sea routes," IOM said. An estimated 250,000 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2016 -- only slightly higher than in the same period of 2015 -- most arriving in Italy and Greece, according to IOM. A reason for the spike in Mediterranean Sea deaths this year was a series of shipwrecks in late May involving larger vessels each with hundreds of people on board, one which claimed the lives of 500 migrants said IOM. It has proved extremely difficult to curb the number of victims despite "the constant and increased patrolling of the Mediterranean", IOM said, praising Italian and other rescuers. "Without the presence and the outstanding work of the Italian and international ships that save hundreds of lives every day, the number of missing migrants would almost certainly be much higher," said IOM's Rome spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo. --IANS/AKI lok/vt Corinthians have agreed to sell striker Alexandre Pato to Spain's Villarreal, the Brazilian club's former president has said. The three million-euro deal was all but confirmed during a meeting between officials from both clubs on Monday afternoon, according to the Globoesporte news portal, reports Xinhua. Corinthians own 60 percent of the 26-year-old's economic rights with the remainder held by Pato himself. "We have sold him," said Andres Sanchez, who was president of Corinthians from 2007 to 2012 and is still involved in the club. "You said that we wouldn't sell him but now we have. Later it will be confirmed." Pato returned to Corinthians at the start of the month after ending a six-month loan spell at Chelsea. The forward made just two appearances for the London club, scoring on his debut in the Blues' 4-0 Premier League victory over Aston Villa in April. Pato has not played for Corinthians since December 2013, having joined the club from AC Milan 11 months earlier in a deal worth 15 million euros. The Brazil international was then loaned out to Sao Paulo where he netted 38 times in two seasons before joining Chelsea. Corinthians were keen to sell the forward during the current European transfer window to avoid losing him for nothing when his contract runs out in December. --IANS ajb/mr Thailand plans to increase its population of tigers by about 50 per cent in the next several years, a senior official said on Tuesday. Given the current population of about 750 tigers in Thailand's evergreen forests, the number will rise by at least 300 to add up to over 1,000 tigers by 2022, Xinhua news agency quoted the authorities as saying. Thailand has reached agreements with Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Myanmar in bid to protect tigers jointly in the tropical forests along the shared borders. There are an estimated 1,300 tigers in private zoos in Thailand. --IANS sm/py/mr President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday greeted the people of Maldives on its 51st Independence Day. In a message to his Maldivian counterpart Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, President Mukherjee said: "India and Maldives share a common strategic interest in peace, stability, progress and prosperity of our countries and the Indian Ocean region. "I am confident that the strong foundation of our bilateral relations and the continuing efforts of both Governments will help us to meet common challenges," he said, according to a statement issued here. The Maldives is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean. It celebrates its Independence Day on July 26. --IANS ruwa/rn/bg A priest and both the hostage-takers were killed in an attack by two men armed with knives at a church near Rouen in northern France, police said. The armed men entered the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray during Mass, taking the priest, two nuns and several churchgoers hostage, BBC reported. French TV said shots had been heard after police arrived at the scene. Both hostage-takers were dead. At least one person was receiving medical treatment for injuries. The area has been cordoned off. A woman who works in a local beauty parlour, Eulalie Garcia, said she had known the 92-year-old priest since her childhood. "My family has lived here for 35 years and we have always known him," she said. "He was someone who was treasured by the community. He was very discreet and didn't like to draw attention to himself." There was no immediate indication of the identity or motive of the hostage-takers. France has been on high alert since the July 14 attack in Nice, when a man ploughed a heavy duty white truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day, killing 84 people and injuring over 200 others. The Nice attack was carried out by Tunisian man, Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, who was not a known jihadist but Islamic State militant group said he had acted in response to its calls to target civilians in countries that have been attacking it. President Francois Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve were on their way to Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray to be briefed by the police. The investigation into the incident will be led by anti-terrorism prosecutors, the interior ministry has said. --IANS py/vt Indian Railways on Tuesday said it plans to add 30,000 bio toilets on its trains during this year. According to Railways Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Indian Railways have so far provided more than 40,000 bio toilets and plans to add 30,000 during the current year. The minister spoke at an event here in which the Indian Railways entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for green rating and studies on energy efficiency of its production units. Prabhu said that the association with CII will enable the Indian Railways to weigh its green initiatives against the global standards. CII said the intent of the MoU is to implement CII Green Company (GreenCo) rating for all Indian Railways factories and workshops. "CII GreenCo rating system is the first-of-its-kind in the world and is a robust evaluation process which rates the degree of environmental performance of the company," the CII said in a statement. "As part of the MoU, ICF Perambur, DLW in Varanasi and a workshop in Perambur will be considered for GreenCo rating in 2016." The GreenCo rating system evaluates the companies on 10 broad performance parameters and also enables in development of long term green growth strategy and introduction of global best practices in operations. "As part of the MoU, an initial set of activities on capacity building, engagement with technology suppliers and energy efficiency awards for Indian Railways units will be undertaken during 2016-17," the statement added. "Interactions with engineering and auto companies in the private sector will also be organised in the form of meetings and missions, to facilitate learning from peers." --IANS rv/vt The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Attorney General on a plea seeking pronouncement by a Constitution Bench whether those aspiring to contest panchayat elections could be asked to have certain educational qualification and other eligibility criteria including a functional toilet at their homes. The bench of Justice Anil R. Dave, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice L. Nageswara Rao issued notice to Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi as senior counsel Indira Jaising said that there has to be an exposition by a seven judges Constitution Bench whether right to contest was a constitutional right and if so what sort of restrictions could be imposed on it. Indira Jaising, said this while arguing for two women panchayat members of Rajasthan, who have said that such qualifications have curbed their right to contest panchayat elections. Jaising, who had argued the matter on Monday and on Tuesday as well took the court through the various judgments pronounced by the top court holding conflicting and divergent views on the nature of the right to contest -- on whether it is statutory right, fundamental right or a constitutional right. Jaising, batting for a seven judges Constitution Bench, said: "If it is a constitutional right, (then) we need an exposition that under what circumstances it can be restricted." The senior counsel said this while arguing for the petitioner Norati and Kamla who have challenged the dismissal of their plea challenging the constitutional validity of the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (second Amendment) Act, 2015, by the Rajasthan High Court by its January 22, 2016, order. Besides minimum educational qualifications, Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (second Amendment) Act, 2015, mandates that a person aspiring to contest rural local body election should make a declaration that he is under no debts to pay to a co-operative bank, no electricity dues are outstanding against him and has a functional toilet at home. The petitioners - who are associated with the panchayats of their respective villages - have contended that by such qualifications their right to contest election to rural local body has been curtailed. The Rajasthan High Court while dismissing the challenge to the constitutional validity of Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (second Amendment) Act, 2015, has relied upon Supreme Court judgment of December 10, 2015, by which it had upheld the provision for similar educational qualifications and eligibility criteria for those aspiring to contest the rural local body elections in Haryana. The top court while upholding the educational qualifications and eligibility criteria in the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act had said that they were neither irrational nor illegal. The top court had in the December 10 verdict said, "Object sought to be achieved cannot be said to be irrational or illegal or unconnected with the scheme and purpose" of empowering the rural people through local self-government. "It is only education which gives a human being the power to discriminate between right and wrong, good and bad. Therefore, prescription of an educational qualification is not irrelevant for better administration of the panchayats", the top court had said upholding the amendment to Haryana Panchayati Raj Act. --IANS pk/rn An Indian Air Force (IAF) AN-32 which went missing on July 22 remains untraced despite massive search operations in the Bay of Bengal, the authorities said on Tuesday. "There is no trace of the aircraft and the search is still on," a Coast Guard official told IANS. The navy, Coast Guard and IAF are searching for the plane or its debris. The plane with 29 people on board went missing shortly after taking off from Chennai for Port Blair. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is using its Radar Imaging Satellite to detect any floating debris. The IAF has not divulged the names of the 29 passengers. IAF spokesperson Anupam Banerjee declined to comment on the cargo on the plane. "It is not possible to share such information," Banerjee told IANS. Meanwhile, in the Rajya Sabha, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said every small lead was being followed in a bid to trace the missing AN-32. "There were four to five links noticed. We are trying to find out whether they are misleading or they have some meaning... "We have used satellite imagery. P8I aircraft is being used extensively, almost 30 ships including of the Coast Guard and the navy, and merchant ships are there. A submarine is in the area," he said. "We are getting a deep sea rescue vessel also." Asked about reports of technical glitches in the aircraft, the minister said: "I will not like to comment on that but I can say very clearly that this (AN-32) is one of the safest aircraft the IAF flies. "There have been only two reported accidents in the last 10 years. What you are talking of are small minor issues that crop up every time you fly and they are rectified," he said. The recorded transcript of air traffic radar showed the last pick up of the aircraft was 151 nautical miles east of Chennai when it took a left turn with rapid loss of height from 23,000 feet. --IANS vj/bim/mr Australian wildlife expert, television personality, and conservationist Steve Irwin's daughter Bindi has paid tribute to her late father who was killed by a stingray barb 10 years ago. She shared a baby photograph on Instagram of herself with her late father and mother Terri, thanking her loved ones for her "unforgettable journey" so far, reports femalefirst.co.uk. "Hello lovelies. Well, today marks 18 years of life for me, here in Australia and I really don't know where to begin in thanking so many people for an unforgettable journey so far. So, I think that I'll start here, with this photograph," Bindi captioned the image. "This photograph was taken within the first year of my life. To be perfectly honest life has changed in a million ways since this photograph was taken. Along the way we gained another incredible part of our family, my brother Robert," she continued. "Our conservation work with Wildlife Warriors took off around the world. Our home, Australia Zoo continued to expand and has become the greatest zoological facility on planet earth". Steve was famous for his show, "The Crocodile Hunter", and while filming for an ocean documentary in 2006, the 44-year-old conservationist was stung in the chest by a stingray barb, which killed him. --IANS ank/nn/ With less than one per cent organ donation rate in India, there is a strong need of creating more awareness among people about the initiative, said health experts. At "More to Give", an event organised by Fortis Healthcare and NDTV on the occasion of Kargil Diwas, health experts pitched for strong support from the government to take ahead the organ donation initiative. "Half a million people die for not receiving organs at the right time. There is a need to create organ donation awareness and the government should take efforts by coming up with a large scale campaign. Brain-dead entity should be recognised in hospitals and license should be provided to all the states," K.R. Balakrishnan, Director, Cardiac Sciences, Fortis Hospital told IANS. The health experts expressed their apprehensions on lack of proper knowledge about organ donation and myths surrounding it that is affecting the initiative. "There are many doubts among people which can be cleared through direct communication. Organ donation is still not publicly accepted as much as blood donation is. One of the biggest challenge about organ donation is to convince people about brain death because the body is warm and patient is still breathing," said Aarti Vij, Professor, Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation at the event. For the health experts, removing myths surrounding organ donation is the biggest challenge, which they expect can be achieved through proper and efficient awareness and education. "Information education and awareness biggest challenge for donation. If the preconceptions and stigma are removed than a lot can be done for organ donation. Not just the government, but private hospitals too have the responsibility towards organ donation awareness," said Bhavdeep Singh, CEO, Fortis Healthcare. Experts also said that healthcare infrastructure must be improved. "Healthcare infrastructure needs to be improved, particularly in tier two and three cities. Medical professionals earlier were not that aware of organ implementation but a lot has evolved in past few years. And the process of training them has began," said Balakrishnan. The importance on developing technology was also stressed. "Green corridor has been helping a lot for smooth transportation of organs but the truth is it is not a substitute for good infrastructure. Technology needs to be improved more so that the organs can be preserved for more time," added Singh. --IANS som/vd Tension prevailed at the opposition Congress party's office here as police stopped its top leaders from proceeding to the Mallanna Sagar project site in Medak district. Police detained former union minister S. Jaipal Reddy, opposition leader in Telangana assembly K. Jana Reddy, opposition leader in legislative council Mohammed Ali Shabbir and others as they left for Medak district, which is witnessing protests over land acquisition for the proposed irrigation project. Senior leaders Mallu Batti Vikaramarka, M. Sashidhar Reddy, Sunitha Lakshma Reddy, Mallu Ravi, Anjan Kumar Yadav and others were taken into custody and shifted to different police stations in the city. Congress leaders lodged a strong protest when police stopped the buses arranged as part of their 'Chalo Mallanna Sagar' programme. Heated arguments between the police and Congress leaders led to some jostling. The main opposition party condemned what it called the repression let loose by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government in order to go ahead with the project. Jaipal Reddy said there was no transparency in the manner in which the project was being taken up. "There are questions like whether there is any real need for such a big reservoir and whether such a huge land needs to be acquired," he said. He said the government took a unilateral decision and was using force to suppress the protests by the people who face eviction from 14 villages. Shabbir said the TRS government instead of paying compensation under the Land Acquisition Act 2013, was trying to implement its own order (GO 123). He said there was no provision of rehabilitation and resettlement in the state government order. People in the villages facing submergence due to the project staged protests. The agitation took a violent turn on Sunday when police baton-charged farmers who tried to impose a road blockade in support of their demand for adequate compensation. Medak, the native district of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, observed a shutdown on Monday on a call by the opposition parties. Leaders of various parties were arrested in different parts of the district during the shutdown. The TRS government has alleged that the opposition parties were provoking the people. Irrigation minister Harish Rao said the government was ready to pay compensation under any legislation. --IANS ms/py/bg Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh met Myanmar State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi in Vientiane, Laos, on Tuesday. "When Act East and Neighbourhood First converge. MoS @Gen_VKSingh w/ State Counsellor & Myanmar FM, Aung San Suu Kyi," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson V.K. Swarup tweeted along with pictures of the two leaders. Singh met the Nobel peace laureate on the sidelines of the Sixth East Asia Foreign Ministers Meeting in the Lao capital. On Monday, Singh attended the 14th Asean-India Foreign Ministers Meeting in Vientiane. --IANS ab/bg Damascus, July 26 (IANS/AKI) The wave of jihadist attacks in Europe is the price the West is paying for supporting "terrorists" in Syria, the country's President Bashar al-Assad said on Tuesday after two attackers killed a priest in France. "The war on terrorism in Syria offers many lessons for the region and for the whole world, as is shown by the recent spate of attacks that have targeted many countries," he wrote on Twitter. "The policies of western countries that support the terrorists have negative consequences for their citizens economically and in terms of security," Assad added. The Assad government calls "terrorists" the myriad of rebel groups pitted against it in Syria's over five years long civil war. Many Western leaders are backing rebel groups in the brutal conflict because they want to weaken Syria, Assad claimed. "Because Syria is still an independent country, they are backing the terrorists to weaken it and turn it into a satellite state." France, which is reeling from two deadly jihadist attacks in less than two weeks, was the first country to join the US-led coalition in Iraq. It has provided logistical support to Syrian rebels it considers moderate, including Kurdish fighters, and last autumn also began conducting air strikes against IS targets in Syria. France has continued to take a tough diplomatic line against Assad and to stand firm on the demand that he must go if the devastating war in Syria is to end. --IANS/AKI lok/vt The Border Security Force (BSF) has apprehended a woman and her minor son from near the Bangladesh border in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district for trying to smuggle out silver worth over Rs 3 lakh, an officer said on Tuesday. The woman and the boy were nabbed by the troopers of 76 Battalion from near the Hakimpur border outpost area on Monday. "A special patrol party intercepted the woman riding a scooty with her 13-year-old son and trying to cross the international border. "Searching them, nearly 9 kg of silver valued at over Rs. 3 lakh was seized from them," said a BSF officer. The woman identified as Rakiba Dalal, 35 and her son Yamin are residents of the district and have been handed over customs officials for further action. The BSF so far in the year has seized silver worth over Rs. 25 lakh and apprehended 7 smugglers including three Bangladeshi nationals from the South Bengal frontier. --IANS and/vd The weeks after the Leave camp won the United Kingdoms Brexit referendum, the Remain camp has been suffering from post-traumatic stress. They are still hoping for some way to stay in the European Union. This centres on the trade deal with the EU, which allows continuing access to the single market. Various models the Norway model, the Swiss model, and even an Albanian model are being bandied about. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad says his party would not field any candidate in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election because the ruling party's chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav, is a samdhi. Chief Minister on Tuesday said it was the responsibility of all political parties in Parliament to undo the injustice done to Andhra Pradesh in the matter of its bifurcation. "The BJP has a larger responsibility in this regard. All parties should come to the rescue of Andhra Pradesh as they had contributed to its bifurcation by supporting the AP Reorganisation Bill (in 2014)," Chandrababu said. He was referring to the stalemate in Rajya Sabha for the last two days over the private member's bill, moved by Congress member K V P Ramachandra Rao seeking special category status to AP. "I have asked the TDP MPs to do everything to safeguard the interests of the state," he said, stating that his party was hence supporting the private member's bill. "I want all parties in Parliament to ensure that the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 be implemented in true spirit," Chandrababu said. "I raised this issue at the Inter-State Council meet on July 16 and reminded the chief ministers of all states about the irrational bifurcation. Not only was injustice done to AP but we were insulted. I asked them to undo the injustice as all parties were responsible for the division," he said at a press conference here this afternoon. He wanted expeditious implementation of all the provisions of Reorganization Act and assurances made by the then Prime Minister on the floor of Rajya Sabha, the most important among them being grant of special category status. The execution of Polavaram as a national irrigation project, extension of special financial support for construction of new Capital, sanction of railway zone at Visakhapatnam, special package for development of backward regions, provision of tax incentives for rapid industrialisation and release of balance grant to bridge the resource gap were some of the other demands he raised. Congress chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh Sheila Diskhit on Monday said Congress would form government after 27 years in the state in the 2017 Assembly elections and BJP would stand fourth in the polls. Dikshit, who reached here tonight from Delhi as part of Congress' poll campaign, said the state has been going backwards all these years under the regimes of Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and BJP. She asked the people to vote for Congress if they want the state to progress. She claimed that the party was receiving a good response and BJP has dropped to fourth position in the state. "On the basis of the development work done by the Congress government in Delhi, the party will replicate it in the state if it comes to power," she said while addressing a gathering here after three-day bus yatra '27 saal UP behaal' reached here tonight. UP Congress chief Raj Babbar said Dikshit would work for the development of the state just like she did in Delhi. He also attacked SP, BSP and BJP for their failure to make Uttar Pradesh a developed state. The could not transact any legislative business for the second day in succession, casting a shadow over the government's plans to have the two Bills - the compensatory afforestation and the goods and services tax (GST) Constitution amendment Bills - passed in the ongoing monsoon session. A knife-wielding former employee killed 19 people and injured 25 at a care centre for the mentally disabled in Japan today, in the country's worst mass killing in decades. The 26-year-old man later turned himself in at a police station, admitting to officers: "I did it." He reportedly also said: "The disabled should all disappear." Authorities identified the attacker as Satoshi Uematsu and said he had worked at the facility in Sagamihara, a city of more than 700,000 people west of Tokyo, until February. Broadcaster NTV said the man told police he had been fired and held a grudge against the care centre. The attack began in the early hours of the morning when Uematsu allegedly broke a first-floor window to get into the building. NTV reported that he tied up caregivers before starting to stab the residents. A doctor at one of the hospitals where victims were taken described some with "deep stab" wounds to the neck. "The patients are very shocked mentally, and they cannot speak now," the doctor told national broadcaster NHK. A fleet of ambulances, police cars and fire trucks converged on the Tsukui Yamayuri-en centre, a low-rise building nestled against forested hills, which was cordoned off and draped with yellow "Keep Out" tape. Fire department spokesmen told AFP that the dead included nine men and 10 women aged from 18 to 70, and that another 25 people were wounded, 20 of them seriously. An official from Kanagawa prefecture, which takes in Sagamihara, identified the suspect and said he had turned up at the police station with the murder weapons. Uematsu "broke a glass window and intruded into the facility at about 2:10 AM and stabbed those staying there," Shinya Sakuma told a press conference in the prefecture's capital Yokohama. "When Uematsu turned himself in, he was found carrying kitchen knives and other types of knives stained with blood." The timeline of the attack remained unclear. Police earlier said they received a call from the centre around 2:30 AM, raising the alarm that a man armed with a knife had entered the facility. They said he turned himself in half an hour later. "I was shocked," said Chikara Inabayashi, 68, who lives near the care centre which takes in up to 160 residents. "I woke up at about 3 AM because of the blaring noise of the sirens," he told AFP. Japan has one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the developed world, and attacks involving weapons of any kind are unusual. The killing is believed to be the worst such incident since 1938, when a man went on a killing spree armed with an axe, sword and rifle -- killing 30 people. Two attackers seized hostages today in a church near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing a priest by slitting his throat before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. Another person inside the church was seriously injured and is hovering between life and death, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. Police managed to rescue three people from the church in the small northwestern town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Brandet said. The hostage-taking occurred during morning Mass, he told reporters. The identities of the attackers and motive for the attack are unclear, according to a security official, who was not authorized to be publicly named. The slaying inside a church "is obviously a drama for the Catholic community, for the Christian community," Brandet told reporters. French President Francois Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve were heading to the town. Brandet, speaking on BFM TV, said the RAID special intervention force was searching the church and its perimeter for possible explosives and terrorism investigators had been summoned. France is currently on high alert after an attack in Nice on Bastille Day July 14 that killed 84 people and a string of deadly attacks last year claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 147 others. France is also under a state of emergency and has extra police presence in the wake of the Nice attack in which a man barreled his truck down the city's famed Promenade des Anglais, mowing down holiday crowds. Islamic State extremists have urged followers to attack French churches and the group is believed to have planned at least one church attack earlier. In April 2015, an Algerian student who was arrested after shooting himself in the leg was found with heavy weapons, bulletproof vests and documents linked to Islamic State. He is charged with killing a young woman inside her car the same day. According to French authorities, the suspect, Sid Ahmed Ghlam, was sent by the Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud to attack a church in Villejuif, just outside of Paris. A cell directed by Abaaoud later carried out the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead and the March 22 attacks in Brussels that killed 32 people. Two persons were crushed to death after their bike was allegedly hit by a speeding school bus on Shamli road, police said today. The deceased have been identified as Krishnapal (26) and Ramkumar (23), Circle Officer Nishank Sharma said, adding the incident occurred yesterday. A case has been registered against the bus driver, he said, adding that the accused is absconding. In another incident, a 'kawad' pilgrim from Haryana, was electrocuted when he came in contact with a high tension wire at an eatery in Barla village yesterday, police said. Meanwhile, a 40-year-old shopkeeper was killed yesterday when a truck carrying Kawad pilgrims crashed into his shop. Truck driver Ravinder has been arrested in this connection, police said. Two unidentified motorcycle borne persons today snatched a bag containing Rs 5 lakh from a businessman in Raja bazar area under town police station of Bihar's Jehanabad district. Town police station SHO Narendra Singh said that the incident occurred when pulse trader Vivek Ranjan was going on foot to his shop located in Raja bazar after withdrawing Rs 5 lakh from a bank. The miscreants, who were waiting outside near the bank secretly, snatched the bag containing Rs 5 lakh from him and fled from the scene, he said. In another similar incident, miscreants decamped with Rs 75,000 after santching a bag from a person in Horilganj area of the town. FIRs have been lodged in both the cases, SHO said adding that police are conducting raids to nab the culprits. The city today witnessed a second case of multi-organ cadaver donation in less than a month after 70-year-old Sovana Sarkar's organs were donated by her family members to four recipients on June 28. Samar Chakraborty, a resident of Dumdum, was suffering from diabetes, hypertension and chronic kidney disease. He was admitted at a hospital in north Kolkata with Intra Cerebral Hemorrhage and had gone into a deep coma, suffering irreversible brain damage in the process, a senior doctor of the hospital said. Chakraborty was shifted to Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals in the city, where a panel of doctors and the Department of Health, Government of West Bengal, evaluated his condition and declared him brain dead. The family consented to multi-organ retrieval and following the completion of necessary formalities, the process was undertaken at the hospital. "His liver was transplanted to 46-year-old Madhuri Saha, a patient with a known case of autoimmune hepatitis, decompensated cirrhosis, ascites, hepatic encephalopathy and hypersplenism," Dr Rupali Basu, President and CEO-ER, Apollo Hospitals Group, told PTI. The recipient had been advised a liver transplant and was waiting a suitable donor. There are 4-5 "small" leads with regard to the AN-32 aircraft of the IAF which went missing four days back with 29 people on board, the government told the Rajya Sabha as it faced questions over the issue. During the Question Hour, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was asked about the status of the plane which disappeared during a flight from Tambaram airbase in Tamil Nadu to Port Blair on Friday last. "There are 4-5 small leads and attempts are being made to verify them," he said, adding, however, that there has been no confirmed finding yet. Asserting that the government had spared no efforts in locating the plane, Parrikar said the government had used satellite imagery and deployed 30 ships and submarines for the purpose. Responding to questions about quality of AN-32, he said it is one of the safest aircraft and there have been reports of only two accidents in the last ten years. There have been some minor snags at times, he said. Parrikar was also asked if the government was in talks with the US for conducting joint naval patrols in the South China sea over which China has laid a claim. He replied that there have been no such talks. The government takes all measures to ensure the country's maritime security, he said, adding these measures do not include joint patrolling with foreign navies including the US. Asked about the implications of the China's refusal to accept international court's decision on the South China sea, Parrikar, without naming China, said any country should respect International Courts, whichever decision they have given. He added that "freedom of navigation cannot be compromised. Four Indians have been detained by Malaysian authorities here for investigation after seizing more than 1,000 exotic turtles worth Rs 99 lakh during a sting operation here. Natural Resources and Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the four Indian nationals had been detained to assist in investigations. The seizure by the Wildlife Crime Unit was worth an estimated RM600,000 (99 lakh rupees). Wan Junaidi said two suspects were detained in the first raid at a house in the suburb of Petaling Jaya yesterday. "A total of 1,011 Star tortoises and 23 Indian Roofed turtles were seized," the minister said. Two other suspected were picked from a budget hotel here today, he added. Wan Junaidi said the enforcement officers found 36 Black Pond turtles in four bags. Checks showed all the four suspects did not possess any licence from the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) to keep the reptiles. The suspects will be investigated under Section 68 of Malaysia's Wildlife Protection Act 2010 for keeping wildlife without a special permit. The offence carries a jail term of up to three years, a maximum fine of RM100,000, or both upon conviction. As many as 54 supporters of dreaded terror group ISIS have been arrested in the country, Lok Sabha was informed today. Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir said the National Investigation Agency and state police have registered various cases with respect of ISIS/ISIL/IS phenomenon in the country. "As per the information received so far, 54 ISIS supporters/ sympathisers have been arrested before they could carry out any terrorist attack in the country," he said in a reply to a written question. The Minister said a few incidents of unfurling of flags of ISIS by some misguided youth were noticed on different occasions in Jammu and Kashmir in the recent past and the state government has been asked to take appropriate action against such elements as per law. Six youths were killed in the wee hours today when the car which they were travelling in overturned on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway here, police said. The incident took place around 3 AM when driver of the car lost control over the vehicle, apparently due to over-speeding near Baur village under Kamshet police station, inspector I S Patil said. The deceased, believed to be students of various colleges in Pune, have been identified as Aditya Bhandarkar (17), Abhishek Roy (21), Yash Shirali (18), Rajaram Bhilare (20), Jokim Samuel (19) and Umesh Patil (24). "All the occupants were coming to Pune from Mumbai. When the car reached near Baur village on Expressway at around 3 AM, the driver lost the control over wheel, which led to the mishap," he said. "The car after overturing, got dragged for almost 100 meters and Aditya, Yash and Abhishek died on the spot, whereas Rajaram and Jokim succumbed to injuries at a hospital," Patil said. He said Umesh Patil who was critically injured in the mishap died later in the day. The officer said police also found a sachet of marijuana in the car. However, the medical reports of all the deceased for any suspected consumption of drug are nil, he added. "The reason why did they go to Mumbai is yet to be investigated," Patil added. The city's auto and taxi unions today went on an indefinite strike against app-based taxi services, causing hardship to thousands of commuters, even as the AAP government called the protest "BJP-sponsored". Commuters were left stranded at various place including railway stations, ISBTs, airport and metro stations due to the strike called by Joint Action Committee formed by 20 auto and taxis (yellow-black) unions. The Committee claimed about 85,000 auto-rickshaws and 15,000 yellow-black taxis went off roads due to the strike. Rajendra Soni, member of the JAC, said the strike will continue till the city government takes strict action against the "operations of Ola and Uber which don't have permits from the transport department to ply in the national capital". Around 10 members of the JAC will sit on a hunger strike outside the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's official residence tomorrow. At New Delhi Railway station, some drivers were spotted preventing a taxi from ferrying a passenger. Some protesters were seen indulging in such practice at places like railway and metro stations. Rajesh Sharma, who with his sister Rekha arrived at New Delhi Railway Station from Patna this morning, said he waited for one-and-half-hour but could not find a single auto or taxi to reach his uncle's house in East Delhi's Patparganj. In view of the strike, the Delhi government has deployed additional 300 buses from ISBTs and Railway stations. The DTC said, "All regional and depot managers are on line in their respective regions to ensure smooth operation of buses in Delhi and NCR." It has also issued a toll free number (1800118181) for any kind of enquiry regarding DTC buses. "The operations of Uber and Ola are illegal as they don't have permits to run their taxis in Delhi but despite that the government is allowing them to take away our livelihoods. "The government has assured us on several occasions to take action against these services but so far they have not," said Soni, whose unions - Delhi Pradesh Taxi Union and Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh - are backed by RSS. Kishan Verma, president of All Delhi Auto-Taxi Transport Congress Union (ADATTCU), said drivers of yellow-black taxis and auto-rickshaws have been asked not to ply their vehicles tomorrow as well. Delhi Transport Minister Satyendar Jain called the strike "BJP-sponsored" and said despite requesting the Lt Governor and the Delhi Police Commissioner, no appropriate arrangements were made to ensure commuters don't face problem while using public transport. "The strike has been managed by the BJP. It is BJP sponsored. Delhi Transport Department yesterday wrote to Delhi Police Commissioner to deploy cops at bus stops, railway stations. There were mischief elements that prevented auto and taxi drivers from plying their vehicles," he said. Jain claimed only two to four per cent of the auto- rickshaw drivers are on strike. The minister accused the police of not taking action against rowdy elements because they know that "they (the strikers) are from the BJP". It's perhaps for the first time that the unions, which are affiliated to rival political parties including BJP and Congress, in the city, have come together and given a joint call for a strike. A senior government official said many auto drivers have called up to say they are being threatened. They are being told the roof cover of their autos will be cut with blade if they ply, which could cost them at least Rs 5,000. A government spokesperson said banning the operations of app-based cab services do not come under the ambit of the city administration and instead the Centre should do something. "The operations of Ola and Uber are illegal in Delhi as they don't have permit from the Delhi transport department to ply their taxis. We have already written to the Centre to block server of Uber, but the Union government said that it cannot do so as its main server is in USA. "During the second phase of odd-even, the Chief Minister had also threatened to take action against app-based cab services over complaints of surge pricing," the official said. Scores of women and youth workers of the Aam Aadmi Party today staged a protest near Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence alleging women's safety was "worsening" by the day in the national capital. The protestors, led by the party's women MLAs including Bhavna Gaur, Sarita Singh, Rakhi Birla, Vandana Kumari, and Alka Lamba, alleged that the Home Ministry, which controls the city's law and order, has failed in its duties. "The situation is worsening by the day but the Prime Minister and the Home Minister seem unmoved. The protest was staged to send across the message that AAP will not allow any compromise when it comes to women's safety," Gaur, who heads AAP's women's wing, said. The politics over women's safety has heated up in the city in the wake of the death of a 14-year-old Dalit girl after being repeatedly sexually assaulted. Another case of an alleged rape of a four-year-old girl was reported yesterday. The protest came amid the BJP raking up the issue of an AAP women activist's suicide. The AAP has denied involvement of any party worker in it. "The Centre should arrest as many AAP MLAs as it wants but it should first ensure that crime against women is brought to an end," Gaur said. The protestors were detained and brought to the Parliament Street Police station before being released. In a bid to spread its base in Uttar Pradesh, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will contest civic body polls in the state scheduled next year. The party is likely to contest civic body polls in 15 major cities of the state. "We have a dedicated cadre in the state and we think we have a good chance in the civic polls. So, we have decided to enter the electoral fray in the state," said a senior party leader. Next year is going to be a crucial year for the AAP as the party is focusing on Punjab, Goa and Gujarat, which are going to polls. Interestingly, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarkhand are also going to polls next year, but the party has still not made any decision in this regard. More importantly, Uttar Pradesh, a state important in terms of numbers of MPs it sends to Lok Sabha, is also going to polls in the same spell when the Goa and Punjab will elect their new government. The last time AAP contested any major election in Uttar Pradesh was in 2014 when Arvind Kejriwal took on Narendra Modi from Varanasi. At a time assaults on Dalits have turned into a political hot potato, the Aam Aadmi Party has decided to launch 'Dalit Manifestos' in poll-bound Punjab, Goa and Gujarat to "expose the anti-Dalit and Manuwadi" side of BJP. Party sources said that the manifestos, which would be specifically targeted at the Dalit community, will deliberate extensively on the "systemic oppression" against them in the states and the highlight the lack of an agenda to include them in the societal development. AAP will also bring out a 'Youth Manifesto' in Goa like the one in Punjab. "Since the Centre is not interested in taking any action against the perpetrators of crime against Dalits, then what options are left? In Gujarat, it is not the first time that Dalits were beaten up so badly. But how many people know that this has been going on?" a senior party functionary asked. AAP believes that the "time has come" to "expose the anti-Dalit and Manuwadi" side of BJP, the leader said, adding that people should know that it does not have any inclusive agenda of which Dalits will be a part of. "Why did they insult Mayawati?... I think the time has come that people should know that BJP is anti-Dalit. It's basically a Manuwadi party and it does not have any inclusive agenda to include Dalits in its developmental agenda," he said. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who visited Gujarat twice in the recent past, had dubbed BJP as "anti-Dalit" and accused it of "trampling" upon the depressed sections after meeting the Dalit victims who were thrashed by cow vigilantes at Gir Somnath district for allegedly skinning a dead cow on July 11. Following a massive Kabul attack, the Afghan military has launched a major offensive against the Islamic State group in the country's far eastern region near the border with Pakistan, Afghan and US officials said today. The offensive began over the weekend in Nangarhar province, where the IS group has had a presence for the past year, said Dawlat Waziri, spokesman for the Defense Ministry. The offensive, part of the government's Operation Shafaq or Dawn in Pahsto started hours after an IS suicide bomber killed at least 80 people who were taking part in a peaceful demonstration in Kabul on Saturday. It was the deadliest attack to hit the Afghan capital since the 2001 US-led invasion. President Ashraf Ghani gave the orders for the offensive, which Waziri said will consist of airstrikes and ground attacks, including those by special forces. Clean-up operations aimed at ensuring that IS loyalists do not return to the area would follow, he added. The offensive marks a new chapter in Afghanistan's war against insurgents. Until now they have been a largely defensive force, and have struggled to take the lead on the battlefield since the withdrawal in 2014 of most international combat forces. The head of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen John Nicholson, has pledged to transform the Afghan military into an offensive force so they can take the fight to the insurgents, and reclaim battlefield initiative. While the main fight is against the Taliban who have been battling to overthrow the Kabul government for 15 years this counter-terrorism operation against the Islamic State group will enable Nicholson to implement an aggressive new strategy, working closely with the Afghan military and using more airstrikes against the enemy, analysts say. President Barack Obama recently expanded the conditions for US troops in Afghanistan to support Afghan offensive operations. Nicholson can make the strategic shift from using airpower only to defend U.S. And NATO positions, to striking in support of Afghan offensives. The US military spokesman in Kabul, Brig Gen Charles Cleveland, said American forces have been involved in the current operation in the east and are conducting "multiple counter-terrorism strikes. A government research indicates that agriculture contributed to 18 per cent of the total emissions of India in 2010, Lok Sabha was informed today. Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave said in a written reply that human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG), including those from the agriculture sector, are considered to be the "drivers" of observed climate change. "While annual total GHG emissions from agriculture in 2010 are estimated to be of the order of 10-12 per cent of global anthropogenic emission, the research conducted by the government indicates that agriculture in India contributed to 18 per cent of the total emissions of India in 2010. "The gases emitted from this sector are mainly methane (CH4) and Nitrous Oxide (N2O)," Dave said. Noting that the agriculture sector is the main source of food, he said that reducing food loss and waste lead to avoidance of unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions and help in mitigating climate change through better management of food utilisation, distribution and sustainable lifestyle. He said that National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture launched in 2010 under National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) addresses both mitigation and adaptation to climate change through programmes such as System of Rice Intensification (SRI) against conventional rice cultivation and coverage of milch animals under Ration Balancing Programme. He said that National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture was launched in 2011 to address both adaptation and mitigation in the agriculture sector. "The National Food Security Act, 2013 promulgated by the government, is aimed at ensuring, inter alia, timely and efficient procurement and distribution of food grains, building up and maintenance of food stocks, their efficient storage, movement and delivery to the distributing agencies and monitoring of production, stock and price levels of food grains," he said. The search and rescue operation for the missing AN 32 aircraft entered its fifth day on Tuesday even as hopes of finding alive the 29 defence personnel on board receded as all leads till now have turned out to be bad. "A lot of resources are in place. All leads till now have turned out to be bad. We are trying to concentrate on some links or sound which has emitted from some area. Trying to find out, that needs to be ascertained but there were some false leads but false leads of similar type," Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said here on Tuesday. He said that a state of art ice-class research vessel, Sagar Nidhi, of the Institute of Ocean Technology has been called for from Mauritius. "That will reach but any deep vessel to operate, it will need specific area. "Because deep vessels which go inside cannot go and search accordingly unless you have some definite small area. So last time (Doriner crash), submarine had identified the location and then we had send it (deep sea vessel of Reliance). It is a secondary operation after initial identification," Parrikar said. Sagar Nidhi comes with Dynamic Positioning System which keeps its position stable, which is required for oceanographic research. It has a huge deck area for deploying ROV/Manned submersibles/ Tsunami monitoring system. Gondola arrangement is also made for precision acoustic measurements. Drop Keel facility is made to fit any underwater transducers without dry docking the vessel. One separate lab is designed and installed with integrated survey systems with modern scientific survey equipments like single and multi beam echo sounder for shallow and deep waters, sub bottom profiler, acoustic current profiler. Parrikar also refuted claims of a senior Coast Guard official who said that the the Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) had not functioned during the Dornier crash also. "I think the submarine finally located the Dornier with the same beeps. Initially, sound might not have come due to depth of water but when the submarine went in there, they identified the location. Can't say whether it is operating or not now but we have not been able to hear it," he said. Meanwhile, sources in the Air Force said the reason of the incident is too early to be ascertained but indicated that weather could have played a role. "The weather was bad but the pilot had taken the required steps," a senior source said. Meanwhile, asked about Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's comment that process to revoke AFSPA must start on experimental basis, Parrikar said the call has to be taken by the Home Ministry. "I think Home Ministry need to take a call on it. We only operate. As of now we are operating only in the border and counter insurgency grid. We do not operate in the normal sphere of state's law and order," Parrikar said. He said that as far as Army is concerned, it has ensured that border remains sealed and no infiltration bid is successful. "We are doing our job properly," he said. An Amarnath pilgrim was killed and nine others injured today when a parked bus rolled down 45 metres into a deep gorge in Pahalgam area of Kashmir, police said here. The vehicle, which was stationed at a parking lot, went down the gorge at Chandanwari area after the driver failed to apply hand brake, they said. All the 10 pilgrims were rushed to Anantnag district hospital. "One of the pilgrims later succumbed to injuries while condition of two others was stated to be critical," police said, adding that the critically injured persons were being airlifted to a hospital in Srinagar for treatment. With today's death, the number of pilgrims who have died during the ongoing yatra has climbed to 19, they said. Amplus Capital has raised Rs 200 crore under its Amplus Realty Fund-II and plans to deploy the proceeds in mid-sized residential projects in five metros. The Lalbhai Group-led Amplus Capital made its first closure with a total commitment of Rs 200 crore of the targeted corpus of Rs 300 crore. "This is our second fund and we have successfully raised Rs 200 crore. We will be investing in mid-sized residential projects across five mid-markets including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai and Ahmedabad," Amplus Capital Advisors Managing Director Anuranjan Mohnot told PTI here today. He said the fund will invest for majority stake within a ticket size of Rs 20-40 crore per transaction. "This is among the few funds focused on early-stage equity investments in mid-sized residential real estate projects with execution period of 36-42 months. We hope to deploy the funds in the next two years," Mohnot said. In 2013, the company had raised Rs 135 crore under its first fund Amplus Realty Fund-I and has invested across eight projects in Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune and Ahmedabad, with prominent names in the real estate space including Shriram Properties, XS Real Properties, and Assetz Homes. Th company has so far completely exited one project with an IRR of 48 per cent and made four partial exits out of the eight investments. "We hope to exit the entire fund in the next two years. We expect the first fund to deliver 25 per cent IRR at the fund level," he added. Commenting on the fund raising, Amplus Co-Founder Jayesh Shah said, "we expect the participation level to increase by the final closing of Fund II. This has been a consequence of establishing a strong track record in our first fund with profitable and visible exits. We look forward to scale up this platform gradually. Scores of activists from the Bishnoi community have protested against the acquittal of Bollywood actor Salman Khan by the Rajasthan High Court in two cases related to poaching of Chinkaras in Jodhpur in 1998. Bishnoi community members, who are known for their love of wild animals especially chinkaras and deers, held protests and burnt posters of the actor yesterday. "We protested against the acquittal of Salman Khan in the cases and burnt his posters," Vijay Delu, district president of Akhil Bhartiya Jeev Raksha Vishnoi Mahasabha said. Bab Lal Jaju of animal welfare organization 'People for Animals' said the decision of the high court has disappointed animal lovers. "Yesterday was a black day for animal lovers. We are disappointed and urge the state government to challenge the order in the Supreme court," Jaju said today. The court had held that the pellets recovered from the Chinkaras were not fired from Khan's licensed gun. Asserting that Pakistan has "direct role" in fuelling terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, Army on Tuesday warned of more infiltration bids along the LoC in the coming weeks in view of the volatile situation in the Valley. "Pakistan is interfering in and has direct role in what we call as proxy war in and there is absolutely no doubt in it," General Officer Commanding in Chief (GoC-in-C), Northern Command, Lt Gen D S Hooda told reporters. He was paying homage to the martyrs of Operation Vijay on the 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas at the historic War Memorial. "We have seen it everywhere along the borders. We have seen it in the matter in which the support is given to infiltrating groups. "We have seen how ceasefire violations have been used as a support to the people infiltrating into this side," Hooda said while replying to a question about Pakistan's role in current unrest and terrorism in . "In short, if there is an internal disturbance here, they will directly take advantage of it. "You have heard the statements of Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba, trying to say that they are supporting whatever is happening in Kashmir," the Northern Command Chief said. He said "the support (from Pakistan) is not only moral but it is absolute physical and there is no doubt about it". He also expressed concern over the increasing radicalisation of youth in Kashmir Valley. "We have seen there is an increase in radicalisation mostly driven by social media and people are quiteactive on it," Hooda said, adding everyone at all levels has to put their heads together to reduce this trend. The Army official warned of more infiltration bids in the coming weeks along the LoC. Hooda said, "We are seeing regular attempts to infiltrate groups into this side." "We have foiled some infiltration bids. One group which had infiltrated two or three days back and we have neutralised four terrorists inside the hinterland. We are seeing repeated attempts. We recently lost two soldiers during this infiltration bids. "I don't see a slow down in this (level of infiltration. During this internal disturbance they will try and push in more and more infiltrators and weare well prepared to deal with it," he said. The Army today paid homage to Kargil martyr and Captain Keishing Clifford Nongrum, hailing from the state, who died in 1999 in an operation to recapture an important point in Batalik sector. General Officer Commanding 101 Area Lieutenant General SP Nawathe and senior army officials laid wreaths at the bust of Nongrum at the Rhino Heritage Museum during the ceremony. Nongrum's parents, Keishing Peter Nongrum and Saily Nongrum, besides his other family members were also present on the occasion. Nongrum is the first and the only person in Meghalaya to have been awarded the second highest gallantry award, the 'Maha Vir Chakra' for bravery posthumously. Born in March 1975, Captain Nongrum did his schooling in the capital and excelled in extracurricular activities and had an innate interest in music. He graduated from Officer Training Academy in 1996 prior to his being commissioned at the 12th Battalion Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry. : Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu convened a meeting with Samsung Electronics in the national capital to woo the electronic giant for putting the state on the IT radar. The meeting with Samsung Electronics Vice President (Public Affairs) Deepak Bharadwaj and Lead Govt Vertical Vikram Sridharan yesterday has thrown open a wide open space for the electronic giant to partner with the state government in welfare activities under the company's CSR initiatives, an official communique said here today. One of the best offers that came up during the discussion is the establishment of 'Samsung Digital Healthcare Centres' in the state. Under this initiative, the state government would identify three tentative hospitals in the state for setting up of high end X Ray and Ultrasound digital machines (approx cost Rs 2. 50 Crore). These machines would be provided by Samsung Electronics under CSR. "We shall be providing you the same within this week to enable recce by your team to finalise the site for installation of the same," the Chief Minister assured the company representatives. In another initiative - Samsung Digital Program - Samsung intends to leverage students of NIT, NERIST and Polytechnics and also unemployed computer engineers and encourage them to develop mobile applications using the Tizen OS. For this Samsung has offered to train Master Trainers in the state free of cost. Khandu's pursuance for skill development and employment generation further resulted in Samsung's acceptance to extend its 'Samsung Apprentice Program' in Arunachal Pradesh. When informed that Samsung has already funded smart classes in all Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) in the country to set up Smart Digital ClassroomsKhandu assured that the state government would inspect these Smart Classes of JNVs in Arunachal Pradesh and send a report to the company. He, however, requested Samsung Electronics to extend the usage of these facilities to other schools in the state as well. Assam government today proposed to roll out a major scheme for rural development envisaging an investment of Rs 30,000 crore over the next five years to transform each village of the state. While presenting the budget for 2016-17, Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma proposed to take up a "Mega Mission", called 'Chief Minister Samagra Gramya Unnayan Yojana (CMSGUY)' for five years till 2021-22. "The main objective is to double the farmer income, in unison with the vision of Hon'ble Prime Minister. There will be one Mega-Mission and 9 'Navaratna' Sub-Missions," he said. "The planned investment is about Rs 1.20 crore per revenue village. The total requirement for the Mission is Rs 30,000 crore over a period of five years," Sarma said. Of the total investment, 10 per cent will be in the form of community resources such as land and mandays, while the remaining 90 per cent will be from the state resources. "The state has never witnessed such a massive and mega investment in this kind of focused manner. Each village will get benefits such as tractor, cold-chain vehicle, milch cows, fish hatchery etc as community asset with collective ownership," the Minister said. An all-weather road, high speed broadband connectivity and other logistics will also be provided from possible convergence from the existing sources like Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), Central Government programmes and bank linkages among others, he added. "The novel approach of the Mega Mission is that it taps the energy of rural youth and community. I propose to reach out to each of the youth clubs in 25,425 revenue villages in community mobilisation for development over a period of five years," Sarma said. The state government will also seek this Mega Mission specific financial support from the Central government during the current financial year onwards so as to help the state to stimulate its economy, create employment, increase income of the people and thus, raise resources for future, he added. "This will be supported though other activities such as road and broadband connectivity, market linkages, rural knowledge centres," Sarma said. Economic activity will be specific to the village and places like hill areas can focus on potential sectors like rubber, bamboo and horticulture plantations, he added. Sarma said the critical mass of commodities produced by such a large and focused interventions would stimulate markets and the requisite interventions would be made to link the emerging markets within and outside the state. Bajaj Finserv today reported a 15 per cent growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 538 crore for the first quarter ended June 30. Consolidated income from operations of Bajaj Finserv rose 32 per cent to Rs 2,912 crore. Bajaj Finserv is the holding company for Bajaj Group's NBFC arm Bajaj Finance, and two insurance arms - Bajaj Allianz Life and Bajaj Allianz General Insurance. Bajaj Finance earlier in the day reported a healthy 54 per cent jump in net income at Rs 424 crore, which is its best ever numbers, in the first quarter ended June 30. The overall numbers were whittled down by the lower profit reported by Bajaj Allianz General Insurance at Rs 132 crore, down from Rs 147 crore a year ago as the company saw a surge in its claim ratio in the reporting period, which stood at 72.4 per cent, up from 68.3 per cent in the same quarter last financial year. Moreover, the company saw an underwriting loss of Rs 28 crore as against a profit of Rs 28 crore in the year-ago period. "It (the low profit) was due to the fact that a couple of business lines witnessed a surge in the claim ratio during the period which included group health and motor insurance," Bajaj Finserv Chief Financial Officer S Sreenivasan told PTI over phone from Pune, where the Group is headquartered. The claim ratio in group health insurance mounted to 97.5 per cent from 92 per cent a year ago, he said. Bajaj Allianz Life reported a flat growth in net profit at Rs 244 crore as against Rs 241 crore a year ago. Its gross written premium was marginally down to Rs 1,004 crore from Rs 1,082 crore. Commenting on this, Sreenivasan said, "the first quarter is always a sort of lean period in the life insurance industry. But growth has started looking up and we are now focusing on individual business." Bajaj Allianz Life's solvency ratio currently stands at 817 per cent against the minimum regulatory requirement of 150 per cent. Similarly, its total investments increased by 6 per cent to Rs 45,729 crore, up from Rs 43,269 crore in the year-ago period. In spite of the not-so-good-numbers, the Bajaj Finserv counter rallied almost 5 per cent to close at Rs 2,727.45 on the BSE, whose benchmark shed 0.42 per cent on profit-booking after a good rally yesterday. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon took to Skype to congratulate the pilot of the Solar Impulse 2 as the solar-powered aircraft completed its epic journey around-the-world spanning over 40,000 kms, saying it was a "historic day for humanity". "My deepest admiration and respect for your courage," Ban told pilot of the aircraft, Captain Bertrand Piccard, as he hailed the determination and courage of the Solar Impulse flight team in a live-streamed conversation. "This is a historic day, not only for you but for humanity. "You may be ending your journey, but the journey to a sustainable world is just beginning," Ban told Piccard via Skype, hours before the aircraft landed in Abu Dhabi. Solar Impulse, a lightweight aircraft with the wingspan of a Boeing 747, was on a nearly 43,450-kilometre journey around the world. It is entirely powered by sunlight through 17,000 solar cells built into its carbon fibre wings, with no fuel or polluting emissions. Piccard, who is also a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Goodwill Ambassador, and Andre Borschbergare, completed their journey when the plane landed in Abu Dhabi, the same city where the historic voyage began more than a year ago. The Secretary-General said: "You are helping pilot us to that future through your vision, your determination, your courage, and your inspiration and also your great example." Thanking them for spreading the message of sustainability around the world, Ban added: "Now you have been flying more than 40,000 kilometres without fuel, but I know that you have much energy, much energy." The UN chief had last met the airplane's pilots, as well as Solar Impulse's ground crew, in June when the aircraft arrived at the city's John F Kennedy Airport as part of its worldwide voyage. On that occasion, Ban also had a quick look, in person, of the aircraft. A 61-year-old man died in a road accident during clashes in the city and 14 others were injured in action by security forces across Kashmir today even as protests erupted again in some areas after authorities lifted curfew from the entire Valley except Anantnag town. Mushtaq Ahmad, a resident of Rajouri Kadal in the city, lost control of his scooty when he was caught in clashes between protesters and security forces in Eidgah area of the city, a police official said. He said the retired government employee suffered head injuries after falling from the two-wheeler. He was rushed to SKIMS hospital Soura where he succumbed to his injuries. Elsewhere in the city, people staged protest rallies in Jehnagir Chowk, Batamaloo, Gojwara and Eidgah against the recent civilian killings in action by security forces. Police and CRPF personnel fired tearsmoke shells and crowd control weapons to break the rallies, resulting in injuries to eight persons, the official said. He said stone-pelting incidents took place in Chanapora and Natipora areas in the civil lines areas of the city but no injuries were reported. In Anantnag district's Malaknag area, protesters took to streets, leading to clashes with the law enforcing agencies, the official said. He said six persons were injured in the clashes. Authorities today lifted curfew from all parts of Kashmir, except Anantnag town, after 17 days of unrest in the valley in which 47 persons were killed and 5,500 others injured in violent clashes following killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces. Although the lifting of curfew coincided with the separatist camp suspending the strike after 2.00 pm today till tomorrow morning, most parts of the Valley continue to observe shutdown. The commercial hub of Lal Chowk and adjoining areas remained closed even after 2.00 pm while only groceries and shops selling essentials were opened in other parts of the Valley, the official said. Mobile telephony, mobile internet services and train services remained suspended for 18th day while schools, colleges and other educational institutions were closed due to a strike called by the separatist groups. BJP MLA Anil Gote today said Maharashtra government should give the state's highest award, 'Maharashtra Bhushan', to superstar and "son of the soil" Rajinikanth. Raising the issue in the Lower House, Gote said Rajinikanth, who was born Shivaji Gaikwad in Kolhapur district, went to Tamil Nadu in search of career and carved out a demi-god status among film buffs. The release of his movie 'Kabali' in 8,000 screens around the world is proof of his stature in Indian cinema, Gote said. The Assembly should also pass a resolution, asking the Centre, to give 'Bharat Ratna' to Rajinikanth, the MLA added. Opposition BJP today rejected the Bihar government's claim that crime rate has fallen in the state since total prohibition was implemented in April, and cited figures of May indicating 13.5 per cent increase in heinous crimes. "The state government has constantly been claiming that the rate of crime has dropped since prohibition was implemented in April this year. It is true that there was a drop in the crime figures in April. But the government's own figure for the month of May belies its claim," senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters. Citing figures collected from the state government's official website, Modi said the state registered an increase of 13.5 per cent in cognisable offence which went upto 16,208 in May from 14,279 in April this year. As per the data, 209 murder cases were registered in May in comparison to 192 cases in April, registering a 9 per cent increase. He said 100 robbery cases were registered in April which went upto 154 in May, which is an increase of 54 per cent. The incidents of rape witnessed 29 per cent increase in the month of May, the BJP leader said, adding that 61 rape cases were registered in April but it increased to 79 in May. Similarly, 638 cases of kidnapping were reported in May which was 599 in April, Modi told reporters on the sidelines of his weekly 'Janata Darbar'. He said 73 incidents of road robbery were reported in April but it went upto 127 cases in May. Modi said the government has not uploaded the crime figures for June so far and hence he was talking on the basis of figures available for the month of May. With the figure of just one month since prohibition was enforced, the state government jumped to the conclusion that prohibition helped in containing crime, he said. "But the fact is prohibition has no direct correlation with crime. The government should have waited for at least 7-8 months before reaching any conclusion. Had it been true, the incidents of crime would not have increased," Modi said. On the amended Excise Law, he said he came to know through newspapers that the state government was coming out with a stringent provision which would enable the police to arrest all adult members of a family if a liquor bottle is found in anyone's house. Terming the amended law as a "Talibani Act", he said it was implemented in haste without taking steps for creating a conducive atmosphere for implementing prohibition. "The government should reconsider the proposed amendment. It sounds ridiculous. The provision of arresting all adult members of a family does not find place even in heinous crimes like murder and rape," he said. Modi alleged that Nitish Kumar was moving only in BJP-ruled states with message of prohibition with "politics in mind." "Why is he not touring West Bengal, Delhi and Congress ruled states to spread the message of benefits of prohibition," he asked. In reply to a question on RJD president Lalu Prasad's announcement today that RJD will not contest the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections, Modi said, "He should state clearly whether he would side with Nitish Kumar in UP or his relative and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. : The new medical college, proposed as a branch of JIPMER here, will start functioning from August end, Karaikal District Collector P Parthiban said here today. The college will admit 50 students for the MBBS course for the 2016-17 academic year. Speaking to PTI after inspecting ongoing work at the makeshift location for the new college, the Collector said the Puducherry Government was starting the college with Union Government's assistance. He said classrooms, administrative office and library buildings are ready and laboratories were also being set up. Hostels for students are also ready. Until the new institution gets its permanent campus, students studying in this college would make use of Karaikal General Hospital, he said Parthiban said the Karaikal Government Hospital was being given a facelift with additional facilities and equipment. Stating that Puducherry Government had already allotted 78-acre land at Karaikal to construct the permanent campus,he said Government planned to set up the institution as a centre of excellence in medical education in the Union Territory. The new medical college will also improve the health care needs of people of not only Karaikal district, but also neighbouring districts in Tamil Nadu, said the Collector. Parthiban said that of the 50 MBBS seats in the institute this year, students of Puducherry would get 14 seats, while the remaining 36 seats will go under All India quota. Classes will commence from the latter half of August, he added. BRICS Policy Planning dialogue successfully concluded here today with fruitful exchanges of strategic assessments of international situation and the regional situation of each member country. "The delegations discussed the role of BRICS in international governance, ongoing cooperation at BRICS Forum and reflected on areas of convergence among BRICS," a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) release said here on conclusion of the five-nation meeting. The dialogue gave an opportunity for sharing of best practices in foreign policy planning and assessment between the BRICS countries. MEA hosted a day-long BRICS policy planning dialogue here where representatives of BRICS nations - Brazil, India, China, Russia and South Africa - met and discussed on a wide range of global issues and of mutual interest. The dialogue in Patna is part of the preparation for BRICS summit to be held in Goa in October this year. The quality and scope of discussions affirmed the significance of the voice of BRICS, as it is a grouping that brings together five major world economies that are home to 43 per cent of the world population, MEA release said. The discussions would contribute towards India's objective as Chair of BRICS for 2016 to further consolidate Intra-BRICS cooperation by adopting a five pronged approach of 'IIIIC or I4C', it said. The I4C approach is: i) institution building to further deepen and sustain BRICS cooperation, ii) implementation of the decisions of previous Summits including PM's announcements at the Fortaleza and Ufa Summits, iii) integrating synergies among the existing cooperation mechanisms, iv) innovation, i.E. New cooperation mechanisms and v) continuity, i.E. Continuation of mutually agreed existing BRICS cooperation mechanisms. During their stay in Patna, the heads of delegations called on Governor Ramnath Kovind and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Some of the delegations also took the opportunity to visit historic places of interest in the vicinity of Patna such as Nalanda and Rajgir. British premier Theresa May today called Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and discussed various bilateral affairs following the UK's decision to leave the EU. Radio Pakistan reported that May told Sharif that there "will be no adverse effects on the bilateral relations after Great Britain exits the EU". She said the Britain strongly supports the democratic system of Pakistan adding Pakistan's development and democracy are interlinked. "Pakistan and the UK will work together as bilateral partners. Great Britain is committed to work with Pakistan in security related matters and strengthening democracy," she said and also expressed a desire to visit Pakistan in the coming months. Sharif congratulated her for becoming the second woman prime minister of her country which he said was a "historic appointment". "Theresa May's appointment reflects the faith and confidence the people of UK have reposed in her ability to steer the country at this historic time," Sharif said. A British-Pakistani woman's death is under investigation in Pakistan after her husband claimed she was a victim of an honour killing for marrying a man against her parents' wishes. Samia Shahid, a beauty therapist from Bradford region of northern England,was visiting relatives in Pandori village near Mangla Dam when she was reported dead. The 28-year-old had been living with second husband Syed Mukhtair Kazam in Dubai, a relationship her family allegedly did not approve of. "Should this be (an honour killing) case then we must ensure justice is done for Samia and we must ensure this never happens again," Shahid's local MP in Britain, Naz Shah, has written in a letter to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. "This idea that you can take your daughter to Pakistan and kill her as you can literally get away with it must be eradicated," she wrote. West Yorkshire police said the force was aware of the death and would liaise with the UK Foreign Office and Pakistani authorities. A Foreign Office spokesperson confirmed Shahid's death, saying: "We are providing support to the family of a British national who has died in Pakistan, and are in contact with the local authorities to seek further information." Kazam, a Pakistani national, claims Shahid's family did not approve of their "love marriage" but she moved to live with him in Dubai in May 2015. She had been back to Bradford twice in the past year to persuade her parents to accept the relationship. "I am sure my wife is killed by the family. She was healthy. And she had no disease. I believe she was killed because her parents were not happy with our marriage," he told the Guardian, which has seen a copy of Shahid and Kazam's British marriage certificate, signed on September 24, 2014. Kazam claimed Shahid was told that a relative was gravely ill in Pakistan and she flew to Islamabad on July 14. She was due to return last Thursday but Kazam said he received a call on Wednesday from one of Shahid's cousins saying she had a heart attack and died. A cousin in Bradford, Mohammed Ali, said it was a "terrible tragedy but she died of natural causes". "The family did a postmortem. There's no evidence whatsoever of murder," he said. Apolice inquiry is under way in Pakistan but no arrests have been made so far. CBI today arrested the then Managing Director and then Director of an Odisha-based ponzi company from Gujarat in connection with its probe into the money spinning scam. Soubhagya Kumar Samal, Managing Director, Midas Touch Group of Companies, and its Director Nirupama Samal were arrested by the agency from Vadodara district of Gujarat. "CBI had registered the case against then Managing Director and then Director of Odisha-based private Group of Companies and nine others relating to alleged chit fund scam," a CBI spokesperson said here. She said they have been charged with criminal conspiracy and cheating under IPC and for violations of the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978. "After investigation, a charge sheet was filed on April 17, 2015 against the Managing Director, the Director and two companies based in Odisha...On the allegations of cheating the investors to the tune of Rs 16.88 crore and causing criminal breach of trust," she said. The spokesperson said the duo had been absconding since registration of the case by the local police in 2013 and the Special CBI court had issued non-bailable warrants against them. "CBI traced both the accused and arrested them from Gotri in Vadodara district of Gujarat... The arrested accused will be produced before a competent court at Vadodara today for issuance of transit remand to bring them to Bhubaneswar for further production in the court of Special CJM, CBI cases," she said. Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba arrived here today on a two-day maiden visit to the Southern Naval Command. He was received by Vice Admiral A R Karve, the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command, at the naval air station INS Garuda and was presented a 50-men Guard of Honour, a Navy release said. During his maiden visit to Southern Naval Command after taking over the helm of Indian navy, Admiral Lanba would be interacting with the officers and men including the defence civilians of Southern Naval Command to share his vision for the Navy. The Admiral would also be visiting INHS Sanjivani, the largest military hospital in Kerala which has been recently approved for upgradation to super speciality hospital by the government and would review the preparatory activities there. Admiral Lanba, who took over as the Chief of Naval Staff on May 31, is accompanied by Reena Lanba, President, Naval Wives Welfare Association (NWWA), who would be reviewing the welfare activities being undertaken by NWWA (southern region). Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi today termed as "a missed opportunity" for the country's children the passage of Child Labour Bill in Lok Sabha, saying he had hoped that the leaders would have valued the freedom and childhood much greater than their votes. "Child Labour Bill is a missed opportunity for the country's children. I was hoping that today the leaders of the country would value that the freedom and childhood is much greater than the value of your votes," he told PTI. Employing a child below 14 years of age in any occupation or processes except where the child helps his family will now invite a imprisonment of up to two years as Parliament today approved a bill in this regard. Satyarthi, who had strongly opposed many the provisions in the Bill and registered his protest with the Labour minister, however, applauded the MPs who had made strong points against it, including Varun Gandhi, who dubbed the proposed amendments as "lunacy". "I also applaud, inspite of everything, a number of legislators across party lines who have articulated and raised serious concerns over the bill," Satyarthi said. Activists had objected to several provisions in the bill like allowing children under 14 to work for family enterprises and bringing down the number of hazardous jobs from 83 to a mere three. "I feel that despite some of the progressive elements the lacunae in the bill are self-defeating. We have raised some of these issues but none of these concerns have been introduced in the final draft of the bill. "It is clear that children of any age can legally work in brick kilns, tanneries, slaughter houses and many hazardous occupation under the garb of family work and that will make our struggle much more difficult," he said. A survey carried out by Satyarthi's Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) had found that as many as 21 per cent child labourers rescued in Delhi were working with their families. "I have got thousands of children freed and have come across hundreds of cases where the masters claimed themselves to be the parents or relatives of the child," he said, adding that this will continue. Satyarthi said India has supported the United Nations SDGs which looks at total eradication of child labour as well as ensuring quality and equitable education "but now I have serious doubts that such a thing could happen in the prescribed time-frame because the SDGs are time-bound targets." He said the truth is that every child is born as a free child and "anything that hinders or cripples their freedom is unacceptable. China today said its "weal and woe" friendship with Nepal will not change after the resignation of premier K P Oli, amid concerns here over the fate of a number border connectivity deals struck during his regime to blunt India's influence in Nepal. "The friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Nepal will not change due to the fall of Oli government," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in a statement. "As Nepal's neighbour and friend, we sincerely hope that all parties can keep Nepal's national interests in mind and stay committed to the country's stability and development," Lu said. "China and Nepal share weal and woe,(prosperity and adversity)," he said, adding "no matter how the international and domestic situations change, the friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries will not change. His comments came as Chinese media expressed concern over the prospects of the return of India's influence in Kathmandu and the fate of agreements reached by Oli to reduce his land -locked country's dependence on India. "Friendly China-Nepal ties benefit the people of both countries," state-run Global Times quoted Chinese experts as saying. "It is very likely that India was behind Oli's resignation because Oli had signed several deals during his State visit to China in March, which most likely irritated India," Wang Dehua, director of the Institute for Southern and Central Asian Studies at the Shanghai Municipal Centre for International Studies, told the Global Times. Wang said a politically stable Nepal could eliminate the border security concerns for both India and China. And a positive, cooperative Sino-Nepalese relationship is in India's interests. During his visit here, Oli signed the Transit Transport Agreement (TTA)to improve the connectivity between Nepal and Tibet in a bid to end decades old dependency on India for daily supplies. Beijing in a strategic move has alsoagreed to extend the train link in Tibet to Nepal to improve the connectivity by road and rail. China has also sent large oil supplies to Kathmandu during the blockade imposed by the agitating Madhesis agitation opposing the new Constitution. Wang said the TTAcould be a very good opportunity to interconnect the countries and facilitate regional business development. "However, India fears that the railway may threaten its territory. I believe that most Nepalese still want to maintain a peaceful and positive relationship with China, and those deals will still be implemented for the sake of regional prosperity," Wang said. A 22-year-old Colombian model hoping to take part in the Miss World beauty contest in China has been sentenced to a 15-year jail term after a Chinese court found her guilty of smuggling drugs into the country, a media report said today. Juliana Lopez Sarrazola, who could have faced the death penalty or a life sentence, will also be expelled from China after completing her jail term, the People's Intermediate Court of Guangzhou in Guangdong province ruled yesterday. Sarrazola was caught trying to smuggle 610 grams of cocaine hidden inside a laptop at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport during a visit to China on July 18 last year, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quoted local media reports as saying. Sarrazola, the winner of the Miss Antioquia beauty contest in Colombia, had been hoping to win the Miss World Colombia contest in July and then compete in the Miss World 2015 finals in Sanya, China, last December. that she had gone missing in China and could face the death penalty after being caught with drugs last July sparked huge media interest around the world. "I wanted to attend the Miss World beauty contest in 2015," Sarrazola, who admitted smuggling drugs, reportedly told the court. "It takes quite some money to pay for the travel and hotels," she was quoted as saying by the Post. Sarrazola had reportedly needed to borrow money from a man identified in court with the name, Sergio, who would give her USD 2,500 only if she agreed to help him smuggle the drugs. Sarrazola could have faced the death penalty or been sentenced to life imprisonment because of the quantity of drugs she had been carrying, the court said in its verdict. Her lawyer told the court that Sergio threatened to kill Sarrazola's family if she did not obey his instructions. The lawyer quoted phone messages sent to her in court as evidence in a plea for leniency. The lawyer also argued that the money she was to have received after transporting the drugs was only a tiny portion of their value, which indicated she had only a marginal role in the drug smuggling, the report said. Krishnapatnam Port (KPCL) has inaugurated Concor's Port Side Container facility that will ensure the expansion and growth of the container terminal in the port. It will also help keep the quality of the cargo intact and help in safe and efficient transportation, KPCL said in a statement here. The facility was inaugurated by Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu. "Concor is a vital part of Indian Railways and we are happy to associate with one of country's fastest growing ports like Krishnapatnam. Taking effective measures to promote both exports and imports will generously boost the GDP of the nation," Prabhu said. "Exports and imports are contributing to nearly 16-17 per cent of GDP and promoting such activity would have an avid impact on the economy," he said. Concor has agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Andhra Pradesh government to initiate 3 Multi Modal Logistics Parks (MMLP), located at Vishakhapatnam, Krishnapatnam and Kakinada. Concor has consistent train services to and from Krishnapatnam Port. The port has already acquired 140.58 acres of land at Krishnapatnam for setting up the MMLP and is in the process of acquisition of another 24.03 acres. The construction work of the Phase-1 will commence soon at Krishnapatnam. The government's move to push in Rajya Sabha a bill on releasing funds for afforestation was scuttled yet again by a vociferous Congress which forced truncation of the day's proceedings by pressing for a decision on a private member bill on Andhra Pradesh special package. Congress created ruckus soon after the Calling Attention Motion on Mahanadi river dam, forcing a 30-minute adjournment before the House was adjourned for the day at around 4.25 pm. The members of the main opposition, which had yesterday threatened not to allow any government business till voting on private member bill on Andhra Pradesh, created uproar when Deputy Chairman P J Kurien wanted to take up the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill. They raised the issue of private member bill which provides for special package to Andhra Pradesh and pressed for voting on it. Kurien ruled that the bill cannot be taken up today and promised to do so on coming Friday. Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government is open for a discussion on the Andhra Pradesh bill right away but asserted that there cannot be voting on 'money bill' in the Upper House. He said the Congress wanted to amend the Budget which the Upper House was not empowered to do. As Congress members created ruckus, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the main opposition party was creating roadblock in the development process. Pushing for consideration of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill which is intended to unlock Rs 42,000 crore for afforestation purposes, he said Andhra Pradesh will get Rs 2,223 crore if this legislation bill is passed. "By stopping passage of this Bill, you are doing injustice to the poor and adivasis. The country will not tolerate this injustice," he said, adding that there should be voting on this as "Congress is isolated". This is the third time since Thursday last that Congress prevented taking up of the afforestation bill. The private member bill for special package to Andhra Pradesh, moved by Congress MP K V P Ramchandra Rao on last Friday during private member business, could not be taken up e on that day as the House was adjourned following ruckus over AAP MP Bhagwant Mann's controversial filming of Parliament. While Congress members trooped into the Well and raised slogans today, Kurien said the private member bill cannot be taken up today. "It can be taken up on Friday after a decision taken by the Business Advisory Committee. Not possible to have vote today," the Deputy Chairman ruled, much to the unhappiness of opposition members. Amid the ruckus, TDP member from Andhra Pradesh and Minister of State for Science and Technology Y S Chowdary said, "Either this side or that side, both are delaying.... One side says it is a 'money bill' which cannot be taken up here." He said that in the interest of Andhra Pradesh, there should either be voting or a fresh discussion. "What is the status as on today? Two-and-a-half years have been completed (since Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh). We should know, understand what the government is likely to do about the commitment of the Act as well as the assurances," said Chowdary. Kurien, however, pointed out to Chowdary that he is part of the government. "Yes, I am a part of the government," he responded. Congress member Jairam Ramesh asked what was the "guarantee" that the Finance Minister will not set the Andhra bill as 'money bill' to disallow voting in the Rajya Sabha. Kurien asked Ramesh how he knew Jaitley's "mind" as he has not said anything like that in the House. To this, Ramesh said, "FM's mind is known to everyone in the Central Hall (of Parliament." Backing Congress, CPM member Sitaram Yechury also asked what was the "guarantee" that the bill would be taken up on Friday and that the matter would not be dubbed as 'money bill' by the Lok Sabha Speaker to prevent voting on it. Kurien said the bill is the property of the Upper House but refused to predict about whether or not the issue could be declared as 'money bill' by the Lok Sabha Speaker. As Yechury insisted on an assurance by the Leader of the House, Jaitley said, "If the members want a discussion on Andhra Pradesh and what we have to do for Andhra Pradesh, at any time, I am open for that. Government will respond." He said as far as Bills are concerned, whether it is private or government, there are "certain constraints" in the Constitution. "The powers of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) are very clear," he said and asked members to read the Articles 110 and 117 of the Constitution. "Any assurance cannot override the Constitution of India. The powers of this House and powers of the other House cannot be redefined by merely jumping into the Well," he said, attacking Congress members for protesting. "Even by a private member, a money bill cannot be introduced in this House....What you are seeking to do is to amend the Budget, this House cannot do that...Whether Council of States has the power to amend the Budget. Constitution says it does not have," Jaitley said. Jaitley said he is ready for discussion on how to help Andhra Pradesh right now. "This House can have discussion on money Bill. This House has no power to vote on the money bill," Jaitley said, adding that the Constitution says that "don't give jurisdiction to Rajya Sabha on money bill." With opposition parties unrelenting, the Deputy Chairman adjourned the house for the day. (Reopen PAR28) Ramesh said the private member bill on Andhra Pradesh was introduced in Parliament in August 2015 and that the discussion has already taken place on it and the minister has responded. "Now we want voting on this private member bill," the Congress leader said. When Jaitley said there can be no voting on 'money bill' in Rajya Sabha, Ramesh said, "The intention of the Finance Minister has now become very clear. The cat is now out of his bag." Kurien added that it is the Speaker who can decide whether a bill is a money bill or not. Yechury asked the Deputy Chairman whether his office had made any mistake by accepting this bill. To this, Kurien replied that his office did not commit any mistake. unit of Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) on Tuesday criticised the Director General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for his statement on use of pellet guns in the Valley, saying it amounted to "erosion of political authority" by the security apparatus in view of the directions from Union Home Ministry. "Such utterances of the security apparatus are dangerous and amount to erosion of the political authority of the dispensation," CPI(M) leader and MLA Kulgam M Y Tarigami said. He said use of pellet guns in the Valley has caused havoc and more than hundred young boys have suffered injuries to their eyes. "It is unacceptable that even if the Home Minister of India after acknowledging the fact that pellets have darkened the world of more than hundred young boys, an official from CRPF would debate lethal and non-lethal nature of pellets," Tarigami said, adding the fact was that pellets have gravely injured the Kashmir psyche". "The use of brutal force against protesters on whatever pretext was simply unacceptable," the CPI (M) leader added. The family of Mohammed Akhlaq, who was lynched by a mob in Dadri last year for alleged cow slaughter, today said it would move the Allahabad High Court against a recent court order directing a police case be filed against them for storing and consuming beef. "The family will move a petition as soon as possible seeking stay on arrest," counsel of Akhlaq's family Asad Hayat told reporters here. National President of Rashtriya Ulama Council, Maulana Amir Rahsadi Madni alleged that evidences in the infamous Dadri lynching case were "tampered" and raised questions over reports of Dadri and Mathura lab reports on the sample of meat sent for examination. "First of all, the meat recovered was more than 150 metres away from Akhlaq's house," he said. The court order that a police case be filed against them came 10 days ago following a petition by a neighbour in their village Bisada. The petition was backed by those accused of Akhlaq's murder. The neighbour has claimed that on September 26 last year, Akhlaq and his son Danish were seen beating the calf. Later, a villager saw Akhlaq holding down the calf while his brother killed it, the petition said. Akhlaq's son Sartaj, working with the Indian Air Force, told mediapersons here today there were many loopholes in the recent forensic report, after which the petition demanding legal action against the family was filed. He said his family was being treated like criminals instead of victims. "We have already met the chief minister once and if needed we will meet him for the second time," he said. "First of all, the meat recovered from the spot was more than 150 metres away from Akhlaq's house," Madni said. He claimed that only two kg meat was sent to Dadri lab, but the report suggested at the quantity of meat was four to five kg, implying that there was some amount of tampering somewhere. Residents of Bishada village in Dadri had met the Gautam Budh Nagar SSP on June 5 to press their demand for filing of an FIR against Akhlaq's family for alleged cow slaughter. Judicial Magistrate Vijay Kumar then ordered investigation and lodging of an FIR of cow slaughter against Akhlaq's family. Beef eating is not a crime in Uttar Pradesh but cow slaughter is a non-bailable offence which carries a punishment of up to seven years in jail. A senior Delhi government officer today went on leave for 15 days alleging "misbehaviour" by Transport Minister Satyendra Jain. Indushekhar Mishra, a 1993-batch officer of DANICS (Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service), works as a Special Commissioner in the Transport Department. Mishra today met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung to raise the issue of alleged misbehaviour by the transport minister. Mishra has also marked a complaint copy to the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary. Sources said that the officer had an argument with the minister at his office at Delhi Secretariat yesterday over the issue of the latter's plan to open RTOs seven days a week. The bureaucracy and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government have been at loggerheads over several issues. On January 1 this year,all DANICS officers had gone on amass leave against Jain's order to suspend two DANICS officers working with the Delhi Home Department. IAS officers association had also supported the move and had also gone on half-day mass leave. With the spurt in dengue cases, the Delhi government has decided to continue with the cap of Rs 600 for the test to diagnose the vector-borne disease and Rs 50 for ascertaining the platelet count in private hospitals in the national capital. Last year also, the AAP government had capped the charges following complaints that many private hospitals and laboratories were overcharging, sensing an opportunity to make profit. The government, in a statement, warned private hospitals and laboratories against overcharging. According to Health Department, 90 cases of dengue have been reported till July 23, out of which 38 were from the city and 52 from outside. The statement came hours after the city reported its first dengue death this season with a 17-year-old girl succumbing to the vector-borne disease. The girl, a resident of Jafrabad in north-east Delhi, died at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital on July 21. "Fever clinics have been established at all 33 government hospitals. Besides, they have been set up at 262 dispensaries and 106 mohalla clinics. "All medical and paramedical staff has been sensitised regarding prevention and management of dengue. Dedicated dengue beds have been earmarked in hospitals," said a senior government official. He said all establishments, including government and private hospitals, have been directed to identify a nodal officer to ensure that there is no mosquito breeding in the premises. Directions have been issued to hospitals to arrange for adequate quantity of logistics (beds, mosquito nets, IV fluids, medicines etc). Democratic leadership today united in attacking Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at their four-day convention which kicked off to a rocky start with supporters of Bernie Sanders vehementing their anger after speakers declared support for Hillary Clinton. Speakers after speakers slammed the policies and rhetoric of Trump as the pro-Bernie supporters raised their pitch in favour of the Senator from Vermont. It became so prominent that at one point comedian Sarah Silverman even scolded them, while Sanders himself sent a text message to supporters and delegates not to protest. While all this was going on, Democratic leaders both in their speeches and their audio video presentations slammed Trump and argued that it is only Hillary Clinton, their presidential nominee, could defeat Trump the November presidential elections. "Well I've got for Donald Trump. The American people are not falling for it. We've seen this ugliness before and we are not going to be Donald Trump's hate filled America, not now, not ever," Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, said in her key note address to the convention. "Here's the really ugly underside to his pitch. Trump thinks he can win votes by fanning the flames of fear and hatred. By turning neighbour against neighbour, by persuading you that the real problem in America is your fellow Americans. People who don't look like you, or don't talk like you , or don't worship like you," she said. "He even picked a Vice President famous for trying to make it legal to openly discriminate against gays and lesbians," she said. Warren said Trump knows that the American people are angry. "A fact so obvious, he can see it from the top of the Trump Tower. So now, he's insisting that he and he alone can fix the rigged system. Last week, Donald Trump for more than an hour on the biggest stage he's ever had. But other than talking about building a stupid wall, which will never get built," she said. In his address Senator Jeanne Shaheen alleged Trump certainly doesn't have a plan to deal with health epidemic that's gripped the country. "In fact Donald Trump doesn't seem to know what's happening outside of Trump Towers. And he seems completely uninterested in finding out. How can Trump represent America when he doesn't even take the time to know America?" the Senator from New Hampshire said. "Like my parents, Hillary Clinton believes the US is a country where people of all backgrounds can make a home and a better life. But that America isn't possible if we allow Donald Trump and his Republican party to build a wall that divides us," said Congresswoman Linda T Sanchez. Democratic Congressman from Oregon alleged that Trump got rich by taking advantage of Americans like the hardworking Oregonians in his community back home, making his products overseas, hiring foreign workers instead of Americans for jobs that are right here in the US, cheating small-business contractors, never paying them what he owed, and scamming people out of their savings through his fraudulent university. American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) president Rich Trumka alleged that Trump has repeated outsourced jobs to line his own pockets. "He routed for the housing collapse. He actually said that our wages are too high, not just once but repeatedly. Donald Trump isn't the solution to America's problems, he is the problem," he said. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker said that Trump is not a leader. "Hillary Clinton knows what Donald Trump betrays time and time again in this campaign, that we are not a zero-sum nation. It is not you or me. It is not one American against another American. It is you and I, together, interdependent, interconnected, with one single interwoven destiny," he said. The Republican Party refuted the allegations. Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Reince Priebus said the Democratic convention felt more like a convention for Sanders than for Clinton, with many of his supporters refusing to embrace her candidacy and the convention floor descending into chaos for most of the day. "Throughout this primary, a 74-year old socialist from Vermont has encouraged grassroots Democrats to reject Hillary Clinton's pay-to-play politics and cronyism, and the deep division that has fostered was on full display," he said. Denying gallantry awards to deserving soldiers is akin to betrayal by the society which owes a debt of gratitude towards them, the Delhi High Court today said while setting aside the Centre's order not to give a medal to a CRPF personnel who sustained bullet injuries in an encounter with a dreaded Khalistani terrorist. Noting that "a nation which honours the sacrifice and bravery honours itself", a bench of Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Pratibha Rani said a brave soldier needs to be recognised for his commitment to serve the country with dignity. "A brave soldier needs to be recognised for his commitment to serve the nation with dignity and honour. It would indeed be a betrayal by the society if a soldier deserving a gallantry is denied the same. A right created must require its due redemption," it said, adding, "It is not a medal alone. That apart, society owes a debt of gratitude to the brave." The court, while quashing the July 15, 2014 order of the Centre denying award to petitioner Rajesh Shukla, referred to his claim for a gallantry award to the competent authority asking it to take into account recommendation by the then Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), who was a part of the encounter team, as well as the case diary of the 1992 events. Referring to the SSP's recommendation, the bench noted that Shukla had engaged the terrorist in the encounter despite receiving four bullet injuries and forced then Deputy Chief of Khalistan Commando Force (Zaffarwal), Khajan Singh, to retreat into a house where he was cornered and killed by the forces. It observed that as per the case diary, if the petitioner had not engaged the terrorist, he would have escaped and "undaunted" by the injuries Shukla continued to bravely fight. "Such commitment by an armed officer who displays unwavering readiness in the hour of the need and who remains undeterred by the fear of losing his life while defending the nation against enemies is truly representative of a conspicuous devotion to duty," the bench said. The encounter had taken place when the police team had gone to a village in Punjab to search for terrorists on the basis of a tip off, when they came under heavy fire. Two terrorists were killed during the encounter and AK-47 rifles and stock bomb was recovered from them. (Reopens LGD10) While the matter was pending in the high court, the government had said that on the basis of material gathered, it was of the opinion that no case was made out to award Presidential Police Medal or Police Medal to Shukla. The court disagreed with the government's view, saying it had "not kept in mind the distinction between performing acts of exceptional courage and exhibiting conspicuous devotion to duty". It said that the government had treated the case as if Shukla was injured when the terrorist had indiscriminately fired. "This is not so. The petitioner was injured when he engaged the terrorist whom the petitioner saw fleeing into the sugarcane fields. As the petitioner fired at the terrorist, the terrorist returned the fire. The petitioner suffered four bullet injuries," it noted. "He did not relent. He continued to inch forward and fire at the terrorist who was forced to retreat. This aspect has been completely overlooked. The result was that the terrorist could not escape and was shot dead by the other members of the force," it said. The court observed, "Even amidst uncertainty and doubts of whether they would live to see a new day, their respect for service and commitment to willingly support their comrades, should duty call is truly exemplary and distinguishes such officers from the ordinary. "It is these officers who are indeed worthy of the highest regard, respect and honour and their brave and relentless efforts should never be forgotten." The court directed the competent authority to separately consider whether the petitioner's acts "evinced exceptional courage/gallantry or disjunctively, exhibited conspicuous devotion to duty". It said that a reasoned decision would be conveyed to him and if it is found that he showed gallantry or exhibited conspicuous devotion to duty, he be recommended for either a Presidential Police Medal or a Police Medal. The Madras High Court today made it clear that the recently notified disciplinary rules, over which lawyers have been protesting for more than two months, are "effectively" in abeyance for now in view of the Full Court's assurance that no action would be taken under the rules till they were reviewed. A bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan, made the observation during the hearing of a miscellaneous petition by advocate Kasiramalingam seeking to keep the amended rules in abeyance till CCTV cameras were installed in all courts. "The prayer for keeping the rules in abeyance has practically become infructuous in view of the said prayer having been sub-served by the June 16 last resolution of the Full Court that no action will be initiated on the amended rules, followed by the clarification issued by the Committee of five Judges on July 22 and the consequent press release of July 23. "Thus, effectively the rules are in abeyance for the time being," the bench said in the order. The petition came up for hearing a day after the advocates intensified their more than two-month agitation against the rules and virtually laid a siege to the high court campus. A day ahead of the siege protest, the Bar Council of India suspended 126 lawyers spearheading the protest. "Your apprehension is that the action will be initiated under the rules... When the Full Court passed a resolution that no action will be taken under the amended rules, that itself means nothing but keeping in abeyance and there is no need for a separate order to be passed again," the Bench said. Pointing out that the rules were framed only on the basis of a Supreme Court order, the Chief Justice said "the rules were not brought suddenly and if the apex court had stated that the High Court need not make amendments, I may not have done it." He further said that when representatives of various bar associations and Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry approached the court and expressed their apprehension, they were advised to make a representation to the Rules Committee, formed to look into their objections. But unfortunately, this did not happen, Justice Kaul said. The Chief Justice suggested that the lawyers place their case before the Rules Committee comprising five judges. The discoms will have to compensate a consumer nearly 10 times the fine they "falsely" impose on him for power theft, the city's power department has said. Noting a "delay", Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today asked the power department to expedite the implementation of the notification which was earlier issued to Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC). According to the notification, DERC will depute senior officials to give requisite permissions required to carry out inspections of discoms wherever cases of power theft and misuse are reported. "During examination, if PG (Public Grievance) cell arrives at the conclusion that the theft case was false, the discom will be liable to pay compensation to the affected consumer at 10 times the provisional assessment bill raised by the discom to compensate for the harassment caused to the consumer," it says. The notification said that many such complaints have been received by various MLAs across Delhi. "Simultaneously, such cases will also have to be reported with the consumer grievance cell of the Delhi Government. Moreover, only after approvals from the Public Grievance Cell of the Delhi Government, the discoms can send the bill to the consumers for final assessment," an official statement said. "I was surprised to know that around 1,000 tonnes of cow dung is produced daily in the city. The city has around 1 lakh cows. Right now there are no facilities to process it and the slush which is around 600 tonnes," Jain said. The government is also considering to process 3000 tonnes of waste produced by the markets around the city "on spot", Jain said, adding that the same could be done in hotels and large housing societies as well. Jain said processing of waste was the government's "medium-term" goal towards tackling air pollution. The National Highways Authority of India has agreed to use waste from Ghazipur landfill site but the Delhi government's PWD department has no such plan, he said. "There will soon be an app which will enable people to track the MCD employees of their areas and hold them accountable. There will be provisions to upload images of uncollected waste as well," Jain said. The existing capacity of Delhi's all three landfill sites stands at 4,660 MTD. All these are operating beyond their saturation point, the Economic Survey report by the Delhi government had said last year. The three sites at Bhalswa and Ghazipur, commissioned in 1984, and Okhla, in 1996, are not designed as per the Municipal Solid Waste Rules of 2000 and lack authorisation from the DPCC but continue to function as MCDs cite lack of land to set up new garbage dumping grounds. The CAG today rapped the Department of Space for not ensuring effective utilisation of satellite communication for providing health services, as it pointed out that only 60 per cent of the 389 telemedicine network centres in the country are operational. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) also lashed out at the DoS for selection of beneficiary hospital. "The Department of Space (DoS) could not ensure effective utilisation of satellite communication for providing health services to patients in rural and remote areas even after incurring expenditure of Rs 30.18 crore," the government auditor said in its report tabled before the Lok Sabha today. "Out of the 389 networks establishes, only 150 were operational. In addition, selection of beneficiary hospitals was irregular, satellite capacity for remote and interior areas of the country was inadequate," it said. The report further stated that Ka band ground terminals amounting to Rs 14.12 crore could not be utilised. CAG has also pointed out that the DoS did not prepare a definite time based action plan for phasing out a material found to cause failure in propellant tank of launch vehicles. "This resulted in wasteful expenditure of Rs 3.49 crore towards the cost of one propellant tank and 65 tonnes of the material kept in the stock that ultimately had to be quarantined," the report said. It was also pointed out that the department waived liquidation damages for delay in supply and commissioning of a system on-board a satellite having limited operational life and thereby "extended undue benefit" to the contractor to the extent of Rs 1.16 crore. Besides the delay in supply, the report stated, resulted in proportionately lesser use of its operational life. Dutch police today told people to be on the lookout for three German far-left militants, at large for decades and suspected of a string of recent heists. Ernst-Volker Staub, 61, Burhard Garweg, 47 and 57-year-old Daniela Klette are former members of the Red Army Faction (RAF), which sowed terror in the 1970s and 1980s with bombings, kidnappings and killings. The three are now wanted for a spate of robberies on money transporters and at least six supermarket cash heists. Police "have reason to believe that the three are living in the Netherlands," a statement said. "Crimes were committed on the Dutch-German border, they have not yet been detained in Germany and a mobile phone belonging to one of the fugitives was switched off in The Netherlands," it added. Between 46,000 and 100,000 euros were stolen in each hold-up -- except on May 7, when the robbers escaped with a guard's firearm but no cash, and on June 6. On that day another cash-in-transit van was attacked and shot up with an AK-47 assault rifle. The attackers fled without taking any cash, police said. Detectives are now focusing on the Netherlands where the three may be living "on a small secluded farm or anonymously in a city, constantly changing from home to home and pretending to be tourists". "The fugitives are armed and dangerous and should by no means approached when spotted," police said. The three are among a wider group of fugitives still on the run for membership of the anti-capitalist RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang, which emerged out of the radicalised fringe of the 1960s student protest movement. The group, which had links to Middle Eastern militant organisations, declared itself disbanded in 1998. Staub, Garweg and Klette, alleged members of the RAF's so-called "third generation" active during the 1980s and 1990s, are chief suspects in a 1993 explosives attack against a prison under construction in Germany's Hesse state. In the attack, five RAF members climbed the prison walls, tied up and abducted the guards in a van, then returned to set off explosions that caused about 600,000 euros worth of property damage, said German prosecutors. Klette is also a suspect in two previous RAF operations. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is looking to support financially the development of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, which plans to bring gas across the Balkans and on to Italy. President Suma Chakrabarti told Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama during a visit today that the pipeline project was of great interest as it would help the region's energy security and was deemed environmentally sustainable. "In the energy sector, the EBRD is well aware of the need to secure energy for Europe which is affordable and acceptable from the point of view of climate change. In this context we are positive about the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, a project that develops the three characteristics of energy security, energy access and environmental sustainability," he told The Associated Press by email. The so-called TAP, which formally started construction in May, will run for 878 kilometers (550 miles) from Greece's border with Turkey, through Albania and to southern Italy, including a 105-kilometer (65-mile) stretch under the Adriatic Sea. First deliveries to Europe are expected in 2020. The EBRD confirmed it has started negotiations for 500 million euros (USD 549 million) in direct financing and plans to attract up to 1 billion euros (USD 1.1 billion) from a syndicate of commercial banks. Riccardo Puliti, the bank's energy and natural resources head, said negotiations started in April and may take 12 to 15 months. "The bank is analyzing the technical, economic, financial, social, environmental terms and more to see if they are consistent with its policies," Puliti said by phone from his London office. "We expect that process is over in April next year." TAP is a joint project by Britain's BP, Azerbaijan's SOCAR, Italy's Snam, Belgium's Fluxys, Spain's Enagas and Switzerland's Axpo. It is the most western of three sections of the Southern Gas Corridor a 3,500-kilometer chain of pipelines intended to deliver natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe. A man and his five-year-old son were killed while his wife and another son injured when a tempo they were travelling in rammed into a stationary truck at Yamuna Expressway, police said here today. Umesh and his son died last night while his wife Usha and another two-and-a-half-year-old son were admitted to a private hospital, where their condition was stated to be critical, they said. The family was returning from Eta to Delhi when the mishap took place near Dankaur area, police said. The child died on the spot while Umesh breathed his last at the hospital. The Madras High Court today held that there was no need for an order to keep in abeyance the recently notified disciplinary rules, over which lawyers have been agitating, in view of the Full Court's assurance of no action against them till the rules were reviewed. A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan made the observation during the hearing of a miscellaneous petition by advocate Kasiramalingam seeking to keep the the amended rules in abeyance till CCTV cameras were installed in all the courts. The petition came up for hearing a day after the advocates intensified their more than two-month-long agitation against the rules and virtually laid a siege to the high court campus. The bench said the June 17 last resolution passed by the Full Court and subsequent clarification on the matter itself meant keeping the rules in abeyance. The Full Court meeting had reiterated an assurance of Justice Kaul to the Bar Council and Bar Associations that pending examination of the amendments to the Advocates' Act, no precipitative action will be taken against lawyers. "Your apprehension is that the action will be initiated under the rules... When the Full Court passed a resolution that no action will be taken under the amended rules, that itself means nothing but keeping in abeyance and there is no need for a separate order to be passed again," it said. Pointing out again that the rules were framed only on the basis of a Supreme Court order, the Chief Justice said, "The rules were not brought suddenly and if the apex court had stated that the high court need not make amendments, I may not have done it." He further said when representatives of various bar associations and Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry approached the court and expressed their apprehension, they were advised to make a representation to the Rules Committee, formed to look into their objections. But unfortunately, this did not happen, Justice Kaul said. The Chief Justice suggested that the lawyers place their case before the Rules Committee. In a court hearing, one of the film companies behind "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" pleaded to criminal charges over the on-set accident that left Harrison Ford with a broken leg. The Disney-owned Foodles Production (UK) Ltd admitted to safety breaches in two criminal charges which were drawn against it while two more were withdrawn, reported the Independent. Ford, 71, was hit by a hydraulic metal door on the Pinewood set of fictional spacecraft the Millenium Falcon in June 2014. The accident left the actor with a broken left leg and he had to be airlifted to hospital. Prosecutor Andrew Marshall said in a court in Milton Keynes that Ford had walked through a door on the structure believing it to be inactive. As Ford walked underneath, however, it was remotely operated and consequently pinned the actor to the ground in an accident which posed a "risk of death." "It could have killed somebody. The fact that it didn't was because an emergency stop was activated," he said. The production company will be sentenced on August 22. The situation in flood-ravaged Namsai and East Siang districts of Arunachal Pradesh continued to be grim today even as water level of several rivers in other affected areas showed a receding trend with an improvement in weather condition. The flood situation at Namsai, the worst-affected district, worsened with reports of fresh areas being inundated by Noa Dehing, Tengapani and Jengthu rivers which were flowing above the danger mark. Most of the roads have been severely damaged and and several areas were cut off due to washing away of culverts. Supply of electricity was snapped as electric poles were uprooted by soil erosion in Lekang circle. Movement of vehicles on NH-52 has been suspended due to flood water which has weakened two culverts. Around 3,500 hectares of agriculture field, 115 fish ponds were totally submerged and damaged by flood water in the district. 250 cattle, 400 pigs, 200 goats and 2,000 poultry birds have died or washed away, an official report from Namsai said. 3,500 houses were completely damaged and the residential areas were still inundated. In the past three days, deputy chief minister Chowna Mein and Namsai MLA Chau Zingnu Namchoom have visited the flood-affected areas of the district and took stock of the situation. The district administration, with the help of NDRF and CRPF, has intensified relief operation and rescued around 260 people. A total of 28 relief camps accommodating around 6,000 inmates, mostly in Lekang circle, were operational. Meanwhile, the Deputy Chief Minister, who visited flood-hit areas of Changlang district yesterday, assured the affected of all possible help from the state government. Terming flood as major problem which hits Diyun area in Changlang every year, Mein suggested plugging of river in the lower banks to avert its recurrence. According to a report from East Siang district, the flood situation continued to remain grim in Pasighat. Torrential rain has thrown life out of gear and submerged different parts of the century-old township. Sibokorong and Siang rivers were flowing above the danger level. The week-long rains have also left a trail of devastation in Lohit district, even as the rivers namely Asapani, Sukha,Denning, Tezu Khola and Dhura have started receding after improvement in weather condition since Monday. The Dhura river had caused damage to roads and entered part of Changliang village, which still remained cut-off. The complete diversion of the Dhura river after entering the village also damaged culverts and NH-13. The Deputy Chief Minister had yesterday said, "There will be no shortage of basic necessary items for the flood victims who have taken shelter in relief camps." "The state government will try its level best to bring permanent solution to the recurring flood in Diyun area caused by overflowing of Noa Dehing river," he said and directed the executive engineer of the Water Resources Development to submit a detailed report and estimates to the government immediately for a durable flood protection measures. Earlier in the day, local MLA Nikh Kamin informed Mein that river erosion has rendered about 200 families landless while about 1,000 people were affected by flood in the area. Four members of an inter-state gang, which had recently abducted an SHO from Gurgaon, have been arrested here, police said today. Three members of the gang, including its chief Islamuddin, a proclaimed offender carrying a reward of Rs 1.70 lakh for information on him, were arrested by a team of Special Cell near Nangloi Metro station yesterday, said DCP (Special Cell) Sanjiv Yadav. Islamuddin shot at an inspector and tried to flee, but the policeman was saved by his bullet-proof vest and he was nabbed. Two members of his gang, Surender and Salim, were also arrested, the officer said, adding many sophisticated firearms and an SUV were seized from them. The fourth member of the gang, Mohammad Sabir, was arrested near Mundka Metro station yesterday and a car was recovered from him, Yadav said. The gang had on June 30 abducted the SHO of DLF Sector 29 Police Station in Gurgaon, beat him up, snatched his belongings and then dumped him in Mathura. Irshad and Irfan, who received the looted goods, were arrested today, he said. With these arrests, more than 30 cases of armed robbery and dacoity in various states including Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan have been resolved, the DCP claimed. The gang used to rob trucks transporting copper wires. They used to roam around in stolen cars and SUVs and travel by air and stay in luxury hotels, before and after committing dacoities, the officer said. Taiwan-based electronic equipment manufacturer Foxconn has said it would consider reviving its Chennai units following a request made by Tamil Nadu Government, Industries Minister M C Sampath said today. A team of state industries department officials recently visited the headquarters of Foxconn in Taiwan and made a request to the management to revive its Chennai plant, saying government would extend support for it, the minister informed the state assembly. "Welcoming the state government's initiative, Foxconn officials have said they would consider the proposal (to revive the Chennai plant)," he said. Foxconn had suspended work at its two manufacturing plants at Sriperumbudur near Chennai after mobile handset maker Nokia shut its plant and stopped giving orders to Foxconn. Foxconn was a major supplier to the Nokia's facility. Recently, in an interaction with PTI, a company official said Foxconn had re-employed about "hundreds" of workers, who earlier worked at its two plants in Sriperumbudur at its new assembling unit in Sri City Special Economic Zone, Tada, Andhra Pradesh. Foxconn was a major supplier to Nokia's plant located at Sriperumbudur near Chennai. However, the association with Nokiawent into rough weather after Nokia's factory was kept out of the USD 7.2 billion deal it had signed with Microsoft in 2014. Government auditor CAG today pointed to various shortcomings related to Cenvat Credit Rules involving Rs 128.31 crore which went unnoticed by the department due to non-observance of compliance verification mechanism. CAG had conducted performance audit on Cenvat credit scheme to seek an assurance that provisions as laid down are unambiguous and adequate to safeguard against any misuse of the Cenvat credit scheme and that the internal control and monitoring mechanism were in place and effective. "We observed various shortcomings while examining adherence to the rules and regulations of Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 involving Rs 128.31 crore which failed to come to the notice of the department due to non-observance of the compliance verification mechanism as envisaged," said the CAG report tabled in Parliament today. Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) also said that in violation of the existing instructions, 21 out of selected 41 Commissionerates had not conducted any detailed scrutiny of the returns. The reply from the remaining 20 Commissionerates was still awaited. The Performance Audit was conducted in 41 selected Commissionerates which included examination of records relating to 469 assessees. The report covers the period from 2012-13 to 2014-15. Cenvat credit rules enables manufacturers to avail credit of duty paid on the inputs and capital goods and utilise such credit for payment of duty on the final products manufactured by them. The report recommended that government may consider inserting provision for charging interest in case of non/ delayed reversal of Cenvat credit in respect of non/delayed receipt of goods sent to job worker. Further, the government may also consider inserting provision for furnishing detailed information regarding Cenvat credit availed by the assessee containing invoices/documents, name of goods with chapter heading, amount of credit taken, so that preliminary check may be exercised at range level. In another report tabled in Parliament, the CAG made a case for development of a centralized database of internal debt, external debt and other liabilities, in addition to consistency in the reporting of public debt. Public debt is total financial obligations incurred by the entire public sector of a nation, including guarantees and implicit debt. It include obligations evidenced by a legal instrument issued by the Central, State, Municipal, or Local Government. The total outstanding public debt of India as on March 2015 was Rs 51,04,675 crore of which Rs 47,38,291 crore (92.82 per cent) was internal debt and Rs 3,66,384 crore (7.18 per cent) was external debt. CAG said that legal framework, consisting of both the primary as well as secondary legislation, may include the definition of public debt, debt management objectives, borrowing purposes, and requirement of debt management strategy. The Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) may consider doing this in a phased manner, it said. "A centralised database of internal debt, external debt and other liabilities may be developed. Steps may be taken to ensure that the public debt information systems used (E-Kuber and ICS) support analytical functions," said in its recommendations. Mechanism may be developed to ensure consistency in the reporting of public debt by RBI and DEA and amongst the various divisions of DEA, said the Comptroller and Accountant General of India (CAG). The on public debt management covers the period from 2009-10 to 2014-15. A 36-year-old Buddhist monk in the US has been sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay USD 263,463 in restitution after embezzling over USD 260,000 from a temple in Louisiana for gambling at a casino. Khang Nguyen Le, a Vietnamese citizen who is living in Lafayette, was sentenced by US District Judge Donald E. Walter on one count of wire fraud yesterday. He was also ordered to pay USD 263,463.36 in restitution and may face deportation to Vietnam after release from prison, United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley said. Finley said the monk was sentenced to 30 months in prison for wrongfully taking over USD 263,000 from his own temple. According to the March 17, 2016 guilty plea, Le was the president, presiding monk and resident of the temple of the Vietnamese Buddhist Association of Southwest Louisiana in Lafayette from 2010 to October of 2014. From January of 2013 until August of 2014, Le wrongfully withdrew USD 263,463.36 in temple funds from the temple's bank accounts to gamble at a Lake Charles casino. Le would drive to Lake Charles and withdraw the money from temple bank accounts using automated teller machines and casino tellers, Department of Justice said in a press release. To hide his unlawful activity from temple members, Le would misrepresent the temple's financial situation at meetings and gambled in lower-populated areas of the casino to avoid being seen, it said. Le was at no time authorised by the temple to use its money for gambling purposes, the release added. The government today imposed minimum export price (MEP) of USD 360 per tonne on potato to increase domestic availability and cool prices. Wholesale potato prices in Agra, Uttar Pradesh has increased to Rs 15.25 per kg today from Rs 7 per kg in the year-ago period. Whereas in the retail market, it is hovering in the range of Rs 30-35 per kg in the national capital. "Export of potatoes is permitted subject to MEP of USD 360 per tonne," Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification. Although India was the world's second largest potato producer at 48 million tonnes in 2014-15, its exports were less than 1 per cent of the output. India exported 1.80 lakh tonnes of potatoes in 2015-16 fiscal, which was lower than 3.05 lakh tonnes in the previous year. The production of the commodity stood at 480 lakh tonnes in 2014-15. The government on Tuesday said it is not considering any proposal of strategic sale of state-owned . Minister of State for Santosh Kumar Gangwar in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha said: "No" to a question whether the government is proposing strategic sale of . The Minister, however, said that public sector including IDBI have been allowed to raise capital through follow on public offer or qualified institutional placements. This, he added, could result in dilution of "government holding up to 52% in a phased manner based on their (public sector banks') capital requirement, their stock performance, liquidity, market conditions etc". According to media reports, global lenders, Asian Development Bank and International Corporation, as well as other investors are in talks for state-owned IDBI Bank's Rs 3,771-crore stake sale via qualified institutional placement route. Government may miss revenue target of Rs 98,995 crore from telecom services budgeted for the current financial year, credit rating agency said on Tuesday. The sector will however contribute to the tune of Rs 5-6 lakh crore over period of next 10 years, it said. "According to the budget estimates for financial year (FY) 2017, receipts from telecommunications are expected at Rs 98,995 crore. However, expects it to be lower. Over longer term, the telecom industry would contribute at least Rs 55,000-60,000 crore to the non-tax revenue receipts of the Government of India for each of the next 10 years," Vice President of Corporate Ratings for Limited, Harsh Jagnani said in a statement. According to Jagnani, the long term contribution estimates excludes any cash-flows from other levies and assuming no change in spectrum usage charge calculations. Telecom sector has contributed around Rs 3 lakh crore to the non-tax revenues of the government over the last seven years, amounting to 24 per cent of the total non-tax revenue receipts, the statement said. "Out of the Rs 3 lakh crore contribution, the licence fees has contributed Rs 84,000 crore, growing at CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 6 per cent while the spectrum usage charge has contributed Rs 38,000 crore, growing at 12 per cent per annum," Jagnani said. Though spectrum auctions have not been a regular feature, nevertheless they have contributed Rs 1.59 lakh crore over the last seven years, he said. Overall, the communication sector has contributed at the least 14 per cent to the non tax revenues of the government each year, the statement said. The upcoming mega-spectrum auction in which government plans to sell usage rights of radiowaves worth Rs 5.66 lakh crore will increase non-tax revenue in the ongoing financial year, it said. Government expects to get about Rs 64,000 crore upfront from sales of radiowaves. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's former Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar, who was arrested in a corruption case, was today granted bail by a Special court. Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar gave the relief to Rajendra Kumar on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs one lakh. The court directed that Kumar will not try to contact any witness and will not influence the ongoing probe in the case. Kumar, along with four others, was arrested by the CBI on July 4 in connection with the case of allegedly showing undue favours to a private company in award of government contracts worth over Rs 50 crore. Besides Kumar, CBI has arrested former Deputy Secretary in Kejriwal's office Tarun Sharma, Kumar's alleged close aide Ashok Kumar, Managing Director of a PSU, R S Kaushik. Kaushik's predecessor G K Nanda, former Managing Director of Intelligent Communication Systems India Ltd (ICSIL) which is a Delhi government undertaking, owner of private firm Endeavour Systems Pvt Ltd (ESPL) Dinesh Kumar Gupta and its co-owner Sandeep Kumar were also arrested in the case. Gupta, Sharma, Ashok Kumar and Kaushik have also moved bail application in the court. According to CBI, the five accused were allegedly showing undue favours to private firm ESPL which the agency alleged was floated by Kumar for the award of government contracts worth over Rs 50 crore. CBI had registered a case against Kumar and others in December last year alleging that the officer had abused his official position by "favouring a particular firm in the last few years in getting tenders of Delhi government departments". The accused have been charged under section 120-B of IPC (criminal conspiracy) and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act relating to criminal misconduct for allegedly favouring ESPL in bagging of five contracts. CBI has alleged that the accused persons had entered into a criminal conspiracy and caused a loss of Rs 12 crore to the Delhi government in award of contracts between 2007 and 2015, and claimed that the officials had taken "undue benefit" of over Rs three crore while awarding the contracts. This is the same case in which the agency had come under scathing criticism from court which had directed it to return documents sought by Delhi government seized during December 15, 2015 search of Kejriwal's office. Arrest of top state government official had triggered a political storm with the Delhi government accusing Centre of indulging in "political vendetta" and "paralysing" governance. The Centre's green panel has rejected environment clearance to Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (UPRVUNL) for expansion of its coal-based power project in Kanpur district citing pollution concerns. The state-run UPRVUNL has proposed setting up of a 660 mw coal-based super-critical power plant at Panki in Kanpur district. Its existing plant has a capacity of 210 mw. The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Union Environment Ministry discussed the proposal in detail in a recent meeting. "Despite the fact that the proposed expansion would have relatively lesser impacts in comparison to the existing old plant, considering that Kanpur (including Panki) is existing critically polluted area and presence of dense population surrounding the plant site, the EAC is of the view that the Project Proponent may explore alternate electricity generation options (gas-based or solar) in the proposed location," according to the minutes of the EAC meeting. The EAC also asked UPRVUNL to explore alternative locations for the proposed coal-based power project, while also recommended both Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) to take immediate action to ensure that the existing power plant is complying to the emission and effluent standards, it said. The panel noted that Kanpur (includes Panki) is a critically polluted area, although moratorium has been lifted for consideration of projects for environment clearance. Since the establishment of the Panki Power Project, the area surrounding it has become heavily populated with several lakh populations residing near the plant site, it added. Stating that it has received several representations from the local population against the proposed project, the EAC said during the public hearing a large number of participants had repeatedly brought the harmful environmental impacts of the existing unit, particularly the ash problem. "However, in response to these repeated complaints, the project proponent had merely stated to each participant that with the new technologies envisaged for the proposed units, the ash problem would be taken care of," the minutes said. Considering that the new units would take a minimum of four years to commission, and with no definite time frame for closure of the existing units, the EAC said "it implied that the ash problem would continue for many more years." Though existing units (with 210 mw capacity) would be phased out, capacity of expansion unit (660 mw) will be nearly three times the capacity of units to be phased out, it added. Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood bagged three wickets to leave Sri Lanka rattled on 84 for five at lunch on the opening day of the first Test in Pallekele on Tuesday. Mitchell Starc, returning after eight months of injury, drew first blood for the visitors after the hosts elected to bat first. The left-armer trapped Dimuth Karunaratne lbw for five in the fifth over, prompting the opener to call for an unsuccessful review of the decision. Although spinners are expected to dominate on a dry surface at Pallekele International Stadium, it was the Australian fast bowlers who took early advantage as they tore into the Sri Lankan top order. Hazlewood, bowling with pace and variety, then trapped Kusal Mendis lbw for eight and had Kaushal Silva caught at first slip by Adam Voges for four. In his second spell he had vice-captain Dinesh Chandimal caught behind by wicketkeeper Peter Nevill 10 minutes before lunch. Left-arm spinner Steve O'Keefe claimed the prized wicket of captain Angelo Mathews, caught at first slip by his opposite number Steven Smith. Debutant Dhananjaya de Silva (24 not out) battled to survive the remainder of the first session with Kusal Perera (12 not out). The Calcutta High Court today directed West Bengal government to pay by August 2 Rs three lakh to a victim of acid attack in South 24-Parganas district. Refusing to allow the state government's prayer for extending time for paying the compensation, Justice Joymalyo Bagchi said that the failure to comply would amount to violation of the high court's order. Justice Bagchi directed that the state government would have to comply with the order of paying the compensation to the victim by August two, the next date of hearing. Justice Bagchi had on July 12 directed the state to pay Rs three lakh as compensation to the victim within two weeks. The state government today sought time to take the finance department's clearance with regard to the payment. Refusing to entertain the plea, Justice Bagchi expressed his displeasure wondering how after the high court's order there could be any need for consulting the finance department. Some miscreants had thrown acid on the victim, a resident of Joynagar in South 24-Parganas district, on November 17 last year. She had named some persons in an FIR filed with police. The main accused is in judicial custody. The Orissa High Court today granted interim protection to Baragarh BJD legislator Debesh Acharya, asking the state police not to take any coercive action against the MLA till further orders. Seeking to quash an FIR registered against him by the Baragarh police for his alleged involvement in the attack on union ministers Santosh Gangwar and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, the local MLA had approached the High Court. After a preliminary hearing on the plea, Justice B K Nayak directed the local police to submit the case diary in the court within four weeks and asked the prosecution not to take any action against the petitioner. BJD activists, led by Acharya, had allegedly attacked the union minister's convoy at Baragarh on June 24 damaging several cars by pelting stones. Both the ministers and the accompanying former chief minister of Jharkhand Arjun Munda had narrowly escaped. Registering a case under 307 (attempt to murder) of IPC, the Baragarh police had booked several BJD workers, including the MLA. The BJD workers had also shown black flags to the union ministers protesting against their visit to Baragarh. Disapproving of the use of pellet guns by security forces against protesters, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court today sought a report from the Centre on handling of the "lethal" weapons by "untrained personnel". "Pellet is a round ball loaded with lead. If it penetrates the eye, which is a waterball, damage is done. Can't you use other methods like water, tear gas? This (pellet gun) has proved to be lethal. "These are your people. They have anger. They are protesting. That does not mean you should render them disabled. You have to protect them. Hope it (use of pellet guns) is reviewed," a division bench comprising Chief Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar said while hearing a PIL. The court also asked the government to look at other means of crowd control than pellet guns. In the backdrop of the CRPF DGP's statement that 114 companies of the paramilitary force, which were undergoing training elsewhere, had to be summoned to Kashmir to control the situation, the court observed that the high number of injuries to the civilians was due to untrained security personnel using pellet guns. "What one understands is those who are using them are not trained. It becomes lethal when handed over to a person who does not know how to use it. Ensure it is used only by trained personnel but we are not approving it," it said. The bench asked the Assistant Solicitor General of India to file a response on the handling of pellet guns by the security forces. "Maximum people have suffered eye injuries. People have also suffered injuries on vital body parts. File a response because the question does arise about the handling of these guns," the bench said. The court also asked the government to restore mobile phone services in the Valley as the ban was affecting the people. "Take steps for restoring mobile connectivity in Kashmir Valley. Huge problems are being created. Maybe, initially, this was a requirement. You can restore it area-wise. Your own students and people outside have no contact with their families. You have to think on your feet," it said. The bench said the mobile telephony ban cannot continue and the government should take a decision on it immediately. "Non-communication is affecting the lives of everybody. You have to take a decision. You shall have to think seriously about connectivity and take a decision immediately," it said. The Bombay High Court today asked the Maharashtra government to file its reply on a PIL, which sought to restrain or ban an activist from staging a protest along with his followers at the Assembly building here on August 1 to seek reservation for Dhangar (shepherd) community. A bench headed by Justice Shantunu Khemkar asked the state government to file its response by July 29 when the PIL would come up for hearing. The PIL said that activist Hemant Patil had already published and advertised his protest by way of pamphlets, posters and banners. "If the said protest is not restrained or banned, there is likelihood of deterioration in law and order situation in Mumbai as well as all over Maharashtra," it said. A similar law and order situation has arisen in Gujarat on the issue of reservation of Patidar community led by Hardik Patel, it said. In the protest, there was business loss to the tune of crores of rupees and damage to public and private property, it said. "If such type of situation arises in Mumbai due to the proposed protest of activist Hemant Patil on Dhangar community reservation issue on August 1, there could be law and order problem in the state," the PIL said. The plea sought a direction to the state government, Chief Secretary (Home) and Police Commissioner of Mumbai to restraint Patil and his followers from staging their protest at the Assembly building, demanding reservation for Dhangar community. Hinduja Global Solutions today said it will expand operations in Mysore, creating 300 new jobs by year-end. "The centre will add 300 new jobs for customer care support by December, 2016... The new recruits will provide voice-based customer care support in Kannada and English languages," HGS said in a statement. The company recently won a contract from a global e-tailer to support their customers from Mysore. "Mysuru has a huge talent base of graduates and HGS is looking to leverage this pool to provide comprehensive customer experience solutions to our clients," it said. HGS forayed into Mysore in 2006 with 120 employees supporting a telecom giant, and has steadily expanded its delivery capability. Currently, the company has over 600 people in the city, providing a range of services including voice support. A number of Hindu organisations will hold an agitation here on Thursday against jailing of a string of saffron leaders for "no apparent reason" and the "unjust" demand to ban Sanatan Sanstha. "Asaram, Sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur and founder president of Hindu Rashtra Sena, Dhananjay Desai are in jail even today for no apparent reason. There is also an unjust demand for a ban on Sanatan Sanstha," Hindu Vidhidnya Parishad chief Virendra Ichalkaranjikar told at a press conference here. Asaram is in jail on charges of rape, whereas Thakur is an accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blasts case. He said all "patriotic and devout" Hindu organisations have united to raise their voice against this injustice and have organised an agitation at Azad Maidan in South Mumbai on July 28. Ansh Desai, main Advisor of Bhartiya Yuva Shakti and Aditya Deshmukh of Hindu Rashtra Sena were also present at the press conference. Organisations like Hindu Rashtra Sena, Hindu Mahasabha, Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti, Shri Shivpratishthan Hindusthan, Hindu Rashtra Janajagaran Samiti, Maharana Pratap Battalion and others will take part in the agitation. Ichalkaranjikar alleged that various investigation agencies and "so-called progressive organisations" seem to be more interested in "maligning" Hindus through "media trial" rather than letting the law take its own course. "A conspiracy is being hatched on the demand made by the so-called progressive organisations to ban Sanatan Sanstha for murder of Dabholkar and Pansare," he said. Sanatan Sanstha has been under the scanner of investigating agency for the murders of Dabholkar, communist leader Govind Pansare and rationalist M M Kalburgi. A right-wing organisation today accused 'Balbharti', an autonomous body under Maharashtra government, of deliberately publishing a "misleading" picture of Chhatrapati Shivaji in a textbook, wherein the Maratha king is shown "virtually embracing" Afzal Khan instead of "killing" him. Claiming that publication of the picture in History text book of class IV is an attempt to paint Shivaji as "secular", Hindu Janjagruti Samiti (HJS) today threatened to launch a state-wide agitation if the said picture is not removed within seven days. Afzal Khan was a 17th century commander who served the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur. He was killed by Shivaji in the battle of Pratapgarh. Balbharti or the Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research is located in Pune. "The misleading picture where Chhatrapati Shivaji is shown as about to embrace Afzal Khan should be immediately excluded and the correct picture depicting the historic bravery of Shivaji, which is killing Khan, should be included in text books," Samiti spokesperson, Uday Dhuri said at a press conference. He said "intense" agitations will be launched by various Hindu organisations across the state if the said picture is not removed from text book. Besides Dhuri, spokespersons of Sanatan Sanstha and Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and other leaders attended the presser. "Today, attempt is being made to alter the history of Chhatrapati Shivaji and to depict him as secular. This is precisely the reason why he is being shown as embracing Afzal Khan," Dhuri said. Alleging that contemporary NCERT text books describe the Maratha king's history in just "few lines", he said the same text books allocate 60 pages to Mughal history. He said Samiti has been agitating for the past eight years on this issue. "Recently, it came to our notice that some schools in Andhra (Pradesh) are falsely teaching that Shivaji Maharaj was saved (from his enemies) by some novice called 'John'. "However, not a single politician who begs for votes in Shivaji's name has till date felt like stopping this humiliation of their 'Janta Raja'," the spokesperson said. Taking a dig at the BJP government, Dhuri said, "it is depressing to see that Shivaji Maharaj is being humiliated in his own land in Maharashtra. It was expected that these sins committed during the Congress rule would be rectified by the pro-Hindu BJP Government... French President Francois Hollande today rejected opposition calls to further harden anti-terrorism legislation after the country's second jihadist attack in two weeks. "Restricting our freedoms will not make the fight against terrorism more effective," he said, adding that changes made to legislation already gave authorities sufficient "capacity to act". He was speaking after two jihadists attacked a church in a Normandy town, killing an elderly Catholic priest by slitting his throat, and severely injuring another person. Hollande's predecessor and opposition chief Nicolas Sarkozy earlier called for the government to "thoroughly change ... The strategy of our counterattack." "Our enemy has no taboos, no limits, no morals, no borders," he said, asking the government to adopt proposals made by his right-wing Republicans party. The opposition wants anyone suspect of being radicalised to be placed in detention and to prevent convicted terrorists from being released from prison after having served time, if they are still considered dangerous. The Republicans also wants to make it a criminal offence to have spent time in the "field of terrorist operations", namely Syria and Iraq. However those returning from jihad are already charges with criminal conspiracy with a terrorist enterprise. "The government is using all human and material means to fight this threat, with a mobilisation of police, gendarmes and soldiers never before seen in the Fifth Republic," said Hollande. The president has urged unity in a country poisoned by bitter political blame-trading over security failings after a Tunisian national mowed down a crowd celebrating Bastille Day on July 14, killing 84. "What the terrorists want is to divide us, separate us, to tear us apart. We must avoid one-upmanship, arguments, conflation, suspicions," he said. "This war will be long. Our democracy is the target, and it will be our shield. Let us stand together. We will win this war. French President Francois Hollande has sought to defuse a row over allegations his government tried to alter a security report after the Bastille Day massacre in Nice. A probe into the claim should be allowed to run its course, Hollande yesterday said, declaring the truth would be established "(by) the law and no one else." "Truth and transparency are essential in a democracy," he added. At the centre of the storm is Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who right-wingers accuse of security failings after France suffered its third major terror attack in 18 months. 84 people were killed when a truck driven by a 31-year-old Tunisian ploughed through a holiday crowd on the Nice seafront on July 14. Pressure on Cazeneuve intensified when a local police officer, Sandra Bertin, accused his ministry of trying to bully her into altering a report on police deployment on the night of the attack. Prime Minister Manuel Valls waded into the affair on yesterday, telling French TV the row was "purely political and aimed at destabilising the government." While "obviously we need the truth", the row should stop, he said, defending Cazeneuve as "a man of integrity, a statesman, and a great interior minister." Cazeneuve filed a defamation lawsuit against Bertin, saying her accusations were "likely to give birth in the public mind to the idea that the ministry and the minister have communicated false information" regarding the Nice massacre. According to the complaint, her words "attack the honour and reputation" of the national police and the minister. A national police report into the bloodbath had said Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel forced his lorry onto the sidewalk to avoid a police barrier. But Bertin, who was in charge of the video surveillance system in Nice on the night of the massacre, said on Sunday she was told to describe a police presence that did not match what she had seen on the security camera system. Bertin said she had been "literally harassed the entire time" that she wrote the report. "I was asked to change things," she told a news conference, adding that she was ordered "to put in the specific positions of the national police, which I had not seen on the screen". Bertin is a strong supporter of opposition Republicans regional leader Christian Estrosi and has fiercely criticised the Socialist government through social media networks, Le Parisien newspaper reported yesterday. Two Hong Kong journalists have been jailed in China for running an "illegal business" that sent political magazines to the mainland, one of their lawyers said today, as Beijing cracks down on press freedoms in the semi-autonomous territory. Publisher Wang Jianmin, 62, was jailed for five years and three months and editor-in-chief Guo Zhongxiao was given two years and three months by the court in Shenzhen, Wang's lawyer told AFP. "The two both admitted guilt to the court and said they 'will not appeal'," said Chen Nansha. The sentences come after five booksellers from Hong Kong whose publishing house was known for gossipy titles about Chinese political leaders went missing and resurfaced in the mainland last year. One of the five is still detained and another, who skipped bail and returned to Hong Kong, has revealed how he was blindfolded and interrogated for months during his detention. Wang and Guo's magazines are widely available in the former British colony, which has greater freedoms than the mainland under agreements signed with Britain during the 1997 handover. The pair were detained in June 2014, when Shenzhen police said they were "operating an illegal publication". According to reports at the time of their trial in November, prosecutors said their Hong Kong-registered company National Affairs Limited had earned HK$7 million (USD 900,000) from publications New Way Monthly and Multiple Face. But the defence insisted that only eight copies were sent to the mainland, all to friends of the publisher, the South China Morning Post said. Concerns are mounting about press freedoms in Hong Kong, where mass rallies in 2014 for fully free leadership elections failed to win political reform, and young campaigners are increasingly demanding more distance from Beijing. Although the city has the status of a special administrative region of China, the two have separate legal systems, distinct police jurisdictions and maintain strict border controls. Pro-democracy Hong Kong lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan told AFP that the sentences imposed on the journalists were "a warning to anyone who wants to do business in China especially in the area of publication -- they will be subjected to suppression and censorship and if they are not following the party line, then they will be jailed". Amid the controversy over her appointment as Economic Advisor to the Kerala Chief Minister, Harvard Professor Gita Gopinath today said she was 'honoured' and 'humbled' and expressed hope of contributing toward further developing sustainable policies for the state. "I am very honoured to have the opportunity to serve as the Economic Advisor to the Hon'able Chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan," she said in an email from Harvard University. Making clear she would continue as a full time professor at the Harvard, she said she was "humbled by the opportunity to contribute her skills and effort to development of Kerala. I am hopeful that under the leadership of CM, the state will make great strides in achieving its development goals." Gopinath said she would respond to any requests from the Chief Minister for advice on the economic impact on Kerala's economy of global, national and state events and policies. She said it was important to recognise that the post of advisor was an 'honorary' position, that there was no remuneration, and there was no expectation she would move to Thiruvananthapuram to engage on a daily basis with government or be involved in all its economic policy decisions. The appointment of Gopinath as the economic advisor to Vijayan heading the LDF government has triggered a controversy following reports that she was a supporter of neo-liberal policies and her line was stark contrast to the Left line. Many left sympathisers have raised their concerns over her appointment stating the contradiction of roping in a neo-liberal advocate to advise a CPI(M) Chief Minister. While CPI, a major partner in the LDF, said it was the Chief Minister's discretion to appoint a person to advise him on financial matters, Kerala PCC President, V M Sudheeran, wanted Vijayan to explain how a "supporter" of neo-liberal policies, will go along with the Left policies. Gopinath, whose parents hail from northern Kannur district, said she also hoped to play a 'convening role' to connect various state departments to the knowledge leaders from around the world in sectors relevant to Kerala, including Public finance, labour, economics and entrepreneurship. "My mandate as discussed with Honable CM is two fold. First, I will respond to any requests from Honourable CM for advice on the economic impact on Kerala's economy of global, national and state events and policies. "Given my location, I anticipate most of this will be done remotely, rather than in person. Second, I hope to play a convening role to connect various state departments to the knowledge leaders from around the world in sectors relevant to Kerala like public finance, management, labour and development economics and entrepreneurship," she said. In both these tasks, her role will be confined entirely to 'providing advice' and to make connections for the various departments, she said adding it would then be upto the CM to consider it and upto the relevant departments to continue conversations with the various sector experts. Given this advisory nature of her appointment and her location, she does not anticipate frequent interactions with media to explain government policies or her opinion on those. Gopinath said the state has made substantial progress on social indicators like health and education, and she hoped to "contribute towards further developing sustainable policies that address its unique opportunities and challenges. The International Red Cross Committee today asked the Sri Lankan government to make public the fate of over 16,000 people, mostly Tamils, still missing since the end of a brutal war that vanquished the LTTE in 2009. Releasing the results of a 14-month nationwide survey, the Geneva-based organisation asked the Sri Lankan authorities to "clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing persons". Thousands of people, mainly ethnic Tamils, were still looking for their loved ones, the 34-page report titled "Living with Uncertainty" said. Today, however, out of over 34,000 persons that were at some point during the armed conflict considered unaccounted for by their families and reported to the ICRC since 1989, over 16,000 persons are still considered missing by their families, ICRC said. The survey found that these families primarily want to know the fate and whereabouts of their missing relative and that they also face economic, legal and administrative difficulties in their daily lives, it said. The report said that out of 395 families surveyed just over one third believed their loved ones were dead while another third were convinced they were still alive somewhere. The remaining third were unsure. Since the establishment of its permanent presence in 1989 in Sri Lanka, the ICRC has been registering persons reported missing by their families following loss of contact as a result of the armed conflict. Sri Lanka has one of the largest case-loads of missing persons in the world. In fact, since 1994 alone, the government commissions have received over 65,000 complaints of missing persons. These include people who went missing during the government's nearly three-decade-long war with Tamil separatists and a Marxist uprising. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) battled Sri Lankan forces for a separate Tamil homeland. A brutal military crackdown ended the 37-year conflict in 2009. Rights groups claim government forces killed nearly 40,000 civilians in the final months of the brutal ethnic conflict. A 19-year-old cadet of the Indian Naval Academy has died during physical training in Kannur district of Kerala, officials said today. Pranay Shivcharan Lanjewar of Maharashtra's Bhandara district, who was undergoing physical conditioning training under the direct supervision of instructors in the PT field, suddenly collapsed last evening at the INA stadium at Ezhimala in Kannur district, about 120 km from here, a statement from the PRO, INA said. The cadet was immediately administered Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation by the PT instructor and rushed to Indian Naval Hospital Ship 'Navjivani' inside the campus, but he was declared dead by the doctors, it said. The next of kin of the deceased have been informed. A Board of Inquiry has been ordered by Southern Naval Command into the death, the statement said. A recent assessment by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) indicates that there was increase in concentration of pollutants at most of the monitoring locations during the second phase of vehicle rationing scheme period in Delhi, government today said. "The assessment of CPCB indicated that there was increase in concentration of pollutants at most of the monitoring locations during the odd-even period," Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave said in a written reply in Lok Sabha. He was asked whether CPCB has submitted a report to National Green Tribunal (NGT) on pullution levels in the country particularly during the second phase of odd-even scheme in Delhi, to which he replied in affirmative. Dave said that NGT had on July 4 this year observed that as per the CPCB report, the ambient air quality in Delhi during the odd-even scheme implementation period was found to be "more deteriorated" than the one when the restriction was not in force. "NGT also observed that the average value of PM2.5 is higher during 'odd-even' phase than pre-odd-even period," Dave said. He said CPCB has received a total of 3,417 complaints regarding violation of pollution laws in the country in the last three years and the current year. As on July 18, this year, 740 complaints of violation of pollution laws were reported by CPCB, the minister said. He said that no survey has been conducted regarding the performance of pollution control boards in each state. "However, the performance of CPCB is reviewed by the Environment Ministry and the performance of SPCBs/PCCs are reviewed by state/UT government concerned. India, Bangladesh and Pakistan were among the six countries that abstained in a vote in a UN body to grant consultative status to CPJ, a US-based nonprofit organisation working to safeguard press freedom worldwide. The 54-member UN Economic Social Council (ECOSOC) voted yesterday to grant consultative status to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), overturning a committee's refusal and allowing the organisation the right to encourage press freedom at different UN bodies and the Human Rights Council. While 40 members of ECOSOC voted in favour of CPJ's application, five nations - China, Russia, Rwanda, Vietnam, Zimbabwe voted against and six nations Algeria, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, India, Pakistan, Uganda - abstained. CPJ's application for UN accreditation had been pending since 2012. On May 26, CPJ's application was denied by a vote of the NGO committee and yesterday's vote by the full member council overrides that rejection. India had abstained fromvotingin the May 26 ballot for CPJ. CPJ said getting consultative status will allow it to access UN bodies and processes, such as the Human Rights Council in Geneva, where accredited NGOs can deliver a counter-narrative to states. "The council's vote today recognises the important role that CPJ has played and continues to play at the UN by providing expert knowledge and analysis on press freedom related issues," CPJ executive director Joel Simon said. Simon said it was disheartening to see the "politicised process" for gaining accreditation to the UN and hoped that "the fact that our application took so long and was so contentious is a wakeup call for the bodies that ensure NGOs are able to access the United Nations". CPJ said that in the four years that its application has been pending, 304 journalists have been killed in direct relation to their work. The ECOSOC meeting was informed that China and the Russia had requested the vote on the resolution. The representative of China expressed "regret and concern" over the practice whereby some countries forced the Council to overturn the decisions of the Non-Governmental Organization Committee, which was an authoritative organ of the UN. He recalled that in May, the Non-Governmental Organization Committee had conducted its work, which should now be adopted by the Council by consensus. The effort of some countries to overturn the decisions of the Non-Governmental Organization Committee was tantamount to stirring up confrontation, he said. US envoy to the UN Samantha Power introduced the resolution titled "Application of the non-governmental organization Committee to Protect Journalists for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council", saying that a free press was not only valuable in and of itself, but was a critical tool for protecting other rights. She said CPJ worked to fight corruption, document human rights violations, provide a voice to those who were marginalized or at risk, and expose problems in societies that may otherwise go unseen. She described CPJ as an independent, impartial organization with a long track record of fair reporting, yet it had been denied accreditation by the Non-Governmental Organization Committee for four years, during which time hundreds of journalists had been imprisoned, gone missing or lost their lives. In recent years, the Non-Governmental Organization Committee had systemically abused its authority to delay the applications of legitimate organizations, with thousands of submissions having been deferred, often times because their work seemed to be critical of Governments. "Honestly, this is outrageous", she said, adding that such practices hurt the ability of the United Nations to perform its duties. Growing activities of ISIS in the sub-continent, radicalisation of youths and anti-terror cooperation will be key issues on the agenda of the India-Bangladesh Home Minister-level talks scheduled to be held here on Thursday. Home Minister Rajnath Singh will hold the day-long delegation-level talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart Asaduzamman Khan Kamal during which activities of the Middle-East terror group, counter-terror cooperations and ways to check cross-border crimes will be discussed threadbare. The visit of the Bangladeshi leader comes nearly a month after a grisly terror attack at a Dhaka cafe in which 22 people, including an Indian girl, were killed. ISIS and anti-terror cooperation are two top issues to be discussed at the bilateral meeting, a Home Ministry official said. Bangladeshi counter-terror officials, accompanying their Home Minister, will meet officials of the National Investigation Agency while officials of Border Guard Bangladesh will meet their counterparts of Border Security Force. The Bangladeshi team is expected to give a list of terror suspects who might have been hiding in India to escape that country's security net. Besides, infiltration, smuggling of narcotics and cattle and a few other issues will be discussed at the meeting. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrish and Director Generals of Border Security Force and Narcotics Control Bureau will participate in the talks. The last Home Minister-level talks in India were held in December, 2012 in Bangladesh in January, 2013. India has lost an arbitration case in an international tribunal over its space marketing agency Antrix Corp scrapping a deal with multimedia private firm Devas and is liable to pay compensation that could run into millions of dollars. The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in a ruling said the Indian government had acted "unfairly" and "inequitably" in nullifying the contract, the city-based Devas Multimedia Private Ltd said in a statement here today. The deal involved use of two satellites and spectrum in 2011. The tribunal has found that Indian government's actions in the contract and denying private firm Devas commercial use of S-band spectrum constituted an expropriation, it said. In its ruling yesterday, the PCA tribunal also held that India breached its treaty commitments to accord fair and equitable treatment to Devas's foreign investors, it added. Reacting to the ruling, the Government said it had invoked the essential security interests through "a well reasoned, valid and proper" Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) decision. It also said the limited liability of compensation shall be limited to 40 per cent of the value of the investment, adding, the precise quantum has not been determined as yet. "The award of the Tribunal is being examined and legal recourse, as deemed fit, will be taken. We also remain committed to pursue our larger national interests including sovereign strategic security interests in this matter," the Department of Space(DoS) said in a statement. In the UNCITRAL arbitration between Government of India and Mauritius based investors of Devas under the Indo- Mauritius BIPA (Treaty), the Arbitral Tribunal had issued their award on Jurisdiction and Merits, it said. The Tribunal has said that GoI's essential security interest provisions of the Treaty do apply in this case to an extent, the DoS statement added. In September 2015, in a jolt to Antrix, the commercial arm of ISRO, the International Chamber of Commerce's (ICC) arbitration body International Court of Arbitration had asked it to pay damages worth USD 672 million (Rs 4,432 crore then) to Devas Multimedia for "unlawfully" terminating the deal five years ago on grounds of national security. The PCA regularly administers cases involving states, including investment treaty claims brought under arbitration rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). The deal had cost five senior ISRO scientists, including its former chairman G Madhavan Nair, their government jobs. India and Myanmar today discussed ways to enhance cooperation to check activities of insurgent groups along the border, arms smuggling as also intelligence-sharing among security agencies. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi discussed the issues at a bilateral meeting with a Myanmar delegation led by Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Major General Aung Soe here. During the meeting, security issues, including cooperation to check activities of insurgent groups along the border, arms smuggling, exchange of intelligence information, cooperation in prevention of drug trafficking and checking smuggling of wildlife articles were discussed, a Home Ministry spokesperson said. The two countries also discussed border management- related issues including certain constructions in border areas. Joint inspection of boundary pillars and construction of additional boundary pillars on the border was accepted as a means to avoid any confusion on this account. Consular issues, including prisoners in jails of the other country, were discussed in detail. India offered capacity-building programmes for Myanmar police, Narcotics, Wildlife Crime Control and for disaster mitigation and preparedness. The Myanmar delegation also called on Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh who expressed his happiness on the visit of the Myanmar delegation and said that both the sides will be benefitted from discussions on issues of common concerns ranging from border management, security and consular matters. The next meeting between the two countries is likely to be held in July, 2017 in Nay Pyi Taw, capital of Myanmar. Describing Bangladesh as an "invaluable partner" in the fight against terrorism, India today sought greater security cooperation with the Muslim- majority nation to fight a "common battle" against the menace. "New challenges call for enhanced security cooperation between our armed forces; police and law enforcement agencies; close coordination on the ground," Indian High Commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla said at the National Defence College here, referring to recent spate of terror attacks in Bangladesh. He said the regional peace and stability was of "utmost importance" against the backdrop of enhanced economic cooperation that terrorism tried to undermine. Speaking at the NDC session 'Contemporary India, its Foreign Policy, Security Strategy & Bangladesh-India Relations', he said that security perceptions had changed with terrorism emerging as "a major challenge". In his maiden address to the NDC after taking up Dhaka assignment this year, Shringla condemned the terrorist attack on a Dhaka cafe this month and said the armed forces played "a valiant role in effectively subduing the terrorists". "Our Prime Minister has already gone on record to convey that Bangladesh is not alone in its fight against terrorism. The people of India stand with you," he told the officers. He said that in line with Prime Minister Modi's commitment, India "is willing to offer any support required in this regard". Shringla appreciated Bangladesh army's role in "effectively subduing the terrorists" particularly after the July 1 terror attack on a Dhaka restaurant that killed 22 people, including an Indian girl. The subsequent security raid led by commandos neutralised the terrorists. The envoy said a changed perception of security terrorism emerged as a major challenge while India particularly faced the "challenge of cross-border terrorism since the 1990s". He said the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack was a "major eye-opener" and since then "there has been a marked expansion of India's global partnership on terrorism and India's strategic and security dialogues". Shringla said India continued to build consensus on the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism at the UN. It called for "strengthened efforts to prevent supply of arms to terrorists, disrupt terrorist movements, curb and criminalize terror financing, secure its cyber space and minimize use of internet and social media for terrorism and radicalization". "Bangladesh has also faced some serious challenges from terrorism and is an invaluable partner in our fight against terrorism," he said. He highlighted a whole range of bilateral engagements particularly after the visit of Prime Minister Modi last year. "India and Bangladesh share a special relationship," the high commissioner said, adding that the "understanding in India is that India can only prosper if Bangladesh prospers". India Inc has identified four areas including strategy and sustainability on which board should increase focus over the next 10 years to support business growth prospects, says a Grant Thornton survey. The survey noted that boards cannot afford to be short-sighted if they are to meet the challenges and opportunities of the next decade. In India, the number one priority was developing better strategic planning horizons, which was cited by 47 per cent of respondents, followed by sustainability ( 44 per cent), digital economy expertise (40 per cent) and identification and prevention of fraud (37 per cent). "Boards need to be structured and organised dynamically to respond to these changes as opposed to the traditional static approach. Those who do not heed to these changes will become history very rapidly. It is time to take the wheel on corporate governance," said Harish HV, Partner India Leadership team, Grant Thornton India LLP. The Indian regulatory environment is going through several changes, including changes to the Companies Act, financial reporting standards, and the possible implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST). Changes to Companies Act were significantly influenced by high profile examples of large corporate frauds resulting in ever more responsibility on Board members, Independent Directors and Auditors. "Boards must balance guiding companies in embracing these regulatory changes while retaining a focus on growth by infusing the right culture," the report 'Boards of the future: steering organisations to thrive', noted. The report identifies boosting diversity as a key challenge for Boards over the next 10 years. Nearly 88 per cent respondents to its International Business Report (IBR) recognise their Board needs to do more to encourage more diversity. The second key challenge identified is boosting digital capability, but evidence suggests there is a long way to go until this becomes a reality. Only 25 per cent business leaders said that digital expertise is an area where their Board should increase focus over the next 10 years. The data for this report was drawn from interviews with more than 2,500 chief executive officers, managing directors, chairmen or other senior executives conducted between August and September, 2015. An Indian-origin gynaecologist was today sentenced to eight years in prison in the UK for sexual assault against his female patients. Mahesh Patwardhan was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court for four counts of sexual assault between July 31, 2008 and September 24, 2012. Judge Alice Robinson told the court in south London that the impact statement from one of his victims was "one of the most harrowing I've ever read". "You knew about the serious sexual abuse she suffered as a child," she told the 53-year-old medic, who was in court with his anaesthetist wife, son and daughter. Patwardhan was also convicted of two counts of fraud relating to falsely billing private medical insurers for work he did not perform. The doctor had already been struck off by the UK's General Medical Council (GMC) in October 2014 and publicity from that case prompted more victims to come forward, local newspaper ' Shopper' reports. One of his victims had attempted suicide and said Patwardhan ruined her life, Judge Robinson told the court. The assaults took place at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich and Blackheath Hospital in Lewisham, south-east London, between 2008 and 2012. The day before one complainant was due to have a hysterectomy, Patwardhan conducted a breast exam, despite the patient telling him she had recently had a mammogram. During his trial, the jury was told he even asked one woman to reveal her tattooed bottom. The India-born gynaecologist had denied all charges of sexual assault as well as the two counts of fraud. India-born Nobel Prize winning scientist Venki Ramakrishnan has said that he has seen no evidence of a negative impact on Britain's scientific community as a result of the UK's vote to leave the European Union (EU). The president of the Royal Society, the UK national academy of science, said that Britain, as "one of the most tolerant places in the world", will continue to attract foreign academics to its shores despite Brexit. "The reality is the UK is an incredibly strong science country, and its membership in the EU is only one of many considerations that people take into account when they come here," Venki said yesterday. "If you look at my lab, there are people from all over the world, and that's not going to change as a result of the referendum. If we want to do good science then we have to be globally competitive and get the best people from wherever they are," he said. British researchers and scientists receive approximately 1 billion pounds a year from EU funding schemes and a number of academics had issued pleas in favour of remaining within the economic bloc in the lead up to the June 23 referendum. "The message I'm hearing back is that the government is very committed to making sure that the UK science spending is protected. What I take that to mean is that if we were to lose EU funding they would eventually restore it," Venki, who is in his early 60s, said. The Tamil Nadu born and Cambridge-based biologist took charge as the Royal Society of Britain's first Indian-origin president in December 2015. He was knighted by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in 2012. The research for which Prof Venki shared the 2009 Nobel was commenced in the US, where he has spent much of his working life before moving to Cambridge in 1999. He shared the prize with Thomas Steitz, of Yale University and Ada Yonath, of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Jerusalem. Indonesian authorities today gave 72 hours' notice that they will execute a group of drug convicts including foreigners, a diplomat said, despite protests from governments and rights groups. Syed Zahid Raza, the deputy Pakistani ambassador in Jakarta, told AFP the convicts, who include a Pakistani, could face the firing squad around midnight Friday after today's meeting between Indonesian officials and diplomats to signal the start of the countdown. Nationals from Pakistan, India, Nigeria and Zimbabwe are expected to be executed alongside Indonesians. Officials say no Europeans or Australians will be included in the third round of executions under President Joko Widodo. Indonesia sparked international outrage with its last batch of executions in April 2015 when it put to death seven foreigners, including two Australians. But Widodo has insisted Jakarta is fighting a war against drugs and traffickers must be harshly punished. Authorities have been stepping up preparations in recent days, with several death row drug convicts transferred to Nusakambangan prison island -- where executions take place -- and security strengthened in the area. Fourteen prisoners have been placed in isolation cells on the island this week, state-run Antara agency reported, a step normally taken ahead of executions. Raza said Indonesian officials had given the notice period at a meeting in Cilacap, the town closest to the prison island, which included diplomats from several countries and lawyers. He said officials did not mention a precise date or time for the executions but added: "It might be Friday at midnight." It is a legal requirement in Indonesia to give a minimum notice period of 72 hours before executions, and authorities typically put people to death just after midnight. The attorney general's office, which oversees executions, would not confirm any details but spokesman Mohammad Rum said: "The time is approaching because we are making progress day by day." Pakistan has raised concerns about the looming execution of its national, Zulfiqar Ali, saying he did not receive a fair trial. Rights groups have claimed Ali, sentenced to death in 2005 for heroin possession, was beaten into confessing. There have also been concerns over the case of a female Indonesian drug convict, Merri Utami, who is among the group. Rights group the National Commission on Violence Against Women say the former domestic worker was tricked into trafficking heroin. A gangster lodged in Colvale prison in North Goa was today allegedly killed by a fellow inmate today, prompting Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar to seek a report in this connection. Even as police handed over the investigation to crime branch, Parsekar told the Legislative Assembly that he has sought a report on the incident which is a "custodial death". "I have asked for a detailed report as this is a custodial death," he told the House. The incident occurred at around 9 AM when Ashpaq Ubbass Bengre, lodged in the jail on under charges of drug peddling and extortion, was attacked with a sharp weapon by another inmate when he was being brought out of the jail to be taken to court in connection with a case, Inspector General of Prisons Elvis Gomes told PTI. Bengre was rushed to Goa Medical College and Hospital where he was declared brought dead, he said, adding that an internal inquiry has been ordered into the incident. Meanwhile, refusing to divulge any details, Inspector General of Police Sunil Garg told reporters that, "We have handed over the investigation into the case to crime branch. They will do the complete investigation of the crime." Bengre, in his late 40s, was booked by Karnataka, Goa and Chandigarh police for various offences like extortion and drug peddling, police said. He was brought to Goa on a transfer remand after being arrested by Chandigarh police for allegedly smuggling drugs into the country in May last year, sources said. Government intervening to reduce airfare charged by domestic airlines on international routes will not only violate Indian law but will also be anti competitive, Union Minister Jayant Sinha said today. Emphasising that airfares are driven by market forces, he said as the demand goes up, the seats on lower fare levels get filled. "An intervention by the government in the matter of airfare reduction of domestic airlines operating on international sector to protect the interest of NRIs (Non Resident Indians) would not only be in contravention of Indian law but also anti-competitive," he told Rajya Sabha in a written reply. The Minister of State for Civil Aviation was responding to a query on whether the government is aware that in certain seasons airlines charge higher than norms in the case of Kerala-Gulf flights and whether the government would intervene. Sinha also said airlines are free to fix reasonable tariffs under the Aircraft Rules, 1937 after taking into consideration all relevant factors including the cost of operationa, characteristics of service, reasonable profit and generally prevailing traffic. Airlines remain compliant with regulatory provisions as long as the fare charged by them does not exceed the fare established and displayed on their website, he added. The Iranian foreign ministry today denied US accusations that three Al-Qaeda operatives were in Iran, helping to move money and weapons around the Middle East, according to media reports. The US Treasury announced sanctions on Wednesday against the three senior Al-Qaeda members, saying they were based in Iran and had key logistical roles for the group. But Bahram Ghasemi, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, said there was no knowledge of their whereabouts. "The Islamic Republic of Iran has no information of the presence of these people on its territory," he told IRIB state television. "The US administration, instead of issuing general statements, should in practice enable a coordinated international fight against terrorist groups by sharing precise information." "Iran continues its strong determination in fighting terrorist groups," he added. The US Treasury named the three alleged operatives as Faisal Jassim Mohammed al-Amri al-Khalidi, Yisra Muhammad Ibrahim Bayumi and Abu Bakr Muhammad Muhammad Ghumayn. It said Khalidi, a 31-year-old Kuwait-born Saudi national, was "part of a new generation" of Qaeda operatives who in May 2015 participated in a senior leadership meeting as the military commission chief. Egyptian Bayumi, 48, is a Qaeda veteran involved recently in raising and deploying funds for the group. Ghumayn, a 35-year-old Algerian, took control of the financing and organisation of Iran-based Qaeda members last year, the Treasury said. Sixteen years after starting her path-setting hunger strike demanding repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, Manipur's "Iron Lady" Irom Chanu Sharmila has decided to end her fast on August 9 and contest Assembly elections as an Independent candidate. The 44-year-old iconic rights activist, who has been forcibly fed through a nasal tube since 2000, said she would join politics as she no longer believes that her fast will lead to the repeal of the "draconian" AFSPA. "I will end my fast on August 9 and contest elections on an independent ticket," Sharmila told the media after coming out of a local court here where she is facing a trial for attempting suicide. "I will join politics and my fight will continue," Sharmila, who has refused to eat or drink anything since November, 2000 and is forcibly fed through a nasal tube in Imphal's Jawahar Lal Nehru Hospital, a special ward of which acts as her prison. Assembly elections in Manipur are scheduled early next year. In the past, many political leaders have met Sharmila and tried to cajole her into joining politics but she has rejected all offers. She also expressed her desire to get married after coming out of prison on August 9. The civil rights activist is known to have a boyfriend, a British national of Indian origin, who has in the past been in trouble with Sharmila supporters. On the charge of attempting suicide by means of a fast unto death in 2006 at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, she has been arrested, released and then re-arrested from time to time. The maximum punishment under Section 309 of IPC is a one-year jail term. On November 2, 2000, an Assam Rifles battalion had allegedly killed 10 civilians in a village near Imphal. Three days later, Sharmila embarked on her fast demanding revocation of AFSPA, which allows security men to even kill a person on suspicion without the fear of facing a trial in court. Sharmila's non-violent resistance has become a nucleus for collective protest against AFSPA in the northeastern states. Her Gandhian-like struggle has won her several human rights awards including the 2007 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, which is given to "an outstanding person or group, active in the promotion and advocacy of peace, democracy and human rights". International human rights organisations like Amnesty International have been demanding her unconditional release from prison. A network of civil societies like NAPM, Gandhi Global Family, Asha Parivar, Jagriti Mahila Samiti, Yuva Koshish, Asian Centre of Social Studies and Mission Bhartiyam have been running a "Save Sharmila Campaign" for many years. Many books have been written about her life while a short documentary 'My Body My Weapon' has also been made on the same. Pune-based theatre artist Ojas S V has in the past performed a mono-play titled 'Le Mashale' (Take the torch), based on her life, in different cities. Sharmila herself is a poet having published a collection of poems in Manipuri language. Two attackers slit the throat of an 86-year-old priest celebrating Mass in a French church, killing him and gravely injuring one of the worshippers present before being shot dead by police. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the first attack in a church in the West. Police rescued three other people inside the church - including a nun - in the small northwestern town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, said Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet. It was the first known attack claimed by IS inside a church in the West. A church outside Paris was targeted last year, but the attack never was carried out. A statement published by the ISIS-affiliated Amaq agency said the attack was carried out by "two soldiers of the Islamic State" who acted in response to calls to target nations in the US-led coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria. The statement echoed claims in other recent attacks in France and neighboring Germany. It repeated its threat to Western "crusaders." The RAID special intervention force carried out a search for possible explosives in or around the church. "The investigations are ongoing. There are still unknowns," Brandet said. "There are dogs, explosive detectors and bomb disposal services" at the church outside Rouen. A nun who was in the church said the priest was forced to the ground before his throat was slit. The nun, identified as Sister Danielle, told BFM television: "They forced him to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And that's when the tragedy happened." She said the attackers recorded themselves. "They did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. It's a horror" Dominique Lebrun, the archbishop of Rouen, confirmed the death of 86-year-old Rev. Jacques Hamel. The priest "was always ready to help," said Rouen diocese official Philippe Mahut. He said Hamel had been at the church for the past decade. "Sometimes he was running all around, and his desire was to spread a message for which he consecrated his life," Mahut said in an interview with AP. "And he certainly didn't think that consecrating his life would mean for him to die while celebrating a Mass, which is a message of love." French President Francois Hollande, arriving on the scene, called it a "vile terrorist attack" and one more sign that France is at war with the ISIS, which has claimed a string of attacks on France plus two in Germany. "We must lead this war with all our means," he said, adding that he was calling a meeting on Wednesday of representatives of all religions. He expressed solidarity with local Catholics, saying "they have been terribly hit by the killing of the parish priest by two terrorists claiming to belong to Daesh. I have met with the family of the priest." The town mayor, Hubert Wulfranc, in tears, denounced the "barbarism" and, breaking down, pleaded, "Let us together be the last to cry." A regional Muslim leader said one of the two attackers - both killed outside the church - was known to police. A police official said he had tried to go to Syria. A gangster, jailed under charges of extortion and drug peddling, was allegedly killed by an inmate at Colvale prison in North Goa this morning, police said. Ashpaq Ubbass Bengre was attacked with a sharp weapon by a fellow inmate at around 9 AM when he was being brought out of the jail to be taken to court in connection with a case, Inspector General of Prisons, Elvis Gomes told PTI. "He was immediately taken to Goa Medical College and Hospital where he was declared brought dead," he said. The IG has ordered an inquiry into the incident. The gangster, in his late 40s, was booked by Karnataka, Goa and Chandigarh police for various offences like extortion and drug peddling, police sources said. Raising the issue in the Goa Assembly, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said he has sought a report. "I have asked for a detailed report as this is custodial death," Parsekar said. Bengre was brought to Goa on a transfer remand after he was arrested by Chandigarh police for allegedly smuggling drugs into the country in May last year, police sources said. JNU has suspended with immediate effect a professor and Vice President of its teachers' association over allegations of financial irregularities and fraud. Ashish Agnihotri, a professor at JNU's Centre of Languages, was yesterday suspended by the university. However, the period of suspension has not been defined yet. "Dr Agnihotri has been placed under suspension with immediate effect. The order has been issued after approval from the competent authority," the suspension order said. There were complaints against Agnihotri of financial irregularities and fraudulent dealings in claiming the LTC allowances. Representations were also made by certain quarters to HRD ministry, raising complaints against the professor and demanding institution of an inquiry against him. Agnihotri, when contacted, refused to comment on the allegations and the suspension. The university officials remained tight-lipped about whether the decision has been taken after investigation by any committee or is a punitive action. It was also not immediately known whether the decision has been placed before the Executive Council, the highest decision making body of the university. JSW Steel has drawn up a capex plan of around Rs 7,000 crore over the next two years and is looking at crude steel production of 15.75 million tonnes (MT) this fiscal, its CMD Sajjan Jindal said today. "The company's total capex is around Rs 7,000 crore in the next two-year period. We will be raising funds to partly finance expansion and partly to replace our high cost debt. "Our goal will be to reduce debt and bring down the debt-equity ratio to manageable levels," Jindal told reporters on the sidelines of the company's annual general meeting (AGM) here. The domestic steel major is eyeing sales of 15 MT and production of 15.75 MT in the current fiscal. Jindal said the firm continues to be confident of the India story. Following the ramp-up of new facilities, JSW Steel will be well positioned to deliver around 25 per cent growth in volumes in the coming year, he said. "With a target of crude steel production of 15.75 MTPA (million tonnes per annum) and saleable sales of 15 MTPA in 2016-17, we are aiming to reduce our cost of production even further, with economies of scale and consistent focus on efficiency improvement. We look forward to consolidating company's leading position in the industry in the year ahead. "In the current environment, we are not excited about acquisitions, unless they are attractive, and would look to focus on consolidation in the domestic market and adding value to products," Jindal said. Steel supply from China, the world's biggest producer, remains a "big worry" for the global industry, which continues to be under pressure despite an improvement in prices, he said. During 2015-16, the steel industry suffered from an unprecedented and unfair inflow of steel imports from China, Japan, South Korea and Russia. These countries continued to sell their surplus steel production at predatory prices. South Korea and Japan benefited due to the free trade agreement with India, he said. Jindal called for imposing anti-dumping duties and taking measures to protect the domestic steel industry. "Every country in the world has been putting in anti- dumping duties and measures to protect them from China," Jindal said. India should also impose anti-dumping taxes on imports or the domestic industry will suffer again, he cautioned. Thirty members of an organisation headed by Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed comprising doctors and paramedical staff today applied for Indian visas to treat the injured in Kashmir. The team of 30 doctors and paramedical staff of 'Muslim Medical Mission' (of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah) applied for visa through on-line and courier, Ahmed Nadeem, a member of the JuD media team, said. "The applicants have taken a plea in the visa application that they want to go to Kashmir to treatthe people injured in clashes with the Indian Army 'on humanitarian ground', Nadeem said. The 30-member team includes 15 doctors and eye specialists who will treat people suffering from eye injuries there, Nadeem said. Talking to reporters after applying for the Indian visa, MMM chief coordinator Nasir Hamdani said, "the sole purpose of the medical team is to provide treatment to the injured Kashmiris." "We want to go to Indian Kashmir purely on humanitarian ground," he said, adding the MMM would ask the UN and the Pakistani government to help it in getting Indian visa. Meanwhile, the Indian embassy in Islamabad did not allow the JuD medical team to enter the mission's premises. "The Indian embassy refused to receive our applications. However, we have applied for the visa on-line and through courier and hopefully the embassy will consider our request," Hamdani said. Justin Bieber's lookalike and fan Tobias Strebel, who was known for spending around USD 100,000 to look similar to the pop star, reportedly died of drug overdose. According to the autopsy report, excessive amounts of narcotic painkillers and prescription drugs including oxycodone, hydrocodone, Xanax and other sleep aids were found in Strebel's system when he was found dead last year, said The Hollywood Reporter. He was found dead in a Motel 6 room on August 21 last year in North Hills, California. In 2014, Strebel appeared on TLC's "My Strange Addiction" and E!'s "Botched" where he claimed to have spent nearly USD 100,000 on procedures to look like Bieber. In the autopsy report obtained by TMZ, Strebel's cause of death is listed as "multiple drug intoxication. The Chief of Northern Army Command, Lt Gen D S Hooda today paid homage to the soldiers, who laid down their lives during the Kargil war in 1999, at the war memorial in Jammu and Kashmir's Drass sector. Lt Gen Hooda paid homage to the martyrs of 'Operation Vijay' on the 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas at the historic War Memorial in Drass today, the Defence spokesman said. Celebrations to commemorate the victory of Indian troops over Pakistani intruders in the 1999 war, started with great fervour and enthusiasm under the aegis of Leh Corps on July 21. Hooda was accompanied by General Officer Commanding of Ladakh-based Fire and Fury Corps Lt Gen S K Patyal, the spokesman said, adding, he also interacted with the 'veer naaris' (wives of the slain soldiers), awardees and relatives. Speaking on the occasion, Gen Hooda paid glowing tributes to the sacrifices and expressed his gratitude to the slain soldiers, their next of kins and wives. A memorial service which included prayers by religious teachers and lighting of lamps was organised at the War memorial last evening. The week long celebrations, ending today, included many events involving the local citizens, especially the youth and children from Drass and Kargil regions. North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons when the world is trying to rid itself of them is "very provocative deeply concerning," US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday and warned that there will be consequences if it does not stop. Kerry, who is in the Laotian capital to attend an Asia-Pacific security conference that includes North Korea, said its actions present a very serious threat not just to this region but also to peace and security. He said should learn from Iran, also a bitter enemy but with whom the United States and other countries made a deal to end its nuclear program. "Iran, a powerful and well developed country with a long history of thousands of years," has decided it would not pursue nuclear weapons in order to have economic sanctions lifted, Kerry said. "So countries can do this. But alone. The only country in the world defying the movement towards responsibility, continues to develop its own weapon, continues to develop its missiles, continues the provocative actions," he said. says it needs nuclear weapons to cope with what it sees as US military threats. The United States stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea and regularly holds joint military drills with South Korea. Pyongyang has long demanded Washington withdraw its troops from South Korea and stop the joint drills that it calls an invasion rehearsal. Kerry said one of the issues that came up in nearly every meeting he had in Vientiane is the "very provocative and deeply concerning behavior of the DPRK," using the acronym for the country's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Some analysts say North Korea has developed a handful of crude nuclear devices and is working toward building a warhead small enough to mount on a long-range missile capable of reaching the continental US. However, South Korean defense officials say the North has neither such a miniaturized warhead nor a functioning intercontinental ballistic missile Kerry noted that UN Security Council in March adopted the "toughest set of sanctions in a generation" on North Korea. "But despite this and numerous other security council resolutions, the DPRK chooses to flout its obligations," he said. US Secretary of State John Kerry says the United States has no position in China's disputes with Southeast Asian nations in South China Sea, but only wants all parties to follow the rule of law and settle their differences peacefully. He said today that a recent international tribunal's decision on a case brought by the Philippines against China which went against Beijing is final and binding and based on international law. "We absolutely support rule of law, the legal process and diplomacy," Kerry told reporters ahead of a regional security conference being hosted by Laos. China, which also is attending the conference, has rejected The Hague-based tribunal's decision, saying it has a historical claim over most of South China Sea. It says all disputes should be resolved bilaterally. Pakistan today said that US Secretary of State John Kerry would visit Islamabad soon to mend ties following the killing of Taliban chief Mullah Mansour in a drone strike in May. Kerry met Pakistan Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Ministerial Meeting in Vientiane in Laos. Kerry said that the US is ready to improve and expand its multidimensional partnership with Pakistan, the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement. "Secretary Kerry said he would like to visit Pakistan in the near future to review bilateral cooperation and discuss regional issues," FO said. The two sides also reviewed bilateral relations. Aziz and Kerry also exchanged views on the regional situation with special reference to Afghanistan and agreed on the importance of promoting the Afghan-led reconciliation process. Ties between the two countries were hit after a US drone killed Mansour on May 22 in Balochistan region. Usman Khawaja and Steven Smith steered Australia to 66 for two at tea in response to Sri Lanka's 117 all out on the opening day of the first Test in Pallekele on Tuesday. Khawaja and Smith stitched together an unbeaten 59-run third-wicket partnership after the visitors lost openers David Warner (0) and Joe Burns (3) early. Sri Lanka's Nuwan Pradeep and Rangana Herath shared one wicket each after their batsmen lost the plot to Australian bowlers Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon who picked up three wickets each. The visitors trail Sri Lanka by 51 runs in the first innings. Warner, who was returning to the side after being out of action for six weeks with a broken finger, faced just four balls before dragging Pradeep's delivery onto his stumps. Veteran left-arm spinner Herath shared the new ball with Pradeep and bowled Burns with a straight delivery on the last ball of his second over. Earlier Sri Lankan batsmen disappointed their captain Angelo Mathews who decided to bat first on a bright sunny day at the Pallekele International Stadium. Australia grabbed an early advantage after their bowlers rattled the home batting to 84 for five at lunch and took them another 6.2 overs in the second session to pack the hosts off. Mitchell Starc, returning after eight months of injury, drew first blood for the visitors. The left-armer trapped Dimuth Karunaratne lbw for five in the fifth over, prompting the opener to call for an unsuccessful review of the decision. Although spinners are expected to dominate on a dry surface at the stadium, it was the Australian fast bowlers who tore into the Sri Lankan top order. Hazlewood, bowling with pace and variety, then trapped Kusal Mendis lbw for eight and had Kaushal Silva caught at first slip by Adam Voges for four. In his second spell he had vice-captain Dinesh Chandimal caught from behind by wicketkeeper Peter Nevill 10 minutes before lunch. Left-arm spinner Steve O'Keefe claimed the prized wicket of captain Mathews, caught at first slip by his opposite number Steven Smith. Debutant Dhananjaya de Silva (24 not out) battled to survive the remainder of the first session with Kusal Perera (12 not out). A group of Dalit leaders in here today accused the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government of playing "vote-bank politics" by not taking any action against the Bajrang Dal activists, who allegedly attacked a Dalit family in Chikmagaluru over alleged cow slaughter. "Siddaramaiah's government should book the culprits, the Sanghis and should not think of any politicalrepercussions, or for that matter, try to gain mileage byplaying vote-bank politics," former minister B T Lalitha Naik told reporters here. The government should not think of political ramifications that may arise by initiating action against Bajrang Dal activists, she said. Another Dalit leader Hari Ram also said Siddaramaiah who boasts himself as a Backward Class leader should immediately intervene. Seven persons, including two Bajrang Dal activists, were booked on July 11 on the charge of attacking a Dalit family intheir house recently for alleged cow slaughter. A case also was filed against the Dalit family members for "illegally" slaughtering the cow. The Dalits were taken to the police station and later let off on bail. The accused were also set free on bail. Replying to a question, Dalit leaders -- Srinivas and A Amar said they will be visiting Jayapura village where the incident took place and stage a protest against the state government's inaction. Libya is planning to sue seven former aides of Moamer Kadhafi in an effort to recover millions of pounds they allegedly stole and took with them to Britain after the dictator was ousted in 2011. Mohamed Shaban, who is acting for the Libyan government, criticised Britain for a lack of investigative cooperation and urged it to be more "pro-active". He said the seven would be sued in a UK civil court. Among them is Brigadier Guima Elmaarfi, who led Kadhafi's army in Tarhouna, 80 kilometres southeast of Tripoli, Shaban said, confirming a report published by BuzzFeed. Shaban said the lawsuit would be based on allegations that the seven misappropriated Libyan state funds, laundered the money and misused public office. He said Libya was not able to file all the necessary legal documentation because of the chaos after the fall of Kadhafi's regime. "Our position is that the British government should be more pro-active and understand that Libya went through a revolution and is trying to rebuild a state. "It should decide to support that state and understand that they are not able to complete applications like the United States or France would for example," he said. According to BuzzFeed, Elmaarfi lives comfortably in a house in southwest London. Maharashtra Legislative Council was adjourned for the day today after Opposition Congress and NCP refused to allow the House to function until a probe is ordered against "tainted" ministers in the BJP-led government under the Commission of Inquiry Act. As soon as the House assembled for the day, Niranjan Davkhare, who was in the Chair, called for the commencement of Question Hour. Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde of NCP soon got up from his seat and demanded a probe against the "tainted" ministers under the Commission of Inquiry Act. In his support, Opposition members came to the Well of the House and shouted slogans against the BJP-Shiv Sena government. "Despite proofs submitted against the ministers in the House, 'Mr Clean' Chief Minister (Devendra Fadnavis) is issuing clean chits to his Cabinet colleagues. Those accused of corruption are giving themselves a clean chit because they know the CM will back them despite their wrongdoings," Munde said. "Unless the government accepts our demand of ordering an inquiry under a sitting High Court Judge, we will not let the House function," he asserted. Manikrao Thakre (Congress), too, backed the demand. Jayant Patil (Peasants and Workers Party) said, "if an inquiry can take place against former Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse and he had to resign, why not others." Sharad Ranpise (Congress) said, "How can those accused of irregularities defend themselves and give themselves a clean chit? An inquiry should be conducted." In the ensuing commotion, Davkhare first adjourned the proceedings for 15 minutes and later for 25 minutes. When the Opposition refused to relent after the members reassembled, Chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar called for tabling of supplementary demands and then adjourned the House for the day. Maharashtra Government will formulate norms and come out with a legislation in six months on the issue of sale of water through jars, Food And Drugs Administration Minister Girish Bapat informed the State Assembly today. Bapat, who is also the minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, said during Question hour that there were BIS norms for bottled water but no such norms exist for sale of water in jars. "It is the government's commitment to ensure everybody gets clean water", he said. Maharashtra is contemplating adopting "Delhi model" pursued under Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to reduce electricity charges, said state Energy Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule in the Legislative Council today. He was replaying to a Calling Attention Motion moved by NCP MLC Sandeep Bajoria. Another NCP MLC Vidya Chavan said the BJP-led government should adopt the "model" put in place by Kejriwal in Delhi to reduce electricity charges in Maharashtra. "The Kejriwal Government is supplying electricity at cheap rates and has given relief to the common man. Will Maharashtra Government adopt the same model here?" she asked. In Delhi, the AAP Government has reduced power tariff through subsidy. In his reply, Bawankule said, "state-owned electricity corporations have a loan of Rs 55,000 crore. The Government is trying to reduce the loan first and electricity rate will subsequently come down. We will definitely try and reduce electricity charges like the Kejriwal Government has done." Pravin Darekar of BJP raised the issue of adivasi 'padas' (settlements) inside Sanjay Gandhi National Park, located within Mumbai limits, who are yet to get electricity. "Despite Mumbai being an international city, adivasi padas inside the SGNP are without electricity. Whenever tribals demand electricity, the Government asks them to get an NOC from the civic body and Forest Department. Will the Government do something to help them?" he asked. Bawankule said, "in future, there will be no need to take an NOC from the BMC or Forest Department to obtain electricity meters. The Government will make them available whenever required." Bajoria alleged the government-owned utility Mahavitaran has provided 8 lakh "faulty" electricity meters in Mumbai, Pune and Kalyan. "Mahavitaran violated rules while giving contracts for supplying meters, leading to trouble for consumers in Mumbai, Pune and Kalyan. What action has been taken against the officials concerned?" he asked. Bawankule refuted the allegations and said companies vying for contracts have to clear various tests before becoming eligible to supply meters. Former Pakistan Ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani today said the 69-year-old unresolved relationship between India and Pakistan cannot be resolved by symbolic gestures, instead there has to be a major shift in attitudes of both the countries. "A relationship, which has not been resolved for last 69 years, it cannot be resolved just by symbolic gestures. Both Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and Narendra Modi wanted to have good relations, but it needs a major shift in attitudes and that shift of attitudes have not taken place," he told PTI in an interview here. Haqqani said this when asked to assess Modi's efforts to improve relations between India and Pakistan which was quite promising at the beginning of his tenure than it is now. He was in the city for an interaction over his book - India vs Pakistan: Why Can't We Just Be Friends. Haqqani also said until and unless terrorism is taken off the table completely, he does not see any Indian leader "who can move forward with normal relations with Pakistan." "Similarly," he further continued "as long as Pakistan does not realise and recognise the weaknesses and the problems that have come up in Pakistan because of past militarism and militancy, we will not see a major change." Asked whether the Pakistan Prime Minister can deliver on improving India-Pakistan relations even as he is facing corruption charges over Panama papers leak, in Pakistan, Haqqani said: "There is no doubt that PM Nawaz Sharif like President Asif Zardari and former PM Yousaf Raza Gillani wants normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan, but I think the political circumstances in Pakistan are not conducive to strike normalisation, right now". "The circumstances in Pakistan are not conducive because extremists like Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar are still free and open to operate. I think the normalisation (process) will not be easy between the two countries," he added. Asked if is there any hope to resolve the Kashmir issue, Haqqani said: "It would be much better to adopt the approach of building a good relationship as a means of solving problems rather than insisting on solving (Kashmir) problem that has not been solved for the past 69 years". He said even Chinese Leader Jiang Zemin, during his visit to Pakistan, had said Pakistanis should consider moving forward with things that can be solved, instead of trying to solve unresolved longstanding problems. Haqqani further said "Pakistan has a case over Kashmir, it has adversely been impacted by terrorism and completely demolished by the activities of Saeed, Azhar and other extremists in Pakistan. Malawi police have arrested an HIV-infected man who was paid to have sex with more than 100 adolescent girls as part of a traditional ritual marking their passage to womanhood, officials said today. Eric Aniva, from the southern district of Nsanje, was held after giving a media interview confessing to have slept with the girls for a fee of between four and seven dollars, paid by each of their families. The little-known local practice lasts three days and is performed in southern Malawi by men known as "hyenas" at the request of a girl's parents after her first menstruation. The ritual is believed to train girls to become good wives and to protect them from disease or misfortune that could fall on their families or their village. "Aniva was arrested yesterday after he was summoned to my office," district commissioner Gift Lapozo told AFP. In a BBC interview broadcast last week, Aniva confessed to being infected with HIV and sleeping with at least 100 girls without using protection. "Some girls are just 12 or 13 years old, but I prefer them older," he said. "All these girls find pleasure in having me as their hyena. They actually are proud and tell other people that this man is a real man, he knows how to please a woman." It was unclear over how many years Aniva had been a "hyena". Malawian President Peter Mutharika had earlier issued a statement ordering Aniva's arrest and calling for an inquiry into the role of the parents involved. Aniva should "be investigated for exposing the young girls to contracting HIV and further be charged accordingly," Mutharika added. "Harmful cultural and traditional practices cannot be accepted." The sexual cleansing ritual is also performed on bereaved widows in Nsanje district to exorcise villages of evil spirits or to prevent another death occurring. Aniva, who has two wives and was reported to be in his 40s, said a "hyena" was selected by the community based on good morals and that custom did not allow him to use condoms. "There was nothing else I could have done," one girl told the BBC. "I had to do it for the sake of my parents. If I'd refused, my family members could be attacked with diseases -- even death -- so I was scared. A court in Howrah district today sentenced a man to death for murdering four children, including three of his own, five years ago. Additional Sessions Judge of Uluberia, Subhasis Ghosh, convicted Raish Qureshi for the murder of his two daughters and a son and the son of his sister-in-law and awarded capital punishment to him. Qureshi, a 40-year-old butcher, suspected that the three children were not his and that was the reason of the murders, according to prosecution. On November 14, 2011, when many family members had gathered on the occasion of a wedding, he took out his three children, on the pretext of a tour in the vicinity. His sister-in-law's son also came along with his own children. He took them to Mahishrekha near Damodar river and threw the children in the river and fled to Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh. Bodies of his daughers, Rounak (4), Alisha (2.5), and son Shahid (6) and his daughter-in-law's son Hassan (6) were found floating in the river the next day. A few days later, Qureshi returned to the same spot where he had flung the children to the river and tried to commit suicide by consuming phenyl. He was taken to hospital in an unconscious state where he was identified by his family members. Qureshi was arrested on November 21. The case was taken up by CID in 2012. A 53-year-old man was removed and detained from a Liverpool-bound Ryanair plane by police on suspicion of being drunk after allegedly "burping" at fellow passengers. The plane was travelling from Alicante to Liverpool when the man was detained by police at Liverpool John Lennon Airport yesterday. Officers were called to the airport in response to reports that a male passenger was being disruptive on board, the Liverpool Echo reported. The man was from West Derby in Liverpool and was arrested on suspicion of being drunk on an aircraft and has been taken in for questioning, they said. According to an eyewitness, the man allegedly "belched at another passenger and then fell onto a small child". "He was sitting next to a lady on the flight and he kept being loud and disruptive and he wouldn't stop burping," one passenger said. "She asked him to stop but when he wouldn't. She had to ask the cabin crew to get involved. By that point we'd started to land and the seatbelt signs were on but he stood up and started mouthing off," the passenger said. "When we landed there was a police van and two officers waiting to arrest him," he added. Ryanair has condemned the man's behaviour and said they "do not tolerate unruly or disruptive behaviour at any time". "The crew of this flight from Alicante to Liverpool on July 25 requested police assistance upon landing in Liverpool, after a passenger became disruptive in-flight, who was removed and detained by police, a spokesperson said. Another 'mass terror attack' bid was foiled today in Bangladesh, reeling under a number of Islamist assaults, as security forces killed nine members of a homegrown militant group during a fierce gun-battle that erupted after a pre-dawn raid at their hideout here. Police said the nine terrorists were killed while one was captured alive during the operation codenamed 'Storm 26' to flush out militants holed up in an apartment at a six-storey building in Kalyanpur area. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh averted a major terror attack. "The country averted a fearful situation because of the (security) raid," she said. The Prime Minister said that the raid was carried out on intelligence reports that the terrorists were preparing for an attack and security forces took immediate action. Police's special SWAT unit, elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and detectives jointly raided 'Jahaz Building' around 5:51 AM local time, sparking a gunfight that last for an hour. "From police intelligence sources we learnt that they were planning to carry out a major incident. We conducted the operation to foil any such incident," national police chief A K M Shahidul Hoque told reporters. Dhaka's joint police commissioner Sheikh Maruf Hassan said the security forces arrested one militant with bullet wounds from the scene during the special raid. Hoque said militants were suspected to be members of homegrown extremist group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) blamed by the government for the July 1 cafe attack, the country's worst terror assault. "They (militants) are primarily presumed to be a part of the group that carried out terror attacks in Gulshan (restaurant) and (northern) Sholakia," Hoque said. The Islamist gunmen wearing black tunics, turbans and carrying backpacks exchanged fire and shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is the Greatest). Dhaka's police commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia later told a media briefing that terrorists were "highly educated". "We seized 13 handmade grenades, one sword, one pistol, seven magazines and bullets from the den...Along with other evidence like 'Allahu Akbar inscribed black flags," he said. Rakibul Hasan alias Rigan, the militant arrested during the raid, was missing since last one year. He claimed to be a member of the Islamic State, reports said. But the police chief said police found no evidence of ISIS link. Security analyst believe that JMB is ideologically inclined to the Syria-based outfit. Domestic and foreign companies like Mercedes Benz India, General Electric, Toshiba and PepsiCo have made investments under the government's 'Make in India' scheme between 2014 and 2016, Parliament was informed today. "Investments have been made under the 'Make in India' scheme between 2014 and 2016 by domestic and foreign companies like Mercedes Benz India, International Tractors Limited, Jaya Montupet, Isuzu Motors, General Electric, Toshiba Transmission and Distributions Systems India Private Limited and PepsiCo," Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. The minister further said that after the launch of 'Make in India' campaign in September 2014, FDI inflows have increased by 46 per cent during October 2014 to May 2016, from USD 42.31 billion to USD 61.58 billion in comparison to the previous 20 months (February 2013 to September 2014). The 'Make in India' initiative was launched in September 2014 to make the country a manufacturing hub of the world. First Lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday endorsed "friend" Hillary Clinton as the only one "truly qualified" to be the next US President even as she lashed out at Republican Donald Trump of being "thin-skinned" and taking "snap decisions" in a veiled attack. Michelle made a passionate plea for the former secretary of state in front of thousands of delegates and members of the Democratic Party at its national convention and hailed the power that having a first female president would bring to the country. "I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States," she said. "I am here tonight because in this election there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility, only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is our friend Hillary Clinton." The four-day convention, which began yesterday would nominate Clinton as its presidential candidate. The 68-year- old former secretary of state would deliver her acceptance speech on Thursday, thus, becoming America's first woman presidential candidate of a major political party. If elected in the final race against Trump in November, she would be the first US woman president. Without naming Trump, the First Lady appeared to be critical of the 70-year-old real estate tycoon who once questioned the birth of her husband and US President Barack Obama. "Make no mistake about it, this November when we go to the polls that is what we're deciding, not Democrat or Republican, not left or right. No, in this election and every election is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives," she said amid cheers and applause. "We urge them to ignore those who question their father's citizenship or faith," she told delegates and a national television audience, in a clear reference to Trump's remarks targetting Obama. "We insist that the hateful language they hear from public figures on TV does not represent the true spirit of this country," she said, apparently referring to the new kind of standards in terms of lingo set in this year's campaign unlike of a US election. Having been a resident of the White House and seen Obama running the country for seven and half years, Michelle said when she thinks of "the kind of president that I want for my girls and all children," it's someone who takes the job seriously - "someone who understands that the issues a president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters", in an allusion to Trump's tweets. "Because when you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military in your command, you can't make snap decisions," she said, adding: "You can't have a thin skin or a tendency to lash out. You need to be steady and measured and well-informed. Michelle said she wants a president with "a record of public service, someone whose life's work shows our children that we don't chase form and fortune for ourselves, we fight to give everyone a chance to succeed". "I want a president who will teach our children that everyone in this country matters, a president who truly believes in the vision that our founders put forth all those years ago that we are all created equal, each a beloved part of the great American story," she added. She said she trusts Clinton to lead this country because "she has seen her lifelong devotion to children, not just her own daughter, who she has raised to perfection, but every child who needs a champion, children who take the long way to school to avoid the gangs, children who wonder how they will ever afford college, kids whose parents don't speak a word of English, but dream of a better life, kids who look to us to determine who and what they can be". "You see, Hillary has spent decades doing the relentless, thankless work to actually make a difference in their lives advocating for kids with disabilities as a young lawyer, fighting for children's health care as first lady, and for quality child care in the Senate. And when she didn't win the nomination eight years ago, she didn't get angry or disillusioned," she said. The First Lady was referring to the 2008 presidential election when Obama defeated Clinton in the Democratic primaries. "Hillary did not pack up and go home, because as a true public servant Hillary knows that this is so much bigger than her own desires and disappointments. So, she proudly stepped up to serve our country once again as secretary of state, travelling the globe to keep our kids safe," Michelle said. "And look, there were plenty of moments when Hillary could have decided that this work was too hard, that the price of public service was too high, that she was tired of being picked apart for how she looks or how she talks or even how she laughs. But here's the thing. "What I admire most about Hillary is that she never buckles under pressure. She never takes the easy way out. And Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life," she argued. Obama praised the First Lady for her impressive speech. "Incredible speech by an incredible woman. Couldn't be more proud and our country has been blessed to have her as FLOTUS (First Lady Of The US). I love you, Michelle," he tweeted. Hungary's right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban today described the arrival of asylum seekers in Europe as "a poison", saying his country did not want or need "a single migrant". "Hungary does not need a single migrant for the economy to work, or the population to sustain itself, or for the country to have a future," he told a joint press conference in Budapest with Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern. "This is why there is no need for a common European migration policy: whoever needs migrants can take them, but don't force them on us, we don't need them," Orban said. The populist strongman added that "every single migrant poses a public security and terror risk". "For us migration is not a solution but a problem... Not medicine but a poison, we don't need it and won't swallow it," he said. Orban is a fierce opponent of the European Union's troubled plan to share migrants across the 28-nation bloc under a mandatory quota system. Hungary has filed a legal challenge against the proposal and will hold a referendum on its participation in the scheme on October 2. Hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees trekked through Hungary and Austria in 2015 as they sought to reach wealthy European nations. But the flow slowed to a trickle after Orban's government erected razor wire and fences along the southern borders last autumn and brought in tough anti-migrant laws. However, numbers have been rising again in recent months, reaching almost 18,000 so far this year. In response Budapest introduced further security measures this month, including the controversial forced return to no-man's land between Hungary and Serbia of any migrant found within eight kilometres of the southern border. In early July, Austria promised to send 20 police officers to the Serbian frontier, where around 20 asylum seekers a day are allowed to cross into a border "transit zone" and apply for asylum. The offer marked a turnaround for Vienna, previously a vocal critic of Hungary's hardline treatment of migrants. Kern, on his first visit to Hungary since becoming chancellor in May, said migration to Austria and Germany had declined thanks to Hungary's tough measures. "If we are beneficiaries from this process, then we have to assist it," he said. But Kern also stressed that nongovernmental aid agencies should be allowed to help people stranded on the Serbian side of the border. Appreciating their wildlife and forest protection initiatives, Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave today urged the Bishnoi community living in North India to continue their efforts, saying they should not lose heart by any adverse situation. Dave said in Lok Sabha that people belonging to Bishnoi community have been protecting wildlife and forest for ages, which has to be appreciated. "I want to appeal to Bishnoi community, don't lose your heart. You have been fighting for the protection of wildlife and forest for age and will continue to do that," he said during Question Hour. Asked about any action plan to check trans-boundary wildlife crime, he said Rs 9 crore as been allocated to the Wildlife Crme Control Bureau for 2016-17, besides financial and technical help to state/UT governments for the purpose. The Minister said India has adopted the statute of South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) on April 13. SAWEN is a regional network of eight South Asian countries -- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka -- set up to provide a forum for development of regional programmes through networking, sharing and effective dissemination of knowledge and information with respect to combating illegal trade in wildlife, its parts and products. "The statute contains the institutional arrangement for functioning of the network, its objectives and role of member countries. The statute has been adopted with the objective of strengthening the network and cooperation amongst the member countries in jointly combating wildlife crime and illegal trafficking in the region," he said. Congress today termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "silence" on Una Dalit thrashing incident as "devaluation" of his post as well as democracy, even as the opposition party organised sit-in agitations across Gujarat against the incident. "He (Modi) took votes from Gujarat and became PM. But, he has refused to utter a single word for Dalits as he fears that it will harm BJP in Gujarat. This is devaluation of democracy and PM's post," said Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly, Shankersinh Vaghela. While the protests were held at various places in 33 districts, senior party leaders, including state unit Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki and Vaghela participated in a dharna near collector's office in the city. The Congress leaders blamed the brutal assault on Dalit youths on the "anti-Dalit mentality" of the BJP and state government. Addressing a gathering of Dalits here, Solanki said the "atrocities" committed on people under the BJP government are "more heinous and barbaric than during the British rule". "This government crushes all those who raise their voices for their rights. Dalits and poor citizens are subjected to atrocities in Gujarat. This government is having an anti-Dalit mentality, as people who thrashed Dalits in Una were supporters of BJP," he alleged. Solanki alleged that more than 40 people were involved in thrashing Dailts at Una, but only 16 were arrested. "This shows that enough steps are not taken by government to instill a sense of security among Dalits. Such incident on Dalits has tarnished Gujarat's image," the Congress leader said. On July 11, some Dalit youths from Mota Samadhiyala village in Una taluka of Gir-Somnath district were flogged allegedly by cow protection vigilantes for skinning a dead cow. The incident sparked a huge outrage in Gujarat with the Dalits taking to streets and indulging in vandalism and arson. A new campaign titled "More To Give" was launched here today with an aim to double organ donation rate from 0.5 per million of the population by 2020. The nationwide campaign, launched on the occasion of Kargil Diwas with Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan as its ambassador, is aimed at sensitising people as well as encouraging them to pledge their organs in an effort to positively impact the well-being of the nation. "Five years ago, the rate of donation was 0.05 per million, which increased to 0.5 per million. This was done without much efforts from the government, but we now have the system with us, so we are expecting the rate to increase," said CEO Fortis Healthcare Bhavdeep Singh. At the launch, experts discussed the reasons for people shying away from this including various social and religious ones. "One of the major problems people have with organ donation is the acceptance of the brain dead concept for the family. There is not much awareness among the society as well as the doctors," said Aarti Vij, Chief of Organ Retrieval and Banking Organisation at AIIMS. Malvinder Mohan Singh, Executive Chairman, Fortis Healthcare blamed the infrastructure as another major problem. "The donor and donee have to be located close as the life of organs used for transplantation is not very high. There should also be some better technology to increase the life of the organs," he added. District-level committees headed by the local Member of Parliament will monitor the centrally- funded schemes and mandatorily meet four times a year, BJP MPs were informed today and asked by the party leadership to use it to push for effective execution of developmental projects. The first meetings of the District Infrastructure Scheme Advisory Committees (DISHA) are expected on August 23. BJP sources said the panels, which would also have state government officials on board, are likely to meet in the months of February, April, August and December. Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar spoke about the constitution of DISHA committees at a meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting, which was also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah besides other senior leaders. Though local vigilance committees have been there earlier as well, sources said the new panels will ensure greater accountability as its meetings have been made mandatory. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also spoke briefly about a law, which has been cleared by the Cabinet, that will help banks in debt recoveries and improve ease of doing business, sources said. Amending Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (Sarfaesi) Act is among the law's objectives. Briefing reporters after the meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the government is keen on the passage of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill (CAMPA) and Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill in the coming days. The party leaders also paid rich tributes to the martyrs on the occasion of the Kargil Vijay Diwas today. Kumar said five bills in Lok Sabha and two in the Rajya Sabha, which has seen frequent disruptions, have been passed so far in the ongoing Monsoon Session and appealed to the opposition in the Upper House to participate in the discussion. "We will do all the official business (as listed). We had considered 16 bills for the session and four new bills besides them have also been brought," he said. Asked about the GST bill, Kumar said the government is talking about it where it should, an apparent reference to its attempts to bring the opposition around over the contentious legislation. North Korea warned the United States today that it will pay a "terrifying price" if the Korean Peninsula sinks into deeper tensions, stepping up its rhetoric hours after US Secretary of State John Kerry blasted Pyongyang for its nuclear program. Kerry told a regional security conference being hosted by Laos that North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons when the world is trying to rid itself of them is "very provocative and deeply concerning." He urged the country to follow the lead of Iran, which hammered out a deal to end its nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions. However, North Korea was slapped with new UN sanctions in March, and Kerry urged the international community to fully enforce those and previous sanctions. In North Korea's typical fashion of unleashing rhetorical threats, its foreign minister, Ri Yong-ho, told the same conference, known as the ASEAN Regional Forum, that the country is ready to face any sanctions. It was mindful of all possible sanctions when it took the "inevitable strategic decision" to develop nuclear weapons to counter the "never-ending nuclear blackmails of the US," he said. North Korea says it needs nuclear weapons to cope with what it sees as US military threats. The United States stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea and regularly holds joint military drills with South Korea. Pyongyang has long demanded Washington withdraw its troops from South Korea and stop the joint drills, which it calls an invasion rehearsal. "We are ready to show that even a (powerful) country will surely not be safe if it tries to torment and harm a small country," Ri said, according to the text of his speech released to the media. "The United States will have to pay dearly a terrifying price." But in later comments to reporters, published by South Korea's Yonhap agency, Ri struck a slightly conciliatory tone. "As a responsible nuclear state, we will not carelessly use our nuclear weapons unless we come to face an actual threat, (or) a threat of invasion from another nuclear state," Ri was quoted as saying by Yonhap. Whether or not North Korea conducts another nuclear test will "entirely hinge on the United States's attitude," he was quoted as saying. The governing body of the National Board of Examination (NBE), the regulatory body for postgraduate medical education in India has been reconstituted, the government today said. "The governing body of the National Board of Examination (NBE) has been reconstituted vide gazette of India notification dated 17.6.16," Minister of State for Health Faggan Singh Kulaste said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. Abhijat Sheth, director of medical services in Apollo hospital in Ahmedabad has been made the president while other members include Jagdish Prasad, Director General of Health Services, Ved Prakash, Chairman UGC, Jayshree Mehta, president of Medical Council of India (MCI), Dibyendu Mazumdar, president of the Dental Council of India. Other members also included S S Agarwal, president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Vinay Sheel Oberoi, secretary HRD Ministry, Vijaya Srivastava, financial advisor in the Ministry of Health. According to recent reports, the NBE has been asked to examine the problems which restricts the expansion of postgraduate medical education. The NBE president, who is from a non-teaching hospital has been selected to head the highest regulatory authority for postgraduate education. However, section of the medical fraternity has raised questions about the haste to reconstitute the NBE at a time when an expert committee appointed is examining issues pertaining to overhauling of Medical Council of India and is yet to submit its report. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today assured Nivedita Mallick, widow of a martyr, to facilitate her in paying tribute to her husband Sachhidananda Mallick at the Kargil War Memorial in Jammu and Kashmir. Patnaik gave the assurance to Nivedita, who met him at the state secretariat here. Earlier, Patnaik had invited Nivedita to the state capital after coming to know about her desire from the media. Nivedita, who hails from Kandiapada village in Kendrapara district, had expressed her desire to pay tribute to her husband at the Kargil War Memorial in Jammu and Kashmir. However, she was not getting any support to visit that state. As per the assurance given to Nivedita, the Chief Minister issued instructions to the state's Resident Commissioner at New Delhi to take steps so that she could visit Jammu and Kashmir. Patnaik also asked the general administration department to coordinate with Nivedita and the Resident Commissioner to ensure her visit. Over Rs 50,000 crore were received by the Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) in last three years, the Lok Sabha was told today. The acceptance and utilisation of foreign contribution by association or institutions is regulated under the provisions of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010. "As on date, 33,091 NGOs are registered under the FCRA and the total funds received from abroad during the last three years and current year is Rs 50,944.54 crore," Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju told Lok Sabha in a written reply. The government monitor funds received by the NGOs and also complaints that are received from various sources including security agencies in this regard, he said. In 2014, penalty amounting to about Rs 60 lakh was imposed on 24 associations; Rs 80.11 lakh on 71 associations in 2015 and penalty of Rs 32.78 lakh on eight associations so far this year was imposed for compounding the offence for receipt and utilisation of foreign contribution without holding registration or prior permission under the FCRA, Rijiju said. The notices were issued to around 21,000 associations in 2011 and to 10,343 NGOs in 2014 for not filing annual returns continuously for three years, the Minister said. Consequently, registration of 4,138 NGOs was cancelled in 2012 and of 10,020 in March 2015 after issue of show cause notices to such associations and giving them adequate opportunity, he added. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today issued a notice to the Post Master General in Kerala over non-functioning of lifts in the General Post Office (GPO) in Thiruvananthapuram, which is causing hardship to employees as well as the general public. The notice was issued after NHRC took suo motu cognisance of a media report about non-functioning of lifts in GPO for several months. "Reportedly, the GPO Complex is a seven-storeyed building and there are employees who are physically handicapped and heart patients. A photograph published in the newspaper shows a woman employee being assisted by colleagues to climb the stairs," an NHRC statement said. "The Commission has observed that the media report and the photograph highlight serious violation of human rights of the employees and the public. Accordingly, it has issued a notice to the Post Master General, Kerala, calling for a report in the matter within two weeks," it added. The employees of the GPO are reportedly on strike in protest against the failure of the authorities in getting the lifts repaired. Nine Islamist extremists of banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, blamed for the brazen Dhaka cafe terror attack, were today killed during a fierce gun-battle with Bangladeshi security forces in a pre-dawn raid at their hideout here. On an intelligence input, police's special SWAT unit, elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and detectives jointly raided a seven-storey apartment building in Kalyanpur area and the militants attacked them from upstairs, leading to a fierce gunfight. The nine militants were killed after an hour-long gunfight while another another extremist who received bullet wounds was arrested, police said. Inspector general of police A K M Shahidul Hoque told reporters that militants were suspected to be members of homegrown extremist group JMB blamed by the government for the July 1 cafe attack in which 22 people, mostly foreigners were killed. "They (militants) are primarily presumed to be a part of the group that carried out terror attacks in Gulshan (restaurant) and (northern) Sholakia," Hoque said. Dhaka's joint police commissioner Sheikh Maruf Hassan said the special raid named 'Operation Storm 26' was launched at 5.51 am local time at a house called Jahaz Building cordoning off the nearby thoroughfares at the area and it continued for around one hour. The Islamist gunmen wearing black tunics, turbans and carrying backpacks exchanged fire and shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is the Greatest), reports said. According to local media reports, the arrested militant, who is being treated at a hospital in the capital, admitted that the group was inspired by ISIS when police quizzed him at the facility. The police chief said the raid was carried out on an intelligence report as part of a nationwide anti-militant clampdown following the two back-to back terrorist attacks earlier this month. He said the militants had been planning another large-scale assault. Hoque said police found no evidence of their ISIS link but security analysts earlier said JMB was ideologically inclined to the Syria-based outfit which claimed the responsibility of the July 1 attack. 'Jahaz Building' is a residential apartment complex for middle income people who lived in most of the flats with family members but two floors of the structure were rented out to students and some youths. Bangladesh is reeling from a wave of deadly attacks by Islamist extremists. Twenty two people, including an Indian girl, were killed by suspected ISIS militants inside a cafe popular with expats in the diplomatic zone in Dhaka in the worst terror attack in Bangladesh before commandos launched an assault, killing six attackers and capturing one alive. Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanaswamy today termed as "absolutely wrong" opposition AIADMK's allegation that there is lack of coordination between his government and Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi. "There is a very good equation with the Lt Governor and we are working together towards the development of the state," the CM told PTI, adding that the Lt Governor is helping government in developmental activities of the state. "The Lt Governor knows her power. The union territory of Puducherry is different from Delhi. We have the Land, Law and Order and Service areas under the Council of Ministers and the Governor acts according to the aid of the Council of Ministers," he said rejecting AIADMK's allegation that there is a 'virtual race' between the Lt Governor and the CM on who would be able to procure funds from the Centre. V Narayanaswamy, who was sworn in as Chief Minister of Puducherry on June 6, was in Delhi to attend the empowered committee of state finance ministers meet to decide on the final design of Goods and Services Tax (GST). "I raised the issues of smaller states. Threshold-level should be kept at Rs 10 Lakhs so that smaller states would not be affected from mobilisation of revenue," he said adding that since Puducherry is not in the Central Finance Commission, our revenue should not be affected. The CM demanded revenue neutrality and said "whatever the compensation to be paid to our state should be done in a periodic manner within a fixed timeframe and done in a transparent manner". Narayanaswamy also requested the Centre to consider financing Puducherry on the same lines as they consider the North-Eastern states. He will also call on Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari tomorrow and press the ministry for commencing shipping services connecting Karaikal and Chennai via Puducherry. Diaper maker Nobel Hygiene today alleged that the policy of the government was lopsided towards manufacturing of diapers. "The government policy is not favourable. Import duty on diapers comes to 15 per cent while the duty on raw materials is 26 per cent," Nobel Hygiene managing director Kamal Kr Johari told PTI. A huge quantity of diapers is imported from Asian countries including China. Johari said manufacturing of diapers in India is still surviving because the freight to import is very high which somewhat nullify the duty disadvantage. The company has invested some Rs 100 crore into extending product portfolio to cover a wide spectrum of consumers and the same will help in increasing its topline to Rs 200-250 crore in the current fiscal against Rs 150 crore in 2015-16. The company is the market leader in adult diaper manufacturing with 65 per cent marketshare of the Rs 350 crore market pie. In the baby diaper segment, the company has 5-6 per cent share in the Rs 5,000-crore market dominated by the MNCs brands. The Delhi Police have registered a fresh case under non-cognisable offences against AAP Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan, already under arrest in another case, on a complaint by some protesters in his constituency. The case has been registered against Khan under Section 506 (punishment for intimidation) of IPC which is a non- cognisable offence, on the complaint of a group of protesters, a senior police officer said. The complainant Syed Tanveer Ahmad, a resident of Shaheen Bagh in Okhla, said he, along with others, was protesting against civic woes and alleged underdevelopment of the constituency under the AAP government on July 16. He alleged Khan reached the venue on the night of July 16 "with his men and threatened" them to call off the protest. Tanveer alleged the MLA intimidated him saying he would "cut him into pieces and throw in Yamuna" if he did not comply. Based on the complaint of Tanveer and other protestors, including Sultan Ahmad and Syed Abdul Ali, a non-cognisable offence case was registered July 24 at Jamia Nagar Police station. Khan, who is also chairman of Delhi Waqf Board, was arrested on July 24 from his Batla House residence for allegedly threatening a woman who had visited his house to raise the issue of power cuts. He was remanded to a 14-day judicial custody today by a city court. US National Security Adviser Susan Rice told Chinese officials that countries should work to reduce tensions in the South China Sea, but that the US would continue to carry out the military operations there that have angered Beijing, a senior US government official said today. Rice told China's top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, and top general Fan Changlong in meetings in Beijing yesterday that the US hoped a recent international tribunal's ruling on the South China Sea would spur negotiations in the region toward eventually resolving long-standing territorial disputes, the official said. Rice is the highest-level White House official to visit China since the July 12 ruling that invalidated Beijing's vast claims in the South China Sea, handing a victory to the Philippines, a US ally. In meetings with Yang and Fan, Rice said all countries should "avoid taking actions that raise tensions and could raise the risks of miscalculation" in the South China Sea, said the official, who wasn't authorised to comment publicly. She did not discuss the topic with President Xi Jinping when they met, the official said. Rice also said the US would continue conducting military operations in the South China Sea. "Those operations are lawful. They will continue, they've been long standing, they've been designed to impart confidence and stability," the official said, describing the stance that Rice made in her meetings. The US has said such operations are intended to protect freedom of navigation. China has described such operations as "heavy-handed intervention" in the South China Sea. China's official Xinhua Agency said Fan, the general, told Rice that China opposed the tribunal's ruling and "would continue to provide strong backing to safeguarding China's national territorial sovereignty and security. Oil prices edged up slightly in Asia today after tumbling more than two per cent the day before, while a weaker dollar also provided support, although fears about a global supply glut are returning to the fore. After topping USD 50 a barrel early last month on the back of output disruptions, the cost of crude has tumbled about 15 per cent in recent weeks as the crucial US holiday driving season comes to an end and global demand remains weak. Traders have been spooked since last week when the US Energy Information Administration said US inventories had fallen less than expected, and that petrol supplies had risen, despite it being peak season for demand in the country. An increase in the number of rigs coming online -- meaning more production -- has also dented prices. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 10 cents to USD 43.23 while Brent North Sea was up 18 cents at USD 44.90. Both main contracts tumbled yesterday with crude touching a three-month low while Brent touched its weakest level since May. "You can't ignore the size of the inventory overhang," Evan Lucas, a market strategist at IG Ltd in Melbourne, told Bloomberg . "The fundamentals don't support a move up through USD 55 to USD 60 a barrel, but we're not seeing a capitulation like we did at the start of the year." The black gold plunged to near 13-year lows below USD 28 in February, as world markets were crippled by worries over China's economy, weak demand, a global growth slowdown and a supply glut. French Prosecutor Francois Molins said today that one of two jihadists who attacked a church in a Normandy town, and slit a priest's throat, was 19-year-old Adel Kermiche. Kermiche was known to security services, having twice been arrested on his way to Syria, and was under house arrest and wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet at the time of the attack. Molins said Kermiche and an unknown accomplice, armed with knives, had stormed the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, taking hostage the 86-year-old priest, three nuns and two worshippers. One of the nuns managed to escape and call police, who, upon arrival, tried to negotiate with the hostage-takers through a small door. Molins said police were unable to launch an assult on the church as three hostages were lined up in front of the door. Two nuns and one worshipper then exited the church followed by the two attackers, one carrying a handgun, who charged police shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest). Both attackers had on them a "fake explosive device covered in aluminium foil". The priest was found dead with his throat slit, and an 86-year-old worshipper had severe knife wounds, said Molins. Opposition led by Congress and JMM today accused the ruling BJP of alleged coercion and threats in the recent biennial polls to the Upper House to get its candidates elected. They sought the setting up of a House Committee to probe into a CD that allegedly contains audio recordings of a senior IPS officer threatening the husband of an opposition MLA to get her to vote in favour of a candidate of the ruling party. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Sanjiv Kumar (JMM) alleged that on the eve of polling, two opposition MLAs were harassed in some old cases while a JMM MLA was arrested in a petty case to prevent him from casting his vote. While other MLAs lodged in jails were allowed to cast vote, the three opposition legislators could not, leading to the victory of the ruling party candidate by one vote, he claimed. Without naming anyone, he said the ruling party used allurements as well as threats to win over opposition MLAs. He claimed that a CD has surfaced purportedly showing how an Additional Director General of Police coerced and threatened the husband of an opposition MLA. According to local media reports, the CD allegedly contains conversation between the officer and Yogendra Sao, husband of Congress MLA Nirmala Devi. It also contains talks between Sao and the Chief Minister's political adviser. Maintaining that a copy of the CD will be made available to the Union Home Minister, he demanded action against the police officer. Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad also demanded sacking of the officer involved, alleging that it had become a modus operandi under the present dispensation to use threats and coercion. Maintaining that such undemocratic acts were unacceptable, he demanded a House Committee to be formed to go into the issue and recommend action. Sharad Yadav (JDU) said irregularities in Rajya Sabha polls was a very serious issue and a probe has to be done. Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) said the CD should be investigated, guilt established and the guilty punished. Anand Sharma (Cong) too demanded formation of a House Committee to probe the incident. Rejection allegations of irregularities, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the government had full confidence in the ability of the Election Commission to hold free and fair elections. The opposition allegations, he said, were far removed from facts and action will be initiated as per procedure in case the CD is produced. But the Opposition members were not satisfied and continued to raise the issue. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the government has said it is ready to get the CD examined if it is submitted. Sharma responded by asking how justice could be done if the accused itself is to examine the evidence, remarks that were expunged. Actor Irrfan Khan today lent support to an organ donation campaign, "More To Give", and said nothing is more beautiful than a dead person giving life to others. The 49-year-old "Madaari" actor, who is the brand ambassador of the campaign, said people should pledge to donate organs. "What can be more beautiful than a dead body giving life to many others. The soul goes to God, but the body and its parts eventually get into the earth. So, why not make a better use of it. It is the need of the hour," Irrfan told reporters here. Launched on Kargil Divas, the campaign aims to increase the organ donation rate from 0.5 per million to one per million of the population by 2020. "We are getting so much from nature, the nature does not count what it gives us. Now it is our turn to give back to it. I will choose Bakr-Eid to donate my organs. "On Kargil Divas, we salute the spirit of all the countrymen, who have fought and are fighting for our nation without caring for their lives. I would urge all fellow Indians to support the cause and pledge to donate their organs," he said. Palestinian leaders are seeking Arab League support for a complaint they intend to file against Britain for its 1917 Balfour Declaration backing a Jewish homeland in Palestine. "Almost a century has passed since 1917," Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said in an address to an Arab League meeting in Mauritania, seen by AFP today. "On the basis of this promise made by a party which did not possess (the land) to a party undeserving of it, hundreds of thousands of Jews from Europe and elsewhere came to settle in Palestine at the expense of our people, whose ancestors have lived for millennia on the soil of our land," he said in yesterday's speech delivered on behalf of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. Malki did not say to which body a complaint would be made. Israeli foreign ministry chief Dore Gold called the proposal "a desperate effort to delegitimise Israel", on his Twitter account. In 2012, the Palestinians won the status of an observer state in the United Nations. In 2015 they joined the International Criminal Court and formally asked it to investigate Israel for alleged war crimes during the 2014 Gaza war. The declaration issued on November 2, 1917 by British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour said the British government "view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". It was a major step towards the eventual establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Powerloom Development Export Promotion Council (PDEXCIL) members will be soon meeting Maharashtra Industries Minister Subash Desai to apprise him about the current conditions prevailing in the powerloom sector and also put forth their demands. Powerloom industry in the state has been facing severe crisis for more than one-and-half years now due to various circumstances including government policies, PDEXCIL vice chairman Purushottam Vanga said. Vanga, who is also president of Bhiwandi Padmanagar Powerloom Weavers Association, said powerloom units in the state were running only to 25 to 30 per cent of their capacity due poor demand for weaved clothes. "We have several times made representations before the Centre and state government listing our demands. It was only last week that we took out a protest morcha in Mumbai, after which the minister (state Industries) assured us to give us a hearing. We will be meeting Subash Desai very soon," he said. He said they will also be putting forth the present serious market condition and their demand, including the one that export of cotton and yarn should be stopped. He also said the government should ensure that the dumping (of their produce) by China should be checked. There are around 12 lakh looms in the state, out of which maximum are in Bhiwandi and workers coming from states like Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh are returning without jobs due to unfavourable market conditions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was providing security to his "friends" like Nita Ambani, leaving women in Delhi in the lurch, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said today. Kejriwal's latest swipe at Modi came through a tweet after the Home Ministry decided to accord 'Y' category security cover to Nita, the wife of Reliance Industries Limited Chairman Mukesh Ambani. "Women raped daily in Delhi. No security for them despite repeated requests. But PM providing security to his friends," Kejriwal wrote on Twitter, along with the image of a newspaper clip of a report on VVIP security cover for Nita. Officials said Nita has recently been provided a 'Y' category cover. About ten armed men would be travelling with her. The politics over women's safety heated up in the national capital in the wake of the death of a 14-year-old Dalit girl recently after being repeatedly sexually assaulted. Another case of an alleged rape of a four-year-old girl was reported yesterday. AAP MP Bhagwant Mann today demanded suspension of Prime Minister from the House for "compromising" national security by "inviting ISI" to the Pathankot airbase and said the panel set to examine filming of Parliament complex by him should also summon Narendra Modi. In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Mann said the Prime Minister was "100 times more guilty" than him for "inviting ISI" to probe the January 2 terror attack on the airbase that had left seven security personnel dead. "In 2001, ISI had attacked the Parliament Complex. And in 2016, it launched an attack on the Pathankot airbase. The PM invited the same ISI and took them around the airbase. ISI made maps of the airbase and left," Mann alleged. "The way I have been suspended, even the Prime Minister, who is a member of the House, should be suspended for compromising the national security," Mann told reporters. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has set up a panel to examine if Mann's video compromised Parliament's security. The panel had yesterday given the Sangrur MP time till July 28 to respond even as it decided to seek the views of experts on the issue. Mann has been asked not to attend the House until the Committee gives its report. "Does this (inviting ISI to Pathankot) not threaten the security of our country? Is my video a threat to the security of the nation or PM inviting ISI and taking them around the airbase is a bigger threat?" "The Committee should summon the PM along with me. If I am guilty, then the PM is 100 times more guilty," Mann alleged. A five-member Joint Investigation Team from Pakistan had visited Pathankot airbase in March to probe the attack carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group. Alleging political vendetta, the AAP also claimed the Modi government is trying to arrest Mann in the case, "just like it has done with its other legislators". AAP leader Ashutosh said when the Speaker asked for an apology, Mann tendered it but she later said she will look into the matter. "He gave an apology in writing. What happened after that and what kind of pressure was exerted that he is given a suspension notice saying now you don't come to Parliament. This means something transpired in between. "Speaker is revered in the country. Speaker should be neutral. If there is a perception that a Speaker is working under some pressure, then it is not right for the democratic process of the country," Ashutosh said. Strongly backing Mann over the incident, senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh said the motive of the video was never meant to put security under threat. He also rubbished the charges of alcoholism against the MP. "The Modi government has been targeting our elected representatives. If the video is a threat to the security, then even a mad man will not put it on Facebook. Don't the Speaker, MPs have this basic understanding?" Singh said. Mann said his case should be treated in an "impartial" manner. Singh said the BJP, Congress and Akali Dal were coming together to "malign" the party's image. "The country is watching the way the BJP and the Modi government is behaving. If Bhagwant Mann has to be arrested, then tell him he will himself surrender rather than resorting to cowardice. "The Modi government is trying to arrest Bhagwant Mann. The Congress, the Akali Dal and the BJP are running a campaign against the AAP," Singh said. The Kolkata Police today questioned eminent writer Amit Chaudhuri and his daughter connection with the death of Aabesh Dasgupta after being allegedly hit by a broken alcohol bottle, an officer said. Seven other persons, who were present at the time of the incident at the Sunny Park complex, were also questioned, he said. Chaudhuri and his daughter were questioned in Kolkata Police headquarters in Lal Bazar. According to sources, the sleuths probing the matter were trying to match versions of these seven persons with those 14 grilled in connection with the mishap yesterday, the officer said. Members of the special team, formed to investigate the death of the 17-year-old boy, have spoken to the girl with whom Aabesh developed an emotional bondage. The police has also examined the WhatsApp messages of Aabesh and those in other social networking sites to get a clear idea about the boy's activitiy. About the post mortem report, a senior officer of the Force said that "it was still inconclusive and may require some more time to have a final one". Meanwhile, a group of friends of the teenager paid visit to his Mudiali residence along with their friends. Reiterating that Aabesh was a "nice human being" they demanded "justice" for their friend. Aabesh, a class XI student, was killed last Saturday when a youth accompanying him to the birthday party allegedly hit him with glass shards during a quarrel in the car parking lot of the writer's apartment at upscale Ballygunge. The city police has started a murder case against "unknown person" in connection with the death of Aabesh on the basis of statement of his mother. Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi today met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi and sought support for the territorial budget for fiscal 2016-17. A Raj Nivas release said she sought support for the budget as proposed by chief minister V Narayanasamy, who is also holding the finance portfolio. Bedi also held discussions with the Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu. The minister assured the Lt Governor of his Ministry's support to start the 'Main line Electrical Multiple Units' between Puducherry and Villupuram and AC chair car services between Puducherry and Chennai within this year. Prabhu also informed Bedi that his ministry would accord expeditious consideration to start Shatabdi Train services between Puducherry and Chennai early next year, the release said. Bedi also called on the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh who assured support to Puducherry on matters relating to budget and security. Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told Bedi that he would visit Puducherry in September to review the progress made in Puducherry in the implementation of 'open defecation-free mission.' CEO of Niti Aayog Amitabh Kant told Bedi that a detailed plan of action for the Union Territory would be developed with focus on improving health and nutrition, education, water management and industries in Puducherry, the release said. The CEO also informed Bedi that he would send an Advance Planning Team to hold talks with key stakeholders in Puducherry before visiting Puducherry in September. Pope Francis has expressed his horror at the "barbaric killing" of a priest during a hostage-taking at a church in France today. "The pope... Shares the pain and horror of this absurd violence," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said, adding that the attack created "immense pain and worry". Francis issued "the most severe condemnation of all forms of hatred" and said he was appalled "because this horrific violence took place in a church, a sacred place" and involved the "barbaric" killing of a priest. Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu will flag off the Broad Gauge train service between Delhi and Agartala here on July 31, a minister said today. The new direct train would be named as 'Tripureswari Super Fast Express,' Tripura Transport Minister Manik Dey told PTI. State Chief Minister Manik Sarkar will be present during the flagging off ceremony of the new train, he said. A priest was killed today after a hostage situation at a church near the northern French city of Rouen, a police source said. The French interior ministry said that two hostage-takers were "neutralised" in the attack in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. French President Francois Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve were on their way to the scene, their offices said. The incident comes as France remains on high alert nearly two weeks after Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel mowed down a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day in the southern city of Nice, killing 84 and injuring over 300. The attack was the third major strike on France in 18 months and was claimed by the Islamic State group. Two assailants slit the throat of an 84-year-old priest at a church in northern France today in a hostage-taking drama that has shocked the country. The attack in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray came as France was still reeling from a massacre in the French Riviera city of Nice claimed by the Islamic State group. French President Francois Hollande condemned the "cowardly murder of the parish priest by two terrorists claiming to be from Daesh", using an Arabic term for the Islamic State group. Hollande appealed for "unity" in France, where political blame trading has poisoned the aftermath of the truck attack, the third major strike in the country in 18 months. "The threat remains very high," said Hollande. The motivations for the hostage-taking were not yet clear, but the Paris prosecutor's office said the case was being handled by anti-terrorism prosecutors. Five people were inside the church when it came under attack, interior ministry spokesman Pierre Henry Brandet said. He said the church was surrounded by France's anti-gang brigade the BRI, which specialises in kidnappings, and that "the two assailants came out and were killed by police". The priest died after having his throat slit, sources close to the investigation told AFP. The archbishop of the nearby city of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, named him as 84-year-old Jacques Hamel. Three of the hostages were freed unharmed, and another was fighting for their life, said Brandet. Pope Francis voiced his "pain and horror" at the "barbaric killing" of the priest. France remains on high alert nearly two weeks after Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed a truck into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 84 people and injuring over 300. President Francois Hollande, who is from Rouen, and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve were on their way to the scene, their offices said. An AFP journalist said the scene of the attack was crawling with emergency vehicles and police. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls expressed his horror at what he called "a barbaric attack on a church". "The whole of France and all Catholics are wounded. We will stand together," he wrote on Twitter. Lebrun urged all non-believers to join those of the church in "calling to God". A 40-year-old property dealer was robbed and murdered by two persons in Jhotwara area here, police said today. Chandan Singh, a resident of Mayur Vihar area here, was found dead in a vacant plot by some local residents this morning who informed the police, they said. "Singh had gone to consume liquor last night where he was caught by Dilip Kumar and Prem Singh who robbed him of cash, a bracelet and ring. They killed him and dumped the body at the vacant plot," police said. "The body, bearing injury marks, was shifted to Kanwatia hospital for post-mortem," police added. The accused have been arrested and booked under relevant provisions of the IPC. As the protest by Kashmiri pandit employees entered the 13th day today after they fled from the Kashmir Valley due to the alleged stone pelting by mobs on their transit camps, Jammu and Kashmir BJP unit today said they will have to eventually return to the Valley. The employees, however, termed the BJP assurances of a solution to their problem as a "mere eyewash". A four-member BJP team which included MLCs Surinder Ambardar and Ramesh Arora, State General Secretary Narinder Singh and President Minority Cell Chand Bhat today met the protesting employees and told them that it were not the employees only but the entire Kashmiri pandit community which eventually has to return to the Valley and settle there. "Our resolve is that entire Kashmiri pandit community has to return and settle in Kashmir. Every single soul wherever they are living have to go back in a way that they don't get displaced again," Ambardar said. He said they will create an environment in the Valley for the return of migrant pandits and will talk to whosoever comes forward for peace in the state. "Many miscreants in Kashmir Valley targeted the camps of Kashmiri Pandit employees in stone pelting in places like Vessu, Kupwara, Mattan, Haal and others," Ambardar said. Meanwhile, the protesting employees termed the "assurances" by BJP leaders as a "mere eyewash". "It was only after 13 days that the BJP leadership woke up from its deep slumber and came here to enquire what our problems are. They should have come with a solution," National Spokesman, All Party Migrants Coordination Committee, King Bharti said. He alleged that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh during his two-day Kashmir visit "did not enquire about the employees". Over 1400 Kashmiri pandit employees returned to Jammu from various transit camps in the Valley in the wake of the violent protests that erupted after the Killing of Hizbul Mujahideen Commander Burhan Wani. More than 1600 displaced Kashmiri pandits have been recruited under Prime Minister's special employment package and are posted in Kashmir since 2009. Public sector (PSBs) have written off loans worth Rs 59,547 crore in 2015-16, Parliament was informed today. Of the total, State Bank of India (SBI) alone has written off Rs 15,763 crore worth loans, Minister of State for Santosh Kumar Gangwar said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha. Among the nationalised banks, Punjab National Bank has written off Rs 7,340 crore, followed by IDBI Bank (Rs 5,459 crore) and Canara Bank (Rs 3,387 crore). The 20 nationalised cumulatively wrote off bad debt worth Rs 38,674 crore, while the same for SBI Group was Rs 20,873 crore. This has taken the total write offs by PSU in 2015-16 to Rs 59,547 crore. Gangwar said as per the statute, RBI is prohibited from disclosing the borrower wise credit information. Among the other PSU banks, Canara Bank has written off Rs 3,387 crore, followed by Indian Overseas Bank (Rs 2,578 crore), Bank of India (Rs 2,374 crore) and Allahabad bank (Rs 2,097 crore). In the backdrop of ongoing unrest in Kashmir, Union minister Rajyavardhan Rathore today said "psychological wars" waged in cyberspace are the "new threat" of our times, and urged people to turn into "social media soldiers" to counter this new-age warfare. "The world is changing. First there was traditional war, then nuclear war, and then limited intensity war (like Kargil). But, today's threat is of cyber war and through that psychological warfare. And, this psychological war is the biggest war," he said. The Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting was addressing a gathering at a function organised by Jammu and Kashmir People's Forum to mark 'Kargil Vijay Diwas' at the Constitution Club of India here. "Recently a terorist was gunned down in Kashmir like many other terrorists have been killed...And, talking about this psychological warfare which is being waged in the realm of social media, what followed on Twitter after that terrorist was shot dead... "There were 1,25,000 tweets on that terrorist, out of which only 49,000 were from India, 52,000 from unknown locations and 10,000 from Pakistan," he said. Rathore lauded the sacrifices made by soldiers and officers of the Army in Kargil war of 1999, but cautioned that nature and realm of warfare has now assumed different proportions. "Therefore, I say, our soldiers are there on the front, but it's not adequate. We need thousands of people who can play the role of a 'sainik on social media' and also become soldiers," he said. Recalling his Army days, Rathore recalled his experiences of Kashmir where he once had to "assume the look" of a terrorist to kill terrorists. "We had no official orders but we realised the situation that our uniform would invite different kind of reactions. So we decided to assume the looks of terrorists, grew beard and shot them down," he said. "Also, to gather gather intelligence, we used to use pen sketches. Because we never used to get photos of the most 'shatir' (cunning) terrorists. "But those who are 'showman atankwadi', they meet with the same fate...Pamphlets are produced and then their photos are marked with a cross, like this 'do kauri' (worthless) terrorist (in Kashmir)," he said. On Kargil anniversary, he paid homage to the soldiers and other men in uniform, who laid down their lives for the country. "It was the first televised war and after our victory the US army came to learn mountain warfare from us," he said. Rathore said that Pakistan has a "deficit of democracy" and there are several actors from the state to army, state as well. He said that another point that the Prime Minister had made clear that Pakistan could itself face a rebellion and India would stand by the people of Baluchistan when they seek their rights. "If they feel they can hit us, bleed us and martyr soldiers of ours they do not realise that our country is so strong that for every fallen soldier, you will have ten more stand up. For every family that suffers because of the husband, brother or father dying, the government and people will protect and support those families," Rathore said. He also mentioned a bank account number on the Army website, which supports the families of soldiers who give up their lives. Pakistan does not have the economic strength to look after the families of their slain soldiers. Rathore said that in the last 10 years, no new weaponry was added to Indian forces but now Rafale aircraft along with meteor missiles are being brought in. Rathore read out a note by Gen Ayub of Pakistan, former President of Pakistan in which he had told his Army chief that "as a general rule Hindu morale would not stand for more than a couple of hard blows delivered at the right time and place. Such opportunities should be sought and exploited." Rathore said that while this was written sometime before the 1965 war, this has been the ethos on which the Pakistani state has operated. At that time morale was low because of 1962 war, famine, unemployment and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had expired and there was a new Prime Minister. Perhaps Pakistan thought this would be the perfect opportunity and added that it had started sending raids and thousands of troops much before the full fledged war started. "And they say India started the war," Rathore said. Rathore said that while US gave latest aircraft to Pakistan, but despite that India Air Force established air superiority in the 1965 war. Later after the event, Rathore was asked on External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's speech in UN to which he said that he felt that she had driven the point home to Pakistan that it should stop day dreaming about Kashmir. There are lot of human rights violations within your territory and India will be supportive of people who want their rights, he said. In order to ensure safety of women in the national capital, the Public Works Department of the Delhi government would take the work of lighting up 'dark spots' in areas of North and East Delhi in the next three-four days. A senior government official said North Delhi Municipal Corporation and East Delhi Municipal Corporation recently gave No Objection Certificate to the PWD and therefore 'dark spots' in the areas under their jurisdictions would be lit up. The South MCD is, however, yet to give NOC to PWD. According to the department, 7,340 dark spots will be lit up with as many LED lights in NDMC area and for this work, PWD would install 3,686 new poles. In EDMC area, 124 such spots have been identified where 124 LED lights will be installed at 82 new poles. "The Delhi government has set aside Rs 20 crore for lighting up dark spots in NDMC area while such spots which fall under the jurisdiction of EDMC will be lit up at a cost of Rs 50 lakh. In next seven-eight days, both projects will be completed," the official also said. In October last year, the Arvind Kejriwal government had passed a proposal to lit up dark spots across the city. "The PWD has been asked to identify all dark spots in Delhi, as soon as possible, and also identify spots where street lights are not present and places where they are installed but are not working," government had said last year. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will have a "direct" dialogue with the party's booth-level workers and hand over a memorandum to Governor Ram Naik on the prevailing situation in Uttar Pradesh on July 29. He will hold "one-on-one" interactions with workers and office-bearers of the party during the 'UP Udghosh' programme at the sprawling Ramabai Ambedkar maidan regarding the party organisation in view of the 2017 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, said a Congress spokesman today, adding that those interested would have to register beforehand to get a chance for an interaction with Gandhi. After interacting with party workers, the Amethi MP will lead a march to Raj Bhawan where he will hand over the memorandum to the Governor, he said. About 50,000 Congress office-bearers and workers will take part in the interactive session with Gandhi, he said, adding that "all-out" preparations were being made to make the programme a success. Heavy rains today aggravated the flood situation in north West Bengal and claimed five lives in Andhra Pradesh while Assam witnessed two more deaths as the state and Arunachal Pradesh continued to battle the wave of deluges amid a forecast of more rains. The weatherman has warned of "very heavy" rains in Uttarakhand and Gujarat and "heavy rains" in Assam, Meghalaya, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Kerala. Delhi got rains in the afternoon that aggravated prevailing sultry conditions. The city gauged 4.6 mm of rainfall. The maximum temperature was recorded at 35.8 degrees Celsius and humidity level was between 42 and 83 per cent. Five persons, including two children, were killed in Andhra Pradesh's Kadapa district when the roof of a house collapsed on them due to heavy rains. Authorities in West Bengal said some places have got massive 200 to 300 mm of rains. The flood has so far claimed four lives in the state and hit 60,000 people. The situation in flood-ravaged Namsai and East Siang districts of Arunachal Pradesh remained grim even as the water level in several rivers in other affected areas showed a receding trend with an improvement in weather condition. Most of the roads have been severely damaged and several areas cut off due to washing away of culverts. Supply of electricity has been in Lekang circle. Movement of vehicles on NH-52 has been suspended due to flood water which has weakened two culverts. Around 3,500 hectares of agriculture field, 115 fish ponds were totally submerged and damaged by flood water in the district. 3,500 houses were completely damaged and the residential areas still inundated. The district administration, with the help of NDRF and CRPF, has intensified relief operation and rescued around 260 people over the past three days. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh telephoned Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to enquire about the flood situation in the state. The Assam government later said a team from the Centre will visit the state to review the flood situation. Heavy showers pounded sub-Himalayan West Bengal with Cooch Behar district getting massive 108.6 mm of rains. Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri gauged 91.5 mm and 50.1 mm of precipitation, respectively. Kolkata was the only place in Gangetic West Bengal to have received heavy rains. As the protest by Kashmiri pandit employees entered 13th day today after they fled Kashmir due to the alleged stone pelting by mobs on their transit camps, Jammu BJP unit today asked them that they have to eventually return to the Valley even as the employees termed it a "mere eyewash". A four-member BJP team which included MLCs Surinder Ambardar and Ramesh Arora, State General Secretary Narinder Singh and President Minority Cell Chand Bhat today met the protesting employees and told them that it were not the employees only but the entire Kashmiri pandit community has to return to the Valley and settle there. "Our resolve is that entire Kashmiri pandit community has to return and settle in Kashmir. Every single soul wherever they are living have to go back in a way that they don't get displaced again," Ambardar said. He said they will create an environment in the Valley for the return of migrant pandits and will even talk to separatists if they come forward for peace in the state. "Many miscreants in Kashmir Valley targeted the camps of Kashmiri Pandit employees in stone pelting in places like Vessu, Kupwara, Mattan, Haal and others," Ambardar said. Hitting out at Pakistan, he said "Pakistani Prime Minister is apprehending a coup in the country and has instigated violence in Kashmir which led to the attack on Kashmiri pandit camps". Meanwhile, the protesting employees termed the "assurances" by BJP leaders as a "mere eyewash". "It was only after 13 days that the BJP leadership woke up from its deep slumber and came here to enquire what our problems are. They should have come with a solution," National Spokesman, All Party Migrants Coordination Committee, King Bharti said. He alleged that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh during his two-day Kashmir visit "did not enquire about the employees". Over 1400 Kashmiri pandit employees returned to Jammu from various transit camps in the Valley in the wake of the violent protests that erupted after the Killing of Hizbul Mujahideen Commander Burhan Wani. More than 1600 displaced Kashmiri pandits have been recruited under Prime Minister's special employment package and are posted in Kashmir since 2009. As the protest by Kashmiri pandit employees entered 13th day today after they fled Kashmir due to the alleged stone pelting by mobs on their transit camps, Jammu BJP unit today asked them to return to Valley and end the protest even as the employees termed it a "mere eyewash". A four-member BJP team which included MLCs Surinder Ambardar and Ramesh Arora, State General Secretary Narinder Singh and President Minority Cell Chand Bhat today met the protesting employees and told them that it were not the employees only but the entire Kashmiri pandit community has to return to the Valley and settle there. "Our resolve is that entire Kashmiri pandit community has to return and settle in Kashmir. Every single soul wherever they are living have to go back in a way that they don't get displaced again," Ambardar said. He said they will create an environment in the Valley for the return of migrant pandits and will even talk to separatists if they come forward for peace in the state. "Many miscreants in Kashmir Valley targeted the camps of Kashmiri Pandit employees in stone pelting in places like Vessu, Kupwara, Mattan, Haal and others," Ambardar said. Hitting out at Pakistan, he said "Pakistani Prime Minister is apprehending a coup in the country and has instigated violence in Kashmir which led to the attack on Kashmiri pandit camps". Meanwhile, the protesting employees termed the "assurances" by BJP leaders as a "mere eyewash". "It was only after 13 days that the BJP leadership woke up from its deep slumber and came here to enquire what our problems are. They should have come with a solution," National Spokesman, All Party Migrants Coordination Committee, King Bharti said. He alleged that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh during his two-day Kashmir visit "did not enquire about the employees". Over 1400 Kashmiri pandit employees returned to Jammu from various transit camps in the Valley in the wake of the violent protests that erupted after the Killing of Hizbul Mujahideen Commander Burhan Wani. More than 1600 displaced Kashmiri pandits have been recruited under Prime Minister's special employment package and are posted in Kashmir since 2009. RJD President Lalu Prasad today said his party would not field any candidate in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election and would work in favour of "secular" forces. "RJD will not field any candidate in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh election," he told reporters in his native district here. The RJD chief said his party's prime objective was to defeat communal forces led by BJP and RSS. "The party would work in favour of secular forces in the UP polls," he said. Asked if he would extend assistance to the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, Prasad said, "SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is my 'samdhi' and I will definitely take special care of him." While Prasad has announced that his party would keep away from UP polls, his major ally in the grand secular alliance in Bihar, JD(U) is active in the northern state. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who is also national President of JD(U) went to Lucknow today in connection with celebration of Chhatrapati Sahu Jee Maharaj's birth anniversary, organised by Bahujan Samaj Swabhiman Sanghrash Samiti of R K Chaudhary, aide-turned foe of BSP chief Mayawati. Kumar has made around half-a-dozen trips to Uttar Pradesh recently in connection with programmes aimed at prohibition. His frequent visits to the state is seen in political circle as his intent to play an 'important' role in the Assembly election in that state. govenrment on Tuesday hiked the salary of teachers and employees of government aided privately managed 3,701 schools by 25 per cent, which will cause an additional burden of Rs 129 crore to the state exchequer, official sources said. The teaching and non-teaching employees of the privately managed High School, Madrasa, Sanskrit Tolls and UPME Schools coming under Education payment of Grant-in-Aid Order-2013, will receive enhanced Grant-in-Aid at the rate of 25 per cent of their emoluments as on May 31, 2015 with effect from June 1, 2016, school and mass education minister Debi Prasad Mishra told reporters. The announcement came after the revised Grant-in-Aid Order 2016 got the approval of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. A ministerial sub-committee under the chairmanship of finance minister and five other ministers and officials was formed to look into the demands of teachers. This apart, the minister said three percent annual increment will be granted on the enhanced emoluments to such employees for each completed year of service. The first such increment shall be effective form June 1, 2017. A total of 31,500 teaching and non-teaching employees of the 3,701 schools will be benefited due to revised Grant-in-Aid Order-2016. It includes 28,848 teaching and non-teaching employees of 2,608 privately managed High Schools, 272 of 39 Sanskrit Tolls, 1,832 of 926 nos of UP (ME) Schools and 548 of 138 Madrasa. According to the resolution the private managing committees will be provided with funds to support a new social security scheme for the first time to enable them to cover these employees under Employees Provident Fund Scheme. The detailed modalities in this regard will be formulated by making a scheme in consultation with the finance department, Mishra said adding that as an interim measure, an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh will be released to the next of the kin of any employee covered under Grant-in-Aid 2013, who dies while in service. In case of permanent incapacitation, an ex-gratia of Rs 1.5 lakh will be released in respect of such employees. "It has been estimated that the state government have to bear an amount of Rs 129.26 crores due to this enhancement," Mishra said. The Supreme Court today asked the Delhi High Court Registry to accept few suggestions, including a provision to give answer sheets to candidates under RTI, for bringing more transparency and fairness in future judicial services examinations. A bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and R F Nariman asked Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, appearing for the High Court Registry, to also accept suggestion that besides the roll numbers of successful candidates, their names be also revealed in the results. "What is there to achieve by making public the names? The moment a name is relatable to a judge, the allegations are being leveled," the ASG said, objecting to the suggestion that the names of successful candidates be made public in results. The plea, however, was rejected by the bench. The suggestions were given by NGO 'Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL)' through lawyer Prashant Bhushan. While disposing of a batch of pleas, alleging arbitrary evaluation of answer sheets in the judicial services examinations held in 2014, the bench also said that the OMR answer sheets be now filled up by ball pen instead of pencils and there should be "rationalisation" of marks in the judicial services examinations in the light of guidelines laid down in various apex court judgements. The bench said that students must have "intrinsic faith" in the present examination system as it is the hallmark of a "civilised society". Earlier, the High Court Registry had apprised the apex court that it has found eleven candidates, who were initially unsuccessful in 2014 Delhi Judicial Services examination, suitable for appointment as lower court judges after re-evaluation. "As per the report, twelve candidates were to appear in the interview, but one candidate did not appear and hence, eleven were interviewed. "All the eleven candidates have been found suitable. The respondents (Registry) are at liberty to issue letters of appointment to the selected candidates," it had said. (Reopens LGD12) The apex court had also asked its registry to supply the copies of the report, submitted by Justice P V Reddi committee which had re-examined the answer scripts of unsuccessful candidates, to the counsel for CPIL and other petitioners. The court, on March 10, had asked the Delhi High Court to interview the 12 successful candidates within four weeks. The bench, which had on December 14, 2015 asked former apex court judge Justice Reddi to re-evaluate the answer sheets of nearly 650 unsuccessful candidates of the 2014 DJS examination, had considered the interim report of the panel declaring 12 more candidates as successful. It had also said the 12 candidates will be interviewed by the same board which had interviewed other successful candidates. It had also made it clear that the appointment of already selected 15 candidates as judges would not be "touched". Out of 659 candidates, who had qualified in preliminary and taken up the main examination, only 15 persons were selected for appointment after the interview against nearly 80 advertised vacancies. Terming India's refusal to extend visas to three Chinese journalists as "inappropriate", Chinese scholars on Tuesday said taking "revenge" against China for not backing India's NSG bid could harm the overall bilateral ties. "The expulsions of three Chinese journalists from India are very inappropriate and harm the overall Sino-Indian relationship," state-run China Daily quoted scholars of Chinese think tanks as saying. "Taking revenge against China for declining to back Indian membership of the NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group) could not be an excuse for the expulsions," Fu Xiaoqiang, an expert on South Asian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations told the daily. "Blaming China for not joining the NSG is groundless. It is well known that membership of the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons is a necessary qualification for acceptance of NSG members. India is not an NPT (Non Proliferation Treaty) member. Thus, it seeking direct membership of the NSG is unrealistic," he said. "I think the media and the public should not make a fuss over a trifling incident like this. I am confident that the Chinese and Indian governments can work out a way to solve this problem in the near future," he said. Jia Duqiang, a senior researcher of Southeast Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said that "the move (to not to renew visas) is an unprecedented and very inappropriate one." "I think both governments should downplay this issue in a rational way to avoid negative effects on the Sino-Indian relationship," Jia said. "China and India are both important regional powers and it is expected that Beijing and New Delhi can solve their differences through negotiations, not in an inappropriate way like this," Jia said. Neither Xinhua nor the Chinese Foreign Ministry has commented on the issue so far. The decision triggered speculation in Chinese media circles whether Beijing will carry out "tit-for-tat expulsions" of the Indian journalists stationed in Beijing, the report said. Currently five Indian Correspondents are based in Beijing and two others on 10 month fellowship. Market benchmark Sensex broke below the 28,000-mark today after sliding 119 points as investors booked profits in recent winners amid caution ahead of key meetings of central banks in the US and Japan. The broader NSE Nifty also failed to maintain the key 8,600-level. Shares of the country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki plunged 1.44 per cent to Rs 4,485.25 despite reporting a 23 per cent jump in profit for June quarter to Rs 1,486.2 crore. Drug major Dr Reddy's Laboratories plummeted 4.37 per cent to Rs 3,322.85 after its consolidated net profit declined by 80 per cent to Rs 126.3 crore for the June quarter. Offloading of positions by participants on upcoming July derivatives expiry on Thursday also influenced sentiment. "With earnings season failing to sizzle so far and GST poised to face hurdles, stocks faced a confidence crunch and came off the lofty peaks seen yesterday," said Anand James Chief Market Strategist Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services. "With a string of firm US economic data and positive surprises on the earnings front, the chances of rate hike, though less likely in July, have also vastly improved, putting global equities under a cloud of caution ahead of FOMC rate decision," he added. The US Federal Reserve is due to conclude a two-day meeting tomorrow and the Bank of Japan will meet on Friday. On the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex after opening a shade higher at 28,121.37, slipped into the negative zone to touch a low of 27,927.13, before settling 118.82 points or 0.42 per cent down at 27,976.52. The 50-issue NSE Nifty also dropped by 45 points or 0.52 per cent to end at 8,590.65 after shuttling between 8,644.90 and 8,577.15. Broader markets, however, depicted a mixed trend with BSE small-cap index falling by 0.69 per cent and mid-cap gaining 0.17 per cent. Overseas, Japan edged lower as expectations receded with regard to the government's soon-to-be announced fiscal stimulus package. The Nikkei 225 Average ended 1.43 per cent lower. Other Asian indices like China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan firmed up by up to 1.14 per cent. European markets were also mixed as indices in Germany and the UK moved up by up to 0.25 per cent, while France's CAC was down 0.22 per cent. Back home, 21 scrips ended in red out of the 30-share Sensex pack. Major losers included ICICI Bank (2.64 pc), Hero MotoCorp (2.12 pc), SBI (1.46 pc), GAIL (1.41 pc), Coal India (1.38 pc), Lupin (1.18 pc), ONGC (1.17 pc), Tata Motors (1.13 pc), Bajaj Auto (1.11 pc) and HDFC Ltd (0.90 pc). However, Axis Bank rose by 2.85 per cent followed by Power Grid 1.63 per cent, Tata Steel 1.06 per cent, Infosys 0.77 per cent, Wipro 0.77 per cent and NTPC 0.54 per cent. Among BSE sectoral and industries, realty fell 1.32 per cent followed by auto 1.12 per cent, healthcare 1.11 per cent, bankex 0.73 per cent, oil&gas 0.65 per cent, industrials 0.52 per cent and energy 0.42 per cent, while IT rose by 0.38 per cent followed by teck 0.26 per cent and utilities 0.13 per cent. The market breadth turned negative as 1,660 ended lower, 1,038 closed higher while 200 ruled steady. The total turnover rose to Rs 4,138.75 crore from Rs 3,866.53 crore yesterday. Ancient humans lived and hunted in harsh environments at an altitude of 4,000 metres on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China over 10,000 years ago, archaeologists have confirmed. Researchers with Qinghai Normal University and Qinghai Archeological Research Institute in China discovered a prehistoric ash layer in Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai and confirmed that the layer is residue of human activity. Dozens of stone tools were found at the same site, showing that prehistoric humans lived, hunted and made tools in the harsh environment over 10,000 years ago. It is the oldest evidence of human activity found above 4,000 metres on the plateau, researchers said. The discovery is of great significance to research on how ancient humans coped in extreme environments, Hou Guangliang of Qinghai Normal University was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua agency. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has an average altitude of over 4,000 meters, with low levels of oxygen, low temperatures, strong winds and intense ultraviolet light. The Centre has finalised a site each in Jammu and Kashmir's two divisions for setting up AIIMS in the wake of a row in the state last year with people in Jammu demanding the tertiary care institution be set up in that region. Two sites have been finalised for setting up AIIMS in Jammu and Kashmir -- one at Vijaypur in Samba district in Jammu region and the other at Awantipora, Pulwama, in Kashmir region, Minister of State for Health Faggan Singh Kulaste told Rajya Sabha in a written reply. Sufficient fund is available under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna (PMSSY) to take up the project, he said. The Jammu region had in August last year witnessed protests with Congress and National Conference claiming that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced the premier health institute for Jammu in his budget speech but it was being set up in the Valley. Besides, the minister said, an AIIMS is being set up in Nagpur under the scheme. Also, "a site at Jalah village, Mouza Sila Sunduri Ghopa, North Guwahati Revenue Circle, has been approved for the establishment of an AIIMS in Assam", he said in a reply to another question. The minister, however, said the timeline for making it fully operational will be declared at the time of its administrative approval. One of the film companies behind "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" today pleaded guilty to criminal charges over the on-set accident that left veteran actor Harrison Ford with a broken leg two years ago. The Foodles Production Ltd, the UK-based subsidiary of Disney, admitted to safety breaches in two criminal charges at Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court today and will be sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court on August 22. Ford, 74, who reprised the iconic character of Han Solo in the successful franchise, was hit by a hydraulic metal door on the Pinewood studio set of fictional spacecraft the Millenium Falcon in June 2014. The accident left the actor with a broken left leg and he had to be airlifted to hospital. "It could have killed somebody. The fact that it didn't was because an emergency stop was activated," prosecutor Andrew Marshall told the court. Marshall said that Ford had walked through a door on the structure believing it to be inactive. As Ford walked underneath, however, it was remotely operated and consequently pinned the actor to the ground in an accident which posed a "risk of death." Foodles pleaded guilty to one count under Section 2 of the UK's Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which related to a breach of duty in relation to employees, and a second under section three, a breach over people not employed by the company. "This was a foreseeable incident. The British film industry has a world-renowned reputation for making exceptional films. "Managing on-set risks in a sensible and proportionate way for all actors and staff - regardless of their celebrity status - is vital to protecting both on-screen and off-screen talent, as well as protecting the reputation of the industry," the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which had conducted an investigation,said in a statement. A spokesperson for the firm said they had cooperated fully with the HSE investigation. "The safety of our cast and crew was always a top priority throughout the production," it said. Scores of students today staged a protest outside the residence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over alleged non-fulfilment of AAP's poll promise of opening 20 new colleges in the national capital. "The AAP government had promised to open 20 new colleges in their election manifesto. Neither a single college has been opened so far nor any progress made on the issue," said Rohit Chahal, one of the protesters. Vikas Chaudhury, another protester alleged, "Kejriwal government has taken several u-turns ever since it came to power and students are being exploited". Police had to use water cannons to disperse the students following which 50 of them were detained and released later. A survey is being conducted to rehabilitate slum dwellers residing around the "vulnerable" Mumbai International airport, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said. Post the survey, all slum dwellers will be rehabilitated within two to three kilometres of their present residence, he informed the Legislative Council. Fadnavis was replying to a Calling Attention motion moved by Congress MLC Janardhan Chandurkar, who, in a written statement, said the state government had taken the decision to rehabilitate slum dwellers in March 2015, but even after a year, no location was identified. "There was a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister on April 29 this year regarding the issue where it was decided that rehabilitation will be completed on a 100-acre plot. But there was no location finalised for the project. "On May 4, the government had issued notices to all slum dwellers about the survey being conducted which created confusion among the residents," Chandurkar said. The Mumbai airport slum dwellers association had recently written a letter to Fadnavis, seeking to know the location of the rehabilitation. However, they did not get any reply, resulting in insecurity and displeasure among them, he said. People's Republican Party MLC Jogendra Kawade then demanded that all slum dwellers be rehabilitated at the existing place instead of some other part of the city. Fadnavis said, "A survey is being conducted keeping in mind 'in situ rehabilitation' and once the survey is completed, the government will finalise the plan of their resettlement". "Survey of a few slum pockets has been finished and the remaining will be completed by October this year," the Chief Minister said, adding that he has also appealed to all political parties to co-operate on the issue. "Being an international city, Mumbai airport is vulnerable to terrorist attacks, and thus, it is necessary to make the airport safe," Fadnavis said. After the resettlement of slum dwellers, the two to three km area around the airport will be turned into a buffer zone and the government will ensure the area is free from new encroachments, he added. Syria's regime intensified air strikes on rebel-held areas of Aleppo province as the UN backed a call by its top aid official for a humanitarian truce in the city. The push for aid to reach desperate civilians trapped by a regime siege in Syria's former second city came on the eve of a meeting between a UN envoy, US and Russian officials to try to revive peace talks. UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien branded the siege on rebel-held parts of Aleppo as "medieval and shameful", and called for weekly 48-hour humanitarian truces to prevent it from taking hold. O'Brien warned that food supplies in eastern Aleppo, home to at least 200,000 people, were expected to run out by the middle of August. "The community simply cannot let eastern Aleppo city become yet another and by far the largest besieged area," O'Brien said. Nearly 600,000 people are estimated to live under siege in Syria, most of them encircled by President Bashar al-Assad's forces, whose approval the United Nations says is needed to deliver aid by air. Britain, France and the United States quickly endorsed O'Brien's call. Japan's ambassador, Koro Bessho, who holds the council presidency, said there was "overwhelming support for the idea" among the 15 council members. French ambassador to the UN, Francois Delattre, compared Aleppo's plight to Sarajevo during the Bosnian war, and said the Security Council could not allow "such war crimes" to happen again. On yesterday, air strikes and barrel bombs killed 22 civilians in rebel-held parts of the northern province, and rebel rocket fire on government areas killed three more, a monitor said. A car bomb hit an upmarket area of Damascus housing several government buildings yesterday evening, state news agency SANA reported, saying there were "several wounded". UN envoy Staffan de Mistura is expected to meet top US and Russian officials in Geneva today with the aim of reviving peace talks to end the five-year conflict. More than 280,000 people have been killed in and more than half its population has been displaced since the conflict began. US mission spokesman Paul Patin said Washington's special envoy for Michael Ratney would be at today's meeting in Geneva. Russia's Ria-Novosti news agency said deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov would represent Moscow, a key ally of the Syrian regime. US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov were also due to meet today on the sidelines of an Asian summit in Laos. Syrian government forces today captured new ground on the northwestern edge of the city of Aleppo, tightening the siege on rebel-held parts of the metropolis where some 300,000 people live, activists said. The Syrian army also called on the opposition fighters to drop their weapons and give themselves up to authorities. The push in which troops captured large parts of the city's Layramoun area came as state TV reported that the General Army Command informed residents of rebel-held parts of Aleppo via telephone text messages that the army has created several safe passages and makeshift centers for whoever wants to leave those areas. The army said it will keep providing Aleppo residents with basic necessities, but called all those living in rebel-held parts of the city to kick out "mercenaries and foreign fighters." Syrian government forces and their allies have been on the offensive around the Aleppo, Syria's largest city and once its commercial center, for weeks. Since earlier this month, they have tightened their siege and residents in rebel-held parts have been reporting food shortages. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees reported intense fighting and airstrikes before the capture of Layramoun areas. Lebanese Hezbollah group's Al-Manar TV aired footage of government forces pushing in what appeared to be an industrial area near Aleppo. The station confirmed that President Bashar Assad's forces capture of areas in Layramoun and near Castello road, the main link between rebel-held parts of Aleppo with the rest of the country. Earlier today, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that recent US-Russia discussions should encourage moderate Syrian opposition groups to leave areas occupied by al-Qaida's branch in Syria, thus helping to implement a truce. Lavrov spoke to Russian agencies after talks in Laos with US Secretary of State John Kerry, who visited Moscow earlier this month. Moscow and Washington have differed over the role of the Nusra Front, al-Qaida's branch in Syria, with Russian calling the group terrorists and the US asking Russia not to target them for fear of hitting the moderate opposition. A man and his wife have been arrested here on charges of running websites featuring child pornography and collecting huge sum of money as membership fee to view the illegal obscene content, police said today. Cyber Crime cell of CB-CID got a tip-off that two websites were displaying obscene images and videos of children, a police press release said. "The information also revealed that a resident of Chennai is hosting these websites," it said. An inquiry was conducted and it revealed that a man Siddhattha Velu and his wife Priscilla Margaret Dhanaraj were linked with these websites and their email ids were also linked to them, it said. "Payment for membership of one of the website to the tune of approximately Rs 2.4 crore was credited in the account of Siddhattha Velu with a bank in Bangalore." A case was registered under provisions of Information Technology Act and searches were conducted at the residence of the couple at Sholinganallur here. Materials establishing the couple's links with these two child porn websites besides other websites with porn content were recovered and seized, the release said. Trade unions on Tuesday decided to boycott retirement fund body trustees' meet protesting Finance Ministry's decision to use unclaimed PF money for senior citizens' welfare schemes. "We have walked out of the Central Board of Trustees' meeting on Tuesday after they circulated a notification by Finance Ministry saying that a fund would be created from credit balance remaining in the unclaimed PF accounts for a period of over seven years from the date of declaration of those as inoperative accounts," All India Trade Union Congress Secretary, D L Sachdev said. Another trustee and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh member P J Banasure said the issue has been deliberated upon in the Finance, Audit and Investment Committee (FAIC) meeting of the . FAIC has already rejected the proposal to use unclaimed EPF money for creation of any senior citizen welfare fund. FAIC had discussed the proposal after PMO wrote a letter in this regard to Labour Ministry and EPFO. The EPFO trustees' meet was called on Tuesday mainly to increase the proportion of body's investment in Exchange Traded Fund in the current financial year. EPFO has started investing in stock markets last year in August. It had already invested about Rs 7,400 crore in Exchange Traded Fund. Last year, Labour Ministry had decided to invest 5% of EPFO's investible deposit in Exchange Traded Funds. EPFO is estimated to receive Rs 1.3 lakh crore as investible deposit this financial year. Remembering the supreme sacrifice made during the Kargil War in 1999, Inspector General Assam Rifles (North), Major General M S Jaswal and jawans today paid rich tribute to Late Captain Neikezhakuo Kenguruse at his memorial located near Nerhema village in Nagaland's Kohima district. The wreath laying ceremony organised by 9 Assam Rifles under the aegis of Headquarter 5 Sector Assam Rifles and IGAR (N) was attended by family members of the Late Captain along with ex-servicemen and villagers. Captain Neikezhakuo Kenguruse of Nerhema village was born on July 15, 1974. He did his schooling at St Xavier's School, Jalukie and graduated from Kohima Science College. He thereafter served as a teacher at Government High School, Kohima from 1994 to 1997. He was later commissioned into the Indian Army on December 12, 1998. On June 28, 1999 during Kargil War, he attained martyrdom while destroying enemy bunker and killing four enemy soldiers. He was later awarded Mahavir Chakra posthumously. Saluting the martyr for his exceptional act of bravery, the IGAR (N) said the act of bravery shown by Late Captain is a source of motivation and inspiration to all personnel of the armed forces. He also conveyed appreciation and gratitude to the parents of Captain Neikezhakuo. Father of the martyr, Neisielie Kenguruse expressed gratitude to the Assam Rifles for not forgetting his son and also for maintaining the memorial site. The CPI-M today charged the TRS government in Telangana with pursuing "coercive development" and forcibly acquiring farmers' land, and termed its actions "intolerable". Politburo member Brinda Karat said in the process of formation of the state, the TRS had given a categorical assurance on people-centric development. "Instead of that, we (now) have coercive development. Consent of farmers, cooperation of farmers is critical for development of any state; here we find TRS is forcibly taking over land and without any dialogue and discussion with farmers", she told PTI. Brinda also accused the government of "flagrantly violating" the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. Alleging "repression from the state", she noted the "number of arrests which are being made and the threats which are being put to farmers; this is something which is intolerable". Pointing out Adivasis' right to cultivate land under the Forest Rights Act, Brinda alleged that in Telangana, "Podu" cultivation, the traditional right recognised by law, is "being snatched away by Telangana government in collaboration with Forest Department under the Central government". "Here again the livelihood of adivasis is being bulldozed. That also is a very important aspect of this struggle for justice," she said. Brinda said, "If you look at Mallannasagar project, you see how (TRS) government is cheating...Its approach to this project without taking farmers' consent and without taking farmers into confidence...How can you just take over their land for this project. Irrigation is going to help farmers so why not convince the farmers if it's so good for them." The CPI-M leader was in the city to take part in a 'Maha Dharna' organised by the Telangana Bhoonirvasithula Committee to protest the Government Order 123 which allegedly overrides the 2013 Act. Donald Trump has been accused of "hijacking" the popular score from 'Air Force One' by its producer who has asked the Republican presidential nominee to stop using the movie's theme song during his high-profile campaign events. Gail Katz, the producer of the 1997 Harrison Ford thriller says the Republican presidential nominee is using deceased legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith's music without permission and wants him to stop. Katz told 'The Hollywood Reporter' that Trump never asked the filmmakers for permission to use the score. She has written a letter to the Trump campaign requesting that it stop playing the score at future events. Trump, 70, has been broadcasting the Air Force One theme for months at campaign rallies around the country. The most recent, and high profile, use of the score occurred on July 20 when it accompanied Trump's dramatic arrival via helicopter at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. "The music for Air Force One was composed and conducted by the legendary Oscar-winning film composer Jerry Goldsmith," writes Katz in the letter. "Jerry's music was hijacked in a misguided attempt to associate Trump with the film and the President in that film." Before his death at age 75, Goldsmith was one of the most admired and prolific composers in the film music world, with over five decades of film and TV work to his credit. Veteran film music agent Richard Kraft, who represented Goldsmith for 15 years prior to his death in 2004, says the composer would not be pleased with his music being appropriated by Trump. "From everything I know about Jerry Goldsmith's political views, he would have been extremely unhappy with Trump co- opting his art to sell his image," Kraft said. "Goldsmith composed music to underscore a make-believe, heroic president in [Air Force One], not to help create a phony soundtrack for Trump. He would have been appalled to have his music selling a product he would greatly dislike." This is not the first time Trump's choice of music has come under fire. Multiple songwriters and recording artists have asked the Trump campaign to stop playing their music, including The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Adele, Aerosmith and R.E.M., the report said. Says Katz, "The main point is that, similar to the plane in Air Force One, the music has been hijacked and we want it back." The Trump campaign did not immediate reply to a request for comment, The Hollywood Reporter said. Addressing backers in an overly warm ballroom in Roanoke, Virginia, the Republican presidential nominee yesterday lashed out at Clinton as low-energy and needing naps. He argued that she dropped her maiden name of Rodham because it sounds like Rotten. For years, she chose to use the name Hillary Rodham Clinton. "Why did she get rid of it? Hillary Rotten Clinton, Rotten Clinton. Hillary Rotten Clinton, right?" Trump told the crowd. "Maybe that's why, it's too close." Trump has repeatedly referred to Clinton as "Crooked Hillary." The event was held in the home state of Clinton's new running mate, Sen Tim Kaine, whom Trump derided as a "weird little dude" and a political "hack." Trump argued that Clinton made a mistake when she chose Kaine, describing the well-liked former governor and senator as the opposite of a fiery liberal that supporters of Clinton's former rival Bernie Sanders may have been drawn to. Many of Sanders' supporters remain deeply committed to their candidate, holding demonstrations in Philadelphia and booing mentions of Clinton on the convention floor. But most of Trump's speech focused on Clinton. The billionaire businessman unleashed a barrage of attacks against Clinton in light of the latest scandal to overshadow her run for office, accusing her of disloyalty for not protecting outgoing Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz following the release of hacked emails that suggest some DNC staffers favoured Clinton over Sanders. Trump claims Wasserman Schultz "worked very hard to rig the system" in Clinton's favour, and that Clinton responded by throwing her "under the bus." He also suggested at one point that China may have been involved in the DNC hack, despite no evidence to suggest the country's involvement. "Little did she know that China, Russia one of our many, many friends came in and hacked the hell out of us," Trump said sarcastically, framing the words "friends" in air quotes. Describing himself as a "free trader", Republican presidential nominee on Tuesday said that he does not want the US to have trade imbalances with countries like China and Japan that has cost American jobs. At a town hall in Virginia, Trump blamed President Barack Obama and former president Bill Clinton, who is the husband of his presidential rival Hillary Clinton, for this trade imbalances, resulting in loss of large number of jobs. "I'm a free trader. I believe in free trade. You know, they get it all wrong because they just don't say it properly. But I want smart trade. I want to trade with other countries. But I don't want to lose $500 billion a year with China," Trump said in response to a question. His running mate Governor Mile Pence from Indiana also appeared at the town hall along with Trump. "Thank you China, we love you very much. But we're not going to lose $500 billion. I don't want to have a trade imbalance with Japan where they send us millions of cars and we send them some beef. Then they send it back. And then we send some wheat, wheat. They send cars we send wheat. Sounds like we've got to send a lot of wheat right? The trade imbalance is massive," Trump said. "And with Mexico we have an unbelievably big trade imbalance. So they kill us at the border. They kill us. They're killing us at the border. And we have one of the biggest trade imbalances. And what happens? What happens? I'm not even including the drugs right? The drugs are pouring across," he alleged. Trump alleged that Clinton's going to have one of the biggest tax increased in the history of the country because that is what she is proposing. "What she's proposing, she needs to have a massive, massive tax increase. Nobody every talks about that. Do you notice she never talks about who's going to pay for it and how they're going to pay? But just statistically, she's going to need a very major tax cut," he said. Pence said that Trump knows that by lessening the tax burden on working Americans by cutting red tape and regulations by getting runaway Federal spending under control by having better deals with foreign countries would improve American . "We don't need a president who promises to put quote a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business. We need a president who supports an all-of-the-above energy strategy. And we need a president who digs coal. So our choice is clear in this election, my fellow Americans, citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It's change versus the status quo," Pence said. Trump mocked his Democratic rival and went after her middle name Rodham. "Why did Hillary get rid of her middle name? Hillary? No, but why did she get rid of it? Hillary rotten Clinton. Rotten Clinton. Hillary rotten Clinton, right? Maybe that's why. It's too close. No, no. It's too close," Trump said. Turkey today detained prominent journalists and two top generals serving abroad in a widening of the relentless legal crackdown after the July 15 coup that has caused growing alarm in the West. The coup, which tried to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan but lost momentum within hours, has sent shockwaves through all aspects of life in Turkey which are still being felt almost two weeks on. Over 13,000 people have been detained and tens of thousands more have lost their jobs over the coup, which the Turkish authorities blame on the reclusive Pennsylvania-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen. The crackdown and announcement of a three-month state of emergency has prompted sharp exchanges with the European Union, which Turkey has for years sought to join but which has sternly warned Ankara to obey the rule of law. In a sign of the shifting priorities in Turkish diplomacy after the coup, Erdogan will visit Russia in August to repair ties harmed by a row over the shooting down of a Russian warplane, officials said. Turkish authorities detained veteran female journalist Nazli Ilicak as part of the investigation into the coup after issuing arrest warrants for over 42 reporters a day earlier in a move that caused international concern. She was detained early today during a traffic check in the southwestern Bodrum region, the state-run Anadolu agency said. Ilicak is now being taken to Istanbul where she will later appear in court to learn if she will be remanded in custody. According to the Dogan agency, eight of the 42 journalists have now been detained including Ilicak and the former pro-Gulen Zaman newspaper writer Hanim Busra Erdal who was picked up in the western city of Manisa. Meanwhile, two Turkish generals serving in Afghanistan were detained in Dubai on suspicion of links to the failed coup, an official said. Major General Mehmet Cahit Bakir, the commander of Turkey's task force in Afghanistan, and Brigadier General Sener Topuc were detained at Dubai airport, said the official, who asked not to be named. The detentions followed cooperation between the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) and the UAE authorities, the state-run Anadolu agency added, saying the pair were now being brought to Turkey. In a separate development, the former governor of Istanbul Huseyin Avni Mutlu was held in the coup investigation, Anadolu said. Two senior foreign ministry diplomats -- Gurcan Balik and Tuncay Babali -- have been also removed from their posts, a Turkish official said. The government says the stringent measures are needed to clear out the influence of Gulen from Turkey's institutions, claiming he has created a "parallel state" inside Turkey. Gulen -- who lives in a compound in rural Pennsylvania and whose foundation runs a global network of schools, charities and media interests -- has strongly denied the accusations. Two horses, forced to pull the 'Victoria' carriages in pitiable conditions on Mumbai roads, have been seized by the police and animal rights activists. The horses had large open wounds and very poor body condition, including protruding rib cages and pelvic bones, a release by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said today. The carriages, known as Victoria, were plying in the restricted areas, it said. The operation was conducted on Saturday with the support of an expert team authorised by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) and consisting of a veterinarian from PETA and an animal-welfare officer from NGO, Animal Rahat, it said. The horses were also found to be suffering from severe dehydration, swollen joints and tendons, and foot diseases. Earlier, a week ago, police had seized three carriage horses. Some carriage drivers threatened the team members during inspection of horses despite having authorisation from the AWBI and an order from Ashok Dudhe, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), PETA said. Police has registered two non-cognisable offence complaints against the carriage owners and drivers under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. The seized horses were sent to the Bombay Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals hospital in Parel. At least two Pakistani soldiers were killed today after four bike-borne unidentified gunmen attacked their vehicle in one of the busiest commercial areas in the country's largest city. According to initial details, four gunmen on two motorcycles opened fire on a military vehicle near the Parking plaza in Saddar close to the congested Empress market area. Karachi police chief Mushtaq Mahar told reporters that the two security personnel were badly wounded in the firing and rushed to a hospital where they succumbed to their injuries. Mahar said that four men on two motorcycles had intercepted the vehicle as it slowed down to take a sharp turn. Television channels reported that the attack left the driver of the vehicle seriously wounded who lost control of the vehicle which hit a wall. The gunmen managed to flee from the scene. Mahar said they would view the CCTV footage to get details about the incident and some identification of the attackers. Security officials have cordoned off the area while forensic officials have reached the spot to collect evidence for further investigation. The incident was similar to the one that took place last December when gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on a military vehicle on the busy MA Jinnah road in Saddar and killed two military police officials. Today's attack came as the authorities backed by security personnel started a three-day polio immunisation drive in Karachi. In the past anti-polio workers including female volunteers and policemen have been attacked and killed by unidentified gunmen during the immunisation drive. Last month, target killers had also gunned down noted Qawwal, Amjad Sabri in the congested Liaquatabad area of Karachi. Trade unions today disrupted a meeting of EPFO trustees protesting against the government's decision to appropriate unclaimed PF money for funding senior citizens' welfare schemes. Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, who was chairing the meeting of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) sought to calm down the tempers by assuring them that he would take up the matter with concerned ministers and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi. CBT is the apex decision making body of EPFO. Soon after the supplementary agenda item on notification regarding Senior Citizen Welfare Fund was circulated for information of trustees, the trade union members walked out of the meeting in protest against the government's decision. As per the notification, "any credit balance in any of the account under the following scheme (including EPF scheme) remaining unclaimed for a period of seven years from date of its declaration as an inoperative account shall be transferred by the respective institutions (including EPFO) holding them to the Fund (Senior Citizen Welfare Fund)." Dattatreya too left the meeting midway and approached the trade union representatives to pacify them and requested them to join again. The agitated trade union representatives told the minister that the notification of the government is not legally tenable and would not stand for long in the Supreme Court. They also said it was not appropriate for the government to take away unclaimed funds of EPFO for funding their welfare schemes as this money belongs to subscribers who can claim it at any point of time. Trade union representatives asked the minister to take up the issue with government and demanded that the CBT should move the Supreme Court to get the relief in case it is not resolved. The representative rejoined the CBT meeting, after the assurance by the minister. "We have walked out of the CBT meeting today after they circulated a notification by Finance Ministry saying that a fund would be created from credit balance remaining in the unclaimed PF accounts" All India Trade Union Congress Secretary D L Sachdev said. Another EPFO trustee and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh member P J Banasure said the issue has been deliberated upon in the Finance, Audit and Investment Committee (FAIC) meeting of the EPFO and it has already rejected the proposal to use unclaimed EPF money for creation of any senior citizen welfare fund. FAIC had discussed the proposal after PMO wrote a letter in this regard to EPFO. The EPFO trustees' meet was called today mainly to increase the proportion of body's investment in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) in the current fiscal. A report of an expert group on ETFs was circulated to convince the trustees about increasing proportion of these investment from five per cent of investible deposits in 2015-16. The panel constituted by FAIC has recommended that the allocation to equity can be made 10 per cent this fiscal. It was of the view that current allocation of 5 per cent incremental flows to equity may not be sufficient for meaningful contribution to overall portfolio return of the EPFO. The panel pointed out that at present the EPFO's equity investment constitutes less than 1 per cent of the total corpus compared with the global average of around 30 per cent. The experts also suggested that if the body will invest 5 per cent of its investible deposits in equity every year then it will take 15 years for these investments to become 5 per cent of the EPFO's total investment. If 10 per cent is invested into equities then it will take just five years for these investments to become 5 per cent of the total portfolio, the panel said. However, the CBT decided to refer this report to FAIC for preparing a detailed recommendation on the issue so that it could be taken up for discussion in the next meeting. Earlier, Dattatreya had indicated that the proportion of EPFO's equity investment will be increased. The ministry had notified a pattern of investment on April 23, 2015, which allows investment in equity and related investments from 5 to 15 per cent. However, the CBT had decided to invest only 5 per cent in ETFs to start with last year. Total amount invested by EPFO in ETFs is Rs 7,468 crore as on June 30. The absolute return on the investment so far is 7.45 per cent. The EPFO is estimated to have Rs 1.35 lakh crore as investible deposits in the current fiscal. The member of the expert group were India Index Services & Products, SBI Mutual Funds Management, LIC, Asia Index and National Institute of Securities Markets. Two women will soon be the first female soldiers to undergo training to become members of the Green Berets, the US Army's special forces, the military said Monday. "They are the first two women who have been selected for special forces assessment" following the elimination of the ban on women in combat roles, said Major Melody Faulkenberry, a spokeswoman for the United States Army John F Kennedy Special Warfare Centre and School. She did not give additional details about the candidates. President Barack Obama's administration decided in 2013 that all combat positions should be open to women by 2016, including the infantry and special operations forces. The Marines had requested some exemptions, but these were overruled by Defence Secretary Ashton Carter. Two female Marines were assigned to frontline infantry roles in May, though it will take some time before they are placed in their new roles. Rules stipulate that a female "leadership cadre" needs to be established in their units at least three months beforehand. Although women warriors have frequently found themselves in combat situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, they had previously been barred from joining frontline combat roles. Currently, women account for 15.6% of the 1.34 million active duty personnel in the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force. Expressing sadness over the statement of CRPF chief that the force has no option but to use pellet guns in Kashmir, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad today said it will further alienate the people of the state, especially youth. Azad also said the DG, CRPF's statement, coming immediately after the return of Home Minister Rajnath Singh from Kashmir, indicated it had the consent of the government. "I am very sad and I was very disturbed after reading the statement of CRPF, DG...That is something unacceptable. "I am sorry that the type of decision the Government of India has taken, this will further alienate the people of Jammu and Kashmir and particularly the youth because mostly the youth have been subjected to this kind of treatment as they have been on the forefront (of protests)," he said. K Durga Prasad, Director General of CRPF, which has been accused of disproportionate use of force in Jammu and Kashmir, had yesterday expressed regret for injuries caused to youths due to firing of pellet guns in the Valley but said it would continue to use this "least-lethal" weapon but only in "extreme" situations. "That means that the direction from the Central government was clear, otherwise he could have not given the statement. That means he has sought the permission of the Home Ministry for use of pellet guns," Azad, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, alleged. Maintaining that no civilized country uses pellet guns, Azad said the first thing that Home Minister Singh should have done was to tell the state government and the security forces not to use it in future. He said pellet guns were a "very lethal" weapon and hundreds of men have been blinded as security forces targeted the protesters' head and not the legs. "How can you blind your own people, especially the youth. Are you going to get the confidence of people or you are going to make them permanent enemies. "The first thing the Home Minister should have done, he should have tried to win the hearts of the people. He should have made sure that confidence building measures are taken. "But instead of taking confidence building measures, the Director General of CRPF says he will still go ahead with the use of pellet guns so that some more people will be blinded," he said. The Congress leader, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said he had requested the Home Minister that since he is meeting the senior officers of the state he should make sure that use of pellet guns is totally banned. Describing the situation in Kashmir as "very serious", he said, "Never before in the history of independent India more than 5,500 people have been injured (in one spell of protests), you can imagine the magnitude of the problem. It is a huge number for a state like Jammu and Kashmir. (REOPENS DEL66) Azad appealed to all parties and the media to help create a congenial atmosphere in the state facing a "great crisis" and "not add fuel to fire". In this abnormal situation which is prevailing in the Valley because there has been 18 days of continuous curfew, you can imagine the type of hardships the people are facing in getting the essential commodities, he said. "You can imagine the types of problem the poor people who do not have enough money to store their essential commodities for more than two days or even 24 hours must be facing. "So, in this abnormal situation, I would request all political parties and my friends in electronic and print media that we should not have volatile discussions on TV which can further aggravate the situation," he said. As the country today observed 'Vijay Divas' paying tributes to heroes of Kargil war, the authorities here appeared to have forgotten to honour a martyr who laid down his life in the war. The foundation stone plaque of a memorial pillar of the Kargil martyr is gathering dust at his native Kandiahata village in Odisha's Kendrapara district. Fifteen years on, nothing has been done to erect the memorial pillar. Sachidananda Mallick was enrolled in Army as a sepoy in 12 Mahar regiment in 1989. Later he was promoted to the rank of Lance Naik. Fighting for the country in Kargil conflict, he had laid down his life on 28 June 1999. There was considerable hype over the success of 1999 'Operation Vijay' and this river-locked hamlet commemorated the war victory with the "son of the soil" making the supreme sacrifice. On June 28, 2001, then Lok Sabha member, Pravat Samantaray, accompanied by the district collector had laid the foundation stone of the memorial pillar. Work for pillar installation has not moved an inch since then. The then MP had also sanctioned funds for the memorial pillar under Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS). Nobody knows whether the funds to keep alive the martyr's memory were used or misused. "I do not know anything about the memorial pillar project. I am new to the place. However, steps would be taken to put in place the memorial pillar," Prasant Rout, Block Development Officer of Rajkanika, said. "It is a dishonour to a martry. It is indeed unfortunate that the memorial pillar is yet to come up," former Kendrapara MP Samantaray said. The battle for Kargil took place between India and Pakistan during May-July, 1999. The conflict was triggered after Pakistani soldiers managed to occupy key positions on the Indian side of the Line of Control in Kargil sector. It had officially come to an end on July 26, 1999. Sharpening his attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday rued his party "wasted" 25 years being in alliance with it while asserting that his outfit will come out of the government the moment it feels being disregarded. The Sena chief, in the third and final part of his interview to the party mouthpiece Saamana, however, maintained that he would never blackmail or backstab the ally. "In last June, we completed 50 years since our advent and half the time, which means 25 years, we were in alliance with the BJP. It is a long time and we grew up by holding hands of each other. The way certain things unfolded, including breaking up of alliance in previous assembly elections, now I feel that we wasted all these 25 years being in alliance and these years got rotten," Thackeray said. However, the Sena chief said he was in touch with the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and recently they had food together at 'Matoshree' Uddhav's residence in Bandra. "In those days, the base of our alliance was Hindutva, but now we need to work out what is the base of this alliance right now. Rest, I am in touch with the Chief minister who is new, but I am closely monitoring his commitment and restless efforts, and I wish him to do well in future," said Thackeray, who turns 56 on Wednesday. To a question why he and his party keeps on alleging against the government despite being a part of it, he said, "This is why I lay stress on working on the fundamentals of our alliance and make them clear once again. Shiv Sena has never slapped baseless and wild accusations and neither it made personal comments." On why the present government was "disregarding" ally Sena, the leader said there are elements trying to create an atmosphere of uncertainty. "Yes, off course, there is uncertainty and those are frenemies. Some are seen and some are disguised. It happens with everyone. But I am not like that. The moment I feel that me and my party are not getting proper treatment, I will not be in power. But I will never blackmail the government. I will speak out, but never backstab," said Thackeray. American computer data storage company Western Digital corporation today launched its Sandisk brand connect wireless stick here. The new 200 GB sized SanDisk connect wireless stick, works like a wireless LAN, enabling management of content between devices including iPhone, iPad, Android devices, Fire tablets and PCs through a password-protected Wi-Fi connectivity, Director (Marketing) Sandisk Brand for Western Digital, Jaganathan Chelliah told reporters. With explosion of content, people needed more advanced storage solutions to keep up with the volume and quality of photos, videos, and files they were creating on their mobile phones, he said. He also said that in order to address the problems of Indian phone users, who end up deleting files every week for want of phone memory, Western Digital has come out with a new range of mobile memory solutions suite Sandisk Ultra Dual USB Drive 3.0. It also offers SanDisk flash drive for iPhone and iPad -- iXpand -- designed to help free up space (on iPhone and iPad) with up to 128 GB of additional capacity. Stating that the products have already been launched in 22 cities and would be introduced in eight more locations, he said the company was witnessing a y-o-y growth of 12 per cent, particularly with smaller cities and semi-urban areas moving towards smart phones. Unhappy with Salman Khan's acquittal by the High Court in two cases of Chinkara-poaching, wildlife activists today burnt an effigy of the actor at the district collectorate here. The activists assembled at the district collectorate in the afternoon with placards demanding punishment for Khan and staged a sit-in protest. "We have submitted a memorandum addressing the President of India, seeking his attention to the acquittal of a poacher after 18 long years of litigation and sought his support in the fight for protection of wildlife from poachers," said Pukhraj Kheri, state president of Bishnoi Commando Force. "We have also asked him to help us know who killed the chinkara then and for his support in the crusade against anti-wildlife forces," he said. Kheri claimed the acquittal of Khan after 18 years of legal battle would lift the morale of poachers. Khan was acquitted by the Rajasthan High Court on Monday. Wildlife activists had described the verdict as "a fallout of weak prosecution" and demanded the state government rope in a team of lawyers who had sympathy for wildlife. A woman allegedly involved in desecrating the Sikh's holy book, was today shot dead by two motorcycle borne assailants at a nearby Ghwaddi village in the district, police said. The deceased has been identified as Balwinder Kaur. She was out on bail, police said. Kaur was returning home in an auto-rickshaw after paying obeisance at Gurudwara Alamgir, some 20 kms from here, when two motor-cyclists stopped the auto and fired at her from a close range and fled, police said. She died on the spot. The deceased was arrested on October 18 last for the alleged desecration in Ghwaddi village. She was a 'sewadar' in the village Gurudwara. Last year, the woman was thrashed by villagers while police escorted her to the crime scene in Ghwaddi village on October 20. Meanwhile, in another incident, some 10 to 12 armed persons attacked the house of Gurinderjit Singh alias Gaindu at village Malikpur on the outskirts of the city today. They scaled the walls of the house and attacked the inmates with sharp edged weapons, police said. In all five persons received serious injuries, and later Gurinderjit succumbed to his injuries in the civil hospital, police said. The assailants came in a car and two bikes and escaped after the attack, police added. A 26-year-old woman in the UK has quit her teaching job to become Britain's first full-time Pokemon Go player as she believes there is a lot of money to be made from the widely popular location-based augmented reality game. Pokemon obsessed Sophia Pedrazza, from High Barnet north London, plans to cash in on the craze by hitting the streets to collect virtual characters and then sell her accounts on eBay. Pokemon Go masters are already flipping their accounts for thousands of pounds on eBay to players who prefer to buy the Pokemon instead of catching them all. "I downloaded it and immediately realised there is money to be made. If you can get to a decent level you can sell it on to people on ebay," said Pedrazza, who earned up to 2,000 pounds a month giving private lessons to kids in maths, English and music. "I heard accounts were being sold and I looked on eBay and some accounts at level 20 and above were going for a 1,000 pounds and level 15 bids were about 100-200 pounds. If you put the time in you can get to level 15 after a day or two," Pedrazza told 'The Sun'. Pedrazza said she was planning to buy multiple phones to boost her productivity and catch Pokemon on multiple accounts. "Some days I play it for 18 hours a day because you can play all the time even when you're out with your friends in bars and clubs. My mum thinks I'm mad but she's coming round to the idea. I'm going to do it for as long as it makes money," she said. "It's a big craze at the moment and there's money to be made but if it slows down I can always go back to teaching," she added. Some gamers have made over 7,000 pounds by selling their accounts online. One bidding war recently stopped at 7,300 pounds. Earlier, a 24-year-old New Zealand barman Tom Currie quit his job to become a full-time player. He said he was loving his new career but his parents were "a little bit baffled". In a market where international hotel chains like Marriott, Starwood, Four Seasons and Oberoi are operating luxury hotels, the entry of Steigenberger Hotels and Resorts, a Germany luxury hotel chain, may be fraught with challenges. In India, the demand for luxury hotels is limited compared to budget and mid-market segments. Then, for a brand-conscious domestic luxury traveler, Steigenberger Hotels and Resorts is fairly unknown brand. But, Sonica Malhotra, joint MD of MBD Group, a hospitality and publishing firm that has recently tied up with Steigenberger to open 20 hotels in 15 years, dismisses the notion. "Prime minister Narendra Modi has stayed in Hotel Frankfurter Hof (a Steigenberger property) during his visit of Germany," she brags. "It is a well known brand in Europe. For luxury travelers, if they go to Germany, they would like to stay in Steigenberger." Before finalising the deal with Steigenberger, Malhotra was talking to two more brands. "One of them is already operating in India but they have goofed up big time. Then, Steigenberger approached us. In terms of branding and positioning, they gel well with our expansion plans," she adds. Currently, MBD Group has two hotels - Radisson Blu MBD in Noida and Radisson Blu MBD in Ludhiana, which are operating under franchise model with Carlson Rezidor Group. In the franchise model, the entire hotel is run by the developer/owner while the brand lends its name to the property. So, MBD has expertise in running hotels. Another property (owned by MBD) in Bangalore is under construction - the first Steigenberger hotel in India - and will be opened in three years. As far as JV is concerned, MBD owns 51 per cent and Steigenberger owns the remaining stake. Even on the board, MBD will have four directors and CMD as compared to three directors from Steigenberger. The JV would predominantly do management contracts where MBD will handle entire management, training, sales and marketing for the Indian region, and the entire pre-opening assistance such as design and construction and hiring. Steigenberger will handle international sales and marketing, online marketing and global distribution system. Initially, Steigenberger will be involved in entire brand standard formulation, and brand standards will be customised to suit the needs of domestic market. In addition, the global chain will be doing audits. "The intent is to go asset-light. In terms of top line, we will be able to garner over Rs 2,000 crore of revenues from assets under management," she adds. The JV is unique in many ways. Most international hotel chains have directly entered into India but in this case, Steigenberger chose to partner with an Indian entity. The JV primarily aims to tie up with developers to manage their properties. Out of 20 hotels, just 5-6 hotels will be owned by MBD. The dynamics of luxury hotels segment are entirely different from the overall market. In the past, almost all hotel chains - domestic and international - have missed their targets to open properties. MBD will have to go aggressive in striking deals with developers in order to build a strong pipeline of hotels. Finding the right partner is crucial in scaling up. The success of chains like Marriott and Starwood can be attributed to stable developer-partners, and brand portfolio that caters to different customer segments. The JV seems to opening hotels under just one brand as of now which could be a drawback. In terms of demand side, the things are looking up after a long time. The hospitality market in India is picking up slowly with occupancy rates crossing 60 per cent in 2014/15, and even RevPAR (revenue per available room, a performance metric in the hospitality industry) has registered growth in the past four years. The timing of Steigenberger's entry may be apt but there are various gaps that it has to plug to become a serious competition to the existing players. The search for the successor of RBI governor Raghuram Rajan does not seem to end, at least for the time being. Rajan's successor is likely to be named only after he chairs his final policy meeting on August 9, 2016, a Reuters report said on Tuesday. The RBI chief announced in June he would not seek a second term amid Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy's statements questioning his credibility at the top post. Rajan's term expires on September 4, 2016. In a surprise turn of events, Kaushik Basu who is stepping down as the World Bank's chief economist has entered the fray to lead the Reserve Bank. Basu has worked as chief economic advisor to the government of India. Basu holds a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics. He has received honorary doctorates from several institutes, including IIT, Mumbai, and Fordham University, New York. Basu is currently on leave from Cornell University where he is Professor of Economics and the C. Marks Professor of International Studies. Recently, vice-chairman of Niti Aayog Arvind Panagariya also emerged as a contender for the top post. An economist from the Columbia University, Panagariya was appointed the vice chairman of the Niti Aayog on January 5, 2015. PM Modi is chairman of the panel. Also still in contention are RBI deputy governor Urjit Patel, former deputy governor Subir Gokarn and State Bank of India Chair Arundhati Bhattacharya. Neutral Switzerland has got an overall rating of "largely compliant" in an international review of how well it shares information with other countries on tax matters, the finance ministry said on Tuesday. Swiss officials hailed the outcome as crucial recognition of their efforts to shed the country's reputation as a haven for stashing dirty money out of sight of tax authorities abroad. It puts Switzerland, whose financial centre is the world's biggest for managing offshore wealth, on the same level as rivals including Singapore, Liechtenstein, Hong Kong, Britain and the United States. The findings of the peer review by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, which is overseen by the OECD club of wealthy countries, emerged after the second phase of scrutiny that began in 2011. Two areas of concern that remained include identifying the owners of bearer shares and dealing with stolen data, the ministry said. But the Global Forum welcomed Switzerland's move to ease administrative assistance in tax matters and extend its network of double-taxation agreements. The Global Forum in 2013 had said Switzerland was among the countries that did not meet international standards on tax transparency, potentially putting investments in the countries at risk. "What we achieved for Switzerland is absolutely central," Finance Minister Ueli Maurer told a news conference, saying international recognition was crucial to ensure financial stability and to conduct business as usual. With bank account secrecy for tax avoidance now largely abolished, Switzerland in future will have to rely on its reputation for political and economic stability to win business, he added. A new review round on how countries exchange information on request begins this year, with Switzerland's review due to start in 2018. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie The U.S. Federal Reserve is preparing an enforcement action against Goldman Sachs Group Inc related to a leak of confidential government information to one of its employees, the New York Times reported on Monday. The action will include a penalty of less than $50 million, the Times said, citing people briefed on the matter. The Fed is also considering taking action against a former Goldman executive who had access to the leaked material, according to the Times, which did not name the former executive. The Fed penalty would come two years after revelations that an employee at the New York Fed, Jason Gross, had leaked sensitive information to a Goldman banker named Rohit Bansal. Gross and Bansal pleaded guilty to theft of government property in November. Goldman has already paid a $50 million penalty to New York's Department of Financial Services related to the issue. Goldman Sachs said on Monday the employee and the senior who failed to escalate the issue were terminated. The company said it had started an investigation and appropriate regulators were notified as soon as the company learned about the leak. The U.S. Federal Reserve declined to comment.(Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie A new report by The Society of Chartered Surveyors (SCSI) highlights that some homeowners are overpaying for their house insurance. The overpayments may be because they are paying for more cover than they can claim in the event that they need to rebuild their home. The SCSI are warning that some homeowners are confusing market value with rebuilding costs and overpaying for insurance cover they will not need, while some may not have enough cover. Rowena Quinn, Chair of the SCSI Communications Committee and Managing Partner of Hunters Estate Agents, said that she has spoken with clients who were carrying 50% more home insurance cover than they could ever claim and overpaying on their insurance premium as a result. Ms. Quinn said that the most common mistake that homeowners made was to confuse the market value of a property with its rebuild cost. The Society has today launched the latest edition of its annual Guide to House Rebuilding Costs. The guide highlights that the average 3 Bed semi-detached (1,023 sq.ft) house in Donegal is 85,000, but the rebuilding cost based on the SCSI House Rebuilding Guide is 117,000. In contrast, a similar property in Dublin could sell for 350,000, but has a rebuild cost of 181,000. Kevin Brady, Chair of the SCSI Construction Cost and Indices Committee said Increases seen in Dublin and Cork are directly linked to the increase in construction activity seen year on year in Dublin and recently in Cork. However regionally, outside of these areas, rebuilding costs have remained static. Having the correct reinstatement value will not only make certain that you are not over or under insuring your property but will also avoid over-payment when it comes to your home insurance premium. The guide covers the rebuilding of estate type houses with standard finishes. He added. Source: www.businessworld.ie The Taoiseach will travel to London this morning to meet formally with the new British Prime Minister Theresa May at No 10 Downing Street. High on the agenda is likely to be a wide range of issues of mutual interest, particularly the UKs Brexit referendum. Likely to feature prominently in these discussions is the fact that neither leader wants the return of a hard border in the North. Other likely topics of discussion include the ongoing supportive trade and travel arrangements between the two countries. The Taoiseach, speaking in advance of the meeting, said: I look forward to meeting with Prime Minister May. This meeting will provide an opportunity for us to have a strategic and constructive discussion on the impact of the referendum and how we are going to work together to protect the interests of all our citizens on these islands. Source: www.businessworld.ie Online harassment, or how to escape the troll's nest Published on July 26, 2016 Story by Isabelle Bonenkamp en pl it es fr de The digital age has changed journalism in many ways, not least of which due to near constant contact with readers online. While this can offer valuable insight into consumer preferences, it can also backfire if the trolls stumble out from under the bridge. We explore the harrowing world of online harassment. "Dont read the comments!" Maggie Downs tells me, a writer for the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post. After writing a personal story about going into labour and testing positive for meth, she knows a little about the now well-known refrain. Due to her high-profile position, her post on the online platform Narratively was shared all over the web 17,000 times on Facebook alone. The comments are everywhere, it is hard to avoid them, but Downs says she is afraid to look. Amy Binns, Senior Lecturer in Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire talks about how the comment section on online news platforms and social media is something that can generate a lively debate, containing constructive critiques and a fruitful exchange, not only for the reader but also for the journalist. However, "an interactive site" may also "carry the seeds of trouble" Cyberharassment is part of the daily routine. Who you gonna call? TrollBusters! According to the Pew Research Centre, four in 10 Internet users are victims of online harassment. In a recent Guardian article "The dark side of Guardian comments" abuse was defined as either "threats to kill, rape or maim" and/or less extreme the "demeaning and insulting speech targeted at the writer of the article or another comment". The Guardian automatically blocks such abuse, as do many other news platforms. This isnt, however, true for every publication. In addition, a journalists digital workplace goes beyond online media outlets: Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, blogs and Instagram are equally important to an online contributors daily grind. "Media organisations are woefully unprepared for this type of activity and also need training in providing appropriate support," says Michelle Ferrier, the founder of TrollBusters an "online pest control for women writers" where victims can report incidents of cyber-harassment. "Online harassment is often dismissed by law enforcement and frequently ignored by the platforms that enable the abuse." What is problematic is that news platforms profit from the traffic, no matter how harmful. Asking the question, "What works best on Facebook?" before creating content is the rule rather than the exception. For example, the Huffington Post uses real-time testing of headlines to gain more readers. The logic behind this is simple: Trick the algorithm. Be on top. Win the infowar. Deliberative Democracy 2.0 In order to re-establish trust in conventional newsrooms in an age where everyone can filter out information they dont want to read, and content is promoted thanks to the numbers of clicks and shares it has received online, journalistic contact with the audience seems inevitable and necessary. Ilka Jacobs from the Department of Communication at the University of Mainz argues that, thanks to the internet, "communicators" and "receivers" now have a fluid exchange of information thus paving the way for individual political change. Finally, deliberative democracy 2.0 is here. Wouldnt Habermas be happy? Alas, when reality meets expectations things look a little different. Guardian writer Jessica Valenti summed up the problem, "Imagine going to work every day and walking through a gauntlet of 100 people saying You're stupid, You're terrible, You suck, I can't believe you get paid for this. It's a terrible way to go to work." When I posted a guide on how to help refugees in Denmark to a Facebook group for international students in Aarhus, these were some of the comments I received: "Let's watch together how they abuse women in broad daylight." 17 likes. "WWIII. Syrians in Europe," read another. The most disturbing: "To describe such people's state of mind, I coined a term: Refuphilia an irrational (possibly dangerous) empathy towards a person who is supposedly a refugee." "When you don't get comments you know that there's a problem" There's a fear that minority topics will receive less coverage in the future, due to the online harassment such content is in danger of receiving. Considering that women and minorities are the most likely victims of trolling, the suggestion is not without merit. On the other hand, this is just one side of the story. When I conducted an online survey asking journalists how they deal with such comments, one respondent also wrote: When you don't get comments or people liking what you wrote then you know there is a problem. Not everyone suffers from the negativity. In fact, journalists deal with it very differently. Answers ranged from, "I feel bad for days" and "I've told my psychiatrist", to "I try to ignore them", "I laugh at them", "I continue my work" and "I dont read them unprepared". The Internet connects a vast percentage of the global population thats a lot of opinions. It might be biased to expect the entirety of Earths population to agree on one common cause as much as it is considered biased to think a journalist could always be inhumanely impartial. The difference now is one has to try even harder to be achieve impartiality. --- This article was published by our local team at cafebabel Aarhus. Story by Isabelle Bonenkamp When is hurricane season? Here's what you need to know in South Texas Matt Woolbright/Caller-Times Jose Salinas, 65, points out a nearby refinery that sometimes billows smoke that is carried to his doorstep by southern winds on Monday. SHARE Matt Woolbright/Caller-Times A set of signs advise about a slew of underground pipes near the entrance to the Dona Park neighborhood on Monday. Matt Woolbright/Caller-Times Industrial development is easily visible from the backyard of this Dona Park home on Monday. By Matt Woolbright of the Caller-Times The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has proposed decommissioning a secondary particulate matter monitoring station at a Northside neighborhood. While the move has some concerned, others see it as a sign of progress. The decision to remove the monitoring site from the Dona Park area was a result of the 2016 Annual Monitoring Network Plan, according to a news release from the state agency. Reviewing the network of monitoring stations in the region, when coupled with efforts by the Port of Corpus Christi and Port Industries to monitor the air, led state regulators to determine the secondary site may be unnecessary. The monitoring site specifically tests for particulate matter of 10 micrometers or less, and the area is not in the top quarter of worst-preforming areas statewide. It was not immediately clear what the next step in the decommissioning process will be, or when that will happen. The news didn't sit well with Dona Park resident Jose Salinas, who has lived there with his wife for about two decades. The 65-year-old said he is worried about air pollution and tries to avoid spending too much time outside. "You gotta stay inside and try to get your chores done as fast as you can," he said. The Port of Corpus Christi has an air monitoring station adjacent to the state's facility, said Sarah Garza, the port's director of environmental planning and compliance. But the presence of a port-controlled monitoring station doesn't ease the concerns for Suzie Canales, the executive director for Citizens for Environmental Justice, an advocacy organization for area residents. "That doesn't fly. People are still having to live with a lot of petroleum dust on their property," Canales said. "With the new Harbor Bridge coming in and industry at the port continuing to grow, it doesn't sound like this will protect the people who live there. "It could be harmful," she added. The state agency's proposal follows the implementation of a plan by the port and Citgo, Valero and Flint Hills to improve dust minimization efforts and air monitoring capabilities. That includes collecting real time data on dust the primary pollutant registered at the monitoring station that could be shut off and cleanup efforts around port and port industry properties, Garza said. That plan included installing a network of seven air monitoring stations from late 2014 to early 2015, and the port's Dona Park station was installed as part of that, she added. The other six stations are near the bulk terminal to the north. "This is a very big collaboration," Garza said. "It means what we're doing is working, and so that means we're actually seeing improvements being made." Still, on the heels of his longtime next door neighbor deciding to move away and rent his home and several houses near his falling into a state of disrepair from abandonment, Salinas is convinced the decommissioning is just the next step toward eventually moving life out of the neighborhood. "It gives you that feeling," he said. "You're looking at your neighborhood disappearing because everybody wants to move out." Twitter: @reportermatt SHARE For those who feel that the world spins too fast, a Florida judge may have slowed it down in a way they'll appreciate. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Teresa Mary Pooler ruled Monday that Bitcoin isn't money. Her decision could reach far beyond the $1,500 Bitcoin laundering case that landed in her court. People of a certain generation probably think of Bitcoin as the animated cartoon coin bitten by the superhero Underdog in his public identity as Shoe Shine Boy. They may be relieved to know that while by now they should have learned their way around a smartphone, they needn't feel left behind if they haven't been trading in Bitcoin. Bitcoin is considered the world's first cryptocurrency, and if that sounds cryptic, it's because it is. It's a digital unit of payment that is not regulated by governments, including ours. Bitcoin's lack of regulation made it popular with criminal enterprises as a way of laundering wealth. But it's accepted by several mainstream websites including Overstock.com, Expedia and Microsoft. In 2014, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen described Bitcoin to a Senate committee as "a payment innovation that's taking place entirely outside the banking industry. The Federal Reserve simply does not have the authority to supervise or regulate Bitcoin in any way." Bitcoin is volatile and has gone through huge booms and busts. It has been declared dead more than once but The Wall Street Journal described it recently as slightly more stable than gold. Caller-Times readers can't renew their subscriptions with Bitcoin or buy dinner at the local grocery store or restaurant although the Miami Herald, in reporting Pooler's ruling, noted that some Miami restaurants and a plastic surgeon accept it. The Herald didn't explain how the wait-people at the restaurants collect tips from Bitcoin users. Our hunch is that they'd prefer cash. Bitcoin is not "tangible wealth" and "cannot be hidden under a mattress like cash and gold bars," according to the judge. "The court is not an expert in economics; however, it is very clear, even to someone with limited knowledge in the area, the Bitcoin has a long way to go before it the equivalent of money." That can't be good for Bitcoin investors. But it did wonders for defendant Michell Espinoza, accused of selling and laundering $1,500 in bitcoins to undercover agents who said they planned to buy stolen credit cards. For a money launderer to launder money, what's laundered has to be money. So, Espinoza got off on what is known in low-tech terms as a technicality. It's worth noting that an economics professor who testified for the defense that Bitcoin isn't money was paid for his testimony in bitcoins valued at $3,000 total. It's also worth noting that the plural of Bitcoin is bitcoins with an "s," lowercase, which actually makes grammatical sense. Finally, it should be noted that while Bitcoin isn't money, according to the judge, it's still property. A person can convey ownership of it to another person. But banks don't deposit it as currency. The Bitcoin ruling didn't make the virtual world less virtual just less imaginary. The partys four-day nomination convention started yesterday, July 25, 2016. ADS The countdown to the November 8, 2016 presidential election in the United States of America (USA) is fast drawing near with the main political parties nominating their candidates. After the Republican party nominated Donald Trump as its candidate during the partys nomination convention last week, the rival Democratic party has taken the cue. The convention that started yesterday, July 25, 2016 in Philadelphia will certain culminated in the nomination of Hillary Clinton as the partys candidate in the presidential poll. Ahead of the nomination convention, Mrs Clinton picked Tim Kaine as her running mate. Hillary Clintons main challenger in the race for Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders and his supporters, BBC said, have expressed disappointment at Mrs Clinton's choice of Virginia Senator Tim Kaine as her running mate, preferring someone further to the left. However, Mr Sanders did say: "I have known Tim Kaine for a number of years... Tim is a very, very smart guy. He is a very nice guy," BBC quoted him as saying. BBC further reported that Mrs Clintons campaign received a boost on Sunday, July 24 with the announcement that Michael Bloomberg, who was elected New York mayor as a Republican, will speak to endorse her this week. Outgoing President Barack Obama had earlier endorsed her candidature. The only crisis rocking the start of the Democratic party convention is the row over leaked emails which threaten the unity of the party. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chair Democratic party and head of the National Committee running the convention, is accused of the leak. She says she would resign. More than 19,000 internal DNC emails were reportedly published by the WikiLeaks website on July 22, 2016 from the accounts of seven leading figures. Some revealed officials looking at ways to undermine Mr Sanders' campaign, including using his faith. ADS | BY Ricki Green | Avant Card has announced Cummins&Partners as winner of the 2015-2016 Postcard of The Year Awards for its Experience Extraordinary campaign for Tourism WA. From 12 remarkable finalists, the extraordinary card was chosen by a majority of judges, making it the clear winner. Featuring striking photography of Northcliffe in the Southern Forests Region, and a pop-out, scented air-freshener, judges described the postcard as evocative, clever, fun, engaging and an amazing piece of work. As the winner of the 2015-2016 Postcard of The Year Awards, Tourism WA is the recipient of the coveted first prize a $20,000 advertising spend with Avant Card for use in the next 12 months. Tourism WAs executive director, strategy, brand and marketing services, Louise Scott said it was an honour for the agency to win the award. Says Scott: As the State Governments agency responsible for promoting WA as an extraordinary holiday destination, Tourism WA is always looking for innovative ways of to market the different areas of the State. It is fantastic to have our efforts recognised through the 2015-2016 Postcard of The Year Awards. The Roadshow Films Goosebumps campaign took out second place, followed by the Greyson Perry campaign from the Museum of Contemporary Art in third place. The Postcard Awards were developed nine years ago by Pat Mackle, founder and managing director at Avant Card, to promote and inspire creativity and innovation in postcard advertising. Recent Postcard of The Year Awards winners include Victorian Opera, The LEGO Movie, Melbourne Water and Yarra Trams. Says Mackle: Since its inception in 1992, I have always strived for Avant Card to be a creative and cutting edge media format. I am ecstatic that this years winning campaign, Experience Extraordinary from Tourism WA, really speaks that truth. It is innovative, clever and beautiful (and it smells good!). I am so proud that 24 years on, Avant Card continues to push boundaries and is still a relevant consumer media channel. Congratulations to all involved in the Experience Extraordinary campaign, its a deserved winner. Cummins&Partners, the creative media agency who designed the winning campaign, would like to credit Doogie Chapman, creative director; Tom Vizard, copywriter; Gil Benjamin, art director; Tom Johnson, media director; Ollie Ward, senior integration director; Shane Mitropoulos, integration manager; Virginia Pracht, planning director, and Zac Martin, digital strategist. The finalists for the 2015-2016 Postcard Awards were selected monthly, by some of Australias leading creative and advertising directors. Points were awarded for: insight shown into the product, brand or target audience and how this was executed; campaign creativity; and campaign strategy branding, response and calls to action. | BY Ricki Green | Says Lilley: In 2015, we launched McCanns national media services in response to client demand for a genuinely integrated creative offering. Now we are delighted to able to offer another key component of that integrated creative offering through the marketing communications expertise of Fleur and her team. Amplifying our creative reach and effectiveness through social media, PR and experiential is key to the success of every McCann campaign today. We are incredibly excited to now offer a full suite of marketing services, seamlessly integrated with our full creative, digital and media capabilities. Says Madden: It has been a pleasure to lead The Red Republic over the past 13 years as a successful independent agency. I am very proud of what we have achieved and who we are as a company. In looking at what the future held for us, it was time to take the next step as a business to realise our full potential. Finding a partner that could help us expand and ensure we could offer our clients an extensive suite of services, and who was also the right cultural fit was very important to me. Joining the McCann Worldgroup family is a tremendous opportunity for The Red Republic and we are thrilled to be part of a strong global network. This takes us up to a whole new level as a business and I look forward to bringing greater strategic and creative firepower to our clients, existing and new, through this partnership. | BY Ricki Green | Georgia Bruton, one of the countrys foremost experts in shopper marketing has joined J. Walter Thompson Melbourne to head up the agencys growing shopper business in the role of managing partner / director of shopper. Under Brutons stewardship in her previous role as national MD, shopper specialist agency Integer became the most awarded of its kind in Australia. Says Michael Godwin, managing director, J. Walter Thompson: Shopper now accounts for around 20 cents in every dollar of revenue we earn and it is growing fast, so the time is right for us to create this new role and invest in someone of Georgias calibre and experience to lead this part of our business. Increasingly, clients require an agency to take a store out approach to campaign planning and development. So Im thrilled were able to offer them someone with Georgias expertise and passion for this space; nobody in this market knows more about the discipline than she does. Bruton will lead the agencys in-house shopper teams, members of which are integrated into client teams across the agency. She will also spend a proportion of her time helping to ensure the strategic and creative solutions delivered on the agencys largest shopper client, Treasury Wine Estates are world class. | BY Ricki Green | By Elyse Wurm, copywriter and social media coordinator, Mo Works, Melbourne Like Batman and Robin or IBM and Windows, the right strategic partner can give you the support and fresh outlook you need to unlock the potential of your agency. Gone are the days when agencies have to go it alone and rely solely on their own resources to get the job done. We now understand that sharing is caring, and joining forces with a trusty partner can be an effective way to open up new opportunities and move closer towards your goals. At Mo Works Creative Agency we have seen this firsthand by partnering up with multiple local agencies, providers and more recently we struck up an exciting partnership with a software engineering company, Blitzm Systems. The Blitzm team specialises in developing complex software and native mobile apps. Weve noticed a number of advantages of putting our heads together so we wrote up a list to help you see how a partnership could benefit your agency. 1. Pool resources Your partner might have whiz-bang software or equipment that you havent gotten around to buying or dont require all the time. Working together means you can offer unique competitive advantages and share assets, which could include equipment, knowledge and staff. This can save you loads of time and money usually spent on sourcing, training and researching as your well-equipped partner can lend you what you need. 2. Discover new ideas Bouncing thoughts off other people is a great way to unlock new ideas and the effectiveness of this method skyrockets when the other person understands your industry. Their advice will be extremely relevant as they understand the parameters youre working in. For example, mixing the creative minds at Mo Works with the technical expertise of Blitzm allows us to look at projects from all possible angles and assess risks better to find the best solutions for our clients. 3. Generate leads Partners act as great endorsers for your services. Whenever a project lands on their desk or they meet a potential client in need of your services, they can put them in touch with you. Likewise you can shoot leads their way. Considering a personal recommendation is the best advertising there is, these leads are likely to turn into paying clients. 4. Expand your network Meeting your partners friends and friends of friends will help build your exposure throughout your industry and beyond. By attending their events and meeting their connections you can demonstrate your knowledge in wider circles. This could put you in touch with new potential partners or open up other business opportunities you may not have considered before. 5. Compete in new markets Thanks to the extra resources youll have access to, a partnership can enable you to tackle larger, more complex projects and open the door to new markets that were out of your reach before. For example, before partnering with Blitzm we focussed on designing and developing web applications and only provided design for native apps and complex software. Now with their help we can look into large scale projects, such as large governmental tech projects, and submit proposals with confidence. 6. Build loyalty Enhancing the products or services you currently offer through a partnership will reflect positively on your brand identity and increase the chance that your clients will turn into returning customers. When people know they can get a superior service and everything they need from a single source, they wont need to look elsewhere. Partnerships are an inexpensive yet effective tactic that can open your business up to great new opportunities. Why not strike up one for your agency and see where it takes you? | BY Ricki Green | Vodafone has today announced its media planning and buying business will move from WPP AUNZs Bohemia to fellow WPP media agency GroupM to align with global Team Red arrangements. WPPs Team Red is a bespoke unit of WPP GroupM Media developed specifically to service one of the worlds leading telco brand and currently works with Vodafone in every market globally except Australia. The realignment will begin in coming weeks and will be completed by 31 October 2016. WPP AUNZs Bohemia has worked with Vodafone successfully for the past four years and its contract was due to end this year. Bohemias Brett Dawson said while the agency was disappointed with the decision to align with global arrangements, it was very pleased with the work it had undertaken to support the turnaround of the Vodafone Australia brand. Says Dawson: We are very proud of Bohemias significant contribution to driving re-appraisal of the Vodafone brand in Australia. We have partnered with Vodafone for more than four years, through the companys turnaround. We have thrived on this challenge and our work has delivered demonstrable results, achieving both local and global recognition. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Bohemia team for its passion and dedication, the Vodafone team for its trust, and the numerous media partners who have helped us output this work along the way. Vodafone chief marketing officer Loo Fun Chee thanked Bohemia for its work over the past four years. Says Chee: Bohemia has been an instrumental partner in helping us tell our turnaround story. We thank it for its work during that time, including our brand relaunch and most recently Vodafones network demonstration partnerships with Nova, Channel 7 and Prime. Chee said the company wished to align the account with global arrangements to support its brand transformation. Says Chee: We saw an opportunity to leverage WPP GroupM Medias solid understanding of our global business as we enter this exciting new period of growth. We look forward to working with fellow WPP GroupM agency in the future. Group M CEO AUNZ Mark Lollback said GroupMs Team Red already has significant experience overseas with Vodafone and the team is looking forward to extending this knowledge to the Australian market. Says Lollback: Bohemia has established a solid platform for growth and is pleased that the account remains within the broader WPP AUNZ group. Says James Hier, CEO, MEC Australia: Vodafone Australia has gone through a significant period of transformation in the Australian market and is now in a much stronger position to challenge its competitors on network, customer service and innovative products. While the telco category is incredibly competitive and challenging, MEC is ready to take Vodafone Australia to greater heights through engaging campaigns across all media channels. The appointment follows a strong 12 months for MEC Australia, including the continued expansion of its Brisbane office with the integration of local media agency Media Circus into its business last month. "It's an inner suburb precinct and I want to do something special and I'd like the community to support it. So the last thing I want to do is something that they won't interact with and engage with," he said. Mr Eades, 46, who was incarcerated for more than 18 years between the ages of 13 and 31, is one of a group of indigenous community leaders who want the terms of reference of the royal commission into youth detention in the Northern Territory extended to cover the broader issue of indigenous suicide. "The big problems occur for medical staff afterwards ... certainly emotionally, people who respond to this sort of environment, particularly where there are children involved, there is great potential for psychological harm in this space and people can be affected for decades after an event like that." [Your Business Name] Contact Info Phone: Fax: Email: Web: CAPITOLHILLCUBANS.COM Business Overview Geographic Area Line of Business Brands We Carry Products and Services Discounts Offered Additional Information Business Hours Timezone We Accept Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. On the back of Mercedes-Benzs impending jump into the pickup truck market, BMW has hinted that it too could ditch with tradition and launch a similar model. While speaking with Motoring, the companys Australian managing director Marc Werner said that a BMW ute is possible, even though it would be harder for BMW to create such a model than Mercedes. When asked about a rival to the Mercedes ute/pick-up, Werner said Were watching the space closely. Never say nevera ute is certainly an interesting proposition. Yes its harder for us but well be watching how Benz goes. Because Mercedes produces commercial vehicles and vans, it is much more suited to create such a car. Whats more, its already been confirmed that Mercs pick-up will be heavily based around the Nissan Navara and finding a donor vehicle for BMW could prove more difficult. With that being said, the German firms ongoing tie-up with Toyota to launch a Z4 replacement and next-gen Supra could be extended potentially to the point of the popular Toyota Hilux being used by BMW to create a luxurious and high-end alternative. If such a model ever comes to fruition, dont expect to see it before 2020. PHOTO GALLERY Theres no better marketing, perhaps, than having the man behind a famed car company, such as Koenigsegg, take part in an owners meeting with one of the hottest vehicles of the moment: the Regera. Created as an answer to the hypercar trinity, rhw Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 918 Spyder and McLaren P1, the Regera has similar performance to the recently unveiled Bugatti Chiron. Things seemed to have been going smooth for Christian von Koenigsegg and after the aforementioned model was presented in Geneva, the company shifted focus towards setting a new Nurburgring lap record for production cars, with the One:1. However, bad timing and what seemed to be a minor defect made the impressive machine crash and the tragic incident eclipsed the whole Koenigsegg owners meeting held in Southern Sweden, just a day before. Captured on footage, the Regeras display of power in von Koenigseggs hands revealed the hybrid firing up its powertrain and driving off in silence, while the final part gives enthusiasts a taste of the engine waking up with an aggressive baritone sound. VIDEO Aston Martins popular grand tourer, the DB9, has been waved goodbye after almost 13 years since it debuted at the 2003 Frankfurt Motor Show. Marked as an important event for the British manufacturer in its own backyard, the final nine units were celebrated in a rather modern way, using social media, a few images and a short comment: Farewell to an icon. The last nine Aston Martin DB9s are now ready for final inspection, the company tweeted at the end of last week. Designed by Henrik Fisker and underpinned by the aluminum VH platform, shared with the Rapide and Vanquish, the DB9 already has a true successor, worthy of the DB moniker. Presented at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, the all-new Aston Martin DB11 is the brands first model launched under the second century plan and uses a new lighter and stronger aluminum structure underneath its fresh design. Power comes from an in-house developed 5.2-liter twin-turbo V12 engine, which makes the vehicle the most production DB model in the companys history, with 608 PS (600 HP) and 700 Nm (516 lb-ft) of torque. Paired to a ZF 8-speed automatic transmission, the mill helps the DB11 do the zero to sixty (96 km/h) sprint in 3.9 seconds and reach a top speed of 200 mph (322 km/h). Farewell to an icon. The last nine Aston Martin DB9s are now ready for final inspection. pic.twitter.com/arpi2NPus7 Aston Martin (@astonmartin) July 22, 2016 PHOTO GALLERY The Norwegian government has allocated $25 billion on an ambitious project that could see a number of floating underwater tunnels built across the country and running through the nations various fjords. Engineers are proposing to build long underwater bridges, each consisting of two tunnels running parallel supporting traffic in each direction. Unlike normal tunnels, these ones would be suspended 100 feet underwater by massive pontoons floating along the surface of the water connected to the tunnels by strong trusses. Because of the countrys array of incredibly deep inlets often formed in massive valleys, building a traditional tunnel running under the water is impossible, especially since some fjords can be a mile deep. Additionally, traditional bridges running above the water arent viable given the width of some fjords and how susceptible to damage bridges can be from rough climatic conditions. As underwater tunnels like this have never been built before, the project isnt expected to be completed before 2035, if it does indeed get off the ground. If engineers discover that the ambitious plans are too difficult to implement, the funding may be allocated elsewhere. PHOTO GALLERY Start saving up money: Disneys classic animated films are getting the Taschen book treatment this fall when the German publisher releases The Walt Disney Film Archives: The Animated Movies 1921-1968 . The cover of the Taschen book suggests that itll use the format of the publishers other film-related archive books, such as those dedicated to Pedro Almodovar, Stanley Kubrick, Ingmar Bergman, Charlie Chaplin, and James Bond films. Its listed at 624 pages, and will cost $200 when released on November 15. Amazon has it available for pre-order at $190 . Reportedly, if the book sells well (and it obviously will), Taschen will release future volumes about Walt Disneys involvement in television, live-action films, and theme parks. If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,... CDC adds Saba to interim travel guidance related to Zika virus Media Statement For Immediate Release: Tuesday, July 26, 2016 Contact: Media Relations, (404) 639-3286 CDC is working with other public health officials to monitor for ongoing Zika virus transmission. Today, CDC posted a Zika virus travel notice for Saba. CDC has issued travel notices (level 2, practice enhanced precautions) for people traveling to destinations with Zika. For a full list of affected countries/regions, visit http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/zika-travel-information. As more information becomes available, CDCs travel notices will be updated. Travelers to areas with cases of Zika virus infection are at risk of being infected with the Zika virus. Mosquitoes that spread Zika are aggressive daytime biters. They also bite at night. There is no vaccine or medicine for Zika virus. The best way to avoid Zika virus infection is to prevent mosquito bites. Some travelers to areas with Zika will become infected while traveling but will not become sick until they return home and they might not have any symptoms. To help stop the spread of Zika, travelers should use insect repellent for three weeks after travel to prevent mosquito bites. Some people who are infected do not have any symptoms. People who do have symptoms have reported fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes. The sickness is usually mild with symptoms that last from several days to a week. Severe disease requiring hospitalization is uncommon and the number of deaths is low. Travelers to areas with Zika should monitor for symptoms or sickness upon return. If they become sick, they should tell their healthcare professional when and where they have traveled. CDC has received reports of Zika virus being spread by sexual contact with sick returning travelers. Until more is known, CDC continues to recommend that pregnant women and women trying to become pregnant take the following precautions. Pregnant women Should not travel to any area with Zika. If you must travel to or live in one of these areas, talk to your healthcare provider first and strictly follow steps to prevent mosquito bites. If you or your partner live in or travel to an area with Zika, use condoms or other barriers*, the right way, every time you have sex or do not have sex throughout the pregnancy. Sex includes vaginal, anal, and oral sex. *Barriers that prevent passing Zika through sex include male and female condoms and dental dams. Dental dams are latex or polyurethane sheets used between the mouth and vagina or anus during oral sex. Women trying to get pregnant Before you or your partner travel, talk to your healthcare provider about your plans to become pregnant and the risk of Zika virus infection. You and your partner should strictly follow steps to prevent mosquito bites. For additional information on preventing the sexual transmission of Zika, visit www.cdc.gov/zika/transmission/sexual-transmission.html. Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is very likely triggered by Zika in a small proportion of infections, much as it is after a variety of other infections. CDC is working with Brazil to study the possibility of a link between Zika and GBS. For more information on Zika, visit www.cdc.gov/zika . ### U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICESexternal icon Pakistan: producers warn that tax increase will encourage smuggling ICR Newsroom By 26 July 2016 The All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) has warned that the decision to impose an additional excise duty imposed in this years federal budget 2016-17 could lead to a rise in smuggling of cement from Iran. The Nation reports that the Pakistani cement industry lost 1Mt in sales due to Iranian cement being smuggled into coastal areas. The APCMA criticised what it said was a lax regime of border controls and called on the government to act. Cement producers in Pakistan noted that their industry is already one of the most highly-taxed sectors in the country and warned that exports had begun to suffer. The APCMA called on the government to subsidise the cost of shipping domestically-produced cement abroad in order to help reverse the declining export trend. Published under Nigeria: Ashaka Cement signs NGN11bn coal power agreement ICR Newsroom By 26 July 2016 Ashaka Cement plc has signed a NGN11bn (US$35m) contract with China-based RUNH Power Corp Ltd for the construction of a 16MW lignite-fired coal power plant at its cement plant in Gombe State, Nigeria. The power plant will be operated by firing coal from Ashaka Cement-owned local coal mine reserves located in Maigana, 140km distance from the cement works. Scheduled for completion in 2018, the facility would enable the cement plant to reduce its reliance on the national grid and diesel-powered generating sets. Ashaka Cements Chairman, Suleiman Yahyah, said the company would be financing the project from its NGN15bn reserves and is a reflection of its commitment to the growth and development of the Nigerian economy. The power station would be the first of its kind in the Northeast region. Mr Yahyah said: The North Eastern region is a strategic region where Ashaka is supporting the reconstruction programme of the government. This project will further strengthen the relationship with Gombe State as well as the communities and reinforce the importance of Ashaka as the major manufacturing company in that part of the country. He added the power plant would supply consistent energy and help the cement producer to not only improve operational efficiency and lower energy costs but also contribute to lifting production capacity to 1Mta. In the longer term and given favourable conditions, Ashaka Cement plans to raise its production capacity to 2.5Mta, Mr Yahyah said. Published under Catholic Family News A Monthly Journal Preserving our Catholic Faith and Heritage Home Latest Archives Subscribe CFN Media - videos Contact Us CFN Bookstore Oltyn Library Services 2017 CFN Daily Blog Originally started as a daily Blog update of news reports on the Papal Conclave and ongoing news on Pope Francis, it is now a general Blog updated daily on traditional Catholic topics Updated Regularly Book mark this page click here Luxury hotels in the historic center for a Catholic family. Only luxury hotels can provide a paradisiacal vacation for a big Catholic family. A high-level vacation for families, children and not only. The gorgeous views, divine service, and the best location are all luxury hotels. Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, and more. Everyone will find their place in this corner of paradise. Popular destinations Breckenridge, CO, United States In Breckenridge, Colorado, there are plenty of places to visit, whether you're a nature lover or thrill seeker. For nature lovers, the Blue River runs right through town and there are plenty of trails to explore. If you're looking for a thrill, Breckenridge is home to some of the best skiing and snowboarding in the country. There's also plenty of shopping and dining options in town, so you'll never run out of things to do. Breckenridge Luxury Hotels Savannah, GA, United States Savannah, Georgia is a beautiful city with lots of places to visit, including Forsyth Park, River Street, and the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace. Another place to visit is the Savannah History Museum, which is jam-packed with interesting exhibits on the history of the city. Savannah Luxury Hotels Naples, FL, United States Naples is known for its stunning white sand beaches and crystal-clear waters. Its also home to a wide variety of attractions, including world-class golf courses, vibrant nightlife, and interesting cultural experiences. Here are five places to visit in Naples, Florida: Naples Pier: Stroll along the pier and enjoy panoramic views of the Gulf of Mexico. Fifth Avenue South: This popular shopping and dining district is home to eclectic boutiques, award-winning restaurants, and lively bars. The Ritz-Carlton, Naples: This luxurious resort is set on 26 acres of pristine waterfront property and offers superb amenities, including a world-class spa and championship golf course. The Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens: This zoological park is home to more than 700 animals representing 150 species, including flamingos, lemurs, and tigers. Tin City: This eclectic shopping and dining district is housed in a series of restored waterfront warehouses and features eclectic shops, galleries, and award-winning restaurants. Naples Luxury Hotels Naples Luxury Resorts Louisville, KY, United States Louisville is in the heart of Kentucky and is known for being the home of the Kentucky Derby. There are a lot of great places to visit in Louisville, including the Louisville Zoo, the Muhammad Ali Center, and the Frazier History Museum. There are also a lot of great restaurants and bars in Louisville, and it's a great place to visit for a weekend getaway. Louisville Luxury Hotels Galveston, TX, United States Galveston is a Texas coastal town that is rich in history and offers visitors a variety of places to visit and things to do. Some of the most popular attractions include the Moody Gardens, Schlitterbahn Waterpark, and Historic Downtown. There are also a number of museums and other historical landmarks, as well as plenty of shopping and dining options. Galveston Luxury Hotels Galveston Luxury Resorts Omaha, NE, United States The birthplace of Warren Buffett, Omaha, Nebraska, is a great place to visit. There are plenty of things to see and do in Omaha, from touring the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium to visiting the Durham Western Heritage Museum. Other popular tourist destinations in Omaha include the Joslyn Art Museum, the Ak-Sar-Ben Aquarium, and TD Ameritrade Park. Omaha Luxury Hotels Columbus, GA, United States Columbus is a charming small town in Georgia that is worth a visit. There are several places to visit in Columbus, including the Riverwalk, the Chattahoochee River, the National Infantry Museum, and the Coca-Cola Space Science Center. The Riverwalk is a beautiful walkway along the Chattahoochee River that is perfect for a relaxing stroll or a bike ride. The Chattahoochee River is a great place to go fishing, swimming, or kayaking. The National Infantry Museum is a museum dedicated to the infantry of the United States Army. It is a must-see for history buffs. The Coca-Cola Space Science Center is a museum dedicated to space science. It is perfect for kids and adults alike. Columbus Luxury Hotels Anchorage, AK, United States Anchorage is a great place to visit if you're looking for an adrenaline rush. From skiing and snowboarding in the winter to rafting and fishing in the summer, Anchorage has something to offer everyone. In addition to its outdoor activities, Anchorage also has a variety of cultural and historical attractions, including the Anchorage Museum and the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. Anchorage Luxury Hotels Portland, OR, United States Portland is a city that is located in the US state of Oregon and it is known for its art scene, food, and coffee. There are a lot of interesting places to visit in Portland, such as the Portland Art Museum, where you can see a variety of art from all over the world. Another place to visit is the Powell's City of Books, the largest independent bookstore in the world. If you're looking for a place to eat, Portland has no shortage of amazing restaurants, such as Pok Pok, which serves Thai cuisine, and Le Pigeon, which serves French cuisine. And, of course, no trip to Portland would be complete without trying some of the city's famous coffee, such as Stumptown Coffee Roasters. Portland Luxury Hotels Florence, Italy No trip to Italy is complete without a visit to Florence. This historic city is home to some of the country's most famous attractions, including the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, and Michelangelo's David. There's also plenty to see and do outside of the city center, including the picturesque Tuscan countryside and the vibrant university town of Arezzo. Florence Luxury Hotels Florence Luxury Villas Asheville, NC, United States Asheville is a city in western North Carolina. It is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Buncombe County. Asheville is home to the Biltmore Estate, the largest private home in the United States. The city of Asheville proper had a population of 84,236 in 2010. The city is known for its art deco architecture, mountain scenery and outdoor activities, and as the birthplace of American novelist Thomas Wolfe. It is also home to the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, the second largest craft brewery in the United States. Asheville Luxury Hotels Asheville Luxury Cottages Long Beach, CA, United States There's plenty to do in Long Beach, California without ever having to leave the city limits. If you're looking for a little adventure, head to the Aquarium of the Pacific for a glimpse of the ocean's creatures or take a walk on the boardwalk at Rainbow Harbor. If you're more of a history buff, the Queen Mary is a must-see. This retired ocean liner is now a hotel and museum with plenty of stories to tell. And no trip to Long Beach is complete without a visit to the iconic Vincent Thomas Bridge. Long Beach Luxury Hotels Long Beach Luxury Villas Cincinnati, OH, United States Cincinnati is a city located on the Ohio River in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Ohio. The city was founded in 1788 and named after the Society of the Cincinnati, an organization of Revolutionary War officers. Cincinnati is a major U.S. city and the metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million people. The city is well-known for its German heritage, Oktoberfest celebration, and its variety of chili dishes. Cincinnati is home to three major sports teams: the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals, MLB's Cincinnati Reds, and the NBA's Cincinnati Cavaliers. The city is also home to the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University. The city's historic neighborhoods include Over-the-Rhine, Mount Auburn, and Hyde Park. Cincinnati is a popular tourist destination and offers a variety of attractions and places to visit, including the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, the Newport Aquarium, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Cincinnati Luxury Hotels Laughlin, NV, United States Laughlin, Nevada is a great place to visit if you're looking for a fun and affordable vacation. There are plenty of casinos and resorts to choose from, as well as plenty of outdoor activities and attractions. Be sure to check out the local nightlife, and don't forget to take a trip down the mighty Colorado River. Laughlin Luxury Hotels Laughlin Luxury Resorts Anaheim, CA, United States Anaheim, California is home to both Disneyland and California Adventure Park. The parks are just a short walk away from each other, and make for a great day of exploration. Anaheim is also home to the Anaheim Angels and the Anaheim Ducks, so there's always a game to catch. If you're looking for something a little more low-key, Anaheim has a great shopping district and a variety of restaurants to choose from. Anaheim Luxury Hotels Santa Cruz, CA, United States Santa Cruz is a great place to visit! There are so many places to see and things to do. Some of my favorite places to visit are the Boardwalk, the wharf, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. The Boardwalk is a great place to go for a walk, ride on the amusement park rides, and eat some of the delicious food. The wharf is a great place to go for a walk, eat some seafood, and listen to the street performers. The University of California, Santa Cruz is a great place to visit to learn about the history of the area and to see some of the beautiful architecture. I highly recommend visiting Santa Cruz if you are looking for a fun and interesting place to visit!. Santa Cruz Luxury Hotels Eugene, OR, United States Eugene, Oregon is a great city to visit with a lot of places to see and things to do. One of the most popular attractions is the University of Oregon campus, which is home to a number of museums and a large football stadium. The city also has a vibrant arts scene, with a number of theaters and art galleries. Outdoor enthusiasts will enjoy the dozens of parks and hiking trails in the area, and there are also a number of wineries and breweries in the area. Eugene Luxury Hotels Branson, MO, United States There's plenty to see and do in Branson, Missouri, from state parks and amusement parks to theaters and shopping. Here are some of the most popular places to visit: Silver Dollar City is a theme park with rides, shows, and craftsmen demonstrations. is a theme park with rides, shows, and craftsmen demonstrations. The Shepherd of the Hills Outdoor Theatre puts on a variety of shows, including "The Legend of the Shepherd of the Hills" and "The Catfish Fry." puts on a variety of shows, including "The Legend of the Shepherd of the Hills" and "The Catfish Fry." Table Rock State Park has fishing, swimming, and hiking trails, as well as a nature center. has fishing, swimming, and hiking trails, as well as a nature center. The Titanic Museum features a half-sized replica of the ship, along with exhibits about the history of the Titanic. features a half-sized replica of the ship, along with exhibits about the history of the Titanic. Branson Landing is a shopping and entertainment complex on the waterfront. There's something for everyone in Branson, Missouri come visit and see for yourself!. Branson Luxury Hotels Panama City Beach, FL, United States The white sand beaches and emerald waters of Panama City Beach, Florida, are a popular tourist destination. The city is home to numerous hotels, resorts, and restaurants, as well as amusement and water parks. Visitors can also enjoy fishing, kayaking, and surfing. Panama City Beach Luxury Hotels Panama City Beach Luxury Resorts Monterey, CA, United States Monterey is a coastal city in Monterey County, California, United States. It stands at the southern end of Monterey Bay, on the Pacific coast. The city is also the home of the Naval Postgraduate School. Monterey is the largest city in the Central Coast region of California. The main attractions in Monterey are the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Fisherman's Wharf, Cannery Row, and the downtown area. Monterey Luxury Hotels Norfolk, VA, United States Norfolk, Virginia is a great place to visit for its historical places and military bases. Some places to visit in Norfolk are the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk Botanical Garden, and the Norfolk Naval Station. Norfolk Luxury Hotels Palm Springs, CA, United States Palm Springs is a vibrant city located in the Coachella Valley and is known for its year-round sunshine, resort atmosphere and Mid-Century Modern architecture. Top places to visit include the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, Palm Springs Art Museum, Indian Canyons and Moorten Botanical Garden. For a truly unique experience, be sure to check out the Palm Springs Modernism Show & Sale the worlds largest vintage furniture and design event. Palm Springs Luxury Hotels Palm Springs Luxury Resorts Palm Springs Luxury Villas Rochester, NY, United States Rochester is a city in western New York State and is the county seat of Monroe County. Rochester is known for its annual festivals, including the Rochester International Jazz Festival, the Rochester Fringe Festival, and the Holiday Folk Fair International. Places to visit in Rochester include the George Eastman Museum, the Strong National Museum of Play, the Rochester Museum and Science Center, and the Seneca Park Zoo. Rochester Luxury Hotels Pigeon Forge, TN, United States Visit the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge for a unique experience. This museum is dedicated to the Titanic, one of the most infamous ships in history. Tour the ship and learn about the passengers and crew who were on board. You can even see the actual artifacts recovered from the shipwreck. If you're looking for a little more excitement, head to Dollywood. This amusement park is home to roller coasters, a water park, and plenty of other rides and attractions. Plus, the park is themed around the life and music of Dolly Parton. No trip to Pigeon Forge is complete without a visit to the Great Smoky Mountains. These mountains offer a variety of activities, including hiking, fishing, and horseback riding. Plus, the natural beauty of the area is simply breathtaking. Pigeon Forge Luxury Hotels Jacksonville, FL, United States Jacksonville is less than an hour's drive from the beaches of Amelia Island and St. Augustine, and a little more than two hours from Orlando. The city has a lot to offer visitors, including a riverwalk, museums, and a vibrant arts scene. Jacksonville is also home to the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team. Jacksonville Luxury Hotels Minsk, Belarus Minsk, the capital of Belarus, is a city that has something for everyone. If you're looking for a little history, Minsk has plenty of it, with churches and monuments dating back to the 12th century. If you're looking for a lively nightlife, Minsk has that, too, with plenty of bars, clubs, and restaurants. And if you're looking for a little nature, Minsk has parks and gardens to enjoy. Here are just a few of the places you can visit in Minsk: The Holy Spirit Cathedral, one of the oldest churches in Minsk, is a must-visit for history buffs. The National Library of Belarus is a huge library with more than 18 million items in its collection. The Opera and Ballet Theatre is a beautiful building that hosts performances of both opera and ballet. The Victory Park is a large park with a war memorial, a children's playground, and a lake. And for a little bit of nature in the heart of the city, the Botanical Garden is a great place to relax and take a break from the hustle and bustle of Minsk. Minsk Luxury Hotels Jaipur, India Jaipur is one of the most popular tourist destinations in India. It is the capital of the state of Rajasthan and is known for its palaces, forts and temples. Some of the places to visit in Jaipur include the Amber Fort, the City Palace, the Jantar Mantar Observatory and the Hawa Mahal. Jaipur is also a great place to shop for traditional Indian handicrafts. Jaipur Luxury Hotels Chicago, IL, United States Chicago is a city full of culture and history. There are plenty of places to visit, such as the Willis Tower, Buckingham Fountain, and the Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicago is also home to many restaurants and bars, so there is something for everyone. Chicago Luxury Hotels Auckland, New Zealand Auckland is a beautiful city located on the north island of New Zealand. There are many places to visit in Auckland, including the Sky Tower, the Auckland War Memorial Museum, and the Auckland Domain. The beaches in Auckland are also worth visiting, especially Karekare and Piha. Auckland is a great place to visit, and I highly recommend it!. Auckland Luxury Hotels Auckland Luxury Villas Amsterdam, Netherlands If you're looking for a city that's got it all, Amsterdam should be your go-to destination. From the city's lively and vibrant nightlife to its charming and quiet neighborhoods, Amsterdam has something for everyone. Be sure to check out the Anne Frank Huis, the Rijksmuseum, and the Van Gogh Museum, as these are some of the most popular attractions in the city. And if you're looking for a little bit of nature, be sure to take a walk or bike ride through Amsterdam's many parks. Amsterdam Luxury Hotels Berlin, Germany There are so many great places to visit in Berlin that it can be hard to know where to start. From the iconic Brandenburg Gate to the fascinating Reichstag Building, there's something for everyone in this vibrant city. If you're looking for a bit of history, make sure to check out the Berlin Wall Memorial or the DDR Museum. And for those looking for a bit more fun, there's always the Alexanderplatz Christmas Market or the Zoologischer Garten. No matter what your interests, Berlin is a city you won't want to miss. Berlin Luxury Hotels Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok is a city of contrasts with its gleaming temples and skyscrapers, chaotic markets and tranquil canals. While it's a popular tourist destination, Bangkok is a city that can be enjoyed by visitors of all ages. Some of the top places to visit in Bangkok include the Grand Palace, Wat Arun, the floating markets and the Chatuchak Weekend Market. Bangkok Luxury Hotels Bangkok Luxury Resorts Bangkok Luxury Villas Bruges, Belgium Bruges is a city in Belgium that is worth visiting. It is full of medieval charm and there are a lot of things to see and do. Some of the places to visit include the Markt, the Belfry, and the Begijnhof. Bruges Luxury Hotels Brussels, Belgium Brussels is a city in Belgium that is best known for its chocolate, waffles, and beer. But there is much more to see and do in Brussels than just indulge in the local cuisine. There are a number of interesting historical landmarks to visit, such as the Grand Place and the Atomium, as well as a variety of parks and gardens. And, of course, Brussels is also a great city to explore on foot. Brussels Luxury Hotels Budapest, Hungary Budapest, Hungary's capital, is a city of thermal baths and medival, baroque and art nouveau architecture. Crowded with tourists, the city is bisected by the Danube River into the hilly Buda and the more developed and flat Pest. Among the main places of interest are the neo-Gothic Parliament, the Chain Bridge linking Buda and Pest, the Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion on the Buda bank, and the State Opera House and Heroes' Square on the Pest side. Budapest Luxury Hotels Playa del Carmen, Mexico Home to some of the best beaches in Mexico, Playa del Carmen is a favorite tourist destination for visitors from all over the world. With its lively nightlife, gorgeous coastline and ample shopping opportunities, there's something for everyone in this tropical paradise. Don't miss the opportunity to visit some of the area's most popular attractions, such as the ancient Mayan ruins of Tulum and Coba, or the eco-friendly Turtle Beach. With its friendly people, delicious food and stunning scenery, Playa del Carmen is a place you'll never want to leave. Playa del Carmen Luxury Hotels Playa del Carmen Luxury Resorts Playa del Carmen Luxury Villas Denver, CO, United States Denver is a great city for visitors. There are so many places to see and things to do. Some of the top places to visit include the 16th Street Mall, the Denver Botanic Gardens, the Denver Art Museum, and the Colorado State Capitol. There are also plenty of great restaurants and shops to explore. Denver is definitely a city worth visiting!. Denver Luxury Hotels Dublin, Ireland Dublin is a city located in Ireland. It's a city full of culture, with plenty of places to visit. Some popular tourist spots are the Guinness Storehouse, Trinity College, and the Dublin Castle. There are also plenty of pubs and restaurants to discover. Dublin Luxury Hotels Dusseldorf, Germany Dusseldorf, Germany is a city with many different places to visit. The city has a mix of old and new buildings, and a variety of activities to do. The best places to visit in Dusseldorf are the Konigsallee, the Rhine Tower, and the Oktoberfest. The Konigsallee is an open-air shopping mall that has many high-end stores. The Rhine Tower is the tallest building in the city and offers great views of Dusseldorf. The Oktoberfest is a week-long festival that celebrates German culture and food. Dusseldorf Luxury Hotels Edinburgh, United Kingdom Edinburgh, Scotland is a beautiful city to visit. The architecture is very old and unique, and there are plenty of historical places to visit, like Edinburgh Castle. There are also plenty of parks and gardens, and lots of shops and restaurants. Edinburgh Luxury Hotels Rome, Italy Rome is a city rich in history and filled with beautiful places to visit. Make sure to stop by the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Pantheon. Also be sure to visit St. Peters Basilica and the Sistine Chapel while in Rome. If youre looking for a little more nature in your trip, head to the Villa Borghese gardens or the Janiculum Hill for some wonderful views of the city. And of course, no trip to Rome is complete without a gelato!. Rome Luxury Hotels Rome Luxury Villas New York, NY, United States There are many amazing places to visit in New York State. Some of my favorites are the Niagara Falls, the Adirondack Mountains, and the Finger Lakes. If you're looking for a city break, New York City is definitely worth a visit. There's endless things to see and do, from touring the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island to visiting world-famous museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History. No matter what your interests are, you'll be able to find something to enjoy in New York State. New York Luxury Hotels New York Luxury Villas London, United Kingdom London is a city rich in history and full of amazing places to visit. Some of my favorite places are Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and the Tower of London. There is so much to see and do in London, you could spend weeks here and never run out of things to do. If you're looking for a city full of culture and history, London is the place for you. London Luxury Hotels London Luxury Cottages Madrid, Spain Madrid is one of the most beautiful and culturally rich cities in the world. From the Royal Palace to the Prado Museum, theres plenty to see and do in Madrid. If youre looking for a little bit of nature, Madrid has plenty of parks, like the Buen Retiro Park, to relax in. And dont forget to try some of the delicious tapas and wine while youre in town. Madrid Luxury Hotels Memphis, TN, United States The birthplace of rock 'n' roll, Memphis is a city rich in history and culture. From Graceland to Beale Street, there are plenty of places to visit in Memphis. Be sure to check out Sun Studio, where rock 'n' roll was born, and the National Civil Rights Museum, which tells the story of the African-American civil rights movement. Memphis is also home to some amazing food, so be sure to try some of the city's famous barbecue and soul food. Memphis Luxury Hotels Miami Beach, FL, United States There is much to explore in Miami Beach, from the famous Art Deco district to the vast beaches and crystal-clear waters. Outdoor enthusiasts will love the opportunities for fishing, kayaking, and paddleboarding, while history buffs can explore the ancient burial mounds at Miami Beach. Shoppers and foodies will find plenty to keep them busy, with vibrant neighborhoods like Lincoln Road and Ocean Drive offering unique boutiques and award-winning restaurants. And of course, no trip to Miami Beach is complete without a visit to world-famous South Beach. Miami Beach Luxury Hotels Miami Beach Luxury Resorts New Orleans, LA, United States You can't visit New Orleans without trying some of the local food. Beignets, Po' Boys, and gumbo are just a few of the must-try dishes. While you're in town, be sure to check out the French Quarter, Jackson Square, and St. Louis Cathedral. If you're looking for some nightlife, Bourbon Street is the place to be. And, of course, no trip to New Orleans is complete without a visit to Mardi Gras!. New Orleans Luxury Hotels Milan, Italy Milan is a city located in the Lombardy region of Italy. It is a popular tourist destination because of its historical and artistic heritage. Some of the places you should visit while in Milan are the Duomo, La Scala, and Castello Sforzesco. Milan Luxury Hotels Naples, Italy Naples is one of the most beautiful and historic cities in Italy. There are countless places to visit, such as the Royal Palace, the Museum of San Martino, and the Church of Gesu Nuovo. Naples is also home to excellent shopping and dining options. Be sure to enjoy a cup of coffee at one of the city's many cafes and take a stroll through the picturesque streets. Naples Luxury Hotels Paris, France Paris is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. It's home to iconic landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre Museum, as well as a thriving nightlife and restaurant scene. If you're looking to explore all that Paris has to offer, here are some of the top places to visit: The Eiffel Tower: This iconic landmark is a must-see in Paris. Climb to the top for stunning views of the city, or take a ride on the elevator to the bottom for a closer look at the structure. The Louvre Museum: This world-famous museum is home to some of the most famous works of art in the world, including the Mona Lisa. The Notre Dame Cathedral: This beautiful cathedral is one of the most famous landmarks in Paris. Make sure to climb to the top for some amazing views of the city. The Champs-Elysees: This famous avenue is a popular destination for shopping and dining. Be sure to wander down the street and take in all the sights and sounds. The Arc de Triomphe: This towering arch is another iconic landmark in Paris. Climb to the top for some amazing views of the city. Paris Luxury Hotels Paris Luxury Villas Prague, Czech Republic Prague is a city rich in history and culture. There are plenty of places to visit, including the Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, and the Old Town Square. There are also plenty of restaurants and bars to enjoy, and the nightlife is vibrant. Prague is a truly unique city and a must-visit for anyone traveling to the Czech Republic. Prague Luxury Hotels Punta Cana, Dominican Republic Located on the easternmost tip of the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana is known for its beautiful beaches and turquoise waters. This paradise is a favorite destination for travelers looking for a Caribbean getaway. Punta Cana is home to a wide variety of resorts and activities, from enjoying the sand and surf to golfing, spas, and shopping. Nature lovers can also explore the areas jungles, caves, and waterfalls. Punta Cana Luxury Hotels Punta Cana Luxury Resorts Punta Cana Luxury Villas Marbella, Spain If you're looking for an idyllic and luxurious Spanish escape, look no further than Marbella. Located on the country's Costa del Sol, Marbella is home to stunning beaches, top-notch resorts, world-class golfing, and much more. A visit to Marbella is the perfect way to experience all that Spain has to offer. Marbella Luxury Hotels Marbella Luxury Villas Marrakesh, Morocco Marrakesh is a city in Morocco that is full of culture and history. There are several places to visit in Marrakesh, including the Palace of the Bahia, the Ben Youssef Madrasa, and the Saadian Tombs. The souks (markets) are also a must-see, where you can find everything from souvenirs to spices to traditional clothing. Be sure to enjoy a meal in one of the many restaurants or cafes in Marrakesh; the food is delicious and the atmosphere is always lively. Marrakesh is a wonderful city to explore and definitely worth a visit!. Marrakesh Luxury Hotels San Francisco, CA, United States San Francisco is a popular tourist destination, and for good reason. There are plenty of things to see and do in this vibrant city. Here are some of the top places to visit: 1. Fisherman's Wharf: This neighborhood is home to a variety of shops and restaurants, as well as a popular pier where you can enjoy views of the bay. 2. The Golden Gate Bridge: This iconic bridge is a must-see for any visitor to San Francisco. 3. Alcatraz Island: This former federal prison is now a popular tourist attraction. It's a must-see for fans of history and crime dramas. 4. Chinatown: This colorful neighborhood is home to some of the best food in San Francisco. Be sure to check out the Dragon Gate entrance. 5. The Mission District: This trendy neighborhood is home to hip restaurants, bars, and art galleries. San Francisco Luxury Hotels Moscow, Russia Moscow, Russia is a beautiful city with plenty of places to visit. Some of the most popular tourist attractions are the Kremlin, Red Square, and Saint Basil's Cathedral. Other great places to see include the Bolshoi Theatre, Gorky Park, and the Tretyakov Gallery. There are also many churches and other historical buildings to explore. Moscow is a lively city with a lot of culture and nightlife. There is something for everyone to enjoy in Moscow. Moscow Luxury Hotels Venice, Italy Venice is one of the most beautiful places on earth. The city is built on a lagoon in northeast Italy and is known for its canals and gondolas. There are many places to visit in Venice, including the Grand Canal, St. Marks Square, and the Rialto Bridge. Venice is also home to many museums, including the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Venice Luxury Hotels Vienna, Austria Vienna, Austria is a city with a long and rich history. There are many places to visit in Vienna, including the Hofburg Palace, the Ringstrasse, and St. Stephen's Cathedral. Vienna is also home to some of the world's best shopping, including the Karntner Strasse and the Graben. Finally, no visit to Vienna is complete without experiencing the city's world-famous nightlife. Vienna Luxury Hotels Zurich, Switzerland Zurich is a marvelous city located in the heart of Switzerland. It is a city that has something to offer for everyone. From amazing restaurants and beautiful architecture to exciting nightlife and gorgeous parks, Zurich has something for everyone. Some of the most popular places to visit in Zurich include the Bahnhofstrasse, which is the city's most famous shopping street, the Lindenhof, which is a beautiful park with amazing views of the city, and Grossmunster, which is a stunning Romanesque church. Zurich is also home to some of the best museums in the world, including the famed Museum of Art and the Swiss National Museum. With its mix of old-world charm and modern amenities, Zurich is a city that is definitely worth exploring. Zurich Luxury Hotels Acapulco, Mexico If you're looking for a Mexican vacation spot with plenty of history and culture to explore, Acapulco is a great option. From the archeological wonders of the ancient city to the stunning coastal views, there's something for everyone in Acapulco. Plus, with its temperate climate, it's a great escape from colder winter weather. Acapulco Luxury Hotels Acapulco Luxury Resorts Acapulco Luxury Villas Nashville, TN, United States One of the United States' most interesting places to visit is Nashville, Tennessee. There's plenty to see and do there, from the Grand Ole Opry to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Music is a big part of the city's history and culture, so be sure to catch a show while you're in town. Other popular attractions include the Ryman Auditorium, the Parthenon, and the Jack Daniel's Distillery. Nashville is also a great place to eat, with a wide variety of restaurants serving up everything from barbecue to Mexican food. So if you're looking for an exciting and diverse city to visit, be sure to add Nashville to your list. Nashville Luxury Hotels Nashville Luxury Villas Atlanta, GA, United States What's not to love about Atlanta? From the iconic Georgia Aquarium to the World of Coke, from the Fox Theatre to Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta offers a wealth of destinations for tourists. Sports fans will want to check out the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and history buffs will enjoy the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum. Braves fans can take a tour of SunTrust Park, and shoppers will enjoy the many boutiques and malls in the city. There's also a great restaurant scene in Atlanta, and music lovers will want to check out the many venues offering live music. Whether you're looking for a fun family vacation spot or a place to explore on your own, Atlanta is a great choice!. Atlanta Luxury Hotels Miami, FL, United States The Magic City is a top tourist destination for a reasonthere are endless things to do in Miami! From exploring the trendy neighborhoods and dazzling beaches to soaking up the Latin culture and nightlife, Miami is jam-packed with amazing places to visit. Here are a few of our favorites: 1. Wynwood Walls: This outdoor art exhibit is a must-see for any art lover. The colorful murals are awe-inspiring and definitely Instagram-worthy. 2. Vizcaya Museum and Gardens: This estate is dripping with luxury and opulence, from the grandiose architecture to the expansive gardens. It's the perfect place for a day of relaxation. 3. South Beach: This world-famous beach is a must-visit for any sun-seeker. The crystal-clear water and soft sand make for the perfect day-long beach getaway. 4. Little Havana: Experience Cuban culture at its best in Little Havana. From delicious food to lively music and dance, there's something for everyone in this vibrant district. 5. Art Deco District: This district is home to Miami's most iconic architecture. Take a stroll down the charming streets and admire the colorful buildings that make Miami so unique. Miami Luxury Hotels Miami Luxury Villas Tokyo, Japan Tokyo is a must-see destination in Japan. There are endless places to explore in this city - temples, shrines, gardens, and more. The Shinjuku district is a great place to start, with its neon-lit streets and myriad shops and restaurants. For a taste of traditional Japan, visit the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa or the Imperial Palace. Nature lovers will enjoy the Hamarikyu Gardens or the Hama-rikyu Teien Garden. And for a unique experience, take a trip to Mount Fuji. Tokyo Luxury Hotels Tokyo Luxury Villas Buenos Aires, Argentina There are plenty of places to visit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Some popular tourist destinations include the obelisk, the Casa Rosada, and the Puerto Madero district. Every barrio (neighborhood) has its own unique culture and flavor. San Telmo, La Boca, and Palermo are some of the most popular barrios. There are also many parks and plazas, such as Plaza de Mayo and Plaza de la Republica, that are worth checking out. Buenos Aires Luxury Hotels Hamburg, Germany One of the most popular tourist destinations in Germany is Hamburg. From the lively and colorful harbor district to the grandiose City Hall, there is plenty to see and do in Hamburg. Some of the other popular places to visit include the Reeperbahn district with its pubs and nightlife, the Planten un Blomen botanical gardens, and the architecturally stunning Rathausmarkt square. Hamburg Luxury Hotels Lisbon, Portugal The capital of Portugal, Lisbon is a city of fascinating contrasts. From its coastal location, visitors can enjoy stunning ocean views, while its hilly, narrow streets are home to a maze of charming traditional homes and lively nightlife. A city of 7 hills, Lisbon is a bustling metropolis with something for everyone. Here are some of the top places to visit: The Belem Tower, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of Lisbons most iconic landmarks. This 16th-century fortress and lighthouse is a must-see for visitors. The Alfama district, with its winding streets and tile-roofed homes, is the oldest district in Lisbon. This is the perfect place to get lost and explore the citys history. The Lisbon Zoo is a great place to enjoy a day out with the family, with over 2,000 animals from around the world. The Christ the King statue, located atop a hill in the suburb of Almada, offers impressive views of Lisbon and the river Tagus. The Lisbon Oceanarium, located in the Parque das Nacoes district, is home to more than 12,000 marine creatures and is one of the largest aquariums in Europe. Lisbon Luxury Hotels Lisbon Luxury Villas Malaga, Spain Malaga is an attractive seaside city in southern Spain with a long history. There are many places to visit in Malaga, including the Gibralfaro Castle, the Alcazaba fortress, and the Malaga Cathedral. Malaga is also home to a variety of museums, including the Picasso Museum. The city is well known for its beaches, and there are many delightful places to relax and enjoy the sun and the sea. Malaga Luxury Hotels Malaga Luxury Villas Munich, Germany When planning a vacation to Munich, Germany, be sure to include these top places to visit: The Marienplatz is a must-see square in the city center, featuring a beautiful Glockenspiel show and the Old and New Town Halls. The Englisher Garten, Europes largest city park, is a great place for a relaxing stroll or a picnic. OlympiaPark is home to the famous 1972 Olympic Stadium as well as a huge amusement park. The Frauenkirche is a stunning church in the old town with a Glockenspiel of its own. Beer lovers will want to visit the Hofbrauhaus, the worlds most famous beer hall. For a bit of history and culture, check out the LudwigMaximilians-University and the Deutsches Museum. There is so much to see and do in Munich these are just a few highlights!. Munich Luxury Hotels Granada, Spain Granada is a city in southern Spain that is known for its Moorish architecture and history. The city is home to the Alhambra, a palace and fortress that was constructed in the late 1300s. Visitors can also enjoy the citys many churches, including the Cathedral of Granada. Granada is also a convenient base for exploring the other cities and towns in Andalusia. Granada Luxury Hotels Bucharest, Romania Bucharest is a city full of history and culture. There are many places to visit, such as the Palace of Parliament, which is the world's largest civilian building. Other places to visit include the old city center, which is full of charming streets and buildings, and the Botanical Garden, which is the largest botanical garden in Romania. Bucharest Luxury Hotels Bologna, Italy Bologna, Italy is a beautiful city with plenty of places to visit. Some popular tourist destinations include the Piazza Maggiore, the Tower of Asinelli, and the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca. There are also plenty of museums and churches to explore, and the city is full of charming restaurants and cafes. Bologna is an excellent destination for a vacation, and there is something for everyone to enjoy in this amazing city. Bologna Luxury Hotels Porto, Portugal Porto is a port city in Portugal that is well known for its wine. It's also a city with a long and rich history. There are many places to visit in Porto, including the old city center, the Dom Luis I Bridge, and the Clerigos Tower. Porto is also home to the famous Port wine caves, which are a must-visit for wine lovers. Porto Luxury Hotels Cologne, Germany Cologne, located on the Rhine River in western Germany, is a city well worth visiting. The city has a long and rich history, dating back to the time of the Roman Empire. Some of the city's most popular tourist attractions include the Cologne Cathedral, Hohenzollern Bridge, and the RheinEnergieStadion. Additionally, Cologne is home to a wide variety of museums, shops, and restaurants. In fact, the city has been ranked as one of the best places to live in Germany. So, if you're looking for a great European city to visit, be sure to add Cologne to your list. Cologne Luxury Hotels Istanbul, Turkey If you're looking for an exotic and affordable vacation destination, look no further than Istanbul, Turkey. Filled with historical places to visit and bargains to be found, Istanbul offers something for everyone. Be sure to visit the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, and the Blue Mosque while you're there. Don't forget to bargain for the best prices when shopping in the bazaars, and enjoy some delicious Turkish cuisine while you're at it. Istanbul is sure to leave you with a lasting impression. Istanbul Luxury Hotels Istanbul Luxury Villas Dubai, United Arab Emirates Dubai is a fascinating and exotic city that offers visitors a mix of traditional Middle Eastern culture and modern, cosmopolitan life. There are plenty of places to visit in Dubai, from the towering skyscrapers of Downtown Dubai to the luxury shopping malls and luxurious hotels of the Palm Jumeirah. Don't miss a chance to experience an Arabian night out on an epic dhow cruise, or take a trip out into the Arabian Desert to see the stunning sand dunes. Dubai Luxury Hotels Dubai Luxury Resorts Dubai Luxury Villas Antwerp, Belgium Antwerp is a city located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital of the province of Antwerp and has a population of over half a million people. Antwerp is a popular tourist destination due to its many historical buildings, museums, and art galleries. Some of the most popular places to visit in Antwerp are the Cathedral of Our Lady, the City Hall, the Rubenshuis, and the Antwerp Zoo. Antwerp Luxury Hotels Lyon, France Lyon is a beautiful city in the south of France that is full of culture and places to visit. Some of the most popular places to visit in Lyon are the Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourviere, the Place Bellecour, and the Vieux Lyon. The Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourviere is a beautiful cathedral that is a must-see when visiting Lyon. The Place Bellecour is a large square in the heart of Lyon that is full of restaurants and cafes. The Vieux Lyon is a district in Lyon that is full of old buildings and is a great place to wander around and take in the sights. Lyon Luxury Hotels Athens, Greece If you find yourself in Athens, there are definitely some spots you won't want to miss. The Acropolis, Parthenon, and Olympic Stadium are all essential stops, but there are plenty of others, too. If you're looking for a bit of history, the National Archaeological Museum is a must-see, while nature lovers will enjoy a visit to the botanical gardens. If you're looking to relax, take a walk along the beach in Glyfada or head to the Plaka district for a charming and picturesque setting. No matter what you're interested in, Athens has something for you. Athens Luxury Hotels Athens Luxury Villas Helsinki, Finland While in Helsinki, make sure to visit these popular tourist destinations: The Senate Square and Lutheran Cathedral The Sibelius Monument Ateneum Art Museum Market Square Helsinki Zoo. Helsinki Luxury Hotels Vilnius, Lithuania The capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, is a picturesque city with a rich history. The old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is full of charming churches, narrow streets, and pretty squares. There are also lots of museums and other places of interest to visit, including the Hill of Crosses, Gediminas Tower, and the Presidential Palace. Vilnius is a great city to explore on foot, and there are plenty of cafes, restaurants, and bars to enjoy in the evening. Vilnius Luxury Hotels Reykjavik, Iceland A city of remote beauty, Reykjavik is teeming with interesting places to visit. One of the worlds most northern capitals, Reykjavik offers stunning landscapes and a wealth of cultural experiences. From the iconic Hallgrimskirkja church to the popular Golden Circle tour, theres plenty to see and do in Reykjavik. Be sure to check out the citys lively nightlife scene, too you wont be disappointed!. Reykjavik Luxury Hotels Glasgow, United Kingdom Some of the most popular places to visit in Glasgow include the Gallery of Modern Art, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the Riverside Museum, and the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre. There are also many wonderful parks and gardens to explore, including the Botanic Gardens and Glasgow Green. For those interested in history and architecture, there are many fascinating old buildings to see, such as the Glasgow Cathedral and the University of Glasgow. And for those looking for a lively nightlife, Glasgow has no shortage of pubs, clubs, and restaurants. Glasgow Luxury Hotels Los Angeles, CA, United States As the birthplace of Hollywood and home to some of the world's most recognisable landmarks, there's no shortage of places to visit in Los Angeles. Start by exploring the city's iconic neighbourhoods like Beverly Hills and Hollywood, then venture out to attractions like the Griffith Observatory, Venice Beach and Disneyland. And don't forget to savour the city's world-famous cultural scene, with its abundance of museums, theatres and restaurants. Los Angeles Luxury Hotels Los Angeles Luxury Villas San Diego, CA, United States San Diego is a city located in California and is a major tourist destination. One of the main reasons people visit the city is for its many beaches. Coronado Beach, Mission Beach, and Pacific Beach are some of the most popular and are all within close proximity to the city center. Other attractions in San Diego include the San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld San Diego, and the USS Midway Museum. Restaurants, bars, and shopping can be found throughout the city, and world-renowned museums, like the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, are also located in San Diego. San Diego Luxury Hotels San Diego Luxury Resorts San Diego Luxury Villas Washington, DC, United States Washington, D.C. is a city full of history and places to visit. Some popular places to visit are the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, and the Smithsonian. D.C. is also home to a number of monuments and memorials, like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Korean War Veterans Memorial. There are also a number of museums in D.C., like the American History Museum and the National Air and Space Museum. Washington Luxury Hotels Cancun, Mexico Cancun is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Mexico. Aside from its beautiful beaches, there are plenty of places to visit and things to do in Cancun. Some of the most popular attractions include the ancient ruins of Chichen Itza, the eco-park Xcaret, and the nightclubs and bars in the resort district. Cancun Luxury Hotels Cancun Luxury Resorts Cancun Luxury Villas Virginia Beach, VA, United States Virginia Beach is one of the top tourist destinations on the East Coast. From the Virginia Beach Boardwalk to the miles of sandy beaches, there's something for everyone to enjoy. There are also plenty of restaurants, shops, and other attractions to keep visitors busy. Some of the most popular places to visit in Virginia Beach include: The Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center : This aquarium is home to more than 20,000 animals, including sharks, dolphins, and rays. : This aquarium is home to more than 20,000 animals, including sharks, dolphins, and rays. The Virginia Beach Boardwalk: This 3.5-mile boardwalk is one of the most popular attractions in Virginia Beach. It features a wide variety of shops, restaurants, and amusements. This 3.5-mile boardwalk is one of the most popular attractions in Virginia Beach. It features a wide variety of shops, restaurants, and amusements. First Landing State Park: This park offers miles of hiking and biking trails, as well as a beachfront area for swimming and sunbathing. This park offers miles of hiking and biking trails, as well as a beachfront area for swimming and sunbathing. Cape Henry Lighthouse: This lighthouse is one of the oldest in the country and offers stunning views of the Chesapeake Bay. There are plenty of other things to do in Virginia Beach, including dolphin and whale watching tours, kayaking, and golfing. Whether you're looking for a fun family vacation or a romantic getaway, Virginia Beach is sure to please. Virginia Beach Luxury Hotels Virginia Beach Luxury Resorts Beijing, China If you're looking for an amazing cultural experience, be sure to add Beijing, China to your travel bucket list! With beautiful temples, charming hutongs (traditional alleyways), and a lively food scene, there's something for everyone in this bustling city. Plus, Beijing is home to some of the most iconic attractions in China, like the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City. So if you're looking for an unforgettable East Asian adventure, be sure to add Beijing to your list!. Beijing Luxury Hotels Seoul, South Korea Seoul is a metropolitan city that is home to over 10 million people. It is a city full of culture, history, and a vibrant nightlife. There are plenty of places to visit in Seoul, including the Gyeongbokgung Palace, Changdeokgung Palace, and N Seoul Tower. The Jeongdongne district is a must-see for anyone interested in art and culture, and the Itaewon district is a great place to go for a night on the town. Seoul Luxury Hotels South Lake Tahoe, CA, United States Known for its dramatic lake and mountain scenery, South Lake Tahoe offers visitors plenty of places to visit and things to do. Some of the most popular attractions include floating down the river on a tube, hiking the trails in the summer and skiing or snowboarding the slopes in the winter. The city also has a variety of restaurants and nightlife options, as well as casinos for those looking to try their luck. South Lake Tahoe Luxury Hotels South Lake Tahoe Luxury Resorts Daytona Beach, FL, United States Daytona Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, United States. It is approximately 40 miles northeast of Orlando, and 85 miles southeast of Jacksonville. The city is known as "The World's Most Famous Beach." Daytona Beach is a principal city of the Fun Coast region of Florida. The Daytona Beach area is a popular tourist destination. It is well known for its beaches, sports events, and motorsports. Daytona Beach was the birthplace of NASCAR and home to its first track, Daytona International Speedway. Dayton Beach also features a large number of tourist-oriented businesses, such as motels, restaurants, and bars. Daytona Beach Luxury Hotels Rio de Janeiro, Brazil The coastline of Rio de Janeiro is breathtaking, and the views from Christ the Redeemer and Sugar Loaf Mountain are unforgettable. Rio's world-famous beaches are the perfect place to relax and enjoy the sun and the surf. The city's rich culture and history can be experienced in its many museums and in the lively nightlife. Rio is also a great place to shop for souvenirs. Rio de Janeiro Luxury Hotels Rio de Janeiro Luxury Villas Jaco, Costa Rica Jaco is a town on the Central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. It's about an hour drive from San Jose and is a popular spot for surfers, sunbathers, and tourists. There are a number of beaches in the area, as well as restaurants, bars, and hotels. If you're looking for a place to relax and enjoy the Costa Rican sun and beaches, Jaco is a great option. Jaco Luxury Hotels Oslo, Norway Oslo, Norway is a city with plenty of places to visit. You can find the peace and tranquility of nature parks and green spaces, experience the city's vibrant nightlife, or take in the historical and cultural sights. Here are a few of the top places to visit in Oslo: The Royal Palace: Oslo's Royal Palace is the official residence of Norway's king and queen. The palace is open to the public year-round, and offers a glimpse into the lives of the royal family. Oslo's Royal Palace is the official residence of Norway's king and queen. The palace is open to the public year-round, and offers a glimpse into the lives of the royal family. Vigeland Park: Considered one of Oslo's most popular tourist destinations, Vigeland Park is home to over 200 sculptures by Gustav Vigeland. The park is a great place to spend a sunny day outdoors. Considered one of Oslo's most popular tourist destinations, Vigeland Park is home to over 200 sculptures by Gustav Vigeland. The park is a great place to spend a sunny day outdoors. The Maritime Museum: This museum is home to a variety of exhibits on Norway's maritime history. Visitors can explore everything from Viking ships to modern submarines. This museum is home to a variety of exhibits on Norway's maritime history. Visitors can explore everything from Viking ships to modern submarines. The National Gallery: The National Gallery is Norway's largest art museum, and home to a vast collection of paintings and sculptures from the country's most famous artists. The National Gallery is Norway's largest art museum, and home to a vast collection of paintings and sculptures from the country's most famous artists. Aker Brygge: Aker Brygge is a popular waterfront district in Oslo, home to a variety of bars, restaurants, and shops. The area is a great place to people watch and enjoy the view of the Oslo Fjord. Oslo Luxury Hotels Lima, Peru If you're looking for a city that's bursting with culture and flavor, Lima, Peru is the place for you! This vibrant destination is home to some of the most amazing places to visit in all of South America. From ancient ruins to lush rainforests, there's something for everyone in Lima. Here are just a few of the must-see attractions in this amazing city: The Larco Museum is one of Lima's top tourist destinations. This incredible museum is home to one of the largest collections of pre-Columbian art in the world. The Historic Center of Lima is a must-see for any history lover. This vibrant area is home to some of the oldest architecture in Lima, including the iconic San Francisco Monastery. If you're looking for a little bit of jungle in the city, head to the Parque de la Reserva. This lush park is home to beautiful gardens, a zoo, and even a butterfly farm! No trip to Lima would be complete without a visit to Machu Picchu. This ancient Inca citadel is one of the most iconic sites in all of South America. Lima Luxury Hotels Ankara, Turkey Ankara is the cultural and political center of Turkey. The city is home to many museums, including the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, and is a popular destination for tourists. The Citadel, the Ataturk Mausoleum, and the War of Independence Museum are all popular tourist destinations in Ankara. The city is also home to a vibrant nightlife and is a popular destination for students. Ankara Luxury Hotels Birmingham, United Kingdom There are plenty of great places to visit in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Some of the most popular places to go include the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, and the Black Country Living Museum. These places are all great for tourists, as they offer a variety of attractions, including beautiful gardens, interesting art, and a recreation of an old-fashioned town. Additionally, there are plenty of other great places to visit in Birmingham, such as the Jewellery Quarter and the German Christmas Market. Birmingham Luxury Hotels York, United Kingdom With a rich history that spans back over 1,000 years, York is a must-visit destination in the United Kingdom. Explore the city's medieval architecture and narrow cobblestone streets, or enjoy a leisurely walk along the River Ouse. Visitors can also enjoy a variety of cultural experiences, such as the York Minster cathedral, the Jorvik Viking Centre, and the National Railway Museum. There are also plenty of shops and restaurants to enjoy in York. York Luxury Hotels Inverness, United Kingdom Inverness, Scotland is a must-see destination on any traveler's list. Filled with rolling green hills, historical sites, and plenty of outdoor activities, there's something for everyone in this charming town. Start by exploring the city center, which is home to a variety of shops and restaurants. Make sure to check out the Inverness Castle, which offers commanding views of the area, and the Inverness Cathedral, a beautiful example of medieval architecture. Outside of the city center, there are plenty of other attractions to explore. The Loch Ness Monster is said to make its home in the loch here, and visitors can take boat tours to hunt for the mythical creature. If you're looking for a more active adventure, take a hike in the hills or go fishing on the loch. No matter what you choose to do, Inverness is a beautiful and welcoming town that is sure to charm you. Inverness Luxury Hotels Marseille, France The Vieux Port (Old Harbor) is the oldest port in France. It is a beautiful place to visit with its sailboats, restaurants, and cafes. The Notre Dame de la Garde Basilica is also worth a visit. It offers stunning views of the city. If you're looking for a more lively atmosphere, head to the La Canebiere. It's a wide avenue with plenty of shops and restaurants. Marseille Luxury Hotels Marseille Luxury Villas Honolulu, HI, United States Honolulu is a city located on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, United States. It is the most populous city in the state of Hawaii and the county seat of the City and County of Honolulu. Honolulu is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Hawaii. Waikiki Beach is one of the most famous beaches in the world and is located in Honolulu. Other places to visit in Honolulu include Diamond Head, the USS Arizona Memorial, and Hanauma Bay. Honolulu Luxury Hotels Honolulu Luxury Resorts Honolulu Luxury Villas Bar Harbor, ME, United States Famous for lobster and stunning ocean views, Bar Harbor is a popular destination in Maine. There are plenty of things to do in the town and its surroundings, including hiking, biking, whale watching, and exploring Acadia National Park. Bar Harbor Luxury Hotels Colorado Springs, CO, United States There are many places to visit in Colorado Springs. Garden of the Gods is a popular park with beautiful rock formations. Pike's Peak is a 14,115 foot mountain that offers great views and outdoor activities. The Broadmoor is a world-renowned resort with lovely gardens and a championship golf course. Royal Gorge Bridge is the world's highest suspension bridge and a popular tourist spot. Colorado Springs Luxury Hotels Fort Myers Beach, FL, United States Just an hours drive from the Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, Fort Myers Beach is a popular tourist spot, especially in the winter when the snowbirds migrate down. The seven-mile-long beach is known for its white sand and clear water and is a popular spot for swimming, sunbathing, fishing, and kayaking. There are also a number of restaurants and bars in the area, as well as a few stores. Fort Myers Beach Luxury Hotels Biloxi, MS, United States There are plenty of places to explore in Biloxi, Mississippi from the citys iconic Beaches to the picturesque Bay Saint Louis. Venture into the citys downtown area to check out the many shops and restaurants, or take a walk along the shoreline. No matter what you choose to do, youre sure to have a great time in Biloxi. Biloxi Luxury Hotels Palermo, Italy If you're looking for a city with a rich and diverse history, Palermo is the place for you. This coastal city in Italy is teeming with medieval architecture, churches, and cathedrals. Be sure to check out the Teatro Massimo, the largest opera house in Europe, and the Palazzo dei Normanni, the seat of the Sicilian government. Don't miss out on the city's vibrant nightlife and vast array of restaurants that serve up some of the best food in the country. Palermo Luxury Hotels Palermo Luxury Villas Manila, Philippines The capital of the Philippines, Manila is a fascinating city with a rich history and a vibrant culture. There are plenty of places to visit in Manila, including the walled city of Intramuros, the Rizal Park, and the Manila Bay. The city is also home to a large number of churches, including the Manila Cathedral and the San Agustin Church. Manila is a great city to explore on foot, and there are plenty of restaurants and shops to enjoy. Manila Luxury Hotels Zermatt, Switzerland Zermatt is an alpine village in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It is famous for its ski resort, mountaineering and hiking trails. The views of the Matterhorn from Zermatt are iconic. The village is car-free, making it a cyclists' and pedestrians' paradise. There are many places to visit in Zermatt, including the village's beautiful churches, impressive museums, and great restaurants. Zermatt Luxury Hotels Basel, Switzerland Basel is a city located in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine. Basel has a population of about 176,000 and is the third most populous city in Switzerland. Basel has many interesting places to visit, including the Basel Munster, the Basel Rathaus (town hall), the Basel Zoo, and the Munsterhof, the old town square. Basel also has a number of art museums, including the Kunstmuseum Basel, the Fondation Beyeler, and the Schaulager. Basel is a great city to visit, and I highly recommend it!. Basel Luxury Hotels Copenhagen, Denmark There are a number of places to visit in Copenhagen, Denmark. Some of the most popular tourist destinations include Tivoli Gardens, Nyhavn, and the Rosenborg Castle Gardens. Tivoli Gardens is a beautiful amusement park that has something for everyone. It is perfect for a day of fun with family or friends. Nyhavn is a charming canal district that is popular for its brightly colored houses and lively atmosphere. Visitors can enjoy a relaxing cruise down the canal or take a seat in one of the many cafes and restaurants. The Rosenborg Castle Gardens are home to a majestic castle as well as beautifully landscaped gardens. There is plenty to see and do in Copenhagen, Denmark. Copenhagen Luxury Hotels Steamboat Springs, CO, United States Steamboat Springs is located in northwestern Colorado. The town is named for the steamboats that traveled up the Yampa River in the 1800s. Today, the town is a popular tourist destination, known for its skiing, snowboarding, hiking, and rafting. Steamboat Springs Luxury Hotels Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates and is home to many tourist attractions. Some popular places to visit in Abu Dhabi include the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the Ferrari World Theme Park, and the Yas Island Waterpark. There are also a number of museums and shopping malls in Abu Dhabi, making it a great destination for those looking for a mix of culture and leisure. Abu Dhabi Luxury Hotels Abu Dhabi Luxury Resorts Abu Dhabi Luxury Villas Bogota, Colombia There's a lot to see and do in Bogota. Some of the top places to visit include the historical La Candelaria district, the cobblestone streets of Plaza de Bolivar, the Monserrate mountain, the Bogota Botanical Garden, and the Gold Museum. La Candelaria is home to many brightly-colored colonial buildings, churches, and plazas. Plaza de Bolivar is the center of Bogota and is surrounded by important landmarks like the Presidential Palace and the National Capitol. The Monserrate mountain is a popular tourist destination due to its stunning views of Bogota. The Bogota Botanical Garden is the largest in Colombia and features a wide variety of plants and trees. The Gold Museum is home to the largest collection of Pre-Columbian gold artifacts in the world. Bogota Luxury Hotels Cebu, Philippines Due to its location and its rich history, there are plenty of places to visit in Cebu. Some of the most popular tourist destinations include the Cebu Taoist Temple, the Fort San Pedro, the Yap-San Diego Ancestral House, and the Magellan's Cross. Cebu Luxury Hotels Cebu Luxury Resorts Lagos, Portugal Lagos is a small town in Portugal with a population of around 22,000. It's located in the Algarve region and is a popular tourist destination. Some of the places to visit in Lagos are the beaches, the old town, and the Marina. The beaches are beautiful and there are a lot of them to choose from. The old town is a maze of narrow streets and alleyways with lots of shops and restaurants. The Marina is a great place to walk around and watch the boats. Lagos Luxury Hotels Medellin, Colombia Some places to visit in Medellin, Colombia are: the Botanical Garden, the Ethnographic Museum, the Jardin Botanico, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Park of Lights, and the San Pedro Claver Church. Medellin Luxury Hotels Genoa, Italy While there are many places to visit in Genoa, one of the must-sees is the city's cathedral. Dedicated to San Lorenzo, the church features an intricate Gothic facade and a Renaissance interior. If you're looking for a place to take in some stunning views, head to the Genoa Aquarium, which is located on the promenade stretching along the city's harbor. Genoa Luxury Hotels Hoi An, Vietnam Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Vietnam. Its a bridge town thats best explored on foot. The narrow streets are a mix of Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese architecture. There are tailors, artisans, and lantern shops galore. The food is also some of the best in Vietnam. Be sure to try the local specialties, like Cao Lau and White Rose dumplings. Hoi An Luxury Hotels Hoi An Luxury Resorts Baku, Azerbaijan Baku, Azerbaijan is a city with a lot of culture and history. There are a lot of places to visit, like the Palace of the Shirvanshahs and the Maiden Tower. There are also a lot of great restaurants, like the Flame Club, which has a great atmosphere and delicious food. Baku Luxury Hotels San Luis Obispo, CA, United States San Luis Obispo is a city located in the central coast of California. It's known for its natural beauty, relaxed vibe, and abundance of things to do. Some of the top places to visit in San Luis Obispo include the Madonna Inn, Hearst Castle, and the Paso Robles wine country. The city is also home to a variety of beaches, parks, and other attractions. In addition, San Luis Obispo is a great place to live, with plenty of restaurants, shops, and other amenities. San Luis Obispo Luxury Hotels Colombo, Sri Lanka Colombo is the largest city and commercial capital of Sri Lanka. The city is located on the west coast of the island and is the administrative, commercial, and industrial center of Sri Lanka. Colombo is also the center of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, with numerous Buddhist temples. There are a number of places to visit in Colombo, including the Galle Face Green, the Dutch fort, the Pettah Bazaar, and the Sri Lankan National Museum. Colombo Luxury Hotels Yogyakarta, Indonesia The city of Yogyakarta in Indonesia is home to some of the most stunning temples and historical landmarks in the country. The city is also a great place to enjoy traditional Javanese culture and cuisine. Some of the must-see places in Yogyakarta include the Borobudur Temple, the Prambanan Temple, and the Sultan's Palace. Yogyakarta Luxury Hotels Cefalu, Italy Looking for a beautiful and historic place to visit in Italy? Look no further than Cefalu. This town is teeming with history and stunning architecture, and its location on the coast makes it the perfect place to relax and take in the stunning scenery. Don't miss the Duomo di Cefalu, a 12th century Norman church that is definitely worth a visit, or the Palazzo dei Normanni, a former royal palace. Cefalu Luxury Hotels San Jose, CA, United States San Jose, California, is home to a variety of tourist destinations. Some popular places to visit include the Winchester Mystery House, the Tech Museum of Innovation, and the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. There are also a number of lovely parks, such as Kelley Park and Plaza de Cesar Chavez, that are well worth a visit. San Jose is also home to a number of great restaurants, so be sure to check out the local cuisine. Whatever your interests, San Jose has something to offer visitors. San Jose Luxury Hotels Hong Kong, China Hong Kong is one of the most popular destinations for tourists in China. There are many places to visit in Hong Kong, including the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, Victoria Peak, and the Temple Street Night Market. Hong Kong is also a great place to shop, with many high-end malls and markets. Hong Kong Luxury Hotels Hong Kong Luxury Resorts Orlando, FL, United States Orlando is a city in the central region of Florida, in the United States. The city is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the metropolitan area also known as Greater Orlando. Orlando is well known for its theme parks, including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort, and SeaWorld Orlando. Other tourist destinations in Orlando include the Holy Land Experience, the Orlando Science Center, and the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art. Orlando is also home to the University of Central Florida, one of the largest universities in the United States. Orlando Luxury Hotels Orlando Luxury Resorts Orlando Luxury Villas Philadelphia, PA, United States If youre looking for a place thats rich in history and culture, Philadelphia is the place for you. The city is home to numerous iconic landmarks, including the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Theres also a great variety of museums and other attractions to explore, such as the Philadelphia Zoo and the Please Touch Museum. And, of course, Philly is the birthplace of Americas favorite sandwich, the cheesesteak. So why not visit Americas most historic city and see for yourself what all the fuss is about?. Philadelphia Luxury Hotels Nice, France France is known for its many beautiful places to visit, and Nice is no exception. With its stunning coastline and mild climate, Nice is a popular tourist destination. Some of the most popular places to visit in Nice include the Promenade des Anglais, the Castle Hill, and the Old Town. There is also a wide variety of shops and restaurants to enjoy in Nice. If you're looking for a beautiful and relaxing place to visit in France, Nice is definitely worth considering. Nice Luxury Hotels Nice Luxury Villas Singapore, Singapore Singapore is a popular tourist destination, brimming with cultural and natural attractions. From award-winning restaurants to serene gardens and pristine beaches, there is much to explore in this diverse city-state. Here are some of the top places to visit in Singapore: 1. Marina Bay: This iconic waterfront district is home to stunning architecture, world-class landmarks, and a vibrant nightlife. 2. Gardens by the Bay: These stunning gardens feature a mix of plants from around the world, as well as towering sculptures and a biodome. 3. Chinatown: This lively district is home to traditional Chinese shops and restaurants, as well as vibrant street markets. 4. Little India: This neighborhood is known for its vibrant culture and colorful temples. 5. Sentosa Island: This resort island is home to sandy beaches, lush rainforests, and a variety of entertainment options. Singapore Luxury Hotels Singapore Luxury Resorts Nottingham, United Kingdom Nottingham is a city in the East Midlands of England. It is one of the United Kingdom's major cities, with a population of over 321,000. The city is home to two universities, Queen's Medical Centre, and seven football grounds. Nottingham is known for its lace-making and bicycle manufacturing. The city has a rich history, dating back to the Bronze Age. There are plenty of places to visit in Nottingham, including the Nottingham Castle, the Sherwood Forest, and the National Ice Centre. The city also has a lively nightlife, with a variety of pubs and bars. Nottingham Luxury Hotels Cannes, France Cannes is a city located in the south of France. Some of the places to visit in Cannes are the Palais des Festivals et des Congres, the Boulevard de la Croisette, and Le Suquet. Cannes Luxury Hotels Cannes Luxury Villas Park City, UT, United States Park City, Utah, offers visitors a wealth of places to visit and things to do. Main Street, with its charming shops and restaurants, is a must-see. The Park City Museum tells the town's fascinating history, and the Park City Utah Temple is a beautiful sight. For outdoor enthusiasts, there's plenty of skiing and snowboarding in the winter and hiking and mountain biking in the summer. And don't forget to visit the Olympic Park, where the 2002 Winter Olympics were held. Park City Luxury Hotels Park City Luxury Resorts Port Angeles, WA, United States If you're looking for a quaint, small town to visit in the US, Port Angeles is worth a stop. Located in the state of Washington, it's right on the Pacific coast with stunning views of the Olympic Mountains. There's plenty of things to do in the area, from hiking and fishing to whale watching and enjoying the local restaurants and breweries. Port Angeles Luxury Hotels Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States If you're looking for a fun-filled Florida getaway, look no further than Fort Lauderdale! With its miles of pristine beaches, world-famous shopping and vibrant nightlife, there's something for everyone in this seaside city. Here are some of the top places to visit in Fort Lauderdale: Las Olas Boulevard: This popular shopping and dining district is home to some of Fort Lauderdale's most upscale boutiques and restaurants. The Beach: With its wide, sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters, Fort Lauderdale's beach is a major draw for visitors. The Everglades: Just a short drive from Fort Lauderdale, the Everglades are home to an abundance of wildlife, including alligators, bald eagles and manatees. The Broward Center for the Performing Arts: This world-class performing arts center is home to a variety of theater, dance and music performances. So what are you waiting for? Book your trip to Fort Lauderdale today!. Fort Lauderdale Luxury Hotels Fort Lauderdale Luxury Resorts Myrtle Beach, SC, United States Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is a popular tourist destination. There are plenty of places to visit in the area, including amusement parks, beaches, and golf courses. Myrtle Beach also has a lively nightlife, with plenty of bars and restaurants. Myrtle Beach Luxury Hotels Myrtle Beach Luxury Resorts Salzburg, Austria Salzburg is one of the most visited places in Austria. It is a city rich in history and culture. There are many places to visit, such as the Hohensalzburg Fortress, the Mirabell Palace, and the Salzburg Cathedral. There are also many hiking trails and parks to enjoy. Salzburg Luxury Hotels Pattaya, Thailand Pattaya is an amazing city with plenty of places to visit and things to do. One of the most popular tourist destinations in Thailand, Pattaya offers something for everyone. There are lovely beaches, interesting temples, great shopping, and exciting nightlife. With its moderate climate and affordable prices, it's no wonder Pattaya is a favorite destination for tourists from all over the world. Pattaya Luxury Hotels Pattaya Luxury Resorts Pattaya Luxury Villas Dallas, TX, United States Dallas is a city located in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the ninth most populous city in the United States and the third most populous city in the state of Texas. Dallas is also the main city of the fourth most populous metropolitan area in the United States. The city's prominence arose from its historical importance as a center for the oil and cotton industries, and its position as a major transportation hub for the South. Dallas is home to the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League and the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association. The city's economy is primarily based on banking, commerce, telecommunications, technology, energy, healthcare and medical research, and transportation. The city is home to the world's largest airline hub and the third largest cargo airport in the United States. Dallas Luxury Hotels Kolkata, India Kolkata, also known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. The city is located on the east bank of the Hooghly River. It is the second most populous city in India, after Mumbai, and the third most populous metropolitan area in India, after Mumbai and Delhi. The city is notable for its colonial architecture, art and culture, and for its overwhelming poverty. Kolkata is home to the Indian Museum, the Calcutta Stock Exchange, the National Library of India, and the Indian Statistical Institute. Kolkata Luxury Hotels San Antonio, TX, United States San Antonio is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Texas. There are plenty of places to visit in this city, from the well-known River Walk to the exquisite Spanish missions. If you're looking for a fun place to spend the day, you can't go wrong with San Antonio. San Antonio Luxury Hotels Seattle, WA, United States There are many wonderful places to visit in Seattle, Washington. Some of the most popular attractions include Pike Place Market, the Seattle Space Needle, and the Museum of Pop Culture. There are also many parks and gardens, such as Volunteer Park and Seattle Chinese Garden, as well as plenty of restaurants and shops. Located on the other side of the world, Western Australia is a great place to visit for those looking for something different. Some of the most popular attractions include Rottnest Island, the Margaret River region, and Monkey Mia. There are also plenty of beautiful parks and gardens, such as Kings Park and Botanic Garden, as well as restaurants and shops. Seattle Luxury Hotels Liverpool, United Kingdom Liverpool is a city located in North West England and is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom. The city is known for its football teams Liverpool and Everton, The Beatles, and its maritime history. Liverpool is a popular tourist destination and is home to various tourist attractions including Mersey Ferry, Liverpool Cathedral, and Albert Dock. Liverpool Luxury Hotels Malmo, Sweden Malmo is Sweden's third largest city with a population of over 310,000. It is located in the province of Scania on the country's southern tip. Malmo is a vibrant city with a strong arts and cultural scene. There are plenty of places to visit in Malmo, including the Malmo Castle, the Botanical Gardens, and the Turning Torso skyscraper. Malmo is also home to a large shopping district and a lively nightlife. Malmo Luxury Hotels Gothenburg, Sweden Goteborg, Sweden's second largest city, is a major port on the country's west coast. It's a popular tourist destination, known for its lively nightlife, beautiful architecture and delicious seafood. Some of the city's highlights include the Liseberg amusement park, the Botanical Garden, and the charming old town district. Goteborg is also home to a large number of museums, including the Volvo Museum, the Maritime Museum and the Universeum science center. Gothenburg Luxury Hotels Ljubljana, Slovenia Ljubljana is the capital city of Slovenia and is a city full of culture and history. There are many places to visit in Ljubljana, such as the castle, the old town, and the cathedral. The city is also home to many museums, art galleries, and parks. Ljubljana is a great city to explore on foot, and there are many restaurants and cafes to enjoy. Ljubljana Luxury Hotels Sydney, NSW, Australia Australia is a vast country with plenty of stunning places to visit, but Sydney is undoubtedly one of the most popular tourist destinations on the continent. From the iconic Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge to the beautiful beaches and lush national parks, there's something for everyone in this lively city. There's also a thriving food and nightlife scene, so you'll never run out of things to do in Sydney. Sydney Luxury Hotels Sydney Luxury Villas Melbourne, VIC, Australia There's a lot to love about Melbourne its lively arts and culture scene, its parks and gardens, its diverse range of restaurants and cafes, and its stunning architecture. Here are some of the best places to visit in Melbourne: - Federation Square: This iconic square is a great place to people-watch and take in the city's impressive architecture. It's also home to a number of museums and galleries, including the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and the National Gallery of Victoria. - Queen Victoria Market: This vibrant market is a must-visit for foodies and shoppers alike. It's the largest open-air market in the Southern Hemisphere, and offers a vast array of fresh produce, meat, seafood, and souvenirs. - Melbourne Cricket Ground: If you're a sports fan, be sure to check out the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which is the largest cricket stadium in the world. It's also home to the Australian Football League, and has hosted a number of major sporting events, including the Commonwealth Games and the Rugby Union World Cup. - Royal Botanic Gardens: These beautiful gardens are a great place to relax and take in some of Melbourne's natural beauty. They're home to a number of different gardens, including the Australian Garden, the Sculpture Garden, and the Japanese Garden. Melbourne Luxury Hotels Melbourne Luxury Villas Vancouver, BC, Canada The top places to visit in Vancouver are Stanley Park, Granville Island, Gastown, and Chinatown. These are all must-see attractions that offer an array of activities, scenery, and history. Stanley Park is a world-famous urban park that features greenery, beaches, gardens, and a stunning view of the North Shore Mountains. Granville Island is a vibrant neighbourhood with unique shops, restaurants, and art galleries. Gastown is the city's oldest neighbourhood and is home to charming cobblestone streets and funky boutiques. Chinatown is one of the largest and most vibrant Chinatowns in North America and offers delicious food, interesting history, and vibrant culture. Vancouver Luxury Hotels Toronto, ON, Canada From the CN Tower and Hockey Hall of Fame to the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Distillery District, there are plenty of amazing places to visit in Toronto, Canada. With something for everyone, Toronto is a great city to explore. So what are you waiting for? Start planning your trip today!. Toronto Luxury Hotels Montreal, QC, Canada Montreal is a vibrant city with something for everyone. There are plenty of places to visit, including the Notre Dame Basilica, the Olympic Stadium, and Mount Royal. The city is also home to a lively arts and culture scene, with theatres, art galleries, and music venues. Montreal is a great place to visit year-round, with festivals and events happening throughout the year. Montreal Luxury Hotels Seville, Spain Seville is one of the most visited places in Spain for a plethora of reasons: its stunning architecture, tapas bars, flamenco and great weather. The Giralda Tower is a must-see when in Seville as is the Plaza de Espana. Andalusian culture is heavily present in the city and is best experienced by wandering the narrow streets and alleyways, popping into a lively tapas bar for a drink and some snacks or enjoying a flamenco show. Seville Luxury Hotels Seville Luxury Villas Ocean City, MD, United States Ocean City is a seaside resort town in Worcester County, Maryland, on the Atlantic coast. It is well known for its long promenade, its fishing, and its crab cuisine. There are plenty of places to visit in Ocean City, including the boardwalk, amusement rides, shopping, and restaurants. You can also visit the Assateague Island National Seashore, which is home to wild horses, or head to the nearby town of Berlin for more shopping and dining options. Ocean City Luxury Hotels Cambridge, MA, United States If you're looking for a quintessential New England town to visit, Cambridge, Massachusetts is the place for you. With its elaborate architecture and Colonial history, Cambridge is a lively town with plenty of things to see and do - perfect for a weekend getaway. Some of the places you won't want to miss include the Harvard University campus, the charming and lively shops and restaurants in Harvard Square, and the leafy paths of the Cambridge Common. Cambridge Luxury Hotels Laguna Beach, CA, United States Laguna Beach, California is a place known for its stunningly beautiful coastline, excellent restaurants, and art galleries. But there's more to Laguna Beach than meets the eye. Here are some of the best places to visit in Laguna Beach: Crystal Cove State Park: This state park is known for its coves, tidepools, and bluffs. It's a great place to go hiking, swimming, and snorkeling. Heisler Park: This park is a great place for a walk or a picnic. It's also home to some of the best views of the Pacific Coast. Downtown Laguna Beach: This charming downtown area is home to art galleries, boutique shops, and excellent restaurants. Aliso Beach: This beach is known for its excellent surfing and swimming conditions. It's also a great place to take a walk or enjoy a picnic. Laguna Beach Luxury Hotels Hot Springs, AR, United States In downtown Hot Springs, Arkansas, you'll find historic buildings, antique shops, and art galleries. For nature lovers, there are also plenty of places to visit, including the Garland County Arboretum, Ouachita National Forest, and Hot Springs National Park. Spa enthusiasts can enjoy a relaxing day in one of the area's hot springs. And no trip to Hot Springs is complete without a visit to the world-famous Bathhouse Row. Hot Springs Luxury Hotels Sedona, AZ, United States There are many places to visit in Sedona, Arizona. Among the most popular are the Chapel of the Holy Cross, Bell Rock, Cathedral Rock, and Boynton Canyon. The town's unique red-rock formations and ancient ruins offer plenty of photo opportunities. Visitors can also enjoy hiking, biking, and horseback riding. Sedona is a great place to relax and take in the natural beauty of the Southwest. Sedona Luxury Hotels Sedona Luxury Resorts Boulder, CO, United States Boulder, Colorado is a breathtaking city nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The city is home to stunning views, ample outdoor recreation, and a lively arts scene. Outdoor enthusiasts will love exploring the city's many trails, parks, and open spaces. History buffs will enjoy checking out the city's museums and historic sites. Culture seekers will appreciate the city's many theaters, art galleries, and restaurants. No matter what your interests, you'll find something to love in Boulder. Boulder Luxury Hotels Key West, FL, United States Key West is a small island off the coast of Florida that is filled with history, charm, and fun places to visit. Its lush tropical setting and the laid-back vibe of the island make it a popular destination for those looking for a relaxing getaway. There are plenty of places to explore in Key West, from the charming historic district to the crystal-clear waters of the Florida Keys. Here are some of the top places to visit in Key West: -The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum: This iconic museum is dedicated to the life and work of Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway, who lived in Key West for over 20 years. -Duval Street: This lively street is the heart of Key West's nightlife and is home to many bars and restaurants. -The Southernmost Point: This landmark is located at the end of Duval Street and is the southernmost point in the continental United States. -The Key West Lighthouse: This picturesque lighthouse is a popular spot for tourists and offers stunning views of the island. -The African American Heritage House: This museum is dedicated to the history and culture of African Americans in Key West. -The Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory: This attraction is home to over 2,000 butterflies and a variety of other tropical plants and animals. Key West Luxury Hotels Key West Luxury Resorts Key West Luxury Cottages Key West Luxury Villas Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm, Sweden is a city with many places to visit. One place is the Vasa Museum, which is home to a ship that sunk in 1628 and was raised from the ocean floor 333 years later. The ship is preserved and on display in the museum. Another place to visit is the Royal Palace, the official residence of the Swedish monarch. The palace is open for tours, and visitors can see the royal apartments, the throne room, and the Hall of State. Stockholm Luxury Hotels Destin, FL, United States Looking for a place to visit in Florida? Look no further than Destin! This city is home to beautiful beaches, wonderful restaurants, and plenty of places to shop. No matter what you're looking for, you can find it in Destin. Be sure to check out the Destin Harbor and the fishing pier for amazing views and plenty of things to do. If you're looking for a place to relax, head to the beach and enjoy the sun and sand. There's something for everyone in Destin, so be sure to visit this amazing city!. Destin Luxury Hotels Destin Luxury Resorts Ashland, OR, United States There are many places to visit in Ashland, Oregon. Some of the most popular places are the Shakespeare Festival, Lithia Park, and Mt. Ashland. The Shakespeare Festival is a great place to see some of the best plays in the world. Lithia Park is a beautiful park with a river running through it. Mt. Ashland is a great place to go skiing in the winter. Ashland Luxury Hotels Seaside, OR, United States One of the most beautiful places on the Oregon Coast is Seaside. With its wide, sandy beach and majestic promenade, Seaside is a popular tourist destination. There are plenty of places to eat and shop, and the Seaside Aquarium is a must-see. Visitors can also enjoy fishing, whale watching, or just taking a leisurely stroll along the beach. Seaside Luxury Hotels Newport, RI, United States Newport is a picturesque town located in southern Rhode Island that is home to some of the most visited tourist destinations in the United States. The city is known for its miles of beaches and historic mansions that line the coast. Some popular places to visit in Newport include the Cliff Walk, the Breakers Mansion, the Museum of Yachting, and the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Newport Luxury Hotels Siena, Italy Siena, Italy is a popular tourist destination, thanks to its well-preserved medieval city center. The city is famous for its art, food, and wine. Siena is located in the heart of Tuscany, making it the perfect base for exploring this beautiful region of Italy. Don't miss the Duomo (cathedral), the Piazza del Campo, and the Torre del Mangia. Siena Luxury Hotels Reno, NV, United States Home to the University of Nevada, Reno and a wide variety of cultural and natural attractions, Reno is a great place to visit. Some of the top places to see in Reno include the Nevada Museum of Art, the Fleischmann Planetarium and Science Center, and the Reno Events Center. Outdoor enthusiasts will enjoy hiking and skiing at Lake Tahoe and biking and kayaking on the Truckee River. In addition, Reno is home to a diverse array of restaurants and nightlife venues. Reno Luxury Hotels Atlantic City, NJ, United States Atlantic City is a popular East Coast tourist destination, known for its boardwalks, beaches and casinos. There are plenty of places to visit in Atlantic City, from the Boardwalk Hall and the Absecon Lighthouse to the Atlantic City Aquarium and Lucy the Elephant. For a more thrilling experience, head to one of the city's casinos, where you can try your hand at blackjack, slots, roulette and more. Atlantic City also offers a wide variety of restaurants, from seafood spots to pizza places, so you're sure to find something to your taste. And if you're looking for some nightlife action, the city has you covered there too. Atlantic City is definitely a place worth visiting!. Atlantic City Luxury Hotels Atlantic City Luxury Resorts Lake George, NY, United States Looking for a place to visit in upstate New York? Look no further than the stunning Lake George. This picturesque locale is located in the heart of the Adirondacks and is known for its pristine beauty and terrific recreational opportunities. Visitors can enjoy hiking, biking, boating, fishing, and skiing, among other activities. Don't miss the chance to take in the spectacular views from the summit of Prospect Mountain or from the water's edge. Lake George Luxury Hotels Buffalo, NY, United States If you're looking for a city that has it all, Buffalo is the place to be. From its vibrant downtown district to its abundance of parks and nature preserves, there's something for everyone in Buffalo. Here are some of the top places to visit in Buffalo: 1. The Buffalo Zoo - One of the top zoos in the country, the Buffalo Zoo is a must-visit for animal lovers of all ages. 2. The Albright-Knox Art Gallery - Buffalo's answer to the Louvre, the Albright-Knox is home to some of the world's most famous paintings and sculptures. 3. The Buffalo-Niagara Heritage Village - This living history museum offers a glimpse into what life was like in Buffalo in the 1800s. 4. The Buffalo River - Take a walk or bike ride along the Buffalo River, one of the city's most picturesque areas. 5. Delaware Park - This large park is home to a variety of attractions, including a zoo, a golf course, and a nature preserve. Buffalo Luxury Hotels Rochester, MN, United States Rochester, Minnesota is a city with plenty of places to visit. There's the Mayo Clinic, the Apache Mall, and several other shopping areas, as well as a variety of restaurants. There are also a few parks and golf courses. For those who love the outdoors, Rochester is also close to several state parks and the Mississippi River. Rochester Luxury Hotels Duluth, MN, United States If you're looking for an amazing place to visit, Duluth, Minnesota should definitely be at the top of your list. This city is home to some of the most beautiful scenery in the United States, and there are plenty of things to do here that will keep you entertained for days on end. Some of the most popular places to visit in Duluth include the Aerial Lift Bridge, the Glensheen Mansion, and Chester Creek Park. Additionally, there are a number of excellent restaurants and shopping areas in the city, so be sure to explore everything that Duluth has to offer. Duluth Luxury Hotels Maputo, Mozambique Maputo is the capital of Mozambique and a city full of culture and history. There are many places to visit in Maputo, such as the Jose Eduardo dos Santos Museum, the Maputo Cathedral, and the Rua da Independencia. Maputo is also home to the Maputo Bay, which offers beautiful beaches and great seafood. Maputo Luxury Hotels Barcelona, Spain Barcelona, located on the northeast coast of Spain, is a renowned tourist destination and one of the most popular cities in the world. There are plenty of places to visit in Barcelona, such as the Gothic Quarter, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Parc Guell, La Sagrada Familia, and more. The city is also home to a lively nightlife and some of the best restaurants in the country. Barcelona Luxury Hotels Barcelona Luxury Villas Split, Croatia Split is a city on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. It is the second-largest city in Croatia and the largest city in Dalmatia. It has a population of over 200,000 inhabitants. The metropolitan area, which includes the City of Split and the surrounding towns, has a population of over 330,000. Split is a popular tourist destination and is the home of the Diocletian's Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Other popular tourist destinations include the Riva, the Peristyle, the Cathedral of Saint Domnius, and Sustipan. Split Luxury Hotels Split Luxury Villas Dubrovnik, Croatia Dubrovnik is a city on the Adriatic Sea in Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, a seaport and the administrative center of Dubrovnik-Neretva County. Dubrovnik is nicknamed "The Pearl of the Adriatic". Dubrovnik Luxury Hotels Dubrovnik Luxury Villas Byron Bay, NSW, Australia Byron Bay is a magical place. It's no wonder that it's one of the most popular destinations in Australia. The town is set in a beautiful location, surrounded by rolling green hills and the bright blue ocean. There's plenty to do in Byron Bay, whether you're looking for a relaxing beach holiday or an adventure-filled trip. Some of the top places to visit in Byron Bay include the iconic lighthouse, the stunning beaches, and the lush rainforest. There's also a great nightlife and plenty of restaurants and cafes to enjoy. If you're looking for an amazing Australian getaway, be sure to add Byron Bay to your list!. Byron Bay Luxury Hotels Wellington, New Zealand If you're looking for a little slice of heaven on earth, look no further than Wellington, New Zealand. With its gorgeous landscape and plethora of activities, there's something for everyone here. Whether you're a nature lover or a city slicker, Wellington has something special to offer. Top Wellington attractions include the Zealandia eco-sanctuary, the cable car up to the Botanic Gardens, and the sprawling Te Papa museum. For those who love getting out into the great outdoors, there are plenty of hiking and biking trails, as well as lovely seaside towns and villages to explore. And of course, no trip to Wellington would be complete without trying some of the delicious local cuisine be sure to sample a traditional Maori hangi feast! So what are you waiting for? Book your flight to Wellington today and start planning your perfect holiday!. Wellington Luxury Hotels Saint Louis, MO, United States If you're looking for a fun place to visit with a rich history and plenty of things to see and do, look no further than Saint Louis, Missouri. This vibrant city is home to a variety of interesting attractions, including the Gateway Arch, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. There's also no shortage of restaurants and shopping options in Saint Louis. So, whether you're looking for a place to explore new cultures and cuisines or you're just looking for a place to have some fun, Saint Louis is a great option. Saint Louis Luxury Hotels Bloomington, IN, United States The city of Bloomington, Indiana is home to a variety of attractions and places to visit. The Indiana University campus is a popular destination, as is the city's historic downtown district. Monroe County Courthouse Nearly 100 years ago, Tennessee played a pivotal role in granting women across the country the right to vote. Now the Tennessee State Library & Archives has a new online collection that highlights that watershed moment in the nation's history, titled "Women's Suffrage: Tennessee and the Passage of the 19th Amendment." In 1920, after a debate that had raged for years, 35 of 48 states then in the Union had ratified the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which would give women the right to vote. One more state's approval was needed in order to meet the requirement that three-fourths of the states supported the measure. Eight states had rejected the amendment and five had not yet voted on it. Tennessee was seen as the best chance of getting the amendment approved before the 1920 presidential election. At a special session called in August of that year, the amendment was quickly approved by the state Senate but then faced stiffer opposition in the House of Representatives. Harry T. Burn, a young House member who initially opposed the amendment, changed his vote - reportedly after being lobbied by his mother - and broke a tie that ensured the passage of a law guaranteeing half the country's population a fundamental right. "Speaking as a son and a husband, Tennessee's vote to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was surely one of our state's finest moments," Secretary of State Tre Hargett said. "This online collection will make these important historical documents readily available even for people who can't visit the Library & Archives building and inspect them in person. This access is part of our mission to make more of state government available to everyone." This online collection about the suffrage movement, drawn from the many documents and photographs stored at Library & Archives, includes papers from prominent pro-suffrage lobbyist Carrie Chapman Catt, anti-suffrage lobbyist Josephine A. Pearson and Governor Albert H. Roberts, as well as letters, telegrams, political cartoons, broadsides, photographs and three audio clips. In all, the online collection already has more than 100 items and more will be added as the 100th anniversary of the suffrage vote approaches. To view the collection online, go to: http://bit.ly/TNwomensuffrage Eurotranciatura USA officials announced Tuesday the manufacturer is investing $12.6 million to expand its operations in Paris, Tn. over the next five years. Eurotranciatura, a subsidiary of the worlds largest steel lamination company for electrical rotating machines, will create more than 170 new jobs as part of the expansion. Eurotranciaturas investment includes upgrades and new equipment for its existing manufacturing plant in Henry County. Eurotranciatura will also build a roughly 30,000 square foot distribution warehouse near its current plant to accommodate growth and reduce transportation costs. Advanced manufacturing runs deep in Tennessee. Time and time again, when manufacturers choose to locate in our state, Tennesseans are up to the task, Governor Bill Haslam said. Tennessees highly-skilled workforce and dedication to innovation continue to attract leading manufacturers like Eurotranciatura. We thank them for choosing to expand in Paris and their commitment to create more than 170 new jobs for Henry County. This expansion pushes us closer to our goal of being the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs. Team Tennessee believes in the power of manufacturing, a sector that employs more than 332,000 Tennesseans and one that is continually evolving, Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd said. Eurotranciatura is a global leader in that evolution and is constantly bringing new technologies to the table. Were excited Eurotranciatura is doing so right here in Paris and expanding operations in a major way. We welcome this new investment and Eurotranciaturas commitment to bring meaningful, highly-skilled jobs that will have a lasting impact on Henry County residents. Eurotranciatura, a joint venture between Euro Group S.p.A and Kuroda Precision Industries Ltd., manufactures steel lamination products for electrical motors and generators. Eurotranciaturas Paris facility supplies the U.S market for companies such as Stanley Black & Decker, Franklin Electric, ThyssenKrupp, Regal Beloit, Generac as well as Tecumseh Products. Over the last 30 months, we successfully introduced the latest technologies available in the market to provide cost effective solutions for our customers, Eurotranciatura Chief Operations Officer Matteo Fassio said. This was also achieved with the support of the local community and the state of Tennessee. This joint effort will secure the creation of additional jobs for Henry County in the near future. In 2014, Eurotranciatura acquired the lamination division of Tecumseh, based at 2700 W. Wood St. in Paris. The company recently completed its purchase of Tecumsehs former building in Henry County. Renovations to Eurotranciaturas existing plant are scheduled to be completed by the first or second quarter 2017. Construction of the new warehouse is expected to begin in August 2017. Local elected officials and TVA applauded Eurotranciaturas expansion. We are extremely pleased that one of our great local industries has decided to expand its footprint in our community, Henry County Mayor Brent Greer said. They have been and will continue to be excellent corporate citizens for Paris and Henry County. The city of Paris is excited to partner with a great company like Eurotranciatura, city of Paris Mayor Carlton Gerrell said. On behalf of the citizens of Paris, Tennessee, we want to thank Eurotranciatura for its investment and commitment to our community and look forward to its continued growth for years to come. TVA and Paris Board of Public Utilities congratulate Eurotranciatura USA on its announcement to create job opportunities in Henry County, TVA Senior Vice President of Economic Development John Bradley said. Its always an exciting day when a company commits to growth in our rural communities, and we are pleased to partner with Paris-Henry County Economic Development Corporation, the city of Paris, Henry County and the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development to celebrate this announcement and help further economic growth in the Valley. State Treasurer David H. Lillard, Jr. will visit Chattanooga at the invitation of Rep. Mike Carter to speak to members of the Rotary Club of Chattanooga Hamilton Place on Wednesday at noon. Treasurer Lillard said he looks forward to the opportunity to update the Rotarians on the Tennessee Treasury Department and discuss why Tennessee is recognized as one of the top financially-managed states in the nation. Later that same afternoon, he will join Rep. Carter for a chance to address civic and business leaders from across Hamilton County. That conversation is Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel law firm. The state treasurer is a constitutional officer elected every two years in a joint session of the Tennessee General Assembly. The Tennessee Treasury Department is responsible for receiving, investing and disbursing public funds, and managing all state investments, including the pension fund. Officials said, "While many other state pensions are in critical condition, the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS) has been ranked one of the top-five public pensions in the country. Solid management and the fully-funded status of TCRS was cited as a major contributing factor to Tennessees recent AAA rating from Standard & Poors, giving Tennessee highest possible rating from all three of the major bond ratings agencies." The Tennessee Treasury Department also directs multiple state programs with an emphasis on improving the financial well-being of Tennesseans, such as the TNStars College Savings 529 Program, the Tennessee Financial Literacy Commission, RetireReadyTN, and most recently, ABLE TN. ABLE TN, Tennessees own Achieving A Better Life Experience program, is a new program launched in June 2016 to help individuals with disabilities plan and save for the future. Guests experience a special thrill when they see one of the Tennessee Aquariums Sand Tiger Sharks up close. The Secret Reef exhibit, home to four of these big, toothy sharks, affords landlubbers the opportunity to really examine the way the sharks eyes look back while they slowly cruise through the water. Sand Tiger Sharks, like almost all shark species, are declining rapidly in the wild. Once abundant in the temperate ocean waters of the world except the eastern Pacific, Sand Tiger numbers have been spiraling downward mainly because of pressure from fishing. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations National Fisheries Service, Sand Tiger populations along the U.S. east coast dropped 90 percent during the 1980s and 1990s before protections were put in place. Sand Tiger Sharks are relatively easy to catch, but they reproduce very slowly, said Jackson Andrews, the Aquariums director of husbandry and operations. Females dont reach reproductive maturity until they are five or six years of age. They reproduce every other year, and when they do reproduce, they have up to two pups at a time. So, its easy to see how their numbers have plummeted over time. Protecting these sharks means learning more about their somewhat mysterious movements throughout the year. OCEARCH, a global leader in shark research, launched an expedition in June to tag up to 30 mature female Sand Tigers with a goal of learning more about their breeding and pupping habits. Using an OCEARCH vessel, scientists from Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, Florida Aquarium, North Carolina Aquariums, SeaWorld, Southeast Zoo Alliance for Reproductive Conservation, and the University of North Carolina Wilmington, spent nearly 10 days tagging sharks off the coast of North Carolina. The Tennessee Aquarium was a partner in this project, providing support to purchase the acoustic tags that were implanted in the sharks. These tags were very similar to the acoustic tags we are using to monitor the movement of Lake Sturgeon in the Tennessee River, said Andrews. Each time a tagged shark passes by a receiving station, information about that animal is recorded. Project managers will get data over a relatively long period of time. This new information will help define habitats that Sand Tiger Sharks use for breeding, gestation and pupping. Identifying these critical zones is an important first step for conservation. Comparing habitat use of pregnant and non-pregnant mature females may highlight areas for proper management and directly benefit the Sand Tiger Mid-Atlantic population, said Madeline Marens, lead scientist and aquarist with the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. This is one of many new initiatives aquariums are launching as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Saving Animals From Extinction (AZA SAFE) program. The multiplier effect of collaborative conservation work helps improve the status of many species that are disappearing. We believe that Sand Tiger Sharks have a place in the ocean and we would like to continue to see them thrive, said Andrews. Its important for us to participate with other organizations in scientific efforts to better understand these threatened animals to help ensure their future survival. Families will have an opportunity to learn more about shark research, talk to SCUBA divers while theyre surrounded by sharks, and touch bizarre-looking shark specimens during the Aquariums annual Sharkfest event onFriday, August 5. Sharkfest also features a large collection of prehistoric Megalodon Shark teeth and a chance to meet the Chattanooga filmmakers who produced Shark Clans, a top-rated documentary about Great White Sharks that aired during Discovery Channels Shark Week 2015. After feasting on facts while talking to shark divers underwater, kids can get a tough-looking temporary shark tattoo and a shark hawk or mermaid hairdo. The Sharkfest frenzy concludes with a tasty frozen treat from Coldstone Creamery. Legal Aid of East Tennessee presented Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga Area with the 2016 Alexander Hamilton Award on July 21 at their annual Legal Aid of East Tennessee's Pro Bono Awards Night. The award recognizes non-legal entities who have worked to further the cause of access to justice for Chattanooga residents. Habitat was recognized for their collaboration with local Attorney David Coates and Legal Aid to offer an "Estate Planning Clinic" earlier this year for Habitat homeowners. Nearly 40 homeowners had wills drafted and notarized at the daylong clinic in order to protect their homes, children, and other assets. Business is not going smoothly in Germanys third largest industry. Production in the chemical-pharmaceutical industry stagnated in the 1st half 2016. Sales fell clearly, as compared with the previous year: With another drop in producer prices, sales of this industry declined by 3.5 percent to 90.4 billion euros. That equally impacted domestic and foreign business, so the German chemical industry association Verband der Chemischen Industrie e. V. (VCI) at its half-year press conference. VCI President Marijn Dekkers on the business development of the industry: Positive impulses are lacking for chemistry both economically and politically. At the same time, the negative factors are increasing: like the growth weakness of emerging markets, low dynamics in global trade overall, and the end of the worldwide investment boom. For the 2nd half 2016, too, the VCI President is expecting headwind for chemical business. The positive effects of special factors, i.e. the low oil price and the weak euro, are wearing off. Dekkers: Moreover, the Brexit and strong fluctuations of raw material prices and exchange rates are adverse framework conditions for solid growth in our industry. Against this backdrop, for the overall year 2016 the VCI is now expecting a production increase by only 0.5 percent for the German chemical-pharmaceutical industry. With further falling producer prices, sales by this industry should drop by 1.5 percent to 186 billion euros, so the VCIs forecast. Chemical industry location Germany: competitiveness at risk For around a decade, Germany has been the world champion of exports. In terms of sales, Germany ranks third in a comparison of countries. All the same, there are more and more signs that the competitiveness of this location is crumbling because structural changes in the USA, in China and Saudi Arabia, which have led to low energy and raw material costs and a massive building of production capacities in these regions, have impacts that are felt in the heart of Europe. Dekkers emphasized: A look at the various sectors of our industry shows that this is an acute problem already today. When excluding the pharma business from the calculations, the foreign trade surplus of German chemistry is already falling. In 2015, there was even a foreign trade deficit in the petrochemical sector. Also in the business with plastics (polymers), there is the threat of a worsening trade balance. Since 2011, polymer production in Germany has dropped by 500,000 tonnes per year. This effect multiplies in the value chains. Over the same period of time, the volume of relevant inputs (petrochemicals) shrunk by 4 million euros (-6 percent). VCI President Dekkers: For us, it is essential to prevent a tearing of chemical value chains in the individual segments. It is in the interest of downstream industries like the automotive and electrical industries and of the economy as a whole that we maintain these value chains as the central element of the chemical industry location Germany. The industrys investments in production plants show an unsettling development too. Even though financing conditions are more favourable than they had been over many decades, companies are taking a rather reserved attitude regarding investments in Germany. Since 2011, the gap between domestic and foreign investments has been widening more and more. Most recently, foreign fixed asset investments by German chemical companies amounted to well over 8.6 billion euros; this total exceeded domestic fixed asset investments by ca. 1.5 billion euros. The VCI President attributes this loss in attractiveness of Germany as a location for chemical plants to a number of factors: high energy costs, lack of planning security in the energy policy, neglected infrastructures and an admin-istrative practice critical of industry. Dekkers stressed: Better framework conditions for investments are vital for the chemical industry. This means: reliable political requirements and competitive costs. For a more innovation-friendly policy Irrespective of many individual problems, the VCI sees an improvement in the ability to innovate as the key to more competitiveness: We need more innovations to permanently secure growth, prosperity and employment in Germany and also across Europe. In this context, stronger competition calls not only for investments in modern fixed assets, it also calls for more innovative products and production processes and for new business models. According to Dekkers, too many obstacles remain for a fast and successful way of ideas from the laboratory to product launches on the market. Also, external obstacles in the sphere of responsibility of politicians and public authorities e.g. excessive bureaucracy and regulation or the lacking fiscal incentives for research and development reduce the ability to innovate. Therefore, at the national level in Germany the VCI President speaks for an innovation check to examine prior to the adoption of new legislation whether it is innovation- and consumer-friendly. Regarding legislation in Europe, Dekkers advocates the introduction of an innovation principle. Dekkers: German industry alone cannot make Germany a world champion in innovation. We need support from the political arena. We need to work as one, and we need to make sure that there is a good societal environment: for an innovation culture that combines openness and curiosity with courage and confidence so that ideas can become innovations. Temporally varying electromagnetic fields are the driving force behind the whole of electronics. Their polarities can change at mind-bogglingly fast rates, and it is difficult to capture them in action. However, a better understanding of the dynamics of field variation in electronic components, such as transistors, is indispensable for future advances in electronics. Researchers in the Laboratory for Attosecond Physics (LAP), jointly run by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat (LMU) and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ), have now taken an important step towards this goal by building an electron microscope that can image high-frequency electromagnetic fields and trace their ultrafast dynamics. The electronic devices we have become so familiar with and use every day are without exception powered by changing electromagnetic fields. These fields control the flow of electrons in components such as field-effect transistors, and are ultimately responsible for the manipulation, flow and storage of data in our computers and smartphones. A better understanding of electromagnetic waveforms and their ultrafast reconfiguration in individual components will help to shape the future of electronics. The LMU and MPQ physicists who belong to the research group in Ultrafast Electron Imaging have now developed an electron microscope that is specifically designed for the analysis of rapidly varying electromagnetic fields. This instrument makes use of ultrashort pulses of laser light, each of which lasts for a few femtoseconds. These laser pulses are used to generate bunches of electrons made up of very few particles, which are then temporally compressed by the action of terahertz (10 to the 12 Hz) near-infrared radiation. The Munich team first described this strategy earlier this year in the journal Science and demonstrated that it can generate electron pulses that are shorter than a half-cycle of the optical field. The researchers now show that these ultrashort electron pulses can be used to map high-frequency electromagnetic fields. In the experiment, the pulses are directed onto a microantenna that has just interacted with a precisely timed burst of terahertz radiation. The light pulse excites surface electrons in the antenna, thus creating an oscillating optical (electromagnetic) field in the immediate vicinity (the so-called near field) of the target. When the electron pulses come under the influence of the induced electromagnetic field around the antenna, they are scattered, and the pattern of their deflection is recorded. On the basis of the dispersion of the deflected electrons, the researchers can reconstruct the spatial distribution, temporal variation, orientation and polarization of the light emitted by the microantenna. In order to visualize electromagnetic fields oscillating at optical frequencies, two important conditions must be met, explains Dr. Peter Baum, who led the team and supervised the experiments. The duration of each electron pulse, and the time it takes to pass through through the region of interest, must both be less than a single oscillation period of the light field. The electron pulses used in the experiment propagate at speeds approximately equal to half the speed of light. With their novel extension of the principle of the electron microscope, the Munich physicists have shown that it should be feasible to precisely detect and measure even the tiniest and most rapidly oscillating electromagnetic fields. This will allow researchers to obtain a detailed understanding of how transistors or optoelectronic switches operate at the microscopic level. The new technology is also of interest for the development and analysis of so-called metamaterials. Metamaterials are synthetic, patterned nanostructures, whose permeability and permittivity for electrical and magnetic fields, respectively, deviate fundamentally from those of materials found in nature. This in turn gives rise to novel optical phenomena which cannot be realized in conventional materials. Metamaterials therefore open up entirely new perspectives in optics and optoelectronics, and could provide the basic building blocks for the fabrication of components for light-driven circuits and computers. The new approach to the characterization of electromagnetic waveforms based on the use of attosecond physics brings us a step closer to the electronics of the future. Thorsten Naeser The Sandford watch is named for Sir Sandford Fleming, a Scottish-born engineer and inventor who worked in the rail yards in Canada. (Oak & Oscar photo ) Chase Fancher still remembers one of the first watches he had as a kid a little, partially waterproof Casio calculator that Velcroed onto his wrist. He remembers other watches too, given to him on special occasions. Now, the founder of Chicago-based Oak & Oscar, which sells men's watches starting at $1,850, is seeing customers use his watches in the same way. Advertisement "I've got a watch that I'm going to give to my son when he's older. People are doing that with my watch," Fancher said. "It's not all about the watch. So much of it is about the story behind the watch." Fancher quit his job at a Big Four accounting firm a couple of years ago to open Oak & Oscar and spend more time with his wife, his now 2-year old son and his dog, Oscar, he said. If the lifestyle improvements weren't enough to validate his decision, his watch sales were. Advertisement The year-old company released its second watch, the Sandford, to the public Monday morning, and had sold one-third of the 300 limited-edition watches by Monday afternoon. The company's first watch, the Burnham, was released in May 2015 and sold out in 11 months. There were only 300 of those watches available, too. Jason Fried , software entrepreneur and co-founder of Basecamp, said Fancher has tapped into the niche area of mechanical watches, which don't need batteries to run and are wound just by the movement of the wearer's wrist. The limited-edition nature helps drive demand, too, he said. "A lot of people who are into this stuff are into the really cool mechanics of it. There are these little tiny machines that are on your wrist, which is neat," he said. It's "the combination around the aesthetics and the craftsmanship behind it." Fried owns a Burnham and has already ordered one of the Sandfords, he said. The Sandford is named for Sir Sandford Fleming, a Scottish-born engineer and inventor who worked in the rail yards in Canada. Many credit him for suggesting the idea of time zones. The watch has an independent GMT hand that can be set to a different time zone. The watches come in two finishes: the $1,850 stainless steel and the $1,950 charcoal Physical Vapor Deposition (or PVD), which is also stainless steel but has more of a matte look. There are 200 stainless steel Sandfords available and 100 PVDs. The watches are expected to ship this fall. Oak & Oscar's watches are designed by Fancher and assembled in the Midwest, though as with many brands, some pieces eventually trace to Asia. Woodnsteel, based in Leo, Ind., near Fort Wayne, makes the straps using Horween leather from the Chicago tannery. The watch heads are assembled at Lum-Tec in Mentor, Ohio, using foreign-made parts. Fancher puts them all together at his Lakeview studio. The Sandfords come with an additional green nylon strap, a tool and watch wallet made in Chicago by Defy Bags. It's also made of Horween leather and has suede pouches to hold three watches. Advertisement Designing watches isn't about creating something that doesn't exist, Fancher said. "Other small micro-brand watches, their story is, 'I couldn't find a watch I love, so I designed my own,'" he said. "There are phenomenal watches out there at every price point. For me, it was kind of just studying the market and really figuring out what I loved and making that." Fancher already wears Burnham, and he'll soon add the Sandford into his rotation. But he also has about 10 other watches he cares about. They all do things his don't, and they're a source of inspiration. "It's a form of art," he said. "They're way more than just a way to tell time. If I want to tell the time, I'll check my phone." amarotti@tribpub.com Twitter @allymarotti A group loads luggage into a taxi at McCormick Place East on April 15, 2016, in Chicago. The American Society of Association Executives will host its annual meeting and expo at McCormick Place in 2018. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune) Gone since 2007, the American Society of Association Executives is returning to Chicago in 2018 to hold its annual meeting and expo. The decision, announced Monday, is projected to bring 7,000 association professionals to McCormick Place and more than $16 million in direct spending to Chicago, the city said. Advertisement In a news release, David Whitaker, the newly installed president of Choose Chicago, called the return of the three-day event a "tremendous opportunity" to share the newly expanded McCormick Place campus with attendees. The Marriott Marquis Chicago and a 10,000-seat event center are set to open there next year. The Washington-based trade association for associations and nonprofit organizations last held its annual meeting in Chicago in August 2007. That event drew a record number of attendees, according to Sabrina Kidwai, a spokeswoman for the group. Advertisement Chicago was one of five cities named Monday to host the conference between 2018 and 2022, with Columbus, Ohio; Las Vegas; Dallas; and Atlanta also getting the nod. rchannick@chicagotribune.com Twitter @RobertChannick Insurer Cigna plans to enter the Obamacare marketplace in the Chicago area for the first time, bringing new competition as other insurers exit or go out of business. (Matt Rourke / AP) One of the nation's largest health insurance companies plans to enter the Obamacare marketplace in the Chicago area for the first time, bringing new competition as other insurers exit or go out of business. The Tribune has confirmed that Cigna, based in Bloomfield, Conn., has filed plans to sell health policies to individuals and families who purchase their own coverage in the individual market. If the plans are approved by Illinois regulators, Cigna will start selling policies Nov. 1, when enrollment for 2017 Obamacare coverage opens. Advertisement Cigna spokesman Joe Mondy said the company is focusing on the Chicago area and not the entire state. He said it was premature to provide details about proposed provider networks, benefits and the cost of insurance until the company's rate filings are approved and the health plans are ready for sale. Cigna's arrival is some welcome news for consumers who face uncertainty over their 2017 Obamacare medical plans on the Illinois health insurance exchange. Insurers have struggled with rising medical costs under President Barack Obama's landmark health law, the Affordable Care Act. At least two companies will not be back on the Illinois exchange next year, and others could reveal double-digit rate hikes next week. Advertisement UnitedHealthcare, the nation's largest health insurer, is leaving after just two years of minimal participation part of a broader pullback nationwide after the company had larger-than-expected losses on individual plans. Chicago-based Land of Lincoln Health, a 3-year-old startup that sold plans throughout the state, has collapsed after suffering heavy losses. Its 49,000 enrollees are scrambling to find new coverage for the rest of the year. Humana is pulling out of several state exchanges but has not identified which ones. Illinois residents are scheduled to get their first look at 2017 Obamacare plans on Monday when the federal government publishes rate proposals online at ratereview.healthcare.gov. Even those insurance companies that remain in the marketplace are rethinking what they offer for 2017 in an effort to control costs for a population that turned out to be sicker than the insurers expected. Under Obamacare, insurers could no longer use consumers' medical histories to set prices, and had to make coverage available to anyone who applied. Aetna will discontinue its preferred provider organization, or PPO, plans called Savings Plus in Illinois, a company spokesman confirmed. The elimination of those medical plans will force about 12,000 policyholders to find another plan, said spokesman Rohan Hutchings. The Savings Plus plans were not offered on the Illinois online exchange but consumers could purchase them directly from Aetna or through an insurance broker. Because the plans were not sold on the exchange, buyers were not eligible for Obamacare subsidies that lower the cost of premiums. Aetna, based in Hartford, Conn., will introduce new health plans in the next few months and "will work very closely with impacted members so they understand these new products, the choices available to them and their best option," Hutchings said. He added that "there may in fact be a better, more convenient, more affordable product available to them." Aetna's on-exchange medical plans in 2016 focus on an HMO called Whole Health Chicago. Its Coventry subsidiary sold a PPO plan last year but it's unclear if that product will return. Advertisement The elimination of Aetna's PPO in the individual market follows a similar move by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois last year, underscoring a shift away from broad provider networks in Obamacare plans. PPOs give subscribers access to a wide array of doctors and hospitals but they can be more expensive to operate than HMOs, where the care is coordinated by primary care doctors who have to provide referrals to specialists. Health plans are trying to better manage the Obamacare population by also restricting consumers' choice of doctors and hospitals in so-called narrow network plans. In exchange for fewer choices, patients pay lower premiums. But narrow networks and HMOs haven't solved all of the challenges of insuring people who don't get coverage through their jobs or government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Insurers across the country are seeking double-digit rate hikes for Obamacare plans in 2017, raising questions about whether consumers can find affordable, quality coverage in the state marketplaces. The Obama administration counters that federal subsidies will spare most consumers from the full impact of most premium increases and says the health law enables people to shop for a better deal. But in Illinois, Blue Cross dominates the individual market. At the end of 2015, the company had more than 500,000 enrollees, about 83 percent of the market. The membership includes pre-Obamacare subscribers who were allowed to keep the health plans they had before the health law went into effect in 2014. Blue Cross posted heavy losses on individual plans in 2014 and 2015, leading to informed speculation that the insurer will seek sharp rate increases for next year. Its sister company in Texas has proposed an average increase of 53.7 percent across its Affordable Care Act plans. Advertisement Cigna's entry, though, may temper some of the Obamacare critics who have questioned the viability of the Illinois marketplace in light of insurers' financial losses. Mondy, the Cigna spokesman, said the company's participation in the Chicago area market is part of a selective expansion of its presence in individual markets in a "few new geographies." Cigna currently offers plans on public exchanges in seven states. It also sells off-exchange policies in six additional states. In Colorado, for example, Cigna offers an on-exchange plan that features what it calls an "exclusive provider organization." Policyholders don't need a referral to see an in-network specialist, but the medical plan does not pay for care provided by a doctor who is not in the network, according to the company's marketing materials. asachdev@chicagotribune.com Twitter @ameetsachdev Q: I was saddened when I learned Prince had died prematurely and surprised that he did not have a will. My husband and I are in our 40s and have two young children. We started thinking about our future. What do we need to protect ourselves and our children? A: I, too, was upset when Prince died. But I was not surprised that he did not have a will. Too many people rich or poor just don't bother to spend the time (and a few dollars) creating an estate plan. One never knows when tragedy will strike, and then it's really too late to start planning. Advertisement I cannot provide legal advice in this column, and you both should consult with a local attorney who understands estate planning. But here are the documents that everyone should have at a minimum. 1. A last will and testament. How do you want your assets to be distributed? Do one of you have children from a previous marriage and want them to receive something? Do you want to give a gift to someone, or do you want to disinherit someone? All these questions must be answered and spelled out in the will. Advertisement You should name a personal representative (called executor in many states), and always always name an alternative just in case the person you name is unable or unwilling to serve. 2. Durable power of attorney. Here, you authorize someone to handle your affairs, such as signing legal document or checks. If, for example, you are the only one that can sign checks, your husband needs this power of attorney to sign if you are not competent. Again, name one person and an alternative. 3. Durable power of attorney for health. Some people combine health and financial in the same document, but I prefer a separate power or attorney to deal with your health matters. Often, the person you select for financial matters will not be the same person you want for health-related matters. 4. Living will (also known as "advance directive"). If you are medically determined to be brain-dead, do you want life support to continue or should "the plug be pulled"? I don't like that concept but it does help people understand what is at stake. According to AARP, a living will spells out what types of medical treatment a person wants at the end of life if he's unable to speak for himself. It tells medical professionals a person's wishes regarding specific decisions, such as whether to accept mechanical ventilation. There are a large number of websites that offer standard forms, but I would first go to Aging with Dignity (www.agingwithdignity.com) for helpful information. Q: I signed a contract to buy a house and gave the title attorney $30,000 as the earnest money deposit. The contract was contingent on a home inspection and my getting financing. I satisfied both contingencies. Settlement was to have taken place the last Friday in April. However, just a day before the closing date, the seller's agent advised me that the seller did not want to sell and was prepared to give me back my deposit. When I asked why, the seller claimed not to know. What should I do? I really like the house, and don't want to walk away. A: In my experience, there are two reasons why sellers want to cancel a contract. First, seller's remorse; they have lived in the house for many years, and they or their children really want to keep the house in the family. But the second reason is that the seller has found someone willing to pay more than your contract price. Unfortunately, this happens a lot of times, especially in good real estate markets. Advertisement Before taking any action, you have to confirm you have a valid binding contract. I have often gotten sellers and buyers out of a real estate contract based on a legal technicality: an important addendum required by local law was not included; or there was ambiguity in the contact between two different paragraphs. You should have an attorney carefully review the contract. If you are satisfied your contract is legal and binding and if you believe the seller is about to close with the other party I would file a lawsuit seeking specific performance. This means you are asking the judge to order the seller to convey the property to you. To ensure the seller will not sell until your lawsuit is either settled or resolved, you should also file a document known as a lis pendens with the recorder of deeds in the jurisdiction where the property is located. Lis pendens is Latin for "lawsuit pending." This puts the world on notice including the seller and any title or escrow company that they cannot provide clear title. The specific performance case is your best remedy in cases where the seller (or the buyer) refuse to complete the deal, once all contingencies have been satisfied and removed. Litigation is, of course, expensive and time-consuming. In many real estate contracts, there is language that the prevailing party in any lawsuit will be awarded legal fees and court costs. Make sure such language is in your contract; otherwise, win or lose you will have to pay your lawyer. Benny Kass is a practicing attorney in Washington, D.C., and in Maryland. He does not provide specific legal or financial advice to any reader. Readers may email him, but he cannot guarantee a personal response. mailbag@kmklawyers.com John Francis Daley stars in "5-25-77," which will film in Waukegan this week. (Moonwatcher Inc.) Writer-drector Patrick Read Johnson's "5-25-77," an autobiographical ode to his teenage years as a fanboy and budding filmmaker in rural Illinois, has been 10-plus years in the making. The indie film, which is nearly finished, is shooting additional footage this week and is looking for extras. Set in the 1970s, the title refers to the date the original "Star Wars" was released in theaters. The film stars John Francis Daley ("Bones" and "Freaks and Geeks") as a young Johnson. Here's the synopsis: "In 1976, a young small-town movie geek is given the opportunity of a lifetime to travel to Hollywood and see an advance screening of the yet-to-be released Star Wars in this charming and inspirational coming-of-age story based on the real-life experiences of director Patrick Read Johnson. Advertisement You can watch the trailer here. On Wednesday, Johnson and crew will be shooting in Waukegan and are looking for extras to film near the Genesee Theatre for a few hours starting at 5 p.m. for a "Scoop the Loop" scene, described by Atmosphere Casting thusly: Advertisement "Before the internet and social media, 'Scooping the Loop' was the cool way for people to hang out and socialize. We are looking for individuals with 1970s clothing and appearance to help us recreate a typical 1970s Scoop. While we need individuals in a wide range of ages, we especially need a larger group of older teenagers to 20-somethings for this." MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR They are also looking for '60s and pre-1977 vintage cars. Those interested should plan on arriving in 1970s attire and email extrascasting@gmail.com: "Please include your name, email address, phone number, age, height, weight, current zip code and pictures to extrascasting@gmail.com with SCOOPING in the subject line. If you are submitting with a car please use SCOOPING W/CAR." Filming on "5-25-77" originally began in 2006 and included locations in Gurnee, Waukegan and Johnson's hometown of Wadsworth. Over the years, there have been hints that the film's release would be imminent, Johnson has been philosophical about the delays, joking in at least one interview back in 2013 that the film has been in the works for "several hundred years." They will be shooting in Waukegan just one day. Johnson's previous directing credits include 1994's "Baby's Day Out." Advertisement nmetz@tribpub.com Twitter: @NinaMetzNews RELATED STORIES: Chance the Rapper is having a South Side music fest Watch Melissa McCarthy, Adam Sandler, Jodie Foster and more audition for Han Solo on Conan Watch the latest movie trailers. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 126 Woody introduces the gang to a homemade spork toy with self-esteem issues in "Toy Story 4." Read the review. (Pixar / AP) The british rock band (lead singer Matt Healy in the photo) The 1975 is coming to perform at Aragon Ballroom in November. (Jose Sena Goulao) Days before The 1975 is scheduled to play Lollapalooza, the rock band announced on Twitter it will perform Nov. 13 at the Aragon Ballroom as part of its North American tour. The tour is slated to kick off Oct. 1 in New York and wrap up Nov. 26 in Texas. The Chicago tickets ($82-$226) can be purchased on Vivid Seats starting Wednesday. Advertisement The band from England is scheduled to perform 7 p.m. Thursday at Lollapalooza and host an after-show Friday at the House of Blues. // N O R T H A M E R I C A N T O U R P R E S A L E W E D N E S D A Y // L O V E https://t.co/Lw9r5iDkHg pic.twitter.com/D01NRL961a The 1975 (@the1975) July 25, 2016 The 1975 released its second studio album, "I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it," in February. Advertisement RELATED STORIES: Lollapalooza 2016 schedule released Lollapalooza 2016: Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, J. Cole to headline Perry Farrell's farewell to Jane's was genesis for Lollapalooza Older Lollapalooza patrons question whether fest is worth the hassle Full coverage of Lollapalooza 2015 Watch the latest movie trailers. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 126 Woody introduces the gang to a homemade spork toy with self-esteem issues in "Toy Story 4." Read the review. (Pixar / AP) Michelle Obama taught me how to mother. Her powerful speech at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night is drawing high praise for its grace and poise. Advertisement "It was as pure a piece of political oratory as this campaign has offered, and instantly entered the pantheon of great convention speeches," said The Atlantic. The Los Angeles Times called it "stunning." It was also Obama in full-on mom mode. She spoke about both the pride and fear she feels as a parent, and wove her two children all of our children back into a campaign that often trades in me-first rhetoric and short-term fixes. Advertisement RELATED: TRENDING LIFE & STYLE NEWS THIS HOUR "Who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives?" Obama asked. Exactly. The moment she walked onto that Grant Park stage in November 2008, the night her husband was elected president, Obama started showing us what it means to mother to love and lead by example and to act, always, with the future in mind. My daughter had just turned 3 that night, and my son was not yet born. I have looked to Obama for guidance ever since, as I try to forge my own path in life, juggling career and parenthood and all of life's challenges and riches. She's a role model for the ages. First lady Michelle Obama addresses delegates July 25 on Day One of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. (NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP/Getty Images) She allows motherhood to define her. Not because it's her only accomplishment she holds degrees from Princeton and Harvard, worked as an associate at Chicago's Sidley Austin law firm and helped run the University of Chicago Medical Center. But because it's her most cherished one. She accepts help. Marian Robinson, Obama's mother, moved into the White House with the rest of the family to help with the Obamas' two daughters and maintain some normalcy in their suddenly very public lives. "It takes a village," Obama likes to remind us, quoting an old proverb that Hillary Clinton popularized in the '90s. Obama said it again Monday night, and she lives that motto out loud. She's cool in all the right ways. Have you seen her karaoke with James Cordon and Missy Elliott? Tango with her husband in Argentina? Dance to "Uptown Funk" on "Ellen"? Hold her own with Jimmy Fallon and Will Ferrell on "Saturday Night Live"? Google and behold. Advertisement But she doesn't try to be the cool mom. She can sing Beyonce with the best of them, but she's very clearly the grown-up in the room. Remember that list of rules in The New York Times? I do. "When the girls go on trips, they write reports on what they have seen, even if their school does not require it," the 2012 story said. "Technology is for weekends: Malia may use her cellphone only then, and she and her sister cannot watch television or use a computer for anything but homework during the week. Malia and Sasha had to take up two sports: one they chose and one selected by their mother. 'I want them to understand what it feels like to do something you don't like and to improve,' the first lady has said." Yes. She expects her husband to be a full partner. My favorite moment in Peter Slevin's biography, "Michelle Obama: A Life," occurs when Barack Obama, in his second year in the U.S. Senate, calls home to tell his wife about a bill he co-sponsored that was making progress. "He launched into an exuberant explanation, but Michelle cut him off," Slevin writes. "'We have ants,' she said. 'I found ants in the kitchen. And in the bathroom upstairs.' She wanted him to pick up ant traps on his way home from the airport. She would do it herself, she said, but the girls had doctors' appointments after school. 'Ant traps. Don't forget, OK, honey? And buy more than one. Listen, I need to go into a meeting. Love you.' Barack said he wondered as he hung up whether Ted Kennedy or John McCain ever bought ant traps on the way home from work." She values children. Whether she's giving a commencement speech at Chicago's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. College Prep or addressing City College of New York grads; whether she's dancing with kids for her "Let's Move" campaign or bear hugging a little girl at the White House, Obama is at her best when she's advocating for a better world on behalf of everyone's kids. It's been a privilege to spend eight years watching Obama lead us toward better versions of ourselves, even under withering criticism about everything from her patriotism to her vacation shorts. She's taught me plenty and given me hope that our best days are still ahead. And she did it all as a mother. I'm eternally grateful. hstevens@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @heidistevens13 RELATED STORIES: Shakespeare, with a generous helping of girl power 'Dude. Be Nice' campaign is a ray of hope this summer Meet Grant Park Orchestra's new 21-year-old wunderkind LAKE GENEVA, Wis. When you think of occupational hazards that go along with delivering mail, inclement weather and aggressive dogs come to mind. Falling in a lake? Not so much. Advertisement But that's what happens when so-called mail jumpers on Geneva Lake literally miss the boat as they leap to and from a moving vessel, delivering letters, packages and newspapers to waterfront homes a tradition that turned 100 years old this summer. What began in 1916 as a service born out of necessity has evolved into a popular tourist attraction in this historic resort town 80 miles from Chicago. Every day at 10 a.m. from June 15 to Sept. 15, passengers on Lake Geneva Cruise Line's U.S. Mailboat Tour go along for the ride as jumpers make the rounds. Advertisement It used to be that when a jumper fell down on the job, he or she didn't have an audience. These days, an often sold-out crowd of 155 people watch as jumpers pounce from the boat onto white piers that jut from manicured lawns surrounding this deep, spring-fed lake. With their special deliveries in tow, jumpers sprint to the mailbox for a quick drop-off/pickup before dashing back, James Bond-style, onto the stern of a 75-foot-long vessel. At least that's how it's supposed to work. Mail jumper Thomas Peck, 17, estimates he's taken an unintentional swim at least four times, including when he tried out for the job. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 12 Lake Geneva Cruise Line's U.S. Mailboat Tour takes place aboard The Walworth II, a 75-foot-long steel hull boat built in 1967. It replaced The Walworth, which started mail service in 1916. (Lori Rackl / Chicago Tribune) "It's really awkward because you're all wet when you jump back on and everyone's laughing," said Peck, a Lake Geneva native who's jumped mail for the past three summers. On a recent Friday morning, the soon-to-be senior at Badger High School moved with the agility of a cat as he bounded between boat deck and dock, delivering correspondence cocooned inside rolled-up newspapers and picking up sacks of letters from kids summering at the many camps along the lake. From his perch at the front of the ship, Peck plopped a parcel from Amazon into a plastic bag just in case. "These are the worst," he said about the unwieldy shoe box-sized package. Actually, they're not the worst. "I delivered a 48-inch TV once," he said proudly. In between jumps, passengers on the 2 1/2-hour cruise get a history lesson about the notable homes and Chicago families who began turning this area into the "Newport of the West" around the time of the Great Chicago Fire. Everybody who was anybody built a vacation house make that a mansion on this 7-mile-long aquatic playground: Schwinn, Selfridge, Wacker, Drake, Swift and Wrigley, whose family compound once commanded an entire mile of prime shoreline. Advertisement Vintage photos of these grand old estates are shown on TV monitors while the jumpers regale passengers with interesting tidbits: The "Amos 'n' Andy" radio show was broadcast from that front porch during the Depression; that huge dome in the distance (Yerkes Observatory) holds the world's largest refracting telescope; and that big tent set up on the lawn of that stunning red brick Georgian revival? That's for Chicago businessman and philanthropist Richard Driehaus' annual birthday bash. If you're not on the list, at least you can enjoy the fireworks. When many of these homes started sprouting up, roads in the area were pretty much nonexistent. Boats were the primary mode of transportation, so marine mail delivery made sense. Nowadays, most of Geneva Lake's front-row residents living in the towns of Lake Geneva, Williams Bay and Fontana get their bills, letters and junk mail like the rest of us, via land, from the hand of a U.S. Postal Service worker. But roughly 75 addresses hew to tradition and opt for this free service that's been scaled back to summers only. "It's kind of unique," Capt. Neill Frame said. "We're one of the few where we go house-to-house and deliver the mail with a load of passengers along." The original mail boat, The Walworth, was replaced by the steel hull Walworth II in 1967, not long before Frame took up his position at the helm. "This is my 47th year driving the mail boat," the jovial captain said. "This is our 100th anniversary, so I almost made half of them." Advertisement Frame seems to know just about everyone on the lake, exchanging waves with kayakers and folks who've walked to the end of their piers to say hi. He gives a periodic toot of the horn to warn swimmers to make way for the boat's arrival. Over the decades, Frame has ferried myriad mail jumpers around Geneva Lake. He's watched many including Peck miss their mark and land in the drink. "All I saw were these two big eyeballs, and then you were gone," Frame recalled as he and the teenager made small talk between jumps. Peck gave a self-deprecating smile, grabbed a handful of mail and waited as the boat approached its next target. When the time was just right, he hurtled onto the pier, made his delivery and squeezed in a cartwheel on his return run to the boat. When he climbed back aboard, the crowd rewarded him with a round of applause. It all makes for an entertaining morning, not to mention a great reminder of the way things used to be a century ago, when jumpers like Peck first started delivering the mail albeit with a little less panache. Advertisement lrackl@chicagotribune.com Twitter @lorirackl If you go When: Lake Geneva Cruise Line's U.S. Mailboat Tour runs seven days a week June 15 to Sept. 15. Boarding begins at 9:30 a.m. for the 2 1/2-hour tour that runs 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., but people often start lining up as early as 8:30 a.m. to get the best seats. Price: Tickets cost $35 for adults (ages 18-64), $33 for seniors (65 and older) and $20 for children. This is the cruise line's most popular tour, and it often sells out in advance. To make a reservation, call 262-248-6206 or go to www.cruiselakegeneva.com. Where: The tour starts and ends at the Riviera Docks, 812 Wrigley Drive, in downtown Lake Geneva. Advertisement Tip: For optimal views of both the scenery and the jumper, get a window seat in the middle of the boat on the starboard (right) side, lower level. Another tip: The entire 23-mile shoreline of Geneva Lake is accessible to the public via a walking path around the lake. It's a fantastic hike that typically takes eight to 10 hours to complete. Lots of people prefer to walk a smaller section, like the especially scenic 8-mile stretch between the towns of Lake Geneva and Williams Bay. RELATED STORIES: 23 miles of Wisconsin that will knock your socks off Have some lavender with that wine in Traverse City, Mich. A great lake vacation along Michigan's harbor towns Portrait of Richard Branson, the British businessman behind the Virgin Group, at the new Virgin Hotel in Chicago on Jan. 29, 2015. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) Smoke 'em up! That was the unexpected message for thousands of budding entrepreneurs who paid to come to Chicago's McCormick Place on Tuesday morning hoping to hear business tips from laid-back British billionaire Sir Richard Branson. Advertisement The 66-year-old Virgin Group founder mixed in some unorthodox parenting advice for entrepreneurs about raising their children along with his more conventional business bromides. "If they're going to have a joint, do it with them," the father of two told conventioneers from the stage. "Don't let them sneak off and do it on their own." Advertisement After a smattering of awkward laughter, Branson felt compelled to add that "I'm on the global drug commission" and that he has been working hard to reinforce the idea that drugs are "a health problem and not a criminal problem," a message which got a warmer response from his audience. Though it seemed to catch many in the audience unaware, Branson has made no secret of his occasional marijuana use and has been an advocate for decriminalizing marijuana. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Stephen Kelly, the CEO of conference organizers Sage, had prompted the off-script remarks from Branson during an onstage Q&A by asking him how he made sure his children learned their values. Kelly briskly moved the conversation onto safer areas and cued up videos that showed Branson meeting with Nelson Mandela and other statesmen, and Branson's attempts to conquer commercial space travel. A well-rehearsed anecdote about how Branson founded Virgin Atlantic Airways by renting a jet with his credit card after he and his fellow passengers were left stranded overnight in Puerto Rico by American Airlines allowed the billionaire to point to his rock 'n' roll past. The day after he hired the jet, Branson said he called up Boeing and told them that he owned a record label that handled artists including The Rolling Stones, The Sex Pistols and Phil Collins and "I'd like to know if you have any second-hand 747s." Pitched another softball question about how he manages his work-life balance, Branson said he had learned to delegate at an early age. In a reference to his private Caribbean island, Necker Island, he said that "I'm lucky enough to work on an island," adding with a chuckle as he motioned to the crowd, "and one day you can all do that too." After a brief stop in his backstage trailer, Branson was whisked away by handlers who declined to allow a Chicago Inc. reporter to speak with him. kjanssen@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @kimjnews Former President Bill Clinton and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle clap during first lady Michelle Obama's address to delegates during the Democratic National Convention on July 25, 2016, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. (Clem Murray / Philadelphia Inquirer) It looks to me like the Clintons have signaled who should be mayor of Chicago in 2019. And it ain't Rahm Emanuel. Advertisement It's Toni Taxwinkle. She was sitting in a fetching blue outfit next to former President Bill Clinton at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night the night when young Bernie Sanders voters were slapped in the mouth, betrayed, and told to like it. Advertisement And it wasn't an accident. You don't sit next to Bill Clinton by accident. Not in public when he's spinning his political web. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle could very well have defeated Emanuel in the last mayoral election, but she chose not to challenge him. Now, Rahm is severely weakened politically. He's all but lost the black vote after he suppressed the Laquan McDonald video until after his re-election, that video showing the black youth being shot 16 times by a white Chicago cop. So it looks as if the mayor is being encouraged to find another line of work, maybe banking or hanging out with George Lucas. The Clintons know politics. And without the votes of African-Americans, Hillary Clinton would not be the Democratic nominee for president. The Clinton-Preckwinkle courtship, captured by television cameras, created a huge buzz among Chicago politicians. "The Irish have a saying: 'Where you sit shows where you stand,' " said a wise Chicago Irish political insider. "And she's sitting and standing with Bill at the convention. That's not a coincidence." It's expected that Emanuel will address the Illinois delegation at the convention. But they're politicians, and they're already talking about Bill and Toni. At breakfast with Rahm in Philly, I'm sure the eggs will be tasty. Advertisement jskass@chicagotribune.com They operate with the efficiency and structure of a large corporation, with orders flowing down from the top, an employee handbook of rules to follow and a disciplinary system for those who violate the organization's standards. But the real business of the Almighty Latin Kings is violence, federal authorities say. Advertisement In announcing sweeping federal indictments against some of the street gang's top regional leaders Tuesday, prosecutors alleged the gang employs brutal means to protect its turf, including beatings, murder, arson and even the attempted murder of a suburban cop who was suspected of working for the FBI. The charges, which name more than four dozen alleged gang members in Indiana and the Chicago area, also detail how the Latin Kings organization enforces discipline within its own ranks and retaliates against rivals and former members to prevent cooperation with law enforcement. Advertisement "Gang violence, gun violence, senseless violence, the type of violence that plagues our communities, our neighborhoods, in Chicago and beyond," U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon told reporters at a news conference at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse. "The scope is breathtaking." The indictments unsealed Tuesday in Chicago charged 34 alleged members of the Latin Kings with racketeering conspiracy, including several "regional enforcers" responsible for keeping gang members in line, as well as high-ranking members known as "Incas," who oversee members, and their seconds in command, called "Caciques." Another two alleged members were charged with lesser weapons charges. In addition, superseding charges brought in federal court in Hammond accuse an additional 17 alleged Latin King members of everything from sex trafficking and gunrunning to two previously unsolved slayings, court records show. Federal and local law enforcement began making arrests earlier this week. As of Tuesday afternoon, 33 out of the 36 defendants charged in the Chicago cases were in custody and will be making their initial court appearances in the coming days, according to U.S. attorney's office spokesman Joseph Fitzpatrick. The arrests were the culmination of a three-year investigation and come as Chicago's epidemic of gun violence continues to spike to levels not seen since the late 1990s. Fardon, who has made curbing violence one of his top priorities since taking office in 2013, said Tuesday that while bringing big gang cases is "not by itself" a long-term solution to the violence problem, it's an important tool to get "alleged killers and shooters off the streets. "I think it is a major setback for the Latin King nation operating in this region," Fardon said. "I can't quantify how that looks from their perspective, but when you charge multiple Incas and treasurers and enforcers and Caciques, that is going to be disruptive for these organizations." Founded in Chicago in the 1950s, the Latin Kings in many ways are a throwback to an era when gangs were led by unchallenged leaders who ruled over large swaths of territory, controlling criminal enterprises and driving violence. Advertisement Today, many street gangs in the Chicago area have splintered into less-organized factions often controlling just a few blocks, and shootings are as likely to stem from personal slights as official gang business or drug turf disputes, experts say. Adding to the turmoil, gang factions are more active on social media, using hashtags and instant messages to threaten and challenge each other, keeping the level of animosity constant and elevated. The indictments unsealed Tuesday show the Latin Kings have managed to maintain their organizational structure despite a series of major investigations by law enforcement over the years that dealt heavy blows to the gang's leadership. In 2009, for example, one of the gang's national leaders, Augustin Zambrano, was arrested as part of a lengthy crackdown aimed at the gang called Operation Broken Crown, a reference to the gang's crown insignia. Zambrano, a so-called "Corona" whose power stretched from Chicago's Little Village neighborhood to the East Coast and Texas, was convicted in 2011 of racketeering conspiracy for orchestrating violence and drug dealing in Chicago. Also convicted were Vicente Garcia Jr., said to be in charge of all Latin Kings in Illinois; Alphonso Chavez, alleged leader of the gang's 31st and Drake faction; and Jose Guzman, a reputed former enforcer in Little Village. During the six-week trial, former members testified about the strict rules, formally laid out in a constitution and rule book that they were required to follow. The testimony showed they had to defend their turf with guns and be ready to fire at rivals. In one instance, a musician in Little Village for a performance was shot while he and his friends drove through the neighborhood. Recordings also captured the violence, including a graphic black-and-white video showing one Latin King being pummeled and stomped by fellow members during a "violation," or gang punishment. Advertisement Zambrano was sentenced in 2012 to 60 years in prison. Nancy DePodesta, a former federal prosecutor who led the case against Zambrano, said in an interview Tuesday that it was "disheartening" to see so many of the same allegations in the new charges. "I'd like to think that we were able to disrupt the gang and deter others from following in the footsteps of these leaders," said DePodesta, who is now in private practice. "But I'm not naive to think that this was going to put an end to it." The indictments brought in Chicago on Tuesday target two factions of the Latin Kings, one that operates on the city's Southeast Side, several southern Cook County suburbs as well as in Indiana, and another known as the "M-Town" faction, which controls the Melrose Park and Maywood area. The three alleged Southeast enforcers charged in the indictment are Raul Cavillo, 33, Joel Nunez, 39, and Carlos Padilla Jr., 35, all of Chicago. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Also arrested were three alleged Incas charged as leaders of the M-Town crew: Piere Paolo Gennell, 30, of Melrose Park; Jose Hernandez, 45, of Maywood; and David Perez, 26, of Melrose Park. Advertisement Among the allegations levied in the indictments were that a soldier in the M-Town faction, Edgar Velarde-Saldana, 33, tried to murder a Melrose Park police officer in July 2014, after it was learned the officer was assisting FBI agents. Fardon declined to elaborate Tuesday on the circumstances of that alleged incident. Gang leaders also issued "standing orders to shoot and beat" rivals and even attack Latin Kings who had fallen from good standing for one reason or another, according to the charges. These orders were sometimes referred to as "KOS" or "Kill on Sight," the charges alleged. DePodesta said one of the most disturbing aspects about the gang was the dues members were forced to pay money earmarked for criminal defense attorneys and sometimes even funeral expenses. "In what other organization is it just part of doing business to set aside funds for the funerals of your members?" she said. "It's chilling." jmeisner@chicagotribune.com Twitter @jmetr22b A 17-year-old Cicero boy is accused of helping a gunman fatally shoot a 27-year-old man last month in the Avondale neighborhood, prosecutors said in court Tuesday afternoon. William J. Hill, who is charged with murder, appeared in court Tuesday afternoon before Judge Laura Sullivan who set bail at $800,000 during a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. Advertisement Hill, of the 3200 block of South 54th Avenue in Cicero, got into an argument with the victim, Jeremy Rodgers, who is also known as J.R., outside of a BP gas station in 3900 block of West Belmont Avenue on June 5 in front of several witnesses, according to Asst. State's Attny. Holly Grosshans. One of the witnesses tried to break up the argument, and during it, Hill was seen making a call on his cell phone. A few minutes later, an unidentified male came from across the street and had "momentary contact'' with Hill, according to Grosshans. Advertisement After a few more minutes, another unidentified male whose face was partially covered with a mask and who was armed with a gun approached from the area of a nearby laundromat, prosecutors said. Witnesses saw and heard Hill point Rodgers out to the gunman, who shot at him multiple times before he and Hill fled. Rodgers, of the 1800 block of South Springfield Avenue, was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center where he died June 16, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. An autopsy June 17 determined Rodgers died of a gunshot wound to the head and his death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner's office. Hill and gunman fled the area together, and Hill was arrested Monday. Police say no other arrests have been made in the case. Embattled Hebron Village Board President John Jacobson announced at a board meeting on April 18, 2016, that he will not resign. (Tony Briscoe / Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune) The village president of Hebron has narrowly averted losing his home by paying off his back taxes and is seeking to have the drug charges against him dismissed. John Jacobson faces felony charges of possession of cocaine and illegal possession of a firearm. Despite efforts to force him out of office, his chief critic admits that it looks like he will remain on the job for the time being. Advertisement In March, Jacobson, 69, was arrested after a woman called 911 from his home to say he was turning blue and having trouble breathing after drinking alcohol and smoking crack cocaine, according to a police report. Jacobson recovered, but police said that, after obtaining a search warrant, they found the drug and a crack pipe, as well as a shotgun for which he lacked the required firearm owner's identification card. Jacobson's attorney has filed a request to dismiss the drug possession charge, arguing that he should have been immune to prosecution. Advertisement The lawyer, Mark Facchini, cites the Illinois Controlled Substances Act, which says a person who seeks or obtains emergency medical assistance for a drug overdose shall not be prosecuted for possessing less than 3 grams of cocaine if the evidence was acquired as a result of the person getting medical help. The law was created to encourage overdose victims to call for help without fear of prosecution for small amounts of drugs. Jacobson was charged with having less than 15 grams of cocaine, but Facchini's motion states that he believes the amount was less than 3 grams, and authorities initially said they found less than 1 gram of cocaine in the house. Jacobson was also charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia on allegations that he had a crack pipe and a syringe. Neither Facchini nor Jacobson could be reached for comment. In response to the request to dismiss the drug charge, prosecutors said in court filings that it's not clear if Jacobson was experiencing an overdose or if the woman who called 911 believed he was having an overdose. Prosecutors also denied that the cocaine weighed less than 3 grams but did not elaborate and could not be reached immediately for comment. As Jacobson continues to fight the drug charges, he has apparently succeeded on another legal front: the repayment of back taxes that could have caused him to lose his home. Jacobson had owed more than $12,000 in property taxes since 2012 on his house in the small rural town near the Wisconsin border, according to McHenry County records. But he paid the entire $12,335 on Thursday, just before Tuesday's deadline, Treasurer Glenda Miller said. The tax debt had been purchased in a so-called tax sale by a Chicago real estate company, which meant the company could have taken possession of the home if Jacobson had failed to pay. Advertisement He still owes $1,546 for the first installment of his most recent 2015 taxes, plus an additional 1.5 percent per month as a penalty for being late, but he has until Nov. 16 to pay the bill before the debt would go for sale, Miller said. After Jacobson's arrest, more than 200 people signed a petition calling for him to resign, but he refused, saying, "I love this town." Trustee Andrew Georgi boycotted a meeting to protest Jacobson's continued presence and tried to introduce an ordinance to recall him from office, but Georgi said he was told there was no legal mechanism for seeking to recall Jacobson. Georgi conceded this week that the president will likely remain in office for the rest of his term unless he is convicted of a felony, in which case he cannot legally hold the elected office. Jacobson's term as village president, his first, ends next spring, and it's possible his criminal case won't be resolved by then. Georgi said the lack of a clear law allowing recalls must be changed at the state level. "We're going to push state officials to make a recall law from the governor on down to dog catcher," Georgi said. "It's going to be a long, drawn-out fight." Advertisement Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > The drug charges weren't Jacobson's first brush with the law. In January 2013, McHenry County sheriff's police pulled him over in his car based on a tip and charged him with possession of three rocks of crack cocaine, police documents show. Prosecutors agreed to drop that charge when he later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. He was elected to a four-year term as village president months later, while the charge was pending, and served one year of conditional discharge. He was also fired from his maintenance job at McHenry County College in 2013 based on allegations that he repeatedly viewed and sent nude photos on the school email, according to school records. In 2011, he was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol but was later was found not guilty, according to court records. After taking office, Jacobson was charged in 2013 with driving under the influence of alcohol in Walworth County, Wis. He pleaded no contest, paid a fine and had his driving privileges revoked for a year, court records show. Freelance reporter Amanda Marrazzo contributed. rmccoppin@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @RobertMcCoppin A Cicero man died early Saturday after he was shot July 18 in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood, according to authorities. Roberto Ortiz, 20, of the 2600 block of South 60th Court, was shot near 45th Street and Wolcott Avenue on the city's South Side. Advertisement Someone stepped from a black sedan and fired toward Ortiz, who was hit in the head and taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, police said. The shooting happened about 8:50 p.m. An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday. Ortiz was one of 15 people shot over 16 hours from that Monday afternoon into the next morning. A Near North Side man has been charged with killing another man during an argument outside a CVS store on the Gold Coast, police said. Charles Ternior, 22, of the 800 block of North Cambridge Avenue, is charged with first-degree murder and was denied bail during a court hearing Monday. Ternior is accused of killing Larry Lawrence, of 6500 block of South Kind Drive, on June 29 after the two began arguing in a parking lot outside the CVS. Prosecutors say video surveillance captured Ternior shooting Lawrence near the store, then following him as Lawrence fell into the street and shooting him again. He dumped the gun in a nearby garbage can and it was recovered by police, according to prosecutors. Ternior was taken into custody a few minutes later about a block away. Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his wife, Patti, address the hoard of media at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on Dec. 6, 2011, after the former governor was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Blagojevich began his remarks by quoting a line from a Rudyard Kipling poem: "If you can meet with triumph and disaster." (Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune) Rod Blagojevich says he's been a model prisoner for the past four years, teaching history, working out and singing in a jailhouse band. Federal prosecutors say he should've spent more time apologizing. Advertisement In a 10-page filing that marks the final written arguments before Blagojevich's resentencing hearing next month, prosecutors said the former governor does not deserve a break on his 14-year sentence, in part because he's never accepted responsibility for his crimes. In fact, Blagojevich's own statement from prison last year decrying his conviction for what he said was simply political horse trading should be enough to persuade U.S. District Judge James Zagel to impose the same sentence again, though a federal appeals court tossed out five of the counts in a ruling last year, prosecutors said. Advertisement "(Blagojevich) suggested that the crimes of which he remained convicted involved nothing but common, everyday campaign fundraising at once minimizing his conduct, mischaracterizing the evidence of his guilt, and misrepresenting the nature and seriousness of the offenses," Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Porter wrote in the filing late Monday. Blagojevich's lawyer, Leonard Goodman, wrote in a six-page response that prosecutors have failed to acknowledge that the appellate court threw out some of the more serious charges in Blagojevich's case including the "centerpiece" allegations he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama after his election as president in 2008. Goodman also said the ex-governor's "record as an exemplary inmate" at the federal prison camp outside Denver should be considered. Earlier this month, Goodman submitted nearly 150 letters from Blagojevich's fellow inmates describing his busy schedule, which includes exercising, working in the law library and teaching history to inmates seeking high school equivalency diplomas. Attorneys make case for new Blagojevich sentencing. July 12, 2016. (CBS Chicago) (CBS Chicago) Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Blagojevich also formed a prison band called the Jailhouse Rockers that played at a GED graduation ceremony and a Fourth of July celebration a few years ago before breaking up because their lead guitarist was released, according to Goodman. Goodman has argued Blagojevich should get as little as five years in prison when he is resentenced Aug. 9, a move that could have him released from custody almost immediately. Zagel has set a status hearing in the case for Wednesday morning. Blagojevich, 59, was convicted in 2011 of misusing his powers as governor in an array of wrongdoing. At this point, he is not scheduled to be released from prison until May 2024, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website. A federal appeals court last year dismissed five counts against the former governor, but that still left him convicted on 13 counts. The three-judge panel ordered resentencing but called the evidence against him "overwhelming" and made it clear that Zagel's original sentence was not out of bounds. In March, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Blagojevich's appeal. Advertisement jmeisner@chicagotribune.com Twitter @jmetr22b Chris Kennedy has a long history of floating his name for political office. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune) PHILADELPHIA Chris Kennedy learned the hard way Tuesday the political peril that can come with repeatedly floating your name for elected office without ever actually running. The son of the slain Robert F. Kennedy used a speech to the Illinois delegation to the Democratic National Convention to sharply criticize Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, fueling speculation that the man with the famous political bloodlines might commit to running this time around after previously weighing campaigns for the U.S. House, U.S. Senate and governor. Advertisement But after Kennedy wrapped up his polished address, he showed little savvy with the collection of reporters awaiting him outside a hotel banquet room to ask whether he would challenge Rauner in 2018. "I said what I was going to say inside today," he said, "and the rest of the convention I'm going to spend listening and learning from other people." Advertisement Kennedy then walked toward a waiting elevator, but a crush of Chicago reporters followed him in, not satisfied with the nonanswer. "This is sort of ridiculous, please," Kennedy pleaded. "What's ridiculous is you don't answer questions," WFLD-Ch. 32 reporter Mike Flannery shot back. "You've run four or five campaigns in the gossip column. Are you running for governor or not?" "I don't have to address you. Please leave the elevator and let me go to my meeting. Please do that. Have some decency," Kennedy responded. "What have you become? Please, please." A furious Kennedy then left the elevator and headed to a nearby stairwell. Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet then chased him into the stairwell doorway requesting to take a photograph of the businessman, who obliged with an awkwardly forced smile. Bill Ruthhart describes events of the day after Illinois delegation breakfast in Philadelphia. (Kim Geiger / Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune) The scene was the latest spectacle in the rampant speculation among the Illinois delegation over a governor's race more than two years off. At times the talk of who should run has overshadowed pro-union, anti-Rauner rhetoric at the delegation's daily morning breakfast meetings. For two days, the breakfast's emcee, Cook County Recorder of Deeds Karen Yarbrough, has kept up a running joke of who might make the governor's race. "What about Toni Preckwinkle? She's not doing anything," Yarbrough joked of the County Board president. Advertisement "No," Preckwinkle shouted back from the front row. For the second straight day, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan faced questions about a possible run. She ruled out a bid last time, saying she would not run for governor because her father, Michael Madigan, would remain as Illinois House speaker. "I feel strongly that the state would not be well served by having a governor and speaker of the House from the same family and have never planned to run for governor if that would be the case," she said then. On Tuesday she seemed to soften that stance. Asked if she would absolutely rule out a run for governor so long as her father remains speaker, she only would repeat, "It's still a factor." But was she ruling out a run? "Is anybody in that room ruling anything out?" Madigan responded, before referring to Kennedy. "Go talk to Chris." As for his address to the delegation, Kennedy spent the first nine minutes of an 11-minute speech talking about American ideals and the need for more economic empowerment for the poor and middle class remarks that could have been delivered to any of the other 49 state delegations in Philadelphia. Advertisement Then Kennedy began touting his own strengths as a businessman. The 52-year-old sold his ownership of the Merchandise Mart in 2012 and now spends his time running a grocery nonprofit, Top Box Foods. "More companies have moved new offices to Illinois for the first time to the Merchandise Mart center than any other location in our state," he said. "I know what it takes to get companies to Illinois and to get them to expand once they arrive." Kennedy set his sights on Rauner's pro-business, union-weakening agenda. Not one business that relocated, Kennedy said, "asked me about prevailing wage or right to work or redistricting or tort reform." "This governor's so-called turnaround agenda is another form of misdirection, part of the narrative that government doesn't work so he's going to have to privatize it," said Kennedy, who added that business leaders have said they are hesitant to move to Illinois because the state has no budget. He accused Rauner of turning a budget problem into a "statewide economic crisis." "The suffering and chaos that he has unleashed on the people of Illinois needs to end," Kennedy said to cheers. Advertisement Before Kennedy's reporter-dodging scramble to the stairwell, he lamented in his speech how the Republican opposition had capitalized on fewer watchdogs in the news media. "They hate the unions, they say, because they see the unions as collectivist. That is just classic red-baiting misdirection," Kennedy said. "The true reason they oppose unions is that with the decline of daily newspapers and other media, there are simply fewer reporters than there used to be to tell the rest of us the truth." For his part, Speaker Madigan suggested that Kennedy would be an "excellent candidate" for governor with his business experience and "he would bring to the campaign the history of his family, which would be very helpful." On Monday, Madigan described Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, who's also been mentioned as a potential Rauner challenger, as "uniquely qualified." Madigan said he has met with Kennedy about the possibility of running for governor. At the beginning of his speech, Kennedy thanked Madigan for "his invitation to be with all of you this morning." But Madigan, who also serves as the state Democratic Party chairman, made it clear that it was Kennedy who sought the chance to draw attention to a possible run for office. "We received a request from him to speak," Madigan said. "So we put him on the agenda." Advertisement Chicago Tribune's Kim Geiger contributed. bruthhart@chicagotribune.com Twitter @BillRuthhart PHILADELPHIA Despite anxiety in recent days that supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders might attempt to upset the official casting of delegate votes at the Democratic National Convention, the process moved smoothly Tuesday afternoon. Illinois Democrats cast 98 votes for Hillary Clinton and 74 votes for Sanders, with Democratic Party chairman Michael Madigan leading the delegation's floor announcement. Advertisement Illinois is one of only a few states to be seated on the convention floor rather than in the stands. The prime real estate is a nod to Clinton's Illinois roots, having been born in Chicago and raised in the suburbs. The votes for Clinton were cast by Betsy Ebeling, an old friend of Clinton's dating to their school days in Park Ridge. "I know you're watching, this one's for you, Hill," Ebeling said. Advertisement Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 200 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton waves to delegates after her speech during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 28, 2016. (Mary Altaffer / AP) Sanders supporter Clem Balanoff, a former state lawmaker, cast the delegation's votes for the Vermont senator. "It takes a little bit of time, the healing process, but I suspect that in the end, we should be very -- 100 percent of us will be together in Illinois," Balanoff said. Clinton barely defeated Sanders in the Illinois primary, winning 50.6 percent of the vote compared with 48.6 percent for Sanders. Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, delivers remarks on the first day of the Democratic National Convention on July 25, 2016, in Philadelphia. (Alex Wong / Getty Images) PHILADELPHIA National labor leaders visited the Illinois delegation Tuesday, pledging support for their Democratic allies and railing against Gov. Bruce Rauner, with one prominent union head calling him a "jackass" and vowing to "take him out" in 2018. The scene was a spirited display of the strong allegiance between Democrats who control the legislature in Springfield and the forces of organized labor in their protracted battle with the Republican governor. That dynamic has been a central theme of the state delegation's gathering at the Democratic National Convention, often overshadowing the presidential contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Advertisement It also was a not-so-subtle reminder of the symbiotic nature of that allegiance: Labor unions dispatch their armies of volunteers and vast financial resources to help elect Democrats, and Democrats in turn protect and promote the policies favored by organized labor. "The entire labor movement and our coalition partners and our allies and our friends, we're going to be knocking on doors, we're going to be making those phone calls, we're going to be having those one-on-one contacts with our members in our communities," said Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, in a rousing speech that drew standing ovations. "We will leave no stone unturned. We can't take anything for granted in this election. Advertisement "We are partners in this fight. We are your family in this fight," Saunders continued. "But if a family member is attacked, I expect our family members to help us. Help us defeat Rauner." The focus on Rauner, who is not on the ballot this year, goes beyond standard partisan politics. The governor has spent much of his first 18 months in office waging a multifront war against labor unions that includes a simmering contract dispute with AFSCME Council 31, the largest state employee worker union, and insistence that lawmakers enact limits on collective bargaining rights and prevailing wage laws before Rauner will agree to a full budget deal for state government. Rauner laughed off the union attacks, turning to his usual call for key reforms to how Illinois government operates. "We need major reforms. We've been losing our jobs, our taxes keep going through the roof, we have budget deficits and we cut our school funding," Rauner said during an event at a central Illinois farm calling for the Democrat-controlled legislature to put a term limits constitutional amendment referendum on the 2018 ballot. While he did not mention unions specifically, the governor made a veiled reference, saying "our system is broken because our political system is broken." Rauner has contended that he's trying to end the "corrupt bargain" between labor and politicians, which he blames for the state's financial woes and Democrats' firm grasp on power in Illinois politics. Saunders told the gathering that the union views the situation in Illinois as "ground zero" in its efforts to beat back political threats. If AFSCME workers in Illinois end up striking against Rauner's proposed new contract for state employees, Saunders said the national union would dispatch resources to the fight. "If Council 31 goes on strike, I want to make this real clear: An attack on them is an attack on our national union, and we're going to fight like hell to protect our members," Saunders said. "Make no mistake about it, when we engage in battle, AFSCME engages in battle. We aren't letting anyone stomp on the rights of our members across the state of Illinois." Following Saunders was a series of speeches from officials representing the Laborers' International Union of North America, which sponsored the day's delegation breakfast. Union executive board member Terry Healy reminded delegates of the close ties between labor and the Democratic Party of Illinois, which is chaired by House Speaker Michael Madigan, who is Rauner's chief nemesis at the Capitol. Advertisement Healy lauded Madigan as "our best line of defense against the so-called turnaround agenda," a reference to Rauner's plan, which includes changes to state laws that would restrict collective bargaining rights and the rights of workers who are injured on the job. Terry O'Sullivan, the union's general president, went a step further. "Excuse my French. ... I think your governor's a jackass, to tell the truth," O'Sullivan said to cheers and applause. "Whoever the candidate is, in 2018, we're going to take Gov. Rauner on, we're going to take him out and we're going to replace him with a Democrat who has the same values." As the breakfast wound down and delegates were getting their marching orders for the convention activities ahead, Madigan slipped out of the room and found O'Sullivan mingling outside. The two chatted for about 10 minutes, with Madigan giving O'Sullivan a slap on the back as they parted ways. Shortly after, Madigan took questions from reporters about who the Democrats will field to challenge Rauner in his bid for a second term. "I think the best speaker I had for today was Terry O'Sullivan," Madigan said with a smile. "Maybe he should run for some big office." Advertisement Chicago Tribune's Bill Ruthhart and Monique Garcia contributed. Garcia reported from Springfield. kgeiger@chicagotribune.com Twitter @kimgeiger U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez delivers remarks on the first day of the Democratic National Convention on July 25, 2016, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. (Alex Wong / Getty Images) PHILADELPHIA Railing against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as a bigot, Chicago U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez gave an impassioned convention speech Monday night on immigration reform and in support of presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Gutierrez opened by noting his parents grew up in San Sebastian del Pepino, Puerto Rico, and came to Chicago with no education, unable to speak English and without even a winter coat. Advertisement "My parents were born American citizens but when they moved, along with half-a-million other Puerto Ricans in the 1950s, they were greeted with scorn and discrimination," Gutierrez said. "Politicians called them criminals. They said my parents were dangerous, diseased and would ruin the country. Sound familiar to you tonight?" One of the most outspoken advocates for immigration reform in Congress, Gutierrez did not mention Trump by name during his five-minute prime-time speech, but the implication was clear. Advertisement "Nobody spoke up against the bigotry and hatred my parents endured, so you better believe I'm using my voice against the discrimination we hear today," Gutierrez said. "I will raise my voice against a bigot who thinks a judge born in Indiana can't do his job because his parents were born in Mexico. I will raise my voice against a bully who calls hardworking immigrants criminals and 'rapists,' someone who promises to round up and deport families, millions of families, and then put up a wall behind them and us. "You have joined me in that fight," he said. "And so has Hillary Clinton." Gutierrez's speaking slot served as a reward after he made several trips to campaign for the former secretary of state. He also hosted Clinton in March at a Pilsen immigration workshop the day before the Illinois primary that she narrowly won over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. During his speech, Gutierrez told an enthusiastic crowd that Trump's plan to "round up and deport 11 million" people living in the country illegally is a "sick, hateful fantasy." "But let me tell you what gives me hope," Gutierrez said. "In her heart, Hillary Clinton's dream for America is one where immigrants are allowed to come out of the shadows, get right with the law, pay their taxes and not live with fear that their families are going to be ripped apart." Gutierrez didn't reserve his shots at Trump for the speech alone, alluding to the plagiarism flap surrounding Melania Trump's convention address last week. Asked on MSNBC if he practiced his speech, Gutierrez responded: "I practiced it and I even wrote it myself." bruthhart@chicagotribune.com Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday said he accepts Gov. Bruce Rauner's apology for branding half of Chicago Public Schools teachers "virtually illiterate" but wants to see the governor become a "champion" of the city's children. There was a dose of irony in Emanuel addressing the topic. For more than a year, the Emanuel administration fought the release of CPS emails that contained the governor's remarks until a judge ordered their release in response to a lawsuit filed by the Chicago Tribune. In addition, Emanuel was addressing a political ruckus created by the remarks of his onetime vacation friend, private business ally and political backer. Advertisement The mayor's comments came after the Tribune last week published Rauner's remarks, made in December 2011 in an email discussion with civic leaders about education reform. Rauner criticized the school district's massive bureaucracy and teachers union, "where 50% of principals are managerially incompetent and half of teachers are virtually illiterate." Rauner apologized Friday, saying his comments were "both inaccurate and intemperate," and adding that he is "a strong advocate for teachers." Advertisement On Tuesday, Emanuel noted that while the comments came at a time when Rauner was a private businessman backing so-called school reform efforts with substantial contributions, the governor more recently described some Chicago schools as "crumbling prisons." "But let me tell you the 'crumbling prisons,' with wardens as principals and guards as teachers, have done," Emanuel said, citing statistics he said show CPS academic gains. "That's what the 'prisons' are producing." Nevertheless, Emanuel said he accepts Rauner's apology but "would hope the governor would now turn the page, both on calling our schools prisons and calling teachers illiterate and principals incompetent. ... Turn the page and be the governor that champions kids against great economic and cultural and social odds beating 'em and leading the country. "That is something to hold up, encourage our children and say, 'That is what we want to see more success of,' and I think if the governor of the state of Illinois should embrace the children of the city of Chicago," added Emanuel, who was responding to reporters' questions after a ceremonial groundbreaking for a new grocery store food distribution center in the Pullman neighborhood. Emanuel, however, said the question of what the governor should do if he's sincere about his apology was best addressed to Rauner. Then the mayor went on to reveal at least one effort he would like the governor to back, noting that during the recent session of the General Assembly, agreements were made to increase educational and pension funding for CPS in the coming school year. "I want to see that not only this year I want to see it continue," Emanuel said. Rauner countered that he has long worked to improve schools in Chicago, but said districts across the state need help too. Advertisement "You know, I have worked for 25 years to improve the quality of the public schools in Chicago. And I passionately, I ran for governor so we could have outstanding schools in every community, not just Chicago," Rauner said Tuesday during a term limits event at a central Illinois farm. "Every school district needs more money, every teacher needs more support." Chicago Tribune's Monique Garcia contributed from Springfield. hdardick@chicagotribune.com Twitter @ReporterHal Downers Grove police on Tuesday released a heavily redacted police report that sheds little light on the investigation prompted by a suburban Republican lawmaker who said he quit in part because of fraudulent social media accounts set up in his name. The report, dated July 14, indicates that state Rep. Ron Sandack, a top ally of Gov. Bruce Rauner, complained to his hometown Downers Grove Police Department. The report described the complaint only as an "internet scam." Advertisement Sandack told the Tribune on Monday that he resigned because politics had gotten "too ugly." One of the reasons he cited was what he described as several fraudulent social media accounts set up in his name in recent weeks. Last week, Sandack deleted his Facebook and Twitter accounts. When asked if any compromising information was accessed before he deleted his social media accounts, Sandack told the Tribune "no." The Tribune on Monday filed a request for a copy of the police report filed by Sandack, who was mayor of the west suburb before joining the General Assembly. The report was released Tuesday, but any indication of what Sandack specifically complained about was redacted in the report. Advertisement The only information left for public view was that Sandack did come to the station to file a complaint, and that the case was sent to an investigator. The department said Illinois law allowed it to redact information it felt could compromise the investigation if released, as well as information it felt could be an invasion of privacy. Rauner on Tuesday said he was not aware of Sandack's plans to step down from office, saying he learned about the departure of his House ally through media reports. Asked about Sandack's resignation, Rauner told reporters he didn't have much to add. "I really can't comment much on Mr. Sandack's situation. I heard about it yesterday morning, the same time most of you did. I am not sure what all is going on there, so I can't comment," Rauner said. Asked if it was difficult to lose a top ally, Rauner repeated that he could not comment, adding that he has not talked to Sandack. Also on Tuesday, DuPage County Republican chairman Brian Krajewski said GOP officials plan to talk to potential Sandack replacements later this week, with the goal of naming someone to the seat Saturday. Krajewski said a leading contender is Downers Grove village commissioner David Olsen, who's also on the College of DuPage Board. Krajewski said a key factor will be a candidate's ability to hit the ground running in order to defeat Democratic candidate Greg Hose, also of Downers Grove, in the Nov. 8 election. "My guess is that we'll keep the seat as long as we have a good candidate," Krajewski said Tuesday. Advertisement jmahr@chicagotribune.com mcgarcia@chicagotribune.com Former President Bill Clinton and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle clap during first lady Michelle Obama's address to delegates during the Democratic National Convention on July 25, 2016, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. (Clem Murray / Philadelphia Inquirer) Mayor Rahm Emanuel, once the right-hand man to President Barack Obama and an aide to former President Bill Clinton, has been conspicuous in his absence at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. But the mayor does plan to parachute in Wednesday after making a morning public appearance in Chicago. On Thursday, the mayor plans to address the Illinois convention delegation. That's a far cry from the prime-time opportunity that might have been before the court-ordered November release of a video showing a white Chicago police officer fatally shooting an African-American teenager. The Laquan McDonald case sparked weeks of protests and severe criticism of Emanuel, who had gone to court to try to keep the video under wraps. Advertisement The mayor was left to watch the convention on TV, as Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle sat next to the former president Monday night. Asked about that Tuesday, Emanuel was quick to remind reporters he had sat aside presidents and was sure to note that he talked to former President Clinton over the weekend. For her part, Preckwinkle told reporters in Philadelphia that the invitation to join the former president can be traced to his visit to Chicago during the primary campaign. Advertisement "President Clinton came to Chicago on March 15th for the primary, and actually came to visit my home precinct. And I got to meet him then and was grateful for the invitation to come to his box last night," said Preckwinkle, who later added that the invitation came over the weekend, from Hillary Clinton's campaign. "I was honored to be in the president's booth, and he was clearly moved by Michelle Obama's speech, clearly appreciated the praise for Secretary Clinton and her choices in 2008 that she didn't move to the sidelines, she didn't sulk, that she went out and worked hard for President Obama and then became his secretary of state." Back in Chicago, Emanuel offered up the official theme of unity and also a joke, as he noted the boos of some delegates who backed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. He said that when he and his children heard some of the jeers on TV, he told them, "You know what? Will Rogers was insightful a hundred years ahead of his time: 'I'm not a member of an organized party. I'm a member of the Democratic Party.'" Turning serious, the mayor added: "I would say the primary is over. While there may have been differences in the primary, there are far fewer and far smaller, than the differences between Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine, and Donald Trump and Mike Pence. ... We now have a general election, and there are stark differences, and only one person is ready to be president on Day One, and that's Hillary Clinton, who will be the president." Kim Geiger reported from Philadelphia. hdardick@chicagotribune.com kgeiger@chicagotribune.com LONDON Two Canadian airline pilots charged with being drunk as they prepared to fly a passenger jet on a trans-Atlantic route have been bailed on condition they surrender their passports. Jean-Francois Perreault, who is 39, and 37-year-old Imran Zafar Syed were arrested at Glasgow Airport on July 18, shortly before they were due to fly an Air Transat jet to Toronto. Advertisement They have been charged with being impaired through alcohol and with threatening and abusive behavior. The two men had been held in custody since their arrested but were bailed after a hearing Tuesday at Paisley Sheriff Court in western Scotland. Advertisement Air Transat runs charter and scheduled flights between Canada and several European and Caribbean destinations. The airline says the pilots have been suspended. Associated Press Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton waves to delegates after her speech during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 28, 2016. (Mary Altaffer / AP) PHILADELPHIA On a night awash in history, Hillary Clinton triumphantly became the first woman to lead a major American political party toward the White House, breaking through a barrier that painfully eluded her eight years ago. She put an electrifying cap on the Democratic convention's second night, appearing by video from New York and declaring to cheering delegates, "We just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet." Advertisement Minutes earlier, former President Bill Clinton took on the role of devoted political spouse, declaring his wife an impassioned "change-maker" as he served as character witness. He traced their more than 40-year political and personal partnership in deep detail. "She has been around a long time," he acknowledged. Casting her experience as an attribute, he added, "She's been worth every single year she's put into making people's lives better." Advertisement For a man more accustomed to delivering policy-packed stem-winders, Clinton's heartfelt address underscored the historic night for Democrats, and the nation. If she wins in November, the Clintons would also be the first married couple to each serve as president. She will take on Donald Trump, who won the Republican nomination a week ago. Trump, who campaigned Tuesday in North Carolina, mocked the former president's speech in advance, calling him "over-rated." At Trump's convention last week, Clinton was the target of blistering criticism of her character and judgment, a sharp contrast to the warm and passionate woman described by her husband. Seeking to explain the vastly different perceptions of his wife, Clinton said simply, "One is real, the other is made up." The former president took voters back to a time before an affair with an intern led to his impeachment and to intense public scrutiny of the first couple's marriage. While her aides believe his past transgressions are old news to voters, they have flared up anew at times during the campaign, with Trump often leading the charge. Bill Clinton headlined the second night of the Democratic convention, a jubilant celebration of her formal nomination for president. In an important move for party unity, her primary rival Bernie Sanders helped make it official when the roll call got to his home state of Vermont, prompting delegates to erupt in cheers. It was a striking parallel to the role Clinton played eight years ago when she stepped to the microphone on the convention floor in Denver in support of her former rival, Barack Obama. This time, Clinton shattered the glass ceiling she couldn't crack in 2008. She leads a party still grappling with divisions. Moments after Clinton claimed the nomination, a group of Sanders supporters left the convention and headed to a media tent to protest what they said was their being shut out of the party. At the same time, protesters who had spent the day marching in the hot sun began facing off with police. Trump cheered the disruptions from the campaign trail. In North Carolina, he told a convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars that, "our politicians have totally failed you." Advertisement Indeed, Clinton's long political resume secretary of state, senator, first lady has sometimes seemed an odd fit for an electorate deeply frustrated with Washington and eager to rally around unconventional candidates like Trump and Sanders. Many voters have questions about her character and trustworthiness, suggesting she's used her access to power to her personal advantage. President Clinton spoke after three hours of testimonials from lawmakers, advocates, celebrities and citizens who argued otherwise. Each took the stage to vouch for her commitment to working on health care, children's issues and gun control. "Hillary Clinton has the passion and understanding to support grieving mothers," said Sybrina Fulton, whose son Trayvon Martin was killed in 2012. "She has the courage to lead the fight for commonsense gun legislation." The significant time devoted to the testimonials underscored the campaign's concerns about how voters view Clinton. Public polls consistently show that a majority of Americans don't believe she is honest and trustworthy. That perception that was reinforced after the FBI director's scathing assessment of her controversial email use as secretary of state, even though the Justice Department did not pursue charges. President Clinton complicated the email controversy last month when he met privately with Attorney General Loretta Lynch in the midst of the FBI investigation. Republicans cast the meeting as a sign that the Clintons play by different rules, while Democrats bemoaned that at the very least, it left that impression. The former president has campaigned frequently for his wife during the White House race, but mostly in smaller cities and towns, part of an effort by the campaign to keep him in a more behind-the-scenes role. His convention address was his highest profile appearance of the campaign. Advertisement Clinton's landmark achievement saturated the roll call with emotion and symbols of women's long struggle to break through political barriers. Jerry Emmett, a 102-year-old woman born before women had the right to vote, cast the ballots for Arizona. Martha McKenna, a Clinton delegate from Maryland, said the night felt like a celebration for Sanders' campaign as well as Clinton's. She added, "The idea that I'm going to be here when the first woman president is nominated is overwhelming." The Democratic convention drew the party's biggest stars to sweltering Philadelphia for the week-long event. On Monday night, first lady Michelle Obama made an impassioned case for Clinton as the only candidate in the presidential race worthy of being a role model for the nation's children. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will speak Wednesday, along with Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, Clinton's new running mate. Associated Press Bernie Sanders supporters chanted, "We trusted you!" during Sen. Elizabeth Warren's speech at the Democratic National Convention July 25, 2016, when she voiced her support for Hillary Clinton. (C-SPAN) (Chicago Tribune) PHILADELPHIA Sen. Elizabeth Warren disappointed liberals when she decided not to run for president. Many on the left were dismayed again when she didn't make the cut as Hillary Clinton's running mate, dashing dreams of an all-female ticket that could rev up the Democratic base. But as she took the stage in prime time Monday night at the Democratic National Convention for perhaps the most anticipated speech of her career, Warren positioned herself to wield singular power over Democratic politics and the party's policy agenda from her perch in the Senate, no matter who wins the presidency. Advertisement While Sen. Bernie Sanders built a mass following this year as a Democratic outsider demanding a political "revolution," Warren has staked out her place as an agitating insider - pushing her party to the left on Wall Street regulation while lending her celebrity to raise money for the party and build useful personal relationships in the Capitol. Rather than being forced into playing a supporting role as a vice-presidential nominee, Warren could be headed for a long tenure in the Senate as the party's moral arbiter of all things related to Wall Street - pressuring a President Clinton to keep her promises, or as a high-profile warrior against a President Trump. Advertisement Warren, 67, has become a 21st-century political star, reminiscent of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, the liberal lion who relished his role as political bogeyman to those on the right and hero to those on the left. "She is a dominant Senate figure," Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, D, said, noting that in a few years she has become the Bay State's most popular Democrat among party activists. "There's no question about it." More than Sanders, Warren has garnered the respect - and fear - of fellow lawmakers and Wall Street executives. Banking lobbyists marvel, with consternation, at how Warren has developed a complex operation that hones what she does in the Senate with political outreach that only increases her clout inside the chamber and across the country. One financial services representative, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the industry's view of Warren, said that her brand identity as the enforcer of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul has outstripped President Barack Obama, who signed the law, almost creating an impression that Warren wrote the bill rather than simply serving as an adviser to the administration prior to her election to the Senate. She is now, without question, the most feared Democrat on Wall Street issues, the industry official said, outpacing Sanders. "She is the future, he is the past," the industry representative said. Warren's biggest venue is usually a hearing room, where she goes for witnesses' jugular. She often uses a five-minute grilling of a Wall Street titan - in which sometimes not a single question is really asked - and blasts it out within minutes through social media or her fundraising list. Advertisement At one such hearing, in 2015, the new chairman of the American Bankers Association, Dan Blanton, was on the receiving end. He was there trying to tout rules changes to benefit small community banks, but instead Warren turned her entire questioning into how that change would also benefit big banks such as Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, leaving him visibly flustered and unable to respond. "Maybe you can get back to me," she said. Warren's growing stardom on the left has made her more than her fair share of enemies, both among the banking industry and inside the Senate. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump makes a point of ridiculing Warren by referring to the former Harvard Law professor as Pocahontas, because of a controversy during her 2012 Senate race in which it was revealed that her colleges counted her as a Native American professor based on questionable roots. Unlike many other Trump moments, no Senate Republican has criticized their nominee for his behavior toward Warren. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an outspoken Trump critic, even called his Pocahontas tweets funny. What remains to be seen is whether Warren can build on the political operation she has developed to become the sort of legislator who can enact laws and expand her legacy. That requires a skill set that Kennedy almost perfected in his bipartisan maneuvers but that, so far, Warren has not adopted. Four years ago, when she addressed the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, Warren was a mere candidate for office and was trailing Republican Scott Brown. Her candidacy only came about because Republicans, along with some Democrats, had refused to confirm her for the post she originally wanted, to head the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. "I'm Elizabeth Warren, and this is my first Democratic convention. Never thought I'd run for Senate. And I sure never dreamed that I'd get to be the warm-up act for President Bill Clinton," she told the delegates that night, nervously beginning her address. Advertisement She went on to defeat Brown that November and came to the Senate as a rising star, but one who was unsure of how to use her profile. Warren has largely refused to deal with mainstream political media, breezing through the Capitol hallways without even pausing to decline comment to any reporter asking a question. For the most part, Warren deals with liberal media such as the Huffington Post and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. That has helped her become a liberal firebrand and a powerful figure who can upend her allies if they're not careful. Two prime examples were Obama's consideration of Lawrence Summers to become chairman of the Federal Reserve and Antonio Weiss to be a top Treasury Department official. Warren joined forces with other liberals opposing both of those choices over their ties to Wall Street and rallied other Democrats to join her, leading to neither man getting confirmed to those posts. In late 2014, Warren nearly provoked a government shutdown because she opposed a measure that was included in a spending bill that loosened a regulation on financial trades. Advertisement The provision wasn't controversial at first, winning support from many Democrats.. But once Warren pounced, several dozen House Democrats backed off their previous support and, while the spending bill and its banking provision did become law, Warren sealed her place as the most important voice on banking issues. The biggest distinguishing factor between Warren and Sanders, in terms of their power, is that Warren is playing the inside political game with all the tools at her disposal while Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, is mostly sitting on the outside. He returns to the Senate, as well, but is likely to focus on rallying his supporters across the country to apply pressure on Washington. Warren has raised millions of dollars for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and other candidates through email missives to liberal activists. Warren travels the country attending fundraisers and rallies for other candidates, as she did in late April for Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., in her bid to oust Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill. She has allowed more than two dozen emails to go out under her name, yielding millions of dollars in small contributions from her legions of fans. That's the sort of thing that earns goodwill inside the chummy Senate, where personal relationships can go a long way toward winning someone's vote for the causes Warren is trumpeting. Advertisement Sanders, on the other hand, has only used his recently heightened profile to advocate for a few candidates who also backed his presidential campaign. Warren has turned into one of her party's best surrogates, delivering fiery speeches that bring the crowds to their feet, and her chemistry with Clinton at an Ohio rally seemed so dynamic that her consideration as running mate went from a real long shot to a real possibility. Now that her future is likely to be in the Senate, Warren has to transfer this clout into wheeling and dealing that will advance her cause. Leslie Witt entertained weekend listeners of Chicago's WXRT-FM for nearly 40 years. "She had such an open, down-to-earth quality, and she had this ability to talk about the music with clarity and conviction," said former WXRT program director John Platt, who hired Witt in 1977. "She was so valuable because she loved the music and was able to communicate about the music." Advertisement Witt, 63, died of complications from ovarian cancer July 17 at her home, said her husband of 35 years, Chuck Reichenbach. She had been a resident of Riverwoods for four decades. Born in Chicago, Witt grew up in Deerfield and graduated from Deerfield High School. After earning a bachelor's degree in communications and environmental science from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Witt took a sales job at WIBA-FM in Madison. She later did on-air work at the station before becoming a disc jockey at a progressive rock station in Pittsfield, Mass. Advertisement In April 1977, Witt returned to the Chicago area as a weekend DJ on WXRT. Seth Mason, WXRT's general manager at that time, recalled both Witt's reliability "you need that for somebody who's going to do an early morning Saturday or Sunday shift" as well as her "sense of wonder" about her job and the music she played. "She was a very positive person who loved the music, and her enthusiasm was very genuine," Mason said. "The people who (host) the Monday through Friday shows have the privilege of introducing new music (to WXRT listeners) first, but Leslie would feel like that she was introducing it to her audience on weekends." WXRT morning host Lin Brehmer said Witt was "one of those rare human beings who had no gift for artifice." "She was genuine and positive, and when you were with her, you really felt like you didn't have to pretend that she was going to give you the benefit of the doubt, no matter what you were up to. And I'm sure she had her bad days, but I just never saw any of them in 32 years." Brehmer also noted that Witt "first and foremost was one of the most devoted music nerds at a radio station that's overflowing with them." "She worked here ungodly weekend hours, and this may shock you, but it was not for the money. If you're working part time in radio, you're not lighting up $100 bills for the fun of it," Brehmer said. "She did it because one of the perks of working at a radio station is that you get the free occasional compact disc or record, and she worked for the glory of getting some free music and press tickets to the occasional concert, and she went to a lot of them. I think she was one of the most active concertgoers on our entire staff." Norm Winer, who was WXRT's program director from 1979 until January, said Witt was at WXRT "for the same reason all of us started in radio: that's because she loved the music, and she loved entertaining." Witt left WXRT in 1979 to move with her husband to New York. They relocated to Los Angeles in 1980. After they returned to the Chicago area in late 1981, she resumed her work as a weekend DJ at WXRT. Advertisement Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Witt worked a second local radio job, as a news reporter at WBEZ-FM. She gave up that work when her daughter was born in 1987, although she stayed with WXRT. Outside of work, Witt enjoyed practicing ballet three times a week and also was instrumental in bringing a bicycle path through Riverwoods in the early 1990s. While battling cancer, Witt continued attending local concerts. Among her last shows were Tom Petty's Mudcrutch band at the Riviera on May 28 and Paul Simon's appearance at Ravinia on June 18, her husband said. "She conceded nothing to cancer," Winer said. "She made no concessions whatsoever. She refused to alter her life, she wanted to be surrounded by loved ones, and she kept her weekly ballet classes. The week she discovered she had (cancer), she was planning to run a 5K for cancer research, and she did it, damn it." Witt also is survived by a daughter, Kay Reichenbach; a son, Kurt Reichenbach; her mother, Sally; a sister, Alison Witt-Janssen; and a brother, Don. A service was held. Advertisement Goldsborough is a freelance reporter. DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., speaks during a Florida delegation breakfast, Monday, July 25, 2016, in Philadelphia, during the first day of the Democratic National Convention. (Matt Slocum / AP) A few days ago national Democrats looked as though they had finally resolved their differences enough to stage a well-scripted convention with a single goal in mind: winning the presidential election. They had their candidate, her running mate, a big target in Donald Trump and four nights of national attention to make their case to the American people. It would be a soothing contrast to the fractious Republican gathering in Cleveland. But attendees had barely arrived in Philadelphia when Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was subjected to boos and jeers at a meeting with delegates from her own state chanting "Shame! Shame! Shame!" Wasserman Schultz eventually was spirited away by police officers. Rather than risk a repeat of that spectacle on a bigger scale, she was excused from the ceremonial task of gaveling the convention to order later Monday. Advertisement The uproar stemmed from a mass of internal DNC emails released by WikiLeaks that indicated the officials and staff preferred for Hillary Clinton to win the nomination. Wasserman Schultz was obliged to wear the jacket, announcing that she would step down after this week. But that wasn't enough to appease Bernie Sanders' supporters, who could turn the Clinton coronation into a slugfest. All this brought to mind the old joke that when Democrats assemble a firing squad, they form a circle. The revelations, however, only validated the anger of Sanders followers, who have complained all along that the party hierarchy had stacked the deck. Sanders and Republican nominee Trump have shared an indictment of American politics, that the system is "rigged" the adjective both used to protect insiders. Advertisement And by buttressing the companion charge that Clinton and her allies will do anything to win, the email episode threatened to alienate a significant number of people who should be voting Democratic. Those voters might stay home, or they might cast their ballots for Green Party candidate Jill Stein. In a close election, those nonvotes, and votes, could be decisive. Not that anyone should have been shocked by the content of the emails. The worst was one suggesting that Sanders be asked about his religious beliefs: "He (has) skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist." Among Wasserman Schultz's choice comments was calling Sanders' campaign manager a "damn liar." But most of the messages merely proved the DNC is staffed by normal people with normal (if not always endearing) emotions. In any case, the tilt of party apparatchiks was obvious long before now. The DNC drastically reduced the number of debates compared to 2008, when Barack Obama made the most of his many chances to go toe to toe with Clinton and John Edwards. Two of this campaign's debates were held on Saturday evenings, including one six days before Christmas timing that virtually guaranteed low viewership, to the advantage of the better-known Clinton. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 200 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton waves to delegates after her speech during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 28, 2016. (Mary Altaffer / AP) After a Sanders staffer improperly accessed DNC voter data, the DNC blocked the Sanders campaign from any access, even after the aide was fired. Former Obama adviser David Axelrod said that step suggested the DNC was putting a finger on the scale to help Clinton. The prospective nominee gave the controversy as wide a berth as she could manage. "I don't know anything about these emails," she told Scott Pelley on Sunday's "60 Minutes." "I haven't followed it." I haven't followed it. Um, if you say so. After this expose and Clinton's private server fiasco, Democrats might want to take a break from using email. Picking up the phone or talking face to face is safer these days. Anyone in public life should assume that nothing said online is guaranteed to remain private. Advertisement Some Democrats were quick to change the subject, suggesting that the leak may have been the work of Russian hackers, possibly connected to the Kremlin, who hope to elect Trump. "I don't think it's coincidental that these emails were released on the eve of our convention here, and I think that's disturbing," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said. Maybe there's a plot to be uncovered; the FBI is investigating. But the hackers didn't write the emails. However the information was extracted, it still makes the DNC look diabolical. More worrisome for Clinton's party is that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has promised to publish additional information that will get her indicted. Democrats may or not have fun at the convention. But they, and the electorate, probably won't be bored. Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook. She and older brother, Craig, grew up in a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment with no air conditioning. Their father, Fraser, was a pump operator for the Chicago water department who wasn't slowed down by his multiple sclerosis. Their mother, Marian, had been a secretary at the University of Chicago. Of her upbringing, Obama said in a 2009 commencement address -- her first -- at the University of California at Merced: "My father was a blue-collar worker, as you all know. My mother stayed at home to raise me and my brother. We were the first to graduate from college in our immediate family." The Robinsons' former apartment is at 7436 S. Euclid Ave. Kirk Cashmore of Harvard sets up his produce shortly before the market opened Saturday, July 23, 2016, in downtown Arlington Heights at the Arlington Heights farmers market. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press) The Arlington Heights Farmers Market, located at North Vail Avenue and Fremont Street in Arlington Heights, got off to a muggy start Saturday. "I think the Arlington Heights farmers market is the personality of the vendors and makes for a great experience," said Jeff Socher, an Arlington Heights resident since 1967. "They are honest about their products." Advertisement One vendor on a typical roster of 18 was not there because of the weather. Conditions were already 80 degrees with 91 percent humidity shortly before the market started at 7:30 a.m. By noon, it was near 90 degrees in Chicagoland with thunderstorms topping the day. Advertisement Still, regulars like Socher were there as the market opened for business. "We have a great community and this just enhances the community," said Carol Frieburg, an Arlington Heights resident since 1958 and development coordinator for the Arlington Heights Historical Society, which manages the market. "Fresh, local, there's a social aspect to this too," she said. "You see families. There's a community." Frieburg said the goal for each season is to include new vendors. "It's great when you get new," she said. A newcomer this year is a hydroponic vendor. "This is catching on with the public," Frieburg said. "It's exciting to have the latest opportunities for supplying food." Kirk Cashmore of Harvard and of Cashmore's Produce & Ponics was there Saturday and brought produce like corn. Advertisement "I have 12 acres and my claim to fame is I do vertical hydroponics so I sell to restaurants year-round," Cashmore said. The vertical crops he specializes in are kale, lettuce, Swiss chard and watercress, grown vertically with water in roots and nourished with worm casings. He raises worms for this purpose. "That sets me apart," Cashmore said, of his hydroponic farming. The Arlington Heights farmers market takes place every Saturday morning through Oct. 15. Karie Angell Luc is a freelance photographer and reporter for Pioneer Press. Barrington Hills Police Chief Richard Semelsberger (left) stands with 30-year police officer Dominic Caputo, who was seriously injured in a car crash June 5 while on duty. (Todd Shields / Pioneer Press) Barrington Hills police officer Dominic Caputo rose from his chair and took short, careful steps with a walker to the front of the village board meeting room. Now a 30-year police veteran in the village, Caputo approached board members July 21 at Barrington Hills Village Hall to receive an award for decades of service. Advertisement But in the early morning hours on June 5, a car crash nearly threatened Caputo's 30-year milestone when the Barrington Hills officer collided with another vehicle while on duty at 3:09 a.m. "I've worked with Dominic for years," said Barrington Hills Police Chief Richard Semelsberger before reading a statement about Caputo's law enforcement career. "Police officers always deserve our respect." Advertisement On June 5, Kevin L. James, 19, a Lake in the Hills resident, was driving a silver 2006 Hyundai Tucson westbound on County Line Road at Bellwood Drive, and Caputo, 54, was traveling eastbound in a 2013 Ford Explorer squad car when the two collided, according to Barrington Hills police. Bill Walsh, a spokesman for Barrington Hills police, said in June that Caputo was not pursuing James before the crash happened. Emergency responders transported both to Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries, police said at the time. Both drivers also had to extricated from their vehicles. "It was a traumatic experience," Caputo said. "I had concern for the health of the other person." Caputo is undergoing physical therapy for five bone fractures, he said. Caputo was set to complete 30 years of service with the Barrington Hills department by the end of June. Despite the injuries, he eclipsed the mark. Semelsberger said Caputo has served the department as a detective, corporal, field training officer, range officer, surplus property manager and fleet manager. He also said Caputo was one of the few officers who completed a police motorcycle course at Northwestern University. "Dom has always been known for his strong work ethic, and he is consistently one of our most productive officers," Semelsberger said. Advertisement The Lake County Major Crash Assistance Team also continues to investigate the June 5 crash. "The investigation's results are still pending, as we are waiting for more information," said Adam Hyde, deputy commander of Lake County Major Crash Assistance Team of Lake County. "It won't be completed until the end of August." The team is also waiting to receive medical records on Caputo and James, he said. During the July 21 meeting, village board members also recognized Alice Runvik, a 25-year police department employee whose work includes administrative assistant, records, dispatch and human resources coordinator. JoAnne Gumprecht also was recognized for 20 years, working in the records division, supervisor of records and communications at the Barrington Hills Police Department. tshields@tronc.com Advertisement Twitter @tshields19 Barrington trustees are set to vote Aug. 15 on a proposed 64-unit apartment complex at Hough and West Liberty streets in the downtown. (Monroe Residential Partners / Handout) A town with a large stock of single-family homes, Barrington soon could join a new housing trend after a Chicago-based developer proposed building 64 rental units in the downtown to target older Baby Boomers and younger Millennials. Positioned to take up a currently vacant lot at 322 N. Hough St., the proposed four-story complex would be within walking distance to the Metra station, two grocery stores and numerous downtown businesses, said Village Manger Jeff Lawler. Advertisement The apartment complex, if approved, also would feature an underground parking lot for tenants living on the southwest corner of Hough and West Liberty streets. "The market today is strong for people wanting flexibility by renting apartments," Lawler said. "We hear people are mobile in their jobs by getting transferred out of state." Advertisement Village trustees are scheduled to vote on the housing proposal at their Aug. 15 meeting. Both the village's plan and architectural review commissions have unanimously approved the project, Lawler said. If constructed, the apartment complex would feature one- and two-bedroom units, ranging from 718 to 1,263 square feet, along with 64 interior and 22 exterior parking spaces, according to village documents. The project will target people from the Baby Boomer generation looking to downsize and younger adults looking for affordable housing options, as the housing market in general veers toward rentals, said Gary Kachadurian, a partner at Chicago-based Monroe Residential Partners, which has proposed the Barrington project. "Empty nesters and young people wanting to stay in the area are interested in these types of apartments," he said. "And because these rentals have finishes and amenities, people are choosing to rent for a longer time period than before." If approved, Monroe Residential could start construction by mid-2017, with a goal to complete the complex by early 2018, he said. Rental rates had not yet been set, Kachadurian said. The Chicago developer also has agreed to install three new street lights along West Liberty Street, consistent with the village's standard downtown design, according to village documents. Once opened, the transit-oriented development has the opportunity to add more people to downtown Barrington, village officials said. The proposal also comes after elderly residents have told village officials they want rentals options to be able to continue living in Barrington, Lawler said. "They want to downsize their larger, single-family homes," he said. "During the national recession, this type of housing stopped, but now it's underway again. ... We saw none of this back then." This is for all of you doctors. Take a little time and try to make an appointment with yourself. See if you enjoy getting put on hold for 10, 15 or 20 minutes. When someone finally answers, you are then told the first available appointment is two months down the road. J.K., South Holland Advertisement I teach at a community college with a high failure rate caused by students not attending class and not doing their work. Why exactly are we writing articles encouraging a thousand high school students to miss a day of school to be an election judge? Will my students ever get the message about why they are not succeeding when adults in their lives are deliberately undermining that message? Homewood Advertisement The first words uttered out of Democrat nominee for vice president Tim Kaine, when introduced by Hillary Clinton, were blurted out in Spanish. Does that mean that we still must press 2 for English on our phones? Homer Glen Currently making headlines is an essay about growing up black in Naperville. How about an essay about growing up white in Harvey or Riverdale? It's always interesting to hear both sides of the struggle. Rick, Evergreen Park Why did Gov. Bruce Rauner apologize for comments he made in an email about Chicago public school teachers and principles? The truth is the truth. If what he said wasn't true, Chicago wouldn't have one of the lowest rated school systems in the country. BBK Superintendent Scott Tingley says that was the amount "they were willing to pay" $60,000 per school year unless enrollment falls below 85 percent, then they would pay half. Are you kidding me? Paying $20,000 per school to cover the cost of operations and utilities, and "to begin to pay back costs incurred over the years?" What are the true costs of the operation of Aunt Nancy's Daycare to District 210? Not the amount the daycare is willing to pay. Aunt Nancy's raised its fees for the 2016-2017 school year to the tune of another $100,000 for Aunt Nancy's. This contract should have been terminated so a new daycare contract could have been in place for 2016-2017. There was plenty of time for this to take place. For some reason, the superintendent doesn't want to change the arrangement. Are you kidding me? Kay, Mokena Advertisement Why didn't Hillary Clinton's adoring press have a headline story about her on-camera seizure a few days ago? Just Google "Clinton seizure" and you'll see her looking like a bobble-head with rolling eyes, while shocked reporters looked on. A word of warning, it is very disturbing to watch, especially when you think she could be president next year. The press in this country is extremely liberal and treats her like a goddess, never reporting events like this. If this happened to Trump the press would be on him like a pit bull, and he would be forced to quit the race. Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > Bridgeview Thanks, President Barack Obama. What a disgrace that you now come out and thank law enforcement for all the good they do for our communities, and putting their lives on the line every day. Mr. President, you are a disgrace to America. It's a little late for your sympathy. Orland Park I read in the newspaper about the YMCA and it backs transgender access to bathrooms. Well, I think I found a solution for that. Of course you have the normal men's room and women's room. But then your third one would be the women's room who think they're men and then men's room who think they're women. Isn't that easier? John, Bridgeport Advertisement What's Speak Out? Speak Out allows readers to comment on the issues of the day. Email Speak Out at speakout@southtownstar.com or call 312-222-2427. Please limit comments to 30 seconds or about 120 words and give your first name and your hometown. The Hampshire Fire Department responded to a two vehicle crash with heavy damage at Illinois 72 and Brier Hill Road in Hampshire at 9:05 p.m. on Sunday, according to Hampshire fire officials. "One patient was extricated and transported to Presence St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin with critical injuries," said Hampshire Deputy Fire Chief Trevor Herrmann. "A second patient was treated at the scene." Advertisement Route 72 was closed between Route 47 and Romke Road and the Kane County Sheriff is investigating, Herrmann said. "We received mutual aid from Burlington and Pingree Grove fire departments," he said. After more than an hour of public comments during Monday's board meeting, West Dundee trustees opted to table a vote on the creation of two special service areas intended to aid the implementation of the village's downtown plan. Most of the comments were generated by downtown West Dundee property owners who spoke out against the proposal. Many had also signed and submitted a petition denouncing the new taxing districts. Advertisement A special service area allows a municipality to levy additional property taxes in a specific geographic area for the purpose of providing special services not otherwise available to the entire municipality. West Dundee officials are proposing a 0.8 percent special service area tax for each area a 1.6 percent increase if both special service areas are approved. That would generate about $70,000 annually, or $35,000 for each district, for the village and be a joint funding source from the downtown business community to assist in funding a portion of the Discover Dundee expenses. Advertisement Lisa Dombrowski, organizer of the petition and co-owner of the property at 130 Washington St., with her husband Larry, said over the past few months she has discussed the proposal with many of her fellow downtown property owners. "I was shocked by the level of anger and distrust expressed by owner after owner. During the 10 years that my husband and I have owned our property, we have had little contact with the village. We've never asked for anything and the village has never given us anything or sought our input on any issue. But now that I have seen for myself how the village operates and communicates, I am no longer surprised at the anger and distrust," she said. Dombrowski said the proposed new levies will increase property taxes in the downtown area by more than 14 percent. "When the village is considering a tax increase of more than 14 percent, I would at the very least expect you to conduct an analysis that shows a return on investment substantial enough to justify removing a significant amount of money from the private sector," she said. Dombrowski added that "the moment you approve this tax increase you immediately reduce the value of every building in downtown." "We will need to see substantial increases in property values to offset both this devaluation and the property tax hit," she said. Jay Correia, owner of DreamCo Design in downtown West Dundee, told board members he is concerned about the village and its future "because of the lack of intelligent leadership coming from our elected officials." "It is public knowledge that the village of West Dundee has agreed to adopt the plans put forth by the Hitchcock Group as it relates to the recommendations for improving the downtown area," he said. "Those plans primarily include the bulldozing and rehabilitation of the properties located on the southeast corner of First and Main Street. To fund the millions of dollars estimated to fulfill this project, the village has decided to implement both a sales and property tax increase for businesses located in the downtown area." Advertisement Correia said the proposed taxes are not only unfair, but also fiscally irresponsible and unintelligent. "In order to offset the proposed expense, tens of millions of dollars in new taxable revenue will need to be generated for more than a decade. No such revitalization project will result in this type of capital influx," he said. He also criticized village officials who he said are providing financial guarantees to individuals who invest private capital into the downtown area, such as OTTO Engineering President Tom Roeser. "I ask the audience to think about this for a moment. Should a municipality ever use taxpayer money to guarantee a business owner a return on their investment? The last time I checked, West Dundee was a village, not a bank," he said. Randall Errington, owner of Bikini Bottom Bar and Grill, said the village should consider creating a tax increment finance district to help spur redevelopment rather than the special service areas. "That makes sense," he said. "This does not." Advertisement A TIF freezes property taxes at the level paid before development. The monies generated by the difference between the property tax bill before development and after development the increment can then be used for improvements to the land. While Trustee Dan Wilbrandt said he is not in favor of creating the special service areas, other board members said they wanted more time to make a decision. "I would like further discussion," said Trustee Patrick Hanley. "I would like to hear from other business owners in which the SSA would help them." Trustee Tom Price agreed. "I think we need more information," he said. "I've talked to a couple of people that are sort of reluctantly in favor. Nobody wants higher taxes but they can see why there's a value there." Trustee Billy Pflanz said he'd like to see if impact fees from new development could be used to mitigate the burden on downtown property owners. Advertisement As for partnering with the Discover Dundee initiative, Price said he's "on the fence." "Because certainly we know a number of businesses are opposed but not everybody's here so I want to hear from them before we vote," he said. Village officials said the request for participation in a downtown marketing program was initiated at the request of several downtown West Dundee business and property owners after seeing the marketing and promotion programs that East Dundee enacted via Discover Dundee. The Village Board voted unanimously to table the discussion until the Aug. 15 board meeting. Erin Sauder is a freelance reporter for the Courier-News. A Chicago woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to animal cruelty for her role in the stabbing death of her daughter's cat, according to DuPage County authorities. Kelly D. Palermo, 51, of the 5900 block of North Ozanam Avenue, agreed to enter a guilty plea to a felony count of aggravated animal cruelty. The partial plea agreement came on the same day Palermo had been scheduled to stand trial on the charge, which stemmed from a June 10, 2015, incident at her daughter's residence in Elmhurst. Advertisement According to police reports, Palermo had become angry with the cat, which was named Zepplin. She allegedly held the animal while her daughter, Samantha Palermo, 22, stabbed it several times with a knife, police said. A 14-year-old relative allegedly got the cat away and called 911. However, Palermo regained control of the animal and held it down while Samantha Palermo allegedly stabbed it again, police said. Advertisement The partial plea agreement did not contain an agreement on sentence. Palermo is scheduled to be back in court before Judge Robert Miller on Sept. 12, and a sentencing date will likely be set then. The cruelty charge carries a one- to three-year prison sentence, though probation also is an option. Samantha Palermo, who also is facing animal cruelty charges, is due back in court Aug. 3. Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter. Kevin Kelly of Chicago, a magician, allows children to, one at a time, pet Pandora the bunny after his show on the lawn on July 23, 2016, in Evanston at the Evanston History Center's Ice Cream Social near Dawes Park. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press) The Evanston History Center's Ice Cream Social, a free event near Dawes Park, drew 750 people on Saturday, said Eden Juron Pearlman, executive director of the Evanston History Center. "We love doing the ice cream social," she said. "It's just so much fun to see the community." Advertisement The Charles Gates Dawes House, located at 225 Greenwood St., is a national historic landmark just off the shore of Lake Michigan. The annual ice cream social, one of two complimentary events for the community, helps promote Evanston's history, Juron Pearlman said. "It's an opportunity to see the house," she said. "We want [visitors] to learn and hope they will come back. We hope the introduction becomes a lasting relationship." Advertisement The three-hour afternoon event included a performance by the Ridgeville Band of Evanston. "I love it, it's wonderful and I love playing outdoors," said Monty Adams, Ridgeville band conductor. "I love this venue." The band played favorites from American classics such as "Guys and Dolls." People of all ages swayed to the music. Kids bopped. When it became too hot, folks went inside Dawes House to cool off in the air conditioning and to see exhibits. Outdoors, families could enjoy a magic show by Kevin Kelly of Chicago, face painting, popcorn, lemonade, water and Andy's Frozen Custard, which donated about 600 portions of vanilla custard. For more information, visit www.evanstonhistorycenter.org. The Ridgeville Band of Evanston performs July 23, 2016, at the Evanston History Center's Ice Cream Social near Dawes Park. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press) Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer. Federal legislation aimed at reducing heroin and prescription opiate deaths initiated locally and named for a Lake County man who died of an overdose was signed into law Friday by President Barack Obama. The bipartisan Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act known informally as "Lali's Law" after Stevenson High School graduate Alex "Lali" Laliberte includes provisions to increase access to the life-saving antidote naloxone throughout the United States. Advertisement The U.S. House passed the legislation by a 407 to 5 vote, and the Senate passed the bill 92 to 2 this month. Laliberte's sister, Chelsea Laliberte, is a co-founder of the Lake County Opiate Initiative and has been a leader in state and federal efforts to create legislation to address heroin and opioid addiction. Advertisement Following a Monday opioid presentation to a summer school health class at Stevenson High, Chelsea Laliberte expressed her elation over new laws adopted by Illinois and now the federal government. "This is monumental. It's been decades since Congress passed any (major) legislation on addiction," she said. "Mission accomplished for now. Moving forward, there is always more work to do, but now the nation is going to respond to the program." The law approves $181 million in funding for states to battle heroin and opiate addiction through efforts from naloxone to education, and new emphasis in courts on treatment instead of incarceration. U.S. Rep. Robert Dold, R-Ill., who sponsored the bill, hopes to increase funding in the near future. Dold and Laliberte said the funding will be put toward programs that include providing naloxone to first responders in law enforcement. It also will provide grants for pharmacy-prescribed naloxone programs, specific programs for veterans and pregnant women with opioid addiction and drug court programs that will focus on treatment over incarceration in appropriate cases. "Working with the Laliberte family from Buffalo Grove, we wrote and passed Lali's Law to help save lives and spare families from the pain of losing a child," Dold said. "Getting this bill signed into law with overwhelming bipartisan support is a perfect example of what we can achieve when we set aside partisan differences to help families." Dold said that between 2001 and 2014, there was a three-fold increase in prescription drug overdoses and a six-fold increase in heroin overdoses in the United States. He added that heroin now takes a life every three days in Chicago's collar counties, and more than one life every day in Cook County. "Together, we've ensured that Alex's lasting legacy includes helping others get a second chance at recovery and saving their families from heartbreak," Dold said. Advertisement On May 12, the legislation passed the House of Representatives 415 to 4. Dold was then named to a conference committee to reach a compromise between the senate version of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 and the House version. Dold secured Lali's Law's inclusion in the final package that was signed Friday. In Lake County, more than 90 lives have been saved with naloxone since a new program developed by the Lake County Opioid Initiative was introduced to equip first responders with the overdose antidote. With increased access, the World Health Organization predicts naloxone could save another 20,000 lives every year, according to Dold's office. "With the President's signature, change around behavioral health will begin, stigma will reduce, and those impacted can slowly heal from the destruction caused by this epidemic," Chelsea Laliberte said. "Americans will be able to access affordable, evidence-based, individualized care, and states will no longer be dependent on their budgets alone to provide basic public health education and supplies such as naloxone." jrnewton@tribpub.com Twitter @jimnewton5 Several mental health community resource organizations met Tuesday at the Lovell Federal Health Care Center Tuesday for the fourth annual Mental Health Summit. Mental health community resource organizations gathered Tuesday at the Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago for the fourth annual Mental Health Summit. Advertisement The summit, which had more than 75 participants, focused on enhancing access to mental health services and addressing suicide-prevention for veterans, active-duty personnel, military retirees and dependent family members. "The word 'courage' sometimes translates to them as 'I can't cry,' or 'I can't be vulnerable,' and it leads to stigma and isolation surrounding mental health problems," said Lt. Cmdr. John Rudd, a Navy chaplain. Advertisement The Lovell Center is the only federal facility integrated with both the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense. It was formed in 2010 to care for veterans and ensure sailors and U.S. Navy recruits were medically ready to serve. Dr. V. Chowdary Jampala, head of FHCC's department of mental health, said the summit has three goals: to improve patient experience in mental health treatments, to expand partnerships between community organizations and to establish a culture of continuous improvement of mental health. "All of you are here to serve those who help the battle, and these mental health summits are a way for us to figure out how, when and where veterans and active duty members wish to be treated for mental illness," Jampala said. Summits began in 2013 across the U.S. under the organization of the Department of Veteran Affairs, and more than 160 summits were held in 2015. A large portion of the event is for community organizations to share with each other what resources they offer so they refer veterans to the correct resource. In 2014, the summit created a goal to publish a guide of all the resources the Federal Health Care Center provides, and in 2015, the summit created a resource book for northeast Illinois and southeast Wisconsin. Mark Pfister, executive director of the Lake County Health Department, said access is crucial, and mental health issues can provide a gateway to suicidal thoughts, homelessness, relapse and more. In Lake County, 18 percent of adults have been diagnosed with depression, according to a 2015 survey by the health department. At a national level, minorities are 50 percent less likely to seek a doctor for depression, inspiring a need for additional access, Pfister said. Suicide is the 10th-leading cause of death in Lake County, he said. "Mental health has been described as the biggest unaddressed health challenge of our age," he said. "When you think about our current state, what is the first thing the state government normally cuts? (The) first thing that is normally cut from the budget is mental health, and that is definitely a concern." Advertisement Many community organization members said they struggle with breaking down the stigma and are looking for ways to reach out to veterans. Joe Dusa, a member of the FHCC mental health council, attended the summit for the first time this year. He retired from the military at Great Lakes Naval Station and was an outpatient at the center. "As my disabilities started to snowball, I got involved more and more," he said. He currently comes to the center four to five days a week for pool therapy, gym therapy and appointments. He said he was exposed to chemicals in Iraq that gave him Parkinson's disease, so he tries to move as much as possible. Dusa said the summit has provided him with a lot of information, and he is going to analyze it and see how it applies to him, and then spread it to other veterans and active duty members he knows. Many community organizations hosted booths with pamphlets and information on how to get involved. Special breakout sessions were held for topics including homeless veteran services and community resources for suicide prevention for law enforcement and chaplains. mejones@tribpub.com Advertisement Twitter: @MeganAsh_Jones The National Museum of the American Sailor Foundation announced plans in June to launch a $40 million campaign to build a museum dedicated to the U.S. Navy's enlisted sailor on Sheridan Road near Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago. (National Museum of the American Sailor) North Chicago adjusted its agreement with the Museum of the American Sailor Foundation this week after the Navy presented environmental concerns about the proposed museum site on Sheridan Road. The city originally planned to sell the land to the Navy, but the City Council voted unanimously on Monday to convey the 3.5 acre spot in the Sheridan Crossing development to the foundation for $1, which will then lease the land to the Navy for $1 per year. The proposed long-term lease lasts for 25 years, with two additional 25-year extensions, according to Ronald E. Lanz, the foundation's executive director. Advertisement "I think this is something that will help to promote the city of North Chicago," North Chicago mayor Leon Rockingham, Jr. said. "I think this is something we will continue to work hand-in-hand with the Navy and also just look forward to that offer letter being signed so we can have an official ribbon-cutting ceremony to move this project forward." Foundation officials unveiled plans earlier this summer for a 40,000-square-foot museum that would feature a 4D theater, historic artifacts and interactive exhibits that would include a simulated docking of a Navy destroyer. The Naval History and Heritage Command, which operates a smaller-scale museum on Great Lakes property, estimated in June that an expanded facility could draw anywhere from 375,000 to 450,000 visitors annually to North Chicago. Advertisement The land conveyed this week used to be an industrial site, leaving residual environmental pollution underneath. The city cleaned up the parcel, but the Navy has a history of polluted sites within its own collection of real estate and is hesitant to add any more property with a potential pollution problem, Lanz said. Sheridan Crossing, LLC will assume ownership of the entire development area at the northwest corner of Sheridan Road and Martin Luther King Drive once it meets leasing requirements. At that point, Lanz said, the company will transfer ownership of the future museum site to the foundation, which will then lease the property to the Navy. "That allows the foundation to sit in the liability chain in the event something should ever come up down the road," Lanz said. "We're not anticipating that, the foundation has no concerns about that, we will more than likely buy an insurance policy to cover that, which would come out of the foundation funds. But it just takes it out of (the Navy's) level of things to be concerned about." The museum would be the first in the country to honor the enlisted sailor. It is slated to open in 2018 as long as the foundation can raise $40 million. Lanz is "very confident" the foundation will meet the goal. Pledges and donations are lining up right now. Representatives of the foundation have been going out daily to make presentations and asks to companies and organizations. Some private individuals have already pledged or donated, including the board members. "We feel very strong about it," Lanz said. "We feel the traction is there to finish it on that three-year schedule." Angelica LaVito is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun. Lake Zurich officials do not expect to cut any employees but rather hope to address any "inequities" in positions and salaries, following a wage study the village recently authorized, Human Resources Manager Doug Gibson said. The study specifically will address the effects from a freeze in automatic step salary increases for non-union employees, a move made in 2011 that now has brought salaries for union employees near those of management, Gibson said. Advertisement The study also will target Lake Zurich's ability to retain quality personnel after three high-ranking officials left over the last 12 months, he said. "There is no gross inequity that exists, but it's enough that we want to take a look at it and make sure we're paying everybody (appropriately)," Gibson said. "We also want to keep good people and make sure we can attract new ones, as well." Advertisement For up to $30,000, Springsted municipal advisers, of Minnesota, were hired to review current salaries, evaluate benefits to resolve compensation inequities, and recommend classification and pay changes, according to Gibson's July 5 report to the village board. Village President Tom Poynton said the study is needed to ensure that Lake Zurich is current with its municipal practices. "We want to keep (these studies) current," he said. "The last one was eight to 10 years ago. We want to stay current and keep good talent in Lake Zurich. We have had some top-notch people, and it has made a big difference in running the village." The potential inequities may have been created when Lake Zurich froze automatic step increases, or annual pay raises based on experience, for non-union employees in 2011, Gibson said. Those employees, including managers and department heads, are instead awarded salary raises based on the cost of living, he said. "That's where you get the little inequities because union personnel continued to take their step increases and non-union people did not take their step increases," Gibson said. The problem occurred in both the police and fire departments, where the salaries of some union members are within 4 percent of their bosses, he said. Colin Gaffney, Lake Zurich's police union representative, did not return calls for comment. Jason Henriksen, the village's fire union representative, also did not reply to an email requesting comment. Advertisement The village's ability to retain top-level administrators also influenced officials to commission the wage study, Gibson said. Former Village Manager Jason Slowinski, Community Services Director Mike Earl, and Village Planner Sam Hubbard each resigned between August 2015 and April 2016 for other jobs. "That's a big part of it," Gibson said. "Are we competing in the marketplace? Are we keeping the best of the best? We want to have the best people in place for the people of Lake Zurich. We don't want to lose them to other towns." Poynton said he viewed each of the three departures as more of a professional opportunity than a salary issue, although all three accepted higher-paying jobs He pointed out Earl actually retired from public service to become senior vice president at GovHR USA, a national government headhunter and temp agency based in Northbrook. Before leaving, Earl said he was simply looking for a new opportunity. "I don't really think of it as retiring," Earl had said. "It's an opportunity to do something different but still remain in local government." Advertisement No cuts are planned as part of the Lake Zurich study, Gibson said. "It would be looking at job paths and seeing if they make more sense in one area vs. another," Gibson said. "There are no cuts intended to come from the study in the least bit." For example, the study might review a position in the parks and recreation department, where the employee performs a great deal of design work, such as fliers, posters and brochures, he said. "They get called upon by administration or other departments for a design spin on something," Gibson said. "We might pull that person over to align those resources to see if it would be more efficient to have them somewhere else." Phil Rockrohr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. Morton Grove village officials released a plan Monday to purchase Lake Michigan water in partnership with Niles from a city other than Chicago by fall 2018. In what Village Board President Dan DiMaria called a "bold move and legacy decision," the village will move forward with additional talks with the city of Evanston, a likely supplier for Morton Grove and Niles. Advertisement The move comes after months of studies and two years of talks about buying water from a city other than Chicago, which currently supplies the village. The price of purchasing water from Chicago has increased 134 percent since 2000, according to Morton Grove Village Administrator Ralph Czerwinski. "We have enough information now to move forward and make some appropriate decisions," Czerwinski said. "It's a progressive plan, and I think we're making the right move." Advertisement Over the next few months, the move would include agreeing to a contract with Evanston, creating a financial plan and soliciting proposals for a design and route study to determine what new infrastructure needs to be built. "Some of the (existing) infrastructure can carry the volume we need, some is unable to carry the volume we need," Czerwinski said. An engineering study will determine route design and the infrastructure necessary, he said. While Evanston has the pumping capacity at its current facility, the issue "is getting it from there to us and into our systems," he said. The cities will also continue to assess whether they can tap into Skokie's water lines to access Evanston's supply, but previous modeling completed did not suggest that using Skokie would be beneficial, he said. One reason is because Skokie operates at a different water pressure than Morton Grove. Other options included purchasing from Glenview and Wilmette, but Czerwinski said Evanston was the most cost-effective. Those cities are still on the table, but Morton Grove and Niles could enter into a contract with Evanston as soon as this fall, with construction beginning late next spring. This "aggressive timeline" is a result of Morton Grove's contract with the city of Chicago expiring at the end of 2018, and Niles' contract expiring in 2019. While it is too soon to estimate the total cost, Czerwinski said the project is based on a 40-year projection and maintains it will lead to savings for the village. "Everything we are looking to do lends itself towards the fact that we will have savings," he said. Advertisement Kirsten Onsgard is a freelancer. A Norridge pit bull owner, whose dog broke loose from his backyard and attacked two dogs July 5, could be required to euthanize his pet if it breaks free or attacks again, according to the Norridge Police Department. Police reports indicate that the pit bull had attacked at least two other dogs in incidents dating to 2014. The owner of the pit bull, 48-year-old Vincenzo Recchia of the 4900 block of North Chester Avenue, will face charges at an administrative court hearing Aug. 4, alleging that he failed to restrain an unlicensed dog and did not have current rabies vaccinations for Vida, his pit bull. Advertisement Police records show the village has logged four complaints about Vida since 2012, including an attack on a poodle in June 2014 and another incident two months later when the pit bull allegedly attacked a dog and knocked over its elderly owner. In the most recent incident on July 5, police said the pit bull broke out of Recchia's enclosed backyard and attacked a Chihuahua and a miniature pinscher being walked on the 8500 block of Ainslie Street. Advertisement The owner of the small dogs was bitten in the face and on the forearm as he tried to stop the pit bull, according to police. His face was covered in blood when police arrived. Both dogs had been bitten on their backs and necks and were bleeding and had to be taken to a vet for emergency care, according to the police report. The dogs survived the attack, and they received stitches for the puncture wounds, according to information from police. When Recchia was interviewed after the July 5 attack, he told police a nearly identical story to what he said after the June 2014 attack on the pit bull that the dog had unknowingly escaped through an open gate in the backyard and had attacked a dog being walked near the residence. He was also cited for not having a village-issued license tag for his dog and no proof of rabies vaccinations after that attack, according to police. Recchia did not return a message seeking comment this week. At the Aug. 4 court hearing at village hall, the village will ask an administrative judge to classify the dog as vicious, according to Norridge Police Cmdr. Wayne Schober. A dog designated as vicious must be kept inside a 6-foot-tall enclosure and would be impounded and euthanized if it leaves the property, Schober said. The village designates dogs as vicious on a case-by-case basis, determined by the frequency and severity of its bites. "He (Recchia) wouldn't be able to take the dog out on a walk, and if needs to go to the vet, he would need it muzzled and tethered," Schober said. The victim, whose identity wasn't released, was invited to appear at the Aug. 4 hearing, police said. Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. Workers hook up a safety cone trailer on July 25 as they finish Dundee Road paving work for the day in front of the new Northbrook Dunkin Donuts, which opened the same day at the corner of Pfingsten Road. (Irv Leavitt / Pioneer Press) A dozen big dump trucks lined up along either side of Dundee Road Monday, waiting to be filled with ground-up asphalt. Some of the trucks intermittently blocked the entrances to the shopping center where Greg Johnson's embroidery shop is, but he was impressed nevertheless. He's been watching the $4.7 million job as it proceeds down State Route 68, between Route 41 and Portwine Road. Advertisement "They grind it off and lay down the asphalt in the same day," he said Monday. "They can't do much better than that." The project is on schedule for completion by mid-September, IDOT spokeswoman Gianna Urgo said Tuesday. Advertisement If the project does stall, "We've got some leeway until early to mid-November, when the asphalt plants close" for the winter, said Northbrook Village President Sandy Frum. Johnson said nobody had complained to say they couldn't access his EmbroidMe store, at 2845 Dundee Road, but said it'll be better when the project is complete and that the work was indeed necessary. Monday, as the Peter Baker & Sons crew worked in one lane on the state highway, the other three remained open. "It's causing delays as expected," Northbrook Public Works director Kelly Hamill said of the Illinois Department of Transportation project. "But Peter Baker is a good contractor. They do the best they can do, because any time they don't spend on this job is time they can spend on another." The Dundee Road project was on the list of IDOT jobs that would have been suspended if the General Assembly had not cobbled together a state spending plan at the end of June, Frum said. It's out of danger now, she said, as all projects through the end of the calendar year have been funded. Frum said the Dundee Road project had its moments of tough traffic, especially last spring, when the Metra railroad crossing at Fair Lane was being repaired, too. But she said the job has run much better than Cook County Highway Department's Techny Road project of 2006, which actually ended in 2007, months after it was scheduled to be completed. Some business owners complained bitterly then. "This is IDOT, and not Cook County," Frum said Monday. "They seem to be phasing it pretty well." On Monday, a new Dunkin' Donuts shop opened for the first time on the southeast corner of Dundee and Pfingsten roads, less than half a block to the east of Johnson's store. Manager James Rogers said people had no problem getting into the doughnut shop, despite a lot of slowing down as drivers approached the construction zone. Advertisement "It was actually been good for business," Rogers said. "Northbrook didn't let us put up banners, but people sitting in traffic were able to see us: 'Hey, they're open.'" Some time before the project is scheduled to end in September, drivers may get an even better look at his shop. Widening of Dundee's intersections of both Pfingsten and Landwehr are to come after the main repaving, according to officials. ileavitt@pioneerlocal.com Twitter: @IrvLeavitt Edgar Muenzer was a serious musician and conductor "intense," is how many may have viewed him, his son Victor said. But that didn't mean the longtime Chicago Symphony Orchestra violinist and founder of the Park Ridge Civic Orchestra couldn't have some fun now and then. Advertisement "Years ago, we had a summer that was ridiculously cold, like in the 40s, and the Chicago Symphony musicians were trying to play at Ravinia in this weather," Victor said. "My dad got this brilliant idea to wear a wig which was really funny because he was bald almost his whole life." When the symphony's conductor, James Levine, looked over and noticed Edgar Muenzer suddenly sporting blond, shoulder-length hair in the middle of the concert, "he nearly lost it because he saw my father wearing this crazy wig," Victor Muenzer said, laughing. "It broke up the conductor." Advertisement Edgar Muenzer passed away July 22 following a long illness, his son said. He was 88. Born in Iowa to a professional violinist father and concert pianist mother, Edgar Muenzer followed in his father's footsteps to became a classically trained violinist, playing in the Army Air Corps Band and performing for U.S. Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, Victor Muenzer said. After leaving his military service, Edgar Muenzer was hired by conductor Fritz Reiner to join the Chicago Symphony, Victor Muenzer said. "I think he would have said it was the greatest experience of his life," Victor said of his father's time with the symphony, which lasted 47 years until his retirement in 2003. "I think he felt extraordinarily grateful to be there." In 1994, Edgar Muenzer and his wife, Nancy, worked with community supporters to form the Park Ridge Civic Orchestra, a 70-plus-piece orchestra that today performs monthly concerts at the Pickwick Theatre between October and May. During a 2013 interview with the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate, Edgar Muenzer spoke of the inspiration behind the Park Ridge Civic Orchestra. "One day Nancy and I were sitting in the Pickwick Theatre . and I said, 'Wouldn't it be nice to hear classical music in this theater?" he recalled. Meetings were held with local residents and philanthropists, and the Park Ridge Civic Orchestra was born. A quote from Victor Muenzer that appears on the orchestra's website reads, "My father played in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and wanted to bring an affordable, professional concert experience home to our community. That's how the Park Ridge Civic Orchestra was born." Advertisement Edgar Muenzer conducted the orchestra and served as its music director until the 2013-14 season, when he handed over his duties to Victor Muenzer. Under Edgar Muenzer's leadership, the Park Ridge Civic Orchestra won the Governor's Hometown Award in 1998 and received 10 awards from the Illinois Council of Orchestras, the Park Ridge Civic Orchestra organization said. In 2004, Edgar and Nancy Muenzer were presented with a Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award from the Illinois Humanities Council. "Park Ridge Civic Orchestra was how Edgar wanted to give back to the community after a rewarding lifetime in professional music," Pam Benitez, president of the Park Ridge Civic Orchestra, said in a statement released by the group. "He was a great-hearted visionary who never stopped sharing his talent and passion for great music." Deborah Oberschelp, former executive director of the Civic Orchestra, said Edgar Muenzer loved Park Ridge and enjoyed being able to bring a symphony orchestra to the community. "He always said, 'I want this orchestra in Park Ridge to be a legacy,' " Oberschelp said. "I think he got what he wanted. I think he accomplished what he set out to do, and when he passed away, I don't think he had any regrets." Advertisement Victor Muenzer called his father a "gentle soul" and leader who "worked hard to be as good as he was" and saw his talents strengthen by working around many great musicians and conductors. "With the exception of John Alden Carpenter, the composer who lived here, it would be hard to say Park Ridge has had a more prominent musician, a more experienced musician in their midst," Victor Muenzer said of his father. "He certainly gave Park Ridge quite a bit." A tribute to Edgar Muenzer's legacy will undoubtedly be featured in the Park Ridge Civic Orchestra's next season, which begins Oct. 26 with the annual Halloween-themed concert. "There will be something that we do and it will be good," Victor Muenzer said. Visitation for Edgar Muenzer is scheduled for Tuesday, July 26, from 3 to 9 p.m. at Ryan-Parke Funeral Home, 120 S. Northwest Highway in Park Ridge. A funeral service will take place Wednesday, July 27 at Park Ridge Community Church, 100 S. Courtland Ave., followed by interment at St. Adalbert Cemetery in Niles. Edgar Muenzer is survived by his wife, Nancy; children Victor, Peter and James; and grandchildren Gregory and Gabriel Muenzer. Advertisement jjohnson@pioneerlocal.com Twitter: @Jen_Pioneer Park Ridge Police Chief Frank Kaminski meets with the children of the Duncan family, who delivered a cake to the police department in support of officers. Pictured are, from left, Geneva, Rome, Easton, Knox and Vienna Duncan. (Park Ridge Police Department / HANDOUT) In the days following a violent attack on police officers in Dallas and nationwide protests of police, some local residents are reaching out to show support to Park Ridge law enforcement. Five children from the Duncan family Rome, Easton, Knox, Vienna and Geneva of Park Ridge delivered a cake and homemade card to the Park Ridge Police Department on July 21. Advertisement "One reason we did it was we just wanted to show support to our police after what's been going on in the country," said Sandra Duncan, the children's mother. "I also wanted to install some values in my children: To give thanks to people who help us and our community." The Duncan children, she said, "ask all the time about people who help us. They see police officers and always want to say 'hi.' They see the fire department and think they are the coolest people ever." Advertisement The Duncans have been raising their children in Park Ridge for nine years, and Sandra's husband, Taylor, grew up in the city. In a letter to the community, Park Ridge Police Chief Frank Kaminski said the department has received various gifts from citizens since the July 7 incident in Dallas, including pizza, fruit and flowers. jjohnson@pioneerlocal.com Twitter: @Jen_Pioneer Prior to being sentenced to 20 years in prison for manslaughter, Abraham Bratcher, 36, asked to face the family of the friend he shot when he gave his statement. "I'm so sorry," the former Kouts man told the family of Gerid W. Forste, 31, at his sentencing Monday. "I hope you know me well enough to know I didn't mean this to happen." Advertisement The two had been drinking and smoking marijuana April 2, 2014, in a Valparaiso apartment on Black Partridge Lane in when Bratcher shot Forste over a dispute over an automatic rifle that belonged to Bratcher's out-of-town roommate, according to the probable cause affidavit. The men had a long friendship, and Forste's older sister, Sonia Wates, recalled through tears during her statement how Bratcher had been like family, even going camping with them. Advertisement "I know for a fact my brother cared for you," Wates said while sobbing. "You were like brothers." According to the probable cause affidavit, the two men began to argue after Forste's girlfriend had left with her children that evening. Forste, of Kouts, returned from using the bathroom acting suspiciously, then admitted to stealing Bratcher's bottle of cologne, putting it back when told, court records state. Bratcher told police that Forste then went into the bedroom of the person leasing the apartment and began handling the absent man's rifle, which led to a fight and Bratcher wresting the rifle from Forste, the probable cause affidavit states. Investigations found six spent shells from the rifle in the apartment, and the autopsy showed Forste was shot three times, one of the bullets going through his body twice because of the angle, court documents state. The autopsy also showed Forste was facing away from Bratcher with his hands up in defensive posture, the probable cause affidavit states. James D. Wolf Jr. is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. Do you need help with a project? Is your organization project need of capital to help impact the residents of Crown Point and South Lake County? Does your community have a project that needs some financial backing to get it done for the benefit of the people in and visiting your community? If you can say yes to any of these questions you owe it to yourself and the people you want to impact to get online now to www.thecpcf.org. Once there, look under the fobtain/grants tab to get an application. Advertisement The Crown Point Community Foundation, Inc. Endowment Fund will award grants in the areas of education, health and human services, civic affairs, preservation, conservation, arts and culture. "The Crown Point Community Foundation is interested in funding projects that will improve the quality of life for citizens in the Crown Point area," said Pat Huber, president of the foundation. This is the regular grant cycle. The very big project grants have already been closed. This is for the grants that are given to non-profit organizations under 501 c3 and are primarily awarded to underwrite program expenses or fund capital expenditures. Advertisement This is the grant that is given out three times a year and is in smaller amounts. You can also call the foundation office at 219-662-7252 or stop by the office at 115 S. Court St., Crown Point. They are in the lower level of the building next to the bank. The deadline date for this Grant Cycle is Sept. 1. It must be in their office by then, not just postmarked by then. kconley@post-trib.com With a growing community, Trinity Lutheran Church Senior Pastor Stephen Henderson and Associate Pastor David Kipp have welcomed the new Youth Pastor Brett Satkowiak into the fold. Trinity Lutheran in Crown Point is getting ready to celebrate in 2018 the 150th anniversary of its founding as a Christian congregation. It is an exciting time for this church. Advertisement Satkowiak is just turning 36. His emphasis will be on the junior and senior high school students from 5th through 12th grades. But he will not be limited to that age group. He will be working with children as young as 4- and 5-years-old as he gets involved with their Vacation Bible School. Satkowiak said his family makes him ready to reach the little ones as well as the teens. He and his wife, Jen, have four children. The oldest is Peter at 9, then there is Claire at 6, Lily at 3 and Nora at 16 months. Advertisement He was ordained in June at Trinity Lutheran Church. He graduated from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. He said that he wants to bring a life of faith that extends Sunday worship into the entire week. Trinity Lutheran Church in Crown Point welcomed new Youth Pastor Brett Satkowiak, pictured with, from left, Peter Satkowiak, Lily Satkowiak, Noah Henderson, Norah Satkowiak, Claire Satkowiak and Gracelyn Nack are sitting on a bench outside of Church ready for a picnic. (Trinity Lutheran Church) "That means loving God through worship and loving those He places around you, understanding the seemingly mundane aspects of this life as the divine connections that they are, and coming to know more and more in newer and newer ways all that Jesus Christ has done for you and how that changes how you see yourself and the world around you in so many different ways," said Satkowiak. Trinity is considering a major building project that would better equip them to lead people in worship, according to the new associate pastor. Trinity Lutheran is a church with a K-8 school as well as a Bible school. Satkowiak went right to work with senior high school age youth at this month's LCMS Youth Gathering in New Orleans. "It's been an amazing week, certainly one of the high points of our church body," Satkowiak said via email. kconley@post-trib.com A specialty SINnamon roll sits among, from left to right, an orange creamsicle doughnut, a red velvet Oreo doughnut, a strawberry coconut doughnut, and a cookie dough doughnut at Black Label Baking in La Porte. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune) Some might assume there are only baked goods at Black Label Baking Co. in La Porte, but that is not the case. Breakfast and lunch are served at Black Label Baking, which opened in February in the former B&J's American Cafe spot. Advertisement "The owner of the business that was in there was looking to sell and get out. We were able to make a good deal where both of us were happy. That is a historical building," said John Thresh, owner and operator of Black Label Baking, which originally operated out of Temple News Agency in La Porte. Starting prices include $5.75 for salads, $4.50 for breakfast selections, $3.85 for sandwiches and wraps, $3.65 for soup, $1.75 for beverages and $1.50 for baked goods. Advertisement "Our biggest selling deli sandwich is the Gobbler with turkey, ham and bacon on wheat bread," said Thresh, who lived in Washington for approximately 12 years before moving back to La Porte, where he was born and raised. Popular baked goods include cinnamon rolls and doughnuts. "We do not fry our doughnuts. Everything is put together by hand and baked. We don't do your typical run-of-the-mill flavors. We have a beer doughnut. We put bacon on our doughnuts," said Thresh. "I don't think there's anybody out there taking that extra step. We change up our flavors every day." Thresh credited employees including chef Vincent Sampson; Sierra Maitland, one of the main doughnut bakers; head bread baker Patricia Howard; and store manager Bailey Nelson, all of La Porte, for helping Black Label Baking to succeed. "We're unapologetic about who we are. We have a bit of a rock 'n' roll attitude. There's always rock music playing in the shop. It's different from what La Porte normally is used to," said Thresh. With seating for up to 70 people, Black Label Baking also hearkens to an older era with decor including a nonworking soda fountain and a milking machine. "We really did not change anything in that building. I just put a bit of my own stuff to give it my personal touch, but it's got bar stools and old original flooring still in there. It's like stepping back in time for a little of La Porte history," said Thresh. Advertisement His mother, Diana Speakman from La Porte, makes biscuits and helps with muffins and Danish. His wife, Amanda, and two children also are involved. Thresh's 13-year-old daughter Lyrics makes coffee while Thresh's 11-year-old son Ethan works in the kitchen and does dishes a few days a week. "I would like to be a mainstay in La Porte like when someone's traveling through La Porte they say, 'I want to stop at Black Label,' before they go all the way through," said Thresh. "I wouldn't be opposed to distributing either, putting breads and stuff in stores and getting the doughnuts out to stores as well." Hours: 6 a.m.-8 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays and 6 a.m.-3 p.m. Sundays. Black Label Baking Co. is at 607 Lincolnway, La Porte. Contact 219-561-0980 or www.blacklabelbaking.com. Advertisement Jessi Virtusio is a freelance writer. The Lake Station School Board recently hired one of its own members as an assistant principal post at Edison High School despite the fact that he wasn't the leading candidate recommended by the superintendent. Board member Mike Stills a former Lake Station police chief was approved for the post at a July 12 board meeting. Stills had been one of four finalists who were interviewed by a 10-member committee of teachers and administrators for the post, but he was ranked third among the finalists, according to a source close to the process. Advertisement A group of teachers, who aren't authorized to speak on the matter, said they're disappointed and believe that the board violated its own bylaws by dismissing the committee's recommendation. "Legally, we have no recourse," one of the teachers said. "They went beyond the advice of one-third of the school's teachers. They basically violated their own bylaws because they didn't choose the first or second choice. But there has to be some sort of accountability." Advertisement Board bylaws pertaining to ethics say that "the basic function of the school board member is 'policy-making' and not 'administrative'" and urge the board not to "play politics" in a partisan or petty sense. Lake Station Superintendent Tom Cripliver submitted a recommendation that they hire the leading candidate Munster High School math teacher Jeff Hamstra at the board's regular meeting on June 14. Board member Larry Biggs moved to accept the recommendation, but the motion died due to lack of a second. On July 12, board members added Stills' hiring to the new business section of the agenda. It passed with three 'yes' votes and one abstention. Stills recused himself from the vote. His contract would be $79,000 for the 2016-2017 school year. Stills insists that he didn't lobby for the position with his fellow board members, but they sought him out for the post. "My sole purpose is helping kids in a community where I've lived for 50 years," said Stills, citing his experience as a coach and police officer. Stills said he was not at the meetings where the board discussed his possible hiring nor did he participate in any votes pertaining to his hiring. Stills has taught biology at Merrillville High School for five years and he recently renewed his building-level administrator's license. He also has a superintendent's license that is active through January 2020, according to state license records. Board President Jim Vanderlin said the board did not have a hand in interviewing the finalists. Advertisement "Mike was not the (committee's) No. 1 candidate," Vanderlin said. "But the board felt we needed to move in another direction. He knows the community and we support a fine individual being moved up into the position. Mike is well qualified has principal and administrators licenses and he taught for five years in Merrillville. He has administrative experience as the former Lake Station Police Chief. "(We hired him) because he's local person who knows the city, the students, and the families. At this time, we need someone who can get to the bottom of things quickly." There have been tensions between the board and teachers since last year when a change in the school funding formula resulted in more than $1 million budget loss. In May 2015, voters soundly defeated a property tax referendum that would have added $7.5 million annually to the district's general operating fund. Twelve staff members were laid off the majority of whom were teachers. There have also been delays in paychecks being released, according to teachers. One teacher said they sincerely hope that concerns about Stills' hiring are alleviated. "We're absolutely committed to him being successful and I hope to God he is all that they say he is," the teacher said. "That said, I don't think it's going to happen." Vanderlin, who has served on the board since 1972, said he doesn't recall the board ever hiring a board member to a district post before. Advertisement "We've had people who have left the board and come back again as employees," Vanderlin said. "But that doesn't mean it hasn't been done elsewhere in Indiana. It's just happenstance that we have a qualified person." Stills resigned his position on Monday. The board will have 30 days to pick his replacement, Vanderlin said. Stills' term expires in 2018. "If it were 2016, that would make it easier," Vanderlin said. Stills said there's no ill feelings on his part from the controversy. "I'll do everything I can to support teachers and students," Stills said. Advertisement cnance@post-trib.com Emma Rhodes, 13, holds her rabbit Willow, who was reportedly stolen from the Porter County Fair over the weekend. (Courtesy of Michele Rhodes / Post-Tribune) Willow is back home safe after a hare-owing weekend at the Porter County Fair. Deputies with the Porter County Sheriff's Department used a Twitter post to track Willow down after the Netherland dwarf rabbit was reportedly stolen from the rabbit barn Friday and the alleged thief posted about the misdeed on her social media account. Advertisement "The first thing I thought was (the suspect) took him for meat but my mom said they don't eat them because they're so tiny," said Emma Rhodes, 13, of Porter Township, who owns Willow and another Netherland Dwarf, a female named Carrot, who was left untouched at the fair. Emma showed both Willow and Carrot at the fair Friday, said Michele Rhodes, Emma's mom, adding she got her daughter the rabbits after her lamb won grand champion last year and was swiftly auctioned off. Advertisement "She was devastated when she had to let go," Rhodes said of Emma, adding they decided to add rabbits as a 4-H project so Emma would have an animal to take home. The family left around 5:30 Friday only to find out later that a friend seeking them out to say goodbye around 7 p.m. noticed Willow was gone and figured Emma had taken the rabbit home. But Saturday morning a friend called Rhodes. "She said, 'Your rabbit's not in the cage,'" Rhodes said, adding she notified the 4-H office "I didn't call the police because I couldn't assume someone stole it," though because the cage door opened inward, it would be difficult for the rabbit to escape. Rhodes posted about Willow on Facebook and a friend with a Twitter account saw the post and did a quick search on Twitter for the fair. "It was the first thing that popped up," Rhodes said of the Twitter post reportedly by the suspect who took Willow. The post prompted Rhodes to contact police around 9:30 a.m. Sunday. According to a police report, the post, made at 8:14 a.m. Saturday, claimed Willow was stolen because of "microscopic cages, in 100 degree weather you'd do the same." Police were able to track down the suspect, 21, of the 5800 block of Houston Avenue in Portage, through the post and found Willow in the suspect's bedroom at her mother's residence, in a glass fish tank with shredded woodchips for bedding. Police confirmed Willow's identity through a tattoo on its ear late Sunday afternoon. Willow was the only rabbit reportedly stolen at the fair, police said. Advertisement The suspect's mother told police her daughter said she bought the rabbit at the fair after seeing its cramped quarters, the police report said. Police are requesting the suspect be charged with misdemeanor theft. Police returned Willow, safe and sound, to Michele Rhodes, though Emma didn't get to see the rabbit until late Sunday because she was at a demolition derby at the fair. "It was exciting," she said of the reunion, adding if she shows rabbits at the fair next year, she will secure their cages. The day after Willow came up missing, Emma said, "everybody started zip tying" their rabbits' cages at the fair. Rhodes, who admitted she was "pacing and pacing and pacing" until police called to say they had Willow, said the 4-H folks at the rabbit barn were "really, really nice" throughout the ordeal. "Thank God for social media," she said. "It's sometimes bad. It's sometimes good." Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. Tyrone Phillips is happily returning to "Byhalia, Mississippi." The Skokie resident directed the world premiere of Evan Linder's play at the Den Theatre in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood last winter and it was a runaway hit, winning three non-Equity Jeff Awards, including Best New Work, and earning a Best Director Jeff nomination for 25-year-old Phillips. The show, co-produced by The New Colony and Definition Theatre Company, where Phillips is founding artistic director, is being restaged at Steppenwolf Theatre Company's new 1700 Theatre as part of Steppenwolf's Visiting Company Initiative. Advertisement The play is about a loud, broke white couple who are about to become new parents. The birth of that child challenges the couple who live in a town with a racially-charged past. Phillips said his company was happy to co-produce this new work by The New Colony's co-artistic director but he was not planning to direct it. "As time went on, it was a no-brainer for me to direct because I was so involved already," he said. "And it spoke to me about how we treat black lives in today's world. It was a piece I couldn't say no to." Advertisement The production that Phillips directed was part of what they called a "world premiere conversation," with full productions also opening at the same time in Toronto, Memphis and Charleston. The next week, there were staged readings in Birmingham, Boulder and Los Angeles. "It was a lot of work," Phillips said. "It was definitely challenging but it worked out very well." There were talkbacks at each city. "It was incredible to hear what race relations were like in different places and what audiences pulled out of it in different places," Phillips said. Phillips' family moved to Skokie from Rogers Park when he was in middle school. He attended Old Orchard Junior High School and Niles North High School, where he began performing in plays. "Junior year was when I realized I wanted to do it for the rest of my life after doing the musical 'Falsettoland,'" Phillips said. "William Finn (composer and lyricist) came in to work with us. We also took it to the Illinois High School Theatre Festival." "The arts woke me up," Phillips said. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, graduating in 2012 with a bachelor of fine arts in acting. Still, Phillips admitted, "I've always had an itch for directing. Even when I was an actor, my biggest problem was that I'd direct myself." During the summer between his junior and senior years, Phillips studied at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. "Shakespeare scared me the most," he admitted, "So I tackled my biggest fear. That changed my outlook and gave me more confidence in the work I was doing." It was during that summer that Phillips contemplated starting Definition Theatre Company. In April of 2012, Phillips and five other University of Illinois students started the company, producing "The Brothers Size" by Tarell Alvin McCraney. Advertisement "We ended our college career doing that show in April, graduated in May and then opened it in June in Chicago," Phillips said. "After that, I went to Milwaukee Rep." Phillips said that the No. 1 goal of the people starting Definition was "diversity on stage getting a multicultural ensemble together that would represent the world we live in." 'Byhalia, Mississippi' When: July 28-Aug. 21 Where: Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre, 1700 N. Halsted St., Chicago Tickets: $30-$35 Advertisement Contact: (312) 335-1650; www.steppenwolf.org The Skokie Police Department will mark National Night Out, a chance to meet and interact with local police, from 6 to 9 p.m. Aug. 2 at Gross Point Park, 9100 Gross Point Road. Skokie calls the event "an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods a safer, better place to live." Advertisement Credited with creating National Night Out is The National Association of Town Watch, a nonprofit organization dedicated to "the development and promotion of various crime prevention programs, including neighborhood watch groups, law enforcement agencies, state and regional crime prevention associations, businesses, civic groups and individuals devoted to safer communities." No two communities celebrate National Night Out exactly alike, the organization said. Advertisement National Night Out began in 1984 to promote involvement in crime prevention activities, police-community partnerships, neighborhood camaraderie and to "send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back," according to the National Association of Town Watch. Those who attend Skokie's National Night Out next week will be able to talk to police and village staff about crime prevention, Neighborhood Watch, the new Many Cultures, One Community Keeping Skokie Safe campaign and other happenings in the community, the village says. The National Night Out campaign is intended to complement the Skokie Police Department's COPS or Community Outreach Police Substation program by providing Skokie residents with a "unique opportunity" to meet police officers, according to the village. The event will include tours of the COPS mobile vehicle, McGruff the Crime Dog, the Skokie Explorers, food and games with prizes. For more information and to RSVP for the free event, access www.facebook.com/skokiepolice and click on "Events" or contact the Skokie Police Department Crime Prevention Division at 847-982-5922. misaacs@pioneerlocal.com Twitter @SKReview_Mike Point Blank Gun Store and Range is under construction near the Hodgkins Quarry shopping center. (Annemarie Mannion / Pioneer Press) A gun store and range is under construction in Hodgkins and is expected to open some time in the next few months. Point Blank Range and Gunshop, which is based in Ohio, is building the new store at 9302 W. 63rd Street, next to The Quarry shopping center. Advertisement Point Blank, which has three stores in Ohio, two in Indiana and one in Kentucky, according to its website, plans to open five more in the next year, including one in Mokena, Ill. Andy Hofmann, marketing director for Point Blank, said in addition to gun sales, the gun range is expected to appeal to customers. Advertisement "The gun range is a big draw," he said. The lanes are about 25 yards long and can accommodate both handgun and long guns (rifle and shotgun), the company's website states. John O'Connell, attorney for the village of Hodgkins, said the village crafted an ordinance that seeks to ensure that the store is operated properly and that is geared to preventing straw purchases, in which one person purchases a firearm for someone else. The ordinance requires the store owner to keep hard copies of records of anyone who purchased more than one firearm in the last 12 months. "If you're buying more than one firearm a year they want that listed," O'Connell said. It also requires one hour of mandatory training for employees in sales that covers straw purchases, what they are and how to prevent them, and requires the store to post signs informing customers that such purchases of guns by one person for another are illegal. The ordinance also allows the village to inspect the store and to shut it down if it does not meet local licensing requirements. O'Connell said inspections of gun stores are also performed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, but they are not done frequently enough. Advertisement Colleen Daley, executive director of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, agreed. "Right now (gun dealers) are only licensed by the federal government. They may only get to the store once in 10 years and they have to announce themselves," she said. She applauds the provision that Hodgkins can close the business if it doesn't meet local requirements. "If they're not a good corporate citizen they can shut them down," she said. Daley said her organization reviewed the ordinance in Hodgkins and feels it is satisfactory. "We're really pleased to see they have an ordinance in place to make sure the business is run properly," she said. Advertisement Her organization is supporting a proposed ordinance at the state level similar to the one in Hodgkins that would require all gun dealers to obtain a state license that requires them to have policies and practices to prevent the diversion of guns and ammunition into the illegal market, she said. Daley said she has no concerns about the store in Hodgkins being so close to the AMC Loews Cinema 14, and across the street from a restaurant. Enjoying a beer at Salerno's, the restaurant across the street from the new gun store, Dean Knapp of Plainfield and Bob Wojcik of Palos Hills, said they think the area needs another gun range. Wojcik said he recently underwent gun training because he has received approval to carry a gun under the state's conceal carry law. "One thing our instructor emphasized with us is that you have to get out there and practice," he said. Abe Garcia, who works at the restaurant, has no particular concerns about the safety of the business. "It's just another building," he said. Advertisement Even though there was a mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater a few years ago, O'Connell said the village is not worried about the store being near the theater or restaurant. "I mean if somebody was going to do that I don't think they'd go to a gun range," O'Connell said. He said the store will be able to sell any firearm that is legal. Sales projections are estimated at between $4 million and $6 million a year. The village would receive about $40,000 a year from sales taxes, he said. He said the store will probably open in the next three to four months. amannion@tribpub.com Advertisement twitter triblocalam Although many employers in China know that the labor contract of an employee can be dissolved at any time during the probationary period, most are unaware of the restrictions governing this termination procedure. According to Chinas labor laws, the ability to terminate a labor contract during the probationary period is limited to the specific circumstance where it is proved, on the expiry of the probationary period, that a worker has failed to meet employment requirements. In practice, this rule is endowed by the law as a right for the worker, and it is the employers burden to prove that the employee has failed to meet employment requirements if the employer intends to dissolve the labor contract during the probationary period. Here, a case involving this situation will be discussed, along with practical advice for managing employees during the probationary period. Scenario Mr. Qian signed a two year labor contract with a company as a project manager. The contract stipulated the probationary period of Mr. Qian as two months and did not provide any explicit employment requirements. Among the 60 projects he was managing, 18 were not completed and 25 needed to be further revised. Since Mr. Qian did not perform well and did not meet the expected targets, the company rescinded the labor contract with him after one month, declaring that he had failed to meet the employment requirements. In response, Mr. Qian applied for arbitration. Because the labor contract did not list any specific employment requirements, Mr. Qian argued that he was terminated without grounds and was therefore entitled to compensation from the company for violating the contract. The labor disputes arbitration committee determined that the evidence submitted by the company was insufficient to prove the failure of Mr. Qian to meet the employment requirements and thus approved the claim of Mr. Qian for compensation. RELATED: Payroll and HR Services from Dezan Shira & Associates Legal Grounds and Analysis According to Chinas labor contract law, an employer can terminate the labor contract with an employee within the period of probation if the employee cannot satisfy the employment requirements. However, the employer is obliged to provide relevant evidence to justify the termination, including the companys employment requirements, the employees acknowledgement of these requirements, and an assessment of the employees performance during the probationary period. The employer must make the employment requirements clear to the employee during the recruitment process. If the court or the arbitration committee considers the evidence of the employer insufficient, the employer might be required to pay compensation to the employee and the termination can be overturned. In this particular case, the company did not indicate any employment requirements in the labor contract with Mr. Qian, and also did not stipulate specific requirements during the probationary period. As such, the labor dispute arbitration committee deemed the companys actions a violation of the labor contract and approved Mr. Qians claim for compensation. Suggestions From a legal perspective, there are no specific regulations on the standards and principles of employment requirements. Hence, the definition of employment requirements must be determined by the employer themselves, within the scope permitted by law and based on its practical situation. Generally speaking, the professional abilities or skills required by a given position are a must-have for the employee during recruitment, and can be regarded as their employment requirement. However, it should be noted that the employer must provide the specific and feasible criteria for the employment requirements and clearly inform the employee of these requirements before signing the contract. The employment requirements can be included in the labor contract, employee handbook, or stipulated in a separate policy. It is suggested that the acknowledgement receipt of the employment requirements be obtained from the employee in advance. If the employer intends to terminate the employee within the probationary period due to poor performance, the employer must bear responsibility for proving the employees failure to meet the stipulated employment requirements, such as through an assessment form. Otherwise, the claim for terminating the employee during the probation period based on dissatisfying employment requirements might not be approved by the court or arbitration committee. About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email china@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. Human Resources and Payroll in China 2015 This edition of Human Resources and Payroll in China, updated for 2015, provides a firm understanding of Chinas laws and regulations related to human resources and payroll management essential information for foreign investors looking to establish or already running a foreign-invested entity in China, local managers, and HR professionals needing to explain complex points of Chinas labor policies. Labor Dispute Management in China In this issue of China Briefing, we discuss how best to manage HR disputes in China. We begin by highlighting how Chinas labor arbitration process and its legal system in general widely differs from the West, and then detail the labor disputes that foreign entities are likely to encounter when restructuring their China business. We conclude with a special feature from Business Advisory Manager Allan Xu, who explains the risks and procedures for terminating senior management in China. Employing Foreign Nationals in China In this issue of China Briefing, we have set out to produce a guide to employing foreign nationals in China, from the initial step of applying for work visas, to more advanced subjects such as determining IIT liability and optimizing employee income packages for tax efficiency. Lastly, recognizing that few foreigners immigrate to China on a permanent basis, we provide an overview of methods for remitting RMB abroad. Lou Jiwei, China's finance minister. [Photo provided to China Daily] The government's determination to launch the long-awaited property tax would help cool down the real estate market in the long term, industry analysts said. Speaking on the sidelines of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meetings in Chengdu, Sichuan province, Finance Minister Lou Jiwei pledged to go to great lengths to introduce the property tax. Promoting the reform of income tax and property tax will ensure fairer income distribution. However, effective policies for income redistribution will definitely meet obstacles, Lou said. "This is a challenge, and this is our next task. We will be devoted to carrying it on." The property tax is predicted to take effect by the end of 2017 at the earliest, Liu Jianwen, a professor at Peking University Law School, was quoted as saying by China Business News. Experts said the policy could help reduce demand and stabilize prices to some extent. But it may take some time before the long-awaited property tax can be implemented. "Information collection, taxation capacity building and vested interests are the major challenges," Lou pointed out. "It's difficult to say when the policy will be completed. As far as I'm concerned, the reform may need no less than three to five years," said Zhang Dawei, chief analyst at Centaline Property. The taxation system needs improvement and requires thorough investigation into the current property ownership, added Guo Yi, marketing director at Yahao Real Estate Selling & Consulting Solution Agency. However, the policy's ability to restrain demand remains to be proven. "I will still buy a house even if there are more taxes, because I need it," said Li Yanan, an engineer working at a Beijing-based construction company. Besides the property tax, the reform of individual income tax has become another factor that analysts refer to when predicting market trends. Guo said that the reform would help boost individual demand. On June 30, Qian Zhimin, general manager of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), met with Hebei executive vice governor to discuss the construction of the Cangzhou Nuclear Fuel Industrial Park and Haixing Nuclear Power Industrial Park. First built in 2014, the industrial park in Cangzhou, which includes a uranium processing plant, aims to secure a nuclear fuel supply for the country. During a news briefing on Jan. 29 of this year, Pan Jianming, CNNC's secretary of the board and spokesman, said, "We have already finished the preliminary work, and everything is going smoothly in Cangzhou." Pan said that the CNNC planned to build two uranium processing plants in the country, with one in Cangzhou, Hebei Province and the other in Guangdong Province, though the specific location has yet to be decided. Before the Haixing Nuclear Power Industrial Park, two other nuclear power equipment industrial parks had already been constructed in Nanjing and Jingjiang in Jiangsu Province. In addition, several other provinces, such as Shandong, Sichuan, Zhejiang and Hebei, are also busy with construction of nuclear power industrial parks. Construction and contribution On Oct. 23, 2014, CNNC President Sun Qin signed a cooperation agreement with Hebei provincial government to build a range of nuclear power projects and industrial parks there. According to the agreement, the two sides vow to cooperate in relevant nuclear fields, including uranium processing plant, nuclear power and nuclear technology application. In recent years, Hebei Province has placed nuclear power projects in an important position, which can be seen in the 2014 Hebei Provincial Government Work Report. The report said that the local government will preferentially promote those projects which are beneficial to economic transformation and upgrading, like the Cangzhou and Haixing nuclear power projects. Nuclear power is believed to be able to provide enormous economic benefits. It is estimated that every one-yuan investment on nuclear power project could increase 3.04 yuan for gross output of all industries and 1.03 yuan for the country's GDP. While every one-yuan nuclear power consumption could increase 2.22 yuan and 1.18 yuan for gross output of all industries and GDP, respectively. The total investment of the CNNC's nuclear power projects in Haixing is expected to reach 200 billion yuan (US$29.8 billion). Therefore, the economic benefit it would bring should be significant. Progress and prejudice Currently, more than 20 provinces and cities throughout the country have vowed to develop nuclear projects. Early in 1980s, Hunan and Hubei provincial governments planned to introduce nuclear power projects to stimulate their local economies. During the decade since 2005, a number of Chinese provinces and cities have been eager to promote nuclear power projects, and several places have even fought for them. Many local government officials believed that billions of nuclear power investment would surely bring numerous economic benefits, said Lin Boqiang, director of China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University. Today nuclear power only provides two percent of China's total electricity. In contrast, the ratio in France is 78 percent while in Japan it is 30 percent. According to the nuclear power development plan, China is expected to invest 500 billion yuan (US$74.6 billion) in the nuclear power industry during the 13th five-year plan. The country also plans to have 58 gigawatts of installed nuclear power capacity and 30 GW under construction by 2020. To achieve this goal, analysts expect annual uranium demand will rise tenfold over the period to at least 40,000 tons. However, not all the projects operate smoothly and bring benefits. In February 2012, the CNNC announced to build a mega billion-dollar uranium processing project in Jiangmen of Guangdong Province. But the move was canceled one year later due to local protests. "From the perspective of the whole country, the nuclear power industry asks for rational distribution and the avoidance of repeated construction," an official of the National Energy Administration said in an interview. A screen grab of the Forest of Stone Steles Museum's micro blog says the facility appreciates netizens' support for the cats. "The kittens can stay, finally!" This simple message warmed many hearts on Monday afternoon as a museum in Shaanxi province announced that it would not force three cats out of their home. "Thank you for your support and concern in the past few days. Our museum will enhance supervision of these kittens, giving them vaccines, insect repellent, sterilization, as well as setting up warning signs within our scenic area. We'll provide a warm and loving environment for them and our visitors," the Forest of Stone Steles Museum in Xi'an said on Weibo. "Please feel free to come and visit them, but please, no more touching." On the internet, the museum is not just famous for its ancient epigraphs and stone sculptures with masters' calligraphy but also for several widely-photographed stray cats. Many tourists take photos with them and post them online. Yet the cats almost got kicked out last week after a child who tried to play with a baby kitten was scratched by its protective mother. The child's mother filed a complaint with the local tourist bureau, which resulted in an eviction order for the cats on Wednesday. On Friday, staff members attempted to catch the cats to give them away, but failed. Over the weekend, public opinion went viral on Weibo until they changed the cats' fate. "The kittens are not at fault here, why expel them?" Chen Pei said. "It is cruel to bring such cuteness into this world and not allow them to live a happy life," Mo Ranying said. "Please let the kittens stay. I haven't visited the museum yet and I wish to see them when I am there," Li Jingzhuo said. Thousands of posts supporting the kittens have been put online, and many news outlets voiced their support. "We never expected so many supportive comments for our kittens on Weibo. I personally was very moved," said Li Jingwen, the museum's media officer. The museum's management board considered public opinion and decided after holding a meeting on Monday morning that the kittens should stay, Li said. Details will be released soon. Wang Liqun, founder of the Good Dog Good Cat Companion Center, a Beijing-based volunteer group dedicated to helping stray dogs and cats since 1996, gave a thumbs up to the museum's latest call. "Not many institutions, I should say very few in my memory, can do what they just did," Wang said. "Their attitude should be promoted. I always believed that how people treat animals reflects how civilized a society is." Taking care of more than 270 stray dogs and 60 cats out of her own pocket, Wang knows more than many what works best for deserted pets. "There is very little chance people will adopt stray cats. Plus, these cats are used to living outdoors. They just don't like staying home," Wang said. "Sending them away might also give some cat thieves an easy chance to steal them." You are here: Home More than 23,000 people have been displaced as heavy rain battered several cities in northeastern China's Liaoning province on Monday. A swollen river is seen at Dayangshugou Village, Huludao City, northeast China's Liaoning Province, July 21, 2016. (Xinhua/Pan Yulong) Precipitation reached 145 millimeters in Tieling City on Monday, forcing 20,676 people to be relocated. About 3,000 people were evacuated to evade disaster in Benxi City. China's meteorological authorities have issued warnings against floods in mountain areas in eastern part of the province. Heavy rain across north and northeast China last week has left 164 people dead and 125 missing, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said. More than 10 provincial-level regions had been battered by the bad weather. In the hardest hit provinces of Henan and Hebei, 514,000 people have been displaced and nearly 125,000 people are in urgent need of basic living assistance. Esperanto was once a popular foreign language in China, but now few people are still learning and using it, with some of them worrying the community will disappear in the future. Esperantists from around the world are currently meeting in Nitra, Slovakia for the annual World Esperanto Congress, the main event on Esperantists' calendars. The language was created by Ludwig Zamenhof, a Polish ophthalmologist. On July 26, 1887, he published Dr. Esperanto's International Language, a guide to his created language, and hoped to bring the world closer to eternal peace by bridging the communication gap between people. In China, Esperanto was once taught in universities and was made an option on the foreign language examinations. Some of China's most beloved writers and intellectuals were early supporters of the language, most notably Lu Xun, who died in 1936. China even held two World Esperanto Congresses, first in 1986 and the second in 2004. Back in the 1980s, Esperanto was a popular foreign language because of its simplicity compared to English. The Beijing Association for Esperanto (BAE) estimated 300,000 to 400,000 Chinese speakers back then. It is still a foreign language exam option in Sichuan, as reported by Beijing Today. Chen Ji is the director of the El Popola Cinio and heads a staff of about 10 people. El Popola Cinio is China's first Esperanto magazine and one of the three outlets in China that publish in the language, beside the website China.org.cn and China Radio International. She said the number of Esperanto speakers has declined since the 1970s and 1980s when China's reforms led to a surge of interest of foreign languages. However, she does not believe this means a decrease in Esperanto's popularity. She says China's Esperanto community has bolstered itself in other ways, such as its presence at the Congress. "El Popola Cinio and the Chinese Esperanto Association send many Esperantists to the Congress every year, and they get involved in the discussions through Esperanto in many aspects, Chinese society for example, China's economy, and lighter topics too. They also organize activities about China during the event," Ji said. But not everyone is optimistic about the future. Hiroyuki Usui, an editor at El Popola Cinio, is from Japan and began learning the language when he was 13. He first came to China in 1984 and attended the 1986 Congress. "The idea was that our society and humankind would progress and also our language must progress; that idea is what made Esperanto popular before. Now we don't have so much of a belief this will happen, so Esperantists --- all of us now for that matter --- cannot provide another perspective," Hiroyuki said. "Still I am working for Esperanto. I started learning when I was thirteen, my identity cannot be separated from Esperanto. If I leave Esperanto, maybe there's nothing there --- about me. I at least hope this community of Esperanto speakers will not disappear," he added. Flash Spain has reported Europe's first case of a baby born with microcephaly, a birth defect related to the mosquito-borne Zika virus, the Hospital Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona reported on Monday. The mother had been infected by the Zika virus during a trip to Latin America and malformations were detected after 20 weeks of pregnancy, but she refused to abort. The baby was born by cesarean section, did not need any resuscitation, and remains stable, according to the hospital. "The evolution of the baby will depend on the lack of growth of this brain," said Felix Castillo, from the hospital's neonatal department, highlighting that at the moment the baby's situation was not serious. The regional government of Catalonia, Generalitat reported that a total of 91 cases had been detected in Catalonia, 21 of them were pregnant women, of which five gave birth to healthy children. In Spain, a total of 190 cases of the Zika virus have been detected, 26 of them were pregnant women. Microcephaly is a birth defect marked by unusually small heads and underdeveloped brains. While it can be caused by a number of factors, such as drug use during pregnancy and rubella, the sudden rise in microcephaly cases since last year has been mainly attributed to the mothers' exposure to the Zika virus. Flash U.S. Democrats on Monday formally adopted what the party called "the most progressive platform in the history of party politics," in an apparent attempt to rally Bernie Sanders' supporters behind Hillary Clinton, who is poised to clinch Democratic presidential nomination this week. Photo taken on July 25, 2016, shows the U.S. Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, the United States. [Photo/Xinhua] The platform, which amounts to an assembled policy statement but is unenforceable on the party's nominee, includes many of the agenda sought by the supporters of Sanders, Clinton's bitter challenger in a bruising primary season. But it lacks concessions they sought on healthcare and trade. The platform was ratified at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) which kicked off on Monday. "What stands out are support for the 15 dollar an hour minimum wage, free junior college, allowing adults over 55 to participate in Medicare, expanding social security to provide more benefits to those who had to leave the work force for family or other reasons," said Robert Shapiro, professor and former chair of the Department of Political Science at Columbia University, told Xinhua. "These responded to Sanders's positions and those of his supporters," he said. But "the platform did not go as far as Sanders would have wanted on regulation of Wall Street and taking a harder line against Israel, and also universal health care." Having created a campaign that galvanized millions of voters, Sanders has been given a prominent say in writing the party platform in a move party leaders hoped would soothe the bitter split in the Democratic Party. The most notable imprint of Sanders, the senator of Vermont, on the platform is the inclusion of his signature call for raising the minimum federal wage to 15 U.S. dollars an hour from the current 7.25 dollars per hour. Clinton, former secretary of state and former first lady, has favored the minimum 12 dollars an hour. Education also bore a clear mark of Sanders, who called himself "a Democratic Socialist," as the platform sided with his proposal of making free public college tuition for those with incomes up to 125,000 dollars a year. Sanders has called the education proposal "a very bold initiative" and a significant step for party unity, though it fell short of his call for free college tuition for all, a core position igniting his young voters base. Nevertheless, Sanders has lost a battle on his top priority: opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed trade deal involving the United States and 11 other nations. The platform vaguely suggests, "we will oppose trade agreements that do not support good American jobs, raise wages, and improve our national security." Clinton openly pushed for the deal during her tenure as secretary of state of the Barack Obama administration, but backtracked during the primary season. Sanders said he's against it primarily because it will allow corporations to move jobs overseas. Sanders, who won primary and caucus elections in 23 contests garnering nearly 1,900 delegates, has endorsed Clinton, though he has vowed to take his campaign to the national convention. To clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, a candidate has to win 2,383 combined pledged delegates and superdelegates. With Sanders' persistent momentum on the campaign trail and his appeal among the progressives and young voters, the deep discord has overshadowed Clinton's run to the White House. Democrats gathering for the national convention aim to seek party unity to nominate Clinton as their standard-bearer in a general election to fight Donald Trump, who has won the Republican presidential nomination last week in Cleveland, the state of Ohio. But the recent disclosure of emails showing the DNC officials working to undermine Sanders' campaign threatened to ruin the "United Together" theme of the opening night. Sanders, as well as First Lady Michele Obama, is set to deliver a speech on Monday night. In a letter to his supporters on Monday before his night speech at the convention, Sanders acknowledged efforts of his 13 million supporters to carry on the "political revolution" that has helped change the party platform and Clinton's campaign. He also tried to rally his supporters to "defeat Trump, the worst presidential candidate in the modern history of our country." It, however, seemed hard for Sanders to sway his staunch supporters. Outside the convention center, thousands of his supporters were marching down Philadephia's Broad Street in scorching heat, chanting "Hell, NO, DNC. We won't vote for Hillary." Flash Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday urged an end to the political manipulation and sensationalization of the South China Sea issue. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a press conference after the meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister and the counterparts from 10 ASEAN members in Vientiane, Laos, July 25, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Wang made the call at a press briefing following his meeting with the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries in the Lao capital. Wang said the so-called award rendered recently by an ad hoc tribunal handling the South China Sea arbitration is tantamount to filling a wrong prescription for the South China Sea disputes. The South China Sea arbitration was unilaterally initiated by the former Philippine government. The ad hoc tribunal issued an award on July 12, sweepingly siding with Manila's cunningly packaged claims. China has dismissed the biased ruling as "null and void with no binding force." The Chinese top diplomat said the wrong prescription has led to increasingly hot ballyhoo over the arbitration and some countries outside the region have become extremely excited, as if running an unabated high fever. The normal regional order and the overall interests of the regional countries have been undermined, he added. According to Wang, all foreign ministers agreed at the meeting that the South China Sea disputes are not an issue between China and ASEAN and the disputes should not be allowed to affect the overall situation of the cooperation between the two sides. He pointed out that ASEAN, as a whole, did not make comments or take sides on the arbitration, and it expressed support for China and the Philippines to resolve the issue through dialogue and consultation. The Chinese top diplomat said China-ASEAN joint statement calling for full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) has won support from all ASEAN countries. According to Wang, the joint statement embodies a "dual-track" approach, which stipulates that historical disputes should be handled peacefully and properly through direct talks between the parties involved, and China and the ASEAN members should join hands to safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea. Such an approach, first initiated by Brunei and supported by China. is the correct way to settle the disputes, Wang said. An arc welding robot is displayed at the World Robot Conference 2015 in Beijing, on Nov 24, 2015. [Photo/IC] BEIJING - China will strengthen policy support for high-tech manufacturing during the second half of the year, a senior official has said. "The work of building the country into a global manufacturing powerhouse is moving from documents to implementation," vice minister of industry and information technology Feng Fei said on Monday afternoon. Emerging sectors, smart manufacturing and communications are expected to see specific guidelines in the second half of the year, while official five-year industrial plans on software, big data and new materials will also be rolled out, he said. Pilot projects will cover industrial Internet, manufacturing standards and aircraft engines. China plans to earmark 5.2 billion yuan (nearly $780 million) from its central budget to improve manufacturing in 2016, up 50 percent from a year ago. People walk at Shanghai Disney Resort during a three-day Grand Opening event in Shanghai, June 15, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] As Shanghai Disneyland opened last month, the housing projects adjacent to the park have seen their prices surge, with some likely to reach 80,000 yuan ($11,982) per square meter, Securities Daily says. When the Shanghai Disneyland project began six years ago, the new home price in Chuansha section, which is only 3km away from the resort, was less than 19,000 yuan per square meter. Now, prices of some projects have reached 50,000 yuan. In the future, housing prices are likely to touch 80,000 yuan, or even 100,000 yuan, a professional salesperson told the newspaper. Chuansha section is the nearest and most mature region adjacent to the park, with completed facilities, such as buses, subway, shops, hospitals and schools. Many tourists choose to stay here. Residential housing projects and hotels have seen a bullish market as investment value of related regions hiked since Shanghai Disneyland opened to the public, together with an overall property recovery in Shanghai, Yan Yuejin, chief of E-house China R&D Institute told the newspaper. Two visitors at a real estate fair in Shanghai on Dec 6, 2009. The approval for the Disney Resort in Shanghai pushed up housing prices in the surrounding area. [Photo by Yong Kai/Asianewsphoto] At the sales center of Sunshine Bay, a well-known property project in Chuansha section, a salesperson told the newspaper the whole project has sold out. When it came to prices, apartments sold at 30,000-40,000 yuan, while villas sold for 50,000 yuan. Although salespersons said some projects have been sold out, but it's hard to say, Yan said. Considering housing prices continue to rise, developers are likely to hold some houses to sell them at a higher price. Due to high potential for price rises near the resort, a new wave of price increases can be expected in Chuansha section, and the housing price is expected to reach 80,000 yuan per square meter, Yan added. The $5.5-billion Shanghai Disney Resort, the first on the Chinese mainland and the sixth in the world, opened on June 16. Nearly a million people have visited the theme park since it opened to the public. VANCOUVER - Vancouver International Airport (YVR) celebrated the inaugural flight of China's Xiamen Airlines to North America here on Monday evening. The new year-round, non-stop, Boeing 787 service will operate three times weekly between Vancouver and Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport (XMN). "We're delighted to welcome Xiamen Airlines as our fifth airline from mainland China," said Craig Richmond, president and CEO of the Vancouver Airport Authority. "It's no surprise that this very successful airline chose YVR as its first North American destination - our city has close ties with Fujian province, while our northwest location and world-class facility make YVR the best gateway to North America for any Asian airline." The new Chinese service originates from Xiamen Airlines' namesake city, which has a population of more than 3.8 million people. Located in Southeastern China, Xiamen boasts a warm climate, tropical scenery and tree-lined beaches. It has long been a popular stop for Chinese tourists, but the city is now welcoming more and more foreign travelers. Next to serving Canadians and Americans whose destination is Xiamen, the new route will be bolstered by a 72-hour visa-free stopover program. Xiamen Airlines has been operating for 32 years and for the past three years, it has received the highest honor for service and won the China Quality Award in 2016. The new route to Vancouver was added as part of a rapid intercontinental expansion, and is operated on a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 4 First class, 18 Business class and 215 Economy class seats. Flight MF806 will depart Vancouver at 1:40 am local time (0840 GMT) and arrive in Xiamen at 5:30 am local time the following day (2130 GMT on the previous day). The westbound flight, MF805, departs Xiamen at 9:30 pm local time (1330 GMT) before crossing the International Date Line to arrive in Vancouver at 6:40 pm local time (0140 GMT on the following day). China has become the 70th country to ratify the United Nation's Transports Internationaux Routiers Convention, the global standard for international freight customs transit. As the only universal customs transit system for moving goods across international borders, TIR has been supporting trade and development for more than six decades. TIR is governed by the United Nations TIR Convention, overseen by UNECE, and managed by the International Road Transport Union. "I'm delighted to welcome China into the TIR family of nations. This is an important step in harmonizing standards and boosting transport, trade and development across the Eurasian landmass," said Umberto de Pretto, Secretary General of the IRU, after China ratified the convention on Tuesday. "IRU has been a strong supporter of China's Belt and Road Initiative, and we will continue working closely with the Chinese government and business community as we turn our attention now to implementing the TIR system." TIR-operating countries around China, including Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia and Tajikistan, are also set to experience a boost to transport and trade when the system becomes operational in China. Pakistan is also implementing the TIR after its own ratification of the convention last year. "China's accession to the TIR Convention will open new efficient and faster transport opportunities and transport routes between China and Europe. It can become a real game changer for international trade and is a strong contribution to the Chinese vision for the Belt and Road Initiative," said UNECE Executive Secretary Christian Friis Bach. "We warmly welcome China to the TIR Convention and look forward to working closely with China and all TIR contracting partners to turn this decision into strong opportunities for trade, transport and economic growth." The United Nations Secretary General has confirmed that the TIR Convention will come into force in China on January 5 next year. A Madrid-Yiwu train leaves for Yiwu, Zhejiang province, a city well-known as the largest small commodity wholesale market in the world. [Photo/Xinhua] Almost 150 years ago, Leland Stanford, a railroad magnate now better known for founding Stanford University, swung a sledgehammer to drive in a golden spike in Promontory, Utah, completing the last link in the first transcontinental railroad across the United States. China's huge infrastructure investments over the past 15 years and President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative for spreading modern infrastructure links across Eurasia, remind me of the golden ages of building rail, road and canal links across North America. China will gain similarly vast benefitsin many ways we can't know in advance. My wife tells me that, in her youth in the 1980s, it took 57 hours on uncomfortable trains to go from her hometown in Yunnan to Beijing. Now, it takes 13 hours and 40 minutes on luxurious high-speed rail, or about three-and-a-half hours on a not-too-uncomfortable plane. But, is this increased convenience worth the massive costs of infrastructure projects? I was struck by a recent China Daily article discussing the establishment in Chongqing of the world's third-largest coffee futures exchange, made possible by a new rail link from there to Duisberg, Germany. Who could have predicted the creation of this business? Similarly, my own hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, was a sleepy, fairly poor, southern town best known for country music and publishing religious literature. In the 1970s, a major airport was built and three new interstate highways connected there, making it a key node for traffic going north-south or east-west. It has since, maybe predictably, become a major logistics and automobile manufacturing center. Much less predictably, it is now the biggest US headquarters for healthcare companies and medical research and is a "hot" city for young professionals. Pioneers going to Oregon or California in the 1840s spent at least four months in horsedrawn wagons. Many died along the way. The transcontinental railroad cut the travel time from the east coast to the west to 10 days. It stimulated the growth of trade between the coasts and made farming, mining and industry possible in the territories in-between. Earlier, the Erie Canal in New York State between the Hudson River and the Great Lakes cut the cost of freight transport by 99 percent. The US interstate highway system, started by president Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s, spread prosperity from the northeast into the rest of the country. China's new infrastructure will also be a game changer, promoting businesses and ideas in ways that are impossible to predict. China's new rail and road systems are at least equal to high-income countries, and its ports are better. This is a key differentiator that puts China far ahead of its economic competitors. I once spent a month consulting for Indian Rail. I loved riding in the engine or the caboose of those scenic trains on routes built by the British, but they are slow and inefficient and hold back economic growth. Chinese ports can reportedly unload containers at a rate of one every 23 seconds. On a visit to the port of Mumbai, I was told that a ship has to wait six days on average before unloading even begins. It is hard to estimate the cost-benefit ratio for infrastructure. And, it certainly is possible to plan badly. We have "bridge to nowhere" boondoggles in the US, Japan notoriously poured concrete everywhere in the 1990s in an attempt to stimulate its stagnant economy. Obviously, parts of China's infrastructure might not pay off. I once drove a beautiful, very expensive highway in the mountains with many tunnels in western Hebei province, which didn't seem to be carrying much traffic. But, on net, China's infrastructure has fundamentally transformed the country. It promises to open up opportunities that only tomorrow's innovators and entrepreneurs can imagine. The Belt and Road Initiative spreads those opportunities to Earth's biggest continent. I have a selfish interest in China's railmy grandfather was a railroad man and passed along his love of trains. I've been trying to convince my beautiful wife that we should ride our bicycle-built-for-two from Beijing to Europe. But, it looks like that's not happening. So, I've added journeys on the new rail lines from Sichuan to Germany, and, eventually, Kunming to Singapore to my bucket list. The Huawei P9 global launch at Battersea Evolution in London. [Photo/Xinhua] Huawei Technologies Co's revenue growth accelerated in the first half of the year as upgraded smartphones and network gear helped China's largest vendor of telecommunications equipment counter deteriorating global demand. The world's third-largest smartphone brand grew revenue 40 percent to 245.5 billion yuan ($37 billion) in the first six months, the Shenzhen-based company said in a statement. That's up from the 30 percent growth it managed in the first half of 2015. Founded in 1987 by Ren Zhengfei, Huawei has sprung to the vanguard of a crop of Chinese smartphone vendors trying to compete with global leaders Samsung Electronics Co and Apple Inc. The company used its business of selling networking gear to bankroll an expansion into premium phones, becoming China's biggest mobile label last year. Huawei P9 smartphone models are seen during the phone's launch ceremony in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo on June 24, 2016. [Photo/VCG] "We are confident that Huawei will maintain its current momentum, and round out the full year in a positive financial position backed by sound ongoing operations," Chief Financial Officer Sabrina Meng said. Competition, however, is weighing on profitability. Huawei's operating margin came to 12 percent in the first half, narrowing from 18 percent in the same period last year. Huawei didn't break out the performance of individual units of a business that also encompasses cloud computing and enterprise services. Its Consumer Business Group, which sells phones, watches and laptops, is scheduled to announce results on Tuesday. That unit chalked up 73 percent sales growth in 2015 to 129.1 billion yuan, out of the corporation's total revenue of about 395 billion yuan. Richard Yu, chief executive of the consumer business group, has said the company aims to eventually displace Apple and Samsung from the top spots in global smartphones. Xiang Ligang, a telecom veteran and CEO of the industry website cctime.com, said despite a string of patent disputes with Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Huawei's smartphone business is growing quite robustly, which will give the Shenzhen-based company a good boost in its year-end financial performance. Bloomberg Ma Si contributed to this story. A man drives a Mini Cooper with a Yahoo! logo in front of Yahoo! headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, February 1, 2008. [Photo/Agencies] Activist investors including Starboard Value demanded and then pressured for change Yahoo Inc's years-long fight to survive as a standalone company has drawn to a close, internal sources said on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc will announce plans to buy Yahoo's core assets for a bit more than $4.8 billion, said two people with direct knowledge of the situation who asked not to be identified. The deal includes Yahoo real estate assets, while some intellectual property is to be sold separately, the people said. Yahoo will be left with its stakes in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Yahoo Japan Corp, with a combined market value of about $40 billion. A transaction stands to finally seal the fate of web pioneer Yahoo after months of speculation and pressure from investors including Starboard Value LP. The deal will add the company and its millions of daily users to Verizon's growing stable of media properties and is also likely to end the reign of Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer, who tried and failed to re-invent Yahoo as an independent company. Verizon spokesman Bob Varettoni and Yahoo spokeswoman Rebecca Neufeld declined to comment. Yahoo hasn't laid out plans for its investments in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan. With its core wireless business maturing, Verizon is expected to keep Yahoo mostly intact to compete with Alphabet Inc's Google and Facebook Inc in digital ads by tapping into users on sites like Yahoo Finance. The takeover will double the size of Verizon's digital advertising, placing it as a distant third behind Google and Facebook in the $187 billion market. "The deal speaks to a clear strategy shift at Verizon," said Craig Moffett, an analyst with MoffettNathanson. "They are trying to monetize wireless in an entirely new way. Instead of charging customers for traffic, they are turning to charging advertisers for eyeballs." AT& T Inc and Quicken Loans Inc founder Dan Gilbert, as well as firms Vector Capital Management and TPG, were also active in bidding for Yahoo. The deal comes about two years after Starboard began campaigning for changes at Yahoo. In September 2014, it pushed Mayer, who was a little over two years into leading a turnaround, to merge with AOL Inc. She didn't oblige. In February, facing continued pressure, the company said it was considering a sale. In some ways, a takeover of Yahoo by Verizon would finally give Starboard what it wanted because the telecom giant acquired AOL last year. Back then, Starboard saw combining the two flailing web portals as a way to cut $1 billion in costs. AOL's advertising technology, which has improved under CEO Tim Armstrong, can now better leverage Yahoo's "reasonably strong" content for mobile devices, Moffett said. "Verizon is hoping that combining Yahoo's content with AOL's ad technology platform and Verizon's own insights into user data can make the advertising inventory much more valuable," he said. The activist crusade may also cost Mayer her job. Her arrival was met with great fanfare when she was lured away from Google in 2012. While she made progress on some products such as Yahoo's e-mail and media, overall sales growth remained sluggish. A failed attempt to spin off the company's Alibaba stake, now worth about $32 billion, hurt Mayer's standing with investors. The plan was scuttled to avoid a potentially large tax burden. Bloomberg Plan can be seen as a follow-up to Internet Plus strategy, promoting integration, reducing waste Major players in China's logistics industry are eyeing expansion following a decision by the central government to fully integrate the sector with the internet, boosting efficiency and reducing waste considerably. The decision was made at an executive meeting of the State Council, which was presided over by Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday. "The logistics industry is crucial, but an evident shortcoming in China's modern services," said a statement released after the meeting. According to the statement, an information-sharing system and national standards will be established to govern this field. The establishment of a public information platform for comprehensive transportation and logistics transactions will also be accelerated to build a smarter warehousing and distribution mechanism. The meeting also decided that new models will be developed for efficient and convenient logistics, promoting integration of logistics with the manufacturing sector, trade and commerce, and the financial sector. The internet will help match vehicles with cargos and precisely link freight vehicles with distribution sites and customers. Meanwhile, preferential policies such as taxation reduction and streamlined administration processes will be granted to this field. The State Council's decision is timely and encouraging, especially when major domestic logistics companies are seeking initial public offerings and looking for new growth opportunities, said Yu Weijiao, chairman of YTO Express (Logistics) Co Ltd based in Shanghai. China has grown from the world's largest courier nation to a logistics power and the integration of logistics and the internet will surely incubate more industries and opportunities, Yu said. The decision can be regarded a follow-up of the country's Internet Plus strategy Premier Li put forward first in last March as a way of economic restructuring. For a long time, the nation's urban and rural areas have been deeply separated from each other, hindering exchanges of agricultural and manufactured goods between villages and cities. Freight transportation also has caused waste of human resources, and gasoline, but its combination with the internet should produce different results. In late May, Premier Li visited an online platform of logistics company 56qq.com at a big data exhibition in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province. Via the platform, 1.7 million drivers and 300,000 logistics companies can find their optimal partners to transport freight. "The platform reduced 50 billion yuan ($ 7.6 billion) in costs for drivers and logistics companies last year, for trucks drove far fewer mileages without freight," said Luo Peng, a 56qq.com manager. This profound change was reiterated by the premier at several meetings afterward, indicating his determination to change the situation and cultivate faster logistics. Foreign logistics enterprises are taking a broader view of Chinese markets. Tony Zhou, corporate communications manager of FedEx Express China, said China's e-commerce market size is expected to grow by 20 percent year-on-year to reach $1 trillion by 2019. "The rapid expansion of e-commerce will also help boost the logistics industry as the two sectors are closely connected," Zhou said. For the logistics industry, the integration of the internet and logistics is a key step in transforming and moving China's manufacturing sector up the value chain, said Richard Loi, president of UPS China. By improving its logistics infrastructure through using the internet and new technologies, China can benefit from greater competitiveness in the logistics industry and increase the efficiency of global trade, said Loi. Contact the writers at huyongqi@chinadaily.com.cn Children exercise at a summer camp for overweight minors in Qingdao, Shandong province, in July. Photos by He Yi / For China Daily Childhood obesity has dramatically increased in rural parts of Shandong province, a study has found. The prevalence of overweight boys has increased from 0.74 percent in 1985 to 16.35 percent in 2014, while 13.91 percent of girls are now overweight, compared with 1.45 percent three decades ago, the Xinhua News Agency reported, citing a study conducted by Shandong Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Over the same time period, the prevalence of obesity in boys soared to 17.20 percent from 0.03 percent, and to 9.11 percent from 0.12 percent in girls, the study shows. Data for the study was obtained from six cross-sectional surveys conducted in 1985, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2014 on 27,840 rural students ages 7 to 18 in Shandong province. It defined obese and overweight using criteria from the Working Group on Obesity in China, the International Obesity Task Force and the World Health Organization. Another survey conducted on 1,817 rural children ages three to seven in Zhengzhou, Henan province, showed 105 children were obese, a report by the Beijing Times said on Monday. The survey showed that only 6.77 percent of parents would prohibit their children from drinking sugary beverages or eating food that was high in calories. "Many rural parents, especially the elderly, have no idea that obesity will lead to many diseases," Zhuang Hao from Henan Provincial Tumor Hospital was quoted as saying by the Beijing Times. Sun Xin, previously one of China's most-wanted economic fugitives, stands trial at Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court on July 26, 2016. [Photo/provided to chinadaily.com.cn] A Beijing court sentenced Sun Xin, previously one of China's most-wanted economic fugitives, to 14 years and six months in prison for embezzlement and corruption on Tuesday. Sun, 48, was also fined 200,000 yuan ($29,959), Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court said. Sun transferred more than 22 million yuan ($3.3 million) of public money to his private accounts from July 2001 to January 2008, when he worked as a cashier for what was then the Beijing Bureau of Press and Publication, the court said. He also made fake bank contracts and took some of the public money to flee to Southeast Asia after being removed from his post in late 2008, it added Sun was brought back from Cambodia on June 8, 2015 after being on the run for almost seven years. He is the first to be tried and punished among three fugitives returned last year. His case was heard on July 6. Dragon & Tiger balm. [Photo/IC] Although it's wise not to venture out when the outside temperature is reaching boiling point, staying indoors 24/7 is also not possible. So what's the solution? Well, like everything else in life, internet seems to have the answer. Apart from joking that they would live forever anywhere that has air conditioning and Wi-Fi, online users are also sharing and saving "magical" solutions that can beat the scorching heat. Some traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) recommendations stand out not only because those in China swear by them but also because those living abroad believe in them. Dragon & Tiger balm is one such ointment. It contains many herbal formulas, such as menthol, camphor and mint oil, that its fans claim keep their skin cool. The balm is commonly applied on temples to keep the body cool and refreshed. Some also use it as a mosquito repellent due to its strong smell and also to ease carsickness. Many foreigners also love the balm. On Amazon.com, several claim it helps in reducing shoulder pain, migraine and Sciatica. A user called "Liz Hart" praising the medicine said: "[It] has changed my life. It helps in Sciatica like nothing else." The ointment is widely known from Asia to Africa where heat and mosquitoes are eternal companions. Many people online said their Asian and African friends enthusiastically buy lots of balm in China and take it back home as gift. Pavlos Kontides tightened the zipper of his wetsuit with hands dried and calloused by rope and sea salt. It's part of a ritual that takes the only Cypriot Olympic medal winner 30 minutes as he gets his Laser dinghy ready for the Mediterranean winds. The 26-year-old Kontides has become obsessed with the details as he seeks to upgrade his silver medal from London 2012 to a gold in Rio. Cuba may be one of the world's least connected countries but that is not stopping the Japanese subculture of animated movies, manga comics and video games from spreading feverishly among its youth. More than a thousand "Otakus", or fans of such fantasy worlds, descended on Havana this week for the country's third Otaku festival, defying the sweltering heat to sport the costumes. Some performed scenes from animation movies on stage, while others belted out songs in Japanese with Spanish subtitles projected in the background. Still others did role playing dance choreographies. A prize was awarded for best cosplay, or role playing in costume, and for best manga drawing. A Chinese artist performs mask-changing dance at the opening ceremony of the 1st Afro-Chinese Arts and Folklore Festival, in Cairo, Egypt, July 21, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Chinese traditional arts have captivated the minds and hearts of many Egyptians and Arabs during the first Afro-Chinese Arts and Folklore Festival held in Cairo, as part of the 2016 Sino-Egyptian Culture Year. The arts festival, which kicked off on July 21 and will last till July 26, is aimed at shedding light on the culture and heritage of all participating countries from Africa and China. The second day of the festival solely focused on Chinese arts and folklore and therefore was dubbed "China Day." "It is the first time seeing a live Chinese art show and I really love it... The music and the instruments are very strange to me, but I sensed the music because it is a language that everyone understands," Fatima Hakim, a Moroccan lady in her 30s living in Cairo told Xinhua. Held at the Opera House in Cairo, "China Day" featured colorful Chinese traditional performances, including bamboo flute playing, acrobatic kung fu and others shows. To welcome the audience, two female artists played "The Butterfly Lovers," a modern piece of Chinese music adapted from an ancient Chinese legend. The performers used the traditional Chinese string instrument the Gu Zheng, also known as the Chinese zither, which is listed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list. The third Sino-Thai Culture and Tourism Friendship Caravan will be organized from August to September to boost cultural exchange and tourism, officials said in a press conference in Bangkok on July 25. The 5,868-km road trip is set to begin in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, in the north of China on August 22, after which the caravan will pass various cities of China, Laos, Thailand and finally arrived in Thai capital Bangkok late September. An ending ceremony of the trip is set on September 29 at the China Cultural Center in Bangkok. Along the trip, a number of tourism promotion activities will be organized in Zhengzhou and Changsha of China and the caravan will pass attractions in Thailand's north, northeast, central and eastern regions. 70 vehicle will participate in the trip when it started as a symbolic tribute to the 70th anniversary of Thai King's accession to the throne. Some 40 people from both China and Thailand will join the whole trip. Some media from both countries will join the trip and TAT planned to set up an online platform for people to follow the caravan, said Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of TAT. He also said, "Road travel is the way of the future. The vast improvement in the Asian Highway connectivity is opening up new opportunities for reaching new destinations and better distributing visitors." TAT said earlier that over 50 percent of Chinese tourists visiting Thailand independently right now, which is a new trend and they expect over 10 million tourists from the Chinese mainland throughout this year. I believe this trip can make the diversified Chinese culture known by more and more people in Thailand and also make Thai culture known better in China, thus to promote mutual understanding between peoples from both countries, said Chen Jiang, cultural counselor of the Chinese embassy in Thailand. The trip is organized by TAT, Chinese Ministry of Culture, the China International Culture Association, the Chinese embassy in Thailand and the China-Thailand Cultural Council. TAT predicts there will be 15 million views across social media in various Chinese cities set to be visited by the caravan. A scene from "Mcdull, Rice of The Rice Cooker". [Photo/Mtime] An animated film "Mcdull, Rise of The Rice Cooker", which was produced to mark the 20th anniversary of the character Mcdull's birth, has recently been re-scheduled to arrive in Chinese theatres on September 15, or Mid-Autumn Festival. A magic robot Rice Cooker has been disclosed in a latest edition of the movie trailer, in which Mcdull uses this robot as a secret weapon in defeating monsters. Growing up in a small fishing village, McDull is a pig without any superpowers. But he has a great enthusiasm for science, and one day hopes to become an inventor. In previous Mcdull movies, Mcdull had always been dreaming to become a hero, an Olympic Game winner, or a marvelous traveler who had been to as far as the Maldives, but they were merely fantasies. Yet, in this upcoming movie, Mcdull would finally achieve his hero dream by fighting against the alien Pipi monster and save Earth. Animator Brian Tse is behind this famous Asia animated flick, which is the seventh movie in the Mcdull series. The movie was originally announced to hit theaters in the Chinese mainland on July 22. It was postponed as there have already been too many summer releases. Related: Venice film festival announces Zhao Wei as juror A customerless vendor is in a daze. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily] As an auctioneer-cum-researcher, Ji Tao not only witnessed but participated as China's art and antiques market reveled in an unprecedented upsurge in the spring of 2011. "There were a lot of people and a lot of carousing. Anything that appeared at auction sold quickly, sometimes at jaw-dropping prices," he recalled. The high was followed by a low as the bubble burst in the autumn of the same year. Five years later dealers are still waiting for it to rebound. "The previous spell of gloom arrived in about 2006 and lasted for three years before things started to pick up in the spring of 2009. Now, five years have passed (since the start of the last market decline), and we are still hoping," Ji said. He blamed an insane buying fever before the downturn for undermining the market. "Wealth accumulated in other sectors of the economy was flowing into the art and antiques market, fueling a misguided enthusiasm that ultimately boded ill for the future," he said. However, not everyone was hit equally hard, and some people escaped relatively unscathed, according to Ji. "They include the people who bought the 'cream', those who collected at the very top of the antiques-trading pyramid," he said. "The value and rarity of those precious items means they will easily weather the current market storm, only to become more sought-after in years to come." This is where Ji believes the biggest misconceptions about collecting lie among nonprofessionals. "It would be naive for anyone to equate buying any old antique with collecting and, therefore, investing. Some things may be genuinely old; for example, a little silver hairpin from 100 years ago, but there are so many of them that they have ceased to have any real value as collectible pieces," he said. "Like any other area of investment, only wealth can produce wealth. It's perfectly OK to buy a little silver hairpin for personal appreciation, but don't have any illusions when it comes to returns." Yang Zhenbin, from the State-owned Suzhou Municipal Antique Store, believes the market downturn has had a sifting effect, which will result in credible dealers eventually surfacing as winners. "Like all State-owned antique stores with a long history, we ensure the authenticity of our merchandisesomething that discerning clients definitely appreciate," he said, referring to the crowds that turned up at an antiques fair the store organized in the city on June 30 and July 1. The Suzhou store also offers free connoisseur consultations for members of the public every month or so, partly to maintain its reputation as an authoritative establishment and partly to increase sales. It also provides training courses for industry insiders and dedicated lovers of antiques. Wang Ge, an antiques dealer who recently opened a store in Beijing, said the overheated market needed to have a metaphorical bucket of ice poured over it: "People's sense could only be restored once they started to lose money. I'm not saying that people should stop buyingjust try to buy things you love so much that selling is not a priority." Related: Market meltdown leaves antiques dealers on the shelf Police secure the area after an explosion in Ansbach, near Nuremberg, Germany July 25, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] On Sunday, a failed asylum-seeker from Syria blew himself up and wounded 12 people after being turned away from an open-air music festival in southern Germany. It was the fourth attack to shake Germany in about 10 days. Earlier on Sunday, a Syrian asylum seeker killed a woman with a machete and injured two other people in Reutlingen; on Friday, an Iranian-German shot dead nine people in Munich before killing himself; and on July 18, a 17-year-old asylum-seeker attacked passengers on a train. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Monday: Germany seems to have reached a tipping point in regards to its immigration and refugee policies. In the wake of the attacks, German politicians, especially Chancellor Angela Merkel, may be forced to seriously reflect upon the country's security dilemma, and probably consider stricter controls on refugees. And in all likelihood, the recent spate of violent attacks in France and Germany will make immigration and anti-terrorism overarching priorities of Europe, which is yet to fully recover from the 2008 sovereign debt crisis and the ongoing refugee crisis. Many European nations, ranging from western to southern Europe, have struggled to help immigrants integrate into local society, and the Islamic State group has taken advantage of this to recruit a number of "forgotten ones", be they new immigrants or marginalized underdogs. Many IS fighters recruited in the West, the number of whom is estimated at about 6,600, are European citizens. Some have returned to Europe after receiving military training in the Middle East, to either disseminate extremist ideas or launch deadly attacks. And some homegrown "lone wolves" are difficult to detect. The attacks show that improvements are urgently needed in Europe's immigration, diplomatic and anti-terrorism policies. The US government instigated the Philippines government to seek the ruling of arbitrational panel of the International Permanent court in order to create an impression globally that China is defying the panel. China refused to participate and accept this kind of arbitration because of lack of precedents like this in the world. No country has ever allowed a temporary arbitration panel to decide its territorial integrity in history. Nobody can expect China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to allow a temporarily formed arbitration panel, which has no legal authority and no jurisdiction over territory issues, to make a ruling on Chinas sovereignty issues. The US has been sending its gun boats and carriers into the South China Sea to enforce the so-called freedom of navigation in the South China Sea because it wants to blackmail China to accept the ruling. But to the surprise of the US and other countries involved in the South China Sea disputes, China refused to be blackmailed. Instead, China steadily built up its military capability in the South China Sea. Recently, Chinas Three Fleets, Air Force, and Space and Missile forces are carrying out a biggest military exercise of its kind in the South China Sea to demonstrate Chinas determination to defend its territorial integrity in the South China Sea. In face of China of military preparedness, the US has no choice but to retreat from its assertive position in the South China Sea. The reason is very simple. The US cannot afford to engage in a war with China in the South China Sea, on the Chinese territory. The US military has no confidence in winning the war with a fully prepared China. The US intention in sending carriers to the South China was to intimidate China into accepting the ruling of the Arbitration Panel. But when China responds to the US blackmail with steady military preparation to defend what it considers as its inalienable sovereign territory, the US military blackmail can only backfire. The US cannot afford to fight a war with China at this point. The US is faced with too much internal trouble. The US war effort in Afghanistan and Iraq devastated American finance. American people were very upset with their politicians trigger-happy foreign policy. American people do not want to waste their resources on foreign wars any more. They want their government to spend American peoples money to improve the infrastructure of their own countries, not on foreign wars. The South China Sea disputes have no direct connection with US. American people will not allow their politicians to fight with China for the Philippines or others to gain any territorial advantage over China. The result of this years primary election in the US has clearly demonstrated that the majority of American voters do not want any more foreign wars. They want their leaders to concentrate their energy on solving the urgent domestic issues, and no more foreign wars. The US military adventures in Afghanistan and Iraq, instead of accomplishing its political objectives, have failed miserably. The US military involvements in Syria and Libya have demonstrated to the whole world that American military involvement anywhere caused too much misery and trouble for our world. The social climate of our world does not support any more US military involvement in the South China Sea. The US could sustain the losses in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria. But it cannot afford to fight another war with China and lose it. The consequences of losing a war with China will be unimaginable for the US elite. If the US loses its war with China in the South China Sea, it will mean the end of US hegemony in the Asia Pacific and in the world. There will be no good come out of a war with China even if the US wins the war, but the consequences of its defeat will be unthinkable for the US. Therefore, there will be no war in the South China Sea. The author is a professor at Warren Wilson College, North Carolina, and a guest professor at Hebei University. The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and don't represent views of China Daily website. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi(right) meets with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Vientiane, capital of Laos, July 25, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] The South China Sea disputes, after so much fanfare, seem to be heading toward the right direction of peaceful settlement through bilateral negotiations. The latest development appears encouraging, with US Secretary of State John Kerry saying, during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday, that Washington "is not taking sides on the substance of maritime disputes" and supports Beijing and Manila resuming talks. Indeed, it is time for parties concerned to move away from the tensions and "turn the page", as Kerry reportedly said. Yet sincerity is subject to proof. The United States must take concrete actions to repair the damage it has caused and show it means what it says. The worry is understandable, for a joint statement issued by the foreign ministers of the US, Japan and Australia in Vientiane, Laos, on Monday, still harped on the same old string by pointing an accusing finger at China, trying to depict it as a troublemaker and a threat to countries in the region. It takes much effrontery and hypocrisy for the three countries to continue to play their self-appointed roles as guardians of peace in the South China Sea. Their trick of confusing right and wrong cannot cover up the fact that the regional bloc rejected the trio's proposal to even mention, in a statement after their foreign ministers' meeting, the award by The Hague arbitral tribunal in the case unilaterally initiated by the Philippines against China, let alone support it. It is noteworthy that it happened despite the trio pressing the issue with ASEAN members. Instead, ASEAN called for the nations directly involved in the sea disputes to engage in bilateral negotiations, which matches the China-ASEAN stance on how to peacefully resolve the disputes between the respective disputing parties. This is a resounding defeat for outside interventionism. And it makes the trio's statement seem like a desperate attempt to save face, after their miscalculation and overestimation of their ability to manipulate and pit ASEAN members against China, or one another. None of the three countries are claimants in the South China Sea disputes, nor are they directly involved in the disputes. Their eagerness to feign righteousness under the pretext of protection of freedom of overflight and navigation while stoking tensions in the South China Sea stems from their own selfish agenda to contain a rising China. But that ruse is no longer effective, as has been proved by the embarrassing situation the trio find themselves in at the ASEAN gathering. Chinese medical worker Yu Chunqing from Wuxi, Jiangsu province, checks a newborn baby in the China-funded hospital in Zanzibar, Tanzania. ZHOU XIAOXIONG/XINHUA The final touches are being made to a new hospital in Zanzibar with Chinese government investment of more than 100 million yuan ($15 million). The Abdulla Mzee Hospital in Pemba is due to open in September. The facility has been built on the site of a hospital that was also funded by the Chinese government in 1970. The new hospital has 160 beds, compared with 61 at the old one. Covering 8,000 square meters, it has an emergency building, office building and a building for patients. Zhao Xin, who heads a nine-member Chinese medical team working in Pemba, said that during the construction period the hospital had rented the warehouse of a clove trading company as its temporary base. "Conditions here are unbelievably harsh," Zhao said, adding that the old hospital did not have anesthesia equipment. In 1964, the Chinese government sent its first medical team to provide services in Zanzibar. Since then, China has sent 26 medical teams, all from Jiangsu province. The current team has been assembled from hospitals in Wuxi. Apart from Zhao's team, another 12 members are stationed at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital, the largest public hospital in Zanzibar. Zhao said the teams face frequent power failures. When these occur during operations, doctors have to use emergency lighting and pump oxygen manually. Despite the conditions, Chinese medical workers have been praised by local patients. Nurse Idrisa Salim said: "They are kind to the patients and they are extremely good. Local patients will come to this hospital especially for the Chinese doctors." Zhao said the Chinese medical teams have been sent not only to treat local patients, but also to help train a permanent medical team. Juma Malik Akil, principal secretary at the Zanzibar Ministry of Health, said, "The Chinese medical team not only helps to cure people, but also passes on experience and skills to local doctors." Since 2009, the Jiangsu government has donated 5.5 million yuan to set up five medical centers in Zanzibar. HANOI - The first session of the 14th National Assembly (NA) of Vietnam kicked off Wednesday in Vietnam's capital Hanoi, commencing a new parliament for 2016-2021 tenure. Speaking at the opening ceremony, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said this is the first session of the new parliament with "very important contents", drawing great attention of voters and people nationwide. During the session, the NA will elect the country's top leadership positions, including NA chairperson, state president, prime minister, among others. Also during the session, the NA will review, debate and give opinions on a report on socio-economic situation and the implementation of national budget in the first six months of 2016, as well as solutions to implement the socio-economic plan and national budget in the last six months of the year. Addressing the opening session, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong said the 14th NA was commenced in the context of complicated development in the region and the world, as well as numerous opportunities and challenges in the country. The party chief put forward proposals so as the new parliament can well fulfill its work, including finalization of legal system, improvement of NA's oversight activities, and enhancement of NA responsibilities in deciding country's major issues. During the final session of the 13th NA, Vietnamese parliament replaced top leadership positions of the country and the state leaders of the country will be re-elected during the first session of the 14th NA. On March 31, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan became the country's first NA chairwoman, while Tran Dai Quang was elected the new president on April 2, and Nguyen Xuan Phuc was elected the country's new prime minister on April 7. The first session of the 14th NA is scheduled to last till July 29. Meadow Hall, a department store in Central Sheffield is seen in this photo. China's Sichuan Guodong Construction Company is to invest over 1 billion pounds over the next 60 years in the northern English city of Sheffield, the biggest-ever Chinese investment into the UK outside London. [Photo/VCG] China's Sichuan Guodong Construction Company is to invest over 1 billion pounds over the next 60 years in the northern English city of Sheffield, the biggest-ever Chinese investment into the UK outside London. The news was announced on Thursday, during British chancellor Philip Hammond's visit to Chengdu, the sister city of Sheffield. The chancellor is attending the G20 finance ministers' meeting in Chengdu this week. The initial investment will be 220 million pounds over the next three years. Sheffield City Council said the exact projects that the investment will fund are yet to be determined, but Sky News reported that the project involve a major hotel development, student accommodations, retail and leisure space. Wang Chunming, Sichuan Guodong's chairman, has visited Sheffield a number of times and previously said it has "real growth potential". Wang's team has been in negotiation with Sheffield City Council about this deal for the past 18 months. "Sheffield really does stand out amongst all UK cities as an outstanding business investment. This agreement illustrates our confidence in Sheffield as a city going from strength to strength, with real growth potential. We are looking forward to being a part of this over the coming decades," Wang said in a statement issued by Sheffield City Council. The deal came amidst the UK's uncertain investment environment created by Brexit, and is being touted as an example to illustrate that China-UK business relations still hold strong. "At a time of unprecedented uncertainty and turmoil on the national political scene, we have taken the bull by the horns and led by example here in Sheffield. We have the skills and the connections to drive economic growth in our city," said Leigh Bramall, Deputy Leader of Sheffield City Council. Bramall said this deal will create hundreds, if not thousands, of additional jobs for the people of Sheffield. The investment comes from China, but the workforce on these projects will be British, Bramall said. Julie Dore, Leader of Sheffield City Council, said the 60-year commitment "secures a stream of investment into our city for the next generation, and means a whole range of projects become viable because of the long-term nature of the relationship," said Dore. The city of Sheffield is well known for its advanced manufacturing sector, and has already developed significant ties with China. The University of Sheffield is a popular institution for Chinese students studying in the UK, and it hosts a Confucius Institute, allowing British students to learn Mandrin. In addition, the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, led by the University of Sheffield and the University of Manchester, is in discussion with several Chinese nuclear companies to help them localize their nuclear technology in the UK. Sir Keith Burnett, Vice-Chancellor of University of Sheffield, said that the deal with Sichuan Guodong Construction Group demonstrates the city of Sheffield is consistently open to long term partnerships with China. "This announcement reflects important relationships built with Chinese graduates of our university, with local and Chinese companies and between our two nations," Burnett said. "I have seen for myself the warm welcome extended to China in this city, and that the desire to work together as partners in the interests of the citizens of both our nations is mutual and sincere. I congratulate all those in the UK and China who have worked so hard to make this possible," Burnett said. To contact the reporter: cecily.liu@mail.chinadailyuk.com One of Elizabeth IIs royal robes is prepared for the exhibition. [Photo/IC] To celebrate UK Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday, a special exhibition billed Fashioning a Reign: 90 Years of Style from The Queen's Wardrobe, will be staged at Her Majesty's three official residences from 23 July to 2 October 2016, including two outfits she wore during her historic state visit to China in October 1986. "The pink silk evening dress embroidered with sprays of Tree Peony blossoms, the national flower of China and a revered symbol in Chinese art and culture was worn for a State Banquet in Beijing," says the curator, Caroline de Guitaut at the Royal Collection, which manages the public openings of the official residences of The Queen. "The Queen was the first British reigning monarch to visit China on a state visit and it is a very key piece of her wardrobe on display here," she adds. Another piece which has strong connection to China is the purple ensemble designed by the late Hardy Amies, one of the leading couturiers who worked for the Queen. Her Majesty was famously photographed for wearing this ensemble when she visited the Great Wall of China, with The Duke of Edinburgh in 1986. The show, at Buckingham Palace, featuring over 80 dresses and 60 fashion accessories, examines how clothes and fashionable dresses support Her Majesty in various different roles as head of the state, head of arm forces, and head of commonwealth. It will present the fashions of ten decades, from the 1920s to the 2010s, showing the unique requirements of royal couture, from ceremonial and military attire to ensembles worn at family celebrations, such as weddings and christenings. Early childhood, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh's wedding, the Coronation, and wardrobes created for royal tours and State Visits will all be represented. It is the first time that both The Queen's wedding and Coronation dresses are on display together, illustrating the requirements of these two forms of royal outfit state and family. Dresses on display also include the one she wore for the Thames River Pageant, part of the celebrations marking The Queen's Diamond Jubilee in June 2012. Another very recognizable outfit is the one she wore when she appeared at the opening ceremony of London Olympic Games, as well as in a short film "Happy and Glorious" in which The Queen seemingly abandoned protocol to jump out of a helicopter and parachute with James Bond. To contact the reporter: wangmingjie@mail.chinadailyuk.com Hermann Simon, chairman of Simon-Kucher & Partners speaks at the China-Germany Small and Medium Enterprises Conference in Jieyang, Guangdong province in June. [Photo/Provided to China Daily] German analysts believe Chinese companies can adopt a better way of doing business with foreign investors from Germany, as directly working through a German government agency is not a very effective way to attract business. Hermann Simon, chairman of Simon-Kucher & Partners, a global consultancy firm based in Bonn, says Chinese companies apply their own perception of the Chinese way of doing business, whereas in Germany the government plays a very different role to that played by the authorities in the Chinese economy. "German government agencies have little to no influence regarding the investment decisions of private companies," according to Simon. In Germany, the government sets the framework within which the businesses operate but neither the federal government nor the state government has actual influence on business decisions, he says, adding "so I think from the Chinese side, going through the government agencies is not very effective and they should contact companies directly and talk to them." Simon recently visited China where he was invited to give a keynote speech at the second China-Germany Small and Medium Enterprises Conference in Jieyang, Guangdong province. The trip confirmed Simon's perception that the Chinese government is very like management, different from politicians in Germany who are more politicians than managers of industrial structures. His impression is that the authorities pay a lot of attention to efficiency and cost consciousness in China. The concept of cost-consciousness is well exhibited in the Chinese system. For instance, Simon noticed that most officials have no more government cars, and now with a very few exceptions the very top people have to use their own car for travel. "That cost consciousness, and the frugality are in the mind of the people and I think that is really meaningful," he adds. He says in Germany, government involvement is very limited, except for occasions when the companies need permission to build something, but as far as core business strategy and decision-making, companies do not need the government and the government doesn't really play a role. Simon believes that if the economy is in a state where a lot of infrastructure is needed, such as roads, highways, and railroads, then it is an advantage to have a strong government like in China. As far as business strategy, finding customers and dealing with suppliers is concerned, he says the western governments don't play an important role. But for certain industries such as infrastructure and defence technology, where the government is the buyer or has to determine what to build, it is of course different. Matthias Bauer, Senior Economist at European Centre for International Political Economy headquartered in Brussels holds similar opinion, saying government involvement in private sector business is low in Germany when compared to China. "With the exception of agricultural markets, private sector engagement in Germany is usually regulated in a business-friendly and, most important, competition-friendly way," Bauer adds. However, Christopher Bovis, professor of business law at the Business School of the University of Hull, is not convinced, saying what happens in Germany is not necessarily true in other part of Europe, such as the UK, Italy or France. The reason that German businesses do not need an agency or a government to attract investment is simply because Germany policy is to channel inward investments through the recipient of the investment itself, so the investee company would be the conduit to attract investment, Bovis argues. "The German economy is very conservative, not comparable with other European economies in relation to what we often refer as to openness inward investment. Germany is very conservative in allowing infrastructure investment to come to Germany, very nervous about investment into strategic sectors such as the automatic sector," he says. Whilst in the UK, Bovis says, it is more proactive as "agencies and dedicated government organisations go out to the world and have one objective, to sell the country's investment opportunities to strategic investors who can directly invest into the territory and the country." Compared with government involvement approach, the downside for direct talks between two companies is that there will be challenges to see the entire economic environment in the specific region or country, he adds. Bovis says that for example, currently there is a huge appetite in Europe for specific technology to extract gas from onshore fields. Without a clear picture about governmental medium to long term environmental planning and energy frameworks, it will be difficult for two companies or two sectors to come together to see if there is value or an enhancement of margins by having a more strategic provision of investments. His suggestion for Chinese companies that are eager to attract investors is to combine both approaches, raising their interests directly but also involving with government agencies that can provide extra assistance. To contact the reporter: wangmingjie@mail.chinadailyuk.com China's move to expand its domestic market will strengthen Africa's export sector, said an official with the African Union Commission (AUC). Erastus Mwencha, deputy chairman of the African Union Commission (AUC), said China's massive consumer market will increase demand for Africa's agricultural products, hence promoting the continents' industrialization ambitions. Speaking on the sidelines of the just-concluded Africa Union summit in Kigali, Rwanda, Mwencha said that commitments made by the two partners during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in December gave this bid the needed impetus. The economic slowdown in China will not derail these plans he said. "In the next two weeks there will be a FOCAC ministerial meeting to follow-up on the agreements made in Johannesburg, South Africa. I am confident that we will continue our partnership in the pursuit of industrialization, infrastructure development and poverty eradication," he said. Mwencha said the ongoing global economic slowdown and tumbling commodity prices will instead strengthen Sino-Africa cooperation. "This is the time for China to assist Africa to grow its innovation. I believe China is here to assist," he said. During the FOCAC summit, President Xi Jinping announced a $60 billion investment into development projects in Africa, which included $10 billion to the China-Africa Fund for production capacity cooperation. A 10-plan strategy also was proposed that included industrialization, agricultural modernization, infrastructure, financial services, green development, trade and investment facilitation, poverty reduction and public welfare, public health, people-to-people exchanges and security. Men transport an injured person at a hospital after a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan July 23, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] KABUL -- At least 61 people were killed and 207 others wounded after a deadly blast hit a protest in Afghan capital of Kabul on Saturday, a health official said. "The latest information found 61 people were killed and 207 wounded. As I provide these figures there is fear that the number of deaths and injuries may further go up because the casualties were shifted to multiple hospitals across the city," Dr. Ismahil Qawossi, a spokesman of Public Health Ministry, told Xinhua. The incident took place at around mid-day when thousands of people were holding a demonstration to register their protest over change in route of a major electricity line. The nature of the blast still remained unknown. However, unofficial sources said the explosion was conducted by a suicide bomber. They said another bomber was shot dead by security forces before he detonated his explosive jacket. The demonstration, held by the so-called "Enlightening Movement" protesters mainly from minority Hazaras, started on Saturday morning. Media reports said the Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack. The Taliban militants denied involvement in the deadly incident. Local media footage showed hundreds of Afghans who stand in long queues outside hospitals to donate blood for the victims. "Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is deeply grieved by the explosions among protestors today in Kabul. The President said that holding protests is the right of every citizen of Afghanistan and the government puts all efforts to provide security for the protestors, but terrorists entered the protests, and carried out explosions that martyred and wounded a number of citizens including members of security and defense forces," the Presidential Palace said in a statement. The president ordered all government authorities and entities to utilize the available resources to reach to those injured in the explosions, and urgently take the wounded to well-equipped hospitals for treatment, the statement said. The Afghan leader also offered his condolences and sympathies to the families and all those affected, said the statement. The Indian subcontinent was partitioned in 1947 into India and Pakistan on the basis of religion. Bangladesh was born 31 years later, in 1971, on the basis of nationalism, democracy and secularism. Democracy we lost first, in the mid-seventies and then in the early eighties, and are yet to recover fully. Secularism, which was on a gradual decline, now faces its most severe threat. As a freedom fighter I remember, as I we sat glued to a one-band radio, on the evening of December 16th 1971, along with others in a guerrilla camp, listening to the surrender ceremony of the Pakistani army to the joint command in Dhaka and shouting aJoy Banglaa (Victory to Bangla), I was certain that my new country would be a place of prosperity, freedom and religious harmony. Never again would a Muslim or a Hindu lose his or her life for religion. On the night of July 1st, as most inhabitants of Dhaka stayed up all night watching the hostage tragedy on television unfold and hoping that the end would not be as tragic and gruesome as we were beginning to fear, I could not recognize the country to whose birth I, with millions of others, had contributed. Bangladesh-the people, government, civil society, intelligentsia, media, etc.-is still reeling from the events of 1st July that saw the killing of 20 people; 17 foreigners and three Bangladeshis. Another two police personnel died while trying to fight the terrorists in the first rescue attempt. It was not only the act of cold blooded murder but its bestial nature and the age of the perpetrators-between 20 and 28 years- that has brought forth many questions as to where the country has come in terms of values and beliefs in its post- independence period. As a people, we firmly believed that our culture and history, especially the syncretic Islam that we practice here, and our religiosity that blended our diversity and devotion to produce a living culture of tolerance and openness, was enough to protect us from the extremism that seems to afflict so many other countries where Islam is the dominant religion. We proved to be so thoroughly and tragically wrong. Our government made the cardinal mistake of being in denial from the start, thinking that any admission, either of the seriousness of the initial killing of bloggers, atheists and LGBT activists, or of any outside link will provide an excuse for the international community to term us as terrorist or a terror prone country with all its paraphernalia of negative aadvisoriesa and other possible restrictions. This led to the initial downplaying of the gruesome murders of writers, publishers and afree thinkersa as aisolated incidents aand not taking timely steps to galvanize serious and effective preventive measures that could have prepared us better to handle the situation that we unfortunately did on July 1st. The ever vigilant Bengali intellectuals, known for their anti-colonial and anti-imperialistic struggles and for being the first to raise their voice against all forms of oppression and for their uncompromising stance against extremism and for secularism, appear to have totally failed to grasp what was happening around them. Instead of making a robust call for waking up to the fundamentalist threat they made the fatal error of allowing themselves to be sucked into partisan politics and rather than being the voice of freedom and democracy that they traditionally were they became a tool of the two dominant political parties who, for their own narrow ends, flirted with the fundamentalist forces whenever it suited them. Civil society, especially the grassroots based non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which were spread throughout different corners of the country, appear also to have failed to grasp the spread of extremism. For ordinarily they should have been among the first to sense what was happening on the ground in the remote areas. Here again, the government, in its deep suspicion of the role of the NGOs and mainly considering them to be peddling a donor-driven agenda, probably ignored whatever warning they might have given. Media must also accept its share of the blame for not going deep enough with investigative reports to challenge the governmentas narrative that these were aisolateda incidents, and that everything was under control with the prime minister repeating for years her policy of azero tolerancea of extremism; all the while it grew under the very feet of the administration. A few who tried to project a different story were branded as trying to damage the image of the country and for working for interests inimical to that of the country. The challenge now before all of us is to determine how deep and wide the spread of extremist ideologies is and how entrenched is the threat. The first question to face is where is all this extremism coming from? So far the culprit was thought to be the Madrassas, the religious schools, which have generally been considered to be the breeding ground of fundamentalist ideals. But the killings at Holey Artisan Bakery showed that only one of the five kids that carried out the massacre came from a Madrassa. These kids came from middle and upper middle class, studied at expensive English medium schools and private universities, one had even studied abroad. They were boisterous kids donning T-shirts and jeans, frequenting hangouts like youngsters of that age do everywhere in the world. So what had gone wrong with these kids and at what point in their lives? There is no denying the fact that the overall impact of religion in general has significantly risen in the country. More women are seen in religious clothing and men sporting beards. Friday prayers are far more widely participated in than ever before. Religion, no doubt, is in the air. There is of course no correlation between rising religiosity and extremism but it is also true that there has been an overall corrosion of secular principles in Bangladesh. It is a fact that when bloggers, atheists, so-called afree thinkersa and LGBT activists were being murdered one after another there was a silent murmur that since they criticized religion and professed not to believe in any they somehow deserved to be apunisheda. So where do we go from here? We are still to gauge the full impact of terrorism on our lives. But the anormala is no longer so. Personal lives are restrained, social lives significantly narrowed and public gatherings are few and far between. Shopping malls and restaurants are almost empty and roadside shopping is down. Factories are running and our major export, the readymade garment sector, is still holding in terms of order. However, most buyers are refusing to come to Bangladesh. Many countries and foreign businesses are considering declaring Bangladesh as a non-family post, with some having already done so. Some big international conferences-many business related ones- are being shifted away from Dhaka. The good news is that our government appears to have moved away from the denial mode and by the large-scale anti-militancy operation that we are seeing it appears we have taken the threat seriously. However, so far the moves have been by the police and other law enforcers. Those familiar with religion based extremist movements say that these are not mere law and order problems that can be solved simply by use of force. The challenge here is to awin the hearts and mindsa for which there must be motivational campaigns alongside the use of force. Bangladesh has a long history of resilience and of beating the odds. From a country of disasters we became a country of achievers, almost always proving our skeptics wrong. It is my deeply held belief that in fighting back extremism we can prove to be equally successful. The balance between religion and culture in our society, our unique blend of Islamic heritage and Bengali heritage, our fundamental nature of tolerance, our thousand year tradition of openness and acceptance of the aothera, our rich heritage of political struggle have prepared us well to resist a fundamentalist and extremist upheaval. It is what makes us unique as Bangladeshis that will, in the end, help us win in this battle against extremism. The writer is Editor and Publisher, The Daily Star, Bangladesh. YANGON -- The US embassy in Yangon, the largest city of Myanmar, conducted a safety drill on Sunday night, during which a fire alarm has been triggered, according to local sources. The embassy used a tear gas grenade during the drill, which triggered the embassy's fire alarm system and alarm systems in the surrounding area, at over 8 pm local time (1330 GMT). It has been earlier believed that an explosion has taken place, the sources said. The embassy apologized for not informing the police in advance. A press conference will be held on Monday morning. A protester, and supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders march in opposition to Hillary Clinton ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 24, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] PHILADELPHIA -- Thousands of demonstrators are taking to Philadelphia's sweltering streets Sunday, cheering, chanting and beating drums in the first major protests ahead of the Democratic National Convention, as the city wilts during a heat wave. Throngs of Bernie Sanders supporters marched down a main thoroughfare to show their support of him and disdain for Hillary Clinton ahead of the convention. Chanting "Hell No, DNC, we won't vote for Hillary" and "This is what democracy looks like," the marchers headed from City Hall down Broad Street, the main north-south artery that leads from the city center to the convention site about 4 miles away. Many carried Sanders signs, and a huge Bernie Sanders puppet was also a part of the festivities. Police officers rode bicycles along each side of the march and the thousands of protesters cooled off in city fire hydrants that were opened along the road. The heat wave that descended on the city was showing no mercy, with temperatures reaching the high 90s and the city under an "excessive heat" warning by the National Weather Service. It's expected to peak Monday, the convention's first day, with temperatures possibly hitting 100 degrees. Earlier Sunday, thousands of clean energy activists jammed a downtown street in their mile-long march from City Hall to Independence Mall, near the Liberty Bell. They held anti-fracking and anti-pipeline signs, some with illustrations like a train surrounded by a fireball and the words "No Exploding Trains." Others held "Bernie or Bust" signs. Sam Miller, 82, traveled from Erie, Pennsylvania, to join the march that stretched several blocks and across a wide street as temperatures in the city soared into the mid-90s. He said he was inspired because "fracking is invading Mother Earth." Like in Cleveland, police were using bicycles as barricades along the streets, and volunteers were handing out water to marchers. Shoppers came out of stores to watch the march like a parade. Chants of "Bernie! Bernie!" were met by counter echoes of "Hillary! Hillary!" Crowds braving the weather could take advantage of "misting tents" and free water, compliments of the city. Mayor Jim Kenney warned people to limit time outdoors and said demonstrations would be put on hold in the event of thunderstorms. Some of the largest protests and demonstrations start about 4 miles north of the arena where the convention is being held. In Cleveland last week, most protests during the Republican National Convention were concentrated in a tight, 1.7-square mile zone downtown. A heavy police presence and fewer than expected protesters helped keep the calm. There were only about two dozen arrests and no significant injuries. Philadelphia's protests come as Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned under pressure as Democratic Party chairwoman, a stunning leadership shakeup as party officials gather in Philadelphia to nominate Clinton. Wasserman Schultz's announcement Sunday follows a firestorm over hacked emails suggesting the Democratic National Committee favored Clinton during the primary, despite pledging neutrality. The leaked emails prompted primary runner-up Sanders to call for Wasserman Schultz's immediate resignation. More than 5,000 delegates are among the 50,000 people set to attend the gathering at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia, which is expected to culminate with Clinton being named the party's official nominee for president. The former secretary of state and first lady has named Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia as her running mate. China's most wanted economic fugitive, Yang Xiuzhu, has reportedly given up her application for political asylum in the United States, and wants to return to China as soon as possible. Yang, being held at the Houston Immigration Detention Center in Texas, said she hoped to return to China to get access to better medical treatment, according to a recent report by World Journal, a Chinese-language newspaper in the United States. "She calls me repeatedly these days, asking when she can go back," Yang's lawyer, Ke Ziming (Vlad Kuzmin), told World Journal. Ke (Kuzmin) said Yang's legal team has submitted paperwork to terminate her application for political asylum filed with the federal immigration court and is waiting for a reply, which normally takes one to four weeks to process. She is expected to return to China as early as August, the report said. Yang, 70, was former deputy head of the construction bureau in Zhejiang province and the head of the provincial office of urbanization before she fled China about 13 years ago. She had also been vice-mayor of Wenzhou, in the same province, from 1995 to 1998. Yang tops the list of 100 Chinese fugitives who are suspected of economic crimes and subject to an Interpol red notice. She fled to the US in April 2003 when evidence of corrupt conduct was uncovered after her brother Yang Guangrong was arrested by the procuratorate in Zhejiang in March 2003 on charges of accepting bribes from local real estate developers. She was accused of taking bribes worth more than 250 million yuan ($37.4 million). Of that, 42.4 million yuan has been recovered, authorities said. Her brother was sentenced to 16-and-a-half years in prison in November 2004 for accepting 180,000 yuan in bribes. According to Ke, Yang feels that she has not been getting proper treatment in the current detention facility, which she was transferred to in July from a detention facility in Hudson, New Jersey, which rejected her request for medical parole. Yang was arrested in the Netherlands in 2005 but escaped detention in May 2014 after being rejected for political asylum. She fled to Canada and then entered the US, which has no extradition treaty with China. Former officials like Yang have been in the crosshairs of the Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection as the nationwide anti-corruption campaign has picked up steam recently, especially after it expanded overseas last year with its Sky Net operation, aimed at catching corrupt Party members who have absconded with stolen wealth. A third of the suspects on the list have returned to China, either by force or on their volition, according to the top anti-graft agency. Zhang Yi and Nancy Kong contributed to this story. Supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders march in Philadelphia on Sunday, the day before the start of the Democratic National Convention in the city. The chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee resigned on Sunday amid the fallout of leaked emails that appeared to show the DNC supported the party's presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton over Sanders, which sparked another protest. Alex Brandon / Ap The Democratic Party chairwoman resigned on Sunday amid a furor over leaked e-mails, hoping to head off a rebellion by Bernie Sanders supporters, who marched in the thousands on the eve of the convention in Philadelphia that will nominate Hillary Clinton for president. Bitterness from a heated campaign erupted after more than 19,000 Democratic National Committee e-mails, leaked on Friday by wikileaks.org, bolstered Sanders' charge that the party played favorites. In a statement, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said her stepping down was the best way for the party to accomplish its goal of electing Clinton. Sanders had demanded that Wasserman Schultz resign. DNC Vice-Chairwoman Donna Brazile will serve as interim chairwoman through the election. The controversy was a blow to a party keen on projecting stability as it prepares to face Republican candidate Donald Trump, who was nominated in Cleveland last week. The four-day Democratic convention will open on Monday at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia. The New York Times reported that former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg will endorse Clinton, 68, a former secretary of state, in a prime-time speech on Monday. Sanders said Wasserman Schultz, a member of Congress from Florida, said her leaving was the right decision. "The party leadership must also always remain impartial in the presidential nominating process, something which did not occur in the 2016 race," he said. Among the leaked e-mails was talk of exploiting whether Sanders, who is Jewish, was an atheist. Brad Marshall, the DNC's chief financial officer, apologized on Facebook on July 23 for an e-mail in which he discussed how some voters in primaries in Kentucky and West Virginia would reject an atheist. "He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage," Marshall wrote in a May 5 e-mail to three top DNC officials. No names were mentioned, but Sanders was the only Jewish candidate. "I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist." The Clinton camp questioned whether Russians may have had a hand in the e-mail hacking to help Trump, who has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin. "What's disturbing to us is that experts are telling us that Russian state actors broke into the DNC, stole these emails and other experts are now saying that Russians are releasing these emails for the purpose of helping Donald Trump," Clinton campaign chairman Robby Mook said on CNN. Sanders, an independent US senator from Vermont who ran for president as a Democrat, galvanized young and liberal voters with his calls to rein in Wall Street and eradicate income inequality. "I'm not shocked, but I'm disappointed," Sanders said of the e-mails earlier on Sunday on ABC's "This Week." Many Sanders supporters were already dismayed by Clinton's choice on July 22 of low-key US Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia as her running mate. Kaine, who could appeal to independents and moderates, has never been aligned with party liberals. Sanders, who has endorsed Clinton and will speak on her behalf to the convention on Monday, said he would have preferred US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts as the vice-presidential candidate. "Tim is a very, very smart guy. He is a very nice guy," Sanders said on NBC's "Meet the Press". He is more conservative than I am. Would I have preferred to see somebody like an Elizabeth Warren selected by Secretary Clinton? Yes, I would have." About four miles from the arena, demonstrators took to the streets on Sunday, cheering, chanting and beating drums in the first major protests before the convention, as the city coped with a heat wave. Chanting "Hell No, DNC, we won't vote for Hillary" and "This is what democracy looks like", the marchers headed from City Hall down Broad Street, the main north-south artery that leads from the city center to the convention site. "It (the e-mail leak) just validated everything we thought, everything we believed to be true, that this was completely rigged right from the beginning, and that you know it was really about what they were doing everything to set it up so she would win," Sanders supporter Gwen Sperling said. "Everyone kind of knew (the Democratic Party was against Bernie Sanders), but that doesn't mean it will change now that it's proven. It's just more of the same," said Darcy Samek, 54, of Minneapolis. Earlier Sunday, thousands of clean energy activists jammed a downtown street in their mile-long march from City Hall to Independence Hall. They held anti-fracking and anti-pipeline signs. The Daily Telegraph website published an article by Liu Xiaoming, Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom. Here is the full text. The so-called award made by the South China Sea arbitral tribunal attracted wide attention. Media coverage here in the UK generally shared the same logic: this ruling represents the international law and Chinas non-acceptance of this ruling is in violation of international law. But is this true? It is common sense that a legitimate arbitration needs to meet certain conditions. First, the tribunal shall have jurisdiction over the subject matter. Second, the arbitrators shall be impartial and authoritative. Third, the procedure must be reasonable. Fourth, the ruling on the substantive issues should help resolve disputes. Does the South China Sea arbitration meet any of these conditions? The answer is no. First and foremost, the tribunal does not have jurisdiction. The subject matter of the arbitration initiated by the Philippines, and the real intention behind it, is in essence related to territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation. Issues of territorial sovereignty are clearly beyond the scope of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and issues of maritime delimitation have been excluded by the declaration that China made years ago in accordance with UNCLOS. The arbitral tribunal in fact expanded its power into areas outside of its jurisdiction. Second, the composition of the tribunal an ad hoc body having nothing to do with the International Court of Justice is questionable. None of the five arbitrators is from Asia or has much knowledge of Asian history and culture. Most inconceivable in the arbitration process was that two arbitrators totally abandoned the opinions that they used to hold. This only increases doubts about the impartiality, representativeness and the authoritativeness of the tribunal. Third, the procedure of the arbitration went against normal practice. According to the dispute settlement system of the Convention, bilateral channels between state parties comes before arbitration. However, disregarding prior bilateral agreements between China and the Philippines to resolve the disputes through negotiations and consultations, the tribunal forced ahead with the arbitration proceedings. Such procedure is utterly unreasonable and it contravenes the general practice of international arbitration under the Convention. Fourth is the ultimate effect of the ruling. The UNCLOS dispute settlement is designed to resolve problems and disputes in a just way. But the tribunals ruling is anything but. "Theres no free lunch". This sums up the actions of the tribunal, paid with Philippine money. To cater to the Philippines claim, the tribunal shrank the Taiping Island into a rock and was denounced by all Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. To save the Philippines from breaching its own commitment to bilateral negotiations, the tribunal belittled and nullified the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) reached between China and ASEAN countries. To deny Chinas legitimate rights and interests, the tribunal turned a blind eye to Chinas sovereign rights, which are inherited from past generations and are protected by the UN Charter. Such a recklessly partial tribunal creates more problems than it solves, and intensifies rather than solves disputes. No wonder a former FCO legal advisor Chris Whomersley believes that the tribunal is potentially destabilising the overall stability of international relations. Anyone who is fair-minded will have by now come to a conclusion: a temporary body with insufficient representation went beyond its jurisdiction and violated the reasonable procedures to successfully intensify disputes rather than solve problems. The impressive-looking arbitration is in essence a political farce under the cloak of law. Pretty words about protecting the law cannot gloss over the illegal essence and practice of the tribunal. Throughout this farce, the law has been a victim of politics. If such a farce were regarded as international law, and if international disputes were to be "settled" in this way, the authority of international law and the peace between nations would be compromised. By not accepting or recognising the ruling, China is not violating but upholding the authority and dignity of international law. History has told us mortal beings time and again that solutions to disputes will come only when countries concerned sit down face to face for equal and friendly consultation. It is Chinas consistent position to resolve issues of territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation through peaceful negotiations. We welcome the new Philippine governments recent statement about its willingness to re-open consultation and dialogue with China on the South China Sea issue. We hope this positive gesture will be followed by real actions and that the Philippines will return to the track of negotiation at an early date, work with China to properly manage differences and jointly maintain the peace and stability of the South China Sea. Police secure the area after an explosion in Ansbach, near Nuremberg, Germany July 25, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] BERLIN - A 27-year-old Syrian who blew himself up outside a crowded music festival on Sunday was facing deportation to Bulgaria, a German interior ministry spokesman said on Monday. "Syrians cannot at the moment be deported to Syria at the moment, but that doesn't mean that Syrians overall cannot be deported," Tobias Plate told a regular government news conference. "The Syrian in Ansbach was facing deportation and this was to Bulgaria," he said. A government spokeswoman told the same news conference that it was too early to decide on changes to Germany's refugee policy before the results of the investigation into the attack were published. "The acts of the last days and weeks do not show a uniform picture," said Ulrike Demmer. "Most terrorists who carried out attacks in Europe over the last months were not refugees." Police secure the area after an explosion in Ansbach, near Nuremberg, Germany July 25, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] ANSBACH, Germany - The Syrian who blew himself up in southern Germany, wounding 15 people, had pledged allegiance to Islamic State on a video found on his mobile phone, the Bavarian interior minister said on Monday. "A provisional translation by an interpreter shows that he expressly announces, in the name of Allah, and testifying his allegiance to (Islamic State leader) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ... an act of revenge against the Germans because they're getting in the way of Islam," Joachim Herrmann told a news conference. "I think that after this video there's no doubt that the attack was a terrorist attack with an Islamist background." Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, according to Amaq, a news agency that supports Islamic State. The attack, outside a music festival in Ansbach, a town of 40,000 people southwest of Nuremberg that has a U.S. Army base, was the fourth act of violence by men of Middle Eastern or Asian origin against German civilians in a week. The 27-year-old arrived in Germany two years ago and claimed asylum, a federal interior ministry spokesman said. He had been in trouble with police repeatedly for drug-taking and other offences and faced deportation to Bulgaria. The incident, after three other attacks since July 18 that left 10 people dead and dozens injured, will fuel growing public unease about Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy. More than a million migrants entered Germany over the past year, many fleeing war in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said no decision would be made on changing asylum or immigration rules until investigations into the recent incidents are finished. "Of course I would and will initiate appropriate amendments if they are necessary or if I think they are necessary, but only then," he said. Germany's federal and state security authorities have more than 400 leads on fighters or members of Islamist organisations among refugees in the country, the BKA federal police said. THREE OTHER CASES The suicide bomber had been denied entry to the Ansbach Open music festival shortly before detonating the bomb outside a restaurant, Herrmann said. More than 2,000 people were evacuated from the festival after the explosion, police said. Herrmann told Reuters the recent attacks raised serious questions about Germany's asylum law and security nationwide. He planned to introduce measures at a meeting of Bavaria's conservative government on Tuesday to strengthen police forces, in part by ensuring they have adequate equipment. It was the second violent incident in Germany on Sunday and the fourth in the past week, including the killing of nine people by a deranged 18-year-old Iranian-German gunman in the Bavarian capital Munich on Friday. Earlier on Sunday, a 21-year-old Syrian refugee was arrested after killing a pregnant woman and wounding two people with a machete in the southwestern city of Reutlingen, near Stuttgart. A week ago a 17-year-old youth who had sought asylum in Germany was shot dead by police after wounding five people with an axe near Wuerzburg, also in Bavaria. He was initially thought to be Afghan but federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has since said he may have been from Pakistan. Police said neither Sunday's machete attack nor Friday's shooting in Munich bore any sign of connections with Islamic State or other militant groups. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Wuerzburg attack as well as the July 14 rampage in the French Riviera city of Nice in which a Tunisian man drove a truck into Bastille Day crowds, killing 84 people. On July 26, the Republic of Maldives will celebrate the 51st anniversary of its independence. Fifty-one years ago, President Ibrahim Nasir signed a historic agreement with the British government, securing full independence for the Maldives after years as a British protectorate. Since its independence, the Maldives has been transformed into one of the most dynamic economies in South Asia, driven by its tourism industry. In the early 1980s, with a population of 156,000, the Maldives was one of the 20 poorest countries in the world. Today, the countrys population is over 350,000; it is a middle-income country with a per capita income of more than $6,300. The Maldives also has some of the best social indicators in the region and is one of the highest ranked in terms of human development in South Asia. Under Abdulla Yameen, who assumed the presidency in 2013, the Maldives has embarked on a historic and ambitious project of economic transformation and nation-building. The transformation will be driven by young people, enterprising businesses and facilitative government policies. The aim is to diversify the countrys economy, harness the potential of the Maldives strategic location and make it an economic giant of the Indian Ocean. The ultimate goal is to double the nations per capita income and lift up the hundreds of thousands who call the island nation home. The government has instituted liberal investment policies, including a Special Economic Zones Act to attract foreign companies. As the president noted during his Golden Jubilee address to the nation in 2015, economic prosperity is a prerequisite for the people to reap the fruits of independence. Social harmony, peace, and prosperity cannot be achieved without economic self-determination and improved standards of living, he said. Maldives Ambassador to China, Mohamed Faisal The Maldives has maintained exceptional relations with the global community. Foreign policy respects the laws and traditions of neighbors and friends, as well as their territorial integrity and sovereign rights. The country is also creating friendly and mutually beneficial ties with every country that respects independence and sovereignty. In 1972, seven years after its independence, Maldives signed an agreement with China establishing diplomatic relations, a relationship that has grown dramatically. Today, China is one of the Maldives closest development partners, and the special relationship has been enhanced by commercial and trade links. The China-Maldives Friendship Bridge project and the Airport Expansion Project, two of the largest infrastructure projects the country has ever started, are being financially assisted by China. Maldivians hold the values of independence and freedom as the essence of identity. They look to harness youthful energy and the wisdom of elders and take lessons from previous generations to reach a new level of development. Maldives Ambassador to China, Mohamed Faisal, contributes to the story. The dress worn by Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to the Great Wall in 1986, is on display during a special exhibition at Buckingham Palace to celebrate her 90th birthday. Wang Mingjie / China Daily To celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday, a special exhibition of the British monarch's wardrobe is on display through Oct 2 at Buckingham Palace. The exhibition, Fashioning a Reign: 90 Years of Style From The Queen's Wardrobe, includes two outfits that the queen wore during her historic state visit to China in October 1986. Exhibitions also are scheduled for her two other official residences. "The pink silk evening dress embroidered with sprays of tree peony blossoms, the national flower of China and a revered symbol in Chinese art and culture, was worn for a state banquet in Beijing," said Caroline de Guitaut, curator of the Royal Collection, which manages public events at the queen's official residences. "The queen was the first British reigning monarch to visit China on a state visit, and it is a very key piece of her wardrobe on display here," she said. Another piece that has a strong connection to China is the purple ensemble designed by the late Hardy Amies, a leading couturier who worked for the queen. Queen Elizabeth II visits the Great Wall with Prince Philip in October 1986. Provided To China Daily The queen was photographed wearing this ensemble when she visited the Great Wall of China with Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, in 1986. The show at Buckingham Palace, featuring more than 80 dresses and 60 fashion accessories, examines how clothes and fashionable dresses have supported the queen in various roles as head of the state, head of the armed forces and head of the Commonwealth. It presents the fashions of 10 decades, from the 1920s to the present, showing the unique requirements of royal couture. The Buckingham Palace exhibition, which opened on Saturday, includes ceremonial attire as well as outfits worn at family celebrations, such as weddings and christenings. Wardrobes from the queen's early childhood, her wedding to the Duke of Edinburgh and her coronation, as well as outfits created for royal tours and state visits, also are represented. Also on display is the dress she wore for the Thames River Pageant, part of the celebrations marking the queen's Diamond Jubilee in June 2012.Another very recognizable outfit is the one she wore when she appeared at the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games in 2012. wangmingjie@mail.chinadailyuk.com A Los Angeles City Fire Department helicopter flies over one of two wildfires in the Angeles National Forest above Azusa, California, US June 20, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] ACTON, Calif. - A deadly California wildfire that has destroyed more than a dozen homes drove thousands more residents from their dwellings on Monday as flames raged for a fourth day through drought-parched canyons and foothills north of Los Angeles. About 300 miles (480 km) to the north, another fire ravaged a hilly area near the scenic coastal city of Carmel-by-the-Sea, churning through 15,000 acres (6,070 hectares) and destroying 20 homes and two outbuildings, authorities said. The so-called Soberanes Fire, burning in the Los Padres National Forest in Monterey County, threatened 1,650 structures by Monday afternoon and was only 5 percent contained, the US Forest Service said. Near Los Angeles, a beefed-up force of nearly 3,000 firefighters battled to outflank the blaze there, which has charred at least 50 square miles (130 square km) on the rugged northwestern fringes of the Angeles National Forest, authorities said. The so-called Sand Fire, which erupted on Friday, remained just 10 percent contained on Monday morning, as crews backed by bulldozers labored to hack buffer lines around the blaze's perimeter. Fed by dense brush left desiccated during five years of drought, flames were initially stoked by triple-digit heat and extremely low humidity. Slightly cooler, moister weather and diminished winds were expected to assist firefighters on Monday. Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan (L) shakes hands with main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu (C) as they are flanked by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim (partly seen in the background) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli (R) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, July 25, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] ANKARA -- Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Monday that the process to make the new constitution has started, local media Daily Sabah reported. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have reached a consensus on the making of a new constitution, Yildirim said at the press conference after the cabinet meeting. "We have agreed to make minor changes in the current constitution, and the process to make a whole new constitution has started," the prime minister added. "We will work together to prepare the infrastructure for this (system)," Yildirim said. On bigger changes to come, he said "We have decided to continue the unfinished process to make a new constitution." Yildirim noted the gendarmerie and coast guard, which were previously under the command of the Turkish armed forces, would be fully tied to the interior ministry. He also announced that the Bosphorus Bridge, connecting the European and Asian sides of Istanbul, would be renamed as "The July 15 Martyrs' Bridge" in honor of civilians who died resisting the July 15 coup attempt. Two monuments to the civilians killed during the failed coup will also be built in Ankara and Istanbul. Separately, in an interview with German broadcaster ARD, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish people want the death penalty reintroduced, and the government must listen to what the people say. Erdogan said Turkey would keep its promises in a migrant deal with the European Union (EU), but arguing that the EU had failed to provide Turkey with sufficient aid. Meanwhile, Turkey's parliament decided to establish a commission to investigate the coup attempt, Anadolu Agency reported on Monday. The commission would be authorized to question suspects in jail or outside like prosecutors, even during the ongoing judicial process, but would have no right to impose punishment. The failed coup attempt on July 15 left at least 290 people, including more than 100 "coup plotters," killed, authorities said. WASHINGTON - US Democrats were in turmoil on Sunday, with their party chair abruptly announcing her resignation on the eve of the national convention to officially nominate Hillary Clinton as its presidential candidate. US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gestures as she speaks at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, US July 25, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced Sunday that she would resign at the end of the party convention, amid furor over embarrassing leaked emails showing the DNC's bias against presidential contender Bernie Sanders."The best way for me to accomplish those goals (of this election cycle) is to step down as party chair at the end of this convention. As party chair, this week I will open and close the convention and I will address our delegates about the stakes involved in this election not only for Democrats, but for all Americans," Schultz wrote in a statement."We have planned a great and unified convention this week and I hope and expect that the DNC team that has worked so hard to get us to this point will have the strong support of all Democrats in making sure this is the best convention we have ever had," she said.Donna Brazile, the DNC's vice chairwoman, will step in as interim chairwoman, DNC communications director Luis Miranda tweeted. Brazile previously ran Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign and is a regular on cable news.Schultz's announcement came after the release of nearly 20,000 emails by WikiLeaks on Friday, which showed members of the DNC trading ideas for how to undercut the campaign of Sanders, who proved a resilient adversary to Clinton in the Democratic primaries.The emails detailed the acrimonious split between the DNC and Sanders.Sanders' supporters said the emails show the Democratic Party rigged its nomination process for Clinton by undermining the challenger's campaign.In one email, a staffer suggested the DNC spread a negative article about Sanders' supporters; in another, the DNC's chief financial officer suggested that questions about Sanders' faith could undermine his candidacy."I think I read he is an atheist," the staffer wrote. "This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist."H WikiLeaks said the new cache of emails came from the accounts of seven key figures in the DNC and warned that the release is "part one of our new Hillary Leaks series" -- an indication that more material might become known soon.The leaked emails include thousands from the Democratic Party's communication director and more than 3,700 emails from its national finance director.Sanders, who has repeatedly called on Schultz to step down, reiterated his call in an interview with CNN on Sunday, saying he believed that the DNC was supporting Clinton and "at opposition to our campaign all along.""I don't think she is qualified to be the chair of the DNC, not only for these awful emails, which revealed the prejudice of the DNC, but also because we need a party that reaches out to working people and young people, and I don't think her leadership style is doing that," Sanders said on the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia."I am not an atheist," he said. "But aside from all of that, it is an outrage and sad that you would have people in important positions in the DNC trying to undermine my campaign. It goes without saying: The function of the DNC is to represent all of the candidates -- to be fair and even-minded."Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump responded to the incident in a tweet: "Crooked Hillary Clinton was not at all loyal to the person in her rigged system that pushed her over the top, DWS. Too bad Bernie flamed out," using Debbie Wasserman Schultz's initials.The four-day Democratic National Convention will kick off on Monday in Philadelphia, where Clinton is expected to be officially announced as the party's nominee and Sanders will also make a speech calling for the party's unity. An area is secured after an explosion in Ansbach, near Nuremberg, Germany July 25, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] ANSBACH - The Syrian who blew himself up in southern Germany, wounding 15 people, had pledged allegiance to Islamic State on a video found on his mobile phone, the Bavarian Interior Minister said on Monday. On searching the bomber's room, Nuremberg police found diesel, hydrochloric acid, alcohol, batteries, paint thinner and pebbles - the same materials used in the bomb - and computer images and film clips linked to the militant group, they said. "A provisional translation by an interpreter shows that he expressly announces, in the name of Allah, and testifying his allegiance to (Islamic State leader) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ... an act of revenge against the Germans because they're getting in the way of Islam," Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told a news conference. "I think that after this video there's no doubt that the attack was a terrorist attack with an Islamist background." Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing, according to Amaq, a news agency that supports Islamic State. Nuremberg police chief Roman Fertinger said the influence of Islamic State could be seen on the bomber's computer. "There was also a laptop that showed pictures and film sequences that glorify violence and are unequivocally linked to Islamic State," he told a news conference. The attack on Sunday, outside a music festival in Ansbach, a town of 40,000 people southwest of Nuremberg that has a US Army base, was the fourth act of violence by men of Middle Eastern or Asian origin against German civilians in a week. The 27-year-old arrived in Germany two years ago and claimed asylum, a federal interior ministry spokesman said. He had been in trouble with police repeatedly for drug-taking and other offences and had faced deportation to Bulgaria. Fertinger added that police had arrested a suspect who knew the bomber. They were trying to find out if the attacker had help making the bomb and whether it exploded prematurely, which could suggest he wanted to kill as many people as possible. The incident, after three other attacks since July 18 that left 10 people dead and dozens injured, will fuel growing public unease about Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy. More than a million migrants entered Germany over the past year, many fleeing war in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said no decision would be made on changing asylum or immigration rules until investigations into the recent incidents are finished. "Of course I would and will initiate appropriate amendments if they are necessary or if I think they are necessary, but only then," he said. Germany's federal and state security authorities have more than 400 leads on fighters or members of Islamist organisations among refugees in the country, the BKA federal police said. Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi (R) shakes hands with US National Security Advisor Susan Rice in Beijing, July 25, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] State Councilor Yang Jiechi said he hopes that China and the US could make efforts to expand cooperation in various fields and manage and control their differences in a constructive way. He made the comment when meeting with visiting US National Security Advisor Susan Rice in Beijing on Monday. Yang said, as one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world, the China-US ties have made progress in terms of practical cooperation in various fields, but it also faces a lot of challenges. "To maintain the stable development of China-US bilateral ties is in line with the interests of both sides and this requires concerted efforts from both countries," he told Rice, who is visiting China from Sunday to Wednesday. Yang said that he hoped China and the US could stick to the principles of no conflicts, no confrontation, mutual respects and cooperation for win-win results, and focus on their common interests to expand cooperation. He also noted that both sides should manage and control differences in a constructive way in order to push forward the consistent and stable development of bilateral ties. During the meeting, Yang emphasized Beijing's firm opposition on the arbitration case, saying that China will continue to steadfastly safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea. China strongly urges the US to seriously treat China's concern and not to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in South Korea, he said. The uncoupling of China's economic growth from coal consumption in recent years means the peak year of coal burning may arrive by 2020 as China ushers in a new pattern of green growth, according to two experts in China and UK. Qi Ye, director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy of Tsinghua University in Beijing and Nicholas Stern, head of the UK-based Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, drew the conclusion in a jointly-authored paper published on Monday on Nature Geo-science website. The magazine will run it early next week. "We have long kept track on the trends of China's consumption of coal, which accounts for the lion's share of energy mix supporting the rapid economic growth of the country for decades," Qi said during an interview with China Daily. "We have noticed that China's economic growth has been on the right track but the coal consumption has been decreasing, which is a de-link this country would like to meet." Qi and Stern, who used to be chief economist of the World Bank, concluded in the paper that the peak year of coal consumption in China may occur ahead of previous forecasts. They believe the peak year should occur between 2020-2040, depending on how China transforms its development patterns. Official figures have shown China's coal consumption has decreased by 2.9 percent and 3.6 percent year-on-year in 2014 and 2015 respectively. However, China's economy has grown by roughly an annual rate of seven percent in previous two years. China's economy has until now been largely powered by coal consumption and the volume had grown from 1.36 billion tons in 2000 to 4.24 billion tons in 2013, with an averaged annual growth rate of 12 percent. Such a pace roughly followed the rate of the economic growth. Coal's share in total energy consumption has dropped from about 75 percent, which was a long-standing figure for decades, to 64.4 percent in 2015, a historic low since China's modernization process began. "Many new figures and trends have indicated that China has been basically saying goodbye to the old pattern of development which relies on energy and resource consumption, and it has embarked on sustainable and inclusive path of growth," said Qi. The expulsions of three Chinese journalists from India are "very inappropriate" and "harm the overall Sino-Indian relationship", according to experts. Hindustan Times reported that New Delhi had expelled three Xinhua News Agency journalists after refusing to renew their work visas. No official reason was given. The three are the head of Xinhua's New Delhi bureau Wu Qiang, Lu Tang, who manages the Mumbai bureau, and a Mumbai-based reporter She Yonggang. They were ordered to leave India by Sunday and banned from re-entry. Neither Xinhua nor the Chinese Foreign Ministry has commented on the issue to date. The decision triggered controversy in Chinese media circles, with sources saying some Indian reporters in Beijing fear the Chinese government will carry out tit-for-tat expulsions. Jia Duqiang, a senior researcher of Southeast Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said: "The move is an unprecedented and very inappropriate one. I think both governments should downplay this issue in a rational way to avoid negative effects on the Sino-Indian relationship." The Hindu newspaper reported that the expulsions came after China's refusal to back India's bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group last month. Fu Xiaoqiang, an expert on South Asian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said taking revenge against China for declining to back Indian membership of the NSG could not be an excuse for the expulsions. "Blaming China for not joining the NSG is groundless," Fu said. "It is well known that membership of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is a necessary qualification for acceptance of NSG members. India is not an NPT member. Thus, it seeking direct membership of the NSG is unrealistic. "I think the media and the public should not make a fuss over a trifling incident like this. I am confident that the Chinese and Indian governments can work out a way to solve this problem in the near future." Jia said, "China and India are both important regional powers and it is expected that Beijing and New Delhi can solve their differences through negotiations, not in an inappropriate way like this." (China Daily 07/26/2016 page3) Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi(L) meets with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Vientiane, capital of Laos on July 25, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] VIENTIANE -- Chinese and Russian foreign ministers have agreed to be vigilant to outside forces that stoke regional tension through various excuses and internationalize bilateral disputes. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov made the remarks during their meeting late Monday on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers'meeting held in the Lao capital Vientiane. Wang said that recent successful visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to China and the three joint statements signed by the two leaders enriched China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, expanded the influence of their bilateral ties and was of historical significance to promote the sound and steady development of international situation. Wang said China is willing to fully implement the important consensus reached by the two leaders and well prepared for bilateral high-level contacts in the second half of this year. For his part, Lavrov fully agreed with Wang on the fruitful results made at the two leaders' meeting, saying that the joint statements and other documents signed during President Putin's visit showcased the common position shared by the two countries on developing bilateral relations and on major international issues. The two foreign ministers also exchanged views on such issues as the upcoming G20 Summit to be held in the Chinese city of Hang Zhou, APEC meeting, the Korean Peninsula and the South China Sea. Wang said China hoped that Russia could play a more active and constructive role in East Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. During Wang's meeting with Pakistan's top foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz on Monday, he said that China-Pakistan ties have shown a strong momentum of development which has contributed to regional peace and stability. Wang thanked Aziz for the Pakistani aid of 10,000 tons of rice to residents of flood-hit areas in South China, saying that it embodied the brotherhood between the two countries. Wang said China is willing to work with the Pakistani side to steadily promote constructions of the Belt and Road initiative and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and expand cooperation in other sectors. Aziz said Pakistan appreciated China's support and help, and will continue to support China on defending its core interests as well as further enhance bilateral cooperation on anti-terrorism and cultural exchanges. French President Francois Hollande (L) speaks with Mayor Hubert Wulfranc as he arrives as he arrives after a hostage-taking at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, France, July 26, 2016. A priest was killed with a knife and another hostage seriously wounded in an attack on a church that was carried out by assailants linked to Islamic State. [Photo/Agencies] SAINT-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, France - A priest in his mid-80s was killed with a knife and another hostage seriously wounded on Tuesday in an attack on a church in northern France carried out by assailants linked to Islamic State. Both attackers were shot dead by French police. Five people in all had been taken hostage. A police source said it appeared that the priest had had his throat slit. Speaking at the scene of the attack in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, French President Francois Hollande said France should "use all its means" in its war against the militant group, against which France has launched air strikes in Syria and Iraq. The president called it a "dreadful terrorist attack" and told reporters the attackers had pledge allegiance to IS. The IS news agency Amaq said two of its "soldiers" had carried out the attack. "We are put to the test yet again, Hollande said. "The threat remains very high." The attack is the latest in a string of deadly assaults in Europe, including the mass killing in Nice, southern France, on Bastille Day and four incidents in Germany. Many of the attacks have had links to Islamist militants and IS has called for supporters to target countries that it has been fighting, mainly in Iraq and Syria. Tuesday's attack took place during morning mass at the Saint-Etienne parish church, south of Rouen in Normandy. The investigation was handed to the anti-terrorist unit of the Paris prosecutor's office. SLAIN PRIEST The Archbishop of Rouen identified the slain priest as Father Jacques Hamel and said he was 84, although others sources suggest he was born in 1930. The Vatican condemned what it said was a "barbarous killing". French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told France Info radio that the perpetrators have been killed by France's BRI, an elite police anti-crime force, when they came out of the church. Bomb squad officers aided by sniffer dogs scoured the church for any possible explosives. Prime Minister Manuel Valls branded the attack "barbaric" and said it was a blow to all Catholics and the whole of France. "We will stand together," Valls said on Twitter. The attack will heap yet more pressure on Hollande to regain control of national security, with France already under a state of emergency 10 months ahead of a presidential election. The Normandy attack came 12 days after a 31-year-old Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed his heavy goods truck into a crowd of revellers in the French Riviera city of Nice, killing 84 people. Islamic State claimed that attack. "Horror. Everything is being done to trigger a war of religions," tweeted Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a former conservative prime minister who now heads the Senate's foreign affairs committee. Hollande visited the scene with Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, meeting members of the emergency services. Cazeneuve has come under fire from Conservative politicians for not doing enough to prevent the Bastille Day Nice attack. French lawmakers approved a six-month extension of emergency rule after the July 14 attack while the Socialist government also said it would step up strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Kerry says he will encourage Manila to pursue negotiations with Beijing Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi(right) meets with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Vientiane, capital of Laos, July 25, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Washington agrees with Beijing that "the time has come" to move away from the tensions in the South China Sea and to "turn the page", US Secretary of State John Kerry said, adding that he will encourage the Philippines to pursue dialogue and negotiation with China in their dispute. He made the comments to reporters in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, while recalling his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday. Both Wang and Kerry attended a range of multilateral meetings of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations from Sunday to Tuesday. Kerry told a news conference on Tuesday that "we don't take a position, as I said earlier, on the claimants" in the South China Sea issue. He said the US "would like to see a process of dialogue" between Beijing and Manila. "I will be leaving to the Philippines this afternoon, meeting with President (Rodrigo) Duterte tomorrow, and I would encourage President Duterte to engage in dialogue and in negotiation," he said. The consensus between Kerry and Wang surprised many observers, since Washington has publicly pressed Beijing to accept the recent ruling by the Arbitral Tribunal of The Hague in a case unilaterally initiated by Manila in 2013. Wang told China Daily on Tuesday night that the three-day meetings were a success, and "the biggest consensus between China and ASEAN this year is to return to the track of resolving disputes through dialogue and consultation" after the arbitration ruling. Wang said that since ASEAN said during the meetings that it takes no position as a whole on the arbitral ruling, the hyping about the South China Sea did not resolve the issue, but instead "offered excuses to forces outside the region to impose intervention". Chen Qinghong, a researcher on Southeast Asian and Philippine studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Research, welcomed Washington's milder tone. "The possibility cannot be ruled out that Washington may require Manila to make the ruling a condition for future talks with China, while this condition has been refused by Beijing," Chen added. On the sidelines of the meetings, Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak of Slovakia, which assumes the chairmanship of the European Union this year, told China Daily that the EU believes the South China Sea issue should be solved "in a direct dialogue of parties affected". He said that "we are pleased by the joint communique" achieved on Monday in the meeting between ASEAN member states and China, which renewed commitment to managing the disputes. "We believe that this is a step in the right direction, and we believe that in this spirit, the progress will continue in the future," he added. Zhou Fangyin, a professor of Chinese foreign policy at Guangdong Institute for International Strategies, said the meetings "set a tone" for ASEAN's future South China Sea policies, and ASEAN's not taking a position on the arbitration ruling "will be a restraint for Manila". Chinas Relations With the West: Straight Line Decline There are those who believe China's ongoing Party Congress will bode well for companies that do business in or with China. I am firmly convinced that the opposite is true and that it will used as yet another opportunity by China to show that it will not be cowered by the declining relations and sanctions/counter-sanctions between the United States / EU / Australia / Japan on the one hand, and China on the other. I see China using this Congress to let the world (domestic and external) know that it fully intends to fight back and fight back hard. In other words, this Party Congress will lead to China's decoupling from much of the world accelerating, not slowing down. (Photo : YouTube Screenshot) China rolls out the AG600, the biggest amphibious plane in the world. Advertisement China has started the production of the AG600, which is dubbed as the largest amphibious aircraft in the world, in Zhuhai, China, according to local media. China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Co. (CAIGA), which is behind the AG600, is working on a smaller aircraft called the H660. Both plane models were unveiled at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition (Zhuhai Airshow) in 2014. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Huang Lingcai, the chief designer of the AG600, also known as 'Jiaoling' (Water Dragon), claims that the aircraft features a 4,500km range, making it possible to fly on a round trip between Hainan Island's Sanya and James Shoal without refueling. Aside from landing and taking off from regular runways, the AG600 can also move on stretches of water that are at least 1,500 meters long, 200 meters wide, and 2.5 meters deep. "The AG600 is like a ship that can fly, with advanced gas-water dynamic engineering and underwater corrosion resistance technology," he said, adding that the plane, which is powered by four WJ6 turboprop engines, will have a cruising speed of 500km/hour and endurance of 12 hours. In terms of fire-fighting, the AG600 can scoop as much as 12 tons of water in just 20 seconds and is capable of carrying up to 50 people during search and rescue operations. Beijing plans to utilize the plane, which stands at 37 meters in length and has a 39-meter wingspan, to carry out marine missions and combat forest fires. AVIC plans to target local clients. Over the next 15 years, it is expected that some 60 units of AG600 will be manufactured. Geng Rugang, AVIC deputy general manager, described the aircraft as "the latest breakthrough in China's aviation industry." The plan for its production and development was approved by the government in 2009. According to the Daily Mail, this is China's latest effort to make the country independent from foreign aviation companies. Advertisement TagsAG600, China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Company, Jiaoling, Water Dragon, amphibian plane (Photo : Getty Images) Australia's Ray White has branched into China through a partnership with Lianjia. Advertisement Australia's biggest real estate group Ray White has expanded its services to China after teaming up with China's largest real estate company, Lianjia (or Homelink). Under the agreement, Lianjia will co-list the Australian and New Zealand properties of Ray White on its official websites in Mandarin. With the deal, Ray White has not only gained an edge over its foreign competitors but has also fulfilled its plan to diversify and become attractive to the Chinese community. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "[The strategy] has two big advantages for us. Understanding and servicing the unique requirements of clients across different regions and attracting talent to a group who have a regional perspective," Dan White, director of Ray White, said "As we continue our transition into becoming a genuine regional business, our aim is to be able to provide our clients with solutions across Asia Pacific and ensure that we're comprised of a rich diversity of cultures." Aside from co-listing with Lainjia, Ray White is also utilizing WeChat where its local listings can be viewed in Mandarin, according to Financial Review. Meanwhile, Ray White's local agents can also translate its listings into Mandarin through a service set up by the company. The translated listings can be uploaded both on local websites and ACProperty.com.au, an Australian Chinese property website. Advertisement TagsRay White, real estate, property developer, Lianjia, Homelink, Australia, new zealand (Photo : Getty Images) A new report has revealed that over 100 Chinese nationals joined ISIS between 2013 and 2014. Advertisement Documents, leaked by an Islamic State defector, reveals that over 100 Chinese nationals have joined the jihadist movement in Syria. A study, which looked into over 4,000 registration records of fighters who joined the Islamic State between mid-2013 and mid-2014, found that most of these Chinese nationals are from the northwestern region of Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur ethnic group. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement According to the leaked records, each fighter was made to answer a questionnaire with basic questions including their origin, educational level, history of employment, and former jihad experience. Analysts found that at least 114 of the new recruits were Chinese Uighurs. The study by the New America think tank and the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point also discovered that the ages of the Chinese recruits ranged from between 10 and 80 years old. The Chinese recruits were usually poor, uneducated, and low-skilled workers, with a majority of them coming from conservative areas where police and antigovernment violence is high. "Contextual evidence...suggests the country's antiterrorism campaign in Xinjiang could be a push factor," Nate Rosenblatt, author of the recent study. He suggested that "it may not be that these fighters are as religiously motivated" instead they are looking "perhaps for a sense of belonging that they don't get in China." The study, which was published by New America last week, made it clear that it is uncertain if more fighters joined the group after the period stipulated in the leaked records. The Foreign Ministry of China has refused to comment on the report. Advertisement TagsIslamic State, terrorism, Uighurs, Xinjiang, jihadist movement (Photo : YouTube) Apple has opened a store in Taiwan. Advertisement Tech giant Apple has opened its first flagship store in Taiwan, the home country of one of its primary assembler, Foxconn. A job listing posted by Apple for its Taiwan flagship store shows that the company is looking for qualified applicants to fill the posts of customer support, sales, and leadership positions. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The opening of Taiwan's first ever Apple store took place about a month after the company listed a 30-year bond on the Taipei Exchange and raised around $1.38 billion, according to Tech Node. Recent statistics reveal that the demand for Apple products in Asia has continued to surge over the span of the last five years. However, the number of official Apple outlets are still relatively few compared to other regions. In Asia, Japan was the first country where Apple opened a series of stores, followed by China in 2008. Apple opened its first store in Macau on June 25. The Apple Store is perhaps the most successful retail shop in the world. The Apple Store records the highest sales per square inch foot in the industry. However, some market analysts have noted that there has been a slow decline over the past few quarters. This year, Apple revealed that it has experienced the first-ever sales decline of its flagship device, the iPhone. Many analysts believe that this decline, which took place during the second quarter of the year, is evidence that the smartphone market is getting saturated as more players are trying to get a piece of the action, according to Reuters. Advertisement Tagsapple, Apple Store, Apple Taiwan, Apple Store Taiwan, Taiwan, Apple Store Asia (Photo : China Photos/Getty Images) Guests prepare to get on a special maglev train of Chanel to attend the Chanel 2005-2006 autumn and winter series fashion show held at the maglev train station in Pudong International Airport on August 19, 2005 in Shanghai, China. Advertisement A manufacturer of a magnetic levitation train system from the US might soon be able to bring its technology to China once it is able to hook up with potential Chinese partners. Jerry Sanders, CEO of skyTran Inc, maker of a levitation track system based in Mountain View, California, is eager to set up the company's railway system in China as part of its efforts to help improve the personal transport infrastructure in the mainland. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement skyTran is situated within he NASA Ames Research Center and is a National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) Space Act company. The tech company has a cooperative technology development agreement with NASA, and describes its product as a "patented, high-speed, low-cost, elevated personal rapid transportation system". According to Sanders, his company has identified China as among the primary market for its skyTran magnetic levitation train system that uses a relatively inexpensive elevated track. The system utilizes a network of "small computer-controlled, two-person 'jet-like' vehicles to move passengers in a fast, safe, green and economical manner." The skyTran idea was conceptualized by a colleague of Sanders who worked on the NASA Apollo program which then aimed to transport the first man to the moon. "He realized that for transportation to be effective, it has to go above traffic. It's no longer sustainable to add cars to the road," the CEO said. The company has already successfully established a working demonstration system in Israel and plans to commercialize it in about two years. "We've completed what we call our demonstration system, so we have a full scale system that shows all components working together very well, that leads us to the phase 2 where we run it all the time and collect data while we're planning our commercial system for Abu Dhabi," Sanders said. He added that the company also aims to bring the magnetic levitation train system to Europe and begin construction there by the end of this year or the start of next year. Advertisement Tagschina, Magnetic Levitation Train China, Magnetic Levitation Train (Photo : Ministry of Harmony) The fake "251-dash line map" claiming China owns the Pacific Ocean Close-up of the 251-dash line map Advertisement If you think China's illegal "nine-dash line" purloining most of the South China Sea is ridiculous, wait 'til you get a load of its "251-dash line" map that asserts China owns most of the Pacific Ocean based on "historical rights" dating back millennia. The authentic-looking "map" created a storm when it first hit the internet in August 2014. Some people believed it but the map's since been proven to be part of an elaborate satire spoofing China's claim to own the South China Sea. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement As you can see from this elaborate and ornate fake map, there's a "251-dash line" that extends from the East China Sea all the way to the west coast of the United States and Mexico. The map infers Hawaii belongs to China and so Hawaii was stolen from China by the United States, which must give it back of face the consequences. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Investigators discovered the 251-dash line map was the work of the person or persons behind a blog called the "Ministry of Harmony" that humorously describes itself as "The Onion with Chinese Characteristics," another spoof of a saying long associated with the Communist Party of China. This blog is still online here but seems inactive as its last posts date back to 2015. The original post in 2014 claimed China's Ministry of Education had released a new world map where China claims most of the Pacific Ocean, including Hawaii and most of Micronesia. It said Xinhua, China's propaganda media machine, reported the ministry issued a directive ordering "all educational facilities and government offices to replace their outdated world maps with the current iteration," or the 251-dash line map. Emmanuel Mori, who then was President of the Federated States of Micronesia, reportedly dismissed the map as "absurd" and accused China of "cartographic rape." In the map, China also claims Mexico's Clarion Island and France's Clipperton Island. The ministry said both islands will be granted full autonomy. Hawaii and other American territories such as Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands will be combined to form a new Chinese province called "Xinmeiguo," which is a male Chinese name and probably belongs to one of the guys behind the Ministry of Harmony. The ministry defended the new "251-dash map" by pointing to several Qing-era documents that show the Carolines, the Northern Mariana and Marshall Islands were under Chinese control hundreds of years ago. "The study of what constitutes Chinese territory is ongoing," said one ministry official. The ministry also said it had discovered the Ming Empire also controlled a large portion of Antarctica. It said it would immediately begin producing a new, revised map including Antarctica as an immutable part of China. Advertisement Tagschina, 251-dash line, Ministry of Harmony, Xinhua, Xinmeiguo (Photo : Photo by China Photos/Getty Images) Workers answer questions from an official with the local labour and social security department at an electronic factory in Shenzhen of Guangdong Province, China. Advertisement China is grappling to deal with the growing mass unemployment and strikes amid the county's economic slowdown. According to the Australian Broadcast Corporation, most of the recent strikes in China have mostly occured in remote provinces such as Tibet and Xinjian. This year, strikes in China increased by 20 percent compared to last year. Approximately, there are eight protests daily in the country. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Many factories have been closing due to the decrease of production, leading to mass unemployment. One employee said that "They say the happiness level of Chinese people is rising. Bullshit! You must come to a place like this to see the real China." Most of these strikes have reportedly turned violent. A majority of the workers involved in the strikes are said to be from coal and steel companies. The government has been attempting to deal with overcapacity in China's industrial sector. China plans to cut around six million jobs in the coal and steel industry. Although authorities have slowed down the pace of cutting jobs, the plan will still push through. The strikes in China have not been limited to remote provinces as there has also been mass unemployment in the south-eastern part of the country due to plants closing. Some of these plants are reportedly relocating their business to a different country in Asia to take advantage of cheaper labor. A prominent labor activist, Zhang Ziru, said in a statement that if China's system does not improve and the government fails to make political reforms, there will be an explosion in the society. Zhang said that he had been arrested many times for voicing out his sentiments against the government. He noted that he had been falsely accused of disrupting social order and lives under constant surveillance. "Today's Chinese Communist Party does not represent the interests of the majority of Chinese people, just the wealthy minority class," Zhang said. Bloomberg reported that Evan Guo, the chief executive officer of Zhaopin Ltd., operator of one of the country's biggest job websites, recently said in a statement that labor laws in China are being changed to let companies fire workers easily. He believes that this strategy will let companies create new jobs to decrease skill mismatches that lead to bigger problems in the market. Advertisement TagsMass unemployment, strikes, industrial unrest, Chinese government, growing problem, work, employment, coal and steel industry (Photo : Twitter/Lenovo India) Lenovo Vibe K5 Note is all set to be launched in India next month. Advertisement Lenovo Vibe K5 Note is set to be launched in India next month. The device will be available for sale via e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart on August 1 priced at $168. It will be available in silver and gold variants. The Chinese smartphone maker has confirmed that the much-awaited smartphone will come with 4GB of RAM. Earlier it was reported that the Vibe K5 Note would be launched with 2GB of RAM. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Lenovo India recently shared a teaser of the Vibe K5 Note on social media. "With so much RAM at your disposal, the only thing you'll worry about on the Killer Note 5 is running out of apps," the company tweeted. The Lenovo Vibe K5 Note was released early this year in China. The device was also launched in Thailand early this month. The Lenovo' K4 Note was launched in India in January this year and faced stiff competition from Xiaomi's Redmi Note 3 and the Le Eco 1 and Le 2. It appears to have failed to deliver the expected results for the company. Lenovo India is now looking to have the upper hand over its competitors with the Vibe K5 Note. Lenovo Vibe K5 Note Specifications and Features The Lenovo Vibe K5 Note is powered by a MediaTek Helio P10 processor. It features 16GB internal storage, expandable up to 256GB via a microSD card slot. The device has a 5.5-inch display with 1920 x 1080 HD resolution and 13MP primary camera with dual-LED flash and 8MP selfie camera. The Lenovo smartphone runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and comes with dual SIM. It also features a 3,500mAh battery. With so much RAM at your disposal, the only thing you'll worry about on the #KillerNote5 is running out of apps.https://t.co/zZLBI7HCju Lenovo India (@Lenovo_in) July 22, 2016 What type of multitasker are you? Find out. Answer the question below with #KillerNote5 & win cool earphones. pic.twitter.com/pseFxmMIat Lenovo India (@Lenovo_in) July 23, 2016 Advertisement TagsLenovo, lenovo india, lenovo vibe k5 note, Vibe K5 Note, India Launch (Photo : Getty Images) Oppo is now China's number one best-selling smartphone maker. (Photo : Counterpoint) Advertisement Oppo is a company that has become increasingly popular in the Chinese market and even though a majority of its products are sold in Asian countries, the smartphone maker has what it takes to give Apple and Samsung a run for their money, according to statistics released by Counterpoint. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement As you can see in the graph below, Oppo is now the No. 1 smartphone manufacturer in China as of June 2016. The company was considered as just another blip on the radar in 2014 but over the course of just two years, Oppo has managed to claim top-spot as a single brand with 22.9 percent of smartphones in China being manufactured by the Guangdong-based firm. Oppo beat the likes of Huawei, Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi to become the leading smartphone brand in China, which is the world's leading smartphone market. In fact, Xiaomi only produced 6.8 percent of phones in China, down significantly from 15.1 percent as compared to the previous year. The Oppo R9, also known as Oppo F1 Plus, was the highest-selling smartphone in June (5% market share) and the company looks to capitalize on the device's success and increase its August market share with the launch of the Oppo F1s model soon. Oppo currently has a market share bigger than Apple and Samsung combined. We don't how long Oppo will be able to maintain its lead as the numero uno smartphone maker in China, but it is definitely a company that competitors should keep an eye out for. Advertisement TagsOppo, china, Smartphone, No 1 smartphone, Huawei, apple, Samsung, Xiaomi (Photo : Getty Images) India has urged China to respect the ruling of a Hague-based international tribunal over the South China Sea dispute. Advertisement India has asked China to respect the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) regarding the territorial dispute between Beijing and the Philippines. India's External Minister for State Vijay Kumar Singh on Monday asked China to show "utmost respect" for the ruling of the international arbitration court. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Singh, speaking at ASEAN foreign ministers meeting, said India, like several other ASEAN member states, respects the verdict of the international court, Telegraph India reported. "India, as a state party to the UNCLOS, urges all parties to show the utmost respect for the UNCLOS, which is the foundation of the international legal order of the seas and oceans," the former Indian army chief said. "India believes that states should resolve disputes through peaceful means, without threat or use of force." ASEAN foreign ministers also issued a joint statement after the meeting. The statement stated that all ASEAN member states remain "seriously concerned" over the recent developments in the region. The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected China's claims over disputed territories in the South China Sea, saying that the country has no legal authority to claim the contest areas. China has strongly opposed the verdict while maintaining that it has "indisputable sovereignty" over the contested waters. U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice is currently visiting China to pacify Beijing and convince China's leaders to de-escalate tension in South China Sea region. Advertisement TagsSouth China Sea, South China Sea Dispute, ASEAN, India, china, Philippines (Photo : TENAA) Honor will launch the Honor Note 8 on August 1 in Beijing, China at the Huawei Exhibition Center. (Photo : Weibo) Advertisement Honor will officially launch the Honor 8 Note phablet on Aug. 1 at the Huawei Exhibition Center in Beijing, Huawei announced via a teaser on its Weibo account on Monday. Honor, which has garnered a reputation for offering smartphones with flagship specs and features at affordable prices, is a sub-brand of Huawei, which is one of the leading smartphone manufacturers in China. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Honor recently launched the Honor 8 model and more than 5 million people registered for the device for the sale of its first batch. The company is now gearing up to unveil the Honor 8 Note smartphone to take on Xiaomi's Mi Max. The Honor 8 Note will feature a huge 6.6-inch screen that comes with a 2K resolution (which is 2560 x 1440), as the company teased in its announcement, according to GSMArena. The device will be available in two variants, one with 3GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage and one with 4GB RAM and 64 GB of storage, both of which can be expandable. There is speculation that the base model will be powered by a Kirin 950 SoC with a 2.5 GHz octa-core CPU whereas the high-end variant will run on a superior Kirin 955. Both models will run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The Honor 8 Note's other features include a 13-megapixel rear camera, an 8-megapixel front snapper and a 4,400 mAh battery with fast-charging capabilities in addition to a fingerprint scanner and a USB Type-C Port, according to Android Headlines. The 3GB RAM/32 GB storage model will retail for CNY 1,999 ($299) while the 4GB RAM/64 GB storage variant will be priced at CNY 2,299 ($344). Advertisement TagsHonor, Honor 8 Note, Huawei, Honor 8 Note 2K, 2K display, Honor 8 Note launch, Honor 8 Note release date (Photo : Getty Images) U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice is currently visiting China. Advertisement The United States has assured China that it will not take any side in the dispute between Beijing and the Philippines over the South China Sea. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on Monday, met U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers' conference. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Kerry, in the meeting, assured the Chinese leader that the U.S. would not take sides between Beijing and Manila in the South China Sea territorial dispute. "I want to tell you that Secretary Kerry has made it very clear that the United States will not take sides on an arbitral ruling of the South China Sea arbitration case," Wang said after the meeting, Xinhua reported. "The U.S. supports the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines. The US also supports resolving the issue by dialogue and negotiation. Wang asked the U.S. assistance to resume the Beijing-Manila dialogue over the dispute. The Philippines recently rejected China's offer for "conditional" talks to resolve the South China Sea issue. Beijing had proposed to hold talks "outside" the court verdict. The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, in its long pending verdict on July 12, rejected China's claims over the disputed South China Sea saying that the country has no legal authority to claim the contested territory. China has strongly opposed the verdict while maintaining that it has "indisputable sovereignty" over the contested waters. U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice, who began her four-day trip to China on Sunday, met with President Xi Jinping on Monday. The Chinese President, during the meeting, called on both sides to enhance cooperation in international and regional affairs. Advertisement TagsSouth China Sea, china, US, Philippines, susan rice, John Kerry (Photo : Reuters) HP and HTC are set to team up to create PCs that can run the HTC Vive VR headset. Advertisement HTC is reportedly teaming up with HP to create and sell Vive-branded PCs. The Taiwanese smartphone maker will allegedly acquire HP PCs and rebrand them as HTC Vive. One of the problems with VR headsets such as HTC Vive is that it requires users to have powerful PC to run it. HP will be creating PCs that matches the requirements for HTC Vive VR headset, according to Ubergizmo. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement It is worth noting that HTC Vive requires at least an Intel Core i5-4590 or AMD FX 8350 processor, a GeForce GTX 970 or Radeon R9 290 graphics card, 4GB of system memory, one USB 2.0 port, and an open HDMI 1.4 or DisplayPort 1.2 port. The companies will launch the PCs at a budget-friendly price, providing customers with a complete Vive package containing an optimized desktop and headset, Digital Trends reported. A Vive-branded PC would help in marketing the Vive headset, as it would be easier to choose a guaranteed working set than cherry pick from dozens of possible combinations. The new deal aims to spread HTC's virtual reality business to more markets by selling a bundle that includes the headset as well as a PC that is powerful enough to drive a VR experience. HTC also plans to spin off a separate subsidiary for its VR business. The idea behind the subsidiary reportedly is to insulate the VR business from weakness in the smartphone business. However, both HTC and HP have not yet released any official statement about the new product. Advertisement TagsHTC, HP, HTC Vive, Vive-branded PCs, HP PC, HP desktop, HP Envy Phoenix desktop, VR headset, Virtual Reality (Photo : Getty Images) US National Security Adviser Susan Rice expressed optimism that military confrontations between US and Chinese forces in the South China Sea would continue to lessen as the two sides have put in place confidence-building measures. Advertisement After Washington accused Chinese military ships and aircraft of making "unsafe maneuvers" and coming dangerously close to US forces in the South China Sea, a top US official said on Monday that the two forces have reduced the risk of military encounters in the region through confidence-building measures. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement US national security adviser Susan Rice, during a visit to Beijing, said confrontations between US and Chinese forces in the disputed maritime territory have lessened due to confidence-building measures such as increased communication between military leaders in the region. "Our military leaders communicate more frequently and more directly than ever before in the past," Rice said at a meeting with Fan Changlong, the vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission. 'Unintended consequences' Although China has reiterated that it would not accept third-party interference in the South China Sea dispute, the Chinese military has cooperated with US forces to lessen the "risk of unintended consequences." "While our forces operate in closer proximity to each other, the risk of unintended consequences has gone down thanks to the confidence-building measures that our two sides have put in place," Rice said. The US had complained in the past months about Chinese ships and aircraft conducting dangerous maneuvers such as shadowing US aircraft carrier and coming in close contact with military forces in the South China Sea region. China defended its actions saying they were merely conducting routine operations within the scope of the law. Military relations Fan said there is a need to improve military relations between the two sides "to avoid misunderstanding and miscalculations" in the region. He added that China will not cave in to any pressure by any state and will uphold its sovereignty to its territory in the South China Sea. US forces have been conducting freedom of navigation patrols near Chinese-held territories in the disputed sea angering China, while the latter continues to build artificial islands on the strategic waterway. International law The two nations have been at odds over China's massive claims in the region with the US invoking the freedom of navigation principle in conducting naval and aerial patrols in the strategic waterway where $5 trillion of ship-borne trade passes through each year. Washington earlier said that US forces would continue to sail and fly anywhere in the world, including the South China Sea, for as long as international laws allow. Top US officials added that the US freedom of navigation patrols would ensure the lawful use of the international waterway by all nations as a matter of right that is guaranteed under international law. PCA ruling China has been reeling from the adverse ruling handed down by the Permanent Court of Arbitration this month rejecting its claims to almost the entirety of the disputed sea under its nine-dash line, raising concerns in the international community that Beijing might assert its claims forcefully. The five-member panel ruled that Beijing violated the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Philippines' rights by constructing facilities on Mischief Reef. Meanwhile, Beijing, which boycotted the court proceedings, dismissed the ruling as "illegal" and "null and void." Besides China and the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Brunei have overlapping claims in the region. Advertisement Tagsmilitary encounters, South China Sea, third party interference, Central Military Commission, unintended consequences, china (Photo : Getty Images) Nuns walk on a lane through monastics dormitories at the Serthar Wuming Buddhist Study Institute in Serthar County of Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. Advertisement China has denied the accusations of Tibetan rights groups that authorities are evicting people from Larung Gar and have demolished part of the structure. Authorities explained that the world's largest Tibetan Buddhist Institute is simply being renovated to avoid fires and lessen crowd levels, according to Xinhua. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement China has dismissed allegations that "it is another attempt by China to subvert the influence of Tibetan Buddhism," a senior government official from Garze, who asked not to be named, told The Global Times. "The site has grown immensely in recent years, with a steady influx of tourists and lay people from other provinces and foreigners, that even monastery leaders have lost track of the number of their personnel," the official said. "It is unfair and a burden on them to use offerings given by local believers to provide free accommodation and education to the unregistered." The dismantling of residential buildings that dot the hillside around the center is expected to make it easier for firefighters to reach Larung Gar. The center has experienced several fire incidents in recent years. Meanwhile, Free Tibet, an overseas Tibetan secessionist organization, said that the demolition team "accompanied by Chinese police and members of the armed forces dressed in plain clothes" started destroying living quarters at Larung Gar Institute and evicting residents on Thursday. In June, local government officials ordered the estimated 10,000 Buddhist monks and nuns living there to be cut down to 5,000. Now, only the over 8,000 registered monks and nuns will be allowed to stay in Larung Gar. Furthermore, foreigners will also be allowed to stay granting that they comply with the monastery's registration process, the anonymous official noted. Advertisement TagsLarung Gar, Tibet, Tibet Buddhism, Tibetan Institute, Tibet demolition (Photo : Getty Images) China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called on all the parties involved in the tension in the Korean peninsula to restrain from any action that could jeopardize peace in the region. Advertisement China on Monday chalked a major diplomatic triumph after a joint statement issued by foreign ministers of Southeast Asian countries made no mention of the United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration's ruling on the South China Sea, Reuters reported. A deadlock over the statement was broken after the Philippines gave up on its demand to mention the verdict in the official statement. The Philippines' stance was supported by other claimants in 10-nation ASEAN, as well as the U.S. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The joint statement issued on Monday by foreign ministers of Asean countries reads: "We remain seriously concerned about recent and ongoing developments and took note of the concerns expressed by some ministers on the land reclamations and escalation of activities in the area, which have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions and may undermine peace, security, and stability in the region." The official statement formally rounded up the 49th ASEA Foreign Ministers' Meeting that was held at Laos capital city Vientiane. China's main ally Cambodia strongly protested the wordings of an initial statement that proposed on Sunday. The statement reportedly mentioned the verdict given by the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the need for China to respect the verdict. Cambodia's protest against the statement threw the consensus-driven ASEAN into disarray. China publicly thanked Cambodia for its support. "China greatly approves of Cambodia and other ASEAN countries taking charge of impartiality and safeguarding fairness," China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said. ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh said that Monday's statement must not be perceived as a diplomatic victory for China, but ASEAN's commitment to its value and principle of finding consensus. The Chinese government has stated that it would not accept the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration regardless of growing pressure. China described the verdict as a "ploy" by western forces to weaken its control of the South China Sea. Advertisement TagsSouth China Sea, ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting, china, South China Sea Case Permanent Court of Arbitration Russian Ambassador to Vietnam Konstantin Vnukov Advertisement Russia has taken a position in the South China Sea dispute that tacitly calls on China to abide by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) China signed but later said it will repudiate following an international tribunal's ruling against it last July 12. Russia's Ambassador to Vietnam Konstantin Vnukov said Russia is "interested in the fact that all the problems in that region should be addressed via political and diplomatic means, through negotiations between the countries that are involved in these disputes." Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "We believe that the only normal way out of this situation is the negotiation at the level of international law. In particularly at the UN Convention of 1982 on the Law of the Sea and documents that have been developed between ASEAN countries and China," Vnukov said in June according to Sputniknews. China ratified UNCLOS in August 2006. It said, however, it will exit UNCLOS in the wake of the decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague declaring illegal China's "nine-dash line" and with it China's claim to own the South China Sea. The court also found China had infringed on the Philippines' territorial rights. Vnukov also said Russia opposes internationalizing the dispute and the involvement of parties with no direct relation to it, an indirect reference to the United States that supports the Philippines, and which is engaged in a war of nerves with China. He also said Russia is categorically opposed to any escalation of tensions and increased militarization in the South China Sea. "As was recently noted by the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, we oppose the internationalization of the dispute and the involvement in it of those parties who have no direct relation to it," he said. "We call for retaining calmness, restraint and not to turn the region into a hot spot as there are so many in the world. We call on everyone without exception, to China and the ASEAN countries." Vnukov said "there should be no suspicion that it (Russia) is inclined to one side or another. Russia has a completely independent position." Russia, however, has a strategic interest in the region because of its close business and military ties to Vietnam, which with the Philippines are China's two main foes in the South China Sea dispute. Advertisement TagsRussia, china, South China Sea, Konstantin Vnukov, unclos, Philippines (Photo : shizhao/Flickr/CC) Religious places have been shut down ahead of the G20 summit in China. China has banned churches in and around Hangzhou city in the eastern Zhejiang province ahead of G-20 summit in order to "create a safe environment" for world leaders when they attend the conference. The G20 meeting is scheduled for September 4 to 5, but Hangzhou will observe a public holiday until four days after the summit, effectually closing the city for a whole week. All the large-scale prayers and other religious activities will not be permitted in Xiaoshan district in south-east Hangzhou during those six days, to reduce heavy traffic andcongestion in the city. Also, all religious places in the bordering city of Jinhua are forbidden to hold any activities between July 1 and September 9. House churches have been shut down before the summit. "During their preparations for the G20 summit, all houses and offices are required to register with the government and report how many people are living in the residence and for what purpose," a pastor told Global Times on the condition of anonymity. The city's underground churches have also been told to not assemble. "I cannot understand why they have done this... Worshiping God has nothing to do with the G20 summit," Li Guisheng, a Christian human rights lawyer, told The Guardian. Zhejiang province has the highest concentration of Christians in the country, and Wenzhou city in the province is also called the "Jerusalem of the East." Recently, the local government in Zhejiang province adopted a new law which made it mandatory for some churches to hand over their income and donations to the authorities. The measures were enforced in Pingyang County, Wenzhou, and the members were asked to give all their tithes and donations to authorities. "The government officials will interfere with church affairs, managing our donations and some large-scale projects. We have to obtain their (the government's) permission if we would like to buy equipment or decorate the church. We will have to ask for permission for any expenses more than a few thousand yuan," a source told China Aid. The government crackdown on churches in China in the recent years have led to demolition of about 1,700 churches and over 2,000 crosses since 2014 under the "beautification" campaign known as "Three Rectifications and One Demolition," which the authorities say is directed against "illegal construction" in Zhejiang. press@cdaily.co.kr - Copyright , #chinachurch The Lider project to build a new-generation of Russian nuclear-powered icebreakers is expected to enter the design phase in 2016, Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation Head Sergei Kiriyenko told RIA Novosti. "The design of the next-generation Lider nuclear-powered icebreaker should begin in 2016," he said. The new Russian nuclear-powered super icebreaker will be capable of operating year-around not only along the Northern Sea Route, but also in the Arctic's high latitudes. In 2015, the ship's schematic design was developed, and now the technical design is underway. According to the President of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, Alexei Rakhmanov, "it'll take about 18 months to design the ship, after which we'll move towards a decision to fund the project." Mr. Kiriyenko went on to say that the Lider project does not mean that 22220 series icebreakers will be discontinued. "There should be as many icebreakers of this kind, as we need. It was called Lider for a reason, since it will be used for special tasks. If the current generation [Project 22220] can navigate ice three meters thick, Lider will be designed to force its way through ice four meters thick. These are unique features. We do not need many icebreakers of this kind, since they will be used for unique, one-time assignments," Kiriyenko said. Cake design dates back to ancient 'art' SCOTUS told in gay wedding cake rulings 26 July, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , | DENVER (Christian Examiner) The Colorado wedding cake artist who refused to bake and decorate a wedding cake for a homosexual couple is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene since the Colorado Supreme Court refused to take up his case, the Denver Post has reported. Jack Phillips, owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop, has been deep in legal turmoil since 2012 when Charlie Craig and David Mullins asked the shop to bake a cake for their same-sex wedding. Phillips refused, claiming his religious beliefs wouldn't allow him to support same-sex marriage. Craig and Mullins sued and in December 2013 a judge ruled Phillips could not turn away customers based on what kind of wedding they were having. In addition to that, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission ruled Phillips was required to provide quarterly reports on what cake orders he had turned away and for what reason for a period of two years. Phillips then appealed, but lost the appeal when the appellate court affirmed the earlier ruling of the lower court and the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Jack, who has happily served people of all backgrounds for years, simply exercised the long-cherished American freedom to decline to use his artistic talents to promote a message and event with which he fundamentally disagrees. We are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to ensure that government understands that its duty is to protect the people's freedom to follow their beliefs personally and professionally, not force them to violate those beliefs as the price of earning a . The appellate court said the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act "prohibits places of public accommodations from basing their refusal to serve customers on their sexual orientation." The court said Phillips was guilty of discrimination and violating a "generally applicable" law. The petition brought by the baker and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) now claims the Colorado courts violated "controlling precedent" which grants artists free speech protections when it ruled against Phillips. "Cake design and creation is its own art form and mode of expression," the petition says. It claims cake decoration, the central point of a wedding celebration, dates back to 1175 B.C. The petition also claims the courts were at odds with other rulings on the free exercise of religion from the Third, Sixth and Tenth Circuits. Jeremy Tedesco, ADF's senior legal counsel, said Phillips nor anyone else "should be forced by the government to further a message that they cannot in conscience promote." "And that's what this case is about. Jack, who has happily served people of all backgrounds for years, simply exercised the long-cherished American freedom to decline to use his artistic talents to promote a message and event with which he fundamentally disagrees. We are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to ensure that government understands that its duty is to protect the people's freedom to follow their beliefs personally and professionally, not force them to violate those beliefs as the price of earning a living." Tedesco also said the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had clearly targeted Christian beliefs because they refused to punish other bakers who refused to bake cakes on the grounds that doing so would violate their personal beliefs. Those bakers, however, weren't challenging the central tenet of the gay rights movement. "It is undisputed that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission...does not apply CADA [Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act] to ban (1) an African-American cake artist from refusing to create a cake promoting white-supremacism for the Aryan Nation, (2) an Islamic cake artist from refusing to create a cake denigrating the Quran for the Westboro Baptist Church, and (3) three secular cake artists from refusing to create cakes opposing same-sex marriage for a Christian patron," Tedesco claims in the petition to the high court. The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado has said it will contest the petition with the U.S. Supreme Court. "As we've argued and the courts have consistently and correctly ruled in this case, everyone has a right to their religious beliefs. But business owners cannot rely on those beliefs as an excuse to discriminate against prospective customers," Mark Silverstein, legal director for the group, told the Denver Post. The ACLU is upholding the opinion of the Obama administration which has attempted to shift the First Amendment's definition of religious freedom to "freedom of worship," meaning freedom of religious expression only within the confines of the four walls of the church. Tim LaHaye, 'spiritual giant' of evangelical world & 'Left Behind' co-author, dies at 90 Guest Reviewer | 26 July, 2016 by Michael Foust SAN DIEGO (Christian Examiner) Minister and author Tim LaHaye, who helped popularize End Times theology with his best-selling Left Behind books but who also had an impact in the conservative political realm and within the creationism debate, died Monday following a stroke. He was 90. LaHaye already was a giant within the evangelical world when, in 1995, he and co-author Jerry B. Jenkins released their first Left Behind book, which described a moment when millions of Christians suddenly are raptured from the Earth, leaving behind unbelieving friends and family members. The book was so popular that over the next dozen years, 15 more books in the series were released, selling a total of 63 million copies and producing spinoffs of movies, graphic novels, and kids' and teen versions. The books were written from the perspective of a pretribulation, premillennial perspective, which is a popular viewpoint although not universally held by Christians. He is survived by his wife, Beverly, who is best known as the founder of Concerned Women for America. In 2005, Time magazine called the LaHayes the "Christian power couple" and named Tim LaHaye one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America. "Thrilled as I am that he is where he has always wanted to be, his departure leaves a void in my soul I don't expect to fill until I see him again," said Jenkins, who called LaHaye a "spiritual giant." "The Tim LaHaye I got to know had a pastor's heart and lived to share his faith," Jenkins said. "He listened to and cared about everyone, regardless of age, gender, or social standing. If Tim was missing from the autograph table or the green room of a network television show, he was likely in a corner praying with someone he'd just metfrom a reader to a part-time bookstore stock clerk to a TV network anchorman." LaHaye pastored churches in South Carolina, Minnesota and California during his ministerial career, which including leading San Diego's Scott Memorial Baptist Church for 25 years. That church expanded to three locations, one of which became Shadow Mountain Community Church (El Cajon), which currently is led by David Jeremiah. He co-founded in 1970 Christian Heritage College, which later became San Diego Christian College. Around that time he also co-founded the Institute for Christian Research, a ministry that promotes young earth creationism. LaHaye also had a hand in the launch of the Moral Majority, which encouraged Christians to get involved in the political process and which was prominent during President Reagan's administration. All total, LaHaye wrote or co-wrote 60 books. Lamar Keener, executive director of the Evangelical Press Association and a friend of the LaHaye family, said Tim LaHaye's mark on Christianity was immense. "Dr. LaHaye has been one of the most remarkable evangelical leaders of our time," Keener told the Christian Examiner. "I am amazed at the breadth of his contribution through pastoring, seminars, influencing public policy, and writing scores of books that spanned amazingly diverse subjects of the Christian faith. Though he found wealth and prominence, he lived modestly, gave generously, and never lost his sense of godliness, genuine humility and a desire to see people come to Christ." The LaHayes were prominent financial supporters of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. "Drs. Tim and Beverly LaHaye have left a legacy at Liberty University," said Liberty President Jerry Falwell Jr. "They supported our growth over the years, and we would not be where we are today without their prayers, friendship, leadership, and generosity." He is also survived by four children, nine grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren, a brother, and a sister. ISIS has reportedly burned alive a family that tried to flee the violence in Iraq, the DailyMail.com reports. The mother, father and two-year-old girl were fleeing from ISIS and the violence in northern Iraq as ISIS militants clashed with Iraqi forces. The family of three was captured as they fled from Rashad village, southwest of Kirkuk. A source in Kirkuk reported, This evening, ISIS burned a family of three (father, mother and a two-year-old girl) while they were trying to escape from the organisations grip in Rashad village. The family was walking through Hamrin mountains to al-Alam village in Salahaddin province. This is not the first time ISIS has burned alive those attempting to flee their brutality. The same Iraqi source reported that ISIS has deployed members to arrest families that run away from ISIS sites southwest of Kirkuk. In May, ISIS militants reportedly executed a mother, father, and three children who were trying to flee the militants violence. While one Iraqi leader noted that ISIS controls only 10 percent of the countrys territory, the jihadists attacks have become more frequent in recent weeks. The most recent attack on Sunday in Baghdad killed 23. Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com Publication date: July 26, 2016 Japans oldest church which was built to commemorate 26 Christians who were martyred in 1597, may become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. ChrisitanToday.com reports that Japan has a history of Christian persecution. During the Edo period, from about 1603 to 1868, Japan was very hostile to Christianity and as many as 6,000 Christians were thought to have been martyred. For many years, the Christian church in Japan was thought to be extinct. Then, in 1865, after Japan finally opened its borders, villagers from a village near Nagasaki visited a recently-built Catholic church. The villagers told the priest of that church that they and their families had maintained their faith for generations in secret. Once this family revealed their hidden faith, more families came forward, and it was discovered that tens of thousands of Japanese Christians existed in hiding. The Oura Church in Nagasaki is the countrys oldest church and was built on the site of the brutal murder of 26 Christians by crucifixion. The church is nominated as a possible World Heritage Site along with several other Christian sites in Nagasaki and Kumamoto. Publication date: July 26, 2016 Hailed by media commentators including Jake Tapper and Anderson Cooper on CNN, award-winning documentary 3801 Lancaster: American Tragedy will release on iTunes and Amazon Video on August 2. The hour-long film chronicles the true story of Kermit Gosnellthe convicted doctor whose shuttered abortion clinic still stands, only two miles from the bustling city center hosting the Democratic National Convention this week. Film director and citizen journalist David Altrogge cannot help but express outrage after careful research of the facts. Real women and babies lost their livesbecause the Pennsylvania Department of State and the Department of Health chose to look the other way, he said in a recent interview. Whether youre pro-life or pro-choice, cant we at least agree that women deserve better? Interviewing Gosnell over seven months, Altrogge developed a relationship of sorts with the notorious abortion doctorwho is currently serving three life sentences in a Pennsylvania prison for involuntary manslaughter of a woman seeking an abortion at his clinic and first-degree murder of three infants born alive (among other criminal charges). Gosnell himself narrates many scenes in the 3801 Lancaster documentary. Now Altrogge shares his response to the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the practices of Planned Parenthood and why citizens should not stay silent. Bound4LIFE: What is your reaction to the Supreme Courts decision last month, striking down the Texas law that would have provided higher clinic safety standards? David Altrogge: I'm disappointed by the Court's decision. It was my hope that, as a nation, we would learn from what happened in Philadelphia at Dr. Gosnell's clinic and implement common sense clinic regulations to prevent it from happening again in Texas and elsewhere. The Grand Jury Report in the Gosnell case specifically recommended the implementation of ambulatory surgical center standards to protect women seeking abortions, which is what Texas did through state law HB 2. This Supreme Court decision makes it clear our country hasn't learned what happens when we make women's access to abortion a higher priority than women's safety. It's only a matter of time before our nation has another abortion clinic disaster like we had in Philadelphia. Bound4LIFE: After spending hours upon hours interviewing Kermit Gosnell personally, why do you believe he subjected women to such poor medical treatment? David Altrogge: Before actually meeting him, the media reports I heard about Kermit Gosnell were that hes a monster. Then when I started talking to him I realized, Oh my gosh! Hes thought through what hes doing and he has rational reasons for it. It is much easier if we view him as like a B movie monster and an aberration. It makes us feel better to think, OK, that was one crazy guy, but thank goodness he was an outlier and there arent others like him. Whats so troubling is you look at him and you have to ask the questions: What did he believe? What ideas did he buy into over the years that allowed him to be okay with what he was doing? Here we have a man who is very intelligent, very successfulwho has bought into certain ideas that lead him to some incredibly dark places. They led him to hurt people. Thats one of the most disturbing things about this story. Bound4LIFE: Why did you choose to tell this story from the vantage point of Gosnells former patients, his family and the investigating officials? David Altrogge: The making of this film was a very evolutionary process. We knew from the outset we had to tell it from the vantage point of some of his patientswho were some of the first people we found and interviewed for the film. We also had this incredible document, the Grand Jury Report, that so clearly laid out the case. After reading it, we thought it would be amazing to be able to interview the investigating officialsthe crime scene investigators and the narcotics officer who broke the case. But when we started the film in 2011, there was a gag order on the case so no one involved was allowed to talk about it. Instead, we started by interviewing former patients, people who had known Gosnell, neighbors and some reporters. After the trial, we had the incredible opportunity to finally do those interviews with those police officers and with the crime scene detectivesall those really powerful interviews. Bound4LIFE: As you've researched the abortion industry more broadly, do you see the practices of Gosnell's clinic as the exception or the rule? David Altrogge: I dont believe that Kermit Gosnell is an outlier in the abortion industry. If you look at the amount of money he made doing what he was doing, theres no way that hes the only guy doing it. In the film, we also look at another clinic that also had some really dangerous practices going on in Delaware. The similarities between this Delaware case and Gosnell are striking as far as the Delaware Department of State not responding to complaints, just like the Pennsylvania Department of State failed to respond. Just incredibly similar. Now, are all other clinics as filthy and unsanitary as Dr. Gosnells clinic? I dont think that is an accurate statement either. But it would be naive to say there are no others like Kermit Gosnell, who was making a significant profit providing abortion services. Bound4LIFE: Tell us more about the Planned Parenthood of Delaware story. Why did you include perspectives of pro-choice women on the practices of abortion clinics? David Altrogge: Right in the middle of our documentary production, this whistleblower story breaks in Delaware and we realized we had to go out there and tell this story too. It was important to include the perspectives of pro-choice nurses because what we found and what they shared was powerful. You dont have to be pro-life to stand up and say: Whats happening here is wrong. Even when we disagree on abortion, we should at least agree that women who go into these abortion clinics should expect some level of safe treatment for themselves. Its mind-blowing and unfathomable to me how people who claim to be pro-woman can be against any sort of regulations. To the people who are so vehemently pro-choice, Id say, Look at what happened at Planned Parenthood of Delaware and at Gosnells clinic, and what is happening elsewhere. Why cant you at least say this is wrong, and we have to put a stop to that? Bound4LIFE: As a filmmaker who happens to be a Christian, how do you address fellow believers who choose not to be aware or speak up for the most vulnerable in our society? David Altrogge: I would encourage you to look at where Jesus said: Do for others as you would want them to do for you. When you look at abortion, if you were a potential victim, how would you want others to treat you? Turning a blind eye is not an option for Christians. We have to look at this. We have to ask, What am I called to do as a Christian? How am I called to stand and speak up? I know it makes us so uncomfortable, but we have to address this issue. The trailer for 3801 Lancaster: American Tragedy is included below. Available now for pre-order, 3801 Lancaster: American Tragedy will release August 2 on iTunes and other video platforms. For over a decade, Terri Shepherd has taken part in pro-life advocacy with Bound4LIFE International a grassroots movement to pray for the ending of abortion. She graduated from TheCall Institute at the International House of Prayer University in Kansas City, and earned a degree in social work from the University of Central Florida. Living in the Washington, DC area with her husband, Terri works at a leading Christian public policy organization. Reprinted with permission from Bound4LIFE. Photo courtesy: Bound4LIFE Publication date: July 26, 2016 Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton announced Tim Kaine, the junior Democratic senator from Virginia and former governor of that state, as her vice presidential running mate Friday (July 22). Kaine, a Roman Catholic, will appear with Clinton, a Methodist, at next weeks Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Here are five faith facts about the new vice presidential candidate. 1. He was taught by Jesuits. Kaine was raised Catholic in Missouri. His parents were so devout, Kaine told C-SPAN, that if we got back from a vacation on a Sunday night at 7:30 p.m., they would know the one church in Kansas City that had an 8 p.m. Mass that we can make. He attended an all-boys Jesuit high school in Kansas City and worked for a year with Jesuit missionaries in Honduras, where he taught welding his fathers trade and carpentry. He and his wife attend St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Richmond, Va., which has a predominantly African-American congregation. He co-founded a mens study group there. 2. Kaine says he separates the personal from the political. Kaine is personally against abortion and the death penalty and has sometimes spoken against same-sex marriage and gay adoption, all of which aligns with Catholic teaching. But he has taken different stances in his political life. He has upheld Roe v. Wade and told Chuck Todd of Meet the Press: I have taken the position, which is quite common among Catholics I have got a personal feeling about abortion, but the right rule for government is to let women make their own decisions. As Virginias governor, he oversaw 11 state executions. I have a moral position against the death penalty, he said in 2012. But I took an oath of office to uphold it. Following an oath of office is also a moral obligation. He was fairly late to supporting same-sex marriage, saying in 2013, I believe all people, regardless of sexual orientation, should be guaranteed the full rights to the legal benefits and responsibilities of marriage under the Constitution. And while Kaine opposed gay adoption in 2005 also in line with Catholic Church teaching by 2012 he had reversed his position. 3. He favors allowing women to become priests. When Pope Francis visited Washington, D.C., in September 2015, Kaine attended the pontiffs historic address to Congress. Before the speech, he issued a statement. If women are not accorded equal place in the leadership of the Catholic Church and the other great world religions, they will always be treated as inferiors in earthly matters as well, Kaine said. There is nothing this Pope could do that would improve the world as much as putting the Church on a path to ordain women. 4. Kaine is a fan of Pope Francis Laudato Si. Not all Catholics thought the pontiff should write an encyclical on a secular issue such as global warming, but Kaine agrees with Francis framing of the issue as one of faith. Im sure hes not going to opine on whether a carbon tax is better than a cap-and-trade mechanism, Kaine said of the pope days before the encyclical was published in 2015. That doesnt need to be where he goes but to say, You know, you guys and everybody in power these days, youve got the next generations future in your hands, and you dont want to have to face that question later in life: With the science what it was, and with you having the opportunity to do something about it, why did you choose not to?' 5. Kaine speaks openly about his faith. My faith is central to everything I do, he once told the website Patch. My faith position is a Good Samaritan position of trying to watch out for the other person. And in a recent C-SPAN interview he said: I do what I do for spiritual reasons. Im always thinking about the momentary reality but also how it connects with bigger matters of whats important in life. Courtesy: Religion News Service Photo: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., wave to the crowd during a campaign rally at Ernst Community Cultural Center in Annandale, Va., on July 14, 2016. Photo courtesy: REUTERS/Carlos Barria Publication date: July 26, 2016 Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's running mate is former governor of Virginia Tim Kaine, who is currently serving as a junior Senator in Virginia. Kaine has been attending St. Elizabeth Catholic Church for the last 30 years in a predominantly black neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia. Coming from a Catholic background, he graduated from a Jesuit all-boys high school. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Kaine said that faith is what motivates him to pursue his public service. He shared a "powerful faith experience" in his early life, which shaped him as a person. When he was in Harvard Law School, he saw himself moving away from his faith and uncertain about his future goals in life. So he decided to take his time off for one year in 1980, and volunteered to teach carpentry and welding skills to teenage boys in Honduras. "The transformative event in my life, next to being a husband and father, was this year that I spent as a missionary in Honduras, not only informing my views of our country, but giving me a sense of mission in life at a time when I lacked it. That was a powerful faith experience for me," he said. Kaine personally opposes abortion, but has spoken in favor of Roe vs. Wade. When he was the governor of Virginia, he had said, "I take an oath to uphold the laws of the commonwealth, and my church doesn't make me cross my fingers when I do. And so I am going to uphold the laws, even the laws that I have some discomfort with. But I also have the ability to look at new laws and what kind of directions we can go, to try to influence the debate in ways that are consistent with who I am and what I believe." He banned "partial-birth" abortions in his state, for which he was criticized by the pro-choice groups. He said in 2008: "[Voters] didn't want somebody who just what the polls said... they wanted a thinking, feeling, believing human being, even if some of their views may be different than theirs, and voters felt comfortable with me. And I have taken some positions that are not completely popular as governor, but voters have been willing to support me on them." He disputed the GOP's stance to defund Planned Parenthood, and sided with abortion rights advocacy groups. But his policies did not always make pro-choicers happy. In his 2005 campaign for the seat of governor, he pledged to decrease abortions in Virginia by encouraging abortion and abstinence-focused education. In 2007, Kaine defunded the abstinence-focused education as he thought it did not achieve the desired result of unwanted pregnancies. He has held a flexible position on the issue of same-sex marriage. In 2003, he released a statement opposing Massachusetts courts' ruling legalizing gay weddings. "Marriage between a man and a woman is the building block of the family and a keystone of our civil society," said Kaine, who was the lieutenant governor of Virginia at the time. "It has been so for centuries in societies around the world. I cannot agree with a court decision suddenly declaring that marriage must now be redefined to include unions between people of the same gender." In 2001, he had supported "civil benefits" for gay people, provided it was not marriage or civil unions. In 2006, Kaine opposed Marshall-Newman Amendment, which defined marriage as solely between one man and one woman, but later signed it. He also later voiced support for same-sex marriage in 2013 and has supported rights of gay couples to adopt. Tim LaHaye, the author of "Left Behind" series died after suffering complications from stroke at the age of 90. He passed away on July 25th at a La Mesa hospital in California. The news of his passing away was announced on his official ministry Facebook page. "Thrilled as I am that he is where he has always wanted to be, his departure leaves a void in my soul I don't expect to fill until I see him again," said Jerry B. Jenkins, Left Behind's co-author, in a tribute he wrote for Christianity Today. "The Tim LaHaye I got to know had a pastor's heart and lived to share his faith," Jenkins wrote. "He listened to and cared about everyone, regardless of age, gender, or social standing. If Tim was missing from the autograph table or the green room of a network television show, he was likely in a corner praying with someone he'd just met-from a reader to a part-time bookstore stock clerk to a TV network anchorman." LaHaye pastored churches in South Carolina and Minnesota before moving to California, where he took a leadership position in Scott Memorial Baptist Church. The church later expanded to three more locations. LaHaye's father was an autoworker who died when he was 9 years old. He told the Christian Science Monitor that the pastor's eulogy at his father's funeral gave him hope of seeing him one day, in the rapture. "This is not the end of Frank LaHaye," San Diego Christian quoted him as saying in a 2004 interview by CSM. "Because he accepted Jesus, the day will come when the Lord will shout from heaven and descend, and the dead in Christ will rise first and then we'll be caught up together to meet him in the air." "All of a sudden, there was hope in my heart I'd see my father again," he said. LaHaye retired from being a pastor in 1981 and began writing books, among which his 16-book series "Left Behind" sold over 80 million copies. He also wrote a variety of non-fiction books on themes including family life, biblical view of sex and marriage, the will of God, and Jesus Christ. LaHaye and his wife, Beverly LaHaye, were called "the Christian power couple" by TIME Magazine. Beverly LaHaye founded Concerned Women for America in San Diego in 1979, and is the institution's head. The couple donated millions of dollars to a number of religious institutions including Liberty University and San Diego Christian College. He is survived by his wife, and 4 children, 9 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren. Gene editing, brain chip implants, and synthetic blood may reduce the risk of disease, sharpen minds, and improve body strength. But messing around with nature in order to enhance humans isnt something many Americans are excited about. A new survey from the Pew Research Center asked approximately 4,700 adults what they thought of three potential medical procedures that could improve human life. For each, adults were more worried than enthusiastic. Religious Americans were especially concernedin fact, the more religious they are, the more concerned they were. All of the Abrahamic faithsJudaism, Christianity and Islamshare the belief that men and women have been created, to some extent, in Gods image, wrote David Masci in an accompanying essay. According to many theologians, the idea that human beings in certain ways mirror God make some, but not all, religious denominations within this broad set of connected traditions wary of using new ... 1 THIS IS ESSENTIALLY a story that is of great shame to the Australian government, and especially to the military awards protocol people in the Defence Department. The story of a man who led a heroic charge against a superior enemy force in Vietnam resorting to bayonet when the bullets had gone and who then served his country as a kiap and teacher in Papua New Guinea and who traversed the country from north to south for something to do in school holidays. Frank the mad Spaniard Alcorta, now 75, was born in the Basque region, migrating to Australia in 1960 without a word of English, no profession, ten shillings in my pocket, a pair of strong shoulders and a willingness to work hard. In 1961, with drover friend, Alexander Dutchie Holland, he prospected for opal, shot dingoes and kangaroos for bounty, built fences and did odd jobs in cattle stations in outback Queensland. Taking a break in Brisbane with Frank at the end of that year, Dutchie pointed to an Army recruitment centre in Mary Street and on 17 December they both joined up. Four years later, on 18 August 1966, a day hell never forget, Sergeant Frank Alcorta stepped off an armoured personnel carrier (APC) into a swarm of enemy soldiers at the edge of a rubber plantation in Vietnam. In the village of Long Tan, four kilometres east of the Australian base at Nui Dat, Australian troops had made contact with the forward units of 2,500 Viet Cong guerillas and North Vietnamese regulars. There were just 105 men in D Company, and they were engaging a force over 20 times their strength. Let the Federal MP for Hinkler, Paul Neville, take up the story (Private Members' Motion on the Battle of Long Tan, 31 May 2010): [Alcorta's] A Company came forward with 10 APCs, seven of which were heading towards the battle. About a kilometre short of Long Tan they too met a group of Vietnamese of company strength. They took them on. One particular man whom I know in Bundaberg rolled off his APC [this was Alcorta]. He and his machine gunner lay on the ground, then got up and went straight into the face of the enemy, firing at them as they went. When their ammunition ran out they went with bayonets. It was such a convincing assault that the company of Vietnamese withdrewturned and ran. Sgt Alcortas A Company was able to break the enemy line and make it to D Company in the thick of battle. Mr Hinkler continued: home US Democratic National Convention 2016 news: Convention opens with alarming divisions, but Democrats hope to ease discord; Set to nominate Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton was set to become the first woman presidential nominee of a major U.S. party on Tuesday, a historic moment that Democrats hope will help eclipse rancor between supporters of Clinton and her rival in the primary contests, Bernie Sanders. The party will make its nomination on the second day of a convention that began on Monday with anti-Clinton feeling among die-hard Sanders supporters on full and vocal display. Sanders, one of the main speakers on the first evening, portrayed Clinton as a fellow soldier in his fight for economic equality, but some of his supporters booed the mere mention of her name. He and the other main speakers on Monday, liberal favorite U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and first lady Michelle Obama, offered stirring endorsements of Clinton as the party tried to push through the discord and find a common goal in beating Republican Donald Trump in the Nov. 8 election. The furor in Philadelphia was a setback to Democrats' hopes that their convention would contrast with Trump's sometimes chaotic White House campaign and show the party moving beyond the bruising primary battle between Sanders, 74, a U.S. senator from Vermont, and former Secretary of State Clinton, 68. Supporters see Clinton's Washington credentials - she has also been a first lady and a U.S. senator - as showing she has the experience needed for the White House. Detractors view her as too cozy with the establishment, and with political baggage dating back to the start of her husband's first term in 1993. The convention's second day is aimed at highlighting Clinton's work on issues such as women, families and healthcare and as the country's top diplomat, a Clinton campaign official said. It will include a prime-time speech by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and the formalities of nominating Clinton to be the first woman U.S. president. In a show-stealing speech on Monday night, Michelle Obama linked that landmark to her own husband's role as the first black U.S. president. "I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters, two beautiful and intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn," Obama said. "And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States." 'WE WANT BERNIE' Sanders, who drew a fervent following of youth and liberals during a primary campaign that called for a tough hand on Wall Street and more aggressive steps to counter social inequality, struggled on Monday to get his own supporters in line. At a meeting before the convention began, he was jeered by his own delegates when he urged them to back Clinton and focus on defeating Trump, a man he called a "bully and a demagogue." "We want Bernie!" they shouted in anger at both Clinton's victory in the race for the Democratic nomination and emails leaked on Friday suggesting the party leadership had tried to sabotage Sanders' insurgent campaign. "Brothers and sisters, this is the real world that we live in," Sanders pleaded. Trump reveled in the Democrats' opening day disorder, and made a pitch for Sanders voters to turn to him. "Sad to watch Bernie Sanders abandon his revolution. We welcome all voters who want to fix our rigged system and bring back our jobs," Trump said on Twitter. Sanders had "totally sold out" to Clinton, he added in another tweet. A Clinton campaign official noted on Tuesday that while Sanders had backed Clinton, the runner-up in the Republican primary contest, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, refused to endorse Trump at his party's convention last week. In the opening hours of the Democrats' gathering, party officials struggled to carry out business as angry Sanders supporters roared their disapproval, drawing a deafening response from Clinton delegates. "We're all Democrats and we need to act like it," U.S. Representative Marcia Fudge of Ohio, the convention's chairwoman, shouted over the uproar. Sanders tried to head off the disruptions, sending an email to delegates as the convention opened urging them not to interrupt the proceedings. Several speakers pleaded for peace between the factions. Comedian Sarah Silverman, a Sanders supporter, said she would support Clinton "with gusto" and sternly added, "To the 'Bernie or Bust' people, you're being ridiculous." Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned, effective at the end of the convention, over the email controversy. At a gathering of Florida delegates on Monday, she was booed by Sanders supporters. The DNC issued an apology on Monday to Sanders, his supporters, and the whole party for the email flap and said it would take action to ensure it never happens again. Trump, a 70-year-old New York businessman who has never been elected to public office, was formally anointed as the Republicans' White House nominee last week. He pulled ahead in at least one opinion poll on Monday, after lagging Clinton in most national surveys for months. A CNN/ORC opinion poll gave him a 48 percent to 45 percent lead over Clinton in a two-way presidential contest. home World ISIS attacks church in France; Elderly priest brutally murdered in Normandy A priest in his mid-80s was killed with a knife and another hostage seriously wounded on Tuesday in an attack on a church in northern France carried out by assailants linked to Islamic State. Both attackers were shot dead by French police. Five people in all had been taken hostage. A police source said it appeared that the priest had his throat slit. Speaking at the scene of the attack in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, French President Francois Hollande said France should "use all its means" in its war against the militant group, against which France has launched air strikes in Syria and Iraq. The president called it a "dreadful terrorist attack" and told reporters the attackers had pledge allegiance to IS. The IS news agency Amaq said two of its "soldiers" had carried out the attack. "We are put to the test yet again, Hollande said. "The threat remains very high." The attack is the latest in a string of deadly assaults in Europe, including the mass killing in Nice, southern France, on Bastille Day and four incidents in Germany. Many of the attacks have had links to Islamist militants and IS has called for supporters to target countries that it has been fighting, mainly in Iraq and Syria. Tuesday's attack took place during morning mass at the Saint-Etienne parish church, south of Rouen in Normandy. The investigation was handed to the anti-terrorist unit of the Paris prosecutor's office. SLAIN PRIEST The Archbishop of Rouen identified the slain priest as Father Jacques Hamel and said he was 84, although others sources suggest he was born in 1930. The Vatican condemned what it said was a "barbarous killing". French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told France Info radio that the perpetrators have been killed by France's BRI, an elite police anti-crime force, when they came out of the church. Bomb squad officers aided by sniffer dogs scoured the church for any possible explosives. Prime Minister Manuel Valls branded the attack "barbaric" and said it was a blow to all Catholics and the whole of France. "We will stand together," Valls said on Twitter. The attack will heap yet more pressure on Hollande to regain control of national security, with France already under a state of emergency 10 months ahead of a presidential election. The Normandy attack came 12 days after a 31-year-old Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel plowed his heavy goods truck into a crowd of revelers in the French Riviera city of Nice, killing 84 people. Islamic State claimed that attack. "Horror. Everything is being done to trigger a war of religions," tweeted Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a former conservative prime minister who now heads the Senate's foreign affairs committee. Hollande visited the scene with Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, meeting members of the emergency services. Cazeneuve has come under fire from Conservative politicians for not doing enough to prevent the Bastille Day Nice attack. French lawmakers approved a six-month extension of emergency rule after the July 14 attack while the Socialist government also said it would step up strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. home Faith Women bishop objectors claim their protest is based on the Bible's teachings Two ministers who objected to the ordination of women bishops explained their objection is based on what the Bible teaches. One of them, Rev. Stephen Holland, told Christian Today that his protests were not meant to stop the consecration of women bishops. He said he merely wanted to send a message across. Holland, who is not part of the Church of England but is an independent minister from Lancashire, maintained that "there are no women bishops in the Bible." He explained that his protest is not about equality of the sexes but with the roles that God has assigned to men and women. "Objections to women holding positions of leadership within the church of Christ has nothing whatsoever to do with equality, fairness, or worth. It has to do with roles that God Himself has given to both male and female," Holland told the publication. Another minister, Rev. Paul Williamson from the Church of England, explained he respectfully asked permission from the Archbishop of York to voice his objection, but it was not granted. Like Holland, Williamson's objection to the ordination of Bishop Libby Lane was based on the fact that no woman bishop has been identified in the Bible. "The Council of Nicea in 325 states clearly in Canon 1 that priests are men and uses gender specifics. The Church of England is bound by the Council of Nicea," he said, according to Christian Today. The two ministers' statements came a few days after a group that supports women bishops urged the Church of England to prevent protesters during consecration rites. In a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Women and the Church addressed the presence of protesters at the ordination of women's bishops, saying the act undermines women who have been called by God to serve as ministers. "It undermines and insults all women: and especially women for whom female bishops are potent symbols of a radical shift in the Church's treatment of women.'Maybe things haven't changed at all, underneath', they might conclude," WATCH wrote. home US Who is Tim Kaine? Catholic, former missionary - Hillary Clinton's pick for her vice-president Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton announced Friday that she chose Senator Tim Kaine, a Catholic Jesuit and former missionary, to be her vice-presidential running mate. The 58-year-old politician who described himself as "boring" and by Politco as "media-savvy," "micro-manager" and a "wonk," grew up a Catholic Jesuit raised by devout Catholic parents. "If we got back from a vacation on a Sunday night at 7:30 p.m., they would know the one church in Kansas City that had an 8 p.m. Mass that we can make," shared Kaine in an interview with C-Span on how dedicated his parents were to their faith. Kaine himself openly talks about his Christian faith even as a politician and considers it one of the most important things in life. "My faith is central to everything I do," he told Patch. "My faith position is a Good Samaritan position of trying to watch out for the other person." He also told C-Span, "I do what I do for spiritual reasons. I'm always thinking about the momentary reality but also how it connects with bigger matters of what's important in life." The father of three spent a year as a missionary in Honduras between 1980 and 1981 and volunteered to teach carpentry and welding at a vocational school to teenage boys. He considered his year-long missionary work as a "powerful faith experience" as well as "transformative" next to his role as a family man. He added that being a missionary gave him a sense of purpose in life and helped shape the way he saw his country. Married for over 30 years with wife Anne Holton, the couple attend St. Elizabeth Catholic Church, a largely African-American congregation in Richmond, Virginia. Kaine also serves as Tenor to the church choir. Although the Catholic senator confessed to personally stand against abortion, death penalty and same-sex marriage, his political record said otherwise. Kaine supported abortion as women's rights, voted in favor of same-sex marriage and gay adoption subsequently, and approved 11 state executions. Cardinal Burke: 'My mother was advised to abort me' One of the most conservative cardinals in the Catholic Church has described how his mother was advised to have him aborted. Cardinal Raymond Burke, currently patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, reveals his mother's health problems during her pregnancy in a book-length interview with the French journalist Guillaume d'Alancon. She became seriously ill, and a doctor advised her to have an abortion. "You already have five children, and it is important that you are healthy so that you can take care of them," said the doctor. Cardinal Burke continued: "My parents refused. They said they believed in God and that Christ would give them all the help they needed. "My mother gave birth to me, and everything went well. "To protect and defend human life is an issue that concerns me deeply, because I could just as easily have been killed," the Cardinal says in the book, Hope for the World, according to Vatican Radio. Cardinal Burke talked also about the "violent attack on life" of the modern age in which "the sexual act has been distorted by contraception". He urged Catholics to stand up for and defend human life. The devil wants people to despair, he added. "He tries to sow doubt in our minds when it comes to defending human life in the public space. In a subtle way, he tempts us to remain silent, not to listen to the voice of our conscience." Churches given 2.4m security fund to protect from hate crimes Churches and other places of worship will receive 2.4m for security measures following a spike in hate crimes reported since the EU referendum result. The funding is part of a host of new measures under the government's Hate Crime Action Plan which was announced on Tuesday by Home Secretary Amber Rudd. Mosques and other religious buildings will benefit from the fund to be used for "protective security measures". The plan was unveiled on the day a priest was killed while celebrating mass in France. ISIS have claimed responsibility for the attack. Under the plan Rudd will also ask Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) to analyse how police forces respond to hate crimes. The government will also work with schools to tackle abuse. Teachers and students will be given "new tools" and a programme to help teachers "facilitate conversations" when terrorists incidents happen. Figures show more than 6,000 hate crimes have been reported to police since mid June. This was a 20 per cent rise compared to the same period in 2015. The statistics show that 10 per cent of young people were the victim of faith-related hate crimes and eight per cent of race hate crimes. The daily rate peaked on 25 June, the day after the referendum result was announced. Churches and other places of worship can bid for a grant until 20 September but the money does not extend to security guards. Instead applications can be made for up to 80 per cent of the cost of equipment such as CCTV, access control gates and fencing to protect sites from attack. Rudd said: "This Government is determined to build a Britain that works for everyone. "Those who practise hatred send out a message that it's OK to abuse and attack others because of their nationality, ethnicity or religious background. That it's OK to disregard our shared values and promote the intolerance that causes enormous harm to communities and individuals. "Well, I have a very clear message for them. We will not stand for it. Hatred has no place whatsoever in a 21st century Great Britain that works for everyone. "We are Great Britain because we are united by values such as democracy, free speech, mutual respect and opportunity for all. We are the sum of all our parts a proud, diverse society. Hatred does not get a seat at the table, and we will do everything we can to stamp it out." Controversial evangelist, activist and bestselling 'Left Behind' author dies aged 90 Tim LaHaye, who has died after a stroke aged 90, was best known for his partnership with novelist Jerry Jenkins in producing the 16 Left Behind novels, a publishing sensation that sold 80 million copies worldwide. However, he was a prominent figure in conservative evangelical circles for most of his life, and his views were rarely uncontroversial including those expressed in the Left Behind books. Born in 1927 in Detroit, Michigan, LaHaye served in the US Air Force in WWII. He attended the fundamentalist Bob Jones University and served as pastor of the Scott Memorial Baptist Church in San Diego for 25 year, founding the San Diego Christian College in 1971. LaHaye was highly active politically, helping Jerry Falwell to found the Moral Majority in 1979. The movement became very powerful as a way of channelling the social conservativism of evangelicals into Republican political channels, and is credited with helping secure the election of Ronald Reagan. He also helped found the Council for National Policy, an invitation-only think thank, the American Coalition for Traditional Values and the Coalition for Religious Freedom, as well as the Institute for Creation Research. His wife Beverley founded Concerned Women of American to counter feminist organisations. LaHaye also believed in a global conspiracy led by the "Illuminati", which he thought was a "centuries-old conspiracy to use government, education, and media to destroy every vestige of Christianity within our society and establish a new world order". He was a fierce opponent of homosexuality who was also accused of antisemitism and anti-Catholicism. LaHaye's Left Behind series was based on the book of Revelation. It is based on his acceptance of 'Pre-Millennial Dispensationalism', which includes the belief Jesus will return to earth and Christians will be "raptured" into heaven with him. LaHaye believed this period would last up to 10 years, during which time there would be a 'Tribulation' on earth. He thought this would be marked by an attack on Israel led by Russia, which Israel would defeat, followed by the rise of a one-world government and a single synchretistic religion headed by the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope. After a final battle at Armageddon Christ returns and rules on earth for a thousand years, after which evil is again unleashed. Following this there is a final judgment and the creation of a new heaven and a new earth. LaHaye's scenario is based on the interpretation of Revelation held by the founder of the Brethren movement, J N Darby, and popularised through the influential Schofield Reference Bible. It is not regarded as serious exegesis by biblical scholars, though it is widely held in many conservative circles. His collaboration with Jenkins involved LaHaye providing what he said was the biblical framework for the books so that Jenkins could write the story around it. The books popularised 'End-Times' theology far more widely a development regretted by scholars, who see Revelation as more of a series of reflections on contemporary society than as a precise prediction of the future. A 2014 film version starring Nicholas Cage was panned by critics, scoring two per cent on the Rotten Tomatoes review site. Tributes were paid to LaHaye by many evangelicals. Rev Jerry Falwell Sr said the impact of Left Behind was "probably greater than that of any other book in modern times, outside the Bible". His co-author Jerry Jenkins said: "Thrilled as I am that he is where he has always wanted to be, his departure leaves a void in my soul I don't expect to fill until I see him again." Rev Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said: "Dr LaHaye has blessed the church in America with a legacy that will far outlast his time on this earth. The principled stand he took on countless issues has impacted the social, cultural, and political landscape for generations. He was a once-in-a-millennium type of leader who paved the way for future generations." Australia spent millions of dollars on her colony prior to independence and continues to spend $500 million annually even today, but why has this aid money not transformed the lives of the rural masses scattered across remote and mountainous terrain and on islands separated by often treacherous seas? These articles brought a million thoughts to my mind of what wonders Australian aid could have brought to Papua New Guinea had more attention been focused on building roads and bridges to link rural areas and urban centres. LAST week we read Lindsay Bonds story of the opening of three bridges worth K139 million at Eroro, Girua and Ambogo in Oro Province, built with the support of Australian aid, and yesterday we read of the death of a mother of eight children in Dr Kevin Pondikous searingly personal piece . The efficacy of Australian aid money on the lives of Papua New Guineans, especially in rural areas, has often been raised in PNG Attitude and remains a matter of contentious debate. It brings forward related issues like how much of this aid money goes back to Australia in the form of contracts, company profits, consultants and procurement of Australian goods and services. It is understandable that, for political, economic and security reasons, Australia has her own foreign aid priorities. However, as a political and economic powerhouse in the Pacific, her aid money should make colossal and sustainable impact in a recipient country like PNG. In PNG, infrastructure such as roads and bridges is key to dismantling development obstacles and disparity, lopsided social services and opening up economic development opportunities. In order for social services like health and education to cheaply, equitably and effectively reach the bulk of PNGs population in isolated rural areas, roads and bridges are vital links. The people of PNG know how to survive in this harsh environment, either with or without the presence of government. They know how to get to the nearest health centre or market. They will carry a sick person long distances to get to the nearest health centre; they will paddle a canoe for many hours to get produce to market. They are born and bred to walk and paddle long distances no matter how severe the sun, wind or rain. Its in their blood. They have a natural ability to survive which serves them well, but even this does not allow them to overcome every disadvantage of being remote from the benefits of modern life. Efficient road and sea links would solve many problems as well as opening up new business opportunities. Of course, health and education, the two sectors that Australian aid concentrates on, are important. But how can these services reach the people and transform their lives if there is no efficient, low cost and reliable transport? Take for example, a place like Karimui in Simbu Province, which is often described as coastal in the highlands because of its unique condition for growing all kinds of crops like coffee, cocoa, coconut and betel nut but which has no road link with the rest of Simbu and PNG. After almost 41 years of independence, this huge area of high economic potential and its 12,000 population are only reachable by which makes delivering health and education services to the people very expensive. It costs an average of K6,000 to airlift just one sick person or pregnant mother from Karimui to Kundiawa. Air charters to deliver education services cost around the same. If there was a road link, the K6,000 could provide access to health centres for 600 sick people. Motor vehicle hire would cost only K1,000 a return trip to Karimui to deliver educational materials and staff. Moreover, Simbu as a province could change greatly because of the huge economic potential of Karimui. In Karimui, Yehebi and many other places like them, there is no significant physical evidence of aid money; very little has trickled down to those whom aid is meant to benefit. I am not advocating that all Australian aid to be concentrated on building roads and bridges for PNG but aid should create a rippling, continuing and monumental impact in PNG so that effective health and education services are available to all communities regardless of whether they are in rural areas or urban centres. The $500 million of aid money Australia spends on PNG each year could have transformed the lives of the rural majority had it been concentrated on opening up the isolated rural areas to the outside world. As far as PNG is concerned, no matter how much aid money Australia spends on health and education services, its impact in rural areas will continue to be insignificant compared to towns and cities because of the cost of service delivery. If Australia is serious about its aid money making a sustainable transformation in the lives of the bulk of Papua New Guineans, it should be thinking seriously about roads and bridges. Without solving this problem, equitable delivery of health and education services will remain as great challenges to Australia and PNG. Jacques Hamel: The humble priest who was 'treasured' by the community Father Jacques Hamel, 84, was celebrating Mass with two nuns and two other worshippers inside the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen in northern France when they came under attack. Local people paid tribute to a "good" and humble priest who never courted attention. A woman who worshipped at the church described Hamel as "a man who did his job to the end". She added: "He was elderly but was always available for whoever. He was a good priest. He has been here for a long time and many parishioners knew him well." Father John Hogan, OCDS, a Secular Discalced Carmelite priest, tweeted that Hamel was "a good priest...discreet. He was quiet, didn't like attention...He assumed his duties to the end. He was well-liked. It seems he was a simple, faithful priest, quietly serving God and his people." A woman who works at a local beauty parlour, Eulalie Garcia, echoed the tributes to the self-effacing priest. "My family has lived here for 35 years and we have always known him," Garcia told local reporters. "He was someone who was treasured by the community. He was very discreet and didn't like to draw attention to himself." Hamel, who had been retired for nearly a decade, had lived in northern France all his life having been born there in 1930. Ordained in 1958, Hamel spent more than 30 years at St-Etienne, and celebrated 50 years in the clergy in 2008. He continued to officiate regularly as auxiliary at the church in St Etienne-du-Rouvray as well as in neighbouring Elbeuf, stepping in for the parish's regular priest, Father Auguste Moanda-Phuati, when the latter was unavailable. According to the Archdiocese of Rouen, Hamel requested after officially retiring at 75 that he remain in the parish and continue to help when necessary. "This man was a good man," said the president of the regional council, Herve Morin. Writing on Twitter, Morin described the killing as a tragedy that has hit Normandy, France and the Catholic Church. Hamel lived in the rectory at the modernised church and commune, which lies on the site of Gallo-Roman settlements dating back to 200-300 AD. In 1790, during the French Revolution, Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray was constituted as a political administration. The town became urbanised from the mid-nineteenth century with the arrival of railway and the industrial revolution. The first steam trains run by the Western Railway Company between Paris and Rouen began service in 1843. Then in the 1860s a major cotton factory was built, creating hundreds of jobs. In 1923, Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray became one of the first cities in France to be majority communist. Now it is a quiet town. Moanda-Phuati told Liberation: "I could not possibly imagine anything like this happening (here). We have never received any threats." Japan: Church commemorating 26 crucified Christians may become UNESCO World Heritage Site The oldest church in Japan, built in honour of the 26 martyred Christians crucified in 1597, has been nominated as a World Heritage Site. The Oura church in Nagasaki is one of several Christian sites in Nagasaki and Kumamoto to be designated by a government panel. The area was the scene of terrible persecution and Christianity was banned for most of the Edo period (1603-1868). According to Japan Today, it is the second time the sites have been picked after UNESCO told the government panel it had not provided sufficient explanation of why they were significant. The presentations were reviewed after UNESCO said they should focus on Japan's history of banning Christianity. Other churches nominated are dotted among remote islands of Nagasaki and Sakitsu village in Amakusa, where Christians lived in hiding to escape persecution. Up to 6,000 martyrs may have died between 1614-1640 alone, and for many years the Church was presumed extinct. However, in 1865, after Japan had been forced to open its borders to foreign trade and foreign residents, villagers from a village near Nagasaki visited a new Catholic church built by the Paris Foreign Missions Society. They told the priest that they and their families had maintained Christian worship in secret for 250 years. Their prayers contained smatterings of old Portuguese and Latin and they had preserved old rosaries that belonged to their martyred fathers. It was later found that tens of thousands of 'Hidden Christians' had survived. The story of the persecution was told by Japan's most internationally famous novelist, Shusaku Endo, in his book Silence. It has been filmed by Martin Scorsese and will be released later this year. 'Left Behind' author Tim LaHaye dies of a stroke at the age of 90 The evangelist and author best known for the "Left Behind' series Tim LaHaye has passed away at the age of 90. His family announced in a statement on his ministry's Facebook page that LaHaye had "graduated to heaven" on Monday morning after suffering a stroke. He was being treated at San Diego hospital and a call for prayer had gone out over the weekend, but he failed to recover. Earlier, his daughter Linda had said: "He will not recover from this, he will soon be graduated to heaven." Jerry B. Jenkins, who co-authored the apocalyptic "Left Behind" book series, paid tribute to LaHaye as a "spiritual giant" with a "pastor's heart". "Thrilled as I am that he is where he has always wanted to be, his departure leaves a void in my soul I don't expect to fill until I see him again," he said. "Left Behind" was a huge hit when it first landed on the fiction scene just over 20 years ago, spending 300 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, according to Christianity Today. The series imagines the rapture has taken place, plunging the world and those left behind into chaos. The 16-book series gave rise to the movie by the same name starring Kirk Cameron and a reboot in 2014 starring Nicolas Cage. However, LaHaye was also a prolific non-fiction writer, publishing books on a broad range of issues, including sex, marriage, homosexuality, Bible prophecy, the afterlife, and the power of the cross. According to his ministry, he also founded two accredited Christian high schools, a school system of 10 Christian schools and what is now San Diego Christian College. In 2005, Time magazine described LaHaye and his wife Beverly, founder of Concerned Women for America, as a "Christian power couple" and listed them among the 25 most influential evangelicals in America. He is survived by Beverly and daughter Linda. Many thousands of displaced children in Nigeria on brink of starvation Hundreds of thousands of children in north-eastern Nigeria are facing starvation because of the ravages of the terror group Boko Haram. Many will die if they are not helped soon, according to aid agencies on the ground. The severe malnutrition among the children is a result of the seven-year campaign of terror by the Islamist group. More than 20,000 people have been murdered and more than two million displaced. The crisis is particularly acute in Borno State, but other neighbouring states like Adamawa and Yobe are also affected by the crisis. ''I met a child today who came to our clinic, looking very thin and definitely showing signs of hunger. His parents don't live in our camp, but they brought him here for health checks," Father Maurice Kweirang, of St Theresa Catholic Church's displaced person's camp in Yola in Adamawa State, told World Watch Monitor. "There are many of them in such a situation. They live in host communities but are facing malnutrition, mostly unnoticed. Nobody takes care of them even though they are here in large numbers. They refuse to go back to their homes and villages, because those who went back are starving now." According to UNICEF, nearly a quarter of a million children in parts of Borno state alone, formerly controlled by Boko Haram, suffer from severe malnutrition. In many areas taken back from Boko Haram by the Nigerian Army, UNICEF found people without water, food or sanitation. Last month, Doctors Without Borders foumd as many as six people were dying daily from disease and malnutrition at a displaced people's camp in Bama, Borno where 4.5 million people are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance. In Yobe 3.2 million people are estimated to be in need, while in Adamawa 900,000 people short of food. Father Maurice warned that the food is running out and appealed for more help. "So far we are able to provide three sparse meals and other things to them, but the Church has reached its limits and we may probably run out of food in the next four months. If help does not come, we will not be able to feed these people." French church attack: Priest's throat slit by 'two terrorists who claimed to be from Islamic State' A French priest has been killed in a hostage attack on a Catholic church in Normandy. The priest, named as Father Jacques Hamel, had his throat slit by "two terrorists who claimed to be from Islamic State", said French President Francois Hollande. He was killed while celebrating mass in a Catholic church in the small town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen. One other was seriously wounded and is "fighting for their life", said the French interior ministry. The two assailants burst into the small church during morning mass and took five people hostage in the church in northern France. The hostages included two nuns and two worshippers as well as the priest, who was in his 80s. The two hostage takers have been shot dead by police. French police confirmed they had "neutralised" the two men, who were armed with blades. ISIS have claimed responsibility for the attack and said the assailants were "two soldiers of the Islamic State". One of the attackers was known to French intelligence and was on their terror watch list, according to local media. French TV channel M6 has reported one of the attackers had tried to travel to Syria and was arrested at the airport. He was imprisoned and later released with an electronic tag, according to M6. The French authorities have launched an anti-terror investigation and the anti-terror prosecutor will lead the examination. A police spokesman said President Hollande and the interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve would support the Catholic community particularly targeted in the attack. French Prime Minister Manual Valls expressed his "horror" at the "barbaric attack" on a church. "The whole of France and all Catholics are wounded. We will stand together," he wrote on Twitter. Pope Francis decried the "pain and horror of this absurd violence". A spokesman said the pontiff, who is currently in Poland for the Catholic World Youth Day celebrations, was "horrified". Pope Francis condemned the "absurd violence" and "all forms of hatred", said his spokesman Father Federico Lombardi. "We are particularly shocked because this horrible violence took place in a Church, in which God's love is announced, with the barbarous killing of a priest and the involvement of the faithful," he added. Former French President Nicholas Sarkozy said "the soul of France" had been affected by an attack on a Catholic priest. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, tweeted that "evil attacks the weakest". Evil attacks the weakest, denies truth & love, is defeated through Jesus Christ. Pray for France, for victims, for their communities. Justin Welby (@JustinWelby) July 26, 2016 The UK Prime Minister offered her condolences to the French people and described the attack as "sickening". She said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with them." The attack is the latest in a string of deadly assaults in Europe. In France, the Normandy attack comes 12 days after a 31-year-old Tunisian killed 84 people in the French Riviera city of Nice when he ploughed his heavy goods truck into a crowd of revellers. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in Nice. Additional reporting by Reuters. Radical hospitality: Why we're called to love in the face of terror Every day has brought with it a new story of terror from the brutality and slaughter of the Nice attacks to the fatal shootings at random of nine people in Munich last weekend. Just today, a priest has been murdered in France. And on, and on, and on it goes. But among these attacks, there seems to be a worrying pattern emerging when you look at the profiles of some but definitely not all of the perpetrators. Yesterday we heard news that a young Syrian refugee blew himself up on Sunday, injuring 12 near a music festival in the southern German town of Ansbach. A few days before that in south-west Germany, a Syrian refugee armed with a machete killed a woman and injured two others. Just a week before that, a teenaged Afghan asylum-seeker injured four people after attacking them with an axe on a train in Wurzburg. According to reports, Germany's Federal Criminal Police are following an increased number of leads on possible terrorists among asylum seekers in Germany, with a number of investigations having been launched. Yesterday, Thomas de Maiziere, Germany's interior minister, warned against tarring all refugees with the same brush, despite these individual cases having been launched. A spokeswoman for Angela Merkel added: "Most of the terrorists who carried out attacks in recent months in Europe were not refugees." But even if they were, we need to ask questions about why this is happening. Refugees are not intent on destroying our way of life. They have not moved to our European cities because they want to commit these acts of atrocity. A refugee is defined as a person who has been forced to leave their country to escape war, natural disaster or persecution. A refugee is a person desperately in need of our help. The Syrian crisis has led to the most devastating human disaster of our time. Nearly 500,000 Syrians have died. Almost half the population around 11 million have had to leave their homes. There are five million people in camps in nearby countries. There are some 30,000 unaccompanied children living in camps in France and Kent. As the Christian group For Refugees reminds us: "These broken people are not economic migrants chasing a better future. They are refugees from war and would return to their homes if they could. "Their only choice was to risk their lives by fleeing for safety and survival. Many left with only the clothes on their back and what they could carry." When you hear the words "young Syrian refugee", you might be more likely to have negative thoughts about crime and terrorism than positive or empathetic ones about a people who are understandably broken by the things they have witnessed in their lives. And sadly that's the fault of tabloid media that reduces whole groups of people into narrow stereotypes. But of course they are also responding to human nature. So often humans have neither the time nor the capacity nor the interest to understand the complexities of others' stories. We want to easily understand who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. Most often 'we' are the good ones and anyone who is not like us is seen as 'the other'; those we need to fear and protect ourselves from. And that is exactly why terrorist groups are able to thrive recruiting those who feel ostracised and isolated, judged and discriminated against. But what must our response be as Christians to these perilous times? As hard as it may seem, our role here must not be to point the blame at whole groups of people. We can't fall for the lies, even when not doing so goes against public discourse. Our role is always to love. Even in the face of a press that tells a single story, even when we want revenge, even when it hurts more than we can bear, even we're terrified. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks of a world turned upside down in which we as Christ-followers are called not to live in the carnal but in the light of the way made possible through his incarnation, death and resurrection. We live in the now-and-the-not yet; the not-yet being the kingdom of God that is yet to come. That place is one of a love that makes no sense a love that costs. That place is one of radical hospitality, of arms-wide-open welcome. Even if refugees were to blame for all acts of terror which they are not our response is to love anyway. To love, no matter what. Maybe if we loved in this way, our societies might become places in which those broken by hatred and death and violence might be restored rather than ostracised even further and driven towards these unimaginable acts of brutality. Chine McDonald is director of communications at the Evangelical Alliance. Follow her on Twitter. Sanders supporters boo and jeer Hillary Clinton at Democrat Convention Bernie Sanders supporters booed at mention of the name of Hillary Clinton as a Christian pastor opened the Democratic National Convention with a prayer for unity. Later in the convention, some chanted the slogan from the Republican convention last week: "Lock her up." The deep divisions among the US Democrats were visible for the world to see when Rev Cynthia Hale, senior pastor of the Ray of Hope Christian Church in Atlanta, Georgia, led the invocation at the convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "Pray with me," she began. Praising God as the creator of the world, she continued: "You are the God of the nations. Each one owes its existence to you. You made America the great nation that it is, filled with a diverse, gifted and enterprising people. We are a people who have ability to give leadership to the world and all other nations, at the same time operating as one nation under your name." She lamented the nation's divisions, which had bred distrust. "There is tension and dissension in the land. This is not your will for us and we know it. "We have a responsibility to You to be a party that celebrates diversity, values all people and treats everyone with dignity and respect." At this point there were cheers, but soon they turned to jeers. "We have an opportunity O God to give undeniable evidence of our commitment to justice and equality by nominating Hillary Rodham Clinton as our candidate... " Now there were boos from the Bernie Sanders supporters, although there was also cheering. Hale interjected a defiant "Hallelujah!" and continued: "... as our candidate for the highest office in the land. God you have given us wisdom. Now give us courage for the facing of this hour." More boos came from the Democrats and some Sanders supporters chanted: "Bernie Bernie Bernie." Others simply stood stony-faced and unresponsive. Hale concluded with a heartfelt: "Unite us O Lord in one party. It is in your mighty name that we pray. Amen." Sanders' supporters had been asked not to walk out at any point. The party is making an effort to attract the Christian and other faith votes. Political journalist tweeted some of the reactions. One Sanders supporter held up a sign that originally said "Rise Together" but had been adapted to read: "We Must Rise To Get Her To Prison." Repurposed Bernie supporter sign: "We must rise to get her to prison" pic.twitter.com/sse17VjDE4 Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) July 26, 2016 Others adapted "Stronger Together" signs to read "Stop Her". CA Bernie supporters have done some creative "Stronger Together" sign-repurposing pic.twitter.com/tVSu60YYDN Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) July 26, 2016 Some even copied the "Lock Her Up" chant from last week's Republican convention: Bernie delegates from CA chant "Lock her up" Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) July 25, 2016 During the first day, Sanders was also booed by his own supporters when he called on them to back Clinton. The benedicton was delivered by a Rabbi, Julie Schoenfeld, executive vice-president of the Conservative Rabbinical Association. She did not mention Clinton, and there were no boos. Scotland's Christian 'saint in the making' Margaret Sinclair to star in new play A 20th century Scottish nun is to be the star of a new show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Margaret Sinclair, who was born in Edinburgh in 1900 and died in London in 1925, has already been declared venerable, the first step towards becoming a saint. She is a household name in Scotland and many hope one day to witness her canonisation, with many apparent miracles already said to be attested to her intercession. During his 1982 visit to Scotland, Pope St John Paul II said: "Margaret could well be described as one of God's little ones, who through her very simplicity, was touched by God with the strength of real holiness of life, whether as a child, a young woman, an apprentice, a factory worker, a member of a trade union or a professed sister of religion." The Margaret Sinclair Story, a one-woman play, will be on at St Patrick's Church in Edinburgh, the site of her tomb, where her body was reinterred in 1927 after her original burial in London. Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Leo Cushley, said: "This new one-woman play is such an exciting, novel and entertaining way to tell the story of an ordinary Edinburgh girl who lived a most extraordinary life of holiness such that her saintly reputation still inspires people worldwide." Sinclair was born in Cowgate in Edinburgh's Old Town in 1900, one of six children of an Edinburgh dustman who grew up in poverty in a two-room basement. She left school at 14, worked as a French polisher, then in a biscuit factory and became a trade union activist. In 1923 she entered the Poor Clares convent in London, becoming Sister Mary Francis of the Five Wounds. She worked tirelessly to help the poor before herself contracting and dying of tuberculosis. She was declared Venerable in 1978, two steps from canonisation. The play's author and director Stephen Callaghan said: "I'm very honoured to have been asked by the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh to write this play which I hope will be a joyful, vibrant and compelling depiction of Venerable Margaret's life. "I really think that Maryfrances Jennow is the perfect young actress to dramatically convey why Margaret is such a fabulous example of the joy of the Gospel lived out in daily life, a great example for our times and especially for young people." The actress, Maryfrances Jennow, 25, who will play Sincliar and who trained at the University of the West of Scotland, said: "I guess the first thing that struck me when I was offered the part of Margaret Sinclair is that we have the same name given her religious title was Mary Francis we're also similar ages," said the young actress. "The more I've got to know about Venerable Margaret, the more I realise the drama, the struggle and, at times, the humour that's involved in the heroic pursuit of being good, being virtuous in the day-to-day things of life I've found her story inspirational and I just hope others who come to see the play arrive at the same conclusion." Senior Church leader warns of 'copycat killings' after French priest has throat slit A senior Church leader in the UK has warned the murder of a priest in Normandy could be a "sign of things to come". A priest was killed on Tuesday morning by two assailants as he celebrated mass in a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen in northern France. Five people in the congregation were taken hostage and one was seriously wounded and left fighting for their life. The two hostage takers were shot dead by the French police. But the Church leader, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, told Christian Today a trend of attacks on Christians was developing and he was worried more would follow. "There needs to be a connection made between what is happening here and what has been happening in places such as Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and Iraq," the source told Christian Today. "Suddenly we are seeing this in Europe. It could be an alarming sign of things to come. "There is a lot of copycat psychology in these kinds of attacks. We are hoping this does not turn into anything more serious and get out of hand, but we are concerned that it might." Earlier this week the head of the Coptic Church in the UK, Bishop Angaelos, described the "exponential rise in attacks against Christians and Christian property" in Egypt. He warned that if they were not addressed, the attacks would "spiral even further". He told Christian Today on Tuesday that "unfortunately these attacks seem to have reached Europe". In Egypt terrorists began by targeting secular sites and areas such as markets before moving on to churches and religious buildings. Angaelos warned that if attacks on Christians in Europe followed a similiar pattern to Egypt it would make "every church and every pastor of whatever denomination a possible target". He told Christian Today a "pattern was emerging" where innocent people were killed. "We've seen similiar attacks in places of celebration and of worship," he said. "When people go to places of worship they are probably at their most vulnerable." Pope Francis condemned the "absurd violence" and "all forms of hatred", according to his spokesman Father Federico Lombardi. He said the pontiff, who is also in Poland for World Youth Day, was "horrified and shocked" by the attack. "We are particularly shocked because this horrible violence took place in a church, in which God's love is announced, with the barbarous killing of a priest and the involvement of the faithful," he added. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, called for prayer in a tweet after the attack. Evil attacks the weakest, denies truth & love, is defeated through Jesus Christ. Pray for France, for victims, for their communities. Justin Welby (@JustinWelby) July 26, 2016 The Archbishop of Rouen, whose diocese covers the parish of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, will return from Poland where he had been participating in the World Youth Day celebrations. He said the Church "cannot take weapons other than those of prayer and brotherhood among men". He added the whole parish was "very much in shock". He urged Christians "not to give in to the violence and become apostles of the civilization of love". Mohammed Safiq, chief executive of the Ramadan Foundation, described the attack as a "brutal murder" and "condemned [it] in the strongest terms". He said Europe faced daily threats from both ISIS and from far-right extremism. "They are two cheeks of the same backside," he said. "They want divided communities and we must not allow them to succeed. "Places of worship are sacred and in Islam it is forbidden to see such attacks and the brutal killing of a priest. An attack as we saw today in Normandy is an attack against all faiths and we stand together in solidarity, love and unity." #ThisFlag Pastor Evan Mawarire: 'I am not abandoning Zimbabwe' The pastor from Zimbabwe behind the #ThisFlag mass protest movement has said he will remain in South Africa for the foreseeable future after being publicly denounced by President Robert Mugabe. Evan Mawarire has become a national hero but said he has to "rethink" his return to the country after Mugabe named him and questioned whether he is serving God. A stay-at-home strike earlier this month was backed by Mawarire, who sparked the #ThisFlag social media movement which has become one of the biggest anti-government protests in years. He was subsequently arrested and charged with subversion, but was released to the cheers of hundreds gathered at the court after his lawyers successfully argued that the accusation had been added at the last minute and so did not give him a fair trial. The 92-year-old president said last week that people like Mawarire were unhappy with life in Zimbabwe they should move to "the countries of those of who are sponsoring them". He went on: "A man of religion will speak the biblical truth. 1 Corinthians what does it say? Love one another...So beware these men of cloth, not all of them are true preachers of the Bible. I don't know whether they are serving God. They spell God in reverse." Naming the pastor for the first time, Mugabe added: "The Mawarires and those who believe in that way of living in our country, well, they are not part of us in thinking. They are not part of us as we try to live together". Speaking to City Press in South Africa at the weekend, Mawarire indicated that he will not be returning to Zimbabwe for the foreseeable future. "It's important that people understand that I am not running away from Zimbabwe," he said. "I travel to South Africa regularly for my own personal and church business. But because of my arrest, there has actually been a disturbance. I have to rethink my return to Zimbabwe because of the current situation. I was denounced by Zimbabwe's government; yet, I am just one person who has raised his voice and spoken out. So, it is a tricky situation and something that I am still thinking about." Mawarire defended his role in the protest and his work as a pastor. "We are allowed constitutionally to challenge our government and raise our voices," he said. "As a pastor, the word of God holds me to challenge these injustices, particularly for the poor, for the widows and for the downtrodden." He praised the "role that Zimbabwe's citizens played" to get him released, saying that this had "made them the real heroes". Mawarire added: "I saw thousands of people waiting for me when I was released, and this just proved that this movement is here to stay...The citizens of Zimbabwe have shaken the government in terms of showing that we can see what is being done and we are demanding things to change. This movement is not housed in a building. It is an idea that is within Zimbabweans, and that is why people identify with it. For Zimbabweans, it's personal and not about following an individual. This is about a better Zimbabwe that lives in the hearts of us all." UK in north and south holds out hand to welcome Syrian refugees Norfolk County Council has become the latest in the UK to declare itself ready to welcome refugees from Syria. Norfolk has pledged to help the government meet its plege of taking in 20,000 in the next five years by taking in 50 refugees. The Bishop of Norwich Graham James, a member of the local refugee task force, welcomed the decision, the Evening News reported. He said: "I am glad to learn that Norfolk will welcome some Syrian refugees. Those who have known persecution and been displaced from their homes and countries have found a haven in Norfolk in past times. "It is good that this tradition continues. I am sure many local people will do what they can to support the Syrian families when they arrive." The council went ahead with the plan after district councils agreed to help make up a funding deficit. Cliff Jordan, leader of Norfolk County Council, said: "Norfolk has a long tradition of extending the hand of friendship to those in need and I am sure that will hold true in the case of the Syrian refugees." However, the council's six UKIP members voted against. Toby Coke, UKIP leader, said of his decision: "It's not just down to the cost, it's the extra pressures on housing and school places." Nearby Suffolk has agreed to take up to 200 Syrian refugees and Cambridge City Council agreed to take 50. Meanwhile, a Catholic parish in Salford is leading the way in a new government community sponsorship scheme for Syrian refugees. The scheme gives Catholic parishes the chance to help refugees settle and integrate into their new communities. The diocese is working with the Church's social action arm, Caritas Salford, and the first refugees to arrive under the community sponsorship scheme will arrive in the next few weeks. Cardinal Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, said: "Last year, Pope Francis invited every parish, religious house and monastery in Europe to respond to the growing refugee crisis by offering a place of sanctuary to families fleeing from war and persecution in their home countries. "The Pope called on our generosity and solidarity to recognise and act upon our common humanity. Now we are all able to take up that call with the launch of the community sponsorship scheme for Syrian refugees." St Monica's parish in Salford is part of the pilot scheme. Sean Ryan, of St Monica's, said: "The Catholic Church has been heavily involved in putting this together and after a huge amount of work, both the Home Office and the local authority are ready to give the go-ahead. We now look forward to receiving the first families later this Summer. "There has been a lot of interest from other Catholic parishes and groups who want to get involved. They have been calling us and also Caritas Salford, where Mark Wiggin has been at the forefront of this project, so St Monica's should be the first of many parishes take on the resettlement of Syrian families." Bishop of Salford John Arnold said: "I am delighted that St Monica's parish in Flixton is now able to welcome a Syrian refugee family through the government's community sponsorship as it launches this week. We are always called to respond to hatred with love, to be dedicated to justice and to respond to need with generosity." Why Pope Francis may not be particularly welcome in Poland On the face of it, Pope Francis's trip to Poland for World Youth Day (WYD), which begins tomorrow, will be a unifying triumph for him, the Church, the 2 million people gathering from 187 countries and for the devoutly Catholic country itself. Yet beneath the surface, there is a tension between this Pope and a country which has veered towards a hard-right approach to immigration and which still sees John Paul II as "the Pope". Last October, the ultra-conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) took power. Representatives of the PiS have long been involved in controversies and accusations of racism over the years. At the same time as Pope Francis was calling on the world to open its arms to refugees amid Europe's worst migration crisis since World War II, Poland refused to take in newcomers because of supposed security risks. And when on Maundy Thursday this year Francis washed the feet of three Muslim asylum seekers, there were "howls of criticism" and even "hate speech" in Poland, according to Polish media. Ignacy Dudkiewicz, an editor for the Kontakt magazine told AFP that there was unprecedented online abuse aimed at the Pope following the gesture. "Francis has been dragged through the mud because of his position on refugees," he said. True, Prime Minister Beata Szydlo released 803,000 Euros in funds for camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey just ahead of Francis's arrival. But critics dismissed it as a token move. "Many here think the pontiff's message of mercy and compassion for refugees and the poor is exaggerated," said Zbigniew Nosowski, editor of the respected Catholic monthly Wiez. Even Polish bishops failed to mention Pope Francis in their address to the faithful gathering for WYD, while John Paul II was referenced three times. Dudkiewicz said: "Bishops here formally support the pontiff's message of hosting refugees, but they do so without much conviction." He added that "the Polish Church is afraid of losing its position, both institutional and financial, he added. Pawel Boryszewski, a sociologist of religion, said of Pope Francis's famously humble style: "The Polish hierarchy is very worried. A bishop on a bike and in sandals, this doesn't go down well here...Poles don't really know Francis, just like this Argentinian pope doesn't know Poland." Jaroslaw Makowski, a liberal Polish theologian, said: "I am absolutely convinced the meeting between Francis and the Polish Church will be challenging for both sides. When he was invited to Poland in 2013, he was unknown... But after a few months it became clear he isn't what was expected...but someone who wants to shake up the Church and push it off the path familiar to the Polish Church." Other, domestic social issues are also a cause for division. Although Pope Francis has not changed Church doctrine, he is widely, if inaccurately, seen as liberal on issues such as homosexuality and women. According to a conservative Polish commentator, Tomasz Terlikowski, the popularity of John Paul II was down to his rigid adherence to doctrine. "The World Youth Day, like any previous meeting between John Paul II and young people, serves as...proof the Church in the West is losing them...because of what it offered them," Terlikowski wrote this week. "The young have been leaving the Church because what it offers them is equal to that of [the secular] world, only veiled in incense...Will Francis be able to inspire the youth the way John Paul did? It will depend on what he requires of them." Tomasz Dostatni, OP, a writer and pastor in Poland who lives in Lublin, told America Magazine that his country "should make a greater effort to understand Pope Francis in the context of South America, just as the people of Western Europe, after the election of John Paul II, tried to understand the specific reality of life in a communist state from which the pope then came." Meanwhile, Vatican Radio reported that Pope Francis has decided to cancel a planned official discourse to Polish bishops tomorrow, instead opting for a private meeting with them which can be more "spontaneous". How to buy Champagne an expert guide As Christies enters a new two-year global partnership with Perrier-Jouet, our International Director of wine Tim Triptree advises on top champagne vintages, niche growers, and how to store a collection Champagne must come from Champagne True Champagne must come from the Champagne region, in the northeast of France. Though sparkling wines are produced worldwide, only those produced in the Champagne region are legally allowed to use the name Champagne on the label and are recognised as being authentic the name Champagne is protected by EU law. Look out for top brands and niche producers The very best and most expensive Champagnes are single-vintage prestige cuvees that include names such as Krug Clos du Mesnil, Clos dAmbonnay, Louis Roederers Cristal, Dom Perignon and Salon Le Mesnil. In the last five to 10 years, smaller grower-producers have seen a rise in popularity particularly among expert collectors who really know their Champagne. Non-vintage vs. prestige cuvee. Whats the difference? Many producers release a top Champagne, known as its prestige cuvee. These are only made following an exceptional harvest and, as a result, exist in much smaller quantities, and at much higher prices. Salon Le Mesnil, for example, has released just 39 vintages since it was first produced in 1905. A Champagne houses prestige cuvee will often have its own name: Louis Roederer calls its prestige cuvee Cristal, while Pol Roger produces Sir Winston Churchill a vintage Champagne that aims to imitate the robust build of the famed politician. Vintage Champagnes have the potential to evolve in bottle and develop honeyed, creme brulee complexity. The vast majority of all Champagne, however, is non-vintage. This type of Champagne is made not from a single harvest, but from a blend of several years, resulting in a consistent house style. For this reason, non-vintage Champagnes will be undated. Moet & Chandon is the best-known non-vintage Champagne. Is a prestige cuvee worth it? Top Champagne will have the right balance of acidity and intensity of flavour. Prestige cuvees such as Cristal or Krug really are incredible, offering an amazing harmony, and very long persistence (the length of time their flavour lingers in the mouth) and ageability that allows the Champagne to evolve with bottle age. A good prestige cuvee really is exceptional you can certainly taste the difference. Magnum or miniature? If in doubt, go big At 1.5 litres, a magnum is twice the size of a standard 75cl bottle, and half the size of the 3-litre jeroboam. Although more expensive, larger bottles have the benefit of tending to age more slowly, with less oxidation and more freshness. One reason for this is that the ullage (the distance between the bottom of the cork and the champagne liquid) is proportionally smaller in a larger bottle meaning less oxygen gets into the bottle during disgorgement; approximately half compared to a standard bottle. Another advantage of bigger bottles, of course, is that they are better for parties. When collecting, consider two key factors The Champagne house and vintage should guide your buying. I recommend new collectors try a range of champagnes to determine what they like. Consider buying different Champagnes: for example, a Pol Roger, a Krug, a Bollinger and a Cristal. Different houses age their Champagnes for differing periods of time on the dead yeasts that cause the second fermentation in bottle and the fizz (lees). The minimum requirement for non-vintage Champagne is 12 months on the lees, and for vintage three years, but in practice the top Champagnes are aged for much longer. This has an effect on the flavour profiles, with complex overtones of brioche and toast from the long period of ageing on the lees (called autolytic ageing). Once youve settled on your preferred house, you can consider vintage. Although top champagnes are only produced in exceptional years, some vintages are better than others. In 2003, for example, atypical hot weather led to few houses releasing a vintage. In 2002, however, nearly every house released a vintage a clear indicator of an exceptional year. 1996 was also a great year for vintage champagne. Familiarise yourself with key terms In Champagne the levels of residual sugar, called dosage, are key, with the lowest being Zero Dosage, through to Extra-Brut, Brut, Extra-Dry, Sec, Demi-Sec, and Doux. The most common styles, however, are Extra-Brut, Brut and Demi-Sec. Zero Dosage has no dosage sugar added to it, and is more austere and lean perfect as an accompaniment to sashimi. At the opposite end are Demi-Sec, with between 32 and 50 grams of residual sugar per litre, or Doux, with more than 50 grams. Both are ideal for those who prefer sweeter Champagne, and are perfect as an accompaniment to dessert or at the end of a meal. Occasionally, Champagnes will be labelled Blanc de Noirs or Blanc de Blancs, indicating the colour and variety of the grapes used. Blanc de Noirs is made from Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier, while Blanc de Blancs is made purely from Chardonnay. Blanc de Noirs typically are firmer structured wines with red-fruit flavours. Blanc de Blancs demonstrate finesse, elegance and citrus flavours. Should I consider Rose? Rose champagnes can be excellent, although they are often more expensive because they are produced in smaller quantities. Open a larger version of this image Philipponnat, Clos des Goisses 1951, disgorged June 2008. Slightly damaged foil magnum (1) 1952 disgorged September 2008 magnum (1) 1953 disgorged June 2008 magnum (1) 1955 disgorged June 2008 magnum (1) 1964 disgorged March 2008 magnum (1) 1976 disgorged January 2010 magnum (1), 6 magnums per lot. All in original wooden presentation cases and original tissues. Offered with a VIP package of accommodation for two people, a tutored tasting and tour for 2 people, and a dinner hosted by Charles Philipponnat (with surprise bottles from the Philipponnat cellars) and a bespoke version of The New Illustrated Champagne Map. Estimate: 15,000-20,000. This lot is offered in Finest and Rarest Wines and Spirits on 5-6 June 2019 at Christies in London and what makes Rose pink? Normal Champagne can be made from red grapes Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The Champagne remains clear because the grapes are pressed off the skins very quickly before the pigments (anthocyanins) in their skins can colour the juice pink. Rose Champagne acquires its colour through one of two methods. In the first, the juice is soaked with the skins of red grapes for a short period prior to and during the first fermentation a technique known as saignee, from the French for bleed. This method is preferred by the top vintage producers. In the second method, a base white wine is mixed with normal still red wine before the second fermentation in bottle, resulting in champagne with a pink tinge. Although it is illegal for other still rose wines to be made in this way, it is permitted for Champagne. Many non-vintage producers prefer this method for its consistent colour. Champagne doesnt have to blow the budget It really depends on your budget, and occasion, but it is possible to buy a vintage Champagne from Christies for as little as 30. Two suspects have been accused in the slaying of a 50-year-old man earlier this month at a home in west Harris County. Javon Mutin, 34, and Dylan Jones, 28, are charged with capital murder in the death of Danny Medellin Jr. about 10 a.m. Wednesday in the 16102 block of Glen Mar Drive, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Colombian man touted as one of the world's biggest cocaine traffickers, who underwent plastic surgery and allegedly burned his fingertips to avoid capture, has been sentenced to 35 years in federal prison. Daniel Barrera Barrera, 48, known as "El Loco," worked with two Colombian terrorist organizations to manufacture and distribute thousands of kilograms of cocaine annually, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. In a New York federal court on Monday, U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods ordered Barrera to forfeit $10 million for conspiring to distribute and manufacture cocaine to be imported into the United States. READ ALSO: Mexico is getting ready to send 'El Chapo' to the U.S. and he may wind up in a jail known as 'Brooklyn's Abu Ghraib' Woods called Barrera's crimes "staggering" and said it was "hard to exaggerate the quantity of narcotics for which he was responsible," according to the New York Times. Barrera was also charged with one count of conspiring to launder money, according to the Justice Department. Prosecutors said Barrera trafficked more than 720 tons of cocaine from Colombia to the U.S. and other countries between 1998 and 2010. The Justice Department reports he bought raw cocaine from the Colombian group , Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia. The group is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. federal government. READ ALSO: These cartels run Mexico's drug trade Prosecutors said Barrera also paid the group Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia to operate in its territory in Colombia. That group is also designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. federal government. The Justice Department reports Barrera processed approximately 60,000 kilograms (about 66 tons) of cocaine annually, reaping in tens of millions of dollars in the process. Prosecutors said Barrera traded cocaine for AK-47 rifles, using them to kill people while transporting the cocaine. According to the Justice Department, Barrera also used the guns to take over areas of Colombia hosting his drug operations. READ ALSO: Coca's comeback forces Colombia to rethink drug war Barrera had plastic surgery and burned his fingertips in order to avoid capture, The New York Times reports. The drug lord was captured in Venezuela in September 2012, after a joint operation among agencies from the United States, Venezuela, Columbia and Great Britain, according to The Times. Barrera was sent to Colombia after his arrest. The U.S. extradited Barrera from Colombia to New York on July 9, 2013, reports the Justice Department. The drug lord was also sentenced to five years of supervised release following the prison sentence, according to the Department of Justice. Barrera was also ordered to pay a $10 million fine. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Waco is a hot destination right now - yes, Waco - and according to the tourism folks there, it's because their currently most-famous residents, HGTV stars Joanna and Chip Gaines, are the biggest draw since Dr Pepper. Susan Morton, Waco Convention and Visitors Bureau tourism manager, said that the city is so busy handling traffic from "Fixer Upper" fans that they have begun a shuttle system to help the 35,000 people who visit the couple's Magnolia Market at the Silos superstore and other sites mentioned on the show. The telegenic couple is now filming seasons four and five of "Fixer Upper." Also on the front burner is promoting Joanna Gaines' Magnolia Home furniture and accessories; she will visit Star Furniture's Katy store Thursday to greet fans. Star Furniture is Houston's exclusive provider of Gaines' extensive collection of country chic, rustic-contemporary furniture and accessories. More Information Meet Joanna Gaines When: 5:30-7 p.m. Thursday Where: Star Furniture, 16666 Barker Springs See More Collapse Michael Galloway, vice president of sales for Star Furniture, said each Houston store has dedicated up to 2,500 square feet to display the collection. Much of it is in stock, but items that have to be ordered often arrive within a few weeks. The home accessories have "flown off the shelves" and dining room sets have sold well since they hit stores in early June, Galloway said. "It got off to a good start and has been holding steady despite economic woes in the city at large," he said. Galloway noted that the collection has several style categories - Boho, Farmhouse, French Inspired, Industrial, Primitive and Traditional - and pieces are meant to be transitional. "I've never seen a collection like this that has had such broad appeal," Galloway said. "But people like them, and they like their style and they want to put it in their home. Some are still in college, but we see retirees and baby boomers, too. At the Star Furniture store in Webster near Baybrook Mall, Joanna Gaines' Magnolia Home Collection is installed in vignettes on the second floor, adjacent to collections by two other Southerners, Tricia Yearwood and Paula Deen. A light fixture made of canning jars hangs from the ceiling and dishes with homey prints are stacked on a kitchen table. In a nearby hutch/buffet with barn-style sliding doors, glass bottles wrapped in strips of rattan line the shelves. All of it is meant to capture the vibe of the Gaineses' popular Waco store. Alicia and Luis Flores of Friendswood stopped to admire bedroom and dining room vignettes. The couple call themselves "Fixer Upper" binge-watchers who were inspired by the Gaineses when they remodeled the home they recently sold. Luis Flores, an Air Force pilot, calls up before-and-after photos on his cellphone, describing the work as if he's writing a script for the home-renovation reality show. Before, the rooms were bland, with old carpet and plain wood flooring. They installed new flooring and white built-in cabinets and added a desk painted black. "We're hooked on 'Fixer Upper,' and all our friends are, too," he said. "They're a great couple and Chip, he's so funny, a real dude's dude. In one episode, he ate a cockroach on a dare. I thought, 'that's awesome.' " Alicia Flores said they're putting barn-style doors on their laundry room now, and her husband loves his home remodeling efforts because it's such a departure from his job. On "Fixer Upper," the couple shows prospective clients three homes in need of renovation. They describe what they'd do to each home, and then the future homeowner picks a home. As Joanna Gaines prepares the design details, Chip Gaines and his crew get busy on demolition and construction. They often run into snags such as leaky roofs, termite infestations or other glitches that cause construction hiccups. When it's time for the big reveal, customers walk into a dramatically revamped home - inside and out - fully furnished and with the perfect accessories throughout. In October, the couple's book, "The Magnolia Story" (Thomas Nelson; $26.99; 208 pp.), as well as a quarterly lifestyle magazine will launch. The book is essentially a modern memoir, telling the story of how the two Baylor University graduates met and how they've grown both their family and their business. The magazine's first issue will focus on hospitality, entertaining, decorating and families. It will feature real homes and include recipe-driven food stories. It will cost $7.99 and will be published by Meredith Corporation. For her part, Morton, the tourism manager, said that all of Waco is benefitting from the popularity of the couple and "Fixer Upper." "Not only are we getting more out of town traffic, but they're coming from far away and staying longer," she said. "They visit Clint Harp's shop - he does the woodwork on the show and he just did a pilot for a show on DIY. People want to go to the various shops that they see Joanna shopping at and eat at the restaurants that have been mentioned." Morton said that the Dr Pepper Museum is near the Silos and is reporting record numbers of visitors. Visitation at the city's Cameron Park Zoo is also up, and driving-tour companies are popping up to capitalize on the interest. "We thought it exploded here last fall, but little did we know. It exploded this summer," Morton said. "I used to think that if I could get people to come here, they'd love us and come back. Now when people leave I remind them that there's more to Texas than Waco." A Cypress man who pleaded guilty to distributing child porn will spend more than 11 years in federal prison. Jimmy Ortiz, 25, was sentenced to 135 months in federal prison on Monday in federal court in Houston. He has been ordered to pay $102,500 in restitution to two known victims, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He will also be ordered to register as a sex offender. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Pearland ISD board has appointed former trustee Pam Boegler to fill the seat of Virgil Gant, who was killed in an auto accident last month. Boegler served for two terms from 2010-16 and is a former school board vice president. She'll serve until May 2017. "It's very emotional, they're big shoes to fill," said Boegler, noting this was Gant's 17th year on the board. Boegler, 47, said she was honored when board president Rebecca Decker approached her about the position. After unanimous board approval, she was voted and sworn in during a special district meeting on July 19. Boegler, who said she frequently attended board meetings after the end of her term, reported that she is up-to-date with many of the district's affairs and is familiar with the discussions surrounding a potential bond election, which could come as early as fall. Her husband, Ronnie, is on the long-range planning committee that developed the proposed bond package to present to the board, which will conduct a workshop at 3:30 p.m. Aug. 2 at the Pearland Administration Building, 1928 N. Main St., Pearland, to discuss the potential bond. Trustees had the option to leave the Position 3 seat vacant but opted to name Boegler instead. The position will be placed on the ballot for a one-year term in next May's election. Gant's term would have expired in May 2018. Decker said of Boegler in a press release: "Because of her recent service, she's already very familiar with current issues facing the district, and she's always a champion for students and teachers." During last week's meeting, John Palombo was also named the new principal of Pearland High School, where he replaces Larry Berger, the district's new director of maintenance and operations. Palombo, 38, had served as principal of another Pearland ISD secondary campus, PACE Center, since 2014. Before that, he was assistant principal at Clear Lake High School in Clear Creek ISD. From PACE, he will transition from a school with 113 students to the district's largest high school with 2,944 students. Palombo said he looks forward to getting to know Pearland High School students, staff and parents. Recent floods in the Cypress area sent home a cautionary message. The rising waters validated the need to preserve green space that can absorb a downpour, said Stephanie Prosser, interim executive director at the Bayou Land Conservancy. "The area flooded when Little Cypress Creek filled with water so fast," she said. "That can be the result of nonporous surfaces. When we develop areas within the floodplain, we're losing that absorption." If natural space and wetland areas are shielded from development, water can move more efficiently down to the channel. More Information Check it out Here are three sites with more information about the Cypress Creek Greenway www.hcp4.net/Community/Parks/CCGW www.ccfcc.org/greenway_project/index.html www.bayoulandconservancy.org/cypress-creek-greenway See More Collapse "It does us a service by slowing down the rate of the moving water," Prosser said. "It also filters the water. ... We don't want to reduce the size of our floodplain. We want to keep it intact." That is a main driving force behind the development of Cypress Creek Greenway, a propposed green space bordering the waterway. The Greenway would also function as an extensive system of trails and parks, benefiting residents who enjoy the outdoors, as well as providing natural habitat for area wildlife, Prosser said. "It's still kind of a concept at this point," Prosser said. "Everyone wants to see the Cypress Creek Greenway develop like the Spring Creek Greenway. There are a lot of parks along (Cypress Creek), but they aren't connected." The vision is to create a continuous greenbelt along Cypress Creek and Little Cypress Creek that stretches from west of U.S. 290 east to the Spring Creek Greenway. The conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to land preservation, is one partner in the project. The organization works alongside Harris County Precinct 4, the Cypress Creek Flood Control Coalition, local municipal utility districts and private developers. The groups are united by the vision of a greenway. "It's plausible, because the land is there," Prosser said. "Some of the Houston region's most popular parks are on Cypress Creek. You have auxiliary parks and showpiece parks. Now we need to tie them together." The key now is to obtain parcels to create connecting trails. Precinct 4 parks director Dennis Johnston said efforts are ongoing to acquire land for the greenway. "It's about connecting the dots," he said. "We own a few plots, flood control owns quite a few. We're working with a lot of (municipal utility districts), and we're looking for properties with willing sellers that abut the creek." "We want to make sure these lands that are currently functioning as habitat are protected," Prosser said. "Getting people on board is what needs to happen. It's all about getting grass-roots community support." She encourages landowners on the route to consider getting conservation easements on their properties, which would allow them to still own the land but protect it from development. Prosser also encouraged residents to voice support for the greenway plan to their homeowner associations. She said that Spring Creek Greenway, the longest contiguous urban forested corridor in the nation, developed in a similar fashion. "It's so beautiful and connected now, but it was piece by piece," she said. "Now we need to extend that vision west." When completed, the connected trails and parks would be a boon for the area, Prosser said. "People might be able to access a 12-mile hike right behind their house," she said. "We're in such an urban area - and this project would tie all these natural spaces together." Jim Robertson, who serves as chairman of the Cypress Creek Greenway Project, a committee of the flood coalition, said that securing the needed funding for the project has been a major challenge, as well as getting commitments from area stakeholders. Created in 1999, the coalition aids in preservation and conservation efforts for the natural area along the creek that support natural floodplain buffer zones as well as wildlife habitats. The Cypress Creek Greenway Project is an advocacy group, charged with coordinating activity along the waterway. Last year, the committee hired the landscape architectural firm EHRA to develop a trail master plan for a 13-square-mile area near Texax 249. The plan cost approximately $90,000, with the cost being shared among nine contributing groups. It is online at ccfcc.org/CCreekTMP/index.html Harris County Precinct 4 has been working on a number of projects in the area, including the recent creation of a paved trail that connects 100 Acre Wood Preserve to a nearby YMCA, he said. The precinct has also started construction on Kickerillo-Mischer Preserve, which is expected to be complete in a year. A bridge will be built to connect the building to Cypress Creek. "They're building almost a mile of sidewalk," Robertson said. Robertson is confident that Cypress Creek Greenway will be well worth the effort. "We just believe it will be a wonderful amenity for the area - to have accessibility along the creek," he said. "The greenway will have many benefits. One is recreational, but it also preserves the floodplain. We're preserving the area to do what it's intended to do for our natural system." Additional green space will add to property values, he said. "People make decisions on where they want to live based on amenities," he said. "If we can do something to improve quality of life, we can add a lot to the vitality of the area." John Gray, event organizer and president of the TEXXXAS adult expo, was scrambling last week to find a new venue for his adult film-star-laden event after it was booted from its Hilton location. The TEXXXAS fan event was due to kick off Aug. 17 and run through Aug. 20, at the Hilton Houston Southwest in the Galleria area. After-parties were also planned at strip clubs near the hotel that week. RELATED: TEXXXAS adult expo coming to Houston in August But the Hilton hotel cancelled the booking, saying that the decision was made in the best interest of other guests at the hotel. On Monday night, Gray told the Houston Chronicle that he had booked a new venue for the expo. The event will now be held at a Holiday Inn location in Southwest Houston, according to Gray, just outside Beltway 8 near West Bellfort. "Our new venue is only five minutes away from the original one. I am also happy to announce a reduced fan rate for our fans at my expense," Gray said Tuesday. Gray also said that he had added porn stars Evan Stone, Mia Vallis and Aysia Garza to the mix of stars coming to Houston. Stone made headlines recently for starring as a Donald Trump-type character in a Hustler Video production. Yes, Donald Trump porn exists, as Rule 34 of the Internet never fails. It was previously announced that female porn stars Cherie Deville, Olivia Austin, Dillion Harper, Brett Rossi, plus male star Mick Blue and others will be on hand to meet fans and sign autographs. Rossi is likely best known to mainstream audiences as a former fiancee of actor Charlie Sheen. Stars from porn's past, such as Ron Jeremy and Nina Hartley, are also scheduled to appear. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation sent out an email Friday morning saying it had expressed its concerns to Hilton that the convention would bring an increased demand for prostitution and sex trafficking. That group took credit for convincing Hilton Worldwide and Hospitality Ventures Management Group (which runs the Galleria hotel) to cancel Gray's expo booking. In a statement to the Houston Chronicle, general manager Maggie Rosa with the Hilton location that booted Gray said Friday that the decision was made in the best interest of other guests at the hotel. RELATED: Upcoming Houston adult expo booted from hotel venue after advocacy group pressure "After careful consideration, our Hilton Houston Galleria Area Hotel made the decision not to host this event and regret if it has unintentionally offended any individual or organization. Our goal is always to provide quality accommodations and a welcoming environment for guests, employees and members of our community visiting our hotel," Rosa said. Meanwhile the national anti-exploitation group tells the Chronicle that it is holding an event of its own soon in Houston. The 2016 Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation Summit is set to take place Sept. 29 through Oct. 1 at the Omni Houston Hotel Westside. Gray had some parting words for Hilton and that advocacy group. "I would like to ask my former venue and the coalition one question. Are they going to try to urge all hotels to cancel the Super Bowl next year? That event has a historical record of bringing more sex trafficking and prostitution to their host city than any other event." In about a year, supporters of the proposed Texas 36A highway could see work start on a preliminary environmental impact statement that they hope will be a major step closer to creation of another north-south corridor from the Gulf Coast. A draft environmental impact statement would help validate the purpose of the corridor to foster economic growth and development, provide a primary route for freight traffic and offer another hurricane evacuation route, they contend. But the Katy Prairie Conservancy, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to preservation of land and native species in the region, hopes the proposed route can be re-directed farther west. "We are not against development," said Mary Anne Piacentini, executive director for the Katy Prairie Conservancy. "We are for reasonable growth that accommodates the protection of natural areas, not just because it's important for wildlife, but because it's important for people. Great cities need great countrysides nearby, and we believe we are that great countryside." The initial plan calls for the use of the existing Texas 36 corridor between Freeport in Brazoria County to Rosenberg in Fort Bend County, with the new segment - dubbed 36A - constructed from Rosenberg north through Waller County. Piacentini said she and other conservancy members attend many events hosted by a partnership of communities called the Highway 36A Coalition and have also been invited to participate in Waller County's strategic planning process. "We had discussions even before there was a 36A Coalition about Waller County's prairie parkway," she said. "We have been working since 2007 and saying that we are an amazing asset to Waller County. We can provide economic stimulus to Waller County through major tourism, agricultural production; so we have suggested that if there is a road needed, to move it farther west and take it off the conservation land." Meanwhile, the coalition and the Houston-Galveston Area Council Transportation Policy Council have committed $500,000 toward an environmental impact statement and are seeking a $1 million match from the Texas Department of Transportation. "We are doing a procurement for a consultant to do the study, which should begin in 2017," TxDOT spokesman Danny Perez said. "The details on how to move forward in terms of financing and other factors would stem from the options provided via the study." The Texas 36A project has been a vision for the region since 1985 as a north-south corridor that would connect the Gulf of Mexico with a direct route to Texas 6 in Waller County. A number of factors are driving the 36A dream, such as the need for a significant route from the Port of Freeport, growth on the south end of the corridor and projected growth between Katy and Waller. "We are adding 130,000 people to our region every year," H-GAC transportation director Alan Clark said. At the current rate, the Houston region could see as many as 4 million new residents by 2040. As a result, the population in Waller County, long regarded as a rural area, would swell to about 200,000. However, to prepare the way to the north, the Port of Freeport has to be the initial focus. Fort Bend County Commissioner Andy Meyers, who serves as the chairman of the 36A Coalition, and others with that group and the port testified before the state Senate Select Committee on Texas Ports on May 4 to argue that Freeport is best poised of any port in Texas to benefit from the Panama Canal expansion, thereby establishing the viability for the Texas 36A corridor. "To reiterate, Port Freeport is the only port in Texas that has both the congressional authority to deepen and accommodate (larger ships coming through the expanded Panama Canal) and that is in close proximity to the only rail hub on the Gulf Coast of Texas, in Rosenberg," Meyers said. "We have been receiving a very high level of support for this project from local governments and others in Fort Bend, Brazoria and Waller counties." Meyers said he hopes to see a good marketing plan soon on rail development and the Port of Freeport that will outline costs of development. "We are working to engage an engineering group with the expertise necessary to give an overall plan of how this project will be developed, what it is going to cost ... and the potential benefits to local governments," he said. New park facilities will factor into Sugar Land's budget planning for fiscal 2017, with spending projected to rise by 10 percent from this year. But Sugar Land's property tax rate is projected to remain at its 2016 level of 32 cents per $100 valuation, well below the 50 cent average rate for cities across Texas. Much of the proposed spending increase stems from recently annexed Cullinan Park and expansion of Brazos River Park and an adjacent festival site. Those additions have increased the city's daily operating costs, finance director Jennifer Brown said. Council is scheduled to adopt the budget and the tax rate on Sept. 20. The city also expects to maintain its 10 percent homestead exemption, which council voted to increase in June from 8 percent, Brown said. The proposed $260.4 million budget allocates $186 million in operating funds and $74 million on capital projects. The parks have driven operating funds up by 4.8 percent because they require contract workers and four new Parks & Recreation Department maintenance employees: a crew chief and three general maintenance workers. These same workers will also be responsible for maintaining a 3.5-acre plaza in front of the new Smart Financial Centre, scheduled to open in January. Funded by the 2013 bond, the Brazos River Park will be expanded to include a 67-acre site with a parking lot, meadows and an overlook plaza. It will be connected to a 52-acre festival site that could host music festivals and city events, such as Sugar Land's annual Fourth of July celebration. The expanded park and festival site is scheduled to open this fall. Sugar Land annexed 750-acre Cullinan Park, off Texas 6, near the Sugar Land Regional Airport, in February. The park is still owned by the city of Houston and the Houston Parks Board. Sugar Land is handling operations and maintenance of the land. The park, largely composed of forest and wetlands, is already open to the public but will have further infrastructure added, largely funded by private donations. The oil downturn and its accompanying economic slowdown haven't made much of a difference in the city's plans for its parks or other services, thanks to increasing home values and several large, one-time payments from private companies. But Sugar Land has projected a decrease in sales- tax revenues, down $1 million from an estimated $52 million during the 2016 fiscal year. "It made us have a more conservative approach," Brown said. "I'd rather estimate low and have it come in better than expected rather than the other way around." Sugar Land is more dependent on sales taxes to fund services and programs than the average Texas city. Forty-six percent of Sugar Land's proposed $78.3 million general fund - which is part of its operating fund - comes from sales taxes, compared to an average of 27 percent statewide. The perk of being reliant on sales taxes is that a steady stream of money from people who live outside of Sugar Land adds to the city's finances. But it also means an event like the oil downturn has the chance of making a big difference. "The disadvantage of having a big portion come from sales tax is it's more cyclical with the economy," Sandlin said. "Property taxes are a little more steady." However, a diversified sales tax and the one-time payments have kept the budget balanced, Brown said. Only $1.6 million out of the $43 million in sales taxes the city has collected since October are from the energy industry. City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the proposed budget on Aug. 16 and public hearings on the tax rate on Aug. 23 and Sept. 6. During the month of August, City Council will conduct budget workshops from 7:30 until 9:30 a.m. on Thursdays at city hall. They are open to the public. To learn more: sugarlandtx.gov. Click on "Government," then "Finance," or call the finance department at 281-275-2236. Known for developing lavish custom homes in the Houston suburbs, Partners in Building is shifting its attention to a more central part of town. The Houston-based homebuilding company is developing a new community, Fountain Park, on 26th in the Greater Heights, adjacent to Shady Acres. It will include 24 townhomes and 34 freestanding cottages. The area will have a park and green spaces to create more of a community atmosphere. (Story continues below.) The city of Katy is asking its more than 16,000 residents to voluntarily conserve water as the heat indexes throughout Houston surge past 100 degrees and the city's wells are pumped beyond desirable ranges. "We haven't had rain in a few weeks, and it's been dry and hot," said Elaine Lutringer, the city's public works director. "We have a drought contingency plan that we go by." At their normal rate, the city's six wells should pump below 60 percent of their combined capacity, which would be 9.6 millions of gallons per day, according to Lutringer. High demand recorded But for several days last week, the amount pumped rose above the 60 percent threshold, prompting the city to post a notice on its website on July 18 urging residents to conserve water. Water conservation is not required. The notice asks residents inside the 11-square-mile city to practice minimum water usage and to irrigate properties before 7 a.m. and after 7 p.m. The city asked the same of residents last August for similar reasons, though the city then was operating without one well that was being repaired. The Houston area doesn't appear to be in the midst of any drought, according to the U.S. drought meter for Texas, but this is the third time in six years that Katy officials have asked residents to conserve water. The first came in 2011, when the entire state was suffering through a lingering drought. And last year the region was experiencing a moderate drought when the city posted its notice. Lutringer wasn't concerned then, and she isn't now. The city issued the conservation notice to be "precautionary," Lutringer said. "It would become mandatory if the percentage would be 70 percent. It depends on the weather. Some years there's rain once a week, or once every two weeks; so the pumpage goes down. I get a report (of water being pumped) each week." City Administrator Byron Hebert has previously stated that the city has never had to issue a mandatory notice for water conservation. Cities have plans Many surrounding cities such as Sugar Land, Missouri City and Jersey Village have similar drought contingency plans, Lutringer said, though pumping thresholds differ from town to town. The contingency plans are headed by the Texas Water Development Board. Lutringer anticipates that the notice will be in effect for at least a couple of weeks or until the area receives a significant amount of rain. For more information regarding the conservation notice, visit http://bit.ly/katywater This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Popular television shows like "Dancing with the Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance" have brought ballroom dancing back into the limelight. The shows have not only created dance enthusiasts in the living rooms of homes across the country but have also encouraged amateurs to step out onto the dance floor. If you're looking for a place to fix your two left feet, there are a number of studios in the area that offer a cure with lessons for all levels and ages of dancers. Step into Patricia's Dance Lessons, 24913 Kuykendahl, or Fred Astaire Dance Studio, 506 Sawdust Road, or sign up for a course with Rhythm Phoenix at In-Step Dance and Performing Arts Center, 449 Sawdust Road. More Information Want to know more? Fred Astaire Dance Studio: 506 Sawdust Road, 281-367-0005, www.fredastairehouston.com Rhythm Phoenix Ballroom and Latin Dance: located at In-Step Dance and Performing Arts Center, 449 Sawdust Road, 832-797-7392, dancemartin1@yahoo.com Patricia's Dance Lessons: 24913 Kuykendahl Road, Suite A, 832-465-3595, http://patriciasdancelessons.com See More Collapse The owners of these studios aim to make ballroom moves more accessible for students. "The main goal is to have a good time through dancing - that's my mission," said Patricia Ferreira Rochester, owner of Patricia's Dance Lessons. She moved to the United States in 2009 from her native Portugal and has been dancing since the age of 15, competing soon after and rising as a top female dancer internationally. Rochester started her own studio in 2011, offering courses for both competitive dancers and beginners in all styles of ballroom, Latin and country dancing. She tailors her lessons to each individual student. "My studio and method of teaching focus on bringing happiness to people's lives through dancing," she said. "People want not only to know how to dance, but also something that relieves their minds from their stressful lives." Rochester added that the television shows have made ballroom more popular with a younger crowd. "Even teens want to learn ballroom," she said. "With younger students, after they dance, they become more confident." She said all of her students benefit from the workout. "It's definitely great exercise," she said. Stephanie Schlueter, owner of Fred Astaire Dance Studio, counts numerous benefits from learning to dance - from weight loss to making new friends. She believes so strongly in the positive effects of dance that she co-founded a nonprofit, Dancing Through Life, which uses dance as the center of a program to promote healthy lifestyles and confidence in at-risk youth. Schlueter grew up in Germany with a family where dancing was a recreational activity. She knew from a young age that she wanted to build her career around ballroom. "I fell in love with dance, and I decided that was what I wanted to do," she said. "And I never looked back." She also dreamt of one day moving to Texas and came to the state in 2005. She now owns four Fred Astaire Studios. Schlueter said dance never went away but admits the television shows helped it become more popular. "People dance in bad times to get a release and in good times to celebrate," she said. "There was this old perception that dancing was for older people. Now people know it's for all body types and all walks of life." Schlueter said her students range from elementary school pupils to adults in their 90s. She said couples come to connect over dance and singles without dance partners are also welcome. "We put on a lot of social events, too," she said. "We go out dancing, we hire bands, we travel to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Puerto Rico. We make it a lot of fun." Schlueter said the classes are designed to be equally enjoyable. "Dancing looks magical, but it's not," she said. "If you can't learn to dance, there's one thing wrong and that's the instructor." Martin Balmaceda, who teaches ballroom at In-Step, also believes that anyone can learn to dance. "My job is to say, 'Don't worry; I'm here to guide you,'" Balmaceda said. "I'll tell you the best path. Whatever your goal is, that's where we're going to go." He has been dancing for as long as he can remember, as a child growing up in New Orleans. "I developed my own techniques and skills and gave them to the world," he said. "I teach all the traditional styles, but I say, 'Don't limit yourself. If you want to move to a sound, I can give you many options.'" The champion dancer said that dancing keeps bodies and minds flexible. "It's a beautiful thing," he said. "It keeps your brain working, and it's a focused exercise. You're exploring movement." While the economic uncertainty brought on by low oil prices may have prompted companies to shear budgets and lay off staff, private schools in The Woodlands have seen continued enrollment growth for the upcoming school year. The John Cooper School, a pre-K through 12th-grade preparatory campus, is the largest private school in The Woodlands by enrollment, teaching a whopping 1,205 in the 2015-16 school year. That number is expected to grow to 1,230 by the time last-minute enrollments roll in time for the 2016-17 academic year. "We feel we have absolutely reached maximum capacity in the lower school at 505 (students). ... Particularly in the current economic conditions, we're really proud and feel affirmed of the retention of our students," said Mike Maher, headmaster at The John Cooper School. About 6 percent of children living within Conroe Independent School District's boundaries attend private or charter schools, according to a 2015 demographic study commissioned by CISD. Over the next five years, thousands more students, nearly 7 percent, will receive a private education. Families flock to The John Cooper School for a variety of reasons, Maher said. About 40 percent of students have moved from Virgina, Canada or are repatriating to The Woodlands, likely due to a work-related move to Exxon Mobil's 385-acre campus. But most families are residents from The Woodlands or greater Houston area who prefer a smaller learning community. The school has an annual attrition rate of 6 percent. Nearly all students in attendance have the option of a public school education at CISD, according to the demographic report. "This is happening in a stronger way this admissions cycle than it has in the last two or three," Maher said about interest in private school enrollment at the school. "Local families becoming interested in The Woodlands, families moving to The Woodlands for jobs in medicine, technology and the third component being the influx of (Exxon Mobil employees)." Smaller private schools in the area have seen enrollment growth, too. The Woodlands Christian Academy, which had an enrollment of about 570 students this past academic calendar, will see an uptick to about 600. For the last few years, Woodlands Christian has seen 10 percent growth with about a 93 percent student retention rate. "Our growth and our re-enrollment have been wonderfully steady, and that's despite a really challenging economy. Parents are excited and enthusiastic to be here. They're interested in the investment. They recognize the value," said D'Anne Surber, director of enrollment and marketing at The Woodlands Christian Academy. Because of limited space, the pre-K through 12th-grade campus is facing waitlists for the upcoming school year. Similar to The John Cooper School, the greatest demand is seen for elementary school seats. The Woodlands Christian has extensive waitlists for a few years out, and some interested parents connect with the school two to three years prior to enrolling their child. Similar to The John Cooper School, almost all students attending Woodlands Christian live within CISD's boundaries, according to the demographic report. Much of the enrollment growth can be attributed to the area's population boom. From the medical and tech industries to energy companies like Exxon Mobil and ancillary businesses, the area has seen a growth spurt over the last few years. The Woodlands has grown to nearly 110,000 residents, a 10 percent increase over five years. About 42 percent of area households have children, according to The Woodlands Township. "I think when you value education and when you have the ability to do something more, you look to a private school environment for college prep education ... and, in our particular environment because this is a Christian college prep school, none of those things come to the exception of an opportunity to grow in a relationship with Jesus Christ," Surber said. When first lady Michelle Obama delivered what many pundits consider the best speech during the first night of the Democratic National Convention, Auburn Mayor Michael Quill had one of the best seats in the house. Quill, a delegate for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, was sitting with the other members of the New York delegation Monday night at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. New York was given one of the prime seating sections for the convention directly in front of the stage. The Democratic mayor gave high marks to the first lady for her remarks, which offered a look back on the Obama family's eight years in the White House and an endorsement of Clinton. "She was terrific," Quill said in a phone interview Monday. "She was very emotional, very upbeat. She did a terrific job. It was great to be there to hear because she really did she spoke a lot coming at the angle of being a mom. I thought she was the best." Quill also enjoyed speeches delivered by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who battled with Clinton during the Democratic primary, and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat who previously served as Newark's mayor. Sanders had Quill nervous early on. The mayor thought "it was going to turn into a Ted Cruz" a reference to the speech Cruz gave at the Republican National Convention last week in which he didn't endorse Donald Trump, the GOP nominee. But Sanders, who has already endorsed Clinton, did make the case for electing his primary foe. "It was well prepared," Quill said. "And he really gave a resounding backing of Hillary Clinton, so he did a great job. He had everyone on their feet." While in Philadelphia, Quill did catch up with Democratic National Committee CEO Amy Dacey, an Auburn native. He also talked to Troy Parker, a DNC intern whose father and grandfather worked with Quill on the Auburn Fire Department. So far, Quill said he's enjoying his time in Philadelphia. On Tuesday, he attended a New York delegation breakfast that featured Gov. Andrew Cuomo and a surprise guest: Sanders, who was born in Brooklyn. "It's really been a first-time adventure," he said. "I'd certainly like to do it again." Some Democrats may be reluctant to talk about the hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee that led the party's chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, to announce her resignation. But two central New York Democrats aren't shying away from discussing the controversy. Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner and Auburn Mayor Michael Quill answered questions about the DNC email matter in separate phone interviews this week. Miner, who's a superdelegate at the Democratic convention and a Hillary Clinton supporter, said she hasn't read most of the emails that were stolen from the DNC and posted on Wikileaks. But she did read reports about DNC officials discussing how to use Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' religious beliefs against him. "I think that's intolerable," Miner said. "That's not who we are as a country, as a party. It's unacceptable. I think that there needs to be consequences to those kinds of decisions that were made. (Wasserman Schultz) needs to resign and move on so that we can remind people what we stand for and focus on getting to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue." The DNC issued a statement Monday apologizing to Sanders. The uproar over the emails was a distraction for Democrats at the start of the convention. Sanders supporters booed and led chants inside Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia the site of the convention. Wasserman Schultz's status was also up in the air. She initially said she would resign after the convention and keep at least some of her responsibilities at this week's event, including opening and closing the session. Those tasks have since been delegated to others. It's unlikely that she will make any public appearances during the convention. Quill, a delegate and Clinton supporter, said he never met Wasserman Schultz, but "liked her personally." "I think a lot of people are shocked. I was shocked," he said. "In this day in age, everyone has to be very careful ... There's nothing secret in this society anymore. I'm sure it was an embarrassment to her." While making the rounds in Philadelphia, Quill said he spoke with Democratic National Committee CEO Amy Dacey, an Auburn native. Dacey received unwanted attention when her reply to the email chain about Sanders' faith was included in the Wikileaks dump. "We just talked briefly," Quill said of his exchange with Dacey. "She says we'll get through this ... As a Democrat, I'm embarrassed that it happened." John and Tina Socci have told their story many times before, whether it's in media interviews or at community forums. Now, voters in the 24th Congressional District will hear it when U.S. Rep. John Katko's new ad hits the airwaves. The Soccis are featured in a minute-long commercial that Katko's campaign will release this week. The video was provided exclusively to The Citizen Monday night. The cost of the ad buy wasn't disclosed, but Katko's campaign said it will air simultaneously with a separate commercial touting the Republican congressman's record that was released last week. In the new ad, the Soccis discuss the loss of their daughter Katie, who was killed by her ex-boyfriend, David McNamara, at her Auburn home in June 2011. McNamara, who is now in prison, was addicted to prescription painkillers. Tragedy struck the Socci family again two years after Katie's death when Christopher Socci, John and Tina's son, died of a heroin overdose in October 2013. "We can't bring back our son or our daughter, but we can help," Tina Socci said in the ad. "We know that John Katko is willing to do whatever it takes," John Socci said. "Whatever it takes to battle drug abuse, to battle domestic violence." While the ad focuses on Katko's work to address the heroin epidemic, it also seeks to highlight how he's joined with Democrats on key legislative issues. John Socci is a registered Democrat. In 2013, he ran for Owasco town supervisor against incumbent Republican Ed Wagner. Wagner defeated Socci by one vote. The support from the Soccis comes more than a week after Katko, R-Camillus, held a press conference in Syracuse to celebrate the passage of legislation aimed at combating the heroin epidemic. At the press conference, John Socci said the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery approved by Congress the bill was signed by President Barack Obama on Friday is a good start. He called on federal, state and local governments to do more to address heroin and opioid abuse. For Katko, passage of the bill was an emotional moment. He said he advocated for the legislation on behalf of the Soccis and other families affected by the epidemic who have shared their stories with him over the past two years. "You deeply affected me in a way that I understood and in a way that I saw and I was excited to try and make a change," Katko said while holding back tears. Katko is running for re-election against Democratic challenger Colleen Deacon, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's former central New York regional director. The race between Deacon and Katko is a top priority for both parties. Democrats have won the Syracuse-area congressional district race in the past two presidential elections. The last time a Republican won in a presidential election year was 2004, when then-U.S. Rep. Jim Walsh was re-elected to serve in the House. With a prime-time speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention Monday night, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand made the case for why her mentor, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, should be elected president. Gillibrand's nearly six-minute speech focused on issues in her wheelhouse: equal pay for women and paid family leave. She has introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate that would establish a national paid leave program. "Our policies are stuck in the 'Mad Men' era," Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said. "We are the only industrialized nation that doesn't guarantee workers paid family leave. Many women can't even get a paid day off to give birth." Gillibrand also touted Clinton's work on issues affecting families, including her support for the creation of the State Children's Health Insurance Program and the four years she spent as secretary of state in President Barack Obama's administration. "It's why as president of the United States of America she will bring our workplace policies out of the dark ages and always, always put families first," Gillibrand said. The senator's speech had another goal: To highlight differences between Clinton and her Republican opponent, Donald Trump. Before Gillibrand took the stage, a video was shown featuring clips of comments made by Trump over the years. One of those statements that women are going to earn the same salary as men "if you do as good a job." Clinton, Gillibrand said, supports equal pay for equal work. "The choice in this election could not be clearer," Gillibrand said. "If you believe int he values that have always made us greater, if you believe in keeping America great, then support Hillary Clinton." Gillibrand isn't the only New Yorker scheduled to speak at the Democratic convention. U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, the state's senior senator, will have a speaking role. So, too, will Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. HIT: To the New York Dance Festival, Sean McLeod's annual gathering of music students and faculty from the around the world held in Auburn. This year the festival marked its 25th anniversary. Not only have McLeod and his New York Institute of Dance and Education have been bringing people to the city for a quarter of a century, but they've also brought arts and cultural opportunities to residents here in the form of the public concerts and other events held in conjunction with the festival. This year, the New York Dance Festival added a new twist with a evening outdoor musical concert in honor of Harriet Tubman. MISS: To a drowning on Skaneateles Lake. State police said a New York City man died after his kayak overturned in the choppy waters Saturday. Troopers reported that the victim was not wearing a life jacket. We cherish our recreational activities in the Finger Lakes region, but unfortunately these types of deadly accidents seem to happen every summer. Let this case serve as a reminder of the important of using personal flotation devices when paddling on the water. HIT: To the CIViC Heritage Historical Society, which celebrated its 35th anniversary with a special event Sunday. CIViC, which serves the towns of Cato, Ira, Victory and Conquest, has been a champion of historical education and preservation in northern Cayuga County. The society's museum on South Street in Cato is well worth the visit if you're looking for an enjoyable Sunday afternoon activity this summer or early fall. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate District attorney candidate Kim Ogg pushed for reform Tuesday in the treatment of crime victims following the high-profile jailing of a rape victim so she would testify in court. Ogg said the district attorney's office could use funding to better house the victims if they are worried witnesses might not show up in court, and she suggested creation of a new division in the city that would be responsible for prosecuting people who commit sex crimes. "I will never put a crime victim in jail to secure a conviction," she said at a Tuesday press conference. "There are so many other things we can do." Ogg said she wants to eliminate the backlog of rape kits by using drug forfeiture funds. Ogg said she wants to prevent mistreatment of crime victims. The rape victim who was jailed has since filed a lawsuit against the Harris county district attorney's office, saying she was abused again while in jail. Houston-based psychiatrist Harvey Rosenstock said the victim was essentially "double raped." "The system itself victimizes [the victim] and serves them up a double slice of PTSD," he said. "There's got to be another way." Ogg, a Democrat, is facing incumbent Republican District Attorney Devon Anderson in the November general election. Anderson has defended the actions by prosecutors to jail the woman, who had a mental breakdown on the witness stand while testifying against her rapist. Prosecutors said she indicated she would appear in court, so they sought a "witness bond" to hold her until her testimony was needed. The woman was initially transferred to a psychiatric center and then to the jail to await the trial. She ended up spending the Christmas holiday in jail but was released in January. She has filed a federal lawsuit over the jailing. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Harris County District Attorney's office on Tuesday dismissed all charges against anti-abortion activists who secretly videotaped Planned Parenthood officials in Houston. David Robert Daleiden and Sandra Merritt were charged with tampering with a governmental record, for using a fake identification to gain access to the facility. In a surprise move before a hearing on the legitimacy of the indictment, prosecutors dismissed the charges. Deleiden and his attorneys claimed victory for the anti-abortion movement, saying they were satisfied with the decision. Daleiden, 27, and Sandra Merritt, 62, both of Davis, Calif., were indicted by a Harris County grand jury in January, accused of tampering with a government record for allegedly using fake driver licenses to conceal their identities while dealing with a Houston Planned Parenthood clinic. Read more on the case: Daleiden also was charged with a misdemeanor count related to purchasing human organs. The pair released video footage showing them posing as representatives of a company called BioMax seeking to procure fetal tissue for research. Planned Parenthood has said the pair offered to pay $1,600 for fetal organs, but the clinic refused. A Harris County Criminal Court at Law judge dismissed the misdemeanor count against Daleiden last month, saying the indictment was flawed. The Houston video was one of several Daleiden released last year as part of an undercover by his group, Center for Medical Progress, purporting to show Planned Parenthood clinics across the country sold fetal tissue, a violation of federal law. The videos prompted a series of investigations by state attorneys general, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. None of those investigations have found any wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood. An investigation into the Houston video by a Harris County grand jury cleared Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing, but indicted Daleiden and Merritt. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Starting Monday, Aug. 1, just weeks before colleges are back in session for the fall semester, licensed gun owners will be allowed to bring concealed handguns into public four-year colleges in Texas. The campus-carry law was signed last summer by Governor Greg Abbott after years of statewide wrangling and debate. In the past year, the new law, sometimes referred to as simply "campus carry," has continued to be the subject of much conversation. Coupled with the outcry in some circles over open carry in Texas (which went into effect in January), its been hard to escape talk about the concealed or open possession of firearms. RELATED: Explained: gun laws in Texas The recent rash of tragic shootings across the state has only reheated that conversation. With universities getting ready for the fall semester, many students and parents are likely wondering what campus carry means for them. Some schools have opted out of campus carry, citing their own list of concerns. One Houston lawyer, Charles Adams, says that even as a gun owner himself he doesnt agree with campus carry. By the same token, hes not a fan of "safe spaces" on college campuses that protect students from strident rhetoric or difficult discourse, either. I do believe campuses should strive to create a space safe from physical harm and fear. I strongly believe 'campus carry' is antithetical to that goal, Adams says. Guns wont be going with his teenage son when he enters Rice University in the coming weeks, because Rice doesnt allow campus carry. I own guns. My son who is about to be a freshman in college owns guns. But he will not have one with him on campus. His chosen school, Rice University, does not allow it and if they allowed it, I would not, Adams says. RELATED: Three University of Texas professors sue to block campus carry law Earlier this month, at least three University of Texas at Austin professors filed a lawsuit over the state's new campus carry law. Jennifer Lynn Glass, Lisa Moore and Mia Carter want a federal judge to block the law. They are suing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, UT Austin President Gregory Fenves and the UT regents to do so. "Compelling professors at a public university to allow, without any limitation or restriction, students to carry concealed guns in their classrooms chills their First Amendment rights to academic freedom," the professors argue in the lawsuit filed in U.S. district court in Austin earlier this month. Some professors across the state have said that they think that campus carry will stifle heated discourse inside classrooms and lecture halls. RELATED: UH faculty suggest steering clear of some topics if students armed The argument, or fear, is that students carrying guns will in some way influence the way that some material is taught or discussed. One University of Houston professor thinks such concerns are overblown. "It's an absolutely unfounded fear," Jacob Smith, who teaches courses at UH as he works toward a doctorate in economics, said in February when many UH professors protested the law. Like many supporters of the new law, Smith said he wants to be able to protect himself and mentions all the alerts from UH about armed robberies and break-ins he receives. Adams thinks that campus carry is a waste of time, which would be better suited tackling other on-campus issues. Instead of allowing students to have firearms on campus, we should stop wasting valuable law enforcement energies on the very pointless war on drugs and vice crimes, and, instead, focus all campus police on insuring that our students are free from fear of violence and victimization, Adams says. A prominent campus carry group, Students for Concealed Carry, has repeatedly said in press materials that campus carry to them is more about personal protection than campus protection. RELATED: Sex toys to replace guns at UT-Austin campus carry protest The evidence strongly suggests that licensed concealed carry will have no detrimental effect on Texas college campuses and that there is no justification to deny licensed students, faculty, staff, or guests on those campuses the same measure of personal protection they enjoy throughout the rest of the state, the group said in a statement earlier this year. As for the fears of professors who think that gun-toting pupils will make taking on hot topics dangerous, the group thinks they are being dramatic. There is little or no evidence that it negatively impacts free speech in the places where its allowed, including more than 100 U.S. college campuses and several state capitols, they say. They note that those who have been licensed to carry a concealed firearms have passed a training course, a shooting test and extensive background checks, making them a cut above. Adams is worried that even with licensed owners on campus, the harm will outweigh the good. I think campus carry will lead to tragedy very quickly if students are allowed firearms in dormitory rooms. I think it will most likely be an accidental tragedy but a tragedy nonetheless. Kids, and most undergraduate students are still kids, do stupid things, he says. According to data from the Texas Department of Public Safety, college-age Texans aren't the ones getting the majority of licenses to carry. Back in 2015, just under 10,000 Texans under 24 years of age were getting those licenses. The majority of Texans getting license-t0-carry certifications were between the ages of 35 and 65. Days after a street brawl outside a Dairy Queen in South Texas went viral on social media, police are searching for a suspect in a theft that may have occurred during that time. Multiple women in dresses and men in more casual attire were seen fighting outside a Dairy Queen in Corpus Christi late Friday night. At one point in the now-viral video someone falls to the ground, and the crowd continues punching and kicking the hapless individual. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Cars attempting to drive through high water after heavy storms soaked the area caused traffic issues on Tuesday afternoon. According to the Houston Police Department, multiple cars were stalled near Telephone Road and Broadway Street at about 2:30 p.m. The National Weather Service in League City issued a flood advisory warning for southwest Harris County and northwest Galveston County. A flood advisory has also been issued for north Brazoria County and northeast Fort Bend county. It's expected to last until 6:45 p.m. Storms dumped about 1 inch of rain in some spots while other areas recorded between 2 and 3 inches of rain, forecaster said. Residents are urged to use caution are their afternoon commutes. >> Click the gallery above to see the roads that typically flood in Houston when it rains This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Whether it's Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, there's one thing Americans can be sure of from their next President of the United States. They'll be old ... at least in presidential terms. After a relatively young string of presidents Barack Obama (age 47 at inauguration), George W. Bush (54) and Bill Clinton (46) America's voters have gone the other direction in 2016. If elected president, Donald Trump, age 70, would surpass Ronald Reagan as the oldest American president ever elected. Were Clinton elected, she would be the second oldest behind Reagan. She turns 69 just a few days before the election. So far in 2016, age hasn't been an issue for either Trump or Clinton. Both are hardy, healthy and hitting the campaign trail hard. Frankly, age 70 isn't as old today as it was in William Henry Harrison's day. Age has been raised as a potential stumbling block to the presidency as recently as John McCain's failed bid in 2008. The Arizona Republican claimed that then-Sen. Obama used phrases like "lost his bearings" and "confusing" to describe McCain in order to suggest that McCain's mental capacities were slipping as he got older. "For younger voters, old age is an abstraction," CNN polling director Keating Holland, said in a 2008 interview regarding the McCain/Obama age issue. Ironically, age was more of an issue for older voters than young voters. "For senior citizens, old age is a reality," Holland said. "In 1996, that difference hurt Dole with senior voters, but didn't seem to matter to voters under 30." Still, one can't deny that being president seems to take a toll - at least physically - on its officeholder. Check out how the job aged some of our recent presidents in the photos above. There has been much criticism recently of Republican leaders who refuse to endorse Trump. Trump supporters call it treasonous and childish and say that those such as Cruz, Bush, Graham and Kasich lack character. I would make the case that they are the ones who have shown real character by placing our country over party politics. Many incidents in Trumps background and campaign have proven over and over that he is completely devoid of character and principles. That is also evidenced by the few specific proposals he has made ones which have already endangered American security. His proposed ban on Muslims has only fed into the power of ISIS. Add to that his comment that he would kill entire families of those who are terrorists because family members know what is going on with their relatives. These statements validate ISISs portrayal of our nation and limits our ability to work with and gain co-operation from Muslims living in America. He has also stated that, as president, he would threaten to default on U.S. debt in order to renegotiate obligations owed to other nations. By saying so candidate Trump is already undermining the full faith and credit of the United States government. He has repeatedly stated that he would expand Bushs immoral use of torture even though it violates international and U.S. law and has proven to be counterproductive. Trump has also said that he will unilaterally end any trade deal that has already been agreed to if it is not of his liking further undermining U.S. credibility. More recently he has stated that the United States under his leadership might not come to the defense of some NATO members if Russia were to attack them. No wonder that Putin loves Trump and our allies are scared stiff. Tony Schwartz, the man who actually wrote Trumps book, "The Art of the Deal," has stated that Trump is a sociopath and he said that "I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization. Not far-fetched when you consider Trumps thin skin and his pro-nuclear proliferation comments and his refusal to rule out using nuclear bombs in Europe. Vote your conscience but, if you vote for Trump, you will be voting for, at the very least, an end to American values and, at the most, the very last president of the United States. Thomas Hanley Fulton This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate PHILADELPHIA Tempers flared Tuesday morning at a breakfast meeting of Texas Democrats after a Bernie Sanders supporter calling for dialogue suddenly went negative on Hillary Clinton, sparking a loud scene of shouting, boos, and tears. The room of national delegates, expecting a peace gesture from a group of Sanders supporters, erupted in jeers when Russell Lytle, an activist from Denton, made clear that the Sanders "revolution" was not over at the Democratic Convention. "We want to be clear," Lytle said. "We are currently condemning our current presumptive nominee." Lytle immediately withstood a barrage of angry Clinton supporters who rose to their feet and chanted "Hillary!" Lytle, somewhat shaken by the reaction, backed off a little later, voluntarily turning over his convention credentials and telling reporters, "My word choice might not have been the best." But the scene that unfolded showed that even amid Sanders' call for unity the night before, his followers' feeling are still raw as are those of many Clinton delegates. "Who is he to condemn anyone?" said Alfredo Jimenez, a Hillary delegate from Laredo. Texas Democratic leaders from both the Clinton and Sanders camps called for calm and unity. Garry Mauro, the Texas State Director for Clinton's campaign, called for respect on both sides, noting that Sanders' supporters are getting a chance to demonstrate their preference during Tuesday night's roll call of the states. "Our objection is not the vote. Our objection is the language used to describe Hillary Clinton!" shouted Jack Weiss, a Clinton delegate from Fort Worth. Weiss said Lytle apologized to him later. "We've got to open our arms so we can win this election in November," said Mauro, recalling the disappointment of Clinton backers like himself when she was defeated by Barack Obama in the 2008 primaries. State party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa also took to the stage to calm the room, telling the delegates, "What you heard was not what was supposed to be said." Several Sanders backers also addressed the Texans to plead for unity and patience. "On behalf of the Bernie Sanders campaign, don't cast off everyone just yet," said Jen Ramos, a Sanders delegate from Austin. "While I am a Bernie Sanders delegate, I am first and foremost a Democrat." Leaving the stage in tears, Ramos was greeted with hugs from supportive delegates. She was followed by Ashley Rodriguez, a Sanders delegate from El Paso who assured the Texans that Lytle's remarks did not reflect the Sanders contingent. "We were unanimous in what was going to be said," she said. "We don't support any negative language. This convention has had enough negativity." David J. Phillip/STF The mother of Sandra Bland, who died more than a year ago in the Waller County Jail, is scheduled to speak tonight at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Geneva Reed-Veal will be among eight so-called "Mothers of the Movement" slated to address the gathering on the topic of Hillary Clinton's work in social justice, according to an online convention news release. The group slated to speak also includes the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Michael Brown, who were all black men killed in highly publicized incidents. Martin was fatally shot by a neighborhood watch leader, and Garner and Brown were killed by police. -- DEMS OPEN IN PHILLY with appeal for support from multicultural tapestry, by the Chronicles Kevin Diaz and Bill Lambrecht of the Express-News To Texas Democrats, the signal was unmistakable. Immigration - along with inclusion and diversity - will be among the most important bywords of a national gathering in Philadelphia to nominate Hillary Clinton and roll out her response to Donald Trump's hard line on the border and other domestic policies. >> Democrats Struggle for Unity on First Day of Convention, by NYTs Patrick Healy and Jonathan Martin -- HOW THEY PULLED IT OFF But Democrats ended the night more optimistic than they began it when failed and frantic attempts by Clinton and Sanders aides to quiet rebellious pro-Sanders delegates plunged the convention into acrimony. Instead, a stirring speech by Michelle Obama, bookended by an uplifting if high-decibel speech by Sen. Cory Booker and liberal red-meat address from Sen. Elizabeth Warren seemed to get the convention back on track, per POLITICO. -- Julian Castro Has No Interest in Running DNC, by The Texas Tribunes Patrick Svitek That's not on my radar screen, Castro said ... Who knows whats next? I have a positive outlook toward the future, and Ive always believed that if you keep your head and work hard that good things are going to happen. >> 5 takeaways from Day 1 of the DNC, by POLITICOs Glenn Thrush -- ICYMI Texas Take: The Podcast Donald Trump, Tim Kaine and Ted Cruz top a dramatic week -- A BIG DEAL: Texas loosens grip on birth certificates, by the Chronicles Andrea Zelinski Under the agreement, Texas now will accept common identification available to undocumented immigrants, including a Mexican voter registration card available through Mexican consulate offices in Texas, as well as identification issued by consulates for El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The state also will accept additional secondary documents, such as religious and medical records, official immigration documents and some expired identifications. -- Comptroller: Texas lags nation in job growth, by the Express-News Peggy Fikac The budget continues to work, Hegar said after his presentation. "If you look at us compared to others, we should be very thrilled we are not in a recession. We're not (experiencing) negative job numbers. In the last 12 months, we've still gained over 170,000 jobs which I think is a testament that the 10th largest economy in the world is significantly more diverse and resilient than it was in prior economic downturns. ** Texas had a job-growth rate of 1.4 percent between June 2015 and last month, trailing the 1.7 percent national rate for the same period, according to the comptroller's office. ** -- Major Ken Paxton donor paying $3.5 million settlement after Medicaid fraud probe, by The Dallas Morning NewsLauren McGaughy Preferred Imaging LLC did not admit to any wrongdoing or liability in the case. The settlement came after an investigation led by federal and state authorities, including the Texas Medicaid Fraud Control Unit within Paxton's agency, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney for the North District of Texas John Parker. The requirement that certain services are supervised by a physician is in place to protect Medicare and Medicaid patients, Parker said. This settlement clearly reflects our commitment to hold facilities responsible for failing to ensure that those requirements are satisfied. But Paxton's office said the case was never referred, pursued or investigated by the fraud control unit. SPEED READ Trump Jr. stopped in Dallas today to raise money for his dad's campaign, Dallas Morning News Joaquin Castro: Some Trump Voters Are 'Racist,' The Texas Tribune Exxon Mobil, Saudis look to create petrochemical venture in Texas, Houston Chronicle Mayor Adler calls King arrest video disgusting, horrifying, Austin American-Statesman Texas Women Go After Trump on Night One, The Texas Tribune Texas Cemetery Scraps "Whites Only" Policy, The Texas Tribune Highest paid CEOs generate sub-par performance, Houston Chronicle Cap Metro draws nearer to $85 million MetroRail expansion, Austin American-Statesman DA seeks help from mental health group to prevent repeat of rape victim jailing, Houston Chronicle Texas police officer killed in apparent burglary attempt, AP Texas charter schools expected to seek facility funds, AP CAPITOL DAYBOOK: No meetings scheduled RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE -- Sources: US officials warned DNC of hack months before the party acted, by CNNs Evan Perez The DNC brought in consultants from the private security firm CrowdStrike in April. And by the time suspected Russian hackers were kicked out of the DNC network in June, the hackers had been inside for about a year. A person briefed on the DNC's response says the warning from the FBI and other agencies wasn't specific, and that the extent of the problem wasn't clear when the initial warnings came. DNC officials hired outside help after additional indications surfaced that their systems were compromised. -- To Democrats, Email Hack Suggests Trump Has New Supporter: Putin, by NYTs Steven Lee Myers and Neil MacFarquhar Now the question has emerged in the United States election campaign whether Mr. Putin has opted directly or covertly to throw Russias support behind Mr. Trump. The conclusion by cybersecurity experts that Russian intelligence agencies breached the Democratic National Committee and released thousands of emails on the eve of the partys convention prompted accusations from Democrats and some Republicans that Mr. Trump was a kind of Siberian candidate, bolstered from abroad to undermine the nation. Mr. Trump dismissed the idea as a joke, and his campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, called it crazy in remarks broadcast on CNN. I dont even know what youre talking about, he said. >> Why Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban decided to go after Donald Trump, by the Morning News Robert Wilonsky >> Pelosi: Sanders supporters have 'legitimate complaint' about DNC, Politico After months of searches turned up no answers, the family of a Louisiana woman who went missing at the Grand Canyon in April is asking the public to help find her. Diana Zacarias, 22, of Natchitoches, La., was last seen at the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. According to the National Park Service, the Arizona Shuttle dropped her off at the Maswik Lodge on April 2. She is believed to have visited Yaki Point and Lookout Studio. Patricia Miller, a spokesperson for the family, said Zacarias mother texted her to remind her about her flight back home. She sent an unusual text message back saying she was not going. Zacarias family reported her missing the next day. The National Park Service conducted air and ground search operations for several days but were unable to locate her. There has been no activity on her cellphone, credit card or debit card since she went missing. Zacarias is 5 feet, 2 inches tall and approximately 104 pounds with short black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a pink hat, purple fleece jacket, and black rimmed glasses. She may have been carrying a small green backpack. After Zacarias went missing, her father came to Arizona, where he has been passing out flyers and conducting his own search. Miller has set up a Go Fund Me page called Find Diane Zacarias to pay for his transportation and lodging at the Grand Canyon. Anyone who may have information regarding Zacarias whereabouts or disappearance is being urged to contact Grand Canyon Silent Witness at (928) 638-7840, the National Park Service Investigative Services Branch at 1-888-653-0009, Coconino County Silent Witness at (928) 774-6111 or (877) 29-CRIME, or the Zacarias family at (318) 471-1128. 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. Flagstaff voters will be faced with four local ballot questions as well as choosing a new Flagstaff City Council and other local and state elected leaders in November. According to the Flagstaff City Clerks Office, both the Greater Buffalo Park and local Minimum Wage Act have made the local ballot. The Minimum Wage Act would amend the citys code to create a local minimum wage that would gradually increase from the current $8.05 per hour to $15 per hour by 2021. It also raises wages for tipped workers, such as wait staff at restaurants, to $15 per hour by 2026. If passed, it would require Flagstaffs minimum wage to always be at least $2 more than the state minimum wage and would be increased based on the cost of living each January after 2021. The city would be in charge of enforcing the wage. Flagstaff Needs a Raise, the organization behind the local Minimum Wage Act question, received word last week that out of a sample of 182 signatures, 168 signatures were verified as valid. The organization submitted 3,652 signatures. A similar initiative has been filed at the state level by Fair Wages and Healthy Families. That initiative would increase the state minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020 for regular workers and to $9 per hour for tipped workers. Employers would also be required to offer mandatory sick leave to employees. The Arizona Secretary of State is still verifying signatures for the Fair Wages and Health Families initiative. If both measures make the ballot and are passed by voters, then the local Flagstaff ballot initiative would take precedence within the city limits. The Greater Buffalo Park ballot initiative asks local voters to designate 253 acres of city-owned property on McMillan Mesa south of Buffalo and McPherson parks as open space, with only voters, not the city council alone, permitted to sell or change the zoning. It would allow the city to use about 10 acres of the property to build a veterans home. Also on the November city ballot are a transit tax extension and a bond issue for a new municipal court. The transit tax is a continuation of an older sales tax that was first passed in 2000 and renewed in 2008. If it passes, the 0.295 cents sales tax would continue to help fund Mountain Lift, Mountain Link and Mountain Line bus systems. The Northern Arizona Intergovernmental Transportation Authority is not asking for an increase in the transit tax, but for a flat renewal. The municipal court bond issue would help the city cover its half of the expected cost to build a new combined municipal/county justice courthouse on the site of the old downtown jail. The new courthouse is expected to cost around $40 million. The cost would be split equally between the city and county. The city currently has about $10 million saved for the new courthouse and would need another $12 million in bonds to cover the remaining costs. A countywide measure on the ballot, in addition to the city measures, will be the budget override for the Coconino Community College District. Donor disappointment in University of Arizona President Ann Weaver Hart is hurting the schools fundraising efforts, one of the leaders of its current fundraising drive says. Donors who have been steady supporters of the UA have suspended their giving, Sarah Smallhouse, co-chair of the $1.5 billion Arizona Now campaign, wrote to one of Harts bosses a few weeks before Hart announced she plans to retire as president in 2018. My impression is most donors want to see her gone ASAP, Smallhouse, herself a major donor, said in an email to Arizona Board of Regents member Bill Ridenour, who at the time was a trustee on the UAs fundraising board. Much of the ill will stems from Harts decision earlier this year to take a paid position on the board of for-profit DeVry University, Smallhouse wrote. The DeVry situation amplified hard feelings and added to concerns that the commitment to excellence at the UA has indeed been abandoned by its president, she said. It isnt clear if Ridenour shared the fundraising co-chairs comments with fellow regents. He didnt respond to requests for comment sent to his work email and regents email over a three-day period last week. Smallhouses emails are dated May 13. Hart announced her departure decision June 10 at a Board of Regents meeting in Flagstaff. Hart declined comment last week on the concerns Smallhouse raised. Other UA executives acknowledged a slowdown in giving, but said theres no way to know for sure whats behind it. Donors make philanthropic decisions (either positive or negative) based on all kinds of reasons and timetables, said John-Paul Roczniak, CEO of the UAs fundraising arm, the University of Arizona Foundation. It isnt feasible to accurately attribute decreases or increases in gifts to any one specific reason, he said in an email. The campaign overall has been highly successful and is on track to end earlier than planned, he added. Gregg Goldman, the UAs chief financial officer, said the downturn could be because the campaign is nearing its end and may not have the same momentum as at the start. The Arizona Daily Star obtained Smallhouses emails through a public-records request and also reviewed two years worth of online progress reports for the Arizona Now campaign. The public phase of the fundraising drive began in 2014 with more than half the $1.5 billion already raised in what the UA described as a quiet phase. Donations boomed in the year or so after Hart announced the campaign in April 2014, less than two years after she took over as president. In the 2015 school year, for example, the UA raised $293 million an average of $24.4 million a month. The monthly average dropped to $17 million in the 2016 school year just ended, for an annual total of $205 million. Between January and June this year the time frame in which protests arose over Harts DeVry job donations averaged $14 million a month. As of June 30, the campaign needs $40 million more to reach its goal, which is expected to take until late fall or early winter, said Goldman, the UAs finance boss. If that forecast holds, it equates to average giving of $6 million to $8 million a month in the final stretch of the campaign. As well, the UAs new budget predicts a 9.6 percent drop in private gifts in the school year just starting a decline of $8.7 million, even though the UA plans to spend an extra $4.7 million to hire more fundraising staff. That sort of dip is common after a major capital campaign ends, the UAs Goldman said. A local downturn in donations would run counter to current national trends. Giving to education is expected to rise by more than 6 percent both this year and next, according to recent research from Indiana Universitys Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. We project stronger growth in giving to education in 2016 and 2017 than in overall giving, said philanthropy expert Una Osili, the Lilly schools director of research. This may be due in part to the increasing interest of donors and especially wealthy donors, foundations and even corporations in funding higher education, as well as a growing role for philanthropy in K-12 education. Smallhouse said last week in an email interview she never intended for her comments to Ridenour to become public. She said she thought the emails were private and didnt realize they were releaseablecould be released as public records. Smallhouse isnt alone in the view that Harts DeVry job is having a negative effect. Regents CEO Eileen Klein has told board members that it is eroding public confidence in the entire state university system. The Star also obtained Kleins email through a public-records request. The regents, who collectively are Harts employers, have said little in public about the situation, which has sparked hundreds of complaints from faculty, students, alumni and state legislators. Critics say Hart should be spending all her energies on the UA and say shethat she tainted the Tucson schools reputation by attaching herself to a questionable enterprise. Many have called for her to resign or be fired, but according to her contract, Hart did nothing wrong. Regents policy doesnt require university presidents to seek board approval for outside work. Hart accepted the DeVry post in February, two weeks after the Federal Trade Commission launched a lawsuit that alleges DeVry deceived its students about their employment prospects claims DeVry denies. Hart has said she believes the firm is on solid ground and said she took the position on her own time to help DeVry students reach their potential. The corporate post pays Hart $70,000 a year plus $100,000 in stock, on top of the $665,500 pay package she receives from Arizona taxpayers. Shes believed to be the only sitting president of a major American public university to serve on the board of a publicly traded, for-profit education firm. The Board of Regents plans a national search this fall for Harts replacement. Outgoing board chair Jay Heiler has said Hart could exit the UAs top job next year once a new leader is in place. She plans to stay on at the UA as a tenured professor, as her contract provides. Harts presidential contract doesnt expire until June of 2018 so, barring any changes, taxpayers could end up covering two presidents salaries until then if a new leader comes aboard next year. This has been a weird election season, but this week it turned just plain crazy, with paranoia typical of Iraqi, Iranian, or Syrian politics. In those countries, every failure gets blamed on a plot. Crops fail, oil prices plummet, the economy tanks? It must be the fault of Israel, the Jews, the Americans. You, Ali, dont succeed? Others have plotted against you. Heaven forbid that blame falls where it belongson the corrupt and incompetent government, the tyrannical monarch, on any definable individual. So now Americas Democratic Party is in disarray over leaked e-mails showing that the Democratic National Committee actually did put a heavy thumb on candidate Hillary Clintons scale, conspiring against her opponent, Vermont socialist senator Bernie Sanders, to make doubly sure he didnt win the nomination. Infuriated left-wing Democrats called for the head of party chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who had intended to resign after the nominating convention in Philadelphia. But, shouted down by enraged Bernie-ites, as if she were some conservative speaker at an Ivy League graduation ceremony, Congresswoman Schultz resigned her gavel there and then. The Democrats then had to deal with the embarrassing truth that the national committee did indeed conspire against the septuagenarian socialist. They were even prepared to use his religion against him, though whether his Jewish birth or his purportedly atheist beliefs were disqualifying, the leaked documents dont make clear. So, in good Middle Eastern style, the Democrats shifted the blame away from themselvesaway from their own shady dealingsto . . . a plot! Why were the e-mails leaked? A plot! A plot to elect Republican Donald Trump. And, again in good Middle Eastern style, it was a plot orchestrated by malign foreign powers to harm America. Those nefarious Russians, our perennial adversary, had done the hacking, with the express intent of blocking Hillary Clintons election. Worse, they had interfered thus in our presidential politics with the devilish purpose of electing Trump, who, the Democrats broadly hinted, was of course Russian dictator Vladimir Putins lapdog. State actors, pronounced Clinton campaign chairman Robby Mook, had engineered the spy-movie caper with the purpose of helping Donald Trump, because of his announced willingness to rethink the NATO alliance that has been the key to the Western democracies military defense against the Russians. After all, Democrats charged, didnt Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort once advise Viktor Yanukovych, Russias Ukrainian puppet? And, judges one expert observer, Manafort was indeed trying to make a fast buck off the upheaval in Ukraine. Thats a far cry, however, from the charge of California congressman Adam Schiff, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee. Given Donald Trumps well-known admiration for Putin and his belittling of NATO, the Russians have both the means and the motive to engage in a hack of the D.N.C. and the dump of its e-mails prior to the Democratic convention, Schiff insinuated. That foreign actors may be trying to influence our electionlet alone a powerful adversary like Russiashould concern all Americans of any party. Thats strong stuff, not the usual nastiness you hear in a campaign. An international conspiracy! Left unsaid, of course, is the fact that candidate Clinton maintained an illegal private e-mail server at her Chappaqua home, thorough which she sent and received Top Secret documents when she was secretary of state, pressing the reset button with Russia, as she put itwith the result that U.S.-Russian relations blew up. For an ordinary person, some poor slob like General David Petraeus, say, using such a server would be indictable. An even more ordinary American would go to jail for it. And no wonder, because intelligence agents well know that Russia, North Korea, China, the United States, and other governments continually hack one anothers sensitive computer networks, stealing valuable intelligence and business secrets. Nothing easier to hack than Mrs. Clintons little basement machine, and no doubt well be reading leaks from it as the election approaches. Allegations like Mooks and Schiffs are outrageous, but politicians are not in the truth business. What is more scandalous is that this story should have featured boldly on Page One of the New York Times for two days running. The Times even reported suspicions that Trump may be a Siberian Candidatethat is, a brainwashed agent of the Russians, as in the great 1962 movie The Manchurian Candidate, in which Laurence Harvey plays just such a brainwashed agent, this time of the Chinese. His mission is to assassinate his presidential-candidate stepfather, and his American controller is his mother, played brilliantly by Angela Lansbury, who uncannily reminds one of Mrs. Clinton. All Americans know that the press is partisan, and getting ever more so. But the Timess partisanship borders ondare we be so paranoid?Pravdas. Photo by John Moore/Getty Images If you were one of the estimated 30.3 million people who watched broadcast coverage of Peter Thiels speech at the Republican National Convention last week, you would have learned that Thiel is openly gay, a Silicon Valley billionaire, and a Republican. You would not have heard about Thiels moves to secretly bankroll a lawsuit that put the news site Gawker into bankruptcy, or about the Republican partys extreme anti-gay platformwhich suggests, for instance, a rollback of the Supreme Court decision allowing gay marriage. Thiel was the first openly gay Republican to address the convention, a worthy fact to share. But to audiences unfamiliar with his story, broadcast journalists gave little detail on the contradictions his presence at the convention created. How the media chose to handle Thiel raises questions about coverage of these conventions, publicity stunts designed to push the partys platform and keep the attention on a pre-set narrative. What is the medias goal with convention coverage? Do they have a responsibility to provide additional context on speakers such as Thiel that runs counter to the party narrative? Here are some examples, via transcripts, of how broadcast media introduced Thiel: Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly: Sign up for CJR 's daily email Speaking right now, billionaire tech investor and entrepreneur Peter Thiel. Mr. Thiel is the co-founder of the popular online payment system PayPal, and an early investor in Facebook. He also is openly gay, and he will be the first person to publicly acknowledge that he is gay at a Republican convention. Many wondering just how far hell go with his remarks about gay rights. And different people hoping for different things. CNNs Erin Burnett: A Silicon Valley billionaire is going to take to the stage here in Cleveland at the RNC, PayPal co- founder Peter Thiel is his name. As I said, Silicon Valley billionaire, he is going to say he is gay and he is proud of being gay. He will be the first speaker ever to openly do so, to declare he is gay here on stage at a Republican National Convention and he is going to come out against the party for refusing to embrace LGBT rights. PBS Newshour political correspondent Lisa Desjardins: The lineup includes tech billionaire Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal, and Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, co-chair of the Republican Platform Committee. CBS This Morning host Gayle King: Yesterday, he brought up the LGBTQ community, Q, by the way, stands for questioning, I learned that myself, last night for the first time. People around me going, what does the Q stand for? What does it mean? What does it mean? Were you surprised that he brought that up, especially after Peter Thiel spoke, an openly gay billionaire, that got big applause in the room. This is not to say that no one acknowledged Thiels unusual role. Some made passing remarks about his involvement in the Gawker lawsuit, and many print and online publications dedicated more time to the perplexing issue, but few went in depth to break down the significance of the case. Thiel put up $10 million to fund a lawsuit against Gawker brought by Hulk Hogan, who was suing the company because he objected to the sites decision to post portions of a sex tape. Hogan won a $140 million judgment in the case, and Gawker filed for bankruptcy as it appeals. Thiel supported the fight because Gawker published an article that exposed his sexual orientation back in 2007. Gawkers stance was they were not responsible for outing Thiel because many of his friends and coworkers were aware, and so the news was fair game. Some conservatives, who view Gawker as a gossipy champion of liberal causes, have cheered Thiel for taking on the site and celebrated its bankruptcy filing. But media watchers have described the billionaires actions as a disturbing assault on the First Amendment, and they wonder who he might target next. While few would disagree Gawker is guilty of poor journalistic behavior, it has become a symbol of a shadowy war on the press. In his speech, Thiel acknowledged he is gay and noted he does not fully support the Republican Party platform, but said there are more important issues that the party needs to unite on and deal with first. He said he supports Donald Trump because hes a builder and a candidate willing to be honest about the problems the country faces. Thiel, though, made no reference to his animosity toward the press, another position he shares with Trump. Audiences without the back story would have benefited from the context. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Carlett Spike is a freelance writer and former CJR Delacorte Fellow. Follow her on Twitter @CarlettSpike. In January 1996, when longtime GOP media consultant Roger Ailes was named chief executive of the soon-to-be-launched Fox News Channel, he claimed at a press conference that the network would like to restore objectivity where we find it lacking. Added Rupert Murdoch, the conservative media mogul who tapped Ailes to lead News Corp.s foray into cable: Frankly, all the [other TV news outlets] look alike. We will be an alternative. The implicit critique can be seen as a wink and a nod to what Ailes and Murdoch rightly foresaw as an untapped audience for conservative news and opinion programming. While highbrow publications like National Review had long been a voice for movement conservatism, few media organizations had attempted to take such worldviews mainstream. By the early 1990s, Rush Limbaugh opened the door for such efforts by attracting millions of listeners with his blend of smash-mouth conservatism and off-color humor. Foxs launch was the next domino to fall in what would become a two-decade-long revolution in conservative media. Fox cemented itself as a cable ratings winner and rightwing colossus in the post-9/11 world, beating out competitors offering both straight news and analysis and openly liberal programming. Limbaugh and countless other conservative hosts continue to dominate talk radio today. The digital transition, meanwhile, has ushered in a diverse conservative media ecosystem online. In this new world of abundant options, Ailess Fox has played the role of lone superpower, driving discussion among right-of-center audiences and in turn the Republican Party. Now, Limbaugh wrote in National Review in November, there is a fierce competition for the hearts and minds of the American people, which the Left used to believe it owned. But the bosss resignation last week in wake of widespread sexual harassment allegations raises new questions of how long Foxs singular dominance of conservative media will last. While the network wont lose its ratings or influence anytime soon, an aging audience presents a demographic timebomb, and viewing habits are trending away from television. The Republican Party is splintering into ideological factions, just as conservative media choice is greater than ever. All together, these factors highlight the potential for another sea change among increasingly balkanized conservative media. Sign up for CJR 's daily email There has been a unified message out of Fox that we havent seen out of other attempts at conservative outlets, says Dan Cassino, a Fairleigh Dickinson University professor who researched Foxs reach for his recent book, Fox News and American Politics. Thats the genius of Roger Ailes: figuring out what to talk about to keep [Republicans or conservatives] together. Its perhaps fitting, then, that Ailess official departure came the same week that Donald Trump, destroyer of Republican worlds, officially accepted the GOP presidential nomination. Trump is a media organization in his own right, and his surreal White House run has revealed that theres in fact very little holding Republicans and conservatives together. Theres wide variation among conservative medias stances toward Trump, though they share intense criticism of Hillary Clinton. During the tenure of President Barack Obama, Fox has likewise operated as a de facto opposition group despite slight variances in its hosts apparent political leanings. If [Fox hosts] get President Hillary Clinton, youll see much more of the same, Cassino says. If [Fox hosts] get President Trump, it could be much harder for them to decide on and deliver a cohesive message. Any divergence among Foxs immensely popular personalities could play a key role the direction American conservatism takes in the coming decade. Ailes hails from a long line of media activists who have largely shaped right-of-center thought and politics in the postwar era. As Nicole Hemmer recounts in her forthcoming book Messengers of the Right, this lineage began with intellectuals like William F. Buckley Jr., of National Review; Clarence Manion, who began The Manion Forum radio program; and the founders of conservative magazine Human Events. Together, such ideological media laid the groundwork for a political movement eventually brought to the mainstream by Barry Goldwaters failed presidential run in 1964. By the time Ailes comes along, theres already a generation of conservatives who are used to seeking out alternative sources of media, says Hemmer, an assistant professor at the University of Virginias Miller Center. The kind of media that these conservative activists developed are focused on ideas and ideology and didnt necessarily have to grapple with the pragmatics of politics. The innovation Ailes and his contemporary Limbaugh pioneered was the blending of conservative ideology with tabloidesque humor. In this second generation, Hemmer adds, theyre entertainers first and conservatives second. It makes them much more successful and profitable. And it also changes the nature of the media. Its too early to tell if were on the cusp of a third generation. But the combination of Ailess departure, a transforming conservative media, and a possible Trump presidency doesnt bode well for the status quo. If Foxs own history is any indication, such political crossroads carry with them the potential for massive change within media markets. Fox first overtook CNN in primetime ratings in January 2002, months after it adopted a more hawkish editorial tone in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. One of the things that put them on the map was their drum beating [in the War on Terror], and the implication that you were unpatriotic if you asked questions, says Jane Hall, an American University professor and former media reporter who frequently appeared on Fox News Watch, a now-discontinued media analysis program. I think they heightened the pressure on other media. Such Clash-of-Civilizations themes blended naturally into the broader culture war during the Obama years: Foxs mind-numbingly repetitive coverage of the War on Christmas, Trumps birther crusade, and the New Black Panthers, for instance. History should not be kind to such jingoistic storylines, which have for years overshadowed the networks straight-news reporting and occasionally compelling interviews or political debates. The networks well-established brand of resentment politics attracts a massive audience, which dominates that of CNN, MSNBC, and even non-news channels. But cable is not a growing medium. The median age among Foxs primetime viewers was 68 last year, compared to 59 for CNN. The path ahead now seems less clear, particularly under a Trump presidency. Much depends on who replaces the political messaging guru Ailes. While there is little financial incentive to pursue wholesale changes at Foxits a cash cowthere have been reports of political disagreements between the elderly Murdoch, who installed Ailes two decades ago, and his two sons, who hold increasing power within the company. New York magazines Gabriel Sherman, an Ailes biographer who broke news of the Fox chiefs ouster, wrote earlier this month that it stands to reason the Murdoch children would have the leverage they need to push Ailes aside and install a less-right-wing chief. Another longtime Ailes chronicler, Michael Wolff, reported Monday that son James Murdoch speaks to colleagues and friends of maintaining a conservative-leaning network but one that is more responsible and nuanced. Its hard to imagine what that might look likeespecially given the GOPs present estrangement from conservatism as we know itor how that would affect Foxs bottom line. Complicating matters further for the network, personalities such as Sean Hannity, Bill OReilly, and Megyn Kelly have become brands in and of themselves. The same was true of Glenn Beck, an often-demagogic host who nurtured a massive audience at Fox only to depart and found The Blaze, a multiplatform media company, in 2012. The site drew nearly 9 million unique visitors in June, according to comScore, despite financial troubles. Becks defection speaks to Foxs broader challenge: Like other media institutions, it has begun a protracted and increasingly asymmetrical war for its audiences attention. While outlets like The Blaze are unlikely to unseat Fox in the coming years, they could collectively chip away at its current and future audience by offering either an alternative brand of conservatism or alternative editorial products. There are certainly plenty attempting it. Breitbart has ridden nationalist and conspiratorial rabble rousing en route to nearly 14 million monthly unique visitors to its website. Independent Journal Review, which seems to focus on creating shareable content over pushing a political agenda, has a slightly larger digital audience. The Washington Free Beacon and Daily Caller produce a blend of reporting, commentary, and satirethe latters balance of the three often being far more cringeworthy. The Federalist and Heat Street largely spit out rapid-fire think pieces. These all come in addition to well-established blogs and a handful of publications from the pre-Fox era that have grown their online audiences considerably. It remains to be seen whether talk radio can make the logical jump to the more digital-native-friendly arena of podcasting. All of these entrants are short on reporting and long on opinionnot unlike Fox, though the Fair & Balanced network does boast a stable of strong journalists. A few newcomers add thoughtful discussion to ideological debates online; others embody some of uglier traits that Fox has sold so effectively over the past two decades. The exchange of conservative ideas and viewpoints has become more fragmented, and at times more outrageous, as a result. Which individuals or outlets emerge in this new environment could play a leading role in redefining conservatism in the years after Trump un-defined itfor better or worse. In the meantime, with millions of TV viewers and 62 million monthly uniques on its website, Fox has an immense upper hand in driving discussion on the right side of the political spectrum. The question going forward is how long the network can maintain Ailess audiencehis political coalitionin the more competitive market he helped create. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today David Uberti is a writer in New York. He was previously a media reporter for Gizmodo Media Group and a staff writer for CJR. Follow him on Twitter @DavidUberti. A new study suggests the European Unions popular Right to Be Forgotten lawwhich allows EU residents to request that certain articles be delisted from Google and other search enginesmay not prove effective, thanks to links that savvy searchers can uncover. The European Union in 2014 instituted the Right to Be Forgotten (RTBF), which allows EU residents to request that certain articles be delisted from Google and other search engines on the grounds they are inadequate, irrelevant, no longer relevant, or excessive. The ruling originated in 2009 when Spanish lawyer Mario Conteja Gonzalez requested that Google Spain delink two 1998 articles from a Spanish newspaper on foreclosure notices that showed up when his name was searched. The ruling is intended to allow people to have some control over the Internets archive of them, but there are limitations. On their transparency page, Google lists four reasons that links may be delisted: clear absence of public interest, a catch-all for links that no longer exist and personal information like addresses and phone numbers; sensitive information, e.g., on a persons religion or sexuality; content relating to minors; and spent convictions, exonerations, and acquittals for crimes. They wont delist simply for duplicate links or broken links, or when there is a strong public interest. Beyond the ethical considerations around the ruling itself, there are also more practical issues surrounding its implementation and impact. Google has received almost half a million requests to delist 1.6 million URLs. Earlier this year, Google made a step toward closing one of the biggest loopholes, whereby results that did not show up when a name was searched on google.co.uk, for example, would still show up when searched on google.com in the EU. Now, while there are ways around this, they dont show up as long as the searchers IP is in the EU. It is possible for a hacker or transparency activist to rediscover delisted links and publish them, en masse. Sign up for CJR 's daily email A new study, The Right to be Forgotten in the Media: A Data-Driven Study, presented at the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium conference last week, demonstrates another loopholeone that hasnt been taken advantage of yet, but which has the potential to undermine the RTBF. I spoke with one of the authors, Keith Ross, Dean of Engineering and Computer Science at NYU Shanghai, who told me that The Right to Be Forgotten law, when it comes to links to online newspapers in particular, in the end it may not prove very effective at all. It is possible for a hacker or transparency activist to rediscover delisted links and publish them, en masse, Ross told me. The study, conducted by a group of researchers out of China and Brazil, mimicks how, both the delisted links and the requesters can be determined. It works like this, Ross wrote: First, the attacker targets a particular online newspaper, such as the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, and uses automated software tools to download articles that may be subject to delisting (such as articles about financial or sexual misconduct). Second, he again uses automated tools to get his computer to extract the names mentioned in the downloaded articles. Third, he runs a program to query google.es with each of those names, to see if the corresponding article is in the google.es search results or not. If not, then it is most certainly a RTBF delisted link, and the corresponding name is the person who requested the delisting. The study then assesses whether delisting links has the opposite effect intended for any of their casesthat is, whether delisting the article is correlated with any spike in visibility. This is called the Streisand effect, which the study measures by looking at mentions in Google Trends and Twitter of the (now identified) requesters name. While they dont find much of an effect, its not hard to imagine a situation in which a hacker goes out and publishes the links on his or her own website, Ross said. It should be noted that the requests to delist news articles are far outnumbered by the requests to delist social media and private information. The study reports independent research stating that each of the eight sites for which Google receives the most requests are either social media or profiling sites, and 95 percent of the requests are for delisting of URLs pointing to private informationthat is, 95 percent of requests are not made on news media. Ross emphasized that this is not often understoodwhen people think about RTBF, they think about news sites. Currently, Google notifies the host of a particular link whenever it gets delisted from the search engine, though it does not inform that host of who requested the link. Some of these sites, most prominently the BBC, publish a continually updated list of links that are no longer searchable by Google. They do this as a matter of historic public record and a contribution to public policy.Its impossible to have a meaningful debate if youve not got an idea about whats being delisted, the head of editorial policy David Jordan said. Right now, the Right to Be Forgotten functions as a way to make it not impossible but much harder to discover certain information. But a recent ruling in Brussels threatens the very existence of that information by extending RTBF beyond Google to the news media as well. This ruling relies on the Belgian constitutions, not the EU. Is it not likely, Ross said, that news organizations will be required to take entire articles down. The ruling will probably ask that certain names within those articles be blacked out. This raises many concerns for the press, not the least how online news organizations will archive their stories if they are made to excise names of certain people. The presss historical function, and freedom, could be threatened. Many scholars have called on Google to be more transparent about this process, as a matter of public policy. Even though Google has published its rough guidelines, it hasnt released aggregate data on what requests are being made, which are honored, and why. (What qualifies as strong public interest, for instance?) Ross, on the other hand, as a proponent of the RTBF, believes that (apart from the hole that his team discovered) Google is doing an adequate job of publishing its guidelines, and could not realistically share more without putting the data at risk. The study ends by acknowledging that it is hard to see how to close the hacking loophole without broad censorship, thereby calling into question the efficacy of its very existence. This, coupled with the fact that the adequate functioning of the RTBF conflicts with press freedom, speaks both to the conflict between privacy and transparency, and to the necessity for data giants such as Google to become greater stewards of transparency. This article has been updated. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Nausicaa Renner is digital editor of CJR. New Jersey Used Car Dealership Manager, Employees Plead Guilty in $1.4 Million Auto Loan Scam The manager of a now-defunct Bergen County, N.J., used car dealership and two co-workers have pleaded guilty in bank financing scams that netted $1.4 million in fraudulent loans for luxury cars, according to announcement by acting Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino and the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor (OIFP). Hector Marquez, the general manager of D.I.B Leasing in Teterboro, pleaded guilty to first-degree money laundering and second-degree misconduct by a corporate official in a hearing before Superior Court Judge Susan Steele in Bergen County. Marquez also pleaded guilty to second-degree insurance fraud in a separate indictment involving a $139,000 Bentley purchased at his dealership and later torched and reported stolen to an insurance company. The state has agreed to recommend a sentence not to exceed 16 years in the dealership case. In the insurance fraud case, the state has agreed to recommend a sentence not to exceed seven years, to run concurrent to the first sentence. Marquezs sentencing is scheduled for Jan 20, 2017. Marquez is the third defendant to plead guilty in the D.I.B. Leasing case. The dealerships finance manager, Paul Russo, pleaded guilty to second-degree money laundering and second-degree misconduct by a corporate official. The state has agreed to recommend a prison term not to exceed 10 years, when Russo is sentenced on September 16. The dealerships title manager, Lisa Ghobrial, recently pleaded guilty to third-degree misconduct by a corporate official. The state has agreed to recommend a three-year probationary term when she is sentenced on September 16. The trio, along with a loan applicant assistant, a bookkeeper, and the owner of the dealership, were all charged in connection with the conspiracy. Prosecutors said the defendants created fake employment records, inflated incomes, and supplied false pay stubs and fictitious employee verifications to dupe banks into approving auto financing for customers whose income levels did not qualify them for loans on the pricey vehicles. Four of the loans were taken out in the names of customers who had submitted personal information to apply for financing but ultimately did not buy cars from the dealership, prosecutors allege. The fifth loan was in the name of a person who had never been to D.I.B. Leasing or applied for a car loan there, prosecutors alleged. The loan money obtained from the banks was for personal benefit by the various employees of the dealership, prosecutors said. The remaining defendants have all been indicted on charges of conspiracy and money laundering in the first degree and with a second-degree charge of trafficking in personal identifying information pertaining to another person: Patsy Galasso, owner of D.I.B. Leasing. Jennifer Perez, who assisted with loan applications. Michael Ricciardi, who did bookkeeping for the dealership. Galasso and Ricciardi are also charged with second-degree identity theft, and 62 counts of theft by deception two in the second degree and 60 in the third degree. Galasso is also charged with second-degree misconduct by a corporate official. First degree crimes carry a sentence of 10 to 20 years in state prison and a criminal fine of up to $200,000; second-degree crimes carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison and a criminal fine of up to $150,000; third-degree crimes carry a sentence of three to five years in state prison and a criminal fine of up to $15,000. Multiple charges Filed in Alleged Fraudulent Vehicle Theft Staged vehicle thefts lead to criminal charges, according to Aviva Canada. On December 10, 2015, Mark Haselden reported to police that his Ford F150 truck, insured by Aviva Canada, was stolen. He made two claims to Aviva Canada; one for the loss of his vehicle and another for its contents including a high-end stereo system, GPS, clothing and tools. When the police recovered the vehicle eight days later, the interior had been vandalized beyond repair, the contents were missing and a broken off key was found in the ignition. The exterior showed no signs of forced entry. During the course of Aviva Canadas investigation into Haseldens claims, it was revealed that he knowingly provided false and misleading information, including lying under oath on two occasions. As a result, Aviva Canada denied the claims for the loss of the vehicle and its contents. Aviva Canada presented their findings to the Durham Regional Police Service and compiled information and evidence requested by the investigating officer. The Durham Regional Police Service charged Haselden with four counts: fraud over $5,000; fraud under $5,000; public mischief and, perjury. Safety regulators have started warning motorists of faster trains along a high-speed rail corridor in Illinois months before Amtrak service at up to 110 mph is set to begin. New safety improvements include crossing gates, signals that communicate with train crews, vehicle sensors in pavement and signs warning of train speeds over 80 mph, The State Journal-Register reported. Illinois Commerce Commission rail safety program administrator Mike Stead said the improvements are a regulatory heads-up to motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists who are used to years of trains operating at much slower speeds. The time and distance relative to conventional-speed trains and higher-speed trains is significant, Stead said. Illinois transportation officials have set a goal of Amtrak speeds up to 110 mph on much of the Chicago-St. Louis corridor in 2017. The trains currently travel at a top speed of 79 mph between Chicago and St. Louis with the exception of a high-speed demonstration section between Pontiac and Dwight. Speeds of 110 mph began there in the fall of 2012. Stead said crossing-signal warning times that are currently 20 to 30 seconds will near 90 seconds at highway crossings when 110-mph Amtrak service begins. It gives you an idea how much time and distance is required at faster speeds, Stead said. The highway user is going to have to train themselves to believe the warning is accurate. They wont see the train coming. Data from the commission shows that there were more than 140 rail collisions at Illinois crossings in 2015, the highest figure since 2008. Collisions with vehicles resulted in 15 deaths and more than 75 injuries. There were eight pedestrian injuries and 16 deaths. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The father and son who posted videos of drones firing a handgun and incinerating a Thanksgiving turkey with a flame-thrower can be questioned by aviation regulators, a U.S. judge ruled in a closely watched case that may determine the governments ability to oversee unmanned aircraft. The FAA is investigating whether the flights - which became an internet phenomenon on YouTube may have violated aviation safety regulations. U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Meyer dismissed the arguments of Austin and Bret Haughwout, who maintained that the Federal Aviation Administration had no legal authority over the small drones because they arent aircraft and the agency has no right to question them. I do not agree, Meyer wrote in a decision issued on Monday. The judge said it is plausible to believe that the Haughwouts devices fall within the definition of an aircraft for the purposes of federal law. Whether the FAA will be able to successfully bring an enforcement case against the pair from Clinton, Connecticut, is a separate matter, the judge said. He laid out the eventual arguments in what may become a test case over the limits of the FAAs authority over drones. The FAA argues that it controls the airspace down to the ground for purposes of overseeing drones, but Meyer questioned whether that is legitimate. Authority Questioned No clause in the Constitution vests the federal government with a general police power over all of the air or all objects that leave the ground, he wrote. He stopped short of issuing an opinion on that, saying: This case does not yet require an answer to that question. The debate over where FAAs authority begins and ends holds enormous potential impact over the burgeoning drone industry, said Rebecca Byers MacPherson, a lawyer at Jones Day in Washington who formerly worked as an FAA attorney. The FAA has traditionally avoided regulating aircraft below 200 feet because airplanes and helicopters rarely fly that low except at airports, MacPherson said. Drones, which fly in those near-ground zones, have led the FAA to claim authority closer to the ground. Industry Impact How the courts eventually decide that question will impact numerous industries, such as railroads and utilities that may not want unmanned aircraft hovering over their property, as well as individuals like the Haughwouts or neighbors who may fear for their privacy, she said. Austin Haughwout, who had been a student at a local state college, created a sensation with his drone videos, first posting one last year of a quad-copter holding a black handgun apparently firing shots into a wooded area. It has been viewed more than 3.7 million times. Later last year, he posted a separate video entitled Roasting the Holiday Turkey showing a slightly larger drone holding a flame-thrower blasting a turkey on a spit. The Haughwouts attorney, Mario Cerame, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. Cerame has argued that the FAA is overreaching in its investigation. Youve got to stop for a second and think about whats the jurisdiction of the FAA, he told reporters after a July 6 hearing on the case in New Haven according to video posted by the Hartford Courant. What do they have power over? Do they have power over what people do in their backyards on their own property? No one is saying anyone was hurt here. The case is Huerta v. Haughwout, 16-cv-00358, U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut (New Haven). Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. The insurance industry is demonstrating significant progress when it comes to gender equality, according to 86 percent of women attending the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundations (IICF) 2016 Women in Insurance Conference Series. The study, which was conducted for the third straight year, measured the sentiment of over 400 respondents attending the conferences across the country during June. The statistics represent a significant jump from last years results, where less than three-quarters (72 percent) of attendees agreed that strides were being made to achieve gender equality. When asked to identify the trend that has had the most profound impact on the improvement of gender equality in the industry across the past five years, respondents pointed to a few key themes. Forty-four percent stated the most important trend is the active recruitment of a gender-diverse workforce, and 22 percent cited the establishment of mentorship programs for women. Another 20 percent named the sponsorship of executive networking opportunities carried the most weight. While barriers still exist for women who seek to advance within their careers, we have seen a shift in thought among women in the industry where lack of opportunities for upward mobility is no longer the primary obstacle, said Erin Calvey, executive vice president at Ironshore Insurance Co. and Conference Series speaker. We see now more than ever the importance of women uplifting and supporting each other in order to collectively inspire progress. Beyond the impact this has for women who are already veterans of the industry, this is a vital trend to cultivate as the industry aligns itself to hire the next generation of insurance professionals. Additional key findings from the survey include: Eighty-seven percent of respondents stated that their company in particular is actively working to promote gender diversity (up from 68 percent last year). When it comes to the advancement of women to senior leadership roles, 32 percent of respondents rank insurance as the most supportive industry in financial services outpaced only by the accounting industry (other options included investment services and banking). This figure represents a marked increase from 2015s results, where insurance ranked last at 12 percent. Thirty-five percent of respondents attribute the biggest challenge to women ascending in leadership roles as women not promoting themselves enough or effectively. This result differs from last year, where over one third of respondents cited limited opportunities to move up the corporate ladder as the biggest obstacle. Some of the key discussions from this years conference series focused on promoting a gender diverse workforce, building a strong network, navigating potential roadblocks and dispelling myths about why women dont reach greater heights. Held via four separate forums in New York City, Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles this June, IICFs 2016 Women in Insurance Conference Series was host to nearly 1,300 industry professionals across the nation. Source: IICF Flames raced down a steep hillside like a freight train, leaving smoldering remains of homes and forcing thousands to flee the wildfire churning through tinder-dry canyons in Southern California, authorities said Sunday. The fire that has destroyed at least 18 homes in northern Los Angeles County gained ferocious new power two days after it broke out, sending so much smoke in the air that planes making drops on it had to be grounded for part of the afternoon. For this time of year, its the most extreme fire behavior Ive seen in my 32-year career, County fire Chief Daryl Osby said. About 300 miles up the coast, crews were battling another fire spanning more than 17 square miles that destroyed six homes on Sunday and forced evacuations outside the scenic Big Sur region. The Southern California blaze has blackened at least 46 square miles of brush on ridgelines near the city of Santa Clarita. Osby said the size estimate could grow considerably once better assessment is done. Planes were unable to make drops over the fire for a long stretch of the afternoon before resuming for a few hours before dusk. Helicopters released retardant around the perimeter of the fire all day and would continue into the night. The fires just doing what it wants right now, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Nathan Judy said. We have to stick back, let it do what it wants to and attack it where we can. Juliet Kinikin said Sunday there was panic as the sky became dark with smoke and flames moved closer to her home a day earlier in the Sand Canyon area of Los Angeles County. And then we just focused on what really mattered in the house, she told The Associated Press. Kinikin grabbed important documents and fled with her husband, two children, two dogs and three birds. They were back at home Sunday, breathing a big sigh of relief, she said. Residents of thousands of homes were evacuated as shifting winds were pushing flames northeast through Angeles National Forest, authorities said. Lois Wash, 87, said she and her daughter and her dog evacuated, but her husband refused. My husbands stubborn as a mule, and he wouldnt leave, Wash told KABC-TV. I dont know if he got out of there or not. Theres no way of knowing. I think the last time I looked it was about 100 yards from us. I dont know if our house is still standing or not. All we can do is pray. The fire has ripped through brush withered by days of 100-degree temperatures and years of drought. It started consuming houses that were non-defendable, Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief John Tripp said, describing the flames as charging through terrain like a freight train. More than 1,600 firefighters were battling the flames that sent up a huge plume of smoke visible across the region. The body of a man was discovered Saturday in a burned sedan outside a home in the fire zone. Los Angeles County sheriffs officials are investigating the death. The fire destroyed film sets at Sable Ranch in Santa Clarita, which has Old West-style buildings used for movie locations. It also forced a nonprofit sanctuary for rescued exotic creatures to evacuate 340 of its more than 400 animals, including Bengal tigers and a mountain lion. North on the Central Coast, a blaze consuming brush in rugged mountains near Big Sur was threatening about 1,650 homes. It burned in inaccessible terrain 5 miles south of Garrapata State Park and forced the communities of Palo Colorado and Carmel Highlands to evacuate, Californias forestry department said. Brock Bradford lives in a historic house in Palo Colorado and could see the flames coming down the road as he evacuated. I hope I dont have to rebuild my house, he told the Monterey Herald. `m 66. Associated Press photographer Matt Hartman in Santa Clarita and writer Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco contributed to this report.) Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Thursday, July 21: Political conventions traditionally feature exuberant and even intemperate rhetoric. But statements by speakers and delegates at the Republican National Convention pillorying Hillary Clinton as a criminal who ought to be locked up go way beyond pugnacious partisanship. The atmosphere at this weeks convention in Cleveland was at times reminiscent of a lynch mob. Take Mondays speech by retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who said the nation didnt need a president who believes she is above the law, a reference to Clintons use of a private email server as secretary of state. Fair enough, even though Flynn failed to add that the Justice Department decided not to file criminal charges against Clinton. But then, after delegates shouted Lock her up, Flynn shot back: Yeah, thats right, lock her up. Another example was Patricia Smith, whose son Sean was killed in the Benghazi attack. Responding to a sign in the audience, Smith extemporized: Thats right, Hillary for Prison. She deserves to be in stripes. On Tuesday New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, introducing himself as a former federal prosecutor, conducted a call-and-response session in which delegates whom he described as a jury of her peers pronounced Guilty! as he reeled off a litany of supposed Clinton offenses. That most of them had nothing to do with alleged criminal activity (one of the charges was ruining Libya) didnt make the exercise any less ugly. Some delegates added chants of Lock her up! to the chorus while holding their wrists together to simulate handcuffs. Outside the convention hall, on Tuesday a delegate from New Hampshire who advises the Trump campaign on veterans affairs said in a radio interview that Clinton should be put in the firing line and shot for treason. A West Virginia legislator tweeted that Clinton should be tried for treason and then hung on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Donald Trump has encouraged this unhinged rhetoric by calling Clinton crooked Hillary and saying that she has to go to jail. The vituperation doesnt put Clinton in any legal jeopardy, and it may not cost her the election. But it could hurt the country by making it harder for Republicans to work with her if she is elected even if they wanted to. How would they justify cooperating with someone their constituents have repeatedly been told is a criminal? Its not out of bounds to question a candidates character, and Clintons clearly is an issue in this campaign. But when one political party characterizes the candidate of the other as not just wrong but corrupt and criminal, the toxic effects are likely to linger long after Inauguration Day. Maintain support for Erdogan after coup failure The following editorial appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Tuesday, July 19: An attempt over the weekend by some elements of the Turkish military to overthrow the democratically elected government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan failed. Even though his supporters and general adherents of democratic, civilian rule in Turkey blocked the militarys attempted coup detat in the streets of Ankara, the capital, and Istanbul, Turkeys largest city, Erdogans position was revealed to be more precarious than was previously obvious. The rebellion came perilously close to succeeding. The coup attempt, and the situation that it has left Erdogans government in, presents difficulties for the United States in its relations with Turkey and with the region. Turkey, as a moderate Islamic state, a member of NATO and, in effect, the bridge and a barrier between Asia and Europe, is a major linchpin of U.S. relations with two critical regions, the Middle East and Europe. Some of the U.S. aircraft carrying out bombing raids in Iraq and Syria are based in Turkey. Turkey has borders with Iran and with Iraq and Syria, both of which are the sites of warfare with Islamic State forces. Turkey also either allows to transit or shelters refugees from Iraq and Syria believed to number in the millions. To the degree that Turkey is able and willing to block the migrants way to Europe, it helps the European Union deal with the critical problem of migrants seeking refuge there. To add another tricky piece to the puzzle, the man whose movement Erdogan has labeled as responsible for the coup attempt, Fethullah Gulen, a Sufi Muslim cleric, exiled himself in 1999 to the United States and lives in northeastern Pennsylvania. The Turkish government has requested his extradition to Turkey to face trial. Secretary of State John Kerry has replied that the United States will consider evidence, not allegations, against Gulen in making its decision on the request. The Turkish incident in the context of overall U.S. foreign policy is made more complicated by the fact that America, in spite of its professions of attachment to law, order and democracy, nonetheless looked the other way when Egyptian Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi carried out his coup detat against Egypts elected president in 2013, even maintaining arms sales, and retains close ties to the numerous monarchies of the region. The United States also provides considerable military aid to the Kurds, another of the Turkish governments antagonists. The situation will get even more complicated when Erdogan seeks what he will consider to be justice against the military coup plotters, some of whom are personally close to the American military. All of that said, a U.S. position of firm support for Turkeys elected government and the countrys position as a moderate, democratic, predominantly Muslim state, an ally of the United States since the end of World War II and a NATO member since 1952, is the only appropriate, principled one that Washington can pursue at this point. This is not the time for a slippery U.S. approach to a Turkish military coup attempt. Flying the unfriendly skies The following editorial appeared in The Orange County Register on Sunday, July 17: Critics of the stepped-up security presence at American airports since the 9/11 terrorist attacks have always said that while it looks good, it isnt really making travelers much safer. Now, more and more, it doesnt even look good. After a series of scandals marred the image of the Transportation Security Administration, a congressional committee investigated the TSAs efforts to head off employee misconduct. The result is a new report from the staff of the House Homeland Security Committee whose title does further wonders for the agencys reputation: Misconduct at TSA Threatens the Security of the Flying Public. The 29-page report notes that the nations largest airports had the highest rates of misconduct by TSA employees in 2015, as well as the steepest increases in misconduct from 2013 to 2015. Los Angeles International is one of those airports, along with Newark (N.J.) International and Boston Logan International. But this is a problem everywhere, which is troubling because everywhere is where we all fly and where we need security-checkpoint officers to be on the ball. The eye-popping statistic is a 28.5 percent increase in reported misconduct by TSA workers nationwide from 2013 to 2015, when the annual number of allegations climbed to 17,627, equating to about one for every three full-time employees. Thats on top of a nearly 27 percent increase from 2010 to 2012. The biggest category of misconduct was neglect of duty, which doubled in the two years ending in 2015, to 1,206 incidents nationwide. Neglect of duty is described as inattention to duty resulting in a loss of property or life; careless inspection; negligent performance of duties; failure to exercise due diligence in performance of duties; failure to follow procedures. Another of the eight categories of misconduct that saw increases is integrity and ethics, which covers accepting bribes and other criminal conduct. Try not to think about any of that the next time you watch security officers screen your fellow passengers. The misconduct in question ranges from salacious (federal air marshals spending government money on hotel rooms for romps with prostitutes) to brazenly criminal (a TSA officer in Oakland, Calif., allegedly helping to smuggle 100 kilograms of marijuana over a two-year period) to downright dangerous (an officer in Orlando, Fla., taking bribes to smuggle Brazilian nationals through a checkpoint without questioning). The House report says that while allegations of misconduct have been rising, the TSA has taken fewer disciplinary actions against employees. And a faulty disciplinary system contributes to low employee morale. The picture is of what Homeland Security Committee Chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa., called the failure of TSAs big-government, bureaucratic response to misconduct. As the House report says, Employee misconduct of all types corrupts TSAs core mission to protect the traveling public and poses serious security vulnerabilities. The TSAs job is to make airline passengers not only feel safer but also actually be safer. Clearly it is not doing that vital job well enough. Check out the companies making headlines after the bell on Monday. Texas Instruments rose more than 5 percent after hours following the companies second-quarter earnings release. The company posted earnings of 76 cents per share on revenue of $3.27 billion, compared to analysts' expectations of 72 cents per share on revenue of $3.20 billion, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters. The company increased revenue from its "embedded processing" segment by 9 percent from the year-earlier. CEO Rich Templeton said, "[the] demand for [Texas Instruments] products continued to be strong in the automotive market, and grew in the industrial and communications equipment markets," resulting in growth of total revenue growth and increased earnings per share. Gilead Sciences dropped roughly 4 percent after hours following its second-quarter earnings release. The company posted earnings of $3.08 per share on revenue of $7.78 billion, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.02 per share on revenue of $7.77 billion, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters. The company said products sales of its hepatitis C drugs fell to $4.0 billion from $4.9 billion in the year-earlier period, "primarily due to a decline in sales of Harvoni." Las Vegas Sands rose in extended trading after releasing its second-quarter earnings. The company posted earnings of 52 cents per share on revenue of $2.65 billion, compared to analysts' expectations of 56 cents per share on revenue of $2.76 billion, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters. The company had a 9 percent decrease in revenue from the year earlier period. CEO Sheldon G. Adelson said, "We remain confident that our market-leading Cotai Strip properties, which will be complemented later this year by The Parisian Macao, targeted to open on September 13, 2016, about seven weeks from today, will continue to provide the economic benefits of diversification to Macao." Sanmina fell roughly 9 percent after hours after the company released its quarterly earnings. Though the electronics manufacturing services provider met analysts' expectations of earnings of 63 cents per share, Sanmina's fourth-quarter guidance for EPS and revenue was slightly below analysts' estimates. PHILADELPHIA Sen. Al Franken returned to his comedy roots Monday, taking swipes at Donald Trump's business record in a Democratic National Convention address. The Minnesota lawmaker and "Saturday Night Live" veteran said he knew Trump was a "right-wing megalomaniac" because he earned a doctorate in "megalomania studies" from Trump University, the program that has prompted fraud claims against Trump. Franken also joked that the school had a strong "bankruptcy program," referencing the Republican presidential nominee's use of the practices in the past. "Clearly, Donald Trump's enormous, dare I say "huge," success as a businessman qualifies him to be president. And if you believe that, I've got some delicious Trump Steaks I'd like to sell you," Franken said to laughs and applause, referencing one of Trump's past products. He took a more serious tone, though, in saying he has "never met anyone smarter, tougher, or more ready to lead us forward" than presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. "I am proud to call Hillary Clinton my friend. And I can't wait to call her Madam President," Franken said. He also joked that officials and volunteers working to elect Clinton should work so hard that they ignore their families. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Franken's speech. Officials gave an all-clear in Oklahoma City after a "suspicious package" was found at the Boeing facility, KFOR reported. A spokesperson with the Oklahoma City Fire Department told News 9 that Hazmat crews were called and the building was evacuated after an employee opened a package containing a yellow substance. The fire department tested the substance and said nothing is wrong with it. AOL CEO Armstrong told CNBC that combining the power of Yahoo and AOL could give Verizon Communications the necessary tools and reach to become a major powerhouse in digital advertising. "Google and Facebook are doing such a good job executing," said Armstrong, who helped lead Verizon's successful bid for Yahoo. "Trying to do what Google and Facebook do is not a good strategy ... We're the up-and-comer. We're going to compete for the gold medal in the future. We have to have a differentiated performance." Verizon announced on Monday that it would be acquiring Yahoo's operating business for $4.83 billion in cash. The company said in a statement that Yahoo would be integrated with AOL under the leadership of Marni Walden, executive vice president and president of product innovation and new businesses at Verizon. Armstrong explained that Google 's power was based on its search capabilities and Facebook was the leader in social media. He said he believed Verizon's strength was in building a "house of brands," explaining that the acquisition would help strengthen Verizon in three key ways. Yahoo currently has more than one billion active monthly users, including 600 million monthly active mobile users. When it gets folded into Verizon's portfolio, the telecommunications company will have access to online behavioral data on those consumers. It will also have the ability to place advertising on some of the most trafficked destinations online, including Yahoo News and Yahoo Sports. In addition, Yahoo user data could be combined with insights from Verizon's mobile, internet and cable customers. The information will help power Verizon's programmatic ad technology platforms, which utilize consumer behavior to determine which digital ads to display. AOL's programmatic ad platform, One by AOL, was one of the main drivers behind Verizon's purchase of the company in May 2015. Verizon will further bolster its position with Yahoo's programmatic video platform, BrightRoll, and mobile analytics firm, Flurry. "Ad tech plus really strong content investments creates a very differentiated approach that consumers are willing to adopt and brands are willing to pay for," Armstrong said. PHILADELPHIA In a speech that was met with excitement and lament almost simultaneously, Sen. Bernie Sanders said Monday night his supporters should be proud. "I understand that many people here at this convention hall and across the country are disappointed," Sanders said at the Democratic National Convention. "But to all of our supportersI hope you take pride in all of our accomplishments." "Together we have begun a revolution to transform America and that revolution continues," he said. The senator from Vermont told the crowd he stands by Hillary Clinton, a welcome show of support to many in the party who worried about not showing a unified front on Monday night inside the Wells Fargo Center. Several disgruntled members of the Democratic party held rallies in Philadelphia earlier Monday, calling for Clinton to leave the race after a slew of leaked emails led to DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz saying she'd resign after the convention. Some of the leaked emails appeared to show the DNC favored Clinton's candidacy over Sanders'. On Monday, the DNC committee issued an apology to Sanders. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (left) shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping (right), during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. Kim Kyung-Hoon-Pool | Getty Images China and Japan may have a frosty political relationship since after the Second World War, but the East China Sea neighbors are thick as thieves when it comes to trade and investment. Economic cooperation between the two economic heavyweights started as early as 1948 to 1949, and the first unofficial trade agreement followed in 1952. "The Chinese Communist Party viewed Japan as an important source of industrial goods technology and expertise which were vitally important in helping to rebuild and modernize the Chinese economy after 1949 [while] Japan saw China as an important source of raw materials," said Amy King, lecturer at the Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. "China and Japan went on to sign four trade agreements in the 1950s and 1960s, despite the fact that they had no diplomatic relationship and by 1965, Japan had become China's most important trade partner," said King, who is also the author of "China-Japan Relations after World War Two: Empire Industry and War, 1949-1971." Mutually beneficial trading partners Trade relations between China and Japan have been "largely complementary and hugely beneficial for both sides," said Martin Schulz, senior research fellow at Fujitsu Research Institute. "The benefits might not be equal, but they are mutual and have resulted in higher incomes on both sides," the academic said, adding that the gains were more apparent in some industries than others. For example, "China's automobile market is much more important to Japan, and could not be replaced by demand in other countries, and vice versa, Japan's agriculture market is more important to China," Schulz said. "Interestingly, exports of automobiles from Japan to China are largely the same size as agricultural products from China to Japan." watch now Japan is China's third-largest export destination and its fourth-largest import origin, while China is Japan's second-largest export destination and Japan's top supplier for imports, Harumi Taguchi, principal economist at IHS Economics told CNBC. But as China's economy slows, it has inevitably had a negative impact on Japan's exports. In May, Japan's industrial output fell 0.4 percent year-on-year, and exports declined 11.3 percent for the eighth consecutive month. Shipments to China fell the most by 14.9 percent, followed by South Korea. Japan's exporters have also had to deal with the strong yen, which makes exports more expensive and dampens overseas profits. Foreign direct investment China and Japan have also shared a strong foreign direct investment relationship; 8.8 percent of total Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) went into China last year, according to data from Natixis. This was only surpassed by U.S., which accounted for the most Japanese FDI. China's manufacturing sector accounted for 66 percent of Japan's FDI into China in 2015, however rising wages in China have been squeezing profit margins, said Kohei Iwahara, economist at Natixis Japan Securities. "Japanese manufacturers, especially for lower-end goods are starting to transfer their production from China to Asean economies such as Vietnam and Thailand," Iwahara told CNBC. China's FDI into Japan has also been subdued, falling by 27.6 percent in 2015 from a year ago, according to Japan External Trade Organization statistics. Deep-rooted cultural heritage But despite the economic bonhomie, several thorny issues are yet to be resolved, ranging from World War II Japanese war crimes committed in China to territorial disputes in East China Sea. "On security issues, Japan sees China as taking more provocative steps to assert China's 'rights' at sea, and Japan is steadily increasing its defense interactions around the region, particularly with the Philippines," said Rodger Baker, vice president of strategic analysis at Stratfor. "From China's perspective, [Japan's defense interactions] are evidence of the remilitarization of Japan, something Beijing sees as backed, if not instigated, by the United States," he added. The neighbors' latest falling out came about in June when Japan complained that China had escalated its military activities in the East China Sea, a group of islands embroiled in a territorial dispute between Japan and China. watch now Beijing has also accused Tokyo of interfering in the South China Sea, of which Japan is not a claimant. On July 12, The Hague rebuffed China's claim to a portion of the South China Sea and ruled that the disputed territory belonged to the Philippines. China refused to acknowledge the ruling, even after Japan and Western countries had called for China to respect it. Last week, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Japan should stop interfering in the South China Sea issue, reported Reuters. Stratfor's Baker explained that "although China argues that Japan has no role in the South China Sea, most of Japan's supply lines pass through these waters, which is significant given the resource scarcity in Japan." Japan: Chinese tourists' haven? It's that time again! Jim Cramer rang the lightning round bell, which means he gave his take on caller favorite stocks at rapid speed: Taser International : "Taser is very, very good. It's a very undervalued company, unfortunately with the conflict going on in so many cities. I'm surprised the stock isn't going higher." Gartner : "People don't ask enough about Gartner. I think it's doing incredibly well. I think it's very expensive, but you know what? It's got great growth." MaxLinear : "That and Texas Instruments, which reported after the bell, chronically undervalued. I think it's a real good stock." Chesapeake Energy : "I'm not a big fan. I do not really care that much for the fossil fuels. I do believe that stock can go higher, though. Why? Because it's so hot that people are going to start believing that natural gas has to go up in price and they are going to buy that stock up $1." Amgen : "They report this week. I happen to think that the stock is very good. Now I'm going to caution, Celgene had some bad news tonight and so was the outlook at Gilead. So, these stocks are going to fall and I think you're in good shape with Amgen." Westar Energy : "Yes, ring the register. We like American Electric Power, that's in my charitable trust. I feel strongly that that's a better one." Wynn Resorts : "Las Vegas Sands reported a number that people like, so Wynn is flying. Now, Wynn does report this week. You know I'm a believer of Steve Wynn [CEO]. I would say buy half and then wait for the company to report to buy the other half if I did not have a position." In his Republican nominee acceptance speech, Trump offered no serious policy other than a "stupid wall that will never get built," Warren said to applause at the Democratic National Convention. The lawmaker from Massachusetts, who endorsed presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Clinton last month, has served as an attack dog for the Democrats against Trump. She has traded public jabs with the Republican nominee and on Monday painted him as divisive, dangerous and lacking concrete policy. PHILADELPHIA Sen. Elizabeth Warren tried to sow Democratic unity here Monday, turning barbs on Donald Trump and backing the policies of Hillary Clinton following two days of tension within the party. Senator Elizabeth Warren speaks during Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 25, 2016. "Trump thinks he can win votes by fanning the flames of fear and hatred. By turning neighbor against neighbor. By persuading you that the real problem in America is your fellow Americans people who don't look like you, or don't talk like you, or don't worship like you," Warren said at the Wells Fargo Center. "That's Donald Trump's America. An America of fear and hate. An America where we all break apart. Whites against blacks and Latinos. Christians against Muslims and Jews. Straight against gay. Everyone against immigrants. Race, religion, heritage, gender the more factions the better." A favorite of progressive Democrats and fervent critic of Wall Street excesses, Warren attracts supporters similar to those drawn to Sen.Bernie Sanders. Speculation swirled around Warren as a possible vice presidential pick to assuage Sanders primary voters. Clinton eventually chose a more moderate pick, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia. Warren endorsed Clinton on Monday, repeating the campaign slogan "I'm with her." She specifically highlighted Clinton's ideas on income inequality, climate change and wage equality, among other issues. Warren's remarks followed some resistance to Clinton's expected nomination from both pro-Sanders delegates and thousands of protesters here. Some in the crowd shouted and chanted during Warren's speech even as she turned the heat on the bombastic Trump. Warren contended that Trump only looks out for his own interests and will not fix a "rigged system." She said he "must never be president of the United States," to standing applause in pockets of the arena. Warren criticized Trump for wanting to roll back regulations on the financial industry and cut taxes across the board. Warren argued that he has "no plans to make anything great for anyone except rich guys like Donald Trump." "Trump's entire campaign is just one more late night Trump infomercial," Warren said to laughter. Trump responded to Warren's speech on Twitter, saying she "just misrepresented me." Twitter Silverman, who backed the senator from Vermont in the Democratic primary, took the Democratic National Convention stage with Sen. Al Franken, a fellow comedian and Hillary Clinton supporter. Silverman said she would "vote for Hillary with gusto, as (she continues) to be inspired by the ideals set forth by Bernie." PHILADELPHIA Comedian Sarah Silverman had a harsh message Monday for Bernie Sanders supporters who have made an ultimatum: "You're being ridiculous." Some delegates on the Wells Fargo Center floor broke out in a chant of "Bernie!" Over the gathering chant, Silverman chided back: "To the 'Bernie or Bust' people, you're being ridiculous." Sanders mounted a strong Democratic primary challenge to Clinton, railing against what he called entrenched politicians and financial industry elites. Some Sanders supporters have pledged not to vote for presumptive nominee Clinton, who some feel embodies the systemic problems Sanders highlighted. Sanders has endorsed Clinton and urged his supporters to support her and defeat Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Still, many pro-Sanders delegates on the floor Monday booed speakers and broke out in chants of "Bernie!" Thousands of protesters have also rallied against Clinton's nomination here. A planned high-speed rail (HSR) connecting two major Southeast Asian commercial hubs, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, is a feather in the cap for regional economic integration but profitability and political maneuvering may overshadow the ambitious project. Officials last week signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), the precursor to a legally-binding bilateral agreement at year-end, and an international tender will be called in August to appoint a joint development partner. So far, Japan has expressed interest in bidding, pointing to the famed safety record and reliability of its Shinkasen bullet train, local media reported. The HSR, due to start operations in 2026, is a big win for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has been pushing for deeper regional integration. The 10-member bloc launched the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) initiative last year in a bid to unite Southeast Asia into a single market and production base, with a focus on free trade in goods and services, free flow of skilled labor and liberalized investment. But so far, progress has been tepid due to domestic political concerns. A preserved part of the Malaysia's Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) rail track in Upper Bukit Timah Road, Singapore. KTMB used to operate a route from Malaysia to Singapore but ceased service in 2011. Neo Chee Wei | Moment Mobile | Getty Images Now, a recent report from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has warned that the HSR could struggle to provide the hoped-for boost to ASEAN cohesion. HSR projects typically struggle for years before turning a profit, research fellow Wu Shang-su and associate professor Alan Chong noted in the report. For example, it took more than two decades for the Eurotunnel linking Britain and France to turn a profit, they continued. "With operating deficits common among most HSR operators around the world, the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur HSR may not be an exception," the report said. "Despite the possibility of bilateral commuting services theoretically becoming profitable, construction and maintenance costs would surely rely on overall income." Moreover, with commercial aviation as the railway's primary competitor, redirecting large numbers of aerial passengers to the HSR may not be feasible. There are about 45 daily flights between the two capitals, with average capacity of each flight at about 200 people, which meant 9,000 daily passengers could be carried in both directions at maximum, the report said. But one HSR train could seat a maximum of 1,000 passengers, so it would take 10 to 15 uninterrupted train services per day, assuming the HSR performs at peak capacity every time, to match the number of passengers flights could carry, the report continued. Ticket pricing would also be a key issue, particularly if the HSR was meant to compete with cars, buses and conventional trains. watch now A hearse leaves the area after an explosion in Ansbach near Nuremberg, Germany, July 25, 2016. The Syrian who blew himself up in southern Germany, wounding 15 people, had pledged allegiance to Islamic State on a video found on his mobile phone, the Bavarian Interior Minister said on Monday. On searching the bomber's room, Nuremberg police found diesel, hydrochloric acid, alcohol, batteries, paint thinner and pebbles - the same materials used in the bomb - and computer images and film clips linked to the militant group, they said. "A provisional translation by an interpreter shows that he expressly announces, in the name of Allah, and testifying his allegiance to (Islamic State leader) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ... an act of revenge against the Germans because they're getting in the way of Islam," Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told a news conference. "I think that after this video there's no doubt that the attack was a terrorist attack with an Islamist background." Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing, according to Amaq, a news agency that supports Islamic State. Nuremberg police chief Roman Fertinger said the influence of Islamic State could be seen on the bomber's computer. "There was also a laptop that showed pictures and film sequences that glorify violence and are unequivocally linked to Islamic State," he told a news conference. The attack on Sunday, outside a music festival in Ansbach, a town of 40,000 people southwest of Nuremberg that has a U.S. Army base, was the fourth act of violence by men of Middle Eastern or Asian origin against German civilians in a week. The 27-year-old arrived in Germany two years ago and claimed asylum, a federal interior ministry spokesman said. He had been in trouble with police repeatedly for drug-taking and other offences and had faced deportation to Bulgaria. Fertinger added that police had arrested a suspect who knew the bomber. They were trying to find out if the attacker had help making the bomb and whether it exploded prematurely, which could suggest he wanted to kill as many people as possible. The incident, after three other attacks since July 18 that left 10 people dead and dozens injured, will fuel growing public unease about Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy. More than a million migrants entered Germany over the past year, many fleeing war in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. For almost as long as people have been dying, con artists have been trying to make a living off of it, but Doug Cassity's scam was among the most diabolical of all. Based outside St. Louis but operating nationwide, Cassity's business, National Pre-Arranged Services or NPS, targeted a basic human anxiety. "What is being exploited is Grandma's fear of death, Grandma's fear of what her death will do to the family," Joshua Slocum of the Funeral Consumers Alliance tells American Greed. It was a winning strategy for Cassity, who played those fears to the tune of $450 million. But the money came from grieving families, and from small, family-owned funeral homes across the country. NPS sold pre-paid funeral contracts that functioned like insurance policies, allowing Grandma or anyone else to arrange their funerals in advance and pay upfront. The contracts were sold as a way to provide peace of mind. But it turned out Cassity was skimming millions of dollars, hiding his crimes by simply having employees white out the payment information on the contracts and fill in different numbers. By the time Grandma died and the family sought to cash in the contract, the money was long gone, leaving funeral directors like Carmen Hughey-Deichman of Mount Vernon, Illinois, on the hook. She says she is still honoring NPS contracts to this day, at a huge loss to her small family business. "It'll be maybe five million before it's over. I mean, that's a rough estimate, but I would say it would be close, and I will probably not be here when the last one goes through the office," she tells American Greed. Cassity, now 70, is serving a nine-and-a-half year sentence at a federal prison in Southern Illinois after pleading guilty to seven felony counts in 2013. His son Brent, 49, is serving a five-year sentence after pleading guilty to his role in the scam. Still, funeral fraud lives on, despite a federal crackdown that dates back more than 30 years. Know Your Rights Alarmed by the prevalence of fraud, the Federal Trade Commission enacted its Funeral Rule in 1984. "The core of the rule is really to make sure that people have accurate price information and know exactly what they are buying when they make funeral arrangements for a loved one which can be an incredible stressful and trying thing to do," says Lois Greisman, Associate Director in the FTC's Marketing Practices Division. The rule includes a bill of rights for consumers, guaranteeing your rights to, among other things: Buy only the funeral arrangements you want. Get price information on the telephone. Get a written, itemized price list when you visit a funeral home. See a written casket price list before you see the actual casket. The FTC has been known to conduct sting operations, "test shopping" funeral homes to see if they comply with the law. Penalties for violators can be stiff. "They can be subject to a civil penalty in a federal district court action. And civil penalties can range as high as $16,000 dollars per violation," Greisman says. Pay Now, Die Later? Just outside Chicago, the Simkins Funeral Home in Morton Grove, Illinois takes pains to comply with the law, not just out of fear of getting in trouble with authorities, but to protect a reputation built over more than 75 years in operation. "I would certainly recommend going to a family-owned funeral home. An independent family owned funeral home," Michael Simkins, part of the third generation of his family in the funeral business, tells American Greed. "The way we run our operations here, were going to be in front of you the whole time," he says. "Whether that's from the removal, through the arrangement conference, through the service where everything concludes. We like to have that family feel here and families seem to appreciate that." Simkins encourages families to plan for funeral expenses so there are no surprises later. A reputable funeral director will walk you through the expenses with no obligation. "My advice would be if you've ever thought about burial or cremation, or where you might want to be buried, that you've already started your funeral arrangements," he says. "And I would just suggest that when it's convenient for you, come and see me. Come and see a local funeral director. Finish those arrangements." But he says while pre-planning is a good idea, pre-paying rarely is, because the savings vehicletypically limited by law to a trust or insurance companynormally offers very low returns. About the only time it does make sense, he says, is when a person is trying to spend down assets in order to qualify for public assistance such as Medicaida frequent scenario when someone is going into a nursing home. Simkins says his funeral home did some business with Doug Cassity's NPS, but realized fairly quickly that something wasn't quite right. "As their contracts were coming in and people had an NPS-funded funeral, I was consistently getting underfunded. And underfunded by a good deal," he recalls. "So before I committed more contracts with that company, I simply stopped using them and explored other companies that would better serve our purpose." Hundreds of other funeral homes and grieving families were not so lucky. ALL NEW American Greed, Thursdays, 10pm ET/PT on CNBC Prime PHILADELPHIA In an emotionally charged speech on Monday night, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker preached love and respect to a packed Wells Fargo Center, saying Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton knows something key to holding the highest office in the land that Donald Trump does not. "We are not a zero-sum nation," Booker, considered a rising force in the Democratic Party, said at the Democratic National Convention. "It is not you or me, it is not one American against another. It is you and I, together, interdependent, interconnected with one single interwoven American destiny." Quoting everyone from the poet Maya Angelou to Abraham Lincoln, Booker enthralled the crowd, leaving some pundits shortly after to compare his inspiring words to those of a younger Barack Obama who keynoted the 2004 Democratic convention. "When we respect each other, when we stand up for each other, when we work together against the challenges our neighbors face ... That is when we go from an already great America to an even greater America," he said as he was met with cheers from the crowd. Trump, who accepted the Republican nomination on Thursday, has been heavily criticized by Democrats for, what many of them call, divisive rhetoric, among other things. Booker also urged people to vote in November so Trump can be defeated. "We cannot fall into complacency or indifference about this election, because still the only thing necessary for evil to be triumphant is for good people to do nothing," Booker said. Before his Virginia counterpart, Tim Kaine, was selected as Clinton's running mate, Booker was on the former Secretary of State's shortlist. Booker, 47, was elected to the Senate in 2013, defeating Jeffrey Chiesa. Previously, he had been the mayor of Newark, the same city where he grew up. Booker is considered an emerging star within the Democratic Party, as his energetic personality has drawn the attention of both voters and the media. Indonesia property prices may appear set to surge amid expectations of a wave of repatriated funds, but investors should temper their expectations. The country's newly implemented tax amnesty program to encourage taxpayers to repatriate money stashed offshore by imposing only a 2-10 percent tax had spurred expectations that Indonesia's property prices were set to surge. Based on a recent surge in the share prices of Indonesian property developers, the market appeared to expect the money funneled abroad outside the purview of tax authorities might find its way back to the sector. Around $200 billion of Indonesian funds that weren't declared to tax authorities there could be stashed in Singapore alone, Reuters reported recently, citing banking sources. Felicia Tandiyono, a property analyst at JPMorgan, said the country's property stocks have risen so much that they appear to be pricing in the assumption that the tax amnesty had already happened and was successful. That may not be the best of assumptions. Over the weekend, media in Indonesia reported that some Singapore banks were trying to convince Indonesian clients to keep their assets in the city-state. Singapore's central bank and Ministry of Finance both reportedly denied implementing policies to "thwart" the tax amnesty. But the spat could indicate amnesty-related fund flows weren't meeting expectations. The Indonesian government expected around $76 billion to come home during the amnesty, which started this month and ends in March 2017. In the first week, around $30 million has come back, according to an International Business Times report. Additionally, Credit Suisse noted that buried in the fine details of the amnesty plan was language that indicated that for the first three years, the repatriated assets can only be parked in certain financial instruments, such as bank time deposits, mutual funds and government and corporate bonds. That's not to say that the amnesty would not have an impact at all. JPMorgan's Tandiyono said the tax amnesty will spur demand for property, if only because no other sector had been under as much scrutiny from tax collectors before the amnesty. "People really want to buy property," she said. "People who were afraid of the tax scrutiny are now more at ease going into transactions." For the first quarter of this year, Indonesia's residential property price index rose around 1.0 percent on quarter, while on-year, growth slowed to 4.15 percent. The report from the central bank attributed the on-quarter rise primarily to increased costs for construction materials and higher wages. Sales growth cooled in the quarter, up 1.5 percent on-quarter, compared with 6.02 percent on-quarter in the previous period, the survey showed. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says "there is no proof whatsoever" that Russian intelligence is behind the thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee that WikiLeaks released. "The real story is what these emails contain and they show collusion," Assange said during an interview with NBC News that will air Monday night on "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt." While three cybersecurity experts told NBC that the DNC emails were hacked by Russian intelligence, Assange stressed that Wikileaks has not disclosed the source of the leak. "Well there is no proof of that whatsoever. We have not disclosed our source, and of course, this is a diversion that's being pushed by the Hillary Clinton campaign," he said in an interview. Since the emails came to light, Debbie Wasserman Schultz has announced she will resign as chair of the Democratic National Committee. Wasserman Schultz came under fire after emails showing officials from the DNC plotted against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign. Goldman Sachs has been sued by a shareholder of one of its former clients over alleged fraudulent misrepresentations that involve links to the prime minister of Malaysia. Primus Pacific Partners, a private equity firm and the largest shareholder in Malaysian bank EON Capital, filed suit against Goldman for $510 million for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty, according to a statement released Tuesday. The suit claimed that Goldman Sachs concealed a conflict of interest involving Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak while the investment bank was acting as financial adviser to EON, which was weighing a takeover bid by Hong Leong Bank. Talks on the deal reportedly began in 2009, but the bid was held up until 2011 as Primus fought the offer in Malaysia's courts. One of the prime minister's brothers, Nazim Razak, was a director at Hong Leong Bank, while another brother, Nazir Razak, was chairman of CIMB Group, which advised Hong Leong Bank on the bid. At the same time as it was advising EON, Goldman was an adviser to 1Malaysia Development Berhad, also known as 1MDB, a development fund established by the prime minister, the lawsuit noted. Primus claimed that Goldman first called the Hong Leong bid "unfair," only to reverse course weeks later. According to the suit, the final price of the merger was "hundreds of millions of dollars below fair value," but the reversal may have furthered Goldman's role as adviser to 1MDB. The original complaint can be read here. In a statement in response to the suit, Goldman Sachs pointed out that Primus had already failed to block the deal. "This plaintiff previously lost its challenge in the Malaysian courts seeking to stop a transaction involving a Malaysian company, which was then approved by shareholders," the investment bank said. "We will vigorously contest this misguided additional lawsuit in New York court." After the court decision in 2011, Dow Jones reported that Primus faced a "significant loss on its investment" in EON if the takeover by Hong Leong Bank took place. Republican presidential nominee Trump has tried to court spurned Democrats who do not want to vote for the party's presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton . Many who voted for Sanders in primary elections feel Clinton represents special interests and effectively locked up the primary before it started. That belief was exacerbated by recently leaked emails that showed some Democratic officials preferred Clinton over the senator from Vermont. "Trump speaks to fear and anger and he is a demagogue. It's really hard to have a demagogue appeal to Bernie people," the 26-year-old from New Hampshire said Tuesday. PHILADELPHIA Bernie Sanders supporter Ryan Fowler sees a clear reason not to back Donald Trump despite his appeals to disillusioned voters on the left. While Sanders and the bombastic Trump stand far apart on many issues, both have consistently railed against entrenched politicians and trade deals that they say hurt American workers. Trump made his latest appeal Monday night after Sanders' endorsement of Clinton and call for party unity to defeat Trump. "Sad to watch Bernie Sanders abandon his revolution. We welcome all voters who want to fix our rigged system and bring back our jobs," Trump wrote on Twitter. Fowler and several other Sanders backers who gathered in 90-degree heat here Tuesday believe Trump's recent olive branches to Sanders voters will fall flat. However, the activists who showed up here may not capture the feelings of all the roughly 12 million people who voted for Sanders in the Democratic primaries. Near a "Bernie or bust" rally across from Philadelphia City Hall on Tuesday, Fowler said he will vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein rather than Clinton or Trump. Lisa LeVally Evans, another protester from Ohio, said she is "afraid" of both major party candidates and could never bring herself to vote for Trump. "I think the true Bernie supporters can never do that," Evans said, adding that she plans to vote for Stein. Joel Bradshaw, a 39-year-old lifelong Democrat, said he could not support Trump because of his rhetoric. "We need less borders in this world, not more," he said. Most Sanders voters will still likely support Clinton in November. But if some vote for Stein or abstain altogether, they could indirectly aid Trump by sapping votes away from Clinton. A recent spate of positive data has heightened hopes that the U.S. economy is vanquishing its many demons. Whether it was the blockbuster June payrolls number, the strong retail growth earlier this month, or something more recent such as Tuesday's reported jump in new home sales, indicators have been on balance considerably better than expectations. That's got Wall Street excited that after a long period of mediocrity, the economy finally may have reached an inflection point. However, the optimism may not be on particularly solid ground, with the economy likely still trudging along despite some recent positive surprises. The Street closely follows a barometer called the Citi U.S. Economic Surprise Index. The measure is different from others in that it depends less on what the actual data readings are and more on how they compare with expectations. A reading above zero means that the data on balance are coming in above expectations, while a negative reading indicates an economy that is underperforming. Lately, indicators have been crushing estimates, after the index spent a year and a half in negative territory. Paul Hickey at Bespoke Investment Group noted in a tweet Tuesday that the index is in clear "breakout" mode as judged by its behavior over the past 12 months: Bespoke tweet Periods when the index rises into positive territory often are positive for stocks. Over the past decade, the was higher 79 percent of the time with a median gain of 5.2 percent six months after periods when the surprise index rose above zero, according to Burt White, chief investment officer at LPL Financial. "We have also observed better performance from the more economically sensitive sectors in these scenarios. Both good signs," White said in a note to clients. A few words of caution, though, are warranted before getting too excited about this "surprise." Most notably, the breakout that Hickey observed came in early July and coincided with the realization that the Brexit vote would not, in fact, be the end of the world. A look at the index from the beginning of July tells the story: watch now Chinese tech giant Huawei said smartphone shipments rose 25 percent on-year in the first half of the year, as consumers snapped up high-end phones in Europe and Central Asia. Huawei Consumer Business Group said smartphone shipments were at 60.56 million in the January-June period, a 25 percent on-year increase. In comparison, research firm International Data Corporation said in a report in June that smartphone shipments worldwide are expected to grow a mere 3.1 percent in 2016, compared to the 10.5 percent growth registered in the previous year. Sales revenue for Huawei Consumer Business Group for the January-June period came in at 77.4 billion yuan ($11.59 billion). Huawei Consumer Business Group's full-year sales revenue guidance is $28 billion. "We are quite confident we will achieve that," Roland Sladek, vice president for international media affairs at Huawei, told CNBC by phone. Huawei's overall sales revenue for H1 2016, announced Monday, which includes its enterprise and carrier businesses, was 245.5 billion yuan, a 40 percent on-year increase. The company's operating margin was 12 percent. The new flagship P9 and P9 Plus smartphones, which are one of Huawei's , sold 4.5 million units in the first half of the year. Sales of the P9 and P9 Plus outside China increased by 120 percent, when compared with sales of the previous P8 model for the first half of 2015. Producing increasingly sophisticated smartphones is part of Huawei's strategy to become a high-end smartphone player, which would put the company in a better position to compete with the likes of Samsung and Apple in advanced markets such as the U.S. "Huawei wants to be seen as a premium smartphone maker, not a mass market player," said Sladek. While Huawei does not break down its sales revenue by geography, the company said growth in markets outside China was 1.6 times faster than that in the mainland. Sladek said the Shenzhen-based company made strides in increasing brand awareness and market share in Europe and the Middle East. Citing a study from market research firm GFK, Huawei stated its smartphone market share in countries such as Spain, Italy, Poland, Finland and the Czech Republic exceeded 20 percent. Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images Commerzbank's second-quarter operating profit fell and the lender's capital cushion took a hit, the German lender said in a preliminary earnings release on Monday. Second-quarter operating profit dropped to 342 million euros ($375.82 million), from 419 million euros in the year-earlier period, the lender said in an abbreviated earnings statement. Commerzbank is due to publish full figures for the second quarter 2016 on Aug. 2. Net profit attributable to Commerzbank shareholders fell to 209 million euros, down from 307 million euros in the first quarter. Commerzbank said its Common Equity Tier 1 ratio, under full application of Basel 3 rules, stood at 11.5 percent at the end of June 2016, compared with a ratio of 12 percent at the end of the first quarter. The bank said valuation and methodology effects were to blame, citing, "higher risk-weighted assets (RWA) in particular for operational risks due to the consideration of new external events factored in by external databases representing industrywide damage claims of banks." Higher pension liabilities as well as higher capital deductions from revaluation reserves in particular driven by higher credit spreads for Italian sovereign debt were to blame, the Frankfurt-based lender said. PHILADELPHIA The Democratic Party formally nominated Hillary Clinton for president Tuesday, making her the first woman chosen by a major American party. The former secretary of state and first lady secured the 2,383 delegates needed to win with South Dakota's vote. Clinton became the party's standard bearer following days of tension between pro-Clinton forces and delegates who supported Sen. Bernie Sanders, the party's runner-up. Clinton is expected to accept the nomination in a speech Thursday night. After the Vermont delegation voted, Sanders moved to name Clinton the nominee. The voice vote passed, but not without some 'nays' from delegates. Some 100 delegates walked off the floor in protest after the nomination, NBC News reported. Drone intrusions a growing problem for firefighting efforts. Source: US Bureau of Land Management Firefighters battling wildfires will soon have another tool in their arsenal to attack a growing problem: interference from drones. Illegal drone intrusions during wildfires such as the current Sand Fire in Los Angeles County are creating hazards for firefighting aircraft, but a new technology could literally ground the unmanned flying machines and make the skies safer again. "It's been a problem each of the last couple of fire seasons, and we continue to see incursions," said Stanton Florea, a fire information officer for the U.S. Forest Service. The U.S. Interior Department said it was partnering with several drone industry companies and "activated a prototype warning system that provides real-time alerts and geo-fencing alarms to prevent drone pilots from interfering with firefighting operations." This move comes as the incidents of drone intrusions over wildfires has more than doubled from 2014 to 2015, according to the Interior Department. The agency developed the test system with DJI, a large manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles, and AirMap and Skyward, a provider of airspace intelligence and navigational services to unmanned aircraft. Firefighters are forced to retreat as flame close in on them in Placerita Canyon at the Sand Fire on July 24, 2016 in Santa Clarita, California. Getty Images The so-called geo-fencing system is currently installed on DJI UAVs, which could in the future allow authorities to ground drones if they enter restricted airspace once they reach the geo-fence perimeter. Mark Bathrick, director of Interior's Office of Aviation Services, said in a statement the geo-fencing uses global positioning system tech "to create a virtual barrier," allowing the system to essentially "move us one step closer to eliminating this problem for wildfire managers." Another key component in the plan is a warning system for drone pilots. "This pilot project makes initial wildfire location data publicly available to commercial mapping providers that support UAS (unmanned aircraft system) operations, alerting drone pilots before they enter air space over an active wildland fire," Bathrick said. Under the warning system, the drone pilot would get the alerts sent through smartphone apps such as AirMap iOS. The system is similar to current efforts that map drone-sensitive locations such as prisons and nuclear power plants. The Interior Department said experience and data from this year's prototype will be used for a larger rollout of the program planned for the 2017 fire season. The Interior Department, working in conjunction with other federal agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Forest Service, said it adopted a three-prong approach to the drone issue: to enhance public awareness, establish notification protocols and enforce penalties when violations occur. Firefighters sometimes utilize unmanned aircraft to gather information about wildfires, but the unauthorized intrusion of the hobbyist or recreational drones in fire areas has been an growing irritant for firefighting agencies nationwide. If you fly, we can't, and that does have an impact on our aerial assault. Robert Garcia Angeles National Forest fire chief Allegations that Moscow hacked Democratic Party emails appear in keeping with tactics that President Vladimir Putin is widely believed to use in order to influence politics beyond Russia's borders. Security experts say there is growing speculation that the Kremlin has been meddling in European politics by funding opposition movements in an effort to weaken NATO and other trans-Atlantic ties. "The Kremlin's reach into European politics is hardly new, but newly worrying," said Jennifer Harris, a former U.S. State Department policy planning staff member and current senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "Putin likes to put out his financial tentacles to the political elite in other countries to strengthen his influence." The contents of thousands of hacked Democratic National Committee emails were made public just before the party's national convention began Monday. Among the emails were indications that the DNC favored the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepped down from her job after the leak. Secretary of State John Kerry raised the issue of the hacking with Russia's top diplomat on Monday, but made no accusations about who was responsible. The FBI is probing the intrusion, however. Asked by a reporter about allegations that Russia was a behind the hack, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov replied, "I don't want to use four-letter words," according to The Associated Press. Russia's state-controlled news media have largely made denials or ignored the allegations altogether. From New York City to North Carolina, the mercury reached as high as 95 degrees. And heat index values ranging from 100 to 110 degrees are expected over the next few day, the National Weather Service warned. The City of Brotherly Love, where convention festivities turned testy Monday, was baking, along with much of the East Coast. Things are hot in Philadelphia and not just at the contentious Democratic National Convention. A man takes a nap during a sunny day at Times Square in New York. "There will be no relief until the weekend, when we expect the temperatures to be in the 80s," NWS meteorologist Carlie Buccola said. More from NBC News: What Is a 'Heat Dome'? Everything You Need to Know Alleged Mass Murderer: 'Disabled Should Cease to Exist' Hostage Assassinated During Mass in French Church Severe thunderstorms and intense gusts hit some parts of the Northeast on Monday. Philadelphia tied its record high for July 25, hitting 96 degrees, which fueled severe thunderstorms near the convention site. Amid torrents of rain, journalists were evacuated from the DNC press center because of the threat of lightning strikes, NBC Philadelphia reported. Highs are expected to stay around 96 through the end of the convention Thursday, the NWS said. It was only slightly cooler in the Big Apple, where the high hit 90 degrees Monday the fifth straight day of 90-degree weather. "The temperatures are above normal for this time of year, but we're not expected to break any records. It's just hot and humid right now, and it will stay that way until Friday," said Buccola, who is based in New York City. The Weather Channel tweet The same sticky, sweltering conditions will persist all the way down Interstate 95 to North Carolina, according to the NWS. Blame it on the so-called "heat dome." which is a high-pressure ridge that traps hot air for an extended period of time and which scorched the nation's midsection last week. It was so bad that President Barack Obama personally warned Americans to "drink water, stay out of the sun, and check on your neighbors." It wouldn't be summer without a crisis in the euro zone, and following the U.K.'s vote to leave the European Union, we are likely to have a second, this time with an Italian flavour. Italy's banks were once the foundation of the modern banking system but now, weighed down by bad debts and a dismal economy, those foundations are at risk of crumbling. In his efforts to resolve the problem, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi must walk his own tightrope between sticking to EU rules and discontent at home. The numbers are bleak. Italy's economy is unlikely to return to pre-crisis levels for close to a decade, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). And swilling around at the bottom of that economy are around 360 billion euros ($394 billion) of non-performing loans, 200 billion euros worth of which are deemed insolvent, are still on banking balance sheets. JPMorgan told clients to buy health-care stocks and sell staples shares because income investors will rotate into more reasonably valued parts of the market that still have sturdy dividend and earnings growth. "Similar to Low Vol (relative to Value), staples appears to be in a bubble (relative to Healthcare) after outperforming by 20 percent in the past year and it trades at a record valuation spread of more than 5x turns on PE NTM ," JPMorgan U.S. equity strategist Dubravko Lakos-Bujas wrote in a note Tuesday. "We believe staples has become crowded during this cycle after a rotation triggered by the Fed turning more dovish, zero rates abroad, and stabilizing USD." He upgraded the health-care sector to overweight and downgraded the staples category to underweight on "a convergence sector trade." Staples has a forward P/E valuation of 22 times versus the health-care sector at 16.5 times, according to the strategist. Lakos-Bujas doesn't believe the valuations are "justified by the fundamentals" as staples historically trade at a discount to health care on lower growth prospects and profit margins. Health-care stocks are currently estimated to increase sales in the coming year 6.4 percent versus staples at 3.8 percent, according to Lakos-Bujas. "Drug pricing headlines and political rhetoric have been drivers of health-care sector underperformance over the last year. ... We see limited read-through to business fundamentals as successful reform would require considerable alignment in Washington. We recommend using any headline related pullbacks to add Healthcare exposure," the report said. Here are seven of the top health-care picks from JPMorgan. Getty Images Akira Sakamoti | Anyone | Getty Images If you think companies and individuals have your data under lock and key, then think again. With hackers becoming more sophisticated and rarely ever getting caught, we'll likely see more and more breaches in the future. That's at least according to Billy Rios, a longtime San Francisco-based "white-hat hacker," who gets hired by companies to break into their systems and point out security flaws. His clients? Microsoft, Google and the Pentagon, to name just a few. He learned how to break into networks at university in the 1990s and he used to breach his college's network for fun but he never did it to steal information or make money, unlike today's crop of hackers. "The means have always been there, but the motivations have changed," says Rios, talking about the differences between the early days of hacking and now. "There's so much more data that people can take advantage of and monetize." Hacking has also become far more mainstream, he says, which makes it harder to contain. Everyone from governments and mafia to big-time criminals and petty thieves are breaking and entering into computer systems around the world. Easier and more enticing There are several reasons hackers do what they do, he says. First, it's much easier to break into systems than ever before. Generally, company security is more robust than it's ever been, there are also far more start-ups small businesses and other companies that don't have high levels of protection. As well, social media, where people constantly talk about themselves, makes it much easier for hackers to find out personal information they can zero in on to answer security questions or steal someone's identity. Second, it's easier to make money off people today. If a criminal gets access to your bank account information, they can simply log in online and drain your savings. There are also databases of credit card information they can buy and then use, says Rios. There needs to be some revolutionary change, some game-changing approach to defending networks, but I'm not holding my breath. Billy Rios white-hat hacker Some individuals will also pilfer sensitive data, such as Social Security numbers and medical records, to sell to a third party who can use it to impersonate someone. Rios has heard of hackers who have stolen medical information and then had procedures done using another person's insurance. Finally, hackers rarely get caught, claims Rios, which essentially makes it the perfect crime. In many cases, cybersecurity laws just aren't robust enough to prosecute people, he says, and police aren't yet set up to bust online crime in a big enough way. Making it that much more difficult is that a lot of cybercrime is cross-border and done via proxy servers that can mask IP addresses, which makes it extremely hard to identify a hacker. "Foreign actors can get access to internal servers really quickly," Rios says. "Figuring out where that person is coming from and where they live and where attacks are being initiated is really hard from a technical standpoint." Rise in ransomware While there are a variety of ways that hackers break into systems, one of the most concerning types of cybersecurity today is ransomware, says Rios. That's when a hacker installs a piece of malware on a computer and then causes it to shut down an entire network. The only way for someone to get their files back is to pay a ransom to the hacker. It's not different from a criminal walking into a bank, holding people hostage and demanding money, he says. While this kind of hack doesn't get as much attention as a gun-waving thief, it's essentially the same. Many hackers target hospitals and hold sensitive files hostage, because they know people will pay up. If they don't and those files get erased, lives could be at risk. "If someone came into a hospital with a gun, then a SWAT team would descend on that building and it would be all over the news," he says. "But the same thing is happening every day to thousands of companies. Hackers are demanding upwards of $20,000 to get their data back, and nothing ends up happening to those criminals." Protect yourself British regulator Ofcom on Tuesday said BT 's network division should become a legally separate company within the telecoms group to boost broadband coverage and avoid the need for a full break-up of the company. Rivals to Britain's biggest telecoms groups had lobbied hard to persuade Ofcom that competition would be best served by completely separating BT's Openreach network of connections to homes and offices from the rest of the BT group. Instead, the regulator said Openreach should become a separate company with its own board. A majority of non-executive directors, including the chair, would not be affiliated to BT. They could be appointed and removed by BT in consultation with Ofcom. The regulator will now launch a short consultation, running until October 4, to get the opinions of those in the sector. Police ride bicycles down Market Street toward City Hall ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, July 24, 2016. Democrats are gathering for their convention this week in Philadelphia, a bastion of support for the party in a state that has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1988. With 20 electoral votes, the Keystone State has long tempted Republicans hoping to make inroads with Rust Belt voters. In 2012, Mitt Romney's campaign made a late push in the state, and this year Donald Trump has boasted that he will win Pennsylvania. Prior to 1988, Republicans did have success in Pennsylvania, winning the state in 1984 and 1980 with the help of Reagan Democrats. In 1976, the Democrats prevailed with Jimmy Carter getting the state's votes. It is an uphill climb for Republicans, but early signs show Trump may have something of a chance at swinging a state that has eluded the Grand Old Party for 28 years. Recently, Trump has polled competitively with Democratic presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton. In a Quinnipiac poll conducted from June 30 to July 11, Trump led Clinton by 2 percentage points in Pennsylvania. In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polling conducted from July 5 to 10, Clinton led Trump by 9 points in the state. RealClearPolitics' polling average has the two candidates roughly three points apart in the state, with Clinton's lead narrowing in recent weeks. However, Democrats start with a significant registration edge in the state. The party has nearly 1 million more registered members than Republicans, according to state voter data. Trump starts with a significant disadvantage, but he has sought to capitalize on his appeal among blue-collar voters. Last month, he blasted free trade agreements and decried the loss of manufacturing jobs in a major speech near Pittsburgh. The National Rifle Association is also targeting the state on behalf of Trump with an early advertising push. He may find significant traction in the heartland of a state that political strategist James Carville memorably characterized as "Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between." There are signs Trump has a chance, though the odds remain in Clinton's favor. Writing for website FiveThirtyEight, David Wasserman found that Pennsylvania has been migrating toward Republicans as opposed to the way the rest of the country is trending. "[Pennsylvania has] gotten about 0.4 percentage points more Republican every four years," Wasserman wrote. "Western Pennsylvania is driving the state's rightward drift its voting patterns now resemble greater Appalachia's more than those of the Philadelphia suburbs." Indeed, Democrats are not taking the state for granted: A super PAC supporting Clinton will spend $10.5 million in the state through election day. Clinton herself will embark on a bus tour after the convention, traveling through western Pennsylvania with running mate Sen. Tim Kaine. Pennsylvania may have a blue voting record when it comes to the presidential level, but it has a congressional delegation dominated by the Republican Party, and a state capitol with both chambers controlled by Republicans. "I've warned Democrats: Donald Trump is giving a message and it's resonating with white, blue-collar workers who work in factories, who work on construction crews," former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said at a Politico event Tuesday. "This state is in play." Pennsylvania is among other top swing states this cycle, including Florida, Ohio and Colorado. If you want to earn the big bucks, you may want to consider practicing medicine or law. According to a recent report by Glassdoor, doctors and lawyers are still the nation's top-earning professionals. To compile its list of the highest-paying jobs in America in 2016, the job search site analyzed anonymous salary reports from its users. For a job to make the list, there had to be at least 75 reports on that job submitted over the past year. C-level jobs were excluded from the report. Here are the 25 best-paying jobs, according to Glassdoor: 1. Physician Median base salary: $180,000 Not only is this the top-paying job in the U.S., employment for medical doctors is projected to grow 14 percent from 2014 to 2024, twice as fast as the average for all occupations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Hero Images | Getty Images 2. Lawyer Median base salary: $144,500 While pay can vary depending on what type of law you practice, the median salary is high enough to make lawyer the second best-paying job in America. What's more, Glassdoor's job listing page shows more than 9,000 openings for this job. Fuse | Getty Images 3. R&D manager Median base salary: $142,120 Research and development managers have a variety of roles that depend on the employer, from improving product design and leading new partnerships to overseeing staff. Morsa Images | Getty Images 4. Software development manager Median base salary: $132,000 Software development managers develop and oversee the systems behind computer programs. The outlook for this job is bright; it's expected to grow 17 percent from 2014 to 2024. Programmer, code writer Getty Images 5. Pharmacy manager Median base salary: $130,000 This managerial position usually requires years of experience in addition to a doctoral degree, which all pharmacists are required to have. Getty Images 6. Strategy manager Median base salary: $130,000 Strategy managers often oversee a company's plans to develop partnerships, drive growth and launch new profit-driving initiatives. A bachelor's degree is required, and some employers also require a master's, Glassdoor's listings showed. Hero Images | Getty Images 7. Software architect Median base salary: $128,250 Software architects create computer programs and communicate technical plans to company leaders. A bachelor of science degree is usually required. Getty Images 8. Integrated circuit designer engineer Median base salary: $127,500 Integrated circuit designer engineers provide electrical design and development support and solve technical hardware problems. Most have a B.S. or Master of Science degree in electrical engineering. Getty Images 9. IT Manager Median base salary: $120,000 Information technology managers make sure that all of their company's equipment, software and networks operate smoothly, and they execute the IT goals of the organization. IT managers usually have a bachelor's degree in the field along with various technical skills. Erik Isakson | Getty Images 10. Solutions architect Median base salary: $120,000 Solutions architects lead or help in the design of products and projects, but are also heavily involved in the technical side of creating them. Education requirements vary, ranging from a bachelor's degree in computer systems or information systems to a master's in engineering or marketing. Kelvin Murray | Getty Images 11. Engagement manager Median base salary: $120,000 Engagement managers are responsible for client relationships. The role requires skills in marketing and project management. Software or technical skills can be useful. Thomas Barwick | Getty Images 12. Applications development manager Median base salary: $120,000 These managers oversee and improve internal systems and software. A bachelor's degree and several years of experience in the field is required. Getty Images 13. Pharmacist Median base salary: $118,000 Pharmacists are well-paid but can have long hours and may have to work weekend shifts. They must have a doctoral degree to practice. John Moore | Getty Images 14. Systems architect Median base salary: $116,920 These architects build and maintain a company's databases, software and system coding. A bachelor's or master's degree in engineering, computer science or a related field is required. Hero Images | Getty Images 15. Finance manager Median base salary: $115,000 Finance managers "produce financial reports, direct investment activities, and develop strategies and plans for the long-term financial goals of their organization," according to the BLS. They usually have five or more years of experience in finance, accounting or a related field, in addition to a bachelor's degree. Getty Images 16. Data scientist Median base salary: $115,000 Computer and data research scientists solve complex problems in computing. Employment for this job is projected to grow 11 percent from 2014 to 2024, which is faster than the average. Morsa Images | Getty Images 17. Risk manager Median base salary: $115,000 Risk managers deal with insurance, liability and legal compliance. The job's function and education requirements vary greatly, depending on the industry. Getty Images 18. Creative director Median base salary: $115,000 Creative directors execute new marketing initiatives for a company, leading branding and design. The job requirements vary, but a track record in leadership helps. Morsa Images | Getty Images 19. Actuary Median base salary: $115,000 Actuaries analyze financial risk and uncertainty. Employment of actuaries is expected to grow a whopping 18 percent from 2014 to 2024, the BLS says. Steve Weinrebe | Getty Images 20. Data architect Median base salary: $113,000 Data architects create information and technology road maps for a company. The position typically requires technical skills and/or a B.S. in computer science or information systems. Getty Images 21. Tax manager Median base salary: $110,000 Tax managers prepare federal and state income tax returns for individuals and businesses. An undergraduate or graduate degree in accounting is required. Andrey Popov | Getty Images 22. Product manager Median base salary: $107,000 These managers are key to an organization's product development team, helping to ensure new products are delivered on time. Glassdoor reports more than 7,000 open positions for this job. Daniel Ingoid | Getty Images 23. Design manager Median base salary: $106,500 Design managers are in charge of envisioning and executing a customer or client's experience with a company. The duties vary widely across industries. Reggie Casagrande | Getty Images 24. Analytics manager Median base salary: $106,000 This job requires strengths in statistics and data analysis. Glassdoor reports thousands of job openings for this position. Monty Rakusen | Getty Images 25. Information systems manager Median base salary: $106,000 This role, while similar to that of an information technology manager, is broader in terms of responsibilities. Information systems managers oversee information however it's organized. Solar Impulse-Bertrand Piccard | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images Aviation has come a long way since 1903, when the Wright brothers took off in their flying machine. Just this week, the Solar Impulse 2 became the first plane to travel round the world using only solar power. Here, Sustainable Energy takes a look at some of the ideas and attitudes that could help to transform the way we think about air travel. Solar Impulse 2 The solar powered Solar Impulse 2 has landed in Abu Dhabi more than a year after taking off from there on its epic and historic round-the-world journey. The overall goal of its mission was to fly around the world using only solar power, a feat that was finally achieved this week when pilot Bertrand Piccard touched down in Abu Dhabi after a 48 hour trip from Cairo. Last summer, Solar Impulse 2 became the first solar plane to have crossed an ocean when it flew from Nagoya in Japan to Hawaii. The plane which was flown in turns by pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg has a 72 meter wing span, around 17,000 solar cells covering its wings and weighs 2.3 tons. While not the first solar plane, the team say Solar Impulse is the first to "fly day and night, without any fuel, only using energy stored in its batteries." Speaking to CNBC shortly after completing their historic trip, pilot and chairman Bertrand Piccard said the round-the-world voyage had "some elating moments but also difficult moments, setbacks even, and this is the definition of adventure." Hydrogen fuel cells: Lucas Schifres | Getty Images AsiaPac | Getty Images Earlier this year, European airline easyJet unveiled its plans for a zero-emission hydrogen fuel system, which it says could save about 50,000 tons of fuel per year. The concept is based around the idea of stowing a hydrogen fuel cell in the hold of the aircraft, with energy captured while the aircraft brakes during landing. This energy would then be used to charge batteries while the plane is stationary. Lex Lieshout | AFP | Getty Images KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is attempting to lessen the environmental impact of air travel by investing in biofuels to help aircraft fly. In March, the airline announced it was launching roughly 80 biofuel flights between Oslo and Amsterdam. "KLM believes that sustainable biofuel is important for the airline industry," Boet Kreiken, managing director of KLM Cityhopper, said in a news release at the time. Waste biomass: fStop Images - Stephan Zirwes | Brand X Pictures | Getty Images Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh has embarked on a project to "develop low carbon aviation fuels from captured CO2 and waste biomass." Engineers and scientists at Heriot-Watt will lead the project which is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council "in conjunction" with researchers at Aston University, Oxford University and the University of Edinburgh. "Our project aims to produce low-carbon synthetic aviation jet fuel using renewable energy from agricultural waste and forestry biomass and captured CO2," Mercedes Maroto-Valer, director of the Energy Academy at Heriot-Watt University, said in a news release last December. Electric hybrid: Eduardo Mueses | EyeEm | Getty Images At the end of 2014, the University of Cambridge announced that its researchers, together with Boeing, had successfully tested a plane with a "parallel hybrid engine." This, the university said, represented the first ever aircraft "to be able to recharge its batteries in flight." The system used both a petrol engine and electrical motor, with the university stating that its demonstrator aircraft used "up to 30 percent less fuel than a comparable plane with a petrol-only engine." "Although hybrid cars have been available for more than a decade, what's been holding back the development of hybrid or fully-electric aircraft until now is battery technology," Paul Robertson, from Cambridge's Department of Engineering, said at the time. "Until recently, they have been too heavy and didn't have enough energy capacity," Robertson added. "But with the advent of improved lithium-polymer batteries, similar to what you'd find in a laptop computer, hybrid aircraft albeit at a small scale are now starting to become viable." The world's cleanest carrier? Markku Ulander | AFP | Getty Images Apple 's tight-lipped CEO Tim Cook just hinted at the company's plans with chips, acquisitions, cars and China all in one comment. Apple announced in May a $1 billion investment in Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing, a rare move for a company that tends to hang on to its cash. Cook weighed in on the decision on Tuesday, and his remarks touch on three strategies that have been at the nexus of Wall Street's commentary. Shares of United Technologies rose more than 2 percent Tuesday after the company reported quarterly earnings that beat analysts' estimates. The Connecticut-based company posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.82, beating the $1.68 that analysts expected, according to Thomson Reuters. Revenue rose 1 percent to $14.87 billion, beating estimates of $14.7 billion. "We continue to focus on our key priorities," CEO Gregory Hayes said in a statement. "This includes achieving critical aerospace program milestones and successfully meeting the production ramp to support our large and growing order book. We now have orders for 8,200 Geared Turbofan engines, including announced and unannounced firm and option engines." The maker of aircraft parts, elevators, heating and ventilation systems, and other equipment raised the low end of its 2016 outlook by 15 cents from $6.45 to $6.60 per share. Sales will be $57 billion to $58 billion, compared with an earlier projection of $56 billion to $58 billion. Net income in the quarter was $1.4 billion, down 3 percent versus the prior year. Sales of $14.9 billion were up 1 percent, with 1 point of organic and 1 point of net acquisition growth offset by 1 point of unfavorable foreign exchange, the company said. Hayes told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" Tuesday the company has seen success through cost reduction. "We talk about always doing more with less," he said. "We announced last December we were going to do a billion and a half dollars of additional cost reduction that'll generate about $900 million in annual savings. I think that you saw some of the benefits of that in the second-quarter results." United's stock has risen this year, rising more than 11 percent. UTX Chart 2016 Vancouver, British Columbia, residents will soon get a larger cut from the real estate shopping spree that's taking place in their city, courtesy of wealthy overseas buyers that are snatching up property there. The British Columbian government on Monday approved a new 15 percent tax on foreign property buyers in metropolitan Vancouver, as a surge in real estate purchases by rich foreigners particularly the Chinese has caused many locals to say they've been priced out of the market. The 15 percent tax takes effect Aug. 2 and will apply to "foreign nationals or foreign-controlled corporations." Vancouver has become a haven for wealthy Chinese buyers looking to move their families and fortunes to North America. Between June 10 and July 14 alone, overseas buyers spent more than $1 billion on British Columbia property, according to the government. Because of this surge in demand, prices in Vancouver have risen nearly than 30 percent over the past year. The average sales price of a home more than doubled between 2005 and 2015, to $1.6 million Canadian dollars ($1.2 million), according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. Local politicians have been facing growing complaints from middle-class Canadians that they can't compete with the wealthy Chinese, who are looking for a place to park their wealth. A recent government study found that 90 percent of foreign purchases in Vancouver were from the Chinese. "Owning a home should be accessible to middle-class families, and those who are in a position to rent should be able to find a suitable home," British Columbia Premier Christy Clark said in a statement. Some worry that rich foreigners will quickly find loopholes in the tax for instance, by getting a local resident to purchase property for them. But the government said those who try to dodge the tax face up to two years in prison and six-figure fines. Vancouver joins a growing list of countries or regions imposing new taxes on foreign buyers, according to the real estate firm Knight Frank. Australia imposed a new administration fee for foreign buyers last year, while Melbourne raised the stamp duty on foreigners from 3 percent to 7 percent. Singapore likewise imposed a special tax of 15 percent on foreign property buyers in 2013, one year after Hong Kong did the same. A proposed tax on second homes in New York City was quickly shot down by the real estate industry in 2014, after executives argued it would hurt jobs and the economy. A father shows his son the awful smelling algae hugging the shoreline of the St. Lucie River on July 11, 2016 in Stuart, Florida. Getty Images Several lakes, rivers and coastlines around the United States are choked with green muck. The cause are giant clouds of algae known formally as "harmful algal blooms" and they can shut down fisheries, dampen tourism, and cause serious health problems in humans and animals alike. They are, at root, a natural phemomenon, but scientists who study them say they have become more common and more severe in recent years. An algal bloom blankets Lake Erie, and a bloom has spread around a lake in Utah, forcing officials to close it to visitors, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. Recent news reports have also documented the algae bloom that has spread through Lake Okeechobee in Florida and clogged the waters around state's tourism-heavy coastline with the slime. Other blooms have been reported in Idaho, and in two lakes in California. There are thousands of species of algae in the oceans, and at least hundreds in freshwater bodies. Of these multitudes, there are relatively few that are toxic, according to Donald Anderson, an algae researcher, who is director of the U.S. National Office for Harmful Algal Blooms at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Algae blooms have a variety of causes, and in many cases they are merely the result of natural changes in temperature or other environmental fluctuations. The algal blooms that Anderson and his colleagues work on in the Gulf of Maine are almost entirely natural. However, in some cases, particularly in some freshwater blooms, humans are playing a part. "There is no doubt that pollution is making things worse," in many cases, Anderson said. One condition always necessary is some sort of food source for the algae, often nitrogen or phosphorous. Both are plentiful in fertilizers, and in sewage. The blooms in Lake Erie and Lake Okeechobee are being fed by fertilizers and other land pollution runoff. Utah Lake's bloom is being fed by treated wastewater that has been flowing into the lake, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. About 140 people calling Utah Poison Control inquiring about the bloom reported having symptoms, ranging from gastrointestinal problems (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea), to headache, or irritated eyes or skin. A changing climate is may also be having some impact, Anderson said. "Some of these species are especially good competitors, especially in warm or hot conditions," Anderson said. "And again that holds for the species that you are hearing about on Lake Erie and down in Florida. So if you start having hotter summers with hotter waters they can start to start to really succeed over the other competition." No single cause However, Anderson said it is too early to say that there is a single of common cause behind all the rise in algae blooms. These are different species in different environments. And some of these blooms are not new to 2016. Lake Erie has had large algal blooms for years, for example. And the aforementioned bloom off the West Coast "was not a pollution story," Anderson noted. So what can be done about the problem? Managing pollution could be a start, but might require broad restrictions on chemicals. Much of the pollution does not have a single identifiable source so restricting it would require very far-reaching restrictions on the use of chemicals. "It is not like this is coming in from a single sewage treatment plant, where you can treat it very well," Anderson said. "It is coming in from everywhere." "It is difficult to tell someone up Minnesota that what they are doing is affecting the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico, which is so far away," he added. Forecasting the next bloom As Xiaomi, one of China's biggest smartphone makers, struggles with slumping sales, a new product launch on Wednesday may not be the required panacea. The company, which disrupted the mainland tech industry with its line of well-built, cheap smartphones, is expected to reveal the Redmi Prothe latest model in its budget brand of Android phonesat a Beijing press conference, as confirmed by CEO Lei Jun's recent Weibo post. Xiaomi's Mi5 smartphones Xiaomi So far, however, analysts have greeted the anticipated launch with caution. Heralded as the world's most valuable tech start-up in 2014, Xiaomi currently faces slumping smartphone sales and diminishing revenues. Second quarter shipments fell around 20 percent on-year, Canalys reported on Tuesday. In 2015, global shipments grew 22.8 percent on-year, paling compared to the near-triple digit percentage growth of previous years, according to IDC, while 2015 revenues stood at $12.5 billion, relatively flat on 2014's $12 billion. Lackluster results like these have sparked a wave of analysis questioning Xiaomi's strategy. This month alone saw Forbes publish an article entitled "The Dramatic Rise (And Fall) Of Xiaomi," while Fortune magazine ran an in-depth piece called "Xiaomi What You've Got." Both reports branded the firm's poor performance a reality check following the massive hype that followed its first smartphone sold in 2011. "I don't think this one single model [the Redmi Pro] will be significant enough to help combat the slowdown in shipments," Tay Xiaohan, senior market analyst at IDC, cautioned. "Students who used to purchase a Xiaomi phone may move on to the other more expensive brands when they start to work and can afford to spend more on a phone," she added, noting the high-end products available from other major Chinese vendors such as Huawei, OPPO and Vivo. Xiaomi's focus on low-cost phones proved helpful when it first started expanding into emerging markets but Tay warned that the price factor wasn't enough to ensure future growth given there is also rising competition in the budget sector. watch now New York State, Oneida County, and Rome City officials on July 22 gathered at the entrance to the former Woodhaven housing development to announce that the state has awarded the City of Rome $1.5 million for the demolition of the abandoned housing and future marketing of the property. Photo credit: Office of New York State Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi. ROME, N.Y. The City of Rome will use a $1.5 million state grant to demolish the former Woodhaven housing complex and to market the Woodhaven and former Wright Park Estates sites. The funding comes from the states economic-transformation fund to assist communities affected by the closing of a state prison, New York State Senator Joseph Griffo (RRome) and State Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi (DUtica) said in a joint news release. New York State closed the Oneida Correctional Facility in 2011. Rome will use the money to demolish existing abandoned houses in the former Woodhaven development. It also plans to allocate some of the funding toward the redevelopment of the Woodhaven site, and the former Wright Park Manor housing development for new housing and potential light-retail projects. This funding will eliminate some very significant eyesores near the Griffiss Business and Technology Park and will make a large site available to the City of Rome for marketing, Brindisi said in the release. Both the former Woodhaven complex and the Wright Park Manor site are prime areas for development. With the areas economic rebound, these will be attractive locations for new housing that will bring more people to the Rome area, and we thank Governor Cuomo for realizing the importance of this project said Brindisi. The former Woodhaven housing complex served as housing for the former Griffiss Air Force Base. The redevelopment of the Woodhaven housing complex is an essential step in the continued revitalization of the city of Rome, Kenneth Tompkins, Mohawk Valley region director, Empire State Development (ESD), said in the lawmakers release. Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com Only one set of accessory flagpoles is seen on the left side of the 1-peso coin. Two pairs of accessory flagpoles (a total of four) are seen on the coins right side. The obverse face of this Argentina 1995 1-peso coin features a weak, incomplete, and massively rotated Class I doubled die. The working hub occupied a different position in each of three hubbings. A faint snare drum can be seen below the normal right cannon, while an equally indistinct second cannon is seen just below the normal drapery. The obverse face of this Argentina 1995 1-peso coin features a weak, incomplete, and massively rotated Class I doubled die. The working hub occupied a different position in each of three hubbings. Many countries farm out their coining operations to foreign mints. Outsourcing makes sense if you lack a mint of your own or if the demands of commerce outstrip domestic coining capabilities. One denomination whose production was periodically outsourced is the ringed-bimetallic 1-peso coin used in Argentina from 1994 to 2010. The actual dates found on these coins have a more restricted range (1994 to 1996 and 2006 to 2010). According to Numista's website, five foreign mints were used to produce these coins at various times. For any particular coin, the production facility is indicated by a tiny capital letter (A to E) found on each of the two circular dots that separate REPUBLICA ARGENTINA from PRIMERA MONEDA PATRIA. These letters are quickly worn off or battered into an unrecognizable smudge as the coin circulates. Outsourcing Production For the years 1994 to 1996, these 1-peso coins were minted in Seoul, South Korea (A), at Britains Royal Mint (B), and in Paris (C). In 2009 and 2010, they were minted in Mexico (D) and Italy (E). They were produced exclusively in-house in the years 2006 to 2008, with production split between Buenos Aires and Italy in 2009. Coins made in Argentina carry no letter. The government of Argentina was probably comfortable outsourcing the job to South Korea, a nation known for precision, high-tech manufacturing. This confidence turned out to be somewhat misplaced, at least for those coins produced in 1995. An Argentinean colleague, Sergio Cocciarini, informs me that at least four significant doubled die varieties are known that carry the A insignia. The most dramatic of these features a Class I doubled die (rotated hub doubling) on its obverse face with an astonishing amount of rotation between the second and third of three visible hubbings. The first two hubbings were relatively weak, peripherally incomplete, and rather close together. The final, definitive hubbing was rotated 25 degrees clockwise relative to the earlier attempts. The lack of peripheral doubling is presumably related to the cone-shaped face of the blank working die. As the working hub is squeezed into the working die, it steadily flattens the cone. As the cone gets flatter, more and more of the hubs raised design is transferred to the working die in the form of an incuse impression. Its only when the cone is completely flattened that the full design is transferred. The presence of a second, identical weak hubbing is more difficult to explain. It implies that the hub failed to flatten the cone beyond what the first hubbing had already accomplished. Its also worth pondering why the earlier hubbings are weak, even toward the center of the coin. One would think that the pressure in the center would be strong enough to generate a strong incuse design on the face of the working die. But perhaps not. Perhaps the pressure was strong enough to flatten the apex of the cone, but not strong enough for the raised devices on the working hub to fully penetrate the die steel. An alternative hypothesis has the final hubbing depressing the field around the earlier impressions, leaving only the deepest, narrowest remnants. A third scenario explains the weak accessory elements as having survived an attempt to grind off the earlier impressions prior to the final hubbing. Many other centrally located doubled dies also feature weak, incomplete, and attenuated remnants, like the numerous Minnesota quarter dollar reverse doubled dies, which number well over a hundred. The two earlier hubbings are best seen on the right side where we see two pairs of accessory flagpoles (a total of four), with the members of each pair lying close together. On the left side we see only one set of accessory flagpoles. This numerical discrepancy may reflect a tilted hubbing, uneven die hardness, uneven die abrasion, or some other factor. On the right side we see other accessory elements that include the rear of the right cannon (located just beneath the normal drapery) and the tension ropes surrounding the snare drum (located below the rear of the normal right cannon). Scattered folds of drapery appear in the field on both left and right sides, alongside and below the normal drapery. A Kansas man will leave Gage County to face charges in other states. Ryan J. Huntinghake, of Marysville, is returning to Kansas for three felony burglary charges and one misdemeanor theft charge from a May 2015 burglary in Manhattan, Kan. Additionally, Huntinghake is charged in Buchanan County, Missouri, with second-degree assault. He was arrested in Gage County in May in connection to burglaries in Blue Springs and Cortland. Last May, Huntinghake was arrested for attempted theft by deception in Lincoln after he was found to be in possession of stolen identification cards and credit cards, which were taken from Manhattan, Kan. According to the Gage County arrest warrant, the owner of the items reported they were stolen from a Manhattan storage unit. After he was arrested, authorities searched Huntinghakes vehicle and found a check box with a Wymore address. The owner of the check book reported she rents a storage unit in Blue Springs that was broken into May 18, 2015. Authorities determined a locked jewelry box found in the vehicle was taken from a storage unit in the Cortland area. The warrant stated that a detective from Pottawatomie County in Kansas indicated authorities found three cut padlocks and a bolt-cutting tool during their search of Huntinghakes vehicle. Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. What's the job? Boone County public administrator The public administrator manages estates for minors, people with disabilities or people who cant manage their estates on their own. This role also oversees the estate of deceased persons if there is no will, no apparent heir or if family members are unable to agree who should be the primary person for taking care of the estate. The Boone County Public Administrator is elected for four years and paid more than $90,000 a year. The current public administrator, Cathy Richards, is running for 46th State Representative in the Aug. 2 primary. The candidates running for the Boone County Public Administrator are Sonja Boone, a Democrat, the chief deputy public administrator, and Chimene Schwach, also a Democrat, who was director of after-school care at Our Lady of Lourdes interparish school. What's the job? Boone County public administrator The public administrator manages estates for minors, people with disabilities or people who cant manage their estates on their own. This role also oversees the estate of a deceased person if there is no will, no apparent heir or if family members are unable to agree who should be the primary person for taking care of the estate. The Boone County Public Administrator is elected for four years and paid more than $90,000 a year. The current public administrator, Cathy Richards, is running for 46th State Representative in the Aug. 2 primary. The candidates running for the Boone County Public Administrator are Sonja Boone, a Democrat, the chief deputy public administrator, and Chimene Schwach, also a Democrat, who was director of after-school care at Our Lady of Lourdes interparish school. 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 Missouri's Abrams-Draine draws NFL Draft hype at cornerback Missouri's Kris Abrams-Draine is only in his second season as a full-time defensive back, but the junior is drawing NFL Draft hype. Rollins Follow Rollins Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today I recently read a news story about a mother who dashed into a store late at night, leaving her car engine running and her two young children sleeping in the back seat. Although this was an imprudent decision, neither she nor her children deserved what happened next. A thief jumped in the car and began driving away with the children still inside. The mother saw the crime in progress, raced from the store, and threw herself onto the hood. She was tossed from the vehicle, but some helpful bystanders pursued until the car crashed. In the end, with the assistance of good citizens, the police apprehended the thief and saved the children. The officers then helped the mother change her tires so she could drive away. Faced with a terrible situation, the community and police worked together to prevent further harm. Thats the America I know. Probably like you, I watched in stunned disbelief as reports documented the murder of police officers this month in Dallas and Baton Rouge. Earlier in July, a sniper opened fire on Dallas officers, killing five and wounding nine, including two civilians. In a grim replay, a Baton Rouge gunman shot to death three officers in a targeted ambush. These are further warning signs of societal fracture, the rise of lawlessness, and grotesque disaffection. If we are to rebuild our shattered society, innocent people cannot keep falling prey to the grievances of others. The cases of excessive force by police and there are some are extreme and should not be generalized to indict the motives of all police officers. March and protest. Demand answers. That's a part of the American tradition of holding the powerful to account. But killing is not. Retaliation through shootings is a horrific response. While still reeling and hurting from the shock of it all, the Dallas Police Chief spoke plainly and powerfully in the aftermath of the violence. "We're asking cops to do too much in this country. Every societal failure, we put it off on the cops to solve. ... I just ask for other parts of our democracy, along with the free press, to help us. To help us and not put that burden all on law enforcement. ... Become a part of the solution. Serve your communities. Don't be a part of the problem." The Chief added: "We're hiring. We'll put you in your neighborhood, and we will help you resolve some of the problems you're protesting about. ... Give us a job to do, well focus on accomplishing the mission. All of this from the man whose own son shot and killed a police officer before being killed in turn several years ago. Police officers are men and women who have dedicated their lives to upholding law and order. They train extensively to try and avoid the situations that can lead to snap decisions and mistakes. Their sacrifice sometimes at the greatest of costs helps uphold the good that is common to us all. Although they are now under great duress, they put themselves in danger time and again to protect your life and your rights. Police officers cannot do everything for us, then be beaten down for everything gone wrong. Society needs a newfound solidarity, a sense of belonging, and a protective shield of shared community values. In this sense, the goal of law enforcement becomes everyone's job to serve and protect. Explore Six Vintage Buildings That Have Found New Life as Hotels Three more tenants of Crosstown Concourse filed for permits for construction that will total more than $3.5 million. SHARE By Thomas Bailey Jr. of The Commercial Appeal Three future tenants of Crosstown Concourse filed building documents this week showing they plan to spend more than $3.5 million total to build out their spaces. The teacher-training organization Memphis Teacher Residency will spend the most, $1.7 million, of the three organizations going into the renovated Memphis landmark. Documents show a pair of Memphis philanthropies, Poplar Foundation and Pyramid Peak Foundation, plan a project in which they would spend $1.3 million.Separately, Tech 901, which offers training in information technology, plans to spend $573,000, according to the documents. Memphis Teacher Residency offers an alternative certification program with Union University of Jackson, Tennessee. The program allows budding teachers to get a tuition-free master's degree in return for a three-year commitment to teach in impoverished neighborhoods. "For recruiting young college graduates to move to Memphis, it's going to be a very attractive area,'' Larry Ray Reed said of Crosstown Concourse. He is director of operations and finance for Memphis Teacher Residency. Founded in 2008, the Christian-based organization has been housed in Union Avenue Baptist Church. Crosstown Concourse is the former Sears mail-order building at N. Watkins and Cleveland that is undergoing a $200 million renovation. Its 1.1 million square feet across 10 stories will house 265 apartments atop an array of medical, art-related, educational, business, retail and nonprofit tenants. The $200 million figure covers the building renovation. The figure does not reflect the additional tens of millions of dollars that future tenants including Church Health Center, Memphis Teacher Residency, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, ALSAC/St. Jude, nexAir and others are spending to finish out their respective spaces. The teacher-training organization will inhabit the southeast corner of the third floor. Much of the space will comprise four classrooms for its teachers in training, but also a resource room and offices for the staff of 32 people. The organization's goal is to move into Crosstown Concourse in March, Reed said. Forty-five of the 165 apartments on floors 7-10 are reserved for Memphis Teacher Residency students, who receive free tuition for their graduate degree, as well as free housing and a $1,000 monthly stipend. The students apprentice under an experienced teacher for their year of residency, and also take master's coursework through Union University. The program has 55 residents this year, and has a goal to grow to 75 next year. Most residents will share an apartment with a fellow resident. The program now houses its students in Georgian Woods apartments at 2451 Union. SHARE By Tyler Whetstone, USA TODAY NETWORK Tennessee There's some new excitement around the Memphis Regional Megasite in Haywood County, with state officials confirming the site is one of two finalists to house an international company looking to expand its operations. Chassen Haynes, director of business development with the state's Economic and Community Development office, would not name the company and called the deal confidential, but he did say foreign ownership are planning to visit the site early next month. The plant would be situated on about 545 to 560 acres cut off from the contiguous 3,300 acres and would bring about 100 research and development jobs. The site would include a testing track and proving ground, Haynes told the Memphis Regional Megasite Authority Board on Monday. Board chairman and Haywood County Mayor Franklin Smith said the company is down to Jackson and a site outside of Atlanta. The company started 10 months ago with a list of 50 possible locations. Smith said the company is not a major manufacturer like a car plant, but said West Tennesseans will have to take what they can get for now. Weve been in the hunt before where we didnt get picked, but hopefully this company picks us, he said. I know they like the Memphis area so that bodes well for us. You have to take them as they come and you have to make sure they have a potential for job creation for a lot of folks in West Tennessee." Other updates Amy New, assistant commissioner for rural development for the state, said the project is a massive undertaking that takes time and plants can take up to three years to build. Were basically building a city ... when it comes to infrastructure, New said. It takes time and we have not slowed down at all. New said the state building commission approved another $28 million for the site, which will help improve the the water force main and will pump waste water, once cleaned, to the Mississippi River. Jimmy West, capital projects director for ECD, said the megasites right-aways for the power grid to power to plant are almost complete. Highway 222, the main thoroughfare into the site, is nearly complete as well, he said. There have been hours of discussion centered around health care options, or the lack of it, for megasite employees and their families. Smith was recently quoted as saying the county is doing all it can. Sen. Ed Jackson, R-Jackson, said West Tennessee Healthcare has expressed interest in some sort of medical facility close to the megasite. Smith said the region would make something work. I guess the Megasite got placed in Haywood County because it was one of the few places in the world that you could buy 4,100 acres of land and you only get two houses, Smith said. So our tax base isnt great, but well do the best we can to operate whatever we have to provide with the assistance from our friends in West Tennessee. (left to right) Terry Pegues, Jamal Swift and Timmie Winselle By Yolanda Jones of The Commercial Appeal Three men have been charged after an incident Monday where police opened fire on one of them as he tried to flee from Goodwill Village apartments in a stolen SUV. Terry Pegues, 21, Jamal Swift, 19, and Timmie Winselle, 21, were booked into the Shelby County Jail around 11 p.m. Monday after the early morning incident outside the North Memphis apartment complex. According to the arrest affidavit, police responded to a suspicious vehicle call around 3:40 a.m. in the 2500 block of Goodwill Lane. When officers arrived on the scene they found three armed men in a 2005 Mazda Tribute with Mississippi tags. Officers ran the SUV information and discovered it was stolen. Police tried to take the three men into custody when they said Swift, who was the driver, accelerated toward six officers. Officers opened fire. Swift crashed the vehicle into a parked car, and tried to flee but was caught by a K-9 officer. Initially police said the suspect fired at police, but later clarified that it didnt appear any of the suspects shot at police. Police found a stolen handgun and two rifles in the stolen vehicle. Swift was treated and released from the Regional Medical Center for a dog bite and shotgun fragments in his arm. Pegues and Winselle were not injured, and taken into custody. Swift has been charged with six counts of aggravated assault, theft of property $1,000 to $10,000, theft of property $500 to $1,000, resisting arrest and evading arrest. Pegues has been charged with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Winselle has been charged with being a convicted felon in possession of a handgun and evading arrest. The three will be in court Wednesday for a video arraignment. The officers involved have been relieved of duty pending the outcome of the investigation. By Linda A. Moore of The Commercial Appeal Lifelong Philadelphia resident Joseph Sullivan says all he ever wanted to be is a police officer. His father was a civilian employee with the Philadelphia Police Department. Sullivan joined the department at 19. Now the chief inspector and commanding officer of the Philadelphia Police Department the fourth-largest in the country with 6,100 officers according to its website is one of six finalists hoping to be named director of the Memphis Police Department. Despite Black Lives Matter protests against aggressive policing and the targeted shooting of law enforcement officers in Texas and Louisiana, keeping Philadelphia peaceful has resulted in some of the best days in his career, Sullivan said as he paused while preparing for the massive security necessary for the Democratic National Convention in his city this week. "When we have a potentially volatile protest and we're able, just by using patience, communication, we're able to turn it into a positive experience and get through the day without making any arrests and none of my officers were injured," it's a good day, he said. "I've walked 25 miles in one night in order to accomplish that, but in the end it was well worth it. They have a right to protest. They have a right to express their discontent and some us have a responsibility to protect that right. And when we can do it without any conflict, for me it's a personal sense of accomplishment." Sullivan has a bachelor's degree in administration of justice from Pennsylvania State University and a master's degree in public safety from St. Joseph's University. He has done his research on Memphis and knows that there are problems specifically, that the current MPD complement of about 2,000 commissioned officers falls 400-500 short of what's needed, and that is a significant number for a department of its size, he said. He'd start with a data-driven analysis to see if officers are being deployed at the right times to the right places. He wants to also analyze crime stats to determine if the violent crime is drug- or gang-related. And Sullivan says he'd help the department build relationships with the community. "If there's not an ongoing relationship and dialogue between police and the community, our ability to prevent crime is going to be severely hampered," he said. Sullivan now serves a department that has had its conflicts with residents. In 1985, the Philadelphia Police Department drew national attention after it dropped a bomb in a residential neighborhood on a house occupied by members of the Black radical group MOVE, killing 11 people including five children. Fire destroyed more than 60 homes. Sullivan was a young officer then and joined the SWAT officer months after that operation. The department has made major overhauls since the MOVE operation, he noted. As commander of all the PPD's special units, he said, every standoff for the past eight years has ended without a shot being fired. Regardless, relations with Philadelphia's African-American community about 44 percent of the population has been inconsistent, said Mary Catherine Roper, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania. Roper acknowledged that the department has had success with recent protest, particularly in its use of unarmed plainclothes officers. "They have not always been peaceful protests," Roper said. "The police have actually shown a good bit of restraint with the Black Lives Matter protest. That's to their credit." The city settled a 2010 class-action lawsuit over stop-and-frisk practices that aggressively targeted minorities, but a report issued earlier this year by the ACLU states the problems continue. "And this is a police force that has been pretty trigger-happy and renowned for its use of force for years," Roper said. Memphis, like all police departments, has rich traditions that Sullivan said he would respect. Changes won't be made because he can, he said. They'll be made to make the department better. "I really recognize the fact that I'm asking a lot here, to have faith in me as an outsider," he said. "But I can assure you that given an opportunity they will be glad they put their faith in me." Joseph Sullivan, 53 Why do you wan to be director of the Memphis Police Department? I want the challenge of running my own department. Memphis is about to become a world-class city. I think its on the verge of doing so and Id like to be a part of that. PROFILES OF OTHER CANDIDATES Deputy chief from Ohio is ready for 'challenge' SHARE State Rep. Mike Stewart, D-Nashville, shows a gun he bought without a background check to the House Civil Justice subcommittee in Nashville, Tenn., on Wednesday, March 23, 2016. The committee later defeated Stewartis bill seeking to require background checks for all gun purchases in Tennessee. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig) By Joel Ebert, USA Today Network Tennessee PHILADELPHIA Rep. Mike Stewart issued a call to arms to Tennessee Democrats Tuesday morning, saying a Donald Trump presidency would be a "unmitigated disaster." "We are facing a potential national catastrophe," Stewart, D-Nashville, said at morning breakfast shortly after guests and delegates from Tennessee heard from U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen. Stewart, who is not a part of the state's delegation but is spending the week in Philadelphia, said Trump is someone who has bankrupted multiple companies, mocked veterans, promoted violence at his campaign events and is openly racist. In an effort to explain how the country had gotten to the point where the Republican Party nominated someone like the outspoken real estate mogul, Stewart laid the blame on talk radio, conservative television stations and Republican fundraisers. "What happened is for 30 years, the Koch brothers, Fox News and many others have been irresponsibly paying to fund this unpatriotic, irresponsible rhetoric about how government is a joke and you don't have to take it seriously and everything the Democrats have built up over the years is bad," Stewart said. Stewart said he'd like to see Democrats and presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton hand the Republicans a resounding victory that would help "clear the deck" on both the national and state level. By having such a victory, Stewart said, "We will essentially repudiate that entire vision, the entire idea, that the things that Lyndon Johnson and President Obama and Franklin Roosevelt have built up are ridiculous." Citing recently released polls that indicate Trump is slightly ahead of Clinton, Stewart, who at times offered praise for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, said Democrats would have to work hard between now and November. "I think we have to understand there's not going to be a magic moment when we can all take a break and watch Hillary just win," he said. "It's going to be a slog until the very end." For that reason, Stewart said, Democrats need to make places like Tennessee competitive. "We have to be pushing the envelope where we are to do everything we can to defeat him." Wrapping up his remarks, Stewart concluded, "We all have to double the sacrifice. It's a national emergency. Let's rise to it." July 26, 2016 - Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis speaks to Tennessee delegates during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. By Joey Garrison, USA Today Network Tennessee PHILADELPHIA U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, on Tuesday called for the firing of Democratic National Committee officials whose antagonistic remarks against Bernie Sanders were revealed in a batch of recently leaked emails. Cohen, addressing Tennessee's Democratic delegation at a Tuesday morning breakfast, took particular exception to emails that showed a top DNC official proposing that Sanders' Jewish faith be questioned in two late-primary states to expose him as an atheist. "For a party to question his religion, or lack thereof, as a way to defeat that person, those people should resign and if they don't resign they should be fired," Cohen said, drawing applause from Tennessee's Sanders delegates. "And it's not just politics, it's what's right. What's right is you don't do those things. "Some people will think, 'Oh well, politically we shouldn't do it and those people have done X, Y and Z for the party.' But they crossed the Rubicon. They crossed the line." In one email to other DNC staffers that was leaked, the party's Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall said they should get someone in Kentucky or West Virginia to ask Sanders whether he believes in God. He wrote that he thought he had read Sanders was an atheist and that Southern Baptists would "draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist." DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has already announced her resignation over the leaked emails, effective at the conclusion of this week's convention in Philadelphia. In an interview with The Tennessean, Cohen said he wasn't sure how many party officials should lose their jobs over the content in the emails, nor did he have any particular names. He only pointed to the individual not identifying Marshall by name who was behind the atheist email. "It really turned my stomach and I don't want that type of mentality," he said. "I find that politics despicable, and I say it as an American but also as a politician who has had race and religion used against me." Cohen, who is a white Jew representing a predominantly black district, referenced past fights he had with the Democratic Party in the early 1980s to win his seat to the Tennessee state Senate. He said party official moved the date of his first Senate election in 1982 to try to sway the results, but he won anyway. "The party was against me in '82. And the party has been against me in other times. And I've been a victim of religion being used against me, so it pains me to see the party get involved to work against Bernie or anybody." Though he said he knows why some Sanders supporters are angry, Cohen, who is also a Tennessee superdelegate, called on them to get behind Clinton. "I know there's some Bernie folks here, and I know some of ya'll are upset that Bernie's not the nominee. Bernie wants you to be for Hillary." In other remarks Tuesday, Cohen blasted Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam over his free-tuition plan for Tennessee community colleges, continuing a line of attack the congressman has made since the governor rolled out Tennessee Promise two years ago. Cohen, who as a state senator helped create Tennessee's lottery to fund the HOPE Scholarship, accused Tennessee Promise of sapping away valuable dollars from the lottery surplus that he said should be reserved for the HOPE Scholarship, which helps qualifying students with tuition to four-year public universities in Tennessee. Meanwhile, Cohen slammed Republican presidential Donald Trump as a "sociopath, narcissist, egomaniac," and "embarrassment to the United States of America." He also got some laughs when he talked about the diversity of the Republican Party, which has struggled to gain support of minorities. "When I look at the Republican side of the aisle, just as when I looked at the Republican convention on television, it looks like a Kiwanis Club in Humboldt." He later joked: "I hope none of you are in the Kiwanis Club in Humboldt." Bernie Sanders delegate Amanda Kruel (Photo by Joel Ebert, The Tennessean) By Joel Ebert, USA TODAY NETWORK Tennessee PHILADELPHIA A Tennessee delegate has had his credential and duties rescinded and no longer has a seat at the Democratic National Convention after an altercation on Monday with a Bernie Sanders supporter. Jerry Ogle, a Clinton delegate from Monroe County, was removed from Tennessee's delegation Tuesday morning after it was determined that he violated the party's code of conduct agreement when he had an inappropriate interaction with Amanda Kruel, a Sanders delegate. "Yesterday I was cheering for Bernie as many others were and there was a guy behind me who was making faces at me. There was one point where he grabbed me by the shoulder and he twisted me around and yelled in my face 'Act like a Democrat," Kruel, who is from Knoxville, said while describing Ogle's actions as "assault." Kruel said Ogle was angry because she was supporting Sanders. "I told him don't you care about freedom of speech - I'm just trying to be a Democrat," she said Tuesday afternoon. "People are interrupting speeches to yell when they hear Hillary. Why is it wrong to interrupt speeches and yell when they hear Bernie?" The incident in question occurred Monday shortly after the convention officially convened at 4:30 p.m. After the interaction, Kruel said she reported it to Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Mary Mancini, who confirmed Ogle's removal from the delegation. "I don't want to get in the specifics. I think that's probably a personal thing between Jerry and us and Amanda but we do have a code of conduct that our delegates do need to follow and he violated that," she said. Ogle confirmed the incident to The Tennessean but offered a different account, saying he merely tapped Kruel on the shoulder and did not forcefully grab her before leaning in and telling her that she wasn't really a Democrat, he explained. When reached Tuesday evening, Ogle admitted that his actions were inappropriate. "I take full responsibility for that," he said, adding that he didn't believe it was serious enough to warrant his removal as a delegate. "I've let a lot of people down. I'm so sorry and I feel awful that all of this has happened." Earlier in the day, the state party sent out an email indicating Ogle had been replaced by Nashville attorney Rob McGuire, an alternate delegate. "This morning, Jerry Ogle was removed from the Tennessee Delegation. Per the rules for replacement of delegates after the 72-hour pre-gavel deadline, he will be replaced with a temporary delegate, " Jacqueline Harms, communications director for the state party, wrote in an email to Kruel. Kruel, who was among those who booed when Clinton was mentioned during the early part of Monday's proceedings, pushed back against the idea that Sanders' delegates are trying to divide the convention. Referencing recent revelations that she was vetted by Democratic National Committee staff members to decide whether or not she could attend a private fundraiser, Kruel said, "There are a lot of things the DNC has done that makes it really hard to trust them. I am willing to be open-minded and here if they are willing to work with us and cooperate and be civil - but being assaulted by this guy does not tell me that," she said. Kruel, like many Sanders delegates, said she is simply supporting the candidate the voters wanted her to represent. "I think it's messed up that there are Democrats here who support Hillary who think that the Bernie supporters should not be able to voice their support." SHARE By Ed Rogers As the Democratic National Convention convenes in Philadelphia, Hillary Clinton faces many widely reported challenges. She is generally not trusted, and the majority of Americans tend to repeat what has now become a cliche invented by President Obama: Clinton just doesn't have that new-car smell. I continue to believe Clinton and Donald Trump are propping each other up. They are both so unpopular that the race for the presidency is staying close, even as one consistently acts erratically and the other seems to have a virtual indictment despite not being actually indicted by the FBI. But in addition to the current macro political environment, Clinton faces three specific challenges that are unique to her and to this era in modern politics. First, Clinton must sound the alarm about national security without throwing Obama under the bus, admitting errors on her part while she was secretary of state or placing blame on the core Obama foreign policy team. If Clinton takes it upon herself to explain why she believes things really aren't that bad and how she and Obama have made America safe, she runs the risk of appearing out of touch with the anxiety many Americans feel. I was a little surprised at the Democrats' rehearsed reaction after last week's Republican National Convention. In unison, they talked about how frightening and dark the rhetoric was. I wonder if the Democrats really don't sense the need to sound the alarm vs. trying to convince people that things are better than they seem. Clinton has to impress upon people the fact that her foreign policy and national security positions will not be more of the same. This is particularly hard because it probably would be more of the same -- as stated above, she was a critical architect of Obama's national security policies. And according to the latest Economist/YouGov poll, only 42 percent of people approve of how Obama is handling terrorism. On almost every issue, but none more so than foreign policy and national security, Clinton is running as the incumbent. And no one thinks the incumbent deserves four more years when it comes to foreign policy. Second, Clinton has to balance the inconsistency and misguided assertions of the Black Lives Matter movement with being sufficiently credible as someone who will provide law and order and be supportive of cops on the streets. By the looks of the convention speakers announced so far, Clinton and her team seem to be going all in with the Black Lives Matter crowd. This says something about Clinton's inability to move to the center. She is still so weak among her natural liberal constituency that she can't dare try to reach out to middle-class whites. Third, and most critical, Clinton has to say how she will grow the economy. And she has to do so while taking the position that Obama has been successful with economic issues. Again, she has to try to convince Americans that they are mistaken about the state of their personal financial prospects and just don't realize how good they have it. As I always say, in politics, a bumper sticker beats an essay. Relying on a torturous explanation of how good the economy is when people see and feel something different from what a candidate is saying puts Clinton in a untenable position. She has to be able to acknowledge that the economic recovery hasn't been strong enough and that more of the same is undesirable. Again, if she doesn't get this balance right, she will look out of touch and push people toward Trump, who theoretically could hold himself out as a credible businessman, job creator and one-man economic engine. With all these challenges, Clinton's greatest asset in this campaign is Trump. The latest CNN poll notwithstanding, where Trump has a remarkable 5-point lead in a four-way match-up, Clinton could benefit from Trump's inability to reach out to a broader audience and appear credible, reassuring and sufficiently knowledgeable to gain the benefit of the doubt and build a winning coalition. It's almost always a mistake when your campaign plan calls for your opponent to hand you a victory. In this election cycle, Clinton's challenges may actually be harder to overcome than Trump's just by virtue of the fact that she carries the burden of incumbency. Ed Rogers is a contributor to the PostPartisan blog, a political consultant and a veteran of the White House and several national campaigns. He is the chairman of the lobbying and communications firm BGR Group, which he founded with former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour in 1991. SHARE By Eli Lake Is the Kremlin trying to throw the U.S. presidential election to Donald Trump? It sounds like something out of a spy novel. But many cybersecurity experts, as well as the Hillary Clinton campaign, are now saying the Russians are responsible for last month's hack of the Democratic National Committee. That hack has dominated the news cycle on the eve of the Democratic convention, and for good reason. The emails disclosed Friday by WikiLeaks are embarrassing. They show DNC chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, plotting to undermine the campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, confirming the worst suspicions of the left flank of the party. She resigned her post Sunday. But the bigger issue is who was responsible for the hack in the first place. Bob Gourley, a former chief technology officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency and now the co-founder of and partner in Cognitio, a cybersecurity consultancy, told me Sunday that he thinks the Russians did it. "The software code that I have seen from the hack had all the telltale signs of being Russian, including code reused from other attacks," Gourley told me. "This is a really big deal. Some people in the community are saying this is the Russians pretending to be a hacker, then giving that information to Julian Assange is all part of an operation." (Assange founded WikiLeaks.) Gourley is not alone among cybersecurity experts. When the hack of the DNC was first disclosed in June, the security firm Crowdstrike also pointed to the Russians. Crowdstrike investigated the incident for the Democratic Party and concluded it was the same actor that penetrated the State Department, White House and Pentagon unclassified systems in 2015. Describing the code used for the penetration in a blog post, Crowdstrike co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch wrote: "Both adversaries engage in extensive political and economic espionage for the benefit of the government of the Russian Federation and are believed to be closely linked to the Russian government's powerful and highly capable intelligence services." Over the weekend, the Trump and Clinton campaigns traded accusations on the issue. Clinton campaign manager Robbie Mook told ABC News the experts consulted by the campaign said it was Russia. Paul Manafort, who runs the Trump campaign, responded that this was "pure obfuscation." The technical case for attributing the DNC hack to Russia rests in the similarity of the code found on the committee's servers to other hacks believed to have originated in Russia. Gourley acknowledges though this isn't foolproof. "It could be some hacker in a garage in Florida found this code and reused it," he said. "But historically, the bad guys reuse their own code a lot." There is also a circumstantial case that the Russians are behind the hack. To start, Vice Magazine's Motherboard channel got hold of the alleged Romanian hacker, Guccifer 2.0, who has claimed credit for the cyber skullduggery. The hacker was asked to describe his hack in Romanian and couldn't string together a coherent sentence in the language. Then there is the question of who benefits. While Clinton implemented a reset in relations with Russia when she was secretary of state, she has since soured on Moscow. When Russian irregulars invaded Ukraine in 2014, she compared Putin to Hitler. Trump, on the other hand, has bucked his party's Russia hawks. He has said he would only aid NATO states if they paid their fair share of the defense burden in Europe. Until Trump, no Republican presidential nominee has questioned the U.S. mutual-defense commitment enshrined in NATO. Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told me that it was in Russian president Vladimir Putin's interest for "the Democrats to keep power over foreign policy and to have Hillary Clinton architect of the Russia reset policy that opened the door for Putin's aggression throughout the globe become president." He added: "That's why I like this particular conspiracy theory even though I don't believe it. It would mean Putin is far less intelligent than I thought, and that would be comforting to me." Mike Vickers, a former undersecretary of defense for intelligence and a Clinton supporter, disagrees. "I think all signs point to cyber actors with ties to Russian intelligence," he told me on Sunday. "What is unprecedented, it seems to me, is the use of these tools for covert political influence against the United States during a presidential general election." That indeed would be unprecedented. The Russians operate RT, an English-language television network that gives airtime to 9/11 conspiracy theorists and other anti-American views. If the Russians are behind the DNC hack, it would be a new tactic that combines the state's overt influence operations with its covert cyber-spying. Mike Flynn, who served as Defense Intelligence Agency director between 2012 and 2014 and is an adviser to the Trump campaign, told me he wouldn't be surprised if the Russians were behind the DNC hack. "Both China and Russia have the full capability to do this," he said. "If someone were to find out Russia did this, I would not be surprised at all." Flynn said, however, that the real problem is that there is very poor information security for U.S. political parties and campaigns. "This is another email scandal for the Democratic party," he said. There is something to this. Last year a group called the Online Trust Alliance surveyed major presidential campaign websites and found that only six met basic standards for security, privacy and consumer data protection. Part of the problem is that the Federal Election Commission does not impose basic cyber security standards for political parties and campaigns the way the Federal Trade Commission does for U.S. businesses. "By not having a regulator that has the authority to investigate the campaigns and the data security practices of political parties, it was only a matter of time before a campaign or national party was hacked," Chris Soghoian, the chief technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union told me. In this sense, the problem of Russian hacking may be bipartisan. In May, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said there were indications of hacks against both the Trump and Clinton campaigns. This may be true, but so far only the Democrats have seen their pilfered emails made public. In that sense it looks like the Russians are playing favorites in American politics, something the Kremlin has accused the U.S. of doing to Russia for the last 100 years. Eli Lake is a Bloomberg View columnist. SHARE By Leonid Bershidsky Hillary Clinton's campaign and its supporters are linking Donald Trump to President Vladimir Putin. This must make the Russian president chuckle. After all, he accused Clinton of inciting protests in Moscow in 2011. The Democrats, however, need a reality check. The suggestion of a Russian connection to the Trump campaign is unfounded, at best. And though the hack of the Democratic National Committee's servers, the spoils of which were recently posted on Wikileaks, was probably the work of Russian hackers, no one is denying that this operation exposed an embarrassing tilt of the party in favor of Clinton and against Bernie Sanders. Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook, said on CNN that he saw a link between the release of the hacked DNC emails just before the Democratic convention and the Trump campaign's successful effort to remove from the Republican platform an amendment calling for "providing lethal defensive weapons" to its military. "I think when you put all this together, it's a disturbing picture," Mook said. At the same time, liberal blogger Josh Marshall wrote a lengthy post about alleged links between Trump and Putin, including the Republican nominee's dealings with wealthy Russians. There's plenty to "put together" to make it look ominous. Besides, as Marshall correctly pointed out, Russia's state-owned media have been openly rooting for Trump. But is there a real Putin-Trump connection and enough evidence to say that Trump is accepting help from Putin? I don't think so. Trump hasn't been linked to any official or businessman close to Putin's inner circle. The Trump SoHo project apparently received funding from Iceland's FL Group (now known as Baugur), which had some Russian investments but no known ties to Putin's friends. He also has links to Alexander Mashkevich, a wealthy businessman from Kazakhstan. Mashkevich is not part of Putin's circle of billionaire cronies. Similarly, the business dealings in Ukraine of Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort, have raised eyebrows, but none involved Putin's friends, and one businessman with good Kremlin ties (but not from the inner circle, either) Oleg Deripaska has been trying unsuccessfully to get some money back from Manafort and his partners. It's worth remembering, too, that Ukraine and Kazakhstan are not part of Russia. Their business elites are similarly corrupt, but Putin is not the source of their wealth, which they have used to buy up expensive real estate of the kind Trump has developed. The only Trump policy adviser with real ties is Carter Page, who advised Gazprom, the Russian natural gas monopoly, in the mid-2000s. These connections, however, are not at the highest level: Page is not pals with Gazprom chief executive officer Alexei Miller, who is close to Putin. Put together, this appears no more damning than Clinton's tenuous "Russia connection" the big donations to her family foundation from investors in a uranium company whose sale to Russia's state-owned Rosatom needed a sign-off from the U.S. government. There is no evidence that Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time, lobbied in favor of the deal or helped get it approved. And Rosatom itself an arm of the Russian government didn't pay anything to the foundation. The former Soviet Union is a big place, and a lot of business is being done there. It shouldn't be surprising that people in the upper echelons of U.S. business and politics have connections to that part of the world. Unless these ties are to a dozen specific individuals whom Putin has made super rich in his 15 years in power, they are not politically significant. The Russian connection in the DNC hack is stronger, but hasn't been proved (The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Monday that it had opened an investigation). CrowdStrike, the security firm hired by the DNC, has linked the tools used to two well-known groups that operate on Russian time and keep regular hours and that use Russian versions of certain software. Besides, there is independent confirmation that the leaked documents were processed on machines using the Russian language. The hacker calling himself Guccifer 2.0, who claimed to have stolen the documents, said he was from Romania, but had a hard time conversing with an interviewer in Romanian. It's probably enough to go on for tentative attribution (ThreatConnect, the cyberthreat intelligence company, has provided good analysis on the subject). I have no doubt that Putin would like Trump to win. The Republican candidate has called into doubt the U.S. commitment to its NATO obligations and even suggested that he might not defend alliance members if they are attacked by Russia. Even so, despite the rumors, there is no credible evidence of a connection. For now, the Russia story is being used to deflect attention from the turmoil with the Democratic camp. There is no doubt that DNC officials who in the midst of a storm over Clinton's use of a private server while secretary of state failed to secure their own network, apparently letting in more than one hacker team. The uproar also takes the focus away from the broader failings of the Clinton campaign, which is even in the polls with a rival who has offended almost every kind of voter, has managed a cheap, disorganized candidacy and has been caught lying. If Clinton can't beat Trump, it's not Putin's fault, though it would certainly make him happy. Leonid Bershidsky, a Bloomberg View contributor, is a Berlin-based writer. The page may have moved, you may have mistyped the address, or followed a bad link. Visit our homepage, or search for whatever you were looking for Rev. Earle Fisher (Jason Viera/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE By David Waters of The Commercial Appeal If you want a deeper understanding of Sunday's mass demonstration on the bridge, or the Black Lives Matter movement in Memphis and elsewhere, listen to this Talk, Memphis podcast with Rev. Earle Fisher. Fisher, pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Whitehaven, was on the bridge Sunday evening, talking with interim police director Michael Rallings as well as other protesters. He was one of the panelists in Monday's tense community meeting at Greater Imani Church in Raleigh. He led Wednesday's protest outside The Commercial Appeal, and is helping to organize and participate in this weekend's memorial observances of the July 2015 death of Darrius Stewart. In the interview, Fisher talks about Sunday's demonstration, his conversations with Rallings and others, and the significance of this week's events. He also gives a compelling analysis of the historical, cultural, political and spiritual aspects of the Black Lives Matter movement, the "white supremacist" system of injustice it is seeking to dismantle, and what real justice does and does not look like. Feel free to talk back in the comment section. July 14, 2016 - Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland in the podcast studio. (Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE By David Waters of The Commercial Appeal In his first six months in office, Mayor Jim Strickland hasn't shied away from addressing controversial or complicated matters. Public safety concerns. Police pay and a shortage of police officers. Pension fund contributions. De-annexing parts of the city. Parking on the Overton Park greensward. This week brought a new challenge after a Black Lives Matter rally turned into a massive demonstration on the Mississippi River bridge. More than a thousand protesters blocked Interstate 40 traffic for four hours. The demonstration led to a tense community forum Monday afternoon, where Strickland bore the brunt of much criticism. In this Talk, Memphis podcast, the mayor talks about what happened on the bridge Sunday, why he wasn't there, why he was at the Monday meeting, and how he hopes the city's response to it all will become know as "the Memphis Model." Feel free to talk back in the comment section. Nobody is more aware of our shrinking world than technology executives. They are also in a good position to see that contradictory requirements in the areas of data protection and privacy have created a confusing patchwork that, at times, runs counter to a global marketplace that places a premium on close collaboration and the smooth transfer of digital information. Most companies are extremely diligent about complying with their cybersecurity legal obligations, but wildly inconsistent laws make it difficult. Some of the inconsistencies can be traced to deep historical and cultural differences between the United States and Europe. In comparison to the EU, the United States has traditionally offered a far more open framework when dealing with information. In litigation, U.S. laws have typically been more about sharing even erring on the side of being overly inclusive. The most significant piece of U.S. federal legislation in this area is the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), passed last December. The stated purpose of CISA is to promote sharing about cybersecurity and new threat vectors between the government and the private sector. The underlying idea is to remove barriers that kept the technology industry, which often is aware of new viruses or technical threats before the public sector, from sharing the information with the government, in an effort to inform and warn the public. Although the public would certainly benefit from this kind of collaboration, companies remain reluctant to share such information because CISA does not shield them from the possibility of a lawsuit. Further complicating things, complying with CISA could produce some very severe consequences if a company also conducts business in Europe and shares any personal data of EU nationals, since the EU has a much stronger tradition of nondisclosure. Previously, companies could balance the competing responsibilities between the two marketplaces by relying upon an approved Safe Harbor regime that allowed them to officially sign up to confirm that they adhered to a framework that had been developed by the Department of Commerce (DOC) in the U.S. and the European Commission. This essentially meant that they gave binding promises to the DOC and the public that they complied with privacy policy requirements and provided adequate protections for personal data sufficient to allow transfers of personal data from the EU to the U.S. However, Safe Harbor suffered a huge blow when the European Court of Justice ruled that the European Commissions approval of the program was invalid. Unfortunately for technology companies, this means the Safe Harbor route is no longer a valid basis upon which personal data can be transferred from the EU to the U.S. Even worse, there is currently no clear guidance as to what will be a properly valid route to effect such a transfer. While the European Commission and the DOC have agreed upon a new arrangement, known as the Privacy Shield, and that arrangement has just received formal approval, there remain a number of concerns and issues in relation to it. And responses from various data protection authorities across Europe have diverged which is likely to continue with the new problem of interpreting and applying the Privacy Shield requirements. Technology companies now find themselves in a suddenly undefined EU marketplace in which data fines can vary by enormous amounts depending upon the jurisdiction. The clearest example of this is the case of Google. The Italian Data Protection Authority had previously hit the company with a 1 million fine for its Street View/Google Car activities in Italy. Because Googles 2015 revenue was in the region of $74.5 billion, new EU fine levels being proposed could mean the company will face a fine of a whopping $3 billion. As a result of the uncertainty that now reigns, organizations need to protect themselves now by reviewing their existing compliance levels across the board. It is crucial to verify the types of data that are held, what needs to be disclosed in relation to particular cyberthreats and whether this can be restricted or curtailed sensibly so that rights of action for data subjects do not arise, either in the U.S. or in the EU. Steven Rubin is a partner with Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP in New York, where he serves as chair of the firms Patent practice group and as co-chair of its cybersecurity practice group. Stephen Milne is a consultant with Memery Crystal LLP in London, where he focuses on business law and commercial contracts, including outsourcing, agency and distribution agreements, joint ventures, tender responses, franchising, marketing, introduction, reseller and maintenance and support agreements and key ancillary issues such as data protection and cybersecurity. We now have a bloody difficult woman as Prime Minister who has promised a tough approach to tackling the housing shortage and restoring the public finances to health. A huge opportunity to achieve both objectives would be to accelerate the sale of surplus public sector land. Yet a report from the National Audit Office suggests that the Government are not even on course to meet their current target for this Parliament to release surplus public sector land in England with capacity for at least 160,000 new homes by April 2020. The earlier target for the previous parliament was to sell 7,000 acres for 100,000 new homes, raising 10 billion. That target was broadly met between 2011 and 2015 the Government disposed of land with enough capacity to build 109,590 new homes over 942 sites. So the figure is above 100,000 on the other hand some developers might opt for lower densities on the land they have bought rather than the maximum that could be achieved. Last year there was a new target for this parliament. It was bumped up to 160,000 homes so a bit more ambitious over a five year term. There was the welcome plan to sell off some of the old Victorian prisons in London to help meet it. But the Government should be aiming far higher still. The Ministry of Defence alone still owns 600,000 acres equivalent to the size of Surrey. Even in squashed London there is great potential. There are 5,700 acres owned by Transport for London equivalent to the size of Camden. It is a great pity that Zac Goldsmith was not elected Mayor as he would have been serious about using this resource to provides tens of thousands of beautiful new homes. Anyway the report suggests that so far even the Governments modest current objective is not on course to be delivered on schedule: By the end of March 2016, government had disposed of land with capacity for an estimated 8,580 homes, across 77 sites, which represents 5% of the programme. DCLG told us the amount of money raised from these sales is 72 million, with future estimated receipts expected to be a further 197 million, subject to sale conditions being met. In terms of what is planned: Departments have identified further surplus, and potentially surplus, sites with capacity to support an estimated 104,461 homes, representing a further 65% of the programme. However, over 50% of the estimated housing capacity identified is on sites considered high risk. DCLG defines high-risk sites as sites with one or more issues preventing exchange of contracts before 31 March 2020 which are very unlikely to be resolved, meaning the site could slip out of the programme. For example, departments delivery plans include land that could have residential potential but is currently in use and not yet declared surplus. The difficulty would seem to be that government departments that keep hold of land are not thoroughly challenged but when they sell it they are: Each department must be able to demonstrate that they have taken robust decisions on value for money for each site disposed of, and that their delivery plans outline how they will assure their accounting officers of this. Individual accounting officers confirm to DCLG that a sale represents value for money. Fair enough. But what about a requirement that each piece of land that has been retained represents a robust decision? Keeping surplus land empty is also a decision. It should also be challenged as to its justification on value for money grounds. Government departments should be treated in the same way as local authorities over high value social housing stock. Funding from the Treasury should assume that substantial revenue will be achieved from asset sales. Each department should be informed of how many billion it is assumed it will raise in that way each year. Those departments with substantial unused or underused property assets that through mismanagement failed to achieve disposals would face a very substantial shortfall in their budget. Any cabinet minister presiding over such a blunder should be sacked. Each department is already required to produce a Delivery Plan but what are the penalties for failing to deliver? There doesnt even seem to be full data being supplied. At present the Ministry of Defence is on course to release land with a housing capacity for 55,000 between last year and 2020. That sounds like a lot. But it is pathetic when set against 600,000 acres. It works out as 11 acres for each house. In London there are typically 20 homes per acre. So it sounds as though the MOD are currently only planning to sell a couple of thousand of its 600,000 acres. Of course much of that would not be suitable for housing. Salisbury Plain is used for rifle practice and anyway includes archeological sites. But that is a mere 100,000 acres. Let us assume it would all be impossible to make available for housing. What about the other half million? The potential of land sales is massive. I havent even got on to mentioning the boost to economic growth and of job creation. One can hardly describe the current effort as trivial. Hundreds of thousands of homes and tens of billions of pounds towards reducing state borrowing is significant. But it should be millions of homes being built and hundreds of billions going to reduce the National Debt. Ed Miliband used to grumble about private firms land banking rather than getting on with development. But the real culprit when it comes to land banking is the state. Tillis, Hayes say Clinton would maintain Obama policies and Donald Trump's business experience would shake up Washington U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, shown here with supporters at the Republican National Convention, says presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton would maintain what he called "failed" Obama administration policies. (CJ photo by Don Carrington) N.C. Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes says the principles in the Republican Party platform will reassure voters that the GOP can unite and win in November. (CJ photo by Don Carrington) CLEVELAND In interviews with Carolina Journal on Tuesday afternoon, freshman U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis and state Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes are confident this week's Republican National Convention in Cleveland will begin spelling out the differences between the Republican and Democratic visions of America, and that a majority of voters will embrace the GOP's message.Tillis said. He said it also will remind people the Obama administration has failed to solve the immigration issue, secure our borders, and come up with a winning strategy in the Middle East.said Tillis, who was a delegate for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio but will support Trump in the general election campaign.Reflecting on Monday's convention theme, Tillis said,he added.Tillis said. He noted that Trump has spent his life in business while Clinton has been in politics her entire adult life, and she has a "muscle memory" that is not something we want in our next chief executive.he said. He believes that Trump will surround himself with capable people as demonstrated by his selection of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate.Hayes agreed with Tillis that the convention "is a great opportunity to showcase the difference between us and the Democratic ticket." Hayes said while there were several unpredictable aspects of the early phases of the convention, the Republican platform will end up unifying the party.Hayes said the records of Republican officeholders who crafted the platform, particularly U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5th District, will lead Republicans to victory in November.Hayes said.Even though the North Carolina delegation is divided, with 29 delegates committed on the first ballot to vote for Donald Trump, 27 for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, nine for Rubio, six for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and one for Dr. Ben Carson, Hayes said that once the nomination is settled, Hayes said he expected everyone eventually will support Trump. "I am proud of our delegation, the largest ever in history. There were a number of them that had concerns [about Trump]. They had another candidate." He believes those concerns have been addressed through the platform.(Former state Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, a Kasich delegate, has told several media outlets he would leave the convention after casting his vote for Kasich and would not support Trump in the general election.)Of Clinton, Hayes said,where U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others in his delegation were ambushed and killed by Islamic jihadists.But Hayes said he also is bothered by the Clinton Foundation's misuse of the tax code as a nonprofit to enhance her family's wealth at the expense of national security.he said. Let me start by offering my condolences to the French people following the sickening attack in Northern France this morning. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected. I am delighted to welcome the Taoiseach here today. It is testament to the importance of the relationship between the United Kingdom and Ireland that Enda is amongst the first leaders that I have met since I took office. In recent years the relationship between both our countries has gone from strength to strength, building on the success of Her Majesty the Queens historic visit to Ireland in 2011. Now, as we contemplate the nature of our bilateral co-operation once the United Kingdom has left the European Union, I want to underline my personal commitment to nurturing this relationship. We must make a success of Brexit and together ensure that we maximise the opportunities for both our countries. Thats why our discussions today have focused on Brexit; the particular impact on the Republic of Ireland and what this means for our economic relationship, travel between our countries and the peace process. And let me say a few words on each. First, the economic relationship. Trade between the United Kingdom and Ireland is worth almost 1 billion each week, supporting 400,000 jobs across our islands. These economic benefits matter to people across both countries. Thats why we have agreed today that we both want to maintain the closest possible economic relationship in the future. Of course this means there will be a number of complex issues to address. We should take time now to study the options and to strive for practical solutions. And I have reiterated to the Taoiseach my commitment to involving the Northern Ireland Executive fully in those preparations. I recognise that one of the biggest concerns for people is the common travel area. As I said yesterday, we benefitted from a common travel area between the UK and the Republic of Ireland for many years before either country was a member of the EU. There is a strong will on both sides to preserve it and so we must now focus on securing a deal that is in the interest of both of us. And alongside this, we should continue our efforts to strengthen the external borders of the common travel area, for example through a common approach to the use of passenger data. Finally, we talked about the peace process. It is in all our interests to work together to safeguard our national security and the outcome of the referendum will not undermine it. We are both fully committed to working together in support of the Northern Ireland Executive to build a better, stronger, safer future for the people of Northern Ireland. Indeed, it is vital that that we keep up the momentum on tackling paramilitary groups and building a shared future. And today we have reaffirmed our commitment to establishing a new Independent Reporting Commission by the end of this year, which will support these efforts. In conclusion, these have been constructive discussions. We have agreed we will continue to hold annual bilateral summits to strengthen our co-operation. And it is precisely because the relationship between the United Kingdom and Ireland is so deep and so important that there are many issues to resolve as the UK leaves the European Union. But I firmly believe that we can make a success of Brexit and take our relationship forwards not backwards. And I look forward to working closely together in the weeks and months ahead to make the most of the opportunities ahead. Lieutenant Mark Evison was shot on the 9th May 2009 at Nad Ali about half an hours drive west of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province. Searching for reception on his malfunctioning Bowman Radio, he had stepped into the exposed doorway of a compound and was hit. Bleeding heavily, Evison was carried by his men through a web of ditches and across a canal to Haji Alam Fort. There he lost consciousness, 7000 miles from home, waiting for a helicopter. He never woke up. No helicopter was dispatched until 39 minutes after he was shot. Probably no helicopter was available. In Helmand fewer than thirty helicopters were supporting nine thousand soldiers. At any rate, Camp Bastion hospital was 15 kilometres away and Evison bled heavily for an hour and a half before reaching it. He deserved better. Gordon Browns 2004 decision to scrap a 1.4 billion fund allocated to purchasing more helicopters probably contributed significantly to the shortage. The Chicot Inquiry discusses the decisions impacts in Iraq at length but not its implications for operations in Afghanistan. The Bowman Radio was originally rejected by the Armys Director of Infantry who called it was totally unsuitable; Bowman was three times heavier than its predecessor, had a dangerously short battery life and its range in Helmand province could fall to as low as a few hundred meters. By Spring 2009 failures of this type had driven Brigadier Tim Radford to privately consider handing central Helmand to his less stretched American counterparts. The national humiliation would have been too great so Radford and his men kept calm and carried on. The Ministry of Defence denies that equipment failures played any role in Evisons death. British involvement in Afghanistan is a closed chapter but the bipolar approach to defence embodied by Evisons tragic death lives on. The introductions to British defence reports are characterised by assurances of the UKs continued global relevance and ambitions. By contrast the bodies of most reports are composed of capabilities we allegedly no longer require. At some point rhetoric and reality inevitably collide. The Royal Navy now has 19 frigates and destroyers where in 1998 it had 34. The UK has fewer tanks than Switzerland. The British MOD leads the world in operating at the extreme edge of the possible. Our current defence strategy is largely premised on not having to defend ourselves. The lifecycle of the defence systems and equipment procured today is up to 45 years. Forty-five years ago, in 1971, the Iron Curtain was as firm as ever, Deng Xiaoping was yet to take power and introduce Chinas transformative market reforms and Osama Bin Laden was merely a wealthy Saudi teenager. By historical standards these strategic shifts are reasonably minor. Nevertheless government strategic analyses generally assume the relative stability of the last 15 years will continue indefinitely; the 2010 and 2015 defence reviews inexplicably argues the UK will no longer need the capability to deploy an expeditionary force of the size sent to Iraq or to conduct two simultaneous medium sized operations as in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hopefully the 2020s are indeed an exceptionally peaceful decade, but premising our defence policy on an unstated and unjustifiable assumption they will be appears unwise. Three illusions aid this approach to defence. Firstly over-dependence on Trident; if we continue to rely so heavily on our nuclear capabilities some scenarios will confront us with a choice between launching an immoral first-strike nuclear attack or doing absolutely nothing. Secondly over-dependence on NATO; the British Army is intended to act as an interoperable auxiliary to a much larger US force. Perhaps the US will remain highly committed to the defence of Europe, but Donald Trump is cheered when he denounces NATO and Newt Gingrich has publicly dubbed Estonia to be a suburb of St Petersburg. In 2012 Obamas (largely rhetorical) pivot to Asia attempted to shift the USs strategic and economic centre of gravity from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In this political environment, it would be unwise to have no plan for US disengagement from Nato. Finally, British defence planning tends to assume lost capabilities can be regenerated rapidly in the event of a crisis. Given the extraordinary logistical hurdles which confronted the Ministry of Defence in the run-up the Invasion of Iraq, a scenario consistent with defence planning assumptions, wide scale attempts to regenerated lost capabilities would probably be impossible except in the long-term. Fundamentally only a very few voters have any personal contact with the military. Servicemen and women are constitutionally forbidden from protesting. The Ministry of Defence is therefore at a crucial disadvantage in interdepartmental budgetary warfare. Parliamentarians have a duty to compensate by holding the government to account. Of course there is no shortage of Conservative MPs who would favour higher defence spending but they face the challenge of highlighting less deserving areas of spending to cut instead. In the aftermath of Brexit the UK faces a fundamental choice. Does a Global Britain merely mean that we allow the world to come to us or that we should remain active in every-corner of the globe? The UK will opt for continued international ambition; our ambition must be reflected in defence spending or punching above our weight will come to mean sending young people to their deaths with inadequate support. SUBSCRIBE Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates straight in your inbox. 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." noted former police captain, Russell Leckie.The cop-killing gunman, 29-year-old Gavin Long - who ambushed police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, leaving three law enforcement officers dead and another three wounded on Sunday morning - is slowly being understood by authorities, but for not the right reasons. Long, who was shot dead by police officers responding to his unprovoked attack, is being given held up as a hero by some involved in Black Lives Matter, the New Black Panthers and other black-racist groups.And the news media - who've always shown a preference for stories that accuse police of showing a propensity for violence and racism - are attempting to separate these and other cop-killings from Democratic Party politics and politicians such as Hillary Clinton and her team of counter-culture retreads.The media wishes to avoid the obvious: Hillary Clinton and her party's anti-cop rhetoric is nothing new; these Democrats are mostly retreads from the anti-America 1960s that saw people such as Hillary's husband Bill Clinton marching with radicals carrying a Vietcong flag. Also included with these counter-culture activists were media-stars such as Bobby Seales, William Ayers, Eldridge Cleaver, Mark Rudd, and others who advocated violence and targeted police officer ("pigs").For example, in 1971 in New York City, Police Officers Waverly Jones and Joseph Piagentini were shot and killed while on foot patrol in the Colonial Park Houses public housing complex, at 159th Street and Harlem River Drive. They were ambushed by members of the Black Liberation Army.According to analysts at the organizations Homeland Security News Wire (HSNW) and National Association of Chiefs of Police (NACOP), the Baton Rouge cop-killer Gavin Long appears to have been motivated by 1960s-era Black Nationalism movement. Its leaders - such as Malcolm X, Elijah Mohammed and the Nation of Islam, the original Black Panthers and the Symbionese Liberation Army - called on African Americans to violently fight back against the "white power structure" in the United States. Some even advocated taking land in the U.S. and creating their own Black Power nation.As the two patrolmen were returning to their police cruiser, three suspects snuck up behind them and opened fire. Patrolman Jones was struck in the back of the head and killed instantly. Patrolman Piagentini was shot 13 times and succumbed to his injuries en route to the hospital.One of the suspects stole Patrolman Jones' weapon which was later recovered in San Francisco, California, after several BLA members executed a San Francisco police officer, Sergeant John Victor Young.The three suspects were arrested and sentenced to 25 years to life. One of the suspects died in prison. The other two have been denied parole several times. These two suspects, along with five others, were also involved in the murder of Sgt. Young of the San Francisco Police Department on August 29th, 1971. One has a parole hearing in June 2018, and the other has his hearing in February 2018.Five days after the fatal shooting of five police officers in Dallas, Texas, Long posted a video on YouTube to express his views on the incident:Long said.In another video, referring to Native Americans, Long said,In yet another video, he praised the Deacons for Defense - a group of African Americans who formed an armed self-defense group during the civil rights movement of the 1960s - as men whoLong said in another video.According to Homeland Security News Wire,noted former police captain, Russell Leckie. Carrier plans to eliminate 1,400 low- to midgrade manufacturing jobs during the next three years and move its production facility to Mexico. (Photo: Robert Scheer/IndyStar 2016 file photo) SHARE By Brian Eason / USA TODAY NETWORK/ The Indianapolis Star Indianapolis financial adviser Peter Dunn better known as Pete the Planner will provide free financial planning workshops for displaced Carrier workers and their families, Mayor Joe Hogsett announced at a Monday morning news conference. The initiative is the first major assistance program to come out of the city's Carrier Task Force, which Hogsett established earlier this year to help the 1,400 workers that the air conditioning giant plans to lay off at its Westside Indianapolis facility beginning next year. Carrier and its parent company, United Technologies, in February announced plans to lay off about 2,100 employees here and at another facility in Huntington in order to relocate its manufacturing operations to Mexico. Ever since the layoffs were announced, Chuck Jones, president of United Steelworkers Local 1999, which represents the Carrier employees, said his members have gotten a "rash of phone calls" from people trying to sell financial services ever since the announcement was made. They're "lining up to make some money on people's time in need," Jones said. "We can't allow these workers to fall victim to predatory practices," Hogsett said, promising that through the city's program, "at no point will anyone try to sell them anything." Dunn, who is also an IndyStar columnist, agreed to donate 4 months' worth of workshops to the cause, at no cost to the city or the employees. The workshops are expected to cover budgeting for their abrupt change in income, as well as other topics such as how to roll over their 401(k) retirement accounts. Dunn said he used to install Carrier air conditioners for his family's HVAC company. Charging a fee for his services, he said, "wasn't even considered." Hogsett said the city's task force is still considering how to spend a $1.2 million fund set aside for worker assistance, but that it will depend on the outcome of ongoing negotiations between the union and Carrier on severance. The fund was established in April, after the city recovered $1.2 million in local tax incentives from the company. FILE - Indiana first lady Karen Pence (right) tells a class of sixth graders at Joshua Academy about her meetings with President Obama along with some former presidents as she toured the school. KEVIN SWANK / Courier & Press SHARE By Megan Erbacher of the Courier and Press Evansville Vanderburgh School Board members approved a five-year charter renewal for Joshua Academy at a regular Monday night meeting. Pamela Decker, Joshua Academy principal and executive director, gave a public presentation to the board before the only action item of the night. EVSC board member Karen Ragland, a retired Joshua Academy teacher, abstained from the vote. The public report is part of the law to provide data and evidence for EVSC officials. A charter renewal includes reviewing the school's attendance, student performance data, a financial report and any information required by state and federal government as specified by the charter agreement. The academy's most recent charter was approved in May 2011. Decker said this is the fourth charter renewal for the K-6 facility. She noted the charter lists the school as a K-8, and said officials have discussed expanding to offer 7th and 8th grades. Decker went over items in the 35-page report, including last year's enrollment of 224 students, of which 90 percent qualify for free and reduced meals. The 2013-14 school year had the highest enrollment, she said, at 260 pupils. Joshua Academy is debt free, Decker reported. Part of the reason, she said, can be attributed to the state's forgiveness of a common school loan needed to establish the school. "The most important part is academic progress," Decker said. She reviewed assessment scores, and noted IREAD-3 which third-graders complete. Last year's passing rate was 81.1 percent, compared to the previous year's rate of 90.3 percent. However the 2012-13 school year, 88.9 percent of third-graders passed. Decker noted the drop is students passing ISTEP for the 2014-15 year. "We all remember the year of 'Oh my gosh, where is ISTEP and what have you don't to it,'" she said. "A lot of us took a hit, because that was a very rigorous assessment." EVSC board member Chris Kiefer said it was "hard to reconcile" fifth grade's ISTEP pass rate in math drop from 68.4 percent passing in 2013-14 to only 14.3 percent passing in 2014-15; and sixth grade students saw a drop in math pass rates from 71.4 percent pass rate in 2013-14, compared to 13.3 percent passing in 2014-15. "That seems like a substantial drop," Kiefer said. "Part of it is the difference in the assessment," Decker said. "Also there was some change of instructors and I think all of those factors made a huge difference. We had a very strong lack of effort in fifth and sixth grade, combined with some other things, and effort counts. ... In 2015-16 we did rebound, but we can't share those scores because they are still embargoed." EVSC Superintendent David Smith said he would schedule a time for EVSC officials to meet with Joshua Academy to collaborate on performance objectives. Smith said they would report back to the school board in 60 days. Joshua Academy's first day of school is Monday. The EVSC also sponsors Signature School's charter, Indiana's first public charter high school, which opened in 2002. This record is provided to the readers of Beaufort County Now as a public service. There is no cause for alarm or concern. Move along there is nothing to be seen here, just two old men living out their lives in print. In keeping with our effort to keep the community advised of suspicious characters we present their mug shots here in case you may see them loitering about. Please do not contact the authorities, they have been deemed harmless to the safety and sanity of North Carolina residents. However, the Democratic authorities have been alerted because all there may be some emails on the Clinton server that have not been disclosed yet. There is no truth to the rumor that FBI Director Comey is involved in this leak. Due to a recent Wiki leak of the records, this article was leaked to Ted McDonald who posted it in one of his articles. Below is the original non minimalist article that was leaked. In the interest of complete disclosure Here is the link to Ted McDonald's post. Authorities and readers made a warrant less search of the pages of BCN and found two particularly boring writers abusing the forbearance of the publisher. Since this is a multi state investigation, certain federal agencies are involved. At this time there is no reason to think that any laws were broken, but in the interest of transparency the information below is offered. Ted McDonald was detained and then released. He was non-co-operative with the authorities and responded to questions in short sentences and minimalist statements. He refused to have his mug shot taken, but we had a former shot on file which is presented here. He requested that we not mention his secretary Trixie or his wife Nectarine in the transcript of his interview. He has been know to muse often on the good old days of the Confederacy and the Rebel Flag. The other suspect had to be restrained while awaiting interviews, he was observed dismantling every gadget in the station to see how it worked. Both requested numerous bathroom breaks and complained about the hard chairs in the interrogation room. When advised that was no senior discount both asked for a AARP representative to represent them. Bobby Tony was detained and questioned for over 20 hours where upon he was released while still talking non-stop. He expanded on every question with a long discourse on how it reminded him of something in his life. The detectives gave up at shift change. He eagerly posed for his mug shot and demanded that several more should be taken so he could pick the best for distribution. Both detainees appear to be older gentlemen who have achieved the twilight portion of their life and no longer have anything meaningful to say but feel compelled to say it anyway. It was determined that they were harmless to the readers of BCN. A background check revealed that they may have known each other in a previous era. There is anecdotal evidence that they have often conspired on articles and comments on BCN but there is "NO CREDIBLE EVIDENCE" that rises to the level of illegal activity. Both have denied any knowledge of the "Goat Incident" between Clarkston and Tucker High Schools during the 1960s. Still walking about - but auditing from afar. SHARE Jonathan Cruz, 19 By Michael Anthony Adams, IndyStar / USA TODAY Network An Indianapolis teen, who police say modeled a four-day killing spree in May after the plot of the horror film series "The Purge," could face the death penalty if convicted, Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry said Tuesday. Johnathan Cruz, 19, faces three murder charges in connection with the shooting deaths of 54-year-old Billy Boyd and 40-year-old Jay Higginbotham on May 12 and 44-year-old Jose Ruiz on May 15. He also faces a slew of other felony charges connected to the alleged crimes, including robbery, intimidation and more. Now, prosecutors will pursue the death penalty against Cruz. The period of time Curry needed to make a decision about seeking the death penalty is standard, Jack Crawford, an Indianapolis defense attorney and former Lake County prosecutor, told IndyStar in June. The time most likely gave investigators the opportunity to gather additional background about Cruz the most important of which, Crawford said, is whether Cruz is has a mental illness. "People commit some very, very crazy killings. Murders that just defy imagination. It doesnt mean theyre insane or mentally ill," Crawford said. "The question is does he have a diagnostic condition that can be determined by a psychiatrist that he suffers from this mental disease, and that that mental disease caused him to be unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct. Its a two-pronged test." Curry has previously sought the death penalty in other high-profile killings that were eligible for such a sentence, including Major Davis, accused of killing Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officer Perry Renn in 2014, and Kenneth 'Cody' Rackemann, for a quadruple homicide that same year. While Davis' case is pending, Rackemann avoided the death penalty when he reached a plea deal, and was given four life sentences. Twelve inmates are on Death Row in Indiana, according to a state list last updated in December. The last person the state executed was 49-year-old Matthew Wrinkles in 2009. He was convicted of murdering his wife, his brother-in-law and his brother-in-law's wife in Evansville in 1994. Indiana has executed 20 men since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977. Among pending death penalty cases in Indiana: Major Davis Jr., 27, is accused of shooting and killing Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer Perry Renn in 2014. Prosecutors often seek the death penalty in cases when officers are killed in the line of duty, Crawford said. Joseph Oberhansley, 34, is accused of raping and killing his ex-girlfriend and eating parts of her body in Jeffersonville in 2014. Mutilation and rape are considered aggravating circumstances in Indiana. Darren Deon Vann, 45, is accused of strangling seven women in Gary, all found dead in 2014. The multiple charges of murder were listed as the aggravating circumstances the state planned to prove, the Times of Munster reported. IndyStar reporters Jill Disis and Justin Mack contributed. SHARE Richard Hoagland, 63, left his Indiana family 23 years ago and has been living under a stolen identity in Florida, police said. (Photo: Pasco County (Florida) Sheriff's Office) By Vic Ryckaert, IndyStar / USA TODAY Network An Indiana man who walked out on his wife and children 23 years ago has been living in Florida under a name he stole from a dead man, police said. The unusual story spans decades and states, involving a man who apparently ran from the law in Indiana to find himself locked up in jail in Florida all while starting a new family, buying property and registering vehicles under the new name. "It's absolutely incredible," said Detective Anthony Cardillo, lead investigator with the Pasco County Sheriff's Office in Florida, who broke open the case and busted the man last week. In 1993, Richard J. Hoagland left his wife, four children and home in Fishers, Ind. He had apparently stolen from his employer, Cardillo said, and knew authorities were coming after him. His Fishers wife told investigators that Hoagland embezzled millions of dollars, Cardillo said. Records show Hoagland was charged with theft in Marion County and a warrant was issued for his arrest in October 1993. It's unclear if the charge was connected to the story his wife told investigators. After he ran from Indiana, Hoagland ended up in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he rented a room for a brief time, Cardillo said. He rented the room from the father of a commercial fisherman who drowned in 1991, Cardillo said. Hoagland found a death certificate in the room, Cardillo said. Then, using the information he acquired while living there, Hoagland obtained the man's birth certificate, authorities say. He used the birth certificate to obtain an Alabama driver's license. In 1994, police say Hoagland was granted a Florida license under the new name. Since 1994, Hoagland, now 63, lived in Zephyrhills, Florida, using the new name: Terry Jude Symansky. Under the assumed identity, police say Hoagland got married, had a child, got credit cards and registered vehicles. He and his Florida wife obtained mortgages and purchased property in Pasco County. He even got a private pilot's license, police said. The deception started to unravel about three years ago, Cardillo said, when the real Terry Symansky's nephew searched online genealogy records at ancestry.com. The nephew found his uncle's death certificate online, and also saw a marriage certificate and pilot's license which were granted after Terry Symansky's death. The family waited several years to tell police, Cardillo said, because initially they thought there might have been a mistake and later they were afraid that the fake Symansky might harm them. Another law enforcement agency handed the case over to Cardillo, who specializes in financial crimes, on May 23. Last week, Cardillo said he was waiting outside the Zephyrhills home listed in Symansky's name when the suspect drove up and left his car. "He told me his name was Terry Symansky. He showed me his driver's license and gave me the Social Security number for Terry Symansky," Cardillo said. "Then I showed him the death certificate." Hoagland, Cardillo said, calmly admitted he had been living a lie. "He told me that his wife in Indiana had wanted a divorce," Cardillo said. "He had already been divorced once and said he couldn't handle another one." Hoagland's Florida family had no clue about his real identity, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco told the Tampa Bay Times and other media during a news conference last week. "This is a selfish coward," Nocco told the Tampa Bay Times. "This is a person who has lived his life destroying others." After learning about the deceit, his Florida wife searched an attic and found Hoagland's real identification along with a deed to a Louisiana property and a key to a storage unit, the Times reported. Florida deputies arrested Hoagland Wednesday on a felony charge of fraudulent use of personal identification, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office website. Bond was set at $25,000. Marion County prosecutors were investigating Monday to see if Hoagland could still face trial on that 1993 theft case, said Peg McLeish, spokeswoman for Prosecutor Terry Curry. The statute of limitations on that kind of charge typically expires after five years. Details of the criminal case against Hoagland were not available Monday. Officials with the Marion County clerk's and prosecutor's offices were trying to find the original paperwork, but it is likely that the documents were destroyed several years ago. Cardillo said Hoagland may face additional charges of bigamy in Florida because he never divorced his Indiana wife. The FBI also is considering charges related to Hoagland's use of a false identity to obtain a pilot's license, Cardillo said. Emergency services transport a person into a waiting ambulance in Normandy, France, Tuesday after two attackers seized hostages in a church near the city of Rouen on Tuesday, killing one hostage by slitting his throat before being killed by police, a security official said. The identities of the attackers and motive for the attack are unclear, according to the official, who was not authorized to be publicly named. (Photo: AP) SHARE By Matthew Diebel, USA TODAY The Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack on a French church Tuesday in which an elderly priest was killed and four hostages seized. The two attackers, whom the terror group described as "soldiers," according to the Associated Press, were later shot and killed by police. Another person inside the church, near the city of , was seriously injured and is hovering between life and death, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. The priest's throat was slit, officials said. The Islamic States Amaq news agency made the claim of the militants' involvement, according to SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based organization that monitors extremist online activity. However, it was not clear whether the assailants had direct contact with the terror group. "The two executors of the attack on a church in Normandy, France, were soldiers of the Islamic State," the news agency quoted the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, as saying. "They executed the operation in response to calls to target countries belonging to the crusader coalition." At a news conference in the town, French President Francois Hollande said the attackers "claimed to be from Daesh," using another name for the terror group. Calling it a vile terrorist attack, Hollande said the incident was yet another sign that France is at war with the Islamic State, which has claimed a string of attacks on France. We must lead this war with all our means, he said. Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve rushed to the town, which lies in north-central France about 75 miles northwest of Paris. Later, a local Muslim leader told the AP that one of the attackers was on French police radar and had traveled to Turkey. Mohammed Karabila, president of the Regional Council of the Muslim Faith for Haute-Normandier, told the AP that the person that did this odious act is known, and he has been followed by the police for at least a year and a half. He said the attacker went to Turkey and security services were alerted after this. He had no information about the second attacker, according to the AP. Five people the priest, two nuns and two worshippers were inside the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, when it came under attack, the AP reported. Three people were rescued unharmed, Brandet said. The hostage-taking occurred during morning Mass, he told reporters. Britains Guardian newspaper quoted Brandet as saying that the church was surrounded by the BRI, Frances anti-gang brigade, which specializes in kidnappings, and that the two assailants came out and were killed by police. Brandet, speaking on BFM TV, said personnel were searching the church and the surrounding area for possible explosives. The incident comes as France is under high alert after an attack in Nice two weeks ago that killed 84 people and a string of deadly attacks last year claimed by Islamic State. Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen identified the slain priest as 84-year-old Father Jacques Hamel. A local woman who worshipped at the church told the Guardian that Hamel was a man who did his job to the end. He was elderly but was always available for whoever. He was a good priest. In a statement from Krakow, Poland, where Pope Francis was visiting, Lebrun said, I cry out to God, with all men of good will. And I invite all non-believers to unite with this cry The Catholic Church has no other arms besides prayer and fraternity between men. The Vatican also issued a statement about the terrible news. We are particularly moved, it said, because this horrific violence took place in a church, a sacred place where the love of God is declared, with the barbaric killing of a priest and the involvement of the faithful. Dr. April Blakeslee is researching a parasite that affects the reproductive cycle of mud crabs. (Photos by Cliff Hollis) Mud crabs, which can be found in oyster beds and amongst woody debris, form an important link in the food chain. Blakeslee and graduate student Christopher Moore deploy a crab collector unit, or crab condo, which contains oyster shells as a habitat for the mud crabs. Matt Ruocchio attaches a temperature logger to the crab condo. Collector units were deployed at sites on the Pamlico and Neuse rivers and will be checked monthly for a year. "We think the parasite may have helped fuel the crab's evolution toward tolerance for low salinity, to the point that they have moved into these lakes and can live and reproduce in a freshwater system, where the crabs themselves are invasive, so it's not a good thing for the lakes. But they're completely parasite-free there because the parasite can't live in fresh water." Researchers at East Carolina University are studying an invasive parasite that takes over the reproductive system of mud crabs and even alters their behavior, potentially impacting coastal ecosystems.said Dr. April Blakeslee, assistant professor of biology.The parasite is a kind of barnacle, called Loxothylacus panopaei or Loxo for short, that is native to the Gulf of Mexico.The female barnacle infects the host and spreads its roots, Blakeslee said, then produces an external sac containing thousands of eggs on the crab's abdomen, which are fertilized by the male Loxo.Infected crabs continue living and feeding but are reproductively dead, earning them the nickname "zombie crabs."In the Gulf, where the mud crabs have developed some resistance to the parasite, infection rates are low (less than 5 percent), but in the Chesapeake Bay, where Loxo is considered an invasive species, infection rates may be as high as 75 or even 90 percent, Blakeslee said. It has also been found in waters all along the East Coast, as far north as Long Island Sound.The parasite also affects the crab's behavior, causing it to protect the egg sac as if it were the crab's own young. The protective behavior is found not only in female crabs, but also in males, which would not normally exhibit such tendencies.By hijacking the mud crabs' reproductive system, Blakeslee said the parasite could have a dramatic impact on the population.she said.This month, Blakeslee and a team of students and collaborators deployed crab collector units at sites along the banks of the Pamlico and Neuse rivers to monitor the mud crab population and the prevalence of Loxo in coastal North Carolina waters.Blakeslee said.The collector units, or crab condos, as the team calls them, are usually deployed near docks, where they can be tied off and easily retrieved. Each condo has a device attached that records the water temperature on an hourly basis, and the researchers will measure the salinity monthly when they check the collector units.As many as a few dozen mud crabs - or more if they've just reproduced - could take up residence in each of the crab condos.The monitoring effort is based on work that has been done in the Chesapeake Bay by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center since 2003.said Carolyn Tepolt, a post-doctoral student at SERC who helped deploy the collector units.Sites were chosen upstream and downstream along the two river systems.Blakeslee said.The hypothesis is that the crab has adapted to the parasite in a couple of different ways.Blakeslee said.Blakeslee is working on a grant application to submit to the National Science Foundation to study that hypothesis throughout North America. She recently received one of 35 Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from Oak Ridge Associated Universities, which provides $5,000 to support the North Carolina portion of the research. ECU will match the award in the same amount.Ph.D. student Christopher Moore and undergraduate student Matt Ruocchio are assisting Blakeslee with the project.Moore, who previously did environmental field work in the Chesapeake Bay for the state of Maryland, said it's exciting to be in a new area, studying new habitats and species.he said.Blakeslee said.Invasive species can also have a ripple effect. In Texas, the mud crabs have been found in freshwater lakes.The researchers will continue to monitor the crab condos for the next year, providing a better idea of Loxo infection rates and the state of the mud crab population in North Carolina waters. End overt acts of racism and other forms of hate speech and acts, e.g. [a fraternity-sponsored] "Mexican Night." Provide continuity in change efforts to offset discontinuity and disruption of students coming and going and to interrupt the cycle of very overt incidents that seem to happen every four years. Create longer-term institutional change to make the College a truly diverse institution. Improve the campus climate so students, especially marginalized ones, will feel much more comfortable and will thrive not just survive. Hamilton College has for years had an open curriculum, allowing students the freedom to shape their education as they think best. Whether that's a good idea is debatable, but the college is about to move in the opposite direction by instituting a "diversity requirement" for all students.As a resident fellow at the Alexander Hamilton Institute for the last year, I have watched this drama unfold on the Hamilton College campus. This depressing story reveals much about the tactics of the academic left. A small group of radical but powerful professors, claiming to act on behalf of students, succeeded in instituting the diversity requirement.Due to their efforts, starting in the 2017-18 academic year, every concentration will require a dedicated course or combination of courses to teach aboutThese specious topics furthermore ask students to "critically engag[e] with multiple cultural traditions and perspectives, and with interpersonal situations that enhance understanding of different identities. . . ." and to develop "an awareness of the challenges and responsibilities of local, national and global citizenship." None of that will help Hamilton students who want to master one or more academic disciplines. Injecting those leftist tropes will be a distraction, or worse.As further indication of the lack of scholarly justification, an email from Associate Dean of the Faculty Penny L. Yee, the administrator charged with overseeing each department's implementation of the requirement, indicated that "ongoing discussions" involve questions about outcomes, faculty members' "understanding of diversity," and challenges to meeting the diversity requirement in the sciences.One of the few faculty members who spoke out to criticize this was Robert Paquette, Professor of History and Executive Director of the Alexander Hamilton Institute. He has repeatedly complained about the decline in academic standards. Only recently, for example, did the history department, after years of internal debate, require of its history majors one course in American or European history.Regarding the diversity drive, he notes that not only is there no academic basis for the requirement, there isn't even a clear definition of "diversity" as it is being required!In a May 16 email, Dean of the Faculty Patrick Reynolds nevertheless praised the requirement and said he looked forward to seeing "the development of curriculum where issues of diversity resonate and are integrated across all our disciplines." He further claimed that the initiative is "a response to student interest that was strongly expressed two or three years ago."But is that true? Was there really any strong expression of student interest?Reynolds' assertion is thrown into doubt by his and faculty members' encouragement of the Black Lives Matter protests beginning on campus in 2014. That fall, student activists commandeered the Burke Library and one of the group's leaders ranted from the stairs about standard leftist hobgoblins such as white privilege, plutocratic trustees, and capitalism.These students received encouragement from literature professor Nancy Rabinowitz whose work with Planned Parenthood and "performance artist" Rhodessa Jones I described in a series of articles.Rabinowitz, who has access to tens of thousands of dollars through the college's Days-Massolo Center, allied organizations, and the dean of the faculty's office, is fond of bringing in "pricey rent-a-radicals," as Professor Paquette calls them. This past academic year, she brought back Dr. Margo Okazawa-Rey, a faculty member of the School of Leadership Studies at Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California, to serve as the chair of Women's Studies at Hamilton.Okazawa-Rey's academic bio boasts that her "primary areas of research and activism are gender, militarism, and feminist activist research." In a 2003 talk at Hamilton, she pilloried President Bush, claiming that "The biggest terrorists are the ones who are calling for a war on terrorism." (Titles of 2016 women's studies senior theses she supervised include "Re-Examining the Battlefield: Gendered Intersections of Militarization and Genocide" and "Trans*formation: A Study of Partners of Transmasculine Individuals.")The timing of Okazawa-Rey's appointment fit in with the efforts to impose the diversity requirement. A May 5, 2015, email from the Committee on Academic Policy (including Rabinowitz) and the Faculty Working Group announced that Okazawa-Rey would "facilitate" the effort.The email repeated the claim that the project "grew out of our students' heartfelt request to implement a diversity-intensive requirement," and listed four demands meant to solve problems that some activist students had identified at a meeting in April:Supposedly, this "intellectual project" involving "faculty across the disciplines" would provide solutions by encouragingThat language is standard leftist rhetoric used by faculty activists to indict American colleges and other institutions for falling short of the progressive utopia. Did it actually come from the students, though?Other emails suggest that faculty members-specifically Okazawa-Rey-were instrumental in training and radicalizing the students to whom they pointed as justification for the diversity requirement through workshops, courses, and other activities.In particular, Okazawa-Rey's email to the "Hamilton community" in April informed them that eight Hamilton students, enrolled in a year-long study project, had attended a training session at the Highlander Center in Tennessee, "a social justice leadership training school," on whose board of directors Okazawa-Rey sits. (It is not known how much Hamilton College paid for the training sessions.)Guidestar lists Highlander's tax-exempt classification as "Environmental Education and Outdoor Survival Program," but quotes the mission statement:Their programs and Justice Fund Fellows focus on racial, economic, and environmental "justice," such as Black Lives Matter, reproductive rights, and "immigrant rights."Okazawa-Rey said that the students called the experience "transformative."Perhaps the experience was transformative. Or perhaps the eight students were already imbued with leftist "social justice" notions. Either way, their opinions are a feeble reason for a sweeping change in the curriculum.In the email, Okazawa-Rey announced that these students would conduct a "teach-in" to share Highlander "methodologies" andThey had already done a "Participatory Action Research Project" about challenges new students supposedly face.It's apparent that such professors, armed with boundless funds, go to incredible lengths to radicalize students. Then they capitalize on their "heartfelt" emotions to create demands for still more emphasis on their favorite project-"diversity."The vast majority of Hamilton College students are indifferent to such efforts, but they are never consulted. Hillary's Hero In the past year, 136 young Black men have been killed in confrontations with police. This loss of life occurring in black neighborhoods has risen to the level of a national emergency with radical left politicians stoking the flames of anger and outrage that resulted in a number of protest marches, civil unrest and assassination-style killings of police officers.The hypocrisy of the left is revealed by the fact that politicians - especially Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her war-on-women cohorts - and activists cheer the rampant extermination of unborn babies in minority communities coast-to-coast. Yet, these same people will become emotional at the report of a police officer killing a suspect even before they know the whole story.said former police detective Nora Pellegro.Pellegro said.According to the head of Issues4Life Foundation leader Walter B. Hoye, himself an African American, totaling almost 21-million since Roe v. Wade in 1973 and 429,000 last year, that number is a whopping 3,154 times as many Black lives taken by abortion each year as are killed by the police.Yet the pro-abortion industry and their political supporters went ballistic when there were attempts at defunding Planned Parenthood and its $550 million dollar-a-year government subsidy for its genocidal mission, including the sale of babies' body parts.Meanwhile, the media ignores the contradictions between this harsh reality and the promises of the left, who fail to notice the suicidal implications for their own political futures.Recently Walter B. Hoye II , President of the Issues4Life Foundation interviewed Dennis Howard , President of the Movement for a Better America, one on one to dig deeper into the subject of lives that matter. The conversation was eye opening.Howard, who has written extensively on abortion demographics - and shares his research with Black Pro-Life leaders such as the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. Alveda King - claims thatHoward noted.he said during his interview with Hoye.Still, Howard's concern is not politics, but life. Howard says,From Hoye's perspective, ending abortion is a matter of survival now:- Margaret SangerPlanned Parenthood's liberal-canonized founder, Margaret Sanger, spoke during the 1920s of sterilizing those she designated as "unfit," a plan she said would be the "salvation of American civilization. And she also spoke of those who were "irresponsible and reckless," among whom she included those " whose religious scruples prevent their exercising control over their numbers."She further contended that "there is no doubt in the minds of all thinking people that the procreation of this group should be stopped." That many Americans of African origin constituted a segment of Sanger considered "unfit" cannot be easily refuted.While Planned Parenthood's current apologists try to place some distance between the eugenics and birth control movements, history definitively says otherwise. The eugenic theme figured prominently in the Birth Control Review, which Sanger founded in 1917. She published such articles as "Some Moral Aspects of Eugenics" (June 1920), "The Eugenic Conscience" (February 1921), "The purpose of Eugenics" (December 1924), "Birth Control and Positive Eugenics" (July 1925), "Birth Control: The True Eugenics" (August 1928), and many others.Though once a social pariah group, routinely castigated by religious and government leaders, the Planned Parenthood is now an established, high-profile, well-funded organization with ample organizational and ideological support in high places of American society and government. Its statistics are accepted by major media and public health officials as "gospel"; its full-page ads appear in major newspapers; its spokespeople are called upon to give authoritative analyses of what America's family policies should be and to prescribe official answers that congressmen, state legislator and Supreme Court justices all accept as "social orthodoxy."There is also a incestuous relationship between the Democratic Party and its politicians and Planned Parenthood. The government gives the group millions of taxpayers' dollars each year. Planned Parenthood then distributes that money back to the Democrats who use it to win elections.former police investigator Manual Peron noted. Stop the racist right! The election of Pauline Hanson and other One Nation candidates to the Senate is just one indicator of an alarming trend. Hanson has ridden a wave of racism, nationalism and anti-scientific attitudes into Parliament. These sentiments had already been stirred up by major conservative parties and by hate-mongers in the corporate media. The resuscitated career of the anti-intellectual icon from Queensland and the emergence of a brace of other extreme right political forces are not an exclusively Australian phenomenon. Similar scenarios are playing out across the capitalist world as economic crisis bites hard, governments make savage cuts to social spending, corporate taxes are cut and working people are expected to foot the bill for massive military budgets. Racism and other scapegoats and distractions are trotted out to divert attention from the real causes of the crises facing the working class. The left has a mighty challenge on its hands to defeat these enemies of reason and humanity. Hanson knows how to play the populist, to instil fear in an environment where people are already feeling insecure over their jobs, wages, the future of Medicare, housing and what future their children have. It should not come as a surprise that One Nation had its best results in working class suburban and rural electorates where discontent with the major parties is the greatest. Fuelling hatred and division Hanson and her ilk fuel hatred and division. They know how to tap into peoples fears and ignorance. The corporate media play a key role in keeping people in the dark with a constant stream of non-news and out-right lies about the economy, government policy, Australias involvement in US wars, the so-called illegal asylum seekers and other important issues. A massive operation is also underway in the media and elsewhere in the ideological apparatus to trivialise the left and other progressive forces that embrace concepts of equality, collectivity and multi-culturalism. Indulgence is being encouraged for ideas once correctly identified as ignorant and harmful, as fuelling hatred, division and even violence. Not a day goes by where there is not some beat-up about the threat of terrorism, of Muslims as terrorists, of Halal food being forced on an unwitting public, that Islam is not a religion and so on. All concepts taken up and exploited by Hanson and other ultra-right outfits. Australia is a country built on Christian values, Hanson claims. In the next breath, she says Australia is a secular society, that she supports secularism. Secularism is asserting the right to be free from religious rule and teachings or, in a state declared to be neutral on matters of belief, from the imposition by government or religion or religious practices upon the people, Hanson says. Her election material also played on the fears whipped up by stop the boats sloganising and policies on asylum seekers of the Abbott/Turnbull government. The fear of Australia being swamped by Muslim asylum seekers landing on Australias shores and posing a threat to Australias, read Christian, values and way of life. Scapegoating Today it is the Muslim community that is scapegoated. When Hanson was elected to the Senate in 2001 she targeted Asians as the threat to Australian values. I and most Australians want our immigration policy radically reviewed and that of multiculturalism abolished, she told the Senate in her first speech in 2001. I believe we are in danger of being swamped by Asians. Between 1984 and 1995, 40 per cent of all migrants coming into this country were of Asian origin. They have their own culture and religion, form ghettos and do not assimilate A truly multicultural country can never be strong or united. The world is full of failed and tragic examples, ranging from Ireland to Bosnia to Africa and, closer to home, Papua New Guinea. America and Great Britain are currently paying the price, Hanson said. The latter remark reveals her ignorance regarding the history of colonialisation and foreign occupations. Yet, Australia is a nation of migrants, a highly successful society built on multiculturalism with people of many races, cultures, and religions living in harmony. Every family, apart from those of the Indigenous Australians, are migrants or refugees or their descendants. The real threat to this harmony is the ultra-right politics of One Nation, Reclaim Australia and other extremist right-wing groups. Institutional racism Hansons election also arises from a spike in institutional racism. Right-wing commentators like the Australians Jennifer Oriel alleges that the left has successfully substituted minority rights for the inclusive values of what she refers to as western civilisation. The facts tell a different story. Aboriginal deaths in custody are on the rise again. More Aboriginal children are being removed from their homes today than in 1997 when the Bringing them Home Report was handed down. That document led to former Prime Minister Kevin Rudds apology to the Stolen Generations. Authorities, including the Australian Human Rights Commission, that highlight the suffering of Aboriginal people, refugees and other minorities are dismissed as activist organisations and should be abolished. Hanson has some strong support within Liberal Party ranks on this question. Advice from a past master Former conservative Prime Minister John Howard is full of advice for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in this connection. During the election campaign, Turnbull said he would not welcome Pauline Hansons presence in the Parliament. Howard thinks that attitude is ill-advised. He may feel a debt of gratitude to Hanson for paving the way for the Tampa and children overboard election of 2001. One Nation was destroyed at the polls when the Coalition essentially stole the upstart partys immigration and refugee policies. I didnt agree with her when she said we were being flooded by Asians because we werent, Howard said in the media. And I didnt agree with her when she said the Aboriginal people werent among the most disadvantaged in our community because those things were manifestly wrong. But I understand that she was articulating the concerns of people who felt left out and I was very critical of people who branded everybody who supported her as a racist because that is nonsense. We are not a racist country and I wish people would stop reaching for the adjective whenever they want to isolate somebody who they dont agree with. Howards anti-racist credentials are not strong and his claim that Australia is not a racist country wont fly. But his encouragement and that of other conservative spokespersons to those who want to put their concerns out there is definitely cutting through. Nine TV presenter Sonia Kruger got some criticism but a lot of sympathetic reinforcement when she said on air that she wants a halt to Muslim immigration so she can feel safe. She said, with total disregard for glaring facts, that Japan has no history of terrorism because it has no Muslim population wrong on both counts. Ignorant attitudes and anecdotes that until recently were the preserve of Reclaim Australia, the United Patriots Front and social media trolls are moving to centre stage and even being touted on the public broadcaster, the ABC. Rightward drift The scene is repeated in country after country. US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has promised to halt the immigration of Muslims and to build an exclusion wall across the US-Mexico border. There is not doubt that, while the Brexit vote was one in the eye of capitalist globalising planners, it also reflected xenophobic feelings fanned by the right wing UKIP party. Across Europe there is the rise and rise of the National Front in France, the Jobbik in Hungary, Golden Dawn in Greece and so on. In Australia, analysts note that in the recent federal election, more Australians (roughly 22 percent) voted for extreme right-wing parties like the Australian Liberty Alliance, the anti-immigration Sustainable Australia, the anti-vaccine Health Australia Party and Family First than voted for the Nationals. The lefts results, by comparison, were extremely modest. There is a lot of hand-wringing about the disappointing performance overall of the Greens. The challenge from the right is racist, xenophobic and religiously intolerant but is also anti-science. Hanson wants zero net immigration, a ban on Muslim migration, the installation of closed circuit TV to monitor mosques and Islamic schools and a Royal Commission into Islam itself. She also wants to investigate the Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO for involvement in what she believes is a conspiracy to favour the international consensus around climate change. One Nation Senate colleague Malcolm Roberts wants climate scepticism taught in schools. Fighting back Despite the dramatic swing to the right in the recent period, disaffected Liberal Senator Cori Bernardi is annoyed at the presence of voices for moderation on some issues within his Party. He has been rallying conservatives (extreme right-wingers) into various well-resourced organisations to advance his agenda. Bernadi has a string of these initiatives to his name; the latest being the Australian Conservatives, which he is building with fellow Coalition MP George Christensen. They feel the need to counter the influence of progressive lobbying groups, most notably GetUp!. The right is networking and building. Years of persistent work, supported by major institutions of the capitalist state, are advancing their reactionary political agenda. The left, i.e. the forces wishing to move Australia to a socialist future with a culture genuinely reflecting the multicultural nature of Australian society, wont have that sort of backing. But it will have to unite as never before and gather the support of the decisive force for progressive change, for workers and other exploited people. The alternative, anti-human right-wing agenda is becoming clearer. It must not pass! Forum told of teaching Participants in a forum on Indigenous education have heard there are significantly fewer Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people taking up and completing teaching degrees than non-Indigenous people because of racism, family responsibilities and negative experiences at school. Teaching Indigenous studies, who should teach it and how was also discussed at the Australian Council of Deans of Education Forum in Adelaide. According to the Australian Indigenous Lecturers in Teachers Education Association, there are about 4,000 Indigenous teachers nationally and about 450,000 non-Indigenous teachers. Monash University Faculty of Education Indigenous education and leadership officer Dr Peter Anderson said he wants non-Indigenous teachers to get involved in teaching Indigenous studies. You cant teach culture. We have Elders and community members who do that for us. We can teach about culture but we cant teach culture, he told the Koori Mail. So why dont we get schools to pay for a community member to come in and teach culture? These are the kinds of things that we wanted to get the deans to think about. We wanted to get them thinking about Indigenous perspectives. We want Indigenous studies in schools but no-ones teaching the teachers how to teach it. The pool of Indigenous teachers is quite small so we want to build a bigger workforce too. Dr Anderson, a Warlpiri and Murinpatha man, said many factors contribute to the lack of Indigenous teachers. On average most Indigenous teachers only teach for about four years before they burn themselves out, he said. Theres still racism in the classroom and theres still racism at university. As an academic I have experienced racism myself. It shocks the deans that it still happens so weve had a commitment from them to create equality in their faculties. Fight up Dr Anderson said that he and other Indigenous academics have always had to fight up, but now that the deans have taken on the issue, they can tackle it from the top down. It means their work will flow into schools because its the thinking that we need to shift. Its not just the Aboriginal kids we need to teach about culture, its the non-Indigenous kids too, he said. I think it will be a generational shift, and it will show so much maturity in our country and our society if Indigenous culture can be integrated into our education system. I believe in my heart that Aboriginal people make great teachers. Often, though, the way they have experienced school is negative and that prevents people from taking up teaching. Djungan and Tagalaka woman Fallon Patolo, a third-year teaching student at James Cook University, said the forum was a chance to learn about Indigenous education issues. It was good to listen to the speakers and learn what their vision is for Indigenous education. They looked at how to raise the confidence of Indigenous teachers, she said. They also talked about the retention rates of students and how racism in universities and schools can prevent people from disadvantaged backgrounds from becoming teachers. Im finding the course challenging but so rewarding because finding time to study and balance my family and part-time work is hard. Patolo said she felt she could relate to a lot of the issues spoken about at the forum. I know what they were talking about with the retention rates because its overwhelming to stay motivated, she said. At the moment only one third of Indigenous students complete their degree, but I want to finish mine because I want it to be 100 percent of Indigenous students who finish. I decided to become a teacher because I wanted to make a difference and lead from the front. I feel like the reason a lot of Aboriginal people dont finish is because of family and community commitments. I am very grateful that I had flexible lecturers who helped me succeed and encouraged me. Koori Mail Marxism and the way forward Fighting the global offensive of capitalism Finally, there came a time when everything that men had considered as inalienable became an object of exchange, of traffic and could be alienated. This is the time when the very things which till then had been communicated, but never exchanged; given, but never sold; acquired, but never bought virtue, love, conviction, knowledge, conscience, etc, when everything in short, passed into commerce. It is the time of general corruption of universal venality, or to speak in terms of political economy, the time when everything, moral or physical, having become a marketable value, is brought to the market to be assessed at its lowest value. The 19th century witnessed great human discoveries, opening up new vistas of scientific knowledge, literary genius, liberal and rational thought, great art and culture. But the grandest among them, is surely the climax of them all; the articulation of the theory of human emancipation by Karl Marx. Marxs analysis of the nature of capitalism, the modus operandi of capitalist exploitation, and finally the possibility of human emancipation, shook the world and finally led to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, and the formation of the worlds first socialist state. For over a century, millions of people had organised in powerful working-class and other peoples movements, challenged the existing order, convinced they were on the verge of drastic change a socialist future world that could guarantee the rational use of human creativity and resources. Every moment of thought since October 1917, however remote from the event it might appear, has reflected the problems raised by the Russian Revolution. For millions of working people, October had shone as a ray of hope in their lives, while for the ruling classes of the world it represented a mortal threat. However you looked at the problems of world society, whether from a factory bench or from a university philosophy department, whether you sought a radical change or were utterly hostile to socialism, the Soviet experiment was seen as the alternative to the existing social order. Today when capitalist propagandists claim that the issue of socialism is now closed, what is the actual state of affairs? Current reality Today, capitalism is all but universal. Capitalist laws of motion, the logic of capitalism, have penetrated ever deeper into the societies of advanced capitalism, spatially throughout the world. Now every human practice, every social relationship, and the national environment are subject to the requirements of profit-maximisation. In effect, what does this constant self-expansion of capital, capital accumulation, mean? Ellen Meiksins Wood, writing in Monthly Review, encapsulated it thus: At one extreme, in advanced capitalist countries, it means the penetration of capitalist principles into those social institutional and cultural spaces that even a few decades ago they had not yet reached. At the other extreme, it means that marginalisation and increasing impoverishment of whole regimes outside the advanced capitalist countries. In a sense, the class polarisations of capitalism are being reproduced in the North-South divide, not to mention the impoverishment of the so-called underclasses within advanced capitalist countries. The other side of (this) new imperialism is a new kind of militarism. This one does not generally have territorial ambitions, and generally leaves nation-states in place. Its objective is not hegemony over specific colonies with identifiable boundaries, but boundless hegemony over the global economy. So, instead of absorbing or annexing territory, imperialist militarism typically uses massive displays of violence to assert the domination of global capital ... the United States, enforcing its freedom to navigate the global economy without hindrance. Profit through military The global expansion of corporate interests manifests itself through emphasis on the market economy, through the phenomenon of (imperialist) globalisation. History shows that war in its various forms is the military means by which capitalism acquires most markets, a permanent supply of cheap labour and raw materials, essential to counteract any decline in its rate of profit. Thus the global crisis of capitalism, now threatening the United States of America at the very heart of the system, characterised by a wave of frantic corporate mergers, acquisitions and alliances, could be offset only through an acceleration of its control over the global economy by war or other means. The last century of the millennium experienced the first barbaric invasion of Iraq and devastating bombing of Yugoslavia, at the very heart of Europe, by US imperialism along with its NATO partners all monstrously designed to further the global economic interests of capitalism. The multiplication of US sanctions against a number of countries refusing to surrender to US imperialism Cuba, Libya, North Korea and of course Iraq and Yugoslavia is a reflection of a waning global economy, a crisis of overproduction global glut. In the loud lamentations of one of the foremost world financiers, George Soros, The global capitalist system, which has been responsible for the remarkable prosperity of this country (United States), is coming apart at the seams. So what has happened? First of all it is certainly not just a Japanese or Latin American crisis, or the consequences of specific national strategies or policy failures. It is not a function of `crony capitalism, nor of any other specific and defective form of capitalism. It is not exclusive to deficient capitalisms, such as the parasitic Russian form. It is a consequence of capitalism pure and simple and it manifests itself even in the most ostensibly successful capitalism. Crisis is a consequence of systematic processes inherent in capitalism as such, which are playing themselves out in every capitalist economy and in the relations among them! What then are the implications of this prolonged crisis? Historically there is not, nor ever has there been, a mechanical link between economic crisis and mass political movements. The forms of struggle, and especially their timing, cannot be predicted in advance. While there are no ready-made answers in classical Marxist philosophy to the specific questions that we face today Marx only delineated certain basic principles he also clearly saw the potential for a human way of living. His Communism was not a utopian vision, but the reflection of the possibilities in human existence and human potential. In this world, money rules. In every part of the capitalist world the new technology has made its mark on all our lives through the same medium the market in which goods and services and individuals are globally bought and sold. Imperialist globalisation has made it fashionable to take it for granted that we just cannot live without the market. But in reality, what the introduction of the new technology has brought about is a two-tier labour market in which the people in the expanding lower layers are trapped by poor education or lack of education, poor housing or homelessness, degrading or mindless forms of work or long-term unemployment and hunger. Only the higher privileged layers of the employed enjoy the benefits of the system. Imperialist globalisation thus means technological monopoly, financial control of worldwide financial markets, monopolistic access to the planets natural resources, media and communication and monopolies over weapons of mass destruction. Since this situation is generating a global crisis where all capitalist countries are affected, the basis is laid for nation-wide and world-wide struggle against the system itself. In other words to fight the global offensive of capitalism, a new sense of international solidarity and unity among the working masses is an urgent task today. And clear indications are visible that, though very slow, change in the consciousness of the working class, the toiling people and all sections of the poor, is taking place across the globe, realising the necessity of halting this capitalist offensive. This struggle has to be intensified and political consciousness raised,... wherein the socialist alternative does not appear a far cry but a realisable possibility. Where humanity survives, its conflict with inhuman forms goes on. Todays obscenities, the dehumanised forces, cannot remain as permanent fixtures in human civilisation. Human beings can erase them. The Marxist conception can show the way forward. Acknowledgments: Peoples Democracy Taking Issue Rob Gowland Europes not the problem; capitalism is The successful leave vote in the British plebiscite on whether to stay in the European Union or to leave it was presented by its campaigners as a victory for British sovereignty, the regaining of power from the grasp of bureaucrats in Brussels. But is it? Capitalism reaches the imperialist stage when its profits become so great that they can no longer be fully invested at home and must instead by exported for investment abroad. In Europe, this stage coincided with the discovery of the New World and the pillaging by European powers of vast quantities of gold from the newly discovered civilisations there. Spurred on by the realisation that acquisition of new lands, whether in the Americas, Africa or the Indies, meant acquiring wealth gold, silver, timber, spices and more the European powers vied with each other to develop the means to seize and hold them: ships and guns, and the armies and navies to wield them. Spain and Portugal led the way, but they were soon out-sailed and outgunned by their English and Dutch rivals. The rise of a new merchant class whose wealth was not reckoned in terms of how much land they owned, unlike their aristocratic predecessors, but in terms of how much capital they owned, provoked revolutions in England and in the next century in France. Although the aristocracy achieved some degree of accommodation with this new social strata, they had to recognise that the role of ruling class had in fact passed to the new-comers. The Great Powers of Europe grew fat on the wealth of their empires, but rivalry between them erupted in the Franco-Prussian War and the Russo-Japanese War and then blew up completely in the First World War, a war to redistribute the worlds markets and colonies. When that war had finished, three of the empires that had started it had disappeared (the German, the Austro-Hungarian and the Russian) and the other European powers were deeply in debt to the USA, which had invested heavily in the outcome of the war and had to actually intervene in the conflict to protect its investment. The USA emerged from WW1 as the dominant power in the capitalist world, but capitalism itself was now faced with a rival: socialism had been victorious in the former Russian empire. To prevent the spread of revolution, capitalists in Hungary, Italy and Japan resorted to fascism. Capitalists in a number of countries plotted to destroy the new socialist state in a new war in 1929, but were hit instead by an unprecedented economic crisis that quickly became known as the Great Depression. The only country not affected by it was the USSR which went ahead building socialism. Over the ensuing decade the European capitalist powers sought unsuccessfully to provoke a war between the USSR on the one hand and fascist Germany and Japan on the other. When that war finally erupted, Germany chose to fight its European capitalist rivals instead. The Second World War had begun. By the time it ended, Germany and Japan had been crushed, the USA had profited greatly from the war (which was not fought on its territory) and former leading European states France and Britain had been reduced to minor-power status. The USSR however now rivalled the USA as a Great Power. US capitalism had no option but to invest heavily in rebuilding German imperialisms economy in order to compensate for the post-war spate of revolutions in Eastern Europe and Asia and the overthrow of the colonial system globally. The creation of NATO and the European Union were two measures intended to consolidate US domination over a revived Europe but at the same time to obtain the support and co-operation of European capitalisms main players France, Britain and Germany by facilitating their economic development. The bait, of course, was the opportunity for the major European capitalist corporations to make significant profits. Those same European corporations, however, never lost sight of the fact that their profits would be even greater and so would their power if they were not playing second fiddle to the US. Inter-imperialist rivalry is never far below the surface when corporations start to throw their weight around. As a system, capitalism does not in any way serve the interests of working people or other disadvantaged strata of society. It was inevitable that there would be hostility on the part of many ordinary people in Britain towards the administration of the EU, for it is not concerned with solving their problems but only with enhancing the profits of the very biggest European corporations and enhancing the imperial ambitions of the main European powers, namely Britains commercial rivals France and Germany. Add in such other products of capitalism as racial prejudice, ignorance of economics, and monopoly control of the mass media and it is surprising the margin to leave the EU in the British referendum was only a million or so. The effect of the vote on British capitalism was cataclysmic. British imperialisms efforts to dominate its European allies (read rivals) have been seriously nobbled. Britain functioned as the USAs voice in Europe, faithfully defending the Atlantic alliance against any tendency of European capitalism to pursue an independent course that might have conflicted with Anglo/US interests. Withdrawal from the EU would make this role much more difficult. Already, France and Germany have teamed up with imperialist hopeful Italy to lead Europes negotiations with Britain over its withdrawal from the EU. The leaders of the Tories and Labour both supported staying in the EU, as of course did big British business concerns. Petty-bourgeois elements, however, particularly those on the far-Right, were able to take advantage of the media campaign over the supposed refugee crisis in Europe to whip up considerable fear and worry, compounded by the racism that the Right-wing loves to exploit. The refugee crisis in Europe is real, a consequence of the colossal disruption caused by the wars being waged by the US assisted by Britain, France and Germany, let us not forget. However, the refugees attempts to seek shelter in countries not ravaged by war such as Britain has been a godsend to the racists and xenophobes of the Right. Contrary to the line promulgated by capitalist propaganda, the Cold War is not over. In fact, it never ended. Washingtons strategy is still focussed on fomenting war with Russia and China. The EU and NATO are both part of this drive, mechanisms Washington believes will negate the sovereignty of European peoples and serve both as cover and enabler of Washingtons aggression. NATO has always been Washingtons principal military weapon in Europe but now it is being deployed all over the world. The EU meanwhile has provided the US with not only diplomatic and economic support but also military support for its war plans. Washingtons goal is to force Europe and the UK into conflict with Russia, but while British imperialism is perfectly willing, European capitalism is not so keen to sever its trade links with Moscow. Both France and Germany have lucrative trade deals with Russia and proved resistant to US pressure to sever them when Washington wanted Europe to impose sanctions on Russia over Ukraine. However, the people of Britain are right to be suspicious of the motives and activities of the leaders of the EU. The European Union is a capitalist grouping and its purpose and role is to further the profit-making potentialities of European corporations. It is not concerned with the welfare and well-being of the ordinary people of its member countries. The EU is concerned and always has been with restricting trade union rights, imposing austerity measures on the people, crushing small businesses under monopoly agribusiness and industry, and privatising all public enterprises. In other words, with advancing capitalisms essential agenda. In fact, as Steve Hedley, Deputy General Secretary of British transport union RMT (the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers), observed: The 1957 European treaty outlined the absolute necessity of the free movement of capital, labour services and the pre-eminence of the free market economy within the borders of the signatory states. The capitalist media has given a lot of coverage to the Brexit campaign championed by reactionaries like the Tory Boris Johnson. However, there was also the Lexit campaign: the Left Leave Campaign. As one of the Lexit convenors, also from the RMT trade union said: We want to come out of the European Union because we want to protect workers rights. Not surprisingly, the victory of the Leave campaign has been followed by a noisy right-wing campaign of well orchestrated street demonstrations demanding that the result be reversed or simply ignored. This has been accompanied by an equally prominent campaign within the Labour Party to remove the Partys leader Jeremy Corbin, seen as far too left wing for British capitalism to be comfortable with him. The vote to leave the EU has given the Left in Britain (but unfortunately also the Right) the opportunity to change the direction of British politics. Let us hope the Left prevails. Plea to stop Trump The following is an exclusive article written for the Peoples World by Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner. Garner was slain by police two years ago on the streets of Staten Island for the crime of selling loose cigarettes. She writes in this article about her fears if Donald Trump is elected president of the United States. On Friday, June 8, I invited elected officials, community leaders, and members of the public to convene at the National Action Networks (NAN) House of Justice in Harlem. I called for this gathering to develop a tangible plan of action to address the crisis of racialised police terror in the United States. I called for the meeting because I lost my son, Eric Garner, to racist police violence two years ago. I called for the meeting because our family, and the families of other victims, continue to fight with thousands of people behind us, yet the murders continue. We need to develop a strategy to make this movement stronger, to keep it going, and to make our demands heard. Thousands march through Staten Island to protest Eric Garners death. I am especially concerned about the prospect of a man like Donald Trump becoming the president of this country. We need to be pushing forward, not merely fighting to keep things from getting worse than they already are. We will continue struggling after the elections. We will not stop until the lives of our families and communities are secure. But the conditions we struggle under will have an impact on what we are able to accomplish and how long it takes us to get where we need to be. An unapologetic racist running and ruining this nation will not help us. It will hurt us. I am working to make sure Hillary Clinton defeats Donald Trump in the election so that the people of this country can stay united and keep this movement pushing us forward. We cant go back. Several hundred people filled the chairs of the hall. Those in attendance lined along the sides of the crowd to take their turns speaking to the community about their assessment of the situation and what must be done to address it. Eric Garners sister, Elisha, myself, and other family members of those slain by police addressed the crowd. Constance Malcolm and Frank Graham, the parents of Ramarley Graham, also spoke. The widow of Sean Bell, Nicole Paultre Bell, and other victims family members, were in attendance. In turn, elected officials, leaders in the neighbourhood, and leaders of local grassroots organisations and faith organisations who had been invited also spoke. Minister Kirsten Foy, President of the Brooklyn Chapter of NAN, invited leaders from specific organisations to the stage. They were brought up to give their prepared solutions in dealing with the crises. These leaders included Carmen Perez from the Justice League NYC and the Harry Belafonte-founded Gathering for Justice, Yul-san Liem of the Justice Committee and Communities United for Police Reform, New York State Assembly member Michael Blake, and Estevan Nembhard of the New York chapter of the Communist Party of the USA. Representatives were also present from organisations and movements like Raise the Wage, Cop Watch NYC, Peoples Justice for Community Control and Police Accountability, National Urban League, the NAN-affiliated Young Professionals, New York Civil Liberties Union, the Working Families Party, and others. One of the first people to speak from the general assembly was Frank Graham, whose son was shot down by police in his own home. Mr Graham highlighted the fundamental need to develop a strategy for resistance that goes beyond marches and rallies. Its sad that we keep doing this over and over and over and over. Marching is good. Demonstration is good. But, for some reason, they dont get it. We have to come up with new ideas. We have to stay focused. We cant get mad for a week, a month, two months, or three months, and then we go back to just going to work and coming home. Those days are numbered. People are losing their lives. Were talking about innocent people who are going about their business, or trying to make a living. In some cases, they are being killed in their own home, like my son. We have to continue with more sanctions that hurt. I also told the audience, The other morning when my husband started telling me about this man in Baton Rouge and I started getting phone calls, it reminded me of Eric. This is the same thing, only they shot him. They never stop. The man in Minnesota, they killed him. In New York, in Brooklyn, I was at a protest, but they keep on killing us. What are we going to do? We cant get mad for only a minute. We heard about my sons death; we got mad. We heard about Trayvon Martin; we got mad. We heard about Michael Brown; we got mad. Now were hearing about these three men who died within a range of three days; now were mad. But whats going to happen after two or three days and the news comes and goes away? Whats going to happen when the cameras go away? As Reverend Sharpton said, Are we in a moment, or are we in a movement? We cant stop because the people go away. The people are going to go away, but you have to keep aware on your own. No one else is going to do it with you. So thats why I say, Im in for the long haul. This is my life, and I live this every day from now on, whatever it takes. Marching and rallying doesnt always get it. We have got to take action. Thats why we have to band together. Actionable solutions presented to the public were varied and touched on a number of different areas within US and New York social, political, and economic life. The need for consistency and strategy to sustain the movement was a major theme in the discussions. Connections were made between various peoples struggles, and the need for unity was also a thread running throughout all of the conversations that were had. Unity with the labour movement is an important note that was put forward. Calls for multi-racial, multi-gender, multi-generational, multi-issue, and international unity were also made. Discussions were had about the electoral struggle and the balance of power in the halls of city, state, and national government. The importance of mobilising the vote locally and nationally to defeat right-wing politicians that are actively blocking progressive reforms was stressed. Concerns to build collective economic power within our communities was stated repeatedly. The large role of education and culture in the movement were acknowledged as well. Campaigns and specific reforms were presented that are currently being fought for to make police accountable to the communities they serve and to address the economic and social crises that exist in communities of colour. The Right to Know Act, The Police Statistics and Transparency Act (STAT) to present data to the public on police activity, the #Fightfor15 to eliminate poverty wages, the Raise the Age campaign to increase the age of criminal responsibility, the struggle to end gun violence, and the #March2Justice to end racial profiling, militarisation of the police, and the criminalisation of young people were all mentioned. Proposals for new demands were put forward as well, such as forcing newspapers to print out complete policing data each month, imposing sanctions on precincts with horrendous records, or getting athletes and artists to withhold performances from the media to support specific campaigns. Specific tactics were discussed, including the gathering of petitions, boycotts, and the targeting of banks and corporations doing business with the Patrolmens Benevolent Association, the police union in New York City. Victories won were celebrated. The #Fightfor15 has been winning partial victories in battles across the nation. Estevan of the CPUSA spoke to the audience of specific ways in which the #BlackLivesMatter movement was in a strategic position to secure these victories and push them to completion. In the fight to hold law enforcement accountable to the public, Constance Malcolm, myself, and other mothers of those killed by police had fought for an executive order for a special prosecutor of police in New York State. Just as the push for a $15 minimum wage was initially mocked, this bold demand was dismissed at first as being impossible. However, one year ago from the time of this gathering, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the order. The need to pass a bill to establish this reform as a law was pointed out as a next stage of struggle to secure this victory as well. Specific actions going on in the community were promoted such as The Unity March I helped organise for Saturday, July 16. Every person in the audience was encouraged to be continually and actively engaged with the work being done. The unique roles that each person can play, and the critical value of every type of work that can be brought into the struggle was emphasised. The #BlackLivesMatter movement is a central struggle of our time. It is our modern day Civil Rights Movement. It also has the capability of giving new urgency to the labour movement and propelling it into a radically advanced and newly progressive direction. The families of the slain, and the working families whose lives are daily at risk as a result of racial oppression and police terror, have a very special role to play in the fight. A piece will soon follow to focus on the calls for unity that were made. More to come will elaborate upon the additional issues that were also discussed. Stay tuned, and stay focused. We are moving forward. Peoples World Culture & Life Yes to Peace No to NATO The following is an interview from the Communist Party, Turkeys (KP) weekly newspaper Boyun Egme, with Iraklis Tsavdaridis, Executive Secretary of the World Peace Council (WPC) on the upcoming NATO summit. The unveiling of the logo for the 2016 NATO Warsaw Summit in December 2015. Boyun Egme: The NATO summit (July 8-9) in Warsaw is a matter of concern for the WPC, more than ever. What are your thoughts in this regard and do you think this summit is adding new threats to peace and to the peoples of the world? Iraklis Tsavdaridis: The WPC is historically the only international peace structure which is opposing NATO strongly and on principle. NATO was and still is the armed tool of imperialism. It was never founded for defence and it has always been offensive, supporting fundamentalist regimes, plotting coups and serving the interests of the monopolies and the multinational corporations. NATO was created much before the Warsaw Pact and, when the latter was dissolved, NATO expanded further eastwards as is well known. At the same time NATO has a strategic partnership and cooperation with the European Union, especially after the Lisbon Treaty of the EU and the Lisbon NATO summit of 2010. The officials of NATO are actually not hiding their goals and plans. In the summit in Warsaw in July many prior actions were ratified and the deployment of 30.000 troops along the line from the Baltic Sea to Bulgaria formalised. Their goal is to face the Russian Federation and, by installing a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, NATO wants to avoid a possible military response from the Russian side while it secures a first strike option. The EU, from its side, is establishing a Euro-army and, with its battle groups, it is ready to coordinate military missions with NATO, along with actions inside their own member states against possible future massive protests or uprisings of the peoples. BE: The WPC has been fully vindicated in its estimation after 1999 that the imperialist intervention and bombing of Yugoslavia by NATO, with the creation of the Kosovo protectorate then, was amongst other things a general trial, as well as the beginning of a plan that they later followed in Afghanistan, Iraq, North Africa and particularly in Libya, which unfolded during the so-called Arab Spring, utilising the accumulated rage towards the reactionary regimes that cooperated with the USA and EU. IT: In 2014 the United States and the European Union generated the violent overthrow of Ukraines government partly by organising, arming and equipping neo-Nazi storm troopers and replaced it with an EU/US client regime, used to politically and economically dominate Ukraine and its strategy against the Russian Federation. NATO is planning to affiliate Sweden, Finland, Serbia and former Yugoslav Macedonia, as well as Cyprus into the partnership for peace. All of the above, and the recent decisions of NATO, upon invitation of Germany, Greece and Turkey to patrol in the Aegean Sea, is just aggravating and escalating the tensions and bringing us closer to a generalised war of world dimensions. BE: What were the plans of the WPC for protesting the upcoming NATO summit? IT: The WPC had organised earlier protests and conferences in Istanbul, Strasbourg, Lisbon. Chicago and Wales; we will do so also in Warsaw this July. We will hold an anti-NATO conference with the attendance of friends from NATO member states and from abroad with the support of the fraternal International Anti-imperialist Democratic Organisations on July 8. We want to highlight with our campaign and under the slogan Yes to peace-No to NATO that NATO is the enemy of peace and of the peoples. We know and strongly believe that the main actions of the WPC and its member organisations will be carried out on the same dates in the respective countries. Already such plans are unfolding, with political events and discussions, with protests in front of embassies and NATO offices and with massive events in several countries. Our presence in Warsaw constitutes not only a protest and the vehement condemnation of the criminal and imperialist plans of NATO but also our solidarity with the peace loving forces in Poland, who struggle in extremely difficult conditions. BE: How do you think those aggressive plans of NATO against the peoples and the working class can be obstructed? IT: The Global Peace Movement and the WPC in particular have been struggling all year against the plans of the USA, NATO and the EU, in the Middle East, where for the last years the imperialist plan for a Greater Middle East is unfolding; against plans in Eastern Europe where the imperialists are deploying huge number of troops; and plans in the Asia and Pacific where the USA are shifting 60 percent of their military power. Likewise we fight against the increasing aggressiveness of imperialism also in Latin America, where the USA has relaunched their 4th Naval fleet, or in Africa where the military interventions are intensifying with the pretext of combating terrorism. The important point in this struggle of the peace movement is to underline and understand that the same forces which prepare and carry out wars and aggressions are behind the attacks on peoples and labour rights in many countries. The monopolies and big capital are growing their profits even during the economic crisis of the system, seeking new energy resources, markets and spheres of influence. Only the united, coordinated and determined struggle of the peoples can put a halt, to weaken and finally overthrow imperialist domination. Look at, let's say, Lisbeth Salander, the eponymous lead of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. She is a capable, strong, ass-annihilating genius with legendary hacking skills ... and also a rape survivor. Now, she was a genius before her assault, but throughout the movie (both the American and Swedish versions), it feels like her rape was the final push she needed to become an avenging angel with a keyboard. And that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if that wasn't also the case for seemingly half the female action heroes on the market. It's as if when writers try to make a tragic backstory distinctly female, only one thing comes to mind. Nordisk Film There's also an 80 percent chance that she'll be wearing a hoodie while brooding in this pose at some point. Continue Reading Below Advertisement Even in Mad Max: Fury Road, the most kickass, female-friendly action movie out there, every female character under the age of 60 was raped by Immortan Joe, and that possibly includes Furiosa. Olivia Benson from Law & Order: SVU was the child of rape, and this became her main motivation to prosecute sex offenders. The Bride from Kill Bill was raped while she was in a coma, after being shot by a jealous male lover. Gretchen, the psycho operative from Prison Break? Raped. Black Widow? Well, she was made sterile by the Soviets against her will, so her tragic backstory is still connected to males doing non-consensual things to her genitalia. Sussex News Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. This is a guest post by Courtney Reissig, author of The Accidental Feminist: Restoring Our Delight in God's Good Design. Courtney and eight other trusted authors have contributed to a 14-day email devotional for women called Refresh. Sign up for free today on Crossway.org! Created for Work The first thing we need to understand regarding why stay at home work matters to God is that God created us for work. Work is not an afterthought to him. After the fall, he didnt one day decide to force us to work. Yes, work is cursed, so its hard. Nonetheless, it is part of Gods design for us as human beings. This means that the work were doing in the home every day has great value to him because we are living out what it means to image him. We are living out what it means to be created by him and for him. So the laundry, for example, matters to God. Love Your (at Home) Neighbor Another component of stay-at-home work is that it is a means of loving God by loving our neighbor. For this reason also, it matters to God. All of our work is not just for ourselves. Its not so everyone can look at your nice home and say, Look at how great of a homemaker she is or, Look at how great she is at cooking or doing laundry or taking care of her kids. Instead, its so that God gets glory and our neighbors feel loved. And we are living with a bunch of neighbors, arent we? Were living with children and husbands and friends coming into our homes. So work in the home matters to God because people matter to him and he wants them to see who he is through our everyday work. This means that laundry matters because people are wearing that laundry and having clean clothes. When we see kids without clean clothes, there is something in us that says thats not right. Its not right because they are image bearers and they need clean clothes. People see the goodness of God in the full bellies of those in our home. When were making food for them we are imaging God to our kids, our husband, and the people who come into our home. They get to see that its not us who are filling their bellies but its God who is meeting their needs. So reorienting how we look at our workthat it is not for us, but for our neighbor; and that we were created to do good workhelps us see that the work we do in the home matters to God. Written by Courtney Reissig, author of The Accidental Feminist: Restoring Our Delight in God's Good Design. Originally appearing on Crossway.org. Related video: Why Work in the Home Matters to God from Crossway on Vimeo. Courtney Reissig is a wife, mother, and writer. She has written for the Gospel Coalition, Boundless, and Her.meneutics (the Christianity Today Online blog for women), where she is a regular contributor. She is also the assistant editor for Karis, a women's blog hosted by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and the author of The Accidental Feminist: Restoring Our Delight in God's Good Design. She lives in Little Rock, Arkansas. Publication date: July 26, 2016 Workers are finishing the last stretch of paving this week of a block in Billings northern industrial area, which area business owners say is a boost for customers and employees. Pavers began work Monday on North 12th Street between Third Avenue North and Fourth Avenue North, completing a stretch that roughly surrounds Western Ranch Supply at 303 N. 13th St. Theyre expected to finish Tuesday. Co-owner Shayne Vandivort of Western Ranch Supply said the paving project is a signal to customers that the neighborhood is improving. Any time they have good roads to drive on, its going to help Its just nice to see theyre cleaning up this area, Vandivort said Monday at the site. Across the street, John Braun of American Welding and Gas said employees have had to drive through mud on rainy days on the gravel road for years, and snow was rarely cleared from the side street. The paving makes coming to work easier for American Weldings roughly 40 employees, he said. A little more attractive place to work, a little safer, Braun said. The paving project is part of a $308,750 grant obtained by Big Sky Economic Development through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Other projects funded by the grant include converting Second and Third avenues north to two-way streets and adding a high-intensity activated crosswalk signal on Sixth Avenue North adjacent to North Park, according to Dianne Lehm of Big Sky Economic Development. Paving accounted for about $20,000 of the grant, according to Lehm. The East Billings Urban Renewal District, Big Sky Economic Development, the Billings Industrial Revitalization District and the city of Billings also contributed to the project, according to Big Sky. Health care organizations were 114 times more likely to hit by ransomware infections than financial firms, and 21 times more likely than educational institutions, according to a new research report by Solutionary. The Omaha-based security firm detects millions of attacks a year, according to threat intelligence analyst Terrance DeJesus. But while health care accounts for just 7.4 percent of the company's client base, it saw 88 percent of all ransomware attacks during the first half of this year. "These numbers do not count all of the email delivery or exploit kit activity that happens pre-infection and would be attempts to deliver ransomware," he said. "These are confirmed ransomware outbreaks on directly affected systems." The overall numbers of successful attacks also increased, he said, by 198 percent from the beginning of February to the end of May. He attributed the increase to a combination of better detection and more attacks. The health care industry is a particularly attractive target for cybercriminals, said Jon-Louis Heimerl, manager of the company's threat intelligence communication team. Some ransomware attacks are random, designed to hit as many people as possible, he said. [ ALSO ON CSO: The history of ransomware ] "We normally think of ransomware as being more of a target of opportunity," he said. "But we are seeing hackers and attackers actually targeting the health care community." One reason is that there's a common belief that health care organizations are behind the technology curve, he said. "We have no empirical data to show that, but there is that perception," he said. For instance, health care organizations are often non-profit, and are thought to prefer to spend the limited amount of money that they have on directly helping patients rather than investing in security, he said. "There's a perception that they're less secure." Second, health care organization have a lot of valuable data. Other companies might store credit card information which quickly loses its value as issuers cancel compromised cards. But health care records include extensive personal histories, Social Security numbers, birth dates, names of relatives, addresses, health insurance account numbers and other data valuable to identity thieves and medical insurance scammers. "There's a lot of valuable information in that data set," Heimerl said. Finally, for health care organizations, losing access to their systems could literally be a matter of life or death. "With other companies, they want access to their systems so that they can keep selling stuff," he said. But in a hospital, people could die if the doctors didn't have immediate access to their medical records. If there's a chance that paying a ransom could result in restoring records, or in getting systems back up and running faster, they might be more inclined to pay up, he said. He urged health care organizations to invest in good, off-site backups not only for their data but for the systems used to access that data, and to test those backups regularly to make sure that they can be restored quickly. According to DeJesus, ransomware isn't just about the money, either. If attackers have other goals in mind besides making a profit, then the infections could be a lot more dangerous. "I think the future of ransomware will definitely continue to grow and develop," he said. "Hacktivists will use ransomware for other reasons which don't involve monetary gain, and it might be even more difficult to give them what they want." Ron Thom, a top-selling real-estate broker in Yellowstone County, died Sunday at his Billings home. He was 59. Thom spent the past 18 years at Billings-based Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Floberg Realty, formerly known as Prudential Floberg Realtors. In 36 years in the business, his specialty was high-end homes, and he was known in the industry locally as an innovator who embraced new technology like drone pictures of homes and a well-designed, sleek website. He was an icon that everyone looked up to, said Dana Wagenhals, broker/owner of Metro Realtors and president of the Billings Association of Realtors, on Tuesday. A cause of death has not been determined. The Yellowstone County Coroners Office says it is conducting an autopsy and does not suspect foul play. Linda Parker, manager partner of the Berkshire Hathaway office, said agents are very sad this week after Thoms death. He was the best-selling agent in the office and was willing to help others grow in their careers, Parker said. Ron was a wonderful mentor to the younger agents. He had wonderful advice, caring about them and their success. He was the ultimate professional, Parker said. She added that his wife, Audre, was a key member of Thoms team, adding her computer savvy to help him succeed. Thom was known for highlighting homes with descriptive names Rimview Retreat, Screen Gem and Sweet Elixir were three recent ones he sent on email. Berkshire Hathaway is the areas largest brokerage, and the loss of Thom will hurt, said Billings Mayor Tom Hanel, who is also broker/owner of the firm. Rons clients will be looked after very carefully, and they will receive the utmost attention that they should expect and that Ron would deliver, Hanel said Tuesday. While the office is still grieving, Hanel said the ownership group is reviewing Thoms files and contacting clients. Thom was born Dec. 14, 1956, in Billings, according to his obituary. He graduated college in Phoenix, Ariz., and moved to California briefly before returning to Montana to resume his real-estate career. A celebration of life ceremony will be held 11 a.m. Friday at the Red Lion Hotel and Convention Center, known until recently as the Billings Hotel and Convention Center. Last week I pontificated about the lingering questions I had after talking with cybersecurity experts who offered their opinions on whether Secretary Clinton's private server had been hacked. The common sentiment was that there was a strong likelihood that her emails had been hacked but that we ought not expect to see evidence of a breach because the culprits were most likely nation state actors who are too sophisticated to leave any traces of evidence. Apparently, that's not completely accurate. As the events of the DNC unfold, the headlines in all the major news sources continue to report that Russians were most likely the ones who hacked into the DNC emails. Robby Mook, campaign manager for Hillary for America told CNN, "What's disturbing to us is experts are telling us that Russian state actors broke into the DNC, stole these emails and other experts are now saying that the Russians are releasing these emails." In a June blog post Crowdstrike CTO, Dmitri Alperovitch wrote, "We deployed our IR team and technology and immediately identified two sophisticated adversaries on the network COZY BEAR and FANCY BEAR. Weve had lots of experience with both of these actors attempting to target our customers in the past and know them well. In fact, our team considers them some of the best adversaries out of all the numerous nation-state, criminal and hacktivist/terrorist groups we encounter on a daily basis." Alperovitch detailed the mechanisms and techniques that these malicious actors used, all of which was learned through the investigation they conducted. That, to me, sounds like security experts being able to identify indicators of compromise from nation state actors. Fox News reported, "Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has said U.S. officials have seen indications of foreign hackers spying on the presidential candidates, and that they expect more cyberthreats against the campaigns." As the investigation continues to unfold, experts are weighing in with answers to who did what, when, and they are hypothesizing about why. Former special agent in charge of the FBI's NY cybercrime division and CSO of Cryptzone, Leo Taddeo, shared his thoughts based on the findings this far. (Please note that these comments reflect Taddeo's personal thoughts and not those of Cryptzone). Taddeo said, "I believe the research that shows Russian state actors hacked into the DNC email servers and extracted the emails and other documents. There is a basis to believe Russian state actors passed some of the stolen material to Wikileaks to influence US policy towards Russia." Contrary to what is being reported, said Taddeo, this is not Putin trying to help Trump. "Putin and his leadership are trying to influence Clinton and her future stance toward Europe's missile defenses and NATO expansion." Like many other experts, Taddeo said, "There is credibility in the assertion that Russian state actors are behind the hack and the leak to Wikileaks." Reuters reported, " A U.S. official who is taking part in the investigation said that intelligence collected on the hacking of Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails released by Wikileaks on Friday "indicates beyond a reasonable doubt that it originated in Russia."All of this, yet there is no evidence that Clinton's emails were compromised because nation state actors are so sophisticated that we wouldn't expect to find any evidence of their intrusion. If Secretary Clinton's emails were hacked, and they were likely hacked by nation state actors, and those nation state actors are so sophisticated that experts expect to see no evidence of their intrusion, why then is there evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Russia is behind the DNC email hack? For those who are new to security and trying to wrap their heads around detection, forensic investigations, and incident response the contrasting expert claims that evidence points to Russia in one case but there would likely be no evidence pointing to Russia is another are confounding. Politics aside, cybersecurity is and will continue to be a matter of national security. Rather than using these high-profile breaches as an opportunity to instill fear, uncertainty, and doubt, let's focus on what security practitioners need to know in order to identify the adversaries--because clearly, even nation state actors leave some evidence in their wake. Despite initial concerns, smartphones equipped with Qualcomm modems are not vulnerable to a recently announced vulnerability that could potentially allow attackers to take over cellular network gear and consumer mobile devices. The vulnerability was discovered in ASN1C, a popular compiler that produces C code for parsing ASN.1 encoded data. Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) is a standard for representing, encoding, transmitting, and decoding data in telecommunications and computer networking. Many devices, from mobile phones to switching equipment inside cellular infrastructure parse ASN.1 data and do so using programs that were created by compilers such as ASN1C, which is developed by U.S.-based Objective Systems. Researchers from the Programa STIC at the Fundacion Sadosky in Argentina found a security issue in ASN1C that causes the code generated by the compiler to be vulnerable to a heap overflow. The flaw could allow attackers to remotely execute rogue code inside the firmware of devices that use ASN1C code. The CERT Coordination Center (CERT/CC) at Carnegie Mellon University published a security advisory about the flaw last week accompanied by a long list of vendors who have products that could potentially be affected. While the vulnerability status for most of those vendors was listed as "unknown," Qualcomm was originally listed as affected. The company has since been moved into the "not affected" category, along with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Honeywell and Siemens. The vulnerable ASN1C code was present in Qualcomm's cellular stack, but was not exploitable because of a separate ASN.1 data encoding rule, a Qualcomm representative said via email. In order to exploit the vulnerability, "an attacker needs to send a large value in a specially crafted network signaling message, but the encoding rule specified in the 3G/4G standards and in our products does not allow such a large value to get through." Specifically, if a device with a Qualcomm modem receives a very large value in a signalling message, like the one required to exploit the flaw, the firmware will truncate that value. This means that attackers can't attack devices with Qualcomm 3G/4G modems. It's not clear if this ASN.1 encoding rule and subsequent data truncation is enforced by devices from other vendors as well. In theory the flaw can be used to attack both network-level equipment, which would likely require knowledge of the particular set-up of the targeted network, as well as end-user devices, which could be done through rogue base stations -- fake cell towers that trick phones to temporarily register with them. Software systems that use ASN.1 parsing code generated with the ASN1C compiler for C/C++ version 7.0 or below could be affected, the Programa STIC researchers said. Objective Systems developed a patch that will be included in the compiler's upcoming 7.0.2 release. The company's customers can request a fixed interim version in the meantime. NASA NASA has tapped Jeanette Hanna-Ruiz for the role of associate CIO for IT security and senior agency information security official. She will start Aug. 8. Over her 20-year career, Hanna-Ruiz has held positions in both the public and private sector. Most recently (not including the 5 months from January to May of mindfulness and meditation training, during which time she walked over 800 miles in 100 days), Hanna-Ruiz was a director of consulting services at Microsoft, with a focus on cybersecurity and identity management. Prior to joining Microsoft in 2012, she was Director of Cyber Forensics & Information Assurance at CSC. Hanna-Ruiz's public sector experience includes a role as one of the primary authors of the the White House Cyberspace Policy Review in the early days of the Obama administration. "Jeanette brings considerable homeland and national security expertise, having worked at the DHS-NSA Joint Cyber Coordination Group; Department of Transportation; and Department of Homeland Security," reads the announcement from NASA. "Further, she played an important role in defining the Department of Homeland Securitys cyber mission and building up the Departments cyber capabilities. She was requested by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to consult on legislation to improve our nations cybersecurity." Hanna-Ruiz joins NASA at a time when the agency is receiving failing grades for IT reform and is being called out for its cybersecurity shortcomings, according to NextGov.com. A Federal News Radio report says that internal documents obtained by the news outlet "indicate NASA has anywhere from hundreds of thousands to millions of out-of-date patches at every center across the country." As NextGov's Frank Konkel puts it, Hanna-Ruiz needs to "hit the ground running." PHILADELPHIA The vice chairman of the Senates Indian Affairs Committee vowed Tuesday to fight casino competition in Connecticut. The exclusive rights of Mohegan Tribe and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, whose exclusive rights to operate casinos in the state are being challenged by Las Vegas powerhouse MGM. Speaking at a breakfast underwritten by the two tribes during the Democratic National Convention, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said he empathized with the tribes plight, and that it would be disastrous if MGM encroached on the their turf. Its kind of like a vacuum cleaner sucking the money out of the state, Tester said. The tribes, which run Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, received state approval to build a third casino in the Hartford area as part of a joint venture. The move is intended to be a pre-emptive strike against a MGM casino project in Springfield, Mass, which the tribes say will siphon away $702 million in revenue and 9,000 jobs from Connecticut when it opens in 2018. But MGM claims that joint venture is an extension of an unfair monopoly by the state, which it is suing. We believe the State of Connecticut and its residents would be best served by a fair, open, competitive and transparent process if the state decides to move into commercial casino gaming for the first time, Alan Feldman, Executive Vice President, MGM Resorts International said. The two tribes are attempting to do what hasn't been done before anywhere in this country extend their exclusivity beyond tribal land to anyplace in the state. We merely want a reasonable opportunity to compete in a process that will demonstrate that the best deal for Connecticut in economic benefits, jobs and tax revenue is in Southwestern Connecticut, as the data clearly indicates. Both tribes are spreading their proverbial chips across the table, underwriting events at both the Republican and Democratic national conventions. Last week in Cleveland, they sponsored a Lake Erie cruise for GOP delegates. Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, is a Democratic delegate. We know what we have to do to fight that, Butler said of competition from MGM. U.S. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said MGM's expansion could have a devastating financial impact on the state. These big Las Vegas casinos are coming after Connecticut, Murphy said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Bridgeport The city has reportedly offered to pay the salaries for two of the five school police officers its union concession deal thrusts upon the school system, but not all board members are sold. We eliminated the positions, Kevin McSpirit, a school board member, said. Im willing to take our concession agreement savings and spend it on kindergarten (assistants) to benefit 480 children and let the chips fall where they may. The school board voted on June 27 to cut the jobs of school resource officers as a cost saving measure. The layoffs were to take effect on July 13. In between, the city, struck a deal with the National Association of Government Employees, the union that represents the school cops and 700 other city and school employees. The deal, which the school district had no hand in negotiating, will freeze wages for two years in exchange for job security. Thomas Mooney, the school boards attorney, said the board has every right to tell the city its actions amount to telling the board how to spend its money. Under state law, the city cant do that, he added. How asserting that position would effect the concession agreement is an open question, Mooney said, speaking to four board members on Monday, there for a meeting that lacked a quorum. As of now the board has no plans to reverse its decision and restore the positions. Keeping three city cops on the board payroll, Mooney said, would eat up the $265,000 that salary concessions would have given the district, but would not worsen the bottom line of its 2016-17 operating budget. The new school budget already eliminates about $8 million worth of staff, including 47 kindergarten aides. They would be the first restored if new funding were found. Interim Schools Superintendent Fran Rabinowitz wondered if the city offer covers two SRO salaries both years of the deal. She worries how the district will fare without school cops and wants the city to foot the bill for all five. I am very concerned about safety and security of our students, she said. We will be the only urban district without SROs. McSpirit said the district still has about 90 security guards and if the police are needed they are obligated to respond. As much as we dont want to have litigation with the city over this particular issue, I am reasonably certain the city doesnt want it either, McSpirit said. It doesnt in my mind, play out well for them. City attorneys attended the session but left when it was clear there would be no official meeting. Maria Pereira, a board member absent from the session, said Tuesday that if the mayor want to fund school police in the school budget that is his prerogative. However, I will not support allocating $1 to fund (school police), she said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate MILFORD Firefighters on jet skis rescued eight children and two adults with their heads barely above water Monday afternoon after they were caught in a quickly-rising tide. The group was visiting Silver Sands State Park from Glastonbury and had walked out to Charles Island on a sandbar that is visible only at low tide, said Battalion Chief Anthony Fabrizi, the department spokesman. They misjudged the incoming tide and became trapped on the island at about 1:10 p.m., Fabrizi said. Emergency dispatchers received a 911 call and three marine units, including a jet ski especially equipped for water rescues, were dispatched from the city dock. Upon arrival at the scene, fire personnel found all of the children in distress and barely able to maintain their heads above the water, the spokesman said. The firefighters quickly rescued the two youngest children and returned them to shore on the specialized jet ski. Milford Fire's Marine 1 and 2 units were next to quickly arrive and take the remaining victims to shore where they were evaluated. No injuries were reported, Fabrizi said. The sandbar is properly known as a tombolo an elevated, rocky bridge to the island formed millions of years ago by the receding glacial ice cap, according to staff at the nearby Connecticut Coastal Audubon Center. When the high tide comes in, the tombolo is quickly submerged, in sections, and dangerous currents are created by the water swirling around the raised structure. Swimmers in distress have had to be rescued from the sides of the tombolo through the years. Most commonly, though, hikers find themselves marooned on Charles Island, a state bird sanctuary, because theyve misjudged the tide cycle. Fire Department officials have said that several times each summer they are called to take stranded hikers off the island. Charles Island has been the site of a hotel, a convent, and possibly even the buried treasure of Captain William Kidd, a privateer who was hanged as a pirate in 1701. Despite several searches with ground penetrating sonar and other high-tech devices, no treasure has ever been found. GLACIER NATIONAL PARK The cashier in the gift shop at Logan Pass Glaciers famous perch on the Continental Divide looked at my Idaho drivers license and said, You didnt have to go too far to get here. Oh, but we did. We took the scenic route, I told her three nights at Grand Teton National Park and four nights at Yellowstone National Park before making our first visit to Glacier, which touches the Canadian border in northern Montana. At least you saved the best for last, she said. At that moment, it was difficult to argue with her. As much as I enjoy the jagged mountain peaks of the Tetons and the abundant wildlife of Yellowstone, a blue sky at Logan Pass is invigorating. I didnt care about the rising mileage total or the long drive home that awaited. I was eager to explore, just like I was on our first mornings in Grand Teton and Yellowstone when we were a lot fresher. By the time I returned to Boise with my wife, Brandi, and 8-year-old son, Oliver, we had driven 2,370 miles in 12 days. But it was worth it. The three-park trip began as a Teton-Yellowstone combo to celebrate my dads 70th birthday. Our party of 23 family members included 20 who hadnt visited either park. Glacier was a late addition for six of us who had the time. Heres some of what we saw and learned: Omnipresent Snake The Snake River dominated the first four days of our trip. We stopped at Shoshone Falls on the drive to Grand Teton, enjoying the show three days before flows were scheduled for reduction. We started the second day at Grand Tetons Schwabachers Landing, the gorgeous photo stop where the mountains reflect on the Snake in the morning light. The third day featured a whitewater rafting trip where the Snake hugs the highway south of Jackson not far from the Idaho border (a fun, splashy ride). And on the fourth day we hiked along the Snake to Flagg Canyon, just outside Yellowstones South Entrance. Given the rivers importance to our state, it was interesting to follow the Snake almost to its roots. Lamar over Hayden We spent countless hours 10 years ago watching for wildlife in Hayden Valley, the picturesque stretch of Yellowstone between Fishing Bridge and Canyon. But we never saw much more than elk and bison. This time, staying at Canyon, we made the drive to Lamar Valley in the northeastern corner of the park early in the morning twice (leaving Canyon about 6 a.m.). The wildlife viewing was far better. On our first morning we saw a black bear, wolves with pups (through a spotting scope), pronghorn (butting heads), bison, a coyote, elk and deer. My brothers family also spotted a pair of wolves running across the road in front of them and playing with food at about 40 yards. We went back later in the week for a second round of wolf viewing. A large group of wildlife watchers sets up at the Slough Creek Campground turnoff from the Northeast Entrance road. The Junction Butte Pack features 10 adults and eight puppies. Several folks with high-powered spotting scopes were more than willing to share and they made sure Oliver got a good look at the pups. Still get away from the crowds By rising early or going an extra half-mile, we were able to find moments of tranquility even in the ultra-busy national parks. On July 4 in Grand Teton, most of our group hiked to Taggart Lake. We arrived early about 8 a.m. and were the only people at the lake when we reached the end of the trail. We only saw one other hiker during our trip to Flagg Canyon, a less-trafficked area. We hiked down from Tower Fall to a beach on the Yellowstone River and found it empty. We made the extra walk to Punch Bowl Spring at the Upper Geyser Basin (Old Faithful), and nobody was there even though the parking lot was packed. At Glacier we did the popular hike to Avalanche Lake. But by walking an extra seven-tenths of a mile to the far end of the lake, we enjoyed a few minutes of quiet to eat snacks and take photos. Yes, the parks were busy but by planning our excursions, we were able to do what we wanted when we wanted. And the only time we had trouble finding a parking spot was at our Yellowstone lodge at night. The bear spray effect The last time we visited Yellowstone and Grand Teton, we didnt see a bear. This time, everyone seemingly told us to take bear spray particularly since we were going to Glacier. On our first hike of the trip, a short jaunt on the Hermitage Point trail from Colter Bay Village, we encountered a large, brown bear at about 25-30 yards. The black bear barely acknowledged us and wandered off. But having bear spray made the experience more joyful than stressful. It also gave us the confidence to venture into the woods the rest of the trip. In Yellowstone, we saw three black bears, all from the car. In Glacier, we saw a pair of brown black bears, also from the car. Goats share the trail The highlight of our visit to Glacier was hiking at Logan Pass. We started with the climb to the Hidden Lake Overlook a stunning view of peaks still dotted with snow soaring above a small, blue lake. Along the way, we passed within a few feet of several goats including a kid that didnt mind a bit. The usually moderate hike turned treacherous on the way down because of the snow. The woman directly in front of Oliver slipped and slid about 100 yards down the mountainside, narrowly missing a large rock. We changed course and got down safely. Across the road we sampled the Highline trail. Highline includes three-tenths of a mile of walking between a rock wall and a cliff edge. The trail is about 6 feet wide, and theres a cable attached to the wall to grab for safety. On our way back through that portion of trail, two mountain goats hopped off a ledge in front of Brandi. We slid up against the wall and watched as they calmly wandered by, walking right on the cliff edge. That was cool, Oliver said as the goats passed. Needless to say, we brought home a mountain goat stuffed animal. And some fantastic memories. WASHINGTON Buried in the trove of nearly 20,000 Democratic National Committee emails dumped by Wikileaks is a string suggesting committee employees feed a story concerning Hearst Connecticut political writer Neil Vigdor to Politico, the sharp-edged political website and print publication. The six emails make note of Vigdor initially getting turned away from the Connecticut Republican convention in May because of what GOP state chairman J.R. Romano considered a series of negative stories about state Republicans and use of anonymous sources. The denial evoked a firestorm of protest and Vigdor ultimately was granted access to the convention. The CT Dems want to get this to national press, how should I handle? wrote DNC Northeast press secretary Shu-Yen Wei to colleagues on May 6. It seems like a pretty local story to me. Others on the chain respond its worth a bigger story and direct that it be given to Mike Allen, who wrote Politicos Playbook column, a compendium of Washington-insider tidbits. The communications were part of the same trove of DNC emails released by Wikileaks that threatened to upend the Democratic National Convention this week. Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepped down from her position as chairwoman of the committee after the leaked emails suggested the DNC was not neutral in the primary fight between Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. It is not clear if the DNC ever contacted Allen about the Vigdor story. A search of the Politico website turned up no evidence that Allen ever wrote anything about Vigdors initial denial of credentials to attend the convention. More Information DNC emails released by Wikileaks From: Shu-Yen Wei, northeast press secretary, DNC To: Mark Paustenbach, national press secretary, DNC; Luis Miranda, Communications director, DNC; Eric Walker, deputy communications director, DNC Date: 05/06/2016 6:14 PM Subject: CT GOP denying reporter to their convention The CT Dems want to get this to national press, how should I handle? It seems like a pretty local story to me. ____ From: Miranda To: Paustenbach, etc. Mark, see if Mike Allen would use it ____ From: Wei To: Miranda, etc. Well, if we are doing this, finger prints off, here are the articles that probably led to his being banned. Neil Vigdor wrote at least three articles on the CT GOP treasurer being charged with child molestation, and then still having a hand in national convention planning. -- From: Miranda To: Wei, etc. That's worth a bigger story. See More Collapse Allen, who stopped writing the column earlier this month and announced he will leave Politico after the presidential election, did not return an email request for comment. A Politico spokeswoman, Christyn Lansing, also declined to comment. Wei, the DNC spokeswoman who initiated the chain of emails, did not return a call to her cellphone. Feeding a politically motivated story to an interested reporter is part of the Washington landscape, as it is in virtually every media market in the nation. Like other columnists, Allen trafficked in all manner of news and gossip, large and small. Connecticut Democratic spokesman Leigh Appleby said he didnt recall a specific request to the DNC to get national attention for the story of Vigdors being denied credentials. But he did recall a sense of outrage among Connecticut Democrats over it. We thought when someone like Donald Trump is trying to suppress the media, it was notable that the state (Republican) party was following his lead, said Appleby, reached at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. We thought it was worth media attention. Asked whether he had any regrets the subject became a matter of discussion in the leaked emails, Appleby replied: The person who should have regrets is J.R. Romano, who thought it was a good idea to suppress the press. dan@hearstdc.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate If you're living in Bridgeport, you may be in fair shape when it comes to local government. Bridgeport doesn't fare too badly among the country's best run cities, according to a new report from WalletHub. The Park City ranked 83rd out of the survey's 150 cities. The survey looked at each area's city services, total budget per capita, financial stability, safety, education, and more. Hartford and New Haven also landed on the list, though lower at 139th and 142nd respectively. Related: Just how high are Connecticut's property taxes? Bridgeport has had its share of movement in City Hall so far this year. Most recently, Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim touted a drop in violent crime since taking office in 2015. According to city officials, there have only been four homicides so far in 2016, a 50 percent drop during the same time last year. However, taxes have marred any celebrations the city hoped for. Residents of Bridgeport's Black Rock community expressed anger and disgust in the city in early July after learning of tax hikes, despite a promise of no new taxes being central to Mayor Ganim's reelection campaign. Some of the residents in question saw their tax bills jump nearly $2,000, while taxes in other areas of the city dropped in some instances. Despite eliminating over 100 jobs, critics of the mayor argue he did not do enough to control spending in the city's new $552 million budget, approved by the mayor and City Council in May. Related: Connecticut has the highest energy costs Looking for the top run cities in America? According to WalletHub, you'll have to travel to Idahoor at least to middle America. Boise and Nampa, Id., took the top two spots followed by Provo, Utah, Missoula, Mont., and Fort Wayne, Ind. Check out how Bridgeport and other Connecticut cities stacked up to the top run place in America in the slideshow above. With clients including the U.S. State Department, the Department of Defense and NASA, General DataComm has been busy designing, manufacturing, testing and providing support services for network access systems throughout the world. Every time you swipe a card to get on the subway (in New York) its going through our system, said Frank Giannone, vice president of operations for the company. Every time you get on an airplane, the network for the (Federal Aviation Administration) all utilizes GDC equipment. SALT LAKE CITY Adding a new twist to an already unusual murder case, a man charged in the kidnapping and murder of a Utah train worker has died after hanging himself in a jail with a bedsheet, authorities said Monday. Flint Wayne Harrison, 52, was found hanging in his cell shortly after midnight Monday at the Davis County Jail in in Farmington, Utah, about 20 miles north of Salt Lake City. Harrison, and his son, 22-year-old Dereck James "DJ" Harrison, are accused of abducting 63-year-old Kay Ricks in Salt Lake City and killing him in May in southwestern Wyoming. The two were being held in Utah where they were set to stand trial this year on 16 separate drug and kidnapping charges. They were then expected to be transferred to Wyoming to face charges in Ricks' death. Wyoming prosecutors said last week that they wouldn't announce whether they would seek the death penalty against the Harrisons until they were transferred from Utah to face the Wyoming charges. Flint Harrison was not on any kind of suicide watch and did not have a cellmate, said Sgt. DeeAnn Servey, a spokeswoman for the Davis County Sheriff's Office. She declined to say when he had last been checked by jail staff, citing a pending investigation into the death. Servey said the younger Harrison was notified of his father's death and placed on a suicide watch. Ricks' family said in a statement it is disappointed Flint Harrison won't have to answer for a "brutal and senseless" crime. "The Ricks Family knows full well that nothing will bring Kay back," the statement says. "However, we hoped that Flint and DJ Harrison would both answer for their crimes. Now, DJ is left to explain." The Ricks family said while they don't know why Flint Wayne Harrison apparently killed himself, they think it may have had something to do with the hard work of Utah and Wyoming law enforcement officers who built the case against him. The family also called on Utah authorities to release Dereck James "DJ" Harrison to Wyoming to speed up the process of facing murder charges in Wyoming. Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings declined to comment Monday. Prosecutors in Wyoming did not immediately return calls for comment. Spencer Allred, county attorney in Lincoln County, Wyoming, said last week that it would likely be next year until the Harrisons went to trial in Wyoming since the two men need to resolve the kidnapping charges in Utah first. Utah prosecutors were set to lay out their evidence against Flint Harrison at an Aug. 9 hearing. His son has waived his right to such a hearing, and is due back in court on Aug. 22. A trial wasn't likely until November, meaning the Utah case would be resolved early next year. His son has pleaded not guilty to the Utah charges. Prosecutors say that after the kidnapping of the Utah women, the Harrisons abducted Ricks, a longtime employee of the Utah Transit Authority, and took him in his work truck to Wyoming. Wyoming charging documents say the Harrisons beat Ricks to death on their way to a remote Wyoming hideout. The pair was arrested in Pinedale, Wyoming, after a five-day manhunt. An autopsy found that Ricks died from head injuries and suffered cuts to his neck. Servey, the Utah sheriff's spokeswoman, said the neighboring Weber County Sheriff's Office is investigating Flint Harrison's death. The State Medical Examiner will also conduct an autopsy. It's the second death at the jail this year, Servey said. Cuba and Russia sign cooperation agreement Submitted by: Juana Business and Economy Politics and Government 07 / 25 / 2016 A cooperation agreement was signed in the Russian Federation between the Center for Environmental Studies of the Cuban province of Cienfuegos (CEAC) and the Research Institute of Aviation Materials of Moscow (VIAM). Danilo Alonso, Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and the Environment (CITMA), announced on Friday in an exclusive interview with ACN that the document was signed by representatives of both institutions at the G.V.Akimov Center for Climate Experimentation of the city of Gelenzhik. He added that this is the first agreement of the newly constituted Group of Science, Technology and the Environment of the Cuba-Russia Intergovernmental Commission. Participating in the official ceremony were scientists from both countries and signing the document were Yevgeny Nicolaevich Kablov, Director General of that institution, and the Master of Science Minerva Sanchez, Director of CEAC. The two parties agreed to strengthen for the creation in Cuba of a joint climatic test station for materials exposed to the conditions of the Caribbean Seas tropical climate. In addition, the carrying out of scientific-research works in the field of climate resistance of materials, construction elements and complex technical systems exposed to tropical conditions, as well as joint experiments on biological resistance. Cuba and Mexico exchange on modernization of Cuban Sugar Industry Submitted by: Juana Havana Mexico Business and Economy 07 / 25 / 2016 Cuban and Mexican professionals held exchanges in Havana on the possibilities of modernizing the sugar industry in their respective countries, by implementing innovative projects. Discussions on the subject I occurred in one of the panels of the Third Meeting of the Association of Sugar Technicians of Cuba (ATAC) and Mexico (ATAM), held at the Lazaro Pena Convention Center in Havana. Participating in the meeting were representatives of companies of the two nations and researchers from Cuban institutes and universities, Eduardo Martinez, president of the ATAC, told ACN in an exclusive interview. He mentioned the existence of an automated system for sugar cane weighing implemented at the Motzorongo Group (Mexico) and one for the industrys data management, IPlus, developed by DATAZUCAR, a division of the Industrial Technical Services company belonging the Sugar Group AZCUBA. He also cited the presentation of designs and equipment projects, the decanting of juice mixed by gravity and the replacement of siphons or barometric legs by way of telescopic traps in the boiler house. He added that as for new developments there was a proposal of efficient actions for four-mace mills, and the replacement of Teflon pins for black guayacan in terms of industrial maintenance, adequate lubrication systems in tandems and other products. Cuban experts assessed a proposal of replacing acid hydrolysis for enzymatic hydrolysis for a glucose production plant in Cuba, according to the same source of information. (ACN) Information Note by the Cuban Ministry of Public Health Submitted by: Juana Villaclara Health and Medicine 07 / 25 / 2016 A new case of a patient with imported Zika virus has been diagnosed, with which the number of cases on the island to date amount to 28. Its a Cuban traveler who returned from St. Lucia, where he stayed since January for personal reasons and who lives in the town of Santa Clara, Villa Clara province. Once the onset of symptoms occurred, he was admitted to the Arnaldo Milian Castro Provincial Hospital of Santa Clara, and blood samples were taken for study. On July 21, the laboratory of Havanas Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute reported that the patient tested positive for Zika virus. He is still hospitalized, with good general condition and favorable evolution. MISSOULA Prosecutors say the Montana Supreme Court should deny an appeal seeking a new trial for Markus Kaarma, the Missoula man found guilty in late 2014 of killing German exchange student Diren Dede. Kaarma was convicted Dec. 17, 2014, of fatally shooting Dede in his Grant Creek garage. Dede, a 17-year-old exchange student at Big Sky High School, apparently entered the garage looking to steal alcohol April 27, 2014. In February 2015, Kaarma was sentenced to 70 years in prison, and wont be eligible for parole for 20 years. But Kaarma's defense attorney, Nate Holloway, filed an appeal in December seeking a new trial. It claims that Missoula County District Court Judge Ed McLean unfairly instructed the jury on the use of force for self defense, and did not instruct them to consider burglary as a forcible felony. In a response brief issued Tuesday, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Krauss said Kaarmas defense team inferred during the trial that Kaarma shot into his garage to protect himself. However, Holloway maintained that Kaarma had been defending his household, a practice protected under Montana law. Krauss, the prosecutor, said McLean was right to tell jurors that the defense had to prove both those circumstances. Kaarmas sudden limitation of his defense to occupied structure" - that is, defending his household - "alone at the settling of instructions - changing horses not just in midstream, but on the other side of trial - is entirely at odds with the position he took throughout this prosecution and the evidence presented at trial, Krauss wrote. Holloway said Friday that Kaarmas guilt or innocence should only have been decided under the defense of an occupied structure law, where deadly force is allowed if the occupant is subjected to any bodily harm or reason to believe that he is in danger of harm. When we brought up self defense, we were talking about about self defense in a structure. We multiple times, we tried to distinguish these two defenses, and the court would not allow us to. The court said well instruct the jury on the law, he said. Holloway also argued in his appeal that the trial should have been moved to another city due to the intense media coverage of the case. Kaarmas defense team made multiple requests to move cities before the trial, all of which were turned down. The states response disagreed. Extensive media coverage alone does not establish a presumption of prejudice. Kaarma has not demonstrated that the publicity in this case rises to the level of the extreme case amounting to a circus atmosphere, lynch mob mentality, or displacement of the judicial process, Krauss wrote in rebuttal. Krauss response to the appeal also considered an issue brought up by Holloway that one of the potential jurors should have been removed for cause because she was related to a former member of Missoula law enforcement. That juror, Kathryn Hughes, indicated she believed a police investigation would be more accurate than the testimony of a defendant. When the court chose not to remove her, Kaarmas defense team used one of its challenges to eliminate her from the jury pool. Holloway said in cases where the defense used all its challenges, a new trial could be granted if the court had erred in the jury selection process. Krauss response said Hughes had not been related to any current law enforcement officer, and had advised the court she would fairly weigh any evidence presented at trial. The last two points in the prosecutions response dealt with pieces of testimony Holloway claimed should not have been allowed. The first was the decision to allow the prosecution to ask Kaarmas partner, Janelle Pflager, about a 2012 accusation that he assaulted her. Krauss said Pflagers own testimony when questioned by the defense team had opened the door to the prior assault after she talked about him being the protector of her and their child, and Judge McLean had agreed. The other testimony brought up in the appeal was offered by Missoula police Detective Guy Baker, who talked about the pattern and shape of blood spatters found in the garage, recreating what he believed had happened. Holloway said Baker was never disclosed as an expert witness, and as such Kaarma never hired an expert of his own to rebut the testimony. The response brief agreed that Baker was not an expert witness, and said the officer himself had admitted as such at trial, but was only testifying based on his experience as a police officer. Detective Baker was an experienced and trained officer who could properly testify to his non-expert opinion and inferences regarding the evidence of Direns blood, Krauss wrote. Holloway has until the start of September to file a reply brief in the appeal. Windber-Portage renew rivalry in Week 10 Heritage-WestPAC crossover Check out what to watch on Friday night in Somerset County as the high school football regular season comes to a close in Week 10. BOZEMAN An attorney for Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte has sent letters to television stations urging them to stop airing an attack ad because it claims Gianforte is from New Jersey and that he sued to eliminate a public access spot to a river. Public lands access has emerged as a top issue in the race between Gianforte and incumbent Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock. As Democrats keep pressuring him over the issue, Gianforte has released multiple ads rebutting claims that he sued the state to block public access on the East Gallatin River. "The Bullock campaign just keeps trotting out this one-trick pony," Gianforte campaign spokesman Aaron Flint said Tuesday. "It's only July, and Montanans are already seeing through it." The ad by Good Jobs Montana PAC opens by saying, "A millionaire from New Jersey thinks you're easily hooked," and goes on to say, "Gianforte sued to eliminate a popular access spot next to his riverfront mansion." Gianforte is from California and grew up in Pennsylvania, but spent several years living in New Jersey. He filed a lawsuit against the state in 2009 over a dispute about an easement next to his property along the East Gallatin River, but then resolved the issue out of court. The cease and desist letter sent earlier this month by Anita Milanovich of the Bopp Law Firm says the political-action committee's ad is false. Stations that publish false statements made knowingly or with reckless disregard for the truth are liable for defamation, according to the letter posted by the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. "Good Jobs Montana PAC's advertisement is false, misleading and deceptive," Milanovich wrote. "We demand that you immediately cease airing this advertisement if you are airing it." The Montana Broadcasters Association is counseling television stations to consult their attorneys about whether to continue airing the ads, association president and CEO Dewey Bruce said Tuesday. Such cease-and-desist letters aren't uncommon in an election season, but because the ad comes from an outside group and not a candidate, TV stations should proceed with caution, he said. "With third-party ads, the broadcasters can be held liable for the content of the ad because they can refuse the ad," Bruce said. Bruce didn't know whether any stations agreed to stop running the ad as a result of the letter. One station, KULR-TV in Billings, wrote a response directly to Gianforte's attorney that said Gianforte spent numerous years in New Jersey before moving to Montana and that he did file the lawsuit. "After careful consideration, we conclude that both statements are based in fact, and that no other action need be taken," KULR national sales manager John Langeliers wrote in the letter. Good Jobs Montana is a political-action committee registered in Billings and has received $600,000 so far this election cycle from the Democratic Governors Association, of which Bullock was chairman until December. Less than a week after the governors' association donated $250,000 to the PAC in May, Good Jobs Montana spent more than $208,000 on ads opposing Gianforte, according to filings with the commissioner of political practices office. Faculty Senate approves no-confidence vote on Sasse as UF president The UF Faculty Senate held an emergency meeting about the choice of Senator Ben Sasse from Nebraska as the sole finalist for university president. Two Montana Republican legislators who wont vote for Donald Trump this election have endorsed Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. Reps. Daniel Zolnikov, of Billings, and Nicolas Schwaderer, of Superior, on Monday morning endorsed Johnson, saying the former Republican governor of New Mexico is the only candidate speaking about the national debt. The reason why third party candidates dont get enough footing is that most people dont stick their neck out and give them a chance, Zolnikov said. Johnson has made eliminating the debt at the top priority. He faults both Republicans and Democrats for debt growth to $20 trillion. The candidates odds of getting elected are extremely slim. Real Clear Politics gives the candidate 8 percent of the vote in an aggregation of six polls conducted between July 11 and Sunday. Zolnikov was co-chairman of presidential primary candidate Ted Cruz Montana campaign. He said hes spoken with a few Cruz supporters looking for an alternative to Trump. Third-party candidates have never won a presidential race, but they have altered the outcome of the state results. In 1992, Bill Clinton became the first Democrat to win the Montana general election since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. But Clinton won just 37.6 percent of the vote, to incumbent President George H.W. Bushs 35.1 percent. The spoiler was Texas billionaire Ross Perot, who as an Independent candidate received 26 percent of the Montana vote. Advocates of the two-party system say a vote by dissatisfied partisans for a third-party candidate is a throwaway vote that could decide an election. I think thats the dumbest argument, because Im voting for the actual proven track record, Zolnikov said. The reason we keep getting what we get in politics is because people are always saying, You waste your vote, youre going to get the worst of two evils. Zolnikov said he wouldnt be supporting any of the of the other Libertarian candidates running in Montana political races. Three Libertarian candidates are running for statewide office and six for state Legislature. Johnson is not recognized as a candidate yet in Montana, according the Secretary of State records. However, the Libertarian Party is a recognized major party in Montana, which means the party merely has to submit Johnsons name. There are no filing fees or signatures required. Green Party Candidate Jill Stein, who is in Philadelphia this week recruiting disgruntled Bernie Sanders voters, also isnt listed as a candidate in Montana. Stein faces more requirements because the Green Party is a minor party. Minor party candidates have until August 24 to have their campaigns certified by the Montana secretary of state. It takes 5,000 confirmed voter signatures to qualify as a minor party candidate. A few Montana Republicans have been breaking away from Trump for the past month. In early July, former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, also a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, announced he wouldnt support or endorse Trump in a letter to the Washington Post. Racicot wrote that Trump lacked the leadership and conservative principles to be GOP leader. Montanas former U.S. Rep. Rick Hill has said he wont support fellow Republican Trump, either. Hillary Clinton failed to win Montanas Democratic primary. Sanders Montana supporters on social media are split on voting for Clinton, with some suggesting they will vote for Stein. ^pCriminal charges are being considered and federal officials are continuing their investigation Monday of a drone operator whose actions interfered with firefighting aircraft Friday during a wildfire that threatened homes near Billings.^p(tncms-asset)28ff6cbc-508f-11e6-9a5e-00163ec2aa77"}}^p Yellowstone County Sheriffs deputies on Friday evening located the man controlling the unmanned hobby aircraft in the airspace above the fast-moving Fritz fire. The drone caused officials to ground firefighting aircraft for the day, which cost firefighters several hours of air support, said Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder. The sheriff said the drone operator seemed aware he was doing something illegal and a deputy seized the camera-equipped drone as evidence. This may be the first instance of a drone interfering with emergency operations in Yellowstone County, Linder said. Weve always had concerns of drones potentially being a hazard, especially anyplace we might have manned ops or an emergency crew, Linder said. I think the FAA specifically states that you cannot be flying these things in any space where manned aircraft are being operated.^p(tncms-asset)23ab6204-5088-11e6-b074-00163ec2aa77"}}^p In addition to criminal prosecution, the man also faces civil fines up to $27,500, said Ian Gregor, public affairs manager for the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA has the drone operators name but Gregor didnt know if the drone was registered. Registration requirements for unmanned aerial vehicles began Dec. 21, 2015. The FAA lists 257 hobby drones registered Yellowstone County and 1,701 in Montana. Gregor said more than 500,000 drones have been registered nationally since the database started. The operators receive a safety briefing at the time of registration. But unmanned aerial vehicles continue to cause conflicts with firefighting efforts across the country. The United States Forest Service reported 25 documented incidents of drones flying in or near wildfire operation airspace in California, Colorado, Oregon, Utah and Washington. In 10 of those cases, the encroachment temporarily halted aircraft firefighting operations. A July 15 California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection news release said 57-year-old Eric Wasser was arrested in Placer County, Calif., for flying a drone over the Trailhead Fire. He delayed air operations on a fire that eventually burned about 5,600 acres. The release said fire officials in California have seen a uptick in hobby drones around wildfires in the last two years but Wasser was the first operator to be arrested. He was charged with interfering with firefighting operations.^p(tncms-asset)94aa7838-529e-11e6-ab9b-00163ec2aa77"}} 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. The Queen had two of her favourite men round for drinks Mark Hudson, chairman of the Council of the Duchy of Lancaster, and its CEO, Nathan Thompson prior to heading off on her Balmoral hols. The duchy produced a 7.7 per cent increase in revenue, netting HM 17.8m, in addition to the 42.8m she gets from the Government. My source says: The Duchy worthies have reason to hope for a more lasting symbol of her appreciation. Hudsons predecessor, Lord Shuttleworth, became a Knight of the Garter this year. The Queen had two of her favourite men round for drinks Mark Hudson, chairman of the Council of the Duchy of Lancaster, and its CEO, Nathan Thompson prior to heading off on her Balmoral hols Re the monarchs income, the five-yearly review by the three Royal Trustees is due. With projections forecasting a continuing boom in the Queens income, the funding formula might be reconsidered. Theresa May and Philip Hammond, who replace as trustees David Cameron and George Osborne, will need to have their wits about them when sparring with the third trustee, Sir Alan Reid, Keeper of the Privy Purse. He is determined to maintain the existing settlement. If things get tricky, HM has been known to join the meetings unannounced, I am told. Poignantly, Ringo Starr, 76, says of the other surviving Beatle: I would tour with Paul McCartney tomorrow! He has said previously of Sir Paul, 74: Were the only two remaining Beatles, although he likes to think hes the only one. Poignantly, Ringo Starr, 76, says of the other surviving Beatle: I would tour with Paul McCartney tomorrow! MPs who investigated the collapse of BHS suggest its owner, Sir Philip Green, is worse than the notorious Mirror boss, Robert Maxwell, who drowned in 1991. Though there is no suggestion the former BHS chief has broken the law, Green is certainly disliked more than Maxwell, who toppled off his yacht after his pension-robbing activities came to light. The nickname bestowed on him, Captain Bob, was rather fond, unlike Sir Shifty, the moniker coined for Green by the Mail and much copied by so-called rivals. MPs who investigated the collapse of BHS suggest its owner, Sir Philip Green, is worse than the notorious Mirror boss, Robert Maxwell (pictured), who drowned in 1991 Sam Allardyces appointment as England manager could be fun. During bonding sessions with Bolton Wanderers players (1999-2007) he once agreed to a forfeit if they won by three goals or more. After they scored five against Leicester City, Big Sam, 61, tucked into a plate of sheep testicles. Sam Allardyces appointment as England manager could be fun. When Sir Philip bought BHS in 2000, the company pension schemes had a healthy surplus of 43million but now have a deficit of 571million Rightly, public anger over the BHS scandal has focused on the grasping figure of Sir Shifty Philip Green. But as the High Street tycoon suns himself on one of his three superyachts, apparently unconcerned for the 11,000 former employees and 21,000 pension scheme members he betrayed, others bear a heavy responsibility for aiding and abetting his egregious conduct. Shockingly, these include some of the most prominent firms in the City, which were prepared (often in return for hefty fees) to lend spurious respectability to Greens sale of the company he had plundered to a palpably untrustworthy, thrice-bankrupt chancer for 1. Accountants PwC and Grant Thornton, corporate lawyers Linklaters and Olswang all were deeply implicated in a deal that stank to high heaven. As this paper has passionately argued, the City owes its leading role in global finance to a reputation for integrity built up over centuries. Already tarnished by the banking crisis, that precious good name vital to maintaining Londons standing in the world after Brexit has now been further undermined by this appalling scandal. This is why the Mail strongly backs calls, led by Work and Pensions Committee chairman Frank Field, for the firms involved to donate their tainted fees to the victims of Greens rapacity. True, the millions they received for their work on this shabby deal is a drop in the ocean of the hundreds of millions owed to BHS employees and pensioners. But it would at least be some small acknowledgment of their failings. Meanwhile HMRC, which devotes such energy to pursuing small businesses, must be ruthless in pursuing Green for every penny of tax he may owe while Theresa May should press ahead without delay in closing the loopholes he exploited. As for the tycoon himself, why should the Serious Fraud Office wait for the Insolvency Service to finish its inquiries which could take years before becoming involved? After all, Mr Fields committee has managed to do most of the spadework in just a couple of months. Indeed, with the good name of capitalism at stake, shouldnt Mrs May immediately strip Sir Philip of his knighthood and confer the honour instead on the fearless and indefatigable Mr Field? Sir Philip Green 'repeatedly' resisted requests from the trustees of the BHS pension scheme to pay more money into workers' pots Labour MP Frank Field today branded Sir Philip 'much worse' than Robert Maxwell and demanded Theresa May, right in Belfast today, seek 'retribution and justice' from the billionaire The location of Sir Philip, pictured aboard his new yacht Lionheart last week, was not clear today. The Lionheart is currently in Greece, moored off the island of Skopelos End of open borders? As Germany reels from its fourth violent attack in one week, Angela Merkels home affairs spokesman echoes the verdict of British voters on June 23. Demanding tough border controls, Stephan Mayer declares: Now we need to regain our sovereignty. Indeed, his intervention reflects the growing realisation sweeping the continent that the EU ideals of open borders and free movement of people pose mortal threats to national security. Such common sense has yet to filter through to EU president Jean-Claude Juncker. Locked in the past, he blustered yesterday that any country wanting full access to the single market must accept every Brussels rule, free movement included, without exception or nuance. How long before even this bibulous buffoon accepts that the future for all Europes prosperity and security lies in free trade and rigorous border controls? Years after his fake apology for saying hed like to have assassinated Margaret Thatcher, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has been caught sniggering that he received massive support for his grotesque remark. But what do you expect from the man who declared IRA terrorists should be honoured? Friends portray Jeremy Corbyn as gentle and idealistic. Four county employees with a combined 115 years of experience will be honored Tuesday during the Yellowstone County Board of Commissioners weekly meeting. Tuesdays meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. in Room 403A of the Yellowstone County Courthouse, 217 N. 27th St. Those retirees being honored are Tim Paulson, with 39 years in the Road and Bridge Department; Carolyn Pluhar, 31 years at the Yellowstone County Detention Center; County Commissioner Bill Kennedy, who has 23 years experience; and Annette Cabrera, who spent more than 22 years in the countys Information Technology office. In addition, commissioners will honor 20 years of work from Susan OConnor in the Youth Services Center and Calvin Lueck in the auditors office as well as 15 years from Jennifer Hickson-Avants in the Yellowstone County Sheriffs Office. The board has five purchasing decisions to make: A contract with VIP Services for janitorial services for the 2016 Montana Fair. A recommendation that Knife River and Fisher Sand & Gravel both be selected to provide asphalt to the Public Works department. A request from the County Attorneys office to purchase a printer for its Civil Division. A contract with Starplex Corp. for janitorial services in the grandstands and other buildings before, during and after Montana Fair A service support agreement with ATS Inland Northwest to update and maintain the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning hardware and system software at the Yellowstone County Detention Facility. The board will be asked to approve final plat and subdivision improvements agreements for the Twin Tracts Subdivision and the Hanging Willow Condominiums, 2730 Cass Lane. Appointments scheduled for action Tuesday include Commissioner John Ostlund and Fay Marsh to the Area II Agency on Aging Board and Dianne Cooper to the Yellowstone County Museum Board. The county has a number of openings for various boards and commissions. Learn more about the openings or apply by visiting the commissioners page on the countys website, www.co.yellowstone.mt.gov. Click on Board Openings. Having been married four times, Monty Python star John Cleese should know better than to invade his wifes privacy. But the 76-year-old actor brazenly posted online this very intimate picture of his 44-year-old wife, jewellery designer Jennifer Wade, taking a nap in pyjamas and socks. The 76-year-old actor brazenly posted online this very intimate picture of his 44-year-old wife, jewellery designer Jennifer Wade, taking a nap in pyjamas and socks Having been married four times, Monty Python star John Cleese should know better than to invade his wifes privacy Sharing the snap with his 5.4million followers on social media, Cleese joked: My wife is always complaining that I take up more than my half of the bed. Presumably, now Wade will complain about his ungentlemanly behaviour, too. There is a lot to be said for composing a novel on a typewriter, rather than a computer, says bestselling thriller writer Gerald Seymour. Some of the best stuff Ive ever written has been done under the influence of Tipp-Ex fumes, the Harrys Game author told the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival. Theresa May is replacing paintings from the Government Art Collection inside Downing Street with framed quotations from the mission statement she made outside No 10 on becoming Prime Minister. The aim of putting these tablets of stone on the office walls is, apparently, to remind Mays staff they are there to serve the people. Three of the UK's most in-demand strippers have revealed who they would most love to strip for - with the Queen being an unexpected pick. Jack Jefferson, 35, who is part of the Dreamboys - Britains answer to the Chippendales - spoke to Now magazine, along with fellow performers, about his risque profession. When asked who he would most like to strip for, the ripped performer replied that the 'Queen would be the dream' while Dawn French is a surprising close contender. Scroll down for video Jack Jefferson says that he went to university and used to be part of the British gymnastics team Ultimate fantasy: Jack Jefferson, 35, who is part of the Dreamboys - Britains answer to the Chippendales - says he would love to strip for the Queen Continuing on the comedy theme, another of the dancers 27-year-old Lotan Carter said he would most like to entertain Alan Carr because he would 'just go off, all teeth and squeaks!' Meanwhile Jordan Darrell opted for one of his celebrity crushes, Megan Fox, adding: 'But don't tell my girlfriend!' All three men perform at venues across the country, putting their bodies on show for crowds of ogling spectators. Lotan says one of the Dreamboys' oldest fans is a 90-year-old who he's spotted at three shows in a row. Recalling one particular encounter with the passionate pensioner, he said: 'I was swinging her around but I was worried I was going to break her and she kept saying: "If only I was 60 years younger!"' Don't tell the girlfriend! Jordan Darrell says he would love to bare all for his celebrity crush, Megan Fox Up for a laugh: Stripper Lotan Carter, 27, said he would most like to entertain Alan Carr because he would 'just go off, all teeth and squeaks!' All three men agreed that they are often stereotyped, with people assuming they are 'stupid' and 'uneducated'. However, Jack highlighted that most of them have been to university and have side jobs other than stripping. Indeed, in between doing three strip shows a week, the former musical theatre actor splits his time working as a fitness model and personal trainer. Touching on the 'dumb stripper stereotype', Jack said: 'I've got to an age now where I don't care if people think that. 'I've been to university and was on the British gymnastics team. The dancers drive an all-female audience into a frenzy during a shirtless performance Roll up, roll up! The Dreamboys are one of the most successful and famous stripping troupes in the UK 'And some of the other boys have also been to university. 'Intelligence is relative. Just because someone's got an in-depth knowledge of biochemistry doesn't mean it'll be of any use in their life.' Lotan added that he wanted to be a doctor when he was at school and he loved learning about how the body works in biology lessons. He said: 'They can think whatever they want; we're smart enough to know we can make a lot of money doing very little and wearing very little.' They admit that they make it through a lot of baby oil which can sometimes even make the stage slippery The muscle-bound hunks showcase their rippling torsos for a very appreciative audience The men say that their families have been very supportive about their career choices. Lotan's mother has been to see the Dreamboys show a few times, while his father has also been to watch the extravaganza twice. Jack says his parents are supportive but his mother hasn't been to watch him in action. He explained: 'I'd be absolutely mortified if she did!' On the question of where they draw the line, all three men say they have never slept with a fan despite being thrown offers. Lotan said on his second week with the Dreamboys one woman took off her wedding ring and asked him to sleep with her. As well as it being unprofessional, all three of the Dreamboys are also all in relationships. They say that their other halves don't get jealous, and Jordan says his girlfriend has been to many of his shows and realises that it's all 'a tease'. One thing they do differ on is tanning. While Jack says he doesn't use sunbeds and 'hates' fake tan, Lotan says he indulges in both from time to time. On the subject of their beautifying regime, all of the men say that baby oil is a must when it comes to stripping. However, the lotion can prove quite hazardous on stage. Jack says that sometimes there are 'actual oil slicks' during performances and all of the men roll around being careful not to slip. While they are image-focused, the trio say that they try not to take themselves too seriously. the near miss, the photographer managed to get an amazing shot Her veil was ripped from her hands and dirt whipped up around her The force from the chopper caused the bride to nearly fall to the ground He was photographing a bride in front of an A video has captured the incredible moment a bride was nearly knocked to the ground by a helicopter during a photo shoot. Footage shows a Coast Guard chopper taking off behind the stunning bride in a bid to capture the perfect photo. But the intense force created by the lift off whips dirt up in the air, rips the bride's veil out of her hands and nearly knocks her face first to the ground. Amazing: A video has captured the incredible moment a bride was nearly knocked to the ground by a helicopter during a photo shoot Natural beauty: Leading wedding photographer CM Leung was on location in Iceland for the photo shoot Photo ready: Footage shows a Coast Guard chopper taking off behind the stunning bride in a bid to capture the perfect photo Losing balance: However, the intense force created by the lift off whips dirt up in the air, causes the bride to lose grip of her veil and nearly knocks her over face first (pictured) The footage was captured by leading wedding photographer CM Leung. The bride and groom were on location in Iceland for the stunning shoot, when they decided to take things to the next level by incorporating the helicopter. The video shows the bride standing serenely with her her eyes closed and hands behind her back holding on to her veil in preparation for the shoot. Next level: The bride and groom were in Iceland when they decided to incorporate the helicopter into their stunning wedding shoot Rising: As the helicopter rises, the bride's long white veil is ripped from her hands (pictured) As the helicopter takes off dirt whips up from the ground and surrounds her, her long hair flies in front of her face and her veil is caught in the wind. The bride started to fumble forwards, and as she does, her long white veil is ripped from her hands. Despite the near miss, the photographer was still able to capture an incredible photo that shows the helicopter in the air just behind the bride. Serene: Despite the near miss with the helicopter, the photographer still produced a series of stunning photos Big name: The wedding photographer, CM Leung, has been named as one of the top 30 wedding photographers in the entire world Picture-perfect shoot: Other photos from the shoot show the bride standing in front of incredible scenery Bored Panda shared the video on their website and said while the chopper's wheels look scarily close to the bride's head, 'the angle of the picture makes it look more dangerous than it actually was'. During the shoot there was also rescue personnel on hand as a precaution. The photos were taken by CM Leung who has been named as one of the top 30 wedding photographers in the world. Irene Forte and Jacobi Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe have parted ways When heiress Lydia Forte marries millionaire City banker Dimitri Chandris in September, it will mark a union of two dynasties: her father Sir Roccos hotel business and her father-in-laws 700 million cruise fleet and property empire. Sadly, however, one family member not in the mood to celebrate love is Sir Roccos younger daughter Irene, 27, who is secretly nursing a broken heart. The Oxford graduate and brand manager for her fathers Rocco Forte Hotels has parted company with her long-term boyfriend, Jacobi Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, just weeks before 29-year-old Lydias big day in Tuscany, which will be attended by Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and Prince Harrys former flame Chelsy Davy. And to make matters worse, the DJ half-brother of Prince Harrys other ex, Cressida Bonas, has wasted no time in moving on. Irene has recently broken up with Jacobi, confirms a friend of Irenes. Hes now off partying in Ibiza with a Victorias Secret model, which isnt that pleasant for her to see or hear about. Unashamedly, Jacobi, 33, has been posting pictures of himself from Ibiza, where he is touring with his DJ group, Housekeeping, throughout the summer. While he omitted to name any of the beauties pictured on his social media account, he was unable to hide the fact that he has just started following online a string of models, including Naima Bossi, Georgia Salamat and Nicky Thein. The end of her five-year romance will be hard for Irene, who just recently moved Jacobi into her flat in Londons Chelsea, round the corner from where her parents Sir Rocco and Aliai live. However, it is not the first time the pair have split: they parted ways in 2012, before reuniting two years later. Lydia is a few years older, so shes the one who can get married first, newly single Irene told me at the Hedsor House summer party. I wont be any time soon. Jacobi Anstruther Gough Calthorpe in Ibiza with four women in French maid-style bikinis No Ordinary World for Le Bon's jazz-mad girl While his eldest daughter Amber has followed her supermodel mother Yasmin down the catwalk, Simon Le Bons middle daughter Saffron, 24, has inherited her dads musical genes albeit in a rather different genre. Simon, 57, frontman of Eighties band Duran Duran, boasts: Saffron has just received a first-class degree in jazz singing a degree in music with an emphasis on jazz vocal. How amazing is that? Le Bon, who has a third daughter, Tallulah, enthuses somewhat grandly of fatherhood: It means that my bloodline continues. It means I feel Im part of a chain, not at the end of a rope. I love my kids, and I get much love from them, but theres something greater and more important than just that. Is a father-daughter duet, a la Frank and Nancy Sinatra, in the offing? Fergie marks 30th anniversary - 20 years after divorce It was a family day out at the races as the Duchess of York joined her former husband Prince Andrew and their daughter Princess Eugenie at Ascot on Saturday. But few onlookers realised that the date had a special significance for the royal couple, who seemingly cant live with or without each other. For the pair, who married on July 23, 1986, were celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary, despite having divorced 20 years ago. She and Andrew were going to spend time together in the evening on Saturday to mark their anniversary, and Andrew invited her along to Ascot to enjoy the day, says a friend. He was representing the Queen, who was in Scotland. This might explain why Fergie (pictured on Saturday with Eugenie) was allowed into the Royal Box for the first time in years. Last month, she curtseyed to the Queen and Prince Philip at the Royal Ascot meeting, but had to make do with standing on the balcony next to the Royal Box. Just a few months ago, Fergie was said to be starting a new life in Switzerland and was even applying to become a permanent resident in the tax haven. In a village in West Africa, a 15-year-old girl leaves school at 10am to nurse her baby. Mouniratou did not know she pregnant until she visited a hospital, but despite the challenges she faces, shows confidence as a mother. It's this confidence, and her strength, that resonated with Princess Mary when she visited the girl on a recent trip to Burkina Faso, West Africa. Scroll down for video Doting mother: Princess Mary of Denmark (right) visited a 15-year-old school girl and mother (left) in Burkina Faso, West Africa Adorable: Mouniratou did not know she pregnant until she visited a hospital, and Princess Mary cradled her baby girl during a visit Caring for her child: Each day the young mother comes home from school at 10am to nurse her baby 'I was delighted to be able to meet her and her beautiful baby girl,' Crown Princess Mary of Denmark said. 'Shes a very confident mother and a very strong mother. 'Im very impressed by the fact that she continued her education throughout her pregnancy and was back at school a week after giving birth. 'She has big dreams for herself, and for her child, but still we need to work on preventing early pregnancies.' Women's health: 'We need to work on preventing early pregnancies,' Princess Mary said Life's work: The mother-of-four was in Burkina Faso, West Africa, to discuss gender equality and women's health High praise: Princess Mary credited Mouniratou as being a strong and confident mother Mouniratou might be one of many young mothers in Burkina Faso, but to Princess Mary, every girl is worth fighting for. The 44-year-old mother-of-four, who herself has two young daughters, visited the African country in April this year to promote gender equality and women's rights. The majority of her work focused on educating women, and men, about women's health and pregnancy. Big dreams: The young mother has the support of her family and hopes one day to become an architect Raising awareness: Mary's African tour was filmed by Why Women who aim to raise awareness about girl's and women's health The 44-year-old was accompanied by Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs Kristian Jensen for the trip which also focused on Denmarks development and aid efforts in the nation. Her African tour was documented by Why Women for The Why Foundation. The foundation aims to raise awareness about girls and womens health, rights and wellbeing around the world through short films. Dancing around: Mary got up and danced with women who wore vibrant dresses Throughout her visit, Princess Mary visited hospital and maternity wards where she spoke with new mothers and medical staff. Foreign Affairs minister Jensen said he was pleased he, and the princess, were able to visit Burkina Faso. 'Denmark supports Burkina Faso because it is one of the world's poorest nations in which thousands of women die in connection with pregnancy and birth every year,' he said. 'It's completely unacceptable that women are dying in 2016 while giving new life.' Having fun: The princess was dressed in a printed long-sleeved blue dress with slits to the knee While Mary's visit to Africa was for a serious cause, she still found the time to have some fun. The Australian born royal was filmed dancing with a group of women dressed in vibrant pink, yellow, blue and purple dresses. Mary herself was dressed in a long-sleeved printed blue frock that featured slits up to the knees. A contestant appearing on last night's episode of University Challenge found herself the subject of cruel jokes about her gender on Twitter. Sophie Rudd, a Warwick University Student, appeared on the BBC Two quiz show, which aired at 8pm, and despite being widely praised for her intelligence, she also suffered abuse on the social media site. However, those trolling Rudd, who impressed with her quick-fire correct answers, were quickly slammed for being 'ignorant' by a legion of supportive viewers. Scroll down for video Some viewers tuning in to last night's episode of University Challenge took to Twitter to comment on the gender of contestant Sophie Rudd but they were quickly swatted down by other viewers Rudd is good! Viewers of the show picked up on a few negative comments towards Rudd and quickly sent out supportive tweets Despite a stellar performance in which Rudd proved to be the stand-out contestant on the popular show hosted by Jeremy Paxman, some viewers were fixated on her appearance. They received short shrift from the majority of viewers though, who took to Twitter themselves to defend the fiercely intelligent student. @DrKateWhittaker wrote: 'Disheartening to see how threatened Twitter is by transgender contestant. Her intelligence is more noteworthy. #universitychallenge' @Ashleighw13 penned: 'Rudd didn't study at uni to be judged by some of you, she is smashing it and jealousy is a horrible thing #shameonyou' MP @PeterMannionMP added: 'Can we please let Rudd be?' Others were simply flabbergasted by the student's slew of correct answers. @IslaJHeller penned: 'Rudd is owning this! Go girl! #UniversityChallenge' Elsewhere, @fabsternation added: 'I am a massive fan of Rudd on #UniversityChallenge - you go girl, you are one super smart & beautiful lady!' @dh8641 agreed: 'I don't care if Rudd is trans or not. She's been brilliant tonight. Smart without being arrogant. #universitychallenge' While @Natnaik wrote: 'I love #UniversityChallenge but very sad to see that the hashtag tonight is just mocking the trans participant.. she's the cleverest one!' Rudd proved the real victor from the show, answering many of host Jeremy Paxman's questions correctly One viewer suggested that Sophie might yet be the stand-out star of the series One of the brightest stars: There was an overwhelmingly positive response to Rudd's appearance Fear the Warwick team: The Midlands' university team looked hard to beat on last night's show @Procrastinacat summed it up succinctly: 'If you're thick enough to be passing 'funny' comments on people, you're probably too thick to be watching University Challenge.' The show pits some of Britain's brightest students against each other in the popular quiz show that has run since 1962. The rise of social media has seen some of the contestants reach instant - if not momentary fame - as people have taken to Twitter to comment on everything from their eyebrows to their question-answering. Earlier this year, Hannah Woods, captain of Peterhouse College, Cambridge, won fans thanks to her rather unique eyebrow. The arch is her brow proved so popular that it garnered two twitter parody accounts and even a marriage proposal. As much as there's a 'special relationship' between the UK and the US, there's no denying there are some things which leave people on both sides of the pond baffled about their overseas counterparts. And in a new video, Americans living in London give a no-holds-barred account about what they really find baffling about Britain. From urban foxes crying at night and drunk people on public transport, to beans on toast and Marmite, it seems there are plenty of things that perplex expats about British life. In a series of interviews for currency website Transferwise.com, one woman gives an amazingly accurate impression of a screaming urban fox after she reveals the animals' noises late at night really get on her nerves. She said: 'One of the most annoying things about London is the foxes that scream at night.' She doesn't stop there as the curly-haired interviewee goes on to say: 'Have we talked about Marmite yet? It's not fit for consumption.' And it's not just the yeast spread that our US counterparts don't get. One woman whines about a perfectly nutritious lunch, saying: 'Beans on bread - what is that? Just laziness?' After reeling off a list of pet hates the video ends with a woman saying 'I love London, I really do' Another woman said she 'knew she was in London' when she saw a drunk man stumble backward on an escalator on the Underground. While another said about British food: 'Beans on bread - what is that? Just laziness?' Another complains: 'I just don't understand why y'all can't have better food - Cornish pasties? Seriously?' The fact we have carpets in our bedrooms and confusion over pronunciation some other things that come up. One guy questions why 'quay' is said the same as 'key' instead of phonetically. Also, one couple manages to find fault with British keys... which are 'too big'. A new dating show that lets potential suitors see each other naked before they actually meet in person has prompted a mountain of tweets from shocked viewers after the first episiode aired. Channel 4's Naked Attraction saw contestants stripped bare, apparently to explore the science of 'raw primitive attraction' and hopefully find love - but viewers were more fixated on the nudity than any potential romances. Hosted by Anna Richardson, 45, the steamy show left viewers blushing and even questioning why they were watching such a programme. Scroll down for video Awkward! Viewers were left shocked by the first episode of new dating show Naked Attraction, hosted by Anna Richardson on Channel 4, that sees contestants strip down to explore the science of 'raw primitive attraction'... and hopefully find love That's one way to find love...but not everyone agreed that the nudity was anything other than gratuitous That's one way to attract a mate: this tattooed contestant wowed potential suitors with his elephant etching in a very intimate area But viewers couldn't handle the nudity, with many questioning why the show was made in the first place The basic concept of the show sees a male and female 'picker' faced with six bodies from the waist down to the toes. Each singleton is then invited to reject the physiques that they don't feel enticed by, explaining their choices as they go. They will then reveal their final selection before heading out on a 'clothed' date to see if their initial instinct was correct. But it was a televisual idea too far for many people, who took to social media to slam the show. @NJWeatherburn posted: 'Just stumbled across C4's latest offering 'Naked Attraction'. Jesus. Makes Tinder look like arranged marriage. What is wrong with people?' @daryl_millar added: 'Just caught the end of Naked Attraction on C4. Yet more proof that we are living in the end times.' @LJDavies42 was lost for words: Just checked out Naked Attraction on C4 +1 to see what all the fuss was about on Twitter. What... the...' What a laugh: one of the show's contestants prepares for the disrobing moment Sizing up: Contestants prepare to meet their love matches with host Anna Richardson Harmless fun or body fascism? The internet was divided by the controversial show Take a good look lady! A contestant peers at the genitals of a potential love matc NeilA @nalexander74 kept it simple, saying: 'Naked Attraction on C4. No words.' Others compared it to previous dating shows that have featured on television. @rhymerrigby wrote: 'Watching #c4's Naked Attraction which is like Blind Date with full nudity. Reminds me of the ideas Viz's Roger Mellie used to come up with.' In the first episode of the show, which aired at 10pm on Monday, Aina, a music producer from London, wants to find someone adventurous who she can forge a deeper connection with. Meanwhile, Guildford-based designer Mal - who has dated both men and women - is intrigued to see who she will be drawn to when all options are laid bare before her. It appears that Anna Richardson was the perfect pick for host, as she says nudity doesn't bother her in the slightest. 'I couldnt give two hoots if people are naked if your boobs and willies are swinging about, it kind of breaks the ice.' Daily Mail television presenter Christopher Stevens called the show sad, depressing television. He wrote: 'Anyone who doubts the poisonous influence of internet porn has only to watch five minutes of Naked Attraction (C4) to see the damage done. 'For an entire generation, constant exposure to clinical sexual footage has ripped the soul out of erotic love.' Makes you feel like this! Twitter was awash with jokes about how shocking the show was Quest for love: Each singleton must pick the naked body they most prefer before heading out on a 'clothed' date to see if their initial instinct was correct The programme was the brainchild of Studio Lambert, which is behind TV favourites Gogglebox, Undercover Boss and Tattoo Fixers. Apparently producers launched an appeal via social media to find contestants but it proved a rather tricky task finding willing participants. The source added: 'Its quite tough to get people to agree as its their dignity on the line.' Naked Attraction isn't the only nude-themed dating show to hit the screens as of late. Undressed, which has already been a hit in Italy, launched in the UK on TLC last week. The series sees matched up couples strip one another to their underwear on their first meeting and then jump into bed together. When Vanessa Hussle split up with her husband and father of her children, she was understandably heartbroken and secretly hoped they'd one day get back together. She never dreamed that she would eventually end up in a relationship with Paulie - along with his two new 'wives' Hazel, 27, and Lady, 25. But against all odds, Paulie, Vanessa, Hazel and Lady now live together in domestic bliss in New Jersey, with the three women insisting they are the best of friends. Scroll down for video Paulie Hussle with his 'wives' (left to right): Lady, Vanessa and Hazel, who all live together as a 'foursome' Paulie and Vanessa (pictured on their wedding day ten years ago) first met at university in 2003, but after having two children together they drifted apart and went their separate ways. They now live in polygamy The 'foursome' regularly go on dinner dates and even sleep together. And the three 'wives' do everything together, from going to the gym after work, to helping to raise Paulie's three children by Vanessa and Lady. The four lovers have all adopted the surname Hussle, and Paulie has even had t-shirts made for the women with the words 'Sister Wives' and 'Pauliegamy' emblazoned on them. Vanessa, Hazel and Lady even have matching tattoos of Paulie's face between their breasts. Fashion businessman Paulie, 32, explains: When Vanessa and I began having problems in our marriage and broke up, I started seeing Hazel and then, Lady too. I felt so guilty about what I was doing because I still loved my wife. I wanted to be with these two other women but I also wasn't ready to give up on Vanessa.' Paulie's 'wives' (left to right: Hazel, Lady and Vanessa) all get along famously and even share childcare duties He adds: Vanessa was my best friend and my soulmate and I hoped we could still work things out as a foursome. Automotive Engineer, Vanessa, 31, who has an 11-year-old son and a nine-year-old daughter with Paulie, adds: When I heard that Paulie was in a relationship with Hazel and Lady, I was shocked. Initially I hated the thought of these two women - they made my blood boil. I told my friends that if I ever met Hazel and Lady, it would end in a fist fight! But over time, I came to understand what Paulie was feeling and I became attracted and in love with these women too.' Vanessa recalls: When I told Paulie that I wanted to be in a relationship with him and Hazel and Lady, he cried tears of joy. It was like we had finally found happiness together - it saved our marriage. Everyday is like an amazing sleepover with my husband and my favourite girlfriends. It's an adventure. Vanessa (centre) says: Lots of couple experience problems in their marriage but are too scared to explore other options. I couldn't live without these two women now' Paulie - who dubs himself 'Lord of the Wives' and has a tattoo of his three partners on his chest - admits that having multiple wives can take a lot of organising Paulie - who dubs himself 'Lord of the Wives' and also has a tattoo of his three partners on his chest - admits that having multiple wives can take a lot of organising. He explains: I have a special calendar on my iPad which I have colour-coded for each wife to make sure that I take them on individual dates and give them the attention they deserve. But the four of us love to get dressed up and go out for fancy dinners together. People stare at us when we walk into restaurants but we don't care. Some nights, we leave the kids with their grandparents and the four of us get in the Jacuzzi or have amazing sex together in the living room.' He explains: I want to make sure Vanessa, Lady and Hazel all get pleasure so I put an album on and I have sex with each of them for the duration of one song. Paulie's first wife Vanessa admits: When I heard about Hazel and Lady, I was furious and jealous at first' Paulie pursued a relationship with Lady (left) and Hazel (right) after splitting from Vanessa, however they all now live together happily and say they even sleep together on a regular basis The foursome run a polyamory blog and have been dubbed 'Paulie's Wives' by their social media following. Vanessa says: Paulie is such a caring husband to all of us. Some people look at our family and think it's a one-sided thing but we all love each other equally. Lots of couple experience problems in their marriage but are too scared to explore other options. I couldn't live without these two women now. When Paulie and Vanessa first met twelve years ago at St Peters University, New Jersey, it was love at first sight. Vanessa, who had only ever been in monogamous relationships before, explains: We were introduced to each other by a mutual friend and it was love at first sight for me. He was the most interesting person I had ever met, he was very mature and intelligent. Paulie (centre, with his 'wives') says: The four of us love to get dressed up and go out for fancy dinners together. People stare at us when we walk into restaurants but we don't care' The four lovers have all adopted the new surname Hussle, and Paulie has even had t-shirts made for the women with the words 'Sister Wives' and 'Pauliegamy' emblazoned on them (pictured) On our first date, we just talked for hours. Our relationship blossomed really quickly - we fell in love with each other and we got married soon after. A few months later, I became pregnant with our son and we were really happy. Paulie and Vanessa moved in together and, in 2006, she gave birth to their second child. But after three blissful years together, Paulie and Vanessa started to notice cracks in their relationship and grew apart. The pair split up but remained friends for the sake of their children. Vanessa says: Paulie and I got together so young and had two kids really quickly. Things became very intense and we broke up. But even though we had split up, deep down I still loved Paulie and hoped we would eventually get back together. However a year later, in 2007, Paulie began dating store supervisor Hazel. Incredibly, 18 months later, he started an open relationship with secretary Lady as well. The foursome run a polyamory blog and have been dubbed 'Paulie's Wives' by their social media following Paulie's Wives: Hazel explains, We are sisters, best friends, partners in crime - we're everything to each other. We all love each other equally and we have a bond - that's the best part of our relationship' Paulie explains: Vanessa and I got serious in our relationship quickly and I was scared. Even when we had split up, Vanessa was always in my heart. Emotionally, I never truly left her. I felt bad about keeping Vanessa in the dark when I started seeing Hazel and Lady after our break-up. But deep down I was realizing that I wanted to be with other women as well as Vanessa. However, it was not long before Vanessa learned about Paulie's relationship with these two women and she was distraught. Vanessa says: When I heard about Hazel and Lady, I was furious and jealous at first. There was one incident when I crossed paths with Hazel at a work event and I was so enraged by the sight of her. It was a struggle not to confront Hazel about the situation with my husband. But I kept my distance and decided to be civil. Eventually I realised that I couldn't avoid Hazel and Lady forever so I decided to reach out to them. I wanted to get to know Hazel and Lady and see what Paulie saw in them. Hazel (far right) explains: I love having the girls around. And when Paulie's working, we can still have fun with each other Vanessa, Hazel and Lady have their own joint bedroom whilst Paulie (centre) has his own bedroom which the women have lightheartedly dubbed his 'lair'. He has a calendar to ensure he spends enough time with them all After meeting Hazel and Lady for the first time, Vanessa realised how much she enjoyed the company of the two women. Over the years, she grew closer to them. Vanessa explains: I was surprised to find that I got with both Hazel and Lady. They were both so friendly and family orientated. Hazel started helping out with the kids and we would all have lunch together, go to concerts and just chat all night. It was like they were old girlfriends. And I could tell from the way Hazel and Lady looked at Paulie, that they loved him the way I loved him too. That endeared them to me more. We all got along so well and I knew somehow the four of us could make this work. Gradually, the women's relationship became sexual. And Vanessa started to sexually experiment with Paulie, Hazel, Lady - and even other women. Paulie says: People ask me if I would allow another man in the relationship. But it's not my decision, just because I'm a man that doesn't mean I run the show or make rules' The three women do everything together, from shopping to helping with childcare and even sharing a bed Vanessa, who identifies as bisexual, says: I had experimented with women before I met Paulie and found both Hazel and Lady attractive. Hazel kissed me when we are at a concert together and I started sleeping with her first, followed by Lady a bit later. Sometimes, we would all do stuff with Paulie and other girls as well. I still had feelings for Paulie too and he suggested we could all be in a relationship together. At first it was hard to swallow and I had struggled emotionally with the idea. But Paulie was my first real boyfriend and the first person I had ever cared about. I knew I was able to wrap my heart and mind around him and this new way of life if I tried. So after thinking about it, I realised I could have the best of both worlds by being with Paulie and the women I had fallen for. Paulie adds: Vanessa and I fell in love hard then we became parents quickly so we didn't have time to learn about each other and our desires and habits and ways. The best thing we did was have our break-up because we got to learn what we wanted and we adapted to each other's habits. Without those struggles, we wouldn't have the happiness we have now. Vanessa (far right) says: There's always something interesting going on, never a dull moment. We're all really close to each other'. She calls Paulie's other 'wives' her 'partners in crime' By 2012 the foursome were officially in a polyamorous relationship and they moved in together. Two months ago, Lady gave birth to Paulie's son. Vanessa says: I remember looking up polyamory on the internet and saying to Hazel and Lady, that's us! We're one happy family and we were so thrilled when Lady became pregnant last year. We all help out with the baby. Now, Vanessa, Hazel and Lady love hanging out together at home. Hazel explains: We are sisters, best friends, partners in crime - we're everything to each other. We all love each other equally and we have a bond - that's the best part of our relationship. We've all tried monogamous relationships before and it's never worked for us. Sometimes you can get bored of a guy - we love the variety of a polyamorous relationship. I love having the girls around. And when Paulie's working, we can still have fun with each other. Vanessa adds: There's always something interesting going on, never a dull moment. We're all really close to each other. We hang out as a trio and in pairs. There's lots of girl talk, watching movies, getting our hair and nails done together. We do yoga in the evenings or go to the gym or just hang out. Vanessa, Hazel and Lady take it in turns to sleep with Paulie as well as regularly spending the night together There was one week where we had a glass of wine every night, watched Netflix and chatted. It was the best. Lady, adds: But when we all have our periods, it's the worst! You can feel the PMS in the house. When it's the time of the month it can be a nightmare for Paulie as we get pretty stressed out! We never have any big arguments but of course we bicker about silly things like whose hair is left in the bathroom and the dirty dishes left in the sink! But the foursome agree that having so many women in the relationship does help with household chores and looking after the kids. Vanessa says: Errands are definitely easier with more women. We help out with looking after the kids and we get things done quickly because there's more of us! It's very efficient. Lady looks after the children in the morning and I make dinner for everyone in the evening as I love cooking. Hazel does all the cleaning whilst Paulie is the main breadwinner. Vanessa, Hazel and Lady have their own joint bedroom whilst Paulie has his own bedroom which the women have lightheartedly dubbed his 'lair'. Paulie says: Vanessa and I fell in love hard then we became parents quickly so we didn't have time to learn about each other and our desires and habits and ways' Paulie says: I've had some ups and downs with my family but ultimately, they respect my lifestyle. Thankfully the kids have never been bullied - I've taught them to be proud of their family and stand up for themselves' Vanessa, Hazel and Lady take it in turns to sleep with Paulie as well as regularly spending the night together too.The foursome have experimented with other women and are open to adding another 'wife' to their household. Lady explains: We're loyal to Paulie and each other but we like to explore other women as we all identify as bisexual. We've had two "wives" come and go - we jokingly call them divorces! But we still have chats with our ex-wives - they come round and visit. There's never any hate Paulie adds: People ask me if I would allow another man in the relationship. But it's not my decision, just because I'm a man that doesn't mean I run the show or make rules. I wouldn't mind having another man at all. I let my wives do whatever they want, we don't get jealous or overprotective. But if another man did enter the relationship, I would like him to take on half of the financial and general responsibility that I take on. He has to put in his part and pay the bills as well as half of the mortgage. I'm the breadwinner and looking after three women is hard But Paulie admits they do get criticised over their unconventional lifestyle. Lady (far right) explains: We're loyal to Paulie and each other but we like to explore other women as we all identify as bisexual. We've had two "wives" come and go - we jokingly call them divorces!' He explains: I've had some ups and downs with my family but ultimately, they respect my lifestyle. Thankfully the kids have never been bullied - I've taught them to be proud of their family and stand up for themselves. They know who their mum is and they see the other girls as nannies. People have judged me for the way I live and I've been turned down for business opportunities because they've known I was poly. But at the end of the day, Vanessa, Hazel and Lady and I have been together for a long time now. We've grown with each other, our relationship is not just a passing phase. I'm so grateful for what we have together. I feel like the luckiest man alive. As for the future, the foursome are open to expanding their family. Vanessa says: Hazel would like to have a child with Paulie too, maybe in a year or two. We are open to other wives joining but I know whatever happens, it'll always be me, Hazel and Lady. We're happy with our set up. Gemma, 31, says these people don't have the drive to change their bodies Reveals a man trolled her online saying: 'You're so big, you're like a lad' Gemma Atkinson has laughed off comments that her muscular figure makes her look manly. The actress and model, 31, revealed that a man commented on one of her Instagram images saying: 'You are so big, you're like a lad.' Gemma says her response to him was: 'Well if you started to lift heavier weights then maybe you would look like more of a man, too!' 'Over the years I have grown to love the way I look and my figure has become a lot more muscular' The Emmerdale actress says people who are threatened by her appearance are just jealous. 'I have changed my body and they clearly want to as well. Sadly, they don't have the same drive and willpower so they put me down. It's so petty.' Body-confident Gemma, who plays Carly in the ITV soap, reveals she has become happier with her appearance. 'Over the years I have grown to love the way I look and my figure has become a lot more muscular as a result of regular gym workouts and yoga,' she says in an interview with Closer. 'I have increased my muscle mass and reduced my body fat so I look bigger now than before. I'm certainly heavier, but I love it - I feel strong.' Despite her enviable figure and career as a lingerie model, Manchester-born Gemma, who recently split from boyfriend of two years Olly Foster, used to get bullied for her looks. Gemma looks glamorous at the British Soap Awards at the Hackney Town Hall Assembly Rooms in May, 2016 However, after working tirelessly on her physique, newly-single Gemma, now has body confidence by the bucket load. And she made sure to show the personal trainer what he's missing when she headed out on Saturday night. The former Hollyoaks star showed off her incredible gym-honed figure as she left Neighbourhood bar in Manchester with her girl pals, going braless in a very sexy mini dress. She later petted a man's dog in the street, making sure to hang onto her modesty as she leant over in her gold statement heels. To keep herself in top shape, the blonde stunner wakes up at 4.30am and starts her day with yoga or 30 minutes on the exercise bike - but occasionally indulges in doughnuts as a reward. Gemma does not own a scale and has frequently made the case that weighing more does not mean one is less fit. 'Believe it or not, I'm around 1 stone heavier in the pink bikini but with a lot less body fat' At the start of the year she posted a striking side-by-side bikini photo on Instagram, showing her body before and after she started weight training. She looks healthy and stunning in both shots, but points out that she weighs more in the after photo, which shows her looking absolutely ripped. The caption said: 'Believe it or not, I'm around 1 stone heavier in the pink bikini but with a lot less body fat.' 'I am very happy now,' the former I'm A Celebrity star said in a recent interview. 'I still get insecure like most girls. My legs will always be my problem area, that's where we hold weight in my family. My response to him was: 'Well if you started to lift heavier weights then maybe you would look like more of a man, too!' 'I have kind of learned to love them in a way. They have been with me for 31 years carrying 11 stone around, so they are doing something right.' When it comes to surgery, she told the Express: I had breast enlargement surgery when I was younger, which I'm happy with. I am not keen on doing anything to my face. I don't like the idea of Botox, or fillers or anything like that. Although she is super-happy with her physique and appearance after honing it to the nth degree, she revealed in an interview in March that she still gets flak over her looks. 'I remember telling someone and they couldn't believe I was that weight,' she told the Mirror. 'But I am 5ft 9in tall, have big thighs and I'm broad from "good stock' as my grandad would say." 'I am very happy now,' she said. 'I still get insecure like most girls. My legs will always be my problem area, that's where we hold weight in my family. 'I have kind of learned to love them in a way. They have been with me for 31 years carrying 11 stone around, so they are doing something right.' She says people are just jealous. 'I have changed my body and they clearly want to as well' Despite her recent split from boyfriend Olly, a former rugby player, the pair friends and he continues to train her. She told the Sunday People: 'Sometimes there are people in your life and it's just not working out the way you thought. We'll always be in each other's life but just as friends. 'We went on a road trip the other week together. Now I can't get away with ditching sessions as he's quite strict with me. I'm happily single. 'I've got the dogs and lots going on professionally. It's nice to be on my own for a bit.I have not even thought about dating. I will give it a few months.' Gemma previously revealed plans to have children with Olly. She said her broodiness ramped up a notch when she was introduced to her former Hollyoaks co-star Mikyla Dodd's little one. She explained: 'I am a bit broody after seeing Mikyla baby. I always said I'd have a baby at 32 my mum had me at 32 so hopefully we'll do that in a few years if God allows it.' On a day when Yellowstone County commissioners honored three employees for more than nine decades combined spent working for the county including one of their own they also placed taxpayers on track to save up to $146,000 annually. Commissioners awarded plaques to three retiring employees Tuesday Commission Chairman Bill Kennedy, whos leaving during his 24th year in office; Tim Paulson of the Road and Bridge Department, who finished with 39 years on the job; and Carolyn Pluhar, who worked at the Yellowstone County Detention Center for 31 years. Commissioner Jim Reno said hell remember Kennedy for helping folks in the community who are often overlooked. They are folks you might drive by and say, Glad thats not me. Not Bill. He stops to figure out how to make their life better. He has a passion for what he does, and weve all benefited from that. There is a lot of experience and passion walking out the door. Commissioner John Ostlund was not in attendance Tuesday. On Aug. 1, Kennedy will begin leading the MSU Billings Foundation. Im sad to leave, but Im happy to leave, Kennedy said. Im also very humbled by being able to serve the people of Yellowstone County for so long. One person cant do it all, he told a meeting room full of well-wishers. Its about getting people to come forward to do things to make life better for everyone, and I hope we can keep serving people in this community and across the state. Public Works Director Tim Miller credited Paulson with installing 99.9 percent of the signs you see along county roads, and at the shop hes probably poured 90 percent of the concrete. Hes probably the No. 1 prankster around the shop, Miller said, but there are probably two or four others who are trying to fill his shoes. Jail Commander Capt. Sam Bofto said Pluhar has a kind heart when she needs to, and Ive seen her get mean, too. Noting that shes transitioning into the Alternatives Inc. program, Bofto said, You can take the lady out of the jail, but you cant take the jail out of the lady. It was time to retire after 31 years, Pluhar said. I needed something a little less stressful. Commissioners also voted 2-0 to give the Montana Association of Counties 60 days notice that the county will switch its workers compensation insurance coverage to the Montana State Fund. Chris Hoiness of PayneWest Insurance, whos the countys workers compensation consultant, said the move could save the county $146,000 annually in reduced premiums largely based on the countys strong recent history of workplace safety. Barb Beck, regional supervisor for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, who began her current position in November, said shes been meeting with county commissioners in the region about issues we might have in common. During a brief presentation she discussed grizzly bear delisting, sage grouse populations in Yellowstone County and the upcoming elk shoulder season. Change is in the air! Or at least it is in Hollywood where enough A-listers are stepping out with new hairstyles to fill a Pinterest board. Ariana Grande, 23, got bangs, Karlie Kloss, 23, went blonde and Kendall Jenner, 20, trimmed a little bit more off of her already new lob - and that's just to name a few. The influx of salon visits makes sense; it's that time in the summer season when you're feeling carefree and spontaneous, and your hair starts to feel heavy and look fried. Conveniently, now we've got tons of inspiration for our own mid-summer make-overs. Read on below for three ways to change up your look, courtesy of your favorite celebs. FRESH FRINGE Ariana Grande 'broke free' of her signature hair look when she topped her high ponytail off with bangs over the weekend. She's experimented with faux fringe in the past, but this time, it's the real deal. 'Change. feelin free. happy. Banginnnnnnn,' she wrote on Twitter after debuting the style. Emily Ratajkowski, 25, on the other hand, was just taking the style out for a spin when she Instagrammed a picture of herself with bangs at a photo shoot last week. Harry Josh, the sexy model's hairstylist, said that it gave her a French 'gamine' look. Bang bang into the salon: Ariana Grande (left), 23, has switched up her signature look by getting bangs, while Emily Ratajkowski (right), 25, test drove the style on a recent photo shoot CLEAN CUT 'Honestly, Ive been wanting to change my hair for a while now,' Kendall Jenner wrote on her app after stepping out with a long bob in June. For inspiration, the reality star looked to the bob worn by supermodel Christy Turlington circa 1990. Though shortly after taking the plunge, the model admitted to missing her long hair, she's clearly come around to the length. As documented on Snapchat, Kendall paid a visit to hairstylist Jen Atkin yesterday for a trim. Perhaps inspired by her friend and fellow model's new look, Cara Delevingne, 23, said goodbye to her trademark long hair earlier this week just in time for Comic Con, where she was promoting her forthcoming film, Suicide Squad. Meanwhile, Selena Gomez, 24, just kicked off the Asian leg of her tour with what her hairstylist Riawna Capri calls, a 'modern day shag'. Riawna wrote on Instagram, 'Been doing this beauty's hair for 6 years now...And I might have to say this might be my favorite cut on her so far.' The supermodel bob: Kendall Jenner, 20, was inspired to cut off a significant amount of hair by supermodel Christy Turlington's 1990s-era bob Short cuts: Selena Gomez (left), 24, now has what her hairstylist calls a 'modern day shag', and Cara Delevingne (right), 23, opted for a cut to match her bestie, Kendall LIGHTEN UP A few months ago, it seemed as though platinum was the only hair color available in Hollywood (Taylor Swift, Kristen Stewart and Jennifer Lawrence were among the A-listers to get bleached), but we're beginning to see some variations on the ultra-light trend. Currently testing the theory of whether blondes have more fun is Gina Rodriguez, 31, and Karlie Kloss. The Jane the Virgin actress recently debuted a 'summer blonde' shade with dark roots that give the look an edge, while Karlie took her honey blonde hair up a few notches with what appears to be a pink-tinged platinum. 'I'm already having more fun,' the model wrote in a new selfie on Instagram. Speaking of pink, after killing the beauty game while promoting her film Neon Demon, Elle Fanning, 18, continues to inspire with a fresh dusty rose dye job. Sarah Hyland, 25, has gone back to bronde for her role on Modern Family, but before getting there from her dark brown color, she spent a brief period as a redhead. Receiving the stamp of approval from her Instagram followers, she wrote that the copper shade was, 'a happy surprise that I may want to go back to'. Pink ladies: Karlie Kloss' (left), 23, new platinum look appears to have a pink tinge, while Elle Fanning (right), 18, went all out with the dusty hue It's difficult to picture the Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles snapping away on their smartphones behind closed doors. But when it comes to public appearances, Camilla proved today that she was more than happy to pose for not one, but two selfies, with members of the public. The 69-year-old royal was first seen beaming with a young woman as she held up her phone for the snap, as she joined families at the Poppy Pod Village which provides camping facilities to provide some respite for members of the Armed Forces. The Duchess of Cornwall posed for not one but two selfies this afternoon as she joined families at the Poppy Pod Village camping aimed at giving respite for the Armed Forces Just moments later the duchess posed with a mother and her children but while they were all looking into the camera, Camilla was glancing away from the lens. There were plenty of photo opportunities today as Camilla officially opened the new facility at the Tile Barn Outdoor Centre, near Brockenhurst, in the New Forest, Hampshire. While talking to Darren Hatfield, 38, a Royal Navy leading chef based at RNAS Yeovilton, the duchess asked him if his daughter, Gracie, six, snored, to which he replied: 'No, but daddy does.' However, it appears that Camilla won't have taken the best selfie with this family as she failed to look at the camera while a mother took a snap There were plenty of photo opportunities today as Camilla officially opened the new facility at the Tile Barn Outdoor Centre, near Brockenhurst, in the New Forest, Hampshire Afterwards, L/Chef Hatfield, who is on holiday with his wife Lisa, other daughters Mya, 13, Megan, 12, and Lyla, four, said: 'It was brilliant to meet her, you do not realise the royals are real people until you meet them, but she really put you at your ease.' A tanned Camilla also watched youngsters from Brockenhurst Primary School using the outdoor climbing equipment and had to duck as eight-year-old Adam Cartwright waved a pole around as he explained the purpose of the exercise. The duchess said: 'Oh my goodness. Thank you very much for explaining or otherwise I wouldn't know where you were going.' Camilla also watched youngsters from Brockenhurst Primary School using the outdoor climbing equipment Camilla had to duck as eight-year-old Adam Cartwright (pictured) waved a pole around as he explained the purpose of the exercise Camilla also met members of the 1st Brabourne and Smeeth Scout Group from Ashford, Kent, who demonstrated the firing of a giant catapult they had built from branches. She then attended a reception with a performance by the Military Wives Choir of Salisbury and Marchwood attended by families and personnel from The Queen's Own Rifles, a locally-based regiment of which the duchess is colonel-in-chief, where she unveiled a poppy-shaped plaque marking the opening of the accommodation. During the ceremony a young girl fainted and afterwards Camilla met her to make sure she was feeling better. Camilla also met members of the 1st Brabourne and Smeeth Scout Group from Ashford, Kent The lively youngsters demonstrated the firing of a giant catapult they had built from branches The royal seemed extremely interested in the various activities that the cheeky Scout members were up to Despite the duchess being in their presents the boys could not compose themselves as they fell about in fits of laughter The 20 wooden solar-powered poppy camping pods were inspired by the BBC programme The Choir, with Gareth Malone, which provided an insight into the fears and isolation of military wives as their husbands and partners served in Afghanistan. The village has been created by Hampshire County Council with funding from the Armed Forces Community Covenant Grant and the Brockenhurst branch of the Royal British Legion. Each Poppy Pod is named after a battle from Amiens to Ypres, and pine seeds from Gallipoli have been planted nearby. The duchess visited the nearby St Nicholas' Church and its cemetery of Commonwealth War Graves The churchyard contains 106 graves of the First World War, of which 100 are in the New Zealand plot Camilla layed a bunch of flowers by the graves as she paid her respects to the fallen soldiers Earlier, the duchess visited the nearby St Nicholas' Church and its cemetery of Commonwealth War Graves. The churchyard contains 106 graves of the First World War, of which 100 are in the New Zealand plot, including 93 New Zealand graves, three Indian and three unidentified Belgian civilians (employed at the Sopley Forestry camp). Camilla also viewed a newly-created commemorative stained-glass window honouring those connected to the First World War hospital which stood nearby. Brockenhurst was chosen in 1915 by the War Office to become a hospital centre because of its proximity to the port of Southampton. The stained glass window honours those who were connected to the New Zealand hospital and tells the story of the doctors, nurses and auxiliary workers who came over from New Zealand and the 21,000 troops who were treated there. A couple with a menagerie of pets have gained tens of thousands of followers on Instagram for their adorable photos of their furry family. Kasey and Blake Boggs of Defiance, Missouri, are the happy owners of Roxy, Edith, Mia, Rose, Jake, Gertrude and Donald - a family of four dogs a cat and two ducklings. According to the owners, who have been rescuing animals for more than a decade, the strange group are surprisingly, utterly inseparable. Happy family: Kasey and Blake Boggs of Defiance, Missouri, have gained a massive social media following for photos of their menagerie of pets Quite a brood: The couple have four dogs, a cat and two ducklings among their group of pets Best friends: The animals are totally inseparable and, according to Kasey, even get together to pose for photos Not only that, but they love posing for photos together. Kasey told Barkpost: 'Whenever I have to take a pic of two or three of them, I put the others in a different room.' She added: 'If I try to do it in front of them, they will come together, because they are so used to being together.' The family head out on regular adventures, including hikes and pool parties on the weekend, all of which are thoroughly documented on their Instagram page. The two pitbulls, two terriers, ginger cat and two ducklings have proved to be quite popular with the online community, with the page boasting more than more than 35,000 followers. Making moves: The pair have been rescuing animals for more than a decade - and their current pack of pets is no different A bit of attention: The animals and their brilliantly posed photos have gained their owners more than 35,000 followers on Instagram Patient pups: The animals are often seen sporting props and costumes in the images Cuddling up: Even the ducks aren't afraid to get up close and personal with their pit bull friends Happy beginnings: The family began with Roxy, a toy fox terrier living without a hip joint The photos show the animals often perfectly lined up next to each other and sometimes wearing adorable costumes. The family began with Roxy, a toy fox terrier who had difficulties with mobility due to the lack of a hip joint. After adopting a pit bull who sadly passed away from a heart attack, the couple developed a love for the breed, subsequently rescuing two of the type, who they named Jake and Rosie. Adding up: The family later added two rescued pit bulls to the family, named Jake and Rosie Looking good: The family was rounded off with the addition of Edith, a rat terrier Italian greyhound mix, and Mia the tailless cat Welcomed: The family also brought in a pair of ducklings into the family more recently, named Gertrude and Donald All together: The family are hoping to rescue more animals in the future, but have other things on their plate for the moment More to come: The couple used their pets to announce that they are expecting their own baby next year Edith, a rat terrier Italian greyhound mix, was adopted by the couple after being found in an alleyway lying on her dead mother to keep warm, Mia, a rescued stray cat with no tail and a love for hiking, rounds how the fluffy side of the family, who were joined not long ago by a pair of feathered friends: two ducklings named Gertrude and Donald. And the family isn't even done growing, as Kasey and Blake revealed last month with a picture of their pets in bibs and baby hats. Following her recent engagement to James Matthews bride-to-be Pippa Middleton has regularly been spotted out and about wearing her fabulous diamond ring. And this afternoon she proved that the 250,000 sparkler accessorises with every ensemble - including jeans, blouse and a bike helmet. The 32-year-old was seen weaving among the busy city traffic on board a Victoria Pendleton bicycle, which retail for around 300, this afternoon. Pippa Middleton proved that there isn't anything that doesn't go with her new engagement ring today as she hopped aboard her bike for a cycle around London Always one to look chic Pippa was dressed in a variety of animal print items as she made her way through the capital. She kept the heat at bay in a loose fitting crocodile print blouse which she paired with a pair of white skinny jeans. The ever-stylish brunette tied her outfit together with a pair of slip on python skin shoes and then topped off her whole look with a natty faux-crocodile skin helmet at 84 from Sawako. Of course the number one feature for the Duchess of Cambridge's little sister was her eye-popping asscher ring which she hasn't removed since her beau of less than a year went down on one knee 10 days ago. Always chic Pippa was dressed in a variety of animal print items as she made her way through the capital Ever stylish Pippa paired her crocodile print blouse with a matching faux-croc skin helmet for her bike ride Pippa missed no opportunity to flash her sparkling engagement ring which is estimated to have cost 200,000 She certainly hasn't stopped her engagement celebrations from doing everyday activities. Yesterday, Pippa took her dog, Rafa, for a walk in her Chelsea stomping ground dressed in a loose-fitted peach shirt and figure-hugging jeans, which showcased her gym honed legs in all their glory. The family are keen on cocker spaniels - Pippa's brother, James, gave a cocker spaniel named Lupo to Kate and William as their wedding present. It was the first time she'd been spotted out and about after the Mail On Sunday reported that last weekends long-expected engagement to 40-year-old hedge fund millionaire James involved a decade of waiting, meticulous planning and a dazzling campaign of gifts and treats that extended to her parents, too. Practical Pippa opted for a pair of white jeans this afternoon to make cycling easier for the bride-to-be The Duchess of Cambridge's little sister was on board a Victoria Pendleton bike on Tuesday afternoon Pippa's appearance this afternoon will be her sixth since the announcement of her engagement to James Matthews Thanks to the millions earned from Eden Rock Capital Management, the financial company named after his parents Caribbean hotel, James has been in a position to woo Pippa in the most extraordinary style. She now wears not just the art deco engagement ring with a three-carat diamond at its centre, but the 14,500 Cartier Ballon Bleu watch he gave her, too. The Mail on Sunday revealed that James has been patiently pursuing his bride-to-be for a full ten years strategically planning his advances while waiting for Pippa to outgrow the eight-year age gap between them. Pippa Middleton walked her dog on Monday evening, again with her asscher radiant diamond ring The family are keen on cocker spaniels - Pippa's brother, James, gave a cocker spaniel named Lupo to Kate and William as their wedding present And while other privileged young men might busy themselves with a series of girlfriends, James used the time to build a business and a fortune so vast he could treat her like a princess. There was no shortage of trophies on display last Thursday, when he hosted a lavish summer party for a select group of decidedly upmarket friends at his home in Chelsea. It was also recently revealed that the author and party planner is set to inherit her own title. Whilst her big sister Kate owns the title of Duchess of Cambridge, Pippa will one day become Lady Glen Affric, according to The Express. Pippa's future father-in-law, David Matthews, is the Laird of Glen Affric and owns a 10,000-acre Scottish estate near Loch Ness in the Scottish highlands. When David dies, James will inherit the title and Pippa will have her own title bestowed upon her as his wife, which she can use in the Commonwealth. Pippa's appearance comes after it was revealed by the Mail On Sunday that last weekends long-expected engagement to 40-year-old hedge fund millionaire James Matthews involved a decade of waiting The Duchess of Cambridge's little sister has certainly been glued to her new diamond sparkler since her beau, hedge fund millionaire James Matthews, popped the question on the weekend As Australian art historian Michael Reed explained: 'In coming years and particularly as the future Lady Glenaffric, Pippa Middleton will be able to entertain lavishly on her husband's grand Scottish Glen Affric Estate . 'This is because Pippa herself comes from a family who is familiar with vast landed estates - her great grandmother Olive Middleton grew up at her family's Potternewton Hall Estate, near Leeds - leaving trust funds behind for her descendants.' 'Youve certainly got this Matthews family who own this huge baronial castle.' He believes David inherited the plush title when he purchased the estate back in 2008. Pippa wears not just a 250,000 art deco engagement ring with a three-carat Asscher-cut diamond at its centre, but the 14,500 Cartier Ballon Bleu watch he gave her, too Experts say that her centre diamond appears to be a 4 carat asscher cut diamond and given the nature of these step cut stones, the quality is paramount so the stone requires the highest of clarity gradings Pippa's fiance's father, David Matthews, is the Laird of Glen Affric and owns a 10,000-acre Scottish estate near Loch Ness in the Scottish highlands Pippa's big sister, theDuchess of Cambridge, and Prince William are said to be 'absolutely delighted' with the announcement and have given the newly engaged couple their blessing. A spokesman for the Cambridges said: 'The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are absolutely delighted with the news.' Pippa's father, Mr Middleton, added in a statement given to the Press Association: 'Carole and I are absolutely thrilled with the news. They make a wonderful couple and we wish them every happiness together.' Pippa displayed the dazzling diamond rock as she brushed her brunette locks away from her face on a sunny day in the city It has, however, been suggested that Kate may not be able to serve as Pippa's maid of honour, with Royals author Judy Wade saying Kate would 'upstage her sister'. She told People: 'It's a tricky situation for Pippa. She would want her sister by her side, as who else would she trust to make things go well? But if your sister is a future Queen, she is going to upstage the bride and draw attention. Kate would want to be in the background as much as possible.' Nevertheless, Pippa has continued to garner plenty of attention this week thanks to her ring. A spokesman for the Cambridges, pictured at Wimbledon last week, said: 'The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are absolutely delighted with the news' Pippa and James gaze into each other's eyes as they enjoyed the play on Centre Court at WImbledon 2016 James asked Pippa to marry him last weekend during a weekend away in the Lake District and within a moment she said 'yes' and suddenly Britain's most eligible young woman was off the market. Less than a year after she began properly dating the handsome hedge fund manager (they were briefly an item in 2012) the Duchess of Cambridge's sister is now engaged to be married. Pippa and her fiance have shared their delight at their engagement and revealed they plan to marry next year. The Duchess of Cambridge's younger sister and her future husband will wed in 2017 - in what is set to be one of the most talked about society weddings since William and Kate tied the knot five years ago. 'Miss Pippa Middleton and Mr James Matthews are delighted to announce they became engaged on Sunday 17th July and plan to marry next year,' they said in a statement released to the Press Association. Royal watchers are expecting Prince George and Princess Charlotte to play an important role - as page boy and flower girl, while Kate looks set to be her sister's matron of honour. It was the Royal Wedding in 2011, of course, that propelled Pippa to global fame after her star turn as her sister's chief bridesmaid and - thanks to a figure-hugging dress - the nickname of 'her royal hotness'. You're probably guilty of taking a picture of your well-presented meal before digging into it. And you're not alone with thousands of other foodies sharing their photogenic food on Instagram. Having a good-looking meal is one of the hallmarks of a successful restaurant or cafe which in turn gives them great business, and all across Australia the trend has grown substantially, according to Good Food. Insta-famous: The strawberry watermelon cake from Black Star Pastry in Newtown is one of the most pictured and shared cakes in the world Coloured than your average: Matcha Mylkbar in Melbourne serves different coloured lattes like the pink beetroot and the blue smurf with E3 live algae Rainbow: The Rainbow latte started spread worldwide after a Las Vegas barista used food colouring in their latte milk, the trend spread around the globe and Australian baristas adopted using superfood ingredients Crazy coco: Presentation of this hot chocolate from Hash Speciality Coffee and Roasters is tasty drink meets science experiment One of the Australia's, if not the world's, most Instagrammed cakes is Black Star Pastry's strawberry watermelon cake with rose-scented cream and dried rose petals on top in Sydney. Your standard latte is now available in a range of colours from matcha green, blue E3 live algae and pink beetroot at Matcha Mylkbar cafe in Melbourne with many foodies sharing it photos of it on social media. Producers of the E3 live algae said it helps balance mind and body: 'its field of action simultaneously includes the immune, endocrine, nervous, gastro-intestinal and cardio-vascular systems.' The coloured latte trend started spread worldwide after a Las Vegas barista used food colouring in their latte milk. But if you think different coloured lattes are over the top, take a look at this hot chocolate presented like a science experiment and a giant cloud of milk foam from Hash Speciality Coffee and Roasters in Sydney. Yummy: C9 Chocolate and gelato serve delicious ice cream sliders using cookies to sandwich creamy filling Flower gelato: i-Creamy 9's floral gelato in Sydney is another most shared food on Instragram Fish cone: The fish shaped waffle cone from Zero Degrees is another shared popular dessert shared on social media Some of the most Instagrammed desserts include the flower gelato from Sydney's i-Creamy, C9 Chocolate and Gelato's ice cream sliders and soft serve ice cream in a waffle fish shaped cone from Zero Degrees. The egg waffles from Haven Speciality Coffee in Surry Hills is another highly Instagrammed food which is served with Japanese green tea matcha or rose infused sour cherries, Madagascan dark chocolate brownie & chocolate ice-cream, or savoury. For fans of a sweet breakfast there is The Picnic in Burwood's who artfully prepared french toast with watermelon, fresh berries, berry reduction, Persian fairy floss, pistachios and dulce de leche. Black forest egg waffle: The beautifully presented egg waffle from Haven Speciality Coffee in Surry Hills Over the top breakkie: The French Toast with watermelon and Persian fairy floss is one of the most extravagant breakfasts shared on Instagram Luxe soft serve: One Devon on Danks serves the odd but delicious combination of chips, soft serve ice cream and truffle that Instgrammers have gone crazy for Beautiful bagels: Smoking Gun Bagels are another most Instagrammed food that serves it sweet or savoury But if looking for something that combines sweet and savoury foodies have shared plenty of posts of Devon on Danks soft serve ice cream with chips and truffle. Bagels from Smoking Gun Bagels social media users love to share because of its aesthetic appeal ranging from sweet Rosella & Riberry Jam to savoury smoked trout with dill, capers and red onion. For fans of savoury eats you can't go past good old fried chicken especially from Belle's Hot Chicken, available in Sydney and Melbourne, pictured with tangy pickles in the bowl. Tasty wings: Fried chicken wings with pickles and chips are another highly pictured and shared meal on social media Filled to the top: Breakfast croissant filled with mac and cheese, bacon, egg and tomato relish Indulgent: Luxurious is one word for these croissants filled with lemon sauce and topped with a gold leaf Cheese extravaganza: Grilled cheese sandwiches from Maker and Monger have also been a hit with foodies on Instagram But if you're looking for something a little more French, Instagrammers have shared extravagant croissants filled with bacon, eggs, with mac and cheese from Cuckoo Callay in Sydney. Social media users have also shared Agathe Patisserie's luxurious lemon filled, gold leaf croissant from South Melbourne. Have you ever experienced a surprise hangover after just a couple of glasses of wine? Over recent years there has been an increase in fake wines on the market, with some of the less quaffable, headache-inducing ingredients including chemicals used in cleaning products and artificial sweeteners. London-based wine expert and founder of DateMyWine.com, Clare Reeves, spoke to FEMAIL about her top tips for spotting a fraud, with her highlighting 'if a deal seems to good to be true, it probably is'. Recipe for a headache! Over recent years there has been an increase in fake wines flooding the market, with some of the less quaffable ingredients including chemicals used in cleaning products She points out that wine fraud doesn't only occur at the top end of the market and in the last decade there have been several discoveries of fraudulent wines at off-licenses and smaller independent stores. Indeed, in 2011 hundreds of imitation bottles of Jacobs Creek, believed to have been produced in China, were been seized bearing copies of the winemakers logo. They looked identical to the real thing apart from claiming to be a Wine of Australia. Clare advises that giveaway signs to a fake can be found on the label, including the paper and printing. London-based wine expert and founder of Date My Wine, Clare Reeves, says that giveaway signs to a fake can be found on the label, including the paper and printing 'Check that all words and phrases are correct, including spelling,' she adds. It's also advisable that people stick to buying wines from a shop they know and trust such as larger supermarkets or wine merchants. When it comes to buying fine wines - a market set to boom in coming years - Clare says that the stakes can be higher as customers part with thousands of pounds - sometimes millions - for something that could be a duff. WHAT A HEADACHE! TOP TIPS TO SPOTTING A FAKE WINE Stick to buying wines from a shop you know and trust Trust your gut. If a deal seems too good to be true it probably is If buying expensive wine, either to drink or as an investment, ensure you know and trust the merchant or auction house Giveaway signs can be found on the label, including the paper and printing Check that all words and phrases are correct, including spelling Always ensure you do your research - the older a wine is the more hands it will have passed through and the more difficult it will be to trace its origins If the wine in your glass tastes unusual then stop drinking straight away or the true cost could be far greater than to just your wallet Advertisement Auction houses go to great lengths to try to prevent the problem of forged wine by checking the corks, capsules, labels, bottles and provenance thoroughly. But there is no 100 per cent foolproof way to stop some fakes entering the system. Last year Christies in New York was accused of selling counterfeit wine at its auctions, according to a report by US food website Food Republic. It was said that the auction house attempted to sell bottles of questionable fine French wine between 2006 and 2013 at five different auctions. Clare says if you are buying expensive wine, either to drink or as an investment, ensure you know and trust the merchant or auction house. She continues: 'It's best to buy wine from an established merchant with a long-standing reputation such as Berry Bros & Rudd. 'If you are parting with large sums of money then always consult an expert - it could save you a lot more in the future.' She says the number one thing is to always do your research and remember that 'the older a wine is the more hands it will have passed through and the more difficult it will be to trace its origins.' Another pointer she offers is to 'trust your gut.' If a deal seems too good to be true it probably is. 'Be wary of stories about miraculous finds of rare wines, many of the large fraud cases in recent years have included these tales,' Clare points out. A history of wine fraud: In Greek and Roman times, an array of unsavoury ingredients including milk, ground mustard, ashes, nettles and lead were added to wine to stop it from spoiling Wine fraud isn't a new thing and tinkering with tipples dates back centuries. In Greek and Roman times, an array of unsavoury ingredients including milk, ground mustard, ashes, nettles and lead were added to wine to stop it from spoiling. In 2013 it was reported that fake wines accounted for 20 per cent of the global wine sales. Most were accidental intoxications from weed belonging to a relative There were 9 hospitalizations in 2009, now there are around 60-70 a year After recreational marijuana was legalized in Colorado, there was an increase in hospitalizations and poison control center visits for kids who'd been accidentally exposed to the drug, researchers say. Recreational marijuana became available in Colorado in 2014, and three other states now allow recreational use, the study authors point out in JAMA Pediatrics. Officials had hoped that the child resistant packaging requirements that were part of the recreational marijuana law 'might blunt any potential increase' in accidental exposures in children. But the increase was more dramatic than expected, said senior author Dr Genie Roosevelt of the Denver Health and Hospital Authority. 'These unintentional exposures and health care visits are preventable,' she told Reuters Health by email. There were nine cannabis-related hospitalizations of children in 2009, now there are around 60-70 a year Data from a children's hospital and a regional poison control center showed that between 2009 and 2015, 62 kids under age 10 were evaluated at the hospital and 163 calls were made to the poison control center related to recreational marijuana. Half the kids were under age three. For every 100,000 children in the state, marijuana related hospital visits rose from about one to two over time. There were nine pediatric exposures reported at the poison control center in 2009 and 47 in 2015. Half of known exposures involved an edible product. That's a faster increase than was happening in the rest of the U.S., the authors write. Most of the time, the marijuana came from family or friends. Half of kids stayed in the hospital less than 11 hours, and tended to have symptoms like drowsiness, agitation and vomiting, though four kids also experienced breathing difficulty known as respiratory depression. 'Marijuana exposures in young children have resulted in respiratory compromise requiring the use of a ventilator and intensive care unit admission in a handful of cases,' Roosevelt said. How much marijuana IS in the average joint? Less than we think, study says There might be less marijuana in a typical joint than was previously thought, a study has found. An average joint contains 0.32g (0.01oz) of marijuana, researchers discovered. This is less than previous estimates, which suggested a single joint held anywhere from 0.3g to 0.75g (2.6oz) of cannabis, with some users reporting amounts as high as 1g (0.04oz). The United States Office of National Drug Control Policy used 0.5g (0.02oz) as its baseline. Experts said knowing how much cannabis a joint contains could help governments find out how big the market for marijuana is - and how much is being imported into their country. Advertisement Though no one under 21 can buy, possess or use recreational marijuana in Colorado, edible products that look like regular baked goods or candy may attract young children, she said. 'Making these products less attractive may be effective in reducing ingestions in young children,' she said. Colorado just passed a bill, effective July 1st, prohibiting edible marijuana products that might be enticing to a child, she added. 'Whenever there's a new drug introduced into the market, there are increased hospitalizations associated with it from unintentional exposures in kids,' said Dr. Andrew A. Monte at the University of Colorado Denver-Anschutz Medical Center, who was not part of the new study but works with many of the authors. The overall number of cases in Colorado is still small, but these exposures should really never happen, he told Reuters Health by phone. And the results of this study may not reflect some changes made to child-resistant packaging in 2015, he added. 'Ten percent of the population in Colorado uses marijuana daily, and only about 30 percent of those people regularly use edible products, which is a pretty small percentage overall yet accounts for 50 percent or more of pediatric exposures,' Monte said. Edible products can be useful in some medical applications, but recreationally, it's not necessary to have marijuana products that 'look like KitKat bars,' especially when a single serving may be one tenth of a cookie as most edibles are very potent, he said. Derek Davies loves his wife with a rare passion, so when 73-year-old Beryl was diagnosed with cancer two years ago, he was determined to help her fight it. The self-made businessman set about trying to understand her condition and get her the best available treatment. This has led him to a drug which, against all the odds, has had a dramatic effect on Beryls condition a rare form of ovarian cancer usually found only in babies and young women. But its come at a huge financial cost. So far, the couple have had to spend tens of thousands of pounds on the drug that has kept Beryl alive. Not only that: for every dose of the drug they buy, which costs them around 5,000 every few weeks, around 1,000 of it has to be thrown away. For every dose of the drug the Davies family had to buy, which cost them around 5,000 every few weeks, approximately 1,000 has to be thrown away This is not an unusual situation. Cancer doctors say more than 100 million-worth of cancer drugs are thrown away every year in Britain. This is because the drugs come in vials containing a pre-measured dose. Often patients need only a proportion of one vial yet in order to prevent contamination, the remainder cant be saved for the next time or used for another patient. Instead, it must simply be thrown away. As well as affecting drugs that are available only privately, as in Beryls case, this colossal wastage also occurs with drugs provided on the NHS. And its an even bigger issue in the U.S. A recent study published in the BMJ reported that 1.2 billion-worth of the 20 most frequently used cancer drugs that come in glass vials, including common breast cancer chemotherapy drugs are discarded every year in the U.S. because up to 30 per cent of each pre-measured dose cant be used. These drugs are packed in glass vials to keep them sterile. They are then diluted and given by intravenous infusion, with the precise dose calculated according to the patients weight. But because any leftover drug from an opened vial may get contaminated, it cant normally be used to treat a second patient or saved to treat the same patient at a later date. They could sell the drugs in a wider range of vial sizes, but they dont, says Professor Karol Sikora, one of Britains leading cancer experts. Its completely outrageous that Big Pharma is getting away with this practice for drugs that cost thousands and thousands of pounds a dose. Obviously it is hitting people who are paying for their own treatment, but it is also hitting the NHS. You cant recycle the leftovers by giving them to another patient, without risking legal problems if a patient suffers an adverse event that could have been caused by contamination. Beryl was diagnosed with small cell cancer of the ovary in March 2014, after she developed a huge pregnant tummy due to fluid build-up as a result of the cancer In Beryls case, the drug is pembrolizumab (the brand name is Keytruda), which is a form of immunotherapy a relatively new approach to cancer that boosts the bodys own defence systems. Since Beryl started taking it earlier this year, it has helped keep her cancer at bay. It was in March 2014 that Beryl was diagnosed with small cell cancer of the ovary, after she developed a huge pregnant tummy due to fluid build-up as a result of the cancer. This type of cancer is caused by a random genetic mutation there have been only 300 documented cases worldwide. Beryl is believed to be the oldest patient identified with the condition. (The average age at diagnosis is 24.) Most patients are unlikely to survive more than two years. At first, Beryl was given three cycles of chemotherapy. But it made me feel so ill and it didnt work, she says. Now, thanks to the immunotherapy drug, Beryl has been defying expectations. Even though the new drug has been costly, thanks to Dereks persistence they have been paying less than they were originally told it would be On a recent holiday in Devon, she managed to walk up to eight miles a day. Yet it has come at a cost. Because of the rarity of the condition, there has been little research carried out into Keytruda and it is not licensed for use on the NHS for her condition. So she and Derek, who have been married for 24 years and live in Foulridge, Lancashire, are having to fund the cost of the drug. The couple who each have two adult children from previous relationships (one of Beryls sons, Simon, died nine years ago from bowel cancer) are looking at spending all the savings they had put aside to fund a comfortable retirement on the drug. So far, they have spent more than 46,000 for Beryl to have regular doses. They pay thousands of pounds for a private prescription of the treatment every three weeks at the Christie Cancer Centre in Manchester. Its made such a difference, says Beryl, who left school at 15 to work in a woollen mill. Most days I feel completely normal, or what I remember as being normal. Despite her successful response to the drug, Beryl and Derek have been told the cancer is starting to grow again. The search is now on for a new treatment, which they will again have to pay for. And once again they will have the same problem of having to pay for more drugs than Beryl can use. We can keep going with paying for the drugs for another 12 months and after that we can sell the house or downsize if thats what we have to do, says Derek, a miners son who sold his electrical wholesale company ten years ago. Even though Keytruda has been costly, thanks to Dereks persistence they have been paying less than they were originally told it would be. At first we were told by the hospital that the drug would be 7,000 for a three-weekly dose, says Derek. I contacted the manufacturers, Merck, to ask if Beryl could be treated free of charge on compassionate grounds or in the interests of researching the effects of the drug in this rare cancer. But they just said no, that wouldnt be possible. In the end, we were told we could have it at a discount of 1,766 per 50 milligramme vial. Beryl, who weighs 8 st, was told she needed a dose of 115mg. This meant they would have to buy three vials each time, at a cost of more than 5,000, but most of the third vial was being discarded. Its incredible that almost 1,000-worth of this drug was being thrown away from every dose, says Derek. Beryl, who weighs 8 st, was told she needed a dose of 115mg. This meant they would have to buy three vials each time, at a cost of more than 5,000, but most of the third vial was being discarded However, after some more digging, he managed to bring down the cost still further. I discovered that the vials dont contain the exact 50 milligrammes they always contain a bit more. I passed this on to Beryls doctor and he has agreed she can probably get the same benefit by just having two vials, which brings it down to 3,532 per dose. Beryls doctor at the Christie Centre in Manchester, Professor Paul Lorigan, presented a study at the annual global meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the worlds biggest cancer meeting, showing millions of pounds could be saved without reducing Keytrudas benefit if doctors opted for similar lower doses. This is an issue that needs to be brought to public attention, says Professor Peter Bach of the Sloane Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, who carried out the recent BMJ analysis that identified the 1.2 billion of cancer drugs being thrown away in the U.S. every year. Regularly and systematically discarding expensive drugs [goes against] efforts to reduce spending on healthcare, he says. A recent BMJ analysis identified that 1.2 billion worth of cancer drugs are thrown away in the U.S. every year However, a spokesman for the drugs company Merck explained wastage was unavoidable. New drugs are put on the market as quickly as possible, and precise dose requirements only become clear with experience. We are planning to recommend a flat 200 mg dose for everyone. But Professor Lorigan said this will merely increase the cost of the treatment without improving its effectiveness. The National Institute for Healthcare and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which approves drugs for NHS use on the basis of their cost and effectiveness, has approved Keytruda for melanoma skin cancer only. A NICE spokesman acknowledged that a proportion of some cancer drugs will be discarded, and said this is taken into account in working out whether they are good value for money, but she said it is not NICEs role to lobby for drugs to be more efficiently packaged in the first place. Brain scans are one of only two ways to diagnose Alzheimer's at present Simple eye tests could be used to spot Alzheimers disease years before people begin to lose their memory, research suggests. Two teams of scientists in the UK and Canada have come up with new ways to identify warnings signs of the disease. The breakthroughs, announced yesterday at the worlds biggest Alzheimers conference, raise the prospect that opticians could soon look for signs of dementia during annual eye checks. Scientists said the back of the eye is a window to the brain, displaying signs of changes at the same time as they are taking place deep within the brain circuits, many years before symptoms start to appear. Scientists found they could use eye scans to measure the thickness of a layer of neurons on the retina at the back of the eye. People who had a thinner layer of neurons were more likely to perform poorly on cognitive tests - a clear warning sign they might be undergoing the early stages of dementia At the moment the only ways to diagnose Alzheimers are expensive brain scans or by puncturing the patients spinal cord and taking a fluid sample. More than 500,000 people in Britain suffer with Alzheimers a figure on the rise. But most people are diagnosed too late to do anything about it. Doctors are desperate to come up with a way to spot the disease much earlier, when lifestyle changes could minimise the extent of the damage. Several companies are also developing drugs they hope will be able to ward off Alzheimers but these will only work if given at an early stage, so early diagnosis will be essential. Two research teams told the Alzheimers Association International Conference in Toronto they may have the answer. The first team, from Moorfields Eye Hospital in London and Oxford University, found they could use eye scans to measure, in minute detail, the thickness of a layer of neurons on the retina at the back of the eye. Scientists measured this layer among 33,000 British patients aged 40 to 69 while also carrying out a series of tests on memory, reaction time and reasoning. They found people who had a thinner layer of neurons were more likely to perform poorly on the cognitive tests a clear warning sign they might be undergoing the early stages of dementia. The scanning machine - an OCT scanner which uses light waves to draw a detailed picture of the back of the eye - is already used by many ophthalmologists and could easily be built into a standard eye exam. Study leader Dr Fang Ko, of Moorfields Eye Hospital, said: Our findings show a clear association between thinner macular retinal nerve fibre layer and poor cognition in the study population. 'This provides a possible new biomarker for studies of neurodegeneration. Doctors are desperate to come up with a way to spot the disease much earlier, when lifestyle changes could minimise the extent of the damage Dr Simon Ridley, director of research at Alzheimers Research UK, said: Non-invasive tests such as this could allow ophthalmologists to aid in the identification of people at risk of memory decline who could benefit from more close assessment and support over time. A second study, by scientists at Waterloo University in Canada, found people with severe Alzheimers disease had deposits of a protein called amyloid on their retinas. Amyloid, thought to be one of the key causes of Alzheimers, is often found to have formed into clumps and plaques in the brain, but this is the first time scientists have found it is also visible on the eye. POOR SENSE OF SMELL COULD SIGNAL DEMENTIA A poor sense of smell could be an early indicator of dementia, research suggests. Findings presented at the Alzheimers Association International Conference in Toronto suggests a diminishing sense of smell corresponded to a shrinking brain and growing amyloid deposits, both early signs of Alzheimers. The research, by Columbia University in New York, suggests impaired sense of smell was significantly linked to the transition to dementia. But Dr Doug Brown, director of research at the Alzheimers Society, said there are many reasons why people might lose their sense of smell including the natural ageing process. Advertisement Researchers examined the eyes and brains of 20 humans who had died with Alzheimers, along with the eyes of six dogs displaying symptoms of the disease. The brains were full of amyloid plaques, as expected, but the researchers found they could also spot amyloid deposits in the eye using high-tech polarisation imaging, a technique they think could easily be used by opticians on living patients. Researcher Dr Melanie Campbell said: With its neural tissue the eye is an extension of the brain. Unlike current brain scans and cerebo-spinal fluid testing for amyloid, this is a comfortable and potentially widely available test for early detection. The researchers now aim to adapt standard opticians instruments to incorporate the polarisation imaging techniques. Dr Clare Walton, research manager at the Alzheimers Society, said: Changes in the brain associated with dementia can begin several years before any memory symptoms appear. 'This research suggests some of these changes happen in the retina of the eye too, which could give us a relatively easy, non-invasive way to spot them early. Eye tests are fairly common for older people, so there is great potential to incorporate additional tests into their regular check-up. Thousands of men with Alzheimers never have their disease diagnosed, experts have warned. And it is more likely to be missed among men than women, according to new research. This means many men are likely to suffer until the end of their life without ever receiving a diagnosis. Scientists have long believed women are far more likely to develop Alzheimers, because two thirds of those with the disease are women. But researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, think men are simply more likely to go throughout life without receiving a diagnosis. They think part of the reason is men and women show the signs of the disease in different ways. Scroll down for video Scientists have long believed women are far more likely to develop Alzheimers, because two thirds of those with the disease are women. But researchers now think men are simply more likely to go throughout life without receiving a diagnosis Doctors for decades have focused on memory loss as the main sign of Alzheimers and other forms of dementia. But the research team, presenting their findings at the Alzheimers Association International Conference in Toronto, found men were more likely than women to have problems not related to memory. They conducted post-mortem examinations on the brains of 1,600 people with Alzheimers and found men were more likely to have experienced difficulty with speech and movement. And the area of the brain involved in memory was more likely to be spared in men compared to women. Alzheimers seemed to strike men at a younger age - with a spike in cases in men in their 60s, compared with more female cases starting in their 70s and beyond. When women get Alzheimers, they tend to decline more rapidly, meaning their disease is more likely to be picked up by doctors. A second study, by St Michaels Hospital in Toronto, found a correct diagnosis of Alzheimers disease is only made 78 per cent of the time for both men and women. The researchers examined the brains of 1,073 dead people, and found 11 per cent of people had brains damaged by Alzheimers but had never received a diagnosis. Another 11 per cent had been told they had Alzheimers but the post-mortem examination of their brains showed no signs of the disease. Dr Clare Walton, research manager at the Alzheimers Society, said: An accurate and timely diagnosis of dementia is essential to enable people to live well for as long as possible. The disease is more likely to be missed among men than women, researchers found. They think it could be because men show different signs of the disease 'If one in five people are living with a wrong diagnosis, they might not have access to treatments that can provide welcome relief from some of their symptoms. Alzheimers was first identified in a woman in the early 1900s but these results suggest there are important differences in how the disease affects men and women. Dr Matthew Norton, head of policy at Alzheimers Research UK, added: These results suggest that the disease may be affecting men and women differently, and raise the possibility that the disease may be less likely to be recognised as Alzheimers in men. Experts are rapidly learning behavioural changes often dismissed as a mid-life crisis or onset of the menopause may be a warning sign that Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia are starting to strike. Until now these warning signs were often missed, as doctors were only looking out for memory problems. Sponsors of a ballot initiative that would repeal the Montana Marijuana Act have hit a roadblock in their effort to get the measure before voters in November. Safe Montana had an estimated 8,009 signatures rejected in its bid to get I-176 on the ballot, according to Montana Secretary of State Office spokeswoman Emily Dean. That has left the group stuck at just a little more than 20,000 signatures. The minimum number of verified signatures for a ballot initiative is 24,175. State election officials are still reviewing submissions. Safe Montana founder Steve Zabawa said Friday that he wasnt exactly sure what caused the signatures to be rejected. He said there may have been some lost petitions. We did an audit last week, and some stuff came up out of that, he said. So we still think were in the hunt, but we have to do a lot of verifying. He declined to share the exact number of signatures theyre reviewing, as well as what specifically theyre looking at. On June 20, Safe Montana campaign manager Matt Rich posted on the organizations Facebook page that they needed volunteers to review signatures. In the post, Rich wrote that we have 6,500 signatures we can review for possible re-submission. Election officials at the Secretary of State Office estimated that just 162 of the rejected Safe Montana signatures can be corrected and resubmitted, but the process is ongoing, according to Dean. Common reasons for rejections include gathering signatures from people who arent currently registered to vote, or simply that a person filled out the form with a signature but didnt print his or her name. Yellowstone County Elections Administrator Bret Rutherford said his office sent I-176 materials to the state weeks ago, and they havent had any interaction with the campaign since. As a statewide ballot issue, I-176 proponents submitted petitions to county offices across the state. Those offices tabulated and sent the forms to the state for final verification. I-176 would repeal Montanas medical marijuana program, which is currently having restrictions tightened after the Montana Supreme Court upheld the provisions in February. The initiative would align state drug laws with the federal statutes. A competing measure, I-182, has already qualified for the ballot. Backed by the Montana Cannabis Industry Association, the initiative would remove the restrictions placed on those in the medical marijuana business, including a three-patient per provider limit. On July 13, the Secretary of State Office announced that I-182 had collected more than 27,000 signatures. Zabawa sponsored a similar measure in 2014 but failed to collect enough signatures. For this election cycle, he started early and fostered a statewide effort. He put $92,000 into the campaign, according to the latest Safe Montana financial report. In June, Zabawa reported that his campaign gathered more than 30,000 signatures. He said that theyre now working to square the figures. Our numbers arent what (the states) numbers are, he said. Even though I-182 has qualified for the ballot, its percentage of rejected signatures was higher than its competitor, I-176. According to estimates provided by the Secretary of State Office, the pro-medical marijuana I-182 had 33 percent of its signatures rejected. Safe Montanas I-176 had a 28-percent rejection rate, the data show. Safe Montanas I-176 isnt finished, however. Dean said that state election officials are still tabulating signatures and will make periodic progress announcements. Four initiatives have qualified for the November ballot, including I-182, the medical marijuana expansion measure. I-177 would prohibit the use of animal traps and snares on public lands. I-181 seeks to promote research into therapies and cures for brain diseases and injuries through state grants. A constitutional initiative, CI-116, would add a crime victims rights section to the Montana Constitution. The measure is commonly known as Marsys Law. Robots are just as effective at removing prostate cancer as humans, research shows. The first-ever study into a type of operation performed by three-armed machines also found they cause patients far less pain. It involves a highly-trained surgeon controlling a small robot from the back of the operating theatre and guiding it to remove the infected cells. The section of the robot which removes the tumour is very small and experts claim it causes less bleeding, scarring and pain than the standard operation. The study by researchers from Brisbane involved 326 men with prostate cancer of whom half had tumours (shown to the right of the orange section above) removed with ordinary surgery, the other half with robots Currently only 28 hospitals in the UK offer the procedure and they are mostly based in London and the South East, although numbers are increasing. The study by researchers from Brisbane, Australia, involved 326 men with prostate cancer of whom half had tumours removed with ordinary surgery, the other half with robots. All underwent detailed check-ups over the next few months and were asked about their pain, quality of life, sex lives and whether they frequently needed to urinate. The results were broadly similar but crucially men whod had operations performed by robots were in less pain immediately afterwards and had a better quality of life at six weeks. After 12 weeks the scores had levelled out and were the same as the men whod had standard surgery. But the men are still being assessed and researchers believe the robots will prove to be far more effective in the long-term. Studies in the US where they are widely used has found robots are more precise than surgeons. This means men are less likely to suffer from a low sex drive, urinary incontinence and have a higher quality of life than those whove had ordinary surgery. Professor Robert Gardiner from the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research in Brisbane said: Surgery has long been the dominant approach for the treatment of localised prostate cancer, with many clinicians now recommending the robotic method to patients. The first-ever study into a type of operation performed by three-armed machines also found they cause patients far less pain. This type of surgery involves a highly-trained surgeon controlling a small robot from the back of the operating theatre and guiding it to remove the infected cells The results were broadly similar but crucially men whod had operations performed by robots were in less pain immediately afterwards and had a better quality of life at six weeks. Many clinicians claim the benefits of robotic technology lead to improved quality of life and oncological outcomes. Patients are now being followed-up for a total of 2 years in order to fully assess the longer-term outcomes, including on cancer survival. Around 1,000 men in the UK have prostate cancers removed by robots each year although numbers are increasing They are controlled by surgeons who undergo specialised training to learn exactly how to operate each arm. One of the three arms of the robot holds a camera and the remaining two act like pincers to remove the infected tissue. The procedure typically costs an average of 8,500 per patient compared to around 7,500 for ordinary surgery. But experts believe it may prove to be cheaper for the NHS in the long term as men may have fewer side effects. After the Haryana governments initiative, now the Narendra Modi-led Centre kicked-off an ambitious project of tracing the origin of Saraswati river that presumably dried-up in India close to 4,000 years ago. The Saraswati Heritage Project was taken up by the Government of India (GOI) to reconnect with the historical, cultural and religious past of the country. The first meeting of the project was held on Monday, to discuss the possibilities of reviving the lost river (that is believed to have gone underground), tracing its disappeared routes and to bring it back to life once again. Triveni Sangam is believed to be the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers in Allahabad. Minister of state for Culture and Tourism Mahesh Sharma chaired the meeting on Saraswati Heritage Project that discussed its nitty-gritty. Secretary of Ministry of Culture (MoC) NK Sinha and secretary of Ministry of Tourism (MoT) Vinod Zutshi were also seen in the meeting, besides other experts, river scientists and historians. The Centre has decided to involve the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Geological Survey of India (GSI) and eminent historians to carry out the project. A committee has also been constituted to work elaborately on the project, an official in the ministry of tourism (MoT) told Mail Today on Monday. The official said the experts also found some positive links at Adi Badri near Yamunanagar, (now in Haryana), where the river (Saraswati) is believed to have originated from. The mythical river Saraswati has both religious and ancient significance. It is popularly believed that parts of the Rig Veda were written on the banks of the Saraswati. The Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana had appointed a specialised team to search for the traces of the Saraswati River and its original route - largely considered sacred by Hindus. It also allocated Rs 50 crore to the project aimed at discovering the stream through artificially recharge. Earlier in 2014, Union water resources minister Uma Bharati had also said that finding the missing river was one of the priorities of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government. Bharati had said at an occasion in August, 2014: There is enough scientific evidence on the presence of the river Saraswati in some parts of the country through which it flowed about five to six thousand years ago. Saraswati is not a myth. China's conduct in the South China Sea has serious implications for our own relations with Beijing. We must note the historical justification, the total rejection of the claims of others, and the disregard for international law. And then there's the deliberate stoking of regional tensions, the tactics of bullying and intimidation, and the self-confidence that others will have to accommodate a strong China. It has defied the US on the assumption that America's vast economic interests in China, and the erosion of its power, will dissuade it from confronting Beijing militarily over disputed islands in the region. And that's all without mentioning the summary repudiation of the UNCLOS arbitral award. China's 'historical justification' and the total rejection of the claims of others in the South China Sea has serious implications for India's ongoing relations with Beijing. (pictured Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left). Legacy Chinese passports carry an image of the countrys geographical frontiers that, besides the nine-dash line, also show Arunachal Pradesh and occupied parts of Ladakh (in Jammu & Kashmir) as Chinese territory. Regarding the UNCLOS arbitral award, State Councillor Yang Jiechi has stated that though China is large, we cannot lose one centimetre of inheritance left by ancestors. He is not referring to Chinas rights under international law; he is talking of ancestral legacy denied to it, overlooking the fact that when China became a party to UNCLOS, it renounced this supposed legacy. If a strong China believes that history and past empire-building have given it rights that it can assert today, others could in theory claim such rights too, generating tensions world-wide. China's decision to publicly obstruct Indias NSG membership indicates the lack of interest in normalising its relations If China is so uncompromising about its ancestral legacy, should the Tibetans and the Uighurs of East Turkestan be denied the restoration of their ancestral legacies, snatched away by Chinas territorial aggrandisement at their expense? Does China intend to recover its inheritance lost to Russia and the Central Asian republics, now that it has acquired military muscle? Even if one were to discount such rhetoric in reaction to a stinging legal defeat inflicted by an international tribunal, the level of Chinas defiance of the ruling, with President Xi Jinping asking the PLA to prepare to make war, does not bode well for the future. Chinese passports carry maps of the countrys geographical frontiers which, besides the nine-dash line, also show Arunachal Pradesh and occupied parts of Ladakh as Chinese territory Chinas stature as a great power determined to have its way would receive a serious blow if it were to climb down and progressively align its posture in the South China Sea with the UNCLOS award, as some hope. We can expect some defiant gesture from China, knowing that the US has little stomach for a confrontation. Yang Jiechi is Chinas Special Representative for resolving the border dispute with India, which is why the intransigence of his pronouncement on sovereignty and territorial issues cannot be ignored. It actually darkens the prospects for a border settlement, as China cannot have a two-track approach to historic rights, asserting them unabashedly in the western Pacific and relinquishing them in the Himalayas. China is making its strategic opposition to India more public. The decision to build the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor through territory acknowledged as not legally belonging to Pakistan in the 1963 border agreement with the latter shows its scant regard for Indias historical rights over the whole of Jammu & Kashmir. Decision China's decision to publicly obstruct Indias NSG membership indicates the lack of interest in normalising its relations. If anything, it signals a more open phase of strategic completion between the two nations. Indias NSG membership in no way undermines Chinas enlightened self-interest, yet it made it known that Indias membership was contrary to its national interest. Chinas intimidatory tactics in the South China Sea also explain the border incidents on the LAC that it periodically instigates Some Western quarters are cautioning against further humiliation of China following its loss of face after the arbitral award. If loss of face is so important for China, its studied decision to inflict this on India over the NSG issue shows not only its exaggerated self-esteem, but also the distinction external parties draw between Chinese sensitivities and those of India. China has now begun to cautiously pronounce on Indias internal affairs, as indicated by its statement asking all sides to show restraint in handling the current turmoil in Kashmir. This opens the door to potential Indian advice for all sides to show restraint in dealing with the unrest in Tibet and East Turkestan. Activity Chinas reclamation activity should be of great concern to India. Its militarisation of the South China Sea, its environmentally damaging activities in Tibet, the ongoing construction of dams, and the visualised water diversion projects - all are troubling. Chinas intimidatory tactics in the South China Sea also explain the border incidents on the LAC that it periodically instigates. The fiction of Chinas peaceful rise has been laid bare. The UNCLOS award and Chinas petulant reaction will test the credibility of the US rebalance towards Asia. The future of US-India joint strategic vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions will be tested by the course of US action in meeting Chinas defiance in the South China Sea Already some US commentators are advocating prudence in handling Chinas expected eagerness to fight. They are concerned that the Philippines may be encouraged to act on the award, drawing the US into an unwanted confrontation with China over islands and rocks that present no threat to US security. If unhindered freedom of navigation and overflight is assured, the US should not get involved in local maritime disputes. The future of US-India joint strategic vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions will be tested by the course of US action in meeting Chinas defiance in the South China Sea. The canny canines from Indias dog squads have foiled at least 16 terrorist strikes in the last two years - and the would-be attackers are so unnerved that they are planning to hit dog training centres. The threat emerged in a secret report based on recent terror intercepts. Encrypted messages decoded by intelligence agencies have identified several high-profile events where specific instructions for attacks - like the time and date - were given, but the presence of the animals proved to be a deterrent. Ahead of the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament, the Ministry of Home Affairs approved heavy deployment of the ITBPs sniffer dogs to keep the complex safe The International Yoga Days in 2015 and 2016, last years Independence Day, the Africa Summit, and US President Barack Obamas Republic Day visit were all on the list. Likewise, the Art of Living event on the banks of the Yamuna in Delhi this March, and various Parliament sessions also featured. But the attacks were prevented as terror groups panicked after seeing a heavy deployment of dogs. Now the latest message from the foreign terror outfits is to incapacitate the training centres that train these force multiplier dogs, the report says. The crack K9 unit of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) was part of several operations launched to foil terror bids that were planned to inflict maximum damage during these events. Ahead of the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament, the Ministry of Home Affairs approved heavy deployment of the ITBPs sniffer dogs to keep the complex safe. The activity was named Operation Golden Nose. The 2001 suicide attack on Parliament that killed nine people led to the strengthening of security at the premises. Sniffer dogs are enrolled in a gruelling 24-week training programme when they are four months old In light of the high threat perception, the dog squads have introduced new training modules. The ITBP is one of the main forces that prepares dogs for internal security duty, and its crack K9 units have evolved over the years. There has been a change in role. From a top secret seldom-known wing mainly involved in securing assets and sensitive border management, the K9 unit is now an indispensible cutting-edge tool to secure the common citizens of Delhi during public functions, held under very high terror threat, said an officer in charge of dog training in the force. The training methods are such that even if someone has touched explosives, the dogs can detect it. The training methods and modules are designed to keep pace with the changing dynamics of security. As well as sniffing, the dogs are also being trained for assault and reconnaissance patrols. The canines are enrolled in a gruelling 24-week training programme when they are four months old, and by the time they complete the training the animals can get the whiff of even a miniscule amount of explosive. With the mounting threat perception, even Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security has got more canine power as the elite Special Protection Group (SPG) has decided to double the size of its dog squad. The ITBP has been asked to train two batches a year exclusively for the PMs security. By the end of this year the strength is likely to be doubled as the SPG needs more dogs for the PM's security in the wake of the heightened threat perception, said an official. Its not just the high-profile events in the Capital but also the fight against Maoists where dogs have proven their mettle regularly, playing a pivotal role in seizure of explosives and also saving several lives by sensing an ambush. Tough cookie: Anupriya Patel has been assigned to the Health and Family Welfare Ministry The newly-appointed Ministers of State Faggan Singh Kulaste and Anupriya Patel have been handed their new briefs in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Sources in the Health Ministry said that both the Ministers have been given work according to their potential, with Patel considered as the more aggressive. According to the office orders, Patel has been allocated key areas such as Parliament, National Health Policy, Public Health, Tobacco Control, and National AIDS Control Organization (NACO). The other important areas that Patel will be handling include the Department of Health Research, Non Communicable Diseases (NCD), matters relating to intellectual property rights, and the Pre Conception and Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC PNDT) Act, 1994. Taken as an aggressive minister, Patel has started looking at the ministry matters seriously. She called a meeting of officials on Monday. On the other hand, Kulaste has been allocated the softer areas such as Establishment and General Administration at hospitals such as AIIMS , Safdurjung, RML, and Lady Harding Medical College. Kulaste will also be handling regular health policies such as Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), National Rural Health Mission, Reproductive and child health, and Pulse Polio Programs. Patels first meeting with the officials shows that she will not take the matters casually. She has said that she would be reviewing the departments work on a regular basis. It was foreseen that she is will certainly do great amount of work in the health sector, said a source in the Union Health Ministry. After a tough couple of years, myself, wife and two children have recently been on a week's villa holiday, including car hire, to Spain with Thomson. We had used the company before and always enjoyed good service. But when we arrived at Alicante Airport at 9pm, the car hire company, Europcar, had no record of our booking - despite me having the Thomson paperwork confirming I had booked car hire with the rental company. After finding the Thomson rep at the airport and speaking to the 24-hour helpline via my mobile phone, I had it confirmed that Thomson had not booked the car hire and were unable to generate another order there and then. High and dry: 'I got to rental desk to pick up my car hire but there was no record of my Thomson booking' As our villa was about 100km away from the airport, it was agreed between the rep and Thomson's customer services team on the phone that we should hire the car ourselves and then claim back the money from Thomson once we got back to the UK. We subsequently paid by credit card and when we returned home I claimed for a refund of the205.62 I had been charged. Five weeks later, after writing and speaking to Thomson, it has just sent me an email refusing to pay for the car hire and citing an insurance reason that has absolutely nothing to do with my claim. I don't know what to do next. Please help. Laura Whitcombe of This is Money replies: I'm sorry to hear of your frustrating experience, but am sad to say it is far from rare among the complaints we hear about from readers. And it seems, time and time again, big tour operators simply can't get a grip on resolving straightforward complaints. From your correspondence, I understand that in a phone call you made at the time of the car collection, Thomson's customer service admitted to failing to pass on your car hire booking to Europcar. Therefore it seems incredible for it then to turn down your refund request claiming that hadn't been the case - particularly seeing as it was in the same phone call that you had been explicitly informed to claim a refund in the first place. It's even more outrageous for it to make you wait five weeks for a rejection email - and one which clearly confuses the source of your problem with that of another customer's. It refers to an issue with the wrong insurance being purchased but, like you say, this had absolutely nothing to do with your predicament whatsoever. Stranded: 'My Thomson car hire inclusive package failed to include the car hire' I contacted the press office for you, and they were able to action you a refund for the 205.62 you had to pay out at the car hire desk within 48 hours of my speaking to them. It's a shame customer services couldn't manage to do the same for you directly. However, not only has it failed to refund you for car hire component of your original holiday cost - which it bizarrely put down to the car hire being included 'for free' in the price you paid - but it also couldn't account for the rest of its dire service. It couldn't, or wouldn't, explain why: it made such a basic error as not booking your car hire in the first place it had taken five weeks to respond to your refund claim it rejected your claim and gave you the wrong information as to the reason. Thomson simply told me: 'We would like to apologise to Mr and Mrs K for their experience. Having reviewed their case we have contacted them directly to arrange the refund they are due for all additional costs, and offered a gesture of goodwill to apologise for any inconvenience.' However, the gesture of goodwill was merely a 100 voucher to spend on a future holiday with the company - not even enough to pay for car hire. I agree with you entirely that the sum seems pretty insulting. The least it should have offered was the equivalent of the cost of car hire you had to arrange yourself. We simply don't buy its excuse your car hire was included for free in your package. You bought a package holiday that included flights, accommodation and car hire and all you got was the first two. You say the voucher is effectively worthless as you don't want to travel with Thomson again and I think that's the best thing for you to do. The sister of Hollywood actress Natalie Wood claims police investigating her mysterious death have unearthed two new witnesses and are close to solving the case, Daily Mail Online can reveal. Lana Wood says cold case homicide detectives have made 'substantial' inroads in the unexplained death of her Hollywood star sibling. This comes as Lana revealed she has received telephone death threats to 'lay off' Natalie's then-husband Robert Wagner - who she believes bears responsibility for her sister's death and knows more than he's told. Lana has slammed film star Wagner for not cooperating with the police, claiming he holds the key to Natalie's 1981 death. Scroll down for video Lana Wood (right) says cold case homicide detectives in Los Angeles have made progress in the unexplained 1981 death of her sister, Natalie Wood (left) Natalie Wood drowned aged 43 after going missing during a boat trip to Santa Catalina Island off the coast of California. Pictured above, she and husband Robert Wagner (left) are seen on their boat Splendor, just weeks before she died in 1981 Wagner allegedly said he thought Natalie was 'screwing around' on the boat before she died. Pictured above the couple enjoys a day out on the Splendor just weeks before she died Lana, 70, claims that Los Angeles detectives also confided in her that they are 'very close' to making an arrest in the case Speaking to Daily Mail Online, Lana said: 'The police told me that they have found new witnesses who were not willing to speak back then. 'These witnesses have been helping police but they won't go on record or testify, they don't want to be heavily involved in the investigation which is a shame.' Lana, 70, claims detectives also confided in her that they are 'very close' to making an arrest in the case - but the Los Angeles District Attorney's office has insisted more evidence is needed to press charges. Lana added: 'It's very frustrating, they have moved the case forward and made substantial inroads, but still can't press charges. 'After 35 years I feel we're so close to finding out what happened to my sister but the LA Attorney's Office is refusing to press charges against Robert Wagner - the man I believe is responsible. It's a cover-up and I won't rest until Natalie gets justice.' Three-time Oscar nominee Natalie, who starred in Miracle on 34th Street as a child star, Rebel Without a Cause as a teen and then with Warren Beatty in Splendor in the Grass, drowned at age 43 after going missing during a boat trip to Santa Catalina Island off the coast of California. She was with Wagner, actor Christopher Walken and the boat's captain, Dennis Davern on the evening of November 28, 1981. Natalie and Wagner married twice - the first time in 1957 and stayed married until 1962 and then in 1972 until her untimely death. They were considered the most romantic of Hollywood couples. Natalie's death was originally ruled 'an accidental drowning' by a coroner at the time. But in 2012, the cause-of-death ruling was changed to 'drowning and other undetermined factors', and cited strange bruises found on the actress' body. For Lana, who lives in Fillmore, California, her former brother-in-law still has lots of questions to answer. Natalie was with her husband Robert Wagner (pictured above with Natalie), actor Christopher Walken and the boat's captain, Dennis Davern on the evening of November 28, 1981 Natalie's (pictured above with Wagner) death was originally ruled 'an accidental drowning' by a coroner at the time But in 2012, the cause-of-death ruling was changed to 'drowning and other undetermined factors', and cited strange bruises found on the actress' body. Natalie is pictured above with Wagner and their two children, Natasha (center) now 45, and Courtney (right) in 1976. She is 42 This is the yacht Splendor on which Natalie and Wagner came to Catalina for the holiday weekend. Natalie's body was found floating 200 yards off Blue Cavern Point (to the rear of the yacht) after she was reported missing Wagner bends over to kiss flower covered casket of his wife, Natalie, during graveside ceremonies for her at Westwood Memorial Park Cemetery in 1981 Christopher Walken, pictured above with Natalie while filming for Brainstorm, was on the boat when Natalie went overboard The yacht's former captain Dennis Davern has blamed Robert Wagner for Natalie Woods' death. He said Wagner did not let them do anything to find her She says: 'I've always believed Natalie was killed, nothing has come up to change my mind on that. 'It's easier for me to believe RJ (Wagner) has nothing to do with it, because the other possibility is heart-breaking, heart-wrenching, horrendous, horrific, that this man that she had known and was married to twice, might be responsible, it's horrendous for me to even imagine that. 'I would prefer to believe the other, but unfortunately it doesn't point that way.' Earlier this year Lana confronted Wagner at a charity luncheon his wife actress Jill St. John [she starred with Wagner in the long-running 80's TV series Hart to Hart and they married in 1990] was holding in Beverly Hills. She was caught on video quizzing the actor over her sister's death and his apparent lack of interest in helping the police since the case was reopened two years ago. 'RJ has never spoken to them and I don't know why he continues to insist on not doing so, unless he's going by the old thing of, 'I spoke to them 35 years ago,' she says. 'It's true he spoke to the coastguard and the sheriff when they arrived on the boat but he has refused to speak to them since then. 'If he has nothing to hide why wouldn't he speak to them now? I put myself in the same situation, why I wanted to give every bit of information I could if that's what they require. 'So that makes it unpleasant and suspicious.' Lana says she wasn't invited to the event but knew Wagner was going to be there so waited outside. She says: 'All these years I have spent so much time saying I don't have any ill will towards RJ, I don't believe in vengeance, I believe things happen for a reason, when people are naughty they will get their comeuppance, but it's not for me, I do not want to inflict pain or discomfort on anyone, particularly on Natalie's children. 'But after speaking to RJ for that brief time he is not the person I knew, he wouldn't look me in the eye. I always found him to be shallow, but he's changed from the warm, loving man he was when he was married to Natalie, he was very dear and a very good father Natalie, pictured on her wedding day second from left, with her mother, Maria Gurdin (left), Wagner's mother, Chat Wagner (second right) and sister Lana, died in November 1982 Wagner and Natalie are pictured (center) together at their first wedding, with, from left to right, Wagner's parents, Lana and Natalie's parents. They were married in 1957 and then again in 1972 until her death 'But I just found him incredibly hateful and he just wasn't listening to me and I was so upset I just couldn't bring around the conversation.' The awkward confrontation was caught on camera, which Lana says 'spoiled everything'. Lana says: 'There were things I wanted to ask him, there were things I wanted to say and that spoiled everything. 'What is up in the air is exactly how Natalie died which has never been told by anyone at any time.' Lana claims detectives failed to take finger nail clippings from Natalie following her death - something, she says, is standard law enforcement procedure. A rape kit exam was also not done. 'According to the detectives on the case they say a lot of things were missing, things that were not done,' she said. While Lana is convinced Wagner is in someway responsible for her sister's death she believes his actions weren't premeditated. She explains: 'People ask me if I think it was an accident. Well I think it was an accident in that it was not pre-meditated so the difference is, was he responsible, absolutely without question was he responsible, was it premeditated, I don't believe that for an instant. 'There was too much going on all at once and it led to some pretty unfortunate things to put it mildly.' Lana recalls how she tried to get answers from Wagner shortly after her sister's funeral. The family held a wake at the home Wagner shared with Natalie, and Lana went to console her brother-in-law and ask him what happened. She recalls: 'RJ went up the stairs and I said to someone I'm going to talk to RJ. I went upstairs and he was sitting on the edge of the bed and I said, "RJ, what happened, you've simply got to tell me what happened?" and he said, "I'm sorry". Natalie, pictured left in a childhood photo and right as a baby with her father, drowned mysteriously when she was just 43 years old For Lana (left), who lives in Fillmore, California, her former brother-in-law still has lots of questions to answer in connection to Natalie's (right) death Lana said she has received telephone death threats to 'lay off' Natalie's then-husband Robert Wagner 'Then someone grabbed my arm and said leave him alone don't talk to him now, and I said "fine". And that was it, so "I'm sorry" doesn't quite tell me what happened. 'I get what happened from Dennis Davern, who was the captain on the boat, I get what happened from the detectives who were on the case, I get what happened from everybody but him (Wagner). 'And he's the only one who really knows, he was there when Natalie was overboard.' According to the boat's captain Dennis Davern, that night Natalie, husband Wagner and Christopher Walken had dinner and drinks at Doug's Harbor Reef and then continued drinking aboard the boat, where Wagner and Walken began arguing. During the argument, Walken went to bed as did Natalie and when Wagner came down to say goodnight a short while later, she was gone. Speculation has it that she accidentally slipped and fell overboard. However, others have speculated that a lover's quarrel between Natalie and Wagner took place in their room before the accident - a fact which Davern has since confirmed. And in 2011, the case was reopened after Davern admitted that he had lied to investigators about the mysterious death and alleged that Woods' husband Wagner was responsible. 'I made some terrible decisions and mistakes,' Davern told NBC's Today show. 'I did lie on a report several years ago.' 'I made mistakes by not telling the honest truth in a police report.' When asked on the Today Show whether Wagner was responsible for her Natalie's death, he responded: 'Yes, I would say so. Yes.' It was also alleged at the time that Natalie, upset after a row with her husband, may have taken a dingy herself to return to shore and somehow fell overboard en route. But Lana disputes this. Pointing to the fact that Natalie was found dead still wearing her nightgown, she says: 'Do you know that Natalie would not even pick up the mail without being completely dressed and made up, she went nowhere like that. Natalie (left) was eight years older than her younger sister Lana, who is still searching for answers in her sibling's mysterious death Lana (pcictured with Natalie in the 1960s) recalls how she tried to get answers from Wagner shortly after her sister's funeral, but he would only say, 'I'm sorry' Lana (pictured with Natalie) says her sister's death affected the whole family and that she was blacklisted from Hollywood shortly after 'She was also terrified of water, she had a swimming pool but never got in it, she did not get in her own pool and swim. 'So the idea that she took out a dingy by herself, dressed in only her nightgown is absolutely nonsense.' Lana says Natalie's death affected the whole family. 'It not only destroyed and ended Natalie's life, it hurt her children's lives, my life,' she said. The former actress and film producer also accuses Wagner of black-listing her from Hollywood after Natalie drowned. She says: 'I couldn't get work, I was in production, I was producing films, I was over at Warner Brothers. 'I couldn't get work immediately after Natalie's death. I received a call from my agent at the time and he said RJ had had me black-listed. 'Not only did he not want to bump in to me, he didn't want to answer to me and he knows I have a tendency to speak my mind. He's hurt a lot of people.' The last time Lana says she spoke to Wagner - before the recent confrontation - was when her mother passed away 17 years ago. 'I was taking care of her in my home and she passed and I called RJ, I called him first, I don't know why but I did,' she recalls. 'He got on the phone, he was very brief and unsure of himself, I was a complete mess, he hung up the phone. 'Then the phone rang again about ten minutes later and it was RJ and he just said, "I just wanted to tell you that I'm really sorry". And that was the last time I spoke to him and that was 17 years ago. 'My mom was never the same after Natalie died.' Wagner has vehemently denied any involvement in Natalie's death. The star's lawyer, Blair Berk, has claimed the actor has 'fully cooperated' with police. Wagner did not respond to Daily Mail Online's request for comment. Natalie starred in several films, including West Side Story, in which she played the role of Maria (pictured above in a scene from the film with Richard Beymer) Miss Florida was dethroned after pageant officials discovered that she had broken the rules by using professional stylists to help with her hair and makeup. Genesis Davila held the Miss Florida USA 2017 title for just a week. The 24-year-old was stripped of her crown after Grant Gravitt, executive producer of the Miss Florida USA Pageant told Local 10 News that she violated pageant regulations. Scroll down for video Genesis Davila (left and right) held the Miss Florida USA 2017 title for just a week before being dethroned after pageant officials discovered she had violated the rules by using professional stylists (pictured left with Davila) to help her with her hair and makeup The 24-year-old (center), who competed with 64 other women last week for the tiara, was stripped of her crown after Grant Gravitt, executive producer of the Miss Florida USA Pageant found out that she violated pageant regulations Grant Gravitt (pictured) said that the Puerto Rican model 'sought an unfair competitive advantage, and that's just not acceptable in our system' Davila competed with 64 other women on July 16 for the tiara that she won't be wearing any longer. Gravitt told the station that the Puerto Rican model 'sought an unfair competitive advantage, and that's just not acceptable in our system'. 'We have a zero-tolerance policy on rules. Whether it's something major or minor, it's all about keeping an equal and level playing field.' Gravitt said Davila made a 'poor life choice' when she decided to use professional stylists to help her with hair and makeup in her private room. Pageant organizers received complaints from contestants and there were also eyewitnesses Gravitt said they were able to obtain 'substantial proof' that she violated the rules after pageant organizers received complaints from contestants. The model's social media accounts also contributed to Gravitt's decision The Miss Miami Beach USA model posted on Instagram: 'DREAMING on a cloud,' shortly after she won the crown. Pageant organizers received complaints from contestants and there were also eyewitnesses, Gravitt told 10 News. Gravitt said they were able to obtain 'substantial proof to link her and her vendors to her room on an evening which they were not allowed'. The model's social media accounts also contributed to Gravitt's decision. Miss Sunny Isles Beach USA, Linette De Los Santos, who was the runner-up, will now wear the Miss Florida crown. De Los Santos was born in the Dominican Republic and she's also a student at Nova Southeastern University law school. The model (center) was crowned Miss Florida last week after competing against 64 other women Davila (pictured), who had dreams of one day being crowned Miss Universe, didn't show up to a meeting scheduled to surrender her crown Davila's lawyers said that they promised to fight for her to keep the tiara 'I'm just excited to have this opportunity,' De Los Santos told 10 News. 'I didn't think it was going to happen, especially like this.' De Los Santos will represent Florida in the 2017 Miss USA pageant, which is the official qualifier for the Miss Universe pageant, according to 10 News. Davila, a five-foot-10 model, is signed with Front Management. In 2014 she was crowned Miss World Puerto Rico. Davila, who had dreams of one day being crowned Miss Universe, didn't show up to a meeting scheduled to surrender her crown. Her lawyers told the station that they promised to fight for her to keep the tiara. Attorney Mayra Joll said Davila's 'still a queen' and that 'justice is going to be served'. But Gravitt said the decision will not be overturned as it's a simple case of breaking the rules. Attorney Mayra Joll said Davila's 'still a queen' and that 'justice is going to be served' Researchers have discovered a new drug that could potentially stop lung cancer and detect the disease before it spreads around the body. The breakthrough could pave way for life-saving treatments after Melbourne researchers from Hudson Institute of Medical Science identified an inflammation-causing molecule that triggers the deadly disease to spread to the lungs. The drug, which is currently undergoing clinical human trials to fight inflammatory bowel disease in Europe, appears to shut the signalling system down that is responsible for developing lung cells, The Herald Sun reported. Scroll down for video Researchers have discovered a drug that prevent lung cancer from spreading around the body (stock image) The discovery could lead to new ways of blocking the disease - giving a glimmer hope to more than 12,000 Australians, who were diagnosed with lung cancer this year. Blood tests may help researchers find ways to detect the molecule Interleukin 6 or Il-6 and develop a drug that could prevent lung cells from passing on signals to grow in an uncontrolled way. Lead researcher Prof Brendan Jenkins said the screening could one day detect the abnormal cells in the body before the danger is switched on. 'The beauty of the study we have done is that we have shown that yes, the molecule is increased in the blood and tissue biopsies, but importantly we have shown that if you target Il-6 and block it you will see a suppression of disease in lung cancer,' he said. Researchers have identified an inflammation-causing molecule that triggers the deadly disease (stock image) Lead researcher Prof Brendan Jenkins (pictured) said the drug has been effective in halting the disease HOW THE DRUG WORKS? Melbourne researchers have discovered a new drug that could stop lung cancer - a treatment that is currently undergoing clinical human trials to fight inflammatory bowel disease in Europe. The existing drug appears to shut the signalling system down that is responsible for developing lung cells. The drug contains a naturally occurring receptor that could potentially block the molecule from attaching itself to lung cells - the most aggressive form of the disease - and stop tumour growth. Lung cancer occurs when abnormal cells in the lung grow in an uncontrolled way. It often spreads (metastasises) to other parts of the body before the cancer can be detected in the lungs. Lung cancer is one of the 10 most common cancers in both men and women in Australia. Advertisement German collaborators at the University of Kiel have developed a radical new drug sgp130Fc in a bid to target a similar signalling process in inflammatory bowel disease. The drug contains a naturally occurring receptor that could potentially block the molecule from attaching itself to lung cells - the most aggressive form of the disease - and stop tumour growth. Prof Jenkins, who is monitoring the European trials, said the existing drug has been effective in halting the disease that could help the tens of thousands of lung-cancer patients. 'You see a dramatic reduction in the amount of tumours forming - they just don't seem to grow anywhere near as well as the tumours would if sgp130Fc was not there,' Prof Jenkins said. Harriet Wran could walk free from jail in just two weeks after being sentenced to two years in jail for her role in a drug-fuelled robbery that ended in the murder of a Sydney ice dealer. The 28-year-old was high on ice and desperate for a hit on the night Daniel McNulty was stabbed to death in a housing commission unit in Redfern in August 2014. The daughter of former NSW Premier Neville Wran thought the two men she was with were just going to steal ice from Mr McNulty and was not aware they were armed when they stormed into his flat. Wran, who pleaded guilty to robbery and being an accessory to murder, burst into tears when she was handed a two-year non parole period on Tuesday in the NSW Supreme Court for her role in the robbery. Justice Ian Harrison also sentenced her to one year for acting as an accessory to murder. With time already served, Wran will be eligible for release on August 13. Scroll down for videos Harriet Wran, 28, was given a two-year non-parole sentence on Tuesday by Justice Ian Harrison over a robbery charge and a one-year fixed term for being an accessory to the murder of Daniel McNulty - with time already served she is eligible for release on Saturday, 13 August Harriet Wran is led to a waiting prison van at the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney on Tuesday. Wran was given a four-year prison term for robbery in company (two years non-parole) and a one-year jail term for being an accessory after the fact to the murder of Redfern drug dealer Daniel McNulty in 2014. She is likely to walk free in 17 days In sentencing Wran on Tuesday, Justice Harrison said it was clear that the agreement to rob Mr McNulty was formed spontaneously and that Wran did not expect anyone to be seriously hurt. Mr McNulty was stabbed to death by Wran's boyfriend of two weeks, Michael Lee, and his friend Lloyd Edward Haines. The court heard Wran believed they were just going to obtain more ice than what she could afford with the $70 she had with her. Justice Harrison said Wran was not aware Lee had a knife, nor that Haines had donned a balaclava in the moments before she knocked on the door to Mr McNulty's home. 'Ms Wran took no part and played no role once entry had been gained - it escalated quickly and unexpectedly,' Justice Harrison said. 'The agreed facts make it clear Ms Wran did not contemplate any injury at all.' Harriet Wran, pictured arriving at court earlier this month, was convicted of robbery and being an accessory to the murder of a Sydney drug dealer in 2014. She will be eligible for parole in 17 days on 13 August Harriet Wran was convicted of robbery and being an accessory to murder and could walk free as early as Saturday, 13 August after serving two years of a non-parole custodial sentence Justice Harrison said he accepted Wran was genuinely remorseful and added that he did not believe she would re-offend once released. Wran turned to face her mother Jill Hickson-Wran, who has supported her daughter in court at each appearance, before she was led down to the cells. 'I really just want to thank all the people who've been on this journey with us and especially our legal team who've been so genuine with Harriet at every twist and turn, and especially other mothers, all of them,' Mrs Wran said. The judge said it was unlikely Wran would ever have been caught up in the events of the night if she had not been in the grip of mental illness and drug addiction. He noted that at the time of the murder, Wran was affected by a number of mental illnesses, including bulimia and bipolar disorder. Justice Harrison also revealed that Harriet Wran had been exposed to 'unwelcome attention from inmates and some prison staff' as a result of the publicity around her case and background. 'Ms Wran was kept under onerous conditions in custody, spending almost 12 months in the maximum security unit, with a considerable amount of time in solitary confinement. He said she would spend up to 23 hours a day in her cell in lockdown. Jill Hickson Wran, the mother of Harriet Wran, leaves the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney on Tuesday after hearing her daughter could be freed in just over two weeks 'I really just want to thank all the people who've been on this journey with us and especially our legal team,' Mrs Wran said as she left the Supreme Court on Tuesday Mrs Wran exchanged a look with her daughter Harriet as Justice Ian Harrison read out his verdict which could see the 28-year-old released as early as 13 August after serving two years for the robbery charge She spoke for the first time about her downfall from politician's daughter to drug addict for the first time in the NSW Supreme Court earlier this month. Wran took to the stand and revealed how she took ice after her father Neville's state funeral and was hooked on Ritalin from the age of 10. The heiress said her politician father's 'sudden' death was a catalyst for her final fall from grace after years of drug addiction and desperation. During her testimony Wran sobbed as she recalled the seedy details which led to her part in the death of a Sydney drug dealer two years ago. The 28-year-old revealed how she relapsed to drug taking after her father Neville's state funeral in 2014 (pictured above with her brother Hugo at the event) The 28-year-old said she began looking for replacements when she stopped taking Ritalin aged 23 and started abusing heavier drugs. She had been taking it for 10 years, relying on it as a teenager to socialise while secretly battling eating disorders. While she began taking ice in 2011, it was her father's death in April 2014 - four months before she was arrested - which sped up her downfall. 'We suddenly lost him. I'd never seen anything like that before. It was so strange his journey had finally ended,' she said through tears. 'It had been a really long and painful journey for us all.' Wran said that sometime after her father's state funeral on April 30, a former boyfriend came over to her house with the drug. She had told NSW Supreme Court she remembered thinking 'oh God' when he produced it. Her drug use coupled with her father's public death and state funeral created the 'perfect storm of problems', her lawyer said as he pleaded with a judge to pass down a lenient sentence for her conviction of attempted robbery and being an accessory to murder. Neville Wran, who was the premier of NSW between 1976 and 1986, died in April 2014 after a lengthy health battle. Harriet and her brother Hugo are his children from a second marriage. Born in 1988 to a life of privilege, the heiress never wanted for a thing growing up in Sydney. She attended elite private schools including Ascham and Sydney Church of England Girls Grammar School (SCEGGS) in Darlinghurst, before she went to the University of Sydney to study Modern and Ancient History. So charmed was her upbringing and high-brow her family's reputation that her father even waltzed with Princess Diana at a charity dinner in 1996. After stints in rehabilitation centres, the politician's daughter first tried the addictive drug ice in 2011 Mrs Wran emerges from the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday hoping to have daughter Harriet home 'soon' 'IT SOUNDED LIKE HE WAS TRYING TO BREATHE': HARRIET WRAN DESCRIBES HARROWING DEATH OF DRUG DEALER STABBED BY HER BOYFRIEND Harriet Wran had previously described how her boyfriend killed a drug dealer while dropping off for ice for them at Redfern apartment in 2014. Michael Lee has been convicted of killing Daniel McNulty by stabbing him in the knee and back. As she pleaded for a lighter sentence after having her charges reduced to attempted robbery and being an accessory to murder on Thursday, Wran recalled the moment he was killed. 'I feel terrible. I'm ashamed to have been involved in anything like that. I can't believe someone died. I can't believe someone was so badly hurt. No one should lose their life in those circumstances. 'But it happened. I just have to try to come to terms to it every day. I regret every step I took that night. 'It just sounded like someone was trying to breathe but they couldn't, and they were trying to scream as well.' She vowed never to return to drugs if released from prison which she said had 'saved her life'. 'I've had the benefit of two years of clean time under awful circumstances, the worst I could ever imagine. 'The consequence is the cravings I had for a few days after using are not present any more. 'The only times I ever think of ice are in my dreams, and those dreams are very bad ones. I've (spent) a lot of time forming a plan on how I will progress when I leave jail. 'And I will not be attending social gatherings where that is happening, early on, and I don't plan to ever drink again in my life. And I know I won't go back there.' If she had never been sent to jail she said: 'I think I would have killed myself through using drugs.' Advertisement 'There was a chemical high... I knew my brain wasn't going to forget' But it was during those privileged schooling years, she revealed on Thursday, that she battled crippling eating disorders and a severe dependency on the drug Ritalin which she had been taken since having it prescribed at the age of 10. 'I associated (it) with being able to function normally. As I got older when I felt insecure or when I felt like I had to do something important I would take more. I developed anorexia when I was 17 and about a year-and-a-half later I developed bulimia 'It had quite a similar effect to an amphetamine. It came up and came down in a similar way,' she said. Claiming to have been bullied at school, she described herself as a 'socially insecure' teenager for whom classes were 'a form of torture'. 'School was a form of torture for me, I didn't like it at all. I had an eating disorder which got on top of me and started to use ecstasy quite frequently. 'I developed anorexia when I was 17 and about a year-and-a-half later I developed bulimia.' After leaving school and graduating from university she undertook two jobs in television. At the age of 23, after 13 years of use, she stopped taking Ritalin. Her former boyfriend Michael Lee (pictured above arriving at court in 2014) has been convicted of murder The first time Harriet smoked ice While working as a producer at The Weather Channel, Wran took cocaine on the weekends with friends. Her problems worsened and in 2011, after leaving a rehabilitation centre where she had been receiving treatment for her eating disorders, she took ice for the first time. 'I knew as soon as I had taken it it was the wrong thing to do and I had broken a big rule in my books about the what I would do. From that point on, I hated using it. But the cravings kept driving me back to it 'I was devastated when it wore off. From that point on, I hated using it. But the cravings kept driving me back to it.' Years of drug use and strained relationships with her family followed. It was in these years Jill Wran, her devoted mother, would attempt to lock her in houses to stop her from further abusing. Stints in rehabilitation, toxic romantic relationships and a suicide attempt followed. Asked if she had tried to take her own life, she said on Thursday: 'I think so, I'm not sure. 'I drank a lot in a moment of despair and stupidity. 'I came to in hospital with 42 stitches in my arm.' When her father died at the age of 87 two years ago the family fought tirelessly over the fortune. Jill Hicks, Harriet's mother and his second wife, was said to have been embroiled in a fight with Kim Sheftell over his estate while his other children reached a settlement in April. Four months after his death, Harriet was arrested for her part in the murder of drug-dealer Daniel McNulty who was found dead in an apartment in Redfern, Sydney. Wran (above) had sobbed in court as she recalled details of her downfall Wran's boyfriend and his friend pleaded guilty to murdering small time drug dealer Daniel McNulty (above) Court documents have told how Wran had appeared at the window of Mr McNulty's flat on August 10 that year. He told his housemate: 'Don't worry, it's just a girl.' But Mr McNulty did not see the two men standing behind Wran - her boyfriend of two weeks, heroin addict Michael Lee, and his friend Lloyd Edward Haines, who she had only met that night. As Mr McNulty unlocked his front door, Lee burst through and demanded money and drugs, and the robbery quickly turned deadly. HARRIET WRAN'S DESCENT: A TIMELINE OF DRUGS AND DESPAIR How events unfolded, according to Wran's testimony at court on July 14... 2011: Wran's childhood doctor takes her off Ritalin, the drug she used to treat her ADHD since age 10. Her bulimia, which she has suffered for years, worsens. She starts snorting cocaine more often. Her father is diagnosed with dementia. August 2011: Stressed by her father's illness and her escalating cocaine use, the 23-year-old returns early from a holiday around Australia. She checks into the South Pacific Private rehabilitation centre suffering chronic depression Late 2011: Wran makes friends with meth users at the centre. She discharges after three weeks and has beers with an ice-using friend. Tries the drug for the first time 2011 - April 2014: Wran is in and out of rehab and eating disorder treatment centres. At one point, she tries to kill herself, waking up in hospital with 42 stitches in her arm. At one point, manages to stay clean for eight months April 2014: Wran's famous father, Neville, dies. Wran reads a poem at his state funeral but family tensions break into the open at court. She swiftly relapses after an ex-boyfriend comes over, bringing ice with him August 10, 2014: Daniel McNulty is killed in a botched ice deal at his Redfern public housing estate. August 13: Police spot Wran and boyfriend Michael Lee at Liverpool Train Station, in Western Sydney and arrest them July 3, 2016: Wran's murder charge is dropped, she pleads guilty to robbery in company and accessory after the fact to murder July 14: Wran publicly speaks about the incident for the first time at her sentencing hearing as mother Jill watches on Advertisement 'If I hadn't knocked on the door perhaps it would never have happened,' Wran said in a shaking voice on Thursday. Wran told the court she was spared from watching as Mr McNulty was fatally stabbed but heard his harrowing final moments. 'It just sounded like someone was trying to breathe, but they couldn't,' Wran said through tears. He was murdered by her then boyfriend Michael Lee and his friend Lloyd Edward Haines when attempting to deliver drugs when they killed him. Lee and Haines have both pleaded guilty to murder. Mrs Wran has agreed to allow her daughter to live with her if she is released from jail. The 67-year-old had also offered to give up drinking to help her stay clean, she told the court. Her arrest and jail time Since entering prison - where she said she had been the target of death threats and was kept in total isolation for five months for her own safety - Wran said she had kicked her ice habit for good. 'After what happened, after someone died, everything changed,' she said. 'There was just no option to ever go back to drugs. If that wasn't a wake-up call I don't know what could be. 'The only times I ever think of ice are in my dreams, and those dreams are very bad ones.' She told the court when she first met Lee, who has pleaded guilty to the murder of Mr McNulty, she saw him as a 'calm entity in a crazy world'. But in the days after the killing she came to hate him. She said one of Lee's drug dealer friends had told him she was a 'problem'. 'I hope you're not the biggest mistake I've ever made,' Lee wrote to her in a text message. She reassured him he could trust her. But she wanted nothing more than to get away from him and was 'relieved' when she was recognised by police at Liverpool railway station. 'He'd shown me who he really was,' Wran said. 'I'd seen his true colours. I mean I should have known that night.' Wran said she has spent a lot of time forming a plan on how she will progress when she leaves jail. 'I want to get a degree and stay busy and feel like I've at least given back in some way,' she said. She said she wanted to work in animal welfare, and wants to take up a role fighting ice addiction when she is 'emotionally' ready for it. Police tape covers the squalid housing commission apartment in Redfern where drug dealer Daniel McNulty was murdered in 2014 Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. -Martin Luther King, Jr. Last week, the Montana Supreme Court bent the long moral arc toward justice. It decided that a Yellowstone County court got a wrongful termination decision horribly wrong. The high court said that former Colstrip Police Chief Larry Reinlasoder had indeed been fired for good cause, namely creating a pretty uncomfortable, if not hostile, work environment. The Billings Gazette covered the trial in Judge Russell Faggs court extensively and it made statewide news when Reinlasoder sued his former employer for wrongful termination. A jury agreed that Reinlasoder was not fired properly and awarded nearly $300,000 in damages. Many readers were shocked because the evidence seemed so convincing. Reinlasoder had sent pictures of people having sexual intercourse to other employees. He sent pictures of genitalia. He invited female employees to watch pornography with him at work. As police chief. Despite this testimony and evidence, the jury didnt believe the city of Colstrip had been justified in firing him. Last weeks decision by the state Supreme Court was great news for employees and employers alike, as well as correcting what was simply a mishandled case. The Reinlasoder verdict was dangerous for several reasons. First, it could have a very dangerous chilling effect for cases moving forward. In other words, employees who may experience similar sexual harassment in the workplace could be fearful coming forward to report such incidents, knowing that juries and courts may not take them seriously. Moreover, the original Reinlasoder verdict may have put employers in an equally awful position. Had the verdict been allowed to stand, the city of Colstrip would have been in an unwinnable position. It would have had employees who would have clearly been in an extremely uncomfortable, if not hostile work environment while at the same time not being able to fire a manager (and police chief) who was making unwanted sexual suggestions. In other words, either way, the city of Colstrip could have been sued. The high courts decision means that Colstrip will not be punished for clearly doing the right thing. And terminating Reinlasoder seemed clearly to be the right thing. There was no question that Reinlasoder sent the images and messages to employees. Some employees clearly felt uncomfortable having pornography sent to them and being invited to view it. There were witnesses to those conversations, even though Reinlasoder did not recall them at the trial. The state Supreme Court said that just because Reinlasoder didnt seem to remember didnt invalidate the concern or the evidence. If Colstrip had not acted to protect its employees who felt that those overtures created a hostile work environment, then they could have been sued by them. The Supreme Court opinion, written by Justice Jim Rice, said the case should have been decided in the citys favor based on Montana law and undisputed facts. The uncontested evidence showed Reinlasoder sexually harassed an employee, the Supreme Court said. Sexual harassment is unquestionably a legitimate business reason or reasonable job-related grounds for dismissal that satisfies the good cause standard contained in (Montana law). We believe that courts of appeal, like the Montana State Supreme Court, should be cautious about overturning the verdict of a jury. However, in such an egregious case, making sure that justice is really served was just too important. For the sake of employers, employees and the good name of police who dont engage in that kind of outrageous behavior, this District Court judgment against the city of Colstrip needed to be reversed. A Texas dentist was brutally attacked by a bull shark during his last family vacation in the Bahamas, returning home with his face and leg maimed. Dr. Steven Cutbirth, of Waco, said he was diving and spearing hogfish near Green Turtle Cay on July 23 when the 'perfect storm' attack happened. 'I was coming up to the surface and all of a sudden it felt like a truck hit me in the face,' he recounted in a Facebook video. Scroll down for video Dr. Steven Cutbirth, of Texas, survived a horrific bull shark attack while spearing hofgish near Green Turtle Cay in the Bahamas Dr. Cutbirth (right) and his family have spent yearly vacations in the Bahamas for the last 30 years 'I turned around and I could see that white underside of its mouth and its teeth open he kept just bouncing into me, and you can't tell if they're biting you or hitting you,' he added. Cutbirth gone on yearly vacations to the Bahamas for the past 30 years. This time, he said, he was 'in the wrong place at the wrong time.' 'I was stunned and could not imagine what had hit me,' Cutbirth added. The Waco dentist tried to strike the shark on its head to defend himself. 'That knocked it back a bit, only to have it now in a full frenzy coming back at me, banging into my side and right leg, searching for the speared fish,' Cutbirth said. Dr. Cutbirth had his face and leg maimed by a bull shark while vacationing with his family in the Bahamas Cutbirth says the attack felt like being hit by a truck, but he survived the ordeal and was patched up enough to finish his vacation The dentist's wife, Sharron, said the attack 'was an episode and not an incident.' 'The ocean remains the shark's environment,' she wrote on Facebook. 'We respect that, and only spear what we eat. 'This was not the shark's fault, it was just a "perfect storm."' A local nurse helped stitch the dentist up, as there is no physician on the island. The family will remain in the Bahamas for the rest of their vacation. 'A few gaps here and there, but by and large, all the pieces are together,' Cutbirth said. 'All in all, no complaints a very lucky person. 'All men should have a few well placed scars on their face, don't you think?' Bahamian nurse Shekera (pictured) stitched the dentist up enough so he could remain on the island until the end of his trip One of the the former bosses of a Maryland radio station has been arrested and charged with harassing an ex along with his family. Raychel Harvey-Jones, 42, of Sparrows Point in Baltimore County was the news director at WNAV based in Annapolis, but she has now been fired from the station and charged with one count of forgery of a public document in a March 20 incident, court records show. The station told the Capitol Gazette that her release from the newsroom was a 'human resources issue' and has 'nothing to do with the station'. Raychel Harvey-Jones, 42, was hired in June as the news director of WNAV, but has left the station following forgery charges filed against her in Baltimore County Harvey-Jones, 42, of Sparrows Point in Baltimore County, has been charged with one count of forgery of a public document in a March 20 incident, court records show Baltimore County police detectives were contacted on July 12 about a man who said he was harassed by Harvey-Jones. He explained to law enforcement that having dated Harvey-Jones, he ended the relationship when she 'started acting unstable,' police wrote in charging documents. Police were told that the man received 'harassing and threatening' texts and emails for five-and-a-half months, between February and July. Through their investigation, Baltimore County detectives believe that Harvey-Jones forged several court documents utilizing some of the information from her own case and purported it to be part of another case against her ex-boyfriends former girlfriend. Harvey-Jones was arrested on Thursday after police were contacted by a man who claimed he was harassed Police said numerous fake email accounts were set up by Harvey-Jones, from which she sent harassing emails to the ex-boyfriend The former boyfriend believes this was an attempt to convince him to rekindle the relationship with Harvey-Jones. The forgeries included charging documents, a court commissioners signature, among others A trial date is scheduled for September 19 in District Court in Towson, online court records show. It is not the first time Harvey-Jones has faced charges related to harassment. Last year, she was charged and arrested Baltimore County police for harassing another ex-boyfriend, court documents state. A number of fake email accounts were set up by her from which she sent harassing emails to the ex-boyfriend and his family. Court records show Harvey-Jones was given three years of unsupervised probation and ordered to have no contact with the victim. McDonnell joked that he wanted to sue the author for stealing his idea John McDonnell bragged about wanting to assassinate Margaret Thatcher four years after apologising for first making the tasteless remark, it has emerged John McDonnell bragged about wanting to assassinate Margaret Thatcher four years after apologising for first making the tasteless remark, it has emerged. In 2010, when standing for the Labour leadership, the current Shadow Chancellor was forced to say sorry following the furore over the gaffe. But footage has come to light of him from 2014, showing that far from being shame-faced he continued to joke about how he had got into trouble over his desire to kill the former prime minister. He was speaking at a conference in September of that year, on the day the Guardian published a hugely controversial short story by Hilary Mantel called The Assassination Of Margaret Thatcher. Mr McDonnell joked that he wanted to sue the Wolf Hall author for stealing his idea. Last night Lord Tebbit, whose wife was paralysed in the IRA Brighton bomb attack in 1984 which targeted Mrs Thatcher, said the film proved the original apology was hollow and that the Labour Party was the true nasty party. We know that when he apologises he does not mean it, he said. I have no time for Mr McDonnell in any way, and I hope that when Theresa May looks across the despatch box she will realise that the nasty party is the one in front of her and not behind. Baroness Thatcher died in 2013, a year before the shadow chancellor was filmed again joking about his desire to kill her. Mr McDonnell said: I got into trouble once when I was on Any Questions and I was asked a question about Ashes To Ashes, that programme that was on TV about people going back in time. I was asked, If you could go back in time, what act would you do? I wanted to say section Thatcher but I said assassinate Thatcher. And Im not joking, this was in Wales and the audience were clapping. They had to quieten them down so they could broadcast again. Mr McDonnell recalled how he was asked the same question at a GMB conference in June 2010, during the leadership campaign that was eventually won by Ed Miliband. He said: I got back to London and by the next morning I was all over the front of the Daily Mail and all the rest of it condemned by every other candidate that was standing at the time. Mr McDonnell joked that he wanted to sue the Wolf Hall author Hilary Mantel for stealing his idea when she published a story called The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher In fact the story made only a small piece on page two of the Mail, and was not on the front of any major newspaper. Mr McDonnell went on: And I was on a phone in and some colonel from Surrey called up and I thought he was having a coronary, so I said, Im sorry if Ive upset you. But there was massive support for assassinating Margaret Thatcher. So whats interesting is that Hilary Mantel is most probably going to make a fortune from this book. Im going to sue her on copyright grounds. The comments were greeted by laughter from his audience. One of those seen laughing is Angela Rayner, who is now the shadow education secretary. After Mr McDonnell made his original comment in 2010, he apologised and insisted his comments were a joke and it went down as a joke. But Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Centre for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation think-tank in Washington DC, described the remarks as a new low in British political debate. Speaking on BBC Question Time last year, after being elevated to the shadow chancellorship, Mr McDonnell again apologised for joking about the assassination. He said: It was an appalling joke. Its ended my career in stand-up, lets put it that way, and I apologise for it as well. Mr McDonnell also said sorry for claiming the IRA should be honoured for their campaign of terror. Both men now face criminal charges in the sexual assault case Childs Sr had 22 ecstasy pills on him during arrest, prosecutor said The woman said Childs Jr followed her to her room and raped her twice The father put ecstasy in a female student's soda, according to authorities Shawn Childs Jr, 19, and his father were on campus Tuesday, officials said A father put ecstasy in a female student drink before his son raped her during an Illinois State University orientation event, authorities have said. Shawn Childs Jr, 19, and his father, Shawn Childs Sr, were in a residence hall along with other incoming students on Tuesday in Normal, according to a prosecutor. A woman, who has not been named, told authorities Childs Sr put a pill in her soda before she went back to her room feeling ill, the Chicago Tribune reported. Childs Jr followed her inside and raped her twice, the woman said. He and his father both face criminal charges in the case. Scroll down for video Shawn Childs Jr (pictured left and right), 19, and his father, Shawn Childs Sr (pictured left with his son) both face criminal charges after a female student said Childs Jr raped her at Illinois State University Tuesday The two-day event at Illinois State University, called the Preview, is meant for students to find out more about the university before classes start in August. Parents can attend and stay on separate floors inside Hewett Hall in Normal, Illinois State University Chief of Staff Jay Groves told the Chicago Tribune. Childs Jr and his father were in a dorm room with other students, First Assistant State's Attorney Adam Ghrist said in a statement read Thursday in court. The elder Childs offered to go and buy alcohol for underage students and returned having purchased the goods, according to Ghrist. A woman, who has not been named, told authorities Childs Sr put a pill in her drink before Childs Jr (pictured at an orientation event at Illinois State University) raped her twice Then, the woman said, Childs Sr put a pill in her soda before Childs Jr followed her and raped her twice, Ghrist recounted in his statement. The events unfolded between 10 and 11 pm on Tuesday according to the prosecution. They have 'nothing to do with mischief and everything to do with terrible criminal behavior on the part of adults', Groves told the Chicago Tribune. The Preview has taken place for 50 years. The elder Childs shared photos of himself with his son on Tuesday and Wednesday on Facebook, geolocating then at Illinois State University. He wrote in the captions that he felt proud of his son - and a little nervous - as he took him to his new college. Childs Jr and his father were arrested on Wednesday at a train station, as they were about to head back to Chicago, authorities said. The elder Childs had 22 ecstasy pills in his pocket during the arrest, according to Ghrist. Childs Jr told police the woman was 'messed up' on Tuesday night, Ghrist added. He has now been charged with four counts of criminal sexual assault. Meanwhile his father, who faced previous convictions for attempted murder, domestic battery and weapon charges according to Ghrist, has been charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Both are due to be arraigned on Friday. Video courtesy abc 7 - WLS The man was caught having sex with his 12-year-old girlfriend by police An 18-year-old man who bashed his 12-year-old girlfriend in front of social workers has been jailed after police found the pair having sex just five days later. The court has heard the young girl was dropped off to the man's house by the Department of Children and Families before he bashed her into a wall and slapped her twice across the face. The man and child then denied having a sexual relationship but this was disproved by police who caught them having sex when they arrested him on January 19 this year The NT News reports. An 18-year-old Alice Springs man has been jailed after Northern Territory Police found him having sex with his 12-year-old girlfriend (file picture) The man admitted to the Northern Territory Supreme Court that he knew he shouldn't have sex with the child but did and didn't use a condom. Details of the physical assault witnessed by social workers were also outlined in court it started when the young girl through a shoe at the man. 'That made you angry and you chased after her. You grabbed hold of her and pushed her,' Justice Kelly said. 'She hit the wall and fell to the floor. When she was on the floor you hit her on the head with your open hand ... causing her pain and giving her a headache.' The man plead guilty in front of the Northern Territory Supreme court and was sentenced to two years and five months behind bars (file picture) Justice Kelly explained to the man that the laws weren't only made to protect vulnerable young children from predatory men. But to protect them from entering a sexual relationship before 'they are mature enough to weigh up the consequences.' The man plead guilty to maintaining a sexual relationship with a child under 16 years old, trespass, breaching domestic violence orders, breaching bail and unlawful assault. He will be released from jail in 23 months. The total term of imprisonment was two years and five months. The owner of The Guardian newspaper is expected to post a 173million loss. Figures due to be published tomorrow are set to reveal the company has struggled in an advertising downturn for newspapers while failing to increase earnings online. The core business is to reveal an operating loss of 68.7million in the year to March, according to a message sent to senior executives seen by The Financial Times. The owner of The Guardian newspaper is expected to post a 173million loss (file picture) This is 10.1million worse than initially hoped. Guardian Media Group will also write down the value of its stake in magazine and events firm Ascential by 80million. It owns 22.4 per cent of the FTSE 250 firm, which organises business leadership summits and runs a trend authority for the fashion and creative sectors. GMG had set the target of cutting 250 jobs but 270 UK staff applied for voluntary redundancy, including 70 journalists. Its finances have worsened sharply since Alan Rusbridger, pictured, quit as editor last year Another 60 vacant positions will no longer be filled, meaning that its British workforce has been cut by 20 per cent in total. The group was also hit by a 20million restructuring charge relating to laid-off staff. Its finances have worsened sharply since Alan Rusbridger quit as editor last year when he was due to take over as chairman of the Scott Trust, GMGs parent company. However the plan was abandoned after a confrontation with new editor Katharine Viner over the future of the newspaper. Mr Rusbridger had invested heavily in international and digital growth during his 20 years at the helm but there were fears that this has not led to a similar rise in profits. When he revealed he would not be chairman in May, Mr Rusbridger said the Press had been battered by turbulent economic forces that were difficult to foresee. Miss Viner is seeking to sign online readers up as members to support The Guardians journalism. The companys expansion was supported by 600million from selling its stake in the publisher of Auto Trader in 2014, which then went on to record a 19 per cent hike in profits to 171.3million last year. This has raised questions over the wisdom of the sale. The family of one-punch victim Thomas Kelly has been dealt fresh tragedy with the untimely death of their second teenage son. Stuart Kelly, 18, died on Monday in Mona Vale, north Sydney. His death is not being treated as suspicious. It comes four years after his older brother was killed by a single punch by in Sydney's Kings Cross. His thuggish killer Kieran Loveridge is currently serving a 13-year jail term after a public campaign, led by the Kelly family, for tougher rules on alcohol-fuelled violence. Stuart, who recently deferred university, was among the most vocal advocates for change. Scroll down for video Stuart Kelly (left in 2014) has died. The 18-year-old was the brother of one-punch victim Thomas Kelly (right) who died in 2012 He described his brother's death as a 'sentence he would carry for the rest of his life' in September in a moving speech in support of Sydney's lock out laws. Announcing his death in a statement on Tuesday, Dr Timothy Hawkes of The King's School in Parramatta, where he was a model student, said: 'It is with great sadness that I inform you of the death of an Old Boy of the School, Stuart Kelly. STUART KELLY'S MOVING SPEECH TO END ALCOHOL-FUELLED VIOLENCE 'I carry a deep scar that you cannot see. It's always there, never leaves. It's just below the surface of your skin, and surfaces when you least expect it. 'Tom never deserved to die that night, it was not meant to be his time. In fact, I believe now that it could and should have been avoided. Our family lost a son and a brother. I ask all of you to look at me, I am but one person who has been affected by violence. 'It is a sentence that I have to carry for the rest of my life. 'My mother, father and sister now carry this sentence. Our relatives and friends, Tom's friends, carry this sentence. 'We are not alone, there are many many thousands of other who are directly affected by senseless violence every year. 'Premier will you make this promise tonight? 'Australia is an alcoholic; we need to rethink the way we drink.' Advertisement 'This is the second great tragedy to affect the Kelly family.' Commiserating his death, Dr Hawkes added that it was another loss for the brothers' parents Ralph and Kathy and their sister Madeleine. 'Our particular thoughts and prayers are with the Kelly family. 'To have lost two sons in such circumstances is beyond awful,' said Dr Hawkes. He added support was being given to students who had been 'shocked and saddened' by the news. A NSW spokesman confirmed on Tuesday a report would be prepared for the coroner. 'Police will prepare a report for the coroner following the death of a 19-year-old-man at Mona Vale yesterday. 'There are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances.' His parents, who are still understood to be living in the Southern Highlands, have not made any statement. It is understood Stuart's body was found in the car park at Mona Vale beach in northern Sydney on Monday at 12.30pm. It comes four years after Thomas's death in 2012 which ignited the debate on Sydney's lock out laws and alcohol-fuelled violence. Thomas was enjoying his first night out in the city's infamous Kings Cross with his girlfriend when, at around 10pm, he was attacked randomly by Loveridge. Within 24 hours he had died after having his life support switched off in hospital. Loveridge was initially given a five-year jail sentence which caused public outcry and and prompted an appeal spearheaded by the Kelly family for a harsher punishment. Stuart graduated from The King's School in Parramatta in October. He is seen above with his parents, Ralph and Kathy, celebrating the occasion The teenager's death brings fresh tragedy to Ralph and Kathy Kelly (above following their eldest son's death) Stuart delivered a moving speech in 2014 after his brother's killer's sentence was increased. He told how Thomas's death had left a 'hole' in his life Friends of the family said it was 'beyond awful' that they would have to endure the deaths of two teenage sons. Left, Stuart is pictured on a holiday when he was younger. Right, Thomas before his death In 2014 he had his sentence increased to a minimum of 10 years. He was moved to a maximum security facility after conducting an affair with a prison guard last year. Stuart, who was 14 at the time of his brothers death, welcomed the news of Loveridge's increased sentence in 2014. 'Up until now I haven't said anything because I was too young. 'I've just tried to block it out. I've tried to understand over and over why, at such a young age, my brother lost his life so tragically, but I have no answers. 'It's been difficult for me. I've watched my family suffer on a daily basis, trying to somehow regain anything in their lives. 'I want Thomas's short life to have some meaning in his death so we can see change, a new fresh start, one where I believe we should have respect for one another.' In a biography on the Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation website he described struggling to cope with the loss of his brother. The family spearheaded campaigns for tougher sentences against violence thugs after Loveridge was given just a five-year sentence for manslaughter. Above they are seen leaving court in 2014 Thomas was enjoying his first night out in Sydney's Kings Cross in June 2012 when he was attacked. He is seen above playing rugby and during another event before his death Kieran Loveridge is serving a 13-year sentence after being convicted of manslaughter. He had his original sentence of five-years increased following public outcry. The thug is pictured above in 2013 Madeleine Kelly is the couple's only surviving child. She is pictured above with her mother leaving the Court of Criminal Appeal in Sydney in 2014 The family received an outpouring of public sympathy at the time of Thomas's death. Above, Mrs Kelly weeps after Loveridge's increased sentence is handed down while the family addresses media 'I have somehow had to try to learn that I wont have a brother in my life. I know I will miss Tom for the rest of my life.' He continued his crusade against alcohol-fuelled violence among young people and delivered a rousing speech at a gala last year to compel politicians to make more significant changes to the law. He was also an ambassador for the Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation, set up after his brother's death to campaign on the issue. Paying tribute to him on Tuesday, the boys' former school he was an 'effective' leader. 'As a student, Stuart was greatly respected. He was a school prefect who possessed a quiet integrity that made him enormously effective as a leader. 'The strength and character shown by Stuart when his brother was killed by a one punch attack in July 2012, was extraordinary. 'Stuart has since gone on to support the work of the Kelly Foundation and to campaign against alcohol fuelled violence. 'The death of Stuart Kelly is tragic, and a reminder that life is fragile, loved ones precious and each day a gift,' Dr Hawkes added. The boys' parents have been avid campaigners for tougher anti-violence and alcohol laws since Thomas's death Madeleine Kelly, who was 17 when Thomas was killed and is now a student, is the couple's only surviving child Schools may be forced to record incidents of hate crime under a crackdown unveiled by the Government today. Head teachers will be told to log every case of anti-Muslim, antisemitic, homophobic, racist or other bullying in the classroom or in the playground. It will allow the Department for Education to carry out an assessment of the levels of hate crime in the countrys primary and secondary schools in a bid to stamp it out. The Governments anti-hate crime action plan will include moves to give perpetrators tougher sentences, as well as plans to provide 2.4million for security measures at synagogues, mosques, churches and other places of worship. Head teachers will be told to log every case of anti-Muslim, antisemitic, homophobic, racist or other bullying in the classroom or in the playground (stock image) HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, the police watchdog, will assess forces response to hate crime. Police figures show that young people were the victims of 10 per cent of religious hate crimes and 8 per cent of race hate crimes in a three-week period surrounding the EU referendum. Currently, schools can deal with allegations of hate crime internally as a disciplinary matter, or they can refer an incident to police but there is no mandatory requirement to record incidents. Police will work with schools to inform teachers and parents how to challenge and report incidents of hate crime. Teachers leaders fear, however, that the new move could create more red tape in the classroom. Home Secretary Amber Rudd promised action following a surge in reported xenophobic and racist abuse including incidents on buses and trains after the vote for Brexit on June 23. Figures released on Friday showed more than 6,000 alleged hate crimes reported to police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in the four weeks from the middle of last month. The main offence was violence against the person, which includes harassment and common assault, as well as verbal abuse, spitting and barging. JIHADI JACK: I'M NO ISLAMIC STATE FIGHTER Jack Letts has long been suspected of being the first white Briton to join the jihadist group The Briton known as Jihadi Jack after fleeing his middle-class Oxford family home for Syria has insisted he is not an Islamic State fighter. Jack Letts, who has long been suspected of being the first white Briton to join the jihadist group, insists he has not taken up arms with the extremists. In a bizarre interview with Channel 4, the 20-year-old Muslim convert also revealed he had survived an airstrike with just a scratch amid repeated bombardments from Western military. Asked if he was with Islamic State, Letts said: I agree with jihad and I agree with implementing the sharia and I agree with tawhid [monotheism] and stuff like this. But all the groups that... exist now that I know of have mistakes. The group that you mention, I cant say they represent Islam. In an online statement in Arabic, he added: I oppose so-called Islamic State, but that doesnt mean I am with you, the dirty non-Muslims. His parents, organic farmer John Letts and his wife Sally Lane, have been accused of terrorism offences after allegedly wiring their son 1,700 charges they deny. But Letts said of his parents: They reject the religion of truth, so I reject them. I hate the Kuffaar [non-Muslims], and am free from them. Die in your rage. Questioned about whether he is a fighter, he said: Currently Im not. But theyll say what they want... I came here searching for the truth, and people of the truth, and I dont regret that I came. Advertisement Miss Rudd said it was completely unacceptable for people to suffer abuse or attacks because of their nationality or ethnic background. This Government is determined to build a Britain that works for everyone, she said. Those who practise hatred send out a message that its OK to abuse and attack others because of their nationality, ethnicity or religious background; that its OK to disregard our shared values and promote the intolerance that causes enormous harm to communities and individuals. Well, I have a very clear message for them: we will not stand for it. Hatred has no place whatsoever in a 21st-century Great Britain that works for everyone. We are Great Britain because we are united by values such as democracy, free speech, mutual respect and opportunity for all. Some of Britains top City firms were last night urged to hand back millions of pounds of dirty money they made from the doomed sale of BHS. The firms including Linklaters, Olswang and Grant Thornton made up to 10million from advising on the sale of Sir Philip Greens High Street stalwart for 1 to a three-times bankrupt ex-racing driver. BHS collapsed in April just a year after it was sold to Dominic Chappell in a devastating blow to its 11,000 workers and the 22,000 members of its pension scheme. Yesterday, a lacerating Parliamentary report said the involvement of some of the Citys leading legal and financial names had given the deal an expensive badge of credibility. And last night, furious MPs said those firms should now hand back the cash to help the thousands of BHS workers who face losing their jobs or to help plug the pension schemes 570million black-hole. Sir Philip Green 'repeatedly' resisted requests from the trustees of the BHS pension scheme to pay more money into workers' pots Labour MP Frank Field today branded Sir Philip 'much worse' than Robert Maxwell and demanded Theresa May, right in Belfast today, seek 'retribution and justice' from the billionaire Frank Field, chairman of the work and pensions committee which investigated the downfall of the 88-year-old High Street retailer, told the Mail: This is tainted money. Clearly the advisers knew their names were being used to give credibility to an absurd operation a triple bankrupt [Chappell] introduced by a convicted fraudster [Paul Sutton]. I hope the partners of these firms decide they dont want this money and give it to the 11,000 former BHS workers who have lost their jobs. Another MP described the fees as dirty money and yet another said the firms had a moral duty to return the cash. The BHS scandal exploded again yesterday after the publication of the report by Mr Fields committee. It branded Sir Philip as the unacceptable face of capitalism and said he had plundered millions from BHS before leading it to disaster. In his first comments last night, Sir Philip nicknamed Sir Shifty by his critics said the report was unfair and inaccurate. It also emerged that he was threatening to sue both Mr Field and Mr Chappell accusing the latter of falsely representing his business credentials before the deal. But pressure intensified yesterday for Sir Philip to be stripped of his knighthood. Mr Field said he had behaved much worse than the shamed late media baron Robert Maxwell even though he has committed no crime and likened him to a Napoleon figure floating around on his yacht after having orchestrated an old-fashioned classical asset-stripping. It came as: Lord Kerslake, former head of the forfeiture committee which stripped disgraced former RBS boss Fred Goodwin of his knighthood, suggested Sir Philip had a case to answer; The Prime Minister ordered a blitz on corporate tax avoidance to prevent a repeat of the BHS scandal; Sir Philip faced calls to write a cheque for 700million to prop up the BHS pension scheme amid fears its funding shortfall has grown; MPs raised concerns about the Arcadia pension scheme which includes thousands of Topshop and Dorothy Perkins workers as the deficit has soared to 190million. The location of Sir Philip, pictured aboard his new yacht Lionheart last week, was not clear today. The Lionheart is currently in Greece, moored off the island of Skopelos Mr Chappell, who had been bankrupted three times, was introduced to Sir Philips team by convicted fraudster Paul Sutton. Sir Philip has claimed he one million per cent would not have done the deal without being given the green light by Goldman Sachs. His team also said they were also encouraged by the good team of people around Mr Chappell, including reputable advisory firms. But in their report, MPs told how some advisers were more preoccupied with how their fees would be paid. Life of luxury: The Greens' 100million superyacht Lionheart, complete with its own helipad, off the coast of Malta last week The firms involved included Olswang, which described Mr Chappell as an honest guy and an entrepreneur. Olswang and Grant Thornton are said to have raked in 8million between them from Mr Chappells investment vehicle Retail Acquisitions Group, while Linklaters received 1.2million from Sir Philip Accountancy firm PWC also received hundreds of thousands of pounds for auditing the accounts of Taveta, the Jersey-based parent company of Sir Philips retail empire. When Sir Philip bought BHS in 2000, the company pension schemes had a healthy surplus of 43million but now have a deficit of 571million Last night John Mann, Labour MP, said: These advisers made significant dirty money out of the BHS calamity. The only decent thing to do is for them to help BHS workers. Craig Mackinlay, a Tory member of the work and pensions select committee said: Morally they should consider giving up some of their fees. Last night Sir Philip said the MPs report was a predetermined and inaccurate output of a biased and unfair process. He added: With the benefit of hindsight, clearly Retail Acquisitions and Mr Chappell were a very bad choice as purchaser on many fronts and I feel badly let down. The disposal of BHS was made one hundred per cent in good faith and I still believe that we provided Retail Acquisitions and Mr Chappell with the appropriate finance 200million of cash and assets to take the business forward. I am trying to find a solution for the BHS pension. A spokesman for Grant Thornton UK, said: We undertook our work in the belief that we could help BHS management team to turn the business around, and find a sustainable solution for the pensions scheme. The firm would not comment on whether its partners will give up their fees. A Goldman Sachs spokesman said: We identified risks to Arcadia but did not provide advice or recommendations. Thousands of lone child refugees are left at the mercy of people smugglers because of the UKs deplorable response to their pleas for help, a damning report has found. Britain is failing them by refusing to take its fair share and treating them like somebody elses problem, said the Lords EU committee. It said vulnerable children were often not believed about their age and that authorities around Europe were trying to pass the parcel by putting them off applying for asylum. Thousands of lone child refugees are left at the mercy of people smugglers because of the UKs deplorable response to their pleas for help, a damning report has found The young migrants whose plight has been highlighted by the Daily Mail were then preyed on by human traffickers, who claim they can reach their destination country more quickly by going through them. Desperate children often do not trust the authorities and give in to this pressure. In one harrowing example, a 15-year-old Afghan, known only as Masud, made his way to Sweden before ending up in Calais. He died in a lorry trying to reach the UK in December, having lost hope his claim to join his sister would ever be heard. At least 10,000 lone under-18s are missing in Europe where nearly 90,000 minors sought refuge in 2015. That was almost four times 2014s total of 23,000. Last year in the UK there were 3,043 applications from lone children seeking asylum, a jump of 56 per cent on 2014. The Mail, with charities like Save the Children and the former child refugee, Labour peer Lord Dubs, urged Ministers to do more to help those languishing in European camps. As Prime Minister, David Cameron insisted that taking children from EU camps could act as an incentive for more to be sent to the continent. But after a defeat in the Lords and pressure from the Mail, Mr Cameron agreed to start taking an unspecified number of lone child refugees if they had made it to Europe before March 30. Talks are being held with councils about resettling them as work continues to identify those with links to Britain. Baroness Prashar, chairman of the Lords EU committee, said: The refugee crisis is the greatest humanitarian challenge the EU has faced. At the sharp end are unaccompanied migrant children, who are being failed across the board. We found that these children face suspicion on arrival. They are seen as somebody elses problem and the conditions they live in were described to us as deplorable and squalid. As Prime Minister, David Cameron insisted that taking children from EU camps could act as an incentive for more to be sent to the continent. We found a clear failure among EU countries, including the UK, to shoulder their fair share of the burden. We deeply regret the UK Governments reluctance to relocate migrant children, in particular those living in terrible conditions in the camps near the Channel ports. The committee heard a wealth of evidence about the prevailing culture of disbelief, most of it relating to the UK. Some nations use bone density scans or dental records to verify age but in Britain, interviews and appearance are used. UK authorities had wrongly classified at least 127 minors some aged only 14 as adults in the five years to June 2015. Children were held in detention centres for months in conditions they described as distressing and scary. Many were only given temporary leave to remain and had to reapply for asylum at 17. Some 2,748 had been returned to Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Libya and Syria in the last nine years. HAMILTON A Ravalli County District Court judge has denied a request to delay the trial of Florence physician Chris Christensen, charged with providing patients with illegal prescriptions. Christensen must either hire an attorney or represent himself at trial in the fall, according to District Court Judge Jeffrey Langton's order. Christensen was arrested in August 2015 after allegedly providing hundreds of illicit prescriptions to his patients, two of whom died from overdoses. He faces 400 felony charges, including negligent homicide. The Office of the State Public Defender moved to be taken off the case late last year after finding Christensen had too much money to qualify for state-funded counsel, a conclusion upheld by Langton. Since his public defender was taken away in December, Christensen has routinely claimed that he is seeking a lawyer, and also that he intends to file for bankruptcy to be able to have a public defender again. In the spring, Christensen asked that his trial, which had already been continued from February to October, be delayed for another year so he could obtain legal representation and prepare his defense. In an order issued Monday, Langton said that in the months since making those claims, Christensen has yet to file for bankruptcy and has not done enough to find a new attorney. Although as a criminal defendant, Christensen is entitled to constitutional guarantees which include the right to be represented by counsel, such right does not include the right to sit back and take no initiative ... and then demanding that the proceedings stop until he obtains counsel, which may never happen, Langton wrote. Christensen, 67, faces a prison sentence of up to 388 life terms, plus 135 years and a fine of up to $20 million if convicted on all charges. Colombian, Daniel Barrera Barrera, described as one of history's biggest cocaine dealers was sentenced to 35 years in prison Monday by a Manhattan judge who called the scope of his crimes 'staggering' A Colombian drug kingpin was sentenced on Monday to 35 years in a U.S. prison for engaging in a multi-million dollar scheme to manufacture hundreds of tons of cocaine that he trafficked throughout the world. Daniel Barrera Barrera, also known as 'Loco' or 'The Madman', was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan after pleading guilty to various narcotic-related charges and to having conspired to engage in money laundering. Woods, who also fined Barrera $10 million and ordered him to forfeit the same amount, called the Colombian national a 'smart, talented, maybe even gifted man' who went from working as a farm hand to heading a violent drug trafficking organization. 'Simply put, the scope of the offense here is staggering,' Woods said. Speaking through a Spanish translator before the sentence was imposed, Barrera said he wanted the opportunity to be released from prison someday and see his grandchildren. 'I ask for my family's forgiveness for all of the suffering I have caused them,' he said. According to authorities, Barrera, 48, had been one of the most prolific drug traffickers of the last two decades before his capture in Venezuela in 2012 following years in hiding. Scroll down for video El Loco, Daniel Barrera Barrera, 48, was sentenced to 35 years in jail. The sentence included a $10 million forfeiture and a $10 million fine Barrera managed to laundered tens of millions of dollars of profits as he processed about 5,000 kilograms of raw cocaine into cocaine powder each month since 1998 The Colombian drug lord is had several plastic surgeries and even tried to burn off his fingerprints with acid to mask his identity A wealth of evidence was collected against the cosmetically enhanced drug lord, who had several plastic surgeries and tried to burn off his fingerprints with acid to mask his identity. Evidence against Barrera included photographs and other documents related to the seizures of cocaine shipments off the coasts of Venezuela and Florida. Prosecutors said that from 1998 to 2010, Barrera ran a cocaine manufacturing and trafficking syndicate that produced an estimated 5,000 kilograms of cocaine a month, resulting in more than 720 tons of cocaine being produced during the scheme. Barrera bought raw cocaine paste from the leftist rebel group FARC and processed it in laboratories in areas controlled by a now-demobilized paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, authorities said. Barrera owned a number of homes in Colombia and they have all been seized by the authorities Around 48 cars were confiscated by authorities who took over Barrera's assets after his arrest Barrera would buy raw cocaine paste from the leftist rebel group FARC and processed it in laboratories in areas controlled by the now-demobilized paramilitary group the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC. The drug empire generated tens of millions of dollars, which Barrera laundered, and protected by dozens of armed guards and enforcers, many of whom at his direction threatened or killed individuals who owed money or posed a threat, prosecutors said. He conspired with others to distribute cocaine 'knowing and intending' that some would be imported into the United States, The U.S. Treasury Department in March 2010 put Barrera on its list of most-wanted Colombian narcotics traffickers. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has called Barrera 'the last of the great capos.' Barrera, pictured here, as he looked in Caracas, Venezuela before he was deported to Colombia in 2012 Barrera was able to afford lavish homes thanks to his cocaine manufacturing and trafficking syndicate that since 1998 that processed about thousands of tons of the drug annually Police are seen at one of the many homes of Barrera as they investigated the assets held by the drug kingpin This shopping center in Villavicencio, Colombia is one of the assets of Daniel 'El Loco' Barrera occupied by the police and seized by authorities He was arrested in September 2012 in Venezuela. He was then sent to Colombia, where the U.S. pursued his extradition where he faced three separate indictments in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Miami. Venezuelan officials say they confiscated houses, ranches, a yacht, apartments and 48 cars from Barrera, U.S. authorities said. Ruben Oliva, Barrera's lawyer, in court called the sentence 'unreasonable and greater than necessary.' He had sought leniency given that his client attempted to cooperate with authorities, including offering information to locate a FARC bomb maker and by encouraging other drug traffickers to surrender. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Soumya Dayananda said authorities declined to extend any cooperation agreement to Barrera. Billed as a work of 'raw, unflinching honesty', the controversial book will be eye-catchingly called Spare (left) - a 'loaded' reference to his position as the younger brother of the heir to the throne (William, bottom right). The Spanish language version is even more pointed, having been given the subtitle En La Sombra, or 'in the shadow'. Publishers of the delayed memoir, set for release on January 10, have made it clear that Harry (with Meghan, centre) will not shy away from sensitive subjects, such as the family's decision to encourage him and his elder brother Prince William to walk behind their mother Diana's coffin. The claims surrounding such a 'candid' and 'personal' first-hand account of his life will do little to allay fears at Buckingham Palace that the estranged prince is out - once again - to try to settle perceived scores. A spokesman for the King (top right) declined to comment last night. But it is understood that the Royal Household has already been warned that the 416-page, 28 book is 'critical of everyone and everything' and they are 'dreading' it. Harry was reportedly paid a $20million (18.4million) advance for the book as part of a three-title deal worth 36.8m. Four days after the ouster of Roger Ailes as Fox News chief, two more executives at the network have been axed. But the firing of Michael Clemente and his top deputy, Peter Boyer, were not related to the sexual harassment allegations that forced Ailes out at the network that he started two decades ago. Clemente was executive vice president of news at Fox until April, when he was demoted and put in charge of a new division for specials and long form programming. He worked at ABC News before coming to Fox. Scroll down for video Fox News executive Michael Clemente has been kicked out of the channel. The move comes days after longtime CEO and chairman Roger Ailes resigned following sexual harassment allegations All smiles: Fox News CEO Roger Ailes (left) sported a smile as he exited the network's headquarters last Tuesday afternoon with his wife, Elizabeth Tilson (right), as he prepared to leave the company Ailes stepped down Thursday amid the charges, giving up the reins of the cable news channel to 21st Century Fox Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch Fox News Senior Executive Vice President Bill Shine, part of the team running the operation under Murdoch, is said to have made the call on Clemente, who was demoted in April. Clemente was already on a downward trajectory at Fox News after being moved to his most recent role when longtime Fox News producer and executive Jay Wallace replaced him as head of editorial content. Clementes number two in the specials division, Peter Boyer, was also let go. Boyer joined Fox News Channel in 2012 editor-at-large. Boyer joined from Newsweek &The Daily Beast after spending 18 years at The New Yorker. Fox says it is reevaluating the division as it concentrates on the election over the next few months. Ailes resigned Thursday after being sued by a former Fox anchor who alleged she was punished for resisting his sexual advances and complaining about an atmosphere of harassment at Fox. Other women have come forward, and published stories last weekend quoted a woman who said she was victimized by another Fox executive who had since left the network. Clemente's name has not been mentioned in any of the reports. It would make the timing of his firing particularly awkward. Advertisement A ground-breaking plane has defied expectations by travelling 25,000 miles (40,200km) around the world without a single drop of fuel. The solar-powered aircraft, Solar Impulse 2, successfully completed its flight today, returning to Abu Dhabi after an epic 17-month journey. With a wingspan larger than a Boeing 747, the ground-breaking craft touched down in the United Arab Emirates capital at 4:05am local time. Scroll down for video Swiss pilots Bertrand Piccard (right) and Andre Borschberg celebrate after landing their solar-powered aircraft in Abu Dhabi Solar Impulse touches down in Abu Dhabi after its iconic journey around the world without using a single drop of fuel Solar Impulse 2 approaches to land at Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi, where it first took off more than a year ago SOLAR IMPULSE 2 KEY STATS Distance travelled: 40,000km (24,854 miles) Time in the air: 500 hours Total time taken: 17 months Average speed: 46mph (75km/h) Number of stopovers: 16 Advertisement The plane first took off from Abu Dhabi on March 9 of last year, beginning a landmark journey of around the globe and nearly 500 hours of flying. Unfavorable weather at times hindered smooth flying, causing the plane to be grounded for months in some countries. At 2:44am, the Solar Impulse Twitter account wrote: 'BREAKING: we flew 40,000km without fuel. It's a first for energy, take it further! #futureisclean' Before taking off, Bertrand Piccard, who piloted the final leg, said: 'It's a project for energy, for a better world.' Betrand Piccard (right) and Andre Borschberg (left) celebrate after landing in Abu Dhabi on the final leg of their epic journey Pilot Bertrand Piccard takes a selfie during the last leg of Solar Impulse's round-the-world trip A photo taken from Solar Impulse 2 shows an amazing aerial view of the Red Sea on its flight on 24 July BERTRAND PICCARD AND ANDRE BORSCHBERG ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT THEIR RECORD BREAKING FLIGHT The plane flew over the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco on April 23, 2016 How does it feel to have finished? Mr Borscheberg said: 'I am only starting to realise that it is over now. But it is always the right time. The flight being over does not mean the project is over. 'We have a solid base now to work in the different directions we hope to work in.' What is your next step going to be? Mr Piccard: 'For aviation we are going to continue to use our expertise and knowledge to develop high altitude, unmanned solar aircraft and maybe even electric airplanes. 'I want to create a world council of clean technology to bring together all the experts in that sector who are normally not communicationg. 'I want to create a single voice where these experts can talk to the governments and heads of states about clear solutions that can fight climate change while also creating jobs for industry. 'There are a lot of interesting things to do. We are not unemployed and we are certainly not on vacation now.' Could airlines soon use solar powered aircraft to carry passengers? Mr Piccard said: 'We are not quite there yet for solar airplanes. But we will be there very soon with electric planes. I am certain that within 10 years there will be fully electric airplanes for 50 passengers on short to medium haul flights. 'It means there will be no noise and no pollution. For airports that are close to the city it will be a blessing for the neighbourhood and there will be new opportunities for air travel.' You were in the air for days at a time, what was the hardest thing about such long flights? Mr Piccard said: 'The most difficult moments were on the ground preparing the technology, finding the partners with the funding, getting the permission and dealing with the bureaucracy and good weather conditions to fly. 'But once you are in the air it was magical, it was fantastic. I am looking at my propellers turning on the left and right wing, then I look at the sun and I understand it is only the energy of the sun that gives the energy for these motors to turn. It is science fiction but it is a science fiction that is happening today. 'It was never boring flying in that plane. It is completely quiet, completely clean and completely new. There is only one plane like that in the entire world. The plane travelled over Hawaii as part of a test flight in March 2016 'It was a privilege to fly it.' Mr Borscheberg added: 'I really worked on the cockpit design and did it in such a way so I could practice at least part of the yoga I do every day. While I couldn't do sun salutations, for example, as I could not get up but I could do some of the exercises. 'Interestingly it became my home and the place where I lived. I got attached to this environment so when I went down after landing it was like leaving an old friend who had taken me over the ocean.' How do you go to the toilet on such long flights? Mr Piccard said: 'Inside the seat there is a bag and you open the seat and go in there. 'But I tell you it is beautiful sitting on the toilet there, I have the most beautiful view of the world in front of you. You don't even need to close the curtains as there are no neighbours.' What was your greatest highlight in the journey around the world? Mr Borscheberg said: 'I read so much about pioneers when I was boy. The flight we did from Japan to Hawaii was THE exploratory flight of the project. I knew I wanted to do it. 'It was long and difficult, and we had some technical difficulties right up until before I took off. It was not easy but it will be an experience I will never forget.' Advertisement Swiss explorers Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, took turns piloting the aircraft, which can fly for days on only energy from the sun using an array of solar panels on its wings to charge on board batteries. The plane's wingspan is longer than a jumbo jet but its light construction keeps its weight to about as much as a car. It typically travels at a mere 30mph (48km/h), although its flight speed can double when exposed to full sunlight. Speaking to MailOnline after landing, Mr Piccard said: 'Coming into Abu Dhabi was really a great moment. I had great emotion at finishing this last leg of our round-the-world journey a project that has taken over my life for 17 years. 'But at the same time we had a lot of thermals and turbulence around Saudi Arabia, so I had to concentrate and focus on flying. 'I could not be overwhelmed by what we had achieved. It always seems like in big adventures like this there is always a final test.' BREAKING: we flew 40'000km without fuel. It's a first for energy, take it further! #futureisclean pic.twitter.com/JCvKTDBVZx Solar Impulse Foundation (@solarimpulse) July 26, 2016 Solar Impulse 2 pilots Bertrand Piccard (left) and Andre Borschberg speak about their journey after landing in Abu Dhabi The Solar Impact 2 started its round-the-world solar flight from Abu Dhabi in March 2015, finally returning to base 16 months later Swiss explorers Piccard and Borschberg are also the founders of Solar Impulse, which seeks to bolster support for clean energy The final descent into Abu Dhabi marked the end of Solar Impulse's 24,500 mile journey around the world The Swiss team is campaigning to bolster support for clean energy. The propeller-driven aircraft's four engines are powered exclusively by energy collected from more than 17,000 solar cells built on the plane's wings. Life on board the Solar Impulse 2 was very cramped, with the cockpit measuring just 40.9 square feet (3.8 square metres). This meant that it had enough room for instruments, some food and a reclining chair. During footage, filmed for Wired, 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. SOLAR IMPULSE 2'S ROUND THE WORLD JOURNEY 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 and Japan. Piccard and Andre Borschberg took turns piloting the plane on each leg of the journey. Both trained to stay alert for long stretches of time by practicing meditation and hypnosis. Borschberg set a new endurance record for the longest non-stop solo flight last July during a 118-hour trans-Pacific crossing, over five days and five nights, from Japan to Hawaii. Advertisement He showed how he can recline in his seat to turn it into a bed, and filmed his modest food supplies. Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Piccard said the cockpit had become more like a home. He said: 'You do everything in that cockpit. You have a seat that you can recline in order to sleep flat. You open the seat to go to the toilet, you have food either side of the seat, you can heat your food, wash yourself with wet wipes and change your clothes. 'Really it is like a little house. When I get out of the cockpit I feel homesick.' The pilots were only able to sleep for 20 minutes at a time, and used alarms to make sure they did not doze for longer. Both pilots trained to stay alert for long stretches of time by practicing meditation and hypnosis. The pilots were met with a huge reception, including a marching band to welcome them to Abu Dhabi An aerial image shows Solar Impulse 2 during its landing in Abu Dhabi having finished its round-the-world flight Monaco's Prince Albert II (left) attends a press conference following the landing of the solar-powered plane, alongside State Minister and chief executive officer of the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber (far right), and pilot Bertrand Piccard Solar Impulse 2, seen here flying over Egypt's Giza pyramid complex, has successfully completed the first fuel-free flight around the world Having completed their huge journey around the world, pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg celebrated together Technicians prepared the solar-powered Solar Impulse 2 aircraft at the Cairo International Airport on July 23 before it took off for its final flight in its round the world journey, an effort which has taken over a year to complete The plane took off from Abu Dhabi in March 2015 and journeyed around the globe in a landmark voyage of about 24,500 miles A map shows the route of Solar Impulse 2 around the globe as the plane left Cairo on Sunday to complete the last leg of its journey 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 Excess energy was stored in four batteries during daylight hours to keep the plane flying after dark. Over its entire mission, Solar Impulse 2 cruised at altitudes of up to 5.5 miles (9 km) and at an average speed of between 12.5 and 25 miles (45 and 90 km) per hour. However in high winds, the plane struggled to stay aloft at the altitudes necessary to gather sunlight. The crew of the solar-powered plane was greeted upon arrival at Al Batin Airport in Abu Dabi to complete its world tour flight Pilot Bertrand Piccard was at the controls of the single-seater when it landed at the Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi The plane had 16 stopovers along the way including in Oman, India, Myanmar, China, Japan, the United States, Spain and Egypt. Abu Dhabi's green energy firm, Masdar, is the official host partner of Solar Impulse 2. Oil-rich Abu Dhabi is investing billions in industry, tourism and renewables to diversify its economy away from oil. Mr Borschberg and Mr Piccard have said they want to raise awareness of renewable energy sources and technologies with their project, although they do not expect solar-powered commercial planes any time soon. 'There will be passengers very soon in electric airplanes that we will charge on the ground,' Mr Piccard had said when the plane arrived in Cairo. 'On the ground you can charge batteries and you can have short haul flights, maybe 500 kilometres with 50 people flying in these planes in a decade', he predicted. Solar Impulse landed in Cairo earlier this month as it headed to its final stop in Abu Dhabi Perry says the prices are all relative to the costs involved in the upkeep The opening menu has entrees priced above $50 and a main above $70 Celebrity chef Neil Perry's new restaurant, Eleven Bridge, is set to open its doors with a very pricey menu that hopes to put the 'diner back in charge'. Perry's flagship restaurant Rockpool in Sydney's CBD will close its doors for good after 27 years of serving on July 30 before reopening just nine days later as Eleven Bridge - aiming to give customers a more affordable and casual experience. But the opening menu has proven the restaurant will not be for everyone with entree prices reaching above $50 and a main costing more than $70. Scroll down for video Neil Perry's new restaurant, Eleven Bridge, will come with a very lavish menu with mains costing above $70 The entree a hand-picked mud crab salad with salted duck egg mayonnaise, will set you back $54 while the main a Chinese roast pigeon with native tamarind hot sweet and sour sauce, will cost $72. The most expensive main follows a poached John Dory or a Bass grouper for $59. The lavish prices come following Perry's plans to change the restaurants fine dining feel and instead offer customers a 'more relaxed' experience. But Perry justified the expensive menu saying the costs are all within reason, reportedThe Daily Telegraph. 'When we left a la carte dining at Rockpool in 2005 we had $55-$59 mains, and now we probably pay 40 per cent more for our staff than then and certainly pay more for our ingredients than we did then,' Perry said. 'It's $120 for three courses in one of the most beautiful dining rooms in Australia, with 20 people in the kitchen and 20 on the floor when we're paying $650,000 a year in rent. If I could give it away, I would. But I can't.' Diner takes a photo of his 'Chinese roasted Pigeon with a hot, sweet and sour sauce' at Rockpool Sydney The opening of the new Sydney restaurant will replace Perry's flagship restaurant Rockpool Est. 1989 in Sydney's CBD (pictured) The chef and his business partner Trish Richards will open Eleven Bridge together and Executive chef Phill Wood will remain on board for the new a la carte style menu. 'Eleven Bridge will offer the same premium, sustainable produce, sourced locally with world-class service, but it will do so in a more relaxed, a la carte style...[it is] a diverse selection of modern Australian dishes, interspersed with celebrated classics from Rockpools rich culinary history,' Perry said on the restaurant's website. 'Evoking the traditions and glamour of the great dining rooms at the turn of last century, we will be stepping away from the degustation model and returning to a restaurant ideal that puts the diner back in charge'. The new costly menu at Eleven Bridge hopes to put the 'diner back in charge' Rockpool, which opened in The Rocks in 1989 and now resides on Bridge Street in Sydney's CBD, was named Gourmet Traveller's restaurant of the year just 12 months ago Perry said in a statement upon his decision to close Rockpool, a three hat restaurant which became one of Australia's most awarded, that it came with a heavy heart. 'It has been a difficult decision, having dedicated the past 27 years to making Rockpool Est. 1989 one of Australia's best and most awarded restaurants,' Perry said. 'However, after much consideration and conversation, we have decided to move away from the traditional concept of fine dining that Rockpool Est 1989 has forged its reputation on.' Rockpool Est. 1989, which opened in The Rocks in 1989 and now resides on Bridge Street in Sydney's CBD, was named Gourmet Traveller's restaurant of the year just 12 months ago. Perry, who runs a string of restaurants across Australia that will remain open, said it had become problematic having Rockpool Est. 1989 and his similarly named steak restaurant - Rockpool Bar and Grill - in close proximity to each other. Last service at Rockpool will be dinner on Saturday. In an arena filled with disgusted Bernie Sanders supporters, Yolanda Gonzalez, a Los Angeles delegate for Sanders, repeatedly screamed Lock her up! as speakers droned on about party unity. It was a chant aired frequently during the Republican convention in Cleveland, which featured speech after speech about Benghazi and Clintons scandals. Basically, Hillary has gotten away with things that regular other citizens havent been able to. She compromised the security of this nation. By having emails on her personal server, Gonzalez told DailyMail.com, in between bouts of yelling during the frequent lively breaks that interrupted speeches when Clinton got mentioned. Scroll down for video Lock her up! Yolanda Gonzalez, a Bernie delegate, is furious about the fact Hillary Clinton has seemingly gotten away with things most citizens would be unable to, as she sees it Vitriol: Donna Brazile, interim party chair, has warned against 'vitriol' and 'persecution', saying it's more likely to see something like that in the Republican party She should have been indicted for that, Gonzalez continued. In my opinion, she shouldve been prosecuted. Anybody else would have been. Were basically at a coronation, she fumed. This is all pomp and circumstance. Were just going through the motions. But we are letting ourselves be known and be heard. Gonzalez was part of a loud contingent among the California delegation. Clinton supporters were separated from Sanders backers by seating, with Clinton backers in the front and Sanders supporters in the back. At one point, a pro-Sanders delegate had to remind the riled up crowd not to talk over a friendly speaker: Bernie delegate Shhhhh. Gonzalez showed no patience for concessions made by the Clinton campaign. This platform is nothing but a sacrificial lamb. It is a joke, really, she said. As for the resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, That wasnt enough, and it shouldve happened a long time ago, she vented. Thumbs down: Delegates representing Bernie Sanders showed their dissent from the pro-Clinton rhetoric on stage Berning anger: The pro-Sanders feeling on the floor of the convention was palpable as delegates protested against the DNC Asked if she could vote for Clinton, Gonzalez said Hell no she wouldnt. Really, the election fraud and the voter suppression that has occurred is just inexcusable. The department of Justice should have been involved more in Arizona and Nevada, she said. Hell no I would never vote for Hillary, Gonzalez said. I love [Green Party candidate] Jill Stein. I think shes stuck by her principles. Does she have a chance? No. We could try. At the end of the day I could write in Bernie I could do any number of things, but the truth is I would never vote for Hillary. Ever. We know he won. Bernie won, with all the purging that went on, with all the suppression. Donna Brazile, who is taking over as interim party chair, told DailyMail.com: The kind of vitriol the kind of persecution that Republicans displayed has no place in a Democratic convention. 'So Im glad you heard it. Because had I heard it I would have said what we should lock up is the kind of bigotry, the kind of xenophobia that threaten the social fabric of our country. A Colorado waitress upset over a bad tip has been fired after she posted on social media about killing Mexicans. Megan Olson was quickly terminated from the Texas Roadhouse in Greeley after management were alerted to her xenophobic tweet, posted under the handle 'megatron.' 'If we had a real life purge I would kill as many Mexicans as I could in one night,' she tweeted, following up with the hashtag' learn how to tip you f--king tw-t.' Megan Olson, of Colorado, was fired from a Texas Roadhouse restaurant after posting a tweet fantasizing about killing Mexicans Olson's tweet, posted under the handle 'megatron,' was forwarded to Texas Roadhouse management, who called the comment 'disgusting' Texas Roadhouse management called the tweet 'disgusting.' 'This type of offensive, discriminatory language has absolutely no place at Texas Roadhouse,' company spokesman Travis Doster said in a statement. 'Our managing partner was actually mowing his lawn when he was alerted,' Doster added. 'He immediately rushed to the restaurant, met with the employee who posted this disgusting tweet and she was terminated.' Some Greeley residents applauded the company for the swift termination. 'I think Texas Roadhouse did the responsible thing in letting her go,' Cristobal Garcia told KTRK-TV. Neighbor Willie Grantham said: 'As somebody who's worked in the restaurant industry most of my adult life, I understand getting angry about customers that don't tip. 'But you can't back it down to race.' 'If you're going to go on social media that brightly and say what she said, you need to be removed from that position,' Granthan added. Olson worked at this Texas Roadhouse in Greeley, Colorado, where she says a customer left her a bad tip Olson later apologized for the post. 'I wrote hurtful, inconsiderate, insensitive and careless words and I understand the amount of people I have offended by that,' she posted on her Facebook page, which appears to have been deactivated. 'There are no excuses for what I have done,' she added. Hillary Clinton is sticking to her claim that she doesn't 'believe' she's ever lied to the American people. 'I certainly never intend to. And I certainly don't believe I have,' she told CBS' Scott Pelley. 'And so, yes, I can say I never will.' But she admitted she hasn't 'always been perfect.' Scroll down for video Hillary Clinton is sticking to her claim that she doesn't 'believe' she's ever lied to the American people. 'I certainly never intend to. And I certainly don't believe I have,' she told CBS' Scott Pelley. 'And so, yes, I can say I never will' Pelley famously asked Clinton whether she'd told any lies in a February interview. Her response became fodder for her critics as Clinton did not definitely say she had not. 'Have you always told the truth?' he asked. She told him, 'Ive always tried to, always. Always.' The CBS correspondent pointed out that she left 'wiggle room' in her reply, to which Clinton said, 'I dont believe I ever have. I dont believe I ever have. I dont believe I ever will.' Her critics went wild over the response, as Pelley predicted. In the interview clip that aired tonight on the network, he asked her the question again. 'Jimmy Carter said in 1976, "I'll never tell a lie." What can you tell the American people in this interview about your own honesty with them and the honesty of a Clinton White House?' he said. Clinton told him. 'I think if you look at my public service - I have been as straightforward and honest as I could be. 'I haven't always been perfect, but I don't know anyone who is.' However, she said it would be clear to Americans that she and running mate Tim Kaine are 'working every day for them, that they can count on us, that they can trust us.' Pelley warned her, 'Your critics are going to say, "See? She didn't say, 'I will never tell a lie.' " 'Well, you've done this to me before, Scott. And I remember that very well,' she retorted. Clinton gave the same answer she did in February adding, 'You know - I wish you'd ask that question of everybody running. Because I think every one of us...should be held to the same standard. 'I often feel like there's the Hillary standard and then there's the standard for everybody else, she told him. Clinton and Tim Kaine teamed up for their first interview together to speak on CBS' 60 Minutes, where she hit out at the 'Hillary standard', and how there's supposedly a standard for everybody else Storm of protest: The theme inside the hall was supposed to be party unity - but Bernie Sanders supporters stood up waving placards and booed every mention of Hillary Clinton's name. She described the 'Hillary standard' as 'unfounded, inaccurate, mean-spirited attacks with no basis in truth...reality, which take on a life of their own.' In the interview that was taped over the weekend and aired in pieces Sunday and today he also asked her about the DNC email scandal. Clinton said she had no knowledge of a Democratic Party official's plot to to undermine Bernie Sanders' support in the primary by planting a story about the senator being an atheist. Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall suggested in a leaked email midway through the primary schedule that the DNC get a reporter to question his religious beliefs. 'Does he believe in a god? He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he's an atheist,' Marshall wrote. 'This could make several points difference with my peeps.' Clinton said in the interview with CBS, 'I didn't know anything about it. And I haven't read any of those.' Bernie Sanders' wife Jane caused a stir at the Democratic convention after a comment she whispered into his ear was caught on a microphone. A crowd who showed up to hear the Vermont Senator speak on Monday in Philadelphia shouted 'Bernie, Bernie' and booed every mention of Hillary Clinton, while thousands of protesters cheered his name outside. After the speech, Jane came up and stage and appeared to tell her husband: 'They don't know your name is being out on the nomination, and that's what concerns...' The sound then trails off, cutting her sentence short. Sanders' campaign spokesman Michael Briggs later confirmed what she said. He then clarified that she meant 'there will be a roll-call vote and the senators name will be placed in nomination.' This may have undercut any hope Sanders' supporters would have taken from her remarks. It is a similar situation to 2008, when Hillary was put on the ballot, even though Barack Obama had already won the race for the nomination. A report in the New York Times suggested it was done as a symbolic gesture to help mend friction between the two camps. Friction has been building between Sanders' camp and Democratic officials, including Clinton, after Wikileaks published emails from the Democratic National Committee. The hacked correspondences suggested the DNC were favoring Clinton over Sanders throughout the primary process. Bernie Sanders' wife Jane caused a stir at the Democratic convention after a comment she whispered into his ear was caught on a microphone The scandal led to the resignation of party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The FBI has since launched an investigation into what happened. Jane Sanders' hot-mic incident was just one controversial incident during a chaotic first day of the Democratic convention. The former candidate has even asked his fans not to protest on Monday as a 'personal courtesy'. The new acting chair of proceedings, Marcia Fudge - brought in after DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz quit in disgrace when her anti-Sanders bias was revealed - desperately called for 'respect'. Even the opening prayer was interrupted by chants of 'Bernie, Bernie' which began from protesters outside the venue and quickly spread inside. In the tumult the gavelling went wrong as Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, drafted in at the last minute to replace Wasserman Schultz, forgot to use the gavel and had to rush back on stage to bring it down to formally open proceedings. 'I hereby call the Democratic National Convention 2016 to order,' she said to cheers, walked away from the podium, then was intercepted by an aide who ushered her back and reminded her to use the gavel. She flashed a thumbs-up sign as she left for the second time.' After the speech, Jane came up and stage and appeared to tell her husband: 'They don't know your name is being out on the nomination, and that's what concerns...'. The sound then cuts off Sanders' campaign spokesman Michael Briggs later confirmed what she said. He then clarified that she meant 'there will be a roll-call vote and the senators name will be placed in nomination' The signs of tumult were on display almost immediately inside the Democratic convention hall. Cynthia Hayle, pastor of Ray of Hope Christian church, delivered an opening prayer where she warned: 'There is tension and dissension in the land. This is not your will for us, and we know it.' But even her prayer couldn't stop a raw show of emotion. After she enthusiastically spoke about nominating Hillary Clinton, the crowd burst into chants of 'Hillary!' which quickly got joined by chants of 'Bernie!' by his supporters in the hall. There were also some shouted boos when former Rep. Barnie Frank, once considered a liberal icon for his fiery denunciations of Republicans and for serving while openly gay, was announced. Dodd is also the co-author of the Dodd-Frank bill reviled on the left and denounced by Sanders. 'Thank you - or not - as the case may be,' Frank quipped on stage. Sanders supporters again burst into anti-TPP chants after Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings said, 'Our party knows that our diversity is not our problem but is our promise. 'That's why ours - ours - is the party of unity and not division,' he said. A delegate then issued the progressive war cry - 'mic check' - setting off a new round of shouting about the trade deal that lasted until the African-American congressman finished his speech. Bernie is seen waving to the crowd of electoral delegates in Philadelphia as his wife whispers into his ear Cummings told them he was 'proud of our platform committee, our truly progressive platform' and 'our great nominee Hillary Clinton.' 'And if my father, that brilliant man with a 4th grade education but a mind full of wisdom and common sense was standing here with us tonight. I know he would be proud of all of you, and he would say these words, that this election is bigger than Hillary Clinton, bigger than Bernie Sanders, it's bigger than all of us,' he yelled into the microphone at the conclusion of his remarks over their incessant shouting. 'It's about generations yet unborn. And he would say, and he would say these simple words: You are blessed so you can bless others. Go out there and vote, and don't stop lifting up the American people,' Cummings said before leaving the stage. The first mention of Senator Tim Kane, by Rep. Marcia Fudge, also brought a hail of loud boos and jeers. The opening speech by Fudge, considered a liberal member of the black caucus, got interrupted over and over by the boisterous crowd. Every time she mentioned Clinton's name it set off cheers and countering boos. 'Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine want to build an economy that works for everyone,' she said, in one of many bromides that nevertheless brought loud boos. 'Hillary Clinton this is your time!' she said again prompting boos. A Bernie Sanders supporter and delegate holds up a sign in protest during the Convention Rules Committee report at the start of the first session Footage has emerged of the dramatic moment a hapless thief was being arrested during a journalist's live television cross on the rescue of a missing girl. Ten News journalist Jayde Cotic was reporting live in Carrara on the Gold Coast about five-year-old Jocelyn Lewis when the man behind her was led away by two officers. The man was caught on camera being dragged towards the police car just moments after he allegedly attempted to shoplift from 7-Eleven on Monday afternoon. Footage has emerged of the dramatic moment an alleged hapless thief was being arrested during a live cross As the man interrupted the live cross in the background, the news reporter seemed unfazed as she delivered the good news about the girl who was found safe after she disappeared for nearly a day. The dramatic scene shows the man being hauled through a parking lot behind the reporter - and in clear view of the television audience. The suspect was then held down on the bonnet of the vehicle as police officers made the arrest in front of two other cameramen who were standing nearby to capture the scene. 'CAUGHT IN THE ACT Criminal arrested during a #TenNews LIVE cross,' Ten News wrote on Facebook. 'The hapless thief was arrested in Carrara on the Gold Coast after allegedly trying to shoplift from 7-Eleven. 'The incident occurred while dozens of police involved with the search for missing five-year-old Jocelyn, were at the scene.' The news reporter seemed unfazed as she delivered the good news about five-year-old Jocelyn Lewis The news reporter seemed unfazed as she reported about a missing girl as the man was being arrested A Queensland Police spokesman confirmed to Daily Mail Australia a 20-year-old Southport man has been charged with stealing, public nuisance and obstructing police following the incident. Police alleged the man had been stealing from the service station in Carrara on a number of occasions prior to the latest incident. When police attempted to arrest the young man at the scene, he became violent, caused a public disturbance and obstructed police. A petition to recall Meagher County Attorney Kimberly Deschene appears to be finished for the moment, but a court battle is likely to continue. Katherine Walter, who lives near White Sulphur Springs, said she will take no more action on her original petition. A court hearing set for Tuesday on the case was canceled. Walter will abandon the first petition with the intent of revising and filing a new one, said Brian Miller, Walter's attorney. She's not going to collect on the initial petition," Miller said. "Thats done, and the new one is going to be drafted. Walter filed the petition in June, claiming that she was concerned about Deschene's handling of court cases, particularly a case in which her husband was assaulted. She collected more than 90 signatures toward the necessary amount of 215, according to Walter. The recall effort came at a time of heightened scrutiny for Deschene, who owns a bar in White Sulphur Springs. Meagher County Sheriff Jon Lopp was concerned about the rate of prosecution for crimes like DUIs. The revised petition will be "clearer" with Walter's accusations, Miller said. In court filings, Deschene had argued that the allegations Walter provided in a petitioner statement were too broad. An order signed by District Judge Randal Spaulding on July 20 remains in effect barring Walter from collecting signatures on the original petition. Once the new petition is drafted, it will likely need approval from the judge, Miller said. Attorneys for Deschene and Walter will file briefings to debate how the case will proceed, including some new court issues that have come up. On July 21, Deschene filed a subpoena requesting that Walter produce a copy of her recall petition, including the names of people who signed it. Deschene also requested all posts that Walter made on Facebook in support of the petition effort. Walter had been writing about her effort on a Facebook page called "Petition to recall Meagher County Attorney." Additionally, Deschene requested that Walter provide copies of emails sent to media outlets and the "names of all persons that you have contacted who failed and/or refused to sign your recall petition," according to the subpoena. The subpoena asked to receive that information at Tuesday's court hearing. After it was called off, Deschene said that she's still pursuing that information for a potential defamation lawsuit. Deschene said that she suspected Walter might have defamed her while speaking with people during the petition effort. "In order to find that out, I need to know who those people are, so I can ask them what (Walter) said to them," Deschene said. Walter's attorney, Miller, responded by filing for a protective order against the subpoena. The court brief argued that the evidence requested by Deschene went beyond what was needed to review a recall petition. Miller wrote that the social media posts, as well as the names of the people who signed the petition, are protected political speech. "But the broad, sweeping evidence sought by the plaintiff here is now relevant to those issues and constitutes an impermissible fishing expedition," Miller wrote. Deschene's attorney, Terry Schaplow, responded with another court brief. He wrote that the "subpoena requests were caused by (Walter's) own actions on Facebook and are not burdensome." A timeline has not yet been set for Walter to file a new recall petition, and Spaulding has not ruled on the motions that have been filed. The Montana Recall Act states that an elected official can be recalled for "physical or mental lack of fitness, incompetence, violation of the oath of office, official misconduct or conviction of a felony offense." Anthony Johnstone, associate professor at the University of Montana Alexander Blewett III School of Law, said that previous case law allows the public official to ask a judge to review the recall petition. The person who files a recall petition must have firsthand knowledge of the alleged incompetence. The court review would determine whether there are facts behind the allegations. Someone who disagrees with a public official, for example, would not qualify, he said. "By law in Montana, there are limited grounds for the recall of a public official," Johnstone said. "And those grounds have to be set forth with some basis in truth." But Quentin Letts says there's nothing better than a dollop of Hellmann's In it she recalls how Samantha Cameron did not make her own mayonnaise Pouty senora alert. Nick Cleggs wife, Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, is not happy. The rich EU lawyer has written a mocking denunciation of her husbands Coalition partners in particular, Samantha Cameron. Was it the Conservative Partys tax policies that upset her? Their attitude to her precious European jurisprudence? Or did Mrs Cameron let slip some latent anti-Latinism to offend castanet- clacker Miriam? No! It was worse than that. Floatily English Samantha, when serving the Cleggs a getting-to-know-you lunch of roast chicken, plonked some Maldon salt and a jar of Hellmanns mayonnaise on the table. But when I read of Miriam Clegg's remarks about the Camerons, I couldnt help thinking: What on earth is wrong with Hellmanns? Roast chicken served with Maldon salt and a dreamy dollop of mayo? Sounds heavenly How very dare she? Mrs Clegg, as she does not like to be called (she insists on being addressed by her Spanish maiden name), has published a culinary autobiography. In it she boasts about how she refused to cook for George Osborne, or even remain in the house, when he came to visit Nick. The then Deputy PM Mr Clegg was left meekly to order a Thai takeaway for himself and the Chancellor. Mr Osborne got away lightly. Mrs Clegg has disclosed that when politicians came to supper, she would sometimes serve pimientos de Padron. In Spanish you would say that this dish was muy picante. English translation: tongue-scaldingly, eye-steamingly, nose-hootingly spicy. Nick would worry that, out of revenge, his beloved might serve a particularly peppery plateful to some hated Conservative. Some may think Good on Miriam! for being a veritable tigress and attacking her husbands political rivals. But when I read of her remarks about the Camerons, I couldnt help thinking: What on earth is wrong with Hellmanns? Roast chicken served with Maldon salt and a dreamy dollop of mayo? Sounds heavenly. In her new book she writes: Ive learned that the ultimate grand persons food, found on all the most upper-class tables, is not caviar, truffles, virgin olive oil or fancy cheese. No, it is . . . Hellmanns mayonnaise. Why did Mrs Clegg so object? Perhaps we are misreading an attempt by her to be ironic and amusing, but she comes across as terribly snooty. Did the hoity-toity metropolitan in her deplore the very idea of mass-manufactured mayo or was it the fact that Mrs Cameron had not emptied it into a pretty bowl? Pungent Iberian that she is, Miriam perhaps craved the garlicky hit of some Spanish aioli. Its not just the uppermosts of the British Establishment a jar of Hellmanns is one of the staples of the middle-class English fridge (though it was invented in New York about a century ago). It lasts for ages, cheers up all sorts of grub and is pleasingly sinful lots of calories and no doubt bad for your cholesterol. Hey ho! Forty years ago, mayonnaise was a luxury. In the Seventies, my mother would serve us cold salmon with Hellmanns about once every six months. We children regarded it as a banquet for royalty. That gorgeous mayo was so luscious, it practically quivered on the plate like egg mousse. It went beautifully with salmon and with new potatoes, and I have a nasty feeling I may sometimes have licked the spoon. Ambrosia! These days, Hellmanns is more abundant in the shops and even comes in squeezy bottles that avoid the old problem of hardening yellow gunk round the top of the jar. It remains top-notch in quality. Supermarkets own-brand mayos never quite hit the spot. It goes wonderfully well with roast chicken. Chips, too. The Belgians eat mayonnaise with their chips and that is one of the few things Brussels gets right. When making a packed lunch for my family, I always spread some Hellmanns with the butter. It lifts a cheese sandwich beautifully. It promotes an egg bap into the premier league, particularly if there is some chopped chive going spare. Be it a Marie Rose sauce, coronation chicken, prawn cocktail or potato salad, factory-made mayonnaise is a godsend. In Miriam Clegg's new book she boasts about how she refused to cook for George Osborne, or even remain in the house, when he came to visit Nick. The then Deputy PM Mr Clegg was left meekly to order a Thai takeaway for himself and the Chancellor Making mayo yourself is such a hassle. You have to separate eggs, throw away the whites (or give them to the dogs), slowly add oil, whisk it like a dervish, reach for some mustard powder, pause for a rest and a glass of wine, resume the process, sprinkle in salt and pepper, add a little vinegar, and make sure, all the time, that it is not going wrong or slopping over the side of the bowl. You can make it with an electric whisk, but that creates lots of washing-up and some of the mayo gets wasted on the blades of the food mixer. How much easier and more sensible to let nice Mr Hellmann do the work. But Miriam who has her own recipe for two-minute mayo was aghast. Perhaps she had expected more from the grand Camerons. Instead, Samantha daughter of a baronet and stepdaughter of a viscount unscrewed the Hellmanns and left everyone to get on with it. You can make mayo with an electric whisk, but that creates lots of washing-up and some of the mayo gets wasted on the blades of the food mixer. How much easier and more sensible to let nice Mr Hellmann do the work And why shouldnt she? Miriam Gonzalez Durantez is meant to be a Lib Dem and the daughter of self-made wealth. Should she not be more tolerant? And what about a little cultural understanding here? Samantha Cameron is not just the archetypal Boho-chic Sloane, but also a busy mum and career woman. Make your own mayo? Come off it. Lifes too short. Would you empty tomato ketchup sauce into a fancy ramekin rather than place the bottle of Heinz on the table? Of course not. I have dined in some of the most pukka gentlemens clubs in London and when the savouries come round, the servants shimmer over the horizon holding a bottle of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce. Good old HP Sauce stands proudly on the dining tables at the House of Commons. Confident Sloanes are not snobbish when it comes to their sauces. I dread to think what Mrs Clegg would think if she came to chez Letts for her high tea. It is not unknown for one of our Patterdale terriers to climb up on the seat and snaffle a snorker off the table. We have a three-second rule where if a piece of food lands on the floor, it can be picked up and put back on the plate if you move fast enough. Hellmanns is often on the table, in a jar, as is tartare sauce, ketchup, HP and my homemade crab apple jelly. And we often use communal spoons or knives. After all, its no less hygienic than everyone eating from one paella dish and certainly no less messy than drinking wine from one of those goatskin jobs. DANIEL JOHNSON on the after-effects which will be felt across Europe No emotion is more potent in politics than fear. After four terror attacks in the space of just a week, Germans are today living in fear. No end to the nightmare is in sight. And the after-effects will be felt across Europe. Bavaria has borne the brunt of this wave of violence, because it was the main entry-point for the million or more migrants who arrived last year. Attack: Police restrain the Syrian refugee who hacked a pregnant woman to death Two of the terrorists were evidently Islamist fanatics. The other two may have had other motives, but all four were Muslims and two were from Syria. Particularly disturbing was the latest attack by a Syrian suicide bomber, who failed to gain entry to a music festival, where he would have caused untold carnage. He had been refused asylum yet still allowed to stay in Germany. This suggests the German bureaucracy cannot cope, though yesterday officials rushed to insist he had been due for deportation to Bulgaria. In any case, ordinary Germans have had enough of these attacks the first serious terrorism they have faced since the far-Left Baader-Meinhof gang wrought havoc nearly four decades ago. Having been spared the fate of Paris, Brussels and Nice, Germans thought themselves safe. Now they are in shock and increasingly angry. It is reported that police are investigating over 400 cases of asylum-seekers with possible terrorist connections. Even before these attacks, at least two thirds of Germans believed Chancellor Merkels open door policy last year was a mistake. Uncontrolled immigration and open borders are now their major concerns. German politicians who poured scorn on the British for voting to regain secure borders over Brexit have gone strangely silent. Munich attack: The Munich shooter boasted I am German as he mowed people down in a McDonalds and a shopping centre Equally vexing is the problem of integrating the millions of migrants already in Germany. They have been treated with generosity, but patience is wearing thin. The Afghan asylum-seeker who turned on passengers with an axe on a train last week had been living with a German foster family. The Syrian who slaughtered a pregnant woman near Stuttgart with a machete had a job. The Munich shooter boasted I am German as he mowed people down in a McDonalds and a shopping centre. His parents may have been Iranian but he had enjoyed the same privileges as other young Germans. Having lived in and reported on Germany for a number of years, I have grown to love the country and its people. Their efforts to set the world an example of democracy and tolerance, while never forgetting the Nazi past, are admirable. Yet it was a misplaced desire to show the world this liberal face of modern Germany that led Angela Merkel to impose her disastrous migration policy on Europe, and to offer an open door to all refugees from Syria. The result was one million people most of them economic migrants, and not refugees from war-ravaged Syria at all entering the country in 2015 alone with more still arriving. The pressure all this is placing on ordinary Germans is becoming intolerable to them. Most Germans are deeply patriotic, but understandably given their countrys Nazi past they abhor nationalism. In many ways they prefer to see themselves as European rather than German. Yet Europe is now seen as a problem which facilitates the flow of migrants and potential terrorists. Until now, Germanys default position to any problem has always been more Europe or closer integration. It is a position being trumped by the overriding need for security. This need, an abiding aspect of the German psyche, reflects the fact that the wartime legacy of destruction and occupation runs very deep. There is a reason why angst is a German word, and it does not take much to bring such anxieties to the surface. When hundreds of women were attacked in Cologne by gangs of migrants on New Years Eve, the public reaction was seismic. The machete attack took place in the city of Reutlingen and came two days after the Munich shopping mall shooting What gave the backlash its vehemence was the folk memory of 1945, when up to two million German women were raped by the Red Army. (Stalins only comment on his Armys barbaric behaviour was: We lecture our soldiers too much.) Most victims never spoke about it, but the national trauma has never been forgotten. Along with Germanys desire to be seen as a liberal, multicultural country, this reminder of the past explains in part why the authorities seemed in denial over the attacks. Cologne police force was accused of deliberately hushing up the scandal. Broadcasters were forced to apologise for failing to report it. The fact is that post-war Germany, while presenting its liberal face to the world, has failed successfully to absorb the Turks and other Muslims who make up a high proportion of inner-city populations. Despite a thriving economy and a generous welfare state, third-generation immigrants usually remain foreigners in the eyes of their German neighbours. The refusal of many Muslims to adopt German values is exacerbated by a multicultural approach that even Mrs Merkel admits has been a disaster. Officially, Germany remains wedded to the right of free movement enshrined in the EU treaties. In its most radical form, this right underlies the Schengen Agreement. Comprising 22 of the EUs member states, the borderless Schengen area is supposed to be the EUs proudest achievement. Since the migration crisis erupted last year, however, seven of these countries have reimposed some form of border controls. Germany has strict checks on its border with Austria, for example, to control the influx of migrants from south-eastern Europe. As fear of terrorism spreads across the Continent, such controls are being extended. Non-EU nationals entering the Schengen area are supposed to be checked thoroughly before being issued with a visa that entitles them to travel within it. But the presence of thousands of potential terrorists already within the area makes it increasingly risky to allow uncontrolled movement across internal borders, even for EU citizens. Schengen was moribund even before Germany came under attack. The European political elites remain so wedded to the principle of free movement they were willing to sacrifice British EU membership rather than compromise. But in Germany, the most powerful country in Europe, that principle is increasingly unsustainable in the face of public opinion that demands border security at all costs. On the BBC yesterday, German MEP Hans-Olaf Henkel criticised Mrs Merkel for irresponsibly encouraging refugees to come to Europe without regard for the consequences. A polic officer in protective gear inspects a back pack used to carry an explosive device at the scene of a suicide attack in the southern German city of Ansbach He even accused her of inadvertently helping the Brexit campaign, which claimed many refugees accepted by Germany might end up in London. Many Germans now agree with this critique of Mrs Merkel, however proud they may be of her international stature. She has survived for nearly 11 years largely because, in the words of the poet and humorist Hilaire Belloc, modern Germans always keep ahold of nurse, for fear of finding something worse. But they are now coming to terms with a new cautionary tale, this time about the risks of inviting strangers into your house. Mrs Merkels guests have certainly made themselves at home in Germany but long after Mutti (or Mummy Merkels nickname) has moved on, her compatriots will be left wondering how many more just want to burn the house down. Germans are not going to put up with living in fear. If such terror attacks continue, it seems increasingly likely that the country may abandon Schengen altogether. Were that to happen, open borders would be a dead letter as would the cherished principle of free movement. Indeed, so powerful is this border anxiety in Germany today that it could bring the whole edifice of the European Union crashing down. The 19-year-old was an ambassador for a charity in his brother's name A teenage boy who gave a stirring speech about the heartbreak his family felt after learning his older brother would not survive a random 'one-punch' attack has died. Ten months ago, Stuart Kelly, 19, made an impassioned plea for the government to take a hard-line stance on alcohol fuelled violence that moved the Australian public after his brother Thomas Kelly, 18, was 'senselessly' struck in the head by Kieran Loveridge on a night out in Kings Cross in 2012. The King's School student brought the room to tears as he described living with a 'deep scar' since a doctor said his 'best friend' had suffered catastrophic head injuries and would not wake up. 'Your brother Thomas is in a critical condition and will not survive,' Stuart said, describing the moment a doctor from St Vincent's Hospital broke the news of his brother's condition. Scroll down for video Stuart Kelly made an impassioned plea for the government to take a hard-line stance on alcohol fuelled violence that moved the Australian public after his brother Thomas Kelly was killed in a 'one-punch' attack Thomas Kelly (pictured), 18, suffered catastrophic head injuries after Kieren Loveridge punched him once in an unprovoked attack at Kings Cross, in Sydney's inner-city, on July 7, 2012 'I was being told to prepare for his death. Those few words would change our lives forever. 'I look back at that moment: I was 14 years old, I was told by a stranger that my brother, my best friend, was going to die. 'I'm now 17 - that was three years ago. However, I carry a deep scar that you cannot see. It's always there, never leaves. It's just below the surface of your skin, and surfaces when you least expect it.' Feeling a 'hole' in his life after his brother's death, the young man became a passionate ambassador for the Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation, which seeks to reduce alcohol-related violence among young people. Stuart's body was found by police in Mona Vale, on Sydney's northern beaches, at about 12.30pm on Monday Feeling a 'hole' in his life after his brother's death, Stuart became a passionate ambassador for the Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation and successfully campaigned to have his Thomas' killer's sentence increased He demanded NSW Premier Mike Baird make a 'promise' not to roll back lock out laws and consider how alcohol and nation's approach to drinking left him with a 'sentence' that he will carry for the 'rest of his life'. 'Tom never deserved to die that night, it was not meant to be his time. In fact, I believe now that it could and should have been avoided. Our family lost a son and a brother,' he said in September. 'I ask all of you to look at me, I am but one person who has been affected by violence. It is a sentence that I have to carry for the rest of my life. My mother, father and sister now carry this sentence. Our relatives and friends, Tom's friends, carry this sentence. 'We are not alone, there are many many thousands of other [people] who are directly affected by senseless violence every year.' Stuart's former headmaster, Dr Tim Hawkes, said he was a well respected member of the school community whose integrity and strength of character demanded respect when he announced Stuart had died on Monday. 'I ask all of you to look at me, I am but one person who has been affected by violence. It is a sentence that I have to carry for the rest of my life,' Stuart said Stuart's former headmaster, Dr Tim Hawkes, said he was a well respected member of the school community whose integrity and strength of character demanded respect when he announced Stuart had died on Monday 'The strength and character shown by Stuart when his brother (pictured left and right) was killed by a one punch attack in July 2012, was extraordinary,' Dr Hawkes said STUART KELLY'S EMOTIONAL SPEECH ON HIS BROTHER THOMAS' DEATH My name is Stuart Kelly, I'm Thomas' younger brother. I was 14 years old when Thomas was brutally attacked without reason; resulting in him losing his life. Tom was out with his friends, it was his first night out in Sydney. We were at home in Bowral, doing what many families do on a Saturday - watching TV and getting ready for bed. The phone rang at 10.25pm. Mum answered it but couldn't comprehend what the person was telling her, so she passed it to dad. The voice on the end of the phone told them that they needed to come to St Vincent's Hospital urgently. Mum and dad told my sister, Madeline and I, that Tom had been in an altercation; they had to drive up to Sydney to be with him but would probably be back later during the night. We had absolutely no idea about the extent of Tom's injuries. The person from the hospital did not give any further information, except to firmly ask that we come straight to the hospital. Maddie and I stayed at home. It was really late, so we went to bed. On Sunday morning, mum's sister Carrie called, telling us that she was driving down to Bowral from Sydney to pick us both up. I felt really uneasy, I couldn't understand why Carrie would be coming and not our parents. Later at home I thought what might have happened to Tom. Never did I think or imagine that we might lose our brother. I remember walking into the floor at St Vincent's hospital, around midday on that Sunday the floor was bustling with people. As we made our way to the lifts, I tried to work out what was going on and why we were there. Madelaine had even brought her school books with her to study because she was stressed about her upcoming HSC trial examinations. We took the lift to the fourth floor, where mum and dad met us. They took us into a small room, closing it closing the door. I could tell by the look on their faces that something serious had happened. I thought this was really strange as we were not visiting Tom nothing was making any sense to me. Finally dad said to us, 'Thomas has been badly hurt, the doctors want to explain it to the both of you'. I felt uneasy. We waited what seemed to be a very long time, but probably wasn't. Two doctors came in with a social worker. We all sat down. I was feeling scared and anxious, and I was about to find out why. 'Your brother Thomas is in a critical condition and will not survive'. I was being told to prepare for his death. Those few words would change our lives forever. I don't remember too much more of what they said. I was in shock and total disbelief. I heard those terrible words but was feeling that this could not be real, this could not be happening to Tom. I could not process this as a reality. I look back at that moment: I was 14 years old, I was told by a stranger that my brother, my best friend, was going to die. I'm now 17 - that was three years ago. However, I carry a deep scar that you cannot see. It's always there, never leaves. It's just below the surface of your skin, and surfaces when you least expect it. The last time that I had seen Tom alive was at a Wallabies game against Wales on the 23rd of June. We had so much fun, lots of banter between the two of us, laughing at the Welsh accents trying to imitate them. It was a great afternoon, but now it is a memory caught in time, a memory of my final time with Tom. It is a memory which should continue to be joined by many more, as we grow up and grow old together. Tom never deserved to die that night, it was not meant to be his time. In fact, I believe now that it could and should have been avoided. Our family lost a son and a brother. I ask all of you to look at me, I am but one person who has been affected by violence. It is a sentence that I have to carry for the rest of my life. My mother, father and sister now carry this sentence. Our relatives and friends, Tom's friends, carry this sentence. We are not alone, there are many many thousands of other who are directly affected by senseless violence every year. Today, I am preparing to complete Year 12 at the King's School, with my HSC only weeks away. My graduation is this Friday. I still remember sitting in the hall with my parents and Madeline, watching Tom graduate. Now it's my turn. How will I feel when the headmaster shakes my hand? I want to ask all of you in this room right now to think of your children, or the children of someone special that you may know. Would you want them to be here on this stage now making this speech? It's time for change. Action is needed through strong leadership from the NSW state government and the federal government. Action is needed by our friends and our families across all of our communities - change to stop the growing epidemic of drug and alcohol abuse and misuse that is turning now into senseless violence. Premier will you make this promise tonight? Australia is an alcoholic; we need to rethink the way we drink. Tonight your involvement and your voice can and will make a difference. Advertisement 'He was a school prefect who possessed a quiet integrity that made him enormously effective as a leader,' Dr Hawkes said on Tuesday. 'The strength and character shown by Stuart when his brother was killed by a one punch attack in July 2012, was extraordinary. 'Stuart has since gone on to support the work of the Kelly Foundation and to campaign against alcohol fuelled violence. 'The death of Stuart Kelly is tragic, and a reminder that life is fragile, loved ones precious and each day a gift. He expressed his sympathy to the Kelly family - mother Kathy, father Ralph and sister Madeleine - who have now had to mourn the death of two young family members. Stuart gave another emotional speech about the toll his brother's death had taken on him, his mother Kathy (right) and father Ralph (left) when Loveridge's increased sentence was handed down in July 2014 'I want Thomas's short life to have some meaning in his death so we can see change, a new fresh start, one where I believe we should have respect for one another,' Stuart said (Pictured: Thomas Kelly, left and right) Ms Stuart (right) sobbed as her youngest son opened up about the 'hole' in his life after Thomas' death 'Our particular thoughts and prayers are with the Kelly family. To have lost two sons in such circumstances is beyond awful.' THOMAS KELLY'S DEATH AND NEW SOUTH WALES LOCK OUT LAWS Thomas Kelly, 18, suffered catastrophic head injuries after Loveridge punched him once in an unprovoked attack at Kings Cross, in Sydney's inner-city, on July 7, 2012. The lockout laws, introduced last year after the deaths of Stuart's brother and Daniel Christie, require most licensed premises in central Sydney and Kings Cross to refuse entry to patrons from 1.30am and stop serving alcohol at 3am. Daniel Christie, 18, was punched and killed by Shaun McNeill, 27, on New Year's Eve in 2013 also in Kings Cross. He died 11 days later in hospital and McNeill was sentenced to 10 years' jail for manslaughter. Also included in NSW's anti-violence crackdown was a state-wide ban on the sale of takeaway alcohol from bottle shops, hotels and clubs after 10pm. Advertisement The family successfully campaigned to have Thomas' killer's sentence doubled after he was given an initial jail term of just five years for his spree of violence. Stuart gave another emotional speech about the toll his brother's death had taken on him and his family when Loveridge's increased sentence was handed down in July, 2014. 'Up until now I haven't said anything because I was too young. 'I've just tried to block it out. I've tried to understand over and over why, at such a young age, my brother lost his life so tragically, but I have no answers. 'It's been difficult for me. I've watched my family suffer on a daily basis, trying to somehow regain anything in their lives. 'I want Thomas's short life to have some meaning in his death so we can see change, a new fresh start, one where I believe we should have respect for one another.' A NSW spokesman confirmed on Tuesday a report would be prepared for the coroner, however the circumstances surrounding Stuart's death have not been revealed. 'Police will prepare a report for the coroner following the death of a 19-year-old-man at Mona Vale yesterday. A New Zealand Jiu-Jitsu athlete and his girlfriend claim they have locked themselves in their Rio apartment when the men wearing police uniforms who robbed him at gunpoint showed up 'unannounced'. Jason Lee, 27, who has been living in the Brazilian city for the past 10 months, posted on his Twitter account on Monday afternoon, local time: 'Policia Militar have shown up at my apartment unannounced. I have refused them access, called my embassy and we are waiting for Civil Police.' Lee had earlier claimed he was pulled over by Military Police and forced to get in their unmarked car, before he was driven to two ATMs and made to take out 2,000 Brazilian Reais (roughly NZ$850 or AU$815), NZ Herald reported. He reported the incident to Civil Police and sought advice from the NZ Embassy. Lee and his girlfriend, Laura McQuillan, who is a Kiwi journalist reporting on the Rio Olympics, live tweeted when the same men showed up to their apartment though they shouldn't have had the couple's address. Scroll down for video Jason Lee, a New Zealand Jiu-Jitsu athlete, said he was kidnapped and robbed by men wearing Policia Militar uniforms in Rio, Brazil He and his girlfriend Laura McQuillan, a Kiwi journalist reporting on the 2016 Olympics, said they had been later holed up in their apartment by Policia Militar after they reported the alleged robbing to Civil Police 'Policia Militar have shown up at my apartment unannounced. I have refused them access, called my embassy and we are waiting for Civil Police,' Jason Lee wrote on Twitter on Monday afternoon, local time 'Doorman just called to say Policia Militar - the police who kidnapped my boyfriend - are downstairs. They should not have our address,' Ms McQuillan wrote on Twitter on Monday afternoon, local time Tuesday morning NZ time. 'I was assured by civil police that by making a statement, my personal information could not be accessed by Policia Militar.' Lee said they were 'locked in our apartment awaiting advice from the NZ ambassador' when the men left about 15 minutes later. He later said they were 'safe' and thanked everyone for their support. The pair have been speaking with Civil Police about the unexpected arrival of Militar Police. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed to Daily Mail Australia the couple contacted New Zealand Embassy in Brasilia was contacted by Lee on Monday morning. 'The Embassy has contacted other authorities (in Brazil) on his behalf,' a spokesperson for the ministry said. Lee, who has been living in Rio for the past ten months, said he had been kidnapped and robbed by men wearing Militar Police uniforms - who later showed up at his Rio apartment when he reported it 'I was assured by Civil police that by making a statement, my personal information could not be accessed by Policia Militar,' he said New Zealand Jiu-Jitsu athlete Jason Lee (pictured far right in Brazil with other competitors) has spoken with the NZ Embassy and Civil Police Lee had first rehashed the robbery and kidnapping on Twitter: 'What did you guys get up to yesterday? I got kidnapped. Go Olympics! #Rio2016' The martial arts sportsman later explained on Facebook, in a post which has since been deleted, that he was 'threatened with arrest' if he did not get into the private car with the men. 'I'm not sure what's more depressing, the fact this stuff is happening to foreigners so close to the Olympic Games or the fact that Brazilians have to live in a society that enables this absolute bullshit on a daily basis,' Lee wrote online. 'This place is well and truly f***ked in every sense of the word imaginable.' Lee, who is not competing in the Olympics because Jiu-Jitsu is not an official Olympic sport, told stuff.co.nz he was pulled over by police while driving along a highway into the city. He said police incorrectly claimed that Lee was breaking the law by driving without his passport, and made him drive the wrong way down a highway before transporting him into an unmarked car. 'What did you guys get up to yesterday? I got kidnapped. Go Olympics!' Lee had earlier written on Twitter Lee was then taken to the ATMs and told he would be arrested and taken to federal police if he didn't comply with their requests, he said. 'These guys have pulled me over, they have weapons. I'm not in any position to negotiate,' Lee stuff.co.nz. 'I don't think I've ever felt like I could possibly die.' Lee was released and warned not to report the matter to police after handing over the money. 'I was umming and ahhing about whether I should even make a complaint. One of the guys I was reporting it to said: "We understand you are hesitant, because we are the Police, and that branch of the Police is so scary even we are afraid of them",' Lee told stuff.co.nz. It's the latest development in a series of frightening experiences for Australian athletes staying in Rio during the lead-up to the 2016 Olympics games, which are set to begin in less than a fortnight. The Australian Olympic team have recently boycotted the athletes' village after officials deemed their assigned apartment tower blocks uninhabitable. Last month, Australian Paralympic sailor Liesl Tesch and team official Sarah Ross were threatened with a gun and robbed before a race meet in Rio de Janeiro. A fugitive who kept taunting authorities by sharing photos of himself in luxurious surroundings has been put behind bars after seven months on the run. Ronald DeJesus Plaza, 25, missed a court date in December 2015 and began mocking cops the next weekend on Instagram, the New York Daily News reported. Plaza posted a picture of a bottle of Diplomatic Reserva rum and wrote: 'Salute Mr Miller, this is a good rum.' The caption was in reference to Assistant District Attorney Karl Miller, who had worked on his case, authorities said. That was the first of a series of defying posts, in which Plaza appeared at the wheel of a Lamborghini or enjoying himself at lavish resorts in Mexico, according to Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark. Ronald DeJesus Plaza (pictured left and right), 25, missed a court date in December 2015 and began mocking cops the next weekend by posting photos of himself in luxurious surroundings on Instagram Plaza, of Sleepy Hollow, New York, broke a man's nose and slashed him several times outside a nightclub in the Bronx in June 2014, authorities said. Another man, who hasn't been arrested, stabbed the man in the back at the same time, according to the prosecution. The man, Angel Segura, received almost two dozen staples and stitches on his head and face after the attack, the New York Daily News wrote. Plaza had been released on a $5,000 bail when he didn't show up at a court date on December 4, 2015. One of the photos (pictured) shows Plaza in a bathtub with a bottle of champagne and a gun next to him. An ocean view appears through the window A jury had begun deliberating over his case the previous day. He kept taunting authorities on Instagram until his arrest at Los Angeles International Airport last month. Plaza blurred his own face in some of his photos, but officers still managed to identify him. One of the photos shows him in a bathtub with a bottle of champagne and a gun next to him. An ocean view appears through the window. Plaza was sentenced to 10 years in prison in absentia and served the first day of that sentence on Monday after appearing in the Bronx Supreme Court. Authorities could now charge him for failing to appear in court after being bailed. Liberal firebrand Elizabeth tried to undertake the delicate task of reeling enraged Bernie Sanders backers into the fold by showering praise on her kindred spirit from the Senate and ripping into both Donald Trump and the 'rigged' financial system. 'Trumps entire campaign is just one more late-night Trump infomercial,' Warren told an enthusiastic convention crowd. 'And for one low low price hell even throw in a goofy hat.' Warren, represents the Sanders wing of the party, but nevertheless made an emphatic case for electing Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. The Massachusetts senator served as a key validator in a hall, which had split throughout the night whenever speakers mentioned Hillary Clinton's name. 'Bernie reminds us what Democrats fight for every day. Thank you Bernie. Thank you,' she said at the top of her remarks, praising Clinton's defeated rival. Scroll down for video Massachusetts Senator called for the convention crowd to 'work our hearts out' for Clinton, and compared Trump's campaign to a late night infomercial Passing of the torch? Warren got introduced by her former student, Joseph P Kennedy III, who was a student of Warren's at Harvard Law School Model student: Kennedy said Warren was the 'toughest teacher on campus, but the wait list for her class was a mile long. She pushed us hard. She brought out our best. She believed in us' Then she started taking apart Trump. 'On one side is a man who inherited a fortune from his father and kept it going by cheating people by skipping out on debts. A man who cares only for himself every minute of every day,' she said, to hoots of approval. 'On the other side is one of the smartest toughest most tenacious people on this planet. A woman who fights for children for women for health care, for womens rights,' said Warren. A woman who fights for all of us and who is strong enough to win those fights.' 'Other than talking about building a stupid wall which will never get built, other than that wall, did you hear any actual ideas?' Warren asked the crowd, who responded, 'No!' 'Did you hear even one solid proposal from Trump for increasing incomes or improving your kids education. Or creating even one single good paying job?' she asked. Warren said Trump had 'no plans to make anything great for anyone except for rich guys like Donald Trump.' Warren, who was pushed by liberals who were suspicious of Clinton to seek the presidency, left no doubt which side she was on. 'We are here today because our choice is Hillary Clinton. Im with Hillary,' she said. 'You know, for me this choice is personal,' she added. Donald Trump, who has consistently called Warren 'Pocahontas' because of her prior claims of Native American heritage, took to Twitter again to hit out at her after her speech Warren managed to craft a speech that mostly bridged the split in the party, as she spoke before Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders took the stage I'm with her: Warren, who was pushed by liberals who were suspicious of Clinton to seek the presidency, left no doubt which side she was on - that of Hillary Clinton's She laced her remarks with references to Clinton's running mate, senator Tim Kaine, who got boos at the start of the convention when his name was mentioned. Many Sanders backers in the hall aren't satisfied with him, in part because of his support for trade deals. 'People get it. The system is rigged. Its true,' Warren said, evoking language used by both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. 'So to every Republican in Congress who said no, this November, the American people are coming for you,' she said, in a red meat line that got the crowd going. Trump, who has repeatedly called Warren 'Pocahontas', because of prior claims she made about having Native American heritage, tweeted after the speech: 'Elizabeth Warren, often referred to as Pocahontas, just misrepresented me and spoke glowingly about Crooked Hillary, who she always hated!' Later, the Trump campaign released a statement on Warren. Stephen Miller, Senior Policy Adviser, said: 'Warren complains about Wall Street influence while endorsing the candidate who is bought-and-paid for by Wall Street. 'Bill and Hillary use Wall Street like a personal ATM, giving speeches and doing favors for cash. 'The income inequality in America today is the product of the Hillary Clinton corporate agenda on trade and immigration. Clinton is a radical corporatist, and Donald Trump is the one and only the only candidate taking on the special interests in government. 'Just follow the money flowing into the Clinton bank account - and the money flowing against the people's champion, Mr Trump. 'By the way - if we'd built that wall Warren calls "stupid" years ago, wonderful Americans like Jamiel Shaw, Police Sgt. Brandon Mendoza, Dominic Durden, Josh Wilkerson, Sara Root, and so many others would be alive today. Thousands would never have been victimized by cartels, traffickers and smugglers. Millions of young minority workers would have jobs. Why aren't these voiceless victims worthy of Warren's concern?' Warren was introduced by Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III, who took her class at Harvard, and told a story about getting badgered by his professor for not knowing the definition of a word. 'I never showed up unprepared for professor Elizabeth Warren ever again,' Kennedy said. She was the toughest teacher on campus but the wait list for her class was a mile long. A six-year-old British girl and her family have been rejected from Australia A British family who have called Australia home for the past five years are facing deportation because their youngest child, Sienna, has a mystery medical condition. When Sienna Tippett failed her medical test the family's dream of finally calling Australia home was shot down, because it meant she didn't pass the criteria to become a permanent resident. Sienna has lived in Lennox Heads on the north coast of New South Wales since was 10-months old. Her parents told Daily Mail Australia it is the only home she has ever known and they're devastated to leave. Sienna Tippett, six, (pictured) failed her application for permanent residency because of her undiagnosed disability The six-year-old girl is known as happy and outgoing to her community and in the classroom Sienna with her mother, Hayley Niedzielska, before the family was told that had less than 30 days to leave the country because Sienna wasn't able to be a resident Kai Tippett said when he and Sienna's mother Hayley Niedzielska were told by doctors that their youngest daughter was disabled it was a 'gut wrenching feeling'. But Sienna has never been diagnosed as it is believed she has a condition unique to only her. 'We came to accept it and we love her no matter what but when the department of immigration rejected our application because of her disability it brought up all of those emotions again. 'We try to teach our children not to bully or discriminate against people, especially if they have a disability and here is the Australian government doing just that.' The rest of Sienna's family including her mother and father, older brother, Charley, 16, and sister, Abbi, 13, all passed the medical but the Commonwealth told them 'if one member of the family fails they all do'. She attends the local school and is 'known to everyone in the community for her gorgeous smile'. 'If we had to go back it would be devastating,' Mr Tippett said. The six-year-old is learning Auslan sign language which is specific to Australia and 'wouldn't be able to communicate' if the family were forced to move back to Britain. 'She is learning it faster than us she will sign something and I will have to check the book.' Sienna with her father Kai who says the whole of Australia is behind their family The family are now appealing to immigration minister Peter Dutton to let them stay She is currently learning Auslan sign language which is an Australian-based sign language The family were delivered the heart-breaking news in court on the 19th of July and told they had 28 days to 'get out'. 'We were told she was declined based on a hypothetical person with her conditions,' Mr Tippett said. 'How can they base this decision on someone with the same condition when there is no condition to base her on,' he said. Sienna has been having tests since she was a baby but they have all come back clear. If she and her family are deported she will lose any method of communication as Auslan is not learnt in Britain Sienna with her big brother Charley, 16, who also has to leave Australia because if one family member fails to get permanent residency everyone in the family fails 'There are no more tests to have so all testing has stopped. 'Her teacher and principal have sent us letters to tell us she is a delight in the classroom and her cognitive ability is at 100 per cent. 'She is in a support classroom but joins in with mainstream work as much as she can the only barrier is her speech.' There is no official appeals process once permanent residency has been declined so now they are looking to Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to overturn the decision. She has been in Australia since she was 10 months old and calls Lennox Heads in NSW home The family have 22 days left to convince the commonwealth to let them stay in Australia 'We have 22 days left for this to be overturned then we have to leave. 'If we leave it will probably be the end of my son's school career because kids in the UK are a year ahead and have already done their exams. 'It would have a negative effect on the whole family.' Mr Tippett described Sienna as 'the most outgoing and happy little girl' who everyone 'adores'. Mr Tippett says that you wouldn't even know she was disabled when she was sitting down The three Tippett children at the beach in Lennox Heads where their family has been living for five years 'She participates in every activity and is always smiling. 'If you saw her sitting down you would never know she had a disability. 'The whole community and the whole of Australia are getting behind us we now have 23,000 supporters on out petition to stay. 'It would be a dream come true to stay Australia is everything we have ever wanted which is why we moved here in the first place.' Sienna with her mum and her sister Abbi. The tight-knif family will be 'devastated' if they have to move to Britain The little girl has been described as intelligent by her teacher and principal with her speech the only barrier between her attending a main-stream class The family has a large support network of family and friends in Australia - with Mr Tippett's sister living here for 23 years. The family is outraged the unnamed Commonwealth doctor found their daughter would be a 'burden to Australia' because he had never met her. 'Sienna doesn't cost a cent more than my other two children,' Mr Tippett said. 'We have letters from doctors, the school she attends and our private physio all positive, stating that she is a bright girl with a positive future ahead of her and that she is improving not regressing.' Peter Dutton's office released the following statement when contacted by Daily Mail: 'The family has an ongoing request for Ministerial Intervention which is currently being assessed by the Department.' Also defended her father against statements Trump made about Mexicans Said Trump had mocked her sister Lisa, who has a mental disability Told the crowd in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she felt insulted by Trump Actress took the stage at Democratic National Convention on Monday night Eva Longoria bashed Donald Trump during her speech at the Democratic National Convention Monday night, saying he had insulted several members of her family through his claims. The actress took to the stage in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to introduce New Jersey Senator Cory Booker - but gave her own endorsement to Hillary Clinton beforehand. 'I'm from a small town in South Texas. And if you know your history, Texas used to be part of Mexico,' Longoria, who was born in Corpus Christi, told the crowd. 'Now, I'm ninth-generation American. My family never crossed a border, the border crossed us. So when Donald Trump calls us criminals or rapists, he's insulting American families.' Scroll down for video Eva Longoria bashed Donald Trump during her speech at the Democratic National Convention Monday night (pictured), saying he had insulted several members of her family through his claims The actress took to the stage in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to introduce New Jersey Senator Cory Booker - but gave her own endorsement to Hillary Clinton beforehand (pictured) Trump attacked Mexicans when he announced his candidacy in June 2015, stating: 'When Mexico, meaning the Mexican government, sends its people... Theyre sending people that have lots of problems, and theyre bringing those problems to us. 'Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.' The GOP nominee reiterated the remarks later on while defending this first statement. 'My father is not a criminal or a rapist. In fact, he's a United States veteran,' Longoria said Monday. Longoria, who was born in Corpus Christi, told the crowd about growing up in South Texas and being a ninth-generation American - and blasted Trump for his comments about Mexicans 'My father is not a criminal or a rapist. In fact, he's a United States veteran,' Longoria said Monday. Trump attacked Mexicans when he announced his candidacy in June 2015 Longoria then criticized Trump for saying in a 1994 that 'putting a wife to work is a very dangerous thing'. She said it was an insult to her mother, who worked for 30 years as a special education teacher She then attacked Trump for his remarks about reporter Serge Kovaleski, who has arthrogryposis - a condition that limits the functioning of his joints. Trump recounted an earlier exchange with Kovaleski in November 2015, making jerking movements with his arms and tilting his right wrist at an angle, making it look like Kovaleski's. He later denied he had been imitating the reporter. 'When Trump cruelly mocked a disabled reporter, he was also mocking my special needs sister Lisa and many like her,' Longoria, who has a sister with an intellectual disability, said. She told Piers Morgan in a 2011 that her sister was born prematurely, and that her brain hadn't finished developing. Longoria provided another example of how Trump had offended her family through his statements. 'When he said that a wife who works is a very dangerous thing, he not only insulted me, he insulted my mother who worked as a special education teacher for 30 years,' she said Monday evening, referring to a statement made by Trump in a 1994 interview. Longoria then gave Clinton a ringing endorsement. 'Hillary has spent her whole life fighting for all Americans. From healthcare reform to equal pay for women, to gun safety, to protecting the economy,' she said. She called Clinton 'the most qualified candidate ever' for the presidency - and had one last work for Trump before welcoming Booker on stage. 'A Latina from South Texas is introducing the first black senator from New Jersey on the week we'll nominate our first woman candidate for president of the United States,' she said. 'So guess what, Donald? It turns out America is pretty great already.' Longoria was one of several celebrities who came to the convention on Monday. Demi Lovato, who has previously discussed her experiences with bipolar disorder, bulimia and addiction, came to sing and spoke against mental health stigma. R&B group Boyz II Men performed earlier on Monday. Comedian Sarah Silverman also took the stage and ruffled a few feathers when she said: 'Bernie or bust people' were 'being ridiculous'. Musician Paul Simon followed with a rendition of Bridge Over Troubled Water - but many said on social media he sounded out of tune, while others worried about his health. Longoria attacked Trump for his remarks about reporter Serge Kovaleski, who has arthrogryposis - and said they were insulting to her own sister Lisa, who has an intellectual disability She then gave Clinton a ringing endorsement, stating: 'Hillary has spent her whole life fighting for all Americans. From healthcare reform to equal pay for women, to gun safety, to protecting the economy' Longoria called Clinton 'the most qualified candidate ever' for the presidency - and had one last work for Trump before welcoming Booker on stage (pictured) A New York City real estate mogul has become embroiled in a bitter divorce battle after leaving his wife of 57 years for a younger French woman.. Harry Macklowe, 79 who is developing the world's tallest residential building told his wife Linda, 78, that he was leaving her and moving in with his girlfriend Patricia Landeau. Now Harry and Linda Macklowe, who do not have a prenup, are 'going to fight over everything,' a source told Page Six. Harry (left with his estranged wife Linda Macklowe) is engaged in a bitter divorce after the real estate mogul told his wife of 57 years he was leaving her for girlfriend Patricia Landeau (right) 'They've been fighting for 57 years,' the source added, and Linda ' controls their billion-dollar art collection and fully expects to keep it. 'But he's going to fight that,' the source added to the gossip page. The source compared the divorce to the 1989 movie 'The War of the Roses,' which stars Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner as a wealthy couple fighting over their possessions. The couple's separation battle began when 78-year-old Harry went public with Landeau, 60, who is president of the French Frends of the Israel Museum. 'The girlfriend was out there telling everybody they were a couple,' the source told Page Six. 'He was parading her around the Hamptons and more recently in St-Tropez. 'It became embarrassing.' One source told Page Six that the couple's marriage began to fall apart when Harry was forced to sell his General Motors Building in 2008 to get out from a $7 billion debt. 'All the art and the marital property was in Linda's name, and she refused to sell any of it to bail him out,' the source told Page Six. A different source claimed the disagreement over the GM Building sale was a lie, 'That is completely untrue.' Landeau (pictured) is the president of the French Friends of the Israel Museum. She and Macklowe reportedly met at a museum event Harry had been keeping Landeau in an apartment complex he owns on 737 Park Avenue. 'It was no secret in the building that the woman was Harry Macklowe's girlfriend, and she's been coming and going for two years,' a source told Page Six. 'Whether he was living a double life with the girlfriend, or his wife knew about her all along, nobody quite knows.' One source told Page Six that the couple's marriage began to fall apart when Harry was forced to sell his General Motors Building in 2008 to get out from a $7 billion debt. Linda refused to help bail him out Macklowe is currently developing 432 Park Ave, the tallest residential building in the world (pictured) Harry, who developed the Apple store on Fifth Avenue, is now spearheading development of the tallest residential building in the world, 432 Park Avenue. He and his soon-to-be ex-wife were donors to the Israel Museum, where his new girlfriend is president, and were regular attendees of the museum's New York City gala. A family-of-four who were on a surprise trip to Disney World were seriously injured after a suspected drunk driver slammed into their minivan Thursday morning. Ryan Bragazzi was driving his fiancee, Jessica, and two young daughters, seven-year-old Graelyn and five-year-old Abriella, to the Denver International Airport when they were hit, according to CBS Denver. The crash occurred while their vehicle was stopped in traffic as state troopers were investigating a separate DUI crash. Ryan Bragazzi (left with his family) was driving his fiancee, Jessica ( left), and two young daughters (left and right), seven-year-old Graelyn and five-year-old Abriella, to the Denver International Airport when they were hit The family-of-four who were headed on a surprise trip to Disney World were seriously injured after a suspected drunk driver slammed into their minivan Thursday morning. Their vehicle (pictured) was forced underneath a tractor-trailer The collision occurred while their vehicle was stopped in traffic as state troopers were investigating a separate DUI crash. Around 2.30am another drunk driver collided with Bragazzi's minivan at a high rate of speed Around 2.30am another drunk driver collided with Bragazzi's minivan at a high rate of speed, CBS reported. The impact demolished the back of the van and rammed the front end under a FedEx semi, according to a GoFundMe page set up by a relative. The family had to be transported by ambulance for severe injuries. 'They did absolutely nothing wrong and they received the brunt end of this for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time,' Colorado State Patrol Trooper Josh Lewis told CBS Denver. Lewis told the station that the 'result was serious injuries on multiple parties' and authorities are 'hoping for the best with everyone who was involved with it'. Bragazzi is in the ICU with several broken ribs, vertebrae and a laceration to his back. Jessica was treated with for a severe head wound. And his young daughters are being treated at a Children's Hospital, according to the GoFundMe page. Relatives are hoping that the GoFundMe page will help with the family's medical expenses. So far, more than $3,000 has been raised of the $8,000 goal. The family had to be transported by ambulance for severe injuries. Bragazzi is in the ICU with several broken ribs, vertebrae and a laceration to his back. Jessica was treated with for a severe head wound Sunlight soaked hay fields reflected off the blacktop of Highway 2 as a short, white bus carried passengers in one of the most rural regions of America. The scene between Havre and Fort Belknap Agency is at odds with the image many people have of public transit: a large bus stopping every few blocks as it crawls around urban streets with riders grabbing overhead bars for balance when seats are full. In truth, thousands of Montanans use public transit every month, an increasingly common way to get from place to place in a state where it could take hours and a hefty gas bill to drive to the nearest shopping center or major hospital. Excluding the transit systems in Billings, Missoula and Great Falls, just nine rural operators offered in-town or intercity rides to the general public in 2004. Today, the state has at least 37 federally funded public transit systems scattered from Ekalaka to Libby. I dont think a lot of people appreciate it until they use it, or until they need it, Bill Lanier said, sitting in the front seat of a Northcentral Montana Transit bus as it carried him 21 miles from a Havre grocery store parking lot to his job at Blaine County offices in Chinook. I had thought it was mostly a convenience, but the more I use the bus the more I see its a necessity for people. Nationwide, transportation is the second-largest expense in family budgets behind housing. For most Montanans, getting from here to there is the costliest part of living in the state. Families with two working adults who earn the median household income which ranges from $30,900 to $56,050 depending on region spend more on transportation than housing costs in all but Missoula, Gallatin, and Lewis and Clark counties, according to an analysis of federal housing, transportation and Census data by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. After the 2005 federal transportation bill nearly tripled the annual funding available to rural public transit operators in Montana, many systems that first offered rides to seniors and people with disabilities expanded to serve their whole communities, hoping to make education, employment and health care opportunities more affordable. An essential ride Some Montanans ride for convenience, finding fares cheaper than the gas to commute or preferring to let a professional drive in winter weather. For others, public transit is essential. In addition to elderly residents who make up a growing share of rural populations each year some riders do not have a drivers license, a car, the money to buy gas or relatives who can provide rides. Without us providing that transportation, logging nearly 400 miles day on daily bus routes, Northcentral Montana Transit Director Jim Lyons said, People dont come to jobs, dont go to hospitals, dont go to the services they need. They dont go shopping. They dont go to college. Life for them has just stopped, he said. Put your keys on the table. How will you get to school? To work? To the doctor? To wherever you want to go? Most people dont get it until they think about it on a personal level. Martha Olson of Thompson Falls said she never thought about public transit until she needed it. I love to drive, she said. Its simple until its a necessity. Shortly after her husband died, she fell and broke her hip, spending months at a Missoula rehab center. Even when she was released and cleared by the doctor to drive again, Olson was nervous, fearing that the lingering pain would slow her reactions or leave her unable to change a tire should she get a flat driving to faraway doctor appointments. Sanders County Transportation gave her a worry-free way to go to the grocery store or the senior center for meals. Recently, feeling as good as she does these days, Olson still took the bus rather than drive to Missoula, where she received arthritis shots and visited the rehab center to sing hymns with old friends. I do it because I love to be amongst the people, she said. My voice is pretty shot, but thats because Im out of practice. If I take more trips, Ill get more practice. In the seat to Olsons right, Dan Herring reached into a Taco Bell bag for dinner. After a dialysis appointment that left him physically exhausted, he had to eat. For 21 years, he has had blood filtered three times a week. When he first moved to Plains nine years ago to live closer to family, his brother drove him to Missoula, the nearest dialysis center. He works, Herring said, explaining why that didnt last long. You know, Im on a machine for five hours. Its a long time. Hes got to take care of his family. I tried driving, he said. I fell asleep and ran into the ditch. I almost ended up in the river. Staff at the dialysis center told him about the bus and hes been riding ever since, becoming friends with the drivers, especially Krazy Ernie Franke. Cost-effective ride Even for those who can drive, public transit provides cost effective options for maintaining their quality of life or connecting with neighboring towns. If you can find work, you get minimum wage here, Sanders County Transportation Coordinator Ayla Blasius said. You cant afford $30 in gas to go to Kalispell or Missoula. Because of the distances to basic services and the need for longer commutes to find work in a place where the timber industry has collapsed, Sanders County residents spend a larger share of their income on transportation costs than anywhere else in the state, as much as 72 percent for people who live on less than $11,720 a year, the national poverty line. Even two-parent families who make nearly $70,000 a year reported spending about a third of it on transportation, according to the federal study. The figures are similar in Hill and Blaine County where Northcentral Montana Transit operates. The service, launched by nonprofit social service organization Opportunity Link in 2009, has found that the bus makes it easier for residents to tap the collective resources of the Hi Line communities rather than being isolated in one. Now people are able to stay in their homes and not have to move to a bigger community, said Patrick Sanders, transportation coordinator for the Department of Public Health and Human Services. Lyn Hellegaard of the Montana Transit Association agreed that mobility is too often overlooked when elected leaders develop policies and programs. For instance, the Legislature expanded Medicaid this last session, she said. Well, you can expand it as much as you want but if the people who need it cant get there, whats the point? Operators also report that employers trying to recruit skilled workers to work at area colleges and clinics can offer more options for where to live. In Bozeman, Streamline transit runs a handful of commuter lines to neighboring towns where housing is cheaper for people who work in the city. At the back of the Northcentral Montana bus, ecology professor Brian Grebliunas said the bus is a selling point for people moving to the area, including himself. The Illinois native aimed to find a teaching job in Montana or South Dakota because of his love for the outdoors. He was hired by Aaniiih Nakoda College in Fort Belknap Agency, but lives in nearby Chinook where he catches the bus. Its the best of both worlds and it saves a bunch of diesel fuel, he said. I drive a bunch for hunting and fishing on the weekends. Lanier said saving money and reducing vehicle wear-and-tear also are his primary reasons for using transit from Havre. To be honest, I probably wouldnt still work out here if it wasnt for the bus, Lanier said, also mentioning the stress of commuting during Hi-Line winters. When he stepped off the bus in Chinook, nurse Joan Bell took his seat. She grew up in the area and returned about two years ago to work at the Indian Health Service clinic in Fort Belknap. The bus lets her live in Chinook with her family, she said, without having to forfeit big money for the commute or consider whether to move closer. Despite a growing number of riders around the state, some communities still do not have public transit and challenges remain for existing operators. Livingston, one of the largest towns without general public transportation, is considering whether to start a service and has formed an advisory committee. A decade ago, a similar group decided the town did not need one, noting a slew of small operators served seniors and people with disabilities. Last time we couldnt get anywhere. We just hit a dead end, said David Eaton, a member of the committee and director of Counterpoint, which provides disability services. Maybe they were right that we werent ready yet. This time, Eaton says hes more hopeful. The formation of the committee was spurred, in part, by the construction of a new hospital building. It replaced the hospital that was right in a residential area of town, he said. Now, its across the bridge across the Yellowstone River. Theres this thought that, Geez, with such a big entity not right in town, we have to make sure we have the infrastructure we need to make sure folks who need to get to the hospital can. David Kack, mobility and public transportation manager for the Western Transportation Institute, said rural notions of public transit are changing, albeit more slowly in some places than others. What does it mean when you say mobility? he said. In the past it means you have a car and drive everywhere. In Montana and probably other rural areas, especially in the West, theres this thought of self-sufficiency that means were all going to have our own car. Attracting passengers In Sanders County, Blasius hopes to increase the ridership of Sanders County buses, particularly among young adults. She says most residents assume the buses are only for seniors. The stickers on the side of the bus did say Senior Bus, she said, noting one has since been rebranded. We dont have the money to advertise the way wed like to. Its often more expensive to operate a rural system than an urban one. The remoteness. You know, thats the big challenge, said Fort Belknap Transportation Director John Healy, who runs one of several tribal transit systems in the state and has worked on rural transit priorities with national organizations. The math is simple: Fewer people need to go longer distances and hefty capital costs like buses and maintenance barns are split fewer ways. Operators end up having to balance quality and quantity of service, hopefully in a way that still makes transit useful enough for people to ride. With those distances and rather limited funding, you can only provide so many round trips a day, Kack said. Do I serve a smaller service area more frequently or do I say Ill go further out to different communities but probably dont have the money to do that quite as frequently? Federal law requires public transit providers to coordinate schedules as much as possible so that riders can more easily string together rides across greater distances. Kack said the cost of making a connection to a neighboring service might sometimes be hard to make work in a financially responsible way that also is practical for riders schedules. Carrie Kissell from the National Association of Development Organizations also noted that federal rules which require services to report a tally of their riders, which factors into how much funding they receive, can actually discourage coordination. If everybody needs to also have riders then its hard to give up your rider to another service, she said. That, I think, is a policy barrier for doing it the most efficient way. Although federal funding accounts for most of the operating revenue for most public transit programs in Montana, the grants require a local match to be released. Finding that money in the communities that need transit most can be difficult, Lyons said. Hellegaard said the investment is worth it. Transit benefits more than just the person who rides, she said. It benefits the family as a whole. It benefits businesses and the community as a whole. Without us providing that transportation, people dont come to jobs, dont go to hospitals, dont go to the services they need. They dont go shopping. They dont go to college. Jim Lyons, Northcentral Montana Transit Director It is not known what the billionaire businessman was Donald Trump reacted to Cory Booker's rousing speech at the Democratic convention by tweeting: 'I know more about Cory than he knows about himself.' The Republican presidential nominee posted the cryptic message after the New Jersey Senator's address on love and equality. His performance led many to speculate over whether he was positioning for a run in 2020, after he missed out on being Hillary Clinton's vice presidential pick. But The Donald said that if he is the future of the Democratic party, they have no future at all. Scroll down for video Donald Trump posted this cryptic tweet after Cory Booker finished his speech at the Democratic convention Booker's performance led many to speculate over whether he was positioning a run in 2020, after he missed out on being Hillary Clinton's vice presidential pick His full tweet read: 'If Cory Booker is the future of the Democratic Party, they have no future! I know more about Cory than he knows about himself.' It is not known what he was referring to. An emotional Booker used the backdrop of Philadelphia - the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed - to push for equal rights. As he walked onto the stage, the crowd shouted: 'Cory, Cory, Cory.' But later, some on the convention floor started chanting 'Black Lives Matter'. He declared: 'No matter who you are, rich or poor, Asian or white, man or woman, gay or straight, any religion or none at all, you are entitled to the full rights and responsibilities of citizenship.' The 47-year-old junior senator then said: 'We cant devolve into a nation where our highest aspiration is that we just tolerate each other. 'We are not called to be a nation of tolerance. We are called to be a nation of love. Tolerance says I am just going to stomach your right to be different. 'That if you disappear from the face of the earth, I am no better or worse off.' Booker did attack Trump's hypocrisy and treatment of women during his speech. He said: 'Weve watched him try to get laughs at others expense; try to incite fear at a time when we need to inspire courage; try to rise in the polls by dragging our national conversation into the gutter. Weve watched him cruelly mock a journalists disability. 'Weve watched him demean the service of my Senate colleague. Hes not a war hero, Trump said. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who werent captured. 'Weve watched him, with a broad and divisive brush, say that Mexican immigrants who came to America to build a better life are bringing crime, theyre bringing drugs. An emotional Booker used the backdrop of Philadelphia - the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed - to push for equal rights Bill Clinton looked uninterested when Booker leaned over and tried to talk to him in the arena 'He says many of them are rapists. He said that an Indiana-born federal judge cant be trusted to do his job because of his Mexican ancestry a statement that even fellow Republicans have described as racist. Weve watched and heard him call women demeaning and degrading names. Dog. Fat pig. Disgusting. Animal. Its a twisted hypocrisy when he treats other women in a manner he would never, ever accept from another man speaking about his wife or daughters. In a nation founded on religious freedom, he says ban all Muslims, dont let certain people in because of how they pray. He then went on to slam the billionaire real estate developer for the negative impact he has had on his home state. 'Trump says he would run our country like he has run his businesses. Well, Im from Jersey, and we have seen the way he leads,' he went on. 'In Atlantic City, he got rich while his companies declared multiple bankruptcies. 'Yet without remorse, even as people got hurt by his failures, he bragged, The money I took out of there was incredible".' Anthony Weiner compared himself to the famous Tiananmen protester as he told Stephen Colbert how desperate he felt when Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton in 2008. The former US representative spoke on Colbert's Late Show on Monday night, as Colbert kicked off four days of coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. 'I cried when Hillary Clinton lost to Barack Obama,' Weiner said. 'I was like the Chinese guy in front of the tanks. I was the last person to endorse Barack Obama.' Weiner was referring to the photo of a man known as Tank Man, who stood in front of a line of tanks when the Chinese army forcibly silenced the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Scroll down for video Anthony Weiner (left) spoke on Stephen Colbert's Late Show on Monday night, as Colbert (right) kicked off four days of coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia But Weiner, whose wife Huma Abedin is a long-time aide of Clinton and the vice chair of her campaign, quickly assuaged his statements regarding the current President. 'But you see eight years of remarkable growth,' he continued. 'You listen to Trump, you feel like it's a lousy country.' Weiner then blamed the 'mainstream media' for giving Donald Trump too much attention - to which Colbert replied by saying he was elated to know he was considered mainstream. Colbert covered the Republican National Convention last week in Cleveland, Ohio, and has now turned its attention to Pennsylvania for what he has nicknamed the 2016 Democratic National Convincing a Technically Historic Event: Death. Taxes. Hillary. Weiner (pictured on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Monday) told Colbert how desperate he felt when Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination over Hillary Clinton in 2008 The former representative compared himself to a protester known as Tank Man, who stood in front of a line of tanks when the Chinese army silenced the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in a iconic photo (pictured) Weiner walked in Monday night after Colbert received a dramatic kiss on the lips from actress Allison Janney at the end of her own interview. The former congressman began by asking where the New York convention was, then he and Colbert made a couple of amused references to Weiner's two sexting scandals - which cost him his seat at the House Of Representatives and his 2013 run for New York mayor. Colbert asked Weiner whether he had watched the convention - and Weiner assured him he had. 'Are you still a Democrat?' Colbert asked. Weiner replied with a simple: 'Of course.' The conversation then switched on to Sanders, who had just urged his own supporters to rally behind Clinton in a speech at the convention. 'Bernie's great, we love Bernie,' Weiner assured. He then told Colbert that Sanders' supporters would be better served to vote for Hillary if they want healthcare and a $15 minimum wage. 'For the most part, the things that Bernie Sanders voters want, they're more likely to get from Hillary Clinton,' Weiner added. He then hit out at Trump, calling him a 'xenophobic, narcissistic, racist anti-Semite'. Colbert asked Weiner what he thought of leaked Democratic National Committee emails recently published by Wikileaks, adding that Weiner is probably 'not a big fan of revelations through electronic media'. Weiner said the emails do not matter, because the committee is 'irrelevant' and doesn't have any authority. He added that he, like most people, wouldn't be able to tell exactly what the committee does. 'I don't like this trend of criminals or somebody hacking into the DNC,' Weiner said, adding the hackers had leaked 'selected things'. 'If someone hacked into your emails, they would probably find most things embarrassing,' he added. Weiner had teased his appearance on Colbert's Late Show in several tweets over the past few days. One of them (pictured) asked viewers to 'only boo the left side of the screen', where Weiner sat Another tweet, shared on Monday, read: 'Wait, this show is live? I operate best with a 107-second delay'. Weiner spent most of his Late Show interview praising Clinton and also blasted Trump When Colbert asked Weiner what advice he would give Clinton on how to debate Trump, Weiner replied: 'I would yield all of my time to Donald Trump. I don't think anyone ever looks at the TV when T is talking and says: '"That guy looks like a president to me."' Colbert had been spotted earlier recording skits at the Democratic National Convention in his Caesar Flickerman outfit, impersonating the Hunger Games host for the latest installment of his Hungry For Power Games series. The skits chronicle the presidential election and so far have had titles such as 'Carson Eversleep', 'Jeb Has Fallen' and 'Iowa Cornucopia Bloodbath'. Colbert was carrying around his stuffed weasel, which has become a staple of his Flickerman costume and is called Caligula. He noticed that the Wells Fargo Center's blue carpeting was the same color was his wig, prompting him to declare that 'the carpet matches the drapes'. Colbert spent some time trying to hop on the podium despite a barrage of security guards - and finally succeeded after several failed attempts. Weiner had teased his appearance on Colbert's Late Show in several tweets over the past few days. One of them, posted on Monday, read: 'In case you feel like booing tonight, I'll be on with @colbertlateshow after the convention.' Weiner self-deprecatingly asked viewers to 'only boo the left side of the screen' - where he sat. Another tweet, shared on Monday, read: 'Wait, this show is live? I operate best with a 107-second delay.' Hungry for power games! Colbert was earlier spotted at the Democratic National Convention, adopting his Caesar Flickerman character from The Hunger Games Supporters warned Ms Hanson to be careful of Mr Turnbull afterwards Ms Hanson said she did 'most of the talking' and he 'listened to her' The Prime Minister invited Ms Hanson to speak with her in Sydney Pauline Hanson has met with Malcolm Turnbull and says he is 'nice' Pauline Hanson has described Malcolm Turnbull as 'nice' following a face-to-face meeting in the Prime Minister's Bligh Street office where he let the new senator 'do all the talking'. While the Liberal leader once said Hanson was 'not a welcome presence' in the nation's politics, the One Nation leader said Mr Turnbull was more than prepared to listen to what she had to say during their Sydney meeting on Monday afternoon. One Nation has returned to popularity with the electorate on the back of it's strong anti-Muslim stance, with Hanson and another two senators expected to win seats in federal parliament. Pauline Hanson has released a video following a meeting with the Prime Minister on Monday night saying he was 'nice' Ms Hanson gushed about the prime minister and their meeting in a video taken in what appears to be a hotel room, in Sydney. 'He was very gracious and opened with congratulations on my win,' Ms Hanson said. 'You're probably wondering did I say to him 'well, you're the man who said I wasn't welcome there' the answer is no. 'What it all came down to was I did most of the talking. The politicians have not always seen eye-to-eye with Malcolm Turnbull once famously claiming the controversial One Nation leader didn't belong in Australian politics Ms Hanson said the prime minister let her 'do all of the talking' and 'listened' when she spoke She published the video on Facebook following the meeting and was inundated with comments She said she raised a number of issues with him including' terrorism' and 'family law' two of her key issues. 'I was very grateful for the Prime Minister's attention. 'He took note of everything that I said and was very interested in my opinion.' She said Mr Turnbull offered her the services of his ministers following the meeting so she could 'make the right decisions' on behalf of her voters. 'It was very much appreciated and I feel now that I have been listened to and my position of senator is respected. 'That is all I want to be a voice for you and I feel he is prepared to listen to me. 'To Malcolm Turnbull the Prime Minister of Australia Thank you.' Some people told Ms Hanson not to trust Mr Turnbull and to stick to her policies 'The truth is Mr turnbull hasn't changed his opinion about you Pauline. He is now dependent on you to help his bills through the senate. Simple as that. I know you know that already. Good luck and congratulations (sic),' said one supporter. 'Just sucking up to try and get you on side for later. Don't fall for it,' said another. 'It is good that you have been listened to, that's all that the majority of Australians have been asking for. Make sure you have reliable independent advice, after all they have hung you out to dry once before. Good luck and know that there are a lot of us supporting you.' Some supporters saw the meeting with Mr Turnbull as treacherous. 'What a croc !! Shame on you Pauline for selling out yourself and the rest of Australia for the sake of keeping face in your local area. No prizes for guessing why you have...there is some pretty perks in stall for you now regardless yeah ? Couldn't be more disappointed in you,' one person said. Ms Hanson said she told Mr Turnbull she would only support the policies she thought would be good for the people His comment attracted 15 'likes'. Pauline quickly replied. 'Without a clear communication line between my office and the Prime Minister, we achieve nothing. It's very important that we work together to achieve what's best for this country. 'I also mentioned to the Prime Minister that I will only back legislation that is good for the people. 'Help me make sure that any legislation put before the Senate is right for the people. If it's not, we won't support it.' One Nation is expected to win senate seats in NSW and Western Australia, as well as Queensland. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has brushed aside accusations that Moscow was behind the hacking of Democratic Party emails. He denied the Kremlin's involvement in the scandal, as Wikileaks founder Julian Assange insisted that the release of the messages was a 'diversion' being pushed by Hillary Clinton. The latest twists in the saga come just 24 hours after Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced she was resigning after the convention. Lavrov said in English: 'I don't want to use four-letter words,' when asked if Vladimir Putin or anyone in the Russian government was to blame. He was speaking at the start of talks with Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of a meeting of Southeast Asian nations in Laos. Scroll down for video Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has brushed aside accusations that Moscow was behind the hacking of Democratic Party emails as he met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Vientiane, Laos Lavrov said in English: 'I don't want to use four-letter words,' when asked if Vladimir Putin or anyone in the Russian government was to blame for the release of the trove of emails from DNC officials Meanwhile, in an interview with NBC Nightly News, Australian computer programmer Assange said there was 'no proof' Russia had anything to do with the breach. 'The real story is what these emails contain and they show collusion,' he told Richard Engel. He was speaking from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he has remained since August 2012. 'Well there is no proof of that whatsoever. We have not disclosed our source, and of course, this is a diversion that's being pushed by the Hillary Clinton campaign,' he added. Clinton's campaign had claimed Putin's Russia was trying to help Donald Trump by meddling in the US presidential race. Trump and Putin have both said the are fans of one another, and also share similar policy ideas. The emails that were released suggest that DNC officials were trying to undermine Bernie Sanders' primary campaign, to ensure Hillary secured the nomination. Cyber security experts and U.S. officials have insisted there was evidence that Russia engineered the release of sensitive Democratic Party emails in order to influence the U.S. presidential election. The FBI said it was investigating a cyber intrusion at the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which has led to discord as the party's convention in Philadelphia opens on Monday to nominate former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton as its candidate. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange insisted that the release of the messages was a 'diversion' being pushed by Hillary Clinton and said there was 'no proof' of the Kremlin's involvement Although the hacking of the DNC was known to officials and cyber security experts a month ago, the timing of the release of the contents of communications within the party is what is causing concern for U.S. authorities. A U.S. official involved in the investigation said that the classified information collected on the hack so far 'indicated beyond a reasonable doubt that it originated in Russia.' The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the timing of the release of emails 'has all the hallmarks of a classic intelligence operation intended to damage a perceived adversary.' The U.S. House of Representatives intelligence committee has been briefed and will seek information on any potential connection to Russia or any other state, said Representative Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the panel. 'That foreign actors may be trying to influence our election - let alone a powerful adversary like Russia - should concern all Americans of any party.' Schiff said in a statement. On Sunday, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told CNN that the campaign had been told by 'experts' that the emails were released by suspected Russian hackers to help Republican Party nominee Donald Trump. The businessman's campaign dismissed the allegation as absurd. Trump has often praised Putin, calling him a 'strong leader.' Trump is a critic of NATO and last week he told The New York Times that he might not back countries in the alliance if they were attacked by Russia, unless he was sure they had made sufficient contributions to the group. Russia has long been considered among the most elite U.S. adversaries in cyberspace, though its actions are generally viewed as efforts at covert intelligence gathering. 'Usually, the Russians are not ham-handed,' said Jim Lewis, a cyber security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. He said Russia was believed to have hacked Democratic and Republican campaigns in 2008, but that it did not leak material. 'It would be a bold move to try and shape the election, but we can't rule it out,' Lewis said. CrowdStrike, a cyber firm that helped clean up the breach, said last month it had identified two hacking groups that infiltrated the DNC and that both were believed to be working on behalf of two competing arms of the Russian government. Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned from as Democratic National Committee Chairwoman after the emails were released by Wikileaks Its findings were later supported by similar conclusions reached by FireEye's Mandiant unit and Fidelis, two other U.S.-based cyber companies. Experts said that forensic analysis of the breach also links the same hackers to attacks at the White House, the State Department, the German Bundestag and private companies. The Federal Bureau of Investigation declined to say when its probe of the hack began. 'A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously, and the FBI will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace,' it said in a statement. WikiLeaks released more than 19,000 DNC emails on Saturday. On Twitter it rejected as speculation claims made that Russia was the source of the cache. The group also said that there would be more leaks related to the U.S. election. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he could not speak to the veracity of private sector conclusions pointing to Russia as the culprit in the DNC hack, but that he was confident the FBI would thoroughly investigate the matter. Heath Ledger's father Kim has spoken of his son's accidental overdose in 2008, describing the tragedy as 'totally' the actor's fault. On Tuesday, the 66-year-old businessman from Perth, WA, recalled harrowing details of the star's final moments and he warned others of the dangers of the prescription painkillers which killed his son. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Mr Ledger, 66, told how the actor's sister Kate begged him not to mix sleeping pills with opioids, drugs which relieve pain, hours before his death. The 28-year-old was found face down in his New York apartment in January 2008 after consuming a fatal cocktail of oxycodone, diazepam, hydrocodone and doxylamine. Scroll down for video Heath Ledger's father has described the actor's death as 'totally his fault', insisting there was no one else to blame for the star's accidental drug overdose. He is seen above in 2006 two years before his death 'It was totally his fault. It was no one else's - he reached for them. He put them in his system. You can't blame anyone else in that situation. 'That's hard to accept because I loved him so much and was so proud of him,' Mr Ledger said. 'His sister was on the phone to him the night before telling him not to take the prescription medications with the sleeping tablets. 'He said: "Katie, Katie, I'm fine. I know what I'm doing." He would have had no idea.' Mr Ledger's revelation comes after a survey revealed that a quarter of Australians take the painkillers at lease once a month. While few admit to being addicted to them, experts warn there is a growing problem with the number of people relying on them for pain relief and pleasure. Among those most at risk are high performers or busy professionals whose gruelling schedules sometimes do not allow for breaks or sickness, Mr Ledger said, placing his own son in this category. Kim Ledger (pictured above with wife Sally and his daughter Kate after accepting the star's posthumous Oscar in 2009) said it was 'hard to accept' his son's death Mr Ledger, 66, (pictured with the actor's other sisters Ashleigh and Olivia) is campaigning to raise awareness of the dangers of prescription drugs Mr Ledger said his son (above in 2005) had been travelling hectically before his death and was using painkillers to keep going 'Because he was travelling a lot, he would pop in to a doctor. In the case of someone with a higher profile it's often a case of "what do you want" instead of "what do you need". 'There's so much pressure on them to perform so even though your body is telling you that it's not good and needs time, it's like "just take these painkillers and keep going". 'That was the case with Heath. He had to be back on set to finish (the next day). 'They were doing night shoots in the freezing cold and he had a weak chest anyway. He'd caught this (cough) and just couldn't shake it but he thought he had to because he wanted to get the movie done.' Research carried out by ScriptWise, the not-for-profit organisation Mr Ledger leads, found that almost half of Australians would not admit to a painkiller addiction for fear of being judged. More than 30 per cent worried they would be treated differently by society if they shared their concerns while one in five admitted to being dependent on the drugs at some point in their lives. The actor had one daughter with his partner Michelle Williams (above together in 2006). Matilda is now 10 The actor was found face down in his New York apartment in January 2008. Above, tributes left outside the building The online survey of 1,000 Australians is the latest indicator of a growing public health issue, said Dr Christian Rowan, who is calling for improved services for those at risk. 'These medications can have a very appropriate case in clinical care and can be very safe and effective but, like with all medications, some can have potential issues and one is people developing dependency problems and usage beyond what is needed. 'We see people who take 40, 50 or 60 codeine tablets a day. It's cause for concern that there is a growing problem for prescription related dependency.' While Dr Rowan emphasised there is an appropriate and necessary place for them in medicine, the need for a more regulated over-the-counter system is great, with growing numbers 'doctor shopping' to stock pile medications from several prescriptions. He called for the introduction of a 'real time' monitoring system which tracked which medications patients were receiving and from where. Currently there is no system in place whereby different doctors can cross-reference prescriptions to stop someone from receiving too many of the same drug or dangerous combinations. While many grow dependent on painkillers but hide their addiction, others may not even know they are at risk. Mr Ledger, who became involved in raising awareness for the problem after being contacted by other grieving parents of victims, said it was 'not selective' in its pull. 'It's just completely across the board. It's across the board from younger people, older people, it doesnt matter where they come from, whether theyre business people, homemakers, athletes etc. 'It's not selective in any way. That's the frightening thing.' Anyone who feels they are at risk of dependency or who is concerned about someone they know can visit turntohelp.com.au for more information and advice or ask their GP. Graphic images of a murdered pregnant McDonald's worker's half-naked body in the front yard of a house have been revealed to a Queensland jury. Andrew Michael Burke, 21, has pleaded not guilty to the brutal rape and murder of Joan Ryther, 27, as she walked to work in Logan on 21 May, 2013. He allegedly attacked and raped her with a screwdriver or similar object, prosecutor Glen Cash QC told the Supreme Court in Queensland. The jury was shown photos of her partially clothed body which was found by a neighbour who had at first walked past, assuming the figure was a mannequin, until he spotted traces of blood on his return trip. A photo from the wedding day of Cory Ryther and Joan Ryther who was murdered as she walked to work at Logan on 21 May, 2013. Jurors have been shown images of her body after it was found at a home a short distance from her job Joan Ryther was 27 and eight weeks pregnant when she was horrifically raped and murdered in Logan, Queensland in 2013 Mrs Ryther's widower, Cory Ryther, holds ultrasound pictures of his unborn child, who died when Mrs Ryther was murdered, up to reporters The prosecutor told the court that Burke 'left her there to die alone, face down in the grass', according to the Courier Mail. The newspaper reported that the court heard evidence that a trail of blood was seen across the road from where the body was believed to have been dragged. Nineteen months to the day since she was married on a Filipino island, Joan Ryther was making the short walk to the Logan McDonald's where she worked. She never made it. Mrs Ryther, who was two months pregnant, was walking to her 9pm shift and was only 100 metres from her workplace when she was attacked. The expectant mother was stomped on, raped and left to die 'face down in the grass' of a Logan yard, a Brisbane Supreme Court jury has heard. Burke was arrested 10 days after the 2013 murder, but denied having been in the area. It was later revealed that he had allegedly been trying to steal a car with his friends on Leichhardt Street, where Mrs Ryther was attacked and murdered. Mrs Ryther was walking to her shift at the Logan McDonalds, and was just 100 metres from the shop when she was killed It will be alleged that Burke was covered in the DNA of Mrs Ryther, and she was covered in his DNA. The prosecution told the court DNA found on the back of Mrs Ryther's jumper was found to be 100 billion times more likely to belong to Burke than anyone else. A bandage worn by Burke with the 27-year-old's blood on it was found ditched in a bin outside of his girlfriend's house, where he went straight after the murder, the court heard. The prosecution will also allege that Burke had stolen a packet of screwdrivers, and had been with others, trying to steal a car in the same street Mrs Ryther died on. In addition to the evidence, Prosecutor Glen Cash intends to call 62 people to give evidence regarding Mrs Ryther's murder, starting with her widower Cory Ryther. It is alleged she was beaten over the head and raped with a screwdriver or similar object before she died Nineteen months to the day since after she was married on a Filipino island, Joan Ryther was making the short walk to the Queensland McDonald's where she worked but she never made it. Instead, the expectant mother was stomped on, raped and left to die 'face down in the grass' of a Logan yard Widower Cory Ryther is among 62 people to give evidence for the prosecution during the three-week trial Last year, Mr Ryther told reporters about his recurring nightmare, where his slain wife and the child she would have bore are running through a meadow ahead of him. 'The little girl's got piggy tails and she's about five or six years old and she keeps calling me but I can never catch them,' Mr Ryther said outside the Beenleigh Magistrates Court. The defence counsel, Frank Martin, will argue that the DNA evidence is not conclusive enough to prove his client murdered the woman. He urged the jury not to become 'bamboozled' by DNA evidence, which appears to weigh strongly against Burke. Mr Martin will also focus on discrepancies in the timing of the night. A man who bashed, whipped and psychologically tortured a two-year-old for months before leaving her to die over two days has appealed his hefty jail sentence as he is afraid his depraved crimes will continue to make him a target for other violent inmates. Warren Ross was sentenced to 40 years jail with a non-parole period of 30 years in 2014 for the murder of his two-year-old stepdaughter Tanilla Warrick Deaves who was found dead with severe head injuries in a pram inside her Watanobbi home on the NSW Central Coast in August, 2011. Ross' lawyer, Chris Bruce SC, told the NSW Court of Appeal on Tuesday that his client had been beaten on four occasions since he was jailed and fears he may be the victim of 'ongoing intimidation and violence' if he is to serve his full sentence. Scroll down for video Warren Ross was sentenced to 40 years jail with a non-parole period of 30 years in 2014 for the murder of his two-year-old stepdaughter but is appealing his sentence as he has become a 'target' for violent offenders in jail Tanilla Warrick Deaves, 2, was found dead in a pram with serious head injuries following months of 'torture' Mr Bruce said Ross' had a 'price on his head' in jail and argued the sentencing judge did not consider the 'onerous' conditions faced by inmates who have harmed young children once they are locked up, the Daily Telegraph reported 'There will be 40 years of ongoing intimidation and violence,' Mr Bruce said on Tuesday. 'The reality is this will be ongoing this won't cease and in fact if he does stay in jail he will be 68 when this might cease,' he added. But Justice Peter Michael Hall said the 'high level of brutality' and 'extreme nature of offending' could warrant the sentence, despite Ross' punishment being harsher than other comparable cases. Ross held Tanilla (pictured with her mother Donna Deaves) under cold water and called her an 'animal' before slamming her head against the shower screen twice and abandoning her in a pram for 36 hours to die Crown prosecutor Sally Dowling SC reminded the court of the terrifying conditions Tanilla endured before her murder, arguing that torture was the only way to described Ross' offending, the Daily Telegraph reported. In the months before she died, Tanilla was whipped with an electrical cord during toilet training The court heard Ross held Tanilla under cold water and called her an 'animal' before slamming her head against the shower screen twice and abandoning her in a pram for 36 hours to die, according to the ABC. In the months before she died, Tanilla was forced to run around the house until she collapsed, had a heavy tool box dropped on her hand and was whipped with an electrical cord during toilet training. 'The level of terror engendered in this child even before the assault that caused her death was extreme,' she told the court, adding that he could make Tanilla scream in fear simply by picking up a cord. During Ross' sentencing, the court heard he also made jokes that he could make the two-year-old scream while whipping her with a belt and kicked her across the room head-first into a cupboard. Ross - who has reportedly shown no remorse for his crimes - is being held in protective custody at Sydney's Long Bay prison as he fears for his safety. During Ross' sentencing, the court heard he also made jokes that he could make the two-year-old scream while whipping her with a belt and kicked her across the room head-first into a cupboard Ross - who reportedly showed no remorse for his crimes - is being held in protective custody at Sydney's Long Bay prison as he fears for his safety Tanilla's mother, Donna Deaves, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced in 2013 to 12 years in jail with a non parole period of nine years According to the Daily Telegraph, Tanilla's stepmother Brooke Bowen rejected Ross' claims that his life was at risk in jail and argued the toddler was forced to live in fear for much of her short life. 'So what? What about Tanilla? She was fearing for her life for weeks when he was bashing her what help did she get? She won't live to see 68, she is gone, she couldn't even live to see three.' Tanilla's mother, Donna Deaves, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 years in jail with a non parole period of nine years in 2013. Ms Deaves and Tanilla's father Adrian Warrick have campaigned for mandatory life sentences for criminals convicted of murder or manslaughter when the incident involves a child. The three-judge appeal panel is yet to make its decision on Ross' sentence, while a coronial review into Tanilla's death is set of August 30. Formula One tycoon Bernie Ecclestone's mother-in-law has been kidnapped in Brazil, according to reports. Aparecida Schunk , 67, the mother of Ecclestone's Brazilian wife Fabiana Flosi, was snatched on Friday night near her home in Sao Paulo. The kidnappers are reportedly demanding a ransom of 28million for her release and are in contact with the Ecclestone family, it is claimed. With under two weeks to go until it hosts the Olympics, the kidnapping is the latest hammer blow to Brazil amid security fears ranging from street crime to militant attacks. There are increasing fears wealthy visitors will avoid travelling to the country for the event despite a crackdown by police, including the formation of a special anti-kidnap division. The country is also in the midst of its worst economic crisis in almost a century. Aparecida Schunk , 67, (left) the mother of Ecclestone's Brazilian wife Fabiana Flosi (right), was snatched on Friday night near her home in Sao Paulo Ecclestone, 85, met Ms Shunck's daughter Fabiana, 38, in 2009 in the run-up to the Brazilian Grande Prix in Interlagos, where she was working as marketing director for Brazil's F1 The kidnappers are reportedly demanding a ransom of 28million for her release and are in contact with the Ecclestone family, it is claimed A source close to the police investigation told Brazilian magazine Veja the criminals have stipulated the ransom money be paid in pounds sterling and split into four plastic bags. The amount is the largest ever demanded in a kidnapping in Brazil, which sees hundreds of cases a year. Ecclestone, 85, met Fabiana, 38, in 2009 in the run-up to the Brazilian Grande Prix in Interlagos, where she was working as marketing director for Brazil's Formula One. The couple wed three years later after Ecclestone divorced his wife of 25 years, Croatian model Slavica Radic, to marry the young Brazilian. Fabiana and her mother, who continued living in the Interlagos district of Sao Paulo, are close. The kidnappers are believed to have snatched Aparecida Schunk close to her home near Sao Paulo The kidnappers are reportedly demanding a ransom of 28million ($36.7million) for her release and are in contact with the Ecclestone family, according to reports Billionaire: Formula One boss Ecclestone is the UK's fourth richest person with an estimated 3.2billion ($4.2billion) fortune, and one of the most powerful people in sport In a Facebook post on Mother's Day, she wrote: 'Happy Mother's Day to all mothers, and especially mine. There are no words to thank so much love and dedication. Thank you Mum, I love you.' Fabiana, who is friends with Sky Sports F1 reporter Natalie Pinkham, and Ecclestone live in London. They haven't released a statement on the abduction. Olympic host Brazil is struggling to show all will be well with the Games to open in Rio on August 5, despite low ticket sales and general public apathy amid a deep recession. Fears for the safety of athletes have also been raised after two members of the Australian Paralympic sailing squad were robbed at gunpoint. Last month, Paralympic sailor Liesl Tesch and team official Sarah Ross were confronted by two men while riding their bicycles in at Rio park. One of the men was carrying a pistol and the women were robbed of their bicycles. Ecclestone is the UK's fourth richest person with an estimated 3.2billion fortune, and one of the most powerful people in sport. He married for the first time in 1952, aged 21, to telephone operator Ivy Bamford. The pair had one daughter, Debbie, who is now 59, before they split up in the 1960s. He went on to have a 17-year relationship with Tuana Tan, from Singapore, and was was with her when he began an affair with Croatian model Slavica Malic in 1982. Family: Ecclestone's Brazilian wife Fabiana is close to her mother. In a Mother's Day post, she wrote: 'Happy Mother's Day to all mothers, and especially mine. There are no words to thank so much love and dedication. Snatched: Flosi (left) and her mother Aparecida Schunk (right) pose alongside Red Bull Team Principle Christian Horner at the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2014 They wed three years later and a year after the birth of their first daughter Tamara. They went on to have a second daughter, Petra, In 1988. The couple's undisclosed 2009 divorce settlement estimated at more than 594million was probably the largest in UK history. Bernie and Fabiana began dating in 2009 following the end of his 23-year marriage to Slavica. The couple announced their engagement in April 2012, with Fabiana seen wearing a 100,000 ring, before exchanging vows that August. Born in Suffolk to a trawlerman, Ecclestone started his career after the war trading motorcycle parts Fabiana and her mother (pictured), who continued living in the Interlagos district of Sao Paulo, are close Bernie and Fabiana began dating in 2009 following the end of his 23-year marriage to Slavica Malic Ecclestone, who owns a 23 million chalet in the Alpine skiing hotspot Gstaad, prides himself on his thrift and once said: 'I rarely buy anything without a discount.' He also rarely buys anything that he does not keep in mint condition. He once said: 'Order is a big thing with me. If a picture is crooked, I have to straighten it. It applies to all sorts of things... ornaments, artwork. 'If I were in someone else's house, I'd be the same. I have to go over and fix it. I suppose it's about control. I feel I have to be in control. It's the same with work.' In October 2013 Ecclestone sold his Gulfstream G650 business jet, capable of flying non-stop from the Far East to Britain, for 43m to Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha In 2014 Ecclestone paid 60million to a German court to end a trial in which he was accused of bribing a German banker with 26million to ensure a company he favoured could buy a stake in F1. Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar said 60,000 drug dependents have surrendered to authorities 'We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier and the last pusher have surrendered,' Mr Duterte said Almost 300 people have been killed since the start of July and the death toll is set to rise even further After winning elections in May this year he has urged citizens to kill suspected drug users and dealers Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte has been dubbed 'The Punisher' because of his war on drugs Advertisement Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's war on illegal drugs has already killed almost 300 people since the start of July and the death toll is set to rise. In his first state of the nation address to parliament Mr Duterte, dubbed 'The Punisher', ignored the outrage over the continuing death count, declaring that drugs were drowning his country' and had to be stopped at all costs. 'Double your efforts. Triple them if need be,' Mr Duterte told police. A Filipino woman grieves the loss of her husband, next to a placard which reads 'I'm a pusher'. The man was shot dead by an unidentified gunman in Pasay City, south of Manila, Philippines 'We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier and the last pusher have surrendered or been put behind bars ... or below ground if you wish,' he said. Human rights groups obtained police figures that showed Mr Duterte's violent crackdown has claimed the lives of 293 suspected users and pushers in police operations between July 1 and July 24. This figure does not include drug dealers killed by vigilante groups and those working outside the law. Mr Duterte made it clear he would pardon police if they were charged with human rights violations for carrying out his merciless orders. A Filipino funeral parlor worker wrapping a body following a police operation against illegal drugs in in Pasay City, south of Manila While women grieve the death of an alleged drug pusher in Pasay city, south of Manila (left), Filipinos carrying a wounded villager following a police operation against illegal drugs in Malabon City, east of Manila (right) The body of a drug user is carried away following a police operation against illegal drugs in the town of Kawit, Cavite province, Philippines Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's war on illegal drugs has already killed almost 300 people since the start of July Filipino villagers grieve the loss of their relative, who was shot dead by an unidentified gunman in Pasay City, south of Manila Nearly 60,000 Filipino drug addicts surrendered themselves earlier this month to the government after President Duterte urged citizens to 'go ahead and kill' drug dealers and users. Mr Duterte won elections in May and immediately promised a law-and-order crackdown on drugs. 'These sons of w****s are destroying our children. I warn you, don't go into that, even if you're a policeman, because I will really kill you,' the president told an audience during a speech in the country's capital, Manila. Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar said close to 60,000 drug dependents have surrendered to authorities since the administration began its intensified campaign against drugs. Nearly 60,000 drug addicts across the Philippines have handed themselves in to authorities after president Duterte promised a law-and-order crackdown on drugs Filipinos allegedly involved in illegal drugs handcuffed together inside a police headquarters in Manila. Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar said close to 60,000 drug dependents have surrendered to authorities Filipino inmates are seen inside a jail in Manila. President Rodrigo Duterte has urged citizens to 'go ahead and kill' drug dealers and users Police officers remove packing tape wrapped over the lifeless head of an alleged drug dealer on a street in Manila Police have confirmed killing more than 110 drug suspects since the president came to power, while local news reports suggest that figure is around 200. At least 43,000 alleged drug traffickers have been 'neutralised' and 300kg of shabu, a highly addictive methamphetamine, has been confiscated, according to local reports. President Duterte has warned of widespread bloodshed as part of the government's war on drugs. He vowed on one occasion during the election campaign that 100,000 people would die, and so many bodies would be dumped in Manila Bay that the fish there would grow fat from feeding on them, according to the South China Morning Post. Duterte has also told police he would protect them from legal consequences if they killed drug dealers, the Post reported. Picture shows the body of a killed Filipino allegedly involved in illegal drugs. Police have confirmed killing more than 110 drug suspects since president Duterte came to power Police officers investigate the body of an alleged drug dealer, his face covered with packing tape and a placard reading 'I'm a pusher', on a street in Manila At least 43,000 alleged drug traffickers have been 'neutralised' and 300kg of shabua, a highly addictive methamphetamine, has been confiscated Pictured, arrested Filipinos allegedly involved in illegal drugs resting inside a shanty in Manila. President Duterte has warned of widespread bloodshed as part of the government's war on drugs President Duterte vowed on one occasion during the election campaign that 100,000 people would die, and so many bodies would be dumped in Manila Bay that the fish there would grow fat from feeding on them, according to the South China Morning Post Last week, gruesome images showing slain drug dealers with 'I'm a pusher' signs covering their chests emerged. The grim scenes of alleged drug dealers found shot dead in Manila last week are growing increasingly common as police wage a bloody war on narcotics. The government's top lawyer called for police to kill more suspected drug criminals, as he defended president Duterte's brutal war on crime against mounting criticism. As the official death toll has mounted, and other bodies not confirmed killed by police have been found with placards declaring them drug traffickers, human rights lawyers have expressed deep concerns about the war on crime spiralling out of control. Filipino suspected drug users and pushers participate in exercises after voluntarily surrendering in Manila Grim scenes of alleged drug dealers found shot dead in Manila last week are growing increasingly common as police wage a bloody war on narcotics. A Filipino allegedly involved with illegal drugs standing on top of an electric post as rescuers try to convince him to get down The Filipino man allegedly involved with drugs is arrested by policemen after clinging on top of an electric post for hours In response to the criticism, Solicitor General Jose Calida held a press conference on Monday at national police headquarters to insist on the legality of the police killings and to encourage more deaths of people suspected of being involved in the drug trade. 'To me, that is not enough,' Calida said of the killings so far. 'How many drug addicts or pushers are there in the Philippines? Our villages are almost saturated (with drugs).' A lawyer and a former prosecutor, Duterte has urged law enforcers to kill those they believe are involved in the drug trade, as well as other criminals. Members of the Philippine National Police Scene of the Crime Operatives conducting investigation following a police operation against illegal drugs Pictured, the body of a killed Filipino allegedly involved in illegal drugs lying in a pool of blood in Manila A member of the Philippine National Police Scene of the Crime Operatives examining recovered evidence in Manila. The government's top lawyer called for police to kill more suspected drug criminals, as he defended president Duterte's brutal war on crime against mounting criticism In one of the deadliest single incidents, police reported killing eight 'drug personalities' during a pre-dawn raid on Saturday in a small southern town. One of the nation's top human rights lawyers, Jose Manuel Diokno, warned last week that Duterte had 'spawned a nuclear explosion of violence that is spiralling out of control and creating a nation without judges'. Former senator Rene Saguisag, a prominent human rights lawyer during the regime of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, also criticised Duterte's statements naming and shaming alleged drug lords and police officers ahead of a formal investigation. As the official death toll has mounted, and other bodies not confirmed killed by police have been found with placards declaring them drug traffickers, human rights lawyers have expressed deep concerns about the war on crime spiralling out of control Solicitor General Jose Calida held a press conference on Monday at national police headquarters to insist on the legality of the police killings and to encourage more deaths of people suspected of being involved in the drug trade Pictured, a Filipino suspected drug user takes his oath taking after voluntarily surrendering 'Do we still probe and have a trial as part of due process? Useless, it seems to me,' Saguisag wrote in an online column last week. Some opposition lawmakers have also called for a congressional investigation into the spate of killings. Calida, a Duterte appointee, said he would protect police from or during congressional probes, while emphasising it was up to critics to prove allegations of abuse rather than base inquiries on speculation. 'I am here to encourage the (police) not to be afraid of any congressional or senate investigations. We will defend them ... I am the defender of the (police),' he said. A German pizza company has opened up a pop-up restaurant on a remote Australian island with a population of just two people. Dirk Hartog Island, a beautiful stretch of land off the rugged Gascoyne coast of Western Australia, acted as the secluded destination for 40 guests to enjoy an intimate dinner on Sunday night. German company Dr. Oetker was behind the 'Remote Ristorante' - part of an elaborate marketing campaign to convince people that you can enjoy quality pizza at home - 'wherever you call home.' Scroll down for video A German pizza company has opened up a pop-up restaurant on a remote Australian island (pictured) The pop-up restaurant hosted 40 people for fine dining at Dirk Hartog Island, a beautiful stretch of land off the rugged Gascoyne coast of Western Australia (pictured) Former Big Brother star-turned-travel blogger Tully Smyth was one of the 40 lucky guests invited to attend Former Big Brother star-turned-travel blogger Tully Smyth was one of the 40 lucky guests on the invite list for the exclusive dinner at the isolated island. 'After 2 planes, a 20 hour road trip through sand dunes and a barge across crystal blue waters- we arrived at the most western point of Australia,' she posted across her social media accounts. Another man, a local from Shark Bay, a World Heritage Site that includes Dirk Hartog Island, said the group had enjoyed fine dining under fairy lights at the Cape Inscription lighthouse keepers cottage. 'An entree of fresh Dirk Hartog rock oysters picked straight from the rocks, served on the beach in giant clam shells with a squeeze of lime juice was the entree,' the man wrote online. 'But the STAR of the evening was the delicious Dr Oetkers pizzas!' Smyth (pictured on the island) said it had taken her two planes, a 20 hour road trip through sand dunes and a barge across crystal blue waters to get to the remote location The group enjoyed fine dining under fairy lights at the Cape Inscription lighthouse keepers cottage (pictured) The pop-up restaurant was part of an elaborate marketing campaign by German company Dr. Oetker to promote 'quality pizza' Husband and wife Kieran and Tory Wardle, the only two permanent residents on the historic island, told the West Australian that the international exposure was great for the region. 'We've got the 400-year celebration of the first Europeans landing in Australia at the island in October and it's just getting the awareness of the island out there, even just for Shark Bay and the Gascoyne region,' Mr Wardle said. Mr Wardle said the event would be followed by many larger-scale celebratory operations on the island as it prepares to celebrate the 400-year anniversary of the first European landing in October. 'We've got 400-500 people out here at Cape Inscription, so tonight's event for 30 or 40 was just a small idea of what's going to happen,' Mr Wardle said. The Dutch king and queen are anticipated to visit on the historical date. Kieran Wardle is the grandson of Perth Lord Mayor Sir Thomas Wardle, who purchased Dirk Warthog Island in 1969 as a private retreat after it had acted as a sheep station for over a century. These days the island is now owned by the government, but the Wardle's continue to run and maintain an eco-tourism resort. The isolated island has just two permanent residents, Kieran and Tory Wardles (pictured), who are the descendants of a Perth Lord Mayor that purchased the island in 1969 Landowners, environmentalists and health advocates petitioned Montana regulators on Tuesday to require companies to more fully divulge which fracking chemicals they use to produce oil and gas. Dozens of chemicals, some of them hazardous to human health and the environment, are used as part of the process technically known as hydraulic fracturing, in which millions of gallons of fluid are pumped deep underground to release oil and gas trapped in shale or other rock formations. A 2011 state rule allows companies to conceal from public scrutiny any chemicals they consider to be trade secrets. Officials can request the full ingredients list in the event of a spill or release of the fluids. The rule also allows medical professionals to request the information for diagnosis or emergency treatment because of chemical exposure. But critics say the trade-secrets exception represents an unlawful loophole, violating the public's right to know about chemicals that can contaminate groundwater and pollute the air. The oil and gas industry is set to oppose any rule change. Tuesday's legal petition, from a coalition represented by the environmental law firm Earthjustice, asks the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation to tighten its rules. The coalition includes several property owners, health advocates, the Montana Environmental Information Center and Natural Resources Defense Council. Earthjustice attorney Katherine O'Brien says companies should have to justify any fracking ingredients withheld, as is done in Wyoming. Also, disclosures should be made before drilling starts instead of after it's completed, she said. "It's important for people who are living and farming and ranching near fracking operations to understand what chemicals they are being exposed to right now. It doesn't necessarily take a spill to pose a health risk," O'Brien said. "There's really no reason Montana deserves less access than their neighbors in Wyoming." Oil and gas board Administrator Jim Halvorson said the 2011 rule was crafted to conform with state and federal laws allowing companies to keep confidential proprietary information about what's in their fracking fluids. "The board felt that its proposed rule was adequate at the time it was adopted," he said. "We'll review the petition for rulemaking and make a decision after that's been done." The matter is likely to come up at the board's Aug. 11 work meeting, Halvorson added. State law gives the board 60 days to either reject the request or begin a new rule-making process. Alan Olson, executive director of the Montana Petroleum Association and a former Republican state senator from Roundup, said the public should not have access to any company trade secrets. Even disclosing such information to regulators would be a concern, he said, because of Montana's strong open-records laws. "There's some concerns about the (oil and gas) board's ability to keep a trade secret," Olson said He added that some fracking chemicals once considered proprietary are now routinely disclosed, because their patents have expired and third-party companies have come up with similar products. Nearly 1,800 foreign criminals eligible for deportation have been living in Britain for more than five years, according to figures released yesterday. Some 5,895 foreign offenders are still living in the community after being released from prison, with many of them living in the UK for many years. Of these, 1,792 foreign criminals have still not been deported more than five years after they were released from prison, according to Home Office figures. Lack of deportation: Some 5,895 foreign offenders are still living in the community after being released from prison, with many of them living in the UK for many years (file picture) A further 344 criminals are still in the UK between four and five years after being released, and 466 are still in Britain between three and four years after getting out of jail. Another 574 offenders have not been deported between two and three years after leaving prison, and 843 criminals are living in the community between one and two years after their release. The figures from March were revealed by the Home Office in a response to a Parliamentary Question asked by the Home Affairs Select Committee chairman, Labour MP Keith Vaz. Committee chairman: MP Keith Vaz said the figures showed there was something seriously wrong with the system and demanded urgent action The numbers come amid concern that foreign criminals have used Human Rights legislation to avoid being kicked out of the country. A number of offenders with British children have claimed they should not be deported because it would breach their rights to a family life. Mr Vaz said the figures showed there was something seriously wrong with the system and demanded urgent action. He said: These are extraordinary figures. To have failed to deport nearly 1,800 people after five years shows that there is something seriously wrong with the system. It can't be right that people who have been convicted of a criminal offence in this country have been allowed to stay for up to half-a-decade with apparently no prospect of removal. We need to take urgent action to ensure that when sentences have been completed people are returned to their countries of origin immediately. The Home Office highlighted figures showing 5,692 foreign offenders were removed from the UK in the year 2015-16, the highest number since records began. A spokesman said: Any foreign national offender who poses a threat to the UK should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them. Those who are released by an Immigration Judge will be subject to stringent bail conditions, which can include tagging, while we continue to pursue their removal. The new arrests happened on Monday following the attacks on July 14 They are all under investigation of Paris prosecutors, a local source says Two more join the five suspected Two more people have been arrested in connection with the Nice attacker who killed 84 people in the French Riviera city of Nice Bastille Day. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said last week the Bastille Day attacker, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, had been planning the attack on July 14 for months. Five suspected accomplices are already in custody and are under formal investigation, but now two more have been added to the list, a source close to the investigation has said today. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said last week the Bastille Day attacker, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel (pict ured, right), had been planning the attack for months Five suspected accomplices are already in custody and are under formal investigation, but now two more have been added to the list, a source close to the investigation has said today Islamic State has claimed the Nice attack, calling Bouhlel one of its soldiers, but authorities say they have yet to find evidence that the 31-year-old, who was shot dead by police, had any actual links to the militant group The source said the new arrests took place on Monday in Nice. No other details were immediately available. Islamic State has claimed the Nice attack, calling Bouhlel one of its soldiers, but authorities say they have yet to find evidence that the 31-year-old, who was shot dead by police, had any actual links to the militant group. As the investigations continue, a chilling audio message recorded by Bouhlel suggests a second atrocity was being planned for August, French prosecutors fear. The sinister revelation concerning the man who murdered 84 people using a 19-tonne lorry in Nice a as the five accomplices were charged with carrying out a range of terrorist crimes. At 5pm on July 14, the day of the Riviera bloodbath, Bouhlel recording the message saying: 'Chokri and his friends are ready for next month, they are currently with Walid.' Paris prosecutor Francois Molins, pictured, said thousands of text messages have been uncovered between Bastille Day terror attacker Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel and five new suspects charged with the massacre Bouhlel was in contact with five people including Ramzi A, right, who have been charged with terror offences All of the names mentioned are covered by the men and one women currently in custody in connection with the attack. But that does not rule out the possibility that others may still be at large and ready to strike, prosecutors fear. At 10.27pm, just minutes before the July 14 rampage started, Bouhlel sent his last text message to Ramzi A, another detained man. It read: 'I wanted to tell you that the pistol that you got me yesterday it very good, so I want five from your girlfriend. They're for Chokri and his friends.' Ramzi A., the man who received the last message, has been indicted for arms offences in relation to a terrorist enterprise. Two Albanians - Artan H., 38, and Enkeledgia Z., 42 - are in prison and suspected of supplying the gun that the killer used to shoot at police officers on July 14. Investigators raided Bouhlel's home and forensically searched his mobile phone and email accounts Accoridng to Le Monde, Ramzi A. has also told investigators that a stash of Kalashnikovs is being referred to in several messages. Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was shot dead by officers following his attack, but Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said an analysis of his phone showed he was in contact with Mohamed Walid G., for some 15 years. Both shared 'a sympathy' with the 'jihadi cause' said Mr Molins. The French authorities have been accused of lying about the massacre as they covered up chronic security failings. FRENCH ANTI-TERROR POLICE WANT BASTILLE DAY FOOTAGE DELETED French anti-terror police want CCTV footage of the Bastille Day attack on Nice deleted as it could provide jihadis with intelligence. Authorities in Nice have refused a request from French anti-terror police to delete surveillance camera images of last week's deadly truck attack, amid growing questions over the scale of the police presence at the time. The city received a letter this week from the SDAT anti-terrorism agency saying images of the July 14 attack should be destroyed, an official at Nice City Hall said Friday. The city is filing a legal complaint instead, arguing that the images could constitute evidence in the case, said the official, who is not authorized to be publicly named. The letter did not provide a reason for the request, the city official said, but Le Figaro newspaper said national police are concerned that the images would leak out and be used for jihadi propaganda. The request comes as the government faces growing criticism over security measures the night of the attack, and the cameras could show where and how police were deployed. Advertisement As family of victims prepared to sue, there was particular anger that a 19-tonne lorry five times over the weight limit had been allowed to run people down on Nice seafront. Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel was unchallenged by police before he attacked the crowds watching the July 14th firework display in what should have been a pedestrianized zone. At one point the 31-year-old told officers he had ice creams in the back of his hired vehicle - despite the fact that he was clearly in an ordinary delivery truck with no fridge. Bohlel has so far been portrayed as a violence-obsessed misfit with no interest in religion, who became obsessed with terrorism and continually looked up atrocities on the Internet. The prosecutor's office, which oversees terrorism investigations, opened a judicial inquiry into a battery of charges for the suspects, including complicity to murder and possessing weapons tied to a terrorist enterprise. Details about the investigation came as France's interior minister faced criticism that a faulty security plan may have opened the way for the truck attack, and as France extended its state of emergency for six months. The prosecutor said the investigation had made 'notable advances' since the Bastille Day attack by Bouhlel, a Tunisian who had been living legally in Nice for years. Bouhlel was killed by police after driving a truck down Nice's famed Promenade des Anglais, mowing down those who had come to see holiday fireworks. One photo in his phone, taken May 25 2015, was an article on Captagon, a drug said to be used by some jihadis before attacks. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, though authorities say they have not found signs the extremist group directed it. The probe, which involves more than 400 investigators, confirmed the attack was premeditated, the prosecutor said. Telephone records were used to link the five to Bouhlel, and allegedly to support roles in the carnage. Bouhlel and a 30-year-old French-Tunisian with no previous convictions had phoned each other 1,278 times in a year, Mr Molins said. The prosecutor said a text message from the same man found on a phone seized at Bouhlel's said: 'I'm not Charlie; I'm happy. They have brought in the soldiers of Allah to finish the job.' The message was dated three days after the January 2015 massacre at Charlie Hebdo, the satirical publication in Paris, and referred to the worldwide phrase of solidarity for the victims 'I'm Charlie'. Investigators seized mobile phones from Bouhlel's flat, pictured, which contained incriminating messages Hours after the July 14 attack in Nice, the same man filmed the bloody scene on the promenade. The aftermath of the Nice attack has seen accusations that security was wanting despite the state of emergency in place since the Paris attacks last November. French officials defended the government's security measures in Nice on the night of the attack, even as the interior minister acknowledged that national police were not, as he had claimed before, stationed at the entrance to the closed-off boulevard. Bernard Cazeneuve's clarification came after a newspaper accused French authorities of lacking transparency in their handling of the massacre. Mr Cazeneuve said on Thursday that only local police, who are more lightly armed, were guarding the entrance to the Promenade des Anglais when Bouhlel drove his truck down it. He then launched an internal police investigation into the handling of the Nice attack. President Francois Hollande said the conclusions of that investigation will be known next week. He said any police 'shortcomings' will be carefully addressed but defended French authorities' actions. The National Assembly, meanwhile, extended France's state of emergency for six more months. The security measure had been in place since the November 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 victims and were claimed by ISIS. This suspect led police to discover a Kalashnikov and a bag of ammunition on Thursday, however the purpose of the weapons was unclear. Boulhel took photographs of the 2015 Bastille Day festivities in Nice as he plotted his deadly terror attack Ramzi, Chokri and Oualid were charged with being accomplices to murder by a terror group. Ramzi and the Albanian couple faced a second charge, of breaking the law on firearms in relation to a terrorist crime. The three latter suspects are accused of providing Bouhlel with the gun he fired at police officers before he was shot dead. More than 400 investigators have been poring over evidence since the attack, the third in France in 18 months, and it was analyses of Bouhlel's telephone records that led them to the five suspects. All five have been remanded in custody. While ISIS claimed the attack, describing Bouhlel as a 'soldier', investigators have not found direct proof of his allegiance to the jihadists. Many people interviewed by investigators described the Tunisian father of three as 'someone who did not practise the Muslim religion, ate pork, drank alcohol, took drugs and had an unbridled sexual activity', Molins said earlier this week. However initial details of the investigation revealed that he had been fascinated with jihad for a while. On May 26 last year, he took a photo of an article about the drug Captagon, an amphetamine used by jihadists in Syria. In July 2015 he took photos of the crowd at the Bastille Day fireworks display, as well as another crowd watching a concert on the Promenade Des Anglais three days later. On April 4 this year, Chokri C. sent Bouhlel a Facebook message reading: 'Load the truck with 2,000 tonnes of iron... release the brakes my friend and I will watch'. More than 400 people have been going through Bouhlel's history seeking further Molins said the two Mohameds contacted each other 1,278 times between July 2015 and July 2016. Investigators also found a text message in Bouhlel's phone from Mohamed Oualid on January 10 2015 - roughly a year after attacks on the Charlie Hebdo weekly which spawned the hashtag 'I am Charlie' in support of those killed. The message read: 'I am not Charlie ... I am happy they have brought soldiers of Allah to finish the job.' Analyses of Bouhlel's computer and cellphone showed a wide-range of images and internet searches showing a fascination with violence and jihadist movements such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS. His family and friends have described him as violent and possibly suffering from mental illness. Former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole said the majority of his reported character traits are 'only seen collectively in someone who is psychopathic'. This is probably one of the most callous crimes you and I have ever heard of, it's very cold-blooded and it's predatory.' The revelations come as government continues to be plagued by questions over possible security failings, prompting authorities to launch an investigation into potential oversights. French President Francois Hollande on Thursday promised 'truth and transparency' from an inquiry into allegations of lax security. 'When there is a tragedy, or in this case an attack with many dead... there will naturally be questions,' Hollande said during a visit to Dublin, adding that the conclusions of the police probe would be announced next week. On Thursday, parliament finalised adoption of a bill extending the emergency laws for a fourth time, after it was toughened up by the right-dominated Senate. The final version bans gatherings where sufficient security cannot be provided and makes it easier to shut places of worship where preachers incite hate or violence. A man who made a bong from a babys bottle could face jail time once police track him down. Christopher Dale Abraham from Mandurah, south of Perth, failed to turn up to court to make a plea. Abraham was convicted in his absence and a warrant was issued for his arrest, WA Today report. A bong similar to the one that was found in Abraham's home by police during a raid Police busted him with the drug paraphernalia during a recent search of his home. Abraham was serving a suspended sentence at the time the baby bottle bong was found. He will be sentenced at his next court appearance. The Western Australian man was charged by police but never turned up to the court house Suicide bombers killed at least seven people in an attack on the African Union's main peacekeeping base in Mogadishu, Somalia on Tuesday, police said. A car bomb was detonated near the airport on Tuesday morning. Another man reportedly exploded when he tried to storm the base on foot but was shot at the gate. Al Shabaab, the Islamist militant group that is trying to topple the Western-backed Somali government, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had killed more than 12 people. A Somali soldier stands next to a crumbled perimeter wall outside the UN's office in Mogadishu United Nations office guards clear the scene after a car bomb outside the UN's office Somali police chief Captain Mohamed Hussein said unlike previous attacks blamed on the al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab, gunmen did not accompany the suicide bomber. Police officer Major Nur Osman told Reuters 'we have not yet confirmed the casualty figure'. Al-Shabab is waging an insurgency against Somalia's weak U.N.-backed government. It wants to establish an Islamic emirate in the country based on a strict form of Islam. Thick smoke could be seen in the area and local witnesses said there gunfire was heard at the scene. The blast happened in the country's capital Mogadishu, close to the city's airport, according to police Smoke could be seen billowing in to the sky from across the city after the attack The husband of a British beauty therapist who died in Pakistan has claimed she was the victim of an honour killing for marrying a man outside the family. Samia Shahid, 28, who was originally from Bradford, West Yorkshire, died while visiting relatives in her ancestral Punjab village of Pandori on Wednesday. She was buried in a village graveyard following an immediate post-mortem in which local police claimed to have found no visible injuries or signs of violence on her body. British beauty therapist: Samia Shahid, 28, who was originally from Bradford, West Yorkshire, died while visiting relatives in her ancestral Punjab village of Pandori on Wednesday Marriage: Ms Shahid's second husband Syed Mukhtar Kazam claims he fears she was killed by her family because they allegedly refused to accept their marriage partly due to him being an outsider The death of Ms Shahid, who was visiting an ill relative in Pakistan, has caused huge bitterness and controversy. Her husband believes her family killed her because she had married an 'outsider'. Yet her maternal uncle told MailOnline these claims showed a lack of respect for Ms Shahid, and that he completely trusted the Pakistani authorities. Now Ms Shahid's local Labour MP wants answers. Naz Shah has demanded the body is exhumed and an independent autopsy is done, reported Guardian journalists Helen Pidd and Jon Boone. Ms Shahid's second husband Syed Mukhtar Kazam, who lived with her in Dubai, claimed he was told she had suffered a heart attack - while another relative believes she had an asthma attack. But Mr Kazam, who married her at Leeds Town Hall in September 2014, fears she was killed by her family because they allegedly refused to accept their marriage partly due to him being an outsider. He told the Guardian: I am sure my wife is killed by the family. She was healthy. And she had no disease. I believe she was killed because her parents were not happy with our marriage. Mr Kazam married his wife at Leeds Town Hall in 2014 and the pair had been living together in Dubai But Ms Shahids father Mohammed said Mr Kazams claims were lies and allegations, adding that his daughter 'had come to Pakistan on her own and was not under any pressure from her family'. Bradford West MP Ms Shah said she became involved in the case after she was contacted by a concerned constituent, adding: I'm not going to rest until I'm satisfied I know the cause of her death. She said the police are waiting for tests following the initial post-mortem but added that she will continue to call for an exhumation of the body if these do not establish a conclusive cause of death. The MP added: Ive been in touch with various officials, through the Foreign Office and the High Commission, both in Pakistan and Britain. Ive also written to the prime minister in Pakistan to give his personal intervention to ascertain the cause of death of Samia Shahid.' The maternal uncle of Ms Shahid, who only gave his name as Akhtar, said her first husband Mohammed Shakeel did not come to live with her in Britain after their marriage in Pandori in 2012. He told MailOnline: Her husband was never with her in the UK. She always went home to Pakistan to see him. They were married in February 2012. The family home of Ms Shahid in Bradford is pictured yesterday. Ms Shahids second husband Syed Mukhtar Kazam, who lived with her in Dubai, claimed he was told she had suffered a heart attack A restaurant under renovation which is said to be owned by Ms Shahid's family in Bradford is seen yesterday There were 4,000 to 5,000 people at their wedding in the village where the whole family is from. It's the same village where she was married and the same village where she died. And he added: It's a lack of respect that he [Mr Kazam] has gone to the papers about this. The truth is the truth and the truth comes from the evidence. She suffered from asthma as a child, but it could be asthma, it could be a heart attack, but it was a natural death and it is nothing like what Naz Shah said it was. She [Ms Shah] is trying to become a hero. Akhtar said he trusted what he had been told by the family in Pakistan and well as the local police's ability to investigate thoroughly. He said: It is an extremely close family. Her mother is my sister and her father is my cousin as well. I am married to his sister and he is married to my sister. I trust the police in Pakistan. This is not like if you don't have the right papers when you are driving and you can bribe a police officer over there. This is someone's life and they take it very seriously. Slaughtered: Earlier this month social media star and 'Pakistan's Kim Kardashian' Qandeel Baloch (pictured) was strangled to death by her brother in Multan, Punjab, who said he was 'not embarrassed' to have killed her A Foreign Office spokesman said: We are providing support to the family of a British national who has died in Pakistan, and are in contact with the local authorities to seek further information. A police investigation is underway in Pakistan but no arrests have been made in the case. A West Yorkshire Police spokesman told MailOnline: A report was made to West Yorkshire Police last week regarding the alleged death of a 28-year-old woman from Bradford in Pakistan. Following this report, officers engaged with the Foreign Office who have since confirmed her death. Enquiries are now continuing with the relevant authorities to establish the cause. Earlier this month social media star and 'Pakistan's Kim Kardashian' Qandeel Baloch was strangled to death by her brother in Multan, Punjab, who said he was 'not embarrassed' to have killed her. The teenage boy who endured horrific abuse at the hands of guards at a Darwin youth detention centre was a sport-loving child who was incarcerated after he went on a 24-hour crime spree while high on ice. Harrowing footage obtained by Four Corners shows Don Dale Youth Detention Centre detainee Dylan Voller, then 17, left shackled to a mechanical restraint chair by his hands, feet and neck for two hours in 2015 after threatening self harm. Voller, who has been in and out of detention from the age of 11, was also stripped naked on two occasions, thrown into his cell by his neck and kicked to the ground by a guard after refusing to end a phone call. Scroll down for video Dylan Voller (pictured) was stripped naked on two occasions, thrown into his cell by his neck and kicked to the ground by a guard after refusing to end a phone call at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre Harrowing footage obtained by Four Corners shows Don Dale Youth Detention Centre detainee Dylan Voller, then 17, left shackled to a mechanical restraint chair by his hands, feet and neck for two hours In February 2014, the troubled teenager attacked a police officer and two men during a drug-fuelled crime spree, The Courier Mail reported. He was sent back to Don Dale Youth Detention Centre after being found guilty and on this visit, was introduced to the mechanical restraint chair. The chair was legalised in the Northern Territory in 2016. Voller was first introduced to the horrific abuse at the facility in October 2010, when he was just 13-years-old. A large guard dragged the tiny boy to his cell by his neck before slamming him down onto his bed as he appears to cower in fear. The guard was found not guilty of assault after being charged, but no longer works at the facility after his casual contract was not renewed, according to The ABC. Two months later, the child was grabbed around the neck by guards, stripped naked and held down by his buttocks after playing with a deck of cards in his cell. As they leave, the little boy wraps himself in a sheet and cries on his mattress. One of the three guards involved was charged, but found not guilty on two occasions. In April 2011, Voller was beaten over the head and kicked to the ground by a guard for refusing to end a phone call in front of a group of fellow detainees. In February 2014, the troubled teenager attacked a police officer and two men during a drug-fuelled crime spree On Tuesday, Voller penned a letter from behind bars thanking the Australian public, his lawyers and friends for 'the support' DYLAN VOLLER'S DON DALE ABUSE October 20, 2010: At 13-years-old Voller was first introduced to the horrific abuse when a large guard dragged the tiny boy to his cell by his neck before slamming him down onto his bed as he appears to cower in fear. The guard was found not guilty of assault after being charged, but no longer works at the facility after his casual contract was not renewed. December 9, 2010: Voller was grabbed around the neck by guards, stripped naked and held down by his buttocks after playing with a deck of cards in his cell. As they leave, the little boy wraps himself in a sheet and cries on his mattress. One of the three guards involved was charged, but found not guilty on two occasions. April 7, 2011: Voller was beaten over the head and kicked to the ground by a guard for refusing to end a phone call in front of a group of fellow detainees. The offending officer was found not guilty and although his contract was not renewed, he was reportedly later re-employed at the centre. October 4, 2011: The teenager, now 14, was again stripped naked after crying into his singlet while being held in isolation. August 21, 2014: Voller was one of the six children tear gassed during an incident reported at the time as a 'riot' where boys were threatening prison staff with weapons. Footage shows gas being sprayed into their wing of the prison ten times, while five of six of the boys were still inside their cells with some even playing cards. March 4, 2015: Voller was shackled to a mechanical restraint chair by his hands, feet and neck for two hours after threatening self harm. The chair was legalised in the Northern Territory in 2016. Advertisement The offending officer was found not guilty and although his contract was not renewed, he was reportedly later re-employed at the centre. Six months later the young boy, now 14, was again stripped naked after crying into his singlet while being held in isolation. He was also one of the six children tear gassed during an incident in August 2014 reported at the time as a 'riot' where boys were threatening prison staff with weapons. Footage shows gas being sprayed into their wing of the prison ten times, while five of six of the boys were still inside their cells with some even playing cards. Another former detainee told Four Corners the guards would often force the children to pour boiling water and spit on Voller. Footage included audio where guards were heard to say 'I'll pulverise the f*****' as a young man in isolation was banging at windows Northern Territory Corrections Minister John Elferink has been dumped following the outrage of the treatment of teen inmates of the Don Dale youth centre In one video, a 17-year-old is hooded, shackled to a 'mechanical device' chair and left alone for two hours Voller is now in Darwin's adult prison and his lawyer Peter O'Brien believes the 18-year-old is a victim of institutionalisation. Voller's sister Kira said her brother 'deserves his life back' and has completely 'lost hope'. 'The last time I went to visit him there was no smile, there was no emotion, there was nothing, I couldn't give him anything to be positive about and that really broke me,' she told the Courier Mail. On Tuesday, Voller penned a letter from behind bars thanking the Australian public, his lawyers and friends for 'the support'. 'I would also like to take this opportunity to apologise to the community for my wrongs and I can't wait to get out and make up for them,' he wrote. After the footage aired on Monday night, the Northern Territory Corrections Minister was sacked as the Prime Minister ordered a royal commission into the abuse of children by guards in youth detention. A royal commission will probe problems in the Northern Territory's juvenile justice system, as the NT chief minister takes over the corrections job The Four Corners program showing teens being stripped naked, tear-gassed and held in solitary confinement for weeks at a time in the Don Dale centre in 2014 and 2015 A Connecticut man sentenced to death for the killings of a woman and her two daughters during a home invasion is expected to be re-sentenced to life in prison - because the state abolished the death penalty. Joshua Komisarjevsky, 35, would be the third death row inmate to have his sentence changed to life in prison since the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled last year that the death penalty violated the state constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Eight other condemned inmates await re-sentencing. Joshua Komisarjevsky is expected to get life in prison without the possibility of parole instead of death Komisarjevsky will be resentenced today over the killings of mother Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters in Cheshire during a home invasion in 2007. Instead of his first sentence of death by lethal injection, a state judge in New Haven is is expected to get life in prison without the possibility of parole Dr. William Petit Jr, a prominent endocrinologist in the area, was severely injured and was the sole survivor of the attack in which his wife and two daughters were killed. Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes were sentenced to death for the murders. Hayes was resentenced to life in prison last month. Dr William Petit Jr with his late wife Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and their daughters, Hayley (left) and Michaela (right) A 43-year-old man has been arrested and detained in police custody in connection with the death of Mr O'Hanlon, police said today A bodybuilder who won this year's Mr Scotland title was stabbed to death in broad daylight at an industrial park yesterday. Police have launched a murder investigation after Michael 'Mr Musk' O'Hanlon, 45, was found dead at the industrial estate in Stevenston, Ayrshire. Local residents described how 'utter mayhem' broke out just after midday and it is understood O'Hanlon was challenged to a fight on Facebook hours before his death. Michael O'Hanlon was crowned Mr Scotland by the National Amateur Body Builders' Association this year, 23 years after he first won the competition O'Hanlon also owned a chain of bodybuilding shops called Musclebox O'Hanlon with his partner Eileen Kirkwood (pictured) Taking to Facebook today, Eileen revealed she will take her partner's name despite the planned wedding on August 15 no longer going ahead O'Hanlon was crowned Mr Scotland by the National Amateur Body Builders' Association this year, 23 years after he first won the competition. He owned a chain of bodybuilding shops called Musclebox O'Hanlon with his fiancee and fellow bodybuilder Eileen Kirkwood, selling protein shakes and supplements and offering training advice. Taking to Facebook today she revealed she will take her partner's name despite the planned wedding on August 15 no longer going ahead. She wrote: 'Hi this is Eileen am way to identify my partners & soul mates body as most you know his life was cruelly taken yesterday. [sic] 'To let people know the O'Hanlon name & Both business will remain I and Michaels family & close business friends will make sure of that.' [sic] She also changed her Facebook profile picture this morning to a smiling picture of the pair. The couple opened the latest branch of their operation in Falkirk last week. Speaking about that to the Falkirk Herald, O'Hanlon said: 'I've been involved in bodybuilding since I was 15. When I was at school I was this skinny guy so I started going to the gym and things just went from there.' Instead of making the final preparations for her Scottish wedding at a castle on August 15, Eileen had to identify his body after the brutal attack O'Hanlon said he got into bodybuilding when he was young and 'things just went from there' Forensic officers remained at the scene last night and a dark grey Nissan Navara was taken away on a trailer at about 6pm. Police said a post-mortem would be held and detectives were 'following a definite line of inquiry'. Residents described the chaos at the HK Autotek garage on the Moorpark Industrial Estate yesterday. One told the Daily Record: 'I heard a woman shout, "Oh no! He's been stabbed!" 'CID were on the scene very quickly and began interviewing people in our street. I saw a police helicopter overhead. 'The garage has been taped off since midday and police have been guarding the entrance. 'It just isn't this kind of thing that happens around here. This is a quiet, friendly village.' Police have launched a murder investigation after Michael 'Mr Musk' O'Hanlon, 45, was found dead at the industrial estate in Stevenston, Ayrshire Forensic officers remained at the scene last night and detectives were 'following a definite line of inquiry' A dark grey Nissan Navara was taken away on a trailer at about 6pm from the industrial estate A Police Scotland spokesman said: 'At 12pm police and emergency services responded to a report of a 45-year-old man having been injured at Moorpark Industrial Estate in Stevenston. 'The man was pronounced dead at the scene by ambulance staff. Two pilots were arrested for being under Two Canadian pilots have been bailed after they were charged with being drunk as they prepared to fly a passenger jet from Scotland to Toronto - as passengers were told they could receive as much as 500 each for the 24 hour delay. Jean-Francois Perreault, 39, and Imran Zafar Syed, 37, were arrested on Monday July 18 shortly before they were due to take off on the Air Transat flight from Glasgow Airport at 1pm. Neither entered a plea or declaration when they appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court last Tuesday, charged under section 93 of the Railway and Transport Safety Act, which covers alcohol and drug limits in aviation. Staff raised concerns over the pilots' behaviour before the Air Transat A310, carrying up to 300 passengers on board, was due to depart from Glasgow to Toronto yesterday afternoon (file photo) Section 93 of the Act states: 'A person commits an offence if he performs an aviation function at a time when the proportion of alcohol in his breath, blood or urine exceeds the prescribed limit, or he carries out an activity which is ancillary to an aviation function at a time when the proportion of alcohol in his breath, blood or urine exceeds the prescribed limit.' For pilots, the limit of alcohol in the case of breath is nine microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres, according to the Act. Perreault, from the province of Ontario, and Syed, from Toronto, were also charged with threatening and abusive behaviour during the private appearance at the court, around one mile from Glasgow Airport. Air Transat announced last week that the pair had been suspended while an internal investigation is carried out. The flight took off almost 24 hours after its planned departure with Air Transat apologising and promising to compensate passengers up to the maximum 500 entitlement. An airline statement said: 'The issue of the July 18 arrest of two Air Transat pilots in Glasgow is a complex one and because the matter is the subject of judicial proceedings in Scotland the airline will not comment at this point. Passengers on board the plane were allegedly told the flight was cancelled 'due to operational reasons' - and only found out the two men were 'drunk' following reports this morning 'Both pilots, who are personally facing charges, have received an administrative suspension for the duration of the carrier's internal investigation.' Passengers on board the plane were allegedly told the flight was cancelled 'due to operational reasons' - and only found out the two men were 'drunk' following media reports. A source told The Daily Record: 'It's believed the pilots and other cabin crew were on the plane and had started to do their checks and prepare for boarding. 'It's claimed other members of staff noticed their behaviour was odd and reported them to the police because they thought they'd been drinking. The Canadian airline confirmed the arrest of its employees at Glasgow Airport (pictured) adding that the flight had been rescheduled and the passengers put up in hotels 'Obviously you can never take any chances with that kind of thing and the cops soon arrived on the aircraft to investigate.' Television presenters and interior designers Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan, who split their time between Glasgow and Canada, were meant to catch the cancelled plane. Speaking to MailOnline, the couple revealed the frustrating lack of information they were given yesterday - and thanked the person who flagged up the pilots' behaviour. Mr McAllister said: 'We usually fly this route every eight weeks and have never experienced anything like this before. 'Initially we were told the flight was delayed by an hour, then two hours, then four hours. There was nothing on the information boards and eventually the flight was cancelled entirely. 'But when we woke up this morning in the hotel the airline put us up in we went on Twitter and saw the reports that the pilot and first officer were allegedly under the influence of alcohol. 'It's scandalous - we are so grateful to the member of staff who was brave enough to say the pilots were not fit to fly. We applaud that person. Television presenters and interior designers Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan, who split their time between Glasgow and Canada, were meant to catch the cancelled plane 'If it weren't for them it could have been a very different story.' Mr Ryan added: 'It's staggering. As my little Scottish granny would say, "it's better to arrive late in this world than early to the next.'' Both men said in the light of the incident they belive pilots should undergo mandatory breathalyzer tests before flying. At the time the Canadian airline confirmed the arrest of its employees, adding that the flight had been rescheduled and the passengers put up in hotels. A spokesman said: 'Air Transat has learned of the arrest on July 18 of two crew members assigned to its Glasgow-Toronto flight. 'We will await the results of the investigation and judicial proceedings before commenting on the matter before making any further comments. The safety of our crews and passengers is, and will remain, a top priority at Air Transat.' Some passengers voiced their anger over an apparent lack of an official explanation over the delay. Toronto resident Nick Davis tweeted that he had been 'Ignored all day by @airtransat', while @sdp0313 tweeted: 'TS725 22 hr delay. Thinking the op issue was more of a staff issue, police involved, why? Answers plz @airtransat.' A 14-year-old Indian girl has died after being raped for the second time by the same man who attacked her just last year. Her family have said she was forced to drink an acid-like substance, was tied up with rope and repeatedly raped for two months by her attacker and died in a Srinagar hospital. It is understood the man was out on bail awaiting trial for the first rape of the teenager in December last year and has been re-arrested. The victim's family have said she was forced to drink an acid-like substance, was tied up with rope and repeatedly raped for two months by her attacker and died in a Srinagar hospital. Protests have been held across the country Indian Dalit women shout slogans during a protest against the string of recent rapes in Delhi, India The victim was first raped by the man in December before he kidnapped and raped her again in May, according to CNN. Her parents said she was admitted to hospital in June having fallen ill after being forced to drink the corrosive chemicals. She died on Sunday. Her uncle told The Indian Express: 'For two months she suffered everyday. 'She was forced to drink an acid-like substance after which she could not eat anything. 'Drinking water was also painful. She would vomit blood. 'Only one accused has been arrested while four are walking free. We want them to be arrested and punished.' It two incidents come in the wake of another incident in which a student (pictured) was gang-raped twice by the same group of men after refusing to drop charges for the initial attack The family have said there was more than one perpetrator, according to The Indian Express, adding there was a woman among the group of people who held her captive in a room. Swati Maliwal, chairwoman of the Delhi Commission for Woman,was outraged by the death and took to Twitter to say the country was simply waiting for the next woman to be raped and killed. The death was on the same day an Israeli tourist was allegedly gang-raped while hitchhiking in northern India. The woman flagged down a car in the hill resort of Manali at 3am on Sunday. She asked for a lift to a nearby town in Himachal Pradesh state where she was meeting friends. There were six men in the car and two of them raped the tourist after stopping at a desolate spot, police said. The death was on the same day an Israeli tourist was allegedly gang-raped while hitchhiking in northern India It two incidents come in the wake of another incident in which a student was gang-raped twice by the same group of men after refusing to drop charges for the initial attack. Prosecutors accuse the men of raping the woman in her early 20s in the north Indian city of Rohtak last week in a revenge attack for not accepting an out-of-court settlement when they raped her in 2013. The accused, who face life sentences if convicted in the first case, allegedly offered five million rupees (56,500) to the woman's family to drop the initial rape complaint, the NDTV news channel reported. The woman told police she was gang-raped again on July 13 because she was unwilling to withdraw the case. Even though she and her entire family had all moved some 40 miles from Bhiwani to Rohtak in northern India, the five suspected rapists still found them and trapped the 20-year-old just as she was walking out of class. DICKINSON, N.D. The price of a hotel room in western North Dakota has dropped by as much as 30 percent in the past year as hotels see fewer oil workers. Average hotel prices in Dickinson, Williston and Minot ranged from $70 to $85 this June. Most recent occupancy rates were 43 to 55 percent, which is up compared to last winter but far below what those cities saw during the height of the Bakken oil boom. Tourism officials are working to get the word out that unlike a few years ago, cities in and around the Oil Patch have available hotel rooms at affordable prices. Some people still believe theres no availability and theyre $300 a night, said Terri Thiel, executive director of the Dickinson Convention and Visitors Bureau. Things have really, really changed. The average Dickinson hotel room cost $77 a night in June, down about $30 from a year ago when the average price was $108, Thiel said. Youre seeing quite a drop, Thiel said. Hotel occupancy in Dickinson was 55.5 percent in June, slightly higher than a year ago, which Thiel said is partly due to an increase in visitation at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. Williston also has seen a drop in hotel prices of nearly 30 percent in the past year. The average daily rate for a Williston hotel room was $85 in June, compared to $117 a year earlier, said Amy Krueger, executive director of the Williston Convention and Visitors Bureau. With the increased market, it has become more reasonable for travelers, Krueger said. Many hotels in the Bakken at one time served as crew quarters for temporary workers, driving prices up and making it difficult for leisure travelers to find rooms. Occupancy rates dropped significantly as new hotels and housing opened up, the price of oil dropped and many workers were laid off. Willistons hotel occupancy rate was 43 percent in June and about 30 percent for 2016 so far, Krueger said. While the hotels have seen a drop in workforce housing, weekend bookings are up this summer, a signal that more tourists are visiting the area, Krueger said. Visits to Fort Union National Historic Trading Post are up this summer and Williston expects a strong month for hotels in August when the city hosts the Babe Ruth World Series, Krueger said. In Minot, an average hotel room cost $70 in June, down from $90 a year earlier, and the latest occupancy rate was 48 percent, according to Visit Minot. The figures are a stark contrast to 2012, when oil drilling was at a high in North Dakota and Minot was recovering from the 2011 flood. That year, Minot ended the year with average hotel occupancy of 86 percent and average hotel room price of $130. Phyllis Burckhard, executive director of Visit Minot, said shed like to see occupancy rates get back to at least 70 percent. Her organization is using social media to spread the word that Minot has available hotel rooms during major events such as the North Dakota State Fair, which runs through July 30, and the annual Norsk Hostfest in the fall. The strength of the Canadian dollar also plays a big role for Minot hotel business, Burckhard said, and hotels are trying to offer deals to entice more Canadian travelers. Williston also has started doing more promotion to Canada, including advertisements that Williston is only 180 kilometers away, Krueger said. We have changed up some efforts to try to reach different people, Krueger said. Visitors to Dickinson are pleased with the increase in hotel options that resulted from the oil boom expansion, Thiel said. Weve gotten some very nice new properties out of it, Thiel said. Weve gotten choices that people are happy for. General Ahmed Mahmoud Azwai (pictured) is among three of Colonel Gaddafi's alleged former henchmen found to be living in Britain after fleeing Libya in 2011 Three of Colonel Gaddafi's former henchmen have been found living in Britain after allegedly fleeing Libya with millions of pounds in state assets following the dictator's removal from power in 2011. The trio are said to have been given safe haven in the UK despite being accused of laundering their fortunes through British banks and property deals. General Ahmed Mahmoud Azwai, who was in charge of Gaddafi's missile stockpile, Brigadier Guima Elmaarfi - an army commander - and another unnamed military man were all found in this country. BuzzFeed News found Azwai in an affluent part of Surrey and Elmaarfi at a large house in south west London. The website also tracked down another henchmen as part of their investigation but he obtain a gagging order from the High Court and cannot be named for legal reasons. Libyan investigators claim that the three former officials are among scores of regime figures suspected of hiding stolen assets worth a total of $10billion in Britain. They say UK authorities have failed to help them investigate, and instead granted Elmaarfi and Azwai political asylum. Elmaarfi was alleged to have fled Libya with a fortune of at least 14 million but he denied this and any other wrongdoing when interviewed. Azwai denied stealing from the state before shutting the door of his home. Documents obtained by BuzzFeed News revealed that the Libyan Transitional Government wrote to Britains Serious Organised Crime Agency in 2012 asking for assistance in recovering money allegedly 'obtained through corrupt or illegal means' by 240 former regime figures. The three men found in Britain were said to have been included on this list. The letter also warned that some of the money had been hidden in the UK. Gaddafis regime collapsed and he was killed in October 2011. The astonishing end for the tyrant came after he and loyalist fighters tried to flee Sirte as it was overrun by forces of the National Transitional Council. Gaddafi was in a convoy of up to 100 vehicles which tried to break out of Sirte the last centre of resistance after eight months of civil war. Gaddafis regime collapsed and he was killed in October 2011. He was pulled from a sewer, beaten and shot The escape was spotted by Nato which launched two devastating strikes. At least 50 loyalist fighters were killed. Injured in both legs, Gaddafi made his way with bodyguards through trees. The group hid in two concrete sewers but were spotted by rebels. He was pulled from it, beaten and shot dead. Confirmation of the death sparked wild scenes of celebration across Libya with tens of thousands taking to the streets. Celebratory gunfire rang out across the capital, Tripoli. Cars honked their horns and people embraced each other. In Sirte, ecstatic rebels celebrated the citys fall after weeks of bloody siege by firing endless rounds into the sky. Gaddafis death closed a chapter in the Nato-led military campaign to help rebel forces remove him from power. An National Crime Agency spokesman said: 'The NCA works with UK and viable international partners to prevent corrupt individuals from successfully hiding illegally-acquired assets in the UK. Corey Lucas was caught on a hidden camera trying to suffocate an 89-year-old nursing home resident. Now, the 29-year-old former carer, who in June pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault for his actions at the Mitcham Residential Care Facility in Adelaide, has been pictured clearly. He resigned after being convicted and served just three weeks of a ten month sentence behind bars. Scroll down for video Corey Lucas, 29, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault for his actions at the Mitcham Residential Care Facility in Adelaide The concerning footage shows the young worker forcing a spoon down the 89-year-old's throat before holding a napkin over his mouth and nose as he tries to retaliate Lucas was recorded by a hidden camera as he force-fed Clarence Hausler in his room before holding a napkin over his mouth and nose as he tried to retaliate. It was filmed on a tiny secret camera installed by Mr Hausler's daughter, Noleen, in September 2015 after she became suspicious about his treatment, the ABC's 7.30 reported. She took the footage to police and despite a cease and desist notice from the home, it was deemed admissible in court. A spokesperson for the home said it was 'shocked' by the 'rogue' actions and Mr Hausler remains there as the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner reviews the case. Noleen decided to install a hidden camera in her father's room at Mitcham Residential Care in Kingswood, Adelaide to 'confirm her suspicions' he was being mistreated Now, Ms Hausler is calling for monitoring devices to be allowed in nursing home bedrooms to protect vulnerable residents and patients. She told The Advertiser: 'Ive been told if I put a camera in there again, it will be confiscated and the police will be called. 'Ive kept my father at Mitcham because I think it was the person doing this despicable acts rather than the institution, but we need change I would like to see a clause in the tenancy agreement that says if a family has concerns they can put monitoring equipment in.' She said vulnerable people were 'sitting targets' for abuse in their own rooms. South Australia Premier Jay Weatherill said authorities should 'consider all options' for ensuring the elderly were safe. The state opposition backed surveillance cameras elderly care, The Advertiser reported. A migrant was hacked to death in the Calais Jungle last night when 200 UK-bound refugees from rival African and Afghan gangs clashed in a vicious battle. The bloodbath took place in the early hours as the men fought running battles in the giant shantytown, and by the A16 motorway nearby. The deceased was described by the French authorities as a 37-year-old Ethiopian who had been hoping to claim asylum in Britain. The bloodbath took place in the early hours as the men fought running battles in the giant shantytown, and by the A16 motorway nearby 'Two fights broke out close to the camp between African migrants and Afghans between 2am and 4am,' said a source at the local prefecture. 'Knives and batons were being used, causing one death and leaving six other Ethiopians seriously hurt.' The murder victim who has not been formally identified was rushed to hospital by an activist with the No Borders protest group, said the source. 'The Ethiopian died from the wounds,' the source added, saying that riot police immediately sealed off the scenes of the fighting and began appealing for witnesses. 'A murder enquiry has been launched,' said a local police spokesman, saying that detectives were also examining roadside CCTV footage. The 200 suspects directly involved in the fighting all came from countries such as Eritrea and Sudan, as well as Afghanistan. Migrants regularly try to get aboard lorries on the A16 motorway, and sometimes start fighting between themselves in the process. The deceased was described by the French authorities as a 37-year-old Ethiopian who had been hoping to claim asylum in Britain It came after aid workers warned of a 'pressure cooker about to blow' as the French authorities began tearing down cafes and restaurants in the Calais 'Jungle'. Charity groups fear that the entire refugee camp in the French port town is about to be destroyed, leaving the migrants with nowhere to stay while they wait to get across the Channel. Numerous aid groups offering help to more than 6000 men, women and children staying in the camp say the tactics are a recipe for disaster. A spokesman for L'Auberge des Migrants (Migrant Shelter) said the camp 'is already a pressure cooker about to blow the situation is extremely tense.' Rioting frequently breaks out in and around the camp as migrants fight over everything from food supplies to deals with people smugglers. Natacha Bouchart, the Mayor of Calais, has already warned that the Jungle will be 'torn down' imminently. In March, demolition experts supported by CRS riot squads dismantled the southern half of the camp. 'Two fights broke out close to the camp between African migrants and Afghans between 2am and 4am,' said a source at the local prefecture. Pictured: The camp from above The operation involved tear gas and baton charges being used against mainly young men fleeing war and poverty. Up to 6000 migrants still live in the remaining northern half of the camp, according to the regional prefecture and charity groups. Now Ms Bouchart says she has received assurances from officials close to Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve that the north side will soon go the same way as the south. Ms Bouchart Tweeted this month: 'We can't wait any longer, we need to know as fast as possible when and how the Jungle will be torn down.' Thousands of police and security officials remain deployed around the Jungle, as those living there make nightly attempts to reach Britain. Favoured illegal routes include stowing away on lorries, or boarding ferries or trains. New evidence in a 30-year-old murder mystery, including a written confession, is set to be revealed on ITV true crime series The Investigator. Viewers have been gripped by detective Mark Williams-Thomas's probe into the disappearance of Carole Packman, 40, who vanished from her family home in Bournemouth in June 1985. Her husband, Russell Causley, now 72, was convicted of her murder in 1996, but her body has never been found and he has refused to reveal its whereabouts. Carole Packman, 40, (left) vanished from her family home in Bournemouth in June 1985. Her husband, Russell Causley, (right) was convicted of her murder in 1996, but her body has never been found and he has refused to reveal its whereabouts Now, new evidence uncovered on the documentary series, produced by Simon Cowell's TV company Syco, will suggest that Causley burned his wife's body, before dumping her ashes. A letter, written by Causley after the breakdown of his relationship with his younger mistress Patricia Causely, will also be revealed to viewers tuning in to the final two episodes of the four-part series - which has featured Mrs Packman's daughter Samantha Gillingham's quest to seek answers on how her mother met her death. In it, Causley wrote: 'Carole was coming out of a small bedroom that we used as an office. 'Something was said by her about Samantha or Tricia, and I hit her. Id never hit her before ever. I then used a tie to cut off her airways. There was no sound from her, nothing.' He also said he burned his wife's body, and although police said the account did not sound plausible, Mr Williams-Thomas says if the letter is telling the truth then it could help find Mrs Packman's remains. He then contacted specialist, Dr John Dehaan, who confirmed that a body could be reduced to ashes on a bonfire. Viewers of ITV's The Investigator have been gripped by detective Mark Williams-Thomas's (pictured) probe into the disappearance of Mrs Packman The four-part series - which has featured Mrs Packman's daughter Samantha Gillingham's (pictured) quest to seek answers on how her mother met her death Former aircraft engineer Causley, who is now at HMP Littlehey in Cambridgeshire, and his wife had been having marital difficulties when she vanished. Mrs Gillingham, then 16, later discovered a scrawled note from her mother saying she had left and wanted no further contact with the family. It came 12 months after Causley had moved his mistress Patricia - a colleague who at 26 was much younger than him - into the family's Ipswich Road home, under the pretence that she needed somewhere to stay. Mrs Gillingham (pictured as a young girl) was led to believe her mother had abandoned the family Following Ms Packman's disappearance, Causley changed his name by deed poll from Packman to Causley, the surname of his lover, and created a cover story about Ms Packman's disappearance, to convince friends and family she was still alive. After Mrs Packman vanished, a woman turned up at a police station claiming to be her, saying she was safe and well, and Mrs Gillingham, 47, believed her mother had abandoned the family. But in 1993, Causley was investigated by police for a separate insurance scam, after he tried to fake his own death in a boating accident. This prompted detectives to reopen the case into Mrs Packman's disappearance, and launch a national publicity campaign appealing for information, which led to new witnesses coming forward. Detective Tony Nott told the programme that two prisoners came forward saying Causley had spoken to them while serving his sentence for fraud, about getting rid of his wife by burial in a cemetery or disposal in acid. Det Nott told the programme: 'Russell is all the time seeking reassurance that if the police cant find the body, then he's gonna be okay.' Causley and Patricia were arrested in connection with the murder of Mrs Packman and although police carried out extensive searches of Causley's property searching for his wifes remains, they found nothing. Causley was charged with Mrs Packman's murder before being convicted in 1996 at Winchester Crown Court. Patricia was not charged with anything. His conviction was quashed on appeal in 2003 but he was found guilty again at a retrial the following year. In tonight's episode of The Investigator, Mr Williams-Thomas is seen investigating evidence that Patricia impersonated Mrs Packman to fraudulently transfer the title deeds of the matrimonial home into her and Russell's names. The investigation also puts him in contact with an ex-boyfriend of Patricia, who discusses his conversations with her. Having written several letters to Patricia, Mr Williams-Thomas received a response in which she admits to using Mrs Packmans work permit in Canada, but not to using her identity. She also said there was dishonesty involved in the conveyance of the title deeds to her name but that this was known to the police and courts at the time. Patricia tells Mr Williams-Thomas that Mrs Packmans disappearance did not surprise her as she had told her she wanted to leave, and states that she did not know that Mrs Packman had been murdered. He also urged the EU to lift visa requirements for Turkish citizens But Erdogan says he has only been Deal was struck in March for Turkey to help stop Turkey's president has accused the European Union of failing to uphold its side of a deal to stop migrants from entering Europe. Recep Erdogan says the EU has transferred only 2million of the 3billion euros (2.2 billion) promised to Ankara as part of the March agreement. In an interview with German broadcaster ARD aired late Monday, Erdogan urged the EU to lift visa requirements for Turkish citizens. Scroll down for video Recep Erdogan says the EU has transferred only 2million of the 3billion euros (2.2 billion) promised to Ankara as part of the March agreement He also justified the possible reintroduction of the death penalty in Turkey in response to a recent failed coup. Even before Turkey was thrown into crisis by the coup attempt, its deal with the European Union to stop migration westward was under strain. Turks did not get the visa-free travel they were promised, and Greece was overwhelmed with asylum claims that have halted deportations for weeks. Now critics of the agreement argue Turkey is even more unsafe, and warn the arrangement might collapse altogether - heightening anxiety in neighboring Greece, the main gateway for migrants into the EU. Turkey's president has accused the European Union of failing to uphold its side of a deal to stop migrants from entering Europe Amnesty International says it has gathered evidence that people who have been detained in Erdogan's sweeping purge of suspected sympathizers of the attempted coup on July 15-16 are being beaten and tortured. 'With allegations of torture in detention, a crackdown on freedom of expression and a general roll back of rights, the EU cannot expect to outsource its refugee responsibilities to Turkey,' the rights group's deputy Europe director Gauri van Gulik said. 'Amnesty and other groups have already demonstrated Turkey is not a safe country to return refugees to. And the events of last week are only likely to exacerbate the situation.' More than a million migrants crossed into the continent last year, mostly from Turkey to nearby Greek islands. WHAT WAS IN THE MARCH DEAL? All new undocumented migrants crossing from Turkey to the Greek islands will be returned to Turkey paid for by the EU. In exchange for every returned Syrian, one Syrian from Turkey will be resettled in the EU Plans to ease access to the EU for Turkish citizens will be speeded up, with a view to allowing visa-free travel by June 2016 EU payment of 2.2bn promised in October will be speeded up, and a decision will be made on additional funding to help Turkey deal with the crisis. Preparations for a decision on the opening of new chapters in talks on EU membership for Turkey. Advertisement The number of arrivals fell dramatically after Ankara reached an agreement with the EU in March, sweetened with hefty financial support and promises to ease European travel restrictions for Turks. NATO was allowed to patrol the eastern Aegean, while migrants arriving after March 20 were detained for deportation. Migration expert Brad Blitz said that as far sending refugees back, the deal is now probably doomed. 'Quite honestly, I don't see how anyone could claim that Turkey is a safe country. I didn't think it was a safe country beforehand in terms of returning people, but this (purge) is so blatant with thousands of people arrested and allegations of torture ... The situation there is so unstable that you might see Turkey journalists and academics coming across the Aegean with migrants,' said Blitz, a professor of international politics at Middlesex University in London. 'It will put more pressure on Greece,' he said. More than 57,000 migrants are stranded in Greece, with 8,500 of them awaiting possible deportation on Lesbos, Chios and other islands facing Turkey. So far, fewer than 500 have been sent back, and none since mid-June as authorities remain bogged down by asylum applications. According to government data, migrant arrivals have increased slightly to about 100 a day - roughly double the number seen in recent weeks, but still far lower that massive levels seen last fall when daily arrivals topped 3,000. In past weeks, violence has repeatedly broken out at overcrowded deportation camps on the islands, where some locals have staged protests, angered by the effect of the crisis on tourism. In Brussels, EU officials have said little about the prospects of the migration agreement. Even before Turkey was thrown into crisis by the coup attempt, its deal with the European Union to stop migration westward was under strain EU Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters Friday that 'it goes without saying that the commission monitors the situation in Turkey.' 'For the time being, we maintain our position. The guarantees (provided by Ankara) are valid,' he said. The upheaval in Turkey is likely to be felt in Greece in the next two months, argues Thanos Dokos, director of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, an Athens-based think tank. 'Now we now have a chilling of relations between the EU and Turkey because of the purges and the debate about the death penalty and I suspect Mr. Erdogan will not be in any mood to make the life of EU countries easier when it comes to the refugee situation,' Dokos said. The future of Britain's most senior policeman was thrown into doubt today amid calls for a judge's review of the Met's shambolic VIP child sex probe to be made public, MailOnline can reveal. Sir Richard Henriques's inquiry is expected to contain 'damning' criticism of investigation codenamed Operation Midland and is due to be completed in September. Met chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe who instigated the inquiry by the retired judge in February - insists only its key findings should be shared with the public. But MailOnline can reveal that three victims of the Met's bungled probe which centred on claims made by a suspected serial fantasist known as Nick want the entire report published. Under pressure: A report expected to be damning of the Met's shambolic VIP child sex probe could threaten commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe as victims of the investigation including former MP Harvey Proctor want it published in full - Sir Bernard doesn't 'Hounded' war hero Lord Bramall, the 92-year-old former Army chief whose home was raided over baseless paedophile claims as he ate breakfast with his terminally ill wife, is said to be 'desperate' for Sir Richard's report to be made public. WRONGED MP DEMANDS VIP INQUIRY MUST BE MADE PUBLIC Ex Tory MP Harvey Proctor, falsely accused of serial murder and rape by Operation Midland fantasist 'Nick', tells MailOnline why a judge led inquiry into the fiasco should be made public. 'I understand that the report into Operation Midland and other historical child sex abuse inquiries by the Metropolitan Police by a retired High Court Judge, Sir Richard Henriques, is likely to be completed in September 2016. 'It was an Inquiry established by the Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan Howe even before the disastrous Operation Midland Inquiry was closed. It was not an independent inquiry nor was its results to be published in full. 'Sir Bernard appointed the Chairman of the Inquiry, drew up the inquiry's terms of reference and made it clear Sir Richard would report only to Sir Bernard. There was no intention to publish Sir Richard's report in full. It was to be a private Inquiry but funded by taxpayers' money. 'For these reasons I refused hitherto to cooperate with Sir Richard Henriques' inquiry preferring a truly independent inquiry. However, the report is nearly done. 'I call upon Sir Bernard to give a commitment now that the report will be published in full. 'I call upon Sir Bernard to give the widest publicity to the results and recommendations of Sir Richard. He should be accountable. 'I call upon Sir Bernard to hold a Press Conference on the same day as he is handed the report and answer questions in full and for so long as it takes on the MPS's failed Operation Midland investigation. 'It was a simple investigation which placed too much reliance on a fantasist, who was not checked out in the post Saville era egged on by Met fearful of Exaro News Agency and senior politicians. 'The Met should come clean and end their conspiracy to protect their own maladministration and inefficiency at the highest level. There is nothing the Met can do now to remove the stain of their allegations, which they described as 'credible and true', that I was a serial child murderer and paedophile abuser. I speak to try to prevent other wrongly accused people suffering the same fate. 'Before Operation Midland closed our present Prime Minister concluded VIP paedophile abuse was the tip of an iceberg. It has proved to be not even the tip of an ice cube.' Advertisement The widow of the former Home Secretary, Leon Brittan investigated by the Met over Nick's alleged lies also wants it shared with the public, as does former Tory MP Harvey Proctor, falsely accused of serial rape and murder by the fantasist. The Mail can reveal that Sir Richard's report is expected to be 'extremely critical' and highlight a number of failures in Operation Midland. It is understood it will address whether the search warrant to raid Lord Bramall's home was issued lawfully, whether it was necessary for around 20 police officers to ransack his home at dawn and also the delays in informing him of the allegations he faced. Sir Richard, who has met Lord Brittan's widow Diana in recent weeks, is also expected to examine whether it was necessary for the police to raid the Tory peer's two homes in connection with Operation Midland within weeks of his cancer death in January last year. He is also expected to criticise the Met's bungled handling of a separate, unsubstantiated rape allegation against Lord Brittan by a mentally unstable woman known as 'Jane'. Sources said Lord Bramall is still 'very upset' with the wording of a letter from a senior Met officer, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse, formally clearing him of Nick's allegations of child sex abuse in January. Mr Rodhouse grudgingly said there was 'insufficient evidence' to bring charges against Lord Bramall who received support from the Queen while under investigation by Operation Midland - despite the Met being unable to cobble together a file to submit to prosecutors. The Mail has learned that Sir Richard has interviewed Lord Bramall in the last few weeks and has made clear to him, and other interviewees, that his report will not be a whitewash. The ex Army chief's solicitor, Drew Pettifer, told the Mail: 'Lord Bramall has contributed to the review by Sir Richard Henriques and has great interest in both its contents and findings. 'The issues surrounding the failings of Operation midland are clearly very much in the public interest and Lord Bramall is keen to know whether the Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe will review his decision not to make Sir Richard's review public.' A close friend of Lady Brittan confirmed she wants the complete Henriques report published, and that she expects the report to be 'robust' and 'condemnatory'. Former Tory MP Harvey Proctor said: 'I call upon Sir Bernard to give a commitment now that the report will be published in full. 'I call upon Sir Bernard to give the widest publicity to the results and recommendations of Sir Richard. He should be accountable.' The Mail has learned that the fallout from the collapse of Operation Midland in March, following a series of revelations about the inquiry in the Mail, has seen a bout of in-fighting in the Met. Lady Brittan, the widow of the former Home Secretary, Leon Brittan, pictured together also wants it shared with the public, as does 'hounded' war hero Lord Bramall, 92, right A number of officers fear that junior officers will be 'hung out to dry' by senior officers who led or supervised the multi million pound probe which found no evidence to support any of Nick's wild claims. Sir Bernard is about to enter final year of his contract, having been snubbed for a longer contract extension in wake of Operation Midland fiasco which embarrassed the Prime Minister Theresa May. He has been widely criticised for stubbornly refusing to apologise to those falsely accused by Nick. Two of his most senior officers, Assistant Commissioner Patricia Gallan and Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse, are also facing uncertain futures over their roles in the shambles. The future of Detective Superintendent Kenny McDonald, who controversially described Nick as being 'credible and true' at the outset of the inquiry, is unclear. Nicolas Sarkozy calls for 'merciless' response as ex-PM said 'everything is being done to trigger a war of religions' French authorities revealed they arrested a third man, a 16-year-old Saint-Etienne resident, relating to the attack One attacker named as 19-year-old Adel Kermiche, known to police for twice trying to join the terror group in Syria Nun who escaped said killers told her 'You Christians, you kill us' before they killed Father Jacques Hamel Advertisement One of a pair of ISIS knifemen who stormed a church in Normandy before slitting the throat of an elderly priest has been named as known terror threat Adel Kermiche. The 19-year-old 'ISIS soldier' was being monitored with an electronic ankle tag after he was arrested for twice attempting to flee France to join the terror group in Syria. Despite having been released early from prison, Kermiche's bail conditions allowed him to roam unsupervised between 8.30am and 12.30pm, leaving him free to murder the priest in the attack carried out between 9am and 11am. Kermiche and his accomplice - also known to French police - forced 84-year-old Father Jacques Hamel to kneel before filming themselves butchering him and performing a 'sermon in Arabic' at the altar of the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, according to witnesses. Both were shot dead by police marksmen as they emerged from the building shouting 'Allahu Akbar' following the attack that also left a nun critically injured. Sister Danielle, a nun who escaped, said: 'They told me "you Christians, you kill us". They forced him to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And that's when the tragedy happened. They recorded themselves. They did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. It's a horror.' French President Francois Hollande, who visited the scene on Tuesday, said the country is now 'at war' with ISIS after the terror group claimed responsibility. This morning, French religious leaders joined forces to call for reinforced security. Scroll down for video Adel Kermiche (pictured right and left, in 2011), 19, has been named as one of the two ISIS knifemen who stormed into a church in Normandy and cut the throat of an 84-year-old Catholic priest Jacques Hamel before being shot dead by police A French policeman cordons off the area around the body of one of the two knifemen. Parisian prosecutor Francois Molins revealed that the pair were carrying a fake bomb with a timer, a handgun and knives during the attack and said they used nuns as human shields Father Jacques Hamel had his throat cut in the attack that also left a nun critically injured. He was at the church because he was filling in for the local priest who was on holiday Kermiche and his accomplice - also known to French police - forced 84-year-old Father Jacques Hamel (pictured centre) to kneel before filming themselves butchering him Eyewitness Sister Danielle said the two attackers forced murdered priest Father Jacques Hamel 'to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And that's when the tragedy happened' French authorities admitted that both Kermiche, believed to have been born in France to parents of Algerian descent, and his partner were subject to security 'S' files, meaning they were known terror suspects who should have been under surveillance. Kermiche was living with his parents in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray with an electronic tag on his ankle, after spending time in prison in both France and Switzerland. It emerged today that he was also awaiting trial on terror charges. Parisian prosecutor Francois Molins revealed that the pair were carrying between them a fake explosives belt with a kitchen timer wrapped in tin foil, a backpack full of fake guns and three knives during the attack, and said they used nuns as human shields. In a press conference, he said police are still seeking to identify the second attacker and raids were underway. HOSTAGE SIEGE IN FRENCH CHURCH - Two knifemen entered church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, around 9.45am local time by a back door during mass - Nuns and worshippers taken hostage - one seriously injured - Father Jacques Hamel killed after reportedly having his throat slashed - Suspects shot dead by French police - ISIS claims responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out by two soldiers - French prosecutors detain one person as part of investigation into attack - Francois Hollande pledges to fight ISIS 'using all means possible' Advertisement Describing both attackers as 'these appalling cowardly people', Mr Molins said police had tried to negotiate with them 'but couldn't get into the church because of the heavy locked door'. He further revealed that the person who was seriously injured is no longer in a life-threatening condition. Kermiche was known to have been a friend of Maxime Hauchard, a French jihadi who has appeared unmasked in videos showing the slaughter of captives from the USA and Syria. French security sources said Kermiche met former Catholic Hauchard, now 24, close to his home village of Le Bosc-Roger-en-Roumois, in Normandy. It raises the possibility that Kermiche was inspired by Hauchard to carry out Tuesday's attack in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. The mother of Kermiche revealed her son - once a sports-mad teenager who liked the Simpsons and Rihanna - had been 'bewitched' and 'spoke with words that were not his'. reportedly had four siblings, one of whom was a doctor while friends said he would normally be the first to 'break up any argument'. But he became radicalised in a matter of months following the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris last January when 12 magazine staff were slaughtered by jihadists. Kermiche's mother, said to be a professor, revealed that he had started going to a mosque more often before lecturing her on her conduct, the Sun reports. She said: 'He said that one couldn't exercise one's religion peacefully in France. He spoke with words that were not his. He was bewitched.' Friends said he eventually would not reason with them and merely quoted back verses 'from the Koran'. In March 2015, while still a minor, Kermiche used his brother's ID to try to reach the terror group in Syria via Germany, but was arrested in Munich. Kermiche, pictured in 2011, had previously spent time in prison in France and Switzerland after twice attempting to flee the country to join ISIS in Syria. He was under police surveillance with an electronic ankle tag Under his bail conditions, Kermiche was allowed to roam without supervision between the hours of 8.30am and 12.30pm, leaving him free to carry out the murder of elderly priest Jacques Hamel Normandy attacker Adel Kermiche was known to have been a friend of Maxime Hauchard (pictured), a French jihadi involved in the beheading of Americans in Syria French security sources said Kermiche met former Catholic Hauchard (right), now 24, close to his village of Le Bosc-Roger-en-Roumois, in Normandy. It raises the possibility that Kermiche was inspired by Hauchard to carry out Tuesday's attack in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray These mobile phone images are believed to be the last photographs taken of Father Hamel before he died. Survivor Sister Danielle said: 'Jacques loved all people regardless of religion. That is all I can say. A faithful priest, a priest who loved everybody, who loved much' Police officers secure the perimeter around the church on Wednesday morning as investigations continue into the priest's killing There was still a heavy police presence in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray with officers guarding the church He was placed under judicial control with his parents, but after his 18th birthday again tried to return to the Middle East using an ID card belonging to a cousin. Accompanied by two childhood friends, Kermiche headed to Switzerland overland and then took a plane to Turkey, hoping to cross the border into Syria. Turkish police deported him back to Switzerland and, after being sent back to his hometown, he was tried and found guilty of 'associating with a terrorist enterprise' on May 22 2015. After spending less than a year of his two-and-a-half-year sentence in prison, he was released on March 22 this year. A prosecutor appealed the decision to release Kermiche, but he was released on bail on condition that he again stayed with his mother and father. According to his bail conditions, Kermiche was also allowed to go out unsupervised between 8.30am and 12.30pm every day. The revelation - made to the French TV news channel I-Tele - will cause further outrage in a country devastated by constant security failings. 'I AM NOT AN EXTREMIST': WHAT PRIEST MURDERER TOLD FRENCH JUDGES WHO RELEASED HIM WITH ELECTRIC TAG The known ISIS terrorist who murdered a Catholic priest in northern France had told judges 'I am not an extremist' before being freed from prison to kill, it emerged today. Shocking details about the lax manner with which 19-year-old Adel Kermiche was treated emerged following the slaughter of Father Jacques Hamel, 86, in Normandy. Kermich was wearing an electronic tag, after serving part of his sentence for a range of terrorist offences including trying to join ISIS in Syria, and then being released in March. Authorities are trying to explain why it had been so easy for him and his accomplice to strike. A psychological examination of Kermiche was carried out between October 2015 and February this year, during which he spoke freely about his motives and ambitions. French riot police guard the street on Tuesday night that leads to the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray where a fatal hostage taking incident happened, near Rouen He outlined about his frail psychological state, saying he was regularly in hospital after suffering deep depressions and 'other mental problems'. Kermich said: 'I am a Muslim grounded in the values of mercy, and goodness - I am not an extremist'. Saying he 'couldn't get up' without saying two prayers every morning in his prison cell, he claimed he wanted to become a mental health nurse, and settle down with a family. 'I want to get my life back, to see my friends, to get married,' Kermich told an examining magistrate in the psychological reports leaked to Le Monde newspaper. Kermiche spent his time in prison mixing with other terrorists, including another young Frenchman who had spent 18 months fighting with ISIS. Despite this, he managed to convince those compiling the report that he should be given yet another chance. The judge overseeing Kermiche's case, said the teenager was 'aware of his mistakes', and despite 'suicidal thoughts', was a good candidate to be reintegrated back into society. A mourner lights a candle in tribute to the fallen priest at a makeshift memorial in Paris. The nation is reeling after yet another terror attack, just days after 85 people were killed in horrific attack in the southern city of Nice He could be freed on probation with the 'supervision and support' of his family in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, and wearing an electronic tag, the judge concluded. Prosecutors appealed the decision, saying they were 'unconvinced by the arguments', and that there was a 'high risk' of Kermiche reoffending. Kermiche was even allowed a four-hour period from 8.30am every day when he could leave his parents' home, and wander freely around his home town. It was during this window that he and his accomplice rushed into the church and executed Father Jacques before also knifing a parishioner, who was severely wounded. Today, members of Kermiche's immediate family remained inside their home in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, without commenting. The French authorities have been widely criticised for the way they have allowed known jihadis the freedom to travel and mass weapons to carry out their crimes. French President Francois Hollande was today meeting religious leaders to try and reassure them that everything is being done to protect places of worship, including churches, mosques and synagogue. But the head of state has regularly been booed while out in public, with critics shouting 'Resign!' and 'Murderers!' at him and his prime minister, Manuel Valls. Opposition Republican leader Nicolas Sarkozy accused Mr Hollande of 'trembling' in the face of the jihadist threat. Mr Sarkozy said: 'Everything that should have been done the past 18 months was not done. France cannot let its children be murdered.' Advertisement A third man, a 16-year-old known as HB and believed to be the younger brother of someone wanted by police for trying to go to Syria or Iraq in 2015, was arrested at his home in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray following the attack. The Catholic church involved was on a terrorist 'hit list' found in the apartment of a suspected ISIS extremist last April. French religious leaders today called for authorities to boost security at places of worship. 'We deeply desire that our places of worship are the subject of greater (security) focus, a sustained focus,' said French Muslim leader Dalil Boubakeur, after meeting with President Francois Hollande. Hollande gathered with the leaders of the country's main religions a day after the killing. Boubakeur, speaking in the name of French Muslims, voiced his 'deep grief' at the attack which he descrbed as a 'blasphemous sacrilege which goes against all the teachings of our religion.' Officers stand guard nearby to the church where Father Jacques Hamel, 84, was slaughtered in the vicious assault after mass on Tuesday It comes as politicians including President Francois Hollande called for 'unity' in the face of what was branded a 'war of religions' A makeshift memorial has sprung up on the steps of the city hall in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, where the savage attack took place at around 9.45am on Tuesday morning As well as the Catholic priest, Father Jacques Hamal, the two knife-wielding attackers took two nuns and two parishioners hostage The National Assembly's Palais Bourbon in Paris illuminated in the French flag colours in tribute to the victims of the attack in the Normandy city of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray French religious leaders today called for authorities to boost security at places of worship. From left to right, France's Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia, French Jewish central Consistory President Joel Mergui, President of the French Buddhist Union, Olivier Reigen Wang-Genh, President of Protestant Federation of France Pastor Francois Clavairoly, Rector of the Great Mosque of Paris Dalil Boubakeur, Grigorios Ioannidis General Vicar of the Greek Orthodox metropolis, French Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois and Ahmet Ogras, vice-president of the French Council of The Muslim Faith Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a 'merciless' response to the killing while 'horrified' ex-Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said he feared 'everything is being done to trigger a war of religions'. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement published by its Aamaq news agency. It said the killing was carried out by 'two soldiers of the Islamic State.' It added the killing was in response to its calls to target countries of the US-led coalition which is fighting ISIS. French President Francois Hollande, visiting the scene of the attack, appealed for 'unity' in France, where political blame-trading has poisoned the aftermath of the Nice truck attack, the third major strike in the country in 18 months. 'The threat remains very high,' said Mr Hollande. 'We are confronted with a group, Daesh, which has declared war on us. We have to wage war by every means, (but through) upholding the law, which is because we are a democracy.' Sarkozy, expected to enter a conservative primary soon for next year's presidential election, jumped on the latest incident to accuse the Socialist government of being soft on terrorism. 'We must be merciless,' Sarkozy said in a statement to reporters. I KNOW HTML (HOW TO MEET LADIES): T-SHIRT WORN BY KILLER WHO LOVED THE SIMPSONS AND RIHANNA A younger Kermiche shown wearing a T-shirt with the slogan 'I know HTML (How to meet ladies)' He was once a sports-mad teenager who loved the Simpsons and Rihanna while friends considered him something of a peacemaker when arguments broke out. But Normandy priest killer Adel Kermiche, 19, became 'bewitched' by radicals in a matter of months and even lectured his own mother on conduct. Pictures taken of a younger Kermiche show him wearing a T-shirt with the slogan 'I know HTML (How to meet ladies)' - a joking message that plays on the HTML computer language used to create web pages. Kermiche reportedly had four siblings, one of whom was a doctor while friends said he would normally be the first to 'break up any argument'. But he became radicalised in a matter of months following the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris last January when 12 magazine staff were slaughtered by jihadists. Kermiche's mother, said to be a professor, revealed that he had started going to a mosque more often before lecturing her on her conduct, the Sun reports. She said: 'He said that one couldn't exercise one's religion peacefully in France. He spoke with words that were not his. He was bewitched.' Friends said he eventually would not reason with them and merely quoted back verses 'from the Koran'. He is known to have been friends with a notorious French jihadi Maxime Hauchard - a fanatic who appeared unmasked in videos showing the slaughter of American aid worker Peter Kassig and Syria captives. French security sources said Kermiche met former Catholic Hauchard, now 24, close to his home village of Le Bosc-Roger-en-Roumois, in Normandy. It raises the possibility that Kermiche was inspired by Hauchard to carry out Tuesday's attack in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. Kermiche was one of two attackers who stormed the church near Rouen during morning mass, slitting the throat of 84-year-old priest Jacques Hemel and leaving a worshipper with serious injuries. The 19-year-old, who was shot dead alongside the second extremist. Advertisement 'The legal quibbling, precautions and pretexts for insufficient action are not acceptable. I demand that the government implement without delay the proposals we presented months ago. There is no more time to be wasted.' Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a former conservative prime minister who now heads the Senate's foreign affairs committee, added in a tweet: 'Horror. Everything is being done to trigger a war of religions.' Pope Francis has expressed his 'pain and horror' at the incident with a spokesman saying the Pontiff was appalled by the 'barbaric killing' because it happened in a sacred place. He expressed his condemnation of 'every form of hatred' and offered his prayers to those involved. Vatican spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi described it as another act of 'absurd violence'. Hollande called Pope France to express his 'chagrin' after the attack. The two killers, who shouted 'Allahu Akbar', were shot dead by police marksmen as they emerged from the building, which was later searched for bombs. Police later raided a house in the area and made an arrest French authorities say they have arrested a third man in connection with the attack. Armed police are pictured making an arrest at a house in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray Police are still seeking the identity of the second attacker, and are continuing to carry out raids. Pictured, French officers and fire engines at the scene of the hostage taking Units attending including the elite RAID, the anti-terrorist unit that was heavily involved in the Paris attacks last year, in which almost 150 people were murdered French president Francois Hollande (pictured embracing the town's mayor Hubert Wulfranc) said France is 'at war' with ISIS while the terror group has claimed responsibility for the killing French authorities admitted that both Kermiche and his partner were subject to security 'S' files, meaning they were known terror suspects who should have been under surveillance The area of the savage ISIS attack was cordoned off and soldiers were called to the scene, which was then searched for explosives He told the Pope that 'when a priest is attacked, it is all of France that has been hurt', according to a statement from the president's office. Hollande assured the Pope that everything will be done to protect the churches of France and other houses of worship. The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: 'Evil attacks the weakest, denies truth and love, is defeated through Jesus Christ. Pray for France, for victims, for their communities.' It was the extremist group's first attack against a church in the West, and fulfills longstanding threats against 'crusaders' in what the militants paint as a centuries-old battle for power. Experts claimed that the latest attack fulfilled a two-year-old ISIS pledge to attack Christians within Europe, even calling for the assassination of Pope Francis. 'The Islamic State is persistently demoralising European unity by launching divisive attacks within its borders the most recent attack on the Catholic Church aims directly at the French sense of identity,' Veryan Khan, editorial director for the US-based Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium, told Fox News. Security is also being heightened at British churches following the attack, with British counter-terror police 'circulating specific advice' to churches across the UK. 'Following recent events in France, we are reiterating our protective security advice to Christian places of worships and have circulated specific advice today,' said Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu. 'We are also taking this opportunity to remind them to review their security arrangements as a precaution.' He added: 'There is no specific intelligence relating to attacks against the Christian community in the UK. 'However, as we have seen, Daesh and other terrorist groups have targeted Christian as well as Jewish and other faith groups in the West and beyond. 'While the threat from terrorism remains unchanged at severe we urge the public to be vigilant.' A priest, two nuns and two churchgoers were among those held hostage after the men rushed into the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, during a morning service soon after 9am The two ISIS killers forced elderly priest Jacques Hamel to his knees before filming themselves cutting his throat, according to witnesses Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen later confirmed that Father Jacques Hamel (pictured) had been killed in the brutal assault French President Francois Hollande (pictured visiting the scene of the attack on Tuesday), appealed for 'unity' in France, just days after another attack on Bastille Day saw 85 people slaughtered during firework celebrations It comes as it emerged that the building (top centre) was one of a number of Catholic churches on a terrorist 'hit list' found on a suspected ISIS extremist last April Kermiche, the first of the two attackers to have been named, was being monitored by police using an electronic ankle tag (pictured, stock image). But the tag was deactivated for a few hours during the morning, leaving him free to slaughter the elderly priest Between four and six people were being held by the assailants in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near the city of Rouen The two men held the priest and congregation of four - which included two nuns - hostage for almost an hour before being shot as they emerged on to the courtyard of the church. A nun later gave a chilling eyewitness account of her escape. She was at the church when the terrorists stormed in, but managed to escape before the clergyman was murdered. The woman, who wished to remain anonymous when talking to Le Figaro, said: 'They came suddenly. They took space. They spoke Arabic. I saw a knife. Threat: ISIS warned Washington and London are next on the list of target cities. This image of the Statue of Liberty in flames was released on messaging app Telegram 'I left when they began to attack Father Jacques. I do not even know if they realised that I was leaving.' Another nun, identified as Sister Danielle, who witnessed the horror said: 'They forced him to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And that's when the tragedy happened. 'They recorded themselves. They did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. It's a horror,' she told BFM television. 'It was fear, especially when they entered,' she revealed in an interview with the BBC. 'When I saw them I said to myself, "well, that's it. It's over". They were so motivated. 'They told me "you Christians, you kill us".' She added: 'Jacques loved all people regardless of religion. That is all I can say. A faithful priest, a priest who loved everybody, who loved much.' Father Jacques was deputising while the regular parish priest was on holiday, it emerged on Tuesday afternoon. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Paris had earlier said that the men had crept into the church via a back entrance during a morning service, soon after 9am. The two men seized the priest, two sisters from a local order, and two parishioners. 'A third nun escaped and raised the alarm, and anti-terrorists officers were on the scene within minutes,' said a source who lives locally. 'It appears that the priest who was celebrating the service was attacked first, and had his throat cut. 'The area around the church was sealed off, and then armed officers appeared with their weapons. I heard at least a dozen shots.' The siege officially ended at around 11am, following the shooting of the two attackers. French security services have been regularly criticised for the way they allow known terrorists their freedom after being found guilty of crimes. It comes as ISIS warned that London and Washington DC are next on the list of target cities, with images threatening major world capitals being posted on messaging app Telegram, according to SITE Intelligence Group. One shows the Statue of Liberty engulfed in flames, with the caption 'Washington soon'. Units attending the scene on Tuesday morning included the elite RAID, the anti-terrorist unit that was heavily involved in the Paris attacks last year, in which almost 150 people were murdered. Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said police were searching the church and its perimeter for possible explosives and terrorism investigators had been summoned. Anti-terrorist judges immediately opened an investigation in to Tuesday's attack. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls tweeted that he was 'horrified at the barbaric attack' adding: 'All France and all Catholics are bruised.' And at a press conference in Downing Street, Prime Minister Theresa May offered 'my condolences to the French people following the sickening attack in Northern France this morning', adding: 'Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected.' 'We all face a terror threat. If you look at the national threat level here in the United Kingdom, it is at severe. That means that a terrorist attack is highly likely. FRANCOIS HOLLANDE: WE ARE AT WAR WITH ISIS AND THE THREAT OF FURTHER ATTACK IS STILL EXTREMELY HIGH French president Francois Hollande has pledged to fight the ISIS 'using all means possible' after an attack on a church in Normandy which resulted in the murder of an 84-year-old priest. Father Jacques Hamel was reported to have had his throat slashed during an hour-long hostage-taking incident which began as two knifemen burst into the parish church by a back door during morning mass. Speaking after meeting emergency workers and the town mayor in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Mr Hollande named ISIS - also known as Daesh - as the source of the threat to French people. 'We are facing yet another trial, because this threat is extremely high and still remains very high after all we've lived through over the past few days and the past two years,' he said. 'We are faced with a group, Daesh, that has actually declared war, and we have to fight this war using all means possible. Of course we have to respect the rule of law, because we are a democracy.' Mr Hollande called for unity between French Catholics and members of other communities, and announced he will meet leaders of a range of faiths on Wednesday. French president Francois Hollande has pledged to fight the ISIS 'using all means possible' after an attack on a church in Normandy which resulted in the murder of an 84-year-old priest 'What these terrorists want to do is to divide us, and today after the death of this priest I am thinking of all the Catholics of France and expressing my support,' he said. 'It's not only Catholics who are involved, all the French people are involved, and that's why we must ensure cohesion. Nobody should be able to break it.' Mr Hollande warned: 'Today we must be aware that the terrorists will not give up as long as we don't stop them. That's our will and that's what we are doing tirelessly. 'The French people must realise that they are threatened. They are not the only country - Germany is also threatened - but their strength really is in cohesion.' Religious leaders issued messages of sympathy and solidarity in the wake of the killing. In a statement, the Vatican said Pope Francis shares the 'sorrow and horror' felt over the incident, adding: 'We are particularly struck because this horrible violence has occurred in a church - a sacred place where we pronounce God's love - with the barbaric murder of a priest and worshippers affected.' The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: 'Evil attacks the weakest, denies truth and love, is defeated through Jesus Christ. Pray for France, for victims, for their communities.' The Archbishop of Rouen Dominique Lebrun, who cut short a visit to Poland to return to his diocese and was due to meet Mr Hollande on Tuesday evening, said: 'I cry to God with all men of good will. The only arms which the Catholic Church can take up are prayer and brotherhood between men.' Mr Hollande said he had come to express 'the solidarity of the whole nation' with the community affected by the 'cowardly assassination' of Father Hamel. He said he had spoken with the priest's family, as well as with some of the hostages, who expressed 'pain and sadness and also their will to understand why this should happen'. The president paid tribute to the emergency and security services, who he said had intervened 'extremely quickly' to avert further bloodshed and to assist the people who had been taken hostage. Advertisement 'What is necessary is for us all to work together, and stand shoulder to shoulder with France. We offer them every support we have in dealing with this issue and this threat that they, and the rest of us, are facing. 'But on one thing, I think, we are all absolutely clear, and that is the terrorists will not prevail. 'They are trying to destroy our way of life. They are trying to destroy our values. We have shared values and those values will win through and the terrorists will not win.' Eulalie Garcia, who works in a beauty parlour, is on the same road as the church, and told reporters that she knew the priest, who had taught her the catechism as a young girl. 'My family has lived here for 35 years and we have always known him,' she said. A French policeman arrests a man following a search in a house in the Normandy city of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvra. It came after a priest was butchered at a church in the town Arrest: The man was pictured being bundled into a police car after a raid on a house in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray French authorities are trying to determine whether the two men involved in the sickening attack had accomplices 'He was someone who was treasured by the community. He was very discreet and didn't like to draw attention to himself.' She said she was very shocked by the death of the priest, who lived opposite his church. 'It can happen to anyone,' she said. Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen later confirmed that Father Jacques Hamel had been killed. In a statement from Krakow, Poland, where Pope Francis was visiting, Lebrun says 'I cry out to God, with all men of good will. And I invite all non-believers to unite with this cry ... The Catholic Church has no other arms besides prayer and fraternity between men.' An Italian politician later urged Pope Francis to put the slain French priest on a fast track for sainthood. Roberto Maroni, the president of the Lombard region, said in an appeal circulated on social media that 'Father Jacques is a martyr of faith' and requested that the pope 'immediately proclaim him St. Jacques.' Shortly after the appeal, the hashtag (hash)santosubito, which translates as 'saint immediately,' began circulating on Twitter. The canonisation process is a lengthy one involving two miracles attributed to the person's intercession, but in the case of a martyr only one miracle is needed, after beatification. There must first be a declaration by the Vatican that the person indeed died for the faith. The area around the church remained cordoned off and the old town was out of bounds. Saint-Etienne du Rouvray has a population of 30,000 and is around seven miles from Rouen. Two men armed with knives took several people hostage at Church of the Gambetta (pictured) in France's northern Normandy region on Tuesday, a police source said French President Francois Hollande (centre) flanked by Hubert Wulfranc mayor of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray (left) and French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve (right), speaks to the press as he leaves the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray's city hall It emerged Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray was one of a number of Catholic churches on a terrorist 'hit list' found on a suspected ISIS terrorist. Police stand on guard in the town A local Muslim leader said one of the men who attacked the church was on French police radar and had travelled to Turkey. Mohammed Karabila, president of the Regional Council of the Muslim Faith for Haute-Normandie and head of the local Muslim cultural centre, said 'the person that did this odious act is known, and he has been followed by the police for at least a year and a half.' He said the attacker 'went to Turkey and security services were alerted after this.' He had no information about the second attacker. Mr Karabila said he was 'appalled by the death of his friend' and hoped that interfaith dialogue in his region would not be damaged. The incident comes as France is on high alert after a Bastille Day attack that killed 84 people in Nice and a series of deadly attacks last year claimed by ISIS. It emerged on Tuesday that Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray was one of a number of Catholic churches on a terrorist 'hit list' found on a suspected ISIS terrorist. Sid Ahmed Ghlam, 24, was arrested in April 2015 after he called an ambulance in Paris after shooting himself in the leg. BRUTAL PRIEST KILLING IS LATEST IN SPATE OF DEADLY ATTACKS ACROSS EUROPE IN THE LAST YEAR Tuesday's attack is the latest to hit Europe in what has been a year of bloodshed on the continent: July 24: Festival suicide bombing - A failed Syrian asylum seeker set off an explosive device near an open-air music festival in the southern city of Ansbach that killed himself and wounded a dozen others. The 27-year-old had spent time in a psychiatric facility, while the regional authorities said an there was 'likely' a jihadist motive for the attack. However a spokesman for the interior ministry later said there was as yet 'no credible evidence' of a link to Islamic extremism. July 24: Knife attack - A Syrian refugee was arrested after killing a Polish woman with a large kebab knife at a snack bar in the southwestern city of Reutlingen, in an incident police said did not bear the hallmarks of a 'terrorist attack' and was more likely a crime of passion. Three people were also injured in the assault, which ended when the 21-year-old assailant was deliberately struck by a BMW driver, believed to be the snack bar owner's son, trying to stop the man. People mourn in front of candles and flowers near the Olympia shopping mall in Munich, southern Germany, where an 18-year-old German-Iranian student ran amok on a shooting spree on July 22 July 22: Munich mall mass shooting - David Ali Sonboly, 18, shot dead nine people at a Munich shopping mall before turning the gun on himself, having spent a year planning the rampage. Police said that the German-Iranian was 'obsessed' with mass killers like Norwegian right-wing fanatic Anders Behring Breivik and had no links to the Islamic State group. July 18: Train axe attack - A 17-year-old migrant wielding an axe and a knife went on a rampage on a regional train, seriously injuring four members of a tourist family from Hong Kong and a German passer-by. ISIS group subsequently released a video purportedly featuring the assailant, named by media as Riaz Khan Ahmadzai, announcing he would carry out an 'operation' in Germany, and presenting himself as a 'soldier of the caliphate'. He is believed to have been Afghan or Pakistani. July 14: Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed a truck into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day in the French Riviera city of Nice, killing 84 people and injuring over 300. The Nice attack was the third major strike on France in 18 months and was claimed by ISIS. June 14: A Frenchman of Moroccan origin stabs a police commander to death outside his home in a Paris suburb and kills his partner, who also worked for the police. The attacker told police negotiators during a siege that he was answering an appeal by Islamic State. March 22: Suicide attacks claimed by ISIS kill 32 people and wound more than 300 at the Brussels airport and Maelbeek metro station, near European Union offices. They appear to have been carried out by members of the same cell that committed attacks in Paris four months earlier. November 13, 2015: Coordinated suicide attacks in Paris kill 130 people and wound more than 350 at the Bataclan concert hall, cafes and the national stadium. ISIS claims responsibility for the attacks. Advertisement Investigators believe he was a terrorist planning 'imminent attacks' in France on the instructions of ISIS leaders. Investigators found an arsenal of weapons in Ghlam's car, which was parked nearby, and at his student accommodation. It included Kalashnikovs, a police-issue pistol, and a number of bullet-proof vests. Documents found at his flat and in a search of his computer and telephone, suggested Ghlam was in contact with a French speaker in Syria who had ordered him to carry out attacks on churches. These included the Sacre-Couer basilica in Paris, and places of worship including the one in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray targeted on Tuesday. Ghlam is currently in a high-security prison while waiting trial for 'murder, attempted murder, association with criminals with a view to commit crimes against people' and for other infractions 'connected to a terrorist organisation'. There were reports the attackers shouted 'Daesh' an alternative name for ISIS often used by the French government as they ran into the church while at least one of the men was dressed in Islamic clothing A French soldier stands guard as he prevents the access to the scene of the attack in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France The computer student, who was born in Algeria, was also charged with the murder of a 32-year-old woman, who was found in the passenger seat of her burning car after his arrest. Dance instructor Aurelie Chatelain, a mother of one, who had just attended a Pilates class, died after she was shot three times in the head, in what police believe may have been an attempt by Ghlam to hijack her car. As part of beefed up security operations in France, some 700 schools and Jewish synagogues and 1,000 mosques are under military protection. However with some 45,000 Catholic churches, and thousands more Protestant and evangelical churches, protecting all places of worship is a massive headache for security services. The Nice massacre triggered a bitter political spat over alleged security failings, with the government accused of not doing enough to protect the population. Priests Edgar Deguenon (left) and Brice de Malherbe (centre) arrive for a mass at the Notre-Dame cathedral on July 26, 2016 in Paris, in memory of the murdered priest in the Normandy city of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray Mourners and worshippers attend a mass in memory of the slain priest, as it emerged that his killers were already known to be terror threats by French police In Sainte-Anne-d'Auray, Brittany, bishops and local Catholics marched through the town as part of Grand Pardon celebrations The Grand Pardon see Breton-speaking Catholics process through towns wearing traditional clothes, with Tuesday's demonstration in Sainte-Anne-d'Auray, Brittany French far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen wrote on Twitter that the 'modus operandi obviously makes us fear a new attack from terrorist Islamists.' Coincidentally, Catholic celebrations were taking place in the neighbouring French district of Brittany on Tuesday. The Grand Pardon see Breton-speaking Catholics process through towns wearing traditional clothes, with Tuesday's demonstration in Sainte-Anne-d'Auray. A judge hearing claims Jeremy Corbyn should not have been handed an automatic place in the Labour leadership contest will not rule before Thursday, it emerged today. The High Court battle over the Labour contest heard claims today party rules had been 'misapplied' when the National Executive Committee (NEC) allowed Mr Corbyn into the race as the incumbent. Party donor Michael Foster has challenged Mr Corbyn should have been required to get 51 nominations - the same as his rival Owen Smith and a bar he would have struggled to pass. The NEC ruled on a secret ballot after a marathon meeting that because Mr Corbyn was the leader being challenged by MPs, he did not need nominations. Mr Justice Foskett today said he planned to hand down a written judgement on the case on Thursday after considering the submissions heard by all sides today. The continuing chaos over the Labour leadership in the wake of the EU referendum has left the party far adrift in the polls, with a new survey showing the Tories on 43 per cent and 16 points clear. Jeremy Corbyn, seen leaving home this morning, was due to have his interests defended at the High Court today as a party donor challenged his place in the leadership contest The High Court heard today the Labour Party's rules were 'misapplied' when its national executive committee (NEC) voted to guarantee Mr Corbyn a place on the leadership ballot. Lawyers for Labour donor Michael Foster said on Tuesday that, by bringing his case against the party's general secretary, Iain McNicol - who is being sued in a representative capacity - and Mr Corbyn, Mr Foster was not seeking anything other than a proper application of the rules. Gavin Millar QC told Mr Justice Foskett it was clear that the meaning given to the rules by the majority on the NEC on July 12 was wrong. It was not a 'reasonable' interpretation. If the judge decided in his favour and granted a declaration that Mr Corbyn must obtain the requisite level of support before his name could go forward, the party would be required to return to the nomination stage and go through it again. 'The claimant has no wish to deny the second defendant (Mr Corbyn) a fair opportunity, which can be achieved in this way, of obtaining the requisite number of nominations.' The NEC took legal advice before voting by a majority of 18 to 14 that Mr Corbyn should automatically go on the ballot paper without needing to obtain the backing of 20% of Labour MPs and MEPs - 51 nominations. Mark Henderson, counsel for Mr McNicol, said the rules were not ambiguous or open to serious doubt. Potential challengers must attain a 20 per cent threshold of support to enable them to stand against the incumbent leader but there was no basis for interpreting this provision as requiring the incumbent to also attain this threshold. Martin Westgate QC, for Mr Corbyn, argued that the NEC's conclusion was 'plainly right'. He said the court should follow its conclusion as long as it was a reasonable approach to the rule. 'In any case, the conclusion reached by the NEC is entitled to great respect and the court should not interfere with it.' He said Mr Corbyn was elected as leader with the 'overwhelming support' of the general membership and of registered and affiliated supporters, gaining 59.5 per cent of the total votes in the first round. The Tories hold a 16 point lead over Labour in the latest opinion poll, figures that could hand Theresa May a 100-plus majority were she to call a general election Mr Foster's case was that the party could in effect block Mr Corbyn from being considered as a candidate in any future election for leader, even if he continued to enjoy similar support, and less than a year after he was duly nominated and elected. 'If Mr Foster is right then there will be no election and the present challenger (Mr Smith) will be entitled to be elected as leader unopposed.' Mr Foster's position that the process would have to be re-run failed to recognise the disruption that this would cause, said counsel. Iain McNicol, the Labour Party General Secretary, will resist the court challenge of Mr Corbyn's place in the contest today Last night, in a BBC Newsnight interview, Mr Smith issued stern criticism of Mr Corbyn's appeal to the public He said: 'One of the weaknesses we have had recently is that people worry that Labour isn't serious about security, that it is a lesser issue for Jeremy. 'I'm not sure that's right, but he has certainly got a different perspective on some of those things - on patriotism if you like; and on security, on defence I think I have got a more traditional Labour perspective on that - an old-fashioned Labour perspective, if you like.' Mr Corbyn's patriotism has been questioned before - including after he refused to sing the national anthem at a Battle of Britain memorial service in St Paul's Cathedral. Mr Smith has insisted he would protect defence spending a 2 per cent of GDP, supports Trident and confirmed he would be prepared to launch a nuclear strike if necessary. He added: 'I think Jeremy, to be honest, doesn't really understand sometimes the way in which people have a very strong, perhaps socially conservative ... sense of place, sense of where they are from. 'I am not sure I've heard him talking much about Scotland and identity or about Wales and identity or indeed about England and identity. 'I suspect that Jeremy has got a rather more metropolitan sense of that and that's not one I think is central to the Labour tradition.' Asked if he was calling Mr Corbyn unpatriotic, Mr Smith said: 'I am saying that I think it is something that is not core to his set of beliefs. 'He has got a set of liberal perspectives and left perspectives on things and nationhood and nationalism and patriotism aren't really part of his make-up.' Owen Smith, left, is trying to oust Jeremy Corbyn, right, as Labour leader and has questioned his patriotism - insisting it was not part of his 'make up' Mr Corbyn is fighting a legal battle over his place in the contest, after he was automatically named on the ballot paper without having to secure nominations from the party's MPs. Last week Mr Corbyn won the right to have his own legal representation at today's hearing amid fears the party would not put up a sufficient fight in defence of his position. It was reported today Mr Corbyn will call for the leadership election to be suspended if his right to be in the the contest automatically is over turned. LABOUR'S CIVIL WAR REACHES THE HIGH COURT Labour is defending itself in court today against claims Jeremy Corbyn should not have been automatically on the ballot for leader. After Angela Eagle forced a new contest by collecting 51 nominations, there was a dispute over whether party rules said Mr Corbyn needed to get the same number to qualify. Mr Corbyn's team insisted as he was the incumbent and the challenge was forced upon him, he should get to defend his post automatically. After a marathon meeting and secret ballot, Labour's ruling National Executive Committee agreed and said only challenging candidates needed nominations. Owen Smith duly secured the nominations, prompting Angela Eagle to drop out. But donor Michael Foster insisted this was the wrong conclusion and today launched a legal challenge to overturn the NEC decision. If successful, Mr Smith would technically be the only candidate and could be crowned leader - but it would be hotly disputed by Mr Corbyn. He would demand the contest be suspended or at least nominations be re-opened. Advertisement Mr Corbyn is going head to head with Mr Smith in a summer long contest after Labour MPs revolted over their leader's performance in the EU referendum. More than 60 MPs quit the front bench and overwhelmingly passed a vote of no confidence in the leader. Mr Smith, who has faced criticism from Mr Corbyn and his allies over his previous work for pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, last night insisted he was committed to a '100 per cent publicly owned' NHS - which would mean rolling back the involvement of the private sector in areas such as commissioning. 'It allows profit and cost to become the principal driver of services, not clinical decisions or need,' he warned. 'Introducing the profit motive into the NHS - as into other areas of public service - both dilutes the sense of public connection to it and undermines the essence of what Labour is all about.' He said Labour had to be 'much bolder about what the role of the state is.' Mr Smith also insisted that talks on Brexit should not be a binary decision between keeping free movement and remaining in the single market or putting in border controls and leaving the trading bloc. 'That is a false choice,' he said, and insisted Labour should be represented at talks with European Union states about the UK's future links to Brussels. The challenger, who faces a stiff task to overturn Mr Corbyn's support among the party's grassroots activists, warned Labour could be 'destroyed' if it did not change course. 'We have been the greatest force for social good for 116 years in this country and it would be a tragedy if we were wiped out,' he warned. 'And parties can be wiped out - it takes a long time for parties to rise but they can be snuffed out just like that.' A Dutch far-right leader has said Muslims should be banned from crossing European Union borders in a bid to rid the continent of Islam. Geerts Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party, made the comments in the wake of the latest attack in Germany in which a Syrian migrant blew himself in Ansbach in the name of ISIS, injuring 15. He accused the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte and German chancellor Angela Merkel of opening to door to terrorists by not controlling immigration over EU borders. Geerts Wilders, leader of the Freedom party, made the comments in the wake of the latest attack in Germany in which a Syrian migrant blew himself in Ansbach in the name of ISIS, injuring 15 The suicide bombing is the fourth major incident in Germany in quick succession. A pregnant woman was hacked to death with a machete by another Syrian in Reutlingen this week. On Friday, nine were killed in a shooting at a Munich shopping centre after an axe attack by an Afghan migrant injured five when he went on a rampage on a train near Wurzburg. Speaking after the latest attack, Wilders told The Times he wanted to 'de-Islamise' Europe, adding: 'Syrian. Again. And it will get much worse since our leaders are cowards and weak. 'We have imported a monster and this monster is called Islam.' Speaking after the latest attack, Wilders said: 'Syrian. Again. And it will get much worse since our leaders are cowards and weak.' He accused the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte and German chancellor Angela Merkel of opening to door to terrorists by not controlling immigration over EU borders as hundreds of migrants (pictured) march near Belgrade to Hungarian border Belgrade, Serbia In an article for Breibart last month, Wilders urged Muslims to turn their back on Islam, telling them to 'opt for freedom. He wrote: 'Islam is a totalitarian ideology. Muslims are its victims. 'Just imagine youre a gay person in a Muslim family. 'Just imagine youre a Muslim girl wanting to marry a non-Muslim. 'Just imagine being a Muslim wanting to convert to Christianity or any other religion or become an atheist. 'It is in the interest of our own Western civilisation, but also in the interest of the Muslims themselves, that we encourage as many Muslims as possible to turn their backs on Islam and become Christians or atheists or whatever. 'The more Muslims freeing themselves from Islam and the yoke of Muhammad, the better.' The politician is leading the opinion polls ahead of national elections in the Netherlands next year. The Rev. Tim LaHaye, co-author of the 'Left Behind' series, a multimillion-selling literary juggernaut that brought end-times prophecy into mainstream bookstores, died Monday. He was 90. LaHaye died in a San Diego, California, hospital, days after having suffered a stroke, according to his publicist Johnnie Moore. Co-authored with Jerry B. Jenkins, the 16-volume 'Left Behind' series of novels published by Tyndale House Publishers sold more than 80 million copies worldwide, Moore said. Tim LaHaye (left) died in a San Diego, California, hospital, after having suffered a stroke It had also popularized a Bible interpretation that said born-again Christians will be instantly taken to God in the Rapture, while those left behind on earth endure seven years of tribulation, he said. LaHaye was a key figure in conservative political groups, encouraging the Rev. Jerry Falwell to create the Moral Majority, forming the Council for National Policy, a secretive strategy group for prominent political and religious conservatives, and, along with his wife, Beverly, starting Concerned Women for America in 1979, as an alternative to liberal feminist organizations. He was also a prolific nonfiction writer, writing more than 60 additional books, including the Christian sex manual 'The Act of Marriage' and 'The Battle for the Mind,' whose denunciations of secularism helped rouse the religious right. Born in 1926, LaHaye had a hardscrabble upbringing in Detroit, served in the Air Force at the end of World War II and graduated from Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., where he met his wife. He earned a midcareer doctorate at Western Seminary in Portland, Ore., and joined the Southern Baptist Convention. The Left Behind series was a best-seller for Mr LaHaye and co-author Jerry B. Jenkins After leading churches in South Carolina and Minnesota, he moved to Southern California, and for a quarter-century led a thriving congregation that eventually became Shadow Mountain Community Church. After 1981, he devoted himself to writing, promoting his view of Bible prophecy, family life seminars and political activism. Some fellow conservative Christians pushed back against LaHaye's end-times views, known as premillennial dispensationalism, emphasizing that the books were fictional and should not be read as an exact theological interpretation of the Bible. Still, his books strongly shaped evangelical views of Jesus' Second Coming and popularized the ideas to the broader public. Jenkins called LaHaye a 'spiritual giant.' LaHaye extended his influence by founding Christian high schools, San Diego Christian College, known formerly as Christian Heritage College, and a church in the Atlanta area, along with helping establish the Institute for Creation Research, which rejects evolution and contends God created the Earth recently in six literal days. In 1987, LaHaye resigned as a co-chairman of Jack Kemp's Republican presidential campaign after news reports cited his criticisms of Roman Catholicism and Judaism. ^pCHEYENNE, Wyo. Aiming to develop new export markets for a fuel source hit by declining domestic demand, Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead on Monday signed an agreement calling for cooperation between the state and a consortium of Japanese companies in researching clean-coal technology. Mead signed a memorandum of understanding in Cheyenne with the president of the Japan Coal Energy Center. It represents about 120 manufacturing and energy companies, including Mitsubishi Materials Corp. and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. Mead said he expects a conference will take place in Wyoming, the nations largest coal-producing state, within a year that would allow Japanese researchers to work on coal issues with researchers from the University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources. He said his administration does not want the state to just be a leader in the production of coal, we want to be a leader in the solutions for coal here in Wyoming. Wyomings state government depends heavily on revenues from production of coal and other fuels. But Mead has been forced to cut the state budget in recent months because of falling energy prices and lower demand for coal. Wyoming also has been stymied in recent years in its push to send coal by train to ports in the Pacific Northwest for export to Asia. Opponents in Washington and Oregon are concerned about train traffic with dust, noise and possible environmental hazards plus the prospect of more global warming created abroad by coal-fired plants. Mead said making progress in reducing emissions from coal plants could help Wyoming export coal to meet demand from Japan. He said the research will focus on cutting CO2 emissions through capturing it and using it to make other products. As we find solutions for Wyoming, the country and the world for coal which is what were to do here it certainly makes the lift for getting ports open in places like the state of Washington easier when we can point to it and say, Were not just making this ask, we actually are doing the heavy lifting in terms of trying to find solutions for coal, Mead said. Osamu Tsukamoto, president of the Japan Coal Energy Center, said the consortium already is undertaking coal research and demonstration projects and expects the agreement with Wyoming will lead to useful information exchanges. Coal-fired plants in Japan now get the fuel from Australia and Indonesia but want to tap sources from other parts of the world, he said. Mark Northam, director of the University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources, said Japan has increased its reliance on coal for electrical generation following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Theyre relying on a modern, new coal fleet to replace the nuclear power that they have shut down because of the unfortunate accident they had a few years ago, Northam said. So our working with them is a way to develop that new advanced technology but also to ensure that it gets widely disseminated so that others can take advantage of it and use coal cleanly. Advertisement These are some of the unlikely locations used by couriers to leave valuable packages after arriving when the householders are absent. Lazy couriers, instead of returning later, try to hide the packages under door mats in an unlikely attempted to fool any neighborhood thieves. Dozens of people have taken to Imgur to post images of the most spectacular courier fails which include the least effective attempts at camouflage since the General Cornwallis tried to hide his redcoat army in Yorktown, Virginia in 1781. Luckily for this proud owner of a new PC, local neighborhood thieves will not notice the unit as it is cunningly hidden under a door mat Here in advance of barbecue season, this online shopper came home to discover their new purchase (luckily) still waiting for them Rapid door-to-door delivery is promised by most courier companies, but normally the driver stops the van before colliding with the house In the absence of a doormat to hide a delivery this courier decided to look towards the gods for inspiration to hide his package This Fed Ex delivery was covered in drops of a suspicious-looking red colored liquid which may be needed for future DNA evidence These $900 speakers are a must for any audiophile and the large writing on the side tells any passing thief what's inside It seems one of the qualifications necessary to become a courier isn't proficiency in the child's game of putting shapes into holes This package contains Lithium Ion batteries which are notoriously dangerous if their cells are damaged due to their habit of catching fire In an effort to confuse any potential thieves, this courier appears to have cunningly destroyed the box to make it look like trash Of all the excuses to be given when receiving a soiled package, having an item covered in 'cow feces' from other mail is impressive This courier almost managed to cover the five foot long box using a three foot wide mat, but for some inexplicable reason, failed In line with health and safety requirements, the potential thief in this situation is warned the package is heavy to avoid any injury At least this courier has tried his best to hide the fact he has just delivered a rather expensive Brother laser printer In this situation, a thief has to take a chance to see whether walking to the front of the house is worth while as the packet is covered Here, the mat has been placed on the boxes upside down which might be a potential ruse to confuse any passing miscreants A doting father has told how he received a text containing a wave emoji and a sleeping face from his daughter, just hours before she was killed in a speedboat accident. Clive Gardner believes 14-year-old Emily's final text was 'some sort of premonition' of her heartbreaking fate on her first speed boat holiday without her parents. Now heating engineer Mr Gardner, 44, and his hairdresser wife Debbie, who have two surviving children, are calling for an 'Emily's Law' to prevent further tragedies. Grief: Doting father Clive Gardner (pictured with wife Debbie) has told how he received a text containing a wave emoji and a sleeping face from his daughter, just hours before she was killed in a speedboat accident Clive Gardner believes 14-year-old Emily's final text (right) was 'some sort of premonition' of her heartbreaking fate on her first speed boat holiday without her parents. The 14-year-old is pictured left 'It was the very last time I heard from Emily,' Mr Garner said. 'Now I think it was some sort of premonition. It felt so strange to me. I'm not a superstitious person but after what happened, the text makes sense to me.' Emily drowned after becoming trapped beneath the capsized vessel, driven by her best friend's father, Paul Pritchard, of Hucclecote, near Gloucester, during the May Bank Holiday last year. The boat overturned after hitting a powerful wave, believed to have been 6ft tall. A Marine Accident Investigation Branch report later revealed that a newly fitted propeller also potentially contributed to the boat capsizing. Her parents, of Abbeymead, near Gloucester, now want 'Emily's Law,' to mean tighter restrictions on privately-owned boats and stronger maritime regulations. 'We want speedboat drivers to have compulsory licences and for it to be the law that all passengers wear proper-fitted life jackets,' Emily's mother said. Presently, speedboat drivers do not need any qualification and there is no legislation on the wearing of life jackets for adults or children in UK law. An International Competency Certificate can be taken for driving a speedboat in Britain, but it is not compulsory. Mrs Gardner, 44, added: 'We'd never have allowed our daughter to go on the boat if we'd been aware there were so few safety regulations. 'Now we'll make it our mission to ensure safeguards are on the statute books to stop similar tragedies and to prevent those left behind from falling apart like we have.' Emily, who had a 32-34in chest, was wearing an extra-small wetsuit. But she had been allocated an extra-large buoyancy aid, for a 45-50in chest which was not a life jacket. 'Emily was desperate to go away so we gave in,' Mrs Gardner said, remembering her daughter pleading to go on the trip to Brixham, south Devon. 'It sounded like they were going to have a fun weekend, and as our family didn't have much planned, we let her go.' Aftermath: Emily was trapped beneath a sunken boat for 25 minutes as a lifeboat crew battled to free her Emily, who had a sister Katie, 12, and brother Todd, nine, travelled on May 1 2015, with Mr Pritchard, his daughter Emily's best friend since the age of two and another friend. After enjoying breakfast in a cafe overlooking the harbour on May 2, the group decided to visit a cove a few miles away in the 16ft speedboat. They were joined by jet-skiers Philip Marr, who bought the 26-year-old boat with Mr Pritchard from eBay in August 2014, and his son. The boat left Brixham Harbour at about 11.30am, but overturned when it hit a wave, shortly after entering open water. One of the buoyancy aid's straps became caught on the cleat of the speedboat, where ropes are attached, holding Emily underneath it. M Pritchard and the two other girls escaped, but lifeboat crews couldn't free Emily for another 25 minutes. Attempts to revive her at Torbay Hospital failed. Now I think it was some sort of premonition. It felt so strange to me. Emily Gardner's father Clive Mrs Gardner added: 'We've been robbed of watching our little girl grow up, of celebrating her 16th birthday this year and going to her prom. 'If we'd known there were no laws covering leisure crafts then we would never have let Emily go. 'This is every parent's nightmare but we're determined to keep her memory alive.' Mr Gardner is similarly horrified at the lack of maritime regulation pertaining to speedboats. He added: 'It is just crazy that a child, never mind an adult, can board a boat unprotected.' The inquest jury in Torquay in June found Emily died after her 'ill-fitting' buoyancy aid became entangled on one of the speedboat's cleats. Ian Arrow, Coroner for Plymouth, Torbay and South Devon, reached a narrative conclusion. The family's lawyer Richard Langton, from Slater and Gordon, said: 'To lose a child is horrific for any parent, but to lose one in such avoidable circumstances has been very difficult for the Gardners to bear. 'It beggars belief that there is no legal requirement for all passengers, especially children, to wear a properly fitting life jacket or any life jacket at all, and that drivers of powerful speedboats don't require training and a licence. 'That is why Slater and Gordon would urge people to support the Gardners in supporting their bid to bring in Emily's Law, so tragedies like this never happen again.' Mr Pritchard's wife Alison said: 'We are devastated at the loss of Emily as she spent a lot of time with our family. Advertisement Bernie Sanders urged Democrats to rally behind Hillary Clinton at the party's convention yesterday as he took his final curtain call as a candidate for the presidential nomination. Sanders' speech in Philadelphia yesterday was too much to take for his most ardent fans, who were seen bursting into tears as he praised them for joining him on his 'political revolution'. Supporters of the Vermont senator bawled as they watched the man who had spent months telling them not to back Clinton backtrack and instruct them to vote for the former Secretary of State. 'Any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership Hillary Clinton must become the next President of the United States,' Sanders said, to cries from his fans. Scroll down for video Bernie Sanders urged Democrats to rally behind Hillary Clinton at the party's convention yesterday as he took his final curtain call as a candidate for the presidency. Pictured, a Sanders supporter cries during his speech Sanders' speech in Philadelphia yesterday was too much to take for his most ardent fans, who were seen bursting into tears as he praised them for joining him on his 'political revolution' Supporters of the Vermont senator bawled as they watched the man who had spent months telling them not to back Clinton backtrack and instruct them to vote for the former Secretary of State Sanders (pictured during his speech on Monday) insisted that his fight was not in vain and said a 'political revolution' was under way Sanders supporters openly wept during his speech, with many a tear shed by delegates holding up 'Bernie' signs. The socialist insisted that the foundations laid by his 1,846 pledged delegates were not in vain. 'Together, my friends, we have begun a political revolution to transform America and that revolution our revolution continues,' he said. Sanders admitted defeat to Clinton earlier this month, upsetting scores of his fans from the 'Bernie or Bust' movement who would rather not cast a vote in the election at all than back Hillary. There were also fears that delegates could hold anti-Clinton demonstrations during the convention after leaked emails suggested DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and senior staffers conspired to ensure Sanders did not win the nomination. The revelations and growing anger at the party establishment forced Sanders to send a text message urging supporters 'to not engage in any kind of protest on the floor'. Berned out: Sanders supporters openly wept during his speech, with many a tear shed by delegates holding up 'Bernie' signs Weeping: Ohio delegate Cynthia Cox deBoutinkhar, right, wiped away tears as she listened to Sanders speak at the convention on Monday An emotional supporter Sanders looks emotional as she cheers him on during his speech on the first night of the Democratic Convention In his speech on Monday evening, Sanders said he understood his backers' sadness at losing the race for the nomination, but added that 'no one is more disappointed than I am'. 'I hope you take enormous pride in the historical accomplishments we have achieved,' Sanders said in an attempt to lift the somber mood. 'Election days come and go. But the struggle of the people to create a government which represents all of us and not just the one per cent a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice that struggle continues. And I look forward to being part of that struggle with you.' Sanders said his campaign - which saw him provide a stronger challenge to Clinton than many expected - was about 'the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street' and 'the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality'. 'Let me be as clear as I can be. This election is not about, and has never been about, Hillary Clinton, or Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders or any of the other candidates who sought the presidency,' he said. 'Yes, we have made progress, but I think we can all agree that much, much more needs to be done. 'This election is about which candidate understands the real problems facing this country and has offered real solutions not just bombast, not just fear-mongering, not just name-calling and divisiveness.' In a direct jab at Trump, Sanders said the country needs 'leadership which brings our people together and makes us stronger... not leadership which insults Latinos and Mexicans and Muslims and women, African-Americans and veterans and seeks to divide us up'. In his speech on Monday evening, Sanders said he understood his backers' sadness at losing the race for the nomination, but added that 'no one is more disappointed than I am'. Pictured, Sanders fans struggle to contain their emotions A Sanders fan, sporting a 'Bernie 2016' sticker', grimaces and places his hands on his hips during the speech at the convention on Monday A man was seen struggling to hold back tears as he applauded Sanders during the speech to delegates, which came on the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia Sanders sought to shore up support for Clinton among skeptical Democrats on Monday evening, telling them that she would work to raise the minimum wage and would appoint Supreme Court justices who would in turn vote to defends workers' and women's rights. Furthermore, she wil lpursue legislation to 'revolutionize higher education in America', reform the criminal justice system, make healthcare affordable for all and bring the price of prescription drugs down, he said. 'It is no secret that Hillary Clinton and I disagree on a number of issues,' Sanders told the crowd. 'That is what this campaign has been about. Thats what democracy is about.' 'But I am happy to tell you that at the Democratic Platform Committee there was a significant coming together between the two campaigns and we produced, by far, the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party.' Sanders argued that the platform includes language in favor of breaking up the big banks and 'calls for strong opposition to job-killing free trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership'. He added that he remembered Sanders 'as a great first lady who broke precedent in terms of the role that a first lady was supposed to play as she helped lead the fight for universal health care'. Theresa May today said there was a 'strong will on both sides' to protect the common travel area between the UK and Ireland after Brexit. Speaking alongside Taoiseach Enda Kenny in Downing Street following the pair's first meeting, the Prime Minister said she would focus on 'securing a deal' that maintains an open border. Mr Kenny endorsed Mrs May's message, adding congratulations to Mrs May for entering Downing Street two weeks ago. Mrs May and Mr Kenny agreed to hold 'annual bilateral summits' to strengthen links during and after the Brexit process, which will involve establishing the only direct EU/non-EU border with Britain. Mrs May visited Northern Ireland yesterday and, after meetings with first minister Arlene Foster and deputy Martin McGuinness, said 'nobody wants to return to the borders of the past'. Scroll down for video Speaking alongside Taoiseach Enda Kenny in Downing Street following the pair's first meeting, the Prime Minister said she would focus on 'securing a deal' that maintains an open border Following the pair's talks in No 10, Mrs May said: 'I recognise that one of the biggest concerns for people is the common travel area. 'As I said yesterday, we benefited from a common travel area between the UK and the Republic of Ireland for many years before either country was a member of the EU. 'There is a strong will on both sides to preserve it and so we must now focus on securing a deal that is in the interest of both of us. 'And alongside this, we should continue our efforts to strengthen the external borders of the common travel area, for example through a common approach to the use of passenger data.' Mr Kenny said: 'I am delighted we have agreed to work together on continuing to work together on the strength and the closeness of the UK-Ireland relationship and I look forward very much indeed to working with the Prime Minister on the many issues where we share a mutual interest.' The Common Travel Area was first established in 1923, providing for minimal checks on people travelling by land or sea between Britain and Ireland, as well as other islands among the British Isles. The legally non-binding agreements evolved in 2014 to consider mutual recognition of visas and further amendments are likely to be necessary once the UK leaves the EU. The primary issue to be resolved is likely to relate to EU nationals who fly to Ireland and are then able to cross the border into Northern Ireland as today. Mrs May has insisted she does not want border controls imposed - implying checks on EU citizens departing Irish ports for the mainland UK - but much will depend on what if any version of free movement rules a post-Brexit Britain agrees to. Britain and Ireland will need to establish how to make the common travel area across the British isles work once Britain is no longer an EU member Mrs May said the economic relationship between the two countries was vital, 'supporting 400,000 jobs across our islands'. She said: 'These economic benefits matter to people across both countries. That's why we have agreed today that we both want to maintain the closest possible economic relationship in the future. 'Of course this means there will be a number of complex issues to address. We should take time now to study the options and to strive for practical solutions. 'And I have reiterated to the Taoiseach my commitment to involving the Northern Ireland Executive fully in those preparations.' Mrs May concluded: 'It is precisely because the relationship between the United Kingdom and Ireland is so deep and so important that there are many issues to resolve as the UK leaves the European Union. 'But I firmly believe that we can make a success of Brexit and take our relationship forwards not backwards.' Enda Kenny said he hoped for 'constructive' talks before he travelled to London to meet Theresa May at No 10 today, pictured At her meetings in Stormont yesterday, Mrs May promised a 'practical solution' on the future of the border and highlighted the 'common travel area' which existed before both Britain and Ireland joined the European Union. Ahead of today's talks, Mr Kenny said: 'I look forward to meeting with Prime Minister May. 'This meeting will provide an opportunity for us to have a strategic and constructive discussion on the impact of the referendum and how we are going to work together to protect the interests of all our citizens on these islands.' Speaking in Belfast after her meetings yesterday, Mrs May said: 'If you look ahead, what is going to happen when the UK leaves the European Union is that of course Northern Ireland will have a border with the Republic of Ireland, which will remain a member of the European Union. 'But we've had a common travel area between the UK and the Republic of Ireland many years before either country was a member of the European Union. 'Nobody wants to return to the borders of the past. 'What we do want to do is to find a way through this that is going to work and deliver a practical solution for everybody - as part of the work that we are doing to ensure that we make a success of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union - and that we come out of this with a deal which is in the best interests of the whole of the United Kingdom.' Mrs May said her talks at Stormont Castle with Mrs Foster and Mr McGuinness had concentrated on the impact of the Brexit vote, and characterised the discussions as 'very constructive ... positive'. She repeated her vow, made on the steps of Downing Street moments after becoming PM on July 13, that she would govern 'for the whole of the United Kingdom - of which Northern Ireland is a valued part'. She added: 'I'm very clear that the Government will deliver on the Stormont House Agreement and the Fresh Start Agreement.' Theresa May met with First Minister Arlene Foster (left) and deputy Martin McGuinness (right) at Stormont Castle in Belfast today Mrs May said: 'Brexit means Brexit, but we will be making a success of it and I am clear that the Northern Ireland Executive and the other devolved governments will be involved in our discussions as we set forward the UK position. 'I recognise there's a particular circumstance in Northern Ireland because, of course, it has a land border with a country, the Republic of Ireland, that will be remaining in the EU. 'We've had constructive talks about the will that we all have to find a way through this which is in the best interests of Northern Ireland and the best interest of the United Kingdom as a whole.' In Northern Ireland 56 per cent of people voted to Remain and the UK-wide vote to Leave has triggered intense political wrangling in the region. 'The result has sparked a renewed debate on a potential referendum on Irish reunification with the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state. At her meetings, Mrs May repeated her mantra that 'Brexit means Brexit' but said she was eager to find a 'practical solution' to the border issues between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland The Stormont Executive is divided on the EU issue, with Mrs Foster's Democratic Unionists backing Brexit and Mr McGuinness's Sinn Fein advocating Remain. Ahead of her visit, Mrs May insisted the UK's departure from the European Union must work for Northern Ireland and said she would work with all the province's political parties as she prepares for withdrawal negotiations. People and goods going between Northern Ireland and the Republic are currently able to move freely due to the common travel area (CTA), which was established in the 1920s. However, questions and concerns have been raised about what this means for the CTA and for both economies in the wake of the Leave vote. French President Francois Hollande has said the Irish border will be a special case in the Brexit negotiations. Advertisement The incredible tale of the last Nazi to surrender after World War Two has been revealed by his son. Lieutenant Wilhelm Dege's story has been previously untold outside Germany, but he is thought to be the last ever German soldier to succumb to allied forces. In an exclusive interview, Eckbart Dege, 74, whose father was awarded Germany's highest medal the Iron Cross, described in detail the precise historic moment his father, the last active German soldier, finally handed over his pistol. Lieutenant Wilhelm Dege's story has been previously untold outside of Germany, but he is thought to be the last ever German soldier to succumb to allied forces - four months after the official end of the war in Europe In an exclusive interview, Eckbart Dege, 74, whose father was awarded Germany's highest medal the Iron Cross, described in detail the precise historic moment his father, the last active German soldier, finally handed over his pistol. The lighter side of life at Worldie Bay as H. Semkat (left) and H. Reyer (right) hold two young polar bears A. Baumann in front of the instrument shelter - to fight effectively, the Germans were forced to establish their own weather station in the Arctic The retired German academic's father led Operation Haudegen, which was a German meteorological observation post in the Arctic. Upon war being declared in 1939, the German military High Command could no long obtain the necessary observations through the international meteorological network which were controlled and encrypted by the allies. To fight effectively, the Germans were forced to establish their own weather station in the Arctic. Weather reports were so crucial to German military strategy, Lieutenant Dege was commissioned to lead Operation Haudegen, which established a base on the remote Norwegian peninsular of Svalbard, near the North Pole. Upon war being declared in 1939, the German military High Command could no long obtain the necessary observations through the international meteorological network which were controlled and encrypted by the Allies Such was the remoteness of their camp, the soldiers were forced to carry out their own dentistry and here H. Reyer gets his tooth pulled out by A. Baumann while Dr Dege watches on Weather reports were so crucial to German military strategy, Lieutenant Dege was commissioned to lead Operation Haudegen, which established a base on the remote Norwegian peninsular of Svalbard, near the North Pole They transmitted reports for a year from August 5, 1944 until the eleven-man team learned of the German surrender from their wireless transmitter in May 1945 After twelve gruelling months surviving Polar bear attacks and being under constant threat of British Commando ambushes, they were ordered to destroy all their scientific and communications equipment The marooned soldiers were left with only a rowboat until a tiny Norwegian sealer called Blasel, arrived on September 3 1945 to take the men of Haudegen back to Norway They transmitted reports for a year from August 5, 1944 until the eleven-man team learned of the German surrender from their wireless transmitter in May 1945. After twelve gruelling months surviving Polar bear attacks and being under constant threat of British Commando ambushes, they were ordered to destroy all their scientific and communications equipment. The marooned soldiers were left with only a rowboat until a tiny Norwegian sealer boat called Blasel, arrived on September 3 1945 to take the men of Haudegen back to Norway. Dr Dege told the tale of the comedic scene on the night of his father's surrender. 'My father and his comrade Reyer went to the beach to greet the Norwegians,' he said. 'The captain, L. Albertsen of Troms, and the cook of the ship rowed ashore. 'My father greeted them in English, but the captain was totally confused, since he did not understand English. 'Then my father switched to Norwegian, which he spoke fluently, having been interpreter in the German Army in Norway from 1940 to 1943.' Lieutenant Dege's son Dr Dege told the tale of the comedic scene on the night of his father's surrender Dege and his comrade Reyer (pictured one from left) went to the beach to greet the Norwegians. Pictured here (left to right) is H. Semkat, H. Reyer, A. Baumann, H. Grams and H. Schneider After greeting the Norwegians on the beach, the captain, L. Albertsen of Troms, and the cook of the ship rowed ashore The last Nazi greeted them in English, but the captain was totally confused, since he did not understand English He then switched to Norwegian, which he spoke fluently, having been interpreter in the German Army in Norway from 1940 to 1943. 'He asked the captain: "Shall we start our official business right here on the beach or may I invite you to our station for a coffee and a schnapps?". 'The Norwegian captain answered: "Real coffee and a good German schnapps? Yes, of course." So the Haudegen people treated the Norwegians to all the good food, drinks, cigarettes they still had in their provisions. 'In the early morning hours of September 4, 1945 the Norwegian captain became a bit nervous. My father asked: "What is the matter?" 'The captain answered: "The Navy authorities in Norway have ordered me to first ask you to surrender". 'My father then replied: "Why don't you ask me?", to which the captain said, "I don't know how such things are done". He asked the captain: "Shall we start our official business right here on the beach or may I invite you to our station for a coffee and a schnapps?" The Norwegian captain answered: "Real coffee and a good German schnapps? Yes, of course." So the Haudegen people treated the Norwegians to all the good food, drinks, cigarettes they still had in their provisions In the early morning hours of September 4, 1945, the Norwegian captain became a bit nervous. Dege asked asked him what was wrong 'My father answered "I don't know either" and took his pistol from his holster, put it on the table, pushed it over to the Norwegian captain and said "With this I surrender". 'The Norwegian captain was very astonished. All he could say, was "May I keep the pistol?". 'Then my father formulated a document of surrender in Norwegian, which both men signed. 'That was the surrender of the last German military unit of WWII in many ways a strange surrender.' The captain sheepishly admitted The Navy authorities in Norway had ordered him to first ask Dege to surrender his weapons - some of which were found in a cave under the station (pictured) 40 years after the war ended. The father of Dr Dege, pictured here with the discovered weapons in 1985 alongside Norwegian Defence Museum's Jon Ulvens, told the captain to ask him for his surrender The captain did not know what to do, saying he was not sure how it was done, and the camp was still standing in 2005 (pictured here) Dege answered 'I don't know either' and took his pistol from his holster, put it on the table, pushed it over to the Norwegian captain and said 'With this I surrender'. Soldiers' diaries were also found in 1985. After their return to civilian life Wilhelm Dege and his unit tried to meet up every year after the war for a reunion although this was dangerously complicated during the Cold War with tensions high between East and West Germany. 'The year these eleven men spent in cramped quarters in a hostile environment of cold, gales and darkness shows how superb camaraderie and an understanding leadership were able to maintain high morale and helped the group to master the horrors of the Arctic night,' Eckart said. 'In the beginning yearly reunions of the Haudegen men only took place in East Germany. 'The West German 'Haudegen' men were always invited to join, but nobody dared to travel there because of the Cold War politics of the time. 'In 1984, a few years after the death of my father in 1979, I accepted an invitation from the East German Haudegen men and joined their reunion with my family. After their return to civilian life Wilhelm Dege and his unit tried to meet up every year after the war for a reunion although this was dangerously complicated during the Cold War with tensions high between East and West Germany (pictured left to right - H. Schneider, S. Czapka, W. Schlosser, H. Reyer) Dr Dege said: 'The year these eleven men spent in cramped quarters in a hostile environment of cold, gales and darkness shows how superb camaraderie and an understanding leadership were able to maintain high morale and helped the group to master the horrors of the Arctic night.' (Pictured left-right H. Schneider, S. Czapka, W. Schlosser, H. Reyer) In 1984, a few years after the death of his father in 1979, Eckhart Dege (pictured) accepted an invitation from the East German Haudegen men and joined their reunion with my family Dr Wilhelm Dege with his wife Liselotte Dege and son Eckart Dege in a picture taken during the leave before the Haudegen mission in summer 1944 'Then we were given a tip that the East German State Security the Stasi had watched these forbidden 'military comrades' reunions' and were planning a raid for the next reunion. 'So these Haudegen reunions came to an abrupt end. A few years after German reunification the tradition of yearly reunions was taken up again. 'With fewer and fewer Haudegen members alive, these reunions have come to a natural end. Police in Tenerife are searching for a British man wanted in connection with the serious stabbing of two fellow Brits in a late-night incident outside a popular row of pubs. The violent incident is being treated as a double attempted murder and both men, aged 32 and 45, are still seriously injured in hospital. Only the initials of the injured men - P.F for the older man and J.T. for the younger male - have been released. It is believed two men might have been involved in the attack which happened at around 10.30pm on Sunday in Avenida de San Francisco in the popular holiday resort of Los Cristianos. The Spanish press are reporting that one of the men police want to interview in connection with the incident is a 41-year-old British man already known to the authorities. He is described as very tall, well over six foot, and has a distinctive tattoo on his neck. A 45-year-old man is in 'very serious' condition in hospital after being knifed repeatedly in the resort of Los Cristianos (pictured) last night They are also searching for a red convertible car, an Audi with English number plates. It is believed the person who stabbed the two men, in what is being described as a brutal attack, used this to make his escape and that it was driven by a second person, also a Brit. Police have confirmed that the two British men attacked both received multiple stab wounds. The incident happened in an area which is away from the main centre of Los Cristianos at a row of bars and restaurants very popular with British tourists of all ages, including families with young children. It is not known as a trouble area and is near a busy shopping centre. Both men were treated at the scene by emergency medics and were taken by separate ambulances to two different hospitals in the island's capital of Santa Cruz. Officers have been out and about in the area to look for clues and to interview potential witnesses. At one stage, one of the pubs was roped off. The second victim, a 32-year-old man from Birmingham, was less seriously injured but was also being treated at the same hospital in the island capital this morning They have also been stopping cars in the area and have extended their search further afield to the neighbouring resort of Adeje where the main suspect used to live. The two Brits are understood to live on Tenerife as opposed to being holidaymakers and may have known their attacker. Police say the main suspect was already known to them in connection with drug trafficking. The scene of the stabbing - San Francisco Avenue - is only a short drive from the spot outside a bar in the Torviscas area of popular Adele Costa where a 53-year-old Brit died after a drunken fight with a father and son from the UK. They were subsequently questioned in court by a judge probing them on suspicion of manslaughter. An Ohio man slammed into multiple police cruisers over the weekend, injuring an officer, after calling in a profanity-laced rant about cops. Cuyahoga Falls Police Chief Jack Davis says the 46-year-old suspect called police at around 1.20am on Saturday and started 'going off' about officers in a 30-second foul-mouthed tirade. Police say the man then began driving erratically, smashed into a row of cruisers in the department's parking lot and hit a car with an officer inside. Scroll down for video Vehicular attack: A 46-year-old suspect slammed into three police cruisers outside the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department after calling in an anti-police rant The owner of this mangled pickup truck told a 911 dispatcher that he was going to kill police officers The officer, 11-year veteran Ted Davis, suffered serious, but not life-threatening, injuries. After the crash, police say the driver told them he set his Akron home on fire, reported NewsNet5. Firefighters arrived to find a blaze that caused major damage. As of Tuesday morning, authorities haven't released the suspect's name. Veteran hurt: Officer Ted Davis, an 11-year veteran of the department, suffered serious injuries when the suspect rammed his cruiser Chief Davis says the only other interaction the 46-year-old suspect had with police was in 2015, when they got a call about disorderly conduct, but no charges were filed at the time. Saturday's incident began unfolding at around 1.15am when the Cuyahoga Falls 911 dispatch center got a call from a man who began ranting about police. At one point on the call, which lasted 32 seconds, the suspect could be heard saying, 'I'll kill you mother******s.' The caller also reportedly referred to the police as 'illuminate' in his largely incomprehensible, expletive-laden tirade, reported the station Cleveland19. police chief. Just minutes later, the man crashed his red pickup truck into three of police vehicles in the parking lot of the precinct. When Officer Ted Davis responded to the scene, the suspect deliberately crossed into the lane where he was driving and slammed into the veteran cop's cruiser nearly head-on, according to Chief Davis. Nighttime smash-up: The suspect called 911 at around 1.20am on Saturday and then drove into a row of cruisers The unnamed suspect set his home in Akron on fire before driving into a row of police cruisers Ted Davis was rushed to Summa Akron City Hospital with internal injuries, as well as injuries to his lower body. Speaking to the Daily Mail on Tuesday, the Cuyahoga Falls police chief said his officer was expected to make a full recovery. A beauty queen and Miss Wales contestant was stabbed in the neck by her own mother while she was sleeping. Kumari Mahendran, 26, woke in horror when she felt a 'really hard punch' to her neck and her mother standing over her brandishing a steak knife. She shouted out 'Mum, you've stabbed me' before she escaped through the front door. A court heard how Chitrani Mahendran, 74, chased her daughter from room to room with the blade before she fled onto the street in her leopard-print nightwear. Kumari, who competed in Miss Wales 2013, had organised for her mother to be flown from Britain to her native Sri Lanka because of her ill health in the days before the attack. Kumari Mahendran, 26, was stabbed in the neck by her mother Chitrani Mahendran, 74, (pictured together) Kumari, who competed in Miss Wales 2013, had organised for her mother to be flown from Britain to her native Sri Lanka because of her ill health Recalling the ordeal the beauty queen told Cardiff Crown Court how she was woken twice by her mother stroking her hair as she lay in bed - but fell back asleep both times after she was told: 'Go to sleep, go to sleep.' But the next time she woke it was because she felt a sharp blow to her neck. She said: 'It felt like a really hard punch to my neck. I woke up and my mum was standing over me with a steak knife. 'I was really shocked and confused. I was thinking: "Has she stabbed me?" I touched my neck and felt blood coming out and felt really faint. 'I said to her "Mum you've just stabbed me'". Kumari managed to break free from her mother and escaped onto the street following the attack Kumari, who studied mathematics at Cardiff University, was then chased by her mother who was still wielding the steak knife. The 26-year-old said she could not unlock her phone to call an ambulance as her hands were soaked in blood. She explained: 'I felt very faint and scared. I tried to get out of the house but couldn't find my keys. 'She confronted me and I said I needed an ambulance, but she said first we needed to discuss what to say to the police.' Kumari wrestled with her mother in the living room and managed to grab the knife from her by clutching onto the jagged blade, before pushing her into the TV and escaping through the front door. Neighbour Elin Cooper, 18, was walking back home from morning lessons at nearby Ysgol Glantaf high school in Cardiff when she heard Kumari screaming down the street. She told the court: 'Kumari was shouting "Please help me, my mother has just stabbed me in the neck." 'She had blood all over her neck, chest and arms and on her leopard-style onesie. 'The mother was standing at the top of the road just looking at us.' Another neighbour Nia Davies, 43, took the blood-drenched girl inside her home while they waited for an ambulance to arrive. Kumari, who studied mathematics at Cardiff University, was chased by her mother who had the knife Paramedics drove her to University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, where doctors treated a 1cm cut to her neck following the attack in January. The court heard Mrs Mahendran, from Llandaff, Cardiff, would not appear in court as she is currently being treated by psychiatrists at Calverton Hospital, Nottingham. Prosecutor Andrew Jones said: 'Mrs Mahendran's mental condition has been accepted by several psychiatrists as being such she is not fit to stand trial. 'Her treatment will depend on whether she committed the act or not.' He said the jury's role would be not to decide whether she is guilty of unlawful wounding but whether she was responsible for the act she is charged with. The jury found she had committed the crime and sentencing was adjourned until September. P-platers will be banned from using mobile phone in their cars, sparking outrage from young tradesmen. The laws from the NSW Government will ban all P-plate drivers from using their mobile phones while driving for at least three years to tackle a surge in fatalities among young drivers. The move has been met with criticism from tradesmen who rely on their phones to drive between multiple jobs every workday, reports Sydney Morning Herald. New laws will see P-platers banned from using mobile phone in their cars in a bid to address fatalities among young drivers TPS Plumbing owner James Thornton said the new laws would have a drastic impact on his business, which employs seven P-platers out of nine total employees. 'Everything is reliant on our phones, because that is our system. This device tracks everyoneIt's going to affect my business dramatically.' Young drivers will be forced to buy high-cost navigation devices to get GPS directions on the job. Mr Thornton said all of his employees used iPhones in their cars, either mounted or with a hands-free system. Seven of his nine employees at his business, TPS Plumbing, were P-platers and used the app's inbuilt navigation system to direct them to as many as 30 plumbing jobs across Sydney each day. This year 21 young people have died in crashes involving P-plate drivers in NSW, with new P-plate drivers dying at twice the rate of all drivers - despite comprising only 10 per cent of all drivers. The move has been met with criticism from tradesmen who rely on their phones to drive between multiple jobs every workday Advertisement One of the world's most deadly predators, the Great White Shark catches unsuspecting seals in the blink of an eye with a swift pounce and lethal bite. But this one added a flourish to its hunting technique, demonstrating awesome power with a stunning backflip in the waters off Seal Island in False Bay, South Africa. The jaw-dropping moment stunned thrill-seekers watching from a catamaran who had deployed a dummy seal in a bid to lure the shark towards them. Acrobatic: This great white demonstrated awesome power with a stunning backflip in the waters off Seal Island in False Bay, South Africa Heat-pounding: The jaw-dropping moment stunned thrill-seekers watching from a catamaran who had deployed a dummy seal in a bid to lure the shark towards them The hungry shark leaped from the water and bit down on the catamaran's dummy seal before disappearing into the waves. Yirui Heng, from Singapore, photographed the action, which lasted for just seconds. The 26-year-old veterinary surgeon said: 'It was awe-inspiring to see a great white shark backflip out of the water. 'When the nose of the shark first broke the surface of the water, I was in complete disbelief. 'Thankfully, my instinct to press the shutter came quick enough for me to catch the shark in flight, completely out of the water. 'It happened within a matter of seconds, and the loud excited cheers from the boat must have lasted for minutes afterwards.' Yirui waited for 15 minutes to catch a glimpse of the shark, which was attracted to the catamaran by a fibreglass decoy seal, used by the tour operators to increase the chances of a shark sighting. Fooled: The hungry shark leaped from the water and bit down on the catamaran's dummy seal before disappearing into the waves Yirui said: 'This was my first ever encounter with a great white shark. I feel extremely fortunate to have gone out to sea that day. The shark was just 10 metres away from the boat. 'I feel that sharks are often misunderstood by humans and are in fact curious, amiable and fantastic creatures to observe.' During shark season in South Africa, which is between April and October, the Great White Shark is known to prey on the Cape fur seals found off the coast of Cape Town in South Africa Pictures show the pole stopped approximately and inch from Khloe's head , through the headrest and stopped A pole went through the A metal pole went through the windshield of a minivan that crashed through a fence in South Florida and narrowly missed hitting a four-year-old girl sitting in a car seat. In a Facebook posting, the Coral Springs Fire Department called Monday's incident the 'close call' of the year, adding that the pole was 'inches away from striking the child sitting in the safety seat'. Driver Besayda Sosa tells WPLG she 'doesn't even want to think about' how close the pole came to hitting her daughter Khloe. Scroll down for video This is the metal pole that nearly impaled four-year-old Khloe Sosa in Coral Springs, Florida, after her mom Besayda Sosa crashed into a fence Coral Springs Fire Department called Monday's incident the 'close call' of the year in a Facebook post after the pole nearly struck Khloe Besayda Sosa (left) said she 'doesn't even want to think about' how close the pole came to hitting Khloe (right) Sosa lost control of the Toyota Sienna while driving Khloe to school in Coral Springs, Florida, after hitting a curb, according to authorities. 'She lost control for a couple of seconds, veered north and there's a metal fence,' Coral Springs Detective Ernesto Bruna told the Sun Sentinel. She crashed into the fence and the railing slammed through the van. The guardrail pierced the windshield, went through the passenger seat headrest, stopped about an inch in front of Khloe's head. Sosa lost control of the Toyota Sienna while driving Khloe to school after hitting a curb, according to authorities The guardrail pierced the windshield, went through the passenger seat headrest, stopped about an inch in front of Khloe's head Pictures taken by fire rescue officials show that the pole ended up just to the left of the child's head, leaving her unscathed Sosa screamed as the pole smashed through the car. 'She screamed at me and she was starting to cry,' Khloe told WLPG. Pictures taken by fire rescue officials show that the pole ended up just to the left of the child's head. Khloe was taken to Coral Springs Medical Center as a precaution for a small cut on her forehead and minor swelling. Sosa said she's not sure how the pole came through the window, but she slammed on her breaks as it made impact with the vehicle. Hours later Khloe boasted to the TV station that she didn't even cry. '(The police) said I was brave,' she said. Sosa said she's not sure how the pole came through the window, but she slammed on her breaks as it made impact with the vehicle Advertisement An adorable dog with a rare condition is helping teach kids that different is beautiful - thanks to his own unusual skin markings. Recent medical tests revealed 14-year-old Rowdy has vitiligo, a disorder that causes the loss of skin pigment. Owners of the black Labrador, Niki and Tim Umbenhower, are constantly stopped by strangers who think they have painted the dog's eyes white. Scroll down for video Niki Umbenhower from Canby, Oregon, pictured along with Rowdy, said her dog has been diagnosed with Vitiligo Rowdy's skin colour began changing about a year ago when large white patches started developing around his eyes Rowdy has been appointed as a representative of the American Vitiligo Research Foundation to provide inspiration to child sufferers Rowdy has even become somewhat of an Internet sensation, attracting thousands of fans who follow his everyday life. And now, because of his condition, he has been appointed as a representative for kids with vitiligo by the American Vitiligo Research Foundation (AVRF). The gorgeous dog will stand against bullying and help kids love the skin they were born in. Niki, from Canby, Oregon, USA, said: 'Rowdy's become a celebrity. 'It's exhausting taking him anywhere because people always stop us and comment how he looks like an orca or a reverse panda. 'They ask me if I have painted his eyes. 'He's always been special and a bit of a character, even when he was young. 'I think it's great that he can help raise awareness and educate people about vitiligo.' Children with the complaint can often face bullying at school with class mates using hurtful and pejorative names for their condition Rowdy, who is now 14, suffered a number of near-death experiences, even being shot by the police and drinking toxic water Some of the children who meet Rowdy ask whether he is a 'reverse panda' or if his owners have painted on the white patches Rowdy's white markings began to appear a year ago and since then they have spread to the dog's belly. Although vets suspected vitiligo it wasn't until last month a biopsy confirmed he had the condition. As it turns out, Rowdy has always been a special canine. His owners believe he has nine lives after a number of near-death experiences almost claimed his life. Scraps he has recovered from in the past include being shot by a police officer and having his stomach pumped after guzzling toxic water. As he gets older, Niki and Tim are hoping he can take it a bit easier and focus on his new charity gig. Niki added: 'He's 14 years old now and has been through a lot. 'We say he has nine lives because of everything that has happened to him. 'He's always getting himself injured or into pickles. 'One day we will make a movie of his life - I can see him in Hollywood.' Founder of AVRF, Stella Pavlides, said: 'The kids will love Rowdy - he'll help them to feel good about the condition. 'The foundation supports finding a cure through an alternative to animal testing, so it's great to have Rowdy on board.' The family is also raising funds for Rowdy's cause. According to Niki, Rowdy 'is always getting himself into pickles' and should probably have a movie made on his extraordinary life Family of the man, Ian O'Sullivan, 24, is understood to be ' Irish man and American woman have now been fined 2000 baht - $57 An Irish man and an American woman have each been fined $60 for performing a sex act in public. The couple were caught in the act just feet away from a packed street in Phi Phi Island, Thailand. The apologetic pair, who have now parted ways, were each fined 2000 baht for acting inappropriately in public after handing themselves in. Forgive us! The apologetic pair, who have now parted ways, were each fined 2000 baht for acting inappropriately in public after handing themselves in They were asked to pray for mercy and forgiveness, according to the Sun. A Thai police spokesmen said: 'The woman was a 21-year-old exchange student and the man was a 24-year-old tourist.' 'The two said they were drunk at the time of the incident, and that after they were confronted by locals they stopped. The man later left for Koh Tao, while the woman returned to Chiang Mai.' The shocking incident was recorded by locals outside The Hussin House Hotel on Phi Phi Island. Footage shows a woman wearing a white bikini crouched against a wall, performing a sex act on a man. A friend of the man, named by The Sun as 24-year-old Ian O'Sullivan, said: 'We started to realise it was Ian when we saw the video on Saturday. 'It's really hard to believe it is him as he is a real upstanding guy. 'His family will be devastated.' This is the moment a man and woman were caught in the middle of a sex act on a busy street in Thailand They are interrupted by locals who are clearly angry at what they are seeing. The man then 'apologizes', before getting himself re-dressed. 'Why are you f****** outside here, man,' says one man. 'What are you doing here. What are you smoking, what are you drinking?' After being threatened with the police, the man involved in the sex act says 'no', before it is pointed out that they are close to a busy street with people walking around. The man can be seen apologising after being caught in the act, before he leads the American woman away While the man appears apologetic after being 'caught int he act,' the woman in the white bikini, who is swaying, appears less repentant as she is heard saying 'get over it'. The two, who are now stood up, are asked by one of the locals where they are from, to which the woman replies she is from 'America'. The man then says that he is 'Irish'. The first American to undergo a double hand transplant says he wants to have both of them removed because they do not work. Jeff Kepner, 64, lost both of his hands to sepsis in 1999 and had prosthetics replaced with donor hands in 2009. After having the new hands fitted, Mr Kepner, from Augusta, Georgia, spoke of his wishes to hold his wife and cook again. But seven years later, the father says he is no nearer to being able to do either of those things and has 'zero per cent' function in his hands. Jeff Kepner, 64, was the first American to have a double hand transplant but wants them removed because they do not work Mr Kepner says he has 'zero per cent' function in his hands and would rather go back to having prosthetics 'From day one I have never been able to use my hands,' Mr Kepner told Time. 'I can do absolutely nothing. I sit in my chair all day and wear my TV out,' he added. Mr Kepner lost both his hands and both of his legs after sepsis that began as a throat infection spread throughout his body. He was coping with prosthetics but held out hopes that having the hands of a dead person attached could help him return to a more conventional life. Mr Kepner was under the impression that if he did not gain feeling in his new hands within a year of the nine-hour operation at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), he would be able to return to using prosthetics instead. However, it is not that simple. Dr Vijay Gorantla, medical director at UPMC, told Time that his patient would need extensive physical therapy if he had the hands removed - and even then the prosthetics might not work. Mr Kepner (pictured with his wife, Valarie) lost both his hands and both of his legs after sepsis that began as a throat infection spread throughout his body 'We believe that additional, minor surgical procedures - and commitment to more physical therapy - could improve the function of his hands to help him with activities of daily living,' Dr Gorantla said. Seventeen years on from his own hands being amputated, Mr Kepner said he has no intention of having any more surgery. 'I am not going through all those operations again,' he said, suggesting he will not have the hands amputated. He added that he had nothing against the surgeons who carried out his double transplant, saying he took a chance with the surgery and it just did not work out. Mr Kepner said he had 75 per cent function when he had prosthetic hands, but that was now at 'zero per cent'. Dr W. P. Andrew Lee, who carried out the complex procedure, admitted that Mr Kepner's hands were not working as well as other transplant patients. Kiran Sheikh (pictured) is searching for the stranger who rescued her when she was dumped in a telephone box as a baby An adopted woman is searching for the stranger who rescued her when she was dumped in a telephone box as a baby. Kiran Sheikh, 22, was abandoned by her mother on April 30, 1994 when she was just two hours old. The frightened mother, who already had six children, was in a violent relationship and was unable to cope with having another child. After giving birth alone on her bathroom floor, she wrapped her little girl in blankets and ran with her to a nearby phone box. She then called Samaritans and begged them to come quickly before leaving the tiny baby on a street corner, in Newham, east London. The charity workers promised they would come. But before they got there, the child was discovered by a man wanting to use the phone to call home. He called the police and the baby was taken to Newham General Hospital, where she was given the name 'April' after the month in which she was born. Officers launched an appeal to try and find April's mother but did not find her until two years later, when she was hospitalised while giving birth to her eighth child. By that time, the little girl had been adopted by a Pakistani family who called her Kiran. The man who found her tried to keep in touch, sending gifts, letters and birthday cards - but social services told him to cut ties with the little girl. Now, 22 years on, after learning about her past, Ms Sheikh is desperate to find the caring stranger who found her so she can thank him. According to social services, the man was called John or Joe Campbell and is of Nigerian descent, but they have no contact details for him. Ms Sheikh, who lives in London, said: 'I realised I was adopted when I was about eight, because I began noticing that I didn't look or seem like my parents. 'My mum and dad were both amazing but I was bullied at school and struggled with my identity. 'It has been difficult but now I am really focused on finding the man who rescued me from the phone box so I can say thank you. The 22-year-old was abandoned by her mother on April 30 1994 when she was just two hours old. She is pictured as a baby After giving birth alone on her bathroom floor, she wrapped her little girl in blankets and ran with her to a nearby phone box. Posters were circulated after the little girl was found (pictured) 'He sent me cards and was actually interested in me. What he did was so sweet. I would also try and find out what exactly happened that night. I am just so grateful. 'The main purpose is to get to him. And if I'm lucky, my mum way want to contact me too. The man who found her tried to keep in touch, sending gifts, letters and birthday cards - but social services told him to cut ties with the little girl Ms Sheikh found out about her past she was 18.Two years after having Kiran, her biological mother, who is English, was taken to hospital when she gave birth to her eighth child. While she was there, she confessed to staff that she was in a violent relationship and her partner - who cannot be named for Ms Sheikh's safety - was arrested. Out of spite, Ms Sheikh's father, who is of Jamaican and Indian descent, told police that the phone box baby belonged to his girlfriend. She was questioned by police and confessed what she had done but was not prosecuted and later completely disappeared. 'My mum told police she was in a really abusive relationship which is why she had to give me up,' she said. 'He was violent, angry and a stalker. He was always following her and wouldn't let her go anywhere. 'Throughout her pregnancy with me she was so scared. She didn't get any treatment or go to the hospital.' She added: 'The police launched a massive investigation and put posters up all around the local area. 'They tried to trace my mum but they couldn't do it. There was a lot of publicity at the time and they tried to trace her but they couldn't find her at all.' Ms Sheikh has since been in touch with her other siblings but only maintained contact with one, Zoe, who was also put up for adoption and now lives in Florida, US. Her father is now in prison in Canada for attempted murder after he stabbed another ex-girlfriend 30 times. A stash of more than a dozen guns, rounds of ammunition and drugs have been uncovered in a police raid. Police say about 15 firearms were found during the search of the Ravensbourne property, near Toowoomba in southern Queensland on Tuesday morning. A local 54-year-old man has been charged with a number of weapons, firearm and drug offences. A stash of more than a dozen guns, rounds of ammunition and drugs have been uncovered in a police raid in southern Queensland. Pictures of the stash uncovered in the raid show an extensive collection of weapons and ammunition that cover two table tops. Boxes of bullets are stacked high alongside guns in a range of sizes. Police did not include images of the drugs they also seized from the property. The Ravensbourne man was charged with four counts of unlawful possession of weapons. He was also charged with one count each of possessing modified firearms, possessing shortened firearms, possessing explosives (ammunition), possessing dangerous drugs and possessing utensils. The 54-year-old is expected to appear in the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on August 29. Pictures of the stash uncovered in the raid show an extensive collection of weapons and ammunition that cover two table tops Two junior officers managed to set fire to their mess after allegedly having a duel with flare guns after a boozy formal dinner. The 2nd lieutenants apparently climbed into kayaks in the outdoor swimming pool at Allenby Barracks in Bovington and began firing at each other on Friday night. But one of the flares, designed to call for help at sea, managed to start a major fire in the seven-storey mess, which has been badly damaged. Drama: This is fire as it took hold, and it appears two 2nd lieutenants each climbed into kayaks in the swimming pool began firing at eachother Damage: This is the corridor Allenby Barracks in Bovington where a flare fight between two officers caused a major blaze Aftermath: This is the officer's mess at Bovington, pictured today, which had to be evacuated after the fire in its top floor on Friday The Royal Military Police is now investigating how a flare fight apparently started outside the building managed to cause a fire in its top floor. It is not clear if a flare smashed through a window, or if the duel continued inside. Ten fire engines attended the blaze but hit trouble because the hoses in the building were not working after a Legionnaires scare earlier this year, according to ForcesTV. Firefighters instead had to use water from the swimming pool the officers had been kayaking in to put out the blaze. Photos from the scene show one corridor has been badly damaged, windows were blown out and the building's exterior was scorched. MailOnline understands that the Royal Military Police is now investigating the incident and if they find the fire was started deliberately the men, in their twenties, could face court martial. But one Army source told ForcesTV, who helped uncover the incident, the officer who fired the flare that started the blaze 'is a legend and deserves some kind of reward'. If the fire is not deemed deliberate the most likely punishment for the men involved is a warning and a fine. An Army source said the men had been at the barracks' 'Father and Son Dinner', held for officers who have completed the Royal Armoured Corps troop leaders course. The 2nd lieutenants both completed their officers' training at Sandhurst in April before being sent to train as tank commanders in Dorset. They will have since moved on to their regiments elsewhere in the UK. The Ministry of Defence has confirmed they are investigating the blaze. Damage: This is a photograph showing the scorched front of the building, which is being investigated by military police Probe: MailOnline understands that the Royal Military Police is now investigating the incident at Allenby Barracks, pictured, and if they find the fire was started deliberately the men, in their twenties, could face court martial. An Army spokesman said: 'We can confirm a fire occurred on Friday evening at Bovington Camp, Dorset Fire & Rescue attended the fire. There was some damage but no one was injured, while an investigation is taking place it would be inappropriate to comment further'. The mess was evacuated over the weekend and is empty while the firm alarm system is tested. The MoD has denied the building has been condemned. Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service confirmed they were called to the barracks at around midnight on Friday. A spokesman said: 'Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service was called to Bovington Camp at 11.57pm on Friday 22 July after a fire was reported on the top floor of a seven storey residential building. 'As per protocols for fires in residential high rise buildings, ten fire engines were sent, together with an aerial ladder platform. Dasha has received abuse from the Mean Girls star's fans on social media She tweeted a picture of Russian Egor in a club with Dasha after their row Lohan was angry with Dasha after she went nightclubbing with Tarabasov Lindsay Lohan's former best friend has been forced to move house over sinister threats from the troubled star's fans - after Lohan made the extraordinary claim that she is a prostitute. In a bizarre rant, Lohan said her fiance Egor Tarabasov was nightclubbing with Dasha Pashevkina who she outrageously labelled 'a Russian hooker' in their latest, explosive bust up. But Dasha, 26, who was asked to be a bridesmaid at their wedding, hit back at the actress' incredible slur - and claims she was only trying to help the warring couple. Scared: Lindsay Lohan's former best mate Dasha Pashevkina (pictured) - who she extraordinarily called a prostitute - has been forced from her home after receiving death threats from the troubled star's fans Jealous: Lindsay Lohan accused the former friend - who she had asked to be her bridesmaid - of sleeping with her fiance Egor Tarabasov. Above, the couple pictured in May 2016 Clubbing: But an outraged Lohan shared a picture of her fiance inside the club, which had clearly been snapped by someone with an allegiance to her rather than Egor and accused him of being out with Dasha Packing up: Egor was spotted today moving out of the Lohan's London house suggesting they've broken up Dasha was furious the star had tweeted a picture of her home address and mobile number in a tweet when she had been out partying with Egor. She said: 'I trusted her and did not expect her to make all my personal details public. 'Now I am receiving threats from her fans and I am quite scared. I have had to move out for a while.' Speaking to Russian website Peopletalk, she revealed her side of the story about her, Lindsay and Egor - even claiming that she introduced Lohan to Egor. But now it looks as if the engagement may be over after Egor was photographed moving his belongings out of the star's 3.2million west London home. Dasha, a clothes designer first met the star 18 months ago through a mutual friend and was called by her because she wanted to wear her designs on the red carpet. 'Unfortunately, sometimes she thought it was not necessary to pay for the things because she was a celebrity. Well, the payment has finally reached us and it was not money, but betrayal,' she said. Dasha went on: 'We often saw each other, we chatted on phone and did not have any secrets from each other. Ex-friend: Lohan and Dasha have been close for some time with the actress popping up on the designer's social media (pictured this time last year) and the star has also worn some of her designs Mixed messages: After denying for months she is engaged to Russian millionaire Egor Tarabasov, Lohan finally made it official calling him her fiance early Sunday... as she revealed he had not come home that night 'In summer last year we were travelling together. Once, when I was at Mykonos with my friends, she joined us for lunch at Nammos Beach Club where I introduced her to Egor. 'I was among the first who got to know about their engagement' she said. 'I was so glad about it - Lindsay asked me to be a bridesmaid.' And Dasha - backed by her mother Antonina Pashevkina is now demanding a humbling public apology from Lohan. 'I was abused by the fact that she told lies about me in public and dirtied my name in all social networks,' she said, adding that she will take legal action if the US-born star refuses to apologise. Dasha strongly denied Lohan's claims and said she has time and again rescued the actress when she fell out with Egor - but the latest row has left her frightened. 'She blocked my phone number in Egor's mobile while he was sleeping. She was jealous about any girl around him without a reason. Dasha Speaking to Russian website Peopletalk, she revealed the truth about her, Lindsay and Egor The two women first met 18 months ago via a mutual friend, she told the website, and was then frequently called by the star who wanted to wear her designs on the red carpet Dasha - backed by her mother Antonina Pashevkina is now demanding a humbling public apology from Lohan 'Despite all this, I wanted to believe that she was a good person after all, and I kept sympathising with her when they fell out.' And it comes as the actress's father Michael texted his future son-in-law on Saturday night, warning him to stay away from his daughter, claimed TMZ. 'You threaten my daughter, touch her or if anything happens to her and you will have no where to hide mother ducked like weasel [sic],' he reportedly wrote. The Russian fashionista fell out with US actress Lohan a month ago when they celebrated their birthdays on Greek island Mykonos. Dasha went on: 'But after yet another fight with Egor she sent me a message that I was no longer invited to her party. 'It turned out that the reason for it was because I had lunch with Egor and our friends on the very day they argued and she was not there. We have not been in touch since then.' Dasha also explained events on the night of Lohan's most recent bust up with Egor that prompted a 5am bust-up and the police being called to Lohan's address. She said that she had been drinking at celeb hangout the Chiltern Firehouse and Egor and Lohan were also there. Seemed fine: Just a few days ago, the couple looked loved up as they holidayed in Greece Row: In a bizarre rant Lohan posted an Instagram picture of her fiance with Dasha at the nightclub and allegedly filmed her ex-friend leaving the club Just after 5am London time, the actress posted another picture of her fiance but failed to make much sense. Egor was pictured today moving his things out of Lohan's 3.2million west London home She added she was 'surprised' to see the actress and her beau in the same venue, but sitting at different tables with separate groups of friends. Dasha said: 'Lindsay glanced at me several times and soon left. A bit later Egor approached me. 'He asked me to excuse Lindsay for her behaviour on Mykonos and said that they had a big quarrel about it.' Dasha said Egor then left the venue with his friends. 'Later he called me and asked if we could get together as we used to do in old good times, if we can forget all sorrows and if he could invite me to a club,' she said. She said she met Egor in Cirque Le Soir - but someone took a photo of Egor inside and sent it to Lohan. Lohan posted the photograph on Instagram and accused Egor of lying to her about his whereabouts. In an angry rant, she posted: 'Wow thanks #fiance with Russian hooker @dasha_pa5h.' Lindsay later posted the woman's home address and email with a bizarre rant that included Donald Trump and Putin hashtags, before deleting it. She went on: : 'I guess I was the same at 23... S****y time - it changes at 26/27' adding: '@e2505t thanks for not coming home tonight. Fame changes people.' Dasha then claims the star waited outside Cirque Le Soir for her and filmed her leaving the club. 'She was filming me and abusing me, trying to provoke my aggression. A minute later I saw her Instagram post. Uninvited: According to Dasha, this isn't the first time the couple have fallen out over her - she was uninvited to the star's birthday party on Greek island Mykonos after Dasha had lunch with friends and Egor Party: Dasha says she was invited to the club by Egor, who had spotted his old friend at a London restaurant 'Now I have to sort out the consequences of this unpleasant situation and to explain everywhere that I am just a victim of these circumstances.' Dasha's mother Antonina added: 'This person made unfounded and unfair accusations about my daughter and should apologise in public. 'I think that such behaviour should not be taken into consideration - and she should not be allowed to disgrace our family. A man has shot dead a German doctor before killing himself at a Berlin hospital. The shooting occurred around 1pm on Tuesday at the mouth, jaw and face surgery unit of the Benjamin-Franklin Hospital in the southwestern district of Steglitz. German newspaper Tagesspiegel reports the shooter, 72, was a patient at the hospital and the murder took place during a consultation on the fourth floor of the hospital. The 55-year-old doctor is said to be a senior dental surgeon and a father of two. Berlin police initially said the doctor had suffered life-threatening injuries, but later said he had died. The circumstances of the shooting are still being investigated. Police said there was no indication of a 'terrorist background' to the attack. Police are seen outside the university clinic in Steglitz, a southwestern district of Berlin People are seen returning to the university clinic after the doctor was shot and killed 'We have no evidence of other injured people or more perpetrators,' Berlin police added. Witnesses reportedly heard several shots and the building was evacuated. The incident took place at around 11:00 GMT and is now said to be 'under control'. A series of attacks over the past days, including the shooting deaths of nine people and a gunman in Munich on Friday, have prompted officials to call for stricter gun laws in Germany. Police confirmed that the doctor had 'sadly passed away'. He was initially in a critical condition The shooting took place at the University Hospital Benjamin Franklin in Steglitz, Berlin Natalie was alone on an island in the middle of nowhere, trapped with an 'abusive' farmer and fearing for her life in what she now describes as her own 'Wolf Creek' experience. He was slaughtering lambs in front of her to scare her and his drunk friends would hammer on her locked bedroom door during a terrifying ordeal on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. The 27-year-old IT worker says her traumatic experience was like that of 'Wolf Creek', a horror movie based on the killing of British tourist Peter Falconio in the Northern Territory in 2001. Scroll down for video Natalie, 27, has recalled her shocking ordeal working on a remote farm on Kangaroo Island, South Australia Natalie had been attempting to complete 88 days' work required to extend her 417 working holiday visa She revealed to SBS Insight how she managed to escape the remote farm, on which she had no cell phone reception, no internet, and 50 kilometres to travel to the nearest town.Natalie had gone to the farm to complete the 88 days rural work required to extend her 417 working holiday visa after being an au pair in Sydney. 'I checked him out on Facebook, checked out the comments, Googled him, Googled the company, ABN number, everything ... it all looked fine.' However, when she was picked up at the Adelaide airport, the farmer appeared to be drunk, and when they arrived at the farm, the wife and other employees he'd described were non-existent. It only got worse. He killed lambs as she watched. Natalie recounted her horrifying ordeal to SBS, discussing how the farmer killed lambs in front of her Natalie said it took her two weeks to finally escape from the remote farm on Kangaroo Island '[He'd] throw them off into piles and say, this is where they go and this is what happens when this annoys me. He was a very angry person.' She was terrified. His intimidating behaviour, verbal abuse and aggression made it worse. One night about 2am, about eight-nine of his friends arrived, drunk, so she locked herself into her room. 'They were smashing on the window and smashing on the door and then calling my name, telling me to come out,' she told Insight. Natalie knew she had to escape. After two weeks trapped on the property, the farmer went out and she used her IT knowledge to connect to the internet on the farmer's unused modem and contact her au pair mother, who in turn alerted police. According to News.com.au, she 'literally' jumped into a police car as it arrived at the property. 'I burst into tears. 'By this stage I was hyperventilating.' She said police had been called to the farm before, however, the owner hadn't committed an offence and there was nothing he could be charged with. However, the man was known to police and similar incidents had occurred before. Natalie was never paid and the Department of Immigration wouldn't could her time at the property towards her 88 days, Insight reported. A court judge said Tuesday he wont dismiss a suit against the state Health Council for holding an illegal public meeting when it approved rules for a new radioactive waste disposal in North Dakota last year. Two environmental groups want the judge to enforce the states public meeting laws that were violated when the advisory council to the state Health Department approved the new waste rules last August. The North Dakota Energy Industry Waste Coalition and the Dakota Resource Council say the proper remedy is for the meeting to be held over with proper notice to the public. The Health Council asked the court to dismiss the suit, but South Central District Judge Thomas Schneider denied that motion after hearing arguments last week. Schneider said some facts need to be clarified, including whether anyone was harmed by not having notice and whether they could have made comments at the meeting. In the meantime, the council decided to hold a do-over meeting at 9 a.m. Aug. 9 at the Pioneer Room in the Capitol. It will consider ratifying the new radioactive waste rules and other business it conducted at the illegal meeting, according to its agenda. The environmental groups attorney, Sarah Vogel, said she plans to press forward despite the scheduled do-over, as she wants to create legal precedent to clarify that the attorney general doesnt have the last word in public meeting violations. The attorney general did find that the councils meeting notice was inadequate and said it could be remedied by mailing the meeting minutes to the complaining parties. The radioactive waste rules went into effect Jan. 1, but so far, no permits have been issued for the disposal of up to 50 picocuries of radioactive materials from oil and gas production. The 69-year-old can face up to 15 years in jail if found guilty He allegedly bathed young street children and groomed them with money He is accused of sexually abusing 16 girls between the ages of eight and 17 Ellis was accompanied by his female translator during testimony He was pictured arriving for his ongoing trial in Denpasar on Thursday An Australian man accused of sexually abusing 16 young girls in Indonesia arrived at his ongoing trial on Tuesday, accompanied by his translator. Robert Andrew Fiddes Ellis, who is being tried at Denpasar District Court, allegedly abused street children between the ages of eight and 17 in Bali after giving them cash and gifts. The 69-year-old from Beechworth in Victoria was pictured hanging his head as he walked into the court with his female translator. He faces up to 15 years in jail if convicted. Robert Andrew Fiddes Ellis (pictured), 69, from Victoria, who is accused of sexually abusing 16 girls between the ages of eight and 17 in Bali, was pictured at his ongoing trial on Thursday Ellis hung his head as he arrived at the Denpasar District Court and sat with his female translator (pictured) The child protection organisation, Lentera Anak Bali, supplied police with information which led to his arrest in Bali in January after they began observing Ellis in 2010. 'The street kids have a different mentality, their goal is money, their parents won't let them in the house unless they bring home at least 50 thousand rupiah [$5],' staff member Luh Putu Anggraeni said. Parents also encouraged their children to become close with Ellis as they were desperate for money. 'When we traced it back, it started when one of the young girl's aunt introduced them to Robert. From there Robert slowly groomed the girls, giving them gifts. Then came the molestation, Robert would touch them sexually while bathing them, then would pay the girls 200 thousand rupiah [$20] after. If the girls spent the night there, then she will be given a couple of millions rupiah. If they stayed longer, they might even be given a motorbike.' Ms Anggraeni said. Ellis (pictured) is accused of sexually abusing the young girls over a two year period in Bali On his first day of trial on June 30 a number of alleged victims testified, reported news.com. One of his victims recounted how she was reportedly digitally penetrated while Ellis bathed her as others waited in line. Another 17-year-old victim, known as W, first met Ellis at the age of ten. It is believed she received 200,000 Rupiah, which she used for her parent's rent, to bath in front of Ellis and was never touched. It is also alleged W and her mother received motorbikes for referring other young girls to Ellis. His lawyer, Benny Hariyono, denied the girls' testimonies, arguing that his client just touched their bottoms instead of genitals. During the trial the alleged victims were assisted by members of the Lentera Anak Bali organisation, judges wore casual clothes as opposed to their formal attire to be less intimidating and Ellis was not allowed to be present. The 69-year-old (right) is charged under Indonesia's Child Protection Law, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail On his first day of trial on June 30 a number of alleged victims testified An attorney has been charged with contempt for wearing a Black Lives Matter pin while representing a client in an Ohio court - raising questions about freedom of expression rights. Andrea Burton, 30, of Youngstown, was reportedly removed from the courtroom in handcuffs, charged with contempt of court and sentenced to five days jail. But she has been released while an appeal is underway, according to the Washington Post. Scroll down for video Attorney Andrea Burton, 30, of Youngstown, Ohio, believes she should have a right to wear a Black Lives Matter pin when in court, despite a judge's ruling against her Black Lives Matter is a movement protesting the killing of black people by police officers. Burton reportedly said she was not anti-police but instead worked with them daily, 'He indicated to me he didn't know if I was trying to seek attention from the news or whatever the case was, but that legally I wasn't allowed to wear it and I deferred and said that I'm respecting my First Amendment right,' she told WFMJ. 'That I'm not neutral in injustice, and to remain neutral becomes an accomplice to oppression.' After refusing to take off the pin again, she was convicted of contempt. Video courtesy of WFMJ Judge Robert Milich told the CBS affiliate station, WKBN, in Youngstown, his opinions about Black Lives Matter had nothing to do with his decision. 'A judge doesn't support either side,' he told WKBN. 'A judge is objective and tries to make sure everyone has an opportunity to have a fair hearing, and it was a situation where it was just in violation of the law. 'There's a difference between a flag, a pin from your church or the Eagles and have a pin that's on a political issue.' Ohio Criminal defense attorney Matt Mangino told the Washington Post judges had a 'wide latitude' when imposing the rules of their courtroom. 'It's not uncommon to have dress codes and other sorts of things,' he told The Post. 'What you normally might find is a sign outside that says lawyers need to wear ties or no cutoffs or tank tops. Crozier has been jailed for 13 months after admitting the vicious A violent boyfriend who left his girlfriend with horrific injuries after beating her to a pulp in front of their baby daughter has been jailed. Ashley Gebbie, 37, had given birth just three weeks earlier when boyfriend Alan Crozier returned to their family home and subjected the new mother to a terrifying assault. Crozier, 33, only stopped the vicious attack when Miss Gebbie - who weighs just six stone - picked up their newborn daughter. He fled the family home, threatening to kill himself, and was arrested by police days later. Ashley Gebbie (left and right), 37, had given birth just three weeks earlier when boyfriend Alan Crozier returned to their family home and subjected the new mother to a terrifying assault The violent father, who has bipolar, has now been jailed for 13 months after admitting assault. After his sentence, Ms Gebbie's family posted photos on Facebook of the injuries she sustained. The images show the woman's battered face covered in dark bruises, while her eyes are red and swollen. The post read: 'Their baby was 3 weeks old in the pram beside Ashley when he attacked her. The police have a tape recording of part of the assault. 'The great guy then done a runner and hid in Glasgow while everyone searched for him thinking he was going to harm himself. 'As a family we are releasing this information because he is in jail and waiting to be sentenced, which should be a long one. 'What kind of guy does this to a tiny 6 stone girl 3 weeks after giving birth by cesarean section, I know what kind but sadly there are those who do not believe the evidence.' Hamilton Sheriff Court heard that Crozier, who had been in a relationship with Ms Gebbie for 13 months, left for work at 9am on July 17 last year but did not return home until about 2:30am the next day. After his sentence, Ms Gebbie's family posted photos on Facebook of the injuries she sustained. The images show the woman's battered face covered in dark bruises, while her eyes are red and swollen The violent father (pictured), who has bipolar, has now been jailed for 13 months after admitting assault When Ms Gebbie asked Crozier where he had been, he flew off the handle and started attacking her. Crozier admitted seizing Ms Gebbie by the hair, pushing her to the ground, punching her head and grabbing her by the neck at their home Fearing for her life, she then bit Crozier and ran from the bedroom into the living room, where she picked up the baby in a desperate bid to stop the beating. She called police and Crozier left, saying he would not be coming back and that he would kill himself. He was arrested a few days later at a relative's home in Glasgow. Defence lawyer Diarmid Bruce told the court that Crozier had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but had not taken his medication for two years as he had been in 'a good place' in his relationship. After the attack, Ashley was taken to Wishaw General Hospital. She suffered two black eyes and extensive bruising to her head and neck. One of her eye sockets was damaged. Crozier admitted seizing Ms Gebbie by the hair, before pushing her to the ground, punching her head and grabbing her by the neck at their home in Wishaw, Lanarkshire. The Facebook pictures of Ashley's injuries come with the message: 'Please share and let everyone know what a violent, low-down scumbag Alan Crozier is. 'Violently attacking and causing serious injuries to Ashley while their three-week-old daughter was present.' A Police Scotland spokesman said: 'The incident was an unprovoked violent attack on Ashley, who had recently given birth to the couple's child. They face charges of burglary, menacing and child abuse over the break in Soldiers threatened to shoot the family unless they complied At least one of the men, who are all stationed at Fort Carson, had a gun Four US Army soldiers have been arrested for breaking into a family home and threatening them at gunpoint. The men, all stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado, are facing charges of burglary, menacing and child abuse over the break in. Police say a husband and wife and their two young children were at home in Colorado Springs at around 6.30pm on Sunday evening when Dustin Mincy, Roman Alred, Mykall Hall and Aaron Perry walked in. Scroll down for video Four US Army soldiers have been arrested for breaking into a family home and threatening them at gunpoint (Aaron Perry, left, and Roman Alred, right) The men, all stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado, are facing charges of burglary, menacing and child abuse over the break in (Dustin Mincy, left, and Mykall Hall, right) The soldiers threatened to shoot the couple and their two children unless they handed over their property. At least one of the men was carrying a handgun and the soldiers threatened to go back to their car to pick up more weapons during the confrontation. A Colorado Springs Police Department spokesman told DailyMail.com that the suspects and the victims were already known to each other. A recording of a police dispatcher reveals that the disturbance began about a dispute over a PlayStation 4 but rapidly escalated. The soldiers threatened to kill the family unless they handed over their property, but when the victims refused, the men left the home and threatened to return soon. Police say a husband and wife and their two young children were at home in Colorado Springs (pictured) at around 6.30pm on Sunday evening when Dustin Mincy, Roman Alred, Mykall Hall and Aaron Perry walked in The victims say the disturbance began about a dispute over a PlayStation 4 and quickly esalated Fort Carson spokeswoman Dani Johnson says Army officials are cooperating with the police in their investigation, CBS News reports. The soldiers, who range in age from 19 to 21, turned themselves in to police on Sunday night. They are being held in custody at El Paso County Jail charged with burglary, menacing and child abuse. Hillary Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook pointed to media reports when asked for evidence that Russia was behind the embarrassing Democratic National Committee email hack. 'It's a theory that is being put forward now by CNN, by the Washington Post, by the New York Times, these are the experts speaking out on this,' Mook told the Today show's Savannah Guthrie who brought up that Republican Donald Trump has called these accusations a 'conspiracy theory.' Mook noted that CNN had reported yesterday that the FBI is investigating the DNC hack, but admitted that no government official had confirmed the connection to the Clinton campaign. 'They have not communicated that to us,' Mook said. 'I am simply going off what the reporting is telling us.' Scroll down for video Hillary Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook said the campaign has been looking to media reports to make the connection between Russian hackers and the Democratic National Committee leak Robby Mook (left) was asked by NBC News' Savannah Guthrie (right) to provide evidence that the connection between Russian hackers and the DNC leak isn't a 'conspiracy theory' like Donald Trump said. 'If the reporting is accurate this is something very troubling, the idea that a foreign state could be trying to influence our electoral process, influence who becomes our president of the United States,' Mook said. 'That's a very serious situation,' he added. Thousands of emails were leaked to Wikileaks Friday, likely courtesy of a hacker who refers to himself as 'Guccifer 2.0,' who says he's not Russian and is a solo actor. However, Crowdstrike, the DNC's cybersecurity firm, noted back on June 14 that analysts had discovered that two separate Russian intelligence groups had gained access to the DNC's networks. When Guccifer 2.0 took credit for the hack, Crowdstrike stood by its analysis writing, 'these claims do nothing to lessen our findings relating to the Russian government's involvement, portions of which we have documented for the public and greater security community.' Other security firms backed Crowdstrike's assessment up. An NBC News analysis pointed to five reasons why the Russians are likely the culprits including geography they took a Russian holiday off and language, with traces of the a Cyrillic found in their work. NBC pointed to the forensic evidence found by Crowdstrike that fingers two groups, COZY BEAR and FANCY BEAR for the hack, known proxies of the Russian government. 'We've had lots of experience with both of these actors .. .and know them well,' said the initial Crowdstrike assessment. There's also motive and precedent at play. 'Given their mutual and very public bromance, Putin would much prefer a Trump presidency to a Clinton one, and the timing suggests the leak was time for maximum embarrassment to the Democrats and their presumptive nominee,' argued NBC News' Josh Meyer. In the past the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said there's been evidence of foreign hackers spying on presidential candidates in the United States. In was Mook on Sunday who loudly played up the connection between the Russians and the embarrassing DNC hack, which made it look like party leaders tipped the scale in favor of Clinton over her rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. 'I don't think it's coincidental that these emails were released on the eve of our convention here,' Mook said. 'And I think it's disturbing.' Democrats doubled down on this link yesterday, after their party leader, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, had resigned from her party post and then decided she wouldn't even touch the convention's gavel all within 24 hours. Referencing media reports, but more vaguely, Mook said, 'All we know right now is what experts are telling us.' 'What the experts are saying and what the experts said when this breach initially happened at the DNC was that they believed that it was Russian state actors who took these emails,' Mook said. 'And what further experts are saying, is that then because they possessed those emails, that Russian state actors were feeding the emails to ... hackers for the purpose of helping Donald Trump.' Mook originally made this connection on Sunday, speaking to Jake Tapper on CNN's State of the Union. Sgt. Craig Hutchinson (pictured) was shot and killed in his own backyard in an attempted robbery, authorities said Police are continuing to hunt for two suspects after a Texas sheriff's deputy was shot and killed in his own backyard during an attempted burglary. Sgt. Craig Hutchinson, of the Travis County Sheriff's office, died in the early hours of Monday morning after confronting the suspects at his home in Round Rock, Texas. The 32-year police veteran had used his police radio shortly before 1.30am to report seeing people in his backyard. Investigators arriving minutes later discovered Hutchinson's body in his backyard on Oak Meadow Drive in Round Rock, which is about 15 miles from Austin. Hutchinson's shift had ended at 1am that morning, and he made the call for backup minutes later - therefore the sheriff's office considers him killed in the line of duty, Travis County sheriff's office spokeswoman Kristen Dark said on Monday evening, according to the Austin Statesman. Hutchinson, who had been set to retire in September, is survived by his wife, two children, three step-children, two grandchildren and his mother, according to the newspaper. He began his career as a Travis County corrections officer before working in the sheriff's office as a patrol deputy, criminal investigator, training academy instructor, a detective and finally, a patrol sergeant. Scroll down for video Police are hunting two suspects after the sheriff's deputy was fatally shot around 1.30am on Monday Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton said at a news conference on Monday that no arrests had been made but authorities are seeking multiple suspects. Descriptions of the suspects were not released. He said there had been reports of robberies in the area and that there was evidence the incident was an attempted robbery of Hutchinson's backyard shed, rather than an ambush targeting him as a law enforcement officer. Tensions remain high following the fatal shooting earlier this month of five police officers in Dallas and the ambush and killing of three law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 'There's no suggestion that this was an ambush,' Hamilton said. 'I heard that there's a lot of burglaries going on in this community, and I think this was just one of the burglaries.' He said investigators believed items were taken from Hutchinson's shed and that the officer may have 'seen individuals in the shed, and I think that's where the confrontation occurred'. Officers from multiple Central Texas agencies are on the hunt for multiple suspects after the shooting Round Rock Police Department spokeswoman Angelique Myers said investigators were asking for the public's assistance in finding the suspect or suspects. Investigators established a hotline for anyone with information. The police department is leading the joint investigation with the sheriffs office, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers. Hamilton said Hutchinson helped to train him when he first joined the force. He was planning to retire in September, Hamilton added. 'This is near and dear to me,' he said. 'This guy was a big teddy bear. Everyone loved him.' Hutchinson had called the sheriff's department for backup at around 1.22am when he saw suspects running through his yard, KXAN reports. By the time responding officers arrived, around ten minutes later, he was on the ground in the backyard and the suspects had fled. Equipment from his shed had been stolen, Hamilton said. He was taken to Round Rock Hospital, where later died of his injuries. Hutchinson had called the sheriff's department for backup at around 1.22am when he saw suspects running through his yard. When they arrived minutes later, he was down The sheriff said there had been reports of robberies in the area and that there was evidence the incident was an attempted robbery Kevin Madison, the presiding judge of the Lakeway Municipal Court, and his wife Shirley are offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of suspects in the shooting. He is hoping the reward will encourage others to add to the amount and increase the chances of someone coming forward with information. 'Someone is going to know who these two guys are,' he told the Statesman. 'A loss of a life over a lawnmower or some tools is just unbelievable. Instead of running away they shoot this poor deputy.' Madison said he worked for the sheriff's office for two years in the 1980s after law school. 'I loved the guys and gals that worked there and have great respect for Sheriff Hamilton,' he added. 'What a senseless, tragic, unnecessary loss.' Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton (center) said Hutchinson helped train him when he joined the force Austin police chief Art Acevedo said on Twitter: 'Please keep our Travis County Sheriff's family in your thoughts and prayers' The block where the shooting occurred remained ringed with yellow tape and red tape surrounded Hutchinson's home, more than six hours after the shooting. Authorities could be seen working in the area around the home. Police later briefly closed portions of Interstate 35 heading into Austin as a long procession of police cars transported Hutchinson's body to the medical examiner's office. Austin police chief Art Acevedo tweeted: 'Please keep our Travis County Sheriff's family in your thoughts and prayers. 'Sad, troubling time we live in. Austin police stands with our friends.' Anyone with information about the case is urged to call the police tip line on 512-671-2767. The U.S. Marshals Service is offering a $10,000 reward and a Lakeway municipal judge is offering an additional $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest. The shooting occurred on Oak Meadow Drive near McNeil Road in Round Rock, Texas, on Monday New Jersey senator Cory Booker is responding to Donald Trump's tweet and implied threat against him with love. 'Gonna keep lovin' him up Gonna love him to death,' Booker told CNN's New Day Tuesday, just hours after Trump tweeted about him following his rousing speech to the Democratic convention. 'My mom loved me sometimes it's very painful.' Trump tweeted Monday night: 'If Cory Booker is the future of the Democratic Party, they have no future! I know more about Cory than he knows about himself.' It is not known what he was referring to. Asked about the tweet, Booker responded: 'Well let me tell you right now: I love Donald Trump. I'm gonna say that. I don't want to answer his hate with hate. I'm gonna answer it with love. I'm not going to answer darkness with darkness. I love him.' New Jersey senator Corey Booker didn't strike back at Donald Trump following his tweet. Instead, he's going to 'keep lovin' him up' 'I know his family, the children especially good people,' he said. 'And this is the problem he has. Is that he wants to, first of all I feel lucky because he was attacking everybody else in the Senate John McCain to Elizabeth Warrren. I was feeling left out,' he said in rapid-fire patter. Addressing Trump directly, he said: 'Thank you Donald, I finally feel important enough that you will attack.' Then he was pressed by host Chris Cuomo, who asked, 'What else can that mean?' 'He wants us to be speculating,' Booker responded. 'Ooh It sounds so sinister! ... I don't care.' 'I love you Donald. I pray for you. I hope that you find the kindness in your heart that you're not gonna be somebody that spews out insults to your political opposition, that you're gonna start finding some ways to love.' Donald Trump posted this cryptic tweet after Cory Booker finished his speech at the Democratic convention Booker told CNN he was directing a prayer at Trump: 'that you're gonna start finding some ways to love' 'And I'm going to elevate him,' Booker continued, staying on the love theme. 'I love you, I just don't want you to be my president. I don't want you to be having the White House to be spewing that kind of mean-spirited hate that doesn't even belong in a playground sandbox.' 'I'm sorry I'm just gonna keep lovin' on him I'm gonna tell the truth about him but I'm gonna keep lovin' on him, praying for the best for him and his family, that kid of vitriol that kind of meanness has no place in the presidency.' 'Bring it on, Donald, show your truth. I'm gonna show you mine. Love you. brother.' The Republican presidential nominee posted the cryptic message after the New Jersey Senator's address on love and equality. His performance led many to speculate over whether he was positioning for a run in 2020, after he missed out on being Hillary Clinton's vice presidential pick. But The Donald said that if he is the future of the Democratic party, they have no future at all. Booker, seated next to Melania Trump and Donald Trump at a mass celebrating the inauguration of governor Chris Christie in 2010 An emotional Booker used the backdrop of Philadelphia - the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed - to push for equal rights. As he walked onto the stage, the crowd shouted: 'Cory, Cory, Cory.' But later, some on the convention floor started chanting 'Black Lives Matter'. He declared: 'No matter who you are, rich or poor, Asian or white, man or woman, gay or straight, any religion or none at all, you are entitled to the full rights and responsibilities of citizenship.' The 47-year-old junior senator then said: 'We can't devolve into a nation where our highest aspiration is that we just tolerate each other. 'We are not called to be a nation of tolerance. We are called to be a nation of love. Tolerance says I am just going to stomach your right to be different. 'That if you disappear from the face of the earth, I am no better or worse off.' Booker did attack Trump's hypocrisy and treatment of women during his speech. An emotional Booker used the backdrop of Philadelphia - the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed - to push for equal rights Bill Clinton looked uninterested when Booker leaned over and tried to talk to him in the arena He said: 'We've watched him try to get laughs at others' expense; try to incite fear at a time when we need to inspire courage; try to rise in the polls by dragging our national conversation into the gutter. We've watched him cruelly mock a journalist's disability. 'We've watched him demean the service of my Senate colleague. 'He's not a war hero,' Trump said. 'He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured.' 'We've watched him, with a broad and divisive brush, say that Mexican immigrants who came to America to build a better life are 'bringing crime, they're bringing drugs.' 'He says many of them are 'rapists.' He said that an Indiana-born federal judge can't be trusted to do his job because of his Mexican ancestry a statement that even fellow Republicans have described as racist. We've watched and heard him call women demeaning and degrading names. 'Dog.' 'Fat pig.' 'Disgusting.' 'Animal.' It's a twisted hypocrisy when he treats other women in a manner he would never, ever accept from another man speaking about his wife or daughters. In a nation founded on religious freedom, he says ban all Muslims, don't let certain people in because of how they pray. He then went on to slam the billionaire real estate developer for the negative impact he has had on his home state. 'Trump says he would run our country like he has run his businesses. Well, I'm from Jersey, and we have seen the way he leads,' he went on. 'In Atlantic City, he got rich while his companies declared multiple bankruptcies. 'Yet without remorse, even as people got hurt by his failures, he bragged, 'The money I took out of there was incredible'.' Booker gave a fiery speech at the Democratic convention Monday night Grant and his son Sam Eastland filmed the This is the incredible moment a huge group of sharks tear apart a whale carcass during a feeding frenzy captured by a drone. The group of about 40 sharks can be seen swarming violently during the whale buffet off the shores of Cape Cuvier, near Carnarvon in Western Australia. Grant and his son Sam Eastland were awe-struck at the spectacle, which saw some of the sharks come so close to the shore they almost beached themselves, reports 7 News. Scroll down for video A group of about 40 sharks tear apart a whale carcass during a feeding frenzy captured by a drone The father and son ventured 1000 kilometres for a fishing trip when they stumbled upon the astonishing scenes using a drone. 'Different pieces would break off and float out into the ocean, and that's where the drone footage would show bigger sharks and more sharks,' said Grant. When one of the shark's came onto the shore, Sam couldn't resist the urge to run down for a close encounter. 'I wanted to see if I could grab it.' Grant said most of the sharks were tiger sharks, but there were other species amongst the frenzy. Tiger sharks, the second most deadly species after Great Whites, can grow up to 7 metres long and weigh over 500 kilograms. Some of the sharks come so close to the shore of Cape Cuvier they almost beached themselves Sir Venki Ramakrishnan, the President of the Royal Society, said science was a global pursuit and Britain's strength in the area was not dependant on EU membership Brexit will not damage UK science and there is no evidence European funding bodies will discriminate against Britain, leading scientist has said. Sir Venki Ramakrishnan, the President of the Royal Society, said science was a global pursuit and Britain's strength in the area was not dependent on EU membership. The threat to British research projects was used by the Remain campaign ahead of the June 23 referendum amid claims Brexit would undermine the UK's status as a research centre. But Sir Venki said it was most important to streamline visa rules. The Nobel Prize winning biologist said: 'The reality is the UK is an incredibly strong science country, and its membership in the EU is only one of many considerations that people take into account when they come here. 'If you look at my lab, there are people from all over the world, and that's not going to change as a result of the referendum. 'If we want to do good science then we have to be globally competitive and get the best people from wherever they are.' Around 1billion of EU money is currently spent on British researchers but speaking at the EuroScience Open Forum, Sir Venki said there was no evidence this was stopping. And he said the indications he had received indicated the British Government would fill in any gaps which do emerge. He said: 'The message I'm hearing back is that the Government is very committed to making sure that the UK science spending is protected. 'What I take that to mean is that if we were to lose EU funding they would eventually restore it.' Physicist Stephen Hawking led a group of 150 scientists ahead of the referendum who warned a Brexit vote would be a disaster. Physicist Stephen Hawking led a group of 150 scientists ahead of the referendum who warned a Brexit vote would be a disaster In a letter to The Times, they said: 'We now recruit many of our best researchers from continental Europe, including younger ones who have obtained EU grants and have chosen to move with them here. 'Being able to attract and fund the most talented Europeans assures the future of British science and also encourages the best scientists elsewhere to come here.' After the referendum Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson said: 'EU and international students make an important contribution to our world-class universities, and our European neighbours are among some of our closest research partners. A 12-year-old Scout who died during an international jamboree in Finland has been named. Charlie Girling, a member of the 1st Aylesford Scout Group in Kent, collapsed on Sunday night after being taken ill at the camp in Evo, Hameenlinna. A spokesman for The Scout Association said: 'A group of Kent Scouts have been attending Roihu 2016, the International Finnish Jamboree. 'On Sunday evening while in camp, Charlie Girling, aged 12, collapsed. 'The onsite medical team and paramedics from the local hospital rendered immediate support but unfortunately were unable to save him. 'Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Charlie during this difficult and challenging time. Charlie Girling, 12, collapsed on Sunday night after being taken ill at the camp in Evo, Hameenlinna 'The Scout Association (UK) is in touch with all the families of the young people attending the Finnish National Jamboree from Kent, ensuring they are fully briefed and supported. 'We will be working with the Finnish Scout Movement and the relevant local authorities to establish the full details of this tragic incident.' A memorial was held at the camp yesterday, where 650 Scouts from the UK are currently in attendance, with mourners gathering at the main stage and the camp chapel to pay their respects. The Kent Scouts are currently on their way home, following the tragedy. Anna Munsterhjelm, chief scout of the Guides and Scouts of Finland, expressed condolences to the boy's family and friends, adding: 'The loss has moved thousands of people within and outside the camp. 'We are grateful, that the scout movement is a homogenous global community that has the strength to support one another even in difficult situations. 'We will create a better world by working together - in both good and bad times. We wish that every scout in and outside the camp will help to bear the grief of the family and friends.' Pictured is the jamboree event in Finland where a scout collapsed and died on Sunday night Bismarck Police said the remains of a man who went missing five years ago were found along the Missouri River near McLean Bottoms on July 17. Christopher Mann, 26, of Bismarck, was last heard from by his family on Feb. 16, 2011, police said. He was extremely depressed and was last seen walking in southwest Bismarck. He was known to frequent the river area. Detectives searched along the Missouri River and Memorial Bridge at the time, according to news reports from 2011. Divers from the Burleigh County Sheriff's Department also checked an area near Sertoma Park, Maj. Kelly Leben said. The remains were first reported to the Morton County Sheriff's Department and then turned over to the Burleigh County Sheriff's Department, who asked local agencies with missing persons reports to help identify them, police said. The North Dakota Office of the Medical Examiner confirmed the match through dental records, said Bismarck Police Sgt. Mark Buschena. State Medical Examiner Dr. William Massello said he would not be able to determine a cause of death, because of the intervening years. Buschena said the death is not considered suspicious. Superdrug has apologised to a shopper after two shop assistants 'judged her looks' when she turned up at the store wearing shorts. Harriet Rae, from Perranporth, Cornwall, said she was shopping at the store in Truro when the staff members 'made comments' to each other about her appearance. She later wrote on Facebook about what happened, insisting the words 'didn't hurt' but saying she felt 'saddened' that the two colleagues 'think it's OK to speak about another female in that way'. She then urged the women to be kinder with their words, warning: 'Some people's skin isn't as thick as mine.' Superdrug has apologised after Harriet Rae (left and right), from Perranporth, Cornwall, said two shop assistants 'judged her looks' when she turned up at the store wearing shorts She later wrote on Facebook about what happened, insisting the words 'didn't hurt' but saying she felt 'saddened' that the two colleagues 'think it's OK to speak about another female in that way' Superdrug has apologised to Ms Rae after the post was shared nearly 50,000 times. In a statement, they said: 'Following the post on Facebook we launched an immediate investigation. 'At Superdrug we pride ourselves on the highest levels of customer service and would like to apologise unreservedly if on this occasion we have failed to meet our high standards. We have apologised to the customer.' Last night, Ms Rae wrote that she had spoken to the 'lovely people' at the Superdrug Head Office, who had apologised for the actions of staff in the Truro store on Saturday. She added: 'I reenforced that the intended message of the post was to spread kindness and positivity not embarrassment or hurt. (sic) 'They understood and accepted that I didn't want to give a description of the people or my location in the store when it happened. They have also said that my post will be used in training in the future to make sure it doesn't happen again. 'Thank you to everyone who shared the post, sent friend requests and private messages. I never imagined it would gain so much publicity and it has definitely shown me how powerful social media can be. Lots of Love <3'. Ms Rae had shamed the two shop assistants publicly on Facebook. She wrote: 'Don't worry, I heard the comments you made to each other about my appearance and my shorts. 'You spoke loud enough for most people to hear. Its obviously not the first time you've had a giggle and a made comments about another girl but when you do it normally, the person you talk about probably looks away and you actually make them feel really sad inside. 'But today, by the looks on your faces you really weren't prepared for the massive cheesy smile I gave you!' She continued: 'Just so you know, your words didn't hurt me. The looks you gave me did not either. Ms Rae's post has now been shared over 31,000 times around the world including Africa, Australia and America. She is pictured above 'I do feel slightly saddened that you think it's OK to speak about another female, or in fact anyone, in that way. 'I don't believe you gained anything from it apart from looking a little bit silly when you realised I heard you.' In a final plea, she wrote: 'If somehow you end up reading this, as Cornwall is a very small place, can you be a little bit kinder with your words? Some peoples skin isn't as thick as mine has become and the next persons might be very thin indeed.' She then sent back 'some love' to the two women. 'If you did your own hair and make up for work today, you are both very talented. I could never get my winged liner or my ponytail that perfect! %23makelovenotwar %23girlpower,' she wrote. The post was shared more than 31,000 times around the world including Africa, Australia and America. Her post also received numerous comments of support. Lindsey Robyn Davies wrote: 'You look damn fine in those shorts. You work hard to wear what you want. Good for you though not hitting back with hate. A smile at some point will change the world!!!' Another study found 13 per cent of black drivers were stopped in 2011, compared to 10 per cent of whites It suggests that higher fatality rates in black community from police may be due to higher stop and arrest rate Lead on study Ted Miller said he wanted to it 'better inform the discussion' Fatal shootings of Delrawn Small, 37, in New York and Philando Castile in Minnesota sparked national protests Study comes in the wake of high profile police shootings of black men But race has no impact on whether they will get shot during the interaction New research finds minorities are more likely to be stopped than whites White people are just as likely to be shot during a police stop as black drivers, a new study has found. New research reveals that while minorities are statistically far more likely to be stopped by cops, race has no impact on whether they will get shot or killed during the interaction. The findings come at a time of high tensions between police and black citizens in the wake of several high profile shootings. Scroll down for video White people are just as likely to be shot during a police stop as black drivers, a new study has found (stock image) Earlier this month, NYPD cop Wayne Isaacs shot dead Delrawn Small, 37, after a near-miss crash in Brooklyn. Video showed the black father-of-three approaching Isaacs' window after the close call, before staggering back after a gunshot. Just two days later, on July 6, African American Philando Castile was fatally shot in front of his girlfriend and young daughter, by Minnesota police officer Jeronimo Yanez. Castile's girlfriend live streamed the incident which happened after he was pulled over in Falcon Heights. The incidents sparked mass protests across the country and inspired fatal retaliation attacks on the police, including the murder of five Dallas cops and three police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Ted Miller of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Maryland, who led the study, said he wanted to carry out the research to 'better inform the discussion.' Minorities are statistically far more likely to be stopped by cops but a new study shows that race has no impact on whether they will get shot or killed during the interaction Recent fatal shootings on black men by police have sparked mass protests across the country (pictured is a protest in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Friday) Protesters have taken to the streets to demonstrate against police brutality against the black community ( Research found that police killed or injured an estimated 55,400 people in 2012 across the United States. On average, three people die and 150 people are hospitalized after interactions with the police. Black people, Native Americans and Hispanics all had higher stop and arrest rates than white people and Asians. African Americans account for 28 per cent of all arrests in the United States - while they only make up 13 per cent of the population. Lead on study Ted Miller said he wanted to it 'better inform the discussion' They are also 'much more likely than whites to die at the hands of police,' the study found. 'Those with the highest arrest rates per 10,000 population were ages 15-29 years, black or Native American.' But once they were stopped by police, 'they are no more likely than whites to be injured or die during that incident.' The study suggests that the numbers of Black people killed by police may be high simply because they are more likely to be stopped in the first place. 'Consistent with our findings, simulation studies find police are no more likely to fire on unarmed blacks than unarmed whites, and high rates of black speeding citations per capita result from high violation rates,' the team wrote. 'Excess per capita death rates among blacks and youth at police hands are reflections of excess exposure. Blacks are arrested more often than whites, and youth more often than the elderly. 'A systematic review identified 10 studies that found suspect race/ethnicity did not predict use of force or its escalation.' Another investigation of traffic stops and arrest in Greensboro, North Carolina showed black drivers were twice as likely to be pulled over than whites. Black people make up 39 per cent of the citys driving population but they accounted for 54 per cent of drivers pulled over by police. African American Philando Castile (left) was fatally shot (right) in front of his girlfriend and young daughter, by Minnesota police officer Jeronimo Yanez. Castile's girlfriend live streamed the incident which happened after he was pulled over in Falcon Heights However, drugs and weapons were found more often when the motorist was white, The New York Times investigation found. While a study of Connecticut traffic stops in 2014 and 2015 found that 14 percent of traffic stops targeted black drivers, despite them making up only 9 percent of the states population. A survey by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that in 2011, around 13 per cent of black drivers were stopped at least once by police that year compared to only 10 per cent of whites. But African Americans only make up 12.2 per cent of the population while whites make up 63.7. Miller said that more needs to be done to ascertain whether the higher stop and arrest rate for minorities was a reflection of racist bias or reflected a higher offense rate, NBC News reports. 'We know that low-income neighborhoods have more crime,' Miller said. And minorities are more likely to have low incomes. 'Some disparities could be due to income rather than race,' he said. Miller's study suggested special training for police and at-risk groups to avoid further deaths at the hands of police. 'Given a national history of racism, the excess per capita death rate of blacks from US police action rightly concerns policy analysts, advocates and the press,' he wrote. Earlier this month, NYPD cop Wayne Isaacs shot dead Delrawn Small, 37, after a near-miss crash in Brooklyn (Small left and right with girlfriend Zaquanna Albert) 'Ratios aside, even one person unnecessarily killed or injured by the police is one too many, and every racial/ethnic group has mourned losses from undue force. As the US struggles to reduce citizen injuries during police contacts, it would seem prudent to train at-risk groups about appropriate behaviour during police stops.' He added that some parents of Black and Hispanic young men - statistically the most likely to get stopped - were already teaching their sons tips to avoid a violent encounter with cops such as where to put their hands and how to respond to police aggressiveness. But Miller added that it still came down to police to de-escalate a situation to avoid violence during a stop. 'You and I might get stopped once in our lives,' he said. 'The police stop people every day. They need to be the ones trained to de-escalate,' he said. The church in northern France that was targeted by jihadis this morning was on a list of Catholic buildings found on the computer of suspected terrorist Sid Ahmed Ghlam (pictured) The church in northern France where jihadis slaughtered a priest was on an ISIS 'hit list' discovered in a separate police raid on another suspected Islamist's hideout last year, it has emerged. It is believed that the building was one of a number of Catholic churches mentioned in documents found on suspected ISIS extremist Sid Ahmed Ghlam in Paris last April. Ghlam, 24, was arrested last April after he called an ambulance in the French capital when he shot himself in the leg. Investigators believe he was a terrorist planning 'imminent attacks' in France on the instructions of ISIS commanders. Investigators found an arsenal of weapons in Ghlam's car, which was parked nearby, and at his student accommodation. It included Kalashnikovs, a police-issue pistol, and a number of bullet-proof vests. Documents found at Ghlam's flat and on his computer and phone suggested he was in contact with a French speaker in Syria who had ordered him to carry out attacks on churches, including the Sacre-Couer basilica in Paris and the one in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray which was targeted today. Police believe Ghlam was under the orders of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who is believed to have orchestrated the terrorist attacks in Paris in November, which left 130 innocent people dead. Abaaoud was killed in a police raid in Saint-Denis days after the attacks. Ghlam is currently in a high-security prison while waiting trial for 'murder, attempted murder, association with criminals with a view to commit crimes against people' and for other infractions 'connected to a terrorist organisation'. The computer student, who born in Algeria, was also charged with the murder of a 32-year-old woman, who was found in the passenger seat of her burning car after his arrest. This morning's horrific attack saw two ISIS knifemen raid the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy at around 9am this morning, taking worshippers and nuns hostage. Pictured, police at the scene Clergyman Jacques Hamel, 84, is believed to have been beheaded during the attack on a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy during this morning's attack Dance instructor Aurelie Chatelain, a mother of one who had just attended a Pilates class, died after she was shot three times in the head, in what police believe may have been an attempt by Ghlam to hijack her car. This morning's horrific attack saw two ISIS knifemen raid the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy at around 9am, taking worshippers and nuns hostage. HOSTAGE SIEGE IN FRENCH CHURCH - Two knifemen entered church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, around 10am local time by a back door during mass - Nuns and worshippers taken hostage - one seriously injured - Father Jacques Hamel killed after reportedly having his throat slashed - Suspects shot dead by French police - ISIS claims responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out by two soldiers - French prosecutors detain one person as part of investigation into attack - Francois Hollande pledges to fight ISIS 'using all means possible' Advertisement Clergyman Jacques Hamel, 84, had his throat slit and is believed to have been beheaded during the assault. There were reports the attackers shouted 'Allahu Akbar' as they ran out of the church while at least one of the men was dressed in Islamic clothing. The extremists have been shot dead by police. One of the hostages - believed to be a nun - is in a critical condition in hospital. There are also reports that one of the attackers was a local resident who was under electronic tag surveillance having been jailed in France for trying to travel to Syria in 2015. His bail terms allowed him to be unsupervised between 8.30am and 12.30pm - the attack happened between 9am and 11am. ISIS has already claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement published by its Aamaq news agency. It said the killing was carried out by 'two soldiers of the Islamic State'. It added the killing was in response to its calls to target countries of the US-led coalition which is fighting ISIS. Emergency services were seen stretchering a person into an ambulance following the attack this morning There were reports the attackers shouted 'Allahu Akbar' as they ran out of the church (pictured above) French President Francois Hollande, pictured visiting the scene of the attack, appealed for 'unity' in France The Paris prosecutor's office said this afternoon that one person has been detained in the investigation but gave no details on the identity or location. The spokeswoman spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. French President Francois Hollande, visiting the scene of the attack, appealed for 'unity' in France, where political blame-trading has poisoned the aftermath of the Nice truck attack, the third major strike in the country in 18 months. 'The threat remains very high,' said Hollande. 'We are confronted with a group, Daesh, which has declared war on us. We have to wage war by every means, (but through) upholding the law, which is because we are a democracy.' Pope Francis has expressed his 'pain and horror' at the incident with a spokesman saying the Pontiff was appalled by the 'barbaric killing' because it happened in a sacred place. The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: 'Evil attacks the weakest, denies truth and love, is defeated through Jesus Christ. Pray for France, for victims, for their communities.' The two men held the priest and congregation of four - which included two nuns - hostage for almost an hour before being shot as they emerged on to the courtyard of the church. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Paris had earlier said that they had crept into the church via a back entrance during a morning service, soon after 9am. The two men seized the priest, two sisters from a local order, and two parishioners. 'A third nun escaped and raised the alarm, and anti-terrorists officers were on the scene within minutes,' said a source who lives locally. 'It appears that the priest who was celebrating the service was attacked first, and had his throat cut. 'The area around the church was sealed off, and then armed officers appeared with their weapons. I heard at least a dozen shots.' An easyJet flight from Liverpool to Spain had to be diverted after the plane was hit by a bird which got stuck in its engine. The incident happened soon after easyJet flight EZY7179 took off en route to Malaga last Thursday, with 179 passengers and six crew on board. According to the AeroInside website, 'the left hand engine ingested a bird' during the initial climb 'resulting in a huge bang from the engine and a brief loss of engine power'. An easyJet flight from Liverpool to Spain had to be diverted after the plane was hit by a bird which got stuck in its engine. The incident happened soon after flight EZY7179 took off (not pictured, file photo) It added: 'The engine however fully recovered resulting in all instruments showing normal values.' But 50 minutes into the flight, which took off from Liverpool John Lennon airport, the crew decided to turn around and divert to London Gatwick for a safe landing. The passengers were transferred to a replacement plane and reached Malaga nearly five hours later than scheduled. The easyJet aircraft remained on the ground in London for 24 hours before resuming service. Fifty minutes into the flight, which took off from Liverpool John Lennon airport, the crew decided to turn around and divert to London Gatwick for a safe landing. The passengers were transferred to a replacement plane An easyJet spokesman said: 'easyJet can confirm that the captain of flight EZY7179 from Liverpool to Malaga took the decision to divert to London Gatwick as a result of a bird strike on take-off. 'The aircraft landed routinely at Gatwick and passengers continued their journey on a replacement aircraft later the same day. Heartbreaking photo of the pair as young boys shows their brotherly bond Stuart Kelly took his own life after receiving relentless hate mail for campaigning in support of lock-out laws introduced in response to the one-punch death of his brother Thomas four years ago. It comes as his father Ralph Kelly broke his silence posting a touching tribute to the teenager, just over four years after the death of his eldest son Thomas. On Tuesday night Mr Kelly shared a message to his Facebook page which read: 'The most painful goodbyes are the ones that are never said and never explained,' he wrote. After Thomas, 18, was killed by a single punch in Sydney's Kings Cross in 2012, Stuart, 18, and his family launched a foundation to campaign for tougher rules on alcohol-fuelled violence. He enrolled at St Paul's College at the University of Sydney to study marine biology but left in February after just one night because he was unable to adjust. Friends claim he was the victim of unrelenting abuse from bullies who blamed the Kelly family for Sydney's controversial lockout laws, The Daily Telegraph reported. Scroll down for video Thomas Kelly (right) was killed by a single punch in Sydney's Kings Cross in 2012 and his younger brother Stuart (left) took his own life on Monday. The pair are pictured here as children on the Northern Beaches Stuart Kelly (left in 2014) has died. The 19-year-old was the brother of one-punch victim Thomas Kelly (right) who died in 2012 When the hate mail and bullying continued after he returned home, the teenager turned to The King's School in Parramatta for help, and started coaching one of the school's junior rugby sides. The school told on Wednesday how it was one of the last 'safe places' for him. 'We created a position for him because King's was one of the few safe and supportive places for Stuart. 'He needed us. Indeed, the pastoral support given to Stuart by the School has been significant,' its principle Dr Timothy Hawkes said. St Paul's College dismissed allegations of bullying on Wednesday. Executive manager Derek Watt said Stuart had 'lots of friends' at the university despite spending just one night there and that many had been left saddened by news of his death. 'We have absolutely no knowledge of any bullying issue at any stage. Stuart had a lot of friends at college and they're extremely upset by it. 'Stuart's situation was very difficult for him for a number of years. He spent one night and decided that college was not the right for him.' NSW Premier Mike Baird, who has spearheaded the lockout laws, said on Wednesday he had been 'deeply impressed' by Stuart when they met in September at a gala where the teenager implored him to take a tougher stance on alcohol-fuelled violence. 'My thoughts and prayers are with the Kelly family at this incredibly sad and tragic time,' Mr Baird told Daily Mail Australia. Stuart graduated from The King's School in Parramatta in October. He is seen above with his parents, Ralph and Kathy, celebrating the occasion Stuart delivered a moving speech in 2014 after his brother's killer's sentence was increased. He told how Thomas's death had left a 'hole' in his life 'I was deeply impressed by Stuart when I saw him speak last year with honesty and passion at a gala dinner for the Thomas Kelly Foundation. 'Through his words and actions Stuart helped to ensure there was a lasting legacy for his brother Thomas. 'Stuart was an extraordinary young man and my heart goes out to his family as they cope with this loss.' The 19-year-old was found dead in a car park in Mona Vale on Sydney's northern beaches on Monday, a month after the fourth anniversary of his brother Thomas's death. Announcing his death in a statement on Tuesday, Dr Hawkes said: 'It is with great sadness that I inform you of the death of an Old Boy of the School, Stuart Kelly. 'This is the second great tragedy to affect the Kelly family.' STUART KELLY'S MOVING SPEECH TO END ALCOHOL-FUELLED VIOLENCE 'I carry a deep scar that you cannot see. It's always there, never leaves. It's just below the surface of your skin, and surfaces when you least expect it. 'Tom never deserved to die that night, it was not meant to be his time. In fact, I believe now that it could and should have been avoided. Our family lost a son and a brother. I ask all of you to look at me, I am but one person who has been affected by violence. 'It is a sentence that I have to carry for the rest of my life. 'My mother, father and sister now carry this sentence. Our relatives and friends, Tom's friends, carry this sentence. 'We are not alone, there are many many thousands of other who are directly affected by senseless violence every year. 'Premier will you make this promise tonight? 'Australia is an alcoholic; we need to rethink the way we drink.' Advertisement Commiserating his death, Dr Hawkes added that it was another loss for the brothers' parents Ralph and Kathy and their sister Madeleine. 'Our particular thoughts and prayers are with the Kelly family. To have lost two sons in such circumstances is beyond awful,' said Dr Hawkes. He added support was being given to students who had been 'shocked and saddened' by the news. A NSW spokesman confirmed on Tuesday a report would be prepared for the coroner. 'Police will prepare a report for the coroner following the death of a 19-year-old-man at Mona Vale yesterday. 'There are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances.' His parents, who are still understood to be living in the Southern Highlands, have not made any statement. It is understood Stuart's body was found in the car park at Mona Vale beach in northern Sydney on Monday at 12.30pm. It comes four years after Thomas's death in 2012 which ignited the debate on Sydney's lock out laws and alcohol-fuelled violence. Thomas was enjoying his first night out in the city's infamous Kings Cross with his girlfriend when, at around 10pm, he was attacked randomly by Kieran Loveridge. Within 24 hours he had died after having his life support switched off in hospital. Loveridge was initially given a five-year jail sentence which caused public outcry and and prompted an appeal spearheaded by the Kelly family for a harsher punishment. In 2014 he had his sentence increased to a minimum of 10 years. He was moved to a maximum security facility after conducting an affair with a prison guard last year. Stuart, who was 14 at the time of his brothers death, welcomed the news of Loveridge's increased sentence in 2014. The teenager's death brings fresh tragedy to Ralph and Kathy Kelly (above following their eldest son's death) Friends of the family said it was 'beyond awful' that they would have to endure the deaths of two teenage sons. Left, Stuart is pictured on a holiday when he was younger. Right, Thomas before his death 'Up until now I haven't said anything because I was too young. 'I've just tried to block it out. I've tried to understand over and over why, at such a young age, my brother lost his life so tragically, but I have no answers. 'It's been difficult for me. I've watched my family suffer on a daily basis, trying to somehow regain anything in their lives. 'I want Thomas's short life to have some meaning in his death so we can see change, a new fresh start, one where I believe we should have respect for one another.' In a biography on the Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation website he described struggling to cope with the loss of his brother. 'I have somehow had to try to learn that I wont have a brother in my life. I know I will miss Tom for the rest of my life.' The family spearheaded campaigns for tougher sentences against violence thugs after Loveridge was given just a five-year sentence for manslaughter. Above they are seen leaving court in 2014 Thomas was enjoying his first night out in Sydney's Kings Cross in June 2012 when he was attacked. He is seen above playing rugby and during another event before his death Kieran Loveridge is serving a 13-year sentence after being convicted of manslaughter. He had his original sentence of five-years increased following public outcry. The thug is pictured above in 2013 Madeleine Kelly is the couple's only surviving child. She is pictured above with her mother leaving the Court of Criminal Appeal in Sydney in 2014 The family received an outpouring of public sympathy at the time of Thomas's death. Above, Mrs Kelly weeps after Loveridge's increased sentence is handed down while the family addresses media He continued his crusade against alcohol-fuelled violence among young people and delivered a rousing speech at a gala last year to compel politicians to make more significant changes to the law. He was also an ambassador for the Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation, set up after his brother's death to campaign on the issue. Paying tribute to him on Tuesday, the boys' former school he was an 'effective' leader. 'As a student, Stuart was greatly respected. He was a school prefect who possessed a quiet integrity that made him enormously effective as a leader. 'The strength and character shown by Stuart when his brother was killed by a one punch attack in July 2012, was extraordinary. 'Stuart has since gone on to support the work of the Kelly Foundation and to campaign against alcohol fuelled violence. 'The death of Stuart Kelly is tragic, and a reminder that life is fragile, loved ones precious and each day a gift,' Dr Hawkes added. For confidential help, call Lifeline at 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636. The boys' parents have been avid campaigners for tougher anti-violence and alcohol laws since Thomas's death Madeleine Kelly, who was 17 when Thomas was killed and is now a student, is the couple's only surviving child After Adrian Murray's 25-year-old son Kendrick died, she wanted to find the recipients of his organs in order to gain closure. But the organ most important to her was his heart and when she finally tracked it down she was elated to learn it was beating in the chest of her cousin. On September 5, 2015, Kendrick suffered a seizure and hit his head during the fall, causing massive brain swelling. Kendrick was taken to Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where he later died. Adrian Murray's (left) 25-year-old son Kendrick (right) died after having a seizure and hitting his head, which caused massive brain swelling Kendrick (right) was taken to Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where he later died. That is when Adrian (left) found out her son was an organ donor Doctors told Adrian her son was an organ donor and she asked if she could control where the organs went. Adrian remembered just a month earlier her pastor, Micheal Minor, had been the subject of a 'friend and family day' at West Point Baptist Church. Minor's diabetes had caused him to go into end-stage renal failure and he was in need of a transplant as soon as possible. She put him down as the recipient of one of Kendrick's kidney and the pastor received a 2am call asking if he could be at the hospital that morning for the transplant. The rest of Kendrick's organs were donated to anonymous recipients. Knowing where Kendrick's organs had gone gave Adrian joy and she found herself wanting to know with whom all of her sons organs were now living. But she felt the most important organ to find was his heart. 'I wanted to know where my son's heartbeat was,' Adrian told the Washington Post. 'That would give me peace of mind.' The month Kendrick died Adrian had noticed her cousin, Clintoria Johnson had grown weak and had tubes in her nose. Adrian decided to give Kendrick's kidney to her pastor Michael Minor (pictured) who was suffering from end-stage renal failure She wanted to track down Kendrick's heart most of all and was overjoyed when she learned her son's heartbeat was in the chest of her cousin Clintoria Johnson 'I never asked any questions, and she never offered any information. She was private,' she said. Adrian later learned Clintoria's heart was functioning at a dangerously low level. She eventually revealed to Adrian her heart was functioning at 10 per cent. She waited two years for a transplant and the day after Kendrick died Clintoria received the call that a heart was now waiting for her. But Clintoria didn't tell Adrian out of respect, not knowing the mother was looking for her son's heartbeat in a different person's chest. Both Clintoria and Adrian submitted paperwork to the Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency to find the person who had donated and received the heart. The day before what would have been Kendrick's 26th birthday, Adrian received her letter. 'We recently received a letter for you from the lady that received Kendrick's heart. Her name is Clintoria Ann Johnson,' the letter said. Both Clintoria (right) and Adrian (left) submitted paperwork to the Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency to find the person who had donated and received the heart. The day before what would have been Kendrick's 26th birthday, Adrian received her letter, connecting the women Adrian was overjoyed. 'When I found out, I started hollering and screaming. I couldn't believe it. 'It was in my family. I was just so honored that someone in my family has my son's heartbeat,' she said. Adrian is hoping to find the rest of Kendrick's organs, many of which were donated to people in Florida. She is also working to advocate for organ donations in African American committees and is training to work at the Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency. Adrian has already convinced ten people to join the organ donor list. Now when she thinks of Kendrick she is filled with pride at all the lives her son has saved. Pokemon Go players have faced a host of dangers as they wander the world with eyes glued to their phones. From walking into oncoming traffic to crashing into other people, players have found themselves up against a host of dangers and now they must add another to the list: mud pits. A 62-year-old New York man found himself trapped waist-deep in mud while playing the wildly popular augmented reality game, authorities said. A 62-year-old New York man found himself trapped waist-deep in mud while playing the wildly popular augmented reality game, authorities said (stock photo) Police rescued the man but said he declined to tell them if he caught the Pokemon he was out looking for Police say the unidentified man was walking in thick woods behind his home in Coeymans, New York - just south of Albany - looking for Pokemon when he wandered into the pit. 'He was in some thick mud,' Chief P.J. McKenna, of Coeymans Police, told News 10 ABC. 'He had really gotten disoriented and he was in a bad situation.' Since he already had his phone in hand he was able to dial 911. The dispatch used a phone signal to ping the lost mans cell phone in order to track him down in the dark. He was close to his home when officers found him. Military veterans yelled 'Lock her up!' on Tuesday when Donald Trump raised Hillary Clinton's name at the national convention of Veterans of Foreign Wars. Clinton spoke at the Charlotte, North Carolina event Monday, criticizing Trump without mentioning him by name. The billionaire didn't return the favor, complaining that she has downplayed corruption in the Department of Veterans Affairs. 'The other candidate in this race, you know her name crooked Hillary Clinton and believe me folks, she is crooked ... recently said of the VA scandal that it's not as widespread as it's purported to be. It's like she's trying to sweep it under the rug,' he said. 'We know how she takes care of the veterans. Just look at her invading of Libya and her handling of Benghazi. A disaster ... and her emails put our entire national security at risk.' U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump drew cries of 'Lock her up!' from some veterans when he spoke at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina on Tuesday At the mention of possible exposure of America's state secrets, three veterans in different parts of the hall yelled, 'Lock her up!' a line that became the unofficial slogan of last week's Republican National Convention. Loud boos followed. 'And to think she was here yesterday!' Trump ad-libbed. 'I guess she didn't do very well.' Trump made a pitch for veterans to abandon career politicians who he said were responsible for lapses in veterans' health care. 'We can't fix a rigged system by electing the people who rigged it in the first place,' he said. 'Our debt to you is eternal, yet our politicians have totally failed you,' Trump added, calling failures in the VA 'widespread and totally inexcusable.' 'As we know, many people have died waiting for care a permanent stain on our government.' 'Can you imagine the waste and corruption? We will find it, and we will find it big-league,' Trump pledged. Trump has staked his claim with veterans on a 10-point plan to reform the VA, raising the issue early in his campaign last year. He has staged campaign events aboard decommissioned battleships to highlight failures in the agency including long wait times for medical care and corruption in management. But he took incoming fire this year following press reports questioning his follow-through after he claimed to have raised nearly $6 million for veterans charities. Trump spoke at the annual Veterans of Foreign Wars conventin Trump, who spoke in Winston-Salem Monday, blasted 'waste and corruption' in the VA system Vice presidential nominee Mike Pence (right) cast Trump as a builder who can fix the VA Trump ultimately held a press conference in New York City to address the mini-scandal, distributing a list of donations and calling journalists 'dishonest' and 'slimy' for doubting him. Trump is undeniably popular among veterans, many of whose national advocacy groups see him as the best chance to restructure the way the U.S. cares for former serviceman and women including mental health care and medical rehabilitation treatments. He has also called for giving veterans who face long wait times at VA facilities the option to seek medical care from private physicians and hospitals. 'You have people waiting in line five days, six days, seven days for a simple procedure,' Trump said Tuesday. 'And they're dying because they can't even get in to see their doctor.' 'We're going to pick up the bill' when wait-listed veterans go outside the system for care, he pledged. 'And it will cost us less money.' 'Things have to change. And they have to change right now.' In October, he told a crowd aboard the USS Wisconsin: 'Think about me going to my doctor's office and waiting four days. If I wait 15 minutes, Im angry as hell at the doctor!' 'I dont want to get rid of it,' he said of the VA. 'I want to supplement it.' Democrats, still, have complained that he is trying to 'privatize' the system. Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, now Democrat Hillary Clinton's running mate, complained this month on MSNBC that Trump 'has called for privatization of the VA. That is something that is overwhelmingly rejected by America's veterans. They do not want to go down that path. Do they want improvement? Sure they do. But they don't want risky or radical.' Trump has made helping 'the vets' a top campaign issue Members of the VFW waited to hear Trump's speech, which drew chants of 'Lock her up!' from the crowd The VFW itself has fretted openly that 'a "go anywhere card" leads to veterans receiving fragmented, uncoordinated, and lower-quality care. ... Private sector health care must complement, not compete with or supplant the VA health care system.' But Concerned Veterans for America, which has been supportive of many of Trump's messages, disagrees. 'Giving veterans the choice of where to use their VA benefits does not necessitate the sale of VA hospitals to corporations nor does it eliminate government control of veterans' health care,' the right-leaning group's spokesman Dan Caldwell said this month. 'Calling expanded health care choice for veterans "privatization" is simply a poll-tested scare tactic.' Before he spoke Tuesday morning, audience members heard an announcement warning them that they wouldn't be permitted to approach the stage while the Republican nominee was in the room. 'Everybody please clear the aisles and take your seats,' the emcee said. No such announcement was made for Hillary Clinton's speech on Monday. A VFW event staffer said organizers and Secret Service were concerned Trump would be mobbed by fans. 'That wasn't part of the calculus yesterday,' he said. Clinton earned a smattering of applause with an anti-Trump pitch. 'If we retreat on security or the economy behind an imaginary wall, we will have lost our leadership, our purpose, our chance to prevail in the 21st century,' she said. Trump complained Tuesday that Clinton and Kaine want to dramatically increase the number of Syrian refugees being resettled in the U.S. 'What are we doing?' he asked. Trump's vice presidential nominee, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, made a brief appearance to praise Trump, leaning on his family's military connections to establish his bona fides. 'I was not a soldier, but I am the son of a combat veteran who served in Korea. And I am the proud father of a United States Marine,' Pence said. Theresa May today warned the terror threat in Britain remains 'severe' as she offered assistance to France following the latest ISIS atrocity. The Prime Minister said the terrorists 'will not win' as she vowed to stand 'shoulder to shoulder' with France. Mrs May spoke out in solidarity hours after an 84-year-old priest, named as Jacques Hamel, had his throat cut and a nun was left critically injured in hospital. French President Francois Hollande says France is at war following the raid which saw five people held hostage by ISIS assailants shouting Allahu Akbar. Speaking in Downing Street, Mrs May said: 'We all face a terror threat. If you look at the national threat level here in the United Kingdom, it is at severe. That means that a terrorist attack is highly likely. 'What is necessary is for us all to work together, and stand shoulder to shoulder with France. We offer them every support we have in dealing with this issue and this threat that they, and the rest of us, are facing.' Scroll down for video Theresa May, pictured in Downing Street today, vowed to stand 'shoulder to shoulder' with France as the two nations stood up to the terror threat The Prime Minsiter continued: 'But on one thing, I think, we are all absolutely clear, and that is the terrorists will not prevail. 'They are trying to destroy our way of life. They are trying to destroy our values. We have shared values and those values will win through and the terrorists will not win.' Britain has previously offered support with investigations after earlier atrocities, including detectives and forensic teams. Speaking from the scene of the latest atrocity in Normandy, Mr Hollande said: 'We are confronted with a group, Daesh, which has declared war on us. 'We have to wage war by every means, (but through) upholding the law, which is because we are a democracy.' Former French president Jean-Pierre Raffarin said: 'Everything is being done to trigger a war of religions.' Britain's intelligence agencies today repeated warnings an attack on UK soil remains 'highly likely' in evidence to a five-judge tribunal. The security services defended themselves against accusations of engaging in the mass collection of communications data and UK citizens' personal information without proper legal safeguards being in place. Mrs May met with Mr Hollande last week on her second foreign trip as Prime Minister. At the meeting in Paris, the two leaders agreed to deepen defence cooperation The charity Privacy International has taken the issue before the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) in London in a hearing expected to last four days. Thomas de la Mare QC, for the charity, told the tribunal there was no form of 'red flag system' in place to protect the privacy of UK citizens from the 'aggressive use' of data collection powers given to the security services under section 94 of the Telecommunications Act 1984. The accusations are being fought by the Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary, MI6, MI5 and Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ). James Eadie QC, for the security services, is arguing that section 94 powers have at all times been used lawfully as an 'essential tool' to meet the 'increasing' terrorist threat. His written argument before the tribunal says: 'The threat level currently stands at SEVERE (sic), which means that an attack in the UK is highly likely.' He states the principal threat comes from militant Islamist extremists, as was more than apparent from the recent tragic terrorist attacks in Tunisia, Paris and Brussels. He says Northern Ireland-related terrorism also remains a severe threat. Privacy International says current secret government surveillance practices go beyond what was revealed in the case of whistle-blower Edward Snowden. The charity says the security services hold large amounts of data about a wide range of people, most of which is unlikely to be of any intelligence interest. Bulk personal data includes information extracted from passports, travel records, financial data, telephone calls and emails. A British-Iraqi man was the mastermind of a people-smuggling network suspected of bringing hundreds of migrants to Britain, a court has heard. Rekawt Kayani, 34, is wanted in France to face trafficking charges which could see him jailed for 10 years. He was apprehended in May at his home in Derby on a European arrest warrant. Kayani is alleged to have travelled to migrant camps on the Channel Coast, Athens and Iraq to build a 'prolific' people smuggling network. Rekawt Kayani, 34, was apprehended in May at his home in Derby on a European arrest warrant Rebecca Hill, for the French authorities, told an extradition hearing at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court: 'The European arrest warrant sets out that Mr Kayani is the head of a trafficking organisation, specifically an Iraqi Kurdish network, facilitating movement to Britain from its base camp in France. 'Mr Kayani was assisted by Iraqi Kurdish lieutenants who were responsible for the passages and the handling of migrants.' Kayani, who was granted British citizenship three years ago, is accused of facilitating the unauthorised entry of aliens into France or another Schengen state and criminal conspiracy. Ms Hill said his involvement in the conspiracy was at a high 'directorial' level and he even switched departure points to the Netherlands. Intercept material, ground surveillance and statements from Polish drivers are among the evidence which would be used against Kayani. The investigation stretches back to 2014 and it is alleged Kayani was linked to numerous smuggling runs from 2014 to January 2016. It is believed they departed from France and the Netherlands but the gang was based in France. During one of the runs from Dieppe to Newhaven, seven migrants - five from Vietnam and two from Iraq - were found crammed inside a concealed compartment in the back of the van Seven migrants hid in this van as part of the trafficking network allegedly headed by Kayani Ms Hill pointed to a run on December 16 2014 when 32 migrants were trafficked and a 'similar passage of migrants' days later. The drivers have spoken of smuggling runs in March, May and June 2015, she said. This includes one on June 4 2015 when four drivers were arrested when 51 Chinese migrants arrived in Harwich, Essex. Between November 2015 and January this year, Kayani organised at least another three smuggling runs from France, the court heard. There was a successful journey on November 4 last year from Caen, and another two from Dieppe on January 10 and January 26 2016, it was said. During one of the runs from Dieppe to Newhaven, seven migrants - five from Vietnam and two from Iraq - were found crammed inside a concealed compartment in the back of the van. His arrest was made under Project Invigor, an immigration crime taskforce through which British police work with counterparts across the continent Kayani is reported to have arrived in Britain as an asylum seeker in 2003. He was arrested following undercover surveillance and statements from Polish drivers involved in the trade. His arrest was made under Project Invigor, an immigration crime taskforce through which British police work with counterparts across the continent. Defence lawyer Ben Seifert suggested that Kayani had not yet been charged by the French authorities and the allegations were still under investigation. Mr Seifert also attacked the make-up of the arrest warrant claiming that it did not spell out in sufficient detail what Kayani was supposed to have done. This was evidence which the French authorities would have but not releasing it put Kayani 'at great disadvantage', according to Mr Seifert. He also argued the case could be dealt with in Britain since some of the alleged offending and potential harm took place here. He said: 'There is no harm that would be suffered by France from the illegal entry of those individuals. The victims are the British public.' Describing this as a 'gross simplification', Ms Hill said that French borders were violated and that a criminal conspiracy was organised in its territory. Consideration of a proposal meant to decrease prison populations and save money stalled Monday afternoon when members of the Incarceration Issues Committee raised concerns about reducing sentences for some crimes. "This is not the way to do it," said Frank Racek, the presiding judge in the East Central Judicial District, of a plan suggested by the Council of State Governments Justice Reinvestment Initiative to create a lower class of felony offenses with shorter sentences and make probation the penalty for class A misdemeanors. Without these changes, however, the committee could have to look for new ways to fund improvement in mental and behavioral health treatment. Racek told the 16-member group of legislators, prosecutors and corrections officials that judges need flexibility in sentencing people rather than a blanket policy. "We're trying to get individuals the response they need," he said, stressing the importance of leaving decisions of probation, prison and treatment up to judges. Ward County State's Attorney Roza Larson raised concerns that the new plan would shift significant responsibility to the counties, who often manage people on unsupervised probation, because staff would have to keep track of a larger number of people. The heated discussion over sentencing began when Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Director LeAnn Bertsch made her own proposals to get rid of mandatory minimum penalties for selling drugs, repeal laws that dictate inmates have to serve 85 percent of their sentence before seeing a parole board, shrink the size of drug-free school zones and reduce penalties for ingesting drugs. "It really becomes about the pound of flesh sometimes," Bertsch said, adding that mandatory minimum penalties disproportionately affect minorities. The suggestions were not taken well by law enforcement on the committee. "That is a blanket accusation of prosecutors across the state and I disagree with you wholeheartedly," Larson said of Bertsch's comment about disproportionate impact. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem argued that reducing penalties or decriminalizing drug ingestion takes out an important mechanism for the court to get involved in helping an addict get treatment. "There's better ways to address that," Bertsch countered. "It's one step further to stigmatizing addiction." Potential investments in addiction and mental health treatment had been discussed earlier in the day, ideally funded by the savings of imprisoning fewer people. The proposal called for wraparound services for people at risk of committing crimes, instead of just intervening when things got bad. Key among these would be ensuring that people coming out of prison had health insurance, adding treatment workers and providing therapy that helps criminals change how they think, Steven Allen, a senior policy associate at CSG, told the committee. For example, Allen said the state could take advantage of federal dollars to get services to people in the criminal justice system who have mental health or substance abuse problems. Instead of terminating Medicaid when people go to prison, the health care could be suspended, allowing them to have immediate access to services and medications when they get out. Legislators raised concerns about building up services that relied on the federal dollars. We all know, however, the shape the federal government is in, and we all know how these programs change, said Rep. Kim Koppelman R-West Fargo. What guarantee or reasonable expectation is there that this would be the model far in the future with the Medicaid expansion and that the federal government could afford that? North Dakotas Medicaid expansion is set to expire in July 2017, unless legislators decide to renew it in the next session. Some also worried about the scope of the plan, which involved hiring more people to work in treatment and counseling. Allen said the additional staff would cost about $50,000 each per year, but emphasized the people are important to building a treatment workforce. Hire people to do more treatment, Koppelman said. It sounds a lot like build more jails. Racek said the best plan may be to start off with pilot programs in specific areas, instead of a sweeping statewide program. Everything has to be individual-based, he said. On Sep. 19, the committee will meet jointly with the Alternatives to Incarceration Committee to vote on a draft bill to present to the legislature. CSG never managed to make the rest of its presentation, which included a plan to make probation and parole more effective by classifying violations and a plan to increase good time reductions for people who participate in programs while incarcerated. Deven Kohr (pictured) is charged with criminal homicide in the death of his baby daughter A Pennsylvania man who told police his infant daughter was injured after falling out of her baby swing and hitting her head has been charged with killing her. Deven Kohr, 23, of New Cumberland, faces criminal homicide and other charges in the six-month-old girl's death. Police say emergency crews were called to the home on May 14 when the baby, called Desirae, went into cardiac arrest. They arrived to the home in the 1500 block of Kathryn Street, where Kohr directed them to a room whether the childs maternal grandfather was performing CPR, PennLive reports. She was taken to Harrisburg Hospital, where she died that day. Doctors later determined that the girl's injuries were caused by having been squeezed within 15 minutes of her death. A coroner found injuries consistent with traumatic asphyxia and the manner of death was ruled homicide. The autopsy also showed the child had suffered numerous brain bleeds that had occurred over the course of her short life. There were also hemorrhages in the girl's eyes, which would have left her blind. Six-month-old baby Desirae (pictured) died after going into cardiac arrest on May 14. Doctors later determined that the girl's injuries were caused by having been squeezed within 15 minutes of her death Kohr told investigators with the Cumberland County Coroners Office that he had woken up that morning, changed the babys diaper and fed her, according to PennLive. Later that day, he noticed she was not breathing and told investigators she had been sick for a few days. He was the only one caring for the girl after her mother Paul Kirsch left town on May 13. Kirsch told authorities that the childs doctor thought she had a viral infection and recommended medication for the pain and fever. She had thought about cancelling her trip, but instead, left the child with Kohr along with the medication, which was found unopened where Kirsch had left it, according to PennLive. Kirsh also said that Kohr had once dropped the child. And when he was told of the injuries the child has sustained up to her death, Kohr said she had fallen from her baby swing. Kohr told authorities the infant had fallen from her baby swing and hit her head, but medical experts said the injuries the child suffered came from greater force than would have resulted from a fall Kohr (pictured) is charged with criminal homicide, endangering the welfare of a child, aggravated assault and simple assault A family member told police on Friday that Kohr had said he had kicked the childs swing, causing her to fall and hit her head, PennLive reports. He reportedly told his family he knew he was responsible because of this. Even so, medical experts said the injuries the child suffered came from greater force than would have resulted from hitting her head after a fall. A GoFundMe page was set up two days after Desiraes death by Ian Chambers to raise money for the childs funeral service and burial. A post on the page said the Kirsch family had suffered a tragic loss. It said: Desirae went into cardiac arrest, even with the effort of family, her grandfather started CPR, her uncle assisted and EMS personnel, Desirae did not survive. It added: The Kirsch family is one that would give you the shirt off their back, their last dollar. We are asking for assistance in helping them in this time of need. No family should have to suffer a loss, let alone the loss of a child. Kohr is jailed without bond and is set to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on August 3. He is charged with criminal homicide, endangering the welfare of a child, aggravated assault and simple assault. Chalk outlines of 'dead bodies' have been etched on the ground at train stations in Germany alongside notes saying 'migration kills'. The drawings, which are intended to look like crime scenes, were found throughout the eastern German state of Saxony. The shocking chalk figures are accompanied by splashes of red paint to indicate blood. Police believe that Right-wing extremists are behind the incident aimed at exploiting the fears of ordinary Germans that migrants are causing an explosion in violent crime. A strong anti-immigration sentiment has been building in the state where they were drawn. Chalk outlines of fake dead bodies are scene etched on the floor of a train station in Germany The chalk drawings were covered with paper messages saying that 'migration kills' According to police, the drawings and some notes were discovered at the stations of Koenigstein and Heidenau, and at a station in the state capital of Dresden. A police spokesperson called the paintings a 'politically motivated act.' They noted that a search for the perpetrators in the vicinity of the stations was inconclusive. Two weeks earlier, the same stations were sprayed with the Arabic texts 'refugees go home' by extremists wearing Guy Fawkes masks. The video footage of those actions was posted on social media accounts linked with a notorious Right-wing activist group from the town of Heidenau. Red paint was splattered on the chalk drawings in an attempt to look like blood at a crime scene A police spokesperson called the paintings a 'politically motivated act' and said it had been done to incite fear The police are researching if there are connections between the two acts. The town of Heidenau has been the centre of xenophobic actions and crimes over the last year. Last year in August, 31 police officers were severely injured in clashes against the opening of an asylum centre. For days after, hundreds of angry anti-immigration activists were on the streets, with an equal number of police officers needed to protect the local refugees. Also the wider state of Saxony has a long history of extreme-Right anti-immigrant sentiments. This is the moment a brawl broke out on a crowded rental boat in Maryland after one man threw a beer at another. Video of the incident was filmed by a witness on the Choptank River on Saturday, who later uploaded the fight on Facebook - where it quickly went viral. It shows one man hurl a beer can at another, sparking a fight between the pair that caused $3,000 worth of damage - while another man and three women on the small boat look on. Women are heard screaming as a couple of others aboard the boat attempt in vain to break it up and at one point, one of the men is seen trying to hit the other with the boats antenna. This is the moment a brawl broke out on a crowded rental boat after one man threw a beer at another The group paid $3,000 in cash for the damage to the rental boat, CBS Baltimore reports. Maryland Natural Resources Police spokesman Candy Thompson said officers had spoken to everyone aboard the boat, except the man operating it. The man, a 21-year-old from Crownsville, is facing a charge of negligent boating, Thompson told CBS, which carried a fine of up to $500 if its a first-time offense. This fight on the Choptank Saturday could have had deadly consequences, the police departments Twitter account posted on Monday. Charges pending. Daryl Newhouse witnessed the fight break out from the safety boat for the Cambridge Yacht Club Annual Fun Regatta. It was filmed by a witness after the fight broke out on the Choptank River in Maryland on Saturday The group paid $3,000 in cash for the damage to the rental boat after the brawl, authorities said Two men are seen fighting while four others aboard are heard screaming while some try to break it up She said the boats occupants appeared drunk and ignored calls from the safety boat. So they began to follow the rental boat as it was operating unsafely and was veering too close to the sailboats racing in the regatta. We tried getting their attention, directing them away from the sailboats and signalling to cut their speed but all six deliberately ignored us and stared straight ahead despite our waving right next to them, Newhouse told CBS Baltimore. Then they went through the finish line where our committee boat and mark were set up. She added: I used to be a lifeguard at that age so I wanted to stay close enough to help if one went overboard. Police said charges are pending against the operator of the boat and warned the fight could have been 'deadly' Daryl Newhouse, who filmed the video, said the boats occupants appeared drunk and ignored calls from the safety boat The safety boat followed the rental boat after it interfered with the regatta course and veered dangerously close to other sailboats In Newhouses video, those aboard the safety boat can be heard telling the brawlers that authorities had been called, but it did little to stop the fighting. Newhouse added on Facebook: So I was riding on the Cambridge Fun Regatta safety boat when we tried to hail a boat that was getting dangerously close to our sailboat racers and was interfering with the course. They ignored our hailing and we started to follow them because they were operating so unsafely and appeared very drunk. Madness ensued and of course no DNR or Coast Guards were anywhere in the area. I seriously worried one of them was going overboard. His body was found dumped in the woods, with his face severely disfigured with A woman from upstate New York and her two grown sons have been charged with evidence tampering in the slaying of the mother's estranged husband, who was strangled and disfigured with acid. No one has been charged with killing Craig Rideout, a 50-year-old suburban Rochester man whose mutilated body was found dumped in the Finger Lakes region. Authorities say 22-year-old Colin Rideout and 19-year-old Alexander Rideout were arrested as they threw a bag with solvents, gloves and an acid-based drain cleaner into Devil's Bathtub Pond last week. Scroll down for video Family arrested: Laura Rideout, 45 (far left), and her two sons, 22-year-old Colin (center) and 19-year-old Alexander (far right), have been charged in connection to the killing of Mrs Rideout's estranged husband Grisly murder: Craig Rideout, 50, was found strangled to death and mutilated with acid in the Finger Lakes region last week Crime scene: Police believe Craig Rideout was killed inside his home at 135 New Wickham Drive in Penfield Shocking find: The man's mutilated body, wrapped in a tarp, has turned up at Mendon Ponds Park Police believe the two sons helped their mother clean up blood inside their father's home after his killing. The brothers were released on $25,000 bail on Monday, four days after they were charged with evidence tampering. Their mother, the victim's estranged wife, also is charged with tampering with evidence and burglary. Laura Rideout, 45, was released on bail last week. On Tuesday morning, Monroe County Sheriff's Office says investigators found the victim's 2010 grey Honda Odyssey in a park-and-ride lot near Interstate 490 outside Rochester. The vehicle will be searched by crime scene technicians. Craig Rideout was last seen alive last Tuesday at his home at 135 New Wickham Drive in Penfield, where police believe he was murdered that day. According to detectives, Laura Rideout entered her estranged husband's home after the killing and proceeded to conceal or destroy blood evidence of his murder by cleaning the property. Video courtesy of WHAM TV FULL FACEBOOK STATEMENT FROM CRAIG RIDEOUT'S SISTER Craig Rideout My family and I appreciate the outpouring of support from our friends, family and the community at this difficult time. We are a family in mourning. We mourn the loss of a son, brother, uncle, cousin, nephew and to many a dear friend. Craig was always ready with a hug, smile, shoulder or a grand joke, whichever was most in need. He was a devoted father. There have obviously been negative comments that have been made against the character of my brother Craig. I would ask that careful consideration be given prior to believing this negativity. My brother was a generous, loving person. He gave of himself to the community working with St Irenaeus Ministries, through Catholic Youth Groups, and other Charitable Organizations. Many of the people that have reached out to me and my family have been the youth that he had mentored, now grown, and telling me of how my brother Craig was instrumental in them growing into the persons they are today. Craig was always the one with the great smile that reached his eyes, and with a quick wit this is evidenced by the sharing of stories by his friends, not only the friends from high school and college, but by his current friends and coworkers. He will be missed by all who loved him. My family and I wish to thank all law enforcement agencies, the Monroe County Sherriff, the Yates County Sherriff and the NY State Troopers, that have all been working tirelessly to bring justice for my brother. To that end, if anyone has any information, please reach out to the police so that this crime does not go unpunished. Thank you. Robbyn M Drew and the family of Craig Rideout Advertisement Helper: Colin Rideout (pictured left and right) and his younger brother are accused of helping their mother clean blood inside their slain father's house Family man: Craig Rideout (far left) had seven children with his wife Laura, among them (left to right) Andrew, Colin, and Alexander The two Rideout brothers (pictured exiting sheriff's office) were released on $25,000 bail on Monday, four days after they were charged with evidence tampering Colin and Alexander's mother, Laura Rideout, 45, was released on bail last week The man's mutilated body, wrapped in a tarp, was discovered at Mendon Ponds Park the following day. TWC News reported that a shovel and other evidence were found nearby. The medical examiner ruled the cause of death to be asphyxiation from strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head, reported the station WHEC. A man was rushed to hospital after he was shot in broad daylight at a busy shopping centre in southern Sweden. The man was reportedly shot in the left leg at around 4.20pm in Malmo after becoming involved in a brawl inside the Rosengard Centre. The area was then cordoned off while police tried to piece together the series of events, and track down the gunman. Police stand guard outside the shopping centre in Malmo, Sweden, where a man was shot in the leg on Tuesday 'It's messy in there, but a man is shot - probably in the leg. He is taken to hospital,' police field officer Lotta Svensson told Sydsvenskan. Police said they had not identified a suspect or motive in the shooting and had made no arrests. It is thought the assailant left on foot. The incident occurred in a mainly immigrant neighbourhood of Sweden's third largest city. The area gained notoriety in 2008 after youths clashed with police over the closure of a mosque. The rioters were only brought under control after police from other cities were sent in to calm the situation. This latest violence, however, comes as Europe has been shaken by a series of violent attacks. Those inside the centre were initially not allowed to leave the area, as police gathered witness statements Over the past 18 months, there have been attacks on civilians in Germany, France and Belgium by men of Middle Eastern or Asian origin. Three British adventurers involved in a 300-mile sailing race along the coast of Tanzania were kidnapped and robbed by pirates after their small boat started sinking in heavy seas. The trio, Chris Shimmin, 29; Taz Ibrahim, 25, and Anthony Gullan, 28, were jumped by a group of seven men. The sailors, who are from the Isle of Man, were forced to hand over their phones, cash cards and cameras during the terrifying attack. The three adventurers were involved in a 300-mile sailing race using traditional fishing boats, stock picture Chris Shimmin and his two friends were taking part in a 300-mile boat race along the coast of Tanzania Pirates accosted the trio as they took part in the Ngwalawa Cup, which races down the Tanzanian coast in traditional-style boats with participants foraging for food and sleeping rough as part of the adventure. Shimmin, Ibrahim and Gullan were taking part in the race to raise money for charity. They were in second place in the race when their boat was damaged. They were able to make their way to an isolated island when a local man said he would go for help. Shimmin told The Sun their boat began to sink: 'It was the Titanic basically, we went straight down, the boat broke apart and we had to call for emergency assistance. While trying to fix the boat, they were jumped by the pirates. He said: 'The next thing I knew there was a crash behind me and some more guys came down, one of them had his arm around my chest and a serrated fisherman's knife at my throat. It took us completely by surprise and we couldn't defend ourselves, they dragged us off into woods behind where we set up camp and demanded money. 'They tied us all up to each other with our hands behind our backs and took all our clothes, bank cards, electronics, iPhones, cameras, the works. At first we didn't think they were really going to do anything but when they took us into the woods and tied us up.' Fortunately for the trio, the pirates were spooked when they heard a tourist boat approaching the island. Luckily, they were able to free themselves and made it back to civilization. A judge spared Matthew Joseph Medlin (pictured) a long prison sentence on Monday, opting for a plan that will help address his drug addiction and a possible underlying mental illness A man who has spent the past 15 years in and out of jail was spared a lengthy prison sentence on Monday by a merciful judge. Matthew Joseph Medlin was arrested back in January, after getting into a standoff with police in a Portland, Oregon rail yard while shooting meth. The 32-year-old's most recent arrest made headlines across the country due to his mugshot, showing his face scabbed and tattooed. The mugshot is just one of more than a dozen that show Medlin's descent into addiction, his face becoming more inked and injured over the years as his drug use increasingly put him at odds with Portland police. While he could have faced a sentence of two-and-a-half years in prison for his most recent offence, a Multnomah County, Oregon Circuit Court judge decided to spare Medlin even more jail time in exchange for a sentence that will hopefully help him beat his addiction once for all, while also giving him the resources needed to treat a possible mental illness. Medlin's defense attorneys and prosecutors hashed out the deal together, recommending the homeless man spend 60 days in jail, and remain on probation for the next three years. Medlin will also be admitted to a relatively new intensive probation program for 120 days, which will help him get drug and mental-health treatment, as well as a stable place to live. District Attorney Jon Martz said it's possible that Medlin might have schizophrenia and that previous drug treatment programs weren't helpful because Medlin was homeless. Medlin's attorney said on Monday that he had already noticed a 'huge chance' in Medlin since he has been forced into sobriety in hail. 'I think he's struggled his adult life with mental illness, substance abuse and homelessness. And now we got a chance to address all three of those issues in one shot. If we can do this I think we're all going to be better off,' the attorney said, according to the Oregonian. The 32-year-old has spent the last 15 years in and out of prison and his more than a dozen mugshots show his descent into addiction through scabs and tattoos on his face. Pictured on the left and center at the age of 18 in 2002 and on the right in October 2002 at the age of 19 Left: October 2006 at age 23; Center: December 2006 at age 23; Right: February 2007 at age 23 Left: June 2007 at age 23; Center: January 2013 at age 29; Right: February 2013 at age 29 Left: March 2013 at age 29; Center: April 2013 at age 29; Right: July 1, 2013 at age 29 Left: July 20, 2013 at age 29; Center: April 2014 at age 30; Right: December 2015 at age 32 The sentence comes just a month after Medlin pleaded guilty to felony first-degree criminal mischief for the incident back in January at a Portland rail yard when Medlin jumped into a train car and refused to come out. Officers surrounded the car, but Medlin who later told police he'd been on meth and had been awake for 26 hours seized rocks and pieces of metal for weapons, and they entered a standoff that lasted four hours. Police said they tried to talk the man down, but he responded by injecting himself with more meth, causing him to behave even more erratically. This incident is far from Medlin's first encounter with the law. In 2013 he was jailed for sex abuse, burglary and assault charges. However, in May 2014, despite being just six days away from release, he decided to mount an escape. Medlin scaled the razor fence of Columbia River Correctional Facility and fled, but his distinctive facial tattoos meant that he wasn't at large for long. Within ten hours of his noon escape, he was spotted by a correctional officer just two miles away from the prison. Police were called and Medlin was eventually cornered in a Jack in the Box fast food restaurant by police. He was charged with second-degree escape and returned to prison. Medlin's record stretches back to his 18th birthday in 2002, and one of his earliest mugshots shows a handsome young man with scant facial hair. But as the years wind on, his photos become more menacing. In a 2007 image he is pictured with his eyes locked in a narrow glare, and what appear to be bruises and scrapes on his left ear and nose. Ellis Thomas, 33, from the Isle of Dogs, was sentenced to six years and four years for two counts of conspiracy, to be served concurrently The mastermind of a gang of hi-tech thieves who stole more than 50 super bikes to order and shipped them overseas to the Caribbean has been jailed. Ellis Thomas, 33, from the Isle of Dogs, used his expertise in re-programming the Engine Control Unit (ECU) to allow thieves to steal the vehicles without their keys. He was in constant communication with a team of thieves who scouted the streets telling him which bikes were 'available' at any one time. The bikes were then advertised for sale in a criminal virtual showroom at fixed prices based on their age and engine size. Many of the bikes were shipped overseas, mainly to Trinidad and Tobago, or sold cut price in Britain. Thomas was arrested at his home address on October 2 last year, and twelve stolen motorcycles were seized by City of London Police. Officers had recovered two new BMW S1000RR vehicles from Portsmouth Docks, due to be shipped to Trinidad, which had earlier been stolen as part of a high-value commercial burglary in Essex. Detectives believe around 50 motorbikes worth more than 100,000 were stolen with many remaining unidentified or unrecovered. The gang was busted after City of London Police noticed a surge in thefts of super bikes in 2014. Thomas was sentenced to six years and four years for two counts of conspiracy, to be served concurrently. His accomplice Mario White, 47, who was responsible for the Caribbean shipping, was jailed for two years after admitting conspiracy to handle stolen goods and possession of a taser. Detectives believe around 50 motorbikes worth more than 100,000 were stolen with many remaining unidentified or unrecovered The gang was busted after City of London Police noticed a surge in thefts of super bikes in 2014 The court heard how Thomas operated a fixed-price structure for stolen motorcycles, based on the age and engine size of the vehicles offered Detective Constable Steve Weller said: 'Ellis Thomas was at the heart of an organised criminal group that was responsible for the theft and handling of motorcycles, primarily superbikes. 'Thomas acted as a middleman between the thieves and any prospective buyers, becoming a pivotal node within the regional motorcycle crime network. 'He used his expertise in reprogramming the Engine Control Unit (ECU) to mobilise vehicles stolen without their keys. 'Thomas was able to offer stolen motorbikes for export or resale, at a substantial undervalue, by defeating the security measures put in place by the manufacturers to mitigate this illegal trade. 'Thomas' imprisonment removes his expertise from circulation, frustrating those who seek to reprogramme ECUs for unlawful reasons. Ian Mangham has been sacked from Scotland Yard after harassing his girlfriend by falsely claiming she was a prostitute A detective who left cards in pub toilets falsely claiming his ex-girlfriend was a prostitute before sending her coupons for pornography has been sacked. Ian Mangham was dismissed by Scotland Yard after a 'cruel and vindictive' campaign of abuse against his former partner Agnes Collowey. The detective sergeant, based in Barking and Dagenham, met the mother-of-two when her 'troublesome' partner wrongly reported her missing to police. But after they split in 2013, after four years together, he began bombarding her with unwanted postal deliveries, including magazines and pornographic films. He also placed adverts for her supposed services in pub toilets and phone boxes, leading her to get phone calls and knocks on her door all through the night. Mangham, 50, was jailed in May for 16 weeks after being found guilty of harassment and was ordered to pay 3,000 to his victim and 500 costs. He was also placed under a restraining order. The Metropolitan Police confirmed today that Mangham had been sacked without notice for discreditable conduct after 26 years of service with the force. Assistant Commissioner Helen King said: 'Victims of domestic abuse have historically often failed to report offences against them in part because they were not confident that the police would take their allegations seriously and provide them with appropriate support. 'Much good work has been done to counter this belief, so for an officer to be convicted for domestic abuse brings very significant discredit to the police service and undermines the efforts of their colleagues.' During the case, Hammersmith magistrates' court heard that Ms Collowey, 38, received a note through the door of her home in Chingford, apparently written by her ex, which read: 'Romanian whore. Dirty prostitute, get out of our street.' She was also bombarded with junk mail after Mangham completed coupons in her name for products such as jewellery engraved with the words 'To my best lover' and pornographic films. Giving evidence in court, Ms Collowey, a massage therapist, said: 'Letters were coming every day from different companies. 'Some were very upsetting, like one which offered to look after my dog after my death and I received a letter from an undertaker's and a mobility company.' She said calls from local men seeking sex then began. 'One called for sexual services and said he found my number in the mens toilet of a Chingford pub,' she said. 'I was constantly receiving text messages and some were very rude and I had people knocking on my door in the middle of the night.' The 50-year-old (left) ran a 'cruel' campaign against his former partner Agnes Collowey (right). The detective sergeant met the mother-of-two when her 'troublesome' partner wrongly reported her missing to police One call was from a pub at the end of her road and another from a phone box opposite Highams Park train station, where a leaflet advertised Agnes's address and phone number. She said she also received mystery 'aggressive' texts and had her dustbins pushed over. Mangham told the court he was not behind the harassment campaign and insisted that he 'wished her well' after their relationship ended. In a separate case, a constable who injured six people in a high-speed chase escaped the sack and was given a final written warning, but he was banned from driving police vehicles. Lee Drake, based in Tower Hamlets, was given a 15-month suspended jail term for crashing into a moped in Poplar, east London, in June 2014 after going through a red traffic light with blue lights on but no sirens. The 27-year-old rider was left with life-threatening injuries and four pedestrians were hurt after being sprayed with debris. Drake and his colleague in the marked patrol car were also injured. Ms King said: 'Pc Drake's driving has had a lifelong impact on the lives of the two most seriously injured victims, on their families and on their confidence in the police. Pc Drake's conviction has brought discredit on the police service. 'However his conviction, although serious with devastating consequences for the victims, for Pc Drake and his family, related to misjudgment and bad decision making in the course of a few seconds.' A German security guard who turned an ISIS suicide bomber away from a music festival just minutes before he blew himself up said the jihadi he kept staring at me nervously. Pascal Bohm, 25, saved scores of lives when he denied Syrian Mohammad Daleel entry to the 2,500 sell-out concert in Ansbach because he didnt have a ticket. Mr Bohm, 25, said Daleel seemed nervous and frantic as he loitered outside the venue after he had been rejected. 'He seemed to hope that I would leave my place. He kept phoning someone and had his hand on the ear,' the hero told German newspaper Bild. 'I noticed him because he kept staring at me nervously.' Scroll down for video Hero: Event security guard Pascal Bohm stopped the suicide bomber from entering a concert packed with more than 2,000 revellers in the quiet Bavarian town of Ansbach on Sunday Pictured: Mohammad Daleel waited half an hour before leaving the venue and detonating device outside a wine bar - killing himself, injuring 12 - four gravely Concert: Bohm, 25, stopped Daleel from getting into the 2,500 strong festival in Ansbach because he didn't have a ticket. He said the ISIS killer kept staring at him nervously. Just 30 minutes later he detonated his bomb 'Every movement seemed frantic, and he looked to see if he was being watched,' Bohm's chilling encounter with Daleel, a failed asylum seeker who was twice meant to be sent back to Bulgaria, came just 30 minutes before he detonated his rucksack packed with screws and metal shavings outside Eugen's Wine Bar in the city 50 miles west of Nuremburg in southern Germany. The blast injured 15 people - four seriously, and killed the Daleel, 27, who had links to ISIS. Describing the moment the explosion went off Bohm said he felt a 'shock wave' and saw chairs flying through the air. He said: 'I only saw injured people lying in blood on the floor - I immediately called the ambulance and fire brigade. 'The backpack wasn't on the man, and his body was not torn. He also had no visible external injuries, there was only a little blood', he said. The attack could have killed many of the 2,500 concert goers if the bomber managed to get inside. Nervous: Moments after Etheir encounter, Daleel detonated his rucksack packed with metal shards and screws and killed himself, injuring 12 people, four critically Horror: Hero security guard Bohm said he had not 'slept for one second' since the attack, but that while he is tired, he can't shake the horrific night Attack: ISIS released a video showing Daleel issuing a chilling warning that Islamists will wreak havoc across Europe with car bombs Barvaria: The explosion took place in the city of Ansbach, 50 miles west of Nurenburg, in southern Germany ISIS released a video showing Daleel issuing a chilling warning that Islamists will wreak havoc across Europe with car bombs. The failed asylum seeker warned the West they will no longer 'live peacefully' and that they will be much larger bombings than the one he carried out in the quiet Bavarian town on Sunday. In the video Daleel said: 'This operation is carried out with an explosive device, but next time it will be with (car) bombs. To the German people, your country is killing you by its actions. Islamic State did not start this war with you.' Daleel, whose face is totally obscured by a black scarf, attempted to justify what German politicians have called a 'cowardly act'. Video: ISIS have also released a video this evening which appears to show Daleel pledging his allegiance to the terror group Search: Police photographers a flat where the 27-year-old Syrian suspect lived, after an explosion in Ansbach near Nuremberg, Germany The bomber added: 'To the German Youth: your planes that are shelling us don't distinguish between men, women and even children.' The twisted video emerged after ISIS issued a photograph of Daleel, who was nicknamed Rambo, to glorify his suicide bombing. A 28-year-old Bismarck man was arrested for arson Monday morning after police found him covered in soot near a burning home. Police allege the man barricaded himself in a basement room of the home on the 1200 block of Morningside Street in Bismarck and set it on fire. Fire Marshal Joseph Cox said no one was injured in the blaze. The fire destroyed the room but the rest of the home was OK except for smoke damage. A resident of the home told police the man had been asked to leave earlier in the day but came back without permission. She said she tried to get him out of the downstairs bedroom but the door was blocked with a dresser. Police said the woman called police after she heard a window shatter and saw smoke billowing out of the basement. The man had a torch lighter in his pants pocket when he was arrested, police said. Firefighters put out the blaze and referred the occupants to American Red Cross for temporary housing assistance, according to a release from the fire department. Damages are estimated at $25,000. Fury has erupted in France as the nation's current and former leaders call for a 'merciless' response to an attack that left an 84-year-old priest dead and a nun critically injured. Two knifemen burst into a Normandy church this morning before filming themselves butchering elderly priest, Jacques Hamel, and performing a 'sermon in Arabic' at the altar, according to a witness. French president Francois Hollande said the country is now 'at war' with ISIS after the terror group claimed responsibility for the attack at Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen. Meanwhile 'horrified' ex-Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said he feared 'everything is being done to trigger a war of religions'. Scroll down for video 'At war': French President Francois Hollande warned that the country is now 'at war' with ISIS after the attack in Normandy that saw a priest brutally slain Warning: Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy (pictured) called for a 'merciless' response to the killing Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a 'merciless' response to the killing. It comes after it was revealed that one of the killers, 19-year-old Adel K., was being monitored by electronic tag after twice attempting to join fanatics in Syria. His bail terms, however, allowed him to be unsupervised between 8.30am and 12.30pm. The attack happened between 9am and 11am. The revelations have sparked fears that France is not doing enough to keep potential terrorists under control. Despite tensions, President Hollande called for unity in France following todays attack and the Bastille Day massacre in Nice. He said: The threat remains very high. We are confronted with a group, Daesh, which has declared war on us. We have to wage war by every means, [but through] upholding the law, which is because we are a democracy. Killing: A French policeman cordons off the area around the body of one of the two knifemen who stormed into a Normandy church and butchered an 84-year-old priest, as well as critically injuring a nun Attack: The two killers, who shouted 'Allahu Akbar' were shot dead by police marksmen as they emerged from the building, which was later searched for bombs. Police later raided a house in the area and made an arrest Slain: An 84-year-old priest, named as Jacques Hamel, had his throat cut in a Normandy church this morning in an attack that also left a nun critically injured and both jihadis dead 'Horrified': Ex-Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin (pictured) said he feared 'everything is being done to trigger a war of religions' Sarkozy, who is expected to enter next years race for the presidency, used the incident to accuse President Hollandes government of not taking a tough enough stance against terrorism. We must be merciless, he said. The legal quibbling, precautions and pretexts for insufficient action are not acceptable. A Texas pastor has described the 'divine moment' he was let out of a ticket by a state trooper in exchange for a roadside prayer session. Pastor Wendell Davis, of Lyons Baptist Church, was driving from Lubbock to Dallas on Friday when he was pulled over on Highway 84. The officer that stopped him, Connor Hardin, told Davis that his expiration sticker had expired, and he was also missing a front license plate. However the trooper did not write Davis up a ticket - he instead asked for a favor. Scroll down for video 'I would really call it a divine moment': Pastor Wendell Davis was pulled over by a state trooper in Texas, however he was let go after praying with the man. The two also shared a hug Special encounter: Dash cam footage from the officer's car shows the moment the two shared a prayer Hug: After finishing the roadside prayer session, the two can be seen sharing a hug 'It was definitely a hiccup in my plans as I had never planned on being stopped,' Davis told KCBD. However, Hardin surprisingly did not give Davis a ticket. 'He then said, ''I am going to give you two warnings and I would like to make two requests?''' Davis said. 'I said ''Okay, what are your requests?'' 'He said, ''My second request is will you pray with me?'' And I said, absolutely, I will.' The men then joined hands on Highway 84 and prayed. Following the prayer - which was captured on the dash cam of the patrol car - Hardin asked Davis if they could share a hug. 'Well I had never been asked that by a state trooper and so I said, ''sure'' and I hugged him,' Davis said. Davis said he never would have imagined that being pulled over would have ended it up the way it did. 'I would really call it a divine moment, just that, a divine moment,' he said. Mom jailed: Lynette Sue Humphrey, 55, the mother of a suspect Michigan rapist, has been charged with threatening one of her son's victims The mother of a Michigan date-rape suspect was charged with witness intimidation after police say she threatened one of her son's alleged victims with violence According to police in Muskegon, Lynette Sue Humphrey, 55, called a woman who had accused her son of sexual assault and left her a voicemail message in which she threatened to beat her up. Humphreys son, 34-year-old Joshua Humphrey, and 32-year-old Larry Donell Stiff, have been charged with drugging at least two women and raping them in two separate incidents that took place in 2013 and earlier this year. Ms Humphrey was arrested last week on a charge of witness intimidation as a third-time habitual offender and jailed on $20,000 bond. If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison, reported Mlive.com. The womans son and his co-defendant were charged in March with third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection to an encounter with a woman that took place in February 2016. Earlier this month, the pair were hit with additional charges stemming from an earlier incident involving another woman that occurred in 2013. Accomplices: Humphreys son, 34-year-old Joshua Humphrey (left), and 32-year-old Larry Donell Stiff (right), have been charged with drugging at least two women and raping them Muskegon County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Maat said that in the 2013 case, Humphrey and Stiff drugged the victim with Tramadol HCL - a powerful narcotic painkiller - before raping her. Based on information obtained from search warrant affidavits, on October 31, 2013, a woman met Joshua Humphrey, Larry Stiff and another woman in the now-defunct Cancun Connections bar in Muskegon, where they took shots of dark liquor. The group later ended up in Stiff's house. The alleged victim would later tell detectives that the last thing she remembered from that night was sitting on a couch before she passed out. When the woman later woke up, she found herself lying naked next to the other woman, whose pants and underwear were pulled down. The alleged victim went to a hospital, where a rape test turned up Stiffs DNA. In the February 2016 case, Humphrey and Stiff met up with a woman and her two friends in a bar. Roofied: Detectives believe Humphrey (pictured left and right) and his accomplice, Larry Stiff, used a powerful painkiller to drug women and then sexually assault them while they were unconscious According to court documents, Humphrey bought the alleged victim a beer, after which she blacked out and woke up some time later in her own house, wearing surgical scrub pants, no underwear, and with her bra and top askew. Humphrey and Stiff have been tied to a third incident involving yet another woman who also accused the 34-year-old man of slipping something in her drink that caused her to black out and made her sick. No charges have been filed in that case. Liam Fox is in the United States on a trade mission and is targeting Brexit in early 2019 Britain will quit the EU in time to sign new trade deals before the 2020 general election, Liam Fox has indicated today. The International Trade Secretary is on a three day tour of the United States, working to drum up business for Britain in the wake of the Brexit vote. President Barack Obama infamously threatened Britain would be at the 'back of the queue' for a US trade deal if it quit the EU in a Downing Street press conference choreographed with David Cameron. Dr Fox today announced three new trade offices would be established in America in the wake of the Brexit vote and under the guise of Theresa May's new Government. Until Britain officially leaves the EU, Britain is not allowed to sign its own trade deals - but Dr Fox today said it was possible to scope out deals. Speaking in Washington, Dr Fox said: 'We cannot negotiate any new trade deals as long as we are part of the European Union, which of course we will be for probably the next two years with an exit in early 2019. 'But of course, we want to have discussions and to scope out any possible deals that we might want to do immediately after that.' In a Wall Street Journal interview, Dr Fox indicated the Government would likely seek a free-trade agreement with the bloc rather than a closer customs union. Dr Fox International Trade department is due to open offices in the cities of Minneapolis in Minnesota, Raleigh in North Carolina and San Diego in California. The offices will extend an existing network which already covers New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Washington DC, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Seattle, Miami and Denver. Each staffed by one locally-recruited officer, the offices will work to promote UK business, economic and political ties in support of the consulate general in their regions. The Department for International Trade said that the Seattle office alone supported the delivery of approximately 8 million in capital investment and 1,000 UK jobs in the past year. Dr Fox said: 'I am pleased to announce ... that the UK Government plans to open three new offices right here in the United States, in Minneapolis, Raleigh and San Diego. 'Our ambitious vision for an open and outward-looking UK economy includes growing our footprint in the most important markets around the world and these three cities offer exciting opportunities to boost trade and investment.' Theresa May, pictured today on the steps of No 10 with Enda Kenny, will be able to sign new trade deals before the 2020 general election, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has indicated On a three-day visit a fortnight after his appointment to the newly-created Cabinet role, Dr Fox has met US Trade Representative Michael Froman in Washington DC, before travelling to Chicago to speak at the Sage Summit for small and medium-sized businesses. Advertisement Hillary Clinton surprised her delegates tonight with a special satellite appearance to commemorate winning the Democratic nomination for the Presidential Election, as furious Bernie Sanders supporters took to the streets to protest her coronation. Singer Alicia Keys was finishing up a performance when Clinton appeared on a jumbo tron. As Keys' 'Girl on Fire' began to play, black and white photos of the nation's 44 male presidents - all of them white except Barack Obama - flashed on screen in rapid succession. Glass shattered in the digital presentation and Clinton came up in color, wearing a red pantsuit. 'Hello Philadelphia! I am so happy. It's been a great day and night. What an incredible honor you've given me,' she said from a convention watch party her campaign was hosting in New York. 'I can't believe we just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet.' She told her supporters: 'Thanks to you and to everyone who's fought so hard to make this possible. This is really your victory. This is really your night. 'And if there are any little girls out there who stayed up late to watch, let me just say: I may become the first woman president, but one of you is next,' she said, as the camera zoomed out to show her standing next to a small child in a room full of women. 'Thank you all! I can't wait to join you in Philadelphia. Thank you!' she said, closing out the second night of the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Clinton's surprise appearance came after a speech by her husband, former president Bill Clinton, who called on Americans to embrace his wife as he gave a long speech about their marriage and her success as a public servant. But some Bernie Sanders supporters - enraged by the democratic socialist's official concession of defeat to Clinton despite leaked emails suggesting the party conspired against him - clashed with police outside the Wells Faro Center, burning flags and shutting down streets. Shattering that glass ceiling: Hillary Clinton surprised her delegates with a special satellite appearance to thank those who voted her and claiming it was 'really your vitory. This is really your night' Hillary Clinton surprised her delegates tonight with a special satellite appearance to commemorate winning the Democratic nomination for the White House Singer Alicia Keys was finishing up a performance when Clinton appeared on a jumbo tron. As Keys' 'Girl on Fire' began to play, black and white photos of the nation's 44 male presidents - all of them white except Barack Obama - flashed on screen in rapid succession One of you is next! Hillary promised that she may become the first women president, before the camera zoomed out to a room full of women and young girls Celeb-heavy: Alicia Keys closed out the convention with a musical performance before introducing Hillary Clinton by satellite link; while Meryl Streep praised Clinton for her 'grit and grace' Chelsea Clinton and husband Marc Mezvinsky smile as Hillary Clinton appears on screen live during the second day of the Democratic National Convention Bill Clinton took to the stage to close the second night of the Democratic National Convention for a folksy speech that aimed to paint Hillary Clinton as a human being Whose side are you on? Demonstrators burn an American flag during a protest on Tuesday night in Philadelphia after Hillary Clinton was crowned the Democratic Presidential nominee Clinton became the first woman to earn a major party's presidential nomination on Tuesday evening as Democratic delegates officially gave her the votes she needed to win the election. 'History,' was what she tweeted with a photo of herself on stage at a rally. Her communications director had played coy earlier in the day about whether Clinton would follow in Donald Trump's footsteps and deliver videoed remarks after winning the nomination, saying she didn't want to spoil the evening's programming. Bill Clinton was the keynote speaker Tuesday evening and daughter Chelsea and her husband Marc Mezvinsky were in the audience, but not wife Hillary, implying that she was likely to beam in via video. The former president spent 42 minutes describing his wife's transformation from a studious and standoffish classmate to the loving partner and political force she is today. 'She's been around a long time. She sure has. And she has sure been worth every single year she has put into making people's lives better,' Bill Clinton said. 'She always wants to move the ball forward - that is just who she is.' He said Republicans had tried to cast his wife as 'a cartoon' but saluted delegates by saying: 'Earlier today, you nominated the real one.' Calling for unity in a party that has been split by the 'political revolution' led by socialist former candidate Bernie Sanders, Bill Clinton said of his wife: 'She is still the best darned change-maker I have ever known,' Sanders showed up to the convention in person Tuesday night and moved to have Clinton named the nominee by acclamation after she had more than enough votes to win. He joined his home state of Vermont, which passed the first time around in the roll call vote, for the history-making moment. 'I move that all votes, all votes cast by delegates be reflected in the official record, and I move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the nominee of the Democratic Party for president of the United States,' he said. The gesture was to be a signal of unity and reconciliation during the fractured Democratic Convention. His delegates, on the other hand, were not so moved to accept the result of the vote. A group of them left the arena in protest after Clinton officially won the nomination shouting, 'Walk out!' The protests continued into the night becoming more heated, as thousands of demonstrators shut down streets, faced off with police and some even set fire to flags, including an American and an Israeli flag. The demonstrators appeared to be a mix of Sanders supporters, as well as other protest groups, including Black Lives Matter. Taking the news badly: Protesters gather near the Democratic National convention where they appear to be burning an Israeli flag Demonstrators light a fire as they gather outside the Wells Fargo Center; earlier delegates walked out en masse after Hillary was officially made the nominee for the party Disillusioned supporters of Bernie Sanders vowed to protest long into the night after the Vermont senator officially conceded defeat Help us Bernie Sanders, you're our only hope: Demonstrators gather outside the Wells Fargo Center seemingly unable to cope with the fact that their leader didn't win the Democratic nomination At arms length: Demonstrators clash with police during Tuesday night's protest; the demonstrations grew more heated and violent as the night progressed with at least three arrests Stop killing black people! The demonstrators didn't appear to just be Sanders supporters, with several groups seemingly converging on Philadelphia to have their voice heard, including Black Lives Matter In your face: A demonstrator argues with a motorcycle-riding police officer during the protest in Philadelphia Calmed down yet? Activists embrace as they sing and play the guitar during a candle light vigil on the perimeters of the 2016 Democratic National Convention At least three people clambered over perimeter fences and were arrested, while others chanted 'election fraud' in reference to leaked emails showing the Democratic National Committee tried to undermine the Sanders campaign. Joshua 'Fox' Brown, a Sanders delegate from High Point, North Carolina, helped lead the walkout. He said he headed out right when Bernie started speaking. 'It's one thing to lose honestly. We elected 49 Sanders delegates, he said, but only got 48 votes when North Carolina's delegate votes came in. 'That pledged delegate for Sanders in North Carolina flipped to Clinton. If a pledged delegate flips, obviously that's against the rules.' The pro-Bernie protesters exited the room silently. Outside the stadium they started chanting, 'This is what democracy looks like.' 'We're not trying to get arrested,' Brown said. 'But some people are clearly trying to plan for that,' he added. Nussaiba Baker, a Sanders at large delegate from California, said she marched out after she saw Secret Service agents moving a sign the senator would speak for Clinton despite indications a deal had failed to take shape. 'We knew Sanders was coming out, which meant he was probably going to hand over his delegates to Hillary. That's not what we're here for,' she said. She predicted that Black Lives Matter protesters would be the ones to interrupt Bill Clinton's speech. 'Bill has just said some really harsh things towards African American people,' she said. The walk out attracted the attention on Donald Trump. 'Many of Bernie's supporters have left the arena. Did Bernie go home and go to sleep?' he asked, reprising an attack he made on the 74-year-old senator earlier in the day. Trump said: 'I hate to say it, but the Republican Convention was far more interesting (with a much more beautiful set) than the Democratic Convention!Cheering Sanders supporters got their roll call vote on Tuesday as part of a peace offering from Democratic Party officials.' Sanders delegates stood side-by-side with delegates belonging to Clinton as they formally cast their votes in the Democratic nomination process and bragged about their states. We shall not go quietly! Furious Bernie Sanders supporters walked out in protest after he moved to suspend the rules and nominate Hillary Clinton during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia They chanted as they left Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center in their droves, furious at the outcome of the delegate count Supporters of Bernie Sanders shout as they walk out of the convention during the roll call on Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention His delegates, on the hand, were not so moved to accept the result of the vote. A group of them walked out in protest after Clinton officially won the nomination Face-off: Pennsylvania state troopers face down Bernie Sanders supporters and delegates outside of the convention arena after they stormed off the floor in protest Delegates protest in the media filing center after walking out of the convention floor during the second day session of the Democratic National Convention Face-off: Police watch Bernie Sanders protesters near the Wells Fargo Center; the convention is expected to attract thousands of protesters, as well as members of the media and Democratic delegates A supporter of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders shouts 'election fraud' as she scales the perimeter walls before being arrested at the 2016 Democratic National Convention Fury: A protester is seen climbing over a fence near the AT&T station in Philadelphia during the second day of the Democratic National Convention, which was beset by infighting Say what you really think: This protester, presumably a Bernie Sanders fan, gathered at FDR Park, seemingly happy with Humpty Dumpty for President as opposed to Hillary Clinton Sore losers: Bernie Sanders supporters were seemingly unwilling to accept the fact that Sanders is not their nominee come November The U.S. senator's 82-year-old brother made a special appearance on the floor to announce the pledged delegate vote from the Democrats Abroad voting block, causing Sanders and his wife Jane to well up. Larry, a resident of the UK, gave a moving tribute to his baby brother 'Bernard.' 'I want to bring before this convention the names of our parents: Eli Sanders, Dorothy Glassberg Sanders,' Larry said, tears flowing. 'They did not have easy lives, and they died young. They would be immensely proud of their son and his accomplishments. They loved him.' Sanders' camp said this afternoon that he would not officially nominate his formal rival to top the ticket. Spokesman Michael Briggs said it was 'possible' Sanders' home state of Vermont could move to make the vote unanimous after it has occurred, however. Speculation began to mount as the state's turn came as to whether Sanders would give in. Despite the assertion from Sanders' spokesman that he wouldn't give the Clinton camp what it wanted, a Vermont delegate said the state 'passes' - signaling that Sanders would take the high road at the end of the vote and formally throw in the towel. 'Clinton's travelling press secretary graciously thanked him on Twitter. 'What Senator Sanders just did was pretty amazing. Class act. Thank you @BernieSanders.' Retiring Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski - the first woman elected to the Senate in her own right - spoke Clinton's behalf before the roll call vote along with Georgia Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis. 'Our party, the Democratic Party, nominated and elected the first person of color to ever serve in the White House. Not just for one term, but for two terms,' Lewis said. 'Tonight, tonight on this night we will shatter that glass ceiling again. We, we are the party of tomorrow and we will build a true democracy in America.' Nussaiba Baker, a Sanders at large delegate from California, said she marched out after she saw Secret Service agents moving a sign that Sanders would speak for Clinton despite indications a deal had failed to take shape Bernie Sanders made a surprise appearance on the floor and moved to have Clinton named the nominee by acclimation after she had more than enough votes to win The U.S. senator's 82-year-old brother made a special appearance on the floor to announce the pledged delegate vote from the Democrats Abroad voting block We still love you, Bernie! Sanders hugs an attendee during the roll call vote that gave Clinton the nomination Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard put Sanders' name up for nomination. 'Now my friends, because this is a movement fueled by love it can never be stopped or defeated,' she said. 'Now, on behalf of millions inspired by Aloha, determined to seek a future rooted in love, compassion and justice for all and dedicated to a government of the people, by the people and for the people I am truly honored to nominate Bernie Sanders for president of the United States.' Vermont delegate Shyla Nelson seconded the call for Sanders to be considered. 'I have never felt the Bern more than I do in this moment,' she declared. 'Together we have worked to take our country back from the millionaires and billionaires.' The political revolution worked to throw out the Citizens United Supreme Court decision 'and restore democracy to the people,' she said. Sanders supporters fought for a $15 minimum wage, debt- free college, 'climate justice' and the collapse of big banks. 'And for the man who launched this revolution, Sen. Bernie Sanders,' she said. 'So with pride, gratitude, optimism for the future we all build together I stand before you for the purposes of seconding the nomination of our friend and hero .... Bernie Sanders.' Two weeks ago after Sanders endorsed Clinton at a rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Nelson told DailyMail.com she hadn't decided whether she would follow suit. 'Hillary has a credibility problem,' Nelson said at the time. She said the U.S. senator needs to 'address in a fundamental way' the issues Sanders campaigned on in the primary in order to 'earn the trust' of Sanders supporters. Nelson said that 'on every issue' Clinton still has work to do. Many Sanders backers at that event, and at the Democratic convention, shared the same view. They stormed the media filing center after the walk out and staged a sit in. Sanders told his delegates Tuesday morning to treat party officials with 'respect' during the roll call vote but said they should be allowed to give him their support if they want to. 'Vote for me,' he told them this morning. Clinton campaign chair John Podesta was coy about where things stood Monday afternoon. 'I will let Senator Sanders discuss what senator Sanders is going to do,' he said at a lunch hosted by The Wall Street Journal,The Washington Post reported. Podesta wouldn't provide details on the status of talks. 'I'm not going to preview this. Wait for the vote!' he said. The roll call vote was expected to lead to more chaos on the convention floor for the second time in as many days. Monday Sanders delegates incessantly booed speakers as party platform was formally adapted. 'Down with TPP,' they said over and over. He couldn't promise this morning that they wouldn't disrupt the convention again tonight when things don't go their way. 'We will see what happens,' he said at a Bloomberg breakfast. 'I would hope that our people treat the process with respect. And, you know, accept the reality of the results tonight.' As Clinton was formally handed the nomination Pharrell's 'Happy' came over the loudspeakers and delegates waved multicolored signs that donned the the letter 'H' with an arrow through it. Trump was quiet on Twitter as Clinton claimed the nomination.He was tied up at a fundraiser in Miami and did an interview with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly. Earlier in the day he ripped Sanders, though, and said, 'Bernie's exhausted, he just wants to shut down and go home to bed!' George delegates, including Congressman and civil rights hero John Lewis, cast their votes during roll call. Lewis spoke on Clinton's behalf before the vote and when his home state cast had its turn 'I want to bring before this convention the names of our parents: Eli Sanders, Dorothy Glassberg Sanders,' Larry Sanders said, tears flowing. 'They did not have easy lives, and they died young. They would be immensely proud of their son and his accomplishments. They loved him.' OVER: Bernie Sanders hugs his wife Jane, also a senior adviser to his campaign, after formally throwing in the towel Cheering Bernie Sanders supporters got their roll call vote on Tuesday as part of a peace offering from Democratic Party officials. Sanders is seen here in the convention hall, talking to former NAACP president Ben Jealous Disappointed: A delegate in the Vermont delegation cries after former Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders made a motion to suspend the rules and nominate Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential nominee Clinton's campaign tweeted a video of Sanders swallowing his pride during the roll call vote and asking that the nomination be formally awarded to his primary. 'Stronger together,' the tweet said. Alongside another video she said, 'This moment is for every little girl who dreams big. #WeMadeHistory' Bill Clinton tweeted: 'So proud of you, Hillary.' The former president speaks tonight. As the clock ticked down on his primetime speech it did not appear that his wife would join him at the convention call as Donald Trump did last week when his wife took the podium. The 1,846 pledged delegates Sanders earned through the primaries and caucuses were allowed to voice their support for the senator through the formal nominating process this evening at the Democratic National Convention. 'We're gonna go through all 57 states and territories,' Hillary for America senior adviser Karen Finney had promised this morning. 'I think its very important that everybody has the opportunity to...have their voice heard.' Clinton Communications Director Jen Palmieri chimed in to say, 'And then we'll see what happens. It's a surprise.' Sanders delegates on Monday began looking at option to remove Senator Tim Kaine from Clinton's ticket and replace him with someone more progressive. The delegates working against the Virginian complained at a press conference of their own this morning that the DNC wouldn't give them the required paperwork to submit a name other than Kaine, causing the effort to fall apart. Democrats boasted last week when Republicans had their convention in Cleveland that their proceedings would be more orderly. Then came weekend dump of emails from DNC officials that proved implicit bias against Sanders had the senator's supporters up in arms. Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned and abdicated herself from the convention, but it did little to calm angry Sanders voters. They showed up by the thousands in Philadelphia to protest what they're calling a 'rigged' electoral system that handed the election to Clinton. Even Sanders found himself at odds with his supporters Monday as he threw his support behind the Democratic ticket. Delegates booed him at an afternoon event when he told them, 'We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine.' We shall not be moved: Disgruntled Sanders delegates planted themselves in the media filing center after the walk out Show some respect: Scores of Sanders supporters left the convention before prime-time programming even began. Sanders had earlier in the day asked them to be 'respectful' Sanders said of his delegates actions this morning: 'They are new people, they are young people, they are passionate people. They became engaged in this campaign because they want real change. They worked their hearts out' We're still with you Bernie: Sanders' supporters spent the day protesting in Philadelphia outside DNC events At the breakfast today that was put on Bloomberg the U.S. senator explained that most of his delegates have not been to a convention before. 'They are new people, they are young people, they are passionate people. They became engaged in this campaign because they want real change. They worked their hearts out.' Naturally, he said, there's some 'disappointment' with the outcome of the election. 'As I said last night in my remarks,' he said, 'I was disappointed. I'm the most disappointed person.' Sanders said, 'We ran hard and I would have liked to have won the election and become President of the United States. So there was disappointment. And you saw that disappointment last night.' Sanders said his supporters must understand, though, that 'if you look at one issue after the other issue in terms of who the candidate is that we need to lead this country there is no debate.' 'And I am quite confident that the overwhelming majority of people who voted for me, not just the people in that room, but over 13 million people understand that.' He acknowledged that he was 'going to lose' the vote tonight, and Clinton would become the nominee. 'But why would you, if you were campaigning for...eight months and knocking your brains out and then the roll call came, who are you going to vote for? Who do you think they're going to vote for?' Answering his own question, the Democratic presidential candidate said, 'They're going to vote for Bernie Sanders.' 'That's what I would do, you know? If I was supporting you and you were running,' he told his interviewer, PBS' Gwen Iffil. 'And then the other side gets more votes.' As Sanders predicted this morning, the vote did not go in his favor. Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has a majority of pledged delegates and nearly all of the party's superdelegates in her corner. Still, he told Ifill he believes the delegates he earned fairly should give their support tonight to him. 'The other side gets more votes. You accept that, you go on. And hopefully you support the winner, he said. But 'why would you not vote for the candidate you supported?' Sanders irked Clinton supporters on Monday evening as he told his delegates in his speech to the convention: 'I look forward to your votes during the roll call tomorrow night.' Senior officials with the Clinton campaign tried to downplay the tension on Monday. Karen Finney, a senior spokesperson for the campaign, compared the discord to 2008 when Obama went head-to-head with Clinton. She said she expected the fervor to die down by week's end. 'We just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet!' Hillary Clinton 'breaks' through the screen after clip showing male presidents in order in surprise appearance at DNC to celebrate her historic victory Hillary Clinton 'broke' through the glass ceiling during a surprise appearance live via video link from New York at last night's Democratic convention in Philadelphia. After becoming the first female presidential nominee of a major party on Tuesday night, Clinton declared: 'We just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet!' Delegates erupted in cheers as Clinton's primary rival, Bernie Sanders, helped make the nomination official when the roll call of states got to his home state of Vermont. And Clinton herself later appeared on video to thank delegates and celebrate her big night. Hillary Clinton made a surprise appearance via video link at last night's Democratic convention in Philadelphia showing her 'breaking' the glass ceiling after a clip of the country's 44 presidents in order She spoke after a clip showed all the country's 44 male presidents in order from George Washington to Barack Obama. The screen then appeared to crack and then shatter, revealing Clinton's beaming face. 'Hello Philadelphia! I am so happy. It's been a great day and night,' a smiling Clinton said. 'What an incredible honor that you have given me and I can't believe we just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet,' Clinton declared to the roar of delegates. 'Thanks to you and to everyone who's fought so hard to make this possible.' 'This is really your victory. This is really your night.' She also predicted that many more women will be nominated for president and elected. 'If there are any little girls out there who stayed up late to watch, let me just say, I may become the first woman president, but one of you is next.' Clinton also predicted that many more women will be nominated for president and elected, saying: If there are any little girls out there who stayed up late to watch, let me just say, I may become the first woman president, but one of you is next She concluded: 'Thank you all, I can't wait to join you in Philadelphia.' Clinton's long political resume - secretary of state, senator, first lady - has sometimes obscured the historic nature of her candidacy. Her supporters noted that Clinton's achievement came nearly a century after women gained the right to vote in 1920. Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski nominated Clinton, saying she was acting on behalf of 'all women who have broken down barriers for others.' Mikulski was the first Democratic woman to be elected to the Senate in her own right. And shortly after Clinton formally captured the Democratic nomination and declared the glass ceiling cracked and nearly shattered, her husband, former President Bill Clinton delivered an expansive and passionate testimonial Tuesday night. He offered a deeply personal - though sanitized - account of their relationship, a policy-driven ode to the 'best darn change-maker I have ever met.' Chelsea Clinton was spotted for the first time since giving birth last month to son Aidan as she and her toddler daughter Charlotte prepared to head down to Philadelphia for the Democratic National Convention. The pair were also joined by a dressed-down Marc Mezvinsky, who was seen loading the family car just two days before Chelsea is set to introduce her mother Hillary right before the she delivers the final speech of the week. Chelsea will make that speech one week after her friend and fellow mom Ivanka Trump did the same for her father Donald at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Not seen on Tuesday however was newborn baby Aidan, though he will no doubt nein the audience at the convention on Thursday. Chelsea and her family could also be in the audience tonight at the convention as well for her father Bill's headlining speech, which Hillary will be watching from their home in Chappaqua. Scroll down for video Spotted: Chelsea Clinton and her daughter Charlotte were seen heading into a car outside their New York City apartment on Tuesday (above) Family trip: Chelsea is heading down to Philadelphia for the Democratic National Convention where she will introduce her mother Hillary on Thursday Laying low: It is the first time Chelsea has been seen in public since giving birth to her son Aidan last month. She wore a hat from the US Open and carried a bag from Bergdorf Goodman on a trip to the car without Charlotte - perhaps with clothes for the DNC Keeping it casual: Her husband Marc Mezvinsky was seen loading up the car (complete with yellow stroller) for the journey He wore a t-shirt, pair of windpants and slip on shoes Chelsea and Aidan have been laying low since his birth last month, though the mom-of-two did post a few photos of her boy shortly after he was born. Hillary also posted a photo of her with the baby, writing on Instagram: 'What a joy being with our new grandson, Aidan. So grateful.' The former president was perhaps the most excited though about the birth of his first grandson, which occurred one day before Father's Day, posting a photo with the boy and Mezvinsky from the hospital and writing: 'Aidan has made two dads very happy this Father's Day. Hillary and I are thrilled for Marc and Chelsea!' It had been a rough month prior to the birth of Aidan for Mezvinsky, who was forced to shutter his hedge fund. Mezvinsky, 38, and his partners, former Goldman Sachs colleagues Bennett Grau and Mark Mallon, raised $25million from investors to buy up bank stocks and debt from Greece, but lost big after betting on the revival of the struggling nation's economy. Eaglevale Partners was started in 2011 by Mezvinsky and his partners, with their former boss, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein, one of the first investors. The flagship fund currently manages $330 million and is down 1 percent this year. Mezvinsky was long gone from his job at Goldman in October 2013 when his mother-in-law Hillary was paid to give a speech to executives at the company during a technology conference in Arizona. She was reportedly paid $225,000 for that appearance. Grandparents: Hillary posted a photo of her and husband Bill with baby Aidan after her was born, writing on Instagram: 'What a joy being with our new grandson, Aidan. So grateful' Happy: Chelsea and Aidan have been laying low since his birth last month, though the mom-of-two did post a few photos of her boy shortly after he was born (above) Out and about: Ivanka Trump and her son Joseph were also spotted out in New York City on Tuesday. The other potential first daughter and working mom gave as similarly high profile speech at lat week's RNC Home sweet home: Chelsea and her family live in an apartment they bought for $10million back in 2013 (living room above) Shortly after starting Eagleville, Mezvinsky and Chelsea moved into a $10million New York City apartment opposite Madison Square Park. The four-bedroom, 5,000-square-foot apartment is one of only four residences in the building, which despite the low occupancy rate still has a full-time doorman. The apartment, whose hallways stretch a full city block, also has two dishwashers, two washer and dryers, dressing rooms with double-sided vanity mirrors, and two massive walk-in closets. The bedrooms meanwhile face right into Vera Wang's bridal design studio, who designed Cheslea's dress for her wedding day. John Paul Long, 20, took pictures of himself abusing two young boys - one in a pram - which police found on his computer, along with 5,000 banned images A 'repugnant' paedophile who was allowed to walk free after committing a sick sex attack on a baby in a pram has finally been jailed for 32 months after a senior judge intervened. John Paul Long took pictures of himself abusing a baby in a pram. Long, 20, from Maghull, Liverpool, later told police: 'My head is messed up.' Police raided Long's home after a tip off and found more than 5,000 banned images and videos on his computer, including some of child porn and bestiality. Among them were photographs of him molesting two very young boys as they slept, and in one of them he was abusing a baby in a pram. Judge Brian Cummings, QC, originally sentenced him to two years and eight months in a young offenders institution at Liverpool Crown Court. But a day later, he decided to reduce the sentence under a law known as the 'Slip Rule', which gives courts the power to alter a sentence or order made within 56 days. Amazingly Judge Cummings decided his original sentence had been too harsh and instead handed Long a two-year detention and training order, suspended for two years, with two years' supervision. The judge also ordered Long to attend a sex offenders programme designed to tackle his disturbing behaviour but the new sentence meant he did not have to go to jail. Longs lawyers had argued he 'would be particularly vulnerable in a custodial environment'. Not surprisingly Judge Cummings' U-turn brought a furious response from the Attorney General, Jeremy Wright QC, who said the new sentence was far too soft. Today three Appeal Court judges in London agreed with him and reinstated the 32-month custodial sentence. Lady Justice Sharp said today: 'The offences were of a particularly grave and repugnant kind. 'The victims were young children, who were very vulnerable. The abuse was recorded and kept on the offenders mobile phone.' The judge, sitting with Mr Justice Spencer and Judge Neil Bidder QC, said a 'considerably longer' sentence could have been imposed on Long. But she concluded: 'Re-imposing the original sentence of 32 months strikes a balance between the public interest and fairness to Long.' Judge Brian Cummings, QC, originally sentenced the paedophile to two years and eight months in a young offenders institution at Liverpool Crown Court (pictured), but he set him free the next day. The Court of Appeal have now reinstated that sentence An indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and requirement to sign on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely remain in place. Long had admitted two counts of sexual assault, two counts of making and one count of possessing indecent images of children, in relation to the two boys. He also pleaded guilty to seven counts of making and five counts of possessing indecent images, plus possession of cannabis. The court heard he took six photos of himself sexually assaulting the victims. At his trial Sarah Holt, prosecuting, said his vile stash contained 324 Category A pictures - the most serious category - plus 504 Category B and 4,234 Category C images. She said there were a further 48 Category A, 35 Category B and seven Category C videos on the seven devices. Long had 3,074 banned images of children including cartoons, plus 37 pictures and two videos depicting extreme porn and bestiality. Ms Holt said that, when interviewed by police: 'He said he didn't know why he did it and thinks his head is messed up.' At the original sentencing hearing John Rowan, defending, had said Long was remorseful, ashamed and utterly disgusted in himself, but also relieved that he had been caught and could now get professional help. Mr Rowan said his client had an 'unpleasant' early childhood, suffered from severe malnutrition at the age of four, and was taken into care. President Obama and his staff spent nearly $3million of taxpayer money for a 2015 trip to Paris, as his travel expenses to date total more than $82million. The total expenditure for the COP21 World Climate Change Conference in Le Bourget last December was at least $2,976,296.20, as the flight expenses for the president cost $1,652,124.60, according to a report released by Judicial Watch. The Secret Service charges for the president and his staff cost taxpayers $1,324,171.60 to attend the COP21. Obama only attending the opening session of the conference, staying one day in the city. Expensive: President Obama and his staff spent nearly $3million of taxpayer money for a 2015 trip to Paris to attend the COP21 World Climate Change Conference (above) in Le Bourget The total expenditure for the conference was at least $2,976,296.20, as the flight expenses for the president cost $1,652,124.60. Above Obama stands with several world leaders during the COP21 The Secret Service charges for the president and his staff cost taxpayers $1,324,171.60 to attend the COP21. Above Obama (left) dines with world leaders including French President Francois Hollande (right) at COP21 During the conference, Obama's Secret Service detail stayed at a number of beautiful Parisian hotels costing $706,065. The most money for lodging was spent at the InterContinental Paris Le Grand, which has floodlit views of the Opera House in the City of Light. According to it's website, the historic hotel was built in 1862 and defines itself as a 'luxury' hotel with 'historic grandeur.' Other accommodations for his staff were booked at the Marriot Ambassador, Marriot Rive Gauche, Hilton Astor and Mercure Tour Eiffel. Obama and his staff used two planes for the Paris trip, including Air Force One and a C-32A that is generally used by either the first lady or the secretary of state. The most money for lodging was spent at the InterContinental Paris Le Grand (above), which has floodlit views of the Opera House in the City of Light During the conference, Obama's Secret Service detail stayed at a number of beautiful Parisian hotels costing $706,065. Above a room inside the InterContinental Paris Le Grand is pictured According to it's website , the historic hotel (above) was built in 1862 and defines itself as a 'luxury' hotel with 'historic grandeur.' The COP21, which was attended by at least 150 world leaders, started on November 30, 2015 and concluded December 12, 2015. Above Obama is pictured with French President Francois Hollande (left) SECRET SERVICE EXPENSE REPORT FOR THE COP21 IN 2015 Details provided within the Secret Service expense report for the conference are as follows: $82,991.60 was spent on air and rail travel $706,065 was spent on Parisian hotels $531,598 for rental vehicles $10,820 in overtime pay was accumulated Cell phones were rented for $2,562 Cell phone usage cost $679 A copier was rented for $652 'Miscellaneous' expenses cost $624 Advertisement The report states that $82,991.000 was spent on air and rail travel during the trip, as $531,598 was used to pay for rental cars. For the trip, there were several other smaller costs, including $652 to rent a copier. However, other expenses such as meals for the Secret Service, meeting rooms and additional travel and catering for cabinet members is not included in the totals. The COP21, which was attended by at least 150 world leaders, started on November 30, 2015 and concluded December 12, 2015. Obama only attended the conference for one full day. More than 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide were burned for traveling to the conference by Obama and his staff. In order to obtain the documents, Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on January 6, 2016. The acting CEO of Fox News praised the brand and its staff in an internal memo sent just days after the resignation of the network's former CEO. Rupert Murdoch said in a letter to employees at Fox News and Fox Business: 'There's no doubt this has been a challenging time - amid the conventions and multitude of domestic and international breaking news stories, we had to face being the news last week as well. 'Despite the extraordinary circumstances, we never compromised our dedication to the viewers and everyone's professionalism was on display throughout.' The 'challenging time' Murdoch references in his memo had to do with the departure of Roger Ailes, who resigned last week from his position of CEO after 20 years with the network amidst sexual harassment allegations which were brought to light in a lawsuit filed against him by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson. Murdoch, 85, took over as chairman and CEO of the network just hours after Ailes stepped down, a duty he will not preform in addition to his roles as executive chairman of both News Corporation and 21st Century Fox. Scroll down for video Speaking up: Rupert Murdoch (above on Thursday with son Lachlan grinning in background) sent an internal memo to staff members at Fox News and Fox Business on Tuesday Words of encouragement: Murdoch congratulated employees on their professionalism and spoke about the strength of the Fox News brand (memo above) Ousted: Murdoch also acknowledged that it had been a 'challenging time' in the days since Roger Ailes (above on Thursday with wife Elizabeth) resigned as CEO of the network Murdoch's memo, which was shared on Twitter by New York Times media reporter Emily Steel, also congratulated employees for a strong week in terms of viewers, mentioning that they were the number one among all cable news networks. Fox News also scored their highest rated 10pm hour ever for convention coverage during Donald Trump's speech on Thursday Murdoch stated in his letter. Murdoch closed out by writing: 'The power of our brand has never been stronger, and I look forward to working with all of you to continue the momentum.' The memo also came two days after Fox News revealed that two high-level executives had been shown the door. Michael Clemente, an executive vice president in charge of long-form programming, was let go after seven years with the network. His top deputy, Peter Boyer, also lost his job with the network. The termination of those two employees reportedly had nothing to do with Ailes resignation however, with the network stating that the two were let go as they worked on reevaluating the division over the next few months. Ailes' resignation on Thursday came just two weeks after Carlson filed her lawsuit against the then CEO of the network. Carlson wrote in her court filing about a conversation she had with Ailes last September in which he allegedly said to her: 'I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you'd be good and better and I'd be good and better.' That conversation allegedly came when Carlson went to speak with Ailes about what she believed were discriminatory practices at the network. The popular host of The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson alleged that her refusal to have a sexual relationship with her boss was why she was let go on June 23 after 11 years with the network. Ailes and reps at Fox News quickly denied her allegations, stating: 'Gretchen Carlsons allegations are false. This is a retaliatory suit for the networks decision not to renew her contract, which was due to the fact that her disappointingly low ratings were dragging down the afternoon lineup.' That statement went on to say: 'When Fox News did not commence any negotiations to renew her contract, Ms Carlson became aware that her career with the network was likely over and conveniently began to pursue a lawsuit. 'Ironically, Fox News provided her with more on-air opportunities over her 11-year tenure than any other employer in the industry, for which she thanked me in her recent book. 'This defamatory lawsuit is not only offensive, it is wholly without merit and will be defended vigorously.' Lawsuit: Ailes' resignation came two weeks after former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson (above in September) filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him Bad news: It was reported last week that during the subsequent internal investigation, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly (above in January) said she had been harassed by Ailes Soon after Carlson filed her lawsuit, more women came forward to claim they had been sexually harassed by Ailes and 21st Century Fox launched an internal investigation. It was during the investigation that the network's star personality, Megyn Kelly, reportedly revealed that she herself had been harassed by Ailes when she first joined the company. Kelly has refused multiple requests for comment about what she said to investigators. She also refused to come to the defense of Ailes in the wake of Carlson's claims, making her one of the only anchors on the network to keep silent. In the end, Ailes walked with a $40million severance package and will stay on as an adviser to Murdoch. Carlson's lawyers said in their own statement after Ailes resigned from the network: 'We hope that all businesses now understand that women will no longer tolerate sexual harassment and reputable companies will no longer shield those who abuse women. 'We thank all the brave women who spoke out about this issue. We will have more to say in coming days as events unfold.' Pope Francis has expressed his 'pain and horror' following the brutal slaying of a French Catholic priest at the hands of two ISIS 'soldiers'. The Pontiff condemned 'every form of hatred' and offered his prayers to those involved. Vatican spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi issued a statement on the Pope's behalf after two ISIS knifemen stormed a church in Normandy this morning. He added that the Pope was particularly appalled by the 'barbaric killing' because it happened in a sacred place. He went on to describe the attack as another act of 'absurd violence'. Pope Francis expressed 'pain and horror' following what was described as another act of 'absurd violence' in a Vatican statement, released following the slaying of Catholic priest Jacques Hamel in Normandy An 84-year-old priest, named as Jacques Hamel, had his throat cut in a Normandy church this morning in an attack that also left a nun critically injured and both jihadis dead It comes as it emerged that the building (top centre) was one of a number of Catholic churches on a terrorist 'hit list' found on a suspected ISIS extremist last April French President Francois Hollande later called Pope Francis to express his 'chagrin' following the attack. Mr Hollande told the pope that 'when a priest is attacked, it is all of France that has been hurt', according to a statement from the president's office. He assured the pope that everything will be done to protect the churches of France and other houses of worship. The brutal assault has been branded an attempt to spark a 'war of religions' by former prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. It was the extremist group's first attack against a church in the West, and fulfills longstanding threats against 'crusaders' in what the militants paint as a centuries-old battle for power. Experts claimed that the latest attack fulfilled a two-year-old ISIS pledge to attack Christians within Europe, even calling for the assassination of Pope Francis. The Islamic State is persistently demoralising European unity by launching divisive attacks within its borders the most recent attack on the Catholic Church aims directly at the French sense of identity, Veryan Khan, editorial director for the US-based Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium, told Fox News. Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: 'Evil attacks the weakest, denies truth and love, is defeated through Jesus Christ. Pray for France, for victims, for their communities.' The attack on the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, saw the two knifemen storm into the building during morning mass at 9am. Priests Edgar Deguenon (left) and Brice de Malherbe (centre) arrive for a mass at the Notre-Dame cathedral on July 26, 2016 in Paris, in memory of the murdered priest in the Normandy city of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray Mourners and worshippers attend a mass in memory of the slain priest, as it emerged that his killers were already known to be terror threats by French police In Sainte-Anne-d'Auray, Brittany, bishops and local Catholics marched through the town as part of Grand Pardon celebrations They held the priest and congregation of four - which included two nuns - hostage for almost an hour before being shot as they emerged on to the courtyard of the church. A witness told how the pair forced the 84-year-old priest Jacques Hamel to his knees before filming themselves cutting his throat. They then proceeded to perform a 'sermon in Arabic' at the altar. It emerged that both attackers were already known to French police as a terrorist threat. One, named as Adel Kermiche, was previously jailed for terror offences after twice trying to flee to join ISIS in Syria. The 19-year-old was meant to be living with his parents in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray with an electronic tag on his ankle. In March 2015, while still a minor, he tried to reach the terror group's base in Syria via Germany, but was arrested in Munich. He was placed under judicial control with his parents, but after his 18th birthday again tried to return to the Middle East. A French policeman cordons off the area around the body of one of the two knifemen who stormed into a Normandy church and butchered an 84-year-old priest, as well as critically injuring a nun The two killers, who shouted 'Allahu Akbar' were shot dead by police marksmen as they emerged from the building, which was later searched for bombs. Police later raided a house in the area and made an arrest A priest has been butchered by knifemen who cut his throat after bursting into a French church and taking hostages before being shot dead by police Accompanied by two childhood friends, Kermiche headed to Switzerland overland and then took a plane to Turkey, hoping to cross the border into Syria. Turkish police deported him back to Switzerland and, after being sent back to his hometown, he was tried and found guilty of 'associating with a terrorist enterprise' on May 22 2015. After spending less than a year of his two-and-a-half-year sentence in prison, he was released on March 22 this year. A prosecutor appealed the decision to release Kermiche, but he was released on bail on condition that he again stayed with his mother and father. According to his bail conditions, Kermiche was also allowed to go out unsupervised between 8.30am and 12.30pm every day. The revelation will spark fear in the country that French authorities are not doing enough to control those known to police as potential terror threats. Meanwhile French President Francois Hollande called for 'unity' as the attack increased tensions, already high following three major incidents in the country in less than a year. 'The threat remains very high,' said Mr Hollande. Officials have discussed a dollar amount for Bank of North Dakota profits that may be used to help plug the states budget shortfall when the Legislature meets in special session next week. Lets suppose we would like to access approximately $100 million of the Bank of North Dakota (profits), Gov. Jack Dalrymple said, throwing out a number during a meeting of the North Dakota Industrial Commission. The bank has posted record profits for 12 consecutive years, with a profit of $130.7 million in 2015. Bank of North Dakota President Eric Hardmeyer said bank officials ran the numbers and believe that if the state took $100 million in profits, the bank would still be very strong through the biennium ending June 30, 2017. The bank is extremely strong in capital, Dalrymple said. Bank of North Dakota profits were mentioned earlier this month as a potential source to draw from when Dalrymple called for a three-day special legislative session, which is set to begin next Tuesday. Lawmakers will be tasked with addressing a budget shortfall of roughly $310 million for the current biennium. We sat down a few weeks ago and had a theoretical discussion, Hardmeyer said. He said the $100 million figure is in the ballpark of the final amount that will be included in a comprehensive budget bill to be voted on during the special session. The banks leverage ratio was being specifically discussed when Dalrymple interjected to talk about using bank profits for the budget shortfall. A banks leverage ratio is calculated by dividing tier one capital by the average assets for the quarter. Hardmeyer said tier one capital is basically the states ownership stake in the banks total assets. For the second quarter of 2016, the bank was at a 11.05 percent leverage ratio; its benchmark is 8.5 percent. We still would be north of 10 percent, Hardmeyer said, even with allocation of the $100 million. The Bank of North Dakotas average total assets for the second quarter of 2016 was $7.32 billion, down from an average of $7.87 billion during the same period in 2015. Tier one capital has increased from $749 million at year-end 2015 to $809 million for this year to date. Changes have been made to this story to more correctly reflect the status of discussions on possible use of Bank of North Dakota profits to remedy budget shortfall Mr Cheung, originally from Hong Kong, was last heard from on July 14 Romeo Cheung was last seen on July 14, and was supposed to be returning to the UK on July 17 - but never arrived A hunt has been launched for a London investment banker who has been missing in Greenland for 12 days after telling his family he was going on a helicopter glacier tour. Romeo Cheung was last seen on July 14, and was supposed to be returning to the UK on July 17 - but never arrived. The Imperial College graduate, 27, was on a ten day solo adventure around the Arctic country, during which he planned to walk the 100 mile trail between Sisimiut to Kangerlussuaq. A police search was launched a couple of days after he was last seen. Mr Cheung, originally from Hong Kong, was without his luggage after it was lost by the airline, according to the South China Morning Post. However, he is thought to have continued with the 'Arctic Route', which should take somewhere between nine and 11 days and is for the 'physically fit'. The trader, who worked for Canadas RBC Capital Market, had a tent and food with him, friends have said. His family last heard from him shortly before he boarded a helicopter to visit the glaciers. His friends turned to fellow travellers for clues about his whereabouts, posting on a Lonely Planet forum earlier this week. Our friend Romeo Cheung went missing on a trekking trip from Sisimiut to Kangerlussuaq, the message said. He was was on a solo adventure around the Arctic country, during which he planned to walk the 100 mile trail between Sisimiut (pictured) to Kangerlussuaq The post - and a Facebook group - have since been removed. The prime minister of Bavaria says that Germany has to combat Islamist terrorism with tougher security and a tightening of their immigration policies. A spate of attacks in the country since July 18 have left 15 people dead - including four attackers - and injured dozens. Two of the five attackers, a teenager who launched an axe attack on a train and a suicide bomber who detonated explosives close to a music festival had links to ISIS. The prime minister of Bavaria, Horst Seehofer, who says that Germany has to combat Islamist terrorism with tougher security and a tightening of their immigration policies Meanwhile another two of the attackers recently entered Germany from Syria, while another was from either Pakistan or Afghanistan, stoking concerns about unprecedented immigration after one million migrants arrived last year, many fleeing conflict in the region. Now Horst Seehofer, the Bavarian prime minister and a long-standing critic of Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy has called for a crackdown on immigration. He told a news conference: 'Each attack, each act of terrorism is one too many. Islamist terrorism has arrived in Germany. 'We need more security in Germany. People are riled up, full of fear and that is completely understandable. 'They need reliable answers from politicians and not endless debates and justifications.' Mohammed Daleel, left, who detonated a bomb in Ansbach and Mohammed Riyad, right, who launched an axe attack on a train, both had links to ISIS Meanwhile the Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann added he too also thought Germany should rethink rules that limit deportations of refugee fro medical reasons, and significantly lower hurdles to deporting asylum seekers who break the law. He explained: 'We must push it to the edge of the envelop currently permitted under European law, and we have to think about whether the EU rules have to be changed.' The 27-year-old Syrian who blew himself up in the southern town of Ansbach on Sunday had been spared deportation due to medical reasons for over a year, but had recently been told he would be deported to Bulgaria. He had also been in trouble with police for drugs and other offences. Bavarian officials said their state - the site of three of the recent attacks - would bolster police staffing and equipment, but would also push for federal restrictions on surveillance of potential suspects to be eased. The Bavarian prime minister and a long-standing critic of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, of Merkel's Christian Democrats, has said no changes would be made to changing asylum or immigration rules until investigations into the recent incidents are finished. Authorities said there was no Islamist link in Tuesday's incident at a university clinic in Berlin, in which a 72-year-old man shot a doctor before killing himself. The spate of violence in Germany followed the attack in the French city of Nice on Bastille Day, July 14, when a Tunisian killed 84 people by driving a truck into them, an act claimed by Islamists. Gunman: Joseph Mills, 25, has been charged with two counts of murder in the shooting deaths of two soldiers during a bar fight Two servicemen from South Carolina are being hailed as heroes after they were killed defending a woman from an armed man at a bar over the weekend. Charles Judge Jr, 40, and Jonathon Prins, 29, were fatally shot on Sunday night at the Frayed Knot Bar and Grille in Chapin during an altercation with 25-year-old Joseph Mills. Mills was taken into custody without incident on Sunday afternoon in the wake of the shooting and charged with two counts of murder. According to arrest warrants obtained by NBC News, Judge and Prins interfered, along with several other patrons of the Frayed Knot bar, when they saw Mills assault a woman at around midnight on Sunday. The 25-year-old suspect then pulled out a gun and allegedly opened fire on the Good Samaritans, striking the two soldiers. According to the Lexington County Coroners Office, Judge was hit by two rounds and Prins by three. Justin Brooks, owner of the Frayed Knot Bar and Grill, told Army Times that after the shooting, Joseph Mills covered his face with a shirt and causally walked away from the crime scene, 'like he was shopping at Walmart.' Good Samaritans: Servicemen Charles Judge Jr, 40 (left), and Jonathon Prins, 29 (right), were shot dead defending a woman from Joseph Mills Hero: Charles Judge is pictured here in much happier times with his partner Amy Tragic: Jonathon Prins is pictured here with his wife Courtney and three children, Marrissa 9, Savannah 6, Julian 3 Crime scene: The double homicide took place at the Frayed Knot Bar and Grille (pictured) in Chapin, South Carolina, on July 24 Staff Sgt Judge was an Iraq War veteran and served as a combat engineer instructor in the 218th Regiment Leadership Command at McCrady Training Center. US Army Brigadier General Van McCarty served with Judge in Iraq in 2004 and described him as a 'soldier's soldier.' Brian Deese, who was Judge's supervisor in the South Carolina National Guard, where the soldier had served for 22 years, told Army Times he was not surprised to learn that his comrade lost his life defending a woman. 'Hed do it 100 times again. Hes a hero,' Deese said,. The 40-year-old serviceman is survived by a son and daughter. Prins was a drill sergeant at Fort Jackson and had completed tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was a married father of three children, two daughters and a son, between the ages of three and nine. Warrior: Prins (left and right) was a drill sergeant at Fort Jackson and had completed tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan During his arraignment on Monday, the accused shooter apologized for his actions, reported The State. I never meant for it to happen like that, Mills told a judge. I was being lynched by eight people because I was chasing a girl who grabbed drugs off the seat and took off running. The judge denied Mills' request to be released on bond. He is due back in court on November 9. A GoFundMe page has been launched to help Jonathon Prins' family with his final expenses and finance his children's trip to Disney World, where he had always wanted to take them. , was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries Two diners were injured when an unmarked police car ploughed into dining tables outside a restaurant. The silver hatchback crashed into tables after colliding with another car at around 7.45pm outside Soho House's Pizza East in Kentish Town, north London. Paramedics took a man to hospital with non-life threatening injuries and treated a woman at the scene for cuts and bruises. Both are believed to be in their thirties. The silver hatchback crashed into tables after colliding with another car at around 7.45pm outside Soho House's Pizza East in Kentish Town, north London Paramedics took a man to hospital with non-life threatening injuries and treated a woman at the scene for cuts and bruises. Both are believed to be in their thirties Metropolitan Police bosses have started an investigation into the crash. A Met Police spokesman said: 'Two police officers from the unmarked police car involved in the collision are also being treated for whiplash injuries. 'The other vehicle involved stopped at the scene and the driver is assisting police with their enquiries. 'No arrests have been made. Local road closures are in place. A Met Police spokesman said: 'Two police officers from the unmarked police car involved in the collision are also being treated for whiplash injuries' Police bosses are now investigating the crash to try and work out its cause 'As a matter of course, this incident been refereed to the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards'. Former BBC newsreader Zora Suleman tweeted photos and video from the scene. She said: 'One minute everyone was chatting and drinking next sirens then a huge bang and ppl screaming.' ISIS has claimed German police missed explosives when they searched the home of the Ansbach suicide bomber. Officers raided the home of Syrian Mohammad Daleel, who injured 12 people when he blew himself up on Sunday night, but failed to spot his homemade bomb. According to an ISIS publication, 'God blinded police eyes' during the search allowing the explosives to go undetected. Scroll down for video Pictured: The Syrian suicide bomber Mohammad Daleel, injured 12 people outside a packed wine bar in Ansbach. Police searched his home before the blast, according to ISIS, but they failed to find the bomb Attack: Daleel had been turned away from a music festival where 2,500 revellers partied on Sunday night, just minutes before he launched his attack. According to the ISIS newspaper, 'God blinded police eyes' The 27-year-old bomber initially came to Europe seeking medical treatment after he was injured by mortar fighting on the front line in Aleppo, according to the publication. Daleel detonated the explosives outside a packed wine bar in the town, outside of Nuremberg, after he was turned away from an open-air music festival filled with 2,500 revellers because he didn't have a ticket. The ISIS newspaper further revealed Daleel had fought with various armed groups in Syria at the beginning of the country's revolution, but moved around frequently as members of the other groups were too 'corrupt' for him. He finally joined the al-Nusra Front and fought with the group against President Assad's regime on the front lines in Aleppo, until he was injured by mortar. At this point he left Syria and came to Europe seeking medical treatment. But on Sunday night he blew himself up with a home-made bomb filled with metal shavings and screws. The publication added that 'one day before the operation he did a reconnaissance', and that he was in 'constant contact' with a fellow jihadist fighter. As he launched the attack, he 'wanted to cut limbs of crusaders with his bomb, put shrapnel in their heads and chests but couldn't reach his target', it said. 'Then he found a substitute target, a nearby pub where he blew up his bomb injuring a number of crusaders.' Forensics: A special police officer examines a backpack at the entrance of a building in Ansbach, Germany, believed to have contained the bomb Death: A hearse containing the remains of the suicide bomber - the only fatality of the attack - left the scene at dawn on Monday morning Emergency work: An ambulance takes away one of the 12 injured in the Ansbach wine bar. An ISIS magazine reported bomber Daleel fought with various armed groups in Syria at the beginning of the country's revolution Sealed off: Special police officers secure a street near the house where the Syrian man, a failed asylum seeker, lived in Ansbach Attack: The attacker, Daleel, was known to police for possession of drugs and had also spent time in a psychiatric facility after attempting suicide on two occasions in the past It was the fourth violent attack on members of the public in Germany in less than a week, and prompted authorities to order increased security at airports and train stations. Bavaria's top security official Joachim Herrmann said a video has been found on the bomber's phone showing him pledging allegiance to ISIS. Petrol, chemicals and other materials that could be used to make a bomb were also discovered. Police said Daleel - dubbed Rambo by friends at his asylum shelter - had six Facebook accounts, including one under a false identity. MAN WITH KNIFE TRIES TO STAB TWO YOUNG WOMEN ON A TRAIN IN LATEST HORROR TO HIT GERMANY A man attempted to stab passengers on a train travelling from Hamburg to Bremen, forcing people to run for their lives. The 22-year-old pulled out the knife and threatened other people on the train on Saturday night. It is believed he specifically targeted two young women during the attack but no one was hurt. The attacker had been moved to a separate carriage by a train conductor after he was observed acting aggressively to passengers and staff. When the train arrived at Sottrum, the man changed carriages and then began threatening people with a knife, forcing people on board to flee. Having inflicted no injuries, he got off the train and handed himself over to police. It is understood the man was drunk during the incident and suffers from underlying mental health issues. Advertisement He had been refused asylum and was due to be deported to Bulgaria, according to Germany's Interior Ministry. The attack was to get 'revenge' against Germany 'because they helped to kill Muslims', according to Daleel, who cited the name of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. ISIS has issued calls to its supporters to carry out operations targeting 'countries of the coalition that fights Islamic State'. He was already known to police for possession of drugs and had also spent time in a psychiatric facility after attempting suicide on two occasions in the past. He had also received two deportation orders, the latest on July 13 according to an interior ministry spokesman, but he could not be returned directly to Syria because of the risk to his life. He was set to be deported to Bulgaria, as the country where he had submitted his first asylum request. The spokesman, Tobias Plate, said he could not say 'at this moment why the deportation' of the asylum seeker didn't happen. It was not clear when he was supposed to be deported. It comes after a spate of attacks in the south of the country. On Sunday, a Syrian man hacked a woman to death with a machete and wounded two others outside a bus station in the southwestern city of Reutlingen before being arrested. Police said there were no indications pointing to terrorism. Two days earlier, mentally ill loner Ali Sonboly, 18, went on a deadly gun rampage at a Munich mall, killing nine people and leaving dozens wounded. Fighter: A weekly ISIS newspaper published a full page profile of Daleel, who launched his attack after being turned away from an open-air music festival filled with 2,500 people because he didn't have a ticket Savage: Bavaria Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said 'there's no doubt that the attack was a terrorist attack with an Islamist background' And an axe attack on a train near Wuerzburg last Monday wounded five. A 17-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker was shot and killed by police as he fled the scene. Bavaria Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said 'there's no doubt that the attack was a terrorist attack with an Islamist background'. Mr Hermann said he found it 'outrageous' that the man had abused the asylum system in such a way. 'It's terrible ... that someone who came into our country to seek shelter has now committed such a heinous act and injured a large number of people who are at home here, some seriously. 'It's a further, horrific attack that will increase the already growing security concerns of our citizens. We must do everything possible to prevent the spread of such violence in our country by people who came here to ask for asylum.' Explosion: The blast took place in the city of Ansbach, Germany - after attacker Daleel was turned away from a music festival filled with around 2,500 people Target: Thousands of revellers had been enjoying the open air music festival in the hours before the blast went off nearby. The ISIS publication said Daleel was unable to reach his target but found a 'substitute' Probe: Police photographers at a flat where 27-year-old Syrian bomber Daleel lived, after the explosion in Ansbach near Nuremberg, Germany Shelter: A team of 30 officers were brought in to question acquaintances and examine evidence collected from his home at the asylum-seeker shelter Asylum: One resident at the centre said he had occasionally had coffee with the attacker and they had discussed religion He said the recent attacks raised serious questions about Germany's asylum law and security across the country and said he planned to introduce measures at a Bavarian government meeting on Tuesday to strengthen the police forces and ensure they have adequate equipment. He said investigators had yet to determine the motive of the attacks. 'Because the rucksack and this bomb were packed with so many metal parts that could have killed and injured many more people, it cannot simply be considered a pure suicide attempt.' A team of 30 officers were brought in to question acquaintances and examine evidence collected from his home at the asylum-seeker shelter. One resident at the centre said he had occasionally had coffee with the attacker and they had discussed religion. Alireza Khodadadi said the man, whom he would identify only as Mohammed, had told him that ISIS was not representative of Islam. 'He always said that, no, I'm not with them, I don't like them and such stuff. But I think he had some issues because, you know, he told lies so often without any reason, and I understand that he wants to be in the centre of (attention), you know, he needed (attention),' Mr Khodadadi said. Acquaintance: Fellow resident Mubariz Mahmood (pictured) said Daleel had not shown any signs of radicalisation towards the terror group ISIS Meeting: Mahmood last saw him a week ago when Daleel waved at him from the balcony of his room (pictured) on the second floor of the hotel used to house up to 35 asylum seekers A social worker who knew him, Reinhold Eschenbacher, described him as 'friendly, inconspicuous and nice' when he came to his office pick up his welfare benefits. The suicide bomber was named as Mohammad Daleel by other asylum seekers who lived with him at a budget hotel. Daleel lived alone in a one-bedroom floor of the Hotel Christl where the German Government paid the monthly rent of 192 euros. REFUGEE 'TERROR LINKS' PROBED Germany's top security official says authorities are conducting 59 investigations of refugees suspected of possible links to terrorist organisations. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere says it would be wrong to put all refugees under general suspicion, 'even if there are investigations in individual cases.' The Funke newspaper group on Monday quoted him as saying: 'We are currently talking about 59 investigations for possible links to terrorist structures, and that's with many hundreds of thousands of newly arrived people.' He adds that in the overwhelming number of cases, reports turn out not to be true. De Maiziere called for Germany's borders to be better protected without preventing refugees from coming to the country by legal and safe means - 'in reasonable numbers.' He noted that in the Munich gun attack there was no indication that the perpetrator, the German-born son of Iranian asylum-seekers, had failed to integrate in German society. Advertisement The bomber had lived at the hotel on a quiet residential street above the town of Ansbach for just over a year. He was known to his friends as 'Rambo' having got the nickname from other asylum seekers because of his long hair and muscular physique. 'He was nicknamed Rambo because of his muscles and the way her dressed. He would always wear a T-shirt and jeans and that is why he was called Rambo, said Mubariz Mahmood who lived in the same asylum seekers hostel. 'Until today that is what we knew him as. We all called him Rambo.' Rambo was the fictional character created by actor Sylvester Stallone in 1982. Mr Mahmood said Daleel had not shown any signs of radicalisation towards the terror group ISIS. He last saw him a week ago when Daleel waved at him from the balcony of his room on the second floor of the hotel used to house up to 35 asylum seekers. Mahmood said: 'He told me that he had come Syria where the extremists and the Government were fighting. He left the country to get away from the fighting. 'I saw no signs that he had any support for the extremists. I was not aware he had any sympathy for them.' Daleel died instantly while 17 others were injured when he blew himself up. Mahmood, 28, from Pakistan said Daleel did not have a job and relied on state handouts during his stay in Germany. He said Daleel had told him that during his journey through the Balkans he had been fingerprinted in Bulgaria and thought the German Government would want to return him to that country, Worker: Daleel died instantly while 17 others were injured when he blew himself up. Mahmood, 28, from Pakistan said Daleel did not have a job and relied on state handouts during his stay in Germany Brutal: A policeman with a machine gun stands guard near the scene of the attack which left around a dozen injured and killed the attacker Daleel He said he was unaware how Daleel managed to get his hands on the materials to make a homemade bomb. Police raided his second floor room and sealed off the Richard Wagner Street where he lived. One US intelligence official said investigators would now focus on what the bomber was doing before he left Syria and why he was denied asylum. US sources said the bombing did not appear to be a well-planned operation and could well turn out to be the act of another deranged individual. HOW GERMANY IS REELING AFTER A SPATE OF BLOODY ATTACKS IN THE SOUTH OF THE COUNTRY IN THE LAST WEEK Last night's attack came as Germany was still reeling after a series of attacks in the south of the country in recent days. Although refugees were suspected in three of the four assaults, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government warned against branding migrants a general security threat after the country let in a record 1.1 million asylum seekers last year. Here is what we know about the attacks: July 24: Festival suicide bombing - A failed Syrian asylum seeker set off an explosive device near an open-air music festival in the southern city of Ansbach that killed himself and wounded a dozen others. The 27-year-old had spent time in a psychiatric facility, while the regional authorities said an there was 'likely' a jihadist motive for the attack. However a spokesman for the interior ministry later said there was as yet 'no credible evidence' of a link to Islamic extremism. July 24: Knife attack - A Syrian refugee was arrested after killing a Polish woman with a large kebab knife at a snack bar in the southwestern city of Reutlingen, in an incident police said did not bear the hallmarks of a 'terrorist attack' and was more likely a crime of passion. Three people were also injured in the assault, which ended when the 21-year-old assailant was deliberately struck by a BMW driver, believed to be the snack bar owner's son, trying to stop the man. People mourn in front of candles and flowers near the Olympia shopping mall in Munich, southern Germany, where an 18-year-old German-Iranian student ran amok on a shooting spree on July 22 July 22: Munich mall mass shooting - David Ali Sonboly, 18, shot dead nine people at a Munich shopping mall before turning the gun on himself, having spent a year planning the rampage. Police said that the German-Iranian was 'obsessed' with mass killers like Norwegian right-wing fanatic Anders Behring Breivik and had no links to the Islamic State group. July 18: Train axe attack - A 17-year-old migrant wielding an axe and a knife went on a rampage on a regional train, seriously injuring four members of a tourist family from Hong Kong and a German passer-by. ISIS group subsequently released a video purportedly featuring the assailant, named by media as Riaz Khan Ahmadzai, announcing he would carry out an 'operation' in Germany, and presenting himself as a 'soldier of the caliphate'. He is believed to have been Afghan or Pakistani. Advertisement As a precaution, the music festival was cancelled, with thousands of revellers evacuated. It was revealed that the man carrying the bomb in his backpack had been denied entry to the festival in the minutes before the blast. Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson was due to be performing at the time of the attack. Eyewitness Kevin Krieger said: 'We were on the festival grounds. A band was playing when suddenly there was a loud bang. We all looked back. A man from security ran to the entrance. It was revealed that the man carrying the bomb in his backpack had been denied entry to the festival in the minutes before the blast Video footage which has emerged from the scene shows scores of people fleeing the area as heavily armed police cordoned off the city centre 'SERIOUS LOOPHOLES' IN EU RULES There are 'serious loopholes' in the EU's current rules on the acquisition and possession of firearms, but the bloc's executive is planning tighter restrictions an EU spokesman has said. Germany's vice-chancellor called for tightened gun laws following last Friday's shooting spree in Munich in which an 18-year-old gunman who is believed to have purchased his firearm illegally on the internet killed nine people as well as himself. If adopted, the EU Commission's package of proposals will 'make it more difficult to acquire firearms in the European Union, allow to better track legally held firearms and strengthen the cooperation between all member states,' EU spokesman Ricardo Cardoso said. The Commission, the EU's executive arm, issued the proposals in November, and they are now under consideration by the European Parliament and the governments of the EU's 28 member countries, said Mr Cardoso. The chief EU spokesman, Margaritis Schinas, said the bloc continues to keep the door open for people seeking asylum from war and persecution, but that Europeans must also defend themselves against attacks on their way of life. Advertisement 'There were two people on the ground. They had injuries to their heads and necks. I tried to comfort them. The police cleared the area. Nobody was screaming. The explosion was very loud and I felt the shock waves on my body.' Video footage which has emerged from the scene shows scores of people fleeing the area as heavily armed police cordoned off the city centre. A spokesman for the Bavarian Interior Ministry said today there have not been any arrests in connection with the explosion. The explosion went off outside the wine bar Eugens Weinstube during the final night of the three-day Ansbach Open music festival in the heart of the city, around 90 miles north of Munich. Bavaria police said security at the event, held at the Reitbahn near the city's castle, noticed a young man acting suspiciously in the area at around 9.45pm. The force said in a statement: 'The person was a young man, who carried a backpack and walked up and down the area next to the entrance at the Pfarrstrasse for a long period of time. 'Afterwards he made his way to the outdoor seating area of a restaurant. At around 10.10pm an explosion happened there (at the restaurant), after the young man briefly bent forwards.' Advertisement Bernie Sanders was reduced to tears at the Democratic convention after his brother voted for him during the delegate roll call. Larry Sanders also started to cry as he spoke to the crowd in Philadelphia, telling them their late parents would have been immensely proud of their son's achievements. The emotional 82-year-old said he wanted to mention the pair's mother and father, Dorothy Glassberg and Eli Sanders, who 'did not have easy lives and died young'. 'They would be immensely proud of their son and his accomplishments,' he added. 'They loved the New Deal and Franklin Roosevelt, and would be especially proud that Bernard is renewing that vision. 'It is with enormous pride that I cast my vote for Bernie Sanders.' The cameras then panned to the Vermont Senator as he struggled to hold back his emotions in arena seats. Bernie Sanders was reduced to tears at the Democratic convention as his brother cast his vote, saying their parents would have been proud of his achievements His wife Jane then leaned over to comfort him before the rest of the roll call was read out on the convention floor. Later on in the vote, he moved seats and joined the delegation for his home state, Vermont. He approached the microphone to chants of 'Bernie, Bernie'. In one of his last acts as a formal candidate, he then said: 'I move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.' He then hugged his wife and walked out of the Wells Fargo Arena. Earlier on Tuesday, Bernie's spokesman Michael Briggs told DailyMail.com that he would not be nominating Hillary Clinton, who went on to secure the nomination on Tuesday evening. She became the first woman to be nominated for president by a major party. Briggs said others would nominate the former first lady, which would then lead to a roll call vote. He said it was 'possible' Sanders' home state of Vermont could move to make the vote unanimous after it has occurred. Sanders said Tuesday his delegates should treat party officials with 'respect' during a roll call vote today to determine the Democratic nominee - but they should be allowed to give him their support if they want to. Larry Sanders started to cry as he told the crowd in Philadelphia he wanted to mention the pair's mother and father, Dorothy and Eli Sanders, who 'did not have easy lives and died young' The emotional Vermont Senator, who was sitting alongside NCAAP President Benjamin Jealous (right), then threw his fist into the air as the crowd cheered He waved to the crowd as they applauded him during the second day of the convention. Mid-way through the proceedings on Tuesday, Hillary Clinton was confirmed as the Democratic nominee for president 'Vote for me,' he told them this morning. The talks about whether Sanders, who urged Clinton's election in a convention speech monday night, would take on an additional unifying role, have been going on for weeks. Clinton campaign chair John Podesta was coy about where things stood Monday afternoon. 'I will let senator Sanders discuss what senator Sanders is going to do,' he said at a lunch hosted by The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post reported. Their father, Eli, was born in the Austo-Hungarian Empire in 1904. He was born into a family of Jewish immigrants, many of whom died during the Holocaust. Their mother was also Jewish, but was born in Brooklyn, New York. Sanders's mother died in June 1959 at the age of 46.Their father later died on 4 August 1962, at the age of 57 In one of his last acts as a formal candidate, he then said: 'I move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the Democratic nominee for President of the United States' He then turned around to hug a fellow attendee as his bid for the White House finally came to an end A protester climbs the fence near the AT&T station to join Bernie Sanders supporters near the convention site Supporters of Bernie Sanders shout as they walk out of the convention during the roll call on Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention They chanted as they left Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center in their droves, furious at the outcome of the delegate count One supporter held a rag over her mouth as she joined the demonstration inside the convention center Some Bernie fans organized a sit-in inside the media filing center after the walk out Delegates held a banner reading: 'No Justice, No Peace,' as they walked into the media center The stern protesters would not be moved as they protested against the outcome of the Democrat roll call Some held their signs against the windows of the media tent during the demonstration Sanders supporters kept leaving the arena in huge numbers in anger at the outcome Bernie's fans were still out in full force 24 hours after protests rocked the first day of the convention House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi stands with California Governor Jerry Brown as the California delegation cast their votes during roll call Mayor of Baltimore Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was seen furiously writing notes as she conducted the roll call She was seen scribbling about what to do when she reached Vermont - Bernie Sanders's home state - in the roll call The residents love the town, which they call an 'oasis' from technology So a white van drives around town for any interferring sound But even the faintest signal can disrupt and cost the scientists' research It is home to one of the most advanced telescopes in the world, which can pick up sounds that are hundreds of millions of miles away In the Quietest Town in America there is no cell phones or Wi-Fi. Radio stations are almost impossible to find and there isn't a stoplight in sight. This is Green Bank, population 143, a town in West Virginia that looks like it could belong in the 1950s. There is square dancing and a knit and quilt store, pot lucks with jello and marshmallows. But tucked away in this rural 'oasis', as its residents call the town, is one of the most advanced telescopes in the world. And it needs quiet - so it can listen for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Scroll down for video This is the Robert C Byrd Green Bank Telescope, the world's largest steerable radio telescope, tucked away in Green Bank, West Virginia - also known as the Quietest Town in America Cell phones aren't allowed in Green Bank and neither is Wi-Fi. Even the faintest signal can disrupt the telescope, and cost the scientists important research The town only has a population of 143 people - there aren't even stoplights on the street But the town does have one school, one post office, a barbershop and a quilt and basket shop The Robert C Byrd Green Bank Telescope, as its officially called, is the world's largest steerable radio telescope. It weights 17 million pounds, spans two acres wide and is 485 feet tall. It can listen to sounds that are hundreds of millions of miles away, pick up signals that are 'about a billionth of a billionth of a millionth of a watt', according to WTNH. But even the faintest signal can disrupt the telescope, anything from a dog's wet heating blanket, an electronic doorbell, or someone using the microwave to heat up soup. Using a cell phone or Wi-Fi can get you in trouble with the law. The only internet access is via dial-up or an ethernet cable. Jay Lockman, the principal scientist of the telescope, said it's almost like living back in 1990. 'What we have here is an amazing combination of a very rural atmosphere with extremely high technology,' he said. And rumbling past the one gas station, school, library, quilt and basket store and barbershop is a white van, with antennas attached to its roof, listening for any sound that could disrupt the telescope. When residents hear it, they unplug their microwaves. The town is thus made up of people both looking to escape technology - and further its advancement For some residents Green Bank is an oasis of peace and quiet, of freedom from their devices.Some of those people say they suffer from electromagnetic hypersensitivity, believing cell phone tower waves make them ill But ask them if they miss their cell phones or fast internet, and the people of Green Bank will respond with a resounding 'No'. 'For the last 5,000 years, human beings have managed to flourish without this,' said Lockman. 'So to me it seems a little odd that people now find the absence of cell phones something worth discussing.' Lockman now finds it weird to see other people locked to their phones when he leaves the bubble that is Green Bank. 'To tell you the truth it seems pretty strange and annoying to see people always diddling with their devices and not paying attention to what's going on around them,' he said. Resident Katherine Lafleur doesn't find it annoying, she thinks it's downright sad. 'When they're in restaurants, often you'll see two people having dinner together but they're both on their cell phone,' she said. 'It's heartbreaking just to see mothers who are not paying attention to their beautiful children.' The residents may one day be the first to hear that aliens truly exist. The telescope is currently searching for evidence that there is life in outer space Its the promise of a life without technology that have some people flocking to the little town sitting splat in the middle of the country's National Radio Quiet Zone, where broadcast transmissions are highly regulated within the area that spans 13,000 sq miles. Some of those people are those who say they suffer from electromagnetic hypersensitivity, believing they fall ill because they are exposed to waves emitted by cell phone towers and Wi-Fi routers. But other residents just relish the peace - and get a kick out of tourists who panic the minute their phone signal drops. 'Some people, when they come here, really freak out because they can't have access to their little devices,' Lockman told CBS Pittsburgh. But whether they're scientists or just families searching for some solace, the residents of Green Bank are all excited about one thing: They may be the first to find out that aliens exist. Stephen Hawking and Russian billionaire Yuri Milner joined forces in January to begin Project Breakthrough Listen, a $100million 10-year search for life in outer space. And they'll be using the Green Bank Telescope to do it. A discovery could make the Quietest Town in America one of the most famous. And the only one you can't Instagram. Police last night warned Britains Christians to be on alert amid fears they could be targeted by ISIS jihadists. Security was increased at the countrys 47,000 churches after an 84-year-old priest was beheaded by Muslim fanatics in France. The killing in Normandy was the first known attack claimed by ISIS inside a church in the West after compiling a hitlist of places of Christian worship. It comes as ISIS warned that London and Washington DC are next on the list of target cities, with images threatening major world capitals being posted online. Adel Kermiche (pictured right and left, in 2011), 19, has been named as one of the two ISIS knifemen who stormed into a church in Normandy and cut the throat of an 84-year-old Catholic priest Jacques Hamel before being shot dead by police A French policeman cordons off the area around the body of one of the two knifemen. Parisian prosecutor Francois Molins revealed that the pair were carrying a fake bomb with a timer, a handgun and knives during the attack and said they used nuns as human shields Father Jacques Hamel had his throat cut in the attack that also left a nun critically injured. He was at the church because he was filling in for the local priest who was on holiday Threat: ISIS warned Washington and London are next on the list of target cities. This image of the Statue of Liberty in flames was released on messaging app Telegram This morning, French religious leaders joined forces to call for reinforced security after the attack. Adel Kermiche, one of the two French teenagers killed by police after carrying out the morning slaughter filmed on a mobile phone told a friend two months ago: Im going to do a church. Last night counter-terror police in Britain disclosed they had circulated specific advice to places of worship. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said: Following recent events in France, we are reiterating our protective security advice to Christian places of worship and have circulated specific advice today. We are also taking this opportunity to remind them to review their security arrangements as a precaution. This is part of our ongoing work with faith organisations, as well as other sectors, to help ensure the safety and security of their staff, visitors and members. He said: There is no specific intelligence relating to attacks against the Christian community in the UK. However, as we have seen, Daesh and other terrorist groups have targeted Christian as well as Jewish and other faith groups in the West and beyond. While the threat from terrorism remains unchanged at severe we urge the public to be vigilant. Be alert and not alarmed and report any suspicious activity via the anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789321. In an emergency always dial 999. There are around 5.4million Church members in the UK. In February last year, when a total of 17 people died in attacks by Islamist gunmen in Paris, including four men at a kosher supermarket, anti-terror police warned of heightened concern of the risks to the Jewish community. It prompted an increase in patrols at schools and synagogues and in areas with large populations of the UKs 263,000 Jews. Police are still seeking the identity of the second attacker, and are continuing to carry out raids. Pictured, French officers and fire engines at the scene of the hostage taking On another day of drama in France which has suffered a string of atrocities since the Charlie Hebdo attacks in 2015: Kermiche was revealed to be wearing an electronic tag after he was previously convicted of trying to join IS in Syria; IS took responsibility for the murderous attack and said the knifemen were its soldiers; The church was revealed to be on an IS hitlist found after a previous plot to attack Catholic churches; Former president Nicolas Sarkozy demanded merciless action against terror suspects, calling for all Islamist terror suspects to be detained; Politician Jean-Pierre Raffarin warned terrorists were trying to trigger a war of religions. Father Jacques Hamel was killed yesterday morning after Kermiche, 19, and his young accomplice took him, two nuns and two early morning worshippers hostage. During what turned into a siege, they chanted Arabic sermons before slitting the popular priests throat after he was forced to kneel. The pair were shot dead outside the church after leaving shouting Allahu Akbar. French authorities say they have arrested a third man in connection with the attack. Armed police are pictured making an arrest at a house in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray FROM KIND AND CARING TEENAGER, TO A RADICALISED PRIEST MURDERER Relatives and neighbours of priest killer Adel Kermiche last night spoke of their horror at his radicalisation by jihadists. Their comments came as it emerged he was a friend of another French jihadi, Maxime Hauchard, who has been linked to the beheading of Americans in Syria. Friends said teachers son Kermiche, 19, had previously enjoyed the life of a typical teenager. But last year he was convicted in France after attempting to join IS in Syria, which saw him issued an electronic tag and kept under curfew. The housing estate Kermiche lived in on the edge of St Etienne du Rouvray, near Rouen, has a significant proportion of north African Muslims. Kermiches parents are said to be Algerian-born. Last night a man identifying himself as Kermiches uncle said: He was a good kid hed really been doing better after coming out of prison. We cant understand what happened, or how his life went down this road. A female friend of Kermiche, 18-year-old Imane El Fajri, said: He was a very kind and adorable person. He must have been manipulated by people from outside, from ISIS. This area is really calm, there are no problems here. His mother is a teacher. He used to be at the local high school, and has been unemployed recently. Hes the kind of man who would always defuse arguments between his friends. Advertisement Kermiche had twice been arrested for attempting to flee France to join IS in Syria, and had spent time in prison in both France and Switzerland. He was supposed to be living with his parents in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray and being monitored with an electronic tag. But under his bail conditions he was allowed to roam unsupervised between 8.30am and 12.30pm. Security was raised at Frances 45,000 Catholic churches but safety concerns remain as it will be impossible to provide blanket protection. The two killers, who shouted 'Allahu Akbar', were shot dead by police marksmen as they emerged from the building, which was later searched for bombs. Police later raided a house in the area and made an arrest According to analysts at the SITE intelligence group, London is on the next list of cities ISIS wants to target next. The terror group released images of the capital and other major world cities on the messaging app Telegram. One shows the Statue of Liberty in New York on fire along with the words 'Washington soon'. IS yesterday urged its followers to attack other French churches targeting what they called Christian crusaders. The church of St Etienne du Rouvray was one of a number of Catholic churches on a terrorist hit list found on a suspected IS extremist last April. Sid Ahmed Ghlam was arrested in Paris as investigators believed he was planning imminent attacks. An arsenal of weapons was found in his car and at his flat. Church leaders yesterday expressed outrage that a place of worship could become the scene of such a bloody attack. Pope Francis condemned the barbarous killing. Meanwhile, French religious leaders today called for authorities to boost security at places of worship. 'We deeply desire that our places of worship are the subject of greater (security) focus, a sustained focus,' said French Muslim leader Dalil Boubakeur, after meeting with President Francois Hollande. Hollande gathered with the leaders of the country's main religions a day after the killing. A man was caught on camera wandering the streets naked during his quest for cash, after he left his clothes in a pub as collateral for an unpaid tab Czech police were called out to reports of a nude male in the town of Prerov on Monday, and found the drinker in broad daylight wearing only his ankle-high socks. In startling footage he is seen striding nonchalantly past several pedestrians and drivers. The man nonchalantly strides along street in the town of Prerov in the Czech Republic on his way to get cash Startling CCTV footage shows the unidentified man walking around completely naked, save his pair of socks Talking on his mobile phone he appears to be in no rush, and makes no attempts to shelter his dignity. The unidentified bearded streaker stops motorists in their tracks as they cannot believe the sight. After the short footage cuts out police officers then approached the man, who explained he was just popping across the road to a pub to pick up some money. Astonishingly he was allowed to complete his quest and arrived back to settle the bill, according to reports. The case has now been handed over to state police who are investigating whether the man committed a crime, reports Czech news site idnes.cz. An official report from the city police reads: 'Two hours after noon, a witness informed line 156 about a completely naked man on the street. A further five people reported this occurrence as well. Talking on his mobile phone he appears to be in no rush, and makes no attempts to shelter his dignity Cash-strapped: According to reports he had left his clothes by a pub bar as collateral for an unpaid tab 'Good afternoon': Brazenly the brown-haired man strolls past another pedestrian wearing a light blue shirt 'A motorized policed patrol was sent there and the sharp eye of the camera system quickly identified him walking happily on the sidewalk making a phone call. The police report continues: 'The officers quickly found the naked man, and he stated that he left the clothes as collateral at a restaurant. 'He left naked to get money from another one to pay the debt. He eventually paid the debt and put his clothes back on, which calmed down the pedestrians and drivers.' Tina Green, the wife of tycoon Sir Philip Green could be stripped of her Monaco residency by the tax havens royal rulers, according to senior sources The wife of tycoon Sir Philip Green could be stripped of her Monaco residency by the tax havens royal rulers, according to senior sources. Tina Green received hundreds of millions of pounds from BHS before it was sold last year, and the scandal over the High Street chains collapse could now see her thrown out of the secretive Mediterranean state for damaging its reputation. Monaco is run by Prince Albert II, part of the Grimaldi royal family, and foreigners can only receive permission to live there from the authorities. Although it is home to many tax exiles, the dubious backgrounds of some residents are tolerated on the understanding that they keep a low profile and do not bring the nation into disrepute. But following the collapse of BHS and the damning report by MPs that was published on Monday, the royal family are thought to be privately concerned that the reputation of Monaco is being damaged by the couple. As a result, they could revoke Lady Greens right to live there. One senior source told the Daily Mail: The Grimaldi family could revoke Tinas right to live in Monaco. They want to try to clean up the Somerset Maugham view that it is a sunny place for shady people. Sir Philips yacht Lionheart will be an embarrassing feature in the harbour. The Greens have received around 400million in dividends from BHS, most of these paid to Lady Green and companies controlled by her. Although she is the main owner of these businesses, they are run by Sir Philip who has no stake in them. BHS collapsed into administration in April and has left up to 11,000 people facing redundancy and more than 20,000 at risk of losing 10 per cent of their pension income. Meanwhile, Lady Green lives in an apartment in Monaco and spends much of her time on one of the couples yachts, moored off Monte Carlo. To become a resident of Monaco, subjects have to meet a variety of criteria, including being of good character. The Greens have received around 400million in dividends from BHS, most of these paid to Lady Green and companies controlled by her More than 2,000 Britons who live in the tax haven are costing the UK economy 1billion a year in revenue, an investigation has revealed. Expats in the principality are free to get honours, fund political parties and run businesses while escaping the taxes that apply to other citizens. However, the principality has been concerned it has a reputation of sheltering people, and its ambassadors have been trying to counter the image. It is thought that officials may use article 22 of its Convention Franco-Monegasque de Voisinage from 1964 which says a minister can use an expulsion order to force people to leave Monacos territories or forbid them from entering. The move would be highly damaging for the Greens. If Lady Green returned to the UK, any money brought here would be taxable at UK rates. Sir Philip Green has been pictured aboard his luxury yacht just days after he was branded the 'unacceptable face of capitalism' The topless tycoon looked relaxed and happy as he enjoyed the Grecian sunshine on the terrace of his 100m superyacht, Lionheart Robert Barrington, of Transparency International, said: Tax havens like Monaco should be making sure they do not provide a safe haven for bad practice, opaque business structures or individuals evading responsibilities in their home countries. John Mann, a Labour member of the Treasury committee, said: The Greens should sail off somewhere else in her yacht. But we dont want these people either if theyre not prepared to sort this mess out. Sir Philip should be stripped of his British citizenship if he does not do the decent thing and rescue the BHS pension scheme. A spokesman for the Principality of Monaco said it could not comment on individual cases. A spokesman for Sir Philip Green declined to comment. It comes as Sir Philip Green has been pictured aboard his luxury yacht just days after he was branded the 'unacceptable face of capitalism'. The tycoon - seen for the first time since a damning report by MPs into the collapse of BHS was published - looked relaxed as he sunned himself in waters off a Greek island. Chloe Green, Sir Philip's daughter with her arms raised at an exclusive villa in St Tropez where she has been on holiday with friends Shirtless Sir Philip, 64, could be seen plumping up a cushion before lying down on a sofa outside on the 100 million super yacht, Lionheart. Meanwhile his daughter Chloe appears to have been rubbing shoulders with celebrities while on holiday in St Tropez. She was pictured at a party at an exclusive villa in the South of France appearing to enjoy a party. Meanwhile, Dominic Chappell, the playboy who bought BHS for 1 from Sir Philip, is set to make his first public statement since being branded a wholly unsuitable purchaser who personally enriched himself from the sale. It is thought he had been overseas and has flown back to the UK to face the music. The serial bankrupt was accused of having his hands in the till during his disastrous tenure and that he and his friends and directors took out money for their personal gain as it crumbled around them, according to the MPs report on the BHS disaster. Mr Chappell, 49, controlled the doomed chain via his Retail Acquisitions company for just 14 months before it collapsed into administration. The select committee report found he took out 4.1million, which included 2.6million in salary and fees as well as a 1.5million interest-free loan. A recent complaint filed with the state Health Department accuses the city of Bismarck of neglecting to address sewer wastewater and stormwater concerns on the south side of the city for decades. City officials say the flooding issue is an ongoing concern being studied and worked on but counter that the wastewater matter isnt something theyve witnessed occurring. In a June 28 complaint to the North Dakota Department of Health, Bismarck resident and former city commissioner Steve Schwab said inadequate infrastructure along South 12th Street and the surrounding areas has led to flooding and the release of sewage during heavy storms over the past 20 years. A petition with the letter was signed by more than 40 residents. Bismarck Public Works Director of Utility Operations Michelle Klose said the Health Department contacted the city shortly after receiving the complaint, asking about the concerns outlined. The city responded on July 1. This is the first complaint we have heard relating to raw sewage deposited on lawns and we have not seen this during our onsite reviews following storm events, Klose said in her response. It may be possible that residents are seeing surcharge to the storm sewer system which can cause water to come out of storm water manholes and mistaking this for a sanitary sewer overflow. Karl Rockeman, Division of Water Quality Director for the Department of Health, agreed with Klose that there may be confusion between the two, adding that in checking past records there arent any complaints on file showing sewer water related incidents. He said in Bismarck and across North Dakota the wastewater systems and storm sewer systems are separated. If there are any specific complaints that come up in the future that would certainly be something we would look into, Rockeman said. Schwab said flooding of lawns leaves a mess from sewage behind. He said flooding has caused damage to floors and walls at area businesses and also creates the possibility for mold and other health concerns. In addition, he said hes personally seen children playing near what he believed was sewage contaminated water. He didnt give specifics of when this occurred. He said the city needs to either expand the existing channel that runs through the area or build an additional one to handle the amount of water that comes with major storms. Despite numerous complaints to the city, and news video broadcasts of the flooding, the city chooses to ignore the problem and the effects it has on residential dwellings and businesses, Schwab said in the complaint. Due to the city of Bismarcks negligence, the situation has deteriorated over the years to such an extent is has now become a full-blown health and environmental hazard. Klose said the city completed a stormwater management plan in 2013 and has nearly finished an update on its modeling in order to provide options to address flooding. Options should be finalized and ready to be unveiled for consideration next month. These are low-lying areas in Bismarck that are very difficult to address, Klose said. Schwab, in his complaint, listed potential solutions, including having the city pay a third party to monitor any potential contamination. Another was to have an environmental impact statement be filed with the state before any new commercial projects are built in the area that could impact flood prone areas. He said hell continue to push for a solution. This is just the beginning, Schwab said. Rockeman said a response to Schwab regarding his complaint will be sent to him this week. A substitute teacher was allowed to carrying on teaching, even after she admitted to having sex with a 17-year-old student. Mary Haglin, 24, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been charged with sexual exploitation following her illicit relationship with the teenage boy. But she claims school officials turned a blind eye to her actions, and even allowed her to look for jobs at other schools. She also insists that nobody called police after learning of her alleged abuse while she was teaching at Washington High School. Scroll down for video Mary Haglin, 24, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, (left and mugshot right) claims she was allowed to carry on teaching even after she told school administrators she had been having sex with a 17-year-old student 'They didn't ban me,' she told The Gazette. 'They never actually said they were banning me from school grounds, they never said they were banning me from working at any other school, they never said they were banning me from thus-and-so many feet of any school. They never said any of that.' Haglin first had sex with the teenager in October 2015. Administrators first heard about the affair in February, but the allegations were unfounded. However Superintendent Brad Buck conducted a second probe, and told Haglin to leave. After she was let go from Washington High, she still had access to SubCentral, a database where substitute teachers could apply to other schools. She was accepted for two positions at Harrison and Madison elementary schools and taught until classes ended for the summer. Haglin added that school officials 'knew full well that I was there'. 'There was no way they could not have known. I'm sure that they were tracking me and checking me,' she told the Iowa newspaper. She also insists that nobody called police after learning of her alleged abuse while she was teaching at Washington High School Even though administrators did not report her alleged actions, someone else went to the police. She was arrested last Friday as a result. After an initial hearing, she was released on her own reconnaissance. She is facing two years in prison if found guilty. School district officials told The Gazette a 'miscommunication' meant Haglin was allowed to teach at two more schools. A spokeswoman for the Grant Wood AEA, which maintains SubCentral, said the agency was kept in the dark about Haglin's conduct and didn't receive communication from the Cedar Rapids district to remove her from the database until June 14. Video courtesy of KCRG Haglin is now facing two years in prison. She was arrested last Friday and released before her trial The notification came almost a month after Washington officials removed Haglin because of the school inquiry. 'Districts must communicate back to SubCentral with concerns about any substitute teacher placements to help ensure the fidelity of the teachers in the system,' spokeswoman Renee Nelson said. 'We did not receive communication from the Cedar Rapids Community School District of any allegations nor of the concerns submitted to the Board of Education.' The district did ask May 18 for SubCentral to remove Haglin from Washington, Nelson said but didn't ask for further action. After 80 years of marriage, a couple in China have finally posed for their wedding photos. Song Qinglin, 102, and his wife Song Lishi, 99, were too poor to have a big celebration when they married in 1936, and only had three plates of food for their wedding banquet, reports the People's Daily Online. The loving couple from eastern China's Anhui Province dressed up in their wedding outfits while holding hands during the shoot. Loving couple: Song Qinlin, 102, and Song Li, 99 pose for their wedding photos after marrying 80 years ago Helping hand: Song Li and her husband were helped by volunteers to have their dream wedding shoot Getting ready: Volunteers helped to cut their hair and put make up on before they posed for the camera The couple had the pictures taken on July 23, which was their 80th wedding anniversary. Pictures from the photoshoot shows Li wearing a white wedding dress with a sequin and beaded top while Song wears a red Changshan, a traditional Chinese dress. They were helped by dozens of volunteers who wanted to make their wish come true. The pair have six children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren and all four generations live under the same roof. A quick trim: The couple were helped by dozens of volunteers who wanted to make their wish come true Everlasting love: The pair are always holding hands in their photographs showing their true bond The couple have been praised for their long lasting marriage on social media site QQ.com. One user wrote: 'To tell you the truth, I did not see that they are 100, they are old but I still really wish them health and longevity.' While another wrote: 'Really happy that they have lived so long!' And one user said: 'The two of them are so cute!' This couple aren't the only pair to have a long lasting marriage. On July 6 it was reported that a devoted couple had been with each other for 96 years. The 103-year-old wife moved in with her 102-year-old husband when she was just six-years-old after her parents died. The woman followed a traditional arrangement which meant she was adopted by another family and would later marry one of the sons in the family. They are never seen apart from each other. Chinese media has been fascinated by a mysterious man who reportedly doesn't know his name or age, but can crack a computer's password with just one click . The man, who is believed to suffer from insomnia, has lived in a shelter in Shenzhen for two years. Baffled by his own identity, he contacted the police on July 1 asking for their help, reports the People's Daily Online. After the local newspapers reported his story, a Shenzhen resident approached the police claiming that the man is 32 years old and used to be a solider. Tragic: The man was in a homeless shelter in Shenzhen, China, for two years without knowing his name Smart guy: Despite not knowing his name, the man was a technological genius and could hack passwords According to reports, the man was brought to the shelter by police in 2014 after being found on the street homeless. The man told the police when he looked in the mirror, he had no idea who he was. He spoke good English and according to people at the shelter, he was brilliant with computers. He even knew lots of technical vocabulary. When the man was handed a computer he was able to instantly get past the password page. He could understand advanced maths concepts, such as calculus. Local reports said that the man wanted to find out his identity and asked the police to help him find out his name and if he has a family. The police contacted a famous missing person's foundation named Baobei Huijia (Baby Come Home), who helped to find any traces of who he was. After his photos were released by local media, a previous workmate got in touch saying that they had served the army together. He revealed that the man was 32-years-old and called Li Ping. The police managed to use the clue to track down the man's family, who live in Nanbu county, south-west China's Sichuan province, which is about 1,050 miles from Shenzhen. Pictured with his family during better times: The man went into the army after school and left his post in 2005 Wanting to find out his identity: Li Ping approached police in Shenzhen asking for help finding out who he is More details emerged when the police called his mother, named Peng Zeyu. According to Peng, Li was a top student when he was young. After he graduated from high school in 2003, Li chose to join the army. His mother said in 2006 he retired from the army and started looking for work in different cities. In June 2012, Li's sister was pregnant and confined to staying in her home. So she couldn't earn money for the family. Li, who was jobless and living at home at the time, was ashamed. So he packed up his things and told his parents that he was going to find work in Guangzhou, a city in southern China, Peng recalled. Then he disappeared for four years. The family said they had little knowledge of their son's life during the period. Then his mother received a phone call from Shenzhen public security. She told reporters: 'That night someone called me and asked about my son's identity, I thought they were lying.' Finally finding out who he is: Li Ping is pictured as a child with his family in Sichuan province The police arranged for Li and his mother to talk on the phone. However, Li seemed to have forgotten his dialect and had trouble communicating with his mother. Nevertheless, Peng was eager to meet her long-lost son again. She told reporters: 'I want to hurry up and take the train to Shenzhen and pick up my child.' She added: 'No matter the reason why he wanted to find his home or if he will stay with us for good, home is always open to him.' Advertisement Two adorable panda cubs have met the world for the first time in Macao, China. The male cubs, born on June 26, made their first public appearance at the Giant Panda Pavilion today to celebrate one month since their birth, reports the People's Daily Online. Named 'Dabao' and 'Xiaobao' in Chinese, or 'big treasure' and 'small treasure' in English, the adorable pair are the cubs of nine-year-old Xinxin who was given to the city as a gift by the Chinese government in 2014. Say hi to everyone: The set of panda twins, born on June 26 in Macao, greeted the public for the first time earlier today We're the cutest brothers! The pair displayed their playful side as they celebrated reaching one month old at the event in Macao Welcome to the world! Keepers at the Giant Panda Pavillion in Macao show off the adorable cubs today at a public event Happy one month! The twins, named 'big treasure' and 'little treasure', lie next to two mock cakes to celebrate becoming one month old The twins were born on June 26 with one weighing 135 grams (4.8 ounces) and the other weighing 53.8 grams (1.9 ounces). The lighter cub was observed by the centre at the time and hand-fed to ensure he was strong enough. Today the centre had a one-month celebration with children singing Happy Birthday to the animals. Local media were also in attendance. Pictures show the keepers holding the cuddly cubs to the camera and also taking their temperatures. In one picture they can be seen lying on a blanket in front of mock birthday cakes. Proud lineage: The mother of the cubs, nine-year-old Xinxin, was given to the region as a gift from the Chinese government The twins, also knonw as 'Dabao' and 'Xiaobao', have their temperatures checked by one of their keepers at their public debut today Say hello! One of the cubs had his temperature taken by his caretaker as the pair were introduced to the press today in Macao Their mother nine-year-old Xinxin was given to the region as a gift from the Chinese government in 2014. When a panda cub is first born it is pink, blind and toothless, weighing only 90 to 130 grams (3.2 to 4.6 ounces) - a mere one eight-hundredth of its mother's weight. A month after birth, the colour pattern of the cub's fur is fully developed. Just yesterday, a panda cub in Chengdu also celebrated one month since its birth. And happy birthday to you too! Yesterday, a cub celebrated one month since its birth in the famous panda breeding centre in Chengdu Enjoying its incubator! The baby panda was born on June 25 at Chengdu's Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding This is the moment a firefighter stepped in to save a suicidal man who fainted on the edge of a high-rise building. The man had been sat on the edge of the roof on July 20 in Suzhou threatening to jump off when the heat became too much and he fainted, reports Huanqiu, an affiliation with the People's Daily Online. A firefighter managed to run over and pull him away from the roof. Terrifying moment: The firefighter can be seen dragging him away from the wall after the man fainted Heart-stopping moment: The man was sat on the edge of a building threatening to jump when he felt faint According to news.jstv.com, the man wanted to be reimbursed for the cost of work related injuries so decided to take action by jumping off the building at around 7:30am. Firefighters arrived at the scene and tried to reason with the man while a small team inflated a safety mattress underneath the building. In the footage, the emergency crew can be seen trying to reason with the man while he is sat on a ledge located on the roof. Quick-thinking man: As soon as he started to slump the firefighter came in and pulled him to safety All of a sudden he can be seen struggling to keep upright. He then slowly falls forward. A firefighter uses the chance to pull him back and push him towards the ground. Because of their immense gravity, massive objects bend the spacetime around them, which causes the path of light to be deflected. When galaxies are aligned this effect can change the way objects look from Earth, for example one galaxy in front of another can make the furthest away appear as a ring instead of a dot. But now an unusual eye-like structure has been found in the sky, which shows an even more complex and rarer formation - the light from two different galaxies being bent by one in front - making the light appear in the shape of an eye. When galaxies are aligned this effect can change the way objects look from Earth. Now an unusual eye-like structure has been found in the sky, which shows an even more complex and rarer formation - the light from two different galaxies being bent by one in front, making the light appear in the shape of an eye (pictured) WHAT IS GRAVITATIONAL LENSING? Gravitational lensing occurs when a massive galaxy or cluster of galaxies bends the light emitted from a more distant galaxy, forming a highly magnified, though much distorted image. This is because massive objects bend the spacetime around them, making light travel in a different path. It was first proposed by Einstein in his theory of General Relativity. Advertisement Named 'The Eye of Horus', this ancient eye in the sky will help us understand the history of the universe, the researchers said. The three galaxies involved in the system are 7, 9 and 10.5 billion light-years away. Light from distant galaxies is strongly bent by the gravitational influence of every galaxy it encounters on its journey towards Earth that can often last billions of years. Einstein rings are created by gravitational lensing, a phenomenon first proposed by Einstein in his general theory of relativity. These occur when one galaxy bends the light from a more distant galaxy. The same foreground galaxy can, sometimes, simultaneously lens multiple background galaxies. Although extremely rare, this kind of lens system offers a unique opportunity to test the fundamental physics of galaxies. Named 'The Eye of Horus', this ancient eye in the sky will help us understand the history of the universe. The lens galaxy is labeled 'L', and the inner and outer sources are labeled 'S1' and 'S2', respectively. The knots in the sources are labeled alphabetically in approximate order of brightness Left shows the image with the centre galaxy removed. Right shows the reconstructed image configuration. The red source represents one galaxy, S1, while the blue source represents another galaxy, S2 It is one of these rare lens systems that has recently been discovered. The discovery used data from the Subaru Telescope which is owned by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), which is located at the Mauna Kea Observatory on Hawaii. During an annual session astronomers from the Subaru Telescope organise for schools, a group of astronomers and students analysed data from an ongoing survey of the sky, which used an instrument called the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC). During the session, which was held at the NAOJ headquarters in Mitaka, Tokyo, astronomers discovered the unusual eye. 'When I was looking at HSC images with the students, we came across a ring-like galaxy and we immediately recognized it as a strong-lensing signature,' said Masayuki Tanaka, the lead author of a science paper on the system's discovery. 'The discovery would not have been possible without the large survey data to find such a rare object, as well as the deep, high quality images to detect light from distant objects.' Einstein's theory says incredibly massive objects bend the spacetime around them, which causes the path of light to be deflected. Lattice analogy of the deformation of spacetime caused by a planetary mass shown The newly-discovered formation of three galaxies, shown left, was named the Eye of Horus because of its similarity to the Ancient Egyptian symbol, shown right. The symbol is said to represent protection, royal power and good health 'It was my first time to look at the astronomical images taken with Hyper Suprime-Cam and I had no idea what the ring-like galaxy is,' said Arsha Dezuka, a student who was working on the data. 'It was a great surprise for me to learn that it is such a rare, unique system!' The image shows two distinct arcs or rings of light with different colours. This means two distinct background galaxies are being lensed by the foreground galaxy, the researchers said. 'The spectroscopic data reveal some very interesting things about the background sources,' said Kenneth Wong from NAOJ, the second author of paper. 'Not only do they confirm that there are two sources at different distances from us, but the more distant source seems to consist of two distinct clumps, which could indicate an interacting pair of galaxies. 'Also, one of the multiple images of that source is itself being split into two images, which could be due to a satellite galaxy that is too faint for us to see.' WHAT IS AN EINSTEIN RING? An Einstein ring is a distorted image of a very distant galaxy, which is termed 'the source'. The distortion is produced by the bending of the light rays from the source due to a massive galaxy, termed 'the lens', lying between it and the observer. The strong gravitational field produced by the lens galaxy distorts the structure of space-time in its neighbourhood, and this does not only attract objects which have a mass, but also bends the paths of light. When the two galaxies are exactly aligned, the image of the more distant galaxy is converted into an almost perfect circle. Advertisement It is a grand monument to one of the world's most mysterious lost civilisations and its greatest ruler. But despite being rediscovered hidden within the thick jungle of Mexico more than 200 years ago, it appears the towering Temple of Inscriptions at the Mayan ruins of Palenque still contains secrets. Archaeologists have discovered an underground water tunnel deep beneath the 115 feet tall-stepped pyramid and the tomb of the ancient ruler Pakal that sits at the heart of the structure. Scroll down for video Archaeologists have uncovered a two feet wide tunnel (pictured) running under the Temple of Inscriptions at the Mayan ruins of Palenque, southern Mexico. It is thought water once ran through the tunnel from an underground spring. It may have been built to carry the spirit of the great Mayan ruler Pakal to the underworld They believe the tomb and pyramid, which were built in between 683AD and 702AD, were purposely constructed on top of a spring to allow water to flow under the pyramid. WHO WAS PAKAL? Known as Pakal the great, K'inich Janaab Pakal I was the ruler of the Maya city state of Palenque over 68 years until he died in 683AD. He is thought to have ascended to the throne at the age of 12 years old and during his rule managed to expand Palenques power in the western Maya states. Buildings erected under his rule are considered the civilisations finest architecture. The Temple of Inscriptions was only rediscovered by archaeologists around 200 years ago and was long suspected as a funerary monument to Pakal. However, his tomb was only discovered in the 1950s. Inside was a ornately decorated sarcophagus which depicts Pakal lying on top of the earth monster. Inside, archaeologists found his skeleton still intact. His death mask was made entirely of jade with eyes made from mother of pearl and obsidian. Five skeletons were found at the entrance of the crypt, though to be sacrificial victims intended to follow Pakal to the underworld. Advertisement Scientists believe the tunnel may have been built to help carry Pakal's spirit to the underworld in the water that passed beneath his funeral chamber. The discovery promises to provide new insights into the purpose of the temple and the beliefs of the ancient Maya. Arnoldo Gonzalez, who led the excavation, said carvings on a pair of stone ear plugs found in the grave said a god 'will guide the dead toward the underworld, by submerging (them) into water so they will be received there'. The Temple of Inscriptions, named after the detailed carvings over its five doors, is the latest Mayan sacred structure to be found to have been built over a watercourse. Archaeologists working in Chichen Itza found that the Temple of Kukulkan, also known as El Castillo, also appears to have been built over a network of underground rivers. They found a huge chamber beneath the pyramid that appears to be linked to other sinkhole lakes that surround it by these underground water systems. It suggests that water played a far greater role in the belief systems of the Maya than had been previously believed. There are some, however, who believe the Mayan were influenced to build their great structures by another force other than divine power. The Temple of Inscriptions (pictured) is one of the largest pyramids at the Mayan city of Palenque. Although it was rediscovered around 200 years ago, it is still revealing its secrets. Pakal's tomb was only discovered beneath the great pyramid in the 1950s The water tunnel was found at the ancient Mayan city of Palenque in southern Mexico (shown on map) Archaeologists began excavating in front of the steps (pictured) leading up the pyramid to the Temple of Inscriptions after ground penetrating radar revealed anomalies under the ground that they feared threatened the structure. Instead they discovered the stone tunnel, carefully covered with three layers of stone. Instead they think Pakal may have been an alien astronaut who ruled the Mayan. Carvings found on his sargophogus have led to theories that it shows him sitting in a space rocket. However, Dr Gonzalez said the discovery of the water ways suggest that the Mayan actually believed their ruler's spirit would be washed down the drain rather than taken back into space. The carving on the lid to Pakal's sarcophagus (illustrated) led some to believe he had been an 'alien astronaut' who led the Maya He said: 'There is nothing to do with spaceships.' The stone tunnel runs directly under Pakel's tomb, which is around 25 feet beneath the surface. It measures around two feet across and two feet tall. Pedro Sanchez Nava, director of archaeology for the National Institute of Anthropology and History, said it appears water may have been important in relation to death among many pre-Hispanic cultures. A similar water tunnel was discovered at Teotihuacan, near Mexico City, where another water tunnel was found. He said: 'In both cases there was a water current present. There is this allegorical meaning for water - where the cycle of life begins and ends.' The tunnel was uncovered beneath the Temple of Inscriptions at Palenque in an excavation that began in 2012. Researchers had discovered underground anomalies in front of the pyramids steps with ground penetrating radar and feared a sinkhole or geological fault may be opening up to threaten the pyramid. When they dug at the spot they uncovered three layers of careful fitted stone covering the top of the tunnel. The same type of three-layered stone covering has been found in the floor of Pakal's tomb, within the pyramid. The researcher say they have not yet discovered any shaft connecting the tomb to the tunnel but have yet to explore it properly. The excavation (pictured) was started in 2012 but archaeologists have revealed what may be a system of tunnels that carried water beneath the temple, reinforcing ideas that water played a key role in Mayan religion The Temple of Inscriptions (pictured) was only rediscovered around 200 years ago in the jungle of southern Mexico. It is the largest structure at the ancient city of Palenque They are using robots fitted with cameras to inch along the underground tunnel. Dr Francisco Estrada-Belli, an archaeologist at Boston University who was not involved in the dig, said: 'I believe that building a tomb over a canal certainly does fit with the belief that water and water bodies were entrances to the underworld. 'Several cases of temples (and the associated tombs) are known to be built over natural caves that may or may not have held water.' Amazon now has approval for three new types of tests, including flying drones out of sight of their operators in rural and suburban areas During the tests the drones will be only allowed to fly an altitude of 400ft Amazon plans to test its delivery drones in Britain, meaning customers in the UK could soon receive their packages from the internet giant by air, rather than post. The move is the result of a deal with the British government and could see customers in the UK trial the new service before those in the US. The partnership aims to understand how drones can be used safely and reliably, and identify the best regulations to put in place. Scroll down for videos Amazon plans to test its delivery drones in Britain, meaning customers in Britain could soon receive their packages from the internet giant by air, rather than post. One of the company's prototype drones is pictured AMAZON'S 30-MINUTE SERVICE In June, Amazon told Congress its plan to use drones to deliver packages in 30 minutes or less will be ready in a year. But the FAA regulations need to change before this is possible. Paul Misener said the service 'could revolutionise the way people shop for items they need quickly.' 'If a consumer wants a small item quickly, instead of driving to go shopping or causing delivery automobiles to come to her home or office, a small, electrically-powered (drone) vehicle will make the trip faster and more efficiently and cleanly,' he told the House Oversight Committee. Advertisement More excitingly for impatient shoppers, it could also speed up the process for allowing small drones to makes deliveries. The plan is for Amazon's PrimeAir service to eventually deliver small packages weighing up to 5lbs (2.27kg) in 30 minutes or less. The world's biggest online retailer, which has laid out plans to start using drones for deliveries by 2017, said a cross-government team supported by the UK Civil Aviation Authority has provided it with the permissions necessary to explore the process. Flights will begin 'imminently,' according to The Mirror. Amazon got British approval for three new types of tests: Flying drones that are no longer within sight of their operators in rural and suburban areas, having one person operate several highly automated drones and testing devices to make the drones able to identify and avoid obstacles. During the test the drones will be only allowed to fly an altitude of 400ft (122m) and kept away from operating near airport flightpaths. Britain is a leader in enabling drone innovation; we've been investing in Prime Air research and development here for quite some time, said Paul Misener, Amazon's Vice President of Global Innovation Policy and Communications. This announcement strengthens our partnership with the UK and brings Amazon closer to our goal of using drones to safely deliver parcels in 30 minutes to customers in the UK and elsewhere around the world. 'Using small drones for the delivery of parcels will improve customer experience, create new jobs in a rapidly growing industry, and pioneer new sustainable delivery methods to meet future demand,' said Misener. 'The UK is charting a path forward for drone technology that will benefit consumers, industry and society.' He previously said the service 'could revolutionise the way people shop for items they need quickly.' He told the House Oversight Committee in the US in June: 'If a consumer wants a small item quickly, instead of driving to go shopping or causing delivery automobiles to come to her home or office, a small, electrically-powered (drone) vehicle will make the trip faster and more efficiently and cleanly.' Tim Johnson, CAA Policy Director said: 'We want to enable the innovation that arises from the development of drone technology by safely integrating drones into the overall aviation system. 'These tests by Amazon will help inform our policy and future approach.' Amazon has previously unveiled a video last year showcasing how an unmanned drone could deliver packages, narrated by former Top Gear TV host Jeremy Clarkson. Amazon got British approval for three new types of tests: Flying drones (one shown) that are no longer within sight of their operators in rural and suburban areas, having one person operate several highly automated drones and testing devices to make the drones able to identify and avoid obstacles Amazon Global Public Policy Vice President Paul Misener Paul Misener (pictured) has previously said the service 'could revolutionise the way people shop for items they need quickly' Last month, the US Federal Aviation Administration unveiled long-awaited new rules that clear the way for small, commercial drones to operate across US airspace. Under the FAA's rules, drone operators will be allowed to fly commercial craft weighing less than 55 pounds (25kg) during daylight hours, provided they can maintain a clear view of the drone at all times. While that effectively precludes the sort of robo-delivery services being developed by Amazon and other major vendors, the new rules will nonetheless ensure drones become increasingly commonplace in the skies. The White House cites industry estimates suggesting drones could generate more than $82 billion (63 billion) for the US economy over the coming decade, creating some 100,000 jobs. More than 30 years after Wyoming's black-footed ferrets nearly went extinct, the endangered animal is set to make a comeback. Long gone from the region, black-footed ferrets still appear on Meeteetse's town logo, in a bronze sculpture downtown and even on coffee mugs from a downtown restaurant, remembered for when the nocturnal weasels made their last stand in the nearby sagebrush hills. Now, theyll be making a triumphant return on Tuesday, following a bit of ferret carnival at a school in Meeteetse, biologists plan to release 35 black-footed ferrets raised in captivity on two local ranches. FILE - This Oct. 1, 2014, file photo shows a black-footed ferret peeking out of a tube after being brought to a ranch near Williams, Ariz. The endangered weasel is returning to an area of western Wyoming where the critter almost went extinct more than 30 years ago (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca, File) The release will complete the circle of a story that began in 1981, when a ranch dog named Shep brought home a dead black-footed ferret and let the world know the species wasn't extinct after all. PLANS TO SAVE THE FERRETS Black-footed ferrets rely on prairie dogs for survival, but outbreaks of sylvatic plague have wiped out their prey by the masses. Conservationists have proposed a yet-to-be designed drone that could shoot M&M-sized peanut-butter flavoured vaccines throughout the prairie. The drones would administer three baits at a time, at intervals of 30 feet. Using a drone with a GPS-controlled trigger could deliver a much greater payload than human efforts alone are capable of. According to the USFWS, 'some 200 acres per hour could be treated by a single operator with the use of drones. Advertisement Five years later, biologists captured the area's remaining wild ferrets for a successful captive-breeding program that since the 1990s has released hundreds of ferrets. Now, those descendants of Meeteetse's ferrets will return to Meeteetse at last. 'It's only fitting that we bring ferrets back to the place where they were last discovered,' U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Ryan Moehring said Monday. 'This is a reintroduction unlike any other.' The Fish and Wildlife Service breeds black-footed ferrets at a facility near Fort Collins, Colorado. There, the young ferrets go through a 'boot camp' where they learn how to catch prairie dogs. Ferrets have been released at 24 sites in Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, South Dakota, Arizona and Kansas, as well as Canada and Mexico. Recent release sites include the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge near Denver last fall. Pictured above, a black-footed ferret looks out of the entrance to a prairie dog tunnel after being let loose during a release of 30 of the animals by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in Commerce City, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File) In Wyoming, black-footed ferrets were reintroduced in the sparsely populated Shirley Basin in the southeast part of the state in 1991. They've been released in the basin several times since. This will be the first ferret release in Wyoming in almost a decade. Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated all of Wyoming as a zone for 'experimental, non-essential' populations of black-footed ferrets. The designation indemnifies ranchers in case they accidentally harm any ferrets released on their property. More ranchers will agree to such releases if they are less worried about getting in trouble, the thinking goes. A monument to black-footed ferrets in Meeteese, Wyo. is pictured above. Biologists plan to release 35 black-footed ferrets (AP Photo/Mead Gruver, File) The Lazy BV and Pitchfork ranches, where black-footed ferrets lived in the Meeteetse area, have agreed to host ferrets once again in prairie dog colonies covering thousands of acres. Biologists flocked to the area after the ferret discovery, recalled Meeteetse Mayor J.W. Yetter, who worked in the local logging industry at the time. 'There was a whole crew of university people and wildlife biologists in training quartered up at the timber creek ranger station,' Yetter said. 'They were the ones charged with tracking, capturing, radio collaring and generally discovering the extent of that colony and getting biologic information about the members of that colony.' The release will be cause for celebration in Meeteetse, population 230. The Fish and Wildlife Service plans to show off the ferrets and an older, 'ambassador' ferret named Two Bit who doesn't get to be released at the local school. Pictured above, black-footed ferret looks out from a carrier during a release of 30 ferrets by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in Commerce City, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File) The release will be filmed and screened back in town later in the evening. 'There seems to be a lot of excitement about it,' Yetter said. Biologists also have been preparing for the big day, treating vast colonies of prairie dogs with an experimental plague vaccine and insecticide to kill off fleas. Plague, a disease transmitted by fleas, can wipe out prairie dogs by the thousand. Black-footed ferrets prey on prairie dogs. Wildlife officials want to do all they can to make sure the reintroduced ferrets have plenty of food, said Zack Walker, a Wyoming Game and Fish Department biologist. 'You basically just spray it inside the burrow, a little bit in each burrow to reduce the flea load,' Walker said. The goal: Treat 5,000 acres of prairie dog colonies on the Lazy BV and Pitchfork ranches with insecticide this summer. Integrating technology into the human body could make our minds sharper, our bodies healthier and our muscles stronger. But the majority of people are scared of these enhancements, a new study has found. More people said they would not want enhancements of their brains and blood, while women tended to be more wary than men about the potential enhancements from cutting-edge technologies. Scroll down for video Scientific innovations designed to improve human capabilities are thought to be a good thing, making our minds sharper, our bodies healthier and our muscles stronger. But the majority of US citizens are scared of these enhancements, a new study has found WHAT THE STUDY FOUND The researchers carried out a survey of more than 4,700 US adults. The survey asked the public on views of gene editing, implantation of brain chips, and transfusions of synthetic blood. More said they would not want enhancements of their brains and their blood: 66 per cent and 63 per cent, respectively, than said they would want them - 32 per cent and 35 per cent. The adults were closely split on whether they would want gene editing to help prevent diseases for their babies: 48 per cent would, 50 per cent would not. The majority said enhancements could widen the divide between haves and have-nots. Most people said they were not sure whether these interventions are morally acceptable. More religious people were, on average, less likely to embrace these potential types of enhancement. Fewer people said enhancements with more extreme effects, a change that would help a person operate 'far above their current abilities', would be an appropriate use of technology. 51 per cent said a brain chip implant would be less acceptable if the effects were permanent. Advertisement The researchers carried out a survey of more than 4,700 US adults. The survey asked the public on views of gene editing, implantation of brain chips, and transfusions of synthetic blood. 'Developments in biomedical technologies are accelerating rapidly, raising new societal debates about how we will use these technologies and what uses are appropriate,' said lead author Cary Funk, from Pew Research Center, based in Washington DC. 'This study suggests Americans are largely cautious about using emerging technologies in ways that push human capacities beyond what's been possible before.' Gene editing might give babies a lifetime with much reduced risk of serious disease. And brain chips could give people an improved ability to concentrate and process information, while synthetic blood might give people greater speed, strength and stamina. But most adults surveyed said the downsides of brain and blood enhancements would outweigh the benefits for society. 'Many people will probably adopt enhancement technologies in order to boost their physical and mental capacities, and they will do so to varying degrees and in all sorts of combinations, leading to a bewilderingly broad array of "super human" beings,' Professor Michael Bess told MailOnline. 'I am both excited and frightened at the prospect of such modified humans coming into being.' than 4,700 US adults. The survey asked the public on views of gene editing, implantation of brain chips, and transfusions of synthetic blood Gene editing might give babies a lifetime with much reduced risk of serious disease. The adults surveyed were closely split on whether they would want gene editing to help prevent diseases for their babies - 48 per cent would, 50 per cent would not Fewer Americans see enhancement as an appropriate use of technology if it will result in abilities 'far above' that of any human known to date. The public was also less likely to support changes if they were permanent and could not be undone BIOENHANCEMENT IS ALREADY HERE Through the use of pharmaceuticals, we are learning how to control our moods, boost our physical and mental performance, increase our longevity and vitality, Professor Michael Bess told MailOnline. Through the application of prostheses, implants, and other bioelectronic devices, we are not only healing the blind and the paralysed, but beginning to reconfigure our bodies, enhance our memories, and generate entirely new ways of interacting with machines. Through genetic interventions, we are neutralising certain diseases long thought incurable. Advertisement Professor Bess is chancellor's Professor of History at Vanderbilt University and author of the book 'Make Way for the Super Humans', an in-depth survey of the evolving science of bio-enhancement. His views are shared by the US population. The majority of respondents said these enhancements could make the divide between haves and have-nots worse. For instance, 73 per cent believed inequality would increase if brain chips became available because only the wealthy could afford them. Religion also had an effect on people's attitudes. More religious people were, on average, less likely to embrace these potential types of enhancement, the study also found. People high in religious commitment were less likely than those low in religious commitment to want each of these three enhancements. The public was also less likely to support changes if they were permanent and could not be undone. But these techniques are happening already and research is continuing to progress. For example, the world's first clinical trial that will inject humans with genetically modified cells created with a ground-breaking DNA-editing technology is set to start next month. Oncologists at Sichuan University's West China Hopstial in Chengdu have been given approval to begin the tests with cells modified using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technique. More religious people were, on average, less likely to embrace these potential types of enhancement, the study also found. People high in religious commitment were less likely than those low in religious commitment to want each of these three enhancements The world's first trial that will inject humans with genetically modified cells created with a ground-breaking DNA-editing technology is set to start next month. The trial will use the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technique to alter T cells from the patient's own immune system (microscopy image of lung cancer cells pictured) It can be tough searching for a landmark in an unknown city, with traffic and people surging all around you. But finding your next location just got easier thanks to subtle changes to Google Maps. Google has removed unhelpful details from the desktop, Android and iOS versions of its mapping app to make landmarks and traffic stand out. Scroll down for video Slide me Google has removed unhelpful details from the desktop, Android and iOS versions of its mapping app to make landmarks and traffic stand out. The old version is shown left and clearer, version, including orange 'areas of interest' is shown right GOOGLE MAPS GETS A PIXEL UPGRADE WITH NEW IMAGES In June, Google gave its maps a high definition refresh thanks to new satellite imagery data. The Californian web giant first released its cloud-free map of the world in 2013, made up of a patchwork of high resolution photos taken by the Landsat 7 satellite. But combining fresh images from a more modern satellite with new processing techniques has meant the view of Earth has been refreshed and sharpened. The latest maps add 700 trillion pixels of new data to the service. Google hopes its updated global mosaic will provide users with the crispest cloud-free aerial views of the Earth to date. Advertisement The app's 'cleaner look' was unveiled in a blog post by Zhou Bailiang, UX Designer, Google Maps and Mark Li, Software Engineer, Google Local. They wrote: 'As part of this update, we've removed elements that aren't absolutely required (like road outlines). 'The result is a cleaner look that makes it easier to see helpful and actionable information like traffic and transit. 'And we've improved the typography of street names, points of interest, transit stations, and more to make them more distinguishable from other things on the map, helping you navigate the world with fewer distractions.' The changes are at first barely perceptible, but once noticed, they make a real difference. The new-look app shows users local information in new ways. For example, areas shade in orange denote areas of interest. This makes them easier to find when browsing, while users can zoom in to see more details about each venue in the 'orange zone'. The new-look app shows users local information in new ways. For example, areas shade in orange denote areas of interest (shown left). This makes them easier to find when browsing, while users can zoom in to see more details about each venue in the 'orange zone' (example shown right) 'Whether you're looking for a hotel in a hot spot or just trying to determine which way to go after exiting the subway in a new place, 'areas of interest' will help you find what you're looking for with just a couple swipes and a zoom,' Bailiang and Li said. The areas include those with high concentrations of restaurants, bars and shops. The duo wrote: 'We determine 'areas of interest' with an algorithmic process that allows us to highlight the areas with the highest concentration of restaurants, bars and shops. 'In high-density areas like NYC, we use a human touch to make sure we're showing the most active areas.' Google Maps' new colour scheme also helps users differentiate between man-made and natural features. Blue and green indicates water and parks, while warmer hues including tones of orange, brown and yellow indicate features such as hospitals, schools and highways. Some bars may not be worth your time if you're looking to meet 'the one'. But there is good news for those who want to guarantee there will be a good chance of meeting the opposite sex. A new app, called Weepo, allows users to check the male-to-female ratio at a given bar or club before heading out, instead of finding out the hard way when you get there. While many women enjoy a good 'Ladies' Night', for those looking to find a man, there is nothing worse than arriving at a bar only to find it is inundated with females WHAT IS WEEPO? Weepo is a dating app that gives users a chance to meet and chat with people, based on where they are planning on going that evening. The app shows you who else is going to a venue, giving an overall ratio of men and women attending. Once you have found a venue with a ratio you like, the app allows you to swipe through the individual profiles of other people who are going there. Advertisement Weepo is a dating app that gives users a chance to meet and chat with people, based on where they are planning on going that evening. The app shows you who else on the app is going to a venue, giving an overall ratio of men and women attending. Once you have found a venue with a ratio you like, the app allows you to swipe through the individual profiles of other people who are going there. If two users match, they can chat on Weepo, with the knowledge that they will meet when they reach the venue. Mr Roy Lugasi, co-founder of Weepo, told The New York Post: 'With all those other apps, you have to go through a conversation where it takes two or three days to meet up. 'With this app, you're practically guaranteed to meet somebody tonight.' The creators say that the app differs from other dating sites, such as Tinder, which see prolonged chats taking a while to translate to face-to-face meetings. However, the way Weepo works means that if you match with someone you don't like, you will still have to face them at your destination. Weepo is a dating app that gives users a chance to meet and chat with people, based on where they are planning on going that evening Weepo, which is free to download, launched four months ago, and currently boasts 50,000 users, 80 per cent of which are in New York. Despite this, some people do not seem to be sold on the app, such as Felix Nunez, who tweeted: '#Weepo app takes away the excitement of meeting someone new. It takes away the adrenaline rush.' The app is currently only available in the US, and it is unclear when it will be coming out in other markets. #Weepo app takes away the excitement of meeting someone new. It takes away the adrenaline rush @KaityTong Felix Nunez (@Daywalker249) June 23, 2016 It is a terrifying vision of the future of battle. Called RoBattle, this heavy duty combat and support robot is strapped with a 'robotic kit' consisting of vehicle control, navigation, RT mapping and autonomy, sensors and mission payloads. In addition to ambushing and attacking on command, this combat ready platform, developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), can raise its body four feet in the air to tackle obstacles or crouch down 23 inches to hide from enemies. Scroll down for videos It may be focused on the sky, but Israel Aerospace Industries has stepped down on land to develop the newest member of its unmanned ground robotic systems family. RoBattle is a combat and support robot equipped with a 'robotic kit' of vehicle control, navigation, RT mapping and autonomy, sensors and mission payloads WHAT CAN ROBATTLE DO? RoBattle, is an semi-autonomous combat and support robot designed to assist ground soldiers in the field. The machine is equip with a 'robotic kit' consisting of vehicle control, navigation, RT mapping and autonomy, sensors and mission payloads. In addition to ambushing and attacking on command, the machine's body can also raise up to four feet in the air to tackle obstacles in its path or crouch down 23 inches to hide from enemies. Operators can add different payloads to the tank such as manipulator arms, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, sensors and radars, and remotely controlled weapons. And since the machine is a combat-ready platform, its creators designed it to endure damages, provided with protection and redundancy for sensitive areas. Advertisement IAI unveiled the car-sized military tank at Eurosatory airland defense and security exhibit in Paris, France earlier this month a global land and air-defense trade show. RoBattle is designed to provide ground soldiers with a range of combat support roles in treacherous environments. This includes intelligence, surveillance and armed reconnaissance, such as convoy, protection, decoy and ambush and attack. 'The RoBattle system is based on IAI's vast experience and heritage in development and manufacturing of unmanned systems including unmanned ground vehicles,' said Meir Shabtai, IAI's Deputy General Manager of ground robotics systems. 'With the modular 'robotic kit' methodology, designed to meet specific customer requirements, RoBattle is one of the most advanced combat, maneuvering, ground robotics in the market.' The 'robotic kit' operates autonomously and is the source for switching the tank's wheels and tracks for when it meets obstacles in the field. RoBattle operators can equip the tank with different payloads such as manipulator arms, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) sensors and radars, and remotely controlled weapons. And the entire system is manged using a tactical controller, which supports training mode, enabling affordable operator training and skills maintenance. Since this six-wheeled, semi-autonomous machine is a combat-ready platform, IAI designed it to endure damages, provided with protection and redundancy for sensitive areas - and weighs seven tons, including three tons of payload, reports Defense Update Since this six-wheeled, semi-autonomous machine is a combat-ready platform, IAI designed it to endure damages and provided it with protection and redundancy for sensitive areas - and weighs seven tons, including three tons of payload, reports Defense Update. And a semi-autonomous military machine wouldn't be complete without weapons. IAI fitted RoBattle with a Remote Weapon Station (RWS), called Pitbull, which weighs just 110 pounds and houses the machine's sensors --allowing it easily find its target. The entire system can operate up to 12 hours without recharging while in 'ambush mode'. In addition to ambushing and attacking on command, the machine's body can also raise up to four feet in the air to tackle obstacles in its path or crouch down 23 inches to hide from enemies. IAI unveiled this car-sized military tank at Eurosatory airland defense and security exhibit in Paris, France earlier this month The 'robotic kit' operates autonomously and is the source for switching the tank's wheels and tracks for when it meets obstacles in the field. RoBattle weighs in at seven tons, including three tons of payload. And the entire system is manged using a tactical controller 'The RoBattle will become a significant player in the ground robotics market,' said Shabtai. 'It presents advanced technologies and capabilities that can close the operational gaps in the future battlefield challenges. We are looking forward to all opportunities in the market'. Allowing weapons, like RoBattle, to call the shots in combat zones eases the burden for human soldiers. But it also poses a threat to our safety and security, experts have warned. Researchers met earlier this year to weigh in on the concerns that these war machines could engage in unethical behavior and become a playground for hackers. IAI fitted RoBattle with a Remote Weapon Station (RWS), called Pitbull that weighs just 110 pounds and houses the machine's sensors that allow it to see in both day and night conditions (pictured) RoBattle operators can equipped the tank with different payloads such as manipulator arms, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) sensors and radars, and remotely controlled weapons. It is also fitted with an Remote Weapon Station (RWS), called Pitbull that houses the machine's sensors 'It was one of the concerns that we itemized last year,' Toby Walsh, professor of artificial intelligence (AI) at the school of computer science and engineering at the University of New South Wales, told FoxNews.com. 'Most of us believe that we don't have the ability to build ethical robots.' 'What is especially worrying is that the various militaries around the world will be fielding robots in just a few years, and we don't think anyone will be building ethical robots.' In order to build an 'ethical' robot, researchers can program them with specific rules in a bid to keep them from going rogue. PENTAGON WONT RULE OUT ROBOSOLDIERS THAT CAN KILL Allowing them to determine when to use force would undermine human dignity. Keeping a human in the loop on decisions to use force further ensures that accountability for unlawful acts is possible In March, a top Pentagon official gave a tantalizing peek into several projects that not long ago were the stuff of science fiction, including missile-dodging satellites, self-flying F-16 fighters and robot naval fleets. Though the Pentagon is not planning to build devices that can kill without human input, Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work hinted that could change if enemies with fewer qualms create such machines. Keeping a human in the loop on decisions to use force further ensures that accountability for unlawful acts is possible, the Pentagon says We might be going up against a competitor that is more willing to delegate authority to machines than we are, and as that competition unfolds we will have to make decisions on how we best can compete,' he said. Work, who helps lead Pentagon efforts to ensure the US military keeps its technological edge, described several initiatives, including one dubbed 'Loyal Wingman' that would see the Air Force convert an F-16 warplane into a semi-autonomous and unmanned fighter that flies alongside a manned F-35 jet. 'It is going to happen,' Work said of this and other unmanned systems. Pentagon researchers also are developing small bombs that use cameras and sensors to improve their targeting capabilities. Other projects include robot boats and a hyper-velocity gun - known as the electromagnetic rail-gun -- that can blast a projectile out at an astonishing 4,500 miles (7,250 kilometers) per hour. Advertisement This machine is designed provide ground soldiers with a range of combat support roles, including intelligence, surveillance and armed reconnaissance, such as convoy, protection, decoy and ambush and attack. And can operate up to 12 hours without recharging while in 'ambush mode' For instance, Isaac Asimov, a science fiction author, wrote a short story called 'Runaround' where he introduced three laws to govern the behavior of robots. 'A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.' 'A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders conflict with the First Law.' 'A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law'. REPORT CALLS FOR BAN ON KILLER ROBOTS The report by Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic was released as the United Nations kicked off a week-long meeting on such weapons in Geneva. The report calls for humans to remain in control over all weapons systems at a time of rapid technological advances. It says that requiring humans to remain in control of critical functions during combat, including the selection of targets, saves lives and ensures that fighters comply with international law. 'Machines have long served as instruments of war, but historically humans have directed how they are used,' said Bonnie Docherty, senior arms division researcher at Human Rights Watch, in a statement. 'Now there is a real threat that humans would relinquish their control and delegate life-and-death decisions to machines.' Some have argued in favor of robots on the battlefield, saying their use could save lives. But last year, more than 1,000 technology and robotics experts including scientist Stephen Hawking, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak warned that such weapons could be developed within years, not decades. n an open letter, they argued that if any major military power pushes ahead with development of autonomous weapons, 'a global arms race is virtually inevitable, and the endpoint of this technological trajectory is obvious: autonomous weapons will become the Kalashnikovs of tomorrow.' According to the London-based organization Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, the United States, China, Israel, South Korea, Russia, and Britain are moving toward systems that would give machines greater combat autonomy. Advertisement Although experts agree this is a way to develop a moral cyborg, it is ultimately up to the creator to use these rules in the design. Others say we are just 'jumping the gun' altogether when talking about an AI revolt. 'For the most part weapons like this don't exist today,' Paul Scharre, senior fellow and director of the Ethical Autonomy Project at the Center for a New American Security, told FoxNews.com. Advertisement Forget the fairy tales featuring dark, twisted forests populated by ferocious beasts and mythical creatures, one mans spell-binding photography has shed fresh light on the secrets of the Finnish wilderness. In a series of candid and intimate portraits, Finnish photographer Konsta Punkka has gone beneath the overgrown shrubbery and eerie mists to capture the emotional, private lives of creatures from a lone fox on the edge of a highway to three bears frolicking in a flower bed. A photographer for seven years, the 22-year-old has been focusing on nature specifically for the past five. Based in in Helsinki, he says he is no stranger to the cold wilderness of the north of the country and has spent all of his life exploring the forests and trying to understand how wild animals live. Illuminating this hidden world, Punkkas images showcase both the beauty and vulnerability of these powerful creatures in their own habitats. Punkka told MailOnline Travel: I love to explore and show the secret life of animals. A lot of people have no idea what the animals are and what they do. In the wildlife portraits my main focus is always to try to capture the emotions and feelings the animals have. Capturing the happy and sad moments. Punkkas enchanting Instagram account has attracted 783,000 avid followers. In a series of candid and intimate portraits, Finnish photographer Konsta Punkka has gone beneath the overgrown shrubbery and eerie mists to capture the emotional, private lives of creatures. He captioned this image of a fox with 'this guy interrupted my breakfast today' A photographer for seven years, the 22-year-old has been focusing on nature specifically for the past five. This close up shot shows a squirrel totally at ease and nibbling on a nut in the snow If you go down to the woods today: Punkka seems to have stumbled upon a teddy bears' picnic in this heart-warming image Based in in Helsinki, he says he is no stranger to the cold wilderness of the north of the country Punkka has spent all of his life exploring the forests and trying to understand how wild animals such as this deer (left) live. He said of this bear shot (right): 'Laying on a wooden hide, eating only bread and not talking to anyone for two days is definitely worth the pain afterwards when you actually capture the shots you were looking for.' His photo series challenges the negative reputation many wild creatures such as foxes have by offering a new sensitive perspective. Of this shot Punkka said: 'Even though my car broke down and I got attacked by millions of mosquitoes. The day turned out pretty good when I met my favourite pal- Mr Fox' The shutterbug's images showcase both the beauty and vulnerability of these powerful creatures in their own habitats. He captioned his shot of deer on the highway with 'a casual morning walk with high heels' Punkka commented: 'In the wildlife portraits my main focus is always to try to capture the emotions and feeling the animals have. Capturing the happy and sad moments. Advertisement A series of fascinating images depict the gravity-defying tunnels formed by snow on Scotland's highest mountain. Amateur snow researcher Iain Cameron, 43, climbed the north face of Ben Nevis to document the summertime snow levels and was astounded. He admits that the snow tunnels are some of the most 'visually impressive' things he has seen during his research. Amateur snow researcher Iain Cameron (pictured), 43, climbed the north face of Ben Nevis to document the summertime snow levels and was astounded. He admits that the snow tunnels are some of the most 'visually impressive' things he has seen during his research 'Snow forms in winter all over the mountain and when it becomes windy, it gets blown over the cliffs. When the snow starts to melt in the spring and even in the summer, you'll start to get a little stream forming underneath the snow in a concourse,' Cameron explained Cameron - who was joined by colleague Alistair Todd (pictured) - continued: 'This creates a little tunnel at first but when the wind begins to pass through the tunnel, it gets much bigger. Effectively the snow is melting from above and below and that's what forms these impressive snow tunnels' Cameron, from Stirling, contributes his research to the Royal Meteorogical Journal, and he was joined on Ben Nevis at the weekend by his colleague Alistair Todd. He explained how the snow tunnels on the mountain are created: 'Snow forms in winter all over the mountain and when it becomes windy, it gets blown over the cliffs. 'When the snow starts to melt in the spring and even in the summer, you'll start to get a little stream forming underneath the snow in a concourse. 'This creates a little tunnel at first but when the wind begins to pass through the tunnel, it gets much bigger. 'Effectively the snow is melting from above and below and that's what forms these impressive snow tunnels. 'You don't find snow tunnels all over the face of Ben Nevis. Where you always find them is where the snow sits on top of a water concourse. 'You don't find snow tunnels all over the face of Ben Nevis. Where you always find them is where the snow sits on top of a water concourse,' Cameron added Cameron, an environmental manager for an aerospace company, has been working as an amateur snow researcher since 1994. And he admits that seeing the snow tunnels is one of the things that attracts him most to climbing mountains for his research He added: 'They are incredible things to see. One of the reasons I go to these snow formations is because they are so visually impressive. You can even walk through the snow tunnels during summer, it's like going caving' 'I'm not an academic. I do this just as a hobby and purely as an amateur. It's all done out of my own expense,' Cameron explained of his vertiginous activity 'However, you can find snow tunnels on mountains all over the area and on the islands as well.' Cameron, an environmental manager for an aerospace company, has been working as an amateur snow researcher since 1994. And he admits that seeing the snow tunnels is one of the things that attracts him most to climbing mountains for his research. He added: 'They are incredible things to see. One of the reasons I go to these snow formations is because they are so visually impressive. 'You can even walk through the snow tunnels during summer, it's like going caving. A rail track fire at Gatwick Airport has caused huge delays to commuters and holidaymakers. Dozens of trains operating to and from the West Sussex airport are delayed or cancelled due to the blaze, which began shortly after 7:00am. A dramatic video was filmed from the platform showing huge flames and sparks engulfing one section of the track - which is on the main line between London Victoria and Brighton. A video was filmed on the platform at Gatwick Airport showing huge flames and sparks flying Pumes of smoke is seen billowing into the sky as the fire melted the train track at Gatwick Southern Rail, who have undergone many problems in the last few weeks, took to social media to advise passengers of the problems this morning Gatwick Express tweeted this morning that its services would be affected 'until the end of the day' The central section of track was initially closed. Network Rail (NR) reopened two of the four lines shortly afterwards but two will remain closed for the rest of the day. Southern, Gatwick Express and Thameslink services are affected, with journeys said to be delayed by up to 35 minutes. SOUTHERN TRAINS AFFECTED The following alterations are currently in affect, whilst the repair work is carried out: Services running through Gatwick Airport may be delayed by up to 35 minutes. Gatwick Express are running a slightly reduced service. Great Western Railway services between Reading and Gatwick Airport may start / terminate at Redhill. Disruption is expected to continue until the end of service. Advertisement West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said it received a report of the fire at 7.07am on Tuesday but the blaze was already out when crews arrived at the scene. Network Rail said the fire was caused by a problem with the power supply, leading to 'significant disruption'. The blaze melted electrical cables and the conductor rail which provides power to trains. A Network Rail spokesman told MailOnline Travel: 'We're really sorry for the delays that passengers are experiencing today, our engineers are on site working to repair the damage caused by the fire. 'The damage is quite extensive, so it's difficult to give a firm estimate as to when the railway will return to normal.' 'In the meantime we are advising passengers to check before they travel on either http://www.southernrailway.com/ or http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/.' This is the damage caused when the electrical fire broke out on the tracks at Gatwick Airport train station This was the affected timetable commuter Ted Sanders posted of trains running into Victoria this morning One passenger using the Gatwick Express tweeted to express his disappointment that the 'staff have no clue' Gatwick is the second busiest airport in the UK, with 41million passengers each year. Southern passengers have faced long-term disruption caused by the upgrade of London Bridge station, staff shortages, increased sickness levels and industrial action over plans to change the role of conductors. The operator has cut 341 services from its timetable following weeks of problems. Disgruntled commuters took to social media this morning to express their anger at the delays. Accompanied with a screenshot of multiple delayed trains to London Victoria, Twitter user Ted Sanders wrote: 'Innconvenienced! An electrical supply problem at Gatwick causes these delays.' The fire melted electrical cables and the conductor rail which provides power to trains Passengers travelling to and from Gatwick Airport by train should expect delays until the end of the day Pat Roberts tweeted that London's second main airport is 'virtually cut off' while Stuart Selby may be wishing he had travelled to Brighton on a different day And another frustrated commuter added that while the fire disrupting services was understandable, communication was unacceptable. 'Stuck here due to a fire which I understand - these things happen. Problem is staff have no clue,' wrote Joe Riddett. Passengers on the Brighton mainline are warned to expect disruption on their journeys today after the lineside fire this morning. The fire, caused by a problem with the power supply means that two out of the four tracks in the area will be out of use for the rest of the day. A spokesperson for Govia Thameslink Railway said: 'Our passengers on Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express were all disrupted this morning and will continue to be for the rest of the day with delays of up to 35 minutes. But Japan and Germany react very badly to anything less than punctual Punctuality is something many people struggle with - especially in an age where technology has made it easier than ever to let people know you might be late. However tardy timekeepers may be glad to know over in Mexico, turning up half an hour late is entirely acceptable, and in Morocco you can be anything from an hour to a day late without anyone batting an eyelid. But those keen to adhere to scheduled times needn't panic as Japan and Germany are sticklers for punctuality with the latter even requiring you to be early for meetings, a new infographic reveals. Free online gaming website Mr Gamez has created a study to find how much and how little value different nations around the world place on punctuality - and the results differ enormously. In South Korea people view being late as a sign of disrespect. But in Malaysia saying you will be five minutes late usually means an hour and being late is an accepted norm that does not require an apology. In China it is not considered late if you arrive within 10 minutes of the agreed time, but in Japan, if a train arrives more than one minute after it is scheduled to, it is considered late. On the other side of the Pacific it is not uncommon for people to turn up half an hour late for a scheduled meeting in Mexico Thanks to its industrial past, in Germany you are expected to arrive at least 10 minutes early for any scheduled meeting. But down in Nigeria if a meeting is scheduled at 1pm, that means the meeting will start any time between 1pm and 2pm. Similarly in Saudi Arabia time is not such an important commodity, with people frequently turning up half an hour late to meetings. Looking at your watch during an event is also considered to be discourteous. When making a social appointment in Brazil, you are not required to be there on time unless the phrase English time is used, which means you have to be punctual. In Ghana most meeting times are considered to be flexible, even if an exact time is given. It can very often mean at any point during that day. Likewise punctuality is not seen as a virtue in India. People appreciate it but it may not be reciprocated. Moroccan time can mean being anything from an hour up to a day late for a personal meeting. Over in Greece punctuality is not considered that important but foreigners are still expected to turn up on time for meetings. Socially you should be at least 30 minutes late. There are many jokes about Kazakh punctuality and it is even acceptable to turn up late to a wedding celebration in Kazakhstan. It's that time of year again - your Facebook feed is clogging up with photos of your beaming friends and their exotic holidays while you're stuck in the office. With that in mind, a phone company has launched a wily mission to help people fake their smug snaps at various locations around the UK, which look rather more far-flung than they are. From the Scottish Highlands right down to the beaches of Cornwall, Three has curated a list of ten photo backdrops that bear an uncanny resemblance to landmarks including Italy's Amalfi Coast and India's Taj Mahal. A sunny French get-away? Nope, it's Cornwall's St Michael's Mount - just one of the UK's photogenic spots that can masquerade as a foreign destination The intended location in real life, the boast-worthy Mont St Michel, an island commune in Normandy, France Locations on the list include the Norfolk lavender fields, which don't look too dissimilar from the highly-desirable Provence Vineyards of France. And Camel Valley Vineyard, Cornwall, could pass, given the right angle, for the Loire Valley. The pretty tourist town of Portmerion in Wales was suggested as a lookalike of Italy's colourful Amalfi Coast. And Brighton's stately Pavilion could, to the untrained eye, resemble India's sprawling Taj Mahal. Danny Dixon, of Three, said: 'Its easy to forget about the immense amount of beauty both natural and man-made prevalent across the UK that, if set in a more glamorous holiday destination, would probably get a lot more social media love than it currently does. 'The list weve created aims to celebrate some of these sites, while also providing people that arent able to get away this summer with a fun way of tricking friends into thinking theyve jetted off abroad.' Brighton's stately Pavilion (pictured) could, to the untrained eye, resemble India's sprawling Taj Mahal The real deal: A white marble mausoleum on the south bank of India's Yamuna river, which attracts seven to eight million tourists every year The Norfolk lavender fields (pictured) don't look too dissimilar to the highly-desirable Provence Vineyards of France The vineyards of Provence, where foodies and wine connoisseurs flock to enjoy the region's pricey delights Camel Valley Vineyard, Cornwall (pictured), could also masquerade as the Loire Valley in France The Loire Valley, otherwise known as 'the Garden of France' - a lush wine region located in the centre of the country The tourist town of Portmerion in Wales (pictured) - not a far cry from Italy's colourful Amalfi Coast In reality, the Amalfi is a stretch of coastline on the southern coast of the Salerno Gulf in Southern Italy UK LOCATIONS Camel Valley Vineyard, Cornwall St Michaels Mount, Cornwall Norfolk Lavender Fields Chinatown, Liverpool Portmerion, Wales Brighton Pavilion, Brighton Wasdale Valley, Lake District Cheddar Gorge, Somerset Achmelvich Beach, Scotland Pistyll Rhaeadr Waterfall, Wales Advertisement ... AND THEIR FOREIGN LOOKALIKES Loire Valley, France Mont St Michel, France Provence Vineyards, France Shanghai, China Amalfi Coast, Italy Taj Mahal, India Yosemite, USA Mount Sunday, New Zealand Porto Pomos, Cyprus Gylmur, Iceland Advertisement Emotional passengers had a group hug after a United Airlines-branded regional flight suffered a problem with its landing gear. The plane was carrying 52 passengers and four crew members when it was forced to circle over Durango, Colorado, for more than an hour before landing safely. It burned off fuel before touching down because officials were concerned its nose gear could collapse upon impact with the runway. The United Airlines Express plane, operated by SkyWest, was flying from Denver to Durango, Colorado (file) The Bombardier CRJ-200 encountered a problem on Monday afternoon's flight from Denver, which normally takes just 45 minutes. Pilots told air traffic control the nose gear had been manually locked, the Durango Herald reported. The plane - operated by SkyWest Airlines as United Airlines Express - did a low-level flyby so officials on the ground could verify the landing gear was deployed, said Tony Vicari, interim director of aviation at Durango-La Plata County Airport. 'They did have the two main gears and nose down. We have to make a judgment call on whether it's locked,' he said. 'There's always a chance it could collapse on impact.' The plane circled for more than an hour after it suffered a problem with its landing gear Flight 5849 landed safely, with firefighters and paramedics on standby as a precaution, once the pilots were given the OK to proceed. 'The landing was smoother than normal,' passenger Jennifer Alvenes told the Durango Herald. 'It was the most beautiful landing we have ever seen.' A United Airlines spokesman told MailOnline Travel that the plane's crew asked airport vehicles to meet the aircraft 'out of an abundance of caution'. He recently celebrated his 20th anniversary on Emmerdale, making him one of the longest-serving members of the cast. And Kelvin Fletcher will soon have something else to celebrate as he and his actress wife Liz Marsland prepare to become parents for the first time. The 32-year-old told OK! Magazine that he wants to have a 'huge family' as his pregnant wife showed off her baby bump. Baby joy: Kelvin Fletcher and wife Liz Marsland are preparing to become parents for the first time Kelvin, who married his partner of a decade last November, said becoming a father has always been more important to him than becoming an actor. He told the magazine: Ive always wanted to have children and become a father, without question. 'Ive been more certain of that than anything, even more certain than wanting to become an actor. Happy couple: Kelvin, who married his partner of a decade last November, said becoming a father has always been more important to him than becoming an actor Pregnancy pose: The couple have been sharing sweet snaps displaying Liz's bump I want five children! I do want a huge family, but ultimately, whatever will be, will be. The couple told OK! Magazine about their delight at starting a family The childhood sweethearts said that Liz fell pregnant during the weekend of their wedding but they waited until Christmas before telling their family. 'Were pretty sure Liz fell pregnant on our wedding night,' Kelvin said. 'We then flew to Rome for three nights. 'Little did we know, there were three of us on our honeymoon! Liz, who starred in the BBC drama In The Club, added that she is really enjoying being pregnant, saying she feels 'more energetic than before'. Liz has been sharing sweet snaps of her bump on her Instagram page. One picture is captioned: 'Trying my hardest to work the pregnancy pose and @kelvin_fletcher just kills the picture'. Another reads: 'Great day at Chester Races, even got a win in. 'Treating the bump to some vip action'. Kelvin, who plays Andy Sugden in the ITV soap, married Liz in front of his Emmerdale castmates in a glamorous ceremony last year. The pair had been friends as children and started dating when they met again ten years ago. Read the full story in this week's OK! Magazine - out today Its crowded today in the wonderland of steaming geysers where buffalo roam, deer and antelope play. On an average day last month nearly 28,000 visitors streamed into Yellowstone Park in buses, RVs, pickups, campers, motorcycles and bikes, according to National Park Service data. In 2015, Yellowstone visitors spent $493.6 million, creating 7,735 jobs and $225 million in income, according to Headwaters Economics. Yellowstone is the centerpiece of the regional tourism industry that contributes mightily to the economies of our states. For many Montanans and Wyomingites, Yellowstone is the perfect getaway. Its a beautiful destination practically in our back yard. In previous Billings Gazette opinions, weve cheered strong visitor numbers recorded last year and the trend toward more visitation this year. But with the park now at peak season, its neighbors also must face the fact that Yellowstone isnt keeping up with the demand. Families who were fortunate enough to observe a Yellowstone grizzly from the safety of their car, will also take home memories of waiting up to two hours in line at the entrance gate. Visitors will remember hurrying toward the nearest vault toilet only to find a busload of people already in line. Lets face it, more visitors mean more trash, more restroom use, more traffic, more questions for park rangers. Park staffing hasnt kept up. Yellowstone needs more help. So far this year, visitation is running 10 percent ahead of 2015, which was a record year. If the trend continues, Yellowstone will have 4.5 million visits this year 500,000 more than last year. In the year 2000, Yellowstone logged 3 million visits. Despite record visitation numbers, Yellowstone hasnt had an increase in staff, said Bart Melton, Northern Rockies regional director of the National Parks Conservation Association. Budgets have been relatively flat, he said. Melton said the park must plan carefully to meet immediate and projected future needs. Theres much anecdotal evidence of unmet needs, but he said Yellowstone and other national parks need accurate data to plan well. We need to get professional opinions on where visitation will be in 10 years, Melton said. We know very little about how 1.5 million more visitors are impacting the park resources. Melton isnt calling for restrictions on visitation. The NPCA is pushing for passage of the National Parks Centennial Act along with increased funding for national parks operations, maintenance and transportation. We commend Reps. Ryan Zinke of Montana and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming for supporting passage of the National Parks Centennial Act in committee. Writing in the latest edition of the Yellowstone Associations quarterly publication, Jenny Golding quoted Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk summing up the parks popularity challenge: The public desire to experience the incredible geology, thermal features, wildlife and scenic vistas the very reason the park was established 144 years ago is outpacing our ability to accommodate them and provide the quality experience visitors expect in our national parks. The decisions we make over the next 3-5 years are critical to the future of Yellowstone. We cant shy away from this responsibility. Congress ought to pass the National Parks Centennial Act this year. It wont add to the deficit, it wont increase taxes. But that bill alone wont be nearly enough to care for the national treasures in Americas parks. Yellowstone Park is immensely profitable for Montana and Wyoming because it is spectacularly beautiful. For business to grow in the long run, the parks land, water, wildlife and thermal features must be protected. Yellowstone needs champions in Congress. The delegations of Montana and Wyoming are well aware of the parks value; they must educate their colleagues. Lummis, Zinke and Sens. Jon Tester, John Barrasso, Steve Daines and Mike Enzi must work together to help get Yellowstone ready for visitors next year and in the next decade. Billings (Mont.) Gazette She was left devastated after the death of her beloved fiance Michael Clarke Duncan. But it seems Apprentice star Omarosa Manigault is finally ready to move on after it emerged she is now engaged to a Florida preacher. The 42-year-old reality television villain, who is now working for Donald Trump's presidential campaign, grinned with glee as she showed off her massive sparkler. Engaged: Apprentice star Omarosa Manigault has agreed to marry a Florida preacher According to TMZ, holy man Dr John Allen Newman got down on bended knee in front of his congregation at The Sanctuary at Calvary Church in Jacksonville. The couple met less than a year ago, while Omarosa, who is herself an assistant pastor at Weller Street Baptist Church in Los Angeles, was teaching at Howard University business school. It will not be the first time the self-styled executive will have travelled down the aisle however, as she was married to Aaron Stallworth from 2000 until 2005. It is more good news for the Beverly Hills-based television personality, who has seen her profile soar recently after she was named director of African-American outreach for Donald Trump's presidential campaign. The role has seen her appear on news networks to speak in support of the controversial businessman. Lost love: She was previously engaged to be married to actor Michael Clarke Duncan before his death in 2012 New man: She is going to tie the knot with pastor Dr John Allen Newman The colourful TV personality has been involved with a presidential candidate before however, for she worked in the office of then-Vice President Al Gore as a scheduling correspondent. Omarosa was left devastated in 2012 after her then fiance Michael Clarke Duncan died after suffering a heart attack in July 2012. She tried to save the Green Mile actor's life by performing CPR, but he died due to complications from the attack two months late. They started dating after meeting in the unlikely location of the produce section of a Whole Foods supermarket New role: She is working as director of African-American outreach for Donald Trump's presidential campaign They are one of Hollywood's most enduring couples. And Catherine Zeta-Jones appeared as relaxed as ever in the company of her husband of 15 years, Michael Douglas, as they headed to dinner on the French Riviera wearing matching hippy outfits. The glamorous duo were snapped coming ashore together on Monday as their yacht crew members watched on. Scroll down for video Close: Catherine Zeta-Jones appeared as happy as ever to be with her husband of 15 years, Michael Douglas, as they headed to dinner on the French Riviera Rocking an Indian-inspired look, Catherine, 46, was dressed to impress in a glittering embroidered white kaftan. She completed her polished ensemble with a pair of metallic gold bejewelled sandals perfect for the walk ashore. Keeping things tasteful, the star added a white leather clutch bag, which was embellished with tassels. Catherine's impressive sweep of raven hair was pushed over one shoulder, highlighting her classic silver hoop earrings. Stylish: Rocking an Indian-inspired look, Catherine, 46, was dressed to impress in a glittering embroidered white kaftan Composed: Keeping things tasteful, the star added a white leather clutch bag, which was embellished with tassels Enjoying themselves: The glamorous duo were snapped coming ashore together on Monday as members of the crew watched on Michael, 71, opted for a Hawaiian themed blue shirt with printed palm trees and smartly pressed white linen trousers. Prioritising comfort, while maintaining his style, the actor and producer wore a pair of understated black Tods loafers. Catherine recently gushed about her marriage to the Fatal Attraction star, as she admitted that she and her husband were prepared to put in hard work during their rocky moments and are grateful they persevered. In love: Catherine's impressive sweep of raven hair was pushed over one shoulder, highlighting her classic silver hoop earrings Relaxed: She completed her polished ensemble with a pair of metallic gold bejewelled sandals perfect for the walk ashore Heading out: Michael, 71, opted for a Hawaiian themed blue shirt with printed palm trees and smartly pressed white linen trousers Laid back: Prioritising comfort, while maintaining style, the actor and producer wore a pair of understated black Tods loafers Speaking to the March issue of Good Housekeeping, the Welsh actress enthused: 'It was great. Just the two of us at one of our favourite restaurants, laughing that we havent killed each other yet and that we are still alive! 'Fifteen years is a long time. Youve got to keep the home fires burning! Its a long road and I think people today are so quick to throw in the towel on marriage. 'You have to give it your best shot and not give up when the first problem arises, because that wont be the last problem. There will be many more down the road.' Striking: Catherine recently gushed about her marriage to Michael, as she admitted that she and her husband were prepared to put in hard work during their rocky moments and are grateful they persevered. Ready to go home! Earlier on her holiday Catherine had opted for a beautiful midnight blue patterned dress They tied the knot in a fairytale manner last month, eight years after their first meeting. And while Fulham FC's Richard Stearman provided his bride, Beth Lay, with the 'perfect' day it seems his proposal was slightly unconventional, as he had to borrow a ring for the big moment. Recalling the proposal in an interview with OK! magazine, the 28-year-old defender revealed just five minutes after she agreed to marry him he had to tell her the ring belonged to their friend Danielle Lloyd. Scroll down for video Borrowing inspiration? While Fulham FC's Richard Stearman provided his bride, Beth Lay, with the 'perfect' day it seems his proposal was slightly unconventional, as he had to borrow a ring for the big moment Whisking Beth away to Paris for the romantic event, it seems the Wolverhampton-born star had some issues with a ring and ended up borrowing one of Danielle's rings. Heading to the iconic, not to mention romantic, Pont des Arts bridge in the French capital, the sportsman recalled how the bizarre jewellery loan came about. Our friend Danielle had a ring she wore on holidays so she didnt lose her proper ring,' explained Richard. 'I told her I was going to propose and asked if I could loan the ring. With a little help from a friend: Recalling the proposal, the 28-year-old defender revealed just five minutes after she agreed to marry him he had to tell her the ring belonged to their friend Danielle Lloyd However, though she said yes, he had to break the news the ring wasn't hers just five minutes after she agreed to marry him Read it all: To find out more details from the couple's big day pick up a copy of OK! Magazine He explained: We got a round of applause as quite a few people had seen what was happening, but after five minutes of walking round, I did have to say: "By the way, the ring isnt yours!"' Though the couple went on to explain Danielle let them keep the original loan ring later. But it seems that Richard knew the two were made for each other, as he revealed it was love at first sight for him when he first met his wife back in the summer of 2008. Beth was going into a club called Life in Leicester,' revealed Richard (who at the time was playing for Leicester FC). 'I saw her as I was walking past and that was it really.' And echoing his sentiments Richard's bride added: I knew pretty soon after we met that I could spend the rest of my life with Rich. Tying the knot was a fairy tale moment for Beth, who described their big day in June as 'a perfect day'. Following a stint at Leicester FC and his home town club of Wolverhampton Wanderers, Richard signed for Fulham in 2015. And it seems that Beth may have to get used to being in the limelight at Crave Cottage, as her husband was recently selected to captain the team in one of their pre-season friendlies. To find out all the details from the couple's big day pick up a copy of this week's OK! Magazine - out Tuesday. Richie Strahan will have 22 women vying for his attention on The Bachelor this season. And with the bevy of beauties recently unveiled, Kyle Sandilands noticed there are 'no scarfies' cast on the dating show. The shock jock asked the host Osher Gunsberg about it during an interview on KIIS FM on Tuesday, with the 42-year-old explaining he believes a 'devout' Muslim woman wouldn't be interested in appearing on reality TV to find love, saying: 'It's not really for you.' Scroll down for video 'No scarfies?' Kyle Sandilands (L) asked Osher Gunsberg (centre) why there are no Muslim women among the contestants on The Bachelor during a radio interview on Tuesday (Pictured with Jackie 'O' Henderson, right) 'Is this not the way they find love, if you're a Muslim lady?...No scarfies?,' Kyle asked, as he pointed out the his observation of the contestants. Osher said: 'Look, I don't know. If you're devout enough to be wearing a head scarf, Im going to, I'm not going to say that The Bachelor isn't for you.' Kyle added: 'It could be though.' Osher clarified, saying Muslim women who wear hijabs wouldn't most likely not be the type of women who would want to be on the show, but noted it could be an option for secular women. 'It's not really for you': The 42-year-old host of the reality TV show explained he believed women who are 'devout' and wear hijabs wouldn't be the type of women who would want to find love on reality TV 'Considering. No, it's not really for you. But that's not to say that someone who is perhaps like a secular, like for example in the Christian world it'd be like someone who is baptised and never goes to church,' he said. Kyle and Jackie then spoke about how they don't go to church on the regular. Osher added the girls on the show are all 'brilliant' and 'fabulous' and that some of them are even taller than Richie, who stands over 6ft. The show is set to debut on Wednesday evening with 22 women appearing in the race to win Richie's heart. The line-up: The show is set to debut on Wednesday evening with 22 women appearing in the race to win Richie's heart Among the line-up are a mix of stunning brunette and blonde women from all across Australia. Their professions range from a hairdresser to a personal assistant and even a support worker. Richie recently finished filming his series of The Bachelor, with the finale shot in an idyllic Bali setting. The former Bachelorette contestant, who became known for the phrase 'cool bananas', was announced as the new Bachelor early this year. Pals: Richie recently finished filming his series of The Bachelor, with the finale shot in an idyllic Bali setting He wrote online that he was 'excited' for the journey, adding: 'I hope to meet someone amazing.' He recently revealed to OK! Magazine that he wasn't opposed to having sex on the first date. 'If you are feeling it, go for it,' he told the glossy. He also said people shouldn't hold back when it comes to kissing, saying: 'It's like, if you feel the fire there, make a move, son.' Dominic West claims the ordeal of going to boarding school was as traumatic as his parents' deaths Leaving home to go to boarding school would be daunting for most children. But actor Dominic West claims the experience was as traumatic as his parents' deaths. The 46-year-old, who attended Eton as a schoolboy, said leaving home was the 'worst feeling I have ever had'. West, who stars in the new Pixar animated children's film Finding Dory, told the Radio Times: 'I got used to the idea of leaving home very young, when I was sent away to boarding school. 'That had a major effect on me it was the worst feeling I have ever had, very similar to the grief when my parents died. 'It's the same thing really; you think you've lost your parents. I learned to bury the emotional effects of that and then I went to drama school and had to dig it all up again.' West grew up in Sheffield, Yorkshire, where his father George made a fortune from manufacturing plastic vandal-resistant bus shelters. The actor's parents divorced in 1996. His mother Moya, an actress, died at home in Sheffield in 2010 after a long battle with leukaemia, while George passed away in a hospital in Ireland five years earlier after suffering a stroke. West, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in US TV series The Affair, is married to film producer Catherine Fitzgerald. The couple have three children. He also has a daughter from a previous relationship. In 2012, West, one of a long line of Eton-educated actors including Damian Lewis, Eddie Redmayne and Tom Hiddleston, described the stigma of attending Eton as 'slightly above paedophile'. He told the Radio Times: 'I live in London so I can be with my family as much as possible, but I'm very proud of coming from Yorkshire. 'When I meet anyone from Sheffield, they look at me sceptically, as if to say, 'You don't come from Yorkshire.' 'But I do. It used to bug me that 'Old Etonian' was the constant prefix to my name, but everyone has to come out from some pigeonhole and that's not a bad one to have to overcome.' Dominic West and his wife Catherine Fitzgerald. West grew up in Sheffield, Yorkshire, where his father George made a fortune from manufacturing plastic vandal-resistant bus shelters Earlier this year, Homeland star Lewis described boarding school as a 'violent experience'. The 45-year-old, who was at prep school Ashdown House in East Sussex before going to Eton, told the Sunday Times Magazine: 'I went at eight and I think that's very hard. 'You go through something which, at that age, defines you and your ability to cope. There's a sudden lack of intimacy with a parent, and your ability to get through that defines you emotionally for the rest of your life. 'It's a very violent experience in those first few weeks. It's just boom! And you deal with it and then you go and run the empire.' With just days before he makes his debut as Australia's newest Bachelor, Richie Strahan is well and truly the name on everyone's lips. The handsome 31-year-old stepped out looking sharp on Monday as he hit the promotional trail in Brisbane ahead of The Bachelor's first episode. Clad in James Dean-inspired ensemble, Richie looked every inch the reality TV heartthrob in a black suit jacket, blue denim shirt and tan trousers. Scroll down for video Hunk alert! Richie Strahan, 31, stepped out looking sharp on Monday as he hit the promotions trail in Brisbane ahead of The Bachelor's first episode He completed his look with a pair of square-framed sunglasses and brown leather dress shoes. It comes after Richie revealed to Popsugar that he was shocked about the fame that came after his appearance on The Bachelorette last year. It's tricky, no one really trains you for this stuff,' he said of becoming an overnight star. Chic: Clad in James Dean-inspired ensemble, Richie looked every inch the reality TV heartthrob in a black suit jacket, blue denim shirt and tan trousers 'It's interesting but at the same time it's exciting. Life is just so different now,' The Perth oil rig worker explained. Days earlier, Richie confirmed that he's 'really happy' after finding love on the show. 'She's an incredible woman,' the hunk gushed to the Daily Telegraph. Eat your heart out ladies! He completed his look with a pair of square-framed sunglasses and a pair of brown leather dress shoes Richie's latest comments echoed what he told WHO magazine earlier this week, where he went as far as to imply that his reality TV romance was love at first sight. 'I definitely felt something on the first night. When you're in front of the right person, you can just feel it,' he told the magazine. I've met an incredibly amazing woman,' he said, while admitting it's been hard to remain incognito when he wants to shout their romance from the rooftops. Happily ever after: Days earlier, Richie confirmed that he's 'really happy' after finding love on the show Meanwhile, the handsome male model recently confessed he has no objection to sex on the first date. 'If you are feeling it, go for it,' he told OK! magazine last week. And when asked about kissing he said: 'It's like, if you feel the fire there, make a move, son.' 'If you are feeling it, go for it': Meanwhile, the handsome male model recently confessed he has no objection to sex on the first date Naked Attraction (Channel 4) Rating: Anyone who doubts the poisonous influence of internet porn has only to watch five minutes of Naked Attraction (C4) to see the damage done. For an entire generation, constant exposure to clinical sexual footage has ripped the soul out of erotic love. This was desperately sad, depressing television. God knows Channel Four has broadcast some trash over the years, but this was a new low, degrading everyone involved while exposing how cynical Britain's lovelife has become. Blame falls not just on the TV execs who'll do anything to boost viewing figures, but on anyone who thinks a dirty-minded beauty pageant is some sort of substitute for romance. Anyone who doubts the poisonous influence of internet porn has only to watch five minutes of Naked Attraction (C4) Naked Attraction brutally proved that many Britons under 35 regard the human body any body, male or female as meat. We're often told how open-minded the young are today, that old taboos about race, homosexuality and body shape have been brushed aside. But the taboos have been replaced by something much worse: amoral, mechanical promiscuity. That's what unlimited porn has wrought. The rules of the Naked Attraction format beggar description. Think of it as Blind Date in the window of an Amsterdam brothel. Six potential dates stand naked in frosted glass booths, bathed in coloured neon. Compere Anna Richardson leads in a young woman to ogle the bodies as the glass screens slide up. The first 'contestant' was Isla, a music producer from London. She spent a good five minutes studying the penises on display, like a housewife appraising a string of sausages at the butcher's. FISH SUPPER OF THE NIGHT Dave Myers took a break from renovating a lighthouse, on The Hairy Builder (BBC2), to fish for mackerel from Sunderlands pier and ate his catch raw. He dipped his fillets in a cold sauce of lime, soy and pepper, and called it sushi. Id call it disgusting. Advertisement Then she asked the men to turn round, and our TV screens split into six boxes filled with men's backsides. Isla approved of the bum in the pink box: 'It's firm, it's juicy, it's nice.' One by one she dismissed them, until two were left. Before she could meet them, Isla had to strip off too. Any lingering pretence at serious-minded sexual psychology was forgotten: Anna stopped talking and inspected Isla's breasts and genitals like a Crufts judge checking over a French poodle. The winner was Matty, who had a prosthetic leg and a pair of Dumbo ears (the souvenir of a drunken spree in Thailand) tattooed either side of his, umm, elephant's trunk. You couldn't fault him for making an effort to be noticed. Next up was 24-year-old Mal, a lingerie designer who liked both men and women. Eager to oblige, Anna offered three of each in the neon booths. Mal went for a buxom girl with tattoos like David Beckham down one arm. This was desperately sad, depressing television. God knows Channel Four has broadcast some trash over the years, but this was a new low Each rejected suitor had to walk naked off the studio floor, before giving an interview to the camera, still starkers. Most looked downcast at the idea of getting dressed this was every exhibitionist's ideal assignment. Some, including an Italian waiter who told us several times how much he looked like Jesus, were plainly besotted with themselves. Anna kept reminding the contestants that they had to pick their date 'based purely on physical attraction'. But the final proof of how empty and exploitative this show is came when both women explained their choices. Isla fell for Matty's 'beautiful deep eyes'. Mal looked at her date, Rebecca, and said: 'Those eyes are to die for.' It seems the eyes are the last erotic spot on the human body. They are also, for physicist Brian Cox, our best connection to alien civilisations Forces Of Nature Rating: It seems the eyes are the last erotic spot on the human body. They are also, for physicist Brian Cox, our best connection to alien civilisations. Photons of light from stars in distant galaxies, he explained in Forces Of Nature (BBC1), cross trillions of miles of space and bounce off our retinas. Prof Brian said it in that dreamy voice that has wafted him through the series, almost giggling with pleasure at the sheer trippiness of the universe. Gazing at an Icelandic waterfall by night, a prism of colour radiating from the spray, he sighed: 'The moonbow isn't just beautiful, it's physics . . .' But when he went off script, he wasn't so poetic. Jumping into a glacial river in a diving suit, the best he could manage was: 'Quite nice in here actually.' They are both enjoying envy-inducing holidays thousands of miles apart in Mexico and St Tropez. But Australian model Jessica Hart is clearly missing her younger sister, Ashley, as she posted a sweet throwback snap of the pair together. Ashley, 27, was seen sticking her tongue out in the goofy picture as Jessica, 30, flashed her trademark gap-toothed grin. Scroll down for video Throwback: Australian model Jessica Hart posted a sweet throwback snap with her younger Ashley (right) 'Always miss my sis,' Jessica captioned the sweet snap which was posted on Tuesday. The Victoria's Secret model was seen wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat and light brown mac as she posed with her lookalike sister in the stunning shot. She was pictured enjoying a break from work in the sunny South of France with supermodel Naomi Campbell last week. Arriba! Ashley was seen posing in a sombrero during her recent holiday in Cancun, Mexico Inseparable: The lookalike sisters are pictured here at amfAR Gala in Cannes earlier this year Jess, who has fronted campaigns for the likes of Marc Jacobs, Sass & Bide and Vionnet, was seen walking arm-in-arm with the model as they soaked up the sunshine in St Tropez. Not to be outdone, her younger sister was spotted frolicking on the beach in Cancun on Monday. Ashley sported a strapless bikini top revealing a generous glimpse of her cleavage as she played in the sea. Family bond: Both Jessica and Ashley are based in the U.S. but spend time in Australia She is currently based in New York with her husband Buck Palmer - but the pair still spend lots of time in her native Australia. The couple spontaneously tied the knot in April last year. Buck proposed to Ashley in the south of France in July 2014, after she'd spent four months away from her man on a yoga teacher training course in India. She is travelling across the country for her latest tour. And on Monday Gwen Stefani took off an afternoon for family fun at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The 46-year-old was joined by her friends and sons Zuma, seven, and Apollo, two, who enjoyed a ride through the world-famous amusement park inside the comfort of a large beige stroller. Scroll down for video Family fun! Gwen Stefani was joined by sons Apollo and Zuma for some fun at Walt Disney World at Lake Buena Vista, Florida on Monday Cruising: Little Apollo enjoyed a ride through the world-famous amusement park inside the comfort of a large beige stroller Gwen documented the trip on her Snapchat account, an excursion that included a visit to rides It's A Small World and Splash Mountain. Brave Gwen managed to whip out her phone as she and Zuma rode on Splash Mountain, just before the ride kicked up speed. The pair looked towards the camera before the ride plummeted down the rails. Gwen also got in a posing session with none other than Mickey Mouse, right in front of the iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle. Having some fun! Brave Gwen managed to whip out her phone as she and Zuma shared a carriage on Splash Mountain, just before the ride plummeted down the rails It's Mickey Mouse! Stefani also got in a posing session with none other than Mickey Mouse, right in front of the iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle That's the spirit: The songbird was dressed the part with her sequined Minnie Mouse ears, cosy overalls, and wedge trainers The Hollaback hit-maker looked to be having the time of her life as she posed up a storm with the famous Disney character. Gwen was dressed the part with her sequined Minnie Mouse ears, cosy overalls, and wedge trainers. She had her bright blonde hair styled into two braids, and finished off the look with a bright slick of fuschia pink lipstick. Stylin': She had her bright blonde hair styled into two braids, and finished off the look with a bright slick of fuschia pink lipstick Family matters: The hit-maker has three children with her ex-husband Gavin Rossdale: Kingston, ten, as well as Zuma and Apollo Gwen has been busy touring for her latest album, This Is What The Truth Feels Like The hit-maker has three children with her ex-husband Gavin Rossdale: Kingston, ten, as well as Zuma and Apollo They were married for nearly 13 years when they divorced in August 2015. Gwen started dating her The Voice co-star Blake Shelton in November of 2015, and have been going strong ever since. Having a blast: Stefani was clearly enjoying a well-deserved day off at the world-famous theme park She married actor Dan MacPherson in a secret ceremony last November. And Zoe Ventoura is eager to lend a helping hand as the Today Show host Sylvia Jeffreys prepares to plan her own wedding to Peter Stefanovic. During Tuesday's interview on the morning show, the 34-year-old actress congratulated the blonde host and her fiance on their engagement, with Sylvia responding: 'I might have to give you a call for some wedding tips.' Speaking from experience: Zoe Ventoura offered some advice for Sylvia Jeffreys in the lead up to her wedding 'It can get pretty stressful but then on the day it's all worth it,' Zoe assured Sylvia. Meanwhile, Sylvia and Pete have been inundated with well wishes from fans since announcing their big news. The pair have even received quirky gifts from the morning show fans, with Sylvia showing off a cushion featuring a print of one of the couple's holiday photos. 'It can get pretty stressful': The 34-year-old actress said the stress leading up to a wedding is 'all worth it on the day' Newlyweds: Zoe tied the knot with actor Dan MacPherson in a secret Noosa ceremony last November The Today Show's social media account shared a photo of the bubbly blonde holding up the cringe-worthy pillow on Tuesday. The caption read: '@sylviajeffreys was sent an early wedding present today...' Sylvia announced her engagement to Pete via Instagram two weeks ago, with the bubbly blonde flashing up her very impressive diamond ring. Fan art: Sylvia was presented with a bizarre engagement gift on Tuesday, which was a cushion featuring a photo of herself with Pete from their recent vacation The 30-year-old journalist couldn't resist showing off her flashy diamond ring upon her return to the Channel Nine breakfast show's panel last week. Sylvia beamed with pride while flaunting the large, expensive-looking accessory as she gushed over the 'exquisite' work of Sydney's Nader Jewellers. Speaking of the proposal in France, Sylvia told her colleagues: '(It was) completely by surprise to be honest! He got me alright.' Surprise! Earlier this month, Sylvia revealed that she and Pete got engaged in France She added: 'Thank goodness he didn't propose to me at the Euro 2016 Game. It would have been a rejection I think!' The genetically-blessed couple had been travelling around France and Italy and got engaged 'a couple of weeks ago', but postponed the announcement. When Lisa heard her younger protege's good news, she was almost reduced to tears of happiness. She said: 'I'll tell you why everyone's so excited Sylvia. You are an extraordinary woman and Pete is an absolutely beautiful man. The perfect ring: Sylvia revealed Peter collaborated with high-end jewellers Nader to make the luxury design 'And from the very first moment that people started hearing that you two were an item, everyone just said, "Of course". 'You guys are absolutely meant to be together and we're just... we couldn't be happier. I've got tears in my eyes, I'm so excited for you'. Peter and Sylvia began dating in late 2013 after co-hosting the weekend edition of Today as summer replacements for the regular panel. BELFIELD -- Residents affected by the proposed four-lane expansion of a 62-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 85 between Belfield and Watford City spoke out against the project on Monday night during a public meeting hosted by the North Dakota Department of Transportation. The massive undertaking would run through Stark, Billings and McKenzie counties -- including the small towns of Fairfield and Grassy Butte -- and could cost between $830 million and $1 billion, according to NDDOT estimates. Most of the concerns, however, centered around the seven-mile Badlands stretch that runs near Theodore Roosevelt National Parks North Unit. Valerie Naylor, the parks former superintendent, said she would like the NDDOT to reconsider that seven-mile stretch. Its already a three-lane, she said. That area is very fragile. She said it is fragile because of traffic, wildlife, the river, and the landscape and scenery. Residents were first able to voice their concerns and ideas in November with public scoping meetings. Input from those meetings in Belfield and Watford City were applied to the alternative public workshop. A similar meeting will be held at 5 p.m. CT today at Watford City Hall. Jan Swenson, executive director of the Badlands Conservation Alliance, raised concern over the need for a four-lane highway running over the Little Missouri River just outside of the park. I do not understand why you, the NDDOT, are so insistent on the four-lane business through the Little Missouri River area, she said. Swenson argued that there were no alternatives shown for an alternate location that bypasses the Little Missouri River and Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We do recognize that that is a different, special and unique place for all North Dakotans, Linneman said. Jen Turnbow of KLJ, which would be the projects engineering firm should it move forward, said 83 of the 124 residents who submitted comments during the two meetings in November were primarily concerned about safety. The Long X Bridge, which runs across the Little Missouri River near Theodore Roosevelt National Parks North Unit south of Watford City, was closed for 40 noncontinuous days the past five years because of large vehicles colliding with trusses on the bridge. Matt Linneman, the NDDOTs project manager, said the Long X Bridge is the priority and could cost between $50 million and $60 million to replace. Three alternatives were presented for the Long X Bridge, the historic truss bridge the Little Missouri River runs beneath. One alternative would be increasing the vertical clearance on the bridge and then constructing another two-lane bridge adjacent to it. The current clearance of the bridge is 16 feet. The proposed clearance would be 20 feet. Another alternative would be to keep the existing bridge as an alternative roadway with an additional four lanes built. The final alternative presented was to remove and replace the existing Long X Bridge with a new four-lane bridge. Merle Jost, a rancher in Grassy Butte whose land would be affected by the proposed four-lane, vocally disagreed with the proposal. Jost, however, said he has seen multiple environmental impact study meetings and his opinion, along with others in the room, wont matter in the long-run. Public hearings for the project are expected to begin next spring or summer. Linneman, who said he was pleased with the turnout, encouraged everyone with a stake in the project share their input. For those that werent able to attend the meeting, the public can submit comments to Matt Linneman, program manager, at mlinneman@nd.gov with Public Alternatives Workshop in the subject. Or write to him at NDDOT, 608 East Boulevard Ave. Bismarck, N.D., 58505-0700. Comments must be submitted by Aug. 26. He has previously revealed that he's 'dabbled' in experimenting with the same sex before. And Osher Gunsberg, 42, has once again spoken candidly about his history of sexual experimentation, saying that his days of testing the waters are long behind him. In an interview with KIIS FM's Kyle and Jackie O, the Bachelor host confirmed that he has kissed gay men in the past, but said that he 'gave that sort of thing up a long time ago.' Scroll down for audio 'You've got to go on all the rides at Dreamworld': Osher Gunsberg, 42, has spoken candidly about his history of sexual experimentation, saying that his days of testing the waters are long behind him Kyle, apparently surprised at Osher's frankness, asked: 'You've kissed gay blokes before right?' 'Who hasn't?' Osher simply responded, before adding: 'You've got to go on all the rides at Dreamworld before you find the one you want to stay on all day.' During the interview, Osher also spoke about his close friendship with The Bachelor's newest star, Richie Strahan. 'Richie hugs me and tell's me it's going to be OK': During the interview, Osher also spoke about his close friendship with The Bachelor's newest star, Richie Strahan 'Richie hugs me and tell's me it's going to be OK,' Osher cooed as he described the handsome oil rig worker's personality. He then took the opportunity to once again swiftly dispel a recent rumour claiming that Richie has poor body odour. 'The only thing about that is whoever spread that rumour. I mean, seriously, what are you, nine?' he snapped. Happily ever after: Osher became engaged to makeup artist and mother-of-one Audrey Griffen in January Osher became engaged to makeup artist and mother-of-one Audrey Griffen in January. The pair, who confirmed their relationship last year, announced the news on social media on Saturday after a romantic trip to Heron Island. Sharing a photograph of the ring he proposed with on Instagram, the TV personality gushed of his bride-to-be: 'I couldn't be happier to have found someone that is so kind, so caring, so much fun, so smart and yes so very beautiful.' She has only just returned from a luxury summer break. But that did not stop Kristin Cavallari from going on a stress busting shopping safari in West Hollywood on Monday. The Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County favourite looked like she was having a great time going wild in the aisles on her outing in the trendy area of Los Angeles County. Going wild in the aisles: Kristin Cavallari was enioying on a shopping expedition in Los Angeles on Monday Kristen, 29, had certainly dressed well for the occasion, turning heads in a khaki French Connection jumpsuit and open-toed brown boots. The self-styled fashion designer was no doubt relishing the chance for some relaxation after having a hectic day of modelling on Sunday. The reality television personality shared an image of her latest shoot, where she was sitting on a springboard over a swimming pool, on her Instagram page. Mother-of-two Kristin said: 'Shooting at a gorgeous house in LA today for my shoe collection.' Getting shirty: The svelte blonde looked in fine form indeed in this khaki blouse On a shopping safari: She was also wearing matching trousers and trendy open-toed boots A springboard to success: On Sunday she shared a modelling photo where she sat next to a swimming pool Meanwhile Kristen recently hit back at claims her young children are underfed. It came after she shared a string of photos from a family July 4 vacation with her husband Jay Cutler and their children. But she was taken aback when some of the comments on one picture in particular accused her of raising malnourished children, charging that that her two sons were too skinny. She soon fired back at the online meanies, saying: 'Yep, I starve my children. Just blocked the most people Ive ever blocked in my entire life. Happy 4th hahaha.' 'Summer days with my bestie': Last week she uploaded an image of herself cradling this youngster She's often seen in chic and stylish outfits for her duties co-hosting The Morning Show. But on Tuesday Kylie Gillies looked less than fashion forward in a bizarre paisley print frock with a clashing hot pink crochet collar. The 49-year-old television journalist became a sight for sore eyes in the extremely busy print as she presented the show alongside co-host Larry Emdur. She's a sight for sore eyes! Kylie Gillies (R) looked less than fashion forward in a bizarre paisley print frock with a clashing hot pink crochet collar as she hosted The Morning Show with Larry Emdur (L) on Tuesday The black frock hit her just above the knee and featured a white, pink, purple and orange paisley inspired print with oversize love hearts and intricate detail throughout. An oversize hot pink crochet collar added a lurid pop of colour to the outfit which stood out against the rest of the busy pattern. The skirt of the shift dress finished mid-thigh offering a glimpse of her trim pins, which were propped up in black pointed toe pumps. Her honey brown long bob was styled with volume through the lengths, while Kylie's make-up artist Garry Siutz said he worked a 'smokey Eye makeup & I played down Kylie's lips with a subtle coral'. Too much: The 49-year-old television journalist stood out in the extremely busy number that featured a white, pink, purple and orange paisley inspired print with oversize love hearts and intricate detail throughout Bold: An oversize hot pink crochet collar added a lurid pop of colour to the outfit which stood out against the rest of the busy pattern The bright and busy frock was a stark contrast to her co-host Larry Emdur who wore a modest suit for the broadcast. Larry wore a crisp white shirt unbuttoned at the collar underneath a simple grey blazer and paired with smart black trousers. The mother-of-two is no stranger to putting on a glamorous display as she hits red carpet events and showing off her lithe figure. Not complimentary: The bright and busy frock was a stark contrast to her co-host Larry Emdur who wore a modest suit for the broadcast The Walkley award winning journalist attended the Tour De Cure Snow Ball last month and looked elegant in a monochromatic ensemble. Kylie wore a billowing black top with sheer sleeves paired with a fit and flare maxi skirt that showcased her figure. The beauty is married to fellow journalist Tony Gillies and the couple share two children, sons Gus and Archie. Seven Year Switch couples Jackie and Tim and Tallena and Brad reignited their ongoing feud this week with claims there was more than one nude scandal on the show. And, on Tuesday, the Queensland-based personal trainer couple took another swipe at them on social media as they shared a throwback snap of a recent catch up with others from the show. Jackie posted the snap to the couple's joint Instagram account writing: 'Had a lovely catch up with these guys the other week, forgot to post. Scroll down for video Friends: Seven Year Switch couples Jackie and Tim (centre couple) took another swipe at Tallena and Brad on Tuesday as sharing a throwback snap of a catch up with the show's Ryan and Cassie (left) and Jason (right) 'Top effort @ryanandcass for getting out of the house with 3 children, especially 2 under 2,' she added in the caption. In the shot Jackie hid her burgeoning baby bump as she sat at the head of the table with her fiance Tim on her left and Jason, who is no longer with his partner Michelle. Cassie flashed a smile as she and husband Ryan sat on the other side of the table with her ten-year-old daughter Ramani from a previous relationship and the couple's 19-month-old daughter Emmerson. Their newborn daughter, Mena Lee appears to be in her stroller, at the head of the table, while the reality television couples enjoyed their catch up over coffee. Great effort! Jackie proudly gushed over Cassie and Ryan for being able to get out of the house with their three children including their newborn as the couples caught up Keeping the war of words going: Jackie posted the image that clearly leaves out Tallena and Brad, a day after the Queensland couple restarted a feud by speaking to New Idea magazine about the duo Jackie posted the image that clearly leaves out Tallena and Brad, a day after the couple restarted their on-going war of words. The couple have revealed in an interview, published in this week's New Idea, that Tallena, who is now married to Brad, was involved in her own nude scandal on the show. Tim explained: 'She was about to do an interview on camera and she tiptoed over to the windows, pulled down her pants, pressed her vagina to the window then ran around, opened the door and said "did you see my *****?"' The personal trainer added: 'I never saw her upset about my actions, and if she felt like she was harassed, she wouldn't have pulled her pants down.' Bad blood: Tim came under fire during the show after he stripped off and got naked during a spa with Tallena but has revealed that he wasn't the only one who got naked during their time on the show Scandal: Tim explained: 'She was about to do an interview and tiptoed over to the windows, pulled down her pants, pressed her vagina to the window ran around, opened the door and said "did you see my *****?"' There was speculation that after Tim's naked spa session with Tallena there were romantic feelings between the pair, but Tim also told New Idea there was 'no attraction'. Slamming the couple for making the claim to the magazine, Tallena meanwhile told Daily Mail Australia that the couple, who are expecting their first child together, should 'move on'. 'I have no comment as this is pathetic,' she said. 'I am not responding to immaturity, sorry.' 'You're about to be parents you should be excited about moving forward with your life, not still trying to belittle us for your own fame,' she added. 'Your obsession with us is becoming embarrassing': Tallena later took to her social media sites to hit out at the reports even further She later took to her social media sites to hit out at the reports even further, claiming it's embarrassing for the couple 'as business owners and new parents to be' are still carrying on with this level of 'immaturity'. In the time since the show, Tallena and Brad appear to be doing well in their relationship and got married in secret after filming finished. Meanwhile, Jackie and Tim have gone from strength to strength and are engaged and expecting their first child together. She doesn't appear to have aged a bit since her hit ABC sitcom premiered nearly seven years ago. And Sofia Vergara couldn't have been more excited to reunite with her Modern Family costars during a photo shoot on Monday to promote their eighth season. 'So happy to be back with my american family #modernfamily,' the 44-year-old Colombian beauty captioned the humourous snapshot. Scroll down for video 'So happy to be back!': The cast of Modern Family reunited for a photo shoot to promote their eighth season of the hit sitcom The four-time Golden Globe nominee - who plays Gloria Delgado-Pritchett on the popular series - stepped right into character in a plunging white cocktail dress. Her ample decolletage was on display in the low-cut skintight number which also included fringe trim along the outer edge of the sleeveless garb. She added a pop of colour to her achromatic ensemble with a deep red lip and looked glamorous with her long balayage locks. 'We r back': Sofia Vergara, 44 - who plays Gloria Delgado-Pritchett - posed with her onscreen family - (L-R) her husband Jay Pritchett (Ed O'Neill) and two sons, Joe Pritchett (Pierce Wallace) and Manny Delgado (Rico Rodriguez) Glamorous garb: The Colombian beauty put her ample decolletage on display in the low-cut skintight number which also included fringe trim along the outer edge of the sleeveless dress The wife of True Blood hunk, Joe Manganiello, posed in various scenes with her onscreen family - her husband Jay Pritchett (Ed O'Neill) and two sons, Manny Delgado (Rico Rodriguez) and Joe Pritchett (Pierce Wallace). Modern Family premiered in September 2009 and has won several Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. The hit show also features an all-star lineup of Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould and Aubrey Anderson-Emmons. Loved up: Sofia Vergara, 44, and Joe Mangiella, 39, appeared to still be riding the honeymoon high as they kept a tight hold of each other in Los Angeles on Sunday And although it was back to work for Sofia on Monday, the newlywed spent Sunday with her 39-year-old Magic Mike XXL star. The happy couple - who married in a lavish ceremony in Florida last November - appeared to still be riding the honeymoon high as they kept a tight hold of each other in Los Angeles. The couple were hand in hand as they stepped out in the sunshine to a Crossfit event at the Stub Hub Center. Stunning: No wonder Joe couldn't keep his hands off the Modern Family star, as she showcased her toned tummy and show-stopping curves No wonder Joe couldn't keep his hands off the Hot Pursuit actress, as she showcased her toned tummy and show-stopping curves. The South American beauty looked effortlessly glamorous in an off-the-shoulder cropped gypsy top. She teamed it with ripped blue denim boyfriend jeans, as they kept it casual. In step: They both covered their eyes with dark sunglasses, while Sofia also added a little lipstick and left her honey locks loose Although Sofia is a statuesque 5ft 7in, and she added wedge sneakers, she was dwarfed by her Magic Mike XXL husband - who stands tall at 6ft 5in. The handsome True Blood actor looked every inch the action hero in khaki utility shorts and a black T-shirt. They both covered their eyes with dark sunglasses, while Sofia also added a little lipstick and left her honey locks loose. Leggy pair: Although Sofia is a statuesque 5ft 7in, and she added wedge sneakers, she was dwarfed by her Magic Mike XXL husband who stands tall at 6ft 5in She's been busy filming new movie The Brits Are Coming, alongside Uma Thurman, Stephen Fry and Alice Eve. The screen siren shared a sexy selfie from behind the scenes on Thursday as she stripped down to a rather risque lace corset, tiny hotpants and suspenders in a snap posted to her 9.3 million Instagram followers. Flaunting her killer curves and ample cleavage in the low-cut lingerie, the Colombian actress pouted into the mirror as she snapped away. Sofia captioned the shot: 'Just another day at the office #setlife #thebritsarecoming.' The mother-of-one has 23-year-old son, Manolo, with her first husband, high school sweetheart Joe Gonzalez. It has been eight years since the untimely death of Australian actor Heath Ledger. And now, the iconic star's father Kim has spoken about the inevitable moment in which Heath's young daughter Matilda, whose mother is Michelle Williams, will learn of the harrowing story behind Heath's passing. Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia, Kim said: Wed always leave that up to Michelle. [Matilda will] be able to read things herself eventually, but thatll be up to Michelle' Scroll down for video 'We always discuss her daddy with her': Kim Ledger has spoken exclusively to Daily Mail Australia about his late son Heath's death and whether the harrowing story has been told to granddaughter Matilda, 10 'She may have already told her. I dont know. We always discuss her daddy with her when we see her', he continued. 'Its hard for Michelle with her business to travel but when Matilda is ready shell come to Australia and spend time with us.' Matilda currently lives in New York with her actress mother Michelle Williams, 35, who was in a relationship with Heath between 2004 and 2007. Wed always leave that up to Michelle': Kim said that he and his family have left the decision of when to tell Matilda about her father's death with her mother Michelle Williams, 35 '[Matilda is] a beautiful child and as a single mum, Michelle has done a great job. I think shes doing a particularly good job at keeping her out of the limelight,' gushed Kim. Heath and Michelle first met on set of Brokeback Mountain, in which she played his on-screen wife Alma. The pair welcomed their only child, Matilda, in October 2005, before ending their relationship in September 2007. A love story: Heath and Michelle first met on set of Brokeback Mountain, in which she played his on-screen wife Alma Untimely end: Four months after they split, 28-year-old Heath died from cardiac arrest brought on by prescription drug intoxication Four months after they split, 28-year-old Heath died from cardiac arrest brought on by prescription drug intoxication. At the time, Heath had earned critical acclaim for his role in Brokeback Mountain, having received an Oscar nomination for his role in the film. He had also received an Oscar nod for his portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Night, which he later won posthumously. After what appears to have been a tumultuous patch in their relationship, Lindsay Lohan is now publicly urging her fiance Egor Tarabasov to go to therapy. The 30-year-old actress claimed over the weekend that her Russian beau had been cheating on her, while police were also called to her London home after she accused him of 'trying to kill her'. However, the star wants to work things out, so is keen for him to get help, with her representative telling the New York Post: 'Lindsay believes Egor has anger-management issues and she would like him to go to therapy. They both want to work things out.' Scroll down for video Helping hand: Lindsay Lohan is urging her fiance Egor Tarabasov to seek therapy for 'anger management issues' following the couple's weekend showdown And while one of the actress's social media posts over the weekend sparking speculation that she could be expecting her first child, the spokesperson added: 'I cannot confirm her pregnancy.' The statement comes as the friend Lindsay had dubbed a 'Russian hooker' in one of her posts has spoken out in her own defence, insisting she has never had a sexual relationship with Egor. 'I've known Egor for five years and have never slept with him and never would,' fashion designer Dasha Pashevkina told The Sun. 'I'm the one who introduced Lindsay to Egor. We are just friends. Previously close: Dasha Pashevkina, who Lindsay branded a 'Russian hooker' in a post, has denied ever having slept with Egor and has announced plans to launch legal action against the star 'Lindsay's insecurities mean she can't have any girls around him. Her behaviour is so volatile but honestly I did not expect this.' Dasha went on to tell the publication that Lindsay threw Egor's mobile phone into the sea during the couple's recent trip to Mykonos. 'Lindsay had a meltdown as Egor went out with his London friends for dinner,' she said, adding: 'I'm taking legal action. She has a history of this and needs to learn a lesson.' On Monday, a day after kick-starting the drama with shocking accusations on social media, Lindsay took to Instagram to ask for privacy. Privacy plea: The American actress, 30, issued a privacy plea via Instagram on Monday afternoon, in which she claimed there were 'more important things going on in the world' Uploading a picture of a heart-shaped cloud, she captioned it with: 'I would appreciate if these speculations regarding my personal life would respectfully come to a halt. 'Unfortunately, a private matter has become more public than I can control and I would be extremely grateful if my fiance and myself could discuss our personal matters on our own. 'There are more important things going on in the world than our relationship. Please leave us be to solve our personal matters.' Close again: Lindsay and her man snuggle-up in yet another selfie of the soon-to-be-married pair 'Let's go': Lindsay Lohan put on an extremely low-key display following her bust-up with fiance, Egor Tarabasov, as she made her way to Heathrow Airport on Monday The post was 'liked' more than 18,000 times within the first hour - but it also generated a slew of comments in response. Namely, highlighting the hypocrisy of her actions. The latest update comes just hours after she put on an extremely low-key display as she made her way to Heathrow Airport on Monday. The 30-year-old actress hid coyly behind a large black T-shirt which was emblazoned with a verse from EE Cummings poem, May I Feel Said He. Undercover: Careful not to be recognised, the flame-haired star also covered her trademark auburn locks with a Givenchy hat and shielded her eyes with some dark aviator shades Cryptic: The 30-year-old actress hid coyly behind a large black T-shirt which was emblazoned with a verse from EE Cummings poem, May I Feel Said He The cryptic message read: 'Let's go said he, not too far said she, what's too far said he, where you are said she.' The meaningful words sparked speculation that her outfit choice may be related to her recent argument with with Egor. Careful not to be recognised, the flame-haired star also covered her trademark auburn locks with a Givenchy hat and shielded her eyes with some dark aviator shades. Sending a message? The meaningful words sparked speculation that her outfit choice may be related to her recent argument with with Egor Still on? Despite accusing her boyfriend of 'trying to strangle her', Lindsay made sure that one part of her that was visible was her wedding finger - as she still proudly sported her engagement ring However, despite accusing her boyfriend of 'trying to strangle her', Lindsay made sure that one part of her that was visible was her wedding finger - as she still proudly sported her engagement ring. MailOnline has contacted a representative for Lindsay Lohan for comment. Flaws in the couple's relationship first began to show earlier this weekend when the former actress publicly accused Egor of disappearing for two days. There was also a disturbance at Lindsay's London home, which the police were called to. Protected: Lindsay was shrouded by a large bodyguard as she made her way from the car to the airport All that glitters: Despite rocking a low-key look, Lindsay couldn't resist slipping on a pair of eye-catching silver shoes Well hidden: It' is currently unknown where the actress will be jetting off to Lindsay woke her entire street as she allegedly screamed her fiance was trying to kill her during an argument at 5am at her London home. Police smashed her front door open, which showed signs of damage, after calls for help were heard by neighbours as she ranted at Egor Tarabasov, 23, on Saturday morning. The 30-year-old also accused her Russian millionaire partner, whom she has been dating for seven months, of partying with a prostitute. Lindsay Lohan woke her entire street as she screamed her fiance was trying to kill during an argument at 5am at her London home Police smashed her front door, which showed signs of damage, after calls for help were heard by neighbours as she ranted at Egor Tarabasov, 23, on Saturday morning Just 10 minutes after the altercation police arrived at the 3.2million Knightsbridge property in west London and forced their way inside In a video obtained by The Sun, which was filmed by a neighbour, Lohan shouts her name and address. She then screams: 'Please, please, please. He just strangled me. He almost killed me. Everybody will know. Get out of my house. 'Do it. I dare you again. You're f**king crazy. You sick f**k. You need help. it's my house, get out,' she continued. Just 10 minutes after the altercation police arrived at the 3.2million Knightsbridge property in west London and forced their way inside, but the couple had already left and no arrests were made. But when police entered the apartment the couple had already left and no arrests were made 'He almost killed me': Lindsay made sure that all her neighbours could hear her struggle against Egor Making an escape: Egor and Lindsay had left the house by the time police had got there but were both tracked down and found to be safe and well A Met spokesman told MailOnline: 'Police were called to an address in Knightsbridge, SW7 on Saturday, 23 July at 05:10 hours following a report of a woman in distress. 'Officers attended and following concerns for the welfare of the occupants inside they forced entry into the address. 'There was no one inside but enquiries were made and the occupants were traced and found to be safe and well. No offences. No arrests.' Police smashed down her front door, which showed signs of damage, after calling for help as she ranted at Egor Tarabasov, 23 Speaking about the Mean Girls star, a neighbour told The Sun: 'She woke us up with her screaming. I was really concerned. Loads of police cars arrived and the whole road was awake looking out of windows.' The same night, in a bizarre stream of online messages Lohan attacked Taraborasov for being at a nightclub with another woman. Things got even more cryptic when the former child star then tweeted an image of herself wearing a fake baby bump, taken from her 2009 flop, Labor Pains. Baby news? While the posts targeting Egor were on Instagram, Lindsay then took to Twitter posting a bizarre Google image link to the poster of her 2009 flop, Labor Pains, in which she played a woman faking a pregnancy that finds love and gets pregnant for real 'Lindsay lohan labour pains trailer - I am pregnant!!' she wrote; leaving confused fans as to whether they should question her whether she was sober, or if they should offer their congratulations. Lohan had taken to Instagram to publicly slam Egor for 'lying' about his whereabouts - sharing images sent to her by a friend showing him in a club. Proving she learnt a thing or two from her most famous movie, Mean Girls, Lindsay accused him of being out with another girl, Dasha Pashevkina, and went on the attack. Insider source: The star shared a picture of her fiance inside the club, which had clearly been snapped by someone with an allegiance to her rather than Egor and accused him of being out with another girl Home? But she was not done there as her spy also sent her a video of the Russian businessman The Hollywood star did not hold back, branding the fashion designer a 'Russian hooker'. Initially, Lindsay posted a sepia toned image of her and her younger love, writing: 'I guess I was the same at 23... S****y time - it changes at 26/27. '@e2505t thanks for not coming home tonight. Fame changes people.' The star then shared a picture of her fiance inside the club, which had clearly been snapped by someone with an allegiance to her rather than Egor. It was on this picture that the famed redhead took aim at the female fashion designer she claimed was with him. Still mad: In the video Egor appears to be just speaking to a male friend but that did not make the actress feel any better Nonsensical: Just after 5am London time, the actress posted another picture of her fiance but failed to make much sense Blame game: Proving she learnt a thing or two from her famous movie, the Mean Girls star insulted, Dasha Pashevkina (pictured 2013), whom the actress believed was out with her fiance 'Wow thanks #fiance with Russian hooker @dasha_pa5h.' Lindsay later posted the woman's home address and email with a bizarre rant that included Donald Trump and Putin hashtags, before deleting it. Despite her harsh words, it seems that Lindsay and Dash have been friends for some time with the actress popping up on the designer's social media and the star has also worn some of her designs. Bizarre attack: Lindsay later posted the woman's home address and email with a bizarre rant that included Donald Trump and Putin hashtags, before deleting it It seems trouble between her and Egor may have been brewing all day, as Lohan earlier posted a black and white couple shot eight hours earlier and Egor's face was scribbled out. 'He wore black and I wore white. I guess #art is whatever you make of it,' Lindsay wrote. The couple had been dating just eight months when the young Russian millionaire asked for Lindsay's hand in marriage. Came to a head: It seems trouble may have been brewing all day, as the 30-year-old posted a black and white couple shot eight hours earlier and Egor's face was scribbled out Celebrated love: Just five days ago, Lindsay posted a picture of herself and Egor and her brother Michael and his fiancee Nina Ginz and discussed love Their on/off relationship finally came to a bitter end earlier this year following allegations of cheating. And Charlotte Crosby, 26, doesn't appear to be ready to leave her split from Gary Beadle in the past just yet as she blasted her ex in an interview with NEW magazine. The former Geordie Shore star pulled no punches, saying: '[Will any guy ever] compare to him? Anyone would be a better person than Gary Beadle. No one can even come close to how much of an evil, vindictive man he is. Even a murderer would be better than Gary Beadle. Scroll down for video No love lost: Charlotte Crosby, 26, doesn't appear to be ready to leave her split from Gary Beadle in the past just yet as she blasted her ex in a new interview 'He is the worst, the lowest person of the low. 'I still have a lot of hatred. I think when I meet someone else and Im in a happy relationship, it will all be forgotten about. I cant wait.' A representative for Gary declined to comment. But while Gaz may have broken her heart, Charlotte admitted she was ready to meet someone new and really wanted to be in a relationship. The Celebrity Big Brother winner shouldn't have any trouble finding a man, with the size 8 star in the shape of her life. Strong words: The former Geordie Shore star pulled no punches and said 'even a murderer was better than Gaz' However, she revealed she was currently struggling to stay on track as her contraception injection had increased her appetite. Speaking to NOW, she said: 'I don't like to weigh myself every day because that's when you get obsessed. 'I weigh myself every two weeks. Normally, I'm bang into fitness but right now I'm out of control. I just want to eat Chinese food.' Shortly after their split, Charlotte revealed in an emotional interview with Heat magazine that she recently suffered an ectopic pregnancy, after falling pregnant with Gaz's child. The hunk then gave his version of how the tragic situation unfolded, explaining how he was away filming Ex On The Beach when he found out. He said: 'Straight away, I was like, "I need to go home immediately." I was told I could speak to Charlotte, which calmed me down.' Gaz insisted he spoke to Charlotte every day and was keen to be updated about her condition, but she soon found out he had slept with a fellow EOTB contestant on day one of the show, before he found out about the pregnancy, leading to a huge argument. The reality star added that both his management and Charlotte's agreed they wouldn't do any press about the pregnancy when he returned to the UK, and he only told a 'handful of my closest friends.' Charlotte soon hit back at Gaz's version of events in an epic Twitter rant, where she announced she would be leaving their hit show Geordie Shore as she couldn't work with her ex anymore. 'Sadly because a certain some1 can't admit to being in the wrong and have to write a short story full of excuses. I have made the.....The very hard decision to Leave the show, it's something I have went back and forth with for a while now,' said Charlotte. They're said to be expecting their first child together. And while Phoebe Burgess, the wife of NRL star Sam Burgess, is yet to officially confirm pregnancy reports, she made little attempt to dispel the rumours in an Instagram selfie on Tuesday. Sporting a sleeveless black and fuchsia Michael Lo Sordo number that was bunched at her belly, the 27-year-old media personality beamed while sporting a radiant glow on the streets of Sydney. Scroll down for video She's glowing bright! Phoebe Burgess made little attempt to dispel the pregnancy rumours as she posed for a cute Instagram selfie on Tuesday In the caption, she made no mention of the pregnancy rumours and instead she let her followers know that she was gearing up for a trunk show while inadvertently drawing attention to her belly. 'Couldn't resist quick dress ups in this epic Michael Lo Sordo number ahead of his trunk show tonight @desordreboutique #mydesordre,' she wrote. It comes amid claims that she and South Sydney Rabbitohs star Sam are expecting their first child, less than a year after they tied the knot. Is there a baby on the way? The 27-year-old, the wife of NRL star Sam Burgess, is yet to officially confirm pregnancy reports Happy: Phoebe and Sam Burgess, 27, tied the knot in December and are now said to be expecting their first child together The Daily Telegraph reported that Phoebe is at least three months pregnant and that she and Sam 'told family and friends the news after Phoebe reached the end of her first trimester last week.' 'They're over the moon and can't wait,' a friend of the couple told the publication. 'They are really so happy. They've been carrying on as normal, no particular cravings for Phoebe so far. She feels very lucky.' The couple met two years ago through mutual friends before getting married in an intimate ceremony in December last year. True love: The NRL star and the media personality met through mutual friends in 2014 before getting married two years later In May, the blonde beauty denied pregnancy speculation after she appeared to show a bump in an Instagram selfie. 'Haha, it's actually my hip,' she explained. The month prior, she remained coy about the couple's efforts to start a family. 'We are not-not trying and we are not trying, we are just enjoying married life,' she told the Sydney Morning Herald. In February, the pair purchased a multi-million dollar mansion in Maroubra, just weeks after moving into their Bondi apartment. 'Haha, it's actually my hip': In May, Phoebe denied that she was pregnant after fans began speculating due to this picture Former Emmerdale actress Roxanne Pallett pulled out all the stops when she headed out for lunch in Soho on Monday. The 33-year-old was pictured walking to Muriel's restaurant with her friends, looking incredible in a blue and white gingham summer dress. The sexy number from Zara had thin spaghetti straps and a sexy cut-out section at the front which flashed a section of her toned tummy. Scroll down for video Summer ready: Former Emmerdale actress Roxanne Pallett pulled out all the stops when she headed out for lunch in Soho on Monday wearing a pretty blue gingham dress With a tie-up section by the bust and buttons running down the front, she looked perfectly ready for the hot climate. Shunning heels for the jaunt, the brunette beauty wore a pair of pretty gold pumps and a matching shoulder bag. Wearing her locks in an up do, she applied minimal make-up, letting her natural beauty shine through. Nice one: Roxanne's friend complemented her style in matching blue as they walked along together in high spirits Cute: The sexy number from Zara had thin spaghetti straps and a sexy cut-out section at the front which flashed a section of her toned tummy Roxanne's friend complemented her style in matching blue as they walked along together in high spirits. The actress currently stars in theatre show Some Girl(s) in the West End, along with former Hollyoaks star Carley Stenson. It tells the tale of Guy who goes on a journey across America and through his black book as he encounters previous times and attempts right a number of wrongs. Busy at work: The actress currently stars in theatre show Some Girl(s) in the West End, along with former Hollyoaks star Carley Stenson (not pictured) She's in demand: A handful of passers by stopped to catch her attention as she walked past them With the perfect blend of humour and heart this black comedy is a modern twist on the relationship fairy tale. The timing of the show couldn't have come better for the star, as she recently revealed on ITV's Lorraine the she found herself unemployed and desperately unlucky-in-love for a long time before discovering work again. Explaining how she bounced back from adversity, the lovable TV actress recalled being dumped in a coffee shop and waiting by the phone for work before a flurry of jobs came her way. Working up a sweat: Roxanne was put through her paces by a personal trainer in London's Regent's Park Stretch it out: The actress dressed for the session in coordinated sportswear FARGO -- Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota is launching an initiative that includes a gradual shift to paying health providers based on patient outcomes to reward performance rather than volume. The Blue Alliance pay-for-performance program involves a stronger collaboration with the states health providers with the aim of providing care that is more effective and more efficient, with a greater emphasis on prevention and wellness. Ultimately, patients will benefit from receiving care that is better coordinated by a team of providers whose decisions are guided by sophisticated data analysis, Blue Cross Blue Shield administrators said. By rewarding better care, the initiative also will help to restrain the spiraling cost of health care. We know the cost of health care is not sustainable, a problem that is exacerbated by the aging population of the baby boom generation, said Dr. Lisa Faust, the North Dakota Blues senior medical director for mental health. Theres sort of a perfect storm, she said, noting that an aging population requires more health care. Theres this kind of demand spiral. What we know is our children are going to pay higher taxes if we dont change things. Blue Alliance means a shift from sick care to health care, with a more proactive approach to prevent acute illnesses, Faust said. Over time, health providers will assume greater financial risk for their performance and be held financially accountable for the results. The Blue Alliance program is an outgrowth of a similar effort, mediQhome, that targeted chronic disease patients and managed their care through collaborative teams directed by a primary care provider. Its also part of a growing movement, by both public and private payers, to get away from paying clinics and hospitals simply for providing services -- in effect, rewarding volume -- but based on their performance, as measured by quality indicators. The federal Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs, for example, have been moving rapidly to pay-for-performance. By the end of 2018, half of its payments will be based on meeting value measures, not volume. Thats up from 30 percent this year. We have to go at a pace that our providers can tolerate, Faust said, while at the same time not dragging out the transition too long. No hard deadlines have been established. The initiative also provides flexibility, enabling health providers a lot of options in how they implement the program. We need to create that win-win situation, said Chelsey Matter, the North Dakota Blues director of provider relations. Clinics and hospitals have provided their input to help shape the program, and share with insurers the desire for better and more efficient care, she said. Leading doctors from Sanford Health and Essentia Health said their health systems welcome the changes, and said they have been taking steps for years in preparation for the trend toward value-based payments. This really aligns with a lot of the things we are already doing with patients, said Dr. Douglas Griffin, vice president and medical officer for Sanford in Fargo. He supports the focus on value. Its good medicine, Griffin said. Its really focusing on a lot of common-sense stuff, including screening, vaccinations and well-child visits. Those who pay for health care are demanding better, more affordable care and greater accountability from health providers, said Dr. Michael Van Scoy, Essentias medical director of population care management. We have to respond to that, he said. We want to take a more proactive approach. Information provided by health insurers help to identify patients who are at risk and those who are missing certain quality interventions, Van Scoy said. We get great information from the health plans. It will take time to show significant results from the shift to value, but those results will become evident, said Dr. Julie Blehm, a senior medical director for North Dakota Blue Cross Blue Shield. Changing health care will not be an overnight result, she said. I think well see it in 10 years, maybe even five. Its not a rapid process. Cold Feet is set to return in the autumn and a new image of the iconic cast has been released as a little teaser. Its been over ten years since viewers last caught up with the lives of Adam, Pete, Jenny, Karen and David and it's the first time the cast have been seen since the reunion shot on January 19. Thirty-three episodes and five series later the couples have earned themselves a place in television history. Scroll down for video They're back! Cold Feet is set to return in the autumn and a new image of the cast has been released, featuring (L-R) John Thomson, James Nesbitt, Fay Ripley, Hermione Norris and Robert Bathurst Blast from the past: The characters were a hit with fans during the show's run between 1998 and 2003. Helen Baxendale (middle right) won't be returning for the reboot as her character Rachel Bradley was killed in a car crash in the final episode They are set to be reunited when Adam returns to Manchester having been abroad with work. Creator Mike Bullen said: 'This feels like the right time to revisit these characters, as they tip-toe through the minefield of middle age.' Dressed in monochrome and grey for the image, Robert Bathurst, Fay Ripley, John Thomson, Hermione Norris and James Nesbitt appear in a playful mood. Stepping back into their roles! Cold Feet's cast (L-R) Robert, Fay, John, Hermione and James have reunited for the first time back in January, earlier this year John grapples with Fay as he pulls her arm as the group sit around a table. Back in January, the first reunion picture was released ahead of the return. The only person missing from the line-up is Helen Baxendale, whose character Rachel Bradley was killed in a car crash in the last series. It was rumoured that the Friends actress would return for flashback scenes - but Ripley insisted this wasn't the case. She told Loose Women at the end of last year: 'The only thing I do know is that Helen isn't going to be doing it and that's actually going to be the hardest thing because we are all probably going to slot back into the on set roles that we had, but Helen won't be there 'So it'll be slightly odd, and she is such a lovely girl and friend of mine.' As they were: Highly regarded as one of the best British comedy drama series, the show pulled in an average of eight millions viewers and won over 20 major awards including the BAFTA for Best Drama Series The iconic series - written by Mike Bullen - is gearing up to be one of television's biggest comebacks. Highly regarded as one of the best British comedy drama series, the show pulled in an average of eight millions viewers and won over 20 major awards including the BAFTA for Best Drama Series. Starring James Nesbitt, Helen Baxendale, Robert Bathurst, Hermione Norris, John Thomson and Fay Ripley, the show was based on the highs and lows of the relationships of three couples in their Thirties. Unlucky in love: John Thomson portrayed Pete Gifford who cheated on his wife Jenny with a co-worker which ultimately led to their divorce. He then married Jo Ellison in series four but they were separated by the final Nesbitt and Baxendale played played Adam Williams and Rachel Bradley, a married couple who shared a son before Rachel's tragic death. Thomson and Ripley portrayed Pete and Jenny Gifford, who eventually divorced due to infidelity as did Bathurst and Norris' characters David and Karen Marsden. Made up of five series and 32 episodes, Cold Feet aired on November 15, 1998 and its final episode went out on March 16, 2003. In terms of its leading stars, they've each enjoyed career highs and lows, as well as personal ones, since the heady days of the original version of Cold Feet. Carefree: James Nesbitt took on the role of Adam Williams, who was a womaniser, but eventually settled down with Rachel and had a son called Matthew; he was also diagnosed and treated for testicular cancer Already a successful comedian with regular appearances on The Fast Show, John Thomson's career soared after he took on the role of Pete Gifford. His marriage to Jenny saw them plummeted through love, adultery, divorce and eventually separation. Thomson's own love life has been no less colourful; he hit the headlines for the wrong reasons when the show filmed in Australia, and he was involved in a threesome after a party. Then-fiancee Sam was so enraged about the incident that the couple's rows became tabloid news, with Thomson even treated in hospital after badly gashing his arm on a glass. The couple patched up their differences, got married and now have two children although Thomson has been open about his battles with alcohol. Now sober, the actor said the success of the show meant he went from party to party: A lot of actors have similar problems but theyre lucky in that they deal with their drinking in private, not in public. Recent acting appearances have seen Thomson appear in Coronation Street and Waterloo Road and he's also developed a penchant for reality television, appearing in 71 Degrees North in 2011 and on Celebrity Masterchef in 2013. She's international: Fay Ripley's character Jenny Gifford ended the fifth series by moving to New York after the breakdown of her marriage to Pete Gifford He turned 50 this year but for many Cold Feet fans, the biggest reason to tune back in will be to watch James 'Jimmy' Nesbitt. The dark-haired Irish actor, who played Adam Williams, proved a hit with both the critics - he scooped a British Comedy Award for his portrayal of Williams - and with the ladies. The Ballymena-born star is arguably the stand-out actor of the group with Hollywood beckoning soon after Cold Feet wrapped. Appearances in Waking Ned, Jekyll, Bloody Sunday and The Hobbit have seen his profile consistently high. While his career may have soared, his personal life hasn't always been plain sailing. Nesbitt was married to former actress Sonia Forbes-Adam for 19 years with whom he has two daughters but the pair separated in 2013. The relationship was marred early on by reports of multiple infidelities by Nesbitt including a well-documented liaison with a prostitute. Career driven: Hermione Norris played publishing editor Karen Marsden who battled alcoholism and was married to David Marsden before their divorce in the last series In more recent times, Nesbitt has hit the headlines for more follicle-related reasons, opening up about his hair transplant operations. In 2010, the Northern Irish star admitted undergoing two operations to enhance his hair. The actor, who has always been honest about his fear of going bald, discussed his transplants in a video testimonial for the Hair Restoration Blackrock (HRBR) clinic in Dublin. In the video, he said: 'Several years ago, I began losing my hair and like a lot of men it was a major concern to me, in fact it was practically an obsession. But, also Im an actor so Im in the public eye a lot and I really felt that my hair loss could affect my career prospects.' The acting roles came thick and fast for Fay Ripley, 49, following Cold Feet although she took some time away from the spotlight in 2006, after the birth of her second child. Tragic: Helen Baxendale played the role of advertising executive Rachel Bradley in the soap and married Adam Williams, but sadly died in car crash in the final episode. She won't return for the reboot Married to Australian actor Daniel Lapaine, Ripley has moved away from acting in recent years, instead focusing on writing cook books; she's penned two, both about family dining. Last year, she revealed that she earns a handsome salary of around 150,000 a year from acting and her books, but that it was a very different story during the early days of appearing in Cold Feet. She told the Telegraph: 'Initially I didnt get paid very much at all. Jimmy [James Nesbitt] and Helen [Baxendale] were better known and got paid more. 'As the show became more successful, that all got ironed out and we ended up being paid a lot of money, although I left before the big pay cheques. That was a bit of a mistake.' As key character cool blonde Karen Marsden, Hermione Norris appeared in every single episode of the hit comedy drama. It was air-time that would launch her into more serious roles, in Wire in the Blood and Spooks, when the show ended. Businessman: Robert Bathurst took on the role of management consultant David Marsden, who cheated on his wife Karen with local residents' campaigner Jessica The actress went on to have two children, Wilf and Hero, with Simon Wheeler, a writer who she met on the set of Wire in the Blood. Although she has worked consistently since, Norris has tired of the 'fizzy parties' she says the cast frequently attended at the height of the show's success and moved her family from London to Dorset in a bid to offer her children a more rural upbringing. Plenty of Americans will know Helen Baxendale purely for her role as Ross's love interest in Friends, but the English actress would never have made it to LA without being cast as Rachel Bradley first. Short of a Dallas-style dream sequence, there's little chance of seeing Rachel Bradley back on our screens. As a mother of one in the show and partner to Adam Williams (James Nesbitt), she broke a million hearts (eight million to be precise) when her character was killed in a car crash. Squad goals! Made up of five series and 32 episodes, Cold Feet aired on November 15, 1998 and its final episode went out on March 16, 2003 A return to the UK following her stint in Friends has seen a decade of roles in both television and theatre. The actress has three children - Nelly, Eric, and Rudi - with her partner David Williams, and can currently be seen in the BBC Three series Cuckoo. She says turning her back on Hollywood after her year in Friends was important for her family: 'I didn't want to be dragging my children from place to place. I wanted them to have a home and I wanted to be with them.' The oldest member of the gang, annoying management consultant David Marsden was played by Robert Bathurst throughout the show's five year fun. The Cambridge graduate has worked steadily since and appeared in Downton Abbey in 2010. Married to artist Victoria Threlfall, he has four daughters. They confirmed their romance at this year's Oscars with a loving kiss after months of speculation. And Alicia Vikander, 27, and Michael Fassbender, 39, beamed as they left a press junket for their new film The Light Between Oceans together in New York on Monday. Leaving a hotel, the two happily took selfies and signed autographs for fans before they hopped in their SUV ahead of the film's premiere. Scroll down for video Together: Alicia Vikander, 27, looked radiant in a beautiful blue striped summer dress as her actor beau Michael Fassbender, 39, left a press junket for their new film The Light Between Oceans in NYC on Monday Style darling Alicia looked captivating in a fashion forward summer dress flaunting her petite frame. Oozing sophistication, the brunette beauty rocked the pale blue striped mid-calf length dress, that boasted a two navy frill panels, hugging her tiny waist. Finishing the eye-catching ensemble, the Swedish stunner wore a pair of simple black strappy sandals while she casually worked a heavily embellished black box over-the-shoulder bag. Adding some bling, Alicia daintily placed two simple rings on her hands as she swept her tresses into chic plait inspired ponytail. Having a laugh! Kerry-man Michael laughed as he walked with Alicia outside a New York hotel Meanwhile, Kerry-man Michael looked strapping in blue suede shoes and jeans, with a light blue button-down shirt and stylish aviator sunglasses as he beamed following his beau. Despite dating for over a year, Michael and Alicia are still playing coy with their romance as they left a taping of Good Morning America separately on Monday. They were at the Times Square studios to promote their film The Light Between Oceans in which they play a married couple. Hard work: Michael and Alicia left the GMA studios in NYC separately on Monday - they are on the promo trail for their upcoming film The Light Between Oceans Alicia looked stunning in a pristine white dress with subtle black trim, which she paired with a cute black studded purse. Shunning the norm, she opted for comfort over height, wearing a nice pair of black peep-toe flats instead of the usual heels. With her dark blonde hair tied back on a pony, she displayed a glowing complexion that didn't even need the minimal make-up she employed. Wow: Alicia looked stunning in a pristine white dress with subtle black trim, which she paired with a cute black studded purse Clever girl: Shunning the norm, she opted for comfort over height, wearing a nice pair of black peep-toe flats instead of the usual heels Their new film, based on the 2012 novel of the same name by M.L. Stedman, is set for release in September in the US, while UK audiences must wait until November. It tells the story of a lighthouse keeper and his wife living off the coast of post World War I Western Australia. They discover a baby aboard a washed up rowboat and decide to informally adopt; but as the child grows older, an encounter with a woman on the mainland - played by Rachel Weisz - threatens to break their family apart. Natural beauty: With her dark blonde hair tied back on a pony, she displayed a glowing complexion that didn't even need the minimal make-up she employed Alone time: Their new film tells the story of a lighthouse keeper and his wife living off the coast of post World War I Western Australia The couple have been increasingly open about their romance since going public with a kiss at the Oscars this spring. Alicia also appears in Jason Bourne which opens this weekend, the fifth installment in Matt Damon's spy thriller series. Earlier this year Fassbender reprised his role as Magneto in X-Men Apocalypse, and will appear in the first film adaptation of the popular videogame series Assassin's Creed in December He is also working on Alien: Covenant, a sequel to 2012's Prometheus, reprising his Prometheus role as the android David 8. Lindsay Lohan's fiance Egor Tarabasov has been pictured moving his possessions out of the star's home in Knightsbridge, London on Tuesday. The 23-year-old wore a T-shirt with religious imagery on the front as he was pictured loading a variety of items into his car after police were called to the property following a raging row. And now even Lindsay Lohan's father is involved in the feud between his daughter and Egor Tarabasov, as he reportedly sent a series of angry text messages to the Russian businessman. Scroll down for video Moving on: Lindsay Lohan's fiance Egor Tarabasov has been pictured moving his possessions out of the star's home in Knightsbridge, London on Tuesday Protective father! The move comes after her father Michael has got involved in the feud between his daughter and Egor - and he reportedly sent a series of angry text messages to the Russian businessman The businessman was greeted by Lindsay's new bodyguard Sammy who she brought in following the disturbance on Saturday morning to protect her. She wasn't at the property and is thought to have flown to America. As Sammy let him in, Egor appeared to hand over a set of keys to him, before removing four large suitcases, over 10 suit jackets and even snowboard/winter sports equipment. It's all going on: The 23-year-old was pictured at the London property for the first time since police were called to the property following a raging row over the weekend Getting on with things: Egor appeared to be focused on the job at hand as he went in and out of the house Michael Lohan is believed to have sent the messages late on Saturday night and made a number of threats towards him. According to TMZ, the messages said: 'You threaten my daughter, touch her or if anything happens to her and you will have no where to hide mother ducked like weasel [sic],' Seemingly already aware of his daughter's situation, he added: 'VOME Here And Face ME like a man and bring your daddy and mommy [sic]. Making a stand: A host of smart looking jackets were seen being loaded into the car by one of Egor's team Is it all off? He then proceeded to fill the back of the car with more items as all signs point to the relationship being over for good 'Return her jewelry you broke phoney or I'll take it out of your a**. I WILL find you [sic].' Littered with spelling mistakes, Lindsay's doting father appeared to be completely outraged by Egor's behaviour. According to another report from TMZ on Tuesday, staffers who were at Lindsay's home when Egor moved out his belongings 'told Lindsay, Egor and [his mother] Elena were trying to take her prized Marilyn Monroe pop art' by street artist Pegasus. Lindsay's dad, Michael allegedly sent another text to Egor and his mother, 'accusing them of jacking the painting,' TMZ writes. MailOnline have reached out to a representative for Lindsay for comment. It's not all bad: Egor managed to flash a smile as he conversed with the group of men who accompanied him to the house On Tuesday's INSIDE EDITION Michael spoke out on his daughter's claims that she is pregnant, explaining: 'I have no reason not to believe her. She is my daughter. She hasn't misled me. I go on what she tells me.' Michael also watched the video footage obtained by The Sun which shows Lindsay screaming for help from her neighbours in the early hours after an alleged confrontation with Egor. 'It is hard seeing her cry like that and alone and not have anyone there for her, being defenseless with him,' Michael said after viewing the footage. 'He is going to stay away from my daughter until he gets better,' Michael said of Egor. 'I feel bad for him, but this kind of behavior is not going to happen.' Have a look at this? Egor looked as though he was handing a set of keys to Lindsay's new bodyguard Sammy as he prepared to re-enter the property Pack up your troubles... Egor got stuck into some of the heavy lifting himself as he lifted some cases into the back of the car Not present: Lindsay was not at the property and is believed to have flown back to the US Making a quick exit: He kept his head down as he prepared to be driven off in the car Lindsay is now also publicly urging her fiance Egor Tarabasov to go to therapy. The 30-year-old actress claimed over the weekend that her Russian beau had been cheating on her, while police were also called to her London home after she accused him of 'trying to kill her'. However, the star wants to work things out, so is keen for him to get help, with her representative telling the New York Post: 'Lindsay believes Egor has anger-management issues and she would like him to go to therapy. They both want to work things out.' In you get: He waited patiently for the rest of his crew to join him in the vehicle Time to go: Egor removed four large suitcases, over 10 suit jackets and even snowboard/winter sports equipment And while one of the actress's social media posts over the weekend sparking speculation that she could be expecting her first child, the spokesperson added: 'I cannot confirm her pregnancy.' The statement comes as the friend Lindsay had dubbed a 'Russian hooker' in one of her posts has spoken out in her own defence, insisting she has never had a sexual relationship with Egor. 'I've known Egor for five years and have never slept with him and never would,' fashion designer Dasha Pashevkina told The Sun. 'I'm the one who introduced Lindsay to Egor. We are just friends. Helping hand: Lindsay Lohan is urging her fiance Egor Tarabasov to seek therapy for 'anger management issues' following the couple's weekend showdown Previously close: Dasha Pashevkina, who Lindsay branded a 'Russian hooker' in a post, has denied ever having slept with Egor and has announced plans to launch legal action against the star Privacy plea: The American actress, 30, issued a privacy plea via Instagram on Monday afternoon, in which she claimed there were 'more important things going on in the world' Close again: Lindsay and her man snuggle-up in yet another selfie of the soon-to-be-married pair 'Let's go': Lindsay Lohan put on an extremely low-key display following her bust-up with fiance, Egor Tarabasov, as she made her way to Heathrow Airport on Monday Undercover: Careful not to be recognised, the flame-haired star also covered her trademark auburn locks with a Givenchy hat and shielded her eyes with some dark aviator shades 'Lindsay's insecurities mean she can't have any girls around him. Her behaviour is so volatile but honestly I did not expect this.' Dasha went on to tell the publication that Lindsay threw Egor's mobile phone into the sea during the couple's recent trip to Mykonos. 'Lindsay had a meltdown as Egor went out with his London friends for dinner,' she said, adding: 'I'm taking legal action. She has a history of this and needs to learn a lesson.' Cryptic: The 30-year-old actress hid coyly behind a large black T-shirt which was emblazoned with a verse from EE Cummings poem, May I Feel Said He Sending a message? The meaningful words sparked speculation that her outfit choice may be related to her recent argument with with Egor On Monday, a day after kick-starting the drama with shocking accusations on social media, Lindsay took to Instagram to ask for privacy. Uploading a picture of a heart-shaped cloud, she captioned it with: 'I would appreciate if these speculations regarding my personal life would respectfully come to a halt. 'Unfortunately, a private matter has become more public than I can control and I would be extremely grateful if my fiance and myself could discuss our personal matters on our own. Still on? Despite accusing her boyfriend of 'trying to strangle her', Lindsay made sure that one part of her that was visible was her wedding finger - as she still proudly sported her engagement ring Protected: Lindsay was shrouded by a large bodyguard as she made her way from the car to the airport All that glitters: Despite rocking a low-key look, Lindsay couldn't resist slipping on a pair of eye-catching silver shoes 'There are more important things going on in the world than our relationship. Please leave us be to solve our personal matters.' The post was 'liked' more than 18,000 times within the first hour - but it also generated a slew of comments in response. Namely, highlighting the hypocrisy of her actions. The latest update comes just hours after she put on an extremely low-key display as she made her way to Heathrow Airport on Monday. Well hidden: It' is currently unknown where the actress will be jetting off to The 30-year-old actress hid coyly behind a large black T-shirt which was emblazoned with a verse from EE Cummings poem, May I Feel Said He. The cryptic message read: 'Let's go said he, not too far said she, what's too far said he, where you are said she.' The meaningful words sparked speculation that her outfit choice may be related to her recent argument with with Egor. Lindsay Lohan woke her entire street as she screamed her fiance was trying to kill during an argument at 5am at her London home Police smashed her front door, which showed signs of damage, after calls for help were heard by neighbours as she ranted at Egor Tarabasov, 23, on Saturday morning Just 10 minutes after the altercation police arrived at the 3.2million Knightsbridge property in west London and forced their way inside But when police entered the apartment the couple had already left and no arrests were made Careful not to be recognised, the flame-haired star also covered her trademark auburn locks with a Givenchy hat and shielded her eyes with some dark aviator shades. However, despite accusing her boyfriend of 'trying to strangle her', Lindsay made sure that one part of her that was visible was her wedding finger - as she still proudly sported her engagement ring. Flaws in the couple's relationship first began to show earlier this weekend when the former actress publicly accused Egor of disappearing for two days. 'He almost killed me': Lindsay made sure that all her neighbours could hear her struggle against Egor Making an escape: Egor and Lindsay had left the house by the time police had got there but were both tracked down and found to be safe and well There was also a disturbance at Lindsay's London home, which the police were called to. Lindsay woke her entire street as she allegedly screamed her fiance was trying to kill her during an argument at 5am at her London home. Police smashed her front door open, which showed signs of damage, after calls for help were heard by neighbours as she ranted at Egor Tarabasov, 23, on Saturday morning. The 30-year-old also accused her Russian millionaire partner, whom she has been dating for seven months, of partying with a prostitute. Police smashed down her front door, which showed signs of damage, after calling for help as she ranted at Egor Tarabasov, 23 In a video obtained by The Sun, which was filmed by a neighbour, Lohan shouts her name and address. She then screams: 'Please, please, please. He just strangled me. He almost killed me. Everybody will know. Get out of my house. 'Do it. I dare you again. You're f**king crazy. You sick f**k. You need help. it's my house, get out,' she continued. Insider source: The star shared a picture of her fiance inside the club, which had clearly been snapped by someone with an allegiance to her rather than Egor and accused him of being out with another girl Blame game: Proving she learnt a thing or two from her famous movie, the Mean Girls star insulted, Dasha Pashevkina (pictured 2013), whom the actress believed was out with her fiance Just 10 minutes after the altercation police arrived at the 3.2million Knightsbridge property in west London and forced their way inside, but the couple had already left and no arrests were made. A Met spokesman told MailOnline: 'Police were called to an address in Knightsbridge, SW7 on Saturday, 23 July at 05:10 hours following a report of a woman in distress. 'Officers attended and following concerns for the welfare of the occupants inside they forced entry into the address. 'There was no one inside but enquiries were made and the occupants were traced and found to be safe and well. No offences. No arrests.' She's an accomplished Hollywood actress. But prior to finding international stardom, Isla Fisher was a student at a prestigious clown school in France. The Great Gatsby star recalled her humble start during an interview on Tuesday night's edition of The Project and at one point, she had the audience chuckling as she remembered her failed attempt to juggle balls. Scroll down for video Bringing the laughs: Isla Fisher recalled her humble start during an interview on Tuesday night's edition of The Project and at one point, she had the audience chuckling as she remembered her failed attempt to juggle balls while attending the Jacques Lecoq International School of Theatre in Paris 'I didn't have a specialty,' Isla, 40, replied when asked about her time at the Jacques Lecoq International School of Theatre in Paris 20 years ago. 'I'd say that juggling was certainly not my specialty. I was one of the last people in the whole class to really be able to get three balls in the air,' she continued while quickly noting 'That's not a euphemism.' Isla attended the famous school at age 21, after finding success on Home And Away during the early 90s. Memorable moment: 'I'd say that juggling was certainly not my specialty. I was one of the last people in the whole class to really be able to get three balls in the air,' the actress said while quickly noting - 'That's not a euphemism' She initially struggled to adjust to life in the French capital while studying clowning and mime although in the end, the married mother of three said previously that it was all worthwhile. 'I moved to Paris after Home And Away to go to clown school,' She told The Guardian's Observer magazine. 'I didn't speak French and I felt so out of my depth. I was terrified [but] eventually I broke through my French became fluent and I enjoyed performing in a way that I hadn't in a long time. Before she reached international stardom: Isla attended the famous school at age 21, after finding success on Home And Away during the early 90s Since graduating from the school, Isla, who is married to English actor, Sacha Baron Cohen, 44, has gone on to star in a series of notable Hollywood blockbusters including Wedding Crashers, which catapulted her to international fame in 2005. She currently resides in Los Angeles with Sacha and their three children Olive, 8, Elula Lottie Miriam, 5, and a 16-month-old son Montgomery Moses Brian. She recently penned her first children's novel titled Marge in Charge. It's the night of all nights in the MasterChef Australia kitchen. And the grand finale kicked off to a close start on Tuesday night as Elena Duggan and Matt Sinclair went head-to-head for the winner's titles. During the first round of the competition, Matt found himself in the lead after receiving 26 out of 30 for his quail entree meal. Scroll down for video Coming up on top: During the first round of the MasterChef Australia grand finale, Matt Sinclair found himself in the lead after receiving 26 out of 30 for his entree meal Judge Gary Mehigan couldn't fault the dish, saying: 'I love it. I love that sauce. It's absolutely delicious. It's just like, boom...full of flavour. It's sophisticated. 'You know, it's smooth, it's complex and delicious. And you add that together with all the other flavours that you've got on that plate - I think it's absolutely delicious,' he continued. Co-star, Matt Preston, added: 'The cooking of the confit legs is absolutely beautiful. I think this is an absolutely delicious plate of food. Well done.' First up: For entree the 27-year-old served confit quail with corn and chorizo salsa and pedro ximenez sauce He's a fan: Matt Preston (R) commented: 'The cooking of the confit legs is absolutely beautiful. I think this is an absolutely delicious plate of food. Well done' Close behind: Elena Duggan just missed out on winning the first round by a short three points after receiving 23 out of 30 from the judges for her first dish Elena just missed out on winning the first round by a short three points after receiving 23 out of 30 from the judges. Her seafood dish was praised by the judges, with Preston saying: 'It's a beautiful, fresh dish that really makes a star of the marron. I really like the crisps and I like the fact that they've got a salty hit, because I think the marron needs that. 'You haven't disappointed us and you haven't disappointed yourself.' Trying: She cooked up a marron two ways with smoked vegetable salad and dashi dressing for her first course Impressed: Her dish was praised by the judges, with Preston saying: 'It's a beautiful, fresh dish that really makes a star of the marron. I really like the crisps and I like the fact that they've got a salty hit' Fighting until the end: The second round of the grand finale battle rose tensions after the pair battled it out with a 'no rules' cook off Tension grew in the second round of the grand finale battle after the pair battled it out with a 'no rules' cook off. The competitors received free range to browse the pantry, vegetable patch and butcher for the round where they were required to dish up a main course for the three judges. Matt found himself taking the lead again with his crispy skin barramundi with a pancetta brothdish after it received a perfect 30 out of 30 from the professional panel. Top score: Matt found himself taking the lead again following the gutwrenching round with this crispy skin barramundi with a pancetta brothdish after it received a perfect 30 out of 30 from the professional panel Happy: Gary gloated: 'Matt. I'm gonna smile when I say this, because that food makes me happy. That fish was delicious. It was cooked perfectly. I could not cook it any better. And that's why I gave you a ten out of ten' Close behind: Elena also received a perfect 30 out of 30 for her main dish 'Matt. I'm gonna smile when I say this, because that food makes me happy. That fish was delicious. It was cooked perfectly. I could not cook it any better. And that's why I gave you a ten out of ten,' Gary gloated. George Calombaris went on to add: 'It's the entire package. It's not just a piece of fish and vegetables - it's a perfectly cooked piece of fish, but then clever. That hard caramelisation on the brussels sprouts to assist with the broth, then freshness of the leaves. Elena also received a perfect 30 out of 30 for her twice-cooked lamb dish. 'I'm running out of words to express something that blows my mind. It sends shivers down my spine,' George said.' MasterChef Australia grand finale continues on Network 10. Delicious: She served a twice-cooked lamb with a lamb jus, macadamia puree, pickled beets and vegetables Pleased: George said: 'I'm running out of words to express something that blows my mind. It sends shivers down my spine' He was said to have terrible body odour which lead to a bevvy of beauties questioning his appearance on the fourth season of The Bachelor. But Richie Strahan has hit back at rumours, saying they were made up. Speaking to Kent Small on Nova's Smallzy Surgery, the reality TV star said: 'We don't know who these sources are. It could be anyone.' Scroll down for video Just no: The Bachelor's Richie Strahan denies having bad body odour, saying rumours were created to 'legitimately rubbed dirt on me 'I think they were looking for a bit of dirt on me and they couldn't find it so they legitimately rubbed dirt on me and called me the "smelly kid".' The comments come after New Idea magazine claimed the 31-year-old hunk had body odour problems while filming the successful Channel Ten series. 'No-one knew if he was aware of it, or if it was down to his nerves. But it was noticeable and was certainly a mood killer as far as romance goes,' a source told the publication. However, the odour story was one of the only reports to circulate on the reality TV star, unlike newest Bachelorette Georgia Love. Sources say: The comments come after New Idea magazine claimed the 31-year-old hunk had body odour problems The 27-year-old's ex-boyfriends were quick to dish the dirt on the lovelorn star to various media outlets after she was announced to feature in the second TV series in June. But unlike the former WIN TV presenter, Richie says there were no hard feelings felt towards him by his ex-girlfriends. 'I don't think so,' he told The Daily Telegraph after he was asked would any ex-lovers spill the beans on their failed relationship to the media. 'I think I'm friends with most of my exes.' 'No-one knew if he was aware of it': According to the publication, the women wanted to leave the successful reality TV series Not much love: Georgia Love hasn't received much love from her exes after she was announced as The Bachelorette So far, none of Richie's exes have confessed the intricate details of their past relationships to any media outlet, which has helped in light of the 31-year-old's debut on The Bachelor. The Western Australia native will have 22 beauties all vying for his attention when the show hits TV screens later this month The line-up includes an eclectic mix of women all with different occupations, ages and backgrounds. She's known for her zany style and alternative fashion sense. And Gwen Stefani's son, Kingston, appeared to have inherited his mother's love for the unusual as he sported electric blue ombre hair, while on a trip to Disney World, on Monday. The 10-year-old certainly stood out from the crowd as he swept his colourful tresses into a deep side parting and his superstar mother also worked her magic in the hair department with some eye-catching braids. Scroll down for video Like mother, like son: Gwen Stefani's son, Kingston, appeared to have inherited his mother's love for the unusual as he sported electric blue ombre hair, while on a trip to Disney World, on Monday The 46-year-old songstress looked effortlessly cool as she stepped out in a baggy pair of dungarees, that came complete with retro patches along the legs. But she made sure that she could still soak herself in the July sunshine as she opted to go sleeveless with a simple black vest top. And she made sure to stick with her son's vibrant theme as she rounded off her style with a pair of bright orange trainers, which added some extra height to her frame with a subtle wedge. Meanwhile, Kingston also looked laidback as he joined his mother and two brothers, Zuma and Apollo for the family outing. Family fun day! Gwen proved that theme parks aren't just for kids as she frolicked on a rollercoaster and even tried to take some selfies The 10-year-old was ready for action in a pair of sporty Nike shorts and white T-shirt. And he added even more neon to his ensemble with a pair of black and yellow trainers. But Gwen proved that theme parks aren't just for kids as she frolicked on a rollercoaster and even tried to take some selfies. Gwen is currently travelling round the States as part of her latest tour. Family fun! Gwen Stefani was joined by sons Apollo and Zuma for some fun at Walt Disney World at Lake Buena Vista, Florida on Monday Cruising: Little Apollo enjoyed a ride through the world-famous amusement park inside the comfort of a large beige stroller And on Monday she took off an afternoon for family fun at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The 46-year-old was joined by her friends and three sons, who enjoyed a ride through the world-famous amusement park inside the comfort of a large beige stroller. Gwen documented the trip on her Snapchat account, an excursion that included a visit to rides It's A Small World and Splash Mountain. Having some fun! Brave Gwen managed to whip out her phone as she and Zuma shared a carriage on Splash Mountain, just before the ride plummeted down the rails It's Mickey Mouse! Stefani also got in a posing session with none other than Mickey Mouse, right in front of the iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle Brave Gwen managed to whip out her phone as she and Zuma rode on Splash Mountain, just before the ride kicked up speed. The pair looked towards the camera before the ride plummeted down the rails. Gwen also got in a posing session with none other than Mickey Mouse, right in front of the iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle. That's the spirit: The songbird was dressed the part with her sequined Minnie Mouse ears, cosy overalls, and wedge trainers Stylin': She had her bright blonde hair styled into two braids, and finished off the look with a bright slick of fuschia pink lipstick Family matters: The hit-maker has three children with her ex-husband Gavin Rossdale: Kingston, ten, as well as Zuma and Apollo The Hollaback hit-maker looked to be having the time of her life as she posed up a storm with the famous Disney character. Gwen has been busy touring for her latest album, This Is What The Truth Feels Like The hit-maker has three children with her ex-husband Gavin Rossdale: Kingston, ten, as well as Zuma, seven, and Apollo, two. They were married for nearly 13 years when they divorced in August 2015. Gwen started dating her The Voice co-star Blake Shelton in November of 2015, and have been going strong ever since. Having a blast: Stefani was clearly enjoying a well-deserved day off at the world-famous theme park Their on-going faux feud has proven popular with audiences. And Matt Damon, 45, and television host Jimmy Kimmel, 48, continued their fake fall-out during their second couples therapy skit on Monday night's Jimmy Kimmel Live. Sitting together on a couch facing psychotherapist Paul Kundinger, things immediately got off to a frosty start with Jimmy stacking up cushions between himself and Matt to create a divide. Scroll down for video Sorting out their differences: Matt Damon, 45, and television host Jimmy Kimmel, 48, continued their fake fall-out during their second couples therapy skit on Monday night's Jimmy Kimmel Live Referring to the pair's previous therapy session in September 2015, Jimmy explained it was because Matt 'beat him up'. Despite the unsuccessful reconciliation attempt last time out, the pair revealed that the second session was part of a court order. Desperate to appear as a guest on the show, Matt claimed to live in the studio, but Jimmy insisted he visited regularly and called him a stalker. The Jason Bourne star admitted all he wanted from the session was to be able to appear on the show as a live guest, citing his frustration with Jimmy for always breaking his promises to let him on. A-list: With the latest installment in the Bourne series set to drop, Damon couldn't help but plug the spy thriller by revealing a comical bumper sticker which read 'Honk if you're Bourney' 'I've never met somebody who's so horrible with time management,' bemoaned Damon, which even Jimmy agreed with. A clip showed Damon's previous attempts to get some air time, with the star sneaking in underneath pal Ben Affleck's coat and even tying up Jimmy so that he could front the show. With the latest installment in the Bourne series set to drop, Damon couldn't help but plug the spy thriller by revealing a comical bumper sticker which read 'Honk if you're Bourney'. Kundinger suggested the pair use art therapy as a way of resolving their issues. He handed them paper and pens and asked them to draw each other. Tense: Sitting together on a couch facing psychotherapist Paul Kundinger, things immediately got off to a frosty start with Jimmy stacking up cushions between himself and Matt to create a divide Damon is first to reveal his artwork, producing the body of a man with a bottom for a face. He said: 'That's an a** face - that's how i feel about Jimmy and his show.' While Jimmy simply drew a large penis on his pad, which reduced both himself and Damon to fits of laughter. Their first skit followed a similar format, with Damon revealing to the female therapist that for the past 10 years, he had come to the studio every night and waited in a dressing room assigned to him by Kimmel. But he's never made it onto the show. Forced upon them: Despite the unsuccessful reconciliation attempt last time out, the pair revealed that the second session was part of a court order Kimmel explained it's just hard to fit everything into a one-hour telecast. 'We have other guests. I have a monologue to do. I have a band,' he said. 'Listen, I understand his point of view, but he has to understand my point of view. 'He thinks the world revolves around him. He thinks he's the only celebrity in California,' the host added. Damon expressed his frustration that his pal always turns things around to make him look like the bad guy. 'He is verbally abusive to me and couches it as truth,' Damon said. The hilarious skit ended with Kimmel promising to keep trying to get the actor onto the show and Damon committed to waiting 'another 12 years.' It has been a long couple of months for the MasterChef Australia contestants. And on Tuesday night, finalists Matt Sinclair and Elena Duggan broke down in tears as their beloved family and partners joined them on set for the final round in the grand finale. When first laying eyes on his parents and wife, Matt's head dropped in his hands as he sobs loudly before running into their open arms. Scroll down for video Emotional: MasterChef finalists Matt Sinclair and Elena Duggan broke down to tears on Tuesday night as their beloved family and partners joined them on set for the final round in the grand finale After welcoming his family to the kitchen headquarters, the 27-year-old explained that his mother and father had ventured back to Australia to watch the finale after holidaying in Europe. 'I didn't even think Mum and Dad would be able to make it,' he said through the tears. 'Rach [sister] and I sent them off overseas and they came back from Italy for grand finale.' Can't control it: When first laying eyes on his parents and wife, Matt's head dropped in his hands as he sobs loudly before running into their open arms Break down: After welcoming his family to the kitchen headquarters, the 27-year-old explained his mother and father had ventured back to Australia to watch the finale after holidaying in Europe His father Craig added, 'Thats what family does mate,' before going in for a tight hug. Elena's partner Eric took his moment to gloat about the contestant's progress in the competition. 'I am extremely, extremely proud of her,' he said. Pleased: Elena displayed a large smile as her partner Eric gloated about the contestant's progress in the competition, saying 'I am extremely, extremely proud of her' Standing by: During the intense final round the family members joined the past contestants on the sideline and cheered on their loved ones until the final moments 'This is just mind-blowing where it's taken her'. During the intense final round the family members joined the past contestants on the sideline and cheered on their loved ones until the final moments. After a tough three-round battle, Elena was crowned the winner of season eight with a high score of 86 out of 100. Twelve years after Heidi Klum gave birth to his daughter Leni, Flavio Briatore has revealed that he finds it 'hard' to miss his offspring because he 'never sees' her. German beauty Heidi welcomed Leni into the world shortly after the couple split in 2004 and she was subsequently raised by the supermodel and her now ex-husband Seal. 'Leni is my natural daughter, but the three of us happily agreed that it made more sense if Seal adopted her, because a child needs to grow up in a family,' he told Italy's Il Corriere della Sera. Scroll down for video Distant: Flavio Briatore has admitted that he no longer has a relationship with his 12-year-old daughter Leni Former Renault F1 team manager Flavio, who has six-year-old son Nathan with wife Elisabetta Gregoraci, added: 'Heidi, Seal and I have built an amazing relationship. 'It's hard to miss a baby that you never see. But I know that Leni is not an abandoned child. Leni is part of Seal's family and Nathan is part of mine.' Leni - who was born Helene Klum - used to speak to her 66-year-old father on the phone for two hours a day but he insists it 'wasn't enough' and Heidi and Seal raised her. The ex factor: Flavio and Heidi Klum went their separate ways shortly after she announced her pregnancy Blended family: Leni was subsequently raised by Heidi's husband Seal, whom she split from in 2015 The businessman explained: 'Leni was born when Heidi and I had already spilt. Heidi was living in Los Angeles and I was in London, the distance between us was unbridgeable. 'We used to speak on the phone two hours a day, but it wasn't enough. She needed to stay with her mum. Then, Heidi started to date Seal and he raised her.' Flavio started dating Heidi, 43, in March 2003 and she announced she was pregnant in December that year but the pair split soon afterwards. Moved on: The former Renault F1 team manager now has a six-year-oldf son with wife Elisabetta Gregoraci Big Apple: Heidi was last month seen with three of her four children (l-r) Leni, Henry and Johan in New York Heidi gave birth to Leni in May 2004 in New York and he allowed Seal to adopt her and change her name to Helene Samuel. The blonde beauty - who is also mother to Henry, 11, Johan, 10, and Lou, seven - filed for divorce from Seal in April 2012 and it was finalised in October 2015, 10 years after they tied the knot. Following the demise of her marriage, the model dated her bodyguard Martin Kristen until 2014 before embarking on a romance with art dealer Vito Schnabel. He has been compared to Barney The Dinosour, Disney villain Governor Ratcliffe in Pocahontas, and even Grimace from the McDonald and adverts in the past. And on Tuesday night, Matt Preston took his fashion statement to the next level for the MasterChef Australia grand finale. Social media went into meltdown during the two hour episode, with many users mistaking the 54-year-old for Captain Cook. Scroll down for video Mix-up: Matt Preston's MasterChef outfit sent social media into meltdown on Tuesday, with many users mistaking the 54-year-old for Captain Cook One user shared an image of the British explorer along with the caption: 'It's terrific that @MattsCravat dressed up as Captain Cook for the #MasterChefAU grand finale'. Another echoed the thought, posting, 'Matt Preston looks like he's just stepped off the Endeavour,' along with a hashtag for Captain Preston. Other Twitter users showed off their comedic sense of humour through the posts, with one viewers claiming they'd be upset if 'a parrot doesn't fly in and land on Matt Preston's shoulder in the final minutes'. Funny: One user shared an image of the British explorer along with the caption: 'It's terrific that @MattsCravat dressed up as Captain Cook for the #MasterChefAU grand finale' Comparison: Another echoed the thought, posting, 'Matt Preston looks like he's just stepped off the Endeavour,' along with a hashtag for Captain Preston But while many jumped on the Captain Cook reference, others discovered their own comparisons. 'Matt Preston going for the 'Napoleon' look for tonight's @masterchefau finale this evening,' one viewer posted to Twitter. Another wrote: 'Someone should tell Matt Preston this is the #MasterChefAU finale, not auditions for Hamilton.' Feelings: Other Twitter users showed off their comedic sense of humour through the posts, with one viewers claiming they'd be upset if 'a parrot doesn't fly in and land on Matt Preston's shoulder in the final minutes' Hilarious: But while many jumped on the Captain Cook reference, others discovered their own comparisons Last month, Matt admitted his savvy style is based on outfits that allow him to stand out from the crowd. I think for me its the whole difference between style and fashion; style should be what you want to wear, the father-of-three told Confidential. Matt's impeccable style in the past includes a number of well-cut colourful suits and fancy cravats, many of them handmade by his friend and designer Leona Edmiston. Down to earth: One viewer wrote: 'Matt Preston going for the 'Napoleon' look for tonight's @masterchefau finale this evening' Mixing it up: Another compared his outfit to Javert's in a Twitter post The TV personality admitted to Executive Style his TV attire stemmed from clothes he had been wearing as a 16-year-old punk rocker in London. 'Having said all this, it is always how you wear things that matters and as an old punk rocker I've never really been a big fan of conforming to what the media thinks a bloke should wear,' he told the publication. 'If Aussie men relied on the media, we'd all still be wearing ties and pale blue shirts with charcoal suits to work. And how dull would that be!' She's had starring roles in blockbusters such as Inception and The Dark Knight Rises. And Marion Cotillard was hard at work on her latest Hollywood hit, as she filmed scenes for Assassin's Creed, in Cambridgshire, on Tuesday. The 40-year-old actress cut a quirky figure on set, as she swapped between fluffy slippers and multicoloured brogues. Scroll down for video On the go! Marion Cotillard was hard at work on her latest Hollywood hit, as she filmed scenes for Assassin's Creed, in Cambridgshire, on Tuesday. Keeping the rest of her look simple, the brunette beauty opted for monochrome shades of white and black, as she shrouded her frame with a long-line cardigan and loose fitting trousers. However, she couldn't resist adding an extra burst of colour to her ensemble as she rounded off her outfit with a vibrant red scarf that was adorned with white line drawings. And she certainly knew how to mix things up in the footwear department, as she put comfort above everything else and kept her toes toasty with a pair of fur-lined slippers. Putting her best foot forward: The 40-year-old actress cut a quirky figure on set, as she swapped between fluffy slippers and multicoloured brogues The French-born actress ensured that her makeup was effortlessly glamorous as she opted for a subtle base and highlighted her eyes with an expertly blended bronze smokey eye. She also let her hair frame her pretty features, as she styled it into a straight and sleek bob with a deep side parting. Marion looked deep in concentration as she walked around Ely Cathedral while examining her script. Stylish! The brunette beauty opted for monochrome shades of white and black, as she shrouded her frame with a long-line cardigan and loose fitting trousers Red hot! Marion couldn't resist adding an extra burst of colour to her ensemble as she rounded off her outfit with a vibrant red scarf that was adorned with white line drawings Michael Fassbender takes on the role of Callum Lynch who is captured by secret society, the Assassins, in order to experience the adventures of his ancestor, Aguilar, in ancient Spain. In the original game, the main protagonist was a young bartender named Desmond Miles from New York, who is forced to enter the Animus. The new Assassin's Creed movie trailer, shared on the Official Facebook page on Wednesday, opens with Callum being told that he had been executed the previous evening. Natural beauty! The French-born actress ensured that her makeup was effortlessly glamorous as she opted for a subtle base and highlighted her eyes with an expertly blended bronze smokey eye Sleep walking! She certainly knew how to mix things up in the footwear department, as she put comfort above everything else and kept her toes toasty with a pair of fur-lined slipper Practice makes perfect! Marion looked deep in concentration as she walked around Ely Cathedral while examining her script Academy Award-winning French actress Marion Cotillard playing Sophia Rikkin has to be the one to tell him the news. But all is not lost, because as a descendant of the Assassins, a newly-developed technology affords him the chance to come back. Exploring the memories of Aguilar, Fassbender's character gains the skills of a Master Assassin in order to defeat the evil Templar organization in the present day. The film, in theaters December 21, 2016, is an adaptation of the Ubisoft video game series that now comes in the form of nine main games and a number of supporting materials. Grand setting! The Assassins Creed team were busy filming at the iconic Ely Cathedral, in Cambridgeshire Popular! Tourists also made their way around the grounds alongside the actors He's already one of the biggest names in EDM at the tender age of 20. And Martin Garrix has confirmed he intends to release music with his good pal Justin Bieber, 22, with the pair currently 'throwing ideas around'. Speaking to MailOnline at Belgium's Tomorrowland ahead of his main stage performance on Sunday night, the DJ revealed: 'I'm still in the process of throwing ideas around. For us both there's no hurry, no rush in making music together. There will be a song in the future.' Scroll down for video Making music: Martin Garrix, 20, has confirmed he intends to release music with his good pal Justin Bieber, 22, at some point in the future Currently ranked number three by DJ Mag, the Dutchman closed his high-energy set with upcoming single In The Name Of Love - his collaboration with Bebe Rexha which comes out on Friday. Garrix explained: 'It's a new chapter. I think as a producer I try to combine some different things because a lot of people know me from the hard hitting festivals. 'This is new, it's different. I don't want to be limited to one thing, one style. I want to expand my boundaries, try new s**t.' This year was the third time Garrix has played Tomorrowland, widely considered the world's premiere dance festival, which saw each of its 180,000 tickets sell out. Summer anthem: Currently ranked number three by DJ Mag, the Dutchman's collaboration with Bebe Rexha called In The Name Of Love will be released on Friday Party time: A Budweiser tanker was rolled onto the stage to be infused by the beats and energy of Tiestos performance Joining him on the bill were veteran DJs David Guetta, Tiesto, Swedish House Mafia's Axwell & Ingrosso and Steve Angello, Deadmau5, Eric Prydz as well as Orange Is The New Black's Ruby Rose. Serial hitmaker Guetta, 48, has referred to Garrix as his 'lil' bro', and the rising star is thankful for the support he's received from his peers. 'I've worked with David. I've been in the studio with him,' said Garrix. 'I'm good friends with him. He calls me on Facetime, like "what up Martin? how are you?" and vice versa. We both have the same job. We get to make people happy. He loves music just as much as I do. 'He's been touring for the last 25 years, I've been touring for the last two years. People like that are very helpful, and it's amazing how supportive they are.' Garrix's in-demand sets ensure he leads a jetset lifestyle. His remaining tour dates this summer will see him travel to America, Canada, Portugal, Estonia, the UK and Italy to name but a few. Work hard, play hard: Spending his time playing at some of the biggest parties on the planet, including residencies in Las Vegas and Ibiza, there are no doubt plenty of distractions for a man in the prime of life Spending his time playing at some of the biggest parties on the planet, including residencies in Las Vegas and Ibiza, there are no doubt plenty of distractions for a man in the prime of life. But Garrix has faith in those around him to steer him in the right direction. He told MailOnline: 'I think it's the people I surround myself with. Whenever I'm about to do something stupid they're like "Martin, bad idea don't do that." 'Of course I party. Of course I go chase girls. Again for me balance is important. One hundred per cent my work goes first. Martin Garrix is my main priority. But to maintain Martin Garrix I have to enjoy my downtime.' It was announced on Wednesday that the Dutch star has signed a deal with Sony Music International, with RCA Records distributing his music in the US and Columbia Records in the UK. Garrix said: 'Im super excited to be working with such a hungry and passionate team at Sony Music Entertainment. Their forward thinking approach to streaming and incredible roster of talented artists combined with their passion and understanding for my vision of the future of my music made this a no brainer.' Jetsetting: His remaining tour dates this summer will see him travel to America, Canada, Portugal, Estonia, the UK and Italy to name but a few Legend: MailOnline also caught up with 47-year-old Dutch DJ Tiesto backstage at Tomorrowland, Belgium MailOnline also caught up with 47-year-old Dutch DJ Tiesto backstage at the festival. The legendary artist played an exclusive surprise set in the festival's DreamVille quarter, home to 38,000 revellers, on Thursday as part of Budweiser's Tomorrowland campaign. One of the beer brand's tankers was rolled onto the stage to be infused by the beats and energy of the DJ's performance as well as that of the fans. The infused brew will be available to purchase in Asda and Spar convenience stores in the UK this August, so fans can continue the legacy of Tomorrowland through the summer. And Tiesto returned on the jaw-dropping main stage the following day. Discussing his surprise set, which included the first play of Infected - a track featuring Jauz and created in collaboration with Budweiser, he said: 'It was amazing. What I liked about that set was that nobody expected me to play so I could be a little bit more over the place, put a couple of club tracks in there, a couple of remixes.' He added that Tomorrowland was 'one of the best [festivals] in the world.' He has largely kept details of his love life under wraps since parting ways with Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence in 2014. But last week, the 26-year-old British actor set tongues wagging as he was spotted enjoying a relaxing break on Italy's breathtaking Amalfi coast with a bikini-clad mystery brunette beauty. The shirtless screen star was engrossed in conversation with the stunner, who wore a black halterneck two-piece as they lounged together by their hotel swimming pool and soaked up the sun. Scroll down for video Getaway: Nicholas Hoult was spotted in Positano, Italy, with a mystery brunette beauty last week Wearing a pair of stylish sunglasses, Nicholas casually chatted away with his pretty companion, as they dipped their toes in the cooling pool water before going for a quick swim. The pair dried themselves off with large beige beach towels as they prepared to top up their suntans during their relaxing day together. Later, as they laid side-by-side on adjoining sun loungers, the Berkshire-born actor threw on a trilby as he thumbed through the pages of a paperback book. Chill out: The British actor looked relaxed as he went shirtless while relaxing at the edge of a glistening pool Well read: He was seen toting a paperback book as he chatted in the sunshine with his pretty companion Playing in the shade: The pair opted to wear stylish sunglasses for their day out in the sweltering heat It's good to talk: The pair were engrossed in a deep conversation as they enjoyed their pool's secluded setting Taking the plunge: The 26-year-old screen star was later seen enjoying a refreshing dip in the pool Uprising: The pair later got up as they prepared to head to their sun loungers and continue enjoying the heat Safety first: A bottle of suntan lotion was seen sitting next to one of the sheet-covered loungers It also appeared to greatly interest his companion, who was seen wearing a patterned sundress and black flip-flops as she curiously leaned in to read over his shoulder. As well as a secluded pool, the pair were also seen enjoying a large, sprawling balcony, which also housed sunbeds for them to enjoy the sunshine at every opportunity. Nicholas and his 25-year-old ex-girlfriend Jennifer finally called it quits on their romance in 2014. Hat's the way to do it: Nicholas reached for his trilby as he prepared to protect his head from the intense heat Itsy bitsy: The Berkshire-born star's pretty companion displayed her svelte frame in a black halterneck bikini Not short on style: Nicholas kept himself cool, wearing just a pair of patterned blue swimming shorts Toweling off: Their pair dried themselves off with large beige beach towels as they continued on with their day We're having a laugh! The pair enjoyed a conversation that had handsome Nicholas laughing at several points The ex factor: He was previously romantically linked to Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Larwence They met while co-starring 2011's X-Men: First Class, but initially parted in 2013 before their return for follow-up film X-Men: Days of Future Past saw them romantically reunited. Jennifer, who was later romantically linked to Chris Martin, previously said that she enjoyed having a long distance relationship with Nicholas because they weren't then ready to be more serious. 'We're so young that it would almost be like, if we lived in the same city, what would happen? We'd be living together,' she said in an interview with Marie Claire. 'At least this way he's in the same boat as I am: We can go out and have our own lives and know that we have each other.' Do you see what I see? Nicholas's companion was later seen leaning in to look over his shoulder as he read What a sweet suite: The twosome were seen hanging out at a suite, which boasted a sprawling balcony Stylish to a T: He was seen donning a grey T-shirt as he enjoyed the picturesque view from his patio Enjoying the view: The X-Men star appeared to be particularly taken with the breathtaking scenery Star attraction: A host of celebrities have been seen spending time in Italy, France and Spain over the summer He has apparently found love on The Bachelor. But before Richie Strahan decided to star on the fourth series, the 31-year-old ropes technician admitted during a live Facebook Q&A on Tuesday that he didn't take the decision to go on the show lightly. He said he asked his family and friends for advice after he was turned down on the Bachelorette by Sam Frost last year. Scroll down for video Tough decision: The Bachelor's Richie Strahan spilled the beans during a live Facebook Q&A that he asked his family for advice before making the big decision to star on the reality TV series 'My family was so supportive when I asked them should I go down this avenue again,' he told The Bachelor host Osher Gunsberg. 'I sat down with them and had a really big chat. Mum was sensational. She was like, "Yep. 100 per cent go for it". 'My sister as well was like, "hey I know how hard it is for you to meet someone special. We will certainly back you with your decision".' Tick of approval: He said his family was so 'supportive' of him to go on the show Advice: Richie added that his mother advised him to 'follow his heart' Family time: Richie with his mother and sister Richie added that his mother advised him to 'follow his heart'. Meanwhile, news broke that Richie would be Australia's fourth Bachelor in March when he made his announcement toThe Daily Telegraph. 'To be honest I couldn't believe they called me up to ask,' he told the newspaper. 'I'm a very private person and it's a really big decision to put yourself out in the public arena again.' Richie has previously told how he would leave his hometown of Perth if the right woman comes along. '(Leaving Perth) is something I have certainly considered,' Strahan told AAA Weekend. Well polished: The TV hunk cut a handsome figure during the Q&A session on Tuesday evening New Bachelor: News broke that Richie would be Australia's fourth Bachelor in March when he made his announcement to The Daily Telegraph 'I have come into this experience with an open mind and I don't want to put up walls to stop me meeting a girl I could fall in love with.' The hunk will follow in the footsteps of previous incumbents, Tim Robards, Blake Garvey and Sam Wood - all of whom found love, some not ever lasting, on the show. His last reported romance, with former Big Brother star Tully Smyth, came shortly after radio host Sam left him heartbroken, axing him for eventual winner Sasha Mielczarek. Richie has admitted his love-life had been tricky following his appearance on the hit show and has insisted he won't be 'kissing girls for the sake of it' when it airs this week. The Bachelor Season Four premieres 7.30pm July 27 on Channel Ten. First his own party turned on him. Now Bernie Sanders is being attacked from an even more unlikely source: The Bachelorette fans. The Vermont senator came under fire on Monday night when his DNC speech interrupted the start of the hit ABC dating show. Scroll down for video Feeling the Bern! The Bachelorette fans were furious at Bernie Sanders for cutting into Monday's episode during his DNC speech Priorities: Twitter lit up when viewers tuned in expecting to see JoJo Fletcher trim her potential suitors down by one, but were instead greeted by the 74-year-old addressing the Democratic National Convention Twitter lit up when viewers tuned in expecting to see JoJo Fletcher trim her potential suitors down by one, but were instead greeted by the 74-year-old addressing the Democratic National Convention. 'Unless Jojo is gonna come out and choose @BernieSanders as her husband, I'm gonna need him to stop talking and let #TheBachelorette begin,' one user wrote. 'Bernie ima let you finish but youre five minutes into the Bachelorette and we all need to know who JoJo is gonna eliminate,' wrote another, clearly hoping Kanye West would swoop in and resolve the situation. Fans who DVR'd the episode were most irate, waking up the following morning to find the vital last half hour missing. Tough decision: 'Unless Jojo is gonna come out and choose @BernieSanders as her husband, I'm gonna need him to stop talking and let #TheBachelorette begin,' one user wrote West to the rescue: One fan wanted Kanye West to intervene Imma let you finish: There was more than one viewer hoping the rapper would repeat his VMA invasion to resolve the situation The show's host Chris Harrison had warned over social media earlier in the day that the convention broadcast might affect the start time. 'Check local listings cause Im guessing the #DNC will hijack up #TheBachelorette time in many cities,' he advised. 'Some things are even out of my control.' Nevertheless the audience wasn't feeling the Bern, with some suggesting the screen invasion was costing the party votes. 'I swear Bernie is losing votes for Hillary by cutting into the Bachelorette,' one viewer tweeted. 'The only Her Im with is JoJo.' Yuuuge disappointment: One twitter user even deployed the dreaded Trump scowl Bad move: Others claimed Bernie was costing the party votes Some jabs meanwhile aimed even lower: 'Bernie Sanders ruined the Bachelorette just like he would have ruined America if he was the nominee.' Still, it could have been worse for Bernie - at least he didn't make it right up to the Fantasy Suite stay only to get dumped like Chase McNary. The 27-year-old fell at the penultimate hurdle on Monday night, describing the experience as like 'pulling your pants down and getting kicked in the nuts'. Now, just Jordan Rodgers, Robby Hayes, Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton remain. Bored: Without their favourite dating show to watch, there was plenty of time for photshopping Irate: Some jabs meanwhile aimed even lower George Harrison's widow has raised the possibility of their musician son working on completing several of the late rocker's unreleased songs. Olivia Harrison revealed she and Dhani had discussed him taking over the tracks left unfinished by his father before his death in 2001. 'There are a lot of songs that are unfinished,' she explained to Billboard. 'I think theres a project there. I just need time to get to it.' Scroll down for video New Harrison music? George Harrison's widow has raised the possibility of their musician son working on completing several of the late rocker's unreleased songs She was speaking at the the tenth anniversary of The Beatles Love by Cirque du Soleil at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, attended by surviving members Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono. Ono also revealed she is working on around 10 songs that will make up a new album - but has been sidelined by ill health. The artist - who was hospitalised in February - explained that she been 'derailed the whole situation'. 'Everything in my body is OK now, except I have a problem walking,' the 83-year-old explained. Legacy: Olivia Harrison revealed she and Dhani had discussed him taking over the tracks left unfinished by his father before his death in 2001 Back on track: Yoko Ono also revealed she is working on around 10 songs that will make up a new album - but was sidelined by ill health earlier this year Legend: Olivia met the Beatles lead guitarist in 1974 as a secretary at A&M Records and she gave birth to their son in August 1978 Olivia met the Beatles lead guitarist in 1974 as a secretary at A&M Records and she gave birth to their son in August 1978. The following month the couple married in a private ceremony in a registry office in Henley-on-Thames. Olivia moved into George's Oxfordshire mansion, Friar Park, where she still lives today, following her husband's death from cancer in 2001. In December 1999, an intruder broke into the house and attacked George and his wife, leaving him with a punctured lung, more than 40 stab wounds and head injuries. Olivia has kept busy since George's death and promoted the The Beatles: Rock Band video game with Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr in 2009. While in 2011 she co-produced the film George Harrison: Living in the Material World with Martin Scorsese and co-authored the accompanying book. Her Made In Chelsea ex Alex Mytton recently threw shade at her on social media following their break up. But Nicola Hughes was all smiles as she attended the Breakfast At Tiffany's press night in the West End on Tuesday. The 26-year-old showed off her enviable pins in a textured scarlet and claret minidress which accentuated her tiny waist as she arrived at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. Scroll down for video Big smile: Nicola Hughes showed off her enviable pins at the opening night of Breakfast At Tiffany's The Irish reality star accessorised the quirky frock with a pair of heeled sandals featuring geometric design. Nicola finished off the look with a khaki handbag and immaculate red nails as she showed off her golden tan. She kept her poker-straight blonde locks down behind her shoulders, while accentuating her blue eyes with lashings of mascara and a strong brow. Stars were out in force to see the play starring Pixie Lott, which was transferred to the West End in late June following a UK and Ireland tour. Loving life: The 26-year-old wore a textured red minidress teamed with a pair of heeled sandals Following their split, Alex, who admitted to cheating on her numerous times throughout their relationship, mocked his ex on social media. After seeing pictures of Nicola in her local park where she stripped down to tiny khaki bikini top and scarlet bottoms, he playfully wrote: 'Guys I may go to the park alone today..I may also get unchanged and changed again due to the heat, hope no one sees me, that would be s*** [sic]. He later deleted the tweet. Happy to be single? Nicole recently split with on-off boyfriend and Made In Chelsea co-star Alex Mytton During the last season of Made In Chelsea, the couple suffered some extreme highs and lows on the show, with Alex admitting to kissing another girl while on a lads' ski trip. Speaking at the 2016 Cannes Lions Festival last month, Alex had suggested to MailOnline that he and the Irish model were going through a difficult patch. When asked about his relationship status, he said: 'We don't know at the minute, we just have to see how things go.' They're separated by almost 5,000 miles. But Tamara Ecclestone and Petra Stunt proved how close their sisterly bond is as they stepped out for a day of shopping in coordinating looks. The Formula One heiresses hit the boutiques of Beverly Hills with their daughters Lavinia, three, and Sophia, two, after Tamara and her little girl jetted in for a visit with Los Angeles-based Petra this week. Scroll down for video Sisterly visit: Tamara Ecclestone and Petra Stunt proved how close their sisterly bond is as they stepped out for a day of shopping in coordinating looks Tamara, 32, showed off her toned and tanned figure in a low-cut black vest which emphasised her ample assets. The beauty added a pair of green and black print leggings, while she kept comfy for the retail therapy spree in flip flops. The doting mum carried little Sophia in her arms, with the tot rocking a printed sun dress over Frozen leggings and matching shades. Curve appeal: Tamara, 32, showed off her toned and tanned figure in a low-cut black vest which emphasised her ample assets Petra meanwhile was looking slim, showing off a hint of her stomach under her grey t-shirt which was paired with clashing print leggings. The blonde - who is also has twin sons Andrew and James, one - held the hand of Lavinia, who was dressed in a pretty pink princess dress. Tamara and her daughter are enjoying one of their regular trips to see Petra and her family in the States. Retail therapy: The Formula One heiresses hit the boutiques of Beverly Hills with their daughters Lavinia, three, and Sophia, two, after Tamara and her little girl jetted in for a visit with LA-based Petra this week Sporty style: Petra meanwhile was looking slim, showing off a hint of her stomach under her grey t-shirt which was paired with clashing print leggings It's been a typically jet-set summer for the socialite though, who only days before had been taking in the sights of Croatia after soaking up the sun in Mykonos. She was joined by her incredibly youthful looking mum Slavica and daughter, bringing three generations of the family together. Tamara, who is the daughter of billionaire F1 executive Bernie Ecclestone, recently defended her decision to continue breastfeeding her two-year-old after she became victim to vile trolls. The heiress has often shared snaps of herself feeding her child, but was disheartened to see some of her followers had commented saying that the images were 'gross' and that there was 'no need' for her to post pictures of her 't**s hanging out.' Shades: Tamara and her daughter both slipped on their sunnies for their fun day out Girls' trip: Tamara and her daughter are enjoying one of their regular trips to see Petra and her family in the States Sharing her very candid message for the trolls with FEMAIL, Tamara said: 'I would tell them to go eat their dinner in the toilet.' She continued: 'I think all mothers should support each other and stick together instead of picking flaws. 'It's tricky as parenting is one of those things everyone seems to have an opinion on and a lot of the time it's unwanted and can be so cruel. 'I am doing my best as a mum by following my heart and intuition. I feel mums should really listen to their intuition; no one knows their baby better.' Hitting the shops: Tamara carried her Chanel purse as the foursome hit the Beverly Hills stores She was devastated after being stripped of her Miss Great Britain crown following her exploits on reality show Love Island. But Zara Holland seemed to have put all that behind her as she attended the launch party of her new fashion range on Tuesday with her youthful-looking mother, Cheryl Hakeney. The 20-year-old reality star showed off her toned pins in a bright orange playsuit from the collection, which she edited for Miiaan. Scroll down for video Lookalike: Zara Holland attended the launch party of her new fashion range with her mum, Cheryl Hakeney Orange delight: The 20-year-old reality star showed off her toned pins in a playsuit from the collection The plunging neckline allowed Zara to display a hint of cleavage, while the crochet detailing added a feminine touch to the ensemble. She finished off the outfit with a pair of bronze strappy sandals and a simple silver necklace. Zara wore her blonde hair over her shoulders in loose curls, accentuating her eyes with lashings of mascara and kohl liner. Meanwhile, Cheryl opted for a black fit and flare dress featuring gold ring detailing, teamed with a black patent heels. Beaming: The beauty pageant queen seems to have put the drama of Love Island behind her Role model: Zara no doubt gets her looks from her mother, 51, who opted for a black fit and flare dress Speaking about the new range, Zara said that while this first collection is an edit, she plans to design her own collection in the future. She told FEMAIL: 'I've been working in fashion for seven years, alongside my mum in our own fashion boutiques. Miiaan approached me to work with them and have my own exclusive SS16 high summer fashion range. 'This first range was designed by Miiaan, but these are my favourite pieces from the range. I'm looking forward to working with them in the future with my own designs, with my experience in fashion I know what women of all shapes and sizes are looking for.' Future plans: Zara has revealed that while this collection is a fashion edit, she plans to design her own range Natural beauty: The Love Island star wore her blonde tresses over her shoulders in loose curls Stylish: She teamed her playsuit with a pair of bronze strappy sandals and a simple silver necklace Reunited: Zara posed with her Lovie Island co-stars Rachel Fenton and Rykard Jenkins Working it: Zara says life had been 'very hectic' since quitting Love Island but looks forward to the future Blonde bombshell: Zara accentuated her eyes with lashings of mascara and kohl liner Legs eleven: TV and radio presenter Lizzie Cundy showed off her toned legs in a white playsuit Good to see you: Zara and Lizzie warmly greeted each other with a hug and a peck on the cheek She said that life had been 'very hectic' since leaving Love Island and admitted that she was still disappointed about losing the crown. 'I'm still very sad to have lost my crown - and the way I was treated by the Miss Great Britain Organisation - but the support I've had from the public has been overwhelming,' she said. Zara no doubt gets her looks from her mother and followed in her footsteps by clinching the same beauty pageant title as she did 30 years earlier. Happy! Rykard and Rachel looked in fine spirits as they strolled down the street A bit of all white: Ola and Jess rocked their respective outfits in the feel good atmosphere Stylish: Chloe Paige and Ali Currey pulled off their chic looks with aplomb A touch of class: Zoe Basia Brown looked elegant in her white bodycon dress with a floral motif, while Hayley Sparkes opted for a pretty floral summerdress Her close bond with her mum was evident when she chose to quit Love Island and fly home to England to look after Cheryl upon hearing she had fallen ill. But despite being Zara's biggest supporter, Cheryl wasn't too impressed when she witnessed her on-screen romp. Im really surprised by Zaras behaviour its definitely out of character, she confessed to The Sun. 'But, although its not her proudest moment, she hasnt committed any crime. Meanwhile, also in attendance was Zara's glamorous pal, TV and radio presenter Lizzie Cundy, showing off her Maldives tan in a white playsuit. Pucker up: Zara and Nicole Bass put on a steamy display for the cameras In demand: Zara proved popular with guests as Jess Impiazzi greeted her with a friendly hug Peace: Nicole and Zara sat side by side and showed off plenty of cleavage Glamour girls: Zara stood out from her pals in her bright orange frock Girl power: Jess and Ola Jordan showed Zara plenty of support on the night Famous friends: The reality star posed with Calum Best, who wore stylish casual-wear Dressed to impress: There was plenty of glamour on display on the night with guests pulling out all the stops Body confident: Lauryn Goodman wore a revealing skirt and showed of plenty of cleavage Daring ensemble: Lauryn showed plenty of flesh in a bondage-inspired skirt and a plunging white top Blac Chyna is pregnant with her second child. And the 28-year-old model appears to be having some cravings. On Tuesday she was spotted at the Taco Bell Drive-Thru in Los Angeles to pick up some spicy Mexican fare while behind the wheel of her silver Range Rover. The star - who is in the process of filming the Keeping Up With The Kardashians spinoff Rob & Chyna - made sure to flash her diamond engagement ring from fiance Rob Kardashian, who she viciously fought with over her fears he would cheat on her. Scroll down for videos... Bling it on: Blac Chyna appears to be having some pregnancy cravings as she was spotted at the Taco Bell Drive-Thru in Los Angeles to pick up some spicy fare on Tuesday The future Mrs Kardashian was in the driver's seat and held up her hand for all to see her bling, indicating the her engagement to the black sheep of reality TV is very much still on. The looker tried to hide her face with a card that looked to be an instruction manual for a waist trainer. Chyna had on a hot pink knitted cap that read Chyna Dolls and a paint-sprayed sweatshirt in pink and orange. She seemed to be makeup free and a friend was sitting next to her in the passenger's seat. Casual in her car: Chyna had on a hot pink knitted cap that read Chyna Dolls and a paint-sprayed sweatshirt in pink and orange. She seemed to be makeup free and a friend was sitting next to her in the passenger's seat There's the lady: The ex of rapper Tyga - who is now dating Rob's sister Kylie Jenner - was behind the wheel of a silver Range Rover This sighting comes after reports she had split from Kardashian after what appeared to be a vicious argument over Chyna's fears that the reality star would cheat on her. Rob was so angry after Chyna raked her long nails down his arms, drawing blood, that he deleted all traces of her from his Instagram account 'to hurt her,' E! News is reporting. 'Rob and her have been getting into little tiffs and Blac Chyna flipped on Rob,' a source told E! 'Back together': Kardashian and Chyna are 'back together' and 'fine' now after their first vicious fight, E! News is reporting; here they are seen in May 'He was so p*ssed at how she spoke to him, so he deleted everything about her to hurt her.' Added the source: 'Rob has never cheated on (Chyna, but) she is very paranoid about that from past experiences.' Rob and Chyna are 'fine' now, friends told the news site, and the pair are 'back in love and have spoken through their fight.' Feisty twosome: The couple have been getting into tiffs due to Chyna being 'paranoid' that Rob would cheat on her; a source told E! News that Rob 'has never cheated' on Chyna 'They're not broken up,' a source told People with another insider adding: 'They filmed over the weekend and had an argument. It's hard to see Rob and Chyna actually splitting. 'Rob is looking forward to becoming a dad. It would take a lot of him to break up with her.' Trouble was evident after Rob accused his pregnant partner of viciously scratching him in a Snapchat video. Rob called her a 'psycho b****' after she reportedly drew blood when scratching him during the clip amid claims they have split up. The reality star posted the clip on Snapchat as the camera shows his injured arm. The accused: Rob accused his pregnant partner of viciously scratching him in a Snapchat video he posted over the weekend amid reports of a split Ouch! The reality star, who is said to be appearing in a new spin-off show with her, showed off his injured arm 'Look, look what she did to me. Crazy a**,' Rob said filming his arm, while Chyna sat next to him. She then giggled and threw her hand towards him playfully as he called her a 'psycho b****.' The clip was uploaded just days before Rob deleted his partner from his social media, amid claims he found suspicious messages on her phone. MailOnline has contacted a spokesperson for Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna for comment. The post comes as he had recently taken to Instagram to gush about his pregnant fiancee, posting a snap of Chyna captioned: 'My babies so pretty.' The 29-year-old is said to have split with Chyna after 'discovering suspicious messages on her phone,' according to a report by Mirror. A clean slate: On Monday Rob had cleared his Instagram account of all photos of Chyna, leaving just one snap of himself All gone: By Monday afternoon, Rob had removed every picture from his account He's following her again: Rob unfollowed Blac after their argument on Sunday, but on Monday he had reinstated her Rob then reinstated Blac Chyna as well. And the soon-to-be mother of his child took to Snapchat on Monday to share a video in which she could still be seen wearing her massive diamond sparkler, suggesting that things are okay between the two after all. This isn't the first time Rob has caused speculation over a split with Chyna by deleting Instagram photos, having cleared his account previously back in March. However, after rumors of their breakup persisted, he had returned to social media to share one close-up shot to clarify. 'Chy and I are not broken up we just feel like it would be a lot healthier for our relationship if we kept a lot more to ourselves,' he had written back in March. 'It's impossible to have a positive relationship with so much negativity from the media and outsiders and we would appreciate it if everyone respects that.' The sock designer then signed off on the message as, 'ChyRo,' suggesting that he had run the content of his emotional missive past his other half before posting. Also deleted was a picture of Rob flaunting his newly slimmed down figure, which he had posted to the account this past Wednesday. He has been losing weight since working out with the model, who had aimed to help the once-reclusive star lose 40 pounds before her birthday in May. Rob and Chyna had started dating in January and announced their engagement on Instagram just three months later, with the former giving his lady love a $325,000 seven-carat diamond ring created by his friend Ben Baller, the founder of IF & Co. custom jewelers. Now the entrepreneur is expecting her first baby with Rob and the former Keeping Up with the Kardashians star 'couldn't be happier,' according to Us Weekly. Chyna already has a three-year-old son, King Cairo, with her 26-year-old ex-boyfriend Tyga. Business as usual: Blac posted a series of make-up tutorial videos on Snapchat on Monday afternoon and made it clear her engagement ring was still firmly on her finger (right) It seems Kim Zolciak may have made time for a little lip service during her whirlwind trip to LA this week. The reality TV star, 38, was spotted jetting home to Atlanta on Tuesday with pout that appeared more plump than usual. Her look was even more eye-popping thanks to the use of liner outside her lips. Scroll down for video Read my lips: Kim Zolciak was spotted leaving LA with a VERY plump pout on Tuesday Her lookalike daughter Brielle Biermann also appeared to have had her filler topped up during the LA visit. The 18-year-old first got lip injections last year from Dr Simon Ourian, an LA-based cosmetic dermatologist who is a Kardashian favourite and the man behind Kylie Jenner's pout. Kim's husband Kroy Biermann and second child Ariana, 14, were also along for the California adventure. Woah! Kim's pouty look was emphasized even more thanks to the use of liner outside her lips Mommy's clone: Kim's daughter Brielle also had a very plumped up pout Touch up: Kim showed off her fuller lips as she shared some Snaps from LAX and said her secret to looking good was to just add lipstick and cover up in sunglasses Like mother, like daughter: Brielle, 18, also appeared to show off a much-plumper pout on Snapchat Tuesday Kim shared a close-up look at her plump lips as she shared some Snapchat videos from the airport, saying she prefers a low-key look while travelling. 'Heading home,' she said as they waited to check in. 'I've been going crazy since like, seriously, six o'clock this morning so I need some rest but I'm happpy to go home and see my little babies. And she added, lifting up her sunglasses: 'You guys ever just put like your shades on and lipstick, so you look like you're put together?' 'But I have no other make up on, it's cool, it's a good way to travel. Fuller lips: Kim appeared to sport a thinner top lip in Atlanta in 2009, and right at LAX on Tuesday Different look? The former Real Housewives of Atlanta star jetted out of Los Angeles with her family Quick trip: The mother-of-six wore an all-black ensemble with black heels as she headed back to Georgia Something to tell us? Kim has been open about having a tummy tuck, but denied having her nose done and has not commented on speculation she's had her lips done or a facelift The Don't Be Tardy Stars fuller pout comes after she snared Snapchat video from the office of Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Garo Kassabian on Friday. The 38-year-old's doctor is in such demand Kim had to wait until 9pm to get in to see him. 'Only the best baby,' the former Real Housewives Of Atlanta star said as she shared Snapchat video of the herself walking into the medical suite. The mother-of-six has frequently denied she's had any plastic surgery done apart from a boob job and a tummy tuck when she had a hernia fixed following the birth of her twins in November 2013. Lookalikes: Brielle and Kim at a party in 2009, left, and right, sporting plumper pouts at LAX on Tuesday Plump lips: The Bravo star strolled through LAX with her luggage after a quick trip to LA Her biggest fan: Kim's NFL player husband Kroy Biermann was by her side as they arrived at the airport Heading home: The mother-of-three played up her fuller pout with pink lipstick after a trip her plastic surgeon in Los Angeles She insists that her stunning figure is down to genetics, insisting that her mother also has a slim figure, and maintains her looks through exercise and eating in moderation. In the past, there's been speculation she has had a nose job and her lips done and has been rumored to have had a full face lift. And while Kim has said she has no problem with going under the knife to maintain or improve her looks, the Don't Be Tardy reality star also says when she does, she will be open about it with her fans. Heading home: Brielle, Ariana and Kim arrived at LAX after their family visit to Los Angeles Reality star: Kim chatted with a camerawoman as she checked in for her flight home In her element: The former Real Housewife added large sunglasses inside 'I will always nip and tuck if I feel the need to do so, but I'm open about it,' she told E! in May. 'I don't care. You only go around one time, and I especially understand that. And life is very short, so there's no reason for me to lie,' she said. 'If I chose a life of reality television, which is an open book, so I share with people what I've done. There's no secrets.' Think pink: Brielle also sported large sunglasses and a fuller pout and wrapped up in a pink robe as the family flew out of LA Appointment: 'Only the best, baby,' Kim said as she shared a video of her plastic surgeon's office while in LA on Friday Netflix gets global rights to 'American Crime Story' Netflix said on Monday it had signed a deal with 20th Century Fox to be the global streaming home for FX's Emmy-nominated smash hit "American Crime Story." The first season -- "The People v. O.J. Simpson" -- will be available around the world in 2017, except in Canada, while all subsequent seasons will be made available after their broadcast windows. The show ended its first 10-episode run as cable's most-watched new series of the year so far, pulling in an average seven-day audience of 7.5 million. Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. attends the FX Networks Upfront screening of "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" on March 30, 2016 in New York City Jemal Countess (Getty/AFP/File) It also picked up 22 Emmy nominations, including for best limited series and acting nods for Courtney B. Vance, Cuba Gooding Jr., Sarah Paulson, Sterling K. Brown, David Schwimmer and John Travolta. The show, produced by Fox 21 Television Studios and FX Productions, took viewers inside the Simpson trial and explored the chaotic, behind-the-scenes dealings and maneuvering on both sides. A second season focusing on the response to Hurricane Katrina is due to air on FX next year. "We're excited to evolve our relationship with Fox and to bring their lauded content to our members around the world," said Sean Carey, vice president of global television. "Given the popularity of the first season of American Crime Story, we are thrilled to offer this acclaimed drama series to our members." Netflix is the world's leading internet television network, with a presence in 190 countries. But its market value has dropped by around one-third from its peak late last year to $37 billion, sparking speculation by some analysts that it could become a takeover target. Shares in the company dropped 13 percent last week, following weaker-than-expected growth in its subscriber base. Solar plane completes epic round-the-world trip Solar Impulse 2 made history on Tuesday as the first airplane to circle the globe powered only by the sun, opening up new possibilities for the future of renewable energy. Cheers and applause broke out as it touched down before dawn in Abu Dhabi after the final leg of a marathon trip which began on March 9 last year. Swiss explorer and project director Bertrand Piccard was in the cockpit during the more than 48-hour flight from Cairo, crossing the Red Sea, the vast Saudi desert and the Gulf. Solar Impulse 2 lands in Abu Dhabi to complete its world tour flight on July 26, 2016 Jean Revillard (Solar Impulse 2/AFP) It capped a remarkable 43,000-kilometre (26,700-mile) journey across four continents, two oceans and three seas, accomplished in 23 days of flying without using a drop of fuel. "The future is clean, the future is you, the future is now, let's take it further," Piccard said after landing. "One thing I would like for you to remember: More than an achievement in the history of aviation, Solar Impulse has made an achievement in (the) history of energy. "We have enough solutions, enough technologies. We should never accept the world to be polluted only because people are scared to think in another way." Hours earlier, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon lavished praise on the team in a live-streamed conversation. "My deepest admiration and respect for your courage," he said. "This is a historic day, not only for you but for humanity." Swiss vice president Doris Leuthard said Si2's success "comes at a moment where the world needs optimism" and "gives hope... there's reason for optimism, reason to work for a better life". Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan tweeted: "We hope the success of @solarimpulse helps to deliver Abu Dhabi's message about the need to invest in clean energy and encourage innovation." - Food research - Dubbed the "paper plane", Solar Impulse 2 circumnavigated the globe in 17 stages, with 58-year-old Piccard and his compatriot Andre Borschberg taking turns at the controls of the single-seater. Last year Borschberg, 63, smashed the record for the longest uninterrupted solo journey in aviation history between Nagoya, Japan and Hawaii -- nearly 118 hours and 8,924 kilometres. No heavier than a car but with the wingspan of a Boeing 747, the four-engine, battery-powered aircraft relies on around 17,000 solar cells in its wings. Its average speed was 80 kilometres an hour (50 miles per hour) The pilots breathed oxygen at high altitude and wore specially designed suits to cope with extreme conditions -- temperatures ranging from minus 20 degrees to plus 35 degrees C (minus 4 degrees to plus 95 degrees F). Nestle Health Science, which provided their tailor-made meals, said its research could help develop "convenient, highly-nutritious food" for elderly people. Piccard has said he launched the project in 2003 to demonstrate that renewable energy "can achieve the impossible". His dream took much longer than planned. The attempt was initially expected to last five months, including 25 days of actual flying. But Si2 was grounded in July last year when its batteries suffered problems halfway through the trip. - 'Solar drones' - The project was also beset by bad weather and illness, which delayed the final leg. In the air, the pilot was constantly in contact with mission control in Monaco, where weathermen, mathematicians and engineers monitored the route and prepared flight strategies. A psychiatrist who made the first non-stop balloon flight around the world in 1999, Piccard had warned the last leg would be difficult because of the high temperatures. But he showed little sign of fatigue after landing. "It was a project that was very difficult, a lot of people doubted we could do it, so of course for the team it's fantastic but also for all the people who believe in clean technologies," Piccard told reporters. "The biggest challenge is to have an airplane that can fly perpetually, days and nights without refuelling, because there is no fuel." While the pilots do not expect commercial solar-powered planes soon, they hope the project will help spur wider progress in clean energy. On the Solar Impulse blog, Borschberg voices hope that "electric propulsion will increasingly become the norm". "I am very happy to see that large groups such as Airbus and NASA are starting to work on electric propulsion. The ball is rolling!" With Si2 demonstrating that sunlight can be a continual source of energy in perpetual flight, "we will soon see solar drones flying in the stratosphere", Borschberg said. "We can hardly believe that we made it. It's still a little bit like in a dream. We have to realise that it's the reality," Piccard said. The journey round the world of Solar Impulse 2 Paz PIZARRO, Adrian LEUNG, John SAEKI, Paul DEFOSSEUX (AFP) Solar Impulse 2 and crew are greeted upon arrival at Al Batin Airport in Abu Dabi on completion of its world tour on July 26, 2016 in the United Arab Emirates Karim Sahib (AFP) Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard prepares to depart Cairo aboard the Solar Impulse 2 JEAN REVILLARD / REZO (Solar Impulse 2/AFP) US Army special forces accepts first female candidates Two women will soon be the first female soldiers to undergo training to become members of the Green Berets, the US Army's special forces, the military said Monday. "They are the first two women who have been selected for special forces assessment" following the elimination of the ban on women in combat roles, said Major Melody Faulkenberry, a spokeswoman for the United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. She did not give additional details about the candidates. President Barack Obama declared in 2013 that all military combat positions should be open to women by 2016, including the Green Berets Mark Wilson (Getty/AFP/File) President Barack Obama's administration decided in 2013 that all combat positions should be open to women by 2016, including the infantry and special operations forces. The Marines had requested some exemptions, but these were overruled by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. Two female Marines were assigned to frontline infantry roles in May, though it will take some time before they are placed in their new roles. Rules stipulate that a female "leadership cadre" needs to be established in their units at least three months beforehand. Although women warriors have frequently found themselves in combat situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, they had previously been barred from joining frontline combat roles. Bangladesh police kill nine suspected Islamists in Dhaka raid Bangladeshi police killed nine suspected Islamist extremists in a gun-battle Tuesday after storming a hideout where they said a new mass attack was being planned. Police said they belonged to a Bangladeshi group blamed for an attack on a Dhaka cafe earlier this month in which 20 hostages, mostly foreigners, were killed and had been planning another large-scale assault. "Nine Islamist militants were killed after a two hour-long gunfight," deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Masud Ahmed told AFP, adding another extremist was shot and arrested during the raid in the capital's Kalyanpur neighbourhood. Bangladeshi police petrol the area near the house where police killed nine suspected Islamist extremists in Dhaka on July 26, 2016 National police chief A.K.M Shahidul Hoque told reporters they suspected all 10 were members of the homegrown extremist group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which was blamed for the Dhaka cafe attack. Five gunmen stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery in the upscale Gulshan neighbourhood on July 1 and killed two policemen and 20 hostages, including nine Italians and seven Japanese nationals, before commandos ended the siege. Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack and posted gruesome images of the carnage before the military stormed the cafe. Bangladeshi authorities have rejected the claim, saying international jihadist networks have no presence in the world's third-largest Muslim majority nation. But a police official said the wounded survivor who was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital after Tuesday's raid claimed that all of those inside the hideout were IS followers. "His name is Hasan. He said they are IS members," the police official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding the 25-year-old was a cook and hailed from the northern district of Bogra, home to two of the five cafe attackers. But Hoque stressed that the nine killed in Tuesday's operation had no connection with Islamic State jihadists even though they were wearing the group's signature black robes and turbans. "We think they are all JMB members... We have not found any link with IS. They are all local Bangladeshi militants," he said. - Planning attack - Hoque added that they had rented a fourth-floor flat and were planning to launch a large-scale attack. "From police intelligence sources we learnt that they were planning to carry out a major incident. We conducted the operation to foil any such incident," he said. Police said they cordoned off an apartment building after suspects threw a small hand bomb at officers who were conducting a "block raid" in the area after midnight. The Islamist gunmen exchanged fire intermittently throughout the night and shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is the Greatest") as the neighbourhood was sealed off by hundreds of heavily armed police and the elite security force Rapid Action Battalion. "This morning police launched Operation Storm 26 and was able to destroy the militants. We're now sweeping the place," Dhaka additional police commissioner Sheikh Maruf Hasan, who led the raid, told AFP. "Their dress and their slogans before and after the attack all proved that they are members of an (Islamist) militant force." Police said they have arrested the son and wife of the landlord who rented out the flat in the Kalyanpur neighbourhood to the suspected JMB extremists. And in a separate raid, police arrested two suspected Islamist extremists in Dhaka's Sabujbagh neighbourhood, local police chief Quddus Fakir told AFP. "We've recovered explosives and jihadi books from their hideout," he said. Bangladesh is reeling from a wave of deadly Islamist attacks. The government and police say homegrown extremists are responsible for the deaths of some 80 secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities since 2013. Both IS and a branch of Al-Qaeda have claimed responsibility for many of the attacks. After the cafe siege, suspected Islamist militants also launched a gun attack at the country's largest Eid prayer rally where around 250,000 people were marking the end of Ramadan. At least three people and a gunman were killed in the attack. The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has since launched a nationwide man-hunt for Islamists, arresting more than a dozen suspected extremists including one of JMB's regional heads. Islamist extremists killed in gun battle with police in Dhaka Bangladeshi police stormed this building in Dhaka where they said a new mass attack was being planned Police cordoned off a five-storey apartment building in Dhaka after suspects threw a small bomb at officers Sarah Silverman to Sanders die-hards: 'You're being ridiculous' Comedian Sarah Silverman was a faithful supporter of Bernie Sanders this year, but she had a stern if humorous message to his never-say-die followers at the Democratic National Convention: get over it. Sanders supporters including some of his nearly 1,900 delegates had been loudly booing and jeering throughout the convention's opening day as speakers on Monday declared their support for the presumptive presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. But when Silverman, a sharp-tongued, sharp-witted stand-up comedian and actress, was met with a smattering of boos when she said she was going to "vote for Hillary with gusto," she responded by uttering what perhaps 10,000 Clinton supporters had been itching to say all night. US Senator and former 'Saturday Night Live' star Al Franken (L) and comedian Sarah Silverman speak onstage on day one of the Democratic National Convention, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 25, 2016 Saul Loeb (AFP) "To the 'Bernie or bust' people, you're being ridiculous," she deadpanned, earning a deafening roar of approval from Clintonites in Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, and Clinton waged a bitter year-long battle for the Democratic nomination. But Sanders eventually endorsed Clinton, and unlike many Bernie fans in the arena, Silverman said she was ready to turn the page. "I am proud to be a part of Bernie's movement, and a vital part of that movement is making absolutely sure that Hillary Clinton is our next president of the United States," she said. "Hillary heard the passion of the people, the people behind Bernie, and brought those passions into the party's platform, and that, that is the process of democracy at its very best." Silverman, told to "stretch" her speech as organizers prepared the stage for performer Paul Simon, laid on the humor. "It's so inspiring, just a few years ago, she was a secretary and now she's going to be president," she quipped of Clinton, a former secretary of state, first lady and senator. "I mean, come on. She's like the only person ever to be overqualified for a job as the president." Silverman walked on stage with another comedian, Al Franken -- a former "Saturday Night Live" star who is now a US senator from Minnesota. "I'm with her," Franken said, referring to Clinton. "And I have been feeling the Bern," Silverman responded, before adding: "Relax, I put some cream on it." Australia probes 'shocking' youth detention abuse The Australian government ordered an inquiry Tuesday after graphic evidence emerged of prison guards assaulting teenage boys, with one shown hooded and shackled in scenes likened to Guantanamo Bay. National broadcaster ABC on Monday night showed footage of offenders, many indigenous, being stripped naked, tear-gassed and held in solitary confinement for weeks at a youth detention centre in the Northern Territory in 2014 and 2015. In one video from last year, a 17-year-old is hooded, shackled to a restraint chair and left alone for two hours. Footage from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC's) Four Corners programme appears to show a teenage boy hooded and strapped to a chair at a youth detention centre in the Northern Territory city of Darwin Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he was "shocked and appalled" at the images from the ABC's Four Corners current affairs programme. "Like all Australians, I've been deeply shocked - shocked and appalled by the images of mistreatment of children at the Don Dale Centre," he said. Turnbull said a royal commission would be established along with the Northern Territory government to investigate the centre. "This needs a thorough inquiry, we need to move quickly on that, get to the bottom of it and expose what occurred and expose the culture that allowed it to occur and allowed it to remain unrevealed for so long." Barrister John Lawrence told the ABC a child being hooded and cuffed was reminiscent of Guantanamo Bay, the notorious US military prison in Cuba that holds terror suspects. "We're talking about kids that are being shackled with handcuffs on their ankles, their wrists, their waist areas. They're being shackled to chairs," said Lawrence, an eminent lawyer and former president of the Northern Territory Bar Association. "One of them has had the experience of sitting in one for just under two hours with a spit hood over his head, a la Guantanamo Bay," he said. - 'Barbaric and inhumane' - The Northern Territory has one of the highest crime rates in Australia, with indigenous offenders making up more than two-thirds of the prison population. According to Amnesty International, Aboriginal children are 26 times more likely to be jailed than their non-indigenous counterparts as they struggle to deal with poor education, high unemployment rates, and substance abuse. Northern Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles said he was "disgusted" by the revelations, but added he had "full confidence in the majority of custodial officers" working in such institutions. Giles sacked John Elferink as Corrections Minister and took over the portfolio himself, while ordering police to investigate whether any laws had been broken by the prison guards. He said the royal commission should not just probe the corrections system but also child protection in the Northern Territory. "This is not a blame game, this is recognising that there are children who are being neglected, unloved, getting into trouble, causing trouble in the streets and finding their way into our detention facilities." Human Rights Watch said it had long been urging the government to act on abuses in juvenile detention, and that the Northern Territory was the tip of the iceberg. Its Australia director Elaine Pearson said what happened at the Don Dale Centre was "a classic example of how not to deal with troubled youth". "Excessive use of force, isolation and shackling of children is barbaric and inhumane," she said. "This is not only a matter of training. Better alternatives to locking kids up for prolonged periods must be found," she added. Save the Children said the inquiry needed to be Australia-wide and not just into the Northern Territory. "This reprehensible and outrageous behaviour does nothing to help rehabilitate youth offenders who should be supported to prevent them from offending again," said spokesman Mat Tinkler. "The solution to preventing future abuses is not to lock up children in the first place." A teenage boy is apparently pushed by prison guards at a youth detention centre in the Northern Territory city of Darwin in footage aired by Australian broadcaster ABC Footage from the ABC's Four Corners programme apparently shows a teenage boy being kicked by a prison guard at a youth detention centre in the Northern Territory city of Darwin Laos drafts bookish students to protect summit ministers It is a secretive communist state with a sprawling security apparatus, but Laos has turned to a less menacing demographic to protect visiting dignitaries this week: bookish students. The authoritarian nation, which rarely allows in foreign media, has been thrust into the international spotlight as a regional security summit brings a coterie of top diplomats to its dusty capital Vientiane. As ministers hustle through the wide corridors of the Chinese-built National Convention Centre, lines of students, mostly petite women in traditional sinh wrap skirts, link arms to keep the hordes of reporters back. Students from the National University of Laos -- armed with little more than walkie talkies and patience -- have been drafted in as volunteer security guards to keep the peace as Laos hosted ASEAN partners as well as other regional countries Hoang Dinh Nam (AFP) That is in stark contrast to the unseemly scenes that accompanied one of the more robust delegations. North Korean heavies had a bust-up with a journalist from the South who got too close to Pyongyang's envoy Ri Yong-Ho on the airport tarmac as he landed on Sunday. The journalist apparently came off worst, suffering injuries to his face, according to his Seoul-based employer news agency Yonhap. Students from the National University of Laos -- armed with little more than walkie talkies and patience -- have been drafted in as volunteer security guards to keep the peace elsewhere. "We have to prevent the media (from getting) close to the ministers. The media want to do their job very much so we have to do our job intensely also," one 20-year-old student told AFP. - Dreaming big - For many, it is a rare opportunity to socialise with foreigners who are not backpackers, the most frequent western visitor to tropical Laos. Many of the students, who were all wary of giving their names in the closely-controlled country, said they were hoping to one day swap places with those they are assigned to protect. One told AFP she dreamed of being a future ambassador to South Korea -- and was currently working part-time in a Korean restaurant to brush up her language skills -- while another had her eye on a Europe posting. "I want to work for the ministry of foreign affairs if I have the chance," said one student who had just finished her third year studying international relations. But possibly because of the runway run-in, the students weren't called on to provide security at a meeting on Monday between North Korea's newly minted Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho and his Chinese counterpart. Instead menacing plain-clothed security and helmeted military police armed with stun-batons and handguns stood guard. As the diplomatic big hitters such as US Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived the professionals appeared to take over, with burly men dressed in dark suits flanking their guys as they swept between meetings. That left the diminutive student minders feeling a little out of their depth. "We have no experience of this so it has been difficult," said one twenty-year-old man. Daughter of Sudanese film legend preserves his legacy As she drove past an apartment complex on a street in Khartoum, Sara Jadallah turned silent. It was here that her late father, the legendary film-maker Jadallah Jubara, set up Sudan's first private film studio in the 1970s. But in 2008, following an eight-year court battle over ownership of the land, the government demolished Studio Jad. Sara Jadallah, the daughter of legendary Sudanese filmmaker Jadallah Jubara, speaks during an interview at her house in Khartoum Ashraf Shazly (AFP) The demolition, shortly before the film-maker's death at the age of 88, left little trace of the studio. But stopping next to the blocks of flats that now stand in its place, Jadallah pointed at a white patch on an old wall among the new buildings. "The screen is still there," she said. With her father's studio gone, Jadallah has vowed to preserve his life's work. With help from German experts, she has started digitising his entire film collection to create what she believes is Sudan's first private archive of 15 and 35mm films. "Through his camera he documented Sudan's history. I want to preserve this legacy," Jadallah, 66, told AFP at her home in a southern Khartoum district. Jubara was once an officer in the British army. Shortly after World War II he began work as a projectionist in a British mobile film unit. He went on to capture iconic moments in Sudan's history, including the hoisting of the country's flag as it gained independence from Britain in 1956. In a career spanning more than five decades, he produced more than 100 documentaries and four feature films, including a famous 1984 love story "Tajooj". But years of storage in poor conditions have taken a toll on his film archives. "Film rolls have a life span and because of exposure to heat and dust they have been damaged," said Jadallah. - Journey into the past - In his early years, Jubara faced resistance from a conservative Sudanese society, making it difficult for him to find actors. But a determined Jubara encouraged family members to work with him, including Jadallah. "He believed that cameramen were the most important people in the world... and in their hands was the most important weapon," she said. Jadallah, who made a name for herself as a national swimming champion despite having polio as a child, also studied film in Cairo. She worked with her father when he began to lose his eyesight due to old age, helping him film part of an adaptation of Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables". Jubara's documentaries included films on Darfur, where a deadly conflict since 2003 has killed tens of thousands of people. His early films preserved a snapshot of Sudanese society before the 1989 coup that installed an Islamist-backed regime. Prior to the coup, Sudan was home to more than 60 cinemas, including 16 in Khartoum that often screened films from Hollywood and Bollywood. Today, after years of economic hardships and government restrictions on importing foreign films, just three cinemas operate in Khartoum. German film-maker Katharina von Schroeder, who is helping Jadallah to digitise Jubara's collection, said watching his work was like taking a journey into the past. "There were lot more enterprises and factories at that time, a lot more night clubs," she told AFP. "Without any judgement, it was a different place," she said as she showed footage from Jubara's collection. In one commercial, a young Jadallah is seen dressed in a red top and a skirt. In another clip, Sudanese couples in Western clothes danced at an late evening open-air party -- something rare in today's Sudan. "There is no conflict between religion and cinema," said Jadallah, "but some extremists reject cinema without even understanding it." "If you don't have cinema, you don't have a voice," she said. - A gift to Sudan - Over his five-decade career, Jubara produced more than 100 hours of film. Digitising them is an enormous job. Around 40 hours have been processed so far, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars. The project has received backing from a German foundation, the Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art, and the German embassy in Khartoum. "It was definitely worth saving this heritage... and Sara had this wish to preserve her father's legacy," said Schroeder. The processing was done in Berlin. Jadallah was initially hesitant to hand over rare footage. "I could understand that... in films as opposed to digital, you just have one copy and there's nothing you can do if it's gone," said Schroeder. "As far as I know this is the only private film archive for 15 and 35 mm materials in Sudan," she said. Tayeb Mahdi, director of a Khartoum-based film school, said the project was a fitting tribute to Jubara. "This government doesn't care about cinema, while the private sector is disinterested," he said. "Despite this, Jubara kept on making films." For Jadallah, preserving her father's legacy is a gift to Sudan. "I feel sad when I remember my father witnessing his studio being demolished... I feel sad when there is no cinema," she said, wiping away tears. "I want to preserve his films, because Sudan's future generations should see their country's history." Sara Jadallah, the daughter of legendary Sudanese filmmaker Jadallah Jubara, has started digitising his entire film collection to create what she believes is Sudan's first private archive of 15 and 35mm films Ashraf Shazly (AFP) German documentary film-maker Katharina von Schroeder talks about the project to digitise the film archives of legendary Sudanese filmmaker Jadallah Jubara, in Khartoum Ashraf Shazly (AFP) Russia FM shrugs off Democratic email hack allegations Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov batted away allegations Moscow was behind a hack of the Democratic National Committee emails ahead of a meeting Tuesday with US counterpart John Kerry in Laos. The FBI is investigating whether Russian hackers were responsible for the breach, which has caused deep embarrassment to the Democratic Party and prompted accusations that Moscow is trying to influence the US presidential election. Lavrov, in the Laos capital Vientiane for a regional security forum, shrugged when asked by reporters if Russia was responsible. Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov batted away allegations Moscow was behind a hack of the Democratic National Committee emails ahead of a meeting Tuesday with US counterpart John Kerry in Laos Natalia Kolesnikova (AFP) "Well I don't want to use four letter words," he said cryptically, before greeting Kerry with a handshake. Disseminated by WikiLeaks, the emails revealed that Democratic Party leaders sought to undermine the campaign of Hillary Clinton's rival Bernie Sanders and have prompted the party boss to resign. Clinton's campaign was quick to point fingers at Russia, saying it was an attempt to boost Donald Trump's shot at the White House. Kvitova, Stosur advance in Montreal Former Grand Slam champions Petra Kvitova and Samantha Stosur were unfazed by opening-day weather delays, cruising into the second round of the WTA hardcourt tournament in Montreal. Two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova, seeded 12th, needed just 59 minutes to get past Poland's Magda Linette 6-1, 6-2. The Czech, who won her first North American hardcourt title in Montreal in 2012, didn't face a break point against the young Pole, who pushed former world number one Venus Williams to three sets in Stanford last week. Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, seeded 12th, needed just 59 minutes to get past Poland's Magda Linette 6-1, 6-2 Justin Tallis (AFP/File) Kvitova, playing her first tournament since Wimbledon, broke Linette twice in each set and finished her off with an ace. Former US Open champion Stosur, seeded 13th, had to work a little harder to dispatch Britain's Heather Watson 7-5, 6-3. After some first-set struggles, however, she broke Watson three times in the second to wrap up the win. "To get through in straight sets, I'm pretty happy," the Australian said. "Overall I thought I served pretty well. There weren't a lot of points off my serve where she could dictate off the first shot." A string of rain delays stopped play for a total of four hours. Organizers eventually pushed the scheduled last match of the night, between Canadian Francoise Abanda and Chinese qualifier Zheng Saisai, to Tuesday. The only other seed in action, 17th-seeded Elina Svitolina, advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over American qualifier Jennifer Brady. The top eight seeds -- now led by second-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany after the late injury withdrawal of world number one Serena Williams -- have first round byes. Croatia's Mirjana Lucic-Baroni booked a second-round meeting with Wimbledon finalist Kerber with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Japan's Nao Hibino. Philippine Abu Sayyaf kidnapped 5 sailors, Malaysia says Malaysia's police chief said Tuesday that five tugboat crew missing since last week were abducted by the Philippine militant group Abu Sayyaf, which is notorious for repeated kidnappings in waters between the two nations. The five Malaysians were kidnapped from their vessel on July 18 off the coast of the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island, Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters. "The five tugboat crew have been kidnapped by the kidnap-for-ransom group from the southern Philippines," he said, confirming reports that had emerged over the past week. National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar, left, seen with Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak, said Tuesday that five tugboat crew missing since last week were abducted by the Philippine militant group Abu Sayyaf Manan Vatsyayana (AFP) The Abu Sayyaf, a loose network of Islamic militants that has earned millions of dollars from kidnappings in recent years, has been blamed for a recent burst of abductions. In April and June the group beheaded two Canadian tourists after ransom demands were not met, and a Malaysian man was beheaded last year. In May, the Abu Sayyaf released 14 Indonesian sailors who had been kidnapped in two high-seas raids, attacks that prompted Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to launch joint patrols. Formed in the 1990s, the Abu Sayyaf is a radical offshoot of a Muslim separatist insurgency in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines. Its leaders have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, but analysts say the Abu Sayyaf mainly focuses on lucrative kidnappings. Eastern Sabah is just a short boat ride from islands of the southern Philippines where government authority is weak and banditry common. Japan stabbing spree: country's worst mass killings At least 19 people died Tuesday when a knife-wielding man went on the rampage at a Japanese care centre for the mentally disabled, the country's worst mass killing in decades. Satoshi Uematsu, a 26-year-old former employee at the facility, turned himself in to police over the early morning attack, reportedly saying: "The disabled should all disappear." Japan has one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the developed world and extremely strict gun laws. When mass killings have occurred, they typically involve knives. Japan has one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the developed world and extremely strict gun laws. When mass killings have occurred, they typically involve knives. Jiji Press (JIJI PRESS/AFP) Following are some of the worst mass killings in Japan: -- May 1938, rural Okayama -- A 21-year-old man, Mutsuo Toi, goes on a killing spree, using a shotgun, Japanese sword, and an axe. He kills 30 people, including his grandmother, before killing himself. -- March 1995, Tokyo metro -- Members of the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo release sarin gas in the Tokyo subway system, killing 13 people and sickening thousands of commuters in Japan's most notorious attack. -- September 1999, Shimonoseki Station -- A 35-year-old man, Yasuaki Uwabe, drives a car into the main train station in the southwestern city of Shimonoseki and then randomly stabs passers-by, killing five people and wounding 10. -- June 2001, Osaka school -- A mentally disturbed man, Mamoru Takuma, armed with a kitchen knife goes on a stabbing spree at Ikeda Elementary School in the posh suburbs of Osaka, killing eight youngsters. -- June 2008, Tokyo shoppers -- On the anniversary of the Osaka school attack, disgruntled auto worker Tomohiro Kato ploughs a truck into a crowd of shoppers in Tokyo's bustling Akihabara district before jumping out and stabbing people, leaving seven dead and 10 wounded. After that rampage, Japan banned possession of double-edged knives with blades longer than 5.5 centimetres (about two inches). -- October 2008, Osaka arson -- An arsonist, Kazuhiro Ogawa, 46, kills 16 people in a fire at an all-night video shop which offered adult films in small rooms in Osaka. -- March 2015, Awaji Island -- Five people are stabbed to death at a family home in rural Japan by "social misfit" Tatsuhiko Hirano, 40, who lived nearby. -- June 2016, northern Japan -- A 33-year-old man, Nobuyuki Matsuhashi, who had been treated for mental illness, stabs a woman to death and wounds three others in an attack at a shopping mall on Hokkaido. -- Attacks on the vulnerable -- In February 2016, a former nursing home worker is arrested for allegedly throwing up to three elderly residents to their deaths from balconies. Brewer AB InBev raises offer for SABMiller after pound dive The world's top brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev raised its offer for rival SABMiller on Tuesday after a major slump by the British pound due to the Brexit vote threw the blockbuster deal into doubt. Angry shareholders of London-based SABMiller were increasingly resisting the giant buyout, which before the Brexit vote was valued as much as $121 billion. In a statement, the Belgium-based brewer of Budweiser and Stella Artois said it raised its all cash offer for SABMiller from 44 pounds per share to 45 pounds in what was its final proposal. Bottles of beer and cider produced by the Belgian-Brazilian group Anheuser-Busch InBev and British brewer SABMiller Justin Tallis (AFP/File) The transaction now values SABMillers entire "issued and to be issued" share capital at around 79 billion ($103 billion), ABInbev said. That includes a restricted share offer that is less attractive to investors as they must wait five years before cashing out. AB InBev agreed in November to buy SABMiller whose brands include Foster's, Grolsch and Peroni. The Leuven, Belgium, based brewer said the new offer represents a premium of approximately 53 per cent to SABMillers closing share price when news of the negotiations first broke in September last year. In a statement SABMiller said it "notes" the announcement by AB InBev. "The board will continue to consult with shareholders and will meet in due course formally to review ... the revised offer and a further announcement will be made thereafter," the company said. The deal is expected to boost world-leader AB InBev's prospects in developing markets in Africa and China. AB InBev's acquisition of the London-based SABMiller is in line to be the third largest in history if it clears all regulatory hurdles. But the deal's value fell sharply given the plunge in the value of the pound after Britain's vote to leave the European Union. "The increase will cost AB InBev an additional 1.5 billion pounds or $2.0 billion at the current exchange rate," said ING bank in a note to clients. "However, when comparing the previous offer at the prevailing exchange rate before Brexit ... with the increased offer at the current exchange rate, the latter is actually (more than) $3 billion lower in value," it added. The mega deal was on its final stretch before the complications from Brexit, with approval secured by EU, US and South African regulators. AB InBev has agreed to a series of concessions to win the greenlight from the competition authorities, including the sale of stakes in Snow Breweries in China. Twin suicide bombs kill 13 near Mogadishu airport At least 13 people were killed on Tuesday in twin bombings near UN and African Union buildings by Mogadishu's airport, police said, in what the jihadist Shabaab group claimed as a suicide attack. The Al-Qaeda aligned Shabaab group is blamed for a string of bloody assaults in Somalia and neighbouring Kenya, and is fighting to overthrow Mogadishu's internationally-backed government. "At least 13 people were confirmed to have died in two explosions, one of the vehicles went off near a security checkpoint and another close to a UN compound," said Bishaar Abdi Gedi, a police official. UN soldiers secure a partially-crumbled perimeter wall following twin car bombings outside the UN office in Mogadishu on July 26, 2016 Mohamed Abdiwahab (AFP) The attack was condemned by the African Union and the United Nations, which noted that none of its personnel were among the confirmed dead. "This horrific incident is a fresh example of the extremists' desperate attempts to disrupt political progress", said Michael Keating, the UN's special representative for Somalia. A Shabaab statement said it was a suicide attack by its militants. "The two explosions were carried out by two brave Mujahedeen suicide bombers and they have targeted two different locations where the so-called AMISOM peacekeepers are stationed," it said, referring to the African Union mission to Somalia. An AFP journalist at the scene heard gunfire after the explosions tore through the area. A portion of the airport's boundary wall was partially destroyed by one of the car bombs. - 'Senseless' attack - The city's airport is heavily fortified and adjoins the capital's main base for AMISOM, the 22,000-strong force backing the government in the battle against Shabaab insurgents. AMISOM troops were deployed to Somalia in 2007 to defend the government against attacks by the Shabaab. "Around 9am there was an explosion outside one of our gates, about 200 metres away," mission spokesman Joe Kibet told AFP. "It looks like an attack, they intended to attack. Now the situation is calm and our personnel is working on it," he added. The African Union denounced on Twitter the "senseless" assault, intended "solely to disrupt and paralyse the lives of ordinary Somalians." The Shabaab were forced out of the capital five years ago but continue to carry out regular attacks on military, government and civilian targets. In recent months they have claimed attacks on AMISOM's bases as well as civilian targets including hotels. This year is considered critical for the group, which is eager to disrupt an expected change of government leadership due in the coming months. Somalia was supposed to hold national elections this year but is instead going to hold what diplomats call a "limited franchise election" in which ordinary citizens do not participate. The UN now hopes a one-person-one-vote election will be possible in 2020. US warns North Korea of 'real consequences' for weapons tests The United States warned North Korea on Tuesday of "real consequences" if it continues nuclear and missile tests in defiance of UN sanctions, as the international community moves to rein it in. Pyongyang carried out its forth nuclear test in January, followed by a series of ballistic missile launches that sent tensions soaring across East Asia and beyond. In response the UN Security Council slapped North Korea with its toughest sanctions to date in a unanimous decision even endorsed by China, its economic lifeline and diplomatic shield. US Secretary of State John Kerry warned North Korea on July 26 that it faced "real consequences" over its ongoing nuclear and missile testing programme Hoang Dinh Nam (AFP) But Pyongyang has continued to carry out missile launches -- most recently last week -- in a bid to prove that sanctions are ineffective in curbing its weapons development. "Together we are determined... to make absolutely certain that DPRK (North Korea) understands that there are real consequences for these actions," US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of Asian nations in Laos. Analysts say this year's tests have shown the North making progress towards its goal of developing a credible strike threat against the US mainland, adding urgency to Washington's warnings. The issue has dominated this week's talks in Vientiane, a rare opportunity for the six parties involved in stalled talks on ending North Korea's nuclear programme to be in the same room. The North's new foreign minister and former nuclear negotiator Ri Yong-Ho was making his diplomatic debut at the meeting, hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Kerry, who has held a flurry of closed-door meetings with his regional counterparts over the last two days, said efforts to denuclearise the Korean peninsula had dominated discussions. "(The) issue that came up in nearly every meeting I had so far this week is the provocative and deeply concerning behaviour of the DPRK," he told reporters. "North Korea's actions present a very serious threat, not just to this region but to international peace and security." Later Tuesday afternoon six-party members -- the US, China, Japan, Russia and both Koreas -- were among those attending the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), a security meeting that groups most of Asia. - 'Cannot be tolerated' - The nuclear threat from the North was expected to feature strongly, with Beijing likely to press for a revival of the talks last held in 2008. But Washington, Seoul and Tokyo all insist Pyongyang must first make tangible steps towards denuclearisation. At a regional meeting preceding ARF which excluded the North's envoy, Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told ministers that Pyongyang's continuing missile and nuclear testing "cannot be tolerated". In a briefing afterwards, foreign ministry spokesman Yasuhisa Kawamura said the grouping had "made strong demands North Korea should refrain from any further provocative actions and comply with UN security resolutions". The North's relentless sabre-rattling has sent waves of uncertainty across Asia and beyond. Washington and Seoul agreed earlier this month to deploy a sophisticated anti-missile system in South Korea, a move which spooked China and Russia, who worry about having the advanced US-made system on their doorstep. North Korea's Ri met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Monday but few details have been released. Beijing is Pyongyang's main ally but its patience has worn thin as the North refused to rein in its weapons programme. China is, however, wary of pushing the North too far, fearing a regime collapse that could create a refugee crisis on its border and swing the regional balance of power towards the US. Before Kerry's visit a State Department official played down the likelihood of him meeting Ri. But the official added: "I think that the North Korean foreign minister will again hear from not only the Secretary of State but from others in the room that the world is not prepared to accept North Korea as a nuclear state." Syria regime advances on rebels in Aleppo: monitor Syrian government forces on Tuesday seized a rebel-held neighbourhood in the northwest edge of Aleppo, tightening their siege of opposition-controlled parts of the city, a monitor said. The government also carried out renewed barrel bomb attacks on opposition-held districts, a day after bombardments killed at least 24 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Britain-based monitor said regime troops had full control of the Leramun district after heavy clashes. It also reported intense fighting for neighbouring rebel-held district of Bani Zeid. Syrians carry a wounded man following a reported barrel bomb attack by government forces in the opposition-held district of Al-Mashhad near Aleppo on July 26, 2016 Karam Al-Masri (AFP) The two areas have been used by rebels to launch rockets into government-held districts in the city's west. Aleppo has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012. In recent weeks, regime advances have severed the only remaining route into the rebel-held eastern neighbourhoods, effectively placing them under siege. Opposition forces have responded by firing missiles into government districts, killing scores of civilians. "The importance of capturing Leramun and Bani Zeid is to stop the missile fire and also to further tighten the siege," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. He said government forces had now surrounded Bani Zeid, reporting heavy air strikes in the area and clashes. The monitor had no immediate toll in the fighting. Government forces effectively severed the opposition's main supply route on July 7, when they advanced to within firing range of the Castello Road. They have since tightened the encirclement of the rebel-held east, taking parts of the road itself and causing food shortages and spiralling prices in opposition neighbourhoods. Syria's Al-Watan daily, which is close to the government, also reported advances in Leramun, an industrial area that once housed scores of factories. State news agency SANA broadcast a call from the military urging residents of eastern Aleppo to "join the national reconciliation and expel the foreign mercenaries" from their neighbourhoods. It said the army had sent text messages to residents and fighters in the east urging rebels to lay down their weapons and identifying "safe passages" for civilians wishing to leave. Government forces continued to pound opposition areas on Tuesday, with the Observatory reporting a new barrel bomb attack on the district of Al-Mashhad. It said five civilians including three children were killed. On Monday at least 24 people, including five children and two women, were killed in a barrel bomb attack on the same neighbourhood, according to a new toll from the Observatory. A statement from the UN children's agency UNICEF on Tuesday condemned weekend air raids on four hospitals in Aleppo, calling them "a blatant violation of international humanitarian law" that may amount to war crimes. On the humanitarian front, a 48-truck aid convoy on Tuesday entered regime-besieged Talbiseh in Homs province with food and other supplies for 40,000 people, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. More than 280,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests that were met with a regime crackdown. Smoke billows near the road leading to Bani Zeid during an operation by Syrian government forces to retake control of the rebel-held district of Leramun, outskirts of Aleppo, on July 26, 2016 George Ourfalian (AFP) Syria's Aleppo Curfew lifted in Indian Kashmir city but clashes spread Authorities lifted a curfew in Srinagar Tuesday after 17 days of lockdown, but protesters continued to clash with police in the main city of Indian-administered Kashmir following two weeks of deadly violence. "There will be no restrictions in any part of district Srinagar today on 26 July," top administrative official Farooq Ahmad Lone said in a statement. It was unclear whether the lifting of the curfew was simply a temporary move to allow angry protesters some release, or if the relaxation of restrictions would continue. An Indian paramilitary trooper stands guard during a seventeenth day of curfew in Srinagar on July 25, 2016 Tauseef Mustafa (AFP/File) Mobile and internet networks remained suspended in Srinagar and across the restive territory, while a curfew was still in force in southern areas, where most of the 50 deaths have occurred. Hundreds of angry residents rallied in the city Tuesday to protest against Indian rule, shouting slogans for freedom and clashing with police who fired tear gas canisters to disperse them, a witness said. Shops, schools and businesses remained shut in the city while vehicles were off the roads. Separatist leaders opposed to Indian rule of the disputed territory have extended an ongoing strike to Saturday, but have appealed to shopkeepers to open for a few hours each day to allow people to buy essential supplies. "We will open shops after 2:00 pm," Umer Ahmed, a shopkeeper in the old quarter of Srinagar told AFP. The unrest was triggered by the killing on July 8 of popular young rebel leader Burhan Wani in a gunfight with soldiers. The wide-scale protests in the region have also left thousands injured. Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the rivals won independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the territory in full. Several rebel groups, including Wani's Hizbul Mujahideen, have fought for decades an estimated 500,000 Indian troops deployed in the territory, demanding independence or its merger with Pakistan. Turkish generals serving in Afghanistan held in Dubai after coup Two Turkish generals serving in Afghanistan have been detained in Dubai on suspicion of links to the July 15 failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a Turkish official said Tuesday. Major General Mehmet Cahit Bakir, the commander of Turkey's task force in Afghanistan, and Brigadier General Sener Topuc were detained at Dubai airport, said the official, who asked not to be named. The detentions followed cooperation between the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) and the UAE authorities, the state-run Anadolu news agency added, without giving further details. A military tank is seen at the entrance to the Bosphorus bridge in Istanbul during a coup attempt on July 16, 2016 Bulent Kilic (AFP/File) These are the first detentions of senior army figures serving outside Turkey as part of the investigation into the coup, which Ankara blames on the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen. In a separate development, the former governor of Istanbul Huseyin Avni Mutlu was detained in the coup investigation, Anadolu said. ICRC presses Sri Lanka on fate of 16,000 war missing The International Red Cross Tuesday urged Sri Lanka on Tuesday to disclose the fate of more than 16,000 people still officially missing since the island's ethnic war ended seven years ago. The Geneva-based organisation released a 14-month survey conducted across Sri Lanka showing thousands of mainly ethnic Tamils were still searching for their loved ones. The survey and resulting 34-page report titled "Living with Uncertainty" called on Sri Lankan authorities to "clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing persons". Displaced Tamil civilians wait for food at Manic farm in the northern Sri Lankan district of Vavuniya on May 7, 2009 Pedro Ugarte (AFP/File) Of 395 families surveyed by the Red Cross, just over one third believed their loved ones were dead while another third were convinced they were still alive somewhere. The remaining third were unsure. "The survey found that these families primarily want to know the fate and whereabouts of their missing relative and that they also face economic, legal and administrative difficulties in their daily lives," it said. Government forces crushed Tamil rebels fighting for a separate homeland for the ethnic minority, in a brutal offensive in 2009. Some 40,000 people are thought to have been killed in the final few months of the conflict alone. Huge numbers of Tamils disappeared during the 37-year war including after being arrested by security services, while thousands more died in military bombardments. Thousands of people also went missing during a crackdown by security forces and pro-government vigilante groups on Marxist rebels between 1987 and 1990. The ICRC said it has registered 16,000 people as missing since setting up a presence in Sri Lanka in 1989. The database includes more than 5,100 security personnel listed as missing. President Maithripala Sirisena has taken steps to reconcile with the Tamil community since coming to power last January, including by setting up a missing persons office to help families seek compensation. Last month, the government announced a landmark law to recognise as dead those still missing, allowing relatives to claim inheritances. The cabinet approved a draft bill to issue "certificates of absence" to the families of those who went missing. Ethiopian killed in clashes in Calais migrant camp An Ethiopian was killed and six other migrants injured when clashes erupted on the outskirts of the migrant camp in France's northern port city of Calais, authorities said Tuesday. A local government spokesman said migrants from Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia clashed with those from Afghanistan on Monday night, stabbing each other and hitting each other with sticks. A 37-year-old Ethiopian died after being knifed in the chest, he said. Authorities say there are about 4,500 migrants in the camp known as the "Jungle", however charitable organisations estimate the figure is as high as 7,000 Francois Lo Presti (AFP/File) Police intervened several times in the clashes. Fights often break out in the sprawling camp, home to thousands of migrants hoping to find a way across the Channel to Britain. On May 26, 40 people were injured in a fight between Afghan and Sudanese migrants. The spokesman said the migrants had also constructed about 30 barricades in the road in a bid to stop and board trucks heading to Britain. Last week a migrant of unknown nationality was found dead on the highway near Calais, and local officials said he likely died while crossing the road or falling off a truck. He was the eighth migrant killed since January trying to make it to Britain. Hillary poised for nomination as Bill seeks Democrats' unity Hillary Clinton stood poised to formally win her party's presidential nomination Tuesday, as her husband Bill was tasked with the speech of the night -- steeling fractious Democrats for the White House fight against Republican Donald Trump. Clinton will be proclaimed the party's nominee after a state-by-state roll call vote beginning at around 6:00 pm (2200 GMT) at the Democratic National Convention, making the former first lady and secretary of state the first female presidential candidate of a major US party. Although the outcome is a foregone conclusion, the vote could be an occasion for rowdy displays on the convention floor by diehard Bernie Sanders delegates frustrated with their candidate's loss to Clinton in the primaries. Former US president Bill Clinton will take center stage at the Democratic National Convention to reassure party members that his wife Hillary is the best candidate to take on Republican Donald Trump Timothy A. Clary (AFP) After a chaotic opening day Monday, the Clinton camp was looking to unite the party's factions, with negotiations underway about Sanders possibly announcing the votes from his state of Vermont during the roll call, and then moving to seek her nomination by unanimous acclamation. "Our campaigns are working very closely together to bring our two teams together," Clinton spokeswoman Kristina Schake told CNN. The Clinton campaign announced that Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, the longest serving woman in the history of the US Congress, will place Clinton's name in nomination. Civil rights icon John Lewis, a congressman from Georgia, will second the nomination. - 'Show a little class' - Monday saw disruptive protests and a rancorous fight over leaked emails showing party bias against Sanders. Frustration boiled over as his delegates jeered speakers who mentioned Clinton. Vice President Joe Biden, who will address the convention Wednesday along with President Barack Obama, dismissed concerns the party was not uniting behind Clinton. "We've got to show a little class and let them be frustrated for a while. It's OK," he said of Sanders supporters as he toured the convention arena Tuesday. Sanders meanwhile called on his supporters to get behind Clinton. "What we must do, or forever look back in regret, is defeat Donald Trump and elect Hillary Clinton," he said Tuesday while addressing the California delegation. "In my view, it's easy -- it's easy to boo, but it is harder to look your kids in the face who would be living under a Donald Trump presidency," he said. Trump took the usual shots at Clinton during a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Charlotte, North Carolina, calling her "Crooked Hillary" and charging that her use of a private email account as secretary of state "put America's entire national security at risk." A Clinton campaign official said Tuesday's convention events in Philadelphia aim to draw a sharp contrast with Trump. The line-up of speakers will talk about her life-long fights to make a difference. Chief among them will be former president Clinton, who will take the stage during primetime to hail his wife as a "change-maker," the official said. But Clinton and the others -- including mothers who have lost children to gun violence or in clashes with police -- will also have the unstated mission of mending fences with Sanders' army of vocal young activists. - 'I'm with her' - Michelle Obama appeared to soothe some of the Sanders zealots Monday night, as she delivered a heartfelt endorsement from one first lady to another and hailed the inspirational prospect of a first female US president. "In this election, I'm with her," Obama said. She also praised how Clinton handled her defeat to Barack Obama eight years ago. "She didn't get angry or disillusioned. Hillary did not pack up and go home," she said. "As a true public servant Hillary knows that this is so much bigger than her own desires and disappointments." - From 'political revolution' to revolt - Despite Sanders calling on his flock to get behind Clinton, his self-styled "political revolution" appears to have transformed into a revolt. Sanders himself was booed by some sections of the audience when he told the crowd Monday: "Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her tonight." Michigan delegate Charles Niswander, 28, said he and other Sanders delegates would never line up behind Clinton. "None of them want her, the people who voted for Bernie," Niswander said. The party is still reeling from leaked Democratic National Committee emails which show nominally neutral party staff trying to undermine Sanders' campaign and questioning his Jewish faith. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was investigating the "cyber intrusion," which the Clinton campaign blamed on Russian hackers it said are bent on helping Trump. Bill Clinton's highly anticipated address could jump-start the party healing process. The 69-year-old Democratic icon and two-term president remains a powerful force on the national stage, although he is more gaunt and his energy is no longer boundless as it appeared four years ago. At the 2012 Democratic convention, he delivered closing arguments for why Barack Obama should be re-elected, a voice of experience explaining Obama's policies in clear, cogent detail and why he felt Republican policies were failing. Hillary Clinton Simon Malfatto, Laurence Saubadu (AFP) US Vice President Joe Biden walks through the Democratic National Convention on July 26, 2016 in Philadelphia Jessica Kourkounis (Getty/AFP) Delegates hold up signs during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 25, 2016 Robyn Beck (AFP) US First Lady Michelle Obama speaks to the Democratic National Convention on July 25, 2016 Saul Loeb (AFP) China-Philippines should 'turn page' on sea row: Kerry The Philippines and China should "turn the page" and hold talks over contested areas of the South China Sea after a tribunal shot down Beijing's claims to the strategic waterway, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday. Relations between China and the Philippines hit a nadir earlier this month after Beijing refused to recognise a UN-backed ruling invalidating its claims to much of the sea. The Philippines, which says it owns areas claimed by China, took the case to a Hague-based tribunal for arbitration. Vessels from China's South Sea Fleet take part in a drill in the Xisha Islands -- or Paracel Islands -- in the South China Sea on May 5, 2016 Kerry reiterated Washington's stance that the tribunal's decision to favour the Philippines was binding, but added that it was time to seek new ground. "I would encourage President Duterte to engage in dialogue, in negotiations," Kerry told reporters in Laos, referring to the tough-talking new Philippines leader. Kerry is due to fly to Manila for talks with Duterte later Tuesday. Kerry's call for fresh talks between Manila and Beijing comes at the request of his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. "The foreign minister said very clearly the time has come to move away from public tensions and turn the page," Kerry told reporters. "And we agree with that... no claimant should be acting in a way that is provocative, no claimant should take steps that wind up raising tensions." The two envoys met on the sidelines of a regional security forum of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that has been dogged by the issue of the South China Sea. The Philippines had been expected to push for the bloc to support the tribunal ruling in a punchy joint-statement. But the bloc shied away from a diplomatic confrontation with China. Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay told reporters that he supported that approach, describing the tribunal case as a dispute just between Beijing and Manila. "The other countries are not part of our filing of the case before the arbitral tribunal so why would we insist that it be put in the ASEAN statement," Yasay said. ASEAN member states span communist autocracies such as Laos and Vietnam, the tiny Islamic sultanate of Brunei and populous democracies like Indonesia and the Philippines. It works on the basis of consensus diplomacy. Iran caps salaries in bid to end scandal Iran's government said Tuesday it would cap salaries for public officials as it seeks to dampen a scandal over exorbitant pay that has threatened to derail President Hassan Rouhani's re-election hopes. The payslips of executives at several public companies were leaked in May, showing that many earned over 100 times more than the average worker. One bank director was paid some $60,000 a month -- compared with an average public sector salary of about $400. Iran has been gripped by a scandal ever since the payslips of executives at several public companies were leaked two months ago, showing salaries more than 100 times that of their average workers Ali Al-Saadi (AFP/File) He was sacked along with three other bank directors last month, and the entire management of Iran's development fund was forced to resign shortly after. On Tuesday, the government said it would cap monthly salaries for public officials at 189 million rials ($6,100), and 100 million rials for those in political roles. Any payment beyond these limits would be considered "a violation and crime and they will face prosecution under the law", said government spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht. The scandal has gripped the country and provided ammunition for the conservative media to attack moderate president Rouhani ahead of the next election, due around May next year. It has added to criticism that the nuclear deal with world powers, which took effect in January, has brought few economic benefits to struggling Iranians. Pakistan police investigate 'honour' killing of British woman Pakistani police are investigating after a British man claimed his wife had been murdered in a so-called "honour" killing, ten days after the death of a social media star cast a spotlight on the practice. Mukhtar Kazam registered a complaint with police in Punjab province claiming his wife, 28-year-old Samia Shahid, was murdered in her family's village while visiting them. The couple, both British-Pakistani dual citizens, had been married for two years and were living in Dubai, police told AFP, adding that it was Shahid's second marriage. "Honour" killings -- a custom in which a relative is killed by another for bringing the family dishonour -- are a near daily occurrence in Pakistan Aamir Qureshi (AFP/File) "Her parents did not approve," local police official Aqeel Abbas said, citing Kazam's complaint. He said Shahid was visiting her family's village Pindori in Punjab's Jehlum district. "She was killed on July 20. She has been killed for honour," Abbas said, quoting the complaint. Officers are now waiting for a post-mortem report, he said, without specifying how Shahid's husband alleged she was murdered. In his own statement to police, Shahid's father denied any charges that his daughter was killed for "honour", adding that he did not want an investigation as she had died of natural causes. "Honour" killings -- a custom in which a relative is killed by another for bringing the family dishonour -- are a near daily occurrence in Pakistan. The victims are overwhelmingly women, with hundreds killed each year. Earlier this month the murder of social media star Qandeel Baloch by her brother, who said it was for "honour", provoked international shock and revulsion. The killing polarised Pakistan and appears to have spurred politicians to take action. Last week the law minister announced that bills aimed at tackling loopholes that facilitate "honour" killings would soon be voted on by parliament. Rights groups and politicians have for years called for tougher laws to tackle perpetrators of violence against women in Pakistan. US tells Beijing sea patrols will continue The US will continue naval patrols in the disputed South China Sea, Washington's National Security Adviser Susan Rice told Chinese representatives during a series of meetings in Beijing, a senior American official said Tuesday. Rice is among the highest-level US officials to visit China since an international tribunal this month rejected its vast territorial claims in the strategically vital region -- infuriating Beijing and fuelling tensions with Washington. Her trip was intended to prepare for a visit by President Barack Obama to a G20 summit in Hangzhou in September. The guided missile cruiser USS Shiloh is seen anchored at a former US naval base in the Philippines in 2015, as part of US military patrols in the South China Sea Robert Gonzaga (AFP/File) But the question of how to deal with the festering issue, in which Washington has played a prominent role, cast a long shadow over the talks, which included a meeting with President Xi Jinping. In recent months Washington has sent naval vessels close to reefs and outcrops claimed by Beijing to assert the principle of freedom of navigation, sparking anger in China which has built a series of artificial islands in the area capable of supporting military operations. In her meetings with top diplomatic and military officials, Rice told her counterparts that "those operations are lawful. They will continue", according to a senior US official, who asked for anonymity to discuss the sensitive subject. The issue was not directly raised with Xi, he said, describing the conversation as "incredibly positive", although "there was a very clear recognition that we face a number of challenges". In general terms, he said, "both sides were very clear with one another". "There's no room for ambiguity," he added. "That kind of clarity... promotes stability and reduces the risk of miscalculation." - 'Risk of miscalculation' - A tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on July 12 denied the legal basis for Beijing's claim to nearly all of the sea, parts of which are also claimed by neighbouring nations. Beijing rejected the ruling as "waste paper" and asserted its right to declare an Air Defence Identification Zone controlling flights over the area. Rice "stressed the importance of all parties taking steps to reduce tensions. To avoid taking actions that... could raise the risk of miscalculation", the official said. Instead, Rice called on Beijing to use the ruling as an opportunity to "reinvigorate diplomacy" in the region, he added. In remarks before the meetings Monday, Fan Changlong, vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission warned that ties between the two powers could easily fray. "We should be honest with ourselves that deep down in this relationship we're still faced with obstacles and challenges," he said, adding that military ties had been "impacted by some complicated and some sensitive factors". "If we do not properly handle these factors it will very likely disturb and undermine this steady momentum of our military-to-military relationship," he warned. Beijing objects to an agreement by Washington and Seoul to deploy a US missile defence system to South Korea. Rice told Fan the move was "purely a defensive measure" and "not aimed at any other party other than North Korea and the threat it poses," the official said. South China Sea dispute Star Wars set door 'could have killed' Ford, court hears Hollywood star Harrison Ford could have been killed by a hydraulic door on a "Star Wars" movie set, a court heard Tuesday, as the Disney-owned production company admitted to safety breaches. Ford, then aged 71, suffered a broken left leg on the set of the Millennium Falcon spaceship after he was pinned down by the heavy, metal-framed door during filming at Pinewood Studios near London. The court heard that in the incident on June 12 2014, Ford had been walking backwards through the portal, believing the set was not live and the vertically-sliding door would not close -- but it was remotely activated by someone. US actor Harrison Ford suffered a broken left leg on the set of "Star Wars" after he was pinned down by a heavy, metal-framed door during filming at Pinewood Studios near London Justin Tallis (AFP/File) The actor had to be airlifted to hospital in Oxford. "It could have killed somebody. The fact that it didn't was because an emergency stop was activated," prosecutor Andrew Marshall told the court in Milton Keynes, a town near London and the film studios. Ford, who was reprising his role as Han Solo in the film "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", spoke about the incident on the BBC's Jonathan Ross Show last year. The actor said he had been hit by "a fucking great hydraulic door which closed at light speed". Foodles Production, which pleaded guilty to a breach of duty towards employees and a breach over non-employees, will be sentenced on August 22. "The safety of our cast and crew was always a top priority throughout our production," a spokeswoman for the company said. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), a government agency, said the power of the rapidly-closing door would have been comparable to the weight of a small car. Hong Kong journalists jailed on mainland over 'illegal business' Two Hong Kong journalists have been jailed in China for running an "illegal business" that sent political magazines to the mainland, one of their lawyers said Tuesday, as Beijing cracks down on press freedoms in the semi-autonomous territory. Publisher Wang Jianmin, 62, was jailed for five years and three months and editor-in-chief Guo Zhongxiao was given two years and three months by the court in Shenzhen, Wang's lawyer told AFP. "The two both admitted guilt to the court and said they 'will not appeal'," said Chen Nansha. Pro-democracy Hong Kong lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan told AFP that the sentences imposed on the journalists were "a warning to anyone who wants to do business in China especially in the area of publication" Mark Ralston (AFP/File) The sentences come after five booksellers from Hong Kong whose publishing house was known for gossipy titles about Chinese political leaders went missing and resurfaced in the mainland last year. One of the five is still detained and another, who skipped bail and returned to Hong Kong, has revealed how he was blindfolded and interrogated for months during his detention. Wang and Guo's magazines are widely available in the former British colony, which has greater freedoms than the mainland under agreements signed with Britain during the 1997 handover. The pair were detained in June 2014, when Shenzhen police said they were "operating an illegal publication". According to reports at the time of their trial in November, prosecutors said their Hong Kong-registered company National Affairs Limited had earned HK$7 million (US$900,000) from publications New Way Monthly and Multiple Face. But the defence insisted that only eight copies were sent to the mainland, all to friends of the publisher, the South China Morning Post said. Concerns are mounting about press freedoms in Hong Kong, where mass rallies in 2014 for fully free leadership elections failed to win political reform, and young campaigners are increasingly demanding more distance from Beijing. Although the city has the status of a special administrative region of China, the two have separate legal systems, distinct police jurisdictions and maintain strict border controls. Pro-democracy Hong Kong lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan told AFP that the sentences imposed on the journalists were "a warning to anyone who wants to do business in China especially in the area of publication -- they will be subjected to suppression and censorship and if they are not following the party line, then they will be jailed". Hong Kong's companies register shows that National Affairs Limited is a private firm registered in March 2007. Neither Wang nor Guo are listed as directors. Willy Lam, a China expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the magazines -- which covered Chinese politics -- were printed in Hong Kong, then distributed in the mainland through unofficial networks. I had the honor of delivering an invited paper to the 8th Shanghai International Library Forum in Shanghai, China, 8 July 2016. The paper, Enabling Progress in Global Biodiversity Research: The Biodiversity Heritage Library, co-authored with Constance Rinaldo (Mayr Library, Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University and BHL Vice-Chair) covered BHLs growth from a project to a cornerstone of biodiversity infrastructure, where sustainability, appropriate expansion, and collaboration with national and pan-national digital libraries (Europeana, the Digital Public Library of America) became more important. With significant contributions relevant throughout the world, the BHL is integral to key databases and data aggregators (e.g. Tropicos, Global Biodiversity Information Facility, the Encyclopedia of Life), and has engaged the research community in tool development and content reuse. The paper was published in Libraries: Enabling Progress, The Proceedings of the Eighth Shanghai International Library Forum. Shanghai Scientific and Technological Literature Press, Shanghai, 2016, pp. 406-418. About the Forum: It is organized by the Shanghai Library (Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of Shanghai) and co-organized by the Shanghai Society for Library Science and the Shanghai Society for Scientific & Technical Information. At this years event, approximately 300 delegates from 27 countries attended. The theme of the forum is Libraries: Enabling Progress. The conference focused on hot issues and topics, the latest research achievements, innovative ideas, advanced technology and the latest developments related to the theme. It included in-depth and extensive academic discussions. Well-known experts and scholars were invited to present keynote speeches and thematic reports. To ensure the academic quality of this forum and attract more submissions, scholars of library and information science, managers of libraries and information agencies, and professionals from all fields at home and abroad were invited to submit papers and attend the conference. After opening congratulatory speeches by national and local politicians, the program began with a series of plenary sessions: Libraries: A Call to Action. Donna SCHEEDER, IFLA President Change and Innovation: Reflection on the Future Development of Librarianship in China. HAN Yongjin, Director, National Library of China The Library and Cultural Transmission by YU Qiuyu, Chairman, Shanghai Library Council, China Yus talk was a highlight. A famous Chinese cultural scholar, theorist, cultural historian and writer, he discussed the key role of the library concept in the transmission and preservation of culture. Qiuyu Yu A second plenary session was chaired by Ai Cheng TAY, Deputy Chief Executive, National Library Board, Singapore and include the following talks: Fiat Lux (Let there be Light!): a Vision for Re-imagining McGill Library Space for 2050. C. Colleen COOK, Trenholme Dean of Libraries, School of Information Science at McGill University in Montreal, Canada New Digital Tools of the Jalisco Public Library as Mobile App, Renewal of Website and Intranet. Juan Manuel DURAN JUAREZ, Director, Public Library of Jalisco State, Mexico The BHL presentation followed on the second full day of the Forum and was well received by the audience. Marc GILBERT, Lyon Municipal Library, France, introducing the session (above) Acclaimed Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Khan dies at 73 Celebrated Egyptian film director Mohamed Khan died in Cairo on Tuesday aged 73 after a prolific career making socially engaged films. Khan has been one of Egypt's leading cinematic figures since the 1980s, making a string of movies tackling social issues that have often revolved around female central characters. Khan died in a Cairo hospital early Tuesday following "health problems", state-owned al-Ahram newspaper said. His family was not immediately available for comment. Egypt's Mohamed Khan, pictured in 2008 holding the best director award at the Catholic Centre film festival for his film "Fi Shaqet Masr El-Gedida" Amro Maraghi (AFP/File) A British national born to an Egyptian-Italian mother and a Pakistani father in Cairo in 1942, Khan studied in Britain and worked as an assistant director in Lebanon before returning to settle in Egypt. He directed 24 feature films starring the country's leading actors and actresses, denouncing the oppression of Egyptian women and fighting social ills in films that were acclaimed by critics and the public alike. In his 1987 film "The Wife of an Important Man", Khan portrayed a police officer who is intoxicated by power and involved in the repression of opponents of the regime. The film in 2013 made it onto the Dubai International Film Festival's top 100 Arab films of all time. The same year, Khan's film "Factory Girl" won two prizes at the same festival, including a prestigious critics award. The film tells the story of Hiyam, a young factory worker living in a lower-middle-class neighbourhood of Cairo, who falls in love with her supervisor. Khan leaves behind his wife Wessam Souleiman, who wrote the screenplay for several of his films including "Factory Girl". His daughter Nadine Khan is also a film director and her feature debut "Chaos, Disorder" won the Special Jury Prize at the Dubai International Film Festival in 2012. Despite being widely celebrated as a great figure in Egyptian and Arab cinema, Egypt only granted Khan nationality in 2014. Paramount makes EU deal to end geo-blocking of films The European Commission on Tuesday accepted a proposal by iconic Hollywood studio Paramount to end geographic blocking of its films in licence deals with TV channels. The deal is a small step towards the EU's dream of building a digital single market, in which the European Union's 500 million people will no longer be blocked from subscribing to TV channels such as Sky or Canal Plus from abroad. The EU last year accused six top Hollywood studios and Britain's Sky TV of breaching antitrust laws by using movie licences to block access to pay TV content in other countries in Europe. One of Hollywood's mythic movie studios, Paramount is behind the multi-billion-dollar Star Trek and Indiana Jones franchises as well as classics like The Godfather movies or the Ten Commandments Mark Davis (Getty/AFP/File) Paramount, which is currently up for sale by Viacom, agreed to end the practice in a side deal with the Commission, the EU's executive arm, a statement said. One of Hollywood's mythic movie studios, Paramount is behind the multi-billion-dollar Star Trek and Indiana Jones franchises as well as classics like The Godfather movies or the Ten Commandments. The case is being closely watched by the film industry as it calls into question the wide use of such contracts in which Hollywood studios sell their content individually to national markets. Filmmakers and actors in Europe furiously defend this status quo, which also helps finance and defend national film industries against what is seen as Hollywood's domination of the European film industry. The end of national markets would undermine "this successful and fragile eco-system," said a letter from the International Federation of Film Producers' Associations to Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker. Its demise would "threaten cultural diversity and sustainable jobs for talent, crew and all other workers in our industries," said the letter, which was dated July 11. Israel destroys 11 Palestinian homes on outskirts of Jerusalem Israeli authorities early Tuesday destroyed 11 Palestinian homes in an area on the outskirts of Jerusalem divided from the city by Israel's separation wall, residents and an NGO said. A convoy of Israeli security vehicles and bulldozers carried out the overnight demolitions in Qalandiya,presumably because authorities allege the owners did not have building permits. Israeli authorities did not respond to requests for information on the demolitions. A Palestinian man walks atop the rubble of a house that was demolished by Israeli army bulldozers next to Israel's controversial separation barrier on July 26, 2016 Ahmad Gharabli (AFP) Two of the homes are considered part of the occupied West Bank and nine part of annexed east Jerusalem, Israeli NGO Ir Amim said. Two of the east Jerusalem homes were inhabited, it said. Clashes broke out during the demolitions, leaving several Palestinians wounded, according to the NGO. Among the structures destroyed was a two-storey building, leaving 44 people homeless, including 11 children, said Ir Amim. "The family claims to have received a building permit in 1983 from the Jerusalem municipality covering an area of 4,000 square meters, only half of which has been developed," it said. Mohammed al-Jouri, a resident whose home was destroyed, said Israeli authorities "warned us Monday afternoon that they were going to destroy our houses, some which were still under construction." Piles of rubble and metal rods could be seen in the area on Tuesday where houses previously stood. Residents sought to collect mattresses, electronic equipment and furniture still intact. Imad Abu Shalbek, whose brother's home was destroyed, said a notice had been posted by authorities behind the house that they had not seen until after the demolition. Shalbek was planning to take in his nephews for the time being. "The father invested all his life and his savings in that house and now he doesn't know where he is going to go," Shalbek said. Israel this year has ramped up demolitions of Palestinian structures it says lack permits. Permits are however nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain in the part of the West Bank under full Israeli control, which amounts to some 60 percent of the territory, UN officials say. Demolitions in east Jerusalem and the West Bank so far this year have already surpassed the amount for 2015. In east Jerusalem alone this year, 78 demolitions have occurred compared to 74 in 2015, Ir Amim said. "These efforts to break the contiguity of Palestinian east Jerusalem with the West Bank pose a severe threat to the two state solution," it added. Beyond the Qalandiya demolitions, others were also carried out in east Jerusalem on Tuesday. They included a home under construction and an auto repair business in the Issawiya area as well as a residential building in Ras al-Amud, the NGO said. Libya unity government demands explanation over French troops The head of Libya's unity government has asked for an official explanation from Paris about the presence of French troops in the conflict-ridden country, a statement said on Tuesday. Fayez al-Sarraj told French ambassador Antoine Sivan on Monday that their presence in the country's east was "a violation of international customs", his government said on its Facebook page. Sarraj asked for an explanation from the French government at a meeting in Mauritania where the prime minister-designate was attending an Arab summit, the statement said. Libya's UN-backed Prime Minister-designate, Fayez al-Sarraj speaks during a press conference in the capital Tripoli on March 30, 2016 STRINGER (AFP/File) His comments came after France's President Francois Hollande confirmed last week that his country had soldiers in Libya, after three French troops were killed there during a mission to gather intelligence. Rival militias have been vying for power in the oil-rich country since the overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. The Government of National Accord (GNA) headed by Sarraj, which is the result of a UN-brokered power-sharing agreement in December, has been striving to assert its authority amid the chaos. France recognises the GNA, but also supports forces that are loyal to a parliament and government based in the country's east which are refusing to recognise and cede power to the UN-backed administration. These forces led by General Khalifa Haftar have for the past two years been fighting armed groups including the Islamic State jihadist organisation in the city of Benghazi, located 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) east of Tripoli. US, North Korea trade barbs over nuclear weapon tests North Korea said any decision to conduct another nuclear test depends entirely on the behaviour of the United States as the two sides traded blame Tuesday over tensions on the Korean peninsula. Ri Yong-Ho, Pyongyang's newly appointed foreign minister, accused the US of being behind the failure of the long-dormant six-party talks on the country's nuclear programme. His comments came after top Washington envoy John Kerry warned the North of "real consequences" if it continues nuclear and missile tests in defiance of UN sanctions, as the international community attempts to rein in the rogue nation. North Korea first revealed the existence of a gas centrifuge enrichment programme at its Yongbyon nuclear complex in 2010 Jung Yeon-Je (AFP/File) "Whether we conduct additional nuclear tests is entirely up to the United States," Ri told reporters late Tuesday on the sidelines of a regional security forum in Laos which both he and Kerry attended. "The denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula went out of the window because of the United States," Ri said. The hermit state carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by a series of ballistic missile launches that sent tensions soaring across East Asia and beyond. In response the UN Security Council slapped North Korea with its toughest sanctions to date in a unanimous decision even endorsed by China, its economic lifeline and diplomatic shield. "The key factor damaging the situation is the United States' hostile policies... and the problem is getting worse," Ri said, citing the ramped up economic sanctions. Despite the latest attempt by the international community to push it towards bankruptcy, North Korea has continued to carry out ballistic missile tests, and made it clear that it intends to continue nuclear testing. With the tensions dominating talks in the Laos capital Vientiane, Kerry issued a stern warning to the North. "Together we are determined... to make absolutely certain that DPRK (North Korea) understands that there are real consequences for these actions," Kerry said. Analysts say this year's tests have shown the North making progress towards its goal of developing a credible strike threat against the US mainland, adding urgency to Washington's warnings. Ri, a former nuclear negotiator, was making his overseas debut as North Korea's top diplomat at the gathering hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The meeting was a rare opportunity for the six parties involved in talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear programme -- the US, Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas -- to be in the same room. - 'Serious threat' - Kerry held a flurry of closed-door meetings with his regional counterparts over the last two days. "(The) issue that came up in nearly every meeting I had so far this week is the provocative and deeply concerning behaviour of the DPRK," he told reporters. "North Korea's actions present a very serious threat, not just to this region but to international peace and security." Earlier in the day, Kerry had referred to Iran and encouraged North Korea to follow its example. "(Iran) was not going to pursue a nuclear weapon and, in exchange, would like to have sanctions lifted that had been put in place because of the evidence of that programme," Washington's top diplomat said. Washington and Seoul agreed earlier this month to deploy a sophisticated anti-missile system in South Korea, a move which also spooked China and Russia, who worry about having the advanced US-made system on their doorstep. The North, meanwhile, said it would take "physical action" -- a threat followed up with another missile test which it described as a simulated strike on the South. North Korea's Ri met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Monday on the sidelines of the Laos meeting but few details have been released. Beijing is Pyongyang's main ally but its patience has worn thin. China is, however, wary of pushing the North too far, fearing a regime collapse that could create a refugee crisis on its border and swing the regional balance of power towards the US. The North Korean minister also hit out at the US decision to personally blacklist Kim Jong-Un over human rights abuses. "Recently they committed the most grave hostility by insulting our Dear Leader," he said. Chicken scent offers hope for malaria prevention Ethiopian scientists have discovered mosquitoes are repulsed by the smell of chicken, raising hopes for the development of a novel way to prevent a disease that kills hundreds of thousands every year. A team of insect experts led by Professor Habte Tekie at the University of Addis Ababa began their investigation after noticing that mosquitoes bite humans and other animals but stay away from chickens. "We went into the chemical basis involved in repelling malaria mosquitoes by odours emanating from the chickens... The results show that compounds from chicken have very good potential as repellent," Tekie told AFP. Tests carried out in three villages in Ethiopia showed that families that slept beneath a chicken in a cage overnight were mosquito-free in the morning, while homes without indoor poultry were not Erika Santelices (AFP/File) One theory for their behaviour is that mosquitoes see chickens as a predator, so seek to avoid them, he said. Tests carried out in three villages in western Ethiopia showed that families that slept beneath a chicken in a cage overnight were mosquito-free in the morning, while homes without indoor poultry were not. The obvious challenges of sleeping with a bird suspended over the bed were addressed in a follow-up experiment in which villagers were supplied with vials of chicken extract. The results were similar. The findings, recently published in the medical publication Malaria Journal, will be used in a new collaboration with Swedish scientists to develop an odourless repellent. "This repellent will be safe for human use, (with) no residues contaminating soil or water or poisoning people and it can easily be integrated into malaria control operations," Tekie said. Malaria threatens 60 percent of the population of Ethiopia, a nation of almost 100 million people. The chicken stock with a difference will be "entirely natural," according to the scientist, and the chance of mosquitoes developing resistance is "minimal". There is currently no vaccine against malaria, and the disease killed 438,000 people in 2015, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization. UN eyes late August for new Syria talks The UN's Syria envoy voiced hope Tuesday that peace talks could restart next month, as US Secretary of State John Kerry said there had been "progress" in efforts to salvage an urgently-needed ceasefire. UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has struggled to keep the peace process alive amid a surge in fighting between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebel groups. The fighting persisted Tuesday, with government forces seizing a rebel-held neighbourhood on the northwest outskirts of Aleppo, tightening their siege of the opposition-controlled parts of the city. Smoke billows near the road leading to Bani Zeid during an operation by Syrian government forces to retake control of the rebel-held district of Leramun, outskirts of Aleppo, on July 26, 2016 George Ourfalian (AFP) The government also carried out renewed barrel bomb attacks on opposition-held districts, a day after bombardments that killed at least 24 people, a monitor said. As the bloodshed continued, de Mistura met with US Syria envoy Michael Ratney and deputy Russian foreign minister Gennady Gatilov, part of a bid to salvage diplomatic efforts to end more than five years of brutal conflict. "Our aim is to proceed with a third round of intra-Syrian talks towards the end of August," de Mistura told reporters after the meeting. While de Mistura has said he would prefer to negotiate with a real ceasefire in place, he conceded that may not be realistic. "The talks are not going to wait for improvement in Aleppo or in Damascus," he said. The Geneva meeting came hours after higher-level negotiations on the sidelines of an Asia summit in Laos. In Vientiane, Kerry said Washington was "making progress" with Russia on Syria cooperation following a meeting with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Russia and the United States support opposing sides in Syria's civil war, which has left 280,000 people dead and forced half the population to flee their homes. Kerry held marathon talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lavrov in Moscow last week. They agreed "concrete steps" to revive the ceasefire and tackle jihadist groups in Syria, although details have not been made public. Kerry said Tuesday bilateral work was inching forward and that an updated diplomatic plan for Syria could be unveiled "somewhere in early August." "What we're trying to do is strengthen the cessation of hostilities, provide a framework which allows us to actually get to the table and have a real negotiation," he said. The UN-brokered talks have so far been deadlocked over Assad's fate. The government has ruled out negotiations on Assad's possible departure, while the main opposition High Negotiations Committee has said it will not agree to any deal that leaves Assad in power. - Aleppo crisis - The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said loyalist troops had full control of Aleppo's Leramun district after heavy clashes, and reported fighting for neighbouring Bani Zeid, which is also held by rebels. The two areas have been used by rebels to launch rockets into government-held districts in the west of the city. Aleppo has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012. In recent weeks, regime advances around the city's outskirts have severed the only remaining route into the rebel-held eastern neighbourhoods, effectively placing them under siege. Opposition forces have responded by firing barrages of missiles into government districts, killing scores of civilians. Government forces effectively severed the opposition's Castello Road supply route on July 7, when they advanced to within firing range. They have tightened the encirclement of the rebel-held east since then, taking parts of the road itself and prompting food shortages and spiralling prices in opposition neighbourhoods. Syrians carry a wounded man following a reported barrel bomb attack by government forces in the opposition-held district of Al-Mashhad near Aleppo on July 26, 2016 Karam Al-Masri (AFP) UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has struggled to keep the peace process alive amid a surge in fighting Tobias Schwarz (AFP/File) Racism accusations fly a week before South Africa poll The first black leader of South Africa's main opposition party on Tuesday accused the ruling African National Congress (ANC) of running a racist election campaign ahead of fiercely-fought municipal polls. Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane is hoping to lead his party to a breakthrough result on August 3, as the country struggles with record unemployment and flat-lining economic growth. "They say if you are black, you must vote for the (ANC) party," Maimane told an election rally in Johannesburg City Hall. Mmusi Maimane, the leader of the South African Democratic Alliance opposition party addresses supporters during a rally at the Johannesburg City Hall on July 26, 2016 Marco Longari (AFP) "That's not the South Africa we want. To me that rings and sounds like racism." President Jacob Zuma last week told black voters to support the ANC and denounced the DA -- which is widely seen as a party of middle-class whites -- as the "spawn" of the apartheid government. Zuma has been engulfed by a series of graft scandals as well as anger over the country's poor economic performance, fuelling DA confidence that the all-powerful ANC could be dealt a major blow at the polls. The DA will defend the strategic metropolis of Cape Town, and is hoping to seize power in other major urban municipalities including Johannesburg and Tshwane, which includes the capital Pretoria. The opposition is polling about five points ahead of the ANC in Johannesburg, the economic powerhouse of South Africa, where the ruling party's grip on power has been steadily slipping. "The racial rhetoric reflects the ANC's concern about the possible performance of the DA," political analyst Daniel Silke told AFP. "The ANC is under the most pressure they have seen in an y electoral contest since (the first democratic election in) 1994. "It has limited options in terms of campaigning: service delivery has been weak and Zuma's leadership controversial." - Battle for Mandela legacy - Many of the ANC party's traditional supporters are among the poor who have been hit by a lack of jobs as the economy has ground to a halt. Last week, the central bank cut its 2016 growth forecast to zero percent. Speaking at a weekend rally in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth, which the DA is also targeting, President Zuma accused the opposition party of having the "same hatred" as the apartheid government. "They don't believe black people can lead," Zuma said. The ANC also released a statement on Tuesday calling the DA a "white supremacist party" and slammed it for invoking the name of former president Nelson Mandela at its rallies and in election adverts. "The DA is a haven for racists, and its upper echelons dominated by individuals who hark back to the days of apartheid," the statement said. The DA has fought back, saying it now represents Mandela's legacy better than the ANC party that he led in the struggle against apartheid. On Monday, the opposition unveiled an election poster in Tshwane, reading "Honour Madiba's dream. Vote DA". Madiba was Mandela's clan name. "When the ANC falls, Madiba will always stand because Madiba was bigger than just the ANC," Maimane told hundreds of supporters on Tuesday, speaking in front of a banner reading "We can win". Silke described the election as a "mid-term style vote of confidence" for the ANC, which retains strong loyalty in many rural areas. "It's not just a local vote -- it has national ramifications," he said. The radical leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party is also seeking to make a major impact in its first municipal elections. All three main parties hold their final rallies this weekend. Zuma, 74, will have completed two terms in 2019 and is not eligible to run for president again, but the ANC could replace him ahead of the next general election if the party scores poorly in the local polls. South African President Jacob Zuma (L) talks with Daniel Alexander "Danny" Jordaan, the current African National Congress (ANC) appointed Mayor of Port Elizabeth, during the ANC rally on July 23, 2016 Michael Sheehan (AFP) Rap tycoon Dr. Dre handcuffed outside home Dr. Dre, who made his name rapping about police brutality before becoming one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in music, was handcuffed by sheriff's deputies in a dispute near his home, officials said. Sheriff's deputies headed Monday to Dr. Dre's exclusive house on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu after receiving a complaint from a motorist who parked outside the home. The motorist had alleged that the 51-year-old rap mogul, whose real name is Andre Young, pulled a gun on him as he demanded that he leave. Record Producer Dr. Dre is one of the wealthiest people in the music industry with Apple in 2014 buying his Beats company Valerie Macon (AFP/File) "Due to the nature of the call, the person was searched, handcuffed and briefly detained in a patrol car while deputies investigated the incident," the Los Angeles County sheriff's department said in a statement. But deputies did not find any gun on Dr. Dre, an executive at Apple, who said he had been reaching for his phone to record the incident. The motorist, however, insisted that Dr. Dre threatened him and pursued a citizen's arrest, which is allowed under California law when a private individual witnesses a crime. The sheriff's department said it gave Dr. Dre a citation in connection with the citizen's arrest but did not take any further action. Dr. Dre is one of the wealthiest people in the music industry with Apple in 2014 buying his Beats company, best known for its high-end headphones, for $3 billion. Born in the rough Los Angeles County city of Compton, Dr. Dre rose to stardom with gangsta rap pioneers N.W.A. where he was in charge of the sound. N.W.A. shocked much of white America with its unyielding criticism of law enforcement's treatment of minorities, notably on the 1988 song "Fuck tha Police." The incident with Dr. Dre comes amid a renewed spotlight on police around the United States after a series of killings by officers of African Americans. After N.W.A., Dr. Dre went on to become a successful solo artist and producer, notably championing Eminem, but in the past decade has focused on corporate life. Palestinians seek to sue Britain over 1917 vow to Jews Palestinian leaders are seeking Arab League support for a complaint they intend to file against Britain for its 1917 Balfour Declaration backing a Jewish homeland in Palestine. "Almost a century has passed since 1917," Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki said in an address to an Arab League meeting in Mauritania, seen by AFP on Tuesday. "On the basis of this promise made by a party which did not possess (the land) to a party undeserving of it, hundreds of thousands of Jews from Europe and elsewhere came to settle in Palestine at the expense of our people, whose ancestors have lived for millennia on the soil of our land," he said in Monday's speech delivered on behalf of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki speaks during a meeting in Moscow on June 8, 2016 Kirill Kudryavtsev (AFP/File) Malki did not say to which body a complaint would be made. Israeli foreign ministry chief Dore Gold called the proposal "a desperate effort to delegitimise Israel", on his Twitter account. In 2012, the Palestinians won the status of an observer state in the United Nations. In 2015 they joined the International Criminal Court and formally asked it to investigate Israel for alleged war crimes during the 2014 Gaza war. The declaration issued on November 2, 1917 by British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour said the British government "view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". Afghan forces step up anti-IS offensive after deadly attack Afghan forces backed by US airstrikes Tuesday ramped up an offensive against the Islamic State group in their eastern stronghold, days after the jihadists claimed the deadliest attack for 15 years in the capital Kabul. Afghan troops seized large parts of the mountainous district of Kot in Nangarhar province, a key IS stronghold where the jihadists set up sharia courts and training camps displaying their trademark black flag. Some 120 militants were killed in the operation including Saad Emarati, a prominent local IS commander, provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP. An Afghan protester screams near the scene of a suicide attack that targeted crowds of minority Shiite Hazaras during a demonstration in Kabul on July 23, 2016 Wakil Kohsar (AFP/File) "They have been taught a lesson for their crimes. We will wipe out IS from Nangarhar," said defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish. The offensive follows the twin bombings on Saturday that tore through crowds of minority Shiite Hazaras as they protested over a major power line in Kabul, killing 80 people and leaving hundreds of others maimed. IS, which controls territory across Syria and Iraq, claimed the bombings in a statement carried by its affiliated Amaq news agency, calling it an attack on a "gathering of Shiites". The group said the attack was in retaliation for the support offered by some Hazaras to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Many Hazaras have been covertly recruited by Shiite-dominated Iran, Assad's key regional ally, to fight for his government against IS. The devastating attack in the capital represents a major escalation for IS, which so far has largely been confined to Nangarhar where it is notorious for brutality including beheadings. It also raised the spectre of sectarian discord in Afghanistan, something that the Sunni majority country has largely been spared despite decades of war. But officials have denied that it marked a turning point for IS in Afghanistan, saying the group has been under heavy pressure from both US air strikes and a ground offensive led by Afghan forces. US military spokesman Charles Cleveland said the group has steadily lost territory, with fighters largely confined to two or three districts in Nangarhar from around nine in January. He said US forces have conducted more than 450 airstrikes since the beginning of the year. The NATO-led coalition estimates there are between 1,000 and 3,000 IS militants in Afghanistan -- mostly disaffected Pakistani and Afghan Taliban, as well as Uzbek militants and local residents of Nangarhar. The offensive marks the start of a new chapter in the country's war against insurgents. While the main fight is against the Taliban, a stronger group than IS, the campaign is a departure from the previous defensive strategy of Afghan forces, who have struggled to contain insurgents since US-led NATO troops ended their combat mission in 2014. Thai rights activists charged over report on army torture Three prominent Thai rights defenders were charged Tuesday with criminal defamation over a rare report describing torture suffered by detainees in the restive south, police said. Thailand's southern tip is a hotbed of violence, with more than 6,500 people -- mostly civilians -- killed in a 12-year insurgency by Muslim rebels against the Buddhist-majority state. But the near-daily shootings and bombs make few international headlines, and watchdog groups say rights abuses are frequent in the shadowy region governed for a decade by emergency laws. A Thai soldier watches as Muslim schoolchildren participate in the opening parade of the Kadrika Sampan festival in the Rangae district of Thailand's restive southern province of Narathiwat on April 16, 2016 Madareee Tohlala (AFP/File) Three activists behind the landmark report on torture allegedly carried out by soldiers in the south are now facing jail time after the military charged them with defamation, which carries a two year prison sentence, and violating the computer crimes act, which carries three years. Rights groups say both broadly-worded laws are routinely used by powerful interests to silence critics. "All three denied the charges and will submit written testimonies later," Winyou Tiamrat, the police officer handling the case in the southern province of Pattani, said of Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, Anchana Heemmina and Somchai Homlaor. Their report, based on interviews with 54 former detainees, described a host of physical and mental torture tactics allegedly used by soldiers and police. Beatings, threats at gunpoint, sensory deprivation and partial suffocation were all routine during detention, the report said. The military, which denied the report's allegations, has in the past admitted rights abuses but prosecutions of soldiers are extremely rare. The insurgents have also employed brutal tactics including shootings, beheadings and bombings. Pornpen expressed fears her case would deter others from investigating the heavily-patrolled region and push victims of abuse back into the shadows. "We are trying hard to create a space for people (in the south) to express their grievances," she told AFP. Thailand's military junta, which came to power through a coup in 2014, has failed to revive peace talks with the rebels. Goldman sued over 1MDB links in Malaysian bank merger In a new development linked to the 1MDB corruption scandal, a former Hong Kong-based investment fund is suing Goldman Sachs for conflict of interest in advising a 2011 Malaysian bank merger. Primus Pacific Partners said Tuesday that Goldman and its then managing director in Southeast Asia, Tim Leissner, concealed its close relationship with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak when the bank was recruited to advise EON Capital, partly owned by Primus, in its $1.7 billion sale to Malaysia's Hong Leong Bank (HLB). Najib "had close family and business ties with HLB" giving him an interest in the success of HLB's takeover of EON, Primus charged in a statement. Goldman Sachs faces a conflict of interest lawsuit Spencer Platt (Getty/AFP/File) At the same time that Goldman was advising EON on the merger, though, the New York investment bank was also the key advisor to 1MDB, the government investment fund established and chaired by Najib. Goldman used its role advising EON to "secretly curry favor with the Prime Minister by using the (EON) board's confidential information" to help Hong Leong's bid for EON, it said. Goldman allegedly convinced EON's board that Hong Leong's bid was fair, "even though Goldman Sachs knew that the bid in fact was well below the fair intrinsic value of the company." Primus, which held 20 percent of EON at the time, asked a New York court to award it $510 million for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty by Goldman Sachs. That includes $170 million for what Primus said Goldman's alleged misconduct cost it in the deal, and another $340 million in punitive damages. The lawsuit came after a move by US authorities to seize $1 billion in properties bought with money allegedly siphoned off from 1MDB, which placed a spotlight on Goldman Sachs' role in the burgeoning scandal. With Leissner its main contact with the Malaysian authorities, Goldman had raised billions of dollars for 1MDB. One month after he left Goldman, in March Leissner was subpoenaed by the US Justice Department in its investigation into the scandal. Goldman said it would fight the lawsuit, noting that Primus had lost a 2011 legal challenge to the merger in Malaysian courts. US 'must resist' Turkey extradition bid: Erdogan's foe The reclusive cleric accused by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of orchestrating a failed coup, demanded Tuesday that the United States resist demands for his extradition from Pennsylvania. "Turkey's president is blackmailing the United States," preacher Fethullah Gulen wrote in a New York Times opinion piece. "His goal: to ensure my extradition, despite a lack of credible evidence and virtually no prospect for a fair trial. The temptation to give Mr Erdogan whatever he wants is understandable. But the United States must resist it." Fethullah Gulen has lived in Pennsylvania in voluntary exile since 1999 Thomas Urbain (AFP/File) Gulen has lived in Pennsylvania in voluntary exile since 1999. He is spiritual leader of the Hizmet movement, which promotes moderate Islam but which Erdogan has dubbed a terrorist group. The Turkish president accused him of orchestrating the July 15 aborted coup, in which Ankara said more than 290 people were killed. A subsequent crackdown has seen more than 13,000 people detained and tens of thousands more sacked from their jobs. Gulen, who lives on the edge of the Poconos, a scenic area of forest, lakes and hills popular as a weekend hideaway with New Yorkers, denies having anything to do with the failed coup. In the Times, he accused Erdogan's government of shifting towards "a dictatorship" that was "polarizing the population" and "fueling the fanatics." "The United States must not accommodate an autocrat who is turning a failed putsch into a slow-motion coup of his own against constitutional government," Gulen wrote. The US government has asked for firm evidence in reply to Ankara's request to extradite Gulen. Hamas 'summer camp' trains young Gazans for war As if from nowhere, a dozen young people surge out of a tunnel, Kalashnikov assault rifles in hand, to launch a surprise assault on a military post. This is the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave that has seen three wars with Israel since 2008, but this time the attack is not real. The young people, aged between 15 and 20, are taking part in a summer training camp for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, the Islamist movement which runs Gaza. Palestinian youth show attend a military-style summer camp organised by Hamas in Gaza City, on July 22, 2016 Mohammed Abed (AFP) Such camps in the enclave of 1.9 million people have been heavily criticised by rights groups concerned with young people's welfare. It is the first time that Jihad, 16, has entered one of the underground tunnels, which Hamas considers a major strategic asset in its conflict with Israel and which are usually kept well hidden. The young Palestinian comes from Shejaiya, a Gaza neighbourhood ravaged by war two years ago, and is carrying out a drill to kidnap fake Israeli soldiers. At the Yarmuk base of the Al-Qassam Brigades east of Gaza City, dozens of young men descend 20 metres (66 feet) from a tower on ropes, as others navigate burning roadblocks. The base is near the sensitive border between Israel and Gaza, which has been controlled by Hamas for around a decade and is subject to a strict Israeli blockade. In a week, Al-Qassam says it will train nearly 30,000 young people in basic fighting techniques. These young recruits to the summer camps are a key part of Hamas's attempts to prepare the population for "the battle of liberation of Palestine", a member of Al-Qassam told AFP. "Our message to this (young) generation is that the future is yours," he said, his face concealed by a black balaclava. "It is thanks to you that we will be victorious." Khalil al-Haya, another Hamas official, argued that "there is no choice but the gun". - 'Avenge my father' - "The enemy destroyed houses and imposed a blockade hoping that people would turn against us, but the people closed ranks around the resistance and Al-Qassam and send their children to our camps," he added. Rights activists are deeply concerned by the camp, however. "We are completely opposed to children's participation in military camps," said Issam Younis, who heads the Gaza-based Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights. "Children are meant to have fun and learn to develop their thinking. They must absolutely be kept away from violence and anything that may disrupt their childhood." The camps take place every summer, but this year Al-Qassam has also opened the doors to some of its bases for other interested local residents. Rows of weapons are displayed to the hundreds of people who flock to see rockets, missiles and drones emblazoned with the "Qassam Manufacturing" symbol. Debris from tanks and Israeli drones allegedly shot down or captured in the 2014 war are also displayed. Members of Al-Qassam's communications branch welcome young people and explain the different divisions: there are infantry, snipers, and missile and rocket brigades, among others. "Some young people have relatives who were killed or imprisoned, others have seen their homes destroyed before their eyes, and that's why they decided to come here," said another masked fighter, who says he leads a youth group. One 16-year-old told AFP his father was killed by an Israeli bombardment during the 2008-09 war. Four years before that, his brother had carried out a suicide attack. "I joined this camp because that is how we will free our country from the occupation and I can avenge my father and my brother," he said. "I am participating in this camp to learn how to fight the enemy," Mohammed al-Bitar, 15, told AFP, before seizing a grenade from a stand. "I'd like to kill the enemy with this." Palestinian youth show their skills during a graduation ceremony as part of a military-style summer camp organised by Hamas in Gaza City, on July 22, 2016 Mohammed Abed (AFP) An Emirates passenger plane heading to the Maldives made an emergency landing in Mumbai after pilots reported 'smoke on board'. The plane had earlier set out from Dubai with 309 people on board, when it was forced to make the unscheduled landing. Emergency services were on hand once the Boeing 777-300 had landed, and passengers were safely escorted into the terminal. An Emirates plane was forced to make an emergency landing after smoke was reported on board (stock image) Speaking to DNAIndia, a Mumbai Airport official said: 'The Air Traffic Control (ATC) declared full emergency at the MIAL (Mumbai International Airport Limited) at 13:59 after a Boeing 777 flight of Emirates (EK 652) from Dubai to Male had to make an emergency landing following detection of smoke in the aircraft.' However Emirates have refused to confirm that the plane filled with smoke. A spokesperson from the airline said on Tuesday: 'Emirates can confirm that flight EK652 from Dubai to Male was diverted to Mumbai due to a technical fault. The passengers were safely escorted off the aircraft, which was checked before flying to the Maldives (file photo of Mumbai Airport) 'The aircraft has been serviced and will continue its journey to Male with a six-hour delay.' Another Indian news outlet, The Hindustan Times, reported that the smoke 'discharged from a bread maker'. 'The crew as per the safety procedure switched off the power supply in the Boeing 777 aircrafts pantry section and sought permission from the Mumbai air traffic control (ATC) to land on priority,' it reported. Israeli guards wound suspected Palestinian attacker: police Israeli private security guards at an east Jerusalem checkpoint on Tuesday shot and wounded an 18-year-old Palestinian suspected of planning to stab them, police said. "At the Qalandia checkpoint a young Arab woman... started to run toward the guards, who several times ordered her to stop," a police statement said. "When she did not comply and drew close to them they fired at her legs and neutralised her," it said. An Israeli private security guard on July 26, 2016 at the Qalandia crossing between the West Bank city of Ramallah and Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem Ahmad Gharabli (AFP) She was found to have been carrying a knife in her bag, it added. Violence in the Palestinian territories and Israel since last October has killed at least 217 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, according to an AFP count. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities. Others were shot dead during protests and clashes, while some were killed by Israeli air strikes on the Islamist-controlled Gaza Strip. The police statement said the woman, from nearby Kufr Akab village, was lightly wounded and treated by paramedics. Police said clashes erupted at the scene but security forces restored order. No injuries were reported. Earlier Tuesday there were clashes at neighbouring Qalandia village -- which straddles the line between east Jerusalem and the Israeli-occupied West Bank -- after Israel destroyed 11 Palestinian homes there. Israeli authorities did not respond to requests for information on the demolitions, but such cases are usually said to be because the owners did not have building permits. VW gets preliminary approval for US emissions settlement A federal judge in California granted preliminary approval on Tuesday to a $14.7 billion settlement over Volkswagen's emissions cheating scandal. At the close of a hearing in San Francisco, US District Judge Charles Breyer praised the "enormous effort" made by both sides. The development signaled that the German automaker was more than likely to put one episode within the massive scandal behind it definitively later this year. Volkswagen's settlement in its emissions cheating scandal now has an October 18, 2016 deadline for final approval of the deal Paul J. Richards (AFP/File) "There's been an enormous effort to achieve a series of goals," said Breyer. "I think these goals have been achieved," he added, setting an 18 October deadline for final approval of the deal. The settlement, the terms of which were announced last month, concerns nearly a half-million 2.0 liter Audi and Volkswagen diesel cars sold in the US between 2008 and 2015. Regulators announced last year that the vehicles had been deliberately calibrated to deceive laboratory tests for nitrogen oxide emissions. Although Volkswagen and Audi marketed the cars -- which included models of Beetle, Golf, Jetta, Passat and the Audi A3 -- as clean, they emitted up to 40 times the legally permissible amounts of the poisonous gases while on the road. The company admitted to equipping 11 million cars worldwide with the so-called "defeat devices" on the cars. A separate settlement concerning some 16,000 Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche cars with 3.0 liter engines also equipped with illegal defeat devices was rebuffed earlier this month by officials in California. The California Air Resources Board found that modifications proposed by Volkswagen were insufficient in that case. In the settlement for two-liter cars, owners will be eligible for buybacks, penalty-free lease terminations or free modifications to fix the vehicles' emissions. All participants are also to receive cash payments. In addition to $10 billion for compensation to owners, Volkswagen will also create a $2.7 billion fund for environmental remediation, and provide $2 billion to promote the use of "zero emissions" vehicles within the United States. The settlement involves the US Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission as well as the State of California and private plaintiffs. After the scandal broke in September, consumers sought to bring as many as 500 class-action lawsuits in different states. But a judicial panel in December transferred all related federal cases to the Northern District of California. In moving to settle the case last month, plaintiffs' lawyers praised the swift pace of the resolution, noting that it had been reached only nine months after the scandal broke. Resolving the two-liter and three-liter cases will by no means put all of Volkswagen's legal woes behind it. The company says it has reached settlement agreements with the attorneys general of 44 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico over consumer protection claims. However, New York, Massachusetts and Maryland this month brought separate civil suits over the pollution defeat devices that suggested that current Volkswagen chief executive Matthias Mueller and former CEO Martin Winterkorn may have known about the efforts to mask the vehicles' illegal emissions levels. Both men have denied involvement in the emissions deceptions. The company also faces civil and criminal action outside the United States. In Germany town of Braunschweig, prosecutors are also investigating Volkswagen's diesel emissions practices. Libya's rival government threatens oil tankers Forces loyal to Libya's parallel government on Tuesday threatened to bomb oil tankers approaching the Libyan coast without permission from authorities in the country's east. "We cannot allow Libyan oil to be exported except via the National Oil Company in Benghazi," said General Abdulrazzaq al-Nadhouri, chief of staff for forces loyal to the rival government based in the eastern city of Tobruk. "We will target any boat that approaches the Libyan coast without prior agreement with the NOC in Benghazi," he told AFP. Libya's oil production has dropped from 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) to around 300,000 bpd since the fall of Kadhafi Mahmud Turkia (AFP/File) Oil is Libya's main natural resource with reserves estimated at 48 billion barrels, the largest in Africa. But production was hit hard in the wake of the 2011 revolt that ousted dictator Moamer Kadhafi. Like many state institutions, the country's oil company was split into two as rival governments emerged. Nadhouri's threat came as the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) based in the capital Tripoli attempts to revive Libya's all-important oil sector. His comments are a blow to hopes that the sector would be strengthened by an agreement early this month between rival leaders of the NOC to unify their ranks. He said his threat was a response to an agreement between UN envoy Martin Kobler and Ibrahim al-Jadhran, the leader of militia set up to guard the country's main oil facilities, to reopen the key Ras Lanuf and Al-Sidra export terminals. Jadhran's militia backs the GNA and has joined GNA-allied forces fighting the Islamic State group in Sirte, 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of Tripoli. The terminals were closed after an attack by IS early this year. In a statement released on Tuesday, the NOC in Tripoli said the Libyan oil and gas sector "should be kept aside from political conflicts". It said NOC officials had met representatives of international oil companies including Italy's ENI and France's Total in Vienna between Thursday and Sunday. Those present agreed on "the urgent need to end the closure of the oilfields and terminals without any conditions", the NOC statement said. The Tobruk parliament has refused to hold a vote of confidence in the GNA, formed as the result of a UN-backed accord in December. US, Senegal troops wind up first-ever emergency exercise Some 400 US and Senegalese troops on Tuesday wound up an unprecedented joint training exercise aimed at preparing for a possible emergency deployment of American troops in Africa. "Security issues, safety, any kind of emergency. The idea is to always be ready for an emergency response," US defense attache Colonel Scott H. Morgan told AFP at the training venue in Thies, east of the Senegalese capital, Dakar. Around 200 troops from an infantry battalion based in Georgia and 200 Senegalese paratroopers took part in the two-week "Africa Readiness Training" exercise. American soldiers of 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division deploy during a combined training exercise with Senegalese 1st Paratrooper Battalion in Thies on July 25, 2016 Seyllou (AFP/File) It is the latest sign of stepped-up military cooperation between the two countries. A defence accord signed in May allows "the permanent presence" of American soldiers in the west African country, while making no mention of US bases in Senegal. A key point of the deal was to give US troops access to areas in Senegal, such as airports and military installations, in order to respond to security or health needs. It also allowed for joint training so as "to be better prepared to respond together to the risks which threaten our common interests." "We have been sharing a lot," said Lieutenant-Colonel Souleyman Kande, who commands the Senegalese paratroopers. "They are changing. They adapted their way of doing things to ours." After Ebola, which caused more than 11,000 deaths between late 2013 and this year in West Africa, diplomats say a future crisis could be another epidemic, a natural disaster calling for a humanitarian response, "or a terrorist threat". New Yorkers arrested over $5 mn bank heists Three New Yorkers were arrested and charged Tuesday after criminals blow-torched their way into bank vaults and stole more than $5 million in a plot akin to Robert de Niro's heist film "Heat". The Brooklyn suspects were detained after a painstaking police and FBI investigation into the robberies at an HSBC in Brooklyn in April and a Maspeth Federal Savings Bank branch in Queens in May, officials said. They were part of a crew that cut through roofs and into the vaults using acetylene torches -- in Queens hiding from view by building a plywood shed on the roof. New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, pictured on June 20, 2016, compared recent bank heists to scenes from the movie "Heat" Drew Angerer (Getty/AFP/File) Breaking open deposit boxes, they snatched millions in cash, diamonds, jewelry and other valuables, prosecutors said. That included $330,000 in cash and a valuables from HSBC, and $296,000 in cash and $4.3 million in valuables from the Maspeth bank. "These heists resembled scenes from the movie 'Heat' -- the work of a crew that was well organized, meticulous, and elusive to law enforcement," said New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton. The 1995 film, starring de Niro and Al Pacino, follows a group of hardened bank robbers who mistakenly leave behind a clue. "Left with few clues after the heists, our crime scene teams hunted for every shred of evidence," added Bratton. The arrests came after officers tracked down the plywood they used to a hardware store and the torches to a Brooklyn welder, police said. Michael Mazzara, 44, Charles Kerrigan, 40, and Anthony Mascuzzio, 36, were due to appear before a federal magistrate judge in Manhattan later on Tuesday. Sanders camp nudges Democratic platform to left Bernie Sanders is urging his most passionate supporters to back Hillary Clinton in the battle for the White House, assuring them they have already helped shape "the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party." The common statement of policy principles was adopted Monday on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Here are its key points: The one percent A delegate from Virginia wears a hat supporting Bernie Sanders at the Democratic National Convention on July 26, 2016 Robyn Beck (AFP) Echoing a central message of the Clinton campaign -- "stronger together" -- the document's preamble also makes a forceful case against wealth inequality and adopts phrasing used throughout the Sanders campaign: the one percent. "We believe that today's extreme level of income and wealth inequality -- where the majority of the economic gains go to the top one percent and the richest 20 people in our country own more wealth than the bottom 150 million -- makes our economy weaker, our communities poorer, and our politics poisonous," it says. The party supports "a multimillionaire surtax to ensure millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share." Wall Street 'greed' Borrowing from the fiery stump speeches of the Vermont senator, the document calls for measures to "fight against the greed and recklessness of Wall Street," rein in big banks, prevent excessive risk-taking and pre-empt costly public bailouts. "Wall Street cannot be an island unto itself, gambling trillions in risky financial instruments and making huge profits, all the while thinking that taxpayers will be there to bail them out again," it says. Money politics In another nod to the concerns of Sanders' backers, the platform seeks to reduce the influence of super-rich donors in the political system. "We need to end secret, unaccountable money in politics by requiring, through executive order or legislation, significantly more disclosure and transparency -- by outside groups, federal contractors, and public corporations to their shareholders." Minimum wage The party platform calls for raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour at present to $15 -- marking another victory for the Sanders camp. Clinton had advocated raising it to $12. Institutional racism As America reels from the fatal police shootings of African Americans and deadly attacks on police by black radicals, the platform issues a clear call for reform: "Democrats will fight to end institutional and systemic racism in our society," and press to remove the Confederate battle flag, a symbol of America's "racist past," from public property. "We will push for a societal transformation to make it clear that black lives matter and that there is no place for racism in our country." Gun violence The platform calls for expanding background checks for gun buyers, and banning some assault-style rifles. "With 33,000 Americans dying every year, Democrats believe that we must finally take sensible action to address gun violence." National security "Democrats will continue to lead a broad coalition of allies and partners to destroy ISIS's stronghold in Iraq and Syria," and they will urge regional allies to "carry their weight" in the fight. "As we prosecute the fight against terrorism, Democrats will repudiate vile tactics that would do us harm. We reject Donald Trump's vilification of Muslims," it adds. Social issues "We believe unequivocally, like the majority of Americans, that every woman should have access to quality reproductive health care services, including safe and legal abortion," the platform states. It applauds last year's decision by the Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage, but says "there is still much work to be done." Climate change The platform notes how Trump has called climate change a "hoax" despite record global temperatures. "Climate change is an urgent threat and a defining challenge of our time." Immigration Democrats are seeking an urgent fix to "our broken immigration system" and creation of a "path to citizenship for law-abiding families" who are contributing to their communities. The platform calls for a "humane" approach to deportations, urging a prioritization of those who pose threats to safety, not those contributing to their communities. College tuition Sanders told supporters he and Clinton had "come together on a proposal that will revolutionize higher education in America." The platform says Democrats "are unified in their strong belief that every student should be able to go to college debt-free," and that working families should not have to pay tuition to attend public colleges. TPP Sanders' biggest platform loss concerned the contentious Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal -- a lightning rod to many of his supporters, who fear the proposed trade deal would hurt American jobs and wages. Clinton recently reversed her stance on the TPP and now says she opposes it. But the Democratic platform stops short of condemning the accord. "While we believe that openness to the world economy is an important source of American leadership and dynamism, we will oppose trade agreements that do not support good American jobs, raise wages, and improve our national security." A rally at City Hall in Philadelphia on July 25, 2016 Nicholas Kamm (AFP) UN fine-tunes Central Africa mission ahead of French pullout The UN Security Council Tuesday voted to task peacekeepers in the Central African Republic with supporting the newly elected government just as France prepares to end its military mission in the country. The council unanimously adopted a French-drafted resolution that extends the mission known as MINUSCA until November 15, 2017 and maintains the ceiling of 10,750 troops and 2,080 police. The resolution expressed support for President Faustin-Archange Touadera who took office in March and said the protection of civilians remained a priority task for MINUSCA. The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a French-drafted resolution that extends MINUSCA until November 15, 2017 Issouf Sanogo (AFP/File) "Now that the transition has been successfully completed, we must now successfully complete the stabilization" of the country, French Ambassador Francois Delattre told the council. France earlier this month announced the pullout of the last 350 remaining soldiers from the Sangaris force, which was sent to the Central African Republic in December 2013 to quell violence. The mission, which involved nearly 2,500 French troops at its peak, is due to end entirely in October. Council members noted that the security situation is improving but remains fragile as armed militias continue attacks and national security forces are too weak to confront them. Earlier this month, Touadera marked his first 100 days since his election by declaring that entire regions of the country remained under the control of rebel groups and that "the country is in danger." The resolution said MINUSCA must "support the rapid extension of state authority over the entire territory of the CAR" to secure main supply routes and help police redeploy to more remote areas. It welcomed steps to enforce zero-tolerance of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers, following a wave of allegations against MINUSCA troops and police. UN peacekeepers will be tasked with promoting human rights and helping ensure deliveries of humanitarian aid. MINUSCA will support the new government's efforts to disarm the militias and reintegrate some of the fighters into the security and defense forces. Delattre said the United Nations must ensure that MINUSCA has the proper equipment and technology to fulfill its mandate. The resolution was drafted under Chapter Seven of the UN charter, which allows for the use of force and sanctions to enforce its provisions. The Central African Republic descended into bloodshed between Christian and Muslim militias following a coup in March 2013 that ousted long-time leader Francois Bozize. Prosecutors urge speedy jailing of 2 convicted legislators NEW YORK (AP) A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling reversing the conviction of a former Virginia governor is no reason to let two former top New York legislators remain free pending appeals of their convictions, federal prosecutors on Monday told judges overseeing the cases. The prosecutors argued in papers filed in Manhattan federal court that the facts surrounding the convictions on public corruption charges last year of Democratic former state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Republican ex-Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos are more than adequate to survive changes in how the nation's high court now defines public corruption. Lawyers for Silver and Skelos asked for them to remain free pending appeals after the Supreme Court last month reversed the conviction of Virginia Republican ex-Gov. Robert McDonnell, who left office in January 2014. In reversing McDonnell's conviction on charges he illegally accepted more than $175,000 in loans and gifts from a businessman, the Supreme Court raised the standards federal prosecutors must use when they accuse public officials of wrongdoing. Earlier this year, Silver was sentenced to 12 years in prison and Skelos got five years in prison. Judges in both cases agreed they can remain free until they decide whether the Supreme Court ruling gives them a greater likelihood of winning on appeal. Silver was convicted of collecting $4 million in kickbacks from a cancer researcher and real estate developers in return for using his powerful post to help them. Skelos was convicted of claims that he strong-armed a major real estate developer, an environmental technology company and a medical malpractice insurer into giving his son about $300,000. Prosecutors said McDonnell has no relevance to the issues in Silver's appeal. "McDonnell will not save Silver on appeal, nor should it entitle him to bail pending appeal," they wrote. They said the judge in the Silver case instructed the jury at the urging of defense lawyers that they could not convict Silver if they found that he understood payments were made to him "only to cultivate generalized goodwill or nurture a relationship" rather than in exchange for specific official acts the legislator would take on behalf of those who made the payments. They noted that the judge in the McDonnell case declined to make a similar instruction over the objection of defense lawyers. In a separate court filing, prosecutors wrote that guilty verdicts on all eight counts against Skelos "were based on official acts taken by Dean Skelos that fall squarely within the requirements of McDonnell." An Indianapolis police officer was shot and a second officer suffered injuries Monday following a motor chase involving several squad cars and an exchange of gunfire that left a suspect dead. The officer injured by gunfire was shot in the lower body and taken to a hospital where he is expected to make a full recovery, said Indianapolis Police Chief Troy Riggs. The second officer suffered 'very minor injuries,' Riggs said. The incident began on the city's northwest side when an officer tried to stop a suspicious vehicle, according to the chief. An Indianapolis officer was shot, a second was injured and a suspect was killed during a traffic stop and police chase Monday night. IMPD Chief Troy Riggs, pictured, said the officer is expected to make a full recovery The incident began around 6:45 p.m. on Georgetown Road near 71st Street, where an IMPD officer saw someone he suspected of criminal conduct. A passenger left the car, fled and was later taken into custody A passenger left the car and was later taken into custody, Riggs said. However, the driver led police on a chase along city streets and an interstate before ending on the city's east side, where the suspect engaged in a shootout with officers. The suspect, who hasn't been identified, was shot to death. 'It was a very long pursuit,' Riggs said. 'We had numerous officers involved. Not in the pursuit itself but trying to block intersections, provide safety for our residents, put out spike strips. They did a lot to mitigate the risks. As a result, no citizens were injured.' On July 16, an Indianapolis police officer was wounded when he and other officers responded to a report of a man sitting in a vehicle pointing a gun to his head. When a Taser was used on the man, the gun went off, sending a bullet into the officer's leg. The officer was hospitalized in good condition. Bangladesh police say 9 militants killed in raid in Dhaka NEW DELHI (AP) Police in Bangladesh's capital raided a five-story building Tuesday and killed nine suspected Islamic militants, the country's police chief said. Inspector General of Police A.K.M. Shahidul Hoque said the raid took place in Dhaka's Kalyanpur area and one suspect was arrested and he was being treated with injuries in a hospital. Hoque said officials were still investigating to see which group the men belonged to, but their clothing and other evidence showed it was likely that they belonged to local banned group Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, or JMB. The group is blamed for a July 1 attack in Dhaka's Gulshan diplomatic area, when 20 people, including Italians and Japanese, were killed when armed gunmen attacked a restaurant. Policemen return after raiding a building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Police in Bangladesh's capital raided a five-story building Tuesday and killed nine suspected Islamic militants the country's police chief said. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad) Hoque said the suspected militants were killed when police raided the building used as a den by the suspected Islamic militants. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the July 1 attack and for many other recent attacks on atheist bloggers, foreigners and minority groups, but authorities have rejected the claims, saying there are no signs of the group having any existence in the country. Instead, the government says the local militant groups including the JMB are behind such attacks that have drawn global attention. Policemen return after the raiding a building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Police in Bangladesh's capital raided a five-story building Tuesday and killed nine suspected Islamic militants the country's police chief said. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad) Police stand guard after killing suspected Islamic militants during a raid in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Police in Bangladesh's capital raided a five-story building Tuesday and killed nine suspected Islamic militants, the country's police chief said. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad) Policemen return from a raid on a building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Police in Bangladesh's capital raided a five-story building Tuesday and killed nine suspected Islamic militants the country's police chief said. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad) A policeman carries explosives following a raid on a building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Police in Bangladesh's capital raided a five-story building Tuesday and killed nine suspected Islamic militants, the country's police chief said. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad) Policemen return after rafter a raid on a building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Police in Bangladesh's capital raided a five-story building Tuesday and killed nine suspected Islamic militants, the country's police chief said. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad) Michelle Obama wears American designer Christian Siriano Michelle Obama, who ditched the boxy jackets and dowdy style of so many first ladies before her, addressed the Democratic National Convention in a custom, royal blue dress by designer Christian Siriano. Never predictable or boring when it comes to clothes, her choice was in line with the modern and cool approach she has taken for the last eight years. "Stuffy is not her signature, and in that sense her fashion choices reflect that sensibility and the mood of the times," said Avril Graham, executive fashion and beauty editor for Harper's Bazaar magazine. First Lady Michelle Obama takes the stage during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Monday, July 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) Mrs. Obama wore her hair loose, parted to one side, with the cap-sleeve, A-line dress. Her jewelry was minimal, large silver earrings a prominent touch. The look was low-key, Graham said, calling it "of the people, not stiff, simple, appropriately elegant, mannerly so as not to upstage." Fashionistas will miss this first lady, Graham said. "I think it's fair to say Michelle Obama has been the darling of the fashion set. She has championed young design talent and highlighted existing designer names with a very confident approach to her wardrobe choices," she said. The 30-year-old Siriano, who won the fourth season of "Project Runway" in 2008, has been growing his New York-based brand ever since. His custom convention creation included high-belt detailing, a tight bodice and a flared hem that lent the look movement. Siriano dressed Mrs. Obama for the first time for a much sadder occasion: a black dress for the July 12 memorial service for five police officers killed by a sniper in Dallas. Mrs. Obama wears color and prints with confidence and mixes up the clothing shapes, or silhouettes, she chooses. She has worn an eclectic roster of designers, from the Europeans to the home-grown. Among her favorites: Jason Wu, Michael Kors, Narciso Rodriguez, Thakoon, Azzedine Alaia, Sophie Theallet, Naeem Khan and Junya Watanabe. "Right from her early days as first lady she made the fashion elite take note," Graham said. But she's no label snob, donning mom cardigans and other pieces from J. Crew and Gap. And she's been clever in her attitude to beauty, Graham said, experimenting with different hair and makeup styles that are of the moment. US, Japan, Australia step in for weak SEAsia to chide China VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) The United States, Japan and Australia have urged China not to construct military outposts and reclaim land in the disputed South China Sea, in a strong show of support for Southeast Asian nations that have territorial disputes with Beijing in the resource-rich area. A joint statement by the three allies, issued late Monday, ironically fills the vacuum created by Southeast Asia's main grouping, which during its meeting of foreign ministers on Sunday failed to take a stand against China because of disunity among themselves. "The ministers expressed their serious concerns over maritime disputes in the South China Sea. The ministers voiced their strong opposition to any coercive unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions," said the statement issued by Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers Fumio Kishida and Julie Bishop. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, left, stands with Philippines Foreign Minister Perfecto Yassay, center, and Brunei's Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Jock Seng Pehin Lim after they pose for a photo during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, Laos, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) The three met in Vientiane on the sidelines of a series of meetings organized by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. The grouping could have leveraged the recent decision by a permanent arbitration panel in The Hague, which ruled in favor of the Philippines in a case it brought against China in their dispute in the South China Sea. The panel ruled that China's claim that amounts to claiming almost all of South China Sea was illegal. Implicit in the ruling is that China has no standing in its other disputes with Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam, which also are ASEAN members. But ASEAN became divided because of China's divide-and-rule diplomacy by winning support from Cambodia, and to some extent Laos, which resulted in the grouping issuing a joint statement on South China Sea that did not mention China by name or the arbitration ruling. Instead, it fell upon ASEAN's allies to rush to their support. In their joint statement, the ministers of Japan, Australia and the United States also expressed "strong support" for the rule of law and called on China and the Philippines to abide by the arbitration panel's award, "which is final and legally binding on both parties." "The ministers stressed that this is a crucial opportunity for the region to uphold the existing rules-based international order and to show respect for international law," they said in one of the strongest and most detailed post-arbitration warnings by the allies against China. In a clear broadside at China, the statement urged all parties to refrain from "unilateral actions that cause permanent physical change to the marine environment ... and from such actions as large-scale land reclamation, and the construction of outposts as well as the use of those outposts for military purposes." China has been rapidly developing reefs and rocky outcrops into islands in the South China Sea, including building air strips capable of landing military aircraft. It claims historic rights to the vast sea, a claim that was rubbished by the arbitration panel, which said the sea is international waters and the rocky outcrops do not constitute sovereign islands that would give states an ownership on the surrounding waters. For years China has prevented fishermen from other countries from venturing into the areas it claims, and has made it clear it will not back down despite the arbitration award, which it calls politically motivated, illegal and irrelevant. It has accused countries outside the region notably the United States, Japan and Australia of meddling in Southeast Asia and destabilizing the region. In recent days, China's military has staged live-firing exercises in the area and said it would begin regular aerial patrols over the sea. It also has asserted that it will not be deterred from continuing construction of its man-made islands. From left to right; South Korea's Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, Laos Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Philippines' Foreign Minister Perfecto Yassay as they pose for a photo during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, Laos, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) From left to right; South Korea's Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, Laos Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi stand together before a photo during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, Laos, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, left, talks to Philippines' Foreign Minister Perfecto Yassay after they pose for a group photo during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, Laos, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) Laos Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith, left, shake hand with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi before they pose for a photo during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, Laos, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) From left to right; Thailand's Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, Laos Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith, South Korea's Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japan Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida stand together as they pose for a group photo during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, Laos, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) Warren makes case for Clinton, derides Trump as selfish PHILADELPHIA (AP) Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren made an impassioned case for Hillary Clinton on Monday, hailing her as a tenacious fighter on behalf of working people while dismissing presidential rival Donald Trump as someone who "cares about himself every minute of every day." Warren, a favorite among liberals, told the Democratic National Convention that the party must unite around Clinton after a divisive primary with Bernie Sanders. Warren called Clinton "one of the smartest, toughest, most tenacious people on this planet," contrasting her decades-long record of public service with Trump, who she described as "a man who has never sacrificed anything for anyone." Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Monday, July 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) In the convention's keynote address, Warren told an excited crowd: "I'm with Hillary. This choice is personal. It's about who we are as a people." While enthusiastically endorsing Clinton, Warren spent most of the speech attacking Trump. The first-term senator has emerged as one of the Democrats' toughest critics of Trump, and she kept up her attacks on his character and business record as she delivered repeated jabs at the blustery billionaire. "Donald Trump has no real plans for jobs, for college kids, for seniors," Warren said. "No plans to make anything great for anyone except rich guys like Donald Trump." While Trump has excited Americans who are justifiably angry, he offers no solutions for their problems other than a promise that "he and he alone can fix the rigged system," Warren said. The only actual policy proposal Trump offered in accepting the Republican presidential nomination last week was "a stupid wall" that "will never get built," Warren said. Trump has famously proposed building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border that he says Mexico will pay for. Notably absent from Trump's speech were proposals to improve children's education, increase incomes or create jobs, Warren said. On Twitter, Trump responded, "Elizabeth Warren, often referred to as Pocahontas, just misrepresented me and spoke glowingly about Crooked Hillary, who she always hated!" The "Pocahontas" taunt is rooted in Warren's claims of Native American heritage. Warren told the convention crowd Clinton will help "reject the politics of fear and division" and work to make the country "stronger together." "Let's work our hearts out to make Hillary Clinton the next president of the United States," Warren said. An Ohio superdelegate who supports Clinton said Warren did a good job of challenging Trump's appeal. Warren "helps unite Democrats while laying out the case that Trump is like the Emperor wearing his new clothes: lacking any record or plan," said Jocelyn Bucaro, chairwoman of the Butler County, Ohio Democratic Party in a Republican-heavy area north of Cincinnati. Trump "seeks to divide and confuse us. We're stronger together," Bucaro said. Ohio GOP official resigns over Trump nomination CINCINNATI (AP) A low-level Republican Party official from Ohio has resigned over the GOP's nomination of Donald Trump as its presidential candidate. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports (http://cin.ci/2aoCUjT ) George White, a precinct executive in the city of Wyoming, submitted his resignation on Friday, a day after Trump formally accepted the nomination at the GOP's convention in Cleveland. There are about 380 precinct executives in Hamilton County. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a town hall, Monday, July 25, 2016, in Roanoke, Va. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) White said in his resignation letter that he cannot support Trump as the nominee, and therefore, cannot encourage other Republican voters to do so. Hamilton County GOP chairman Alex Triantafilou says he will speak with the Wyoming ward chairperson to find White's replacement, who will be selected by the Hamilton County GOP executive committee. ___ Clinton speech draws mixed reaction on cable news A look at the Democratic National Convention through a media lens: Television's instant reaction to Hillary Clinton's acceptance of the Democratic nomination anticipated what is likely to be a hard-fought slog to November. "This was about the eighth most dynamic speech of her convention," Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity said dismissively, criticizing Clinton for offering Democratic bromides and a lack of specifics, only to draw an incredulous look from across the desk. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton applauds after addressing the delegates during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Thursday, July 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) "I don't know what you were watching," retorted former Barack Obama aide Austan Goolsbee, ticking off points Clinton made. "I thought her speech was solid. She touched all the bases." The speech's breadth seemed to give the pundits pause: ABC's George Stephanopoulos mentioned how it was part biography, part attack on Donald Trump, part Democratic manifesto. That contributed to a lack of consensus on whether Clinton succeeded in reaching the people she needed to. In Clinton's words and the profusion of red, white and blue, several commentators noted how she had reached out to voters who might not normally consider a Democrat. "She perfectly married the new Democratic Party to what was left of the old Republican Party," said MSNBC's Joy Reid. RHIMES' AD: The campaign went Hollywood slick with a five-minute film on Clinton made by "Scandal" producer Shonda Rhimes and narrated by Morgan Freeman, and it was interesting to see how the networks responded to it. CNN, NBC, MSNBC and PBS aired the film, which was shown to the convention just before Clinton spoke. ABC and Fox News Channel were decidedly uncomfortable about airing it, and their commentators talked over it. CBS showed a small portion of the film. ANTICIPATION: "This is going to be a very, very crucial night," said CNN's Erin Burnett heading into the convention's final night. She did what many of the cable pundits did throughout Thursday, talk about what Hillary Clinton did or didn't have to say in her speech. Jeff Zeleny read excerpts released in advance. The stories that drove the week chaos at the Democratic National Committee, disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporters, Donald Trump's comments about Russia had faded away. Good for the Democrats, perhaps. Dull for viewers. O'REILLY AGAIN: It's been quite the week for Fox's Bill O'Reilly, raising a ruckus with his comment that slaves who helped build the White House "were well-fed and had decent lodgings," then lashing out at those who took offense. He opened Thursday's show by saying the "stupefying" conventions "bore me to shreds." It's certainly a counter-intuitive programming strategy, telling your viewers you'd rather be just about anywhere else. NEWSERS: Say what you will about Trump's news conferences, at least he has them. The PBS team had an illuminating discussion Thursday about Clinton's avoidance of news conferences, the strategy considerations that go into that and why the public not just the press should care. RATINGS: Just over 24 million people watched the Democrats' third night on the six top networks, with CNN again leading the way. More tweets are being sent out about the Democratic convention than the Republicans, according to the Nielsen company. The true test will come Friday when viewership for Clinton's speech is announced, and the acutely ratings-conscious Trump will find out which candidate Americans were more interested in watching. Shutting down 'shark finning': US fishermen promise a fight PORTLAND, Maine (AP) American fishermen are digging in for a fight over a congressional proposal to send a message to the rest of the world by shutting down the vestiges of the U.S. harvest of shark fins, prized for soup and traditional medicine in Asia. The traditional "finning" of sharks in which they are pulled out of the water, have their fins sliced off and are discarded into the sea, often still alive but unable to swim is already illegal in the U.S., but fishermen are still allowed to hunt sharks and have their fins removed during processing on land. A bill backed by Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, and others promises to ban the sale and possession of shark fins to ensure U.S. fishermen and seafood dealers no longer participate in the global fin trade. Supporters say the bill would close loopholes left open by measures passed in 2000 and 2010 to protect sharks. FILE - In this June 12, 2012 file photo, a worker cuts a shark fin at a fish market in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In the United States, members of the fishing industry say they will dig in against 2016 legislation in Congress that proponents believe will help shut down the country's shark fin industry for good. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File) "America can become a global leader by shutting down the domestic market for shark fins," Booker said. Fins from as many as 70 million sharks end up in the worldwide fin trade every year, and completely removing the U.S. from the industry would tell the world that it needs to stop, Booker said. Lora Snyder, campaign director for the conservation group Oceana, has compared shark fins to the trade of elephant ivory and rhino horn. She said the legislation to ban the trade is a step toward saving sharks. But some commercial shark fishermen and fish processors say the effort is wrongheaded and will harm industry more than it protects sharks. The U.S. shark fishery was worth about $2.5 million in 2014, Booker's office said. The worldwide trade is worth hundreds of millions. In the U.S., sharks are processed for their meat, as well as the fins, most of which are sold to Hong Kong. The U.S. also imported an annual average of 36 tons of dried shark fins from 2000 to 2011, according to Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut and a supporter of Booker's legislation. There are more than 400 permitted shark fishermen in the U.S., with the largest concentrations in Florida and Louisiana. Fishermen brought more than 600 metric tons of sharks to land in states from Maine to Texas in 2014. Jeff Oden, a former North Carolina shark fisherman who left the business about 10 years ago to focus on other species amid mounting regulatory pressure, said the legislation is well intentioned but won't stop international finning, and could actually increase pressure on sharks. "Other countries that are less likely to be as sustainable as us will fill our void," Oden said. Shaun Gehan, a lawyer who represents shark fishermen, said the inability to sell fins would devastate the shark fishing business, which he described as conservatively managed already. Eleven states already have laws against the sale of shark fins, though shark fin soup can still be found on the menu in Chinese restaurants in many states. American fishermen are allowed to harvest many different kinds of sharks, including tiger sharks, bull sharks and some species of hammerhead. Shark conservation group Shark Savers has said the 14 kinds of shark that are most prevalent in the international shark fin trade are all threatened with or near-threatened with extinction. The bill would still allow fishermen to harvest sharks for their meat, though some in the industry say it wouldn't be worth the cost of business, because much of the value is in the fins. There would also be an exception for smooth dogfish, which could still be used for fins. The bill is pending in the Senate Commerce Committee, but no votes are scheduled. Booker introduced the bill along with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican, Rep. Ed Royce, a California Republican, and Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, the Northern Mariana Islands delegate to Congress. Oklahoma student sues running back Mixon over assault case NORMAN, Okla. (AP) A University of Oklahoma student is suing the school's running back over a 2014 incident in which the player was charged with punching her in the face. Amelia Molitor filed a complaint Friday in U.S. District Court against Joe Mixon, alleging negligence, willful and wanton misconduct, and intentional infliction of emotional distress in the confrontation at a restaurant in Norman. The suit seeks unspecified damages. Mixon accepted one year of probation in October 2014 after being charged. In his Alford plea, he acknowledged there was likely enough evidence to convict him of misdemeanor assault while still asserting his innocence. He performed community service and underwent counseling. Court documents don't list an attorney for Mixon who could comment about the lawsuit on his behalf. Craft breweries try to stand out with creative tap handles RANDOM LAKE, Wis. (AP) Cone heads, zombies, beards, bananas they are some of the creative beer tap handles that have become a big business as the number of craft breweries has skyrocketed. There were 2,033 craft breweries in 2011 compared to 4,144 last year, according to the Brewers Association. AJS Tap Handles' business has mirrored the breweries' growth. They are expanding their 26,000 square foot Random Lake, Wisconsin, office and factory by 16,500 square feet by December. Their 45 employees make about 500,000 handles out of resin, metal and wood a year. In this July 21, 2016, photo, bartender Catherine Pierluissi pulls a Ballast Point tap handle at Sugar Maple in Milwaukee, where there are at least 60 beers on tap. The number of craft breweries has more than doubled in the last five years, making tap handles that go in bars to promote their beers big business. AJS Tap Handles in Random Lake, Wis., is one of the largest makers of tap handles in the nation and made Ballast Point handle, among others at the bar. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger) "Sometimes the best ones are the simplest ones, that have a really memorable shape and really bold branding," said Cole Krueger, AJS' lead designer. He also advises beer makers to go no wider than three inches and stay under a pound for the knob on draft beer faucets. That width is so they can fit in with other handles and for the bartenders, who have to be able to take them off quickly if a keg runs empty during a rush. And the weight is so the handles don't break faucets, causing beer to gush everywhere. It behooves breweries to stay within the guidelines, says Rob Zellermayer, beer buyer and bartender at Sugar Maple in Milwaukee, where they have 60 beers on tap. "I need very little reason not to buy beer sometimes and if it's the idea it might break a faucet unfortunately there are thousands of other breweries I can pick from," he said. While for some drinkers it's still about the qualities of the beer and menu description, some drinkers such as Tyler Penrod do look at the handle for a first impression. He ordered his Surly Brewing Company's "Overrated" recently at The Brass Tap in Greenfield based on the handle, which has silver "Surly" letters in black with a blue and white square top that says "Overrated." "I liked the industrial look of it. The name was appealing beyond the name of the brewery, which I'm familiar with, being "Overrated" made me curious," he said. Turns out, it wasn't overrated. "I like it a lot. I would definitely probably get it again," he said. In this July 21, 2016, photo, bartender Catherine Pierluissi walks past a bank of beer tap handles at Sugar Maple in Milwaukee, where there are at least 60 beers on tap. The number of craft breweries has more than doubled in the last five years, making tap handles that go in bars to promote their beers big business. AJS Tap Handles in Random Lake, Wis., is one of the largest makers of tap handles and made some of the handles shown here, including the white O'so Brewing Company handle in front. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger) $15 billion Volkswagen emissions deal clears 1st hurdle SAN FRANCISCO (AP) A nearly $15 billion settlement over Volkswagen's emissions cheating scandal cleared a key hurdle Tuesday, with a federal judge giving preliminary approval to the deal that includes an option for owners to have the carmaker buy back their vehicles. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer called the settlement an "enormous effort" by attorneys from both sides and urged Volkswagen owners who may want to opt out and pursue their own lawsuits to consider the deal's environmental achievements. "Because that's significant, and that's part of what you're attempting to achieve in this settlement," said Breyer, who is overseeing consumer lawsuits and government allegations that Volkswagen's diesel engines cheated on U.S. emissions tests. FILE- In this May 8, 2003, file photo, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer discusses his San Francisco upbringing at the Federal Courthouse in San Francisco. Judge Breyer is expected to hand down a major decision regarding the Volkswagan emission scandal Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File) The German carmaker has agreed to spend up to $10 billion buying back or repairing about 475,000 Volkswagens and Audi vehicles with 2-liter diesel engines and paying their owners an additional $5,100 to $10,000 each. Details about the vehicle repairs have not been finalized. The settlement also includes $2.7 billion for unspecified environmental mitigation and an additional $2 billion to promote zero-emissions vehicles. The judge's decision allows attorneys to notify vehicle owners of the terms and consumers to use a settlement website to determine how much compensation they would get. They could object and opt out, allowing them to pursue legal action against Volkswagen on their own. The deal does not cover about 85,000 more-powerful Volkswagens and Audis with 3-liter engines also caught up in the emissions scandal. Volkswagen has acknowledged that the cars were programmed to turn on emissions controls during government lab tests and turn them off while on the road. Investigators found that the cars emitted more than 40 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxide, which can cause respiratory problems. The company still faces billions more dollars in fines and penalties and possible criminal charges. Breyer's preliminary approval of the settlement was expected. The judge, who is set to make a final decision in October, has kept close tabs on the negotiations and praised the efforts of attorneys and a court-appointed settlement master who helped broker the deal. Still, attorneys for vehicle owners spent considerable time in court Tuesday presenting what they called the benefits of the deal and highlighting positive feedback, including from the media. "We have designed a settlement that places the consumers the owners and lessees in a central, decisive role," said Elizabeth Cabraser, lead attorney for Volkswagen owners. Robert Giuffra, an attorney for the automaker, said it supported the deal. "This is a very fair and reasonable settlement ... and it allows Volkswagen to turn the page and begin to make things right in the United States and begin to re-earn the trust of our customers," he said. Wish granted: Six-year-old boy is garbage man for a day SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Ethan Dean has always dreamed of being a garbage man. He never tires of playing with toy garbage trucks and loves to watch the real ones drive past his house. On Tuesday, the 6-year-old with cystic fibrosis got his wish, riding shotgun in a booster seat through Sacramento as an honest-to-goodness garbage truck driver with a set of wheels labeled "Ethan's Garbage Truck." He donned a green cape that read "Hero Ethan" and a big smile as the truck stopped to pick up trash and recyclables. It wasn't a chore for Ethan, who said his favorite part of the day put on by the Make-A-Wish Foundation was "cleaning up garbage." Hundreds of people gathered to cheer him on. CORRECTS PHOTOGRAPHER TO RANDALL BENTON - Six-year-old Ethan Dean, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at two weeks old, rides in a waste truck as his wish to be a garbage man came true for a day in Sacramento, Calif., on Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, he got to experience what it's like to be a garbage truck driver, riding in a real garbage truck through downtown Sacramento, collecting trash and recyclables, just like he's always wanted. (Randall Benton/Sacramento Bee via AP) After being surprised at his school, Ethan and the garbage truck made five stops. Sam Thurman, the Waste Management employee who drove Ethan, said when he agreed to take part, he had no idea how big the day was going to be. And as for Ethan? "He can't wipe that grin off his face," Thurman said. "He looks like it's Christmas morning and he's unwrapping his first present." Ethan was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis as an infant and began treatment at eight weeks old. The genetic disorder is characterized by a buildup of thick mucus and frequent lung infections, and the median life expectancy is about 40 years old. When Make-A-Wish Foundation agreed to grant his wish in February, there was little doubt what he wanted it to be. "We pretty much knew it was going to be about garbage trucks," said Ethan's dad, Ken Dean, laughing. He's been watching them come down the street since he first learned how to crawl, Dean said. Ethan also has a garbage truck bedspread and pillow, garbage truck toys and has had a garbage truck birthday party. Ethan's big day comes three years after Make-A-Wish transformed San Francisco into Gotham for a 5-year-old boy who had battled leukemia for years and dreamed of being Batkid. Miles Scott traveled from one crime scene to another, rescuing a damsel in distress and thwarting the plans of The Riddler and The Penguin, as crowds of people cheered him on. Ethan's dream is being a less fantastic, more everyday superhero. When he visited Make-A-Wish and was asked about some of his dreams, almost all of his answers were garbage-truck related, said Jennifer Stolo, CEO of the local chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Ethan's uncle, Tim Dean, said it means a lot to the family to have people who don't even know him come out to celebrate. At least 500 people gathered at the Capitol for a press conference and VIP lunch at the end of Ethan's day. Erika Sizemore doesn't know Ethan and said she learned about his special day on social media. It hit home for her, she said, because she has two boys, Kane and Benny, who also love garbage trucks. "As soon as he got out of the truck I cried," she said, tearing up. "It could happen to any of our kids. He is an amazing little kid and I just think that any of could be in the same boats as his parents are." CORRECTS PHOTOGRAPHER TO RANDY PENCH - Six-year-old Ethan Dean, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at two weeks old, gets a high five while carried by Capt. Recycle, Mitch Zak during his stop at The Sacramento Bee to pick up recycling as part of his Make-A-Wish Foundation activity on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 in Sacramento, Calif. (Randy Pench/Sacramento Bee via AP) This February 2014 photo taken by Arnell Elegue and provided by the Make A Wish Foundation shows Ethan Dean in Rancho Cordova, Calif. Dean, 6, who has cystic fibrosis, will have his dream to be a garbage man come true with help of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Dean will ride along on a garbage truck collecting trash at various locations in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (Arnell Elegue/Make A Wish Foundation via AP) This February 2014 photo taken by Arnell Elegue and provided by the Make A Wish Foundation shows Ethan Dean in Rancho Cordova, Calif. Dean, 6, who has cystic fibrosis, will have his dream to be a garbage man come true with help of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Dean will ride along on a garbage truck collecting trash at various locations in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (Arnell Elegue/Make A Wish Foundation via AP) This February 2014 photo taken by Arnell Elegue and provided by the Make A Wish Foundation shows Ethan Dean in Rancho Cordova, Calif. Dean, 6, who has cystic fibrosis, will have his dream to be a garbage man come true with help of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Dean will ride along on a garbage truck collecting trash at various locations in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (Arnell Elegue/Make A Wish Foundation via AP) CORRECTS PHOTOGRAPHER TO RANDALL BENTON - Six-year-old Ethan Dean, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at two weeks old, has his wish to be a garbage man come true for a day in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, he got to experience what it's like to be a garbage truck driver, riding in a real garbage truck through downtown Sacramento, collecting trash and recyclables, just like he's always wanted. (Randall Benton/Sacramento Bee via AP) Advertisement California's signature parks along the Big Sur coastline that draw thousands of daily visitors were closed Tuesday as one of the state's two major wildfires threatened the scenic region at the height of the summer tourism season. To the south, firefighters made progress containing a huge blaze in mountains outside Los Angeles, allowing authorities to let most of 20,000 people evacuated over the weekend to return home. In Wyoming, a large backcountry wildfire in the Shoshone National Forest put about 290 homes and guest ranches at risk. The Big Sur fire threatened a long stretch of pristine, forested mountains hugging the coast and sent smoke billowing over the famed Pacific Coast Highway, which remained open with few if any flames visible to motorists but a risk that the blaze could reach beloved campgrounds, lodges and redwoods near the shore. Scroll down for video Cal Fire firefighters extinguish hotspots while fighting the Soberanes Fire in Palo Colorado Canyon on the northern Big Sur Coast on Tuesday July 26, 2016 in Big Sur, California Inmate firefighters file off to construct a fire break while battling the Soberanes Fire in Carmel Highlands, California In Southern California, the so-called Sand Fire has set more than 37,700 acres of the Santa Clarita Valley ablaze The fire in rugged wilderness between the northern edge of Los Angeles and the suburban city of Santa Clarita has burned 58 square miles and at its peak forced about 20,000 people to evacuate, though most have now returned Fire crews have made some gains against a massive wildfire burning in rugged terrain near the scenic Big Sur region A wildfire burns in the Palo Colorado Canyon in the scenic Big Sur region of California's Central Coast Inmate firefighters rest before constructing a fire break to stop the Soberanes Fire in Carmel Highlands, California Karrie H. Andrews recovers items salvaged from the ruins of her home destroyed when the Sand fire swept through Santa Clarita, California over the weekend The fire destroyed 18 homes and authorities said that by Tuesday it had burned more than 37,000 acres, about 58 square miles 'It is folly to predict where this fire will go,' said California state parks spokesman Dennis Weber. The Los Angeles-area fire has destroyed 18 homes since it started and authorities over the weekend discovered a burned body in a car identified Tuesday as a man who refused to be evacuated. A woman living in the house Robert Bresnick was visiting left with firefighters but he went back inside the house. The body of Bresnick, 67, was found about 20 minutes later Saturday in the car after flames tore through the neighborhood, said Los Angeles County Coroner's Assistant Ed Winter. The Big Sur closures were put into place for parks that draw 7,500 visitors daily from around the world for their dramatic vistas of ocean and mountains. Campgrounds were closed because of the dangers smoke could pose to visitors but could reopen soon if the blaze is held back by firefighters. A map shows the areas where the Sand Fire has spread to since the blaze broke out on Friday afternoon A Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy checks the identification of people returning to their homes after evacuation orders were lifted in Santa Clarita, California One person has died in the blaze, at least 18 homes have burned and 20,000 residents had been evacuated, according to fire authorities The ruins of a car and a home are seen after the Sand fire swept through Santa Clarita, California over the weekend A firefighter sprays water while battling the Soberanes Fire in Carmel Highlands, California. The wildfire made its relentless march down the central coast, destroying at least 20 homes Jim Newby, a Phoenix-area tourist, drove along the Pacific Coast Highway with his family and was disappointed at the smoke. 'We wanted to see more of the ocean,' Newby said. 'We didn't see a whole lot of it unfortunately, and it's a beautiful, beautiful stretch.' The park shutdowns came as a fire that started Friday just north of Big Sur grew Tuesday to 36 square miles (93 square kilometers) but was just 10 percent contained. Twenty homes have burned in the zone, residents of 300 more were ordered to evacuate and more than 2,000 firefighters were trying to douse the blaze. The Wyoming fire in a remote region burned nearly 11 square miles (28 square kilometers) and forced the evacuations of 900 people but no homes had burned by Tuesday afternoon, authorities said. In neighboring Bridger-Teton National Forest, a fire grew to 26 square miles (67 square miles) and was partially contained. Two smaller fires were burning in the Bighorn National Forest. In Southern California, the fire in rugged wilderness between the northern edge of Los Angeles and the suburban city of Santa Clarita grew to 59 square miles (153 square kilometers). But authorities said Tuesday they had managed to contain 25 percent of the area, meaning the flames there had been isolated and were not expected to spread. They warned, however, that the fire was still extremely dangerous and would take time to put out. Nearly 3,000 firefighters are battling the flames in extremely volatile conditions. The fires are rolling up and down the canyons in what looks like a wall of flames Eighteen homes have been destroyed in the blaze that started on Friday afternoon and quickly tore through drought-ravaged brush that hadn't burned in decades Most of the roughly 20,000 evacuees forced out by a wildfire were cleared to go home, but firefighters still have huge work ahead Tuesday A firefighter runs to put out a hotspot while battling the Soberanes Fire. Firefighters are having to navigate steep terrains in extremely dry conditions in heavy smoke that clouded the area As smoke looms up from a wildfire, firefighters from the Imperial Valley, California Fire Department prepare food from the huge operational base camp at Golden Valley High School in Santa Clarita A banner thanking first responders hangs in front of a home that escaped damage Lane Leavitt, who trains stunt actors and specializes in setting people on fire for movies and television, shows where fire came close to his home that escaped damage Lane Leavitt, who trains stunt actors and specializes in setting people on fire for movies and television, writes 'thank you' to first responders in red fire retardant that covers his car Leavitt was relieved when he returned home Monday evening to find his home and business fully intact 'We're not really out of the woods,' said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Justin Correll. 'We're not ready to relax. There's still a lot of firefighting to do.' Acting Gov. Tom Torlakson, substituting for Gov. Jerry Brown who is at the Democratic National Convention with other top state officials, declared a state of emergency for both fires on Tuesday night. The move frees up funding and relaxes regulations to help with the firefight and the recovery. The 3,000 firefighters faced another day of temperatures in the 90s to low 100s as they fought the fire, aided by fleets aircraft dropping retardant and water and hundreds of fire engines. Some neighborhoods in Santa Clarita, population about 200,000, remained off limits Tuesday because of the fire. But most evacuations ordered for about 10,000 homes with an estimated 20,000 residents were lifted. Lane Leavitt, who trains stunt actors and specializes in setting people on fire for movies and television, was relieved when he returned home Monday evening to find his home and business fully intact. 'It's a miracle everything was there,' he said from his home across the street from a ranch used to make movies where the sets were incinerated. Friends and clients from around the world called and texted Leavitt, worried he lost everything after he abandoned the house with fire burning on two sides of it. He texted back: 'We're still standing.' Huge flames are seen coming out from behind a tree on Sunday as firefighters try to battle blazes that have ravaged parts of Los Angeles Firefighters battle the Sand Fire as it moves towards Fair Oaks Canyon housing estate in Santa Clarita, California on Sunday Looking west from neighboring Sparks, smoke from a Central California wildfire burning more than 300 miles away obscures parts of downtown Reno, Nevada The remains of a Chevy car that burned with the Soberanes Fire in Palo Colorado Canyon on the northern Big Sur Coast Smoke surrounds the ruins of a home that was destroyed by the Soberanes Fire. The local air pollution control agency warned that people in the areas affected by smoke should avoid vigorous outdoor or indoor exertion Towering columns of smoke could be seen from miles away, highlighting the dangers of the Sand Fire, named for the area's Sand Canyon. A smoke advisory warning of the unhealthy air quality in portions of the Santa Clarita Valley has been issued Debris from a outbuilding burn at Bochers Gap burn as the Soberanes Fire moves through Palo Colorado Canyon. Of the 18 homes destroyed, three of them belonged to firefighters and four of the structures had been occupied by Forest Service employees About 20,000 Southern California homes were evacuated as crews worked to protect mountain and canyon communities from the ferocious wildfire. Above, a burning oak is seen in Placerita Canyon at the Sand Fire on Sunday Two former Virginia Tech students were indicted on Tuesday in the slaying of a seventh-grade girl who was found dead last January, days after authorities said she sneaked out of her window to rendezvous with the older teens, a county prosecutor said. David Eisenhauer, 19, was indicted by a grand jury on charges of first-degree murder, abduction and hiding the body of 13-year-old Nicole Lovell, Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Mary Pettit said in a statement. Meanwhile, Natalie Keepers, also 19, was charged with being an accessory to kidnapping and murder and with helping hide the body, the attorney said. Authorities have not provided clues about a motive, but a friend of Eisenhauer told The Roanoke Times in May that Eisenhauer texted him about meeting a teenage girl at a party and later learning that she was underage. Scroll down for video David Eisenhauer (left) and Natalie Keepers (right), both 19, were indicted on Tuesday in the slaying of 13-year-old Nicole Lovell who was found dead last January, days after authorities said she sneaked out of her window to rendezvous with the older teens, a county prosecutor said A neighbor told The Associated Press in February that Nicole Lovell told friends before she vanished from her mother's home that she planned to sneak out to meet her 18-year-old 'boyfriend' Bryce Dustin of Pulaski, whose phone was seized by police, said Eisenhauer feared the girl would 'expose' him and asked if he knew where he could hide a body. Nicole Lovell's disappearance in January set off a massive, days-long search A neighbor told The Associated Press in February that Nicole told eight-year-old friends before she vanished from her mother's home that she planned to sneak out to meet her 18-year-old 'boyfriend,' who she said was named David. Authorities said Lovell and Eisenhauer met online and messaged on the anonymous texting app, Kik. Prosecutors previously said messages on the girl's phone led to the suspects. Lovell's disappearance in January set off a massive, days-long search. The girl, who suffered from bullying at school and online over her weight and a tracheotomy scar, needed daily medication after surviving a liver transplant, lymphoma and a drug-resistant bacterial infection as a child. At a preliminary hearing in May, Blacksburg police Detective Ryan Hite said Keepers told investigators she and Eisenhauer discussed several ways to kill Nicole: drugging her, making it look like suicide and knocking her unconscious and leaving her to die of exposure. They settled on what Keepers called 'the official plan,' Hite said: 'Grab her from behind, cover her mouth and slit her throat.' Keepers told investigators she was not present for the actual killing. She said she participated because it made her feel like part of a secret club, calling Eisenhauer a 'sociopath' and herself as a 'sociopath in training,' investigators said. Blacksburg Detective D.L. Twigger testified in May that Eisenhauer said he arranged to pick Nicole up outside her apartment, but he thought she was much older. He said Nicole did not get in his car and started walking back toward her apartment, and he drove away. Trial dates in March 2017 were set on Tuesday in both cases, and Eisenhauer and Keepers both face up to life in prison, Pettit said. Attorneys for Keepers and Eisenhauer did not immediately respond to messages left at their offices and emails seeking comment on Tuesday. Authorities have not provided clues about a motive, but a friend of Eisenhauer (left) said in May that Eisenhauer texted him about meeting a teenage girl (Lovell, right) at a party and later learning that she was underage Violence at club signals changing city in southwest Florida FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) A couple of doors down from Club Blu, where a young man and a 14-year-old boy were killed while attending a teen party, shop owner Idis Edouard hoisted a rod above his head to gently move a girl's blue dress aside. "The bullet was there," he said, pointing to a spot on the ceiling. "And there. It shattered that window." The pock-marks were from another mass shooting, not connected to the club, a couple of years ago. Both shootings remind Edouard, a Haitian immigrant, that the city he has called home for several decades may be increasingly unsafe. In the past year, there have been at least six shootings in the area, a place known more for its stunning Gulf beaches than for gun violence. Stephanie White, right, holds a photograph of her son Stef'an Strawder during an interview in her home in Lehigh Acres, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. Strawder, 18, was killed in the deadly shooting outside the Club Blu nightclub in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday. Police said the gunfire, which erupted at a swimsuit-themed party for teens, was not an act of terrorism. At left is Kasey Jones. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) On Sunday, Club Blu hosted a swimsuit-themed party in hopes of providing a safe place for kids in an alcohol-free venue with security. As the club was closing around 12:30 a.m. Monday and parents were arriving to pick up their children, gunfire erupted. Two were slain and 17 others, ranging in age from 12 to 27, were wounded. Police have not released a motive, saying only that it wasn't terrorism. Three persons of interest were booked on unrelated charges. Eager to show concern about the violence, officials opened a fund to assist the families. The TOGETHER Fort Myers Fund had raised over $10,000 by Tuesday afternoon, said Sarah Owen, president and CEO of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation. The foundation has always been ready to respond to natural disasters, but creating a fund for shooting victims is new, Owen said. "There's this general feeling in the community that everybody's heart-broken, feeling like, 'What can we do?'" Owen said. In Fort Myers, a string of shootings started in September, with seven people suffering gunshot wounds during four separate shootings over a seven-hour period. A shooting during a zombie festival in October killed one person and wounded five others. In March, four people survived a shooting at a park. Overall, crime in Florida has been on the decline, as Gov. Rick Scott noted during a news conference Monday. "The positive is we are at a 45-year low in our crime rate. The negatives I can't imagine this happening to any person in our state," he said. But while overall crime might be down, violent crime in Lee County for 2015 spiked more than 6 percent compared with the year before. There are about 700,000 people in the county and about 74,000 in Fort Myers, which is home to a palm tree-lined downtown and spring training for the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins. In Fort Myers, about 55 percent of the population is white and 32 percent is black. Most of those at the club were African-American. Club Blu is located in central Fort Myers, within city limits. It's not in the highest-crime neighborhoods, but business owners and residents say the area has changed. Once a sleepy retiree community, Lee County has gone through rapid boom-and-bust cycles in recent decades. "This used to be the main corridor of business," said Richard Lawrence, an employee of a plumbing parts store that's located next door to Club Blu. Car dealerships used to dot the area, but when the county grew, so did the businesses. The dealerships and other stores left the area a decade or two ago for more advantageous locations further south. Stores in strip malls, such as the one home to Club Blu and the plumbing store, were left half empty. Former dealerships turned into churches. Lee County was among the hardest hit in the nation for foreclosures during the recession, and with the foreclosures came unemployment. Over the years, drugs and gangs have crept in although locals aren't exactly sure if one had to do with the other. "A lot of this stuff you read about Fort Myers, it's drug- and gang-related," the 63-year-old Lawrence said. "I'm an old guy, and I gotta tell you, in my day, you might have people fight. But you didn't shoot people. Now, they just don't value life." Lawrence questioned why a teen night would be held at a nightclub, or why parents would allow such young children to be out that late. Unemployment, a lack of education and easy access to guns are all part of the problem, said pastor William Glover of Fort Myers. "We have to move away from the idea that this is a single issue problem," he said. "Like most of the social issues we're dealing with, there's no single solution." On Tuesday, the national television live trucks had vacated the strip mall's parking lot, leaving only the local stations. A makeshift memorial with flowers and stuffed animals had sprung up on a planter outside the entrance, and a garbage can overflowed with journalists' empty plastic water bottles and Starbucks bags. Authorities called in police cadets to comb the parking lot for clues, and under a hot Florida sun, they fanned out past the two signs at the entrance to the strip mall. One was a "space for lease" sign, while the other read: "We come to you: concealed weapon permit." ___ Associated Press writers Jennifer Kay, Curt Anderson, Kelli Kennedy and Michael Schneider contributed to this report. ___ Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamaralush Florida Gov. Rick Scott makes a statement at a news conference in response to a deadly shooting outside the Club Blu nightclub in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. Police said the gunfire, which erupted at a swimsuit-themed party for teens, was not an act of terrorism. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) Florida Gov. Rick Scott responds to a question at a news conference in response to a deadly shooting outside the Club Blu nightclub in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. Police said the gunfire, which erupted at a swimsuit-themed party for teens, was not an act of terrorism. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) A Fort Myers fire fighter pours bleach over blood stains on the pavement at the scene of a deadly shooting outside the Club Blu nightclub in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. Police said the gunfire, which erupted at a swimsuit-themed party for teens, was not an act of terrorism. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) Officials investigate the scene of a deadly shooting outside of the Club Blu nightclub, Monday, July 25, 2016, in Fort Myers, Fla. Gunfire erupted at the nightclub hosting a swimsuit-themed party for teens. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) Evidence markers are placed on the street at the scene of a deadly shooting outside of the Club Blu nightclub, Monday, July 25, 2016, in Fort Myers, Fla. Gunfire erupted at the nightclub hosting a swimsuit-themed party for teens. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) Officials investigate the scene of a deadly shooting outside of the Club Blu nightclub, Monday, July 25, 2016, in Fort Myers, Fla. Gunfire erupted at the nightclub hosting a swimsuit-themed party for teens. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) An official investigates the scene of a deadly shooting near the Club Blu nightclub, Monday, July 25, 2016, in Fort Myers, Fla. Gunfire erupted at the nightclub hosting a swimsuit-themed party for teens. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) A police vehicle blocks off the area near Club Blu after a fatal shooting in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Joshua Replogle) Sylvia Bargouthi leaves stuffed animals outside the scene of a deadly shooting at the Club Blu nightclub in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. Police said the gunfire, which erupted at a swimsuit-themed party for teens, was not an act of terrorism. (Monica Herndon/Tampa Bay Times via AP) An aerial view of the crime scene surrounding Club Blu in Fort Myers, Fla. Monday, July 25, 2016, the scene of a deadly shooting Monday. Police said the gunfire, which erupted at a swimsuit-themed party for teens, was not an act of terrorism. (Luke Franke/Naples Daily News via AP) Flowers and notes are left at the scene of a deadly shooting outside the Club Blu nightclub in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. Police said the gunfire, which erupted at a swimsuit-themed party for teens, was not an act of terrorism. (Monica Herndon/Tampa Bay Times via AP) People embrace after a fatal shooting at Club Blu in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. (Kinfay Moroti/The News-Press via AP) Bullet holes are marked at the scene of a deadly shooting outside the Club Blu nightclub in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. Police said the gunfire, which erupted at a swimsuit-themed party for teens, was not an act of terrorism. (Monica Herndon/Tampa Bay Times via AP) Kerry discusses email hack with Russia's top diplomat VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) Secretary of State John Kerry says he raised the email hack of the Democratic National Committee with Russia's top diplomat but stopped short of making any allegation about who might be responsible. Kerry told reporters Tuesday he brought the matter up with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a meeting in Laos and explained that the FBI was investigating. He did not, however, repeat allegations or echo suspicions that Russia was responsible for the hack and said he would not draw conclusions until the probe is complete. "I raised the question and we will continue to work to see precisely what those facts are," Kerry said. He would not say if Lavrov responded. Clinton wins historic nomination, says glass ceiling cracked PHILADELPHIA (AP) On a night awash in history, Hillary Clinton triumphantly became the first woman to lead a major American political party toward the White House, breaking through a barrier that painfully eluded her eight years ago. She put an electrifying cap on the Democratic convention's second night, appearing by video from New York and declaring to cheering delegates, "We just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet." Minutes earlier, former President Bill Clinton took on the role of devoted political spouse, declaring his wife an impassioned "change-maker" as he served as character witness. He traced their more than 40-year political and personal partnership in deep detail. Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton appears on a large monitor to thank delegates during the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) "She has been around a long time," he acknowledged. Casting her experience as an attribute, he added, "She's been worth every single year she's put into making people's lives better." For a man more accustomed to delivering policy-packed stem-winders, Clinton's heartfelt address underscored the historic night for Democrats, and the nation. If she wins in November, the Clintons would also be the first married couple to each serve as president. She will take on Donald Trump, who won the Republican nomination a week ago. Trump, who campaigned Tuesday in North Carolina, mocked the former president's speech in advance, calling him "over-rated." At Trump's convention last week, Clinton was the target of blistering criticism of her character and judgment, a sharp contrast to the warm and passionate woman described by her husband. Seeking to explain the vastly different perceptions of his wife, Clinton said simply, "One is real, the other is made up." The former president took voters back to a time before an affair with an intern led to his impeachment and to intense public scrutiny of the first couple's marriage. While her aides believe his past transgressions are old news to voters, they have flared up anew at times during the campaign, with Trump often leading the charge. Bill Clinton headlined the second night of the Democratic convention, a jubilant celebration of her formal nomination for president. In an important move for party unity, her primary rival Bernie Sanders helped make it official when the roll call got to his home state of Vermont, prompting delegates to erupt in cheers. It was a striking parallel to the role Clinton played eight years ago when she stepped to the microphone on the convention floor in Denver in support of her former rival, Barack Obama. This time, Clinton shattered the glass ceiling she couldn't crack in 2008. She leads a party still grappling with divisions. Moments after Clinton claimed the nomination, a group of Sanders supporters left the convention and headed to a media tent to protest what they said was their being shut out of the party. At the same time, protesters who had spent the day marching in the hot sun began facing off with police. Trump cheered the disruptions from the campaign trail. In North Carolina, he told a convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars that, "our politicians have totally failed you." Indeed, Clinton's long political resume secretary of state, senator, first lady has sometimes seemed an odd fit for an electorate deeply frustrated with Washington and eager to rally around unconventional candidates like Trump and Sanders. Many voters have questions about her character and trustworthiness, suggesting she's used her access to power to her personal advantage. President Clinton spoke after three hours of testimonials from lawmakers, advocates, celebrities and citizens who argued otherwise. Each took the stage to vouch for her commitment to working on health care, children's issues and gun control. "Hillary Clinton has the passion and understanding to support grieving mothers," said Sybrina Fulton, whose son Trayvon Martin was killed in 2012. "She has the courage to lead the fight for commonsense gun legislation." The significant time devoted to the testimonials underscored the campaign's concerns about how voters view Clinton. Public polls consistently show that a majority of Americans don't believe she is honest and trustworthy. That perception that was reinforced after the FBI director's scathing assessment of her controversial email use as secretary of state, even though the Justice Department did not pursue charges. President Clinton complicated the email controversy last month when he met privately with Attorney General Loretta Lynch in the midst of the FBI investigation. Republicans cast the meeting as a sign that the Clintons play by different rules, while Democrats bemoaned that at the very least, it left that impression. The former president has campaigned frequently for his wife during the White House race, but mostly in smaller cities and towns, part of an effort by the campaign to keep him in a more behind-the-scenes role. His convention address was his highest profile appearance of the campaign. Clinton's landmark achievement saturated the roll call with emotion and symbols of women's long struggle to break through political barriers. Jerry Emmett, a 102-year-old woman born before women had the right to vote, cast the ballots for Arizona. Martha McKenna, a Clinton delegate from Maryland, said the night felt like a celebration for Sanders' campaign as well as Clinton's. She added, "The idea that I'm going to be here when the first woman president is nominated is overwhelming." The Democratic convention drew the party's biggest stars to sweltering Philadelphia for the week-long event. On Monday night, first lady Michelle Obama made an impassioned case for Clinton as the only candidate in the presidential race worthy of being a role model for the nation's children. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will speak Wednesday, along with Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, Clinton's new running mate. ___ AP writers Kathleen Hennessey, Kathleen Ronayne, Ken Thomas and Matthew Daly in Philadelphia contributed to this report. ___ Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Catherine Lucey at http://twitter.com/catherine_lucey Former President Bill Clinton speaks during the second day session of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Former Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., waves before asking that Hillary Clinton become the unanimous choice for President of the United States during the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Delegates protest in the media filing center as they walk out of the convention floor during the second day session of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) 16-month Ethan Jennings grabs a cardboard cutout of the face of Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as his father Florida delegate Bernard Jennings holds him during the second day session of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Sybrina Fulton, Geneva Reed-Veal, Lucy McBath, Gwen Carr, Cleopatra Pendleton, Maria Hamilton, Lezley McSpadden and Wanda Johnson from Mothers of the Movement speak during the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Demonstrators clash with police near the AT&T Station in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016, during the second day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Solar plane's arrival highlights UAE's clean-energy push ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) The United Arab Emirates might not seem like an obvious spot to begin and end a globe-spanning flight promoting renewable energy. It is OPEC's fourth biggest oil producer, after all, where gas guzzlers rule the road and the air conditioning is always on not just at its indoor ski slope. Its oil output and fossil fuel-burning airlines are growing, and its per-capita carbon emissions rank among the world's highest. Yet this federation of sheikhdoms on the Persian Gulf has emerged as an unlikely champion of clean energy. One way is by backing the Solar Impulse 2 solar plane, which ended its groundbreaking round-the-world flight on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi and counts Emirati renewable-energy company Masdar among its sponsors. The Solar Impulse 2 plane flies over Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, shortly before landing on Tuesday, July 26, 2016. The world's first ever round-the-world flight to be powered solely by the sun's energy made history with its landing in the Emirati capital, where it first took off more than a year ago. (AP Photo/Adam Schreck) Here are some others: GOING SOLAR Dubai, the country's cosmopolitan commercial hub, last month picked an Emirati-Spanish consortium to develop the third phase of what is slated to become the world's biggest solar park. The winning bid for the 800-megawatt phase of the project came in at an industrywide record low cost of 2.99 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour. The first phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, named after the emirate's ruler, went online with 13 megawatts of capacity in 2013. Another 200 megawatts will be added next year. Plans call for the $14 billion park to eventually produce 5,000 megawatts by 2030, enough to power tens of thousands of homes. Abu Dhabi's government-backed Masdar, which was part of the winning bid, opened a 100 megawatt plant using a different technology known as concentrated solar power outside the federal capital in 2013. It aims to develop another 350-megawatt project in the emirate. Smaller-scale projects are popping up too, including solar-powered parking meters and public Wi-Fi hotspots. DP World, which runs the Mideast's busiest seaport in Dubai, plans to cover rooftops throughout the facility with solar panels. The emirate's utility operator last year rolled out a plan for building owners to connect their own solar panels to the grid. Dubai aims to generate a quarter of its power from clean-energy sources by 2030 and 75 percent by 2050. It is even looking into the feasibility of tapping geothermal energy, possibly for use in the energy-intensive desalination process the UAE uses to satisfy much of its water needs. "Like any rational country, they're looking ahead and ... seeing it really makes sense to plan a strategy of diversification," said economist Rachel Cleetus, the climate policy manager at the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Union of Concerned Scientists. "They are putting a lot of money behind these investments." SUSTAINABLE CITY Masdar is probably best known as the developer of Masdar City, a clean-energy showcase community being built near Abu Dhabi's main airport. It has hosted several dignitaries, including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Vice President Joe Biden. Earlier plans for Masdar City to become a self-sufficient, zero-carbon city of 40,000 serviced by futuristic electric podcars have been altered, and little has been built beyond an innovative urban core designed to keep cool using traditional Arabic architectural techniques. Still, the development has managed to attract some corporate tenants, including German engineering giant Siemens. It also houses the global headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency, a 144-member organization founded in 2009. Its member countries include Israel, which sends delegates to the group's meetings and hopes to open an office in the Emirates even though the countries have no formal diplomatic relations. Masdar CEO Mohammed al-Ramahi acknowledged in an interview that ambitious projects such as Masdar City "take time to grow and mature," and said the project now won't be finished until 2030. He insists the UAE is serious about its commitment to renewables despite a drop in oil prices that is testing the country's finances. "These projects bring value back to Abu Dhabi and the UAE," he said. INVESTING IN RENEWABLES Masdar has been busy developing renewable energy projects well beyond the Emirates. It owns a 20 percent stake in Britain's London Array, the world's largest offshore wind farm. Another Masdar-backed wind farm is being built off England's eastern coast. In Spain, it teamed up with engineering company Sener to build three concentrated solar power plants. Among its projects in the Mideast are a wind farm in Jordan and a solar plant in Egypt. Al-Ramahi said the company has invested $2.7 billion into clean-energy projects over the past decade. "All of our projects are bankable," he said. "The financial institutions would not give you a dime if it's not sustainable and it doesn't make commercial sense." The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the emirate's main sovereign wealth fund, sees potential in renewables too. Last October, it pumped $200 million into an Indian renewable energy company, ReNew Power Ventures. "They're definitely showing a very strong commitment to renewable energy," the UCS's Cleetus said of the Emirates. "The question is can they take it further, scale it up ... and at the same time diversify away from fossil fuels." ___ Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at www.twitter.com/adamschreck Sultan al-Jaber, United Arab Emirates minister of state and chairman of renewable energy company Masdar, left, looks at Bertrand Piccard, one of the pilots of the Solar Impulse 2 experimental solar-powered plane after its landing in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Tuesday, July 26, 2016. The UAE has emerged as an unlikely champion of clean energy and is a sponsor of the solar plane. (AP Photo/Adam Schreck) FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 16, 2011 file photo, People visit the Masdar Institute campus, part of Masdar City, a Mubadala company, in Abu Dhabi. The United Arab Emirates, OPECs fourth biggest oil producer, might not seem like as an obvious spot to begin and end a globe-spanning flight to promote renewable energy. Yet this federation of sheikhdoms on the southern edge of the Persian Gulf has emerged as an unlikely champion of clean energy. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File) FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 16, 2011 file photo, shows a Wind Tower that brings upper level wind to the public square at the Masdar Institute campus as a part of Masdar City, a Mubadala company, in Abu Dhabi. The United Arab Emirates, OPECs fourth biggest oil producer, might not seem like as an obvious spot to begin and end a globe-spanning flight to promote renewable energy. Yet this federation of sheikhdoms on the southern edge of the Persian Gulf has emerged as an unlikely champion of clean energy. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File) 2 suicide car bombs near UN offices kill 13 in Somalia MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) Two suicide bombers detonated explosives-laden cars Tuesday outside the office of the U.N.'s mine-clearing agency and a Somali army checkpoint in Mogadishu, killing 13 people, including seven guards, Somali police officials said. The blasts occurred near the African Union base in the area of the Mogadishu airport, Somali police chief Gen. Mohamed Sheikh Hassan said. Somalia's Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabab, claimed responsibility, according to the group's Andalus radio station. Somali soldier stand near the wreckage of a car bomb outside the UN's office in Mogadishu, Somalia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden car outside the United Nations Mine Action Service offices in Mogadishu, killing 13 people, including seven U.N. guards, a Somali police official said. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh) Unlike previous attacks by the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab, gunmen did not accompany the suicide bomber, said police Capt. Mohamed Hussein. The first suicide bomber tried to speed through the barrier at the U.N. office but guards shot at the car, he said. The guards were from a private security firm, said a police official, who insisted on anonymity because he isn't authorized to speak to the press. The deputy spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, Farhan Haq, told reporters that if the guards had not stopped the car from entering the U.N. premises, there "would have been considerably more damage and loss of life." A second suicide blast targeted a checkpoint manned by Somali security forces near the African Union base in Mogadishu, said Hussein. Casualties there remained unclear. Al-Shabab is waging an insurgency against Somalia's weak U.N.-backed government with the goal of establishing an Islamic emirate, ruled by a strict form of Islam. More than 22,000 peacekeepers serve in the multi-nation African Union force. Al-Shabab opposes the presence of foreign troops in Somalia. Although al-Shabab was ousted from Mogadishu in 2011, it continues to wage a deadly guerrilla campaign. "Al-Shabab is desperately seeking relevance and will do anything to keep in the news headlines," the AU Special Representative for Somalia, Ambassador Francisco Caetano Madeira, said in a statement. ___ Associated Press writer Edie Lederer at the United Nations contributed. Car bombs driven by suicide attackers exploded on Tuesday morning near Mogadishu's airport, one of which went off 200 metres from the base, killing mainly security staff Salah Badbado, 53, has been named as one of the two bombers and served in Somalia's parliament from 2004 until 2010, when he declared at a press conference he was leaving politics to join the Somali al-Qaeda affiliate United Nations office guards carry the dead body of their colleague, who was killed in a suicide car bomb A Somali soldier patrols near the site of a car bomb outside the UN's office in Mogadishu, Somalia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden car outside the United Nations Mine Action Service offices in Mogadishu, killing 13 people, including seven U.N. guards, a Somali police official said. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh) Cash for opponent pours in as FL congresswoman struggles PHILADELPHIA (AP) The Democratic National Convention is fertile fundraising ground this week for one Florida congressional candidate, but not in the traditional sense of high-priced donor dinners or lobbyist happy hours. In fact, Tim Canova isn't even in Philadelphia. Instead, the political novice who wants to unseat Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is reaping big financial rewards from days of nonstop publicity about her resignation from the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee after a hack of embarrassing party emails. FILE - In this April 6, 2016 file photo, Tim Canova smiles as he speaks during an interview at his campaign headquarters in Hollywood, Fla. The Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this week is fertile fundraising ground for one Florida congressional candidate, Canova, but not in the traditional sense of high-priced donor dinners or lobbyist happy hours. In fact, Canova isn't even here. Instead, the political novice who wants to unseat Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is reaping big financial rewards from days of nonstop publicity about her resignation from the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee after a hack of embarrassing party emails. Call it viral fundraising. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File) Call it viral fundraising. It's a down-ballot twist on how Bernie Sanders, who has endorsed Canova, was able to raise more than $235 million during his primary race against the far more politically connected and initially better-funded Hillary Clinton. "In some ways it feels like we've won the lottery," Canova said. "There's been a natural donor base for someone willing to take on a person with a national profile who is seen as a failed leader." Sanders, who has already sent fundraising pleas on Canova's behalf, said he also may campaign for him. At a round-table interview Tuesday with Bloomberg Politics, he said he'd be doing so not because of "some kind of personal vendetta against Debbie," but because Canova is a "good candidate." Privately, some Democratic officials think Wasserman Schultz is at risk of losing her Aug. 30 primary to Canova. However, officials with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee made clear Monday they have no plans to spend money to save her. Top committee leaders told reporters that they do not spend money on safe Democratic seats, which hers is, because they need to save resources for states they are trying to save or flip. Soon after Wasserman Schultz was booed Monday during a Florida delegation breakfast in Philadelphia, Canova wrote to his 20,000 Twitter followers, "It's time to end her political career for good," and shared a link to his campaign fundraising webpage. Canova has repeatedly ripped Wasserman Schultz on social media because it is paying off: He said he's raised about $100,000 in the 72 hours since the scandal erupted, all without leaving south Florida or picking up a phone to dial for dollars. In Philadelphia, Wasserman Schultz refused to speak to reporters as she left the breakfast on Monday and watched the night's speakers from a private suite filled with donors inside the convention hall. Wasserman Schultz's 12 years as a congresswoman and five years as leader of the Democratic Party give her a donor list on the order of Clinton's. But so far Canova, a law professor in his first-ever political campaign, has echoed Sanders' success online. Florida delegate John Archer, wearing a Canova T-Shirt covered in Sanders buttons, said he's proud of the way the challenger is funding his campaign. "He's doing it the Bernie Sanders way," he said. Canova has raised $2.3 million through the end of June, more than three-quarters from donors giving $200 or less. By comparison, the $3 million Wasserman Schultz raised between January and June 30 came mostly from political committees and larger donors. Canova said he has not held fundraising dinners and never called a donor to ask for money. "What the grassroots has done for me I'm so thankful," he said. "If, when, I'm elected, I won't owe a single thing to special interests." Sanders took the same approach, turning again and again to small donors online to propel him deep into the primaries. In one memorable moment after he won the New Hampshire primary in February, Sanders declared on national television that he was holding a fundraiser right then and there and asked for people to chip in $27, which he claimed as his campaign's average donation. Millions of dollars flowed in. Canova and Sanders have turned to the same Democratic digital firm, Revolution Messaging, to help with fundraising. Scott Goodstein, its chief executive officer, said candidates are becoming more aware of how much money there is to be raised when a moment catches fire online. Republicans, too, have tapped into viral fundraising with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump leading the pack. As he spoke to accept his party's nomination last Thursday, Trump became the first political candidate to purchase a "promoted trend" on Twitter. For 24 hours, he drove those following politics on the social media site to donate to his campaign. His campaign chairman Paul Manafort said on Twitter, as it happens that Trump raised about $4 million that day. "They're very open to trying new things," Jenna Golden, Twitter's director of political advertising, said of Trump's campaign. "They're not throwing things at the wall. Everything they're doing is making money." Trump's campaign raised more than $26 million last month, almost half of which came from donors giving $200 or less. That's far higher than the usual small-donor rate for presidential candidates. ___ What political news is the world searching for on Google and talking about on Twitter? Find out via AP's Election Buzz interactive. http://elections.ap.org/buzz ___ Associated Press writers Erica Werner and Ken Thomas contributed to this report. ___ Follow Julie Bykowicz on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/Bykowicz The Latest: Throng in Kosovo for Munich victim's funeral BERLIN (AP) The Latest on a series of attacks in Germany (all times local): 4:55 p.m. Thousands of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo have attended the funeral of a young man shot dead last weekend in Munich. An Imam holds a prayer near the coffin draped with an Albanian flag of Diamant Zabergja 21, during his funeral ceremony in the village of Ropice, Kosovo on Tuesday, July 27, 2016. Zabergia is one of the victims of the Olympia shopping center in Munich, where a shooting took place leaving nine people dead four days ago. Three ethnic Albanians, two women and a man, were among the nine people killed. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu) Dijamant Zabergja, 21, was shot dead by the German-Iranian 18-year-old who went on a rampage at a Munich mall last Friday, killing nine people and wounding dozens before killing himself. Relatives, common people and government officials took part at Zabergja's funeral ceremony at Ropice, a village 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Kosovo's capital, Pristina. A red-and-black Albanian flag covered his coffin. Two young Albanian women Armela Segashi and Sabina Sulaj were also killed in the attack. Segashi's funeral was also being held Tuesday in Kosovo while Sulaj will be buried in Germany. ___ 2:55 p.m. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann says the bomber who injured 15 people and killed himself at a music festival had enough material in his room to build "at least another bomb." Herrmann says authorities need to examine how a refugee was able to collect such material in his room in a state-funded home for asylum seekers. The 27-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker set off a backpack laden with explosives and shrapnel Sunday night after being refused entry to a crowded music festival in the Bavarian city of Ansbach. ___ 2:40 p.m. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann says the Islamic State group "is waging a brutal war of aggression ... against our way of life." In a news conference with Bavarian Governor Horst Seehofer, Herrmann called for better security and more police. Three recent attacks took place in Bavaria. Seehofer says that Germany's people "are justifiably expecting that we face this courageously." He adds: "We must do whatever necessary to protect our citizens." ___ 11:30 a.m. Germany's federal prosecutor's office says its investigation of the attack in the Bavarian town of Ansbach that was claimed by the extremist Islamic State group is focusing on the question on whether the attacker acted alone or had accomplices. A spokeswoman for the office, which investigates all suspected terrorism in Germany, said Tuesday that "we're especially pursuing the question on whether the attacker in Ansbach was helped in the planning and preparation." The spokeswoman talked on condition of anonymity in line with department policy. A 27-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker set off a backpack laden with explosives and shrapnel Sunday night after being refused entry to a crowded music festival in the Bavarian city of Ansbach, killing himself and wounding 15 people. by Kirsten Grieshaber ___ 9:45 a.m. Top security officials in Germany are calling for tougher security screening of asylum-seekers and have also announced that more police officers will be hired following four attacks in the country two of them claimed by the extremist Islamic State group. Horst Seehofer, the governor of Bavaria where three of last week's attacks took place told the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung Tuesday: "we must know who is in our country." Thomas Strobl, the interior minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg where a woman was killed by a Syrian attacker Sunday also demanded a tougher stance toward asylum-seekers. Three of the attacks were carried out by recent immigrants, rekindling concerns about Germany's ability to cope with the estimated 1 million migrants registered entering the country last year. ___ 9:05 a.m. The extremist Islamic State group has published a video in which a man pledges allegiance to IS and vows Germany's people "won't be able to sleep peacefully anymore." It appears to be the same as the one found by German investigators on the phone of man who blew himself, killing himself and wounding 15 people. The IS-linked Aamaq news agency released the video early Tuesday. The man on the video, his face covered with a black scarf, threatens to make life intolerable and that "we will blow up your homes." German authorities could not immediately be reached to confirm whether the video was the same as the one found on the cell phone of a 27-year-old Syrian who blew himself Sunday night in the Bavarian town of Ansbach. ___ The item timed at 9:45 a.m. has been corrected to say that Seehofer is Bavaria governor, not interior minister. Family members mourn over the coffin of Diamant Zabergja, 21, one of the victims of the Olympia shopping centre in Munich, during his funeral ceremony in the village of Ropice, Kosovo, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Three ethnic Albanians, two women and a man, were among the nine people killed by a gunman in Munich four days ago. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu) People attend the funeral ceremony for Diamant Zabergja, 21, one of the victims of the Olympia shopping centre in Munich, in the village of Ropice, Kosovo, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Three ethnic Albanians, two women and a man, were among the nine people killed by a gunman in Munich four days ago. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu) Mass killings rare in Japan, but have happened before TOKYO (AP) A former employee killed 19 people at a home for the mentally disabled early Tuesday morning in Sagamihara, a city 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Tokyo. Mass killings are relatively rare in Japan, but they have happened before: March 20, 1995: Doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo disperses sarin nerve gas on Tokyo subway trains, killing 13. June 8, 2001: A man kills eight children and injures 13 others and two teachers in a knife attack at an elementary school in the city of Osaka. The attack leads to increased security at schools. FILE - In this March 20, 1995 file photo, subway passengers affected by sarin nerve gas in the central Tokyo subway trains are carried into St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo. Doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo dispersed sarin nerve gas on Tokyo subway trains and killed 13 people. (AP Photo/Chiaki Tsukumo, File) June 8, 2008: Seven people are killed by a man who slams a truck into a crowd in central Tokyo's Akihabara electronics district and then get out and starts stabbing people. July 26, 2016: Nineteen people are confirmed dead in the knife attack on mentally disabled people at a facility outside Tokyo. It is the deadliest mass killing in Japan in decades. FILE - In this June 8, 2008 file photo, Tokyo Fire Department rescue workers work on the bloodstained intersection of Tokyo's Akihabara electronics district after a man slammed a truck into a crowd of shoppers, jumped out and went on a stabbing spree, killing seven people. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye, File) Kerry: Progress with Russia on Syria despite military doubts VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said progress is being made with Russia on a potential military partnership that could strengthen a faltering truce in Syria despite grave doubts expressed by the Pentagon and joint chiefs of staff. Speaking Tuesday after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Laos, Kerry made no promises of success but said he hoped discussions with Russia could produce a tangible result in the next week to 10 days. "My hope would be that somewhere in early August the first week or so, somewhere in there we would be in a position to be able stand up in front of you and tell you what we're able to do with the hopes that it can make a difference to the lives of people in Syria and to the course of the war," he said. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during the 6th East Asia Summit Foreign Minister's meeting in Vientiane, Laos, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP photo/Sakchai Lalit) His comments followed remarks from Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Monday in which he said Kerry's efforts with Russia have been complicated by the fact that Russia is focused mainly on supporting the Syrian government, which he said has had the effect of prolonging the civil war. "We had hoped that they would promote a political solution and transition to put an end to the civil war, which is the beginning of all this violence in Syria, and then combat extremists rather than moderate opposition, which has to be part of that transition," Carter said at a Pentagon news conference with Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "So they're a long way from doing that." When a reporter told Carter that he sounded unenthusiastic about the Kerry effort, Carter said, "No, I'm very enthusiastic about the idea of the Russians getting on side and doing the right thing. And I think that would be a good thing if they did. I think we're a ways from getting that frame of mind in Russia. But that's what Secretary Kerry is working toward." Kerry said he appreciated Carter's words and that his talks with Lavrov, as well as technical discussions at lower levels, would be continuing "to work through to details in order to make certain that the doubts expressed by Secretrary Carter by Chairman Dunford or doubts expressed by (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin and the Russians are going to be addressed ahead of time." Kerry has been talking to Russian officials about a proposal in which the U.S. would share intelligence and targeting information with the Russians. In exchange Moscow would use its influence with the Syrian regime to effectively ground the Syrian air force and promote a political solution to a civil war that has killed as many as a half a million people. Both Carter and Dunford said any arrangement with the Russians to coordinate military action in Syria would be transactional and not based on trust. Kerry's talks with Lavrov in Laos on Tuesday and with Putin in Moscow 10 days ago came after a leaked proposal showed the U.S. offering Russia a broad new military partnership against IS and the Nusra Front, which is al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate. Several conditions would apply, including Russia committing to grounding Syria's bombers and starting a long-sought political transition process. Dunford denied reports that U.S.-backed opposition forces have coordinated with Nusra in some cases. "We don't have any indication that the forces that we are providing support to in Syria are cooperating or intermingled with al-Nusra," the general said. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, rear, stand with India's Minister of External Foreign Affairs General V.K. Singh, left, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, center, and Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop as they wait for a photo during the 6th East Asia Summit Foreign Minister's meeting in Vientiane, Laos, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP photo/Sakchai Lalit) Bill Clinton tells a love story to make his case for Hillary PHILADELPHIA (AP) There have been millions of words, decades of video and reams of commentary devoted to their story. It's been dissected, defended and decried at kitchen tables and on cable news, in tabloids and classrooms. But on Tuesday night, as millions of voters watched and with the political stakes as high as they've ever been, Bill Clinton tried to make sense of it all and make the case for his wife, the newly minted Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. "In the spring of 1971, I met a girl," he began. Former President Bill Clinton salutes after speaking to the delegates during the second day session of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) The former president's tenth address to a Democratic convention was by far his most personal, a 42-minute tour through wedding proposals and Halloween parties, the deaths of parents and movie marathons. Perhaps their worst moments the Monica Lewinsky scandal, impeachment and legal battles that followed were conspicuously omitted. Instead, Bill Clinton cast himself as a passenger in his wife's life, reshaping the story of much of their decades in politics. The goal was to make Clinton, perhaps the most famous female politician in the world, yet a public figure her aides claim remains unknown, relatable to voters. He cast her as a liberal heroine of her own story, who fought for education reform, health care, civil rights, the disabled, 9/11 first responders and economically depressed rural areas. "She's the best darn change-maker I've ever met in my entire life," he said. "This woman has never been satisfied with the status quo on anything. She always wants to move the ball forward. That is just who she is." He never once mentioned GOP nominee Donald Trump by name, dismissing Republican attacks on Clinton as "made up" and a "cartoon alternative." Rather, Bill Clinton focused nearly exclusively on his wife's achievements and how she'd influenced him. "I have lived a long full blessed life. It really took off when I met and fell in love with that girl in the spring of 1971," he said. But it wasn't only Clinton who broke a glass ceiling on Tuesday when she became the first female nominee of a major party. Should she win on Election Day, her husband will step into a singular role in American history: first gentleman. The potential new title is perhaps the strangest twist in a political career known for its second acts. After health scares and political missteps, the Comeback Kid, as he was known in his first presidential race, could come back to Washington one last time. In 2012, he acted as a powerful validator for President Barack Obama, electrifying the room as the party's "explainer-in-chief." But, said Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, "This is different." "This is more personal," said Podesta, who recalled riding to the convention hall with Bill Clinton as he touched up his 2004 convention address. "This is more about her." Bill Clinton felt pressure to perform for his wife and make up for his own missteps during her second presidential campaign. Nearly 70, he's also a bit frailer, a touch shakier, though aides and friends say his famous memory remains sharp. Some say his administration's legacy has been repudiated by his own party, which shifted left during Obama's time in office. "God bless him, Bill even looks old now," said Republican strategist Alex Castellanos. "He's not the once and future king, he's the once and past king." But no one doubts that Bill Clinton still wants to be at the center of the action. While aides have said he will not get a Cabinet post or a seat in the Situation Room should his wife win, Clinton has made clear that her closest adviser will remain involved with her administration, saying he'd likely have a role in managing the nation's economy. They remain a "two for one" package, as Bill Clinton famously said during his first presidential race. But on Tuesday night, he hinted, just barely, that Clinton perhaps is finally getting her part of the deal. "I married my best friend," he said. "And I really hoped that she choosing me and rejecting my own advice to pursue her own career was a decision she'd never regret." ___ Follow Lisa Lerer on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/llerer Former President Bill Clinton speaks during the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) Re-elected Vietnam prime minister vows to defend sovereignty HANOI, Vietnam (AP) Vietnam's prime minister vowed to defend the country's sovereignty in the South China Sea as he was re-elected Tuesday by the rubber-stamp National Assembly. In his acceptance speech broadcast live on state television, Nguyen Xuan Phuc called on parties to respect and comply with international law and not to further complicate the situation. "We must resolutely and firmly defend our independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, be determined to defend Vietnam's sovereignty in the East Sea and call on parties to respect and comply with international law and not to further complicate the situation," Phuc said referring to the South China Sea in Vietnamese term. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc takes the oath of office after being re-elected by the National Assembly in Hanoi, Vietnam, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Phuc vowed to defend the country's sovereignty in the South China Sea as he was re-elected Tuesday by the rubber-stamp National Assembly. (Thong Nhat/Vietnam News Agency via AP) An international tribunal two weeks ago rejected China's sweeping claims in the South China Sea in a case initiated by the Philippines. Vietnam is among the other claimants in the disputed area. China is ignoring the ruling, saying The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration has no authority in the matter. The 62-year-old Phuc won 485 votes from 494 assembly deputies elected in the general elections in May, after becoming prime minister in a vote of the old assembly in April. In addition to the sea dispute, Phuc's government faces a serious budget deficit, soaring public debt, an inefficient state economic sector and the worst drought in nearly a century in the southern Mekong Delta, the country's rice bowl. But Le Hong Hiep, a research fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute that studies Southeast Asia, said Phuc has surprised many observers and his critics by his pro-business attitude and down-to-earth approach in managing the economy. "From his interventions to facilitate businesses to his comments on various economic issues, he has demonstrated that he is an active, capable and reform-minded leader that investors can rely on," Hiep said in an email. In his speech, Phuc also pledged to speed up reforms, fight corruption and build a transparent and accountable government. Hiep said the current conditions of the economy force Phuc and his government to explore more reforms to maintain economic growth, "Vietnam has reached the point of no return, where the government can't afford to delay the much-needed reforms forever, especially regarding SOEs," Hiep said referring to reforming the state-owned enterprises which have been slow when only small portions of shares of many major state companies were sold. Economist Pham Chi Lan said Phuc has initiated many policies to facilitate businesses, but much more needs to be done to push his government agencies to implement them. "Local and foreign experts have all recommended specific solutions ... it's now time to implement them," she said "But it requires (the government) to go beyond itself." The assembly, with 96 percent of deputies being members of the Communist Party, is scheduled to approve Phuc's 27-member cabinet before wrapping up its first session on Friday. FILE - In this Wednesday, July 20, 2016 file photo, Vietnam's new Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, second left, walks with Vietnamese Communist Party Central Committee's Mass Mobilization Chief Truong Thi Mai, left, Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court Truong Hoa Binh, second right, and Communist Party's Standing Secretary of Secretariat of the Central Committee Dinh The Huynh to the opening session of the 14th National Assembly in Hanoi, Vietnam. Phuc vowed to defend the country's sovereignty in the South China Sea as he was re-elected Tuesday, July 26 by the rubber-stamp National Assembly. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh, File) OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- Arnold Walter "Jack" Rosen, husband of Ocean Springs Mayor Connie Moran, was arrested Friday night and charged with public intoxication after an incident in downtown Ocean Springs. According to a booking report obtained by The Mississippi Press, the 56-year-old Rosen was arrested at 11:04 p.m. at 522 Washington Ave. -- the address of Mohler's Texaco station at the corner of Washington and Porter Avenue. Rosen was held overnight -- standard procedure in public drunk or DUI cases -- and then released on his own recognizance Saturday morning. No other details were available as of late Monday afternoon. Ocean Springs Police Chief Mark Dunston said police were still working on interviewing two witnesses to the incident which prompted Rosen's arrest, meaning it is still an open investigation and the full report not yet publicly available. Rosen, a native of Mobile, Ala., married Moran Oct. 11, 2014 in Point Clear, Ala. The couple reside in Moran's Washington Avenue home just down the street from Friday night's incident. Turkey: Erdogan to meet Putin Aug. 9 in Russia ISTANBUL (AP) Turkey's deputy prime minister says President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to travel to Russia next month to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin the first meeting between the two leaders as relations between the two countries mend following Turkey's apology for the downing of a Russian fighter jet last year. Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported that Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said Tuesday that Erdogan and Putin would meet in St. Petersburg on Aug. 9. IS group claims attack that killed 85-year-old French priest SAINT-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, France (AP) The Islamic State group crossed a new threshold Tuesday in its war against the West, as two of its followers targeted a church in Normandy, slitting the throat of an elderly priest celebrating Mass and using hostages as human shields before being shot by police. It was the extremist group's first attack against a church in the West, and fulfills longstanding threats against "crusaders" in what the militants paint as a centuries-old battle for power. One of the attackers had tried twice to leave for Syria; the second was not identified. "To attack a church, to kill a priest, is to profane the republic," French President Francois Hollande told the nation after speaking with Pope Francis, who condemned the killing in the strongest terms. Police officers stand in front of a building during a search operation in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, following an attack on a church that left a priest dead, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) The Rev. Jacques Hamel was celebrating Mass for three nuns and two parishioners on a quiet summer morning in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray when the attackers burst in and forced the 85-year-old priest to his knees before slicing his throat, according to authorities and a nun who escaped. The nun described seeing the attackers film themselves and give a sermon in Arabic around the altar before she fled. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said the other hostages were used as human shields to block police from entering. One 86-year-old parishioner was wounded. The two attackers were killed by police as they rushed from the building shouting "Allahu Akbar," Molins said. One had three knives and a fake explosives belt; the other carried a kitchen timer wrapped in aluminum foil and had fake explosives in his backpack. One of the assailants was identified as Adel Kermiche, a 19-year-old who grew up in the town and tried to travel to Syria twice last year using family members' identity documents, but was arrested outside France and handed preliminary terrorism charges. Kermiche was put under house arrest with an electronic surveillance bracelet after a judge overruled prosecutors and agreed to free him, Molins said. However, the bracelet was deactivated for a few hours every morning as part of the surveillance agreement, Molins said hours that corresponded to the time of Tuesday's attack. A statement published by the IS-affiliated Amaq news agency said Tuesday's attack was carried out by "two soldiers of the Islamic State" who acted in response to calls to target nations in the U.S.-led coalition fighting the extremist group in Iraq and Syria. Haras Rafiq, managing director of the Quilliam Foundation, described the attack as a turning point. "What these two people today have done is ... shifted the tactical attack to the attack on Rome ... an attack on Christianity," he said. He warned that it could "radicalize people from both sides of the communities. Muslim and non-Muslim." As Europe becomes painfully inured to a summer of repeated bloodshed, the extremists are looking for greater ways to shock, Rafiq said. "This is going into a house of God. This is attacking and killing a priest." "We've been talking about the danger of the global jihadist insurgency. This is what it looks like," he said. The increasing speed with which IS has claimed responsibility and the growing number of attacks this summer have left Europe alarmed and fearful. Targeting a church in the rural Normandy heartland resonated with France's leadership and Christians across Europe. While France is officially secular and church attendance is low, the country has deep Catholic roots. Islamic State extremists have urged followers to attack French churches and the group is believed to have planned at least one earlier church attack that was foiled when the assailant shot himself in the leg. The slain priest had been at the church for the past decade and "was always ready to help," said Rouen diocese official Philippe Maheut. "His desire was to spread a message for which he consecrated his life," Mahut told The Associated Press. "And he certainly didn't think that consecrating his life would mean for him to die while celebrating Mass, which is a message of love." A nun who escaped said the priest was forced to the ground before his throat was slit. "They forced him to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And that's when the tragedy happened," said the woman, identified as Sister Danielle, speaking on BFM television. She said the attackers filmed themselves. "They did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. It's a horror." One person, a minor, was arrested in the investigation. Molins said he is believed to be the 16-year-old younger brother of someone wanted by authorities for trying to go to Syria or Iraq in 2015. Hollande, visiting the scene of Tuesday's slaying, denounced what he called "a vile terrorist attack" and one more sign that France is at war with the Islamic State group, which has claimed multiple attacks on France over the past year and a half, and two in Germany over the past week. The pope condemned the attack in the strongest terms. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said in a statement that Pope Francis expressed his "pain and horror for this absurd violence, with the strongest condemnation for every form of hatred and prayer for those affected." The town's mayor, Hubert Wulfranc, tearfully denounced the "barbarism. Let us together be the last to cry." A somber quiet surrounded Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, a suburb of the medieval city of Rouen composed of genteel residential neighborhoods and working-class quarters with massive apartment blocks. Hassan Tarchich, a former resident of Moroccan descent, returned Tuesday night to pay his respects, laying flowers and a candle outside the slain priest's home. "You don't kill in the name of God," he said. "He was a man of peace." The cluster of towns outside Rouen has been linked to the Islamic State group before. A micro-cell of recruits from the area included a Frenchman seen cutting the throat of a Syrian soldier in a November 2014 video. Maxime Hauchard was among at least four people who met at a local mosque and later left to join the extremists. The violence appears unlikely to slow soon because IS reaps benefits even when attackers have no particular connection to the extremists fighting and losing territory in Iraq and Syria. "ISIS seeks to recreate the same image that helped it attract thousands of foreign fighters to Syria and Iraq and elsewhere," said Michael Horowitz, an analyst with the Levantine Group security firm. "The pace of these attacks is aimed at painting ISIS as an omniscient group capable of humiliating the West, and defying expectations." Tuesday's attack renewed fears of social and religious tensions in France. Support is rising for the anti-immigrant far right, and the country's millions of moderate Muslims fear a backlash fears IS has been feeding with a constant stream of propaganda. "It's a shot directly at Western Christianity," said Daniel Shoenfeld, an analyst with the Soufan Group. "It's this effort by the Islamic State and their supporters to drive a further wedge between broader Western society and Muslims." The Rev. Alexandre Joly, who knew the slain priest, said "If we are afraid, they have won. They must not win. ... We must not enter in the game of fear, of rejection." France's security services are stretched after eight months under a state of emergency imposed following attacks in November in Paris. They've been under new strain since an attack in the southern city of Nice on Bastille Day July 14 that killed 84 people and was claimed by IS. French authorities increased security at places of worship after attacks in Paris last year, but ensuring constant, blanket security is difficult in a country with a church in every town and village. ___ Hinnant reported from Paris. Angela Charlton, Elaine Ganley and Thomas Adamson in Paris contributed to this report. This is an undated image of French Priest Jacques Hamel made available by the Catholic Diocese if Rouen in France on Tuesday July 26, 2016. Priest Jacques Hamel was killed on Tuesday when two attackers slit the throat of the 86-year-old priest who was celebrating Mass Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, in France, killing him and gravely injured another of the handful of church-goers present before being shot to death by police. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the first attack in a church in the West. (Doicese of Rouen via AP) Hooded Police officers conduct a search in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, following an attack on a church that left a priest dead, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) In this grab made from video, emergency services transport a person into a waiting ambulance in Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers seized hostages in a church near the Normandy city of Rouen on Tuesday, killing one hostage by slitting their throat before being killed by police, a security official said. The identities of the attackers and motive for the attack are unclear, according to the official, who was not authorized to be publicly named. (BFM via AP) In this grab made from video, French President Francois Hollande shakes hands with police and security services personnel after arriving at the scene of the hostage situation in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers took hostages inside a French church during morning Mass on Tuesday near the city of Rouen, killing an 86-year-old priest by slitting his throat before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. (France Pool via AP) French police officers stand guard in front of the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray's city hall, Normandy, France, after an attack on a church that left a priest dead, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) A French soldier stands guard while preventing the access to the scene of an attack in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) In this grab made from video, French President Francois Hollande speaks with emergency services personnel after arriving at the scene of the hostage situation in Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers took hostages inside a French church during morning Mass on Tuesday in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, killing an 86-year-old priest by slitting his throat before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. (France Pool via AP) General view of the church where a priest was killed in an attack in Saint Etienne du Rouvray, Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) French soldiers stand guard as they prevent the access to the scene of an attack in Saint Etienne du Rouvray, Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Police officers conduct a search in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, following an attack on a church that left a priest dead, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) In this grab made from video, emergency services transport a person into a waiting ambulance in Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers seized hostages in a church near the Normandy city of Rouen on Tuesday, killing one hostage by slitting their throat before being killed by police, a security official said. The identities of the attackers and motive for the attack are unclear, according to the official, who was not authorized to be publicly named. (BFM via AP) Police officers conduct a search as they investigate an attack on a church that left a priest dead in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Flowers, candles and messages are placed on the city hall entrance closed to the home of Father Jacques Hamel after he was killed during an attack in a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Sri Lanka to conserve climate-friendly mangroves ecosystem PAMBALA LAGOON, Sri Lanka (AP) Sri Lanka's government and environmentalists are working to protect tens of thousands of acres of mangrove forests the seawater-tolerant trees that help protect and build landmasses, absorb carbon from the environment and reduce the impact of natural disasters like tsunamis. All 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) of mangrove forests in Sri Lanka are now earmarked for preservation. Researchers say at least 6,000 acres (2,428 hectares) were previously destroyed, mostly in the last 25 years. Mangroves were cleared to make room for shrimp farming, to produce salt or to make firewood. Government forces destroyed forests during the country's nearly 26-year civil war, which raged until 2009, because rebel fighters used them as hideouts. In this July 18, 2016 photo, Sri Lankan mangrove conservation workers carry mangrove saplings for planting in Kalpitiya, about 130 kilometers (81 miles) north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's government and environmentalists are working to protect tens of thousands of acres of mangrove forests _ the seawater-tolerant trees that help protect and build landmasses, better absorb carbon from the environment mitigating effects of global warming and reducing impact of natural disasters like tsunamis. Authorities have identified about 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) of mangrove forests in Sri Lanka that are earmarked for preservation. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) Now the South Asian island nation is showing an interest in retaining what is left. President Maithripala Sirisena, who took office last year, has retained the environment portfolio and has shown a personal interest in the project. There are 22 species of mangroves in Sri Lanka, a third of all mangrove species found around the world. They grow in brackish water estuaries which are not favorable for other plants to grow, and create many environmental and health benefits: Their above-ground roots, mostly submerged in the water, produce food for small fish, crabs and shrimp and serve as a haven for breeding. Small-scale lagoon fishers have benefited from the ecosystem for generations. Their roots can accumulate soil particles and build landmasses while also acting as a buffer against coastal erosion. In the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed more than 35,000 Sri Lankans, areas covered by mangrove forests suffered less damage as the trees absorbed some of the energy of the waves. The trees absorb carbon dioxide more efficiently than other plants. Forests typically release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as plant matter decomposes, but because mangrove habitat is much wetter, there is less oxygen activity, leaving more carbon in the soil. Medical researchers have isolated from 15 mangrove species anti-cancer compounds that have been shown to fight breast and liver cancer cells. Dr. Sameera Samarakoon, who was part of research by the University of Colombo, says these findings are being studied further. Seacology, a U.S.-based nongovernmental organization, last year launched a $3.4 million, five-year mangrove conservation and replanting program with the Sri Lankan government. A museum funded by the group opened in Pambala on Tuesday, World Mangrove Day, to exhibit mangroves, fish and crab species bred in the lagoons, with facilities for study and research. The Small Fishers' Federation, Seacology's Sri Lankan partner, is running a nursery near Pambala Lagoon, some 65 kilometers (40 miles) north of the capital, Colombo, to produce 500,000 seedlings for replanting. One thousand acres (404 hectares) of mangroves are expected to be replanted by the end of this year. The project plans to rope in 15,000 persons, mostly the unemployed from around the lagoons, to protect mangrove plantations in return for microloans to set up small businesses. "By offering training and funding to develop alternatives to cutting mangroves, the project's livelihoods program is alleviating poverty as well as protecting mangroves," said Duane Silverstein, Seacology's executive director. "It's a win-win situation." Anuradha Wickramasinghe, head of the fishers' federation, says he first felt the importance of protecting mangroves in the 1990s, when mangrove forests were being fast destroyed by shrimp farmers. That sent fishermen's fish and crab catch into decline. Sri Lanka's tourism industry is expanding along the coastline, creating the possibility for conflict, though the government intends to promote ecotourism in mangrove areas. Srilal Mittalapala, of the Sri Lanka Hoteliers' Association, says the industry hopes the project will have a balance between conservation and development. "The tourism industry learned a bitter lesson from the tsunami and we understand the importance of the mangroves," Mittalapala said. In this July 18, 2016 photo, a mangrove conservation worker prepares soil bags at a mangrove nursery in Kalpitiya, about 130 kilometers (81 miles) north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's government and environmentalists are working to protect tens of thousands of acres of mangrove forests _ the seawater-tolerant trees that help protect and build landmasses, better absorb carbon from the environment mitigating effects of global warming and reducing impact of natural disasters like tsunamis. Authorities have identified about 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) of mangrove forests in Sri Lanka that are earmarked for preservation. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) In this July 18, 2016 photo, an isolated manger plant is seen in the foreground as Sri Lankan women in the distance use a raft to tend their shellfish nest set up by a micro finance loan in a lagoon in Kalpitiya, about 130 kilometers (81 miles) north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's government and environmentalists are working to protect tens of thousands of acres of mangrove forests _ the seawater-tolerant trees that help protect and build landmasses, better absorb carbon from the environment mitigating effects of global warming and reducing impact of natural disasters like tsunamis. Authorities have identified about 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) of mangrove forests in Sri Lanka that are earmarked for preservation. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) In this July 18, 2016 photo, a Sri Lankan small scale fisherman casts a net as he fishes in a lagoon surrounded by mangrove forests in Pambala, about 70 kilometers (44 miles) north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's government and environmentalists are working to protect tens of thousands of acres of mangrove forests _ the seawater-tolerant trees that help protect and build landmasses, better absorb carbon from the environment mitigating effects of global warming and reducing impact of natural disasters like tsunamis. Authorities have identified about 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) of mangrove forests in Sri Lanka that are earmarked for preservation. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) In this July 18, 2016 photo, a mangrove conservation worker carries a mangrove sapling for planting in Kalpitiya, about 130 kilometers (81 miles) north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's government and environmentalists are working to protect tens of thousands of acres of mangrove forests _ the seawater-tolerant trees that help protect and build landmasses, better absorb carbon from the environment mitigating effects of global warming and reducing impact of natural disasters like tsunamis. Authorities have identified about 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) of mangrove forests in Sri Lanka that are earmarked for preservation. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) In this July 18, 2016 photo, a Sri Lankan small scale fisherman casts a net as he fishes in a lagoon surrounded by mangrove forests in Pambala, about 70 kilometers (44 miles) north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's government and environmentalists are working to protect tens of thousands of acres of mangrove forests _ the seawater-tolerant trees that help protect and build landmasses, better absorb carbon from the environment mitigating effects of global warming and reducing impact of natural disasters like tsunamis. Authorities have identified about 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) of mangrove forests in Sri Lanka that are earmarked for preservation. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) In this July 18, 2016 photo,a Sri Lankan fisherman sorts his catch after fishing in a lagoon surrounded by mangrove forests in Pambala, about 70 kilometers (44 miles) north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's government and environmentalists are working to protect tens of thousands of acres of mangrove forests _ the seawater-tolerant trees that help protect and build landmasses, better absorb carbon from the environment mitigating effects of global warming and reducing impact of natural disasters like tsunamis. Authorities have identified about 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) of mangrove forests in Sri Lanka that are earmarked for preservation. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) In this July 18, 2016 photo, a spread of mangrove roots are seen on the bank of a lagoon surrounded by mangrove forests in Palavi, about 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's government and environmentalists are working to protect tens of thousands of acres of mangrove forests _ the seawater-tolerant trees that help protect and build landmasses, better absorb carbon from the environment mitigating effects of global warming and reducing impact of natural disasters like tsunamis. Authorities have identified about 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) of mangrove forests in Sri Lanka that are earmarked for preservation. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) In this July 18, 2016 photo, a Sri Lankan woman grazes her flock of goats in a former mangrove forest in Kalpitiya, about 130 kilometers (81 miles) north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's government and environmentalists are working to protect tens of thousands of acres of mangrove forests _ the seawater-tolerant trees that help protect and build landmasses, better absorb carbon from the environment mitigating effects of global warming and reducing impact of natural disasters like tsunamis. Authorities have identified about 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) of mangrove forests in Sri Lanka that are earmarked for preservation. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) In this July 18, 2016 photo, a Sri Lankan fisherman sorts his catch after fishing in a lagoon surrounded by mangrove forests in Kaplitiya, about 130 kilometers (81 miles) north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's government and environmentalists are working to protect tens of thousands of acres of mangrove forests _ the seawater-tolerant trees that help protect and build landmasses, better absorb carbon from the environment mitigating effects of global warming and reducing impact of natural disasters like tsunamis. Authorities have identified about 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) of mangrove forests in Sri Lanka that are earmarked for preservation. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) In this July 18, 2016 photo, a Sri Lankan woman and a child from a fishing family stand in the rising smoke from burning litter in a destroyed mangrove area in Kalpitiya, about 130 kilometers (81 miles) north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's government and environmentalists are working to protect tens of thousands of acres of mangrove forests _ the seawater-tolerant trees that help protect and build landmasses, better absorb carbon from the environment mitigating effects of global warming and reducing impact of natural disasters like tsunamis. Authorities have identified about 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) of mangrove forests in Sri Lanka that are earmarked for preservation. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) In this July 18, 2016 photo, Sri Lankan women engaged in small scale fishing, inspect their shellfish nest initiated by a micro finance loan, in a lagoon in Kalpitiya, about 130 kilometers (81 miles) north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's government and environmentalists are working to protect tens of thousands of acres of mangrove forests _ the seawater-tolerant trees that help protect and build landmasses, better absorb carbon from the environment mitigating effects of global warming and reducing impact of natural disasters like tsunamis. Authorities have identified about 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) of mangrove forests in Sri Lanka that are earmarked for preservation. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) In this July 15, 2016 photo, a Sri Lankan mangrove conservation worker Douglas Tisserra inspects a bottle carrying a exhibited species in a mangrove museum in Pambala, about 70 kilometers (44 miles) north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's government and environmentalists are working to protect tens of thousands of acres of mangrove forests _ the seawater-tolerant trees that help protect and build landmasses, better absorb carbon from the environment mitigating effects of global warming and reducing impact of natural disasters like tsunamis.Authorities have identified about 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) of mangrove forests in Sri Lanka that are earmarked for preservation. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) In this July 15, 2016 photo, the head of Sri Lankan mangrove conservation project Small Fishers Federation, Anuradha Wikramasinghe talks about species on exhibition in a mangrove museum in Pambala, about 70 kilometers (44 miles) north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's government and environmentalists are working to protect tens of thousands of acres of mangrove forests _ the seawater-tolerant trees that help protect and build landmasses, better absorb carbon from the environment mitigating effects of global warming and reducing impact of natural disasters like tsunamis. Authorities have identified about 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) of mangrove forests in Sri Lanka that are earmarked for preservation. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) Palestinians to sue Britain over 1917 pledge on Jewish state JERUSALEM (AP) The Palestinian president says he will sue Great Britain over the 1917 Balfour Declaration and its support for a Jewish national home in the Holy Land. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki made the announcement on behalf of Mahmoud Abbas at Monday's opening of the Arab League summit in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott. Malki said the suit would be filed in an international court. He didn't elaborate. The Balfour Declaration laid the vision for the future state of Israel and sparked waves of Jewish migration to the British mandate in Palestine. Israel declared its independence in 1948 after the mandate expired and won a subsequent war against its Arab adversaries. Northeast India rains kill 7, force 1.2 million from homes GAUHATI, India (AP) Heavy rains and floods have killed at least seven people and forced around 1.2 million to leave their water-logged homes in India's northeastern state of Assam. Army soldiers on Tuesday used boats to rescue thousands of people stranded on the roofs of their homes and moved them to safer areas after incessant rain over the past few days caused widespread flooding in Assam. The state's disaster management officials said incessant downpours had snapped road and telephone communications in Morigaon, Jorhat and Dibrugarh districts. Wild buffalos swim in flood waters in search of high land in Kaziranga national park, east of Gauhati, northeastern Assam state, India, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Heavy rains and floods have forced around 1.2 million to leave their water-logged homes. The Brahmaputra River and its tributaries were overflowing their banks in 18 of the state's districts, washing away roads and highways and toppling power pylons. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath) Vast tracts of Kaziranga National Park, home to the rare one-horned rhino, and another wildlife reserve were under water. Forest officials said they have found the remains of at least one rhino that had drowned in the flooding in the park. The Brahmaputra River and its tributaries were overflowing their banks in 18 of the state's districts, washing away roads and highways and toppling power pylons. Floodwaters had entered homes in at least five districts, leading to house collapses. In some areas, people were marooned on the roofs of buildings and soldiers were moving them to makeshift camps set up in schools and government buildings on higher ground. Floods are an annual occurrence in Assam and many parts of India during the June-September monsoon season. An Indian family moves on a boat near their submerged houses near Kaziranga national park, east of Gauhati, northeastern Assam state, India, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Heavy rains and floods have forced around 1.2 million to leave their water-logged homes. The Brahmaputra River and its tributaries were overflowing their banks in 18 of the state's districts, washing away roads and highways and toppling power pylons. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath) A forest gurad stops vehicles on a highway as wild buffalos swim in flood waters in search of high land in Kaziranga national park, east of Gauhati, northeastern Assam state, India, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Heavy rains and floods have forced around 1.2 million to leave their water-logged homes. The Brahmaputra River and its tributaries were overflowing their banks in 18 of the state's districts, washing away roads and highways and toppling power pylons. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath) Controversial religious procession barred from entering Kiev MOSCOW (AP) Authorities in Ukraine's capital say pilgrims in a major religious procession connected with a Moscow-loyal church will be taken to their goal by bus, a compromise reached hours after participants in the procession were barred from entering Kiev on foot. The foot procession was halted in the city's outskirts on Tuesday after Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said grenades had been planted along the route. Ukrainian nationalists had blocked the procession from entering the city on Monday, pelting them with eggs and denouncing them as "agents of Moscow." The Orthodox Christian faithful in Ukraine are divided between one church that comes under the Moscow Patriarchate and a splinter church under a Ukrainian leader. The religious procession is by adherents of the Moscow church. The marches are in observance of the holiday marking the adoption of Christianity by what is now Russia and Ukraine in the 10th century. They are to commemorate the day at the hillside monument in central Kiev to Saint Volodymyr, the prince who enacted the adoption of Christianity. Andrei Krishchenko, a top national police official, said that after the visit to the monument Wednesday, the pilgrims would be allowed to make their way on foot to the Pechersk Monastery about three kilometers (two miles) away. The monastery, noted for its extensive caves, is one of Orthodox Christianity's holiest sites. 10 Things to Know for Wednesday - 27 July 2016 Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Wednesday: 1. HILLARY CLINTON WINS HISTORIC NOMINATION Primary rival Bernie Sanders helps make the choice official an important show of unity for a Democratic Party trying to heal deep divisions. This is an undated image of French Priest Jacques Hamel made available by the Catholic Diocese if Rouen in France on Tuesday July 26, 2016. Priest Jacques Hamel was killed on Tuesday when two attackers slit the throat of the 86-year-old priest who was celebrating Mass Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, in France, killing him and gravely injured another of the handful of church-goers present before being shot to death by police. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the first attack in a church in the West. (Doicese of Rouen via AP) 2. WHICH GLASS CEILING HILLARY'S HUSBAND COULD BREAK If his wife wins on Election Day, Bill Clinton would become both the first male to be a first spouse and the first former president to reoccupy the White House. 3. ISLAMIC STATE GROUP CROSSES NEW THRESHOLD An elderly priest celebrating Mass is slain in Normandy in the extremist group's first attack against a church in the West. 4. STABBINGS AT HOME FOR MENTALLY DISABLED RAISE SECURITY FEARS IN JAPAN The 19 deaths at the facility lead to questions about whether the nation's reputation as one of the safest in the world is creating a false sense of security. 5. HOW APPLE IS PIVOTING AS IPHONE SALES CONTINUE TO SAG The company is extolling the virtues of its mobile apps and online services just about the only part of its business that's growing right now. 6. FALLOUT FROM DOPING SCANDAL BRUISES RUSSIA At least 105 athletes from the country's Olympic team are barred from the Rio Games. 7. DEATHS OF KIDS IN HOT CARS PROMPT PLEAS TO PARENTS The number of such deaths this year across the U.S. rises to at least 23 nearly the total for all of last year. 8. WHAT'S SUPPRESSING BEE POPULATIONS A study finds that a common insecticide kills much of the sperm created by male drone honey bees, adding to the problem with dwindling numbers of the pollinators. 9. ACTRESS WHO PLAYED TV PSYCHIC DIES AT 53 Youree Dell Harris, as the Jamaican psychic Miss Cleo, claimed to know callers' futures in ubiquitous TV infomercials and commercials. 10. ROGER FEDERER OUT OF OLYMPICS, US OPEN The Swiss superstar says he will miss the rest of the tennis season to protect his surgically repaired left knee. FILE - In this Monday, June 10, 2013, file photo, developers look over new apps being displayed on iPads at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. After Apple reported financial results Tuesday, July 26, 2016, expect to hear a lot more from the company about the virtues of mobile apps and online services in coming months. And for good reason: They're just about the only part of Apple's business that's growing right now. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File) Film company guilty in 'Star Wars' accident that broke leg LONDON (AP) A film production company on Tuesday admitted health and safety breaches over an accident on the set of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" that broke the leg of star Harrison Ford. The actor was struck by a hydraulic door on the set of the Millennium Falcon his character Han Solo's spaceship at Pinewood Studios near London in June 2014. He was airlifted to a hospital for surgery. During a hearing at Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court in Britain, prosecutor Andrew Marshall said the door "could have killed somebody" had an emergency stop button not been hit. Britain's Health and Safety Executive said the metal-framed door struck Ford with a power comparable to the weight of a small car. FILE - In this December 10, 2015 file photo, Harrison Ford greets fans during a Star Wars fan event in Sydney. A film production company has admitted health and safety breaches over an accident on the set of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in which Harrison Ford broke his leg. The actor was struck by a hydraulic door on the set of the Millennium Falcon his character Han Solo's spaceship at Pinewood Studios near London in June 2014. At a court hearing Tuesday, July 26, 2016 prosecutor Andrew Marshall said the door "could have killed somebody" had an emergency stop button not been hit. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith, File) Foodles Production Ltd, which is owned by the Walt Disney Co., admitted two breaches of health and safety law, although its lawyer, Angus Withington, said Foodles would contest the level of risk involved. The company will be sentenced next month. Production on the film was suspended for two weeks after the accident to Ford, who was 71 at the time. "The Force Awakens" is the seventh installment in the space saga and has taken more than $2 billion at the worldwide box office since its release last year. Italian rightwing leader compares female pol to blow-up doll MILAN (AP) The outspoken leader of Italy's right-wing, anti-EU Northern League party has refused to apologize for comparing the lower house speaker to a blow-up sex doll. Matteo Salvini has remained defiant in the face of strong criticism for degrading remarks aimed at house speaker Laura Boldrini, telling Sky TG24 on Tuesday that he had no intention of apologizing for holding a blow-up doll aloft at a weekend rally and calling it "Boldrini's clone." He has, instead, kept up the attack with Twitter posts with a hashtag that translates to "deflate Boldrini." Boldrini has thanked all those who came to her defense, saying that Salvini has created "an Italy that cannot put up any more with the sexist obscenities." South Sudan president replaces rival as vice president JUBA, South Sudan (AP) South Sudan's president on Tuesday replaced his deputy and opposition leader Riek Machar, who fled into hiding this month amid renewed clashes with government forces. The move threatens an already fragile peace deal in a country ravaged by civil war. President Salva Kiir installed a new first vice president, Taban Deng Gai, who had been mining minister in a coalition government formed in April. Taban also acted as the rebels' chief negotiator during peace talks. The appointment raises fears of more fighting because most opposition generals and militia remain loyal to Machar. South Sudan's First Vice President Taban Deng Gai, left, speaks with President Salva Kiir, right, after Taban was sworn in, replacing opposition leader Riek Machar, at the presidential palace in Juba, South Sudan, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. South Sudan's president on Tuesday replaced his deputy and opposition leader Riek Machar, who fled into hiding this month amid renewed clashes with government forces. The move threatens an already fragile peace deal in a country ravaged by civil war. (AP Photo/Jason Patinkin) A faction of the armed opposition on Saturday selected Taban to replace Machar, claiming that the coalition government could not function with Machar in hiding. "The circumstances forced us to fill a vacancy so that we save our nation," Taban said in a speech following the swearing-in ceremony. But loyalists to Machar are alleging a conspiracy to remove him. The appointment of Taban is "totally illegal," said Nyarji Roman, a spokesman for Machar's faction. Roman also accused the government of sending troops to hunt down Machar in his hiding place. Machar has said he would not return to Juba until an outside force, such as an intervention force proposed by the African Union, was put in place to restore calm to the capital. Kiir, who had invited Machar to return to the capital, Juba, on Tuesday denied having a role in his ouster. "Circles will take it that it is me in person ... who has really conspired for the removal of Dr. Riek Machar. It is not me," Kiir said after the ceremony. The recent fighting killed hundreds and sent thousands fleeing. Security forces loyal to Kiir bombed Machar's house, and more than 30 of his bodyguards were killed. PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- A 20-year-old New Orleans man is in custody, charged with capital murder in the death of a 25-year-old transgender woman at a St. Martin hotel Saturday night. Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell said Dwanya Hickerson was taken into custody Monday afternoon at Keesler Air Force Base after Jackson County investigators received a tip from someone who had recognized Hickerson in photos taken from surveillance video taken at the Best Western motel in the St. Martin community, just north of Interstate 10. Hickerson is in the U.S. Navy, assigned to Keesler for training, according to Ezell. Dee Whigham Deputies responded to the motel late Saturday night and found the body of a male subject deceased from apparent stab wounds. The victim, later identified as Dee Whigham, was identified in media reports as a transgender woman. Whigham, a native of Shubuta now residing in Hattiesburg, was on the coast to attend the Gulf Coast Black Rodeo at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, according to Ezell. Whigham was a registered nurse at Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, having earned her nursing degree at Meridian Community College. Hickerson is charged with capital murder because investigators say he also robbed Whigham. He is currently in the Jackson County Adult Detention Center and will make his initial court appearance in front of Jackson County Judge T. Larry Wilson at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. Afghan official says major offensive against IS underway KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Following a massive attack in Kabul, the Afghan military has launched a major offensive against the Islamic State group in the country's far eastern region near the border with Pakistan, Afghan and U.S. officials said on Tuesday. The offensive began over the weekend in Nangarhar province, where IS has had a presence for the past year, said Dawlat Waziri, spokesman for the Defense Ministry. The offensive, part of the government's Operation Shafaq or Dawn in Pahsto started hours after an IS suicide bomber killed at least 80 people who were taking part in a peaceful demonstration in Kabul on Saturday. In this Tuesday, July 19, 2016 photo, an Afghan soldier greeting to other soldier in Kabul-Jalalabad highway on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. After two years of heavy casualties, the Afghan military is trying to retake the initiative in the war against militants with a new offensive next week, an assault that will see American troops back working more closely with Afghan soldiers. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) It was the deadliest attack to hit the Afghan capital since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. President Ashraf Ghani gave the orders for the offensive, which Waziri said will consist of airstrikes and ground attacks, including those by special forces. Clean-up operations aimed at ensuring that IS loyalists do not return to the area would follow, he added. The offensive marks a new chapter in Afghanistan's war against insurgents. Until now they have been a largely defensive force, and have struggled to take the lead on the battlefield since the withdrawal in 2014 of most international combat forces. The head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, has pledged to transform the Afghan military into an offensive force so they can take the fight to the insurgents, and reclaim battlefield initiative. While the main fight is against the Taliban who have been battling to overthrow the Kabul government for 15 years this counter-terrorism operation against the Islamic State group will enable Nicholson to implement an aggressive new strategy, working closely with the Afghan military and using more airstrikes against the enemy, analysts say. President Barack Obama recently expanded the conditions for U.S. troops in Afghanistan to support Afghan offensive operations. Nicholson can make the strategic shift from using airpower only to defend U.S. and NATO positions, to striking in support of Afghan offensives. Obama's directives, issued in June, enable the U.S. military to work alongside Afghan forces in the field on offensive missions against insurgents, though still in a non-combat role. Since 2014, their role was confined to battles in which the Taliban directly threatened U.S. and NATO forces. They also allow U.S. involvement when Afghan forces face "strategic defeat," as they did in the northern provincial capital of Kunduz, which briefly fell to the Taliban last September and was threatened again in April. The U.S. military spokesman in Kabul, Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland, said American forces have been involved in the current operation in the east and are conducting "multiple counter-terrorism strikes." He said that since January 1 this year, U.S. forces have conducted "more than 450 kinetic strikes" both under the new authorities and for force protection. Haqiqullah Walizada, spokesman for the fourth regiment of the Afghan army's 201 Corps, said 260 IS gunmen had been killed in the Kot and Achin districts since the offensive began. Another 122 had been wounded, he said. The numbers could not be independently verified. No casualty figures for government troops were provided. Walizada said that Kot, which shares a border with Pakistan, was the main IS stronghold in the region. "During the operation a large number of IS fighters were killed, including the recently-appointed group commander Saeed Emarati," he told The Associated Press. Emarati was formerly a Taliban fighter but swapped allegiance after it was revealed last year that the founder and then-leader of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar had been dead for more than two years, Walizada said. The formal start of the U.S.-backed offensive in Nangarhar appears to be an extension of months of attacks on IS positions in the region. Afghan authorities have claimed huge numbers of IS loyalists killed in these operations, though without details or verification. Officials have said that IS loyalists in Afghanistan are mostly former fighters for the Taliban or other insurgent groups including the Pakistani Taliban known as Tehrik-i-Taliban or TTP. Elsewhere in the country, Taliban gunmen attacked police checkpoints in Uruzgan province, in the south, where they have been active for many months. The director of the Uruzgan provincial council, Abdul Kareem Khadimzai said the militants launched their attack on checkpoints on the strategic Kandahar-to-Uruzgan highway, killing three policemen and taking five others hostage. ___ American pastor expelled from Russia in LGBT case MOSCOW (AP) Jim Mulcahy was sitting with some Russian friends, munching cookies and talking about Roman mosaics, when the Russian police came and took him away, claiming he was planning to perform a same-sex marriage. Hours later, the American pastor was ordered to leave Russia. Mulcahy's arrest this month in the city of Samara braids together several of Russia's most acrimonious issues: gay rights, alleged Western meddling in Russian affairs, and missionary work by religions that don't have state approval. It attracted particular attention because the arrest was filmed by state-controlled channel NTV, whose reports often take an especially truculent, pro-Kremlin stance. The 72-year-old Mulcahy, originally from Boston, looks back on the nervous hours in the Samara police station with stoic bemusement. In this photo taken on Saturday, June 18, 2016, American pastor Jim Mulcahy sits at his home in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine. Mulcahy says he was sitting with some friends in Samara, Russia, mid-July 2016, and then the police hauled him away claiming he was planning to perform a same-sex marriage, and hours later, he was ordered to leave the country. (AP Photo/Boris Zolotchenko) "I wasn't afraid; I felt like this was something I had to endure," he told The Associated Press by telephone from his home in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine. Mulcahy is Eastern Europe coordinator for the U.S.-based Metropolitan Community Churches denomination, which has a strong outreach to the LGBT community. The church performed the first gay marriage in the United States. He says his denomination does not perform or advocate for same-sex marriages as part of its work in Europe, and insists he had no intention of carrying out a gay marriage in Russia. The NTV report questioned the validity of Mulcahy's position as a pastor and claimed that he had converted to Orthodox Christianity, which Mulcahy says is untrue. Reporters also said the pastor gave religious seminars in Russia in addition to performing unspecified ceremonies for homosexuals. Mulcahy said that a post he made on Facebook about his trip to Russia prompted activists from the gay rights organization Avers in Samara, 760 kilometers (475 miles) southeast of Moscow, to invite him to take part in an informal question-and-answer session at their offices. The organization is one of the LGBT groups beleaguered by Russia's growing animosity toward sexual minorities. Although homosexuality is no longer criminalized as it was in the Soviet Union, Russia in 2013 banned the spread of "propaganda" about non-traditional sexual relations to minors. Even before the law was passed, officials routinely denied permission for gay-pride rallies, and those that did take place quickly exploded into attacks by anti-gay protesters who claimed to be following the line of the dominant Russian Orthodox Church. Another recently passed law forbids missionaries and organizations from praying outside of churches or disseminating religious material in private homes the law exempts the Orthodox church. In Samara, Mulcahy said, a group of about a dozen people had just settled around a long table when four uniformed police knocked on the door. They claimed they had received a tip that Mulcahy was performing a gay marriage. One officer took a teacup from Mulcahy's hand and told him he had to come with them. The officers drove Mulcahy to a police station threatening to handcuff him if he refused to cooperate. Police interrogated Mulcahy through an interpreter, who he says spoke limited English. Mulcahy's lawyer, who was denied entry, waited outside. Police refused to let Mulcahy who is diabetic and has prostate cancer return to his hotel to take his medication during the eight hours that they detained him. The Russian LGBT Network, a non-governmental organization, posted about Mulcahy's arrest on Facebook while police questioned him. People from around Russia, including Mulcahy's nephew in Florida, called the Samara police station demanding Mulcahy's release. Mulcahy was then taken to court, where a judge ruled that he violated the terms of his tourist visa by engaging in unspecified religious activity. He had to pay a $30 fine and was given five days to leave the country. The attention motivated Avers activists to install additional locks and an alarm system in their office. They fear that incidents like these will suppress the freedom of LGBT groups in Russia. "We're worried because LGBT organizations are getting labeled as foreign agents or even physically attacked," said Avers spokesperson Vera Bochkareva. "Groups like ours are in a relationship crisis with the authorities." From his home in Ukraine, Mulcahy has appealed the judge's decision. He said he has made many friends among the LGBT community in Russia and wants to return to visit them again as a tourist. "I grew up during the Cold War believing Russia was a cold, gloomy place," Mulcahy said, "but the hospitality of the Russian people changed my opinion once I visited the country." ___ Nurse accused of stabbing autistic boy with needle 6 times TRENTON, N.J. (AP) A registered nurse caught on video stabbing an autistic boy with a hypodermic needle to control his behavior has agreed to surrender her license during an investigation, officials said. Naomi Derrick agreed to the temporary suspension after she was accused of gross negligence, professional misconduct and incompetence in her treatment of the 10-year-old, who is an inpatient at AtlantiCare Regional Health Care's psychiatric unit in Atlantic City, officials said. "A developmentally disabled child, confined to a psychiatric ward under the supervision of nurses, is as vulnerable a patient as you can find," said Christopher Porrino, acting attorney general. According to documents filed with the New Jersey Board of Nursing, the assaults were captured by a video camera or witnessed by another hospital employee May 15. The nurse brandished the syringe in a menacing manner and threatened the boy that she would "give him the needle" if he did not behave, according to the filed documents. On at least six occasions, Derrick stabbed the boy with the unsheathed hypodermic needle, sometimes repeatedly, in his upper arm, thigh, kneecaps, foot and hand, according to the documents. Authorities said the nurse also tried to force the boy to comply by stepping on his bare foot with her shoe and bending his pinky finger back until a crack was heard. "Her alleged actions demonstrate a shocking departure from the most basic standards of care, let alone the standard of care one would expect for a child with special needs," said Steve Lee, director of the Division of Consumer Affairs. Obama aide to China: S. China Sea tensions should be reduced BEIJING (AP) U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice told Chinese officials that countries should work to reduce tensions in the South China Sea, but that the U.S. would continue to carry out the military operations there that have angered Beijing, a senior U.S. government official said Tuesday. Rice told China's top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, and top general Fan Changlong in meetings in Beijing on Monday that the U.S. hoped a recent international tribunal's ruling on the South China Sea would spur negotiations in the region toward eventually resolving long-standing territorial disputes, the official said. Rice is the highest-level White House official to visit China since the July 12 ruling that invalidated Beijing's vast claims in the South China Sea, handing a victory to the Philippines, a U.S. ally. FILE - In this file photo taken Monday, July 25, 2016, U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. Rice told Chinese officials that countries should work to reduce tensions in the South China Sea, but that the U.S. would continue to carry out military operations there that have angered Beijing, a senior U.S. government official said Tuesday, July 26. (How Hwee Young/Pool Photo via AP, File) In meetings with Yang and Fan, Rice said all countries should "avoid taking actions that raise tensions and could raise the risks of miscalculation" in the South China Sea, said the official, who wasn't authorized to comment publicly. She did not discuss the topic with President Xi Jinping when they met, the official said. Rice also said the U.S. would continue conducting military operations in the South China Sea. "Those operations are lawful. They will continue, they've been long standing, they've been designed to impart confidence and stability," the official said, describing the stance that Rice made in her meetings. The U.S. has said such operations are intended to protect freedom of navigation. China has described such operations as "heavy-handed intervention" in the South China Sea. Prosecutors: Rod Blagojevich isn't 'deserving of leniency' CHICAGO (AP) Prosecutors and attorneys for Rod Blagojevich sharply disagree in new court filings about whether the imprisoned former Illinois governor has taken enough responsibility for his crimes to justify a reduced sentence when he's resentenced next month. Additional arguments filed around midnight Monday come two weeks after the defense asked U.S. District Judge James Zagel to slash the original 14-year sentence to five years, meaning the 59-year-old Blagojevich could theoretically go free in months with the four-plus years he's already served. Prosecutors, who want the same 14-year term Zagel imposed in 2011, said in their new filing that Blagojevich has never accepted he broke the law, including by trying to trade an appointment to the U.S. Senate seat once occupied by President Barack Obama for campaign cash. FILE - In this March 14, 2012, file photo, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich speaks to the media outside his home in Chicago as his wife, Patti, wipes away tears a day before he was to report to a prison after his conviction on corruption charges. On Monday, July 25, 2016, federal prosecutors said statements Blagojevich has made prove he isn't "deserving of leniency." A resentencing hearing is scheduled next month for Blagojevich, who is hoping a federal judge will give him a five-year sentence instead of his original 14 years. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File) Resentencing on Aug. 9 was mandated after a 2015 appeals court decision tossed five of Blagojevich's 18 corruption convictions on the grounds his attempts to trade an appointment to the Senate seat for an appointment in the Obama administration did not break the law. The government's filing cites a statement Blagojevich issued from his prison last year in which he said "fundraising is a part of the job of every politician" and that standards used to convict him meant "any politician can be jailed at the whim of an ambitious prosecutor." Blagojevich, prosecutors' filing said, "suggested that the crimes of which he remained convicted involved nothing but common, everyday campaign fundraising at once minimizing his conduct (and) mischaracterizing the evidence of his guilt." It added Blagojevich isn't "deserving of leniency." The new filing by the ex-governor's legal team insists "Blagojevich openly admits that he made mistakes and used extremely poor judgment in the ways he carried out his fund-raising duties." It also argued that the five overturned counts call for a sentence reduction. "The crimes he stands convicted of today are undeniably less severe than the crimes he stood convicted of back in 2011 at his original sentencing hearing," the filing said. The appeals court, it contends, found Blagojevich never took a bribe and campaign cash on personal items While the appellate court erased five corruption counts, it went out of the way to say the original 14-year sentence could still be considered appropriate and fair for the remaining 13 counts. The government's Monday filing challenged the defense's characterization of the appellate ruling and countered the claim Blagojevich never used campaign cash for personal expenses. It noted he didn't donate money left in his election coffers after being forced from office in early 2009, but instead spent much of that money to pay his legal bills. ___ Room heat blamed for problem prompting hotel evacuation WARREN, Mich. (AP) Officials say the use of a heater in a Detroit-area hotel room raised carbon monoxide levels to a dangerous high, causing a couple and their dog to pass out and forcing the evacuation of the establishment. Warren Mayor James Fouts says the couple visiting from Colorado were found unresponsive Monday at the Hawthorn Suites north of Detroit. WWJ-AM reports the couple is expected to be OK. The dog is expected to recover. Consumers Energy spokesman Roger Morgenstern tells The Detroit News that initial carbon monoxide readings were about 400 parts per million, which could be fatal. The levels dropped by the time utility crews arrived. The Latest: Shocked French town honors slain priest PARIS (AP) The Latest on the attack on a French church claimed by Islamic State group (all times local): 10:30 p.m. Inhabitants of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray have brought flowers and candles to an improvised memorial at the town hall, to show their grief and solidarity after an elderly priest had his throat slit by Islamic extremists during Mass. Flowers, candles and messages are placed at the home of Father Jacques Hamel after he was killed during an attack in a church, in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Hassan Tarchich, a former town resident of Moroccan descent, came back to Saint-Etienne Tuesday night after work to bring flowers and a candle to the house of the priest nearby. "You don't kill in the name of God," he said, describing his shock at the attack. The slain priest, the Rev. Jacques Hamel, baptized the son of Jonathan Sacarabany and Cindy Aubree on Saturday. They described him as open and kind. "We keep thinking to ourselves, that could have been Saturday, that could have been us," Sacarabany said. His eyes full of tears, the town mayor called for residents to come together and to not let the attack pit different communities against each other. ___ 10:05 p.m. A prosecutor says two men who attacked a Normandy church and killed a priest had fake explosives and used nuns as human shields. Prosecutor Francois Molins said the attackers, who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group, also cried "Allahu akbar" during the attack. One attacker was identified as 19-year-old Adel Kermiche. Molins said the other is still being identified. He also said a minor has been detained in the investigation, who is believed to be a 16-year-old younger brother of someone wanted by police for trying to go to Syria or Iraq in 2015. Police raids are still under way. ___ 9:55 p.m. French President Francois Hollande cancelled a visit to the Czech Republic for a second time after the Islamic State group attack on a church in France. Hollande was scheduled to meet his Czech counterpart Czech President Milos Zeman and Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka to discuss the security situation in Europe following a wave of attacks in France and Germany and the future of the European Union after Britain decided to leave the bloc in a referendum. The government and the presidential office announced the cancellation of Wednesday's visit late Tuesday. Hollande was originally scheduled to meet the Czech leaders last week but cancelled that trip following the deadly attack in the city of Nice. ___ 9:40 p.m. France's anti-terrorism prosecutor says one of the men who attacked a Normandy church evaded police twice using relatives' ID cards in attempts to reach Syria. Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters that 19-year-old Adel Kermiche was wearing an electronic surveillance bracelet when he and another attacker slit the throat of a priest in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray Tuesday. Kermiche and the other assailant were killed by police. Molins said the bracelet was deactivated for a few hours every morning, corresponding with the time of the attack. He said Kermiche was arrested in Germany in March 2015 trying to join extremists in Syria using his brother's ID, and then was arrested in Turkey two months later using a cousin's ID. Molins said the person who was injured in the attack is no longer in life-threatening condition. ___ 8:55 p.m. One of the extremists who attacked a Normandy church has been identified as Adel Kermiche, a local youth whose parents flagged his radical behavior to authorities. A police official and people who know Kermiche's family provided the name to The Associated Press. Family friend Jonathan Sacarabany says Kermiche grew up in a housing project in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. That is the town where two assailants claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group slit the throat of a priest and took hostages Tuesday before being shot to death by police. The family friend says Kermiche had a sister who is a doctor in the nearby city of Rouen, and a brother. Their mother is a professor. The family alerted authorities to his radicalism to try to stop him from going to Syria, Sacarabany said. Kermiche was arrested trying to go to Syria and was put under judicial supervision upon his return, with an electronic bracelet that was deactivated for five hours a day allowing him to leave home without surveillance, according to a police official with knowledge of the investigation. Kamiche was required to check in with police once a day, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to divulge details. ___ 8:20 p.m. French President Francois Hollande is vowing to win his country's war against terrorism after Islamic State group attackers slit a priest's throat in an attack on a Normandy church. In a televised address to the nation Tuesday, he said: "To attack a church, kill a priest, is to profane the republic." It is the latest of several he has had to make as France has been targeted by extremist attacks over the past 18 months. Saying the country is "waging war," he urged his compatriots to stay united and not turn against each other. He says: "What terrorists want is to divide us, separate us, set us against each other." He says France has deployed more security measures than at any other time in its modern history, but insisted that it wouldn't go so far as to restrict freedoms and compromise democracy. He vowed: "We will win this war." ___ 7:10 p.m. French President Francois Hollande has called Pope Francis to express his "chagrin" after two men attacked a Normandy church during Mass and slit the throat of the priest, killing him and seriously injuring a church-goer. Hollande told the pope on Tuesday that "when a priest is attacked, it is all of France that has been hurt," according to a statement from the president's office. Hollande assured the pope that everything will be done to protect the churches of France and other houses of worship. ___ 6:50 p.m. The French Bishops' Conference has told The Associated Press that the priest murdered in the small northwestern French town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray was 85, contradicting statements made by other organizations. Genevieve Szerauc confirmed to The AP that records prove that Rev. Jacques was born on Nov. 30, 1930 in Darnetal, a small town east of Rouen. Initially, the Rouen Diocese said he was 84 in a statement, then the French Catholic Church said he was 86. The Bishops' Conference says Hamel was ordained a priest on June 30, 1958. Hamel had been serving in the parish of Saint-Etienne-de-Rouvray since 2005. ___ 6:20 p.m. A French mayor whose town church was attacked by Islamic State extremists is tearfully pleading for unity and courage against barbarism. Hubert Wulfranc, a history teacher who is also the mayor of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, struggled to keep himself together as he spoke to reporters Tuesday, hours after two attackers slit the throat of a priest celebrating Mass. The attackers were killed by police. Wulfranc said it's time to end the violence that has shaken France in recent years, adding: "Let us, together, be the last ones to cry." "Let us together ... stand up against barbarism." A somber quiet surrounded the area. The small town is composed of very residential neighborhoods and livelier, working-class neighborhoods with massive apartment blocks. Priest Alexandre Joly, who knew the slain priest, said "If we are afraid, they have won. They must not win. Our response will be to pray. We must not enter in the game of fear, of rejection." ___ 5:35 p.m. The United States is condemning in the "strongest possible terms" an attack on a French church that left its 85-year-old priest dead. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, which was carried out by two individuals who were shot and killed by police. White House spokesman Ned Price says France and the United States are committed to protecting religious liberty for all faiths. He says that commitment will not waver because of Tuesday's attack in the small northwestern town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. Price also commended what he said was the "quick and decisive response" by French law enforcement. ___ 5:10 p.m. A nun who was in the church during Tuesday's attack said the 85-year-old priest was forced to the ground before his throat was slit. "They forced him to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And that's when the tragedy happened," said the nun, identified as Sister Danielle. "They recorded themselves. They did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. It's a horror," she told BFM television. Of her fallen colleague, she said: "He was a great priest." ___ 4:10 p.m. An Italian politician is urging Pope Francis to put the slain French priest, the Rev. Jacque Hamel, on a fast track for sainthood. Roberto Maroni, the president of the Lombard region, said in an appeal circulated on social media that "Father Jacques is a martyr of faith" and requested that the pope "immediately proclaim him St. Jacques." Shortly after the appeal, the hashtage #santosubito, which translates as "saint immediately," began circulating on Twitter. The canonization process is a lengthy one involving two miracles attributed to the person's intercession, but in the case of a martyr only one miracle is needed, after beatification. There must first be a declaration by the Vatican that the person indeed died for the faith. ___ 3:50 p.m. Ireland's prime minister says it is "particularly brutal" that people have been attacked in a church, a traditional place of sanctuary. Enda Kenny says the killing of a priest by knife-wielding attackers in France's Normandy region is especially awful because "terror and murder have been visited upon innocent people at a time when they have been so physically vulnerable and so spiritually hopeful." Kenny spoke in London after a meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May. May called the attack "sickening" and sent condolences to the people of France. ___ 3:40 p.m. The Paris prosecutor's office says one person has been detained in the investigation into an attack on a church that left a priest dead and was claimed by the Islamic State group. Prosecutor's office spokeswoman said the person was detained Tuesday, but gave no details on the identity or location. The spokeswoman spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. The Paris prosecutor's office oversees investigations involving terrorism. Two attackers took hostages in a church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray during morning Mass, slitting the priest's throat before being killed by police. Authorities are trying to determine whether they had accomplices. ___ 3:30 p.m. A resident of St.-Etienne-du-Rouvray says had heard shots fired for about 30 seconds after police responded to an attack inside the local church Claude-Albert Seguin, a 68-year-old pensioner, told The Associated Press that he knew the priest who was killed in the attack claimed by the Islamic State group. Seguin says, "everyone knew him very well. He was very loved in the community and a kind man." Seguin said that police told all neighbors to shutter their windows, and he was following the progress of events on television news. ___ 2:25 p.m. A local Muslim leader says one of the men who attacked a Normandy church was on French police radar and had traveled to Turkey. Mohammed Karabila, president of the Regional Council of the Muslim Faith for Haute-Normandie and head of the local Muslim cultural center, told The Associated Press that "the person that did this odious act is known, and he has been followed by the police for at least a year and a half." He said the attacker "went to Turkey and security services were alerted after this." He had no information about the second attacker. Karabila said he hoped that interfaith dialogue in his region would not be damaged. The attackers slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest before being killed by police. Their identities have not been released. ___ 2:20 p.m. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the latest attack in France in which two attackers invaded a church and killed an 85-year-old priest before being shot and killed by police. The claim came in a statement published Tuesday by the IS-affiliated Aamaq news agency. It said the attack near the Normandy city of Rouen was carried out by "two soldiers of the Islamic State." It added the attack was in response to its calls to target countries of the U.S.-led coalition which is fighting IS. ___ 1:50 p.m. French President Francois Hollande is suggesting that the Islamic State group is behind an attack on a church that left an 85-year-old priest dead. Hollande called it a "vile terrorist attack" and said it's another more sign that France is at war with IS, which has claimed a string of attacks on France. "We must lead this war with all our means," he said in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, where two attackers took hostages on Tuesday before being killed by police. Hollande expressed support for all France's Catholics but said the attack targets "all the French." The identities of Tuesday's attackers are unclear. ___ 1:45 p.m. Pope Francis has condemned in the strongest terms the attack on a Roman Catholic church in northern France that left a priest dead and a worshipper critically wounded. Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said in a statement Tuesday that the attack hits particularly hard "because this horrific violence took place in a church, a sacred place in which the love of God is announced, and the barbaric murder of a priest and the involvement of the faithful." Lombardi called the attack "more terrible news, that adds to a series of violence in these days that have left us upset, creating immense pain and worry." The pope, he said, has expressed "pain and horror for this absurd violence, with the strongest condemnation for every form of hatred and prayer for those affected." The Vatican expressed its closeness to the Roman Catholic Church in France and the Archdiocese of Rouen, as well as to the affected communities and the people of France. ___ 1:10 p.m. Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen has confirmed the identity of the priest who was slain by two attackers at a church in northwest France. He says Father Jacques Hamel was killed Tuesday. Police say two attackers entered his church in the small Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, slit his throat and took hostages before being shot dead by police. In a statement from Krakow, Poland, where Pope Francis was visiting, Lebrun says "I cry out to God, with all men of good will. And I invite all non-believers to unite with this cry ... The Catholic Church has no other arms besides prayer and fraternity between men." ___ 11:10 a.m. Two attackers seized hostages Tuesday in a church near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing a priest by slitting his throat before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. Another person inside the church was seriously injured and is hovering between life and death, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. Police managed to rescue three people from the church in the small northwestern town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Brandet said. The hostage-taking occurred during morning Mass, he told reporters. The identities of the attackers and motive for the attack are unclear, according to a security official, who was not authorized to be publicly named. French President Francois Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve were heading to the town. Brandet, speaking on BFM TV, said the RAID special intervention force was searching the church and its perimeter for possible explosives and terrorism investigators had been summoned. ___ This story corrects priest's age based on information from French Catholic Bishops' conference French police officers stand guard in front of the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray's city hall, Normandy, France, after an attack on a church that left a priest dead, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) In this grab made from video, police officers speak to a driver as they close off a road during a hostage situation in Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers seized hostages in a church near the Normandy city of Rouen on Tuesday, killing one hostage by slitting their throat before being killed by police, a security official said. The identities of the attackers and motive for the attack are unclear, according to the official, who was not authorized to be publicly named. (BFM via AP) In this grab made from video, police officers close off a road during a hostage situation in Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers seized hostages in a church near the Normandy city of Rouen on Tuesday, killing one hostage by slitting their throat before being killed by police, a security official said. The identities of the attackers and motive for the attack are unclear, according to the official, who was not authorized to be publicly named. (BFM via AP) In this grab made from video, French President Francois Hollande shakes hands with police and security services personnel after arriving at the scene of the hostage situation in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers took hostages inside a French church during morning Mass on Tuesday near the city of Rouen, killing an 86-year-old priest by slitting his throat before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. (France Pool via AP) In this grab made from video, emergency services transport a person into a waiting ambulance in Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers seized hostages in a church near the Normandy city of Rouen on Tuesday, killing one hostage by slitting their throat before being killed by police, a security official said. The identities of the attackers and motive for the attack are unclear, according to the official, who was not authorized to be publicly named. (BFM via AP) In this grab made from video, French President Francois Hollande, center, and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve speaks with a local man after arriving at the scene of the hostage situation in Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers took hostages inside a French church during morning Mass on Tuesday in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, killing an 86-year-old priest by slitting his throat before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. (France Pool via AP) French soldiers stand guard near the scene of an attack in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) A French soldier stands guard while preventing the access to the scene of an attack in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) French police officers seal off one of the access to the scene of an attack in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) General view of the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, where a 84-year-old priest was murdered in a church, in background, during an attack, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) General view of the church where a priest was killed in an attack in Saint Etienne du Rouvray, Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Police officers conduct a search in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, following an attack on a church that left a priest dead, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Police officers conduct a search in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, following an attack on a church that left a priest dead, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Police officers conduct a search as they investigate an attack on a church that left a priest dead in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Police officers conduct a search as they investigate an attack on a church that left a priest dead in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Police officers conduct a search as they investigate an attack on a church that left a priest dead in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Gunman kills doctor, then himself at Berlin hospital BERLIN (AP) Officials say a man has shot dead a doctor before killing himself at a Berlin hospital. The shooting occurred around 1 p.m. Tuesday at the mouth, jaw and face surgery unit of the Benjamin-Franklin Hospital in the southwestern district of Steglitz. Berlin police initially said the doctor had suffered life-threatening injuries, but later said he had died. The circumstances of the shooting are still being investigated. Police said there was no indication of a "terrorist background" to the attack. Vietnam says it prefers bilateral talks with China on SCS VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) Vietnam aims to settle its territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea through bilateral negotiations even though it doesn't rule out applying international laws, as the Philippines did in its recent arbitration victory, the deputy foreign minister said Tuesday. "Our consistent policy is to settle disputes through peaceful means in accordance with national laws and United Nations (conventions and laws), and we attach quite (a lot of) importance to bilateral negotiations," Le Hoai Trung told The Associated Press. "For us, all means of peaceful settlement are important. All means. So you can count (international arbitration) but we attach importance to bilateral negotiations," he said in the interview on the sidelines of a regional security meeting being hosted by Laos. "The important factor is you need to have the goodwill, and you need to base your claims on international law, the relevant international law," he said. China claims almost all of the resource-rich South China Sea on historical grounds, overlapping with claims by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. Only Philippines has taken its dispute to The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, which ruled in its favor earlier this month on the basis of the 1982 U.N. Conventions on the Laws of the Sea. China, however, does not accept the tribunal's authority over the matter and has rejected the ruling. The ruling should embolden all claimants now that they know the international law does not favor China. Yet, the four Southeast Asian countries, which have little clout in the face of China's might, are reluctant to escalate tensions by internationalizing the dispute. At a meeting of the foreign ministers of 10 Southeast Asian nations on Sunday, even the Philippines was reluctant to have the grouping rebuke China, and in several forums said its dispute had nothing to do with the region, according to diplomats who attended the closed-door meetings. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak with the media. The continuing conciliatory tone toward China was evident in Trung's comments. "We should use everything that we have to promote friendship and promote negotiations. And not to look at it as who has won or who has lost. So, self-restraint. And try to move forward ... guided by constructive and positive spirit and work for friendship," he said. China and Vietnam have had long-running territorial disputes in the Spratly Islands and the Paracels in the South China Sea. Tensions spiked in 2014 with a standoff after China moved a massive oil rig off the Paracels. China is now Vietnam's largest trading partner and the Asian neighbors have since tried to mend ties by exchanging high-level visits although tensions remain over the islands. Dr. Dre cited on gun charge following driveway encounter MALIBU, Calif. (AP) Dr. Dre has been cited after a man says the rapper pointed a handgun at him. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says the man told them he was parked outside a Malibu, California, home when Dre ordered him to leave and showed a gun. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, told sheriff's deputies he didn't have a gun and that the man was blocking his driveway. He says the man moved his car but parked nearby. He says the man drove off after Dre recorded video of him. FILE - In this Aug. 10, 2015, file photo, Dr. Dre arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Straight Outta Compton." Dr. Dre has been cited after the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says a man told them Dre pointed a handgun at him outside of his Malibu, California, home. (Photo by John Salangsang/Invision/AP, File) Dre was briefly handcuffed while deputies investigated. No weapon was found at the scene, but deputies say the man initiated a citizen's arrest for misdemeanor brandishing a firearm. Widow sues police over Wisconsin motorcycle shop standoff NEENAH, Wis. (AP) The widow of a man killed by police during a standoff at an eastern Wisconsin motorcycle shop is suing the officers for wrongful death. In a lawsuit filed Monday, Theresa Mason-Funk claims the officers used unnecessary and excessive force when they shot Michael Funk at Eagle Nation Cycles in Neenah last December. Funk was a hostage and had drawn his handgun as he tried to escape when he was shot by officers Craig Hoffer and Robert Ross. The officers had believed Funk was the hostage taker. Funk was shot nine times, and Neenah police didn't tend to him for more than 30 minutes, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit also says that when a sergeant asked Hoffer whether she should check on him, Hoffer said: "I could care less right now if he sits there and dies." Neenah City Attorney Jim Godlewski told Post-Crescent Media (http://post.cr/2arFYNN ) that the lawsuit will be referred to the city's defense counsel. He had no comment on the lawsuit itself. The Wisconsin Department of Justice determined the officers thought Funk was the armed hostage taker and was a threat, and they weren't criminally responsible for his killing. The man accused in the standoff, Brian Flatoff, faces trial on multiple counts. Mason-Funk's lawsuit, which does not specify a dollar amount, alleges that many of the shots fired by the officers hit her husband in the back. It also says Ross shot Funk twice after he was already wounded and no longer a threat. Howard Schoenfeld, Mason-Funk's attorney, said the lawsuit "seeks accountability for Michael's wrongful death and, out of accountability, justice for his grieving widow." The lawsuit came after Neenah chose not to respond to a $3.5 million wrongful death claim filed in March by Mason-Funk. Authorities say Funk, 60, and two other men were held hostage Dec. 5 at Eagle Nation Cycles by Flatoff in a dispute over a motorcycle. Neenah police tried to rescue the hostages, but retreated after Flatoff fired at them. Minutes later Funk escaped while Flatoff shot at him from inside. Funk drew his handgun and turned to run when he was shot by Hoffer and Ross. The DOJ has said that the officers were mistaken in retrospect, but their perceptions were not unreasonable. ___ European development bank considers funding gas pipeline TIRANA, Albania (AP) The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is looking to support financially the development of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, which plans to bring gas across the Balkans and on to Italy. President Suma Chakrabarti told Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama during a visit Tuesday that the pipeline project was of great interest as it would help the region's energy security and was deemed environmentally sustainable. "In the energy sector, the EBRD is well aware of the need to secure energy for Europe which is affordable and acceptable from the point of view of climate change. In this context we are positive about the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, a project that develops the three characteristics of energy security, energy access and environmental sustainability," he told The Associated Press by email. The so-called TAP, which formally started construction in May, will run for 878 kilometers (550 miles) from Greece's border with Turkey, through Albania and to southern Italy, including a 105-kilometer (65-mile) stretch under the Adriatic Sea. First deliveries to Europe are expected in 2020. The EBRD confirmed it has started negotiations for 500 million euros ($549 million) in direct financing and plans to attract up to 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) from a syndicate of commercial banks. Riccardo Puliti, the bank's energy and natural resources head, said negotiations started in April and may take 12 to 15 months. "The bank is analyzing the technical, economic, financial, social, environmental terms and more to see if they are consistent with its policies," Puliti said by phone from his London office. "We expect that process is over in April next year." TAP is a joint project by Britain's BP, Azerbaijan's SOCAR, Italy's Snam, Belgium's Fluxys, Spain's Enagas and Switzerland's Axpo. It is the most western of three sections of the Southern Gas Corridor a 3,500-kilometer chain of pipelines intended to deliver natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe. ___ Verizon 2Q profit hurt by strike; revenue disappoints NEW YORK (AP) Verizon Communications said Tuesday that a strike by 40,000 employees hurt its results in the second quarter, and the company's revenue fell short of analyst projections. The largest U.S. cellphone carrier's profits were hurt by a series of costs. One was a seven-week strike by around 40,000 employees that began in April. It was one of the larger strikes by U.S. workers in recent years and Verizon said it cut into profits from its wireline business. Verizon said its net income after paying dividends on preferred stock fell to $702 million, or 17 cents per share. Excluding one-time costs related to the strike, charges related to the early redemption of debt, and other items, Verizon said it earned 94 cents per share. This Monday, July 25, 2016, photo shows signage in a Verizon store in North Andover, Mass. Verizon Communications said Tuesday, July 26, that a strike by 40,000 employees hurt its results in the second quarter, and the company's revenue fell short of analyst projections. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) Its revenue fell 5 percent to $30.53 billion. Analysts expected Verizon to report earnings of 93 cents per share on $31.12 billion in revenue, according to Zacks Investment Research. The earnings report came a day after the New York company said it has agreed to buy Yahoo's internet business for $4.83 billion. It will combine Yahoo with AOL, which it bought last year for $4.4 billion. On Tuesday, Verizon said the two businesses will give it a valuable group of online properties and mobile applications with more than 1 billion views per month. Shares of Verizon declined 92 cents to $54.95 in midday trading. Its shares have risen 19 percent over the past year. Earlier this month Verizon stock hit its highest price since 2000. Investors have snapped up telecommunications companies like Verizon and AT&T because of their attractive dividend payments. ____ Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on VZ at http://www.zacks.com/ap/VZ _____ The Latest: Emergency declared on 2 California wildfires BIG SUR, Calif. (AP) The Latest on California wildfires (all times local): 7 p.m. Acting California Gov. Tom Torlakson has now declared a state of emergency for both major wildfires burning in the state. FILE- In this Sunday, July 24, 2016 file photo, a helicopter makes a drop on a wildfire near Placerita Canyon Road in Santa Clarita, Calif. The smoky fire tore through drought-ravaged brush that hadn't burned in decades amid a sweltering heat wave and exploded over the weekend. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu/File) The declaration issued Tuesday frees up state resources and temporarily sets aside regulations for the firefight and the recovery. The fire in Monterey County near Big Sur has burned 20 homes and is threatening a scenic stretch of coastline. The blaze in Los Angeles County destroyed 18 homes and killed one person. Torlakson, the state's superintendent of public instruction, is acting as the state's chief executive because Gov. Jerry Brown and several other top officials who would normally replace him are all at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. ___ 6 p.m. Acting California Gov. Tom Torlakson has declared a state of emergency for a major wildfire that has burned 18 homes and killed one person in the Los Angeles area. The declaration issued Tuesday frees up state resources and temporarily sets aside regulations for the firefight and the recovery. The fire in rugged wilderness between the northern edge of Los Angeles and the suburban city of Santa Clarita has burned 58 square miles (152 square kilometers) and at its peak forced about 20,000 people to evacuate, though most have now returned. Torlakson, the state's superintendent of public instruction, is acting as the state's chief executive because Gov. Jerry Brown and several other top officials who would normally replace him are all at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. ___ 1:10 p.m. Authorities say a man who was found dead in a car at the scene of a Southern California wildfire refused to evacuate as the flames approached. The Los Angeles County coroner's office identifies him Tuesday as 67-year-old Robert Bresnick. He was visiting a friend in Santa Clarita, where a wildfire has burned 18 homes. Assistant Chief Ed Winter says firefighters tried to get Bresnick and a woman living at the home in Santa Clarita to evacuate Saturday as the flames approached but they refused. Winter says the woman eventually left but the man went back into the home. Winter says his burned body was found about 20 minutes later in a car in the driveway after flames had swept through the area. ___ 12:50 p.m. Authorities say a large wildfire burning in the backcountry of northwest Wyoming is threatening hundreds of seasonal homes and has forced scores to flee. The fire in the Shoshone National Forest west of Dubois has burned nearly 11 square miles and is putting about 290 homes and guest ranches at risk in the remote area. No homes have been lost so far. Wyoming state forester Bill Crapser says about 900 people have evacuated. Gov. Matt Mead activated a National Guard helicopter to assist, and more specialized firefighters and large air tankers are being added as the blaze burns out of control. In neighboring Bridger-Teton National Forest, a fire has grown to 26 square miles and is partially contained. Two smaller fires are burning in the Bighorn National Forest. ___ 10:10 a.m. The signature state parks of California's grand Big Sur coast are closed as one of the state's two major wildfires expands in the region. Closures as of Tuesday in the major tourism destination include Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, Andrew Molera State Park and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, among others. Spokesman Dennis Weber says facilities aren't endangered but officials decided to get the public out of the areas for safety and to keep roads clear and avoid exposure to bad air quality. Weber says a total of about 7,500 people a day visit the affected parks. Closures also include the Point Sur lighthouse park, Point Lobos State Natural Reserve and Garrapata State Park. ___ 7:42 a.m. A wildfire burning near the scenic Big Sur region on the California coast has grown to 30 square miles. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says the blaze is 10 percent contained Tuesday morning. The fire has destroyed 20 homes and two outbuildings, and some 300 residents have been forced out of their homes. ___ 7:10 a.m. The huge wildfire north of Los Angeles has grown to 58 square miles, but containment has also increased. The fire command says the blaze is 25 percent surrounded Tuesday morning. Most of the evacuation orders affecting 10,000 homes were lifted Monday night. Nearly 3,000 firefighters are working the blaze, along with 356 fire engines and 26 helicopters. The fire erupted Friday afternoon in Santa Clarita, about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ___ 6:05 a.m. Crews took advantage of calmer winds and cooler temperatures overnight as they set backfires to curb the spread of a massive wildfire northwest of Los Angeles. Most of the roughly 20,000 evacuees forced out by the blaze were cleared to go home Monday, but firefighters still have a huge job ahead. The fire, which has chewed through about 55 square miles of tinder-dry brush, is only partially contained. Residents of two neighborhoods still under threat remain out of their homes. Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief John Tripp says firefighters saved about 2,000 houses in the fire's first three days. Some 300 miles to the northwest, crews made gains Monday against a blaze in the scenic Big Sur region of the Central Coast that destroyed 20 homes. A wildfire burns in the Palo Colorado Canyon in the scenic Big Sur region of California's Central Coast, Monday, July 25, 2016. Fire crews have made some gains against a massive wildfire burning in rugged terrain near the scenic Big Sur region. (David Royal/The Monterey County Herald via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Police check IDs as residents return to their homes near Sand Canyon Road in Santa Clarita, Calif., Monday, July 25, 2016. The majority of some 20,000 people forced from their homes by a wildfire that exploded during the weekend were told they could return home Monday night, though an army of firefighters continued battling flames in the rugged hills and canyons northwest of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu) A wildfire burns in the Palo Colorado Canyon in the scenic Big Sur region of California's Central Coast, Monday, July 25, 2016. Fire crews have made some gains against a massive wildfire burning in rugged terrain near the scenic Big Sur region. (David Royal/The Monterey County Herald via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Smoke hangs over a burnt hillside in Palo Colorado Canyon as a wildfire burns in the scenic Big Sur region of California's Central Coast, Monday, July 25, 2016. Fire crews have made some gains against a massive wildfire burning in rugged terrain near the scenic Big Sur region. (David Royal/The Monterey County Herald via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Theo Maehr pauses while trying to extinguish his burning house number and other hotspots near his home in the Palo Colorado Canyon in the scenic Big Sur region of California's Central Coast, Monday, July 25, 2016. Fire crews have made some gains against a massive wildfire burning in rugged terrain near the scenic Big Sur region. (David Royal/The Monterey County Herald via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT A burned home is seen near Iron Canyon Road in Santa Clarita, Calif., Monday, July 25, 2016. A raging wildfire that forced thousands from their homes on the edge of Los Angeles continued to burn Monday as frustrated fire officials said residents reluctant to heed evacuation orders made conditions more dangerous and destructive for their neighbors. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu) A helicopter makes a drop on a hot spot near Placerita Canyon Road in Santa Clarita, Calif., Monday, July 25, 2016. A raging wildfire that forced thousands from their homes on the edge of Los Angeles continued to burn Monday as frustrated fire officials said residents reluctant to heed evacuation orders made conditions more dangerous and destructive for their neighbors. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu) The Latest: Fund opened to help families in club shooting FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) The Latest on a Florida nightclub shooting: (all times local): 9:55 a.m. The city of Fort Myers has opened a fund to assist the families affected by the nightclub shooting that killed two teenagers and wounded 17 other people. Stephanie White, right, holds a photograph of her son Stef'an Strawder during an interview in her home in Lehigh Acres, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. Strawder, 18, was killed in the deadly shooting outside the Club Blu nightclub in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday. Police said the gunfire, which erupted at a swimsuit-themed party for teens, was not an act of terrorism. At left is Kasey Jones. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) In a statement , the city announced a partnership with the Southwest Florida Community Foundation and the United Way of Lee, Charlotte, Glades and Okeechobee Counties to open the TOGETHER Fort Myers fund. Mayor Randall Henderson Jr. said there has been "a tremendous outpouring to our city from across the country." The United Way also is offering counseling services. Sarah Owen of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation said the community was seeking donations and assistance much like it did after Hurricane Charley struck the area in 2004. Donations can be made at www.FloridaCommunity.com. ___ 3 a.m. Stephanie White clutches a stack of photos as images of her slain son air on television news accounts of a deadly nightclub shooting in Florida. Her son was one of two teenagers killed early Monday at Club Blu, the latest in a string of mass shootings this summer. With the Orlando massacre at the Pulse nightclub still fresh on her mind, White had advised her 18-year-old on what to do if there was a shooting: "Hit the floor; find a table." But when gunfire erupted in the parking lot of the Fort Myers club, 18-year-old Stef'an Strawder didn't have anywhere to hide. He was killed along with a 14-year-old boy, and 17 people ranging in age from 12 to 27 were wounded during the swimsuit-themed party for teens. Florida Gov. Rick Scott makes a statement at a news conference in response to a deadly shooting outside the Club Blu nightclub in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. Police said the gunfire, which erupted at a swimsuit-themed party for teens, was not an act of terrorism. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) Florida Gov. Rick Scott responds to a question at a news conference in response to a deadly shooting outside the Club Blu nightclub in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. Police said the gunfire, which erupted at a swimsuit-themed party for teens, was not an act of terrorism. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) Sylvia Bargouthi leaves stuffed animals outside the scene of a deadly shooting at the Club Blu nightclub in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. Police said the gunfire, which erupted at a swimsuit-themed party for teens, was not an act of terrorism. (Monica Herndon/Tampa Bay Times via AP) Flowers and notes are left at the scene of a deadly shooting outside the Club Blu nightclub in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. Police said the gunfire, which erupted at a swimsuit-themed party for teens, was not an act of terrorism. (Monica Herndon/Tampa Bay Times via AP) ADDS IDS AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION - Jean Archilles, center, father of Sean Archilles, speaks with Fort Myers Police victim advocate Chevala Jones, right, after a fatal shooting at Club Blu in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. Sean Archilles was among those killed. (Kinfay Moroti/The News-Press via AP) People embrace after a fatal shooting at Club Blu in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. (Kinfay Moroti/The News-Press via AP) Bullet holes are marked at the scene of a deadly shooting outside the Club Blu nightclub in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. Police said the gunfire, which erupted at a swimsuit-themed party for teens, was not an act of terrorism. (Monica Herndon/Tampa Bay Times via AP) A police vehicle blocks off the area near Club Blu after a fatal shooting in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Joshua Replogle) A Fort Myers fire fighter pours bleach over blood stains on the pavement at the scene of a deadly shooting outside the Club Blu nightclub in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. Police said the gunfire, which erupted at a swimsuit-themed party for teens, was not an act of terrorism. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) Officials investigate the scene of a deadly shooting outside of the Club Blu nightclub, Monday, July 25, 2016, in Fort Myers, Fla. Gunfire erupted at the nightclub hosting a swimsuit-themed party for teens. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) Officials investigate the scene of a deadly shooting outside of the Club Blu nightclub, Monday, July 25, 2016, in Fort Myers, Fla. Gunfire erupted at the nightclub hosting a swimsuit-themed party for teens. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) Evidence markers are placed on the street at the scene of a deadly shooting outside of the Club Blu nightclub, Monday, July 25, 2016, in Fort Myers, Fla. Gunfire erupted at the nightclub hosting a swimsuit-themed party for teens. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) An official investigates the scene of a deadly shooting near the Club Blu nightclub, Monday, July 25, 2016, in Fort Myers, Fla. Gunfire erupted at the nightclub hosting a swimsuit-themed party for teens. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) An aerial view of the crime scene surrounding Club Blu in Fort Myers, Fla. Monday, July 25, 2016, the scene of a deadly shooting Monday. Police said the gunfire, which erupted at a swimsuit-themed party for teens, was not an act of terrorism. (Luke Franke/Naples Daily News via AP) Ex-Citibank worker imprisoned for sabotaging computer system DALLAS (AP) An employee who sabotaged Citibank's computer system because he believed he was about to be fired has been sentenced to nearly two years in prison. Investigators say Lennon Ray Brown of Dallas transmitted a code and command in 2013 leading to loss of connectivity to 90 percent of Citibank networks in North America. Brown was sentenced Monday to 21 months in federal prison and fined more than $77,000. The 38-year-old Brown pleaded guilty in February to intentional damage to a protected computer. Investigators say Brown caused the damage after a discussion with a supervisor about his work performance at the Citibank Regents Campus near Dallas in December 2013. Ask Brianna: How do I save for retirement at my first job? "Ask Brianna" is a Q&A column for 20-somethings, or anyone else starting out. I'm here to help you manage your money, find a job and pay off student loans all the real-world stuff no one taught us how to do in college. Send your questions about postgrad life to askbrianna@nerdwallet.com. This week's question: "I'm starting my first job after college, and everyone says I should start saving for retirement already. Should I? How do I do it?" FILE - This June 24, 2016, file photo, provided by NerdWallet shows Brianna McGurran, a columnist for personal finance website NerdWallet.com. "Ask Brianna" is a Q&A column for 20-somethings, or anyone else starting out. (Jazeena Baeza/NerdWallet via AP, File) One day you will be old, and you will need money. That's hard to absorb when you're young and healthy and rightly concerned with curating a compelling Snapchat story. It's also a drag to lock up your money in a retirement account when you're just getting used to having more than $10 in the bank. But now that you have a job and you're figuring out what to do with your paycheck, saving for retirement is possible, and spoiler alert critical. A simple life expectancy calculator told me I will probably live to 86. My Italian grandmother is healthier than I am, and she's 93. We've all got to plan for life after we stop working, even if it's hard to tell exactly how long we'll be around. In your early 20s, you can save a little money now to have a lot of it later. Here's how to be financially secure when you're old, gray, and crossing the globe on luxury cruises in oversized sunglasses. TAKE A DEEP BREATH. YOU'LL GET SOCIAL SECURITY. Don't worry: Social Security will not run dry by the time you retire, though it isn't bringing in enough revenue to pay you 100 percent of what you're supposed to receive in retirement. The most recent Social Security Administration annual trustees' report says that after 2034, retirees will probably receive about three-quarters of the amount they're promised, which is still a nice chunk of money. Changes to Social Security policy could mean a bigger benefit or a smaller benefit later on, but you shouldn't discount it altogether. Like many other variables in the retirement savings game, it's hard to predict how much you'll earn and be able to save on your own. But with Social Security in your back pocket, you won't be on the hook to save every penny yourself. According to the Social Security Administration, the benefit will likely replace about 40 percent of the average earner's pre-retirement income. Get a gold star in retirement preparedness and use a calculator to see a rough estimate of your monthly Social Security benefit. GO FULL STEAM AHEAD ON YOUR 401(K) Even though Social Security will be there, it won't cover all of your expenses in retirement. Contribute to a 401(k) at work, if one is available to you, to help make up the difference. Thanks to the beauty of compound interest, you can save $100 a month in a retirement account starting at 22 and end up richer by 65 than if you started saving $200 a month at 32. There's often an extra incentive to sign up: Almost three-fourths of employers match at least a portion of workers' contributions to their 401(k)s, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. It's also increasingly likely your company will do the enrollment work for you, Jean Young, senior research analyst at the Vanguard Center for Retirement Research, told me. Two-thirds of millennials in retirement plans joined because their employers enrolled them automatically when they started, she wrote in a 2015 Vanguard report. You don't even have to pick your investments. You can choose a target-date fund based on the year you plan to retire, which will reduce the risk in your investments as you age. If you cash out before you retire, though, you'll pay major fees and lose out on years of growth. "Unless it is truly your undying passion from birth, don't take that money out of your 401(k) to buy a boat," says Timothy LaPean, a financial planner in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NO 401(K)? FLY SOLO WITH AN IRA A 401(k) is great if you've got one, but less than half of full-time employees ages 18 to 29 have the option to contribute to workplace retirement accounts, according to the Pew Research Center. If your company doesn't offer a 401(k), or you work part-time or freelance, you're on your own but you're not without options. Young folks like you often opt for a Roth IRA, a retirement account you can set up online or through an investment broker or an automated financial adviser (often called a robo-adviser). As long as you earn taxable income that's less than $132,000 annually as a single person, you can put away up to $5,500 a year and watch it grow the longer you let it sit there. Because a Roth IRA is a long-term savings account, not a Caribbean vacation fund, you'll be rewarded for waiting it out with the ability to withdraw your money tax-free after age 59. That makes a Roth different from a traditional 401(k): You contribute to a 401(k) before taxes are taken out of your paycheck, so you'll be taxed once you start using that money in retirement. Set up a monthly automatic transfer from your checking account to your IRA, or sign up for your 401(k) the minute Human Resources hands you that stack of forms to fill out. Then you can gleefully check off one more item on the Adult Responsibility List. _______________ This column was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance website NerdWallet. Brianna McGurran is a staff writer at NerdWallet. Email: bmcgurran@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @briannamcscribe. Social Security calculator https://www.ssa.gov/oact/quickcalc/ Don't wait for a 401(k) to start saving for retirement The Latest: Israeli flag set on fire outside of convention PHILADELPHIA (AP) The Latest on the protests and rallies on the second day of the Democratic National Convention (all times local): 10 p.m. Protesters have set an Israeli flag on fire and chanted "long live the intifada" outside of the Democratic convention site. Police spray protesters through the fence near the AT&T Station in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016, during the second day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) A woman wearing a black bandanna on her face lit the flag on fire Tuesday night as protests continued outside of the secure zone around the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Someone stood nearby waving a Palestinian flag. Protesters also set pro-Bernie Sanders fliers on fire that were hanging on steel fencing around the site. Separate groups of Sanders supporters, protesters marching against police brutality and others have joined together in the streets outside of the convention. ___ 9:35 p.m. Separate groups of Bernie Sanders supporters and protesters marching against police brutality have joined together in the streets outside the Democratic National Convention site in Philadelphia. Some of the people are chanting "keep the peace." Police cars are driving by with their sirens blaring to try to block them. The groups marched up Broad Street outside of the arena where Hillary Clinton on Tuesday became the first woman to win the presidential nomination of major U.S. political party. The protests continued after Sanders delegates and supporters held an hour-long sit-in inside a media tent in the parking lot outside of the arena where the convention is being held. ___ 9 p.m. Bernie Sanders delegates and supporters have ended their sit-in inside a media tent at the Democratic convention site in Philadelphia, while protests outside have calmed down, too. Inside the arena, after Hillary Clinton became the first woman to claim the presidential nomination of a major U.S. party, Sanders delegates walked out and held about an hour-long sit-in at a media tent. Outside, police started detaining Sanders supporters who climbed the 8-foot fences at the edge of the secure zone around the Wells Fargo Center. It wasn't immediately known how many people had been detained. Groups of protesters, with a banner that read "RIP DNC," have begun marching back up Broad Street toward Philadelphia's City Hall, where a number of marches originated earlier Tuesday. ___ 8:20 p.m. Police have begun detaining Bernie Sanders supporters who are climbing the 8-foot fences at the edge of the secure zone around the Democratic convention site. Groups of Sanders supporters and protesters are standing outside of a gate around the subway station that serves the Wells Fargo Center. Inside the arena, after Hillary Clinton became the first woman to claim the presidential nomination of a major U.S. party, Sanders delegates walked out and held a sit-in inside a media tent. An Associated Press photographer witnessed one police officer spraying something at the protesters outside of the AT&T subway station that serves the convention site. ___ 6:45 p.m. Protesters are chanting "... the DNC has got to go!" as Hillary Clinton becomes the first woman to claim the presidential nomination of a major U.S. party. Groups of Bernie Sanders supporters and other protesters watching large screens in a park near the Democratic convention site in Philadelphia chanted Tuesday evening as Clinton's victory was sealed during a roll call of delegates. The Sanders supporters continued cheering for the votes the Vermont senator received from delegates, even after Clinton claimed the nearly 2,400 she needed to seal the nomination. Meanwhile, another group of Sanders supporters and peaceful protesters was marching down Broad Street toward the convention site. ___ 5:20 p.m. Ashley Judd has joined a group marching against police brutality in Philadelphia. The political activist and actress who starred in "Kiss the Girls," ''Double Jeopardy," and "Heat" stopped on Broad Street with tears in her eyes while watching the protest and then accepted a "Black Lives Matter" sign from the Philly REAL Justice group and joined in. The group is marching from near Temple University, in north Philadelphia, south on Broad Street to City Hall. There, they'll meet up with another group decrying police brutality and economic injustice and then move down to a park near the convention site. Organizers from the group told white protesters to move to the back of the demonstration, saying the action is "a black and brown resistance march." Some in the crowd chanted "Don't vote for Hillary (Clinton), she's killing black people." ___ 4:50 p.m. Thousands of Bernie Sanders supporters and protesters are rallying near one of the entrances to the Democratic convention in Philadelphia to greet arriving delegates. They gathered Tuesday afternoon outside of a subway station being used by delegates. Some chanted "This is what democracy looks like!" The Sanders supporters were joined by people protesting other things as well, including anti-abortion. Full service on the subway line that serves the convention site was restored Tuesday afternoon after it was earlier limited because of protesters. ___ 4:30 p.m. Full service has been restored on the subway line that serves the Democratic convention site in Philadelphia. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority said on Twitter that Broad Street Line between Oregon Avenue and AT&T station resumed Tuesday afternoon after it was briefly limited to only those with credentials. Service was limited after a group of Bernie Sanders supporters gathered outside of the station to protest. Most of the group has moved to another area. ___ 4 p.m. Only those with proper credentials are being allowed to remain on the subway line that serves the Democratic convention site in Philadelphia because of pro-Bernie Sanders protests. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority said on Twitter that the Broad Street Line wouldn't provide service past the Oregon Avenue station, the next-to-last stop, because of Democratic National Convention "activity." A group of Sanders supporters were gathered outside of the AT&T station, near the site of the convention, to protest. The supporters aboard the train chanted "Bernie or bust!" as they were made to get off at the next-to-last stop. Transit police walked through to check credentials of those remaining on the train. ___ 3:40 p.m. Hundreds of activists have gathered to drown out a small group of anti-gay protesters at a Philadelphia clinic that offers HIV testing. The counter-protest drew people with signs mocking those typically brandished by Westboro Baptist Church members. The gay rights group's signs boasted slogans like "God Hates Warm Beer" and "God Hates Bad Signs." A brass band played in the streets outside the Mazzoni Center for LGBT health as people crowded around the sidewalks outside in Philadelphia's gay neighborhood known as the Gayborhood. The four Westboro protesters left after about 45 minutes with counter-protesters following after them. ___ 3:20 p.m. A Philadelphia judge says the host committee for the Democratic convention can keep its donor list secret until September. Common Pleas Judge Abbe Fletman says that may not promote transparency. But she says federal election law gives organizers 60 days to disclose the names of people who bankroll the conventions. Fundraisers set out to raise more than $60 million in private donations for this week's convention in Philadelphia. They have taken out a $15 million line of credit from a city agency that requires quarterly financial updates. Independent journalist Dustin Slaughter of Philadelphia sought those reports and won a favorable ruling from Pennsylvania's open records office. But the host committee appealed, leading to the decision Monday that keeps the list under wraps during the convention. ___ 3:10 p.m. Organizers of a march against police brutality in Philadelphia are telling white protesters to move to the back of the demonstration, saying the action is "a black and brown resistance march." Philly REAL Justice organizer Erica Mines says the rally and march are "anti-police" and tells the crowd the officers present on bikes are not there to protect them. Mines also told the crowd of about 500 marchers that "Hillary Clinton has blood on her hands." In a call and echo chant, the crowd repeats "Power to the people! No power to these pigs!" The group is marching from near Temple University, in north Philadelphia, south on Broad Street to City Hall. There, they'll meet up with another group decrying police brutality and economic injustice and then move down to a park near the convention site. ___ 2:45 p.m. Green Party supporters rallying in Philadelphia say money has been pouring in to their cause since Bernie Sanders endorsed presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Green Party candidate Jill Stein is laying out her platform Tuesday to "Bernie or Bust" demonstrators. Stein, a physician, is calling for 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, a $15 minimum wage and defense cuts. Former Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins of New York has been gathering signatures for Stein. He calls her "Plan B" for Sanders supporters who don't like Clinton or GOP nominee Donald Trump. Hawkins, of Syracuse, believes Stein can do well enough in November to boost the party's ballot access and public funding. And he says that could make the Green Party a solid alternative in some one-sided congressional districts. ___ 2:20 p.m. Bryan Cranston says it doesn't make sense that the public takes his opinions more seriously just because he's an actor, yet he sees it as his responsibility to share his thoughts on social issues. The "Breaking Bad" star made the comments during a civil rights panel discussion in Philadelphia on Tuesday, the second day of the Democratic convention. He says he's voting for Hillary Clinton. The discussion highlighted the efforts of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party during the 1964 Democratic convention. They opposed the all-white delegation. Three civil rights activists who played a part in those events joined Cranston on the panel. He plays President Lyndon B. Johnson in the HBO film "All the Way." The film travels the rocky road that led to passage of the Civil Rights Act. He says he feels like a "cubic zirconia on a stage with diamonds." The panel was sponsored by Airbnb, the home-sharing site that's been battling accusations of racism. Some travelers say they've been rejected by Airbnb hosts because they are black. ___ 1:15 p.m. Few, if any, of the Bernie Sanders supporters rallying near City Hall in Philadelphia appear to be following the Vermont senator's plea to fall in line for Hillary Clinton. Leadoff speaker Debbie Lusignan (LOOS'-igh-nan) is a progressive video blogger. She calls the primary process "a coup" and says Clinton "lied her way from Iowa to California." Some of the hundreds of people enduring the Tuesday afternoon sun on another steamy day in Philadelphia are chanting "Bernie or bust." Others say they'll vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein. A passer-by at the rally complained that a Stein vote amounts to a vote for Trump. ___ 11:05 a.m. Former Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords is attending a rally for "common sense" gun legislation in Philadelphia as the Democratic National Convention enters its second day. Giffords' political action committee Americans for Responsible Solutions co-sponsored the Tuesday event in a park near The Franklin Institute. Civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis of Georgia is among the politicians attending the rally. Mothers who lost children to gun violence are speaking, and Giffords and Lewis will also address the crowd. Giffords was gravely wounded by a gunman during a public event in Tucson in 2011. Bernie Sanders supporters are to gather around noon for a rally near City Hall. A march protesting police violence against blacks is set for the afternoon. ___ 12:40 a.m. Sen. Bernie Sanders is urging supporters to rally behind Hillary Clinton as the Democratic convention heats up in Philadelphia, but ardent followers seem intent on keeping his upstart campaign alive. Hundreds of supporters marched for hours in punishing heat Monday to state their case while dozens risked arrest by climbing police barricades outside the convention site. Police instead only cited them for disorderly conduct. Another series of protests and rallies was planned for Tuesday. Sanders' supporters have expressed disgust with party leaders after leaked emails suggested the party brass favored Clinton over the Vermont senator during the hard-fought primary race. But on the convention floor Monday night, Sanders said Clinton "must become the next president of the United States," based on her ideas and her leadership. Protesters react from Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park in Philadelphia to the roll-call vote, Tuesday, July 26, 2016, during the second day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) Protesters watch on a large screen from Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park in Philadelphia the roll-call vote, Tuesday, July 26, 2016, during the second day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., listens during a rally near City Hall in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016, during the second day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., yell during a rally in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016, during the second day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) A supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., holds up an American flag during a rally near City Hall in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016, during the second day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) FILE - In this May 10, 2016, file photo, Bryan Cranston attends the LA Premiere of "All The Way" held at Paramount Pictures Studios in Los Angeles. Cranston is among more than 100 celebrities joining a campaign to urge Americans to deny Donald Trump the White House. The campaign is part of MoveOn.org Political Actions #UnitedAgainstHate campaign. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File) A supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., reacts during a rally near City Hall in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016, during the second day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) A supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., yells during a rally in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016, during the second day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Two supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., cool off in a fountain at City Hall during a rally in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016, during the second day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) A supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., listens during a rally in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016, during the second day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) Actress Ashley Judd holds up a sign of Black Lives Matter as she joined the Philly REAL Justice group marching in Philadelphia on Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Judd stopped on Broad Street in Philadelphia with tears in her eyes while watching a protest against police brutality. (AP Photo/AP Video) In 'Indignation,' a maturing Logan Lerman changes course NEW YORK (AP) Logan Lerman is already one of the most sought-after young actors in Hollywood. You might then expect the 24-year-old to have a steady lineup of dystopian young-adult adaptations or house-party comedies in the pipeline. But his latest is in a different direction entirely: industry veteran James Schamus' Philip Roth adaptation, "Indignation." The role, Lerman says, is exactly the kind of material he's attracted to, and he doesn't mind turning down more cookie-cutter (and lucrative) parts in order to find his own path. "Let the other actors take the bad roles," he joked in a recent interview, only using a different word for "bad." ''I'm trying to figure out who I am through the choices I make. I don't know myself well enough. I'm still trying to figure out what person I want to be." Logan Lerman poses for a portrait on Tuesday, July 26, 2016, to promote his film, "Indignation," in New York. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Invision/AP) In "Indignation," which opens Friday, Lerman stars as Marcus Messner, the only son of a Jewish butcher in Newark, New Jersey. While the Korean War is raging, he goes to a Christian college in Ohio, where his rigid principles are challenged by a forward but fragile young woman (Sarah Gadon) and a rigid and judgmental dean (Tracy Letts). The directorial debut of Schamus (the longtime writing and producing partner of Ang Lee and the former head of Focus Features), "Indignation" is a revelation of the maturing talent of Lerman. His performance is subtle and smart, but also with the kind of confident charisma that can make stars out of young actors. In the film's lengthy 20-minute centerpiece, he volleys back and forth with Letts, holding his own with the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and veteran stage actor. "It was terrifying, but I like that. I mean, I didn't enjoy myself. But I wanted the challenge. I want to be the guy who can take the responsibility to try to tackle difficult obstacles," says Lerman. "When we got to set it was like two boxers getting ready for the fight. I had trained and been focused and brought a lot of caffeine." And he won the admiration of Letts. "One of the great joys for me was Logan. He was a complete unknown to me," says Letts. "He's so good in the role and so smart and so prepared. He's the real deal. I left very impressed with Logan Lerman." Lerman, a Los Angeles native, made his feature film debut at the age of 8 in 2000's "The Patriot." Child actor roles continued to mount up: playing a young version of Mel Gibson and a child Ashton Kutcher; playing the son of Christian Bale ("3:10 to Yuma") and of Russell Crowe ("Noah"). The biggest hint to Lerman's ability came in Stephen Chbosky's adaption of his own novel, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," a tender coming-of-age tale. His leading breakthrough was playing Percy Jackson in the demigod franchise, but the more crucial turning point may have been the rewarding experience of co-starring in David Ayer's World War II tank drama "Fury." "After 'Fury' he just said, 'Look, I'm not going to do anything unless I want to do it.' He gets these offers every five minutes for more money than god," says Schamus. "What can I say? He showed up off-book, lines memorized, ready to work and he can mano-a-mano with Tracy Letts." Lerman is also, for the first time, a producer of the film. He calls it a "glorified credit" but acknowledges a deeper involvement in the process is important to him. "That's the only way I work now," says Lerman, who's also producing one of his next films, "Sidney Hall," a drama about a young novelist overwhelmed by sensation success. "I just want to find films that I like and help them get into production and do whatever I can to make it happen." And in that pursuit, Schamus long synonymous with intelligent adult dramas has been an inspiration. "It's a privilege to spend a minute with him, let alone hours and days. He's a wonderful mentor," says Lerman. "My relationship with James goes very deep into the fabric of who I am, in a way. He's responsible for why I'm here right now making movies. The films that he championed and made and distributed the people he took chances on and the films he's been a part of are the reason I'm interested in film." ___ Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP Actor Logan Lerman poses for a portrait to promote his latest film, "Indignation," on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 in New York. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Invision/AP) Logan Lerman poses for a portrait on Tuesday, July 26, 2016, to promote his film, "Indignation," in New York. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Invision/AP) Actor Logan Lerman poses for a portrait on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 in New York. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Invision/AP) Logan Lerman poses for a portrait on Tuesday, July 26, 2016, to promote his film, "Indignation," in New York. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Invision/AP) Actor Logan Lerman poses for a portrait to promote his latest film, "Indignation," on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 in New York. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Invision/AP) Rare mass killing raises questions about security in Japan TOKYO (AP) The killing of 19 people at a home for the mentally disabled raised questions about whether Japan's reputation as one of the safest countries in the world is creating a false sense of security. The deadliest mass killing in Japan in the post-World War II era unfolded early Tuesday in Sagamihara, a city about 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of central Tokyo, when authorities say a former employee broke into the facility and stabbed more than 40 people before calmly turning himself in to police. The suspect, identified as 26-year-old Satoshi Uematsu, had worked at the facility from 2014 until February, when he was let go. He wrote to Parliament outlining the bloody plan and saying all disabled should be put to death. Police officers stand guard at a crossroad near the Tsukui Yamayuri-en, a facility for the mentally disabled where a number of people were killed and dozens injured in a knife attack in Sagamihara, outside of Tokyo, Japan, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. A young Japanese man went on a stabbing rampage Tuesday at the facility where he had been fired, officials said, killing many people months after he gave a letter to Parliament outlining the bloody plan and saying all disabled people should be put to death. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) While not immune to violent crime, Japan has a relatively low homicide rate of well under one per 100,000 people. Mass killings usually are seen half a world away on the nightly news, although seven Japanese were among the dead in a recent hostage-taking in Bangladesh that targeted non-Muslims. Because such massacres are rare, Japan has become overconfident about its safety, a Japanese criminologist said. For crime prevention, the country relies on its social system in which a group mentality sacrifices individual freedom for collective safety, said Nobuo Komiya, a criminology professor at Rissho University in Tokyo. As a result, it has neglected risk management, he said. "Japan has put an emphasis on not creating criminals, but it is reaching a breaking point," Komiya said. "Like in foreign countries, I think institutions need to develop a plan in operational management and prepare for a worst-case scenario, given that criminals are inevitably born." Mass killings have happened in Japan from time to time. In 2001, a man with a history of mental illness killed eight children in a knife attack at an elementary school in Osaka. The attack prompted increased security measures for schools. In 2008, a man rammed a rented two-ton truck into a crowd of shoppers at a busy Tokyo intersection, then jumped out and began stabbing people, killing seven. Japan has very strict gun laws that might lessen violent crime, but they can't stamp it out. TV news regularly reports on murders a jilted lover, an adult son angry at his parents and the most common weapon is a kitchen knife. A Justice Ministry study in 2013 found that knives were used in slightly more than half the murder cases in a given year, with kitchen knives accounting for more than a third of all cases. National Police Agency statistics show there have been fewer than 10 shooting deaths annually in Japan in recent years, a number that dropped to just one case in 2015. The comfort level is high enough in Japan that it is common practice for first-grade students to go to and from school on their own, after parents accompany them for the first month or so, even in a major city such as Tokyo. Children are kidnapped from time to time. Another factor contributing to Japan's sense of safety, Komiya said, is the fact that the island country has never been invaded. Tuesday's attack prompted at least two major newspapers to publish "extra" editions that were handed out at train stations as details emerged. All 19 dead were among the approximately 150 residents or short-term residents at the Tsukui Yamayuri-en home for the mentally disabled. Of the nine workers who were at the facility, two were injured but none died, Kanagawa Prefecture official Tatsuhisa Hirosue said. The attack shocked neighbors, many of whom said they had a good relationship with both the staff and the residents of the home in the hilly, semi-rural community in Sagamihara. Reiko Kishi, an 80-year-old neighbor who worked at the home for more than 30 years, said he was awakened by the sirens of ambulances and other emergency vehicles coming one after another in the middle of the night. "Such a crime is unheard of in this slow and peaceful suburban neighborhood," she said. "I will be more careful about locking the door and windows, at least on the first floor." It's a lesson that perhaps more of Japan will heed. Takeshi Koyanagi, a professor at the International Victimology Institute at Tokiwa University in Mito, warned of possible copycat attacks. ___ Associated Press reporter Mari Yamaguchi in Sagamihara, Japan, contributed to this story. A police car patrols at night in front of the Tsukui Yamayuri-en, a facility for the mentally disables where a number of people were killed and dozens injured in a knife attack in Sagamihara, outside Tokyo Tuesday, July 26, 2016. A young Japanese man went on a stabbing rampage Tuesday at the facility where he had been fired, officials said, killing 19 people months after he gave a letter to Parliament outlining the bloody plan and saying all disabled people should be put to death. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) A hearse leaves the Tsukui Yamayuri-en, a facility for the mentally disabled where a number of people were killed and dozens injured in a knife attack Tuesday, July 26, 2016, in Sagamihara, outside Tokyo. A young Japanese man went on a stabbing rampage early Tuesday at the facility where he had been fired, officials said, killing many people months after he gave a letter to Parliament outlining the bloody plan and saying all disabled people should be put to death. (Kazushige Fujikake/Kyodo News via AP) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT Police investigators check the Tsukui Yamayuri-en, a facility for the mentally disabled where a number of people were killed and dozens injured in a knife attack in Sagamihara, outside Tokyo Tuesday, July 26, 2016. A young Japanese man went on a stabbing rampage Tuesday at the facility where he had been fired, officials said, killing many people months after he gave a letter to Parliament outlining the bloody plan and saying all disabled people should be put to death. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) Pope to find a Catholic Poland out of step with his vision KRAKOW, Poland (AP) When Pope Francis arrives in Poland this week for World Youth Day, he will meet a nation still deeply committed to its conservative Catholic traditions and to the memory of St. John Paul II, who inspired this country's successful struggle against communism in the 1980s. But Francis will also find a nation under international censure for backtracking on some of its democratic gains, and a clergy deeply entwined with a ruling right-wing party that analysts say is out of sync with his philosophy of humility and mercy. "The (Polish) Church is a bit uneasy about this visit," said philosopher of religion, Zbigniew Mikolejko. "On one hand it would like to use the visit to strengthen its importance. On the other hand it is anxious because Francis' attitude is radically different from that of the Polish Church leaders, who want to have authority over the people's conscience and to have real power." FILE -- In this April 16, 2016 file photo, Pope Francis shows a drawings made by children on his flight back to Rome following a visit to the Greek island of Lesbos. The pontiffs advocacy for refugee rights faces a diplomatic test Wednesday when he begins a five-day visit to Poland, where a populist government has slammed the door on most asylum seekers. (Filippo Monteforte/Pool Photo via AP) Francis will find himself even more at odds with the nation's political leaders, who have shut the doors to refugees from the Middle East and Africa, arguing they need to ensure Poland's security. Ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, though Catholic, warned last year that migrants arriving in Europe are a danger because they carry "parasites and protozoa." Messages like those mark a stark contrast to appeals by Francis for Europeans to welcome people fleeing war in the Middle East. The government is also at odds with Francis on climate change, bowing to Poland's powerful coalmining lobby. On the other hand, it has taken steps to help families and the poor, aligning with Francis' priorities in that area. The attitude of Poland's church, with a focus on doctrine, its attempts to fight Western secular values and its support for the ruling party's polices, has repelled some of the faithful. "We think that only we, in the lay, pagan Europe have preserved a vibrant Christianity," Father Leon Wisniewski, a Dominican Friar, recently wrote in an article critical of the Polish church in the progressive Catholic weekly Tygodnik Powszechny. Francis is coming to the heart of this faith, to Krakow, in southern Poland, where the Rev. Karol Wojtyla served as priest and bishop before becoming John Paul II. Through Sunday, Francis will be holding meetings with hundreds of thousands of young people as they celebrate World Youth Day, an event launched by John Paul. But Francis may not be able to avoid the issues of Poland's political and church life: his very first meetings after arrival Wednesday at Krakow's John Paul II airport are with Poland's President Andrzej Duda and with the bishops, at the historic royal Wawel Castle and at the Wawel Cathedral, which holds relics of St. John Paul II. Poland' Catholic Church recently celebrated 1,050 years of Christianity in Poland, marked by the baptism of a medieval king, a crucial religious and political event that tied the nation to Rome and to Latin, Western culture. Over 90 percent in this nation of 38 million declare themselves as Catholic, though not all are regular churchgoers. The Church enjoys a special position because of the key role that it played in preserving the nation's identity and culture during almost two centuries of partitions, two world wars and through decades of oppressive communist rule, when there was no independent political power in Poland. Under these circumstances, many Poles equate being Polish with being Catholic, which can have troubling implications for ethnic and religious minorities in the country. "Linking Catholicism to being Polish is an obstacle that prevents us from taking a respected place among the European nations which are pluralistic," Wisniewski wrote in Tygodnik Powszechny. Poland's traditional attachment to the Church and to religion is something that Francis is well aware of. "You are a nation that throughout its history has experienced so many trials, some particularly difficult, and has persevered through the power of faith, upheld by the maternal hands of the Virgin Mary," the pontiff said in a televised message to Poles last week. "I am certain that my pilgrimage to the shrine of Czestochowa (on Thursday) will immerse me in this proven faith and do me so much good." In a vivid sign of the nation's attachment to the Church, Poland's leading adventurer and explorer, Marek Kaminski, will scale one of the highest peaks in Poland's Tatra Mountains, Giewont, with stone slates bearing the Ten Commandments and will unfurl the World Youth Day's flag as Francis flies overhead into Poland on Wednesday. Poland's Catholic Church has long been a player in Poland's political life but this status grew in last year's presidential and general elections, when it encouraged the faithful to support Poland's traditional Catholic values, against European liberalism. That contributed to the victory of the pro-Church Law and Justice party, whose members declare attachment to Catholicism and listen to the bishops in their social policy. In recent months, Prime Minister Beata Szydlo has praised a civic initiative aimed at a total ban on abortion and has introduced bonuses to encourage couples into having many children. In his recent message to Poland, Francis praised its pro-family policy. But the government also turns a blind eye to church services being offered to far-right nationalist organizations, whose motto often is: "God, Honor, Motherland." "Many bishops have become ideologues of the ruling party," Mikolejko, a professor at Poland's Academy of Sciences, told The Associated Press. But that will herald trouble for the Church when the party eventually loses power, he said. The Church also risks being drawn into the government's conflict with its opponents in Poland and with some Western leaders and institutions over the Constitutional Tribunal, a top court recently paralyzed by the ruling party's efforts to gain control of it. Some Western leaders have said that Poland's rule of law is threatened and the European Commission has opened scrutiny procedures, while tens of thousands of Poles have marched against the government's policy. "To many Poles the Church is no longer a spiritual leader, though years ago, under communism, it was the mainstay of truth and justice," Wisniewski wrote in the Catholic weekly. FILE -- In this file photo taken on May 28 2016, Pope Francis holds a life jacket vest of Syrian girl who died while trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos, which was donated to him by a migrants' rescuer, during a meeting with some 400 children coming by train from the region of Calabria, at the Vatican. The pontiffs advocacy for refugee rights faces a diplomatic test Wednesday when he begins a five-day visit to Poland, where a populist government has slammed the door on most asylum seekers. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, Pool) 3 convicted in string of jewelry store heists across South PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) Three Georgia men face up to life in prison after being found guilty following a federal trial in the Florida Panhandle on conspiracy charges connected to six jewelry store robberies across the southeastern United States. Jurors took about four hours Monday to convict 36-year-old Lewis Jones III, 44-year-old Larry Gilmore and 47-year-old Michael Gilmore. The News Herald (http://bit.ly/2ascNKD ) reports three Atlanta men were charged in the case after 25-year-old Abigail Kemp was arrested and told investigators she was recruited and trained to carry out robberies. She also claimed the three men sold more than $4 million in jewels to a buyer in Miami. Kemp pleaded guilty to the same charges and faces a life sentence. A hearing is scheduled Oct. 10. The robberies took place in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. ___ Frank Buddy McCutcheon's (pictured) wife found him dead on the couch in his Arden home A North Carolina plastic surgeon found shot dead on his couch had been under investigation for embezzlement - along with his wife who co-owned his practice. Frank Buddy McCutcheon's wife found him dead on the couch in his Arden home on July 16 with a gunshot wound to the head, authorities say. The 64-year-old Buncombe County doctor and his wife Brenda were under investigation for embezzlement and obtaining property by false pretense when he was found dead, The Citizen-Times of Asheville reports. The state Department of Revenue had asked for payroll records and income tax returns from the couple five days before McCutcheon's death, court records and search warrants show. The couple owned and ran the Cosmetic Surgery of Asheville, which has closed since McCutcheons death. According to the practices website, McCutcheon had been performing cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery for more than 30 years. Deputies from Buncombe County Sheriffs Office responded to the McCutcheons home on Tree Top Drive at around 3.30am on July 16. Brenda McCutcheon told 911 dispatchers that someone had broken into their home and shot her husband in their first-floor TV room, the Citizen-Times reported. She told deputies that her husband occasionally slept on the couch with the back door unlocked. The warrants cite a possible murder investigation, but no charges have been filed. The warrants also say a gun thought to be owned by the couple was found in ivy between McCutcheon's home and his neighbor's house. The back door near his body was open. Detectives interviewed the wife and she denied shooting her husband or placing the firearm outside, according to the warrants. Deputies from Buncombe County Sheriffs Office responded to the McCutcheons home on Tree Top Drive (above) at around 3.30am on July 16 The 64-year-old Buncombe County doctor and his wife Brenda, who owned and ran the Cosmetic Surgery of Asheville (above) were under investigation for embezzlement and obtaining property by false pretense They took a sample of Brendas DNA and the clothes she was wearing that night. Authorities searched the house and seized various weapons, including two pistols, a rifle and ammunition. They also took a computer, cell phones, hard drives, documents, rubber gloves, trash, bedding and clothes, according to the Citizen-Times. Investigators also served warrants to search the couples medical practice and two storage units. Officer who left son in hot car won't be charged in death ROME, N.Y. (AP) A New York police officer who left his baby son inside a hot vehicle for hours won't face charges in the boy's death. The Oneida County district attorney's office says Rome police officer Mark Fanfarillo's actions do not reach the threshold required for criminal liability. Prosecutors say an investigation found that the father forgot to drop off 4-month-old Michael at day care and mistakenly left him in the car all day in early June. Outside temperatures were around 80 degrees. Michael died of hyperthermia. Bulgaria insists Russian flights violate international rules SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) Bulgaria on Tuesday insisted that Russian aircraft had violated international rules while flying over the Black Sea. The Bulgarian Ministry of Defense said Russian aircraft turned off their transponders communication devices that allow an airplane to be located and flew without previously announced flight schedules. Bulgaria, a NATO member, was reacting to a statement on Monday by a spokesman for Russia's Defense Ministry who denied any such violations. He said Russian aircraft followed international rules and always kept their transponders on. The exchange of accusations started on Sunday, when Bulgarian Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev said in an interview with private Nova TV that there had been a rise in violations of Bulgarian airspace by Russian military and commercial aircraft. Nenchev said Russian military aircraft had violated "Bulgaria's area of responsibility" in NATO airspace four times in the past month. "It is very worrying, so we have to take preventive measures" scrambling Bulgarian fighter jets, he said. Nenchev said Bulgaria had demanded an explanation from Moscow, which has insisted it has not received any official inquiries. Officials name 4 Chinese nationals killed in Arizona crash KINGMAN, Ariz. (AP) Authorities have released the names of four Chinese nationals who died when their van collided with a Dallas Cowboys staff bus along a northwestern Arizona highway. Arizona Department of Public Safety officials said Wednesday that the four were from the Guangdong province of China but couldn't immediately provide the cities where they lived. They say 52-year-old Guang Xiang Li was the male driver of the van, while the female passengers were 52-year-old Suiqing Ou, 52-year-old Sangqin Bi and 19-year-old Yuetong Li. The wreckage of a van that collided with a Dallas Cowboys bus is seen near Kingman, Ariz., Sunday, July 24, 2016. Authorities said multiple people in the van died but nobody on the bus was seriously injured. (Barry White/KTNV via The AP) The DPS says they're related, but their relationships weren't immediately clear. Authorities say the van failed to yield the right of way at a stop sign Sunday and the bus broadsided it. Residents: Oil militants attack Lagos suburb, battle police LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) Residents say a boatload of armed oil militants attacked an outlying suburb of Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, looting and firing into the air as people fled. They said police and soldiers responded, using drones to track the attackers while a helicopter hovered overhead. A gunbattle ensued. The official News Agency of Nigeria quoted police Superintendent Dolapo Badmos as saying gunmen invaded the Igando neighborhood but police "swiftly moved in and foiled the attack." Residents said at least two police officers were wounded. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. It was the second such attack this month in Lagos. Officials say the temperature inside the car was an estimated 140 degrees He was discovered hours later, taken to hospital but died that day Montana Rain Jackson, 19, has been charged with one count of child neglect with great bodily harm after the toddler died in a parked car on Friday A Florida woman has been arrested after her three-year-old nephew died when he spent three hours in a boiling hot car. Montana Rain Jackson, 19, has been charged with one count of child neglect with great bodily harm after the toddler died in a parked car on Friday. Surveillance footage from a neighbor's home shows the young boy wandering into the driveway of the home in Navarre, Pensacola, Florida and climbing into the vehicle, Pensacola News Journal reports. The child was only discovered three hours later and rushed to hospital where he was placed on a ventilator. Sadly, but died a few hours later on Friday. Officials say the temperature on the day was about 94 degrees meaning that the temperature inside the car would have been around 140 degrees. Santa Rosa Sheriff's officials said that Jackson, who is the boy's aunt and regular babysitter, had been caring for the child, who has not been named. Police said that a man who shares a home with the suspect, says that she looks after the child but 'does not care for (the victim) the same way she does her own children.' The child was 'always put second,' they added. Jackson may also face charges of aggravated manslaughter over the death. 'We have to establish there was gross negligence,' said State Attorney Bill Eddins. 'That is worse than carelessness, and worse than simple negligence.' Chief Deputy Bob Johnson said the incident is a tragic reminder of what can happen if children are not watched properly. 'A lot of people will underestimate the capabilities of a small child but kids can get in and out of doors by the time they're three and up and waking. You'd be surprised what they can do,' he told WeAreTV. 'Obviously when you have a child even if it's not your child but your tasked with taking care of this child; what can be more important than that. A cell phone or a computer? Of course not,' Johnson said. The man who shares the home with Jackson said he had been sleeping while she took care of the toddler but recalls her sleeping next to him at one point. Yesterday, police identified a two-year-old boy who died after being left in a hot vehicle by his family as they attended church in Dallas (pictured) Reng Om, pictured, who was described the scene and said the boy 'was very looked like bad' Between 1998 and 2015, around 660 children have died in hots cars in the US, according to data from the San Jose State University Department of Meteorology and Climate Science. About half the cases resulted in criminal charges. Yesterday, police identified a two-year-old boy who died after being left in a hot vehicle by his family as they attended church in Dallas. Boi Lei Sang died on Sunday after officers responded on Sunday afternoon to a report of a child left in a vehicle, authorities said. The toddler was taken to Baylor Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Boi's parents only realized he was not with them when their four older children emerged from the Bible study kids' room at Rehoboth Praise Assembly in White Rock and realized he was not there. The child's father ran out to the family's SUV and then returned to the church carrying the child's body. Reng Om, who was in the congregation, told CBS DFW : 'He was very looked like bad. He was grabbing his kid, and the kid would not move, and (saying), 'I need somebody help, call the police The National Weather Service says the high in Dallas on Sunday hit 100 degrees. FOX4 reported that the boy had been in the car for 45 minutes and that temperatures in the area were 100 degrees. Many factors make France the top IS terror target in Europe PARIS (AP) When militants loyal to the Islamic State group seek to inflict pain on Europe, France is their preferred target, a grim reality borne out yet again with Tuesday's knife slaughter of a Catholic priest. Since January 2015, IS-inspired attackers have killed at least 235 people in France, by far the largest casualty rate of any Western country. French citizens or French-speaking residents have committed the overwhelming majority of strikes, often employing suicide tactics alongside command of their home surroundings. President Francois Hollande argues that France is their top enemy on the continent because of his homeland's reputation as a cradle of human rights and democracy. FILE - This Wednesday, July 20, 2016 file picture shows soldiers patrolling the famed Promenade des Anglais in Nice, southern France. Since January 2015, IS-inspired attackers have killed at least 235 people in France, by far the largest casualty rate of any Western country. (AP Photo/Claude Paris, File) "If terrorists strike us, it is because they know what France represents," Hollande said after this month's Bastille Day truck attack that killed 84 people on Nice's crowded waterfront. Analysts agree that Islamic State propagandists particularly target France as a land anchored in secular values, liberal freedoms and life's pleasures. But its colonial history, demographic tensions and interventionist policies against militant Muslims abroad point to deeper reasons why anti-Western killers seek so ruthlessly to bring grief to France's door. France has the largest population of Muslims in Europe, more than 5 million in a nation of 66 million, a legacy of its colonial domination of large swathes of Africa and the Middle East. Most have grown up speaking French alongside Arabic and are disproportionately represented in France's poorest, most alienated districts. French soldiers and special forces remain committed today in predominantly Muslim corners of former overseas possessions, fighting IS-linked extremists in Africa and fueling calls for retaliation on French soil. French air power is strengthening the nearly 2-year-old coalition offensive against suspected IS targets in Iraq and Syria, too. France's exceptional public focus on promoting integration into a secular society has fueled chronic tension with its Muslim minority, exemplified by a 2010 ban on wearing face-covering veils and a 2004 ban on Islamic headscarves in the classroom. "France's model of integration is generous in its principles but too rigid in its practice," Farhad Khosrokhavar, a sociologist who is an expert on the Muslim experience in French life, wrote in an analysis for The New York Times. "Although France has managed to integrate many immigrants and their descendants, those it has left on the sidelines are more embittered than their British or German peers, and many feel insulted in their Muslim or Arab identity," he wrote, noting that alienation can run particularly deep among those from France's nearest Muslim neighbors: Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria across the Mediterranean Sea. France has suffered terrorism incubated in Algeria since the late 1950s as the French fought an ultimately doomed war to retain their major North African possession. France withdrew from Morocco in 1955, Tunisia in 1956 and Algeria in 1962. But just as in West Africa, where French finance and military might continue to shore up friendly governments, France has never fully withdrawn its influence, maintaining a far more hands-on role than the British do in their former empire. In the mid-1990s, the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria which decapitated citizens and slaughtered foreigners on home soil as it sought to overthrow a French-backed government mobilized supporters in France to commit train bombings and other violence that claimed more than 20 lives. The French military footprint in former African colonies threatened by Islamic extremists has grown markedly under Hollande. French forces intervened in Mali in 2013 and today are present through much of West Africa. It's no surprise, analysts say, that the majority of today's attackers in France have family ties to North and West Africa, not the Middle East. Sons and daughters of these African immigrants now seek to answer the Islamic State recruitment call at rates unseen in other European nations. An estimated 1,000 French citizens and residents mostly of African Muslim background have traveled to Syria, or been caught trying, to join IS forces ever since the nation another former French possession started to unravel five years ago. The French recruiting influence in the IS power base of Raqqa reflects the common languages spoken there, Arabic and French. This, in turn, spurs the production of slick Francophone propaganda tailored specifically to insult and intimidate French eyes and ears. IS has directly threatened France, using native French speakers, in nine communiques over the past three months. One video released this month features an a cappella song in French titled "My Vengeance" alongside footage of November's attacks on Paris nightspots that killed 130 people. Its lyrics advise France-based followers to "shed the blood of the pigs ... destroy their souls. Make France quake." France's response to the Nice carnage was to call up several thousand police and army reservists to join more than 100,000 security personnel already patrolling the streets and borders. Hollande also pledged to send more military advisers and artillery for the U.S.-led fight against IS in Iraq and Syria. Some analysts doubt whether France's military commitments play the critical role in spurring resident Muslims to answer the Islamic State call. They say France's fundamental challenge is that it hosts the greatest concentration of marginalized Muslims on the continent, many of whom view their adopted homeland as sinful and disrespectful toward Islamic traditions. "Whether the guy who rented a truck in Nice was frightfully interested that Raqqa is being bombed, I don't know," said Francois Heisbourg, an analyst at a French think tank called the Foundation for Strategic Research. He said targeting French population centers using homegrown militants offered the opportunity for "surefire results" against a land that represents, in the eyes of IS leaders, "a target of unbelief, of heresy, of apostasy." FILE - This Friday, July 15, 2016 file photo shows soldiers on patrol around the Louvre museum in Paris, France. Since January 2015, IS-inspired attackers have killed at least 235 people in France, by far the largest casualty rate of any Western country. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File) In this grab made from video, French President Francois Hollande shakes hands with police and security services personnel after arriving at the scene of the hostage situation in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers took hostages inside a French church during morning Mass on Tuesday near the city of Rouen, killing an 86-year-old priest by slitting his throat before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. (France Pool via AP) Police officers conduct a search in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, following an attack on a church that left a priest dead, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) Hooded Police officers conduct a search in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, France, following an attack on a church that left a priest dead, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) No typical salmon run: Fish spills across Alaska highway JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) Alaskans are always excited by salmon runs, unless it's across a highway. A truck carrying salmon to a cannery in Alaska's capital city rolled Monday, spilling fish across most of the highway's lanes and backing up traffic for an hour and a half. Juneau Police Chief Bryce Johnson responded with other officers and confirmed the fish left a stinky smell. Chum salmon, shown here, fill a bin on the median of a busy highway as authorities worked to clean up after a transport truck carrying the fish rolled on Monday, July 25, 2016, in Juneau, Alaska. The truck carrying chum salmon to a cannery in Alaska's capital city rolled Monday afternoon, spilling the fish across the roadway and backing up traffic. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer) Police Lt. David Campbell says the number of fish spilled wasn't known, but workers who looked like fishermen in slickers cleaned salmon off Egan Highway. The fish was destined to one of the canneries in Juneau. Campbell says he didn't know if those doing the cleanup were from the cannery or the transport company. The driver had minor injuries, but he wasn't taken to the hospital. Bins, including this one filled with chum salmon, dott the median along a busy highway as authorities worked to clean up after a transport truck carrying the fish overturned on Monday, July 25, 2016, in Juneau, Alaska. A transport truck carrying chum salmon to a cannery in Alaska's capital city rolled Monday afternoon, spilling the fish across three of the highway's four lanes and backing up traffic for about 90 minutes. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer) Bodega Don Olegario Per the Don Olegario website: Pale, straw-yellow color, apricot and peach fruits on the nose with hints of honeysuckle and lively, light but round texture on the palate, balanced by good acidity are the characteristics that make Albarino wines completely different from other varieties. (Submitted /Kobrand Corporation) Albarino is one of the grapes that keeps getting mentioned when owners of regional wineries start talking about new grapes they're planting in their vineyard. One of Spain's primary grapes, Albarino has already built a following at Maryland wineries such as Black Ankle, Old Westminster, Royal Rabbit, Boordy and Serpent Ridge. Pennsylvania wineries are a couple years behind Maryland in experimenting with the grape, but you can find it growing at southcentral locales such as Mt. Joy (home of The Vineyard at Grandview) and Brogue (where Allegro Winery is located). No doubt more wineries on both sides of the Mason-Dixon will consider planting the green-skinned grape variety over the next couple years. Its appearance on the blog this week comes a few days ahead of an international Albarino celebration that used to be held on a single day but, courtesy of the TAPAS (Tempranillo Advocates Producers and Amigos Society) organization, has decided to extend it to a full week of celebration, Aug. 3-8. The hashtag for the six-day part will be #AlbarinoFiesta. Albarino, pronounced "Alvarinho," is a light, elegant varietal with great acidity. The grapes are beautifully aromatic, with white pear, apple and floral undertones. It is late ripening grape that grows in moderately cool to warm climates, including the Rias Baixas wine region in Galicia, Spain. One of those producers with headquarters in Rias Baxais is Bodega Don Olegario, which has been featured before in this spot. Its Albarino ($19.99) is medium-bodied and shows opulent, powerful aromas and flavors of citrus and flowers, with tropical notes. The grapes are produced at 95 meters elevation on a 12.4-acre vineyard with 30-year-old vines in sandy and granite soils, according to a release from Kobrand Corporation in New York City. The grapes are hand harvested and undergo a cold maceration before fermentation in stainless steel vats at controlled temperatures. The wine ages eight months in stainless steel vats on the lees before filtering and bottling. Here's more on the wine from the PR agency: "With the versatility to pair with a wide range of dishes, Albarino is the perfect match. The classic pairing is with various seafood (due to the its origin), however Albarino can stand up to unexpected international fare. Albarino's crisp, clean flavors compliment sushi perfectly, which is commonly known to be difficult to pair with wine. The Don Olegario Albarino will also pair nicely with spicy and flavorful cuisines like Indian and Thai dishes, which usually overpower other wines. Other successful pairings include soft cheeses and poultry dishes." The review of the wine ahead of last year's National Albarino Day was complemented by an interview with Maria Falcon, Managing Director of Bodega Don Olegario. Kobrand Corp. PR manager Jennica Ossi assisted with the handoff. While you can find the full story at the link above, here are answers to three of the questions posed to Falcon. Q, I assume the grape is fairly easy to grow there, since it is your predominant grape. What are the problems that can crop up with it? A, The Albarino grape represents the 95% of the vineyards in Rias Baixas Appellation but that doesn't mean it's an easy to grow grape variety. The Albarino is a delicate grape variety and it requires a lot of attention. This region of Spain has a very wet climate, typically Atlantic with warm temperatures and dry summers, the perfect conditions for the development of the fungal diseases. The pergola system, widely used in the Salnes Valley, where our vineyard is located, is perfect in order to minimize the negative effects of the fungal diseases like mildew, oidium and botrytis. Q, I saw it's late-ripening, so when is it normally harvested and what does letting the grape hang later than most whites allow it to do? A, The harvest takes place approximately at the end of September. In other parts of Spain, the harvest starts weeks before than in Rias Baixas, the main reasons that explain this are the cool and damp climate, and the great influence of the Atlantic Ocean. The Salnes Valley, our producing area in Rias Baixas Appellation, is very close to the coast, just 2 kilometres far away from the ocean. All these factors contribute to delay the harvest time despite having very warm temperatures in the summer. Q, Are the styles of Albarino increasing and, if so, how? A, The wines produced in the different production zones of Rias Baixas have different styles. In the zones located in the south of the province, Condado do Tea and O Rosal, the wines are a blend of Albarino grapes and other indigenous grape varieties like White Loureiro, Caino and Treixadura. In the Salnes Valley, we produce varietal wines made exclusively from Albarino grapes. Our Albarino Don Olegario, produced in the Salnes Valley, is more intense, has remarkable acidity, is very aromatic, mineral, and shows certain salinity. In recent times, the wineries are producing more than just young Rias Baixas wines experimenting with aged wines, late harvest or sparkling wines. As mentioned above, the mid-Atlantic is warming to the potential of Albarino because of its acidity and taste. It's becoming one of the region's more approachable dry white wines, although some complain about its stubbornness in the vineyard. The story at this link, written about a year ago, summarized the feels of several winery owners and grape growers about the potential of Albarino and Gruner Veltliner. Drew Baker, one of the principals of Old Westminster in Westminster, Md., has been an advocate for the grape since the winery opened several years ago. He wa more than happy to offer his thoughts recently in an email. "Here's why we love Albarino: Albarino is an aromatic white-wine variety native to Spain. What is it doing here? Its grapes are most famously grown in Galacia -- a wet, temperate region heavily influenced by the Atlantic ocean. Sound familiar? They are suited to our sometimes rainy growing season and humid conditions here in the mid-Atlantic. The grapes have thick skins which contribute to its noteworthy acidity and ward off fungal disease. The resulting wines are bright, fresh and delicious; the perfect pairing for just about any Chesapeake-inspired cuisine... We even use this variety to produce a pet-nat sparkling wine!" Here's what on the horizon in regional wine in 2016 Roy Albin, who runs Royal Rabbit Vineyards in Parkton, Md., said he became interested in Albarino around 2003-04 as he was beginning to pick the varieties for his new vineyard. "There was real interest in the grape in the industry," he wrote in an email. "UC-Davis force-propagated a large number of plants and allowed vineyards around the country to request small amounts for test purposes. I tried some of the wine, liked it and requested plants. Several of the things that appeal to me about the variety from a growing perspective were that it has relatively thick skin and even though the clusters are tight it does not seem as susceptible to infection as other European Varieties. The other thing that interested me in Albarino is the area of Spain that it comes from (the north west corner above Portugal) is supposed to get as much or more rain than we do." While he really liked the wine, Albin noted that the yield has been an issue because the clusters are so small. Still, he said, he has continued to plant more Albarino vines and maintain his commitment, with plans to start making changes in how he prunes the vines in order to increase the yield. Albin: "In my experience Albarino has good acidity and is more aromatic than Chardonnay. It is capable of good complexity without being herbal/ herbaceous like a Sauvignon Blanc. Its flavor profile can be close to that of Viognier and some Maryland wineries (including Royal Rabbit) are blending small amounts of these 2 wines into each other to achieve balance and complexity. I have also used Albarino in small amounts (1-3%) in Chardonnay to give more aromatics and bring out more complexity in a Chardonnay as an alternative to oak. Knowing that In my experience Albarino is more aromatic than Chardonnay and capable of good complexity. Viognier is sometimes used in small amounts some of the Northern Rhone Reds, in the 2014 vintage I did bench trials where I blended a fraction of a percent of Albarino and Viognier into a couple reds. I ultimately went with the Albarino in one of the reds because it gave a slight lift and freshness to the wine without amplifying the herbal nature of the wine." Juventus signs Argentina striker Higuain from Napoli TURIN, Italy (AP) Italian champion Juventus says it has signed Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain from Serie A rival Napoli for 90 million euros ($99 million). Juventus said in a statement Tuesday that the 28-year-old Higuain has signed a five-year contract with the Turin club and that the transfer fee would be paid over a two-year period. Higuain joined Napoli from Real Madrid in 2013 and went on to score 71 goals in 104 matches in Serie A for the southern club. Prosecutors: Roof headed to Tennessee after church shootings CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) The man charged with killing nine people at a Charleston church used the internet to scope out Emanuel AME and other historically black churches, and was trying to get away to Nashville, Tennessee, when he was arrested, federal prosecutors say. The new details are included in filings in which prosecutors outline how the charges against Dylann Roof involve interstate commerce. The defense wants the charges tossed, saying the shootings had no relation to interstate commerce as required under federal law to charge hate crimes. Roof faces 33 federal counts, including hate crimes, in the shooting deaths of nine black parishioners during a Bible study. His death penalty trial is set to begin in November. In the filings, prosecutors note Roof drove on an interstate highway to Charleston and had a GPS set for Nashville when arrested in North Carolina the day after the shootings on June 17, 2015. "Defendant used the internet in planning and committing the offense," prosecutors said in the filing late Monday. "Defendant used the internet to research historically black churches, including Emanuel AME Church and other potential targets for his attack." The filings also noted a phone call was made from Roof's home to the church in February of 2015, about four months before the massacre. Roof also used the internet to post a manifesto on a website owned by a Russian hosting company. Roof made payments to that company through debits from his bank account four times in 2015 the last payment only a day before the shootings, prosecutors said. The payments involved transactions crossing state and international boundaries. Authorities said Roof posed with the Confederate battle flag in online photos and talked of trying to start a race war. The Glock handgun, the gun magazines and the nearly 80 rounds of Winchester .45 caliber ammunition that were used in the shootings were produced outside South Carolina and had been shipped in interstate commerce, the filing said. It also noted Emanuel AME is involved in interstate commerce because it is part of a national organization and that people from around the nation, including President Barack Obama, traveled to South Carolina for memorial services after the shootings. Suspect in student's killing was convicted of similar attack TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) The circumstances, separated by 26 years, are chilling: Two women are attacked while bicycling alone down lonely Ohio country roads on warm July days. The first fought off her attacker on Independence Day in 1990 after he knocked her from the bike with his truck, pulled her inside the cab and handcuffed her. The second, a 20-year-old college student, never made it home from her ride last week. Authorities found Sierah Joughin's remains hidden in a field of cornstalks and arrested the same man who served time in prison for the abduction years ago. Law enforcement search for Sierah Joughin, Friday, July 22, 2016, at the property of James Worley, 57, of Delta, Ohio. The remains of a college student whose disappearance several days ago prompted a search in Ohio are believed to be found, authorities said Saturday, July 23, 2016. Investigators looking for Sierah Joughin found the remains Friday evening in an area near a rural county road, Fulton County Sheriff Roy Miller said. "At this time, we strongly believe that this is Sierah," Miller told reporters at a news conference Saturday afternoon. (Cameron Hart/The Blade via AP) Now they're looking into whether there could be more victims, Attorney General Mike DeWine said. James Worley, 57, who spent three years in prison after the 1990 abduction, was arrested Friday, three days after Joughin disappeared. He was charged Tuesday with aggravated murder and is due in court Wednesday. Worley has declined interview requests, and an attorney appointed to represent him declined to comment. Autopsy results are pending, but the sheriff in Fulton County confirmed Tuesday that the remains belong to Joughin, who was entering her junior year at the University of Toledo. DeWine said Worley's criminal history of a similar attack made it worth investigating whether other women have been victimized. "The nature of this case would cause any investigator to explore whether or not this has happened before," DeWine said. "We know it happened one other time." Authorities have spent the past several days digging through the farmhouse and barns where Worley operated a small-engine repair shop surrounded by northwestern Ohio's vast soybean and cornfields. Worley served three years of a four- to 10-year sentence in the 1990 abduction, which happened about 20 miles from where Joughin was riding her bike last week near Metamora. He entered an Alford plea to abduction, meaning he didn't admit guilt but conceded that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him. Robin Gardner, who said she jumped out of Worley's truck after he ran her down, said she was shocked but not surprised he'd been arrested again. "Of course, I think he's done it before and after me," she said. Gardner, who was then 26 and moved out of state soon afterward, said she still has panic attacks when she's far from other people. "I can't walk in the woods alone, I can't hike, camp, bird watch," she said in an email. "I get very afraid if people aren't around to help me if I'm in need." She said she was heartbroken over "knowing the fear that Sierah experienced and the sadness that her mother is experiencing." "My heart aches so much for Sierah and her family," she said, adding that Worley should have been kept in prison longer. "I wish I could have done more to protect them but it was out of my hands." ___ Associated Press writer Kantele Franko contributed to this report. In a Friday, July 22, 2016 photo, Fulton County Western District Judge Jeffrey Robinson arraigns James Worley, 57, of Delta, Ohio via video link from the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio, at the Western District Court in Wauseon, Ohio. Worley, 57, who spent three years in prison after the 1990 abduction, was arrested Friday, three days after Sierah Joughin disappeared. He was charged Tuesday with aggravated murder and was due in court Wednesday. (Katie Rausch/The Blade via AO) Paul Bishop, the Joughin family representative, left, thanks members of the public for their concern and support after Fulton County Sheriff Roy Miller, center, announced law enforcement have located the remains of Sierah Joughin, Saturday, July 23, 2016, at a press conference at Evergreen High School in Metamora, Ohio. Ms. Joughin disappeared July 19 near the high school while riding her bike. (Katie Rausch/The Blade via AP) The Latest: Federal charges filed against man in FBI crash PITTSBURGH (AP) The Latest on a dump truck that crashed through a security gate at the FBI office in Pittsburgh (all times local): 6:45 p.m. Authorities say federal charges have been filed against a man who said he had a bomb and drove his dump truck through a security gate at an FBI office in Pittsburgh. Police say New Waterford, Ohio, resident Thomas Richard Ross went through eight or nine red lights and stopped at the gates of the FBI building Tuesday but ignored orders to surrender and floored the gas pedal, ramming a gate. FBI special agent Gregory Heeb says no explosives or weapons were found and there appears to be no connection to terrorism. The U.S. attorney's office says Ross will be face federal charges of damaging government property. Ross has been treated for minor injuries and taken to jail, where he can't be reached for comment. No listed phone number for him can be found. It's unclear if he has an attorney. ___ 4:25 p.m. Authorities say a man who drove his dump truck through a security gate at an FBI office in Pittsburgh had claimed to have a bomb but no bomb was found and there's no connection to terrorism. The city's public safety department said Tuesday that New Waterford, Ohio, resident Thomas Richard Ross will face charges including aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person. Police say Ross went through eight or nine red lights and stopped at the gates of the FBI building Tuesday but ignored orders to surrender and floored the gas pedal, ramming a gate. FBI special agent Gregory Heeb says no explosives or weapons were found to suggest the driver meant to attack the building. Ross has been treated for minor injuries and taken to jail, where he can't be reached for comment. No listed phone number for him can be found. It's unclear if he has an attorney. ___ 4 p.m. A man accused of driving his dump truck through a security gate at an FBI office in Pittsburgh faces numerous charges including aggravated assault. The city's public safety department said Tuesday that New Waterford, Ohio, resident Thomas Richard Ross also will face charges of recklessly endangering another person, fleeing and eluding and various driving offenses. Police say Ross went through eight or nine red lights and stopped at the gates of the FBI building but ignored orders to surrender and floored the gas pedal, ramming the gates. FBI special agent Gregory Heeb says the crash appears to have no connection to terrorism. He says no explosives or weapons were found to suggest the driver meant to attack the building. Ross is hospitalized and can't be reached for comment. No listed phone number for him can be found. It's unclear if he has an attorney. ___ 2:15 p.m. An FBI spokesman says the crash of a dump truck through a security gate at the agency's offices in Pittsburgh appears to have "no nexus to terrorism." The driver is from Ohio. FBI special agent Gregory Heeb says authorities hope to release more information about him Tuesday. The truck had been driving erratically and was stopped near the FBI offices by a Pittsburgh motorcycle officer. Authorities say the driver told the officer he planned to ram the gate and then drove a short distance and did that. The driver is being treated at a hospital. Heeb says the FBI examined the truck and found no explosives or other weapons suggesting the driver meant to attack the building. ___ 12:20 p.m. A dump truck driver from Ohio has crashed his vehicle through the security gate of the FBI's offices in Pittsburgh, injuring himself but no one else. Special Agent Gregory Heeb says the truck was moving erratically and running through stop signs and red lights, promoting Pittsburgh police to pull it over around 11 a.m. Tuesday. Heeb says the driver told police he wanted to ram the gate, sped away and then smashed into the gate. The truck was disabled by security barriers that are meant to prevent vehicles from driving into the office complex on the city's South Side. FBI agents checked the truck for bombs and found nothing. Heeb says the FBI is working with police to determine charges. The man's name wasn't immediately released. ___ An Oregon man and woman have been arrested following a short police chase in California for allegedly carjacking a woman and her two sons at gunpoint and shooting an elderly man in a separate incident. Authorities said Edwin Enoc Lara, 31, and Aundrea Elizabeth Maes, 19, were taken into custody on Tuesday after they were pursued by police on Interstate 5 at speeds of more than 100mph. On Monday, police in Bend, Oregon, said they were looking for Lara as a 'person of interest,' now a suspect, in the disappearance and of 23-year-old Kaylee Sawyer from Bend. On Tuesday, authorities said they arrested 31-year-old Edwin Lara and 19-year-old Aundrea Elizabeth Maes, both from Oregon, following a violent crime spree in Yreka, California. Police in Oregon said on Monday they were looking for Lara as a 'person of interest' in the disappearance of 23-year-old Kaylee Sawyer (right) Sawyer, described as having blonde hair and blue-green eyes, was last seen around 1am on Sunday near her apartment, located near Central Oregon Community College where Lara worked as a campus security guard. She was wearing a black dress and brown boots, and was carrying a green purse, police said. Her family reported her missing on Sunday just after 7pm. Earlier reports indicated Sawyer has a cell phone but authorities believe it was turned off, and the Bend Bulletin reported she is not a student at the Central Oregon Community College. Family members also said her car was still in the parking lot of her apartment. A short time after news of Sawyer's disappearance was made public, a newly-hired Bend Police Officer Isabel Ponce-Lara reported her husband, Lara, may be involved, Redding.com reported. Not long after, Lara was named as a person of interest. Sawyer, (pictured left and right) described as having blonde hair and blue-green eyes, was last seen around 1am on Sunday She was last seen near her apartment, located near Central Oregon Community College (pictured) where Lara worked as a campus security guard Just before midnight on Monday, Bend police said they were changing their investigation from a missing person to a homicide and described Lara, from Redmond, as likely armed and dangerous. Lt. Clint Burleigh of the Bend Police Department said Sawyer's body has not been found, and declined to say what information caused detectives to make it a homicide investigation. 'There is a lot of information coming out, quickly,' he told AP. 'It is very fluid.' Lara had worked as a part-time public safety officer at the community college since December 2014, said Ron Paradis, executive director of college relations. 'We're cooperating with the police as best we can,' Paradis said, declining to comment further. On Tuesday, Lara and Maes were booked into the Tehama County jail on charges including attempted murder, kidnapping, carjacking and burglary, the Yreka Police Department said. An officer pictured at the scene of a Super 8 Motel in Yreka, California. The mayhem erupted near dawn on Tuesday in Yreka when a man was shot in the stomach at the motel at around 5am Five minutes after police got the call about the shooting at the motel, a man called from a Mobil gas station (pictured), saying his car had been taken with his family still inside Yreka, a former gold mining town of about 7,500 people in Siskiyou County, is where the mayhem erupted near dawn on Tuesday. It started when a man was shot in the stomach at the Super 8 Motel in town at around 5am. The man, who has not been identified, was taken to Fairchild Medical Center in critical and unstable condition. Five minutes after police got the call about the shooting, a man called from a Mobil gas station, saying his Honda Accord had been taken with his family still inside. TIMELINE OF VIOLENT CRIME SPREE IN YREKA, CALIFORNIA Tuesday, July 26 5.00am - Yreka Police Department receives a call about a shooting victim at Super 8 Motel on 136 Montague Road in Yreka Officers on scene and contacted victim who had been shot in the stomach The victim was transported the victim to Fairchild Medical Center 5.05am - Police receive a call from a male located at Mobil gas station on 735 N. Main St. who reported his car was taken with his three family members still inside the car Officers from several agencies searched the area for the suspect/suspects 5.41am - Police receive a 911 call from the three victims who reported they were dropped off on Interstate 5, north of the Weed rest area and were unharmed Officers responded to the area and transported the victims to the Yreka Police Department 6.18am - Police received information about a cell phone being pinged with a possible location of the suspects on Intestate 5, north of Redding 7.01am - Red Bluff CHP advised that they had two suspects, Edwin Lara and Aundrea Maes, in custody and the victims vehicle Advertisement 'The man had come out of the gas station to see his dog running around and his car gone,' Yreka Police Chief Brian Bowles told The Associated Press. He said Lara allegedly forced, at gunpoint, one of the man's sons to drive. The mother and two sons were later dropped off at a rest stop at around 5.41am along the interstate about 30 miles south of Yreka, near the town of Weed. Law enforcement officers were pinging three cell phones to get the location of the stolen car, Bowles said. A highway patrol officer in Red Bluff, 100 miles south of Weed, saw a car speeding on the interstate and tried to pull it over. When it did dot comply, officers gave chase, the highway patrol said in a statement. Police from the nearby town of Corning joined in before Lara pulled over and was arrested at around 7.01am, along with Maes. 'We have got crime scenes at a motel, a gas station and in Red Bluff more than 100 miles away,' Bowles said. 'We're a small department and stretched beyond our resources right now.' Maes' grandmother told KATU that her granddaughter did not come home from work on Monday evening and believes she might have been taken against her will. Missouri church: 6 members missing since March in Micronesia KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) A small southwest Missouri church that serves people from Micronesia is trying to carry on after six of its members apparently were lost at sea earlier this year during a mission trip to their native land, the church's pastor said. The four men and two women from the House of Mercy Church in Neosho have not been seen since they boarded a boat on March 9 in Chuuk, an island in the Federated States of Micronesia, to travel to an island 60 miles away to spread their Christian faith, said Pastor Tonis Mathew, who was on the trip but had gone ahead of the others to the mission site. A U.S. Coast Guard search found no sign of the boat or those on board. Mathew said he also searched but did not locate the church members, who are all natives of Micronesia. No active search has been conducted since then. Despite the long odds, Mathew said the church has not completely given up hope that their friends washed up on one of the many uninhabited islands in that area of the Pacific Ocean. "That's what we are hoping and praying that somehow they can be recovered," he said. "If not, we know they are in a better place." The church's tragedy has only recently become public because Micronesian people are not comfortable asking for help, said Mathew. Between 100 and 150 people now worship in the church he established in 2004. "We are from a culture that is wary of putting people out, we try to solve our problems within our community," he said. "I don't really know how to handle situations like this." That began to change when Lisa Baldwin, who taught one of the missing men's daughter, heard the story and offered to help the girl's family. She and other Neosho residents wanted to help but hesitated because the church members keep to themselves. Finally, Baldwin said her faith prompted her to "get out of her comfort zone" and approach Mathew. The pastor acknowledged the aftermath has been a struggle, both financially and emotionally. He said Micronesian men are generally the breadwinners and the women stay home. One of the women who disappeared was the sole provider for three children. "There are several children and now the families have to scramble to come up with plans to help them," he said. "Right now the church is sort of the income for all the families and children." A GoFundMe campaign for the families has raised $2,195 of its $20,000 goal as of Tuesday. A bank fund also is available and more fundraisers are planned. "I think they'll make it with or without us but I feel like, in my heart, we can't sit back and do nothing," Baldwin said. "It is very hard for them to accept help. They aren't seeking handouts. I have no doubt in my mind, once they get up on their feet, they'll pay it forward." Mathew said he has learned to accept help from others as a gift from God. Cops: Ex-councilman stole media passes, vouchers for DNC PHILADELPHIA (AP) A former city councilman from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is accused of stealing parking passes and food vouchers from a media logistics operation for the Democratic National Convention. Philadelphia prosecutors say Brad Koplinski also was found to have the stolen Republican National Convention credentials of a Washington Post editor. The prosecutor's office said Tuesday that Koplinski was arrested at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Sunday. He's charged with burglary, trespassing, theft and receiving stolen property. Security camera footage led to the arrest. Koplinski was a councilman for eight years, and finished fourth in the 2014 Democratic primary for lieutenant governor. His cellphone wasn't accepting messages Tuesday, and court records don't list a lawyer for him. Sanders backer's swipe at Clinton sparks Texas skirmish AUSTIN, Texas (AP) A Bernie Sanders delegate from North Texas sparked a shouting match Tuesday among his state's delegation to the Democratic National Convention by condemning Hillary Clinton, but later said he misspoke in "a moment of passion." During the delegation's breakfast in Philadelphia, Russell Lytle took the stage with fellow backers of the Vermont senator. He expressed concern about the direction of the party before telling the crowd, "We are currently condemning our currently presumptive nominee." That caused an uproar, with shouting among backers of both Sanders and Clinton. Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa briefly suspended the proceedings. Texas delegates cheer during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Monday, July 25, 2016. (AP Photo/John Locher) Tensions between the two factions have made the Democratic convention rowdy at times. On Monday, Sanders delegates booed some of the speakers from the convention floor. After the breakfast, Lytle of Denton, Texas, released a statement he signed by hand. "In a moment of passion, while reaching out to my fellow members of the Texas delegation," it read, "I spoke one sentence that did not reflect my intention of promoting productive dialogue." Lytle also said he had voluntarily withdrawn his convention credentials, a largely symbolic move. State Rep. Rafael Anchia from Dallas, a Clinton superdelegate, shrugged off the chaotic scene. He recalled in 2008, when he was a Barack Obama delegate to that year's Democratic National Convention, there was concern Clinton supporters would never unify behind the party's then-nominee. "I don't recall any booing, per se, but there were people who were in the 'never Obama' camp," Anchia said. He added that he expects all intra-party bitterness to be overshadowed by the end of the convention. UN calls for reconciliation in Central African Republic UNITED NATIONS (AP) The U.N. Security Council called on the Central African Republic's new president on Tuesday to urgently foster reconciliation between Muslims and Christians in order to reunify the country which has been plagued by sectarian violence. In a resolution adopted unanimously, the council demanded that all militias and armed groups lay down their arms and halt all other destabilizing activities. The council expressed support for President Faustin Archange Touadera, who was inaugurated on March 30, and urged his government to work to address local grievances and the marginalization of groups. "The Central African Republic is at a turning point in its history," CAR's U.N. Ambassador Ambroisine Kpongo told the Security Council after the vote. "We must succeed in the immense task that is before us." Civilians continue to have their security threatened "by the numerous armed criminal groups," Kpongo said, stressing that the U.N. mission must be "proactive" in protecting civilians. Central African Republic has been rocked by unrest since March 2013 when Muslim Seleka rebels overthrew the Christian president. That ushered in a brutal reign in which Muslims committed atrocities. When the rebel leader left power the following year, a backlash by the Christian anti-Balaka militia against Muslim civilians erupted, leaving many dead. While the country has experienced relative peace since the landmark visit of Pope Francis last November, that may be because nearly all the country's Muslims have fled to the northern half or across the borders to Chad and Cameroon. Despite peaceful elections earlier this year, there are fears the country is again teetering on the edge. The resolution adopted by the Security Council extends the U.N. peacekeeping mission in CAR until Nov. 15, 2017 at its current troop strength of around 13,000 peacekeepers. The immediate priority in its new mandate is for peacekeepers to protect civilians, including by gathering and effectively using "reliable and actionable information on threats." White House drug official visits Rhode Island prison program CRANSTON, R.I. (AP) A new Rhode Island prison program that provides medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction is getting attention from the Obama administration's top drug control official. Michael Botticelli, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, toured the state women's prison in Cranston on Tuesday. The state budget passed last month adds $2 million to a pilot program treating inmates with methadone and other medications that can reduce their dependence on opioids. FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2016, file photo, Michael Botticelli, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on attacking America's epidemic of heroin and prescription drug abuse, on Capitol Hill, in Washington. A new Rhode Island prison program that provides medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction is getting attention from the Obama administrations top drug control official. Botticelli toured the state womens prison in Cranston on Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) "We know that if we provide good treatment for people who are incarcerated that they are less likely to recidivate in the criminal justice system," Botticelli said. "They are much more likely to stay engaged in treatment. And they are less likely to experience an overdose." He said he wants Rhode Island's program to be replicated nationwide, describing it as innovative and evidence-based. Botticelli spoke after listening to four inmates at the Gloria McDonald Women's prison talk about their experiences battling drug addiction. All of the women said that being allowed to take methadone or another addiction-fighting treatment while incarcerated makes it less likely that they'll relapse into drug abuse and other illegal activity upon release. The state Department of Corrections has had a limited medication-assisted treatment program since the early 1990s, but it's being significantly expanded this year in an attempt to combat a crisis of fatal overdoses of prescription painkillers, heroin and other substances. "We've lost 1,000 Rhode Islanders in the last five years," said state Health and Human Services Secretary Elizabeth Roberts. "That's more than gun deaths and car deaths combined." The state also is pairing the treatments with better screening of inmates when they arrive in state prisons and connecting them to re-entry programs upon release. Botticelli said Rhode Island's correctional system is one of just several around the country taking the lead in providing methadone and other medications for opioid addiction, such as buprenorphine. Others he mentioned as models were in California and neighboring Massachusetts, where Botticelli was a longtime director of the state's Bureau of Substance Abuse Services. Botticelli has been emphasizing treatment over arrest and incarceration since the U.S. Senate unanimously approved him as the nation's top drug control official last year. The role has been informally known as the "drug czar," but he told CBS' "60 Minutes" last year he doesn't like that term because it connotes the failed and punitive policies of the past. He has described the nation's longtime "war on drugs" as inhumane, costly and ineffective. Botticelli, who is in the 27th year of his recovery from alcohol addiction, has also sought to diminish the shameful feelings that prevent people from seeking help by telling his story. 'Anything's possible' _ Obama points to Russia on DNC hack WASHINGTON (AP) Russia may have been behind the leak of hacked Democratic National Committee documents, President Barack Obama said Tuesday in his first public comments on the breach. Asked whether Moscow was trying to influence the presidential election, Obama said, "Anything's possible." Obama, who traditionally avoids commenting on active FBI investigations, broke with that protocol and noted that outside experts have blamed Russia for the leak. He leaned heavily into the notion that President Vladimir Putin may have reason to facilitate the attack. FILE - In this July 1, 2016 file photo, a ruby star on the Kremlin's Nikolskaya Tower is reflected in a window glass of GUM department store in Red Square in Moscow, Russia. Experts whove followed the leak of Democratic National Committee documents say they believe the partys claim that Moscow had a hand in the hack, lending weight to the extraordinary allegation that the Kremlin is trying to tamper with the U.S. presidential contest. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File) "What the motives were in terms of the leaks, all that I can't say directly," Obama told NBC News. "What I do know is that Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin." Obama said he was basing his assessment on Trump's own comments and the fact that the GOP presidential nominee has "gotten pretty favorable coverage back in Russia." He added that the U.S. knows that "Russians hack our systems not just government systems, but private systems." The FBI hasn't publicly attributed the attack to Russia, but Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign has, suggesting the goal was to benefit Trump's campaign. A spokesman for Putin on Tuesday called the allegation "paranoid." Experts who've followed the leak say they agree that Moscow had a hand in the hack, lending weight to the extraordinary allegation that the Kremlin is trying to tamper with the U.S. presidential contest. "You're left with all the signs pointing to Moscow," said Matt Tait, a U.K.-based cybersecurity consultant who has put in roughly 20 hours combing through the leaked DNC documents. Tait and others invoke several categories of evidence. The first was provided by threat intelligence firm CrowdStrike, an Irvine, California, company that was hired by the Democrats to clean out the party's network. It delivered a report last month identifying Russia's intelligence services as being behind two separate electronic break-ins at the DNC. The second category of evidence was provided by electronic fingerprints on some of the documents suggesting the files had been run through Russian language-configured machines. Most convincing for Tait was evidence that the internet infrastructure tied the DNC hackers to a separate campaign that targeted Germany's parliament last year. In May, Germany's domestic intelligence chief took the unusual step of publicly blaming that attack on Moscow, saying the Kremlin wasn't just spying it was gearing up for sabotage. "More than anything else I think (that) really puts to rest the 'Who is this?'" Tait said Tuesday. "It's one thing to say that they were typing stuff in Russian or they were coming from a Russian IP (internet protocol) address or their systems were configured in Russian. It's another thing to say this was being run by the same servers being publicly attributed by German intelligence as being Russian." Trump tweeted Tuesday that the Democrats were trying to "deflect the horror and stupidity" of the leak, calling the suggestion "crazy!" WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who began publishing thousands of the emails last week, said Monday there's was "no proof" Russia was behind the hack, and on Tuesday told CNN that "a lot more" material was on its way. Also Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Committee leaders pressed the FBI and Justice Department for details on the investigation, including how and when federal investigators learned of the breach and what action is being taken in response. Assigning blame in the world of cyberespionage is extraordinarily difficult. Some of the clues uncovered by Tait are easy to forge and attackers routinely use misdirection to lead investigators astray. Others in the field are wary of companies such as CrowdStrike, which may face pressure from clients or investors to spin gripping stories about government hackers with codenames like "Fancy Bear" or "APT28." "I don't like circumstantial evidence when it comes to blaming a foreign government," said Jeffrey Carr, the chief executive of Taia Global, a threat intelligence company. Carr rejected the idea of tying the DNC attackers to previous breaches based on their tools or their methods, saying it was "like finding a gun that was used in the commission of a crime. Anybody could be pulling the trigger." So far the only public claim of responsibility for the breach has come from a previously unknown actor calling himself Guccifer 2.0. The self-described lone Romanian hacker has uploaded several tranches of DNC material to a website in the past month and boasted of handing a larger trove to WikiLeaks. Guccifer 2.0 has not responded to repeated messages from The Associated Press, but doubts about his story are growing. On Tuesday, ThreatConnect, an intelligence firm based in Arlington, Virginia, said it found evidence that the hacker was communicating with journalists via a dedicated virtual private network based out of Russia. Motherboard journalist Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai said the hacker stumbled through an interview over Twitter when quizzed in Romanian last month. "We showed it to half a dozen Romanians and no one had one iota of a doubt that the person behind the keyboard was not Romanian," Franceschi-Bicchierai said in an email. Thomas Rid, a cybersecurity expert with King's College London, first identified the common infrastructure linking the DNC and German parliamentary hacks. He said there was a "very high level of confidence" both attacks were the work of the same group and said it was noteworthy that German officials had tied the group to Moscow. __ Severe birth defects not as lethal as docs once said: Study CHICAGO (AP) Parents of newborns with rare genetic conditions used to hear the grim words that the severe birth defects were "incompatible with life." Support groups and social media showing the exceptions have changed the landscape. So has mounting research suggesting that not all such babies are doomed to die. The latest study focuses on trisomy 13 and trisomy 18 genetic conditions that typically cause mental impairment, facial and organ abnormalities, breathing problems, heart defects and other medical problems. They involve extra copies of certain chromosomes. Two decades of data from Ontario, Canada, illustrates how rare the conditions are and how most babies still die. Of the 428 babies born, only 65 less than 20 percent lived for at least a year. Twenty-nine survived at least 10 years. There's little previous research on these children surviving that long, and the new results suggest the birth defects are not always as lethal as doctors have advised parents. This 2013 photo provided by Kara McHenry of North Carolina shows her son, Corbin, who lived for four months after his birth in April 2013. Prenatal tests found trisomy 13; doctors recommended an abortion. But she found a support group on Facebook showing happy-looking children learning to walk. She also found a hospital that offered treatment, in Pennsylvania, 400 miles from her home near Greenville, North Carolina. "I couldn't just give up," McHenry said, so the family temporarily moved north. (Kara McHenry via AP) The study doesn't include information on survivors' quality of life, but severe disabilities are the norm. The researchers say without that information, the study alone can't guide decisions about how to treat children with the conditions. Former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum's 8-year-old daughter, Bella, has trisomy 18. His wife, Karen has said that their doctor told the family there was no need to bring their newborn home with oxygen despite medical problems that included breathing difficulties. "You have to learn to let go," she says they were told. Online images of smiling kids with the conditions has led some parents to doubt the dire warnings and seek aggressive and costly surgeries to correct organ abnormalities. Ethicists say the power of social media is changing the landscape for how the medical community views these children, although some still say it is acceptable to let newborns with the conditions die. In the study, about 70 percent of the 76 infants who had surgery lived for one year after the procedures. But whether surgery prolongs survival is unclear, said Dr. Katherine Nelson, the Canadian study's lead author and a palliative care specialist at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. Most infants in her study who had surgery were at least 3 months old when they had the operations, suggesting they were healthier to begin with. The study was published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. A separate study from nine states found 5-year survival rates of 10 percent to 12 percent for trisomy 13 and 18 children. The highest rates were in those who had aggressive treatment, according to the research, published in April in the American Journal of Medical Genetics. Despite the survival of some, an editorial accompanying the Canadian study says it is "ethically justifiable" to withhold aggressive medical treatment and let some infants die while offering aggressive treatment to others. Parents' values should drive the decisions, said Dr. John Lantos, a medical ethicist at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City who wrote the editorial. Lantos notes that 30 years ago, new doctors were taught that the two conditions were fatal, but "in the social media age, however, everything changed," he wrote. Sometimes support groups and imagery of surviving children give other parents false hope. But Lantos said it also empowers parents, "by allowing them to share stories, to compare doctors and to present their physicians with information that challenge medical literature," he said. Kara McHenry's son, Corbin, lived for four months after his birth in 2013. Prenatal tests found trisomy 13; doctors recommended an abortion. But she found a support group on Facebook showing happy-looking children learning to walk. She also found a hospital that offered treatment, in Pennsylvania, 400 miles from her home near Greenville, North Carolina. "I couldn't just give up," McHenry said, so the family temporarily moved north. During his short life, Corbin had pneumonia, a heart procedure and surgeries to help him breathe and to treat a bowel infection. The family was able to bring him back to North Carolina, but he was never well enough to go home "He was going to be impaired mentally and physically," McHenry said. She chose invasive care in hopes that he'd beat the odds, but says she has no regrets. Jared Hiner is involved with a support group for families whose children have even rarer genetic disorders that include a condition called Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome. The group's website provides information about the conditions and a video with inspirational photos and background music.c The Fortville, Indiana, musician said when his daughter Kamdyn was born doctors told him her chances of living past age 2 were bleak. "They told us she would never talk, never walk, wouldn't have a personality," he said. Kamdyn is 14 now, mentally and physically delayed, but attending school and able to interact with her family. No one talks much about her future, but for the moment, "she's doing fantastic," Hiner said. He said social media sites help give families needed hope, "but I don't think it's false hope. I think it's more realistic hope that, 'Hey, we can live with this,'" even when the future is uncertain. ___ Online: Trisomy: https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/trisomy-13 https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/trisomy-18 ___ Follow AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/lindsey-tanner Transgender teen asks court not to bar him from restroom RICHMOND, Va. (AP) An attorney for a transgender teen in Virginia is urging the U.S. Supreme Court not to bar him from using the boys restroom when he returns to school this fall. In a brief filed Tuesday in the high court, Josh Block of the American Civil Liberties Union says the Gloucester County School Board has failed to show that it will be irreparably harmed by allowing Gavin Grimm to use the restroom that corresponds with his gender identity while his case plays out in lower courts. After nearly a decade, Matt Damon is 'Bourne' again LOS ANGELES (AP) It's a sweltering afternoon in Hollywood and Matt Damon has just gotten out of couple's therapy. Don't worry, it was just with Jimmy Kimmel a continuation of the fake feud that started over 10 years ago before the two had even met. "It takes a really surreal turn because we got a real therapist and we play it totally straight," said Damon seated in the green room of Kimmel Studios. After "therapy," Damon had about 10 minutes to do a photo shoot, film an intro for a festival he can't attend and scarf down a salad. This is life on the blockbuster circuit. In this July 25, 2016 photo, actor Matt Damon poses for a portrait in Los Angeles to promote his latest film, "Jason Bourne." (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP) Damon, 45, is promoting "Jason Bourne," a film that nine years ago both he and director Paul Greengrass thought would never happen. After three movies exploring the story of the super spy created by Robert Ludlum, the last two of which were directed by Greengrass, and a particularly difficult shooting experience with "The Bourne Ultimatum," Damon was done. The name would come up often, though, in meetings and from fans. In 2009, around the time Damon and Greengrass did "Green Zone," they flirted with getting another one going but there just wasn't a story. Universal Pictures, meanwhile, moved on, expanding the Bourne universe with a film focused on another agent played by Jeremy Renner. It did well enough, and a sequel was in the works. Then, in 2014, Greengrass and Damon took a look at the world and realized how much had changed. "Paul called and said that the first set piece would be an austerity riot in Athens," Damon said. "I'm like, 'OK, we're back.'" But they made sure to structure their production schedule so they weren't coming up with the script while they were shooting as was the case with "Ultimatum." "When you're in production, you're lighting money on fire and you can feel it. What (co-writers) Paul (Greengrass) and Chris (Rouse) did this time, which is great, was they took a whole year and showed up with 120 pages that you want to shoot," Damon said. "We knew once we said we were going to do it, that we were going to get a release date, so we just got all of our ducks in a row." And it worked. For "Ultimatum," they shot for 138 days. "Jason Bourne" was a trim 95. The film, out Friday, is partially about the world of government surveillance, introducing CIA agents played by Tommy Lee Jones and Alicia Vikander. The high octane hunt takes Bourne to the requisite international locales and even a few domestic ones including Las Vegas, where one set piece features a SWAT vehicle plowing through cars on the strip. It's eerily reminiscent of the recent incident in France. The marketing team pulled the scene from European ads immediately, he said. "That was just horrific," Damon said. "None of us felt like it was a copy-cat thing, but we didn't want to be insensitive with those images out there." It makes him think of the objections to the posters showing him wielding a gun a sentiment he keenly understands. "Movies are a tool for empathy. I wouldn't do them if I didn't believe that," he said. "But violence is a part of the human condition and so sometimes you end up playing violent characters. Jason Bourne is a violent character." He hopes that the series, which has shown Bourne atoning for his actions, has a mindfulness that distinguishes it from others. Damon may be one of the most bankable movie stars in the business, but he still feels the pressure of a big opening especially from a franchise like Bourne. "A lot is at stake," Damon said. "The movie was expensive to make and if the audience doesn't show up then, yeah, that would be a big deal that would be bad ... Our jobs are constantly hanging in the balance. It's an insecure profession and an insecure industry." He's keeping busy, though. Almost too busy. His packed schedule meant giving up a plum role in Kenneth Lonergan's "Manchester By the Sea" to his pal Casey Affleck. The film, based on an idea from John Krasinski and Damon, who also produced, was rapturously received at Sundance and will come out in November. "Casey's no dummy. He was like 'I'll do it! I'll clear everything from my schedule!" Damon laughed. But Damon has some big things on the horizon, too, including Alexander Payne's "Downsizing," and Yimou Zhang's historical fantasy "The Great Wall," a massive American and Chinese co-production that's out in February. He moved his wife and kids to China for six months during the shoot. "There were 50 translators running around in every department. But everyone had made a lot of movies so we had that common language," Damon said. Next he's shooting the George Clooney-directed and Joel and Ethan Coen-scripted crime mystery "Suburbicon." And maybe after that he'll get around to taking a break and finally figuring out what he wants to direct. Right now it's all "Bourne." He's just wrapped a big international tour and is off to New York to do the talk show circuit. "Then I'm done!" Damon said. "Well, I still have to go to China and Japan. But that's like two weeks away. I'm not looking that far ahead." ___ Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr In this image released by Universal Pictures, Matt Damon appears in a scene from "Jason Bourne." (Universal Pictures via AP) In this July 25, 2016 photo, actor Matt Damon poses for a portrait in Los Angeles to promote his latest film, "Jason Bourne." (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP) Black women at the helm at Democratic National Convention NEW YORK (AP) When Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepped down as Democratic National Committee chair just as this week's convention was getting underway, there was no shortage of Democratic leaders ready to step in. Veteran Democratic strategist and past DNC chair Donna Brazile immediately took the helm as interim chair. She joined Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio, chair of the Democratic National Convention, and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who gaveled the convention open on Monday. All three are black women, along with convention CEO Rev. Leah Daughtry, who is overseeing the organization of a Democratic convention for the second time. The symbolism of so many black women in high-profile leadership positions in a political party is profound, said Julia Jordan-Zachery, a political science professor at Providence College in Rhode Island. Donna Brazile, vice chair of the Democratic National Committee and serving as interim chair until November, speaks on the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Monday, July 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) She pointed to the 1964 Democratic convention, where the party refused to seat as voting delegates black civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer and members of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which had been formed to challenge the all-white delegation from Mississippi. Jordan-Zachery says the party has gone from one that refused to seat black women to one that is now relying on black women to "fix something that was broken." It's also powerful given the fact that black women are a major part of the Democratic Party's base, and key to the coalition that put President Barack Obama in office, said Kelly Dittmar, a professor of political science at Rutgers University-Camden. Exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks by Edison Research showed that 96 percent of black women supported Obama in 2012 and in 2008. And census voting data shows about 7 in 10 eligible black women reported actually voting in both those elections, the highest participation rate of any group. "It's important, I think, when you look at that from a voter perspective that black women's voices are also heard in the leadership of the party," Dittmar said. Dittmar also raised another historical tie, that of the late Rep. Shirley Chisholm of New York, who was the first black woman elected to Congress. In 1972, Chisholm ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, the first black presidential candidate from a major party. "It meant that simply by putting her name and face forward throughout the country as a real contender for the presidency, that she would challenge those long-held norms and expectations that presidents are white men," Dittmar said. ___ Follow Deepti Hajela at www.twitter.com/dhajela . Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/deepti-hajela . ___ Associated Press writer Emily Swanson in Washington contributed to this report. Legislator: Pfizer can't complain about execution drug LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) The legislator who drafted a law that keeps most of Arkansas' lethal injection policy a secret said Tuesday that pharmaceutical companies have no standing to complain that prison officials will use their drugs in executions. The Associated Press reported Monday that it appears Arkansas had obtained a paralytic drug made by a subsidiary of Pfizer for use in executions. Pfizer has said it doesn't want its drugs used that way and that it has safeguards in place to prevent it from happening. Rep. Doug House, a Republican from North Little Rock, said Tuesday that while Pfizer may complain about the possible "unauthorized use" of one of its products, it and other drugmakers cannot file legitimate complaints with the Arkansas Department of Correction. "I don't think so. We bought it legally, fair and square," House said. Any recourse, he said, would be with middlemen who passed the drugs on to the state. "That's between them and their distributors." Pfizer spokeswoman Rachel Hooper said Tuesday the company was communicating with states to remind them its products are intended to save lives, not end them. In April, the company published a position paper directing wholesalers and distributors to not share seven specific drugs with states intending to use them in executions. "Pfizer makes its products solely to enhance and save the lives of the patients we serve," Hooper said in an email after AP identified one of its subsidiaries as the likely source of Arkansas' vecuronium bromide. The paralytic is part of a three-drug protocol in Arkansas, which has not executed an inmate since 2005 because of legal challenges and the difficulty of obtaining execution drugs. Under the state guidelines, executioners would first use midazolam as a sedative, then paralyze the inmate to stop breathing, then administer potassium chloride to stop the heart. Arkansas legislators last year passed the secrecy law, saying firms wouldn't sell execution drugs to the state for fear that disclosure could lead to protests or boycotts. House said Arkansas was not being hypocritical by agreeing to accommodate drug suppliers willing to help in executions, by granting them privacy, while at the same time not accommodating other companies that don't want their products used in that way. Because executions are legal, Arkansas has a right to use the drugs in a legal way. "It's like buying a car. Dodge cannot tell you, 'You can buy this car, but I don't want you driving the car to Memphis,'" House said. The office of Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge declined comment. The governor's office did not reply to a request for comment. ___ House Veterans' Affairs chairman seeks records on shooters DALLAS (AP) The chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Veterans Affairs has broadened his request for information on two former soldiers involved in mass shootings in Texas and Louisiana. In a letter Tuesday to the secretary of Veterans Affairs, Florida Rep. Jeff Miller requested a briefing on all VA services received by Army reservist Micah Johnson, who shot and killed five Dallas cops and wounded nine other law enforcement officers in a July 7 attack on a peaceful downtown protest rally. Miller asked for similar records last week on Gavin Long, the former Marine and Iraq war veteran who killed three law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on July 17. The attacks followed protests sparked by the deaths of two black men Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile in Minnesota by white police officers. The Republican congressman requested "unredacted" copies of Johnson's full medical records and VA claims files. Johnson was an Army reservist who served eight months in Afghanistan before being sent home after a fellow soldier filed a sexual harassment complaint against him. He ultimately received an honorable discharge from the military, but the Pentagon has refused so far to answer questions about his case. Friends, former comrades and family described Johnson as a gregarious extrovert who returned from Afghanistan an angry man. He sought medical care from the Veterans Health Administration for a back injury, but got no help after filling out forms and going to meetings so he "just finally gave up," his mother told TheBlaze, a conservative news site. VA spokesman James Hutton told The Associated Press that Johnson accessed care three times at Dallas VA Medical Center, the last coming in September 2014. Long's mother, Corine Woodley, told PBS' Tavis Smiley that her son had post-traumatic stress disorder and unsuccessfully sought the VA's help. Woodley said her son received a letter from the VA denying his request for PTSD treatment in 2013, on grounds that it wasn't related to his military service. She has declined to talk to the AP. Kansas Rep. Tim Huelskamp, a member of the House committee, said Miller was pushing for information. "It seems there might be something there, but we don't yet know, and the VA is so far stonewalling," Huelskamp said after a town hall meeting Monday in St. Marys, Kansas. No return to 'hard border' insists Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny London and Dublin are agreed there will be no return to a "hard border" between Northern Ireland and the Republic, Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny insisted after Downing Street talks. Mr Kenny said that he and Prime Minister Theresa May are both against creating a post-Brexit string of customs posts on the island of Ireland. "I do not favour, and would not agree to, a hard border with a whole range of customs posts, and neither does the prime minister. Mr Kenny said that he and Prime Minister Theresa May are both against creating a post-Brexit string of customs posts on the island of Ireland "There will be no hard border from Dundalk to Derry in the context of it being a European border, and by that I mean customs posts every mile along the road. "We are both agreed very firmly there will be no return to a hard border as existed," Mr Kenny said to reporters outside Number Ten following the meeting. Speaking earlier at a joint briefing with Mr Kenny, the Prime Minister said she was determined to maintain "the closest possible relationship" between the UK and the Republic following Britain's withdrawal from the EU. Mrs May said there was a "strong will" to preserve free travel across the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic after Britain leaves the EU, and suggested that this could involve a common approach to the use of data on passengers arriving from outside the British Isles. "I recognise that one of the biggest concerns for people is the common travel area. We benefited from a common travel area between the UK and the Republic of Ireland for many years before either country was a member of the EU. "There is a strong will on both sides to preserve it and so we must now focus on securing a deal that is in the interests of both of us. "Alongside this, we should continue our efforts to strengthen the external borders of the common travel area; for example, through a common approach to the use of passenger data," the PM said. The outcome of last month's Brexit referendum will not undermine the peace process in Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister insisted. On the peace process, Mrs May said: " It is in all our interests to work together to safeguard our national security and the outcome of the referendum will not undermine it. "We are both fully committed to working together in support of the Northern Ireland Executive to build a better, stronger, safer future for the people of Northern Ireland. "Indeed, it is vital that we keep up the momentum on tackling paramilitary groups and building a shared future. "And today we have reaffirmed our commitment to establishing a new Independent Reporting Commission by the end of this year, which will support these efforts." At the joint briefing, Mr Kenny said: "We both recognised that Ireland is the only EU member state that shares a land border with the UK. We are in agreement that we don't wish to see any return to the borders of the past on the island of Ireland." Following her talks with the leaders of Germany, France and Ireland, Mrs May is continuing her round of whirlwind diplomacy with a visit to Rome to meet prime minister Matio Renzi on Wednesday. This will be followed on Thursday by a trip to Slovakia and Poland, where she will hold discussions with Prime Ministers Robert Fico and Beata Szydlo, as part of her drive to engage with European leaders on Brexit. A Number 10 spokesman said Mrs May wanted an early visit to Italy after becoming PM earlier this month, because of the close relations it has with the UK. Thursday's trip to eastern Europe may prove more awkward as Slovakia and Poland are among the EU states most insistent on maintaining free movement of labour, and have also voiced concern about the rights of their nationals currently in the UK. The countries are part of the Visegrad Four group within the EU which has called for the pace of integration to be slowed in the wake of Brexit. Slovakia currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the European Council and will host a summit of the remaining 27 states in Britain's absence in September to discuss their approach to the UK's planned withdrawal. Mrs May also received "congratulatory" phone calls from the leaders of New Zealand, Japan, India, Pakistan and Jordan on Tuesday. A Number 10 spokeswoman said: "A common theme that emerged in the phone calls from Prime Minister Key of New Zealand, Prime Minister Abe of Japan, Prime Minister Modi of India, Prime Minister Sharif of Pakistan and King Abdullah of Jordan is the importance that they all attach to their partnership with the United Kingdom and their wish to further strengthen co-operation, whether on trade, security or across the board." She added that John Key said he wanted discussions on a free trade agreement between New Zealand and the UK to begin early on. Mr May also offered Shinzo Abe her condolences following the knife attack at Sagamihara. UK 'failing migrant children who came here alone and live in squalor', say Lords Thousands of lone migrant children are living in squalid conditions or are vulnerable to smuggling gangs after being let down by European countries including the UK, a report has warned. Youngsters face a culture of disbelief and suspicion, while authorities try to avoid taking responsibility for their care and protection, according to the Lords EU committee. Peers said witnesses painted a "harrowing" picture of squalor, destitution and desperation that unaccompanied minors face across the EU. An unaccompanied asylum-seeking child at the Millbank reception centre in Ashford, Kent The treatment of the young people has led them to lose faith in national authorities, the committee said, adding that vulnerable children have been exposed to smugglers and human traffickers. At least 10,000 unaccompanied under-18s are currently missing. The committee also attacked the UK government for a "continuing reluctance... to show solidarity with its European partners in helping to relocate such children". Sharp rises in the number of asylum-seeking children without parents or guardians have been reported around Europe amid the international migration crisis. Nearly 90,000 lone minors sought refuge in the bloc in 2015 - a huge increase compared to just over 23,000 in the previous year. In the UK last year there were 3,043 applications from unaccompanied asylum-seeking children - a jump of 56% on the tally in 2014. The committee said: ::EU member states are "fundamentally" failing to comply with their obligations under EU and international law to receive and protect children " in a manner that recognises their specific vulnerability". ::Conditions in camps in the French Channel ports are "wholly unsuitable" for children. ::The frequency of "non-medical age assessments", particularly in the UK, indicates a " widespread reluctance to believe unaccompanied migrant children's narratives". ::Evidence suggests a lack of "burden-sharing" between UK local authorities, with one council caring for 412 unaccompanied children, while many others had none. Chairwoman of the committee Baroness Prashar said: "The current refugee crisis is the greatest humanitarian challenge the EU has faced in its lifetime. "At the sharp end of this crisis are unaccompanied migrant children, who are being failed across the board. "We found that these children face suspicion on arrival. They are seen as 'somebody else's problem', and the conditions they live in were described to us as deplorable and squalid. "We found a clear failure among EU countries, including the UK, to shoulder their fair share of the burden. "We deeply regret the UK Government's reluctance to relocate migrant children to the UK, in particular those living in terrible conditions in the camps near the Channel ports." She added: "How can member states, including the UK, tolerate a situation where there are more than 10,000 missing migrant children in the EU?" Ministers came under pressure earlier this year to do more to help child refugees in Europe. In May it was announced that Britain would take in unaccompanied children registered in France, Italy and Greece. A Home Office spokeswoman said: "By legislating through the Immigration Act 2016 we have made crystal clear our commitment to bringing vulnerable children from Europe to the UK. "More than 20 children have been accepted for transfer to the UK since the Act was given royal assent and the majority of these have already arrived. "We are consulting with local authorities across the country to confirm available capacity and ensure appropriate support systems are in place. Charity to probe comments mocking 'royal, rich, advantaged' Prince George The British Council has pledged to investigate comments, allegedly made by one its senior employees on Facebook, which criticise Prince George for living "on public money". Angela Gibbins, head of global estates at the charity, was reported to have commented on a picture of the young Prince which someone had captioned: "I know he's only two years old, but Prince George already looks like a f****** d***head." The British Council, which promotes the UK and the English language in more than 100 countries, said her alleged comments, in which she called Prince George "royal, rich" and "advantaged" and referenced "white privilege", were not representative of the organisation's views. Prince George with his father the Duke of Cambridge A spokeswoman said: "This comment was made on a private social media account. "It has absolutely no connection to the British Council and does not represent the views of the British Council. "That said, we expect the highest standards of our staff and we will be investigating the matter further." Ms Gibbins' apparent comments, which were reported in The Sun, were on a photograph of Prince George - who has just turned three - taken for a set of stamps to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday when he was two years old. She allegedly said: "White privilege. That cheeky grin is the innate knowledge he's royal, rich, advantaged and will never know *any* difficulties or hardships in life. "Let's find photos of 3yo Syrian refugee children and see if they look alike, eh?" When she was criticised by other Facebook users, Ms Gibbins is said to have responded: "I'm sound in my socialist, atheist and republican opinions. "I don't believe the royal family have any place in a modern democracy, least of all when they live on public money. That's privilege and it needs to end." The British Council has a Royal Charter and its patron is the Queen. Philadelphia Back in 2008, Democrats for Education Reform had what amounted to its coming out party at the partys national convention in Denver . But a lot has changed in eight years. On Monday, an event put on here by Education Reform Now, an affiliated organization, felt like an opportunity for a little soul searching, as some big name speakers pondered a central question: Where exactly, does the education-redesign movement go in a post-Obama administration, post Every Student Succeeds Act world? Theres a lot of anxiety about the transition from this president to the next administration, Shavar Jeffries, the national president of the organization, a non-profit think tank affiliated with DFER said as he kicked off the policy forum. But Jeffries isnt worried. His message? Hang tight and play the long game. For us this is a social justice project, Jeffries said. And social justice is never easy. Its never short-term. Jeffries linked education redesign to other social-change movements, noting that after the success of the Montgomery bus boycott, the civil rights movement experienced a seven-year period of defeat, after defeat, after defeat. End of an Era The event attracted a star-studded castwell, star-studded as wonky education events getincluding Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, Gov. Dannel Malloy of Connecticut, Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia; and Ann OLeary, Clintons campaign advisor , all of whom spoke of their continued commitment to ensuring schools are better able to help the neediest kids. Still, the past couple years have been challenging for fans of education redesign who have seen some of their favorite policieshigh standards, teacher evaluation through test scores, dramatic school turnarounds, and testingattacked in school districts, statehouses and Congress. To be sure, the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, has a track record of supporting some of those policies like rigorous standards, and expanding charter schools (even if shes gotten into trouble for some of her rhetoric on charters this campaign cycle ). But shes been skeptical of some signature Obama policies, especially teacher evaluation based on test scores and turnaround programs that call for getting rid of teachers. (Both are out the window at the federal level anyway, thanks to ESSA.) And while shes talked a lot about new resources on the campaign trail, shes mostly steered clear of accountability and testing. Plus, she needed help from both the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers to win an unexpectedly tough primary against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. And oh, yeah, the Democratic platform this year takes aim at the test-and-punish regime , saying it hurts schools and kids of color. Its also sanctioned parents right to opt their children out of standardized tests. Contrast that to 2008, when Obama had been out on the campaign trail talking about policies that Democrats didnt normally rush out and hugexpanding charter schools, raising standards, and paying teachers based on their performance. Hed even declared himself open to vouchers. (Sorta.) And he hadnt needed help from the teachers unions to get to the top of the ticket. Obama more than made good on what a lot of those in the education redesign movement saw as his potential, enticing states to adopt the Common Core State Standards and teacher evaluations that relied in part on test scores through the Race to the Top grant program, and later, on waivers from the No Child Left Behind Act. But both policies have fallen out of favor. The icing on the cake? Education organizations teamed up with Republicans to water down the federal role in K-12. Malloy noted the loss of the Republican partners. We may be more losing Republicans [support] than we are losing Democratic support, he said. Some folks say this is just a little messy, a little too hard. It gets into issues that we dont want to get into. New Challenges For his part, Jefferies, made it clear in an interview that the organization isnt backing away from the policies it embraced in 2008. But its added some new priorities to its plate, including making sure that disadvantaged kids have access to their fair share of resources (good teachers, rigorous coursework), and making sure that teacher preparation programs are informed by data, but also include rich, hands-on experiences for perspective teachers. And on one of the panels, Kristen Clarke, the president and executive director of the National Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, brought up a new priority: encouraging schools to desegrate, both racially and socio-economically. (Thats been a key issue for U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr., too.) I think we need to be more creative in what can we do today, she said. " I do think this organization stands to play an important role, Heres the overall take on the state of this movement from Jeff Henig, a political science professor at Columbia University, who has studied the intersection of education and politics. It overreached and its paying a price, he said. But I dont think they are all going to disappear. Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy speaks during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Monday. --J. Scott Applewhite/AP Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . Critics say keeping them as one means connections will stay slow in areas Millions of people living in rural Britain could be left with slow broadband speeds after telecoms regulator Ofcom refused to recommend BT sell off Openreach, critics have said. BT's rivals had insisted customers would be best served by completely separating BT and the Openreach infrastructure network that links homes and offices around the country Instead of a full break up however, the communications regulator Ofcom has today proposed the formation of an independent company within BT. Rival firms today accused the regulator of 'failing to stand up to BT' and of taking 'one step forward, five steps back'. Critics say the refusal to separate Openreach from BT is condemning many to slow broadband connections A scathing report from the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee last week claimed BT has 'significantly under-invested' in Openreach, which is responsible for rolling out super-fast broadband across the UK. And the MPs accused BT of making strategic decisions that put the group's interests ahead of customers and its Openreach business. In a report released today, Ofcom proposes major reform of Openreach, the division of BT that develops and maintains the UK's main telecoms network used by other telephone and broadband providers. The proposals include making Openreach a distinct company with its own board, including a majority of non-executive directors not affiliated to BT Group. BT - which now also owns mobile phone group EE - has pledged to spend 6billion over the next three years and overhaul customer service to see off the threat of a forced split. A map showing the huge variance in broadband speeds around the UK. Source: Jamestitcomb THREE DAYS TO LOAD A MOVIE: COUPLE SAY DREADFUL BROADBANDS LEAVES THEM FEELING LIKE THEY'RE 'STUCK IN THE DARK AGES' They might live in a desirable area with stunning views, but Nick and Jane Marshall feel like they are stuck in the Dark Ages. The couple suffer from such dreadful broadband speeds that it can take three days just to download a film. But Ofcoms decision not to split Openreach and BT has dashed the pairs hope of improving their internet connection in Berkley Marsh, Somerset. Mr Marshall, 56, a cabinet-maker, said: Its all very well for people who have got good service but the thousands like us who live in rural areas are the ones that suffer. It affects all our businesses because people cannot get hold of us. It is just disappointing for us. I have been told it can depreciate the value of properties by 20 per cent if you dont have good internet. The Marshalls say they experience speeds of between 0.2Mbps and 0.4Mbps, well below the UK average of 22.8Mbps. Advertisement But many feel too little is being done to ensure those living in rural areas get faster access to the internet. Before the report was published this morning, former Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps, told the Daily Telegraph: 'Ofcom's continuing reluctance to act condemns hundreds of thousands of people to the slow lane of internet connections, meaning it takes longer to access information, download a movie or run a business from home.' OFCOM'S MAIN PROPOSALS Distinct company - Openreach should be a legally separate company, within BT Group, accountable to customers such as Sky and TalkTalk. Separate Board - Non-executive members should not be affiliated to BT Group in any way. There should be no direct lines of reporting from Openreach executives to BT Group. Greater consultation with customers -Openreach would be obliged to consult formally with customers such as Sky and TalkTalk on large-scale investments. Staff to work for Openreach - People who work for Openreach should be employees of the new company, rather than BT Group, in a bid to prevent conflicts of interest. Separate strategy - Openreach would have control over budget allocation and develop its own strategy, brand and annual operating plans, within an overall budget set by BT Group. Advertisement Rival companies such as Sky, Vodafone and TalkTalk have long called for a split between BT and Openreach. TalkTalk chief executive Dido Harding warned today's move could favour BT by allowing them to continue 'gaming the system' of complex regulations - a claim denied by BT chief executive Gavin Patterson. She said: 'The creation of a legally separate Openreach is a step in the right direction, but we must not forget the history of the organisation. 'The intention ten years ago was to create a functionally separate division that served all customers equally, but that is far from what happened. 'Legal separation still means that a highly complex web of regulation, and BT has proven itself expert at gaming this system. There is nothing to suggest they will not continue to do so in the new system. 'In taking one cautious step forward, I fear Ofcom may in practice have taken five steps back.' A spokesman for Three said: 'We are disappointed that Ofcom has fallen short of structurally separating BT, the only measure that would have delivered genuine competition and prevented BT from favouring itself. 'This is yet another example of UK regulators failing to stand up to BT.' BT said it believed the 'unprecedented' changes provide 'the basis for a fair, proportionate and sustainable regulatory settlement' and would meet the recommendations of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee. BT's Openreach broadband operation should become a 'distinct company', Ofcom has proposed Its chief executive Gavin Patterson said: 'We have listened to Ofcom and industry and are introducing significant changes to meet their concerns. 'These changes will make Openreach more independent and transparent than it is today, something both Ofcom and industry have requested. Star Wars firm admits health and safety breaches over Harrison Ford crush injury A film production company has admitted health and safety breaches after an incident in which Hollywood star Harrison Ford was crushed by a hydraulic door on the set of the Millennium Falcon spaceship while filming the latest Star Wars movie. Ford, who was knocked to the ground and pinned down by the heavy door, could have been killed in the incident as he rehearsed during shooting for Star Wars: The Force Awakens at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire on June 12, 2014, a court heard. The then 71-year-old was reprising his role as Han Solo when he was hit by the door, which had been designed to mimic the action of a door on the original set. Harrison Ford had to be airlifted to hospital after breaking his leg on the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens Foodles Production (UK) Ltd, which is owned by Disney, admitted two breaches under health and safety law. Prosecuting at Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court, Andrew Marshall said that Ford had gone through the door with another actor and hit a button, He started to walk back through the door, believing the set was not live and that it would not close. But the court heard it was remotely operated by another person, and that as the star passed underneath it he was hit in the pelvic area and pinned to the ground. Mr Marshall said there was a "risk of death", saying: "It could have killed somebody. The fact that it didn't was because an emergency stop was activated." The actor was severely injured and left with a broken left leg in the incident, and was airlifted to hospital in Oxford. Mr Marshall said the circumstances created a risk of death and had the emergency stop button not been pressed the situation could have "eventuated differently". The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said the the power of the rapidly closing metal-framed door meant Ford was hit with a power comparable to the weight of a small car. Ford himself talked about the incident during an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show before Christmas, referring to the "f****** great hydraulic door". He said in the original film a door would have been closed with a pulley and a stage hand. "But now we had lots of money and technology and so they built a f****** great hydraulic door which closed at light speed," he said. Foodles pleaded guilty to one count under section two of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which related to a breach of duty in relation to employees, and a second under section three, a breach over people not employed by the company. Two further charges, under Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and one under Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 were both withdrawn as the facts will be incorporated into the two admitted breaches. The company will be sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court over the breaches, expected to happen on August 22. Defending, Angus Withington said that while Foodles pleaded guilty to the two charges, it would contest the level of risk involved. The HSE welcomed the guilty plea but said it had been a "foreseeable incident". A spokesman said: "The British film industry has a world-renowned reputation for making exceptional films. "Managing on-set risks in a sensible and proportionate way for all actors and staff - regardless of their celebrity status - is vital to protecting both on-screen and off-screen talent, as well as protecting the reputation of the industry." Disney, Foodles' parent company, also owns the Lucasfilm production company which is behind both the Star Wars and Indiana Jones film franchises. George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to the Walt Disney Co in 2012 for 4.06 billion dollars (2.7 billion), and the studio charged ahead in developing The Force Awakens with director JJ Abrams and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. A spokeswoman for Foodles Production (UK) Ltd said: "Foodles Ltd has provided full co-operation throughout HSE's investigation into the on-set accident that occurred in June 2014. Liam Fox reveals plans for offices to boost UK business ties with US On his first overseas trip since being named International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox has announced plans for the establishment of three new offices designed to boost British business ties with the USA. The Government offices in the cities of Minneapolis in Minnesota, Raleigh in North Carolina and San Diego in California, will extend an existing network which already covers New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Washington DC, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Seattle, Miami and Denver. Each staffed by one locally-recruited officer, the offices will work to promote UK business, economic and political ties in support of the consulate general in their regions. Liam Fox's first overseas trip since becoming International Trade Secretary was to the US The Department for International Trade said that the Seattle office alone supported the delivery of approximately 8 million in capital investment and 1,000 UK jobs in the past year. Dr Fox said: "I am pleased to announce ... that the UK Government plans to open three new offices right here in the United States, in Minneapolis, Raleigh and San Diego. "Our ambitious vision for an open and outward-looking UK economy includes growing our footprint in the most important markets around the world and these three cities offer exciting opportunities to boost trade and investment." On a three-day visit a fortnight after his appointment to the newly-created Cabinet role, Dr Fox has met US Trade Representative Michael Froman in Washington DC, before travelling to Chicago to speak at the Sage Summit for small and medium-sized businesses. He was later due to travel to Los Angeles, where he will speak at a British American Business Council (BABC) event. Following yesterday's meeting with Dr Fox, Mr Froman's office released a statement confirming the US would be prepared to engage with the UK on developing trade and investment relations "at the appropriate time", but that this would not be possible " until some of the basic issues around the future EU-UK relationship have been worked out". Labour leader hopeful Owen Smith condemned Mr Fox's decision to open an office in the state of North Carolina, which has been boycotted by a number of major businesses since it announced its intention to limit the rights of LGBT people. Speaking at a rally in London, Mr Smith said: "Where does he chose to open it? In North Carolina. The state in America that because of new laws that were introduced in March discriminating against transgender people is then boycotted by Pepsi, by Bryan Adams, by General Electric, by Bruce Springsteen.. " It is the antithesis of ethical foreign policy. It is precisely the wrong thing for a British government to do. McCoy hails 'remarkable' JT McNamara Sir Tony McCoy has described JT McNamara as "a remarkable man" after the death was announced of the former leading amateur rider. Legendary champion jockey McCoy recalled being in the weighing room at Cheltenham when news of McNamara's fall on Galaxy Rock in the 2013 Kim Muir emerged, an accident which paralysed him for life. "I remember looking over and seeing his clothes hanging up and thinking 'he'll never be back in here', and that's not something I'll ever forget," McCoy told RTE Radio. JT McNamara in full flow in the saddle "It's a very sad day for everyone in racing especially his wife Caroline, she's a very tough and amazing woman. "He was a remarkable man. He was a little bit like me - he could be grumpy enough at times, but was very good humoured. He was fantastic, a brilliant rider. I said this morning that watching his ride on Rith Dubh at the Cheltenham Festival was as good as you'll ever see." Barry Geraghty, who replaced McCoy as McManus' retained jockey following his retirement, hailed McNamara as a "brilliant fellow". He said: "It's very sad news and a shock to us all. "He was a brilliant fellow. He was a brilliant rider, obviously, but he was such a good, fun person and I suppose he showed his true strength having to deal with this injury over the past few years. "If you visited him, before you'd know it an hour had passed. The conversation always flowed and there was never any self pity. He could hold his own amongst professionals and was better than most. Nothing fazed JT. He was cool as a breeze." McNamara was initially treated in Britain following the Cheltenham fall that left him paralysed from the neck down before being transferred to the spinal unit of the Mater Hospital, Dublin, and eventually moving to the North West Regional Spinal Injuries Centre in Southport. He eventually returned to his County Limerick home last June and had begun to establish a training operation at his Croom yard, although he required constant care. Frankie Ward, regional secretary of point-to-points in Limerick, knew McNamara from a young age and followed his career from ponies to racecourses. "He was a hero, there's no doubt about it. He was a legend in his own lifetime even though it was a short one," she told Newstalk radio. Mamadou Sakho sent home from USA tour to leave his Liverpool future in doubt Mamadou Sakho's Liverpool future appears to be in some doubt after he was sent home from the club's pre-season tour of America. The 26-year-old France international has not played in any of Liverpool's friendlies because he is nursing an Achilles problem that will prevent him starting the new Premier League campaign. However, he was included in the squad that travelled to Palo Alto in California last week but Press Association Sport understands manager Jurgen Klopp decided to send the centre-back home after question marks were raised about his attitude around the camp. Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho has been sent home from the club's tour of the United States. The Reds boss ordered Sakho to return to the club's Melwood training ground to continue his rehabilitation from his injury. Two other injured players, Joe Gomez (who also has an Achilles injury) and Lucas Leiva (hamstring), remain with the group. Liverpool have not commented on the reasons for Sakho's departure ahead of their first friendly in the United States against Chelsea on Wednesday night (local time). They confirmed, however, he will be continuing his rehabilitation at the club's Melwood training base and is working towards returning. Sakho has endured a somewhat turbulent last three months after failing a drugs test back in April - meaning he missed the Europa League final defeat to Sevilla and Euro 2016 because of an interim suspension - only for UEFA to drop the case after deciding the fat-burning substance he took should not be included on their banned list. Sakho flew back to England with fellow defender Brad Smith, who is set to complete a move to Bournemouth after a 6million deal was agreed over the weekend for the back-up left-back. Another, albeit temporary, departure has seen Liverpool's young Brazilian midfielder Allan Rodrigues de Souza join Hertha Berlin on loan. Afghan teenager met Munich gunman just before attack -prosecutor MUNICH, July 25 (Reuters) - A 16-year-old Afghan youth who was arrested on Sunday had been in contact via WhatsApp with an 18-year-old gunman who killed nine people in Munich two days earlier and also met him just before the attack, Bavarian officials said. The youth, who was questioned after he contacted police following the shooting, is under investigation for possibly having failed to report the plans of the gunman. Thomas Steinkraus-Koch, senior public prosecutor in Munich, told a news conference on Monday the Afghan had been in contact with the gunman via WhatApp until shortly before the attack. He wiped the conversation, but officials were able to retrieve it. "This (WhatsApp) chat and questioning of a suspect has shown that the Afghan met the gunman directly before the gun attack at what was later the scene of the crime," Steinkraus-Koch told a news conference in Munich. The shooting was one of four attacks in Germany - three of them by migrants - since July 18 that have left 10 people dead and 34 injured, a toll that may heighten public disquiet over Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy. More than a million migrants have entered Germany over the past year, many fleeing war in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. The WhatsApp chat showed the Afghan knew the German-Iranian gunman was in possession of a Glock 17 firearm, Steinkraus-Koch said. "They got to know each other last summer, in 2015, in a psychiatric clinic where they underwent treatment," he said. "There, it also became apparent to the (Afghan) suspect that the attacker was interested in Breivik," Steinkraus-Koch added, referring to Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in back-to-back attacks in Norway in 2011. The Afghan's decision to delete his WhatsApp chat with the gunman and their meeting just before the Munich attack led investigators to suspect he knew of the planned shooting in advance. "We will now pursue this suspicion," Steinkraus-Koch said. 39 people killed by fire in Madagascar - security official ANTANANARIVO, July 25 (Reuters) - Thirty nine people, including 16 children, died in Madagascar on Saturday in a fire in a residential compound in a village 500 km (310 miles) south of the capital Antananarivo, a security official said on Monday. Anthony Rakotoarison, a senior police official, told Reuters the fire broke out at around 7 p.m. at a compound where a party to celebrate the completion of a house renovation was underway. Rakotoarison said the fire started at a straw hut that had been erected near a fireplace where meals for the occasion were prepared, before the blaze spread to the main house. "Thirty-nine people were killed by the fire - 38 of them died on Saturday, another victim passed away today," he said. A police statement said "two victims were charred while 36 others were burnt and asphyxiated." Some victims had attempted to escape the blaze but were trapped because there was only one narrow doorway to exit the main house. Rakotoarison told Reuters people who were outside could not rush into the house to rescue those trapped because the door was pressed from the inside by the victims who had fallen against it. There is no fire station near the location of the accident in Mangidy village in Ikalamavony district, a deeply rural and isolated area. Russia denies its aircraft violated Bulgarian airspace MOSCOW, July 25 (Reuters) - Russia on Monday rejected allegations by Bulgaria that its aircraft had been involved in violations of Bulgarian airspace, Russian news agencies reported. On Sunday, Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev said there had been a rise in violations of its airspace by Russian military and commercial aircraft in the past month, calling the alleged breaches "provocations". A spokesman for Russia's Defence Ministry said Russian aircraft flying over the Black Sea had followed international rules and confined themselves to neutral zones, the Interfax news agency reported. He said Russian aircraft had kept their transponders on at all times, and that the ministry had not received any protests from Bulgaria, contradicting allegations by Bulgaria. Austrian bank Raiffeisen plans to sell stake in insurer Uniqa VIENNA, July 25 (Reuters) - Austria's Raiffeisen Zentralbank plans to sell most of its shares in insurer Uniqa , it said on Monday, moving towards bolstering its capital reserves while it considers merging with a listed unit for the same reason. Unlisted Raiffeisen Zentralbank (RZB) said it was in advanced talks to sell a 17.6 percent stake in Uniqa to Uniqa Versicherungsverein Privatstiftung, a foundation whose management board comprises Uniqa executives. RZB would retain a stake of roughly 8.6 percent in Uniqa, the two companies said in separate statements. At Monday's closing price of 5.65 euros ($6.20) a share, the stake RZB plans to sell is worth 307.9 million euros. "The intended transaction is part of the measures currently under evaluation by RZB to simplify the corporate structure and to adapt the group to increasing regulatory capital requirements," RZB said, referring to the proposed merger with its listed unit Raiffeisen Bank International. The Uniqa stake sale would boost RZB's fully loaded common equity tier 1 (CET 1) capital ratio, a measure of financial strength, by around 60 basis points, it said, though both sides had agreed to keep the purchase price confidential. RZB had a fully loaded CET 1 ratio of 10.3 percent at the end of 2015, well below Raiffeisen Bank International's 11.5 percent. Although streamlining the group's structure is a stated aim of the potential merger, boosting RZB's capital buffer is seen as the main goal. Colombia declares end to Zika epidemic inside country By Julia Symmes Cobb BOGOTA, July 25 (Reuters) - Colombian health officials declared on Monday that the worst of a Zika outbreak in the Andean nation had passed just 10 months after its arrival, raising questions about how the virus is affecting parts of Latin America differently. Vice Health Minister Fernando Ruiz told journalists that the number of infections in Colombia has been falling by 600 cases a week. While Zika is still circulating in the country, Colombia considers the drop-off sufficient to say it has moved into an endemic phase from the epidemic phase. "We can declare that the epidemic is ended. Colombia is the first country on the American continent to declare an end to the epidemic," Ruiz said. Zika has struck hardest in Brazil, where the outbreak was first detected last year, and has since spread rapidly through the Americas. The disease can cause the devastating birth defect microcephaly, a condition defined by abnormally small head size which can lead to severe developmental problems in infants, as well as other neurological problems. Brazil has reported more than 1,600 cases of microcephaly linked to Zika, a spike not replicated elsewhere to date. Colombia's Zika outbreak has been closely monitored by infectious disease experts to understand whether the virus will affect other countries in a similar manner to Brazil. Colombia has reported nearly 100,000 cases of infection, with 21 cases of Zika-related microcephaly. Some disease experts say they are reluctant to say the worst of the outbreak has passed in Colombia, particularly with mosquito season due to resume in the country within a few months, and the many unknowns surrounding the first mosquito-borne virus that can also be transmitted through sexual contact. "It's difficult to make predictive statements on an epidemic when the vast majority of cases go unreported," said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas. About 80 percent of Zika infections are believed to be asymptomatic. "There is a possibility that it has not taken hold in Colombia as it has in Brazil and Puerto Rico, but we're not going to know the full impact of this epidemic for several more months until we see whether additional waves of microcephaly cases are born," Hotez said. British scientists predicted earlier this month that it will take two to three years for the current Zika outbreak to come to an end in Latin America, assuming that enough people have been infected and become immune to the virus. Colombia's Health Ministry has also lifted its recommendation that women delay pregnancy because of the virus, Ruiz said, though there may be new outbreaks of the disease in future. Colombia expects that there will be an uptick of cases of microcephaly in September and October, Ruiz said, when pregnant women infected during the peak of the epidemic will give birth. The World Health Organization has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults. Colombia has reported 350 cases of the condition connected to Zika. There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya and causes mild fever, rash and red eyes in cases with symptoms. Philadelphia Does presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton agree with the Democratic Party platform , which blasts away at a test-and-punish culture and says parents should be able to opt their children out of standardized tests? Exactly what would implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act look like in a Clinton administration? If you were hoping that the Democratic convention and surrounding hoopla here would provide the down-and-dirty answers to those questions, you may end up disappointed. In speaking to Education Reform Now, Ann OLeary, Clintons top education advisor, instead hit big and broader themes, at times directly echoing Clintons own speeches to the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers . We really need to make sure that we improve our K-12 programs, OLeary said. It is a crime that we are making [students] pay for remedial education when they get to college because K-12 schools were inadequate. The Clinton campaign deliberately hung back, OLeary said, from weighing in on K-12 when ESSA was under development. It didnt want to trip up the bill politically, she said. Now Clinton has moved on to an approach to K-12 that can be described as TLC or Teaching, Learning, and Community, OLeary told the group. On teaching, OLeary said, Clinton wants to help bolster professional growth opportunities for educators. On learning, she favors the Common Core State Standards and wants to update learning to better get students ready for the workforce. And the c stands for community schools. Clinton wants to expand those models to better pair academics with support services. OLeary, who served as a top aide in Clintons office when ESSAs predecessor, the No Child Left Behind Act, was under development, said Clinton strongly supported the accountability provisions of the law, but thinks it lead to unintended consequences, like overtesting. OLeary showcased Clintons higher education plan, which she noted was revamped with help from her rival for the Democratic nomination, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Clinton borrowed his idea for free college and instead put forth her own plan for allowing children from families who make less than $125,00 a year to attend public college for free. And OLeary also noted Clintons longstanding interest in moving toward universal prekindergarten. She also hit on Clintons early career working with the Childrens Defense Fund to expand access to education for migrant kids and students in special education, as well as her work helping to bolster standards in Arkansas. Clinton, OLeary said, would not only be the first female president. Shed be the first child advocate president. Overall, OLeary seemed bound and determined not to make news. The discipline was deliberateshe pointedly said that Clinton is not in the business of saying one thing in one room and something else in another. Want more on what we know about Clintons approach to education? Check out our interactive graphic . Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . Reuters Health News Summary Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Up to 1.65 million women of childbearing age at risk for Zika As many as 1.65 million women of childbearing age in Central and Latin America are at risk of being infected with Zika, resulting in tens of thousands of pregnancies that could be affected by the mosquito-borne virus that is linked with severe birth defects. The projections, published on Monday in Nature Microbiology, are based on an enhanced model of the Zika outbreak. Prior modeling efforts that focus on the number of cases have been challenging because people infected with Zika often don't have symptoms. Malaria drug may help in cancer fight, early research finds An off-patent malaria drug could help to destroy cancer cells by making them more susceptible to radiotherapy, according to early work that has prompted British scientists to start a clinical trial. Researchers reported on Monday that atovaquone boosted oxygen levels in tumor cells in mice, making radiotherapy more effective against a range of cancer types, including lung, bowel, brain and head and neck cancer. Flu vaccine may help keep diabetics out of the hospital People with diabetes who get the flu vaccine may be less likely to wind up hospitalized for cardiovascular or respiratory problems, a recent study suggests. "The potential impact of influenza vaccine to reduce serious illness and death highlight the importance to renew efforts to ensure that people with diabetes receive the flu vaccine every year," said lead study author Dr. Eszter Vamos, a public health researcher at Imperial College London. FDA rejects Ocular Therapeutix post-operative eye pain treatment Drug developer Ocular Therapeutix Inc said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had denied approval for its treatment for post-operative eye pain. The company said on Monday that the FDA raised concerns related to its manufacturing process after an inspection of its facility. Colombia declares end to Zika epidemic inside country Colombian health officials declared on Monday that the worst of a Zika outbreak in the Andean nation had passed just 10 months after its arrival, raising questions about how the virus is affecting parts of Latin America differently. Vice Health Minister Fernando Ruiz told journalists that the number of infections in Colombia has been falling by 600 cases a week. While Zika is still circulating in the country, Colombia considers the drop-off sufficient to say it has moved into an endemic phase from the epidemic phase. Minorities may not get best care after a stroke Minority patients in the U.S. may be less likely than white people to undergo procedures designed to prevent or treat strokes, a study suggests. Nonwhite patients were significantly less likely to get clot-busting therapy, for example, or to undergo a procedure to reopen a clogged artery in the neck that carries blood to the brain. U.S. health officials update Zika transmission and testing guidance U.S. health officials issued updated recommendations for preventing and testing for Zika infection on Monday, warning that the virus can be transmitted through unprotected sex with an infected female partner. Previously, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other experts, believed that the virus could only be sexually transmitted by males because it can reside in semen potentially for several months. When pot became legal in Colorado, kids' exposures went up After recreational marijuana was legalized in Colorado, there was an increase in hospitalizations and poison control center visits for kids who'd been accidentally exposed to the drug, researchers say. Recreational marijuana became available in Colorado in 2014, and three other states now allow recreational use, the study authors point out in JAMA Pediatrics. Germany plans to extend price brake for drugs under statutory insurance Germany wants to extend a price brake for drugs covered by statutory health insurance for five years beyond 2017, stretching out the measure introduced in 2009, a draft law seen by Reuters shows. The health ministry estimates savings from the extension will amount to between 1.5 and 2.0 billion euros ($1.65-2.19 billion), ministry sources said. Spain registers first case in Europe of baby born with Zika-related defect China internet regulator fines websites over reporting -media SHANGHAI, July 26 (Reuters) - China's internet regulator has fined several websites for violating internet publication rules and ordered them to "rectify" pages that ran news stories based on their own reporting, state media has reported. Government rules restricting the publication online of "self-edited" news and information have been widely ignored, with many websites running robust reporting operations. The enforcement of the rules appeared to be the latest move by President Xi Jinping's administration to strengthen the ruling Communist Party's grip on the flow of news and information. Websites run by Sina Corp, Sohu.com Inc, Netease Inc, Phoenix New Media Ltd's iFeng and others had engaged in "actions that seriously violated regulations and had a completely vile effect", state media reported, quoting the Beijing municipal arm of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). The sites were ordered to "rectify" their wrongdoing and slapped with administrative fines, it said. One report by the Beijing Times that was widely re-published, including by the websites of the state news agency Xinhua and the Communist Party's official People's Daily, said several pages on Sina, Sohu, Netease and iFeng had been shut down. "All the (items) that were shut down or cleaned up included websites and web pages, mobile clients, public WeChat accounts and other platforms for propagation," the Beijing Times said. In a notice posted on its website, the CAC said late on Monday that eight internet portals - the four mentioned in the news reports, as well as Tencent Holding Ltd, Baidu Inc and two that were not identified - had been subject to inspections in Beijing and Guangdong. Calls to Sina were not answered and the company did not respond to emailed requests for a comment. Calls to Netease and iFeng were not answered. Baidu and Tencent did not provide immediate comment when contacted by Reuters early on Tuesday. A Sohu spokeswoman also declined to comment. The CAC said the inspections had discovered problems in management, training and other areas resulting in part from "the blind pursuit of economic benefit". "There were problems resulting from the rapid development of new technologies, and real problems with lagging legislation and team building that wasn't strong," it said. "The national CAC will work with the local cyberspace administrations to put forward requirements for rectification for the relevant websites and conduct discussions with Tencent and iFeng, which had prominent website management problems," it said. The party has signalled that it would not be relaxing its control over the media any time soon. After Nepal prime minister goes, China says hopes for stability BEIJING, July 26 (Reuters) - China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday it hoped that all parties in Nepal put national interest first and worked for stability, after the landlocked country's prime minister resigned, nine months after coming to power. Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Oli resigned on Sunday, minutes before parliament was to vote on a no-confidence motion he was likely to lose. The no-confidence motion was brought by former Maoist rebels who propped up the Oli-led government last October, but fell out with him after accusing him of failing to honour a power-sharing deal. Oli's departure plunges the Himalayan country, plagued by political turmoil for years, into a whole new round of political uncertainty. This is the country's 23rd government to fall since a multi-party democracy began in 1990 after bloody protests, and the political tumult has weighed on business confidence. China is vying to increase its influence in Nepal, challenging India's long-held position as the dominant outside power. When Oli visited China in March, he signed a deal allowing Nepal to use China's ports for trading goods with third countries, potentially ending India's decades-long monopoly over the impoverished country's trading routes. "As a neighbour and friend, China genuinely hopes that all parties and sides in Nepal put the national and people's interests first, and dedicate themselves to effecting Nepal's stability and development," China's foreign ministry said in a brief statement. China stocks rise slightly on brokerages, Hong Kong outperforms SHANGHAI, July 26 (Reuters) - Mainland Chinese stocks edged higher on Tuesday as bargain hunters snapped up brokerage shares, while Hong Kong outperformed, taking cues from a broad Asian rally. The CSI300 index rose 0.4 percent to 3,244.79 points at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.5 percent to 3,029.51 points. China CSI300 stock index futures for August rose 0.6 percent, to 3,218.8, 25.99 points below the current value of the underlying index and suggesting little investor confidence that the day's gains can be sustained. "The market is generally in a standstill, with investors focusing on individual hot stocks," said Gang, chief equity analyst at Central China Securities in Shanghai. "First-half data shows the economy is stabilising, with the market increasingly expecting no immediate fresh monetary easing steps," he said. Founder Securities rose 0.8 percent. The mid-size brokerage has seen its share price more than halved over the past year as the company was investigated by stock regulators for suspected irregularities. Top brokerage Citic Securities rose 0.5 percent, with its share price having also suffered from regulatory investigations. The Hang Seng index added 0.9 percent to 22,192.01, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 0.8 percent to 9,102.47. The index measuring price differences between dual-listed companies in Shanghai and Hong Kong stood at 127.12. A value above 100 indicates Shanghai shares are pricing at a premium to shares in the same company trading in Hong Kong, and vice versa. The northbound quota for the Hong Kong-Shanghai Stock Connect, currently set at 13 billion yuan, saw net inflows of 0.30 billion yuan. Total volume of A shares traded in Shanghai was 7.90 billion shares, while Shenzhen volume was 10.00 billion shares. Total trading volume of companies included in the HSI index was 0.8 billion shares. Vodafone Qatar reports flat year-on-year loss for Q1 DUBAI, July 26 (Reuters) - Vodafone Qatar, an affiliate of Vodafone Group, reported on Tuesday a first-quarter loss that was flat to the corresponding period of last year. The telecoms operator made a net loss of 99.6 million riyals ($27.4 million) in the three months to June 30, it said in a bourse statement, compared with a loss of 99.9 million riyals in the prior-year period. The result was in line with the forecast of QNB Financial Services, which expected the firm to make a net loss of 101.2 million riyals. Some in Sanders' army seem determined to march on without him By James Oliphant and Jonathan Allen PHILADELPHIA, July 26 (Reuters) - It should have been a triumphant night for Hillary Clinton when her rival Bernie Sanders gave a rousing speech urging his supporters to vote for her in the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. Instead it turned into a sign of potential trouble for her White House bid. His speech on Monday to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia urging the party to unite against Republican Donald Trump was met with some jeers when he endorsed Clinton - a sign he had lost control of his own movement. "I'm beyond disappointed," California delegate Aleece Depuey, 49, said after Sanders sought to rally support for his one-time rival. Hundreds of Sanders supporters marched through the streets on Day One of the four-day convention, chanting: "We want Bernie!" Delegates wore "Bernie or Bust" buttons. Others donned Robin Hood-style hats, a call to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor. When he spoke, a scuffle broke out between a Sanders supporter and a Clinton supporter in the hall. The backlash raised questions over whether - and how - Clinton could ever win over Sanders supporters. With opinion polls showing the Clinton-Trump race tightening, Clinton needs Sanders' voters more than ever. Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, arrived in Philadelphia with 1,894 of 4,763 delegates after winning 13 million votes in the Democratic nominating contest. To many of Sanders' backers, Clinton is a bridge too far. They see her as the kind of political insider, backed by reams of corporate money, that drove them to Sanders and his fight to rein in Wall Street and remove income inequality. Others simply do not trust her, opinion polls show. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll released at the end of June, some 15 percent of Sanders' backers said they would vote for Trump, and 19 percent would support neither Clinton nor Trump. Sanders won the states of Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, and New Hampshire in the run-up to the convention, and nearly won Iowa - all states that could be closely contested by Trump in the general election. Clinton likely will need some portion of Sanders' support to stay competitive in those states. 'HILLARY FOR PRISON' Clinton's campaign had hoped in Philadelphia to put the bare-knuckle primary fight behind it, but Sanders' voters were enraged by Friday's embarrassing release of internal party emails by the activist group WikiLeaks showing party officials clearly favored Clinton over their candidate. Sanders supporters seemed to be everywhere, often with a bigger presence than Clinton supporters, a jarring sight at an event where she is due to be formally nominated as the party's presidential candidate. At a delegate welcoming event on Sunday night, shouts of "Bernie!" filled the air as his supporters circulated a petition to force convention organizers to hold an extended roll-call vote on the floor this week that would require each delegate to declare his or her support. Others pledged to contest Clinton's choice of Democrat Tim Kaine, a U.S. senator from Virginia, as her running mate. When at mid-day Sanders addressed more than a thousand of his delegates at the city's convention center, the crowd erupted in fury when he asked them to switch their allegiance to Clinton. "Brothers and sisters," he said over their jeers, "this is the real world that we live in. Trump is a bully and a demagogue." People started shouting back: "So is Hillary!" Sanders did not mention Clinton again. But he already had lost the attention of some of his most fervent fans. "As soon as he said back Clinton, everyone stopped listening," said Cindy Melchert, a protester who listened to the appeal over a loudspeaker at a local park. A Michigan native, Melchert said she would not vote for Clinton in November under any circumstances. For her, the movement now was less about Sanders and more about showing the Democratic National Committee "they had us and absolutely lost us." Another protester, Michael Arnold of Atlanta, would not have been out of place at a Trump rally, sporting a T-shirt that read "Hillary for prison." SEEKING DECORUM Fearing a similar scene on the convention floor would embarrass Clinton, Sanders' campaign emailed delegates before Monday night's program, urging them to restrain themselves. "Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays," it read. Some Sanders supporters appeared willing to set aside their qualms about Clinton, largely out of a desire to see Trump defeated in the election. Diana Hatsis-Neuhoff, a delegate from Florida adorned with buttons backing Sanders, said she planned to vote for Clinton in the general election. "Yes," she said, "we'll hold our nose and vote." Others felt their fellow Sanders supporters had taken the movement too far. "We are surrounded by people who are so selfish and so self-absorbed," said Melissa Robbins, who worked for the Sanders campaign in Philadelphia. "Not voting for Hillary is a sure win for Donald Trump." The identity crisis that led to Yahoo's demise By Jonathan Weber and Jeffrey Dastin SAN FRANCISCO, July 26 (Reuters) - When senior Yahoo executives gathered at a San Jose hotel for a management retreat in the spring of 2006, there was no outward sign of a company in crisis. The internet pioneer, not yet a teenager, had just finished the prior year with $1.9 billion in profits on $5.3 billion in revenue. The tough days of the dot-com bust were a distant memory, and Yahoo Inc, flush with lucrative advertising deals from the world's biggest brands, was enjoying its run as one of the top dogs in the world's hottest industry. But for one retreat exercise, everyone was asked to say what word came to mind when a company name was mentioned. They went through the list: eBay: auctions. Google: search. Intel: microprocessors. Microsoft: Windows. Then they were asked to write down their answer for Yahoo. "It was all over the map," recalled Brad Garlinghouse, then a Yahoo senior vice president and now COO of payment settlement start-up Ripple Labs. "Some people said mail. Some people said news. Some people said search." While some executives said this was a useful management exercise that took place multiple times over the years, it proved an ominous portent of the business troubles to come. Indeed, the demise of Yahoo, which culminated in an agreement this week to sell the company's core assets to Verizon Communications Inc, has been more than a decade in the making. Many of the more than two dozen former Yahoo managers interviewed by Reuters over the past two weeks -- who now occupy executives suites elsewhere in Silicon Valley -- agree that the company's downfall can be traced to choices made by both the executive leadership and the board of directors during the company's heyday in the mid-2000s. Some of the missed opportunities are obvious: a failed bid to buy Facebook Inc for $1 billion in 2006. A 2002 dalliance with Google similarly came to naught. A chance to acquire YouTube came and went. Skype was snapped up by eBay Inc. And Microsoft Corp's nearly $45 billion takeover bid for all of Yahoo in 2008 was blocked by Yahoo's leadership. Just as damaging as the missed deals, though, was a company culture that ultimately became too bureaucratic and too focused on traditional brand advertising to prosper in a fast-moving tech business, according to some of the former Yahoo managers Reuters spoke with. "It became very difficult to get both investment and alignment" around new product initiatives, said Greg Cohn, a former senior product director at Yahoo and now CEO of the mobile phone app company Burner. "If you built a new product and the home page didn't want to feature it, you were hosed." Worst of all, once Alphabet Inc's Google had displaced it as peoples' first stop for finding something on the internet, Yahoo was never able to decide on exactly what it wanted to be. Yahoo today has more than 1 billion users and has focused on mobile under chief executive Marissa Mayer, who told Reuters in an interview Monday that she still saw a "path to growth" for Yahoo, which the Verizon merger accelerated. Yahoo will continue to operate as a holding company for its large stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan, which are worth far more than the core business. Yahoo declined to comment for this story. THE PURPLE CARPET The appointment of Terry Semel, who had completed a highly successful run as chairman of the Warner Bros. movie studio, as CEO in 2001 seemed to answer a question that bedeviled many early internet firms: was it a tech company, or a media company? Semel could not be reached for comment on his Yahoo tenure. But the focus on media proved lucrative in the short term as big advertisers, desperate to get on board with the next big thing, flocked to one of the largest properties on the web. Revenue soared from $717 million in 2001 to nearly $7 billion by 2007. Indeed, Semel and the media executives he brought in by all accounts turned a scrappy young internet startup into a highly profitable company that brought old-line advertising to a new medium. "From our perspective, we were a media company," said Dan Rosensweig, Yahoo's COO from 2002 to 2007 and now CEO of online education company Chegg Inc. "It didn't feel at the time that there was a strong likelihood we would beat Google at search... Nobody could argue that we weren't the largest front page on the internet." Yahoo placed its signature purple everywhere then -- on cookies and cupcakes, on the carpets, and even in the martinis. "When Coca Cola came to campus, we rolled out the purple carpet," recalled Wenda Harris Millard, Yahoo's chief sales officer from 2001 to 2007 and now president and COO of business development firm MediaLink. Millard said all the major advertisers, from Coke to General Motors, wanted to come to Yahoo's campus at least once a year. "We were just doing gazillions of dollars with them," said Millard. THE MONEY TRAP But the excitement, and the revenue, associated with the big advertising deals ten years ago turned out to be a trap in many ways. Like its brethren in the print media business, who continued to rely on selling ad pages long after it was clear that it was a dying business, Yahoo couldn't help but to focus on where the big money was, even though that wasn't where the future was. "The worst consequence of trying to be a media company was that they didn't take programming seriously enough," wrote Paul Graham, co-founder of the Y-Combinator tech incubator who sold a startup to Yahoo, in a 2010 blog post about the company's woes. "Microsoft (back in the day), Google, and Facebook have all had hacker-centric cultures. But Yahoo treated programming as a commodity." The downside of the media orientation became more clear as the 2000s wore on. In 2003, Yahoo acquired Overture, the company that essentially invented the ad-search technology that made Google rich. But Yahoo never succeeded in creating a strong competitor to Google's AdWords and AdSense systems. A subsequent, hugely expensive effort to rebuild its search and advertising technology, dubbed Panama, similarly bore little fruit. Meanwhile, market-leading products like Yahoo Mail, and early social media efforts like Yahoo Groups, were neglected as managers wrestled over which products would get priority on the hugely valuable Yahoo home page, according to three former executives. Promising acquisitions, including photo-sharing site Flickr and social bookmarking service Delicious, withered on the vine. Former staffers say they were consumed with endless internal meetings and shifting priorities. Former senior product director Cohn recalls how efforts to make Yahoo an open platform -- with nifty third-party applications around specific content areas such as travel -- foundered in the face of opposition from managers in charge of Yahoo's in-house products. Too often, the end result was money spread too thinly across too many marginal initiatives, as Garlinghouse famously pointed out in a leaked internal document known as the Peanut Butter Manifesto. TURMOIL AT THE TOP By 2007, it was becoming clear that Yahoo was losing ground fast on the product side as Google solidified its hold on search. New players like Facebook and Netflix Inc continued to arrive and steal Yahoo's thunder. Semel left that year in favor of co-founder Jerry Yang. Whatever plans Yang may have had were quickly disrupted by the unsolicited Microsoft takeover bid in early 2008. The offer split the management team, Garlinghouse and others say, and those divisions persisted even after Microsoft's offer was beaten back. Yang, who championed the resistance to Microsoft, stepped down again in 2008. Three other CEOs followed before Mayer was appointed in 2014. The leadership turmoil "made for a difficult existence for a board, a management team, and a general employee population to get committed to the same goal," said Rosensweig. Yang did not respond to requests for comment. By the time Mayer arrived, Yahoo was already seen in Silicon Valley as a company from another era. It had lots of cash but few strategic advantages as it fought far larger competitors. Many analysts and shareholder say Mayer exacerbated the troubles with acquisitions and key hires that proved misguided. Romania - Factors to watch on July 26 Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Romanian financial markets on Tuesday. DEBT TENDER Romania sold a planned 500 million lei ($123.74 million) worth of Feb. 2020 treasury bonds on Monday, with the average accepted yield at 2.0 percent, central bank data showed. Debt managers last issued the bond in June at an average yield of 2.25 percent. MONEY SUPPLY Romania's M3 money supply rose by 13.1 percent on the year to 295.1 billion lei ($72.82 billion) at the end of June and by 1.5 percent on the month. CEE MARKETS The Hungarian forint EURHUF= firmed 0.2 percent early on Monday, inching towards its 200-day moving average before Tuesday's central bank rate meeting. For the long-term Romanian diary, click on For emerging markets economic events, click on For an index of all diaries, click on Police in Bangladesh have killed nine terrorists who they believed were plotting a major attack. Officers said the militants, holed up in a building in Kalyanpur on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka, opened fire on the police as they tried to enter. The militants, who shouted 'Allahu akbar' or 'God is greatest' as they battled police, were believed to be members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a banned group that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State. Police in Bangladesh have killed nine terrorists who they believed were plotting a major attack Officers said the militants, holed up in a building in Kalyanpur on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka, opened fire on the police as they tried to enter They are believed to have been plotting an attack similar to the one on a cafe on July 1 that killed 22 people. 'They were wearing black outfits, turbans and had backpacks similar to the outfits the attackers in the cafe had,' police chief Shahidul Hoque said. 'They were plotting a major attack in the capital like that in the restaurant.' One wounded militant was captured and another managed to escape, he added. Prompt action spared Bangladesh from an attack, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said. 'They were preparing to carry out a terror attack,' she added. 'Our forces conducted the operation successfully upon getting intelligence reports.' Islamic State claimed responsibility for the cafe assault, one of the worst militant attacks Bangladesh has ever experienced, but the government has dismissed suggestions the group has a presence there. The militants, who shouted 'Allahu akbar' or 'God is greatest' as they battled police, were believed to be members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a banned group that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State The militants are believed to have been plotting an attack similar to the one on a cafe on July 1 that killed 22 people. Pictured: Residents watch the raid Police said JMB was behind the attack by five young Bangladeshis on the upmarket cafe. Most of the 22 killed were foreigners and the five attackers were also killed. 'The militant who was detained claimed they were Islamic State members, but we think they're JMB,' Hoque said. Dhaka city police chief Asaduzzaman Mia said police were questioning the owner of the building, from which they had seized 13 grenades and a huge quantity of explosive gel, among other weapons, ranging from pistols to commando knives. 'The militants were wearing black outfits, turbans and had backpacks similar to the outfits the attackers in the cafe had,' police chief Shahidul Hoque said Over the past year, Al Qaeda and Islamic State have made competing claims over a series of killings of liberals and members of religious minorities in the mostly Muslim nation of 160 million people. While authorities have blamed the violence on domestic militants, security experts say the scale and sophistication of the assault on the cafe suggested links to a trans-national network. Hungary, Factors to watch, July 26 BUDAPEST, July 26 (Reuters) - Following is a list of events in Hungary and the region, as well as news stories and press reports which may influence financial markets. (For any queries: Budapest editorial +36 1 327 4745) WHAT IS HAPPENING IN HUNGARY (ALL TIMES GMT) BUDAPEST - 3-month T-bill auction (0930) BUDAPEST - Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern visits Budapest, meets PM Viktor Orban (1045) BUDAPEST - Hungarian central bank to hold rate-setting meeting. Rate decision at 1200 GMT, statement at 1300 GMT IN THE REGION POLAND - Bank Millennium Q2 results SLOVAKIA - Current account 05/16 (1430) CZECH - Broadcaster CME Q2 results (1500) IN THE NEWS REUTERS Migrants on Serbia-Hungary border go on hunger strike, want to enter EU About 150 migrants, mainly from Afghanistan and Pakistan, on Monday started a hunger strike in a field in Serbia on the border with Hungary to demand passage to the European Union. Forint firms, flirts with key level before rate meeting Philadelphia It was Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders night to speak at the Democratic National Convention here, and Hillary Clintons one-time rival for the partys presidential nomination used his time to shift money away from incarceration and into schools. Sanders gave a brief nod to K-12 and the so-called school-to-prison pipeline. Deep into his late-night speech, Sanders said Clinton understood the importance of making sure young people in this country are in good schools and in good jobs, not rotting in jail cells. Hillary Clinton understands that we have to invest in education and jobs for our young people, Sanders said. Earlier, Sanders, who got a thunderous and prolonged ovation from the crowd when he took the stage, said the elecition is about the thousands that I have met who left college deeply in debt and others who cannot afford to go to college. He highlighted a proposal he and Clinton crafted together that would guarantee tuition-free access to public college and universities for children in families earning under $125,000 a yearthe vast majority of Americans, he said. That proposal also substantially reduces student debt, Sanders said. Too Much Like Obamas Policy? Reaction to the education records of Clinton and Sanders has been mixed. Jane Pulling, a retired school superintendent and South Carolina delegate said before Sanders speech that she was absolutely ready to embrace Clinton. I think she will be a strong supporter of public education, Pulling said. She always has been, so its hard to believe she wont continue to be. This is an embarrassment of riches. Certainly from an education perspective, I have a hard time understand people who cant just let it go. But Carole Chi, a Michigan delegate and retired teacher who taught mostly art at the middle school level, is not so enthusiastic, though she will back Clinton. She thinks Clintons education policy will probably look a lot like President Barack Obamas, and thats not a good thing in her book. He hired [former U.S. Secretary of Education] Arne Duncan, who had never taught a day in life, didnt go to a college of education. He had no experience and [Obama] relied on him, Chi said. Sanders has gotten support from a notable share of teachers and other educators. In fact, many of them were irritated when the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association moved quickly to endorse Clinton over Sanders in the Democratic primary last year. Both AFT President Randi Weingarten and NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia spoke at the convention Monday night and strongly supported Clinton. Earlier this year, we profiled a few members of the Badass Teachers Association, a union splinter group dissatisfied with the NEA and AFT, who were seeking statewide office and said they were inspired by Sanders rhetoric on education and other matters. And many inside the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center expressed support for Sanders on Monday. Sanders, Booker, and DREAMers Sanders spent little time talking about K-12 during his White House bid. Most of the time, when he talked about education, he focused on his plan to make public colleges and universities tuition-free. But he did back the Chicago Teachers Union in its bitter fight with Mayor Rahm Emanuel earlier this year. And his wife, Jane Sanders, said she and her husband stood with unions and against standardized testing. He sent mixed messages on charter schools, meanwhile. On Monday night, education got a few mention in other speeches. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker praised Clintons work on behalf of students with disabilities in Massachusetts and against school segregation in Alabama. Booker cast education as an issue of competition between the U.S. and other countries. Booker said that Clinton knows, The country that out-educates the world will out-earn the world. And Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who, like Sanders, serves on the Senate education committee, also emphasized college affordability when she said, We believe every child in America should have a chance at a great education without being crushed by student debt. A few young immigrants also spoke on Monday night to criticize GOP nominee Donald Trumps stance on illegal immigration. Astrid Silva, for example, an immigration activist, spoke on behalf of DREAMers, or immigrants who came to the country illegally as young children, but are seeking to go to college or enter the workforce. As an undocumented immigrant, she said she felt like college was out of reach for a long time, but eventually graduated from Nevada State College. While President Obamas immigration action protected me, we live in constant fear that my parents could be taken away from their grandson Noah, said Silva, whos worked with Democrats on immigration issues for several years and referred to Obamas actions on deportation relief. So when Donald Trump talks about deporting 11 million people, hes talking about ripping families apart. Hillary Clinton understands that this is not who we are as a country. Assistant Editor Alyson Klein contributed to this post. Top Photo: Senator Bernie Sanders takes in the crowds applause before he begins his headliner speech at the Democractic National Convention on Monday, July 25, 2016 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pa. --Deanna Del Ciello/Education Week Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . Regional armies struggle in last push against Boko Haram By Joe Bavier DIFFA, Niger, July 25 (Reuters) - "You'll all be able to go home soon. Boko Haram is nearly finished," Niger's Interior Minister Mohamed Bazoum told a crowd of refugees seated quietly on dusty, sun-baked flats. His words of optimism were belied by the dozens-strong security detail required to protect him as he toured his country's southern border. Seven years into an insurgency that spread from Nigeria into Chad, Niger and Cameroon, regional armies are now in a final push to defeat Boko Haram, a once obscure Islamist sect turned deadly militant group. But lingering divisions in the countries' multi-national joint task force (MNJTF) are complicating that mission. "If there's no strategy to attack Boko Haram together, we won't ever finish with them," Mahamadou Liman Ali, an opposition lawmaker from southern Niger, told Reuters in Niamey. At a time when the world's wealthy nations are focused on the fight against Islamic State and al Qaeda, financial support for the MNJTF's efforts against Boko Haram, which has pledged its allegiance to IS, have fallen short of targets. That has left the task force's members - including Chad, the region's capable but increasingly reluctant military powerhouse - to shoulder the bulk of the costs of fighting the group. Boko Haram's victims, which include 2.4 million displaced, live in hope that this month-old offensive - dubbed Operation Gama Aiki, or "finish the job" in the local Hausa language - might succeed where others have failed. Some have doubts. From where he stays in southern Niger, refugee Usman Kanimbu sees smoke rising from the coalition's air strikes on insurgent positions in Nigeria, the home he fled. "We've fled eight times. Each time we arrive somewhere Boko Haram attacks again. We would keep running, but we can't afford to anymore," he said. "I'm not sure this will ever end." FRAGILE PROGRESS As the sun sets over the Nigerian border, a featureless expanse of sand and scrub trees, soldiers from Niger peered over an earthen bern at territory held by Boko Haram. The skies above the borderlands now rumble daily with the sound of fighter jets. Chadian troops have ventured onto Lake Chad, a Boko Haram stronghold. Regional military officers say they are taking back ground from the insurgents. The task force may indeed be making headway against Boko Haram, which has fewer footholds than it once did. Its leader, Abubakar Shekau, may even be dead. But the MNJTF is a far cry from what it was conceived to be, a dedicated 8,700-strong force blending soldiers from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Benin. Instead, the nations rely on their own armies to deal with Boko Haram threats. Troops from Chad, which has the region's strongest military, reinforce when needed then head back home. "Each force is based in its country of origin. There's no integrated force with battalions moving in perfect coordination," said Vincent Foucher, West Africa researcher at International Crisis Group (ICG). The need for operational integration in the fight against an enemy that knows no borders was exposed during a similar regional offensive early last year. After troops from Chad and Niger drove Boko Haram from a string of towns in Nigeria's far north, they waited in vain for the Nigerian army to arrive and hold them. "We were there for three or four months, but the Nigerian troops that were meant to take over from us were not ready," Niger's Brigadier General Abdou Sidikou Issa told Reuters. Niger and Chad withdrew, according to a source with knowledge of the operation, because they feared becoming an occupying force. Issa said the troops were overstretched logistically, however. Either way, the vacuum they left allowed Boko Haram to reclaim positions and carry on cross-border raids. "That's what's created problems for us again today," Issa said. The MNJTF was meant to prevent a repeat of those kinds of incidents. The African Union endorsed the force in January 2015 and a headquarters was established in Chad's capital N'Djamena to coordinate forces against the ever-evolving threat of Boko Haram. The AU has struggled to rally contributors to foot the bill for the MNJTF's $700 million budget, however. Donors, led by Nigeria and France, pledged $250 million in February, just over a third of what was needed, but dispersal has been slow. The United States has also aided with intelligence and training. A senior MNJTF officer, who asked not to be named as he was not authorised to speak, told Reuters the money received so far was so little that it only had covered the cost of 11 vehicles and some radio equipment, with the individual armies bearing the rest of the costs. "There are all these declarations of intentions, but, in concrete terms, nothing has been done yet," he said. A spokesman for the MNJTF did not respond to a request for comment. "HURTING" A Boko Haram attack last month on Bosso, in southeastern Niger, which killed 32 soldiers and a number of civilians, was the kind of incident the MNJTF was created for. But rather than the multinational force kicking into action as it is supposed to, Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou had to fly to N'Djamena to lobby neighbour Chad for help. Having played a lead role along with France in a 2013 intervention in Mali to drive back jihadist groups there, Chad's President Idriss Deby has become indispensable in the fight against West African Islamists. But with low oil prices now causing Deby economic headaches at home and little direct financial support coming from his allies, analysts say he has grown resentful. Two weeks after President Issoufou's visit, Reuters visited a half-finished hotel complex in the southern Niger city of Diffa that had been fully booked out by the Chadian army. The Chadians were nowhere to be seen. Dozens of bungalows sat empty. It would take more than a month for them to arrive. Excluding its oil sector, after 7 percent growth in 2014, Chad's economy contracted by 1.5 percent last year, according to the International Monetary Fund. Oil output rose to record levels, but low prices meant revenues dipped. "This is costing (Deby) a lot of money. There's a big budget crisis ... He's definitely hurting," said Nathaniel Powell, a researcher with the Swiss-based Fondation Pierre du Bois. A Chadian government official did not respond to a request for comment. Niger's tiny army - 15,000 troops to cover 1.2 million square kilometres (463,300 square miles) of territory - is overstretched by Boko Haram, but also by the overflow of unrelated Islamist violence from Mali to its west. Cameroon has meanwhile deployed thousands of troops, including special forces, to its north to secure its own territory against a suicide bombing campaign. And while Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has shown more willingness than his predecessor to take on the insurgents, decades of graft have hollowed out his military and it now faces resurgent militancy in the oil-producing Niger Delta. The senior MNJTF officer said the regional neighbours would continue to improve the force. In the meantime, they had no other choice than to act. PRESS DIGEST - Bulgaria - July 26 SOFIA, July 26 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. -- The Syrian, who blew himself up in Ansbach, southern Germany, had been granted humanitarian status by Bulgaria, the interior ministry said. The 27-year-old has been registered in September 2013 and left the Balkan country in mid-2014 (Trud, Standart) -- Some 70 percent of Bulgarians think that the risk of new conflicts in Turkey is looming larger, a recent poll by Gallup International showed U.S. says backs resumption of China-Philippines talks on South China Sea By Simon Webb, Manuel Mogato and Ben Blanchard VIENTIANE, July 26 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday he supported the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea, following an international court ruling against Beijing over the dispute earlier this month. China did not participate in and has refused to accept the July 12 ruling by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, in which U.S. ally Manila won an emphatic legal victory. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi had asked Kerry to lend his support for bilateral talks to restart between Manila and Beijing in a meeting between the two in the Laos capital of Vientiane on Monday. "The foreign minister said the time has come to move away from public tensions and turn the page," Kerry told a news conference. "And we agree with that... no claimant should be acting in a way that is provocative, no claimant should take steps that wind up raising tensions." Kerry said he would encourage Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to engage in dialogue and negotiations with China when the two meet in Manila on Wednesday. Kerry is due to travel to the Philippines later on Tuesday. China's dismissal of the court ruling as illegitimate presented a challenge, Kerry said. The international community, including the United States, sees the ruling as legally binding and a matter of law, he added. "So we still have a task ahead of us, a challenge, which is to try to work going forward to make sure that we are resolving the issues through diplomacy and the rule of law," he said. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. China has repeatedly blamed the United States for stoking tensions in the region through its military patrols, and of taking sides in the dispute, accusations Washington denies. Speaking to reporters on a conference call, a senior U.S. administration official said at the end of a visit to China by National Security Adviser Susan Rice that she had emphasised all parties should take steps to reduce tensions and use the ruling to reinvigorate regional diplomacy. Rice also told Chinese officials, who included a top military officer, that U.S. military operations were designed to contribute to peace and stability wherever they happened, including in the South China Sea, the official said. "Those operations are lawful, they will continue, they've been longstanding, and again they're designed to impart confidence and stability," he added. VITAL SHIPPING LANE In a meeting on the sidelines of a gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Wang told Kerry that China and ASEAN had agreed the dispute should get back onto the "correct" track of being resolved by direct talks with the parties concerned. China "hopes the United States side takes actual steps to support the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines, and support the efforts of China and ASEAN to maintain regional peace and stability", Wang said, according to a foreign ministry statement released on Tuesday. Competing claims with China in the vital shipping lane and resource-rich sea are among the most contentious issues for the 10 members of ASEAN, who are pulled between their desire to assert their sovereignty while fostering ties with an increasingly assertive Beijing. China scored a diplomatic victory on Monday as ASEAN dropped any reference to the court ruling in a joint statement in the face of resolute objections from Cambodia, China's closest ASEAN ally. Speaking to reporters in Vientiane, Philippines Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay said the dispute was not between China and the United States but between China and the Philippines. "We would like to pursue bilateral relationships in so far as the peaceful resolution of the dispute is concerned that is between the China and the Philippines. The others are not concerned with that dispute," Yasay told reporters. China has also accused Japan of interfering in the dispute. China's foreign ministry said Wang again urged Tokyo not to intervene in the South China Sea, saying Japan was not a claimant in the disputes and should avoid interfering in up the maritime spats. "The China-Japan relations are still vulnerable and unsatisfactory," Wang told Fumio Kishida, Japan's minister for foreign affairs. Slovak Republic - Factors To Watch on July 26 BRATISLAVA, July 26 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial markets on Tuesday. 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 - Slovakia's central bank meets to discuss raising the counter-cyclical buffer for banks from zero. Story: Related stories: ==========================NEWS================================ EQUITY: Slovenian hygienic products maker Paloma said on Monday it signed a deal for Slovakian financial fund Eco-Invest to inject 18.2 million euros ($20 million) into Paloma and then make a bid for the whole company. Story: Related stories: ======================PRESS DIGEST============================ SECURITY: Uncontrolled migration brings about huge security risks, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico wrote in an op-ed in the wake of recent attacks in France and Germany. The European Union and member states need to treat security as an absolute priority otherwise extremists will take the lead, Fico said. Hospodarske Noviny, page 6 Reuters has not verified the media reports, nor does it vouch for their accuracy. 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: Jan Lopatka on +420 224 190 474 E-mail: prague.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (Reporting by Prague Newsroom) 13 people killed in Somali suicide bombing claimed by al Shabaab By Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar MOGADISHU, July 26 (Reuters) - Suicide bombers killed at least 13 people at the gates of the African Union's main peacekeeping base in the Somali capital on Tuesday, police said, in an attack claimed by the Islamist militants of al Shabaab. The force of the bombings shattered windows at Mogadishu's nearby airport, showered arriving passengers with glass and forced the suspension of flights, police and witnesses said. The United States condemned the attack on the AMISOM peacekeeping force's base, the latest by the militant group that wants to topple Somalia's western-backed government and rule the Horn of Africa country according to sharia law. "At least 13 people - mostly security forces - died in the two car bomb blasts," and 12 others were wounded, police officer Abdiqadir Omar told Reuters. Al Shabaab, which is linked to al Qaeda, said it set off two car bombs. Police said the first attacker detonated a car bomb and the second tried to storm the base on foot, but was shot and exploded at the gate. The guards were caught in the blast as they escorted U.N. personnel into the base, known as Halane. In a statement, White House spokesman Ned Price said the U.S. stood with Somalia in its fight against "despicable acts of terrorism that seek to destabilize" the country. "We remain committed to helping Somalia progress along a path towards peace and prosperity and the defeat of terrorist groups, including al-Shabaab," he said. AMISOM said on Twitter it condemned the "senseless attacks that aim to disrupt and cripple the lives of ordinary Somalis". There was no immediate comment from the United Nations. People arriving on international flights said the blasts shattered windows in the airport buildings. "We were greeted by two loud blasts. The glass of the airport building fell on us," said Ali Nur, who had just got off a plane from Nairobi. Al Shabaab regularly attacks AMISOM, which is made up of about 22,000 military personnel from Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and other African countries helping to support Somalia's government and army. Somalia was plunged into anarchy in the early 1990s following the toppling of military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. The U.N. refugee agency on Tuesday increased its funding appeal to nearly $500 million to finance the voluntary return and reintegration of Somali refugees from the sprawling Dadaab camp in Kenya, which hosts some 330,000 Somalis. Kenya, citing security threats, said last month it aims to reduce by almost half the population of the camp. "Despite the security situation currently in Somalia, people are returning on a daily basis," UNHCR's representative in Somalia Caroline van Buren told a news briefing in Geneva. Australia dismiss Sri Lanka for 117 in opener July 26 (Reuters) - Australia's bowlers ripped through Sri Lanka's brittle batting order to dismiss the home side for 117 on an eventful first day of the opening test at Pallekele on Tuesday that also saw the visitors lose their openers for just seven runs. Fast bowler Josh Hazlewood and off-spinner Nathan Lyon claimed three wickets apiece, while Mitchell Starc and Steve O'Keefe picked up two each as the hosts were shot out shortly after lunch. Debutant all-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva (24) was the top scorer for Sri Lanka, who have lost their last two test series in New Zealand and England. Australia's innings also got off to a shaky start as they lost David Warner and Joe Burns inside the first four overs before captain Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja calmed things down with an unbroken third-wicket stand of 59 runs. Smith, the world's leading test batsman in the ICC rankings, was on 28 while Khawaja was on 25 at the tea interval with Australia rebuilding on 66-2. Rain then washed away the entire final session of the opening day. Earlier, Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews won the toss and had no hesitation in opting to bat on a dry pitch in the first match of the three-test series. Any hopes Mathews had of enjoying a strong start were shattered, however, when Australia pace duo Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc took full control with the new ball to reduce the hosts to 18-3 inside 10 overs. Left-armer Starc, making his comeback after a long injury layoff, sent back Dimuth Karunaratne, with the opening batsman failing to get the umpire's leg before wicket verdict overturned on review. The 25-year-old Hazlewood, bowling an impeccable line and length, then dismissed Kusal Mendis and Kaushal Silva and returned for another spell before lunch to lure Dinesh Chandimal into an edge behind to wicketkeeper Peter Nevill. Left-arm spinner Steve O'Keefe, who was included alongside Lyon, was brought on in the ninth over by Smith and got his reward when he dismissed Mathews. Lyon found a lot of turn from the surface and picked up his three wickets from just seven deliveries after lunch as Sri Lanka's batsman appeared keen to return to the pavilion as quickly as they departed it. Rangana Herath became Starc's second victim and Australia's ninth after Smith successfully overturned the umpire's 'not out' decision for leg before on review. O'Keefe finished off proceedings when he captured his second wicket of the innings with the removal of Nuwan Pradeep. Shares in Italy's ENAV open up 9 pct in first day of trading MILAN, July 26 (Reuters) - Shares in Italian air traffic controller ENAV rose more than 9 percent at the market open on Tuesday, its first day of trading on Milan's bourse. The Italian government sold 47 percent of the group last week in a deal that will net up to 834 million euros ($918 million), as part of a programme of privatisations to help bring down its huge public debt. Two more arrested in France in connection with Nice attack -sources PARIS, July 26 (Reuters) - Two more people have been arrested in connection with the Nice attacker who killed 84 people in the French Riviera city of Nice on July 14, sources close to the investigation told Reuters on Tuesday. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said last week the Bastille Day attacker, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, had been planning the attack for months. Five suspected accomplices already in custody have been put under formal investigation. None of the five had been known to intelligence services. The source said the new arrests took place on Monday in Nice. A second source said the two arrested were men and that their pictures had been found on Bouhlel's mobile telephone. In an attack claimed by Islamic State, the 31-year-old Tunisian ploughed his hire truck into a crowd of revellers along Nice's palm-fringed Promenade des Anglais. The militant group called Bouhlel one of its soldiers, but authorities say they have yet to find evidence that the 31-year-old, who was shot dead by police, had any actual links to the militant group. Fitch cuts South Africa's local currency debt rating JOHANNESBURG, July 26 (Reuters) - Ratings agency Fitch downgraded South Africa's local currency debt rating by one level to just a notch above subinvestment grade in what the firm said was a review of its sovereign rating portfolio across several countries. Fitch published the review on Friday, with South Africa one of 23 countries to have their local currency rating cut. The downgrade of South Africa's rand denominated debt to BBB-, the same level as the sovereign rating, pushes Africa's most industrialised country closer to "junk" status, said an analyst. "In broad terms, the methodology is a change of Fitch's view on the relationship between the foreign and local currency ratings of sovereigns," analyst at Rand Merchant Bank Isaah Mhlanga said in a note. Mhlanga said the downgrade was significant because it risked South Africa's position in global bond indices. In June, Fitch affirmed South Africa's investment grade credit rating on foreign debt while also maintaining a stable outlook, but cited low economic growth and high debt levels as significant risks. Bollore clashes with Berlusconi over Mediaset By Giulia Segreti, Agnieszka Flak and Mathieu Rosemain MILAN/PARIS, July 26 (Reuters) - French tycoon Vincent Bollore has backed away from a deal to buy the pay-TV business of Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset in an unexpected move that the Italian broadcaster's biggest shareholder said could lead to a full takeover. Mediaset, controlled by the family of former Italian prime minister Berlusconi said on Tuesday Vivendi had proposed an alternative agreement that would give it a bigger direct stake in the broadcaster than originally agreed. The Italian group said Vivendi wanted just 20 percent of its pay-TV division Mediaset Premium and not 100 percent as agreed in April. Vivendi also now wants to take around 15 percent of parent Mediaset in the next three years via a convertible bond, Mediaset said. Fininvest, the Berlusconi holding company that owns 35 percent of Mediaset, said Vivendi's decision to rejig the terms of the deal showed the French group's agenda was to build a significant stake in Italy's biggest private broadcaster. Vivendi said in a statement the new proposal was more in line with the development of the television market and the strategies of its main competitors. A Vivendi spokesman said the main reason for the change to the deal was differences between Vivendi and Mediaset in the analysis of Mediaset Premium's annual financial forecasts over the 2016-2018 period. Vivendi, led by Bollore since 2014, is trying to build a European media and content group which will also have partnerships in the telecoms sector. It has already built up a stake of 24.7 percent in Telecom Italia. Bollore has longstanding connections in Italy and is a shareholder in Mediobanca, the investment bank that has for years been central to deal making in the country. "The project has from the very start been to get Vivendi and Mediaset closer, from a shareholding point of view," a source close to the matter said. "The first agreement foresaw a scheme with Mediaset Premium, but there was the possibility in a few years to raise the stake in each other's company." Bollore, 64, has a track record as a corporate raider, having gained control of several companies over the years via minority stakes. In June 2014, he became the chairman of Vivendi in which he holds a 15.33 percent stake. Vivendi Chief Executive Arnaud de Puyfontaine said the group did not plan to take control of Mediaset and said its strategy had not changed. "The strategy is the same, what changes is the way we make it happen because we have a different perspective on some aspects of the business," de Puyfontaine said, speaking to reporters in Milan earlier on Tuesday. Vivendi's unexpected change of tack hit Mediaset shares, which closed down 6.9 percent. "The move by Vivendi wants to put the Berlusconi family in the corner, and force them to give up the control of Mediaset, at a time when Berlusconi is selling off several assets of his empire," one Milan-based media analyst said. "This new move by Vivendi would signal a stronger appetite for Mediaset," Banca Akros analyst Andrea De Vita said. Disagreements over the deal arose last Thursday when Mediaset Chief Executive Pier Silvio Berlusconi, who is Berlusconi's son, met Vivendi chairman Bollore, another source familiar with the matter said. Bollore asked for a discount on the price of the deal as he believed Mediaset Premium was not worth the original value stipulated in the deal, this source said. The share-based deal had valued Mediaset Premium at 800 million euros ($912 million), with the two companies taking a 3.5 percent stake in each other. At the beginning of July, Pier Silvio Berlusconi said financial results of the pay-TV unit were in line with the business plan. He said Mediaset's advertising revenues in the first six months of the year would be up almost 4 percent, and would rise 2 percent at the end of 2016. Philadelphia A new education policy group led by former U.S. Secretary of Education William J. Bennett wants to ensure that state Republican lawmakers stick to conservative principles as they implement the Every Student Succeeds Act . Conservative Leaders for Education aims to promote school choice, local control, transparent and timely accountability, and high academic standards chosen by states as they shift to ESSA, the new federal education law passed last year. The idea behind the group is to push those principles in statehouses, but also to have state lawmakers share specific policy ideas to match. NCLB is dead. We urge states to seize the day. Republicans need to step up, Bennett said in a phone interview, referring to the previous iteration of federal education law, the No Child Left Behind Act. Ive been complaining, worrying, wondering out loud, frustrated about education as a conservative. Democrats act as if they own it, and in many ways, they have owned it. We also got Bennettthe new groups chairman, who served as President Ronald Reagans education secretary from 1985 to 1988to discuss his dealings with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on education. More on that below. Conservative Leaders for Educations membership is made up of state lawmakers who chair education committees in eight statesAlabama, Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Utah, and Wisconsinand it will seek to add new state lawmakers in the future. (All of those states, except Colorado, have Republican governors.) Right now, Republicans control 30 state legislatures and 31 governorships, and they have unified control of 22 states . The GOP has held sway over the majority of states since the 2010 elections, but Bennett said that up until ESSA, they didnt have the freedom to create as much education policy as they might have wished. ESSA changes that, he said. Conservative Leaders for Education will be particularly helpful for state lawmakers who have control over K-12 policy, but arent necessarily veterans of education policy and political battles, said Michigan GOP Rep. Amanda Price, the chairwoman of her chambers education panel and a member of the new groups steering committee. I think its going to be a unique and useful resource for us, Price, whos been chairwoman of her chambers K-12 committee for about 18 months, said in a phone interview. Unions, Choice, and Accountability Bennett is particularly concerned that the two national teachers unions, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, will exert more influence than Republican K-12 leaders as states and districts begin the shift to ESSA. I asked the about the fact that the AFT and NEA were closely involved with the creation and passage of ESSA, and that the NEA even gave ESSA architect Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., an award last month . Bennett responded that while that may be true, hes already seeing evidence that the unions are pushing for soft and fuzzy subjective accountability provisions that fly in the face of the new groups principles. And he cited AFT President Randi Weingartens attack on testing during her remarks at the Democratic National Committee on Monday. Theyre happy to get this at the local level, they think theyre stronger at the local level, Bennett said of the unions. Thats why I think theyre giving at least two cheers for ESSA. ... When you talk about choice, you know what the unions will say about that. But the new group doesnt want state education departments in Republican-controlled states to be too prescriptive eitherthat goes against what ESSA should accomplish, said Kentucky Sen. Mike Wilson, the chairman of his chambers education committee, who is also on the new groups steering committee. It stifles creativity and innovation that we know really happens at the local level, Wilson said. For his own part, Wilson said hes been pushing for legislation to allow charter schools in Kentucky . He said his bill is in sync with ESSA because it would require Bluegrass State charter schools to be held to the same standard as traditional public schools. One area where Wilson isnt a huge fan of recent developments around ESSA? The requirement in draft ESSA accountability rules for a single, summative rating for schools that might mask specific issues in specific schools, he said. He thinks dashboard accountability can be more helpful. (His states schools chief, Stephen Pruitt, agrees. ) Those and other K-12 disagreements, like those in Michigan over teacher tenure and evaluations, show why the group is needed, Price said: Education is not for the faint-hearted. Advising Trump Apart from ESSA, I also asked Bennett, who now hosts a talk radio program, to flesh out comments hes made previously that hes been in contact with GOP nominee Donald Trump about education policy. Bennett, for example, has backed the Common Core State Standards , but Trump has denounced the standards, although without specifying why. Bennett responded that he had one brief conversation with Trump, telling him hed be happy to offer Trump advice about education. He said, Great, Ill look forward to talking with you further,"" Bennett said, although he added that Trump hasnt followed up. However, Bennett said he has shared his ideas with conservative economists Stephen Moore and Lawrence Kudlow, who have been working with Trumps campaign directly on policy. And Bennett noted that hes also personally shared his ideas with presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, although he hasnt seen anything come of that. Photo: Former Secretary of Education William Bennett. Michael Caulfield/AP-File Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . South Korea's anti-missile system does not threaten China - U.S. official BEIJING, July 26 (Reuters) - South Korea's decision to deploy an advanced U.S. THAAD anti-missile defence system does not threaten China's security, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday at the end of a visit to China by U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice. Malaysia jails nine Filipinos over invasion to press claim by "sultan" KUALA LUMPUR, July 26 (Reuters) - A Malaysian court jailed nine Philippine militants for life on Tuesday for their involvement in a 2013 invasion of a Malaysian state on Borneo island, in a dispute stemming from 19th century British colonial rule. The militants were found guilty of waging war against the Malaysian king during the February 2013 invasion of Sabah state that ended in bloody skirmishes with Malaysian forces after a month-long standoff. The High Court in the state capital of Kota Kinabalu ruled that there were no grounds to justify the death penalty as there was no evidence the nine had been directly involved in the skirmishes, Malaysia's Bernama state news agency reported. "The offence had badly affected the lives of the residents ... as well as the families of the deceased security personnel," the judge, Stephen Chung, told the court. At least 27 people were killed as Malaysian troops backed by fighter jets stormed the camp set up by the Philippine fighters in the Lahad Datu district. The key people behind the invasion have not been brought to justice, the news agency cited Chung as saying. The fighters were from a group from the southern Philippines that has demanded recognition, and an increased payment from Malaysia, for their claim to be the rightful owners of Sabah, which an ancient sultanate leased to British colonialists in the 19th century. Malaysia dismisses the demands. U.S. tells China that anti-missile system not a threat BEIJING, July 26 (Reuters) - South Korea's decision to deploy an advanced U.S. anti-missile defence system does not threaten China's security, a senior U.S. administration official said on Tuesday at the end of a visit to China by U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice. The announcement by South Korea and the United States this month that they would deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) unit has already drawn protests from China that it would destabilise regional security. The decision is the latest move to squeeze increasingly isolated North Korea, but China worries the system's radar will be able to track its military capabilities. Russia also opposes the deployment. "It is purely a defensive measure. It is not aimed at any other party other than North Korea and the threat it poses and this defensive weapons system is neither designed nor capable of threatening China's security interests," the official told reporters on a conference call. South Korea and the United States have said THAAD would only be used in defence against North Korean ballistic missiles. North Korea has launched a series of missiles in recent months, the latest last week when it fired three ballistic missiles in what it said was a simulated test of preemptive strikes against South Korean ports and airfields used by the U.S. military. The missiles flew 500-600 km (300-360 miles) into the sea off its east coast and could have hit anywhere in South Korea if the North intended, the South's military said. North Korea came under the latest round of U.N. Security Council sanctions in March after its fourth nuclear test in January and the launch of a long-range rocket the following month. Chinese miners call for anti-dumping probe into iron ore imports By Ruby Lian and David Stanway SHANGHAI, July 26 (Reuters) - Chinese iron ore miners have called for an anti-dumping investigation into imports of the steelmaking raw material from top suppliers Australia and Brazil. More than 20 Chinese miners in a statement on the Metallurgical Miners' Association of China website said "a huge volume of low-priced imported iron ore has had a severe impact on the domestic mining industry and even posed a big challenge for the security of steel production". "The capacity of major iron ore miners has continued to grow and requires a massive Chinese market to absorb their great excess," the statement posted on Tuesday said. Australia's BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto , along with Brazil's Vale, have embarked on massive expansion programmes in recent years to supply the Chinese market. "Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton which have dominated global iron ore trade have defied the market and are still expanding despite prices being low since their strategy is to use low-priced dumping to crowd out higher-cost miners," the association said. Rio Tinto declined to comment, while officials from BHP and Vale could not immediately be reached for comment. Imports accounted for about 85 percent of China's total iron ore consumption, driving down capacity utilization at domestic iron ore miners and causing losses and shutdowns, the association said. China is the world's biggest steel producer and iron ore consumer, but growing supplies from Australia and Brazil and the low quality of ore mined locally has increased Beijing's reliance on imports. And a slide in iron ore prices in the past three years prompted more Chinese steel mills to opt for better quality imported ore and forced many to shut down last year. A total of 329 Chinese medium and large-sized mines closed last year and another 793 were shut in the first five months of the year with Jan-May output down 2.7 percent from a year ago to 471 million tonnes, the association said. China has seen a rising mountain of imported iron ore at its ports and imports are forecast to increase by 2.1 percent to 974 million tonnes in 2016 and by 0.7 percent to 981 million tonnes in 2017, according to Australia's Department of Industry and Science. Carsten Menke, an analyst at Julius Baer, noted that many of China's iron ore mines are vertically integrated into steel mills. "Hence, this looks like a tit-for-tat response from the steel mills who were feeling international pressure from steel anti-dumping investigations and tariffs," he said. China has faced its own anti-dumping measures over accusations of flooding markets with cheap steel. Beijing has denied that its prices are artificially subsidised, saying its production cost are much lower than Western countries. Simon Bennison, chief executive of the Association on Mining and Exploration Companies in Australia, said he found the anti-dumping probe proposal "surprising, given the iron ore price is set on China's Dalian Exchange." Female photographer gives voice to Nigeria's Boko Haram victims - with Instagram By Kieran Guilbert DAKAR, July 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Armed with nothing more than a camera and a notepad, 30-year-old Fati Abubakar wanders around Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri, Boko Haram's former stronghold, snapping portraits of people whose lives have been affected by the Islamist militants. Frustrated by a global media narrative of death and trauma, the aid worker and photographer felt compelled to document the resilience and optimism of conflict-hit communities - using the photo-sharing app Instagram to share their stories worldwide. "I was unhappy that no one was documenting the everyday life of Nigerians - I wanted to show that people were still thriving despite the Boko Haram insurgency," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. A regional offensive last year drove Boko Haram from much of the territory it held in northern Nigeria, undermining its seven-year campaign to carve out an Islamist caliphate. But the militants have since hit back with raids and suicide bombings.. "I decided to give people the chance to tell their stories, as opposed to the media just talking about the number of deaths in the latest attacks," added Abubakar, who said she had been inspired by the popular photo blog "Humans of New York". Her Instagram page @bitsofborno boasts 4,500 followers and features more than 300 photos, ranging from young men tending to their cattle and women collecting water to young girls playing and cradling their teddy bears while grinning into the camera. Abubakar, who was born in Maiduguri and has degrees in nursing and public health, combines her passion for photography with a job working on a malnutrition project with an aid group. "When we visit communities, my colleagues allow me freedom - they even wait for me to interview people before we leave." While Abubakar describes school children as her favourite subjects, because they "look clean, healthy and happy", she said she feels traumatised when she sees those living on the streets. The Instagram enthusiast also has to deal with disapproving looks and remarks in a region with few female photographers. But most people support her project and tell her to keep going, while others have offered clothes, food and money for the subjects of her photos who are in need of aid, Abubakar said. "The vibe has changed since I started my account last September ... there is more optimism and hope for the future." Europe's "deplorable" child migrant response raises trafficking risk- report By Tom Esslemont LONDON, July 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Children who flee poverty and war zones without their parents are falling prey to traffickers and smugglers once they arrive in Europe because of a disjointed response by governments, a group of British parliamentarians said on Tuesday. The European Union committee in the House of Lords said in a report it was alarmed by a lack of strategy to cater for the needs of unaccompanied migrant children, with police and governments avoiding taking responsibility for them. "There appears to be a culture of suspicion at every level ... questioning whether the children are telling the truth," said Usha Prashar, a member of the upper house of parliament, who chaired the research panel. "Yes, these children may be unaccompanied migrant children, but they are children first and foremost," Prashar told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview. Around 90,000 unaccompanied children, many fleeing conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan, sought asylum in the EU's 28 member states last year, more than three times as many as in 2014, according to Eurostat, the EU's data service. Many of those who survived perilous journeys to Europe found themselves housed in poor conditions - either placed in prison cells or centres ringed with barbed wire, the United Nations found, while others simply disappeared. At least 10,000 unaccompanied migrant children have gone missing since they arrived in Europe, according to the European Union police intelligence agency, Europol. With so many children disappearing off the radar, the report singled out the British government for its "reluctance" to help other EU member states relocate a number of them. "We deplore the failure by EU Member States, including the United Kingdom, to take urgent action following the announcement of Europol's latest figures," the report said. Britain has agreed to receive more than 20 migrant children from Europe since new immigration laws were passed this year and most of them have already arrived, a Home Office (interior ministry) spokeswoman said. There were more than 3,000 claims for asylum in Britain by unaccompanied children last year, the spokeswoman said. Home Office officials were in "active discussions" with the United Nations and the Italian, Greek and French governments to strengthen and speed up mechanisms to transfer children to Britain, the spokeswoman said. Yet while some countries badly needed to revisit their pledges to relocate unaccompanied migrant children, Germany and Sweden were "notable exceptions" because they proactively integrated and protected child migrants, the researchers found. The report also highlighted that data collection on child migrants was limited, with many being counted more than once, hindering authorities' powers to trace them and increasing their vulnerability to criminal groups. "Children lose trust in the authorities and that is when they become vulnerable to smugglers and human traffickers," Prashar said. The committee said better data, improved child protection systems and more robust legal advice were essential to ensuring unaccompanied migrant rights were protected. Egypt supply minister says 4 pct of locally bought wheat is missing By Ehab Farouk CAIRO, July 26 (Reuters) - Official Egyptian inspection committees have so far found that some 4 percent of 5 million tonnes of locally purchased wheat is missing from silos, Egypt's supply minister said on Tuesday. Khaled Hanafi added, however, that he was not politically responsible for any alleged fraud, as the world's top wheat buyer continued a month-long corruption investigation. "Why should I be politically responsible? What wrongdoing took place? What is the mistake that the government made that it should not make again?" Hanafi told Reuters in an interview. Egypt's general prosecutor has said some local wheat was bought by the government in paper transactions only and not physically delivered. He has ordered travel bans, frozen funds and arrested several private silo owners suspected of corruption. Parliament has also set up a fact-finding commission to look into the allegations of corruption in wheat procurement. "Reports indicate 4 percent of the value of the wheat," Hanafi said, adding that the parliamentary inspection committee continued to do its work but a committee led by his ministry had finalised inspections. Egypt contracts with private-sector suppliers to store and deliver wheat to government mills, as the government says it lacks adequate capacity to stockpile the grain. But the practice was called into question this year after an unusually high procurement figure prompted allegations of possible fraud from top industry officials, traders and members of parliament and led to the recount. HIGH-TECH SILOS UNUSED Blumberg Grain said last week its high-tech silos, the first phase of a wheat storage development project in Egypt that could have prevented such fraud, were not used to store grain this local harvest season despite being delivered on time. The storage systems of the grain logistics company were expected to process and monitor about a quarter of the domestic crop. "Most of the Blumberg storage sites came into service after the local harvesting season," Hanafi said. Hanafi said the second phase of Blumberg's project was rejected by the state's Holding Company for Silos and Storage. "(Blumberg) proposed a second phase to the holding company but the technicians there saw that the offer technically and financially was not suitable," he said. Hanafi said that for the next local purchasing season, the government would again propose reforms for the system to prevent any corruption. Egypt annually fixes a procurement price for local wheat that is above global prices in an attempt to encourage farmers to grow the crop, but the practice has encouraged corruption as middlemen take advantage of the price gap. A new farmer subsidy system, designed to tackle smuggling, was shelved in February after a meeting that included the prime minister, the supply minister, the agriculture minister and the finance minister. GASC REVOLVING CREDIT If Egypt's local wheat procurement numbers were misrepresented, it may have to spend more on foreign wheat purchases to meet local demand - even as the country faces a dollar shortage that has sapped its ability to import. Hanafi said a revolving credit facility of 8 billion Egyptian pounds ($912 million) had been made available through local banks to state grain buyer GASC to purchase commodities including rice and vegetable oils. The facility "will allow GASC to purchase goods and sell them as subsidised commodities to make balance in the market", he said. He added that there were enough wheat reserves to last Egypt until mid-January, enough sugar for a year and enough vegetable oil until the end of September. Turkish military a fractured force after attempted coup By Humeyra Pamuk and Gareth Jones ISTANBUL, July 26 (Reuters) - Just weeks ago, Commander Adem Huduti was inspecting Turkish troops on the Syrian border and being praised in the media for his role in the fight against Islamic State and Kurdish militants. Now, the head of Turkey's second army, responsible for its borders with Syria and Iraq, is in prison in Duzce, some 216 km (134 miles) east of Istanbul, the most senior serving general arrested for suspected involvement in a failed military coup. At least 246 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured on the night of July 15, when a faction within the army used fighter jets, helicopters and tanks to try to seize airports and bridges, attacking buildings including parliament and the intelligence headquarters in a bid to seize power. The plot crumbled quickly. But it exposed and exacerbated divisions within the second largest military in the NATO alliance, raising questions about its ability to contain a growing threat from Islamic State in neighbouring Syria and a renewed insurgency by Kurdish militants. "The Turkish military is now a broken force and it will take years for it to heal," said Aaron Stein, resident fellow at the Washington-based Atlantic Council, whose research focuses on Turkey and regional security. "The plot extends beyond a rogue faction ... Beyond the loss of Huduti, the entire security apparatus now has another threat to focus on, in addition to Islamic State and the on-going insurgency in the southeast." Huduti is one of around a third of Turkey's roughly 360 generals to have been detained since the abortive coup, more than 100 of them already charged pending trial. Authorities have also launched mass purges of state institutions, from the police and judiciary to academia and the civil service. Huduti has denied being involved in the plot. In eight pages of testimony published by the Hurriyet newspaper, he said armed coup plotters tried to force him to join them but he refused, ordering his men to stay in their barracks. Huduti was "an experienced commander in border security and regions of crisis", the Haberturk newspaper said last December. The pro-government Sabah daily in March hailed him as "the commander who has cleansed Cizre and Sur," two southeastern areas that saw the heaviest clashes with Kurdish militants. Guilty or not, the coup plot and the detention of thousands of soldiers have shaken the armed forces in a country where the military long saw itself as the ultimate guardian of secular democracy, and where there had not been a violent military coup for more than 30 years. "What we have seen in the last few days is the start of a process which will have an impact on Turkey and its armed forces for the next 20-30 years. It is monumental," said Gareth Jenkins, an Istanbul-based writer on Turkey's military. "We will see a very highly politicized military now, just as the civil service has become. Dismissals and detentions have a knock-on effect on the whole chain of command ... The inevitable loss of trust has a big impact on operational capabilities." Former NATO Supreme Commander James Stravridis said the fallout from the coup attempt would have a "chilling effect" on Turkey's military readiness. "There will be a strong negative impact on the ability of the Turkish military to perform its duties across the spectrum of alliance activities," he wrote in the latest issue of Foreign Policy magazine. "Unfortunately, it is likely that the military in the wake of the coup will be laser-focused on internal controversy, endless investigations, and loyalty checks - and simply surviving as an institution." "NOBODY LISTENED" In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, President Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged there had been intelligence failures and said the armed forces would now have to be restructured quickly to bring in "fresh blood". The Supreme Military Council (YAS), the highest body responsible for appointments in the armed forces, will meet under Erdogan's supervision on July 28. There are likely to be significant personnel changes. Akin Ozturk, head of the air force until 2015 and a member of YAS, was one of the masterminds of the plot, Turkish officials have said. Erdogan's aide-de-camp is also among those to have been detained. At least a quarter of the generals who have been formally arrested are from the air force, a part of the military crucial not only in the fight against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in Turkey's southeast, but also in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State. Erdogan has blamed the coup plot on U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, an ally-turned-foe whose network of millions of followers have built influence over decades in the military, police, judiciary and parts of the state bureaucracy. Erdogan's critics say he and the Islamist-rooted AK Party he founded allowed Gulen's followers to rise to key positions within the state apparatus to help curb the power of the military, which had ousted four governments since 1960 for posing what it saw as an Islamist threat to the secular order. Critics say it was mainly Gulenist prosecutors who, around the time in 2008 when Erdogan's AK Party narrowly escaped being banned, built two big conspiracy trials targeting the upper echelons of the army. Hundreds of officers were jailed. It later became clear, after many charges were dismissed, that bogus evidence had been used in the two cases, known as "Ergenekon" and "Sledgehammer". Those jailed were released, but several former senior officers said the cases weakened the armed forces and helped the Gulenists to rise through the ranks. "We knew there was a Gulenist structure within the army, I knew some of them by name. But now I realise the situation was more grave than I thought," said Ahmet Yavuz, 61, a retired major general who was jailed in the Sledgehammer trial. "The government and those who ran the armed forces ignored our warnings. They ruined the genetic makeup of the army and this created a space for the Gulenists to move within the army as they pleased," he told Reuters. Gulen, now 75 and living in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania since 1999, denies any involvement in the failed coup. Turkey wants him extradited but the United States says it must first provide firm evidence of criminal wrongdoing. Echoing Yavuz's comments, Mehmet Ali Celebi, a former army lieutenant also jailed over the Sledgehammer case, said many officers were angry that their warnings about the Gulenists' deepening grip in the military had been ignored. "Nobody listened to us. It is now clear that those who accused us (in the Sledgehammer and Ergenekon trials) of plotting coups were the real plotters," he said. SECURITY CONCERNS The shake-up in the security apparatus is likely to see an increased role for police special forces, who have already taken on a more significant presence in and around Erdogan's presidential palace in Ankara. The military presidential guard will be abolished, while the gendarmerie and coast guard will fully come under the authority of the Interior Ministry, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said. Turkey has suffered bomb attacks this year, including in Ankara and its biggest city Istanbul, some blamed on Islamic State, others claimed by Kurdish militants. A triple suicide bombing and gun attack blamed on Islamic State killed 45 people and wounded more than 200 last month at Istanbul's main international airport. "Turkey faces remarkable security concerns: the conflict with the PKK, Islamic State and other jihadis and now the danger of remnants from the coup itself," said Howard Eissenstat, a Turkey expert at St. Lawrence University in New York. "The government really has no choice but to engage in broad purges of the military: it can't afford the possibility of "dead enders" remaining within its ranks. Rebuilding these forces will take a few years, but rebuilding the structures and trust will take even longer," he said. Two senior Turkish officials said that while the priority was to cleanse the whole security apparatus of coup plotters, there was no risk to national security and that replacements were already being put in place for those detained. But a third official was more cautious. "The police headquarters is missing its front and back sides," he said, referring to one of the buildings bombed by the coup plotters during the events of July 15. "There is not even a stable building. Will there be a security problem under these conditions...? You tell me." Afghanistan weighs Islamic State threat after Kabul attack By Hamid Shalizi and James Mackenzie KABUL, July 26 (Reuters) - Islamic State is threatening more attacks against Afghanistan's Hazara minority after Saturday's suicide blasts in Kabul that killed 80 people, pledging to retaliate against support by some in the mainly Shi'ite group for the Assad regime in Syria. But assessing the threat from Daesh, as Islamic State is known in Afghanistan, is difficult. Some question whether it was really responsible for Saturday's blasts and some officials ask whether the ultra-radical Sunni movement, hitherto largely confined to an area near the border with Pakistan, poses a wider challenge. A Daesh commander who uses the name Abu Omar Khorasani said the bombing of the rally by thousands of Hazaras protesting about the route of a new power line was in retaliation for the support offered by some members of the community to the regime in Syria. Many Hazaras have gone through Shi'ite-governed Iran to fight for the government of President Bashar al-Assad, a fellow Shi'ite, against Islamic State. "Unless they stop going to Syria and stop being slaves of Iran, we will definitely continue such attacks," the militant commander told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location. "We can and we will strike them again." The government says it has been hitting Daesh hard even before Saturday's blasts, one of the most deadly attacks in the country since the beginning of the Taliban insurgency in 2001. It said government forces had killed hundreds of insurgents in the past two months in assaults on Daesh strongholds in the eastern province of Nangarhar, which straddles the highway from Kabul to the Pakistani city of Peshawar. In the latest fighting, at least 122 insurgents were killed in the past 24 hours, it said on Tuesday. The numbers could not be independently confirmed. Nevertheless, Saturday's attack on the Hazara minority adds a dangerous complication to the war the Western-backed government in Kabul has been fighting with Taliban insurgents. As well as the risk of dragging Afghanistan into Islamic State's wider campaign in the Middle East, it raised the spectre of sectarian violence, something Afghanistan, a majority Sunni country, has largely been spared during decades of war. But while seeing the threat, officials are cautious about whether the attack represents a real turning point for Daesh, which has been under heavy pressure this year from both U.S. air strikes and Afghan ground forces. "Having a couple of people that you've hired put on a suicide vest and sneak into a crowd of many thousands really is not that sophisticated," said U.S. military spokesman Brigadier General Charles Cleveland. ATTACKED IN PAKISTAN AS WELL On the ground, the NATO-led force advising government troops estimates the number of Daesh fighters at between 1,000 and 3,000, many of them former members of militant groups like the Pakistani Taliban, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the Afghan Taliban. Many of the Daesh fighters operating in Afghanistan are from the Orakzai tribe on the Pakistani side of the border. Those militants have also been hit hard by the Pakistani military, according to an Afghan security report seen by Reuters. While the movement may have been limited to eastern Afghanistan, that need not stop it from seeking to spread violence and raise its profile with more attacks on civilian targets, officials said. "That's our concern, these high profile attacks, they are effective because they're not that difficult to achieve," Cleveland told reporters in Kabul. The Hazara, who have long suffered violence and discrimination in Afghanistan, have responded with fury to the attack, accusing the government of inaction or worse. Some even doubt Islamic State's claim of responsibility. "There is no evidence to prove Daesh's involvement. It could have been others," said Dawood Naji, one of the organisers of Saturday's rally. "I don't think Daesh would be a major concern for Afghan people because they are not very active and have no foothold." With President Ashraf Ghani's unwieldy national unity government riven by infighting, their anger adds an unpredictable new threat of political instability. Government and NATO force officials insist, however, that Islamic State is being hit hard. The Afghan army has launched its first major offensive since the holy month of Ramadan in Nangarhar. According to the interior ministry, 654 Daesh and Taliban fighters, including several senior commanders have been killed in Nangarhar in the last two months. On Monday, Afghan special forces killed Sahad Emarati, a senior Daesh commander and destroyed training camps during a firefight in the province, said Attahullah Khogyani, a spokesman for Nangarhar's governor. Syrian army texts residents to leave rebel-held Aleppo - SANA BEIRUT, July 26 (Reuters) - The Syrian army sent text messages to residents of rebel-held eastern Aleppo saying it will grant safe passage to people wishing to leave the area, which has been effectively besieged by pro-government forces, state media said on Tuesday. The army called on residents to push "mercenaries" out of the city -- a reference to rebel fighters -- and said it would give safe passage and temporary accommodation for anyone wishing to leave the area, state news agency SANA said. The messages also called on armed groups to lay down their weapons, SANA said. Concern has been growing for at least 250,000 people who have been trapped in rebel-held eastern Aleppo since heavy fighting effectively closed the last supply route, the Castello Road, in early July. Syria's most populous city before the war, Aleppo has been divided for years between rebel and government-held zones. Full control of Aleppo would be a significant prize for President Bashar al-Assad. On Monday, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the U.N. Security Council that by day people in the eastern areas of Aleppo can move to the western part of the city, "where the situation is significantly better". Philadelphia Both the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers gave Hillary Clinton an early and enthusiastic endorsement in her tough race against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sandersto the chagrin of many of their members. And on Monday, the first night of the Democratic National Convention here, both gave rousing speeches on Clintons behalf. NEA president Lily Eskelsen Garcia made clear her view that Clinton would help immigrant students, unlike the man shes up against in the general election, real estate mogul Donald Trump. My mom says that if you cant say something nice about somebody, at least make it funny. But I cant make this funny. Donald Trump sees immigrants as criminals, drug dealers, rapists. Hed round up families and deport them. Hed build a wall. Were better than that. Our kids deserve better than that, Eskelsen Garcia said. Hillary Clinton doesnt want to divide people with walls of hate. She wants to build bridges to a better future for all. Thats why Americas educators are with her! Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, hit similar themes. First, she attacked Trump University, a real-estate education organization run by the Republican nominee thats now being sued by its former students for fraud. Just look at how he operates, Weingarten said. Instead of an education, students lost thousands of dollars and got nothing in return. He is completely unqualified to be the in the Oval Office. Clinton, on the other hand, has a plan for universal early-childhood education, she said. Shell reset education to focus on creativity, not overtesting. Hillary is the most qualified president to run for president in our lifetime. Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . Turkish troops hunt remaining coup plotters as crackdown widens By Daren Butler and Orhan Coskun ISTANBUL/ANKARA, July 26 (Reuters) - Turkish special forces backed by helicopters, drones and the navy hunted a remaining group of commandos thought to have tried to capture or kill President Tayyip Erdogan during a failed coup, as a crackdown on suspected plotters widened on Tuesday. More than 1,000 members of the security forces were involved in the manhunt for the 11 rogue soldiers in the hills around the Mediterranean coastal resort of Marmaris, where Erdogan was holidaying on the night of the coup attempt, officials said. Erdogan and the government accuse U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen of orchestrating the attempted power grab and have launched a crackdown on his suspected followers. More than 60,000 soldiers, police, judges and civil servants have been arrested, suspended or put under investigation. The religious affairs directorate removed another 620 staff including preachers and instructors in the Koran on Tuesday, bringing to more than 1,100 the number of people it has purged since the July 15 coup attempt. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said two Turkish ambassadors, currently in Ankara, had also been removed. Former Istanbul governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu was detained and his house searched. "There is no institution which this structure has not infiltrated," Erdogan's son-in-law, Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, said in a televised interview, referring to Gulen's network of followers. "Every institution is being assessed and will be assessed," he said. The response from the Turkish authorities would, he said, be just and not amount to a witch-hunt. The coup attempt raised particular questions about the air force, some of whose senior members were deeply involved, and could lead to the re-investigation of past incidents including the downing by the Turkish military of a Russian warplane near the Syrian border last year, Albayrak said. The incident provoked Russian trade sanctions but there are signs of rapprochement, with Turkey thanking Moscow for its solid support during the abortive putsch. By contrast it has frosty ties with Europe, which has criticised the post-coup crackdown, and with the United States, which it has urged to extradite Gulen. Albayrak made the comments as the highest-level Turkish delegation since the downing of the jet visited Moscow and officials announced a planned meeting between Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin next month. "Erdogan will be eager to send a message to Washington and EU capitals that Turkey has other options," said Tim Ash, a strategist at Nomura and a veteran Turkey watcher. The Turkish parliament set up on Tuesday a commission to investigate the coup attempt, with the backing of all political parties. It will also examine the allegations that the Gulen movement infiltrated the government and instigated the coup attempt. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said suspects were now being questioned. "Those testimonies will give us a lot of information about the Gulen movement's influence within Turkey," he said during the commission's discussions. MOST TURKS BLAME GULEN Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999, denies involvement and says the coup may have been orchestrated by Erdogan himself to justify a crackdown, a suggestion the president has roundly condemned. In an op-ed in the New York Times, Gulen wrote that if members of his "Hizmet" (Service) network had been involved in the attempted coup they had betrayed his ideals, saying Erdogan's accusations revealed "his systematic and dangerous drive towards one-man rule". Almost two thirds of Turks believe Gulen was behind the coup attempt, according to a poll released on Tuesday. The Andy-Ar survey showed nearly 4 percent blamed the United States or foreign powers and barely 2 percent blamed Erdogan. On July 15 rogue soldiers commandeered fighters jets, helicopters and tanks to close bridges and try to seize airports. They bombed parliament, police headquarters and other key buildings in their bid for power. At least 246 people were killed, many of them civilians, and 2,000 wounded. Around a third of Turkey's roughly 360 serving generals have been detained since the abortive coup, more than 100 of them already charged pending trial. Two Turkish generals based in Afghanistan were detained in Dubai, a Turkish official said on Tuesday, naming them as Major-General Cahit Bakir, a commander of Turkish forces serving in the international NATO-led security force in Afghanistan, and Brigadier Sener Topuc, who oversees education and aid in the country. MANHUNT The 11 soldiers being hunted in Marmaris were among a group of commandos who attacked a hotel where Erdogan had been staying. Seven others were detained at a police checkpoint on Monday. As the coup unfolded, Erdogan said the plotters had tried to attack him in Marmaris, bombing places where he had been shortly after he left. He "evaded death by minutes", an official close to him said at the time. "It was an assassination attempt against Erdogan and this is being taken very seriously ... Searches are continuing in Marmaris and the surrounding areas with around 1,000 members of the security forces," another official said on Tuesday. "The searches will continue uninterrupted until these people are found." Weapons, hand grenades and ammunition have been seized in the countryside around Marmaris in an operation based on information from detained soldiers, said Amir Cicek, governor of Mugla province where Marmaris is located. Special forces police, commandos, the coast guard and the navy were all involved, Cicek said in a statement. The scale of the arrests and suspensions following the coup attempt have raised concerns among rights groups and Western countries, which fear that Erdogan is capitalising on it to muzzle dissent and remove opponents across the board. Erdogan has declared a state of emergency, which allows him to sign new laws without prior parliamentary approval and limit rights as he deems necessary. In his first such decree, Erdogan ordered the closure of thousands of private schools, charities and foundations with suspected links to Gulen. The measure went "well beyond the legitimate aim of promoting accountability for the bloody July 15 coup attempt," said Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey director at Human Rights Watch. "It is an unvarnished move for an arbitrary, mass and permanent purge of the civil service, prosecutors and judges, and to close down private institutions and associations without evidence, justification or due process," she said. Turkey wants the United States to extradite the cleric, a call supported on Tuesday by Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of Turkey's main secularist opposition, but Washington has said it will do so only if there is clear evidence of wrongdoing. Two Hong Kong magazine executives jailed in China - lawyer HONG KONG, July 26 (Reuters) - Two men who held senior positions at Hong Kong political magazines were jailed in China on Tuesday for illegal business operations, bribery and bid-rigging, a lawyer said. Their sentences come after five Hong Kong booksellers from a shop that specialised in gossipy books about China's leaders went missing and later appeared in mainland Chinese custody, raising concern about free speech in the city. On Tuesday, the Shenzhen Nanshan District Court sentenced Wang Jianmin, 63, to five years and three months in jail and Guo Zhongxiao, 41, to two years and three months, Wang's lawyer, Chen Nansha, said. The court published brief details of the verdict on its website in line with Chen's account. The men worked for the political magazines New-Way Monthly and Multiple Face. Wang was a magazine founder and Guo a chief editor. Wang has a U.S. passport and a Hong Kong identity card, according to his lawyer. It was not immediately clear what passport Guo had but he was born in mainland China and also had a Hong Kong identity card, the lawyer said. Both were arrested in mainland China in May 2014. Chen declined to say whether he believed the case was political. The Shenzhen Nanshan District Court, district government and foreign affairs office did not immediately respond to a request comment. The Hong Kong police said arrests in mainland China were outside of their jurisdiction. Tehran says no info on al Qaeda members alleged by U.S. to live in Iran BEIRUT, July 26 (Reuters) - Iran on Tuesday said it was not aware of the presence of three al Qaeda operatives who the U.S. Treasury alleged last week to be living in the country. Last Wednesday the U.S. Treasury said it was blacklisting a Saudi, an Egyptian and an Algerian who it said were members of al Qaeda living in Iran. Their activities included liaising between the Pakistani Taliban and al Qaeda, and sending funds to al Qaeda fighters in Syria, the Treasury said. "The Islamic Republic of Iran has no information about the presence of these people on its own soil," foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi was cited as saying by the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA). Iran has held several al Qaeda members, both high-ranking and lower-level, since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, although U.S. officials say the precise conditions of their confinement are unclear. Iran, a Shi'ite Muslim theocracy, considers al Qaeda a terrorist group and Iranian security forces periodically report the arrest of al Qaeda members. Senior U.S. officials have previously accused Iran of cooperating with the group, but Tehran denies this. The hardline Sunni Islamist group considers Shi'ites to be heretics and has targeted them in the past. Poland says lines up third investor as coal miner KHW needs more funds KATOWICE, Poland, July 26 (Reuters) - Poland has lined up a third investor for one of its troubled state-run coal mining groups, KHW, to limit the amount of money Weglokoks and Enea need to invest, the country's deputy energy minister said on Tuesday. KHW has found itself in deeper trouble than thought since six Polish state-run firms agreed to stump up $620 million to save the European Union's largest coal miner Kompania Weglowa (KW) from bankruptcy two months ago. KHW's problems have been overshadowed by the hunt for investors for KW, renamed PGG, which has knocked shares in the firms involved, PGE, PGNiG and Energa . Some analysts feared that Enea would have to follow this model and be dragged deeper into the KHW restructuring, arguing that the industry needs more cost cuts rather than bailouts. Initially, KHW's capital needs were estimated at 300 million zlotys ($76 million), but this has more than doubled. "It turns out that 700 million zlotys is needed for restructuring. And on top of that Weglokoks has only 150 million zlotys at its disposal and not 300 million as it was presumed," Grzegorz Tobiszowski told reporters. "This is why, apart from Enea and Weglokoks it is necessary to have one more entity, which could spend 200 million zlotys on the project," he said, adding this will be a state-run firm and would be named in a week or so. Tobiszowski also reiterated state-run coking coal producer JSW could need a share issue to improve its financial situation. Bulgarian police detain 45 Red Star fans over violence SOFIA, July 26 (Reuters) - Bulgarian police detained 45 Red Star Belgrade fans in connection with violence before their Champions League's third qualifying match's first leg at Ludogorets on Tuesday. Skirmishes broke out in the Black Sea resort of Sunny Beach early on Tuesday and two police officers sustained injuries, police department in the southeastern town of Burgas said in a statement. Five more citizens, trying to help police restore order, were also injured. Prosecutors in Burgas have opened pre-trial proceedings regarding the incidents. Ludogorets, who have won five successive Bulgarian league title, host the 1991 European Cup winners Red Star in Razgrad. The return leg will be played in Belgrade next week. The Eagles, as Ludogorets are known in the Balkan country, have already knocked out a Serbian opposition -- Partizan Belgrade -- in the Champions League's third qualifying round on two occasions in the past three years. North Korea says decision on nuclear tests depends on U.S. - Yonhap SEOUL, July 26 (Reuters) - North Korea's Foreign Minister said on Tuesday whether it conducted more nuclear tests depended on the United States, but Washington had destroyed the possibility of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. OFID allocates US$40m to enterprise growth in Egypt July 26 (Reuters) - E18/2016 OFID allocates US$40m to enterprise growth in Egypt Vienna, July 25, 2016. The Director-General of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) Mr Suleiman J Al-Herbish and the Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Her Excellency Dr Sahar Nasr have signed a US$40m loan agreement to support small enterprises amongst marginalized groups in the country. The OFID loan will finance a second phase of the Social Development Fund (SFD) lending program. SFD Phase I was approved by OFID in 2009 and its success has led to this second project. The SFD Phase II loan will furnish valuable financing opportunities to those most in need: enabling entrepreneurial enterprise and employment. It is expected to create more than 23,000 jobs across all 27 governorates of the country. The SFD project is in line with the Government's overall strategic objectives to increase employment opportunities and promote economic growth in the country. SFD Phase II will focus on sectors that are most likely to provide employment such as industry and manufacturing, and stipulates that a percentage of funding is directed to women and young graduates. Speaking at the loan signature, Mr Al-Herbish emphasised the pivotal role economic growth plays in poverty reduction. He expects the project "will contribute to improving the socio-economic conditions of local communities by increasing the income of poor households throughout the country." Egypt's rapidly growing population is largely aged between 15-64 years old and youth unemployment rates are very high (42 per cent in 2014). Therefore, targeting youth employment is a priority. Within this context, the Government has requested donor community support to finance job creation projects and assist the country in promoting rapid economic growth and increasing incomes for the poor. OFID is one of many donors responding to this appeal. Al-Herbish reassured Minister Nasr that OFID would "continue to support efforts toward socio-economic development to achieve unprecedented levels of growth and prosperity in Egypt". In her own statement, Dr Sahar Nasr thanked OFID for its longstanding support to the people of Egypt. She explained that the present loan would help improve living standards and promote sustained economic growth for the country. OFID's cooperation with Egypt dates back to 1977. Since then, OFID has provided the country with close to US$1 billion in development financing, covering the agriculture, education, energy, health, national development bank sectors, as well as those of a multi-sectoral nature. About OFID The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) is the development finance institution established by the Member States of OPEC in 1976 as a collective channel of aid to the developing countries. OFID works in cooperation with developing country partners and the international donor community to stimulate economic growth and alleviate poverty in all disadvantaged regions of the world. It does this by providing financing to build essential infrastructure that meets basic needs-such as food, energy, clean water and sanitation, healthcare and education-and working to promote productivity, competitiveness and trade. OFID Press Contact: Ms Reem Aljarbou The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) P.O. Box 995 A-1011 Vienna, Austria Telephone: +43-1-515-64-0 Fax: +43-1-5139238 Email: info@ofid.org Web: www.ofid.org Japan killings suspect offered to euthanise disabled, wanted "world peace" By Minami Funakoshi and Linda Sieg TOKYO, July 26 (Reuters) - One day before he tried to hand a letter to a top Japanese lawmaker offering to kill hundreds of disabled people, the suspect in Japan's worst mass killing in decades tweeted: "I don't know if it's right, but action is the only way." Less than six months later, Satoshi Uematsu, 26, was arrested on suspicion of stabbing 19 people to death and wounding dozens of others as they slept at a centre for the disabled where he had worked for more than three years until February. Police have yet to comment on the motive for Tuesday's killing spree, which has shocked a nation with one of the lowest crime rates in the world and where mass murders are rare. Information about Uematsu is still emerging, but interviews with neighbours and posts on his Twitter account paint a picture of an outwardly polite young man who became obsessed with the people being cared for at the Tsukui Yamayuri-En facility for the mentally and physically disabled in Sagamihara town, about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Tokyo. Akihiro Hasegawa, who lived next door for eight years, said he'd noticed nothing strange about Uematsu, a college graduate. "He always smiled when he greeted me. He was very mannerly and polite. A really nice young man," Hasegawa, 73, told Reuters. "It would be easier to understand if there'd been a warning but there were no signs," said Hasegawa, adding he thought Uematsu's experiences on the job might have affected his mind. "We didn't know the darkness of his heart." A Twitter account carrying Uematsu's name and which domestic media said was used by the suspect indicated he was a fun-loving young man who enjoyed karaoke and beach parties and wanted to quit smoking. "I'm super happy," he tweeted on June 29 with photos at what appeared to be a friend's wedding party. He was also a fan of a conspiracy theory card game, and posted that he saw hidden messages such as a prediction of Japan's March 2011 nuclear disaster in the cards. SUDDEN CHANGE Uematsu had come to authorities' attention in February, when he said he could "obliterate" 470 disabled people. "I am fully aware this is a statement that defies common sense," he said in letters addressed to the speaker of parliament's lower house, a copy of which was obtained by Kyodo news agency. "However, I could not stand idle as I thought about the exhausted look on the faces of their caretakers, the crazed look in the eyes of the staff working at the facilities, and, in the best interest of Japan and the world, I have been moved to take this action today." He added: "My goal is a world in which the severely disabled can be euthanized, with their guardians' consent, if they are unable to live at home and be active in society." Yuji Kuroiwa, the governor of Kanagawa prefecture where the facility is located, said he had been told that Uematsu had suddenly changed before he was encouraged to voluntarily resign in February. "Nothing much happened during the five months" after he left his job, Kuroiwa added. "You could say there were warning signs, but it's difficult to say if this could have been prevented." Uematsu promised in the letters to execute the killings swiftly, without hurting staff and said he hoped to be found "not guilty by reason of insanity". Uematsu also told local police that he would kill many severely disabled people if the government approved the action and on Feb. 19, he was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital for fear he would harm others, a Sagamihara city official said. Tests showed he had used marijuana and suffered from paranoia, NHK public TV reported. "Voluntary resignation from my company. I just might get arrested," he tweeted that same day. Twelve days later, on March 2, doctors judged his condition had improved enough to discharge him. After the July 22 killing of nine people in Munich, Germany, Uematsu tweeted a photo of two Japanese men holding what appear to be toy guns, with the message "No gun, Yes toy" and "Shooting in Germany at the same time - it's fun if it's toys". Around the time of the stabbings on Tuesday, the Twitter account showed a close-up photo of a young man wearing a red-tie, white collar shirt and jacket. Scientists caught off-guard by record temperatures linked to climate change By Zoe Tabary LONDON, July 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Record temperatures in the first half of 2016 have taken scientists by surprise despite widespread recognition that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense, the director of the World Climate Research Programme said. The earth is on track for its hottest year on record with June marking the 14th straight month of record heat, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said last week. Temperatures recorded mainly in the northern hemisphere in the first six months of the year, coupled with an early and fast Arctic sea ice melt and "new highs" in heat-trapping carbon dioxide levels, point to quickening climate change, it said. In a further announcement on Tuesday, the U.N. agency said it would examine whether a temperature of 54 degrees Celsius (129 degrees Fahrenheit) reported in Kuwait last Thursday was a new high for the eastern hemisphere and Asia. "What concerns me most is that we didn't anticipate these temperature jumps," said David Carlson, director of the WMO's climate research programme, late on Monday. "We predicted moderate warmth for 2016, but nothing like the temperature rises we've seen," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone from Geneva. "Massive temperature hikes, but also extreme events like floodings, have become the new normal," Carlson said. "The ice melt rates recorded in the first half of 2016, for example - we don't usually see those until later in the year." He said sudden temperature rises could endanger people, animals and water systems. "Also critical is the fact that people survive the heat by using more energy for cooling, thus further depleting the world's resources," Carlson said. PREDICTING THE NEW NORMAL Carlson said although "the uncertainty surrounding extreme weather events can be used to deny or avoid the issue of climate change," their increased frequency has drawn greater attention from the international community. "The question is shifting from 'has the climate changed?' to 'by how much?'," he said. "Statistically we need to get better at predicting not only how frequent and intense these events will be - but how long they will last." Key to understanding extreme weather will be the availability of data across the globe, Carlson said. "We have good data for North America and Europe - on precipitation for example - but just don't have enough records in Central Africa, Central America and the Arctic." Carlson called for global leaders to put climate action higher on national agendas following the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels. "The world leaders making serious commitments to tackle climate change are currently few and far between," he said. However, action at the government level will only happen with pressure from citizens themselves, he added. German man jailed for life for murdering migrant boy POTSDAM, Germany, July 26 (Reuters) - A German man was jailed for life on Tuesday for murdering two young children last year, including a 4-year-old refugee boy whom he had kidnapped from Berlin's main migrant registration centre. The man, identified only as Silvio S., confessed last year to abducting, sexually abusing and killing Mohamed Januzi, a Bosnian boy whose family was seeking asylum in Germany, prosecutors said. He also admitted kidnapping a six-year-old boy called Elias near the child's home in Potsdam outside Berlin and murdering him in July 2015, the lawyers added. The disappearance of Elias had triggered widespread media attention. The court in Potsdam said the 33-year-old had acted in a "very cruel" way towards the two children and ruled out the possibility of parole after 15 years due to the severity of the offence. However, the judge did not order preventative detention - an indeterminate sentence handed to individuals who are considered a danger to public safety - following the recommendation of an expert who said the man did not have an inclination to commit similar crimes in the future. Silvio S., 33, remained silent for most of the trial but expressed his remorse to the relatives of his victims in a short statement. "There are no words in the world that could describe how sorry I am. If I could make it undone, I would. I can't even forgive myself," German media reported him as saying. On Tuesday, he remained silent while the verdict was read, occasionally shaking his head and later crying, said Khubaib-Ali Mohammed, lawyer for the victims. The Bosnian boy disappeared on Oct. 1 while waiting outside Berlin's central registration office for migrants with his mother and two siblings. Silvio S. was arrested at the end of October after his own mother told police he had told her he was involved. The child's body was later found packed in cat litter in the boot of his car. Philadelphia By now youve probably heard about the trove of emails to and from the Democratic National Committee that were released last week by WikiLeaks, an organization that publishes leaked documents to expose what it says is corruption and malfeasance by governments, as well as corporations. So what if any links do these emails reveal between the DNC and teachers unions in particular? The DNC communications team appears to be very sensitive about the Common Core State Standards and the issue of local and federal control over schools. In a May 3 email expressing frustrations about the content of a video emphasizing that the GOP doesnt appreciate teachers, Eric Walker, a deputy communications director at the DNC, wrote the following: A) Common core is a political third rail that we should not be touching at all. Get rid of it. B) Most people want local control of education so having [then-GOP presidential candidate Ted] Cruz and [now-GOP nominee Donald] Trump saying it on a DNC video is counterproductive. Would get rid of any references to that. Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton supports the common core, as do two of her big backers, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. Its taken a political beating on the national stage from both Democrats and Republicans, although most states that originally adopted the standards have stuck by them. A series of emails on May 4 deal with talking points being crafted by the DNC for a conference call with reporters the next day. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and U.S. Rep Mark Pocan, D-Wis., were slated to speak about how GOP nominee Donald Trumps rhetoric had contaminated schools. Walker suggested having Weingarten speak before Pocan on the call, writing, shes the bigger draw. Eventually, the DNC was told that the AFT had signed off on the talking points. On May 5, John Ost, AFTs political director, wrote the following in an email to the DNC: RW [Weingarten] is doing some press today re: Trump. Weve been working with TJ [Helmstetter, who also works in DNC communications]. Question: who can we connect with to get more background/research re: Trump? We want to shift gears and spend more time educating our members. Ost subsequently wrote to [DNC communications director Luis] Miranda that his group would take that background and research and repurpose into AFT branded mailers/flyers. Miranda responded in an email with the heading of Donald Trump - Bad for Education, Labor & Healthcare about Trumps desire not to work with unions, eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, and (ironically enough, given AFTs skepticism of how standardized tests are often used) his dislike for mindless standardized tests. Later on ,May 5, Weingarten held the scheduled conference call with reportersincluding Education Weekclaiming that now-Republican Party nominee Trumps rhetoric was damaging to public school students . We noted in our blog post about Weingartens comments, published the same day, that the DNC had set up the call. (Weingarten did in fact end up speaking before Pocan.) Other emails deal with: A press call with the New Jersey Education Association in which the DNC appears to try to get a bigger surrogate on the call than someone from the AFT (which had not responded to the DNC about the matter) such as New Jersey Sens. Cory Booker or Robert Menendez. What an email calls a dangerous Trump-Christie education agenda, referring to New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie, who once said that teachers unions deserve a punch in the face. On a Regular Basis In response to our inquiries about these emails, AFT spokesman Evan Sutton said such coordination between the union and the DNC is nothing out of the ordinary. We request information and research from allies on a regular basis, including the DNC, when we believe they may have materials that can be helpful to us in promoting our goals, Sutton wrote in an email. And as for common core, Sutton said that while the AFT is on record supporting its goals, he also noted that the union has expressed concerns about its rollout and its links to high-stakes standardized testing. So how much of this work between the DNC and the AFT is surprising? Well leave it up to individual readers to decide for themselves. On that note, you can go to the WikiLeaks site for yourself and see if you can dig up anything education-related in the batch of DNC emails. We also asked the DNC and the Donald Trump campaign about these emails, and well update this post if we get a response. Photo: AFT President Randi Weingarten speaks in Detroit in 2012. Andre J. Jackson/Detroit Free Press Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . South Africa to avoid recession but will not meet 2016 growth target - minister By Stella Mapenzauswa JOHANNESBURG, July 26 (Reuters) - South Africa is likely to avoid a recession in 2016 but will not achieve the 0.9 percent growth target set by the Treasury in February, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Tuesday. Gordhan also warned that the economy, which is still trying to undo the inequalities resulting from its racially divided history, could no longer rely on austerity measures to reduce public debt. Last week, the central bank said it now expected the economy to remain stagnant in 2016, compared with the 0.6 percent growth predicted in May. The International Monetary Fund has also slashed its own forecast to 0.1 percent. "We're unlikely to remain at that 0.9 percent," Gordhan told reporters on the sidelines of an investment conference and ahead of local elections next week in which the ruling African National Congress is facing tough competition. "But what we are confident about is that we're not going to get into recession and that as an economy if we start doing the right things and contributing to economic growth and confidence building in our economy we can do better." Gordhan gave no specifics as to why the forecast had been cut, but the economy has been hit by a drop in commodity prices, while a severe drought has hammered farming output. All parties have campaigned for the Aug. 3 local elections on promises to tackle high unemployment and deliver better lives. Any defeats in the big population centres for the ANC could damage the party, in power since the end of white-minority rule in 1994, as it prepares for a presidential vote in 2019. South Africa's GDP growth averaged about 5 percent in the five years before recession hit in 2008. The government has previously suggested growth of 7 percent is needed to significantly slash unemployment. RATING REVIEW Despite concerns that growth has remained sluggish since the last recession, Pretoria managed to retain its investment grade credit rating with Moody's, Fitch and S&P earlier this year. But in a review published last Friday, Fitch cut South Africa's local currency debt rating by one level to just a notch above sub investment grade in what it said was a review of its sovereign rating portfolio across several countries. "We are still sitting in investment grade as a country which is what we have been working towards with our social partners and working towards as a country, and which we succeeded in doing on the foreign currency rating," Gordhan said. "The work that we did in the first part of the year will now continue into the second part of the year to ensure that we ... remain an investment graded destination whether it is for local currency or for foreign currency borrowing." Ratings agencies and investors were worried when President Jacob Zuma changed finance ministers twice less than a week in December, raising doubts about the government's commitment to fiscal prudence. Zuma reappointed the well-respected Gordhan to the post to calm nervous financial markets. Gordhan was finance minister before from 2009 to 2014. At a separate business meeting, Gordhan said that it was no longer practical to adhere to the austere fiscal measures popular with investors. Gordhan has been trying to find a balance between reining in spending to contain the budget deficit and avoid credit rating cuts, while also finding ways to boost economic growth and provide basic services to the poor. "What's very clear is that austerity, which we in some parts of the G20 thought was absolutely necessary ... is no longer the answer," he said, after attending the G20 meeting in China. S.Africa court confirms amount Zuma should repay for upgrades to private home JOHANNESBURG, July 26 (Reuters) - South Africa's constitutional Court on Tuesday approved Treasury's recommendation that President Jacob Zuma should pay 7.8 million rand ($541,362) for non-security upgrades to his private Nkandla home. The Constitutional Court in Africa's most industrialised country in March ordered Zuma to pay back some of the $16 million of state money spent upgrading his private home, and asked the Treasury to work out a "reasonable cost". In a letter dated July 26 to the lawyers involved in the case, the court said it "signifies, with effect from the date of this letter, its approval of the amount of 7,814,155 rand." Zuma has 45 days, excluding weekends and public holidays, to pay back the money, according to the court's ruling in March. A spokesman in Zuma's office was not available to comment. Zuma has previously said he would pay back some of the money used to refurbish the sprawling Nkandla residence, which is in KwaZulu-Natal province. In 2014, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, whose office is a constitutionally mandated anti-corruption watchdog, identified a swimming pool, cattle enclosure, chicken run, amphitheatre and visitor centre as non-security items that Zuma must pay for. Estimates from Madonsela's report had pegged the bill at around 10 million rand. Discontent with Zuma's leadership, fanned partly by the Nkandla saga, has risen ahead of local elections next week. Zuma's African National Congress has also been blamed for record unemployment and a looming recession and analysts say the party, which has been in power since the end of white-minority rule in 1994, is likely to face a stern test at the polls. Higuain on verge of joining Juventus - Sky Italy ROME, July 26 (Reuters) - Juventus are on the verge of signing Argentina forward Gonzalo Higuain from Napoli, Sky Italy reported on Tuesday. Higuain, who last season scored a record 36 Serie A goals, is reported to have undergone a medical with the club who have won the title for the past five seasons. He still has two years to run on his contract but Italian media said Juventus were prepared to pay a buyout clause of 94 million euros ($103.15 million). If Juventus splash out the full amount it will equal the sum Real Madrid paid Manchester United for Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009, the world's second highest transfer fee. "Islamist terrorism has arrived in Germany" -Bavarian premier By Joern Poltz ST. QUIRIN, Germany, July 26 (Reuters) - Germany must face the fact that Islamist terrorism has arrived and respond with tougher security and tighter immigration policies, Bavaria's state premier said on Tuesday. "Each attack, each act of terrorism, is one too many. Islamist terrorism has arrived in Germany," Horst Seehofer, a long-standing critic of Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy, told a news conference. "We need more security in Germany. People are riled up, full of fear, and that is completely understandable. They need reliable answers from politicians and not endless debates and justifications," Seehofer said after a meeting of party leaders. A spate of attacks in Germany since July 18 have left 15 people dead - including four attackers - and dozens injured. Two of the assailants had links to Islamist militant groups, German officials say. Two of the five attackers recently entered Germany from Syria, another was from either Pakistan or Afghanistan, stoking concerns about unprecedented immigration after 1 million migrants arrived last year, many fleeing conflict in the region. Immigration and security are sure to be big topics in next year's federal elections, where the clash between Seehofer's Christian Social Union (CSU) and Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) may undermine conservatives' hopes of staying in power. "TO THE EDGE" Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told the news conference Germany should rethink rules that limit deportations of refugees for medical reasons, and significantly lower hurdles to deporting refugees who break the law. "We must push it to the edge of the envelope currently permitted under European law, and we have to think about whether the EU rules have to be changed," Herrmann said. The 27-year-old Syrian who blew himself up in the southern town of Ansbach on Sunday had been spared deportation due to medical reasons for over a year, but had recently been told he would be deported to Bulgaria. He had also been in trouble with police for drugs and other offences. Bavarian officials said their state - the site of three of the recent attacks - would bolster police staffing and equipment, but would also push for federal restrictions on surveillance of potential suspects to be eased. Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, of Merkel's Christian Democrats, has said no changes would be made to changing asylum or immigration rules until investigations into the recent incidents are finished. Authorities said there was no Islamist link in Tuesday's incident at a university clinic in Berlin, in which a 72-year-old man shot a doctor before killing himself. The spate of violence in Germany followed the attack in the French city of Nice on Bastille Day, July 14, when a Tunisian killed 84 people by driving a truck into them, an act claimed by Islamists. Islamic State also claimed responsibility for the latest attack in France, on Tuesday, where an elderly priest was killed in a church. China's conduct in the South China Sea has serious implications for our own relations with Beijing. The manner in which it has staked its claims in the South China sea, the "historical" justification for them, the total rejection of the claims of others, the disregard for international law and the deliberate stoking of regional tensions. Also, the tactics of bullying and intimidation, the self-confidence that others will have to accommodate a strong China, the defiance of the US on the assumption that its vast economic interests in China. Finally, the erosion of its power will dissuade it from militarily confronting Beijing over disputed islands in the region and the summary repudiation of the UNCLOS arbitral award, are relevant for shaping our policies towards China. Legacy Chinese passports carry maps of the country's geographical frontiers that, besides the nine-dash line, also show Arunachal Pradesh and occupied parts of Ladakh as Chinese territory. State councillor Yang Jiechi has stated apropos the UNCLOS arbitral award that "though China is large, we cannot lose one centimetre of inheritance left by ancestors". He is not referring to China's rights under international law, he is talking of ancestral legacy denied to it, overlooking the fact that when China became a party to UNCLOS, it renounced this supposed legacy. If a strong China believes that history and past empire building have given it rights that it can assert today, others could, in theory, claim such rights too, generating tensions worldwide. If China is so uncompromising about its "ancestral legacy", should the Tibetans and the Uyghurs of East Turkestan be denied the restoration of their ancestral legacies snatched away by China's territorial aggrandisement at their expense? Does China intend to recover its inheritance lost to Russia and the Central Asian republics, now that it has acquired muscle? China is, moreover, making its strategic opposition to India more public. (Reuters) Even if one were to discount such rhetoric in reaction to a stinging legal defeat inflicted by an international tribunal, the level of China's defiance of the award, with President Xi Jinping asking the PLA to "prepare to make war", bodes ill for the future. China's stature as a great power determined to have its way and others obliged to defer to it will receive a serious blow if it were to climb down and progressively align its posture in the South China Sea with the UNCLOS award, as some hope. One can, therefore, expect some defiant gesture from it, knowing that the US has little stomach for a confrontation. Yang Jiechi is China's special representative for resolving the border dispute with India, which is why the intransigence of his pronouncement on sovereignty and territorial issues cannot be ignored. It actually darkens the prospects for a border settlement, as China cannot have a two-track approach to "historic rights", asserting them unabashedly in the western Pacific and relinquishing them in the Himalayas. China is, moreover, making its strategic opposition to India more public. The decision to build the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor through territory acknowledged as not legally belonging to Pakistan in the 1963 border agreement with the latter shows its scant regard for India's "historical rights" over the whole of Jammu & Kashmir. Decision Its decision to publicly obstruct India's NSG membership indicates lack of interest in normalising relations with India for the time being. Actually, it signals a more open phase of strategic completion between the two. India's NSG membership in no way undermines China's enlightened self-interest, yet it made it known that India's membership was contrary to its national interest. Some Western quarters are cautioning against further humiliation of China following its loss of face after the arbitral award. If loss of face is so important for China, its studied decision to inflict "loss of face" on India on the NSG issue shows not only its exaggerated self-esteem, but also the difference others make about Chinese sensitivities and those of India. China has now begun to cautiously pronounce on India's internal affairs, as indicated by its statement asking all sides to show restraint in handling the current turmoil in Kashmir. This opens the door to potential Indian advice to all sides to show restraint in dealing with the unrest in Tibet and East Turkestan. Activity China's reclamation activity, its militarisation of the South China Sea, its permanent destruction of the environment of the atolls are of a piece with its environmentally damaging activities in Tibet, the development of an extensive military infrastructure there, the ongoing construction of dams and the visualised water diversion projects, all of concern to India. China's intimidatory tactics in the South China Sea also explain the border incidents on the LAC that it periodically instigates. The fiction of China's peaceful rise has been laid bare. The UNCLOS award and China's petulant reaction will test the credibility of the US rebalance towards Asia. Already some US commentators are advocating prudence in handling China's expected bellicosity. They are concerned that the Philippines may get encouraged to act on the award, drawing the US into an unwanted confrontation with China over islands and rocks that present no threat to US security. If unhindered freedom of navigation and overflight is assured, the US should not get involved in local maritime disputes. The future of US-India joint strategic vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions will be tested by the course of US action in meeting China's defiance in the South China Sea. Let me begin by introducing myself. I am no intellectual, pseudo or otherwise; nor am I an armchair analyst - a term that I use for some television prime time experts. I can also not qualify as a troll on either side trying to serve a particular ideology because I follow none. And, it was long ago that politics lost my respect. So I carry no political baggage - Left, Right or Centre. In fact, I really am just a thoroughly bred Kashmiri Pandit and what I am about to express will not exactly be palatable to many of my Kashmiri Pandit (KP) friends. Due apologies. But, let the truth be told, for two wrongs never make a right. If the identity of the KPs was compromised two decades ago, their sons mutilated, women humiliated, their homes taken away, should I wish the same for the Muslims in the Valley invoking providence? That is not the Hinduism that I was taught or made to practise. My experience in Kashmir is divided into two phases - pre '80s when honeymoon couples landed in Kashmir (including most distant acquaintances in our own house) and the locals made it memorable for them. Post '90s, the honeymooners stopped going but I never did. I have visited the Valley every year since, multiple times... terrorism or no terrorism. And I have many stories to share on why the locals may have no strings left attached to India. One that comes to mind is an evening where I was held up near Hotel Centaur for two and a half hours with a wailing infant (my son) because it was way past his feeding time and they would not let us go to our hotel that was only three minutes away. The home minister was to arrive for a meeting at Centaur. But arrive he wouldn't and the traffic was snaking up for over three hours. I did what any mother would do... walked up to the front of the line and gave the officer-in-command what I would call "hell" by my own standards of civility. The disregard and insensitivity being shown in handling the situation was appalling with a long caravan of vehicles carrying children, women and old citizens waiting endlessly. He was courteous enough and offered to send my car to the other side along with an escort. In the moment, something came over me and I refused. My deal was that he must allow all the cars to move to the other side or I would personally meet the home minister to apprise him of how to manage his visits to the Valley. There was some back and forth with his seniors on the walkie talkie, as I was introduced not as an affected mother, but a member of the national media and bingo in the next few minutes, we were all snaking past Hotel Centaur. Interestingly, the officer gave me the warmest handshake and a telling smile which conveyed a lot that was left unsaid between us. I must have forced him to do what he may have wanted to do personally but was beyond the call of duty. That was only one example of living with the locals. One winter, I decided to start living in my family house to introduce my children to the local lifestyle that we had cherished as children. They did experience the beauty of sitting and eating on the floor, wearing a "pheran" with a "kangri" on the side, but my experience as a house keeper was close to being ugly. The power supply was next to nothing. There were always mile long queues, of mostly women, waiting for basics like kerosene and LPG cylinders. Cooking coal was also in short supply to be bought only in the black market. Effectively, there were homes and hearths without any means to cook a single meal in a terrain where even water seems to need more than 100 degrees to boil. Over the years, I saw many acquaintances suffer medical emergencies that could not be handled locally. Many poorer friends died in vain. I have seen the smartest children in my neighbourhood suffering at the hands of sub-standard schools and local bandh calls. I have seen respectable businessmen go under due to lack of tourism revenue. And yes, I did see the floods add fury to the lives of thousands of people without means to rebuild a life. A man walks past closed shops painted with graffiti during a curfew in Srinagar. Photo: Reuters All I want to submit here to my esteemed friends in Delhi who have taken 5-star holidays to Kashmir and found it "normal", you too would have perhaps come out on the streets pelting stones out of an existential crisis. For, all these years, you haven't seen Kashmir's stinking underbelly or have conveniently looked the other way. You come back with pashmina shawls and saffron, but no real local experiences. Remember how we react to the potholes on Delhi roads. To that I can only say, Kashmir has been one big neglected pothole for years that unfortunately neither Delhi nor the local leaders have found a way to fill. So if by any chance, you would like to romanticise patriotism in Kashmir, living a comfortable life in other parts of India, let me tell you that there is no love lost between Kashmiri locals and the system. Disengagement and disenchantment of more than 60 years has hardened them to insensitivity. For those of you asking why children pelt stones, what makes them do it, I would make the extreme argument that if my children do not get the gift of education, health, prosperity and civility in their ecosystem, they would find the prospect of hitting back at an unyielding and indifferent system very tempting. So collectively, while merit came to the rescue of the Kashmiri Pandits who were always dedicated to their academic and fruitful pursuits (both while being in Kashmir and even after the exodus), the leftover populace of the Valley has suffered at the hands of neglect and terror politics. Despite the system's apathy, the Pandits survived history but those left behind in Kashmir are the walking dead. And every passing day, as we drive bullets and pellets into the ailing soul of the Valley, the hope for Kashmir is dying a gradual death. Winston Churchill once said that a lie goes halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. The same is true for half-truths and innuendos which always seem to have an edge over tame facts. In the aftermath of the Permanent Court of Arbitration's (PAC) damning verdict against China on the South China Sea (SCS) issue, there is criticism in some quarters that New Delhi's official statement failed to account for key nuances while outlining its stand on the matter. Some Indian commentators suggested that South Block's hasty reaction to the UN tribunal's ruling did deep disservice to New Delhi's official stand on territorial disputes in its neighbourhood, creating a legal paradox those officials would find hard to defend in the future. However, as this article explains, insinuations and half-truths only serve to distract attention from India's larger interest in the Indo-Pacific region that New Delhi's clear, though conservatively worded, statement on the PCA verdict did well to adequately highlight. Neither the maritime boundary delimitation issue with Pakistan, nor border problems with China have any correlation with India's position on the South China Sea. As some observers see it, India's stock response to the SCS verdict - emphasising on freedom of navigation, over flight and rule of law - betrays a lack of understanding of its legal position on its border disputes. As an article in The Wire put it, not only did New Delhi's statement on the South China Sea contradict its considered stand on Sir Creek - where India refuses international arbitration - it also failed to take advantage of inherent contradictions in Beijing's legal position on the South China Sea policy and its stand on the border with India, where Chinese leaders reject the McMahon Line and a 1914 agreement between British and Tibetan representatives. As compelling as some of these arguments appear outwardly, they fail the test of logical reasoning. A closer examination makes it clear that neither the maritime boundary delimitation issue with Pakistan, nor border problems with China have any correlation with New Delhi's position on the South China Sea. On Sir Creek, the critics' assessment that India's insistence on mutual consultation and a solution in the spirit of the Shimla Agreement is incompatible with New Delhi's SCS statement is both legally and conceptually flawed. While Pakistan's right to invoke international arbitration is recognised by the law, India cannot be denied a position which it believes leads to a just and equitable solution. What's more important is Pakistan's own reluctance to seek the legal remedy. Islamabad hesitates to act on its threat of international arbitration, because of an "opt-out" clause (Article 298) under Part XV of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which entitles a State to refuse legal adjudication on a matter involving sea boundary delimitation. Needless to say, Pakistan knows that any attempt to elevate the Sir Creek issue to an international dispute will lead New Delhi to invoke the exclusion provision. But there is also a cost consideration for Pakistan. In the absence of resources and stamina, Islamabad is ill-placed to fight a long-drawn battle in the court of arbitration. In the China vs Philippines arbitration at The Hague, Manila spent a small fortune funding the legal process and even reportedly bore Beijing's share of the arbitrator's fees. Even if Pakistan takes India to the PCA on Sir Creek, it will find it hard to justify the expenses for a legal process that promises paltry gains. The process could deplete national will power and treasury well before judges begin considering the merits of the case. Pakistani officials privately acknowledge that the disputed patch of maritime territory in Sir Creek does not offer any immediate benefits - barring fishing rights, which Pakistani fishermen seem to already enjoy, even if at some risk from Indian law enforcement agencies. The issue thus appears more symbolic than substantive for Pakistan, albeit one where Islamabad won't cede an inch for political reasons, regardless of the utility of the maritime real estate in question. Similarly, the argument that Indian support for the South China Sea ruling compromises New Delhi's position on the McMahon Line appears too far-fetched to be taken seriously. Unlike the demarcating line between India and China that was defined in an agreement between the British and Tibetan representatives, the nine-dash line was unilaterally declared by the Republic of China (ROC) in 1947 as a basis for claiming nearly the entire South China Sea. Nothing about the South China Sea ruling bears remote resemblance to China's territorial claims in Arunachal Pradesh. Unsurprisingly, critics of India's South China Sea statement make much of the tripartite meeting between India, China and Russia on April 18 this year, in which New Delhi is said to have signed a joint communique that supported China's stand for a multilateral solution. The document released did not refer to the Philippines vs China case pending before the PCA, even though it did mention the UNCLOS. The recognition of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in the RIC communique, critics say, takes away the right of involved parties to legal recourse under the UNCLOS. This is again a distortion of the truth. The DOC, like many other international agreements, is a political pact and non-statutory in nature. Its provisions are meant to facilitate a peaceful and amicable resolution of disputes between China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. Like any other political agreement it does not require States to renounce their lawful rights of arbitration. While India must indeed share blame for allowing Beijing to spin the RIC communique to claim New Delhi's support on the South China Sea issue, it isn't guilty of adopting contradictory positions in the joint statement (recognising the DOC) and its South China Sea stand (emphasising peaceful dispute resolution under UNCLOS). Legal opinion is unanimous that Annexure VII of the UNCLOS requires no political endorsement as the statute stands by itself and overrides multilateral agreements and their recommended means of dispute resolution. The real question for Indian commentators is whether the relentless focus on the presumed dissonance that exists in the Indian political establishment on its border disputes undermines India's wider interests in maritime Asia. The truth is that India's position on the South China Sea in intimately linked to its Indo-Pacific interests and its dominant power status in the Indian Ocean. Not only must India support the arbitration tribunal's findings as a means to safeguard its trade and energy interests in the western Pacific, it must use the ruling to showcase its commitment to international maritime law. More importantly, India must be concerned that a consolidation of Chinese maritime power in Southeast Asia has a direct bearing on the People's Liberation Army Navy's (PLAN) power projection plans in the Indian Ocean. From an Indian perspective, China's growing military presence in the South China Sea has a destabilising effect on the wider Asian littorals, as it exacerbates existing power asymmetries. By taking a principled stand on the territorial disputes, India must contribute to the restoration of strategic equilibrium in the Indo-Pacific. The endorsement of international law in the South China Sea dispute is a prerequisite for New Delhi to meet its growing maritime ambitions in Asia. But India must be careful not to pontificate to China the virtues of responsible international behaviour. The failed military coup attempt in Turkey has been widely hailed as a triumph of democracy. The courage that thousands of Turks have shown to thwart an effort by a section of armed forces to oust a democratically-elected government and president is commendable. It is true that both the Turkish government and the president are democratically elected, and they must not be removed by undemocratic means. But has their protection protected the democratic values in the country? The answer is a big NO. Not to suggest that the situation would have been better otherwise, but there is hardly any doubt that their survival has further deteriorated democracy, human rights and the rule of law in the country. In order to put things in perspective let me produce some figures which is relevant to the whole argument: 15,200 education ministry staff, 8,000 policemen, 3,000 judges, 3,500 soldiers, and 100 generals and admirals have been sacked or detained within a few days on charges of plotting the coup. The swiftness in action and the scale of operation against these high ranking officials smack of something insidious. It must be asked that if the government is competent enough to identify such a large number of coup-plotters within days, how did it have no idea, whatsoever of their planning? Or if the government knew that these officials are planning a coup, why did it not take any action before they moved to execute their plan? Notably, this is not the first time the Turkish government is purging officials from their positions. Over the past three years, thousands of policemen, prosecutors, judges and other state officials have been relieved of their duties and arrested on charges of being a member or sympathiser of what the government calls "parallel state" (the name it has given to the Gulen movement). Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen. (Reuters) From Istanbul police chief to a low-ranking officer in the remote southeast, from the members of the Constitutional Court to the staff of the state media regulator Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK), from democratic academicians to leftist journalists, from the European Parliament Turkey rapporteur to the Kurdish rights activists, and so on have all been accused of cooperating with the so-called "parallel state" to overthrow the government. Twenty independent news websites have also been shut down by the government in the immediate aftermath of the coup attempt. This too is not unparalleled in the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government's history. The government has banned dozens of online portals, including social media websites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube multiple times previously. In other words, almost all those institutions, establishments and professionals who keep a check on the power of the executive were already being targeted and their independence had long been substantially eroded. Now with this failed coup attempt, the Turkish government is trying to further muzzle the opposing voices in the country. Apart from these totally undemocratic and regressive yet precedented practises, the government has adopted some measures this time that are unparalleled even in its authoritarian history. A blanket ban on all academicians from travelling abroad has been implemented, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) has been suspended and a nationwide emergency has been declared. Following the declaration of state of Emergency which has given the power to government to rule by decree, 15 universities, 934 schools, 104 foundations, 109 dormitories, 35 hospitals, 1,125 associations and 19 unions have been shut down. The government is also mulling to reintroduce death penalty in the country. It was abolished in 2004 as part of Turkey's bid to join the European Union. Additionally, as the government has accused the Gulen movement for plotting this coup attempt, hate crimes against the movement has skyrocketed. The properties of the sympathisers of the Gulen movement have been vandalised, a school belonging to the movement has been set on fire, and many restaurants have displayed banners reading "parallel state" sympathisers are not allowed to enter. All of these are happening despite the fact that the leader of the movement, Fethullah Gulen has unequivocally condemned the coup attempt and strongly rejected government's accusation. The government has produced no hard evidence yet to corroborate its allegations. Gulen is a Turkish Islamic scholar living in the US since 1999. His teachings and ideas have inspired a worldwide network of schools, charity organisations and dialogue foundations. The Turkish government started to openly target him and his sympathisers since a huge corruption scandal implicating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's inner circle became public in 2013. The government had then accused Gulen supporters in the judiciary and police of attempting a "judicial coup" and now it is accusing them of attempting a military coup. However, in both the cases the government's allegations have hardly stood scrutiny. Given what Erdogan's civilian government is doing in Turkey following the botched coup attempt it is clear, that the situation in the country isn't any better than what it would have been had the attempted coup succeed. Remember that testing trend we told you about? The one that showed PARCC and Smarter Balanced losing ground at the high school level? Its expanded to include two more states. Recent news reports tell us that Rhode Island is dropping PARCC for 10th and 11th grade students, and leaving it in place for grades 3-9. Illinois has cut PARCC back to grades 3-8. In EdWeeks national survey of states 2015-16 assessments , we reported that high school territory had eroded for both the PARCC and Smarter Balanced common-core tests. Only six states and the District of Columbia used PARCC last year, including one, Colorado, that used it only in grades 3-9. Now three PARCC states have opted to stop using the test above 8th or 9th grade. In Illinois, the state boards decision to pare back PARCC stems in part from concerns about the testing burden as high school juniors face Advanced Placement and college-entrance exams, according to the Chicago Tribune. The states move also echoes another trend we reported in our testing survey: the displacement of PARCC and Smarter Balanced by the ACT and the SAT. Illinois students wont have to take PARCC, but theyll take the SAT. In Rhode Island, PARCC was given in grades 3-10, but 10th graders wont have to take PARCC anymore . Sophomores and juniors will be able to take the PSAT or SAT or free, but wont required to do so, according to local news reports. Ninth grade students will take PARCCs English/language arts exam, and the PARCC math test that corresponds to whichever math course theyre taking. Rhode Islands decision to cut back on PARCC also reflected a concern about over-testing , and dovetailed with the states desire to make college-preparation and college-entrance exams more widely available, according to the Providence Journal. The education policy record of Sen. Tim Kaine, who was just picked as the running mate for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, will get plenty of attention this week. Less, but still a signficant amount , of attention will be paid toward his wife, Anne Holton, who currently serves as Virginia Secretary of Education . Thats not the same as the states Superintendent of Public Instruction, a position held by Steven R. Staples. The state superintendent oversees the department of education and reports to the states board of education. Both the board and superintendent are appointed by the governor. Virginias Secretary of Education, on the other hand, is a role established in 1976 to advise the governor on both pre-K, K-12 and higher education policy. The role is advisory in nature only, and the secretary doesnt have any authority over the education department. The secretary is appointed by and reports to the governor. Holton, a former legal aid lawyer, was appointed to serve as the states education secretary in 2014. She is the daughter of former Virginia Gov. Linwood Holton , a Republican, and her picture was famously captured in 1970 when she became one of the few white students to attend an all-black Richmond high school. Holton and Kaine sent their children to Richmond City Public Schools. Update: Holton submitted her resignation Tuesday. Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe appointed Dietra Trent , the states deputy secretary. Since being appointed, she has advocated for the rights of foster children, the reduction of standardized testing, and closing the states wide achievement gap between white students and students of color, according to the Washington Post. Shes also pushed back against the expansion of charter schools and advocated for the state legislature to increase teacher pay. Renee Lang, the spokeswoman for the National Association of State Board of Education, did a little bit of research for me and found that 12 states have governors cabinet members with the title secretary of education, in addition to the states superintendent. They are: Delaware Illinois Kentucky (Secretary of the Cabinet for Education and Workforce Development) Maryland Massachusetts New Mexico (Secretary of the Public Education Department) Oklahoma (Secretary of Education and Workforce Development) Pennsylvania South Dakota Virginia Vermont West Virginia (Secretary of Education and the Arts) Twelve additional states have education representatives with titles other than secretary of education on their governors cabinets. Not all of these cabinet members represent general K-12 education; some have titles specific to higher education or early learning. Those 12 states are: Alaska (Representing education and early development) Colorado (Representing higher education) Georgia Hawaii Indiana (Cabinet member is the Executive Director of the Idaho State Board of Education) Maine Minnesota Nevada New Jersey (Two cabinet members representing education and higher education) Ohio (Representing higher education) Tennessee Washington (Representing early learning) Dont miss another State EdWatch post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox. And make sure to follow @StateEdWatch on Twitter for the latest news from state K-12 policy and politics. Dr. Phil and Wife Demand $250M From National Enquirer for Defamation Television psychologist Phil McGraw, better known as Dr. Phil, and his wife Robin McGraw, sued the National Enquirer for defamation this month. The couple claim, in a case filed in Palm Beach County, Florida, that the gossip rag has hurt them professionally, emotionally, and otherwise and are demanding $250 million in damages. The National Enquirer, which is accustomed to getting sued, responded to the filing with yet another article insulting the television counseling couple, calling Dr. Phil a quack and defending all previously published articles as true. According to the Washington Post, the McGraws seem to be following in the footsteps of Hulk Hogan, who successfully sued Gawker in Florida over a sex tape publication, pushing the publisher to bankruptcy. Defaming the McGraws Defamation is a claim for injury of reputation. The McGraws are claiming that the National Enquirer has consistently made money by publishing lies about the couple that injure them professionally and personally. Among the most egregious of the paper's claims, says the counseling couple in its filing, is the one where the National Enquirer accuses Dr. Phil of abusing his wife physically. The McGraws earn a living counseling couples, both in private and on television, and say that the publication of abuse claims has hurt them in Florida, the U.S., and internationally. To prove their case they will have to show the following elements of defamation: A statement was made The statement was published The statement caused injury The statement was false The statement did not fall into a privileged category Defensive Measures The National Enquirer revealed its defense to the defamation suit in another article about the allegedly injured couple. In order for a statement to be defamatory it must be false, among the other elements noted above, and the paper insists everything it says about Dr. Phil is true. Follow FindLaw for Consumers on Facebook and Twitter (@FindLawConsumer). Related Resources: A sustained and rousing standing ovation for Bernie Sanders at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, tonight. Transcript of Bernie Sanders' speech: Thank you. Good evening. It is an honor to be with you tonight and to be following in the footsteps of Elizabeth Warren, and to be here tonight to thank Michelle Obama for her incredible service to our country. She has made all of us proud. Let me begin by thanking the hundreds of thousands of Americans who actively participated in our campaign as volunteers. Thank you. Let me thank the 2 1/2 million Americans who helped fund our campaign with an unprecedented 8 million individual campaign contributions . Anyone know what that average contribution was? That's right, $27. And let me thank the 13 million Americans who voted for the political revolution, giving us the 1,846 pledged delegates here tonight 46 percent of the total. And delegates: Thank you for being here, and for all the work you've done. I look forward to your votes during the roll call on Tuesday night. And let me offer a special thanks to the people of my own state of Vermont who have sustained me and supported me as a mayor, congressman, senator and presidential candidate. And to my family my wife Jane, four kids and seven grandchildren thank you very much for your love and hard work on this campaign. I understand that many people here in this convention hall and around the country are disappointed about the final results of the nominating process. I think it's fair to say that no one is more disappointed than I am. But to all of our supporters here and around the country I hope you take enormous pride in the historical accomplishments we have achieved. Together, my friends, we have begun a political revolution to transform America and that revolution our revolution continues. Election days come and go. But the struggle of the people to create a government which represents all of us and not just the 1 percent a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice that struggle continues. And I look forward to being part of that struggle with you. Let me be as clear as I can be. This election is not about, and has never been about, Hillary Clinton, or Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders or any of the other candidates who sought the presidency. This election is not about political gossip. It's not about polls. It's not about campaign strategy. It's not about fundraising. It's not about all the things that the media spends so much time discussing. This election is about and must be about the needs of the American people and the kind of future we create for our children and grandchildren. This election is about ending the 40-year decline of our middle class the reality that 47 million men, women and children live in poverty. It is about understanding that if we do not transform our economy, our younger generation will likely have a lower standard of living then their parents. This election is about ending the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we currently experience, the worst it has been since 1928. It is not moral, not acceptable and not sustainable that the top one-tenth of one percent now own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent, or that the top 1 percent in recent years has earned 85 percent of all new income. That is unacceptable. That must change. This election is about remembering where we were 7 1/2 years ago when President Obama came into office after eight years of Republican trickle-down economics. The Republicans want us to forget that as a result of the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street, our economy was in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Some 800,000 people a month were losing their jobs. We were running up a record-breaking deficit of $1.4 trillion and the world's financial system was on the verge of collapse. We have come a long way in the last 7 1/2 years, and I thank President Obama and Vice President Biden for their leadership in pulling us out of that terrible recession. Yes, we have made progress, but I think we can all agree that much, much more needs to be done. This election is about which candidate understands the real problems facing this country and has offered real solutions not just bombast, not just fear-mongering, not just name-calling and divisiveness. We need leadership in this country which will improve the lives of working families, the children, the elderly, the sick and the poor. We need leadership which brings our people together and makes us stronger not leadership which insults Latinos, Muslims, women, African-Americans and veterans and divides us up. By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close. This election is about a single mom I saw in Nevada who, with tears in her eyes, told me that she was scared to death about the future because she and her young daughter were not making it on the $10.45 an hour she was earning. This election is about that woman and the millions of other workers in this country who are struggling to survive on totally inadequate wages. Hillary Clinton understands that if someone in this country works 40 hours a week, that person should not be living in poverty. She understands that we must raise the minimum wage to a living wage. And she is determined to create millions of new jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure our roads, bridges, water systems and wastewater plants. But her opponent Donald Trump well, he has a very different point of view. He does not support raising the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour a starvation wage. While Donald Trump believes in huge tax breaks for billionaires, he believes that states should actually have the right to lower the minimum wage below $7.25. Brothers and sisters, this election is about overturning Citizens United, one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in the history of our country. That decision allows the wealthiest people in America, like the billionaire Koch brothers, to spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying elections and, in the process, undermine American democracy. Hillary Clinton will nominate justices to the Supreme Court who are prepared to overturn Citizens United and end the movement toward oligarchy in this country. Her Supreme Court appointments will also defend a woman's right to choose, workers' rights, the rights of the LGBT community, the needs of minorities and immigrants and the government's ability to protect our environment. If you don't believe that this election is important, if you think you can sit it out, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate and what that would mean to civil liberties, equal rights and the future of our country. This election is about the thousands of young people I have met all over this country who have left college deeply in debt, and tragically the many others who cannot afford to go to college. During the primary campaign, Secretary Clinton and I both focused on this issue but with somewhat different approaches. Recently, however, we have come together on a proposal that will revolutionize higher education in America. It will guarantee that the children of any family this country with an annual income of $125,000 a year or less 83 percent of our population will be able to go to a public college or university tuition free. That proposal also substantially reduces student debt. This election is about climate change, the greatest environmental crisis facing our planet, and the need to leave this world in a way that is healthy and habitable for our kids and future generations. Hillary Clinton is listening to the scientists who tell us that unless we act boldly and transform our energy system in the very near future there will be more drought, more floods, more acidification of the oceans, more rising sea levels. She understands that when we do that we can create hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs. Donald Trump? Well, like most Republicans, he chooses to reject science. He believes that climate change is a "hoax," no need to address it. Hillary Clinton understands that a president's job is to worry about future generations, not the short-term profits of the fossil fuel industry. This campaign is about moving the United States toward universal health care and reducing the number of people who are uninsured or under-insured. Hillary Clinton wants to see that all Americans have the right to choose a public option in their health care exchange. She believes that anyone 55 years or older should be able to opt in to Medicare and she wants to see millions more Americans gain access to primary health care, dental care, mental health counseling and low-cost prescription drugs through a major expansion of community health centers. And What is Donald Trump's position on health care? Well, no surprise there. Same old, same old Republican contempt for working families. He wants to abolish the Affordable Care Act, throw 20 million people off of the health insurance they currently have and cut Medicaid for lower-income Americans. Hillary Clinton also understands that millions of seniors, disabled vets and others are struggling with the outrageously high cost of prescription drugs and the fact that Americans pay the highest prices in the world for the medicine we use. She knows that Medicare must negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry and that drug companies should not be making billions in profits while one in five Americans are unable to afford the medicine they need. The greed of the drug companies must end. This election is about the leadership we need to pass comprehensive immigration reform and repair a broken criminal justice system. It's about making sure that young people in this country are in good schools and at good jobs, not rotting in jail cells. Hillary Clinton understands that we have to invest in education and jobs for our young people, not more jails or incarceration. In these stressful times for our country, this election must be about bringing our people together, not dividing us up. While Donald Trump is busy insulting one group after another, Hillary Clinton understands that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths. Yes. We become stronger when black and white, Latino, Asian-American, Native American when all of us stand together. Yes. We become stronger when men and women, young and old, gay and straight, native born and immigrant fight together to create the kind of country we all know we can become. It is no secret that Hillary Clinton and I disagree on a number of issues. That's what this campaign has been about. That's what democracy is about. But I am happy to tell you that at the Democratic Platform Committee there was a significant coming together between the two campaigns and we produced, by far, the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party. Among many, many other strong provisions, the Democratic Party now calls for breaking up the major financial institutions on Wall Street and the passage of a 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act. It also calls for strong opposition to job-killing free trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. We have got to make sure that the #TPP doesn't get passed by Cogress during a lame-duck session. Our job now is to see that platform implemented by a Democratic Senate, a Democratic House and a Hillary Clinton presidency and I am going to do everything I can to make that happen. I have known Hillary Clinton for 25 years. I remember her as a great first lady who broke precedent in terms of the role that a first lady was supposed to play as she helped lead the fight for universal health care. I served with her in the United States Senate and know her as a fierce advocate for the rights of children, for the women, and for the disabled. Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her tonight. Thank you all very much. Did Vladimir Putin order the Russian government to hack the Democratic National Committee, obtaining emails that Wikileaks has since released, to take down Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US Presidential elections? That's the theory that emerged rapidly inside American intelligence and law enforcement agencies since the 20,000 leaked internal DNC emails spread throughout the internet, just before the beginning of the party's convention in Philadelphia. Some of those emails revealed DNC staff's efforts to sabotage Bernie Sanders's campaign against Clinton. One discussed challenging his religious faith, or lack thereof. The revelations were seen as deeply embarrassing and damaging to the Dems, and on Sunday, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said she would step downbut only after the convention has concluded. From the Daily Beast: The FBI suspects that Russian government hackers breached the networks of the Democratic National Committee and stole emails that were posted to the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks on Friday. It's an operation that several U.S. officials now suspect was a deliberate attempt to influence the presidential election in favor of Donald Trump, according to five individuals familiar with the investigation of the breach. The theory that Moscow orchestrated the leaks to help Trump, who has repeatedly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and practically called for the end of NATO, is fast gaining currency within the Obama administration because of the timing of the leaks and Trump's own connections to the Russian government, the sources said on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing and developing quickly. Current and former U.S. officials drew analogies to so-called "active measures campaigns," or state-sponsored operations designed for political effects. "The release of emails just as the Democratic National Convention is getting underway this week has the hallmarks of a Russian active measures campaign," David Shedd, a former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told The Daily Beast. Shedd said that additional leaks were likely, echoing an opinion expressed by U.S. officials and experts who said that the release of emails on Friday may just be an opening salvo. The Beast did some solid reporting on this very interesting story. Two U.S. officials told their reporters that while yes, hacking is a crime which falls to the FBI, "trying to manipulate an election is not" a crime. This limits what FBI can investigate, the officials said. "Manipulation is not a crime. Some would argue that Voice of America or Fox News try to manipulate elections," one retired FBI agent told The Daily Beast. The Imedia Creative Bureau in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan designed this concept cow-swiping-UFO milk bottle. From Imedia: We are trying to tend to come up with original and smart packaging or product designs. So this time the task was to create a milk package unlike anything on market shelves. We wanted to find very abstract or distant association with milk and cow. Cow being abducted by UFO is pretty common used image in pop-culture. But it was very unexpected idea for milk bottle. So we begun working on it. At first we sketched the shape of the bottle and its proportions. Then Kanat (our 3D designer) started to model the bottle while the rest of the team were looking for appropriate naming. We had some cool names like Cowsmilk (which reads like "cosmic"), Mimimilk and among them was Molocow. As you know "moloko" is a Russian word but thanks to outstanding director Stanley Kubrick everybody knows this word, we suppose. Also we wanted to pay tribute to Stanley Kubrick's greatest movie "Orange clockwork", and "Space Odyssey 2001 which is sci-fi classic. We were happy with the product name. Kanat worked on this project for a month roughly. He's done the visuals very well that some could take them as real ones. You can save it, you can buy things with it, you can watch its value fluctuate, but according to a Miami court judge, "bitcoin has a long way to go before it is equivalent of money." Judge Teresa Mary Pooler ruled yesterday that defendant Michael Espinoza, who was charged with laundering bitcoins, was not guilty, and then declared that bitcoin isn't money. According to The Guardian: Defendant Michel Espinoza was on trial for illegally transmitting and laundering $1,500 worth of bitcoins to undercover agents who intended to use them to purchase stolen credit cards. His attorney argued that the charges should be dismissed because, under Florida state law, the cyber-currency could not be considered money. After extended deliberation, Judge Teresa Mary Pooler agreed in a ruling issued on Monday. Read the full story here. Image: btckeychain/Flickr For 18 years, Rick Brehm served as Germanna Community Colleges Vice President for Administrative Services. Throughout that time, the title he cared more about was friend, said Germanna spokesman Mike Zitz. He died last Wednesday after a four-year battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 56. Zitz added that even though coworkers and friends at Germanna were told Brehm was in his final days, the news of his passing stunned and dismayed them. He had come back so many times and soldiered through the ordeal with such good humor that many believed deep down that hed defy fate one more time, Zitz added. His was a masterful balancing act requiring a rare combination of cool pragmatism and human warmth; of facing down daunting professional and personal challenges that would cause most to wilt while maintaining laser-like focus. He did it all without drama, instilling confidence while lifting others spirits and easing their minds. His business acumen and vision in managing the bottom line helped Germanna through some of the toughest times in its five-decade history. Just as important in helping steer the college was his humanity and humor. As his days dwindled, instead of worrying about himself, Zitz said, Brehm spent much of his time easing employee concerns about a Virginia Community College System streamlining process. In his last phone call with Germanna President David Sam, Brehm sought to assure a smooth transition to the staff he had hired and quietly inspired for so long. Rick helped me to learn how to be a good president. He was a steady adviser through recession and budget cuts, rapid enrollment growth then loss, new construction and recovery from the earthquake, and in the day-to-day stewardship of our [community] college. He was more than a colleague. He was a dear friend. A large part of our heart has gone away with him. But his legacy is most of all in the people he supervised and who learned their integrity and ethic of quiet service from him. Rick Brehm was the best of us. John Davis, executive director of organizational planning and assessment, called Brehm a man of incredible character and integrity. Rick didnt start out his career working in higher education, but chose to take that path given his altruistic nature. He told me that participation in commencement was important to himlargely because it enabled him to see the fruits of his labor. Davis, who was a close personal friend, said Brehms thoughtful stewardship was key to helping Germanna avoid layoffs during a period of rapid growth that intersected with a series of steep state budget cuts. To a large extent, Rick toiled in the background doing things which are largely thankless or taken for granted, making sure bills were paid, budgets were balanced, facilities were cared for, students and staff were secure and technology needs were met. He would be the first to say that he did none of this himself. Yet at the end of the day it was his dedication, professional acumen and managerial skills that helped GCC flourish. Many talked about the way Brehm always found a way to lighten the mood, even in times of crisis. Some of my favorite memories are of Ricks wonderful sense of humor, said Dean Denise Talley. Rick was always the epitome of professionalism in his work, but if you got to know him better, you soon learned he could have been a stand-up comedian He would literally bring me to tears laughing at his one-liners. Ill miss his sage advice, but will miss our shared chuckles even more. During his time at Germanna, Brehm, who earned both his bachelors degree in accounting and MBA at James Madison University: led the internal services group providing support for one of the fastest-growing colleges in America; led facilities development through the colleges 100 percent growth spurt during an eight-year period; oversaw early adoption of IT infrastructure in classrooms and human simulators in nursing labs; launched a campus police department; and managed finances so that Germanna was able to fund operations and provide funds for equipment, program development, and new initiatives and avoid layoffs during years of coinciding budget cuts and record growth. A brave battle Brehm was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of the disease, in January 2012. Zitz said he fought bravely, going into remission four times and missing relatively little time at the job he was so devoted. The doctors said that many remissions are highly unusual. So was the way he maintained his sense of humor, knowing that only 6 percent of patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer survive five years. He was unusual all the way around, said his wife Donna Lam Brehm, with a chuckle. She said that by the time the doctors discovered the pancreatic cancer it had metastasized and Brehm had more than 50 tumors on his liver. All but one was eradicated by treatments, and it was very tiny, she said. But Brehm remained upbeat through it all, his wife said. In June, a blockage in a bile duct was found. A new tumor had formed, Donna Brehm said. It was a fast-growing one. They gave him two to four weeks and he made it to one day short of that. Germannas former President Frank Turnage said Brehm will be deeply missed. When I interviewed him for the job in 1997, within five minutes I knew he was the one. He proved me right to this very day. In lieu of flowers, Brehm asked that donations be made the Presbyterian Church of Fredericksburg building fund and to the Germanna Community College Educational Foundation fund for the construction of state-of-the-art building that will provide cutting-edge nursing training at the Locust Grove Campus. That, Donna Brehm said, was his next project. There should be no more half measures, or shady deals done in back rooms that will effectively keep Britain dangling in a losing EU. We must leave immediately and become decisive. Does Theresa May have the balls to start proceedings immediately? Probably not, because she technically does not have balls, but we need someone who does have the gumption and balls to do the job effectively. Bring on John Redwood or Daniel Hannan or Nigel Farage, come forward and repeal the 1972 European Communities Act, we must take back our own constitutional rights to withdraw from the European Union. Ignoring the pipsqueak Sturgeon, who has no power to do anything without Britain, we must forge ahead as quickly and decisively as possible. Theresa May, if she wishes to channel Thatcher, must be decisive and strong, to withdraw from the EU immediately so we can take back full control of our laws and trade, we must stop paying Brussels their blood money, we must act with haste and determination. Do it now. After reflecting on his statements during an event sponsored by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation equating Jewish settlers to being termites, Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson tweeted, "Poor choice of words apologies for offense." "There has been a steady [stream], almost like termites can get into a residence and eat before you know that you've been eaten up and you fall in on yourself, there has been settlement activity that has marched forward with impunity and at an ever increasing rate to the point where it has become alarming." Prisoners are likely to be the primary risk group for HIV infections in Eastern Europe in the next 15 years, researchers from the University of Bristol have found. Their study was published as part of series in the Lancet on HIV and related infections in prisoners, which was also presented at this month's International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa. The Series notes that with an estimated 30 million people passing in and out of prisons every year, prisoners will be key to controlling HIV and tuberculosis epidemics worldwide. The Bristol researchers' contributed to a study looking specifically at the 15 UNAIDS-designated countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) that gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.* Study co-author Professor Peter Vickerman, from the School of Social and Community Medicine, said: "Despite global reductions in HIV incidence and mortality, this is the only region where both continue to rise. HIV transmission in EECA is fuelled primarily by injection of opioids, with harsh criminalisation of drug use that has resulted in extraordinarily high levels of incarceration. Consequently, people who inject drugs, including those with HIV, hepatitis C virus, and tuberculosis, are concentrated within prisons. "Mathematical modelling for Ukraine suggests high levels of incarceration in EECA countries facilitate HIV transmission among people who inject drugs, with 2855 per cent of all new HIV infections over the next 15 years predicted to be attributable to heightened HIV transmission risk among currently or previously incarcerated people who inject drugs." The study argues boosting opioid agonist therapies in prisons, and maintaining treatment after release, would give the greatest HIV transmission reduction in people who inject drugs. Professor Vickerman said: "Additional analyses also suggest at least six per cent of all incident tuberculosis cases, and 75 per cent of incident tuberculosis cases in people who inject drugs are due to incarceration. "Interventions that reduce incarceration itself and effectively intervene with prisoners to screen, diagnose, and treat addiction and HIV, hepatitis C virus, and tuberculosis are urgently needed to stem the multiple overlapping epidemics concentrated in prisons." Paper: 'The perfect storm: incarceration and the high-risk environment perpetuating transmission of HIV, hepatitis C virus, and tuberculosis in Eastern Europe and Central Asia' by Frederick Altice et al in The Lancet News / National by Munyaradzi Musiiwa PRESIDENT Mugabe will next week commission the dualisation of the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu highway after the Government awarded tenders for the $2, 7 billion project to two companies from Austria and China.The project will take three years to complete.In an interview on the sidelines of the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) national driver's awards held on Sunday night at a Gweru hotel, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Joram Gumbo, said officials from Austrian construction firm, Geiger Pvt Ltd and a Chinese company, China Harbour, were already in the country negotiating with the Government on the implementation strategy.Gumbo said the two companies were also required to set aside a percentage of the work for local companies.He said work on the 897-kilometre stretch from Chirundu to Beitbridge would gobble an estimated $2,7 billion."The first few kilometres from Beitbridge border post were awarded to local companies and work has already started. They are resurfacing and widening the road. For the dualisation we have awarded the contracts to Austrian Construction Company Geiger (Pvt) Ltd and Chinese Company China Harbour (Chec)," Gumbo said."They are already in the country and we have started negotiations with them to find out what percentage of works they are going to give to our locals and also the implementation process. We are discussing and in the first week of August we are going to be commissioning the construction of this road and there will be a ground breaking ceremony which President Mugabe will officiate."We are prioritising this road as Government because it's the busiest road in Southern Africa and Beitbridge Border post is the busiest port of entry/exit in Sub-Saharan Africa."Gumbo said the stretch would be segmented into eight to speed up the dualisation process."We will segment it into five segments between Beitbridge and Harare and three between Harare and Chirundu so that we can quickly finish the dualisation. We are going to make a ring road surrounding Harare. We are also looking forward to dualising the Beitbridge-Victoria Falls and Harare-Nyamapanda roads. We are expecting the work to be completed in three years' time," he said.The project was once stalled due to a court challenge by Zim Highways Consortium, a grouping of local firms that had initially been awarded the tender in 2002 but allegedly failed to raise the required capital.This resulted in the withdrawal of the tender and the consortium approached the courts for relief.However, the dispute between the Government and the consortium was resolved last year with Secretary for Transport and Infrastructural Development Mr Munesu Munodawafa saying the project was expected to proceed.The rehabilitation and dualisation of the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu highway has been cited as one of the major projects under government's Zim-Asset economic turnaround blueprint.The highway has recorded a lot of accidents due to the huge volumes of traffic and dualisation has been identified as a long-term solution to the problem. News / National by Thobekile Zhou The return of Pastor Evan Mawarire to Zimbabwe continue to spark debate among social media users.Mawarire has been in South Africa for close to two weeks spending most of his time conducting media interviews.When he left the country soon after his much publicised arrest and dramatic release, state media went overdrive claiming that the Pastor had fled the country to seek asylum in Europe.On his part he said his trip to South Africa was long planned before his arrest.On Monday, journalist Brezhnev Malaba took to Twitter to ask when Mawarire is returning.He posted @BrezhMalaba "How long is #ThisFlag leader Pastor Evan Mawarire intending to stay in Jo'burg?".That generated a string of mixed responses.Below are some monitored by Bulawayo24.com.@pente83 said "@BrezhMalaba i think he wl only come back to furfil the prophet but not so soon".Zuma Mguni said "SA will give him asylum. Will direct from here"@innonyaude said "@BrezhMalaba @PastorEvanLive needs us to stand by him no matter his decision. Safety first".@flossymapeto added "@BrezhMalaba until it's safe for him to come back & the President stops regarding him an outcast for questioning bad governance & corruption".@Fi_ooh_na said "He's clearly not willing to die for his country Zimbos must just get brutalized by cops while he enjoys safety in SA".@Arumlily92 said "I notice a lot of pple's response to @BrezhMalaba is that pastor E must come back 2 zim...to what end? If he is killed then what?"@BrezhMalaba itai gave his life for us 4 but what did that help?"@BrezhMalaba then there r those saying he can't b safe while pple r being beaten in e streets? Uhm he gave no instruction 4 pple 2 March"@BrezhMalaba those who are marching are doing so coz they are also tired .... Please pastor E does not owe our tweeting selves his life" A little help goes a long way. On Friday, staff from Dals Facilities Management (FM) team made the rounds of Dals three Halifax campuses, loading up one of their large transport truck with boxes upon boxes of foodstuffs. Their destination: Feed Nova Scotia, which earlier in July put out an open call for donations as supplies had reached a critical low point. With the inclusion of food supplies collected at the Agricultural Campus the previous day, FM employees Tim Jolly and Jamie Perry dropped off more than 100 boxes at Feed Nova Scotias warehouse in Halifax. The total haul exceeded the universitys one-tonne goal: in total, 1,041 kg of food was donated. Karen Theriault, director of development and communications for Feed Nova Scotia, says that volume of food is enough to provide 2,100 meals for Nova Scotians in need this summer. Dalhousie University really took this initiative and ran with it, and the result was phenomenal, says Theriault. Its important that we have support all through the year but this season, when were really struggling, its heartwarming to see how our community has rallied together, and to see Dalhousie take this on with such enthusiasm was wonderful. The Dal-wide food drive was organized by a collection of offices and individuals, including the Presidents Office, the Office of Advancement, Facilities Management, Dal Libraries and Financial Services. Donation boxes were placed in more tha n 20 buildings across campus for a two-week period. President Richard Florizone put out a call for donations from the Dalhousie community, and the Office of Advancement also solicited donations from its local alumni network. We know Dalhousie is always ready to step up for a great community cause, and it was fantastic to see our faculty, staff, students and alumni come together and help fight local hunger, says Kirsten Tobin, associate director, Advancement events, who helped organize the Dal effort for the Office of Advancement. Thanks to everyone who donated! Feed Nova Scotia distributes food to its network of 147 food banks, meal programs and shelters across the province including to the Dalhousie Student Union Food Bank located in the Student Union Building. In total, more than 20,000 people each month are supported by the organization. Learn more about Feed Nova Scotia and how to donate at its website. News / National by Thobekile Zhou Former Zanu-PF Mashonaland West Provincial Chairman Temba Mliswa will test Zanu-PF popularity in rural areas as he plans to contest vacant Norton constituency seat.Mliswa confirmed his plan during a press conference in Harare on Monday.The seat fell vacant following the expulsion of Former Minister of War Veterans, Christopher Mutsvangwa from Parliament.Mliswa was booted out of the ruling party following allegations of being aligned to former Vice President Joice Mujuru in 2014."After meeting with the National Management Command, I have decided to stand as a candidate for the now vacant Norton Constituency seat and I have the blessing of the National Executive of YARD who have endorsed my candidature," said Mliswa.He said the weekend Zanu-PF win in Mazowe North would appear to indicate that Zanu-PF still maintains "an iron grip" in the rural areas but it was up to all political parties to start campaigns in those areas if they are to beat Zanu-PF in the 2018 polls."The result may flatter many Zanu-PF supporters, but they need to understand that the opposition parties have been neglecting these areas where most work is required to see any meaningful democratic change."For this reason, I want to urge everyone in Norton to show their support for me and show that they are tired of this regime," added Mliswa. News / National by Thobekile Zhou Newly appointed MDC-T vice president Nelson Chamisa has vast potential of being a dictator claims a former MDC legislator.Chamisa and Elias Mudzuri where catapulted to the party presidium by their leader Morgan Tsvangirai.The elevation has since divided the party.Former MDC Bulilima legislator Norman Mpofu said he is embarrassed by Chamisa's acceptance whom he described as a ' refined lawyer"."So when it comes to power we are all the same be it his Excellency Robert Mugabe or Hon Nelson Chamisa" wrote Mpofu on his official facebook account."Power corrupts all. Chamisa tells his supporters not to worry about the court challenge as he knows a precedence was set when the courts protected Mugabe when Basikiti challenged his expulsion during the gamatox era".He added "I expected Chamisa as a refined lawyer in the party and president in waiting to defend and explain to all what the party constitution says about his anointment not to quickly defend his ill gotten position by a bad presidency."This is an indicator that once in power he will not see anything wrong with violation of the constitution as long as it benefits him. I am embarrassed on your behalf my beloved advocate" said Mpofu.However, on Monday MDC-T youths challenged senior party members to come out in the open and support back Tsvangirai's divisive decision to appoint Chamisa and Mudzuri."We, therefore, urge comrades within the party, who have decided not to be clear and who have decided to hide under the banner of 'no comment', to immediately come clean on whether they subscribe to majority views or not," the youth said in a statement. Japanese carmaker Suzuki will soon be making the Jimny from the Indian Maruti plant and export the SUV to international markets such as Brazil, Indonesia and Europe before 2020. The entire manufacture of the next generation Suzuki Jimny will take place in India from the Marutis plants. The next-gen SUV will share the same lightweight platform of the Maruti Baleno, which will help the SUV maneuver the off-road better. The Jimny may be powered by the 1.0-litre Boosterjet petrol engine, shared by the Baleno, and it will be tuned to deliver 110 bhp. A diesel engine may also be on the cards to feature as a later offering. The Indian launch and version, were it to happen, will likely be rechristened as a successor to the Maruti Gypsy by the Japanese manufacturers Indian partner. Built on a similar platform, the Maruti Gypsy just differs by its longer wheelbase. The Jimny could well turn out to be the second reincarnation of the immensely popular Gypsy, or at least may be based on its platform and design cues. Similarly, the Maruti will also probably make the 3-door into a 4-door sub four-meter SUV, as a 3-door may not be popularly welcome in India. If launched, Mahindra TUV300 would be the closest rival to the Suzuki Jimny. The Gujarat plant of the Maruti will likely make the Jimny, after the Marutis Gujarat plant becomes functional from 2017. The Maruti Baleno and the Swift DZire are also awaiting manufacture from the plant. While for the international markets, the Jimny will continue to be sold as a 3-door model, the Indian-spec Jimny will likely be a 4-door with a longer wheelbase. Indeed, the demise of Yahoo, which culminated in an agreement this week to sell the company's core assets to Verizon Communications Inc, has been more than a decade in the making. San Francisco: When senior Yahoo executives gathered at a San Jose hotel for a management retreat in the spring of 2006, there was no outward sign of a company in crisis. The internet pioneer, not yet a teenager, had just finished the prior year with $1.9 billion in profits on $5.3 billion in revenue. The tough days of the dot-com bust were a distant memory, and Yahoo Inc, flush with lucrative advertising deals from the world's biggest brands, was enjoying its run as one of the top dogs in the world's hottest industry. But for one retreat exercise, everyone was asked to say what word came to mind when a company name was mentioned. They went through the list: eBay: auctions. Google: search. Intel: microprocessors. Microsoft: Windows.Then they were asked to write down their answer for Yahoo. "It was all over the map," recalled Brad Garlinghouse, then a Yahoo senior vice president and now COO of payment settlement start-up Ripple Labs. "Some people said mail. Some people said news. Some people said search." While some executives said this was a useful management exercise that took place multiple times over the years, it proved an ominous portent of the business troubles to come. Indeed, the demise of Yahoo, which culminated in an agreement this week to sell the company's core assets to Verizon Communications Inc, has been more than a decade in the making. Many of the more than two dozen former Yahoo managers interviewed by Reuters over the past two weeks -- who now occupy executives suites elsewhere in Silicon Valley -- agree that the company's downfall can be traced to choices made by both the executive leadership and the board of directors during the company's heyday in the mid-2000s. Some of the missed opportunities are obvious: a failed bid to buy Facebook Inc for $1 billion in 2006. A 2002 dalliance with Google similarly came to naught. A chance to acquire YouTube came and went. Skype was snapped up by eBay Inc. And Microsoft Corp's nearly $45 billion takeover bid for all of Yahoo in 2008 was blocked by Yahoo's leadership. Just as damaging as the missed deals, though, was a company culture that ultimately became too bureaucratic and too focused on traditional brand advertising to prosper in a fast-moving tech business, according to some of the former Yahoo managers Reuters spoke with. "It became very difficult to get both investment and alignment" around new product initiatives, said Greg Cohn, a former senior product director at Yahoo and now CEO of the mobile phone app company Burner. "If you built a new product and the home page didn't want to feature it, you were hosed." Worst of all, once Alphabet Inc's Google had displaced it as peoples' first stop for finding something on the internet, Yahoo was never able to decide on exactly what it wanted to be. Yahoo today has more than 1 billion users and has focused on mobile under chief executive Marissa Mayer, who told Reuters in an interview Monday that she still saw a "path to growth" for Yahoo, which the Verizon merger accelerated. Yahoo will continue to operate as a holding company for its large stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan, which are worth far more than the core business. Yahoo declined to comment for this story. THE PURPLE CARPET The appointment of Terry Semel, who had completed a highly successful run as chairman of the Warner Bros. movie studio, as CEO in 2001 seemed to answer a question that bedeviled many early internet firms: was it a tech company, or a media company? Semel could not be reached for comment on his Yahoo tenure. But the focus on media proved lucrative in the short term as big advertisers, desperate to get on board with the next big thing, flocked to one of the largest properties on the web. Revenue soared from $717 million in 2001 to nearly $7 billion by 2007. Indeed, Semel and the media executives he brought in by all accounts turned a scrappy young internet startup into a highly profitable company that brought old-line advertising to a new medium. "From our perspective, we were a media company," said Dan Rosensweig, Yahoo's COO from 2002 to 2007 and now CEO of online education company Chegg Inc. "It didnt feel at the time that there was a strong likelihood we would beat Google at search... Nobody could argue that we werent the largest front page on the internet." Yahoo placed its signature purple everywhere then -- on cookies and cupcakes, on the carpets, and even in the martinis. "When Coca Cola came to campus, we rolled out the purple carpet," recalled Wenda Harris Millard, Yahoo's chief sales officer from 2001 to 2007 and now president and COO of business development firm MediaLink. Millard said all the major advertisers, from Coke to General Motors, wanted to come to Yahoo's campus at least once a year. "We were just doing gazillions of dollars with them," said Millard. THE MONEY TRAP But the excitement, and the revenue, associated with the big advertising deals ten years ago turned out to be a trap in many ways. Like its brethren in the print media business, who continued to rely on selling ad pages long after it was clear that it was a dying business, Yahoo couldn't help but to focus on where the big money was, even though that wasn't where the future was. "The worst consequence of trying to be a media company was that they didn't take programming seriously enough," wrote Paul Graham, co-founder of the Y-Combinator tech incubator who sold a startup to Yahoo, in a 2010 blog post about the company's woes. "Microsoft (back in the day), Google, and Facebook have all had hacker-centric cultures. But Yahoo treated programming as a commodity." The downside of the media orientation became more clear as the 2000s wore on. In 2003, Yahoo acquired Overture, the company that essentially invented the ad-search technology that made Google rich. But Yahoo never succeeded in creating a strong competitor to Google's AdWords and AdSense systems. A subsequent, hugely expensive effort to rebuild its search and advertising technology, dubbed Panama, similarly bore little fruit. Meanwhile, market-leading products like Yahoo Mail, and early social media efforts like Yahoo Groups, were neglected as managers wrestled over which products would get priority on the hugely valuable Yahoo home page, according to three former executives. Promising acquisitions, including photo-sharing site Flickr and social bookmarking service Delicious, withered on the vine. Former staffers say they were consumed with endless internal meetings and shifting priorities. Former senior product director Cohn recalls how efforts to make Yahoo an open platform -- with nifty third-party applications around specific content areas such as travel -- foundered in the face of opposition from managers in charge of Yahoo's in-house products. Too often, the end result was money spread too thinly across too many marginal initiatives, as Garlinghouse famously pointed out in a leaked internal document known as the Peanut Butter Manifesto. TURMOIL AT THE TOP By 2007, it was becoming clear that Yahoo was losing ground fast on the product side as Google solidified its hold on search. New players like Facebook and Netflix Inc continued to arrive and steal Yahoo's thunder. Semel left that year in favor of co-founder Jerry Yang. Whatever plans Yang may have had were quickly disrupted by the unsolicited Microsoft takeover bid in early 2008. The offer split the management team, Garlinghouse and others say, and those divisions persisted even after Microsoft's offer was beaten back. Yang, who championed the resistance to Microsoft, stepped down again in 2008. Three other CEOs followed before Mayer was appointed in 2014. The leadership turmoil "made for a difficult existence for a board, a management team, and a general employee population to get committed to the same goal," said Rosensweig.Yang did not respond to requests for comment. By the time Mayer arrived, Yahoo was already seen in Silicon Valley as a company from another era. It had lots of cash but few strategic advantages as it fought far larger competitors. Many analysts and shareholder say Mayer exacerbated the troubles with acquisitions and key hires that proved misguided. Mayer put a brave face on the deal Monday, saying the scale that will result from the Verizon combination will enable it to continue its efforts to catch up in mobile, social and advertising technology. But the history of the tech business, where companies rarely dominate from one generation to the next, suggests that any such revival is a tall order. The Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) scheme will continue to be administered at 10, 20 and 30 years of service as before, the Ministry said as it "accepted" the pay panel's recommendations. New Delhi: Non-performing Central government employees will not get annual increment if their performance is not upto the mark, the Centre has said. The benchmark for performance appraisal for promotion and financial upgradation has been enhanced to "very good" from "good" level, the Finance Ministry said in an order notifying implementation of Seventh Central Pay Commission's recommendations. The Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) scheme will continue to be administered at 10, 20 and 30 years of service as before, the Ministry said as it "accepted" the pay panel's recommendations. The recommendation of "withholding of annual increments in the case of those employees who are not able to meet the benchmark either for MACP or a regular promotion within the first 20 years of their service" has been "accepted", it said. The pay panel had in its report to the Centre said that there is a widespread perception that increments as well as upward movement in the hierarchy happen as a matter of course. "The perception is that grant of MACP, although subject to the employee attaining the laid down threshold of performance, is taken for granted. This Commission believes that employees who do not meet the laid down performance criterion should not be allowed to earn future annual increments. "The Commission is therefore proposing withholding of annual increments in the case of those employees who are not able to meet the benchmark either for MACP or a regular promotion within the first 20 years of their service. This will act as a deterrent for complacent and inefficient employees," it had said. There are about 50 lakh Central government employees. News / National by Thobekile Zhou Scores of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) staged a protest march in Bulawayo this afternoon.They called on the government to stop oppression of citizens adding that police have caused chaos and mayhem in the country.WOZA had gone quite in recent times.Its was known for sporadic protests towards monthends.The women began their march at the open Luna park space in 15th Ave and heading towards the central business district.They waved banners inscribed #NoToCorruption New Delhi: Sugar mills owe Rs 6,582 crore to cane farmers as on July 15, the government said on Tuesday. "As on July 15, 94 per cent of cane dues payable on Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) basis for the sugar season 2015-16 has been cleared," Minister of State for Food C R Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. The cane price arrears of Rs 3,269 crore on Fair and Remunerative Price basis and Rs 6,582 crore on State Advised Price basis are outstanding against the sugar mills, he added. FRP is the minimum price fixed by the Centre that mills have to pay to cane farmers. Some states like Uttar Pradesh announced their own cane price. The minister said the liquidity of the sugar mills has been adversely affected due to surplus sugar production during the last four consecutive marketing years and depressed sugar prices, leading to accumulation of cane price arrears of the farmers. Chaudhary said the government has taken several steps to help the sugar industry to resolve liquidity problems and facilitate clearance of cane price arrears of farmers. Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was among the three top BJP ministers who visited the mediation sesion organised by RSS. Mumbai: Top BJP officials including on Tuesday met dissatisfied representatives of right wing unions, in a mediation session organised by the Rashtriya Swyamsewak Sangh (RSS), to settle indifferences regarding new FDI rules. Among the ministers who were present during the mediation session included Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitaraman, and BJP President Amit Shah. The move is a reaction to the drastic change in FDI norms approved by the government in June, which has allowed 100 per cent FDI for trading, including e-commerce, on food products made in India. Moreover, some RSS unions have also showed displeasure regarding the approval of 100 per cent FDI for defence, claiming that the new norm will put national security under threat. Not only opposition parities but the BJP government has also received flak from trade unions linked to it. Some of the trade unions including the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, which operates as RSSs labour wing, said that the new policy will kill local business and lead to the unemployment of thousands. The RSS is also worried about the fact that if no action is taken against the newly approved FDI norms, some of its own unions will be forced to side with opposition parities to protest against it. After the approval of new FDI norms in June, right after the exit of Raghuram Rajan, the Congress said that the government introduced these norms to prevent a total market meltdown. Mumbai: While the world was down with Kabali frenzy, the films superstar Rajinikanth was enjoying a quiet peaceful time in USA, living his life in the simplest way possible. In a recent video which found its way on the internet, Rajinikanth, who returned back to Chennai along with his daughter Aishwarya Dhanush from the US on Sunday after a month long vacation, is seen taking a solo walk on the street. Dressed in casual black trackpants, grey hoodie and a cap with his headphones on, the superstar was captured on camera by his fans. When the fans called out to him, the actor stopped and sweetly waved at his fans as they drove past him. Well, its surprising to see the actor roaming around so freely without any security around him and not getting mobbed by fans but one cannot help but appreciate the Thalaivers down to earth nature and simple style of living. Watch the video below: They joined many others in posting little tributes on Twitter and WhatsApp last July, after hearing the news of A.P.J Abdul Kalams passing. Everyone had something to say about the late president and scientist who told children to dream. But then Jubie John and Saji Mathew remembered they could do something more. They had a non-profit organisation they co-founded to promote relationship competency through hand-written letters. Why not combine the two, they thought? And that ended up as a book a first of its kind postcard tribute to a public leader. Titled Dear Kalam Sir. Through the dearkalamsir campaign, the old-fashioned yellow postcards became the new-found medium for tens of thousands of people across India, who came together to offer their unique tribute to their beloved Kalam sir, writes Saji in an email from the US. He is a Malayali who grew up in Kottayam, went off to Delhi and is now in the US. Jubie on the other hand is a Kottayamkaran who grew up in Jodhpur and has moved down to Kochi five years ago. Together they began LetterFarms to bring back hand-written letters into the communication mix of the future. They believe that human relationships will be stronger that way. They collaborated with Bloomsbury India for the Kalam project. The campaign was launched in 22 states across the country inviting postcard tributes from people. From the common man, that he represented, says Jubie in a phone call from Delhi, where the book will be launched on July 27, the first death anniversary of Dr Kalam. The response had been overwhelming. From the 25 odd cities they began with, the movement had spread to 212 cities, and they are still receiving postcards, thousands every week, at a Kochi address they had given out. The postcards have come to reflect the kind of inspiration that Dr Kalam has been in every phase of his life, beginning from his early childhood to the years after he left the Rashtrapati Bhavan as president, Jubie says. On page 110 of the book exactly halfway is the postcard with the message: He died teaching. And in the last page it is: I have seen God, I have seen Kalam. Touching and emotional messages sketch the life of a great man through these postcards. An order had emerged on its own, from the time he was born in a village in Chennai to the time after his death when people say how every child could be a Kalam, says Jubie. There are not just messages, but paintings and art. We have messages in nine languages including Chinese and German! More than 350 of these feature in the book. The rest they hope to put up in an exhibition of postcards. New Zealand is hoping to build on its success in eradicating rats from several of its smaller islands. Wellington: Their abilities to travel, multiply and spread disease have always made rats one of mankind's greatest pests. New Zealand says it's time to wipe them out. Every last one of them. Prime Minister John Key on Monday announced an ambitious plan to completely rid the South Pacific nation of rats and some other nuisance animals, including possums and stoats, by the year 2050. The government is hoping a rat-free countryside will give a boost to native birds, including the iconic kiwi. Many bird species are threatened with extinction because rats and other pests feast on their eggs and compete with them for food. New Zealand is hoping to build on its success in eradicating rats from several of its smaller islands. However, some scientists caution the goal, while laudable, will be extremely difficult to achieve in a nation that's similar in size to the United Kingdom. Speaking from a wildlife sanctuary in Wellington, Key said the goal would require the help of everyone from philanthropists to indigenous Maori tribes. "This is the most ambitious conservation project attempted anywhere in the world, but we believe if we all work together as a country we can achieve it," he said. He said the government would initially contribute 28 million New Zealand dollars ($20 million) over four years toward setting up a company to run the program, and would consider partially matching money contributed by local councils and businesses. Key acknowledged the goal would only be achieved with scientific advances. New Zealand's Department of Conservation has eradicated rats from several small islands using traps, poisons and baits. And it has also intensively managed some areas on the main islands to make them safer for native birds. But it would require a massive escalation of those efforts to completely wipe out the pests. Ecologist James Russell, from the University of Auckland, has written about the idea before. "I really do think it's possible," he said. "It will require people working in every nook and corner of the country." He said getting rid of the pests would make a huge difference to the health of native flora and fauna. But Jacqueline Beggs, another ecologist from the university, said eliminating pests from small, uninhabited islands was one thing, but getting everybody from farmers to anti-government types to agree on the idea would prove much more difficult, if not impossible. "It's definitely a fantastic challenge," she said. "It will really stretch the boundaries." Beggs said she also worries the goal could distract from other important environmental issues and could even create new problems, such as an explosion in the population of mice. A case under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and other relevant provisions of law has been registered against the accused after he was arrested from the spot. (Photo: Representational Image) New Delhi: A four-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her neighbour in outer Delhis Shahabad Dairy area on Sunday evening. The incident was reported around 9 pm on Sunday when the girl, who was playing outside her house in a slum, was lured by 28-year-old Mohammad Junaid, who took her to his room and raped her, a senior police officer said. The accused, a rickshawpuller, was caught by the girls mother who then raised an alarm, said Vikramjeet Singh, deputy commissioner of police (outer district). The girl was found bleeding profusely with injury marks on her body. She was rushed to a hospital. The locals caught hold of Junaid and thrashed him before calling the police. He was in an inebriated state, he added. A case under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and other relevant provisions of law has been registered against the accused after he was arrested from the spot, said the officer. The victim has been admitted to a hospital where she is stated to be out of danger and likely to be discharged by the evening. Her parents work odd jobs in the nearby locality, the DCP said. Meanwhile, Delhi Commission for Women chief, Swati Maliwal, who met the victim at Dr. B.S. Ambedkar Hospital in Rohini, said her body was marked with scratches allegedly inflicted by the accused. Maliwal tweeted: Met 4 year old rape victim. Marks over her body tell her brutal ordeal. In deep pain n trauma. Totally inhuman. When will Delhi b rape free? Met 4 year old rape victim. Marks over her body tell her brutal ordeal. In deep pain n trauma. Totally inhuman. When will Delhi b rape free? Swati Maliwal (@SwatiJaiHind) July 25, 2016 (This story originally appeared in the Asian Age) The climax scene of Gangs of Wasseypur where actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui pumps several bullet in the body of a man, bears striking resemblance to how Avinash Srivastava murdered the killer of his father. (Representational Image/YouTube screenshot) Patna: The Bihar police was in for a shock after they arrested a man on Sunday for stealing cash from a bank in Vaishali district he turned out to be a serial killer who has allegedly killed over 20 people across Bihar. According to reports, 35-year-old Avinash Srivastava, told cops, "Don't waste your and my time interrogating me. Just Google 'psycho killer Amit' and you will get all the answers." The police had arrested him while he was trying to break into the Central Bank of India in Vaishali but they had no clue he was a notorious serial killer. Srivastava is a well educated man who had a job in one of the top IT companies in the country but his life seemed to have taken a drastic turn when his father, a former RJD MLC, was murdered in 2002. The Vaishali police said that he had killed the murderer of his father and had pumped his body with 32 bullets. He kept shooting him even after he died and this murder had reportedly inspired the climax scene of Gangs of Wasseypur. Avinash told police that he has already murdered at least four of those involved in his fathers killing and still has a few names left in his hit list. He took to a life of crime and joined a group of gangsters in Patna after his fathers demise. He was even arrested in 2013 for robbery but walked out of jail soon. Srivastav confessed to the police that he had killed at least 20 people. His statement has reportedly helped the Bihar police solve many murder cases. Balwinder Kaur and her son were invited by someone outside the Gurudwara Manji Sahib in Alamgir and was shot by two motorcycle-borne assailants. (Photo: Representational Image) Ludhiana: A 47-year-old woman, who was accused of desecrating the Guru Granth Sahib, was shot dead outside the gurudwara in Ludhiana District's Alamgir Village on Tuesday morning. The deceased, Balwinder Kaur, was a resident of Ghawaddi village. She had been arrested last year and was out on bail. According to reports, Balwinder Kaur and her son were invited by someone outside the Gurudwara Manji Sahib in Alamgir and was shot by two motorcycle-borne assailants. She died on the spot. Ludhiana's Commissioner of Police Jatinder Singh Aulakh has ordered an investigation into the case. Hyderabad: West Zone police busted an interstate gang and arrested four people who kidnapped and killed a trader for just Rs 230. The gang used to stand near MGBS bus station and rob pedestrians by forcibly dragging them to the isolated river bed of Musi. They robbed three people in the last two weeks in the same manner, in which one victim died and two others were injured. The suspects, Iqbal Khan from Madhya Pradesh, Rehan Ansari from Bihar, Ilyas Ali Khan from ToliChowki and Shaik Javeed from Bidar had started out with petty thefts and then turned to full scale robbery. According to police, on July 19, the four followed Shaik Abdul Quadeer, while he was coming out of MGBS bus station at around 9 pm. The victim was proceeding towards Shivaji Bridge. When he reached a spot near the electrical sub-station, they caught hold of him and dragged him to the Musi river bed. One of them throttled him and while another person sat on his chest. Then they beat him up till he fell unconscious. Though they assumed the victim was having a lot of money, they could only find Rs 230 and a mobile phone. The victim died on the spot due to injuries and suffocation," said N. Koti Reddy, Additional DCP, Commissioners Task Force. Next day, that is on July 20, three members of the gang again went to MGBS and walked till the electrical sub-station searching for new prey. Ilyas went to the main road and asked a biker to give him a lift till the substation. When the victim did so, the others pounced on the victim and dragged him to the Musi river bed. After beating the victim, they took Rs 100 and two mobile phones from him. The injured victim, later approached the police. After two days, they again targeted another person, who was answering natures call near the Musi River. They beat him up and took his gold bracelets and Rs 2,000. Police have booked a case against the suspects for murder, robbery and inflicting injuries through violent attacks. Government clarified that the figures were based on voluntary disclosure by clients at the integrated counselling and testing centres (ICTC). (Photo: Representational Image) Mumbai: As many as 182 people have been infected by HIV during blood transfusion in the last one and a half years, the Legislative Council was informed on Monday even as the government clarified that the figures were based on voluntary disclosure by clients at the integrated counselling and testing centres (ICTC). Nationalist Congress Partys member of Legislatiave Council (MLC) Prakash Gajbhiye, through a written question, sought to know if the figures provided by National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) were true. According to NACO figures, 2,234 people across the country and 276 people in Maharashtra were affected by the virus. If these figures are true, which blood banks have been involved in the blood transfusion of these patients? Also, has the government conducted any inquiry on them? he questioned. In a written response, Maharashtra health minister Deepak Sawant stated that the actual number of people infected was 182. The figures are based on voluntary disclosures by patients at the integrated counselling and testing centres. Patients claim to have been infected by HIV-AIDS during blood transfusion, Dr Sawant stated. Thus, only once we get specific information on the blood bank which was involved in the transfusion leading to the transmission of the HIV virus, action be taken, he added. Dr Sawant further said that due to periodical counselling to blood bank officials, counsellors and testing lab officials for maintaining the quality of management, cases of acquiring HIV due to blood transfusion have come down. He said that NACO has instructed all ICTCs and counsellors to ensure pre and post counselling of patients visiting them for check-ups. Also, blood banks and ICTCs have been instructed to ensure safety of patients during blood transfusion in the future, he said. (This story originally appeared in the Asian Age) News / Press Release by MRP MTHWAKAZI REPUBLIC PARTY UPDATEMorning Mthwakazi omuhle as a party we don't normally respond to unknown people but in this case we just want to set the record straight that we are not tribalists. We an courage our people and any interested person to first of all seek audience with us because we are open to discussion, before he or she publicly accuse MRP of that tribalism nonsense. The author of some stupid letter say all Zimbabweans are suffering and he wants us to join them in removing Mugabe and ZANU PF, what do you say about what MDC-T did to Khuphe? Looking at the Harare party's structures ZANU PF, ZPF, MDC-T, PDP, Mavambo and Mangoma's which one do you want Matabeleland people trust? Which one do you want us to work with since they all believe we are second class citizens? Their problems and ours are not the same. And we repeat we can not work with them without a clear arrangement of how National resources and power will be shared. We will rather form an alliance with ZAPU and MDC.Firstly we are not tribalists and we don't subscribe to that we vehemently refuse such kind of labelling Mthwakazi State is a unique State with more than 15 languages used and recognised in it, thus why we don't normally use Mthwakazi referring to a particular person or tribe but we refer to a Nation of Mthwakazi. It is therefore malicious for one to suggest that MRP is for a single tribe. It is also untrue that MRP was formed out of anger, no MRP is as a result of carefully planning and we have a vision to see Mthwakazi prosper and its people participating fully in the development of this Nation.Secondly it is nonsensical for Someone who doesn't understand what we stand for to go public and purport to be our spokesperson. As a party we believe that Matabeleland problems are political problems and they need a political solution thus why we are a party. For someone to claim that we want war it is just propaganda. We are busy setting up structures locally and abroad. We are setting up party structures because we believe that the biggest weapon that is effective is a united people. If we didn't believe in a political solution we wouldn't have been a party that believe so much in people power hence the forming up of party structures everywhere.Those who accuse us of being tribalists signed thier letter as concerned Zimbabweans, why did you then direct your letter to us? that's also shows that you are seriously in trouble as you said, that you fail even to recognise that it is ZANU PF in power not MRP, direct your concerns to ZANU led government not us. You said you want us to tell you how the New Mthwakazi will look like. The New Mthwakazi will respect the rule of law, there will not be tribalism, there will be no Gukurahundi, no second class citisens, no nepotism, no regionalism, and most importantly we seek to do away with institutionalized corruption like it is currently happening in Zimbabwe. There will be no failed look East policy we will look Global.Lastly as part of finding a lasting solution to Mthwakazi we are petitioning the Zimbabwean government and we say enough is enough we launched the petition in South Africa a few weeks ago and we are launching it again in Bulawayo in August where we will announce the official launch of the process of signing the petitions which will accompany other documents and will be sent to Zimbabwe, UN, AU, Britain, SADC. Etc. Gukurahundi remains an unfinished business and until justice is delivered to the victims it remains unsolved. In December we will have our first Congress where we will officially endorse all the plans before they are executed. We seek to unite all Mthwakazi people across the Globe and all inputs are important and we don't take lightly any suggestions. All the above are peaceful means. We take an exception to people who just decides to disturb our party by labeling us Tribalists. We are not and we will never be.MRP FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE IN OUR LIFE TIMEINFORMATION DEPARTMENT. New Delhi: In a bid to spread its base in Uttar Pradesh, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will contest civic body polls in the state scheduled next year. The party is likely to contest civic body polls in 15 major cities of the state. "We have a dedicated cadre in the state and we think we have a good chance in the civic polls. So, we have decided to enter the electoral fray in the state," said a senior party leader. Next year is going to be a crucial year for the AAP as the party is focusing on Punjab, Goa and Gujarat, which are going to polls. Interestingly, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarkhand are also going to polls next year, but the party has still not made any decision in this regard. More importantly, Uttar Pradesh, a state important in terms of numbers of MPs it sends to Lok Sabha, is also going to polls in the same spell when the Goa and Punjab will elect their new government. The last time AAP contested any major election in Uttar Pradesh was in 2014 when Arvind Kejriwal took on Narendra Modi from Varanasi. New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will meet state ministers on Tuesday to put pressure on the opposition Congress party to back a long-delayed sales tax reform whose chances have again been thrown into doubt by a parliamentary standoff. The proposed tax reform, the biggest since India's independence from Britain in 1947, seeks to replace a slew of taxes and levies in its 29 states, transforming the nation of 1.3 billion people into a customs union. The current monsoon session of parliament could be the best chance for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to adopt a landmark Goods and Services Tax (GST) before campaigning hots up for state elections next year. "The meeting will discuss all pending issues on GST," said finance ministry spokesman D. S. Malik. "Later, the government could decide a further course of action." Yet Congress has been angered by a central investigation launched last week against one of its former state chief ministers over a case in which party leader Sonia Gandhi and her son and heir apparent, Rahul, already face trial. Both have denied accusations of misuse of party funds, in the case brought by Subramanian Swamy, a senior politician in Modi's ruling party, over property owned by a defunct party newspaper. "I don't think the Prime Minister and his government are sincere about any constructive cooperation," Anand Sharma, a senior Congress lawmaker in the Rajya Sabha, told the Indian Express newspaper at the weekend. "And in this vitiated environment, there is no cooperation possible between the Congress and the government," Sharma said, in comments echoed by senior party sources to Reuters on Monday. With 60 members, Congress is the single largest party in the Rajya Sabha, whose members total 245. With the support of allies and a few regional parties that oppose the bill, it reckons the government cannot muster the two-thirds majority needed for a key amendment to enact the GST. Modi's party, which lacks a majority in the Rajya Sabha, had reached out to Congress to end its opposition to the GST bill, stalled in parliament for years. Congress signalled until last week it could support the bill if the government agreed to cap the tax rate at about 18 percent, even if this was not initially anchored in the law. Jaitley has resisted capping the tax rate, winning backing from a growing number of state governments, and still hopes to pass the GST measure in the monsoon session that ends on Aug. 13, and turn India into a single market for the first time. Mobile telephony, mobile Internet services and train services remained suspended for 18th day while schools, colleges and other educational institutions also remained closed due to a strike called by the separatist groups. (Photo: PTI) Srinagar: Curfew was on Tuesday lifted from all parts of Kashmir, except Anantnag town, after 17 days of unrest in the Valley in which 47 persons were killed and 5500 others injured in clashes following killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. "Curfew has been lifted from all parts of Kashmir except Anantnag town, today," a police official said. The official said there is no curfew or restrictions on the movement of the people in the district. "However, in other parts of the Valley, restrictions on assembly of four or more people will continue to maintain law and order," the official said. Curfew was imposed across Kashmir on July 9, a day after killing of Wani, as a precautionary measure. However, violent clashes between protestors and security forces saw 47 persons including two policemen killed while 5500 others were injured. Mobile telephony, mobile Internet services and train services remained suspended for 18th day while schools, colleges and other educational institutions also remained closed due to a strike called by the separatist groups. The separatist camp, which is spearheading the protests against civilian killings, has already announced a relaxation in the strike from 2 pm onwards on Tuesday. However, they have called for three days of shutdown from Wednesday to July 29. The separatist groups have also called for a march to Kulgam on Wednesday. Didnt the government see this coming? The city ground to a complete halt on Monday, and no-one can predict when it will end as thousands of BMTC and KSRTC staff refused to lower their demands for a pay hike and struck work, leaving office-goers stranded. While the Siddaramaiah government pressed private buses into service to ease the pain, the day was marked by a major rush for the metro, and people falling back on their own vehicles to get to work, or hailing autos and taxis that, predictably, indulged in daylight robbery. At rush hour, the roads were even more impassable that normal. Isn't it time, the government instituted a Pay Commission that is the protocol that governs all government services like the IAS, asks Team DC. While the strike by BMTC and KSRTC staff hit normal life across the state on Monday, its impact was felt more in Bengaluru where over 1.50 lakh commuters travel by public transport buses every day. Although the government had made sure there were additional trains running with more stops enroute, in addition to thousands of private and mini buses, the strike left many inconvenienced, especially the ill and disabled. The decision to allow the private and mini buses to ferry passengers came in for some criticism with transport officials saying they were unsure how safe they were for women and children.Most of these vehicles dont verify the backgrounds of their drivers and conductors, noted one officer. The state governments decision to announce a holiday for schools and colleges also did not go down well with parents, with many pointing out that students of most private institutions in the city did not depend on BMTC buses to get to their schools . But still a holiday was announced for them arbitrarily. Now we are hearing that school buses could be used to run regular public service, deplored a parent, Shridhar Bhat. Live class via Twitter Not letting the indefinite strike called by BMTC and KSRTC staff come in his way, a professor of the Shri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain University in the city held a class live via Twitter for his students, who did not want to miss it on Monday. Prof. Sachin Tantry, head of the department of arts at the university, took the class online via the Periscope App, a live streaming Twitter app. More stage carriers to operate The state transport department has decided to allow 87,500 stage carriers and special permit vehicles to operate across the state from Tuesday. "This is eight times the number of buses operated by the BMTC and KSRTC. We want to ensure that the people dont face any inconvenience due to the bandh, said an officer. State transport commissioner, Ramegowda said he had written to his counterparts in Andhra, Telangana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala to operate their respective buses in the border areas for the convenience of passengers from the state. School/ college vans/ buses to ferry passengers? The state transport department is considering extending the holidays for schools and colleges and diverting their buses to ferry the public "There are around 1,000 school vans and buses in the city, which can substitute for BMTC buses," noted an officer. Work from home option While attendance was thin in both government and private offices in the city, some private companies allowed their employees to work from home. Not all unions wanted to strike Although many BMTC and KSRTC drivers and conductors supported their unions demand for a bigger wage revision, they admitted the strike was causing ordinary people a huge inconvenience. It is the rampant corruption in the procurement section and in appointments that has led to the losses in the transport corporations. But it is unfair to hold passengers to ransom for this, agreed a driver, adding that not all unions in the corporations wanted to go on strike. Of the six unions in both corporations, only two were keen on the strike. But now it has been imposed on everyone, explained another driver, adding that the staff couldn't be blamed for wanting a better salary or more facilities such as an improved mediclaim policy. These demand are natural in any organisation. The state government should have taken the staff into confidence before revising our salaries, he added. Buses parked at Koramangala bus depot during the bus strike in Bengaluru (Photo: R. Samuel) Students vent their anger Christ University students took to social media to express their anger against their administration for not announcing a holiday as told to by the state government. Many students used their Twitter handle to hit out at the management and point out that the official communication was for "all government and private schools to be shut for 2 days." But according to sources, classes were not mandatory for the Christ students. "Although the university did not announce a holiday, it does not mean it wanted all the students to attend classes compulsorily. Nothing was imposed on us," said one student, taking a more lenient view of the matter. Many private schools work as usual Many CBSE/ ICSE schools of the city did not announce a holiday on Monday and will function as usual on Tuesday too. Institutions like the Air Force School, BGS, Dean Academy, Euro International and others worked as usual, according to parents. But other schools like Bishop Cotton, NPS, Greenwood High, Vibgyor and Inventure were closed for the day. A prominent convent school in Lakkasandra left its students confused as it decided to hold classes for the day after announcing on Sunday that it would be closed both on Monday and Tuesday. Railways to the rescue To help passengers inconvenienced by the bus strike, the South Western Railway on Monday allowed trains to stop at all stations in the city enroute to their various destinations at the request of the state transport department. Accordingly all mail/express trains touching Baiyyappanahalli, Whitefield, Carmelaram and Channasandra stopped at these stations in both directions. The arrangement came as a godsend for people from Whitefield, who were able to reach the city within 45 minutes even in the absence of BMTC buses. SWR-Metro connectivity Coming to the rescue of thousands of passengers from Mysuru heading for the Majestic and Vidhana Soudha, all trains running to and from Mysuru had an additional stop at Nayandahalli on Monday to allow them to hop on to the Metro Rail running from Mysore road to Baiyappanahalli. The arrangement also helped those travelling to Mysuru to take the Metro to Nayandahalli and board the train. A taste of commuter train The Mysuru - Bengaluru - Mysuru Express trains made additional stops on Monday at Chennapatna, Ramanagaram and Kengeri for the convenience of passengers hamstrung by the absence of public transport buses. The South Western Railway also operated a special train between Yeshwantpur and Tumkuru, that halted at all stations enroute. Leaving the city at 10 am, the train reached Tumkuru in just two hours. Another special train operated on the Yeshwanthpur Devanahalli Shiddlaghatta route to help passengers heading in this direction. ITI semester exam postponed The Union labour ministry postponed the ITI semester 2 examination scheduled for Monday to Tuesday. But with the strike expected to continue on Tuesday as well, the examination could be put off until it is withdrawn, according to sources. Bangalore University exams put off The Bangalore University has put off the undergraduate and postgraduate examinations scheduled for Tuesday, according to its Registrar (Evaluation), Prof. Suresh S Nadagaudar. "The fresh date will be notified shortly," he said. Private buses use Govt bus stations While KSRTC and BMTC buses stayed off the roads on Monday, private buses and mini buses were allowed to operate from their bus stations across the state to help stranded passengers. Going by state transport department officials, around 2,500 private stage carriers and mini buses operated in Bengaluru for the convenience of passengers arriving at city bus stations on night buses and trains. Feeder auto services Autos were stationed at all Metro Rail stations in the city to make sure that passengers had transport getting home. Interestingly, the drivers demanded just Rs.10 to Rs.25 over the meter fare from passengers instead of fleecing them as they normally would in these circumstances. Car pooling service a hit Carpooling services of app- based cab aggregators were in huge demand during the day as many used them as substitutes for buses, according to the service providers. Metro Rail runs to capacity The Metro Rail came in handy for many in the city with the ongoing bus strike and most trains ran to capacity during the day. The trains ran every five minutes to clear the peak hour rush. Patients, disabled stranded Tons of physically disabled people, travelling on free BMTC bus passes, were stranded at the BMTC bus terminus till evening as they could not afford autos or private vehicles. Several patients and their relatives too were stuck at the Victoria hospital in the absence of bus services. Many were seen pleading with the traffic police to help them reach home. A young girl, Kavyashri from Maddur in Mandya district, approached the police at the BMTC bus terminus for help to get to Narayana Hrudayalaya where she was due for an interview as auto drivers were demanding a fare of Rs 600 to take her there. The police helped her hire an auto charging the meter fare. Bengaluru: More than a 100,000 KSRTC and BMTC employees struck work across the state on Monday, bringing the IT capital to a grinding halt as schools and colleges remained shut and some 600,000 people, without public transport in the city. At least 1.50 crore passengers have been affected by the bandh across the state with passengers arriving from outside the state at the city's bus stations facing the brunt. Virtually every single KSRTC and BMTC bus station was a sea of people hauling their own luggage, negotiating with autorickshaw and tax-drivers who made a killing, with cab and auto drivers demanding a minimum fare of `100 even for the distance of a kilometer. Hospitals and railway stations saw desperate patients and new arrivals unable to get around the auto drivers' demands. Most schools and colleges will remain shut on Tuesday and possibly, stay closed till Thursday. At Kempegowda International Airport too hundreds of passengers were stuck as none of the Vayu Vajra buses were in operation. Stranded commuters made a beeline for Namma Metro on Monday (Photo: Satish B.) State transport minister Ramalinga Reddy and senior officials of both KSRTC and BMTC held several rounds of talks with the labour unions. But while inside sources said that the employees remained adamant on the 35% pay hike demand in public as against the government's offer of a 10% hike, in private, some union leaders told Deccan Chronicle that they maybe willing to reduce it to 30%. As a set of 41 demands were made, government sources said they were trying to break the strike or impose ESMA. All the employees of the four state-run transport corporations are ready to go to jail in case the government decides to invoke Esma, said HV Anantha Subbarao, general secretary, KSRTC Staff and workers federation. Why no ESMA , Mr CM? Although the entire state has been hit because of the indefinite strike called by the BMTC and KSRTC employees, why is the government not invoking Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA)? Is the government putting its fear of losing a potential vote bank over the need to keep the city running? Counter offer: Sources said both BMTC and KSRTC managements have offered a compromise solution - crew members salary will be increased by 12.5%, but the government said: "If we increase the salary by 12.5%, we need to cough up Rs 2,000 crore extra every year." Bigger traffic mess: With the state transport department allowing private buses and mini buses to operate across the state, major roads of the city witnessed major traffic jams through the day, with a traffic cop near Silk Board junction saying that private bus drivers were adding to the chaos by driving recklessly. Market hit: At City Market, tonnes of vegetables, worth several lakhs was destroyed as there were no buses to transport them. Supreme Court will take a final decision on the bull-taming sport in August. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said Jallitkattu, the popular bull taming sport of Tamil Nadu, cannot be justified just because it was a common practice in the earlier days, likening it to child marriage, which is now illegal in the country. "In earlier times, child marriage was common, which doesn't justify the practice", observed the apex court during a hearing on Jallikattu. Read: Term jallikattu as bio-cultural sport: Biodiversity Conservation Council of India In a strong response to Tamil Nadus argument that the sport should be allowed because it showcased the states cultural tradition which dates back to centuries, the court observed that mere presence of tradition can't justify age old practices. It posted the matter for final disposal on August 23, when it will be decided if the sport is constitutional or not. In January this year, the Supreme Court had stayed the Centres decision to allow holding of Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu during Pongal festival that month. Leading political parties in Tamil Nadu, including Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa have time and again demanded lifting the ban on Jallikattu. It is inextricably linked to rural, agrarian customs and has religious significance with families donating bulls to temples in fulfillment of vows, Jayalalithaa had said. Beef eating is not a crime in Uttar Pradesh but cow slaughter is a non-bailable offence which carries a punishment of up to seven years in jail. (Photo: PTI) Lucknow: The family of Mohammed Akhlaq, who was lynched by a mob in Dadri last year for alleged cow slaughter, on Tuesday said it would move the Allahabad High Court against a recent court order directing a police case be filed against them for storing and consuming beef. "The family will move a petition as soon as possible seeking stay on arrest," counsel of Akhlaq's family Asad Hayat told reporters in Lucknow. National President of Rashtriya Ulama Council, Maulana Amir Rahsadi Madni alleged that evidences in the infamous Dadri lynching case were "tampered" and raised questions over reports of Dadri and Mathura lab reports on the sample of meat sent for examination. "First of all, the meat recovered was more than 150 metres away from Akhlaq's house," he said. The court order that a police case be filed against them came 10 days ago following a petition by a neighbour in their village Bisada. Read: Dadri lynching: FIR ordered against Akhlaq's family for cow slaughter The petition was backed by those accused of Akhlaq's murder. The neighbour has claimed that on September 26 last year, Akhlaq and his son Danish were seen beating the calf. Later, a villager saw Akhlaq holding down the calf while his brother killed it, the petition said. Akhlaq's son Sartaj, working with the Indian Air Force, told mediapersons here today there were many loopholes in the recent forensic report, after which the petition demanding legal action against the family was filed. He said his family was being treated like criminals instead of victims. "We have already met the chief minister once and if needed we will meet him for the second time," he said. "First of all, the meat recovered from the spot was more than 150 metres away from Akhlaq's house," Madni said. He claimed that only 2 kg meat was sent to Dadri lab, but the report suggested at the quantity of meat was four to five kg, implying that there was some amount of tampering somewhere. Residents of Bishada village in Dadri had met the Gautam Budh Nagar SSP on June 5 to press their demand for filing of an FIR against Akhlaq's family for alleged cow slaughter. Judicial Magistrate Vijay Kumar then ordered investigation and lodging of an FIR of cow slaughter against Akhlaq's family. Beef eating is not a crime in Uttar Pradesh but cow slaughter is a non-bailable offence which carries a punishment of up to seven years in jail. Kolkata Police sleuths questioned 14 of the 17 people who were present at the birthday party, a source said, adding that two others who could not be located were yet to be questioned. (Photo: Representational Image) Kolkata: Primary evidences gathered from the lawn and car parking of the Sunny Park apartment where teenager Aabesh Dasgupta lost his life after being allegedly hit by broken alcohol bottles hinted at "an accidental" death, Kolkata Police officials handling the case said today. "Evidences collected from the place of occurrence are indicating that the death of Aabesh can be accidental. Though it is yet to be established but the circumstantial evidences are quite strong," a senior Kolkata Police officer said. A special team was formed for looking into the matter as mother of Aabesh met city police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, who promised her of a "neutral probe" into the matter. The deceased's mother, who also met Joint CP (Crime) Visal Garg at the Kolkata Police headquarter, claimed that her son was "murdered" and "all those present at the birthday party should be questioned" to have a clear idea of what actually happened on that evening. In fact, Kolkata Police sleuths questioned 14 of the 17 people who were present at the birthday party, a source said, adding that two others who could not be located were yet to be questioned. The source said persons grilled so far in connection with the incident have lent credence to a theory which established that the 17-year-old youth was carrying one bottle in his left armpit and suddenly fell missing one stair and then the broken pieces of the bottle accidentally got pierced into his body. Meanwhile, a police team went to the Sunny Park apartment this evening itself for another look at the crime spot. "We are trying to visualise the whole incident and link those ends which are still missing. And that will also help us in ascertaining the exact cause of Aabesh's death," the officer said. A three-hour-long post-mortem yesterday was inconclusive and autopsy surgeons paid a visit during night hours to the complex at the upscale Ballygunge area where the mishap happened last Friday. "They were there for around 25 minutes to collect other evidences from the place which may help them reaching to a conclusion," he said adding that three bottles of alcohol-two broken and one half-empty-were collected from the spot earlier but that could not help much in their investigation. Kolkata Police have started a murder case against unknown person in connection with the death of Aabesh on the basis of statement of his mother. The operation was in progress when reports were last received from the encounter site. (Photo: Representational Image/PTI) Srinagar: Four militants were on Tuesday killed and another apprehended by security forces during an encounter in Naugam sector near the LoC in Kupwara district of Kashmir, while one was captured alive, an army official said. "Four terrorists have been killed while one has been apprehended alive during an operation in Naugam sector," the official said. "Consider it a big achievement that a terrorist was apprehended alive in J&K's Kupwara district," said MoS Home Kiren Rijiju. The operation was in progress when reports were last received from the encounter site. The official said as the operation was still going on, it would be premature to say whether it was an infiltration bid or not. "We have got one of them alive and expect some vital information from him," he added. Sharmila's struggle has been at the heart of all protests against repel of AFSPA in the Manipur and the neighbouring North-eastern states. (Photo: AFP) Imphal: The sudden decision of civil rights activist Irom Sharmila to end her 16-year-old hunger strike against AFSPA next month has taken everyone by surprise including her associates and family members. Irom's elder brother Singhajit, who has been with her throughout her struggle said he never knew she was going to terminate her fast. "I haven't spoken to her in the last few days due to my bad health. I heard it from others about her decision," he told PTI. Sharmila's long-time associate Babloo Loitongbam, Director of NGO Human Rights Alert Manipur, said he too was taken by surprise but can understand the reason behind her decision. "If AFSPA has not been repealed in 15 years of her fast then it won't happen in another 30 years also," he said while admitting that he too was not kept informed about her decision. In 2000 when the activist embarked on her hunger strike, she also had taken a vow to neither enter her house nor meet her mother till the government repealed the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. Since then, she has met her mother Sakhi Devi only once when she was also admitted to the same hospital in 2009. Her brother recalled that during the early years of her fast he regularly tried to convince her to end it. "But she never listened to me. Finally I gave up and promised that I will be with her throughout her struggle. She used to say that she will break her fast only when they remove AFSPA. That was her promise," Singhajit said. Nobody is sure what prompted her to take the decision. Her associates say her British boyfriend may have played a crucial role in ensuring that she breaks her fast. "But it is also her frustration at the government for not listening to the demands of the people. So she is changing her path from activism to politics. Her goal remains the same - revocation of AFSPA," another associate said. A team of her associates is planning to go and meet her at the government-run hospital, where she is forcibly nose-fed to keep her alive to discuss the future course of action. Sharmila's struggle has been at the heart of all protests against repel of AFSPA in the Manipur and the neighbouring North-eastern states. Opinion / Columnist I had no plans of writing an article today, but what spurred me to do so was that I have just been watching Sarafina, a touching 1990s movie on the ordinary people's fight against apartheid in South Africa - and was nearly driven to tears by stack similarities between the viciousness and brutality by which the apartheid regime treated the people of that country and how the ZANU PF government is treats the people of Zimbabwe.It is so scary!In fact, the similarities are so glaringly vile that, at times, it would seem as if the movie was on Zimbabwe.However, what inspired me - and should also inspire the people of Zimbabwe - is the unrelenting bravery of the people of South Africa, not matter what the apartheid regime threw their way - from arrests, beatings up, torturing of obscene proportions, abductions, and assassinations of all magnitudes.The people suffered immensely, but they never gave up.What even touched me the most was the fighting spirit of the school pupils, whose bravery in the face of untold atrocities - including police brutality and even shootings - stood firm in their beliefs for a better country for themselves and their future children.This got me thinking as to whether this generation of school children could ever be replicated.However, despite all this very bloody and deadly oppression by the apartheid regime, the people's revolution could not be stopped - and, needless to say, they eventually won, amid all odds.What stood out to me in the people's revolution in SA was that, it was mainly peaceful, in spite of the gruesome brutality that they faced at the hands of the apartheid regime - meaning that, a peaceful revolution by the people can actually yield results, as long as they do not become subdued and crumble.The people need to remain united, without any desire for personal glory - this is a people's struggle not an individual and organisation's struggle, as such, there is always need for a united front in everything.Furthermore, the people's suffering, in itself, should be enough to spur people into action onto the streets in peaceful protests, without waiting for anyone to organise them.There is virtually no need for the suffering people of Zimbabwe to wait for another hashtag this or that to organise them into action - their suffering should be enough to get, for example, people standing in a long queue at a bank to just become so agitated and disenchanted that they simply start marching in the streets.The ZANU PF government can no longer be treated with kids' gloves anymore - as they will never treat the suffering people with the same kids' gloves - the gloves are off.The ZANU PF government is fully aware of the people's suffering, and have no excuse not to, at least listen to the people's cries.However, what the people are getting is arrogance, arrogance, and more arrogance.How do they honestly think the people will react?Yet, they blame France, or some other Western power, when the inevitable happens.Whether France is indeed paying one or two individuals - as this can be expected in global geo-politics, as every country has vested interests - but that does not override the genuine suffering and anger of the people of Zimbabwe.The people of Zimbabwe want their grievances addressed by their government, and if not, their anger will boil over.What will that have to do with France?Furthermore, the suffering people of Zimbabwe have had enough of lame excuses by the government.Whether the suffering inflicted on them is the government's fault or not, it does not matter - the people have suffered enough, they are angry, and they want a new government.They do not need a foreign power to tell them that.I am a father and husband, and everyone in my family expects me to put food on the table, a roof over their heads, send my son to school, and clothe them.They know fully well that the economic situation in Zimbabwe is dire, yet that will never be acceptable to them as an excuse for my failure to provide what is expected of me - as that is my role.To make matters worse, if they know that I do get some money, but I choose to spend it in revelry with friends and 'small houses', then any ounce of pity that they may have still had for me would instantly completely disappear and replaced by repulsion and downright anger.If I fail to deliver, my family has every right to demand it, or else, they are completely justified in leaving me.Resorting to beating them up will not force them to understand, but will only add fuel to an already raging inferno.They expect me not to make excuses, but to make a plan - and if I fail, then I would have failed as a father and husband.Furthermore, I can not turn around and blame my neighbour, if my family crumbles - it would have been entirely my fault.If is so happens that there would be 'vultures' lingering about to take them, that is very unfortunate, but that does not take away the fact that it was entirely my fault that I failed to provide for them, and I can not blame the 'vulture'.In the same vein, the ZANU PF government has no one else to blame for the misery and suffering of Zimbabweans.Therefore, instead of making excuses and blaming others, the ZANU PF government is better advised to sit down and seriously discuss these matters with the people, instead of brutalising them - as that will only lead to further uncontrollable fury that will result in chaos in the country.A government that oppresses its own people is as dishonourable and shameful - if not worse - than a man who abuses his own wife and children.It is downright bullying - coming out with guns, whips, tear gas, water canons, and dogs against defenceless unarmed innocent people, who are merely expressing their dissatisfaction with their government.Bullies are nothing more than cowards - and we all know what inevitably happens to cowards.As with apartheid, the people's power will always triumph, no matter what atrocities they have to endure, and it is a battle that the oppressor can never hope to win - as history is on the side of the oppressed. Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice activist and commentator, writer, and journalist. He writes in his personal capacity, and welcomes any feedback. Please WhatsApp/call: +263782283975, or email: tendaiandtinta.mbofana@gmail.com. Follow on Twitter: @Tendai_Mbofana New Delhi: Hailing the sacrifices of India's courageous soldiers on the 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said India will never forget the fearlessness with which the soldiers gave a befitting and unforgettable reply to the intruders. "On Kargil Vijay Diwas, I bow to every valiant soldier who fought for India till the very last breath. Their heroic sacrifices inspire us. India will never forget the fearlessness with which our courageous soldiers gave a befitting and unforgettable reply to the intruders," Prime Minister Modi tweeted. On Kargil Vijay Diwas I bow to every valiant soldier who fought for India till the very last breath. Their heroic sacrifices inspire us. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 India will never forget the fearlessness with which our courageous soldiers gave a befitting & unforgettable reply to the intruders. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 He also took the opportunity to praise the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government for displaying firm political leadership and said, "We recall with pride, the firmness demonstrated by India's political leadership in 1999, which ensured a decisive victory in Kargil." We recall with pride, the firmness demonstrated by Indias political leadership in 1999, which ensured a decisive victory in Kargil. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 Meanwhile, the Army officers and Kargil war heroes kins' paid homage to Kargil war heroes in Jammu and Kashmir's Dras. Indian and Pakistani armies fought the Kargil War in May-July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). India launched 'Operation Vijay' to clear the Kargil sector of infiltration by the Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants on the Indian side of the Line of Control. The day is observed on July 26 every year in honour of the Kargil War Heroes. Defence Minister Manohar Parikar, India Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha will pay homage to Kargil martyrs at Amar Jawan Jyoti, India Gate in the national capital today. It was on this day in 1999 that the Indian Armed Forces, as part of the 'Operation Vijay', recaptured Indian posts in Kargil which had been occupied by the Pakistan army. Drass: The Chief of Northern Army Command, Lt Gen D S Hooda on Tuesday paid homage to the soldiers, who laid down their lives during the Kargil war in 1999, at the war memorial in Jammu and Kashmir's Drass sector. Lt Gen Hooda paid homage to the martyrs of 'Operation Vijay' on the 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas at the historic War Memorial in Drass on Tuesday, the Defence spokesman said. Celebrations to commemorate the victory of Indian troops over Pakistani intruders in the 1999 war, started with great fervour and enthusiasm under the aegis of Leh Corps on July 21. Hooda was accompanied by General Officer Commanding of Ladakh-based Fire and Fury Corps Lt Gen S K Patyal, the spokesman said, adding, he also interacted with the 'veer naaris' (wives of the slain soldiers), awardees and relatives. Speaking on the occasion, Gen Hooda paid glowing tributes to the sacrifices and expressed his gratitude to the slain soldiers, their next of kins and wives. A memorial service which included prayers by religious teachers and lighting of lamps was organised at the War memorial last evening. The week long celebrations, ending today, included many events involving the local citizens, especially the youth and children from Drass and Kargil regions. New Delhi: Suspended BJP leader Kirti Azad's wife Poonam on Tuesday joined Navjot Singh Sidhu in criticising the party for meting out injustice to her and her husband in the same way as it did to Sidhu. There has been speculation that Poonam, the three-time national executive member of the BJP and now its Delhi unit spokesperson, can join the Aam Aadmi Party. "What Sidhu ji is saying is fully correct. The party has done injustice to him. He won from Amritsar so many times, campaigned for the party nationwide and was its Delhi in-charge. It meted out injustice to me and Kirti ji in a similar way," she said. Asked if she was going to join AAP, she said she would hold a press conference in a few days to speak about her next move. Sources close to the Azad family said Kirti too is feeling "uneasy" in the party after he was suspended following his repeated attacks on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over the alleged DDCA corruption when he headed it. Though he is unlikely to quit the party as it will result in his disqualification as a Lok Sabha member, his wife might do so. Imphal: Manipur rights activist Irom Sharmila Chanu on Tuesday announced she would be breaking her 16-year fast to contest elections. Sharmila has been on a hunger strike since 2000 to demand repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Manipur. She will break her fast on August 9, said reports. I will break my fast as the government has failed to give any positive response. I will fight elections to solve the issue, said Irom Sharmila. She said she no longer believes that her fast will lead to the repeal of the "draconian" AFSPA but she will continue the fight. "That is why I will join politics and my fight will continue," said Sharmila. In the past, many political leaders have met Sharmila and tried to cajole her into joining politics but she has rejected all offers. She now plans to run as an independent. She also informed the court, where she is required to mark attendance every 15 days, that she wants to marry. The civil rights activist is known to have a boyfriend, a British national of Indian origin, who has in the past been in trouble with Sharmila supporters. Assembly elections in Manipur are scheduled in 2017. Sharmila is forcibly fed through a nasal tube in Imphal's Jawahar Lal Nehru Hospital, a special ward which acts as her prison. Sharmila has been arrested several times over the past few years. On March 4, 2013, she was put on trial for allegedly trying to commit suicide while undertaking a fast-unto-death at Jantar Mantar on October 4, 2006. On March 30, 2016, she was acquitted in the case. Sharmila said she never intended to commit suicide, and it was just a protest against AFSPA. Days before she began her fast in 2000, 10 people, including two children, were shot dead by personnel allegedly from the armed forces. Gopalganj: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) will not field candidates in the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, party chief Lalu Yadav said clarifying his partys position on Tuesday. His statement has come at a time when ally JD(U) is working hard to gain grounds in poll bound Uttar Pradesh. Yadav said that the decision was taken keeping in mind the secular votes, which he claimed could split if his party contested Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in 2017. My party will not contest UP elections as we dont want to split secular votes there, RJD Chief Lalu Yadav said on Tuesday. RJD which is an ally of JD (U) had won Bihar assembly elections in 2015 by contesting together. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on the contrary has decided to extensively campaign for his party JD(U) and had also decided to field candidates in Uttar Pradesh for the elections which is to be held in 2017. According to JD (U) insiders, partys prime focus will be the eastern part of the state as it touches Bihar and Nitish Kumar is popular in those areas. They said, His decision to impose ban on liquor in Bihar has made him popular in UP and other parts of the country. Though Lalu Yadav remained tight lipped over Nitish Kumars decision to field candidates in Uttar Pradesh but said that his partys main agenda was to defeat communal forces. Our agenda is to stop BJP and RSS from coming to power in the country and we will continue to work in that direction. We will support secular forces in Uttar Pradesh, Yadav said. Reacting sharply, opposition BJP took a swipe at Lalu Yadavs statement and said, he keeps saying these things only to remain in the limelight. The fact is that both JD(U) and RJD are regional parties and has no support base anywhere outside Bihar. However sources close to Lalu Yadav told this newspaper that his decision not to contest UP elections was because of his family relations with Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. Lalu Yadavs youngest daughter is married to Mulayam Singh Yadavs grandnephew. Swamy could not complete his speech as his allotted time got over and Question Hour was taken up. New Delhi: BJP member Subramanian Swamy's attempt to raise the issue of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination in the Rajya Sabha today saw heated exchange between him and Congress members. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Swamy said the Modi government has placed most of the files regarding the assassination in the National Archives. Stating that he had a chance to go through the files, Swamy said lot of "scurrilous comments" were being made and "even parliamentarians are making these remarks and the Supreme Court has had to pull them up and give them a stern warning". "So it's time the House discuss it and I can for the benefit of the House point three basic facts which have come out of my reading of the archival records," he said. As he was about to make his first point, Anand Sharma (Congress) rose to say something, but could not be heard. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien told Sharma that Swamy has been permitted to raise the issue, even as Swamy alleged that Sharma "is questioning the Chair." Kurien advised Sharma to hear Swamy before objecting. "Anand Sharmaji, unless you hear what he says, how can you object," the Deputy Chairman said. Kurien also said that Swamy has only spoken about the Supreme Court making some observations but has not named anybody. The Chair asked Swamy to continue with his statement, but not take anyone's name. To this, the BJP MP said: "I am not taking any name except that of Mahatama Gandhi's. I will not take any other Gandhi name", evoking peals of laughter especially in the treasury benches. He further said Mahatma Gandhi's mortal remains were not subjected to any post-mortem and as a consequence there was a dispute on the number of bullets fired. He said while newspapers wrote four bullets were fired upon him, the prosecution said the number was three. Swamy could not complete his speech as his allotted time got over and Question Hour was taken up. Last week, the Supreme Court had asked Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi to either apologise over his statement blaming RSS for Mahatma Gandhi's assassination or face trial. The night patrolling party rounded up all the ten youths involved in the misadventure, police said. (Representational Image) Bhopal: A late night adventure by a group of youths in Raipur in Chhattisgarh who were out to hunt ghosts in a graveyard in the capital city has proven costly for them. The ghost hunters were caught by a police patrolling party while acting as spirits and filming the drama inside the burial ground. The night patrolling party rounded up all the ten youths involved in the misadventure, police said. Later, they were sent to jail after being booked under charges of creating law and order problem, the investigating officer said. Personnel of a night patrolling party got suspicious when they spotted five bikes parked at the entrance of the graveyard near Pujari park under Pachpadi Naka area in the city. They entered into the cemetery when they noticed movement of silhouettes inside. The policemen were puzzled to find ten youths acting as ghosts and filming their acts. The youths were then apprehended and taken to Telibandha police station, police said. Interrogation revealed that the youths, aged 19-21, had gathered at the graveyard late on Monday night to capture pictures of ghosts and upload them in the Youtube. The youths said that they planned their adventure after being inspired by the supernatural horror movie Paranormal Activity. But, they got frustrated when they failed to notice spirits in the burial ground despite waiting for nearly four hours. Hence, they decided to act as ghosts and film their acts to upload the visuals in the social network sites, the investigating officer said. BENGALURU: An international tribunal in The Hague has ruled against the Union government on cancellation of a contract between Antrix Corporation, the corporate arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), and Devas Multimedia Pvt Ltd, for lease of S-band spectrum onboard two satellites, but the space agency not only sought to play down the ramifications of such a ruling but also indicated a legal recourse against it. The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at The Hague, on Tuesday, ruled that the governments actions in 2011 amounted to expropriation and that in annulling the Isro-Devas contract, the government has breached treaty commitments to accord fair and equitable treatment to Devass foreign investors. Incidentally, this tribunals decision is the second such arbitration outcome in the Antrix-Devas controversy. Last year, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)s arbitration body, International Court of Arbitration, asked Antrix Corporation to cough up damages of $672 million to Devas Multimedia Pvt Ltd for unlawfully terminating the deal on grounds of national security. Devas Multimedia Pvt Lrd has since moved the Delhi High Court for recovery of damages. Infographic The Department of Space, however, maintained that the precise quantum of compensation was yet to be determined but shall be limited to 40 per cent of the value of investment. Will take legal recourse, says Department of Space The award of the tribunal is being examined and legal recourse, as deemed fit, will be taken. We also remain committed to pursue our larger national interests including sovereign strategic security interests in this matter, said a release of Department of Space while maintaining that the government had cancelled the contract by invoking essential security interests through a well reasoned, valid and proper CCS (cabinet committee on security) decision. Soon after cancellation of the contract, the Union government had barred former chairman of Isro, Gopalan Madhavan Nair, and four other top space scientists from holding any position in government organisations. Such action came in the aftermath of a report submitted by a committee headed by former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Pratyush Sinha that Mr Nair had not informed the Union Cabinet about the contract signed with Devas Multimedia Pvt Ltd for lease of S-band transponders. Officers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI are investigating the contract. SRINAGAR: As pro-azadi protests and stone-pelting incidents go unabated in Kashmir Valley, a cyberwar is also under way which intensified on Tuesday when Facebook blocked some more pages of its users including that of key separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani or deleted posts, photographs and videos placed on these citing community standards. Also, the Facebook page of a leading Srinagar English newspaper was hacked by a group which calls itself Cyber Caliphate-black flags are coming. Given the nature of posts, photographs and videos it posted on the page in quick succession, the hackers group owes allegiance to Daesh or ISIS. It also placed Daulat e Islamia Iraq o Shams anthem and other revolutionary and rebellious songs on the newspapers hacked Facebook page to encourage mujahedin or holy fighters in Kashmir, promising them dawn of freedom is about to break. The newspapers Twitter account was also hacked for being interlinked with that of its Facebook page. Muslims of Kashmir: Peace, mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you, said a tweet on it from the hackers. Another tweet said, This is a warning to all the prestitutes of Kashmir, who have sold their conscience and for Indian salaries have... A post warns J&K police For the eunuchs of J&K Police, we know this is going to be a long war, a day will come when we will use kitchen knives, cars, buses against you and you would not even know what hit you. Earlier the online social networking site Facebook deleted the page of Mr. Geelani who said it (deletion) has taken place because he shared an image of Burhan Muzaffar Wani, Hizb-ul-Mujahedin commander killed by security forces on July 8 and whose social media campaign had an outreach among a section of Kashmiri Muslim youth. Meanwhile, curfew was lifted from Srinagar and other cities and towns of the Valley from Tuesday morning but the respite which came after 17 days was marred by fresh protests and clashes in several parts of the summer capital. Curfew, remained in force in Anantnag which had witnessed massive protests and an incident of arson on Monday till late afternoon but has now been lifted, police said. However, a report from Anantnag said that before the authorities announced lifting curfew, surging crowds had taken to the streets and soon clashed with security forces. C. Rajammal, wife of a migrant worker Chelladurai, urges the state and central government to help them file an appeal against the death sentence (Photo: DC) Chennai: With just four days left to file an appeal against the death sentence awarded to two migrants by the Qatar government, families of the accused along with activists on Monday urged the Centre to provide legal assistance to the accused. Two migrants, Alagappa Subramaniam from Pudukottai and Chelladurai Perumal from Virudhunagar were sentenced to death by shooting on May 15 this year for allegedly murdering an elderly woman for gain. Another migrant, Sivakumar Arasan of Salem, was awarded life for the same crime. A moist-eyed, C. Rajammal, wife of Chelladurai, told DC about their poor financial condition and how they were completely helpless. We had been stepping into many government offices to help us. Our hope is slowly dying as nothing has worked out yet, said Rajammal whose children are working in a matchbox-manufacturing factory to support the livelihood. The family had borrowed over Rs 60,000 to meet Chelladurais expenses to go to Doha at Qatar. We still have not cleared our debts. He had sent us Rs 30,000. How can we afford the legal expenses, questioned Rajammal fighting back tears. Advocate Suresh Kumar who came to know about the issue through a consumer forum had taken it up with prominent politicians including Union minister, Pon. Radhakrishnan and State BJP president, Tamilisai Soundararajan. The Indian embassy in Qatar is expecting the consent from Tamil Nadu government to proceed with it, Suresh Kumar told DC. It would cost around Rs 3.5 lakh to file an appeal against the judgment. Appeal has to be filed before July 30, said Suresh. Details of Alagappa Subramaniam and Sivakumar Arasan were not completely known, said state coordinator of migrant forum, National Domestic Workers Movement, M. Valarmathi. Alagappa Subramaniams wife was unwilling to give details about his children. We could not contact Sivakumar Arasan as he is admitted to a hospital for mental illness, said Suresh. Opinion / Religion QN "Zimbabwean prophets focus on perform miracles than other prophetic duties " Examine this view ? (25)Divinity Revision Questions | 26 July 2016COMMENT OVERVIEW- The above question requires one to justify the validity of the above statement .The statement was coined after a closely studying the Zimbabwean prophets .The ministry of Zimbabwean prophets is overcrowded by so many miracles ,this cannot be denied .Number of so many prophets have been recorded by media to have performed different miracles ,this include the following prophets~The Apple Prophet "Fordrick Fordrick"~The Spectacle Prophet "Freddy"~Ezekiel Guti~Major Provovo man of style "Uebert Angel"~W .Magaya~Passion Java~Zviratidzo Zvevapostori sects~Wutuanashe Andrew~Prophetess Ruth Makandiwa~Prophetess Beverly Angel- The ongoing article seeks to justify the validity of the above claim .ANSWERS- Perfoming miracles cannot be separated from the ministries of Zimbabwean prophets .Zimbabwean prophets perform healing and nature miracles ,this is true in the case of W .Magaya ,W Magaya has performed so many miracles ,he once hosted the service of miracles ,during this service lot of people were healed ,this was even published by Nehanda Radio Newspaper on the 16th of May 2016 "Magaya hosts miracle nightProphetic Healing and Deliverance founder Prophet Walter Magaya will today host a "miracle night" at his church in Waterfalls, Harare, where thousands of people are expected to attend" During the service some claimed to have been healed after being anointed by the man of cloth. As such this indicates that Zimbabwean prophets perform miracles.- In November 2012 ,Makandiwa performed a miracle which shocked the country.Chitugwiza woman delivered a baby in space of hours after meeting the man of God. The story was even published by the local papers ,some labelling the prophet as an unauthentic prophet " Makandiwa was praying for female congregates whose pregnancies had complications, he then declared that there was to be a miracle pregnancy which was to be delivered within a space of hours" This is an enough evidence which proves to us that Zimbabwean prophets perform miracles .- The controversial man "Paul Sanyangore" who is pastor ,has performed number of miracles ,this include walking on water .On the 16 March the media recorded that the controversial man walked on water after his friends invited him for a swim in Glen Lorne, in an interview he submitted that the reason why he performs miracles is to boost the faith ,he said "This miracles are done to boost people's faith so that it's easy for them to accept the word. The fact that it cannot be done in front of many people is because they are not ready to accept such miracles. Criticism has always been there and it will always be there. "Therefore, this indicates that Zimbabwean prophets perform miracles .- Uebert Angel performed money miracles ,the miracle was even discussed with Gideon Gono [according to ZBC 4th February 2013].The Apple prophet "Fodrick" is well known of performing miracles using an apple .The Spectacle Prophet "Freddy" has been recorded by media to have been performing miracles. Thabiso Ngwenya of Pumula in Bulawayo is well known of performing miracles through "bombing" All this justify the view that Zimbabwean prophets perform miracles .HOWEVER PART- In as much as Zimbabwean prophets perform miracles ,it will be a misnomer to totally ignore the view that Zimbabwean prophets perform other duties .For instance fighting for worshiping of one God, it is documented by number of authors that Zimbabwean prophets fights for worshipping of one God, Isabel Mukonyora citing Dillon, says Masowe during his days had tendency of destroying "mishonga" and burning the fetishes.Makandiwa recorded by Christ Tv undated, discouraged his church to partake in evil practices. Magaya recorded by Newsday newspaper and Bulawayo24.com in 14 February 2015 , he condemned the use of water as a way of exorcism by the white church garment which is led by Johannes Ndanga as evilness and encouraging them to change, this is further supported by his book entitled "The marine spirit"(the point in this case is that Magaya fights for worshipping of one God).All this indicates that Zimbabwean prophets do not totally focus on performing miracles only.- Zimbabwean prophets predict the future events, IN Zimbabwean context, For instance, Bulawayo well known prophet predicted about the status of Zimbabwe in his 2016 prophecies (prophecy number 2 of Chiza says Zimbabwean dollar will be re-introduced ).Makandiwa in his article Volume 11 undated prophesied about the next coming big prophet, he says ("..I see another man of God coming in Zimbabwebut the time he comes I will be an old man.". He went on to say "I see another city coming"). Daily News newspaper on 28 April 2016 published that Makandiwa had predicted the Zambian Xenophobia attacks.All this indicates that Zimbabwean prophets do not totally focus on performing miracles .N.B More roles can be addedQUESTION DEMANDS- Examine the validity of the statement .CONTACTS+263777896159 (WhatsApp)Zimsec A level Divinity Questions and Answers with Witness Dingani (Facebook Page)Transforming the lives for better tomorrow! Kochi: After a tense wait of over 50 days, a family based at Kalamassery had some solace as the authorities for the first time have communicated to them that the mortal remains of their son, who died in a mishap in Saudi Arabia on June 4, will be brought home on July 31. Mr S. Vijayakumar, a resident of Changampuzha Nagar, Thrikkakkara North Village, Kalamassery, was running from pillar to post seeking the intervention of the authorities here in bringing back the body of his son V.S. Karthikeyan. The youth, who worked as spareparts picker in Jeddah-based Al Jazeera Ford Vehicles, died in a car mishap and his body was kept in the mortuary of the Abha private hospital, nearly 900 km from Riyad, since June 4. However, the companys negligence in conducting the procedures led to the inordinate delay in taking the body home. Even the Indian embassy in Riyad said it had done all it could and that the company should initiate steps like getting nod of the Governor for further action. Thanks to the initiative taken by a Malayali forum based in Riyad, weve been informed that the body will be taken to Dubai from the Abha hospital and from there it will be brought here on July 31 early morning via a Fly Dubai plane. At least we will be able to perform the last rites now, Mr Vijayakumar said. The mishap occurred just four days before his engagement and when he was planning to fly back home. Karthikeyan was the sole breadwinner of his family. After completing the formalities, all the fishermen are expected to return home in a day or two. Rameswaram: In a goodwill gesture the Sri Lankan government on Monday has ordered the release of all 77 Tamil Nadu fishermen who had been languishing in recent months in various jails in northern Sri Lanka for allegedly trespassing into their territorial waters, reports reaching here on Monday said. While these fishermen are from the coastal districts of Ramanathapuram including Rameswaram Island, Pudukkottai and Nagapattinam, the Press Trust of India, however, reported that Sri Lanka ordered the release of only 49 of those 77 fishermen. The Rameswaram fishermen, mostly those owning mechanised trawlers recently launched an indefinite strike, demanding immediate intervention by the Narendra Modi at the Centre and the Jayalalithaa government in the State to impress upon Colombo to release all the arrested fishermen and also free their 111 seized boats. The arrests of the Tamil Nadu fishermen this season has been on since May 31 this year, it may be recalled. Of the 77 fishermen ordered to be released, 28 of them were freed by the Mannar court, six by a court in Puthalam and 43 others from a court in Oorkaavalthurai, the reports said. All the released 77 fishermen have been made to stay now at the office of the Indian Deputy High Commissioner in Jaffna, the reports further said. After completing the formalities, all the fishermen are expected to return home in a day or two. While the fishing community here is elated at the release of all the 77 fishermen, they are still sore over the non-release of their seized boats by Colombo. A worried Palraj, father-in-law of Muthukrishnan who is among the 29 on board the missing AN-32. looks at a family photo. (Photo: DC) Chennai: Four days after an AN-32 aircraft went missing over the Bay of Bengal, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha on Monday said extensive operations have been launched to locate the plane and reasserted the Indian Air Forces trust in the capabilities of the transport aircraft that has been part of its fleet since 1984. Noting that it is a very difficult moment for all of us and we share the concerns of the distraught family members, the Air Chief said IAF authorities are in constant touch with the family members of the missing personnel and they are being regularly updated about the efforts being made to trace the missing aircraft and personnel. In a statement issued in New Delhi on Monday, Mr Raha said extensive operations have been launched to search for the missing aircraft and personnel. Several aircraft with surveillance equipment of the IAF, Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard have been flying in the area. A large number of ships of the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard, some with helicopters on board have also joined the search. It is very unfortunate that we have not been able to trace the missing aircraft and the personnel on board. Our prayers and thoughts are there with the missing personnel and their families and no effort will be spared to locate them, he said. Talking about the AN-32 transport aircraft, whose capabilities have come under the scanner after the latest incident, the Air Chief said in the last three decades of its operations we have exploited the capabilities of this aircraft as the workhorse of the IAF. Because of its excellent operational performance, AN-32 has been landing at Daulat Beg Oldie, which is the highest landing ground in the world. Needless to say that capable aircrew is chosen to fly these aircraft, he said. Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modis maiden visit to Telangana state on August 7 has been finalised and a communique to this effect has reached the state government. He will also visit the Kaloji Narayana Rao Medical and Health University campus. The Prime Minister will also simultaneously unveil the much-awaited Mission Kakatiya pylon that ensures revival of all the 45,000 irrigation tanks in Telangana state in a phased manner. He will later reach Gajwel in Medak district to inaugurate the first phase of the Mission Bhagiratha Project, which will ensure drinking water to each and every household in the state before 2019. The Prime Minister will also lay the foundation for the new Manoharabad-Kottapally railway line that connects Medak district with Karimnagar. As per the finalised schedule he will reach Begumpet at 6 pm and leave for Delhi. There is no confirmation yet on his participation in a meeting organised by the BJP. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister on Monday asked Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan to meet Union home minister Rajnath Singh and new law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to sort out issues related to the division of the Hyderabad High Court and the controversies surrounding sharing of assets and liabilities among Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh regarding public institutions listed in schedules IX and X of the AP Reorganisation Act. The Governor, who met the Prime Minister on Monday at Parliament House, later met both the Central ministers and discussed the issues. It is learnt that the Prime Minister, during his visit, wishes to address these issues. Chennai: As many as 384 advocates, including a dozen women lawyers, who were among those staging a protest outside the Madras high court were arrested and released later. Several thousand lawyers from across the state were picketing the court campus on Monday demanding that the HC withdraw its May notification to amend the Advocates Act which empowers the debarring of erring lawyers. Squatting on Muthuswamy road despite repeated requests from the cops assigned to protect the perimeter of the campus in George Town, the group of advocates courted arrest late evening. The Monday protest was planned as part of the movement launched by the Joint-Action-Committee (JAC) formed to fight against the amendments made to the Advocates Act, which a major section of the advocates believe to be arbitrary in nature and draconian. The Bar Council of India (BCI) had issued its suspension orders to as many as 126 lawyers and JAC members late on Sunday evening, thus intensifying Mondays stir. Anticipating the adversarial move of the advocates, a total of 1,200 policemen drawn from the city and the Armed Reserve were posted for security and the number of CISF personnel on the campus was doubled. All the arterial roads that lead to 8 gates of the Madras high court were barricaded making it tough for the litigants and advocates to find their way inside the Court. Normalcy was affected in the Parrys area with the nearby Broadway bus terminus wearing a deserted look as no buses were operated from it from 9.30 am onwards until late evening. At around 7.30 pm, the cops were still trying to pacify the protesters, advising them to disperse from the spot. However, the protesting lot persisted on remaining until 8.30 pm and the cops subsequently declared them as under arrest and removed them from the spot. The arrested advocates were taken to four different shelters three private marriage halls in Royapuram, Perambur Barracks road, and Raja Annamalai road and a community centre in Chetpet. KOCHI: The civic body has presented a draft plan detailing projects worth Rs 150 crore for approval of the council. Development Committee chairperson Gracy Joseph presented the draft proposal at a special session on Tuesday, which discussed the project proposals. As per the plan, the Corporation will spend more funds for the urban transport and housing sectors this financial year, with a fund allocation of Rs 5.30 crore and Rs 3.96 crore, respectively. A total of 172 works which couldnt be taken up during the previous fiscal have been included as spillover projects in the draft. A major chunk of funds, to the tune of Rs 2.35 crore, under the urban transport sector will be spent on acquiring land for road projects. Construction of RO-RO jhankar and its jetties would receive financial support of Rs 1 crore each. For the construction of a new boat for the risky Fort Kochi-Vypeen sector, the civic body will spend Rs 84 lakh. The other major projects included are in healthcare, waste management, housing, agriculture and animal welfare sectors. For the Swachh Bharat Mission, the local body would spend Rs 1.96 crore. The civic body also proposes to spend Rs 75 lakh to procure compact carriers to transport garbage to Brahmapuram waste treatment plant. Discussions and approval of the draft proposal will be held during a special session on Friday. Chennai: For a change, the Dravidian parties known for their rhetoric in chaste Tamil, resorted to English debate in the Assembly on Monday over the state of the TN economy, with two business savvy members countering each other, while finance minister O. Panneerselvam concluding the arguments with an explanation in Tamil. DMKs new member P.T.R. Palanivel Thiagarajan, speaking on the budget discussion, switched over to English after a brief introduction. Expressing concern over the rising fiscal deficit of the state, he said the revenue of the state had fallen while the expenses were going up. When AIADMK member K. Pandiarajan, intervened, DMK members were on their feet protesting vehemently. They insisted that Thiagarajan was delivering his maiden speech in the Assembly and there should be no intervention. Speaker P. Dhanapal said the AIADMK member was just seeking a clarification and pointed out that the DMK member Thiagarajan is ready to respond. The Speaker asked the DMK members, Why the DMK members are blocking a healthy debate? Panneerselvam, who intervened, said the government had planned to raise the individual income of people to 10,000 dollars and explained its roadmap in the vision 2023 document. Thiyagarajan, who continued, said the government had failed not by design but by execution and said the debt burden too was growing. Pointing out that the AIADMK government had been elected consecutively for the second time, he said the government should use this continuity to make courageous decisions, which could be unpopular. He said the government should do what is right rather than what is popular. He said the governments spending had gone up due to the welfare schemes and not by payment of salary to government employees. Pandiarajan, who countered the DMK member again, said the governments expenses could rise due to the possible implementation of the seventh pay commission. He also added that the DMK member too had admitted that the AIADMK government was spending more money for the welfare of people. Slow economic growth hits states revenue Concluding the debate, Panneerselvam said the decrease in the collection of revenues was due to the sluggish economic growth throughout the world. The government could not stop spending on the welfare measures as it boosts human resources and leads to economic growth. For example, spending on education leads to economic growth which raises the capacity of the government to repay the debts, he explained. Giving statistics, he said the debt of Tamil Nadu is 17.4 per cent of its GSDP. The debt burden is 28 per cent in AP, 23 per cent in Karnataka and 26 per cent in Kerala. Even during the DMK government, the debt per cent was 17 to 18 per cent. He said the debt burden of the Tamil Nadu was being exaggerated and asserted that the state was administering the economy well. Chennai: Is addressing a senior member of the House, especially a former Chief Minister, by his name without prefixing the customary title discourteous? The opposition DMK certainly thinks so as it took strong exception to a legislator from the ruling AIADMK calling their veteran party chief M. Karunanidhi by his name in the Assembly on Monday. Amid noisy scenes, the Speaker P. Dhanapal then ruled that the Chief Minister (Ms J. Jayalalithaa) should not be called by her name. The interesting debate over how to address a former Chief Minister and the current Chief Minister in the Assembly arose when AIADMKs Tiruttani legislator P. M. Narasimhan, while taking part in the discussion on the revised Budget for 201617 fiscal, called the DMK president by his name. At once, the DMK members protested and sought to know from the Speaker P. Dhanapal if it was alright to address a former Chief Minister by his name. Much to their disappointment, Mr. Dhanapal, said there was no problem in calling him by his name. This led to a ruckus in the House and when the DMK members sought to know if they could address the (present) Chief Minister by her name, the Speaker replied, No, you cannot call her by her name. This is my order. At this, the opposition DMK protested once again and staged a walk out after the Speaker remained firm. Later, speaking to reporters outside the House, Mr. M. K. Stalin, DMK treasurer and leader of the opposition, who led the walk out, contented that it was wrong to address a former Chief Minister, who had got elected to the House 13 times, by his name. Mangaluru/ Mysuru: Like all politicians, forest minister Ramanath Rai said on Monday that law should take its course against his son Deepu Rai, who allegedly misbehaved in Kodagu on Sunday, but local police officers pleaded they were helpless as the complaint and counter were withdrawn late last night. I will not interfere or pressurize anybody, Mr Rai told the media in Mangaluru while commenting about his son Deepu and his friends who invited the wrath of local residents by playing music beyond permissible limits near Srimangala in Kodagu. Later, he and Tejappa, former gram panchayat president of T Shettygeri, got into an argument and pushed each other. He was handed over to the police by residents but no case was filed at Srimangala police station. The minister said earlier, when a person tried to get transferred using my sons name, I had given an appropriate reply to him. We cannot answer for anything our children do outside. Action has to be taken against anybody who errs. When contacted, superintendent of police (Kodagu), Rajendra Prasad, said No matter who it is, we would have registered a case, but both (Deepu and Tejappa) who had complained against each other did not want us to register any case. So, we were forced to stop. Police officers at Srimangal station said pushing is not assaulting and it is not worth a case. Also, public nuisance is a non-cognizable offence, and it (FIR) should have been lodged after taking permission from a court. But Deepu and Tejappa, who were in the station for over one hour and 15 minutes, arrived at a compromise, and gave in writing that they do not want cases to be registered against each other. The adventure began with Bertrand Piccards vision that clean technologies and energy efficiency can reduce our emissions and improve our quality of life. It led up to the attempt of the First Round-The-World Solar Flights, with in July 2015 Andre Borschbergs 5-day 5-night record-breaking flight from Japan to Hawaii, using only the power of the sun. Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, have set out to achieve something that still seems impossible: the First Round-The-World Solar Flight, powered only by the sun, with no fuel or polluting emissions. Buffeted by strong desert winds, Solar Impulse 2 had a bumpy leg to the culmination point in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday of a stupendous circumnavigation of the globe. In conquering every hazard thrown up by the challenge of new technology powering the prototype purely on a renewable energy source through 17,000 solar cells on its long wings, the two Swiss pilots, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, have proved their point in splendid manner. The 16-month, 17-stage journey would have been worth every bit of its adventurousness as it proves the point that modern man is on the cusp of fantastic breakthroughs that can change the way the world lives even as attempts have to be made to save the planet from environmental depredation. When Borschberg crossed the Pacific a journey of 6,500 km he had completed the longest uninterrupted journey in aviation history, just one of 19 records broken. All this was done on a single seat also doubling up as a toilet in a non-pressurised cabin no bigger than a telephone booth. Unlike Christopher Columbus, these adventurers actually landed in two places in India (Ahmedabad and Varanasi). It is now up to ingenuity in engineering to derive inspiration from the event and show the way to using the power of the Sun. CARSON CITY, Nev.The world famous Moonlite Bunny Ranch legal brothel has announced it is launching an historic outreach of professional sexual services to the disabled community, to coincide with the 26th anniversary of the July 26, 1990 signing of the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). Immediately all six of the Dennis Hof brothels located throughout Nevada have all undergone ADA-certified retrofitting to be able to accommodate all customers regardless of their disability. At the same time several hundred licensed working girls have been specially trained to provide the highest quality erotic experience to those so-long shunned from access to the joys of sexual pleasure. "While the ADA is an incredible achievement in guaranteeing civil rights and protections to the disabled, the time has come to go beyond that, to ensure that the physical and sensual pleasure needs of this far-too-long neglected community are met," said bordello owner Dennis Hof, in kicking off the first-ever legal brothel outreach campaign for the disabled. "The disabled community now has an affordable, legal, and medically-approved outlet for sexual satisfaction, and one that I am proud to say is the first of its kind anywhere in the world." About 1 in 5 people in the U.S. currently has a disabilityan estimated 48.9 million people, or 19.4 percent of non-institutionalized civilianswith over a billion people, around 15 percent of the world's population, having some form of disability with an estimated 24.1 million people having a severe disability. Meanwhile the rates of disability are increasing due to population aging and increases in chronic health conditions. Persons with disabilities, on average as a group, are more likely to experience adverse socioeconomic outcomes than persons without disabilities, such as less education, worse health outcomes, less employment, and higher poverty rates. In addition to full wheelchair access and expertly-trained courtesans, the Dennis Hof brothels have also taken pains to see that every aspect of a disabled customer's visit to his bawdy-houses is dealt with sensitively, comfortably, and with dignity as top priorities. "For example, now when a disabled person flies into the local airport in Reno to visit one of our brothels, he or she is not picked up in some conspicuous utility van, but we have a specially-imported British taxi we brought over from London, with a built-in ramp and massive back seating area to make our guests feel like the true VIPs they are," said Hof, "Not to mention the two beautiful girls that will accompany them on their ride!" A number of European countries have already made strides to include legal, appropriate and supportive sexual services through prostitutes to the disabled, recognizing sex as a human need just as much as food, water and shelter. The UK-based TLC Trust was the first to connect people in England with disabilities to sex workers. According to its founder, sex therapist and campaigner for disabled people's sexual and relationship rights Dr. Tuppy Owens, the importance of such an option for the disabled can't be understated. "Sex workers give disabled people a change to live out their dreams," Dr. Owens stated. Alice Little, a licensed courtesan at Dennis Hofs Sagebrush Ranch in Carson City, NV is one of the prostitutes at the forefront of providing safe, secure and individually-tailored sensual encounters for the disabled. The sexuality of people with disabilities is invisible because they are often perceived as beings who do not engage in sex and do not have sexual desires. As a legal sexual provider working at a Nevada brothel, Im here to tell you first-hand that this is far from the truth, Little said, adding that people with disabilities have a wide range of sexual interests, which can prove challenging for a demographic so often labeled as non-sexual. In my experience, as someone who services a variety of people with disabilities on a regular basis, Ive discovered that these clients have as diverse sexual interests as anyone else, from BDSM to specialty fetishes like sexual role play and cross-dressing, Little said. Clients with disabilities seek out sex workers for the same reason anyone else does: because they want to have their unique sexual desires met. Little points out that that while she treats all of her clients equally, there are often considerations that must be taken into account when sexually servicing people with disabilities, one being that caretakers are often involved in the brothel-going process. Depending on the level of need, the caretaker can be in the room during the session to assist with mobility issues, health issues, or communication barriers. Little explained. Another challenge can be helping someone to overcome the social stigma against their sexuality. I encourage my clients to open up about prior experiences if they feel comfortable doing so, which allows me to better understand where they are coming from. Little said that working with people with disabilities continues to be an overwhelmingly positive experience for the sex worker. When I think of my time with disabled clients, I think of the attractive gentleman who returned home from Iraq, and wanted to redefine himself as a sexual being despite missing limbs. I smile and remember dear friends, and people that Ive made such deep personal relationships with, and have connected with. Members of the disabled community wishing to visit one of the disabled-friendly Dennis Hof brothels should first visit their respective websites to make arrangements. They are BunnyRanch.com, LoveRanch.net, SagebrushRanch.com, KitKatRanch.com and AlienCathouse.com. Dennis Hof and the Bunny Ranch girls are available for interviews by contacting [email protected] or calling 775-720-9090. On July 13, as the Northeast Democratic Alliance met in Guwahati, the Supreme Court redefined the constitutional role and responsibilities of a governor by declaring unconstitutional the governors discretion in advancing the Assembly session. The political crisis in Arunachal has its roots in the dissident activities within the Congress, that started almost immediately after the 2014 general election. These activities intensified after 21 Congress MLAs led by Kalikho Pul came out openly against the autocratic rule of then chief minister Nabam Tuki. The rebel Congress legislators had the support of 11 BJP MLAs and two Independents. On November 19, the state BJP served notice for the removal of Nabam Rebia, a cousin of Mr Tuki, as Arunachal Assembly Speaker. On December 9, a message was sent by the governor to the Assembly advancing the dates of the meeting of its sixth session by nearly a month. In the meantime, the Speaker disqualified 14 of the rebel Congress MLAs a day before the governor-summoned session. On December 16, the day of the session, the Assembly building was locked, that prompted deputy speaker T.N. Thongdok, a member of Mr Puls team, to hold the session in a community hall, where Mr Rebia was impeached. A day later, a no-confidence motion was moved against the Congress government led by Mr Tuki. The governors order was challenged by the Speaker, Mr Rebia and Bamang Felix, Congress chief whip, in the Gauhati high court. The governors action was stayed in an interim order, later vacated by the same court. Subsequently, a special leave petition was filed before the Supreme Court, that was heard by a Constitution Bench. The bench reserved its verdict on the question of powers to summon or advance an Assembly sitting on February 22. It allowed the formation of new government headed by Mr Pul, and the Peoples Party of Arunachal government managed the states affairs till the Supreme Court ordered status quo ante as it prevailed on December 15, 2015. The Supreme Court, with its set the clock back verdict, has directly or indirectly indicted governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa and Speaker Nabam Rebia to some extent. The Speaker didnt follow the principle of natural justice (by not serving notice) while disqualifying the 14 MLAs. Also, he took the action when the resolution for his removal was pending. However, on the ground, the delayed Supreme Court verdict didnt change anything, except trigger some new political developments. The restored chief minister had to resign due to a lack of numbers. It paved the way for the election of Pema Khandu, who was with Mr Pul, as the new Congress Legislature Party leader. Mr Tukis resignation as chief minister seems to have strengthened the BJPs case that the political high drama was created by the Congress itself. The party has been maintaining Mr Tuki was running a minority government. Political analysts maintain post-verdict political developments have punctured (or could puncture) the BJPs Congress-mukt Bharat campaign. The BJP, through NEDA, was negotiating its path for a BJP-only Northeast. Mr Tuki, the deposed (later restored) CM, claimed the PPA MLAs who attended the NEDA meeting in Guwahati were kept in a five-star hotel by BJP president Amit Shah and minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju. The office of governor has become an instrument to score political points. The Arunachal governor would not have acted unilaterally. It also brings into question the role of the Speaker, who has absolute authority on the question of disqualification of members in the Assembly. By the time the Speakers ruling faces judicial scrutiny, political equations would be created in favour of the ruling party or the Speakers chief minister. In the midst of the power struggle in the Congress, the Speaker accepted the resignations of MLAs Wanglam Sawin and Gabriel D. Wangsu. They insisted that their resignation was obtained under duress along with the resignation of 15 other MLAs, but the Speaker chose to accept only their resignation. The July 13 judicial pronouncement has ensured double victories for the Congress: part-judicial and part-political. The Supreme Court verdict may have been anticipated in certain quarters, but the overnight change of Congress-turned-PPA legislators back to Congress was a surprise element in this political drama. BJP leaders and strategists may have been left aghast and angry. Is it because of the weak state of the BJP leadership that this political drama unfolded, putting an obstacle in its grand strategy? The reasons may be many, but faith and confidence in politics and in the states politicians have been eroded tremendously. Mr Khandus induction as chief minister was another surprise element. Why Mr Khandu? There is no definite answer, but people say his wealth gives him a lot of clout, and that matters in Arunachal politics. The new CM is putting on a brave face with his Team Arunachal approach. He would know well he has many obstacles to cross. His immediate concern will be to reconcile at least three groups in the Congress: the Tuki camp, the Pul group and his own supporters. One will have to see how all these groups will be represented in his council of ministers. Mr Pul, in his brief stint as CM, has created a space for himself in the hearts of people with his personal touch. Chief minister Khandu must adopt similar measures in order to gain the peoples confidence. The aggrieved BJP leadership may even try to scuttle much-needed Central funds for development schemes. Arunachal Pradesh being a special category state depends on Central grants-in-aid for up to 90 per cent of its funds. Was it the fear of disqualification that brought Mr Khandu and his friends back to the Congress? The answer may be both affirmative and negative. Above all, it was their insecurity (not being assured BJP tickets in 2019) that prompted them to return to their parent party. For the BJP, the Arunachal chapter is not going to be closed all that easily, without hitting back hard. Political commentators will be surprised if there is no structural change in the leadership pattern of the state BJP. It is widely expected that Mr Pul may replicate what Himanta Biswa Sarma did for the BJP in Assam. Peoples attention will now be focused on the next move of the BJP. In the wake of the recent upheaval in Kashmir, resulting in nearly 50 deaths so far, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called for a plebiscite in the troubled province. Indias external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj reacted aggressively to this, but it has been Pakistans refrain for decades. Similar views are also explicitly or implicitly voiced by a section of Indian commentators and public figures who feel it is the right thing to do by the hapless denizens of this heaven on earth. The sub-text is that if the people of Kashmir had the right of self-determination, during Partition or later, the Muslim majority there might have spurned union with India. But history is far more complex than that. After Partition, the Hindu ruler of Kashmir dithered on the question of accession with one or the other of British Indias two successor states. His hand was forced when Pakistan jumped into the fray and sent tribal raiders into Kashmir. Hari Singh, the ruler, opted to go with India. His decision was backed by Sheikh Abdullah, leader of the National Conference, Kashmirs dominant political force. For over 50 years, Sheikh Abdullah strode the political arena of Kashmir like a colossus. He was the father of former CM Farooq Abdullah and grandfather of Omar Abdullah, who was chief minister prior to current incumbent Mehbooba Mufti. Prior to 1947, Sheikh Abdullah led a popular movement against the maharajas rule. But he had no love lost for either Jinnah or his two-nation theory. He was a votary of secularism and had even changed the name of his party from Muslim Conference to the National Conference in 1939 to better reflect the aspirations of all sections of Kashmiris. He was also a socialist in his views. His Naya Kashmir manifesto, adopted during Hari Singhs rule, sought to turn Kashmir into a welfare state and was, in many respects, far ahead of its time. Sheikh Abdullahs politics resonated with the leadership of the Indian National Congress and the two parties became fraternal outfits. Sheikh Abdullahs proximity to Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi and an alignment of political views explain why the National Conference would have no truck with Jinnah. The Sheikh wrote to Nehru in July 1951: I have stated again and again that we have acceded to India because of the two luminous stars of our hope there Gandhiji and yourself. That is why, despite several affinities between us and Pakistan, we did not join it, because we thought our programmes were not in conformity with their thoughts. Clearly, at the time of Partition, the majority of the populace in the Valley were happy to follow their leader in embracing union with India. But matters were complicated by the intervention of Pakistan, first indirectly and then directly with its own troops. The outbreak of war led to the matter going to the United Nations. Insistence by various quarters on self-determination by Kashmiris led to the Indian acquiescence in the call for a plebiscite. India agreed to a special place for the state in the Indian Union by including Article 370 in the freshly-minted Constitution. It was agreed J&K would have autonomy with only defence, communications, external affairs and currency with the Centre. There were more complications in store for Kashmir. In 1953, Nehru removed his friend Sheikh Abdullah as Prime Minister of Kashmir and he was arrested on charges of conspiring against the Indian Union. Subsequent government heads in the province cooperated with the Centre in progressively diluting Kashmiri autonomy, though Article 370 was left untouched. But such has been the dilution of Kashmirs special status over decades that champions of homogeneity now think nothing of seeking the scrapping of Article 370. This despite the fact that disaffection with the Indian Union has grown over decades, specially since 1990. Pakistan, on its part, fished in troubled waters and tried to create trouble for India acting directly (1965, 1999) or through proxies. Mr Nawaz Sharifs plebiscite demand is perfectly in character for Pakistani spokesmen, who conveniently forget two vital points: the demographics of both J&K and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have undergone significant changes since 1947, when the plebiscite was agreed upon. More important, a plebiscite in Kashmir was contingent on Pakistan vacating its aggression on Occupied Kashmir (a third of the state is in Pakistani hands). That has not happened. In any case, India cannot let go of the Valley. Kashmir is central to the idea of India. A Muslim-majority state in a secular polity is proof positive that India is home to people of all faiths. It underlines Indias thesis that nationalism is unrelated to religion. Sheikh Abdullah told the J&K Constituent Assembly on October 31, 1951: The presence of Kashmir in the Union of India has been the major factor in stabilising relations between Hindus and Muslims of India. And so it shall remain. Without the Valley, there will be a major threat to Indias stability and unity. But New Delhi cant shut its eyes to disaffection in Kashmir. Its causes must be addressed just as India has done in areas where disaffection has given rise to centrifugal forces and secession loomed. The most notable examples are Tamil Nadu, during the 1960s anti-Hindi stir, and the longstanding movement by Mizos in the Northeast. Both were tackled imaginatively by the Centre. The upshot: the threat to the Union disappeared from those quarters. There are several international examples of successful resolution to threats to national unity far graver than what India faced in Kashmir. In the 19th century, Americans fought a four-year civil war, with the South seeking to secede on the question of slavery. It was Lincolns statesmanship that preserved the Union. There is no reason why it should be different in India. But New Delhi must stoop to conquer. Lasting peace can come to the Valley if it returns to the pre-1953 position of near total autonomy. In 1981, Sheikh Abdullah had, in a magazine interview, said to this writer: The National Conference had come into power with a mandate which included that post-1953 laws would be reviewed... those congenial to the state would be retained, and those which are not would be scrapped after consultation with the Centre. This mandate must now be respected. Lasting peace can come to J&K only if Pakistan is brought on board. This could be achieved by drawing on the Musharraf formula, that envisaged conversion of the Line of Control into an international border, free movement of peoples between the two sides, demilitarisation in both Kashmirs, and joint supervision of this exercise. A solution with these two elements could be sold to the people of the Valley, specially after India establishes its bona fides by unilaterally lifting the hated Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and sending the Army back to the barracks from civilian areas. The Supreme Courts recent tough talk should make it easier for the Centre to dispense with AFPSA. In 1974, the Centre did the right thing by Kashmir when it made Sheikh Abdullahs restoration possible through the historic Indira-Sheikh Accord. It is time again to do the right thing by the Valley, but without threatening the idea of India. The instrument will measure visible and near-infrared light reflected and emitted from the asteroid and split the light into its component wavelengths, much like a prism that splits sunlight into a rainbow. NASA is set to launch a new spacecraft in September that will travel to a near-Earth asteroid known as Bennu and bring back a sample of surface material which may contain building blocks of life. To identify the regions in which the building blocks of life may be found, the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) team equipped the spacecraft with an instrument that will measure the spectral signatures of Bennu's mineralogical and molecular components. Known as OVIRS (short for the OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer), the instrument will measure visible and near-infrared light reflected and emitted from the asteroid and split the light into its component wavelengths, much like a prism that splits sunlight into a rainbow. OVIRS is key to our search for organics on Bennu. We will rely on it to find the areas of Bennu rich in organic molecules to identify possible sample sites of high science value, as well as the asteroid's general composition, said Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for the OSIRIS-Rex mission at the University of Arizona in the US. OVIRS will work in tandem with another OSIRIS-Rex instrument - the Thermal Emission Spectrometer, or OTES. While OVIRS maps the asteroid in the visible and near infrared, OTES picks up in the thermal infrared. This allows the team to map the entire asteroid over a range of wavelengths that are most interesting to scientists searching for organics and water, and help them to select the best site for retrieving a sample. In the visible and infrared spectrum, minerals and other materials have unique signatures like fingerprints. These fingerprints allow scientists to identify various organic materials, as well as carbonates, silicates and absorbed water, on the surface of the asteroid. The data returned by OVIRS and OTES will actually allow scientists to make a map of the relative abundance of various materials across Bennu's surface. As the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft approaches Bennu, OVIRS will view one entire hemisphere at a time to measure how the spectrum changes as the asteroid rotates, allowing scientists to compare ground-based observations to those from the spacecraft. Once at the asteroid, OVIRS will gather spectral data and create detailed maps of the surface and help in the selection of a sample site. Using information gathered by OVIRS and OTES from the visible to the thermal infrared, the science team will also study the Yarkovsky Effect, or how Bennu's orbit is affected by surface heating and cooling throughout its day. The asteroid is warmed by sunlight and re-emits thermal radiation in different directions as it rotates. This asymmetric thermal emission gives Bennu a small but steady push, thus changing its orbit over time. Understanding this effect will help scientists study Bennu's orbital path and improve our predictions of its influence on the orbits of other asteroids. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. The project was beset by delays and the plane's total travelled distance exceeded 42,000 kilometres. ABU DHABI: Solar Impulse 2 took off on March 9, 2015 from Abu Dhabi for the first round-the-world flight using only solar energy, a huge bet on current technology. The bid was expected to last five months, cover 35,000-kilometres (22,000 miles) and comprise 25 days of actual flying before the craft returned to the United Arab Emirates. The project was beset by delays and the plane's total travelled distance exceeded 42,000 kilometres. But the aircraft -- no heavier than a car but with the wingspan of a Boeing 747 -- eventually touched down in the Gulf region to complete its odyssey on July 26, 2016. Here is a timeline of the journey: Lift-off Solar Impulse 2 (Si2), a four-engine battery-powered aircraft that relies on some 17,000 solar cells embedded in its wings, takes off on March 9, 2015, and lands 13 hours later in Muscat, Oman, with Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg in the cockpit. The other Swiss pilot and project director, Bertrand Piccard, takes over the next day and flies 1,465 kilometres in 15 hours and 20 minutes to Ahmedabad, India, where administrative delays ground the plane for a few days. The next two stages see Solar Impulse fly to Varanasi (Benares), India, and Mandalay, in Myanmar. Cold cockpit, long layover On March 31, Piccard lands in Chongqing, southwestern China, after flying for 20 hours and a half. He has withstood temperatures in the unpressurised cockpit that fall to minus 20 Celsius (minus four Fahrenheit) as he reaches an altitude of more than 8,500 metres (28,000 feet). Bad weather keeps Si2 on the ground for more than a month, and Borschberg returns briefly to Switzerland for eye treatment. On April 21, the plane completes the sixth leg of its journey, reaching Nanjing in eastern China. It takes off on June 1 for Hawaii, but is re-routed to Nagoya, Japan, owing to bad weather conditions. Another delay of more than a month follows while repairs are made and a daunting cloud bank moves away. Borschberg makes history On June 28, Borschberg heads east over the Pacific Ocean and makes a historic crossing that lasts five days and nights before he lands on July 3 in Hawaii. He has flown 8,924 kilometres (5,578 miles) in 117 hours and 52 minutes at an average speed of 61.19 km/hour, the longest uninterrupted journey in aviation history. Si2's batteries have overheated however and it sits on the island of Oahu for almost 10 months while repairs are made. Pacific crossing On April 21, 2016, Piccard gets his chance to fly across the Pacific and lands almost 63 hours later at Moffett Airfield, south of San Francisco, after dusting the Golden Gate Bridge. Covering 4,086 kilometres, it is one of the most dangerous legs because there were few places to touch down if anything had gone wrong. The plane resumes its journey across the United States on May 2, stopping in Phoenix (Arizona), Tulsa (Oklahoma), Dayton (Ohio), Lehigh Valley (Pennsylvania) and JFK International Airport in New York after circling the Statue of Liberty in the middle of the night. Another record On June 20, Piccard leaves the US and makes the first Atlantic crossing by a solar-powered plane, reaching Seville, Spain, on the 23rd. The 15th stage covers 6,765 kilometres and lasts 71 hours and eight minutes. Borschberg is back at the controls when Si2 leaves Seville on July 11 for the penultimate leg across the Mediterranean to Cairo that covers 3,745 kilometres in a little under 51 hours. Piccard flies Si2 on the final leg from Cairo to Abu Dhabi, arriving July 26 in little more than 48 hours, after crossing the Red Sea and the vast Saudi desert. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. It first took off from Abu Dhabi on March 9, 2015. A solar-powered aircraft successfully completed the first fuel-free flight around the world on Tuesday, returning to Abu Dhabi after an epic 16-month voyage and demonstrating the potential of renewable energy. The plane, Solar Impulse 2, touched down in the United Arab Emirates capital at 0005 GMT (0405 local time) on Tuesday. It first took off from Abu Dhabi on March 9, 2015, beginning a landmark journey of about 40,000 km (24,500 miles) around the globe and nearly 500 hours of flying. Unfavorable weather at times hindered smooth flying, causing the plane to be grounded for months in some countries. Swiss explorers Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, Solar Impulse founders and pilots, took turns piloting the aircraft with a wingspan larger than a Boeing 747 and weighing only as much as a family car. The Swiss team is campaigning to bolster support for clean energy. The propeller-driven aircraft's four engines are powered exclusively by energy collected from more than 17,000 solar cells built the plane's wings. Excess energy is stored in four batteries during daylight hours to keep the plane flying after dark. Over its entire mission, Solar Impulse 2 cruised at altitudes of up to 9,000 meters and at an average speed of between 45 and 90 km (12.5 and 25 miles) per hour. The plane had 16 stopovers along the way including in Oman, India, Myanmar, China, Japan, the United States, Spain and Egypt. Abu Dhabis green energy firm Masdar is the official host partner of Solar Impulse 2. Oil-rich Abu Dhabi is investing billions in industry, tourism and renewables to diversify its economy away from oil. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. The event, under the theme of 'Z-Generation: Transcend Boundaries' was hosted by famous talk show comedian Joe Wong. The global ecosystem and Internet conglomerate, LeEco has launched a new video membership brand for young groups Letv Membership for Z-Generation - in a press event held at San Diego International Comic-Con (SDCC) in San Diego on July 22. The event, under the theme of 'Z-Generation: Transcend Boundaries' was hosted by famous talk show comedian Joe Wong and attended by Peiyao Liu, Vice President of Le Vision Pictures, iconic Chinese coser Huang Shan, Lionsgate COO Brian Goldsmith, and Dark Horse President Mike Richardson. During the press event, the spotlight was focused on a new cosmopolitan consumer group, i.e. young consumers born after 1995, especially after 2000, nicknamed the 'Z-Generation'. Following the upgrade of LeEco's membership system to version 3.0 ('content + experience + service') last year, the new Letv Membership for Z-Generation membership scheme launched this time accurately targets the Z-Generation in a new bold and visionary move of transcending boundaries and creating a new era, becoming the first and only mobile ecosystem-based subscription video on demand (SVoD) brand to specifically serve the Z-Generation in the industry. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. In this election, there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility, only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States and that is our friend Hillary Clinton, says Michelle Obama. (Photo: AP) Philadelphia: First Lady Michelle Obama offered an emotional endorsement of Hillary Clinton on Monday, hailing the power that having a first female president would bring America and pouring scorn on Donald Trump. After a day dominated by Democratic infighting, it fell to Obama to unify delegates on the opening night of the party's four-day convention in Philadelphia. The speech was at times raw and personal, and it electrified the arena. "In this election, there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility, only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States and that is our friend Hillary Clinton," she said, to multiple standing ovations. Read: Bernie Sanders urges supporters to elect Clinton as US president, gets booed "Because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all of our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be President of the United States," said the wife of America's first black president, her voice cracking with emotion. The outgoing first lady remembered her two "bubbly little girls" Sasha and Malia, as they entered the White House and who leave it as "poised young women." But in a thinly veiled jab at Trump she also painted a picture of a family that had to struggle with the shrill tone of national politics. "We urge them to ignore those who question their father's citizenship or faith," she said, a clear reference to Trump's early demands to see President Barack Obama's birth certificate. "We insist that the hateful language they hear from public figures on TV does not represent the true spirit of this country," the first lady said in a message that Democrats will hope resonates with fathers and mothers voting in November. "Our motto is, 'when they go low, we go high.'" Party infighting The Democratic convention opened to chaotic scenes earlier in the day, as rival supporters of Clinton and Bernie Sanders traded boos, jeers and taunts in a very public show of party disunity. As shock polls showed Republican Donald Trump leading the race for the White House, Democrats gathering to make Clinton the first woman presidential nominee from a major party were in disarray. Diehard supporters of Sanders booed when a pastor leading the invocation prayer mentioned Clinton's name, setting the stage for each successive mention to spark a raucous chorus of outbursts. Twice on Monday, Sanders appealed to supporters to help build party unity, ahead of his pivotal primetime address to delegates to close the night. "We have got to defeat Donald Trump. We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and (running mate) Tim Kaine," Sanders told a gathering of his supporters. "Trump is a bully and a demagogue," he said. His call to support Clinton was nevertheless met with loud jeers. He later sent a text message to supporters asking them not to protest on the floor of the convention as a "personal courtesy" to him. But that appeared to have minimal impact. Much hinges on his third effort later Monday, when he addresses the convention directly in a primetime speech. Email scandal The party is reeling from leaked Democratic National Committee emails which show nominally neutral party staff trying to undermine Sanders' insurgent campaign and questioning his Jewish faith. WikiLeaks at the weekend released nearly 20,000 emails from between January 2015 and May 2016, gleaned by hackers who apparently raided the accounts of seven DNC leaders. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was investigating the "cyber intrusion," which the Clinton campaign blamed on Russian hackers bent on helping Trump. Sanders, a leftist who promised a "political revolution," lost to Clinton in the primary handily. But the scandal has angered his already embittered supporters, who believe the deck was stacked against them. It has led to the ouster of party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and an apology from party leaders. "We want to offer a deep and sincere apology to Senator Sanders, his supporters, and the entire Democratic Party for the inexcusable remarks made over email," the Democratic National Committee said in a statement. Trump vs a ham sandwich As the boos and chants of "Bernie! Bernie!" continued inside the convention hall throughout the evening, Sanders protesters outside tried to breach security barriers, leading to a handful of people being detained. "Clinton can't beat Trump. Period," said Michigan delegate Melissa Arab, a Sanders supporter. "A ham sandwich could beat Trump and she's not going to beat him. If she's nominated, people are going to end up with somebody bad for president." This was meant to be a celebration for Clinton, who was the primary runner-up in 2008 to Barack Obama. But disunity overshadowed the convention's anti-Trump message and its courting of Latino voters. Clinton's running mate Kaine, a senator from Virginia, said in an interview broadcast Monday that their administration would press for immigration reform in their first 100 days in office. Prime time Clinton will hope that another prime-time address will help foster unity -- the endorsement of firebrand Senator Elizabeth Warren. Warren told the convention that Trump wants an "America of fear and hate," according to prepared remarks. "When we turn on each other, we can't unite to fight back against a rigged system," she was expected to say. Some Democratic delegates agreed it was time to come together. New polls showed Trump surging since his confirmation last week as the Republican presidential nominee, with a CNN poll putting him three percentage points ahead of Clinton, a six-point post-convention bump. "The stakes are too high. In the end it's going to be either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump and it's not even a close call," said Paul Czisny, a 57-year-old delegate from Wisconsin who had supported Sanders. New York: Further needling India, Pakistan has demanded an independent inquiry into the "extrajudicial" killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani and claimed that the denial of "plebiscite" to Kashmiri people was behind the flare-up in the Valley. Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Maleeha Lodhi met representatives of a Kashmiri delegation in New York last week and said the country stands firm "in its principled policy of providing moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmir cause", according to a statement issued by Pakistan's Mission to the UN. Lodhi called for an "independent inquiry into the extrajudicial killing of Wani and protestors". She said Pakistan was actively pursuing the Kashmir issue at various forums at the United Nations. Read: Burhan Wani was ready to die after talking to me: Hafeez Saeed Denial of the "right of self determination" to the people of Kashmir through an "independent plebiscite", promised to them by various Security Council resolutions, was at the heart of the current flare-up, which threatened regional peace and security, Lodhi told the delegation as she called for the UN to implant its resolutions on Kashmir. The statement claimed that members of the Kashmiri delegation "appreciated Pakistan's consistent support and its efforts of taking up the issue" at different international forums. Lodhi has been raising the Kashmir issue and the killing of Wani in her various statements at the UN and in meetings with top officials at the world body. Read: Burhan Wani was J&K leader, says Pakistan Lodhi briefed President of the Security Council for July Japanese Ambassador Koro Bessho, Ban's Chief of staff and Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman on the situation in Kashmir. Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz also wrote to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to "express Pakistan's serious concern on the alarming situation" and alleged human rights violation in Kashmir. India and Pakistan are witnessing growing bitterness after Pakistan and its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made provocative statements on the Kashmir situation in the wake of Wani's killing on July 8. Read: You covet other's land, use terror as state policy: India snubs Pak at UN Not only did Sharif praise Wani but he also remarked that "Kashmir will one day become Pakistan", a comment which evoked a sharp reaction from External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who said his dream of the state becoming a part of his country "will not be realised even at the end of eternity". The leak on Friday of more than 19,000 Democratic National Committee emails by the WikiLeaks website put the spotlight back on Sanders' failed bid to win the Democratic nomination, and in particular on his complaints during the campaign that the party establishment was working to undermine him. (Photo: AP) Philadelphia: Bernie Sanders on Monday urged his supporters to back Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in her White House bid, drawing jeers and shouts of "We want Bernie" in a show of discord as the party kicked off its national convention. The boos underscored the deeply felt anger his convention delegates feel at both Clinton's win and embarrassing emails leaked on Friday suggesting the party leadership had worked to sabotage Sanders' campaign for the nomination. Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned as party chairwoman on Sunday, a day before the start of the Philadelphia convention to formally nominate Clinton for the Nov. 8 election, and on Monday she bowed to pressure and agreed not to open the convention. Speaking to his supporters, Sanders savaged Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, calling him a danger to the future of the country who "must be defeated," but some in the room booed when he said "we have got to elect Hillary Clinton" and her vice presidential running mate, US Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia. Sanders, a US senator from Vermont, tried to calm them down. "Brothers and sisters, this is the real world that we live in," he said, adding, "Trump is a bully and a demagogue." Members of the crowd started screaming back: "So is Hillary." "She stole the election!" someone else shouted. The leak on Friday of more than 19,000 Democratic National Committee emails by the WikiLeaks website put the spotlight back on Sanders' failed bid to win the Democratic nomination, and in particular on his complaints during the campaign that the party establishment was working to undermine him. A democratic socialist, Sanders ran an unexpectedly tough race against former Secretary of State Clinton, galvanizing young and liberal voters with his calls to rein in Wall Street and eradicate income inequality. On Monday, Sanders brought the loudest cheers when he noted that Wasserman Schultz, a US senator from Florida, had resigned as the Democratic National Committee chairman over the email controversy. "Her resignation opens up the possibility of new leadership at the top of the Democratic Party," Sanders said, adding that the leadership should be made up of "people who want real change." Wasserman Schultz's resignation is effective at the end of the convention, but on Monday, she told Florida's Sun Sentinel newspaper that she would not speak as planned at the opening of the convention on Monday afternoon. "I have decided that in the interest of making sure that we can start the Democratic convention on a high note that I am not going to gavel in the convention," Wasserman Schultz said. The meeting "needs to be all about making sure that everyone knows that Hillary Clinton would make the best president," she said. The controversy over the emails has been an embarrassing prelude to the convention, which Democratic officials had hoped would convey no-drama competence in contrast to the volatile campaign of Trump. The New York businessman was formally nominated for president at a chaotic Republican convention in Cleveland last week. Shouts of shame On Monday morning Wasserman Schultz struggled to be heard above boos as she spoke to the Democratic delegation from her home state. Some protesters held up signs that read "Bernie" and "E-MAILS" and shouted "Shame," as she spoke. The cache of leaked emails disclosed that DNC officials explored ways to undercut Sanders' insurgent presidential campaign, including raising questions about whether Sanders, who is Jewish, was an atheist. Sanders supporters were already dismayed last week when Clinton passed over liberal favourites like US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to select the more moderate Kaine as her running mate. "They throw 'party unity' around as if we're supposed to jump for joy when they mention her name," said Manuel Zapata, a Sanders delegate from California, referring to Clinton. "What we've been saying for months is obviously true: they had the finger on the scale of the campaign," he said. The Clinton camp questioned whether Russians may have had a hand in the hack attack on the party's emails in an effort to help Trump, who has exchanged words of praise with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The FBI said on Monday it would investigate the nature and scope of the hack. Trump gloated at the Democrats' opening day disorder. "Wow, the Republican Convention went so smoothly compared to the Dems total mess," he wrote on Twitter. Post-convention Trump bump The Republican gathering was overshadowed by accusations of plagiarism in a convention speech by Trump's wife, Melania, and by former presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz's angry refusal to endorse Trump. In a post-convention "bump," Trump pulled ahead in at least one opinion poll, after lagging Clinton in most national polls for months. A CNN/ORC opinion poll on Monday gave Trump a three-point lead over Clinton, 48 percent to her 45 percent in a two-way presidential matchup. The survey was conducted July 22-24 and had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. Clinton, 68, a former first lady and US senator, will be the first woman nominated for president by a major US political party. She waged a months-long battle to defeat the unexpectedly tough challenge from Sanders, 74. Sanders was among those due to speak on the first evening of the convention. Others included President Barack Obama's wife, Michelle Obama. LOS ANGELES, CA Brazzers has a new Anna Bell Peaks scene, Tits Out Like a Light, which co-stars Sean Lawless. In this one, Lawless wife isnt in the mood, so he takes solace in knowing that seductress Peaks will be up for anything once the lights go out. He just needs to be careful not to wake up his wife. Over on NewSensations.com, Peaks is in a new scene called Anna Bell's Pussy Gets Fisted and Double Pumped. In this 37-minute scene, she can be seen taking on three guys, doing a double vag, and then getting fisted. Dogfart has a new gloryhole scene, while Naughty America has a new My Friends Hot Girl scene with Ryan Driller. While she was in New York City last week, Peaks shot with Inked Magazine for two days. Fans voting daily for her Inked Awards nominations can do so and call it a birthday present this week. Her birthday is July 26. She is defending her Perfect Pussy crown while also vying for Social Media Queen, Best Website, Inked Starlet of the Year, and Inked Group Scene of the Year for "I Banged My Tattooed Step Sister in the Ass" (BurningAngel) with Joanna Angel and Toni Ribas. Vote for her here. Her Best Website nomination comes just four months after she debuted AnnaBellPeaks.xxx. She updates it at least twice weekly with HD content featuring herself and other babes in videos, along with solo amateur videos every week, as well. Inked footage of Anna Bell Peaks can be found here. Check out Peaks on Brazzers here. Check her out on the New Sensations site here. At Naughty America, her scenes can be found here. Obama decided in 2013 that all combat positions should be open to women by 2016, including the infantry and special operations forces. (Photo: Representational Image/AP) Washington: Two women will soon be the first female soldiers to undergo training to become members of the Green Berets, the US Army's special forces, the military said on Monday. "They are the first two women who have been selected for special forces assessment" following the elimination of the ban on women in combat roles, said Major Melody Faulkenberry, a spokeswoman for the United States Army John F Kennedy Special Warfare Centre and School. She did not give additional details about the candidates. President Barack Obama's administration decided in 2013 that all combat positions should be open to women by 2016, including the infantry and special operations forces. The Marines had requested some exemptions, but these were overruled by Defence Secretary Ashton Carter. Two female Marines were assigned to frontline infantry roles in May, though it will take some time before they are placed in their new roles. Rules stipulate that a female "leadership cadre" needs to be established in their units at least three months beforehand. Although women warriors have frequently found themselves in combat situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, they had previously been barred from joining frontline combat roles. Currently, women account for 15.6 percent of the 1.34 million active duty personnel in the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force. Philadelphia: When her husband first ran for president in 2008, Michelle Obama cautiously entered the political arena, fully supportive of his candidacy yet wary of the countrys partisan battles. Two terms later, the first lady known for her wit, style and tact has emerged as a political force, and on Tuesday she electrified the Democratic National Convention with an impassioned endorsement for Hillary Clinton that brought the crowd to its feet. With a determined look and a big smile, the current first lady lauded the former first lady, making the link between the woman who would be Americas first female president and her hopes for her two teenage daughters, Sasha and Malia. The hateful language they hear from public figures on TV does not represent the true spirit of this country, Mrs Obama said, in a thinly veiled swipe at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who will battle Clinton at the polls on November 8. We know that our words and actions matter not just to our girls, but to children across this country, said the 52-year-old Obama, a Harvard-educated lawyer. This election, and every election, is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives, she said. There is only one person who I trust with that responsibility, only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is our friend, Hillary Clinton, she said, before outlining the qualities of her husbands 2008 primary rival. Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life. From Bernie Sanders, Clintons vanquished primary rival, there was a much more pragmatic embrace. Based on her ideas and her leadership, Clinton was a better choice than Trump and must become the next president of the United States, he said. The opening day of the four-day convention in Philadelphia was dominated by boos and jeers from disgruntled Sanders supporters almost every time Clintons name was mentioned. Sanders had called on his supporters to get behind the Democratic nominee twice before his primetime endorsement speech. That included a text message sent to supporters asking them not to protest on the floor of the convention as a personal courtesy to him. But Sanders self-styled political revolution appeared to have transformed into a revolt. Sanders himself was booed by some sections of the audience when he told the crowd: Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her tonight. As the boos and chants of Bernie! Bernie! continued inside the convention hall throughout the evening, Sanders protesters outside tried to breach security barriers. Bangkok: For two years and more, it has been a lost ship, a metal container carrying 239 souls that simply disappeared one late Asian night never to be seen again. And now, the search for the remains of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 likely will become a thing of memory, too. With Friday's announcement that the meticulous ocean search for the missing jetliner will be suspended - in effect, called off - one of this decade's most tantalizing unanswered questions is headed toward becoming, in effect, a cold case. "I am not surprised it's coming to an end without any answers," Tony Wong, a businessman in Kuala Lumpur, said Monday. "People are slowly forgetting the incident," he said. "No one will ever know the truth." The truth may be out there. The problem is, you have to know where to look. And that's been precisely the problem all along. The Boeing 777-200ER vanished on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. Investigators believed it turned back west and then south before dropping into the Indian Ocean west of Australia, where the search has been concentrated. The Malaysian government has concluded that it was deliberately steered off course. Conspiracy theories, unsurprisingly, still abound in the vacuum of facts: Was it blown up? Steered into the sea? Diverted to a remote airstrip somewhere? Abducted by aliens? For a long stretch, it seemed the world's biggest loose end - a global obsession for weeks, a niggling unsolved riddle for years. And behind the epic tale were the lost souls and the families they left behind, which expected maximum effort and, to hear many relatives tell it over the long months, a successful resolution. They were not happy at the news that the search was being suspended. To varying degrees, they have accused investigators and searchers and the governments overseeing them of disingenuousness, incompetence and nefarious political agendas. In China, relatives have roundly denounced the decision. They still don't seem ready to think about the finality of it all. "They are actually just playing with words," Hu Xiulan, the mother of a Flight 370 passenger, said Monday. "'Suspension' means termination to us. We strongly demand a re-investigation into how the plane went missing, and there is no excuse for the suspension of the search." The decision to suspend the search, which has endured through damaged equipment and punishing weather, was made jointly by the three countries conducting the operation: Malaysia, Australia and China, which lost the most people in the aircraft's disappearance. Together, they already have spent $135 million searching a 46,300-square-mile area. The governments were delicate in their language Friday - they did not say outright that they were ending the search. But there is a general sense that it is unlikely to continue unless specific new evidence is found to suggest a particular location. And the search in its current incarnation will not end immediately; it could last into the winter months, officials have said. Finding the plane would not just bring emotional closure to families. It also would hand investigators and the airline industry crucial information and tools to understand why Flight 370 might have gone down and how similar occurrences might be prevented. A critical mass of actual wreckage beyond the few confirmed pieces that have turned up would also convey a sense of competence that we humans can go out and find our lost stuff in the depths of our oceans. Which in many ways, despite complex oceanographic models, we still can't. "We can send spacecraft to Jupiter and Saturn and Mars to see their surface, but we can't send a craft to the bottom of the ocean to look at our own surface," Western Australia University oceanographer Charitha Pattiaratchi said. The pressure on authorities, he said, suggests that a breather from the search might actually be the best approach. "It's probably good to pause and then take stock of things," Pattiaratchi said. "They can try again if there's some better data or better technology." In the meantime, the world goes on. The increased pace of the news cycle, the unremitting parade of minor violence and major cataclysm, pushes us away from this singular puzzle and into the more recent sad and lethal spectacles of Orlando and Nice, Dallas and Munich, Baghdad and Kabul. It is so much, sometimes, that we might fail to remember one fundamental point in the story that was, and is, Flight 370: The world we call home swallowed a giant airplane and the people aboard it and, 871 days later, we have absolutely no idea what became of them. There is an expectation, fueled by a modern world filled with technology and accomplishment, that if we want something enough, if we throw enough money and resources at it, there's nothing we can't do. And when that narrative of expectation is interrupted by something as strange and terrible as the unresolved disappearance of a giant metal machine, it doesn't go down easy. "It's all a big fabrication, a big cover-up," said Sakinab Shah, the eldest sister of senior pilot Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah. "Things just don't add up." Then she said something that echoed many people's comments in the first days after the disappearance, when the modern world's best machines and algorithms were brought to bear to find that plane and there were high hopes it would be found. "With modern-day technology," Shah said, "how can there be a mystery?" Uematsu was discharged on March 2 after a doctor deemed his condition had improved, the official said. (Photo: Facebook) Tokyo: The suspect in a fatal stabbing spree in Japan on Tuesday had been hospitalised early this year after expressing a willingness to kill disabled people if the government approved, a city official said. Police in the town of Tsukui near Tokyo contacted the suspect, Satoshi Uematsu, and he was involuntarily committed to hospital on Feb. 19 after he had tried to present a letter to the speaker of the lower house of Japan's parliament, said an official from nearby Sagamihara city who declined to be named. Read: At least 19 killed, about 20 injured in knife attack near Tokyo Uematsu told police he would kill many severely disabled people if the national government approved such an action, the official told Reuters by phone. He was discharged on March 2 after a doctor deemed his condition had improved, the official said. Nineteen people were stabbed and killed in their sleep and at least 25 wounded at a facility for the disabled in Sagamihara in the early hours of Tuesday. Read: Knife attack at home for disabled in Japan stuns neighbours Police said they responded to a call at about 2:30 a.m. from an employee saying something horrible was happening at the facility in the city of Sagamihara, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Tokyo. Police said there were several casualties but did not provide any numbers. The Sagamihara City fire department says that 19 people were confirmed dead in the attack. The fire department said doctors at the scene confirmed the deaths. Mass killings are relatively rare in Japan, which has extremely strict gun-control laws. In 2008, seven people were killed by a man who slammed a truck into a crowd of people in central Tokyo's Akihabara electronics district and then stabbed passers-by. Fourteen were injured in 2010 by an unemployed man who stabbed and beat up passengers on two public buses outside a Japanese train station in Ibaraki Prefecture, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo. The Abu Sayyaf, a loose network of Islamic militants that has earned millions of dollars from kidnappings in recent years, has been blamed for a recent burst of abductions. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP) Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia's police chief said on Tuesday that five tugboat crew missing since last week were abducted by the Philippine militant group Abu Sayyaf, which is notorious for repeated kidnappings in waters between the two nations. The five Malaysians were kidnapped from their vessel on July 18 off the coast of the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island, Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters. "The five tugboat crew have been kidnapped by the kidnap-for-ransom group from the southern Philippines," he said, confirming reports that had emerged over the past week. The Abu Sayyaf, a loose network of Islamic militants that has earned millions of dollars from kidnappings in recent years, has been blamed for a recent burst of abductions. In April and June the group beheaded two Canadian tourists after ransom demands were not met, and a Malaysian man was beheaded last year. In May, the Abu Sayyaf released 14 Indonesian sailors who had been kidnapped in two high-seas raids, attacks that prompted Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to launch joint patrols. Formed in the 1990s, the Abu Sayyaf is a radical offshoot of a Muslim separatist insurgency in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines. Its leaders have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, but analysts say the Abu Sayyaf mainly focuses on lucrative kidnappings. Eastern Sabah is just a short boat ride from islands of the southern Philippines where government authority is weak and banditry common. Earlier in July, three Indonesians were kidnapped in the area, and in late June seven other Indonesians were taken. In the footage, a bikini-clad woman can be seen kneeling on the ground before performing oral sex on the man. (Photo: YouTube) Bangkok, Thailand: A couple caught having sex on a street were forced to apologise by police officers in Thai island of Phi Phi. According to a report in The Sun, the couple aged 21 and 24 respectively, were produced at a press conference, where they were forced to ask forgiveness for their act. Besides asking for forgiveness, the couple was fined 43 each each. Defending themselves, the couple said that they were under the influence of alcohol when the performed the oral sex act. After regaining consciousness, they learnt that the police was looking for them for indecent behaviour, following which they contacted cops and handed themselves in. While the couple was caught having sex on the street, angry locals filmed the entire act on camera. In the footage, a bikini-clad woman can be seen kneeling on the ground before performing oral sex on the man. orth Korea's actions present a very serious threat, not just to this region but to international peace and security, John Kerry said. (Photo: AP) Vientiane: The United States warned North Korea on Tuesday that it faces "real consequences" over its internationally condemned nuclear and missile tests, which have inflamed tensions in East Asia. "Together we are determined to make absolutely certain that DPRK (North Korea) understands that there are real consequences for these actions," US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of Asian nations in Laos. Tensions have soared since Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by a series of missile launches. Analysts say these show it is making progress towards being able to strike the US mainland. The festering issue has been a major theme of the talks in Vientiane, which are being attended by Southeast Asian nations as well as key regional players including China, the US, Russia, Japan and South Korea. North Korea's new foreign minister and former nuclear negotiator Ri Yong-Ho is also attending the meeting hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The annual gathering is one of the rare moments in the diplomatic calendar when all members of the stalled six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear programme are in the same room. Kerry, who has held a flurry of closed-door meetings with his regional counterparts over the last two days, said efforts to denuclearise the Korean peninsula had dominated discussions. "(The) issue that came up in nearly every meeting I had so far this week is the provocative and deeply concerning behaviour of the DPRK. North Korea's actions present a very serious threat, not just to this region but to international peace and security," he told reporters. Later on Tuesday afternoon all six-party members, the US, China, Japan, Russia and North and South Korea will attend the ASEAN Regional Forum, a security meeting that groups most of Asia. UN sanctions against North Korea have been ratcheted up following the nuclear and missile testing. But Pyongyang has continued to carry out missile launches most recently last week in a bid to prove that sanctions are ineffective in curbing its weapons development. The continued sabre-rattling by the North prompted Washington and Seoul to agree earlier this month to deploy a sophisticated anti-missile system in South Korea, which can shoot down incoming enemy projectiles. Police officers speak to a driver as they close off a road during a hostage situation in Normandy, France. (Photo: AP) Paris: Two attackers seized hostages Tuesday in a church near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing one hostage by slitting his throat before being shot and killed by police, a French security official said. Another person inside the church was seriously injured and is hovering between life and death, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. He would not confirm French media reports that the slain hostage was a priest. The identities of the attackers and motive for the attack are unclear, according to the security official, who was not authorized to be publicly named. Read: French PM Manuell Valls expresses 'horror at barbaric attack on church' French President Francois Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve were heading to the northwestern town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray where the hostage-taking took place, Brandet said. Brandet, speaking later on BFM TV, said the RAID special intervention force was searching the church and its perimeter for possible explosives. Terrorism investigators have been summoned, he said. France is currently on high alert after an attack in Nice on Bastille Day - July 14 - that killed 84 people and a string of deadly attacks last year claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 147 victims. France is also under a state of emergency and has extra police presence in the wake of the Nice attack in which a man barreled his truck down the city's famed Promenade des Anglais, mowing down holiday crowds. ICC earlier asked it to pay damages worth USD 672 million to Devas Multimedia for unlawfully terminating the deal 5 years ago on grounds of national security. (Photo: Representational Image) Bengaluru: An international tribunal has ruled that the Indian government had acted "unfairly" and "inequitably" in annulling a contract between city-based multimedia firm Devas and ISRO's commercial arm Antrix, making it liable to pay financial compensation. A Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) tribunal based in the Hague has found that the Indian government's actions in annulling the contract and denying Devas commercial use of S-band spectrum constituted an expropriation, Devas Multimedia Private Ltd. said. In its ruling on Monday, the PCA tribunal also found that India breached its treaty commitments to accord fair and equitable treatment to Devas's foreign investors, the company said in a statement here. The PCA regularly administers cases involving states, including investment treaty claims brought under arbitration rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). ISRO officials here said they were yet to get details of the development. The ruling is the second by an international tribunal arising out of the cancellation of the Devas-Antrix contract. The unanimous decision included the arbitrator appointed to the tribunal by India, Devas said. In September 2015, in a jolt to Antrix, the International Chamber of Commerce's (ICC) arbitration body International Court of Arbitration had asked it to pay damages worth USD 672 million (Rs 4,432 crore then) to Devas Multimedia for "unlawfully" terminating the deal five years ago on grounds of national security. The Tribunal then had noted that Antrix had no legal justification to terminate the agreement and that Dr K R Radhakrishnan, who at the time of annulment, was Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman of ISRO, Antrix and the Space Commission, could have prevented the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) from approving the annulment. CCS had annulled the deal based on the recommendation of the Space Commission on the ground that it was not in the security interests of the country. The UPA government's action had come months after the Comptroller and Auditor General of India came out with a report on the 2G scam that had estimated a "presumptive loss" of Rs 1.76 lakh crore due to flawed spectrum allocation process. Under the deal signed in 2005, Antrix was to provide 70 MHz of the scarce S-Band wavelength to Devas for its digital multimedia services by leasing 90 per cent of the transponders in ISROs GSAT-6 and GSAT-6A satellites. Devas, in turn, was to pay Antrix a total of USD 300 million over 12 years. "With this PCA award, two international tribunals have now unanimously agreed that financial compensation should be paid after the annulment of Devas's rights," said Devas Chairman Lawrence Babbio, former Vice Chairman of Verizon, the largest telecommunications company in the United States. "Other courts in France and the United Kingdom have agreed that the award against Antrix ought to be enforced. We prefer a mutually agreeable resolution of this matter. "But until that occurs, Devas and its investors will continue to press their claims before international tribunals and in courts around the world," he said. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, gestures during a televised address at the presidential palace in Ankara on Sunday. (Photo: AP) Ankara: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday accused the EU of not paying its way under a deal to send Syrian refugees back across the Aegean. Ankara and Brussels signed a controversial deal in March, in which Turkey agreed to take Syrian migrants landing on Greek islands in exchange for political and financial incentives. The deal included billions of euros in aid and visa-free travel for Turks in Europe, but ties have been strained by Erdogans massive crackdown after a failed coup this month. The president said the EU had promised $3 billion, but so far only paid a nominal $1 million to $2 million. The (European) governments are not honest, Erdogan told German public television station ARD. Three million Syrians, or people from Iraq, are now in Turkey, he said. The EU has not kept its promises on the matter. Erdogan estimated the refugees, many of whom have fled the devastating five-year civil war in neighbouring Syria, have cost Turkey $12 billion. The EU made the deal with Turkey to temper a huge influx of more than a million migrants which overwhelmed the bloc last year. Late last month, Brussels said it had opened a new negotiating chapter with Turkey on its long-stalled bid for membership of the bloc. But that bid has been hit by Erdogans sweeping crackdown in the wake of the failed July 15 military takeover, which has seen more than 13,000 people detained. The president repeated his call for capital punishment for the plotters, an issue that has perturbed the EU, saying: The people want the death penalty reinstated. We as a government need to hear what the people say, he added. Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2004 as part of its bid to join the EU. VAN NUYS, CA Five pair of European teens team up to lose their threesome virginities in no-holds-barred menage a trois scenes, courtesy of Pure Play Media and Evil Playgrounds' newest release, Virgin Threesome Party 2. These young teens love sex, and arent afraid to go all the way, and even try their hand at threesome, as long as their gal pals are with them, says Pure Play Media sales representative Hyland C. Theyre so cute and fresh-faced, and then they just go absolutely nuts when they see that hard cock! Evil Playgrounds knows what the fans want, and definitely delivers with every new release. Virgin Threesome Party 2 stars Anabela and Milana, Joanna and Milana, Stacy and Jade, Ivy and Rachel, and Laura and Christel. To view the box cover, cast list, and synopsis, click here. Retailers interested in stocking Virgin Threesome Party 2 are encouraged to contact Hyland C. at [email protected] or 818-989-1570 (x3256) or a IVD Sales Representative. For more information on Pure Play Media, visit PurePlayMedia.com and ppmb2b.com. Paris: French President Francois Hollande said Tuesday that two men who attacked a church and slit the throat of a priest had claimed to be from Daesh, using the Arabic name for the Islamic State group. Hollande, visiting the scene of the attack in the northern town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, earlier condemned the vile terrorist attack in a statement. The attackers invaded the church Tuesday during morning Mass, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, officials said. Another person inside the church was seriously injured and is hovering between life and death, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. Read: Francois Hollande vows war on ISIS 'by every means' after church attack Police managed to rescue three other people inside the church, Brandet told reporters, and the two attackers were killed outside the church. The identities of the attackers and motive for the attack are unclear, according to a French security official who was not authorised to be publicly named. Brandet said the RAID special intervention force was searching the perimeter of the church ahead of entering for possible explosives and terrorism investigators had been summoned. The investigations are ongoing. There are still unknowns, Brandet said. There are dogs, explosive detectors and bomb disposal services and as long as there are still unknowns, the judicial police cannot get inside the site. Its a dramatic situation. It was the first known attack inside a French church in recent times. One was targeted last year, but the attack never was carried out. The anti-terrorism division of the Paris prosecutors office immediately opened an investigation. Map of the Rouen area in northern France locating a hostage taking in which a priest was killed. (Photo: AFP) Dominique Lebrun, the archbishop of Rouen, confirmed the death of 84-year-old Rev. Jacques Hamel. I cry out to God, with all men of good will. And I invite all non-believers to unite with this cry, Lebrun wrote in a statement from Krakow, Poland, where Pope Francis was visiting. The Catholic Church has no other arms besides prayer and fraternity between men. France is currently on high alert after an attack in Nice on Bastille Day - July 14 - that killed 84 people and a string of deadly attacks last year claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 147 others. France is also under a state of emergency and has extra police presence after the Nice attack, where man barreled his truck down the citys famed Promenade des Anglais, mowing down holiday crowds. Islamic State extremists have urged followers to attack French churches and the group is believed to have planned at least one church attack earlier. In April 2015, an Algerian student who was arrested after shooting himself in the leg was found with heavy weapons, bulletproof vests and documents linked to Islamic State. He is charged with killing a young woman inside her car the same day. According to French authorities, the suspect, Sid Ahmed Ghlam, was sent by the Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud to attack a church in Villejuif, just outside of Paris. A cell directed by Abaaoud later carried out the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead and the March 22 attacks in Brussels that killed 32 people. London: A British convert to Islam, dubbed "Jihadi Jack" after travelling to Syria, has denied joining the Islamic State terror group. Jack Letts told a UK news channel that he had fled his home in Oxford to study in Syria but did not regret the move. "I came here searching for the truth, and people of the truth, and I don't regret that I came," he told Channel 4 News. Asked if he is an ISIS fighter, he said: "Currently I'm not. I'm not and nor do I agree with lot of what they follow." In a separate online statement in Arabic, which he said wrote: "I oppose so-called Islamic State, but that doesn't mean I am with you, the dirty non-Muslims." Speaking from somewhere in Syria, Letts admitted tomissing home comforts like "kebabs and Krispy Kreme doughnuts" but said he knows he would not be welcome back in the UK. His parents, John Letts and Sally Lane, are awaiting trial after being charged with terrorism offences relating to allegedly sending money to their son. They have denied the charges of funding terrorism and are due to stand trial in January 2017. Jack said in an online statement he "hated" his parents "for the sake of Allah" because they are non-believers, and called on them to convert. "They reject the religion of truth, so I reject them. I hate the kuffaar (non-believers), and am free from them. Die in your rage," he said. Despite narrowly surviving an air strike with just a "scratch", the 20-year-old said he is not afraid of death. "I'm not worried. Everyone is going to die on their day. Whether it's by a drone strike. A Muslim understands that his life is between the hands of Allah. So if they want to bomb me, they'll bomb me." The claim came just hours after the attack in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. (Representational Image) Paris: The ISIS said on Tuesday that two assailants who stormed a church in France and killed an elderly priest were its "soldiers," an ISIS-linked news agency reported. "The perpetrators of the Normandy church attack are soldiers of the ISIS who carried out the attack in response to calls to target countries of the Crusader coalition," the Amaq news agency said, citing a "security source". The claim came just hours after the attack in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. The two assailants stormed the church during morning mass, taking the five people inside hostage and slitting the throat of its priest Jacques Hemel, who was in his eighties. The attackers were killed by police after they emerged from the church when it was surrounded by France's anti-gang brigade, the BRI, which specialises in kidnappings. Three of the hostages were freed unharmed but another has life-threatening injuries, an interior ministry spokesman said. The horrific assault stunned a nation already shaken to its core after a massacre in the French Riviera city of Nice less than two weeks ago that was claimed by ISIS. It is part of a package of measures that ministers say will improve how hate crime is tackled. (Photo: AFP/Representational Image) London: Britain on Tuesday ordered a scoping review into the police handling of hate crimes after a sharp rise in such cases in the wake of the Brexit vote last month. Britain's new home secretary, Amber Rudd announced that Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) will analyse how forces in England and Wales respond to such crimes after recent figures showed there have been more than 6,000 reports of hate crime to police since June 23, when Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU). The review will also look at how hate crime and abuse is handled in schools. It is part of a package of measures that ministers say will improve how hate crime is tackled. "This government is determined to build a Britain that works for everyone," she said. "Those who practise hatred send out a message that it's ok to abuse and attack others because of their nationality, ethnicity or religious background. That it's ok to disregard our shared values and promote the intolerance that causes enormous harm to communities and individuals." "Well, I have a very clear message for them. We will not stand for it. Hatred has no place whatsoever in a 21st century Great Britain that works for everyone," said the home secretary, appointed by British Prime Minister Theresa May earlier this month. "We are Great Britain because we are united by values such as democracy, free speech, mutual respect and opportunity for all. We are the sum of all our parts - a proud, diverse society. Hatred does not get a seat at the table, and we will do everything we can to stamp it out," she added. Rudd has commissioned HMIC to carry out a "scoping study" into forces' understanding of and response to hate crime of all types, including crimes against the disabled. "That will help to give confidence, to give reassurance, and also to make sure communities who feel they're experiencing too much hate crime are able to get that confidence back from the police that it's being addressed," she said. A 2.4-million-pounds fund is also planned for security measures at places of worship around the country. Figures released last week hard revealed that the daily rate of hate crimes peaked at 289 on 25 June, the day after the referendum result was announced. Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) figures released earlier this month showed it was prosecuting a record number of 15,442 hate crimes in 2015-16 - a 4.8 per cent rise on the previous year. These are the first detentions of senior army figures serving outside Turkey as part of the investigation into the coup, which Ankara blames on the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen. (Photo: Representational Image/AP) Ankara: Two Turkish generals serving in Afghanistan have been detained in Dubai on suspicion of links to the July 15 failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a Turkish official said Tuesday. Major General Mehmet Cahit Bakir, the commander of Turkey's task force in Afghanistan, and Brigadier General Sener Topuc were detained at Dubai airport, said the official, who asked not to be named. The detentions followed cooperation between the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) and the UAE authorities, the state-run Anadolu news agency added, without giving further details. These are the first detentions of senior army figures serving outside Turkey as part of the investigation into the coup, which Ankara blames on the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen. In a separate development, the former governor of Istanbul Huseyin Avni Mutlu was detained in the coup investigation, Anadolu said. More than 13,000 people, including over 100 generals, have been detained so far in a vast sweep in the wake of the July 15 military coup bid, prompting anxiety abroad over the scope of the crackdown. Police said they belonged to a Bangladeshi group blamed for an attack on a Dhaka cafe earlier this month in which 20 hostages. (Photo: Representational Image/AP) Dhaka: Bangladeshi police stormed a militant hideout in a Dhaka neighbourhood and killed nine suspected Islamist extremists in a gunbattle on Tuesday morning, officials said. Police said they belonged to a Bangladeshi group blamed for an attack on a Dhaka cafe earlier this month in which 20 hostages, mostly foreigners, were killed and had been planning another large-scale assault. "Nine Islamist militants were killed after two hour-long gunfight" deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Masud Ahmed told AFP, adding another extremist was shot and arrested during the raid in Kalyanpur neighbourhood. National police chief A.K.M Shohidul Haque told reporters they suspected all 10 were members of the homegrown extremist group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which was blamed for the Dhaka cafe attack. Five gunmen stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery in the upscale Gulshan neighbourhood on July 1 and killed 20 hostages including nine Italians and seven Japanese nationals before commandos ended the siege. Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack and posted gruesome images of the carnage before the military stormed the cafe. Bangladeshi authorities have rejected the claim, saying international jihadist networks have no presence in the world's third largest Muslim majority nation. Haque stressed that the nine killed in Tuesday's operation had no connection with Islamic State jihadists even though they were wearing the group's signature black robes. "We think they are all JMB members. We have not found any link with IS. They are all local Bangladeshi militants," he said. Planning attack Haque added that they had rented a fouth-floor flat and were planning to launch a large-scale attack. "From police intelligence sources we learnt that they were planning to carry out a major incident. We conducted the operation to foil any such incident," he said. Police said they cordoned off an apartment building after suspects threw a small hand bomb at officers who were conducting a "block raid" in the area after midnight. The Islamist gunmen exchanged fire intermittently throughout the night and shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is the Greatest") as the neighbourhood was sealed off by hundreds of heavily armed police and the elite security force Rapid Action Battalion, police said. "This morning police launched Operation Storm 26 and was able to destroy the militants. We're now sweeping the place," Dhaka additional police commissioner Sheikh Maruf Hasan who led the raid told AFP. "Their dress and their slogans before and after the attack all proved that they are members of (Islamist) militant force," Hasan said, adding that they were wearing black tunics and shouting "Allahu Akbar". Bangladesh is reeling from a wave of deadly attacks by Islamist extremists. The government and police say homegrown extremists are responsible for the deaths of some 80 secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities since 2013. Both IS and a branch of Al-Qaeda have claimed responsibility for many of the attacks. After the cafe siege, suspected Islamist militants also launched a gun attack at the country's largest Eid prayer rally where some 250,000 people were marking the end of Ramadan. At least three people and a gunman were killed in the attack. The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has since launched a nationwide man-hunt for Islamists, arresting more than a dozen suspected extremists including one of JMB's regional heads. Police today foiled another 'mass attack' bid in Bangladesh, reeling under a wave of deadly terror assaults, by killing nine Islamist militants during a pre-dawn raid at their hideout here. The hour-long raid was launched at 5:51 AM (local time) at Jahaz building in Kalyanpur area by special police units. The militants, aged between 20 and 25 and suspected to be members of Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), opened fire on police during the operation. "From police intelligence sources we learnt that they were planning to carry out a major incident. We conducted the operation to foil any such incident," national police chief A K M Shahidul Hoque told reporters. Police said the men wore the same clothing and backpacks as the group that carried out the Bangladesh's worst terror attack at a cafe here. The Islamist gunmen wearing black tunics exchanged fire intermittently throughout the night and shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is the Greatest). Two more presumed extremists, including one with bullet wounds, were arrested from the scene, he added. Rakibul Hasan alias Rigan, a militant activist who sustained bullet injuries during the operation, was missing since last one year. He claimed to be a member of the Islamic State, reports said. Police recovered 13 handmade grenades, one sword, one pistol, seven magazines and bullets from the them. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the militants killed were preparing to launch terror attacks. She said that the country had averted a fearful situation, as police busted a hideout in Dhaka. Hasina praised the law-enforcers, saying, "Police have conducted the operation successfully. It was clear that they were fully prepared for a terror attack." "The country averted a fearful situation because of the raid." Bangladesh is reeling under a wave of deadly attacks by Islamist extremists. Twenty two people, mostly foreigners including an Indian girl, were killed by suspected ISIS militants inside a cafe popular with expats in the diplomatic zone in Dhaka in the worst terror attack in Bangladesh before commandos launched an assault, killing six attackers and capturing one alive. Around 30 people were injured in the attack for which dreaded Islamic State group claimed responsibility through its Amaq news agency, nearly four hours after the hostage crisis unfolded. The government, however, maintains that the home grown militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) was behind the attack. Days after the cafe siege, gunmen attacked the country's largest Eid prayer gathering, killing at least three people. A youth died after falling from a train at Shahbad Mohammadpur in southwest Delhi, the police said on Monday. Suresh, 21, succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Hari Nagar on Sunday, after he allegedly fell from a train on July 12. The case was brought to light when several people agitated outside Palam police station on Monday from where the victim belonged, saying that the police did not file a missing or /murder complaint for him. Congress MP Mahabal Mishra also reached the spot and demanded investigation into the case. Palam police informed the protesters that Shahbad Mohammadpur comes under Sarai Rohilla railway station police and hence, no case could be registered with them. Police said Suresh was found alive by the Sarai Rohilla police on July 12 when the railway authorities contacted them regarding his condition. They also said that they have information about an eyewitness who saw Suresh falling from the train. On the other hand, his family alleges that he has been murdered by the family of a girl he was in love, who is also a resident of Palam. Family members of Suresh said the girls father had threatened to kill Suresh when he came to know about their affair. Suresh was then sent to Gurgaon to his aunts place. Family members said that Suresh was missing since July 12 and they got information about his accident at the railway station on July 18, from a hospital in Gurgaon. The Delhi government has decided to hold probes, if needed file FIRs, in all complaints of fraudulent registration of property rather than let duped property owners fend for themselves. The course correction has been ordered by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who took note of a large number of public grievances received from property owners suffering due to frauds. Kejriwal has now instructed officials to ensure that whenever a fraud is reported, the sub-registrars should not bluntly turn the property owners away. The registering officers should take action on all such complaints and if the officials probing into the matter detect impersonation or use of false documents, a police case should also be filed against the culprits by the Registration and Stamp Branch, according to Kejriwal. To direct the aggrieved parties to approach civil court... is like committing double jeopardy against him, said a senior official. A new set of instructions have now been issued to all district registrars on how to probe complaints of fraudulent registration through impersonation or production of false documents and file FIRs against culprits, said an official. Fraudulent registrations Taking note of the increasing numbers of fraudulent registrations in the city, the Inspector General of Registration Juhi Mukherjee has also written to district official to maintain a register of complaints received by them and conduct inquiries within two months. Any failure in registering complaints relating to fraudulent registration through impersonation or production of false documents/statement etc, and initiation of enquiry followed by filing of FIR and making annulment entries... shall be viewed seriously, said Mukherjee. The Inspector General of Registration also shared with district registrars an observation of the Andhra Pradesh High Court which said: If a person sells away the property belonging to other, it would certainly be fraud on the statute. It would be insult to injury, if such person is asked to go to Civil Court and get the subsequent sale deed cancelled or seek a declaration. An official said till now the complainants were being asked to approach the civil courts for redressal of complaints related fraudulent registrations. Now, the registrars have been clearly told to use their statutory powers conferred under Section 83 of the Registration Act 1908 to file criminal case against the persons who are involved in impersonation or production of false evidences. After Kejriwals intervention, the branch has also decided to ask district registrars to recall their own orders if the orders were obtained by playing fraud. Only such a course of action can serve the principles of natural justice, said an official. As a check against harassment of those who have genuinely executed sale deeds, Mukherjee said the instructions to district registrars. to deal with fraudulent registrations should not be construed to mean that the registering authority shall go into the issue of deciding title in case of rival claims on certain basis. A day after two of its MLAs were arrested under different charges, the AAP on Monday said it will file a writ petition in the Delhi High Court compiling all false cases in which its legislators have been framed. AAPs Delhi unit convenor Dilip Pandey said prima facie the MLAs are being booked under a conspiracy. There is an undeclared emergency in the Delhi by the Centre. With these acts, none of the AAP MLAs, ministers, workers will be scared, Pandey said. AAPs Seemapuri MLA Rajendra Pal Gautam said there is a pattern in the cases filed against his party MLAs. He said between filing of the complaint till registration of an FIR different statements are given. There is a conspiracy to muzzle the voice of the Delhi government and its MLAs, he said. We are approaching the cases. We have gathered most of our cases and prima facie it can be said that this is done under a conspiracy. The way cases are registered and the MLAs are arrested reveal there is a conspiracy behind it, he said. On Sunday, the Delhi Police arrested Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan after a woman claimed he had tried to mow her down with his car, while Mehrauli MLA Naresh Yadav was arrested by the Punjab Police in connection with the Malerkotla sacrilege incident. Gautam said if the police wants to arrest an MLA then they can give a notice under Section 160 of the CrPC. Arrest them if there is a case. But arresting MLAs using 300 policemen or picking them up from a press conference shows everything is being done under someones instructions. We will tell the high court the way peoples representatives are being framed in wrong cases. We will also tell the court the way Delhi government is being destabilised under a conspiracy, Gautam said. Eleven AAP MLAs have been arrested by the Delhi Police and their Punjab counterpart in different cases since the party came to power in February last year. Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pandey said, Arresting AAPs MLAs reflects the BJPs political bankruptcy and cowardice. He claimed since the party came to power, one MLA has been arrested on an average every month. We still have 55-56 more MLAs. Modi ji can arrest them all. They are already using the Delhi and Punjab Police for this year. Now they can also deploy Gujarat and Goa Police for arresting the AAP MLAs, Pandey said. CHATSWORTH, Calif.After shooting Sinn Sages first boy/girl scene earlier this year, Forbidden Fruits Films has once again booked the brunette adult performerbut this time for a lesbian scene. Sage, who nabbed AVNs 2015 All-Girl Performer of the Year trophy, is featured in Mother-Daughter Lesbian Lessons 6. The latest volume in Forbidden Fruits taboo erotica series, the title ships Aug. 8 and streets Aug. 15. According to Howard Levine of Exile Distribution, which handles Forbidden Fruits, In number 6 in the award-winning series, Sinn Sage gives her performance of the year. In addition, Levine said, with a cast that is as hot as a Chatsworth afternoon, Forbidden Fruits has another winner. Also featured with Sage and Forbidden Fruits Films co-founder Jodi West are Mindi Mink, Alison Rey, Anya Olsen and Reagan Foxx. For wholesale distribution sales, contact Levine at [email protected] or (818) 576-9464. Pictured above: Mindi Mink and Jodi West in a scene from Mother-Daughter Lesbian Lessons 6 (Forbidden Fruits Films/Exile Distribution) Congress leader Jairam Ramesh today rejected as "wild" the charge by Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal that he "misbehaved" with her after Rajya Sabha had been adjourned for the day on Friday and said instead of her apologising she is seeking an apology. Badal has written to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari seeking "stern action" against Ramesh and another party MP Renuka Chaudhary, accusing them of using "derogatory language" against her which "violated her dignity both as a woman and a minister". Shiromani Akali Dal member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa also moved a privilege motion against the two in Rajya Sabha and it is pending before the Chairman. "I am sorry that the honourable minister and a senior leader from Punjab has levelled wild allegations against me. I didn't say anything offensive," he told reporters. Ramesh said he and Renuka will explain their positions to the Chairman when asked. The Congress leader said he still stood by what he had said to the Minister on July 22. "I told her that she is a minister but her attitude does not conform to the dignity of a minister, that Rajya Sabha could not do anything about the offensive act of a member of another House except condemn it, and that she was deliberately doing what she did to scuttle the passage of private member's bill on special status for Andhra Pradesh. If using words like dignity, scuttle and sabotage are offensive, I can't say anything," he said. In the Rajya Sabha, Dhindsa demanded that the two apologise for their behaviour or face privilege motion. He said a minister has the right to speak in any House and the permission for it was an issue strictly between the Chair and minister. Badal had sought permission of the Chair to speak on AAP MP Bhagwant Mann's act of making a video of Parliament, he said and asked "What right do they have to obstruct?" Dhindsa also alleged that the two had misbehaved with Badal outside the House. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the Chairman was seized of the matter and, if he desired, the concerned parties will be called. Sources said Ansari is looking into the complaint and has asked for the other side's version. He is likely to seek the version of some independent members too before initiating further action. Ansari has also sought to hold a meeting of Ramesh, Chowdhury and Badal, but the SAD leader was not available today and it will be held later. The alleged incident happened soon after Rajya Sabha was adjourned on Friday afternoon over ruckus created by the treasury benches on Mann's actions. Denying gallantry awards to deserving soldiers is akin to betrayal by the society which owes a debt of gratitude towards them, the Delhi High Court today said while setting aside the Centre's order not to give a medal to a CRPF personnel who sustained bullet injuries in an encounter with a dreaded Khalistani terrorist. Noting that "a nation which honours the sacrifice and bravery honours itself", a bench of Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Pratibha Rani said a brave soldier needs to be recognised for his commitment to serve the country with dignity. "A brave soldier needs to be recognised for his commitment to serve the nation with dignity and honour. It would indeed be a betrayal by the society if a soldier deserving a gallantry is denied the same. A right created must require its due redemption," it said, adding, "It is not a medal alone. That apart, society owes a debt of gratitude to the brave." The court, while quashing the July 15, 2014 order of the Centre denying award to petitioner Rajesh Shukla, referred to his claim for a gallantry award to the competent authority asking it to take into account recommendation by the then Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), who was a part of the encounter team, as well as the case diary of the 1992 events. Referring to the SSP's recommendation, the bench noted that Shukla had engaged the terrorist in the encounter despite receiving four bullet injuries and forced then Deputy Chief of Khalistan Commando Force (Zaffarwal), Khajan Singh, to retreat into a house where he was cornered and killed by the forces. It observed that as per the case diary, if the petitioner had not engaged the terrorist, he would have escaped and "undaunted" by the injuries Shukla continued to bravely fight. "Such commitment by an armed officer who displays unwavering readiness in the hour of the need and who remains undeterred by the fear of losing his life while defending the nation against enemies is truly representative of a conspicuous devotion to duty," the bench said. The encounter had taken place when the police team had gone to a village in Punjab to search for terrorists on the basis of a tip off, when they came under heavy fire. Two terrorists were killed during the encounter and AK-47 rifles and stock bomb was recovered from them. Asserting that Pakistan has "direct role" in fuelling terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, Army today warned of more infiltration bids along the LoC in the coming weeks in view of the volatile situation in the Valley. "Pakistan is interfering in Kashmir and has direct role in what we call as proxy war in Kashmir and there is absolutely no doubt in it," General Officer Commanding in Chief (GoC-in-C), Northern Command, Lt Gen D S Hooda told reporters here. He was paying homage to the martyrs of Operation Vijay on the 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas at the historic War Memorial here. "We have seen it everywhere.. along the borders. We have seen it in the matter in which the support is given to infiltrating groups. "We have seen how ceasefire violations have been used as a support to the people infiltrating into this side," Hooda said while replying to a question about Pakistan's role in current unrest and terrorism in Kashmir. "In short, if there is an internal disturbance here, they will directly take advantage of it. "You have heard the statements of Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba, trying to say that they are supporting whatever is happening in Kashmir," the Northern Command Chief said. He said "the support (from Pakistan) is not only moral but it is absolute physical and there is no doubt about it". He also expressed concern over the increasing radicalisation of youth in Kashmir Valley. "We have seen there is an increase in radicalisation mostly driven by social media and people are quite active on it," Hooda said, adding everyone at all levels has to put their heads together to reduce this trend. The Army official warned of more infiltration bids in the coming weeks along the LoC. Hooda said, "We are seeing regular attempts to infiltrate groups into this side." "We have foiled some infiltration bids. One group which had infiltrated two or three days back and we have neutralised four terrorists inside the hinterland. We are seeing repeated attempts. We recently lost two soldiers during this infiltration bids. "I don't see a slow down in this (level of infiltration). During this internal disturbance they will try and push in more and more infiltrators and we are well prepared to deal with it," he said. Looking at Yahoos stock price, the companys shareholders concluded long ago that its internet business was effectively worthless. Yahoos stock traded based on its huge investments in two Asian internet companies. On Monday, Verizon put a much more precise price tag on Yahoos collection of web properties: $4.83 billion. By buying the operations, Verizon is betting it can do what Yahoos leaders failed at for a decade: find a way for the business, which ruled the desktop web a generation ago, to thrive in a smartphone world dominated by Google and Facebook. The deal, which was reached over the weekend, unites two titans of the early internet, AOL and Yahoo, under the umbrella of one of the nations largest telecommunications companies. Verizon bought AOL for $4.4 billion last year. Now it will add Yahoos consumer services search, news, finance, sports, video, email and the Tumblr social network to a portfolio that also includes popular sites like The Huffington Post. The fate of Yahoos chief executive, Marissa Mayer, is unclear. She came under sharp criticism for failing to arrest the companys downward spiral during her four-year tenure. Some shareholders called for her to be fired. In an interview, Mayer said: I plan to stay. I love Yahoo and I want to see it into its next chapter. But she and Tim Armstrong, the chief executive of AOL, said it had not yet been decided if she would have a role after the deal closes in early 2017. Mayer was the 11th-highest-paid chief executive of a large American company last year, according to the compensation research firm Equilar. If she is terminated, she will be due severance of about $57 million. Including that severance, her total compensation from Yahoo for her service so far would be about $218 million. Verizon, which has a vast amount of information about its customers internet use, hopes that combining Yahoo with AOL and other Verizon services will help it create a strong No. 3 challenger to Google and Facebook for consumer attention and digital advertising revenue. Armstrong said the acquisition would give Verizons internet efforts much more scale, since Yahoo claims one billion users who visit at least once a month. This deal is a leap forward from serving millions of customers to billions, he said in an interview. Yahoo is one of the most powerful brands on the planet. Verizon plans to keep most of Yahoos current products, including its popular email service, and invest in them to make them stronger. Our strategy is to structure ourselves as a house of brands, Armstrong said. However, he said Verizon had not yet decided what it wanted to do in search, an area where Yahoo has waged a losing fight against Google for a decade. The Yahoo purchase carries risks for Verizon, which is well known for its wireless phone and internet services but has little experience in the cutthroat business of digital content. All Verizon may have done is purchase a weak player that was on its way to extinction, Larry Chiagouris, a marketing professor at Pace Universitys Lubin School of Business, said in an email. Analysts say that Verizons purchase of AOL has yet to prove its value, although Armstrong is a well-regarded operator. Yahoos leadership team, led by Mayer, spent the past four years trying to create a viable stand-alone strategy for the company without much success. Its market share among web users and advertisers had fallen, and Yahoo recently acknowledged that its $1.1 billion acquisition of Tumblr, a blogging network that was supposed to help Yahoo attract younger users, was worth about one-third what it paid. Mayer said Verizon would help Yahoo get better distribution for its mobile apps in areas like search, mail, news, weather and sports. Verizon, she said, could promote Yahoo services on its smartphones and in its retail stores. Although many on Wall Street have strongly criticised her, Mayer defended her tenure in an email to employees. We set out to transform this company and weve made incredible progress. We counteracted many of the tectonic shifts of declining legacy businesses, and built a Yahoo that is unequivocally stronger, nimbler and more modern, she wrote. Verizon agreed to pay an extra $1.1 billion on top of the purchase price to cash out Yahoo employees restricted stock upon the close of the deal, Yahoo said. Many employees, particularly senior executives, are also entitled to large severance packages if they are fired by Verizon. Great opportunities Dan Marcec, director of content at Equilar, said Mayers pay was high but was not out of line with other Silicon Valley companies. Notably, most of her compensation was in stock and Yahoos stock price more than doubled during her tenure. Over time, the shares she received gained a tonne of value, he said. But most of those stock gains had little to do with Mayers leadership, springing instead from the large stake in Alibaba, a leading Chinese internet company that Yahoo bought in 2005. The sale of Yahoos business ends the companys 22-year run as an independent entity. Founded in 1994 by two Stanford graduate students, it was the front door to the web for a generation of internet users but failed to keep up with Google in search technology and then missed the social media and mobile revolutions. It does mark the end of a particular time period for the company, Mayer said. That said, there are great opportunities for Yahoo, for the brand, for the services, with Verizon. The sale, which still requires approval by Yahoo shareholders and regulators, does not include Yahoos cash and its non-core patents, which it is trying to sell separately. Yahoo shareholders will still own shares in what is left of the company: an investment fund with a 15% stake in Alibaba, worth about $32 billion based on its recent share price; and a 35.5% stake, worth about $8.7 billion, in Yahoo Japan. Yahoo was under pressure from stockholders to unlock the value of its Asian investments without incurring a huge capital gains tax bill, and the sale of its core operations to Verizon was the first step. For investors, this came to the expected conclusion: Verizon was the front-runner very early on, said Robert Peck, an analyst with SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. The real question for investors now is, Whats next? Will Yahoo have an efficient liquidation of the Asian securities? Turkeys failed July 15 coup attempt and President Recep Tayyip Erdogans comprehensive crackdown on suspected plotters and all dissent are already transforming Ankaras relations with its neighbours, the region, Europe, Nato and the US. Neighbourhood powers Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states promptly welcomed his victory over the coupists but Iraq, Syria and Egypt have not. He has been supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and other fundamentalist groups which seek to oust the governments in Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo. His survival could boost the ambitions of West Asian fundamentalists and further destabilise the already turbulent region. Europe and the US also strongly supported the democratically elected Turkish government but have questioned Erdogans comprehensive clea-nsing of the military, judiciary and police, civil service, schools and universities, arguing his actions are undermining Turkish democracy, the rule of law and human rights. In Europe, there is also the fear that since thousands of policemen and security men are under arrest or suspension, the heavy flow of Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees to Europe could resume. In the region and the West, there is serious concern that the coup attempt deepened the longstanding rift in Turkish society between modernists who insist Turkey should adhere to the secular state model and devout conservatives who favour Erdogans efforts to transform Turkey into a retrogressive religious state. Modernists, who comprise 50% of the 75 million Turks, reject while conservatives support Erdogans plan to shift from a parliamentary to a presidential system, enabling him to dictate policy as chief executive. Liberals, leftists, secularists and Kurds are now frightened to speak out due to Erdogans mass arrests and sackings, this group remains a powerful force which could, in time, revive and resist his authoritarian rule and the imposition of his agenda. Commentators predict the July 15th coup, the countrys fifth, will not be Turkeys last. Following the coup and crackdown, Turkey, the bridge between Europe and West Asia, has been seriously weakened politically, socially and militarily. At this time, Ankara is fighting on two fronts against Islamic State and insurgent Kurds and trying to cope with 2.7 million Syrian refugees whose presence in the country is increasingly resented by Turks. Erdogans pre-coup proposal to grant Turkish nationality to Syrian refugees received a mixed response and is unlikely to be revived. In response to Erdogan's threat to revive the death penalty for putchists, the European Union (EU) warned that this would end Turkey's bid to become an EU member, an ambition since the creation of the European Economic Community, the foundation of the EU. Instability could also prevent Ankara from making key concessions required for the achievement of the reunification of the divided island of Cyprus where the north was occupied by Turkey in 1974. It had been hoped that negotiations between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders would produce a final deal on reunification by the end of this year. In spite of Turkeys strategic location, Ankara may no longer be seen by Nato as a reliable and stable ally in turbulent West Asia. Although the US-led anti-Daesh raids on Syrian and Iraqi targets have resumed from Turkeys Incirlik airbase, there are calls for the withdrawal of Natos nuclear and hydrogen bombs based in Turkey. Turkey, US ties Relations between Turkey and the US have deteriorated radically due to suspicions that Washington supported the coupists. Erdogan blames the putsch attempt on US-based Turkish cleric Fetullah Gulen, head of a movement which has founded thousands of schools, charities and other institutions in Turkey and elsewhere and cultivated a mass following. Gulen, who had been allied with Erdogan until 2013, fell out with him over corruption in Erdogans Justice and Developm-ent Party government. Ankara is preparing a file detailing Gulens alleged involvement in the coup with the aim of securing his extradition from the US where the government has said it would examine the evidence and consider the request. Erdo-gan is an impatient man who is likely to be angry over what he might call US stalling. Finally, the divisions in Turkey deepened by the coup, could have a negative impact on the Turkish diaspora. Pro and anti-Erdogan factions in Germany's three million-strong Turkish community half of its members are Turkish citizens have clashed in demonstrations and threats have been issued by loyalists against Gulenists. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has warn-ed partisans not to take their politics into the streets. Turks living in Germany have been urged by the Turkish media, now under total Turkish government control, to expose Gulenists. Turks in Germany who criticise Erdogan are now branded Gulenists or backers of the banned Kurdish separatist party. A leading figure in the Germ-an Green party, Cem Ozdemir, who is of Turkish parentage, said, Erdogan may be able to do what he wants in Turkey, and thats bad enough, but he cant do it in Germany. A committee that was constituted to expedite the process of recovering 880 acres of land in Bengaluru South taluk, belonging to Sri Ranganathaswami temple of Srirangapatna, is finding it difficult to continue with its work due to the pressure from land sharks. It may be mentioned that revelations about 880 acres of land in Bengaluru South taluk, donated to Sri Ranganatha swami temple in Srirangapatna took everybody by surprise last month. Following the reports, a committee was formed, which is supposed to meet every week and discuss various measures to be taken to recover the land and submit a report to the higher authorities. But, the committee, which was constituted on June 6, has held just one meeting over the last seven weeks. Speaking to Deccan Herald, an official, on condition of anonymity, said, most of the lands are in the clutches of realtors, who are allegedly exerting pressure on the government not to proceed in this regard. The committee led by Tahsildar of Bengaluru South taluk includes Executive Officer of Sri Ranganathaswami temple; Assistant Director of Survey department, Bengaluru South sub-division; Assistant Commissioner department of Religious Endowment, Bengaluru; Tahsildar of Muzarai department, Deputy Commissioners office, Mandya, as its members. The agenda of the committee is to conduct a survey of the lands belonging to the temple, verify the documents and find out on what basis the title deed had been transferred. The departments of Revenue, Survey and Religious Endowment should submit a report, explaining about the violations. Registration It has been confirmed that Dwaraka Bai Vedatham had registered 880 acres of land through a trust deed in the name of the temple at the Deputy Registrars office in Magadi (Registration number 1957/38-39), on April 15, 1939. Land details The detail of the lands belonging to the temple have been identified at Cholanayakanahalli - 285 acres and 29 guntas; Doddamarkahanahalli - 89 acres and 36 guntas, Peddanapalya - 265 acres and 6 guntas; Byalalu - 95 acres; Kurubarahalli (Kadukarenahalli) - 145 acres and 6 guntas. While a few acres of land are still in the name of the temple, the total worth is said to be Rs 1,500 crore. Speaking to Deccan Herald, Srirangapatna MLA Rameshbabu Bandisiddegowda said, it will be difficult for a tahsildar-level committee to continue with the work. A committee should be formed with Secretary of Revenue department as its head. Surveyors necessary for the work should be deployed. The state government should consider the issue on priority. I will meet the Revenue minister and discuss the issue soon, Rameshbabu added. At least 20 people were injured as violence erupted in Srinagar and some other parts of Kashmir on Tuesday after authorities lifted indefinite curfew from most areas of the Valley. Protesters and security forces fought pitched battles in several localities of the old city in Srinagar immediately after the 17-day curfew was lifted. Witnesses said, clashes broke out when the police and the CRPF men used force to break up pro-freedom rallies. In many localities, youths had put up barricades to restrict the movement of vehicles. Many masjids were resonating with freedom songs as hundreds of people offered prayers on roads and registered their protest against the killing of over 50 civilians in the aftermath of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Wanis death on July 8 in south Kashmirs Anantnag district. Two large processions were intercepted by security forces at Safa Kadal and Baba Demb areas of old city with the police resorting to massive teargas shelling and pellet firing. At least eight protesters sustained injuries. The situation turned tense after a huge procession - enroute to city centre Lal Chowk - was intercepted by the police near Budshah Chowk. Reports said, in Anantnag, more than a dozen protesters sustained injuries in the clashes that erupted even as the curfew continued to be in force for the 18th consecutive day. In Malakhanag area of Anantnag, six people, including a girl, sustained pellet injuries after the police used force on the protesters. Curfew was lifted in the entire town around 5 pm. However, protesters came out and attacked a police post with stones and bricks. In Uganda, Childhood Sexual Assault Is An Epidemic Dont talk to any strangers. Dont accept anything from a stranger." These phrases are very common to many Ugandan children. Parents and guardians warn their children to keep away from strangers on safety grounds. Due to the constant repetition of these words, children have quite learned not to talk to strangers. Lucy [not her real name] is like any other child: she's playful, inquisitive, and she loves school. One morning while on a bathroom break, a man who was working on a construction site next to the open school that Lucy attends lured the little 6-year-old girl away from the school compound. In a building next to the school, the man whose face Lucy was familiar with then went on to sexually molest her. ADVERTISEMENT With a bloodied uniform, Lucy slowly walked back to school. Her teachers called her mother who took her from school informing her that her daughter had injured herself while playing. Her mother had no reason to doubt the school authorities; after all, Lucy has two older siblings attending the same school. The observant mother of five noticed that all was not well with her little girl. On careful and close examination of her little girls genitalia, the mother suspected the worst. She immediately took her child to a nearby clinic for medical examination. The medical facility confirmed the mothers suspicionsexual penetration. The little girl was referred to Mulago Hospital, Ugandas national referral hospital for better management. This molestation was to mark the long arduous journey Lucy would begin on her rehabilitation recovery process. With a ruptured birth canal and pus oozing daily from Lucys now infected genitalia, her mother cried day and night why the perpetrator chose her child. Lucys story is one of many that children grapple with in Uganda. Many children who are sexually molested in Uganda suffer both emotional and physical consequences. While the physical consequences are overt, the reverse is untrue for emotional consequences. Physical consequences can be readily observed and action taken. On the other hand, emotional consequences such as posttraumatic stress disorder, fear, and sadness, to mention a few are not readily observable or if they are, caretakers are ignorant of the connection between sequaelae and the trauma suffered. The latest statistics of the Annual Crime and Traffic/Road Safety Report 2013 of the Uganda Police Force reported defilement as the leading sex-related crime reported in Uganda. Defilement continues to lead in sex-related crimes. A total of 9,598 cases were reported and investigated in 2013. Further, the report notes that defilement was the second leading crime committed in Uganda in 2013. The non-sex offense crime that topped the list of reported cases in 2013 was common assaults. While a total of 9,598 cases were reported and investigated in 2013, 4,931 cases were taken to court, out of which 359 cases secured convictions, 38 cases were acquitted, 248 cases were dismissed and 4,288 cases were still pending in court, representing four percent of conviction rate for perpetrators of defilement. One may therefore ask, why is the conviction rate so low? Beatrice Gonza has been working with Uganda Police Force for 24 years. She is the officer in charge of Child and Family Protection Unit at Nansana Police Station. She notes that for a perpetrator to be convicted, it requires the cooperation of both witnesses and the state. The conviction rate is so low because witnesses at times do not attend Court to give evidence against the accused, says Gonza. This is further exacerbated by failure of people who have filed cases with the police to follow up cases, prompting courts to withdraw them due to lack of witnesses. She further said that at times, the residing magistrates are transferred before completing the case; therefore accused persons are not convicted and sentenced. Resident state attorneys [government prosecutors] and directorate of public prosecution personnel don't always present evidence in time, further crippling cases. All this against the backdrop of long court processes that demoralize those reporting cases in the hope of achieving justice for their loved ones. ADVERTISEMENT The major causes of defilement among cases filed and investigated at Nansana Police Station are: poor parenting, domestic violence, child neglect, drug addiction, lack of employment, and hooliganism. This could partly explain failure of witnesses to follow up on cases. Over 90 percent of children received at Rehabilitation Centre for Victims of Domestic and Sexual Violence, a local NGO that rehabilitates survivors of Sexual/Gender Based Violence report that children are molested by someone known to them or their parents or guardians. The perpetrators of defilement that we have received and documented are step fathers, neighbors, family friends and biological fathers, says Charlotte Kabachaki, a social worker at RECESVID. Yet ironically, unbeknown to parents and guardians, the people they trust most with their children are the ones who molest them. Parents and guardians continually educate their children to keep away from strangers when the actual enemy is within a child's comfort zone at home and school. In Lucys case, the school management knew the perpetrator but chose to protect him instead. On the other hand, police would have forced the school to provide details of the perpetrator but this was not the case. Most perpetrators of defilement that we receive are educated people; for example teachers; uneducated people, for example drug abusers and idlers, and relatives who commit acts of incest," says Gonza. The law that Lucys mother had hoped would assist her to have her daughters molester arrested, convicted, and kept from doing the same to other children failed her. Instead, she was left with a huge burden of weekly medical treatments over a year that nearly saw her give up on her little girl. The financial cost of treating her daughter was so colossal so much so that Lucys mother started relying on hand-outs from well-wishers to meet the medical bills of her daughter. In a country where law enforcement rely on physical evidence to make arrests, Lucys school failed her by refusing to cooperate with the police. And while Lucy has recovered considerably from the physical wounds left behind following her ordeal, the price the little girl has paid through no crime of her own is to stagnate at school. She has since failed to make any meaningful academic progress as she continues to discharge from her genitalia. As she grows older, there is no telling if other consequences of her childhood sexual abuse may manifest later in life either physically or emotionally. Only time will tell. Photo via Uganda_8 More From BUST Mothers Talks Self-Doubt And Empowerment Through Recording: BUST Interview Amanda Palmer Strips Down To Talk About Feminism, Motherhood, And Self-Acceptance Kirsten Dunst Is Directing A Movie Of Sylvia Plaths The Bell Jar And We Cant Wait To See It Sharon Lamwaka is a writer and human rights worker based in Uganda, East Africa. She is interested in writing on development issues. Follow her on Twitter @slamwaka. As the search for the Indian Air Forces missing AN-32 aircraft enters fifth day, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has informed Parliament that four-five blinks were noticed. He said the government was probing if they were from the transport aircraft. Four-five blinks were noticed. We are trying to find out whether they are misleading or have some meaning. As of now, there is no confirmed finding, Parrikar said in the Rajya Sabha, responding to the query of a member. The search exercise now concentrates on finding out the aircrafts Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) beacon, which continuously disseminates radio signals in pre-fixed frequencies. The job of the search team is to capture the signals and trace the location of the ping. Since the beacons have a limited battery life, the signal strength would get weaker as the day passed. Last year, the coast guards crashed Dornier aircraft was retrieved on the basis of the ELT signal almost a month after the accident. As the beacon was about to die, a Kilo class submarine of the Indian Navy picked up the faint signal to trace the location. No resources have been left (to use). We have used satellite imagery and P-8I (surveillance) aircraft extensively. We have used about 30 ships. A submarine is already in the area. Not only that, in order to locate it, we are also getting a deep rescue vessel, Parrikar said. The government has asked Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technologys research ship ORV Sagar Nidhi to return from Mauritius. Though it has facilities for under sea operations, a smaller search area needs to be identified first. For the Dornier operation, Reliance Industries Olympic Canyon was put to use. However, the Reliance vessel is unavailable this time. Parrikar said AN-32 is the safest aircraft IAF flies and there were only two reported accidents in the last 10 years. Jallikattu, the bull taming festival, cannot be permitted just because it is a centuries-old tradition, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday. It said that the practice has to be examined on statutory and constitutional principles. In 1899, ten thousand girls below 12 years of age were married. Should we allow it today because it was a tradition at that time? It is a constitutional and statutory issue. We definitely will examine whether such a sport is permissible by law or not, a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and R F Nariman said. The court made the poser as Tamil Nadus counsel contended that Jallikattu should be permitted as it showcased a tradition that has been part of the custom and culture of people of the state for 5,000 years. The court put the matter for final hearing on August 23. The bench also made it clear that the matter may be referred to a larger bench if the parties were able to convince its 2014 verdict banning the practice, which also prevailed in Karnataka as Kambala, was not legally sustainable. The apex court had in January refused to lift its stay on use of bulls in Tamil Nadus Jallikattu festival and rejected a plea that prohibition on the centuries-old tradition would force the farmers rearing the animal to send it to the slaughter house in Kerala. The Union government had, on January 7, passed a notification allowing use of bulls in any sport or event. Acting on a plea by Animal Welfare Board of India and others, the apex court had on May 7, 2014 banned Jallikattu and bullock-cart race organised in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, respectively, saying that right to dignity and fair treatment was not confined to human beings alone, but to animals as well. In a huge setback, Indias space marketing agency, Antrix Corp, lost its case in the International Tribunal of Arbitration at The Hague over cancelling a satellite and spectrum contract with Bengaluru-based multimedia firm Devas. India may now have to pay damages that may go up to $1 billion (Rs 6,738 crore approximately). A Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) tribunal on Monday found that India had breached its treaty commitments to accord fair and equitable treatment to Devass foreign investors. The contract involves use of two satellites and spectrum. In a statement issued here on Tuesday, Devas said: The tribunal found that the Government of Indias actions in annulling a contract between Devas and Antrix Corporation Ltd, and denying Devas commercial use of S-band spectrum constituted an expropriation. The PCA ruling is the second by an international tribunal arising out of the cancellation of the contract. In an earlier decision, an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) tribunal in September 2015 had found that Antrixs repudiation of the Devas-Antrix contract was unlawful. It had also asked Antrix to pay damages worth $ 672 million (Rs 4,432 crore then) to Devas for unlawfully terminating the deal in 2011 on national security grounds. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) had annulled the contract following the recommendation of the Space Commission that it was not in the countrys security interests. The Tribunal had then ruled that Antrix had no legal justification to terminate the agreement. The agreement, signed in 2005, was for a 12-year lease of 90% transponder space on two satellites, G-SAT6 and G-SAT6A. Out of the 150 MHz of space that Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) owned in the S-band spectrum, Devas was permitted the use of 70 MHz to launch satellite-based applications on mobile devices. In turn, Devas was to pay $ 300 million (Rs 2,000 crore approximately) to Antrix over a 12-year period. The controversy generated by the deal eventually affected the careers of four senior scientists, including former Isro chairman G Madhavan Nair. They were barred from taking up any government positions in the future. A Department of Space (DoS) statement maintained that the government had invoked the essential security interests through a well reasoned, valid and proper CCS decision. The award of the Tribunal is being examined and legal recourse, as deemed fit, will be taken. We also remain committed to pursue our larger national interests, including sovereign strategic security interests in this matter, the statement read. DoS said the verdict will limit the compensation liability to 40% of the value of the investment. Though speculations were rife that the compensation amount would be $ 1 billion, the Devas statement said the tribunal was yet to award the damages. Indicating that a settlement to the dispute could be in the offing, Devas Chairman Lawrence Babbio said: We prefer a mutually agreeable resolution of this matter. But until that occurs, Devas and its investors will continue to press their claims before international tribunals and in courts around the world. DH News Service It is a question of hearing for children who are awaiting their turn for several months now. Even as the state government had announced that a scheme would be started to provide free cochlear implants to children, it has failed to reach the beneficiaries. The Shravana Dosha Mukta scheme was launched by the then minister for health and family welfare U T Khader with funding from the National Health Mission (NHM). Under the scheme, children below the age of three were to be given cochlear implants free. According to top sources in the department of health and family welfare, though the proposal has been cleared and funds released from the NHM, doctors who ought to be empanelled under the scheme are still awaiting orders. Under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram of NHM, Rs 5.2 lakh per child could be encashed for the surgery. With no scheme at present, patients have to only resort to taking help from the prime minister and chief ministers funds. However, with delay in release of funds from the Centre, children are only up for an endless wait according to sources. As per the proposal, the new project will begin with the screening of neonates and provide them hearing and speech therapy for at least one year. A senior ENT specialist from Bengaluru explained that there are children awaiting implants for several months now and it would serve no purpose if the implementation is delayed. Cochlear implants work best on children if they are below the age of three. If there is a delay, the visual cortex will take over the childs hearing ability. If the child is unable to hear clearly, this will also have an adverse affect on its speech and language learning abilities, he added. He explained that there is a 70% sensory neural loss with the use of hearing aids instead of cochlear implants. Doctors, with certain hidden motives do not suggest cochlear implants for patients. Parents cannot afford it most of the time either. Thus, the scheme is the need of the hour, he added. Dr Vimala Patil, director, Health and Family Welfare department said that the scheme would be launched soon at K C General Hospital and Wenlock Hospital. When Deccan Herald tried to get an update from Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ramesh Kumar, he was unavailable for a response. Matt Damon Recaps Bourne Series In 90 Seconds Trending News: Forget What Happened In The 'Bourne' Series? Let Matt Damon Catch You Up Why Is This Important? Because who can remember what they had for breakfast let alone a movie from 14 years ago Long Story Short In anticipation of Jason Bourne, Matt Damon broke down all the key fights, evil organizations and heartbreak of the Bourne Trilogy in just 90 seconds. Long Story The Bourne Trilogy might be one of the best action movie franchises of all time, but who the hell can remember all the details unless they read the books? The first movie, Bourne Identity came out in 2002, Supremacy came out in 2004 and Ultimatum capped it off in 2007 (there was 2012's Bourne Legacy starring Jeremy Renner, but it didn't have Damon in it so who cares?). Honestly, all I can remember from those movies is that the fighting was kickass and Damon is the man. So for people like me, Damon has graciously provided a quick recap of the movies he appeared in, with a bit of commentary slipped in. I wind up at a beach front scooter shop with Marie, happily every after, he said about the end of Bourne Identity. Only then two years later were hiding out in India when this Russian dhead frames me for murder and kills Maria. Im super pissed. True dat. Watch and remember: Damon makes his triumphant return to the role with co-stars Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, and Julia Stiles this Friday when Jason Bourne hits theaters. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question Is Damon too good of an actor to be returning to action roles he did far earlier in his career? Disrupt Your Feed Raise your hand if you remember all these details. Bueller. Bueller. Drop This Fact Good Will Hunting, the movie Damon's most famous for and most proud of, took five years to write and produce from start to finish. Senior Congress leader S M Krishna on Tuesday held a breakfast meeting with some well known personalities from various fields and elicited their opinion on diverse issues, including politics. Freedom fighter H S Doreswamy, Jnanpith awardee Chandrashekar Kambar, writer Marulasiddappa, director Nagatihalli Chandrashekar, former MLC Mukyamantri Chandru, founder of Eco Watch Suresh Heblikar, retired government officials Muddu Krishna and Srinivas G Kappanna were among those who attended the meeting held at Maiyas restaurant in Jayanagar. They expressed their opinion on issues close to their heart, and Krishna assured them he will bring peoples concerns to the notice of the government. The octogenarian politicians move has raised many eyebrows in political circles. Krishna had been critical of Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs style of functioning, and had even complained against the chief minister to the party high command. Besides, many disgruntled MLAs in the ruling party, too, had met him recently. Sources close to Krishna said Doreswamy highlighted the need for recovering encroached government lands, especially in and around Bengaluru. The freedom fighter also complained that the state government has been dragging its feet in this regard. Similarly, former vice chancellor Kambar spoke about reforms to be brought about in the field of education, while Mukyamantri Chandru highlighted problems related to Kannada language and reservation of jobs for Kannada-speaking people in the private sector. None of those who attended the meeting, however, attacked the state government directly, sources added. Krishna later told reporters he met noted personalities in order to understand issues related to their fields. Present day politicians indulge in politics round the clock. They are least interested in the development of art, culture, music, literature and language, he added. DH News Service Resolve transport strike On the strike by employees of road transport corporations, he said the government should hold talks with the employees and resolve the issue immediately. People are suffering because of the strike. The government must act before the situation goes out of control, he added. The city police on Tuesday ordered a departmental inquiry against Vijayanagar police station inspector Sanjeev Gowda H B, on charges of harassing and restricting his subordinate police sub-inspector Roopa Tambad from discharging her duties. The departmental enquiry was ordered on Tuesday. A senior police officer will conduct the inquiry and submit a report. Action will be taken based on the recommendations of the inquiry officer, K S R Charan Reddy, Additional Commissioner of Police (West), told Deccan Herald. The police have not set any deadline for submitting the report. It will take about two months in such cases to submit the report, Reddy said. Gowda, who was transferred on Monday, is yet to be relieved from the Vijayanagar police station. He has been posted as inspector Vikasa Soudha (security), a non-executive post. The transfer order stated that Gowda was among the six police inspectors to be transferred, keeping public interest and administrative requirements. Meanwhile, the Rajajinagar police have registered a case against Roopa for attempting suicide at her flat in the police quarters in Rajajinagar on July 19. A case has been registered under IPC Section 309 (attempt to commit suicide) based on a complaint filed by the Rajajinagar police station inspector D B Vidyadhar and he will submit a report, Reddy said. Gowda had entered adverse remarks against Roopas official conduct on the night of July 18 in his official diary, in connection with an old case. She had an argument with him and consumed around 25 tablets at her flat the next day. Her husband Nataraj rushed her to Suguna Hospital on Dr Rajkumar Road. She told the senior officers that she had decided to take the extreme step due to mental harassment by Gowda. Roopa was discharged from Suguna Hospital on Sunday. Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, K S Eshwarappa demanded that the state government convene the legislature session again at the earliest. Eshwarappa told reporters in Bengaluru on Tuesday, Why wait till November? A lot of important issues could not be discussed as the government was in a hurry to adjourn the session sine die. The court had also passed an order in the M K Ganapathi suicide case. The session could have been continued, but the government didnt want it to. Kagodu changed Eshwarappa also said that Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa had changed after he was inducted into the Cabinet. He said that Thimmappa, as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, had pulled up the government for its misdeeds several times. But after he became minister, he has been attacking Opposition parties. DH News Service Two members of a family were killed on the spot and nine others inured in a collision between two cars on the Benglauru-Mysuru Highway near Ramanagaram on Tuesday. The deceased were identified as Basavaiah, 70, and his son-in-law Somashekhar, 40, both residents of KP Agrahara, Bengaluru. Basavaiah and his family members were heading for MM Hills in a Maruti Swift, while Samiulla and four others were heading for Bengaluru in a Honda City when the accident occurred in front of Madura Garments on the outskirts of Ramanagaram around 9 pm, said the police. Manjunath, the driver of the Swift was following a Tata Indica. The driver of the latter car suddenly turned left and Manjunath turned the vehicle to right to avoid hitting the Indica. He lost control as the car moved on to the median, entered the other side of the road and collided with another car (Honda City) coming from opposite direction, said the police. Five people in the Honda City sustained minor injuries as the airbag opened after the crash. The Indica car driver abandoned the vehicle and fled the spot, added the police. The eight JD(S) rebel MLAs have decided not to appear before the partys disciplinary committee on Wednesday. The committee, which had served show cause notices to the MLAs on June 27, had asked them to appear before it, and furnish an explanation. But according to sources, the rebels are in no mood to follow the directive. The party had constituted the committee, following the Rajya Sabha elections, where the rebels had indulged in cross voting. The committee had served individual notices to all eight legislators, charging them with varied anti-party activities. The notice states that if the MLAs fail to appear before the committee, then it will be forced to recommend disciplinary action against them. Currently, the party has suspended them. Sources said on Tuesday that a few of the rebels shot off a reply to the committee stating that they had done no wrong. In his reply to the committee, N Cheluvarayaswamy, MLA, has said that he has always been a loyal party worker. The MLA indirectly took a dig at the committee. I have read the entire show cause notice, and have understood a little bit of it. Despite this, I have tried to furnish my reply to all the charges that have been levelled against me, to the best of my abilities, it states. The MLA has said that he has not gone against his conscience, and has never been disloyal to his party or its leadership. Besides the internal probe, two JD(S) MLAs have appealed to the Legislative Assembly Speaker to disqualify the rebels. Action has been sought against, B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan, N Cheluvarayaswamy, H C Balakrishna, Iqbal Ansari, Akhanda Srinivasmurthy, K Gopalaiah, Bheema Naik and Ramesh Bandisiddegowda. DH News Service Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, on Tuesday, cancelled his scheduled visit to Delhi on Wednesday in view of the strike by employees of road transport corporations. He was scheduled to hold a meeting with members of Parliament from Karnataka in Delhi on Wednesday. The Chief Minister was also planning to meet the Congress high command to finalise names for nominating members to the Legislative Council. Siddaramaiah told reporters that he will stay in Bengaluru and monitor the situation. DH News Service Even as schools and colleges in Bengaluru Urban would remain shut for the third day in a row on Wednesday due to the ongoing strike by KSRTC and BMTC staffers, the schools in the Rural district would reopen despite the protest, according to the deputy commissioners. Since the holiday was declared late in the night, several private schools have decided to work on Wednesday. D Shashi Kumar, General Secretary of the Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka said that it was now a cause for concern. "We have advised our schools association to work full days on a few Saturdays to compensate for the loss. It is also unfair for children here as the decision is not same for all districts," he added. Kumar said that the private schools would function on Thursday even if there was no change in the situation. But, they would hold the government responsible for any untoward incident. "It is sad that the government has not been able to resolve the issue after so long. For problems with one department, the others should not suffer. Schools will reopen on Thursday. If teachers do not turn up or if the children are at risk because of travelling in private buses, government is responsible," he said. The auto and taxi strike in Delhi caused inconvenience to various commuters on Tuesday. The citys auto and taxi unions went on an indefinite strike from Tuesday against the plying of app-based taxi services in the capital. The public faced a hard time finding autos and ones which agreed to ply, charged more than the usual. I had to walk till C R Park from my home to find an auto till Nehru Place Metro station. I stood there for 15-20 minutes to find the auto. One finally agreed to go but said he will charge Rs 50 whereas I daily pay Rs 30 on this route, said a commuter. Twenty unions of autos and taxis have formed a Joint Action Committee, which has called for an indefinite strike, demanding banning of the app-based cab services in the city. The government, however, called the strike politically motivated and said that banning the operation of app-based cab services does not come under its ambit. The situation was bad in main areas like Connaught Place and Kashmere Gate. Misogynistic Oil Sands Ad Backfires For Canadian Advocacy Group Trending News: A Canadian Company Tried To Use This Sexy Ad, And It Backfired Why Is This Important? Because this is as bad as PR can get. Long Story Short A Canadian oil sands advocacy group attempted to make a case for home-sourced oil by sharing an ad on their Facebook page that is quoted saying in Canada lesbians are considered hot! It backfired on the group colossally. Long Story They say sex sells, and that's probably true. However, context really matters. You could theoretically use sex to sell anything, including (for instance) home-sourced crude oil. Just don't take the same tact as this Canadian oil sands company, who've found themselves in hot water over a controversial (it not outright strange) ad. I can hear every Canadian #PR practitioner crying a little when they see this ad. #Fail https://t.co/ReBKlCUZdw Kathleen MacLeod (@kmacle0d) July 26, 2016 The ad was posted by a group called the Canada Oil Sands Community, which has over 13,000 likes on its Facebook page. Featuring two scantily clad women making out, the ad states: In Canada lesbians are considered hot! In Saudi Arabia if youre a lesbian you die! Why are we getting our oil from countries that dont think lesbians are hot?! The backlash quickly ensued against the oil sands advocacy group, and the Facebook post was shared over 1000 times. Nearly all of the reactions were negative as people accused the ad of being misogynistic. One woman commented: I am a person, not a piece of pornography to be applied to whatever marketing BS you've come up with. Experts have also called for the ad to be taken down for being offensive, sexist and inappropriate. First of all it objectifies women. Secondly, it uses lesbian women as some kind of male heterosexual fetish or fantasy, said Dr. Kris Wells, faculty director with the University of Albertas Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services. Experts also agree that conflating human rights issues with sexist messaging is probably not a good way of getting a point across either, as it delegitimizes any effort to take a stand about who Canada chooses to trade with. Carla Bertsch, a social worker and member of Calgary Social Workers for Social Justice said that message is lost in his advertisement. Bertsch, who is a lesbian and works on gender and sexuality, adds that the message does not come out for me, this is just an advertisement that oversexualizes women. I think all lesbians are hot and Im not opposed to putting a picture of two guys up there. It was just to strike up a conversation. I find anybody is hot. I think two women kissing is hot. I think that something that is part of the fabric of our city that we can do whatever we want in our country that is hot, said Robbie Picard, founder of the advocacy group who was behind the poster. He says he used a random stock image for it, and claims that he didnt see the backlash coming. "Lesbians are hot" turns out not to be best way to promote #Canada oil sands over #Saudi: https://t.co/jJRFKJq1RF pic.twitter.com/Kz3pbSu2kf David A. Weinberg (@DavidAWeinberg) July 26, 2016 Picard, who identifies as an openly gay Metis man, also said that he wouldnt have an issue had the poster featured two men instead of women. The ad is no longer featured on the Canada Oil Sands Community Facebook page, though it is unclear whether the group took it down of their own will, or whether they were forced to. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question How could anyone have thought this ad would be a good idea? Disrupt Your Feed Making a case for human rights by lacing arguments with misogyny = epic fail. Drop This Fact Canadas oil sands are the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country. Search our site Search for: Instagram Feed Donate Classifieds Facebook Feed Hageland Aviation has agreed to settle a claim brought by the victims of a 2016 mid-air crash for 2.5 million dollars. Renfros Alaskan Adventures, based in Bethel, and the estate of one of its pilots, Zachary Babat, sued Hageland as a result of the 2016 mid-air crash near Russian Mission. The trial in that case was scheduled for April of this year in Bethel after long delays due to Covid. The parties reached a settlement in March. Five people perished in the crash, which involved a Hageland Cessna Caravan and the Piper Super Cub flown by Babat for Renfros. Kerry Pride of Montana brought the claim on behalf of her deceased husband Zachary Babat, and Wade Renfro brought the claim for his company, Renfros Alaskan Adventures. Renfros sued for financial losses to the company from the crash, and Pride sought a variety of damages, including loss of income from her husbands art business as well as from flying. Both claimants relied on a map which was created from equipment on board the aircraft which recorded the flight paths flown by each. Here is that map from the National Transportation Safety Board: The Renfros Super Cub (yellow line) was traveling north at a steady altitude between 1,700 1,800 ft above mean sea level (msl) prior to the crash. The Hageland Caravan (white line) was flying northwest after departing the runway at Russian Mission about three minutes before the crash and was climbing. Aviation experts employed in the case established that the Caravan pilot would have had a clear view of the Super Cub in front of him and to the left of his position in the cockpit. It was also clear that the Caravan was below and behind the Super Cub until the seconds before the crash, leaving Babat little chance to observe the Caravan. Neither Hageland nor its pilots estate brought a claim against Renfros Alaskan Adventures or the Babat estate. Share this: Tweet Email by the ONC Environmental Youth Litter Patrol Participants The following are letters to Promote Intergenerational Knowledge Transmission of Environmental Changes, Traditional and Cultural Lifestyles in The Regional Climate and Environment from Elder interviews by ONC Environmental Youth Litter Patrol Participants: Katya Carl, Madison Alirkar, and Aqualena Carl *** Julia Kanuk by Aqualena Carl What I learned from interviewing Julia Kanuk was to respect everyone even though they didnt respect you and helping other people like families and friends. Julia spoke about times when she was young, that they did outdoor stuff like playing Kick the Can also known as Hide and Seek, hopscotch which people no longer play anymore, and other fun games. In todays date people barely play those types of games with each other. The teenagers stay at home and are on their phones or play Nintendo games all day and barely get any chores done. They dont help people who need help, and over the years people have become stingy about little things that can provide much abundance if those little things could be set aside. Back then in her younger days, she said people helped each other on a lot of things like hunting and fishing. People took care of each other and didnt wait to be told what to do. They worked as a whole community together. Her message to the younger generation is: Dont expect someone else to do what youre supposed to do. Listen to what our elders are talking about. Listen to the elders right away, when they tell you to do this or that. Do not expect to receive money from parents or elders after doing something for them. Treat each other nicely. Respect people even if you know they did something bad in the past. Respect family members and help others who need help. *** What I learned from Julia Kanuk by Katya Carl I learned that the land has changed very much, and the attitudes from the people. Julia said that people back then were nice to everyone but these days they expect money when they do something for others. Treat others how you want to be treated. Julias message to the younger generation is this: Dont expect money from elders, and respect elders ways. We should start teaching the younger generation how to be kind, nice and respectful. To this day people should start being nice to other people instead of just being nice to their ilaqs. We are connected to the land somehow by studying it so you wont get lost. She spoke about the language of the lands and waterways. With water, we have to study the ripples and waves so that while traveling by boat we can be safe. The water speaks to us by the waves, if the waves are pointy with white caps it becomes dangerous to travel and can flip the boat. Then there are waves that roll far apart. Then there are small ripples that tell us that the area is very shallow and not to go that way. We are connected to the land and water like how we are to our language and all we have to do is learn how to listen. *** Julia Kanuks story by Madison Alirkar I am writing about Julia Kanuks story to see what we have lost from generation to generation. What she said in her interview is that the community in her hometown, which is no longer there (found between Kipnuk and Chefornak called Cicing) was very caring and helpful to everyone whether it was family or not. They still helped and cared for them. In todays date people have become or grown selfish, greedy, arrogant, and expect something in return from the people they help. Most want money. And parents dont really teach their children what equipment or tools to use to help around family and or relatives to be exact. Julia also spoke about how everyone back then used to communicate by going to fish camp with different families around Alaska or near areas and they communicated or had someone who was able to run to a different village to tell others a message. I thought that it was very interesting to give a friend or another a message and run back with another message. *** The stories we collected from the elders we interviewed will be shared in links found on our ONCs webpage soon. This year we decided to implement something new with our Youth Litter Patrol in which we connected them with elders. The elders were excitingly happy to meet and sit down with our young workers. We wanted our youth group to learn about stewardship, climate change, implement leadership and to promote acknowledgement of pollution prevention and recycling with the whole community and most importantly with the younger children from Kindergarten to 6th grade (also known as the younger generation). Our youth litter patrol (YLP) have shared stories about the different types of pollution theyve seen while gathering subsistence foods from the lands and waterways and have come to understand that plastics and other items that people toss onto the ground dont belong out there where we gather our berries, our fish, and other subsistence foods. They want people who are living within the Y-K Delta to start taking their trash home; while berry picking please dont leave pop cans or candy wrappers or other plastics/TRASH out on the tundra. Please stop burying trash a couple inches under the tundra because the trash will come back out. When a couple of our youth participants gathered kapukaqs this spring time, they found pop cans and plastics in the ponds. Here we thought those areas were clean because we never heard anyone complain about finding trash while gathering greens from the open resources we harvest from during the spring season. Our YLP have also learned about groundwater contamination caused by fuel spills and how inevitable the cycle of pollution comes back to us all whether it is through the foods we eat or years later finding out about cancer. They have also learned that when we go out hunting or berry picking, we enter into the wildlife home where animals and birds live, and when we go fishing, we know that the waters should be clean and healthy. One thing that the younger children asked for was to get recycling bins stationed all around town for the community to start recycling and to put candy wrappers and other trash in the right designated spots at home or at a nearby trash can. -Mary C. Matthias, Environmental Program Coordinator, Orutsararmiut Native Council Natural Resources Dept. Share this: Tweet Email by Senator Lyman Hoffman Greetings It is day seventy-four. This week the Senate Finance Committee heard the following bills: SB 32: College Credit for High School Students, SB 36: University of Alaska Regents Reporting Requirements, SB 20: Out of State Teacher Reciprocity, SB56/HB76: Extending COVID-19 Disaster Emergency. In addition, the committee heard from Economist Mouchine Guetabbi, of the Institute of Social & Economic Research (ISER) from the University of Alaska on our states economy and Dan Robinson, Chief of Research & Analysis of the Department of Labor & Workforce Development. The committee approved and moved SB 32 and SB 36 to the full Senate for consideration. The Senate Community & Regional Affairs Committee head the following bills: SB 72: Secondary School Civics Education, and SB 17: Energy Efficiency and Policy Public Buildings. Many blessings to you and your family for a happy and healthy Easter! Coming Soon The Emergency Broadband Benefit program will provide a discount of up to $50 per month towards broadband service for eligible households and up to $75 per month for households on Tribal lands. Eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers if they contribute $10-$50 toward the purchase price. Eligible households are: Qualifies for the Lifeline program Receives benefits under the free and reduced-price school meal programs Received a Federal Pell grant during the current year Experienced a substantial loss of income since February 29, 2020 and the household had a total income in 2020 below $99,000 for single and $198,000 for joint filers Meets the eligibility criteria for a participating provider existing low-income or COVID-19 program The program is authored by the FCC, but the start date is not yet established. Check out the Broadband Benefit Consumer FAQ (see link below) for more information about this program. https://www.fcc.gov/consumer-faq-emergency-broadband-benefit SB 32: College Credit for High School Students SB 32 establishes a middle college program at the University of Alaska (UA). Public school students who have completed grade 8 and have not graduated will be eligible to earn both high school and college credit for courses as allowed by UA. The bill allows the public school to receive an average daily membership (ADM) for qualifying students to be used to cover UA tuition costs. Other fees, including books and transportation, are the responsibility of the student. SB 32 is scheduled to come before the full Senate on Monday, April 5th and then will be transmitted to the House. Share this: Tweet Email I agree whole heartedly with this letter. There is no real reason, or need for this mine (Donlin), other than making a lot of money for a very few people. The untold devastation of the source of life for thousands of people and millions of animals is too high a price to pay for trinkets and computer parts. Come back to the table with a more viable alternative, and perhaps the issue can be re-addressed. At this point, with the proposal as submitted, there is no way this is a good idea. Anne Kosacheff Bethel, AK Response to Speak Your Mind, May 20th, 2020 The risk of the proposed Donlin Mine far exceeds any potential benefit to the people of the region and the resources upon which they depend. William Eggimann Bethel, AK Anchorage community stands together to call for the protection of Black and brown lives Anchorage community members and organizations such as Native Movement and Native Peoples Action stand together to call for the protection of Black & Brown lives. We are calling for solidarity of our diverse communities to stand together in saying Enough is Enough, police brutality is unacceptable anywhere. Our communities are feeling the pain and hurt of repeated violences from law enforcement and the justice system. In addition to the reality and truth that black and Indigenous communities have experienced firsthand, research studies have shown the disproportionate violence faced nationally from police brutality. A 2019 study by Northwestern University shows, Black women and men and American Indian and Alaska Native women and men are significantly more likely than white women and men to be killed by police. (1) Enough is enough. We are done dying. We ask leadership from institutions everywhere to commit to stopping this violence. We seek actionable item response from law enforcement. As Black and Indigenous communities we are asking all people to stand together in solidarity and in care. Anchorage event: I Cant Breathe Social-Distance Rally was held 2pm Saturday, May 30, 2020. Jasmin Smith, Charlene Apok Native Movement Anchorage, AK Senator Murkowski Shares Memorial Day Message U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) released the following message in observance of Memorial Day. For Alaskans, Memorial Day is typically our big kick-off for summer, with sunlight nearly all day and a long weekend to enjoy the great outdoors with our friends and family. It is also a day of tradition and ceremony as we honor the fallen who have served our nation. This year is different for us as many of our Memorial Day ceremonies are cancelled or as we follow new guidance due to the coronavirus. But it doesnt take a large gathering or multiple speeches by dignitaries to honor those who have bravely defended America and all that we hold dear. Let each of us, and with our families, in our own way, reflect on the service and sacrifice of those in our armed services who gave their lives in defense of our great nation. Remember their children and families who loved and supported them. These heroes selflessly sacrificed for the freedoms we enjoy today and we honor them. To you and your families: Be safe. Be well. U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) Washington, D.C. Share this: Tweet Email Newly-Published JESD247 Specification is JEDECs First Standard for Multi-Wire, Multi-Level Chip-to-Chip SerDes July 26, 2016 -- Kandou Bus has announced that their Glasswing GW28-125-USR interface macro that has been manufactured, tested and characterized, is compliant to the newly published JEDEC specification, JESD247. Titled the Multi-Wire, Multi-Level Interface Specification, this new specification was published by the JEDEC standards development organization in June. Kandou actively participated in the effort to define this interface, and David Stauffer of Kandou served as the chair of the JEDEC task group that produced the text. As an active JEDEC member and in full compliance with membership terms and conditions, Kandou has committed to adhere to the RAND, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory, terms of the JEDEC standards body for the licensing of the Kandou patents to that are needed to implement this interface. Kandou Founder and CEO Amin Shokrollahi said, It is wonderful to see multi-wire, or as we call them Chord, interfaces embraced by the JEDEC community in the publication of this standard. Chord interfaces allow more bits to be carried over a given channel type with less power than differential techniques and with greater signal integrity than single-ended techniques. It is likely that many future interfaces will use Chord technology since most interfaces are up against power and/or signal integrity limits. The Glasswing IP is a hard macro block that is implemented in TSMCs 28nm HPM process. This interface employs Kandous CNRZ-5 chord that sends 5 bits over 6 correlated wires plus two clock wires in each direction. The link provides 125 Gb/s of bi-directional throughput over a 12mm, in-package channel with very low power consumption of 1.04 pJ/bit (1.04 mW/Gbps). A quad version in 16nm that shares the forwarded clock will consume only about 0.8 pJ/bit (0.8 mW/Gbps) and is currently under development. JESD247 is available free of charge (registration required) on the JEDEC website About JEDEC: JEDEC is the global leader in the development of standards for the microelectronics industry. Thousands of volunteers representing nearly 300 member companies work together in 50 JEDEC committees to meet the needs of every segment of the industry, manufacturers and consumers alike. The publications and standards generated by JEDEC committees are accepted throughout the world. All JEDEC standards are available for free download from the JEDEC website. About Kandou Bus S.A. Bandwidth and power challenges for next-generation links are being addressed by the industrys leading standards development organizations such as the OIF, IEEE and JEDEC. Kandou advocates for industry standards, contributing its technology and support via membership and board positions within these organizations. Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland and founded in 2011, with design centers in Lausanne and Northampton, UK, Kandou Bus is an innovative interface technology company specializing in the invention, design, license and implementation of industry leading chip-to-chip link solutions. Kandous Chord signaling is a disruptive interconnect technology that lowers the power consumption and improves the performance of semiconductors, unlocking new capabilities in electronic devices and systems. She Is A One Man Army: Parineeti Chopra On Cousin Priyanka Chopra Pan-Africa fintech company MFS Africa has announced its acquisition of Sochitel, an international airtime top-up provider, in a move that creates the largest value transfer payment network focusing on Africa. The MFS Africa Hub enables cross-border, cross-currency, cross-network payments within and into Africa, reaching an estimated 100 million mobile wallets across all major mobile money networks. The Sochitel acquisition adds airtime top-up to the MFS Africa portfolio, which already includes remittances, e-commerce and bill payment. Established in 2007, Sochitel enables international airtime top-up services through a variety of channels and partners. The firm delivers airtime top-ups to over 320 mobile network operators in 100 countries, and enables value-added services and digital transfers through its network of over 50,000 direct outlets across the US, Canada, UK, and Europe, and over 400,000 indirect outlets in Europe, the Middle East, and Southern Africa. MFS Africa is the largest mobile money interoperability hub in Africa, connecting the leading mobile network operators across the continent through a single API. In addition to mobile remittance services, the MFS Africa API enables merchant payment, bulk payment, bank-to-wallet transfers, and an array of other cross border digital payments services. The time is clearly ripe for consolidation in this industry, said Faisal Khan, a payments expert specialising in international money transfer. Airtime top-up is a natural complement to money remittances. Its exciting to see a Pan-African company such as MFS Africa take the lead in consolidating digital cross-border payments. This acquisition makes a lot of sense both from a product portfolio and network synergy point of view. Through the transaction with Sochitel, MFS Africa expands its service offering and footprint considerably, offering more value and flexibility to its hub participants and their end users. MFS Africa will also be able to leverage Sochitels deep reach and understanding of the African diaspora in Europe and North America to develop innovative value added services for its partners. We are thrilled to join forces with another leader in African fintech, said Jerry Ejikeme, founder and CEO of Sochitel. Money transfer is a logical next step for us and we are eager to bring this service to our client base, while also extending airtime transfer services to MFS Africa Hub clients. Dare Okoudjou, founder and CEO of MFS Africa, added: Our mission to reduce remittance costs and enhance digital payments in Africa is considerably strengthened through the partnership with Sochitel. Tele2 has selected Nokia's Cloud Packet Core solution to transform its core network to meet growing customer demand for high performance mobile broadband services. Once deployed, the new generation mobile network will give Tele2 the flexibility, scale and performance necessary to support LTE consumer services on a larger scale, and further develop the foundation for 5G. Tele2 provides mobile services, fixed broadband and telephony, data network services, content services and global M2M/IoT solutions with approximately 16 million subscribers in Europe and Central Asia. Nokia's solution will be deployed across the operator's global network first in Croatia and followed by the Baltic states and Kazakhstan. The advanced design of Nokia's Cloud Packet Core solution will allow Tele2 to adopt an automated cloud networking and service operations model by providing resources whenever and wherever they are needed. The solution consists of the Cloud Mobility Manager and Cloud Mobile Gateway running on an open OpenStack Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) infrastructure and bundled with Nokia's professional services and expertise. Elements of Nokia's Cloud Packet Core solution, including the Cloud Mobile Gateway, were recently assessed by the European Advanced Networking Test Center AG (EANTC) and put through the industry's most stringent performance and scale test scenarios. In all cases Nokia's gear performed with exceptional results, confirming it is ready for today's large-scale deployment and next generation IoT and 5G. Tele2 is addressing the bandwidth demand for LTE consumer services on a larger scale and laying the groundwork for 5G and advanced IoT solutions. Nokia will deliver its full Cloud Packet Core solution based on Cloud Mobile Gateway and Cloud Mobility Manager, including the EMS and Virtualised Network Functions (VNF) Manager. The deal also includes Nokia's Professional Services. Basil Alwan, president of IP/Optical Networks at Nokia, said: "Like all leading operators, Tele2 is building out its packet core network to address the growth of consumer mobile broadband and an evolution path to 5G. Our cloud-native solution will allow Tele2 to connect a greater number and variety of devices and deliver a broader range of services." Virgin Mobile has expanded its Latin American virtual network operations into Peru. Peru is the firms fourth market in the region, with Virgin Mobile Peru (VMP) joining Virgin Mobile Latin Americas (VMLA) successful operations in Chile, Colombia and Mexico. VMP will serve the youthful market with prepaid data services and a fanatical approach to customer service. VMLA is the dominant mobile virtual network operator in each of its markets and is part of Richard Bransons Virgin Group. Virgin Mobile will be led by Steve Logue in Peru, who has extensive mobile experience in the region and was a key player in launching VMLAs first three operations. Logue said, We will super-serve the 18-34-year-old market with simple no contract data plans with no small print or tricks, treating all our customers like Rock Stars. VMLA President and CEO Peter Macnee added, The pre-launch interest we have seen from Peruvians is beyond anything we witnessed in the other markets. VMLA is backed by a strong, diverse investor base including Temasek, one of the worlds largest and most reputable investment companies, owned by the Government of Singapore, and Hermes Growth Partners co-founded by Juan Villalonga, former Chairman and CEO of Telefonica. The European Commission (EC) has approved a new type 2 diabetes called Qter, which was rejected last year in the US. Qter, which is developed by AstraZenecan, is a two-drug therapy that combines Onglyza (saxagliptin), a DDP-4 inhibitor, and Forxiga (dapagliflozin)), an SGLT2 inhibitor. On their ow, both drug classes have been shown to improve blood glucose levels compared to older oral antidiabetic drugs. Combination drugs such as Qtern have benefits in that they provide more than one treatment in a single pill, which can make it easier for patients to manage and remember their medication. The EC based its approval for Qtern following the success of three trials that paired the combination drug with metformin. Two trials showed the AstraZeneca drug outperformed placebo at reducing HbA1c, and the third showed Qtern was statistically superior in lowering HbA1c compared to saxagliptin or dapagliflozin alone when added to metformin. In these trials, the safety profile of Qtern was found to be similar to those of saxagliptin and dapagliflozin. Qtern is indicated for adults with type 2 diabetes aged 18 years and older who do not have adequate blood sugar control from metformin and/or sulphonylurea and an SGLT2 inhibitor or DDP-4 inhibitor. Patients could also be treated with Qtern if they are already taking a free combination of saxagliptin and dapagliflozin. AstraZeneca has previously tried to get approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but they were told in October that additional clinical data would be required. While Qtern is the first drug combination of its kind to be approved in Europen, Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheims drug Glyxambi, which combines linagliptin and empagliflozi, debuted in the US last year. Currently, though, Glyxambi has not yet been made available in Europe. Qtern will require approval by UK regulatory agencies before it becomes available in the UK. China New Energy (CNE) announced that Sunbird Bioenergy Africa and the Zambian Development Agency signed the investment promotional and protection agreement needed in order to start work on its energy project in that country. The AIM-listed company said the agreement was the first milestone in the Zambian project but that there were a number of other milestones which still needed to be reached with Sunbird before construction could start. The Zambia bioenergy project on the Leuna Farm block in Luapula province is to develop a biorefinery to deal with the countrys chronic energy shortage and lack of jobs. CNE was also developing a biorefinery with Sunbird in Zimbabwe. Shares in China New Energy closed 17.39% lower to 1.43p. A former manager at BT slammed the listed telco over its approach to infrastructure investment on Monday, a day before Ofcom announces its plans for the companys wholly-owned subsidiary Openreach , which has monopoly ownership of Britains telephone network. On Tuesday, the regulator will publish plans for creating an Openreach more independent from BT, in order to improve competitiveness within the broadband market. A report from MPs last week warned that Openreach could be forcefully separated from BT if the company doesnt get on top of significant underinvestment in its infrastructure. Ofcom stopped short of recommending a separation in a report earlier in the year, but neither did it rule the option out. BT has stringently denied it is underinvesting in its Openreach network, promising to secure ultrafast broadband speeds to 12 million homes in the next four year. Just two million of those will be through fibre-to-the-premises, however, with the rest using a hybrid technology called G.fast, which uses the ageing copper telephony infrastructure for up to 500 metres from the customers home. Professor Peter Cochrane, BTs former CTO and head of research and development, told The Register that BT is placing too much emphasis on G.fast and not looking at the wider picture. An ambition of 2 million FTTP delivery is no target at all, he said. It's woeful. It would be 48 years to get to all the homes [at that rate]. Cochrane also said the estimated capability of G.fast to achieve speeds of 1Gbps - around 100 times what current ADSL broadband users might experience - appear false. Its been tested in a laboratory under rather idealised conditions in the field. And some people are quoting they can do a gigabit over 200 meters - I can categorically tell you they cannot, Cochrane said. What they can actually do is a gigabit over 20, possibly 30 meters. After that it just dies. Cochrane called the idea that the UK should be content with mediocre internet services a very British point of view. Investment company Hansteen Holdings has bought the further 86.5m units in Ashtenne Industrial Fund (AIF) that it did not already own for 39.5m and refinanced its UK and France portfolio. Hansteen bought the remaining units from the British Airways Pension Trustees, the Royal London Mutual Insurance Society, Kames Capital and clients of Schroder Real Estate Capital Partners at a price unite of 45.65p each. The acquisition, which is expected to complete later this week, represents 14.41% of the units in issue and brings Hansteen's holding to 100%. AIF, which owns about 11.3m square foot of multiple-let industrial properties in the UK, had a portfolio of 2,935 units at 227 estates at 31 December 2015, with a total annual rent of 34.7m and a vacancy of 12%. AIFs property gross asset value was 436.4m. Hansteen also refinanced its existing loan secured against its UK and France portfolios with a single loan facility worth 330m. The new facility replaced the 95m corporate revolving credit facility from the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and the 138.1m loan to AIF from lenders led by RBS, which are both due in July 2018 and October 2017 respectively. Hansteen drew 280m of the facility, or 43.8% of the value ratio, which is hedged against 60.1% of the loan at 2.3% interest per annum, excluding fees. The FTSE 250 listed companys overall cost of borrowing reduced to 2.9% from 3.5% at 31 December 2015, with debt maturity increasing to 3.8 years from 2.6 years. Hansteen's UK property director Derek Heathwood said: The purchase represents the acquisition of c. 60m of property at a yield on the passing rent in excess of 8%. The investment further increases our exposure to the UK light industrial sector and our unique UK asset management platform of seven offices will enable us to drive value not only by reducing the void, but also by continuing to focus on rental growth which we are witnessing across all our UK regions." Treasury director Janine McDonald said: "We appreciate the support of RBS, Barclays and HSBC in helping us to achieve the flexibility of funding that we have secured in this complex transaction. The new facility, consisting of a term loan and a revolving element, reduces the group's cost of borrowing and provides Hansteen with significant additional firepower." Shares in Hansteen Holdings were down 0.10% to 104.50p at 0912 BST. Engineered-components supplier Tyman has issued an improved first-half pre-tax profit and said it remains optimistic about growth prospects in the US for the second six months of the year. The company booked a pre-tax profit of 7.8m, from 7.7m a year earlier, which was accompanied with a proposed interim dividend of 3p a share, from 2.66p. Revenue improved to 201.0m, from 175.4m. Net debt rose to 143.5m, from 104.1m. Chief executive Louis Eperjesi noted the achievement of two strategic goals -- the acquisition of a high-quality hardware brand in Europe and an increase in future exposure to the North American commercial market. "The Group delivered a strong trading performance in the first half with encouraging growth in North America, continued improvement in Europe and the Middle East -- assisted by the initial contribution from Giesse -- and a solid performance in the UK," Eperjesi said. "We remain optimistic about the prospects for growth in the US in both Residential and Commercial markets for the second half of the year," he said in a statement. While there was a less than certain outlook for the UK and European markets after the former's non-binding Brexit vote to quit the European Union, Tyman was well positioned to progress. Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. How Ohio anti-abortion activists shaped post-Roe America 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. Subscriber content preview Housing data indicates foreign nationals spent more than $1 billion on British Columbia property between June 10 and July 14. By JEREMY HAINSWORTH Associated Press VANCOUVER, British Columbia Foreign nationals buying Vancouver real estate will pay an additional property transfer tax of 15 percent under legislation proposed by the British Columbia government. Finance Minister Mike de Jong said Monday the tax is aimed at addressing high real estate prices and low vacancy rates. . . . De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is visiting Poland to show would-be students, staff and other partners the benefit of a truly global education. As the second stage of a summer-long European engagement, DMU is teaming up with the GREAT Britain campaign to hold an event in Warsaw aimed at showing just how welcome and important EU students and staff are to the UK. At the event, being held on Wednesday 27 July, Polish graduates who studied at DMU will talk about how the international university experience gave them a wealth of experience and how important the opportunities to study abroad have been to their subsequent careers. Senior staff from DMU will join Polish alumni from the university, along with representatives from Polish education and business sectors. There will also be a talk from Ian Blatchford, Chairman of DMUs Board of Governors and Director and Chief Executive of the Science Museum Group, which runs Londons Science Museum, one of the citys major attractions, with more than 3.3 million visitors a year. The visit follows a successful first event in Cyprus, at the capital, Nicosia, which drew dozens of alumni, business and higher education representatives together and received international news coverage. DMUs Vice-Chancellor Professor Dominic Shellard will talk and answer questions on the day, sharing the positive messages from the universitys campaign to promote global education called #LoveInternational at the one-day conference. Professor Shellard said: We take great pride in the fact that DMU is a global university. These events will give us an opportunity to showcase our universitys innovation, creativity and academic excellence, to answer peoples questions, and explain how Leicester is such a diverse and vibrant place in which to live. We will confirm that, despite recent political developments, DMU, Leicester and the UK are still very much open for business. #LoveInternational, launched following the outcome of the EU Referendum vote, reaffirms what everyone who works and studies at DMU already knows that the university is welcoming and supportive of all its students and staff. As an institution proud of its truly global outlook, DMU welcomes students from more than 130 countries in the world. RELATED NEWS GREAT response in Cyprus to the start of DMU's European tour DMU - A global university British education is GREAT and global, says DMU Leicester the city at the heart of which DMUs campus is located is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world, with recent research by the London School of Economics naming its Narborough Road as officially the most diverse street in England, with at least 23 different nationalities among the 222 shops along its one-mile length Director of the GREAT Britain Campaign, Conrad Bird CBE said: I am delighted that GREAT can be involved once again with DMU. I welcome the universitys continued natural instinct to celebrate students from Europe, and around the world. The events being held across Europe, and the positive messages they embrace, reflect the thinking behind the GREAT Britain campaign showcasing the best of what the UK has to offer, and inspiring people to come to the UK to study. As part of the #LoveInternational story so far, DMU has created the LoveEU Bundle for EU students which includes, among its assurances, guaranteed home-rate tuition fees up to and including entry in 2018/19. The events, running through July and August, will also take place in Lithuania, Germany and Sweden, giving potential students and European partners the opportunity to find out more about DMU, network and participate in valuable discussions. Construction of first US offshore wind farm enters final phase Preparations for the the first solar farm in the US, Block Island Wind Farm, are well under way, with the regulatory permits in place and, funding procured, and the jacket installation complete, project developer Deepwater Wind said on Monday. The required equipment for the farm, towers, blades and five massive turbines had received at the site and were ready for assembly. The blades arrived from Denmark late last month, while the turbines are currently under way across the North Atlantic. Meanwhile, the turbine engines are on their way to Block Island from France. Work on the installation of towers will start when the vessel arrives. The work is expected to start in August. Installation of the 20-mile cable connecting Block Island with the mainland was completed on 28 June, providing the island with its first electrical and fibre optic connection ever. A separate cable had been installed by the developer and operator of the farm, Deepwater Wind, linking the facility with Block Island. The company expects to complete cable linkages between the five wind towers this month. The wind farm is entering its third and final phase of construction. The five turbines, which will be installed by the company, off the coast of Block Island, will provide 90 per cent of the island's power, while the balance 10 per cent will be distributed on mainland Rhode Island. ''We've been working on getting this project going for over 10 years, and we've been in construction for two and to be here standing is something a lot of us have looked forward to for a long time,'' said Bryan Martin, chairman of Deepwater Wind. ''This is the way to rebuild our economy,'' governor Raimondo said. ''We cannot bring back old-fashioned manufacturing.'' Two Donegal-born actors at very different stages of their careers feature in Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme this weekend in Letterkenny. Ballyshannon man Sean McGinley is still at the top of his game after many decades in film, TV and on stage, while the younger Iarla McGowan, from Letterkenny, is a man still forging his career. This production, and his recent involvement with Field Day Theatre Company, are big steps in the right direction. One can hope he too will become as big a household name as Sean McGinley - certainly he has the talent. This joint production between the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and the Lyric Theatre in Belfast has been hailed as an "exceptional" staging of the iconic 1985 play by Buncrana born playwright Frank McGuinness. A scene from the Abbey Theatre's exceptional production, which features two of Donegal's top actors. The drama is set in 1916, in the trenches of France and the six counties that would become Northern Ireland. It offers a compelling and humane consideration of the Protestant men of the 36th (Ulster) Division of the British Army. The eight men of the play, ranging from Belfast shipyard workers McIlwaine and Anderson, to former minister of religion Roulston, are a diverse working-class group, apart from Pyper, a young sculptor who is the black sheep of his wealthy family. "There is a touch of genius in McGuinnesss, sensitive, often bleakly comic exploration of the mens situation. Director Jeremy Herrin and his brilliant cast give powerful expression to the exquisitely crafted script. The deeply affecting production delivers this resonating play of war and identity with tremendous intelligence and emotional charge. The Telegraph See this extraordinary production this Friday and Saturday at 8pm in An Grianan Theatre, Letterkenny. Booking on 074 912 0777 or www.angrianan.com As many area communities will be observing Trick-or-Treating this weekend and Monday, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections advises you and your family to keep your children safer this Halloween by discussing ahead of time what to do if you are ever separated. A list of safety tips from state agencies is below to help ensure a safer Halloween weekend for everyone. You can also find the hours for trick-or-treating in Door and Kewaunee counties by clicking here. -A parent or trusted adult should always accompany children -Stay on well-lit streets and stick to neighborhoods you know -Only stop at homes where the porch light is on -Never enter a home or car for a treat -Trick-or-treaters should carry a cell phone to allow for quick communication -If the child carries a cell phone, activate location services prior to trick-or-treating -Call 911 if you see any suspicious or illegal activity Children should yell No! and run from any stranger who tries to take them somewhere -Have a responsible adult check treats at the end of the night Similarly, the Wisconsin Department of Health also suggests some tips for families with trick-or-treaters and families who are giving out candy. Costume Tips -Choose costumes that are light-colored and more visible to motorists. -Use reflective tape to decorate costumes and candy bags to increase the visibility of children to drivers. Reflective tape may be purchased at hardware, bicycle, or sporting goods stores. -Use make-up rather than a mask; if your childs costume does include a mask, make sure it fits snugly and that the eyeholes are large enough to allow full vision. -Children should wear well-fitting, sturdy shoes. -Costumes should be short enough that a child will not trip and fall. -Choose costume accessories such as swords or knives that are made of soft and flexible material. -Do not use novelty contacts such as cat eyes or snake eyes. Pedestrian Safety -Engage in Halloween activities during the daylight hours, if possible. -Do not enter homes or apartments without adult supervision. -Remind children to walk, not run, and to only cross streets at crosswalks. -Be sure your children are accompanied by a responsible adult who has a flashlight. ----- -Flashlights or chemical light sticks should be used so that children can see and be seen by motorists. Halloween Home Safety -Remove obstacles from your lawn, porch, or steps if you are expecting trick-or-treaters. -Make sure your front porch is well-lit. -Avoid using candle-lit jack-o-lanterns if possible. If you do use candles, dont place them near curtains, furnishings, or decorations. Move them off porches where childrens costumes may ignite. -Keep your pets in another room when you are expecting trick-or-treaters. -Small children should not carve pumpkins; instead, allow them to draw the designs on the pumpkin and adults may carve. -Turn on an outside light if welcoming trick-or-treaters. It says Henderson will focus initially on raising the profile of The Lost Distillery Company, as well as other spirit brands included in Crucials portfolio, which includes Six Saints rum from Grenada and West Indies Rum & Cane Merchants single barrel and regional rums. Described as a whisky food pairing expert and ambassador of Scottish food and drink overseas, Henderson is said to bring knowledge and experience to the Ayrshire-based company. He has previously spent 15 years in the hospitality industry, with the last 10 years setting up a restaurant, delicatessen & events company. He will represent the Crucial Drinks portfolio in more than 40 markets worldwide. Henderson said: Whisky continues to grow in popularity, its rich heritage and provenance adds to its international appeal. The Lost Distillery Company offers a fascinating portal into Scotlands pioneering whisky heritage with outstanding whisky thats gathering huge traction overseas. Scott Watson, co-founder of Crucial Drinks and The Lost Distillery Company, said: With his obvious passion for championing heritage and telling long forgotten stories, Ewan will be a real asset as we continue to grow our brand and launch in new international markets. Each resurrected brand is the subject of an in-depth research project to understand the original character of the long lost distillery and how that special whisky might taste today if still alive. As our brand custodian, Ewan will delve into the company archives and further bring to life the stories of Scotlands lost whisky legends, said Watson. Representatives from Chattanooga State and UTC met on Monday afternoon to sign an articulation agreement allowing Chattanooga States Global Scholars Program students to transfer seamlessly into UTCs Honors College in their Innovations in Honors program. "Dr. Flora Tydings, Chattanooga State president and Dr. Steve Angle, UTC chancellor, signed this important agreement that is uniquely designed to ensure that high-performing students can take advantage of Chattanooga States low tuition and generous grant and scholarship opportunities, including TN Promise, and continue their path to academic excellence upon transfer to UTC," officials said. Now students can begin their education at ChattState and obtain a bachelors degree with honors from UTC, said Amanda Bennett, Global Scholars director. Students graduating from Chattanooga State with the Global Scholars distinction will possess 15 hours of honors credits prior to transfer. Both programs offers distinctive benefits to students such as small class size, priority registration, undergraduate research, personalized advising, study abroad, scholarship opportunities and more. In addition, out-of-state students can receive in-state tuition making these prestigious educational opportunities affordable to students throughout the region and beyond, said Ms. Bennett. Dr. Linda Frost, dean of Honors College at UTC said, We already have a great partnership with Chattanooga States Global Scholars Program and we are thrilled to concretize this partnership with the signing of this agreement. GSP students are a very good fit for UTCs IIH Program. For more information about the Global Scholars Program, visit www.chattanoogastate.edu/global-scholars or call Amanda Bennett, Director, at 423-697-2577. A stark warning has been issued over a swarm of potentially deadly jellyfish that are washing up along Louth's shoreline. Hundreds of Lions Mane jellyfish have come ashore at Annagassan, Port and Clogherhead beaches over the last week. The brainless stingers could be potentially deadly as their stings can cause swimmers to go into anaphalactic shock. Irish Water Safety said this week: The Lions mane Jellyfish has been reported to us on the following beaches Portmarnock, Malahide, Sutton and Bettystown. Lifeguards ensure your safety on our beaches and will be patrolling on their surf rescue boards to ensure that they do not pose a threat to members of the public. The CEO is also alerting the public that due to the current spell of good weather when more people will be enjoying our waters, these potentially dangerous jellyfish are likely to appear on more of our beaches in the coming weeks. The sting from these jellyfish can cause anaphylactic shock and we have had a number of people hospitalised as a result of a sting from these venomous Jellyfish. The sting from their tentacles lasts many days after they have died. Members of the public should report the sightings of these two jellyfish to the relevant local Authority Water Safety Development Officer. The Lion's Mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata) is also known as the giant jellyfish or the hair jelly, and is the largest known species of jellyfish on the planet. It can grow to length of up to 37 metres and while not nearly as deadly as other species of tropical jellyfish, it can give swimmers a painful and potentially fatal sting, given that some people suffer an allergic reaction to them. Most encounters however just cause temporary pain and localised redness of the skin. On July 21, 2010, around 150 people are thought to have been stung by the remains of a lion's mane jellyfish that had broken up into countless pieces in Rye, New Hampshire, in the United States. Some people believe that given the size of the species, the incident could have been caused by just one jellyfish. Sunday 3 July in Reaghstown marked a historic occasion with the opening of the first phase of the community centre. Built on the grounds of the Westerns GFC this building will bring the community closer together in recreation and social activities. The first phase, which was completed in late June, installed upgraded club rooms along with a "Sli Na Slainte - pathway to Health", walking track. In attendance at the opening were a number of local and regional notaries, including former Louth GAA manager and current Fine Gael TD Peter Fitzpatrick along with Louth 1957 All-Ireland winner Aidan McGuinness, a former trainer of the Westerns and a man very well known around GAA circles. Westerns GFC chairman, Frank Scriven addressed the large crowd and thanked the people who contributed to the building, many of them voluntary. He said that the foundations were laid way back at the start of 2015 so its been a long road to get to this point. Frank added: Theres an awful lot of people in the background who have done tremendous work. It was November in 2014 when we turned the sod here and the foundations were poured in January last year, so it has taken a little longer than we expected to get to this stage. But at least weve got to this stage. "It's been a long struggle from planning to a decision being made to do it through our own labor, trying to get as much help as we could instead of going out to a main contractor. We know that we have saved tremendous money and that is down to the amount of help that we have got and the amount of people who have volunteered giving up their own time. Youll also notice the walking and running track we completed over the Easter weekend. One of the main drivers behind this was Anthony Durnin. He came to the committee and the committee backed him. Anthony asked the crowd to avail of the walking track even if they hadn't an interest in GAA but to stimulate a healthy mind and body. Frank addressed the crowd one last time to say these words: Within a month or so, we will start dismantling the old building and we will be progressing with the new build. Earlier this year, through the help of Peter Fitzpatrick, we managed to secure a grant for 52,000. That will go to fund the next part of it. That has to be spent by the end of next year, so our intention is that we will push on. How do you differentiate your business in a crowded market whilst competing with larger, powerhouse organisations? This is a question facing smaller operators in the aged care industry. Theres no doubt, with the ageing population in Australia increasing as rapidly as it is, the aged care industry is in turn growing with no signs of slowing down. In 1984 there were 120,000 people living in Australia aged over 85 today that figure is up by 400 per cent to 455,000. In 2024 it is predicted this number will leap to 602,000. Deloitte data, commissioned by the Aged Care Guild, tells us that we will require an additional 76,000 residential care places by 2023 to care for the population. As a result, public expenditure on aged care will double as a share of the economy by 2055, while over the past year alone $1.7 billion was spent on capital investment in aged care. So what does this mean for the industry? It results in aged care services and infrastructure becoming increasingly vital in Australia. If you are looking to enter the industry as a small provider, you will need to differentiate your business from the larger, national organisations. One way to accomplish this, as weve discovered at Whiddon, is through creative ageing programs, which offer residents, clients and staff opportunities to learn new skills and improve their quality of life. Creative ageing engages at a social, emotional and physical level and has demonstrated significant health and wellbeing benefits. In terms of putting your business first and standing out from the crowd, in any sector, I would suggest: 1. Develop meaningful programs for consumers, commercial partners, staff and stakeholders More often than not individuals want to associate themselves with organisations that implement meaningful initiatives. Think big and develop take notice activations. For example, HenPower is a UK program we trialled, that introduced chooks donated (or purchased) by the local community and staff into residential care homes to bring together older people with community volunteers, staff and henthusiasts. Our research has shown the presence of the chooks, the engagement in caring for them and participation in the creative activities that are part of the program has reduced signs of depression and anxiety and improved the physical health of our residents. This is a specific example where we, as an organisation, developed a competitive edge to better serve our residents. But the ethos is something that can be applied to any business. Taking a similar tact and trialling something novel can go a long way because it creates that recognisable point of difference in market. It will help with generating new business as well, as partners are more attracted to working with companies that offer a creative perspective. 2. Define what sets you apart and use it to your advantage Theres no point going after every piece of the pie. Id rather be an expert in a niche area than generally knowledgeable about a multitude of things. At Whiddon, we aim to deliver a unique experience around our core focus on people, community and wellbeing. That is how we are recognised and that is how we use it. Its important for small businesses to focus on their core strengths to get across their key messages. Concentrating on too many things at one time can distort the mission of the organisation, in turn affecting business performance. 3. Get creative and empower your team as brand ambassadors Our people are everything. The same goes for any organisation. The people that make up your team are the ones delivering your message, product or service they are the backbone to the brand, so look at them as your priority. Staff retention is extremely important to us. How are we doing things differently? We are upskilling our staff in new engagement techniques based on Montessori, play, music and other creative techniques. This training has a proven effect on our residents wellbeing and quality of life, and staff job satisfaction. Leap for Life empowers our staff to deliver relationship-centred care and to think differently about how they deliver care and support services, making every interaction with residents and clients meaningful. 4. Be an Authentic Leader It has been said that a leadership vacuum exists within Australian businesses today. From my perspective this is underpinned by the absence of authentic leadership from those that aspire to lead. In their book Mastering Leadership, Anderson and Adams research and conclude that authenticity is directly correlated to leadership effectiveness, teamwork and business performance. The aged care sector has people at its foundation; those that we care for and those who care for others. Ultimately, all of our actions and priorities need to reflect this basic premise. So whether its selecting a program that uses pet hens to combat loneliness and social isolation, or upskilling staff to better engage residents, as leaders we must stay true to our values and lead by example to those that we represent. Subsequently, the trust and engagement generated as a result of this ultimately leads to better outcomes and benefits the organisation as a whole. About the author Chris Mamarelis is CEO of The Whiddon Group, which has provided care for older Australians in regional, rural and remote NSW for nearly 70 years. Tennessee Court of Appeals Judge John McClartys law clerk Stephanie Slater has published an article about Justice Edward T. Sanfords tenure on the Supreme Court of the United States. Justice Sanford is the only known Knoxvillian and University of Tennessee graduate to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.The article, which is a chapter excerpted from a book Slater is authoring, was published in the United States Supreme Court Historical Society's Journal of Supreme Court History July issue. The book, Emerging From Obscurity: Edward Terry Sanford, Tennessean on the United States Supreme Court, will be published by the University of Tennessee Press in the summer of 2017. Slater credits Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon Lee and others with motivating her to write the book. Don Ferguson with the Historical Society for the Eastern District of Tennessee encouraged me to write a book. I talked it over with Justice Lee and she challenged me to do it, Slater said. Ms. Slater said she was inspired by a portrait of Justice Sanford hanging in the courtroom. It amazed me that he was relatively unknown. I started researching him. My materials kept growing. Justice Sanford was born in Knoxville and served on the Court from 1923 until his death in 1930. He received multiple degrees from University of Tennessee and Harvard University. Prior to his time on the Court, he was in private practice and was a lecturer at the University of Tennessee College of Law. From 1905-1907, Sanford was an Assistant Attorney General under President Theodore Roosevelt and served as a federal district judge for Tennessees Eastern and Middle districts. As Ms. Slater notes in her work, Sanford is best known for Gitlow v. New York, the case credited with initiating the Incorporation Doctrine, making the Bill of Rights (which formerly applied only to the federal government) applicable to the states. Ms. Slater is a graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law and holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science degrees from UT. In addition to clerking for Judge McClarty, she has clerked for Justice Sharon Lee, Justice Gary Wade, Judge Charles Susano, the late Judge Houston M. Goddard, and Judge Thomas W. Phillips. She also spent some time in private practice. The next meeting of the James County Historical Society will be held on Sunday, August 7 at the Ooltewah United Methodist Church at 6131 Relocation Way in Ooltewah, Tennessee. The program will be presented by Dennis Billings, who will talk about James County; locations, buildings, families and anything having to do with James County. James County was created by an act of the Tennessee General Assembly in 1871 from lands that were formerly part of Hamilton and Bradley counties. The county seat was at Ooltewah. Following the bankruptcy of James County in 1919, residents rejoined either Hamilton or Bradley counties. Bring a friend, your memories and fun stuff to share in the discussion with Dennis. Be sure to follow the Facebook Page for current information. The evolving story about the leaked Democratic National Committee emails got quite a bit more complicated today, with cybersecurity experts weighing in that Russian government operatives are likely behind the hack. If youre head is swimming, like mine has been, heres a lowdown on whats known, whats hype, and what seems to be straight bunk. First, the emails indicate some staffers preferred Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. Obviously. And not just obviously in the sense that thats what the scandal is about. I mean obviously in the sense that no one should be surprised in the least that the DNC preferred a candidate who has for decades worked to build relationships with DNC leaders over a candidate who became a Democrat only to run for president, and who assailed party leaders from the beginning of the campaign. Remember when a speaker at one of Sanders rallies called them corporate whores? I bet Debbie Wasserman Schultz wasnt quick to forget that, and its just one example in a campaign season full of attacks lobbed by Sanders at establishment Democrats. You know, the people who make up the DNC. Ever since Sanders effectively lost the nomination, his supporters have been fond of admonishing Clinton supporters to treat them nicely the old catching more flies with honey line. Sanders could have used a bit of honey himself during the campaign. If hed made some allies within the DNC instead of alienating them at every turn, he might have been more well-respected. Yes, the DNC is supposed to be neutral, but you cant fault people for having opinions about someone who clearly doesnt respect them. The question is, did staffers act on those opinions? Which brings me to point two: The emails do not show evidence of staffers taking specific actions that would affect the outcome. Looking through this list of the most damaging emails, Im not finding the proof. What I am finding is a whole lot of nothing pretending to be something. For example, one email is given this title by Heavy.com: Rhode Island, Where Governor Is One of Ours, Reduces Polling Locations. Sounds sinister, doesnt it? However, when you read through the emails, what you actually find is staffers are learning that Rhode Island, of its own accord, has reduced polling locations. The DNC staffers are merely worried about how the Sanders camp will react. They suggest reaching out to the governor, who is one of ours in other words, a Democrat! And lest you think Rhode Island reduced the polling locations in order to favor Clinton, take note of this, from the Boston Globe: Robert Rapoza, director of the state Board of Elections, said they have reduced polling locations for the last four presidential primaries, including the contested 2008 Democratic primary battle between then-US Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Theres also the fact that basically all of these examples came late in the primary after Hillary Clinton was clearly headed for victory In other words, these emails were exchanged after Clinton had all but locked things up, so theres little chance they changed the outcome. Now heres where things get weird. Experts are saying all signs point to Russian intelligence agencies being behind the leaks. Back in June, it was reported that Russian government hackers had accessed the computer network of the DNC. Shortly thereafter, stolen documents regarding the DNCs Trump opposition research began showing up on blogs and sites like The Smoking Gun. On July 13, the hackers leaked more documents to The Hill, these containing some donor information. Then, on July 22, came the latest email dump, with Wikileaks publishing the more than 19,000 emails that have the Sanders camp riled now. But why would Russian operatives want to meddle in the U.S. election specifically to harm the Democrats? Or, more specifically, to help Republican candidate Donald Trump? Perhaps because Trump has strong financial ties to Russia. A Talking Points Memo piece over the weekend on Trumps financial ties to Russia pointed out that Trumps debt load has grown from $350 million to $630 million over the past year, and that hes been blackballed by all major U.S. banks. And, that post-bankruptcy, Trump has been highly reliant on investment capital from Russians who have close ties to Vladimir Putin. Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets, Trumps son, Donald Jr., told a real estate conference in 2008, according to an account posted on the website of eTurboNews, a trade publication. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia. Theres much more damning information in the full story. So in a nutshell: DNC staffers preferred Clinton but didnt, as far as we can see, do anything to affect the outcome of the primaries. And we know this because, as far as experts can tell, Russia is meddling in our election to get Putins buddy Trump elected president. And if that were to happen, to whom would Trump be loyal? As they say, just follow the money. [CC image credit: Gage Skidmore | Flickr] This morning at the Michigan DNC delegation breakfast, former Governor (and my personal friend and hero) Jennifer Granholm read a poem she wrote about Donald Trump. She had the entire room in stitches so I asked her if I could share it with our readers and she kindly agreed. Enjoy! Michigan Convention Ode a little fun at the Michigan breakfast, with apologies to Dr. Seuss Delegates from the South, or us northern yanks We may seem different as sushi and franks. But upon closer look, for what its worth, Were all really just separated at birth. More than geography that connects us, Our love of country also intersects us. We like purple mountains and green forests too But our favorite colors are red white and blue. You may be left, middle or conservative bellweather: Americas stronger when were standing together. Now, theres nothing more that a good Democrat hates Than Repubs in control in 31 states So Republicanism has taken its toll Heres what Michigan got with GOP control: They underfund infrastructure despite peoples gripes, No new roads or bridges or underground pipes; Theyre lead poisoning children in the City of Flint; Theyre slashing the reach of labors footprint; They wont pay to retrain our jobless folks; They say global warming is all a hoax; Theyve passed laws making it harder to vote, While trickle down theory gets jammed down our throat. Theyve made massive cuts to the business tax, While funding for schools goes under the axe. Legislating bathrooms and voter ID: Thats what you get with this GOP. Congressional panels up to no good, Obsessed over emails and planned parenthood; And if any of that sounds familiar to you Time to turn all of Michigan blue! Poor Republicans are just now coming to grips With the reality of the Trumpocalypse. Im intrigued by Trumps psychology Seems his whole rationale for running is : He! Why does his bluster seem so sure? Is it because hes so insecure? His language so forceful, his words so bold He seems super strong for a seven year old. Now, we could care less that hes twice divorced, But we do care bout the jobs hes outsourced. He boasts, hell bring back the jobs that were let go! But he manufactures in China and Mexico! A scammer, a chiseler some have called Trump a thief Do we want as our president a swindler-in-chief? His books say theyll show you to profit heaven, So why do they all end at Chapter 11? So Trump declared bankruptcy not 3 times but four Do we want him near launch codes for nuclear war? He insults our allies and when hes done, Hes BFFs with Putin and Kim Jung Un. With such paper thin skin hes wholly unstable: Imagine him in charge of the Situation Room Table! One reason we cant let up our attacks is Trump refuses to release his own taxes. This lack of transparency? Like never before! Is he stashing his loot in some haven offshore? Is it because hes not a 10-billionaire? Or because Donalds rate is grossly unfair? Even ol Mitt Romney is in an uproar Maybe Trumps cars also get their own elevator? Then theres his anti-immigrant rants and racism And he just reeks with his own narcissism. Building yuuuge walls are part of his plans; Must all be related to the size of his . hands. And his issues with women and what it reveals! Seems he only likes us in tiaras and heels. Punish the women who exercise choice, Criticizing the sound of Hillarys voice, Bleating out bile like a bloviating blowhard: I think its time to play that woman card. Cuz over in DC, its gridlock times ten But all that can be fixed with some more estrogen. The boys had their fun, lets turn a new leaf. Its time for woman as commander in chief. So we need you to fight in your state Against the science-denying right wingers of hate. Well let them all steep in their party of tea As we register voters in every county! While Donald Trump thinks he will con you all too: I ask you Democrats: will we turn this country blue? So batten down the hatches, amass the artillery, I know Michigan is ready for Hillary! And for the future of the nation, its totally evident No finer words to us than Madam President! The Internet of Medical Things, Part 1: A New Concept in Healthcare The Internet of Medical Things, Part 2: Devices and Apps Though quick to capitalize on connected health devices and the coming Internet of Medical Things, hardware manufacturers may be moving too slowly when it comes to building the necessary protections into the back end. The National Security Agency last month told participants in a defense technology summit in Washington that it was looking into hacking connected medical devices. The agencys interest is confined to researching the possibility of hacking IoMT devices, for now, and the fruit of its labor may be just another tool in the toolbox, according to NSA Deputy Director Richard Ledgett. However, if the NSA is looking into hacking such devices, consumers can be sure that the black hats are on it too. Where Theres a Web, Theres a Way The cost of connected health programs will challenge the cultivation of the IoMT, as well the user experience and user interfaces, observed Scott Sellers, CEO of Azul Systems. Underneath it all lies a threat to the security of consumers most intimate data. IoMT challenges include slow or uneven regulatory responses to changes in approach, mostly focusing around data security and, in some markets, reliability of communications, Sellers told TechNewsWorld, especially when traveling, or if patients are in rural areas with less robust network infrastructures. In theory, any Internet-connected device can be hacked, said Brian Wassom, leader of Honigmans social, mobile and emerging media industry group. Cybersecurity attacks thus far have focused on large networks systems that have plenty of access points, are rich with high-value data, and are built on computer languages common enough to invite exploitation, he pointed out. None of these conditions were met when connected medical devices were in the experimental stage, Wassom told TechNewsWorld. Carriage and Horse The Federal Trade Commission last year kicked off the conversation about getting out in front of possible security and privacy issues sure to proliferate as the number of IoT and connected medical devices pile up in coming years. The Food and Drug Association for the past three years has been issuing guidance on improving the safety and security standards of connected medical devices, noted Stu Bradley, vice president of cybersecurity at SAS. The proliferation of IoMT technology, and the healthcare industrys enthusiasm to adopt it, has put the veritable cart before the horse in terms of security, he told TechNewsWorld. Manufacturers will need to embed more robust security solution into IoMT devices, meaning they must proactively address security concerns instead of retroactively responding, Bradley said. This poses a real challenge for manufacturers whose core competency has historically been device, not software, development, he added. Manufacturers of connected devices generally have focused on building systems to deliver the needed functionality of a device as cheaply and precisely as possible, noted Matt Gross, director of the SAS health care and life sciences global practice. Manufacturers, in turn, use the cheapest underlying platforms usually open source to keep costs down and accelerate time to market, he told TechNewsWorld. That leaves these devices quite vulnerable to compromise. Day Zero Roughly 70 percent of IoT devices were vulnerable to cyberattacks as of two years ago, Honigmans Wassom noted, citing an HP study. Weaknesses in admin tools, paltry means for updating firmware, and a lack of transport encryption were among the 250 vulnerabilities researchers found. Bad habits die hard and the practice of using basic passcodes carried over to IoT devices, the study revealed. About 80 percent of passwords securing IoT devices were 1234 and the like. Medical devices are not immune to this minimalistic approach to data security, Wassom said. Two researchers detailed how they remotely accessed a hospitals neonatal monitors in a presentation Wassom attended at last years DEFCON. In many cases, hospital employees may not even realize that certain devices even have Internet connectivity, much less how to secure them, he said. Another hacker found an easy way to take charge of an infusion pump, a device that delivers fluids to patients and is common in hospital rooms. In theory, he could have emptied an entire vial of medication into a patient, said Wassom, and a hospital staff person monitoring the device from a central location would never have known. While hackers could leverage exploits to modify systems and cause physical harm to other humans, its more likely theyll be motivated to use stolen data for financial gain, said SAS Gross. They likely will use ill-gotten information to gain access to other systems, or encrypt it for use in ransomware attacks, he suggested. Until the first major breach occurs, however, focus will stay on more immediate threats. Nintendo shares soared on Monday after its new augmented reality mobile app, Pokemon Go, burst out of the gate over the weekend in the U.S and in key markets around the globe. The companys shares rose 36 percent in two days, after downloads of the Pokemon Go app raced to the top of iOS and Android charts in the U.S. The wave of demand exceeded expectations, said Morgan Stanley MUFG analyst Mia Nagasaka, in a note to investors. Especially noteworthy is that there were no aggressive marketing campaigns prior to the app going live, and the rapid ascent to the number one spot in sales ranking was unexpected, she wrote. Nintendo, the Pokemon Co. and Niantic, the former Google unit behind the wildly popular augmented reality game Ingress, teamed up to provide a mobile gaming app based on the iconic Pokemon franchise. Nintendo shares ended the Monday session in Tokyo at 20,260 yen (US$198.41) per share. Assuming sales hold firm, Nintendo is likely to realize monthly revenue of 10-15 billion yen, estimated Nagasaka, based on daily turnover in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. Among the developments that may boost the companys fortunes are the release of Pokemon Go in Japan, the release of mobile game apps in a joint project with DeNA of Japan, and the companys long anticipated NX platform in March 2017, she wrote. Cashing In on the Franchise The strong response in Nintendo shares is not only because Pokemon is a global phenomenon with a large fan base, but because it is being distributed on Android and iOS, which have billions of active users, Jon Peddie Research Senior Gaming Analyst Ted Pollak told the E-Commerce Times. Pokemon Go is a bit of an outlier, but it represents a standout example of what Nintendo can do in the realm of mobile, said Brian Blau, research vice president at Gartner. The company has had a difficult time in the past few years, and investors have been looking for how they will turn the company around, he told the E-Commerce Times. While I dont believe this one game will change the overall trajectory of the company, its a clear sign that some of their turnaround efforts are starting to pay off. Since the downloads are free and the in-app purchases will provide incremental revenue, the longer-term test is to create new content that will keep gamers coming back, observed Lewis Ward, research director for gaming at IDC. That will have an effect on the general perception of Nintendo in the context of its burgeoning mobile games business, he told the E-Commerce Times. New Reality Nintendo has been investigating augmented reality and virtual reality technologies as a way to revive its flagging business in recent years. VR is an interesting technology, said President Tatsumi Kimishima during a conference call with investors early this year. Nintendo was looking deeper into the technology, he acknowledged during a question-and-answer session at the Nintendo annual meeting last week, calling it a promising technology. We are well aware that other companies are developing games and game-related products using VR technologies, and that consumers are interested in all of this, Kimishima said. The company was taking steps to increase value on many fronts, he added, including continually investigating projects that would make use of Nintendos intellectual property, and developing products that would improve the quality of life. The company was hard at work to ready its new game system, code-named NX, by next March, Kimishima said. Investors like to see companies leverage successful intellectual properties, Pollak noted. In order for the company to build upon this success, it will need to leverage some of its other successful franchises onto these new mobile gaming platforms, he suggested. The company will benefit if users are able to enjoy an enhanced experience, said Pollak, with additional hardware that allows customers to participate in gaming beyond just using smartphones and tablets. 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Officials said, "CHI Memorial has signed a 10-year master lease on the property for all space occupied by our CHI Memorial Medical Group physician practices and outpatient services such as CHI Memorial Regional Sleep Center and outpatient lab. "All CHI Memorial entities will remain in their current spaces. The building name will not change." The tower is at 725 Glenwood Dr. WASHINGTON A group of farmers from the Texas Organic Cotton Marketing Cooperative (TOCMC) will receive the prestigious Organic Farmer of the Year Leadership Award from the Organic Trade Association (OTA). The award is in recognition of their work in helping organic cotton production in Texas to expand from virtually nothing in the early 1990s to over 20,000 acres in 2015, making the Texas High Plains the largest organic cotton growing region in the US. The issue of climate change received a fair amount of attention on the first day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC). Bernie Sanders reaffirmed his endorsement of Hillary Clinton, saying, This election is about climate change, the greatest environmental crisis facing our planet, and the need to leave this world in a way that is healthy and habitable for our kids and future generations. Hillary Clinton is listening to the scientists who tell us thatunless we act boldly and transform our energy system in the very near futurethere will be more drought, more floods, more acidification of the oceans, more rising sea levels. Check out this sick burn that @berniesanders landed on the media last night at #DNCinPHLhttps://t.co/ehCvyfXdbg IJR (@TheIJR) July 26, 2016 Sen. Elizabeth Warren mentioned how huge energy companies have been allowed to destroy the environment due to governmental dysfunction and how a lack of unity among citizens allows oil companies to fight off clean energy. Al Gore also endorsed Clinton based in part on her climate stance. I am not able to attend this years Democratic convention, but I will be voting for Hillary Clinton. (1/3) Al Gore (@algore) July 25, 2016 Given her qualifications and experience and given the significant challenges facing our nation and the world, (2/3) Al Gore (@algore) July 25, 2016 including, especially, the global climate crisis, I encourage everyone else to do the same. (3/3) Al Gore (@algore) July 25, 2016 During the day, environmental groups, business groups and politicians gathered for events outside the DNC in Philadelphia to discuss climate change and politics. For a deeper dive: News: Grist, Vox, State Impact, CNN, Politico, Huffington Post, Bloomberg Commentary: Slate, Eric Holthaus column; New York Times editorial For more climate change and clean energy news, you can follow Climate Nexus on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for daily Hot News. Solar Impulse 2, a solar-powered airplane, finished its historic trip around the world, which started back in March 2015. The plane landed in Abu Dhabi early Tuesday. Andre Borschberg (left) and Bertrand Piccard (right) celebrate after Solar Impulse 2 landed in Abu Dhabi, completing an historic trip around the world. Photo credit: Solar Impulse, Flickr Solar Impulse traveled around the world, breaking the journey down into 17 legs, spending a total of 23 days in the air. The plane, powered by 17,000 solar cells, traveled 42,000 kilometers (about 26,100 miles) in a little more than a year. Its trip across the Atlantic Ocean from New York City to Seville, Spain, alone took approximately 90 hours to complete, traveling at 140 km/h (about 87 mph). The planes longest trip was from Japan to Hawaii, which lasted almost five days. Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg alternated piloting the solar-powered plane. On the ground, they were helped by a team of 30 engineers, 25 technicians and 22 navigation controllers. BREAKING: we flew 40'000km without fuel. It's a first for energy, take it further! #futureisclean pic.twitter.com/JCvKTDBVZx SOLAR IMPULSE (@solarimpulse) July 26, 2016 After landing in Abu Dhabi, Piccard called the journey not only an achievement for the history of aviation, but a success for the history of energy. The pilots hope their journey promotes investment in clean energy. If we want a good quality of life today, we have to turn to clean technology and renewable energies, Piccard said. If governments had the courage to promote clean technologies on a massive scale, our society could simultaneously reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, create jobs and stimulate sustainable growth. Piccard and Borschberg never had a shortage of views during their trip. Solar Impulse 2 was subject to amazing views, clean energy innovations and some of the worlds most challenging problems, including the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It took 13 years to achieve Solar Impulses historic journey, but now the group is moving on to other projects such as establishing the International Committee of Clean Technology (ICCT). Piccard and Borschberg created the ICCT to continue the legacy Solar Impulse started, promoting concrete energy efficient solutions in order to solve many of the challenges facing society today. Already 400 organizations have joined forces to help the ICCT achieve its goals. Notable patrons include H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, Richard Branson and Kofi Annan, who have already dedicated their work to the environment and clean energy sources. Patrons will advise governments and corporations on how to use clean technology. The International Committee of Clean Technologies is a fantastic opportunity to bring together a group of experts, with diverse experiences and backgrounds, to speak in one voice and leverage the efforts needed to bring change and influence global decision makers in the areas of clean technologies and renewable energy, Borschberg said. Solar Impulse successfully lands in Abu Dhabi with Bertrand Piccard at the controls. Photo credit: Solar Impulse, Flickr On July 11, Borschberg also predicted the world will soon see solar drones in the stratosphere, inspired by Solar Impulses achievements. Solar Impulse is of course very well positioned to contribute to the next generation of unmanned solar airplanes, he said. When considering technological progress today, these unmanned aircrafts will be able to fly much higher than they can today, avoiding air traffic and bad weather. They will be able to fly in extremely low air density and remain in the air both day and night, essentially taking over the need for satellites in a cheaper and more sustainable way. Parallel to SpaceX and Blue Origin, they could be brought down from the stratosphere to perform repairs and upgrades. Borschberg mentioned that Solar Impulse may take flight again in different parts of the world to spread its message about clean technology. The Solar Impulse team in Abu Dhabi after a successful landing, ending an historic trip around the world. Photo credit: Solar Impulse, Flickr But for now, the pilots can revel in their completion of an historic trip around the world. Watch here: By Sierra Rayne Despiteactually, because ofthe innumerable peer-reviewed studies and national academies that have affirmed his work, Prof. Michael Mann from Penn State University continues to be on the receiving end of the fossil fuel industrys wrath. Penn State University professor Michael Mann. In Canada, ground zero for the climate change debate is currently the prairie province of Saskatchewan. The provinces premier is a public relations agent for the oil and gas industry, all the while fighting desperately to derail the federal governments proposed price on carbon. So it wasnt surprising when a representative of the oil industry and board member of right-wing organizations such as The Fraser Institute, the C. D. Howe Institute and the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary authored a hit piece on Prof. Mann. What was unfortunate is that one of the major newspapers in the province, the Regina Leader-Post, published it. Herb Pinder made so many erroneous claims that Prof. Mann was forced, yet again, to defend his scientific record in an elegantly scathing reply that the newspaper, whose opinion pages are largely a propaganda outlet for the fossil fuel industry and its many shills littering the regions political, academic and media scene, surely did not want to have to publish. But there are a few remaining problems from Mr. Pinders article that still need to be addressed. Pinder makes the bizarre claim that the Earth is six billion years old. Actually, it is 4.5 billion years old, making for a 33 percent error in Pinders science. Sadly, some of the other claims in his op-ed have a much larger error. If you cant get the age of the Earth correct, then subsequent attacks on a leading climate scientist will inevitably fail. Pinder questions how a compound such as carbon dioxide, which comprises a very small fraction of the atmosphere, can have such a disproportionate impact on the planets climate. In fact, there is nothing either unscientific or even surprising about this fact. There are a large number of compounds in each part of the Earth system, including and especially living organisms like us, that exert an impact well out of proportion to their concentrations. Poisons, pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors and on the list goes, clearly and collectively show one should never be fooled into thinking that just because a compound is present in very low concentrations that its effects on any system are negligible. It is simple physics that explains why carbon dioxide is a potent greenhouse gas and a large number of compounds are even far more efficient in terms of their global warming potential. This is undeniably settled science. Pinder also writes, citing the work of Ross McKitrick at the University of Guelph, that there has been no statistically significant temperature change for the past 15-20 years. This is not accurate. The major climate centers (e.g., NOAA, NASA, etc.) clearly show, using both parametric and non-parametric statistical approaches, that the warming trend over the last 15-20 years is highly significant. If the global heat wave in 2016 stays on-course, the rapidly increasing trend will become even more statistically significant. Even a cursory view of the global warming trend that has taken place over the last century reveals it is far more than periodic spikes in the worlds temperature as a result of a natural phenomenon called La Nina, as Pinder suggested. There are indeed periodic spikes, but these pale in comparison to the overall warming trend. Saskatchewans fossil fuel industry dominated economy has also fallen apart under Premier Brad Walls leadership. The province is running a massive deficit, its credit rating has been downgraded and it has one of the worst performing economies in the country. When Wall came to office in November 2007, the provinces unemployment rate was nearly 2 percent below the national average. That gap has decreased to just 0.7 percent, making for the worst relative employment performance of any Saskatchewan premier in at least a quarter-century. Clearly hitching your wagon to climate change denying policies and industries isnt working out so well. As Prof. Mann noted, we need to get past the fake debate about whether the problem exists and on to the worthy debate about what to do about it. Despite the anti-science fantasies of some, there are real scientifically determinable boundaries in terms of our relationship with the Earth system and we are rapidly coming up against them. Inconvenient truths they may be, but truths nonetheless. (Photo: REUTERS / David Gray)A man wearing an Islamic prayer cap, or "Kufi", looks at Islamic books on display at a bookshop located in the western Sydney suburb of Lakemba October 3, 2014. Last month, the national security agency raised its four-tier threat level to "high" for the first time and about 900 police launched raids on homes in Sydney's predominantly Muslim western suburbs and in Brisbane. Only about half a million people out of Australia's 23.5 million are Muslims, making them a tiny fraction in a country where the final vestiges of the "White Australia" policy were only abolished in 1973, allowing large scale non-European migration. At least half of Australia's Muslims live in Sydney's western suburbs, which were transformed in the mid-1970s from white working-class enclaves into majority-Muslim outposts by a surge of immigration from Lebanon. Picture taken October 3, 2014 Australia is now debating restricting Muslim migration but views on this stance advocated the United States by Donald Trump have failed to gain traction with the administration. The country's new assistant minister for multicultural affairs has rejected calls from a television host to ban Muslim migration, because the government "does not discriminate on the basis of religion." Zed Seselja also rejected anti-migrant lawmaker Pauline Hanson's platform on migrants and committed to the government's position not to change laws prohibiting public acts that offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate people on the basis of race. Asked on Radio National about TV host Sonia Kruger's fear of immigration by Muslims and call for a ban on Muslim migration, Seselja said July 20, "We can't pretend people don't feel that fear but the prescription is not one the government supports." Her call has triggered a national debate on the issue. "We don't have discrimination on the basis of religion when it comes to our immigration program, and nor should we," noted Seselja while saying Kruger should not be demonized because she had "expressed how she feels". Asked whether Muslim Australians should be afraid of calls like one letter to the Australian calling for them to be interned in camps, Seselja said "we don't have anything to fear we live in one of the safest nations on Earth" and border security kept Australians safe. "These debates are difficult, it's reasonable that people feel unease. When we have debates about what inspires terrorism, [what inspires people] to go, as we saw in Nice, to slaughter dozens and dozens of innocent people, then of course there's going to be fear." Seselja said it was hard to know exactly why people voted for Hanson because they did so for a range of reasons, but Hanson had earned her spot in the Senate. (Photo: REUTERS / David Gray)A man walks past a shop selling 'Halal meat' in the western Sydney suburb of Lakemba September 25, 2014. About half a million people out of Australia's 23.5 million are Muslims, with about half of those living in Sydney's western suburbs. A debate is raging in Australia following a claim made by one of th country's lawmakers that the purchase of products certified as halal could be funding Islamic extremist activity. George Christensen, a Member of Parliament from the National Party of Australia, part of prime minister Tony Abbott's government, claimed that the money from halal certification was funding extremism. Christensen claims were posted in a blog post on his official website. "There is no doubt that halal certification is funding organizations with extremist views and activities in Australia," he wrote. The lawmaker claims that popular Australian brands such as Vegemite and Freddo Frog could be unwittingly funding terrorism in what is seen by Islam followers as anti-Muslim sentiment. And Paul's Iced Coffee has recently faced an online hate campaign because of its halal certification. Australia's ABC News reported that a Facebook campaign has been urging consumers to stop drinking Paul Iced Coffee because it is halal and is being consumed by Muslims. The campaign also implies that income generated from halal certification is used to support Muslim terrorists. The vice-chairman of the Islamic Council of the Northern Territory Sadaruddin Chowdhury said that the Facebook campaign is misguided. Sadaruddin noted that halal certification would increase saleability of products in Muslim countries that do not allow non-halal food to enter their territories. He asserted that funds from selling halal-certified products can be used for any purpose, just like any other business. "Any money can end up with ISIS (Islamic State) if that intention is there by that particular person." Also, the argument of the Facebook campaign that halal certification involves cruelty to animals is baseless as "one of the requirements of halal food is that the animal must be killed in a humane manner and not for pleasure." Recently, South Australian dairy company, Fleurieu Milk and Yoghurt said it would drop its halal certification because of the recent events, NT News reported. They are also dropping a deal with Emirates Airlines. Halal certification is worth a lot to food industries, especially those who want to export products to Islamic countries. The Dubai Chamber of Commerce recently estimated that the halal market could be worth up to $US1.6 trillion by 2018. Senior auditor and meat inspector of Islamic Co-ordinating Council of Victoria, Gaafar A. Mohammed, expresses dismay seeing myths about halal on the internet. "It makes me feel bad because those people are ignorant and talking nonsense. They're trying to destroy the good relationship between Australia and other countries. They're trying to destroy the big volume of trade." Fahim Khondaker, a chartered accountant wrote in the Brisbane Times on December 2, "Australian farmers, the unsung heroes of our economy, are arguably the biggest beneficiaries of independent halal certification. "Our farmers have gained access to new customers in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, and the Middle East region thanks to independent certification." The Chattanooga Zoo is offering $1 off admission for all guests who show their Pokemon GO app on Saturday and Sunday, July 30-31, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. for the Pokemon GO Days at the Zoo. One discounted admission will be given per Pokemon GO app presented. The Zoo is currently home to six pokestops, one gym, and countless Pokemon to catch. In addition, new lures will be developed before this coming weekend. We are excited to offer this discount and be part of the Pokemon GO craze," said Dardenelle Long, Zoo CEO and president. "We want our Zoo guests to have fun catching all the Pokemon they can find at the Zoo, stay safe in public viewing areas, and take time to appreciate the Zoos real animals." In addition to the admission discount, the Chattanooga Zoo will be giving away a grand prize to the most unique photo from the Zoos Pokemon GO Days shared on social media using the hashtag #ChattZooPokemonGO. Share Pokemon catches on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with this hashtag for a chance to win a family membership. The Zoo will also be featuring Pokemon inspired animal enrichment given to different animals throughout the day. An enrichment schedule will be available for all guests upon arrival. Pokemon GO users will be expected to follow all rules and regulations of the Zoo to not enter restricted areas no matter where they may find Pokemon. No refunds will be given in the event that mobile device or the Pokemon GO servers are down. For more information on Pokemon GO Day at the Zoo, email info@chattzoo.org. Tell us about your student days. How do you think your education prepared you for the work you do? I attended St Marys Convent in Nainital, initially as a day scholar and later as a hosteller because my father was a forest conservator with different postings. I had a passion for science. However, our school did not teach science. So, when my father was posted in Dehradun, I joined the Convent of Jesus and Mary in class VI. I wanted to be a physicist. At that time, Valentina Tereshkova was going on a space mission. After school, I would study with professor Dikshit, who had named his daughter Valentina Dikshitova. When I was studying for my Senior Cambridge exams (equivalent to class XII), my school applied for a national science talent scholarship for me. The scholarship funded my Bachelors, Masters and even one year of my PhD in India, which I eventually completed in Canada. During summer, I would go for research work at institutions such as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bombay, IIT Kanpur and the University of Lucknow. Everything in life paves the way. Life is not linear. At the time, I had a tendency to say, If I dont do honours I wanted an honours degree in physics . My school didnt offer higher maths, which the University of Delhi required for the honours degree. So, I completed an integrated, five-year MSc degree in physics at Panjab University. One should always look at education as a phase, not an end. If you dont get into a medical school, life doesnt end there. Think of it as a step in your life. Eventually, I got a PhD in quantum theory. Quantum theory is not linear whereas mechanical thought is linear and one-dimensional. Now I realise everything is about potential; your potential can unfold in either direction. If you cannot go out through one door, you can go out through another. What matters most are your values and the contribution you make to the larger ecological good and the meaning you derive out of it. How and why did you shift from physics to living resources, i.e., seeds? There are three incidents that introduced me to a life dedicated to seeds. I was involved in the Chipko Movement as a volunteer in the 1970s. I used to walk from village to village, as part of a Satyagraha. I was in my 20s at the time and it groomed me towards an indigenous Gandhian activism. My parents were a part of it. People associated with the movement - Sarla Behn, Mirabehn, and Sunderlal Bahuguna - used to visit our house. The second was 1984, the year of the Bhopal gas tragedy, and the green revolution and the rise of violence in Punjab. I was at the United Nations University in Tokyo, heading a major programme on conflicts over natural resources. I wrote a book on the violence of the green revolution and how instruments of war had been brought into agriculture - fertilisers and pesticides were made for war. I decided to promote non-violent farming. But it was at the level of awareness. The third was a conference on new biotechnologies held in Geneva and Bourges. It became clear that the old war chemical industry was talking about owning the seed through genetic engineering to patent it and collect royalties. I said, They have not invented the seeds. In Punjab, 250 crops had been reduced to rice and wheat. Lentils disappeared. India, the biggest producer of pulses and oilseeds till the 1960s, has become the biggest importer of pulses and vegetable oil. From using coconut, sesame and mustard oil, we have turned to importing GMOs - soybean and palm oil, which our government subsidises. In 1987, I founded Navdanya to promote swadeshi and swaraj - beej (seed) swaraj and anna (food) swaraj. About 300,000 farmers have committed suicide due to debts incurred as a result of royalties and costly chemicals. I want to be the change I want to see. The biggest threat to our planet is big corporations, including their power to hijack our governments. At The Hague in October 2016, I, along with others, will be trying a tribunal for Monsantos crimes against humanity and earth. If you are given just five minutes to convince someone about your argument against GM food and for sustainable agriculture, what would you say? One, GMOs (genetically modified organisms) exist only to allow ownership of seeds leading to royalties and suicides. Two, all GMOs have toxic genes. Surely, nobody wants to eat toxic genes. Three, they have only two applications - pest control through BT cotton and herbicide tolerance for weed control. BT is failing to control pests and is creating super-pests. Half of US farmlands are covered with superweeds and they are starting to use herbicide 2,4-D, an ingredient in Agent Orange used in the Vietnam War. What is your view about how agriculture, environmental law, economics and environmental policy are taught in India? They are taught in a fragmented and mechanistic way. They should be taught in a systems way and integrated with experiential and practical work. That is why I started a university at the Navdanya farm (in Doon Valley, Uttarakhand). How do you handle criticism? If its valid criticism, I use it to grow and evolve but if its lobbying - Monsanto has lobbyists - then I see it as an attack. I use it to strengthen my determination and to fight for justice, truth and the earth. Betty Torres did her best to be brave as she packed up to leave her working-class Texas border town. An academic powerhouse at 16, she felt ready for her summer courses at elite colleges in New England and the Midwest. But when her dad left her at the airport in San Antonio, she crumpled a little inside. He waited in the airport until I got through security. I could see him from the other side. And I went, Oh, no, Dad, dont leave me! the rising high school senior recalled, putting her hand on her heart and laughing. I started having second thoughts. Second thoughts like: How am I going to do this? Im a Latina from a humble family; will I fit in? Can I handle the workload? Will I get lost? Eating breakfast in a noisy dining hall at the University of Notre Dame the following week, in late June, Betty had regained her trademark cheerful composure. The aspiring neurologist had already conquered a weeklong college course in medical research at Brown University in Providence, R.I., where she delighted in dissecting fruit flies and flatworms. Now, she was dipping her toe into the second: a two-week immersion in astronomy at Notre Dame, where she was geeking out over decimal points of mass, force, and inertia, and dragging herself out of bed for nighttime stargazing. In less than two weeks, Betty had traveled 3,000 miles, navigating big, confusing airport terminals and hailing shuttles and cabs by herself. The girl whod never spent a night away from her parents had cracked the codes of campus maps, zigzagging from dorm rooms to classrooms. She was up early, busy constantly, and totally on top of her studies. OK, so there were some little stabs of homesickness. But they softened in the tumult and triumph of her summer college experiences. At first, I was completely terrified, Betty said of her arrival at Brown, and then Notre Dame. I was thrown out there and I made the best of it. I feel good. I see that I can do it. Building Confidence Top high school students have long ventured onto campuses across the country in the summer to get a taste of college life and real college coursework. While those trips have been a staple of affluent families college-prep agendas, many high schools and colleges are trying harder to include students who might need a bit of extra help in planning for college and adjusting to campus life: those like Betty, with little or no history of college-going in their families. Many summer programs aim to build weak academic muscles, to help students avoid the remedial classes that can slow or stall their college progress. Others, like the ones Betty attended this summer, are designed to let academic stars soar. Both kinds of programs also aim to nourish teenagers college aspirations and plans and give them early practice with the time-management and self-advocacy skills that can sink some freshmen. Research shows that summer programs can boost the chances that students will apply to, and enroll in, college, that theyll perform better when they get there, and that theyll be less likely to bail out after their freshman year. Students who attend summer programs are more likely to have good study skills and more faith that they can handle college. Doing better academically can be influenced by having more confidence, a familiarity with campus life, said Elisabeth A. Barnett, whos studied the transition to college as a senior research associate at the Community College Research Center at Columbia University. Getting that experience early, with the support of people who are helping you find your way, can be particularly important for students who are the first in their families to go to college, she added. Betty will be the first in her family to earn a bachelors degree and the first to leave home for college. Her resume shows shes been getting ready: a 4.0 grade point average at her high-flying charter school, IDEA College Preparatory, in Mission, Texas. Five Advanced Placement classes finished and five more on the runway. She also tutors for the National Honor Society, volunteers at the library, and plays Spanish classical guitar. But a tangle of worries buzzed in her head as she got ready to board a plane for Brown. There were the universal ones: Would she make friends? Would she be able to find her way around? And there were jitters more specific to Betty and her life tapestry. How would she feel on campuses that are bastions of wealth and privilege, dominated by white faces? Her American-born mother, a homemaker, never finished high school. Her father, born in Mexico, holds an associates degree and manages a Best Buy store. Her arrival at Notre Dame only confirmed her anxiety. It seems like everyone I talk to here, their parents have Ph.D.s, she said. They have a good foundation, parents they can ask questions of. My mom never finished high school. Go For the Best Betty is troubled, too, by the feeling that shell be abandoning her family responsibilities when she goes away to college. She helps take care of her older sister, who has autism. She makes sure her baby sister is dressed and her younger brother gets off to school. Who will do those things when she goes away? Betty understands how the trajectory of her familys life may change with her seeking a higher education, said Arianna Robles, the college counselor at Bettys high school. Bettys father, Antonio Torres, wishes he could vaporize those worries. Sure, he and his wife, Beatrice, havent exactly rested easy since Betty left; they were worried sick when she missed a shuttle connection to campus and caught a ride with someone she barely knew. They constantly check their cellphones for updates, even though dutiful Betty calls daily. But theyre getting used to this new reality and dont want it to hinder their daughters college dreams. She told me, Oh, maybe I shouldnt go, and I told her, you need to go for the best you can be. Youll never know what you could be if you dont go for it, Torres said. Thats the message Bettys been getting at her school, too, since 6th grade. The IDEA charter school network, which serves 24,000 students in 44 Texas schools, takes a white glove approach to college counseling. With a 30-to-1 student-counselor ratio, the college-mindset drumbeat starts early and grows louder as students progress through school. By their junior year, theyre researching colleges to find the best fit and taking bus trips to campuses. Betty and her classmates have already walked the quads of Northwestern University and the University of Chicago, Tulane University, and Louisiana State University. Sixty percent attend summer college programs, which IDEA finances with a federal grant. 100 percent are accepted to college, and 99 percent enroll. Overall, IDEA charter students apply to schools that are a good academic match for them, but a common speed bump arises from their Rio Grande Valley demographic, said Sari Wilson, the director of IDEAs Collegiate Summer Away Program. Since most come from a rural area, our biggest push is to get them to actually enroll and set foot on campus, Wilson said. Often, they dont feel comfortable, like they belong. Summer programs can show the students that they can and will succeed if they go to those schools, she said. Seeking a Fit Bettys experiences at Brown and Notre Dame have shown her that she certainly can feel at home in the halls of academia; shes done well in these credit-bearing classes. But theyve also shown her how much a universitys style and student population can make a difference in her sense of belonging. At Brown, she was part of a stew of young people from many walks of life and racial and ethnic backgrounds. The universitys various clubs held workshops to give the teenagers a taste of campus life. Betty was dazzled by the discussions about politics and values, Browns freewheeling energy, its celebration of multiculturalism. One of the [workshops] I went to was by the Latino organization, she said. We talked about our experiences, about the discrimination we face, and how to turn it to something positive. We danced. We ate pan dulce. I loved it. At Notre Dame, she felt a little out of place, with few nonwhite faces around her. She loved the challenge of her astronomy class and enjoyed the nonacademic parts of the program, too, such as a visit to a nearby residential program for students with special needs, where all the young people shared pizza and karaoke. Betty found Notre Dames students and staff friendly, but she didnt feel she clicked as well with the universitys more structured, reserved sensibility. Its clear that the two contrasting experiences are seeping into her college thinking. A diverse student body will also be very important to her, she said. Paulette Curtis is intensely aware the role diversity plays in prospective students thinking. As the supervisor of Notre Dames pre-college programs, she is working to include more minority, low-income, and first-generation students. She knows the $3,400 price tag of the Summer Scholars Program, which Betty attended, keeps many high-achieving, underrepresented students outside the door. Notre Dame can afford full or partial scholarships for fewer than 50 of the 300-plus high school students who do two-week dives into global health, poverty, Russian literature, archaeology, and other topics here during the Summer Scholars program, she said. Outside organizations finance the cost for only a few more. It pains her, because she believes programs like this provide a powerful kind of college preparation, especially for students whose families or high schools cant. The program is really about developing the sensibility for college, Curtis said. What does college-level thinking require? What does it mean to be responsible for yourself? Many of these kids find it hard to wake up at 7:30, and they want to be walked to class. Were trying to help them learn to manage their workload along with all the other things we have them doing and offering them a more intensive academic experience than theyd get in high school. Betty agrees enthusiastically that she experienced those things this summer. And she said they enriched and expanded her world and made her feel more ready to travel far from home as a college student a year from now. In the [Rio Grande] Valley, its kind of a bubble, she said. I want to be free of that and experience the world for what it really is. Being so far away for a while, doing all of the things at Brown and Notre Dame gets me more excited for that and see that it really can happen. Over the years, Ive noticed students know less about nature and more about video games. It concerned me that they rarely wondered about their environment. Why try to figure out the reason for something they observe when they can just Google it? To help my students see themselves as scientists who should ask questions every day, I worked with my class to develop a class motto. I now start classes by having my students recite this each day: I am a scientist. I can think critically. I can solve problems. I am responsible for my education, and I will try as hard as I can to learn today. I will not interfere with instruction by talking. I will be respectful to my peers. We do this daily to remind ourselves that we are scientists who can think deeply about problems and come up with solutions. But to do that, we need to effectively communicate with one another. I taught students in special education settings for 19 years before switching to general education 6th grade science. I had always loved teaching science classes and was thrilled to be able to work with a wider cross-section of students. I dreamed of spirited debates and lab reports that clearly explained the results of our experiments. So when I asked, What did you observe? I did not anticipate students responding, It changed some. I was discouraged because it was not the robust communication that is expected for science writing. How would I get my students to think more deeply? My first step in tackling the problem of short, shallow, unclear answers was to ban such words as it, stuff, thing, kinda, some. I made a poster with these words and a red slash through them, with the words Be Specific! underneath. That helped a bit. Next, we rewrote explanations. After sharing their answers, with only a few students providing evidence, we would spend 10 minutes rewriting clear explanations with evidence. The problem was, my students still werent thinking deeply enough on their own, and they were not making connections between concepts. They werent using the data theyd obtained in the experiment to communicate conclusions. Scientific Writing The real transformation came after my training in using the Science Writing Heuristic . I received an email invitation from the University of Iowa that said participating in this training would help me improve my students writing in science. The experience, offered at both the university and through POGIL , sounded like what I neededa form and strategies to get students on the right path. Sign me up! The SWH is much more than a possible template and possible strategies for writing; it is an approach to teaching that nurtures critical thinking. Brian Hand, one of the originators of the SWH method in the late 90s, along with Bill Crandall, a retired science teacher who initially implemented this approach, challenged all of our ideas of what teaching is and how students learn. Teachers tend to think if we teach A and then B, students will automatically go to C. The brain, however, is a web of knowledge with many connections to each piece of information. Based on someones unique experiences, each individual brain decides how A and B fit into an existing web. This is called negotiation. Each piece of information requires a person to ask, How does this fit in with what I already know? The challenge of teaching is that the connection to C doesnt always happen. Before writing, we need background knowledge, and SWH is a guided-inquiry process with a built-in reflection tool. Its easy to see that if you mention a walk outside, the mental pictures and experiences would be vastly different for someone who lived in Alaska as opposed to someone who lived in Florida. Each observation would be correct for that time and place, yet the students would argue about the answer. SWH takes this guided process of observation and critical thinking, and then combines it with the Common Core literacy standards and the Next Generation Science Standards designed to help students make claims and back them up with evidence. Fostering Discussion In my classroom now, discussions happen after students have written claims and provided evidence, creating reflection opportunities and cementing the long-term understandings of content and the big ideas. Engaging questions to ask include: What is your claim? What is your evidence? Why do you think that? What did you observe? What data did you collect? Praise statements could include: Great idea! I agree with you. You have a good point. That is an interesting idea. Thanks for helping me think this through. We practice this script in teams at the beginning of the year and review as needed. I knew we were making real progress when we had a student make a claim that an apple was not alive. The room quickly divided into whether the claim was true or not, and students were yelling and interrupting, asking Is the apple attached to the tree or lying on the ground? During these sessions, my job is to guide the discussion, so I told students to physically choose which side they were on by moving to either side of the room. Then I reminded them of respectful discussion expectations and that one student should speak at a time. For the next 20 minutes, I didnt say a word. Let me repeat: I didnt say a word! I observed my 6th graders negotiating with each other like members of the United Nations. Students moved back and forth as they listened to arguments. Did you consider the fact... Yes, but it said in our book that... Finally, the last stubborn scientists joined the side of the room, supporting the idea that the apple still attached to the tree is indeed alive. I could have just told them that it was alive, but that would not have allowed them to think critically about the characteristics that make something alive. There were some semi-logical arguments that it was not alive based on some misconceptions. These were analyzed and then corrected. This negotiation not only increased the likelihood the students will remember this fact, but will also help to generalize these characteristics to other living things and to generalize the process to other critical thinking needs. The social context of teenage discussion is very rewarding to them and therefore leads to deeper thinking and stronger writing. The Science Writing Heuristic student template (Part II) provides an outline for this critical thinking. I have tweaked this template for my 6th graders, and this is one of a variety I use. From this framework, quality learning ensues, including stronger, integrated writing. It usually takes 18-24 months for behavioral changes to occur. We have had some great discussions with guidance from me using questions like, Who wants to agree or disagree with that claim? What evidence do you have to disagree? Why do you agree? When students ask me Is this right? I dont answer. Instead, I turn the learning back on them with probing questions : What do you think the answer is? or Where can you find more information on that? When they get frustrated, I remind them, Whats our motto? And they will answer, I am a scientist, I can think critically... Cleveland, Tn., took a step forward toward getting its first micro brewery with passage of an ordinance by the City Council on Monday. The measure passed 4-2 with Dale Hughes and Charlie McKenzie opposed. In favor were Mayor Tom Rowland, Vice Mayor George Poe and Councilmen Richard Banks and David May. Bill Estes was absent. It still must pass on second reading in two weeks to go into effect. Smit Patel and friend Dipen Patel said they hope to have the operation open within about four months. They plan to occupy two units of a new 11-unit strip center at the site of a former car wash on 25th Street next to Title Max and near Walgreen's. Dipen Patel said the two are home brewers and they have been studying the business, including trips to the Monkey Town micro brewery in Dayton. Smit Patel operates a convenience store, while Dipen Patel is a production engineer for a manufacturer at Athens, Tn. Kelly, Pastore debate inflation, energy policy in congressional race Kelly and Pastore went head-to-head in a debate Tuesday that was organized by WQLN and Erie News Now, which first aired the taped debate Thursday. I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the Soddy Daisy, Sale Creek and north Hamilton County communities. Parkridge Health recently received approval from the state of Tennessee to build a freestanding emergency room in Soddy Daisy that will serve the northwest area of Hamilton County. This approval would not have been possible without the support of the citizens, businesses ... (click for more) Amendment 1 is an important legislative item for us Tennesseans. Vote yes on keeping Tennessee a Right to Work state, where we get to decide if we want to keep our right to work anywhere we want, without being forced to join a union. Opponents of the amendment will tell you, Right to Work only guarantees the right of an employer to fire you. What they wont tell you is some ... (click for more) The Tennessee Valley Authority has announced a partnership with four Valley airports and Federal Express to replace a portion of their diesel-powered ground support equipment with no emissions, all-electric gear.In addition to the FedEx World Hub in Memphis, the Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport, Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority, Tri-Cities Regional Airport, and Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority are receiving TVA cash incentives based on the type and amount of equipment purchased.Ultimately, more than 55 pieces of diesel-powered gate equipment will be replaced over the next few months, reducing fossil fuel consumption and emissions within the Tennessee Valley region.We dont necessarily think about airport ground support equipment when considering air pollution, but this equipment is constantly in motion and continually produces emissions, said Cindy Herron, TVA vice president of EnergyRight Solutions programs. With this program, we have the potential to save more than 4,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions each year in the Tennessee Valley.This project is one of several non-traditional ways that TVA is working to make the air cleaner in the Valley. We are on track to reduce the CO2 emissions produced in our own facilities by 40 percent by 2020, Ms. Herron added. We are pleased to be able to help other facilities do the same. Guilty pleas from man who assaulted pregnant girlfriend A Douglas man who lashed out at his pregnant girlfriend during an argument will be sentenced next month. 26-year-old Jordan Walsh pleaded guilty to assaulting his now ex-partner on November 7th last year when she was around 27 weeks pregnant. She'd left a property in Ramsey after an argument broke out and got into a car outside - Walsh approached the vehicle and kicked the window. He then got in behind her and, in a bid to retrieve her phone, leant over her digging his elbow into her stomach - the court was told she was left in pain and scared. Walsh also admitted a second incident of assault from February this year - the court heard an argument had broken out two weeks after the baby was born at their home in Douglas. He pushed the woman onto the sofa before following her into their bedroom where he picked her up and threw her onto the bed breaking it in the process. He also grabbed at her leg and twisted her arm above her head during efforts to retrieve her mobile phone. At Douglas Courthouse last week a further charge of assault and one of indecent assault were withdrawn by the prosecution. Social enquiry reports have been requested before Walsh is sentenced on August 30th - he's been bailed in the meantime. Mandi Dean was chosen by the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation as a member of its 2016 cohort of Teaching Fellows. She is the recipient of one of 34 Teaching Fellowships awarded to early-career, high school mathematics and science teachers this year. Ms. Dean is committed to teaching mathematics to high school students in the U.S. She earned a bachelor of science in mathematics and secondary education from Berry College in 2016 and will begin her first year of teaching at Ridgeland High School in Rossville, Ga., this fall. The Foundation provides support and professional development designed specifically for early-career, high school mathematics and science teachers through its signature programthe KSTF Teaching Fellows Program. With a focus on supporting teacher-led educational improvement in the classroom and beyond, KSTF Teaching Fellows gain access to a comprehensive suite of benefits for five years, including summer stipends, funds for professional development, grants for teaching materials, mentoring and support from experienced teachers and teacher educators, support for teacher leadership activities, and membership in a community of more than 300 like-minded peers in 40 states. I love Trump. How can you not love Trump? Those are the sentiments of the generously bearded duck-call manufacturer and reality tv star Willie Robertson. With Duck Dynastic confidence the American-flag-bandana-ed Mr. Robertson asserts a sentiment completely self-evident...to himself. His zeal, popularity and the occasion of the GOP National Convention conspired to slate him to speak last Monday night. Full disclosure: I didnt watch his speech, or any of the speeches. But I do see reactions and such afterwards.But, as I started to ponder last week before the Convention, I wonder again tonight as the Democrats take their turn at the plate, what would have happened if Ol Willy or heck, even, on the other side, Mrs. Obama, were to say something along these lines:Ladies and Gentlemen, we stand at a critical juncture in our nations history. The future is summoning us to alteration. We have a mandate to Make America Great Again! (thunderous applause). And if we want to do that, we first have to stop wagging our angry fingers at the Democrats, the liberals, the immigrants, and the gays! If we want greatness, we must stop suspecting everyone else is the problem, and show some self-suspicion. (Crowd groans in bewilderment, each delegate murmuring to his neighbor, Whats happening? Is Willie depressed?)Ive been lookin long and hard at my life, and realizin that its as easy as giggin a fat frog on a sap-soaked log to jeer at Hillary Clinton. I mean, she truly is awful. But Ive fallen, hook, line, and sinker to a rather bullying force in my own life. Ive decided to fast for a time from critical verbal assassination of my enemies. You know, its just too easy. Too obvious. Too lucrative. Too much applause for doing it.But it becomes like a dang ol plastic tarp that covers my eyes from being able to see whats wrong in me. Plus, I when Im sitting in a duck blind early in the morning, I sometimes realize I dont even know any one who disagrees with me. I am angry at what is largely an abstraction, not a person that I actually know.Would folks exhale in relief? Or lampoon him for going soft?And Im not delusional enough to presume that well hear any such soul-searching during the Democratic Convention. I suspect, instead, flip-side clarity that was just espoused by the conservatives only this time by the liberals.... bewailing the evils of the old-white-man party, replete with accusations of racism, women-hating, and heartlessness toward outsiders.Two of the most unpopular and least respected presidential candidates in history have no better imagined hope than jackhammering their opponents to such an extent that a whole slew of like-minded folks, whether on the left or the right, can sway with the rhythm of the staccato pummeling.No, Ive not much hope well hear any public discourse that takes the approach of GK Chesterton when he answered a London Times query to its readers,Whats wrong with the world. The verbose and witty Chesterton of course, gave a pre-internet, twitter-worthy response with the succinct, yet comprehensive, I am.The Oxford don, CS Lewis, once suggested, in a thematic key that unlocks many mysteries, the devil always sends error in pairs of polar opposites.Which is to say that error often presents in completely opposing ways, just as some medicines can restlessly hype up some and sedate the rest. A liberal and a conservative can easily spot the error of the other. And the penny-pinching miser and the squandering spendthrift can too. The great mystery, of course, is unearthing the lurking errors residing within each.His point is that the devil can keep you fixated on whats wrong at the other end of the spectrum from you, while your own wrong is concealed from you. The miser and the spendthrift are both suffering from a greedy money-sickness, as Tim Keller notes. The miser is eaten up with the security it provides, and the spendthrift, with the options of luxury and privilege it furnishes. They couldnt be more opposite. And neither could be more the same. Neither suspects their own ailment.Those dynamics play out politically too of course. Thats why Christians want, or ought to want, to maintain there are only going to be approximate resonances and disjointed fits with political parties where just two parties are meant to cover the range of cures to the myriad ailments presumed to be under the purview of our government.And it ought to temper our harshness.Two decades back, while jogging and bantering with a good buddy, I suggested, You know, I think the things I find most bothersome in others are the same exact things I hate most about myself.He was affirming of the sentiment. Thats the Eric Youngblood principle! he exclaimed.Since then, I have seen that same concept expressed in myriad ways, with my favorite being from Walt Wangerin who reminds, The sins we see best in others, we learned first in ourselves. A gossip can spot a gossip from a mile away.I cant help but imagine that public conversation, political discourse, familial dialogue, and all manner of endeavor would see substantial improvement if there were even a touch of awareness of this concept.Could my suspiciousness be creating the suspiciousness that I see around me?Might my own severity with myself be driving my demanding severity with those around me who dont come through when they should?Is it possible that when I see so clearly how hateful someone else is being, it is, at least in part, because I am so expert in ugliness myself?We Christians at least, ought to swiftly exercise some self-suspicion when the wickedness, foolishness, and boneheadedness of our opponents, whether real, or imagined, is most vivid.Should we take the notion of swift self-suspicion seriously, we may be just as swiftly reacquainted with the solid relief of meeting the heart-dissolving mercies of Christ in the face of our own wickedness, foolishness and boneheadedness. And before we know it, we might just remember that we are reconciliation-brokers, seeking to bring repair, not division, pity, not judgment, and the life of the Savior, not merely our political ideology to a world in need of judgment-erasing grace.You might even find yourself saying, like Willie said of the Donald, I love Hillary Clinton! How could you not love Hillary Clinton? Not because you admire her policies or her character perhaps, but because she bears the image of our God. Just like Mr. Trump, Chachi, and Bernie Sanders.Our religion is distinguished by the fact that our Father does good to his enemies. He gives cookies-n-cream ice cream, Lonesome Dove, and loyal pet labradors to both God-lovers and God-ignorers. Atheists and Assemblies of God alike are welcome to the Grand Tetons to behold the stunning magnificence he has breathed into existence in Wyoming.And were summoned not to lambast our enemies, but to do them good. We take our cues from our Lord, who, instead of destroying those who were against him, permitted himself to be destroyed for them, so that any who will receive it, can become his friends.We live at the largesse of him who will accept and welcome a surrender from anyone who presently extends the middle finger of contempt, hiding, or ignoring to him. And hell receive them, we are assured, just as he has us, with radiant joy.Wonder if everyone realizes we believe that during political season? Or during any season? ----- Eric Youngblood is the senior pastor at Rock Creek Fellowship (PCA) on Lookout Mountain. Please feel free to contact him at eric@rockcreekfellowship.org or follow him on Twitter @GEricYoungblood. An otherwise peaceful Mass in Normandy, France, eventually turned into a scene of chaos, as two knife-wielding men stormed the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, taking a priest, two nuns and several members of the congregation hostage. By the time authorities were able to neutralize the attackers, the 92-year-old priest was dead and another one of the hostages was in critical condition. The attack happened around 9 a.m. on Tuesday, as the members of the Catholic church were having Mass. The hostage situation lasted for an hour before the two armed men were eventually shot by police as they exited through a courtyard outside the place of worship. Unfortunately, the deadly incident claimed the life of the church's 92-year-old priest, who had been serving in the area for the last few decades. The attackers had allegedly slit the old priest's throat during the course of the hostage-taking. Eulalie Garcia, a woman who works in a local beauty parlor near the church, stated that she had known the priest, whose name has not been disclosed as of writing, since she was a child. "My family has lived here for 35 years and we have always known him. He was someone who was treasured by the community. He was very discreet and didn't like to draw attention to himself," she said. A second hostage, whose name has also not been disclosed, is currently in critical condition. Three other hostages were able to be freed without any injuries. A full-scale investigation has been launched by France, with the possibility of the attack being terror-related being explored. The church is also currently being combed by authorities due to bombs and other explosives possibly planted by the hostage-takers during their siege. President Francois Hollande and Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister, are scheduled to visit the scene of the church attack later during the day. Because all of Canada is going to implement a national carbon price: Canada will implement a national policy to charge polluters for emitting carbon dioxide by the end of the year, a top government official said. Catherine McKenna, Canadas environment minister, told Bloomberg TV Canada that the goal of the policy is a uniform national carbon price, along with new requirements for companies to disclose emissions. ... Four provinces representing about 80 percent of Canadas population currently have some kind of carbon pricing policies, which usually consist of either a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system. Asked whether her pledge means that provinces and territories without a tax currently would be forced to implement one, McKenna told Bloomberg, I dont like the word forced. I think this is really an opportunity. Younited Italia, Nicola Manzari e il nuovo Coo, Luca Faccini e Head of Growth e Domenico Petraroli e General Counsel Researchers in China nearly double the continuous output power of a type of terahertz laser, opening up applications in spectroscopy, imaging, remote sensing and more WASHINGTON, D.C., July 26, 2016 -- Researchers have nearly doubled the continuous output power of a type of laser, called a terahertz quantum cascade laser, with potential applications in medical imaging, airport security and more. Increasing the continuous output power of these lasers is an important step toward increasing the range of practical applications. The researchers report their results in the journal AIP Advances, from AIP Publishing. Terahertz radiation sits between microwaves and infrared light on the electromagnetic spectrum. It is relatively low-energy and can penetrate materials such as clothing, wood, plastic and ceramics. The unique qualitites of terahertz radiation make it an attractive candidiate for imaging, but the ability to produce and control terahertz waves has lagged behind technology for radio, microwave and visible light. Recently, scientists have made rapid progress on a technology to produce terahertz light called a quantum cascade laser or QCL. Quantum cascade lasers are made from thin layers of material. The thin layers give the laser the valuble property of tunability, meaning the laser can be designed to emit at a chosen wavelength. The output power of terahertz QCLs is also relatively high compared to other terahertz sources, said Xuemin Wang, a researcher in the China Academy of Engineering Physics and first author on the new paper. Wang and his colleagues' work focuses on even further increasing the output power of terahertz quantum cascade lasers, especially in the mode in which the laser output power is continuous. "In engineering, biomechanics and medical science, the applications require continuous wave mode," Wang said. By optimizing the material growth and manufacturing process for terahertz QCLs, Wang and his team made a laser with a record output power of up to 230 milliwatts in continuous wave mode. The previous record was 138 milliwatts. Wang said the new 230 milliwatt laser could be used in air, a challenge for lower-powered lasers since particles in the air can scatter or absorb the laser light before it reaches its target. The increase demonstrates that the team's method of precisely controlling the growth of the laser's layers can increase output power, Wang said, and he is hopeful that future improvements could bring the continuous power above 1 watt. The 1 watt level has been reached in terahertz QCLs in pulsed wave mode. Wang said he thinks scientists and engineers could use the new laser as a flexible source of terahertz radiation for spectroscopy, medicial imaging, remote sensing and other applications. ### The article, "High-power terahertz quantum cascade lasers with ~0.23 W in continuous wave mode," is authored by Xuemin Wang, Changle Shen, Tao Jiang, Zhiqiang Zhan, Qinghua Deng, Weihua Li, Weidong Wu, Ning Yang, Weidong Chu and Suqing Duan. It will be published in the journal AIP Advances on July 26, 2016 (DOI: 10.1063/1.4959195). After that date, it can be accessed at: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/adva/6/7/10.1063/1.4959195 The authors of this paper are affiliated with the China Academy of Engineering Physics in Sichuan, China and the Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics in Beijing, China. ABOUT THE JOURNAL AIP Advances is a peer-reviewed, fully open access, multidisciplinary journal, covering all areas of the physical sciences (experimental, theoretical, and applied). The journal provides a forum for all forms of scientific progress, no matter how large or small. The journal prides itself on the belief that all good science is important and relevant. AIP Advances' inclusive scope and publication standards makes it an essential outlet for scientists across the physical sciences. All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license and are immediately freely available to read, download, and share. See aipadvances.aip.org. US police killed or injured an estimated 55, 400 people during legal stop and search incidents and arrests in 2012, reveals research published online in the journal Injury Prevention. Blacks, Native Americans, and Hispanics had higher stop/arrest rates per 10,000 of the population than Whites and Asians. And Blacks were by far the most likely to be stopped, and then arrested, the data show. And they are more likely than Whites to die at the hands of the police, but when stopped or arrested, they are no more likely than Whites to be injured or killed during that incident. "Police use of undue force is an enduring tinderbox issue in America," say the researchers, and recent incidents in which police have shot unarmed citizens have provoked public outcry. In a bid to expand the data on the excessive use of force by US police, the researchers counted and characterised injuries resulting from legal interventions--arrests, stop and search incidents on the street, and traffic stops involving a search for 2012. They used national data from the Vital Statistics Mortality Census; the 2012 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project nationwide inpatient and emergency department samples; two newspaper censuses of deaths; FBI reports for 2012 and 2014 arrests; and the 2011 Police Public Contact Survey. In 2012 arrests accounted for an estimated 12.3 million police interventions; street stop and search 2.8 million; and traffic stops involving searches 1 million During these legal interventions, US police fatally injured an estimated 1,000 people; and another 54,300 required hospital treatment for their injuries. Firearms accounted for almost all the deaths (95%) and for around one in four (23%) of hospital admissions. Virtually all the remaining deaths involved tasers: an estimated 65 taser incidents resulted in admission to hospital and 48 more were fatal. Most of the non-fatal injuries stemmed from blows or blunt objects. On average, an estimated 1 in 291 stops/arrests resulted in an injury requiring hospital treatment or the death of a suspect or bystander, equal to a ratio of 34 per 10,000 stops/arrests. The life threatening nature of the injuries during police intervention was lower than for assaults. This suggests the police weren't usually out of control when they physically confronted a suspect, say the researchers. But gunshot wounds were significantly more likely to be lethal if they were sustained during police intervention rather than during an assault (40% vs 26%). The numbers of those who were killed or injured as a result of legal police intervention per 10,000 stops/arrests didn't vary by race/ethnicity. But death/injury was more common with increasing age, and was higher among men than women. Young people were more likely to be arrested than older people. Excess death rates among Blacks and youth at the hands of the police are reflections of excess, perhaps inappropriate, exposure, suggest the researchers. "Consistent with our findings, simulation studies find police are no more likely to fire on unarmed Blacks than unarmed Whites, and high rates of black speeding citations per capita result from high violation rates," they write. "Given a national history of racism, the excess per capita death rate of Blacks from US police action rightly concerns policy analysts, advocates, and the press. The excess appears to reflect exposure. Blacks are arrested more often than Whites, and youth more often than the elderly," they continue. "However, Blacks are not more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to be killed or injured during a stop/arrest, and youth have the lowest injury ratios. Ratios aside, even one person unnecessarily killed or injured by the police is one too many, and every racial/ethnic group has mourned losses from undue force," they say. "As the US struggles to reduce citizen injuries during police contacts, it would seem prudent to train at-risk groups about appropriate behaviour during police stops," they conclude. ### About the journal: Injury Prevention is one of 60 specialist journals published by BMJ. The title is the official journal of the Society for Advancement of Violence and Injury Research (SAVIR) and the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention (ISCAIP). http://ip.bmj.com Los Angeles has always been considered a backwater in the global art world, though it boasts the worlds best-funded museum, the Getty Center (and its underappreciated annex, the Getty Villa) and the impressive 100,000 items of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). As someone with a grandfather and great grandfather who were award-winning landscape painters, its in my blood to take a cynical view of contemporary art. My favorite museum is the Louvre and I went to Amsterdam for the 500th anniversary of the Dutch Golden Age (when I checked out a local artist venue, one room appeared to be under construction, but that was actually the current featured exhibit). That said, for art lovers of all tastes these are L.A.s hot tickets: The Broad, 221 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles www.thebroad.org 213/232-6250 I interviewed billionaire Eli Broad shortly after the opening of his new downtown museum in September 2015, which is designed to display his and Edythes vast personal collection. The building itself is an innovative white honeycomb of fiberglass-reinforced concrete panels holding the oval windows. The location and the Broads close work with schools has been helping to introduce contemporary art to a young audience. Entrance is free and reservations are books out months in advance, though anyone can wait in line to get in each day. The arts and architecture are important to society because they stimulate creativity, he told me. Thinking that gets outside the normal day-to-day life allows a broader view of what is happening in the world. I found the most impressive creation to be Yayoi Kusamas Infinity Mirrored RoomThe Souls of Millions of Light Years Away, which is a 3-D experience worth the extra wait in line. A close second is Takashi Murakamis 82-foot-long In the Land of the Dead, Stepping on the Tail of the Rainbow, a psychedelic vision of magical creatures. I also loved Mike Kelleys hypnotic black-and-white The Flower of Architecture. Lots of rotating pieces include the work of Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and David Hockney. Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Dr., Los Angeles www.getty.edu 310/440-7335 Its helpful to take the audio tour as an introduction or go with one of the on-site guides to get an overview (some tours are thematic, such as on the Renaissance and Impressionism). There are some gorgeous exhibitions rights now, such as The Promise of Youth: Rembrandts Senses Rediscovered through Aug. 28 and Things Unseen: Vision, Belief, and Experience in Illuminated Manuscripts, ending Sept. 25. But what is an absolute must-see is Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on Chinas Silk Road, an extraordinary recreation of several highly decorated caves, which requires a separate (free) ticket. Before entering the main Getty museum there is a check-in station, where you will be sent to a short and fascinating 3-D presentation on the meaning of the Buddhist art that will be seen. There is also a separate artifact display, for those who want to know more. The cave replicas themselves are truly awe-inspiring. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles www.lacma.org 323/857-6010 The sprawling campus of L.A.s leading museum displaying the entire scope of world art from ancient to modern would take several days to visit properly. It is also in the process of expanding, including the future home of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Some of my favorite sections of the current complex are on the art of Africa, the Pacific Islands, and Islamic cultures. I recently went to the newly installed Revealing Creation: The Science and Art of Ancient Maya Ceramics, a display of objects with a presentation about what researchers have discovered about their artistic sophistication using high-tech tools. I went with Antonio Gonzalez, my tour guide to Mayan cities last year, a trip report which received a personal record of 5300 Facebook Likes on my travel blog http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-s-smith/the-magnificent-maya-of-guatemala_b_7118234.html. Frankly, I was concerned that as a leading archaeologist, he would be disappointed in our meager collection, but he was impressed by the quality of the objects for the entire Meso-American section in the Art of the American building. No date has been set for this to end. A new exhibit in the same building, Guillermo del Toros At Home with Monsters, will run Aug. 1-Nov. 27, 2016. BINGHAMTON, NY - Mood and personality play an important role in how companies should manage their IT systems, according to a new study co-authored by a researcher at Binghamton University, State University of New York. "Organizations focus too much on the technical and mechanical aspects of IT errors, rather than the human and environmental aspects of the errors," said Sumantra Sarkar, assistant professor of information systems in the School of Management. "Our study suggests the mood and personality traits of the software development team affect how they report on self-committed errors in IT projects. A minor glitch in design or programming can have devastating consequences. For example, even a small error in software design could result in a NASA capsule disaster in outer space." "The roles of mood and conscientiousness in reporting of self-committed errors on IT projects," published in the Information Systems Journal, examines how human elements influence IT errors and decision-making. The research also establishes a theoretical framework intended to explain some of the decision-making processes associated with reporting self-committed errors. Since the research suggests IT errors are caused by a combination of factors, the researchers said that it is important to adopt various procedures to identify inefficiencies, ineffective care and preventable errors to make improvements associated with the IT systems. And, it is important to look at individuals working on information technology teams. According to the paper, current research on IT error reporting mainly explores the issues related to resources and technology, such as budget shortages, hardware malfunctions or labor shortages. "We found a difference in the self-committed IT error reporting process of developers depending on if they were in a positive or negative mood," Sarkar said. "When IT workers were in a positive mood, they were less likely to report on self-committed errors. This can be explained by how being in a positively elevated state can impede one's cognitive processing." The study has managerial implications, too. "Practitioners often perceive software development as dependent on machines, as opposed to humans, which is not a sustainable mindset," Sarkar said "Managers should establish a good rapport with team members to foster an environment that will allow employees to speak up when they feel their mood could affect their reporting decisions." The paper also states IT managers should emphasize to their employees the benefits of reporting self-committed because, ultimately, IT errors that go unreported could hurt the company more in the long run. Sarkar said employees should be cognizant how on their mood could impact their reporting decisions. "Before IT workers make decisions regarding self-committed errors, they should assess their mood and determine if they should wait until they are in a more neutral state to make reporting decisions," he said. The paper also looks at how the personality trait conscientiousness can influence error-reporting decisions. "We identified conscientiousness as being one of the most important personality traits related to IT error-reporting decisions. Conscientious workers have a strong sense of duty and selflessness and are more willing to report self-committed errors," Sarkar said. "Managers should be aware that conscientious team members are less susceptible to the influences of mood on decision making." "Organizations of the Information Age need to be reminded that software development is still reliant on humans. The mood and personality characteristics of IT workers influence decision making and should be considered as a contributor to the reliability of information systems. Even a small bug in software systems can have severe consequences and put lives at risk," Sarkar added. "Exploring the human elements of IT could solve and prevent problems." "The roles of mood and conscientiousness in reporting of self-committed errors on IT projects" was co-authored by Hyung Koo Lee of HEC Montreal, Mark Keil of Georgia State University and Jeff Smith of Miami University. ### SAN FRANCISCO (July 26, 2016) - Scientists have uncovered a fascinating new clue in the global mystery surrounding wild birds with grossly deformed beaks. A team of researchers from the California Academy of Sciences, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have identified a novel virus that has been linked to Avian Keratin Disorder (AKD), a disease responsible for debilitating beak overgrowth and whose cause has remained elusive despite more than a decade of research. This new virus--identified from Alaska and the Pacific Northwest--is being investigated as a potential cause of AKD and represents a critical step in understanding the emergence of this disease in wild bird populations around the world. The results are published today in the journal mBio. "Take one look at a bird suffering from Avian Keratin Disorder, and you'll understand the importance of stopping its spread," says Jack Dumbacher, co-author and Academy curator of ornithology and mammalogy. "Birds must be able to feed themselves and preen their plumage by carefully spreading waterproofing oils on their feathers. When deformed beaks restrict them from these life-giving activities, birds become cold, hungry, and often die. We're trying to understand the causes, origins, and distribution of this disorder." What is Avian Keratin Disorder? Avian Keratin Disorder is characterized by dramatic beak deformities such as elongation, crossing, or curvature, and disables infected birds by severely impairing basic behaviors--including feeding and preening--that are crucial to their survival. First documented among a population of black-capped chickadees in south-central Alaska during the 1990s, AKD has seemingly spread into Canada and the Pacific Northwest, and similar deformities have also been reported in several species throughout the lower forty-eight states. The disease's hallmark traits have recently been observed in regions as far-flung as Europe and Asia. Aside from chickadees, the other species most commonly affected are nuthatches, woodpeckers, crows, jays, and other members of the crow family. "These beak deformities can severely handicap the affected birds, which suffer higher rates of mortality and raise fewer young than unaffected individuals," says Colleen Handel, a co-author and scientist with the USGS who first discovered AKD in Alaska and began to document its distribution. Previous AKD investigations ruled out a number of other possible causes including bacterial or fungal infections, many known avian diseases, human food sources, environmental contaminants, behavioral changes, or trauma that can affect how the beak looks and functions. When the team used new genetic techniques to screen for pathogens in samples from Alaska, they discovered a new virus previously unknown to science. "This new virus is the strongest lead we've had so far as to a likely cause of the unusual cluster of beak deformities," says Caroline Van Hemert, a co-author and scientist with the USGS. "Although we don't know yet whether this novel virus is the culprit, it's an exciting avenue for future research." Promising lead: a newly discovered picornavirus Cutting-edge genetic testing allowed the interdisciplinary team of researchers to track down a cryptic virus hiding in bird DNA extracts. In the past, collaborations between the Academy and UCSF used identical techniques to identify an important new virus that causes Inclusion Body Disease in boas and pythons--a discovery that has since led to insights in the evolution of serious human diseases like Ebola. In the AKD-focused study published today, the team took tissue samples from both sick and healthy birds and applied advanced sequencing technology to pull out genetic information from microbes living in these birds. Part of the sequencing process involved sifting through hundreds of thousands of DNA fragments, and comparing them to known virus groups (including those commonplace among birds), and then isolating those that appeared to be a match or near-miss. From the pile of fragments of potential viruses sprang a new suspect belonging to the picornavirus family--a large and diverse group that includes well-known human offenders like polio, hepatitis A, and the common cold. The team aptly named their discovery Poecivirus after the genus of black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) from which the sequences originated, and in which AKD was first documented. Though more research is necessary to establish Poecivirus definitively as the main cause of AKD, it remains the strongest lead yet. As part of the new virus description, the team generated a detailed map of Poecivirus' genetic material--a tool that will enable scientists all over the world to aid in its identification among birds exhibiting clinical signs of AKD. "We don't know if Poecivirus is causing this pathology, but we do know that this virus is not limited to chickadees," says Maxine Zylberberg, UCSF researcher and lead author of the study. "We detected Poecivirus in red-breasted nuthatches and northwestern crows with beak deformities, as well as in every chickadee with AKD that we have tested. More work is needed to determine if Poecivirus is causing AKD, but the evidence suggests that it is a strong candidate." And the possibilities, Dumbacher reminds us, are truly endless. More than 90% of all known viruses have been described from humans and domesticated species, but that combined category represents less than 1% of all viral species on Earth. "Chances are we know very little about the diversity of viruses out there," he says. "When we discuss the new Poecivirus, we aren't even looking at the tip of the iceberg: we're looking at a hair on the top of the tip of the iceberg." See something, do something Given the discovery of a potential link between AKD in Alaska and infection by Poecivirus, the research team is keeping an eye on the future. Next steps include investigating how AKD is transmitted, determining whether it's definitively caused by Poecivirus, and understanding the mechanism by which the disease stimulates abnormal beak growth. In the meantime, the public remains an important player in tracking the occurrences of AKD. "Birders documenting wildlife with cameras can make a difference," says Dumbacher. "We have the potential to leverage bird photography as birders observe potential cases of AKD in the wild. This type of evidence helps experts determine where and how many birds of different species are potentially affected." If you encounter a bird in the wild with a particularly curved, crossed, or elongated beak, you can help by submitting an observation report with the species type, behavior, the time and location of your sighting, and any accompanying photographs. "The power of citizen science can help us identify other clusters of AKD around the world," says Handel, "where genetic testing can then tell us if this new virus is the common, underlying factor." "Identifying and sequencing this new virus has really added to our scientific tool belt," adds Dumbacher. "Now it's time to look to nature, and start searching broadly for other instances of Poecivirus around the globe." ### About Research at the California Academy of Sciences The Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability at the California Academy of Sciences is at the forefront of efforts to understand two of the most important topics of our time: the nature and sustainability of life on Earth. Based in San Francisco, the Institute is home to more than 100 world-class scientists, state-of-the-art facilities, and nearly 46 million scientific specimens from around the world. The Institute also leverages the expertise and efforts of more than 100 international Associates and 400 distinguished Fellows. Through expeditions around the globe, investigations in the lab, and analysis of vast biological datasets, the Institute's scientists work to understand the evolution and interconnectedness of organisms and ecosystems, the threats they face around the world, and the most effective strategies for sustaining them into the future. Through innovative partnerships and public engagement initiatives, they also guide critical sustainability and conservation decisions worldwide, inspire and mentor the next generation of scientists, and foster responsible stewardship of our planet. NEW YORK, NY, July 26, 2016 - Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), New York State Psychiatric Institute, and NewYork-Presbyterian reported that an odor identification test may prove useful in predicting cognitive decline and detecting early-stage Alzheimer's disease. Their two studies, presented at the Alzheimer's Association's International Conference in Toronto, Canada, suggest that the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) may offer a practical, low-cost alternative to other tests. In one study, researchers administered UPSIT to 397 older adults (average age of 80 years) without dementia from a multiethnic population in northern Manhattan. Each of the participants also had an MRI scan to measure the thickness of the entorhinal cortex--the first area of the brain to be affected by Alzheimer's disease. Four years later, 50 participants (12.6 percent) had developed dementia, and nearly 20 percent had signs of cognitive decline. The researchers found that low UPSIT scores, but not entorhinal cortical thickness, were significantly associated with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. (Low UPSIT scores indicate decreased ability to correctly identify odors.) Low UPSIT scores, but not entorhinal cortical thickness, also predicted cognitive decline, although entorhinal cortical thickness was significantly associated with UPSIT score in those who transitioned to dementia. "Our research showed that odor identification impairment, and to a lesser degree, entorhinal cortical thickness, were predictors of the transition to dementia," said Seonjoo Lee, PhD, assistant professor of clinical biostatistics (in Psychiatry) at CUMC and presenting author. "These findings support odor identification as an early predictor, and suggest that impairment in odor identification may precede thinning in the entorhinal cortex in the early clinical stage of Alzheimer's disease." In another study, researchers from CUMC evaluated the usefulness of UPSIT and tests that measure the amount of amyloid in the brain (in higher amounts, the protein forms plaques in the brains of those with Alzheimer's disease) in predicting memory decline. The researchers administered UPSIT and performed either beta amyloid PET scanning or analysis of cerebrospinal fluid in 84 older adults (median age of 71 years). Of these, 58 participants had mild cognitive impairment. The researchers followed the participants for at least six months. At follow-up, 67 percent of the participants had signs of memory decline. Testing positive for amyloid with either method, but not UPSIT score, predicted cognitive decline. However, participants with a score of less than 35 were more than three times as likely to have memory decline as those with higher UPSIT scores. "Our research suggests that both UPSIT score and amyloid status predict memory decline," said William Kreisl, MD, the Boris and Rose Katz Assistant Professor of Neurology (in the Taub Institute) at CUMC and a neurologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia. "Younger age, higher education, and shorter follow-up may explain why UPSIT did not predict decline as strongly in this study as in previous studies. Although more research is needed, odor identification testing, which is much less expensive and easier to administer than PET imaging or lumbar puncture, may prove to be a useful tool in helping physicians counsel patients who are concerned about their risk of memory loss." Current methods are only capable of clinically detecting Alzheimer's disease in the later stages of its development, when significant brain damage has already occurred. Brain imaging with PET may show the buildup of amyloid plaques in the brain years before symptoms appear, although this method is expensive. Beta amyloid can also be detected in cerebrospinal fluid through a lumbar puncture, and brain PET imaging of abnormal tau protein is rapidly advancing through research. "Our study adds to the growing body of evidence demonstrating the potential value of odor identification testing in the detection of early-stage Alzheimer's disease," said D.P. Devanand, MD, professor of psychiatry (in Neurology and in the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center) at CUMC and senior author of both studies. "Using other biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease to detect the disease at an earlier stage--which have the potential to be lower-cost and non-invasive--could lead to dramatic improvements in early detection and management of the disease," commented Heather Snyder, PhD, director of medical and scientific operations at the Alzheimer's Association, in a statement. "Predictive Utility of Entorhinal Cortex Thinning and Odor Identification Test for Transition to Dementia and Cognitive Decline in an Urban Community Population," by Seonjoo Lee, PhD, et al., was funded by the National Institute on Aging, grants K01AG051348, R01AG034189, R01AG037212, K99/R00AG042483, R01AG041795. ### "Both Odor Identification and Amyloid Status Predict Memory Decline in Older Adults" by William Kreisl, MD, et al., was funded by the National Institute on Aging, grants R01AG17761 and R01AG041795. Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, preclinical, and clinical research; medical and health sciences education; and patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and State and one of the largest faculty medical practices in the Northeast. For more information, visit cumc.columbia.edu or columbiadoctors.org. The Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center is a multidisciplinary group that has forged links between researchers and clinicians to uncover the causes of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other age-related brain diseases and to discover ways to prevent and cure these diseases. It has partnered with the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center at Columbia University Medical Center, which was established by an endowment in 1977, to focus on diseases of the nervous system, and with the Departments of Pathology & Cell Biology and of Neurology to allow the seamless integration of genetic analysis, molecular and cellular studies, and clinical investigation to explore all phases of diseases of the nervous system. The Taub Institute has been designated as a Center of Excellence for Alzheimer's Disease by the New York State Department of Health. For more information, visit The Taub Institute at http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/dept/taub/. New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University Department of Psychiatry (NYSPI/Columbia Psychiatry) New York State Psychiatric Institute (founded in 1896) and the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry have been closely affiliated since 1925. Their co-location in a New York State facility on the New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center campus provides the setting for a rich and productive collaborative relationship among scientists and physicians in a variety of disciplines. NYSPI/Columbia Psychiatry is ranked among the best departments and psychiatric research facilities in the nation and has contributed greatly to the understanding of and current treatment for psychiatric disorders. The Department and Institute are home to distinguished clinicians and researchers noted for their clinical and research advances in the diagnosis and treatment of depression, suicide, schizophrenia, bipolar and anxiety disorders and childhood psychiatric disorders. Their combined expertise provides state of the art clinical care for patients, and training for the next generation of psychiatrists and psychiatric researchers. NewYork-Presbyterian NewYork-Presbyterian is one of the nation's most comprehensive healthcare delivery networks, focused on providing innovative and compassionate care to patients in the New York metropolitan area and throughout the globe. In collaboration with two renowned medical school partners, Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, NewYork-Presbyterian is consistently recognized as a leader in medical education, groundbreaking research and clinical innovation. NewYork-Presbyterian has four major divisions: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is ranked #1 in the New York metropolitan area by U.S. News and World Report and repeatedly named to the magazine's Honor Roll of best hospitals in the nation; NewYork-Presbyterian Regional Hospital Network is comprised of leading hospitals in and around New York and delivers high-quality care to patients throughout the region; NewYork-Presbyterian Physician Services connects medical experts with patients in their communities; and NewYork-Presbyterian Community and Population Health features the hospital's ambulatory care network sites and operations, community care initiatives and healthcare quality programs, including NewYork Quality Care, established by NewYork-Presbyterian, Weill Cornell and Columbia. NewYork-Presbyterian is one of the largest healthcare providers in the U.S. Each year, nearly 29,000 NewYork-Presbyterian professionals deliver exceptional care to more than 2 million patients. For more information, visit http://www.nyp.org and find us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The Journal of Pain Research has published the review "Effectiveness of the World Health Organization Cancer Pain Relief Guidelines: An Integrative Review". As corresponding author Dr Cathy Carlson says "The WHO guidelines and the 3-step ladder have been the cornerstone of cancer pain relief. The WHO guidelines encompass a clear and simple approach that has an educational value and is easily remembered and disseminated. Yet many health care providers have never heard of the 3-step ladder. From the findings of the studies evaluating the effectiveness of the WHO guidelines, it can be concluded that the guidelines are useful in promoting cancer pain relief. The clear message resonating from this review is that they are an effective and cost-effective means to provide cancer pain relief." Dr Carlson continues "While comparing the results of the recent studies describing the incidence and intensity of cancer pain, it can be assumed that the WHO guidelines have not been as widely adopted as would be expected since their initial release in 1986." As Dr Michael Schatman, Editor-in-Chief, explains "This outstanding review is noteworthy in that it finally elucidates the complexities associated with the much-needed update of pain management guidelines." ### The Journal of Pain Research is an international, peer-reviewed, open access, online journal that welcomes laboratory and clinical findings in the fields of pain research and the prevention and management of pain. Original research, reviews, symposium reports, hypothesis formation and commentaries are all considered for publication. Dove Medical Press Ltd is a privately held company specializing in the publication of Open Access peer-reviewed journals across the broad spectrum of science, technology and especially medicine. James Cook University researchers have shown a way to potentially halve the amount of fertiliser dairy farmers use while maintaining pasture yields, providing improved protection for the Great Barrier Reef. JCU's Dr Paul Nelson said nitrogen from fertiliser spread on fields can have significant environmental effects on creeks and coastal waters. "Ensuring plants have sufficient nitrogen is important for profitable farming, but it must be balanced with the potential for losses to the environment. "The enhanced-efficiency fertiliser we tested on a North Queensland dairy farm provides a means to improve this balance on dairy farms," he said. The team applied a relatively new nitrification inhibitor - a chemical that slows the conversion of nitrogen to easily lost forms - that allows more time for the fertiliser to be taken up by the roots of the plant for which it was intended. Just half the usual amount of fertiliser was needed to achieve the same amount of pasture growth in a one-year trial. "This is good news for farmers and for the Great Barrier Reef," said Dr Nelson. The researchers also found that most of the excess nitrogen from the paddock was lost via leaching through the soil. The loss in surface runoff was negligible. "So it worth determining optimum rates of this new fertiliser as a way of reducing leaching of nitrogen while maintaining profitability," Dr Nelson said. He said that although dairy pastures are a relatively minor land use in the tropics, the amounts of nitrogen-based fertiliser they use are large, so reductions in pollution could be significant. ### The research, supported by the Australian Government's 'Caring for Our Country, Reef Rescue' program, Queensland Dairyfarmers' Organisation and Incitec-Pivot, was conducted by James Cook University on a dairy farm at Ravenshoe in North Queensland. Published today in Nature Genetics, the study reveals three new risk genes for ALS and one of these - C21orf2 - increases an individual's risk of developing the dis-ease by 65 per cent. These results could aid the development of personalised treatments for people with ALS by using gene therapy - an approach which involves replacing faulty genes or adding new ones. One in every 400 people will be diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at some point in their lives, yet its causes are largely unknown and effective treatments are therefore lacking. In ALS, motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord degenerate causing the muscles they control to weaken and waste away. Symptoms normally start in mid-life and eventually affect all movement including swallowing and breathing. Average life expectancy from symptom onset is two to five years. Variations of the genes we all carry are an important cause of ALS, even though most people do not have an inherited form of the condition. The researchers set out to discover new genes for ALS to find out why the disease develops and how to design new treatments. Using genetic data from Project MinE, comprising 15,156 ALS patients and 26,224 healthy controls from 15 countries, the researchers combined 'snapshot' genetic information with whole genome sequencing of 1,861 individuals. Whole genome sequencing involves reading every single one of the six billion letters in the human genome. In total 8,697,640 variants across the genome were tested for the risk of developing ALS. The researchers identified three new risk genes for ALS. One of these, called C21orf2, appeared to be particularly important as a risk factor for ALS. The exact function of C21orf2 is still unknown, but it appears to be part of a system in cells related to their own movement and their internal skeleton. They also found that for any one person, just one or two genes had a substantial effect on whether they developed ALS, which is different from most other conditions in which lots of genes each have a small effect. Professor Ammar Al-Chalabi from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London, said: 'This tells us that ALS is not the result of a few common gene variations that each contribute a little to the risk. Rather, any one of many rare gene variations contributes a large risk for ALS development. This insight is crucial as it affects the types of treatment strategies that might be effective.' Professor Jan Veldink from the University Medical Center Utrecht said: 'Most genetics studies in ALS focus on the familial form of the disease. Project MinE is an innovative approach to find genetic causes of all ALS cases. In this study we have found a total of three genomic regions where genetic variation in these regions increases the risk of ALS. One of these regions included a gene named C21orf2. This gene was subsequently shown to harbour rare mutations that directly increase ALS risk. This makes the C21orf2 gene extremely interesting for future studies to shed light on the mechanisms that lead to ALS and possibly future therapeutic strategies.' Professor Ammar Al-Chalabi added: 'Pinpointing genes which increase the risk of ALS will help us develop new treatments that can stop or improve symptoms of ALS in the future. The more we understand about the genetic basis of ALS, the closer we are to revealing new treatment targets and effective therapies.' Brian Dickie, Director of Research Development at the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association said: 'We are pleased to have been involved since this approach to gene hunting was in its infancy a decade ago. It's so encouraging to see how the collaboration, catalysed by Project MinE, has grown and is now delivering results that will open up new avenues of research across the world.' ### The study was funded by the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association, Project MinE, the ALS Association and the EU Joint Programme on Neurodegeneration Research through the Medical Research Council (funding of the STRENGTH European consortium). From 211 candidates, 10 ventures were selected to join the 7th edition of the accelerator From 211 candidates, Building Global Innovators has selected 10 ventures to join the 7th Edition of the accelerator, 9 of which already have a prototype developed that is ready to pilot. The selected teams already took participated an intensive, immersive multi-disciplinary acceleration bootcamp in Lisbon, were they were welcomed by Goncalo Amorim- BGI Executive Director, Pedro Arezes - MIT Portugal Program Director, Emir Sirage - Coordinator of FCT's Technology Office, and Walter Palma- Director at Caixa Capital. The selected ventures include talented teams from over 28 countries: Brazil, Costa Rica, Denmark, Hong Kong, United Kingdom and Portugal. They will receive support valued at 1 million Euros, including access to experienced business catalysts, expert mentors, and introductions and connections to the start-up ecosystem of Kendall Square, Cambridge / USA. Historically, over half of participating ventures succeed in financing their ventures within 18 months, with acceleration provided by BGI. Increased international character and potential impact in the global market of application distinguished the candidates of the 7th edition of the accelerator, sponsored by this truly unique, technology-based Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative of the MIT Portugal Program. "Further to our differentiated positioning effort as a later stage, B2B accelerator for technology-intensive startups built on solid teams, we are happy to see that of this year's batch, 78% are already formed companies, highlighting the maturity of teams with strong co-founders and global ambitions," commented Goncalo Amorim, BGI Executive Director. The ventures accepted to BGI's Accelerator in each market vertical are as follows: AppyFans (Portugal) - A cloud-based application engaging brands and customers at the right moment and right time. It enables geolocated and enhanced interaction for efficient and hypertargeted campaigns to customers, driving foot traffic to a brick and mortar retail. Atom (Hong Kong) - A portable battery with a built in wall outlet. It powers all electronics up to 150W including laptops, speakers, video transmitters and thousands of other portable devices. eConscribi (Denmark) - An eRecruitment solution, ready to use, fully configurable, end to end SaaS solution to clients desiring efficient, flexible and upgradable solutions. Gilvah (UK) - A global online consulting solution based on a tailor made software application, designed to be a true, "one-stop" professional online service transforming how professionals work and how people can access advice from professionals in various categories. Glexyz (Portugal) - SaaS cloud platform where everyone developing a product can test and optimize their product, manufacturing, to system performance and product lifetime prediction. Glexyz cloud eliminates outdated and expensive physical prototyping, enabling 70% faster and cheaper product optimization cycle though our holistic virtual testing system. Kinetikos (Portugal) - Kinetikos provides a cloud-based framework that merges patients' biomechanical and clinical data to inform those best qualified to make medical decisions. We are poised to revolutionize clinical decision-making to objectively diagnose, analyze and support clinicians planning treatments for musculoskeletal disorders around the world. Newborn Skin Age (Brazil) - A light scan for neonatal that measures skin thickness by optical reflectance combined with a mobile APP for data processing. The automated measurement of epidermal thickness allows the accurate estimation of the gestational age in newborn babies. No Micro (Portugal) - Antimicrobial agents/coatings for biomedical applications using a combination of high density of Anti Microbial Particles and nanoparticle size that make them very effective and low in cytotoxicity against human cells. pCPR (Portugal) - Novel medical device to assist CPR maneuvers (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). It integrates performance indicators and vital signs with physiologic feedback, in real time for the first time. Smart Wireless Lab (South Africa) - An affordable, low power consumption, and easiest to deploy LTE solution, specifically designed to reach mobile subscribers. It provides connectivity to IoT and M2M devices, as well as Device-to-Device communications via LTE, and data for mission critical projects. ### An international team of scientists who searched out specimens from museums and remote Arctic islands has identified a rare new species of beaked whale that ranges from northern Japan across the Pacific Ocean to Alaska's Aleutian Islands. Japanese whalers call the enigmatic black whales "karasu," the Japanese word for raven. The new species is darker in color and about two-thirds the size of the more common Baird's beaked whale, but so scarce that even whalers rarely see them. A DNA analysis of 178 beaked whales from around the Pacific Rim found eight known examples of the new species, the scientists reported today in the journal Marine Mammal Science. The eight included specimens from the Smithsonian Institution and Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, a skeleton on display in an Alaska high school, and another that puzzled researchers trying to identify it when it washed up on an island in the Bering Sea. "The challenge in documenting the species was simply locating enough specimens to provide convincing evidence," said Phillip Morin, a research molecular biologist at NOAA Fisheries' Southwest Fisheries Science Center, and lead author of the new study. "Clearly this species is very rare, and reminds us how much we have to learn about the ocean and even some of its largest inhabitants." An earlier Japanese study had suggested that the black whales, sometimes considered a dwarf form of Baird's beaked whale, might represent a new species. That sent Morin in search of additional genetic samples to definitively answer the question and better understand the range of the elusive species. He turned first to the Southwest Fisheries Science Center's marine mammal tissue collection, the largest in the world, and found two samples that appeared to represent a new species. One came from a whale found in Alaska's Aleutian Islands in 2004, whose skeleton now hangs on display at Unalaska High School. Then he and his colleagues pursued additional DNA samples from museums, research institutions and Japanese markets where whale meat is sold. In 2014 scientists found a dead beaked whale on St. George Island, one of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea. When it did not match any known species, they sent samples to Morin. Genetic tests later showed it to be the new species. "We knew it was not any whale we knew from our area," said Michelle Ridgway, a marine ecologist with Oceanus Alaska who documented the whale in the Pribilofs and is a coauthor of the new research. DNA analysis shows that the new species and Baird's beaked whale are each more closely related to Arnoux's beaked whale from the Southern Hemisphere than they are to each other. The genetic differences and smaller size indicate that the black whale is distinctive enough to represent a new species, the scientists found. Official recognition and naming of the species awaits a formal review of the animal's characteristics and differences from other beaked whales. Beaked whales remain among the least known whales in the ocean, with several species identified only in the past few decades. They have beaks like dolphins, diving thousands of feet into deep underwater canyons and basins to feed on squid and bottom fish. Japan hunts Baird's beaked whales, the largest of the beaked whales at about 35 feet long. "Japanese whalers have known about the black form but didn't consider it a separate species," said Erich Hoyt, a research fellow with Whale and Dolphin Conservation in the United Kingdom and co-director of the Russian Cetacean Habitat Project. He is a coauthor of the new research, and his research group contributed genetic samples from beaked whales in the Russian Far East. "The implication of a new species of beaked whale is that we need to reconsider management of both species to be sure they're sufficiently protected, considering how rare the new one appears to be," Hoyt said. "Discovering a new species of whale in 2016 is exciting but it also reveals how little we know and how much more work we have to do to truly understand these species." The eight known examples of the new species cluster around northern Japan and the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea. That suggests that the species has a smaller range than Baird's beaked whale, which occurs throughout the North Pacific from Japan to Baja California. Scars from the cookie-cutter-like bites of tropical sharks suggest that, like other beaked whales, the species may migrate to tropical waters. "As much as we know about the genetic heritage of this animal, we still do not know very much about the animal itself," Morin said. "We can draw some indications from what we know about other beaked whales in terms of its range and behavior, but we still have many more questions than answers." ### It's an age-old astronomical truth: To resolve smaller and smaller physical details of distant celestial objects, scientists need larger and larger light-collecting mirrors. This challenge is not easily overcome given the high cost and impracticality of building and -- in the case of space observatories -- launching large-aperture telescopes. However, a team of scientists and engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, has begun testing a potentially more affordable alternative called the photon sieve. This new-fangled telescope optic could give scientists the resolution they need to see finer details still invisible with current observing tools - a jump in resolution that could help answer a 50-year-old question about the physical processes heating the sun's million-degree corona. Although potentially useful at all wavelengths, the team specifically is developing the photon sieve for studies of the sun in the ultraviolet, the wavelengths needed to disentangle the coronal heating mystery. With support from Goddard's Research and Development program, the team has fabricated three sieves and now plans to begin testing to see if it can withstand the rigors of operating in space -- milestones achieved in less than a year. "This is already a success," said Doug Rabin, who is leading the R&D initiative. Variant of Fresnel Zone Plate The optic is a variant of something called a Fresnel zone plate. Rather than focusing light as most telescopes do through refraction or reflection, Fresnel plates cause light to diffract -- a phenomenon that happens when light travels through a thin opening and then spreads out. This causes the light waves on the other side to reinforce or cancel each other out in precise patterns. Fresnel plates consist of a tightly spaced set of rings, alternatingly transparent or opaque. Light travels through the spaces between the opaque zones, which are precisely spaced so that the diffracted light overlaps and focuses at a specific point, creating an image that can be recorded by a solid-state sensor. The photon sieve operates largely the same. However, the sieve is dotted with millions of holes precisely placed on silicon in a circular pattern that takes the place of conventional Fresnel zones. The team wants to build a photon sieve at least three feet, or one meter, in diameter -- a size they think could achieve up to 100 times better angular resolution in the ultraviolet than NASA's high-resolution space telescope, the Solar Dynamics Observatory. "For more than 50 years, the central unanswered question in solar coronal science has been to understand how energy transported from below is able to heat the corona," Rabin said. "Current instruments have spatial resolutions about 100 times larger than the features that must be observed to understand this process." Rabin believes his team is well along the way in building an optic that can help answer the question. Millions of Holes In just a few months' time, his team built three devices measuring three inches wide -- five times larger than the initial 17-millimeter optic developed four years ago under a previous R&D-funded effort. Each device contains 16 million holes whose sizes and locations were determined by team member Adrian Daw. Another team member, Kevin Denis, then etched the holes in a silicon wafer to Daw's exacting specifications using a fabrication technique called photolithography. Team members Anne-Marie Novo-Gradac and John O'Neill have acquired optical images with the new photon sieves, while Tom Widmyer and Greg Woytko have prepared them for vibration testing to make sure they can survive harsh g-forces encountered during launch. "This testing is to prove that the photon sieve will work as well as theory predicts," Rabin said. Although the team has already accomplished nearly all the goals it set forth when work began late last year, Rabin believes the team can enlarge the optics by a factor of two before the end of the fiscal year. Formation-Flying CubeSat But the work likely won't end there. In the nearer term, Rabin believes his team can mature the technology for a potential sounding-rocket demonstration. In the longer term, he and team member Joe Davila envision the optic flying on a two-spacecraft formation-flying CubeSat-type mission designed specifically to study the sun's corona. "The scientific payoff is a feasible and cost-effective means of achieving the resolution necessary to answer a key problem in solar physics," he said. ### For more technology news, go to: http://gsfctechnology.gsfc.nasa.gov/newsletter/Current.pdf FORT LAUDERDALE/DAVIE, Fla. - When it comes to long distance relationships, it seems the barnacle has it all figured out. That's because if they fancy a mate who is far away, the male can simply make his penis longer to meet the need. That's right - unlike humans, barnacles have the ability to physically change the size and length of their penis. You may be asking yourself "how does one study such a thing?" According to NSU associate professor J. Matthew Hoch, Ph.D., barnacles have long-fascinated scientists and studying them has helped the development of scientific theories from evolution and natural selection to systematics and taxonomy. What is being learned from barnacles continues to contribute to a new understanding of "reproductive biology, life history, phenotypic plasticity and sex allocation theory." In fact, studying barnacles goes all the way back to someone synonymous with the science of evolution. "Research into barnacle mating dates back to Charles Darwin - they were a major interest of his before he published The Origin of Species," said Dr. Hoch, a researcher in NSU's Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography. In fact, in 1857, after hearing of an acquaintance who had actually observed mating barnacles, Darwin wrote: 'I am anxious to know whether this recipient was a willing agent or adulterer. or whether it was a case of rape by act. If the recipient was in full vigour [sic], I think it wd [sic] be impossible to insert anything without its consent. Yours sincerely, C. Darwin Dr. Hoch and co-authors Daniel Schneck, who was an NSU undergraduate student during the study (he's since earned his Bachelor's in marine biology,) and Christopher Neufeld, Ph.D. who was at Quest University Canada, had their research paper recently published in the journal Integrative and Comparative Biology. The trio studied something that is unique to the barnacle - depending on environmental circumstances, they can change the shape of the male sexual organ. It turns out that barnacles, those marine animals that many find annoying or a nuisance as they tend to grow on the hulls of boats, dock pilings and other items, can actually change their penises. Dr. Hoch said that based on their size, barnacles have the largest penises of all animals. And if that wasn't enough for bragging rights, this research shows that these animals can change the shape, size, length and girth of the organ, all of which is to best suit the environment they are in. "For many [barnacle] species, the condition of the penis changes seasonally," Dr. Hoch and his colleagues said in their paper. "In the most extreme circumstances, it degenerates and is shed during the first post-mating molt and is re-grown for the next mating season." So the next time you have to have the hull of your boat or the pilings on your dock cleaned of barnacles, you might want to show a little more respect for these creatures. After all, it seems they can do something humans have wanted to do since nearly the dawn of time. ### You can read the full research paper here. Be sure to sign up for NSU's RSS feed so you don't miss any of our news releases, guest editorials and other announcements. Please sign up HERE. About Nova Southeastern University (NSU): Located in beautiful Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a dynamic research institution dedicated to providing high-quality educational programs at the undergraduate, graduate, and first-professional degree levels. A private, not-for-profit institution with more than 26,000 students, NSU has campuses in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Miami, Miramar, Orlando, Palm Beach, and Tampa, Florida, as well as San Juan, Puerto Rico, while maintaining a presence online globally. For more than 50 years, NSU has been awarding degrees in a wide range of fields, while fostering groundbreaking research and an impactful commitment to community. Classified as a research university with "high research activity" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, NSU is 1 of only 50 universities nationwide to also be awarded Carnegie's Community Engagement Classification, and is also the largest private, not-for-profit institution in the United States that meets the U.S. Department of Education's criteria as a Hispanic-serving Institution. Please visit http://www.nova.edu for more information about NSU and realizingpotential.nova.edu for more information on the largest fundraising campaign in NSU history. About NSU's Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography: The college provides high-quality undergraduate (bachelor's degree) and graduate (master's and doctoral degrees and certificates) education programs in a broad range of disciplines, including marine sciences, mathematics, biophysics, and chemistry. Researchers carry out innovative basic and applied research programs in coral reef biology, ecology, and geology; fish biology, ecology, and conservation; shark and billfish ecology; fisheries science; deep-sea organismal biology and ecology; invertebrate and vertebrate genomics, genetics, molecular ecology, and evolution; microbiology; biodiversity; observation and modeling of large-scale ocean circulation, coastal dynamics, and ocean atmosphere coupling; benthic habitat mapping; biodiversity; histology; and calcification. The college's newest building is the state-of-the-art Guy Harvey Oceanographic Center, an 86,000-square-foot structure filled with laboratories; offices; seminar rooms; an auditorium; and indoor and outdoor running sea water facilities. Please visit cnso.nova.edu for more information. Three 60-minute moderate intensity sessions per week were enough to cut risks Exercise alone can reduce the number of obese, pregnant women who develop gestational diabetes, a new study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has shown. Women in the exercise group also had lower blood pressure than the control group towards the end of their pregnancy. The study has just been published in PLOS Medicine. The number of women of childbearing age who are obese is on the rise. Obese women are at increased risk of complications during pregnancy, the most common of which are gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, a large increase in weight and pre-eclampsia. They are also at an increased risk of needing a Caesarean section and giving birth to large babies. These complications can have a great impact on the health of both mother and child, not just during pregnancy, but also later in life. Diabetes rates dropped In a large study at NTNU and St. Olavs Hospital in Trondheim, Norway, researchers studied the effect of regular exercise during pregnancy in obese, pregnant women. The study comprised 91 women who were divided randomly into an exercise group or a control group. Of those, only two in the exercise group vs. nine in the control group developed gestational diabetes. The women in the exercise group also had lower blood pressure towards the end of their pregnancy. Long-term consequences "It's important to reduce obesity-related pregnancy complications because they can have long-term consequences for both the mother and her child," says Dr. Trine Moholdt, the principal investigator for the study. "We advise all women to exercise during pregnancy, as long as there aren't any medical reasons that prevent them from exercising." The study also showed that the amount of exercise needed to reduce the risk of gestational diabetes is not very high, Moholdt said. Walking and strength training three times a week Women in the exercise group were invited to three weekly supervised sessions of 60 minutes throughout the course of their pregnancy. The training consisted of 35 minutes of moderate intensity treadmill walking and 25 minutes of strength training. The control group was given standard prenatal care. The researchers noted that the intensity of the training for the exercise group was not very high and that not all women in the exercise group met for all sessions. "That meant that even a little training during pregnancy can be beneficial," said Kirsti Krohn Garns, the PhD candidate who was responsible for all the training sessions in the trial. ### Reference: Exercise training and weight gain in obese pregnant women: a randomized controlled trial (ETIP). Kirsti Krohn Garns, Siv Mrkved, yvind Salvesen,Trine Moholdt. PLOS Medicine 26 July 2016. The highly consistent anatomical patterning found in the brain's cortex is controlled by genetic factors, reports a new study by an international research consortium led by Chi-Hua Chen of the University of California, San Diego, and Nicholas Schork of the J. Craig Venter Institute, published on July 26 in PLOS Genetics. The human brain's wrinkled cerebral cortex, which is responsible for consciousness, memory, language and thought, has a highly similar organizational pattern in all individuals. The similarity suggests that genetic factors may create this pattern, but currently the extent of the role of these factors is unknown. To determine whether a consistent and biologically meaningful pattern in the cortex could be identified, the scientists assessed brain images and genetic information from 2,364 unrelated individuals, brain images from 466 twin pairs, and transcriptome data from six postmortem brains. They identified very consistent patterns, with close genetic relationships between different regions within the same brain lobe. The frontal lobe, which has the most complexity and has experienced the greatest expansion throughout the brain's evolution, is the most genetically distinct from the other lobes. Their results also suggest potential functional relationships among different cortical brain regions. These analyses reflect one of the first attempts to assess the relationship between biological patterning in the brain and the genetic phenomenon responsible, using very different types of data. Attempts to identify the specific genetic variants underlying the potentially complex and polygenic effects observed by the scientists, will likely require very large-scale studies. Chen says: "Despite considerable individual variability in the size and folding patterns of the cortex, the overall organizational patterns seem highly consistent. Our study shows that genetic factors are likely to be important for laying down this basic cortical patterning. The challenge for the future work will be to identify these specific genetic variants." ### In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS Genetics: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1006143 Citation: Peng Q, Schork A, Bartsch H, Lo M-T, Panizzon MS, Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition and Genetics Study, et al. (2016) Conservation of Distinct Genetically-Mediated Human Cortical Pattern. PLoS Genet 12(7): e1006143. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1006143 Image Credit: Qian Peng and colleagues Funding: Funded by National Institute of Health R01MH100351; U19 AG023122-08; R01 DA030976-04; R01 MH094483-02; R01 HL089655; R01 AG035020-04; R01 MH093500-03; R01AG22381, AG18386, and AG18384. NARSAD Young Investigator award (CHC), as well as grants from Human Longevity, Inc., Johnson and Johnson, the Tanner Foundation, and the Stand-Up-to-Cancer organization. Liaison Committee between the Central Norway Regional Health Authority and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, HUNT administration grants, and National Norwegian Advisory Unit for functional MRI methods. The Nord-Trndelag Health Study (The HUNT Study) is a collaboration between HUNT Research Centre (Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU), Nord-Trndelag County Council, Central Norway Health Authority, and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Part of data collection and sharing for this project was funded by the Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition and Genetics Study (PING), National Institutes of Health Grant RC2DA029475. PING is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. PING data are disseminated by the PING Coordinating Center at the Center for Human Development, University of California, San Diego. Part of data collection and sharing for this project was funded by the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging initiative (ADNI) (National Institutes of Health Grant U01 AG024904) and DOD ADNI (Department of Defense award number W81XWH-12-2-0012). ADNI is funded by the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and through generous contributions from the following: Alzheimer's Association; Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation; Araclon Biotech; BioClinica, Inc.; Biogen Idec Inc.; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; Eisai Inc.; Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Eli Lilly and Company; EuroImmun; F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and its affiliated company Genentech, Inc.; Fujirebio; GE Healthcare; IXICO Ltd; Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy Research & Development, LLC; Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development LLC; Medpace, Inc.; Merck & Co., Inc.; Meso Scale Diagnostics, LLC; NeuroRx Research; Neurotrack Technologies; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Pfizer Inc.; Piramal Imaging; Servier; Synarc Inc.; and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research is providing funds to support ADNI clinical sites in Canada. Private sector contributions are facilitated by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (http://www.fnih.org). The grantee organization is the Northern California Institute for Research and Education, and the study is coordinated by the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study at the University of California, San Diego. ADNI data are disseminated by the Laboratory for Neuro Imaging at the University of Southern California. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: AMD is a founder and holds equity in CorTechs Laboratories, Inc., and also serves on its Scientific Advisory Board. The terms of this arrangement have been reviewed and approved by the University of California, San Diego, in accordance with its conflict of interest policies. Boston--Mechanical thrombectomy, a leading type of neurointerventional stroke treatment where a device can remove a blood clot in minutes, is essential for people experiencing a stroke, who stand to lose 2 million neurons every minute the artery is blocked. Equally essential is access to a hospital or health care system with a successful workflow in place that can deliver such treatment. A new study finds that there are wide variations among institutions in workflow processes related to triage, team activation, transport and case preparation. Planning for Efficiency: Survey of Technical and Workflow Practices before Mechanical Thrombectomy, presented today at the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery's (SNIS) 13th Annual Meeting, revealed that broader dissemination of best practices and successful workflows may allow institutions to develop more efficient systems of care that could help save more lives. The study found that 86% of institutions contacted the neurointerventional physician before the presence of a treatable stroke was confirmed. However, only 43% of institutions allowed the time saving step of moving the patient to the procedure room while the neurointerventional team was en route to the hospital. Additional findings include: More than half of hospitals designate non-physician staff, such as a designated stroke nurse familiar with relevant care protocols, to respond to stroke codes with the express purpose of coordinating rapid triage in the emergency department; Two-thirds of hospitals are able to routinely utilize anesthesiologists to provide support during thrombectomies; and Most hospitals have a mandated response time for neurointerventional team members, most commonly 30 minutes. "Mechanical thrombectomy has proven benefit in selected patients with acute ischemic stroke, but the degree of benefit depends on how quickly thrombectomy can be successfully performed," said the study's lead author, Dr. Akash Kansagra, Assistant Professor of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, who also serves as Medical Director of the Endovascular Acute Stroke Committee at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. "Systems need to evolve so that appropriate patients can undergo thrombectomy in a timely fashion." Nearly 130,000 people in the U.S. die from stroke each year. The vast majority of strokes -- 87 percent-- are ischemic strokes, caused by a blocked artery in the brain. Rapid access to stroke surgery (endovascular treatment) for patients having an ischemic stroke can reduce stroke mortality and serious disability by half. ### To speak with Dr. Kansagra, please contact Sangeetha Sarma at 301-395-5227 or ssarma@vancomm.com. About the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery The Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery (SNIS) is a scientific and educational association dedicated to advancing the specialty of neurointerventional surgery through research, standard-setting and education and advocacy in order to provide the highest quality of patient care in diagnosing and treating diseases of the brain, spine, head and neck. http://www.snisonline.org. Follow us on Twitter @SNISinfo. Among patients with 1 to 3 brain metastases, the use of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) alone, compared with SRS combined with whole brain radiotherapy, resulted in less cognitive deterioration at 3 months, according to a study appearing in the July 26 issue of JAMA. Approximately 30 percent of patients with cancer develop brain metastases, and the incidence of these lesions is rising. Most patients present with limited intracranial metastases, usually defined as 1 to 3 lesions. Stereotactic radiosurgery is an effective and commonly used treatment for brain metastases, but intracranial tumor progression is frequent after SRS alone, primarily because of the development of new metastatic lesions. Whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) significantly improves tumor control in the brain after SRS, yet because of its association with cognitive decline, its role in the treatment of patients with brain metastases remains controversial. Paul D. Brown, M.D., of Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and colleagues conducted a study in which 213 patients with 1 to 3 brain metastases were randomly assigned to receive SRS alone (n = 111) or SRS plus WBRT (n = 102). The study was conducted at 34 institutions in North America; average patient age was 61 years. The primary outcome measured for the study was cognitive deterioration among patients who completed assessments at study entry and 3 months. Other measured outcomes included quality of life, functional independence, long-term cognitive status, and overall survival. The researchers found that there was less cognitive deterioration at 3 months after SRS alone (40/63 patients [64 percent]) than when combined with WBRT (44/48 patients [92 percent]. Quality of life was higher at 3 months with SRS alone, including overall quality of life. There was no significant difference in functional independence at 3 months between the treatment groups. Median overall survival was 10.4 months for SRS alone and 7.4 months for SRS plus WBRT. For long-term survivors, the incidence of cognitive deterioration was less after SRS alone at 3 months and at 12 months. "In the absence of a difference in overall survival, these findings suggest that for patients with 1 to 3 brain metastases amenable to radiosurgery, SRS alone may be a preferred strategy," the authors write. (doi:10.1001/jama.2016.9839; the study is available pre-embargo at the For the Media website) Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc. Editorial: Whole Brain Radiotherapy for Brain Metastases "The debate between WBRT and SRS has been resolved for the specific type of patient (with 1-3 metastases) who enrolled in the current study, and there is little role for WBRT for these patients," write Carey K. Anders, M.D., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues in an accompanying editorial. "However, both treatment modes have a valid position in clinical practice because many patients do not precisely fit the characteristics for study entry. Thus, based on the robust findings from the current study and until proven otherwise, WBRT may still have an important role for treatment of patients who are not in this specific disease category (i.e., 1-3 brain metastases). However, the study results cannot be extrapolated to infer that SRS is the standard for patients with 4 or more metastases or that WBRT no longer has a role in the treatment of brain metastases." (doi:10.1001/jama.2016.8692; the study is available pre-embargo at the For the Media website) Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including financial disclosures, funding and support, etc. ### To contact Paul D. Brown, M.D., email Joe Dangor at dangor.yusuf@mayo.edu. To contact editorial co-author Carey K. Anders, M.D., email Laura Oleniacz at laura_oleniacz@med.unc.edu. To place an electronic embedded link to this study and editorial in your story These links will be live at the embargo time: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jama.2016.9839 http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?doi=10.1001/jama.2016.8692 New evidence suggests that it would be appropriate to remove the diagnosis of transgender from its current classification as a mental disorder, according to a study conducted in Mexico City. The study is the first field trial to evaluate a proposed change to the place of the diagnosis within the WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The research, published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal today and led by the National Institute of Psychiatry Ramon de le Fuente Muniz, involved interviewing 250 transgender people and found that distress and dysfunction were more strongly predicted by experiences of social rejection and violence than by gender incongruence itself. The study is the first of several field trials and is currently being replicated in Brazil, France, India, Lebanon and South Africa. "Stigma associated with both mental disorder and transgender identity has contributed to the precarious legal status, human rights violations and barriers to appropriate care among transgender people," says senior author Professor Geoffrey Reed, National Autonomous University of Mexico. "The definition of transgender identity as a mental disorder has been misused to justify denial of health care and contributed to the perception that transgender people must be treated by psychiatric specialists, creating barriers to health care services. The definition has even been misused by some governments to deny self-determination and decision-making authority to transgender people in matters ranging from changing legal documents to child custody and reproduction." [1] "Our findings support the idea that distress and dysfunction may be the result of stigmatization and maltreatment, rather than integral aspects of transgender identity," says lead investigator Dr Rebeca Robles, Mexican National Institute of Psychiatry. "The next step is to confirm this in further studies in different countries, ahead of the approval of the WHO revision to International Classification of Diseases in 2018." [1] Transgender identity is currently classified as a mental disorder in both of the world's main diagnostic manuals, the WHO's ICD-10 and the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-5. A major component of the definition of mental disorders is that they are associated with distress and impairment in functioning. The classification of transgender identity as a mental disorder is increasingly controversial and a WHO Working Group has recommended that transgender identity should no longer be classified as a mental disorder in ICD-11, but should instead come under a new chapter on conditions related to sexual health. The study is the first field trial to evaluate the applicability of the proposed re-classification. It was conducted in collaboration with the Condesa Specialized Clinic, the only publicly funded specialized clinic providing transgender health care services in Mexico City. Researchers interviewed 250 transgender people aged 18-65 who were receiving health care services at the Condesa Clinic. Most participants were transgender women, assigned male sex at birth (199 participants, 80%). Participants reported first becoming aware of their transgender identity during childhood or adolescence (ages 2-17) (table 1). During the study, they completed a detailed interview about their experience of gender incongruence in adolescence (e.g, discomfort with secondary sex characteristics, changes performed to be more similar to the desired gender, and asking to be referred to as the desired gender), and recalled related experiences of psychological distress, functional impairment, social rejection and violence. Most participants experienced psychological distress related to gender incongruence during their adolescence (208, 83%), with depressive symptoms being the most common. Family, social, or work or academic dysfunction during adolescence related to their gender identity was reported by nearly all participants (226, 90%). More than three-quarters of participants (191, 76%) reported experiencing social rejection related to gender incongruence, most commonly by family members, followed by schoolmates/co-workers and friends. A majority of participants (157, 63%) had been a victim of violence related to their gender identity (table 3) - in nearly half of these cases, violence was perpetrated by a family member. Psychological and physical violence were the most commonly reported, and some experienced sexual violence. The researchers then used statistical models to examine whether distress was related to gender incongruence per se or if it was related to experiences of social rejection and violence. They found that none of the gender incongruence variables predicted psychological distress or dysfunction, except in one case where asking to be referred to as the desired gender predicted school/work dysfunction. On the other hand, social rejection and violence were strong predictors of distress and all types of dysfunction (table 4). Although the study includes a relatively large sample of transgender people, the authors warn of some important limitations. For example, the study was a volunteer sample, so was not representative of the population and participants' experiences were based on their recollection of events, which can be subject to bias. However, the authors note that a similar study would be difficult to conduct prospectively as this would involve children. "Rates of experiences related to social rejection and violence were extremely high in this study, and the frequency with which this occurred within participants own families is particularly disturbing. Unfortunately, the level of maltreatment experienced in this sample is consistent with other studies from around the world. This study highlights the need for policies and programs to reduce stigmatization and victimization of this population. The removal of transgender diagnoses from the classification of mental disorders can be a useful part of those efforts," says Dr Robles. [1] Writing in a linked Comment, Dr Griet De Cuypere, University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium and Dr Sam Winter, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia, say: "A prominent UN advocate has put it this way: 'Transphobia is a health issue'. This study prompts primary caregivers and psychiatrists to be aware of a 'slope leading from stigma to sickness' for transgender individuals, and to contribute to their mental health by a gender-affirmative approach." They also note that although the study provides evidence to support moving health-related categories related to transgender identity out of the classification of mental disorders in ICD-11, it does not address where in ICD would be the most appropriate place for the diagnosis, which should be a topic for future research. ### NOTE TO EDITORS: The study was funded by the National Institute of Psychiatry "Ramon de la Fuente Muniz", Mexico. [1] Quote direct from authors and cannot be found in text of Article. NOTE: THE ABOVE LINKS ARE FOR JOURNALISTS ONLY; IF YOU WISH TO PROVIDE A LINK TO THIS PAPER FOR YOUR READERS, PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING, WHICH WILL GO LIVE AT THE TIME THE EMBARGO LIFTS: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(16)30165-1/abstract University of Montana forest ecology professor Andrew Larson recently published research estimating the abundance of morel mushrooms after a wildfire in California's Sierra Nevada MISSOULA - University of Montana forest ecology Professor Andrew Larson recently published research estimating the abundance of morel mushrooms after a wildfire in California's Sierra Nevada. "So many people love to harvest and eat morel mushrooms," Larson said, "but there is very little research that measures the abundance of morels after a forest has burned. We wanted to give forest managers concrete data on morel abundance." Larson and his co-authors conducted their study in the Yosemite Forest Dynamics Plot, a long-term research site located in Yosemite National Park. A fire burned the research site in September 2013, killing more than 70 percent of the trees. Researchers then surveyed for morels in May 2014 in 1,119 small sample plots within the research site. Where morels were found, researchers discovered most of the ground surface was 100 percent burned by fire. Morels typically are found close together, yet unevenly distributed across the landscape. According to Larson, burned white fir forests in Yosemite alone could produce an average crop of more than 1 million morels per year, a sustainable amount for recreational picking. "The magnitude of post-fire morel production, especially the first year after fire, clearly supports the park's current rule allowing people to pick one pint per day for personal use." At the start of their study Larson's team was surprised by how little research has been conducted on morel mushroom productivity. "We reviewed every published paper on post-fire morel mushroom productivity we could find," Larson said. "Amazingly, only three earlier studies - in Alaska, Oregon and British Columbia, Canada, provide statistically sound estimates of morel abundance after forest fires." Much is still unknown about where morels grow after a fire, so Larson and his co-authors also propose a conceptual model to guide future research that could explain the mushroom's spatial distribution in burned areas. ### Their paper, "Post-fire morel (Morchella) mushroom abundance, spatial structure and harvest sustainability," was published June 27 in the journal Forest Ecology and Management and is available online at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112716303413. A University of Colorado Cancer Center study compared outcomes of leukemia patients receiving bone marrow transplants from 2009-2014, finding that three years post transplant, the incidence of severe chronic graft-versus-host disease was 44 percent in patients who had received transplants from matched, unrelated donors (MUD) and 8 percent in patients who had received umbilical cord blood transplants (CBT). Patients who received CBT were also more likely to no longer need immunosuppression and less likely to experience late infections and hospitalizations. There was no difference in overall survival between these two techniques. Results are published in the journal Bone Marrow Transplant. "When you do an allogeneic transplant - when someone else is the donor - the new blood system has the potential to attack the patient. This is graft-versus-host disease, which can be debilitating and even fatal. Our results show that, long term, receiving a cord blood transplant is less likely than receiving a transplant from an unrelated, matched donor to result in graft-versus-host disease," says Jonathan Gutman, MD, investigator at the CU Cancer Center and Clinical Director of Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation at University of Colorado Hospital. A common treatment for blood cancers is to erase a patient's leukemic blood system and then regrow a new blood system using donor blood stem cells. There are four possible sources of donor cells: a matched, related donor (commonly a close family member), a matched, unrelated donor (from a database of 25 million people who have agreed to donate), umbilical cord blood (from a bank of stored samples), and haploidentical transplant (a promising technique requiring only a half match with a related donor). The closer the match between donor cells and a patient's blood system, the less chance the new blood system will attack the patient's tissues, i.e. the less chance of graft-versus-host disease. A matched, related donor is the accepted first choice. Genetics dictate that siblings have a 25 percent chance of matching. Those without a matched, related donor have 70 percent chance for Caucasians or only 10 percent chance for other or mixed ethnicities of finding a matched, unrelated donor in databases of people who have agreed to give if needed. Cord blood is immature and thus does not need to be as closely matched to be acceptable as a donor source. (Haploidenical transplant is beyond the scope of this article.) "Historically, doctors have reserved cord blood for patients without a match," Gutman says. However, this flow of preference is increasingly questioned as data including the current study demonstrate that cord blood may be equal to or better than transplant from a matched, unrelated donor. "A lot of centers reserved cord blood transplants for their worst cases, and so it got an early reputation for being less successful. It also costs a bit more - it takes cord blood cells a little longer to get going and so patients need to be supported a little longer. However, when you look past the first 100 days - a point at which many centers stop collecting data - there is clear evidence that cord blood outperforms cells from matched, unrelated donors," Gutman says. Gutman also points out that bone marrow transplants require art as well as science. Centers like University of Colorado Hospital that are especially experienced with cord blood transplant have evolved systems to best support patients and optimize all transplant related issues, potentially leading to better outcomes than less experienced centers using similar treatment. The current study, specifically, compared 51 consecutive patients receiving CBT with 57 consecutive patients receiving MUD. At 3 years post transplant, in addition to he above difference in severe chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD), overall rates of cGVHD were 68 percent following MUD and 32 percent following CBT. Again at 3 years, patients receiving CBT had been off immunosuppression since a median 268 days from transplant; patients receiving MUD had not ceased immunosuppression to a degree that allowed researchers to determine the median. "As a result, we have chosen to use cord blood as our first choice in cases where a matched, related donor is unavailable," Gutman says. ### CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Despite societal perceptions that older adults' love lives are ancient history, many seniors are anything but retired from sex, a new study suggests. Many seniors consider sexual activity essential to their well-being, happiness and quality of life. And some of these vivacious seniors are finding their golden years to be an optimal time for exploring new dimensions of their sexuality, said researcher Liza Berdychevsky, a professor of recreation, sport and tourism at the University of Illinois. Berdychevsky and co-author Galit Nimrod of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, examined the importance of and constraints on sexuality in older adulthood - as well as people's strategies for staying sexually active throughout their later years. The researchers analyzed a full year of conversations about sex that occurred on 14 leading online communities that target people age 50 and over. The study sample included English-speaking websites based in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the U.S. Older adults' discussions of their experiences and perspectives about sexual matters were wide-ranging and diverse. While some seniors were content with retiring from sex, many others emphasized that they "remained sexually able, interested and active," the researchers found. "Although some older adults reported abstaining from sexual activity due to health conditions or loss of interest, others refused to renounce sexual activity. Their health problems or society's ageist stereotypes that portray seniors as asexual were not going to become excuses to give up on life - or sex," Berdychevsky said. A sense of impending mortality inspired some older adults to cast aside sexual inhibitions or stereotypes that constrained their behavior when they were younger and to begin exploring new activities or aspects of their sexuality, according to the study. Rather than diminishing with age, some seniors' libidos caught fire and sexual activity took on greater importance with their abundance of leisure time in later life. For these seniors, their sexual explorations affirmed their ongoing engagement with life and continuing personal growth, Berdychevsky said. While people may have greater opportunity and perceived freedom to explore their sexuality later in life and might benefit the most from it, they also are confronted with numerous cultural, social, psychological and biological constraints, Berdychevsky said. "But not everybody perceived these constraints as verdicts. Many seniors were willing to negotiate these constraints, resist them and find various cognitive and behavioral strategies to continue having sex," Berdychevsky said. Ageist stereotypes that older adults are - or should be - asexual frequently encroached on seniors' sex lives. In the online forums, some seniors recounted incidents of health care workers dismissing their concerns about their sexual health or functioning. Likewise, some seniors reported that their lifestyles elicited disapproval from their adult children or staff members in their living facilities, Berdychevsky said. How to continue enjoying one's sexuality after the loss of a spouse or partner and the risks associated with dating and sexual relationships in later life were popular discussion topics. While some seniors swapped advice about finding new partners and trying new sexual activities such as sex toys, less progressive older adults wrote that embarrassment and fear of social stigma prevented them from trying these activities. Although health conditions sometimes constrained older adults' physical abilities, their willingness to reappraise and adapt their sexual activities - rather than surrender to their physical limitations - determined whether they continued to enjoy fulfilling sex lives, the researchers concluded in the paper, published in the journal Leisure Sciences. Learning to appreciate what they had - whether it was enjoying foreplay in lieu of intercourse, focusing on quality instead of quantity, or finding mental richness and life experience as arousing as a youthful physique - enabled some older adults to adjust their sexual expectations to the realities of aging and their health conditions, Berdychevsky said. Like other leisure pursuits, sexual activity served as an important adjustment strategy, helping some seniors cope with life transitions such as ending their careers and moving into retirement communities or health care facilities, the researchers wrote. Other seniors, however, indicated they were happy to forgo sex, the researchers found. Youth-oriented depictions of "positive" or "successful" aging that implied ongoing sexual activity, which are used frequently in marketing sex-enhancement products, were distressing to these seniors and perceived as sensationalistic. "These stereotypes caused performance anxiety in some older men, and some older women believed that both partners should have a say in whether sex enhancement drugs are prescribed," Berdychevsky said. Sexual education programming that addresses the variety of physical and psychosocial risks that sexually active older adults face is much needed, according to the researchers. Likewise, health care providers and residential facility staff members must be encouraged to shed ageist stereotypes about older adults' sexuality, respect their rights to privacy and sexual activity, and be sensitive to their concerns. ### MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (07/26/16) -- Scientists are asking the public to look through thousands of satellite images of Antarctica to assist in the first-ever, comprehensive count of Weddell seals. Counting seals will help scientists better protect and conserve the pristine Ross Sea and wildlife in the area. Weddell seals are important to the Southern Ocean ecosystem and have been studied since the early 1900s. However, no one has been able to do a comprehensive count of the seals due to the harsh Antarctic weather and remote locations in which the seals live. Now, high-resolution satellite images provide a solution--counting seals on satellite images--but there are too many images for scientists to handle alone. The citizen science project, called Satellites Over Seals (SOS), focuses on about 300 miles of Antarctic coastline along the Ross Sea. Anyone can view the satellite images online from anywhere in the world and help with the count. Crowdsourcing research in this way allows researchers to efficiently and effectively comb through large amounts of data using the public's help. "We couldn't do this without help from citizen scientists and that's why partnering with the crowdsourcing website Tomnod to do this project was critical," said Michelle LaRue, a research ecologist in the University of Minnesota's Department of Earth Sciences and lead researcher on this project. "Even though our research team has people who are Weddell seal experts and know how to count seals on the images, it would take years for us to count them all. "By surveying the sea ice habitat frequented by the seals, the public will not only assist in the pursuit of science, but will help us better protect and conserve the most pristine piece of ocean on the planet--the Ross Sea," LaRue added. Weddell seals are one of Antarctica's most iconic species. In addition to being undeniably charismatic, they are the southern-most mammal in the world, can live up to 30 years, and are perfectly adapted to living in some of the harshest conditions on the planet. But Weddell seals are important for another reason. They are what scientists call an "indicator species" because they prey on Chilean seabass, called Antarctic toothfish by scientists. These fish are a high-end delicacy in many upscale restaurants around the world, and commercial fishing has increased in the Ross Sea in the last 20 years due to this demand. By counting seals on satellite imagery, scientists hope to learn how fishing in the Ross Sea for Antarctic toothfish is affecting the number of seals and the entire ecosystem over time. The treaty under which the fishing occurs dictates that dependent species not be deprived of their resources. "Despite having little information about Antarctic toothfish, we can gain insight into the health of the Ross Sea by understanding how Weddell seal populations are doing," LaRue said. "By counting seals on satellite imagery, we hope to learn how the Ross Sea is functioning as fishing continues. Using the satellite imagery, we've already seen that in a couple of local areas, seal numbers have drastically changed, but we need a broader perspective to better understand what might be going on." This research is funded by the National Science Foundation and is a joint effort between the University of Minnesota, University of Colorado at Boulder, H.T. Harvey & Associates Ecological Consultants, Point Blue Conservation Science and DigitalGlobe. To start counting seals, visit http://www.tomnod.com. ### Engineers from the University of Utah and the University of Minnesota have discovered that interfacing two particular oxide-based materials makes them highly conductive, a boon for future electronics that could result in much more power-efficient laptops, electric cars and home appliances that also don't need cumbersome power supplies. Their findings were published this month in the scientific journal, APL Materials, from the American Institute of Physics. The team led by University of Utah electrical and computer engineering assistant professor Berardi Sensale-Rodriguez and University of Minnesota chemical engineering and materials science assistant professor Bharat Jalan revealed that when two oxide compounds -- strontium titanate (STO) and neodymium titanate (NTO) -- interact with each other, the bonds between the atoms are arranged in a way that produces many free electrons, the particles that can carry electrical current. STO and NTO are by themselves known as insulators -- materials like glass -- that are not conductive at all. But when they interface, the amount of electrons produced is a hundred times larger than what is possible in semiconductors. "It is also about five times more conductive than silicon [the material most used in electronics]," Sensale-Rodriguez says. This innovation could greatly improve power transistors -- devices in electronics that regulate the electrical current --by making power supplies much more efficient for items ranging from televisions and refrigerators to handheld devices, Sensale-Rodriguez says. Today, electronics manufacturers use a material called gallium nitride for transistors in power supplies and other electronics that carry large electrical currents. But that material has been explored and optimized for many years and likely cannot be made more efficient. In this discovery made by the Utah and Minnesota team, the interface between STO and NTO can be at the very least as conductive as gallium nitride and likely will be much more in the future. "When I look at the future, I see that we can perhaps improve conductivity by an order of magnitude through optimizing of the materials growth," Jalan says. "We are bringing the possibility of high power, low energy oxide electronics closer to reality." Power transistors that use this combination of materials could lead to smaller devices and appliances because their power supplies would be more energy efficient. Laptop computers, for example, could ditch the bulky external power supplies -- the big black boxes attached to the power cords -- in favor of smaller supplies that are instead built inside the computer. Large appliances that consume a lot of electricity such as air conditioners could be more power efficient. And because there is less power wasted (wasted electricity usually dissipates into heat), these devices will not run as hot as before, says Sensale-Rodriguez. He also believes that if more electronics use these materials for transistors, collectively it could save significant amounts of electricity for the country. "It's fundamentally a different road toward power electronics, and the results are very exciting" he says. "But we still need to do more research." ### Co-authors on the paper also include: University of Utah electrical and computer engineering professor Ajay Nahata; U graduate students Sara Arezoomandan, Hugo Condori Quispe, Ashish Chanana; and Minnesota graduate student Peng Xu. The work at University of Minnesota is funded by the Air Force Young Investigator Research Program, and the work in Utah is primarily supported by the National Science Foundation's Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at the University of Utah. A copy of the paper can be viewed at: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/aplmater/4/7/10.1063/1.4959284 This news release and photos may be downloaded from: http://unews.utah.edu/more-power-to-you/ MADISON - In molten sandstone extracted by prospectors a century ago, an international team of scientists has discovered microscopic crystals telling of unimaginable pressures and temperatures when a 12-kilometer asteroid formed Meteor Crater in northern Arizona some 49,000 years ago. The crystals, called zircons, have endured temperatures of 2,000 degrees Celsius or more, hot enough to melt any rock on Earth. In our planet's crust, such temperatures occur only briefly inside impact zones, says Aaron Cavosie, a visiting professor in the Wisconsin Astrobiology Research Consortium at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Zircons are tiny, phenomenally stable crystals that can persist for billions of years and have been used to date ancient asteroid impacts. But the new study, now online in the journal Geology, sheds light on a more recent impact at Meteor Crater, which may be the best studied impact zone on Earth. "It's fresh, young and easy to get to," says Cavosie, who is also a senior research fellow at the Western Australian School of Mines, Curtin University, in Perth, Australia. In an electron microscope, the zircons look like agglomerations of BBs. Such "granular" zircons are also found in a giant impact crater in South Africa and on the moon, "but until now no one has cracked the code to figure out what turned normal zircons into thousands of grains glued together," Cavosie says. Cavosie's group, including Nick Timms and Curtin Ph.D. candidate Timmons Erickson, along with collaborators Justin Hagerty from the U.S. Geological Survey and Fred Horz from NASA, strung together several lines of evidence to conclude that the zircons had been subjected to a pressure of at least 300,000 atmospheres, and temperatures above 2,000 degrees C. When the researchers fired a beam of electrons at 14 zircons, the electrons scattered back to a detector revealed the chemistry and the complex structure of the zircons. "When we looked at the texture of these unusual zircons, we saw that the orientations of the BBs are non-random, and instead are highly systematic," Cavosie says. These zircons are so tiny that eight, lined up, would extend across the width of a hair. The orientations "record a series of changes that happen as zircons get shocked at increasing pressures - think Dante's levels of hell for zircons," Cavosie says. A moderate level of shock creates planar cleavages, "but as you go to higher levels, the zircon makes a twin, which is what happens when parts of a crystal are forced into a different orientation. This specific change is only caused by impact, and we have seen it in other places." Another distinctive orientation "only forms when zircon changes to the extremely rare mineral reidite," Cavosie says. "This transformation is proven in the lab to require even more extreme pressures than twins." Finally, the impact created such an extraordinarily high temperature that it vaporized or melted all rocks in the surrounding crust. The quartz grains in the sandstone fused into the glassy, "shock-melted silica" that encased the zircons. "When we screwed all these parts together," Cavosie says, "the orientation of the granular zircons, the pressure required to form the twin phase and then reidite, and the finding that zircons were briefly swimming in a pool of liquid silica at about 2,000 degrees, hot enough for the zircons to recrystallize into this beebee-like granular texture, and then the evidence that this cooled very quickly, we saw that the granular zircons left a trail of breadcrumbs that allowed us to reconstruct how they were made, and in what conditions." Extreme pressures and temperatures that quickly subside comprise an unusual realm for geology. "Geologists are used to thinking about slow processes," Cavosie says. "The process that transforms carbon into diamond is slow and steady; it involves high pressure and temperature but happens over millions of years." The equally dramatic transformation that creates a granular zircon occurs over a few minutes at most. "Then, the extreme pressure is gone, the high temperature has cooled off," Cavosie says. "The impact leaves a giant hole in the ground, but it takes a mental adventure to wrap your head around the fact that the transformation in these zircons happened in seconds to minutes." The significance of understanding the formation of granular zircons extends far beyond one large meteor crater, Cavosie says. "These granular zircons have been found in meteorites, whose history we know very little about. Now, when we find them in a meteorite, it will allow us to recreate the conditions that the meteorite experienced on its path to Earth." The same is true for rocks returned from Mars and the moon, Cavosie says, and indeed he's already investigating some moon rocks returned by the Apollo program. "The new diagnostic techniques reported by Cavosie and colleagues will aid in cataloging impact events on Earth and elsewhere in the solar system," says zircon expert John Valley, a professor of geoscience at UW-Madison. "This is important for understanding the history of Earth and the emergence of life. It will also aid in predicting the frequency of future large impacts to Earth, equivalent to the one that killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, nearly extinguishing all life on land." ### David Tenenbaum, 608-265-8549, djtenenb@wisc.edu The world is embracing a new type of engineer - a design thinker who is innovative, flexible, and collaborative. A transdisciplinary team of Virginia Tech faculty members has received $2 million in support from the National Science Foundation to create a new curriculum model that will prepare a diverse community of engineering undergraduates with disciplinary depth and a range of learning experiences. Faculty members from Virginia Tech's College of Engineering, College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, and Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology received the five-year award from the National Science Foundation Directorates for Engineering, Computer and Information Science and Engineering, and Education and Human Resources, which is leading an effort to help universities substantially improve the professional formation of engineers and computer scientists. A key component for this support is revolutionizing engineering departments. The goal of the project, "Radically Expanding Pathways in the Professional Formation of Engineers," is to transform Virginia Tech's Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering so that it attracts an even more diverse range of students and offers them the opportunity to become adaptive engineers committed to blending science, engineering, arts, and design to address the world's problems. "The new curriculum we will create together with faculty, students, staff, and industry partners will not only broaden the diversity of students entering the program, but also will expand students' academic experiences and design and innovation skills while they're here," said Luke Lester, Roanoke Electric Steel Professor, head of the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and principal investigator for the project. "We want the ECE department to become an overarching program with multiple pathways anchored in real world problems - one that creates new connections to K-12 education and industry." The project will foster experiential learning and open-ended design. A combination of approaches includes increasing the number of paths to an engineering degree for students, giving them the freedom to choose a variety of concentrations -- from biomedical applications to digital arts, and providing outreach opportunities for K-12 students in underserved and underrepresented populations. "We refer to this re-design of the department as a 'fan-in and fan-out' process," explains project co-investigator Tom Martin, professor of electrical and computer engineering, Bradley Faculty Fellow of Education, and associate director of the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology. "We will broaden the pool of students entering the department while increasing potential career opportunities using a design approach that embraces the university's commitment to creating VT-shaped students by offering a curriculum that is adaptable and supports purpose-driven learning." Applying this concept to an entire department curriculum will allow for the creation of a sustainable and scalable process that can be replicated by other programs. This project will also spur new connections with industry leaders, enhancing students' academic experiences while providing regional economic benefits. Other project team members include: Ben Knapp, co-principal investigator and director, Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology Lisa McNair, co-principal investigator and associate professor of engineering education Matthew Wisnioski, co-principal investigator and associate professor, science and technology in society in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences Liesl Baum, senior personnel; associate director, Center for Research in SEAD Education; senior fellow, Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology Jeremy Ernst, senior personnel and associate professor, integrative STEM education Steve Harrison, senior personnel and associate professor of practice, computer science Eddie Watson, external evaluator and director for the Center of Teaching and Learning, University of Georgia ### DETROIT - Wayne State University has received a $1.7 million grant from the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII) -- an institute of the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) -- for a project that will advance Resistance Spot Welding (RSW) weldability qualification environments. The project, VRWP: Virtually Guided RSW Weldability Prediction, will allow original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers to rapidly converge to feasible welded assembly designs during the early stages of new product development. According to Kyoung-Yun Kim, Ph.D., associate professor of industrial and systems engineering and site director of the NSF Center for e-Design at Wayne State University, system integrators and OEMs working with products that have metallic structures currently rely on material suppliers and testing service companies to conduct physical testing of materials for new welded assembly designs. Without timely delivery of test results, the optimal selection of new materials, processes, and related design decisions is hindered. "When new materials or combinations of materials are considered for an assembly, industry often requires new physical tests or numerical simulations such as finite element analysis," said Kim. "Data-driven weldability prediction will improve product design efficiency, but is underutilized because of existing data inconsistences. Resistance spot-welding processes and parameters are complex due to coating conditions and surface roughness and give rise to significant data inconsistences, a well-known reliability issue." The Wayne State team is partnering with Ford Motor Company to develop a reliable RSW weldability prediction tool. The end result will be a web-based RSW weldability prediction tool that will improve design and engineering efficiency. "This prediction tool will ultimately improve product quality through the utilization of advanced materials, allow users to rapidly assess weldment feasibility, and reduce the amount of physical testing required for new material candidates," said Kim. "In addition, communication between OEMs and suppliers will be enhanced because of the standardization of RSW test data and material." The proof of concept system for the RSW weldability qualification, called Virtually Guided RSW Weldability Prediction (VRWP), will initially be applied for qualification of automotive body structure joining/welding at Ford Motor Company. The co-principal investigators of this project from Wayne State University are Shiyong Lu, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science; Jeremy L. Rickli, assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering; Xin Wu, Ph.D., associate professor of mechanical engineering; and Qingyu Yang, associate professor of industrial and systems engineering. The project number for this grant is 15-07-04. ### About Wayne State University Wayne State University is one of the nation's pre-eminent public research universities in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visit research.wayne.edu. ELN Research Director, Lukasz Kulesa, discusses the results of NATO summit in Warsaw with the Russian International Affairs Council. Was the Warsaw NATO summit substantially different from any other NATO summits that had been held before? I think NATO had to change the way it operated very significantly after 2014. The summit in Newport, which took place that year, was basically about adapting NATO to the Ukraine crisis as an emergency, whereas in Warsaw we are talking about a more permanent change. And the change is particularly visible towards Russia and towards the so-called Eastern flank, when we see a major strengthening of deterrence and defense potential of the alliance. Of course, there are also developments on the Southern flank, which were reflected in NATO Summit communique, but the role of NATO in the South to deal with terrorists or migration is much less clear than in the East. What are the possible implications are we going to have a new Cold War? At this point, its important to see the results of Warsaw summit as a clear signal that NATO is serious about Article 5, which is about the defense of its members. The deployment of multilateral land forces in the Baltic states and Poland is the clearest indication that this is a serious issue for NATO. At the same time, the military posture of NATO remains restrained. You see a limited number of soldiers deployed along the Eastern flank. But you didnt see any major changes to the nuclear posture, and you didnt see redirecting missile defense towards Russia. There is also an offer of dialogue to Moscow on crisis management. NATO is not preparing for a new Cold War, NATO is showing that it is ready to stabilize the security situation, if Russia is also ready to stabilize it. Is there a potential for dialogue? There is a potential for dialogue on limited issues. NATO is very clear that it remains critical of Russian actions, that there is no going back to this famous business as usual. But at the same time, during this time of confrontation, we can have dialogue as to how to make this confrontation more secure to avoid misunderstandings and incidents, as well as gradually start to work with each other. However, this summit shows very clearly that cooperation between NATO and Russia is not possible in the current circumstances. Russian experts are talking about minor member states also starting to make decisions, not only the US. What do you think about it? There was a high degree of unity of NATO displayed at this summit. And every single member signed up to these decisions taken in Warsaw. And I would especially highlight the role of countries like Germany and France. Germany is sending its troops to Lithuania as part of this multilateral battalion, and France also indicated that it would send a company to one of the Baltic states. This view that I sometimes get from the Russian media that NATO has a very small number of hawkish states while the rest are much friendlier towards Russia is oversimplified. All the countries have agreed that much more needs to be done to strengthen deterrence. This signal should be noticed in Russia. Still, there is no agreement about what to do next. Some of the more hawkish countries are saying that this should be just a starting point and NATO should strengthen the deterrence even more. However, I think that a majority of NATO countries are signaling that they are ready to fulfill the Warsaw package, but not necessarily move beyond it, because they currently dont see the necessity to do so. Unless Russia forces NATO to do more, the Alliance would be glad to just stick to the agenda agreed in Warsaw. This interview was originally published by the Russian International Affairs Council. The opinions articulated above represent the views of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Leadership Network or any of its members. The ELNs aim is to encourage debates that will help develop Europes capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security challenges of our time. Im now back in my hometown of Cologne after a trip to Mexico, where I had been studying several native plants and animals. On returning, I had the opportunity to consider a recent post by University of Washington geneticist Joe Felsenstein1 at Pandas Thumb: A devastating critique of population genetics? The Discovery Institute thinks so. Felsenstein responds there to my post at Evolution News, Randomness in Natural Selection and Species as Islands in a Vast Sea of Conceivable Arrangements. Seldom have I seen a piece of scientifically inspired writing like Felsensteins that is so far off the mark. In fact, he quotes just one sentence of my post here, itself taken from my encyclopedia article on natural selection. He disregards my second post on the same topic entirely. In the encyclopedia article mentioned by Felsenstein (but to which he provides no link), I unmistakably emphasized I am among those who accept natural selection as a real process in nature. In reply, Felsenstein kicks in an open door, as the saying goes, and pretentiously preaches to the converted. I added in a later paragraph of that encyclopedia article: Furthermore, survival of the fittest evidently takes place, for example, in cases of alleles and plasmids with strongly selective advantages, as in the cases of multiple resistance in bacteria and resistance to DDT in many insect species. After pointing out that Darwin knew hardly any cases of natural selection, Mayr asserts (1998, p. 191): Now, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of well-established proofs, including such well-known instances as insecticide resistance of agricultural pests, antibiotic resistance of bacteria, industrial melanism, the attenuation of the myxomatosis virus in Australia, the sickle-cell gene and other blood genes and malaria, to mention only a few spectacular cases. Joseph Felsenstein (J.F.) also refers to a podcast conversation with Paul Nelson and myself. In contrast to the view of total non-randomness as the essence of natural selection, held by Dawkins and many others in line with Darwin himself, I explained in the podcast that a comment by Litynski (that natural selection is nothing but blind mortality which selects nothing at all2) is the other extreme in the opinion on natural selection. This implies, of course, that the truth is to be found somewhere between these extreme views. I also emphasized that we have just touched some of these things and there is much more to be said, referring listeners to the encyclopedia article. In two posts on randomness in natural selection, my starting point was the perpetually asserted antithesis between mutation as a random process and natural selection as a totally nonrandom process the directional ordering mechanism in the neo-Darwinian theory of evolution. Thats why I stressed Julian Huxleys verdict referring to and supporting Waddington and Mayr: The frequent assertion that biological evolution is based on chance is entirely untrue. Chance events furnish its raw material but the process itself is directional, self-steering, but automatically steering itself in a definite direction. This is becausenatural selection is not a random but an ordering mechanism. The absolute distinction here is between random/chance events in mutation versus unrestricted non-randomness in natural selection putatively governing all biological processes in the wild. The latter view was implied once more by Richard Dawkins in a comment on Stephen Meyers debate with Lawrence Krauss: natural selection is a NONRANDOM process (capital letters by Dawkins). Moreover, since some authors even assert that natural selection comes close to omnipotence (Avise 1999), and Exley (2009) is convinced that both the beauty and the brilliance of natural selection are reflected in its omnipotence to explain the myriad observations of life (emphasis added in both cases), I supposed that it would not be wrong to put this infallible, unerring Goddess into a new perspective. I thus indicated that there is a strong element of randomness involved in the very process of natural selection (in Darwins and most of his followers encompassing sense) itself. This fact is clearly evident from the following calculations by several population geneticists themselves and other authors referred to in my encyclopedia article, as I also mentioned in the podcast with Dr. Nelson: Fisher, perhaps the most important forerunner of the neo-Darwinian theory, has calculated (1930) that new alleles with even 1% selective advantage (i.e., more than is usually expected by neo-Darwinian theorists), will routinely be lost in natural populations. According to these calculations the likelihood of loosing a new allele with 1% advantage or no advantage is more than 90% in the next 31 generations (Fisher, 1930/1958; Dobzhansky, 1951; Schmidt, 1985; see also ReMine, 1993; Futuyma, 1998; Maynard Smith, 1998). Considering genetic drift, i.e. random fluctuations of gene frequencies in populations, Griffith and colleagues state in agreement with these authors (1999, p. 564): Even a new mutation that is slightly favorable will usually be lost in the first few generations after it appears in the population, a victim of genetic drift. If a new mutation has a selective advantage of S in the heterozygote in which it appears, then the chance is only 2S that the mutation will ever succeed in taking over the population. So a mutation that is 1 percent better in fitness than the standard allele in the population will be lost 98 percent of the time by genetic drift. Compare also J.F. (2015) as quoted later. So, far from offering a devastating critique of population genetics, I cited this branch of theoretical biology in support of a critique of the limits of natural selection. Now, how does Felsenstein deal with these explications? Consider, please, the following points: (1) Instead of focusing on my arguments for diploid populations, in his reply Felsenstein starts tutoring an obtuse W.-E. L. with a haploid population where the new mutation has already been established even to the point that exactly half of all the individuals are displaying it3. He states: For example, if we have a population of a haploid species with N = 10,000 individuals with two alleles A and a at equal frequencies, each of them will produce a vast number of gametes, equal numbers from the two genotypes. So, why does he start with a population with two alleles A and a at equal frequencies? We find the answer in J.F. 2015, p. 307: [M]ost of the loss of advantageous alleles takes place while these alleles are still present in only a few copies (see context below). And for the rest he thus skips the immense waiting time problem (see also below). (2) And why did he choose a haploid species? Maybe Felsenstein starts with a haploid species because diploid ones are more complex to model in theoretical population genetics (see J.F. 2015, pp. 18, 49, 103, 108, 143). (3) Equal numbers of gametes? Not necessarily so. Mutants often produce less. And by adding further presuppositions, you will find, of course, the outcome J.F. describes in his post. (4) However, does the standard model to which he refers in his post, really consider All the haphazard random mortality that Lonnig is worried about? What about such terrible things like tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, heavy thunderstorms, famines and pestilences/epidemics? What about migrations? Assume that the two genotypes display different ecological preferences so that they separate from each other: A prefers to live in coastal areas and a in mountaineous regions. Then, after many generations, unexpectedly a tsunami occurs and unfortunately kills almost all A individuals. In the interim the a genotype adapted also to the coastal niche and settles as well there. (5) And after all, always 10,000 individuals? Real population numbers can vary strongly sometimes even from one generation to the next. (6) What about available area/space and the effects of population densities? It is unlikely that relative fitnesses of genotypes will remain constant through time, since the environmental conditions, population density, and densities of other species will fluctuate, and these will in many cases affect the strength of natural selection (J.F. 2015, p. 106). (7) So, has the a genotype really forever a viability 1 percent lower over enormous numbers of generations even under extremely different environmental conditions? How, then, could the population of N=10,000 individuals ever come to have two alleles A and a at equal frequencies? A biologist well versed in population genetics stated his personal opinion on this question in a preliminary note to his mail (11 July 2016) as follows: Using a 50 percent initial allele frequency is cheating it is optimal for evolution for several reasons but has almost no relevance to reality It seems that the standard model functions only under idealistic, virtually paradisiacal conditions. Well, I know, of course, that for decades population geneticists have tried to develop models for many different biological conditions, premises and assumptions. J. F. himself has written an extensive overview on them (J.F. 2015). However, by his standard model and subsequent explanations the non-informed public may be deceived into a naive confidence, baseless trust and unreasonable faith in the putative omnipotence of natural selection in the wild. (8) Among the many examples in my encyclopedia article I also drew attention to the following momentous discovery regarding earth history: One of the major setbacks for the idea of a pervasive and the history-of-life-dominating process of natural selection has been the rise of what neo-Darwinians derogatorily call neocatastrophism (Hsu, 1986; Alvarez, 1998; Prothero, 1998). Darwin postulated a single process, the biotic struggle of natural selection, that was uniform over all the time on the earth, proceeded always at the same rate, on a planet that ceaselessly changed in detail but never abruptly changed state (Hsu, p. 47). Today, Darwins view is generally rejected by all informed scientists. The current question is not whether catastrophes have repeatedly interrupted natural selection worldwide, but which kinds of catastrophes are the most important ones in earth history. One may think, for instance, of the Permian extinction (up to 96 percent of all marine species and about 70 percent of terrestrial vertebrate species annihilated). If J.F. is fully convinced that he has considered all the haphazard random mortality that I am so worried about then you have to conclude that in theoretical population genetics omnipotent natural selection still functions extraordinarily well even in cases of the complete absence of any populations. Vive la selection naturelle! (9) It is also important to note that Felsenstein is not a naturalist, that is, a person who is expert in botany or zoology, especially in the field, a person who studies plants and animals as they live in nature, or, similarly, a scientist who studies living organisms. Many naturalists, like Carl Correns, William Bateson, Oscar Hertwig, John Christopher Willis, Lucien Cuenot4 (and many others up to now) have vigorously confirmed their strong reservations regarding the omnipotence of natural selection. Their inferences were specifically due to their direct studies of species in the wild. Evolutionary biologist Cuenot formulated the basic objection quoted in my post and article. Willis started as a convinced Darwinist, until he found the exact opposite in natural species of tropical flora and the remarkable plant family Podostemaceae (Cronquist) in Ceylon/Sri Lanka. Or in the words of Willis himself: selection could not be responsible for evolution. Bateson and Cuenot discussed several examples of distinctly relaxed natural selection in the wild (natural selection simply not found to be functioning or explaining anything in these cases). As for Batesons arguments and those of many other biologists on the limits of natural selection, see the detailed discussion in my book on the evolution of carnivorous plants. (10) Felsenstein explains humorously in an interview with Dr. Mary Kuhner for the Distinguished Faculty Interview Series at the University of Washington: by the time I got to high school, I was convinced I was going to go to into wildlife conservation, which is completely ridiculous because I am the worlds most timid field person. Im always, when Im camping out, Im always terrified, that Im going to be eaten by chipmunks. And such a person should not go out into wildlife conservation. He is in terror of chipmunks? There is no doubt some backstory to that, and of course I understand he is trying to be funny. However, had Felsenstein been out in the woods during, say, the last two or three months, carefully studying plants, he would have noticed thousands of tree seedlings (probably billions in the Northern Hemisphere alone) of many different genera and families just germinating. Of those thousands, only a very small percentage perhaps less than 0.01 percent on average will ever reproduce or even become full-grown trees. In exploring nature, Felsenstein would have seen the evidence for Cuenots basic argument that, similarly, 99.99 percent and more of this juvenile generation will become extinct. The mutation rate per gene per generation of the surviving rest (i.e. of the less than 0.01 percent) is generally calculated to be between 10-5 and 10-7 (about 5 x 10-9 per nucleotide per generation in the 10-5 cases). More than 99 percent of these mutations with any effects on the phenotype are negative, i.e. deleterious or at least slightly deleterious, essentially constituting losses of function. And now, of all these mutants, again an extreme minority of perhaps less than 0.001 percent (1 in 100,000; cf. here and here) displaying a new allele due to a new beneficial mutation in the sense of Sanford et al. (2015) with 1 percent selective advantage the overwhelming majority of 98 percent will ultimately also be lost/become extinct simply due to stochastic events and/or population density. For the latter point see also the calculations of J.F. (below) in agreement with virtually all other population geneticists. Thus, the question may be allowed: Is natural selection really directional, self-steering, but automatically steering itself in a definite direction or undoubtedly close to omnipotence or displays even the omnipotence to explain the myriad observations of life? A biologist well versed in population genetics stated his personal opinion on this question as follows: Using a 50 percent initial allele frequency is cheating it is optimal for evolution for several reasons but has almost no relevance to reality Mostly Acer platanoides tree seedlings in a wood observed for several years and photographed (unretouched), April 29, 2016 by W.-E. L. The undergrowth can, of course, vary widely in different populations and environments as well as in different seasons. Interestingly, since Felsenstein himself has stated (2015, p. 133) that Genetic drift, which changes gene frequencies at random, may cause a favored allele to be lost, he in principle has already long understood and even taught Cuenots argument. Or consider Felsensteins treatment of random genetic drift in his book Theoretical Evolutionary Genetics (2015), contrasting random genetic drift with natural selection defining random genetic drift as a new force (p. 339), or another force, setting, together with the mating system and the mechanisms of recombination, the context within which natural selection takes place (p. 133). He also affirms in the context of mutations that (p. 139) it is genetic drift, not mutation, that is the random force. He explains that (p. 271) Genetic drift is the one force which can act as the thermal noise in the evolutionary machine. The relative strength of this noise compared to the nonrandom forces will determine to what extent the random effects of genetic drift will override other evolutionary forces. Also, please see and check J.F. 2015, pp. 306-307, and compare the following quotation with that of the other population geneticists quoted from the encyclopedia article above: When s is small, clearly 2s is close enough to the probability of survival to serve as a working rule of thumb. It is worth considering how small a probability of survival this is. When s = 0.01, only one new mutant in 50 will succeed in spreading, despite the fact that all are advantageous. Even with s as large as 0.1, large enough to guarantee fairly rapid change in gene frequencies in the deterministic case, only one new mutant in six will establish itself. Obviously, genetic drift is a powerful force when only a few copies of an allele are in existence. Only rarely will an allele, even if advantageous, escape from the risk of loss due to the randomness of births and deaths, and of Mendelian segregation. [] So most of the loss of advantageous alleles takes place while these alleles are still present in only a few copies. This in turn must be during the first few generations. An allele present in only one or a few copies is constantly at risk of being lost and could not last long in that state. If it survives many generations it must therefore be fortunate enough to have drifted to a larger number of copies. Thus, Felsenstein is obviously in agreement, at least to a certain extent, with Cuenot and other biologists in doubting the omnipotence of natural selection. Let me emphasize again: In contrast to what Felsenstein calls a devastating critique of population genetics, this branch of theoretical biology, imperfect as it is (more on that in a further post), really supports a well-founded and compelling critique of the limits of natural selection by many famous biologists. Hence, altogether, can there be any doubt that the process of natural selection includes, in fact, an inescapable element of randomness (Nelson)? Or, in other words, that randomness/chance events necessarily play a substantial and really far-reaching part for the survival of the fittest in the wild? And yet, in my encyclopedia article I have also considered the surviving individuals of, for instance, the tree example above (nevertheless, it appears that if such a mutation [one percent better in fitness] occurred at a constant rate in a large population, it would have a fair chance to become established after an average occurrence of about 50 times). Following Felsensteins post, a reader, Ravi, offered the following comment: It is a real flaw in Darwinist thinking some organisms just dont reproduce in sufficient numbers for a slightly beneficial change to be selected. The unrealistic cost of replacement, of course, is the dilemma faced by Haldane. This is Haldanes dilemma in the clear words of Theodosius Dobzhansky referring to Crow and Kimura (1977, pp. 163-164): Crow and Kimura (1970) give the following example of gene substitution: if the typical allele has a initial frequency of 10-4, a population of one million individuals will have to have nine million genetic deaths each generation if it is to substitute an average of one allele per generation. [] Granted that most species produce numbers of progeny far in excess of those needed to have the population survive, it is difficult to understand how evolution can happen at such an enormous cost in genetic deaths. Haldane saw clearly that he was confronted by a dilemma. The simplest way to escape the dilemma would be to postulate that only a few genes are substituted in racial, specific, and transspecific evolution by natural section, all the others being neutral, thus constituting the strongest argument in favor of the panneutralist position(Dobzhansky). Such a solution, however, has not been substantiated so far. Many regulatory and target genes seem to be involved in most cases. For an intriguing recent paper on the waiting time problem associated with Haldanes dilemma, see Sanford et al. (2015). But how can we explain the origin of a species definitely not producing numbers of progeny far in excess of those needed to have the population survive, such as Eleutherodactylus limbatus (Female frogs have a single ovary and lay one egg at a time) and others? Lucien Cuenot sums up his position on natural selection as follows (1951, pp. 401-402): Il y a egalite de chances pour les 800.000 oeufs pondus anuellement par une Carpe et abandonnes au hazard, et de 200 oeufs de lEpinoche abrites dans un nid surveille par le male, entre les 120.000 oeufs (1) de nos Grenouilles et Crapauds, et les 9 oeufs portes sur le dos de la femelle du Leptodactyle Ceratohyla (Equateur) (fig. 155), ou loeuf unique de Sminthillus [Eleutherodactylus limbatus] dont le developpement ne comporte pas la phase de tetard libre. La mortalite intraspecifique na donc, a part les quelques morts du debut, aucun caractere selectif ; lorsquil nechappe que 2 individus sur 120.000, comme chez la Grenouille verte, comment admettre que ces deux sont elus en raison de petits avantages anatomique ou physiologiques5? Cest tout a fait invraisemblable, puisque ce sont les jeunes qui sont sacrifies alors quils nont pas leur perfection definitive. Enfin les observations positives montrent que la selection suppose na nullement la rigeur et linfaillibilite que requiert la conception darwinienne ; il ne pas rare du tout de trouver a letat sauvages des animaux handicapes par des malformations ou de mutilations, et qui cependent se maintiennnent comme les intacts. For the latter, Cuenot mentions the following cases among others: il nest par rare du tout de trouver a letat sauvage des animaux handicapes par malformations ou de mutilations, et qui cependant se maintiennent comme les intacts. Kellicot ayant examine 450 exemplaires de Bufo lentiginosus, trouve que 8% dentre eux sont anormaux, blesses ou amputes (Science, 1908, 855). Jai peche plusieurs fois le Bassins dArachon des Poissons (Atherina presbyter, Mugis labrosus) a colonne vertebrale ondulee (fig. 156), moins bons nageurs que leurs congeneres normaux (Sigalas compte 14 Atherines a rachis deforme sur 122 exemplaires); il est habituel de rencontrer des Orthopteres sauteurs qui ont perdu une patte sauteuse depui longtemps, des Lapin, Chamois, etc. qui ont repare tant bien que mal des fractures ou amputations graves Relaxed natural selection may also be involved to a large extent in processes of degeneration in the wild (see the details here). In contrast, considering the possibility that advantageous mutants even under strong selection can exactly have this superior quality of being advantageous, beneficial, and helpful due to losses of function, as Michael Behe has so well pointed out and argued for in Experimental evolution, loss-of-function mutations, and the first rule of adaptive evolution (Behe 2010, see also Lonnig 1971, 1993, 2015), Darwins ensuing assertion on natural selection of 1859 is simply wrong: It may be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinising, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up all that is good I will address some other inaccuracies in Felsensteins post in another entry. Notes: (1) Joseph Felsenstein is Professor of Genome Sciences and of Biology and Adjunct Professor of Computer Science and Statistics at the University of Washington. (2) Cuenot was more cautious, declaring: Enfin les observations positives montrent que la selection suppose na nullement la rigeur et linfaillibilite que requiert la conception darwinienne (see full quotation above). (3) Of the commenters on Felsensteins post, Ravi seems to have been the first who noted a discrepancy here. (4) All great names in the history of biology. For more on Cuenot, see the Wikipedia article. (5) Note, please, that by this statement Cuenot is not denying natural selection totally or suggesting that if it does not exist at all. He nevertheless strongly limits linfaillibilite que requiert la conception darwinienne. References: Cuenot, L. (1951) LEvolution Biologique. Les Faits. Les Incertitudes. Masson et Cie Editeurs. Paris. Dobzhansky, T. (1977). Chapter in T. Dobzhansky, F.J. Ayala, G.L. Stebbins and J.W. Valentine (1977): Evolution. W.-H. Freeman and Company. San Francisco Felsenstein, J. (2015). Theoretical Evolutionary Genetics. Lonnig, W.-E. Publications from 1971 to 2016, see here, here, and also here. Sanford, J. Brewer, W. Smith, F. Baumgardner (2015). The waiting time problem in a model hominin population. Theoretical Biology and Medical Modeling 12: 1-28. Photo at top: Eastern chipmunk, by Gilles Gonthier [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons. Writing here yesterday I addressed some scientific inaccuracies in a post by University of Washington geneticist Joe Felsenstein at Pandas Thumb (In Terror of Chipmunks: A Response to Joseph Felsenstein). There are additional problems beyond those I have already noted. Before going on, however, I feel it is important to correct some accusations made against me. Felsenstein asserts: We can conclude that Dr. Lonnig is not familiar with theoretical population genetics. He is a retired plant breeder at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, who specialized in mutation effects in such plants as the husk tomato Physalis pubescens. Just as an illustration: Imagine someone speaking of Charles Darwin as a pigeon breeder who strayed into the topic of the origin of species and evolution. Could anyone accept such a comment as an adequate assessment of Darwins work? Allow me, then, to introduce myself to Dr. Felsenstein. I am a transposon and mutation geneticist working with Pisum (for my PhD, see Heterosis in Pisum sativum (December 1979), for which I had checked also Falconer and Felsenstein), and then especially with Antirrhinum and Misopates and eventually also with Physalis (altogether in field trials alone with more than 2.1 million plants, not including thousands of greenhouse and climate chamber plants). You can find a list of my publications here. I also study plants and animals in the wild wherever I go. (Most recently, that was to Isla Contoy and elsewhere in Mexico.) Ive published books on carnivorous plants, giraffes, and the origin of dogs. Almost all my biological studies, going back fifty years now from mutagenesis and natural selection to embryogenesis and the geographical distribution of plants and animals are made in view of and in connection with the topic of the origin of species and higher systematic categories. Felsenstein continues: I can understand why he might not have studied population genetics thoroughly. I have carefully studied Haldanes dilemma, and some other aspects of population genetics. But, of course, Im not a theoretical population geneticist but a mutation geneticist and naturalist studying the ongoing real processes in nature. On a small excursion last month, having examined several species of water plants (especially of the family of Scrophulariaceae), I was reminded again that in biology, nothing really nothing can wholly substitute for real contact with nature as part of our universe. As Haldane mused, nature is not only queerer than we suppose, but also queerer than we can suppose. With due respect for Felsensteins work, can theoretical population genetics really ever fully model the biological processes in the wild, of the endless forms most beautiful, as Darwin said? To perhaps exaggerate the principle: No dry swimming exercise (helpful as it may be in certain cases) will ever substitute for the real thing, namely training in the pool, ocean, or river. Or, in the words of evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis, member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, stating (1997, p. 279): [T]he Academy guards, using neo-Darwinism as an inquisitory tool, superimpose a gigantic super-structure of mechanism and hierarchy that protects the throbbing biosphere from being directly sensed by these new scientists people most in need of sensing it. The dispensers of the funds for scientific research and education and other opportunity makers, herd the best minds and bodies into sterile laboratories and white-walled university cloisters to be catechized with dogmatic nonsense to such an extent that many doctoral graduates in the biological sciences cannot distinguish a nucleic acid solution from a cell suspension, a sedimentary from an igneous rock, a kelp from a cyanobacterium, or rye from ergot. See also Margulis as quoted in the supplement below. But, of course, comprehensive research needs all three best in cooperation, the lab, the cloister, and, last but not least, the field this essential, decisive, and most important but nowadays often forgotten direct contact with nature herself. Felsenstein goes on: But why then is he holding forth on the topic? This is easily explained. He is also a creationist, associated with the German creationist organization Wort und Wissen. False, and embarrassingly so. I have never been associated with the German creationist organization Wort und Wissen for the simple reason that I do not subscribe to their agenda (the entire universe created some 6000 years ago and other regards). Nor have I ever been a member of ISCID or of Discovery Institute, as commenters on Felsensteins post suggested. (If you doubt it, see my curriculum vitae.) Felsenstein proceeds: He formerly posted creationist material on his homepage at his Max Planck Institute. In a controversial move, the Institute forbade him to do this. These posts consisted essentially of the discussion of biological facts not convincingly explained by Darwinism, not of creationist material. Partial closure was solely due to pressure by neo-Darwinian activists from outside the Institute over the course of three years, first on a national scale and later internationally (see the details in my book about Die Affare Max Planck, die es nie gegeben hat). In this, there was no discussion of the contents of my homepage, which consisted in part of peer-reviewed and/or peer-edited papers. Felsenstein continues: If Dr. Lonnig wants to understand these matters more, I recommend to him that he visit a gambling casino in spite of the wild uncertainty of individual gambles, he might be surprised at how often he would lose his pocket money playing games that are mostly random, but slightly biased in favor of the house. The proprietors of gambling casinos, slot machines, and lotteries have very intelligently calculated (that is, designed) this overall necessarily negative outcome for the players. (Thats exactly why Im a long-standing critic of such games of chance.) To adopt Felsensteins metaphor, macroevolution would have long ago lost its money, as it were, if the process did not consist of much more than (and had to rely exclusively on) something like a gambling casino. Returning to the question of population genetics, there have been some criticisms worth quoting, as for example, that by Samir Okasha (2006, substantive revision 2012): It is clear that population genetics models rely on assumptions known to be false, and are subject to the realism / tractability trade-off. The simplest population-genetic models assume random mating, non-overlapping generations, infinite population size, perfect Mendelian segregation, frequency-independent genotype fitnesses, and the absence of stochastic effects; it is very unlikely (and in the case of the infinite population assumption, impossible) that any of these assumptions hold true of any actual biological population. More realistic models, that relax one of more of the above assumptions, have been constructed, but they are invariably much harder to analyze. It is an interesting historical question whether these standard population-genetic assumptions were originally made because they simplified the mathematics, or because they were believed to be a reasonable approximation to reality, or both. This question is taken up by Morrison (2004) in relation to Fishers early population-genetic work. Just before, Okasha writes: In a recent book, Sean Carroll, a leading evo-devo researcher, argues that population genetics no longer deserves pride-of-place on the evolutionary biology curriculum. He writes: millions of biology students have been taught the view (from population genetics) that evolution is change in gene frequencies This view forces the explanation toward mathematics and abstract descriptions of genes, and away from butterflies and zebras, or Australopithecines and Neanderthals (2005 p. 294). A similar argument has been made by Massimo Pigliucci (2008). Carroll argues that instead of defining evolution as change in gene frequencies, we should define it as change in development, in recognition of the fact that most morphological evolution is brought about through mutations that affect organismic development. Carroll may be right that evo-devo makes for a more accessible introduction to evolutionary biology than population genetics, and that an exclusive focus on gene frequency dynamics is not the best way to understand all evolutionary phenomena; but population genetics arguably remains indispensable to a full understanding of the evolutionary process. Now, to what extent has theoretical population genetics been successful in understanding the evolutionary process? Compare, in his book on Theoretical Evolutionary Genetics, Professor Felsensteins assertion that population geneticists model all kinds of cases with his ensuing statement on a comprehensive theory of evolution (2015, p. 49, emphasis added): A comprehensive theory of evolution, one which does not yet exist, would integrate ecological processes (which determine the range of environments and the fitnesses of phenotypes), developmental processes (which determine the effect of genotype on phenotype), and population genetics (which tells us the changes in genetic composition of a population when the fitnesses of the genotypes are known). Lacking the other elements of this future theory, we concentrate here on the population genetics. Regarding the present state of the art of population genetics for molecular sequences, Felsenstein states (p. 473): Sampling methods (both IS and MCMC) are currently the state of the art in statistical inference from population samples of molecular sequences. The hope is that a black box can be constructed which will accommodate many of the possible complications of evolutionary models (multiple loci, diploid genotypes, recombination, population size changes, migration, even simple kinds of natural selection). The user will specify what evolutionary scenarios to allow and what kinds of data have been supplied. The user will need to understand the evolutionary models employed, but may be relatively insulated from having to master the details of the sampling. The program will then run the sampler and provide a likelihood surface, or a Bayesian posterior distribution, for the genetic or population parameters. We are not there yet, though many of the pieces have been tested. The great unknown is how much sampling will be necessary in complicated models. If I had to write my encyclopedia article anew, I would probably also add some critical paragraphs on the presuppositions and limits of population genetics. Now lets assume, for the sake of argument, that natural selection really comes close to omnipotence, and that both the beauty and the brilliance of natural selection are reflected in its omnipotence to explain the myriad observations of life, or that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinising, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up all that is good. (All of this is, of course, nonsense as weve seen in my recent articles at Evolution News; see here and here.) In the absence of intelligent design and by selected mutations alone, would that solve the problem of the origin of the necessarily enormously complex information that is an integral part of all life forms? Concerning mutations, Felsenstein points out correctly (2015, p. 133): In a sense, it is a destructive force, making random changes in the genetic material. In any highly adapted organism such changes are overwhelmingly likely to be detrimental. The usual analogies we make in such cases involve making random adjustments in a finely constructed watch, or making random alterations of a carefully-written poem. While one will occasionally improve the timing of the watch or the effectiveness of the poem by random changes, with much greater probability one will make things worse. Most probably I am not the only one who doubts that random adjustments in a finely constructed watchwill occasionally improve the timing of the watch. Nevertheless, Felsenstein later asserts that mutation holds a special place among these [migration and genetic drift], for without it the whole process of evolution would grind to a halt (p. 134). Although Felsensteins models and calculations may to a certain degree be relevant for variation in natural populations, he never considers whether mutations really ever provide the raw materials for the creation of entirely new functional DNA sequences. Such sequences are required for constituting new genes and new gene reaction chains involved in the formation of novel synorganized anatomical structures and/or physiological functions for both the animal and plant kingdoms. That is, they are vital for the origin of all life forms on earth. He simply assumes that this will be the case, and he builds his evolutionary worldview on exactly this delusion. For more information on mutations, see here for Mutations: The Law of Recurrent Variation (short version) or here for the long version. For additional papers Ive written, see here. See also the calculations of Douglas Axe refereed to by Meyer, as well Axes new book, Undeniable. Or in the words of Michael J. Behe: A fundamental facet of rationality is our ability to discern the existence of other minds. In our world we perceive other minds through their physical effects. A theory which arbitrarily rules out mind as an explanation for certain physical effects has abandoned a facet of reason. Abandoning a facet of reason leads ultimately to irrationality. Life reeks of Design. That is well said. For my part, Joe Felsensteins criticisms aside, for many scientific reasons discussed elsewhere (see Lonnig from 1971 to the present ), I am entirely convinced that life displays ingenious design unparalleled, exceptional, unsurpassed, consummate, unique, and undeniable design. Postscript: See additionally Margulis on the state of biology especially in the USA (1997, p. 265) which appears to be very similar to the present state of affairs (emphasis added): More and more, like the monasteries of the Middle Ages, todays universities and professional societies guard their knowledge. Collusively, the university biology curriculum, the textbook publishers, the National Science Foundation review committees, the Graduate Record examiners, and the various microbiological, evolutionary, and zoological societies map out domains of the known and knowable; they distinguish required from forbidden knowledge, subtly punishing the trespassers with rejection and oblivion; they award the faithful liturgists by granting degrees and dispersing funds and fellowships. Universities and academies, well within the boundaries of given disciplines (biology in my case), determine who is permitted to know and just what it is that he or she may know. Biology, botany, zoology, biochemistry, and microbiology departments within U.S. universities determine access to knowledge about life, dispensing it at high prices in peculiar parcels called credit hours. (Margulis, L. and D. Sagan (1997): Slanted Truths: Essays on Gaia, Symbiosis, and Evolution. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. (See also here.)) And perhaps a question to Joe Felsenstein: How do you explain, for example, the origin of the Utricularia trap mechanism by mutations and natural selection? See here, here, and here. Photo: Starling murmuration near Tnder, Denmark, by Tommy Hansen [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. The Lantern at Morning Pointe Alzheimers Center of Excellence, Collegedale is hosting a BBQ fundraiser benefiting the Mid-South Chapter of the Alzheimers Association. Make a donation and pick up a pulled pork or pulled chicken sandwich with cole slaw, potato chips, and a cookie Thursday, Aug. 4, from 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m., at the Elder's Ace Hardware of Ooltewah, located at 9231 Lee Hwy in Ooltewah. Call 423-396-4700 for more information. The report reveals that Indian consumers are 90% as likely to use digital payments for both online as well as offline transactions. Over 60% of digital payments value Highlighting the growth opportunity in the digital payments industry in India, Google and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) have released their latest report- Digital Payments 2020. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the current transformation underway in digital payments and its impact on the overall payment landscape in India. The report is based on Nielsens qualitative and quantitative research with over 3,500 respondents, combined with BCG and Googles industry intelligence. The report projects that by 2020, the size of digital payments industry in India will be $500 billion; contributing 15% to Indias GDP. Further, by 2020, non-cash contribution in the consumer payments segment will double to 40%. Already 81% of existing digital payment users prefer it to any other non-cash payment methods. Online, shopping, payment of utility bills and buying movie tickets have emerged as the three top things that a user primarily interacts with. Further, the report reveals that Indian consumers are 90% as likely to use digital payments for both online as well as offline transactions. Over 60% of digital payments value will be contributed by offline points of sale such as unorganized retail, eateries, transport etc. Speaking about the key findings of the report, Rajan Anandan, VP, SEA & India, Google said, Spurred by smartphone penetration and supported by progressive regulatory policy, the digital payments industry is at an inflection point and is set to grow 10X by 2020. It is telling that half of Indias internet users will use digital payments and that the top 100 million users will drive 70% of the GMV - a clear indicator of the growing importance of the digital consumer. Global digital payments are undergoing rapid transformation and are set to grow four times in value by 2020. India is on an even more exponential growth trajectory. The smartphone explosion will usher in a new era in digital payments in India over the next few years that will see digital payments exceed $500Bn by 2020 and non-cash transactions exceed cash transactions by 2023, said Alpesh Shah, Senior Partner & Managing Director, The Boston Consulting Group, India. Based on the research conducted, convenience has emerged as the most important factor that is driving this growth. This is followed by availability of offers while opting for digital payment methods. The report also highlights that micro-transactions will form a substantial portion of the industry, with over 50% of person-to-merchant transactions expected to be under Rs 100. The report predicts that the value of remittances and money transfer that will pass through alternate digital payment instruments will double to 30% by 2020. The report identifies the various challenges that the digital payments ecosystem will need to overcome in order for the industry to grow to its potential. The research has shown that 1 of 2 non-users havent used digital payments because they found the product too complicated to understand and 61% of non-user merchants find it complex to use. Additionally, universality of acceptance of digital payment methods and merchant concerns around speed of transactions during peak hours has emerged as other inhibitors to usage. Report Methodology The report is based on a qualitative and quantitative research executed by Nielsen. Insights from this research were then combined with BCGs proprietary sizing model as well as Google and BCGs industry intelligence. For the purpose of the study, Nielsen conducted 14 group discussions, and 26 In-depth interviews for users and merchants in 3 cities (Mumbai, Lucknow, Delhi), and inputs from these were then used to form a comprehensive consumer and merchant quantitative survey. The consumer survey covered over 3,500 respondents (digital consumers - 1,516, remittance users - 917 and merchants - 917), across nine geographies - Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Indore, Surat, Visakhapatnam and Coimbatore. Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India) The appointment comes within days of outgoing chairman Yogi Deveshwars speech at the companys annual general meeting (AGM) clearly outlining an upscaling of its non-cigarettes businesses Sanjiv Puri has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer of ITC Ltd and will be responsible for running day to day operations of the company. The appointment comes within days of outgoing chairman Yogi Deveshwars speech at the companys annual general meeting (AGM) clearly outlining an upscaling of its non-cigarettes businesses. In 2014, Puri was made president of the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) business, a position carved out for him that first set off speculation he was being groomed for a bigger role. Last December, he was elevated to the board. A graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Puri joined ITC in 1986 and worked his way through several functions. His first major break came in 2001 when he was appointed the managing director of Surya Nepal, a subsidiary of ITC, which became one of the largest private companies in Nepal. Read more news about (marketing news, latest marketing news,internet marketing, marketing India, digital marketing India, media marketing India, advertising news) The Nursing and Allied Health Division at Chattanooga State offers monthly information sessions for students interested in the health care professions. The sessions are held at the main campus; some sessions are required for program admittance while others are strongly encouraged. Please visit the Nursing and Allied Health website at www.chattanoogastate.edu/nursing-allied-health for important details about program specifics, information sessions and admission requirements. Program directors will explain the process for applying, what to expect once admitted, discuss job opportunities, and answer questions. The following program sessions are scheduled during August: Aug. 3: Dental Hygiene Program, HSC 2031 3 p.m. Aug. 4: Dental Assisting Program, HSC 2028 5:30 p.m. Aug. 9: Nursing Programs, HSC-1083 9 a.m. Aug. 16: Pharmacy Technician, HSC-2118 10 a.m. Aug. 16: Health Information Management, HSC-2106 5:30 p.m. Motrell Beasley and Tiffanie Robinson, candidates for the District 4 Hamilton County School Board seat, spoke to the Downtown Kiwanis Club on Tuesday, outlining their reasons for running. Mr. Beasley focused on teacher retention, parent involvement, and developing community schools and after-school programs. Ms. Robinson discussed making an accountable and transparent school system, creating equity and early childhood education options, as well as finding ways to encourage more parent engagement. Hamilton County was recently ranked as one of the worst school districts in the state of Tennessee, said Ms. Robinson, local parent and CEO of Lamp Post Properties. She went on to state that District 4 has some of the highest poverty rates in the county. Mr. Beasley, a father of three, local schoolteacher, and community activist, said he was concerned about our kids. The road to poverty passes through school, he said. Now its time for that road to poverty to stop at school. He stated that teacher retention was a major problem, that we have to start making Chattanooga the first choice for our teachers and not the second choice. He also said that developing more community schools around the city, which have counselors, health checkups, and food programs, will help our violence and our crime rate. Ms. Robinson agreed that community schools could help with parent involvement, engaging not only the student success but the family success. She said Hamilton County needs to make sure that its students are going above and beyond the life they were born into. Ms. Robinson also said we need to rethink our budgeting process and start spreading ourselves out in the way that is the most effective for every child. She voiced concerns about the importance of finding a new superintendent, stating that we should be using a search firm to ensure a very intense search process. We do it in corporate America. We find the best and brightest for our companies. We should do it for our school boards, she said. Mr. Beasley said that searchHowever, she feared that the current school board was not in full support of Chattanooga 2.0, making it difficult for the program to do what it needs to do. From: American Evaluation Association (AEA) For Immediate Release: Dateline: Washington , DC Tuesday, July 26, 2016 Amy Hilgendorf and I am the Associate Director for Engaged Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies (the CommNS). We specialize in community-based action research and evaluation partnerships with grassroots and nonprofit groups and offer support to others who do this work. In recent years, we have partnered with county-based and statewide coalitions that are seeking to address childhood obesity by applying a model of collective impact. John Kania and Mark Kramer first characterized collective impact as consisting of five key conditions that can help unite multi-sector collaborative efforts towards greater community impact than what isolated efforts can achieve. Those five conditions are: a common agenda, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, shared measurement systems, and backbone support. The coalitions we work with have found the collective impact model offers valuable guidance for the kinds of processes that will set them up for achieving impact, but questions remain about how to actually evaluate the impacts of collective impact. Rad Resource: The Collective Impact Forum is an online hub of information, resources, and peer networking related to collective impact. The searchable resources section includes a host of Evaluation resources. One tool is the Guide to Evaluating Collective Impact by Hallie Preskill, Marcie Parkhurst, and Jennifer Splansky Juster. While much of this guide focuses on evaluating the process of collective impact, the third part lists suggested behavior changes and systems changes that may result from collective impact initiatives and provides ideas of indicators and approaches for evaluating these changes. Lessons Learned: We have found it critical to remember that collective impact is not necessarily a new concept, but rather one that has emerged from a long tradition of collaborative and coalition practice and thinking. Literature on this topic stretch back more than 30 years, especially in the community psychology field, and includes theory and practical tools for assessing the process and impact of collaborative work. In particular, the Community Coalition Action Theory developed by Fran Butterfoss and Michelle Kegler synthesizes much of this research to suggest how coalition practices can lead to different kinds of community impacts. These theorized impacts include community change outcomes, such as policy achievement and program expansions; community capacity outcomes, like new skill development and new partnerships; and, over time, the health and social outcomes that are the target of the coalitions work. Additionally, we have found that Michelle Kegler and Deanne Swans efforts to empirically test the relationships in this theory offers especially useful guidance for connecting the dots between evaluation of coalition processes, including implementation of collective impact practices, and evaluation of community impacts. The American Evaluation Association is celebrating Community Psychology (CP) TIG Week with our colleagues in the CP AEA Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from our CPTIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the Hi! My name isand I am the Associate Director for Engaged Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies (the CommNS). We specialize in community-based action research and evaluation partnerships with grassroots and nonprofit groups and offer support to others who do this work.In recent years, we have partnered with county-based and statewide coalitions that are seeking to address childhood obesity by applying a model offirst characterized collective impact as consisting of five key conditions that can help unite multi-sector collaborative efforts towards greater community impact than what isolated efforts can achieve. Those five conditions are: a, and. The coalitions we work with have found the collective impact model offers valuable guidance for the kinds of processes that will set them up for achieving impact, but questions remain about how to actually evaluate the impacts of collective impact.Theis an online hub of information, resources, and peer networking related to collective impact. The searchable resources section includes a host of Evaluation resources. One tool is theby Hallie Preskill, Marcie Parkhurst, and Jennifer Splansky Juster. While much of this guide focuses on evaluating the process of collective impact, the third part lists suggested behavior changes and systems changes that may result from collective impact initiatives and provides ideas of indicators and approaches for evaluating these changes.We have found it critical to remember that collective impact is not necessarily a new concept, but rather one that has emerged from. Literature on this topic stretch back more than 30 years, especially in the community psychology field, and includes theory and practical tools for assessing the process and impact of collaborative work.In particular, thedeveloped by Fran Butterfoss and Michelle Kegler synthesizes much of this research to suggest how coalition practices can lead to different kinds of community impacts. These theorized impacts include community change outcomes, such as policy achievement and program expansions; community capacity outcomes, like new skill development and new partnerships; and, over time, the health and social outcomes that are the target of the coalitions work. Additionally, we have found thatefforts to empirically test the relationships in this theory offers especially useful guidance for connecting the dots between evaluation of coalition processes, including implementation of collective impact practices, and evaluation of community impacts.The American Evaluation Association is celebrating Community Psychology (CP) TIG Week with our colleagues in the CP AEA Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from our CPTIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org . aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. Monday, July 25, 2016 The Pearls Before Swine comic strip has lots of commentary on mortality. Take this one, for example. Pig and Goat are hanging out by a wall and talking. I think that the cause of my death will be a piano falling on my head, says Pig. (Who says stuff like that in real life?) Thats interesting, replies Goat. Did you know that 157,000 people from around the world will die on the same day as you? Wow, says Pig. Wow: Thats a big number? asks Goat. Wow. Thats a big piano, says Pig. Of course, under ordinary circumstances, those 157,000 people who die on the same day arent going to die the same way. Its interesting that less than 30% of us do any end-of-life planning or preparation. If its true 157,000 people die every day, why dont more of us plan ahead? The Dalton Fire Department honored nine firefighters on Tuesday morning for their lifesaving efforts in two recent incidents. Unit citations were presented to A-Shift firefighters from Engine 2, and A-Shift firefighters from Engine 1 and Squad 1 at Tuesday mornings meeting of the Dalton Public Safety Commission. On July 8, firefighters from Engine 2 were dispatched to a car crash on South Thornton Avenue and found a female patient on scene who was unresponsive and not breathing. Firefighters quickly got her out of her vehicle, applied an automated external defibrillator (AED), and began CPR. Firefighters from Engine 2 completed three cycles of CPR and administered three shocks with their AED before EMS arrived on scene to take over. Their lifesaving actions led to the recovery of the patient. Lieutenant Randy Rogers, Engineer Brandon Elliot, and Firefighter Bobby Blackwell were honored with Unit Citations. In the second incident, Engine 1 was dispatched to Griffin Street to a report of an unconscious infant. When firefighters arrived, they found a 2 month old who was not breathing. They immediately began CPR and requested Squad 1 for assistance. When Squad 1 arrived, they took over care until EMS arrived. After Hamilton EMS took over, the child started to breathe again and started to cry. Engineer Dale Stratton continued to provide care for the infant, riding with Hamilton EMS with the baby to Erlanger in Chattanooga. Firefighter III Greg Metcalf, Engineer Jason Suddeth, Firefighter Ronald Murray from Engine 1 and Engineer Dale Stratton, Firefighter Brandon Glass, and Firefighter Justin Cole from Squad 1 were honored with Unit Citations. The Dalton Public Safety Commission is comprised of Chairman William B. Weaver, Carlos Calderin, Terry Mathis, Keith Whitworth, and Kenneth E. Willis. Monday, July 25, 2016 [Items 1-5 are covered in the previous post, More On The DNC E-Mail Scandal: Proposition Proved! An Unethical Organization, Seeking To Respond To The Revelation Of Corrupt Practices, Will Only Further Demonstrate The Depth Of Its Unethical Nature,Part I] 6. Donald Trump remains, and will remain, the riskiest option for President in 2016, simply because he has no qualities and no experience that qualify him for high office, and many, many traits and habits that disqualify him absolutely. Nonetheless, not since Richard Nixon has a presidential candidate been more likely, if elected, to get enmeshed in scandals involving abuse of power and the violation of laws than Hillary Clinton. Democrats and anyone else who votes for her must understand this. Clintons lauditory statement about Wasserman Schultz is proof of it, as was her State Department e-mail scheme. She will encourage and support dishonest, undemocratic schemes in pursuit of her agenda. Nothing could be more certain. 7. The key question is this: How can Clinton herself, and not just the ex-DNC chair, not be held accountable for the nomination fix? Are Democrats satisfied with that result: she coordinates the rigging of the system, and completely benefits from the plot, achieving everything she sought, and the only one punished is an official who should have been fired long ago? Poignantly asks New York Times columnist Charles Blow, as reliable a Democratic Party apologist as walks the earth, What are those Democratic voters supposed to do who dont trust the candidate, the party or the process, even if they view The Donald as the Devil? 8. The Democratic Party, meanwhile, continued to show its ethics abyss even as it claimed to be addressing the scandal. What paragon of virtue did it choose to replace disgraced Wasserman Schultz as the convention chair? Why, Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), who is one of the most prominent and vocal race-baiters in the Congress. In 2012, for example, she accused critics of Susan Riceyou know, all that lying about how there was no reason to think the Benghazi attack was prompted by anything more than a YouTube video?of being racist and sexist. In 2011 Fudge introduced a resolution backed by 19 other Black Caucus members, calling for a prohibition on the release of most investigative reports prepared by the Office of Congressional Ethics, and for preventing the office from initiating its own inquiries. Fudge argued that the prohibition was necessary because the O.C.E. had taken up frivolous investigations that unfairly damaged the reputation of House members. Congressional watch-dog groups pointed out at the time that this was a transparent effort to shield some of the crooks in Congressional Black Caucus members, like Charlie Rangel, who had serious and substantive charges against them. The release of the O.C.E.s investigation reports typically demonstrate that charges were not frivolous, and in most cases, the O.C.E. is overly generous with its presumption of innocent intent. Fudge is a perfect replacement for Debbie. 9. Then alleged Republican Michael Bloomberg chose the aftermath of these revelations to endorse Hillary. He says he is dismayed by Trump, but not dismayed by his new partys willingness to obstruct the will of the people and rig the democratic process. Noted. 10. And, though perhaps it is unnecessary to say, the mainstream news media continues to do all it can to cover-up for the Democrats, make us think none of this is important, or let Clinton get away with the usual Clinton deceit. The 60 Minutes interview with Clinton and Kaine on Sunday as the scandal was unfolding originally included vague questions to and evasive answers by Clinton regarding the scandal. Hmmmwas she saying that she didnt know anything about the DNCs efforts to sabotage Sanders on her behalf, or was she saying that she didnt know about the e-mails themselves? Scott Pelley, the CBS interviewer, never made her clarify. Clinton also refused to say whether there was anything wrong with the DNC favoring her for the nomination. Never mind thoughthe exchange about the big story of the moment never made it into the broadcast! Huh. Just an honest oversight, Im sure. 11. One of the leaked e-mails showed us what the current news media calls fair and objective political coverage. In an April 29 email thread, DNC national press secretary Mark Paustenbach shared detailed questions from a Politico reporter with others working to coordinate a response to the reporters unflattering story about Clinton fundraising efforts, in an article by Politicos Ken Vogel and Isaac Arnsdorf titled Clinton fundraising leaves little for state parties. Paustenbach spoke to the Clinton campaign that day in preparing the DNCs rebuttal, according to the emails. On April 30, two days before the story was posted, Paustenbach told DNC Communications Director Luis Miranda that he was sent the story in advance. Vogel gave me his story ahead of time/before it goes to his editors as long as I didnt share it, he wrote. Let me know if you see anything thats missing and Ill push back. Nice. Politico has admitted its collusion with the Clinton campaign and says it is sorrybecause they were caught. 12. Finally, the latest Clinton scandal was countered by a classic blame-shifting and distraction tactic devised by the Clinton War Room. Clintons campaign manager, Robby Mook, argued on ABCs This Week that the emails were leaked by the Russians for the purpose of helping Donald Trump. How interesting, and so what? Does this in anyway mitigate the DNCs dishonest collusion to undermine Sanders? No. Does it change the undemocratic conduct of the party and its anointed nominee? No. Is it designed to muddy the water and distract from the real issue: Clinton corruption? Of course! 12. At no time has the party or the Clinton campaign publicly apologized to Democrats, Sanders and Sanders supporters, or the American public. At no time have Clinton or any official acknowledged wrongdoing or the travesty of democracy authored by the DNC, undoubtedly with Clintons knowledge and assent. Donna Brazile, named interim DNC Chairyou know, that objective political commentator who both CNN and ABC put on roundtables to give her candid, non-partisan, unbiased and trustworthy analysis of political developments? That Donna Brazile?carried on the strategy of changing the subject and pretending that there is nothing to see here. She actually said Debbie Wasserman Schultzdeserves to be part of the partys convention this week. So much for disgraced. We all know you did nothing wrong, Debbie! Brazile apologized on ABC for the email controversy, but not what the e-mail controversy was abouther party and the Clinton campaign cheating in order to ensure Clintons victory. She said on This Week, I went over yesterday to see the Sanders campaign [and] I apologized. I think, the allegations, the e-mails, the insensitivity, the stupidity needs to be addressed. What classic spin and fog! These arent allegations, they are hard proof of collusion. It isnt the e-mails themselves that need to be apologized for, but the rotten process they expose. Insensitivity isnt the issue; deception, bias and manipulation are the issues. As for stupidity, this is the Democratic reflex response to every scandal. Its stupid. Its a nothing-burger. Its blown out of proportion. Whats stupid, Donna? The controversy? The staff for leaving an e-mail trail? Sanders supporters for being furious? The conservative news media for treating it as news? She repeated the party line, or perhaps party lie: [Hillary Clintons] campaign and her message this week is that were stronger together, we can solve our problems, we can begin to project a better country with a better future for everybody and tonight we begin that conversation. Finally, she also endorsed and ratified the partys conduct, saying Hillary Clinton won fair and square. The e-mails say otherwise. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Some beleaguered West Texas cotton growers are hoping a new seed coating sold by a young Boston-based agriculture technology company will increase their yield by 10 percent as promised by field trials. Indigo last week announced that it raised $100 million in a third round of financing from investors for its microbe-coated seeds in what is being touted as the largest private equity financing in the agriculture technology sector. The seeds, the companys first commercial product, are being planted on 50,000 acres of cotton most of it in the Ogallala aquifer area near Lubbock. In the fall, it plans to introduce a wheat seed coating. Agriculture technology is a hot sector right now, drawing $4.6 billion in investor funding to 499 agtech companies last year, nearly double the $2.4 billion raised in 2014 and outpacing growth in the broader venture capital market, according to a February 2016 report by Agfunder. Research in microbes or microbiomes used in agriculture is drawing interest from some of the biggest names in the field, including agribusiness titan Monsanto and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. David Perry, Indigos CEO, described the companys research into plant microbiomes as an offshoot to discoveries of beneficial microbes in humans, a sort of probiotics for plants. He sees the process as replacing microbes that have been stripped away over decades of modern farming practices. The human microbiome is probably the most important human health discovery in the last five or 10 years, and it was from that work that we began focusing on the plant microbiome, Perry said. Both humans and plants coexisted with microbes for millions or even hundreds of millions of years, and they worked beautifully to sort of support each others health. And then modern technology came along, he said. The rise in antibiotic and herbicide use in humans and in agriculture has systematically reduced the number and diversity of beneficial microbes at the same time, he said. The microbiomes are microscopic organisms that are not actually part of the human or other host organism, but rather coexist. For a long time, science focused on harmful microbes, such as destructive fungi and disease-carrying bacteria that could be fended off with antibiotics, or in the case of plants, herbicides and fungicides. More recent research has uncovered the beneficial role microbiomes play in the Earths biosphere by naturally breaking down pollutants and dead plant and animal matter. According to Harvard Medical School, the human body is host to more than 100 trillion microorganisms that aid digestion and nutrient absorption and boost the immune system. Hence, the probiotics movement that encourages people to incorporate foods like yogurt, with its good bacteria, to help keep digestive systems healthy. Indigo was launched two years ago as Symbiota by Flagship Ventures, a Cambridge, Massachussets-based venture capital firm and re-branded in February. The $100 million investment was led by the Alaska Permanent Fund, which has committed to invest similar amounts in a future funding round. Thats on top of $56 million raised by Flagship in previous funding rounds. Its part of a gold rush of investor interest in food and agriculture technology companies. The top investment draw for soil and crop technology in 2015 was Triangle Park, North Carolina-based AgBiome, which raised $34.5 million to develop biological products to control soil-borne diseases and whose investors included the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Monsanto Growth Ventures, Syngenta Ventures and Pontifax Food and Agriculture Technology Fund. The agtech sector has its eyes on the BioAg Alliance thats teaming Monsanto, the U.S.-seed giant, with Novozymes, a Danish biotechnology company to escalate research and commercialization of microbial technology for agriculture. Monsanto paid Novozymes $300 million upfront to seal the deal. Leland Sandy Pierson, head of plant pathology and microbiology at Texas A&M University, said applications for beneficial microorganisms were where we need to be moving in agriculture. Its a different way of thinking about growing crops, he said. What were looking for is the next green revolution. One of the first organisms that really evolved on Earth were bacteria, Pierson said, and then you went to simple fungi, and then you went to higher organisms, plants, finally to people. If microbes evolved first, everything else that subsequently evolved, evolved in the presence of those microorganisms. So it makes sense evolutionarily that they would be interdependent on the micro organisms, he said. Indigos business model was risky. Their sales team reached out to growers with an offer they couldnt refuse: the growers wouldnt be charged for their microbe-coated seeds unless they saw a measurable increase in yield. 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 confidence comes from extensive research on crops across three continents and four growing seasons, Perry said. They found marked differences in modern, cultivated and wild corn, which is still found in Mexico. Those microbes likely provided natural protection against stress such as drought, disease, and pests. What we see is that theres orders of magnitude decrease in both numbers and diversity of microbes in modern seeds versus ancient seeds or their wild ancestors, Perry said. Steve Verett, executive vice president of Plains Cotton Growers, Inc., said growers welcomed anything that improved plant efficiency. The high U.S. dollar and global over-supply has meant low prices for commodity row crops, and cotton growers have been hit extra hard due to a 2014 Farm Bill provision that cut most federal subsidies for cotton. Growers across Texas are betting on bumper yields on full plantings in order to squeeze even a modest profit. But July is closing out with record hot temperatures starting to stress the cotton along with scant, if any, rain. At least 60 percent of the cotton crop is dry land, but even irrigation systems can run short of water. The whole cotton area in the high rolling plains of Texas is in desperate need for a rain, Verett said. Its getting to the point where the cotton is really beginning to load up, starting to bloom pretty fully, and its soon going to reach its peak water demand. ... If we dont get a pretty general rain across the area and certainly in the next two weeks the potential is going to start diminishing. lbrezosky@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A former resident of the Dominion who the U.S. government accused of laundering money for Mexicos Sinaloa drug cartel returned to San Antonio in handcuffs Tuesday after spending more than five years on the run in Mexico. U.S. prosecutors say Mauricio Sanchez Garza, 45, laundered money through a proposed commercial development in San Antonio and used strong-arm tactics to extort a business partner with whom hed purchased the rights to a prequel of Mel Gibsons The Passion of the Christ. The U.S. Treasury Department has accused Sanchez of laundering money for Rafael Caro Quintero, one of the original cartel bosses in Mexico who was convicted of killing Drug Enforcement Agent Enrique Camarena, and Juan Jose El Azul Exparragoza, a top leader of the Sinaloa Cartel under Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. Mexican officials extradited Sanchez to San Antonio on Tuesday afternoon. He appeared in federal court still dressed in the brown jumpsuit Mexican prisoners often wear. A large scar could be seen on the back of his head and he appeared thinner than in pictures posted on his social media accounts. A judge ordered Sanchez held without bond. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on charges of money laundering conspiracy and extortion. Defense attorney David Dilley called allegations that Sanchez had worked with the Sinaloa Cartel hyperbole. His client chose not to appeal his extradition so he could fight the charges in San Antonio, Dilley said. I think what happened is, his family for a long time has been involved in the purchase and sale of real estate, and with that occurring, theres always the possibility that a purchaser or seller might have that background, he said about the allegations of cartel involvement. I think thats part of the allegations here, that somewhere in there, there could have been someone of that background. The investigation of Sanchez and his family was the first to be made public in a series U.S. government probes targeting allegations that cartel money men people whose hands never touched drugs but instead handled millions in drug proceeds had settled in San Antonio. Sanchezs brother, Alejandro, ran the former Barbaresco Tuscan Grill and Enoteca on San Pedro Avenue, named after a similar restaurant the family operated in Guadalajara, Mexico. He surrendered to U.S. authorities in 2013 and gave up the restaurant as part of his plea agreement to a money laundering conspiracy charge. Alejandro Sanchez has since been released from prison. Mauricio Sanchez, prosecutors say, was involved in an attempt to launder money through a commercial real estate development on the Northwest Side. Prosecutors last year won a lawsuit to seize nearly 40 acres on Babcock Road that had been owned by his company. The property was later the subject of a politically charged zoning dispute. In 2014, a judge ruled that the feds could take possession of a lot and a house in the Dominion, an upscale gated subdivision. Sanchez lived there in 2009 and 2010, when he fled to Mexico to avoid an indictment in San Antonio, according to court documents. Prosecutors also accused Sanchez and a man they said was a Mexican drug trafficker of taking part in a kidnapping in Mexico as part of an extortion scheme in San Antonio. Sanchez, the trafficker and San Antonio businessman Arturo Madrigal had purchased the screenplay for Mary, Mother of Christ, by the same screenwriter who penned the blockbuster The Passion of the Christ. When Madrigal wouldnt sign over his stake in it, the other two changed his mind by having his brother kidnapped, according to court documents. The screenplay was later sold for $1 million. Mexican authorities arrested Mauricio Sanchez in January near his hometown of Guadalajara. The Treasury Department has forbidden people in the United States from doing business with Mauricio Sanchez and members of his family who the government alleges are involved in money laundering for Caro Quintero, who was released from prison in 2013. jbuch@express-news.net Twitter: @jlbuch A convicted drug smuggler has admitted that he retaliated against a federal judge by filing bankruptcy paperwork that falsely claimed that she owed him $5.8 million. Leandro Cardenas Luna, 58, pleaded guilty last week to mail fraud. While in prison, he had arranged to file an involuntary bankruptcy petition against U.S. District Judge Alia Moses in 2014 to get back at her for the way she handled his 2006 marijuana smuggling case and a similar conviction four years earlier, officials said. Involuntary bankruptcy petitions are normally filed against a debtor by a creditor worried that the debtor is depleting assets. Moses is based in Del Rio. Cardenas was charged in San Antonio, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans appointed U.S. District Judge Nancy F. Atlas from Houston to oversee the case. In a previous hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Roomberg told Atlas that Cardenas, while incarcerated, made separate attempts in 2014 to try to get the bankruptcy petition filed and duped a former stepson to help mail the paperwork, which was accepted by the bankruptcy court in San Antonio on Aug. 6, 2014. Records show that Moses, during a bench trial in 2007, found Cardenas guilty of smuggling more than 280 pounds of marijuana near Comstock. Moses sentenced Cardenas to 10 years on the marijuana charge and tacked on one more year after finding that the arrest violated his supervised release in a 2002 conviction that connected him to 660 pounds of marijuana near Alpine, records show. While in federal prison in Bastrop, Cardenas and a fellow inmate escaped in a government van Nov. 20, 2009. The van was found in south Austin, but both inmates managed to get to Mexico, where they were arrested. On Nov. 27, 2009, they were turned over to federal marshals in Del Rio, records show. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks of Austin sentenced Cardenas to 24 months in prison on top of the 11 years Moses gave him, records show. Judge Atlas set sentencing for the current case for Oct. 11 in San Antonio. Cardenas could face up to 20 more years in prison. gcontreras@express-news.net Twitter: @gmaninfedland AUSTIN Texas strict voter ID law will be weakened to allow voters lacking required photo identification to cast ballots in a San Antonio special election Aug. 2 by signing an affidavit, a federal judge ordered. U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos in Corpus Christi has agreed to an affidavit option for voters facing a reasonable impediment to obtaining one of seven photo IDs accepted under state law. Ramos order is tailored specifically to the runoff for the House District 120 seat vacated by former state Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, but it marks the first time the voter ID law will be implemented in a watered-down manner. The law has been used since 2013. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that the law, considered the most restrictive of its type in the country, violated federal law by discriminating against minorities. The court instructed Ramos to come up with temporary fixes before the November election to ensure that the law no longer unfairly harms poor and minority Texans. Ramos first order of business was to approve an interim remedy for the San Antonio special election. Early voting started Monday in the contest, which pits independent candidate Laura Thompson against Democrat Lou Miller and is expected to draw about 1,000 voters. Under the approved plan, voters would be able to fill out paperwork to swear that they could not obtain an appropriate form of ID to vote and would indicate the reason. Along with the affidavit, voters would present an alternate form of ID: voter registration card, utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or some other government document that shows the name of the voter. Voters lacking one of the secondary IDs would have to provide the last four digits of their Social Security numbers and a birth date, along with the affidavit. The affidavit process is intended to serve as a so-called safety net for the more than 600,000 Texans registered to vote who minority groups claim have been disenfranchised by the voter ID law. The law accepts a Texas drivers license, personal ID card, state-issued election ID certificate, concealed handgun permit, U.S. military ID card, U.S. citizenship certificate with a photo or a U.S. passport. Several other states with voter ID laws have put in place similar affidavit processes, though the access they allow to the ballot box varies. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and several minority groups suing the state agreed to the affidavit process for the District 120 runoff. The two sides are discussing interim remedies for the voter ID law during Novembers general election. A hearing on the issue has been set for Aug. 17. High tunnel crops to be featured during educational short course Growers, educators and industry personnel can learn more about the aspects of high tunnel crop production during a short course Nov. 9 offered by ISU. Feature Your Listing! Get better results! Make your listing stand out from the crowd! Improve your position and response with our premium listing. Brexit will provide a unique opportunity for the UK to base its regulatory approaches to crop protection chemicals on robust risk assessment, the British Crop Production Council has said. The UK has often been a lonely voice arguing for better science-based regulation in the EU. Brussels, on the other hand, has tended to take the "politically-expedient but innovation stifling route of defaulting to the 'Precautionary Principle' when difficult risk-benefit decisions are required", explains Dr. Colin Ruscoe, President of BCPC. "New agrochemical approvals involve simplistic hazard-based 'cut-off' limits based e.g. on intrinsic toxicity, ignoring exposure and risk-assessment. "This approach was reinforced in June this year when the EU Commission advocated hazard-assessment rather than risk-assessment to identify endocrine disruptors. "The consequence of this will be the removal of many important and safe-in-use chemicals." 'Cut-and-paste' existing EU laws into UK laws The Brexit campaign has promised that by leaving the EU, the UK will be able to reduce regulations, save or re-apportion current EU contributions and "take back control". In the meantime, there will be considerable effort for all parties to agree on the divorce settlement, and the associated legislative changes that will come with it. This means it could be easier for Government Departments to cut-and-paste existing EU Regulations and Directives into UK Law and Policy. The BCPC said: "Brexit will provide a unique opportunity for the UK to base its regulatory approaches to crop protection chemicals on robust risk assessment, like the US EPA and FDA. "This can provide win/wins for food production, human health and the environment and economic benefit. "Take, for example, the 1980 EU Drinking Water Directive. This requires a maximum individual pesticide concentration of 0.1 g/l but this has no toxicological basis; it was simply the limit of detection back in 1980. "As a result, millions of pounds are spent each year in removing innocuous chemicals from drinking water, and the use of important agrochemicals such as metaldehyde of negligible human or aquatic ecosystem risk, are restricted." 'Maintain highest standard of water quality' There have been huge advances in toxicological assessment since 1980 that make risk-assessment approaches, e.g. WHO Guideline Value methodology, entirely appropriate for safeguarding our drinking water. "We must maintain the highest standards of water quality but we need to do this intelligently, advises Dr. Ruscoe. "Many involved in food production the UKs biggest manufacturing industry see more downsides than upsides in Brexit. "Taking immediate opportunities to develop new food and farming legislation and directives based on science not political expediency would be a sign that the Government will deliver benefits from Brexit." The cage-free movement in the UK has began to gather pace, with four major retailers this week announcing their decision to drop caged eggs in favour of caged-free. Compassion in World Farming says it is 'delighted' at the news, explaining that the cage-free movement in the UK is 'seriously gathering pace'. These announcements come close on the heels of pledges from Tesco, Aldi, Morrisons and international food service company, Sodexo to go cage-free, and follow a domino effect of similar announcements by leading supermarkets and other food companies in the US. In April, Walmart, the largest grocer in the US, announced their commitment to switch to 100% cage-free eggs by 2025. However, despite being owned by Walmart, ASDA, the third largest supermarket in Britain, has yet to commit to phasing out cages for hens. Gaining momentum Dr Tracey Jones, Director of Food Business at Compassion in World Farming, says: "Just two weeks ago I congratulated Tesco on their decision to go cage-free and expressed the hope that it would be the catalyst for others to follow. "With Morrisons, Iceland, Aldi and Sodexo all pledging to go cage-free this week it would seem that the cage-free movement in the UK has developed serious traction and continues to gain momentum." "Of course, whilst the timelines are longer than we would like we at Compassion very much welcome these pledges. "We have worked to influence and educate food companies on animal welfare for decades, and we will continue to work with these retailers to ensure the production system changes required to go cage-free will offer the hens a good quality of life in rich and stimulating environments." Mia Fernyhough, a hen welfare specialist for the RSPCA, said: "It is fantastic news that Tesco, Iceland and now Morrisons are all committed to going cage-free. "We hope they will not only stop selling packs of eggs from caged hens but they will also stop using them as ingredients in own-brand products like cakes, quiches and fresh pasta. "Sadly around half of the eggs laid in the UK are still from birds kept in cages, provided with little more usable space than an A4 sheet of paper per hen. "Its time cages were consigned to the history books and we hope that the last few supermarkets still selling eggs from caged hens follow suit." Brexit is already affecting free range egg producers, with the falling value of Sterling increasing the price of feed, says the British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA). Robert Gooch, chief executive of BFREPA, told FarmingUK that the long-term impact of leaving the European Union would depend on what future agreement the United Kingdom was able to negotiate with the remaining members of the EU. However, he said that the fall in the pound that followed the surprise referendum decision to leave the EU had increased the cost of imports, including key ingredients like soya. "Because we rely so much on imported soya, the weaker Sterling will and has started to lead to an increase in feed prices," said Robert. "It will help exports but, as free range egg producers, the export market isnt significant for us. "So, if you like, there is a net deficit from the weakness of Sterling in terms of how it affects our margin as free range producers. Thats a concern. "As we carry on, that weak Sterling might just be an economic shock from the news of Brexit and, hopefully, currency will stabilise a bit," said Robert, but he said there were other concerns long term about what the UKs relationship would be with the EU in the years ahead Extra transaction costs Robert Gooch, chief executive of BFREPA "The other factor looking longer term is that, if we are going to be out of the EU and out of the single market, there will be extra transaction costs from dealing with customs tariffs and border controls, which will lead to increases in prices for those imports as well on top of any currency impacts. "So the net impact, it looks like it will be negative for feed in terms of reducing our margins with higher feeds costs." Robert Gooch has a detailed knowledge of the European Union and its agricultural policies, having worked in Bruseels as a consultant before taking up his position with BFREPA. Robert spent 10 years in Brussels, where his Eurinco consultancy worked mainly on Common Agricultural Policy issues for clients in the United Kingdom. He said that the long term implications of exiting the EU for free range egg producers and others in the farming industry would depend on forthcoming negotiations. "There are two scenarios that will determine what the impacts will be. We cant say now exactly whats going to happen. New Defra Secretary, Andrea Leadsom, and Secretary of State for Brexit, David Davis "The first scenario is that the UK negotiates to go into the single market as it currently stands, rather like the Norwegians and the Icelandics have done. "They have access to the single market but they have to allow, under the agreements they have, free movement of labour and capital to have that." Borders over single market Robert said that the new Defra Secretary, Andrea Leadsom, and the man appointed to lead the UKs negotiations with the EU Secretary of State for Brexit David Davis, had indicated that they would prefer the UK to have control over its own borders if it was a choice between that and membership of the single European market. "If there is that choice, then that has bigger implications than if we went into the EU single market rules as they currently stand," said Robert. He said that another area of uncertainty was when negotiations would begin over the UKs new relationship with the EU. Once Article 50 is triggered to give notice to leave the European Union, there is a period of two years during which exit terms are negotiated before the UK actually leaves. But the EU is insisting that those negotiations will cover exit terms only and not what the UKs future relationship with the EU will be. "The EU says you cant do that; you have to exit first, then start negotiations for the new deal, the new arrangement. "If that happens it could be five, seven, eight years before we know what the new arrangement will be. "In the meantime we will be on the WTO default position of tariffs. So the implications are really hard for me to tell you here and now." Robert said it was not yet clear when Article 50 would be invoked by the UK. "The latest forecast is early next year. Then we have to go forward for two years. We will be in the EU with the current EU rules for another two years at least. "Then the question is what happens after that. Regardless of what we want, if there isnt a new arrangement fixed we will be onto the normal WTO rules default rules with a common tariff." 'Cruical and challenging time' The National Farmers Union (NFU) are also planning a series of meetings with members over the coming months before the unions annual conference in the autumn. A meeting has been organised for poultry members at Stoneleigh on September 8. The NFUs chief poultry adviser, Gary Ford, said in announcing the meeting: "I think it would be a good opportunity to open up the meeting and involve all stakeholders in the poultry sector so that we, as a poultry industry, can discuss and agree a joint industry position on key points. "Consequently we have invited to the meeting other stakeholders such as the British Egg Industry Council, the British Poultry Council, the British Free Range Egg Producers Association, as well as the British Poultry Veterinary Association and retailers." "We are entering a crucial and challenging time for our industry but also one of opportunity. "We need to be clear what our members priorities are over the coming weeks and months so that we are well placed to lobby government on what we, the British poultry industry, want both in the forthcoming trade negotiations and in a UK agricultural policy." The farming sector has reacted negatively to a proposal to reintroduce the lynx to Kielder forest and the Scottish Borders as a five-year trial. Lynx UK Trust revealed the Kielder forest and the Scottish Borders as its preferred area for a trial reintroduction of wild cats. On Sunday 24 July 2016 it was announced that the proposal for a five year trial reintroduction of lynx to the UK was moving to a local area in which lynx might be released in the future. NFU countryside adviser Claire Robinson told The Sunday Times: "The NFU is not in favour of the reintroduction of lynx - our biggest concern would be the impact on farm animals, especially with lynx preying on lambs. "Kielder specifically is a remote upland area dependent on sheep farming. "In the time since lynx last appeared, the environment has changed, our population has increased drastically and on top of this, we do not know how lynx would behave in the current environment. "As yet Natural England has not received an application for the reintroduction of lynx. The NFU will continue to engage with the licencing body to raise our members serious concerns. "We believe efforts, and finances, would be better focused on retaining current biodiversity." The NFU responded to an initial Lynx UK Trust consultation back in December 2015, outlining the view that reintroduction programmes are 'expensive, have a high risk of failure and that resources can be used more effectively to improve existing biodiversity'. 'Dismayed' National Sheep Association (NSA) is stressing the need for the correct steps to be taken and any licence application to be fully and independently consulted on. Phil Stocker, NSA Chief Executive, says: "We are dismayed that Lynx UK Trust is still pursuing plans to release lynx, as we do not share their belief that the UK has any suitable locations. We are too small an island and too densely populated. "As Kielder Forest spans the border between England and Scotland, any licence application to release lynx there would have to be approved by both Natural England and Scottish Natural Heritage. "It would not be appropriate for any trial to go ahead without the express approval of both bodies, which could only happen after a full and independent consultation period that goes over and above what Lynx UK claims to be doing to engage with stakeholders. "Such consultation would reveal a wide range of very genuine concerns about introducing the lynx. "These are not limited to sheep, but also the fragile balance of economics, environment and rural society, plus the welfare of the lynx themselves." Global dairy companies shrunk during 2015, forcing attention towards new markets for further development, in particular Africa. The Rabobank Global Dairy Top 20 2016, the latest annual Rabobank survey of the worlds largest dairy companies, highlights the giants of one of the worlds most valuable food sectors. 2015 proved to be a difficult year for most, with the strong US dollar and currency volatility, together with low commodity prices, reducing turnovers for most companies. Source: Rabobank Mergers and acquisitions continued apace, as companies continued to seek additional value from domestic markets and new opportunities elsewhere. According to Rabobanks Global Dairy Strategist Kevin Bellamy: "The big story in this years top 20 list of dairy companiesbased on turnoveris the shrinkage of the overall size of the pie. "Low dairy commodity prices and currency movements have had a dramatic downward effect on company sales values." In US dollar terms, the top 20 posted combined dairy sales of USD 194bn in 2015, down 13% YOY. It is indicative of how much the euro has weakened against the US dollar in 2015 that the same collective turnover of the top 20 improved 4% YOY in euro terms. As growth in China slowed, the worlds largest dairy companies started to look for new horizons to develop. Africa is now definitely on the dairy map. In total, there were 14 deals in Africa, with four more year-to-date in 2016. This compares with only three deals recorded in Africa in the whole of 2014. Morrisons has today announced that it is to stop sourcing eggs from caged hens by 2025. A schoolgirl who petitioned Tesco to stop the sale of caged hen eggs earlier this year, with success, has now won over Morrisons. The new petition has gained the attention of 180,000 signatories in the space of a week. It originally included both Morrisons and Asda to take action with caged eggs, but Asda has yet to respond. "I have just heard the news that Morrisons have now agreed to stop selling eggs from caged hens by 2025!," explained 14-year-old Lucy Gavaghan, the petion creator. Morrison's social media post "Clearly, the way supermarkets source their eggs is evolving at a rapid pace. "This movement has been long awaited by so many people who have been working tirelessly to bring the issue into the eyes of the supermarkets which create the demand for the caged hens eggs. "2025, may seem a long way in the future, but it will be the year Tesco end the sales of caged hens eggs along with an ever growing list of supporting supermarkets. "It will be the year that the demand for caged hens eggs will be lower than ever before. 'Year of caged hen farming ban' "But most importantly, it will be the year that a total ban on caged hen farming will be closer than it has ever been. "Now, I will concentrate this petition on Asda, the last of the big four supermarkets to take notice of what their customers want. "Please continue to share the petition and I will work as hard as I can to apply the pressure which is proven to work, on Asda." This week, Sodexo, the worlds leading Quality of Life services company with operations in 80 countries, has joined the growing number of companies that have also committed to sourcing only cage-free eggs in their global supply chains, including Unilever, Grupo Bimbo and Nestle. More than 60 food companies - including McDonalds, Aldi, Tesco, Burger King and Walmart - have also announced a complete transition to cage-free eggs. NFU Cymru will be showing its support for the National Eisteddfod by sponsoring one of the events most prestigious competitions. An eisteddfod is a Welsh festival of literature, music and performance. A sponsorship of 1,500 has been given to the National Eisteddfod to help fund the Brass Band competition, which will be taking place this Saturday, 30 July. Speaking ahead of the Eisteddfod, Monmouthshire NFU Cymru County Chairman, Gary Yeomans said, "NFU Cymru members in the county were keen to show their support for the pinnacle cultural event, which is being held on home soil this year. "The activities of this cultural festival are a great contributor to rural life and NFU Cymru is delighted to be able to sponsor one of the most prestigious competitions the Brass Band competition. "With the success of our Back Welsh Farming big bale sticker campaign, we have also joined forces with the Eisteddfod to get this message out to the crowds heading to this years event, so keep an eye out for our big bales dotted around the Eisteddfod and see how many you can spot." Gary Yeomans, accompanied by NFU Cymru President, Stephen James, will be attending the Eisteddfod on Saturday to present the prize to the winners of the Brass Band Competition. The British public are shunning away from foreign made cheese and sticking with home-grown British cheese, according to figures from AHDB. With a quarter of all milk produced in the UK processed into cheese, the household staple is an important product both for shoppers and for dairy farmers. While cheese exports are up and imports are down there are positive signs at last emerging for the dairy sector. But despite this, the value of cheese has declined and prices remain far below sustainable levels on farm. At the start of the International Cheese Show in Nantwich, Cheshire, national NFU dairy board chairman Michael Oakes said now is a good time to thank people for choosing British cheese and the positive impact they are having. And to send a clear message to the supply chain a fair price is needed for dairy farmers. 'A positive story' tell the public "We have such a positive story to tell," said Mr Oakes. "Figures for May 2016 show that UK imports of Cheddar were down 39 per cent on the same month last year while exports of cheese were six per cent higher this May compared to 2015. "Meanwhile, retail cheese sales for the year ending May 2016 grew 4.7 per cent. "The great news is more people than ever before are eating British cheese. "With most branded cheddar sold on promotion in the UK consumers are getting good value on a highly nutritional product. "And we have seen dairy commodity prices strengthening in recent weeks. "The next step must be for the value of cheese to increase through the supply chain and for a fair share of that money to be passed back to farm as quickly as possible. "While in-store promotions are good news for the shopper, as a dairy farmer I have concerns. "The aim of these promotions is to sell more volume rather than diminish value. My question is who is paying for such promotions?" What can you do to back British dairy farmers? Keep buying more British dairy products, especially by choosing British cheeses, yoghurts and butter. If you don't see these British products clearly on the shelves then ask for them. Be informed and speak to a shop manager if you are unsure about the products you are buying. The same is true for food services. When dining out in restaurants or cafes keep an eye open for British food on the menu and don't hesitate to ask your favourite eateries to support British dairy farmers by serving fresh, delicious British products. Key cheese facts In May 2016 UK imports of Cheddar totalled 7,355 tonnes, down 39% on the same month last year (= down 4,771 tonnes) In the same period, specialty cheese imports were 3% down on May 2015 (= down 1,007 tonnes) At the same time UK cheese exports were 6% higher this May than last May at 13,084 tonnes. Black People In Chicago Almost 20X More Likely To Be Killed Than White People By Mae Rice in News on Jul 26, 2016 6:27PM Photo via Tony Webster on Flickr Black people in Chicago are killed at higher rates than white peoplein 2015, they were killed at more than 18 times the rate of white people, to be exact. That's according to a new report that the Illinois Violent Death Reporting System at Lurie Children's Hospital released this month, reviewing homicides in 2005, 2010 and 2015. Homicides and homicide rates increased slowly across the three non-consecutive years, but the most significant finding was that the homicide rate in Chicago isn't actually uniform citywide (though the citywide homicide rate is often reported). The homicide rate is different for different demographic groupsand the homicide rate is especially high for black Chicagoans. In 20015, about 36.14 in 100,000 black Chicagoans were murdered, which put the homicide rate for black people in Chicago at more than twice the citywide rate that year (17.32 in 100,000 ) and eight times the rate for white people that year (4.39 in 100,000). If that wasn't upsetting enough, the homicide rate among black Chicagoans was also the only homicide rate that rose in a statistically signifiant way from 2005 to 2015from 36.14 in 100,000 to 46.52. (The latter number was more than 18 times the rate at which white people were killed in the same year.) As the black homicide rate rose in Chicago, homicide rates among women, men, Latinos and white people shifted in small but ultimately statistically significant ways. Still, it's worth noting that men are killed much more frequently than women (at rates of 35.23 and 3.48 in 100,000 in 2015). Also, though Latinos were murdered at roughly the same rate throughout the 10 year period examined, that rate was severalfold the white homicide rate: roughly four times it in 2015. This is all best shown in these three tables, pulled from the study (which DNAinfo also wrote about earlier today): Though this study has some weaknessesit's brief, for instance, and doesn't break down the numbers by gender and race, or look at homicide rates for Asiansit confirms what many of us have noticed: safety in Chicago is a luxury, largely wealthy areas and white people. 32 year old New Zealander Matt Smith has smashed the sheep-shearing world record, with thousands of people watching from around the world. Mr Smith sheared 731 ewes in nine hours at a farm in Cornwall to beat the previous record of 721. The event has made headlines around the world and was live streamed to audiences in New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Iceland and Ireland. This was the first world record sheep shearing attempt in the northern hemisphere It was the first sheep-shearing world record attempt in the northern hemisphere. At one point Mr Smith was tackling the sheep at a rate of one every 36 seconds - well ahead of the 45 second target. This was the first world record sheep shearing attempt in the northern hemisphere A team of masseurs were on hand to ease the strain on Mr Smith's back during breaks at the event at St Clether, Launceston. Steve Matthew, a judge from the World Shearing Council, said the attempt required huge "physical and mental strength". "This is the Everest of the sheep-shearing world," he said. Suffolk-based Fen Farm Dairy is set to expand its production of fine cheese, raw cultured butter and raw cream, after receiving a 200,000 loan from HSBC. The family-owned Waveney Valley business has been producing dairy products for over 50 years, and is the only dairy farm in the UK to sell raw milk brie style cheese. Fen Farm Dairy currently operates in the domestic sector and distributes its products through Harrods and Fortnum & Mason. The funding from HSBC enabled Fen Farm Dairy to develop its cheese unit, including its raw milk Brie, Baron Bigod. 'Increase capacity and diverse' The business has since won the Good Housekeepings Champion Cheesemaker 2016 award and Entrepreneur of the Year 2016 Europe Asia and Africa at the Business Excellence Awards. Award-winning dairy business looks to double production in five years Furthermore, Fen Farm Dairy has been able to hire a Milking Manager thanks to HSBCs support. The Milking Manager will manage the day-to-day running of the business to enable the business owners to focus on growing the business and increase production. Jonny Crickmore, who runs the 384-hectare farm alongside his father Graham, said: "HSBCs support has enabled us to increase capacity and further diversify the business. "Our main priority is producing good quality products that our consumers enjoy. "Thanks to the funding, we have been able to hire additional staff, which in turn will allow a greater focus on the growth of the business and drive sales even further with an aim to double production during the next five years. "The cheese has seen a 35% growth this year and we hope for the same next year." Adding value Julie Melbourn, Area Director for Business Banking in Norfolk, commented: "Fen Farm came to us looking to add value to their dairy products. "They are now in an exceptionally strong position for growth and ongoing business development with their Baron Bigod cheese seeing 35% growth this year. "HSBC is actively supporting UK businesses like Fen Farm Dairy to realise their growth potential. "Our team worked closely with Jonny to put together a funding package to best support his plans for the farm and its next phase of development. "Jonny has a strong vision for future developments of his business and were pleased to be able to support its continued development and success once again." Farm leaders warn of 'devastating' new veterinary rule for exports Police Union Urges Officers To Avoid Working Overtime On Labor Day Weekend By Stephen Gossett in News on Jul 26, 2016 7:16PM Photo: Scott Olson / Getty Images The Fraternal Order of Police has urged officers to not volunteer for any non-mandatory overtime for the full Labor Day weekend, Sept. 2 through 5. Supt. Eddie Johnson has voiced support for the move, according to NBC 5. The police union distributed a flier to officers that declared the holiday weekend FOP Unity Days intended to show unity and protest the continued disrespect of Chicago Police Officers and the killings of Law Enforcement Officers across our country. The flier adds, Youve earned time to be with your Families." "I do endorse officers spending time with their families," Johnson said, according to NBC. "Our responsibility and our oath is to back each other up out there. We are here to serve and protect." The flier lists a host of overtime opportunities that officers are encouraged to avoid, including many of the summer-specific details designed to increase police visibility during holiday seasonal stretches with the potential for violence, like Labor Day. Among the units to be avoided are Navy Pier, McCormick Place, Park District, and Other Off-Duty Work, which covers festivals and other spectator events. Anthony Guglielmi, Communications Director of Chicago Police Department, said the department does not anticipate any operational repercussions. Every single officer who serves our city on holiday weekends plays a valued and important role in keeping Chicago safe, he said in a statement sent to Chicagoist. We do not expect any disruption in operations for Labor Day weekend. Chicago police enlisted thousands of officers over the Fourth of July weekend and amped up patrols at parks, at the lakefront, and on city streets. Added overtime allowed for the increased police presence. Shootings that weekend were down compared to years prior, even after a late-weekend upsurge in which 28 were shot in a 15-hour period. FOP President Dean Angelo also dismissed safety concerns regarding the announcement. The department has enough leeway to make adjustments so that all needs will be accommodated, he told Chicagoist. Angelo also said that the anti-police sentiment in Chicago and nationwide is self-evident, and that political figures have failed to properly address it. Look at the rhetoric that gets tossed about at demonstrationsand thats not even getting into the assaults and ambushes around the country. Politicians are running on anti-police rather than anti-crime platforms. And weve seen minimal or no outrage from public officials, many of whom have police security details. Angelo said he had not received comment from City Council officials or Mayor Rahm Emanuels administration. Dia de los Muertos: What to know about the celebration of life DNC Day One: Party Establishment Battles Angry Sanders Supporters & Bashes Donald Trump By aaroncynic in News on Jul 26, 2016 1:35PM The first night of the Democratic National Convention revolved, for the most part, around two people: Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Tensions were high for much of the night and a full gamut of emotions coursed through the floorfrom jubilation, to fear, to anger and despondencyas a long lineup of speakers took the podium at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia in an attempt to unite the party around presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton. But no matter how high profile the speaker, including Bernie Sanders himself, or how many pro-Clinton signs volunteers could hand out, it was clear throughout the convention floor that voting Hillary will be a bitter pill that many devout Sanders fans will struggle to swallow. Sanders supporters on the floor in Philadelphia doing their best to hold it together #DemsInPhilly pic.twitter.com/v1Dtwuno54 Brandon Wall (@Walldo) July 26, 2016 "Any objective observer will conclude thatbased on her ideas and her leadershipHillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States, said Sanders in his speech, while some on the packed floor shed tears. Prior to his speech, nearly every mention of Clinton's name came with audible boos from somewhere in the stadium, many times being shouted down by thunderous chants of Hillary. The feeling of betrayal runs deep among the Vermont Senator's supporters, and fresh wounds continue to bleed, thanks to a trove of DNC emails published by Wikileaks, which showed bias against Sanders and calculated tactics to undermine his campaign. Shortly after the leak became public, Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned from her post as DNC chairperson. Schultz, who might be the second least-liked person at the convention Monday other than Donald Trump, relinquished her opportunity to gavel open the convention, and was booed at a delegate breakfast Monday morning. Some chose to show off their unhappiness visually, with many holding signs decrying the Trans Pacific Partnership, while others modified various pro-Clinton signs handed out by DNC staff and volunteers. A few could also be seen with tape over their mouths with the word silenced written on it. To even get inside the convention center, delegates and other attendees had to pass through throngs of demonstrators on the outside, many of whom marched up to four miles from City Hall. Dozens were peacefully arrested in acts of civil disobedience. Maureen Sullivan, an Illinois delegate who also served as a whip, said many delegates she spoke with felt silenced: "It's as if we don't exist. They're trying to tell usthe Hillary people up here right now are telling us they believe in a democratic process, but we know what's happened over the last few days with Wikileaks, etc, the democratic process has not been maintained. Here we are with this hypocrisywe're basically told 'shh, your guy lost so you're not able to say anything.'" While there was palpable anger towards the DNC, there was also plenty of it left for Republican carnival barker Donald Trump, from both the stage and the floor. Nearly every speaker excoriated the ugliness of his fascist circus, with ads showing his greatest hits peppered in between. Other than talking about building a stupid wall which will never get built other than that wall, did you hear any actual ideas, said Elizabeth Warren. We've watched him try to get laughs at others' expense; try to incite fear at a time when we need to inspire courage; try to rise in the polls by dragging our national conversation into the gutter, said Cory Booker. Sullivan also slammed Trump as well and said most of the delegates she's spoken with agree, lest pundits and other right-wing idealouges chime in the idea that Sanders supporters might board his train in November. I don't see anyone going to Trump. I know they know that's dangerous," she said. While fractures in the party were obvious throughout the evening, First Lady Michelle Obama managed to bring most of the audience together towards the tail end of the evening, in a rousing speech leaning on her personal and family life, and experiences in the White House. That is the story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight, the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, said Obama. "And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn." Lincoln Park's North Pond Could Get A 'Natural Playground' And Water Improvements By Gwendolyn Purdom in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 26, 2016 5:00PM The proposed woodland and creek near North Pond in Lincoln Park, rendering courtesy of the Lincoln Park Conservancy It draws hundreds of thousands of birdwatchers, foodies, Chicago families and out-of-town visitors each year, but Lincoln Park's 130-year-old North Pond isn't in great shape. At only between three and a half and four feet at its deepest point, the pond has a hard time supporting wildlife like it used to, and with so many people flocking to its shores annually, its erosion and exposed tree roots are only getting worse. Roughly 220 ventured out into the oppressive heat Thursday night to see what the Lincoln Park Conservancy is planning to do to address these North Pond problems, conservancy board president Susan Fargo said, and the group's approximately $12 million proposal for reviving the pond, which includes environmental upgrades and new natural features nearby, seemed to resonate. "[The pond] is a really popular place and people are actually starting to love it to death," Fargo told us Monday. "We really need to do something now before it becomes an emergency situation." The public meeting Thursday was the first glimpse the public got at the planned renovations the conservancy and Park District have been working on for about two years now. With its "science fair set-up," the event allowed attendees to ask conservancy staffers or contractors questions directly and also included larger presentations from figures such as the project's landscape architect Jacob Blue. The meeting also addressed two of the public's biggest concerns, Fargo said: the poor environmental state of the pond and the need for family-friendly activities nearby. The conservancy has so far gotten the most positive feedback on plans to dredge and deepen the pond and add a nature-themed "playscape" that mixes traditional playground equipment like swings with more organic features like a willow tunnel, an archeological dig-style sandbox and a slide built into a hillside. The new playground, along with other new natural features like a woodland with a creek to the east of the pond and a new meadow, are intended to diffuse foot traffic on the already worn down North Pond shores. "We think that by doing this, well be really taking the stress off the edge of the pond in a permanent way," Fargo said. Funding for the North Pond project will largely come from private donors, Fargo said, though the conservancy will also be kicking off a major capital campaign soon. Another public meeting is tentatively planned for late summer or early fall. In the meantime, Fargo and her team are hoping the public weighs in on what they would like to see in the pond's future. "It's important to us that people share how they use the pond and whats important to them," she said. "Those are the things we want to know about." Espanol Tagalog Viet Whatever your complexion, its important to use products that will help your skin and not damage it. But as you wade through the beauty aisles, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cautions that you should avoid skin creams, beauty and antiseptic soaps, and lotions that contain mercury. How will you know if mercury is in the cosmetic, especially one thats marketed as anti-aging or skin lightening? Check the label. If the words mercurous chloride, calomel, mercuric, mercurio, or mercury are listed on the label, mercury is in itand you should stop using the product immediately. The products are usually marketed as skin lighteners and anti-aging treatments that remove age spots, freckles, blemishes, and wrinkles. Adolescents may use these products as acne treatments. These products usually are manufactured abroad and sold illegally in the United States, often in shops catering to the Latino, Asian, African, or Middle Eastern communities. They are promoted online on social media sites and sold through mobile apps. Consumers may also have bought them in another country and brought them back to the U.S. for personal use. If the ingredients arent listed and there is no product label, dont assume its fine. Federal law requires that ingredients be listed on the label of any cosmetic or nonprescription drug, so do not use a product that doesnt have a label. In addition, dont use drugs or cosmetics labeled in languages other than English unless English labeling is also provided. Thats also a sign that the product may be marketed illegally. Even though these products are often promoted as cosmetics, they also may be unapproved new drugs under the law. FDA does not allow mercury in drugs or in cosmetics, except under very specific conditions where there are no other safe and effective preservatives available conditions that these products do not meet. Sellers and distributors who market mercury-containing skin whitening or lightening creams in the U.S. may be subject to enforcement action, including seizure of products, injunctions, and, in some situations, criminal prosecution. Dangers of Mercury Exposure to mercury can have serious health consequences. The danger isnt just to people who use mercury-containing products but also to their families. When you use these products your family might breathe mercury vapors or might become exposed by using things like washcloths or towels contaminated with mercury. Some people including pregnant women, nursing babies and young children are especially vulnerable to mercury toxicity. Babies may be particularly sensitive to the harm mercury can cause to their developing brains and nervous systems. Newborns who nurse are vulnerable because mercury is passed into breast milk. Signs and Symptoms of Mercury Poisoning irritability shyness tremors changes in vision or hearing memory problems depression numbness and tingling in hands, feet or around mouth Source: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (www.atsdr.cdc. gov/PHS/PHS.asp?id=112&tid=24) Tracking Skin Products Containing Mercury In the past few years, FDA and state health officials have discovered numerous products that contain mercury, and there have been cases in which people exposed to such products have had mercury poisoning or elevated levels of mercury in their bodies. FDA has an import alert in place that lets our field staff know that the agency has enough evidence or other information to refuse admission of shipments of mercury-containing skin products. But this is only a partial solution. Many of these products are coming into the country through illegal channels. Thats why its so important for consumers and sellers to know about the dangers of possible mercury poisoning associated with the use of these skin products. How to Protect Yourself Thoroughly wash your hands and other parts of your body that have come in contact with products that contain mercury. Contact your health care professional or a medical care clinic for advice. If you have questions, call your health care professional or the Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222; it is open 24 hours a day. Before throwing out a product that may contain mercury, seal it in a plastic bag or leak-proof container. Check with your local environmental, health, or solid waste agency for disposal instructions. Some communities have special collections or other options for disposing of hazardous household waste. Sir Roger Moore has been left "heartbroken" by the death of his stepdaughter who has died of cancer at the age of 47. Sir Roger Moore 'Live and Let Die' star Roger and his wife Kristina 'Kiki' Tholstrup are devastated after Christina Knudsen - affectionately known as Flossie - passed away at 10am on Monday (25.07.16) surrounded by her family. Roger - who played James Bond in seven films - took to his official Twitter account to share his news with his followers. He wrote: "Our beautiful daughter Christina (aka Flossie) lost her battle with cancer 25 July at 10am. We are heartbroken ... We were all with her, surrounding her with love, at the end. (sic)" Christina's father was tycoon Hans Christian Knudsen who killed himself after having been accused of tax evasion. Two decades later her stepfather Ole Tholstrup died from alcoholism and then Kiki fell in love with Roger and he made her his fourth wife in 2002. Christina - was half-Swedish and half-Danish - lived in London from 1997 and famously set up a social club Ochun for single people in the UK capital city Ochun in 2014. She was previously married to investment banker Nikolaj Albinus and after they divorced she went on to date Skype co-founder Janus Friis for four years. Diane Kruger reportedly "resented" leaving France to be with Joshua Jackson in the US and it played a major part in their break-up. Joshua Jackson and Diane Kruger The couple announced last week they had split after 10 years of dating, and it has now been claimed they went through a "silent separation" and had been living apart for six months, with even the 'Inglourious Basterds' actress' decision to move from Paris to New York unable to save their failing relationship. A source told the new issue Grazia magazine: "Diane is fiercely independent and ended up resenting leaving Paris to be with Joshua. She's also disillusioned with Hollywood and wasn't interested in attending events as part of a power couple, she needs her own space. The move was make or break and i the end, it broke them. Joshua is heartbroken." Diane, 40, previously described moving to New York while 38-year-old Joshua was appearing in off-Broadway play 'Smart People' - as a "big step into adulthood". Asked if she would consider marrying again, the blonde beauty - who was previously wed to director Guillaume Canet for five years - said: "Welcome to my dilemma. I just moved to New York. I need to unpack and buy some house stuff, like candles and books. "[Moving here] was a major commitment. That's a big step into adulthood for me, to allow that time for someone else out of my time." Despite ending their relationship, the former couple have vowed to stay friends. Their representatives said in a statement: "Diane Kruger and Josh Jackson have decided to separate and remain friends." And the source added: "They had their fair share of issues but fully intend to stay friends." A woman branded a "Russian hooker" by Lindsay Lohan is a fashion designer. Lindsay Lohan Dasha Pashevkina - who owns luxury clothing line PA5H - has hit out at the 30-year-old actress, claiming she has "insecurities" after the 'Mean Girls' star accused her fiance Egor Tarabasov, 23, of cheating on her with the blonde beauty, who denies the claims. She said: "I've known Egor for five years and have never slept with him and never would. "I'm the one who introduced Lindsay to Egor. We are just friends. "Lindsay's insecurities mean she can't have any girls around him." Lindsay tweeted on Sunday (23.07.16): "Wow thanks fiance with Russian hooker @dasha_pa5h. He cheated on me with hooker" Dasha also claimed Lindsay is "volatile" and has "forgotten" the support she gave her. She said: "Her behaviour is so volatile but honestly I did not expect this. "When she broke up with her last boyfriend I was there to support her and we gifted her so many clothes - something she's clearly forgotten." Lindsay accused Egor of attacking her over the weekend and police were called to her London home, but Dasha insists he "would never be violent towards" the US star, or be unfaithful. She added to The Sun newspaper: "He's such a loyal guy and he would never cheat on her, he does actually love her." Lindsay is said to want her fiance to go to therapy so the pair can work out their problems. Her representative told the New York Post newspaper: "Lindsay believes Egor has anger-management issues and she would like him to go to therapy. They both want to work things out." One of her pals said: "Egor has taken control over her business . . . He is in charge of her finances and is controlling over her deals, even though he has no experience in Hollywood." Lupita Nyong'o has dropped little hints about the Black Panther plot. Lupita Nyongo It was revealed at Comic-Con that Nyong'o will take on the role of Nakia, a bodyguard and potential love interest for Black Panther. And while director Ryan Coogler has been keeping the plot under wraps - he is still working on the script - the Oscar winner has dropped little hints about the movie. Speaking to Marvel.com, the actress said: "The story of this Black Panther is- what am I allowed to say? "The story is that the Black Panther's leadership is really threatened by two foes who come together, and so Black Panther gets the help of the C.I.A. and the Dora Milaje to try and defeat the enemy." At Comic-Con it was also revealed that Michael B. Jordan will play villain Erik Killmonger as he works with Coogler for the first time - they have already collaborated on Fruitvale Station and Creed. Danai Gurira is also on board as Okoye, a friend of Nakia. Black Panther will be the third feature film of Coogler's career and his biggest movie project so far. Chadwick Boseman, who was introduced as Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War earlier this year, will be back in the title role. As for Lupita Nyong'o, she will be back on the big screen later this year in Queen of Katwe. She has also been working on Star Wars: Episode VIII, where she will reprise the role of Maz Kanata. Black Panther 6th July 2018. by Helen Earnshaw for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on Jason Bourne returns to the big screen this week as Matt Damon takes on this iconic role for the fourth time. Jason Bourne This is the first time that Damon has played Bourne since the success of The Bourne Ultimatum back in 2007, as he reunites with director Paul Greengrass. Jason Bourne looks set to be one of the biggest films of the summer and we look back over the franchise and pick out some of the best moments. Do you have a favourite? - The Bourne Identity - What's Your Name The first time we meet Jason Bourne, he is being fished out of the sea, unconscious, with bullet wounds in his back. Where had this man come from? Taken care of by those on the boat, Bourne wakes up not knowing who he is, where he came from, or how he ended up in the middle of the ocean. - The Bourne Identity - Fight in Bourne's Flat After discovering his name and address from a deposit bank in Zurich, Bourne heads to Paris to find his home - helped by Marie, who has driven him to the Paris capital. But a Treadstone agent is waiting for him at the apartment, after being ordered to take him out. The pair has one of the first big fights of the film - and one of the most memorable. - The Bourne Identity - Car Chase Still on the run in Paris, Bourne and Marie are forced to flee from the police in Marie's car. It is a fast paced sequence with Bourne behind the wheel. It is also the moment when Jason and Marie really do team up and are in this situation together. - The Bourne Identity - Stairwell Fight At the end of the film, Bourne breaks into the Treadstone safe house in Paris, where he holds Nicky at gunpoint and starts to remember things about the Womboski assassination attempt that he set up. Cornered in the safe house, Bourne fights his way out in a gun battle with Conklin's agents. One of the film's best moments is when he jumps down a stairwell to kill his enemy. - The Bourne Supremacy - Marie Is Killed The Bourne Supremacy is set two years after events of the first film and sees Jason and Marie living in India. The couple is trying to live a normal life but Jason is still suffering from flashbacks. After stopping CIA agent Pam Landy from getting her hands on the Neski files - and framing Bourne in the process - Krill, an agent for Russia's Federal Security Service, heads to Goa to kill Bourne... ... but he kills Marie and Bourne gets drawn back into a world that he had tried to leave behind. - The Bourne Supremacy - Bourne Fights With Jarda Jarda is the only other Treadstone operative alive and Bourne pays him a visit in Munich to find out more about the programme and Pam Landy. But Jarda is stalling. The pair fight, Bourne kills Jarda and escapes before the CIA arrives. It is a close hand to hand fight that is one of the best in the film. - The Bourne Supremacy - Bourne Kidnaps Nicky Nicky was another familiar face on the cast list as Julia Stiles reprised the role. Nicky is kidnapped by Bourne as he tries to get some answers. Not only does Nicky give him the information that he's looking for, but Bourne also has a flashback to his first mission as an operative for Treadstone. Nicky does have a small part to play in the first two films... but took on a much bigger role in The Bourne Ultimatum. - The Bourne Ultimatum - Bourne Meets Ross at Waterloo Simon Ross is a reporter for The Guardian who is investigating Treadstone and Jason Bourne. The pair set up a meeting at Waterloo Station in London. But Ross has been followed by members of the Blackbriar programme - lead by Noah Vosen - who want Ross silenced. The Waterloo scene is a great sequence of cat and mouse as Bourne tries to move Ross out of harm's way. - The Bourne Ultimatum - Bourne vs Desh With Nicky on side, the pair travel to Tangier to try and save Daniels, a CIA station chief, from Blackbriar 'asset' Desh Bouksani. Bourne and Nicky are chased over the city. Bourne manages to save Nicky before Desh kills her, before going on to kill him. - The Bourne Ultimatum - Bourne Breaks Into CIA One of the best scenes in the film is where Bourne finally speaks to Noah Vosen. Vosen has intercepted a call between Bourne and Landy and believes that the pair is going to meet. They stake out the spot hoping to capture Bourne. But Jason has other ideas and has entered Vosen's office at CIA headquarters and steals classified documents about Blackbriar. - The Bourne Ultimatum - Bourne Meets Dr. Albert Hirsch After receiving a coded message from Landy about where he can get some answers, Bourne comes face to face with Dr. Albert Hirsch back where it all started. He learns about the Treadstone programme and how he got involved - while having flashbacks at the same time. Bourne learns that his real name is David Webb and he volunteered for the programme. Jason Bourne is released 27th July. by Helen Earnshaw for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on Try The Under Appreciated Wines Of Mexico At Rick Bayless's New Lena Brava By John Lenart in Food on Jul 26, 2016 2:40PM Lena Brava. Photo Credit Galdones Photography When you think about wines from Sicily or Alsace that have been produced in a region for centuries, you just know that they pair with the local cuisine perfectly. It's no accident. Winemakers have used the time to make wines that taste good with the local foods, and local chefs create dishes that pair with the wines. A few decades go by and boom: You have classic parings. The funny thing is, while the food from Mexico is just as regionally diverse as the food from Italy or Spain, when confronted with a menu of one of the many regional Mexican cuisines, diners often turn to beer or cocktails made from mescal or tequila. Sure, many might say it's because they are the drinks of the region, but the fact is, in Baja Mexico wine has been part of the cuisine for over 400 years. Many people don't realize this, but the oldest winery in North America is actually located in Mexico, Jill Gubesch, wine director for Rick Bayless' restaurant group, told Chicagoist. Gubesch has been pouring wines from Mexico for years at Topolobampo, and recently Bayless charged her with dedicating an entire section of the wine list for the newly opened, Baja-focused, Lena Brava, to wines from Baja, more specifically from the Valle De Guadalupe. Located just 90 miles south of San Diego (No further than Napa is from San Francisco) winemakers in el Valle as it's locally called, have had hundreds of years of growing and tweaking to make wines that pair wonderfully with the cuisine of Baja. The results of these centuries of work in the vineyards and cellars of el Valle shows in the parings. I think these wines go better with the Baja cuisine than anything I've ever paired them with. There's something special about the cuisine at Lena Brava because it's a very different part of Mexico, said Gubesch. But sourcing these wines is no small task. Gubesch explains, It's a really difficult thing to bring these wines in. No distributors carry these wines because production is really low. Some of these producers make 200 cases of wine. Combine that with the fact that over 80 percent of the production gets bought up by Mexico City and that, much like Napa and Sonoma, drought conditions continue to cause declining yields, sourcing these wines is a serious effort. Only after working with a vast group of importers, distributors and delivery sources do the wines finally arrive at Lena Brava. It's almost a separate full-time job, Gubesch said. These wines aren't on the list just because they come from Mexico. It represents the top wines Mexico has to offer. Gubesch is very careful in sourcing these wines. Just because it's from the right region doesn't mean it's good. In fact, she and Bayless had to learn about Mexican wines the hard way. When I first started tasting what we could get our hands on, it wasn't the best examples of Mexican wine and I remember thinking 'Oh my god, is Rick [Bayless] going to make me put this on the list?' And then he and I were tasting and he was like 'Well that's just awful.' I was so relieved. And then when we got our hands on more we tasted Casa de Piedra and it showed me wow, they are making great wines in Mexico. So what are the wines of el Valle like? They tend to be lighter-bodied, have softer tannin and brighter fruit than in many regions of the world. But what's really cool about these wines is the terroir often presents a pronounced salinity, kind of like albarino on steroids. The wines of el Valle that excite Gubesch the most are The Casa de Piedra," she said, "because it was the first winery that showed me that they were making great wine in Mexico. During our interview I had the opportunity to taste some wines from el Valle. First up was the 2014, Casa de Piedra, Piedra del Sol, Bianco. Gubesch called this unoaked chardonnay The Chablis of Mexico. Super bright and slightly silvery in color this wine has a delicate nose of green apple and fresh lemon with a hint of minerality and that distinctive salinity. The texture is slightly creamy from aging on the lees with flavors of apple, salt and a spicy nutmeg finish. If you think you don't like chardonnay this might be the one for you. Next was the 2015, Casa Magoni Manaz Bianco. A blend of viognier and fiano, this wine smells of over ripe melon and lanolin with a flavor of apricot, orange zest, and again, that classic salinity. Of course there are red wines too, including some unique blends. Gubesch explained, One of the other unique things is the blends. They are blending zinfandel, cabernet, and nebbiolo. It's not classic blends. Nor are the flavors always typical of the variety. She says, You need to lose all of your preconceived notions about what these varietals taste like because they don't taste like Cab from Northern California or anywhere else in the world. They're very specific to Mexico. Now, I'm not saying you should look past the world class spirits list at Lena Brava, but when it comes time to think about wine, flip to that page of the wine list that says Wines of Valle De Guadalupe and you'll be drinking wines particular to the local cuisine of Baja. With producers like Adobe Guadalupe and Casa de Piedra making some stunning wines, the entire el Valle wine region is experiencing incredible growth. Jill said, I first visited el Valle in 2001 when I put together the very first Mexican wine page here [at Topolobampo]. Back then there were maybe 15 wineries or less. Today there are over 120 bonded wineries in el Valle. A short 90 minute drive along the beautiful Pacific coast from San Diego has me thinking my next wine vacation just might be to Mexico. But in the meantime, I'll make do with the food and wine of Baja at Lena Brava. Four-piece band SHVLLOWS are gearing up for the release of their atmospheric pop single 'Zurich' later this year, exploring anxiety and self doubt along with the extreme lengths some people will go to overcome them. SHVLLOWS Hoping to assure the world that no one is ever truly alone, the group bring a vibrant and uplifting track despite the lyrics and overall concept. We got the opportunity to chat to the guys about their music, plans for the future and more... For those who may be new to your music, how best would you describe your sound? Exciting, uplifting and passionate. A combination of classic synth pop, stunning alternative falsetto and state of the art production that will brighten your entire day. What challenges have you faced in the music industry so far? Convincing people to give you three minutes of their time when you are such a new artist. In both senses of trying to sell your music and your brand to the public and the people behind the scenes. Luckily we have a great team of industry friends that help us but the competition is and always will be fierce for those top spots. How difficult would you say this career path is in terms of making a name for yourself? It's a completely oversaturated market, when was the last time you scrolled down your news feed without seeing ten huge budget music advertisements? It's a full time job in itself making promo videos, editing photographs, organising and updating your social media and that's before you play a single chord in front of a crowd. How important is it for you to have creative control over the work you produce? Incredibly important, we all bring that little something to the table and what we have as a cohesive unit means so much to us, it just clicks so well. You also have the benefits of being a working class band and that's no messing about in the studio, time is money and these songs need to be on par with artists with huge budgets. If you could collaborate with anybody going forward, who would you choose and why? Touring and collaborating with EverythingEverything is pretty much all of our dreams come true, that would be unreal. Even just a one off support slot would blow us away. Tell us a random, funny fact about you that not many people know. One of us had a trip to the hospital due to an injury occurred in the bedroom. You know who you are... Do you have definitive aims or goals for your career? We would be lying if we didn't want to travel across the world and play music as a full time job, but realistically our main milestones are releasing the debut album, headline tours across the UK before eventually going out towards the rest of Europe and the States and eventually getting back together for a comeback tour when we are long past it. Where do you hope to be by this time next year? What we have accomplished in the few months we have been together has completely blown away an expectations. Who knows where we will be in a year? We can only say we are trying our very best and let's see where this path takes us! What should we expect from you in the coming weeks and months? We have our new single 'Zurich' coming out in September, a fantastic music video starring upcoming Scottish actress Chloe Edwards will accompany the release. We also have a bunch of huge shows including working with BBC Radio Scotland during the Edinburgh Fringe and our single launch at The Mash House on October 15. 'Zurich' is officially released via Choose Rude Records on September 16. by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on Queen Elizabeth attended the launch of 'Fashioning a Reign' at Buckingham Palace over the weekend. Queen Elizabeth The 90-year-old royal was no doubt filled with nostalgia as she strolled around the new exhibit showcasing more than 70 iconic outfits worn by Elizabeth during her 64-year reign. Talking about the head of the throne's impact on British fashion, the curator of the fashion exhibition, Caroline de Guitaut told PEOPLE: "She has been steadfast in her support of British design. That is quite something over such a period of time. "Her unswerving support of British design is very much a theme of the exhibition and giving visitors an understanding of what it takes to make couture clothing." Some of those on display included a green gown, which the Queen wore to Mexico in 1975 and a black dress, which she wore on a visit to the Vatican in Rome in 1961. Fashion expert Guitaut explained that the colour's the Queen wears have to reflect the place she visits and so her attire takes on a "diplomatic role". She said: "It's an important aspect of the Queen's wardrobe whereby every colour or embroidery motif can convey messages without the need to speak. The clothes perform a diplomatic role." Over a decade after we were watching the lives of Adam, Pete, Jenny, Karen and David unfold, Cold Feet will be returning for a brand new series to see exactly what's happened during that break with some of British television's most memorable characters. Credit: ITV Today (July 26), ITV have released a new first look image for the show, featuring the five most prominent members of the cast. Creator Mike Bullen comments: "This feels like the right time to revisit these characters, as they tip-toe through the minefield of middle age!" John Thomson, James Nesbitt, Fay Ripley, Hermione Norris and Robert Bathurst return to the show, which returns to ITV later this year. by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on San Diego Comic-Con may be over for another year, but that doesn't mean we have to stop reflecting on the event and all of the teases that it brought with it! Fear The Walking Dead / Credit: AMC It's easy to get lost when sifting through everything that was announced during the long weekend, but we've got you covered for television trailers here. Take a look at our roundup below... American Gods Coming to Starz at some point in 2017, American Gods will be the first season of action from the television adaptation of Neil Gaiman's contemporary fantasy novel of the same name. Gaiman has said that these first episodes will cover around 'the first third' of the book, so strap in for at least three years - having just finished reading the novel, this looks like a faithful and exciting small screen debut. Arrow (season 5) Oliver Queen returns for a fifth season on The CW and looks forced to rebuild not only himself, but the city around him. Bringing together vigilantes and hoping to turn them into heroes, Team Arrow looks to be gaining an injection of fresh new talent this year. The show returns on October 5 in the US. Marvel's The Defenders Okay, so this might not be the most exciting reveal the weekend had to offer, but just the renewed promise of a teaming up of heroes Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist is enough to hype Marvel fans for the future. Big things await for the Marvel/Netflix collaboration... The Exorcist Look away now if you're not a fan of horror. FOX are bringing the scares to the small screen with this adaptation of the classic 1973 movie, debuting later this year and inspired by William Blatty's original novel. The Exorcist comes to FOX in the US on September 23. The Flash (season 3) The Scarlet Speedster is back, but he's returning to a world different to the one he's used to. After altering the timeline, Barry Allen is living in a version of the universe he's never seen before. His mother is alive, but those who were once close to him are now in utterly different positions. Did we mention the show's adapting hugely popular comic book arc Flashpoint? It's gonna be an exciting season and it comes to The CW on Tuesday, October 4. Fear The Walking Dead (season 2B) They may no longer be on a boat, but our group of survivors in Fear The Walking Dead are now headed to Mexico to see what they can make of the zombie apocalypse. Gotham (season 3) Giving highlights from the second season for those a little rusty with their memory, and offering a sneak peak of the new footage we should expect from the third season's premiere episode, Gotham returns with its exuberant cast of heroes and villains on FOX in the US, on Monday September 19. Marvel's Iron Fist Another Marvel trailer that doesn't really give too much away, we see Finn Jones in the titular role for the first time, and it looks like he's going to quite literally pack a punch. It'll be interesting to see if this series can live up to what Daredevil and Jessica Jones have already laid down. DC's Legends of Tomorrow (season 2) There's a new threat to the future coming to Legends of Tomorrow, with our team now banding together to confront a group of familiar faces with evil intent. The CW brings the show back to viewers on October 13. Legion One that I hadn't heard much about until SDCC, Legion follows troubled young David Haller, who realises he may be more than human. Schizophrenic and in and out of psychiatric care for years, a strange encounter with another patient leaves him wondering if the voices and visions he sees are real. This new original series from FX and Marvel comes to screens early next year. Marvel's Luke Cage Netflix brings Luke Cage to their service in his own series on September 30, and this dark but fun teaser from the show ensures we'll be watching. Left with super strength and unbreakable skin following an experiment gone wrong, Cage becomes a fugitive hoping to rebuild his life and bury his past. Threats to his home of Harlem, New York City however means he's forced out of the shadows - just who will he be going up against? We'll find out very soon... The Man in the High Castle (season 2) Surprisingly topical in the United States at the moment, The Man in the High Castle imagines exactly what the world would look like if Hitler had won the war and Nazis had taken over. Not a nice thought, but compelling viewing for sure. The Amazon Original Series is expected to return before the end of the year. The Originals (season 4) Spending one thousand years protecting their family, vampire-werewolf hybrid Klaus Mikaelson and brother Elijah will do anything to survive. With the city being shaken by the arrival of mysterious new New Orleans resident Lucien, drama, death and romance is on the horizon. The Originals returns to The CW this fall. Sherlock (series 4) 'It's not a game anymore.' That's what fans are being told ahead of all-new episodes of Sherlock. Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman and company are back after a long absence and look to be in more danger than ever before. Though filming is underway, the show is not expected to officially return to the BBC until some point in 2017. Star Trek: Discovery Netflix offered just a small glimpse of the new Star Trek series they're bringing to their platform in January 2017. Looking at U.S.S. Discovery, the newest ship in the universe on its test flight, the video shows off some beautiful special effects which we'll be seeing a lot more of in the New Year. The Walking Dead (season 7) Negan really wasn't messing around when he said Carl's group would pay for everything they'd done to the Saviors. Seeing a snippet of the past for each of the 11 characters in danger of meeting their end when the show returns for its seventh season, a glimpse into the future is also offered, including a look at new character Ezekiel, new location The Kingdom and Ezekiel's ferocious pet tiger. The show returns across the world on AMC in the US and FOX in the UK on Monday, October 24. Vikings (season 4B) Fans are invited to return to Ragnar Lothbrok's brutal world, as he explores his options and chases his ambitions of exploring the shores across the ocean, raiding what he can and bringing innovation to his civilisation. The show returns to HISTORY in September. by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on Baimble curry Bamboo shoot delicacy from Coorg Ingredients 3 tbsp oil 1/4 tsp mustard seeds 3 curry leaves 8 garlic flakes, chopped 2 dry red chillies, broken into pieces 80 g onion, sliced 1 tsp cumin powder 1 tsp coriander powder 2 tbsp rice flour 3 tbsp ground coconut paste 500 g bamboo shoot, sliced, soaked in salted water for 24 hours, drained and soaked in regular water for another 24 hours 1 cups water salt, to taste Method Heat oil in a deep pan and add the mustard seeds. When they start to splutter, add the curry leaves, garlic flakes and dry red chillies, and saute well. Next, add the sliced onions, and fry well. When the onions turn golden brown, add the powdered spices and rice flour, and fry on a medium heat, stirring continuously. Add ground coconut paste, bamboo shoot slices, water and salt. Cover and cook for a few minutes. If gravy isnt thick enough, open and cook for a few more minutes. Serve hot with rice. Guthi bendakai Stuffed okra from Andhra Pradesh Ingredients 500 g small, tender okra (bhindi) 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 1 tsp sambar powder 2 tsp oil 5 dry red chillies 2 tsp cumin seeds 2 sprigs curry leaves for tempering 1 tsp oil 1/2 tsp mustard seeds 1 tsp husked black gram (urad dal) 1 dry red chillies, halved Method Wash the okra and dry thoroughly. Slit the okra lengthwise, at the tail ends, coming three-quarters of the way up, ensuring that the segments do not separate. Heat oil in a pan over moderate heat, and add sambar powder, dry red chillies, cumin seeds and curry leaves. Fry over a low heat, tossing gently until the aromas are released. Cool, and add salt and turmeric powder. Grind into a fine powder. Stuff the okra with this spice mix, and set aside. Heat oil for tempering in a pan, and add the ingredients in the order mentioned above. When the mustard seeds splutter, add the stuffed okra and gently saute for two minutes. Lower the heat, cover the pan and cook for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally until the okra are tender. Serve hot. Senai urudai Yam fritters from Tamil Nadu Ingredients 1 cups grated yam 4-5 dry red chillies 1/2 cup roasted peanuts 1 cup grated fresh coconut 1 tsp fennel seeds (saunf) 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 1/4 cup gram flour (besan) 2 medium-sized onions, finely chopped 1 sprig curry leaves 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves 1 tsp salt, to taste oil for deep frying Method Combine the yam, red chillies, peanuts, coconut, fennel seeds and turmeric powder with half a cup of water and grind into a coarse paste. Add gram flour, onion, curry leaves, coriander leaves, and salt to taste. Heat a wok or kadhai and deep fry the fritters, by dropping spoonfuls of batter into hot oil. Lower to a medium flame, and fry the fritters, turning frequently, until golden and crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon, and place on kitchen paper to absorb excess oil. Serve as a side dish or teatime snack. The South India Hosiery Manufacturers Association (SIHMA) has urged the Central government to set up the proposed Knitwear Board in Tirupur. The South India Hosiery Manufacturers Association (SIHMA) has urged the Central government to set up the proposed Knitwear Board in Tirupur. Since around 46 per cent of the knitwear exported from India originates from Tirupur knitwear cluster, it will be appropriate to make Tirupur the headquarters for the proposed board, SIHMA joint secretary... # Since around 46 per cent of the knitwear exported from India originates from Tirupur knitwear cluster, it will be appropriate to make Tirupur the headquarters for the proposed board, SIHMA joint secretary R Damodaran said, according to The Hindu. The South India Hosiery Manufacturers Association (SIHMA) has urged the Central government to set up the proposed Knitwear Board in Tirupur. Since around 46 per cent of the knitwear exported from India originates from Tirupur knitwear cluster, it will be appropriate to make Tirupur the headquarters for the proposed board, SIHMA joint secretary... # Having the head office in Tirupur will also mean that apparel manufacturers would not have to travel to New Delhi frequently for representing the issues confronting the knitwear industry, Damodaran said. The South India Hosiery Manufacturers Association (SIHMA) has urged the Central government to set up the proposed Knitwear Board in Tirupur. Since around 46 per cent of the knitwear exported from India originates from Tirupur knitwear cluster, it will be appropriate to make Tirupur the headquarters for the proposed board, SIHMA joint secretary... # Besides appointment of a chairman to look into the day-to-day operations of the Board, the government should also appoint a bureaucrat to liaison with the Union government, feel knitwear manufacturers. The South India Hosiery Manufacturers Association (SIHMA) has urged the Central government to set up the proposed Knitwear Board in Tirupur. Since around 46 per cent of the knitwear exported from India originates from Tirupur knitwear cluster, it will be appropriate to make Tirupur the headquarters for the proposed board, SIHMA joint secretary... # This issue was also taken up in the Parliament by Tirupur MP V Sathyabama. (RKS) The South India Hosiery Manufacturers Association (SIHMA) has urged the Central government to set up the proposed Knitwear Board in Tirupur. Since around 46 per cent of the knitwear exported from India originates from Tirupur knitwear cluster, it will be appropriate to make Tirupur the headquarters for the proposed board, SIHMA joint secretary... # Fibre2Fashion News Desk India British fashion and lifestyle brand and retailer Cath Kidston has announced plans to open its first three stores in India as early as this autumn.To begin with, It will open two stores in Delhi/NCR region at Ambience Mall Gurgaon and Select City Walk Saket before moving on to Grand Galleria, High Street Phoenix in Mumai, media reports from London said. British fashion and lifestyle brand and retailer Cath Kidston has announced plans to open its first three stores in India as early as this autumn. To begin with, It will open two stores in Delhi/NCR region at Ambience Mall Gurgaon and Select City Walk Saket before moving on to Grand Galleria, High Street Phoenix in Mumai, media reports from London said.# The stores will be franchises and Cath Kidston has formed an agreement with Planet Retail Holdings Private Limited as its franchise partner.Describing India as one of the fastest growing markets in the world, Cath Kidston chief executive Kenny Wilson claimed the brand was very excited about doing business in India, which had the potential of turning out to be an important and successful venture for the company."We do a lot of homework before we enter a new market and we already know from the growing online sales that people in India like our products, Wilson said adding that the British brand has enjoyed a six-month run of positive like-for-likes sale in the UK.There are also plans to increase the number of stores in India and beyond over the next few years.The success of the strategy to globalise the brand is working and the Cath Kidston footprint keeps growing with more stores being opened in Japan and the Middle East this year," Wilson said. (SH) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Ambassador Mawi will be responsible for strengthening Fiji-Tongan bilateral relations through South-South and Triangular Cooperation in the sustainable development of as many sectors as possible towards A Resilient Pacific through Collective Self-reliance at all levels. Fijis Roving Ambassador and High Commissioner to the Pacific, Ms Litia Mawi, has presented her Letter of Commission as Fijis non-resident Special Envoy to the Kingdom of Tonga.Ms Mawi presented her Letter of Commission to Tongan Prime Minister, Hon Samuela Samuela Akilisi Pohiva in Tongas capital, Nukualofa.In clarifying her mandate as Fijis non-resident Special Envoy to Tonga, Ambassador Mawi explained her role as Fijis 18th Mission Abroad, based in Suva to cover Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) in Polynesia and Micronesia along with the CROP (Council of Regional Organizations in the Pacific) agencies and the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF).She acknowledged that Fiji and Tonga - like other Pacific neighbours - are long standing friends, sharing common values from their past and charting a common destiny for their future. In this way her primary role is to ensure a visible Fijian presence in Tonga, in the underlying spirit of Fijis declared foreign position of being a friend to all and enemy to none.Ambassador Mawi emphasised that in the conduct of such a mandate, the PIDF is currently Fijis major conduit for immediate implementation. This is in open recognition of the impending review of the Framework for Pacific Regionalism that will re-examine the role of the CROP Agencies for greater synergies and enhanced efficiencies in ensuring the ownership by all Pacific peoples of their progress towards sustainable development outcomes.Ambassador Mawi was accompanied by Senior Foreign Service Officer Matai Kaukilakeba. How Chicago's Toni Preckwinkle Sat With Bill Clinton At The DNC By Gwendolyn Purdom in News on Jul 26, 2016 3:00PM Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, photo via Toni Preckwinkle's Facebook page Everyone is buzzing about Michelle Obama's graceful eviscerating of Donald Trump during the first night of the Democratic National Convention Monday, but here in Chicago that buzz extended to another local leading ladyCook County Board President Toni Preckwinkleand her surprisingly prime seat next to former President Bill Clinton during the first lady's speech. Preckwinkle's camera-ready positioning meant she got plenty of screen time as the DNC coverage repeatedly cut to the potential future First Gentleman (if he wasn't a former president, would that be his official title?) for reactions throughout Mrs. Obama's speech, an occurrence that was not lost on Chicago politics junkies. In a column Tuesday morning, the Tribune's John Kass suggested the high-profile seating arrangement was as good as the Clintons promising Preckwinkle the Chicago mayorship in 2019. It's already been noted that Mayor Rahm Emanuel was not invited to speak at the DNC this year, even though several other liberal mayors were. Preckwinkle, for her part, dismissed the appearance as anything more than an honor. The board president told WGN Tuesday morning that she met Clinton on Election Day and he was in her ward and in her precinct. The invitation to sit with him apparently came about over the weekend when the Clinton team reached out to Preckwinkle, according to a tweet by WBEZ's Lauren Chooljian. Alright guys:Preckwinkle says the Clinton camp reached out to her over the weekend about sitting with Pres Bill Clinton during FLOTUS speech Lauren Chooljian (@laurenchooljian) July 26, 2016 "[Bill Clinton] was clearly moved by [Michelle Obama's] speech, her praise for Secretary Clinton and her willingness to take on Donald Trump and remind the Bernie Sanders delegates of the importance of unity and talking about what Hillary did when she lost in 2008," Preckwinkle told WGN. Preckwinkle also said she's looking forward to hearing her seat buddy's speech at the convention Tuesday night. "At the last convention he gave one of the best speeches Ive ever heard in my life," Preckwinkle said. Are we sensing a budding political friendship? Only time will tell. We reached out to Preckwinkle's office for comment and will update when we hear back. Minister Kubuabola updated Ambassador Ben-Schmuel, who is based in Canberra, on his recent trip to Solomon Islands for the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF) Summit and the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Leaders Summit, where he also met Israeli Special Envoy to the Pacific Islands, Mr Tibor Shalev Schlosser. He said he looked forward to strengthening the relationship between the two countries for the future. Strengthening bilateral relations between Fiji and Israel dominated talks held today between the Minister for Foreign Affairs Ratu Inoke Kubuabola and Israel's non-resident Ambassador to Fiji, HE Shmuel Ben-Schmuel.The two met in Suva where Minister Kubuabola thanked the Israeli government and their people for the cyclone rehabilitation assistance through non-governmental organisation IsraAID, that is working in Vuma Village, Ovalau.Ambassador Ben-Schmuel thanked the Fijian Government for their continued efforts to peacekeeping in the Middle East, particularly the Golan Heights, Sinai and Lebanon, given the increasing volatility of the region and the risks involved.Minister Kubuabola suggested ways of deepening co-operation and assistance with the Fijian government, including scholarships for urban planning studies. Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) has become a threat to the nation and health officials have been urged to work with Government in eradicating this health threat. This was highlighted by His Excellency the President Major General (Retd) Jioji Konousi Konrote while meeting middle managers of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services today at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital auditorium. We should all realise that NCDs are a threat to our Nation. NCDs are not a perceived threat. They are real. In fact, I see NCDs as a scourge to our Nation. They are a threat to all our people irrespective of their age or ethnicity, President Konrote said. They are a threat to our potential and capability to progress and prosper socially and economically. They are a threat to our children and the future of our Nation. NCDs are a real and present threat that we must deal with decisively. President Konrote added that a report stated that Fijis health status for the past 30 years shows an increasing trend in diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. The World Bank noted that the biggest driver of lost output/outcome is the potential loss of labour due to early deaths from NCDs. It says that the potential loss of effective labour force by 2040 in Fiji will be 16.4 percent. Heart Diseases will contribute to 60 percent of this burden; Diabetes 24 percent; Cancers 8 percent and Lung Diseases 7 percent, President Konrote said. All these statistics are alarming. We will all agree that Fijis status on NCDs is extremely unfavourable. They not only project a very poor image of our Nation, but they, importantly, reflect a trend of very bad decision-making on the part of Fijians. While NCD cases continue to increase, President Konrote says that Government is doing all it can to place significant emphasis on educating our people to be responsible and productive citizens, by changing mindsets and more importantly, making the right choices. National advisor for non-communicable diseases, Dr Isimeli Tukana commended the Head of State of championing the fight against NCDs. Riya Sen, is surely a cameras delight as her pictures are strikingly awesome and evokes a sense of beauty, freedom and poise. Her pictures are so striking, that they will make you sit down and just stare at her. The model cum actress, has been maintaining the same figure throughout her career and she's 35 now, But still looks like a woman in her early twenties. She surely has a body to die for! Check out 16 new and stunning pictures of Riya Sen here! We bet you'll fall in love with all of it. Riya Sen is a globetrotter and enjoys seeing the world with her family and friends. If you follow her on social media, you'll get to see quite a few pictures of her holidays which she takes every month with her girlfriends, and we bet her friends are very pretty as well. Ileana D'Cruz's Boyfriend Clicks Mindblowing Pictures Of Her In A Bikini & Much More! Just a few weeks ago, Riya Sen had visited the tiny island of Malta along with her girlfriends and posted several crazy pictures on her social media handle. Riya is seen letting her hair down by the beaches and partying hard with her friends. The actress also visited several landmark places, cafes and pubs and had a really good time. Red Hot Pictures! Sunny Leone Shoots For The Calendar Of Manforce Even before stepping foot in Malta, the beautiful Riya Sen was travelled extensively throughout Europe with her friends and visited countries such as the UK, Denmark and Sweden. Life is a holiday for Riya and we hope she continues living the 'good life' on her own terms always! Sizzling Pics! Who Knew Ameesha Patel Would End Up Being Such A Stunning Woman Bollywood Khiladi, Akshay Kumar is surely one of the best dads,in the B-town. It's known to all that for Akshay, family comes first and everything later! Akshay was recently seen holidaying with family so that he could spend some quality time with his family. Recently, in an interview with a senior journalist Subhash K Jha, when Akshay was asked how rewarding has this vacation been for him, here's what he told: "Rewarding like you couldn't believe! I learnt so much more about my daughter Nitara, being able to spend 24/7 with her, not just having to take her to school. I've now seen how she handles everyday encounters. She fascinates me progressively every day." See Below In The Slides, 12 Cutest Pictures Of Akshay's Daughter Nitara.. He added, "I am completely under my daughter's spell. My son Aarav too is the greatest person on earth to spend every waking moment with. I'm struggling to stay unemotional as my son is not with me right now." "He's training in London on a camp that would make most boys weep. As for feeling rejuvenated, you've got to be kidding, family holidays are when I work my hardest." Later, he also recommended everyone to give proper time to their loved ones, no mater how busy they are, and here's what he told: "I urge every working person on the planet to take time away from their jobs and spend quality time with their families. No, it doesn't ensure a stress-free domestic life, that's a myth. Holidays are stressful. But they are also the most important memories in any household." Amitabh Bachchan's beautiful granddaughter, Navya Naveli Nanda, has a huge fan following on social media platforms, specifically on Instagram. She has not made her Bollywood debut yet but is already a star! Navya Naveli Nanda recently posted a picture of herself in which she is looking smoking hot. Click on the slider to see Navya's stunning pictures. Earlier, it was said that Navya Naveli Nanda is dying to join Bollywood and to be in limelight, she keeps posting her hot pictures on the social networking sites but Amitabh Bachchan denied all the rumours and revealed that Navya has no plans to make her debut right now. Also Read: OUCH! Ranveer Singh Took A Dig At Ranbir Kapoor & It's Related To Deepika Padukone! Amitabh Bachchan told a leading news agency, "That news is incorrect. She is busy with her advanced studies just yet, having recently graduated from school." The star kid recently finished her graduation from the Seven Oaks school, London. It's the same school where Shahrukh Khan's dashing son Aryan Khan also studied. Not so long, it was reported the Aryan Khan and Navya Naveli Nanda were dating each other. Well, we don't know whether or not it's true but one thing we know for sure is that, they are very good friends! In fact, the two came to India together after partying in Bangkok with friends....(Well, who can forget Navya Naveli Nanda's hot bikini picture from that trip, that went viral on the internet!) Navya Naveli is the eldest child of Shweta Bachchan and Nikhil Nanda. They also have a son Agstya. Actress Parineeti Chopra says that her sister Priyanka Chopra is a one man army and inspires her a lot. In an interview to a leading news agency, Parineeti Chopra praised Priyanka Chopra and said, ''She has gone there (West) and represented India. She has also impressed them. I am sure they would be looking at us (Indian actors) in a different light and that is amazing. Kudos to her.'' ''She has gone there as a debutante and did a show and now a film. She is a one man army and she inspires me a lot. There is no stopping her whether she is ill or anything. It's insane,'' she said. Also Read: How Beautiful You Are! Navya Naveli Nanda Looks Smoking Hot In Her Latest Picture Parineeti Chopra further added, "Emotionally as an elder sister, (be) it work wise or personally she has always been there for me. She is an amazing sister. She is so busy and successful but still she gives all of us (family) attention. That is amazing.'' ''She does everything on her own and does it to the fullest. Whenever I want to talk to her, I just have to call her up. We both talk about each other's lives. She is big part of my life,'' the beautiful actress said. Mohanlal has had a silent year so far, with no releases to his credit. It has been 9 months since a film of Mohanlal made it to the theatres. But, the year ahead definitely holds good prospects for Mohanlal with some exciting projects in the lineup. Here, We list out the 5 reasons why we feel that the remaing part of 2016 would entirely belong to Mohanlal. Go through the slides to read more.. Puli Murugan Comes As The Most Awaited Film Of This Year! As far as box office records are concerned, Mohanlal has got the chance to break all the existing box office records with Puli Murugan, which is scheduled to release on October 7, 2016. The film is the most awaited Malayalam film of this year and Mohanlal is expected to score the biggest hit of the year with Puli Murugan. Oppam Brings Back The Popular Team And With A Difference Oppam, which is set to hit the theatres in the month of September would bring back the popular pair of Mohanlal and Priyadarshan. But, this time they have opted for a crime thriller and Mohanlal has got a role which has got a lot of scope for performance. Isn't that the signal of a big hit? Mohanlal Takes A Different Route With Vismayam/Manamantha The trailer of the film Vismayam/Manamantha has excited all the fans of the complete actor. It seems like the role in the film is something that perfectly suits Mohanlal and challenges the actor in him. We hope that the actor would go on to win the hearts of Telugu audiences too with his performance. Janatha Garage Could Be An All Time Hit! Janatha Garage would be released in both Telugu and Malayalam and the film has the potential to be a big winner throughout South India. There are high chances for the film to garner record numbers at the box-office and if that happens, Mohanlal would definitely be the most talked about South Indian star of the year. Mohanlal Back To His Humorous Best With Jibu Jacob Film Mohanlal would be seen coming back to common man roles with upcoming Jibu Jacob film. According to the reports, Mohanlal would be at his humorous best in the film and it would have vintage Mohanlal all over it. If this turns out to be true, Mohanlal would definitely have a dream run at the Kerala box office. The first half of 2016 might have left all Mohanlal fans disappointed but they have reasons to cheer for in the year ahead. As many as 5 films of Mohanlal would make it to the theatres within a gap of 5 months. This would also include two Malayalam/Telugu bilinguals. The best part is in the fact that the actor has some good mix of projects lined up for release. He would be seen in films of different genres. The first to hit the theatres would be Vismayam/Manamantha, directed by Chandrasekhar Yeleti. The film would hit the theatres on August 5, 2016. After that films like Janatha Garage, Oppam, Puli Murugan, Jibu Jacob film etc would get to the theatres in the subsequent months. The month of September might witness two releases of Mohanlal in the form of Janatha Garage and Oppam. Meanwhile, the actor is busy shooting for his next Malayalam film, directed by Jibu Jacob. The yet-to-be-titled film is expected to hit the theatres in the month of December. Recently, Yeh Hai Mohabbatein actress Divyanka Tripathi shared the first teaser of wedding track. The first teaser of Divek's wedding trailer had the actors saying - how they met in a party and danced together. Now, both Divyanka and Vivek have shared the second teaser, which features the actress saying - how she bonded with Vivek over music. The actress adds that she fell in love with Vivek due to the songs he played. The Yeh Hai Mohabbatein actors shared the second teaser on Instagram. Posting the video clip, Divyanka wrote, "#RangDey #SecondTeaser With @officialvivekdahiya #TheWeddingStory #Divek #DivekWeddingDiaries." #RangDey #SecondTeaser With @officialvivekdahiya #TheWeddingStory #Divek #DivekWeddingDiaries A video posted by Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya (@divyankatripathidahiya) on Jul 25, 2016 at 12:12am PDT The love story of Divyanka and Vivek by 'The Wedding Story' - Rang Dey will be released on 29th July. With the second teaser, it looks like both the actors have sung for the wedding track. The YHM actors , Divyanka and Vivek's engagement was a hush-hush affair. The actress shocked her fans by getting engaged to Vivek on January 15th. The event was only attended by close family members. When asked, if it was a love marriage, both actors denied and said it was an arranged marriage. The couple tied a knot on 8th July, in Bhopal. It was no less than a Bollywood affair. They had also organised for a grand reception party in Mumbai for their industry friends. The who's who of Television industry attended the event. After watching both the teaser, we are sure audiences are waiting for the complete love story of the actors. Hit the comment box to share your views. Also Read: Check Out Divyanka Tripathi & Vivek Dahiya's Wedding Trailer - Rang Dey Model Ge Huijie, rocker Wang Feng's ex-girlfriend and the mother of Wang's child, was detained for using narcotics, Beijing Morning Post reported yesterday. Model Ge Huijie, rocker Wang Feng's ex-girlfriend. [Photo / youth.cn] Ge was seeing a doctor for her cholecyst inflammation and consulting her health at the Civil Aviation General Hospital in Beijing on July 15, a medical personnel source remembered, but she was then involved in a quarrel and fight with the family member of another patient. "She might have been drunk or something," the source said. "Her emotions were very unstable." The hospital called the police. The policemen then took both quarrelling parties to the police station. Under the routine examination, Ge's uroscopy tested positive and she was suspected of using drugs. Ge later was detained by the police. However, her manager didn't confirm her detention. Ge was always in the spotlight due to her relationship with Wang Feng rather than her model career. She gave birth to a baby girl when she was 18 in 2005 but Wang broke up with her the next year, complaining that she only loved fun but wasn't going to be a good wife or mother. Their daughter is now being raised by Wang's mother. Ge now constantly verbally attacks Wang and his wife, actress Zhang Ziyi on the social network platform Weibo. Sometimes, Wang fights back and warns her. "You must not hurt my family; you must remember the bottom line. These are my first and last words to you," Wang wrote to her after Ge attacked Zhang Ziyi for showing a photo of Ge's daughter on St. Valentine's Day this year. MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA -- (Marketwired) -- 09/12/16 -- Opthea Limited (ASX: OPT) (OTCQX: CKDXY), a developer of novel biologic therapies for the treatment of eye diseases, today announced that data from its Phase 1 clinical trial of OPT-302 was presented at the European Society of Retina Specialists (EURETINA) Congress on Saturday, 10th September 2016, in Copenhagen, Denmark. OPT-302 is Opthea's lead program, a novel VEGF-C/D 'Trap' therapy for wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD). The presentation titled "A first-in-human Phase 1/2a study of the novel VEGF-C/D inhibitor OPT-302 alone and in combination with ranibizumab in patients with wet AMD" was presented by Dr. Pravin Dugel, Managing Partner of Retinal Consultants of Arizona, Clinical Professor at the University of Southern California Eye Institute, Keck School of Medicine, and member of Opthea's Clinical Advisory Board and Clinical Investigator. The presentation was part of the "Novelties and Late-Breaking Developments in Retina and Technology" session and provided an overview of the scientific rationale for targeting VEGF-C/-D for the treatment of wet AMD and the recently announced positive data from Opthea's ongoing first-in-human clinical trial of OPT-302 (ClinTrials.gov ID#: NCT02543229). The encouraging results from the study demonstrate safety and tolerability of OPT-302 administered as a monotherapy and in combination with standard of care Lucentis and suggest that combined administration of OPT-302 + Lucentis may lead to improved clinical outcomes over Lucentis alone. The EURETINA Congress, held September 8-11th 2016, was attended by over 4500 professionals from the investor, pharmaceutical and clinical ophthalmology community and is the largest gathering of specialist retinal ophthalmologists and associated healthcare professionals in Europe. A copy of Dr. Dugel's presentation is available in the "presentations" section of Opthea's website, www.opthea.com. About Opthea Limited Opthea (ASX: OPT) is a biologics drug developer focusing on ophthalmic disease therapies. It controls exclusive worldwide rights to a significant intellectual property portfolio around Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF)-C, VEGF-D and VEGFR-3. The applications for the VEGF technology, which functions in regulating blood and lymphatic vessel growth, are substantial and broad. Opthea's product development programs are focused on developing OPT-302 (formerly VGX-300, soluble VEGFR-3) for 'back of the eye' disease such as wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD). About Wet AMD Wet (neovascular) age-related macular degeneration, or wet AMD, is a disease characterised by the loss of vision of the middle of the visual field caused by degeneration of the central portion of the retina (the macula). Abnormal growth of blood vessels below the retina, and the leakage of fluid and protein from the vessels, causes retinal degeneration and leads to severe and rapid loss of vision. Wet AMD is the leading cause of blindness in the developed world in individuals aged 50 years or older. The prevalence of AMD is increasing annually as the population ages. Without treatment, wet AMD patients often experience a chronic, rapid decline in visual acuity and increase in retinal fluid. Sales of the drug Lucentis (Roche/Novartis), which targets VEGF-A but not VEGF-C or VEGF-D, were over $US4.5BN in 2015. Sales of EYLEA (Regeneron/Bayer), which also targets VEGF-A but not VEGF-C/-D first marketed in November 2011 for the treatment of wet AMD, were over $US2.6BN in 2015. Approximately half of the people receiving Lucentis/EYLEA are classified as non-responders or 'poor' responders and do not experience a significant gain in vision and/or have persistent retinal vascular leakage. There is great opportunity to improve patient responses by targeting more than one factor involved in disease progression. Existing therapies, such as Lucentis and EYLEA, target VEGF-A that promotes blood vessel growth and leakage through its receptor VEGFR-2. VEGF-C can also induce angiogenesis and vessel leakage through the same receptor as well as through an independent pathway. Combined inhibition of VEGF-A and VEGF-C/-D, has the potential to improve patient response by more effective inhibition of the pathways involved in disease progression. About OPT-302 OPT-302 is a soluble form of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3 (VEGFR-3) or 'Trap' molecule that blocks the activity of two proteins (VEGF-C and VEGF-D) that cause blood vessels to grow and leak. OPT-302 is currently being investigated in a Phase 1/2A clinical trial in wet AMD patients as a monotherapy and in combination with ranibizumab (Lucentis). The trial is actively recruiting patients under an FDA approved IND at several US clinical sites. The purpose of the trial is to evaluate the safety, pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics of OPT-302 administered as monthly intravitreal injections for 3 months with and without Lucentis in patients with wet age related macular degeneration (AMD). The study is being conducted in two parts: Part 1 (Phase 1) comprises an open label, sequential dose escalation that recruited 20 patients and Part 2 (Phase 2A) a randomized dose expansion that will recruit an additional ~30 patients and is aimed at further characterising the safety, pharmacokinetic profile and relationship between dose/PK and clinical activity of OPT-302 (+/- ranibizumab). Further details on the Phase 1/2A trial can be found at: www.clinicaltrials.gov, Clinical trial identifier: NCT02543229. Inherent risks of Investment in Biotechnology Companies There are a number of inherent risks associated with the development of pharmaceutical products to a marketable stage. The lengthy clinical trial process is designed to assess the safety and efficacy of a drug prior to commercialisation and a significant proportion of drugs fail one or both of these criteria. Other risks include uncertainty of patent protection and proprietary rights, whether patent applications and issued patents will offer adequate protection to enable product development, the obtaining of necessary drug regulatory authority approvals and difficulties caused by the rapid advancements in technology. Companies such as Opthea are dependent on the success of their research and development projects and on the ability to attract funding to support these activities. Investment in research and development projects cannot be assessed on the same fundamentals as trading and manufacturing enterprises. Thus investment in companies specialising in drug development must be regarded as highly speculative. Opthea strongly recommends that professional investment advice be sought prior to such investments. Forward-looking statements Certain statements in this ASX announcement may contain forward-looking statements regarding Company business and the therapeutic and commercial potential of its technologies and products in development. Any statement describing Company goals, expectations, intentions or beliefs is a forward-looking statement and should be considered an at-risk statement. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, particularly those risks or uncertainties inherent in the process of developing technology and in the process of discovering, developing and commercialising drugs that can be proven to be safe and effective for use as human therapeutics, and in the endeavour of building a business around such products and services. Opthea undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Actual results could differ materially from those discussed in this ASX announcement. Company & Media Enquiries: Megan Baldwin, PhD CEO & Managing Director Opthea Limited Tel: +61 (0) 447 788 674 Email Contact Australia: Rudi Michelson Monsoon Communications Tel: +61 (0) 3 9620 3333 U.S.A. & International: Candice Knoll Blueprint Life Science Group Tel: +1 415 375 3340, Ext 4 Join our email database to receive program updates: Tel: +61 (0) 3 9826 0399 Email Contact www.opthea.com Philadelphia (ots/PRNewswire) -Hindawi und Editage gaben heute eine neue Partnerschaft bekannt, die Autoren, welche bei Hindawi Veroffentlichungen einreichen wollen, redaktionelle Bearbeitung in englischer Sprache (http://hindawi.editage.com/) bietet. Durch diese Partnerschaft wird Editage in den Einreichungsprozess bei Hindawi integriert; Hindawi-Autoren erhalten einen Rabatt von 10 %.Craig Raybould, leitender Prozesstechniker bei Hindawi, sagte: "Dieser Manuskriptvorbereitungsservice vor der Einreichung wird Autoren helfen, besonders solchen, die eine andere Muttersprache als Englisch haben. Der Service von Editage kann Autoren beim Erstellen gut geschriebener Manuskripte helfen, die bereit fur die Einreichung bei der Zeitschrift sind, indem er sie mit einer Reihe qualifizierter und erfahrener Publikationsexperten verbindet, die themenrelevante Bearbeitung, Ubersetzung und Formatierungshilfe bieten. Wir freuen uns auch, dass diese Partnerschaft finanzielle Vorteile in Form eines Rabatts von 10 % fur unsere Autoren bietet, die diese Dienstleistung nutzen wollen."Nikesh Gosalia, Geschaftsfuhrer, Verlags- und akademische Beziehungen bei Editage, sagte: "Editage ist stolz auf seine Partnerschaft mit der Hindawi Publishing Corporation. Bei Editage achten wir genau auf das Thema eines Manuskripts, und es ist unser Ziel, den Autor mit einer Reihe von Dienstleistungen zu unterstutzen, die das Potenzial seines Veroffentlichungserfolgs optimieren sollen. Wir freuen uns darauf, Hindawi-Autoren beim Erreichen ihrer Veroffentlichungsziele zur Seite zu stehen."Fur weitere Informationen besuchen Sie bitte http://hindawi.editage.com/Informationen zu HindawiHindawi (http://www.hindawi.com) gibt offen zugangliche Journale mit Peer-Uberprufung heraus, die die verschiedensten akademischen Disziplinen abdecken. Hindawi wurde 1997 gegrundet undbeschaftigt in seinen Niederlassungen in Kairo und London uber 700 Personen und veroffentlicht uber 20.000 offentlich zugangliche Artikel pro Jahr.Informationen zu EditageEditage, die Flaggschiff-Marke von Cactus Communications (CACTUS), wird global im Verlagswesen und in der akademischen Welt geschatzt. Editage will Wissenschaftlern helfen, die Grenzen von Geografie und Sprache zu durchbrechen, eine Brucke zwischen Autoren und Journalen mit Peer-Uberprufung schlagen und den Veroffentlichungsprozess fur hochwertige Forschung beschleunigen. Neben der Arbeit mit einzelnen Forschern kooperiert Editage mit Verlegern, Journalen, akademischen Gesellschaften und pharmazeutischen Unternehmen weltweit, um sie beim Erstellen ansprechender hochwertiger wissenschaftlicher Veroffentlichungen zu unterstutzen. Uber seine umfassende Website mit Ressourcen fur Autoren, Editage Insights (http://www.editage.com/insights/), will Editage auerdem Autoren schulen und fordern.Bitte besuchen Sie editage.com (https://www.editage.com/).OTS: Cactus Communications Pvt Ltd newsroom: http://www.presseportal.de/nr/117506 newsroom via RSS: http://www.presseportal.de/rss/pm_117506.rss2Pressekontakt: Hridey Manghwani Leiter Offentlichkeitsarbeit Editage/Cactus Communications +1-877-334-8243 PR@cactusglobal.comRichard Bennett Kommerzieller Leiter Richard.bennett@hindawi.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 10/07/16 -- Saturn Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: SMI)(FRANKFURT: SMK) ("Saturn" or the "Company") is pleased to announce a private placement of up to 10,000,000 units (the "Units") at a price of $0.10 per Unit for gross proceeds of up to $1,000,000. Each Unit consists of one common share (the "Shares") and one-half of a share purchase warrant (the "Warrants"). Each whole Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one additional common share, exercisable at a price of $0.15 per share for a period of 18 months from the date of issue of the Warrant. The Warrants are subject to an accelerated expiry if, at any time after an initial 4 month hold period expires, the closing price of Saturn's common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") exceeds $0.20 for any 20 consecutive trading days, in which event the holder will be given notice that the Warrants will expire 30 days following the date of such notice. The Warrants may be exercised by the holder during the 30-day period between the notice and the expiration of the Warrants. All securities issued will be subject to a four-month hold period. The offering is subject to the approval of the TSXV. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Proceeds from the Private Placement will be used for general working capital. About Saturn Minerals Inc. Saturn Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: SMI)(FRANKFURT: SMK) is a junior Canadian energy company advancing a portfolio of oil and coal properties in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Company exclusive oil & gas rights in Saskatchewan and is advancing a number of oil exploration projects. Saturn has also made three shallow bituminous coal discoveries since 2009 with coal seams ranging in continuous vertical thickness from 9 to 89 meters. Saturn has a strategic ownership in Inowending Exploration & Development Corp., a First Nations owned exploration and development company co-founded by Saturn with a consortium of Saskatchewan First Nations active in Canada's prairie provinces. Saturn's mission is to be a leading industry player in the discovery and commercial production of oil & gas resources in the Northern Williston Basin. On Behalf of the Board of Directors SATURN MINERALS INC. s/ "Stan Szary" Chief Executive Officer 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: Saturn Minerals Inc. +1 (604) 685-6989 www.saturnminerals.com MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA--(Marketwired - July 25, 2016) - Gallagher continues to provide the best in high security protection, with the release of the Gallagher Class 5 End of Line Module (ELM). High value and sensitive assets are normally protected by intruder alarm systems, using 3-4 state analogue monitoring to detect sensor tampering. Without a Class 5 ELM, sites are susceptible to sophisticated attacks, rendering high value assets unprotected. Gallagher Chief Technology Officer, Steve Bell, says the Class 5 ELM uses the latest digital encryption security standards to protect against all known vulnerabilities, ensuring alarms are always reported should sensors come under attack. "Most security systems have a weak link with non-authenticated sensor inputs communicating unencrypted with controllers," says Steve. "The Gallagher Class 5 ELM secures this weakness by extending full end-to-end authentication and encryption from highly secure Gallagher devices to any PIR or sensor in a system." Steve highlights the ability of the Gallagher Class 5 ELM to protect against all known vulnerabilities and sophisticated attacks. "This includes sensor tampering, disablement or insider attack," he says. In Australia and New Zealand, the addition of the Class 5 ELM to the Gallagher hardware suite means Gallagher security systems can now be configured to comply with the highest security level of the AS/NZS 2201 Intruder Alarms Standard*. "As a component of an AS/NZS 2201 intruder alarm system, the Class 5 ELM strengthens security solutions protecting high value and sensitive assets," says Steve. The Gallagher Class 5 ELM provides physical input connections with the sensor, including alarm contact, tamper contact and anti-masking contact (available for sensor devices that have an anti-mask output that can be directly wired into the ELM). It features all the benefits of standard Gallagher device functionality, including field upgradeable code to improve device longevity; plug and play authentication for quick and secure installation; and multiple device support on the same wiring run. Simple to install, the Gallagher Class 5 ELM is a small potted PCB device designed to easily fit inside a tamper-proofed junction box or the housing of a high-grade alarm sensor device, such as a PIR or contact sensor. Its small size and leveraging of Gallagher system flexibility to allow re-use of existing site wiring means it eliminates the need to run additional wiring on install. Gallagher is recognized as an award-winning industry leader in the design and development of effective, security systems. With a strong focus on innovation, Gallagher aims to redefine what's possible for its customers and the security industry as a whole. Visit security.gallagher.com for more information on the Gallagher Class 5 ELM, or contact us to discuss the best security solution for your needs. * Along with the Gallagher Class 5 ELM, other specific Gallagher hardware usage and product configuration is required to comply with the AS/NZS 2201 Class 5 Standard. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/7/25/11G107991/Images/Type_1A_End_of_Line_Module_-_ELM_ORANGE_SMUDGED-8709716b15acbb9086ade430b7f27cb1.jpg Gallagher contact details Steve Bell Chief Technology Officer - Security Steve.Bell@Gallagher.com security.gallagher.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Allergan plc (AGN) announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use or CHMP has adopted a Positive Opinion for TRUBERZI (eluxadoline) in the European Union.4 TRUBERZI is an oral medication that relieves the main symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhoea (IBS-D) in adults. In two pivotal trials, TRUBERZI significantly reduced two of the most bothersome symptoms of IBS-D, abdominal pain and diarrhoea, with sustained relief demonstrated over six months. TRUBERZI was generally well tolerated with the most common side effects being nausea, constipation, and abdominal pain. The CHMP is the scientific committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and recommends medicines for Marketing Authorisation across the 28 member states of the European Union. The final decision from the European Commission is expected within a few months. If approved, Allergan anticipate launching this new product in Europe during 2017, following successful negotiations with the relevant national payer and reimbursement groups. 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. KUWAIT CITY and ZURICH, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Loylogic, the global leader in e-commerce and e-payment solutions for loyalty programs, and Ooredoo, the leader in providing telecommunications in Kuwait, have entered into a strategic partnership to redesign Ooredoo's award winning loyalty program, Nojoom. In a first phase, Loylogic together with its partner Related Inc., will review and redesign parts of the fast-growing Nojoom program to increase effectiveness for Ooredoo and attractiveness for the over 500,000 program members. In a second phase, Loylogic will take over the ongoing management of the Nojoom program. Awny Elafghany, Regional Head, Middle East, expresses his excitement about the new partnership: "We are very thrilled about our partnership with Ooredoo to redesign Nojoom loyalty program. Rewarding Nojoom members in a unique way and via a brand new loyalty program is a top priority for Ooredoo, and with our innovative e-commerce and e-payment solutions, Loylogic is well positioned to help Ooredoo do so. With the launch of the improved loyalty program, Nojoom members will start enjoying a new and unique experience, where we will bring together the world's leading brands in a reward solution that is completely customized for Ooredoo's customers." "The partnership with Ooredoo is also in line with our strategic focus to strengthen our presence in the Middle East. We know the region very well and we have the right technology, knowledge and resources to help leading loyalty programs achieve their goals," added Elafghany. Stay tuned for additional information by subscribing to our newsletter: http://www.loylogic.com About Loylogic Loylogic is the world's leading innovator and creator of points experiences, insights, commerce and engagement. By tantalizing members with more choices and arming programs with insights on behavior - anticipating both present and future needs - we deliver powerful solutions that amplify engagement and build loyalty. Founded in 2005 with offices around the world and a global content network of more than 500 merchants and 2,000 online stores offering millions products and services, Loylogic, the new paradigm of points-based e-commerce and e-payment solutions, is the partner that the world's leading loyalty programs trust with making their points and miles loved more. For more information please visitloylogic.com. Regulatory News: SAFE ORTHOPAEDICS (Paris:SAFOR) (FR0012452746 SAFOR), a company offering innovative ranges of sterile implants combined with their single-use instruments for back surgery, announces the issuance, on July 25, 2016, of notes (the "OCA Id-2 ") with warrants attached (the "BSA Id-2 " and the "OCABSA Id-2 ") subscribed by funds managed by IdInvest Partners. IdInvest Partners executed in April 2016 a commitment to subscribe to convertible notes with warrants attached and IdInvest Partners complied with this subscription commitment following the June 30, 2016 shareholders meeting. This 500,000 euros issuance shall then be considered as an additional investment of IdInvest Partners. This issuance corresponds to 349,648 OCABSA Id-2 representing a total debt debenture of 499,996.64 euros and reinforces the cash position of Safe Orthopaedics. Main characteristics of the "OCABSA Id-2 Main terms of the issuance The OCABSA Id-2 have been issued pursuant to the 9th resolution of the June 30, 2016 shareholders' meeting and reserved to funds managed by IdInvest Partners. Main characteristics of the OCA Id-2 The OCA Id-2 have a nominal value of 1.43 euro each (the "Nominale Value"), which represents a total debenture value of 499,996.64 euros. The OCA Id-2 will not be subject to a request for admission to trading on the Euronext Paris market and will therefore not be listed, will have a maturity of eight years as from their issuance date, and will not bear interest. The OCA Id-2 may be converted into new shares at any time at their holder's discretion. Each OCA Id-2 will give right to one new Safe Orthopaedics' share with a par value of 0.10 euros, issued for 1.43 euro (subject to certain potential adjustments). Main characteristics of the BSA Id-2 One BSA Id-2 will be attached to each OCA Id-2 and will immediately be detached from the OCA Id-2 The BSA Id-2 will not be subject to a request for admission to trading on the Euronext Paris market and will therefore not be listed. They will be exercisable from their issuance date until July 31, 2021 (the "Exercise Period"). The non-exercised BSA Id-2 on July 31, 2021 will be considered as null and void. Each BSA Id-2 will give right to its holder, during the Exercise Period, to subscribe to one new Safe Orthopaedics' share (subject to certain potential adjustments). The exercise price of the BSA Id-2 will be equal to 115% of the nominal value of the OCA Id-2 New shares resulting from the conversion of OCA Id-2 or the exercise of BSA Id-2 New shares issued upon conversion of OCA Id-2 or exercise of BSA Id-2 will carry immediate and current dividend rights. They will carry the same rights as those attached to the existing ordinary shares of the Company and will be admitted to trading on Euronext Paris market under the same listing line (ISIN FR0012452746). About Safe Orthopaedics Founded in 2010, Safe Orthopaedics is a French medical technology company that develops and markets an innovative range of sterile implants and associated single-use surgical instruments, with the aim of facilitating safer, optimized and lower-cost spinal surgery. By avoiding the reuse of surgical instruments, Safe Orthopaedics reduces the risk of infection, avoids the cumbersome and unreliable logistics of instrument sterilization, and limits hospital costs. Protected by 17 patent families, the SteriSpine Kits are CE-marked and FDA cleared. The company is based at Eragny-sur-Oise (France), and has 37 employees. For more information, visit: www.SafeOrtho.com Disclaimer This press release contains information related to the markets where Safe Orthopaedics operates and forward-looking statements. Even though Safe Orthopaedics believes that this information and forward looking statements are based on current plans and forecasts of Safe Orthopaedics, such forward-looking statements are, by their nature, subject to a number of important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the plans, objectives and expectations expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. A full description of the risks and uncertainties that could affect its results, financials, performance or achievements and thus lead to a change from the forward-looking statements, securities can be found in the Safe Orthopaedics's annual report and half-year report available at its website. In France, the offer of Safe Orthopaedics shares described above does not constitute a public offering in France, as defined in Article L. 411-1 of the French Monetary and Financial Code. With respect to Member States of the European Economic Area that have transposed European Directive 2003/71/EC of the European Parliament and European Council (as amended in particular by Directive 2010/73/EU to the extent that the said Directive has been transposed into each Member State of the European Economic Area), no action has been taken or will be taken to permit a public offering of the securities referred to in this press release requiring the publication of a prospectus in any Member State. This press release and the information it contains does not, and will not, constitute a public offering to subscribe for or sell, nor the solicitation of an offer to subscribe for or buy, shares of Safe Orthopaedics in the United States or any other jurisdiction where restrictions may apply. Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Safe Orthopaedics does not intend to register securities or conduct a public offering in the United States. This distribution of this press release may be subject to legal or regulatory restrictions in certain jurisdictions. Any person who comes into possession of this press release must inform him or herself of and comply with any such restrictions. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160725006372/en/ Contacts: Safe Orthopaedics Thierry Lambert, +33 (0)1 34 21 50 00 CFO investors@safeorthopaedics.com or NewCap Julien Perez Valentine Brouchot Investor Relations or Nicolas Merigeau Media Relations Tel. : +33 (0)1 44 71 94 94 SafeOrtho@newcap.eu CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- Mkango Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: MKA)(AIM: MKA) (the "Corporation" or "Mkango"), is pleased to announce that it has secured a two-year exclusive option and right to acquire, on commercially standard terms, the worldwide licence for a technology to produce high strength (up to 30%) hydrochloric acid ("HCL") from calcium chloride feed streams (the "Technology") using sulphuric acid, applicable in rare earths processing and other potential industrial applications. The Technology has been developed by Dr. Thomas Feldmann and Professor George Demopoulos of McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Mkango's processing flowsheet for the Songwe Hill rare earths project ("Songwe") incorporates a HCL gangue leach step, producing calcium chloride in solution. The HCL will be regenerated using the calcium chloride feed stream, supplemented with additional calcium chloride, together with sulphuric acid produced from sulphur at a plant on-site. This means that the import of large quantities of liquid HCL will not be required, effectively being replaced by the import of solid sulphur and calcium chloride, therefore bringing significant potential cost and logistical benefits. The production of a gypsum by-product for sale in Malawi and elsewhere will also be investigated. William Dawes, Chief Executive of Mkango, stated: "We are very pleased to be working with McGill, a leading University in the field of hydrochloric acid regeneration and rare earths processing. This technology is not only applicable for Songwe but potentially for other primary carbonatite hosted rare earths projects. We are also interested in evaluating the technology's use in other industrial applications where high strength hydrochloric acid is required." "The option agreement is consistent with Mkango's strategy to further optimise the Songwe project, thereby providing a strong platform to secure a financial or strategic partner to accelerate exploration and development of the project." "Mkango strives to be at the forefront of technology development in the rare earths sector and is collaborating in a number of other leading edge research programmes including HiTech AlkCarb and SoS RARE." About Mkango Resources Ltd. Mkango's primary business is the exploration for rare earth elements and associated minerals in the Republic of Malawi, a country whose hospitable people have earned it a reputation as "the warm heart of Africa." Mkango holds, through its wholly owned subsidiary Lancaster Exploration Limited, a 100% interest in two exclusive prospecting licenses in southern Malawi, the Thambani licence and the Phalombe licence. The main exploration target in the Phalombe licence is the Songwe Hill rare earths deposit, which features carbonatite hosted rare earth mineralisation and was subject to previous exploration in the late 1980s. Mkango completed an updated Pre-feasibility study for the project in November 2015. Mkango's strategy for Songwe is to further optimise the project with a view to maximising efficiency and reducing costs, thereby providing a strong platform both for entering into partnerships, marketing and offtake arrangements. The main exploration targets in the Thambani licence are uranium, niobium and tantalum. In January 2015, Mkango announced the first set of assay results of 142 soil and rock chip samples from 9 trenches, which returned variably anomalous uranium, niobium and tantalum values in most trenches, ranging up to 4.70 % U3O8, 3.25 % Nb2O5 in soil and up to 0.42 % U3O8, 0.78 % Nb2O5 and 972 ppm Ta2O5 in rock chips. In July 2016, the Corporation announced the results of an airborne geophysical survey covering approximately two thirds of the licence area, highlighting a number of significant radiometric and magnetic anomalies. The company's corporate strategy is to develop new sustainable sources of rare earth elements and other minerals geared to growth in the low carbon "green" economy, technology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are based will occur. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not occur, which may cause actual performance and results in future periods to differ materially from any estimates or projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, without limiting the foregoing, delays in obtaining financing or governmental or stock exchange approvals. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, the Corporation disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities law. Additionally, the Corporation undertakes no obligation to comment on the expectations of, or statements made by, third parties in respect of the matters discussed above. The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents 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. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any equity or other securities of the Corporation in the United States. The securities of the Corporation will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") and may not be offered or sold within the United States to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons except in certain transactions exempt from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act. Contacts: Mkango Resources Limited William Dawes Chief Executive Officer UK: +44 207 3722 744 Canada: +1 403 444 5979 will@mkango.ca Mkango Resources Limited Alexander Lemon President alex@mkango.ca SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP Nominated Adviser and Broker Jeff Keating UK: +44 20 3470 0470 OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar weakened against most major currencies in the pre-European session on Tuesday. The U.S. dollar fell to 4-day lows of 1.1020 against the euro and 0.9845 against the Swiss franc, from early highs of 1.0983 and 0.9864, respectively. The greenback dropped to nearly a 2-week low of 104.23 against the yen,from an early high of 105.89 Against the Canadian dollar, the greenback edged down to 1.3179 from an early high of 1.3231. If the greenback extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 1.14 against the euro, 0.96 against the Swiss franc, 100.00 against the yen and 1.28 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. China's Sansha city has decided to allocate 5 million yuan (about 748,000 U.S. dollars) annually for maritime environmental conservation in the next three years. A view of the newly named Sansha Yongle Blue Hole in Xisha Islands in Sansha City, South China's Hainan Province, July 24, 2016. (Photo: China News Service/Luo Yunfei) A first round of special environmental funding worth one million yuan was earmarked Saturday for exploration of the newly confirmed world's deepest underwater sinkhole, or blue hole, in the Xisha Islands. The blue hole in Yongle, a major coral reef, is 300.89 meters deep. It is known as Longdong, or "Dragon Hole." The funds will be used to support scientific research and development of new methods and equipment in environmental protection, said Shi Guoning, a senior official of the land resources and environmental protection bureau of Sansha City. Over the past four years, Sansha city has invested more than 30 million yuan in treatment and restoration of reefs and islets, according to the bureau. The city has organized breeding and release of fish and sea turtles into the sea six times and cracked down on illegal capture of seabirds, according to Xu Zhifei, vice mayor of Sansha. Sansha City was officially established in 2012 to administer the Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha island groups and their surrounding waters in the South China Sea. This year, EnergyNet welcomed 9 students from Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Cameroon and Mozambique to the Africa Energy Forum and on to the Student Engagement Initiative. EnergyNet to date has supported 68 students, of which 38 of these students have been placed in full time employment. We look to extend the number of students we will support this year from Zambia, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Swaziland and Lesotho. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726005153/en/ EnergyNet are committed to supporting students of Engineering, Law and Finance to further their ambitions of working in Africa's burgeoning energy sector. EnergyNet work closely with their partners, Aggreko and Norton Rose Fulbright as well as their Associate Sponsors from Ministries across Africa to place students in internship opportunities and eventual full time employment dependent on performance. Each year, selected students are flown from their home country to attend the Africa Energy Forum, to participate in workshops and engage with industry leaders and Ministers at the forum. Each year, EnergyNet awards a student from the previous year with the 'Student of the Year Award'. To win the award, a student needs to have demonstrated an ability to challenge the sector through written reports, supporting fellow students and connecting and engaging with our sponsors and speakers and building long lasting relationships. EnergyNet are delighted to have awarded this to Kevin Gaitho. Kevin was our ESEI student in 2015 and attended the 17th Annual Africa Energy Forum in Dubai. Kevin has a real passion and desire to support the change in Kenya's energy sector in Kenya and delivering access to electricity for all. Kevin recently set up his own business, Equatorial Energies Limited, installing solar panels in hotels and rural parts of the country. This year, the students got to speak to Ministers of Energy who attended the Africa Energy Forum. The Ministers thoroughly enjoyed networking and speaking to the students and they outlined key tips to making it to the top and what is required to be a 'leader for tomorrow'. Veronica Bolton-Smith, Regional Director, EnergyNet commented on the importance of the programme 'ESEI for us is more than just an initiative, we hope to shape the next generation of leaders in Africa, we recognise that Africa has a rapidly growing adolescent population and securing job creation will be fundamental for them in years to come' View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726005153/en/ Contacts: EnergyNet Student Engagement Initiative Veronica Bolton-Smith veronica@energynet.co.uk LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Speciality chemical company Croda International Plc (CRDA.L) reported Tuesday that its first-half IFRS profit before tax increased 7 percent to 145.1 million pounds from last year's 135.6 million pounds. Adjusted profit before tax was 148.5 million pounds, compared to 135.7 million pounds a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share were 79.0 pence, compared to 71.8 pence last year. Sales for the period grew 7.8 percent to 608.7 million pounds from 564.6 million pounds a year earlier. At constant rates sales grew 2.1 percent. Further, interim dividend increased by 5.6%, following payment of 100p special dividend in June 2016. Regarding the EU referendum, the company noted that with over 95% of sales and 80% of production outside of the UK, Croda is a truly international group. The terms of a future exit from the EU by the UK are unclear. The company said it will continue to monitor this area. Steve Foots, Croda's Chief Executive, said, 'Despite subdued demand in the first half of 2016, we have delivered a strong bottom line performance, improving our operating margin through a richer product mix, whilst also increasing profit and the dividend. . Although we remain cautious given the continued economic uncertainty, we expect to deliver further top and bottom line progress in the second half of 2016. The Group is on track to deliver our expectations for the full year, in constant currency terms, while Sterling weakness will benefit our reported results.' 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. HENRICO COUNTY (dpa-AFX) - Cigarette giant Altria Group Inc. (MO) is slated to release its second-quarter numbers before the bell on Wednesday, July 26. The company's second-quarter volumes are likely to reflect the increasing cigarette prices as consumers shift away from tobacco products, and the increasing worldwide anti-tobacco campaigns. FY16 Guidance Altria reaffirmed its guidance for 2016 full-year adjusted earnings of $3.00 - $3.05 per share, representing a growth rate of 7% - 9% from an adjusted earnings per share base of $2.80 in 2015. This range excludes the 2016 special items. Altria continues to expect that its 2016 full-year effective tax rate on operations will be about 35.3%. Industry View - 'Operating profit is set to grow 4%-5% for both the US and European industries during 2016, but cigarette sales volumes are also set to fall by about 4% in the US and Western Europe,' said Nancy Meadows, a Moody's Vice President - Senior Analyst. 'Moreover, the expected fall in sales volume could accelerate in the US if e-cigarette sales see stronger-than-expected growth, whereas in Europe, the pricing environment remains supportive, reflecting stable macro-economic conditions.' The company's last quarter results illustrated the strength of the company's core tobacco businesses and its focus on execution. 'And Altria paid shareholders over $1.1 billion in dividends during the quarter.' Both the smokeable and smokeless product segments saw robust, adjusted operating companies income growth and expanded margins. The company's first-quarternet income of $1.22 billion or $0.62 per share compared to $1.02 billion or $0.52 per share in the prior year period. The company attributed the increase in first-quarter earnings largely to the 2015 loss on early extinguishment of debt and higher reported OCI in the smokeable and smokeless products segments, which included the restructuring charges associated with the productivity initiative. These factors were partially offset by lower earnings from Altria's equity investment in SABMiller. On an adjusted basis earnings grew 14.3% to $0.72 per share from $0.63 per share in the same period of last year. Net revenues increased 4.5% to $6.07 billion from the previous year's revenue of $5.80 billionr, reflecting higher net revenues in all reportable segments. Altria's revenues net of excise taxes increased 6.0% to $4.5 billion. Marty Barrington, Altria's Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, said, 'The smokeable products segment continued its outstanding performance with contributions across the brand portfolio. In smokeless products, USSTC continues to execute its strategies, including the successful national expansion of its innovative Copenhagen Mint.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Regulatory News: Vivendi (Paris:VIV) wishes to clarify that its CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine, in a letter dated the 21st June, informed Mediaset Management of significant differences in the analysis of its subsidiary's-Mediaset Premium- results, for which the two companies are currently in negotiations (cf Vivendi Press Release 8th April). In addition the Group yesterday made a proposal to Mediaset to come to a new agreement, under different terms, so as to pursue discussions. Vivendi confirms its desire to build a major strategic alliance with Mediaset and Mediaset Premium. About Vivendi Vivendi is an integrated media and content group. The company operates businesses throughout the media value chain, from talent discovery to the creation, production and distribution of content. The main subsidiaries of Vivendi comprise Canal+ Group and Universal Music Group. Canal+ is the leading pay-TV operator in France, and also serves markets in Africa, Poland and Vietnam. Canal+ operations include Studiocanal, a leading European player in production, sales and distribution of film and TV series. Universal Music Group is the world leader in recorded music, music publishing and merchandising, with more than 50 labels covering all genres. A separate division, Vivendi Village, brings together Vivendi Ticketing (ticketing in the UK, the U.S and France), MyBestPro (experts counseling), Watchever (subscription video-on-demand), Radionomy (digital radio), the Paris-based concert venue L'Olympia, the CanalOlympia venues in Africa and the Theatre de l'Oeuvre in Paris. With 3.5 billion videos viewed each month, Dailymotion is one of the biggest video content aggregation and distribution platforms in the world. Gameloft is a worldwide leading video games on mobile, with 2 million games downloaded per day. www.vivendi.comwww.cultureswithvivendi.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726005619/en/ Contacts: Vivendi Companies Enriching Publisher Mobile Inventory with Behavioral Insights PubMatic, the marketing automation software company for publishers, today announced it has signed a partnership with Statiq, a leading location intelligence platform, to incorporate Statiq's mobile audience data insights derived from 85 million mobile device audience profiles into existing publisher data sets. This enriched mobile inventory will be made available to media buyers through PubMatic's Media Buyer Console. The partnership, the first for Statiq's Publisher Data Cloud initiative, will increase the value of a PubMatic publishers' mobile inventory by providing buyers with the ability to more accurately target a particular audience segment. Currently available in the UK and France, the partnership will expand to additional EU countries by the end of the year. According to eMarketer, nearly 2.5 billion people currently access the internet from their mobile phones. A mobile moment is that instance in which a person pulls out a mobile device to get what he or she wants, immediately and in context. To a publisher or advertiser, this is a joint effort where a publisher helps define an environment for an advertiser with a specific objective. The current challenge facing the industry is that a consumer's state of mind and intent during this ephemeral moment is far less predictable on mobile. This agreement will help publishers and advertisers understand these moments in time and collaborate to target them more deliberately. "Statiq has pioneered the use of location to understand consumer behavior and the ability to utilise this audience data to enrich their mobile inventory is becoming increasingly important to publishers," said Tim Finn, CEO, at Statiq. Tim Finn continued: "Up until now, the advertising dollars spent on mobile haven't matched the audience migration. Providing this enhanced visibility and targeting capability will go some way to reassure advertisers that their messages are reaching the right audiences. As one of the leading marketing automation software providers for publishers, it made perfect sense to choose PubMatic as our first supply-side data integration partner." Bill Swanson, Vice President, EMEA at PubMatic added: "PubMatic's mission is to help publishers realise the full potential of their digital assets and partnering with Statiq in this way, allows us to enrich the mobile inventory on our platform, increasing its value to our buy-side partners. Because of this, we expect to see a significant uplift in bidding activity and increased fill on this enriched inventory. We are delighted to partner with Statiq, and we look forward to expanding our relationship with them as they build out their territory coverage over the coming months." About PubMatic PubMatic is the leading marketing automation software company for publishers. Through real-time analytics, yield management, and workflow automation, PubMatic enables publishers to make smarter inventory decisions and improve revenue performance. Focused on serving the needs of premium publishers, PubMatic inspires buyer confidence by providing flexibility in audience discovery and planning media campaigns through its Media Buyer Console and APIs. The company's marketing automation software platform provides a global roster of comScore publishers with a single view into their advertiser relationships across every screen, every channel and every format. PubMatic was ranked by Deloitte as one of the fastest growing companies in the US for the fourth consecutive year in 2015. The company has offices worldwide, and is headquartered in Redwood City, California. About Statiq Statiq is a leading Location Intelligence Platform helping digital marketers to drive meaningful results in their mobile and cross-device campaigns by unleashing the power of real-world consumer behaviour, Statiq's technology processes billions of location data signals to understand relationships between mobile devices and the places they visit. This solution enables Statiq to derive privacy compliant geo-location profiles and powers its suite of location derived audience targeting, analytics and measurement products. The company is headquartered in London with offices in Kiev. For more information visit www.statiq.co PubMatic is a registered trademark of PubMatic, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726005022/en/ Contacts: PubMatic Emma Newman, 07903 317414 VP, Marketing, International or Statiq Tim Finn, +44 203 773 1017 Co-founder CEO tim@statiq.co Phoenix Solar Inc., a 100% subsidiary of Phoenix Solar AG (ISIN DE000A0BVU93), a leading international photovoltaic system integrator listed on the official market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, has been awarded the first project that will provide energy to the US military and the company's first project in the state of Texas. Phoenix Solar's scope of services will include the design, procurement and construction of the solar facility of a hybrid project for Apex Clean Energy (Apex). Apex, founded in 2009, is an independent renewable energy company focused on building utility-scale generation facilities. Apex is currently overseeing construction of the hybrid wind/solar energy project, which is designed to optimize solar energy produced on-site at US Army Garrison Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. The project will incorporate low-cost wind energy produced at the Cotton Plains Wind facility in Floyd County, Texas, ensuring a consistent, affordable, and secure energy resource to power the Army's mission at Fort Hood. "Apex is among the most active companies in the US renewables market, providing energy solutions for the corporate and public sector markets," says Tim P. Ryan, CEO of Phoenix Solar AG. "We appreciate their broad knowledge regarding wind energy facilities. From our side, we are very pleased to contribute our excellence in engineering, procurement and construction to the solar part of their projects." The Fort Hood project is the first installation that Phoenix Solar will construct as a part of a hybrid plant in the USA as well as a foray into the growing solar market in the state of Texas. About Phoenix Solar AG Phoenix Solar AG, with headquarters in Sulzemoos Munich, Germany, is an international photovoltaic systems integrator. The Group develops, plans, builds and operates largescale photovoltaic plants. As an EPC contractor specializing in the design and execution of solar power plants, Phoenix Solar places special emphasis on the "on-time and onbudget" construction and delivery of solar power plants, optimized to deliver superior output. With subsidiaries on three continents, the company has designed and built some 800 MWp of turnkey systems since its founding. The shares of Phoenix Solar AG (ISIN DE000A0BVU93) are listed on the official market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. www.phoenixsolar-group.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726005624/en/ Contacts: Phoenix Solar AG Investor Relations Dr. Joachim Fleing tel. +49-(0)8135-938-315 fax +49-(0)8135-938-429 j.fleing@phoenixsolar.de www.phoenixsolar-group.com 26 July 2016 The Company's announcement of yesterday was incorrect. In the first paragraph it is stated that the operator is the owner of 80 per cent. of the Brockham Oil Field. In fact the operator owns 60 per cent. of the Brockham Oil Field. The full and correct announcement is repeated below. Doriemus PLC ("Doriemus" or the "Company") Doriemus appoints Houston Based Nutech Doriemus PLC (ISDX:DOR), the London Listed UK focused oil and gas exploration and production investment company, is pleased to announce it has engaged, in conjunction with the operator and owner of 60 per cent. (Angus Energy Weald Basin No. 3 Limited) of the producing onshore Brockham Oil Field ("Brockham"), US-based NUTECH Energy Alliance Ltd. ("NUTECH"), one of the world's leading companies in petrophysical analysis and reservoir Intelligence, to assist the company assess and more fully understand the potential of it's Brockham Oil Field, oil and gas acreage in the UK's Weald Basin. The Company owns a 10 per cent. participating interest in the UK Production Licence No. 235 ("PL 235") which comprises the producing onshore Brockham on the northern flank of the Weald Basin. Headquartered and operating in Houston, Texas, NUTECH (www.nutechenergy.com) is a global oil services company specialising in reservoir evaluation and optimisation at all stages of the exploration and production life-cycle. NUTECH have analysed nearly 100,000 wells globally, for super majors to small independents in 80 countries, containing many of the world's major conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon plays. David Lenigas, Doriemus's Executive Chairman, commented; "I have worked with Nutech extensively in the past in their assessment of the Horse Hill Licences in the Weald Basin and the wider Weald Basin in general, and I am delighted that the Company will gain access to NUTECH's proven global technical expertise, to help us understand the potential of our assets in the Weald." The directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement. -ENDS- Doriemus Plc: David Lenigas Hamish Harris Donald Strang +44 (0)20 7440 0640 Peterhouse Corporate Finance Limited Guy Miller Fungai Ndoro +44 (0)20 7469 0930 ABOUT DORIEMUS Doriemus has three main UK oil investments, and these are all conventional onshore oil plays in the Weald Basin south of London. The Company has a direct 10% interest in the producing Brockham oil field (PL235), located 6 miles north of Gatwick Airport; a 20% interest in the producing Lidsey oil field (PL241), located north of Bognor Regis; and a 10% interest in Horse Hill Developments Limited, which owns a 65% interest in the new Horse Hill oil discovery (PEDL137/PEDL246) near Gatwick Airport. STOCKHOLM (dpa-AFX) - Sweden's producer prices declined further in June, though at a slower pace than in the previous month, figures from Statistics Sweden showed Tuesday. Producer prices in total fell 1.9 percent year-over-year in June, following a 4.5 percent decrease in May. The measure has been falling since July 2015. On a monthly basis, producer prices climbed 1.5 percent in June, after showing no variations in the prior month. Import prices dipped 5.3 percent annually in June, while it rose 1.7 percent from the preceding month. Prices for domestic supply, combining domestic and import markets, slid 2.8 percent yearly and went up 1.3 percent, month-on-month. 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. The world continues to find value in aesthetic plastic surgery as indicated by growing numbers of procedures.NEW YORK, 2016-07-26 10:00 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The worldwide reach of the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) is well known to the global plastic and aesthetic surgery community. Now the release of eagerly awaited procedural survey results shows an increase of over one million reported procedures from 2014 to 2015.The data on surgical and non-surgical treatments performed in 2015 was tabulated from a questionnaire sent to approximately 35,000 plastic surgeons in the proprietary ISAPS database. ISAPS is the only organization that collects this type of data on a global scale and the study is viewed as a valuable resource in the field of aesthetics.Of course the most awaited features of the survey are the most popular types of procedures in the world by country. Botulinum Toxin (BOTOX) continues to reign supreme for both men and women with a total of over 4.6 million procedures reported. Another popular injectable, Hyaluronic Acid, increased 6.5% from 2014 to 2015. Breast augmentation continues to be the most common surgical procedure among women with a 10.4% increase from 2014 while eyelid surgery is prevalent among men.Most Popular Surgical Procedures in 2015:??Procedure 2015 2014 Percentage Breast Augmentation 1,488,992 1,348,197 10.4 % Liposuction 1,394,588 1,372,901 1.6 % Eyelid Surgery 1,264,702 1,427,451 -11.4 % Abdominoplasty 758,590 682,568 11.1 %Most Popular Non-Surgical Procedures in 2015:Procedure 2015 2014 Percentage Botox 4,627,752 4,830,911 -4.2 % Hyaluronic Acid 2,865,086 2,690,633 6.5 % Hair Removal 1,099,053 1,277,581 -14.0 % Photo Rejuvenation 568,672 - - Non-Surgical Fat Reduction 425,315 - -"We are proud to share these survey results to show the growing momentum in highly practiced areas," noted Susumu Takayanagi, MD, ISAPS president. "ISAPS' membership includes thousands of top plastic surgeons who take time to contribute to these findings," he states. The results can be accessed on the ISAPS website http://www.isaps.org in the News section, and will be discussed during the 23rd ISAPS biennial global conference in Kyoto, Japan, October 23-27, 2016.The country with the highest number of procedures is the United States with 1.4 million surgical and 2.6 million non-surgical procedures. Brazil reported 1.2 million surgical and 1.1 million non-surgical procedures. Rounding out the list for the most procedures are South Korea, India, Mexico, Germany, Colombia, France, and Italy.The United States has the largest number of active plastic surgeons with 6,500 followed by Brazil with 5,500 and China with 2,800. Numbers by country are evidenced in the report; however, some countries did not provide required updates this year.Women had more than 18 million surgical and non-surgical procedures performed globally, 85.6% of the total. The top five surgical procedures performed on women in 2015 were: breast augmentation, liposuction, eyelid surgery, abdominoplasty and rhinoplasty.Men had more than 3 million surgical and non-surgical procedures, 14.4% of the total. The top five surgical procedures performed on men were: eyelid surgery, liposuction, gynecomastia surgery, rhinoplasty, fat grafting and ear surgery.The International Survey on Aesthetic/Cosmetic Procedures Performed in 2015 was compiled, tabulated, and analyzed by Industry Insights, Inc. http://www.industryinsights.com, an independent research firm based in Columbus, OH.About ISAPS: The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery is the premier global organization for board certified (or the equivalent) plastic surgeons. Regarded as the leading global educator in aesthetic procedures, ISAPS offers its more than 3,200 members over 30 courses, workshops and symposia each year conducted by a world-class faculty with the primary goal of teaching aesthetic best practices and ensuring patient safety. Through its rigorous membership screening, ISAPS is a guardian of patient safety internationally, making it the patient's global resource to find qualified and experienced aesthetic plastic surgeons.Media Contact: Julie Guest, ISAPS Chief Marketing Officer Media@ISAPS.org 1-844-867-3621 LONDON, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University has marked its 10th anniversary with a day of celebrations on its campus in Suzhou, China. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160726/392888 Honoured guests from throughout the University's history gathered together with XJTLU staff, students and alumni to celebrate the achievements of the past 10 years and look to the future. Founded in 2006, XJTLU is the largest international joint venture university in China, a partnership between Xi'an Jiaotong University and the University of Liverpool. The spectacular anniversary ceremony featured impressive videos with interactive elements and speeches from key guests. In his welcoming address, Professor Xi, executive president of XJTLU, spoke of the University's "astonishing" achievements over the past 10 years, but emphasised how important it was to keep looking forward and striving for new accomplishments. "Looking forward to the next 10 years, and the 10 years after that, we need to keep a clear head - even when we don't stop, if we're not overtaking then we're falling behind," he said. "We need to keep our feet on the ground, continue integrating the essence of the world's education, keep a close eye on the pulse of the times, take aim at the world's future direction, take one step at a time, and embark upon a completely new path of developing higher education." Guests at the day's events included representatives from the University of Liverpool and Xi'an Jiaotong, especially those who had played important roles in XJTLU's formation. Professor Janet Beer, vice-chancellor at Liverpool, spoke about the enduring relationship between Liverpool and China and of how proud she was of the partnership behind XJTLU. "As XJTLU continues to grow both in terms of its student population and academic standing, the next 10 years look incredibly exciting. I look forward to working with colleagues in both Liverpool and Suzhou as we develop our ambitions and vision for the future," she said. Professor Qinghuang Zheng, vice president of Xi'an Jiaotong called the partnership an important step in the internationalisation of higher education in China. "As one of the parent universities, we are so proud of the extraordinary achievements of XJTLU, which sets a great example for developing an international education model," he said. "XJTLU's experience and success has impacted China's higher education transform in a very positive way." Flash The Embassy of Nepal in China held a promotional event for tourism in the Chinese capital Beijing on Monday. [Photo by Zhang lulu/China.org.cn] The Embassy of Nepal in China held a promotional event for tourism in the Chinese capital Beijing on Monday. About 80 Nepalese hotels came to Beijing in a bid to promote the tourism business in China. More than 120,000 Chinese traveled to Nepal in 2014, accounting for 15.7% of inbound tourism in Nepal. The number of Chinese tourists in Nepal has been steadily increasing in the past few years, but compared to other destinations, Nepal sees relatively few Chinese tourists, said Amar Man Shakya, the 1st vice president of the Hotel Association of Nepal. As a result, there is huge room for attracting more Chinese tourists, he added. Located between China and India, Nepal is home to rich tourism resources, including a number of breathtaking mountains -- the worlds highest, Mount Everest, which lies between Nepal and China, and unique Buddhist culture as it is the birthplace of the Buddha. The country, however, was hit by an 8.1-magnitude earthquake in April last year, leaving more than 8,000 people dead and tens of thousands injured. The quake also took a toll on the countrys tourism industry. At Mondays event, Nepalese officials reassured Chinese tourists that its now safe to travel to the country. Only 11 districts out of Nepals 75 districts were affected by the quake, said Mani Lamichhane, the officiating director of the Nepal Tourism Board. Nepal announced a gratis tourist visa, or exemption of visa fees, for Chinese tourists, starting from January 1 this year, in order to expand its Chinese tourism market, said Harish Chandra Ghimire, the officiating ambassador of the Embassy of Nepal in Beijing. Research shows that 120 million Chinese traveled to overseas countries in 2015, and Nepal clearly wants to have a share of the still booming business. Nepal expects to see more than 500,000 Chinese tourists by 2020, said Shakya of the Hotel Association of Nepal. A similar promotional event will be held in Shanghai on Thursday. BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - TAL Education Group (XRS), a K-12 after-school tutoring services provider in China, reported Tuesday that its first-quarter attributable net income decreased 30.2% to $13.2 million from $19.0 million last year. Adjusted attributable net income was $21.6 million, compared to $24.0 million last year. TAL reported net revenues of $195.1 million, representing a 50.8% increase from $129.4 million a year ago. The increase was mainly driven total student enrollments, which increased by 56.8% to approximately 646,050. The company recorded increases of enrollments in the small class offerings and online courses. Average selling price decreased 3.8% to $302 in the first quarter, mainly because of the foreign exchange rate fluctuation. Looking ahead, based on the Company's current estimates, total net revenues for the second quarter of fiscal year 2017 are expected to be between $247.9 million and $251.3 million, representing an increase of 43% to 45% on a year-over-year basis. Rong Luo, TAL's Chief Financial Officer, said, 'In the coming quarters, we expect our business momentum to continue giving us a strong and positive outlook. We will continue to invest in new initiatives and further advance our global brand building.' 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. LONDON, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A pioneering science initiative has been piloted in London schools by Russian philanthropic foundation Noosphere in partnership with the Mayor's Fund for London. The initiative is also supported by the BE OPEN foundation. Its aim is to introduce young people from disadvantaged areas of London to the fascinating world of astronomy. The project 'Discovery within a Week' brings together PHD astronomy students from UCL's Physics and Astronomy department to mentor secondary school pupils and guide them through the materials and technology. A number of London schools have already signed up for the programme; with more schools set to join up with the onset of the new academic year in autumn. The aim is to continue to extend the scope of this initiative to a broader range of London schools over the next few years. Over the course of the project, school children from both London and Moscow join professional astronomers from their respective countries, in order to exchange their experience during weekly Skype conferences. The objective of this interaction is to create a network of enthusiastic young observers and researchers. "The ultimate goal of 'Noosphere' is to encourage younger generations to approach the world with an informed, open and universal perspective - that will keep our society from sliding into the chaos of differences and conflicts. We should show both children and adults the universal aesthetic and scientific principles that unite people from all parts of the world," Yelena Baturina, Noosphere founder, business woman and philanthropist. "This is a fantastic new collaboration between East and West, bringing cutting-edge science and astronomy into London classrooms and broadening children's perceptions of the world they live in. We want more schools in London to join this journey of discovery," Matthew Patten, Chief Executive of the Mayor's Fund for London. Noosphere's initiative is innovative in its methodology. Its participants not only enhance their theoretical knowledge, but also make real astronomic discoveries. The stars and asteroids they discover will be recorded in the International Variable Star Index, and the Minor Planet Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Harvard. The Foundation's programmes are universal and can be implemented anywhere in the world - over the years Noosphere has realised a variety of projects in India, Israel, Bulgaria, Romania and Austria. A full of adventures motorbike around-the-world tour by three motorcycle enthusiasts: four continents, more than 50 countries, over 100,000 kilometres and all in 800 days. MotorradreifenDirekt.de is supporting the "ThreesomeWithTwins" on their exciting tour with the perfect tyres from the wide range available in their online store. Second "pit stop" in Novosibirsk/Russia, the trio's current stage. Brothers Bastian and Fabian Asam and their mutual friend Denis Hartinger are turning their dreams into reality: on the 9th of April 2016, the trio left their everyday lives far behind in their hometown of Munich and headed off on a bike trip around the world. Under the slogan "ThreesomeWithTwins", the team aims to circumnavigate the globe in a little over two years. There are four continents, more than 50 countries and over 100,000 kilometres on the itinerary. The threesome are completing their trip on three legendary two-cylinder machines, namely a BMW R1200 GS and two Honda Africa Twin CRF1000As; hence the name of their tour. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726005659/en/ A full of adventure around-the-world tour experience the three motorcycle enthusiasts from "ThreesomeWithTwins" (Photo: Business Wire) Initially the adventurers' trail led them through South Eastern Europe and Turkey. This was followed by stages through the Caucasus and along the coast of the Caspian Sea into Iran and Central Asia. After crossing Kazakhstan, the "ThreesomeWithTwins" have now arrived in Novosibirsk, Russia. Time for their second "pit stop" and tyre change: MotorradreifenDirekt.de is providing the three motorbike fans with logistical support and the best tyres from their wide online range: the perfect touring bike tyres were delivered by air freight directly to the trio's current location. Waiting for the biker trio when they arrived in Novosibirsk were three sets of Heidenau K60 Scouts, particularly suitable for semi-paved dirt roads. These were then mounted on the bikes with expert assistance. The trio had already made their first tyre change in Turkey. Their journey now continues eastwards towards China, then over to North America, through South America and back to Europe. "In 2015, we supported a similar adventure in the form of the "Singa To Minga" (Singapore to Munich) tour that time, we delivered tyres to the Himalayas. With their world tour, the "ThreesomeWithTwins" have really gone for it and proved that, like us, they are bike enthusiasts to the core", says Oliver Pflaum, bike expert and Sales Manager for MotorradreifenDirekt.de. "That's why we are delighted to support these three biker friends on their ambitious route by providing them with tyres and thus becoming a part of their odyssey. We wish them continued success on their trip and hope that they enjoy many exciting, unforgettable moments on their long journey. We are keeping a close eye on their news and experiences thanks to their blog posts and social media presence", adds Pflaum. "We are so pleased to have the opportunity to explore the world on our bikes. Our route has already led us to some remote spots, where getting hold of motorbike accessories is difficult and this will continue to be so. For this reason, we need a 100% reliable partner who can supply us with the right equipment anywhere in the world. Thanks to MotorradreifenDirekt.de, we have had access to the best possible tyres at every stage of our tour. Not only does this give us peace of mind, it also guarantees driving pleasure on any and all of our target 100,000 kilometres," say the "ThreesomeWithTwins" trio of bikers. The trio is documenting their trip around the world with photos, videos and blog posts on their website, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube: http://www.threesomewithtwins.com/de/ https://www.facebook.com/ThreeWithTwins https://www.youtube.com/c/ThreesomeWithTwins About MotorradreifenDirekt.de Whether you're looking for chopper, touring or roller tyres: in our range of reputable online stores you can find everything a biker's heart desires. Motorbike accessories such as hoses, motor oil, motorbike batteries and off-road tyre mousse complement the Delticom bike range. The motorbike tyre bike specialist's portfolio includes ranges from all established premium motorbike tyre manufacturers such as Pirelli, Dunlop, Continental, Metzeler, Bridgestone and Michelin, as well as renowned quality brands such as Heidenau, Avon and Mitas. In addition to this, Delticom offers exclusive distribution lines from different segments, such as Turkish roller and off-road brand Anlas, radial tyres from Nankang or FullboreUSA chopper tyres. Online store for end users: www.MotorradreifenDirekt.de (Austria: www.MotorradreifenDirekt.at / Switzerland: www.MotorradreifenDirekt.ch) Further online stores in Europe: www.pneus-moto.fr (FR), www.motorbandenmarkt.nl (NL), www.moto-pneumatici.it (IT), www.neumaticosdemoto.es (ES), www.moto-tyres.co.uk (UK) and more. Online store for dealers: www.autoreifenonline.de About the company: www.delti.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726005659/en/ Contacts: insignis Agentur fur Kommunikation GmbH (GPRA) Henning Jahns Tel.: +49-511-132214-14 Fax: +49-511-132214-99 delticom@insignis.de or Delticom AG Anne Lena Peters Tel.: +49-511-93634-8909 Fax: +49-511-93634-8301 anne.lena.peters@delti.com Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 26, 2016) - International Lithium Corp. (TSXV: ILC) (the "Company" or "ILC") is pleased to announce that strategic partner Pioneer Resources Limited ("Pioneer") (ASX: PIO) has completed their due diligence and formally entered into an Option Agreement to advance through exploration the Company's Raleigh lithium pegmatite project in Ontario, Canada ("Project"). In addition, the companies have increased the size of the project to 809 hectares (2,000 acres) through staking. Key Highlights: Preliminary reconnaissance discovers pegmatite obscured by beaver dam; Grab sample of host rock adjacent to beaver dam returns highest degree of lithium enrichment reported in the region to date representing intense rare-metals mineralizing system; Increase project size by 80% through staking to encompass extensive highly anomalous rare metals' trends known to host high-grade lithium spodumene pegmatites. Raleigh Lithium Project Option Agreement executed with Pioneer; and Pioneer may earn an initial 51% interest in the Project by expending CAN$1.25 million on exploration activities within three years; Raleigh Lithium Pegmatite Project The Raleigh Project is situated 7 kilometres south of the Trans-Canada Highway, 60 kilometres southeast from the Company's Mavis Project, 80 kilometres southeast from the town of Dryden, Ontario and approximately 240 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay. Four unpatented mining claims totalling 368 hectares were recently staked increasing the Project area to 809 hectares. The expanded claim boundaries now cover an extensive zone exhibiting multiple intensely anomalous bands known to host high-grade lithium pegmatites. When rare-metal pegmatites are emplaced, the host rocks adjacent to the pegmatite body are enriched by the associated fluids forming an observable rare-metals' halo. Normally the rare-metal alteration halo is in the meter scale, but the pegmatite belt at Raleigh, similar to the Company's nearby Mavis project, exhibit some of the most extensive lithium anomalies delineated to date in Ontario. On a recent reconnaissance of the project by ILC and Pioneer representatives a pegmatite noted in historical records, but not explored by previous operators, was discovered. The site of the pegmatite is obscured by a beaver dam, which may account for why previous operators overlooked it. A grab sample* of the adjacent mafic volcanic host rock was sent to ALS laboratory for analysis and returned a lithium value of 0.49% Li 2 O (2290ppm Li). This is significantly higher than any other lithium host-rock value reported in the region and indicates an intense mineralizing system, particularly to have altered and impregnated the host rock to such a degree. * Grab samples are by definition selective and are unlikely to represent average grades on the property. Previous exploration campaigns on the Project included mapping, lithogeochemistry, trenching (1500m) and diamond core drilling (2817.5m in 17 holes) resulting in the identification of several substantial pegmatites and numerous smaller ones (see Company news release dated March 23 and July 13, 2016, for further details). Mapping and litho-geochemical sampling indicate a highly fractionated rare-metals' pegmatite belt at least 5 km in length and 2 km in width now fully enclosed within the Company's expanded claim boundaries. The strength of the litho-geochemical signature in the host rock adjacent to known pegmatites will be a highly effective exploration tool to signal the location of hidden or blind pegmatites; pegmatites buried under soil cover or capped by another rock type. Highlights of previously reported drill intercepts at Raleigh are summarized in the table below. The pegmatites are moderately dipping and appear to flatten at depth. Hole ID From (metres) To (metres) Width (metres) Li 2 O % RL99-05 108.95 115.40 6.45 1.62 incl 108.95 111.20 2.35 2.39 RL10-01 28.30 33.00 4.70 1.81 incl 29.80 32.00 2.20 2.37 154.30 161.00 6.70 1.14 incl 159.00 160.00 1.00 2.86 RL10-02 84.00 93.00 9.00 2.80 RL10-03 103.05 109.00 5.95 1.64 RL10-05 24.40 34.00 9.60 1.03 RL10-06 123.00 128.70 5.70 1.03 All widths in drill core are drill widths and have not been adjusted to true widths. The Company has not yet been able to confirm historical results compiled from assessment reports and news releases filed by previous operators. Raleigh Option Agreement Pioneer may earn an initial 51% interest in the Project by expending CAN$1.25 million on exploration activities within three years and paying to ILC a total of CAN$250,000 in cash and shares 50/50 over the same three years (the "First Earn-in"). Following the First Earn-in, ILC will be granted a 1.5% Net Smelter Return royalty ("NSR"), purchasable at any time for CAN$1.5 million. Pioneer will then be granted, if ILC elects not to participate and if Pioneer elects to pursue, an option where Pioneer can earn an additional 29%, for a total 80% interest, by sole funding exploration expenditures and the production of a pre-feasibility technical report within 6 years from the completion of the First Earn-In. Thereafter the Parties will contribute on a pro-rata basis. If either Party dilutes to 15% Project Equity, their interest is converted to a 1.5% NSR. The Upper Canada Lithium Pool The close proximity of the Mavis and Raleigh projects presents clear strategic and operational advantages. ILC is pursuing lithium prospects with reported high grades in this region and seeking to consolidate them with the aim to identify sufficient resources in multiple prospects to potentially feed a common processing facility. The Upper Canada Lithium Pool is the anticipated geographical consolidation of projects and partnered companies hosting amenable grade, volume, access and infrastructure in order to mitigate the financial burden on any one company when advancing specific projects to reach this goal. John Harrop, P.Geo, FGS, is a Qualified Person as defined under NI 43-101 who has supervised preparation of the technical information contained in this news release. About International Lithium Corp. International Lithium Corp. is an exploration company with an outstanding portfolio of projects, strong management ownership, robust financial support and a strategic partner and keystone investor Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd., a leading China based lithium product manufacturer. The Company's primary focus is the Mariana lithium-potash brine project, a joint venture with Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd. within the renowned South American "Lithium Belt" that is the host to the vast majority of global lithium resources, reserves and production. The 160 square kilometre Mariana project strategically encompasses an entire mineral rich evaporate basin that ranks as one of the more prospective salars or 'salt lakes' in the region. Complementing the Company's lithium brine project are three rare metals pegmatite properties in Canada known as the Mavis, Raleigh, and Forgan projects; and one project in Ireland (Avalonia project) that encompasses an extensive 50km long pegmatite belt. The Avalonia project is under option to strategic partner Ganfeng Lithium and the Mavis and Raleigh projects with strategic partner Pioneer Resources Limited (PIO:ASX). The Mavis, Raleigh and Forgan projects together form the basis of the Company's newly created Upper Canada Lithium Pool designated to focus on acquiring numerous prospects with previously reported high concentrations of lithium in close proximity to existing infrastructure. With the increasing demand for high tech rechargeable batteries used in vehicle propulsion technologies and portable electronics, lithium is paramount to tomorrow's "green-tech", sustainable economy. By positioning itself with solid development partners and acquiring high quality grass roots projects at an early stage of exploration, ILC aims to be the resource explorer of choice for investors in green tech and build value for its shareholders. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Kirill Klip President, International Lithium Corp. For further information regarding this news release contact Caroline Klukowski (Corporate Communications) at 604.687.7551 or view the website at www.internationallithium.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 release. Statements in this press release other than purely historical information, historical estimates should not be relied upon, including statements relating to the Company's future plans and objectives or expected results, are forward-looking statements. News release contains certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in the Company's business, including risks inherent in resource exploration and development. As a result, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. HULZWEILER, Germany, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Good news from industry insiders: Leading analysts predict further considerable growth prospects in the nano technology sector for the years to come. Experts calculated a worldwide market value of 3.8 billion dollars up to the year 2020 for the antibacterial nano coatings segment alone. This is demonstrated in the business report of "Global Industry Analysts". For Nanopool, a manufacturer of high-performance coating systems, those figures affirm the strategic direction of their product development. As early as the beginning of 2006, the German patent and trademark office (DPMA) granted a patent for an antibacterial coating, amongst others, to Nanopool's managing director and inventor, Mr. Sascha Schwindt. This gives Nanopool the monopoly on the production and application of antimicrobial surface protection systems all over Europe until 2027. In particular, this includes vessels, harbour installation, oil platforms and pipes, which are exposed to extreme stress in the sea water, and need to be protected against fouling and other contamination. Furthermore, the patented products of Nanopool are also suitable for preventing humidity from occurring in packaging. The antibacterial protective coatings are additionally used in hospitals and retirement homes, canteen kitchen, food processing facilities as well as in trains and buses. Nanopool was founded as a distribution company for nano-products from German Saarland back in 2002. For 10 years Nanopool has specialised in its own research, development and production of high-performance coatings and its products can be found in many different market segments. Due to Nanopool's long experience and comprehensive product portfolio, the company is able to offer tailor-made solutions to private and industrial customers. "The strategic orientation of our company in 2006 was the right decision," Nanopool's managing director Sascha Schwindt says. "This is shown in the latest market analysis, and our satisfied customers and partners prove this." Pressekontakt:info@nanopool.eu Phone: +49(0)6831-8902712 Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - July 26, 2016) - ChroMedX Corp. (CSE: CHX) (OTC: MNLIF) (FSE: EIY2) (the "Company"), a developer of in vitro diagnostics and Point-of-care Testing (POCT) technologies is pleased to announce the appointment of Ash Kaushal as the Company's new President and CEO, effective immediately. Mr. Kaushal has over 25 years of experience in product development in the medical, defence, safety and nuclear industries. Mr. Kaushal has held Vice President and senior level management positions with several Canadian and British corporations throughout his career including NIR Science Corp and NIR Diagnostics Corp in Campbellvile, Ontario, CME Telemetrix in Waterloo, Indal Technologies in Mississauga, Ontario and several companies based in England, UK. Mr. Kaushal has developed handheld products from initial concept right through to FDA submission. In these positions he had responsibility for research, engineering, quality assurance and clinical trials. Mr. Kaushal will be responsible to lead, co-ordinate and oversee the complete development of the HemoPalm product line and other medical device products that his team is pursuing. "The board is delighted to welcome Ash as President and CEO. Ash's experience and expertise have benefited the Company's development initiative immensely and we look forward to the results of his expanded role and leadership with ChroMedX," said George Langdon, Chairman and Director, ChroMedX Corp. "I am pleased with this opportunity to lead ChroMedX in its development of the HemoPalm platform. HemoPalm has significant competitive advantages over the current POCT devices on the market, for example, HemoPalm is positioned to be the only hand-held POCT analyzer that combines Blood Gas & Electrolytes with CO-oximetry; the leading hand-held Blood Gas & Electrolytes analyzers CANNOT provide CO-oximetry. My focus will be to prioritize completion of the HemoPalm breadboard device so we can commence testing of the disposable cartridges, and then focus on developing the prototype analyzer." said Ash Kaushal, President and CEO, ChroMedX Corp. Mr. Kaushal takes over from Wayne Maddever at a critical stage in the Company's development of a fully operational prototype of its patent-protected HemoPalm technology. Mr. Maddever has stepped down as an officer and director of ChroMedX Corp. and the Company expresses its gratitude for his work with ChroMedX Corp. since its inception in 2013. About ChroMedX Corp. ChroMedX Corp. is a medical technology company focused on the development of novel medical devices for in vitro diagnostics and point-of-care testing. The devices are protected by the Company's issued and pending patents dealing with blood collection, analysis, and plasma/serum processing. Follow ChroMedX Corp.: Website: www.chromedx.com Facebook: facebook.com/chromedxcorp Twitter: www.twitter.com/Chromedxcorp Investor Enquiries: Shawn Overton d. 647-528-9344 o. 647-872-9982 ext. 2 TF. 1-844-247-6633 ext. 2 soverton@ChroMedX.com NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. Forward-looking Information Cautionary Statement Except for statements of historic fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to delays or uncertainties with regulatory approvals, including that of the CSE. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company's control. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties that could affect financial results is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com TEL AVIV, Israel, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Contracts also include options for additional quantities ICL (NYSE and TASE: ICL), today announced that it has signed several contracts to supply an aggregate 700,000 metric tonnes of potash to its customers in China. The agreements also include options to purchase additional quantities. The contracts are for delivery during 2016. The selling prices stipulated in the contracts are in line with the recent contract prices in China. The contracts are part of three-year framework agreements between ICL and its Chinese customers. The contracts demonstrate the strong relationships that ICL has developed with its customers in China and highlight ICL's standing as one of the world's main suppliers of potash to China, a rapidly growing potash market. ICL is also active in the Chinese market through its strategic joint venture with Yunnan Yuntianhua ('YPH JV') formed in 2015, which includes a 2.5 million tonne phosphate mine and a major phosphate manufacturing operation. The JV also includes a research and development facility located in China's Yunnan province which, together with other investments, is supporting the transformation of the operations from commodity into specialty. Commenting on the news, Mr. Nissim Adar, President of ICL Essential Minerals division, said, "The contracts that we have signed with our Chinese customers reinforce our position in this important market. We are grateful for the trust and confidence that our customers have placed in ICL over the years, and proud to provide them with ICL's range of fertilizers which are helping China to improve its agricultural output and achieve food security." About ICL ICL is a global manufacturer of products based on specialty minerals that fulfill humanity's essential needs primarily in three markets: agriculture, food and engineered materials. ICL is a public company whose shares are dual listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (NYSE and TASE: ICL). The company employs approximately 13,000 people worldwide, and its sales in 2015 totaled US$5.4 billion. For more information, visit the company's website at http://www.icl-group.com. PRESS CONTACT Gadi Ohana Debby Communications +972-3-5683000 gadi@debby.co.il INVESTOR RELATIONS CONTACT Limor Gruber Head of Investor Relations, ICL +972-3-684-4471 Limor.Gruber@icl-group.com BALTIMORE, MD--(Marketwired - July 26, 2016) - AiNET, a global and award-winning leader in data center, fiber optics and managed services, announced today that Michael Fox has been hired to fulfill the role of regional Vice President of Sales and Business Development. He will head up focused expansion efforts in the Baltimore/ D.C. metropolitan region for the Maryland-based tech firm. Fox's background in the IT services world is extensive, with over 30 years of experience supporting Enterprise and SMB markets starting with Verizon/MCI telecommunications. He moved onto become a National Director with NTT, and then to Carpathia where he headed up the Government Services division and was a managing partner. He led migration efforts for Carpathia's acquisition by QTS. He was most recently the Regional Sales Director at ByteGrid. Fox's decades of experience in the market bring deep knowledge and relationships to AiNET's regional expansion efforts, and will allow the company to enter new markets, drive product development and go-to-market strategy, and focus outreach to leaders in the technology community. The company has stated that its immediate growth efforts involve leveraging past performance and client success stories, increasing scope of IT customer solutions, and increasing contacts within the market. AiNET's long term goals are to grow strategically with a national footprint as well as a global presence, and to accelerate market penetration within enterprise-class and service provider organizations in diverse industries such as healthcare, media, financial services and higher education/ research. "The industry is rapidly transforming," says AiNET founder and CEO Deepak Jain. "We are growing and adapting to continue to lead this transformation as clients pivot from having on premise physical infrastructure towards Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), cloud environments and fully managed hybrid service solutions. We have embraced a holistic approach to solving these tech challenges for our clients and we know Michael will be a powerful evangelist for our philosophy." "AiNET has a great service, customers have a great experience and it's all built around great people," says Jain. "We are excited Michael will be coming aboard to help us tell our story to a much wider audience." About AiNET AiNET is a world-class leader in the design, construction, operations, and support of IT Infrastructure, Patented Power Technologies, Optical Fiber Networks, Critical Solutions, and more. AiNET owns and operates certified Tier 4 data centers, the highest level of data center reliability, security, and maintainability. AiNET is continuously breaking new ground in the modern tech industry and is a leading innovator in critical technologies, including Commercial Internet and Cloud Services. AiNET is always expanding its reach and impact for business, and growing to connect buildings to their protected fiber communications networks for enhanced reliability and security. Customers that trust AiNET include the Department of Defense, the Department of Labor, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Level 3 Communications, Comcast, Cox, Cogent and many others. AiNET has over 100 lit or "on-net" buildings. To learn more about how AiNET leverages its people to drive world-class technology innovation, read an interview with our CEO here. Or, click here for more information on how AiNET can help your business overcome IT challenges. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/7/25/11G107995/Images/michaelfox-52f334160627aeb6961580a763c442ab.jpg Contact: Brian Checco brian.checco@ai.net (301) 931-6574 ext. 224 SAN ANTONIO, TX--(Marketwired - July 26, 2016) - GlobalSCAPE, Inc. (NYSE MKT: GSB), a pioneer and worldwide leader in the secure and reliable exchange of business information, announced today that it would be exhibiting at the F5 Agility conference August 2-4, 2016 in Chicago, IL. The company will be showcasing a number of its information exchange technologies including its award-winning Enhanced File Transfer' (EFT') solution. Globalscape, a member of F5 Networks' Technology Alliance Program (TAP), provides an interoperable solution between Globalscape EFT Enterprise with High Availability and F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager' (LTM). By integrating EFT Enterprise with High Availability and F5 BIG-IP LTM, organizations can maximize operational efficiency of data flow, reduce system downtime and increase network reliability. Through the TAP partnership, Globalscape promotes interoperability with F5, and provides a framework for future solutions. Globalscape team members will be on hand at F5 Agility to demonstrate EFT Enterprise with High Availability, among other technologies. What: F5 Agility 2016 When: August 2-4, 2016 Where: Globalscape Booth Located in the Solutions Expo Hyatt Regency Downtown Chicago 151 East Wacker Drive Chicago, Illinois, USA, 60601 F5 Agility is a three-day conference where customers can receive in-depth training and information on F5's technology, and discover or discuss the latest industry trends, as well as connect with other F5 customers and partners. The conference focuses on three key areas: cloud, security and application services. Supporting Quote: Peter Merkulov, Vice President of Technology Alliances and Product Strategy at Globalscape "We are excited to meet and hear from F5 customers about what's most important to their evolving IT needs. The opportunity to showcase interoperable F5 and Globalscape technology is important to continuing to evolve our own features and functionality to better meet adapting requirements within the IT infrastructure. It's also important that we maintain and enhance our own understanding of how networking and other tangential segments that F5 specializes in are continually changing, the forces creating that evolution and the trends that link us together." More information on F5 Agility or to register, please visit: https://www.f5agilityamericas.com/ About Globalscape GlobalSCAPE, Inc. (NYSE MKT: GSB) is a pioneer in the reliable exchange of mission-critical business data and intellectual property. Globalscape's leading enterprise suite of solutions delivers military-proven security for achieving best-in-class control and visibility of data across multiple locations. Founded in 1996, Globalscape's software and services are trusted by tens of thousands of customers worldwide, including global enterprises, governments, and small and medium enterprises. For more information, visit www.globalscape.com or follow the blog and Twitter updates. Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The words "would," "exceed," "should," "anticipates," "believe," "steady," "dramatic," "expect," and variations of such words and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that a statement is not a forward-looking statement. These forward-looking statements are based upon the Company's current expectations and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ significantly from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the 2015 fiscal year, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 3, 2016. F5, BIG-IP, Local Traffic Manager, and LTM are trademarks or service marks of F5 Networks, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries. All other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. The use of the words "partner," "partnership," or "joint" does not imply a legal partnership relationship between F5 Networks and any other company. GLOBALSCAPE PRESS CONTACT Contact: Ciri Haugh Phone Number: +1 (210) 308-8267 Email: PR@globalscape.com Businesses should not host their data within the EU, warns international data privacy report Businesses should be wary of hosting their data inside the European Union (EU). That's the message from a new international data privacy report from Swiss hosting company Artmotion. The report, which combines independent data from the United Nations, Transparency International and several leading privacy groups, highlights that of 28 nations making up the EU, only eight are considered truly secure for data storage. At the same time, European nations outside the EU such as Switzerland and Iceland ranked significantly higher on list, coming in first and third on a review of the 170 safest nations for data security. Germany came in 17th on the list, while Britain ranked just 23rd for data safety, falling behind Qatar and South Korea. Despite hosting nearly a third of the world's data, numerous NSA privacy scandals placed the USA 38th on the list, falling behind Uruguay, Bahrain and Oman for overall data privacy. Some major Asian nations also rated badly for data privacy, with India which recently became home to the world's largest data center ranking 107th on the list. This places the country just behind Iran for overall data security. Commenting at the launch of the new study, data privacy expert Mateo Meier said "More than ever, it is important for businesses and individuals to understand the impact that location can have on the privacy and security of their data. "In the internet age, it's easy to forget that every piece of information stored still requires a physical home, and that the geographic location of that home can have a serious impact on data privacy." "In support of this point, the Data Danger Zones report examines over 3.5 trillion IP addresses in 170 countries, providing one of the most comprehensive guides ever created for assessing data safety. As the findings highlight however, it's clear that a lot of nations including those in Europe are not doing enough to protect privacy and individual's data rights." To download the full study or to view an interactive map of the world's Data Danger Zones, visit artmotion.eu/risk-map/ ENDS Methodology The Data Danger Zones report was commissioned by Mateo Meier, a Swiss privacy expert and CEO of data hosting firm Artmotion. The report combines analysis of five key factors for data privacy. These include: political instability, corruption, risk of natural disasters, quality of infrastructure, risk of internal conflicts, and risk of terrorism. Each of these factors were publically collected and collated from the independent research of the following bodies: United Nations University World Economic Forum Transparency International Global intake Control Risk About Artmotion Artmotion Ltd is a privately held data hosting provider, offering state of the art, highly secure server solutions for businesses of all sizes. The company provides services such as secure, high performance dedicated servers, neutral clouds to safeguard data and private mail. The data centers offer ultimate privacy, latest technology and highly efficient infrastructure. Artmotion is serving businesses in 30 countries, with customer base mostly of medium to large international clients, including Fortune 500 companies. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726005753/en/ Contacts: For Artmotion Ltd Alex Warren Bianca Huebner Wildfire artmotion@wildfirepr.com +44 208 408 8000 Flash Some 325,200 Chinese holidaymakers visited Cambodia in the first five months of 2016, up 12 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the latest figures of Tourism Ministry on Monday. The number of Chinese visitors to Cambodia accounted for 16 percent of total foreigners to the kingdom during the January-May period this year, the report said. China ranked the second largest source of tourists to Cambodia after Vietnam, whose 382,600 people traveled to Cambodia during the period, down 3.6 percent year-on-year. Cambodian Tourism Minister Thong Khon said last month that the country is expected to draw around 900,000 Chinese tourists this year and up to 2 million in 2020. Kong Sopheareak, chief of the Tourism Ministry's statistics and planning department, told Xinhua that Cambodia-China excellent relations and Cambodia's attractive tourism sites are key factors to attract more Chinese tourists. "In my view, China will overtake Vietnam in one or two years to become the first largest source of tourists to Cambodia," he said. The Southeast Asian country is famous for two cultural sites in the UNESCO's World Heritage List. One is the 12th century Angkor archeological park and the other is the 11th century Preah Vihear Temple. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- Terraco Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE: TEN) ("Terraco" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has incorporated Terraco Royalties USA Inc. ("Terraco Royalties"). The formalization of this subsidiary was a necessary structural step for Terraco's growth under its royalty business plan and follows its recent transaction whereby Terraco exercised its suite of royalty options for up to 3% net smelter return ("NSR") royalty ownership on the Spring Valley Gold Project (Pershing County, Nevada) owned and operated by Solidus Resources, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Waterton Precious Metals Fund II Cayman, LP ("Waterton"). Terraco Royalties is a wholly owned Nevada, USA, subsidiary of Terraco with the sole purpose to hold additional royalty acquisitions within the United States. Terraco Royalties holds a 2% NSR royalty on the Moonlight Project which is a 35 square kilometer prospective land package that is on strike with, and adjoins, the multi-million ounce Spring Valley Gold Project. It is anticipated that additional royalties will be added to this subsidiary and will augment Terraco's other suite of NSR royalty ownership on the Spring Valley Gold Project held in a separate wholly owned subsidiary, TGC Holdings Ltd. ("TGC"). "Terraco is well financed and focused on growing its royalty portfolio within safe mining/geopolitical jurisdictions, starting with North America. We believe that there are good opportunities to add high quality royalty assets that will augment Terraco's Spring Valley, Nevada royalties' platform thus creating significant shareholder value in the short and long-term," stated Todd Hilditch, President and CEO of Terraco. As part of the streamlining process and new corporate focus on its royalty platform, Terraco has terminated its early stage exploration project agreements. Terraco continues to maintain its advanced stage Nutmeg Mountain (Almaden) gold project in Idaho and is currently conducting a geological and economic review in order to prioritize maximizing its value to the Company and its shareholders. Terraco's current Nevada royalty portfolio is structured as follows: TGC owns the following core assets: i. a 3% NSR royalty on a majority of the Spring Valley Gold Deposit ("Schmidt claims"); ii. a 1% NSR royalty on an additional portion of the Spring Valley Gold Deposit; and iii.a right of first refusal relating to a 1% NSR royalty on certain lands within a one-half mile of the Schmidt claims; Terraco Royalties will hold: i. a 2% NSR royalty on the Moonlight Project; ii. all future United States based royalties acquired by Terraco For further details about the royalty option exercise transaction with Waterton announced June 17, 2016 and May 16, 2016, please see Terraco's press releases available on the Company's website and on SEDAR. About Terraco Terraco is a gold royalty company with a royalty portfolio that is currently focused largely on or around the multi-million ounce Spring Valley Gold Project located in Pershing County, Nevada. The Company is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "TEN". Please visit the Company's website at www.terracogold.com for additional information. On Behalf of the Company: Todd Hilditch, 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 release. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because the Company 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. Additional information on these and other factors that could affect the Company's operations and financial results are included in reports on file with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and may be accessed through the SEDAR website (www.sedar.com). Contacts: Terraco Gold Corp. (604) 443-3830 or Toll free: 1 (877) 792-6688 (604) 682-3860 (FAX) www.terracogold.com SANDSTON, VA -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 --Anord Critical Power, Inc. (ACPI), a recognized leader and innovator in the power distribution market, today announced it will be showcasing its new compartmentalized Power Distribution Units (PDU) and RPP products at Critical Power North America (Booth #12). Anord's AMP PDU and RPP enable mission-critical facilities improved safety, performance, management and monitoring, making it the most advanced power distribution solution available in today's market. Tweet this: .@AnordCritical to showcase market's most advanced PDU at Aug 3-4 @Critical_Pow N. America, Booth #12 http://bit.ly/1U3PSE7 Held on August 3rd and 4th in Denver, Colorado, the Critical Power North America event showcases the latest advancements in critical power technology and services. The event is an ideal venue for Anord to showcase its AMP PDU, which sets new standards for typical PDU offerings by exceeding today's complex electrical distribution requirements with: Transformer Compartment Heat Reduction for better convection cooling characteristics within the heat/transformer compartment, and safety through compartmentalization. Compartmentalization for Safety to enhance the arc flash safety to require the minimum amount of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) to work in a live environment. The AMP PDU design takes human error and electrical arc containment into consideration with innovative compartments that automatically mitigate risks. An electronic start-up process for additional cost savings. Customers receive a tablet equipped with an interactive App that guides them through a start-up checklist. Once the procedure is completed, the App securely transfers the data to Anord, or designated recipients for processing. "Downtime is not an option for today's mission-critical facilities," said John Day, Vice President of Sales for Anord Critical Power, Inc. "Anord's new PDU innovations meet mission critical facilities' power needs by providing continuous power through improved delivery and safety features. This process brings more efficient operations while ensuring employees' safety from electrical shock. We look forward to sharing our insights with Critical Power North America attendees." To learn how you can leverage ACPI's Anord Modular Product (AMP) PDU and RPP to efficiently power your mission-critical facility, drop by Booth #12 or contact Anord Critical Power at 804-683-2078 or us.sales@anord.com. Follow/Engage/Share Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Resources http://www.anordcpi.com/products/switchgear/item/11/anord-modular-power-pdu/ http://www.anordcpi.com/products/anord-ams-switchgear/ http://www.anordcpi.com/ http://www.anordcpi.com/news/ About Anord Critical Power, Inc. Anord Critical Power, Inc. is a U.S.-based subsidiary of Anord, a leading independent provider of critical power infrastructure to the global data center industry, entering the American market with the delivery of a robust switchgear product offering superior system resilience and enhanced operator safety. Its compact, fully compartmentalized switchgear system offers a "best-of-both-standards" solution to meet the needs of critical power businesses. Established in 1969, Anord has a strong pedigree and successful track record in providing mission critical Low Voltage, Power Switchgear, Power Distribution Unit, and Remote Power Panel to many of the world's leading cloud computing, colocation, and enterprise data center businesses across EMEA as well as, APAC, North and Latin American markets. Anord's proprietary "AMS" switchgear system provides customized power switchgear equipment from a type tested and certified modular platform fully compliant with the IEC LV Switchgear standard 61439-2, and is listed to UL891. For more information visit: www.anordcpi.com. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3034781 For more information, contact: Jackie Abramian BridgeView Marketing (for Anord Critical Power, Inc.) 603-570-7533 Jackie@bridgeviewmarketing.com @AnordCritical WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Valero Energy Corp. (VLO) revealed a profit for second quarter that declined from last year. The company said its profit totaled $0.50 billion, or $1.07 per share. This was lower than $1.35 billion, or $2.66 per share, in last year's second quarter. Analysts had expected the company to earn $1.00 per share, according figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. The company said revenue for the quarter fell 22.1% to $19.58 billion. This was down from $25.12 billion last year. Valero Energy Corp. earnings at a glance: -Earnings (Q2): $0.50 Bln. vs. $1.35 Bln. last year. -Earnings Decline (Y-o-Y): -63.0% -EPS (Q2): $1.07 vs. $2.66 last year. -EPS Decline (Y-o-Y): -59.8% -Analysts Estimate: $1.00 -Revenue (Q2): $19.58 Bln vs. $25.12 Bln last year. -Revenue Change (Y-o-Y): -22.1% 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, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The report"Energy Recovery Ventilator Marketby Technology (Plate Heat Exchange, Heat Pipe Heat Exchange, Rotary Heat Exchange, Run-Around Coil, and Others), Application (Commercial, Residential, and Others), Region - Global Forecast to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, The global market is projected to reach USD 3.39 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 11.4% from 2016 to 2021. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 102 market data Tables and 31 Figures spread through 141 Pages and in-depth TOC on"Energy Recovery Ventilator Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/energy-recovery-ventilator-market-242565927.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. Increasing awareness regarding the benefits associated with the adoption of energy recovery ventilators, such as reduction in energy consumption, and rising demand for improving indoor air quality are factors driving the growth of the energy recovery ventilator market. Commercial segment is the fastest-growing application segment of the global energy recovery ventilator market Commercial application is projected to be the fastest-growing application segment from 2016 to 2021. Key factors contributing to the growth of the commercial applications of energy recovery ventilators include rise in construction activities, government regulations, and increased awareness regarding energy-efficient ERV systems. Plate heat exchange technology was the largest segment of the energy recovery ventilator market Based on technology, the energy recovery ventilator market has been segmented into rotary heat exchange, plate heat exchange, heat pipe heat exchanger, and run-around coil. Plate heat exchange was the largest segment of the market in 2015. The growth of this segment is attributed to the ability of plate heat exchangers to recover over 80% of the available waste exhaust sensible heat. Make an Inquiry @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=242565927 North America was the largest market for global energy recovery ventilator market in 2015, globally North America contributed the largest share to the global Energy Recovery Ventilator Market in 2015. A number of key trends, including the increasing demand for energy efficient devices and the consequent rise in the demand for ERV system in commercial and residential buildings as well as government regulations pertaining to the usage of energy efficient devices such as ERV are expected to fuel the demand for energy recovery ventilator systems in the region. Browse Related Reports: HVAC Insulation Market by Type (Glass Wool, Stone Wool, Phenolic Foam, Elastomeric Foam and Others), Application (Residential, Commercial, Industrial) & by Region - Global Trends and Forecast to 2021 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/hvac-insulation-market-75521260.html Heat Exchangers Market by Type (Shell & Tube, Plate & Frame, Air Cooled), Application (Chemical, Petrochemical, Oil & Gas, HVACR, Food & Beverage, Pulp & Paper, Power Generation), Classifications (MoC, Temperature Range & Fluid Type) and Geography - Forecast to 2021 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/heat-exchanger-market-750.html Know More About our Knowledge Store @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide 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. Contact: Mr.Rohan Markets and Markets UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India Tel: +1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/chemical Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets EQS-News / 26/07/2016 / 19:18 UTC+8 *?FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE?* *Chu Kong Petroleum and Natural Gas Steel Pipe Holdings Limited* *Stock Code:1938.HK* *PCK to Supply 40,000 Steel Pipes for the PETRONAS RAPID Project* (July 26, 2016 - Hong Kong) *Chu Kong Petroleum and Natural Gas Steel Pipe Holdings Limited *(the "Company", together with its subsidiaries hereinafter referred to as the "Group", "Chu Kong Steel Pipe" or "PCK" stock code: 1938), the largest manufacturer and exporter of longitudinal submerged arc welded steel pipes in China, is pleased to announce that the Group has been awarded a price agreement (the "Price Agreement") by an independent third party, to supply in two years approximately 40,000 tonnes of steel pipes for the PETRONAS Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project located in the state of Johor, Malaysia. The project is owned by Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS). Mr. Chen Chang, Chairman of the Group, comments, "Supplying pipes to the PETRONAS Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project represents our high product quality has been affirmed and recognized. The Group has an ability to provide a wide range of steel pipe products with the required specifications of refineries for the construction of a refinery project, providing solid support and assurance to the project." The ambitious project, RAPID, will consist of a 300,000-barrels-per-day refinery and petrochemical complex with a combined capacity of producing 7.7 million metric tons per year of various grades of products, including differentiated and specialty chemicals products. The estimated CAPEX of the RAPID project will be USD16 billion, while related facilities will cost around USD11 billion. Mr. Chen continues, "Malaysia is rich of resources and reserves in natural gas and oil, its natural gas reserves ranked the third place in Asia Pacific regions, which consists of huge industry potential. We will continue to expand business in Southeast Asia and oversea markets with our high quality steel pipe products. " - End - *About Chu Kong Steel Pipe* Chu Kong Petroleum and Natural Gas Steel Pipe Holdings Limited is the largest manufacturer and Chu Kong Petroleum and Natural Gas Steel Pipe Holdings Limited is the largest manufacturer and exporter of longitudinal submerged arc welded steel pipes in China. Our steel pipes are mainly used for energy transmission including oil and gas transmission pipelines, deep sea pipelines, city gas networks, and petrochemicals, mining, infrastructure construction, offshore engineering, steel structures and water utilities industries. The Group's production bases and offices are located in Panyu, Zhuhai, Lianyungang, Jiangyin, Ningbo of China, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Dubai, with 9 longitudinal submerged arc-welded ("LSAW"), 4 spiral submerged arc-welded ("SSAW") , 1 clad pipe and 1 electric resistance welded ("ERW") production lines and other lines with a combined annual production capacity of 3,380,000 tonnes Chu Kong Steel Pipe is the industry pioneer of LSAW steel pipes, strong in research and development with 112 registered utility patents including 8 registered invention patents, and has a long standing international and nationwide track record. The Group is the first and only steel pipe manufacturer in China to produce deep sea welded steel pipes for using under 1,500m water depth. Chu Kong Steel Pipe is the only welded pipe manufacturer in China that has achieved five national honors and awards, including "Superior Quality Award for Actual Quality of Metallurgical Products", "Gold Cup Prize for Actual Quality of Metallurgical Products", "National Key New Products", "National-recognized Enterprise Technology Centre", and "High Technology Enterprise". We have an "Academician Workstation", and also the main drafter of the national standard for longitudinal welded steel pipes for transmission. The Group is developing its Golden Dragon City Fortune Plaza, located at Shiji Town, Panyu, Guangzhou, China, which is an integrated commercial complex of offices, shops, serviced apartments and villas. *For media enquiries, please contact* Shelldy Cheung Phone: (852) 2626 1833 Email: shelldycheung@zhujiang.com.hk Document: http://n.eqs.com/c/fncls.ssp?u=IXRRMWWJCX [1] Document title: Press release - Chu Kong Steel Pipe (1938 HK) to Supply 40,000 tonnes Steel Pipes for the Petronas RAPID Project Key word(s): Contract 26/07/2016 Dissemination of a Press Release, transmitted by EQS Group. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. Media archive at www.todayir.com 486019 26/07/2016 1: http://public-cockpit.eqs.com/cgi-bin/fncls.ssp?fn=redirect&url=3b4325edb02cc205766ac6da5c08bd2c&application_id=486019&site_id=vwd&application_name=news (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 26, 2016 07:18 ET (11:18 GMT) VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- Klondex Mines Ltd. (TSX: KDX)(NYSE MKT: KLDX) ("Klondex" or the "Company") is pleased to announce today that, due to strong demand, it has agreed with a syndicate of underwriters (collectively, the "Underwriters"), to increase the size of its previously announced $100,000,000 "bought deal" private placement. Pursuant to the upsized deal terms, the Underwriters have agreed to purchase, on a bought deal private placement basis, 22,900,000 subscription receipts of the Company ("Subscription Receipts"), at a price of C$5.00 per Subscription Receipt (the "Offering Price"), for aggregate gross proceeds of C$114,500,000 (the "Offering"). Klondex has also granted the Underwriters an option, exercisable in whole or in part up to two business days prior to the closing date of the Offering, to purchase of up to an additional 3,000,000 Subscription Receipts at the Offering Price for additional gross proceeds of up to C$15,000,000. The Offering is scheduled to close on or about August 18, 2016, and is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals including the approvals of the TSX and the NYSE MKT. The securities to be issued under the Offering will be offered by way of private placement exemptions in all the provinces of Canada and in the United States on a private placement basis pursuant to exemptions from the registration requirements of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended. All securities issued pursuant to the Offering, including the Subscription Receipts and the Special Warrants, will be subject to a statutory four-month hold period in accordance with Canadian securities legislation, subject to the prospectus qualification referred to above. The securities being offered have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons absent U.S. registration or an applicable exemption from the U.S. registration requirements. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. About Klondex Mines Ltd. (www.klondexmines.com) Klondex is a well-capitalized, junior-tier gold and silver mining company focused on exploration, development, and production in a safe, environmentally responsible, and cost-effective manner. The Company has 100% interests in two producing mineral properties: the Fire Creek Mine and the Midas Mine and ore milling facility, both of which are located in the state of Nevada, USA, as well as the recently acquired True North Gold Mine (formerly the Rice Lake Mine) and mill in Manitoba, Canada. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Information This news release contains certain information that may constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements under applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking information"), including but not limited to information about the structure, terms and timing of the Offering; whether the Offering will be completed and the terms of the Subscription Receipts. This forward-looking information entails various risks and uncertainties that are based on current expectations, and actual results may differ materially from those contained in such information. These uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, the strength of the global economy; the price of gold; operational, funding and liquidity risks; the degree to which mineral resource estimates are reflective of actual mineral resources; the degree to which factors which would make a mineral deposit commercially viable are present; the risks and hazards associated with underground operations; and the ability of Klondex to fund its substantial capital requirements and operations. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the Company's disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada and United States available at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov, respectively. Readers are urged to read these materials. Klondex assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from such information unless required by law. Contacts: Klondex Mines Ltd. John Seaberg Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Development 775-284-5757 or M: 303-668-7991 jseaberg@klondexmines.com TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- Buffalo Coal Corp. (TSX VENTURE: BUF)(JSE: BUC) ("Buffalo" or "the Company") announces the notice of resignation of Mr. Malcolm Campbell as Chief Executive Officer and Ms. Sarah Williams as Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary. Mr. Craig Wiggill, Chairman, commented "We regret that two members of senior management have decided to leave the company, but will ensure that the necessary plans are put in place to effect a smooth transition." Mr. Campbell and Ms. Williams will continue in their current roles for a period of three months to facilitate the implementation of an orderly succession plan, and further details in this regard will be announced in due course. The Board would like to thank Mr. Campbell and Ms. Williams for their contributions to the Company and wishes them well in their future endeavours. About Buffalo Buffalo is a coal producer in southern Africa. It holds a majority interest in two operating mines through its 100% interest in Buffalo Coal Dundee (Pty) Ltd, a South African company which has a 70% interest in Zinoju Coal (Pty) Ltd ("Zinoju"). Zinoju holds a 100% interest in the Magdalena bituminous mine and the Aviemore anthracite mine in South Africa. Buffalo has an experienced coal-focused management team. Cautionary Notes: This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the future financial or operating performance of Buffalo and its projects. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", 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". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Buffalo to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, foreign operations, political and social uncertainties; a history of operating losses; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; not realizing on the potential benefits of the proposed transaction; conclusions of economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; future prices of mineral products; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; and, delays in obtaining governmental approvals or required financing or in the completion of activities. Although Buffalo has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Buffalo does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange, nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange), accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: Craig Wiggill Chairman craig@wiggill.co.uk VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - July 26, 2016) - NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP ("AHIP") (TSX: HOT.UN) (OTCQX: AHOTF) announced today the completion of its previously announced public offering (the "Offering") of 10,000,400 limited partnership units (each a "Unit"), on a bought deal basis, at a price of Cdn$10.35 per Unit, for total gross proceeds of Cdn$103.5 million. The total gross proceeds include the full exercise of the over-allotment option of 1,304,400 Units for additional proceeds of Cdn$13.5 million. The Offering is fully described in AHIP's short form prospectus dated July 18, 2016 (the "Prospectus"), which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Offering was conducted through a syndicate of underwriters led by CIBC Capital Markets and included National Bank Financial Inc., Canaccord Genuity Corp., TD Securities Inc., Scotiabank, BMO Capital Markets, RBC Capital Markets, Haywood Securities Inc. and Industrial Alliance Securities Inc. As described in the Prospectus, AHIP intends to use the net proceeds of the Offering to: (i) partially fund the acquisition of the two-high quality Embassy Suites by Hilton hotels located in Dallas, Texas and Tempe, Arizona (the "Embassy Suites Portfolio"); (ii) partially fund the potential acquisition of a nine-property, branded hotel portfolio (the "Multi-Hotel Branded Portfolio"); (iii) partially fund the potential acquisition of two rail crew lodging facilities (the "Rail Crew Hotels"); and (iv) fund working capital and for general corporate purposes. In the event that one or more of the acquisitions do not close, the net proceeds may be used for other potential future acquisitions and/or for working capital and general corporate purposes. Rob O'Neill, CEO said "We are pleased to have the support of both equity and debt markets as we continue to actively pursue a robust pipeline of high quality rail crew and branded hotels throughout the U.S." The Units sold pursuant to the Offering have been listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") under AHIP's existing trading symbol HOT.UN. AHIP now has 45,086,159 Units issued and outstanding. These securities have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of such Act. This news release does not constitute an offer for sale of these securities in the United States. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, which reflects AHIP's current expectations regarding future events. Forward-looking information is identified by the use of terms and phrases such as "anticipate", "believe", "budget", "could", "estimate", "expect", "going-in", "intend", "may", "opportunities", "plan", "potential", "predict", "project", "will", "would" and similar terms and phrases, including references to assumptions. Such information includes, but is not limited to: the use of proceeds from the Offering, including, without limitation, to partially fund the potential acquisition of each of the Embassy Suites Portfolio, Multi-Hotel Branded Portfolio and Rail Crew Hotels. Actual events or results may differ materially. Forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by AHIP, including, without limitation those with respect to: a reasonably stable North American economy and stock market; the acquisition, conversion and successful integration, as applicable, of the Embassy Suites Portfolio, Multi-Hotel Branded Portfolio and Rail Crew Hotels; and the U.S. hotel and lodging industry, including competition for acquisitions, will be consistent with the economic climate. Although the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based upon what AHIP's management believes to be reasonable assumptions, AHIP cannot assure investors that actual events or results will be consistent with such information. Forward-looking information reflects current expectations of management regarding future events and operating performance as of the date of this news release. Such information involves 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 could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking information, and a description of these factors can be found under "Risk Factors" in the Prospectus, under "Risk Factors" in AHIP's Annual Information Form dated March 17, 2016 and under "Risks and Uncertainties" in AHIP's Management's Discussion and Analysis dated May 11, 2016, each of which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking information contained herein is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking information is made as of the date of this news release and AHIP assumes no obligation to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by applicable law. The potential acquisitions and conversions described in this news release are indicative only, as these potential transactions are being evaluated and negotiated with the applicable sellers. In addition, each transaction, if it proceeds, would be subject to conditions, including satisfactory completion of AHIP's due diligence and negotiation or assignment of railway contracts, as applicable, and negotiation of formal legal documents. For example, AHIP cautions that there can be no assurance that any such transaction will complete, or what the terms of such a transaction, if any, may be. AHIP undertakes no obligation to update investors on the status of any potential transactions described in this news release unless and until all key conditions are satisfied and the Board of Directors of AHIP's general partner has approved the transaction, in each case. ABOUT AMERICAN HOTEL INCOME PROPERTIES REIT LP AHIP is a limited partnership formed under the Limited Partnerships Act (Ontario) to invest in hotel real estate properties located substantially in the United States and is engaged primarily in the rail crew accommodation, transportation-oriented and select-service lodging sectors. AHIP's properties are mostly located in secondary and tertiary markets in the United States in close proximity to railroads, airports, highway interchanges and other demand generators. AHIP currently owns 80 hotels including 45 hotels serving the U.S. rail industry pursuant to long-term rail crew contracts and 35 hotels affiliated with leading national and international hotel brands. AHIP's long-term objectives are to: (i) generate stable and growing cash distributions from hotel properties substantially in the U.S.; (ii) enhance the value of its assets and maximize the long-term value of the hotel properties through active management; and (iii) expand its asset base and increase its AFFO per unit through an accretive acquisition program, participation in strategic development opportunities, and improvements to its properties through targeted value-added capital expenditure programs. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Additional information relating to AHIP, including its other public filings, is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on AHIP's website at www.ahipreit.com. THE TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR THE ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Andrew Greig Investor Relations American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP Suite 1660 - 401 West Georgia Street Vancouver, B.C. V6B 5A1 Phone: (604) 633-2857 Email: agreig@ahipreit.com WEST CHESTER, OH -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) today reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2016. 2nd Quarter 2016 Highlights Net income of $17.3 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $64.0 million, or $0.36 per diluted share a year ago Adjusted EBITDA of $99.3 million, more than doubled from the year ago quarter Adjusted EBITDA margin improved to 6.7% from 2.8% a year ago Credit facility borrowings reduced by $370 million during the quarter Liquidity of $945 million AK Steel reported net income of $17.3 million, or $0.08 per diluted share of common stock, for the second quarter of 2016, compared to a net loss of $64.0 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2015. The company's adjusted EBITDA (as defined in the "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" section below) of $99.3 million, or 6.7% of net sales, for the second quarter of 2016 more than doubled from adjusted EBITDA of $47.6 million, or 2.8% of net sales, for the year ago second quarter. "Our strategic decision to reduce exposure to commodity spot markets, optimize our footprint and focus on higher value products continued to show positive results as we achieved another quarter of significant improvement," said Roger K. Newport, Chief Executive Officer of AK Steel. "We continue to make operational improvements and relentlessly pursue margin enhancements, and we are seeing the benefit of these actions in our financial results." Net sales of $1.49 billion for the second quarter of 2016 decreased from $1.69 billion in the second quarter of 2015, primarily as a result of lower automotive contract pricing compared to a year ago as well as a decrease in shipments. In the recent second quarter, shipments of 1,555,500 tons represented a decline of 14% compared to 1,811,700 tons from the second quarter a year ago. The company's decision to reduce exposure to the commodity carbon steel spot market resulted in a 320,000 ton decline in shipments to the distributors and converters markets, or a 48% reduction from a year ago. Shipments of higher value coated products, which are sold mostly to the automotive market, increased to 53% of the company's total shipments in the current second quarter from 45% a year ago. The company's adjusted EBITDA more than doubled to $99.3 million in the second quarter of 2016 from the second quarter of 2015, principally due to a better product mix, operational improvements, a continued focus on reducing costs, and lower raw material and energy costs. The second quarter of 2016 included a LIFO charge of $20.7 million, compared to a LIFO credit of $34.8 million in the second quarter a year ago. Also included in the recent second quarter was approximately $14.1 million of unrealized hedge losses compared to $1.1 million in the same quarter a year ago. As part of the company's strategy to enhance its balance sheet, in May 2016 the company issued 59.8 million shares of common stock at $4.40 per share. Net proceeds of $249.4 million were used to reduce debt by repaying outstanding borrowings under the company's revolving credit facility. In June 2016, as part of a transaction to refinance its senior secured notes due 2018 (the "Old Notes"), the company issued $380.0 million of 7.50% senior secured notes due 2023. Through a concurrent tender offer for the Old Notes, the company retired $251.7 million in principal amount of Old Notes, then called the remaining $128.3 million in principal amount, which were subsequently retired in July 2016. As a result, all of the Old Notes have been extinguished. Included in other income (expense) in the second quarter of 2016 was $5.6 million of expense related to the tender offer. The company ended the second quarter of 2016 with total liquidity of $945.0 million. Cash flows from operating activities for the second quarter of 2016 were $136.3 million and included a $50.6 million contribution from working capital, as the company continued to proactively manage its inventory levels. The company reduced its debt levels by repaying borrowings under its credit facility by $370.0 million during the second quarter of 2016, largely as a result of the net proceeds from the successful equity offering during the second quarter of 2016 and diligent working capital management. Six-Month Results For the first six months of 2016, the company reported net income of $3.7 million, or $0.02 per diluted share, as compared to a net loss of $370.3 million, or $2.08 per diluted share, in the corresponding six months of 2015. Sales for the first six months of 2016 were $3.01 billion compared to sales of $3.44 billion in the same period a year ago. Shipments for the first half of 2016 were 3,213,700 tons compared to 3,562,200 tons in the first half of 2015. The company's average selling price for the first half of 2016 was $935 per ton, a decrease from $965 per ton for the first half of 2015. The decrease in average selling price was primarily attributable to lower pricing on automotive contracts and lingering effects of market oversupply in the first quarter of 2016 from an influx of what the company believes were unfairly traded foreign steel imports. The company's adjusted EBITDA margin as a percent of net sales improved to 6.0% for the first six months of 2016 from 3.1% for the same period a year ago. The improvement was principally driven by the company's decision to reduce shipments of commodity products, optimize its manufacturing footprint, and focus on continuous improvement within its facilities, as well as a relentless focus on costs. The first half of 2016 included LIFO charges of $8.4 million, compared to LIFO credits of $51.9 million in the first half of 2015. The company recorded costs of $21.9 million during the first six months of 2016 for planned outages, compared to $31.8 million during the first six months of 2015. Included in the results for the six months ended June 30, 2015 was an impairment charge of $256.3 million, or $1.44 per diluted share, to fully impair the company's investment in Magnetation LLC. AK Steel AK Steel is a leading producer of flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steel products, primarily for automotive, infrastructure and manufacturing, construction and electrical power generation and distribution markets. Headquartered in West Chester, Ohio (Greater Cincinnati), the company employs approximately 8,500 men and women at eight steel plants, two coke plants and two tube manufacturing plants across six states: Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Additional information about AK Steel is available at www.aksteel.com. Safe Harbor Statement Certain statements the company made or incorporated by reference in this release, or made in other documents furnished to or filed with the Securities Exchange Commission, as well as in press releases or in oral presentations made by company employees, reflect management's estimates and beliefs and are intended to be "forward-looking statements" identified in the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "plans," "estimates" and other similar references to future periods typically identify forward-looking statements. The company cautions readers that forward-looking statements reflect the company's current beliefs and judgments, but are not guarantees of future performance or outcomes. They are based on a number of assumptions and estimates that are inherently affected by economic, competitive, regulatory, and operational risks, uncertainties and contingencies that are beyond the company's control, and upon assumptions about future business decisions and conditions that may change. Forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve risks and uncertainties, resulting in the possibility that actual events or performance will differ materially from such predictions as a result of certain risk factors, including reduced selling prices, shipments and profits associated with a highly competitive and cyclical industry; increased global steel production and imports; changes in the cost of raw materials and energy; the company's significant amount of debt and other obligations; severe financial hardship or bankruptcy of one or more of the company's major customers or key suppliers; reduced demand in key product markets due to competition from aluminum or other alternatives to steel; excess inventory of raw materials; supply chain disruptions or poor quality of raw materials; production disruption or reduced production levels; the company's healthcare and pension obligations; not reaching new labor agreements on a timely basis; major litigation, arbitrations, environmental issues and other contingencies; regulatory compliance and changes; climate change and greenhouse gas emission limitations; financial, credit, capital and banking markets; derivative contracts to hedge commodity pricing volatility; potential permanent idling of facilities; inability to fully realize benefits of margin enhancement initiatives; information technology security threats and cybercrime; as well as those risks and uncertainties discussed in more detail in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, as updated in subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. As such, the company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only to the company's plans, assumptions and expectations as of the date hereof. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, except as required by law. AK STEEL HOLDING CORPORATION CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (Unaudited) (Dollars and shares in millions, except per share and per ton data) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30, June 30, -------------------- -------------------- 2016 2015 2016 2015 --------- --------- --------- --------- Shipments (000 tons) 1,555.5 1,811.7 3,213.7 3,562.2 Selling price per ton $ 957 $ 931 $ 935 $ 965 Net sales $ 1,492.2 $ 1,689.4 $ 3,011.0 $ 3,440.3 Cost of products sold 1,325.0 1,579.2 2,690.5 3,187.8 Selling and administrative expenses 62.2 63.5 125.7 132.7 Depreciation 54.3 55.7 108.0 111.1 Pension and OPEB expense (income) (11.9) (16.1) (23.8) (32.2) --------- --------- --------- --------- Total operating costs 1,429.6 1,682.3 2,900.4 3,399.4 --------- --------- --------- --------- Operating profit 62.6 7.1 110.6 40.9 Interest expense 41.4 43.5 84.2 87.4 Impairment of Magnetation investment -- -- -- (256.3) Other income (expense) 2.1 1.5 1.4 (15.2) --------- --------- --------- --------- Income (loss) before income taxes 23.3 (34.9) 27.8 (318.0) Income tax expense (benefit) (10.6) 14.6 (10.5) 22.3 --------- --------- --------- --------- Net income (loss) 33.9 (49.5) 38.3 (340.3) Less: Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests 16.6 14.5 34.6 30.0 --------- --------- --------- --------- Net income (loss) attributable to AK Steel Holding Corporation $ 17.3 $ (64.0) $ 3.7 $ (370.3) ========= ========= ========= ========= Basic and diluted earnings per share: Net income (loss) attributable to AK Steel Holding Corporation $ 0.08 $ (0.36) $ 0.02 $ (2.08) ========= ========= ========= ========= Weighted-average shares outstanding: Basic 216.4 177.2 197.0 177.1 Diluted 217.2 177.2 197.6 177.1 AK STEEL HOLDING CORPORATION CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Unaudited) (Dollars in millions, except per share amounts) June 30, December 31, 2016 2015 ------------ ------------ ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 56.2 $ 56.6 Accounts receivable, net 448.5 444.9 Inventory, net 978.3 1,226.3 Other current assets 68.6 78.4 ------------ ------------ Total current assets 1,551.6 1,806.2 Property, plant and equipment 6,515.0 6,466.0 Accumulated depreciation (4,485.9) (4,379.5) ------------ ------------ Property, plant and equipment, net 2,029.1 2,086.5 Cash held for retirement of debt 135.4 -- Other non-current assets 202.2 191.7 ------------ ------------ TOTAL ASSETS $ 3,918.3 $ 4,084.4 ============ ============ LIABILITIES AND EQUITY (DEFICIT) Current liabilities: Accounts payable $ 602.9 $ 703.4 Accrued liabilities 206.1 261.5 Current portion of pension and other postretirement benefit obligations 77.6 77.7 ------------ ------------ Total current liabilities 886.6 1,042.6 Non-current liabilities: Long-term debt 2,078.1 2,354.1 Pension and other postretirement benefit obligations 1,122.5 1,146.9 Other non-current liabilities 131.7 136.4 ------------ ------------ TOTAL LIABILITIES 4,218.9 4,680.0 Equity (deficit): Common stock, authorized 300,000,000 shares of $0.01 par value each; issued 238,762,359 and 178,284,137 shares in 2016 and 2015; outstanding 238,207,690 and 177,893,562 shares in 2016 and 2015 2.4 1.8 Additional paid-in capital 2,518.8 2,266.8 Treasury stock, common shares at cost, 554,669 and 390,575 shares in 2016 and 2015 (2.3) (2.0) Accumulated deficit (3,053.3) (3,057.0) Accumulated other comprehensive loss (145.8) (187.2) ------------ ------------ Total stockholders' equity (deficit) (680.2) (977.6) Noncontrolling interests 379.6 382.0 ------------ ------------ TOTAL EQUITY (DEFICIT) (300.6) (595.6) ------------ ------------ TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY (DEFICIT) $ 3,918.3 $ 4,084.4 ============ ============ AK STEEL HOLDING CORPORATION CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited) (Dollars in millions) Six Months Ended June 30, -------------------------- 2016 2015 ------------ ------------ Cash flows from operating activities: Net income (loss) $ 38.3 $ (340.3) Depreciation 100.8 103.9 Depreciation--SunCoke Middletown 7.2 7.2 Amortization 9.9 12.5 Impairment of Magnetation investment -- 256.3 Deferred income taxes (7.2) 20.7 Pension and OPEB expense (income) (23.8) (32.2) Contributions to pension trust -- (1.0) Other postretirement benefit payments (16.0) (22.2) Changes in working capital 122.2 52.6 Other operating items, net 41.6 26.4 ------------ ------------ Net cash flows from operating activities 273.0 83.9 Cash flows from investing activities: Capital investments (53.9) (49.7) Cash held for retirement of debt (135.4) -- Proceeds from sale of equity investee -- 25.0 Other investing items, net 2.1 1.3 ------------ ------------ Net cash flows from investing activities (187.2) (23.4) Cash flows from financing activities: Net borrowings (payments) under credit facility (400.0) (10.0) Proceeds from issuance of long-term debt 380.0 -- Redemption of long-term debt (259.0) (2.2) Proceeds from issuance of common stock 249.4 -- Debt issuance costs (19.3) -- SunCoke Middletown distributions to noncontrolling interest owners (37.0) (42.6) Other financing items, net (0.3) (0.9) ------------ ------------ Net cash flows from financing activities (86.2) (55.7) ------------ ------------ Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents (0.4) 4.8 Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period 56.6 70.2 ------------ ------------ Cash and cash equivalents, end of period $ 56.2 $ 75.0 ============ ============ AK STEEL HOLDING CORPORATION NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES (Unaudited) (Dollars in millions) In certain of its disclosures in this news release, the company has reported adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin that exclude the effects of noncontrolling interests and an impairment charge for its investment in Magnetation. EBITDA is an acronym for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. It is a metric that is sometimes used to compare the results of different companies by removing the effects of different factors that might otherwise make comparisons inaccurate or inappropriate. The adjusted results, although not financial measures under generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") and not identically applied by other companies, facilitate the ability to analyze the company's financial results in relation to those of its competitors and to the company's prior financial performance by excluding items that otherwise would distort the comparison. Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin are not, however, intended as alternative measures of operating results or cash flow from operations as determined in accordance with GAAP and are not necessarily comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. Neither current nor potential investors in the company's securities should rely on adjusted EBITDA or adjusted EBITDA margin as a substitute for any GAAP financial measure and the company encourages current and potential investors to review the following reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA. Reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30, June 30, ---------------- ---------------- (dollars in millions, except per ton) 2016 2015 2016 2015 ---------------------------------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- Net income (loss) attributable to AK Steel Holding $ 17.3 $ (64.0) $ 3.7 $(370.3) Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests 16.6 14.5 34.6 30.0 Income tax expense (benefit) (10.6) 14.6 (10.5) 22.3 Interest expense 41.4 43.5 84.2 87.4 Interest income (0.6) (0.3) (0.9) (0.6) Depreciation 54.3 55.7 108.0 111.1 Amortization 1.1 1.7 3.1 6.1 ------- ------- ------- ------- EBITDA 119.5 65.7 222.2 (114.0) Less: EBITDA of noncontrolling interests (a) 20.2 18.1 41.8 37.2 Impairment of Magnetation investment -- -- -- 256.3 ------- ------- ------- ------- Adjusted EBITDA $ 99.3 $ 47.6 $ 180.4 $ 105.1 ======= ======= ======= ======= Adjusted EBITDA margin 6.7% 2.8% 6.0% 3.1% ======= ======= ======= ======= (a) The reconciliation of EBITDA of noncontrolling interests to net income attributable to noncontrolling interests is as follows: Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30, June 30, ----------------- ----------------- (dollars in millions) 2016 2015 2016 2015 ------------------------------------ -------- -------- -------- -------- Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests $ 16.6 $ 14.5 $ 34.6 $ 30.0 Depreciation 3.6 3.6 7.2 7.2 -------- -------- -------- -------- EBITDA of noncontrolling interests $ 20.2 $ 18.1 $ 41.8 $ 37.2 ======== ======== ======== ======== AK STEEL HOLDING CORPORATION STEEL SHIPMENTS (Unaudited) (Tons in thousands) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30, June 30, -------------------- -------------------- 2016 2015 2016 2015 --------- --------- --------- --------- Tons Shipped by Product Stainless/electrical 227.1 223.4 450.9 450.9 Coated 819.4 823.8 1,656.5 1,609.8 Cold-rolled 256.7 332.6 558.6 653.6 Tubular 31.3 29.7 60.7 59.1 --------- --------- --------- --------- Subtotal value-added shipments 1,334.5 1,409.5 2,726.7 2,773.4 Hot-rolled 183.9 359.1 404.3 692.1 Secondary 37.1 43.1 82.7 96.7 --------- --------- --------- --------- Subtotal non value-added shipments 221.0 402.2 487.0 788.8 --------- --------- --------- --------- Total shipments 1,555.5 1,811.7 3,213.7 3,562.2 ========= ========= ========= ========= Shipments by Product (%) Stainless/electrical 14.6% 12.3% 14.0% 12.7% Coated 52.7% 45.5% 51.5% 45.2% Cold-rolled 16.5% 18.4% 17.4% 18.3% Tubular 2.0% 1.6% 1.9% 1.7% --------- --------- --------- --------- Subtotal value-added shipments 85.8% 77.8% 84.8% 77.9% Hot-rolled 11.8% 19.8% 12.6% 19.4% Secondary 2.4% 2.4% 2.6% 2.7% --------- --------- --------- --------- Subtotal non value-added shipments 14.2% 22.2% 15.2% 22.1% --------- --------- --------- --------- Total shipments 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% ========= ========= ========= ========= Contacts: Media Lisa H. Jester Corporate Manager, Communications and Public Relations (513) 425-2510 Investors Douglas O. Mitterholzer General Manager, Investor Relations (513) 425-5215 DALLAS, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- Masergy Communications Inc. today announced its participation in Black Hat USA 2016 with two workshop sessions and demonstrations of its machine learning and behavioral analytics technologies at booth 1360. Masergy been selected to conduct two workshops at Black Hat -- the top global event for the InfoSec community -- held July 30-August 4 in Las Vegas. Masergy Chief Scientist Mike Stute and Vice President of Cyber Security David Venable will discuss machine learning and the need for a comprehensive security strategy, respectively. The workshop details are as follows: Breaking the Machine Learning Hype Cycle - August 3, 2016, 10:20am-11:10am PST - Mike Stute, Chief Scientist, will explore machine learning in cyber security. Machine learning is everywhere. But like all technologies, sometimes reality gets lost in the "buzz" and what we have left is hype. Wondering what technologies are performing true machine learning versus those that aren't? Attendees will learn: The history of machine learning and where the technology is projected to go What machine learning can do and what it can't do in general terms How to spot when the buzz around machine learning is something new or just an old idea with a new name Building A Corporate Security Program From A to Z - August 3, 2016, 11:30am-12:10pm PST - David Venable, Vice President of Cyber Security, will discuss the importance of creating a strategic, corporate-wide security program. He'll also outline how to put together an implementation plan and will explore methods to identify the benefits and ROI of an integrated cyber security framework. Attendees will learn: How to pull together various efforts into an integrated security strategy How to continually assess and amend your security program in response to real-world threats and business requirements How to adapt your security program to real-world risk and changes "The growing importance of enterprise security has resulted in a flood of security solutions on the market, all touting advanced technologies such as machine learning," says Stute. "It's time to break through the hype and help IT professionals understand how machine learning and an integrated security strategy can help them better protect their organization's essential assets." For more than 18 years, Black Hat has provided attendees with the most up to date information security research, development and trends in a strictly vendor-neutral environment. These high-profile global events and training sessions are driven by the needs of the security community and bring together the best minds in this field. Masergy's workshops embrace the event's principles and deliver to attendees a unique view on today's most dynamic security developments. About Masergy Masergy owns and operates the largest independent Software Defined Platform in the world, delivering hybrid networking, managed security and cloud communication solutions to global enterprises. Our patented technology, customizable solutions and unmatched customer experience are why a growing number of leading organizations rely on Masergy to deliver performance beyond expectations. Learn more about Masergy and follow us on our blog Transforming Enterprise IT, Twitter @Masergy, LinkedIn and Facebook. Masergy Contact: Betsey Rogers BridgeView Marketing 603-886-7087 betsey@bridgeviewmarketing.com Flash U.S. Democrats were in turmoil on Sunday, with their party chair abruptly announcing her resignation on the eve of the national convention to officially nominate Hillary Clinton as its presidential candidate. Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced Sunday that she would resign at the end of the party convention, amid furor over embarrassing leaked emails showing the DNC's bias against presidential contender Bernie Sanders. "The best way for me to accomplish those goals (of this election cycle) is to step down as party chair at the end of this convention. As party chair, this week I will open and close the convention and I will address our delegates about the stakes involved in this election not only for Democrats, but for all Americans," Schultz wrote in a statement. "We have planned a great and unified convention this week and I hope and expect that the DNC team that has worked so hard to get us to this point will have the strong support of all Democrats in making sure this is the best convention we have ever had," she said. Donna Brazile, the DNC's vice chairwoman, will step in as interim chairwoman, DNC communications director Luis Miranda tweeted. Brazile previously ran Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign and is a regular on cable news. Schultz's announcement came after the release of nearly 20,000 emails by WikiLeaks on Friday, which showed members of the DNC trading ideas for how to undercut the campaign of Sanders, who proved a resilient adversary to Clinton in the Democratic primaries. The emails detailed the acrimonious split between the DNC and Sanders. Sanders' supporters said the emails show the Democratic Party rigged its nomination process for Clinton by undermining the challenger's campaign. In one email, a staffer suggested the DNC spread a negative article about Sanders' supporters; in another, the DNC's chief financial officer suggested that questions about Sanders' faith could undermine his candidacy. "I think I read he is an atheist," the staffer wrote. "This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist." WikiLeaks said the new cache of emails came from the accounts of seven key figures in the DNC and warned that the release is "part one of our new Hillary Leaks series" -- an indication that more material might become known soon. The leaked emails include thousands from the Democratic Party's communication director and more than 3,700 emails from its national finance director. Sanders, who has repeatedly called on Schultz to step down, reiterated his call in an interview with CNN on Sunday, saying he believed that the DNC was supporting Clinton and "at opposition to our campaign all along." "I don't think she is qualified to be the chair of the DNC, not only for these awful emails, which revealed the prejudice of the DNC, but also because we need a party that reaches out to working people and young people, and I don't think her leadership style is doing that," Sanders said on the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. "I am not an atheist," he said. "But aside from all of that, it is an outrage and sad that you would have people in important positions in the DNC trying to undermine my campaign. It goes without saying: The function of the DNC is to represent all of the candidates -- to be fair and even-minded." Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump responded to the incident in a tweet: "Crooked Hillary Clinton was not at all loyal to the person in her rigged system that pushed her over the top, DWS. Too bad Bernie flamed out," using Debbie Wasserman Schultz's initials. The four-day Democratic National Convention will kick off on Monday in Philadelphia, where Clinton is expected to be officially announced as the party's nominee and Sanders will also make a speech calling for the party's unity. HOUSTON, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- TrendMiner, a leading big data search and advanced predictive analytics provider to the process manufacturing industry, announced today that it has received $1.1 million in additional funding from The Innovation Fund. This is a symbolic investment after the Fund's recent series A funding to TrendMiner of $6 million in December 2015. The investment group supports promising companies identified as creating exceptional value to the chemical industry. "To have been selected by The Innovation Fund for this significant investment is truly an honor," said TrendMiner Founder and CEO Bert Baeck. "This investor group is a formidable consortium of former European industry executives, industrial families and chemical organizations. That they have identified TrendMiner as a worthy investment target reinforces our status as a technology company that plays a crucial role in bringing value to the industry." According to Francois Cornelis, former vice president of the Total Executive Committee and now President of The Innovation Fund, the mission of the Fund is to support innovation in the chemical sector. "We are adding TrendMiner to our portfolio because we recognize that the industry must concentrate on next-generation productivity, digital transformation and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). This is the exciting domain where TrendMiner delivers real value to its customers and serves as a rising industry leader," Cornelis said. Baeck noted that data analytics will increasingly play a major role in the IIoT. "It will introduce new types of data and formats and increased data volumes," he commented. "It's important to understand that traditional architectures and processes will not be able to deliver timely insights, resulting in missed opportunities or excessive cost." TrendMiner is helping global manufacturing companies by improving their plant availability and overall asset effectiveness through Discovery, Diagnostic and Predictive Analytics using Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning technologies, all of which support IIoT. The solution easily connects to existing data sources without interruption to production process. TrendMiner is able to add value on day one by helping people make better decisions faster and enables users to react quickly by using self-service analytics and leveraging available data in several forms as an essential asset. About TrendMiner TrendMiner, with U.S. headquarters in Houston, TX, delivers Discovery, Diagnostic and Predictive analytics with real time monitoring tools for the process industry. Its flagship software is based on a high performance analytics engine for process data. Through an intuitive web-based trend client, process engineers and operators can easily search for trends using TrendMiner's patent pending pattern recognition and machine learning big data technologies, without the support of a data scientist. The TrendMiner plug and play solution adds value immediately after deployment eliminating expensive investments in big data infrastructure or long implementation projects. TrendMiner, founded in 2008, is a software company with global headquarters in Belgium and offices in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and the U.S. Visit us at: www.trendminer.com Media Contact Dawn Fontaine Ripple Effect Communications Email Contact 508-353-3777 PALO ALTO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- Allegis Capital, a seed and early stage two-decade-old venture capital firm focused on cybersecurity and analytics, announced today that it has become a strategic partner of DataTribe, a unique "startup studio" formed to create and grow technology startups by leveraging the most advanced technologies forged by U.S. government R&D projects. Robert Ackerman Jr., the founder and a managing director of Allegis, is also one of three co-founders and directors of DataTribe. DataTribe is co-headquartered in Fulton, Md., in the Washington D.C. Beltway, and in Silicon Valley. DataTribe is drawing upon the Beltway and Silicon Valley to build new companies at the cutting edge of innovation in cybersecurity, data and analytics. The Beltway has 3.5 times as many cybersecurity engineers as the rest of the country combined according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The region has a minimal startup ecosystem, however. Its ties to Allegis Capital and the Silicon Valley venture ecosystem are intended to close that gap. About DataTribe DataTribe will co-create, develop the focus and strategy of two to three startups annually, refine their execution and hand-pick their entrepreneurial teams, primarily from the ranks of engineers working on successful government R&D projects. The foundations upon which startups will be based will be sizable government R&D projects, often conducted in national laboratories, which have been implemented, tested and validated. DataTribe will then license and commercialize this technology, develop it via open source or turn to highly select engineering teams to transform the technology into commercial applications. In addition, the startups will follow leadership precepts developed by the Navy's elite Seal Team 6 to develop an intimate understanding of asymmetric engagement with commercial adversaries, enabling them to more effectively overcome the challenges startups typically face. When DataTribe-backed startups become ready for Series A venture financing, Allegis is likely to become one of their investors. DataTribe Strategic Partners Allegis has joined a small team of additional strategic partners, including Deloitte, the prominent financial consulting firm and Yahoo Japan. The partners' own business demands require operating at the forefront of innovation in cybersecurity, data and analytics. They will work with DataTribe executives to help evaluate potential startup market opportunities and provide "go-to-market" validation and product roadmaps. They will also help startups recruit key executives. Allegis, in particular, will support all aspects of the development and growth of DataTribe startups. "DataTribe represents an opportunity for us to leverage our 20 years of startup expertise, deep market knowledge and extended Silicon Valley networks to leverage world-class expertise resulting from government R&D in its areas of focus to create disruptive startups in cybersecurity data and analytics," said Spencer Tall, Allegis Managing Director. "The breadth and depth of DataTribe's expertise in select areas of government R&D will be unparalleled." DataTribe has three co-founders and directors. In addition to Ackerman, they are Mike Janke, founder and former CEO of Silent Circle, a leading secure communications service, and a former member of Navy Seal Team 6; and Steve Witt, the co-founder and former CEO of Onyara, the commercial developer of the Apache NiFi, a high-level open source project originated at the NSA, and a former CIA information technology officer. DataTribe DataTribe is a "startup studio" formed to create and help build technology startups focused on breakthrough innovation in cybersecurity, data and analytics. Co-based in Fulton, Maryland and Silicon Valley, DataTribe operates at the forefront of emerging commercial market needs by leveraging advanced research and applied development efforts from U.S. and aligned government labs in combination with Silicon Valley experience and networks to create cutting-edge startups. The goal of these startups is to define and lead new market segments. For more information, visit www.datatribe.com Allegis Capital Allegis Capital is a seed and early-stage venture capital investor in companies building disruptive and innovative cyber security solutions for the global digital economy. Founded in 1996, the firm has more than $700 million in capital under management and has been active in cyber security investing since 2000. Allegis cybersecurity investments include SYNACK, CyberGRX, Platfora, Shape Security, vArmour and Red Owl, Area One Security, E8 Security, Bracket Computing, IronPort Systems and Solera Networks. For more information, visit www.allegiscap.com For more information on DataTribe and Allegis Capital contact: Steve Kaufman Jennifer Jones & Partners 352-633-3716 Email Contact Jennifer Jones Jennifer Jones & Partners 650-465-5831 Email Contact Financial Dreamworks Chengdu to facilitate financial innovation, and stimulate economic growth in the west of China CHENGDU, China, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Financial Dreamworks Chengdu, China's first space dedicated to innovation in the financial industry began recruitment on the 26th of July in Chengdu, with the support of the Chengdu Municipal Government and the Chengdu Finance Office. Liang Qizhou, Deputy Director of the Chengdu Finance Office and Miao Wei, General Manager of Chengdu Financial City delivered speeches at the press conference. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160726/392895 Financial Dreamworks Chengdu was launched by Chengdu Financial City Investment and Development Co., Ltd. ("Chengdu Financial City"). The platform will create an innovative financial ecosystem, gathering high-end financial research and innovation centers, well-known financial institutions, and an array of supporting service providers. Facility governance will also allow access to a range of preferential policies, aimed at building a dynamic financial center in Western China. Liang Qizhou, Deputy Director of Chengdu Financial Office stated that "Chengdu aims to become China's fourth financial pillar, after first tier cities Beijing and Shanghai, as well as Guangzhou and Shenzhen. It will achieve this through improving competitiveness in capital markets, wealth management, venture capital financing, clearance centres and emerging financial industries. The Financial Dreamworks Chengdu project will contribute, and we want it to be the leading platform for financial innovation and development in Western China." "Financial Dreamworks Chengdu, by creating R&D and innovation centers, will bring together talent and entrepreneurs, and drive advanced thinking around economics, finance, technology, and capital, all underpinned with the core principles of innovation and entrepreneurship," emphasized Miao Wei, General Manager of Chengdu Financial City. Financial Dreamworks Chengdu was established with the full support of the People's Bank of China Chengdu branch. Chengdu Financial City and the Business Management Department of the People's Bank of China Chengdu branch recently signed a Strategic Cooperation Memorandum on 'Jointly Promoting Chengdu as a Financial Center in Western China.' The two sides have collectively conducted a number of strategic projects aimed at promoting financial innovation, including cooperation on the Financial Dreamworks Chengdu project, as well as a big data platform for entrepreneurs and innovators. They have also launched the Chengdu Financial Think Tank. Chengdu Financial City Chengdu Financial City (CDFC) is the biggest financial industry focused development in western China, covering an area of 5.1 square kilometers. It is home to over 350 financial institutions, including traditional institutions, such as China Minsheng Banking Chengdu and HSBC, emerging financial enterprises focusing on microcredit and financial leasing, and regulatory bodies, such as the China Banking Regulatory Commission Sichuan. The regional headquarters of over twenty Fortune 500 companies are also located in the development, alongside multinationals such as Federal Express and Oracle Software Systems. A number of domestic enterprises also have regional headquarters in CDFC, including China Unicom, Xinhua News Agency, State Grid and Anbang Insurance Group. Mark Scott, 86 10 8520 6462, mark.scott@ogilvy.com CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- Canacol Energy Ltd. ("Canacol" or the "Corporation") (TSX: CNE) (OTCQX: CNNEF) (BVC: CNEC) is pleased to report reserves for its Oboe appraisal well tested in March, 2016 on the VIM 5 block. The Oboe-1 well was completed and tested in 3 of 11 different sandstone reservoir intervals within the Cienaga de Oro ("CDO") reservoir. The 3 tests flowed at peak rates of 13, 26 and 26 million standard cubic feet per day ("mmscfpd"). The well is in the process of being tied-in to the Clarinete flow line where it is expected to commence permanent production by September 1, 2016. Clarinete 1 and 2ST are currently producing 35 mmscfpd of gas. Oboe-1 further appraises the Clarinete gas field structure and adds 38 billion standard cubic feet ("bscf") of additional gas reserves to Canacol's existing portfolio of 3P gas reserves of 419 bscf. The following tables summarize information contained in the independent reserves report prepared by Petrotech Engineering Ltd. with an effective date of May 31, 2016. Canacol Working Interest Before Royalty Reserves for Oboe, May 31, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2016.May.31 2016.May.31 Reserve Category(1) (MMSCF)(2) (Mboe) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Proved Undeveloped (PUD) 8,543 1,499 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Proved (1P) 8,543 1,499 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Proved plus Probable (2P) 27,674 4,855 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Proved plus Probable plus Possible (3P) 38,130 6,689 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. All reserves are presented as Canacol working interest before royalties 2. Mboe is defined as thousands of barrels of oil equivalent. Gas volumes are converted to boe using a factor of 5.7 as per Colombia regulatory practice. Canacol is currently in the process of drilling the Nispero 1 exploration well in the Esperanza block located in the Lower Magdalena Valley basin. Upon completion and testing of the Nispero 1 well the Corporation will either drill and follow up with an appraisal well, or will mobilize the drilling rig to drill Nelson 6 well, which will test the shallow gas bearing Porquero formation. Canacol is an exploration and production company with operations focused in Colombia and Ecuador. The Corporation's common stock trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the OTCQX in the United States of America, and the Colombia Stock Exchange under ticker symbol CNE, CNNEF, and CNE.C, respectively. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur, including without limitation statements relating to estimated production rates from the Corporation's properties and intended work programs and associated timelines. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Corporation cannot assure that actual results will be consistent with these forward looking statements. They are made as of the date hereof and are subject to change and the Corporation assumes no obligation to revise or update them to reflect new circumstances, except as required by law. Prospective investors should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements. These factors include the inherent risks involved in the exploration for and development of crude oil and natural gas properties, the uncertainties involved in interpreting drilling results and other geological and geophysical data, fluctuating energy prices, the possibility of cost overruns or unanticipated costs or delays and other uncertainties associated with the oil and gas industry. Other risk factors could include risks associated with negotiating with foreign governments as well as country risk associated with conducting international activities, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Corporation. The reserves evaluations, effective May 31, 2016, were conducted by the Corporation's independent reserves evaluator Petrotech Engineering Ltd. ("Petrotech") and are in accordance with National Instrument 51-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities. The reserves are provided on a Canacol working interest before royalty basis in units of barrels of oil equivalent using a forecast price deck, adjusted for quality, in US dollars. The estimated values may or may not represent the fair market value of the reserve estimates. "Proved reserves" are those reserves that can be estimated with a high degree of certainty to be recoverable. It is likely that the actual remaining quantities recovered will exceed the estimated proved reserves; "Probable reserves" are those additional reserves that are less certain to be recovered than proved reserves. It is equally likely that the actual remaining quantities recovered will be greater or less than the sum of the estimated proved plus probable reserves; "Possible reserves" means those additional reserves that are less certain to be recovered than probable reserves. It is unlikely that the actual remaining quantities recovered will exceed the sum of the estimated proved plus probable plus possible reserves; Boe Conversion - "boe" barrel of oil equivalent is derived by converting natural gas to oil in the ratio of 5.7 Mcf of natural gas to one bbl of oil. A BOE conversion ratio of 5.7 Mcf to 1 bbl is based on an energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead. As the value ratio between natural gas and crude oil based on the current prices of natural gas and crude oil is significantly different from the energy equivalency of 5.7:1, utilizing a conversion on a 5.7:1 basis may be misleading as an indication of value. In this news release, the Corporation has expressed Boe using the Colombian conversion standard of 5.7 Mcf: 1 bbl required by the Ministry of Mines and Energy of Colombia. Contacts: Investor Relations 214.235.4798 IR@canacolenergy.com www.canacolenergy.com 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. MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - July 26, 2016) - Progressive Care Inc. (OTC PINK: RXMD), through its subsidiary Pharmco LLC, a South Florida health services organization and provider of prescription pharmaceuticals specializing in health practice risk management, compounded medications, the sale of anti-retroviral medications and related medication therapy management, and the supply of prescription medications to long term care facilities, announces a new financing agreement with Chicago Venture Partners. On July 22, 2016, the Company entered into that certain Securities Purchase Agreement (the "Purchase Agreement"), by and among the Company and Chicago Venture Partners, L.P., a Utah limited partnership (the "Investor"), whereby the Investor purchased from the Company a certain 10% convertible promissory note (the "Note") in the aggregate principal amount of $2,205,000, including a 10% OID and $5,000 attorney's fee. The Note is convertible in 1 year at the lesser of Market Price or $0.05 on the date of conversion. The purchase price is to be delivered in eight (8) tranches. The Company has received the initial tranche of $250,000 at the closing of the transaction. The Investor has issued to the Company a series of seven (7) Secured Investor Notes, each in the principal amount of $250,000.00, maturing twenty-one (21) months from the date of the closing. The Investor agrees to pledge a 60% membership interest in Typenex Medical, LLC, an Illinois limited liability company, to secure the Investor's performance of its obligations under all of the Secured Investor Notes. In addition, to secure the obligation of the Company pursuant to the Note, the Company has agreed to grant to the Investor a first priority security interest in the collaterals by entering into that certain Security Agreement in favor of the Investor. PharmCo, LLC has agreed to guarantee the Company's obligations under the Purchase Agreement, the Note and the Security Agreement by entering into that certain Guaranty Agreement in favor of the Investor. Pursuant to the Guaranty Agreement, the Company has agreed to pay to PharmCo 10% of all proceeds it received from the Investor, as consideration to secure the Company's obligations, and an additional 50% of all proceeds from the Investor for PharmCo's ongoing business operations. The Company intends to use the net proceeds for general working capital for PharmCo, LLC and Progressive Care Inc. to further both companies' ongoing growth and development. "We are happy to be working with Chicago Venture Partners as our long-term funding partner," stated S. Parikh Mars, CEO. "The execution of this agreement at a premium to the market shows the trust they have in the Company and its mission. We now look forward to accelerating our growth and reaching our goals for the future." About Progressive Care Progressive Care, Inc. (OTC PINK: RXMD), through its subsidiary PharmCo, LLC, is a South Florida health services organization and provider of prescription pharmaceuticals specializing in health practice risk management, compounded medications, the sale of anti-retroviral medications and related medication therapy management, and the supply of prescription medications to long term care facilities. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements Statements contained herein that are not based upon current or historical fact are forward-looking in nature and constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements reflect the Company's expectations about its future operating results, performance and opportunities that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. These statements include but are not limited to statements regarding the intended terms of the offering, closing of the offering and use of any proceeds from the offering. When used herein, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "upcoming," "plan," "target", "intend" and "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to Progressive Care Inc., its subsidiaries, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to the Company and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause the Company's actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. A.M. Best will host its annual Insurance Marketing Briefing focusing on the state of the European (re)insurance sector and the London market on Wednesday, 16 November, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.(GMT), at ETC Venues St. Paul's in London. The keynote speaker at this year's event will be Andrew Kendrick, senior vice president, Chubb Group regional president, Europe. Leading A.M. Best rating analysts and industry experts will discuss ratings trends for (re)insurers in key segments of the European (re)insurance sector and London market. Session topics will include: EMEA Market Overview; The Value of Natural Catastrophe Schemes in Europe; and The Major Challenges Facing the Industry the Potential Impact on Credit Quality. The briefing will include a reinsurance panel featuring high-level representatives from the reinsurance sector who will discuss current industry trends, including the ongoing impact of alternative capital/ILS. A.M. Best will host its annual Methodology Review Seminar in the afternoon of the same day, from 2:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. (GMT). The seminar will address changes to Best's Credit Rating Methodology (BCRM), the new Universal Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR) and revisions to sector specific criteria. Registration can be made online at http://www3.ambest.com/conferences/events/eventregister.aspx?event_id=BRI457. Enquiries can be addressed to events@ambest.com. A.M. Best is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright 2016 by A.M. Best Company, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726005922/en/ Contacts: A.M. Best Charlotte Jackson, +(44) 20 7626 6264 charlotte.jackson@ambest.com PHOENIX, AZ -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- A single poor patient experience can have dire consequences. New industry standards are driving hospitals and healthcare providers to look closer at customer service and coordinated care. New payment models are pushing providers to improve population management, medication adherence, and care coordination, while reducing costs and avoiding readmissions. Healthcare contact centers must be more than an engine to support volume growth goals and meet patients' logistical demands. The level of service provided often determines a patients' loyalty to that provider and proactive care can lead to more revenue from payers. Join us to learn more about: The key priorities hospitals are focused on to achieve population health goals. How providers are leveraging care management as a key lever to reduce avoidable costs. Why contact centers and other patient engagement solutions are critical to achieving clinical and financial success under new care models. Register today for strategies on poor patient experience prevention. WHAT: "Improving Patient Engagement to Advance Population Health" WHEN: Wednesday, July 27, 2016 @ 10:00am PT / 1:00pm ET WHO: Rebecca Tyrell, Consultant, Advisory Board Company Scott Logan, Enghouse Interactive Register here for guidance on meeting new industry standards that emphasize outcomes instead of services delivered. About Enghouse Interactive Enghouse Interactive (www.enghouseinteractive.com) delivers technology and expertise to maximize the value of every customer interaction. The company develops a comprehensive portfolio of customer interaction management solutions. Core technologies include contact center, attendant console, predictive outbound dialer, knowledge management, IVR and call recording solutions that support any telephony environment, on premise or in the cloud. Enghouse Interactive has thousands of customers worldwide, supported by a global network of partners and more than 700 dedicated staff across the company's international operations. Enghouse Interactive is a subsidiary of Enghouse Systems Limited, a software and services company traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol "ESL." Founded in 1984, Enghouse Systems is a consistently profitable company, which has grown both organically and through the acquisition of well-regarded specialists including AndTek, Arc, CosmoCom, Datapulse, IAT, IT Sonix, Reitek, Safeharbor, Syntellect, Telrex, Trio and Zeacom. Learn more at www.enghouseinteractive.com. CONTACT Mostafa Razzak JMRConnect 202.904.2048 m.razzak@jmrconnect.net TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- Dominion Citrus Income Fund (TSX: DOM.UN) (the "Fund") announces that the unitholders of the Fund approved the sale of the assets of the Fund to Dominion Holding Corporation (formerly 2510891 Ontario Inc., (the "Purchaser")), the nominee of Paul Scarafile, Interim President and CEO of Dominion Citrus Limited ("DCL"). The unitholders also approved a special resolution to authorize the trustees to proceed with an ordinary winding-up and termination of the Fund. Detailed results of the vote held at the Special Meeting of unitholders of the Fund on July 25, 2016 are set out below: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- General Business Outcome Votes FOR % Votes Votes % Votes of Vote FOR AGAINST AGAINST ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Resolution to sale of assets of the Fund: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A: Voting by all units Approved 17,279,978 97.38% 464,932 2.62% including units owned directly or indirectly, or over which control or direction is exercised by Paul Scarafile and by 2510891 Ontario Inc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- B: Voting excluding units Approved 13,042,978 96.56% 464,932 3.44% owned directly or indirectly, or over which control or direction is exercised by PaulScarafile and by 2510891 Ontario Inc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Resolution to authorize Approved 17,279,978 97.38% 464,932 2.62% the trustees to proceed an ordinary winding-up and termination of the Fund: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Voting results on all matters voted on at the Special Meeting were filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com The Fund intends to close the sale of the assets of the Fund to the Purchaser as soon as practicable. About Dominion The Fund is a publicly traded, unincorporated, open-ended limited purpose income trust. On January 1, 2006, all of the common shares of DCL were exchanged for trust units of the Fund. The trust units are listed on the TSX under the symbol DOM.UN. DCL is a diversified food company supplying fresh produce to a wide variety of customers in retail, foodservice and food distribution businesses. DCL provides procurement, processing, repacking, sorting, grading, warehousing and distribution services to its major domestic markets being Ontario and Quebec. DCL also supplies products to customers in the United States. The Fund's website may be accessed at www.dominioncitrus.com. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Statements Certain statements contained in this press release contain "forward-looking information" pursuant to Canadian securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements relate to future events or the Fund's or DCL's future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "plan", "contemplate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "propose", "might", "may", "will", "shall", "project", "should", "could", "would", "believe", "predict", "forecast", "pursue", "potential" and "capable" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward- looking statements. These forward-looking statements may be affected by the risks and uncertainties in the Fund's and DCL's businesses, including those described in the Fund's and DCL's most recent annual information form filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements in this press release include proposed winding up of the Fund and the proposed distribution, after winding up and other expenses, of the net proceeds of the sale of Assets to Unitholders. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and the Fund and DCL assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date of this press release except as required by applicable securities laws. Contacts: Dominion Citrus Income Fund Peter McLaughlin Chairman of the Board of Trustees (416) 802-2367 VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- Calibre Mining Corp. (TSX VENTURE: CXB) (the "Company" or "Calibre") is pleased to announce the second set of results from the 2016 drilling program on the Eastern Borosi Project, Nicaragua which is being funded by Calibre's partner IAMGOLD Corporation ("IAMGOLD"). Highlights -- Drilling to date in 2016 consists of 23 diamond drill holes for a total of 4,545.9 metres, with results for 11 new holes reported here -- Diamond drilling of the Blag Gold-Silver Vein System continues to extend the defined mineralization at the Main Blag Structure with intercepts of 5.61 metres grading 11.13 g/t gold and 13.7 g/t silver including 1.03 metres grading 56.9 g/t gold and 61.9 g/t silver -- A step out hole on the East Dome Structure has intersected 2.78 metres grading 2.69 g/t gold and 431.6 g/t silver including 0.94 metres grading 4.79 g/t gold and 659.0 g/t silver -- Step out drilling on the Vancouver Vein Structure intersected 15.34 metres grading 1.45 g/t gold and 4.3 g/t silver including 1.50 metres grading 7.2 g/t gold and 19.8 g/t silver -- The first drilling on the Blag Vein Swarm (BVS) has intersected 3.10 metres grading 1.57 g/t gold and 37.2 g/t silver including 0.77 metres grading 5.6 g/t gold and 56.7 g/t silver Recent Drill Highlights from Eastern Borosi Gold-Silver Project ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From Length Au Ag Pb Zn Hole ID Target m To m (m) (g/t) (g/t) (ppm) (ppm) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BL16-038 Main Blag 179.82 185.43 5.61 11.13 13.7 689 962 BL16-038 Main Blag incl 184.40 185.43 1.03 56.96 61.9 1,996 2,056 BL16-038 Main Blag and 172.36 172.72 0.36 32.70 28.7 6,090 5,595 BL16-040 East Dome 162.84 165.62 2.78 2.69 431.6 5,015 2,325 BL16-040 East Dome incl 164.68 165.62 0.94 4.79 659.0 13,800 6,130 GP16-040 Vancouver 175.00 190.34 15.34 1.45 4.3 182 456 GP16-040 Vancouver incl 175.00 176.50 1.50 7.20 19.8 21 75 GP16-039 Guapinol 57.50 60.75 3.25 3.17 5.7 154 312 BL16-039 Main Blag 177.88 180.50 2.62 1.21 152.4 11,640 18,360 BL16-039 Main Blag incl 179.95 180.50 0.55 2.25 493.0 2,856 15,200 BL16-035 BVS 164.90 168.00 3.10 1.57 37.2 673 1,328 BL16-035 BVS incl 165.45 166.22 0.77 5.60 56.7 1,276 1,769 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes: - Intervals are core lengths / true width are estimated to be 70-80% of lengths - Length weighted averages from uncut assays. IAMGOLD Option - Eastern Borosi Project Exploration to date on the Eastern Borosi Project has outlined several tens of kilometres of highly prospective mineralized structures located in an historic gold-silver mining district. Targets have been defined by surface soil and rock sampling, trenching and drilling. To date in 2016 holes completed include: 23 with 6 at East Dome; 5 testing the Blag Main; 3 Santos Trend; 3 BVS, 4 Vancouver; and 2 California Vein. Total meterage to date: 4,545.86 metres (1,247.27m East Dome; 911.41m Main Blag; 466.64m Santos; 621.26 BVS, 936.34m Vancouver vein; 362.94 California). Results were previously reported for 11 holes (see News Release June 8, 2016). Additional results have been received and are being reported in this news release for the further 11 holes including two holes completed at Main Blag, three holes testing the Guapinol - Vancouver area, three holes testing the Blag Vein Swarm (BVS), one hole on the East Dome, and two holes at the California Vein Structure. An additional drill hole has been completed and on-going drilling continues to test the Guapinol and Vancouver Vein System. Diamond drilling of the Main Blag Gold-Silver Vein System continues to extend the defined mineralization with intercepts of 5.61 metres grading 11.13 g/t gold and 13.7 g/t silver including 1.03 metres grading 56.9 g/t gold and 61.9 g/t silver in drill hole BL16-038 and 2.62 metres grading 1.21 g/t gold and 152.4 g/t silver in drill hole BL16-039. A separate structure above the Main Blag Vein in hole BL16-039 returned 0.36 metres grading 32.70 g/t gold and 28.7 g/t silver (172.36 to 172.72 metres). Drilling extended the mineralization to depth a further 50 to 75 metres in the northern and southern parts of the drill tested portion. Additional drilling is planned in 2016 following up on the recent positive results at the Main Blag Structure. A step out hole on the East Dome Structure has intersected 2.78 metres grading 2.69 g/t gold and 431.6 g/t silver including 0.94 metres grading 4.79 g/t gold and 659.0 g/t silver. The hole is the furthest southern step out to have tested the East Dome structure to date and the first to test the mineralization below the East Dome topographic high. The intercept extends the mineralization 50 metres to the south and 100 metres to depth. Step out drilling on the Vancouver Vein Structure intersected 15.34 metres grading 1.45 g/t gold and 4.3 g/t silver including 1.50 metres grading 7.20 g/t gold and 19.8 g/t silver. The drilling extended the Vancouver Structure 50 metres to the south and 75 metres below the previous intercept. An additional new hole in the Guapinol - Vancouver area, GP16-038, intersected; 1.79 metres grading 1.64 g/t gold and 41.2 g/t silver (82.57 to 84.36 metres - Guapinol Structure) and 0.98 metres grading 5.15 g/t gold and 2.8 g/t silver (186.77 to 187.75 metres - Vancouver Structure). Drill hole GP16-039 intersected 3.25 metres grading 3.17 g/t gold and 5.7 g/t silver (57.50 to 60.75 metres - Guapinol Structure). Additional follow-up drilling is currently being completed on further southern and down dip extensions. The first drilling on the Blag Vein Swarm (BVS), located one kilometre north of the Main Blag Structure, has intersected 3.10 metres grading 1.57 g/t gold and 37.2 g/t silver including 0.77 metres grading 5.6 g/t gold and 56.7 g/t silver. Two additional holes intersected a series of narrow anomalous structures including BL16-036 with 0.93 metres grading 0.14 g/t gold and 52.6 g/t silver (72.89 to 73.82 metres), 0.87 metres grading 0.30 g/t gold and 89.2 g/t silver (75.69 to 76.56 metres), and 0.50 metres grading 0.96 g/t gold and 59.3 g/t silver (158.5 to 159.0 metres), and BL16-037 with 0.52 metres grading 0.62 g/t gold and 25.5 g/t silver (148.68 to 149.2 metres), and 1.15 metres grading 0.82 g/t gold and 1.3 g/t silver (157.0 to 158.15 metres). Two drill holes were completed on the California Vein and while both holes intersected quartz breccia mineralization no significant precious metal values were returned in the samples. Calibre is committed to best practice standards for all exploration, sampling and drilling activities. Drilling was completed by independent firm Kluane Drilling Ltd. Analytical quality assurance and quality control procedures include the systematic insertion of blanks, standards and duplicates into the sample strings. Samples are placed in sealed bags and shipped directly to Acme Labs (a Bureau Veritas Group Company) in Managua, Nicaragua for sample preparation and then to Acme Labs in Vancouver, Canada for 50 gram gold fire assay and ICP-MS multi element analyses. The technical content in this news release was read and approved by Gregory Smith, P.Geo, President and CEO of the Company who is the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. About Calibre / IAMGOLD Eastern Borosi Project Calibre and IAMGOLD entered into an option agreement dated May 26, 2014 whereby IAMGOLD can earn a 51% interest in the Project consisting of 176 km2 within the Borosi Concessions, Northeast Nicaragua, by incurring US$5 million in exploration expenditures and making US$450,000 in payments to Calibre by May 26, 2017, the first and second anniversary US $150,000 payments having been made in May 2015 and May 2016 respectively. The total potential investment by IAMGOLD to earn a 70% interest in the Project is US$10.9 million. The Project hosts gold-silver resources in two deposits and a series of well-defined low sulphidation epithermal gold-silver targets. About Calibre Mining Corp. Calibre controls a 100% interest in over 340 km2 of mineral concessions in the Mining Triangle of Northeast Nicaragua. Additionally the Company has an option agreement with IAMGOLD covering 176 km2 of concessions, an option agreement with Centerra Gold on 253 km2, joint venture exploration programs underway with B2Gold Corp. on 66.1 km2 of concessions which includes the Primavera gold-copper porphyry discovery and the Monte Carmelo Gold Zone, and a joint venture on the 33.6 km2 Rosita gold-copper-silver project with Rosita Mining Corporation. Major shareholders of Calibre include gold producer B2Gold Corp, Pierre Lassonde and Management. Calibre Mining Corp. Greg Smith, P.Geo., 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 release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects" or does not expect", "is expected", anticipates" or "does not anticipate" "plans", "estimates" or "intends" or stating that certain actions, events or results " may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to materially differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. Safe Harbor Statement under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein, the information presented constitutes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements including but not limited to those with respect to the price of gold, potential mineralization, reserve and resource determination, exploration results, and future plans and objectives of the Company involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievement of Atlas to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. 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 Contacts: Ryan King 604 628-1012 www.calibremining.com Flash China and ASEAN steered their joint statement on Monday away from an arbitration case initiated by the Philippines, reaffirming their support for South China Sea disputes being resolved by the parties directly involved. Observers said the South China Sea situation is now on the right track after three years of chaos, which followed Manila's unilateral initiation of the case that led to the recent ruling by the Arbitral Tribunal at The Hague. The joint statement was issued after the meeting in the Laotian capital between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his counterparts from the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Some regional outsiders had called unsuccessfully for mention in the joint statement of the South China Sea arbitration ruling announced on July 12. China and ASEAN said they are committed to full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, which was signed in 2002, and to working toward early adoption of a more-detailed code of conduct based on consensus. The statement also commits all parties to undertaking to "resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to the threat or use of force, through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned, in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea)". The statement said cooperation was possible in fields such as navigation safety, rescue and scientific research. Wang Yi later told a news conference that the past three years show that the arbitration process did not end disputes "but stirred up regional tension and damaged regional stability", and it is now time to "make corrections". Chen Qinghong, a researcher on Southeast Asian and Philippine studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said ASEAN correctly resisted the temptation to be part of the trouble that was started by Manila. "As the Philippines will take the ASEAN chairmanship next year, it should return to what ASEAN has pursued, such as neutrality," Chen added. Zhang Yunling, a senior researcher on Southeast Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said it is now necessary for China and ASEAN to reinforce such contacts and dialogues. "ASEAN should give full play to its role of representing the region's overall interests. Its internal coordination should be reinforced and it should stop outsiders from taking a leading role in sabotaging China-ASEAN ties," Zhang said. LONDON, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cyber Security Forecasts for Medicine (Connected Health, Telemedicine, Hospital Equipment, mHealth, Health & Fitness Wearable Technology), Transport (Automotive, Connected Car, Connected Aircraft / Aviation, Maritime Vessels, Public Transport), Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) (Industrial Control Systems (ICS), Critical Infrastructure, Buildings, Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Visiongain assesses that the global IoT Security market will reach $32,306.5m in 2021. It is therefore critical that your strategic planning is timely and your forecasting plans are in place to take advantage of the market. Visiongain's 246 page report will ensure that you keep informed and ahead of your competitors. Gain that competitive advantage. The report will answer questions such as: What are the prospects for the overall IoT Security market? How profitable is the IoT Security market? Who are the key players within the IoT Security market? What are the drivers and restraints underpinning the IoT Security market? 4. Reasons why you must order and read this report today: 1) The report provides IoT security market share analysis and detailed profiles of 10 leading companies operating within the market - Intel Corporation - AT&T Inc. - Infineon Technologies AG - IBM Corporation - Symantec Corporation - Cisco Systems - Verizon Communications - Microsoft Corporation - Vodafone Group plc - Kaspersky Lab To see a report overview please email Sara Peerun on sara.peerun@visiongainglobal.com 2) The analysis is also underpinned by 3 exclusive interviews with leading experts - Jon Penney, Chief Security Officer (CSO), at Device Authority - Alan Grau, President and Co-Founder of Icon Labs - John Gomez, CEO and Founder of Sensato 3) The study reveals where and how companies are investing in the IoT Security market. We show you the prospects for the following national markets - Canada - China - Germany - France - Japan - Russia - South Korea - United Kingdom - United States - Rest of the World 4) Our overview also forecasts and analyses these submarkets from 2016-2026 at the global level PLUS individually for each of the 9 leading national markets. - The Global Transport IoT Security Submarket - The Global Industrial IoT Security Submarket - The Global Medical IoT Security Submarket - The Global Connected Home IoT Security Submarket How will you benefit from this report? This report you will keep your IoT security knowledge base up to speed. Don't get left behind. This report will allow you to reinforce strategic decision decision-making based upon definitive and reliable IoT security market data. You will learn how to exploit new technological trends. You will be able to realise your company's full potential within the IoT security market. You will better understand the IoT security competitive landscape and identify potential new business opportunities & partnerships. Competitive advantage This independent 246 page report guarantees you will remain better informed than your competitors. With 261 tables and figures examining the IoT Security market space, the report gives you an immediate, one-stop breakdown of your market. PLUS national market forecasts, as well as analysis, from 2016-2021 keeping your knowledge that one step ahead of your rivals. Who should read this report? Anyone within the IoT Security value chain. Cyber security companies Any company operating within the Internet of Things ecosystem Connected device manufacturers CEO's COO's CIO's CSO's Business development managers Marketing managers Technologists Suppliers Investors Banks Government agencies Contractors Don't miss out This report is essential reading for you or anyone in the IoT Security sector. Purchasing this report today will help you to recognise those important market opportunities and understand the possibilities there. Order theInternet of Things (IoT) Security Market 2016-2021: Cyber Security Forecasts for Medicine (Connected Health, Telemedicine, Hospital Equipment, mHealth, Health & Fitness Wearable Technology), Transport (Automotive, Connected Car, Connected Aircraft / Aviation, Maritime Vessels, Public Transport), Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) (Industrial Control Systems (ICS), Critical Infrastructure, Buildings, Machine-to-Machine (M2M), Manufacturing, Retail, Utilities, Energy, Agriculture, Supply Chain Management), Connected Home (Consumer Connected Devices, Smartphones, Tablets, Fixed Line Broadband & Mobile Communications, Smart Appliances)now. We look forward to receiving your order. To see a report overview please email Sara Peerun on sara.peerun@visiongainglobal.com To request a report overview of this report please emails Sara Peerun at sara.peerun@visiongainglobal.com or call Tel: +44 (0) 20 7336 6100 Or click on https://www.visiongain.com/Report/1695/Internet-of-Things-(IoT)-Security-Market-2016-2021 Companies Mentioned in this Report Accenture Actility Advanced Power Electronics Corp. AllScripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. Alphabet Inc. AOL Inc. Apple Applied Blockchain ARM Ltd. Arrowpoint Communications AT&T AT&T Bell Labs AT&T Communications of New York, Inc. AT&T Corp. AT&T Mobility Group B.V. AT&T MOBILITY II LLC AT&T MOBILITY LLC AT&T Teleholdings, Inc. Atmel Corporation Attivo Networks Audi Banco IBM S.A. BASIS Science Inc. Bastille Bayshore Networks, Inc. Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems LLC Bell Canada BellSouth Telecommunications, LLC BellSouth, LLC Blackberry Blackfin Security BlueCat BMW Booz Allen Hamilton British Telecom (BT) BroadWare Technologies BullGuard Ltd. Care Innovations Carlyle Group LP Cellco Partnership(d/b/a Verizon Wireless) CGI Group Inc Checkpoint Software Technologies Ltd. CHiL Semiconductors Corporation China Mobile China Telecom China Unicom Chrysler Cisco (India) Private Limited Cisco International Limited Cisco Media Solutions Inc Cisco Systems Cisco Systems (Thailand) Limited Cisco Systems (USA) Pte. Ltd. Cisco Systems Capital Corp Cisco Systems Finland Oy Cisco Systems G.K. Cisco Systems International B.V. Cisco Videoscape Cisco-Linksys LLC CloudLock Inc. Cloudwear CNL Software Ltd. Cognio LLC Compagnie IBM France, S.A.S. Companhia IBM Portuguesa, S.A. Compatible Systems Componentes Intel de Costa Rica, SA Computer Sciences Corporation Connect2 Systems Connode AB Copper Horse Solutions Limited Cranberry Properties LLC Cricket Wireless LLC Cryptosoft Cyber Lightning Cypress Semiconductor Dell Deloitte Deutsche Telekom Device Authority Ltd. DICE Danube Integrated Circuit Engineering GmbH Dice Danube Integrated Circuit Engineering GmbH & Co.KG DIGILE DIRECTV Argentina S.A. DIRECTV Colombia Ltda. DIRECTV Enterprises, LLC DIRECTV Latin America, LLC DIRECTV, LLC DMI DRC Systems Dynamicsoft LLC eBay Inc. Eclipsys Corporation Electric Imp Eleven Paths Embedded Security Solutions Emergent Network Defense EPOS embedded core & power systems GmbH & Co. KG EPOS embedded core & power systems verwaltungs GmbH Ericsson eupec Thermal Management Inc. Eurotech S.p.A. Exigent Systems Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Fibercore Limited Fiberlink Communications Ford Motor Company Fujitsu Gemalto General Electric (GE) General Motors Globalfoundries Inc. GTE Corporation GTE Southwest Incorporated (d/b/a Verizon Southwest) GTE Wireless Incorporated Harmonic Software Systems Haus der Zukuft gGmbH Hewlett Packard HISTalk Hitachi, Ltd. Hitex (UK) Limited Hitex GmbH Honeywell HR Block's Advanced Technology Group Huawei IBM IBM (China) Co., Ltd. IBM (China) Investment Company Limited IBM (International Business Machines) Turk Limited Sirketi IBM Argentina Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada IBM Australia Limited IBM Bahamas Limited IBM Bangladesh Private Limited IBM Brasil-Industria, Maquinas e Servicos Limitada IBM Bulgaria Ltd. IBM Burkina Faso SARL IBM Business Transformation Center, S.r.l. IBM Canada Limited-IBM Canada Limitee IBM Capital Inc. IBM Ceska Republika spol. s.r.o. IBM China/Hong Kong Limited IBM Congo SARL IBM Credit LLC IBM Croatia Ltd./IBM Hrvatska d.o.o. IBM Danmark ApS IBM de Chile S.A.C. IBM de Colombia & C.I.A. S.C.A. IBM de Mexico, Comercializacion y Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V. IBM de Mexico, S. de R.L. IBM de Venezuela, S.A. IBM del Ecuador, C.A. IBM del Peru, S.A. IBM del Uruguay, S.A. IBM Deutschland GmbH IBM Deutschland Kreditbank GmbH IBM East Africa Limited IBM East Europe/Asia Ltd. IBM Eesti Osauhing (IBM Estonia Ou) IBM Egypt Business Support Services IBM Foreign Sales Corporation IBM France Financement, S.A. IBM Global Financing Australia Limited IBM Hellas Information Handling Systems S.A. IBM India Private Limited IBM International Foundation IBM International Group B.V. IBM International Group Capital LLC IBM Ireland Limited IBM Ireland Product Distribution Limited IBM Israel Limited IBM Italia S.p.A. IBM Japan, Ltd. IBM Korea, Inc. IBM Lietuva IBM Limited IBM Magyarorszagi Kft. IBM Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. IBM Malta Limited IBM Maroc IBM Mauritius IBM Middle East FZ-LLC IBM Nederland B.V. IBM New Zealand Limited IBM Niger SARLU IBM Oesterreich Internationale Bueromaschinen Gesellschaft m.b.H. IBM Philippines, Incorporated IBM Polska Sp.z.o.o. IBM Qatar SSC IBM RDC IBM Romania Srl IBM Saudi Arabia IBM Schweiz AG-IBM Suisse SA-IBM Suizzera SA-IBM Switzerland Ltd. IBM Services Financial Sector Luxembourg Sarl IBM Singapore Pte. Ltd. IBM Slovenija d.o.o. IBM Slovensko spol s.r.o. IBM South Africa (Pty) Ltd. IBM Svenska Aktiebolag IBM Taiwan Corporation IBM Tanzania Limited IBM Tchad SARLU IBM Thailand Company Limited IBM Tunisie IBM Ukraine IBM United Kingdom Asset Leasing Limited IBM United Kingdom Financial Services Limited IBM United Kingdom Limited IBM Vietnam Company IBM World Trade Corporation IBM-International Business Machines d.o.o., Belgrade Icon Labs ICSA Labs Illinois Bell Telephone Company Indiana Bell Telephone Company Incorporated Infineon Integrated Circuit (Beijing) Co., Ltd. Infineon Semiconductors (Wuxi) Co. Ltd. Infineon Technologies (Advanced Logic) sdn. Bhd. Infineon Technologies (Kulim) Sdn. Bhd. Infineon Technologies (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. Infineon Technologies (Wuxi) Co., Ltd. Infineon Technologies (Xi'an) Co., Ltd. Infineon Technologies AG Infineon Technologies Akquisitionsgesellschaft 1 mbH Infineon Technologies Akquisitionsgesellschaft 2 mbH Infineon Technologies Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd Infineon Technologies Australia Pty. Ltd. Infineon Technologies Austria AG Infineon Technologies Austria Pensionskasse AG Infineon Technologies Batam PT Infineon Technologies Bipolar GmbH & Co. KG Infineon Technologies Bipolar Verwaltungs GmbH Infineon Technologies Bipolaris Kft. Infineon Technologies Canada, Inc. Infineon Technologies Cegled Kft. Infineon Technologies Center of Competence (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Infineon Technologies China Co., Ltd. Infineon Technologies Delta GmbH Infineon Technologies Dresden GmbH Infineon Technologies Finance GmbH Infineon Technologies France S.A.S. Infineon Technologies Gamma GmbH Infineon Technologies Holding B.V. Infineon Technologies Hong Kong Sales Limited Infineon Technologies Hong Kong, Ltd. Infineon Technologies Iberia S.L.U. Infineon Technologies India, Pvt. Ltd. Infineon Technologies Investment B.V. Infineon Technologies Ireland Ltd. Infineon Technologies Italia s.r.l. Infineon Technologies IT-Services GmbH Infineon Technologies Japan K.K. Infineon Technologies Korea Co., Ltd. Infineon Technologies Neu-Isenberg Vertriebs GmbH Infineon Technologies Nordic AB Infineon Technologies North America Corp. Infineon Technologies Philippines, Inc. Infineon Technologies Romania & Co. Societate In Comandita Infineon Technologies Shared Service Center, Unipessoal Lda. Infineon Technologies Southeast Asia Pte, Ltd. Infineon Technologies Taiwan Co., Ltd. Infineon Technologies U.K. Ltd. Infineon Technologies US HoldCo Inc. Infineon Technologies US InterCo LLC Ingenu Inside Secure SA Intel Americas, Inc Intel Asia Holding Limited Intel Benelux B.V Intel Capital Corporation Intel Capital Wireless Investment Corporation 2008A Intel China Finance Holding (HK) Limited Intel China Ltd Intel Commodities Limited Intel Corporation Intel Corporation (UK) Ltd Intel Electronics Ltd Intel European Finance Corporation Intel Finance B.V Intel Holdings B.V Intel International Finance CVBA Intel International, Inc Intel Investment Management Ltd Intel Ireland Ltd Intel Malaysia Sdn. Berhad Intel Massachusetts, Inc Intel Mobile Communications GmbH Intel Overseas Funding Corporation Intel Phils. Holding LLC Intel Products (Chengdu) Ltd Intel Semi Conductors Ltd Intel Semiconductor (Dalian) Ltd Intel Semiconductor (US) Limited Intel Technologies Inc Intel Technology Sdn. Berhad Intel Warehouse Leixlip International Business Machines AS International Business Machines Gabon SARL International Business Machines Ghana Limited International Business Machines Madagascar SARLU International Business Machines of Belgium sprl/buba International Business Machines Senegal International Business Machines West Africa Limited International Business Machines Zambia Limited International Business Machines, S.A. International Information Services Management Limited International Rectifier International Rectifier Company (Great Britain), Ltd. International Rectifier Corporation International Rectifier HiRel Products, Inc. International Rectifier Japan Co., Ltd. International Rectifier Korea International Rectifier Malaysia Sdn Bhd International Rectifier Mauritius, Inc. International Rectifier Power Management Private Limited Intrinsic ID InVMA IoT Inc. IR Denmark Aps IR EPI Services, Inc. IR France SAS IR Infotech Private, Ltd. IR Italy s.r.l IR Newport Limited IR Taiwan Co., Ltd. IR UK Holdings Limited Jabber, Inc Jaguar Land Rover Jasper Technologies Inc. Jeep JouleX LLC Kaspersky Americas HQ Kaspersky Global HQ Kaspersky Kazakhstan Kaspersky Lab Kaspersky Lab Argentina Kaspersky Lab Asia-Pacific HQ Kaspersky Lab Australia and New Zealand Kaspersky Lab Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova Kaspersky Lab Benelux Kaspersky Lab Canada Kaspersky Lab China Kaspersky Lab France Kaspersky Lab Germany Kaspersky Lab Iberia Kaspersky Lab India Kaspersky Lab Italy Kaspersky Lab Japan Kaspersky Lab Korea Kaspersky Lab Malaysia Kaspersky Lab Mexico Kaspersky Lab Nordics Kaspersky Lab Polska sp z oo Kaspersky Lab Romania Kaspersky Lab South Africa (Pty) Ltd. Kaspersky Lab Switzerland Kaspersky Lab Turkey Kaspersky Lab UK Kaspersky Latin America Kiss Technology Knowledge Consulting Group Komodo Technology KPMG Kratos Defense Leap Wireless Lenovo Group Ltd. LG Electronics Inc. Lightstream LiveOffice Lockheed Martin Lookout LS Power Semitech Co., Ltd. Lynx Software Technologies ManTech International Corporation Math Embedded McAfee Inc MCI Communications Corporation McRock Capital Meraki Networks Mercedes Benz Metreos Michigan Bell Telephone Company Microsoft Capital Group, LLC Microsoft Corporation Microsoft Global Finance Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited Microsoft Ireland Research Microsoft Licensing, GP Microsoft Online, Inc. Microsoft Operations Pte Ltd Microsoft Operations Puerto Rico, LLC Microsoft Regional Sales Corporation Microtech Systems Middle-East FZ-LCC Mission College Investments Ltd Mocana Corporation Mojang Synergies AB MOL Corporation Molstanda Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH Motorola NetSolve LLC NetSpeed Nevada Bell Telephone Company New Cingular Wireless Services, Inc. Newport Systems Solutions NexDefense, Inc. Niederlassung Osterreich Nissan NNS Labs, Inc. Nokia Corporation Northrop Grumman NTT DoCoMo NXP Semiconductors Okena Oracle Corporation Orange Business Services Orative Oy IBM Finland AB Pacific Bell Telephone Company Palo Alto Networks, Inc. Parc Technologies Limited Pari Networks ParStream P-Cube Pen Test Partners Philips PostPath PostX Procket Networks PT IBM Indonesia Pure Digital Technologies Pure Networks Qonex Qualcomm Rectificadores Internacionales, S.A. de C.V. Redstone Arsenal Renesas Electronics Rockwell Automation Rogers Wireless Rolls-Royce Sabiedriba ar irobezotu atbildibu IBM Latvija SAIC Samsung Group Sandia National Laboratories SAP SAP SE SBC Internet Services, LLC SBC Long Distance, LLC Scientific Atlanta Securenet Selsius Systems Sensato Sentryo Seoul Metro Shangai International Rectifer Trading, Ltd. Siemens AG SK Telecom SKY Brasil Servicos Ltda. Skype Communications S.a r.l. Skystone Systems SoftLayer Technologies Inc. Sondrel Ltd Sourcefire Southwestern Bell Telephone Company Springworks AB Sprint Corporation SRA International Inc. Starent Networks LLC STMicroelectronics Subaru Swisscomm Symantec Symantec Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. Symantec Australia Symantec Holdings Ltd. Symantec International Symantec Japan KK Symantec Japan, LLC Symantec Limited Symantec Operating Corporation Symantec Software India Private Ltd Target Corporation Tasmania Network Systems Technica Technology Products and Services Limited Telefonica Teleport Communications America, LLC TELUS Tesla Thales The Ohio Bell Telephone Company ThingWorx Tidal Software Toshiba TrendMicro Inc. Trusted Objects Twingo Systems Underwriters Laboratories (UL) VAR Intellect Security Ltd. Venafi Verimatrix Inc. VeriSign, Inc. VERITAS Software Corporation Verizon Verizon Americas Inc. Verizon Business Global LLC Verizon California Inc. Verizon Communications Verizon Delaware LLC Verizon Florida LLC Verizon Maryland LLC Verizon New England Inc. Verizon New Jersey Inc. Verizon New York Inc. Verizon Pennsylvania LLC Verizon Virginia LLC Vodafone Vodafone Group plc Volkswagen Volvo Vovida Networks WebEx Webline Communications WebMD WheelGroup Wisconsin Bell, Inc. WISeKey wolfSSL WTC Insurance Corporation, Ltd. Wyless YTN To see a report overview please email Sara Peerun on sara.peerun@visiongainglobal.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Bernie Sanders, who gave a tough fight to Hillary Clinton in the primaries for party ticket for presidency, has told a Democratic National Convention that Hillary must win the US presidential election in November. 'Any objective observer will conclude that - based on her ideas and her leadership - Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close,' he told a convention in Philadelphia, which is set to formally nominate the former Secretary of State as party's presidential candidate on Thursday. Launching a scathing attack on Clinton's rival Donald Trump Monday night, Sanders said this election is about which candidate understands the real problems facing this country and has offered real solutions, 'not just bombast, fear-mongering, name-calling and divisiveness.' 'While Donald Trump is busy insulting one group after another, Hillary Clinton understands that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths,' the Vermont Senator said. He said the Americans do not need a leadership which insults Latinos, Muslims, women, African-Americans and veterans - and divides the people. He expressed confidence that Clinton will nominate justices to the Supreme Court who are prepared to overturn Citizens United and end the movement toward oligarchy in this country. Her Supreme Court appointments will also defend a woman's right to choose, workers' rights, the rights of the LGBT community, the needs of minorities and immigrants and the government's ability to protect the environment. Some supporters of Sanders booed at mention of Clinton's name. On the eve of the Convention, Sanders pressed for the resignation of Democratic Party chief Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Schultz had come under fire after Wikileaks published Democratic National Committee emails which appeared to suggest that party insiders tried to thwart the primary campaign by Bernie Sanders in favor of his rival Clinton. Schultz had announced that she is stepping down. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de SEATTLE, WA -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- MOD Pizza, the pioneer of the fast casual pizza segment, today announced they are bringing their superfast, individual artisan-style pizza to Liberty, MO in late August. MOD's newest store will be located in Liberty Triangle - 1912 Star Drive, Liberty, MO. Womack Restaurants, a multi-concept restaurant operator based in Terre Haute, Indiana has partnered with MOD in the Columbus, OH and Kansas City markets under the banner of Paceline Partners LLC. The group expects to open up to 25 locations over the next five years. The 3,000 sq ft Liberty location will include a large outdoor patio, original artwork and MOD's signature "Wall of Fame". The store will hire up to 30 employees to join the "MOD Squad", and will be partnering with local non-profit, Hillcrest Hope, an organization committed to providing fresh starts for families in the Liberty community. Hillcrest Hope will receive 100% of proceeds from all pizza sales on opening day. For more details on the grand opening celebration, follow MOD on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/modpizzalibertytriangle "Along with our incredible pizza, MOD is a company centered on a people-first culture and strong community engagement," said Scott Womack, President of Womack Restaurant. "We can't wait to introduce the community of Liberty to MOD and share what the buzz surrounding this inspiring brand is all about." MOD's individual artisan-style pizzas are made on demand, using fresh-pressed dough and signature sauces. Customers create their own pizzas and salads, using any combination of over 30 featured toppings, or they can choose from a menu of MOD classics. The price always remains the same regardless of the number of toppings. Pizzas are hand-cooked in an 800 degree oven in less than 3 minutes and salads are individually hand-tossed for each customer. The menu is rounded out with handspun milkshakes, house-made lemonades and iced teas, and local craft beers and wine. About MOD Pizza: MOD Pizza is the pioneer for the fast casual pizza segment, founded in Seattle in 2008 by entrepreneur husband and wife team Scott and Ally Svenson. MOD's individual artisan-style pizzas are made on demand, allowing customers to create their own pizzas and salads, using fresh-pressed dough, signature sauces and over 30 toppings, for one price. With more than 135 locations across 17 states and the United Kingdom, MOD is committed to creating a positive social impact in the communities both domestically and internationally, creating not only a cool place to eat, but an inspired place to work. MOD was recently ranked as America's fastest growing chain restaurant by Technomic and was recognized by Fortune as one of the "20 Best Workplaces in Retail" for its progressive hiring practices and career growth opportunities. For more information, please visit www.modpizza.com or connect with the brand via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram About Womack Restaurants: Womack Restaurants is a multi-concept restaurant franchise operator based in Terre Haute, IN with development markets in Kansas City, Tulsa, and Columbus Ohio. The Womack team has extensive development and finance experience, having developed nearly all of their IHOPs since 1990, in sometimes complex situations. Womack Restaurants divested its IHOP business in 2014 to focus on expansion of its Popeyes franchise and pursue other concepts. Womack Restaurants is committed to community engagement and partnership, as well as connecting with our country's leadership. MEDIA CONTACT: For MOD Pizza: Charlotte Wayte 206-261-4963 charlottew@modpizza.com For Womack Restaurants: Scott Womack President Office: (812) 478-0232 ext. 111 Cell (for Media contacts only): (812) 249-2867 swomack@womackrestaurants.com LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- World Finance magazine granted Bankmed two distinct awards in recognition of the Bank's achievements in 2015 and 2016. Both awards, the Best Banking Group in Lebanon and the Most Sustainable Bank, attest to the bank's unmitigated efforts across its various business lines and reflect its solid banking experience, which goes beyond 70 years. Since 2007, World Finance has been celebrating achievement, innovation and brilliance in its annual awards. The magazine's judging panel boasts over 230 years of financial and business journalism, supported by a research team that works round the clock to ensure that the award winners are the most deserving in their sector. World Finance Best Banking Group award recognises Bankmed's milestones, which have been achieved through the continuous growth of the bank's various business lines as well as its steady growing expansion into local and regional markets. In 2015, while Bankmed's local branch network added new branches, the bank and its fully owned subsidiary, MedSecurities Investment, established presence into the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). As for the Most Sustainable Bank award, it recognises Bankmed's sustained growth and its contribution to the greater community in which it operates. The bank's firm belief and commitment in sustainability is clearly reflected through its microfinance arm, Emkan Finance (Emkan). Licensed by the Central Bank of Lebanon, Emkan complements Bankmed's role in the community by extending financial services to the under-banked segment of the population. Moreover, Bankmed has ingrained Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the way it has chosen to do its business, adopting numerous initiatives and implementing pioneering policies in an aim to create a promising future for tomorrow's generations. Headquartered in Beirut, Bankmed is recognised as one of the oldest banking and financial institutions in the MENA region. Since its inception in 1944, Bankmed has been at the forefront of Lebanese banking institutions, maintaining a prominent position as a leading, dynamic, and socially responsible bank with a firm commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility. The bank enjoys a widespread presence over the Lebanese territory through a network of 62 branches in addition to a strong international existence in Switzerland, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Cyprus, and the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC). Bankmed offers its clients a wide range of innovative products and quality services. Bankmed takes pride in World Finance recognition, which serves as an incentive toward greater achievements in the coming years. World News Media is a leading publisher of quality financial and business magazines, enjoying a global distribution network that includes subscriber lists of the most prominent and senior decision-makers around the world, as well as comprehensive airport, hotel and conference site distribution. Contacts: For further media information contact: World Finance Matthew Timms Editorial Department +44 (0)20 7553 4177 matthew.timms@wnmedia.com SEATTLE (dpa-AFX) - Starbucks (SBUX) baristas are now free to express their personal style at work under a new dress code announced by the world's largest specialty coffee retailer. Instead of the familiar solid black, white and khaki clothing underneath their iconic green aprons, baristas can now come for work in a range of colors and outfits that reflect their own personal tastes. Effective immediately, Starbucks employees can wear a range of shirt colors beyond solid black and white. These include gray, navy, dark denim and brown, including patterns. Shorts, skirts, dresses and pants, including dark-wash jeans, are also now part of the Starbucks wardrobe. In addition, baristas can make a statement with hair color. However, the hair color must be permanent or semi-permanent, in keeping with food-safety standards. They can also wear beanies, fedoras or other suitable hats to work. Starbucks employees at the 47th & Broadway store in Manhattan are wearing clothing that fits the new dress code guidelines since last September. The Broadway coffeehouse and select Reserve stores that spotlight small-batch coffees as well as the Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room in Seattle are forerunners for all company stores in the U.S. and Canada as Starbucks updates its North America dress code beginning now, Starbucks said. Cosimo LaPorta, executive vice president, U.S. Retail Store Operations, said, 'I believe these changes work well with our iconic green apron and also complement the passion partners bring to our coffee and their craft. We want partners to be as proud of their look as they are when they tie on their green apron.' 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. CHICAGO, IL -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- Sage, a market leader in cloud accounting software, announced today at Sage Summit 2016 its strong commitment to future technologies, with a focus on new and existing partnerships that power business growth. Revealed during CEO Stephen Kelly's keynote address, which opened the world's largest gathering of entrepreneurs and business builders, Kelly spoke about how, through the use of the latest technologies and tools, Sage is levelling the playing field for entrepreneurs -- and it's just the start of the technology revolution all entrepreneurs and business builders of all sizes need to be a part of to compete and grow. Investing in the future with the introduction of Sage Cloud The dedication to helping businesses grow is a personal crusade of Kelly's. Following the investment of 139m on research and development during FY15, the Sage CEO used the keynote as a platform to set out how all Sage products will now be connected to the cloud, with new mobile, social, chatbot and IoT offerings in the pipeline for the entire portfolio. Sage Cloud will allow businesses to integrate all activity across Sage products quickly and easily. It will also make it possible for Sage customers to activate integrations with partner products within a few clicks and will eliminate the need for maintenance or change due to product upgrades. Sage further pledged its dedication to the developer community with the launch of Sage Marketplace, a new open, API-driven platform for Independent Software Vendors to showcase their Sage developer add-ons and apps. Industry firsts -- leapfrogging the competition Another highlight was the official launch of Sage's new admin bot, Pegg, a smart assistant that allows users to track expenses via their chosen messaging app. Pegg removes the complexities and enables entrepreneurs to manage finances through conversation. By digitising information at the point of capture, it takes away the pain from receipts and expenses, eradicating the need for paper and data entry. Powerful new partnerships This coincides with the news that Sage has partnered with Slack, which will act as one of the core messaging channels connected to Pegg. Having recently joined as Global Director for Mobile Product Management, Sage's Kriti Sharma said: "With the rise of freelancing and the sharing economy, the number of small businesses is growing exponentially. Most of these business owners use messaging apps, and with Pegg we aim to bridge the gap between these apps and work, rendering accounting invisible to the end user and making running a business as simple as sending a text. We're incredibly excited to partner with Slack, the fastest growing enterprise messaging app; together we share the vision that the future of the workplace is conversational, easy and fun." Announced with a demonstration live on stage, the accounting industry's first bot, Pegg is available now in Beta. New users can register at hellopegg.io. In an interactive live demo, Sage's new EVP of Product Marketing, Jennifer Warawa, showed how the combined solution of Sage Live and TomTom Telematics works. The new software integration allows businesses with fleets of vehicles -- small or big -- to seamlessly record mileage and automate expense reports. Because Sage Live is running on the Salesforce platform it can easily use existing integrations with third parties such as TomTom WEBFLEET. Via the fleet management, service journey data is automatically available in Sage Live. There were several new partnership announcements, as well as details on how existing ones have strengthened. In front of an audience of 15,000 and over 35,000 on livestream, Stephen Kelly announced that Sage's award-winning real-time accounting solution, Sage Live, will harness the power of Salesforce Lightning. Via the integration, Sage customers will benefit from Salesforce's new Lightning Experience -- a reimagined consumer-like experience that's modern, efficient and smart -- which will be accessible via Sage Live across every device. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella joined via video to announce the coming together of Microsoft Office 365 and Sage 50 -- making Sage the first ever software company to partner with the platform. The Sage CEO also welcomed Sir Richard Branson to the stage, where they participated in a conversation on their shared vision of the future of business and giving back. Champion of Business Builders Sage's commitment to supporting entrepreneurs at every stage of their growth was underlined with Kelly revealing new stats on entrepreneurs' dissatisfaction with the support they get from the U.S. Government. He also reiterated his criticism of 'out of touch' events like the World Economic Forum in Davos and announced a series of policy events around the world. The Giving Economy Broadening out to touch on Sage as a participant in its communities, the keynote highlighted how Sage will expand its corporate philanthropy initiative, Sage Foundation, through work with three distinct communities: military veterans, young people and women. Sage's Chief People Officer Sandra Campopiano launched a new open grant process with a donation to an inspiring Chicago charity that seeks to inspire more women to work in the technology sector. She awarded a $50,000 donation from Sage to Brave Initiatives, a program encouraging high school girls to see themselves as capable coders and tune them into community issues. Sage CEO Stephen Kelly said: "It was almost impossible to tell the story of the technology revolution at Sage in one keynote. With a more connected world comes new demands on our hero business builders, and we are fired up by doing everything we can to support entrepreneurs in following their passion. We are working on making concepts like the Internet of Things, machine learning, blockchain and data sciences into a reality for businesses, accountants and partners. This is way more than cloud and mobile-first. It's designing and building technologies that truly power businesses, freeing entrepreneurs to grow and win." For those not attending Sage Summit 2016, all of the keynotes and more can be viewed at the virtual event http://bit.ly/29N0zbE About Sage Sage is the market leader for integrated accounting, payroll, and payment systems, supporting the ambition of the world's entrepreneurs. Sage began as a small business in the U.K. 30 years ago, and over 13,000 colleagues now support millions of entrepreneurs, across 23 countries, as they power the global economy. We reinvent and simplify business accounting through brilliant technology, working with a thriving community of entrepreneurs, business owners, tradespeople, accountants, partners, and developers. And as a FTSE 100 business, we are active in supporting our local communities and invest in making a real difference through the philanthropy of the Sage Foundation. Sage -- a market leader for integrated accounting, payroll and payment systems, supporting the ambition of the world's entrepreneurs. www.sage.com TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- Pangolin Diamonds Corp. (TSX VENTURE: PAN) (the "Company" or "Pangolin") is pleased to provide an update for the Company's wholly-owned Motloutse Diamond Project ("Motloutse"), located 150 km east of the Orapa Diamond Mine in Botswana. A percussion drill programme will commence on July 27th and is anticipated to be completed within the next two weeks. Results from the drill programme will be announced once all material submitted to laboratories in Canada have been analyzed. The kimberlite targets are inclusive of AGA-01, an aeromagnetic and gravity anomaly associated with positive sub-angular kimberlite indicator minerals recovered at surface and MG-08 with an anomalous concentration of positive kimberlite indicator minerals recovered at surface, as both previously announced respectively (see releases May 31, 2016 and June 13, 2016). The Motloutse Diamond Project covers the area where the first diamonds in Botswana were recovered in 1959. It also includes the location where De Beers discovered its first diamonds in Botswana in 1962. The kimberlite source(s) of these diamonds have never been located. Malatswae Diamond Project Update The Company's wholly-owned Malatswae Diamond Project ("Malatswae"), where 13 diamonds have been recovered at surface, and located 105 km southeast of the Karowe Diamond Mine of Lucara Diamonds in Botswana is scheduled to be drilled in the second half of 2016. The Company's treasury is fully funded and in the budget to complete this drill program. Quality Control and Quality Assurances Quality assurance procedures, security, transport, storage, and processing protocols conform to chain of custody requirements. The technical disclosure in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Leon Daniels, BSc., BSc. Honours Geology, PhD and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. About Pangolin Diamonds Corp. and Our Social Connections For more information on Pangolin Diamonds Corp., please visit our website at http://pangolindiamonds.com. Follow us on Twitter @pangolindiamond and Facebook at Pangolin Diamonds Corp. 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: Pangolin Diamonds Corp. Scott Young Investor Relations +1.705.888.2756 syoung@pangolindiamonds.com Pangolin Diamonds Corp. Graham C. Warren Chief Financial Officer +1.416.594.0473 +1.416.594.1630 (FAX) gwarren@pangolindiamonds.com MOSCOW, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ElcomSoft Co. Ltd. updates Distributed Password Recovery with enhanced Mac OS X forensics, Amazon EC2 cloud support and double the speed of ZIP/RAR password recovery. The new release breaks passwords to OS X user accounts, encrypted DMG images and FileVault 2 volumes. "We're constantly working on extending our products with new data formats while improving performance for existing ones", says Vladimir Katalov, ElcomSoft CEO. "This time we are targeting Mac OS X, allowing experts to break into encrypted FileVault 2 volumes, accessing encrypted DMG files and recovering OS X account passwords. Coupled with a bunch of performance and architectural improvements, Elcomsoft Distributed Password Recovery becomes one the fastest and most comprehensive solutions on the market." Read an article "NVIDIA Pascal: a Great Password Cracking Tool" http://blog.elcomsoft.com/2016/07/nvidia-pascal-a-great-password-cracking-tool Read a complete press release: https://www.elcomsoft.com/PR/edpr_160726_en.pdf NVIDIA Pascal Architecture NVIDIA's latest GPU architecture code-named Pascal gives a significant performance boost compared to NVIDIA's past flagship. GTX 1080 boards are 1.5 to 2 times faster breaking passwords compared to GTX 980. Office 2013: 7100 passwords per second (GTX 1080) vs. 3800 passwords per second (GTX 980). https://www.elcomsoft.com/images/benchmarks/EDPR_23062016_2.png RAR 5: 25300 passwords per second (GTX 1080) vs. 13200 passwords per second (GTX 980). https://www.elcomsoft.com/images/benchmarks/EDPR_23062016_1.png Mac OS Forensics The new release attacks FileVault 2 and DMG passwords and breaks Mac OS X user passwords. FileVault 2 is unlockable with the user's account password. Elcomsoft Distributed Password Recovery delivers GPU-accelerated recovery for OS X passwords, enabling quick dictionary attacks along with accelerated brute force. ZIP and RAR Enhancements The improved algorithm doubles the speed of breaking ZIP and RAR passwords. Amazon EC2 Support Amazon EC2 support enables enterprise customers building high-performance clusters for attacking passwords in Amazon cloud as opposed to maintaining a dedicated data center. Amazon EC2 can easily scale to match even the most demanding requirements, and can be scaled back when not in use. Elcomsoft Distributed Password Recovery running in an Amazon cloud is a perfect solution for occasional password recovery tasks and one-off jobs. ElcomSoft Co. Ltd. Founded in 1990, ElcomSoft Co.Ltd. develops state-of-the-art computer forensics tools, provides computer forensics training and computer evidence consulting services. Since 1997, ElcomSoft has been providing support to businesses, law enforcement, military, and intelligence agencies. ElcomSoft tools are used by Fortune 500 corporations, multiple branches of the military, foreign governments, and all major accounting firms. Hitachi Ltd Corporate Communications Tel: +81-3-3258-1111 TOKYO, July 26, 2016 - (JCN Newswire) - Hitachi, Ltd. has introduced HIVECTOL-HVI-E2 Series to expand its product line of HIVECTOL-HVI medium voltage multi-level IGBT drives, which contribute to energy conservation in process plants, as well as improvements in productivity and quality. Sale of E2 Series, the smallest in class(1), will start on October 1st.By adopting an all-in-one structure(2), the E2 Series has been made light and compact, thereby increasing the flexibility of installation, and improving efficiency in transport, installation, and maintenance operations. The unit is also IoT compatible, being equipped with data gathering and communication functions.Hitachi will market these products targeting a broad range of fields throughout the world, including chemical, iron & steel, cement, and water treatment plants.Inverter is an equipment to control motor speed depending upon operating requirements, and can reduce electric power consumption in fans, pumps, and other devices. In recent years, by the requirement of energy conservation, applying inverters to fans and pumps of process plants in order for efficient operation has become a trend.In this situation, inverters for 2000kW or less motors have higher demand in steel, chemical and other process plant. On the other hand, limitation of installation space and efficient transportation, installation and maintenance has become matters and requirement for advanced facility operation and for IoT connectivity is increasing.To meet these needs, installation area for the E2 Series is reduced by approximately 30% compared to existing models(3), by adopting optimum parts mounting technologies and cooling design technologies, and realized the smallest in class. In this way, the E2 Series can be installed even in locations where space is limited. Furthermore, with its all-in-one structure, the E2 Series can be transported without disassembly. This leads transport and installation operations more efficient. The unit is also IoT compatible, with functions for gathering and communicating data on facility operations. The compact size of the components of main circuit improves ease of maintenance.Hitachi is strengthening the global competitiveness of its industrial product business, while at the same time focusing its efforts on enhancing products that can be linked through digital technologies. The new HIVECTOL-HVI-E2 Series of medium voltage multi-level IGBT drives was developed with the advanced motor control technologies and the extensive track record, accumulated over 80 years in the field of drive systems. Through the broad sales of these products, Hitachi will contribute to greater energy conservation in industrial fields.Main features1. The smallest inverter in class, it takes up very little space, so can be installed in locations with limited space available. This also enables transport more efficient, as it can be loaded in standard containers(4).2. The all-in-one structure, combining the main circuit, control, and transformer components, enables efficient transport and installation operations using a forklift, with no need for disassembly.3. Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)(5) is installed as a standard feature. This enables the gathering and communication of facilities operation data, and Internet connectivity supports IoT compatibility.4. The compact size of the components of main circuit, along with optimum circuit wiring, minimizes time required for maintenance and inspections.5. Auto tuning functions(6) reduce the time of product implementation.6. 15 year maintenance services (long-term comprehensive maintenance(7) and long-term warrantee(8) are offered as an option.(1) As of July 26, 2016. Source: Hitachi survey. In comparison to various manufacturers' medium-voltage inverters with similar voltage and capacity ranges, and with built-in input transformers, as far as the major models of 3.3kV series and 6.6kV series are concerned, 5 types which output capacity is less than or equal to 420kVA among 3.3kV series, and all 14 types among 6.6kV are minimum width, height, and volume in class Medium Voltage Multi-level IGBT Drive. Among 3.3kV series, 9 types of this series which output capacity is more than 480 kVA are minimum height.(2) Main circuit and control components combined in a single unit, and installed on a single platform rather than using separate platforms.(3) Compared to Hitachi's existing HIVECTOL-HVI-E models.(4) ISO standard 20-ft containers (2,438 x 6,058 x 2,591 mm) and 40-ft containers (2,438 x 12,192 x 2,591 mm)(5) Programmable Logic Controller (PLC): A type of miniature computer, generally used for control in factory automation applications.(6) A function for automatically adjusting parameters required for motor control, in keeping with unique motor specifications.(7) Services include regular inspections and replacement of parts with limited lifetime.(8) In addition to the long-term comprehensive maintenance contract, this service offers an extended warranty period and failure recovery using spare parts.About Hitachi, Ltd.Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, delivers innovations that answer society's challenges with our talented team and proven experience in global markets. The company's consolidated revenues for fiscal 2014 (ended March 31, 2015) totaled 9,761 billion yen ($81.3 billion). Hitachi is focusing more than ever on the Social Innovation Business, which includes power & infrastructure systems, information & telecommunication systems, construction machinery, high functional materials & components, automotive systems, healthcare and others. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at www.hitachi.com.Source: Hitachi, Ltd.Contact:Copyright 2016 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. LAS VEGAS, NV -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- The Gaming Standards Association (GSA) recently released 11 new mature standards, among which is an updated S2S (System-to-System) standard and a new specification called SSI (Simple System Interface). The new S2S and SSI are purposefully designed to increase operator and developer efficiencies and, because they align with G2S, unleash R&D potential. In its new release, S2S is fully aligned with GSA's award-winning G2S standard, making it easier to dispatch G2S transactions and to extend G2S functionality to other end-points. In this latest S2S update, message handling and communications requirements have been simplified, unnecessary and redundant features have been removed. "The bottom line is the S2S protocol is now easier -- easier to implement, easier to test, and easier to operate," said S2S Committee Chair, Jeff Shephard of IGT. "From its inception, GSA has been creating standards to increase creative and profit potential. This new version of S2S is the latest milestone in GSA's journey, and we are very pleased to present it." Additionally, GSA released a new specification, SSI (Simple System Interface). Designed to address implementer needs, SSI provides a method to achieve simpler client-server mode of operation where the full power of S2S is not required. SSI accomplishes this by providing implementers with a simple and efficient method for accessing system resources. "The initial SSI release includes a limited set of functionality designed to deliver G2S events to a third-party server. With all of GSA's standards, we constantly seek feedback from operators, suppliers, and regulators, and if the SSI concept proves popular, additional functionality will be added in future releases," said GSA Protocol Director Ethan Tower. GSA's S2S standard is a communications protocol that helps untangle the jumbled web of back-of-house network interfaces. S2S allows manufacturers to develop a single peer-to-peer communications interface for communicating with gaming and non-gaming systems, simplifying connectivity with business partners over wide-area and local-area networks. S2S standardizes information communication and improves consistency to increase operational efficiency. S2S extends the functionality available through G2S, such as progressives, bonuses, and vouchers, to other types of end-points, such as table games and self-service kiosks. S2S also allows transactions generated by multiple front-end systems (or from multiple venues) to be dispatched to a central application server in a standardized manner, allowing functionality such as vouchers, wagering accounts, and daily accounting to be consolidated in a single location. Each of the standards is available for free to all GSA members on GSA's website, www.gamingstandards.com. There is a level of membership for every budget. Visit www.gamingstandards.com to learn more. Join GSA as a member today and join GSA on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. GSA Platinum members include: Aristocrat Technologies Inc.; International Game Technology (IGT); Konami Gaming Inc.; NOVOMATIC Gaming Industries Gmbh; Playtech, (PTEC.L), Scientific Games International (SGMS), & Sega Sammy Creation, Inc. Other members include: Ainsworth Game Technology Inc.; Alberta Gaming & Liquor Commission; Amatic Industries GmbH; APEX pro gaming; Appolonia; Ares Way; Atlantic Lottery Corporation; BMM Testlabs; Casinos Austria; CasinoFlex Systems; Casino Technology; ComTrade Gaming; Combination AB; Crane Payment Innovations; eBet Gaming Systems Pty., Ltd.; European Casino Association; Every; FortuNet, Inc. (FTNT); Gamblit Gaming, LLC; Gaming Laboratories International, LLC. (GLI); Gaming Technologies Association; Gauselman GmbH; Ganlot; Grand Vision Gaming; Intralot S.A. (INLr.AT); Inspired Gaming Group Ltd.; Interblock USA; Isle of Capri Casinos, Inc. (ISLE); Loto-Quebec; Kobetron; Macao Polytechnic Institute; Macau Gaming Equipment Manufacturers Association; Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Corporation; Maxgaming; Multi-State Lottery Association; Nidec Sankyo Corporation; Oregon Lottery; Radical Blue Gaming; Random Consulting; RAY; Seminole Tribe of Florida; Seoul National University of Science & Technology; Smartgames Software Hardware Systems Holdings Ltd.; techno-consult GmbH; Transact Technologies Incorporated (TACT); U1 Gaming; Universal de Desarrollos Electronicos, S.A.; UNLV International Gaming Institute; Western Canada Lottery Corporation. For more information, visit www.gamingstandards.com. CONTACT: Peter DeRaedt Gaming Standards Association President Tel: +1 (775) 846-4422 E-mail: Email Contact Paul Speirs-Hernandez Steinbeck Communications President +1 (702) 413-4278 Email Contact Flash South Sudan President Salva Kiir on Monday fired his deputy and rival Riek Machar in a presidential decree, deepening political crisis that has engulfed the youngest nation since the outbreak of heavy clashes on July 8. President Kiir appointed Mining Minister Taban Deng Gai after a faction of the former rebels Sudan People's liberation in Opposition (SPLM-IO) in Juba on Saturday endorsed Gai as head of the movement following Machar's departure from Juba after days of clashes between his forces and those loyal to president Kiir. "I Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of the Republic of South Sudan do hereby issue for the appointment of General Taban Deng Gai as the First Vice President of South Sudan effective from July 25, 2016 " reads the decree issued at 7pm local time. The President also made a ministerial reshuffle sacking finance minister David Deng Athorbei and replaced him with trade and industry minister Stephen Dhieu Dau. The ministries of mining and trade and industry have been left vacant. Gai, was the chief opposition negotiator during the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD)-mediated peace efforts in Addis Ababa which resulted into the signing of the peace agreement to resolve the conflict in South Sudan. Analysts say the latest move will escalate the crisis in South Sudan which has been struggling to implement the fragile peace deal which was signed in August 2015. The move to replace Machar started on Saturday after he failed to heed a 48-hour ultimatum from the president to return to Juba to continue implementation of the peace deal. Kiir had demanding the former rebel leader to return to Juba continue building and promoting peace in the aftermath of fighting this month between Kiir loyalists and troops backing Machar who fled the capital as fighting raged. A peace deal was signed by the rival parties in August 2015 which brought Machar as first vice president following formation of a Transitional Unity Government in April. But the pact was put in turmoil after an outbreak of fighting on July 7 between rival army supporting the two men, leading to Machar's departure from Juba and his whereabouts remain unknown. REDFORD, MI--(Marketwired - July 26, 2016) - College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving -- which has been featured on "Blue Collar Millionaire," "Shark Tank," and other primetime shows -- has expanded its presence in Redford, Michigan, and the Metro Detroit area. The company provides local moving, junk removal, donation pickups and more. As a former manager of an ice cream shop, you could say that Gloria Beckley was living the sweet life. But after more than a decade with a well-known ice cream franchise, she decided it was time to open her own business. At first, Beckley considered purchasing the franchise that she worked at, using her experience as a finance professional to investigate more closely. But she quickly realized that was not the opportunity she was looking for. That's when she discovered College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving. She was attracted to the company's business model, growth potential, their concept of building future leaders and all the different levels of support the company offers its franchisees. The process of building leaders has also helped franchisees build their businesses by creating an atmosphere that encourages dedication to customer service. College Hunks average franchisee sales increased 51% in 2015 compared to 2014, thanks to strong word-of-mouth from happy customers. The desire to mentor leaders and aggressively grow a new market is why College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving awarded Beckley the rights to the franchise in Redford. "We are very aggressive when it comes to growth, but we want to do it the right way," College Hunks President Nick Friedman said. "That means, first and foremost, finding the right franchise partner. We only want to work with people who are enthusiastic about teamwork, and who believe in our mantra of 'move the world' -- which means making a positive impact in the lives of customers and employees. Gloria shares our core values, and clients are going to be blown away by the level of service they receive." College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving of Redford is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. You can reach them at (313) 528-2818, or http://locations.collegehunkshaulingjunk.com/mi/redford.html. To learn about owning a College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving franchise, visit www.collegehunksfranchise.com. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/7/19/11G107236/Images/gloria-beckley-graduates-f9345ea2217582db98d2150fbcd2f5fb.jpg Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZLNFSMSELM Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpYFQ2JQnY4 CONTACT INFORMATION College HUNKS Hauling Junk 866-766-0540 Danielle Wright Kimble Danielle.wright@chhj.com Frank Morrison frank.morrison@chhj.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Donald Trump Campaign came heavily on Senator Elizabeth Warren's speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia endorsing Hillary Clinton. The Massachusetts senator was repeatedly heckled Monday night by apparent supporters of Bernie Sanders who looked upset with Warren's endorsement of Clinton. 'Warren complains about Wall Street influence while endorsing the candidate who is bought-and-paid for by Wall Street. Bill and Hillary use Wall Street like a personal ATM, giving speeches and doing favors for cash,' said a statement issued by Stephen Miller, Senior Policy Advisor for Trump. The income inequality in America today is the product of the Hillary Clinton corporate agenda on trade and immigration, according to him. He termed Clinton as a radical corporatist, and Donald Trump as the one and only candidate taking on the special interests in government. Warren had criticized Trump's call to build a wall along Mexican borders as 'stupid.' But in the Trump Campaign's opinion, if that wall was built years ago, 'Wonderful Americans like Jamiel Shaw, Police Sgt. Brandon Mendoza, Dominic Durden, Josh Wilkerson, Sara Root, and so many others would be alive today. Thousands would never have been victimized by cartels, traffickers and smugglers. Millions of young minority workers would have jobs'. Why aren't these voiceless victims worthy of Warren's concern?, the Trump team asked. Trump reacted to Warren's comments by saying on Twitter 'Elizabeth Warren, often referred to as Pocahontas, just misrepresented me and spoke glowingly about Crooked Hillary, who she always hated!' 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. DUBLIN, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Stem Cell Research Products - Opportunities, Tools, & Technologies" report to their offering. Large companies selling stem cell research products include: - Thermo Fisher Scientific - BD Biosciences, a Division of Becton Dickinson - Merck KGaA - Miltenyi Biotec - STEMCELL Technologies - Lonza Group - Clontech (a Takara Bio Company) - GE Healthcare Life Sciences. While several of these dominant market players have utilized acquisition strategies to grow and capture market share, Merck KGaA has had a particularly strong commitment to this approach, acquiring several other massive major players within the stem cell research products marketplace, including Milllipore on February 26, 2010, for $7.2 billion, and Sigma-Aldrich on September 22, 2014, for $17 billion. Dozens of mid-sized suppliers of stem cell research products also exist, as well as over 100 small specialty providers. Currently, the following compose the majority of stem cell research product sales worldwide: - Primary antibodies to stem cell antigens - Bead-based stem cell separation systems - Fluorescent-based labeling and detection - Stem cell protein purification and analysis tools - Tools for DNA and RNA-based characterization of stem cells - Isolation/characterization services - Stem cell culture media and reagents - Stem cell specific growth factors and cytokines - Tools for stem cell gene regulation - Stem cell services and mechanisms for in vivoand in vitro stem cell tracking - Expansion/differentiation services for stem cell media and RNAi - Stem cell lines Key report findings include: - Market size determinations, with 5-year projections for the stem cell research products market (2016-2020) - Year-over-year analysis of stem cell grant rates, patent rates, clinical trial rates, and scientific publication rates - Stem cell funding sources, trends, and amounts (domestic and international) - Stem cell research applications, including priorities by segment - Relative demand for stem cell products, by stem cell type - Breakdown of stem cell product categories - Competitive analysis of leading stem cell research product companies - Online trends for stem cells, including Google Trends and Google Adwords - Social analytics for stem cells, including activity on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and more - Communications strategies for accessing the marketplace - End-user survey of stem cell scientists Companies Mentioned - BD Biosciences, a Division of Becton Dickinson - Buck Institute - Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) - Clontech (a Takara Bio Company) - DNAVEC Corporation - GE Healthcare Life Sciences. - Google - Harvard University - iPS Academia Japan - Kyoto University - Lonza Group - Merck KGaA - Miltenyi Biotec - RIKEN Center - STEMCELL Technologies - SYGNIS - Thermo Fisher Scientific - ToolGen, Inc. - U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) - University of Wisconsin - WARF For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/qszq8f/stem_cell About Research and Markets Research and Markets is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - July 26, 2016) - Minnova Corp. (TSXV: MCI) (OTC Pink: AGRDF) ("Minnova" or "the Company") is pleased to provide a corporate update on its ongoing 2016 technical programs which include detailed core re-logging at the PL Deposit and regional geologic structural lineament analysis targeting gold mineralization. A detailed review of drill core from the initial 2011 Minnova drill program has identified that several holes where stopped short of the lower vein structures. Initial drilling in 2011 was focused on development of shallow open pits. Several shallow drill holes targeting near surface vein mineralization on the upper Sherridon Vein were terminated in the immediate footwall to that vein intercept. The Sherridon Vein overlies 3 other mineralized veins, namely; the Upper Vein, Main Vein and Lower Vein, which collectively make up the current PL deposit resource. By extending these drill holes between 50 and 75 meters we can effectively and efficiently in-fill drill a portion of the existing resource base on the lower veins. This work will be incorporated into the stage 2 drill program planned for the fall of 2016 to expand and upgrade the existing PL Deposit resource. A detailed structural analysis of the PL Property and regional geology using lineament analysis and analogue modeling was initiated in May 2016 to identify high priority structural targets that could host gold mineralization. Maps of all lineaments on the property and regionally (Tertiary (smallest), Secondary (medium), Primary (regional scale) and Circular (most often reflect intrusive bodies underneath)) have been compiled and analysis is ongoing. Initial spatial correlation between the Primary lineaments and existing geophysical (VTEM) survey features is positive with many Primary lineament intersections being coincident with areas of known gold mineralization. This work continues with physical modeling (analogue clay modeling of elastic and plastic/rapture fields) to understand the pattern of dilatational structures on the mine property and regionally. The results of this work will be followed-up later in the summer with a program of detailed structural geology fieldwork, ground-truthing coincident structural and geophysical targets and gold prospecting. Gorden Glenn, CEO commented "as many of our stakeholders know the Flin Flon-Snow Lake Greenstone Belt has a prolific history of primarily base metal production (Copper and Zinc). Primary gold production and gold exploration has been rather limited due to the dominance of one major, base metal focused, mining company since the camps first major discovery, the Flin Flon deposit in 1914. While there is also significant gold mineralization associated with the many of the base metal deposits in the camp sustained gold focused exploration has been relatively minor compared to other major mining camps in Canada. We hope to capitalize on this by taking a first principles approach to property-wide and regional gold exploration. The first step in this process is the detailed structural lineament analysis that we initiated, the first such technical analysis of the minor and major structural features in the Sherridon-Puffy Lake area that we are aware of. Results to date are very encouraging and support our view that the regions gold exploration potential has not been fully tested away from the known PL and Nokomis gold deposits. Detailed structural lineament analysis plus ongoing in-fill drill programs planned for the fall are all aimed at expanding the existing PL deposit and discovery of new deposits that can be rapidly advanced to production utilizing our existing PL Mine infrastructure." Qualified Person Mr. Brian Robertson, B. Sc., P. Eng.., a Director of the Company and a "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release. For more information please contact: Minnova Corp. Gorden Glenn President & Chief Executive Officer For further information, please contact Investor Relations at 647-985-2785 or info@minnovacorp.ca. Visit our website at www.minnovacorp.ca. Forward Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, information regarding the Company including management's assessment of future plans and operations, that may involve risks associated with mining exploration and development, volatility of prices, currency fluctuations, imprecision of resource estimates, environmental and permitting risks, access to labour and services, competition from other companies and ability to access sufficient capital. As a consequence, actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward looking statements. A feasibility study has not been completed and there is no certainty the disclosed targets will be achieved nor that the proposed operations will be economically viable. Although Minnova has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Minnova does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. ABU DHABI, UAE, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- More than a year after the beginning of the round the world tour, Solar Impulse returned to Abu Dhabi achieving the impossible. As an Official Partner of Solar Impulse and Host Partner of the Mission Control Center in Monaco, Moet Hennessy accompanied Solar Impulse at every moment of its round-the-world tour. To view the Multimedia News Release, please click: http://www.multivu.com/players/uk/7813551-moet-hennessy-solar-impulse/ After a 48-hour journey from Cairo in the single-passenger cockpit, Solar Impulse Pilot, Initiator and Chairman Bertrand Piccard was welcomed by Andre Borschberg, Solar Impulse Pilot, CEO and Co-Founder in Abu Dhabi. Thirteen years after their initial vision of travelling around the world powered only by the sun, their dream became a reality. Christophe Navarre, Chairman and CEO of Moet Hennessy, witnessed the arrival from the Mission Control Center in Monaco. In speaking with Andre Borschberg by telephone just after Bertrand Piccard's arrival, he stated "Congratulations! You did it! This was a long journey and an important step for humanity. We are proud and we are humbled to be your partner." He was joined by Serge Telle, French Minister of State of Monaco, and Raymond Clerc, Mission Director of Solar Impulse, to offer a Moet & Chandon toast to the entire team in recognition of their incredible work and the shared values of Solar Impulse and Moet Hennessy: a pioneering spirit and attention to the earth. "Celebrating Sustainability" Solar Impulse and Moet Hennessy seek to raise awareness of the vast potential of clean technologies. Together they celebrate a leap towards a better world. All Moet Hennessy wines and spirits are fruits of the earth. Each of the 22 brands within the Moet Hennessy portfolio embraces a proactive environmental policy to ensure transmission of this heritage for centuries to come. All the vineyards of all Moet Hennessy's Champagne Maisons - Moet & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Dom Perignon, Ruinart, Krug and Mercier - achieved the double certification of "Sustainable Vineyards" and "High Environmental Value" in 2014. Hennessy Cognac was the first company in the wine and spirits sector worldwide to receive certification in 1998 for its Environmental Management System, which has been subsequently renewed every three years. Moet Hennessy estates promote biodiversity, the protection of local habitats and water conservation around the world. Pioneer Spirit In addition to being an innovator in sustainable development, Moet Hennessy is defined by breaking boundaries, both geographic and human. From the beginning, each brand sought to attain higher levels of excellence and share their products with new consumers across the world. The first shipments of Veuve Clicquot to Russia were in 1780. The first shipments of Hennessy to the United States were in 1794. Moet Hennessy was the first French company to begin planting vineyards in distant lands - from the sparkling Chandon in Mendoza, Argentina in 1959 to the most recent launch of red wine Ao Yun in Shangri-La, China this year. Today, Moet Hennessy exports 95% of its production and is the world's leading producer and exporter of luxury wines and spirits. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160726/392899 ) Video: http://www.multivu.com/players/uk/7813551-moet-hennessy-solar-impulse/ WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump was critical of Monday's Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, which is set to formally nominate Hillary Clinton as party's presidential candidate on Thursday. In a series of comments on Twitter apparently closely watching the event, Trump questioned the Convention's speakers and some points that they left out. Why aren't the Democrats speaking about ISIS, bad trade deals, broken borders, police and law and order, he asked, and claimed that 'The Republican Convention was great.' Referring to what media described as a divided Convention, Trump said 'Funny, if you listen to @FoxNews, the Democrats did not have a good day. If you listen to the other two, they are fawning. What a difference.' In another statement on the social media, He said 'Bernie Sanders totally sold out to Crooked Hillary Clinton. All of that work, energy and money, and nothing to show for it! Waste of time.' Trump said he was sad to watch Bernie Sanders abandon his revolution. 'We welcome all voters who want to fix our rigged system and bring back our jobs.' Hard to believe that Bernie Sanders has done such a complete fold. He got NOTHING for all of the time, energy and money, he tweeted. Trump noted that Bernie has totally given up on his fight for the people. 'Clinton betrayed Bernie voters. Kaine supports TPP, is in pocket of Wall Street, and backed Iraq War.' The V.P. is a joke! according to Trump. Commenting on Senator Elizabeth Warren's speech endorsing Clinton, Trump said 'Elizabeth Warren, often referred to as Pocahontas, just misrepresented me and spoke glowingly about Crooked Hillary, who she always hated!' Trump also did not spare Cory Booker. The New Jersey Senator, whose speech received some of the biggest cheers of the night, attacked Trump's business record and his casino troubles. He replied by tweeting, 'If Cory Booker is the future of the Democratic Party, they have no future! I know more about Cory than he knows about himself.' 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. Increase in revenue and EBITA Advertising revenue: 427.1 m (up 5.3%) Profit from recurring operations (EBITA): 136.0 m (up 32.6%) of which non-recurring profit of 42.6 m Regulatory News: M6 Metropole Television (Paris:MMT): At its meeting held on 26 July 2016, the Supervisory Board reviewed the 2016 half-year financial statements approved by the Executive Board. ( millions) 1 HY1 2016 HY1 2015 % change Consolidated revenue 645.5 629.9 +2.5% Group advertising revenue 427.1 405.6 +5.3% - of which free-to-air channels advertising revenue 398.8 381.0 +4.7% - of which cab-sat channels and other media advertising revenue 28.3 24.5 +15.3% Non-advertising revenue 218.3 224.4 -2.7% Consolidated profit from recurring operations (EBITA) 136.0 102.6 +32.6% Operating income and expenses related to business combinations (0.5) (0.5) n.a Consolidated operating profit (EBIT) of continuing operations 135.4 102.0 +32.7% Net financial income 0.1 0.4 n.a Share of profit of associates 0.9 0.9 n.a Deferred and current taxes (52.9) (45.0) +17.6% Net profit for the period 83.5 58.3 +43.1% Net profit for the period Group share 83.5 58.3 +43.1% Over the course of the first half of the 2016 financial year, M6 Group recorded growth of 5.3% in its advertising revenue, including 6.3% in the second quarter, reflecting the strength of its TV and online audience figures. The less buoyant home shopping business impacted the Group's non-advertising revenue, which totalled 218.3 million, representing a 2.7% decline over the first six months of the year. Consolidated Group revenue thus stood at 645.5 million (up 2.5%). M6 Group's profit from recurring operations (EBITA) reached 136.0 million, an increase of 33.4 million, reflecting: The 10.1 million fall in Television activities, due to the net effect of the broadcast of Euro 2016 and investments in programmes for both free-to-air and pay TV channels, The non-recurring operating profit of 42.6 million corresponding to 50 million in contractual compensation related to the gradual stoppage of the M6 mobile contract, less its automatic impact of 7.4 million on operating expenses, The stability of other activities (down 0.1 million). 1 The information provided is intended to highlight the breakdown of consolidated revenue between advertising and non-advertising revenue. Group advertising revenue includes the advertising revenue of free-to-air channels M6, W9 and 6ter, the share of advertising revenue from pay channels and the share of advertising revenue generated by diversification activities (mainly Internet). 2 Profit from recurring operations (EBITA) is defined as operating profit (EBIT) before operating income and expenses from business combinations and capital gains on the disposal of financial assets and subsidiaries. The tax charge totalled 52.9 million, up 7.9 million year-on-year due to the increase in operating profit and a lower tax rate. Net profit was 83.5 million, representing a net margin of 12.9%. In accordance with IFRS 8, the contribution of the Group's 3 operating segments to consolidated revenue and EBITA was as follows: Q1 Q2 HY1 ( millions) 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016 2015 TV 201.0 196.1 +2.5% 228.5 215.7 +5.9% 429.5 411.8 +4.3% Production Audiovisual Rights 30.5 27.0 +12.9% 25.0 21.6 +15.5% 55.5 48.6 +14.1% Diversification 80.2 84.3 -4.8% 80.1 85.1 -5.9% 160.3 169.4 -5.3% Other revenue 0.1 0.1 n.a 0.1 0.1 n.a 0.2 0.2 n.a Consolidated revenue 311.8 307.4 +1.4% 333.7 322.5 +3.4% 645.5 629.9 +2.5% TV 69.6 79.7 -12.7% Production Audiovisual Rights 5.0 3.8 +33.7% Diversification 70.6 21.4 +230.5% Unallocated revenues (9.2) (2.3) n.a Consolidated profit from recurring operations (EBITA) 136.0 102.6 +32.6% TELEVISION Within an environment that continues to be characterised by the fragmentation process (the six new DTT channels increased their audience share by a further 1.6% over the half-year), the Group continued to invest in programmes across all its free-to-air and pay channels. As such, programming costs for its free-to-air channels rose by 24.0 million to 232.6 million, including the Euro 2016 matches broadcast in June. Thanks to its improved programme line-up, M6 Group's family of free-to-air channels made progress and over the first six months of 2016 achieved an average audience share of 13.8% (source Mediametrie) in the 4+ years old category (up 0.4 pps) and of 21.7% on the commercial target (up 1.2 pps), making it the only historical group to achieve year-on-year growth on each of the two targets: The M6 channel recorded an audience share of 10.1% across the entire viewing public, an increase of 0.3 pps, and of 15.8% on the commercial target (up 0.9 pps). This strategic reinforcement was due to: The success of its access primetime viewing schedule ( Les Reines du Shopping, Chasseurs d ' appart, Le 19 ' 45 and Scenes de menages The relevance of its range of evening programmes , which combines new shows ( A l ' etat sauvage, Garde vous , etc.) with major brands ( The Island, Top Chef, Zone Interdite , etc.), Its event programming , notable for the broadcast of the UEFA Euro 2016 Championships, whose exceptional audience figures were the crowning glory of the strategy to buy a limited number of matches while benefiting significantly from the event. Euro 2016 enabled the channel to achieve record audiences, as with the broadcast of the France Portugal final which had 20.8 million viewers, equating to its best figures since its creation, and the fifth best historical television audience channel recorded an of across the entire viewing public, an of 0.3 pps, and of (up 0.9 pps). This strategic reinforcement was due to: W9 was the second ranked DTT channel in the women under 50 responsible for purchases category throughout the entire day with a 3.7% audience share. was the second ranked DTT channel in the women under 50 responsible for purchases category throughout the entire day with a 3.7% audience share. 6ter was the leading new DTT channel on the commercial target (women under 50 responsible for purchases) with a 2.2% audience share. Within a TV advertising market that remained volatile and which posted moderate growth driven by Euro 2016 over the first six months, advertising revenue from the free-to-air channels recorded a 4.7% increase thanks to higher audience figures. The TV division thus contributed 69.6 million to EBITA, against 79.7 million for the six months to 30 June 2015, enabling M6 Group to maintain the current operating margin of its core business at a high level (16.2%) despite the exceptional costs related to the broadcast of Euro 20162 PRODUCTION AUDIOVISUAL RIGHTS In the first half of 2016, revenue from Production and Audiovisual Rights operations totalled 55.5 million, up 14.1% year on year, due to a busier cinema release schedule than in the first half of 2015 (11 films released in cinemas by SND, vs. 4 films in the first half of 2015), and marked by the success of The Divergent Series: Allegiant (2.2 million admissions), The Hateful Eight (1.8 million) and Adopte un veuf (1.1 million). The first half-year was also notable for the release of three films co-produced by M6 Films (Chocolat, Amis publics, and Un Homme a la hauteur) recording a combined 3.3 million cinema admissions. These healthy performances helped achieve EBITA of 5.0 million, an increase of 1.2 million DIVERSIFICATION During the first half of 2016, Diversification revenue totalled 160.3 million (down 5.3% compared with the first half of 2015), with a contribution to EBITA of 70.6 million, including 50 million from the non-recurring contribution from the M6 mobile agreement, corresponding to the contractual compensation paid by Orange upon agreement of the gradual stoppage of the marketing of the offer. Recurring activities, whose operating margin reached an average of 12.9%, contributed 20.6 million to EBITA, a year-on-year fall of 1.2 million, which was the result of: A 2.4 million reduction in the business contribution made by M6 mobile A 0.4 million increase in the profit from recurring operations of M6 Web's other activities, which reached 5.8 million before 2.2 million in launch-related losses for its network of online channels (Golden Moustache, Rose Carpet, etc.) were taken into account, Revenue from M6 Web excluding M6 Mobile grew 2.8 million and reached 35.2 million thanks to the strong growth in online video advertising revenues. The new version of 6play has proved a success: six months after its launch, it already has more than 10 million registered users, with a rapidly growing audience and an average of 110 million videos viewed per month across all screens (50% growth year-on-year, source Mediametrie, December to May Ventadis , which is gradually renewing its home shopping product range, and which saw its sales and EBITA fall by 7.2 million and 4.4 million respectively; , which is gradually renewing its home shopping product range, and which saw its sales and EBITA fall by 7.2 million and 4.4 million respectively; F.C.G.B, which ended the French Ligue 1 Championship in 11th place and posted a 5.9 million increase in EBITA, thanks to the sale of players during the winter transfer window. UNALLOCATED ITEMS Unallocated expenses fell 7 million, as a result of the automatic impact of the non-recurring M6 mobile compensation on operating expenses. 2 Matches broadcast in July will however yield a positive margin CHANGE IN FINANCIAL POSITION At 30 June 2016, Group equity stood at 561.9 million, with a cash usage of 85.5 million over the first half-year of 2016, compared with a usage of 133.1 million for the first six months of 2015. OUTLOOK FOR THE 2ND HALF OF 2016 Following a first half-year energised by Euro 2016, advertising market visibility remains limited within an uncertain macroeconomic market. Over the second half of the year, M6 Group will pursue its policy of investing in its viewing schedules in order to continue improving its audience figures and market share. A conference call will be held on 26 July 2016 at 6.30pm (CEST). A webcast will be broadcast on the site www.groupem6.fr (Finance section). Details on how to access the conference call are available at the same address. Both the slideshow presentation and the consolidated half-year financial statements will be accessible online from 6.00 pm, it being specified that the Statutory Auditors have completed a limited review of the financial statements and issued an unqualified report. Next release: Third quarter financial information on 8 November 2016 after close of trading M6 Metropole Television is listed on Euronext Paris, Compartment A. Ticker: MMT, ISIN code: FR0000053225 View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726005882/en/ Contacts: M6 METROPOLE TELEVISION INVESTOR RELATIONS Eric Ghestemme, +33 (0)1 41 92 59 53 eric.ghestemme@m6.fr or PRESS Adelaide Stella, +33 (0)1 41 92 61 36 adelaide.stella@m6.fr Regulatory News: ASIT biotech (Paris:ASIT) (BSE:ASIT) (ASIT BE0974289218), a Belgian clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and future commercialization of breakthrough immunotherapy products for the treatment of allergies, today announces the appointment of Prof. Mohamed Shamji as Scientific Advisor for the development of new drug candidates. Prof. Shamji will provide ASIT biotech's pre-clinical research teams with his support and expertise in immunology with the principal objective of characterizing the immunological properties of new drug candidates. "I am honored to have this opportunity to advise ASIT biotech, which implements an innovative approach in the field of allergen immunotherapy. Based on fragments of highly-purified natural allergens of an optimal size, the peptides used by ASIT biotech elicit protective B cell responses by inducing antibodies capable of blocking allergic reactions. This property represents a major point of differentiation vis-a-vis current allergy immunotherapy strategies based on peptide use. I am eager to explore the potential of ASIT biotech's technological platform in the treatment of new allergies", says Prof. Shamji. Prof. Shamji completed his clinical scientist fellowship training in clinical immunology at the Chelsea Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London, United Kingdom, in 2004. He then pursued his interest in translational research and completed PhD studies in allergy and clinical immunology at the National Heart Lung Institute, Imperial College London in 2010. Prof. Shamji has recently established his research group (Immunomodulation and Tolerance group) within the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Section at Imperial College London led by Professor Stephen Durham. In recognition of his research and academic achievements, he was awarded the Imperial College President's Award for outstanding Early Career Researcher in 2015. Prof. Shamji has over 40 peer-reviewed publications in high impact journals and his two recent publications in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology were selected as editor's choice. For his complete scientific biography, please click here. Thierry Legon, CEO of ASIT biotech, concludes: "As we continue to structure our team, we are delighted to henceforth be able to collaborate more closely with Prof. Shamji, an acknowledged expert in the field of allergen immunotherapy. His expertise in immunological tolerance induction mechanisms represents a real asset for identifying new routes of development for ASIT biotech, which already has two innovative product candidates targeting grass pollen and house dust mites. About ASIT biotech ASIT biotech is a Belgian clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and future commercialisation of a range of breakthrough immunotherapy products for the treatment of allergies. Thanks to its innovative ASIT+TM technology platform, ASIT biotech is currently the only developer of AIT product candidates consisting of a unique mixture of highly purified natural allergen fragments in an optimal size selection. This innovation results in a short treatment, expected to improve patient compliance and real-life effectiveness. ASIT biotech's product pipeline entails two novel ASIT+ product candidates targeting respiratory allergy with the highest prevalence (i.e. grass pollen: gp-ASIT+TM and house dust mite: hdm-ASIT+TM), that could significantly expand the current immunotherapy market. The Company believes that its innovative ASIT+ platform is flexible and would be applicable across a range of allergies. ASIT biotech has a headcount of 22 staff members, at its headquarters in Brussels and a laboratory in Liege, Belgium. Further information can be found at: www.asitbiotech.com. Forward Looking Statements All statements in this announcement that do not relate to historical facts and events are "forward-looking statements". In some cases, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the words "believes," "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "may," "will," "plans," "continue," "ongoing," "potential," "predict," "project," "target," "seek" or "should" or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology or by discussions of strategies, plans, objectives, targets, goals, future events or intentions. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the Company's intentions, beliefs or current expectations. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Given these risks and uncertainties, you should not rely on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. Any forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this announcement and, without prejudice to the Company's obligations under applicable law in relation to disclosure and ongoing information, the Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update the forward-looking statements set forth in this announcement. Important Legal Notice This announcement does not constitute, or form part of, an offer or invitation to sell or issue, or any solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for shares of ASIT biotech SA (the "Company" and the "Shares"). Any purchase of, subscription for or application for, Shares to be issued in connection with the intended offering should only be made on the basis of information contained in the prospectus and any supplements thereto, as the case may be. This announcement does not constitute a prospectus and the information contained herein is for information purposes only and does not purport to be full or complete. Investors should not subscribe for any Shares except on the basis of the information contained in the prospectus that the Company expects to publish after its approval by the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority, and which can then be obtained at the Company's registered office and on www.asitbiotech.com. This announcement is not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or to any U.S. person within the meaning of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). The Shares have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act and may not be offered or sold in the United States, except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. The Company has not registered, and does not intend to register, any portion of the intended offering of Shares in the United States, and does not intend to conduct a public offering of Shares in the United States. This announcement and the information contained herein are not for publication, distribution or release in or into the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan or any jurisdiction where to do so would constitute a violation of the relevant laws of such jurisdiction. The Company is responsible for the information contained in this press release. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726006054/en/ Contacts: Company ASIT biotech Thierry Legon, Tel. +32 2 264 03 90 CEO investors@asitbiotech.com or Media and Investor Relations France NewCap Dusan Oresansky Pierre Laurent, Tel.: +33 1 44 71 94 92 asitbiotech@newcap.eu or Media Relations Belgium Laure-Eve Monfort, Tel.: +32 2 290 90 93 monfort@comfi.be Technavio has announced the top five leading vendors in their recentglobal cardiac resynchronization therapy pacemaker (CRT-P) market 2016-2020report until 2020. Competitive vendor landscape According to the report, the global CRT-P market is consolidated, with the presence of well-established vendors such as BIOTRONIK, Boston Scientific, LivaNova, Medtronic, and St. Jude Medical. The leading vendors have a strong brand name and offer a wide range of products. They have sizeable shares in the market, thus, hindering the entry of new players. Barath Palada, a lead analyst at Technavio for cardiovascular devices research, says, "Vendors in the market are implementing strategies to expand their geographical presence and increase their market shares, leading to intense market competition. They are extensively investing in research to develop safe and efficient products and gain regulatory approvals for their launch in the market." Many new devices received FDA and CE mark approval leading to their launch in the market. In 2014, Medtronic's two different CRT-P devices received FDA approval and Boston Scientific's one CRT-P device received CE mark approval. Request for sample report: http://goo.gl/wEZeQg Top five CRT-P market vendors BIOTRONIK BIOTRONIK was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Berlin, Germany. The company develops cardiology and endovascular medical devices for use in medical facilities for treating people. BIOTRONIK researches, develops, and markets CRT-Ps. The company offers various products for bradycardia therapy, tachycardia therapy, cardiac resynchronization, cardiac remote monitoring, and coronary vascular intervention. Boston Scientific Boston Scientific was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts, US. The company develops and markets medical devices for a broad range of medical conditions through its subsidiaries and divisions worldwide. Boston Scientific offers cardiac medical devices such as ICDs and CRT-Ps through its cardiac rhythm management sub-segment and offers heart valve systems through its interventional cardiology sub-segment. The company manufactures and markets CRT-Ps such as INTUA CRT-P, INVIVE CRT-P, VALITUDE X4 CRT-P, and VISIONIST CRT-P for the treatment of heart failure. LivaNova LivaNova is a medical technology company that researches, develops, and markets products in the areas of cardiac surgery, cardiac rhythm management, and neuromodulation worldwide. In October 2015, LivaNova's subsidiary Cyberonics underwent a merger with Sorin Group for USD 2.7 billion. LivaNova offers CRT-P products through its cardiac rhythm management segment. Medtronic Medtronic was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The company researches, develops, and markets medical devices in over 155 countries worldwide. Through the cardiac rhythm management division, Medtronic offers products such as implantable cardiac pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators, implantable cardiac resynchronization therapy devices, and diagnostics and monitoring devices. St. Jude Medical St. Jude Medical was incorporated in 1976 and is headquartered in Minnesota, US. The company researches, develops, and markets medical devices in the US and ROW. Through its pacemaker systems segment, St. Jude Medical offers a wide range of CRT-Ps for treating bradycardia and other heart conditions. Browse Related Reports: Global Angioplasty Balloons Market 2016-2020 Global Flow Dimension Aneurysm Treatment Market 2016-2020 Global Ventricular Assist Devices 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/20160726005084/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 630 333 9501 UK: +44 208 123 1770 www.technavio.com SAN ANTONIO, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- This week, San Antonio Express News released the winners of its annual Reader's Choice Awards, and Pizza Patron, widely known for its PIZZA POR PESOS program, was voted "Best Pizza-Chain" in San Antonio. The contest was open for voting from April 23 through June 21st this year, and despite not being a nominee on the ballot, Pizza Patron was catapulted to first place, the "Gold Award", by its fans throughout the city. The San Antonio Express News accepts votes cast via text, mail and online. "We are so appreciative of our customers who took the time and effort to vote for us, giving us the first place honor over the three companies on the ballot: Papa John's, Pizza Hut and Grimaldi's," said Stephanie Yzaguirre, director of Marketing for San Antonio Pizza LLC, the Pizza Patron franchisee group. Pizza Patron makes its signature dough from scratch in each store daily. It is naturally fermented to its peak state of proofing and flavor. After baking, each pizza features a crispy crust that combines with a tender, springy crumb and retains just a hint of sour that brings out the rich and complex essence of the grains. The sauce starts with fresh-packed, crushed Roma tomatoes and marinates for 24 hours with the company's secret blend of spices and herbs before it is served. "We are really proud of our franchise partners in San Antonio for being recognized like this," said Andrew Gamm, executive vice president for Pizza Patron. "We have always believed that our product, when made correctly, is superior to even the biggest chains. It is great to receive that validation from our customers, who are the toughest critics we face." San Antonio Pizza LLC has 11 Pizza Patron locations in San Antonio. To find a store, visit www.pizzapatron.com. For franchise opportunity information, please contact franchise sales manager Isaiah Melendez directly at 972-982-0176 or visit ownapizzapatron.com. About Pizza Patron Since 1986, Pizza Patron has been committed to making its promise of "Mas Pizza. Menos Dinero." a reality for every customer. From the beginning, the brand has been recognized for its 'fresh-dough' pizza, its low prices and its trademark "friendly, bicultural service." In 2007, the company drew international media attention with its PIZZA POR PESOS program when it began accepting Mexican Pesos at all of its restaurants. In 2012, the company's PIZZA POR FAVOR promotion that gave free pizzas to anyone who ordered in Spanish sparked international news coverage and lively debate throughout the U.S. Today, Pizza Patron is the leading Mexican pizza brand in the U.S. and remains dedicated to bringing its unique experience to life with every pizza made, and in every community it serves. Website - www.pizzapatron.com Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pizzapatron Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/pizzapatron Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3037717 Contact: Sandy Bell Phone 972-800-1745 Email Contact Flash Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Monday that the process to make the new constitution has started, local media Daily Sabah reported. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have reached a consensus on the making of a new constitution, Yildirim said at the press conference after the cabinet meeting. "We have agreed to make minor changes in the current constitution, and the process to make a whole new constitution has started," the prime minister added. "We will work together to prepare the infrastructure for this (system)," Yildirim said. On bigger changes to come, he said "We have decided to continue the unfinished process to make a new constitution." Yildirim noted the gendarmerie and coast guard, which were previously under the command of the Turkish armed forces, would be fully tied to the interior ministry. He also announced that the Bosphorus Bridge, connecting the European and Asian sides of Istanbul, would be renamed as "The July 15 Martyrs' Bridge" in honor of civilians who died resisting the July 15 coup attempt. Two monuments to the civilians killed during the failed coup will also be built in Ankara and Istanbul. Separately, in an interview with German broadcaster ARD, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish people want the death penalty reintroduced, and the government must listen to what the people say. Erdogan said Turkey would keep its promises in a migrant deal with the European Union (EU), but arguing that the EU had failed to provide Turkey with sufficient aid. Meanwhile, Turkey's parliament decided to establish a commission to investigate the coup attempt, Anadolu Agency reported on Monday. The commission would be authorized to question suspects in jail or outside like prosecutors, even during the ongoing judicial process, but would have no right to impose punishment. The failed coup attempt on July 15 left at least 290 people, including more than 100 "coup plotters," killed, authorities said. SACRAMENTO, CA--(Marketwired - July 26, 2016) - Registered organ, eye and tissue donors in California have saved nearly 7,000 lives and helped heal an estimated 600,000 more people since Donate Life California and the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) became official partners 10 years ago. The DMV began asking driver license and ID card customers if they wanted to join the state's official Donate Life California Organ & Tissue Donor Registry on July 1, 2006. By the end of that year, one million people had signed up on the secure and confidential database. Today, more than 13.2 million Californians have registered their decision to be a life-saving donor -- 95 percent through the DMV. The DMV adds about 20,000 new registrations each week. "We do everything we can to honor the wishes of registered organ, eye and tissue donors," said Monica Johnson, Donate Life California board president and executive director of Sierra Donor Services, the nonprofit organ and tissue recovery organization in Sacramento. "For families, it's a comfort knowing their loved one's wishes so they don't have to wonder what their loved one's choice would have been." "Less than one percent of people who die are able to save lives as an organ donor, so every registration is critical," said Eric Burch, Donate Life California CEO. "The work we do with partners like the DMV is vitally important because the need is so great. Yet, only about 45 percent of Californians are registered donors -- too many rule themselves out. You're never too old to register and your medical history doesn't necessarily affect your eligibility to be a donor." "The DMV is proud to be part of an organization that has helped save the lives of so many Californians," said DMV Director Jean Shiomoto. "Our employees not only assist customers with signing up to become organ, eye, and tissue donors, but many of them are registered donors, and others are appreciative recipients. So, our partnership holds special meaning for us." More than 120,000 people in the U.S., including 22,000 in California, are on the organ transplant waiting list; nearly 1,100 Californians died waiting last year. "I am one of the lucky ones. My donor registered at the DMV. If he hadn't done that, I would not be alive today," said Alfonso Garcia, a Bay Area liver recipient who graduated this spring from the University of San Francisco. "I think of George every day and live my life to honor his gift." Alfonso's organ donor, Sacramento resident George Becker, signed up as an organ donor when he got his driver license at 16. George died at 22 from a sinus infection that reached his brain. As an organ donor, he saved three lives, including Alfonso's. George's mother is grateful that something good came out of her son's sudden death. "Seeing Alfonso become the young man he is thanks to my son's selfless decision to register as an organ donor fills my heart," said Connie Mays, George's mother. "I am so grateful and so proud of George, and it's wonderful to see how Alfonso honors my son." The DMV has supported organ donation since 1976 when it began issuing pink "DONOR" dot stickers and donor cards, which were considered symbols of intent only. In 2005, the online Donate Life California Registry was launched, phasing out donor cards and offering Californians an opportunity to give formal, legal consent for donation. The next year, the DMV became an official partner and, instead of issuing stickers, began printing the familiar pink "DONOR" dot on driver license and ID cards. Deborah Flores of Spring Valley near San Diego says if her son had not registered as a donor at the DMV, she probably would have said no when asked about organ donation because she wouldn't have known what he wanted. Xusha Brown, who went by ShuShu, was the unintended victim of a drive-by shooting on Interstate 8 in La Mesa in May 2013. He was just 22 years old. "Losing a child is the worst thing a parent could ever experience," said Deborah Flores, ShuShu's mother. "But because he was a donor, the circle of life continues. Four lives were saved because my son was thinking of others. My son ended his journey here in this life with the best two titles to his name -- donor and hero. Forever my hero." Organ donation has allowed Jolene Vargas of Baldwin Park in the Los Angeles area to raise her son and take care of her stepdad, who suffered from dementia, after her mom passed away. A two-time kidney recipient, Jolene's second donor registered at the DMV. "I was a single mom and my son was just two years old when I was given three days to live. Now, more than twenty years and two transplants later, he's a successful young man working with one of the world's largest technology companies and I got the chance to take care of my dad when he needed me. I can't thank my donors enough for that." Californians can register to be donors by checking "YES!" at the DMV or by signing up at donateLIFEcalifornia.org. Fast Facts from Donate Life California: California has the largest waiting list in the nation; the most deaths waiting; and the largest donor registry in the U.S. -- yet, only about 45 percent of residents sign up here. 85% of people are able to be tissue donors. Less than 1% are able to be organ donors. Last year, 953 Californians were organ donors. Deceased donors saved the lives of 2,955 people in 2015 and 1,063 died waiting in our state. For more information: Photos & additional resources available at http://bit.ly/DLCMediaKit California DMV 916-657-6437 dmvpublicaffairs@dmv.ca.gov Bay Area: Noel Sanchez, Donor Network West 925-480-3400 media@dnwest.org Los Angeles: Vanessa Schnaidt, Hershey Cause Communications 310-656-1001 ext. 105 vschnaidt@hersheycause.com Sacramento: Deanna Santana, Sierra Donor Services 916-201-3295 dsantana@dcids.org San Diego: Sharon Ross, Lifesharing 619-889-6161 ssross@ucsd.edu About Donate Life California: Donate Life California is the nonprofit, state-authorized organ, eye and tissue donor registry. Individuals can add their name to the registry by checking "YES!" every time they renew/apply for their driver license or ID card at the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). This ensures their desire to donate life will be carried out. A pink "DONOR" dot is added to their driver license or ID as a symbol of their decision. Individuals can also sign up online at donateLIFEcalifornia.org or doneVIDAcalifornia.org. As a public service, the registry ensures all personal information is kept confidential and stored in a secure database, accessible only to authorized organ and tissue recovery personnel at the time of an actual donation opportunity. The registry is administered by Donate Life California and California's four nonprofit, federally designated organ procurement organizations (OPOs): Donor Network West, Lifesharing, OneLegacy and Sierra Donor Services. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/7/25/11G107997/Images/DL-DMV-10-336bf5771a2fb9a489ec6ae79f6a7a4e.jpg Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/7/25/11G107997/Images/Alfonso_Garcia_-_with_photo_of_George_Becker-ac4dfea8ea9895f28c1e6577cf19a268.jpeg Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/7/25/11G107997/Images/George_Becker-30728dc60b1c9fe0b44cc75301779574.jpg Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/7/25/11G107997/Images/Xusha_Brown_-_far_right-a2b81b6e13acb17daf1cee0e2d125614.jpg Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/7/25/11G107997/Images/JoleneVargas-cc3c137d23058156b6f14724eddcf6d6.jpg Contact: Brianne Mundy Page 858-220-8351 brianne@donateLIFEcalifornia.org CUPERTINO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- For decades there have been rumors that in 1980 when IBM chose MS-DOS over CP/M for its PC operating system, Microsoft had essentially copied CP/M and that the credit, and the money, should really have gone to Digital Research, Inc. (DRI) and to its CEO, Gary Kildall. Fans of Gary Kildall and admirers of Bill Gates still argue to this day. Famed forensic scientist Bob Zeidman compared the two programs several years ago, but his access to source code was limited. Recently, Microsoft donated the previously unavailable source code for MS-DOS to the Computer History Museum, and a more complete version of the CP/M source code was found. As a result, Zeidman has made another, more in-depth comparison. On Saturday, August 6, at the Vintage Computer Festival at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, Zeidman will present the history of CP/M and MS-DOS, DRI and Microsoft, Gary Kildall and Bill Gates, and then he'll announce his new findings regarding whether or not Microsoft copied CP/M to create MS-DOS. What: Was Microsoft built from stolen goods? A forensic analysis of DOS and CP/M Who: Bob Zeidman, Software Forensic Scientist When: Saturday, August 6, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time Where: Vintage Computer Festival, Computer History Museum, 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. Mountain View, CA 94043 Tickets: Available at the door or online at http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west-xi/vcf-west-tickets/ About Bob Zeidman: Bob Zeidman invented the field of software forensics. He has consulted in high-profile court cases including ConnectU v. Facebook that was made famous in the Academy Award-winning movie The Social Network, Texas Instruments v. Samsung Electronics that resulted in an award to his client of over $1 billion, and Oracle v. Google that is setting a standard for software copyright. To compare MS-DOS and CP/M source code and resolve the question once and for all, Bob is using CodeSuite, the tool he created for analyzing software to detect copyright infringement. About the Vintage Computer Federation: The Vintage Computer Federation (vcfed.org) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit serving computer history enthusiasts. Projects include the Vintage Computer Festival events series, Vintage Computer Forum online discussion site, regional chapters, and hands-on museum exhibits. Media Contact: Todd Lane Antenna Group (415) 977-1945 Email Contact OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- Research that studies the effects of contaminants on our aquatic ecosystems helps improve decision-making on the use and protection of our marine and freshwater environments. It contributes to Fisheries and Oceans Canada's overall advice on sustainable aquaculture, resource development and emergency response measures. The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, today announced a new round of funding for Canadian researchers to study the biological effects of contaminants on fish, marine mammals, and other aquatic organisms. Funded through Fisheries and Oceans Canada's National Contaminants Advisory Group, $3.75 million will be available to Canadian universities and not-for-profit research organizations during the next three years. Selected research projects will focus on oil and gas, aquaculture therapeutants, pesticides, and contaminants and issues of emerging concern. This is the Department's third Call for Proposals since the Advisory Group was established in 2013. So far, the funding has yielded 23 high quality multiyear research projects at Canadian universities, some of which focused on species highly valued by Canadians, such as killer whales, belugas and salmon. Quick Facts -- The National Contaminants Advisory Group (NCAG) provides information and science advice to the Department on priority issues related to the biological effects of contaminants. -- The 2016 Call for Proposals will be open to researchers for the next two months. Successful funding recipients will be notified in winter 2017, and research projects will start in April 2017. -- A portion of the funding for this Call for Proposals comes from the recently announced $197.1 million investment in ocean and freshwater science. Quote "Science conducted by universities and other experts enhances our ability to make informed decisions about the conservation and use of our aquatic resources. We are committed to understanding the effects of contaminants on fish, marine mammals and other aquatic organisms, and we are proud to support Canadian researchers in this important field." - The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard Associated Links National Contaminants Advisory Group Call for Proposals 2016 Guidelines Internet: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca Follow us on Twitter! www.Twitter.com/DFO_MPO Contacts: Media Relations Fisheries and Oceans Canada 613-990-7537 Media.xncr@dfo-mpo.gc.ca Patricia Bell Press Secretary Office of the Minister Fisheries and Oceans Canada 613-992-3474 Patricia.Bell@dfo-mpo.gc.ca PUNE, India, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new Market Research Report "North America Instrumentation Valves and Fittings Market, by Product Type (Process Valves, Manifold Valves, Ultra-Clean Valves, Fitting & Connectors, and Pneumatic actuators), by Application - Trends and Forecasts till 2022", is expected to reach USD 1,428.1 million by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 4.2 % during the forecast period. Browse 36 Figures spread through 78 Pages and in-depth TOC on "North America Instrumentation Valves and Fittings Market" for an in-depth analysis of the industry trends and segments. http://www.micromarketmonitor.com/market-report/north-america-valves-fittings-market-reports-6631621581.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The increasing demand for valves in North America is attributed to its high requirement in industrial automation in gas, fumes, and fluid control applications. The recent push by economies such as the U.S. and Mexico in implementation of ball valves has increased the market for valves. Further, the market for ultra-clean valves is expected to witness high growth which is expected to drive the market in the near future. On the basis of applications, the market is segmented into semiconductors, oil & gas, food & beverages, chemical, pharmaceuticals, paper & pulp, and hyperbaric chamber. The instrumentation valves and fittings market for the oil & gas application is expected to hold the leading position by 2022, owing to flow control and pressure control applications. The market for pharmaceuticals application is expected to grow at the highest rate, owing to increasing use of valves in air systems, gas systems, and analytical instrumentation to maintain hygiene, cleanliness, and maintenance access. For more Inquiries: http://www.micromarketmonitor.com/contact/6631621581-inquery_before_buy.html The market in the U.S. is expected to grow at the highest rate between 2016 and 2022 because of the increasing demand for instrumentation automation in oil & gas and semiconductor applications. The oil & gas industry is a major contributor to the U.S. economic growth. Shale gas which is commercialized in the U.S. is extracted using advanced technologies such as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. These technologies are driving the growth of valves & fittings in this segment. Key Players of North America Instrumentation Valves and Fittings Market include: SWAGELOK (U.S.), Parker Hannifin (U.S.), SSP Fitting Corporation (U.S.), Circor International, Inc. (Hoke) (U.S.), AS-Schneider (Germany), HexValve (U.S.), Bray International Inc. (U.S.), Fujikin Incorporated (Japan), and Dwyer Instruments (U.S.). The report analyzes the market trends for each segment, along with its respective growth rate. Apart from the market segmentation, the report also covers in-depth analysis of value chain with a detailed process flow diagram and market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities for the growth of the instrumentation valves and fittings market. The report also provides a qualitative and quantitative description of the verticals considered under the market. It also gives a detailed view of the market across three countries: United State, Mexico, and Canada. Report Subscription: MicroMarket Monitor produces exclusive market research reports, based on real-time data to provide better understanding of the dynamic market conditions of the Semiconductor & Electronics industry. The reports offer in-depth and complete analysis of the regional and country level marketplaces. The research reports for Semiconductor & Electronics industry are updated on quarterly basis and are easily available for purchase through annual subscriptions. http://www.micromarketmonitor.com/offerings/subscription About MicroMarket Monitor: MicroMarket Monitor identifies and attends to various unmet needs of different industrial verticals, which include value chain impact analysis. The company publishes about 12000 Market Research Reports on various Micro Markets across the world. The graphical nature and multidimensional analysis of these reports provide advanced Business Intelligence Tools to the clients in that particular target market. Contact: Mr. Priyank Tiwari UNIT no 802, Tower No. 7, SEZ Magarpatta City, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India. Tel: +1-888-502-0539 Email: sales@micromarketmonitor.com AURORA, IL -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- BERNINA of America, the premier manufacturer of sewing, embroidery and quilting machines, is pleased to honor its top Dealers for 2015 that demonstrated exemplary sales, service and customer education. These Dealers were recognized at the BERNINA University Dealer training conference, which was held July 15 - 18 in New Orleans, La. "Our top Dealers for 2015 represented BERNINA with truly outstanding sales and first-class customer service and educational support," said Paul Ashworth, president of BERNINA of America. "They are a model of success for other BERNINA Dealers to emulate. We congratulate them on a job well done." Sew Much More in Austin, Tex., received the 2015 BERNINA Presidential Award. The award recognizes the Dealer that best exemplifies the spirit of cooperation and education represented by the BERNINA brand. This includes the implementation of a successful integrated marketing program that supports the entire BERNINA product line, modern store merchandise concepting, a well-developed educational approach, dedication to total customer service, and above-average growth in dollar sales and BERNINA units sold. The 2015 Rookie of the Year Award was presented to Keff and Abigail Wilson of BERNINA Omaha in Omaha, Neb. and Chris Blakeman, Blakeman Vacuum & Sewing, Cheyenne, Wyo. who best incorporated the lessons of BERNINA Dealer training into its operation and delivered impressive 2015 results. In addition, District Dealer of the Year Award winners from the BERNINA's 11 districts were acknowledged: Laurie Mangold, Sew Special Quilts, San Antonio, Texas Richard and Rod Borget, Dave's BERNINA, Provo/St. George, Utah Lisa and Steve Mullins, Wandering Stitches, Orlando, Fla. Gerald and Lois Nichols, Sunflower Creations, Copeland, Kan. Lou Wright and Rosalie Calise, Upland Vacuum & Sew, Upland, Calif. Ervin Zimmerman, Hinkletown Sewing Machine Shop, Ephrata, Penn. Rhonda Lopez, Nuttall's, Salt Lake City, Utah Judi and Tom West, Patchwork Plus, Marcellus, N.Y. Nancy Gloss, Al Hunt and Judy Pendley, Nancy's Calico Patch, Newport News, Va. Jenny Yannone, The Sewing Palace, Helena, Mont. Leon and Linda Hoover, Hoover's BERNINA Sew, Mifflinburg, Penn. Jim Meissner, Meissner Sewing Machine Company, Sacramento, Calif. Robert and Deborah Cornella, Quilter's Quest, Woodridge, Ill. Susan and Mike Carmichael, Life's a Stitch, DePere, Wis. Ron and Barbara Goldkorn, Sew Much More, Austin, Texas Barb Perry, Aurora Sewing Center, East Aurora/Williamsville, N.Y. Diana and John Marshall, Gloversville Sewing Center, Gloversville, N.Y. Jean Wilt and Karen Rellaford, High Country Quilts, Colorado Springs, Col. Timothy and Lois Hoover, Top Stitch Sewing Service, Barnett, Mo. Jack and Julie Pierce, Atlanta Sewing Center, Duluth/Marietta, Ga. Keff and Abigail Wilson, BERNINA of Omaha, Neb. About BERNINA Founded in Switzerland more than 100 years ago, BERNINA is the world's premier manufacturer with a proven reputation for offering quality state-of-the-art sewing, quilting and embroidery machines, overlockers, and embroidery software. BERNINA's leadership is marked by an impressive number of ambassadors, industry leaders, influencers and bloggers who chose to partner with the company. BERNINA products are sold in the United States through a network of over 400 fully trained independent dealerships that also offer support and education. Select BERNINA and bernette machines, and BERNINA software can also be purchased online. BERNINA products are designed for beginning to advanced sewists and priced to meet a variety of budgets, with new products being introduced every year. You can follow BERNINA on Facebook: www.facebook.com/berninausa, Instagram: @BERNINAUSA, and Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/WeAllSew, and read BERNINA's WeAllSew blog at www.weallsew.com. To learn more about BERNINA and to find a Dealer, visit www.bernina.com or call (630)978-2500. Media Contacts for BERNINA of America, Inc.: Joanne Tedesco (312)780-7210 Email Contact Lia Antonetti (312)780-7218 Email Contact Technavio has announced the top four leading vendors in their recentglobal transcatheter mitral valve replacement market 2016-2020report. This research report also lists five other prominent vendors that are expected to impact the market during the forecast period. Competitive vendor landscape The global transcatheter mitral valve replacement market is consolidated, with the presence of a few companies that offer products worldwide. Abbott Laboratories, Edwards Lifesciences, and Neovasc are the only providers of transcatheter mitral valve implants in the US. In Europe, these vendors along with other companies such as MitrAssist and Valtech offer transcatheter mitral valves and compete to gain market shares. "The regulatory approval process in the US is more stringent compared to Europe. This makes it difficult for vendors to gain regulatory approval and launch their products in the US as compared to Europe," says Barath Palada, a lead analyst at Technavio for cardiovascular devices research. The successful launch and acceptance of transcatheter aortic valve implants worldwide have led many vendors to diversify their portfolio by developing transcatheter mitral valve implants. Boston Scientific and Medtronic are venturing into this market through acquisition deals with other small companies. Some vendors are also collaborating with other prominent vendors such as MitrAssist and NaviGate Cardiac Structures to develop transcatheter mitral valve implants. Vendors are also investing in R&D to develop advanced devices, some of which are under clinical trials. Request for sample report: http://goo.gl/3EITjA Key vendors: Abbott Laboratories Abbott Laboratories manufactures and sells a wide range of healthcare products directly to wholesalers, retailers, government agencies, and healthcare facilities such as hospitals, laboratories, and physicians' offices worldwide. Abbott Laboratories manufactures and markets MitraClip percutaneous mitral valve repair system in the US and worldwide. The company announced its agreement to acquire Tendyne Holdings, a US-based medical device company that develops minimally invasive transcatheter mitral valves. This acquisition will allow Abbott Laboratories to expanding its portfolio of transcatheter mitral valves. Edwards Lifesciences The company collaborates with physicians to produce innovative medical technology solutions, such as heart valves and hemodynamic monitoring devices, to help improve the quality of life. Its technologies serve a large patient population in the areas of advanced monitoring of acute and structural heart diseases. Edwards Lifesciences engages in the R&D and marketing of transcatheter mitral valve replacement systems such as SAPIEN XT valve and FORTIS transcatheter mitral valve (clinical trials underway). Physicians use catheter-based approaches to implant SAPIEN XT valve for treating people with heart valve disease at risk for open-heart aortic and mitral valve replacement surgeries. Micro Interventional Devices The company designs, manufactures, and markets medical devices for heart repair, including Permaseal transapical access device and Endovalve transcatheter mitral valve replacement device. The company offers Endovalve, an innovative transcatheter mitral valve replacement device for the repair and replacement of mitral valves. The device, developed using the company's patented technology with percutaneous application, is available in the US and Europe for preclinical use only. The device provides comparable outcomes to current surgical standard-of-care for valve replacement with reduced recovery duration and complications. Neovasc The company engages in the R&D and marketing of cardiovascular medical devices. Neovasc offers transcatheter mitral valve replacement devices. Through its subsidiary Neovasc Tiara, the company offers Tiara transcatheter device for the treatment of mitral valve disease. The device is based on the company's patented Neovasc Tiara technology. The structure of the device helps it preserve left ventricle function and avoid left ventricle outflow tract obstruction. The device is available in different sizes of 35 mm and 40 mm. The 45 mm-sized mitral valve is under preclinical study. The company conducted a multinational, multicenter early feasibility study for its product Tiara-I in the US, Canada, and EU countries. Other prominent vendors: MitrAssist The company develops and markets a wide range of heart valve implants including transcatheter mitral valve replacement devices for mitral regurgitation. NaviGate Cardiac Structures The company develops early-stage transcatheter solutions for treating atrioventricular valve regurgitation. Valtech Valtech offers a wide range of devices for the minimally invasive treatment of chronic mitral regurgitation. Boston Scientific In 2015, the company acquired MValve Technologies, an Israel-based medical device company that develops percutaneous mitral valve replacement system for treating mitral regurgitation. It also offers transcatheter aortic valve replacement devices in the area of interventional cardiology. The company's Lotus valve system is an effective alternative device for treating people with aortic stenosis. Medtronic In 2015, the company entered into an agreement to acquire Twelve, a US-based medical device company to expand its transcatheter mitral valve replacement offerings. It also offers transcatheter aortic valve replacement devices in the area of structural heart treatment. Browse Related Reports: Global Vascular Guidewires Market 2016-2020 Global Angioplasty Balloons Market 2016-2020 Global Flow Dimension Aneurysm Treatment 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/20160726005102/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 630 333 9501 UK: +44 208 123 1770 www.technavio.com TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- Further to the announcement by Bank of Montreal (the "Bank") (TSX: BMO)(NYSE: BMO) on June 27, 2016, the Bank today announced the applicable dividend rates for its Non-Cumulative 5-Year Rate Reset Class B Preferred Shares, Series 25 (the "Preferred Shares Series 25") and Non-Cumulative Floating Rate Class B Preferred Shares, Series 26 (the "Preferred Shares Series 26"). With respect to any Preferred Shares Series 25 that remain outstanding after August 25, 2016, commencing as of such date, holders thereof will be entitled to receive fixed rate non-cumulative preferential cash dividends on a quarterly basis, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of the Bank and subject to the provisions of the Bank Act (Canada). The dividend rate for the five-year period commencing on August 25, 2016, and ending on August 24, 2021, will be 1.805 per cent, being equal to the sum of the five-year Government of Canada bond yield as at July 26, 2016, plus 1.15 per cent, as determined in accordance with the terms of the Preferred Shares Series 25. With respect to any Preferred Shares Series 26 that may be issued on August 25, 2016, holders thereof will be entitled to receive floating rate non-cumulative preferential cash dividends on a quarterly basis, calculated on the basis of the actual number of days elapsed in each quarterly floating rate period divided by 365, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of the Bank and subject to the provisions of the Bank Act (Canada). The dividend rate for the three-month period commencing on August 25, 2016, and ending on November 24, 2016, will be 1.622 per cent, being equal to the sum of the three-month Government of Canada Treasury bill yield as at July 26, 2016, plus 1.15 per cent, as determined in accordance with the terms of the Preferred Shares Series 26. Beneficial owners of Preferred Shares Series 25 who wish to exercise their right of conversion should communicate as soon as possible with their broker or other nominee and ensure that they follow their instructions in order to ensure that they meet the deadline to exercise such right, which is 5:00 p.m. (EDT) on August 10, 2016. Conversion enquiries should be directed to BMO's Registrar and Transfer Agent, Computershare Trust Company of Canada, at 1-800-340-5021. About BMO Financial Group Established in 1817, BMO Financial Group is a highly diversified financial services provider based in North America. With total assets of $681 billion as of April 30, 2016, and over 45,000 employees, BMO provides a broad range of retail banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to more than 12 million customers and conducts business through three operating groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, Wealth Management and BMO Capital Markets. Contacts: For News Media Enquiries: Ralph Marranca, Toronto (416) 867-3996 ralph.marranca@bmo.com Valerie Doucet, Montreal (514) 877-8224 valerie.doucet@bmo.com For Investor Relations Enquiries: Lisa Hofstatter, Toronto (416) 867-7019 lisa.hofstatter@bmo.com Christine Viau, Toronto (416) 867-6956 christine.viau@bmo.com Internet: www.bmo.com Twitter: @BMOMedia LEWIS CENTER, OH--(Marketwired - July 26, 2016) - Midwest Energy Emissions Corp. (OTCQB: MEEC) ("ME 2 C" or the "Company"), an emerging leader in mercury emissions control for the global power industry, will hold its Annual Meeting of Stockholders on Tuesday, August 9, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. CDT at the University of North Dakota Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Details of the meeting are as follows: Date: August 9, 2016 Time: 10:00 a.m. CDT Location: Energy & Environmental Research Center, University of North Dakota, 15 North 23rd Street, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58202-9018 During the meeting, stockholders will vote to elect board members and other measures that are up for stockholder vote. The proxy statement and the Company's 2015 annual report to stockholders are also available at http://www.midwestemissions.com/meeting-access/. About Midwest Energy Emissions Corp. (ME 2 C) Midwest Energy Emissions Corp. (OTCQB: MEEC) delivers patented and proprietary solutions to the global coal-power industry to remove mercury from power plant emissions, providing performance guarantees, and leading-edge emissions services. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) MATS rule, which has been subject to legal challenges, requires that all coal- and oil-fired power plants in the U.S., larger than 25 mega-watts, must remove roughly 90% of mercury from their emissions starting April 15, 2015. ME 2 C has developed patented technology and proprietary products that have been shown to achieve mercury removal levels compliant with MATS at a significantly lower cost and with less operational impact than currently used methods, while preserving the marketability of fly-ash for beneficial use. For more information, please visit www.midwestemissions.com. Company Contact: Richard MacPherson Chief Executive Officer Midwest Energy Emissions Corp. Main: 614-505-6115 rmacpherson@midwestemissions.com Investor Relations Contact: Greg Falesnik Senior Vice President MZ Group - MZ North America Main: 949-385-6449 greg.falesnik@mzgroup.us www.mzgroup.us VANCOUVER, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- (All amounts in US$ unless otherwise specified) Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone" or the "Company") (TSX: CS) today announced its financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2016. Operating cash flow before changes in working capital [(1)] was $21.6 million or $0.06 per share, with a net loss of $13.4 million and an adjusted net loss of $7.5 million after adjusting for certain non-cash and non-recurring charges. Copper production for the quarter totalled 28,157 tonnes (27,200 tonnes of payable copper) at a C1 cash cost [(1)] of $1.51 per payable pound produced with copper sales for the quarter of 22,549 tonnes at a C1 cash cost [(1)] of $1.66 per payable pound sold. Capstone will hold a conference call and webcast on Wednesday, July 27, 2016 at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time (8:30 a.m. Pacific time) to discuss these results; call-in details and information on associated slides are provided at the end of this release. This release should be read in conjunction with Capstone's consolidated financial statements and management's discussion and analysis ("MD&A") for the quarter ended June 30, 2016, which are available on Capstone's website at http://capstonemining.com/investors/financial-reporting/default.aspx and on SEDAR. An updated corporate presentation, including results to June 30, 2016, in addition to the Q2 2016 webcast slides, will also be available at http://capstonemining.com/investors/events-and-presentations/default.aspx. Overview Q2 2016 Q2 2015 2016 YTD 2015 YTD Revenue ($ millions) 100.2 112.5 226.5 215.4 Copper produced (tonnes) 28,157 21,100 52,704 44,777 Payable copper produced (tonnes) 27,200 20,367 50,900 43,220 C1 cash cost per payable pound produced (1) ($/lb) 1.51 2.22 1.61 2.09 All-in sustaining cost per payable pound produced (1) ($/lb) 1.91 2.69 2.06 2.54 All-in cost per payable pound produced (1) ($/lb) 1.92 2.98 2.07 2.99 Fully-loaded all-in cost per payable pound produced (1) ($/lb) 2.01 2.92 2.19 3.01 Copper sold (tonnes) 22,549 20,473 50,534 40,555 Realized copper price per pound sold ($/lb)* 2.21 2.67 2.20 2.57 Adjusted realized copper price per pound sold ($/lb) ** 2.21 2.67 2.28 2.57 C1 cash cost per payable pound sold (1)($/lb) 1.66 2.09 1.72 1.99 All-in sustaining cost per payable pound sold (1) ($/lb) 2.13 2.56 2.17 2.46 All-in cost per payable pound sold (1) ($/lb) 2.15 2.84 2.19 2.95 Fully-loaded all-in cost per payable pound sold (1) ($/lb) 2.26 2.78 2.30 2.97 Net income (loss) ($ millions) (13.4) 1.3 (26.2) (16.0) Net income (loss) per common share ($) (0.03) 0.00 (0.07) (0.04) Adjusted net income (loss) (1) ($ millions) (7.5) 1.3 (9.0) (7.6) Adjusted net income (loss) (1) per common share ($) (0.02) 0.00 (0.02) (0.02) EBITDA [(1)] ($ millions) 13.0 26.4 41.4 39.1 Operating cash flow before changes in working capital (1) ($ millions) 21.6 21.8 40.5 38.3 Operating cash flow before changes in working capital per common share (1)($) 0.06 0.06 0.11 0.10 Cash and cash equivalents ($ millions) 100.2 97.6 100.2 97.6 Net debt (1) ($ millions) 243.9 202.0 243.9 202.0 * Q2 2016 includes a negative provisional pricing adjustment of $5.8 million (2015 - negative $0.9 million) related to prior shipments, equivalent to $(0.12) per pound (2015 - $(0.02) per pound) of copper sold during the quarter. 2016 YTD includes a negative provisional pricing adjustment of $11.5 million (2015 - negative $13.6 million) related to prior shipments, equivalent to $(0.10) per pound (2015 - ($0.15) per pound) of copper sold during the six month period. The Q2 2016 and 2016 YTD negative provisional pricing adjustments were predominantly related to assay adjustments. The Q2 2016 figure of ($5.8 million) is broken down as $0.1 million related to price adjustments and ($5.9 million) related to assay adjustments. This translates into adjustments of ($0.00) and ($0.12) respectively on a per pound sold basis. The YTD Q2 2016 figure of ($11.5 million) broken down as ($0.2 million) related to price adjustments and ($11.3 million) related to assay adjustments. This translates into adjustments of ($0.00) and ($0.10) respectively on a per pound sold basis. ** Q2 2016 Adjusted realized copper price includes the realized gain of $0.2 million related to maturing forward contracts (2015 - nil). 2016 YTD Adjusted realized copper price includes the realized gain of $9.8 million related to the put contracts the Company exercised and maturing forward contracts (2015 - nil). "Operational performance in the second quarter was strong, with record setting production," said Darren Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone. "Costs trended down from the first quarter and our focus on operating efficiencies across the Company resulted in both C1 cash costs [(1)] and all-in costs [(1)] coming in better than planned." "Operating cash flow for the quarter was $21.6 million and the short term price fixing and hedging we did earlier this year protected our financial position and liquidity through the volatile commodity price environment in the first half of the year," continued Mr. Pylot. "Improved mill reliability and consistency at Pinto Valley has demonstrated its upside potential and Minto is set up to access the high grades at Minto North, positioning us well for strong second half performance." Financial Highlights for the Three Months Ended June 30, 2016 Net loss of $13.4 million or $0.03 per common share which included: Earnings from mining operations of $2.8 million , Production costs included a $6.4 million non-cash charge related to the write-down of inventory at Minto , Share-based compensation expense of $3.1 million , driven primarily by an increase in Capstone's share price and the effect this has on the share unit liabilities, $1.4 million in current and deferred tax expense. or per common share which included: Working capital decreased marginally to$160.6 million at June 30, 2016 from $163.4 million at March 31 , 2016. Financial Highlights for the Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 Net loss of $26.2 million or $0.07 per common share which included: Earnings from mining operations of $4.8 million , Production costs included a $7.9 million non-cash charge related to the write-down of inventory at Minto and Pinto Valley, Share-based compensation expense of $5.5 million , driven primarily by an increase in Capstone's share price and the effect this has on the share unit liabilities, A gain on commodity derivatives of $3.2 million , comprising $1.7 million on new copper forward contracts and $1.5 million on $2.60 copper puts, which expired in February 2016 , $4.3 million in current and deferred tax expense. or per common share which included: Working capital decreased marginally to$160.6 million at June 30, 2016 from $162.4 million at December 31 , 2015. Production and Additional Highlights for the Three and Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 Pinto Valley Mine: Produced 18,776 tonnes of copper in concentrates and cathode during Q2 2016 at a C1 cash cost [ (1) ] of $1.45 per pound of payable copper produced, setting a quarterly production record. of per pound of payable copper produced, setting a quarterly production record. Produced 35,141 tonnes of copper in concentrates and cathode during 2016 YTD at a C1 cash cost [ (1) ] of $1.54 per pound of payable copper produced. of per pound of payable copper produced. During Q2 2016, mill throughput continued above plan, setting a third consecutive quarterly record of 55,667 tonnes per day and contributing to lower costs on a per pound basis. With the mill operating at steady state and above plan since September 2015 , the primary focus at Pinto Valley has been on optimizing operations. A consideration for any potential further increase in mill throughput is the availability of additional water. Capstone's goal is to determine the surplus water that would potentially be available to consider low-cost expansion opportunities in the range of 10% beyond the mill throughput level currently contemplated in the PV3 pre-feasibility study ("PFS"). Cozamin Mine: Produced 3,288 tonnes of copper in concentrates during Q2 2016 at a C1 cash cost [ (1) ] of $1.52 per pound of payable copper produced. of per pound of payable copper produced. Produced 6,948 tonnes of copper in concentrates during 2016 YTD at a C1 cash cost [ (1) ] of $1.51 per pound of payable copper produced. of per pound of payable copper produced. At Cozamin, production continued to be challenged by a shortfall in mine development. The mine underwent a reorganization in the quarter and a number of additional process improvements and training resources were implemented with mine development rates consistently improving. Minto Mine: Produced 6,093 tonnes of copper in concentrates during Q2 2016 at a C1 cash cost [ (1) ] of $1.70 per pound of payable copper produced, which excluded $0.01 per pound of cost allocated to stockpile. of per pound of payable copper produced, which excluded per pound of cost allocated to stockpile. Produced 10,615 tonnes of copper in concentrates during 2016 YTD at a C1 cash cost [ (1) ] of $1.91 per pound of payable copper produced, which included $0.01 per pound of cost allocated from stockpile that was spent in prior periods, bringing the actual cash expended during 2016 YTD to $1.90 per pound of payable copper produced. of per pound of payable copper produced, which included per pound of cost allocated from stockpile that was spent in prior periods, bringing the actual cash expended during 2016 YTD to per pound of payable copper produced. Minto production was better than planned, led by strong mill throughput and recoveries. Mining continues to advance in the Minto North pit, with copper grades above 2% reaching the mill by early June, resulting in significantly higher production planned for the second half of the year. Underground mining continued through the second quarter and is planned to extend into Q3, to take advantage of high-grade underground ore. Operating Outlook Capstone's 2016 guidance to produce 108,000 tonnes (5%) of copper from its Pinto Valley, Cozamin and Minto mines at a C1 cash cost [(1)] of $1.45 to $1.55 per pound of payable copper produced, an all-in cost [(1)] of $1.90 to $2.00 per pound of payable copper produced and a fully-loaded all-in cost [(1)] of $2.05 to $2.15 per pound of payable copper produced remains unchanged. However, the production distribution by mine is expected to be different than originally guided, with outperformance at Pinto Valley and Minto expected to make up for an anticipated shortfall at Cozamin for the year. Pinto Valley guidance is being increased to 66,000 tonnes of copper, Minto guidance is being increased to 28,000 tonnes of copper and Cozamin guidance is being reduced to 14,000 tonnes of copper, all 5%. Lower costs at Pinto Valley and Minto are expected to offset higher unit costs at Cozamin so consolidated cost guidance has not changed. Conference Call and Webcast Details Date: Wednesday, July 27, 2016 Time: 11:30 am Eastern Time (8:30 am Pacific Time) Dial in: North America: 1-888-390-0546, International: +416-764-8688 Webcast: http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=1186432&s=1&k=A468B7DF9F7C38CB231D23E4E75DC74B Replay: North America: 1-888-390-0541, International: +416-764-8677 Replay Passcode: 301819# The conference call replay will be available until Wednesday, August 3, 2016. The conference call audio and transcript will be available on Capstone's website within 48 hours of the call at http://capstonemining.com/investors/events-and-presentations/default.aspx. About Capstone Mining Corp. Capstone Mining Corp. is a Canadian base metals mining company, focused on copper. We are committed to the responsible development of our assets and the environments in which we operate. Our three producing mines are the Pinto Valley copper mine located in Arizona, US, the Cozamin copper-silver mine in Zacatecas State, Mexico and the Minto copper mine in Yukon, Canada. In addition, Capstone has two development projects; the large scale 70% owned copper-iron Santo Domingo project in Region III, Chile, in partnership with Korea Resources Corporation, and the 100% owned Kutcho copper-zinc project in British Columbia, Canada, as well as exploration properties in Chile and US. Capstone's strategy is to focus on the optimization of operations and assets in politically stable, mining-friendly regions, centred in the Americas. Our headquarters are in Vancouver, Canada and we are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Further information is available at http://www.capstonemining.com. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This document may contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this document and Capstone does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect our expectations or beliefs regarding future events. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the estimation of mineral resources and mineral reserves, the realization of mineral reserve estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production and capital expenditures, the success of our mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses and title disputes. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words and phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology. In this document certain forward-looking statements are identified by words including "guidance", "anticipated", "planned", "potential", "positioning" and "expected". By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, amongst others, risks related to inherent hazards associated with mining operations, assumptions related to geotechnical condition of tailings facilities, future prices of copper and other metals, compliance with financial covenants, surety bonding, our ability to raise capital, counterparty risks associated with sales of our metals, use of financial derivative instruments and associated counterparty risks, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, changes in general economic conditions, accuracy of mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates, operating in foreign jurisdictions with risk of changes to governmental regulation, compliance with governmental regulations, compliance with environmental laws and regulations, reliance on approvals, licences and permits from governmental authorities, impact of climatic conditions on our Pinto Valley, Cozamin and Minto operations, aboriginal title claims and rights to consultation and accommodation, land reclamation and mine closure obligations, uncertainties and risks related to the potential development of the Santo Domingo Project, increased operating and capital costs, challenges to title to our mineral properties, dependence on key management personnel, potential conflicts of interest involving our directors and officers, corruption and bribery, limitations inherent in our insurance coverage, labour relations, increasing energy prices, competition in the mining industry, risks associated with joint venture partners, our ability to integrate new acquisitions into our operations, cybersecurity threats and other risks of the mining industry as well as those factors detailed from time to time in the Company's interim and annual financial statements and management's discussion and analysis of those statements, all of which are filed and available for review under the Company's profile on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those described in our forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause our results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that our forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as our actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. National Instrument 43-101 Compliance Unless otherwise indicated, Capstone has prepared the technical information in this news release ("Technical Information") based on information contained in the technical reports, news releases and MD&A's (collectively the "Disclosure Documents") available under Capstone Mining Corp.'s company profile on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com. Each Disclosure Document was prepared by, or under the supervision of, a qualified person (a "Qualified Person") as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101"). Readers are encouraged to review the full text of the Disclosure Documents which qualifies the Technical Information. Readers are advised that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The Disclosure Documents are each intended to be read as a whole, and sections should not be read or relied upon out of context. The Technical Information is subject to the assumptions and qualifications contained in the Disclosure Documents. The technical information in this news release ("Technical Information") was prepared by, or under the supervision of, a qualified person (a "Qualified Person") as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101"). The disclosure of the Technical Information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Gregg Bush, P. Eng., Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Technical Information related to mineral exploration activities has been reviewed and approved by Brad Mercer, P. Geol., Senior Vice President, Exploration. Both are Qualified Persons under NI 43-101. Alternative Performance Measures The items marked with a "[(1)]" are alternative performance measures and readers should refer to Alternative Performance Measures in the Company's Consolidated Management's Discussion and Analysis for the quarter ended June 30, 2016 as filed on SEDAR and as available on the Company's website. Cautionary Note to United States Investors This news release contains disclosure that has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of Canadian securities laws, which differ from the requirements of US securities laws. Without limiting the foregoing, this news release may refer to technical reports that use the terms "indicated" and "inferred" resources. US investors are cautioned that, while such terms are recognized and required by Canadian securities laws, the SEC does not recognize them. Under US standards, mineralization may not be classified as a "reserve" unless the determination has been made that the mineralization could be economically and legally produced or extracted at the time the reserve determination is made. US investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of indicated resources will ever be converted into reserves. US investors should also understand that "inferred resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and as to whether they can be mined legally or economically. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of "inferred resources" will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Therefore, US investors are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of inferred resources exist, or that they can be mined legally or economically. Accordingly, information concerning descriptions of mineralization and resources contained in this news release may not be comparable to information made public by US companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements of the SEC. (1) This is an alternative performance measure; please see "Alternative Performance Measures" at the end of this release. Cindy Burnett, VP, Investor Relations and Communications, +1-604-637-8157, cburnett@capstonemining.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 07/26/16 -- Parkit Enterprise Inc. ("Parkit" or "the Company") (TSX VENTURE: PKT)(OTCQX: PKTEF) is pleased to announce that its shareholders have, at the annual general meeting held earlier today in Vancouver, supported the current Board by setting the board size at five directors and re-electing Robert Emri, Pesach (Pace) Goldman, Joel Dumaresq, David Mullen, and Bryan Wallner. All other motions tabled by the current board as outlined in the Blue proxy were also carried. Regarding the results of the annual meeting, Joel Dumaresq, Chairman of the Board, commented, "We thank shareholders for their support during this proxy contest. Now that we are able to put the distraction of the proxy contest behind us, as discussed in our management information circular, the Board intends to pursue its growth strategy of increasing value to all Parkit shareholders together with our partners." About PARKIT Parkit Enterprise Inc. is engaged in the acquisition, optimization and asset management of income producing parking facilities across the United States. The Company's shares are listed on TSX-V (Symbol: PKT) and on the OTCQX (Symbol: PKTEF). 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. Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information Certain statements in this release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements. No assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will occur or, if they do occur, what benefits the Company will obtain from them. Contacts: Parkit Enterprise Inc. Joel Dumaresq Chairman of the Board 604.306.4000 joel@pashleth.com Flash The German government said Monday a terrorism link to the suicide bomb attack in southern Germany on Sunday night could not be ruled out, pledging to take measures to protect its citizens, while warning against suspicion against the overall group of refugees. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere addresses a press conference in Berlin, Germany, July 25, 2016. Thomas de Maiziere said Monday a terrorism link to the suicide attack in Ansbach could not be ruled out. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan) German Interior Minister Thomas De Maiziere told a press conference that the investigation into the attack outside a music festival in Ansbach, a city in the southern German state of Bavaria, was still in the early stages. "It could not be ruled out that it had a connection with international terrorism," he said. The attacker, a 27-year-old Syrian who had been denied asylum in Germany, might also have had a mental disorder. It could be "a combination of both," he added. Fifteen people were injured in the explosion, which only killed the attacker himself, according to the latest information provided by police. Four people were in serious condition. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told a separate press conference in Nuremberg on Monday that a video was found on the attacker's mobile phone. In the video, the Syrian referred to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the terrorism militant organization Islamic State, and announced a "revenge" against Germany. Police also found numerous materials to make bombs in his room. According to De Maiziere, the Syrian arrived in Germany two years ago and applied for asylum protection in August 2014. His application was rejected by Germany in December 2014, as officials found similar applications he had made in Bulgaria and Austria. Germany had tried to deport him to Bulgaria, where his asylum application had been approved, said De Maiziere. However, the man managed to stay in Germany because he had medical certificates which proved his mental instability. The attacker had tried to commit suicide twice, according to De Maiziere, and received temporary treatment in a psychiatric hospital. The explosion was the fourth violent attack within the past week, and happened just hours after a 21-year-old Syrian refugee killed a pregnant Polish woman and injured two people with a machete in Reutlingen, another city in the southern German state of Bavaria. "I understand that many people are worried," De Maizere said, "I can assure you that our rule of law is strong and remains strong." He added that Germany had increased the presence of federal police at airports and train stations, and the security authorities would do everything to prevent such violence from happening again. Constant attacks have shocked Germany. Earlier last week, a 17-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker attacked passengers with an axe on a train near Wuerzburg, wounding five people before being shot dead by police. As well, a gun attack in Munich on Friday led to the deaths of nine victims. German police union chief Rainer Wendt on Monday morning urged for the control of refugees coming to Germany, saying it should be tightened in order to limit potential security risks. "Neither the identities of all people that have come to us, nor their mental and physical condition are clarified," he criticized. Over one million refugees entered Germany last year under Germany's open-door refugee policy. "It is more important that we not only accommodate and feed the people, but also determine who is coming to our country and see exactly whether they pose potential risks," Wendt said. However, De Maizere warned against suspicion against the overall group of refugees. "The vast majority come to Germany live here in peace," he told reporters in Berlin, adding that no decision on changing current laws would be made before results of the ongoing investigation come out. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Robert Half International (RHI) released earnings for its second quarter that rose from last year. The company said its bottom line advanced to $91.62 million, or $0.71 per share. This was up from $89.71 million, or $0.67 per share, in last year's second quarter. Analysts had expected the company to earn $0.73 per share, according figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. The company said revenue for the quarter rose 5.5% to $1.34 billion. This was up from $1.27 billion last year. Robert Half International earnings at a glance: -Earnings (Q2): $91.62 Mln. vs. $89.71 Mln. last year. -Earnings Growth (Y-o-Y): 2.1% -EPS (Q2): $0.71 vs. $0.67 last year. -EPS Growth (Y-o-Y): 6.0% -Analysts Estimate: $0.73 -Revenue (Q2): $1.34 Bln vs. $1.27 Bln last year. -Revenue Change (Y-o-Y): 5.5% 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. HONG KONG, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The LUI Che Woo Prize- Prize for World Civilisation ("LUI Che Woo Prize" or "the Prize") today announced its first three laureates. Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzfB6xB_PR8 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160726/392933 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160726/392934 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160726/392935 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160726/392936 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160726/392937 For the full multimedia release, click here: http://www.prnasia.com/mnr/lcw_201607.shtml The inaugural laureates of the LUI Che Woo Prize 2016 are: Prize Category 1: Sustainable development of the world (Sustainability Prize) Specific Area of Focus: World Food Supply: Safety and Security Laureate: YUAN Longping Professor Yuan Longping is awarded the Sustainability Prize for his scientificachievement indeveloping high-yielding hybrid rice, bringing about sustainable and stable food supply in China and otherareas that have long suffered from the risks of famine. Professor Yuan's hybrid rice technology has contributed significantly to the enhancement of the security of world food supply. Prize Category 2: Betterment of the welfare of mankind (Welfare Betterment Prize) Specific Area of Focus: Treatment and/or control of epidemics, infectious diseases or chronic illnesses Laureate: Medecins Sans Frontieres Medecins Sans Frontieres ("MSF") is awarded the Welfare Betterment Prize for its indispensable contributions to the treatment and control of the cholera outbreak in Haiti in 2010 and the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014. MSF provides medical and humanitariansupport toareas of disaster, epidemicor armed conflict. The work of MSF has thus resulted in a significant betterment of the welfare of mankind. Prize Category 3: Promotion of positive life attitude and enhancement of positive energy (Positive Energy Prize) Specific Area of Focus: Individuals or organisations whose behaviour and achievement inspire, energise and give hope to others Laureate:James Earl "Jimmy" CARTER Mr. Jimmy Carter is awarded the Positive Energy Prize for all the good work that he and The Carter Center that he established in 1982 have done, which has contributed significantly to the promotion of positive life attitude and enhancement of positive energy in the world. By bringing peace, prosperity, good health and hope to millions, and by fighting for human rights and a just society, Mr. Carter has inspired, energised, given hope and imparted positive energy to people around the world. Dr. Lui Che Woo, Founder & Chairman of the Board of Governors cum Prize Council of the LUI Che Woo Prize, said, "Today is an important milestone for the LUI Che Woo Prize- Prize for World Civilisation. The Prize was established with the aim to promote world peace, mutual respect and support, and create an environment where people can cherish and enjoy our Earth's precious natural resources. With the announcement of its first laureates, I hope we can build a caring and loving world." Dr. Lui expressed his hope that the three laureates may keep forging ahead in their respective fields, making their ideas and contributions universally accessible in order to benefit society and spread more positive energy to the world at large. Professor Lawrence J. Lau, Chairman of the Prize Recommendation Committee, said, "In contrast to other international Prizes with fixed fields, the LUI Che Woo Prize covers a variety of fields, and laureates are not limited to academics and scientists. The three laureates were selected following strict evaluation and assessment through the Prize's three-tier structure, a process that is all the more testament to the fact that each awardee is well deserved." LUI Che Woo Prize Limited 26 July 2016 For media inquiries, please contact Ruder Finn Asia: B12, a NYC-based artificial intelligence startup, secured $12.4m in Series A funding. Backers included General Catalyst Partners, Breyer Capital, Founder Collective and SV Angel and other private investors. Founded by Nitesh Banta, a former VC at General Catalyst Partners, and Adam Marcus, an MIT Computer Science Ph.D. and founding team member at Locu, acquired by GoDaddy in 2013, B12 is advancing a platform that streamlines the entire website design process by leveraging algorithmic design and creative experts such as art directors and designers. The engine behind the companys human-assisted A.I. model is Orchestra, which was borne out of years of machine-mediated work led by B12 team members out of Stanford, Berkeley, and MIT. B12 open sourced Orchestra as a platform to dynamically assemble teams of highly-skilled experts and machines. Orchestra automates typical project management tasks such as assigning work based on complexity and expertise, as well as pairs apprentices with experts through mentorships. FinSMEs 26/07/2016 Global investment firms have committed to continue investing in the UKs tech sector, according to the latest research from London & Partners, the Mayor of Londons promotional company. In the first six months of 2016, British companies attracted $1.3 billion in venture capital funding, matching the $1.3 billion raised in the same period in 2015. Some of the largest deals this year include London-based transport app Citymapper ($40m), Student.com ($60m) and a $65m deal for British cybersecurity firm, Darktrace. Venture capital firms such as Index Ventures, Octopus Ventures, Balderton Capital and Hoxton Ventures are among a wider group of firms to continue to invest in UK tech companies. Since the Brexit vote, investment into London and UK-based technology companies has remained strong with companies attracting $200m across 42 deals. Deals include: music festival booking site Festicket ($6.3 million), Network Locum ($7.55 million), London based fintech firm Revolut ($9.61 million) and what3words ($8.5 million). Meanwhile, Santander announced that its London based venture capital fund has secured an additional $100m to invest in UK fintech companies. In addition, last week, Sadiq Khan, The Mayor of London, launched the #LondonIsOpen campaign to show London is united and open for business to the world following the EU referendum. FinSMEs 26/07/2016 Flash The United Nations Security Council today adopted a resolution extending the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) for another year, until 31 July 2017. Iraqis inspect the damage at the site of a suicide bomb attack at the entrance to the town of Khales, 80 kms northeast of Baghdad, on July 25, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] In the resolution, the Council also decided that, at the request of the Government of Iraq in particular, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for eth country, Jan Kubis, and UNAMI will continue to exercise their mandate set out in Council resolution 2233 (2015). Recognizing that security of UN personnel is essential for UNAMI to carry out its work for the benefit of the people of Iraq, the 15-member body also called on the Government of Iraq to continue to provide security and logistical support to the UN presence in Iraq. In that vein, the Council welcomed the contributions of Member States in providing UNAMI with the financial, logistical and security resources and support that it needs to fulfil its mission, and called on Member States to continue to provide UNAMI with sufficient resources and support. Emphasizing the importance of the stability and security of Iraq for the people of Iraq, the region, and the international community, the Council reiterated its "grave concern at the current security situation in Iraq as a result of the continuing presence of and threat by terrorist groups," particularly the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da'esh) and associated armed groups. The Council also noted that the presence of ISIL on Iraq's sovereign territory is a "major threat" to Iraq's future. In that regard, it underscored that the only way to address the threat is for all Iraqis to work together by addressing needs in the security as well as the political realm. In addition, the Council strongly emphasized the urgency of addressing humanitarian challenges confronting the Iraqi people. It also emphasized that all parties should take all feasible steps to ensure the protection of affected civilians, including children, women and members of religious and ethnic minority groups, and should create conditions conducive to the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of refugees and internally displaced persons or local integration of internally displaced persons, particularly in areas newly liberated from ISIL, including up to 90,000 people displaced from Fallujah since May. The Council also requested Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to report to the Council every three months on the progress made by UNAMI in fulfilling all of its responsibilities. NEW DELHI Finance Minister Arun Jaitley met his state counterparts on Tuesday to forge a political consensus on a much-awaited sales tax reform that is held up in parliament, but made little progress in breaking the impasse. The proposed tax reform, the biggest since India's independence from Britain in 1947, seeks to replace a slew of taxes and levies in 29 states, transforming the nation of near 1.3 billion people into a customs union. Analysts say the goods services tax (GST) could boost India's economic growth by up to 2 percentage points. While there is a broad political support for the measure, differences persist on the details, in particular pitching the tax at the right level to offset possible revenue losses. Indian states are also not ready to share taxation powers with the government on transactions up to a certain level. Tuesday's meeting failed to iron out those differences. "I am sure that this will be resolved," said West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra, who has been tasked with building a consensus among states. "It has to be resolved in order for (the) GST to happen." For the tax reform to become a reality, Jaitley needs not only the backing of states but also of two-thirds members in the opposition-dominated Rajya Sabha to pass a constitutional enabling amendment. The current monsoon session of parliament was widely viewed as the best chance for the government to pass the constitution amendment bill before campaigning hots up for state elections next year. But almost a week and a half into the four-week long monsoon session, the future of the tax reform remains in doubt, thanks to a persistent standoff in parliament between the main opposition Congress party and the treasury benches. Jaitley's meeting with state ministers was aimed at putting pressure on Congress, which, with its 60 members in the 245-member upper house, holds the key to the bill's fate. Congress, the original author of the reform, has refused to back what it calls a "flawed" bill. The party has also been angered by a government investigation launched last week against one of its former state chief ministers over a case in which party leader Sonia Gandhi and her son and heir apparent, Rahul, already face trial. The deny wrongdoing. (Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Editing by Alison Williams) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. NEW DELHI Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will meet state ministers on Tuesday to put pressure on the opposition Congress party to back a long-delayed sales tax reform whose chances have again been thrown into doubt by a parliamentary standoff. The proposed tax reform, the biggest since India's independence from Britain in 1947, seeks to replace a slew of taxes and levies in its 29 states, transforming the nation of 1.3 billion people into a customs union. The current monsoon session of parliament could be the best chance for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to adopt a landmark Goods and Services Tax (GST) before campaigning hots up for state elections next year. "The meeting will discuss all pending issues on GST," said finance ministry spokesman D. S. Malik. "Later, the government could decide a further course of action." Yet Congress has been angered by a central investigation launched last week against one of its former state chief ministers over a case in which party leader Sonia Gandhi and her son and heir apparent, Rahul, already face trial. Both have denied accusations of misuse of party funds, in the case brought by Subramanian Swamy, a senior politician in Modi's ruling party, over property owned by a defunct party newspaper. "I don't think the Prime Minister and his government are sincere about any constructive cooperation," Anand Sharma, a senior Congress lawmaker in the Rajya Sabha, told the Indian Express newspaper at the weekend. "And in this vitiated environment, there is no cooperation possible between the Congress and the government," Sharma said, in comments echoed by senior party sources to Reuters on Monday. With 60 members, Congress is the single largest party in the Rajya Sabha, whose members total 245. With the support of allies and a few regional parties that oppose the bill, it reckons the government cannot muster the two-thirds majority needed for a key amendment to enact the GST. Modi's party, which lacks a majority in the Rajya Sabha, had reached out to Congress to end its opposition to the GST bill, stalled in parliament for years. Congress signalled until last week it could support the bill if the government agreed to cap the tax rate at about 18 percent, even if this was not initially anchored in the law. Jaitley has resisted capping the tax rate, winning backing from a growing number of state governments, and still hopes to pass the GST measure in the monsoon session that ends on Aug. 13, and turn India into a single market for the first time. (Additional reporting by Nigam Prusty; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. NEW DELHI Human rights activist Irom Sharmila will end a 16-year hunger strike undertaken to protest alleged army atrocities in northeast India in order to contest local elections. Known as the Iron Lady of Manipur, Sharmila has spent most of the last 16 years under judicial custody in a hospital and has been force-fed through a tube inserted into her nose by authorities. Sharmila, 44, began her hunger strike after 10 civilians were killed in her home state of Manipur in 2000 by soldiers who enjoy wide powers to search, enter property and shoot on sight under a colonial era law that is still in existence in parts of India. "She will start eating on August 9 and change the entire strategy of her protest," said Babloo Loitongbam, a close associate of Sharmila. On Tuesday, Sharmila met reporters outside court premises, where she is required to report regularly and announced her plans to contest local elections from Imphal, Manipur's capital city. Her decision to end her protest against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) comes at a time when the federal government has asked its forces to exercise restraint in responding to protests in disputed Kashmir, where the army has shoot-to-kill powers to fight militants. At least 46 people have been killed and more than 5,000 wounded, including security forces, since protests erupted after the killing of a commander of Kashmiri separatist group Hizbul Mujahideen on July 8 in Kashmir. Despite calls from judicial authorities and human rights groups, the government has kept in force the anti-terror law in parts of northeast India and mainly-Muslim Kashmir to contain insurgencies. Sharmila's protest has won her worldwide recognition, with Amnesty International describing her as a prisoner of conscience. "Sharmila will fight the battle to free the state from the clutches of the army on the streets of Manipur," said Loitongbam. (Reporting by Rupam Jain, Editing by Rafael Nam/Jeremy Gaunt) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. New Delhi: Archaeologist B R Mani, who had supervised the excavation work in the disputed Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya in 2003, was appointed as director general of National Museum. The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved Mani's appointment to the post for three years or till attaining the age of 70 years, an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training said. The museum at present holds approximately two lakh objects of a diverse nature, from across the country as well as abroad, and its holdings cover a time span of more than five thousand years of Indian cultural heritage. Budha Rashmi Mani had retired as additional director general of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). He was head of the ASI's team to excavate the disputed Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site in March 2003, following a high court order. However, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court had in May that year directed the Archaeological Survey of India to replace Mani with a new official. New Delhi: A court on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Amanatullah Khan, arrested on the charge of threatening a woman, and sent him to 14 days judicial custody. Khan, who represents Okhla, was presented in the court after the expiry of his one day police custody. The 35-year-old woman had filed a complaint against Khan on 20 July for threatening her with dire consequences. A case was registered against the legislator under Sections 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code at the Jamia Nagar police station in south Delhi on 20 July. Police arrested Khan on Sunday. Khan filed a counter-case on Saturday and claimed he was not even in Delhi when he is alleged to have threatened the woman. The AAP released a secretly shot video of the woman on Saturday, wherein she is allegedly heard saying she was told by the Station House Officer concerned to level rape charges against Khan. You are here: Home Flash Turkish authorities have issued detention warrants for 42 journalists after a failed military coup, CNN Turk reported Monday morning. Supporters of various political parties shout slogans and hold Turkish flags and pictures of Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey, in Istanbul's Taksim Square on July 24, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] The move came after the arrest of Halis Hanci, a key aide to exiled Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, and Mohammet Sait Gulen, Gulen's nephew. Turkey, which accuses Gulen of being behind the failed July 15 coup, has demand the extradition of Gulen from the United States. Last week, Turkey issued arrest warrants for 300 members of the Presidential Guard Regiment. It later disbaned the Guard. More than 44,000 employees of state institutions have been suspended amid a nationwide probe into the coup attempt, for suspected links to the U.S.-based Gulen. Earlier, the Education Ministry announced that 21,738 civil servants, 21,029 of them teachers, had been suspended; the Defense Ministry said 262 military judges and prosecutors were sacked. Suspects will be tried at civilian courts in the Sincan district of Ankara, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said. On July 18, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said 208 people were killed by coup attempting soldiers, including 60 police officers, three soldiers and 145 were civilians. Another 1,491 people also wounded. More than 100 coup plotters were killed. Irrfan Khan is one of India's finest actors. He is also a brave individual. Like most Bollywood actors, he could've remained sheltered in a cocoon, appearing only at manicured PR events. But he deserves high respect for stepping out of comfort zone and delving into one of the most important conversations of our time. The question whether there is a need for introspection among the of practitioners of Islam and whether it is amenable to reform to prevent it from being used by hate-mongers who claim to follow a more austere, stricter reading of the scripture, are facets of a greatly polarizing but urgently needed debate. And this debate is crucial for not only the world at large, but also for Muslims themselves. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, at least 70 percent of all deaths in armed conflicts around the world in the last few years were in hostilities involving Muslims. In 2013, nearly 12,000 terrorist attacks took place globally. Most of these were in Muslim-majority countries, and many of the others were carried out by Muslims. Significantly, by far the most numerous victims of Muslim violence including executions and lynchings outside the purview of these statistics are Muslims themselves. According to a study by PEW Research, the Washington-based nonpartisan think-tank involved in social science data gathering, religion-based terror is on an upswing. Of the 198 countries included in the recent study, 82 nations (41 percent) had religion-related terrorist activities in 2014, up from 73 (37 percent) 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. Empirical data is hostage to a time lag but the figure wouldn't have come down in the last two years. In a space of just a few days in this very month alone, crippling terror blows and mass murders were reported from diverse locations in the world. In France, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the truck attack that killed 84 people, injured more than 200 and brought carnage to a Bastille Day fireworks celebration in Nice. In Afghanistan, a weekend suicide bombing engineered by the ISIS in Kabul targeting the Shiite Hazaras minority killed 80 people during a peaceful demonstration and maimed hundreds more, making it one of the deadliest attacks in the Afghan capital in more than 10 years. And in a place where bloodshed no longer makes news but peaceful days do, a suicide bombing killed at least 21 people and injured 35 others in a residential neighborhood in northern Baghdad. Once again, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Kadhimiya. Sunday's Baghdad attack followed a deadlier one earlier this month when a suicide truck bomb driven by an IS operative ripped through the Karrada area of Iraqi capital, killing more than 200 including many women and children. Most of those killed had just broken their Ramzan fast and were busy shopping to celebrate Id-ul-Fitr. There is little doubt that Islam is in the grip of a crisis. Rights activist, social reformer and author Ayyan Hirsi Ali, whose calls for reformation in Islam has met with persecution and death threats, writes in Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now, one of her three books on the topic: "There are many millions of peaceful Muslims in the world. What I do say is that the call to violence and the justification for it are explicitly stated in the sacred texts of Islam. Moreover, this theologically sanctioned violence is there to be activated by any number of offenses, including but not limited to apostasy, adultery, blasphemy and even something as vague as threats to family honor or to the honor of Islam itself." It must be pointed out that only a very small percentage of the adherents, maybe about three per cent (according to Ed Husain of the Council on Foreign Relations) believe in the militant strain of the faith. The vast majority of well over 1.6 billion, or over 23 per cent of the global population, are peaceful and law-abiding. Also bear in mind that Islam is the world's second-largest religion after Christianity and the fastest growing. PEW Research points out that if current demographic trends continue, the number of Muslims is expected to exceed the number of Christians by the end of this century. It implies, therefore, that a huge number of people in the world who follow Islam are pious, peaceful and do not support terrorism in the name of their faith. But the crisis exists, has even been exacerbated and it looks verily as if those militant 48 million speak for the billions because, as Hirsi Ali points out, "the majority of the otherwise peaceful and law-abiding Muslims are unwilling to acknowledge, much less to repudiate, the theological warrant for intolerance and violence embedded in their own religious texts The killers of Islamic State and Nigerias Boko Haram cite the same religious texts that every other Muslim in the world considers sacrosanct." This is where the question of doctrinal reformation comes in. Since most Muslims around the world are extremely unlikely to respond to the call for amendment from whom they consider as 'apostates' or 'infidels' (unbelievers), it stands to reason that the call for such a movement must come from within the community, preferably from those who practice the faith in all honesty and who are pained by the bloodshed in the name of Islam. This is a question India, too, must deal with. By the year 2050, India, while remaining a Hindu majority nation, will become the country with the worlds single-largest Muslim population with 300 million practitioners, surpassing Indonesia. The actor hasn't said actually anything revolutionary and has been understandably extremely cautious about his statements. Still, his raising a few questions from a personal standpoint as a practitioner who thinks discrepancies have crept in and preachers and followers must introspect has resulted in a furious debate with many, not unexpectedly, calling for him to "shut up and concentrate on movies". During the promotional event for a movie, Irrfan had made some comments about the practice of animal sacrifice in Islam, stating that increasingly, Muslims are "performing these rituals without knowing the meaning behind them." "The meaning of Qurbani is to sacrifice something which is close to you instead of any goat or sheep which you just buy to sacrifice. Before sacrificing we should share a bond with that thing otherwise just killing of an animal will not serve the purpose. He also raised his voice against Muslims remaining "silent on the issue of terrorism." In a recent Facebook post after the Dhaka terror attacks, the actor said that such incidents happen because of a lack of understanding about Quran's true teachings and that in such a situation, Muslims shouldn't stay silent. For his troubles, Muslim clerics like Maulana Abdul Wahid Khatri, state secretary of Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Hind, have advised him to concentrate on his film career rather than interfering in religious issues. "He should keep his mouth shut as he has no knowledge about the religion," said Sher Qazi Khalid Usmani, Jaipur's Shaher Qazi (chief jurist). During a TV debate in a popular show on Monday night, Irrfan was cornered by self-styled intellectuals and clerics for calling for a greater democraticisation within Islam. For his honest, critical approach, he was bullied and duly cornered. Irrfan: "Is suicide a sin in Islam?" Cleric: "Very big" Irrfan: "Then how do they fool people into believing that it can lead them to jannat?" The actor perhaps understandably because he was taking a professional and even personal risk hastened to add that his interpretation is a very personal one and he needs "no support from anyone" in his quest to "seek the true meaning of Islam" but even by talking about some issues, he has served a very big purpose. He has initiated a debate. Pls Bhaiyon, who r upset with my statement, either u r not ready to introspect or u r in a hurry 2 reach 2 a conclusion. Irrfan Madaari (@irrfank) July 1, 2016 For me religion is abt personal introspection , it's a source for compassion, wisdom and moderation n not for stereotyping n fanaticism. Irrfan Madaari (@irrfank) July 1, 2016 Clerics don't scare me !! Thank God I don't live in a country governed by religious contractors (thekedars ) #FREEDOM Irrfan Madaari (@irrfank) July 1, 2016 Irrfan may not be the reformer many hope he is and the entire debate might even be an offshoot of a promotional event around his film but this quibbling over motive is ingenuous. Public figures like Irrfan needs our encouragement. Much has been written about the Kargil war. And much needs to be written about this conflict which was unique in its nature. Apparently the limited theatre of the war imposed unilateral restrictions on India though Pakistan had been prosecuting the war on the sly. There is little doubt that the project undertaken by a noted military-historian Srinath Raghvan to write the official history of the Kargil conflict is expected to throw new light on the hitherto hidden aspects of the war. Now the question arises -- will the refusal of the top army brass to part with operational details prove to be an impediment? Of course, war creates not only a history but also mythology. Seventeen years ago, Kargil happened in the backdrop of an outstanding peace initiative by the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who went to Lahore and held talks with his counterpart Nawaz Sharif. The apparent bonhomie between the two leaders could hardly conceal the underlying rancor of the Pakistani Army which had launched a secret operation to occupy the glacial heights and cut off the Indian supply route after Zozilla pass in the Himalayan hill. The story of Indian valour and Pakistans perfidy are the usual stuff that the Kargil narrative is usually made of. Yet there is a serious scope of official historiography, which has not been covered, in the written material on the conflict. Though there are voluminous account of the war contained in the review committee on Kargil war headed by noted strategic expert K Subrahmanyam, a candid official narrative remains elusive. For instance there is no official word on the fact whether or not the air force insisted on going across the border to attack Pakistani positions. As a reporter, who covered the conflict in Kargil and interacted with policy-makers at the top at that time, I was convinced that prime minister Vajpayee was singularly responsible for not allowing the India Air Force to go across Pakistan and escalate the tension. However, of late, versions have appeared which are at variance with the established beliefs. New reports have come in about the Air Forces insistence on allowing scope to go across the border for operational efficacy. Of course, the decision to exercise restraints in the face of grave provocation paid rich dividends as the international community forced Pakistan to blink and withdraw its regulars who occupied certain peaks and could not militarily evicted. Though Vajpayee took a tough stand in refusing the mediation efforts by United States and declined president Bill Clintons request to visit Washington and sort out the issue with Sharif, it remained a mystery till date as to why did India agree to allow Pakistan to withdraw its soldiers. Apparently Pakistans position was quite precarious at that point of time and India could have easily followed hot-pursuit to neutralise intruders. But sagacity of Vajpayee did not allow the defence forces to take that route. In the cabinet, a strong section was in favour of not letting Pakistan go without serious cost. India had already accounted for 474-odd soldiers killed and 1,109 wounded. Pakistans loss was much more as compared to India. Yet any keen student of war history would like to know -- was it the case of a wasted opportunity to settle the issue once and for all with a recalcitrant neighbour like Pakistan? At the same time, it is still in the domain of ambiguity as to how Pakistan had played its nuclear card. In the Kargil review committee, it has been clarified that Pakistans confidence emanated from the assessment that India would hesitate to attack Pakistan for fear of escalation of the war into a nuclear conflagration. But they did not factor in Vajpayees resolve to fight the battle within a limited theatre and win on its own term. But there is little evidence and official record to reveal about the assessment of the defence establishment if Kargil conflict would have escalated into a full-fledged war. Were we prepared for that? Obviously the inability of the army leadership to part with the operational details for the recorded history of what is called Indias fourth war with Pakistan would add a degree of opaqueness to the effort. But there is a strong conviction in the defence establishment that the revelation of operational details in the official history would compromise Indias bargaining position in border areas where international borders are still not clearly defined. This is the precise reason that the Hendersen Brooks-Bhagar report that analyses the causes for Indian militarys fiasco in the war with China in 1962 is still shrouded in secrecy. None of the defence ministers had ever tried to reveal its contents even though they may have demanded transparency in their earlier role as opposition leaders. By all indications, a certain part of Kargil operation details would remain secret. But the official history of Kargil by Raghvan promises to be one of the most interesting war-chronicle of the recent times. Kolkata: In the absence of any early flood warning system, villagers in Assam are banking on abnormal animal behaviour to predict and survive sudden inundation of their houses, say researchers. When insects like locust, grasshopper etc come out from their hideouts and fly randomly and enter houses, the situation suggests a sudden change in the weather condition, more occasionally flood with heavy rain, the scientists found. Similarly, when ants shift their shelter to higher places with their eggs and food, it indicates a definite forthcoming flood. When a fox howls irritably at a higher place it indicates a forthcoming prolonged drier season, but if it howls from a low-lying location it indicates a probability of high flood. The cry of doves and two particular species of birds are also warning signs, according to a report by Ludhiana-based Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology scientist Armaan U Muzaddadi. Toads and frogs make continuous sounds before torrential rain and devastating flood, the report said. "Indigenous technical knowledge has been the key rescuer of fishermen and common people of Dhemaji district of Assam from frequent floods in the region every year," the report said. Over the centuries, local people of Dhemaji have developed their own ways and means to deal with floods based on their experience and observations. These measures and techniques are locality specific, require no external help or support and are inherently scientific, according to the scientists. The group of researchers conducted a study in the region by interviewing fishermen of three most flood-prone development blocks of the district. Each monsoon, a combination of torrential rain and resultant flood in the mighty Brahmaputra river cause havoc in the upper Assam district of Dhemaji, one of the most flood-prone areas in the state. Apart from the loss of agricultural crops, the houses in the villages get inundated, health problems arise, and due to the water logging, the next cropping cycle also gets delayed. About half of the district population comprises indigenous people like Mising, Bodo, Rabha, etc. Besides animal behaviour as early signal of flood and heavy rain, locals also rely on observation of celestial bodies, nature and meteorology. The moon's inclination towards south and massive bamboo flowering before the summer season indicate a devastating flood, the report said. Signs and abnormal behaviour of animals before natural calamities are already being studied in many countries for their scientific base. The researchers recommended that these technologies should be analysed so that the scientific principles behind them can be properly understood. Once this is done, the techniques can be further refined and improved by blending them with modern scientific knowledge, leading to easier extension of them to the places with similar problems, Muzaddadi said. Radical religious preachers who do sermons never begin their discourse saying thus. Here Im going to start my indoctrination session to prove that my religion is better than yours. In the next few hours, Ill do my best to convince you of my idea and ultimately convert you to my religion. Instead, they typically play mind games with the enchanted listeners, often selectively quoting (rather twisting) the lines from sacred scriptures, to impose the ultimate idea of religious supremacy in the audience's psyche and ultimately establish why one should embrace that particular religion. This is arguably the trade technique of televangelists such as Zakir Naik. The context for stating this is in reference to Naiks India Today interview where the controversial preacher repeated his two major claims. One, that his speeches have always dealt with communal harmony, and two, he has never supported terrorism. Naik played the victim of media trial and challenged journalists to show one instance where I have supported terrorism. Well, the short answer to Naik is that most of his speeches and his Q&A sessions offer ample instances, wherein Naik tries hard to enforce the idea of religious supremacy with his ability to recall and connect lines from Islamic, Christian and Hindu scriptures. But Naik does it with skill and caveat. Thats where Naiks real danger lies. The problem begins when Naik claims Islam is one true religion and the rest are either imperfect or wrong. This is anything other than dealing with communal harmony. The Indian constitution permits anyone to preach and propagate their religious ideas, but not run down others'. Naiks idea of imposing religious supremacy and his attempts at twisting scriptures to prove his point is also the initiation to religious hostility. Take an example of Naiks presentation of Hinduism and Christian vs Islam. Naik quotes from the Vedas, "Na Tasya Pratima Asti (There is no image for Him)" to say that Hindu scriptures contradict the idea of religious worship and a Pratima (similitude/idol) isnt God. But Naik is blissfully ignorant of the fact that the same Vedas also see God in everything, including in the Pratima. But, Naik does this to show one that Hinduism is imperfect and thus establish Islam as the purest form of monotheism. The point of bringing this up is not to advocate Hinduism, but to show how the misinterpretation of scriptures is used by Naik to advocate Islams religious supremacy. This is not the idea of advocating own religion, but rather one of undermining the other and hardly dealing with religious harmony. As long as Naik keeps this idea of religious supremacy to himself or a closed group, it's fine, but it's not when he addresses thousands through television and other media. It amounts to hurting religious sentiments and not for sure, preaching religious harmony. Secondly, Naiks argument that he has never supported terrorism is now questionable. Supporting terrorism is not only through money and weapons. What is even more lethal is doing this by way of injecting venomous ideas that encourage radical activities in young minds, which yearns to be heroes and dreams of heavenly pleasures. Take a look at the actual reason why Naik landed in trouble which happened after the Dhaka attacks that killed 20 people earlier this month when two of the terrorists claimed that they were inspired by Naiks speeches. The paper later backtracked from its report and Naik has repeatedly denied this allegation saying his speech was taken out of context and that he has never asked Muslims to take up arms against the US or anybody. But, Naik is wrong here too. In this 2008 video, Naik clearly says that if Osama bin Laden is fighting against America, the biggest terrorist, Naik is with him. Heres what Naik said. If he (Osama bin Laden) is fighting the enemies of Islam, Im for him. I dont know what he is doing. Im not in touch with him. I dont know him personally. I read newspapers. If he is terrorising America, the terrorist, biggest terrorist, Im with him. Every Muslim should be a terrorist. The thing is that if he is terrorising the terrorist, he is following Islam. Whether he is or not, I dont know. Now dont go around outside saying Zakir Naik is for Osama bin Laden. If he is terrorising the terrorist, Im with him. I dont know what he is. I cannot base my judgment only on news. But, you as Muslims, without checking up laying allegations is also wrong. Im with those people who are holding the Quran. Even the full world is against them, Im with them (sic) Here, Naik is clearly encouraging Muslims to take up arms against the US, the biggest terrorist, but with a caveat that he doesnt know Laden personally. Thats hardly a justification for the message he has passed on and the speech, which allegedly inspired one of the Dhaka terrorists. How did Naik decide that the US is a terrorist and how does he define the enemy of Islam? Thats about Naiks speeches. What about Naiks denial of supporting terrorism? There is evidence emerging about the alleged links of Naiks Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) with activities of religious conversion and operations of the Islamic State. The Hindustan Times, quoting unnamed officials in the special branch of the Mumbai police, has reported that Naiks IRF has allegedly converted around 800 people to Islam by paying them using foreign funds. Recently, a joint team of Kerala and Maharashtra police had arrested Arshid Qureshi, the guest relations officer of IRF, for radicalising close to 20 Kerala youths for IS. Later, the team also arrested Rizwan Khan, a Kalyan resident, who allegedly played a crucial role in religious conversions and weddings. According to the report, Rizwan worked for Mazagaon-based Al-Birr Foundation, which facilitated conversions and marriages funded by the IRF. After an initial indoctrination, (potential converts) would be taken to Arshids Navi Mumbai office for further indoctrination. Later, they would be taken to a Dongri office where Rizwan would complete the documentation for their conversion, the report quoted the officer, adding after the conversions that Rizwan would send vouchers with individual expenses to Arshid, who would pay for them from IRFs funds. This is a much serious allegation and, if proved, makes a strong case against Naik and IRF. What is even more critical is that IRF gets funds from several countries, including Saudi Arabia. The sources of these funds needs to be probed. The point here is this. Naiks claims that his speeches never supported terrorism and instead dealt with communal harmony do not hold much water. The likes of Naik are indeed a big threat to Indias secular fabric. In the light of the new evidence (IRFs alleged IS connection and forced religious conversions), there is a strong case for action against Zakir Naik. Flash The explosion in the southern German town of Ansbach late Sunday is found to be an intentional act by a 27-year-old Syrian refugee. The third act of refugee-related violence within a week is expected to highlight a dilemma on the refugee issue for the German government. Emergency services are seen near a scene of a suicide attack in the southern German city of Ansbach late on 24 June, 2016 [Photo/Xinhua] The man believed to carry an explosive device was killed while 12 others were injured, three of them seriously, in the blast that took place at the entrance area of a local open-air music festival where about 2,500 people gathered. The young refugee is found to have tried twice to kill himself. "We do not know at the moment whether the offender purely wanted to commit suicide or whether his intention was to take other people into death," said Joachim Herrmann, interior minister of Bavaria state, early Monday morning. Earlier on Sunday, a 21-year-old Syrian refugee was arrested in an assault believed to be a crime of passion, in which a woman was killed and two other people were injured in the southwestern German city of Reutlingen. The Sunday incidents occurred within a week after an axe attack by a 17-year-old Afghan refugee on a train left five people injured near Wurzburg in southern Germany. The perpetrator was shot dead by police, and the attack was confirmed to be connected with the Islamic State (IS) group. The incidents, all connected to refugees, are expected to further feed the arguments in European countries that refugees are a source of increasing security threat. They also highlight a mounting refugee crisis in Germany and other European countries by heightening social insecurity, not to mention increasing pressures on public services and jobs market, which were the major argument for Britons to vote in June to quit the European Union. As it can hardly stop refugee inflows from war-ravaged regions, the question raised in Germany is more about government policy. Bavarian Premier Horst Seehofer has demanded a guaranteed disconnection of asylum seekers with the IS group for a tougher control over refugees. The call from the leader of the key partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition is expected to exert more pressure upon the government's open-door refugee policy. Put to test is also Germany's public security. Some German politicians reckon an estimated 3,000 personnel are needed to beef up the security force in order to cope with the increasing number of refugees and immigrants. In 2015, immigrants to Germany surpassed 2 million in total, an increase of 700,000 over the previous year, showed official data. The social and cultural integration of immigrants is another issue to draw public attention again. The axe-waving attacker in the July 18 assault had lived in Germany for more than a year, but had apparently received more influence from the IS. Many acts of terrorism in Western countries are carried out in revenge for the countries' intervention in regional hot spots. In this regard, Germany's more international responsibilities and more military involvement are expected to make it more prone to terrorism. In the last week of September 2014, when I was reporting live from the AIADMK headquarters in Royapetta in Chennai, the atmosphere was very tense. The party cadre was angry because the special court in Bengaluru had sentenced their supremo, Jayalalithaa, to four years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore in the Disproportionate Assets case. "How dare you take Amma's name," one of them wagged his index finger menacingly at me. "You cannot call her by name. Say 'Amma'," he continued, the TASMAC effect adding to the anger quotient. Many of them abused Narendra Modi in Tamil, insinuating that he had a hand in the adverse verdict. Determined not to let the half-inebriated, half-emotionally charged cadre have its way, I referred to Jayalalithaa from then on as the chief minister or AIADMK chief. But the reaction was hardly surprising in a land given to deifying its living political leaders. Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal is among the many such devout. Though by virtue of his position he is deemed to be neutral, he ruled on Monday that the present chief minister cannot be referred to by name in the House. This even as there is no specific rule that prohibits the leader of the House from being referred to by name. At the same time, he ruled that former chief ministers read Karunanidhi can be called by their names. That raised DMK hackles, especially since AIADMK MLA PM Narasimham had just a while ago referred to Karunanidhi by name, instead of 'Kalaignar' (artist) or 'Thalaivar' (leader) or even 'Tamil' as he is respectfully called as a tribute to his prowess as a poet in the language. The DMK argument was that nonagenarian Karunanidhi, a five-time chief minister and a 13-time MLA, too cannot be called by his name. The AIADMK defended its MLA and the Speaker's ruling. "Karunanidhi is not even the Leader of the Opposition, he is merely an MLA. But the chief minister is the highest post in the land. An assembly is not a public meeting. We are not asking the opposition to call her 'Amma' but they should not take her name either," says CR Saraswathi, AIADMK spokesperson. In public though, the DMK has not been so touchy as its political rival. It has not demanded that Karunanidhi should be called 'Kalaignar'. National newspapers and TV channels often reduce Karunanidhi to Karuna in the headlines. The DMK also perhaps realised northies would mutilate the moniker, given how they reduced even a real name like Azhagiri to Ajagiri before the man concerned, in desperation, changed his spelling to Alagiri. Ditto with Kanimozhi whose name is often mis-pronounced as Kanimoji. Jayalalithaa, for years was referred to as 'Puratchi Thalaivi' (revolutionary leader) but into her third term in 2011, with age catching up with her, she perhaps wanted to convey a softer moniker that would go with the welfare agenda that she planned to unleash on Tamil Nadu. 'Amma' fitted the bill. Not many AIADMK cadre would be aware that AMMA is the short form of 'Assured Maximum service to Marginal people in All villages scheme'. Unverified stories about how Jaya became Amma abound. One of them typically goes back to her days as an actor. The first film song she sang herself on screen was Amma endral anbu (Mother means love), which was composed by the musical genius KV Mahadevan for the film Adimaippen (Slave Girl) in 1969. She starred opposite MG Ramachandran in the movie. Another possibility is that the name is the result of the cradle scheme that Jayalalithaa introduced in 1992, to tackle the high rate of female infanticide in many districts of western and southern Tamil Nadu. Under this scheme, a number of children were subsequently adopted. Experts say to convert the Amma-fication into a rule is taking it too far. Brand communication specialist Smitha S Ranganathan says 'Amma' is a brand that cannot replace Jayalalithaa's real name. "It is sycophancy of the highest order. If the person is speaking about the CM politely, there is nothing wrong in referring to her by name," says Smitha. The Speaker's ruling is also seen as a disconnect between the political society and real society. Brand consultant Harish Bijoor says, "We are in 2016. At a time when most people prefer to be on first name terms, our legislators need to loosen up." Experts say Jayalalithaa should take a leaf out of her mentor, MGR's book. "The late MG Ramachandran was happy with being called MGR and did not force anyone to call him 'Puratchi Thalaivar'," points out Gnani Sankaran, a political analyst. "The Speaker's ruling makes democracy in Tamil Nadu into a monarchy, where we are not citizens but subjects." But then Tamil Nadu of 2016 is also in makeover mode, gradually transforming into Amma-Nadu, given the number of Amma products that have flooded the state under the AIADMK regime. William Shakespeare would find few takers here. Lucknow: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Samajwadi Party (SP) government in Uttar Pradesh and accused it of deviating from the ideals of socialist ideologue Dr Ram Manohar Lohia. Addressing a rally of Bahujan Samaj Party rebel R.K. Chowdhary's supporters in the state capital, Nitish Kumar said while the Samajwadi Party tom-toms Dr Lohia's name to garner votes, it never followed his principles. The Janata Dal-United leader said women were not safe in Uttar Pradesh and that the Akhilesh Yadav government had failed to safeguard their honour. The Bihar Chief Minister said his Janata Dal-United and Chowdhary's party will jointly fight to save the honour of women in the most populous state of the country. Nitish Kumar also urged the people to follow the ideals of Dalit icons like Chhatrapati Shahu ji Maharaj who always espoused the cause of education for the downtrodden and the marginalised. He also accused the district administration of trying to prevent him from reaching the rally site at the behest of the state government. The JD-U leader was earlier held up at a guesthouse for more than four hours as the district administration denied him permission to address the rally. Flash Fully-solar energy powered plane Solar Impulse 2 (SI2), developed and flown by Swiss psychiatrist and adventurer Bertrand Piccard, landed in Abu Dhabi safely Tuesday morning, completing the aircraft's world tour that started on March 9, 2015. Solar Impulse 2 (SI2) arrives at Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on July 26, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] The last and 17th leg of the 22-meter-long plane from Cairo to Abu Dhabi took around 48 hours. The aircraft arrived at Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), at 4:05 a.m. local time (0005 GMT). "The first thing I will do is after I land, I will thank the team," Piccard told CNN in midair when he overflew Saudi Arabian airspace. Upon arrival at 36 degrees Celcius in the dark, the 58-year-old Piccard was greeted by his Swiss co-founder and pilot partner Andre Borschberg, UAE Minister of State Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Swiss Vice President Doris Leuthard and Prince Albert II of Monaco. Hundreds of media representatives, officials and corporate executives from UAE, Switzerland and Monaco joined the arrival. "Andre Borschberg and myself waited for this moment for 15 years," Piccard said in his first address after landing. "We flew 40,000 kilometers without fuel. It is now up to everyone to change the world by using renewable energy. The future is clean," he added. During its 16-month-long world tour, SI2 made stops in Oman, India, Myanmar, China, Japan, the United States, Europe and Africa. The two Swiss adventurers took turns piloting the plane from trip to trip as SI2 has only one pilot seat. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. The Congress is not making it easy for Rahul Gandhi, whose life sways from one blunder to the next with a bit of power nap at workplace thrown in between. It is bad enough covering the countless goof-ups of the Congress's heir-apparent but it becomes infinitely trickier when party leaders add to his gaffes. The end result is a case study on how India's grand old party is hurtling towards oblivion. A day after sleeping over a Parliament debate on atrocities against Dalits, Rahul Gandhi woke up to Dalit empowerment like Alice in Wonderland and headed for Gujarat. The party obviously thought that it will be a great photo-op, a good chance to cash in on BJP's discomfort and may even ensure a slice of the Dalit vote pie if Rahul Gandhi, the son, grandson, and great-grandson of former Indian Prime Ministers, goes and hugs a few affected people or maybe even shares a cuppa with them. It all went according to the script. In a show of solidarity with the Dalits, who were recently assaulted and humiliated in Gujarat by members of a self-styled 'cow protection group', Rahul Gandhi first visited Mota Samadhiyala village in Una to meet the victims' family members. He then proceeded to Rajkot Civil hospital. Three youths, who were beaten up by the gang, were undergoing treatment there along with 11 other Dalit men who had attempted suicide during the large-scale statewide protests. The meeting went swimmingly. Pictures of Rahul meeting the recuperating youths and hugging the mother of a victim were widely circulated. "I met the mother of the victim. She said that she sees no way forward we are trampled in Modiji's Gujarat everyday," Rahul Gandhi had said, taking a dig at the Prime Minister. It showed how the Congress Vice-President's heart beats for the oppressed. There was one problem, however. It now emerges that Ramaben, the tearful woman whom Rahul met during his visit to the hospital assuming her to be the mother of one of the victims, was not even remotely connected to any of the youths. State Congress general secretary Hemang Vasavada has admitted that local party leaders had "planted" Ramaben to make it visually more appealing. The idea was to 'humanise' the story so that Anandiben Patel administration, already under the cosh, could be portrayed in an even poorer light before Rahul and the media. The police has now started an inquiry. "It was an indefensible and foolish act that has embarrassed the party, giving ammunition to the BJP, which had been on the back foot on the Una incident," Vasavada, a Rajkot-based neurosurgeon, told The Telegraph. It appears that the woman, Ramaben, is a history-sheeter with a "dubious" background and has faced cases of bootlegging, extortion and attempt to murder. She had also apparently campaigned in elections for Rajkot Congress MLA Indranil Rajyaguru and local councillor Vasram Sagathiya. In the TV footage, the woman was heard telling the Congress Vice-President that "now we will not go back to Mota Samadhiyala, our village." However, according to the report which quotes police sources, Ramaben lives in Rajkot and is suspected of links with the bootlegging mafia in Gujarat. Questioned by the media, Ramaben said: "I never said that I am his (victim's) real mother but being from the Dalit community I am like his mother." "I don't understand politics. These TV-wallahs are unnecessarily harassing me," she told a newspaper. Under pressure, the party's state unit came up with a fantastic explanation. Congress leader Rajyaguru said he didn't know Ramaben and accused the BJP of "planting her to defame the Congress." It is still unclear how that may be possible because only those cleared by the SPG, who handles Rahul's security, can meet the Congress Vice-President. As if the entire incident wasn't embarrassing enough, more details have emerged from the stage-managed nature of Rahul Gandhi's Rajkot visit. According to a report in The Indian Express, hours before the Congress Vice-President landed in Rajkot, Ramesh Sarvaiya, a victim of the public flogging who had been discharged from Junagadh civil hospital on 18 July, was re-admitted to General Hospital in Rajkot under alleged political pressure so that the Congress scion could meet him. Doctors at the Rajkot and Una hospitals claim huge political pressure to let the victims stay in hospital even if they are fit to be discharged. The four patients from Una are completely normal. They are fit to be discharged any time. Other 11 who have attempted suicide by consuming poison are also fine and can be allowed to go home. But there is a lot of political pressure on us to let them stay in the hospital. The leaders of various political parties are coming to us and telling us that they are very serious and that they should continue to get medical treatment, the report quoted a senior doctor Rajkot government hospital, as saying. Beyond the gaffes, which lends a macabre hue to extremely tragic incidents, these instances are a pointer to how political parties exploit human tragedies and use victims as a prop for scoring brownie points. It is unclear whether these 'photo-op politics' or 'tragedy tourism' result in any electoral gains but parties can't be faulted for not trying. Shortly after Rahul Gandhi's departure, Aam Admi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, too, flew in to bake his bread in the oven of discontent. AAP intends to contest the Gujarat Assembly polls and the Dalit uprising gave him a chance to get himself pitch-forked into the headlines. Congress needs to step up its game though. The gaffes put the tag 'paid' to any political mileage it may have hoped for from the Dalit outrage. MOGADISHU Suicide bombers killed at least 13 people at the gates of the African Union's main peacekeeping base in the Somali capital on Tuesday, police said, in an attack claimed by the Islamist militants of al Shabaab. The force of the bombings shattered windows at Mogadishu's nearby airport, showered arriving passengers with glass and forced the suspension of flights, police and witnesses said. The United States condemned the attack on the AMISOM peacekeeping force's base, the latest by the militant group that wants to topple Somalia's western-backed government and rule the Horn of Africa country according to sharia law. "At least 13 people - mostly security forces - died in the two car bomb blasts," and 12 others were wounded, police officer Abdiqadir Omar told Reuters. Al Shabaab, which is linked to al Qaeda, said it set off two car bombs. Police said the first attacker detonated a car bomb and the second tried to storm the base on foot, but was shot and exploded at the gate. The guards were caught in the blast as they escorted U.N. personnel into the base, known as Halane. In a statement, White House spokesman Ned Price said the U.S. stood with Somalia in its fight against "despicable acts of terrorism that seek to destabilize" the country. "We remain committed to helping Somalia progress along a path towards peace and prosperity and the defeat of terrorist groups, including al-Shabaab, he said. AMISOM said on Twitter it condemned the "senseless attacks that aim to disrupt and cripple the lives of ordinary Somalis". There was no immediate comment from the United Nations. People arriving on international flights said the blasts shattered windows in the airport buildings. "We were greeted by two loud blasts. The glass of the airport building fell on us," said Ali Nur, who had just got off a plane from Nairobi. Al Shabaab regularly attacks AMISOM, which is made up of about 22,000 military personnel from Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and other African countries helping to support Somalia's government and army. Somalia was plunged into anarchy in the early 1990s following the toppling of military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. The U.N. refugee agency on Tuesday increased its funding appeal to nearly $500 million to finance the voluntary return and reintegration of Somali refugees from the sprawling Dadaab camp in Kenya, which hosts some 330,000 Somalis. Kenya, citing security threats, said last month it aims to reduce by almost half the population of the camp. "Despite the security situation currently in Somalia, people are returning on a daily basis," UNHCR's representative in Somalia Caroline van Buren told a news briefing in Geneva. "We cannot assure the refugees that they will be safe, but we take precautions," she said. "For instance, when we have return convoys, we inform AMISOM of the convoys, the routes they will be taking, the number of vehicles, the number of people. It is not 100 percent, but we are doing the best we can." (Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Jeff Mason in Washington; Writing by Duncan Miriri and Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Tom Heneghan) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Washington: The FBI announced Monday it was investigating the embarrassing hack of Democratic National Committee emails a breach the Clinton campaign blamed on Russia, accusing Moscow of seeking to influence the US presidential election. The emails leaked by WikiLeaks, which reveal that party leaders sought to undermine the campaign of Hillary Clinton's rival Bernie Sanders, threw the Democratic National Convention into disarray on its first day and prompted the party boss to resign. While a series of experts pointed the finger at Moscow, others urged caution. Russia denied any involvement. "The FBI is investigating a cyber intrusion involving the DNC (Democratic National Committee) and are working to determine the nature and scope of the matter," the agency said, making no mention of possible culprits. "A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously, and the FBI will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace." Both the White House and the State Department deferred to the FBI on whether Russia was to blame, but highlighted that cyber security has been an ongoing issue of concern between Washington and Moscow. "We know that there variety of actors both state and criminal who are looking for vulnerabilities in the cyber security of the United States and that includes Russia," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. State Department spokesman John Kirby added: "I think we need to let the FBI do their work before we try to form any conclusions here about what happened and what the motivation was behind it." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov batted away any suggestion that Moscow was behind the hack. He spoke ahead of a meeting Tuesday with US counterpart John Kerry in Laos. Lavrov, in the Laos capital Vientiane for a regional security forum, shrugged when asked by reporters if Russia was responsible. "Well I don't want to use four letter words," he said cryptically, before greeting Kerry with a handshake. Kerry said later, after his talks with his Russian counterpart: "With respect to Foreign Minister Lavrov, I did raise the issue of DNC. As you know the FBI is investigating the incident and it's important for the FBI to do its work before we draw any conclusion." Was it Russia? But Clinton's team looking to tamp down an internal party uproar just days before she becomes the first woman in US history to be formally conferred the presidential nomination by a major party was quick to point fingers. "It's troubling that some experts are now telling us that this was done by the Russians for the purpose of helping Donald Trump," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told ABC. Trump has made no secret of his admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, leading some to conjecture that Putin was working to put the real estate billionaire in the White House. The question of Russian involvement has some precedent. When security firm CrowdStrike revealed that it responded to a suspected DNC breach, uncovered in April, the company identified "two sophisticated adversaries" whom it linked to Russian intelligence. The Washington Post reported that the hackers stole data including a trove of opposition research on Trump. Thomas Rid, author of the book "Rise of the Machines" and professor of security studies at King's College, London, believes there is "very strong" evidence linking known Russian operations to the DNC breach. "The operation, with its manipulative traits, fits well into the wider framework of Russias evolving military doctrine, known as New Generation Warfare," he wrote on news website Motherboard. "American inaction now risks establishing a de facto norm that all election campaigns in the future, everywhere, are fair game for sabotage," he said. Russian hack, but what about leak? Trump sought to use the internal Democratic rift to his advantage. "She worked very, very hard to rig the system," Trump said of Clinton at a campaign stop in Virginia on Monday. "Little did she know that China, Russia, one of our many, many friends came in and hacked the hell out of us." But even if Russians were involved in the hack, they were not necessarily behind the leak, warned James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. "It could just as easily be an insider using the Russians as an excuse," he told AFP in an email. Some experts counselled even greater caution. "Internet attack attribution is very hard, and in many cases impossible," said Bruce Schneier, cyber-security expert and chief technology officer at Resilient, an IBM company. "We'll probably never know who did this." WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told NBC News that there was "no evidence" so far that Russia was behind the leak, but would not elaborate on how the anti-secrecy website obtained the nearly 20,000 DNC emails. TEGUCIGALPA Health officials in the Central American nation of Honduras on Tuesday reported eight cases of newborns with microcephaly born to women who were infected with the Zika virus during pregnancy. Honduran Health Minister Yolani Batres told reporters six of the cases of microcephaly were in the south of Honduras, one near the border with El Salvador and two more in the capital. Two other cases had been previously reported in Honduras. Honduras has reported almost 28,000 Zika infections, including 493 pregnant women. U.S. health officials have concluded that Zika infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies. The World Health Organization has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults. The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light last fall in Brazil, which has now confirmed more than 1,600 cases of microcephaly that it considers to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. (Reporting by Gustavo Palencia; Editing by Bernard Orr) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Flash Up to 122 militants loyal to the Islamic State (IS) group have been killed in the eastern Nangarhar province over the past 24 hours, spokesman for provincial governor Attaullah Khogiani said Tuesday. "The government forces during ground and air operations against IS rebels in Achin district have killed 122 fighters and arrested 20 others over the past 24 hours," Khogiani told Xinhua. There were no casualties on civilians during the operations, the official asserted. The operation is still going on, the official added. IS militants who have been operating in parts of Achin and the neighboring Kot districts over the past one year are yet to make comment. Earlier local officials reported killing a key IS commander Saad Emarati in Kot district on Monday night. Tokyo: A knife-wielding former employee killed 19 people and injured 25 at a care centre for the mentally disabled in Japan on Tuesday, in the country's worst mass killing in decades. The 26-year-old man, who reportedly threatened to kill hundreds of disabled people earlier this year, later turned himself in at a police station, admitting to officers: "I did it." He reportedly also said: "The disabled should all disappear." Authorities identified the attacker as Satoshi Uematsu and said he had worked at the facility in Sagamihara, a city of more than 700,000 people west of Tokyo, until February. Broadcaster NTV said the man told police he had been fired and held a grudge against the care centre. The attack began in the early hours of the morning when Uematsu allegedly broke a first-floor window to get into the building. Public broadcaster NHK reported that he tied up one caregiver before starting to stab the residents. A doctor at one of the hospitals where victims were taken said some had "deep stab" wounds to the neck. "The patients are very shocked mentally, and they cannot speak now," the doctor told NHK. A fleet of ambulances, police cars and fire trucks converged on the Tsukui Yamayuri-en centre, a low-rise complex nestled against forested hills, which was cordoned off and draped with yellow "Keep Out" tape. The killing is believed to be the worst such incident in Japan since 1938, when a man went on a killing spree armed with an axe, sword and rifle, killing 30 people. 'Stained with blood' Fire department spokesmen told AFP that the dead included nine men and 10 women aged from 18 to 70, and that another 25 people were wounded, 20 of them seriously. An official from Kanagawa prefecture, which takes in Sagamihara, identified the suspect and said he had turned up at the police station with the murder weapons. Uematsu "broke a glass window and intruded into the facility at about 2:10 am (1710 GMT Monday) and stabbed those staying there," Shinya Sakuma told a press conference in the prefecture's capital Yokohama. "When Uematsu turned himself in, he was found carrying kitchen knives and other types of knives stained with blood." Police said they received a call from the centre around 2:30 am -- about 20 minutes after the assault began -- reporting that a man armed with knives had entered the facility. They said he turned himself in half an hour later. Local media reported Uematsu had sent a letter to the speaker of the lower house of Japan's parliament in February threatening to kill 470 disabled people. In the letter, which he hand-delivered to security personnel, he also presented his vision of a society in which the seriously handicapped could be euthanised with the approval of family members. It brought him to the attention of Tokyo police, who informed Sagamihara authorities that he was a potential threat to others, NHK and other media reported. Uematsu was hospitalised on February 19, the same day he left his job at the care centre, but was discharged 12 days later when the doctor deemed he would not attack anyone, NHK said. 'Unbelievable' People in Uematsu's neighbourhood, about a 10-minute walk from the crime scene, expressed disbelief. He was a "normal, nice boy" who always smiled and offered a greeting, said next-door neighbour Akihiro Hasegawa. "This is unbelievable," the 73-year old told AFP, adding that Uematsu lived in the house with his parents until they moved out four or five years ago. Hasegawa also said that he had seen an extensive shoulder-to-chest tatoo on Uematsu and there was a rumour in the neighbourhood he might have been fired from the facility because of it. "This is a very tragic, shocking incident in which many innocent people became victims," top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told a press conference. He added that officials would immediately discuss measures to prevent a similar incident from happening. Japan has one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the developed world, and attacks involving weapons of any kind are unusual. Some Japanese couldn't believe the crime had occurred in their country. "It's crazy," posted a Twitter user. "When I first heard 19 people died, I thought it was somewhere overseas." Dhaka: Nine Islamist extremists of banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, blamed for the brazen Dhaka cafe terror attack, were killed on Tuesday during a fierce gun-battle with Bangladeshi security forces in a pre-dawn raid at their hideout here. On an intelligence input, police's special SWAT unit, elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and detectives jointly raided a seven-storey apartment building in Kalyanpur area and the militants attacked them from upstairs, leading to a fierce gunfight. The nine militants were killed after an hour-long gunfight while another another extremist who received bullet wounds was arrested, police said. Inspector general of police A K M Shahidul Hoque told reporters that militants were suspected to be members of homegrown extremist group JMB blamed by the government for the 1 July cafe attack in which 22 people, mostly foreigners were killed. "They (militants) are primarily presumed to be a part of the group that carried out terror attacks in Gulshan (restaurant) and (northern) Sholakia," Hoque said. Dhaka's joint police commissioner Sheikh Maruf Hassan said the special raid named 'Operation Storm 26' was launched at 5.51 am local time at a house called Jahaz Building cordoning off the nearby thoroughfares at the area and it continued for around one hour. The Islamist gunmen wearing black tunics, turbans and carrying backpacks exchanged fire and shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is the Greatest), reports said. According to local media reports, the arrested militant, who is being treated at a hospital in the capital, admitted that the group was inspired by IS when police quizzed him at the facility. The police chief said the raid was carried out on an intelligence report as part of a nationwide anti-militant clampdown following the two back-to back terrorist attacks earlier this month. He said the militants had been planning another large-scale assault. Hoque said police found no evidence of their IS link but security analysts earlier said JMB was ideologically inclined to the Syria-based outfit which claimed the responsibility of the 1 July attack. 'Jahaz Building' is a residential apartment complex for middle income people who lived in most of the flats with family members but two floors of the structure were rented out to students and some youths. Bangladesh is reeling from a wave of deadly attacks by Islamist extremists. Twenty two people, including an Indian girl, were killed by suspected IS militants inside a cafe popular with expats in the diplomatic zone in Dhaka in the worst terror attack in Bangladesh before commandos launched an assault, killing six attackers and capturing one alive. SAGAMIHARA, Japan Nineteen people were killed and dozens were wounded after an attack by a knife-wielding man at a facility for the disabled in central Japan early on Tuesday, media reported, in Japan's worst mass killing in decades. Police in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Tokyo, have arrested Satoshi Uematsu, a 26-year-old former employee at the facility, Japanese media reported. They said staff called police at 2.30 a.m. local time (1730 GMT Monday) with reports of a man armed with a knife on the grounds of the Tsukui Yamayuri-En facility. The 3-hectare (7.6 acre) facility, established by the local government and nestled on the wooded bank of the Sagami River, cares for people with a wide range of disabilities, NHK said, quoting an unidentified employee. Police had recovered a bag with several knives, at least one stained with blood, NHK said. No details were provided about where the knives were found. The man, wearing a black T-shirt, did not have a knife when he turned himself in at a nearby police station, other reports said. Police said they were still investigating possible motives. Asahi Shimbun reported that the suspect was quoted by police as saying: "I want to get rid of the disabled from this world." Fifteen people were initially confirmed dead, while four were said to be in cardiac arrest, media reports said. Kyodo later said the death toll stood at 19. There was confusion about the number of wounded, with reports fluctuating between 20 and 45. Twenty-nine emergency squads responded to the attack, Kyodo reported, with those wounded taken to at least six hospitals in the western Tokyo area. A man identified as the father of a patient in the facility told NHK he learned about the attack on the radio and had received no information from the centre. "I'm very worried but they won't let me in," he said, standing just outside a cordon of yellow crime-scene tape. The man, who arrived at the scene around 5 a.m. (2000 GMT Monday), said he had never heard of trouble at the facility before. NHK reported that the facility is usually locked at night but the man broke into the building by smashing a window. The facility's website said the centre had a maximum capacity of 160 people, including staff. Social media went into overdrive as news of the mass stabbing broke. "I can't stop shaking. What a terrible incident, it's just too much," one post on Twitter said. Such mass killings are extremely rare in Japan and typically involve stabbings due to Japan's strict gun laws. Eight children were stabbed to death at their school in Osaka by a former janitor in 2001. Seven people died in 2008 when a man drove a truck into a crowd and began stabbing people in Tokyo's popular electronics and "anime" district of Akihabara. Members of a doomsday cult killed 12 and made thousands ill in 1995 in simultaneous attacks with sarin nerve gas on five Tokyo rush-hour subway trains. (Additional reporting by William Mallard and Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo; Eric Beech and Jon Herskovitz in Washington; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Sandra Maler, Grant McCool and Paul Tait) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. KRAKOW, Poland Pope Francis will start his first trip to Poland on Wednesday to preside at an international Catholic youth jamboree, a usually joyous event that has been dampened by the murder of a Catholic priest in France. News that suspected Islamist militants interrupted a church service in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, forced 85-year-old parish priest Father Jacques Hamel to his knees and slit his throat, sent a sudden deep chill over the World Youth Day event. "We listened to the news with disbelief, we got phone calls from our parents who tried to reassure us," said Guillaume from Bordeaux, a pilgrim in his early 20s. "Pope John Paul II said that we should be tolerant and not resort to force. My heart tells me that this is true, but after what happened my head is now telling me something else," said the young man, who declined to give his last name. Pope Francis was horrified by the killing, the Vatican said, calling it particularly "barbarous" because it happened during the central rite of Christian worship. It shocked many Catholics because it was eerily reminiscent of the murder of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was shot by a right-wing death squad in 1980 while he was saying Mass in a hospital chapel in San Salvador. Some events at the gathering of Catholic youth from the around the world, which has been dubbed the "Catholic Woodstock," are expected to draw more than a million people and Polish authorities have laid on tight security. A police spokesman said the current threat level had not been raised after the killing of the priest. Early in the trip, Francis is expected to pay tribute to the murdered priest, who some have said should be declared a martyr because of the way he was killed for his faith. Francis' five-day trip to the Krakow area of southern Poland will take place in the shadow of his predecessor, John Paul, who has cult-like status in Poland for his role in inspiring the nation to stand up to communist rule. That status was evidenced by the fact that there are more posters of John Paul in Krakow than of Francis, an Argentine. John Paul, who died in 2005 and visited Poland nine times as pope, was made a saint in 2014. His reign of nearly three decades was the most historic of modern times. Poland has undergone a significant shift in its political landscape since the Eurosceptic, conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party in October ended nearly a decade of secular-minded government. Its leaders tapped Poland's brand of patriotism infused with Catholic piety to build up popularity among voters and ensure the backing of the clergy, influential across provincial Poland. Francis will also visit the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, and pray at Czestochowa, site of the country's holiest shrine. (Additional reporting and writing by Philip Pullella; Editing by James Dalgleish) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Tehran: The Iranian foreign ministry on Tuesday denied US accusations that three Al-Qaeda operatives were in Iran, helping to move money and weapons around the Middle East, state media reported. The US Treasury announced sanctions on Wednesday against the three senior Al-Qaeda members, saying they were based in Iran and had key logistical roles for the group. But Bahram Ghasemi, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, said there was no knowledge of their whereabouts. "The Islamic Republic of Iran has no information of the presence of these people on its territory," he told IRIB state television. "The US administration, instead of issuing general statements, should in practice enable a coordinated international fight against terrorist groups by sharing precise information." "Iran continues its strong determination in fighting terrorist groups," he added. The US Treasury named the three alleged operatives as Faisal Jassim Mohammed al-Amri al-Khalidi, Yisra Muhammad Ibrahim Bayumi and Abu Bakr Muhammad Muhammad Ghumayn. It said Khalidi, a 31-year-old Kuwait-born Saudi national, was "part of a new generation" of Qaeda operatives who in May 2015 participated in a senior leadership meeting as the military commission chief. Egyptian Bayumi, 48, is a Qaeda veteran involved recently in raising and deploying funds for the group. Ghumayn, a 35-year-old Algerian, took control of the financing and organisation of Iran-based Qaeda members last year, the Treasury said. VIENTIANE U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday he supported the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea, following an international court ruling against Beijing over the dispute earlier this month. China did not participate in and has refused to accept the July 12 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, based in The Hague, in which U.S. ally Manila won an emphatic legal victory. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi had asked Kerry to lend his support for bilateral talks to restart between Manila and Beijing in a meeting between the two in the Laos capital of Vientiane on Monday. "The foreign minister said the time has come to move away from public tensions and turn the page," Kerry told a news conference. "And we agree with that ... no claimant should be acting in a way that is provocative, no claimant should take steps that wind up raising tensions." The court ruling has exacerbated tensions between the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which are pulled between their desire to assert their sovereignty while fostering ties with an increasingly assertive Beijing. China scored a diplomatic victory on Monday when ASEAN dropped any reference to the ruling from a joint statement at the end of the bloc's foreign ministers' meeting in the face of resolute objections from Cambodia, China's closest ASEAN ally. Kerry, who was due to travel to the Philippines later on Tuesday, said he would encourage Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to engage in dialogue and negotiations with China when the two meet in Manila on Wednesday. Duterte has already appointed former President Fidel Ramos to visit Beijing and begin informal talks to resolve the dispute, a Philippine Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday. Philippines Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay told reporters in Vientiane that the dispute was not between China and the United States but between China and the Philippines. "We would like to pursue bilateral relationships in so far as the peaceful resolution of the dispute is concerned that is between the China and the Philippines. The others are not concerned with that dispute," Yasay told reporters. PEACE AND STABILITY Wang, who met Kerry on the sidelines of the ASEAN gathering in Laos, said on Tuesday he would welcome Ramos' visit. The Chinese foreign minister also told his U.S. counterpart that China and ASEAN had agreed the dispute should get back on to the "correct" track of being resolved by direct talks with the parties concerned, according to a foreign ministry statement released on Tuesday. China "hopes the United States side takes actual steps to support the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines, and supports the efforts of China and ASEAN to maintain regional peace and stability", Wang said. Beijing claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. China has repeatedly blamed the United States for stoking tensions in the region through its military patrols, and of taking sides in the dispute, accusations Washington denies. In an address to foreign ministers, including Kerry, at the gathering in Vientiane, Wang criticised the United States, Japan and Australia for a joint statement on the issue they released late on Monday. The statement "continued to hype up the South China Sea issue and play up tensions," he said. "Now is the time we will test whether you are protectors of peace or agitators." Speaking to reporters on a conference call, a senior U.S. administration official said at the end of a visit to China by National Security Adviser Susan Rice that she had emphasised all parties should take steps to reduce tensions and use the ruling to reinvigorate regional diplomacy. Rice also told Chinese officials, including a top military officer, that U.S. military operations were designed to contribute to peace and stability, including in the South China Sea, the U.S. official said. "Those operations are lawful, they will continue, they've been longstanding, and again they're designed to impart confidence and stability," he added. Kerry had said earlier that China's dismissal of the international court ruling as "illegitimate" presented a challenge when the international community, including the United States, sees it as legally binding and a matter of law. "So we still have a task ahead of us ... which is to try to work going forward to make sure that we are resolving the issues through diplomacy and the rule of law," he said. Admiral John Richardson, the head of U.S. naval operations, said at a news conference in Washington that he would be very concerned if China were to declare an air defense zone over the South China Sea or carry out reclamation activity around the Scarborough Shoal after the international court ruling. Richardson said he raised the issue with Chinese officials during his visit to China last week. (Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton and Michael Martina in Vientiane and Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Idrees Ali in Washington; editing by Alex Richardson and Richard Chang) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Flash Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during a foreign ministers' meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that the "page of the South China Sea arbitration has been turned over." When meeting with Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak, whose country currently holds the rotating European Union (EU) Council presidency, Monday in the Lao capital, Wang said China and the ASEAN members have reached consensus on returning to the right track of dialogue and consultation between countries directly involved in the maritime disputes with a "dual-track" approach. China has advocated the "dual-track" approach -- disputes should be resolved peacefully through negotiation between the parties directly concerned, and China and ASEAN countries should work together to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea. "The page of the South China Sea arbitration has been turned over," said the top Chinese diplomat, adding that the "dual-track" approach complies with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). He urged countries to focus on cooperation and jointly deal with other pressing challenges such as terrorism and climate change. Lajcak said the EU welcomed the consensus reached between China and the ASEAN members on full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC). The EU will not take sides on the South China Sea issue, and is ready to play a constructive role in helping solve the maritime spats. When meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi on Tuesday, Wang noted that China and ASEAN members issued a joint statement on the full and effective implementation of the DOC, sending a positive signal that they pledged to safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea. For her part, Retno said the ASEAN nations and China achieved positive results on Monday, which will contribute to the further development of ASEAN-China relations. Indonesia is willing to join hands with China to maintain peace and stability in the region, she said. Flash Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends the 6th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Vientiane, capital of Laos, July 26, 2016. [Xinhua] Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday refuted a trilateral statement issued by the United States, Japan and Australia which touched upon the South China Sea situation, questioning the trio to be peacekeepers or troublemakers. Wang made the remarks when attending the 6th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in the Lao capital Vientiane, in response to the statement issued by the three countries on Monday evening. Wang Yi said the China-ASEAN meeting was held in an amicable and harmonious atmosphere. A joint statement on fully and effectively implementing the Declaration on the Conduct (DOC) was announced at the end of the meeting by the 11 foreign ministers. All parties pledged in the China-ASEAN joint statement to return to the right track of resolving specific disputes through consultations by parties directly concerned. It sends out a positive message that China and the ASEAN will jointly maintain stability in the South China Sea, Wang said. However, regrettably, late last night, the U.S., Japan and Australia jointly issued a statement, further playing up the South China Sea issue and regional tension targeting China, the Chinese foreign minister said, adding that considering the damage this trilateral statement has done, China has to make a response. Wang Yi said since Monday, on the one hand, regional countries are determined to enhance cooperation and want to see the South China Sea situation cool down. On the other hand, this trilateral statement is fanning the flames. On the one hand, regional countries resist taking sides on the arbitration case, believing that it is a bilateral issue between China and the Philippines. On the other hand, the trilateral statement asserts that the so-called ruling which is highly contentious is binding, Wang continued. On the one hand, more than 70 countries have shown their understanding and support to China's legitimate stance in various ways. On the other hand, the trilateral statement still, directly and indirectly, places the blame on China, he said. "This trilateral statement came at a highly inappropriate time and conforms in no way with the development of the situation," Wang said, adding that the trilateral statement is inconsistent with the efforts being made by regional countries to safeguard stability in the South China Sea, inconsistent with the aspiration of regional people to lower the temperature surrounding the South China Sea situation, and inconsistent with the constructive role that non-regional countries should play." "If you truly want stability in the South China Sea, you should support the efforts by China and the ASEAN in implementing the DOC and the settlement of the dispute through dialogue and consultation by countries directly concerned." "Now it is the time to test whether you are peacekeepers or troublemakers, " Wang said. Lenovo confirmed last week that it will launch the Vibe K5 Note smartphone in India on August 1st. It also confirmed 4GB RAM for the smartphone recently, today it has announced that it will launch the K5 Note smartphone exclusively on Flipkart. It partnered with Amazon.in to sell the Vibe K4 Note smartphone. [HTML1] Lenovo Vibe K5 Note specifications 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD IPS display 1.8 GHz Octa-core MediaTek Helio P10 processor with up to 550MHz Mali T860 GPU 4GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) Dual (nano) SIM 13MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, PDAF, f/2.2 aperture 8MP front-facing camera, 77.4-degree wide-angle lens Dimensions: 15275.78.49mm Dolby ATMOS, Fingerprint sensor 4G LTE, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.1, GPS 3500mAh battery The Lenovo Vibe K5 Note comes in Silver and Gold colors. We should know the price of the smartphone when it launches next Monday. Commenting on this partnership, Sudhin Mathur, Executive Director, Mobile Business Group, Lenovo said: Last year Lenovo was the top smartphone brand of 2015 on Flipkart and we aim to retain that position this year as well. Since last year, Flipkart has sold over 5 Million units of Lenovo smartphones and we will aim to reach consumers spread across 15000+ pin codes through this partnership. Ajay Yadav, VP Mobiles at Flipkart, said: This partnership reinforces and consolidates Flipkarts dominance in the online mobile segment. The launch of Lenovo K5 Note exclusively on Flipkart signifies the brands trust on the platform which has the largest customer base and reach. Sensing that this model will be one of the significant launches from the stable of Lenovo, we expect huge demand for this product. In addition to bringing the best devices to market, Flipkart has always endeavored to create the best consumer experience with industry firsts like seamless product exchange offers which make shopping for mobiles on Flipkart a genuine delight. However, as you will learn in this segment from Industry Focus: Consumer Goods , the experience of the two consumer goods giants south of the border could provide a template for how to deal with punitive soda taxes. Just last month, Philadelphia, the fifth largest city in the United States, passed a new 1.5 cents per ounce tax on sugary beverages. This has fueled concerns that industry leaders Coca-Cola ( KO 0.24%) and PepsiCo ( PEP -0.11%) may soon see a wave of soda taxes implemented by cities following Philadelphia's lead. Vincent Shen: I was living in New York when Bloomberg tried to pass the ... when he tried to tighten the serving of the ... I think it was 16 ounces or more at restaurants, movie theaters, stadiums. There was quite a bit of uproar over that. I remember just walking past a 7-Eleven, they had signs on the sidewalk outside the door basically mentioning this and how it's like we don't need to be a "nanny state" so to speak. That ended up ultimately getting shut down by the courts I believe, but you mention Philadelphia recently had some success with that tax specifically and also, I wasn't aware of the South Africa developments, the South African developments, but in Mexico overall, I believe it was back in January or ... I think it was January 2014, they passed a one peso per liter tax essentially. That raised prices there approximately 10%. Results seem to have been generally successful or maybe a little bit more mixed, but obviously this is a trend that has picked up. The companies, both Pepsi and Coca-Cola have lobbied quite a bit against regulations like these obviously hurting their bottom line. I saw in the Wall Street Journal that the industry overall has spent over $100 million since 2009 battling similar tax proposals in more than two dozen cities at least within the U.S. The steam is picking up and the company is having to spend quite a bit of money to try and fight that trend. Asit Sharma: That's true and this is, what's maybe a sign of ingenuity in each of these companies, is they have this split brain, left brain, right brain. One side of the brain says we've got to fight the regulation. The other side of the brain says we've got to cope, and we've got to find ways where we can still obtain the margins that we need out in the marketplace. You mentioned Mexico. Coke and Pepsi had a little bit of lead on that. The actual tax passed I think in October of 2013 and then as you mentioned, Vince, at the beginning of 2014 they had to sell with this tax in place. What we've seen is that both companies took sort of an immediate hit in Mexico, but they're selling more juices which are borderline and can escape the tax. They are working with their margins in Mexico to see if they can be a little bit more profitable there and absorb some of it. They're also looking to introduce new labels wherever possible. BP's (BP 2.85%) results over the past several quarters have not exactly been inspiring, but there have been some small signs of life that something good was brewing in the company. Operational costs were coming down, and we were starting to get a clearer picture of the company's production outlook. While the actual results of this quarter were no different than prior ones, this quarter showed the culmination of those small improvements into a more promising future. Let's take a look at the results for the quarter as well as why investors should be more hopeful about BPs future than they have been in recent quarters. By the (not great) numbers Before looking at any of BP's results for the quarter, you have to keep in mind that the company took a $5.1 billion charge related to the ongoing settlement in the Gulf of Mexico. That charge has an immense impact on the company's results for the quarter. Based on the statements from the company, this charge should bring forward the total charge for all outstanding settlements related to the spill. BP's normalized second-quarter earnings on its American Depository Shares -- this doesn't count the Gulf spill charges -- came in at $0.23 per share, which were slightly below expectations. On a GAAP basis, though, BP fell into the loss column at ($0.46) per ADS. The company's modest normalized profits can be pretty much attributed to the increase in oil and gas prices in the quarter. It helped to narrow the losses for its upstream segment and provide a modest boost from its equity stake in Rosneft. As expected, though, that boost in oil & gas prices did have a negative impact on its downstream operations of refining and petrochemical manufacturing. Here's how BP's results break down by business segment. That change in oil and gas prices is a much needed change in the company's prospects. BP's average realized price on an oil equivalent basis increased from a dismal $22.57 per barrel equivalent in the first quarter to a more palatable $30.63 per boe. It's still well below what any oil producing company wants, but you could also say its slightly encouraging that the company's upstream production is pretty much at breakeven at this price range. From an operational cash flow perspective, BP generated $3.8 billion. That number is well below the $6.2 billion it generated this time last year, but the company has also reduced its capital expenditures to $4.3 billion for the quarter, so the company is getting much closer to covering its capital spending with cash from operations than it has in the past few quarters. To cover the shortfalls in capital spending and dividend payments, BP added about $1.4 billion in long term debt and burned through about $500 million in cash. At the end of the quarter, its net debt to capital ratio stood at 24.7% with $23 billion in cash on the books. The highlights One thing that is always concerning with a large oil company like this is that it has to generate some form of production growth, even if it's modest. This quarter, BP's production declined by 22,000 boe per day to 2.09 million boe per day. Management did note, however, that that number is down because some of its production in places like the North Sea are in the middle of maintenance season. It expects production to remain flat to modestly down in the third-quarter as well because of this maintenance work. By the end of 2017, new projects coming online and getting these assets up to full production should lead to an overall production increase of 500,000 boe per day. One promising thing that came out of this quarter's results was that BP continued to see some success from its lubricants and petrochemical businesses. Historically, refining and fuels sales were the major driver of its downstream earnings. This quarter, though, lubricants and petrochemicals added $502 million to downstream segment's profits. Much of the gains that BP has made from these segments has been from increased sales volumes and gains from operational efficiencies, so there is some hope that the company will be able to maintain this momentum over time. The outlook BP has approved the development of two major projects: The expansion of its Tangguh LNG in Indonesia and the development of its recent gas discovery in Egypt. Both of these projects are part of a major initiative for BP to increase its production by 800,000 barrels per day by 2010 and be cash flow breakeven -- that's capital expenditures and dividends -- at $50-$55 per barrel of oil. If it can pull that off, it will mark a huge turnaround for a company that has had some of the higher breakeven costs among its peers and a much more conservative outlook than it has taken in previous quarters. What a Fool believes After producing several quarters of less than impressive quarters and continued worries that the Gulf of Mexico spill had not finished taking a deep toll on results, BP is now in a position where it has drastically reduced its cash flow breakeven range and believes that this was the end of any uncertainty related to the spill. With some major projects slated to come online by the end of 2017 and some much improved results from ancillary businesses like petrochemicals and lubricants, BP is looking much better than it has as an investment in a long, long time. There are two ways you can look at Valero Energy's (VLO 1.21%) second-quarter results. In one view, the company's earnings took a large drop from this time last year that signals that the refining industry is going through some tougher times. In the other, Valero did a great job of doing the one thing it can control, maintain strong operational results. If you are a long term investor, then it's the latter that you should really care about. Let's take a quick look at Valero's recent results and see how the company held up in a tougher refining market and what it's doing to improve its operations for the future. By the numbers Valero's earnings for the second-quarter were $814 million, or $1.73 per share, a 35% decline from the same quarter last year. This quarters earnings also included an after-tax benefit of $311 million related to a favorable inventory reevaluation. If we strip out this one time gain, net income for the quarter was $1.07 per share. Despite the decline, Valero beat expectations on both a GAAP and normalized EPS basis. It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that Valero's earnings were considerably lower than this time last year. In the second-quarter of 2015, refining margins were at some of their highest levels in a long time. This was especially true in the US Gulf Coast region where Valero has the bulk of its refining capacity. It can be easy to focus on the negative that is refining margins, but that is by and large out of the control of the company. From an operations perspective, the company performed very well. Valero's refinery utilization rate remained very high at 94% and actually reduced operational expenses per barrel produced from $3.66 per barrel last year to $3.51 per barrel. That may not sound like much on paper, but that can really add up when the company processes 2.83 million barrels of crude a day. From a cash flow perspective, Valero generated $2.3 billion in operational cash. This is pretty much in line with last years cash flow results, which is pretty impressive when you consider the differences in net income. Chances are that it has to do with some changes to working capital that put a little more cash in the coffers this quarter. In the quarter, capital expenditures were $461 million. Valero also used some of that cash to buy back 7.5 million shares of its own stock for $401 million. Over the past 5 years, the company has gotten into the habit of buying back a lot of stock that has led to a pretty significant reduction in shares outstanding. The highlights There were two big events that happened with Valero this past quarter. The first was the acquisition of the remaining 50% stake in the Parkway Pipeline from Kinder Morgan. The refined product pipeline is the link between Valero's St. Charles refinery in Louisiana to Kinder Morgan's larger Plantation pipeline that delivers refined products from Louisiana to Virginia and serves the entire Southeast United States. Valero also plans to build a link to the Colonial Pipeline, a competing refined product pipeline in the same region. The other major announcement for the quarter was that the company has completed construction of its 90,000 barrel per day expansion of its Houston refinery. The facility started up in June, so we're much more likely to see the full benefit of this project in the coming quarter. It should also help to boost Valero's refined product exports from the Gulf, which reached a record of 396,000 barrels per day for the quarter. While the company doesn't give any guidance in its press release about the coming quarter, the company did say that it expects to spend $2.6 billion in capital spending for the year, of which $1 billion will be used for optimization and to build out more logistics assets that can then be dropped down to its subsidiary partnership Valero Energy Partners (NYSE: VLP). What a Fool believes Valero's overall results might not look great compared to this time last year, but the company's ability to keep its refineries running at a high rate and reducing operational expenses was likely a big factor as to why the company was able to beat expectations. Regardless of what refining margins do in the coming quarters, it will be worth watching to see what kind of gains the company can achieve from the ownership of the Parkway pipeline as well as whether it can maintain its strong operational performance as it brings on its new crude unit. For the Interlagos round, the Italian manufacturer has opted for the combination of soft, medium and hard compounds for the fifth time this season. The teams will have to keep a set of mediums and a set of hards for the race, one of which must be used, while the soft is the chosen compound for Q3. For the twilight season finale in Abu Dhabi, meanwhile, Pirelli have chosen the ultrasoft, supersoft and soft compounds - again, the fifth time such a combination has been used. The two harder compounds are the mandatory tyres that must be kept available for the race, while the ultrasoft will be used for the top-ten shootout in qualifying. The most common combination used this season was supersoft, soft and medium, which was selected 11 times in total. The 2016 tyre choices: Australia - supersoft, soft, medium Bahrain - supersoft, soft, medium China - supersoft, soft, medium Russia - supersoft, soft, medium Spain - soft, medium, hard Monaco - ultrasoft, supersoft, soft Canada - ultrasoft, supersoft, soft Europe - supersoft, soft, medium Austria - ultrasoft, supersoft, soft Great Britain - soft, medium, hard Hungary - supersoft, soft, medium Germany - supersoft, soft, medium Italy - supersoft, soft, medium Belgium - supersoft, soft, medium Singapore - ultrasoft, supersoft, soft Malaysia - soft, medium, hard Japan - soft, medium, hard United States - supersoft, soft, medium Mexico - supersoft, soft, medium Brazil - soft, medium, hard Abu Dhabi - ultrasoft, supersoft, soft Were getting close to the final episode of Silicon Valleys longest running soap opera, All My Yahoos, starring Marissa Mayer and a host of former leads. Pretty soon, we wont have the internets version of Susan Lucci to kick around anymore. Longtime followers of the show are definitely feeling a little depressed. I admit to getting a little teary eyed myself when I learned that Verizon had finally agreed to buy Yahoos core internet business for $4.8 billion. The plan is to merge Yahoos operation with AOL which Verizon acquired last year for $4.4 billion under AOL chief Tim Armstrong. At that point, Mayer will presumably exit, stage left. When the deal closes in the first quarter of next year and Yahoo ceases to operate as an independent company, it will bring to an end one of the most storied and elusive turnaround efforts in tech history. For me, the decade-long saga began with an internal memo by the last Yahoo executive who had a clue, Brad Garlinghouse. In what came to be known as the Peanut Butter Manifesto, Garlinghouse explained that, in trying to be all things to all people, the internet company had spread itself too thin (thus, the peanut butter reference). It had become overgrown and unfocused. It lacked cohesive vision and clear accountability. As with many companies that see opportunity everywhere and dont know how to say no, if youd asked 10 of its executives to define Yahoos core strategy, youd get 10 different answers. Everyone knew it was an internet company, but beyond that, it was all over the map. Common as that situation is, it never ends well. The document, which somehow ended up in the Wall Street Journal, should have been a wake-up call for then-CEO Terry Semel and the rest of Yahoos senior leadership team. It wasnt. Nobody listened. And eight months later, Semel was replaced by co-founder Jerry Yang, who many thought capable of crystalizing the companys blurry vision. He couldnt. On the contrary, Yang made a real mess of things, losing more than 100 executives in a crippling talent drain and, along with chairman Roy Bostock, botching a sweet $46 billion acquisition by Microsoft. When the dust settled, Google owned the search market and the advertising riches that went with it. And, like his predecessor, Yang was gone. That led to a procession of chief executives over the next three years. Some were more interim than others, but all were temporary, nonetheless. Most colorful was the famously foul-mouthed Carol Bartz, who unwisely outsourced Yahoos search business to Microsoft. Also Scott Thompson, who lied on his resume and was busted by activist investor Dan Loeb. Finally, on a sunny day in July of 2012, the board appointed Marissa Mayer CEO and everyone rejoiced. The media, employees and investors thought their prayers to the great purple god had finally been answered. Mayer had built quite a name for herself as a vice president at Google, but some of us wondered whether she was more sizzle than substance. She had a net worth of $300 million and a lavish lifestyle to go with it. Her fashion sense and budget were legendary, as were her many elaborate parties for the Valley elite. On the other hand, she was a smart, driven workaholic who many believed capable of unraveling the great mystery of Yahoos elusive identity and turning around the beleaguered internet company. Not a chance. After missing out on search, social media, ecommerce and mobile, there was nothing left for Yahoo to become. But that didnt stop Mayer from trying everything. Instead of spreading the company too thin like peanut butter on bread, Mayer used a different food metaphor: throwing spaghetti at the purple walls to see what stuck. Nothing stuck. By the time Mayer was finished, four years had gone by, $2 billion of capital had been spent, 50 internet startups had been acquired and mostly written off, countless executives had been hired and fired, and who knows how many strategies were planned, launched and abandoned. Today, all thats left of an internet pioneer that was once valued at $125 billion is an investment in Alibaba, Yahoo Japan, some patents and floors covered in fallen spaghetti. Maybe thats overly dramatic, but there really isnt much left to Yahoos core business. Verizon is paying a bit less than last years revenues, although the telecom giant will also assume $1.1 billion in restricted stock to keep employees around for its move into digital media. And for that purpose, itll be worth every penny. Sadly, the mysterious question will finally be answered. What is Yahoo? A subsidiary of Verizon. An email leak that led to the resignation of Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz could plague her bid for re-election to Congress, after a challenger said on Monday he would file a complaint alleging she had broken election rules. Political newcomer Tim Canova, who is challenging Wasserman Schultz in the Aug. 30 Democratic primary for her House of Representatives seat representing Florida's 23rd Congressional District, said he would file the complaint against her with the U.S. Federal Election Commission. Wasserman Schultz said on Sunday she would be stepping down as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee after Wikileaks released more than 19,000 emails showing Democratic officials had worked to undermine U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders in his presidential primary battle with Hillary Clinton. Canova suggested that the leaked emails also showed Wasserman Schultz had used the party's resources in her congressional campaign against Canova in south Florida. Sanders has endorsed Canova in that race. The Wikileaks emails indicate that Debbie Wasserman Schultz used DNC resources to assist her reelection campaign in violation of federal law. According to the emails, top DNC officials used party resources to monitor, respond to, and impede my campaign on numerous occasions," Canova said in a statement emailed to Reuters by his campaign. "My campaign election lawyers are investigating these circumstances and preparing a complaint against Wasserman Schultz with the Federal Election Commission," Canova said. He also repeated his call for a series of campaign debates with Wasserman Schultz. Searching for Canova's name in the cache of emails released by WikiLeaks turned up dozens of emails. One indicated Wasserman Schultz had asked staffers to take Canova's name out of a headline on a statement that was being sent out in response to Sanders's endorsement of Canova. Sanders told CNN in May that he favored Canova, saying "His views are much closer to mine than as to Wasserman Schultz's." Canova's south Florida campaign for Congress has reflected some of the themes that Sanders used nationwide to appeal to progressives, including a push for campaign finance reform. Canova has also been a critic of financial deregulation and the Federal Reserve Board under former Chairman Alan Greenspan, according to his biography on the website at Nova Southeastern University, where he is a professor of law and public finance. Sanders made attacks on Wall Street a central theme of his presidential campaign, and called for structural reforms in the Fed. Since Sanders' endorsement, Canova has almost caught up with Wasserman Schultz in fundraising. Canova has raised $2.27 million so far; Wasserman Schultz has raised $2.81 million, according to the most recent Federal Election Commission filings. There are also two Republicans seeking Wasserman Schultz's seat in Congress, Martin Feigenbaum and Joe Kaufman. (Editing by Jonathan Oatis) As Democrats begin their convention with an expanding divide within the party, former Rep. Dennis Kucinich, (D-Ohio), weighed in on what Hillary Clinton and the party leadership should do to unite the party. Despite Clinton picking Sen. Tim Kaine, (D-VA), as her running mate, Kucinich suggested that a Clinton-Sanders ticket could be a big step in healing the party. If Hillary Clinton could understand the urgency of this moment and name Bernie Sanders to the ticket and permit a nomination be made from the floor, I think that she could heal the rifts that exist in the party and create an opportunity for the party to move onto victory in November, he said. Even though it seems like an extreme measure, according to Kucinich something of that magnitude is needed to bring the party back together. He said interim DNC Chair Donna Braziles efforts to manage the Democratic Partys crisis could help the situation. [She] is very straightforward, she never minces words, shes got the kind of strength to come into this situation and take charge. Im sure theres going to be emails released that will implicate a number of people who are still very active in the Democratic National Committee. But, believe me, that is not as big of a problem right now as the effect of that has had on the legions of Bernie Sanders supporters who feel cheated, who feel sabotaged and who want to find a way to get back into the system which has rejected them. Kucinich said he believes a Clinton-Sanders ticket could help increase the odds of a Clinton victory in November. Anything short of that frankly, this is going to be a very tough race for Hillary Clinton. Could she still win, of course, but it is immeasurably more difficult today than it was a few days ago, he said. Day one of the Democratic National Convention is officially underway, and a big focus of the 2016 presidential race has been geared around social media. FOXBusiness.com took an exclusive tour of the Young Voters Event in the Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) Lounge, a place where people attending the convention are encouraged to share their ideas, and create social media content based on their experiences in Philadelphia. Despite the recent email scandal involving the Democratic National Committee, which forced DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to step down from her post, young delegates seem to have no trust issues when it comes to supporting the presumptive Democratic nominee. I think Hillary Clinton acted swiftly and promptly to correct the wrongs that have been done, Kevin McClintock, a 20-year-old Delegate for Puerto Rico told FBN.com in the Facebook Lounge on Monday. I think at the end of the day, Hillary Clinton is a trustworthy candidate. When asked about Clintons reputation of being dishonest, Gabriela Medina, another young delegate from Puerto Rico, said she doesnt believe her to be dishonest. I think the dishonesty that some people see is actually so many years of propaganda against her, Medina said. However, according to a Fox News poll from May, only 31 percent of people believe Hillary Clinton to be honest, compared to Trumps 40 percent. Mary Ann Mendoza is the mother of Sgt. Brandon Mendoza, who was killed by an illegal immigrant in a drunk-driving accident. She responded Tuesday to illegal immigrant Astrid Silvas plea at the Democratic National Convention to stay in America. Its their agenda to make people feel sorry and have sob stories like this but thats all theyre going to get out of the story. Mendoza continued, I am separated from my son permanently and Im an American citizen. Ive been paying taxes all of my life and when you have a politician who cares more about illegal families being ripped apart, more than she cares about American families having their loved ones killed by illegals, its disgusting to me. Mendoza then explained the financial impact of illegal immigration on U.S. taxpayers. And these Dreamers, theyre going to get $6,000 a year to attend college which is going to cost the taxpayers $6.2 billion a year. And once they have attended two years of college they will be granted permanent legal status in our country, Mendoza told the FOX Business Networks Stuart Varney Mendoza explained that the illegal immigrant that killed her son was also killed in the accident. Well, he was killed in the accident also. And I have been spared having to watch him just be released from jail like so many other American families, thousands of American families who have been affected by illegal crime. They have had to watch the person who killed their child or their loved one not serve their whole sentence, not be deported to Mexico. Mendoza then said the illegal immigrant that killed her son, was driving three times the legal limit drunk, high on meth. Mendoza raised concerns that illegal immigration is putting Americans at risk. I know that there are good people. My son worked in the area of Mesa, Arizona he worked with a lot of illegals and I do have compassion for people who dont break the law. My main concern is the criminal element in our country. New evidence released Tuesday suggests the potential use of two cheaper and simpler tests for detecting Alzheimers in patients. At the Alzheimers Association International Conference in Toronto, researchers presented the results of four studies that investigated the use an odor test and an eye test in diagnosing cognitive problems and Alzheimers disease in patients at an earlier stage. Currently, it is only possible to diagnose Alzheimers using PET scans or Lumbar punctures. However, these methods are expensive and invasive, and are only able to detect Alzheimers later in its development, researchers argued in a news release detailing the studies findings. In the release, investigators said they hoped the new studies would lead to cheaper alternatives to tests that are currently being used for Alzheimers detection. Its clear that the science around biological measures in the detection of Alzheimers continues to gather pace and validation, Heather Snyder, Ph.D., senior director of medical and scientific operations for the Alzheimers Association, said in the release. "Low-cost, non-invasive measures to detect dementia-related changes and evaluate the risk of future decline continue to be refined and tested; this is a positive step forward to earlier detection and intervention." Two of the presented studies focused on odor identification and its relationship to cognitive decline in patients. Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center administered the University of Pennsylvanias Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) a commercially available test used to assess an individuals sense of smell to 397 patients for four years. The goal, researches said, was to better understand the use of an odor test for detecting the onset of dementia and cognitive decline in patients. Ultimately, researchers discovered that lower UPSIT scores were associated with early stages of Alzheimers and dementia in patients. While more research is needed, because the UPSIT is much less expensive and easier to administer than PET imaging or lumbar puncture, odor identification testing may prove to be a useful tool in helping physicians counsel patients who are concerned about their risk of memory loss, Dr. William Kreisl, assistant neurology professor and a physician at Columbia University Medical Center, said in the release. Researchers also presented results from two studies outlining the use of apparent changes in and around the eye in identifying patients with Alzheimers. One study, which analyzed the results of a physical examination, a cognitive test, and a questionnaire in 33,068 participants, found that a thinner retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) an extension of fibers from the optic nerve that sends visual information from the retina to the brain was associated with poorer cognition. The research team from the University College of London Institute of Ophthalmology, Topcon Advanced Biomedical Imaging Laboratory in Oakland, New Jersey, and the University of Oxford, found that individuals who showed an abnormal cognitive test had a thinner RNFL than those who had normal cognitive tests. RNFL thickness can be detected using simple medical imaging technology. A second study, which analyzed the eyes of 20 individuals, post-mortem, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimers, found the presence of amyloid beta deposits in the retina. The test used non-invasive polarized light to determine the presence of amyloid beta, which is a protein typically found in the brains of individuals with Alzheimers. The researchers, from the University of Waterloo, the University of Rochester, the University of British Columbia, Massachusetts General Hospital, Vivocore Inc. and Intervivo Solutions, said in the release that they hope these results would aid in the development of less invasive and more inexpensive Alzheimers testing. Many older adults routinely visit their ophthalmologist, Snyder said in the release. So incorporating this technology once proven into annual eye care visits could aid in assessing cognitive status and identifying individuals that should have further evaluation by a health care professional. Researchers asserted these findings may help detect dementia and Alzheimers much earlier in patients and thus advance their treatments. Using other biomarkers of Alzheimers disease to detect the disease at an earlier stage, which have the potential to be lower-cost and non-invasive, could lead to dramatic improvements in early detection and management of the disease, Snyder said in the release. Millions of Americans suffer from pet allergies that prevent them from enjoying the benefits of owning a dog or a cat. Thea Joyce is among them, but couldnt bear the thought of having to give up her two cats, Kirby and Lennon. It was really bad, Joyce, 29, told FoxNews.com. I was just itchy all the time and sneezing all the time. I was really uncomfortable and miserable. Joyce tried over-the-counter medications but couldnt find relief. She consulted an allergist at Weill Cornell Medicine/New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where a clinical trial involving immunotherapy toothpaste was taking place. The toothpaste, called Allerdent, works to keep breath fresh and fight cavities while also offering the same benefits as an allergy shot or drops. Researchers found that applying the extracts found in a shot to the lining of a patients mouth worked just as well to alleviate symptoms. The patients who came in were treated for the very things that they were sensitive to, and that included indoor allergens, like dustmite and pet dander, as well as outdoor allergens such as tree pollen, grass pollen, ragweed pollen, Dr. William Reisacher, an associate professor of otolaryngology and director of allergy services at Weill Cornell Medicine/New York-Presbyterian Hospital, told FoxNews.com. Joyce, who lives in the Bronx, New York, signed on for the year-long study that required six of the 12 volunteers to brush their teeth for two minutes using two pumps of the toothpaste in either the morning or night, and the other six to use drops under their tongue. Volunteers using the toothpaste were also required to log their usage in a journal. Both groups reported a significant decrease in their symptoms, including Joyce, who was in the toothpaste group. Allerdent is not covered by insurance, meaning Joyce spends about $400 every three months but said the cost is worth it. I used to be so irritable because I was so uncomfortable, Joyce said. But now I dont really feel allergy symptoms anymore. To find a prescribing doctor for Allerdent in your area or to find more information, visit Allovate.com. Getting inked may lead to long-term skin problems and an increased risk of cancer, according to a new report by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). The regulatory agency is calling for the ban of the tattoo ink, The Sun reported. Risks included serious allergic reactions and painful itching that can last for years. Researchers found red ink was the most dangerous, but they warned blue, green and black ink is also risky. According to The Sun, the ECHAs report will likely lead in the ban of certain inks and chemicals in the European Union (EU). The most severe concerns are allergies caused by the substances in the inks and possible carcinogenic, mutagenic or reproductive toxic effects, the ECHA said in the report. Governments in the EU do not regulate tattoo ink as they do drugs and food, and many shops operate without government regulation, The Sun reported. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates chemicals in products including tattoo ink, cosmetics and color additives. But due to other public health priorities and a previous lack of safety evidence, the FDA has not traditionally regulated tattoo ink and pigments. A recent influx of cheap Chinese tattoo inks that arent subject to safety checks are to blame, Rick Stevens, president of the Tattoo and Piercing Industry Union in the United Kingdom, told The Sun. Over seven years, Virginia's Beth Prever raised $800,000 for ALS research because she "felt like having ALS would be a worst-case scenario diagnosis. It's like living in a glass coffinyour mind is intact, but your body is failing," she tells People. She now understands that horror better than she ever thought she would. After noticing her speech slurring last August, the Portsmouth native was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, in April. Her speech is now mostly garbled and she has trouble swallowing; she knows paralysis and respiratory failure are in her future. The Muscular Dystrophy Association notes patients diagnosed with the neurological conditionwhich has no clear cause or curetypically live only three to five years, though there are exceptions. "It's so ironic that I would have ALS," Prever tells the Virginian-Pilot in an email. "I still cry and I'm still coming to terms with it but I'm choosing to live my life with ALS and not consider it a death sentence." Prever is now checking items off her bucket list. She went skydiving on Sunday, reports WVEC, and hopes to see her "boyfriend" Bon Jovi in concert. She also plans to visit England, Ireland, Scotland, Montana, Alaska, Napa Valley, and New York City, where she'd love to see the Broadway play "Hamilton," reports WTKR. And in October, she'll attend her eighth ALS walk where 131 supporters will raise money for her care. The ALS community has "rallied around me. I feel so loved," Prever says. "I hope that my story will inspire others to use their time and talent to help other people. That will be my legacy." (See what the ice bucket challenge did for ALS research.) This article originally appeared on Newser: She Raised $800K for Those Battling ALS. Now She's One of Them More From Newser Monday night in Philadelphia the Democrats opened their proceedings with a word of prayer -- from a Christian minister. Now that in and of itself was a miracle -- right up there with the water getting turned into wine. But when the preacher offered a blessing upon Hillary Clinton, all you-know-what broke loose. Click here to join Todds American Dispatch: a must-read for conservatives! We have an opportunity, oh God, to give undeniable evidence to our commitment to justice and equality by nominating Hillary Rodham Clinton as our candidate for the highest office in the land, Rev. Cynthia Hale prayed. They literally heckled the poor lady booing and jeering right in the middle of her petition to the Almighty. At some point the jeers turned into chants for Bernie Sanders, Bernie, Bernie To be clear -- they were not chanting the name of Jesus Christ the Savior -- they were chanting the name of Bernie Sanders the socialist. They turned a moment of quiet meditation and reflection into UFC Fight Night. Was it too much to assume the Democrats would show a little bit of reverence? Then again -- I was at their convention in 2012 -- when they not only booed God -- but they tried to vote the Almighty out of their party platform. Click here to get Todds latest book a gun-totin, Bible-clingers guide to America. Thats not to say the Democrats are not religious. I personally observed vendors in Charlotte selling Obama prayer shawls and artwork that depicted the president as Jesus Christ. In other words, the DNC only had room for one deity but their King of Kings was not the same one we worshipped on Sunday. I also recall Charlotte being inundated with heavy thunderstorms not too long after their act of public sacrilege. The same thing happened Monday in Philadelphia. I'm no theologian -- but it sounds like the Almighty might be trying to send a subtle message to the liberals. So all you Democrats, listen up! The next time you guys pray -- bow your heads, close your eyes -- and stop acting like a bunch of godforsaken, no-account heathens who don't have the sense God gave a goose. While I'm not a betting man, when it comes to seeing a rebound in our nation's fiscal fortunes, we may have as good a chance at the racetrack as under a Hillary Clinton administration. Three years ago I wrote about the state of the economy under President Obama. In my piece, I commented that he was doing exactly what he promised: He was fundamentally changing America. Yet many voters whined about it, as if this was something new or something he never explained when the country first elected him. If Clinton enacts the policies she is embracing, I can easily imagine voters complaining about her administration, too. That is, after many make sure she gets elected. After all, she has made it clear that one of her solutions to fixing the economy is to "double down" on the failed government policies that continue to exacerbate our economic woes. Choking Regulations Let's see. Carrying on with the Dodd-Frank financial reforms that primarily grew the federal government, employment-stifling Obamacare, minimum wage legislation, and continuing to choke businesses (small and large alike) with more regulatory burdens. And, let's not forget the multi-trillion-dollar deficit spending that the Obama Administration likes to call investing. Can we say "no" to all of the above? When someone lies long enough and deceives everyone about the economy long enough, that person begins to believe his or her own propaganda. I don't know how it's possible, but Clinton emphasizes such steps at the very time we desperately need to create more jobs and boost the middle class. On top of that, Bernie Sanders' "give everything to everybody for free" mentality seems destined to become a plank in the platform accompanying her impending nomination. Some seem to think that this is all just a political stunt. That when it comes down to real legislation, none of it will happen. So do they mean it's just a lie to get votes? I fear it isn't. On top of extending the failed policies of the past eight years, I foresee Clinton taxing the very people she's trying to create work for -- along with corporate America -- to fund all the giveaways she's promising. Expanding Inefficient Government The other thing we have to be concerned about is Clinton's ongoing demonization of Wall Street, profits, big business, and fat cat bankers (she might as well throw in the job-creating entrepreneurs who can help fuel a new round of growth). None of these divisive tactics is going to help the economy. Continuing all these incredibly inefficient and ineffective government policies will only create bigger government, more bureaucracy, and increased voter frustration. We are seeing firsthand the dangers that I warned about long ago. But when someone lies long enough and deceives everyone about the economy long enough, they begin to believe their own propaganda. Thus, it's only natural that the person who hopes to extend our current president's legacy would believe that "more of the same" is a good idea. Dan Celia is president and CEO of Financial Issues Stewardship Ministries, Inc., and host of the nationally syndicated radio talk program, "Financial Issues," heard daily on more than 600 stations across the country. In recent months, Islamist terrorists have brutalized France, horrifying the world with vicious, bloodthirsty murders and mutilations. In Paris, an ISIS attack in November killed 129 innocents and injured 352. In Nice, on Bastille Day, a truck driven by an ISIS sympathizer mowed down 84 holidaymakers and injured scores of others. And now we learn of yet another vicious attack. As Fox News reported on Tuesday, Two attackers slit the throat of an 84-year-old priest and critically injured at least one other person early Tuesday in a church near the Normandy city of Rouen before being shot and killed by police, a French security official said. On the part of authorities and the media, a persistent lack of attention obscures perhaps intentionally the loathing Islamist terrorists hold toward both Jews and Christians. The priest, identified by Sky News as Jacques Hamel, was dead at the scene, and another person, possibly a nun, was clinging to life, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. French President Francois Hollande later announced that the two neutralized assailants had pledged their loyalty to ISIS. This latest account shines much-needed illumination on an ugly and unexposed sequence of anti-Christian incidents. On the part of authorities and the media, a persistent lack of attention obscures perhaps intentionally the loathing Islamist terrorists hold toward both Jews and Christians. Thanks to the careful scrutiny of international Jewish publications, attacks by radical Islamists on French Jews and their businesses, synagogues and cemeteries are better known. There have been innumerable such assaults; perhaps the most widely reported was on January 9, 2015 at Hyper Casher, a Kosher supermarket in Vincennes, where four hostages were murdered. Tablet Magazine listed 25 such incidents in 2014 alone; many more have taken place since. In response, according to the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), 10 percent of French Jewry has relocated to Israel since 2000. Unfortunately, similar attacks on Christians are rarely recounted, although ISIS has made its intentions clear: the Christian community will not have safety, even in your dreams, until you embrace Islam. We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women. Certainly Islamist radicals have not ignored this proclamation, even though accounts of their successful efforts may be hard to come by. Only a scouring of Catholic news reports exposes an ongoing litany of desecration, arson and abuse. For example, a recent newsletter from Federation for Europa Christiana recounts (in French) the following: At Martiguesthree successive attacks in May 2016: first the pastor extinguished a malicious fire on the altar of the church of the Madeleine. This same priest was later attacked and his eye was blackened. Then, at the Saint-Genest church, the same priest discovered the open tabernacle and communion wafers thrown to the ground In April, 2016, all the crucifixes and crosses were shattered at the cemetery of La Chapelle-du-Bard. All told, 810 attacks on French Christian places of worship and Christian cemeteries took place in 2015. Meanwhile, the National Catholic Register reported on June 6, In recent weeks, Catholics in France and Belgium countries still recovering from brutal ISIS attacks have been hit with numerous acts of violence and aggression, including fires set in churches, an assault on a priest, the desecration of a tabernacle. More than 100 Catholic websites of churches and congregations were hacked by suspected Tunisian cyber-jihadists who call themselves the Fallaga Team. Tuesdays murder of an 84-year-old priest, the grave injuries to a nun, and the hostage-taking of Catholics attending Mass suggest an escalation of these shadowy activities. For political and ideological reasons, whenever possible French politicians (along with many other European authorities) continue to downplay such attacks. In response, few major media sources bother to report them. Nonetheless, as the jihadi saying goes, First the Saturday People, then the Sunday People. Islamist radicals consistently target Jews and Christians. And, widely reported or not, the facts on the bloodied ground speak for themselves. Democrats tried to turn their attention Monday night from an email scandal that claimed their party chairwoman and sent Bernie Sanders supporters into near rebellion with a scorching attack on Donald Trump that ranged from unnamed references by Michelle Obama to in-your-face attacks by Elizabeth Warren and Sanders himself. The Vermont senator blasted Trump as a candidate who "insults" minorities and "divides us up." Based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States, the Vermont senator told the rowdy and emotional convention crowd, with many of his supporters visibly crying during his remarks and chanting his name. Sanders appealed to supporters Monday night to get behind Clinton, as he tried to restore order at the Democratic convention after a chaotic opening day marked by intense street protests and near-constant disruptions inside the arena from delegates and others loyal to him. Sanders suddenly found himself in the role of helping the Democratic Party whose establishment had shunned him for much of the primary race. But he now is virtually their only hope for easing the tensions at the Philadelphia convention, where delegates are poised to crown Clinton as the partys presidential nominee on Tuesday. I understand that many people here in this convention hall and around the country are disappointed about the final results of the nominating process. I think its fair to say that no one is more disappointed than I am, he told delegates. But to all of our supporters here and around the country I hope you take enormous pride in the historical accomplishments we have achieved. Sanders argued that, despite his differences with Clinton during the primary campaign, her views are far more in line with his than are Republican nominee Trumps on issues ranging from the minimum wage to climate change to college tuition costs. It is no secret that Hillary Clinton and I disagree on a number of issues, he said. But Sanders said they have come together on some of them, and his side was able to win major changes to the party platform. Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her tonight, Sanders said, though some in the audience still booed at Clintons name. Trump, tweeting from the sidelines, fired back: Sanders was joined by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren in appealing to the left wing of the party to unite behind Clinton. First lady Michelle Obama, too, worked to ease the tensions in the convention hall in an earlier speech that at times seemed to rally the divided crowd. America faces a choice, Warren said. Were here today because our choice is Hillary Clinton. Im with Hillary. She called Trump a "man who inherited a fortune from his father and cares only for himself. "Donald Trump has no real plans for jobs, for college kids, for seniors. No plans to make anything great for anyone except rich guys like Donald Trump." The liberal icon, who spoke right before Sanders, still faced small pockets of unrest as she delivered a full-throated Clinton endorsement, with some people chanting we trusted you over her remarks. But Warren called Clinton a woman who fights for all of us. Together, the two speakers had an opportunity to tamp down the unrest among liberal activists, many of whom not only backed Sanders during the turbulent primary battle but wanted to either see Warren step into the ring or be tapped for running mate. Whether their words can now help calm the storm inside and outside the convention hall remains to be seen. Sanders speech could help. It was a very unifying message, the essence of unity, Kit Andrews, a Vermont alternate delegate and Sanders supporter, told FoxNews.com. Its a long process to bring people together. He has always said that. Sanders and Warren, along with Michelle Obama and Clinton booster New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, addressed the convention at the close of a noisy and boisterous Monday session. From the very start, Sanders supporters booed and jeered convention officials as they tried to gavel in. Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, who was presiding, scolded the protesters as they interrupted at the very mention of Clinton. We are all Democrats, and we need to act like it, she said. Michelle Obama, speaking hours and countless disruptions later, seemed to draw a more positive response, eliciting applause during her lines on Clinton. Im with her, Obama declared, asking Democrats to do for the former secretary of state what they did for her husband and turn out to the polls. Between now and November, we need to do what we did eight years ago and four years ago. We need to get out every vote! she said. Lets get to work. The audience remained visibly divided during her remarks, however, with one man being shushed for saying, We love you, Michelle. Obama didn't leave the stage without taking a veiled shot at Trump. She warned that the White House couldn't be in the hands of someone with a "thin skin or tendency to lash out or someone who tells voters the country could be great again. Booker, who had been considered for running mate before the job went to Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, earlier blasted Republican nominee Donald Trump while touting Clintons support for a fair wage and debt-free college and trying to connect her ideals to Sanders. It represents the best of our values, the best of our history and the best of our party -- all of our shared ideas and values together, Booker said. Several celebrities including comedian Sarah Silverman and actress Eva Longoria also rallied to Clintons defense with Silverman even taking on the Sanders crowd, saying, Bernie or bust people, youre being ridiculous. Even before the disruptions in the arena, the convention had kicked off Monday under a cloud of controversy -- after the leak of emails indicating an anti-Bernie Sanders bias inside the DNC forced the resignation of Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She had been expected to open the convention anyway, but after facing continued backlash from Sanders supporters Monday morning was replaced in that role by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Anti-Clinton sentiment, however, continued to run high inside and outside the convention site, as pro-Sanders and other demonstrators marched from Camden to downtown Philadelphia and ultimately toward the arena all while the convention was gaveling in. Inside the hall, Sanders supporters jeered Democratic officials trying to move the proceedings along. The developments added up to a far more chaotic start than at the Republicans convention a week ago in Cleveland. Trump, from the sidelines, stoked the unrest inside the Democratic ranks by tweeting about how Bernie Sanders had been mistreated by the party. He tweeted before the convention start: The Democrats are in a total meltdown but the biased media will say how great they are doing! E-mails say the rigged system is alive & well! FoxNews.coms Joseph Weber, Fox News Chad Pergram and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Hillary Clinton took a historic step closer Tuesday to fulfilling her dream of shattering what she once called that highest, hardest glass ceiling when Democratic delegates at the party's national convention in Philadelphia officially nominated her as their candidate for president making the former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state the first woman to top a major party presidential ticket. South Dakotas delegation put her over the top in the tally, but it was ex-primary foe Bernie Sanders who closed out the roll call and made her nomination official after his home state of Vermont cast its votes. I move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the nominee of the Democratic Party for president of the United States, Sanders said, as the crowd erupted in cheers and waved Clinton signs. The nomination was affirmed by acclamation moments later; the final delegate tally was 2,842-1,865. The high-profile show of unity on the floor, at a convention marked from the start by discord, followed speculation about what role Sanders might play in formally anointing Clinton the nominee. The night before, the Vermont senator tried to restore order in the hall by urging his supporters many of whom booed Monday night at the mere mention of Clintons name to get behind her campaign. Those supporters loudly cheered and chanted his name as Sanders was put in for nomination Tuesday afternoon. Some antics popped up during the roll call itself. While the Nevada delegation was casting its votes, Sanders supporters held signs behind the speaker's head saying Rigged and I was leaked. Large pro-Sanders banners practically covered the Oklahoma delegation speakers from the view of some media cameras. Some Sanders supporters also walked out at the end, chanting, This is what democracy looks like, as a couple-hundred protesters chanted shame outside the complex. But the rancor in the hall may be subsiding in the wake of the opening days street protests and disruptions inside the convention arena. Longtime Clinton ally and civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., touted her qualifications as he delivered one of the nominating speeches on her behalf. She is one of the most qualified candidates to ever run for president, he bellowed. In a moment of poetic justice, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard delivered one of the nominating speeches for Sanders moments earlier, describing his cause as a movement fueled by love that can never be stopped or defeated. Gabbard had resigned in protest from the DNC amid complaints over how Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz had treated Sanders; Wasserman Schultz over the weekend was forced to resign following leaked emails that bolstered those claims of anti-Sanders bias. The roll call preceded another stacked night of speeches, headlined by former President Bill Clinton, the latest party elder to attempt to get the base to close ranks behind his wife and direct its energy toward defeating Republican nominee Donald Trump in November. Sanders made a similar case the night before. Based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States, he told the audience Monday, with many of his supporters visibly crying during his remarks. The frustration among his base had been inflamed in the run-up to the convention, when the leaked Democratic National Committee emails appeared to show top party officials criticizing him and discussing ways to undermine him. While Wasserman Schultz was forced to resign in the wake of the leak, that alone did not quell the unrest. The party is eager to bring all factions together, though, in preparation for the general election battle officially joined Tuesday against Trump, who was formally nominated by the Republicans last week in Cleveland. On the sidelines, Trump was hammering Democrats Tuesday for all but omitting reference to the Islamic State terror network on their opening night. Dems don't want to talk ISIS b/c Hillary's foreign interventions unleashed ISIS & her refugee plans make it easier for them to come here, he tweeted Tuesday. The ex-wife of Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson is claiming he physically abused her over two decades accusations the Florida congressman vehemently disputes, Politico reported Tuesday. Graysons wife, Lolita, repeatedly went to police with accusations of domestic abuse dating back to 1994, according to documents she provided to the website. The police reports show she called police on Grayson at least two times in Virginia and two more times in Florida. In one instance, she told police Grayson had threatened to kill her, according to Politico. The three-term House Democrat, however, denies he abused his former wife and claims she battered him in 2014 before their 25-year marriage ended last year. "Lolita is a disturbed woman. She has made one false allegation after another. Her own daughter refutes her," Graysons lawyer, Mark NeJame, told Politico. Grayson, 58, is caught in a tight Senate race against Rep. Patrick Murphy ahead of the Aug. 30 primary. Click here for more from Politico. A potential Russian connection to the politically explosive hack of Democratic National Committee files is becoming clearer, with a former senior intelligence official who ran computer security for the Defense Intelligence Agency telling Fox News the hackers left behind evidence on the servers that points to sophisticated techniques associated with the country. The trail of evidence on the DNC servers includes malicious code used to steal emails and documents, according to Bob Gourley, co-founder and partner at strategic consulting firm Cognitio and former chief technology officer (CTO) at the DIA. Forensic evidence points pretty clearly to a very sophisticated nation state, he said. This is a well-resourced adversary. Specifically, they are using the same tools and techniques previously associated with Russia. Gourley said they used a recently established web domain, registered to a non-existent entity, to steal the data, another signature of Russian-backed hackers. He said nothing about the attack points to an individual hacker. Aside from the physical evidence linking to Russia, Gourley said the timing also suggests a political motivation. Foreign hackers would want to steal data to understand the policies of a potential Democratic president, but if that were the only motivation, there would no reason to release the files on the eve of the convention. Other sources familiar with the DNC email dump also told Fox News the communications likely were seized in a hacking operation with ties to the Russian government. Fox News earlier reported that cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike discovered two separate Russian intelligence groups had infiltrated separate parts of the DNC's computer network, successfully seizing email communications and opposition research on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, before being kicked off the network. The latest comments bolster claims, seized upon by some in the Hillary Clinton camp, that the Russians were involved in the breach. The subsequent WikiLeaks document dump just days before the start of the Democratic National Convention caused a major embarrassment for the party, with a number of leaked emails showing party officials criticizing or seemingly working to undermine Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders primary bid against Clinton. The controversy led to DNC Chairwomans Debbie Wasserman Schultz resignation on the eve of the convention kick-off. Trump, meanwhile, has brushed off any suggestion that Russia was involved and trying to help his presidential campaign. He tweeted: The new joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNC e-mails, which should never have been written (stupid), because Putin likes me. Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks which released the emails, also told NBC News there is no evidence of Russian involvement. Separately, Fox News was told the DNC was warned by government agencies about a non-specific threat to their systems before the breach, based on the targeting of the State Department and White House. But no significant action was taken. The FBI is investigating the breach. A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously, and the FBI will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace, the bureau said in a statement. Fox News Matthew Dean contributed to this report. After Bernie Sanders doubled down on his endorsement of Hillary Clinton Monday, many of his supporters remain politically homeless and in no mood to back the presumptive Democratic nominee -- a situation Donald Trump is keen to exploit. His campaign and allied Republicans are now launching a renewed push to bring the loyal opposition from the Democratic primary race aboard the Trump train. Theyre liking what Im saying in terms of trade, Trump told Fox News' "Hannity" on Tuesday, after making an open appeal to Sanders supporters in his convention speech last week. I think were going to get a lot of [Sanders] supporters. Conversations with Sanders supporters in Philadelphia suggest a number of them are now resolved to oppose Clinton in November, following the scandal over leaked DNC emails that indicated a pro-Clinton bias at the top during the primary campaign. Trump surely would have a tough time winning them over in large numbers -- but some in the "Never Hillary" camp indicated a willingness to consider voting for him. I think it would be a disaster if [Hillary Clinton] was elected, Jared Foster, a combat veteran from Joanna, S.C., told FoxNews.com. He said he wants to support Sanders, but would support Donald Trump presuming Clinton formally claims the nomination this week. The signs and chants in street protests outside the Democrats' convention in Philadelphia made plain the sentiments of the Sanders crowd. Hell no DNC, we wont vote for Hillary and lock her up were repeatedly chanted during Mondays pro-Sanders march. Some signs portrayed Clinton as a war criminal, while another presented her as Shakespearean antagonist Lady Macbeth. Tracy Graunstadt, who had traveled from Michigan to protest, was holding a sign that said You cant make me vote for Hillary and told FoxNews.com the leaked DNC emails were the tipping point for her. That was the final straw for me. I was a little bit on the fence before ... but after seeing how the DNC essentially rigged the election and worked against Bernie, and I think that Hillary knew exactly what was going on, she said. I could never vote for someone like that. For my own conscience, I will not be able to do something I dont believe in, agreed Alex Ozkaynak, a Brooklyn resident. Trump is not their only option. Many protesters eyed Green Party candidate Jill Stein as their anti-Clinton choice, sporting green flags and Stein placards. Yet some showed themselves open to the unlikely possibility of voting for Trump as an alternative, even just as a way to knife Clinton after what many perceive as a stolen primary process. While the most likely positive outcome for the Trump campaign is that Sanders supporters stay home or vote for Stein, shaving off vital percentage points from Clinton in swing states like Pennsylvania and Michigan could make a difference. "I'll bet you a lot of his people come to us," Trump said Monday in Roanoke, Va., again citing their common cause on trade. After Sanders speech Monday backing Clinton, though, Trump accused Sanders of abandoning his revolution. We welcome all voters who want to fix our rigged system and bring back our jobs, he said. Another tweet presented the billionaire as the post-Bernie candidate. Though there is a gulf in the two candidates' views on subjects such as abortion, political correctness and especially immigration, there are also similarities. Both campaigns have appealed to voters as movements that come from outside the Washington system, and have resonated with working class voters on issues like free trade. Republicans hammered those similarities at their convention last week. What Bernie Sanders and Trump have in common, which is not a lot, is their appeal to the everyday working man and woman, and to the everyday American, Keith Grover, a Utah state GOP representative, told FoxNews.com in Cleveland. Sanders and Trump also have criticized Clinton using similar themes, namely her ties to Wall Street, allegations of corruption, and her stance on trade. Clinton betrayed Bernie voters. Kaine supports TPP, is in pocket of Wall Street, and backed Iraq, Trump tweeted. While Trump is unlikely to attract die-hard left-wing voters, he may be able to peel off others attracted to Sanders as an outsider. "If Bernie Sanders supporters were to be disenchanted with their nominee and throw support behind Donald Trump, you bet that's totally in play and we know that the margins will be very small come fall," Grover said. FoxNews.coms Barnini Chakraborty and Fox News' Leland Vittert contributed to this report. Just two days after an email scandal forced her resignation as head of the Democratic Party, Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz could be on her own in a suddenly tough re-election battle, as fellow House Democrats turn their back and withhold their money while contributions pour in for her primary opponent. Soon after Wasserman Schultz was booed Monday during a Florida delegation breakfast in Philadelphia, Democratic primary foe Tim Canova wrote to his 20,000 Twitter followers, "It's time to end her political career for good," and shared a link to his campaign fundraising webpage. The tactic appears to be working. He said he's raised about $100,000 in the 72 hours since the scandal erupted, all without leaving south Florida or picking up a phone to dial for dollars. Yet officials with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee made clear Monday they have no plans to spend money to save her. Top committee leaders told reporters that they do not spend money on safe Democratic seats, which hers is, because they need to save resources for states they are trying to save or flip. While the seat may be safe in the fall from Republicans, that doesnt mean shes a lock in the primary. Its just the latest example of how Bernie Sanders, who has endorsed Canova, has been able to twist the political knife even further after leaked emails that indicated an anti-Sanders bias in the chairwomans DNC operation led to her ouster. "In some ways it feels like we've won the lottery," Canova said. "There's been a natural donor base for someone willing to take on a person with a national profile who is seen as a failed leader." Sanders, who has already sent fundraising pleas on Canova's behalf, said he also may campaign for him. At a round-table interview Tuesday with Bloomberg Politics, he said he'd be doing so not because of "some kind of personal vendetta against Debbie," but because Canova is a "good candidate." Privately, some Democratic officials think Wasserman Schultz is at risk of losing her Aug. 30 primary to Canova. The Washington Post reported that the congresswoman was now planning to return to Florida, from the Philadelphia convention, amid concerns over her reelection bid. That she even has to think about her House race is a turnaround for the congresswoman who was considered among the most powerful Democrats in Washington, in large part for her post at the DNC and unwavering support for President Obama, who appointed her. However, accusations by Sanders and fellow Democratic primary challenger Martin OMalley that she and others in the DNC were partial to front-runner Clinton were bolstered by the email leak. The backlash among Democrats and others was almost immediate, with protesters around the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia condemning her actions, including Code Pink demonstrators wearing signs that reading Resign Debbie. The respected, non-partisan Cook Political Report still shows Wasserman Schultz as a solid pick to win reelection. But her Democratic primary and potential GOP challengers are making political hay of the roughly 20,000 hacked emails released by WikiLeaks, including one in which she suggested Sanders vow to take away her DNC post was silly. Nathan Gonzales, who analyzes House races for the non-partisan Rothenberg and Gonzales Political Report, said Tuesday that Wasserman Schultzs recent travails raise the natural question about whether she could lose her primary- or general-election race. However, he downplayed the idea of a drastic or immediate turnabout. In such a high-profile situation, its easy to image an (upset.) But its extremely difficult to beat an incumbent in a primary, he said. She has her share of problems, but I dont know if thats going to hit her in her district. Gonzales said theres no plans to downgrade the seat from safe, saying, Id have to see more information new polling. The emails just point out what so many of us believed, that the process was rigged for Hillary Clinton, said Joe Kaufman, one of two Republican primary candidates in Wasserman Schultzs 23rd Congressional District, west of Fort Lauderdale, in southern Florida. It looks a little like Debbie is getting a payback for her helping get Hillary Clinton elected. My campaign believes that people who wanted to vote for her just shouldnt vote at all because a vote for her is a vote for the rigged process. Democratic strategist Douglas Smith suggested Monday that party leaders are correctly trying to keep the email story from continuing for days and months, which would further damage Wasserman Schultz. However, Smith thinks Wasserman Schultzs political capital will help her prevail. I think shell win, he said. Shes got the heavy support of voters, families." In her written statement announcing her DNC resignation, the congresswoman said, "My first priority has always been serving the people of the 23rd district of Florida and I look forward to continuing to do that as their member of Congress for years to come." FoxNews.coms Joseph Weber and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Democrats have only one major task to accomplish at their convention this week -- formally nominate a candidate for president. But that effort could go sideways Tuesday if Sen. Bernie Sanders supporters disrupt the delegate voting for presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton. The so-called delegate roll call vote this year is about three things: nominating Clinton, trying to forge unity within the party and the potential opportunity for Sanders loyalists to make mischief and disrupt. Sanders' supporters could make the most of the opportunity, including perhaps staging a protest vote on the floor, which would test the parliamentary mettle of Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who are presiding over the proceedings. Consider the criticism leveled at the GOP by anti-Donald Trump forces when they saw Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack plow through their efforts to conduct a roll call vote on the conventions rules package. At the very least, Sanders' backers could yell and make a lot of noise and try not to formally move any measure from the convention floor. The roll call goes by states, in alphabetical order, with no indication that leaders will rearrange the order so New York, Clintons home state, can cast the deciding votes. Republicans did that for Trump at their nominating convention last week in Cleveland, giving New York the deciding votes then. If Democrats go in order Tuesday, with no delegations taking passes, South Dakota was expected to get Clinton close, with Tennessee conceivably vaulting her over the top. Fox News Chad Pergram contributed to this report. Solar Impulse 2 flew into the record books Monday when it completed its historic fuel-free global journey around the world. Piloted by Bertrand Piccard, the solar-powered plane landed at Abu Dhabis Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi just after 8 p.m. EDT, after a 48-hour flight from Cairo. The flight was the 17th leg of a global odyssey that began in March 2015 when Solar Impulse 2 flew from Abu Dhabi to Oman. Its a first in the history of #energy, @solarimpulse is only the beginning, tweeted Piccard, shortly after landing. The plane has traveled 26,744 miles since setting off from Abu Dhabi and has racked up 558 hours of flight time. A larger version of a single-seat prototype that first flew six years ago, Solar Impulse 2 is made of carbon fiber and has 17,248 solar cells built into the wings that supply the plane with renewable energy, via four motors. The solar cells recharge four lithium polymer batteries, which provide power for night flying. Solar Impulse Chairman Bertrand Piccard has taken turns with his fellow Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg to fly the single-seater plane around the world. Piccard was at the controls when Solar Impulse 2 became the first solar-powered plane to cross the Atlantic last month after a flight of 71 hours and 8 minutes. Borschberg broke a number of records on the eighth leg of Solar Impulses 2 journey, landing in Hawaii on July 3, 2015 after an incredible 4,480-mile, 118-hour flight from Japan. The journey shattered the record for longest solar-powered flight in terms of distance and duration. Borschberg also broke the record for longest non-stop solo flight without refueling, which previously stood at 76 hours and 45 minutes. However, the following leg from Hawaii to California, was delayed for nine months while the Solar Impulse team repaired damage to the planes batteries sustained on the journey from Japan. Prior to its flight from Cairo to Abu Dhabi, Solar Impulse 2 made stops in Oman, India, Myanmar, China, Japan, Hawaii, California, Phoenix, Tulsa, Dayton, Lehigh Valley, New York and Seville. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers The Associated Press contributed to this report Using DNA tests, scientists have confirmed the authenticity of a morbid souvenir: bloodstained leaves that were taken from the death site of Belgium's King Albert I more than 80 years ago. The results of the new study might help put to bed some conspiracy theories that claim Albert was the victim of murder, not a climbing accident. Albert, who ruled from 1909 until his death, was celebrated for his role in World War I, as he refused to let German troops through Belgium to attack France. An avid mountaineer, he died on Feb. 17, 1934, when he was climbing alone near the village of Marche-les-Dames, southeast of Brussels. His body was found on a rock at the foot of a cliff. [Photos: Squash Contains Louis XVI's Blood] Deadly spectacle The king's death, at age 58, came as a shock for the public. People flocked to Marche-les-Dames to pay their respects and to take part in the spectacle, according to news reports. An Associated Press report from Feb. 26, 1934, said the rock where Albert fell to his death had to be surrounded by barbed wire to protect it from "the depredations of thousands of curious visitors." The site had become such an attraction that it was being "plucked bare of stones, leaves, branches and everything else removable by souvenir hunters." A journalist bought one of those supposed relics, a set of bloodstained tree leaves, at auction in 2013. That journalist then teamed up with scientists for an investigation. The researchers were able to find two of Albert's living relatives who agreed to help confirm the authenticity of the bloody leaves: King Simeon II, the last tsar and former prime minister of Bulgaria, and a German baroness named Anna Maria Freifrau von Haxthausen. "They gave up DNA samples that we compared with the DNA of the trails of blood," the leader of the study, forensic geneticist Maarten Larmuseau of the University of Leuven in Belgium, said in a statement. "We found that the blood is indeed that of Albert I." End of conspiracy theories? Rumors had cropped up about the circumstances surrounding King Albert's death, suggesting that the king had committed suicide or was the victim of a politically motivated murder. Even some public figures advanced these conspiracy theories: among them, British military officer Graham Seton Hutchison, an avowed fascist who came to sympathize with the Germans after World War I and to praise Adolf Hitler. Seton Hutchison, as quoted by The New York Times in May of 1934, claimed the story of Albert's death was "the biggest piece of spoof put over on the world," implying that the king was murdered because he actually wanted no part in the "devilry of France in conspiring for war against the defenseless Germans." Since there were no eyewitnesses to the king's death, many of the conspiracy theories hinged on the idea that Albert's body was never even at Marche-les-Dames, or that someone placed the body there after the king was killed by a blow to the head. So the positive identification of blood on leaves from the site helps add credence to the official account of Albert's death. "Eighty years after the fact, everyone involved has passed away, and most material is gone. We will probably never be able to dismiss all speculations concerning this 'cold case,'"Larmuseau said in the statement. "The story that the dead body of the king has never been in Marche-les-Dames or was only placed there at night has now become very improbable. Furthermore, the results show that conducting a perfect legal investigation at the time was impossible right from the start, because souvenir hunters had disturbed the scene." The researchers said they wanted to protect the privacy of everyone involved in the study. Therefore, they had independent experts check the genetic profiles, but did not publish any of that sensitive personal DNA information. Strangely enough, this isn't the first time DNA tests have confirmed a death relic of a monarch. Three years ago, scientists found that a decorative gourd really did contain the dried blood of France's King Louis XVI. The new findings will be published in the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics. Original article on Live Science. Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Silk, tea and spices weren't the only things that travelers carried on China's legendary Silk Road: Ancient poop shows that infectious diseases were also transported along this network of trade routes, according to a new study. Researchers excavated 2,000-year-old feces from a latrine along the Silk Road in northwestern China, and found that it contained eggs from the Chinese liver fluke, a parasitic worm that is typically found at least 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) away, according to the study. The researchers suggested that the traveler infected with this parasite must have journeyed a great distance. "This is the earliest evidence for the spread of infectious diseases along the Silk Road, and the first to find evidence at an archaeological site along the Silk Road itself," Piers Mitchell, a paleopathologist at the University of Cambridge and the senior author of the study, told Live Science. [7 Devastating Infectious Diseases] The researchers found the feces on "personal hygiene sticks" wood or bamboo rods with cloth wrapped around one end that people used to wipe excrement off bottoms. Under a microscope, the researchers examined the feces from seven of such sticks to look for signs of ancient parasites. They found eggs from four different species of parasitic intestinal worms in this excrement. These included eggs from the Chinese liver fluke, a parasite which can cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, jaundice and can even lead to liver cancer. However, the Chinese liver fluke requires wet, marshy areas to complete its life cycle, and the researchers found the eggs on the eastern margins of the arid Tamrin Basin, a region that contains the fearsome Taklamakan desert. The researchers noted there was no way the Chinese liver fluke could have come from this region. Indeed, the species is most common in Guangdong Province, which is about 1,240 miles (2,000 km) from the site. "When I first saw the Chinese liver fluke egg down the microscope, I knew that we had made a momentous discovery," study lead author Hui-Yuan Yeh at the University of Cambridge said in a statement. While previous research has suggested that ancient travelers on the Silk Road carried diseases such as bubonic plague, anthrax and leprosy, there was little concrete evidence to prove that this occurred. For example, both China and Europe possess similar strains of the bubonic plague, but the disease could have spread between China and Europe via India to the south, or via Mongolia and Russia to the north, the researchers said. In other words, there was no proof that it was spread along the Silk Road. The parasitic eggs were excavated at a site named Xuanquanzhi, which was a large relay station in Gansu Province in northwestern China from 111 B.C. to A.D. 109. The researchers said this 2,000-year-old stop was apparently a popular one on the Silk Road, with travelers staying there and government officials using it to change their horses and deliver letters. [The 10 Most Diabolical and Disgusting Parasites] Other parasites found in the excrement from this ancient latrine specifically, roundworms, whipworms and tapeworms suggest that visitors to the relay station had eaten food contaminated by human feces, perhaps in fertilizer, and may also have dined on undercooked pork. The scientists detailed their findings online today (July 21) in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. Original article on Live Science. Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. California isn't playing around with 3D-printed guns. As Motherboard reports, Governor Jerry Brown on Friday signed legislation that will now require anyone who 3D prints a gun to obtain a serial number or "other mark of identification," and affix it to the weapon within 10 days. In addition, owners will need to have a background check and no 3D-printed guns can be sold or transferred to another party. As 3D printing has become a hobby for many across the globe, some have used the technology to print what are effectively plastic guns. While the National Rifle Association (NRA) and other gun rights groups slam 3D-printed gun restrictions, arguing that such measures violate the Second Amendment, some lawmakers argue that they present a public safety concern. Guns could get through metal detectors and be unsafe, for example. Meanwhile, according to the state legislature, existing law "requires licensed importers and licensed manufacturers to identify each firearm imported or manufactured by using the serial number engraved or cast on the receiver or frame of the weapon." But the law doesn't cover sales of gun parts. "There are no provisions in existing law that prevent a person from buying an 80 percent lower receiver and then making it into a fully functional firearm," according to a state Senate analysis. "Because 80 percent lower receivers are not considered firearms, a person purchasing them does not have to go through a federal firearms dealer, and does not have to undergo a background check. This bill is intended to close this loophole." Those who violate the law by making a handgun face up to a year in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both. For all other firearms, the bill calls for up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, or both. Each firearm is a considered a separate offense. According to Motherboard, the legislation requires a stainless steel marker to be placed on the gun so it can be detected by a metal detector. Requiring a background check is a way to keep eyes on who might be creating guns, and the potential quality issues stands at the center of California's decision to eliminate sales and transfers. The new law goes into effect on July 1, 2018. This article originally appeared on PCMag.com. I never thought I'd find myself face to face with a shark. But there I was, miles off Oahu's North Shore, preparing to dive into the deep blue. Captain Pancakes is the one with a scar on his left flank, Julia Hartl, an enthusiastic marine biologist with One Ocean Diving, told my family as we prepared to swim. As my sister and I giggle, she rattles off a few more names. Theres also Mrs. Aloha, Curly Boy and Harry Potter. Soon after, were in the water flipper-kicking our way among a handful of Galapagos and sandbar sharks about three miles from the beach. It certainly feels weird to purposely insert yourself into shark territory, but I maintain good eye contact with them and remain alert and, surprisingly its way more peaceful than you can imagine. Down here they dont look sinister at all. Over the next 45 minutes, we spot about 20 grey predators. Several swing by for a casual hello, and show no more interest than that. They are way more intrigued by the shiny GoPros the safety guides are toting. The toothy creatures propel themselves slowly around the boat in an underwater ballet of sorts. The rays of sunlight pierce through the deep blue, my legs rhythmically paddle and its downright calming. Our guides want the interaction to be as natural-- and positive-- as possible, so there's no chum or shark cages involved. That said, during the experience you might have just one or two sharks show up-- or dozens. One Ocean Diving provides private and group shark diving tours to educate and promote learning opportunities about the biology, physiology, and behavior of marine life. Divers also get to participate in valuable research opportunities about sharks. For shark lovers like me, it just cements the fact that they dont have a desire to snack on us humans. For others who have a deep-rooted fear of these large, pelagic creatures, the whole experience can provide eye-opening perspective. For starters, our guide says sharks have a bad rap that they dont really deserve. Hartl puts it in perspective with some stats: To sum it up, you are way more likely to be killed by a cow, a toaster or even by taking a selfie than you are to be killed by a shark. According to the Associated Press, there were only 98 unprovoked shark attacks in 2015, resulting in six deaths worldwide. They are not mindless man-eating machines, and they are not puppies, they are apex predators and need to be respected for that, says Ocean Ramsey, a shark conservationist and founder of One Ocean Diving in partnership with Water Inspired. We need them for their essential role in the marine environment, keeping ocean ecosystems healthy and in balance. Ramsey's mission is to dispel some of the negative stereotypes people have about sharks. I wish people knew how important they are and especially how quickly they continue to be wiped out, she explains. Many populations, like South Africa's great white shark, are on the brink of extinction. As a marine biologist and shark-lover, Ramsey has performed dives with 32 different species of sharks around the world. For her, the greatest reward is when people come out of the water, saying they had the best experience of their lives and come away with newfound respect for these misunderstood ocean dwellers. One Ocean's once-in-a-lifetime shark diving experiences start at $150 per person. Where to stay Just across the street from the famous North Shore beaches, the Courtyard Oahu North Shore was built about a year ago. If you prefer the Honolulu area, the Modern Honolulu is a good choice. As the name indicates, its hip and stylish complete with Morimoto Waikiki and Addiction nightclub. For those traveling with kids, Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort is a great option. What to do After the thrill of the shark dive, calm things down with some serious R&R at the Moana Surfrider Spa and tea time at The Veranda, a beachside restaurant next to a hundred-year-old banyan tree. Hike Diamond Head for spectacular views of the island or hop in a chopper with Paradise Helicopters to snag a birds-eye view of waterfalls and sweeping cliffs. Leah Murr is an experienced travel writer based in East Africa. Her adventures have spanned the globe-- from swimming with sharks in Hawaii, to skydiving in Norwegian fjords and cliff camping in Colorado. Follow her on Instagram at murr.leah. With his city just days removed from a horrific mass shooting of police officers, Dallas Police Chief David Brown urged those in the community to become a part of the solution and join the force. Were hiring, Brown said on July 11. The residents of Dallas responded in a big way. Applications to be a police officer in Dallas have soared 344 percent since the ambush attack on July 7, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. From July 8 through July 20, 467 applications were placed to be a police officer, an average of 39 applications turned in every day. Get off that protest line and put an application in, Brown had told those who had been demonstrating against recent controversial police shootings. And well put you in your neighborhood, and well help you resolve some of the problems youre protesting about. A gunman killed five officers in the Dallas ambush, police said. Days later, another shooter killed three officers in Baton Rouge. Police killed both shooters after the attacks. Two Indianapolis police officers were shot Monday following a motor chase involving several squad cars and an exchange of gunfire that left a suspect dead. One officer was shot in the lower body and was taken to Methodist Hospital where he is expected to make a full recovery, Indianapolis Police Chief Troy Riggs said. He added that the second officer suffered very minor injuries. The incident began at an apartment complex on the city's northwest side and a suspect led police along a chase on Interstate 465, according to Fox 59. A passenger left the car and was later taken into custody, Riggs said. However, the driver led police on a chase along city streets and an interstate before ending on the city's east side, where the suspect engaged in a shootout with officers. The unidentified suspect was shot to death. None of the officers involved in the shooting were identified. "It was a very long pursuit," Riggs said. "We had numerous officers involved. Not in the pursuit itself but trying to block intersections, provide safety for our residents, put out spike strips. They did a lot to mitigate the risks. As a result, no citizens were injured." On July 16, an Indianapolis police officer was wounded when he and other officers responded to a report of a man sitting in a vehicle pointing a gun to his head. When a Taser was used on the man, the gun went off, sending a bullet into the officer's leg. The officer was hospitalized in good condition. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Click for more from Fox 59. When protests erupted here over a black mans killing during a struggle with two white police officers, Baton Rouge police officer Matthew Gerald made a promise to an old friend who urged him to be careful. Im going to do what I got to do to keep you all safe, old boy, Gerald told Dave Mulkey, his childhood friend and former roommate. That text message was the last Mulkey received from Gerald before a lone gunman enraged by recent police shootings killed the 41-year-old rookie. Thats what Matt did. He went toward the danger, along with his fellow officers, Mulkey told more than 2,000 mourners at Geralds funeral on Friday, the first for the three officers who were shot down before the attacker was killed. CMPD cruisers in Officer Matthew Gerald procession @BRPD pic.twitter.com/y2s9MUkGOS CMPD News (@CMPD) July 25, 2016 Baton Rouges mayor and police chief hailed Gerald as a hero who proudly served his country during three tours in Iraq before joining the police force nine months ago. The mayor and chief also issued broad appeals to respect police and heal wounds opened by the death of Alton Sterling, a black man whose shooting by police was videotaped and posted online, prompting widespread protests. After 200 arrests in three days in Louisianas capital, tensions seemed to be easing before the surprise Sunday morning ambush. Chief Carl Dabadie Jr.s voice cracked as he strayed from his prepared remarks to respond to critics of policing. Departments across the country have been scrutinized after a steady stream of videotaped killings and mistreatment of black people. The media has blasted us for what we do and how we do it, basically portraying law enforcement as these band of bullies who go around and beat people up, the chief said. Were not bullies. We are protecting our communities. And they throw us under the bus for it. And thats wrong. Dechia Gerald, now a widow with two young girls, called him my blue-eyed rock in a written tribute, expressing hope that his legacy will bridge the gap and foster peace in the country he lived, loved and died for. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 An endangered weasel is returning to an area of western Wyoming where the critter almost went extinct more than 30 years ago. Biologists plan to release 35 black-footed ferrets Tuesday near Meeteetse (me-TEET'-see). Scientists thought the black-footed ferret was extinct until a dog brought a dead one home near Meeteetse in 1981. The discovery made tiny Meeteetse famous as the home of the slinky, nocturnal weasel. Black-footed ferrets appear on the town logo, in a downtown sculpture and even on coffee mugs in a local restaurant. But they're gone from the wild around here. Biologists captured Meeteetse's last ferrets for a captive-breeding program that has released hundreds of ferrets in the western U.S. This will be the first release where the black-footed ferret made its last stand in the wild. The United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union could have significant ramifications for domestic digital marketers doing business internationally. Every day, digital marketers in the U.S. come in contact with mountains of personal data. These can include customer email addresses, browsing habits, age, gender, geographic location and any other data Google, Facebook and other go-betweens allow U.S. marketers to collect. Safe harbor. Until late last year, U.S. marketing agencies were subject to the long-standing Safe Harbor agreement, which regulated the flow of personal data between the EU and the U.S. Safe Harbor prohibited the transfer of data to a country outside the European Economic Area (EEA) unless that country had adequate data protection measures in place. American agencies receiving EU citizens' personal data could self-certify they complied with Safe Harbor. This basically attested their practices adhered to a range of European privacy standards. Although the agreement applied to any country outside the EEA, it primarily targeted the U.S. and American companies. The Snowden effect. Ever since former CIA employee Edward Snowden leaked classified information, the EU has been exceedingly sensitive about the transfer of EU citizens' personal data to the U.S. Truth be told, the EU long had regarded U.S. privacy laws as inadequate. The release of the Snowden documents only strengthened that position. In the wake of the leak, the European Court of Justice convened and re-examined the Safe Harbor agreement. The Court, which is tasked with ensuring EU law is applied equally across the EU, found U.S. compliance with Safe Harbor lacking. In October 2015, the Court invalidated the agreement. The decision was effective immediately. In December 2015, the EU adopted the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to patch the gap. While the GDPR isnt enforceable until 2018, most U.S. and international companies are using that framework as their guideline to satisfy the EU's requirements for personal data transfer. Related: The New EU General Data Protection Regulation: Big Data Protection Gets Personal Privacy shield. In February, the EU and the U.S. announced Privacy Shield, a new agreement to replace Safe Harbor. Privacy Shield represents a more rigid framework that creates stronger obligations for U.S. companies, stronger monitoring and enforcement from U.S. authorities and an annual review process to ensure new measures are implemented. European and U.S. officials worked throughout the spring to iron out details of the agreement and begin implementing its provisions. The Brexit complication. Negotiations surrounding data transfer have gotten only more complex since June 2016, when the U.K. voted to leave the EU. Brexit has raised a number of questions that have yet to be answered. Among them: Will the Privacy Shield agreement need to be renegotiated? Will the EU need to negotiate a new agreement with the U.K. similar to the one in place with the U.S.? If so, when would that happen? Is there a chance the U.K. might find itself flagged by the EU as a jurisdiction with inadequate privacy laws? Will data transfers between the U.K. and the U.S. have to undergo scrutiny from the EU because personal data from citizens of EU member states might be included? Will Privacy Shield be put on hold while the EU and the U.K. negotiate the withdrawal? If so, what framework will govern transatlantic data transfers in the meantime? Related: Companies to Face Tighter EU Data Restrictions The Brexit vote and the chaos that now surrounds Privacy Shield creates tremendous uncertainty for U.S.-based digital marketers who collect personal data from customers in the EU. In the short term, however, there is some good news. In the wake of the Safe Harbor invalidation, many U.S. companies -- including marketing agencies -- incorporated into their agreements model contract clauses and binding corporate agreements." Both instruments have been approved by EU courts. They allow for the collection and transfer of data from Europe to non-EU jurisdictions, and this practice likely will continue until more answers come into focus. What comes next? U.S. marketing agencies still must heed EU privacy laws when dealing with the U.K. Why? Two reasons. First, chances are good that the U.K. independently will adopt many of the same EU policies and procedures. Second, personal data obtained from U.K. sources likely will include information about members within the remaining EU nations. Marketers target specific demographics on behalf of clients and brands. As the internet has made the world more interconnected, its impossible for domestic marketing agencies to simply ignore the data protection measures put in place by countries outside the U.S. Complying with the wishes of these countries makes sound business sense. It enables companies to access some of the world's largest markets and protects agencies from exposure to international violations and liability. The impact on marketers. The many obstacles and headaches associated with international data protection compliance may seem onerous to domestic agencies, but doing nothing could present greater problems. Even if U.S. agencies choose to deal solely with domestic companies for the exchange of personal data such as email lists and demographic data, there's no realistic way to sort out which information is outside the EU and which is inside. Companies still have to hash out the names and/or emails on such lists, making it impossible to know which is which and who is who. A single email address belonging to a citizen of the EU in a 5,000-name list obtained by a U.S. marketer is enough to expose all parties involved to a potential violation. For now, not too much has changed in the wake of Brexit. Every aspect of data collection has the potential to be renegotiated. Privacy Shield has not yet gone into effect, so most companies are using the EUs GDPR framework to govern their transatlantic personal data transfers. It's good for third-party marketing vendors to get in the habit of protecting information via hashing -- the process of obfuscating all or part of the digital data. It's an extra reassurance for third parties who might not have requested personal data from the EU but unwittingly received it, all the the same. Hashing is a solid way to protect data and also can make the retrieval process easier. Related: Brexit Will Affect Your Business -- Here's Everything You Need to Know The takeaway. With so many uncertainties, U.S. marketing agencies can be sure of one thing: Brexit means it almost certainly will cost more to comply with new rules for collecting personal data. Legal fees, compliance initiatives and added layers of security all will be factors. No matter how the future unfolds for the U.K. and the EU, there will be new challenges -- and that means new expenditures. The good news, of course, is that the U.K.s departure from the EU could take several years to sort out. For domestic digital marketers, this means continuing to safeguard the personal data they obtain and familiarizing themselves with the GDPR. A Colorado couple and the man's two young daughters were recovering Tuesday from serious injuries suffered last week when their minivan was rear-ended by an alleged drunken driver as they headed to the airport for a surprise Disney vacation. Ryan Bragazzi was driving his fiancee and daughters, ages 5 and 7, to Denver International Airport for the trip last Thursday morning when the crash unfolded, CBS Denver reported. The family never made it out of Colorado. They did absolutely nothing wrong and they received the brunt end of this for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Colorado State Patrol Trooper Josh Lewis told the news station. The family was caught in a traffic jam as troopers investigated a separate drunken driving incident. Another suspected drunken driver in a pickup truck slammed into the back of their van and pushed them underneath a semi-truck, investigators said. The crash occurred in Monument at around 2:30 a.m. Paramedics rushed the family to nearby hospitals. Bragazzi suffered several broken ribs, a broken vertebrae and a laceration to his back. Doctors treated his fiancee, identified only as Jessica, for a severe head wound. The conditions of the young girls were unclear. However, friends say the family's medical bills have mounted significantly. They set up a GoFundMe page aiming to raise $8,000, saying the crash will keep Bragazzi out of work for months. "They will need all the help they can get. Anything you can do to help this family would be so appreciated whether it be financial or a prayer," friend Amanda Salazar wrote. Were certainly hoping for the best with everyone who was involved with it, Lewis added. Police did not give details on the suspect. Click for more from CBS Denver. California's acting governor declared a state of emergency Tuesday for two major wildfires that have destroyed dozens of homes and killed one person in the Los Angeles area. The declaration by Tom Torlakson, who is in charge of the state while Gov. Jerry Brown and other top officials attend the Democratic National Convention, frees up state resources and temporarily sets aside regulations for the firefight and the recovery. The fire in rugged wilderness between the northern edge of Los Angeles and the suburban city of Santa Clarita has burned 58 1/2 square miles and at its peak forced about 20,000 people to evacuate their homes, though most have now returned. Authorities said Tuesday that they had managed to contain 25 percent of the so-called Sand fire, meaning the flames there had been isolated and were not expected to spread. They warned, however, that the fire was still extremely dangerous and would take time to put out. "We're not really out of the woods," said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Justin Correll. "We're not ready to relax. There's still a lot of firefighting to do." The 3,000 firefighters faced another day of temperatures in the 90s to low 100s as they fought the fire, aided by fleets aircraft dropping retardant and water and hundreds of fire engines. Some neighborhoods in Santa Clarita, population about 200,000, remained off limits Tuesday because of the fire. But most evacuations ordered for about 10,000 homes with an estimated 20,000 residents were lifted. Lane Leavitt, who trains stunt actors and specializes in setting people on fire for movies and television, was relieved when he returned home Monday evening to find his home and business fully intact. "It's a miracle everything was there," he said from his home across the street from a ranch used to make movies where the sets were incinerated. Leavitt and his son on Saturday used extinguishers to battle a 50-foot circle of flames in the backyard before firefighters arrived. Spurred by hot, windy weather, this wildfire shows no signs of abatinghttps://t.co/R3hyReLdZ6 National Geographic (@NatGeo) July 25, 2016 Without that effort, he said, the fire probably would have consumed six tall pine trees that could have exploded and sent flaming embers onto his house, with wind carrying them to hundreds of others nearby. Friends and clients from around the world called and texted Leavitt, worried he lost everything after he abandoned the house with fire burning on two sides of it. He texted back: "We're still standing." Meanwhile, the victim of the fire was identified Tuesday as Robert Bresnick, 67, whose burned body was found in his car Saturday. A woman living in the house Bresnick was visiting left with firefighters but he went back inside the house. Bresnick's body was found about 20 minutes later after flames tore through the neighborhood, said Los Angeles County Coroner's Assistant Ed Winter. Earlier Tuesday, another wildfire caused officials to close the signature state parks of California's grand Big Sur coast. Closures as of Tuesday included Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, Andrew Molera State Park and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, among others. California state parks spokesman Dennis Weber says facilities aren't endangered but officials decided to get the public out of the areas for safety and to keep roads clear and avoid exposure to bad air quality. "It is folly to predict where this fire will go," Weber said. The Big Sur fire threatened a long stretch of pristine, forested mountains hugging the coast and sent smoke billowing over the famed Pacific Coast Highway, which remained open with no flames visible to motorists but a risk that the blaze could reach the roadway. The Big Sur fire, which started Friday, had grown Tuesday to 30 square miles, but was just 10 percent contained. Twenty homes have burned in the zone, residents of 300 more were ordered to evacuate and more than 2,000 firefighters were trying to douse the blaze. "At any point in time this fire can change directions, can spread very quickly and if that happens there could be embers that fly a mile ahead of the main fire," said Richard Cordova, a state fire captain. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Two former Virginia Tech students were indicted Tuesday in the killing of a 13-year-old girl whose body was found earlier this year. Prosecutors say David Eisenhauer,18, and Natalie Keepers, 19, plotted to kidnap and murder Nicole Lovell this past January. Authorities allege the pair lured Lovell from her Blacksburg home under the pretense that she was meeting a man for a date. According to investigators, Lovell was then stabbed to death and her body was dumped in a wooded area. The teen's body was found in rural North Carolina three days after she was reported missing. Eisenhauer was indicted on charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and hiding Lovell's body. Keepers was charged with being an accessory to kidnapping and murder and with helping hide the body. Authorities have never formally disclosed a motive in the case, but multiple local news outlets have reported that Eisenhauer and Lovell had an inappropriate relationship. Bryce Dustin, a friend of Eisenhauer, told The Roanoke Times that Eisenhauer texted him about meeting a girl at a party and later learning she was underage. Dustin said Eisenhauer feared she would "expose" him and asked if Dustin knew where he could hide a body. A neighbor of Lovell's told the Washington Post that the girl showed her messages on the Kik app and said she was sneaking out to meet someone named David. Eisenhauer and Keepers are scheduled to stand trial in March of next year. Both face life in prison if convicted. The Associated Press contributed to this report. House Speaker Paul Ryan vigorously defended the role of NATO and the importance of the United States leading the creation of free-trade agreements on Tuesday, breaking from positions taken by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Ryan, speaking at a luncheon in Wisconsin, called NATO an "indispensable ally" that he wanted to bolster to help fight terrorism. Trump caused alarm in the White House, overseas and among fellow Republicans last week when he suggested the United States might abandon its NATO military commitments if he were elected president. Ryan doesn't see it that way, saying there's no question "in my mind" that NATO has a role to play in fighting terrorism. "NATO is as important now as I would say it's been in my lifetime," he said at the event organized by the political website Wispolitics.com. Ryan said he wanted not to weaken NATO, but instead bolster its eastern front as a way to fight terrorism and defend American allies. Ryan has been tepid in his support of Trump, not publicly endorsing him until June after disagreeing with him on comments he made questioning a judge's ability to be fair because of his Mexican heritage and opposing his plan to ban Muslims from entering the country. But Ryan has also argued that Trump is a better choice than Democrat Hillary Clinton because the House Republican agenda has a better chance of passing with him as president. "It's much, much easier and better for us to work with a Trump-Pence administration than a Clinton administration," Ryan said Tuesday. In another break from Trump, Ryan spoke of the need for the U.S. to be a leader in crafting free trade agreements. Trump has made his opposition to trade agreements the centerpiece of his economic argument. Trump wants to revoke the North American Free Trade Agreement and do away with the Obama administration-negotiated Trans Pacific Partnership. But Ryan said free trade deals are needed for the health of the U.S. economy, as well as a tool to counter terrorism by forming relations with foreign countries, breaking down barriers and getting people to work together. "He does say he's for good trade agreements," Ryan said of Trump. "I'm for good trade agreements as well. We agree on that. We don't want bad trade agreements, we want good trade agreements." Ryan said he has withheld his support of the TPP deal because he said the Obama administration "screwed up in negotiating it." Ryan said he's talked with Obama and trade representatives about the issues he and other Republican opponents want to see addressed, but his not optimistic a new version can win congressional approval. "I don't see the votes there for it," Ryan said. Ryan's appearance at the luncheon came as Democrats were preparing to start the second day of their national convention in Philadelphia. Ryan chaired the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last week. Ryan said he hoped the presidential election would be a battle over ideas, but he feared that it would not. "What I worry about is a personality contest of Hillary fighting Donald, and it's a big personality contest and we don't actually litigate the issues," Ryan said. ___ Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sbauerAP and find more of his work at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/scott-bauer Im sick of reading the same, dull, boring shit online. Do you know of the 1 percent rule? It states that 1 percent of people online are those who create content vs. the other 99 percent who either copy or share that content. There are just a few individuals and platforms that I enjoy reading. I have love for The Hustle and enjoy getting Ryan Holidays monthly book list. My dude Noah Kagan keeps it real. I like texting him random questions and reading his blog posts because of his unique perspective. So, how do you stand out in a world that doesnt shut up? Thats the question Im always asking myself when working on my personal branding. Related: 29 Things You Should Accomplish Before You're 30 For my personal brands success and growth, Ive learned how to stand out. I must keep it 100 percent real (or authentic for you non-slang speakers). Transparency and authenticity have empowered my professional success and granted me contributor roles with high-level media outlets (Entrepreneur, Inc., etc.), high-level press (TIME, Fox, HuffPo, etc.), personal branding opportunities, paid speaking offers and a loyal following. Heres what I mean: Authentic personal brand My boy Everette Taylor and I have a similar mantra that reads, Do not sacrifice who you are for anyone. Its a luxury that most people cant afford. A lot of people put on a professional facade, a dual identity, that pigeonholes them into being that alter ego for the lifetime of their careers. Most of the time that alter ego is not really who they are, and they have to live a dual life. Thats exhausting. Id rather just be open with all that happens, all that I experience and all that I am. People are either going to like it or not. At the end of the day, I dont care. Differentiation I write about my unique experiences consistently. Here are some examples: We all have unique life experiences, perspectives and personas. Were all different. However, people love the herd mentality. People are afraid to take risks and care too much about public opinion. Figure out how to portray your voice online. Related: The 6 Online Marketing Strategies Every Entrepreneur Needs Paid speaking gigs I recently was found online through written content I contributed to Entrepreneur. I was offered a paid speaking gig, a week in paradise with a paid flight to Barcelona, Spain, free lodging, food and added promotional horsepower for my brand. This opportunity came from me speaking my mind online and keeping it one hundo (haha more slang). Content contributions Entrepreneur gave me a shot at contributing content because of my unique pitches and personal experiences. The content resonated so much with the community I went from once every two months to weekly to bi-weekly writing. Additionally, Im now leveraging my contributions with Entrepreneur to obtain additional roles with other high-level outlets. Ive recently become a contributor with Inc. High-level press TIME picked up this article: 6 Life Hacks Learned in Prison That Will Maximize Your Productivity There arent many people writing about productivity life hacks they learned in prison. First and foremost, 90 percent of people that went to prison wouldnt think about broadcasting it over the internet. Secondly, few people have even slightly similar personal and professional experiences that would enable them to write something like this. So I was awarded some fresh press opportunity thanks to sharing my experiences and unique insights. Related: How to Define Your Personal Brand in 5 Simple Steps Thought leadership Thought leadership (assuming you have some merit) is the result of all of the above activities. My buddy Patrick Eckstein and I were talking about this exact thing the other day at lunch. We both agreed that even though it can take longer, its totally worth it. His company William Painter lives by this same ethos. Each activity provides a new level of credibility, which takes you to a higher standard of value that helps you get more press, better paid speaking gigs, new contributor roles and a larger engaged community. The cycle compounds and continues. You can have your cake and it eat too (that's if youre a cake eater) -- an impressive online presence, paid speaking gigs, established thought leadership and a loyal following. All you have to do is be yourself. An attorney in Ohio is fighting a judge's ruling that sent her to jail for refusing to remove her Black Lives Matter pin in court. Free speech expert questions judges ruling on Black Lives Matter pin https://t.co/ddBkuRlO1s pic.twitter.com/ujJqptQ7XE WKBN 27 First News (@WKBN) July 25, 2016 If Andrea Burton loses her appeal, she'll need to serve the 5-day sentence, WKBN reported Friday. Youngstown Municipal Court Judge Robert Milich said he ordered Burton to take off the pin last week because the law allows judges to limit symbolic political expression in court, even if it doesn't interrupt the proceedings. "Theres a difference between a flag, a pin from your church or the Eagles and having a pin thats on a political issue," Milich told the news station. "He indicated to me he didn't know if I was trying to seek attention from the news or whatever the case was, but that legally I wasn't allowed to wear it and I deferred and said that I'm respecting my First Amendment right," Burton told WFMJ. The judge reportedly held her in contempt of court after giving her several opportunities to take off the pin. The Youngstown branch of the NAACP argued that Burton's civil rights may have been violated. "Unless she violated the law - there does not seem to be a valid reason for her to be JAILED," the branch's president, George Freeman, Jr., wrote. "A judge doesnt support either side," Milich said. "A judge is objective and tries to make sure everyone has an opportunity to have a fair hearing, and it was a situation where it was just in violation of the law." Mike Brickner, senior policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, told WKBN that in many cases, judges can order people in the courtroom to remove clothing with messages in order to preserve a defendant's right to a fair trial. "It's an act of civil disobedience, I understand that. I'm not anti-police, I work with law enforcement and I hold them in the highest regard, and just to say for the record, I do believe all lives matter. But at this point they don't all matter equally," Burton added. Youngstown is approximately 70 miles southeast of Cleveland. South of the border, Grupo Beta is seen as a humanitarian organization that steers north-bound migrants through the crossfire of warring drug cartels. But in Texas, many view it as part of a pipeline that sends humans and drugs pouring into the U.S., all with the funding and backing of the Mexican government. Grupo Beta, supported by Mexicos National Institute of Migration, may be the sole bastion of relief for migrants in Tamaulipas state, across the border from the southeast Texas region which includes such cities as Brownsville, Laredo and McAllen. The 25 year-old agency was created to help Tijuana deal with huge numbers of migrants passing through, but has since expanded its reach across both the northern and southern borders of Mexico. Critics say the agency, whose motto vocation, humanitarianism and loyalty, is complicit in breaking U.S. laws. Ive seen so much crazy stuff out here, said Shawn Moran, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council. Grupo Beta was formed with good intention but there have been members of the organization caught smuggling. Three-quarters of U.S.-bound Central American migrants pass through Tamaulipas, according to Grupo Beta spokesman Luis Carlos Cano. The trail is blazed by the infamous rail line known as La Bestia, which regularly chug northward packed with migrants inside and clinging to the roof under an unyielding sun or monsoon rains. Making the trip even more daunting is the ongoing an indiscriminate war between the Gulf and Los Zetas cartels, which most recently resulted in the massacre of 14 in July in the states capital of Ciudad Victoria. Grupo Beta provides medical care, food and essentials for those in need and in transit. Supporters of Grupo Beta acknowledge its blemished history, but say in the current climate of mass migration, it serves a vital purpose. There was a time early in the organization's development that they appeared to facilitate smuggling of humans and drugs, said Victor Manjarrez, Center for Law & Human Behavior at the University of Texas at El Paso, and a former U.S. Border Patrol sector chief. I don't think that is the case now with the exception of a few rogue instances. When the organization was first created in Tijuana, Grupo Beta officers carried guns and had law enforcement authority, though it was later stripped by the Mexican government. That, according to Moran, lends itself to looking away or even facilitating crime. They lost whatever backing they had so now they have no incentive to contact law enforcement if they come across smugglers because of how powerful the cartels are, he said, adding that he sympathizes with agents who hesitate to get involved in potentially illegal or violent matters when they have no protection. Cano said that regardless of whether an individual is a drug or human trafficker, if they are in need of medical care Grupo Beta will provide it and will not report them to Mexican authorities. We provide the assistance and warn them, but then allow them to be on their way, Cano said. We dont ask questions or judge, we just provide care. The danger from cartels is real. In the 2010 San Fernando, Tamaulipas massacre, 72 Central and South American migrants were slaughtered by members of the Los Zetas cartel. Grupo Beta tries to educate migrants traveling through Mexico, and steer them to safety. President Obamas bi-national campaign to discourage migrants, especially those from Central America expecting automatic residence status in the U.S. on the grounds they are fleeing gangs such as MS 13 in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, has had little impact. According to figures from the U.S. Border Patrol there have been no signs the flood of migrants, especially unaccompanied children, will slow. And with the political rhetoric on immigration a focal point of the presidential election, Cano said some may be hoping to make it to the U.S. before policies change. According to the U.S. Border Patrol, from October to May in 2015 there were 13,239 unaccompanied children apprehended just in the Rio Grande Valley Sector. That number skyrocketed to 23,243 over the same time span this year. Mexican officials have seen an increase of more than 50 percent in the number of migrants found in distress since the beginning of 2016 compared to the same period last year. The impact of this increase in migration through Mexico is a mixed blessing. Local economies thrive as peddlers sell supplies to migrants and human traffickers known as coyotes spend some of the estimated $5,000 they reap for each client they spirit into the U.S. Mexico has little economic incentive tightening its border, with more than $40 billion coming back into its economy each year from drug sales, remittances sent back to family from individuals in the U.S., and money spent in the local economies by the migrants as they make their way through Mexico. As in the U.S., it is not illegal to leave Mexico, so once Central and South American migrants enter, the issue is essentially controlled by Grupo Beta, which sees its mission as to ensure safe passage. Efforts have been made by Mexico to control the flow of migrants entering its southern border with little impact. Once they make their way north to the U.S. border, Grupo Beta is ready to help. The do not work with Mexicos own border officials who are technically tasked with deporting the migrants back to Central America unless they request it. Despite the efforts to mitigate immigration, both the U.S. and Mexico realize they must provide humanitarian help, such as water stations, medical care and shelter when emergencies arise, regardless of the political environment or rhetoric of politicians. On the American side, the U.S. Border Patrol has a special search and rescue unit known as BORTSAR (Border Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue) whose mission is to rescue lost, ill or injured migrants. In the span of one week from June 13 to June 20, 2016, Laredo Sector Border Patrol alone rescued 87 illegal immigrants. The smugglers will leave these immigrants to die, Mario Martinez, chief patrol agent of the Laredo Sector Border Patrol, said in a press release. Temperatures will only get hotter and they have to understand that it is a dangerous trek to enter this country illegally. The 1998 Border Safety Initiative encourages the U.S. Border Patrol to prevent deaths and increase rescues of illegal immigrants who fall prey to callous, unscrupulous human smugglers who place them in dangerous situations to fend for themselves with the proviso that these individuals will be processed upon apprehension. Moran said the Border Patrols endorsement of Donald Trump came largely on the strength of his pledge to secure the border and stem the flow of drugs and migrants coming across the U.S. border. Mexico does what it wants, when it wants, Moran said. Maybe that will change. A veteran Texas sheriff's deputy who was set to retire in September was shot at his Round Rock home early Monday morning and later died from his injuries, officials said, announcing that they were searching for two suspects. Sgt. Craig Hutchinson, who was on the force for 32 years, he used his law enforcement radio to call for help shortly before 1:30 a.m., and responding officers found Hutchinson laying in the back yard of his home, Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton said during a Monday news conference. "He was my field training officer," Hamilton said."So this is near and dear to me. This guy was a big teddy bear and everybody loved him. He was a gentle bear and he taught me everything I know...I loved that guy to death." Please keep our @TravisCoSheriff family in your thoughts & prayers. Sad, troubling times we live in. @Austin_Police stands with our friends. Chief Art Acevedo (@ArtAcevedo) July 25, 2016 Hamilton said "there's no suggestion" the shooting was an ambush situation, and it's more likely that Hutchinson walked in on a burglar attempting to steal from his shed. There was equipment missing from Hutchinson's shed and there had been other recent burglaries in the area, Hamilton said. Hutchinson died at Round Rock Medical Center. Police are searching for two suspects, The Austin American-Statesman reported. "Please keep our Travis County Sheriff's family in your thoughts and prayers. Sad, troubling time we live in. Austin police stands with our friends," Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said on Twitter. The block where the shooting occurred remained ringed with yellow tape and red tape surrounded Hutchison's home, more than six hours after the shooting. Authorities could be seen working in the area around the home. Police later briefly closed portions of Interstate 35 heading into Austin as a long procession of police cars transported Hutchinson's body to the medical examiner's office. Click for more from Fox 7. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A driver in Washington state led officers on a high-speed chase across two counties over the weekend because he was bored and just wanted to do it, investigators revealed. David McNalley, 30, had no warrants or prior convictions and had a valid driver's license when officers said he sped through an intersection near Olympia late Saturday, The News Tribune reported. After burning rubber, a sheriff's deputy tried to pull him over. Instead, the suspect reportedly took off -- in his 1994 Mercury Sable. The chase lasted for more than an hour at speeds approaching 85 miles per hour. It crossed two counties and 49 miles before the suspect hit a fence and officers could finally arrest him. Its frustrating, because in my mind he endangered not only his life but a number of officers that were involved, Sgt. Dave Odegaard with the Thurston County Sheriffs Office told the newspaper. He could have very easily injured or killed some innocent people just for the joy of, I was bored. Sheriff's officials say there was no evidence that the driver was impaired by drugs or alcohol. The suspect has been charged with three counts of attempting to elude a police vehicle. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A Texas community, wishing to support local police, is at odds with its homeowners association. Across the U.S., Americans are using blue ribbons as a sign of support for law enforcement in the wake of numerous recent police-involved shootings. In one Houston-area neighborhood, residents gathered on Thursday afternoon to put those ribbons back up. After the recent Dallas police shootings, a resident in Cypresswood tied blue ribbons to trees along the road through his neighborhood. Days later, the homeowners association sent an email to the community asking that the resident come forward and take them down. "I was born and raised in Cypresswood, I've lived here for 23 years," explained Zachary Karrenbrock, organizer of the ribbon tying event. "I'm a firefighter in the area for 7 and a half years and it was an absolute punch in the throat to see that email." Karrenbrock said he saw an officer cut down every ribbon on Monday. "So I made contact with the Precinct 4 Commissioner's Office yesterday and found out that these medians in Cypress are public." Karrenbrock put out a call on Facebook and on a radio show that morning to put the ribbons back up. An estimated 150 people showed up. They expected to place nearly 600 ribbons. FOX 26 senior legal analyst Chris Tritico confirmed medians through subdivisions are public right-of-ways. They wouldn't fall under homeowner association jurisdiction unless specified in the deed restrictions for the subdivision -- a document residents were not able to provide us at the time this story was published. The Cypresswood Community Association asked in its original email about the blue ribbons that residents, "contact us prior to placing signs or tying ribbons along our right-of-ways and community property areas. The Board needs to make sure such gestures are not political, nor offensive to a particular group." This is where it gets tricky. Tritico says a homeowners association does not have such a right to regulate the content of a community's public expression or speech. That is protected under the 1st Amendment. FOX 26 News reached out to the Cypresswood Community Association but no one from the organization was available for comment as of Thursday night. Click for more from Fox 26. At least 19 people were killed, and 20 injured when a knife-wielding man went on a rampage early Tuesday at a facility for the disabled in the Japanese city of Sagmihara. The Sagamihara City fire department told the Associated Press that 19 people are confirmed dead in the attack. The fire department said a doctor or doctor on the scene confirmed the deaths around 8 a.m. local time. Police told Japanese broadcaster NHK they received a call from an employee of the facility, located west of Tokyo, just after 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, who said a man carrying a knife broke into the building. The man later turned himself in at a police station. NHK said the suspect, 26, is a former employee at the facility, Tsukui Yamayuri-en, on suspicion of attempted murder. Another broadcaster, NTV, said he broke into the facility by smashing a window with a hammer, and that he was upset because he had been fired, but that could not be independently confirmed. Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported that the suspect was quoted by police as saying "I want to get rid of the disabled from this world." The facility has about 150 long-term residents with learning difficulties and physical disabilities, NHK reported, with some residents as young as 18, and others as old as 75. Television footage showed a number of ambulances parked outside the facility, with medics and other rescue workers running in and out. Mass killing are relatively rare in Japan, which has extremely strict gun-control laws. In 2008, seven people were killed by a man who slammed a truck into a crowd of people in central Tokyo's Akihabara electronics district and then stabbed passers-by. Fourteen were injured in 2010 by an unemployed man who stabbed and beat up passengers on two public buses outside a Japanese train station in Ibaraki Prefecture, about 25 miles northeast of Tokyo. Click for more from NHK World. The Associated Press contributed to this report. It was just over two years ago and days after ISIS overran Mosul when Issa Saeed Saido stood at his post on the Iraqi-Syrian border. Word came in to Saido and his fellow Iraqi Army soldiers of a pending ambush by the black-clad terrorist army. Outnumbered and outgunned, Saido and a handful of fellow soldiers moved across the border into Syria to confront the threat. A truck approached along the dusty road, muzzles flashed, and a brutal firefight ensued, the 26-year-old recalled. Few of the Iraqi soldiers survived, and of those who did, the lucky ones would be taken prisoner. "There were 15 prisoners, three were Sunnis and they let them go once they repented and promised not to return to active duty with the government," Saido told FoxNews.com in an exclusive interview. "ISIS gave me the option either die or convert. I converted out of fear." But Saido, a native of Iraq's Sinjar Mountain and a Yazidi - an ancient religion blending elements of all three Abrahamic faiths and deemed "devil worship" by ISIS - said some were given no options. "Four were Shia and they didn't get a choice," he said. "Just executed." Prisoners were transferred into an old prison in Al-Shaddadah, a small town in northeastern Syria close to the Iraqi border, he recalled. On the way, four Iraqi soldiers begged for water amid suffering severe dehydration. Their captors poured water over their wounds and killed them where they stood, Saido said. Once at the prison, their ranks were soon swelled by 40 more frightened individuals, then thinned again as dozens were killed in front of the other captives, he said. At 10 p.m. that night, Saido was taken to the jihadist outfit's newly proclaimed headquarters in the region. It was there, he recalled, that he came face-to-face for the first time with Abu Omar al-Shishani, the ginger-bearded Chechen ISIS leader and one of the worlds most wanted men. The prisoners would spend months under al Shishani's watchful eye. "They requested our rank, name, religion, religion and the places where we served," Saido stated. "Then one of Shishani's guards cut the ropes that had been used to tie me up. Shishani took our military belt and said it was so that we can't try to commit suicide." After intense interrogation, each hostage was placed in a separate room and the torture began, Saido said. "They tortured me a lot more than the others that night, beat me up a lot because I was wearing a replica of a U.S. Marine uniform which got the bad attention of Omar Shishani," Saido said. "I still had two cigarettes in my pocket. They used them to burn my hands." As the days turned into weeks and then months, simple survival became Saidos sole focus. As a convert, Saido was forced to pray and take in the heavy-handed interpretation of Islamic doctrine, endure interrogation and torture and watch prisoners were executed in front of him, he said. Saido recalled seeing "two pretty French girls" between the ages of around 18 and 24, who were held hostage. They would be the only females who would see for the duration of his imprisonment. He believed they were still there when he left, and often thinks about what became of the young foreigners. Once his captors were satisfied with his Islamic conversion, Saido was able to work on collecting "ransom" funds. He organized the sale of everything he owned, borrowed money from his family and friends until he had scrounged together $50,000. Some four months after his capture, Saido was let go and reunited with his family, which had lost everything in the ISIS onslaught on Sinjar Mountain exactly two months earlier. He quit the Iraqi Army, immediately returned to being a Yazidi and fled the country he once proudly served. He now lives in an undisclosed nation as a refugee. As for Shishani, Al-Sadr, an ISIS-affiliated news site, announced last week that the high-ranking leader often referred to as the "Minister of War" or "Omar the Chechen" was killed in combat south of Mosul. The death of the cruel monster Saido saw on a daily basis, while not yet confirmed by the Pentagon, is a step in the right direction, Saido said. But the threat remains and spreads. "There is terrorist ideology is coming out of the radical mosques everywhere, including Europe and America. If we all want to live in peace we have to watch out for certain radical mosques," he added. "Maybe today we need someone like Donald Trump." One of the two knife-wielding Islamist attackers who slit the throat of a Catholic priest during a morning Mass in northern France Tuesday was under judicial supervision after trying to travel to Syria twice under false names. Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters that 19-year-old Adel Kermiche's bail conditions allowed his electronic monitoring bracelet to be deactivated for a few hours every morning, a period that corresponded with the attack in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. The revelations are expected to intensify criticism of President Francois Hollande's government with the French people already reeling from the Bastille Day truck attack in Nice, which killed 84 people. "To attack a church, to kill a priest, is to profane the republic," Hollande said in nationally televised speech after speaking with Pope Francis, who condemned the killing in the strongest terms. Kermiche and a second unidentified attacker stormed the church, forced priest Jacques Hamel to kneel before they killed him, and captured the bloody assault on film, according to a nun who escaped the assault. "They forced him to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And that's when the tragedy happened," said the nun, identified as Sister Danielle. "They recorded themselves. They did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. It's a horror," she told BFM television. Molins said the other hostages were used as human shields to block police from entering. Both attackers were shot dead by anti-terror police units as they ran outside the sanctuary shouting "Allahu Akbar!" One had three knives and a fake explosives belt, Molins said; the other carried a kitchen timer wrapped in aluminum foil and had fake explosives in his backpack. [#SaintEtienneDuRouvray] Police scientifique et enqueteurs #PJ realisent les constatations et 1ers actes d'enquete. pic.twitter.com/SeP6ywtVqG Police Nationale (@PoliceNationale) July 26, 2016 ISIS' Amaq news agency said the France attack was carried out by two Islamic State "soldiers," Reuters reported. Molins said Kermiche was arrested in Germany in March 2015 trying to join extremists in Syria using his brother's ID, and then was arrested in Turkey two months later using a cousin's ID. Family friend Jonathan Sacarabany told the Associated Press that Kermiche's family alerted authorities to his radicalization in an effort to stop him going to Syria. A French law enforcment official told AP Kermiche, who grew up in the town, was required to check in with police once a day under the terms of his supervision. "[ISIS] has declared war on us," Hollande said Tuesday. "We must fight this war by all means, while respecting the rule of law -- what makes us a democracy." The cold-blooded murder of Hamel, who was ordained in 1958, stunned the community of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, a working-class suburb of the medieval city of Rouen. The town's mayor, Hubert Wulfranc, in tears, denounced the "barbarism" and, breaking down, pleaded, "Let us together be the last to cry." "Everyone knew him very well," Claude-Albert Seguin, 68, said of Hamel. "He was very loved in the community and a kind man." Rouen diocese official Philippe Maheut said the slain priest had been at the church for the past decade and "was always ready to help," said. "His desire was to spread a message for which he consecrated his life," Mahut told The Associated Press. "And he certainly didn't think that consecrating his life would mean for him to die while celebrating Mass, which is a message of love." While France is officially secular and church attendance is low, the country has deep Catholic roots. ISIS has urged followers to attack French churches and the group is believed to have planned at least one earlier church attack that was foiled when the assailant shot himself in the leg. The church was reportedly on a "hit list" discovered at the residence of a would-be ISIS attacker in April 2015, The Sun reported. Abdel sid Ghlam was believed to be planning "imminent attacks" in France when investigators arrested him. Officials allegedly uncovered an arsenal of weapons and found that Ghlam was talking with someone in Syria who had ordered him to strike specific churches -- including the one targeted Tuesday. The attackers entered through the back door of the church and took the priest, two nuns and two parishioners hostage during morning Mass, police said. Three hostages were rescued in good condition. Another hostage originally listed in critical condition was expected to survive, Molins said. One person, a minor, was arrested in the investigation. Molins said he is believed to be the 16-year-old younger brother of someone wanted by authorities for trying to go to Syria or Iraq in 2015. Vatican Spokesperson Greg Burke told Fox News that Pope Francis was "shocked" especially because the attack "happened in a house of worship." He added the Pope was "praying for the victims of the attack." The cluster of towns near Rouen had already been linked to the Islamic State group. A micro-cell of recruits from the area included a Frenchman seen cutting the throat of a Syrian soldier in a November 2014 video. Maxime Hauchard, a Muslim convert, was among at least four people who met at a local mosque and later left to join the extremists. France is currently under a state of emergency after the Bastille Day attack and a string of deadly assaults last year claimed by ISIS that killed 147 victims. Fox News' Greg Palkot and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Human rights groups have been speaking out against what they say is an alarming escalation of violence in several attacks against Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Christian community, with police providing little if any protection for victims. Mina Thabet, programme director for minorities and vulnerable groups with the Egyptian Commission of Rights and Freedoms, told AFP that attacks on Coptic Christians have been "escalating in a very short time." There have been a number of reports in separate Egyptian villages in recent weeks of large Muslim mobs torching Christian houses, preventing them from establishing churches and gathering to worship. Christians have been beaten and threatened against practicing their faith, while police and government officials have been failing to punish those responsible, Thabet said. In an attack back in May, an elderly Christian mother was stripped naked, beaten, and paraded across the town of Minya because of a rumor that her son was having a relationship with a Muslim woman. A Christian man was stabbed to death last week in another attack in Minya, The Associated Press reported, with Muslim attackers wounding the families of two priests with knives and batons over a personal feud. What is more, Christians girls and women have been facing waves of kidnappings and rapes by Muslim men in Upper Egypt, watchdog groups such as the International Christian Concern have warned. Click Here to Read the Full Story at ChristianPost.com The family of a British grandfather languishing in an Iranian prison say he could be freed within a week. Kamal Foroughi, 76, has spent the last five years in Irans notorious Evin prison after Iranian authorities convicted him of espionage in 2013 and sentenced him to seven years in prison. He was also handed an additional year for possession of alcohol. We have just had some great news, his son Kamran said in a statement posted to petition site change.org Tuesday. 76 year old Grandpa Kamals lawyer visited him last Saturday and told him some news from the Judiciary and Prosecutors Office that all the relevant parties have agreed and signed for his release, he wrote, adding Fingers crossed our nightmare will be over within a week. Foroughi, an engineer by training, was working as a consultant in the capital city of Tehran for the Malaysian national oil and gas company Petronas when Iranian authorities took him into custody in May 2011, taking him from his apartment without any warrant for his arrest, according to his family. "My dad is probably the oldest and loneliest prisoner in Iran," his son, Kamran Foroughi, said in an interview with The Foreign Desk, last year. "We want Dad to come home to his family in the U.K. and are increasingly worried that he is not receiving medical treatment, Kamran said. According to his son, Foroughi was told he would be released at the four-year anniversary of his imprisonment last May. For over a year, he has been waiting for a full medical checkup but has not received any indication that he would be seen by a doctor, he said. Foroughis family had originally stayed quiet, fearing that going public might be detrimental to his case, but as his age and concern for his health become a priority, they broke their silence and initiated a public campaign to have him released on compassionate grounds. Foroughis wife, two children and two granddaughters live in London, where Foroughi emigrated to from Iran over 30 years ago. We are still not clear about what the charges are for, or why my father has been imprisoned, but at this point we are not focusing on those details, we just want him to come home, Kamran said. I have a simple message (to the Iranian government) from my daughters: please let Grandpa Kamal come home," he said. Click for more from The Foreign Desk. Christian Prisoner Maryam Zargaran, who has now spent over three weeks on a hunger strike in Iranian prison, has been denied a release on medical grounds by the Iranian court, despite reports of her worsening medical condition. 21 days of hunger strike: Christian convert Maryam Naghash Zargarans health deteriorating in #EvinPrison. pic.twitter.com/CkuM2w9kXo United for Iran (@united4iran) July 25, 2016 Mohabat News reported Monday that the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence has refused to grant Zargaran's release despite signs that she is developing multiple sclerosis. The Christian woman began her second hunger strike on July 5 in protest against the treatment she has received in prison, and reports are saying that she has become very weak, with her long-term heart condition posing an increasing health risk. Zargaran's family were allowed to visit her in prison recently, but revealed that she refuses to receive treatment at the prison clinic because staff mistreat her there. The Iranian Christian woman has been held inside Evin Prison's Women's Ward since July 15, 2013, for helping American Pastor Saeed Abedini, who also spent three and a half years in prison in Iran before being released and returning to America. Abedini has been speaking out against the persecution of Christians in Iran and against Zargaran's treatment ever since, and on Saturday wrote on Facebook: "Today is day 20 of Nasim hunger strike and NO [response] from anyone." Abedini has also criticized some women's rights activists for not advocating for her release. Click Here to Read the Full Story at ChristianPost.com Ukraine's interior minister has ordered police to bar a major religious procession from entering the capital, Kiev, after police found ammunition planted along the planned route. Arseniy Avakov said on Tuesday the procession would not be allowed in because of security concerns. Thousands have been marching in the Holy Cross procession led by the Ukrainian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church from the country's east and west since the beginning of July. They were to meet in Kiev later this week to mark the baptism of what is now Russia and Ukraine in the 10th century. Orthodox Christians in Ukraine adhere to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church. Ukrainian nationalists on Monday blocked the procession from entering Kiev calling them "agents of Moscow." An Italian politician on Tuesday urged Pope Francis to put the slain French priest, the Rev. Jacque Hamel, on a fast track for sainthood. Roberto Maroni, the president of the Lombard region, said in an appeal circulated on social media that "Father Jacques is a martyr of faith" and requested that the pope "immediately proclaim him St. Jacques." Hamel was killed by two ISIS-linked attackers on Tuesday morning while he was celebrating Mass. Shortly after Maroni's appeal, the hashtag #santosubito, which translates as "saint immediately," began circulating on Twitter. The canonization process is a lengthy one involving two miracles attributed to the person's intercession, but in the case of a martyr only one miracle is needed, after beatification. There must first be a declaration by the Vatican that the person indeed died for the faith. The barbaric murder of an elderly French priest Tuesday shows ISIS has made good on its chilling two-year-old pledge to bring its war on the West into the very sanctuaries of Christianity, experts told FoxNews.com. Shouting "Allahu Akbar," the radical Islamist killers slit the throat of 85-year-old Jacques Hamel and critically wounded one other person during the morning attack inside a Catholic church near the Normandy city of Rouen. The terrorists, who forced Hamel to kneel before they slaughtered him, were later killed by police marksmen. "They forced him to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And that's when the tragedy happened," said the nun, identified as Sister Danielle. ISIS' Amaq news agency said the France attack was carried out by two Islamic State "soldiers," Reuters reported. "[ISIS] has declared war on us," French President Francois Hollande said Tuesday. "We must fight this war by all means, while respecting the rule of law -- what makes us a democracy." For two years, the black-clad jihadist army has called for attacks on Christians in Rome, throughout Europe and across the world. It has even called for the assassination of Pope Francis. The attack -- which the knife-wielding ISIS killers reportedly videotaped -- in the northern French town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray shows Islamist killers have heeded the call. The Islamic State is persistently demoralizing European unity by launching divisive attacks within its borders -- the most recent attack on the Catholic Church aims directly at the French sense of identity, said Veryan Khan, editorial director for the U.S.-based Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium. Calls for attacks on Europe in general and the Catholic Church in particular have built to a fever pitch over the last several months, Khan said. Two months ago, ISIS circulated a video message on the social media site Telegram about migrations to the Caliphate from within the Middle East and from Europe. In the video, the Pope is demonized and the land of the Crusaders is lambasted, Khan said. "Truly, we will fight you even in your churches until we raise there that the name of Allah is the only God," read one propaganda image recently released by ISIS, and depicting a fighter waving a flag atop a European church. Over the weekend, ISIS Twitter accounts called for more operatives to take up arms in France and carry out additional deadly attacks, according to an analyst with the U.S. based company GiPEC. Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi on Tuesday said the attack is especially evil "because this horrific violence took place in a church, a sacred place in which the love of God is announced, and the barbaric murder of a priest and the involvement of the faithful." Lombardi called the attack "more terrible news, that adds to a series of violence in these days that have left us upset, creating immense pain and worry." Pope Francis has expressed "pain and horror for this absurd violence, with the strongest condemnation for every form of hatred and prayer for those affected." The church was reportedly on a "hit list" discovered at the residence of a would-be ISIS attacker in April 2015, The Sun reported. Sid Ghlam was believed to be planning "imminent attacks" in France when investigators arrested him. Officials allegedly uncovered an arsenal of weapons and found that Ghlam was talking with someone in Syria who had ordered him to strike specific churches -- including the one in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. One of Tuesday's attackers was on the radar of French police and had traveled to Turkey, said Mohammed Karabila, president of the Regional Council of the Muslim Faith for Haute-Normandie. ISIS onslaught against Christianity has long been in full effect in the Middle East, where the Caliphates soldiers force Christians to convert or die and have destroyed churches, tombs and sacred artifacts that date back to Christs time. Militants went on a rampage through Iraq's Mosul Museum in February 2015 using pickaxes, sledgehammers, and explosives to forever destroy historic and irreplaceable Christian shrines. In August 2015, the Islamic State devastated an ancient Christian monastery, the Mar Elian monastery, in central Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Last year, ISIS proudly showcased the mass beheading of Egyptian Coptic Christian fishermen in Libya, and in the video that captured the horrific acts, also called for attacks on Pope Francis. Tuesdays monstrous attack came just 12 days after Mohamed Bouhlel, claiming allegiance to ISIS, plowed a truck into a crowd attending a Bastille Day celebration in Nice, killing 84. Pope Francis is set to arrive Wednesday in Poland, but the homeland of Saint Pope John Paul II Francis most popular modern-day predecessor -- is not rolling out the red carpet for the pontiff whose social agenda has alienated many in the conservative nation. Francis will be in Krakow to celebrate World Youth Day, the event initiated more than 30 years ago by Pope John Paul II in which hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the world gather. But unlike the favorite son the Eastern European nation sent to the Vatican, Francis has received a chilly reception. The Pope, an inconvenient guest, was the headline on an article earlier this month in Gazeta Wyborcza, Polands largest circulation newspaper. The event, held this year in the southern Poland city from July 27 through July 31, takes place every 2 or 3 years in a different city. In 2013, the host city was Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Polish bishops circulated a letter publicizing the event that was read in churches throughout the nation on July 3. The letter praised the late Pope John Paul II three times, yet made no mention of Pope Francis. Here in Poland a papal country we have a very unusual situation, journalist Katarzyna Wisniewska wrote. Nobody here is waiting for the pope. In a country of 38 million people, 92 percent of whom identify as Roman Catholic, Pope John Paul II, born Karol Jozef Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland, and canonized in 2014, is among the most beloved figures in history. Francis liberal social positions clash with the Polish churchs conservative orientation and alignment with the far-right Law and Justice Party government. Church support for Law and Justice was an important factor in the partys landslide victory in the 2015 national elections. The nationalist party is committed to defending the Catholic identity of a homogeneous Poland. Francis is seen as someone strange, alien, and Poles dont relate to an Argentinian Pope, journalist Adam Szostklewicz, who writes about the Church and international affairs for the weekly news magazine Polityka, told FoxNews.com. The pope, who took 12 Syrian refugees back to the Vatican with him after visiting a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos last April, has called upon European nations to admit more Muslim refugees from war zones in the Middle East and Afghanistan. In his first speech in the country, to an audience including President Andrzej Duda at Krakows Wawel Castle, the pope is expected to renew his support for refugees. Three days later, a young Syrian will speak during a prayer service presided over by the pope. Poles reject that papal call. Seventy percent of Poles dont want any Muslim refugees, according to a recent survey by CBOS, a leading pollster. It is no secret that the message of Francis is ignored by the Polish clergy, wrote Jaroslaw Makowski in the May 31 edition of Polands edition of Newsweek magazine. According to Father Pawel Guzinski, an outspoken Dominican priest, the Polish Church gravitates more to popes like John Paul II and Benedict XVI, for whom obedience to Catholic doctrine is paramount. For Pope Francis, his commitment to the poor and disadvantaged is most important, while doctrine remains in the background, Guzinski said. The Polish Church is also anxious about the tide of Western secularism. Bishop Piotr Libera, in a speech in Radom, equated secularism with multiculturalism. It is a leftist policy in which all religions and cultures are equally important, he said. But not the one they grew up in. Christian, of Christ. This view stands in contrast to Pope Francis' internationalist vision. Some Polish bishops actually are afraid of what Pope Francis will preach during the World Youth Day in Poland, said Stanislaw Obirek, a professor of history at Warsaw University and a former Jesuit priest. A man opened fire Tuesday at a hospital in Berlin, killing a doctor and turning the gun on himself in the latest deadly shooting to rock Germany, investigators said. Berlin police initially said the doctor had suffered life-threatening injuries, but later said he had died. Police said they were still investigating but there was no indication of a "terrorist background" to the attack. The shooting unfolded at the mouth, jaw and face surgery unit of the Benjamin-Franklin Hospital in the southwestern district of Steglitz. The gunman was a patient, police told AFP. Investigators did not name the doctor or the shooter. The attack occured the same day top security officials in the country called for tougher screening of asylum-seekers. They announced more police officers would be hired following four major attacks in the country in the span of a week two of them claimed by the extremist Islamic State group. Horst Seehofer, the governor of Bavaria where three of last week's attacks took place told the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung Tuesday: "We must know who is in our country." Thomas Strobl, the interior minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg, where a woman was killed by a Syrian attacker Sunday, also demanded a tougher stance toward asylum-seekers. "Those who abuse the right to hospitality must go back to their home countries make no mistake about it," Strobl told Funke media group. The Associated Press contributed to this report Kinderdance Continues To Grow In Texas US Franchise Organization Brings Dance And Movement Education To Young Children Worldwide July 26, 2016 // Franchising.com // Roanoke, VA - Kinderdance International Inc, a leader in developmental dance, gymnastics and fitness programs for young children, continues to prove that dance and movement programs receive high marks as a popular childrens franchise in the hot STEM/STEAM childrens dance/movement education franchise market by awarding a Bronze level franchise to Krysta Gray. Krysta will be teaching Kinderdance programs to children in Arlington, Mansfield and Grand Prairie located in Tarrant County Texas. Krysta started dancing in her freshman year of high school. Her love for dance continued; competing in dance at a local studio and joining her high school dance/drill team. Krysta attended Prairie View A&M University where she received her BS in Communications. Krystas passion for dance and desire to own a business brought her to Kinderdance. After graduating college, Krysta was searching for a career in dance and education. Kinderdance was the perfect fit for her. Krysta says dance makes me feel alive. In the summer of 2015, I fell in love with the Kinderdance programs and concept. Not only was Kinderdance a great opportunity to own my own business, it was also a great way for me to do what I love most. Teach and dance! I look forward to my journey with Kinderdance. With a passion for dance and movement programs Krysta will enjoy enriching the lives of children in Tarrant County Texas. Krysta is ready to turn her dream, of being a business owner into a rewarding career with Kinderdance. We are excited about Krysta joining our franchise family and look forward to seeing her business grow in the Tarrant County Texas. says Kinderdance Vice President of Franchise Development, Karen Maltese. About Kinderdance Kinderdance, established in 1979 is a worldwide recognized dance, gymnastics and fitness program for children ages two to twelve. Their 137 Franchisees currently teach over 12,000 children weekly at over 800 various locations in 30 states including DC and 11 countries. Kinderdance places emphasis on building self-confidence and self-esteem in children through learning to share, lead, interact and respond to others needs as well as their own. The programs incorporate the arts, movement, education, music, fitness and the fun of learning into a young childs life while helping in the worldwide fight against childhood obesity. The company offers their educational movement programs on site to child-care centers, recreational centers, churches, fitness centers, corporate child care, community centers, military bases, public and private schools and many other viable locations. SOURCE Kinderdance Contact: Richard Maltese President / CEO Kinderdance International 1-800-554-2334 ### Add to Request List Added Request Information Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Kinderdance Expands Into South Texas US Franchise Organization Brings Dance And Movement Education To Young Children Worldwide July 26, 2016 // Franchising.com // Roanoke, VA - Kinderdance International Inc, a leader in developmental dance, gymnastics and fitness programs for young children, continues to prove that dance and movement programs receive high marks as a popular childrens franchise in the hot STEM/STEAM childrens dance/movement education franchise market by awarding a Gold level franchise to Andrea Mosher. Andrea will be teaching Kinderdance programs to children in Hidalgo County in South Texas. Andrea started dancing when she was two years old in McAllen Texas. Her love for dance continued throughout her high school years; competing in dance and becoming the Captain of her dance/drill team. Andrea attended Texas Womans University in Denton, Texas where she received her BS in Arts and Dance. She was employed at the Alamo Middle School as a dance teacher and was a director of award winning Alamo Middle Badgerettes Dance Team. Andreas passion for dance and desire to own a business with flexibility brought her to Kinderdance. Kinderdance was the perfect fit for her. Andrea says she immediately fell in love with the Kinderdance programs and concept. With a passion for dance and movement programs Andrea will enjoy enriching the lives of children in Hidalgo County in South Texas. Andrea is ready to turn her dream, of being a business owner into a rewarding career with Kinderdance. We are excited about Andrea joining our franchise family and look forward to seeing her business grow in the Hidalgo County in South Texas says Kinderdance Vice President of Franchise Development, Karen Maltese. About Kinderdance Kinderdance, established in 1979 is a worldwide recognized dance, gymnastics and fitness program for children ages two to twelve. Their 137 Franchisees currently teach over 12,000 children weekly at over 800 various locations in 30 states including DC and 11 countries. Kinderdance places emphasis on building self-confidence and self-esteem in children through learning to share, lead, interact and respond to others needs as well as their own. The programs incorporate the arts, movement, education, music, fitness and the fun of learning into a young childs life while helping in the worldwide fight against childhood obesity. The company offers their educational movement programs on site to child-care centers, recreational centers, churches, fitness centers, corporate child care, community centers, military bases, public and private schools and many other viable locations. SOURCE Kinderdance Contact: Richard Maltese President / CEO Kinderdance International 1-800-554-2334 kindercorp@kinderdance.com. ### Add to Request List Added Request Information Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Brian Webb Legal Now Offers Immigration Legal Services In Boise The law office of Brian Webb Legal, specializing in criminal, family, business, and real estate law, announces the expansion of areas of practice to include immigration law. -- The prominent Boise law firm, Brian Webb Legal has announced the expansion of practice areas to include all aspects of immigration law. More Information is available in Spanish at: http://www.brianwebblegal.com/lograr-inmigracion Brian Webb Legal is a legal firm specializing in premier and seasoned mediation, negotiations or litigation in the areas of business, real estate, tax, family, criminal, and now immigration law. Services include assistance with obtaining visas, legal permanent residence in the US, deferred action, and deportation. Brian Webb Legal, is dedicated to providing information and assistance necessary to anyone in Boise in danger of being deported from the United States or who would like to become residents legal or American citizens, or work legally in the United States. Brian Webb Legal attorney, Michael C. McClure, and a dedicated team who speaks Spanish treat clients with honesty and respect. From 1999 to 2001, Michael lived in Santa Cruz, Bolivia and other surrounding areas. In addition to learning the Spanish language during those two years, Michael won a love for people, their culture, and a greater appreciation for helping those around him. Michael's desire to help those around him put him on the path to becoming a lawyer. Michael earned his Juris Doctor from the Faculty of Law at Washburn University in 2010, where he attended the Dean's List and graduated in the top 10% of his class. Michael continued his education by obtaining his Master of Law at the University of Georgia Law School. Michael had previously obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah and earned his Master of Science in Security Management from Bellevue University. Consultations with the prominent immigration attorney, Michael C. McClure at Brian Webb Legal, can be requested at 208-331-9393. For more information, please visit http://www.brianwebblegal.com/ Contact Info: Name: Brian Webb Organization: Brian Webb Legal Address: 839 E. Winding Creek Dr. Ste 102 Eagle, Idaho 83616 Phone: 208-331-9393 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/brian-webb-legal-now-offers-immigration-legal-services-in-boise/124824 Release ID: 124824 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Domain Hunter Gatherer Creates Box Set Combining Three Best Selling Programs Domain Hunter Gatherer has combined Domain Auction Hunter, Expired Web 2.0 Finder and Expired Domain Miner into the most powerful suite of domain tools available, for an unbeatable price. -- The right domain name is critical to the success of any website. Some domain names can attract traffic for years after they have ceased to be used, because their content had once inspired high search engine rankings which have not yet fallen. However, buying these high ranking domains at auction can be punishingly expensive. Fortunately for the entrepreneurs out there, Domain Hunter Gatherer enables webmasters to find aged and expired domain names and snap them up for no more than the registration cost of a new domain. The triple-pronged software can ensure no high costs and no annoying bidding processes. This is because DHG can find domains using a variety of methods that until now was not possible. The three prongs are Auction Hunter, Web 2.0 Finder and Domain Miner, which cover three distinctly different fields to offer full spectrum coverage. It takes just seconds to set up the expired domain finder software, which can discover thousands of domains, and save webmasters thousands of dollars. What's more, the software can use four distinct strategies to search expired domains, offering keyword searching, reverse crawling, crawling individual websites, and crawling custom webpage lists. Individuals can try out one facet of the software for free, two facets for $17 a month, or all three for $87 a month - a value more than offset by the savings to be made. A spokesperson for Domain Hunter Gatherer explained, "We are thrilled to launch our new, ultimate software package, which will enable individuals to find the highest quality domains and get them at the best prices available anywhere online. This will mean real savings and real results, as the authority of the domains can be set as a preference in ranking the search results. Users can see the best of what's available in their search area or niche. This is an exciting development and one we are very proud of. We look forward to helping more users than ever take advantage of this great deal." About Domain Hunter Gatherer: Domain Hunter Gatherer enables people to find unlimited powerful and brandable domains from all of the major domain auction websites, expired web.20 domains and expired authority domains in order to compare to find the best domains for businesses, at the prices users are willing to pay. For more information, please visit https://domainhuntergatherer.com/ Contact Info: Name: Jim Epton Email: support@domainhuntergatherer.com Organization: Pure Business Logic Ltd Phone: 07912965929 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/domain-hunter-gatherer-creates-box-set-combining-three-best-selling-programs/125083 Release ID: 125083 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Solar Panels Ideas Presents Ideas For Managing Utility Costs A new website, SolarPanelsIdeas.com presents solar energy tips that can help to save big dollars. Solar energy is the top way to power homes and businesses inexpensively. -- Solar panels are growing in popularity among home and business owners who want to reduce utility costs, as well as to reduce the drain on Planet Earth's non-renewable resources. Photovoltaic panels are used to convert the sun's rays into energy for heating and cooling, as well as to power household systems. The new website covers the topic of solar energy in many ways, including companies which provide solar energy, calculation of the household needs for energy through PV panels and how to maintain the solar equipment. Setting up a solar power system for a home or business requires investing in photovoltaic panels, an inverter, and batteries for storage. The system will also require wiring and other items for the installation of the equipment. There are a number of dealers and manufacturers who build the panels. The services of a consultant will be helpful in choosing the right components for a specific building. It is important to do the necessary research to determine the best products and sizes needed. A consultant can help with this process, although websites such as SolarPanelsIdeas.com contain a wealth of information about the topic. The number of panels which will be required is dependent upon the amount household power which is desired. Households may choose to be totally off-grid or may keep the grid viable for emergencies. In some areas, utility companies will "buy-back" power which is not needed by the homeowner. Care and maintenance of the system are another factors which must be considered. The health of the system depends on upon clean and properly operating panels. The inverter and batteries also require periodic inspection and updating. It is suggested that care of the system should be done by a knowledgeable and experienced technicians. Websites such as SolarPanelsIdeas.com provide the information which owners need in order to make good decisions about the installation of a solar energy system. The details are presented in easy-to-understand language. For more information, please visit http://solarpanelsideas.com/ Contact Info: Name: Alan Moore Organization: Solar Panels Ideas Source: http://solarpanelsideas.com/solar-energy-tips-that-can-help-you-save-big-dollars/ Release ID: 125010 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) SEO Website Audit Software With Keyword Rank Tracker & Score Checker Launched SEO Snapshot, a new business website SEO analysis software providing comprehensive and reliable audits on the Google score, keyword rankings, page speed or load times and other vital SEO factors to help find, fix or optimize any hindrances to page #1 Google search engine rankings. -- The popular Sparkling SEO announced the launch of a brand new SEO analysis tool, entitled SEO Snapshot, to help businesses audit and optimize their websites to rank on the first page of the Google search results. More information is available at https://sparklingseo.com. Sparkling SEO is a prominent search engine optimization service providing businesses with multiple premier, comprehensive and proven solutions or tools to help develop professionally optimized websites that can improve their search engine authority, visibility and rankings. The business has now announced the launch of SEO Snapshot, a software designed to analyze a website and generate a comprehensive SEO report card based on a large list of SEO factors to provide the business/website owner with an in-depth audit of the URL being analyzed and uncover any improvable aspects or hidden mistakes preventing the website from achieving the best possible ranking. The newly launched SEO Snapshot provides detailed and reliable analytics on a website's overall SEO score along with ongoing data and tracking on rankings for any amount of keywords being targeted as well as notifications on issues with page speed and/or load times that can damage authority with Google's algorithms and premier mobile analyses, including for iPhones, iPads, Android or tablets. More information on the SEO Snapshot software and the extensive and valuable analytics or data provided in its user-friendly dashboard along with the proven benefits it can offer business or website owners, and more, can be consulted on the website link above or at http://sparklingseo.com/seo-snapshot. Sparkling SEO explains that "getting top rankings can be a bit of a challenge for website owners not following the right roadmap and when the percentage of the Google search engine traffic going to the page #1 results is 91,5% compared to just 4,8% going to the results in page #2, knowing how to optimize a business website to rank it on the first page is critical for success". The business adds that "we have released a powerful tool, SEO Snapshot, to help website or business owners find and analyze all the information they need to uncover the hidden mistakes and optimize their website around the ultimate Google requirements to outrank their competitors, all on one easy-to-navigate dashboard". For more information, please visit https://sparklingseo.com Contact Info: Name: Christian Ermlich Organization: CE Internet Service Address: Schenkstrasse 5, 79106 Freiburg, Germany Phone: 017664843129 Release ID: 125058 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) When Bob Stumm and Mary Bauer of Chippewa Falls get off work, theyre usually headed skyward. Both are accomplished pilots and world-class skydivers. If you live near Lake Wissota, four days a week, you can spot one of their Cessna 182 planes dropping skydivers some new, some experienced above the Indianhead Sport Parachute Club drop zone on Chippewa County K. By day, Stumm works as president of SFR Industries, the plastics company he started in Chippewa Falls in 1978 before moving it to Cadott in 1994. He sounds as enthused about plastics as he is about skydiving. Its never boring, he said of his work, shortly after gliding his canopy in for a smooth landing on a warm Friday evening in mid-June. Thats what gets me up in the morning, because of the inherent challenges of making plastic every day. Stumm arrives at work each morning at 6:30 so he can check in with both the night shift and the day shift of his 24-hour operation. He then works on sales and whatever big project is hot at the moment, then wraps up his day around 5:30 p.m., after the evening shift is well underway. The company extrudes plastic profiles for the furniture and window industry. The company has come a long way since those early days, when the entire operation consisted of Stumm and one machine. Today, SFR has close to 50 employees running 32 production lines around the clock. Young at heart He declines to divulge his age or the year he graduated from Chippewa Falls Senior High School before starting work at another plastics plant. I have no age, Stumm said, to agreement from other members of the club. Stumms significant other and skydiving partner, Mary Bauer, has spent her working days making sure other workers stay safe. After spending 20 years doing inspections and enforcement for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Bauer has spent the last 11 years doing outreach for the agency as a compliance assistance specialist. I do outreach, education, training, coordinate with groups and associations for worker safety and health projects, she said. We look at the workers safety, whether its in manufacturing, construction, retail. We try to target where they are the highest risk. This wasnt Bauers initial career plan. She earned a bachelors degree in biology from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and was working on a second degree in environmental public health when she decided she had better go to work. I needed a job really bad, Bauer said. When one of her instructors told her about an internship with OSHA, she had to think about what the letters stood for. She took the job and never looked back. The skydiving bug Bauer and Stumms high-flying hobby has taken them all over the world. Bauer first gave skydiving a try as a college student in 1981. In the days before Google, it took a while to track down a place to try it out. A couple of friends just said, Well, lets go do this, Bauer said. It took us a year or so to track it down and find a phone number. She describes her first jump as surreal. You really dont know what youre going to do, youre just going to go along with the program, she said. But once you get out under canopy and this goes back to the round parachute days it is quiet. There is nothing else up there, nothing else around you. Bauer caught the bug. She has now made more than 19,740 jumps. Shes only the 13th person to have that milestone verified by the U.S. Parachute Association. Stumm got started in the sport after being drafted into the Army. While serving in the Army airborne, he joined a sport club on the base at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Since then, he has logged more than 17,000 jumps all over the world. Its always the people that are in the sport itself that keep you going, Stumm said. Its always a lot of fun. Mary and I have been lucky enough to go many places. Spanning the globe One of those places was Thailand. Stumm and Bauer were part of the World Team, which staged world-record jumps in Thailand 2004 and 2006. The king of Thailand invited the group to stage the record-breaking jumps as a demo for the country. Using five C-130 cargo planes provided by Thailands Air Force, the team created formations with 357 skydivers in 2004 and 400 in 2006. The skydivers came from all over the world to create the huge formations, known as Big Ways in the skydiving world. Linking up that many jumpers at one time requires not just a large number of big planes, but an exceptionally high starting altitude 22,000 feet for the Thailand maneuver. Jumpers starting any higher than 12,000 feet must carry oxygen tanks. Local jumpers typically start from around 10,000 feet for free-fall jumps at the Skydive Wissota site. Those complications make such huge attempts rare. World record jumps are more often performed in sequential events, where a smaller number of jumpers take part in multiple maneuvers. Bauer took part in world-record womens sequential jumps in California to benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation Jump 4 for the Cure campaign against breast cancer. That event was featured on Good Morning America. Experienced jumpers make up an international community, according to Bauer and Stumm, who have also made jumps in such far-flung places as Italy, Finland and Russia. The thing with skydiving is theres always a drop zone somewhere and youre always welcome, Bauer said. Its a very open thing. Some of their most exciting jumps, though, have been closer to home. Bauer and Stumm both name a 100-member jump in Oshkosh at the 2015 EAA Airventure fly-in convention as a highlight. Spreading the word Bauer estimates she has taught between 3,000 and 4,000 people to skydive over the past 30 years. Many of those are only looking to try it once and take a tandem jump, strapped to an experienced instructor. Stumm says recently, most first-time jumpers have come out to Skydive Wissota seeking to cross the experience off their bucket list. Weve had a large group of older citizens who showed up to do tandems, he said. People 80 to 90 years old come out and make skydives. According to Bauer, it is rare for a jumper to back out after getting up in the plane, though it has happened four or five times over the past three decades. Bauer says her career in worker safety goes hand-in-hand with her role as a skydiver and instructor. Im a certified safety professional, she said. You take those skills and apply them to system safety: good equipment, aircraft, watching conditions, radars, working with the people, making sure they understand. The Indianhead Sport Parachute Club owns the clubhouse at the couples airport. The clubs 30 members volunteer their time to perform duties from giving skydiving lessons to mowing the lawn. The group offers lessons from April through November, but club members jump year-round. The members have varying levels of experience. Bauer says few jumpers turn the sport into a lifelong passion, as she and Stumm have. It takes a lot of commitment to put it into your lifestyle to become a skydiver, Bauer said. In order to do it safely, you have to spend time, learn it, invest in the right gear and equipment, and stay current in it. She plans to continue in the sport as long as she can. Its kind of my second home, being in the air, she said. Staying on the move Stumm has picked up another hobby over the years: collecting cars. Oh, you know how it goes, he said. You get one and then you get something else. I had a 77 vette and then it went from there. Restoring old cars gives him something to do when its too cold and windy to skydive. One particular head-turning car in his collection is an ETV, or Extra Terrestrial Vehicle. Stumm says the car, which reminds many of the time-traveling Delorean from the movie, Back to the Future, is one of just three made and has been borrowed for major car shows. Not all of the hobbies Stumm and Bauer share involve dizzying heights and cool cars. The two also enjoy heading out in their boat from their home on Lake Wissota for an evening of fishing now and then. Whether they are running a plastics plant, making sure workers are safe on the job, jumping out of an airplane tens of thousands of feet above the ground, restoring an old hot rod or wetting a line in the lake, you can count on one thing: life with Mary Bauer and Bob Stumm is never boring. 4Patriots LLC Donates Emergency Food to Community Action Partnership of Kern Food Bank to Aid Wildfire Victims 4Patriots LLC has donated a three-month supply of its Food4Patriots emergency food to the Community Action Partnership of Kern Food Bank for the purpose of helping feed victims of wildfires in and around Bakersfield, Calif. -- Recent wildfires in California that burned more than 30,000 acres of land took the lives of at least two people and destroyed more than 100 structures, including homes, according to The Los Angeles Times and other media outlets, prompting Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency for Kern County. 4Patriots LLC of Nashville, Tenn., responded to the carnage by donating a three-month supply of its Food4Patriots emergency food to the Community Action Partnership of Kern Food Bank. "We understand that approximately 2,000 people in the area evacuated their homes while firefighters moved in to try to save those dwellings," said Allen Baler, Partner at 4Patriots. "Our hearts ache for the victims and for those who lost their homes in the fires. "But those are just words. We decided to back up our words with a donation of our Food4Patriots emergency food in order to help those who have been devastated by this disaster. The need is still great there, so we encourage everyone who is able to donate to food banks in the Bakersfield area to do so." The 72-hour, one-week, four-week, three-month and one-year emergency food kits from Food4Patriots have shelf lives of up to 25 years. The food in these kits can be prepared in less than 20 minutes and requires only boiling water. It's contained in easy-to-store Mylar pouches, which keep out air, moisture and light. "We strongly recommend that people stock up on emergency food so they can help themselves if they're ever victims of extreme weather. Store shelves often empty quickly in these situations, and even when they don't, it can be difficult to get to those stores." Other 4Patriots products include: Patriot Power Generator, a portable solar generator designed to provide electricity for important devices and equipment during a power outage or disaster situation. Water4Patriots, featuring the Alexapure Pro water filtration system and the Survival Spring personal water filter, both designed to provide the user with safe, clean drinking water in any situation. Power4Patriots, a series of Do-It-Yourself videos and manuals (printed and electronic) showing how to build solar panels, a wind turbine, a solar water heater and a solar air heater. SurvivalSeeds4Patriots, a seed vault containing approximately 5,340 survival seeds from 21 varieties of heirloom, non-genetically modified seeds, rated for five-plus years of storage. Patriot Power Hub, a portable device that jumpstarts almost any vehicle, charges electronic devices, functions as a powerful flashlight and a flashing strobe light, and includes a steel, glass-breaking hammer. Food4Patriots provides emergency food products that are shelf-stable for 25 years. Food4Patriots survival food kits are made with food grown, harvested and packaged in the United States, and all of the meals are made without any genetically-modified products, preservatives or fillers. The kits are available in 72-hour, one-week, four-week, three-month and one-year supplies. For more information, please visit http://www.4patriots.com Contact Info: Name: Tim Boyle Email: timm.boyle@4patriots.com Organization: 4Patriots LLC Source: http://marketersmedia.com/4patriots-llc-donates-emergency-food-to-community-action-partnership-of-kern-food-bank-to-aid-wildfire-victims/124817 Release ID: 124817 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Colorado Medical Waste Celebrates Recent Honor Owner Beverly Hanstrom is a finalist for the Denver Business Journal's Outstanding Women In Business Award, reports http://www.coloradomedicalwaste.com/. -- Colorado Medical Waste, a company that provides medical waste disposal services to generators along Colorado's Front Range, has recently announced that the company is celebrating one of its own being named as a finalist for the Denver Business Journal's Outstanding Women In Business Award. Beverly Hanstrom, the company's owner, is a finalist in the small business owners category. There were 240 total nominations for the award, and the 36 women who were chosen as finalists were notified of their status on July 8th, 2016. "We couldn't be more proud of our team here at Colorado Medical Waste and all that we've accomplished together since opening our doors more than twenty years ago," said Beverly Hanstrom, the Outstanding Women in Business Award finalist and Colorado Medical Waste's owner. "Every day we strive to be a representation of excellence in our field. We've made a commitment to innovation that can be seen in our introduction of ozone processing, and we're excited and thankful that the Denver Business Journal recognizes what we stand for." Finalists for the Outstanding Women In Business Award will be evaluated in four distinct categories: innovation, entrepreneurship, professional accomplishments, and community leadership. The Denver Business Journal will dedicate a special section to the 13 women they select for the award in their August issue, which is slated for publication on August 26th, 2016. On August 25th, a day before publication, DBJ will hold an Outstanding Women in Business Awards Event. As Hanstrom goes on to say, "Becoming a finalist for the DBJ's Women In Business Award is not about just one person. It's about an entire team of people here at our company who have made a commitment to making a difference. Clean air, water and land are not a birthright, but our responsibility, and we see it as our mission to help others take on that responsibility. We believe that our future on this planet is worth the fight. We congratulate our fellow finalists, and we are grateful that the Denver Business Journal understands and believes in the important work we do." About Colorado Medical Waste: Since 1992, Colorado Medical Waste has provided medical waste disposal services to generators along Colorado's Front Range. In March 2014, they introduced ozone processing to Colorado at their facility in Aurora and turned medical waste into confetti. Striving to bring medical waste management into the 21st century, their ozone processor reduces waste volume by 90 percent with zero emissions. For more information, please visit http://www.coloradomedicalwaste.com/ Contact Info: Name: Beverly Hanstrom Organization: Colorado Medical Waste Phone: (303) 794-5716 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/colorado-medical-waste-celebrates-recent-honor/125137 Release ID: 125137 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Outdoor Shoes Industry, 2016 Market Trends and Growth Report by Radiant Insights, Inc The market research report about the outdoor shoes industry is a detailed and a professional study of the current conditions of the global industry. -- The market research report about the outdoor shoes industry is a detailed and a professional study of the current conditions of the global industry. First of all, the report gives a basic idea about the market including its definitions, applications, classifications, market chain structure etc. The analysis of the global market is provided including the details such as the development statuses of the major regions, market development history, and competitive landscape analysis etc. Browse Full Research Report With TOC on https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-outdoor-shoes-industry-2016 It also analyzes the development plans and policies as well as the cost structures and production methods. This market research report also offers import & export, demand and supply figures, as well as price, revenue, cost, and gross margins by regions including European Union, United States, Japan, and China, and many others Request A Sample Copy Of This Report at: https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-outdoor-shoes-industry-2016/request-sample Then the report analyzes the leading global market participants providing detailed information about them such as company profiles, capacity, product pictures, product specifications, production, cost, revenue, price, and contact details. The analysis of the downstream consumers and upstream raw materials & equipment is also carried out. In addition to this, the development trends and marketing channels of the global outdoor shoes industry are also analyzed. At last, the viability of fresh investment plans is assessed providing the overall market research conclusions. Some of the major players operating in this market include ASOLO S. p. A., LOWA Boots LLC., Merrell, The Danner Shoe Mfg., Treksta International, Raichle Sport-Subholding AG, HANWEG GmbH, TECNICA Group S. p. A., Hi-Tec Sports, ECCO Sko A / S., and so on. Browse All Reports of This Category at: https://www.radiantinsights.com/catalog/consumer-goods 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 https://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-outdoor-shoes-industry-2016 Contact Info: Name: Michelle Thoras Email: sales@radiantinsights.com Organization: Radiant Insights, Inc Address: 28 2nd Street, Suite 3036, San Francisco, CA 94105, United States Phone: 1-415-349-0054 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/outdoor-shoes-industry-2016-market-trends-and-growth-report-by-radiant-insights-inc/125109 Release ID: 125109 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Webb Law Firm Announces Free Consultations For Clients Those who are in need of a criminal attorney can now have their case evaluated by one of the firm's lawyers free of charge, reports http://www.webblawmaine.com/. -- Webb Law Firm, a premier criminal defense law firm serving the residents of Saco, Maine and the surrounding areas, has recently announced that they are now offering free consultations for clients. The firm is inviting all those who are currently facing criminal charges to contact them for straightforward and informative legal counsel. Defendants and their family members can simply visit the Webb Law Firm website to learn more about what these consultations entail and to schedule one of their own. "There is no doubt that a criminal conviction carries long-term consequences. Whether a person is sentenced to many years in prison or serves no time behind bars, having a conviction on their record will impact their lives and their ability to achieve their goals," said John Webb, the attorney at the helm of the firm. "This is the biggest reason why we offer free consultations. We know that many people who could benefit from an attorney's help don't get it, either because they are convinced they don't need one or are concerned that they're doomed to lose no matter what. The unfortunate truth is that they are more likely to lose when they don't have a legal advocate who is specifically dedicated to the success of their case. We want to show people how our lawyers will fight for their rights and give them the best chance at a positive outcome." Clients can get in contact with the Webb Law Firm team at www.webblawmaine.com. Once they fill out the short contact form, one of the firm's drug offense lawyers in me will be in touch with them to get the details of their case and help them understand what their next steps should be. A Webb Law Firm attorney will provide a thorough evaluation of each case, giving their honest take on what success will look like in a particular case and what will be necessary to achieve it. As Webb continued, "People have the best chance of beating criminal charges when they retain an attorney early on in the investigative process. Our firm is offering these free consultations to encourage those faced with criminal charges to make the wise choice and get help from an oui lawyer or other type of criminal defense attorney as soon as they know they are in trouble. Our experienced attorneys will help guide them through the legal process and show them what to do as they seek justice in the criminal courts." About Webb Law Firm: Maine Criminal Defense Attorney John Scott Webb has been protecting the legal rights of the people of Maine for over 20 years. John has assembled a team of dedicated and passionate legal professionals who truly believe in one of the country's bedrock principles -- every person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. The legal professionals of the Webb Law Firm aggressively fight on their client's behalf to ensure their constitutional rights are protected by forcing the state to do its job according to state and federal laws. For more information, please visit http://www.webblawmaine.com/ Contact Info: Name: John Webb Organization: Webb Law Firm / webblawmaine.com Phone: (207) 283-6400 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/webb-law-firm-announces-free-consultations-for-clients/125119 Release ID: 125119 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Top Dog Tips Publishes Huge New Midsummer Update With dozens of new reviews, guides, recipes, and special features now online, new update is largest in popular site's history, Top Dog Tips reports -- Top Dog Tips published a major midsummer update, adding dozens of new articles, videos, reviews, and more at topdogtips.com. Already the leading resource of its kind, Top Dog Tips helps dog owners derive even more satisfaction and enjoyment from their animal companions, a mission that has resonated greatly with pet owners since the website's 2014 founding. Thanks to the midsummer update, the largest in the site's history, visitors will find a wealth of new features to enjoy and make use of, including a brand-new guide to bathing reluctant dogs; reviews of nail clippers, dog carriers, and cooling mats; and an exclusive recipe for easy-to-make chicken jerky that even the fussiest eaters will love. Top Dog Tips fans can also now sign up to receive three free e-books, along with chances to win great prizes, as well as updates on the latest happenings at the website. "For us, as with so many of our fans, summertime is the best time of all to be a dog owner," Top Dog Tips founder and Editor in Chief Samantha Randall said, "These wonderful animals are often at their best when enjoying the sunny, pleasant weather outdoors, and we love to see and be with them as they engage so eagerly with the world. We're therefore happy to announce that we've just rolled out our most ambitious site update yet, giving our fans many new resources to delve into this summer. As always, readers can expect plenty of regular updates going forward, as well." With an estimated 80 million dogs enjoying status as household pets in the United States, according to the American Pet Products Association, animals of this kind make up a crucial part of the fabric of everyday life. The same source projects that Americans will spend well over $60 billion on their pets this year, with a bulk of the money going to keep domestic dogs happy, healthy, well fed, and entertained. Since its founding at the beginning of 2014, Top Dog Tips has become a top destination for people everywhere who love these most loving and loyal of domesticated animals. With everything from reliable, in-depth reviews of the full range of dog-focused products to guides that demystify and illuminate some of the most challenging related topics, Top Dog Tips is widely regarded as a top source of information that makes life as a pet parent even more rewarding. Thanks to the site's major new midsummer update, that trust and appreciation becomes even more amply justified. With dozens of new reviews, guides, video features, giveaways, recipes, and top dog tips now online, visitors and their beloved pets have even more than usual to which to look forward. The new midsummer features are available now, with the same regular pace of updates that has helped make topdogtips such a popular destination to continue. About Top Dog Tips - Become a Better Pet Parent!: From grooming, recipes, and health to the latest and greatest in dog products and technology, Top Dog Tips is the Internet's leading source for people who love dogs. For more information, please visit http://topdogtips.com Contact Info: Name: Diane Beth Miller Organization: Top Dog Tips Address: 14399 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025 Phone: +1-314-422-5331 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/top-dog-tips-publishes-huge-new-midsummer-update/125121 Release ID: 125121 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) China's Dental Equipment and Supplies Market Research Report by Radiant Insights, Inc China's dental equipment and supplies market is estimated to be worth USD 1 billion. It recorded USD 54 million in 2013. It is projected a robust growth rate over the forecast period (2018-2023). -- China's dental equipment and supplies market is estimated to be worth USD 1 billion. It recorded USD 54 million in 2013. It is projected a robust growth rate over the forecast period (2018-2023). China's lack of attention towards oral health will give manufacturers the right opportunity to proliferate. A majority of the market demand is expected from oral health doctors and their recommendations. The market is segmented by dental treatment equipments, dental supplies, and regions. High incomes of consumers in the region as well as awareness of oral health are driving the market. But high price of dental equipments may hamper the regional market growth. Browse Full Research Report With TOC on http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/dental-equipment-and-supplie-markets-in-china Dental equipments comprise dental air abrasion, anesthetics, dental lasers, dental chairs & tools, dental implants, dental X-ray, intraoral video cameras, periodontal diagnostic products, and scaling/stain removal devices. Dental implants are estimated to grow at a significant growth rate over the next five years. Patients demanding implants, namely the elderly need it to chew food easily. Dental chairs need to be manufactured considering the physical size of Chinese consumers. Dental supplies involve operatory lighting, abrasives disks, mandrels & strips, handpieces, high speed handpiece turbine, liners and bases, replacement cartridges, and delivery systems. Among dental supplies, handpieces are heralded to gain major shares of the market. This can be ascribed to rise of dental clinics and geriatric populace which have neglected their teeth. Request A Sample Copy Of This Report at: http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/dental-equipment-and-supplie-markets-in-china/request-sample Regions include Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest, North, and Central South China. Major provinces of interest to the market are Guangzhou in south China, Beijing in North China, Chengdu in Southwest China, and Shanghai in east China. The Chinese market will target capitals, seaside cities, and then remote towns in North and South China. Prominent manufacturers in China's dental equipment and supplies market are Sirona Dental Systems Foshan Co. Ltd.; Shanghai Victor Medical Instrument Co., Ltd.; Shanghai Fimet Medical Instrument Co., Ltd., and Fujian Meisheng Medical Science & Technology Co., Ltd. Market acquisitions are a strategy employed by main market participants to sustain their hold. For instance in 2004, Sirona Dental acquired HTC Hipwo Group and cemented its place in the Chinese market. Browse All Reports of This Category at: http://www.radiantinsights.com/catalog/healthcare 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/dental-equipment-and-supplie-markets-in-china Contact Info: Name: Michelle Thoras Email: sales@radiantinsights.com Organization: Radiant Insights, Inc Address: 28 2nd Street, Suite 3036, San Francisco, CA 94105, United States Phone: 1-415-349-0054 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/chinas-dental-equipment-and-supplies-market-research-report-by-radiant-insights-inc/125107 Release ID: 125107 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) MJ Christensen Diamonds Celebrates 76 Years In Business MJ Christensen Diamonds has been operating in Las Vegas since 1939. The business carries an unparalleled selection of designer brands, fine jewelry and responsibly sourced diamonds. -- MJ Christensen Diamonds, Cliff and Darlene Miller are pleased to announce that the business has been a feature of Las Vegas in the three-quarter century since 1939. Diamonds have long been known as a rare, yet impressive means to mark an occasion and express love. MJ Christensen is fully committed to the principles of honesty, integrity, craftsmanship, excellence in guest service and relationship building. The firm has an unparalleled selection of designer brands, responsibly sourced diamonds and fine jewelry. A visit to the Boca Park store is a way to understand the love of jewelry shared by professional staff members. Visitors to the store or the website can learn more about diamonds, search for a perfect engagement ring, or have treasured jewelry pieces repairs or appraised. The staff members also appreciate stories about family jewelry pieces from store guests. MJ is pleased to assist guests in looking for a perfect diamond. The trained professionals will work with guests who want to sell estate pieces, in order to appraise and purchase their jewelry. A guest looking for the perfect anniversary gift for a spouse can find the basis for lifelong relationships with the caring jeweler. MJ provides gift items, jewelry and diamonds for all occasions. MJ employs more graduate gemologists (Gemological Institute of America) and Certified Gemologist Appraisers (American Gem Society) than any other jewelry store in Nevada. This powerful personnel list provides a service advantage as well as instilling consumer confidence. Professionals can provide guidance with custom design, expert repairs, appraisals, an extended service plan, corporate partnerships and gold, diamond and estate purchases. Selling unwanted jewelry has never been easier. The educated staff will provide professional counseling to insure everyone receives maximum value for estate items. For more information, please visit http://mjchristensen.com/ Contact Info: Name: Darlene Miller Organization: MJ Christensen Diamonds Address: 8980 W. Charleston Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89117 Phone: (702) 952-2300 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/mj-christensen-diamonds-celebrates-76-years-in-business/125104 Release ID: 125104 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Exploring Careers with Kids ABCs Civil Engineering Children's Book Launched Ben Willardson of the Exploring Careers with Kids site has released a children's engineering book called ABCs of Civil Engineering. The book was published with the aim of helping to foster an early interest in science, technology, engineering and math. -- A new children's engineering book has launched called Exploring Careers with Kids: ABCs of Civil Engineering, which is part of a series helping to improve childhood interest in science, technology, engineering and math. Because of the decrease in enrollment and graduation of engineers, there is concern in the industry and nation related to failing infrastructure and innovation in the sciences. There is a growing need to help children choose professions that will help improve the standard of living and keep the nation on the leading edge of science and technology. The book is the first in a series aimed at kindling early interest. More information can be found on the Exploring Careers with Kids website at: http://ExploringCareerswithKids.com. The site provides a valuable information resource, with interviews with professionals working in different careers who can share their views on the profession and career path, along with links to other sites, and in depth looks at the books that are all designed with children in mind. ABCs of Civil Engineering is the first in the series of specialist children's books, and focuses on a wide range of engineering topics, ranging from Aqueduct to Zebra Mussel. The rhyming and photography of key engineering works across the USA start an adventure of exploring opportunities appropriate for toddlers and children reading with their parents. Following on from ABCs of Civil Engineering are ABCs of Mining and ABCs of Water Resources Engineering, both coming soon, with themes that children will enjoy reading. An activity version of ABCs of Civil Engineering is also available for older children. The books are written by Ben Willardson, who is the father of five active children, and who works as a civil engineer. He grew up in Utah, and spent two years in Brazil on a church mission, which provided him with a broader world view. He graduated from Utah State University with a masters degree and went on to earn a PhD at the University of Southern California. The ABCs of Civil Engineering is available on Amazon both in paperback and ebook format, where interested parties can look inside the book to get a sneak preview before they buy. Further details can be found at: https://www.amazon.com/Exploring-Careers-Kids-Civil-Engineering/dp/1532873247/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1467767945&sr=1-1. For more information, please visit http://www.ExploringCareerswithKids.com Contact Info: Name: Ben Willardson Organization: Exploring Careers with Kids Phone: 801-857-4778 Release ID: 125092 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) New Entrepreneur Book Released By Quentin Pain Launches This Week Quentin Pain is launching his brand new book, "Legendary". it is available from all major book stores including Amazon. It is targeted at fans of the rapid growth business and entrepreneur movement. More information and a free copy is available at: http://quentinpain.com/legendary-book/ -- Award Winning Business Mentor Quentin Pain is launching his brand new book "Legendary". The book is set to go live this week. The book is available from all major book stores and also online including Amazon. It is expected to become a big hit with fans of the rapid business growth and entrepreneurial movement worldwide. More information (and a free copy of the book) can be found here: http://quentinpain.com/legendary-book/ This is the fourth book Pain has authored. The book shows how to focus on becoming number 1 in any market. There's also particular excitement about this launch because the principles behind it helped the author secure a deal with Apple worth 6m. Because the book focuses on becoming number 1 in any business, readers will likely find a particular interest in how the author was able to retire within 4 years of starting his first company using the techniques described in the book. The book is based on Quentin Pain's 37 years in business and reveals the 12 principles required by any entrepreneurial business owner to achieve success. When asked why he wrote the book, Pain said: "It took me a very long time to figure out why my first business was so successful. By the time I did, I was then able to repeat this with other businesses. The world will be a better place with this knowledge." The author has made the book available for free for a limited time in the hope that it may help other people duplicate his process. The author admitted the book had been written in record time, but added "it took me 37 years to figure it out!". In a recent interview, the author made a point of thanking the Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs who first inspired him to start mentoring and also the IAB who presented the author with their Small Business Mentor of the Year Award in 2013. Those interested in learning more about the book can visit here: http://quentinpain.com/legendary-book/ For more information, please visit http://quentinpain.com/legendary-book/ Contact Info: Name: Quentin Pain Organization: Legendary Business Owners Ltd Address: North Brink, Wisbech, PE13 1LN, UK Phone: +44 20 7193 9297 Release ID: 124974 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Fit Gear Review has released their picks for the Best Treadmill for 2016 FitGearReview.com announces their pick for the best treadmill for home use. Their choice may surprise you. -- FitGearReview.com, a website recently launched to help consumers choose the best fitness equipment and gear by providing honest reviews, has chosen the best treadmill. After reviewing such top brands as Proform, Sunny Health and Fitness, Weslo and others, the best treadmill for home use at different prices points have been selected. Reviews Consider factors such as reliability, ease of use, features included, warranty and aesthetics. FitGearReview.com also has their top recommendations for best elliptical machine, best rowing machine, best indoor bike, and best home gym.. The staff is still reviewing other fitness gear in order to provide reviews for these products. Kyle Marshall, one of the reviewers on staff stated, "It is a big undertaking to review so many different fitness products, but I feel good knowing that my work will help consumers make better informed choices. So many times a person will make the investment in home fitness equipment and then find it really doesn't meet their needs. Then it just becomes an expensive piece of furniture: FitGearReview.com also has recently launched their youtube channel . The first of many videos can be seen here: https://youtu.be/COaYLPIQe5A Not only does FitGearReview.com review fitness equipment, they also provide fitness, health and exercise information and tips. The staff is diligent about staying up to date on the latest fitness news and techniques. States, Marshall, "There is so much mis-information out there, that we really want to be a go-to resource for the best health and fitness information.". Some of that information is helping to answer nutrition and exercise questions such as what to eat before and after a workout and even the timing of when to eat it. Exercise plans for different types of workouts are also provided. To achieve optimal fitness, variety and cross training is important. Without this, a person is more prone to injury due to overusing muscles in the same way. Also, a variety of different exercises helps a person to stay motivated. FitGearReview.com is committed to helping people reach their fitness goals and continue this throughout their life. As the legendary Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the father of aerobic exercise stated, "The reason I exercise is for the quality of life I enjoy." For more information, please visit http://Fitgearreview.com Contact Info: Name: Debbie Brooks Organization: Brooks Internet Ventures Address: 412 N. Main Street #100, Buffalo, WY 82834 Video URL: https://youtu.be/COaYLPIQe5A Source: http://marketersmedia.com/fit-gear-review-has-released-their-picks-for-the-best-treadmill-for-2016/125101 Release ID: 125101 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Delta-13 Announces American Made Patriotic Pool Ball Rack For over nine years, Delta-13 has been a leader in the world of Billiards with their Delta-13 ball racks. Today, they are announcing the launch of their latest product, the Delta-13 Select Patriotic Billiard Ball Rack. -- Delta-13 announced today, it has developed an aluminum Select ball rack with the American Flag on it through a process called Anodizing-Eternagraphics. According to the General Manager, Kristin Taggart, "This American Made billiard rack was created to add the cool back into pool and provide a product to support the patriotism of America. Our design is anodized, which is a process that embeds the color molecules into the aluminum molecules using electricity. This adds to the long lasting color and smoothness versus' powder coating which eventually chips off." We are able to offer this cutting edge anodizing technique, called Eternagraphics though Valmont/George Industries Inc. Eternagraphics is "A proprietary process that creates full color, photo-quality graphics in anodized aluminum. This process can be added to complex shapes and is as durable as the anodized finishes in which they are integrated. Anodized eternagraphics finishes are far more durable than silk screens, labels, decals, stencils or other standard techniques." With the Presidential elections this year, Delta-13 wanted to promote billiards with a design that every pool table owner and amateur player would get excited about. It's also a way to bolster the quality and support for American made products. Delta-13 has been manufacturing its "best in the world" racks in a suburb of Denver, Colorado for over 9 years at their sister company, Tag Team Manufacturing. The Delta-13 racks are used in dozens of professional pool tournaments each year including; the WPBA (Women's Professional Billiard Association) tournaments featured on ESPN3 and the ESPN Billiard tournaments through Billiards International held annually and aired multiple times throughout the year. They are also a sponsor to many other amateur leagues and tours throughout the U.S. Delta-13 is a sponsor for one of the best trick shot artists in the world, Florian "Venom" Kohler. Florian and Delta-13 make a great team as he brings talent, excitement, honesty, reliability, hard work, precision, ambition, innovation and uniqueness to the sport of Billiards. Delta-13 stands behind their billiard ball racks as they are the highest quality racks on the market, being the most consistent and giving players the tightest rack in the world. They are able to achieve this using their CMM (Coordinate Measuring Machine) that tests each rack to near perfection. This allows players to identify the undersized balls when racking, which gives players the tightest and most consistent rack when playing. The Delta-13 racks reduce the cloth wear of your table and are guaranteed to never warp, bow or splinter as plastic and wood racks will do. What also makes Delta-13 to stand out from the competition, is their ability to personalize their racks through color options, logos and lettering. Delta-13 designs, produces, and distributes a line of proprietary aluminum billiard accessories out of Parker, Colorado. Delta-13 is a dba of Taggart Enterprises, Inc. which also owns Tag Team Manufacturing and Tag Team Design. Tag Team Manufacturing is a 29-year young, family owned, Precision Manufacturing Company. The company manufactures components for OEM's in the medical device, aerospace, computer storage, drone, robotics, photonics, bicycle, musical instrument, and of course the billiard industry. Tag Team Design creates custom phone apps, websites, and SEO marketing plans, helping small and medium-sized businesses grow. Please visit our Kickstarter Campaign to learn more about our Patriotic Billiard Rack and to purchase one for your table: For more information about Taggart Enterprises Inc., please visit these websites: www.tagteammfg.com and www.tagteamdesign.com. For more information, please visit http://www.delta-13.com Contact Info: Name: Kristin Taggart Email: sales@delta-13.com Organization: Delta-13 Billiard Products Address: 10332 South Dransfeldt Road, Unit 103 Parker, Colorado 80134 Phone: 303-841-5697 Video URL: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/398956422/patriotic-billiard-ball-rack-american-made-persona Source: http://marketersmedia.com/delta-13-announces-american-made-patriotic-pool-ball-rack/125067 Release ID: 125067 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) New Marketing Book By Dan Crider On The "Big Why" For Local Biz Entrepreneurs Dan Crider launched his brand new marketing book, "Getting to Why", available through MarketingBooksbyDan.com and Amazon.com. This book targets Entrepreneurs and Local Biz Decision Makers who struggle by trial and error to find their "why" or purpose in life. More : http://marketingbooksbydan.com/ -- Entrepreneur/ Writer/ Online Marketer Dan Crider is launching his brand new book, ""Getting to Why". The book is set to go live August 1, available at MarketingBooksbyDan.com and Amazon.com and is expected to become a big hit in the world of Entrepreneurs and Local Biz Decision Makers. More information on the book can be found here: http://marketingbooksbydan.com/ This is the tenth book Crider has released. The book was written with the aim of encouraging the reader to begin the journey of self-discovery and awareness about the underlying motivational "push" in their lives. There's also particular excitement about this launch because so many business professionals drift through their business existence without realizing their potential for greatness. This book offers a first step in that direction. "Getting to Why" sets its main focus on finding a bigger purpose. Readers will likely find a particular interest in discovering that life can be lived at a much higher and more rewarding level. The book's cover art was created by the author and "Getting to Why" is being released by Wealth Net llc. Dan Crider has a background in starting, managing and growing local businesses using some hard won marketing skills. This helped shaped the creation of the book by discovering the "why" in his own life and enjoying a personal feeling of accomplishment.. When asked about why he wrote the book, Crider said: "I wanted to share some thoughts with a couple of clients and the book just grew out of that endeavor." Crider has hopes that the book will encourage others to find their purpose and their big why, and in so doing will be launched to greater successes. This positive outlook from the author is certainly testament to his optimism considering some of the mishaps during its creation. At one point the author reworked the cover design because he decided to put the book in a series of four other titles and he wanted them to have a uniform appearance. This consequently delayed the release. In a recent interview, the author made a point of thanking everyone in his leads group for their input which was sometimes unintentional but always appreciated. Special acknowledgement was given to the younger generation: "My grandson unknowingly contributed a great amount of wisdom by going through the struggles of kindergarten and understanding what was important to him." Those interested in learning more about the book can visit here: http://marketingbooksbydan.com/ For more information, please visit http://localbizcafe.com Contact Info: Name: Dan Crider Email: dan@marketingbooksbydan.com Organization: Wealth Net LLC Address: 15944 Fir Grove Ct Phone: 5033299109 Release ID: 125038 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) NY Offices Relaunches New York Office Rental Website NY Offices today announced the relaunch of NY-Offices.com. -- NY Offices announced the relaunch of NY-Offices.com today, adding a host of new features to their website dedicated to assisting businesses in New York to find office space. "We are very happy to be able to announce the launch of the new version of the site," a spokesperson for NY-Offices.com said. "Our site has been a popular online resource for businesses and companies starting up in the city for several years, and we expect the newly improved version to be a hit with our users." NY-Offices.com now features several hundred office buildings located across the city and the state, with easy to access information about locations, facilities and services. The website was rebuilt from the ground up, with an emphasis on ensuring user-friendliness and on producing an improved, clearer profile with simplified navigation and intuitive search. The site's fresh design was created specifically to work across a range of platforms, so regardless of whether the user calls up the pages by personal computer, smartphone or tablet, the website always appears in the optimal format. The vital business districts of Manhattan are placed front-and-center as the single most used section of the website, but the site also anticipates that not all business-users want premises in the city, and offers access to areas in New York State such as White Plains, Hawthorn and Scarsdale. "Putting our customers first at every stage of the process was the corner-stone of our approach," continued the spokesperson. "We tried to conceptualize the pages from the customer's point of view in order to ensure we're giving them exactly the information they need, as quickly and clearly as possible, all while requiring them to make as few clicks as possible. This has lead to the fresh, appealing design and dynamic interface that were the key goals of the relaunch." For more information, please visit http://ny-offices.com Contact Info: Name: NY Offices Organization: NY Offices Address: www.ny-offices.com Phone: 1-866-403-3013 Release ID: 125126 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Free Freightnet Membership List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours. CHIPPEWA FALLS/CORNELL Charles E. Decker, 74, of Chippewa Falls, formerly of Cornell, died Thursday July 21, 2016, at Wisconsin Veterans Home in Chippewa Falls. A memorial service with military honors will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, at Borton-Leiser Funeral Home in Cornell, with visitation one hour prior. Inurnment will be at Northern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery Spooner, Wis., at a later date. Man Group has seen net inflows of $500m (382m) in the second quarter of 2016 but was further dragged down by significant outflows from GLGs alternatives and long only business. The GLG arm suffered 1.5bn of net outflows in the first half overall. The business continued to lose capital from the Japan CoreAlpha fund run by Stephen Harker, whose underperformance has deterred investors. GLG saw some 750m leave each of its alternatives and long only businesses. Total assets under management are now $26bn, down from $30.5bn at the end of 2015 after both segments suffered negative market movements. GLG as a whole lost 4.1 per cent in aggregate over the first six months of 2016. Man Groups gross inflows in the first half of 2016 were down on 2015 flows by 7 per cent, which the firm attributed mainly to GLG. The firm recently decided to close its American Growth fund after the fund suffered 103m of net outflows in May, leaving it with only 24m. In the results, Manny Roman, Man Groups outgoing chief executive, confirmed the business would retain its UK headquarters despite the decision to leave the EU. Mr Roman is leaving to takeover as chief executive of Pimco. A committee of MPs has called for a new regulator with a focus on enforcement to be set up as the fall-out of the Hbos collapse continues to reverberate eight years after it happened. The Treasury Select Committee has today published its review into the report into the failure of the bank in 2008. Its report has recommended the creation of a new regulator to handle those companies which break the rules, saying the current structure is outdated. The committee said it was far from satisfactory that even though prudential supervision has been hived off to the Prudential Regulation Authority, the bulk of enforcement staff and expertise still lies within the Financial Conduct Authority. Moving enforcement away from supervision would mean the new regulator could focus independently on interrogating evidence and assessing whether a breach has been committed, MPs said. Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie said the case for a new enforcement regulator - first proposed by the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards in 2013 but rejected by HM Treasury - has now been strengthened. He said: The regulators failed, both before and after the Hbos crisis. Seven years after the banks collapse, we now know just how badly. The plain fact is that the FSA did not succeed in protecting consumers from spectacular regulatory failures. The creation of the FCA and the PRA has been an opportunity to build something much better. This is still work in progress, particularly at the FCA. A separate body would bolster the perception of the enforcement functions independence, and provide the regulators with greater clarity over their objectives. The case for separation merits serious re-examination. He urged the Treasury to appoint an independent person to carry out a review into this. Published in November, the report into the failure of Hbos found the FSA did not appreciate the full extent of the risks the bank was running and did not take sufficient steps to intervene until it was too late. It also found the FSA board and executive management failed to ensure adequate resources were devoted to the supervision of large systemically important firms such as Hbos. The committees report also criticised the Financial Reporting Council for deciding not to investigate the auditing of Hbos in 2013, saying this was a serious mistake. Mr Tyrie said: The process by which it reached its decision suggests a lack of curiosity and diligence on the part of the FRC. Having seen the final PRA/FCA report, the FRCs belated decision to launch an investigation into the auditing of Hbos is welcome. Better late than never. Concerns about Hboss ability to survive, prompted by the credit crunch of 2007, began to surface in early 2008. These concerns proved accurate in October of that year when Hbos was bailed out by the government and taken over by Lloyds in January 2009. FStory Highlights Venezuela's Law and Order Index score lowest of any country Venezuelans feel less secure than Syrians, Afghans Singapore tops "secure list" for the third year WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As Venezuela edged closer to collapse in 2015, the country's score on Gallup's Law and Order Index -- its annual global gauge of people's sense of security -- dropped to a new record low of 35 out of 100. This score was not only the worst in the world last year, but it was also the worst Gallup has recorded for any country in the past decade. In 2015, Law and Order Index scores ranged from a high of 93 in Singapore -- which also led the world on this metric in 2013 and 2014 -- to the low of 35 in Venezuela. The index is based on people's reported confidence in their local police, feelings of personal safety and incidence of theft. The higher the score on the index, the higher the proportion of the population that reports feeling safe. Results for all countries are available in the 2016 Global Law and Order Report. Venezuela is not a stranger to the bottom of the list. The country posted the lowest score in the world in 2013 and the second-worst score in the world in 2014 before earning the worst score in 2015 as the country veered toward economic and political collapse. Venezuela's score tumbled as just 14% of residents said they felt safe walking alone at night where they live and an only slightly higher 19% expressed confidence in their police. Both percentages are not only new lows for Venezuela, but they are also the lowest scores Gallup has measured worldwide since 2005. The 14% of Venezuelans who said they felt safe walking alone at night may be a new record low; however, the country has ranked at or near the bottom of the "feel safe" list since 2009. But to put Venezuela's spiral into chaos and violence into perspective, the next-lowest percentages in the world in 2015 were in war-torn Afghanistan (32%) and Syria (32%). Least, Most Likely to Feel Safe in 2015 Country Yes, feel safe % Least Likely to Feel Safe Mexico 40 Peru 40 South Africa 40 Malawi 39 Dominican Republic 36 El Salvador 36 Gabon 35 Afghanistan 32 Syria 32 Venezuela 14 Most Likely to Feel Safe Singapore 92 Norway 90 Switzerland 87 Finland 86 Iceland 86 Denmark 85 Armenia 84 Egypt 84 Slovenia 84 Tajikistan 84 Gallup World Poll, 2015 Latin America Still the Least Secure Region in the World For the seventh year in a row, residents of Latin America and the Caribbean in 2015 were the least likely to feel secure in their communities. The region scored a 55 on Gallup's Law and Order Index -- unchanged from its score in 2014. Residents of Southeast Asia, the U.S. and Canada, Europe, and East Asia were again the most likely to feel secure, with index scores of 77 or higher. Law and Order Index by World Region Means (0=lowest score, 100=highest score) 2014 2015 Difference Southeast Asia 79 79 0 U.S. and Canada 78 78 0 Europe 77 77 0 East Asia 76 77 +1 South Asia 68 75 +7 Middle East and North Africa 73 74 +1 Post-Soviet states 66 66 0 Sub-Saharan Africa 60 63 +3 Latin America and the Caribbean 55 55 0 Gallup World Poll With a higher average homicide rate than in any other region for the past decade and situations deteriorating in several countries, it is not surprising that the poor personal security situation in Latin America and the Caribbean has failed to improve in most countries. In 2015, all countries in the region had index scores below the global Law and Order Index average of 72. Law and Order Index Scores in Latin America and the Caribbean Means (0=lowest score, 100=highest score) 2014 2015 Difference Chile 68 65 -3 Nicaragua 63 65 +2 Ecuador 67 63 -4 Costa Rica 58 63 +5 Panama 59 62 +3 Haiti 57 62 +5 Uruguay 61 61 0 Guatemala 58 60 +2 Paraguay 46 60 +14 Colombia 58 57 -1 Argentina 53 57 +4 Brazil 52 57 +5 Honduras 57 55 -2 Mexico 59 54 -5 Dominican Republic 54 53 -1 Bolivia 51 51 0 Peru 52 50 -2 El Salvador 56 48 -8 Venezuela 42 35 -7 Gallup World Poll The largest declines in the region took place in El Salvador -- which now posts the second-lowest Law and Order Index score in the world ahead of Venezuela -- and in Venezuela. The eight-point drop in El Salvador's score between 2014 and 2015 coincided with a 70% spike in violent deaths that ranked it as the most violent country in the world last year. Venezuela -- where scores dropped seven points in one year -- ranked as the second-most murderous country in the world in 2015. Bottom Line Venezuela's ranking as the least secure country in the world in 2015 -- at least in the eyes of its citizens -- reflects people's growing sense of insecurity and overall lack of confidence in the police to protect them as the situation around them goes from bad to worse. The crime situation in Venezuela was not born out of the current crisis, but it compounds it because high crime rates negatively affect economic performance. This will make it tougher for the country to find its way out of the current crisis. Further, Venezuela is not the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean at risk. The chaos there may also pose a security threat to the broader region where residents do not feel overly secure to begin with, but where there has been progress in other areas of development. Get the full results for the world in the 2016 Global Law and Order Report. The data for each component of the Law and Order Index are available in Gallup Analytics. Survey Methods Results are based on telephone and face-to-face interviews with approximately 1,000 adults, aged 15 and older, conducted throughout 2015 in 133 countries. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error ranged from 2.1 percentage points to 5.6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting. Samsung Galaxy S8 Release Date, News & Update: Triple Camera System, Gesture Biometrics, Charging Pads & More! Specs, Features & Design Details Revealed Samsung is one of many cellphone brands out in the market. Now, recent reports are claiming that the Korean tech giant will be releasing Samsung Galaxy S8 after the release of Samsung Galaxy S7. With their latest offering the Samsung Galaxy S7 with waterproof feature, a camera that takes good quality pictures underwater and a VR system for another perspective in viewing, it is not surprising that the company is reportedly working for another follow up called Samsung Galaxy S8. If Samsung Galaxy S7 will be released in March 2017 at the Mobile World Congress, then fans should expect for the Samsung Galaxy S8 in the upcoming months. Samsung Galaxy S8 news & update As of now, Samsung focuses on the unveiling the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 next month. This means that time is in the hands of the company to explore and modify the Samsung Galaxy S8. Up until now, there is no exact date as to when the Samsung Galaxy S8 will happen but fans are convinced that details about the new flagship will be released on the Q1 of 2017 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. As always, the company announces their latest creation in that particular event; thus, there is a good chance the Samsung Galaxy S8 will be revealed there. Samsung Galaxy S8 specs & features Some rumors say that Samsung Galaxy S8 will come with a 5.1 inch screen display that will be protected by a Corning Gorilla 5. In other words, the large screen of the new flagship will be unbreakable even if dropped five feet off the ground. Moreover, Samsung Galaxy S8 will have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 830 processor and a 8GB of RAM. Speculations say that the Samsung Galaxy S8 will have its speakers on top and the bottom to allow the user an experience of a 3D sound. Developers of the Samsung Galaxy S8 plan to improve its functionality by putting input devices, sensors, antenna devices and charging pads. Futhermore, the Samsung Galaxy S8 also has a pen, ultrasonic input, projector, gesture biometrics and UV sensors. Samsung Galaxy S8 triple camera system Rumors are rife that the Triple Camera System of the Samsung Galaxy S8 scans the eyes and facial features to exactly analyze the person who is trying to access the phone. If in case Samsung Galaxy S8 does not recognize the physical data the person holding the phone, it will issue a voice message with guidance on the display to retry the scanner, as Yibada reported. Samsung Galaxy S8 official release date No accounts of when Samsung Galaxy S8 will be officially released.For more news and updates on Samsung Galaxy S8, stay tuned to GamenGuide! A bathroom emergency led to a traffic ticket for one man traveling on I-90/94 Friday night in Monroe County, according to the Wisconsin State Patrol. A State Patrol pilot noticed a black Porsche "suddenly accelerate" in the left lane of I-90/94 around 5 p.m. Friday in Monroe County, passing a large group of cars. The pilot, flying a routine traffic safety enforcement mission, calculated the Porsche reached 118 mph before it was stopped. He radioed the information to a trooper in a ground cruiser, who stopped the vehicle without incident. The driver told the trooper he was speeding because he had to use the bathroom. 'Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3' Release Date, Latest News & Update: Did Game Producer Confirm Sequel At SDCC 2016? "Marvel Ultimate Alliance" and its sequel are officially getting a relaunch after the San Diego Comic-Con announcement, and nothing could make fans happier about the news. Except, perhaps the possibility that "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3" will be dropped if the older titles make a successful transition. "Marvel Ultimate Alliance" And "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2" Comeback Announced At SDCC 2016 There have been whispers about the Marvel games being relaunched for new generation consoles since June. Game & Guide has previously reported on the speculations, where the titles will be released to gauge fan interest on "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3." Then everything was confirmed at SDCC 2016. Marvel announced that "Marvel Ultimate Alliance" and "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2" will both be available in PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 before the end of July. In addition to that, the highly anticipated sequel was also teased during the SDCC panel. Did Marvel Just Confirm "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3" Is In Development? During the SDCC panel, it was questioned whether there are plans for more releases from the franchise (via Kotaku). Mike Jones, who is producing the re-release of the two "Marvel Ultimate Alliance" games, had an exciting response. "Following the footsteps of a proud Marvel tradition, I'll say anything is possible, true believers!" Jones told the SDCC audience. So does this mean that "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3" is coming soon? Fans believe that the relaunch of the "Marvel Ultimate Alliance" games will be a stepping stone for the highly anticipated sequel. There are speculations that "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3" will be announced depending on the response to the re-release. Judging from the way fans reacted to the relaunch, there will be no problem in that department. It could still be a long wait for "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3". In the meantime, fans can enjoy "Marvel Ultimate Alliance" and "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2". The two titles will be available in PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on July 26. iOS 9.2 - 9.3.3 Tweaks, Tips, Cheats, Jailbreak & Updates: Jailbreak Sparks Fear For Apple; Tweaks With Glitches, Epic Doom & Sensation Unveiled Many have been thrilled at the idea that positive things have been looming for iOS 9.2 - 9.3.3 and the much-anticipated jailbreak. Recent claims have surged that the breakthrough will spawn fear and apprehensions while others are voicing out their desire to implement the tweaks as well. According to 9to5Mac, there is a released version developed by Pangu, but it is not yet ideal to work with other platforms since it is accessible for Chinese and Windows-only devices. The report mentioned how the jailbreak tool could allow users to jailbreak iOS 9.3.3 with such great changes. Given the fact that the last jailbreak that was released on the market was last October, the tech world has been buzzing for more changes to come out, particularly for iOS 9.2 - 9.3.3. For the most part, public jailbreaks are among the elements that jailbreakers have been waiting for. Also, since the recent update was set in Chinese, caution is required to follow through the steps. However, since Pangu's jailbreak tool has the capacity to jailbreak iOS devices that are currently using iOS: 9.3.3, 9.3.2, 9.3.1, 9.3, 9.2.1, and 9.2. Those devices that are not running on those platforms must install iOS 9.3.3 or iOS 9.3.2. On a different note, although the jalbreaks does not imply that it does work or not, here are some of the information released by idownloadblog that relays some of the possible tweaks that are working and without glitches for iOS 9.2 - 9.3.3: 1. Alkaline 2. Barrel 3. BioProtect 4. Bytafont 5. iFile As for the iOS 9.2 - 9.3.3. tweaks that are not compatible, here are some of the detail information such as the Activato, the Forcy, and even the TetherMe. However, it remains to be seen on how far iOS 9.2 - 9.3.3. Jailbreak would work through or whether the glitches would far outweigh the glitches, epic doom and attain triumph in downloading the tweaks. As for the rumors that Apple is worried of the iOS 9.2 - 9.3.3. Jailbreak, that remains unsettled seeing as Apple has not rendered any affirmations for these speculations. Spider-Man: Homecoming Release Date, News & Update: Vulture Isnt The Only Bad Guy In 'Homecoming,' Toys Reveal More Villains For Spidey Much to many fans' delight, Marvel included the upcoming "Spider-Man: Homecoming" in their discussion at San Diego Comic-Con 2016. While the movie is only 10 days into their filming, director Jon Watts was able to release an amazing reel that reveals the main villain of the movie. Vulture Comes For Spider-Man Fans will see a young Peter Parker in high school in the upcoming "Spider-Man: Homecoming." The pitch reel that director Jon Watts managed to make with 10 days worth of shooting reflects Parker's high school life in New York, Screenrant reported. The sizzle reel ended with fans finding out that the Vulture is going to be the big bad guy of "Spider-Man: Homecoming." This will be the first time that the character will appear in a live-action film, the website noted. As such, "Spider-Man: Homecoming" could be the most entertaining Marvel Cinematic Universe yet. While Michael Keaton was announced to be playing a villainous role in "Spider-Man: Homecoming," it is still not known if he will portray the Vulture. More Villains Coming for Spider-Man It appears that Vulture isn't the only one who will fight Spidey in "Spider-Man: Homecoming." As with previous Spider-Man movies, "Spider-Man: Homecoming" will also feature three villains for Peter Parker to fight. It seems that San Diego Comic-Con isn't the only source for juicy details regarding "Spider-Man: Homecoming." Griffin Newman learned that Marvel has plans for producing the whole cast of "Spider-Man: Homecoming." It apparently includes the Tinkerer and the Shocker. This toy panel just seemingly (accidentally?) confirmed that Vulture, Tinkerer, *and* Shocker are all in SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING. #SDCC2016 Griffin Newman 2016 (@GriffLightning) July 23, 2016 Newman has not revealed any other details about the two additional villains for "Spider-Man: Homecoming," stating that Diamond Select has not received any reference on how the figures would look like at this point in time. Screenrant also noted that Shocker and Tinkerer's announcement was said offhandedly, seemingly not making a big deal out of it. "Spider-Man: Homecoming" stars Tom Holland as the young Peter Parker with Marisa Tomei, Zendaya, Donald Glover, Bokeem Woodbine, Tony Revolori and Tyne Daly according to Gamespot. "Spider-Man: Homecoming" is slated to open on July 7, 2017. Grimm Season 6 Air Date, Spoilers, News & Update: Nick, Renard Frenemies Still? Grimm season 5 ended with Captain Sean Renard (Sasha Roiz) saved the life of Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) and that scene sent off mixed signals. Will the bad blood finally come to an end in "Grimm" Season 6? TV Line reveals that this may not necessarily be the case. Apparently, Renard inadvertently saved Nicks life but with some help from his daughter, Diana (Hannah R. Loyd). With the help of her supernatural powers, she used a doll to proxy her unwitting dad in "Grimm" Season 6. No Nick-Renard reconciliation happening With that angle, any reconciliation between the two former is practically nil. The bad blood will continue at least for the first three scripts of "Grimm" Season 6, as revealed by Giuntoli on EW. "We've read the first three scripts. We're not friends in the first three scripts," said Giuntoli. Theres no frenemies. Its enemies. 'Grimm' Season 6 to pick up from season 5 finale Once the Grimm Season 6 unfolds, Nick and Renard will be standing over the Black Claw boss Conrad Bonaparte (Shaun Toub). What happens after that could be anything and it does seem hard to see how Nick will react to Renard saving his life. Roiz reveals that his character will be joining the dark side of Grimm so this could explain why the two will continue on with their bad blood relationship. Good vs. evil happening in "Grimm" Season 6? Rosalee's having a baby! On a lighter side, other characters will be busy in "Grimm" Season 6 as well. Rosalee (Bree Turner) and Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) will be welcoming a new addition to the clan with the formers pregnancy. Though that scenario may bring up some light moments, the fact remains that both will have to keep their guards up against the unknown. Worth noting too is that the Black Claw could still be around next season. Zuri (Sharon Leal) didnt necessarily die so there is a chance she re-emerges. Grimm season 6 is set to return in the Fall. Federal and state government officials aren't the only ones who can get into trouble for mixing their business and personal emails. The Oregonian reported over the weekend about a lawsuit it's filed against Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer. The newspaper seeks an order stopping Palmer from destroying official emails as, apparently, the sheriff routinely does. If the paper's allegations against Palmer are correct, the sheriff's actions amount to a particularly brazen violation of Oregon's open records laws. But there's a message here to government officials everywhere: If you're dealing with public business in your emails, those emails are public documents, regardless of whether you're working with a private or public email service. Palmer has been the sheriff in rural Grant County since 2000. But his profile beyond the eastern Oregon county has increased in recent months because of his support for the militants who took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge earlier this year. In January, Palmer argued that authorities needed to concede to some of the militant's demands. And The Oregonian has reported that he met privately with militant leaders actions that have led to a variety of complaints filed against the sheriff with the state agency that licenses police officers. So it makes sense that The Oregonian would ask to look at the sheriff's emails from November 2015, when takeover leader Ammon Bundy arrived in Burns, through April 2016, after the end of the occupation. Palmer uses a private CenturyTel email account for Sheriff's Office business. The link to the account is listed on the Sheriff's Office website. The Oregonian asked for emails from that account that dealt with government business. The newspaper's request was denied, and so it filed a lawsuit in May seeking the emails. During a telephone conference last week, attorneys for the sheriff said that "the electronic version of every email received into or sent from the CenturyTel account is deleted," according to The Oregonian's court petition for a temporary restraining order. (The sheriff's attorneys also noted that some of the emails are printed and filed away; bizarrely, however, the county is arguing that The Oregonian's request for the emails does not apply to the hard copies because the printed versions of the emails are not emails. See if you can spot the holes in that argument.) The county says that its systematic deletion of emails from Palmer's CenturyTel account is justified by policies outlined by the Oregon State Archives. But, willfully or not, the county misunderstands the policies, which clearly state that the majority of county administrative and law enforcement records must be retained for at least one year. What is perhaps most worrisome about this very worrisome matter is that the Sheriff's Office apparently continued to delete the records even after The Oregonian's initial request. A court hearing on the matter is scheduled for today. Politicians such as John Kitzhaber and Hillary Clinton have stumbled when they mix government and private emails. It looks as if Sheriff Palmer may be about to join that class. What a deal, huh? Its close to one that nearly catapulted Sen. Bernie Sanders to the Democratic presidential nomination. Huge numbers of young voters jumped on his bandwagon with his promise of a free education. He still lost but not before he bullied Clinton into picking up the keystone of his socialist-oriented program. If you would like to know what this would cost, its anyones guess. The conservative estimates range up to half a trillion dollars. But that probably is a low-ball figure considering the history of such projects. The money would come from both the federal government and states, which would have the opportunity to opt out. Either way, taxpayers would be stuck with bills. Whats going on here is a politicians dream and a taxpayers ultimate nightmare a version of the old chicken in every pot political gambit that takes advantage of the failure of states to provide the support they once did for their public institutions of higher learning. The plan promises more than can be delivered. State support for annual budgets in major public schools has fallen to single digits. The result has been a steady demand for higher tuitions and fees that has driven schools to make up the shortfall by seeking out-of-state or foreign students who pay much more than state residents. Just contemplating the debt load of sending one family member to college produces nausea and sleep deprivation akin to studying for an advanced calculus exam. The trauma to the public treasury would worsen with the creation of another entitlement program alongside Medicare and Medicaid and now Obamacare, the collection of which, without serious change somewhere along the line, ultimately will drive this nation into bankruptcy or the kind of socialistic government Sanders wants. Either taxes go up or something goes down, such as defense. Then there is the question of all those private schools that would not only not receive any benefit from the Clinton proposal but might also face financial disaster, especially if their endowments are small. Competition from the major state universities for students is strong enough as it is without having the recruiting rug jerked even further from under them. Why would a student elect to go solidly into debt for four years of undergraduate studies when he can receive the same thing free? Would it be because he likes a smaller school and more personal attention? Perhaps, but most could be expected to sacrifice those academic luxuries for a particularly seductive four letter word: free. With growing enrollments to bolster their budget needs, the small gems of higher education that dont have billion-dollar endowments to sustain them would be up against it, forced to get even more expensive. Many would fail. There has to be a better way to lower college costs. A good start would be for state legislatures to provide more support to their institutions rather than to buy into a pie-in-the-sky proposal that would end up stressing their taxpayers more. Many states would opt not to participate in Clintons proposal. It is also difficult to believe that Congress, which would have to provide funds through the Department of Education, would see this as politically beneficial. Certainly not as it is made up today. Hillarys plan a more extensive one than she proposed earlier is obviously designed to appease all those followers of Sanders and keep them in the fold. She may or may not need them. Before you panic or thrill to the possibility of sending junior off to school on someone elses nickel, you should contemplate the shortcomings and pitfalls and understand the political origin of this proposal. It most likely wont reach reality for a long time, if ever. NRW events : Increase in security Police are present in the crowd at "Kolner Lichter" Foto: dpa Dusseldorf Security goes up at big events but organizers worry the number of visitors will go down. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken Many festivals and larger events will be taking place in the near future across North Rhine Westphalia and organizers are worried they will have fewer visitors than in previous years due to fear of terror attacks. Concern about the numbers appears to be warranted. At the Dusseldorf Fair, the Rheinkirmes, organizers had hoped for around 4 million visitors but only around 3.4 million came. Security concepts for the Juicy Beats Festival in Dortmund on July 29 & 30 are being reworked and at the Crange Fair in Herne which begins August 5th, security personnel are to be increased by 20 percent. Four million are expected there. At the festival in Dortmund, around 50,000 visitors are expected to come. In Cologne on this coming Sunday, security officials will have another big challenge. Thousands of supporters, but also opponents of the Erdogan government in Turkey are expected to demonstrate. The North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) Interior Ministry assures that all event organizers have a sense of awareness about security precautions. After the attack in Nice, the security concept for the Kolner Lichter fireworks festival and Dusseldorf Fair were revised. Police showed more presence and in Cologne, some streets were closed to motor vehicles, said a Ministry spokesperson. In the end, it is up to the organizers to decide on their security plan. When they say we need more people for protection, then they get more people (security staff) from us. The police union in NRW believes that shopping centers, schools and festivals need to be better secured. Union deputy, Michael Mertens says even such soft targets need more protection. To fulfill this demand, however, many overtime hours would need to be a part of the plan. NRW Interior Minister Ralf Jager says tougher laws are not the answer. Attacks like the one in Munich can hardly be prevented by that. He added, We must be careful that we do not at some point start limiting our freedom in favor of security so much that ultimately our freedom gets lost. Cologne demonstrations : Politicians criticize planned Turkey demo Thousands of Erdogan supporters demonstrated in Cologne on Sunday. Foto: dpa (Archivfoto) Cologne Politicians from Germanys ruling party are critical of Sundays planned demonstration in support of President Erdogan. They dont want Turkish politics imported to Germany. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken Politicians from Germanys CDU and CSU parties have criticized plans for thousands of Erdogan supporters to demonstrate in Cologne on Sunday. Domestic politics in Turkey have no place on German soil, said CSU General Secretary Andreas Scheuer in Spiegel. Whoever wants to be involved in Turkish domestic politics is welcome to leave our country and go back to Turkey. CDU Interior expert Wolfgang Bosbach even brought the mention of a ban into play: The hurdles for a ban on demonstrations are very high as we know, he told Spiegel. But if the responsible authorities have concrete evidence that there might be criminal or even violent acts from the planned demonstrations, then they should seriously consider a ban. The Union Europaisch-Turkischer Demokraten (UETD - Union of European Turkish Democrats) have registered a rally for Sunday under the theme, Military coup in Turkey. Organizers expect up to 15,000 participants, according to police. The UETD supports the ruling AKP party of President Erdogan, who has been ruling by decree since Thursday when he imposed a 3 month state of emergency. Youth associations have called for a counter demonstration. Cologne Young Socialists, Young Liberals, and youth parties of both the Greens (Environmentalists) and the Left have published on their Facebook pages for a demonstration to stop Erdogan. As of Monday evening, the police could not confirm an application to hold a counter event. Jihadists storm church in France; slit priest's throat in front of altar 26 July, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , | ROUEN, France (Christian Examiner) A Catholic priest was murdered in his church in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy in front of several members of the congregation by jihadists who stormed the church and took hostages during the early morning hours, the UK's Daily Mail has reported. According to witnesses, two Arabic men shouting "Allahu Akbar" or "God is great" the rally cry of the Islamic State and other jihadist groups burst into the church around 9 a.m., during the morning hours of prayer. The men then forced the priest Jacques Hamel, 84, to kneel. He was forced to "perform a sermon in Arabic," one witness said, before the attackers cut his throat. Hamel, who was subbing for another priest, died immediately. Another churchgoer was also injured. The men reportedly filmed themselves killing the priest. It is not known if that video was uploaded to the Internet before police arrived and shot and killed the jihadists as they exited the church. One of the men, a 19-year-old who had tried to go to Syria to join militants there, was already under surveillance by the police and wearing an electronic monitoring device. Under the terms of his bail, he was allowed to be unsupervised between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. According to the paper, French president Francois Hollande said France is 'at war' with ISIS, which claimed responsibility for the murder. Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president, said France's response to the attack should be "merciless." Former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said he believed ISIS was doing all it could to "to trigger a war of religions." A third man was arrested in connection with the attack. To read the full article in the Daily Mail, click here. Article 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. Honor Note 8 Scheduled For August 1st Launch! All You Need to Know News oi -Vigneshwar Honor has gained its fan base by launching a smartphone at a reasonable price with a good design and hardware quality recently. As per the recent report, the company is planning to launch Honor Note 8 on August 1st on Beijing, China at Huawei Exhibition Centre. In a way of confirming this, the company has teased the launch event on it official Weibo account today. If the report is right, this Honor Note 8 smartphone will be sold exclusively in China. Talking about the specifications, the purported Honor Note 8 is expected to sport a 6.6-inch display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 or 2K. SEE ALSO: Huawei P9 and P9 Plus to launch on August 17 in India! It is also reported to be powered by a Kirin 950 SoC clocked at 2.5 GHzn under the hood. Also, there might be a possibility of launching a higher end version -- Kirin 955 SoC under the hood. In terms of storage, this smartphone is expected to come in two variants -- 3GB RAM/ 32GB inbuilt storage and 4GB RAM/64GB inbuilt memory under the hood. As for as imaging factor, the Honor Note 8 might come with 13MP rear camera and 8MP front camera. The smartphone is also expected to pack a massive 4,400 mAh battery that has fast charging capabilities and will be charged via its Type-C port. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications As Party Platforms Raise Issue of Genocide Against Christians, New Commercial Airs Commercial from the Knights of Columbus cites lack of current government/U.N. assistance NEW HAVEN, Conn., July 26, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- A new commercial airing nationally during both parties' conventions picks up on a theme considered in both party's platforms: the plight of Christians suffering genocide in the Middle East. It seeks the public's help in supporting them, since U.S. government and United Nations money often do not reach these victims. The commercial is sponsored by the Knights of Columbus and can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o_wsjk4Vwo . The spot highlights the genocide against Christians by ISIS, an issue that has created a rare bipartisan consensus in a year that has seen often sharp political divisions. The U.S. State Department declared this year that Christians and other religious minorities faced genocide at the hands of ISIS. Both houses of Congress unanimously said the same. Both the GOP platform and the draft Democrat platform express concern over the plight of Christians and other religious minorities facing genocide. The draft Democratic platform, which will be considered this week, states: "We are horrified by ISIS' genocide of Christians and Yezidis and crimes against humanity against Muslims and others in the Middle East. We will do everything we can to protect religious minorities and the fundamental right of freedom to worship and believe." The GOP platform adopted last week states: "We are deeply concerned that, in the face of genocide against them, Christian communities in cities like Erbil are receiving no financial support from either the U.S. government or the UN to help with displaced persons and urban refugees. Their survival is sustained only by private charities." "This must change immediately," says the Republican platform. "Defeating ISIS means more than pushing back its fighters while abandoning its victims. It must mean aiding those who have suffered the most -- and doing so before they starve. It means supporting the long-term survival of indigenous religious and ethnic communities, punishing the perpetrators of crimes against humanity, and conditioning humanitarian and military assistance to governments on their observable commitment to human rights." Despite the consensus that genocide is occurring, bishops in both Iraq and Syria have stated that they get no U.S. or U.N. financial assistance, and are totally dependent on donations from the public and private foundations. The commercial recognizes this, and asks the public to assist by donating to the Knights of Columbus Christian Refugee Fund at www.ChristiansAtRisk.org "The bi-partisan concern about this ongoing genocide is a hopeful sign in a political culture that is often too divided on important issues to solve them," said Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson. "We hope that soon our government, other governments and the U.N. will all direct financial resources specifically to help these genocide victims and survivors, whose communities risk extinction." This year, Anderson has given Congressional testimony and has spoken at the U.N. on the need for the government and international community to support Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East in several ways from providing financial support, to helping secure equal rights for Christians and other religious minorities, to ensuring their long-term survival in a region that has seen their numbers dwindle by as much as 90 percent in Iraq alone. The K of C has raised more than $11 million to assist Christian refugees since 2014 -- focusing especially on the Middle East. Anderson noted that "especially given that many get no government or U.N. funding, it is imperative that people help financially support a future in the Middle East that respects rights, includes fragile indigenous minority communities, and preserves the pluralism and witness to forgiveness that these people bring." 48,000 new telecom sites installed in 45 days: Minister News oi -GizBot Bureau Aimed at curbing call drops, 48,000 new telecom sites have been set up across the country by various operators as part of a 100-day plan which they committed to the government earlier. "They assured that the target for the 100-day programme, as committed to the (telecom) secretary, will be met. They indicated that from the beginning of June 10 (when the 100-day programme started), there will be addition of around 60,000 BTS (base transceiver station) in 100 days across the country, out of which 48,000 has been installed in the first 45 days," Manoj Sinha, Minister of State for Communications (Independent Charge), said here on Monday. SEE ALSO: TRAI explores pubic Wi-Fi models, expects 90 percent cut in data cost He was speaking to reporters after concluding his first meeting with the telecom service operators after taking charge earlier this month. All the telecom operators were present in the meeting. Earlier this month, after taking charge of the office, the minister said: "Call drop is another issue we are discussing in all seriousness. In the coming 4-5 months, you will see work happening on that front." SEE ALSO: India telecom regulator floats consultation paper on Internet Telephony On Monday, Sinha reiterated that the next phase of telecom spectrum auction will take place in September. The government is expecting to mop up around Rs 5.66 lakh crore from the upcoming biggest-ever telecom airwaves auction. With regard to the spectrum, a Cabinet meeting last month had approved the auction of over 2,300 MHz of airwaves in seven bands -- 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz and 2,500 MHz. The previous round had seen 470.75 MHz on the block. Based on the pan-India reserve price, the mop-up can be as much as $84 billion this year, as against $17 billion the last time. Source: IANS Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications 'Feels Like Home Season 2' offers something real and tangible to think about; takes home a pertinent point - if your intentions are good, there is nothing in life that isn't achievable. Counter-ISIL Meetings Came At Critical Time, Carter Says By Terri Moon Cronk DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, July 25, 2016 Important initiatives to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant that evolved from last week's counter-ISIL coalition meetings came at a critical time in light of recent events, Defense Secretary Ash Carter told reporters today. While the motive in the July 22 shopping-mall shooting in Munich that left nine dead is not yet known, according to press reports, ISIL claimed responsibility for a weekend attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, the secretary said. Published reports said ISIL fighters claimed they bombed a protest march that killed more than 80 people and injured hundreds. Carter emphasized both attacks serve as reminders of the threats overseas and in the American homeland. Carter and Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman expressed their condolences to the victims and families of both attacks in today's news conference at the Pentagon. Carter and Dunford said the U.S. resolve to stand with Germany is unshakeable. The secretary also said the U.S.-led coalition will "continue to do what we can to support the Afghan security forces as they take on the ISIL threat in that country," adding, "We will take on ISIL cancer wherever it spreads." Three Focal Points Last week's counter-ISIL defense ministers meeting at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland focused on three objectives, Carter said: to destroy ISIL's parent tumor in Iraq and Syria, to combat ISIL's metastases as it emerges around the world, and most importantly, Carter said, to support "our government, law enforcement, homeland security and intelligence partners as they protect the homeland and our people." "We now have momentum in this fight and clear results on the ground in Iraq and Syria," the secretary said, "and together, we made further plans and the additional commitments we'll need to ensure our coalition delivers ISIL the lasting defeat it deserves." Opportunities Seized Because of the partner nations' sacrifices and increased contributions, Carter told reporters, "we've seized opportunities, reinforced gains and [have] taken the fight to the enemy." "But we are not going to rest," he added. "We all share an enemy in ISIL, and we are in this fight together." The secretary said that in addition to intense dialogue at Andrews, he also met individually with his defense counterparts from France, Australia, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Before the defense ministers meeting and following the attempted coup in Turkey, Carter said, the Turkish defense minister assured him in a phone call that there would be no support interruptions in the collective campaign against ISIL. Carter told reporters he is pleased that coalition air operations are back on track at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. State Department Meeting After the first joint counter-ISIL foreign and defense ministerial meeting at the State Department, Carter and his defense counterparts met with Secretary of State John Kerry. "All countries represented voiced their unwavering resolve to destroy the fact and the idea of an Islamic state based on ISIL's barbaric ideology," Carter said. "The counter-ISIL coalition simply cannot allow our stabilization and governance efforts to lag behind our military progress," he added. "We also know that defeating ISIL is more than a one-country, one-military or one-ministry job. We all have work to do, and we have to work together." Meetings to Accelerate ISIL's Defeat The meetings will help in the continuing acceleration of the military campaign against ISIL, Carter said, but he acknowledged that more hard work remains to be done. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Criminal Charges Dismissed Against Sandra Merritt HOUSTON, July 26, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- Realizing that its deficient indictment against Sandra "Susan" Merritt was bogus, the State of Texas has finally agreed to dismiss its baseless and frivolous charges. The decision today clears Sandra of any criminal wrongdoing. She no longer faces a jail sentence for exposing the truth about Planned Parenthood. The indictment against David Daleiden was also dismissed. "We celebrate this victory for Sandra Merritt as she did nothing wrong. She exposed the sale of baby body parts by Planned Parenthood and today she has been vindicated," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "The indictment was politically-motivated and should never have been filed in the first place," said Staver. Liberty Counsel continues to represent Sandra Merritt in the federal lawsuit filed against her in San Francisco by Planned Parenthood. Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics. U.S. Department of Defense Press Operations News Transcript Presenter: Secretary of Defense Ash Carter; Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joseph F. Dunford July 25, 2016 Press Briefing by Secretary Carter and Gen. Dunford in the Pentagon Briefing Room SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ASH CARTER: Hello, everyone. Okay. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for being here. General Dunford and I have both been traveling quite a bit recently, but we had a lot of opportunities to see our traveling press and to speak with them, together with our commanders. We thought this was a good moment to join you here at the briefing room at the Pentagon and update you on some important initiatives, starting with counter-ISIL. Before we turn to that, I want to express my condolences to the people of Germany for the string of attacks they've faced in recent days. While the motives behind these attacks may still be unclear, our unshakable resolve to stand with Germany in the fight against terrorism is not. I also want to express my deepest sympathies to all those killed and injured and their families in this weekend's bombing in Kabul. ISIL has claimed responsibility for that attack. We will continue to do what we can to support the Afghan security forces as they take on the ISIL threat in that country and do our part to take on ISIL wherever it might exist. And as part of our efforts to continue to accelerate ISIL's defeat, which is certain, last week, at Joint Base Andrews, I hosted representatives from every member of our counter-ISIL military coalition for a very productive discussion. We focused on our efforts to advance the three core objectives of our coalition military command plan that General Dunford and I devised, discussed with the president late last year, and have subsequently worked with our coalition partners to carry out. First, destroying ISIL's parent tumor in Iraq and Syria. Second, combating ISIL's metastasis everywhere they emerge around the world. And three, and most important, supporting our government, law enforcement, Homeland Security and intelligence partners as they protect the homeland and our people. I convened this meeting at a critical time. We now have momentum in this fight and clear results on the ground in Iraq and Syria. Together, we made the further plans for coming operations, and the additional commitments we identified that we'll need to insure our coalition delivers ISIL the lasting defeat it deserves. Thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of our local partners and our service members, as well as additional contributions from the nations that participated last week, we seized opportunities, reinforced gains, taken the fight to the enemy. But we're not going to rest. As recent terror attacks around the world remind us, ISIL's safe havens threaten not only the lives of the Iraqi and Syrian people, but also the security of our own citizens. And the sooner we defeat in ISIL in Iraq and Syria, the safer our countries will be. We reviewed and agreed on the next plays in the campaign, which, while the chairman and I can't discuss them publicly yet, culminate in the collapse of ISIL's control over the cities of Mosul and Raqqa. And we identified the capabilities and support required to execute those next plays. Many countries, including the United States, have recently committed to make additional contributions to the campaign, and some of those commitments were made just last week. And I expect we will be hearing from others in the weeks and months ahead. We all share an enemy in ISIL, and we're all in this fight together. In addition to my intensive dialogue with ministers, I discussed the campaign individually with representatives from many of our partner nations, including my counterparts from France, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and of course, Minister al-Abadi from Iraq. I also spoke with the Turkish defense minister over the phone last Tuesday. He assured me nothing would interrupt their support for our collective campaign against ISIL. And I'm pleased to see that coalition air operations are back on track at Incirlik. Following the meeting of defense ministers, I joined Secretary Kerry at the State Department for the first ever joint counter-ISIL foreign and defense ministerial, where all countries represented voiced their unwavering resolve to destroy the fact and the idea of an Islamic State based on ISIL's barbaric ideology. At both ministerials, I made it clear that while we have momentum in the fight, and the plans and the resources and the motivated local partners to deliver ISIL a lasting defeat, we must prepare for what comes after the fight in Iraq and Syria. The counter-ISIL's -- counter-ISIL coalition simply cannot allow our stabilization and governance efforts to lag behind our military progress. We also -- we know that the -- defeating ISIL is more than a one country, one military or one ministry job. We all have work to do and we have to work together. These were very important meetings and each will help as we continue to accelerate the military campaign against ISIL. But there's more hard work to be done, and this week, I'll travel to Fort Bragg in North Carolina to speak with soldiers from the XVIII Airborne Corps who will soon deploy to Iraq in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. I'm looking forward to thanking these troops and their families for their service, speaking to them about the mission, as always, answering their questions as they go off to Iraq, even as I did earlier this year -- late last year, rather, to the 101st Airborne at Fort Campbell in Kentucky for the first days of the campaign. And I'll also meet with Lieutenant General Steven Townsend, who will soon take over the -- the overall operational commander from III Corps Commander Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland. Sean MacFarland has done a tremendous job executing every plan -- play we ran this year with excellence and I'm confident that Steve also will continue that strong and steady leadership with the next plays as we continue to accelerate our military campaign. My travel this week will also advance two of my other top priorities; building and rebuilding bridges to America's innovative technology community so that our military technology remains unrivaled in the years and decades ahead and ensuring that we continue to recruit top talent for the force of the future so that our people remain unrivaled in the years and decades ahead. First, in Boston, I'll continue my outreach to the private sector and provide another update on the important work that the Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental has been doing, as well as have an opportunity to announce the next steps for the Defense Innovation Board. I'll also meet with military recruiters from the region to discuss our efforts to continue building the force of the future by drawing the best talent from every part of the country. As I've said in the past, we have to fish in more ponds, new ponds and ponds we haven't been in for quite a while. So I'm looking forward to hearing from these recruiters about the opportunities there are, the challenges they're seeing when it comes to recruiting talented Americans from the northeast. And finally, I'll also travel to Chicago to visit a military entrance processing station to see how they are modernizing as part of the -- part of the Force of the Future Initiative. I'll also travel to Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois to meet with some of our newest recruits as they go through Navy boot camp and wish them well as they join the force of the future as sailors in the U.S. Navy. With that, I'll turn it over to Chairman Dunford. GENERAL JOSEPH DUNFORD: Before taking your questions, I just simply want to join the secretary in expressing my condolences to the people of Germany and to Afghanistan, particularly for that horrific attack that took place in Kabul over the weekend. Thanks, Mr. Secretary. SEC. CARTER: Thanks. Okay. Now, we'll go to your questions. Bob? Q: Secretary, I'd like to start with a question for General Dunford on Russia and Syria. This idea of a military partnership between the U.S. and Russian in Syria, I'm wondering -- this idea, where the U.S. would engage in more -- in intelligence and targeting information sharing with the Russians and the Russians would eventually ground the Syrian Arab force. Do you think this is a viable proposition? And also, could I ask you both your views on this related question about the U.S.-backed opposition forces essentially being in league with al-Nusra on the ground? GEN. DUNFORD: Bob, on the first piece, I think you know today our engagement with the Russians is limited to contacts to ensure safety of flight and the safety of our people on the ground. Secretary Kerry is negotiating at this time or discussing with the Russians some other alternatives. But without seeing that specific framework within which other contacts may be made it's hard for me to comment on whether or not it would be viable. But again I'd emphasize today, our contact with the Russians is absolutely limited to safety of flight and safety of our people on the ground. I've seen the same open source reporting that you have. Opposition you know with al-Nusra and I think that makes it all the more important that we continue to conduct operations against ISIL in Syria to ensure that the opposition forces realize that there is a credible force that's going to be there. Q: Are they actually operating together or intermingled with the U.S.-backed forces, al-Nusra? GEN. DUNFORD: Not with U.S.-backed forces. SEC. CARTER: I don't have that much to add to what the Chairman said. I'm sorry is this mic on? Oh okay. We'll see whether it's possible this is what Secretary Kerry's exploring for the Russians to begin to do the right thing in Syria. They obviously have been backing the regime which has had the effect of prolonging the civil war. Whereas we had hoped that they would promote a political solution and transition to put an end to the civil war which is the beginning of all this violence in Syria. And then combat extremists rather than moderate opposition which has to be part of that transition. So they're a long way from doing that. But that's what Secretary Kerry's trying to promote. And getting the Russians to do the right thing. For now as the Chairman indicated, our work with them is focused on making sure that we don't have -- Q: (inaudible) SEC. CARTER: I think, no I'm very enthusiastic about the idea of the Russians getting on side and doing the right thing. And I think that would be a good thing if they did. I think we're a ways from getting that frame of mind in Russia. But that's what Secretary Kerry is working towards. GEN. DUNFORD: Bob I want to clarify one thing. We're supporting the Syrian-Arab Coalition and Syrian democratic forces and what we call moderate Syrian opposition forces. So to be clear, we don't have any indication that the forces that we are providing support to in Syria are cooperating or intermingled with al-Nusra. SEC. CARTER: Mik? Q: Mr. Secretary, given their responsibilities and authorities in cybersecurity, does the DOD or NSA or any U.S. agency for that matter, have any evidence that the Russians, either their agents, operatives or government, that they hacked into the e-mails of the Democratic National Committee? SEC. CARTER: I don't have anything for you. The FBI is leading the investigation of that incident, Mik. I really have to refer you to the FBI Director. Q: And just because of the representatives of the DNC keep quoting experts and researchers, it almost sounds like the reporters are referring to their government sources. But what is the obligation of the U.S. government to inform anyone, including the likes of the DNC, if there is evidence that a foreign government for example, has hacked into -- SEC. CARTER: I really need to refer that to the FBI. They, they're conducting this investigation now, Mik, and to see what happened here. And we'll wait and see what the facts say. Let's see. Missy. Q: Okay my question is for either of you about Afghanistan. There was news today of a spike in civilian casualties in Afghanistan. At the same time, there was the recent additional revision of the plans for the U.S. remainder force and the granting of additional authorities to General Nicholson in Afghanistan. What does all that together say about the idea of ending the war in Afghanistan during President Obama's presidency? And is it fair to say that the U.S. is and will continue to be at war not just with ISIS and Al Qaida, but also with the Taliban going into the next presidency? SEC. CARTER: I'll start, and then the chairman. Well, let's see. The new authorities you refer you, Missy, were intended and are having the effect of strengthening the ability of General Nicholson and U.S. forces to support Afghan forces this fighting season, in order to make sure that Afghan security forces, which after all are the ones that are in the lead there, are successful in this fighting season, and in recognition of the fact that even though they've come a long ways since when they started, they still benefit from the support of U.S. forces. With respect to the other part of your question that you started with at the beginning on civilian casualties -- go ahead, chairman. GEN. DUNFORD: If I could -- (inaudible), Mr. Secretary. Missy, I saw the report this morning. I think there's probably a couple of things to highlight. One, almost 90 percent of the casualties in that report were attributable to the Taliban. And while it did indicate that an increased number of civilian casualties occurred as a result of actions by Afghan security forces, and I do believe that they're taking every possible measure to mitigate the risk of civilian casualties, I think that's natural since this is the first year, really, there's been an Afghan air force that has flown in support of Afghan ground forces. So, I did note that there was an increase. That's one of the reasons why we're continuing in our advise-assist effort. I was there just last weekend to see the Afghan air force, as a matter of fact, and one of the things we're working on very closely is the integration of their air element with ground forces. And one of the very important things we emphasize as we work that integration is to mitigate the risk of civilian casualties. And then with regard to, you know, what's going to happen after this president, I think this president recognized when he approved the request that Secretary Carter made for 2017, as the secretary said, that some areas still lag in terms of capability development for the Afghan forces. And our continued presence into 2017 and financial support by NATO nations, as approved at Warsaw, will continue out to 2020. So, I don't think anybody would suggest that our work is complete in Afghanistan, nor will that work be complete anytime in the near future. SEC. CARTER: Tara? Q: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. A couple of questions. We've seen recent attacks in Germany, Turkey, France. For the U.S. forces, EUCOM, with their families, what sort of additional protection measures are being taken as these families go on vacation, as they travel? And is DOD reconsidering whether some of these posts should be accompanied? SEC. CARTER: Sure. Let me start, and then I'll ask the chairman. Force protection is something we take extremely seriously everywhere around the world. And it's something that we're constantly assessing in each and every installation where Americans are located. And when we do that, we take into account the composition of the presence there, including whether there are families or not, and therefore what the need to those families are for travel inside and outside the base and so forth. And we're doing that in Europe now, as we do that everywhere around the world. Chairman? GEN. DUNFORD: Based on what we're seeing now, Tara, there is no -- just to be clear -- there is no discussion or any indication that we would have to change our accompanied tours in Europe right now. General Scaparrotti looks at that virtually every day. We've made adjustments to force protection in the wake of these recent attacks. But there has absolutely been no consideration -- and as you know -- in other places and other countries when we've had indications that we could no longer adequately provide for our families' security, we have gone to the secretary with a recommendation for an ordered departure, and we've conducted one two or three months ago. SEC. CARTER: Did -- did -- you had a follow-up? Q: Yeah, a quick follow-up. Has there been any additional guidance for, you know, going to crowded places, what military families should be doing to protect themselves? GEN. DUNFORD: Hey, Tara, there absolutely is. There is a whole wide range of decisions that General Scaparrotti has made, guidance that he has given to the force to mitigate the risk of terrorist acts. SEC. CARTER: (Inaudible). Q: Back on civilian casualties. Have you learned about the -- (inaudible) -- in Manbij? SEC. CARTER: That incident is under investigation. I don't know -- learned since when, but we do not have a -- they -- you know, I think they're -- Q: You -- you spoke about it at Andrews. SEC. CARTER: Yes. We don't have -- the investigation hasn't been completed, so I don't have anything to add to that. The investigation is going on. The only thing I can say, without prejudging, what we learned from the investigation is to just say again how seriously we take these things and how important it is to take them seriously, because we conduct ourselves in a civilized manner. And we go to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties. And if there's a question about whether there are civilian casualties, we investigate that and we're -- we're very transparent about that and we will be in this case. Let's see who we have here -- Barbara. Q: For both of you gentlemen, back to Russia, if I may. First, Mr. Secretary, this agreement the secretary of state is working on clearly mainly involves military matters for the United States. So, can you clarify -- I have to assume that both of you are involved in the discussions and have seen the proposed agreement. So, what does -- and if not, can you please say that you have not? But what is the bottom line for both of you? Do you right now trust the Russians enough to share classified intelligence with them about targeting and what U.S. pilots are doing? Do you trust them right now? And that's for both of you. Your bottom line on trusting the Russians. And also, General Dunford, I recall that last summer, the JCS's unclassified e-mail got hacked for about three weeks. And it was widely said that you had every reason to believe it was Russians -- the Russians that did it. So, what is the level of confidence that the Russians aren't hacking into you guys? And finally, do you believe -- and I realize it's somewhat politically shaded -- a politically shaded question -- do you believe there should be a means test for NATO participation? In other words, the notion that the U.S. would only come to the defense of a NATO member if they were making a certain financial contribution? SEC. CARTER: I'll start off with the question of Russians and the -- and the trust. I mean, yeah, of course we're -- we're watching those negotiations and discussing those negotiations with Secretary of Kerry -- Secretary Kerry all the time. They're not based on trust. They're based on a transaction and on mutual interest to the extent -- and when and as we're able to identify that with the Russians. Now, our interests are quite clear. Our interests are to see a political transition promoted, number one, and that puts an end to the violence in Syria and gives the Syrian people back a government and a life that they deserve. And second, the defeat of extremism there and in Iraq. And to the -- so those are the U.S. interests. And to the extent that Russia can align with U.S. interests, we work with them as has been the case in Iran, North Korea and other places where -- where U.S. and Russian interests have aligned. It's the alignment of those interests that Secretary Kerry's exploring. That's what it's about -- (inaudible). Q: In all candor, sir, do you -- fine. But do you trust them enough right now to live up to any signature on a piece of paper? GEN. DUNFORD: Hey, Barbara, let me -- let me go after the theme the secretary started with, because you asked were we involved or have we been involved in the framing of the discussion that Secretary Kerry's involved with. And so what my input would be along the lines of and have been along the lines of, we have a transaction. It's not based on trust and it's based on measures that we take to ensure that our operational security is protected. Q: So would you -- and I would like your answer on -- SEC. CARTER: (inaudible) -- questions. One more time at this one. Q: Well -- (inaudible) -- do you -- do you trust their signature on a piece of paper? And e-mail hacking? And means test for NATO? GEN. DUNFORD: Barbara, we're not entering into a transaction that's founded on trust. There will be specific procedures and processes in any transaction we might have with the Russians that would -- that would account for protecting our operational security. Q: And -- (inaudible) -- NATO, sir? SEC. CARTER: Go ahead. GEN. DUNFORD: Yeah, I'm not going to answer a NATO question, as you correctly pointed out when you looked at me and said, "I know this is a political question." So I won't answer that. But with regard to Russian hacking, we're well aware of state actors to include Russia that have attempted to penetrate our network. The number one responsibility of the United States Cyber Command is to protect the network, and so we -- we focus on it everyday. SEC. CARTER: (off-mic) Q: Sure. I'd like to go to the strike in Manbij last week that seems to have killed over 50 civilians. The Syrian opposition has asked that the United States, that coalition halt airstrikes while the investigation continues. Is that something you're looking at? And -- and the second part for Chairman Dunford, when do you expect the operation for Mosul to start? Because we've heard it could be as early as October, but we've also heard from U.S. officials sort of doubting the Iraqi force's ability to start. So in your military assessment, are they ready to retake Mosul? SEC. CARTER: With respect -- answering your first question, we're not stopping our support for the forces operating in Manbij. We are -- we are and will conduct a thorough investigation of this incident and be transparent about the results. As we continue to support forces operating in Manbij, we'll continue to do what we always do, which is be scrupulous in trying to avoid civilian casualties and transparent when there are claims to the contrary about investigating them and -- an reporting the results. And we'll do that in this case, too. GEN. DUNFORD: You know, for some months -- (inaudible) -- describe Mosul as operations really began in Mosul some months ago and -- with the isolation of Mosul. And the noose, if you will, has been tightening around Mosul for now probably seven or eight weeks with the performance of the Iraqi security forces. But the pace of the operation is driven by Iraqi capability and Iraqi political decision-making. So anything I would tell you about the timing or anything -- frankly, anything any U.S. officer, probably less General MacFarland, would tell you the timing would be speculation because it's purely going to be based on Iraqi capability, Iraqi progress and guidance that Prime Minister Abadi gives to his forces. I do know that Prime Minister Abadi is interested in getting this done as quickly as possible for obvious reasons, not the least of which is to relieve the suffering of the Iraqi people in Mosul. But he's also aware that, you know, IEDs, regard for civilian casualties, and also putting all the right forces together at the right time will all bear into the timeline for Mosul. Q: (inaudible) -- military capabilities -- (inaudible) -- to retake Mosul? GEN. DUNFORD: I think right now, the Iraqi security forces are growing the capabilities to be able to do that. They have a plan. They have identified the forces necessary to seize Mosul and those forces are now being brought together. And I think you can see that each day. SEC. CARTER: If I can just add to that. That's precisely what's going on now is the marshaling of those forces -- the training, equipping, the movement of those, and the establishment of the positions -- (inaudible) -- Qayyarah West comes in, from which the envelopment of Mosul will proceed from the south and from the north. All of that is part of the plan and obviously, like Prime Minister Abadi, we'd all like to get it done as soon as possible, but it's going to depend upon the battlefield schedule. Tom? Q: Staying on the ISIS fight, Michele Flournoy, who of course was number three official here and she could be your successor if Hillary Clinton gets into the White House. She wrote an op-ed piece a couple of weeks ago in the Washington Post, and she said clearly more has to be done against ISIS. She called for more weapons for rebel forces, more U.S. airstrikes, more raids by Green Berets, and even the possibility of long-range strikes against Assad's forces. So clearly, she thinks not enough is being done. Is she wrong? SEC. CARTER: Well, we, too, and I've said this many times, we're looking for opportunities to do more to defeat ISIL. Our approach -- well, yeah, you mentioned more airstrikes. We're looking for ways of identifying new targets based on new intelligence. The air campaign, which has been going on for quite some time, is constantly expanding. We're looking for more opportunities to train, equip and enable capable, motivated forces like we have in Iraq, like we have in Manbij. We're looking for more opportunities and more contributions in the area of reconstruction and stabilization to make sure that territory once it's taken from ISIL is secured and governed, and that the people have their lives back and those are prosperous lives. Outside of Iraq and Syria, and this is an important area as well, that we continue to combat ISIL and it metastasizes. And then, of course, even though we're in a support role here at home, I know that our intelligence and law enforcement and homeland security officials are also trying to identify opportunities to do more. I think we all want to hasten and accelerate the defeat of ISIL. I'm sure that will occur on all of those fronts, but we're trying to identify the ways to do that. Q: (inaudible) -- also creates the possibility of long-range strikes against Assad's forces and stop, let's say, barrel bombs. Is that something that should be considered? SEC. CARTER: Well, I think our approach to Assad and to the civil war right now is the one the secretary is pursuing, which is mostly a political approach of trying to promote a political transition in Syria from the current regime to one that includes the moderate opposition and that can bring political peace to Syria, and therefore ultimately security to Syria. So that's been our -- the American approach. (CROSSTALK) SEC. CARTER: Well, we certainly hope so. That's what Secretary Kerry is exploring. Peter? (CROSSTALK) Q: Thank you, Mr. Secretary and Mr. Chairman. There's been a report out of Turkish media saying that General -- former General John Campbell was one of the organizers of the military coup in Turkey. Can I get your response to that? And you had just mentioned that the Turkish Defense Minister had said that relations would continue in response to the counter-ISIL campaign. How do things like this not strain the U.S.-Turkish relationship? GEN. DUNFORD: Hey, Carla, allow me. I did see that report. I also saw General Campbell's response. I'm not sure anyone could give it any better than he did. That's an absurd report that General Campbell would be involved with something like that. He's a personal friend and I happen to know that right now he's doing a lot of things and one of them is not planning a coup inside of Turkey. I really don't know where that report could have come from. You know probably touch on the relationship piece; I know the secretary can talk about his counterpart. My counterpart has reached out to me twice in the past week to assure me that they were still committed to the counter-ISIL campaign and to our broader partnership. Operations have in almost all manners returned to normal in terms of the operations we're conducting from Turkey. So clearly something that happened last weekend is going to have an impact across the board inside of Turkey. But we're going to work very closely to try to mitigate that as best we can. SEC. CARTER: I'll just add I spoke to my counterpart as the chairman did to his counterpart. They both assured us that their commitments to combating ISIL would proceed unabated and as he said, we have at Incirlik and other places activities there returning to normal. Q: (inaudible) SEC. CARTER: Tony? Q: Can I get both your views, what would, what results would constitute the defeat of ISIL? You said a number of times today you're certain, only death and taxes are supposed to be certain. So what would be some of the signs of the collapse of Raqqa and Mosul that you've alluded to? What are some of the military signs as opposed to the ideological victory signs -- SEC. CARTER: Sure. Q: That you'll be looking for that the public should be looking for over the next year or so? GEN. DUNFORD: Well I think one of them Tony is the steady ability to reclaim the territory in Iraq and Syria. That's important, I think the defeat and the destruction of ISIL in Iraq and Syria is necessary. It's not sufficient because it needs to be destroyed elsewhere and it needs to be, we need to protect ourselves here at home. But it needs to be destroyed in Iraq and Syria because we need to destroy the idea and the fact, that there can be a state based upon this ideology. ISIL has established itself in Iraq and Syria, even set up a supposed headquarters and capital of a supposed caliphate in Raqqa. That's the reason why expelling ISIL from Raqqa has larger significance. And in Mosul, the second most populous city in Iraq, and so for the Iraqi people under the Iraqi government going to retake their territory and govern it in a decent way. It's essential that Mosul be recaptured. That is why those two objectives among many others, those two military objectives are important. And that's why defeating ISIL in Iraq and Syria is militarily important. I just say that and then go on to say that that is necessary but not sufficient. So, we are going to need to take them on, not just in a military way, but also political and economic way in other places around the world. And I guess the last thing I'll say, Tony, is that one of the things I heard from many of the defense ministers I met with last year -- last -- excuse me, last week -- was that while they could see the forward motion in the military campaign in Iraq and Syria, they were concerned that the reconstruction and stabilization effort not lag behind the military effort. So, I'd call attention -- your question was about the military effort, but there are other dimensions to this as well. And -- all of those need to be -- we need to fight along all of those different fronts, foreign fighters, financing, ideology, messaging, homeland -- homeland defense and protection. So -- so, there are many non-military dimensions to this. But the military dimensions are quite clear to us, and the steps that we have outlined are the ones that we intend to conduct. Q: Territory -- recovering some of the lost territory, is -- SEC. CARTER: Is one place. You asked how people can see; that is one way that they can -- that they can see a -- a -- some -- some of the objectives that are clear in a very clear way that we intend to achieve those military objectives. You want to add anything to that, chairman? GEN. DUNFORD: Tony, I think the secretary outlined it. I think there's probably three things we can quantify to walk people through. One is territory; we just talked about that. Two is resources, the other is flow of foreign fighters and freedom of movement. So, those would be the three areas that I would look to this year, and our campaign is designed, one, to deny the enemy sanctuary, so take back the territory that they currently hold. That will have an impact on their resources, because many of their resources come from taxing people within the territory that they hold, and also the access to the they've had the oil and other -- and other industries. So, that's the second -- second piece of it. And then working with -- you know, there's a 100 and -- I think 22 nations that have foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria. And so, working with those countries to make sure that we -- we cut off the flow of foreign fighters is probably a third area that can be quantified. The numbers of foreign fighters flowing in can be quantified. You know, there's kind of a physical -- what you're alluding to is a physical caliphate and then there's a virtual caliphate. And so, what we're really addressing now is what has to be done to disrupt the physical caliphate and bring defeat to the physical caliphate, which -- which of course, is only half of the -- half of the job. Good. STAFF: Thanks, everybody. SEC. CARTER: Thank you all very much. Appreciate you being here. http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/855712/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Makin Island Excels in Aviation Maintenance Inspection Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160725-01 Release Date: 7/25/2016 8:08:00 AM By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Eric Zeak, USS Makin Island (LHD 8) Public Affairs SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- The Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department (AIMD) aboard amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8) passed the Aviation Maintenance Inspection (AMI), with a score of 100 percent. The score earned Makin Island's AIMD the number one rank among 50 intermediate maintenance activities, according to the inspection report. Aviation Maintenance Management Team 4 from Commander, Naval Air Forces conducted the inspection, which occurs every 18-24 months, and assesses multiple aspects of the AIMD including personnel qualifications, training, and drill performance. By passing the inspection, Makin Island's AIMD achieved the necessary certification to perform maintenance on aircraft components and aviation support equipment. Aviation Support Equipment Technician 1st Class Ronino Eva manages quality assurance audits and played a key role in preparing for the inspection, which examined 38 AIMD programs and evaluated contingency response drills, practical exercises and material condition during the four day assessment. AMI is crucial to Makin Island's ability to conduct operations, said Eva. "If AIMD can't operate, aircraft can't fly; scores like that are rare," he said, echoing his pride in the accomplishment. "It's a once-in-a-career type [of] thing." Chief Aviation Structural Mechanic Juvenal Rolon complimented the crew on maintaining their composure and focus during a stressful inspection. "Our Sailors put in a huge effort," said Rolon. "The team worked hard, starting with our airmen all the way up to the maintenance officer, and the inspectors noticed. They saw that even our most junior Sailors were eager to be involved and didn't shy away from the inspectors. Our team members demonstrated confidence and knowledge of their jobs." After nearly a year of preparations and inspections leading up to AMI, Rolon said AIMD won't scale back their efforts even though the inspection period has passed. "It's a relief that the inspection is over," said Rolon, "but that doesn't mean we can let up. We have to maintain high standards all the time, and I'm confident we can continue like this." Makin Island's Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Officer Lt. Cmdr. Andrei McArthur also complimented his team on the perfect score. "Every member of the Makin Island AIMD team, E-1 and up, devoted an incredible amount of hard work to the diligent review and maintenance of 38 unique naval aviation maintenance programs," said McArthur. "It was an unbelievable effort and something every one of our team will be able to look back upon with pride." "The sweat of this great department was apparent during the inspection," said Makin Island Commanding Officer Capt. Jon P. Rodgers. "The department's banner, 'If it's not perfect, it's not right' was validated during this certification." Makin Island, flagship of the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group, is conducting integrating training with amphibious dock landing ship USS Comstock (LSD 45), amphibious transport dock USS Somerset (LPD 25), Amphibious Squadron 5 and the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit in preparation for a scheduled deployment. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Sea Breeze 2016 Opening Ceremony Held in Odessa, Ukraine Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160725-07 Release Date: 7/25/2016 9:44:00 AM By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Justin Stumberg, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs ODESSA, Ukraine (NNS) -- Military leaders and maritime forces from participating nations attended the Sea Breeze 2016 opening ceremony in Odessa, Ukraine, July 24. Sea Breeze, now in its 15th iteration, is an air, land and maritime exercise designed to improve maritime safety, security and stability in the Black Sea. Quotes: "The threats and challenges in which our military forces have to deal with these days are much wider than they used to be. Therefore, the capability of the military forces is not only about numbers of personnel or the quality or quantity of armaments, but [also] about military professionalism." - Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration "This is the first Sea Breeze in which we've been able to have two U.S. naval ships in port. We are also glad to have been able to participate in the land phase portion of Sea Breeze through an amphibious landing that will involve more than 350 American personnel." - Geoffrey Pyatt, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine "Sea Breeze provides a great opportunity to enhance the interoperability of NATO allies and partners. It also promotes cooperative security throughout the Black Sea region." - Rear Adm. Cathal S. O'Connor, Chief of Staff, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa Quick Facts: Speakers included Rear Adm. Cathal S. O'Connor, chief of staff, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa; Geoffrey R. Pyatt, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine; Judith Gough, United Kingdom Ambassador to Ukraine; Anatolie Salaru, Moldovan Minister of Defense; Stepan Poltorak, Ukrainian Minister of Defense and General of the Army; Vice Adm. Ihor Voronchenko, acting commander of the Naval Forces of Ukraine; and Ivanna Klympush-Tasintsadze, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration. Sea Breeze, now in its 15th iteration, began in 1997 as an annual exercise held in the Black Sea and is co-hosted by Ukraine and the United States. The exercise seeks to enhance interoperability with Black Sea and regional partners and strengthen regional security through air, land and sea components, which tests forces' capabilities throughout the full spectrum of operations. Sea Breeze 2016 forces will undergo training both ashore and at sea. The exercise seeks to create realistic training that will allow forces to execute air defense, anti-submarine warfare, damage control, search and rescue, and other missions in support of maritime security and regional stability. Approximately 2,300 personnel from 13 nations are scheduled to participate in this year's exercise. U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied, joint, and interagency partners in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Navy Conducts First LCS Harpoon Missile Test at RIMPAC Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160725-17 Release Date: 7/25/2016 2:14:00 PM From Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems KAUAI, Hawaii (NNS) -- Littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) successfully executed the first live-fire over-the-horizon missile test using a Harpoon Block IC missile, July 19, during the Navy's Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise. The test event validated the operation of the Harpoon missile aboard a littoral combat ship and provided the necessary engineering data to support future ship upgrades. "This Harpoon [demonstration] on USS Coronado supports the Navy's larger distributed lethality concept to strengthen naval power at and from the sea to ensure the Navy maintains its maritime superiority," said Rear Adm. Jon Hill, program executive officer for Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS). The Harpoon installation aboard Coronado involved the collaboration of fleet and industry partners, such as ship designers, system design and sustainment experts, and installers to rapidly adapt and install the missile on Coronado. "The incorporation of an 'off-the-shelf' Harpoon missile on USS Coronado in less than four months was no small feat and supports [the Chief of Naval Operations'] focus on accelerated learning to bring capabilities to the fleet faster," said Capt. Joe Mauser, PEO IWS Harpoon lead. Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon weapon designed to execute anti-ship missions against a range of surface targets. It can be launched from surface ships, submarines and aircraft and is currently used on 50 U.S. Navy ships: 22 cruisers, 21 Flight I destroyers and seven Flight II destroyers. The test is part of a greater strategy by the Navy to increase the lethality and survivability of littoral combat ships, which includes demonstrating and deploying over-the-horizon capability on Coronado and USS Freedom (LCS 1) in the near term. "With every deployment, LCS is bringing increased capability to the fleet, and USS Coronado is no exception," said Rear Adm. John Neagley, program executive officer for LCS. "The Harpoon demo is yet another example of the power and promise of these warships." In September 2015, Director of Surface Warfare Rear Adm. Peter Fanta directed the installation of a technologically mature, over-the-horizon capability across in-service littoral combat ships to support the Navy's distributed lethality concept. Priority was given to Coronado and Freedom as ships preparing to deploy in fiscal year 2016. In the case of Coronado, an in-service variant of the Harpoon Weapon System (HSLCLS 9/10 and Block 1C missile) was selected as a proven off-the-shelf combat capability. While this demo represents the first over-the-horizon Harpoon test from an Independence-variant LCS in an operational setting, no decision has been made on which over-the-horizon missile will be integrated into the LCS platform. That will be determined by a future competitive contract award. RIMPAC is a biennial multinational exercise that provides a unique training opportunity that fosters sustained cooperative relationships critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's oceans. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ukrainian Navy Demonstrates Air Capabilities for Sea Breeze 2016 Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160725-24 Release Date: 7/25/2016 3:35:00 PM By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Justin Stumberg, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs MYKOLAIV, Ukraine (NNS) -- Ukrainian naval forces participated in the Sea Breeze 2016 air component demonstration at the Kulbakino Air Base in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, July 22. The air component of the exercise is designed to showcase the air-based capabilities of the Ukrainian Naval forces and training conducted by allies and partners. Quotes: "The exercises are bringing together elements of the land and air components, and that training is allowing our partner nations the ability to provide safety, security, and stability operations in their regions." - U.S. Navy Cmdr. Ken Engle, U.S. Exercise Chief of Staff "What I like to see is the mission execution between our aircraft and Ukrainian aircraft with no fall-off in tactical situational awareness. Our main training goal is getting through the language barrier and getting data transferred between aircraft so we can share the tactical picture." - U.S. Navy Lt. Robert Johnson, Sea Breeze 2016 Air Tasking Officer Quick Facts: Ukrainian aircraft involved in the air demonstration included the Antonov An-26 tactical transport aircraft, MI-14 Haze anti-submarine warfare helicopter, KA-27 Helix search and rescue helicopter, and the Antonov An-2 support aircraft. Ukrainian naval forces conducted a casualty medical evacuation, emergency resupply, special forces parachute insertion, and anti-submarine warfare detection formation flight. Sea Breeze, now in its 15th iteration, began in 1997 as an annual exercise held in the Black Sea and is co-hosted by Ukraine and the United States. The exercise seeks to enhance interoperability with Black Sea and regional partners and strengthen regional security through air, land and sea components, which tests forces' capabilities throughout the full spectrum of operations. Sea Breeze 2016 forces will undergo training both ashore and at sea. The exercise seeks to create realistic training that will allow forces to execute air defense, anti-submarine warfare, damage control, search and rescue, and other missions in support of maritime security and regional stability. Approximately 2,300 personnel from 13 nations are scheduled to participate in this year's exercise. U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied, joint, and interagency partners in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Ross Conducts Port Visit in Odessa, Ukraine Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160725-21 Release Date: 7/25/2016 2:46:00 PM By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Theron J. Godbold, USS Ross (DDG 71) Public Affairs ODESSA, Ukraine (NNS) -- Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) pulled into Odessa, Ukraine, July 23 for a scheduled port call as part of Sea Breeze 2016. While in port, Ross plans on hosting a reception as part of Sea Breeze 2016 and conducting a community relations project. Quotes: "We are looking forward to our first port call of the patrol. Our Sailors have been working very hard to get ready for Sea Breeze. I think this port will be a great opportunity for them to experience a new culture and help build relations with our partner nations." - Cmdr. Russell Caldwell, commanding officer, USS Ross (DDG 71) Quick Facts: The U.S. Navy routinely operates in the Black Sea consistent with the Montreux Convention and international law. Ross is currently working with allies and regional partners to help develop and improve maritime forces, maintain regional security and work toward mutual goals in order to advance security and stability in Europe. This is the 15th iteration of Sea Breeze, which is an annual exercise held in the Black Sea designed to enhance interoperability and strengthen regional security. Ross, deployed to Rota, Spain, is conducting naval operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe. The ship deployed from Naval Station Rota July 14. U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied, joint, and interagency partners in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USNS Montford Point, USNS Dahl Demonstrate Seabasing Capability Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160725-20 Release Date: 7/25/2016 2:41:00 PM By Grady T. Fontana, Military Sealift Command Far East Public Affairs PACIFIC OCEAN (NNS) -- Military Sealift Command's (MSC) expeditionary transfer dock USNS Montford Point (T-ESD 1) and maritime prepositioning force (MPF) ship USNS Dahl (T-AKR 312) performed a "skin-to-skin" (S2S) maneuver to demonstrate MSC's unique seabasing capability, July 21-22. The event displayed the two ships' ability to transfer large cargo, such as vehicles, at sea. The S2S maneuver was achieved by the two ships connecting while Montford Point acted as a floating pier for a simulated offload. Montford Point is categorized as an expeditionary floating pier-at-sea. The ship is tasked to the Marine Corps to provide a pier-at-sea to move and transfer cargo from large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off (RO/RO) ships onto Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) vessels to provide seabasing capabilities for the Navy and the Marine Corps. Montford Point and Dahl are both part of Maritime Prepositioning Ships Squadron (MPSRON) 3. "Montford Point provides combatant commanders the ability from over the horizon to transfer and deliver personnel and equipment ashore to a limited or unavailable port," said Navy Capt. Eric C. Lindfors, commodore, MPSRON-3. "This ability provides a unique capability within the [U.S.] 7th Fleet area of responsibility, enabling instream operations from a variety of non-traditional locations." Though no equipment was transferred during this event, during a full demonstration Dahl can discharge equipment onto Montford Point through a connecting ramp. The equipment can then be loaded into LCACs for transfer to shore, further enhancing Marine Corps and naval integration. The two MSC ships conducted the two separate events in consecutive days, further displaying the potential routine nature of such an event when tasked during ideal conditions. In a S2S operation, the ships navigate alongside and are moored together. Once connected, the MPF ship lifts Montford Point's ramp with her shipboard crane and connects it to the MPF ship. Once the ramp is connected, vehicles and cargo can be rolled on and off with efficiency. A strong advantage for the pier-at-sea concept includes being able to move at will so as to not become a possible target to unfriendly forces. The makeshift pier can operate 25 miles off shore and still provide support for military services. When Montford Point is on mission, the ship submerges to about 40 feet while underway to the area of operations. Once on station it submerges to about 50 feet, so LCACs can maneuver right up on the mission deck to pick up cargo. This allows Montford Point to operate like a floating pier and will serve as a transfer point for Marine Corps amphibious landing forces. "An inherent challenge we face is purely a numbers game of two crews on Montford Point and two crews on each of the LMSRs she conducts operations with," said Lindfors. "Capturing the lessons learned from these quarterly events is critical to gaining efficiency, maintaining safety and ensuring our mariners have the proficiency needed when called upon." Montford Point's flexibility is critical for humanitarian response to natural disasters and for support to warfighters ashore. The size allows for 25,000 square feet of vehicle and equipment stowage space and 380,000 gallons of JP-5 fuel storage. MSC operates approximately 115 non-combatant, civilian-crewed ships that replenish U.S. Navy ships, conduct specialized missions, strategically preposition combat cargo at sea around the world and move military cargo and supplies used by deployed U.S. forces and coalition partners. MPSRON 3, operating in the Western Pacific, maintains tactical control of the 12 ships carrying afloat prepositioned U.S. military cargo for the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army, and U.S. Air Force. The squadron's mission is to enable force from the sea by providing swift and effective transportation of vital equipment and supplies for designated operations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Kerry urges ASEAN unity in South China Sea dispute Iran Press TV Mon Jul 25, 2016 5:41PM US Secretary of State John Kerry has urged Southeast Asian nations to explore diplomatic ways to ease tensions with China over the South China Sea following an international court ruling rejecting China's territorial claims. Kerry made the comments on Monday in Laos during a meeting with his counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Kerry "urged ASEAN to reach consensus and issue a joint statement on the arbitral tribunal's recent ruling on the South China Sea," the State Department said in a statement. Earlier this month, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that there was no legal basis for Beijing to claim historic rights to resources within much of the South China Sea. Kerry's remarks came after ASEAN was unable to agree on a joint statement criticizing China for its territorial expansion in the South China Sea. The State Department acknowledged that there was no consensus on the matter. Diplomats at the talks have said that Cambodia and Laos have been opposed to a strong statement against Beijing. Also on Monday, US National Security Adviser Susan Rice and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks over several issues concerning the two nations. In the meeting, Rice said ties between Washington and Beijing were set to be tested after the Permanent Court of Arbitration invalidated Beijing's vast claims in the disputed waters. Xi told Rice that he was committed to building a good bilateral relationship on "the basis of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation." China's territorial claims over the South China Sea overlap in parts with Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. Japan has its own territorial dispute with China in the sea. The United States has complained that Chinese planes and ships have performed "unsafe" maneuvers while shadowing American warships and aircraft in the South China Sea. However, China has criticized the US military presence in the Asia Pacific and suspects Washington's military drills with countries in the region are part of efforts to contain Beijing. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Philippine leader declares unilateral ceasefire with rebels Iran Press TV Mon Jul 25, 2016 12:18PM Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has declared a unilateral ceasefire with Maoist rebels, saying he wants to end decades of hostilities with the communist guerrillas. "Let us end these decades of ambuscades and skirmishes. We are going nowhere and it is getting bloodier by the day," said Duterte on Monday, adding, "To stop violence on the ground (and) restore peace, I am now announcing a unilateral ceasefire." Making his first "State of the Nation Address" before Congress, Duterte said he wants "permanent and lasting peace" with the guerillas before the end of his six-year term, which started on June 30. He urged rebel leaders to engage in efforts to restart peace talks. Negotiations have been underway between representatives of the government and rebels, with reports suggesting that a general agreement has been reached to resume peace talks. The two sides have also agreed to organize a meeting between Duterte and Jose Maria Sison, a rebel leader who is currently in self-exile in Europe. Reports say Sison will soon fly home to attend the meeting although official peace talks are expected next month in Norway. About 30,000 people have been killed since the communists started their insurgency in the Philippines in the 1960s. The military says the New People's Army, the communists' armed wing, has fewer than 4,000 gunmen today, down from a peak of 26,000 in the 1980s. Talks with the rebels collapsed in 2013 after the government of former president, Benigno Aquino, rejected to release some key rebel commanders. Duterte's reconciliation bid with the rebels comes as the Philippines is in the midst of a massive operation against drug dealers. The security in the Southeast Asian country has also been fragile due to recurrent attacks by militants of Abu Sayyaf, a group which has pledged allegiance to Daesh Takfiris. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Obama attacks 'unprepared' Trump over NATO remarks Iran Press TV Mon Jul 25, 2016 8:4AM US President Barack Obama says Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's recent remarks about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) indicate his "lack of preparedness" on foreign policy. Trump said last week that if he is elected president, the US would only provide aid to the allies who have "fulfilled their obligations to us," urging NATO members to either pay up for US support or take care of their own security. Speaking to CBS in an interview that was aired on Sunday, Obama called NATO "the most important alliance in the history of the world" in the face of Russia's "aggressive" behavior. "There is a big difference between challenging our European allies to keep up their defense spending, particularly at a time when Russia's been more aggressive and saying to them, 'You know what? We might not abide by the central tenet of the most important alliance in the history of the world'," the outgoing president said. NATO has been deploying troops and military equipment on its eastern frontier with Russia ever since cutting ties with Moscow in 2014. Asked about Russia's possible military response to NATO's military buildup, Trump said America might abandon a guarantee of protection to such countries. This breaches a treaty signed by NATO members that says an attack on one member state is an attack on all and that other states should come to aid of any member that comes under attack. Obama said the real estate magnate's remarks were "an indication of the lack of preparedness that he has been displaying when it comes to foreign policy." He used the opportunity to further promote presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's bid for the White House. "She is not always flashy. And there are better speech makers. But she knows her stuff," Obama said while describing Clinton as the best person for the job. Ever since launching his campaign, Trump has time and again questioned ties with NATO, calling on the US-led alliance's members to either pay up for Washington's support or spend more on their own security. He reiterated his call for the US to withdraw its support for NATO, saying the alliance's refusal to pay "what they're supposed to be paying" was "sad." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address home World Muslim Imam converts to Christianity in Uganda; Resulting persecution sees him lose family, home and business A former imam in eastern Uganda lost his family, home and business after his family and relatives found out he had become a Christian. The 53-year-old Kuluseni Iguru Tenywa of Budhagali village, Jinja District said he escaped through a back door of his home after hearing the plans of his 45-year-old brother-in-law, Isa Nsaja, and relatives who gathered outside his house on the night of June 27. "I heard people talking outside my house around 8 p.m., saying that they wanted to take away my life and said, 'We cannot watch the whole family turning to Christianity,'" he told Morning Star News. The father of four children, ages ranging from 10 to 17, said his conversion to Christianity enraged his relatives and even his wife, Fatiyah, who started referring to him as an infidel and refused to give him food. He said his relatives also tried to prevent him from running his business and ruined his red pepper plantation on June 6. Even after losing everything he once had, Tenywa said his family still attempted to hex him. "The family even tried to bewitch me," said Tenywa. "But God protected me." Tenywa, who attends Elim Church Budhagali, said Jesus rebuked an evil spirit that had been tormenting him for years. "I was prayed for in the power of Isa [Jesus] and invited him into my heart, which broke the strength of the evil spirit that was troubling me," he shared. "I remember my vision got blurred and I felt faint. The pastor authoritatively, using some commanding words in Isa's name, finally delivered me." According to the former imam, standing for what Jesus did for him gave him strength to resist his family and relatives who tried to talk him into turning back to Islam. The eastern African country witnessed increasing incidences of Christian persecutions at the hands of Muslim hardliners. A Muslim mob murdered a Christian woman in Naigobya village of Luuka District last month after refusing to allot her property for the building of a Muslim mosque. The Muslim in-laws of a Christian woman in Busandha village also in Luuka District poisoned to death her infant daughter for eating in the daytime of Ramadan. ASEAN Avoids Assertive Joint Statement on Beijing's South China Sea Claims Sputnik News 10:53 25.07.2016 The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) released a delayed joint statement on Monday that urged nations in the region to exercise self-restraint without making direct reference to their territorial row with China. VIENTIANE (Sputnik) The communique by ten foreign ministers was expected on Sunday, but local media reported that the nations were split over Beijing's claims to most of the South China Sea. In the end, the ministers agreed a mildly-worded statement that reaffirmed their commitment to "resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes <> through friendly consultations." They said they would exercise "self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes," including refraining from inhabiting the presently uninhabited reefs and islands of the South China Sea. "The Parties encourage other countries to respect the principles contained in the DOC [Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea]," the statement stressed. A consensus was required for the Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam to condemn China, which has strong ties with several of them. The statement came two weeks after a UN tribunal ruling rejected Beijing's sovereignty claims to more than 90 percent of the South China Sea, a vital international waterway through which more than half of global commercial shipping passes. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China Warns Japan: Stay Out of the South China Sea Sputnik News 02:55 25.07.2016(updated 02:56 25.07.2016) China on Sunday called on Japan to restrain from intervening in the South China Sea issue as it is not directly concerned in the dispute and has no right to accuse other states, considering its "shameful" history. Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida previously said that he would discuss the dispute over territorial claims in the strategic region with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi if he has a chance during the series of Foreign Ministers' meetings involving Asean and other Asian countries. China reacted angrily to Kishida's remarks, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang saying that the South China Sea arbitration by a UN-backed international panel based in the Hague was utterly and completely invalid. "Japan is not a party to the South China Sea issue, and considering its shameful history, it has no rights whatsoever to accuse China on the matter," Lu Kang said, as cited by Xinhua news agency. Earlier this month the Permanent Court of Arbitration found that China had no basis for its expansive claims to territorial waters of the South China through which roughly $5 trillion in international trade passes each year handing an emphatic legal victory to the Philippines. Lu Kang emphasized that Beijing's rejection of the court's ruling is "indeed in accordance with international law and the United Nation's Convention on the Law of the Sea". The South China Sea disputes involve both island and maritime claims among several sovereign states within the region. China claims most of the sea, but Brunei, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam all have rival claims. Non-claimants want the South China Sea to remain as international waters, with the United States conducting "freedom of navigation" operations. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Update: air strikes against Daesh 25 July 2016 British forces have continued to conduct air operations in the fight against Daesh Latest update - Wednesday 20 July Tornados bombed a Daesh position north of Mosul. - Thursday 21 July Tornados destroyed a terrorist strongpoint in northern Iraq. - Friday 22 July Typhoons eliminated a Daesh team operating a pair of mortars in the Euphrates valley. - Saturday 23 July a Reaper provided close support to Iraqi forces fighting in northern Iraq. - Sunday 24 July a Reaper supported Syrian moderate opposition forces engaged with Daesh along the Mar'a Line. Detail Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s, supported by a Voyager air refuelling tanker, patrolled over northern Iraq on Wednesday 20 July. North of Mosul, a Daesh-held building was identified in the path of a Kurdish advance. This was successfully targeted by Tornados using a Paveway IV guided bomb. Tornados again operated over northern Iraq on Thursday 21 July. A Paveway IV bomb attack destroyed a Daesh-held building, along with a terrorist vehicle, a few miles to the south of Bashiqah. On Friday 22 July, RAF Typhoon FGR4s flew an armed reconnaissance mission along the Euphrates valley. They identified and struck a Daesh mortar team on the northern bank of the river with a Paveway IV. Reaper remotely piloted aircraft have also continued to be very active in both their surveillance and attack roles over Iraq and Syria. A Reaper operated in close support of Iraqi ground forces in northern Iraq, around the Sharqat and Qayyarah areas, on Saturday 23 July. The Reaper's crew conducted a successful attack, using a Hellfire missile against a Daesh mortar team firing on the Iraqis. They also provided targeting support to several highly accurate strikes by both artillery and coalition fast jets, which destroyed a number of rocket launchers. The following day, another Reaper flew over northern Syria to support Syrian moderate opposition forces fighting Daesh terrorists along the so-called Mar'a Line. The Reaper used a Hellfire missile to destroy a terrorist position which had been firing at the Syrians. The Reaper then used its sensors to locate a second position, which was successfully struck by another coalition aircraft. Previous air strikes 1 June: Reapers were in action again, one patrolled the skies above Qayyarah, where a camouflaged set of loaded rocket launch rails were spotted and destroyed with a Hellfire missile. A second Reaper patrolled over eastern Syria and western Iraq, and located a terrorist check-point on the Iraqi side of the border, west of Al Qa'im, which was stopping the free movement of traffic. Again, a Hellfire missile was employed and the check-point successfully attacked. Two Tornado missions provided reconnaissance and close air support to Iraqi forces around Fallujah. One pair of Tornados used Paveway IVs to conduct simultaneous attacks on two Daesh-held buildings close to a canal to the south of the city; one building housed a terrorist sniper team, the other a recoilless anti-tank artillery piece. Both targets were destroyed by direct hits. The second Tornado flight successfully silenced a heavy-machine-gun positioned in a third Daesh strongpoint after it opened fire on the advancing Iraqi troops. 2 June: Three successive flights of Tornado GR4s and Typhoon FGR4s provided close air support to Iraqi units on the southern outskirts of the city. One Tornado flight conducted four attacks with Paveway IV guided bombs, striking a bunker and three teams of terrorists armed with an anti-tank gun, rocket-propelled grenades and a heavy machine-gun. A second Tornado mission delivered simultaneous attacks on two Daesh-held buildings, then a third bombing attack on a heavy machine-gun position that had opened fire on Iraqi troops. The Typhoon flight dealt with a further artillery piece, using a Paveway IV. In northern Iraq, another pair of Typhoons struck a group of terrorists spotted advancing towards peshmerga positions near Kisik, then headed to an area south-east of Mosul where they used three Paveways to attack more extremists mustering in and around a large warehouse. 3 June: Operations over southern Fallujah continued when a pair of Typhoons conducted Paveway attacks on two Daesh strongpoints which had opened fire on Iraqi forces with machine-guns and other weapons. Two Reaper remotely piloted aircraft patrolled over the city the following day, exploiting their long endurance and excellent surveillance capabilities to provide persistent overwatch for the Iraqi troops on the ground. During the course of Saturday, the Reapers delivered five attacks, using two GBU-12 guided bombs and three Hellfire missiles, against two machine-gun teams, two Daesh firing positions and a tunnel network. They also provided assistance to five other air strikes conducted by coalition fast jets on terrorist positions. 5 June: Tornados were again in action over southern Fallujah. A factory producing improvised truck-bombs was struck with a pair of Paveway IVs, destroying two vehicles that were being prepared for use, and two further attacks with Paveways accounted for two anti-tank weapons. 6 June: Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s continued to provide close air support to the Iraqi operation to liberate Fallujah. A coalition surveillance aircraft spotted a group of Daesh terrorists taking up position in a building to the west of the city, allowing them to be quickly targeted by the Typhoons using a Paveway IV guided bomb. In northern Iraq, intelligence had located a large truck-bomb factory near Mosul and two RAF Tornado GR4s armed with 1000lb Enhanced Paveway II guided bombs were tasked with its destruction. A single EPW II destroyed the factory. 7 June: Operations around Fallujah continued when Tornados successfully attacked a weapons and ammunition stockpile hidden to the south-east of the city. 8 June: Tornados conducted three attacks to support Iraqi ground forces engaged in firefights with terrorists inside Fallujah. Despite the close proximity of the Iraqi forces, the GR4s were able to deliver simultaneous attacks with Paveway IVs against two strongpoints housing Daesh machine-gun and artillery teams. They then struck a further machine-gun position when it also opened fire on the Iraqis. Typhoons also contributed to the Fallujah operations, using Paveway IVs against two groups of Daesh extremists armed with a light machine-gun and rocket-propelled grenades. In northern Iraq, another Typhoon mission successfully attacked a Daesh-held building east of Mosul, whilst a Reaper used a GBU-12 bomb to demolish a building where another coalition surveillance aircraft had observed terrorists unloading supplies. A second Reaper patrolled over Syria and employed a Hellfire missile to destroy a Daesh truck travelling at speed on the open road south of Raqqa. 9 June: Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s continued to provide close air support to Iraqi ground forces fighting to liberate Fallujah. One Tornado flight conducted successful attacks using Paveway IV guided bombs against four Daesh-held buildings from which terrorists were directing machine-gun fire at the Iraqi forces. A second Tornado mission used a Paveway IV to destroy a building west of the city, within which a terrorist armed vehicle was reported by nearby Iraqi troops to be concealed. 10 June: A Reaper worked in close conjunction with other coalition aircraft to engage Daesh rocket and mortar teams operating near Qayyarah. The Reaper provided support to two coalition strikes on rocket positions, then used its own Hellfire missiles and a GBU-12 guided bomb against a further set of rocket launchers and a mortar. A Typhoon FGR4 flight was also operating near Qayyarah, and they conducted attacks against five targets: three buildings where Daesh extremists had been spotted gathering and two more rocket launcher positions. North-east of Mosul, another pair of Typhoons destroyed a heavy machine-gun team with a Paveway IV. To the south, Tornados again provided close air support over Fallujah, using their Paveways against three strongpoints which housed two machine-gun teams and a group of terrorists armed with rocket-propelled grenades. 11 June: An RAF Reaper continued to hunt terrorist rocket and mortar teams around Qayyarah, conducting three attacks with Hellfire missiles. 12 June: Another Reaper patrolled over Qayyarah, and also fired three Hellfires, its targets were two terrorist vehicles and a group of Daesh fighters. Typhoons were also active nearby, and used Paveway IVs to attack two groups of terrorists caught in the open and two Daesh-held buildings. A Typhoon mission also joined Tornados operating over Fallujah; the Typhoons used one Paveway IV against a machine-gun position, whilst the Tornados delivered five very precise attacks in very demanding circumstances, with Iraqi troops extremely close to the terrorist targets. Paveway IVs were used to destroy a rocket team, an anti-tank gun, a heavily armed pick-up truck and a heavy machine-gun team, whilst a Brimstone missile silenced a light machine-gun. During Sunday night, a pair of Tornados armed with 1000lb Enhanced Paveway II guided bombs conducted a carefully planned strike on a factory to the south-west of Qayyarah where truck-bombs were being built by Daesh. Four EPW IIs hit their targets accurately and initial reports suggest the mission was a success. 13 June: A pair of Typhoons assisted Iraqi troops as they engaged in very close combat inside Fallujah. Our aircraft delivered four precision attacks, all with Paveway IV guided bombs, that destroyed five strongpoints defended by Daesh terrorists armed with machine-guns, rocket-propelled grenades and an anti-tank gun. 14 June: The Typhoons continued operations over Fallujah, and again worked very closely with the Iraqi units hitting five terrorist positions including sniper and machine-gun teams. In northern Iraq, around Qayyarah, a second Typhoon flight and a Reaper supported Iraqi and Kurdish units. The Typhoons attacked a Daesh-held building with a Paveway IV, while the Reaper conducted four attacks: a GBU-12 guided bomb was used against a group of terrorists gathered at a weapons stockpile, and three mortars were attacked in turn with Hellfire missiles. The Reaper also tracked the arrival of a truck-bomb and observed it being concealed inside a garage this surveillance enabled a successful attack to then be delivered by a coalition aircraft which destroyed the vehicle. 15 June: Two Typhoon flights saw action over Fallujah on Wednesday, and between them they conducted seven successful attacks with Paveway IVs. Again all were in very close support of Iraqi ground forces, accounting for terrorist teams armed with heavy weapons, rocket-propelled grenades, and a 23mm anti-aircraft gun. 16 June: With Iraqi forces making steady progress pushing into Fallujah, two flights of Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s contributed to the coalition's air support. Our aircraft successfully attacked four Daesh machine-gun positions that were identified by the Iraqi ground forces, using Paveway IV guided bombs. 17 June: An RAF Reaper patrolling over northern Iraq, north of Bayji. The Reaper's crew identified a large mortar and a Daesh truck, both were destroyed by Hellfire missiles. 18 June: A second Reaper operated in the same area, supporting an offensive by Iraqi forces. It used four Hellfires and a GBU-12 guided bomb to successfully engage three armed pick-up trucks which were firing at the Iraqi troops, a fourth vehicle and a trench position. In north-west Iraq, in Harunah, two pairs of Tornado GR4s, armed with eight 1000lb Enhanced Paveway IIs conducted a pre-planned strike on a complex of buildings which had been identified by intelligence as a headquarters, accommodation and weapons facility for Daesh foreign fighters. All four target buildings were destroyed. Another Reaper patrolled over Syria and attacked a Daesh vehicle south-west of Manbij, destroying it with a Hellfire missile. 19 June: Typhoons were in action over Fallujah, providing close air support to Iraqi troops who had penetrated to the city centre. Six terrorist strongpoints housing machine-gun, artillery and rocket-propelled grenade teams were struck in a series of precision Paveway attacks. In northern Iraq, a Reaper used a pair of Hellfires to engage two groups of Daesh extremists north of Bayji, while Tornados used a Brimstone missile against a third group in the same area, and a Paveway IV against a rocket-launcher north of Mosul. 20 June: An armed reconnaissance patrol by Tornados over eastern Syria used a Brimstone missile to attack a truck-bomb hidden under a tarpaulin between two ruined buildings north of Dayr az Zawr. The Brimstone scored a direct hit; a massive explosion followed, which confirmed how heavily the vehicle had been laden with explosives. Further west, near Raqqah, a Reaper conducted three attacks with Hellfire missiles against a Daesh vehicle and extremists on foot. Typhoons and Tornados were again active over Fallujah, and used Paveway IV bombs to destroy four Daesh machine-gun posts engaged in very close combat with the Iraqi security forces. Since the start of the operation to liberate Fallujah, RAF aircraft have prosecuted some 96 targets in and around the city and neighbouring areas in the Euphrates valley. 21 June: Reaper patrols north of Bayji continued, and five attacks were conducted in support of Iraqi offensive operations. Hellfires accounted for two supply vehicles and a truck armed with an anti-aircraft gun, as well as an observation post dug-in on a ridgeline. A GBU-12 guided bomb destroyed a Daesh mortar team, spotted as they fired at an Iraqi position. A Typhoon flight operated further north, north-west of Mosul, where they used a Paveway IV to hit a rocket-launcher site. 22 June: Typhoon FGR4s, based at RAF Akrotiri and supported by a Voyager air refuelling tanker, flew close air support missions over Fallujah. They successfully attacked three Daesh strongpoints with Paveway IV guided bombs, the targets had been identified by Iraqi ground forces as being manned by machine-gun and rocket-propelled grenade teams. North of Bayji, Tornado GR4s and a Reaper supported an Iraqi offensive operation. The Tornados employed one Paveway IV and three Brimstone missiles to destroy four Daesh fighting positions along a defensive embankment, whilst the Reaper used a single GBU-12 guided bomb to destroy two more positions. 23 June: A second Reaper continued support in the area into Thursday and used a Hellfire missile to eliminate a terrorist spotted with a man portable surface-to-air missile. Typhoons continued their support over Fallujah as well, conducting a Paveway IV attack on a machine-gun team. Another Typhoon flight operated over northern Syria, close to the Turkish border and destroyed two Daesh-held buildings several miles east of Azaz. 24 June: A Reaper supported an Iraqi offensive near Sharqat, west of Kirkuk. Its crew used a Hellfire missile to destroy an engineering vehicle which was being used to create defences ahead of the Iraqi advance. Tornados patrolled further north and employed a Paveway IV against a mortar position north-west of Mosul. Typhoons conducted further operations over Fallujah and were called in by the Iraqi army to destroy two machine-gun positions on the northern outskirts of the city. A total of 101 targets have been successfully prosecuted by the RAF in Fallujah and neighbouring areas since the start of the Iraqi operation to liberate the city. 25 June: A Reaper again on patrol near Sharqat, and this aircraft delivered three successful attacks with Hellfire missiles against a truck, a group of terrorists, and a van which Daesh had been seen loading with weapons and ammunition. 26 June: Intelligence had determined that Daesh were using a large concrete bunker in western Iraq as a weapons facility. Due to the massive construction, built during the Saddam era, it was decided to use four Stormshadow missiles against it, as the weapon has particularly good capabilities against such a challenging target. The missiles were launched by two Tornados, all four Stormshadows scored direct hits and penetrated deep within the bunker. Also in western Iraq, south-east of Hit, a Typhoon flight used a single Paveway IV to destroy a much smaller bunker built by Daesh south-east of Hit. In northern Iraq, a Reaper provided close air support near Sharqat for the third successive day, using its Hellfires to attack a vehicle, a group of terrorists on foot, and a team planting improvised explosive devices. 27 June: While Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s conducted reconnaissance missions to gather intelligence on Daesh activity, Typhoon FGR4s and Reaper remotely piloted aircraft provided support to both Syrian democratic forces and Iraqi units. The same day, in Syria, a pair of Typhoons conducted a successful attack with Paveway IV guided bombs against a Daesh strongpoint on the south-western outskirts of Manbij. 28 June: Typhoons executed a similar attack against a mortar position close to Manbij. Over Iraq, a Reaper supported Iraqi ground forces near Sharqat in the north of the country. The Reaper used Hellfire missiles against two groups of extremists caught in the open, including a machine-gun team engaged in combat with the Iraqi troops. 29 June: Typhoons and Reapers conducted a number of attacks against Daesh terrorists fleeing in the face of Iraqi operations in Fallujah. A Typhoon struck two vehicles and a large group of extremists with Paveway IV bombs west of Fallujah and two Reapers destroyed a further four vehicles and a group of fighters, using Hellfire missiles and a GBU-12 guided bomb. One Reaper observed the Daesh vehicles refusing to stop and pick up fellow armed extremists trying to escape on foot. Another Reaper was active near Sharqat, where it destroyed two vehicles with Hellfire missiles and attacked a group of terrorists with a GBU-12 bomb. 30 June: With Daesh forces continuing to flee in defeat from their former stronghold of Fallujah, Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s patrolled over the desert of Anbar province and located a group of terrorist vehicles a number of miles to the south-west of Ramadi. Attacks with four Brimstone missiles and a Paveway IV guided bomb successfully accounted for five trucks. In northern Iraq, a pair of Typhoons used Paveway IVs to bomb two Daesh mortar teams some 25 miles south-east of Mosul, while a Reaper conducted two attacks with Hellfire missiles against terrorists fighting Iraqi forces near Qayyarah. 1 July: The following day, Tornados used a Paveway IV to destroy a Daesh defensive position in the Qayyarah area. 3 July: Two RAF Reapers provided close air support to Iraqi security forces mounting an offensive near Sharqat. The Reapers gave targeting and surveillance assistance to three air strikes by coalition fast jets and conducted seven attacks of their own. They used six Hellfire missiles and a GBU-12 guided bomb against various groups of Daesh extremists engaged in close combat with the Iraqi troops, and a truck. In north-western Iraq, a Tornado flight used a Paveway IV to destroy a Daesh-held building near Tal Afar, while Typhoons successfully targeted a tunnel and trench network south-east of Hit, striking with two Paveway IVs. 4 July: A pair of Typhoon FGR4s used Paveway IV guided bombs to destroy a number of rocket launchers near Qayyarah. The Typhoons then moved further north and attacked a terrorist muster point some 25 miles south-east of Mosul. 5 July: Typhoons were again active near Qayyarah where they conducted two successful Paveway IV attacks that destroyed a mortar team and a nearby ammunition stockpile. The Typhoons were two of the fifty coalition aircraft controlled over Syria and Iraq that day by an RAF Sentry E-3D, making its regular contribution to the coalition's command and control of a round-the-clock air campaign, and were, as ever, supported by a Voyager air refuelling tanker. 6 July: Tornado GR4s used Paveway IVs to strike a river crossing near Qayyarah which had been improvised by Daesh following successful coalition attacks against their supply routes. Meanwhile, a Reaper patrolled near Sharqat in support of Iraqi ground forces, and used Hellfire missiles against a motorcycle mounted terrorist observation team. It then struck a group of extremists identified manoeuvring in the open nearby. 7 July: In the early hours of Thursday, an RAF Reaper assisted Iraqi ground forces operating near Sharqat in the north of the country. The Reaper's crew conducted two successful precision attacks using Hellfire missiles against two small groups of Daesh extremists firing on the Iraqi troops from a fortified position. Having located a larger group of terrorists, the Reaper then provided targeting assistance to an attack by coalition fast jets. In northern Iraq, Tornado GR4s dropped a Paveway IV guided bomb which destroyed a heavy position 15 miles east of Mosul. Typhoon FGR4s meanwhile patrolled to the north of Ramadi and used a Paveway IV against a group of Daesh fighters concealed in a tree line. 8 July: A Reaper again supported operations around Sharqat. It conducted four attacks, with three Hellfires and one GBU-12 guided bomb, against several groups of terrorists manoeuvring in a gully, and an ammunition truck which was being loaded with rocket-propelled grenades. Over Anbar province, Typhoons maintained their patrols along the Euphrates north and west of Ramadi and supported an Iraqi unit engaged in very close combat with three Daesh heavy machine-gun and rocket-propelled grenade teams. Despite the proximity of the Iraqi troops, the three positions were successfully struck with Paveway IVs. 9 July: A Reaper employed a Hellfire to destroy a truck carrying a Daesh group north of Bayji. 10 July: Tornados conducted an armed reconnaissance mission in the Mosul area. North-west of the city, they used Paveway IVs to attack a command and control post, a mortar team, and a weapons cache, then used a Brimstone missile to destroy a second weapons stockpile. A second Tornado flight operated over Anbar province conducted four attacks with Brimstone missiles to destroy a group of engineering vehicles, which Daesh had mustered to construct positions 35 miles south-west of Ramadi. 11 July: Tornado GR4s conducted an armed reconnaissance patrol in the Sharqat area in support of Iraqi ground forces. Our aircraft were able to identify a mortar position and delivered a successful attack using a Paveway IV guided bomb. 12 July: Patrols by Paveway-armed Typhoon FGR4s continued over northern Iraq. One flight destroyed a heavily armed Daesh truck near Qayyarah, taking great care to avoid causing damage to a nearby mosque. Near Tal Afar a second Typhoon mission struck another armed truck concealed in a covered parking bay a large secondary explosion followed as the vehicle's cargo of ammunition detonated. That night close to the Iraqi border with Syria, a meeting of Daesh commanders was known to be in progress at Kerabilah and a pair of Tornados conducted an attack with a salvo of four Paveway IVs that completely demolished the building. The Tornados then flew north-east to the area north of Bayji and used Brimstone missiles to destroy two terrorist truck-bombs. 13 July: A Tornado mission also used Brimstones to destroy two 120mm heavy mortars some distance from Hit, whilst Typhoons destroyed a Daesh strong-point south of Sinjar using Paveway IVs. 14 July: Two Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s patrolling the Mosul area spotted Daesh personnel using a truck-mounted crane to perform maintenance work on an armoured vehicle. Paveway IV guided bombs destroyed both vehicles with direct hits. 15 July: Typhoons operating further west, conducted a Paveway bomb attack on a mortar position concealed in a tree-line a number of miles south of Sinjar. 17 July: Typhoons also patrolled over Anbar province in western Iraq. Some miles north-west of Ramadi, they observed a vehicle being loaded with weapons from a terrorist storehouse. A Paveway IV destroyed both the store and the supply truck. 18 July: Again in Anbar Province, Typhoons observed terrorist activity around a tent hidden in a dense palm grove. An attack with a Paveway IV not only struck the terrorists but also set fire to two stockpiles of ammunition and equipment and damaged a Daesh truck parked nearby, again under the trees. 19 July: Tornado GR4s used a Paveway IV against a mortar position near Qayyarah, while Typhoons employed a Paveway bomb to attack another mortar position south-east of Mosul. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address India Hopes Nepal PM Resignation Will Pave Way for Warmer Ties by Anjana Pasricha July 25, 2016 India hopes the resignation of Nepal's Prime Minister, K.P. Oli, will pave the way for a restoration of warm ties with New Delhi. Oli had steered the Himalayan nation closer to China, which has been trying to increase its influence in South Asia. However, analysts say Beijing's growing footprint in Nepal may be there to stay. Oli resigned on Sunday just before a no confidence motion that could have toppled him. The two large groups that pushed for his removal, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) and the Nepali Congress are expected to form a share power-sharing government with Maoist chief Prachanda becoming prime minister. During Oli's nine-month tenure, "China's influence has definitely increased," said Yubaraj Ghimire, an independent political commentator in Kathmandu. Oli took power when anti-India sentiment was running high as Nepal blamed New Delhi for a five-month border blockade by ethnic protestors that created massive shortages and hardship in the landlocked country. As the blockade turned the spotlight on landlocked Nepal's critical dependence on India, rival China sent some fuel to ease shortages despite the difficult Himalayan terrain. During a visit by Oli to Beijing in March, he signed energy supply and trade agreements and China agreed to allow Nepal to conduct foreign trade via its ports. Beijing also offered to improve road and explore building rail links over the high mountains to improve transportation links, which are minimal. China has already made substantial investments in infrastructure projects in Nepal. Before resigning, Oli expressed concern that projects he began could founder. Some of his supporters blamed New Delhi for the political jockeying that forced him to step down. In the Indian capital, Oli's resignation has raised hopes about reversing the erosion in New Delhi's influence. "The anxiety that Nepal is drifting too close to China would perhaps be moderated," said Sukh Deo Muni, an expert in South Asian affairs at the Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses in New Delhi. However, he cautions, "It would be foolish in New Delhi to expect that the Nepalese are going to give up on the China front. Therefore, a lot will be done by Delhi itself to bridge its alienation gap with Nepal." Political commentators in Kathmandu said while a new leader might restore a more balanced foreign policy, he will also continue build strong ties with China as anti-India sentiment is still high. Many were angry with India for putting pressure on the Nepalese government to address the grievances of the Madhesi community, who led the border protests, complaining of insufficient representation in the country's new constitution. "The thing about China is that it directly operates through the government, it does not encourage anti-government activity," said Yubaraj Ghimire. On the other hand, he said India has often been slammed in Nepal for meddling in the tiny country's affairs. Analyst Muni admits India faces a tough task to restore its once-dominant influence in Nepal. "It is a new country, it is a young country, it is an aspirant country. The whole concept of blockade has so strongly alienated young people of Nepal that you will find hard work to be done to win them back," he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Daesh claims deadly attack in Germany's Ansbach Iran Press TV Mon Jul 25, 2016 5:7PM The Daesh Takfiri terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the latest attack on people in southern Germany, saying the attacker, believed to be a Syrian refugee, was a recruit fighting for the Takfiri group. Daesh said on the Amaq news agency, which is affiliated to the group, on Monday that the 27-year-old Syrian refugee who killed himself and injured 15 people outside a cafe in the city of Ansbach in the German state of Bavaria a day earlier was member of the group who acted "in response to calls to target nations in the [so-called US-led] coalition fighting" the Takfiris in the Middle East. Germany has been part of the co-called multi-national task force claiming to fight Daesh in Iraq and Syria. The coalition, which works under the leadership of the United States, has been carrying out air strikes against positions of Daesh in Syria despite objections raised by the Syrian government. Bavarian state interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, said Monday that authorities found a video on the mobile of the Syrian attacker showing he pledged allegiance to Daesh. "A video made by the assailant was found on his mobile phone in which he threatened an attack," said Herrmann, adding, "After that he announced ... that he pledged allegiance to (Daesh leader) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi." The attacker said in the video that the assault was "an act of revenge against Germans," because of their fight against Daesh, the official added. Officials had said earlier that the Ansbach attacker, who is yet to be identified, faced imminent deportation to Bulgaria, where he was first registered as an asylum seeker. It was the second attack in a week in Germany for which the Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility. Last Monday, a teenager, identified as an Afghan asylum seeker who wielded an axe and a knife, wounded four passengers on a regional train, before injuring a passerby. The asylum seeker, whom the officials said could be a Pakistani national, was killed by the police. Meanwhile, German authorities have denied that two other attacks in the country which took place over the past days had any links to terror organizations. The deadliest attack of all came on Friday when a teenager opened fire at people shopping at a mall in the city of Munich, killing nine and injuring more than 35 others. That was followed by another machete attack in the city of Reutlingen southwest of Germany, which led to the killing of a woman while two others were injured. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address FBI, Congress To Probe Possible Russian Link To DNC E-Mail Hack July 25, 2016 The top Democrat on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee says the committee has been briefed on a reported hack into the Democratic National Committee's e-mail system and would seek information about the origin of the attack -- including a possible connection to Russia or other countries. Representative Adam Schiff (Democrat-California) said on July 25 that "if the hack is linked to Russian actors, it would not be the first time cyber intrusions linked to the Kremlin and its supporters have sought to influence the political process in other countries." Schiff's remarks came shortly after the FBI on July 25 confirmed that it is investigating the hack. Robby Mook, the campaign manager for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, said he thinks "Russian state actors" may have been involved in the leak of party e-mails in order to help her Republican rival, Donald Trump, who has said he would seek to improve ties with Moscow if elected. The director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, has said that U.S. officials have seen indications of foreign hackers spying on U.S. presidential candidates and that they expect more cyberthreats against the campaigns. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov would not comment on allegations that Russia was behind the leaked e-mails in a bid to support the Trump campaign. Instead, Peskov pointed to statements from Trump's campaign that dismissed the allegations. But Clinton's campaign on July 25 stood firmly behind their claims of Russian involvement. Mook said he does not "think it's coincidental" that the e-mails were released "on the eve" of the Democratic National Convention that begins in Philadelphia on July 25. He told CNN late on July 24 that there is "evidence Russian state actors broke into the DNC, stole those e-mails, and there are experts saying they are releasing these e-mails for the purpose of helping Donald Trump." The Virginia-based cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said last month that the DNC asked it to investigate a suspected penetration of its systems that began as early as last summer. Crowdstrike said it found evidence that two hacking groups tied to the Russian state were involved. The Trump campaign rejected Mook's suggestion of Russian involvement on behalf of the Republican candidate, who has said he would seek rapprochement with the Kremlin if elected to the White House. Ties between the two countries have plunged to Cold War-level lows following Moscow's forcible annexation of Ukraine's Crimea territory in 2014 and its backing for armed separatists in eastern Ukraine. In a statement to The Washington Post, Trump's campaign called Mook's assertion "a joke." "This shows that Hillary Clinton will do and say anything to win the election and hold onto power in the rigged system," Jason Miller, a senior communications adviser for Trump, told the newspaper in the statement. The trove of more than 19,000 hacked e-mails published by Wikileaks show Democratic National Committee (DNC) staffers favoring Clinton over rival Bernie Sanders during the primaries, angering more progressive factions of the party. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced later on July 24 she was resigning following the revelation the DNC had not given the candidates a level playing field. One leaked e-mail showed a committee official deliberating about whether Sanders may be an atheist and whether this could be leveraged against him. Wasserman Schultz said she would step down as DNC chairwoman "at the end of this convention." With reporting by CNN, AP, AFP, Reuters, Time.com, and The Washington Post Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/fbi-congress- to-probe-dnc-email-hack/27879700.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IS Claims Responsibility for Normandy Church Attack by VOA News July 26, 2016 Islamic State has claimed two of its "soldiers" carried out Tuesday's attack on a Catholic Church in Normandy, France, where they killed a priest after taking him hostage at knife-point. The United States condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the "horrific" attack and offered condolences to the family and friends of the murdered priest, Father Jacques Hamel, and parishioners of the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said "France and the United States share a commitment to protecting religious liberty for those of all faiths, and today's violence will not shake that commitment." French President Francois Hollande visited the scene of the attack in the northern town Tuesday and said the attackers had claimed allegiance IS before being shot dead by police. "Daesh has declared war on us. We must fight this war by all means, while respecting the rule of law," Hollande said, using an Arabic name for IS. French security officials said the two attackers slit the 84 year old priest's throat before police were able to intervene. Hollande denounced the killing as a "vile terrorist attack." Police said another person who was taken hostage at the church is "between life and death" following the attack. Police said the identities of the attackers are not yet known. Pope condemns attack Pope Francis condemned the attack on a Roman Catholic church. Through Vatican spokesman Reverend Federico Lombardi, the pope said the attack is particularly difficult to understand "because this horrific violence took place in a church, a sacred place in which the love of God is announced." French Prime Minister Manuel Valls expressed condolences for the victims of what he called "a barbaric attack on a church." He added, "The whole of France and all Catholics are wounded. We will stand together." The church is located about 104 kilometers north of Paris, where in November members of IS killed 130 people during coordinated attacks on the city. Country targeted by militants Over the past 19 months, France has been the target of two other major terrorist attacks. In January 2015, there were deadly assaults on the offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hedbo and other public places around Paris, killing 17 people. In the southern city of Nice, 84 people were killed on July 14 by a man who drove a truck through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day while firing a handgun. Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Xi calls on China, U.S. to respect each other's core interests People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 20:23, July 25, 2016 BEIJING, July 25 -- President Xi Jinping on Monday called on China and the United States to effectively handle differences and respect each other's core interests. Xi made the remarks when meeting with U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. China-U.S. common interests outweigh their differences, Xi said, noting that both sides needed more mutual trust and cooperation. The goal of China's development is to benefit its more than 1.3 billion people, Xi said, reiterating that China has no intention to challenge the present international rules and order and it will never seek hegemony. Xi called on both sides to expand economic, trade and investment cooperation, as well as cooperation in climate change and international and regional affairs to make pragmatic cooperation a"ballast" in China-U.S. ties. Rice said the United States agreed to work with China to strengthen mutual trust, enhance pragmatic cooperation and manage issues of difference through close communication. Rice is visiting China from July 24 to 27. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China Sentences Former Top General to Life in Prison by VOA News July 25, 2016 China's former top general has been sentenced to life in prison on bribery charges, a move that comes as President Xi Jinping attempts to consolidate power and tighten his grip on the world's largest military. Guo Boxiong was also stripped of his rank and forced to give all of his assets to the government, according to the official Xinhua News Agency The 74 -year-old Guo was once vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and a member of the Communist Party of China's Politburo, the party's main policymaking committee. Few details were immediately available, but state media reported prosecutors had proof that Guo and his family leveraged his influence to accept bribes and arrange favorable assignments for others. Hong Kong's South China Morning Post quoted an unnamed military source as saying Guo had taken the equivalent of more than $12 million in bribes. Guo is one of the most powerful people to fall in Xi's anti-corruption drive. His prosecution had been expected since last year, when his son, Major General Guo Zhenggang, was investigated for corruption. Some top generals are believed to have accumulated wealth through acts of corruption and they are believed to have created morale and combat readiness issues in the People's Liberation Army. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Will Meet Doom If It Ignites Second Korean War: Spokesman for Foreign Ministry of DPRK Korean Central News Agency of DPRK via Korea News Service (KNS) Pyongyang, July 25 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK released the following statement on Monday: The DPRK, who won a victory in the confrontation of rifles and A bombs in the war ignited by the U.S. in the1950s thanks to the Juche-based war methods and leadership of President Kim Il Sung, has registered a series of victories in an all-out stand-off with the U.S., demonstrating its might as an invincible nuclear power, a power with elite army, under the Songun guidance of leader Kim Jong Il and Marshal Kim Jong Un. Much water has flown under the bridge since the hard-fought war in the 1950s but the U.S. remains unchanged in its wild ambition to invade the DPRK. The U.S. has persisted in its arms buildup, war drills and military provocations on the Korean peninsula, seized with its invariable scenario to stifle the DPRK and dominate Asia and the world, far from drawing a lesson from the serious political and military defeats it sustained in the past Korean war. It dared hurt the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK, not content with escalating harsh sanctions and pressure upon it while massively introducing various strategic nuclear strike means and latest war hardware into south Korea. While stepping up the moves to deploy THAAD, the U.S. is busy staging ever more undisguised war drills. Despite the international community's concern and denunciation of the its saber-rattling pushing the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of a war, the U.S. is mulling staging Ulji Freedom Guardian joint military drills targeting the DPRK in August in league with the south Korean puppet forces. If the U.S. opts for igniting the second Korean war in defiance of the strategic position of the DPRK and the trend of the times, it will never escape its final doom with no one left to sign a surrender document. -0- NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address home US Mississippi fights for religious freedom bill; Appeal is filed U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves may have struck down the religious freedom bill minutes before it was to take effect on July 1, but the fight is not yet over. Drew Snyder, who represents Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, filed a motion early this month in the U.S. District Court that he would be appealing the judge's decision. The motion also asked that Reeves stay his preliminary injunction, pending appeal, according to The Clarion-Ledger. The religious freedom law, or House Bill 1523, gives government employees and businesses the right to refuse services, such as those involving same-sex marriage, that would violate their beliefs while ensuring that those who seek the services can obtain them elsewhere. For example, state clerks can have the freedom to not issue a marriage license to gay couples. This way, they can still practice their convictions without being forced by the law to oppose their deeply held beliefs. The religious freedom bill was supposed to take effect on July 1, but Reeves blocked the bill through an injunction issued late evening of June 30, just minutes before midnight. Reeves said the bill favored certain religious beliefs over others, violating the Equal Protection Clause. "The State has put its thumb on the scale to favor some religious beliefs over others," Reeves wrote. "Showing such favor tells 'nonadherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and ... adherents that they are insiders, favored members of the political community.'a" Bryant expressed disappointment over Reeves' decision and said HB 1523 merely gives "religious accommodations granted by many other states and federal law," as reported by The Clarion-Ledger. Snyder said HB 1523 is constitutional and that the court "erred" by not allowing section 3(1)(a) to be enforced. "Although we respect this court and its decision, we believe that the court's preliminary-injunction order is unlikely to survive appellate review," Snyder added. Meanwhile, investigations revealed that the bill was drafted with the help of Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit organization that advocates for people's right to live according to their faith. Germany Considers Army Role in Terrorism Clampdown Sputnik News 15:57 25.07.2016(updated 16:46 25.07.2016) Germany is considering loosening parts of its constitution and allowing for the deployment of the military across the country in an effort to protect its citizens from terrorism after the fourth attacks in the space of a week killing ten and injuring dozens more. Following the Second World War, Germany's new constitution laid down strict rules of the deployment of the military the Bundeswehr both abroad and within Germany. The issue is hugely sensitive and a change to the constitution may be required to deploy the forces. The interior ministry is also coming under pressure to improve its domestic intelligence agencies and police amid growing concern that the migrant crisis has left Germany open to attacks. More than a million migrants arrived in Germany in 2015, especially after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country's doors were open to Syrian refugees. Four Attacks A 27-year-old Syrian man, who was denied asylum in Germany a year ago, blew himself up on July 24 outside a music festival in Ansbach, southern Germany, injuring 12 people in the country's fourth violent attack on members of the public in less than a week. Also on June 24, a 21-year-old Syrian refugee was arrested after killing a pregnant woman and wounding two people with a machete in the southwestern city of Reutlingen, near Stuttgart. The 18-year-old German-Iranian gunman killed nine people in a shopping mall in Munich on June 22 injuring dozens more. On June 18, a 17-year-old youth who had sought asylum in Germany was shot dead by police after wounding five people with an axe on a train near Wuerzburg, also in Bavaria. He was initially thought to be Afghan but federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has since said he may have been from Pakistan. Thomas Strobl, the interior minister for the state of Baden-Wurttemburg, said that the Bundeswehr should be deployed, but under police command. "Should we however have a large-scale severe terror situation, then we must also deploy the Bundeswehr," he told the Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper. The German Interior Minister, Thomas de Maiziere, told the Funke media group that internal security was first and foremost the role of the police but the constitution did allow the Bundeswehr to assist in situations of extreme danger. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran allows no country to decide on its missile program: Def. Min. ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency Tue / 26 July 2016 / 08:04 TEHRAN (ISNA)- Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan says the Islamic Republic will not allow any country to make decisions on its missile program. "Iran's missile program has nothing to do with the US and other countries and no country is allowed to decide for the Islamic Republic's missile program," Dehqan told reporters on Monday. He added that some countries are using the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed last July's nuclear agreement reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as a pretext to take measures against Iran's missile program. Under the JCPOA and Resolution 2231, Iran has made no commitment or concession, even conditionally, which would halt the Islamic Republic's defensive program, he said. Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany started implementing the JCPOA on January 16. Resolution 2231 adopted on July 20, 2015 provides for the termination of the provisions of previous Security Council resolutions on the Iranian nuclear program and establishes specific restrictions that apply to all states without exception. The resolution calls upon Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology. The US claims that Iran's missile tests violate the UN Security Council Resolution 2231. Dehqan emphasized that the fuss made over Iran's missile tests is merely part of the propaganda campaign in the US ahead of the country's presidential election in November. "Such fault-finding is also a response to the demands of the Zionist regime (of Israel) and reactionary Arab governments led by Saudi Arabia," the Iranian defense minister said. It has been proven to different countries that the Iranian nation acts in accordance with its interests and will pay the necessary price for them, he added. "The Islamic establishment determines its own national security and interests and will make decisions on how to defend its national security," Dehqan said, emphasizing that Iran will equip and prepare itself in accordance with potential threats and accepts no limitations in this regard. The Iranian defense minister made the remarks after United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said earlier in July that Iran's ballistic missile launches "are not consistent with the constructive spirit" of the JCPOA. "I call upon Iran to refrain from conducting such ballistic missile launches since they have the potential to increase tensions in the region," the UN chief wrote in his first biannual report to the 15-member Security Council. Iran has warned that it can restore all those aspects of its nuclear program that it has agreed to limit under the JCPOA if it is violated by the six countries. End Item NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Bombing kills 18, injures 23 in eastern Iraq Iran Press TV Mon Jul 25, 2016 6:46AM At least 18 people have lost their lives and 23 others sustained injuries in a powerful explosion in a town in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala near the border with Iran. Security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the bomb attack took place in the town of al-Khalis, located roughly 15 kilometers (9 miles) northwest of the provincial capital city of Baqubah, on Monday morning. The head of the Provincial Council, Omar Maan al-Korawi, said a car rigged with explosives was detonated near the entrance to the Department of Agriculture in the town. No individual or militant group has claimed responsibility for the act of violence, yet. The development came only a day after a bomber attacked a security checkpoint in the Shia-majority district of Kadhimiyah, north of the capital, Baghdad, killing at least 10 civilians and four policemen. A police officer said at least 31 people were also wounded in the attack. Latest figures released by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq show a total of 662 Iraqis were killed and 1,457 others injured in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in June. According to the UN mission, the number of civilian fatalities stood at 382. Violence also claimed the lives of 280 members of the Iraqi security forces in that month. A great portion of the fatalities was recorded in Baghdad, where 236 civilians were killed. The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence ever since Daesh terrorists launched a campaign of terror in the country in June 2014. Iraqi government forces, backed by fighters from allied Popular Mobilization units, have been pushing the militants out of the country's territory. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi forces kill senior Daesh commander near Shirqat Iran Press TV Mon Jul 25, 2016 7:23AM Iraqi security forces have killed a senior commander of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group in Iraq's northern Salahuddin Province. The Iraqi forces killed Abu al-Harith al-Libi in a military operation in al-Jahleh Village on the outskirts of the city of Shirqat early on Sunday, a security source told Iraq's al-Forat news agency on the condition of anonymity. An unspecified number of other Daesh terrorists were also killed in the military operation, which was launched on information provided by local residents. Security forces have recently entered Shirqat to liberate it from Daesh. Separately, Iraqi media reported that Daesh has executed three members of a family who were trying to escape militants in the southwestern Kirkuk Province. A security source told al-Sumaria news website that Daesh terrorists burned to death a man and a woman and their two-year-old daughter in the Rashad district in the city of Hawijah in Kirkuk on Sunday. According to the report, the family was ambushed as they were attempting to head to the al-Alam district in neighboring Salahuddin Province through Hamrin Mountains. The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence ever since Daesh began a campaign of terror in the country in June 2014. Iraqi army soldiers and allied volunteer fighters have been fighting the terrorists and have won back several militant-held regions in joint operations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Libya's UN-Backed Unity Government Summons French Envoy by Jamie Dettmer July 25, 2016 Libya's U.N.-brokered "unity" government summoned the French ambassador Monday following a weekend of protests in Tripoli and elsewhere in the strife-torn North African country against the presence of French commandos. Three French officers were killed last week in a helicopter crash in eastern Libya, prompting France to become the first Western country to acknowledge publicly that it has inserted small teams of special forces to assist rival Libyan factions to combat Islamic State extremists. U.S. and British commandos are also believed to have been on the ground since late 2015 the Americans based at two outposts near the cities of Benghazi and Misrata. Neither the U.S. nor the British government has formally commented on whether their forces are present in Libya. In May, reports emerged of British commandos thwarting an IS suicide mission near the western Libyan town of Misrata. However, British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told Britain's lawmakers that the government was not participating in or planning combat roles in Libya. The weekend protests, fanned by Islamists including the country's Grand Mufti Sheikh Sadek Al-Ghariani saw demands morph quickly from calls for the withdrawal of French special forces and other foreign commandos to threats to replace the Government of National Accord (GNA) with a supreme revolutionaries' council. Protesters tried to force their way into the naval base on the outskirts of the Libyan capital used by the GNA, prompting Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj to flee. The protests are also backed by a militia chief from Misrata, Salah Badi, and Omar Hassi, the prime minister of one of the two competing governments set up in 2014 that the GNA was designed to replace. 'Future of Libya at risk' Fears are mounting among Western diplomats that the protests might presage a serious attempt by Islamists in western Libya to announce later this week a council to replace the GNA, which has struggled to establish its authority. That would further complicate already highly complex divisions, splitting Libya regionally as well as across town and tribal lines. The government in the east, along with its military commander Gen. Khalifa Haftar, have so far refused to recognize the U.N.-backed GNA. Even so, Western special forces have also worked with militias loyal to Haftar because, Western officials say privately, the priority has to be the fight against IS. With worries mounting over the possibility of a supreme revolutionaries' council being set up in Tripoli, Jonathan Winer, the U.S. special envoy for Libya, tweeted Monday: "Future of #Libya at risk whenever anyone incites Libyans to fight one another instead of uniting against common enemy of foreign terrorists." And the U.N.'s special representative for Libya, Martin Kobler, is urging all Libyans to "refrain from actions that could undermine Libya's democratic transition." GNA officials insist the French did not coordinate the deployment of their commandos in Libya and, in the face of the anti-Western anger in western Libya, say they won't compromise on Libya's sovereignty. The French ambassador, Antoine Sivan, who is based in neighboring Tunisia for security reasons, is expected to arrive in Libya in the next few days, according to the French foreign ministry. Open secret Anti-IS Western operations in Libya have been an open secret for months, and widely reported by international and local media outlets. On Monday, the Middle East Eye news site interviewed militiamen from Misrata, who described the intelligence, logistical and even combat assistance they have been receiving from British soldiers in battles to oust jihadist fighters from the center of the coastal city of Sirte. "They are not here all the time, but normally we see them every few days," said 26-year-old militiamen called Aimen. He described how British soldiers were able to blow up a suicide bomber's vehicle as it careened toward them. "I was fighting side by side with the British when they destroyed one of these," he said. "We were shooting at it with our all weapons, but even our missiles made no impact. But the British guys had a gun with bullets that melt through the armor." Another young fighter told the news site: "Last week, they were here giving some intelligence and co-ordinates so we could advance, because they have a drone that they use to detect enemy positions." The weekend's anti-GNA protests follow meetings between Libyan rivals in Tunis earlier this month, which were overseen by the U.N. Those three days of meetings, which focused on persuading the House of Representatives in eastern Libya to vote to accept the GNA's authority, appeared to make some progress. There had been hopes of a breakthrough even of an initial agreement on the formation of a united Libyan army. Western envoys piled on pressure and U.S. ambassador Winer warned fractious Libyans that they faced "the choice of finger-pointing or coming together on solutions." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Navy Creates Spetsnaz Units to Hunt for Enemy Saboteurs Sputnik News 14:22 25.07.2016 Two special units are being created as a part of Russia's Naval Fleet which are designed to detect the enemy saboteurs in Russia's coastal and littoral waters as well as undertake reconnaissance in an enemy-controlled territory, izvestia.ru reported. The newly created military units are being equipped with "Raptor" boats which can be used during the storm and develop speed up to 80 km/h. The soldiers will also use unmanned flying machines "Tachyon" which can detect the enemy at the depth of several meters. "There are two new units being created now. One in the Pacific, the second in Crimea," a representative of the Russian Defense Ministry told the newspaper. According to the spokesman, both squads are experimental, with their main task being to protect the coast from the enemy sabotage and deploy reconnaissance groups in an enemy-controlled territory. As director of the Center for Strategic Study Ivan Konovalov told the newspaper, coastal and littoral waters have long been actively used by special forces around the world. "To protect the entire coast is very difficult, so it is quite convenient to deploy unnoticed reconnaissance and sabotage groups to the territory controlled by the enemy and raid its coastal facilities," Konovalov said. According to the expert, there are three similar groups in the US Navy equipped with special boats for operations in coastal and littoral zones. The UK armed forces also have so called SBS boat groups (Special Boat Service) which operate at the shore and undertake covert reconnaissance, intelligence gathering and other activities. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia calls plans for regime change in Syria 'villainy' Iran Press TV Mon Jul 25, 2016 2:47PM Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has strongly rejected any rhetoric on regime change in Syria, saying that the calls for toppling the government of President Bashar al-Assad come from narrow-minded or villainous people. Speaking to the website of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS) in Moscow on Monday, Lavrov said that certain forces who seek to oust the government in Damascus are either narrow-minded people or villains. "The still hypocritical calls for regime change, including in Syria, after what happened to Iraq when Saddam Hussein was deposed, or in Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi was barbarously butchered, it seems to me, are made by the people who are at least narrow-minded, if not villains who simply enjoy or seek the destruction of countries and regions in the hope of getting their own benefit." The remarks come as the US and its regional allies such as Saudi Arabia seek to oust Assad as part of a political transition in the violence-torn country. The top Russian diplomat noted that the Daesh Takfiri terror group, which is wreaking havoc in several countries, especially in Iraq and Syria, has nothing to do with religion. "We all understand that those who head and inspire this organization are not religious people," Lavrov said, adding, "These are people who are struggling for power, for territories." The Russian foreign minister went on to say that the US invasion and occupation of Iraq helped to create the Daesh terrorist group. The backbone of Daesh's combat power is comprised of the Saddam-era generals who had been toppled by the Americans during the occupation of Iraq in 2003, he stressed. "The US army dispersed the Iraqi army and security forces, thus leaving the people who know very well how to make war without any means of subsistence. Everybody understands this very well now." Lavrov emphasized that Daesh terrorists have been committing crimes against all ethnic and religious communities across the Mideast and beyond. Daesh terrorist group "does not limit itself to repressions against the Christians," Lavrov said, noting, "With equal frenzy they cut off Shias' heads, desecrate and destroy both Christian and Shia shrines." "Moreover, the Daesh members also apply special criteria to the Sunnis," he said, adding, "Not every Sunni is acceptable for Daesh with its ideology." The Russian foreign minister said the Daesh terrorist group seeks to expand its terrorist activities "from Lisbon to Pakistan." Violence has plagued the northern and western parts of Iraq as well as large swathes of Syria ever since Daesh terrorists launched their offensive in the two neighboring countries. The US and its allies have been carrying out airstrikes in Syria for more than a year now. Russia has also been conducting airstrikes on Daesh positions at the request of the Syrian government since September 30. The United States has accused Russia of targeting "moderate" militants instead of Daesh terrorists. However, Russia has denounced the accusations as baseless, saying they are attacking both pro- and anti-Western terrorists wreaking havoc in Syria. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syrian Army Regains Control of Strategic Pipeline From Daesh Sputnik News 18:38 25.07.2016(updated 22:13 25.07.2016) The Syrian Army has taken control of strategic points along the line of an oil pipeline in al-Badia. The Syrian Army troops and units of the National Defense have jointly continued to move eastward into the desert area of al-Salamiyah, taking control of strategic points along the oil pipeline, which was under the control of Daesh terrorists. In recent days, in the east of the city, fierce fighting between Syrian government forces and Daesh was ongoing. The battle raged for the opening of the front to the east of al-Salamiyah, after government forces drove the Daesh militants from Palmyra and al-Sukhnah. The government forces headed to the villages of Uqayribat, where Daesh forces were present at large. A local source told Sputnik Arabic, that the Syrian Army and its allies were able to defeat Daesh militants around al-Salamiyah, which caused the terrorists to leave the villages of Tal At-Tut, al-Mufakker, Aqarib and al-Ayna. The source also confirmed that Daesh sent suicide bombers from the eastern part of the district, near al-Badia, but the Syrian Army prevented these terrorist attempts, managing to neutralize four cars in front of the road leading to the strategic points of the pipeline through the villages of al-Mufakker and Akareb, where militants tried to regain strength and reorganized themselves after losing the battle for Palmyra. It is believed that the triangle, including the western part of al-Raqqah province and the eastern part of al- Salamiyah, along with having access to the administrative border of al-Tabqah, is the sector with the most dangerous fighting right now. That is due to unfolding fighting between Syrian troops and Daesh for liberation of strategic points along the oil pipeline to make their way into the city of Tabqah, where there is still a large force of militants. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syria: UN aid chief calls for weekly, 48-hour humanitarian truce in Aleppo 25 July 2016 Citing the alarming humanitarian conditions across Syria, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator today urged fresh momentum and action to protect civilians and ensure sustained aid access "before it's too late," including through the establishment of a weekly, 48-hour pause of fighting in eastern Aleppo, where food supplies are expected to run out next month. "The international community has shown unity of purpose before and must show it again, before it's too late and we face the prospect of losing another generation of Syrians to conflict and misery," Stephen O'Brien, who is also the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs said his briefing to the Security Council. He stressed the importance of rebuilding the momentum created in the first half of the year, in particular by the humanitarian task force of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) consisting of the UN, the Arab League, the European Union and 18 countries that have been working on a way forward since late last year. This must include, he said, a restoration and consolidation of the cessation of hostilities; all necessary action from the parties and their supporters to ensure safe, sustained, unhindered and unconditional access; and an immediate end to the sieges which still collectively punish hundreds of thousands of civilians mercilessly. Across Syria, around 5.5 million people are trapped in hard-to-reach and besieged areas with little physical protection and limited access to basic life-saving assistance, he said. Humanitarian aid has reached over one million people in besieged and hard-to-reach areas, but the enormous access challenges still exist, he stressed. The conflict generated "gargantuan levels of suffering" for civilians, and words are not adequate to depict the grim and gruesome reality for the people of Syria today, he said. Since 7 July, civilian, humanitarian and commercial movements in and out of eastern Aleppo city have come to a halt. Castello Road, the last remaining access route in and out of the east of the city, has now been cut off due to fighting. Food in east Aleppo is expected to run out by the middle of next month. While medical supplies are available for a longer period, the continuing attacks on medical facilities in eastern Aleppo would have a devastating multiplier effect, not only killing people and destroying facilities, but leaving thousands unable to get even basic care at a time when they need it most. "The international community simply cannot let eastern Aleppo city become yet another and by far the largest - besieged area," he said, warning that "the clock is ticking" and urging the parties, and those with influence, to act now to establish a weekly, 48-hour humanitarian pause for eastern Aleppo city so that the UN and partners have safe, regular and sustained access to the quarter of a million people trapped behind the front lines. "This must be a full United Nations call not just from me as the UN's humanitarian chief this has to come from you, the Security Council," he said. Mr. O'Brien also highlighted alarming reports of deteriorating humanitarian conditions and urgent medical evacuation needs in Madaya, Foah, Zabadani and Kefraya, where over 62,000 people are trapped. Despite approvals granted by the Government, the UN and humanitarian partners have not been able to access the towns because of tension among parties to the agreement, heavy aerial bombardment in Idlib, and shelling on Foah and Kefraya, he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Aid Chief Asks Security Council to Support Pauses in Syrian Fighting by Margaret Besheer July 25, 2016 The United Nations aid chief has called on the Security Council to support establishing a weekly, 48-hour pause in fighting for the Syrian city of Aleppo, so that life-saving aid can reach 250,000 Syrians trapped behind the front lines. "I cannot stress enough how critical the situation is for those trapped in eastern Aleppo city," Stephen O'Brien told the Council on Monday. "This population is at serious risk of besiegement, as the fighting closes in and their access to basic necessities runs out." Earlier this month, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces, backed by their allies, seized al-Mallah farms a northern district that sits above the city. That allowed them to shell Castello Road the only route in and out of rebel-held areas in the divided city and the area's lifeline. Fears have grown for the safety and well-being of the more than a quarter million residents now trapped there. O'Brien said the U.N. hopes to secure access through cross-line or cross-border operations, as authorized in several U.N. resolutions. "The international community simply cannot let eastern Aleppo city become yet another and by far the largest besieged area," he said. "The clock is ticking." Nearly all of the Security Council's 15 members explicitly supported O'Brien's call, and several urged Russia to use its influence with the Assad government to end the military's grip on the city. "Aleppo is burning," U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said. "Russia, the Assad regime and other groups fighting around Aleppo should heed the U.N.'s call for a weekly 48-hour pause to allow for deliveries of essential supplies," she added. "Aleppo has become the martyr city of Syria. It is besieged and could become the graveyard of the Vienna process," France's envoy Francois Delattre said. He said there could be no lasting political solution as long as civilians continue to be massacred. "France cannot close its eyes to the tragedy taking place in Aleppo," he said. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the Castello Road is being actively used to provide arms to terrorists and to allow "the passage of jihad mobiles with suicide bombers," not for the provision of aid. He appeared to dismiss the dire humanitarian situation, saying residents could "easily move by day" to the western part of the city where the situation is better. "Of course, however the situation might be in Aleppo, there is a need there to prevent a humanitarian disaster," he conceded, but he did not openly call for establishing 48-hour humanitarian pauses. The Russian and U.S. envoys exchanged several rounds of testy comments during the Council meeting, each blaming the other's government for having a hand in the situation. A nationwide cessation of hostilities that went into effect February 27 collapsed two months later. Since then, fighting has ramped up across the country as Syria backed by Russia, Iran and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah has intensified its military campaign to strengthen its position at the negotiating table. O'Brien, the aid chief, said 5.5 million people need assistance in hard-to-reach and besieged parts of Syria. Nearly 600,000 of them are totally trapped in besieged areas. On Tuesday, the U.N.'s Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, will meet with U.S. and Russian envoys to discuss how to move forward on the political process. He had hoped to start a new round of intra-Syrian talks this month, but the intensified fighting has dimmed expectations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The Gulen Movement's Collision Course With The Turkish State July 24, 2016 by Abbas Djavadi Since Turkey's failed July 15 coup, the Turkish authorities have accused U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen of being behind the attempted takeover of power. It is an explanation that is widely accepted across Turkey. A brief look at the history of Gulen's movement helps explain why. What Does The Movement Want? Gulen was originally a supporter of Said Nursi, an Ottoman-Kurdish scholar from the Hanefi school of Sunni Islam. But in the 1970s, Gulen formed a sect of his own that people later called "Gulen Camaati" (Gulen community or movement). Like any other Islamic sect under the strictly secular and pro-military Turkish governments, Gulen's community was banned and operated largely underground until 1983. But, unlike other religious communities, which were mainly teaching the Koran and performing private religious prayers, Gulen's group became increasingly politicized. Businessmen began to donate money and the movement became a political player among conservative and religious groups in Turkey. "[Gulen] wrote at that time that he wanted to train 'courageous, selfless men' for society," says Rusen Cakir, a leading expert on Turkish Islamic groups. "It was about them training and planting young people in different important layers of the government: the police, the justice system, the Interior Ministry, and even the army." But, unlike more transparent political parties, Gulen's sect kept everything secret. It was never clear how many members the group had, who they were, and what exactly they were seeking to do politically. It was widely rumored that his movement, and all its related "foundations" and businesses, were getting wealthier and more and more people were joining his community, but there was little categorical evidence to support this. How Big Is The Movement? It is almost impossible to quantify the size of the Gulen movement's membership or its wealth. By many estimates, over the course of some 40 years, the movement has gathered tens of thousands of supporters. Gulen has repeatedly denied having a "network." He has said that people may sympathize with him in any government institution even without an organized network, as is the case with other political parties. But analyst Cakir says that directing school graduates to choose positions selected by "community guides" -- members of the Gulen movement who counsel younger members -- was not something any other political party was doing. Why Did The Movement Clash With The Turkish State? In the 1970s, the government, army, and security services tried to clean up their ranks and remove those they perceived to be Gulenist "implants." And in the 1980s, secular parties and magazines (like Nokta from 1986, which is pictured below) were warning against secret "Fethullahists" in the army. Working up the ladder in the army and civil service, Gulen supporters helped other members of the movement join their ranks. In 2010, prior to a national exam for entrance into government agencies, exam questions were reportedly communicated among Gulen movement members to ensure their passing the exam. While Gulen was gathering and guiding supporters, his schools both in Turkey and abroad were bringing him fame and popularity. Critics say that running those successful schools was a "cover" for his "infiltration" of the government, although raising the level of Turkey's education and culture was always one of Gulen's stated goals. In 1999, secret recordings of Gulen's speeches were played on state television. In them, he called on his supporters to "silently and patiently" infiltrate government agencies and wait for "the moment" of change. "If you act too soon, you'll have Turkish state institutions on your back," he said. Under increasing pressure from secular media and government, Gulen emigrated to the United States in 1999. His movement, though, kept growing. Why Did The Relationship With Erdogan Turn Sour? In the 2000s, Gulen already had scores of loyal supporters at high levels of the police, justice system, media, educational institutions, and even the army. He was also a close ally of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who became prime minister in 2003. Gulen and Erdogan came from the same Islamic background, although they held different interpretations on how an Islamic movement should operate within a secular state. Once Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) won parliamentary elections in 2002 and built a one-party government, it was actively supported by the Gulen movement. In return, the movement and its activities were tolerated by the AKP government until 2010. It was then that Erdogan started taking measures against the Gulen sympathizers. He began to clean up the police and his "foundation schools," but stopped short with the military. In 2013, Erdogan completely broke with Gulen, after a series of secret audio and video recordings emerged about corruption cases in the AKP government and Erdogan's inner circle, which he suspected were leaked by the movement. Why Were The Gulen Supporters Detained So Quickly? Less than 48 hours after the coup attempt began, police, security, and army forces loyal to the government detained around 7,000 suspected supporters of the Gulen movement. Over the next seven days, this number rose to more than 50,000, although some of them were later released. Media, businesses, and even schools were closed or their management taken over. In the aftermath of the July 15 coup attempt, dozens of alleged members of the Gulen movement have admitted getting their instructions from higher ranks in the Gulen community, usually verbally or via messaging. Even a colonel did not shy away from giving instructions to his supervising general. The immediate question for many, especially in foreign countries, was how could they identify so many of the pro-Gulen people so fast. It has been suggested, including by the EU enlargement commissioner, Johannes Hahn, that the government had prepared lists of names and institutions well before the coup attempt. Some commentators went further and suggested that the coup attempt was staged. Given that the Gulen group has been active in Turkish political life for the last 40 years, and given Erdogan's authoritarian tendencies, it is quite possible that the government had lists of Gulen supporters within the civil service, education system, and businesses. And it is of little doubt that they were under surveillance by security and military agencies. According to Erdogan's advisers, the Turkish president was planning to clean up the army in August of this year. That may have led the plotters to strike before they were ready. In his disputed secret speeches 17 years earlier, Gulen warned about the foolhardiness of striking too soon, or "you'll have Turkish state institutions on your back." Regardless of whether Gulen's organization was responsible for the coup, his words were prescient. Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/turkey-gulen- erdogan-collision-course/27877830.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PKK bombing kills three soldiers in southeast Turkey Iran Press TV Mon Jul 25, 2016 2:50PM At least three Turkish police officers have lost their lives in a roadside bomb attack carried out by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the embattled southeastern province of Mardin. According to Turkish security officials, the fatalities occurred on Monday when PKK militants targeted a Turkish police convoy passing a highway at about 1:20 p.m. local time (1020 GMT) in the Derik district of Mardin province. The officials said the explosives planted on the highway were detonated remotely. Reports said an operation to arrest the PKK militants involved in the attack is underway in the region. Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale campaign against the PKK in its southern border region over the past months. The Turkish military has also been conducting offensives against PKK positions in northern Iraq and Syria. The operations began in the wake of a deadly July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc. More than 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group. After the Suruc bombing, the PKK militants, who accuse Ankara of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of supposed reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting the Turkish military operations. Meanwhile, Turkey is on tenterhooks after a putsch that began on July 15, when a faction of the Turkish military declared it was in control of the country and the Ankara administration was no more in charge. Tanks, helicopters and soldiers then clashed with police and people on the streets of the capital and Istanbul. The coup was suppressed by military forces and people loyal to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. More than 300 people were killed from both sides, many of them on July 16. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkish Chief of Staff Says Coup Plotters Tried to Make Him Talk to Gulen Sputnik News 13:35 25.07.2016 Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar said that the putschists tried to force him to speak to Turkish opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara suspects of being behind the recent coup attempt. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On July 15, the Turkish authorities said that an attempted coup was taking place in the country. The attempt was suppressed by early Saturday. Over 13,000 people have been detained in connection with the coup. In the wake of the coup attempt, Akar was taken hostage by a group of soldiers and delivered to Akincilar Air Base, thought to have been the headquarters from where the coup was planned. Akar was quoted by the Daily Sabah newspaper as saying that Brig. Gen. Hakan Evrim tried to convince him to talk to Gulen, but he refused. He added that he had been trying to persuade coup-plotting officers to drop the plan. The Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO)/Parallel State Structure (PDY), made up of Gulen's supporters, is designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara. In 2014, Turkey opened an investigation into the organization's alleged efforts to overthrow the government. Gulen is wanted on charges including treason, although he denies any wrongdoing. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey-US Ties to Be Affected If US Refuses to Extradite Cleric Gulen - FM Sputnik News 12:42 25.07.2016 Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned on Monday that relations between the United States and Turkey could deteriorate over the extradition of opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara suspects to be the mastermind behind the recent coup attempt. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Cavusoglu said that the US-Turkey ties would be "affected" if the United States did not extradite Gulen, as quoted by the Daily Sabah on the newspaper's Twitter account. Earlier in the day, Cavusoglu said that Turkey would replace a part of its ambassadors amid the investigation into the recent military coup attempt. On July 15, the coup attempt took place in Turkey and was suppressed the following day. The Turkish government has accused US-based dissident Gulen and his followers of having played a key role in the coup. Gulen condemned the coup attempt and denied any involvement in it. On July 17, Gulen said he was not afraid of the extradition to Turkey, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan requested. On July 22, US President Barack Obama said that Ankara needed to present evidence that Gulen was involved in the recent coup attempt in Turkey before the United States could begin the extradition process. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Sturgeon vows to protect Scotland's interests in EU Iran Press TV Mon Jul 25, 2016 4:38PM Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon says Scotland needs to keep "all options open" to protect the nation's place and interests in the European Union following the June 23 referendum to leave the bloc. In a speech on Monday, Sturgeon said she would start preparatory work for a fresh independence bid, two years after the country voted against splitting from the rest of the United Kingdom. "If we find that our interests can't be protected in a UK context, independence must be one of those options that Scotland must have the right to consider," the first minister said. "That's why we'll take the preparatory steps to ensure that it's an option open to the Scottish parliament if the Scottish parliament considers it necessary." Britain voted 52-48 percent to leave the EU last month. Scotland, however, voted 62-38 percent to remain in the bloc. "The UK that we voted to stay part of in 2014, a UK within the EU, is fundamentally changing. The outlook for the UK is uncertainty, upheaval and unpredictability," Sturgeon said. "In these circumstances it may well be that the option that offers us the greatest certainty, stability, and maximum control over our own destiny is that of independence," she stressed. Sturgeon also criticized "the absence of any of leadership" from the UK government and politicians who campaigned to leave the EU. EU leaders have been urging the UK to start the exit process without delay, arguing that postponing the process was creating uncertainty and slowing economic growth. The British economy has shrunk at its fastest rate since April 2009 -- the peak of the 2007-08 financial crisis following the Brexit vote, according to a recent business survey. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The instant 5-year-old Alex Bentley first saw a small garter snake slithering alongside a creek near his childhood home, he was hooked. Bentley can vividly recall that day. Even years later it provides motivation to learn as much as he can about his favorite creature. Now a Salem High School graduate and rising senior at Wofford College in South Carolina, Bentley has read thousands of pages of research and spent hours handling snakes in an academic capacity. He spends hours each day in the summer heat searching the Southwest Virginia mountains for snakes. Yet words elude him to explain how his first in-person interaction with a snake made him feel. Its something I have trouble describing, Bentley said. That first snake I saw in the wild, there was something like whoa, what is that thing? It was so different. There is mysteriousness about snakes. They are so physiologically different from us and different in their behavior. A decade and a half after meeting the snake that initially piqued his interest, the student herpetologist is set on contributing something to the field of study. After months of research and planning, Bentley began the first part of a study on timber rattlesnakes using a GPS technology called radio telemetry this month. The goal is to track the migration and mating patterns of the species during periods in which humans are not present in the snakes natural habitat. Bentley said his study could change the way humans understand this type of snake, which has never been researched using such tiny technology. Heres this thing that society has kind of stigmatized as evil or dangerous, Bentley said. I have the opportunity to figure out what they are really all about and what the truth is there. That is fascinating. How it works Traditional radio telemetry usually involves the use of radio waves for transmitting information from a distant instrument to a device that indicates or records measurements. In the case of animal research, this science has most widely been used via collars on bears or GPS units on elk and other big game. Until Bentleys project, the GPS technology has been too heavy to attach to a creature as small as a copperhead or rattlesnake which only get as long as 4 to 5 feet and weigh as much as 2 to 3 pounds. Charles Smith has worked with Bentley since he first came to Wofford three years ago and was thrilled when Alex started talking about a snake-tracking project. Weve all had this dream of someday this technology is going to get miniaturized so we maybe do something with snakes, Smith said. Now were getting to see what they are doing in the time periods that we are not with them. The technology has caught up with the dream. Bentley attached a GPS unit to the first snake July 16 and plans to document results throughout the summer. Paying for it From the beginning, Bentley knew his project was going to be expensive. So in January, he began applying for research grants and soliciting private donations. So far, he has raised $14,000 and is still accepting donations to further expand his researchs sample size. The bulk of the money came from a $7,000 grant from South Carolina Independent College and Universities Inc., an organization put in place to help fund projects like Bentleys. Smith helped Bentley attain an Equipment Grant Fund for an additional $2,500 and the project also received $2,000 in private donations. An indegogo.com account created specifically for the venture has raised another $2,900 and remains open. Funds received will pay for the GPS tracking units, which cost about $1,000 each. Bentley contracted with a company called Telementary Solutions, operated by Quintin Kermeen, to obtain the tracking software and units. I wanted to know if our product is useful for snake biologists to use, Kermeen said. Weve done projects before with [big snakes]. With Alex, I saw an opportunity to see if this could succeed. He proved he can make it work. Bentley is a scientist more than a technician, he said, so learning how to use the GPS system did not come naturally. Quintin was very helpful with that, Bentley said. I think he picked up on that I was pretty new to this. He helped increase my understanding with these things. He was patient and I appreciated that. The value to an industry Biologists often warn of a temptation to place human value on scientific research projects. Smith pointed to what Bentley is doing as an example of how the simple act of learning can be worth a great deal of effort, time and sweat. There is value in discovery, Smith said. Just the sheer act of seeing something that nobody has ever seen before or just learning about the natural world things are often much more complicated than we think they are. Because he has spent a great deal of time studying other creatures, Bentley has become more in touch with his own human nature, he said. Part of what makes humans so unique is our curiosity and our drive to figure things out, he said. It all plays together and is interconnected. To be able to put together the puzzle is a really meaningful thing. As Smith and Bentley have worked on the project, the educational benefit has not been limited to the student. Its beyond teacher-student relationship. I consider Alex a colleague. There are certainly some things I am learning from him, too. His enthusiasm is infectious. It gets me charged up and is really rewarding to see him grow with this project. Bentley drives through small mountain towns and dirt trails at night searching for snakes or any sign of snake activity. Its a tireless task that despite the heat, sometimes fruitless trips and possible danger he has come to love. After all, there is no other way Bentley would rather spend his summer. Theres always more out there you can learn, he said wiping the sweat from his brow after a long morning of snake searching. Hell be back at it again in less than 24 hours. This is pretty normal for me. New U.K. Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt has reversed most of an economic package announced by the government just weeks ago, including a planned cut in income taxes. Hunt said Monday he was scrapping almost all the tax cuts announced last month by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Liz Truss, and also signaled that public spending cuts are on the way. It was a bid to soothe turbulent financial markets spooked by fears of excessive government borrowing. The move raises questions about how long the beleaguered prime minister can stay in office, though Truss insisted she has no plans to quit. She vowed to lead the Conservatives into the next general election, but many in the party want her gone. VANCOUVER, July 25, 2016 - Goldrock Mines Corp. (TSX VENTURE: GRM) (the "Company" or "Goldrock") is pleased to announce that it has received overwhelming shareholder approval at the special meeting (the "Meeting") held today to approve the previously announced plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement") with Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. ("Fortuna").At the Meeting, a special resolution approving the Arrangement was approved by 99.99% of the votes cast by shareholders of Goldrock (the "Goldrock Shareholders") present in person or by proxy, voting together as a single class. In addition, the Arrangement was approved by a simple majority of the votes cast at the Meeting by Goldrock Shareholders present in person or by proxy, excluding the votes cast in respect of Goldrock shares held by certain persons in accordance with Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions.Paul Matysek, President and CEO of Goldrock, stated: "As the final days near, I reflect on Goldrock's glorious past 23 years. Its early days filled with the rush and passion of a significant discovery; the awe and wonder as Lindero became a sizeable gold deposit; the insight, intelligence and commitment required to build a most conscientious and profitable mine. The arduous and endless days filled with roadblocks and unexpected events. And finally, the moment in time when all the stars aligned and a Fortuna - Goldrock union transpired. Through all of this, Goldrock has been blessed with leaders that had vision that they acted on, a management team that wisely and economically executed, boards of directors that provided insight and guidance, and most of all, Goldrock shareholders who believed and supported. I am truly grateful for having the opportunity for being part of Goldrock's history. I want to highlight some of the key people who made a huge commitment to Lindero and its ultimate success. The Leask brothers (Mike and Gord) for finding her, the Argentines, Jorge Kesting and Facundo Huidobro, for defining her, David Keough and Bassam Moubarak for grooming her, and Megan Cameron-Jones for being the glue that kept it all together."The Arrangement is subject to, among other things, final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange and the Supreme Court of British Columbia, where the hearing for the final order to approve the Arrangement is scheduled to take place on July 26, 2016. On closing of the Arrangement, Goldrock Shareholders will receive 0.1331 of a Fortuna common share for each Goldrock common share held, and Goldrock warrants will become exerciseable for Fortuna common shares based on the same exchange ratio. The effective date of the Arrangement is expected to occur on or about July 28, 2016.Additional information regarding the terms of the Arrangement is set out in Goldrock's management information circular dated June 17, 2016, which is filed under Goldrock's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORSPaul MatysekPresident & Chief Executive OfficerGoldrock is an emerging gold producer focused on the development of its 100% owned Lindero gold deposit located in Salta province, northwestern Argentina. The Company has been granted the primary mining permit by the Salta provincial government allowing the Company to develop the Lindero open pit, heap leach gold mine. The Company also has secondary permits in place for process water extraction, road construction, building and electrical permits. In addition, the Company has received formal public declaration of support for the Lindero development by a Salta provincial government decree recognizing Lindero as the priority development project for Salta province. With the HPGR unit delivered into Argentina, the purchase of land in Pocitos, the completion of water supply wells and basic engineering including the preparation of construction bid packages, the Company is positioning itself for a smooth transition to full construction. The focused activity taken by the Company to date has significantly de-risked the remaining construction and development schedule deliverables for the project. Average annual gold production is anticipated to average 128,000 ounces over the first three years of production and to average 108,000 ounces during the first nine years. Total mine life is estimated at over 12 years, with significant exploration potential both at Lindero and the adjacent Arizaro deposit, which has the potential to use the planned Lindero infrastructure.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.This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical facts, that relate to the Arrangement, including completion of the Arrangement or receipt of regulatory or court approvals of the Arrangement, future exploration drilling, exploration activities, anticipated metal production, internal rate of return, estimated ore grades, commencement of production estimates and projected exploration and capital expenditures (including costs and other estimates upon which such projections are based) and events or developments that the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expect" or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "estimates" or "intends", or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements.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 or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to the Arrangement not receiving the requisite regulatory and court approvals, risks relating to metal prices, exploration success, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.For further information, please contact:Bassam Moubarak, Chief Financial Officer604-681-4462www.goldrockmines.com Sydney, Australia, July 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Heron Resources Ltd. (Heron or the Company) is pleased to announce the lodgment of the full Woodlawn Feasibility Study[1] (FS) on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR). SEDAR is the document filing and retrieval system for Canadian public (and listed) companies and can be accessed at www.sedar.com. The Company announced the FS summary results in the release of the 29 June 2016 titled Heron delivers robust Feasibility Study for Woodlawn Project. The full study has been lodged on SEDAR and is also available on the Companys web site from the 26 July 2016. In addition to the FS, the Company has prepared a short animation clip depicting the Mineral Resources, Mineral Reserves and FS mine plan for the proposed underground operation which can be accessed from the Heron website at www.heronresources.com.au. About Heron Resources Limited: Herons primary focus is the development of its 100% owned, high grade Woodlawn Zinc-Copper Project located 250km southwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. In addition, the Company holds a significant high quality, gold and base metal tenement holding in New South Wales and Western Australia. CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, which are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the date of this news release. This forward-looking information includes, or may be based upon, without limitation, estimates, forecasts and statements as to managements expectations with respect to, among other things, the timing and amount of funding required to execute the Companys exploration, development and business plans, capital and exploration expenditures, the effect on the Company of any changes to existing legislation or policy, government regulation of mining operations, the length of time required to obtain permits, certifications and approvals, the success of exploration, development and mining activities, the geology of the Companys properties, environmental risks, the availability of labour, the focus of the Company in the future, demand and market outlook for precious metals and the prices thereof, progress in development of mineral properties, the Companys ability to raise funding privately or on a public market in the future, the Companys future growth, results of operations, performance, and business prospects and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as anticipate, believe, expect, intend, may and similar expressions have been used to identify such forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is given, and on information available to management at such time. Forward-looking information involves significant risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking information. These factors, including, but not limited to, the ability to implement the Woodlawn Zinc-Copper Project Feasibility Study on time or at all, fluctuations in currency markets, fluctuations in commodity prices, the ability of the Company to access sufficient capital on favourable terms or at all, changes in national and local government legislation, taxation, controls, regulations, political or economic developments in Canada, Australia or other countries in which the Company does business or may carry on business in the future, operational or technical difficulties in connection with exploration or development activities, employee relations, the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, obtaining necessary licenses and permits, diminishing quantities and grades of mineral reserves, contests over title to properties, especially title to undeveloped properties, the inherent risks involved in the exploration and development of mineral properties, the uncertainties involved in interpreting drill results and other geological data, environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins and flooding, limitations of insurance coverage and the possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, and should be considered carefully. Many of these uncertainties and contingencies can affect the Companys actual results and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, the Company. Prospective investors should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Although the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based upon what management believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure prospective purchasers that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking information, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, and neither the Company nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any such forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake, and assumes no obligation, to update or revise any such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information contained herein to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by law. No stock exchange, regulation services provider, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained in this news release. [1] IMPORTANT NOTE: A Feasibility Study (FS) is a formal study in standard form prescribed by Canadian National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) which includes an economic analysis of the potential viability of the Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources. . For further information, please visit www.heronresources.com.au or contact: Australia: Mr Wayne Taylor Jon Snowball Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer FTI Consulting Tel: +61 2 9119 8111 or +61 8 6500 9200 +61 2 8298 6100 Email: heron@heronresources.com.au jon.snowball@fticonsulting.com Canada: Tel: +1 647-862-1157 (Toronto) CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - July 26, 2016) - Mkango Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:MKA)(AIM:MKA) (the "Corporation" or "Mkango"), is pleased to announce that it has secured a two-year exclusive option and right to acquire, on commercially standard terms, the worldwide licence for a technology to produce high strength (up to 30%) hydrochloric acid ("HCL") from calcium chloride feed streams (the "Technology") using sulphuric acid, applicable in rare earths processing and other potential industrial applications. The Technology has been developed by Dr. Thomas Feldmann and Professor George Demopoulos of McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Mkango's processing flowsheet for the Songwe Hill rare earths project ("Songwe") incorporates a HCL gangue leach step, producing calcium chloride in solution. The HCL will be regenerated using the calcium chloride feed stream, supplemented with additional calcium chloride, together with sulphuric acid produced from sulphur at a plant on-site. This means that the import of large quantities of liquid HCL will not be required, effectively being replaced by the import of solid sulphur and calcium chloride, therefore bringing significant potential cost and logistical benefits. The production of a gypsum by-product for sale in Malawi and elsewhere will also be investigated. William Dawes, Chief Executive of Mkango, stated: "We are very pleased to be working with McGill, a leading University in the field of hydrochloric acid regeneration and rare earths processing. This technology is not only applicable for Songwe but potentially for other primary carbonatite hosted rare earths projects. We are also interested in evaluating the technology's use in other industrial applications where high strength hydrochloric acid is required." "The option agreement is consistent with Mkango's strategy to further optimise the Songwe project, thereby providing a strong platform to secure a financial or strategic partner to accelerate exploration and development of the project." "Mkango strives to be at the forefront of technology development in the rare earths sector and is collaborating in a number of other leading edge research programmes including HiTech AlkCarb and SoS RARE." About Mkango Resources Ltd. Mkango's primary business is the exploration for rare earth elements and associated minerals in the Republic of Malawi, a country whose hospitable people have earned it a reputation as "the warm heart of Africa." Mkango holds, through its wholly owned subsidiary Lancaster Exploration Limited, a 100% interest in two exclusive prospecting licenses in southern Malawi, the Thambani licence and the Phalombe licence. The main exploration target in the Phalombe licence is the Songwe Hill rare earths deposit, which features carbonatite hosted rare earth mineralisation and was subject to previous exploration in the late 1980s. Mkango completed an updated Pre-feasibility study for the project in November 2015. Mkango's strategy for Songwe is to further optimise the project with a view to maximising efficiency and reducing costs, thereby providing a strong platform both for entering into partnerships, marketing and offtake arrangements. The main exploration targets in the Thambani licence are uranium, niobium and tantalum. In January 2015, Mkango announced the first set of assay results of 142 soil and rock chip samples from 9 trenches, which returned variably anomalous uranium, niobium and tantalum values in most trenches, ranging up to 4.70 % U 3 O 8 , 3.25 % Nb 2 O 5 in soil and up to 0.42 % U 3 O 8 , 0.78 % Nb 2 O 5 and 972 ppm Ta 2 O 5 in rock chips. In July 2016, the Corporation announced the results of an airborne geophysical survey covering approximately two thirds of the licence area, highlighting a number of significant radiometric and magnetic anomalies. The company's corporate strategy is to develop new sustainable sources of rare earth elements and other minerals geared to growth in the low carbon "green" economy, technology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are based will occur. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not occur, which may cause actual performance and results in future periods to differ materially from any estimates or projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, without limiting the foregoing, delays in obtaining financing or governmental or stock exchange approvals. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, the Corporation disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities law. Additionally, the Corporation undertakes no obligation to comment on the expectations of, or statements made by, third parties in respect of the matters discussed above. The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents 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. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any equity or other securities of the Corporation in the United States. The securities of the Corporation will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") and may not be offered or sold within the United States to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons except in certain transactions exempt from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act. LONDON, July 26, 2016 /CNW/ - Horizonte Minerals Plc, (AIM: HZM, TSX: HZM) ('Horizonte' or 'the Company') the nickel development company focused in Brazil, is pleased to announce the award of three new concession areas adjacent to its recently acquired Glencore Araguaia Project ('GAP') which forms part of the Company's 100% owned Araguaia nickel project ('Araguaia') which is being developed as the next major nickel project in Brazil. Highlights Three new concessions, totalling 3,142 hectares, are located south of the Glencore Araguaia project 'GAP' area acquired last year by Horizonte containing the advanced Vale dos Sonhos nickel laterite deposit Further applications for 5,998 hectares are also filed with the Mines Department for three additional concessions near the southern limit of the acquired GAP Horizonte CEO Jeremy Martin said, "Following on from the recent award of the Preliminary Licence ('LP') at Araguaia, I am pleased to announce the award of three new exploration concessions. The areas cover extensions of the ultramafic rocks that host the nickel laterite deposits which we acquired as a part of the Glencore Araguaia Project transaction in Q4 2015. We will undertake a reconnaissance exploration programme to evaluate the potential of these new areas for additional nickel mineralisation. In addition, based on generative work recently completed, we have applied for three further licence areas, which is in line with our strategy to consolidate our land position in the district. "Work on the project is currently focused on collection of base line environmental and social data for the Vale dos Sonhos deposit as we continue to integrate the Glencore Project into Araguaia. We are in the final stages of completing the new combined Pre-Feasibility Study which is due for release in Q3 2016. It is also positive to see an improvement in the nickel price during the last quarter, and I believe this is well aligned with the development milestones set for Araguaia as we move towards the Feasibility Study. I look forward to updating the market over the next quarter." Further Details The geology of the new concession areas are extensions of the geology that hosts the GAP deposit which was acquired by Horizonte in Q4 2015. The three new northern concessions, granted for three years and totalling 3,142 hectares, are located south of the Vale dos Sonhos deposit. The geology of the areas are characterised by the southern extensions of the mafic-ultramafic igneous unit hosting nickel laterite mineralisation /deposits to the north. Horizonte currently has an additional three concessions with a total area of 5,998 hectares under application. With the award of these three new concession areas Horizonte now has a total of 19 active concessions totalling 113,314 hectares in the Araguaia Nickel Belt. These comprise 12 concessions in the original Horizonte Araguaia Nickel Project plus seven concessions in the area of the Glencore Araguaia Project including the concession containing the Vale dos Sonhos deposit. This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014. About Horizonte Minerals: Horizonte Minerals Plc is an AIM and TSX-listed nickel development company focused in Brazil, which wholly owns the advanced Araguaia nickel laterite project located to the south of the Carajas mineral district of northern Brazil. The Company is developing Araguaia as the next major nickel mine in Brazil, with targeted production by 2019. The Project, which has good infrastructure in place including rail, road, water and power. Horizonte has a strong shareholder structure including Teck Resources Ltd. 28.1%, Henderson Global Investors 17.0%. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the potential of the Company's current or future property mineral projects; the success of exploration and mining activities; cost and timing of future exploration, production and development; the estimation of mineral resources and reserves and the ability of the Company to achieve its goals in respect of growing its mineral resources; and the realization of mineral resource and reserve estimates. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, and are inherently 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 or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to risks related to: exploration and mining risks, competition from competitors with greater capital; the Company's lack of experience with respect to development-stage mining operations; fluctuations in metal prices; uninsured risks; environmental and other regulatory requirements; exploration, mining and other licences; the Company's future payment obligations; potential disputes with respect to the Company's title to, and the area of, its mining concessions; the Company's dependence on its ability to obtain sufficient financing in the future; the Company's dependence on its relationships with third parties; the Company's joint ventures; the potential of currency fluctuations and political or economic instability in countries in which the Company operates; currency exchange fluctuations; the Company's ability to manage its growth effectively; the trading market for the ordinary shares of the Company; uncertainty with respect to the Company's plans to continue to develop its operations and new projects; the Company's dependence on key personnel; possible conflicts of interest of directors and officers of the Company, and various risks associated with the legal and regulatory framework within which the Company operates. 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 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. SOURCE Horizonte Minerals Plc In Australia: Glen Parsons (CEO) Mariana Resources Ltd. +61 2 9437 4588 Eric Roth (COO) Mariana Resources Ltd. +56 9 8818 1243 Rob Adamson RFC Ambrian Limited (Nomad) +61 2 9250 0041 Will Souter RFC Ambrian Limited (Nomad) +61 2 9250 0050 In U.K. Oliver Stansfield Brandon Hill Capital (UK Broker) +44 20 3463 5061 Jonathan Evans Brandon Hill Capital (UK Broker) +44 20 3463 5016 Camilla Horsfall Blytheweigh (Financial PR) +44 20 7138 3224 Megan Ray Blytheweigh (Financial PR) +44 20 7138 3203 NORTH SYDNEY, July 26, 2016 - Mariana Resources Ltd. ('Mariana' or 'the Company'), the AIM listed exploration and development company with projects in Turkey and South America, is pleased to announce that trading commences today on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) at the open of market today.The company will trade on the TSXV under the symbol: MRAThe company continues to trade on AIM under the symbol: MARLFor further information please visit website at www.marianaresources.com or contact the following. Mariana Resources Ltd. is an AIM quoted exploration and development company with an extensive portfolio of gold, silver and copper projects in South America and Turkey.Mariana's most advanced asset is the Hot Maden gold-copper project in north east Turkey, which is a joint venture with its Turkish JV partner Lidya (30% Mariana and 70% Lidya) rapidly advancing to development . A maiden mineral resource estimate of 2.03 Moz gold Equivalent (Indicated Category) and 0.97 Moz gold Equivalent (Inferred Category) (100% basis) was reported for Hot Maden on August 18, 2015. Elsewhere in Turkey, Mariana holds a 100% interest in the Ergama gold-copper project.In southern Argentina, the Company's core gold-silver projects are Las Calandrias (100%), Sierra Blanca (100%), Los Cisnes (100%), Bozal (100%). These projects are part of a 160,000+ Ha land package in the Deseado Massif epithermal gold-silver district in mining-friendly Santa Cruz Province.Mariana acquired 100% interests in the Dona Ines gold-silver and Exploradora East copper prospects in northern Chile through the Aegean Metals Group transaction which closed in January, 2015, with Mariana exploration now being funded by Asset Chile through the provision of $1.65m for a total 50% interest.In Suriname, Mariana has a direct holding of 10.2% of the Nassau Gold project. The Nassau Gold Project is a 28,000 Ha exploration concession located approximately 125 km south east of the capital Paramaribo and immediately adjacent to Newmont Mining's 4.2Moz gold Merian project.In Peru, Mariana is focusing on acquiring new opportunities which complement its current portfolio.Safe Harbour: This press release contains certain statements which may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as at the date of this press release and include, without limitation, statements regarding discussions of future plans, the realization, cost, timing and extent of mineral resource estimates, estimated future exploration expenditures, costs and timing of the development of new deposits, success of exploration activities, permitting time lines, and requirements for additional capital. The words "plans", "expects", "budget", "scheduled", "estimate", "forecasts", "intend", "anticipate", "believe", "may", "will", or similar expressions or variations of such words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause actual results to vary materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: the effects of general economic conditions; the price of gold, silver and copper; misjudgements in the course of preparing forward-looking statements; risks associated with international operations; the need for additional financing; risks inherent in exploration results; conclusions of economic evaluations; changes in project parameters; currency and commodity price fluctuations; title matters; environmental liability claims; unanticipated operational risks; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or in the completion of development or construction activities; political risk; and other risks and uncertainties described in the Company's annual financial statements for the most recently completed financial year which is available on the Company's website at www.marianaresources.com. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions and have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, 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 forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO THE UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES.HUG#2030581 VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - July 26, 2016) - Scientific Metals Corp. ("STM" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:STM)(FRANKFURT:26X)(OTCQB:SCTFF) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an arm's length letter agreement with a private company providing STM with exclusive rights to enter into a lease agreement with an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Iron Creek Cobalt Property in Lemhi County, Idaho, USA (the "Property"). The Property is located about 25 miles southwest from Salmon, Idaho and encompasses 137 acres in seven patented lode mining claims. The Company is currently staking unpatented lode mining claims to enlarge the Property to cover a minimum of 1,300 acres. A substantial amount of historical exploratory work has been completed on the Property, including approximately 30,000 feet of diamond drilling, and the mining of 1,500 feet of underground workings. Exploration by several companies since the 1940s, including Hanna Mining, Noranda Exploration, Inc. and Cominco, has identified a number of significant cobalt, a key component in Lithium-ion batteries, and copper targets on the Property. The Property is located in the most prolific trend of cobalt mineralization in the USA, the Idaho Cobalt Belt. The Property shares similar geology and structure with other deposits in the 40 mile long Idaho Cobalt Belt, including the Blackbird Mine and the proposed Idaho Cobalt Mine (Formation Metals). The earliest historical estimates of the mineralized zones at the Property are contained in the historical literature describing two underground targets in the No Name Zone. The first lense is described by Noranda Exploration, Inc.as a "possible reserve" and is reported to contain 1,050,000 tons grading 0.61% cobalt over a strike length of 750 feet. The second lense is described as a "possible reserve" and is reported to contain 229,000 tons grading 0.48% cobalt over a strike length of 600 feet. Together, these lenses contain 1,279,000 tons grading an average of 0.59% cobalt. Copper grades were not calculated by Noranda and are stated to be "generally less than or equivalent to cobalt grades". (reference: "Iron Creek Prospect, Lemhi County, Idaho (#0483) Progress Report" by Terry A Webster and Thomas K Stump for Noranda Exploration, Inc., July 1980 (the "Noranda Report")). These lenses have excellent potential for expansion. The Noranda Report notes the following outstanding cobalt intercepts within the mineralized lenses. Drill hole IC-16 contains a 15 foot wide horizon averaging 1.01 percent cobalt, and within the Little No Name adit a 20 foot wide channel sample contains an average of 0.95 percent cobalt. The Noranda Report also notes that "these data do not affect the presence of an additional 4.5 to 4.8 million tons of copper reserves grading in excess of 1.5 percent copper". STM's President, Brian Kirwin, stated "The signing of this letter agreement is an exciting step for STM. The addition of a high grade cobalt asset to our growing lithium portfolio allows STM to strategically position the company to supply modern battery manufacturers with much needed metals. The Iron Creek Cobalt Property is an excellent opportunity with significant cobalt mineralization and substantial upside potential already identified. We look forward to bringing this property forward towards production. I encourage you to view a short movie about cobalt at https://youtu.be/TeHmUjCWovo. Under the terms of the letter agreement, STM shall pay to the vendor the sum of US$45,000 upon signing of the lease agreement and the vendor shall retain a 4% net smelter return ("NSR") in the Property. STM shall pay the vendor advance royalty payments on the NSR of US$3,000 per month for the first two years of the lease agreement, increasing to US$4,000 per month for the subsequent two years, and US$5,000 per month for subsequent years. At any time during the term of the lease, STM shall have the right to purchase a 100% interest in the Property and reduce the NSR held by the vendor from 4% to 1%, all for consideration of a cash payment US$1,500,000. The NSR may subsequently be purchased by STM for a cash payment of US$500,000 for every 1% NSR elected to be acquired by STM. In connection with this transaction, a cash finder's fee shall be payable to an arm's length party in accordance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange. The historical tonnage and grade estimates for the Property quoted above do not follow the required disclosure for reserves and resources within the CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves as outlined in National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). They were prepared in the 1980s prior to the adoption and implementation of NI 43-101 and are historic estimates. The historic resource figures generated by Noranda have not been redefined to conform to the CIM Definition Standards as provided for in NI 43-101. The Noranda Report does not detail cut-off grades and metal prices used to estimate the historical mineralisation and used a tonnage factor of 11 cubic feet per ton. Such source data is noted to be non-compliant. In addition, the potential quantity and grade is conceptual in nature, and there has been insufficient exploration (drill hole spacing is "over 200 feet") to define a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the deposits being delineated as a NI 43-101 compliant resource. Investors are cautioned that the historical estimates do not mean or imply that economic deposits exist on the Property and the historical estimates should not necessarily be relied on. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current mineral resources and the Company is not treating the historical estimates as current mineral resources. More work, including, but not limited to, drilling, will be required to conform the estimates to compliant categories in accordance with CIM Definition Standards as provided for in NI 43-101. While not compliant with NI 43-101 disclosure requirements, management of the Company believes that the historical estimates are reliable in the sense that the authors were experts, using industry standard procedures at the time. The historical estimates are relevant to the Company's planned exploration program because they identify significant mineralization that will be the target of this exploration program. Mr. Garry Clark, P. Geo., of Clark Exploration Consulting, is the "qualified person" as defined in NI 43-101, who has reviewed and approved the technical content in this press release. The Company is also pleased to announce that its common shares have commenced trading on the OTCQB Marketplace under the symbol "SCTFF". The Company's common shares will continue to trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "STM". The Company expects to benefit from being listed on the OTCQB by gaining greater exposure and liquidity in the United States, where the Property is located. About The Company STM is a Canadian-based exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of production grade lithium deposits worldwide. STM has acquired the Deep Valley property located in west-central Alberta. This property consists of a 6,648 ha (16,427 acres) permit that encompasses an area of reported enrichment of lithium brines. The Deep Valley property is located in the active Fox Creek - Sturgeon Lake area of Alberta, where formation waters within Leduc aquifers are highly enriched in lithium, potassium, boron, bromine and other commodities, as stated by the ERCB in its report of October, 2011, entitled geological introduction to lithium-rich formation water with emphasis on the Fox Creek area of west-central Alberta (NTS 83F and 83K). Reader Advisory This press release should not be considered a comprehensive summary of the terms of the proposed transactions described above. Additional information may be required by the TSX Venture Exchange and may be disseminated at a future date following a satisfactory review by the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company has not undertaken any independent investigation of the historical exploration or other information contained in this press release nor has it independently analyzed the results of the previous exploration work in order to verify the accuracy of the information. The historical estimates were not prepared in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101. The Company believes that the historical exploration and other information contained in this press release are relevant to continuing exploration on the Property. This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. . In particular, forward-looking information in this press release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to entering into a lease agreement with the vendor of the Property and future exploration work on the Property. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. We cannot guarantee future results, performance or achievements. Consequently, there is no representation that the actual results achieved will be the same, in whole or in part, as those set out in the forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause the results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: general economic conditions in Canada and globally; industry conditions, including governmental regulation and environmental regulation; failure to obtain industry partner and other third party consents and approvals, if and when required; the availability of capital on acceptable terms; the need to obtain required approvals from regulatory authorities; stock market volatility; liabilities inherent in water disposal facility operations; competition for, among other things, skilled personnel and supplies; incorrect assessments of the value of acquisitions; geological, technical, processing and transportation problems; changes in tax laws and incentive programs; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions and dispositions; and the other factors. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. We undertake no duty to update any of the forward-looking information to conform such information to actual results or to changes in our expectations except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. 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. PITTSBURGH, July 26, 2016 - Consol Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX) reported net cash provided by operating activities in the just-ended quarter of $95 million, compared to $66 million in the year-earlier quarter, which includes $12 million and $24 million of net cash provided by discontinued operating activities, respectively. "During the quarter, CONSOL drove down E&P unit costs by 18%, compared to the prior-year quarter, generated $46 million in organic free cash flow from continuing operations1, paid down approximately $390 million in debt, and increased estimated ultimate recoveries (EURs) in its prolific Marcellus Shale Green Hill field to 3.0-3.5 Bcfe," commented Nicholas J. DeIuliis, president and CEO. "These accomplishments not only helped us exceed our internal 18-month free cash flow plan, but also drove our NAV per share and liquidity position higher. As a result, we have made the decision to employ a two-rig program in the second half of 2016 since expected rates of return nicely exceed our cost of capital, while supporting our free cash flow plan and liquidity goals. Despite the decision to resume modest drilling activity, which will add approximately $25 million of capital expenditures in 2016, CONSOL expects the annual E&P Division capital budget to decrease to $190-$205 million due to continued capital efficiency improvements. CONSOL's main focus remains staying disciplined on deploying capital in order to grow our NAV per share." On a GAAP basis, the second quarter earnings included the following pre-tax items attributable to continuing operations: Recorded a $279.7 million unrealized loss on commodity derivative instruments, related to changes in the fair market value of existing hedges on a mark-to-market basis; Recorded a $13.7 million loss related to pension settlement, caused by lump sum distributions from the plan which increased due to the sale of the Buchanan Mine in the first quarter of 2016; Recorded a $6.3 million gain related to a customer's partial buyout of a coal contract; and, Recorded $1.5 million in expense related to severance in connection with the company's ongoing cost reduction efforts. Taking these items into account, the company reported a net loss from continuing operations of $233 million for the quarter, or ($1.02) per diluted share. Including the loss from discontinued operations, net of tax, of $236 million, less net income attributable to noncontrolling interest, the company reported a net loss attributable to CONSOL Energy shareholders of $470 million or ($2.05) per diluted share. (Dollars in thousands) Q2 2016 Loss Before Income Tax $ (333,364) Income Taxes (100,354) Loss From Continuing Operations (233,010) Loss From Discontinued Operations, net (235,639) Net Loss (468,649) Less: Net Income Attributable to Noncontrolling Interest 1,179 Net Loss Attributable to CONSOL Energy Shareholders $ (469,828) Earnings before deducting net interest expense (interest expense less interest income), income taxes and depreciation, depletion and amortization (EBITDA), from continuing operations1 were a negative $151 million for the 2016 second quarter, compared to a negative $695 million in the year-earlier quarter. After adjusting for certain items, which are listed in the EBITDA reconciliation table, the company had an adjusted net loss from continuing operations1 in the 2016 second quarter of $49 million, or ($0.21) per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations1 was $136 million for the 2016 second quarter, compared to $138 million in the year-earlier quarter. CONSOL Energy's Miller Creek Mining Complex and Fola Mining Complex subsidiaries have entered into agreements for the sale of those Central Appalachia mining operations. The Miller Creek Complex, located in West Virginia, has an active surface mining operation, which produced 2.1 million tons in 2015, and two underground mines, which are idle. The Fola Mining Complex is a closed surface mining operation in West Virginia. The Miller Creek and Fola Mining Complexes each have 114 million tons of owned and leased coal reserves, and they have a total of $103 million of mine closing and reclamation liabilities on CONSOL's Consolidated Balance Sheets. These assets and liabilities are classified as held for sale in discontinued operations on the company's Consolidated Balance Sheets, their results of operations are included in discontinued operations on the Consolidated Statement of Income, and the reclassification of these assets resulted in an impairment charge of $356 million in the quarter. In the transaction, the buyer will acquire the Miller Creek and Fola assets and will assume the Miller Creek and Fola mine closing and reclamation liabilities; in order to equalize the value exchange, CONSOL will pay the buyer $27 million cash at the closing, of which a portion will be held in escrow for purposes of obtaining the surety bonds required for the permits to transfer, and an additional $17 million in installments over the next four years. These payments will result in an additional loss of $44 million that CONSOL expects to record during the third quarter of 2016. CONSOL Energy estimated a negative EBITDA contribution for full year 2016 associated with these assets. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter. 1The terms "adjusted net loss from continuing operations," "EBITDA from continuing operations," "adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations," "free cash flow," and "organic free cash from continuing operations" are non-GAAP financial measures, which are defined and reconciled to the GAAP net income below, under the caption "Non-GAAP Financial Measures." E&P Division: CONSOL plans to add back two horizontal rigs to resume drilling starting in August 2016. The company expects to drill 8 dry Utica Shale wells, located in Monroe County, Ohio, where CONSOL maintains a 100% working interest, and 2 Marcellus Shale wells, located in Washington County, Pennsylvania, which fall within the joint venture where CONSOL maintains a 50% working interest. The 2 new Marcellus Shale wells are located on a 6-well pad that contains 4 existing drilled but uncompleted (DUC) wells. CONSOL expects to finish drilling the remaining 2 wells in order to complete the pad. CONSOL expects that the lateral length for the 10 wells to average approximately 8,700 feet. Despite the planned increased drilling activity, due to continued capital efficiency improvements, the company reduced its E&P Division capital budget to $190-$205 million. CONSOL expects to see a partial year production benefit from these new wells starting in April 2017. Also, the company anticipates its DUC well inventory to grow to 91 gross Marcellus and Utica shale wells exiting 2016, which includes 76 wells that are located in the wet areas. During the second quarter of 2016, CONSOL's E&P Division achieved record production of 99.3 Bcfe, or an increase of 32% from the 75.5 Bcfe produced in the year-earlier quarter. The E&P Division's total unit cash costs declined during the quarter to $1.23 per Mcfe, compared to $1.58 per Mcfe during the year-earlier quarter, or an improvement of approximately 22%, driven by reductions to lease operating and gathering, transportation, and compression expenses. Marcellus Shale production volumes, including liquids, in the 2016 second quarter were 53.1 Bcfe, or 33% higher than the 39.9 Bcfe produced in the 2015 second quarter. Marcellus Shale total unit cash costs were $1.27 per Mcfe in the just-ended quarter, which is a $0.31 per Mcfe improvement from the second quarter of 2015 cash costs of $1.58 per Mcfe, which benefited in part from the company requiring less processing by shifting more towards drier gas. CONSOL Energy's Utica Shale production volumes, including liquids, in the 2016 second quarter were 23.3 Bcfe, up from 10.7 Bcfe in the year-earlier quarter. Utica Shale total unit cash costs were $0.83 per Mcfe in the just-ended quarter, which is a $0.39 per Mcfe improvement from the second quarter of 2015 total unit cash costs of $1.22 per Mcfe. The significant cost improvements across the Utica Shale were primarily driven by reductions to lease operating expenses and gathering and transportation. E&P Division capital expenditures declined further in the second quarter to $23.4 million, when compared to the first quarter of 2016, due to further efficiency improvements and reduced activity. E&P Division Second Quarter Operations Summary: CONSOL's E&P activity continued to focus on completing the company's DUC inventory in the second quarter. During the quarter, CONSOL began completion operations on a 6-well pad in Greene County, completing two of the wells. Also, CONSOL turned-in-line (TIL) 16 Marcellus Shale wells in Greene, Washington, and Allegheny counties, Pennsylvania, which included the first pad located at the company's Pittsburgh International Airport project. CONSOL's Green Hill Marcellus Shale wells located in Greene County, Pennsylvania, continue to outperform, with EURs now at 3.0-3.5 Bcfe per 1,000 feet of lateral. In the Utica Shale CONSOL's joint venture partner completed two wells and TIL five wells in Harrison County, Ohio. CONSOL's previously completed 10-well GH53 pad, which was completed in the first quarter of 2016 and incorporated plugless completion technology, has now cumulatively produced over 4.8 Bcfe in its first 60 days of production with 9 out of 10 wells in-line, with one well shut-in due to an offset well completion. The strongest well on the GH53 pad, the GH53F, has produced 0.83 Bcfe in its first 60 days. Lastly, CONSOL's 12-well GH46 pad located in Greene County, Pennsylvania, which was previously completed and TIL in the first quarter of 2016, has cumulatively produced 10.5 Bcfe in the first 90 days of production. CONSOL's confidence in the dry Utica program grows as time progresses and as the company continues to monitor the performance of the dry Utica Shale wells in Monroe County, Ohio, and Greene and Westmoreland counties, Pennsylvania. CONSOL's Gaut 4I well, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, remains the second strongest producing well in the dry Utica across the industry. The Gaut 4I well has cumulatively produced 3.4 Bcfe in its first six months. E&P DIVISION RESULTS Quarter-to-Quarter Comparison Quarter Quarter Quarter Ended Ended Ended June 30, 2016 June 30, 2015 March 31, 2016 Sales - Gas $ 140.3 $ 135.1 $ 157.4 Gain on Commodity Derivative Instruments - Cash Settlement 80.3 42.3 84.3 Sales - Oil 0.7 1.2 0.5 Sales - NGLs 19.2 15.0 19.9 Sales - Condensate 7.8 8.7 3.9 Total Sales Revenue ($ MM) $ 248.3 $ 202.3 $ 266.0 Loss Before Income Tax $ (294.5) 1 $ (891.4) 2 $ (23.5) Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities ($ MM) $ 19.1 $ 297.9 $ 58.6 Total Period Production (Bcfe) 99.3 75.5 97.5 Average Daily Production (MMcfe) 1,090.9 829.6 1,071.0 Capital Expenditures ($ MM) $ 23.4 $ 289.2 $ 62.9 1 Adjusted loss before income tax for the E&P Division of $14.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2016 is calculated as GAAP loss before income tax of $294.5 million plus total pre-tax adjustments of $280.2 million. The $280.2 million adjustment is the pre-tax loss related to the unrealized loss on commodity derivative instruments and a pre-tax loss of $0.5 million related to severance expense. 2 Includes an $828.9 million pre-tax impairment loss on shallow oil and gas properties and a $24.9 million pre-tax loss related to the unrealized loss on commodity derivative instruments. Adjusted loss before income tax for the E&P Division for the three months ended June 30, 2015 is calculated as GAAP loss before income tax of $891.4 million plus total pre-tax adjustments of $853.8 million equals the adjusted loss before income tax of $37.6 million. CONSOL's E&P Division production in the quarter came from the following categories: Quarter Quarter Quarter Ended Ended Ended June 30, 2016 June 30, 2015 % Increase/(Decrease) March 31, 2016 % Increase/(Decrease) GAS Marcellus Sales Volumes (Bcf) 47.2 34.6 36.4 % 45.1 4.7 % Utica Sales Volumes (Bcf) 18.7 7.1 163.4 % 17.7 5.6 % CBM Sales Volumes (Bcf) 17.1 18.8 (9.0)% 17.6 (2.8)% Other Sales Volumes (Bcf)1 5.7 5.9 (3.4)% 5.7 % LIQUIDS2 NGLs Sales Volumes (Bcfe) 9.0 7.2 25.0 % 9.7 (7.2)% Oil Sales Volumes (Bcfe) 0.1 0.2 (50.0)% 0.1 % Condensate Sales Volumes (Bcfe) 1.5 1.7 (11.8)% 1.6 (6.3)% TOTAL 99.3 75.5 31.5 % 97.5 1.8 % Note: The increase in Marcellus sales volumes represents only the gas portion of production. When including liquids, the increase in Marcellus volumes was 33% compared to the year-earlier quarter. Production results are net of royalties. 1. Other Sales Volumes: primarily related to shallow oil and gas production and the Chattanooga shale in Tennessee. 2. Liquids: NGLs, Oil, and Condensate are converted to Mcfe at the rate of one barrel equals six Mcf based upon the approximate relative energy content of oil and natural gas. As a result of continuing to high-grade production away from wet areas and shift more towards dry gas areas, in the quarter, liquids production decreased to 10.6 Bcfe, or 11% of the total production of 99.3 Bcfe. E&P PRICE AND COST DATA PER MCFE Quarter-to-Quarter Comparison: Quarter Quarter Quarter Ended Ended Ended (Per Mcfe) June 30, 2016 June 30, 2015 March 31, 2016 Average Sales Price - Gas $ 1.58 $ 2.03 $ 1.83 Average Gain on Commodity Derivative Instruments - Cash Settlement- Gas $ 0.91 $ 0.64 $ 0.98 Average Sales Price - Oil* $ 5.62 $ 7.69 $ 5.14 Average Sales Price - NGLs* $ 2.14 $ 2.08 $ 2.05 Average Sales Price - Condensate* $ 5.28 $ 5.21 $ 2.44 Average Sales Price - Total Company $ 2.50 $ 2.68 $ 2.73 Costs - Production Lifting $ 0.24 $ 0.39 $ 0.28 Ad Valorem, Severance and Other Taxes 0.07 0.09 0.09 DD&A 0.96 1.07 1.00 Total Production Costs $ 1.27 $ 1.55 $ 1.37 Costs - Gathering Transportation $ 0.74 $ 0.85 $ 0.79 Operating Costs 0.18 0.25 0.17 DD&A 0.08 0.11 0.08 Total Gathering Costs $ 1.00 $ 1.21 $ 1.04 Total Costs $ 2.27 $ 2.76 $ 2.41 Margin $ 0.23 $ (0.08) $ 0.32 *Oil, NGLs, and Condensate are converted to Mcfe at the rate of one barrel equals six Mcf based upon the approximate relative energy content of oil and natural gas, which is not indicative of the relationship of oil, NGLs, condensate, and natural gas prices. Note: "Total Costs" excludes selling, general administration, incentive compensation, and other corporate expenses. The average sales price per Mcfe within the E&P Division was impaired in the just-ended quarter, when compared to the year-earlier quarter due to depressed commodity prices. The average sales price of $2.50 per Mcfe, when combined with unit costs of $2.27 per Mcfe, resulted in a margin of $0.23 per Mcfe. This was an increase when compared to the year-earlier quarter, with the improvements in unit costs more than offsetting the decline in price realizations. During the quarter, total unit costs decreased to $2.27 per Mcfe, compared to the year-earlier quarter of $2.76 per Mcfe, driven primarily from reductions to lifting and gathering expenses. E&P Marketing Update: For the second quarter of 2016, CONSOL's average sales price for natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGL), oil, and condensate was $2.50 per Mcfe. CONSOL's average price for natural gas was $1.58 per Mcf for the quarter and, including cash settlements from hedging, was $2.49 per Mcf. The average realized price for all liquids for the second quarter of 2016 was $15.73 per barrel. In April, CONSOL began recovering and selling ethane primarily via Sunoco Logistics' Mariner East project, which ships ethane to the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex for export. Such ethane sales are expected to improve NGL netbacks. On an equivalent basis, during the second quarter of 2016 these ethane sales yielded a significantly higher price than the Texas Eastern M2 market where sales would generally have occurred had the volumes been rejected into the natural gas stream. CONSOL expects further revenue enhancement in 2016 and beyond as its recovered ethane volumes grow and as the Mariner East project expands in 2017. Coal Division: CONSOL Energy's Pennsylvania Operations sold 6.2 million tons in the 2016 second quarter, compared to 5.7 million tons during the year-earlier quarter. The Board of Directors of CNX Coal Resources' LP (NYSE: CNXC) General Partner declared a cash distribution of $0.5125 per unit to the Partnership's common unitholders for the second quarter of 2016. The distribution will be made on August 15, 2016 to the common unitholders of record at the close of business on August 8, 2016. The General Partner has elected to not pay a distribution to holders of subordinated units, as a result of the current distribution coverage shortfall, to preserve liquidity and maintain balance sheet strength. The expected cash impact to CONSOL Energy is approximately $6 million starting in the third quarter of 2016. Coal Division Second Quarter Summary: During the second quarter of 2016, the Pennsylvania Operations total unit costs were $34.46 per ton, compared to $44.15 per ton in the year-earlier quarter. As reported by CNX Coal Resources LP (CNXC) in their second quarter 2016 earnings press release, dated July 25, 2016, "From an operational standpoint, the second quarter came in ahead of our expectations primarily due to higher shipments. Our operational team delivered those tons despite four longwall moves, difficult mining conditions at the Enlow Fork Mine, and difficult longwall recovery conditions during one of the Bailey longwall moves. The Harvey Mine, which was idled in January 2016, was brought back online during the second quarter to meet customer demands, while the Bailey and Enlow Fork mines were undergoing longwall moves. Based on our current outlook for shipment volumes, we expect to run all five longwalls for the rest of 2016. Productivity for the second quarter, as measured by tons per employee-hour, improved by 17% compared to the year-ago period, despite the higher number of longwall moves negatively impacting production. For the third quarter, CNXC expects coal shipments and average realized price per ton to increase slightly, and cost of coal sold per ton to decrease compared to the second quarter." During the quarter, CONSOL's active coal operations generated $78 million of cash from continuing operations before capital expenditures. COAL DIVISION RESULTS BY PRODUCT CATEGORY - Quarter-To-Quarter Comparison PA Ops PA Ops PA Ops Quarter Quarter Quarter Ended Ended Ended June 30, June 30, March 31, 2016 2015 2016 Beginning Inventory (millions of tons) 0.3 0.2 0.1 Coal Production (millions of tons) 6.0 5.9 5.4 Ending Inventory (millions of tons) 0.1 0.3 0.3 Sales - Company Produced (millions of tons) 6.2 5.7 5.3 Sales Per Ton $ 40.61 $ 56.21 $ 42.99 Total Production Costs Per Ton $ 34.46 $ 44.15 $ 33.16 Average Margin Per Ton Sold $ 6.15 $ 12.06 $ 9.83 Addback: DD&A Per Ton $ 6.50 $ 7.55 $ 6.45 Average Margin Per Ton, before DD&A $ 12.65 $ 19.61 $ 16.28 Cash Flow before Cap. Ex ($ MM) $ 78 $ 112 $ 86 The Pennsylvania Operations include Bailey, Enlow Fork, and Harvey mines. Total Production Costs per Ton include: operating costs, royalty and production taxes and depreciation, depletion and amortization. Sales tons times Average Margin Per Ton, before DD&A is meant to approximate the amount of cash generated by the Pennsylvania Operations. This cash generation will be offset by maintenance of production (MOP) capital expenditures. Table may not sum due to rounding. E&P Division Guidance: CONSOL Energy increases its annual 2016 E&P Division production to 380-385 Bcfe, compared to previous quarter's guidance of approximately 378 Bcfe. Total hedged natural gas production in the 2016 third quarter is 75.6 Bcf. The annual gas hedge position is shown in the table below: E&P DIVISION GUIDANCE 2016 2017 Total Yearly Production (Bcfe) 380-385 TBD* Volumes Hedged (Bcf), as of 7/13/16 268.5** 224.2 * 2017 production will be a function of the second half of 2016 capital program, continued debottlenecking initiatives, and the company's drilled but uncompleted (DUC) well inventory. ** Includes actual settlements of 128.1 Bcf. CONSOL Energy's hedged gas volumes include a combination of NYMEX financial hedges and index financial hedges (NYMEX plus basis). In addition, to protect the NYMEX hedge volumes from basis exposure, CONSOL enters into basis-only financial hedges and physical sales with fixed basis at certain sales points. CONSOL Energy's gas hedge position is shown in the table below: GAS HEDGES Q3 2016 2016 2017 Total NYMEX + Basis* (Bcf) 72.1 263.6 187.1 Average Hedge Price ($/Mcf) $ 2.79 $ 3.04 $ 2.61 NYMEX Only Hedges Exposed to Basis (Bcf) - - 37.1 Average Hedge Price ($/Mcf) - - $ 3.01 Physical Sales With Fixed Basis Exposed to NYMEX (Bcf) 3.5 4.9 - Average Hedge Basis Value ($/Mcf) $ (0.29) $ (0.09) - * Includes physical sales with fixed basis in Q3 2016, 2016, and 2017 of 18.3 Bcf, 77.0 Bcf, and 28.3 Bcf, respectively. During the second quarter of 2016, CONSOL Energy added additional NYMEX natural gas hedges of 17.6 Bcf for 2016 and 14.0 Bcf for 2017. In addition, to help mitigate basis exposure on NYMEX hedges, in the second quarter, CONSOL added 18.8 Bcf and 70.6 Bcf of basis hedges for 2016 and 2017, respectively. CONSOL also has hedges in place for a portion of its 2018, 2019, and 2020 production. CONSOL's 2016 NYMEX plus basis natural gas hedge position has increased to 263.6 Bcf at an average hedge price of $3.04 per Mcf. NYMEX plus basis hedge volumes are not exposed to basis differentials but instead have protected revenue. As a result, in 2016, NYMEX plus basis gas hedges should lock in revenue of approximately $800 million. During the second quarter of 2016, CONSOL Energy continued to add NGL (propane) hedges, along with direct sales contracts to counterparties. Excluding actual 2016 settlements of 2.3 million gallons, CONSOL currently has 10.4 million gallons of propane directly hedged through March of 2017 at an average price of $0.48 per gallon. Coal Division Guidance: CONSOL Energy's pro rata total Coal Division 2016 Adjusted EBITDA is shown in the table below: COAL DIVISION GUIDANCE 2016 CNX Coal Resources LP ("CNXC") Adjusted EBITDA (20% undivided interest of PA Operations) $ 59 - $ 69 x5 (@ 100% interest) $ 295 - $ 345 Less: EBITDA attributable to Noncontrolling Interest (26) - (31) Plus: CONSOL's Other Coal Division EBITDA1 23 - 28 Plus: CONSOL's Other Miscellaneous Coal EBITDA2 16 - 24 Less: CONSOL's Other Coal Division Costs and Expenses (including Legacy Liabilities' Costs)3 (108) - (116) CONSOL Energy's Pro Rata Coal Division Adjusted EBITDA $ 200 - $ 250 Note: CONSOL Energy is unable to provide a reconciliation of projected CNXC Adjusted EBITDA, CONSOL's Other Coal Division EBITDA, and CONSOL's Other Miscellaneous Coal EBITDA to projected operating income, the most comparable financial measure calculated in accordance with GAAP, due to the unknown effect, timing and potential significance of certain income statement items. (1) Includes estimated contribution from Miller Creek and Other Coal Operations for fiscal year 2016 and 1Q16 for Buchanan, and excludes Loss on Sale of Buchanan and the expected Loss on Sale for the Miller Creek and Fola mines. (2) Includes miscellaneous other income (net of applicable expenses) associated with the company's Terminal Operations, Rental Income, Coal Royalty Income, and other miscellaneous land income. (3) Includes Legacy Liability Costs of approximately $80-85 million; Other Coal-Related Corporate Expenses, and other miscellaneous items. Excludes stock-based compensation and pension settlement charges. CONSOL Energy's Pro Rata Coal Division Adjusted EBITDA for 2016 is net of all legacy liabilities associated with the Coal Division, which are comprised of the following: long-term disability (LTD), workers compensation (WC), Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis (CWP), Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB-retiree medical), salary retirement and pension, and asset retirement obligations (ARO). CONSOL Energy expects annual 2016 Pennsylvania Operations sales to be approximately 22.5-25.5 million tons. CONSOL Energy expects 2016 total Coal Division capital expenditures to be between $105-$125 million, which includes Pennsylvania Operations capital expenditures of $90-$100 million On a normalized basis, the Coal Division expects maintenance of production capital of $5-$6 per ton. Liquidity: As of June 30, 2016, CONSOL Energy had $1,313.7 million in total liquidity, which is comprised of $88.7 million of cash, excluding the CNXC cash balance, and $1,225.0 million available to be borrowed under its $2.0 billion bank facility. During the quarter, CONSOL's liquidity improved $34.0 million due to $56.6 million of cash generated from operations offset by an increase of $22.6 million in outstanding letters of credit. In addition, CONSOL holds 12.7 million CNXC limited partnership units with a current market value of approximately $138 million and 19.1 million CONE Midstream Partners LP ("CNNX") limited partnership units with a current market value of approximately $325 million, as of July 19, 2016. CONSOL Energy used the $66.3 million of free cash flow generated during the quarter and the $426.7 million of the cash on hand from March 31, 2016 to reduce outstanding borrowings on the revolving credit facility, which increased liquidity and de-levered the balance sheet. "While we have seen the industry issue equity to improve liquidity and manage leverage ratios, CONSOL has focused on cutting costs, improving capital efficiencies, and monetizing assets," commented David M. Khani, executive vice president and CFO. "Over the past two years, the company has reduced administrative costs and legacy liabilities by several hundred million dollars per year, reduced E&P operating cash costs on a per unit basis by approximately 34%, and sold over $1.3 billion of assets. Also, since implementing our free cash flow plan in the second quarter of 2015, we have paid down debt by approximately $650 million, which excludes approximately $200 million of CNXC revolver borrowings that are consolidated on CONSOL's balance sheet." About CONSOL Consol Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX) is a Pittsburgh-based energy producer, and one of the largest independent natural gas exploration, development and production companies, with operations centered in the major shale formations of the Appalachian basin. The company deploys an organic growth strategy focused on developing its substantial resource base. As of December 31, 2015, CONSOL Energy had 5.6 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas reserves. CONSOL Energy is a member of the Standard & Poor's Midcap 400 Index. Additional information may be found at www.consolenergy.com. Non-GAAP Financial Measures Definition: EBIT is defined as earnings before deducting net interest expense (interest expense less interest income) and income taxes. EBITDA is defined as earnings before deducting net interest expense (interest expense less interest income), income taxes and depreciation, depletion and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA after adjusting for the discrete items listed below. Although EBIT, EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA are not measures of performance calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, management believes that they are useful to an investor in evaluating CONSOL Energy because they are widely used to evaluate a company's operating performance. Investors should not view these metrics as a substitute for measures of performance that are calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. In addition, because all companies do not calculate EBIT, EBITDA, or Adjusted EBITDA identically, the presentation here may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. Reconciliation of EBIT, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to financial net income attributable to CONSOL Energy Shareholders is as follows (dollars in 000): Three Months Ended June 30, 2016 2016 2016 2016 2015 Dollars in thousands E&P Division COAL Division Other1 Total Company Total Company Net (Loss) Income $ (294,499) $ (212,235) $ 38,085 $ (468,649) $ (603,301) Less: Loss from Discontinued Operations 235,639 235,639 26,078 Add: Interest Expense 755 2,153 44,519 47,427 46,506 Less: Interest Income (320) (227) (547) (364) Add: Income Taxes (100,354) (100,354) (301,669) Earnings Before Interest & Taxes (EBIT) (294,064) 25,557 (17,977) (286,484) (832,750) Add: Depreciation, Depletion & Amortization 105,151 30,069 1 135,221 138,135 Earnings Before Interest, Taxes and DD&A (EBITDA) from Continuing Operations $ (188,913) $ 55,626 $ (17,976) $ (151,263) $ (694,615) Adjustments: Unrealized Loss(Gain) on Commodity Derivative Instruments 279,715 279,715 24,936 Coal Contract Buyout (6,288) (6,288) Severance Expense 525 26 900 1,451 Pension Settlement 13,696 13,696 Impairment of E&P Properties 828,905 Backstop Loan Fees 7,334 Other Transaction Fees 4,968 OPEB Plan Changes (33,649) Loss on Debt Extinguishment 17 Total Pre-tax Adjustments 280,240 (6,262) 14,596 288,574 832,511 Adjusted EBITDA $ 91,327 $ 49,364 $ (3,380) $ 137,311 $ 137,896 Less: Net Income Attributable to Noncontrolling Interest (1,179) (1,179) Adjusted EBITDA Attributable to Continuing Operations $ 91,327 $ 48,185 $ (3,380) $ 136,132 $ 137,896 Note: Income tax effect of Total Pre-tax Adjustments was $104,855 and $313,327 for the three months ended June 30, 2016 and June 30, 2015, respectively. Adjusted net income attributable to CONSOL Energy shareholders for the three months ended June 30, 2016 is calculated as GAAP net loss from continuing operations of $233,010 plus total pre-tax adjustments of $288,574, less the tax benefit of $104,855, equals the adjusted net loss from continuing operations of $49,291. (1) CONSOL Energy's Other Division includes expenses from various other corporate activities including income tax expense that are not allocated to E&P or Coal Divisions. Free cash flow and organic free cash flow from continuing operations are non-GAAP financial measures. Management believes that these measures are meaningful to investors because management reviews cash flows generated from operations and non-core asset sales after taking into consideration capital expenditures due to the fact that these expenditures are considered necessary to maintain and expand CONSOL's asset base and are expected to generate future cash flows from operations. It is important to note that free cash flow and organic free cash flow from continuing operations do not represent the residual cash flow available for discretionary expenditures since other non-discretionary expenditures, such as mandatory debt service requirements, are not deducted from the measure. Organic Cash Flow From Continuing Operations Three Months Ended June 30, 2016 Net Cash Provided by Continuing Operations $ 83,571 Capital Expenditures (37,593) Net Investment in Equity Affiliates Organic Free Cash Flow from Continuing Operations $ 45,978 Free Cash Flow Three Months Ended June 30, 2016 Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities $ 95,299 Capital Expenditures (37,593) Capital Expenditures of Discontinued Operations (1,254) Net Investment in Equity Affiliates Proceeds From Sales of Assets 9,831 Free Cash Flow $ 66,283 Cautionary Statements Various statements in this release, including those that express a belief, expectation or intention, may be considered forward-looking statements under federal securities laws including Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from projected results. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. The forward-looking statements may include projections and estimates concerning the timing and success of specific projects and our future production, revenues, income and capital spending. When we use the words "believe," "intend," "expect," "may," "should," "anticipate," "could," "estimate," "plan," "predict," "project," "will," or their negatives, or other similar expressions, the statements which include those words are usually forward-looking statements. When we describe strategy that involves risks or uncertainties, we are making forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release, if any, speak only as of the date of this press release; we disclaim any obligation to update these statements. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and assumptions about future events. While our management considers these expectations and assumptions to be reasonable, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, regulatory and other risks, contingencies and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control. These risks, contingencies and uncertainties relate to, among other matters, the following: deterioration in economic conditions in any of the industries in which our customers operate may decrease demand for our products, impair our ability to collect customer receivables and impair our ability to access capital; prices for natural gas, natural gas and other liquids and coal are volatile and can fluctuate widely based upon a number of factors beyond our control including oversupply relative to the demand available for our products, weather and the price and availability of alternative fuels; an extended decline in the prices we receive for our natural gas, natural gas liquids and coal affecting our operating results and cash flows; foreign currency fluctuations could adversely affect the competitiveness of our coal abroad; our customers extending existing contracts or entering into new long-term contracts for coal on favorable terms; our reliance on major customers; our inability to collect payments from customers if their creditworthiness declines or if they fail to honor their contracts; the disruption of rail, barge, gathering, processing and transportation facilities and other systems that deliver our natural gas, natural gas liquids and coal to market; a loss of our competitive position because of the competitive nature of the natural gas and coal industries, or a loss of our competitive position because of overcapacity in these industries impairing our profitability; coal users switching to other fuels in order to comply with various environmental standards related to coal combustion emissions; the impact of potential, as well as any adopted environmental regulations including any relating to greenhouse gas emissions on our operating costs as well as on the market for natural gas and coal and for our securities; the risks inherent in natural gas and coal operations, including our reliance upon third party contractors, being subject to unexpected disruptions, including geological conditions, equipment failure, timing of completion of significant construction or repair of equipment, fires, explosions, accidents and weather conditions which could impact financial results; decreases in the availability of, or increases in, the price of commodities or capital equipment used in our mining and transportation operations; obtaining and renewing governmental permits and approvals for our natural gas and coal operations; the effects of government regulation on the discharge into the water or air, and the disposal and clean-up of, hazardous substances and wastes generated during our natural gas and coal operations; our ability to find adequate water sources for our use in natural gas drilling, or our ability to dispose of water used or removed from strata in connection with our natural gas operations at a reasonable cost and within applicable environmental rules; the effects of stringent federal and state employee health and safety regulations, including the ability of regulators to shut down our operations; the potential for liabilities arising from environmental contamination or alleged environmental contamination in connection with our past or current natural gas and coal operations; the effects of mine closing, reclamation, gas well closing and certain other liabilities; uncertainties in estimating our economically recoverable natural gas, oil and coal reserves; defects may exist in our chain of title and we may incur additional costs associated with perfecting title for gas rights on some of our properties or failing to acquire these additional rights may result in a reduction of our estimated reserves; the outcomes of various legal proceedings, which are more fully described in our reports filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; exposure to employee-related long-term liabilities; lump sum payments made to retiring salaried employees pursuant to our defined benefit pension plan exceeding total service and interest cost in a plan year; divestitures we anticipate may not occur or produce anticipated benefits; the terms of our existing joint ventures restrict our flexibility, actions taken by the other party in our natural gas joint ventures may impact our financial position and various circumstances could cause us not to realize the benefits we anticipate receiving from these joint ventures; risks associated with our debt; replacing our natural gas and oil reserves, which if not replaced, will cause our natural gas and oil reserves and production to decline; declines in our borrowing base could occur for a variety of reasons, including lower natural gas or oil prices, declines in natural gas and oil proved reserves, and lending regulations requirements or regulations; our hedging activities may prevent us from benefiting from price increases and may expose us to other risks; changes in federal or state income tax laws, particularly in the area of percentage depletion and intangible drilling costs, could cause our financial position and profitability to deteriorate; failure to appropriately allocate capital and other resources among our strategic opportunities may adversely affect our financial condition; failure by Murray Energy to satisfy liabilities it acquired from us, or failure to perform its obligations under various arrangements, which we guaranteed, could materially or adversely affect our results of operations, financial position, and cash flows; information theft, data corruption, operational disruption and/or financial loss resulting from a terrorist attack or cyber incident; operating in a single geographic area; certain provisions in our multi-year sales contracts may provide limited protection during adverse economic conditions, and may result in economic penalties or permit the customer to terminate the contract; our common units in CNX Coal Resources LP and CONE Midstream Partners LP are subordinated, and we may not receive distributions from CNX Coal Resources LP or CONE Midstream Partners LP; with respect to the sale of the Buchanan and Amonate mines and other coal assets to Coronado IV LLC - disruption to our business, including customer, employee and supplier relationships resulting from this transaction, and the impact of the transaction on our future operating results; other factors discussed in the 2015 Form 10-K under "Risk Factors," as updated by any subsequent Form 10-Qs, which are on file at the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proved, probable, and possible oil and gas reserves that a company anticipates as of a given date to be economically and legally producible and deliverable by application of development projects to known accumulations. We may use certain terms in this press release, such as EUR (estimated ultimate recovery), unproved reserves and total resource potential, that the SEC's rules strictly prohibit us from including in filings with the SEC. These measures are by their nature more speculative than estimates of reserves prepared in accordance with SEC definitions and guidelines and accordingly are less certain. We also note that the SEC strictly prohibits us from aggregating proved, probable and possible reserves in filings with the SEC due to the different levels of certainty associated with each reserve category. Consol Energy Inc. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (Dollars in thousands, except per share data) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended (Unaudited) June 30, June 30, Revenues and Other Income: 2016 2015 2016 2015 Natural Gas, NGLs and Oil Sales $ 167,933 $ 159,654 $ 349,188 $ 384,092 (Loss) Gain on Commodity Derivative Instruments (199,380) 17,322 (144,320) 107,467 Coal Sales 251,166 318,995 477,330 705,021 Other Outside Sales 8,059 6,337 15,768 19,467 Purchased Gas Sales 7,929 1,517 16,547 5,114 Freight-Outside Coal 11,447 2,750 24,557 7,768 Miscellaneous Other Income 33,032 34,687 81,163 71,208 Gain (Loss) on Sale of Assets 5,614 4,312 (1,662) 6,286 Total Revenue and Other Income 285,800 545,574 818,571 1,306,423 Costs and Expenses: Exploration and Production Costs Lease Operating Expense 23,655 29,521 51,394 66,777 Transportation, Gathering and Compression 90,983 83,196 184,957 158,717 Production, Ad Valorem, and Other Fees 6,402 6,938 14,705 16,130 Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization 105,151 89,850 210,866 177,294 Exploration and Production Related Other Costs 2,823 2,324 5,231 4,364 Purchased Gas Costs 8,884 1,061 16,752 4,018 Other Corporate Expenses 30,656 20,622 58,350 39,718 Impairment of Exploration and Production Properties 828,905 828,905 Selling, General, and Administrative Costs 16,175 21,070 33,738 42,894 Total Exploration and Production Costs 284,729 1,083,487 575,993 1,338,817 Coal Costs Operating and Other Costs 217,465 213,022 401,834 474,765 Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization 30,069 48,280 79,342 102,982 Freight Expense 11,447 2,750 24,557 7,768 Selling, General, and Administrative Costs 6,174 6,147 10,660 12,678 Other Corporate Expenses 4,355 10,207 7,498 16,282 Total Coal Costs 269,510 280,406 523,891 614,475 Other Costs Miscellaneous Operating Expense 17,497 14,045 20,686 24,420 Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization 1 5 1 12 Loss on Debt Extinguishment 17 67,751 Interest Expense 47,427 46,506 97,292 101,627 Total Other Costs 64,925 60,573 117,979 193,810 Total Costs And Expenses 619,164 1,424,466 1,217,863 2,147,102 Loss From Continuing Operations Before Income Tax (333,364) (878,892) (399,292) (840,679) Income Taxes (100,354) (301,669) (123,571) (316,652) Loss From Continuing Operations (233,010) (577,223) (275,721) (524,027) Loss From Discontinued Operations, net (235,639) (26,078) (289,391) (244) Net Loss (468,649) (603,301) (565,112) (524,271) Less: Net Income Attributable to Noncontrolling Interest 1,179 2,293 Net Loss Attributable to CONSOL Energy Shareholders $ (469,828) $ (603,301) $ (567,405) $ (524,271) Consol Energy Inc. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (CONTINUED) (Dollars in thousands, except per share data) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended (Unaudited) June 30, June 30, Loss Per Share 2016 2015 2016 2015 Basic Loss from Continuing Operations $ (1.02) $ (2.52) $ (1.21) $ (2.29) Loss from Discontinued Operations (1.03) (0.12) (1.26) Total Basic Loss Per Share $ (2.05) $ (2.64) $ (2.47) $ (2.29) Dilutive Loss from Continuing Operations $ (1.02) $ (2.52) $ (1.21) $ (2.29) Loss from Discontinued Operations (1.03) (0.12) (1.26) Total Dilutive Loss Per Share $ (2.05) $ (2.64) $ (2.47) $ (2.29) Dividends Paid Per Share $ $ 0.0625 $ 0.0100 $ 0.1250 Consol Energy Inc. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME Three Months Ended Six Months Ended (Dollars in thousands) June 30, June 30, (Unaudited) 2016 2015 2016 2015 Net Loss $ (468,649) $ (603,301) $ (565,112) $ (524,271) Other Comprehensive Loss: Actuarially Determined Long-Term Liability Adjustments (Net of tax: ($5,008), ($4,875), ($4,326), ($4,785)) 8,045 9,467 5,561 9,318 Reclassification of Cash Flow Hedges from OCI to Earnings (Net of tax: $6,521, $12,103, $12,145, $23,316) (11,203) (20,804) (21,017) (40,118) Other Comprehensive Loss (3,158) (11,337) (15,456) (30,800) Comprehensive Loss (471,807) (614,638) (580,568) (555,071) Less: Net Income Attributable to Noncontrolling Interests 1,179 2,293 Comprehensive Loss Attributable to Consol Energy Inc. Shareholders $ (472,986) $ (614,638) $ (582,861) $ (555,071) Consol Energy Inc. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Unaudited) (Dollars in thousands) June 30, 2016 December 31, 2015 ASSETS Current Assets: Cash and Cash Equivalents $ 97,626 $ 72,574 Accounts and Notes Receivable: Trade 153,977 151,383 Other Receivables 94,125 121,735 Inventories 60,818 66,792 Recoverable Income Taxes 13,887 Prepaid Expenses 103,526 297,287 Current Assets of Discontinued Operations 16,168 81,106 Total Current Assets 526,240 804,764 Property, Plant and Equipment: Property, Plant and Equipment 13,866,137 13,794,907 LessAccumulated Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization 5,360,046 5,062,201 Property, Plant, and Equipment of Discontinued Operations, Net 103,085 936,670 Total Property, Plant and EquipmentNet 8,609,176 9,669,376 Other Assets: Deferred Income Taxes 175,929 Investment in Affiliates 256,167 237,330 Other 214,079 214,388 Other Assets of Discontinued Operations 3,166 4,044 Total Other Assets 649,341 455,762 TOTAL ASSETS $ 9,784,757 $ 10,929,902 Consol Energy Inc. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Unaudited) (Dollars in thousands, except per share data) June 30, 2016 December 31, 2015 LIABILITIES AND EQUITY Current Liabilities: Accounts Payable $ 171,359 $ 250,609 Current Portion of Long-Term Debt 4,368 4,988 Short-Term Notes Payable 466,000 952,000 Accrued Income Taxes 5,459 Other Accrued Liabilities 479,255 421,827 Current Liabilities of Discontinued Operations 24,938 51,514 Total Current Liabilities 1,151,379 1,680,938 Long-Term Debt: Long-Term Debt 2,723,004 2,708,320 Capital Lease Obligations 31,494 34,884 Long-Term Debt of Discontinued Operations 1,254 5,001 Total Long-Term Debt 2,755,752 2,748,205 Deferred Credits and Other Liabilities: Deferred Income Taxes 74,629 Postretirement Benefits Other Than Pensions 619,220 630,892 Pneumoconiosis Benefits 117,984 111,903 Mine Closing 214,344 227,339 Gas Well Closing 164,195 163,842 Workers' Compensation 68,687 69,812 Salary Retirement 87,321 91,596 Reclamation 246 25 Other 244,354 166,957 Deferred Credits and Other Liabilities of Discontinued Operations 89,845 107,988 Total Deferred Credits and Other Liabilities 1,606,196 1,644,983 TOTAL LIABILITIES 5,513,327 6,074,126 Stockholders' Equity: Common Stock, $.01 Par Value; 500,000,000 Shares Authorized, 229,433,854 Issued and Outstanding at June 30, 2016; 229,054,236 Issued and Outstanding at December 31, 2015 2,298 2,294 Capital in Excess of Par Value 2,445,840 2,435,497 Preferred Stock, 15,000,000 shares authorized, None issued and outstanding Retained Earnings 2,008,514 2,579,834 Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss (331,054) (315,598) Total Consol Energy Inc. Stockholders' Equity 4,125,598 4,702,027 Noncontrolling Interest 145,832 153,749 TOTAL EQUITY 4,271,430 4,855,776 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY $ 9,784,757 $ 10,929,902 Consol Energy Inc. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY (Dollars in thousands, except per share data) Common Stock Capital in Excess of Par Value Retained Earnings Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss Total Consol Energy Inc. Stockholders' Equity Non- Controlling Interest Total Equity December 31, 2015 $ 2,294 $ 2,435,497 $ 2,579,834 $ (315,598) $ 4,702,027 $ 153,749 $ 4,855,776 (Unaudited) Net (Loss) Income (567,405) (567,405) 2,293 (565,112) Other Comprehensive Loss (15,456) (15,456) (15,456) Comprehensive (Loss) Income (567,405) (15,456) (582,861) 2,293 (580,568) Issuance of Common Stock 4 4 4 Treasury Stock Activity (1,621) (1,621) (1,621) Tax Cost From Stock-Based Compensation (5,096) (5,096) (5,096) Amortization of Stock-Based Compensation Awards 15,439 15,439 615 16,054 Distributions to Noncontrolling Interest (10,825) (10,825) Dividends ($0.01 per share) (2,294) (2,294) (2,294) Balance at June 30, 2016 $ 2,298 $ 2,445,840 $ 2,008,514 $ (331,054) $ 4,125,598 $ 145,832 $ 4,271,430 Consol Energy Inc. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Dollars in thousands) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended (Unaudited) June 30, June 30, Operating Activities: 2016 2015 2016 2015 Net Loss $ (468,649) $ (603,301) $ (565,112) $ (524,271) Adjustments to Reconcile Net Loss to Net Cash Provided By Operating Activities: Net Loss from Discontinued Operations 235,639 26,078 289,391 244 Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization 135,221 138,135 290,209 280,288 Impairment of Exploration and Production Properties 828,905 828,905 Non-Cash Other Post-Employment Benefits (40,559) (50,925) Stock-Based Compensation 10,430 6,648 16,054 14,129 (Gain) Loss on Sale of Assets (5,614) (4,312) 1,662 (6,286) Loss on Debt Extinguishment 17 67,751 Loss (Gain) on Commodity Derivative Instruments 199,380 (17,322) 144,320 (107,467) Net Cash Received in Settlement of Commodity Derivative Instruments 80,335 42,258 164,666 72,399 Deferred Income Taxes (100,934) (301,654) (124,516) (312,234) Equity in Earnings of Affiliates (9,219) (11,927) (25,884) (23,250) Return on Equity Investment 4,680 2,059 9,192 8,162 Changes in Operating Assets: Accounts and Notes Receivable 32,934 65,415 18,101 93,180 Inventories 10,511 (9,228) (7,947) (8,118) Prepaid Expenses 28,156 45,315 47,136 83,570 Changes in Other Assets (5,434) 10,082 (15,298) 16,943 Changes in Operating Liabilities: Accounts Payable (35,955) (82,433) (45,781) (93,870) Accrued Interest (36,674) (16,570) (807) 26,149 Other Operating Liabilities (15,448) (38,403) (14,069) (118,056) Changes in Other Liabilities 18,656 (46,182) 15,343 (56,340) Other 5,556 48,892 9,648 56,800 Net Cash Provided by Continuing Operations 83,571 41,913 206,308 247,703 Net Cash Provided by Discontinued Operating Activities 11,728 23,932 17,433 46,512 Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities 95,299 65,845 223,741 294,215 Cash Flows from Investing Activities: Capital Expenditures (37,593) (329,878) (115,257) (616,484) Proceeds from Sales of Assets 9,831 4,823 18,284 6,931 Net Investments in Equity Affiliates (15,769) (5,578) (43,761) Net Cash Used in Continuing Operations (27,762) (340,824) (102,551) (653,314) Net Cash (Used in) Provided by Discontinued Investing Activities (1,254) (11,888) 394,511 (19,301) Net Cash (Used in) Provided by Investing Activities (29,016) (352,712) 291,960 (672,615) Cash Flows from Financing Activities: (Payments on) Proceeds from Short-Term Borrowings (385,500) 297,500 (486,000) 1,058,000 Payments on Miscellaneous Borrowings (2,364) (1,592) (4,459) (4,029) Payments on Long-Term Notes, including Redemption Premium (2,710) (1,263,719) Net (Payments on) Proceeds from Revolver - CNX Coal Resources LP (2,000) 13,000 Distributions to Noncontrolling Interest (5,412) (10,825) Proceeds from Securitization Facility 6,000 38,669 Proceeds from Issuance of Long-Term Notes 492,760 Tax Benefit from Stock-Based Compensation 183 198 Dividends Paid (14,311) (2,294) (28,711) Issuance of Common Stock 1 6,552 4 8,288 Purchases of Treasury Stock (71,674) Debt Issuance and Financing Fees (18,257) Net Cash (Used in) Provided by Continuing Operations (395,275) 291,622 (490,574) 211,525 Net Cash Used in Discontinued Financing Activities (28) (42) (75) (83) Net Cash (Used in) Provided by Financing Activities (395,303) 291,580 (490,649) 211,442 Net (Decrease) Increase in Cash and Cash Equivalents (329,020) 4,713 25,052 (166,958) Cash and Cash Equivalents at Beginning of Period 426,646 5,314 72,574 176,985 Cash and Cash Equivalents at End of Period $ 97,626 $ 10,027 $ 97,626 $ 10,027 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120416/NE87957LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/consol-energy-reports-second-quarter-results-record-quarterly-ep-production-of-993-bcfe-decreased-ep-division-operating-costs-to-227-per-mcfe-decreased-2016-ep-division-capital-budget-to-190-205-million-increased-2016--300303596.html SOURCE Consol Energy Inc. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Jul 26, 2016) - Terraco Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE:TEN) ("Terraco" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has incorporated Terraco Royalties USA Inc. ("Terraco Royalties"). The formalization of this subsidiary was a necessary structural step for Terraco's growth under its royalty business plan and follows its recent transaction whereby Terraco exercised its suite of royalty options for up to 3% net smelter return ("NSR") royalty ownership on the Spring Valley Gold Project (Pershing County, Nevada) owned and operated by Solidus Resources, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Waterton Precious Metals Fund II Cayman, LP ("Waterton"). Terraco Royalties is a wholly owned Nevada, USA, subsidiary of Terraco with the sole purpose to hold additional royalty acquisitions within the United States. Terraco Royalties holds a 2% NSR royalty on the Moonlight Project which is a 35 square kilometer prospective land package that is on strike with, and adjoins, the multi-million ounce Spring Valley Gold Project. It is anticipated that additional royalties will be added to this subsidiary and will augment Terraco's other suite of NSR royalty ownership on the Spring Valley Gold Project held in a separate wholly owned subsidiary, TGC Holdings Ltd. ("TGC"). "Terraco is well financed and focused on growing its royalty portfolio within safe mining/geopolitical jurisdictions, starting with North America. We believe that there are good opportunities to add high quality royalty assets that will augment Terraco's Spring Valley, Nevada royalties' platform thus creating significant shareholder value in the short and long-term," stated Todd Hilditch, President and CEO of Terraco. As part of the streamlining process and new corporate focus on its royalty platform, Terraco has terminated its early stage exploration project agreements. Terraco continues to maintain its advanced stage Nutmeg Mountain (Almaden) gold project in Idaho and is currently conducting a geological and economic review in order to prioritize maximizing its value to the Company and its shareholders. Terraco's current Nevada royalty portfolio is structured as follows: TGC owns the following core assets: a 3% NSR royalty on a majority of the Spring Valley Gold Deposit ("Schmidt claims"); a 1% NSR royalty on an additional portion of the Spring Valley Gold Deposit; and a right of first refusal relating to a 1% NSR royalty on certain lands within a one-half mile of the Schmidt claims; Terraco Royalties will hold: a 2% NSR royalty on the Moonlight Project; all future United States based royalties acquired by Terraco For further details about the royalty option exercise transaction with Waterton announced June 17, 2016 and May 16, 2016, please see Terraco's press releases available on the Company's website and on SEDAR. About Terraco Terraco is a gold royalty company with a royalty portfolio that is currently focused largely on or around the multi-million ounce Spring Valley Gold Project located in Pershing County, Nevada. The Company is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "TEN". Please visit the Company's website at www.terracogold.com for additional information. On Behalf of the Company: Todd Hilditch, 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 release. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because the Company 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. Additional information on these and other factors that could affect the Company's operations and financial results are included in reports on file with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and may be accessed through the SEDAR website (www.sedar.com). VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Jul 26, 2016) - Calibre Mining Corp. (TSX VENTURE:CXB) (the "Company" or "Calibre") is pleased to announce the second set of results from the 2016 drilling program on the Eastern Borosi Project, Nicaragua which is being funded by Calibre's partner IAMGold Corp. ("IAMGOLD"). Highlights Drilling to date in 2016 consists of 23 diamond drill holes for a total of 4,545.9 metres, with results for 11 new holes reported here Diamond drilling of the Blag Gold-Silver Vein System continues to extend the defined mineralization at the Main Blag Structure with intercepts of 5.61 metres grading 11.13 g/t gold and 13.7 g/t silver including 1.03 metres grading 56.9 g/t gold and 61.9 g/t silver A step out hole on the East Dome Structure has intersected 2.78 metres grading 2.69 g/t gold and 431.6 g/t silver including 0.94 metres grading 4.79 g/t gold and 659.0 g/t silver Step out drilling on the Vancouver Vein Structure intersected 15.34 metres grading 1.45 g/t gold and 4.3 g/t silver including 1.50 metres grading 7.2 g/t gold and 19.8 g/t silver The first drilling on the Blag Vein Swarm (BVS) has intersected 3.10 metres grading 1.57 g/t gold and 37.2 g/t silver including 0.77 metres grading 5.6 g/t gold and 56.7 g/t silver Recent Drill Highlights from Eastern Borosi Gold-Silver Project Hole ID Target From m To m Length (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Pb (ppm) Zn (ppm) BL16-038 Main Blag 179.82 185.43 5.61 11.13 13.7 689 962 BL16-038 Main Blag incl 184.40 185.43 1.03 56.96 61.9 1,996 2,056 BL16-038 Main Blag and 172.36 172.72 0.36 32.70 28.7 6,090 5,595 BL16-040 East Dome 162.84 165.62 2.78 2.69 431.6 5,015 2,325 BL16-040 East Dome incl 164.68 165.62 0.94 4.79 659.0 13,800 6,130 GP16-040 Vancouver 175.00 190.34 15.34 1.45 4.3 182 456 GP16-040 Vancouver incl 175.00 176.50 1.50 7.20 19.8 21 75 GP16-039 Guapinol 57.50 60.75 3.25 3.17 5.7 154 312 BL16-039 Main Blag 177.88 180.50 2.62 1.21 152.4 11,640 18,360 BL16-039 Main Blag incl 179.95 180.50 0.55 2.25 493.0 2,856 15,200 BL16-035 BVS 164.90 168.00 3.10 1.57 37.2 673 1,328 BL16-035 BVS incl 165.45 166.22 0.77 5.60 56.7 1,276 1,769 Notes: - Intervals are core lengths / true width are estimated to be 70-80% of lengths - Length weighted averages from uncut assays. IAMGOLD Option - Eastern Borosi Project Exploration to date on the Eastern Borosi Project has outlined several tens of kilometres of highly prospective mineralized structures located in an historic gold-silver mining district. Targets have been defined by surface soil and rock sampling, trenching and drilling. To date in 2016 holes completed include: 23 with 6 at East Dome; 5 testing the Blag Main; 3 Santos Trend; 3 BVS, 4 Vancouver; and 2 California Vein. Total meterage to date: 4,545.86 metres (1,247.27m East Dome; 911.41m Main Blag; 466.64m Santos; 621.26 BVS, 936.34m Vancouver vein; 362.94 California). Results were previously reported for 11 holes (see News Release June 8, 2016). Additional results have been received and are being reported in this news release for the further 11 holes including two holes completed at Main Blag, three holes testing the Guapinol - Vancouver area, three holes testing the Blag Vein Swarm (BVS), one hole on the East Dome, and two holes at the California Vein Structure. An additional drill hole has been completed and on-going drilling continues to test the Guapinol and Vancouver Vein System. Diamond drilling of the Main Blag Gold-Silver Vein System continues to extend the defined mineralization with intercepts of 5.61 metres grading 11.13 g/t gold and 13.7 g/t silver including 1.03 metres grading 56.9 g/t gold and 61.9 g/t silver in drill hole BL16-038 and 2.62 metres grading 1.21 g/t gold and 152.4 g/t silver in drill hole BL16-039. A separate structure above the Main Blag Vein in hole BL16-039 returned 0.36 metres grading 32.70 g/t gold and 28.7 g/t silver (172.36 to 172.72 metres). Drilling extended the mineralization to depth a further 50 to 75 metres in the northern and southern parts of the drill tested portion. Additional drilling is planned in 2016 following up on the recent positive results at the Main Blag Structure. A step out hole on the East Dome Structure has intersected 2.78 metres grading 2.69 g/t gold and 431.6 g/t silver including 0.94 metres grading 4.79 g/t gold and 659.0 g/t silver. The hole is the furthest southern step out to have tested the East Dome structure to date and the first to test the mineralization below the East Dome topographic high. The intercept extends the mineralization 50 metres to the south and 100 metres to depth. Step out drilling on the Vancouver Vein Structure intersected 15.34 metres grading 1.45 g/t gold and 4.3 g/t silver including 1.50 metres grading 7.20 g/t gold and 19.8 g/t silver. The drilling extended the Vancouver Structure 50 metres to the south and 75 metres below the previous intercept. An additional new hole in the Guapinol - Vancouver area, GP16-038, intersected; 1.79 metres grading 1.64 g/t gold and 41.2 g/t silver (82.57 to 84.36 metres - Guapinol Structure) and 0.98 metres grading 5.15 g/t gold and 2.8 g/t silver (186.77 to 187.75 metres - Vancouver Structure). Drill hole GP16-039 intersected 3.25 metres grading 3.17 g/t gold and 5.7 g/t silver (57.50 to 60.75 metres - Guapinol Structure). Additional follow-up drilling is currently being completed on further southern and down dip extensions. The first drilling on the Blag Vein Swarm (BVS), located one kilometre north of the Main Blag Structure, has intersected 3.10 metres grading 1.57 g/t gold and 37.2 g/t silver including 0.77 metres grading 5.6 g/t gold and 56.7 g/t silver. Two additional holes intersected a series of narrow anomalous structures including BL16-036 with 0.93 metres grading 0.14 g/t gold and 52.6 g/t silver (72.89 to 73.82 metres), 0.87 metres grading 0.30 g/t gold and 89.2 g/t silver (75.69 to 76.56 metres), and 0.50 metres grading 0.96 g/t gold and 59.3 g/t silver (158.5 to 159.0 metres), and BL16-037 with 0.52 metres grading 0.62 g/t gold and 25.5 g/t silver (148.68 to 149.2 metres), and 1.15 metres grading 0.82 g/t gold and 1.3 g/t silver (157.0 to 158.15 metres). Two drill holes were completed on the California Vein and while both holes intersected quartz breccia mineralization no significant precious metal values were returned in the samples. Calibre is committed to best practice standards for all exploration, sampling and drilling activities. Drilling was completed by independent firm Kluane Drilling Ltd. Analytical quality assurance and quality control procedures include the systematic insertion of blanks, standards and duplicates into the sample strings. Samples are placed in sealed bags and shipped directly to Acme Labs (a Bureau Veritas Group Company) in Managua, Nicaragua for sample preparation and then to Acme Labs in Vancouver, Canada for 50 gram gold fire assay and ICP-MS multi element analyses. The technical content in this news release was read and approved by Gregory Smith, P.Geo, President and CEO of the Company who is the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. About Calibre / IAMGOLD Eastern Borosi Project Calibre and IAMGOLD entered into an option agreement dated May 26, 2014 whereby IAMGOLD can earn a 51% interest in the Project consisting of 176 km2 within the Borosi Concessions, Northeast Nicaragua, by incurring US$5 million in exploration expenditures and making US$450,000 in payments to Calibre by May 26, 2017, the first and second anniversary US $150,000 payments having been made in May 2015 and May 2016 respectively. The total potential investment by IAMGOLD to earn a 70% interest in the Project is US$10.9 million. The Project hosts gold-silver resources in two deposits and a series of well-defined low sulphidation epithermal gold-silver targets. About Calibre Mining Corp. Calibre controls a 100% interest in over 340 km2 of mineral concessions in the Mining Triangle of Northeast Nicaragua. Additionally the Company has an option agreement with IAMGOLD covering 176 km2 of concessions, an option agreement with Centerra Gold on 253 km2, joint venture exploration programs underway with B2Gold Corp. on 66.1 km2 of concessions which includes the Primavera gold-copper porphyry discovery and the Monte Carmelo Gold Zone, and a joint venture on the 33.6 km2 Rosita gold-copper-silver project with Rosita Mining Corp.. Major shareholders of Calibre include gold producer B2Gold Corp., Pierre Lassonde and Management. Calibre Mining Corp. Greg Smith, P.Geo., 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 release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects" or does not expect", "is expected", anticipates" or "does not anticipate" "plans", "estimates" or "intends" or stating that certain actions, events or results " may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to materially differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. Safe Harbor Statement under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein, the information presented constitutes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements including but not limited to those with respect to the price of gold, potential mineralization, reserve and resource determination, exploration results, and future plans and objectives of the Company involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievement of Atlas to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. 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 Vancouver, BC / TheNewswire / July 26, 2016 - Nortec Minerals Corp. (the "Company" or "Nortec") (TSXV: NVT) is pleased to announce that Joint Venture earn-in partner, Avalon Minerals ("Avalon") of Milton, QLD, Australia, is initiating a 3000 metre diamond drilling program on the Kietyonmaki Lithium Prospect, Tammela Project, located in Southern Finland. Avalon's press release can be referred to on http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20160726/pdf/438sz2k1rn14mx.pdf, http://avalonminerals.com.au/ The highlights are as follows: -Drilling set to commence on the high grade Kietyonmaki Lithium Project in Finland, scheduled for the second half of August. -Drilling will follow-up prior detailed exploration work of the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK), which reported a number of high grade intersections from shallow drilling, including: -12.9m @ 1.83% Li2O within 23M @ 1.53% Li2O (drill hole R307) -9m @ 2.2% Li2O within 24m @ 1.3% Li2O (drill hole R310) -1m @ 3.9% Li2O within 13m @ 1.66% Li2O (drill hole R316) -High value of 3m @ 4.35% Li2O (drill hole R310) -Field work is already in progress over the project area and data compilation of historical results is continuing. -Data compilation and field review is also in progress over the Riukka and Satulinmaki gold zones. Tammela Minerals Oy ("NMO"), the wholly owned subsidiary of Nortec, controls 100% interest in the Somero 1 to 12 and Tammela 1 to 3 claims comprising the Tammela Project. The property hosts the Kietyonmaki Lithium prospect and the Riukka and Satulinmaki gold zones. Avalon has also submitted applications for two Exploration Reservations over an area of 117 km2 around the Somero and Tammela claims. These reservations form part of the Joint Venture with Avalon. Avalon announced the signing of a drilling contract with Finnish drilling contractor, Kati Drilling, to complete approximately 3,000m of diamond drilling on the Kietyonmaki zone. Approximately 17 holes will be completed, and will test a strike extent of 250m and a depth extent of 250m below surface. The planned drill hole locations with the geology are shown in the figure below. Drill equipment will be mobilized to the site during the second week of August and drilling is expected to start during the second half of August. Plans for logging and sampling of core have been prepared and accredited laboratories in Sweden and Finland are being assessed for analysis. Initial core assay results are expected to be received in late September. The drilling will allow Avalon to estimate a initial Mineral Resource towards the end of 2016. Drill samples will also allow for preliminary metallurgical test work to be completed in late 2016. Access to the drill site requires minimal logistical planning as it is located in a timbered area adjacent to farmland and supported by a good road network and local towns. Click Image To View Full Size About the Kietyonmaki Lithium Project The Geological Survey of Finland ("GTK") carried out extensive work comprising of geological mapping, prospecting, auger and diamond drilling in the 1970's and 1980's. GTK identified swarms of Lithium (Tin-Tantalum) bearing pegmatite dykes. Significant mineralisation is delineated within the Kietyonmaki Main Dyke ("KMD"), a large spodumene-rich (LiAlSi2O6) pegmatite dyke that can be traced for over 400m (open to the south-east) with an average width of 12 metres. The GTK drilled 17 holes (for 734 metres across 3 section lines) to test the lithium potential of the KMD along 120 metres of strike. The average drill intersection was 18m wide down to 75 metres below natural surface and continues to be open at depth. A re-logging and re-sampling programme, carried out by Nortec in 2010 on the drill core stored at the GTK core storage facility in Loppi, southern Finland, confirmed GTK's results documented in 1985. Select intervals of the drill core were taken from drill hole R310 that was drilled on the Kietyonmaki prospect. The results are in Nortec's press releases and on Nortec's website. The GTK calculated a drill weighted-average intercept lithium grade of 1% (1.5% Li2O) for an inferred resource of 400,000 tonnes. The readers and potential investors are advised that these estimates are not compliant with the industry standard National Instrument 43-101 guidelines. Avalon has estimated an Exploration Target of 8 to15 million tonnes grading 1.4 to 1.8% Li2O. The potential quantity and grade is conceptual in nature. To date there has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource. Riukka and Satulinmaki Gold Prospects Re-sampling by Nortec geologists of the core drilled by GTK on both the nearby Satulinmaki and Riukka gold zones returned significant gold values.. Some of the significant results are 37.7 metres @ 1.03 g/t Gold from 51 metres (Hole R330 - Satulinmaki Prospect), 10.0 metres @ 2.47 g/t Gold from 20 metres (Hole R356 - Riukka Prospect) and 2.50 metres @ 6.81 g/t Gold from 61.35 metres (Hole R357 - Riukka Prospect). Avalon is carrying out data compilation on both Riukka and Satulinmaki gold prospects. Historical drilling results are currently being reviewed in 3D. Avalon is expecting the data compilation to be completed soon. Avalon - Nortec Heads of Agreement: Details of the Heads of Agreement with regards to the formation of the Joint Venture Agreement between Nortec and Avalon can be referred to in the Company's press release dated May 19, 2016. About Nortec Minerals Corp. Nortec is a mineral exploration and development company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Information on the Company's projects can be referred to on www.nortecminerals.com. Mohan R. Vulimiri, M.Sc., P.Geo, CEO, Nortec Minerals, is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Vulimiri has approved the corporate and technical content contained in this press release On behalf of the Board of Directors, NORTEC MINERALS CORP. "Mohan R. Vulimiri" Mohan R. Vulimiri, CEO and Chairman The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept the responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This press release contains certain forward looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, delays and uncertainties not under the Company's control which may cause actual results, performances or achievements of the Company to be materially different from the results, performances or expectations implied by these forward looking statements. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. SHARE Anxiety high among surgeons, study says By Zhai Yun Tan, Kaiser Health News (TNS) WASHINGTON Dr. Thomas Gallagher has been through many tough conversations with patients. He remembers once standing in front of a patient and the patient's family, preparing to tell them about a mistake that had occurred. "This is a topic I think about all the time and it was still very nerve-wracking and embarrassing," said Gallagher, an internist and a professor at the University of Washington's medical school specializing in quality and patient safety issues. The patient had been sent to another clinic an hour away to get an MRI, but because of a miscommunication, the MRI was done in the wrong area of the body and would have to be repeated. "The patient was disgusted," Gallagher recalled about the event that occurred before he came to Washington. "His family was furious that after all the patient had gone through to get this test we still couldn't even figure out something this basic." Medical mistakes often happen. National guidelines call for doctors to provide full disclosure about adverse events, and studies have shown that those discussions benefit patients. But new research finds that the act of disclosure, combined with stress from the procedure gone wrong, can be an anxious experience for some doctors and more training is needed to help them engage in these difficult conversations. The study, published in JAMA Surgery this week, examines what surgeons tell patients and what effect those discussions can have on the doctor. "For a long time in the field, people thought that the primary reason that physicians have trouble reporting adverse events is that they were worried about being sued, but there are other barriers that are more important," said Gallagher, one of the authors of the study. "This paper helps highlight how embarrassing and upsetting these events are for clinicians (and) makes it difficult for the physician to admit to the patient, 'Here is exactly what happened.'" The researchers used surveys of surgeons who reported adverse events at three Veterans Affairs medical centers. They found that about 90 percent of the surveys showed that doctors said they had disclosed the event to patients or their families within 24 hours, expressed concern for the patient's welfare, explained why the event happened, expressed regret and discussed with patients steps to treat subsequent problems. But only about half showed the doctors discussed whether the event was preventable, and a third reported they talked about how it could be avoided in the future. Just over half apologized to the patient. The study also reported that those surgeons who find an event very or extremely serious and who had difficulty discussing that event are more likely to suffer anxiety over the experience. That was also true of surgeons who feared negative reaction from patients, an impact on their reputations, bad publicity or a malpractice suit. "These surgeons who have volunteered to participate probably feel very comfortable talking to patients compared to those who didn't participate, and even among these surgeons there was a lot of anxiety," said A. Rani Elwy, an associate professor at Boston University and an investigator and researcher at the VA Boston Healthcare System who was the lead author of the study, which was published Wednesday. "I can only imagine it is much more accentuated among the bigger population." Initial questionnaires were administered to 67 surgeons between January 2011 and December 2013. Of those doctors, 35 contacted the researchers during the study period to report adverse events and filled out 62 individual surveys on those events. Surgeons could complete up to three surveys for the study. Elwy said that the VA surgeons who participated in the study had not been taught how to deal with patients on these situations and the study called for more training to create a "culture of professionalism" that will help surgeons better handle patients' needs and allow for "self-care following disclosures (that) may also increase surgeons' well-being." "Lots of clinicians don't feel comfortable about these conversations, and doctors say they don't know what to say, they don't know how to say it," Gallagher said. "I've had no training on having these conversations in medical school or residency." That's also a concern of Dr. Marjorie Stiegler, an associate professor of anesthesiology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who was not associated with the study. "Every physician, perhaps every clinician, at some point will have some kind of adverse event," she said, adding, "It's never easy to break bad news to a family member of a loved one." She wrote an article in JAMA in 2015 arguing for more awareness of physicians' well-being when faced with clinical adverse events. She noted a study that found physicians were twice as likely to commit suicide than the general population and a survey documenting post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms among anesthesiologists involved in surgical deaths. Gallagher said that in the case of the botched MRI he apologized to the patient and tried to help the family figure out the next steps. "At the end of the conversation, while they were unhappy, they felt like they were getting care at an organization that would tell them if there was a problem," he said. SHARE Omar Salas Modesto P. Rodriguez Zuniga By Ngan Ho of the San Angelo Standard-Times Seven of eight people have been indicted on a charge of a March 19 aggravated robbery that involved holding a caretaker at gunpoint while he was bound with duct tape. Omar Salas, 22; Elizabeth Ramirez Estrada, 23; Judge Martinez Modesto, 20; Marcus McVae, 32; Carlos Alfredo Zuniga, 24; Charles Leon Walker, 28; and Nayara Rodriguez, 23, were indicted on a charge of engaging in organized criminal activity during a June sitting of the grand jury for the 119th District Court in Tom Green County. Salas was booked into the Tom Green County Jail over the weekend. His bond has been set at $100,000. The Tom Green County Sheriff's Office is still searching for Pablo Rodriguez, 19, the eighth suspect, on allegations that he played a role in the aggravated robbery. Rodriguez has not been indicted. On March 19, the San Angelo Police Department and the Tom Green County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to the David Rogers Construction Co., 11005 South U.S. Highway 67, in reference to an aggravated robbery call around 6 a.m., according to court documents. An employee of the company called 911 when he was able to break free and escape after being bound with duct tape and robbed at gunpoint. The employee said two men carrying shotguns entered his trailer wearing black jackets, ski masks and gloves. The intruders found him sleeping on the living room bed, where he was awakened to find guns pointed at him, according to court documents. The men ordered him to get on the ground, facedown, and held the shotguns on his back while they used duct tape to bind his hands behind his back, as well as taping his ankles together and covering his eyes and mouth, stated court documents. The suspects took his wallet out of his pants and removed $200 before rummaging around the trailer and then exiting the trailer, according to court documents. The employee told deputies he heard several voices outside the trailer and believed more than two people were involved. After managing to free his hands and lower legs from the duct tape, according to court documents, the man said he ran out of the trailer and away into the mesquite brush to call for help on his cellphone. The employee told deputies he heard what he believed was a loud truck driving away from the location, according to court documents. Four trucks were stolen from the property three red Dodge 5500 series work trucks, with tools and equipment, and one red Ford F-550, also equipped with tools. The suspects entered the business's office and removed files that contained identifying information on the four vehicles from a filing cabinet, according to court documents. Deputies believe that the suspects knew exactly where to find the vehicle information, such as registration and insurance, as well as vehicle keys. Authorities obtained a list of former employees from the company, and learned that Zuniga and Modesto had their employment from the company terminated because of tardiness and absences, according to court documents. Authorities also obtained reports that contained information regarding cellular telephone usage in the area of the robbery, according to court documents. Authorities found a telephone number that had made multiple connections to nearby phone towers to make several telephone calls and send text messages between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m., court documents stated. Authorities learned that this telephone number belonged to Zuniga and also linked this number to his Facebook page, according to court documents. On March 20 around 2:30 a.m., authorities found the stolen red Dodge trucks at the port of entry in Del Rio, according to court documents. The Del Rio Police Department arrested Salas while he was driving one of the stolen trucks, according to court documents. Salas told Del Rio police that Zuniga called him and relayed the details of the robbery, according to court documents. Salas said Zuniga wanted him to take the vehicles across the border into Mexico, according to court documents, and that Zuniga would arrange for the two female suspects, Estrada and Rodriguez, to pick him up in Acuna, Mexico. Court documents state the eight suspects met at an Executive Inn Hotel to discuss the plan to steal the trucks and move them across the border. Salas said Zuniga wanted him to transport all four stolen trucks across the border into Mexico, but Salas only agreed to take one because he felt taking all four would be suspicious, court documents stated. Salas later drove one of the red Dodge trucks across the U.S. border, while Estrada followed him. Salas was turned back at the border for not having the money required for the vehicle to enter Mexico, according to court documents. Salas then drove back to the United States port of entry where he was detained, court documents stated. Authorities found the three remaining vehicles parked in a public parking lot, and the vehicles were then recovered and towed, according to court documents. Engaging in organized criminal activity is a first-degree felony punishable by five to 99 years in prison and fines up to $10,000. Third-degree felonies are punishable by two to 10 years in prison and fines up to $10,000. l 25, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake bangs the gavel to start thee 2016 Democratic National Convention at Wells Fargo Arena. SHARE By Federico Martinez, Federico.Martinez@gosanangelo.com @Federico_SAST It began with a crowd of Bernie Sanders supporters booing loudly Monday morning after Sanders encouraged a group of his delegates to throw their support behind presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during a meeting. The incident, which occurred at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, set the tone for the thousands attending this week's Democratic National Convention, where Sanders was scheduled to address the entire convention Monday evening. "It will be interesting to see what Bernie Sanders says," said David Rosen, a delegate from Midland, Texas, who is at the convention. "We can clearly see the disappointment on the faces of Bernie Sanders supporters here." Several West Texas delegates are attending the convention, including Omero Lara, a Sanders delegate from Lubbock, and Destiny Molina, of Tom Green County. Lara and Molina could not be reached for comment. The Convention officially started at 2 p.m. with choir performances and the crowd singing "The Star-Spangled Banner." Rosen, who serves as chairman of the Midland Democratic Party, said Clinton must win-over Sanders' supporters this week if she hopes to beat Trump this November. The Democratic Party already has made numerous concessions to appease the Sanders camp, including the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Sunday after emails surfaced indicating the committee was favoring Clinton during the primary. Sanders and his supporters had been accusing Wassereman Schultz and the Democratic committee of favoritism during most of the primary, Rosen said. "They've been asking for her head for a while, and now we've handed them her head on a platter," Rosen said. "They got what they wanted. Hopefully that will appease them." For most convention attendees the first day began with various festivities and opportunities to meet other Democrats. Rosen said the morning highlight for him was meeting U.S. Representative John Lewis, a civil rights icon and U.S. Senator Al Franken. This is Rosen's first time attending the convention as a national delegate. SHARE Michael Blanc You can save someone's life with a little training. Every year more than 326,000 cardiac arrests occur outside of a hospital setting. Sudden Cardiac Death will cause more deaths annually than cancers. Many of these people die because bystanders or friends and family members do not know how to respond or they are afraid they will do something wrong. The American Heart Association and San Angelo Community Medical Center are partnering in a three-year program to change that. In a heart attack emergency, any CPR is better than no CPR. It may not be the trained CPR that EMT personnel can do, but it can buy time until a trained person arrives. A recent trial in the American Heart Association Journal Circulation showed that the number of members of the community who are trained in CPR directly correlated with the survival rate for people with a witnessed cardiac arrest. We want to train as many people as possible in what is called the "hands-only technique." It is easy to learn. It requires no mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. It can be the difference between life and death. As part of the program, members of the general community and students from middle school on up will receive bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training. All six Tom Green County's school districts will receive CPR in Schools Training Kits equipped with tools and resources necessary for training in the Hands-Only CPR technique. The training fulfills a new Texas law that requires every student to receive CPR training before graduation. The kits allow hands-on training on how to deliver chest compression until help arrives. Training will be available to the general public at a variety of events. In addition to the CPR training, during the three-year partnership, the AHA and SACMC will work to offer educational and awareness opportunities that emphasize healthy lifestyle choices. The best way to survive a heart attack is to avoid having one in the first place. The annual Heart Walk, along with campaigns surrounding National Walking Day and National Eat Healthy Day, are among several activities organizations will use to raise awareness of heart health in the Concho Valley. In a heart attack emergency: Alert someone to call 911 or call yourself. Begin rapid compressions with the meat of your hand centered on the breast bone. Compressions must be deep and rapid. You want 100-120 compressions per minute. One trick is to do compressions to the tune of the Bee Gee's disco song "Stayin' Alive." Singing the song helps you maintain good rhythm and has 103 beats per minute. Continue rapid chest compressions until trained personnel arrive. SHARE The Criminal Investigations Division is investigating a fight that involved gunfire early Tuesday, according to a news release from the San Angelo Police Department. Police were dispatched to the area of Antonio and Monterrey streets about 2:45 a.m., where they found evidence that a gun had been fired in front of a residence, the release states. No shooting victims were found, but officers discovered several people had been in a physical fight outside the residence when someone pulled out a firearm and shot. The shooter fled in a vehicle, officers were told. No further information was released. SHARE CLEVELAND In normal times, the report last week that Donald Trump wanted John Kasich to be the real president would have made more of a splash. According to Kasich aides, the Trump campaign desperately wanted the Ohio governor to be his running mate. Kasich, out of concern for his eternal soul or his political future, resisted the idea. But the Trump campaign pressed harder. At one point Donald Trump Jr. reached out with an amazing offer, according to The New York Times: How would Kasich like to be the most powerful vice president in American history? If elected, Trump would put Kasich in charge of two broad areas of policymaking. Now, if a normal person were asked to guess which two, he or she might venture, "Counterterrorism and health care," or, "Defense and taxes." But that's thinking small. And Donald Trump doesn't think small. Donald Trump Jr. offered Kasich both foreign policy and domestic policy. "What the hell would Trump do?" the aide reportedly asked Trump the younger. "He would make America great again," Trump Jr. casually replied, according to a story in the Columbus Dispatch. When I first read that, I couldn't help but think of that scene in "The Blues Brothers" where Dan Aykroyd asks the manager of a honky-tonk what kind of music is played there. The manager replies, "Oh, we got both kinds. We got country and western." There's no love lost between the Kasich and Trump camps, so it's fair to be skeptical of the story. The only thing is, there are lots of rumors among Republican politicians and staffers that back it up. Trump's not interested in policy. He's fine with outsourcing it to congressional Republicans and to his Cabinet secretaries. Trump wants to do the fun stuff. He wants to give cool speeches and fly around in a better plane. He wants the respect that comes with being president. He doesn't want to do the hard stuff. For those willing to see, there's been a lot of evidence of that all along. He's said he won't even start learning about policy until he's elected. That Trump doesn't know or care much about public policy is obvious to literally every human being who knows anything about public policy. One could fill books with examples of him talking about articles of the Constitution that don't exist, events that never took place and proposals that make no sense. According to a deeply reported account in GQ, Trump's daily briefing packet amounts to a printout of a Google News search of articles mentioning "Donald J. Trump." This is also how he runs his business. He's a marketer and branding maven. Other businessmen and subcontractors do the heavy lifting. Many Republicans I've talked to find Trump's willingness to outsource actual policymaking to Mike Pence or Paul Ryan reassuring. And in a sense, it is. But it overlooks a problem. Because there is so much power in a president's words, a president's words matter. Just last week, the GOP nominee suggested that he would not honor our commitments to NATO if Russia attacked our allies in the Baltics. Those words are dangerous from a nominee. They would be catastrophic from a president. A president with a verbal hair trigger one who doesn't know enough to know what not to say could ignite a financial crisis or a war. If Trump could be trusted to simply play a ceremonial role, serving as a kind of corporate motivational speaker for the country, I might board the Trump train. But can anyone say with confidence that Trump has the discipline to do anything of the sort? Jonah Goldberg is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior editor of National Review. Contact him at goldbergcolumn@gmail.com. The Virginia Supreme Court Friday struck down Gov. Terry McAuliffe's executive orders restoring voting rights to more than 200,000 felons, declaring that the 13,000-plus who have registered to vote must be stricken from the rolls.McAuliffe quickly promised to sign individual orders for those who have already registered, getting around the court's objection that he had restored their rights en masse instead of with the traditional case-by-case review typical of previous governors.McAuliffe's promise, which he made before this case went to court and then repeated Friday night, left the matter in an unsure posture. Chief Justice Donald Lemons, who wrote majority opinion for a 4-3 divided court, said McAuliffe's very broad orders had effectively suspended the state constitution's general disenfranchisement of felons."It seeks not to mitigate the impact of the general voter-disqualification rule of law on an individualized basis but, rather, to supersede it entirely," Lemons wrote on behalf of four of the court's seven justices.Speaker of the House William Howell and Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. "Tommy" Norment, who took this case before the Supreme Court, called the decision "a sweeping rebuke of the governor's unprecedented assertion of executive authority."With the victory, the Republican majority leaders succeeded in wiping away a major part of what McAuliffe has called his administration's proudest achievement. They had argued since the governor's surprise April 22 order, restoring rights for some 206,000 felons who had completed their sentences, that the act was unconstitutional.Two secondary orders, covering people who got out of jail in later months, were cut from the same cloth."The Supreme Court of Virginia delivered a major victory for the Constitution, the rule of law and the Commonwealth of Virginia," the two GOP leaders said in a joint statement Friday. "Our nation was founded on the principles of limited government and separation of powers. Those principles have once again withstood assault from the executive branch."There still doesn't seem to be a rush of ex-felons registering to vote in the wake of Gov. Terry McAuliffe's blanket order restoring rights.The total now stands at 6,054 out of the 206,000 men and women whose rights the governor restored April 22, the state Department of Elections reports.McAuliffe...There still doesn't seem to be a rush of ex-felons registering to vote in the wake of Gov. Terry McAuliffe's blanket order restoring rights.The total now stands at 6,054 out of the 206,000 men and women whose rights the governor restored April 22, the state Department of Elections reports.McAuliffe...In a separate statement emailed later, Norment, R-James City, said McAuliffe was "blatant in his complete and unconscionable disregard for an obviously unconstitutional overreach of executive authority.""He needs to remember this is Virginia, not New York," Norment said. "Here, our forefathers crafted the constitution with a clear delineation of separation of powers that even his mentor, President Obama, must respect."McAuliffe, whose order seemed to have undone one of the nation's strictest felon disenfranchisement laws, called the Republican suit "a disgrace." He promised to keep signing individual orders until he's covered all 200,000-plus people affected by his initial orders."I cannot accept that this overtly political action could succeed in suppressing the voices of many thousands of men and women who had rejoiced with their families earlier this year when their rights were restored," McAuliffe said in a statement. "The struggle for civil rights has always been a long and difficult one, but the fight goes on."The courts two black justices, Cleo Powell and Bernard Goodwyn, filed a dissenting opinion that disagreed with the majority on every major point of law. Powell, writing for the pair, said the majority ignored the plain language of the constitution, which doesn't explicitly require case-by-case reviews in granting the governor the ability to restore voting rights.Republicans argued that 71 previous governors, including some who supported a streamlining of the restoration process, did case-by-case reviews for violent felons. They also argued that the wording in the constitution, including the use of singular pronouns, pointed toward this requirement.But Powell and Goodwyn said the majority's opinion places an "inconsistent limitation on the governor's authority" and "allows a court to pick and choose what parts of the constitution it is going to enforce."By arguing that McAuliffe suspended the constitution's automatic disenfranchisement of felons, Powell wrote, the majority ignored the very next phrase, which reads, "unless his rights have been restored by the governor.""In other words, in holding that the executive order suspends the disenfranchisement clause, the majority ignores the fact that, to the extent that it is a suspension, the language of our constitution expressly allows for such suspension," Powell wrote.Powell and Goodwyn also disagreed with the majority on various technical but legally important points, including whether Howell, Norment and four other voters named as plaintiffs in the case had legal standing to file it. On this, Justice William Mims filed his own dissent, saying he wouldn't have decided this case without hearing more legal argument on this point.Mims also said he would have ordered the McAuliffe administration to release its full list of people affected by the restoration order as part of that debate. The governor has refused to release this list despite numerous requests, and despite the fact that spot checks have shown a number of mistakes.Mims, Powell and Goodwyn all argued that the court shouldn't have opined on the constitutionality of McAuliffe's order due to the lack of standing. The plaintiffs showed no injury, Mims wrote, beyond the minute dilution of voting power millions of other Virginia voters might experience.With no way to predict how newly registered voters will vote, things are "so uncertain that no basis is provided for judicial intervention," Mims wrote.Lemons, writing for the majority, granted that its writ of mandamus in this case was something unusual. But he said that there was no other adequate remedy in the law and argued that "the magnitude, scope, timing and imprecision of Gov. McAuliffe's executive order" required the court to act.The opinion, including dissents, runs 63 pages and is available at the court's website. The case is Howell v. McAuliffe.Liberal groups decried the ruling Friday, as did the Virginia Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which also called on legislative Republicans to back a constitutional amendment to simplify registrations and bring Virginia in line with a majority of other states. That's something former Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell also asked for, but the GOP majority refused.Duane Edwards, a felon whose rights had been restored before this series of orders and a board member with Virginia Organizing, called the decision "another victory for Jim Crow and voter suppression."Howell, Norment and other Republicans pushing this suit denied it had anything to do with race, saying it was about the rule of law. They also accused McAuliffe of springing this order on them shortly after the end of this year's legislative session in the hopes that it would juice the vote for longtime friend Hillary Clinton in the November presidential election. The Alaska Supreme Court has invalidated the state law requiring physicians to give two days notice to parents before performing abortions on girls under 18 years old.The parental notification law was approved by 56 percent of voters in a 2010 citizens initiative, with sponsors including Mia Costello, now an Anchorage Republican senator.But the law violates the Alaska Constitution's equal protection guarantee "and cannot be enforced," the Supreme Court said in a 43-page ruling Friday from Justice Daniel Winfree.The law, Winfree's decision said, inappropriately discriminates by involving the state in the reproductive decisions only of pregnant minors who seek abortions -- not of pregnant minors who plan to carry their babies to term."The notification law is under-inclusive because the governmental interests asserted in this case are implicated for all pregnant minors -- as they face reproductive choices and as they live with their decisions -- and the asserted justifications for disparate treatment based upon a minor's actual reproductive choice are unconvincing," Winfree wrote.The decision was 4 to 1, with Justice Craig Stowers, an appointee of former Republican Gov. Sean Parnell, dissenting.Three of the justices, in a concurrent opinion by Justice Dana Fabe, also found that the parental notification law violates the state Constitution's right to privacy.Former Republican Lt. Gov. Loren Leman, one of the three 2010 initiative sponsors along with Costello and Kim Hummer-Minnery, rejected the court's rationale for its decision. He said in a phone interview Friday that the Supreme Court's justification of its ruling on equal-protection grounds was "nonsense" written by people in "never-never land.""Alaskans understand that it makes sense for parents to be involved in the lives of their children," he said.Leman said he's interested in pursuing a constitutional amendment that could address the problems with the notification law identified by the Supreme Court. But amendments can only be proposed through a constitutional convention or with a two-thirds vote by the House and Senate, and anti-abortion advocates have recently criticized the Republican-led House's reticence to take up their cause.Planned Parenthood, which challenged the notification law, applauded Friday's ruling."We all want teens to be safe -- and the sad truth is that some teens live in dangerous homes and can't go to their parents," Christine Charbonneau, CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands, said in a prepared statement. "This law would prevent some of Alaska's most vulnerable teens from accessing safe medical care." On Tuesday, in the morning, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC and Mrs Kaye de Jersey returned to Brisbane from an official visit to France, and the Honourable Chief Justice Catherine Holmes ceased duty as Acting Governor of Queensland. Description GIS - 26 July, 2016: Present success is, however, no guarantee of a bright future. This is why our country is continually reinventing itself, said the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Jugnauth, while inaugurating the plenary session of the Indo-Mauritius Global Partnership Forum yesterday at the Intercontinental Hotel, Pointe aux Piments. In his address Mr Jugnauth recalled that visionary reforms, underpinned by a policy to attract foreign talents and expertise, have enhanced business facilitation and improved the overall investment climate. He expressed his satisfaction with the fact that now, with the implementation of streamlined procedures, an investor can start a business in three working days. There is no minimum capital requirement and a company can now be 100% foreign-owned, he said. According to the Minister Brexit is a harsh reminder that the world economy and economic relations between countries are on a challenging new course, where uncertainty rules the day. However, the India-Mauritius relationship has always been a strong and special one. On that score, he recalled the visit last year of the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, during which five agreements for cooperation were signed in the fields of Ocean economy, Culture, Agriculture, Traditional Medicine and Homeopathy and Sea and Air Facilities in Agalega. The Finance Minister further said that the Forum is an opportune time for a deep reflection on structuring a new vision to further boost trade and investment between Mauritius and India and take bilateral relations to new heights. In this context, he enumerated the various business opportunities that Mauritius has to offer both on our own shores and on the African continent in the various economic sectors. He recalled that the economic diversification programme undertaken by the country has expanded from four sectors to more than 10 currently are contributing to the Gross Domestic Product and are also adding to the economys resilience and stability. The political stability coupled with business friendly environment help to better position Mauritius as one among the best economies in the region. Minister Jugnauth invited potential investors to tap the business opportunities in Mauritius and explore new avenues of cooperation and transfer of knowledge in the fields of SME, Research & Development, Ocean Knowledge and Smart City developments. He made an appeal to the business captains to use Mauritius as gateway to Africa and its market, which is projected to expand to $1.4 trillion by 2020. Our role is set to grow in this part of the world in the near future, driven by the Special Economic Zones which Mauritius is developing, in partnership with African states, in order to enlarge our economic space, drive more cross-border investment and create jobs, he said. This will open up new opportunities for Indian companies to partner with Government and Mauritian businesses, the Minister concluded. Description GIS 26 July 2016 : A five-day training workshop on National Drug Observatory and Drug Dependence Treatment organised by the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life, in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, kicked off yesterday at the Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel in Port Louis. In his opening remarks, the Minister of Health and Quality of Life, Mr Anil Gayan, expressed his ambition for Mauritius to be drug free and called on all Mauritians to be committed and determined to win the war against drugs. Mr Gayan pointed out that everyone has the responsibility and duty to denounce and disclose any information related to drug trafficking. Prevention should become priority in schools, youth clubs and within families, and urged religious bodies to be part of the process, he said. The Minister listed out the various measures taken to fight the scourges of drug abuse and trafficking which include the decentralisation of the Methadone Substitution Therapy Programme, the launching of a detoxification programme, and the setting up of the Commission of Inquiry on Drug Trafficking to inquire into, and report on, all aspects of drug trafficking in Mauritius. Mr Gayan recalled the launching of the National Drug Observatory last year with the purpose of collecting evidence-based data on the drug situation in Mauritius so as to develop and implement effective policies and strategies to deal with drug issues. The five-day training workshop brings together representatives of the Ministry of Youth and Sports; the Ministry of Education and Human Resources, Tertiary Education and Scientific Research; the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life; the Ministry of Social Integration and Economic Empowerment; the Attorney Generals Office; the Mauritius Police Force; the Forensic Science Laboratory, and non-governmental organisations. Topics to be discussed during the workshop comprise principles and good practices to develop and sustain the National Drug Observatory which aims at monitoring and reporting on the status of drug supply and demand reduction efforts in the country; the development and validation of a series of standard data collection tools (sheets/questionnaires) to feed information to the National Drug Observatory; as well as drug demand reduction interventions (prevention, treatment and care), among others. This is definitely probably one of the strongest rural-versus-urban fights we're going to be seeing for a long time. Peter LeCody, president of Texas Rail Advocates The state Legislature could put up major road blocks next year for a private firm's plans to build a high-speed rail project connecting Houston and Dallas now that a federal transportation board has decided the project falls under state jurisdiction.The Surface Transportation Board decided last week that Texas Central, the private firm looking to build the bullet train, does not need Board approval for the project because it would be "constructed and operated entirely within the State of Texas." Texas Central Partners is developing a 240-mile bullet train line intended to transport passengers between Houston and Dallas in 90 minutes with a stop near Bryan. The company has partnered with Japanese train operator JR Central to bring its bullet train technology to Texas."It is undisputed that the Line would provide only intrastate passenger service between Dallas and Houston," the decision reads. "What Texas Central characterizes as its proposed 'connections' to Amtrak are not sufficient to make the proposed Line part of the interstate rail network."In April, Texas Central submitted two petitions to the board, including one requesting a ruling that the company's plans to assess the value of properties along a possible train route should not be considered part of the construction process, a move that might have blocked landowners from challenging the company's authority to employ eminent domain. The Board dismissed both petitions because the project was outside its jurisdiction."We were glad the STB ruled as quickly as they did because that allows us to set the path forward and if they had any uncertainty it could have impacted the project's timeline," said Holly Reed, Texas Central's managing director of external affairs. The company expects construction to start in 2017 and rides to start as soon as 2021.With the Surface Transportation Board's decision, the extent of the role of the federal government in the Texas project is unclear. The Federal Railroad Administration is still in the midst of an environmental impact study of the project."STB oversight has things that are positive and negative for the project based on either direction that it would decide, so getting a timely decision was important," Reed said.Even though Reed did not express displeasure with the Transportation Board's decision, opponents of the project are celebrating it as a victory."I have good news for you," reads a Texans Against High Speed Rail newsletter sent last week. "With the federal government's ruling that it will not oversee this ill-advised project, Texas Central will now have to come back to Texas to get approval to build its high-speed rail ... From our point of view, the best place for the citizens of Texas to be heard is the State Capitol."Texans Against High Speed Rail was one of many entities that submitted comments to the Board opposing Texas Central's petition. However, the National Association of Railroad Passengers and the Transportation Advocacy Group in the Houston Region submitted supportive comments.Several U.S. Representatives from Texas also submitted comments to the Board, with Democrats Eddie Bernice Johnson of Dallas and Gene Green of Houston joining Republican Blake Farenthold of Corpus Christi in support of Texas Central's petition, and Republicans Joe Barton of Ennis, Kevin Brady of The Woodlands and Bill Flores of Bryan against the firm's claims.The project has strong support from local officials and residents in both Houston and Dallas, but residents of the rural counties along the planned route remain staunchly opposed. State lawmakers who represent those communities tried last session to pass measures blocking the project, but they were unsuccessful.Many lawmakers who opposed the project last session are pointing to the Transportation Board's ruling as a reason to feel emboldened about stopping the project dead in its tracks in 2017, even as Texas Central gears up to begin construction."The STB clearly made the correct decision on this matter, plainly reinforcing that a project contained wholly within Texas should be under the purview of state legislators and the citizens we represent," said state Sen. Brian Birdwell , a Republican who represents counties south of Dallas, in a statement. "I consider this issue far from resolved and I reiterate my steadfast opposition to the project both for individual landowners who will be harmed by it in the short term and for the Texas taxpayers who will likely be asked to subsidize it in the long term."State Rep. Will Metcalf , R-Conroe, said he is looking forward to "a robust debate going forward at the state level on the future of Texas Central Railway.""Fortunately for landowners and all who value property rights, the Surface Transportation Board made the right decision and declined oversight," Metcalf said in a statement.State Sen. Robert Nichols , a Jacksonville Republican who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, said when the decision was released, "there was joy and celebration in the heartland of Texas," where he said people don't want the train. The ruling appears to put the project in limbo, he said."I think they are going to have to use eminent domain if they're going to build it, and I think they know that the status of whether or not they do or don't have it under current Texas law is a pretty shaky area, it's not real clear," said Nichols. "But had the Surface Transportation Board ruled and taken [the project] on, then they clearly under federal law would have the authority to do it."Nichols said he expects Texas Central to promote legislation next session that "makes it very clear that they do have the right of eminent domain."In 2015, efforts to kill the project were focused primarily on stripping Texas Central of eminent domain authority, preventing the firm from using private lands for the project. Another measure, proposed by Metcalf, would have required elected officials in every city and county along the proposed route to approve it.Lawmakers also attempted to stop the project through a last-minute budget rider that would have prevented the Texas Department of Transportation from spending any state funds to assist in the construction of the project. A Senate budget conference committee opted to remove the provision.Nichols said it's possible a similar effort could happen next session."Maybe," Nichols said, laughing. "Maybe's always possible. What I've learned in the Legislature, in my years working down there, you can do anything if you can get the vote."Peter LeCody, the president of Texas Rail Advocates, said he expects to see efforts to pass more wide-reaching legislation when the Legislature reconvenes in January."I think it's going to be very contentious going into the legislative session," LeCody said. "This is definitely probably one of the strongest rural-versus-urban fights we're going to be seeing for a long time." (TNS) Ending a storied chapter in Silicon Valley history, Verizon is the winning bidder for Yahoo's internet business, and will pay $4.83 billion for the core of the troubled company, the two firms confirmed Monday.The deal will be finalized in the first quarter of 2017, pending approval from shareholders and regulators. Yahoo's stakes in Chinese commerce giant Alibaba and Yahoo Japan, worth about $40 billion combined, will remain with the Sunnyvale firm, which will be renamed as a registered investment company.Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said in a conference call Monday she would stay on through the transition."Yahoo is a company that has changed the world, and will continue to do so through this combination with Verizon and AOL," Mayer said. "Yahoo and AOL popularized the internet, email, search and real-time media. It's poetic to be joining forces with AOL and Verizon as we enter our next chapter focused on achieving scale on mobile."Mayer, if ultimately let go by Verizon, would reap a $55 million golden parachute, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.Verizon was not the highest bidder, Yahoo board member Tom McInerney said."Verizon's transaction was the one that was the best for shareholders," McInerney said.Verizon will receive all of the Sunnyvale company's real estate holdings, Yahoo chief financial officer Ken Goldman said, but a collection of patents described by Yahoo as "non-core" will stay with Yahoo.Officials with Verizon, which bought digital media company AOL last year for $4.4 billion, said the purchase of Yahoo will create a major new player in digital advertising, and boost ad revenue. "Combining Verizon, AOL and Yahoo will create a new powerful competitive rival in mobile media, and an open, scaled alternative offering for advertisers and publishers," said AOL CEO Tim Armstrong.The sale proceeds, minus money needed to operate Yahoo until the deal closes, plus $7.7 billion Yahoo has in cash, will be returned to shareholders, McInerney said.The sale caps five months of speculation about the fate of the once-mighty tech icon and highlights the dramatic fall of a company that had a market capitalization of more than $125 billion during the dot com boom.It also marks the end of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's unsuccessful efforts to turn around the company.For Verizon, the deal offers Yahoo's billion monthly users, and content that can go along with that of digital media company AOL. SunTrust analyst Robert Peck earlier this year said if an internet and telecommunications company such as Verizon bought Yahoo's core assets, it could cut 40 percent of Yahoo's workforce because of overlaps in management, administration and sales. Yahoo has already laid off at least 1,600 workers since announcing reductions in February.Sunnyvale-based Yahoo put its internet business up for sale in February, a victim of missed opportunities, unproductive purchases and the unceasing innovation of its competitors, primarily Google and Facebook. While Yahoo was buying tech startups right and left, hiring an expensive news anchor, birthing then killing digital magazines, and jettisoning workers in a desperate bid to stay afloat, Google and Facebook were eating its lunch.Central to the story of Yahoo's fall, of course, is Mayer, hired in 2012 -- the fourth CEO in four years -- to turn around a company still punch-drunk from the financial crisis of 2008. Mayer focused her strategy on acquisitions -- for product development and to secure proprietary technology and talent. Activist investor Eric Jackson of SpringOwl Asset Management would later label the purchases "misallocations."In 2013, Yahoo paid $1.1 billion for Tumblr, expecting $100 million in annual revenue from the blogging platform. In its most recent quarterly report, in July, Yahoo revealed it had written down the value of Tumblr by $482 million, after writing it down by $230 million in March.In 2014, Yahoo fell out of the Fortune 500 for the first time. Mayer admitted that year the company had only started investing in mobile in 2013 and was "late" and "behind."Incorporated in 1995 as a directory to the world wide web, Yahoo began selling ads, and went public the next year. By March 2000, it embodied the dot-com bubble: from January 1998's $3 billion market capitalization, it had zoomed to more than $125 billion. Then the bubble popped, smacking Yahoo's market cap down to around $5 billion by the fall of 2001.Yahoo continued an up and down course. Its fortunes began to sweep steeply upward again in 2004, when the company hit $3.6 billion in revenue. Yahoo nearly doubled its head count, to more than 14,000 workers by 2007. Then came the financial crisis, and revenue began to slide.In the meantime, Google replaced Yahoo as the go-to site for searching the web. By 2007, Google had cracked the 50 percent mark in share of all U.S. desktop searches, according to comScore, while Yahoo had 27 percent. From there, as Yahoo's share slid downward, Google's rose, hitting 67 percent in November 2014 to Yahoo's 10 percent. Since then, Yahoo has rallied somewhat, according to comScore data, hosting about 12 percent of U.S. searches as of June, compared to Google's 64 percent.While Google was dominating search, Facebook was turning the world into a hugely popular version of a Yahoo chat room.And while Yahoo's revenue has hovered between $4.6 billion and $5 billion since 2008, Google saw its revenue skyrocket from $21.8 billion in 2008 to $75 billion last year, and this year topped $20 billion in the first quarter alone. Facebook, with $2 billion in revenue in 2010, hit $18 billion last year, and reported $5.4 billion in revenue in the first quarter of this year. Today, Google and Facebook rake in 64 percent of all U.S. digital advertising, according to Pivotal Research.After Yahoo fell out of the Fortune 500, activist-investors began agitating for change. First up was Jackson, who sent Yahoo a blistering 99-slide presentation attacking the firm for missing the boat on mobile, failing to roll out new products, and "misallocation" of nearly $10 billion since 2012, including $3 billion in mergers and acquisitions "valued by investors at zero." Jackson wanted Mayer out.Next up was Starboard Value, which expressed via an August letter its displeasure with Yahoo's performance, and continued to issue complaints and demand the firm sell its core assets. In March, Starboard launched a proxy fight and won, receiving four board seats in April.Other companies that had actively bidded for Yahoo were AT&T and Quicken Loans Inc. founder Dan Gilbert, as well as firms Vector Capital Management and TPG, Bloomberg reported. Germanys Handelsblatt reports that prosecutors in Braunschweig have expanded their investigation over Volkswagens diesel emissions cheating scandal to engineers and managers. Fresh raids were conducted into engineers and managers. The number of managers under investigation has also expanded from 17 to 21 people. I can confirm that prosecutors are now investigating 21 people on suspicion of fraud in relation to the diesel emissions manipulation, Klaus Ziehe, spokesperson for the prosecutors office, told Handelsblatt. The probes do not include any current or former executives of the carmaker but so far involve lower-level managers instead, according to the report. The Braunschweig prosecutors office has the lead in investigating VWs actions in Germany. Achievers Kelly Swanson of High Point will deliver a keynote speech at the 85th annual Toastmasters International Convention on Aug. 18 in Washington. Swanson, an award-winning storyteller, applied for a speaker position because of the support of Triad Toastmasters past president Mark Pegram. Triad Toastmasters club meets from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesdays at the Leonard Recreation Center, 6324 Ballinger Road in Greensboro. Guests are welcome. For information, visit http://www.3132.toastmastersclubs.org or email vpm-3132@toastmastersclubs.org. Announcements The Democratic Women of Guilford County will hold a potluck dinner at 6 p.m. Aug. 4 at the Congregational United Church of Christ, 400 Radiance Drive in Greensboro. Those attending are asked to bring a potluck dish for the meal and also canned goods and non-perishable items for the Greensboro Urban Ministry and Caring Services in High Point. Slate cards and campaign signs will be available. To be a sponsor for the potluck, contact Carolyn Bunker at (336) 889-4068. *** The Jamestown Civitan/D.H. Griffin Lobsterfest will be held Aug. 27 at Jamestown Town Hall, 301 E. Main St. in Jamestown. The club is accepting prepaid orders only; the order deadline is Aug. 23. Prices range from $22 for a 1-pound live or boiled Maine lobster to $52 for a 3-pound live Maine lobster. The lobsters may be picked up by special request on Aug. 26. Live lobsters may be picked up between 2 and 5 p.m. Aug. 27. The boiled lobster pick up time is 2 to 6 p.m. Aug. 27. Boiled lobsters may be frozen and eaten at a later date. Customers should bring their own coolers with cold packs or bagged ice for live pickup. For information, call (336) 580-8720 or email lobsters@triad.rr.com. The North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro will host a Pokemon Lure Party from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday. The zoo will offer $2 off regular admission for all gamers who show their Pokemon Trainer Profile. The zoo boasts 52 accessible PokeStops and eight gyms. Zoo staff will place Lures at PokeStops throughout the event. Rare Pokemon are seen at the zoo, along with water, electric, rock, grass, fire, ground, psychic and fighting Pokemon. Guests are encouraged to share what they collect at #NCZooPokemon. During the party there will be special live animal ambassador encounters and keeper talks. Guests may beat the heat with the Zoos misters, one of which is a PokeStop. Players are advised that the Zoo does have Wi-Fi in some public areas. Cellphone reception at the Zoo varies by plans. For information, visit www.nczoo.org. YMCA seeks applicants for outdoors program YMCA Camp Weaver will host its final Bold/Gold Outdoor Leadership Program Aug. 7-12 and is seeking additional applicants. The co-ed, youth backpacking program is a one-week wilderness educational program designed to help participants develop multicultural leadership skills through challenging outdoor activities and gain skills. Comprised of small groups (nine participants with two to three instructors), this program takes teens on a multiday journey through North Carolinas natural terrain where participants will be introduced to basic camping, hiking and backpacking skills. Campers gain leadership and team skills as they work together to uncover and solve challenging outdoor activities they probably wouldnt encounter otherwise. The program is $750 per student and is available to ninth- through 11th-grade students. Financial assistance is available to those who qualify. For information, call Allison Shelnut at Camp Weaver at (336) 697-9525. Three bridge classes to begin in September Bridge classes, all eight weeks in length, will be held this fall at the Lewis Recreation Center, 3110 Forest Lawn Drive in Greensboro. Bidding in the 21st Century will be held from 9:15 to 11:15 a.m. Mondays, starting Sept. 12. The class covers hand evaluation, opening bids, rebids, overcalls, takeout doubles and Stayman. A class in commonly used bridge conventions will be offered from 9:15 to 11:15 a.m. Wednesdays, starting Sept. 14. Conventions such as New Minor Forcing, Negative doubles, Michaels cuebid and Crisscross will be taught. A class in Two over One, which includes Bergen raises, forcing 1nt and splinters, will be from 9:15 to 11:15 a.m. Thursdays, starting Sept. 15. Each eight-week class is $130 plus $20 for the book. Send checks to Mary Leger, 29 Nandina Drive, Greensboro, N.C. 27455. For information, call Leger at (336) 327-6357. Liberty church wants consignors for sale Pleasant Union United Methodist Church in Liberty is accepting consignors for a consignment sale slated for Aug. 12-13. To become a consignor, send an email to puconsignment@gmail.com. Donations of clothing, baby items, etc. will be accepted as well. For information, call (336) 685-4093 or visit www.facebook.com/puumcconsignment. Taste of the Town scheduled for Aug. 16 Hospice of the Piedmonts signature fundraiser, Taste of the Town, is set for Aug. 16. More than 40 local restaurants, caterers and beverage vendors will serve up their best dishes from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the High Point University Community Center at Oak Hollow Mall. There will be a silent auction and music by DJ Wally West. Entry tickets are $15 each and include three food taste tickets. Children 5 and younger enter free. Additional food tickets are $1 each. Those planning to attend are encouraged to get entry tickets in advance at High Point Bank branches in High Point, Jamestown, Kernersville or Greensboro. For a list of participating vendors and sponsorship opportunities, visit www.hospice ofthepiedmont.org. Mobile Oasis Market provides fresh produce The Mobile Oasis Farmers Market project, piloted in 2014, works to increase access to fresh produce for Guilford County residents who live in areas designated as food deserts by the USDA. Food deserts are areas without ready access to fresh, healthy and affordable food. County health statistics show food desert residents have higher rates of chronic disease, which can be connected to limited fruit and vegetable consumption. Fresh produce is transported to food desert areas in a trailer. The produce sold is grown and obtained from local farmers. The market is open through Oct. 13 at the following Greensboro locations: 8:30-11 a.m. first Wednesday, Guilford County Social Services Building, 1203 Maple St. 4-6 p.m. second Wednesday, Warnersville Recreation Center, 601 Doak St. 8:30-11 a.m. first Thursday, Guilford County Public Health Clinics, 1100 E. Wendover Ave. 4-6 p.m. second Thursday, Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, 501 Yanceyville St. Customers who use their SNAP benefits to make a purchase will receive a Double Bucks voucher for the same amount to make additional purchase at no cost. Accepted forms of payment are EBT, cash, debit and credit cards. (336) 641-3361. Reading Connections seeks volunteer tutors Reading Connections, an adult literacy agency, is offering a free, three-part training for those who wish to become volunteer tutors. The training will be held at the High Point Public Library, 901 N. Main St. in High Point, from 10 a.m.-noon Aug. 15, 9 a.m.-noon Aug. 17, and 9 a.m.-noon Aug. 19. The training will include an introduction to the agency, requirements for becoming a tutor or instructor, the four components of reading, working with different learning styles, lesson planning, and much more. Volunteers can be matched with students individually or in small groups. To register, call Laura Mims at (336) 230-2223 or lmims@reading connections.org. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate PHILADELPHIA The heat index was 107 degrees. But it must have felt even hotter Monday for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who was forced to duck out of an event by Bernie Sanders protesters just hours before taking center stage at the Democratic National Convention. It was indeed night and day for Malloy, a strident messenger for Hillary Clinton and the head of the Democratic Governors Association, who was part of the conventions opening lineup of speakers. Malloy never mentioned Sanders when the white-hot spotlight of the moment shined on him in the air-conditioned confines of the Wells Fargo Arena. The second-term governor instead went full bore against Republican Donald Trump and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, with whom Malloy has developed a rivalry over gay marriage, the Syrian refugee crisis and whose state is better for business. You name em, Donald Trump has bullied them, Malloy said. I know something about bullies. And I know why we must stand up to them. Sticking up for Democrats Malloys latest performance on the national political stage followed the resignation Sunday of Debbie Wasserman Schultz as the head of the Democratic National Committee, who email leaks showed tried to undermine the insurgent candidacy of Sanders. It coincided with the highly anticipated primetime keynote of Sanders on Monday night. Malloy opened with a familiar anecdote about his childhood struggle with a learning disability and his rise through the ranks of Democratic governors. A child thought to be as the term was used in the early 1960s mentally retarded as late as the fourth grade. A boy who could not tie his shoe or button his shirt, until the fifth grade, Malloy said. Its an American story. Our communities are bound by the shared understanding that we are stronger together. That we need to lift up our brothers and sisters, and ignore the shouts and taunts of bullies amongst us. That is one reason why I am a Democrat. A contingent from Connecticut their allegiances split between Clinton and Sanders mostly cheered Malloy from the lower bowl of the 19,500-seat arena, including Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy. I understand Sen. Sanders supporters are upset, said Michael Cacace, a DNC member and Clinton superdelegate from Stamford. I think whats come to light the last few days is embarrassing. I expect the frustration to be shown a little bit tonight. Some Sanders delegates didnt even feign interest in Malloys message, checking their smartphones and sitting silently. They didnt boo, as some Clinton delegates had privately worried before Malloys speech. I think Gov. Malloy is not an appropriate leader for the Democratic Party for the future, said Justin Molito, a Sanders delegate from Sherman. Earlier in the day, Malloy had just finished a speaking engagement for the think tank Democrats for Education Reform, when a procession of Sanders protesters choked Broad Street outside the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Malloys security detail plainclothes state troopers advised the governor that the protesters were coming and it was time to leave. Malloy was ushered down a hallway of the concert hall. Malloys staff said they were concerned the governor would be boxed in because of the protesters and would be late to other appointments, including a Washington Post panel discussion on criminal justice reform. I could see why he would want to get out of here, said Murphy, who briefly exchanged greetings with Malloy. Former sate Rep. Susan Barrett, a Clinton delegate from Fairfield, lamented the turmoil. Sanders supporters, she said, need to respect his endorsement of Clinton and not go rogue. I think there are some people that are so passionate about the movement that they forgot that Bernie is the leader of the pack, Barrett said. Before Malloy took the stage, delegates on both sides of the political divide from his home state openly debated elements of the Democratic platform and the progressive credentials of party leaders. Malloy served as co-chairman of the national partys platform committee, a role that Sanders wanted Connecticuts governor removed from in May because of Malloys allegiance to Clinton. Nina Sherwood, of Stamford, said the Clinton establishment wing of the party is taking the support of the Sanders faithful for granted. Its nobodys fault but Hillarys, Sherwood said. The Democratic Party is supposed to be democratic. Its been stacking the deck against votes, against people, against democracy. Not gonna miss a beat Malloy downplayed the schism during an interview just moments before he was whisked away from his first speaking appearance of the day. He said he respected Schultzs decision. Were not going to miss a beat, Malloy said in an interview earlier in the day. Listen, the person I supported for president is going to be the nominee on Thursday night, so I feel good about that. Rated among the most liberal governors in the nation, Malloy watched his progressive credentials come under assault from the left during a bruising primary campaign. His speaking slot Monday was an opportunity for the former Stamford mayor to burnish his resume within the party. Under his leadership, he said, Connecticut has raised its minimum wage, added 100,000 jobs, passed comprehensive gun-control legislation after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and ushered in criminal justice reform. In Washington, D.C., Republicans will block any innovative idea that has the scarlet letter D for Democrat next to it, Malloy said. But in the states run by Democratic governors, were about solving problems. State Republican Party Chairman J.R. Romano said the bar set by Malloy for Democrats is low. Dan Malloy demonstrates how out of touch he is, Romano said. He is one of the biggest failures in the country. Democrats live in a fantasy land where the rules don't apply and that theyre successful. The truth is, you cannot point to a single success of Hillary Clinton or Dan Malloy. Francisco Gonzalez, a Clinton delegate from Greenwich and member of Clintons national finance committee, said Democrats have more common values than Republicans. Were here to come together, Gonzalez said. neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy Brandon Boynton contemplated ending his life when he was 14. Hed been physically and mentally tormented by bullies throughout the eighth grade, in person and online, and he worried he couldnt take one more dig. I was a weird kid in middle school, the Pendleton, Ind., native, now 19, tells Entrepreneur. I looked weird, I sounded weird. I was really shy and scared of everyone, right up until I started to come out of my shell and decided to run for class president. I was like, Hey, this could be a new me. Pushing down feelings of self-doubt, he swallowed his fears and taped up election campaign posters all around his school. They ended up in urinals, torn up all over the ground, he says. People wrote mean, hurtful things all over them. I was proud that I went out of my comfort zone to put them up, but, what they did, it just tore me up and upset me, to put it lightly. I wanted to see the people who did it punished, not in an evil way, but just in a way that would address their behavior and make it stop. Related: How a Bullied, Dyslexic 16-Year-Old Entrepreneur Fought Back and Found His Way From that day forward, Boyntons eighth-grade year, which he describes as his most miserable ever, only got worse. His bullies became crueler and grew in number, as rumors spread that hed snitched on them by name to administrators. It was true. He did, via his schools anonymous bullying incident reporting system. (He didnt tell his parents until much later.) In the short term, he came to regret it, even if it was the right thing to do. I experienced verbal, social, emotional and physical torment, he recently wrote in a deeply personal Surety Bonds small business scholarship essay. Overtime, these experiences had a profound impact on my feelings of self-worth. My confidence had been destroyed and thoughts of suicide began to creep into my daily thoughts. Removing stigma from asking for help. The incident reporting system at Boyntons middle school was no more than a box on the wall. Many U.S. schools situate these types of bully boxes around their campuses to encourage students to anonymously report bullying -- without their names, but with the names of their aggressors -- ideally so they can feel safe coming forward and avoid retaliation. We had one on the wall of one of the most populated areas of the school, he says, but kids made fun of it, and it had a lot of negative social stigma around it. Boynton slipped in a note describing his situation. But he didnt feel it was as effective as it couldve been, had it been better implemented in a more modern and tech-related way. Related: Why Bumble's Anti-Bullying Open Letter to a Male User Is Totally on Brand Meanwhile, his parents, Chad, a law enforcement officer, and Tonya, a fourth-grade teacher, encouraged their son to channel his emotions from that extremely dark period in his life into uplifting, confidence-building pursuits. After exploring mobile app development for more than a year, and with his parents love and support, he found the strength to combine his two biggest passions -- helping others and writing code -- into a business. Two years later, Boynton did just that. In 2013, when he was 16, he founded MostBeastlyStudios LLC, the rising, Indianapolis-based mobile app startup behind The BullyBox, the bullying prevention and anonymous reporting app that he launched shortly after. He is now the nascent companys CEO and lead developer, heading up a remote team of five 1099/W6 subcontractor developers. Their mission: Build apps that make a difference. Not games. Apps that improve lives. On top of alerting school officials to student reports of alleged physical, verbal, cyber and emotional bullying, The BullyBox provides students with a safe, anonymous outlet to tip teachers and administrators off to a host of other serious school safety concerns. Among them are weapons-, drug- and fight-related threats and incidents. Related: This 17-Year-Old Fought Back Bullying By Starting a Company to Unite Teens I figured Id spin school bully boxes in a positive way that people would be more likely to take seriously and use, he says. His hunch proved right. Many people have made use of his innovative take on the bully box concept. Some 100,000 students in 22 U.S. states, and in New Zealand, Spain, France and the United Kingdom, are currently using the app. Where passion meets community support. The BullyBox was not Boyntons first attempt at channeling a technical hobby into career. I thought that I was going to be a YouTube sensation, he says. I saved up my money to for video editing software and I got really into it, running around shooting my friends with Nerf guns and videoing it. It was fun, but, looking back, the videos were the cheesiest, worst things that Ive ever done. Boynton wasnt the only one to think that, which he found out one embarrassing afternoon at school. Hed posted a school project video on his YouTube channel and stood before his entire class to present it. When the clip finished, one of his goofy Nerf battle videos auto-played. It was too late. The damage was done. From then on, people made fun of me, commenting on YouTube and at school about how cheesy and stupid my videos were and how stupid I was, and it hurt because I put a lot of time and money and effort into my videos. I thought I was going to make it big, and I really put myself out there and got rejected. Related: What You Can Learn From 8 Kids Already Making a Million Dollars Things have changed since then. On July 1, 2015, while Boynton was still a one-man shop and a senior in high school, he overhauled The BullyBox and released an updated version. He credits this accomplishment -- no small one for a time-strapped student, fitness fanatic and member of the school band -- partly to his parents cheering him on and partly to his enrollment in the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA). Lucky to have parents who will drop everything and travel across the country with me when great opportunity calls. pic.twitter.com/hfqor5d6VZ Brandon Boynton (@bboynton97) May 6, 2016 In case youre not familiar with YEA, its a nationwide nonprofit initiative that aims to mold students in grades six through 12 into real, confident entrepreneurs. The year-long classroom program, offered by Boyntons local chamber of commerce, teaches aspiring kidpreneurs to generate business ideas, conduct market research, write business plans, pitch to a panel of investors and launch their very own companies, per its website. Some of the successful young entrepreneurs weve previously reported on at Entrepreneur are also YEA graduates. Related: How This Teenager Turned Her Childhood Hobby Into a Global Business Today, there are two versions of The BullyBox: the free version for iOS and Android and the paid premium version, The BullyBox Pro, which costs schools $499 per year per school building and is free for enrolled students to use. The Pro version includes data analytics reporting and enables students to attach photographic evidence to reports. Additionally offered with the premium version are warning phone calls to school administrators. The calls are automatically generated when certain keywords, such as gun, kill, and bomb appear in student BullyBox reports. Both versions of the app must be adopted by participating schools via online registration in order for students to use them. To Boynton, and to many other victims of bullying, The BullyBox is more than a mere reporting tool. Its an instrument for empowerment and healing, he says. It gives those being victimized by bullies a voice, the ability to be empowered up-standers, instead of powerless bystanders, without catching a bunch of negative flack for speaking out. Related: These High-School Students Found a Way to Make Any Headphones Wireless His inspiring anti-bullying creation isnt his only successful mobile app. The Curfew Buddy is one of several other helpful apps hes coded and launched through MostBeastlyStudios on the heels of The BullyBox. The idea for The Curfew Buddy, which Boynton entered into a recent Congressional App Challenge put on by the U.S. House of Representatives, occurred to him one night after his parents punished him. They grounded him for forgetting to text them them when hed arrived at the movies. I thought, What if there was an app where you just put a pin down where youre going to go? he recalled during a live televised interview on CNBC. The app will text your parents when you get there, itll text your parents when you leave and itll also text them when you get home. Another common teen problem, solved. Growing a business while growing up. Boynton, one of 200 student recipients of Apples WWDC Scholarship in 2014, declined to share any revenue or net profit stats with us. While I appreciate your interest in our financials, he says, without talking to my advisory board first, Im not in a position to share that. I will say, however, that we have experienced very high growth over the last year. He points out that his startup is partnering with a distribution firm to manage sales, and that he pays himself a small salary, though not anything I could live off of alone. Enough to go to the movies every now and then. It has been another outstanding day!! 2 schools/5,600 new students now have The BullyBx! #Antibullying #School2015 pic.twitter.com/QO3vtZ2moP BullyBx (@The_BullyBox) July 15, 2015 Like most entrepreneurs, seasoned and not, one of the problems Boynton consistently faces while managing his business is how to effectively juggle competing priorities, personal and professional. Both spheres overlap daily as a result. I do my work-work during study period at school sometimes and my schoolwork when I should be working, he says. Like any startup CEO, I wear a lot of hats, only I squeeze in business meetings after school and I have to know when closing a sale is more important than a calculus assignment. It sucks, but sometimes its worth not scoring a good grade to score a big sale. On the cusp of adulthood, Boynton says while he appreciates the catchiness of buzzwords like kidpreneur and teenpreneur, he prefers to identify himself as social entrepreneur. Furthering his mission to inspire positive change in the world, when hes not busy running his startup, he travels the country delivering speeches that encourage kids to turn their ideas into businesses that address social, cultural and environmental problems. He also makes time to visit schools to discuss bullying and how to help stop it. Additionally, as a spokesperson for YEA, he mentors program participants on how to successfully balance academics and entrepreneurship, a tricky tightrope walk that isnt always easy for him. Or for his friends and girlfriend. .@thr3ewisemen treated us SO well last year when we couldnt get in anywhere, we came back for #Prom again this year! pic.twitter.com/y3NlQxKi46 Brandon Boynton (@bboynton97) May 7, 2016 Overall, my friends are supportive, but they can get a little annoyed with all the business meetings and commitments that take me away from socializing, he says. Nearly missing his senior prom is a prime example. Two days before the milestone dance, often considered an American rite of passage, Boynton received a call from an event organizer asking him to speak at a conference -- 568 miles away in Rochester, N.Y. I frantically searched for flights that could get me there and back in time before prom, but none of them could, he recalls, laughing. So I ended up getting a rental car and driving up there the night before the event, all night. I got to Rochester around 1:30 in the morning, spoke at the conference the next day around 7 in the morning, slept for a minute, left that night and then drove eight hours back to the prom. I just made it and went to that half-asleep. Then post-prom went until 3 a.m. I got home around 4 a.m. It was exhausting. Such is the hectic life of a young entrepreneur, racing in different directions at all hours, but at least his girlfriend wasnt mad at him. Thankfully shes very understanding, but I dont think she wouldve been if Id missed prom. That mightve been bad. Related: This Business Owner Is Paying for His Employees' Kids to Go to College Up next for Boynton, already in the thick of the 24/7 entrepreneurial grind, is yet more work-life balancing, likely even more intensely than before. He graduated from high school in May of this year, and this fall, hell be busy pursuing both tech and business degrees at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Hey, I figured going into business for myself wouldnt hurt when applying for college scholarships, he admits. Once again, Boyntons hunch was right. The university offered him very close to a full ride. To top it off, the Lilly Endowment, Inc. foundation also awarded him a four-year, full-tuition college scholarship. Good guys dont always finish last. Boynton didnt. Hes going to college for free, room and board included. Still, he says he wont be talking up his scholarships or startup success on campus, citing concerns about being harshly judged by his peers again. Ill try and keep it on the down-low, he says, because itll just lead to people not wanting to associate with me or thinking differently of me, and I dont want that. Related: Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Thumbs up to the Lock City Comic-Con in Stamford, which drew hundreds of comic book fans of all ages to the Italian Center over the weekend in the first of what hopefully will become an annual summer tradition. Festival Organizer Felix Veliz said the 800 or so people who showed up each day was a lighter turnout than he anticipated, but signature Stamford events such as the Parade Spectacular and Alive@Five had much more humble origin stories. As if to show how far Alive@Five has come, last weeks performance by Third Eye Blind drew nearly 9,000 Thumbs ups from the fans, and probably a few hundred thumbs-downs from the would-be concert-goers police had to turn away. The turnout was significant because it comes during a season with the most restrictive entrance policies in the events history. For the first time this year, the series is limited to adults 21 years of age and older. Thumbs up to the University of Connecticut winning approval to build student housing in downtown Stamford. For many years, the concept seemed fanciful, then unlikely, before a plan was developed that Zoning Board Chairman Thomas Mills deemed an easy decision for the board. The target occupancy for 900 Washington Blvd. is 290, which should have a measurable impact on some local businesses, traffic and the lives of those students. Thumbs up to half-percent gain in jobs in Connecticut last month, as reported by the state Department of Labor Thursday. That bump amounts to 7,900 more jobs with the financial services industry leading the way. Though the state has about 1.7 million jobs, it has recovered only 83 percent of jobs lost during the recession. While the job growth is good news, simultaneously the unemployment rate ticked up 0.1 percent. Seasonal fluctuations may be responsible, but overall the state is reflecting the national pattern. Thumbs down to the detection of Asian Tiger mosquitoes in Bridgeport and Stratford recently. These are the type capable of transmitting the Zika virus, though luckily the trapped mosquitoes were not infected. In other years the mosquitoes were found from Greenwich to New Haven. The state has established a registry for pregnant women who have contracted the virus, which can cause severe brain abnormalities. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, in announcing the presence of the mosquito Thursday, warned however that mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus are a bigger threat to the public health, especially in waterfront communities. Not much comfort there, but residents can be proactive by eliminating stagnant water where the insects can breed and by wearing bug spray when outdoors. Thumbs up to the return of the humpback whales to Long Island Sound. The whales were sighted at least three times last week from Norwalk to Greenwich. As with so many who flock to the shore, the whales were attracted by good food, menhaden fish in their case. Their massive size and grace inspire an appreciation of nature, but the privilege to see them up close also carries the responsibility to avoid boat collisions and keep a 500-foot distance. STAMFORD The owner of home day care under investigation for a babys death has given up her fight to keep her license to focus on the police homicide probe. Nydia Carrillo, 34, ran Little Bears Beginnings Daycare on the citys East Side where 2-month-old Bella Redondo, of New Canaan, had trouble breathing and died a few hours later at Stamford Hospital on July 12. The babys death has been ruled a homicide. The state Office of Early Childhood, which previously cited the Wardwell Street day care for safety and health violations, suspended Carrillos license a few days after the babys death. Carrillo and her attorney, Christian Bujdud, planned to fight the suspension at a hearing Thursday in Hartford. We made a decision to forgo the opportunity to attend that hearing and focus on dealing with the Stamford criminal investigation," Bujdud said. The Office of Early Childhood has not released its report that was filed after the babys death. A spokeswoman said she could not comment because of the criminal investigation, but Carrillo said in a signed statement that she denied the reports findings. While I deny the agencys allegations as contained in the file, I hereby voluntarily surrender my license to operate a family child care home instead of challenging the allegations, which resulted from an investigation related to the health, safety or welfare of children in the care of the family child care home, Carrillos statement said. Bujdud said a decision to revoke his clients license could have been made at the hearing, requiring Carrillo to wait a year before she could re-apply. By voluntarily surrendering her license, Carrillo does not face a waiting period to apply again, Bujdud said. Attorney Mark Sherman, who represents the Redondo family, said a member of his legal team planned to attend the hearing and challenge any effort to reinstate Carrillos license. However, Sherman declined to comment on what evidence his legal team planned to present at the hearing. He also said the Redondo family will not be commenting during the investigation stage. They appreciate the support from the community and are asking for privacy at this difficult time, Sherman said. Stamford Police Lt. Diedrich Hohn, who is supervising the criminal investigation, said police are still waiting for records from the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, who has ruled the manner of death was blunt-force trauma to the head. Hohn said police are also still compiling statements from witnesses and three persons of interest who were at the day care the afternoon the baby had trouble breathing. Hohn said the baby had trouble breathing when an ambulance was called to the day care at 3:12 p.m. on July 12. The child arrived at the hospital at 3:40 p.m. and stopped breathing, he said. Doctors tried for hours to resuscitate the baby before pronouncing her dead at 6:20 p.m., Hohn said. Hohn, who said the child had obvious signs of head trauma, said the parents told police their daughter was in perfect health when she was dropped off between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. Hohn said samples from the autopsy are being examined. He said the state Department of Children and Families and doctors at Yale School of Medicines Child Study Center are trying to establish a timeline of when the infant was injured. Carrillo, her husband, Alexander Corleto, and her sister, Claudia Carrillo, are listed as working at the day care facility, located on the second floor of a multi-family home. However, police have declined to say if they are being investigated as suspects. An inspector for the states Office of Early Childhood conducted an unannounced visit to the day care in December when a curling iron was plugged into a lamp in a bedroom where a child was sleeping on the floor and electrical outlets were found without covers in and near a bathroom, documents show. The inspector found a heavy-duty metal construction table, a pile of fencing wood with nails sticking out, gas grills and two propane tanks accessible to children in the backyard, state records show. The backyard was ruled unsafe for child care until Carrillo completed a corrective action plan. The inspector also discovered the familys dog did not have a current rabies exam, and a new resident moved in without completing background checks or medical tests, documents show. After at least two extensions, the corrective action plan drawn up in December was completed in the spring, but other safety hazards were found during a follow-up inspection. An inspector wrote following a May 18 visit that two gas grills were accessible to children in the backyard. The inspector noted watching a child walking into one grill and a sharp edge made a minor mark on the side of his face. The report says Carrillo corrected the issues later that month. The Office of Early Childhood said after the Stamford death that it plans to examine its policies for home day care facilities. There have been two other infant deaths in the past year at Connecticut home-based child care providers in Fairfield and Sterling. jnickerson@scni.com; PHILADELPHIA Sen. Bernie Sanders offered a message Tuesday to his supporters in the California delegation who have been booing every mention of presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton, including the ones who booed him Tuesday when he made a surprise visit to the delegation to offer his support of Clinton. It is easy to boo. But it is harder to look your kids in the face who would be living under a Donald Trump, Sanders told them at the breakfast gathering. He is the worst candidate for president in the modern history of this country, Sanders said. This man is a demagogue who does not believe in the Constitution of the United States. That is dangerous stuff. He encouraged people to stay involved because Republicans dont win elections; Democrats lose elections when they dont turn out to vote. The eight-minute speech was part victory lap for his influential campaign and part thank-you to the delegates who supported him. For many, the campaign will officially end after Tuesdays roll call vote of the delegates on the convention floor. The political revolution accomplished more than any of us here could have dreamed, he said. What the political revolution means is that we keep going. There is no state that will play a bigger role than California. Katy Roemer, a Sanders delegate who lives in Berkeley, is grateful for all Sanders has done, but she doesnt plan on being quiet as long as she disagrees with what politicians are saying. Theyre trying to keep us quiet about single-payer (health care), said Roemer, who attended the breakfast. But we have to keep on pushing. We have a lot of work to do to convince people of this. She then abruptly stopped to boo Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles, after he offered his support of Clinton. California Gov. Jerry Brown who knows a thing or three about running for president said its difficult to end a presidential campaign. How do you get out of the race?, Brown told the Washington Post in an online interview. You basically have to be taken out by defeat. Brown, who endorsed Clinton, said he thought Sanders has handled his exit gracefully. Joe Garofoli is the San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Good-bye, 27 for food. Photo: Zagat For as long as Zagat has been publishing restaurant guides, readers have had to ask themselves whether theres really a difference between food with a 21 and 22 rating. No longer. Google has expressed hostility toward Zagats traditional rating system since acquiring the company in 2011, and now the longtime restaurant guide has done away with it. Today, Zagat introduced a redesigned app sans its most defining feature: restaurants rated on an unnecessarily broad range of 30 points. Going forward, restaurants will be rated on a simpler five-point scale though the rating will allow for decimal points. Google director of local content Laura Slabin promised the move was not a flippant decision, no doubt understanding that restaurant nerds get really worked up about stars and ratings. However, some industry types tell The Wall Street Journal they fear that this change will somehow take the nuance out of a system that already reduces restaurant experiences to arbitrary numbers. These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales. Login or sign up to follow actresses, movies & dramas and get specific updates and news Login Sign Up New Ad-free Subscriber Login Email Password Password Username Your E-mail will only be used to retrieve a lost password. Stay logged in Help Published on 2016/07/26 | Source Added episodes 1 and 2 captures for the Korean drama "Age of Youth" (2016) Advertisement Directed by Lee Tae-gon-I Written by Park Yeon-seon Network : jTBC With Han Ye-ri, Han Seung-yeon, Park Eun-bin, Ryu Hwa-young, Park Hye-soo, Yoon Park,... 12 episodes - Fri, Sat 20:30 Synopsis The drama is a story about five attractive female college students, who live in a shared residence called Belle Epoque. Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2016/07/22 More 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. 13:18, 27 OCT 2022 Canada to phase out older crude oil tanker cars early due to explosion risk Canada will take older crude tanker cars out of service much earlier than originally planned, Transport Minister Marc Garneau said on July 26. Accident investigators have said the older tanker units, called DOT-111 cars, tend to puncture easily during derailments, sometimes causing fires. The train that exploded in the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic and killed 47 people in 2013 consisted of DOT-111 units. The aftermath of the Lac-Megantic disaster - Image: TSB Some of the older tankers had been scheduled to go out of service on May 1, 2017, while a version with an extra layer of protection was set to be phased out on March 1, 2018. Both types of cars will now be taken out of service by November 1 this year, Garneau said. This decision was made easier by the collapse in oil prices, which has significantly cut the number of tanker cars in use on the Canadian rail network. There are about 28,000 affected cars in crude oil service in the USA and Canada, with US DOT-111 units due to be phased out between 2018 and 2023. Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada Chair Kathy Fox said she was encouraged that the Transport Minister had taken this action. The protective direction announced today is a positive step, and highlights Canadian leadership in terms of action taken to improve tank car safety. We look forward to continued strong action from both the regulator and industry to reduce the risks associated with the transportation of crude oil and other flammable liquids by rail. Nevertheless, the TSB has also raised concerns about the durability of tank cars that meet the newer CPC-1232 standard. Aluminium mining and refining company Alcoa was in the media spotlight recently after it financially penalised a worker who took time off as a volunteer firefighter. Employee Adrian Houldsworth was called out to fight a fire at Lake Clifton south of Perth on 12 February, and notified Alcoa at 2:30pm to say he couldnt attend his 6.30pm shift that day. He later returned to work to find that $1,200 had been deducted from his Personal Leave Incentive (PLI). Under the Alcoa industrial agreement, the PLI is a financial incentive payable in full only if an employee goes without an unplanned absence with less than 24 hours of notice. While this matter was settled outside of the courts, HC spoke to Aaron Dearden, partner at Hall & Wilcox, to see whether this could have possibly led to legal action by Houldsworth. An employee is entitled to take community service leave under the National Employment Standards, Dearden said. Thats under section 108 of the Fair Work Act. The argument for Houldsworth would have been that they took adverse action against him for exercising a workplace right. And under an adverse action plan, one would presume that there was a clear nexus between taking the community service leave and being penalised. In general, HRs obligations when it comes to employees taking volunteer leave will depend on the facts and circumstances of each case, he told HC. For instance, a volunteer in a sparsely populated state such as Western Australia may be given more leeway than one in the dense coastal regions near Sydney. While it could be difficult to put general limits on both employer and employee obligations however, questions can be asked about reasonable expectations, he added. Obviously prior notification of membership of voluntary organisations certainly helps. If someones a member of the SES for example, an employer can make enquiries to see who out of the workforce is a member of these organisations so appropriate planning can take place. Dearden continued, saying that there was also no hard and fast rule as to how long an employee could stay away on community service leave. To prevent employees being called away for long periods and hindering the business however, he suggested HR discuss the matter with the employee and the volunteer organisation. The starting point for the employer would be to have a discussion with the employee, he said. If the employer is concerned about what they have been told or need further information, they can go to the volunteer organisation and ascertain any other information they need. Restaurant delivery firm Deliveroo is stating in its contracts for self-employed workers that they cannot take the company to an employment tribunal over their employment status, a UK paper reports. A clause within the firms contract for its drivers states that the workers cannot take the company to a tribunal to try and become recognised as staff, and must pay Deliveroos costs if they do, The Guardian reports. The clause reportedly states: You further warrant that neither you nor anyone acting on your behalf will present any claim in the employment tribunal or any civil court in which it is contended that you are either an employee or a worker. However, doubt has been cast over the enforceability of the clause. Michael Newman, partner at law firm Leigh Day, told The Guardian: Penalty clauses in contracts are unenforceable and it is likely that any clause attempting to bar access to an employment tribunal would be seen as without commercial justification and unconscionable, and therefore a penalty. He continued: Theyre put there to scare the worker. They are going to think twice before they do anything. The report is the latest to highlight the issue of employers liability to self-employed workers. HC reported last week that a number of Uber drivers in the UK have taken the company to a tribunal over claims the taxi-app firm deliberately categorised them as self-employed to avoid paying national minimum wage and holiday pay. The World Wrestling Federation (WWE) is also the subject of a class-action lawsuit in the US, brought by former wrestlers who claim the company classed them as independent contractors to avoid liability under workers rights. In response to the claims, Deliveroo said: We provide a platform for people to work with us on a freelance basis. This allows riders to work flexibly around another commitment, like studying or other work. Weve worked with legal experts to design our contracts to reflect that and were proud to be creating opportunities for over 5,000 riders across the UK. By Jessica Isaacs | [email protected] Stay tuned for feature stories on all four of these honored pastors. Check out the July 2016 edition of High Country Magazine for the full story. A community-wide celebration of four long-standing local pastors has been scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 6 in the National Guard Armory in Boone. This program is open to the public, and event coordinators hope that folks from all across the High Country will be there to show support for the guests of honor. Steadfast in faith and obedience, these four outstanding gentlemen the Rev. Delmar James, the Rev. Herbert McCoy, the Rev. Gordon Noble and the Rev. Billy Warren have made invaluable contributions in communities across the High Country. While youll never catch them taking credit for it, these humble servants and ambassadors for Christ have allowed the Lord to do extraordinary things with their ordinary lives. Now, after lifetimes of devoted service, the greater faith community will come together to recognize, honor and celebrate the careers of these four fishers of men. The Rev. Charlie Martin of Bethel Baptist Church, a friend and colleague of all four pastors, has orchestrated a special ceremony in their honor, which will take place on the evening of Saturday, Aug. 6 at the National Guard Armory in Boone. The entire High Country community, including all churches of all denominations, are invited to enjoy fellowship, bring cards or gifts for the guests of honor, show their support and enjoy great live music from local bluegrass group Amantha Mill. We should never underestimate the importance of saying thank you to those who help us along the road of life. Since I have been over here the past several years, the stories of the older pastors in this county have been so special to me, Martin said. There are several other pastors that have done a great service to this area, also; God just impressed on me that this would just be a starting point. Perhaps something could be done again next year with other spiritual leaders who, too, have touched the hearts of Watauga County. The celebration of these four incredible leaders will take place at 6 p.m. that evening. Whether you know any or all of these men well or youd like to meet them and thank them for their service, theres no better opportunity than at this community-wide celebration. This is an important event for all of the Christian community in Watauga and surrounding counties. What a great time to come together with other believers! Martin said. I am hoping that all of our evangelical Christian family responds with real joy. There are some things we should say to people while they are still with us, and I hope this a great encouragement to those who have served us well. For more information about the upcoming ceremony, contact Martin at Bethel Baptist Church at 828-297-2694. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket The 17th annual Stick Boy Bread Company Mayview Madness 5K Run/Walk will be held on Saturday, September 3rd in Blowing Rock. Along with the 5K run, there will also be a 1-mile fun run for kids sponsored by Blue Ridge Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. To register online, follow this link: https://register.chronotrack. com/r/22542. Or pick up a paper race registration form at Stick Boy Bakery or Stick Boy Kitchen. The proceeds from this annual event benefit the Blue Ridge Conservancy, which works with willing landowners and local communities to permanently protect land and water resources with agricultural, ecological, cultural, recreational and scenic value in northwest North Carolina. The race will have prizes for the top three mens and womens finishers in each age group. The age groups are 13 and under, 14-18, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70 and up, masters 40 and up and overall. Registration for the 5K is $25 per runner if registered by August 31st. Registration the day of the race will be $30 per participant. Registration for the 1-mile kids race is $15 per runner if registered before August 31st and $20 per participant on the day of the event. ZAP Fitness Running Center is offering 3 weeks of free training runs / clinics in preparation for the Stick Boy Mayview Madness 5k set to take place September 3rd(see below for race details). This year the clinics will also offer a training session for children who are planning on participating in the Blue Ridge Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine 1 Mile Kids Fun Run. The adult training runs are open to all ages and abilities and will range in distance from 2-7 miles. Runners will meet each week at 5:45 p.m. at the dirt parking lot on rt. 221 adjacent to the entrance to Moses Cone Park. The Zap fitness training program schedule is: August 17th Proper Running Technique August 24th Using Speed to Your Benefit August 31st Race Strategy Sept 3rd Mayview Madness 5k (8:00 a.m.) The schedule for the event on September 3rd is as follows: 7 a.m. Registration and packet pick up at Blowing Rock American Legion located at 333 Wallingford St. in Blowing Rock 8 a.m. 1 Mile Kids Fun Run 8:30 a.m. 5K run/walk 9:30 a.m. Awards ceremony The awards ceremony will be held at Bistro Roca in downtown Blowing Rock, where refreshments will be provided. Volunteers for this event are crucial to its success. Volunteers will help register runners, set up the signs along the course and assist with logistics at the finish line. Volunteers get a race shirt and can enjoy Stick Boy treats and run in the race if interested. Those who would like to volunteer can contact Nikki at[email protected] . The event was started 17 years ago as a small fundraiser for what was then known as the High Country Conservancy. The race was originally established by a small group of people on the board of the High Country Conservancy as a fun way to raise money and also to highlight the scenic Mayview neighborhood in Blowing Rock. For more information about this event, click here. http://blueridgeconservancy. org/news-events/annual-events/ mayview-madness-run/ To register online, follow this link: https://register.chronotrack. com/r/22542. Or pick up a paper race registration form at Stick Boy Bakery or Stick Boy Kitchen. About Blue Ridge Conservancy BRC is a private, non-profit, non-governmental organization incorporated in North Carolina. BRC has protected over 19,150 acres in Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey Counties. In addition to protecting working farmland, BRCs efforts have resulted in the creation of state natural areas like Beech Creek Bog, Bear Paw State Natural Area and Bullhead Mountain. We continue to help Elk Knob State park expand its borders and established Pond Mountain Game Land in Ashe County. More information about Blue Ridge Conservancy is available at www.blueridgeconservancy.org. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket Everything is new in cardiology, so we need more studies. Dr. Edwin Tadeo Gomez Traumatology and maxillofacial surgeons have been using 3-D models to improve their performance for about a decade. Practicing on organ-sized models enables surgeons to prepare for the intervention better than any image, and considerably reduces complications during and after the act. Cardiologists and interventional cardiologists are catching up and a group of specialists in Spain are working to introduce 3-D print in the treatment of congenital heart disease, Dr Edwin Tadeo Gomez Gomez, one of the leading researchers, explained during our interview. Using 3-D models facilitates interventional procedure planning and reduces time of the procedure. Experience shows that it also diminishes complications and errors when calculating the size of devices used in trans-catheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) or when placing MitraClip or Watchman devices in closure of left atrial appendage, he said. Gomezs company Healtix is working with two organisations, TECHFIT, a Colombia-based specialist in medical 3-D design, and MIZAR, a Spanish company that produces 3-D material using mainly titanium and thermoplastic on the project. The group plans to work with different cardiology departments in Madrid to study the educational and clinical applicabilities of 3-D printing. There is also reason to believe that using 3-D print models beforehand may reduce complications in heart surgery, based on results obtained in traumatology and odontology. In both fields, using 3-D models enables reduction of risk complications by 30 to 40% during surgery, shortens surgery time by half and diminishes hospital stay. But large-scale randomised studies must still be carried out to confirm this potential. Everything is new in cardiology, so we need more studies. In addition, congenital heart disease is rare, affecting only 1% of the population, of whom 30% can benefit from surgical treatment, Gomez said. Simulation would be another area of development in cardiology. 3-D print could significantly shorten the duration of the learning curve, for instance in TAVI interventions. Interventional cardiologists need to perform about 100 procedures to master the technique; however, by being able to practise on 3-D print models, they could need only 70 interventions to prepare. Complications during the learning curve would also be reduced by 50%, according to Gomez. Numerous consumers have taken to social media to express their disapproval of the sales campaigns after learning that the bankruptcy estate is under no obligation to deliver or offer compensation for orders placed through the web-shops of Anttila and left undelivered due to the bankruptcy. Anttila has come under notable criticism for the massive online sales campaign it ran up until a few days before its unexpected bankruptcy declaration on 19 July, 2016. Enquiries made by Uusi Suomi indicate, however, that there are no means to interfere in sales campaigns that raise concerns among consumers. The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (KKV) referred the enquiries to the Office of the Bankruptcy Ombudsman, while the Office of the Bankruptcy Ombudsman referred them back to KKV. Serina Kavonius, a legal adviser at KKV, reminds that the primary focus of KKV is on consumer rights rather than business operations. Applications of the Bankruptcy Act fall outside the remit of consumer ombudsmen. The Consumer Protection Act, which we do apply, contains no provisions on bankruptcies, she explains. Related posts: - Anttila declares bankruptcy (20 July, 2016) Consumers, she reveals, reported a number of problems with the web-shops of Anttila Kodin1.com and NetAnttila already before the bankruptcy. KKV asked Anttila to comment on the reported problems but never received a response from the now-bankrupt department store operator. Bankruptcy ombudsman Helena Kontkanen, in turn, reminds that the legislation provides no concrete means to interfere in the aforementioned sales campaigns. They are part of regular business operations, regular business decisions that traditionally haven't been regulated, she explains. She also reminds that the responsibilities of bankruptcy ombudsmen do not begin until a debtor has been declared bankrupt. Bankruptcy ombudsmen, she adds, are also responsible for retrospectively evaluating the operations of debtors prior to their bankruptcy but found no irregularities in the case of Anttila. Neither Kavonius nor Kontkanen are able to estimate how common sales or clearance campaigns are before a bankruptcy because pre-bankruptcy operations are not systematically supervised. Mikko Tiilikka, the administrator of the bankruptcy estate of Anttila, has reiterated his determination that products ordered and paid for by online customers remain in the ownership of the bankruptcy estate. Advance payments will stay in the bankruptcy estate, and the bankruptcy estate isn't obliged to compensate consumers for the products, he said in an interview with Kainuun Sanomat. Web-shop customers who paid their orders with a credit card, on the other hand, may be eligible for a refund from their card issuer. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Aleksi Tuomola Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi A 60-year-old man shot dead a mother-of-six and injured her daughter as they sat drinking tea in their kitchen because he believed they were calling him a paedophile, a murder trial has heard. James Redmond (60) is charged with murdering Mary Dargan and attempting to murder Karina Dargan at their home in Killinarden estate on March 15, 2014. Karina Dargan told the court that in March 2014 she was living in her mother's house with her daughter, which had been the family home for many years. "I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my mum, my sister Jessie and her son. We were having a giggle about Jessie's upcoming wedding. Possessed "I looked out at the corner of my eye and I saw him (Redmond) walking in calmly. He said: 'Are you f**king laughing now'," she said. "He looked like something possessed out of The Exorcist." Opening the case for the prosecution, Ms Pauline Walley, SC, told the jury of seven men and five women that Ms Dargan was killed while she was drinking tea in the kitchen of her home with her adult daughters. Karina was shot in the head but survived. Prosecution counsel told the jury that both families were neighbours and they had lived "peacefully and amicably side by side" in the Killinarden estate for many years. "Mr Redmond had become depressed some months earlier and he believed Mary Dargan and her daughter were chanting that he was a paedophile and it was being said about him in the community," said Ms Walley. The court heard that Mr Redmond left his home in Killinarden Estate, Tallaght, Dublin, jumped over the back wall with a shotgun and then shot Mary Dargan. The blast severed the 66 year-old's artery and she died. The accused then shot Karina Dargan in the head as she attempted to run from the kitchen. "As Karina was calling for her brother Gary who was watching television in the next room, he leapt off the sofa and overcame James Redmond, who had the gun in his hand. "It is like something out of a horror story and is very upsetting," she said. A neighbour came to the assistance of Karina and brought her to hospital. Gary Dargan then "overpowered" the accused and detained him in the hallway. "The accused man told Garda Gildea at the scene that he shot Mary Dargan as she was calling him a paedophile. He said in later garda interviews that Mary and her daughter had been calling him a paedophile and had engaged in mind games with him. He said Karina was chanting at night time and he could hear these chants coming through the attic. He also believed that Karina said his wife was a whore and his daughter was a hardcore porn star," said Ms Walley. Sleeping Counsel told the jury that both families got on well and "nothing untoward" had ever happened between them. Ms Walley said the jury would hear that the accused's family became concerned about him at the end of 2013. "Mr Redmond went to visit a GP in January 2014, who noted he was of low mood and getting depressed. He was prescribed sleeping tablets," she said. The barrister said the court would hear that on two occasions in January 2014 Mr Redmond went to gardai in Tallaght and claimed he was being accused by Mary Dargan and her daughter of being a paedophile. "On another occasion, he claimed people on the street believed he was a paedophile. He claimed this had been happening for a number of months," she said. Mr Redmond pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the two charges at the Central Criminal Court. Before the prosecution opened its case, defence counsel Mr Brendan Grehan, SC, made a number of admissions of fact to the court on behalf of his client. The barrister told the court that Mr Redmond pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the two charges and admitted that he had committed the acts of killing Mary Dargan and attempting to kill her daughter Karina. "James Redmond held a firearms licence for the shotgun which he owned and used in the shooting on that date. He has been in custody since March 15, 2014, and in the Central Mental Hospital since the end of March 2014," said counsel. "The accused said he carried out those physical and horrendous acts. The issue you will have to decide is if the accused possessed the necessary intent at the time or was he suffering from a mental disorder. Two mental experts accept Mr Redmond did not possess the necessary intent and you will hear from them," she said. The trial continues. Keith Murtagh failed to show due to a threat on his life A bench warrant has been issued for the arrest of a man whose life is under threat and who failed to turn up in court to answer road traffic charges. Keith Murtagh (31) is believed to have been the intended target of a gunman who mistakenly killed innocent victim Martin O'Rourke (24) in the north inner city three months ago. Murtagh twice failed to show up in court, and on those occasions his lawyers said this was because of threats against his life. The accused was due to appear before Blanchardstown District Court this week to answer a number of road traffic charges. Murtagh is closely linked to one of the gangs involved in the Hutch-Kinahan feud. He is charged with driving without a licence and providing a false name and address to gardai. The alleged incident took place during a traffic check at Nangor Road in Clondalkin last April 4. Defence lawyer Ciaran MacLoughlin said Murtagh was not before the court. Warned Judge David McHugh issued a bench warrant for his arrest. This is the third occasion that Murtagh, with an address at Mariner's Port, Sheriff Street, Dublin 1, has failed to turn up. The court previously heard from defence counsel Jennifer Jackson, who said that Murtagh had been warned by gardai that his life was under serious threat. On a previous court date, she had asked for the case to be adjourned in Murtagh's absence and for the adjourned date not to be read out in open court. When the case came before Judge McHugh this week, Mr MacLoughlin said there was no appearance from Murtagh and the judge issued the bench warrant for his arrest. Murtagh has not yet indicated a plea to the charges. He is regarded as a key associate of Derek 'Del Boy' Hutch, who is the brother of Gary Hutch and the nephew of Eddie Hutch, both of whom have been shot dead by the Kinahan gang as part of a bitter feud. County cross country: Hubs sweep titles, boys score a perfect 15 North Hagerstown claimed both team championships and had both individual champions, with the boys achieving the first perfect score in meet history. COLUMBUS A 24-year-old local man accused of burglarizing a Columbus home earlier this month and stealing the female residents car from the driveway before later abandoning the vehicle in Rogers has been bound over for trial in Platte County District Court. Platte County Court Judge Frank Skorupa scheduled Favian Meda for arraignment Aug. 12 in district court on charges of burglary (two counts) and theft in connection with the 7:15 a.m. break-in July 9 in the 1300 block of 15th Street. The defendant, who waived his right to a preliminary hearing in county court, has been in custody at the county jail since his arrest by Colfax County Sheriffs deputies the day of the incident. Medas bond has been set at $250,000, 10 percent allowed for release. Columbus Police reported Meda initially told sheriffs deputies he was picked up by another man driving the 2013 Ford Fusion and had no idea the vehicle had been stolen. During later questioning, Investigator Gregory Sealock said the defendant admitted lying to deputies and acknowledged that his DNA would be in the stolen vehicle and the Columbus residence that had been burglarized. Police said Meda described entering the Columbus home through an unlocked exterior door about 6 a.m. Saturday while high on methamphetamine. Meda stated that his intentions in entering the residence were to find the keys for the Ford in the driveway, and possible money, Sealock wrote in his sworn statement. The defendant said he took the female residents purse into the backyard to look through it and took the keys and a small wallet, the investigator wrote in his statement. Sealock said he then questioned Meda about his possible involvement in a residential burglary reported June 29 in the 2500 block of 18th Street because of similarities between the crimes. The defendant later described the residence and admitted entering the unlocked home with the intention of stealing money and electronics. A laptop computer and wallet were reported stolen in that break-in. Burglary and theft by unlawful taking-more than $5,000 are both Class 2A felonies, each punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment. COLUMBUS A preliminary plan for work on a stretch of road through Tarnov was approved by the Platte County Board of Supervisors. During Tuesday's meeting, the board heard from Sam Thiele with engineering firm Mainelli Wagner and Associates, who spoke about 6 miles of 385th Street from 355th Avenue to U.S. Highway 81. The asphalt is starting to deteriorate and you have some areas with some pretty steep shoulders, Thiele said, adding that in some spots there is only a foot or two of shoulder. He presented the board with three options to improve the shoulders, ranging from doing the bare minimum required to meet new state roadway standards to reconstructing the shoulders to create safer side slopes. The board went with what Chairman Jim Scow said was the safest option because it creates the largest recovery zone if a driver were to veer off the road. Improving the shoulders is just one part of the work planned for the stretch of road, which could also receive a new surface. Scow said the engineers will put together a total cost for the entire project. Dirt work for the shoulders will likely be done after harvest, with the road resurfacing completed next year. Also gaining approval from the board was the final plat for East Canal Property Subdivision, which is located north of U.S. Highway 30, near East 29th Avenue and 27th Street. John Zwingman, a civil engineer with Advanced Consulting Engineering Services, told the board the developer along with adjacent property owners requested that the county pay for thicker concrete paving on 27th Street 9 inches instead of the standard 6 inches based on traffic counts. With a vote of 4-3, the board decided against paying $35,000 to $40,000 to make the road 9 inches thick instead of 6. In other business, the board approved: putting $90,000 from the general fund and $7,000 from the inheritance tax fund into the victims assistance fund. The transfers will be reimbursed as grant money used to fund the victims assistance program is received from the state. the final plat for Sunset Acres, a 16-lot subdivision south of the Loup Power Canal and west of 48th Avenue. allowing the sheriffs office to request bids for two used vehicles to be used by investigators. allowing Jose Rodriguez and Carl Hart with the county attorneys office to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah, for depositions. changing the date of the Dec. 27 board of supervisors meeting to Dec. 22. These are grim times for many Republicans. Their nominee espouses many ideas contrary to long-held principles, and his immediate reversion after the convention to JFK conspiracy-mongering convinces some conservatives that he is just plain nuts. ("Either [Donald] Trump believes Rafael Cruz was involved [in the JFK assassination] or he's making the implied accusation in a continued attempt to discredit Cruz's son," writes Stephen F. Hayes. "In either case, this isn't the behavior of a rational, stable individual. It should embarrass those who have endorsed him and disgrace those who have attempted to normalize him.") Nevertheless there are many silver linings one can glimpse in the dark clouds hovering over the beleaguered GOP: 1. We now know that the Republicans who back Donald Trump (and surely know better) lack the right stuff to lead the party. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) insists that Trump will understand Russia is not our friend when he gets briefings. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker argues Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) was wrong not to endorse Trump. They might as well say, "We know he's unfit, but we put party loyalty above concern for the country." At least that would have the benefit of being candid. 2. Trump has helped bury gay rights and same-sex marriage as wedge issues. His only mention of gays in his convention speech was in a positive context (we must defend the LGBT community against Islamist terrorists). Surely evangelicals who now support him cannot expect to keep that issue alive, right? The country has moved on, and so must the GOP or else it risks political irrelevance. 3. Speaking of evangelical conservatives, many have revealed themselves to be charlatans, willing to shill for someone embodying none of their values or concern for their issues.One commentator for the Religious News Service explains: "They are willing to give Donald Trump their endorsement and mobilize voters for his campaign even though he offers nothing religious in return. They will preach his politics despite him being someone who does not share their faith or their social agenda. It is 'religious sequestration' in the extreme. . . . "Why? They are not naive. They do not expect him to change or to listen to them. Instead, my hunch is that they see politics as only that-politics. They will lend their name and proclaim Trump's name in exchange for political power." This recognition should deprive the religious right of a veto over future candidates and give candidates leeway to treat them much like any other special interest. Republicans can pick and choose the issues on which they want to support evangelicals and where they prefer not to. That allows the GOP to shed the image of an intransigent, intolerant party and appeal to a younger demographic (even young conservatives) among whom acceptance of gay marriage is widespread. 4. Democrats have now become the anti-Russian, pro-internationalist party. In taking exception to Trump's aversion to NATO and even the World Trade Organization, Democrats have the opportunity to step back from a McGovern-Obama national security approach. That, in turn, presents the opportunity to forge broad bipartisan agreement on a range of foreign policy issues. 5. Republicans have figured out that Fox Non-News is pretty much what critics said it is. Early morning and evening hosts (as opposed to straight-news people such as James Rosen, Bret Baier and Chris Wallace) are no more than embarrassing shills for Trump, unmoored to any philosophy or principles. They simply want to be buddies with the winner. As my colleague Erik Wemple put it, Fox hosts "have enjoyed free rein to say pretty much whatever they want, facts notwithstanding." In short, more Republicans now realize the programming they've been gobbling up is neither accurate nor supportive of true conservative goals. Liberated from a steady diet of junk news, conservatives may become more clear-eyed about the world and conservatism itself. 6. Talk radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham, who have been facing the challenge of aging audiences and changing listening habits, no longer get to claim the mantle of "pure conservatives." They are Trump cheerleaders and purveyors of his nativist outlook. They have every right to take whatever ideological stance they please, but they don't get to define this as "conservatism." Perhaps lawmakers and other elected officials will stop listening to them and start paying more attention to constituents. 7. There is newfound camaraderie among principled conservatives, moderates and libertarians in their rejection of Trumpism. They recognize that specific differences on specific issues pale in comparison with some shared values and insistence on character as a requirement for Republican office-seekers. That broad agreement on character, limited government and fiscal conservatism -- not to mention rejection of bigotry, misogyny and unhinged rhetoric -- can be the basis for the post-Trump coalition on the right. 8. There is new appreciation that the Republican National Committee cannot simply defend anyone with an "R" after his or her name. Reince Priebus's rationalization for Trump's outrageous rhetoric and bully-boy tactics at the convention, as well as his unwillingness to set boundaries on acceptable conduct in the primary and his failure to defend conservative principles, make him (despite financial success) the worst RNC chairman in history, the chair who oversaw the hostile takeover of a once-great party. Now he says that the party must reject David Duke, who wants to run as a Republican. Why then would Priebus stick by a candidate who wouldn't repudiate Duke until hounded to do so and whose anti-Muslim, anti-Hispanic rhetoric is right up Duke's alley? Priebus's tenure should be a lesson to future party chairmen: Either stay out of sight and be a neutral functionary -- or publicly defend conservative principles against snake-oil salesmen. Serious thought should go into remaking the primary rules, debate criteria and platform process to keep the party from going off the rails once again. 9. Trump's example of over-the-top rhetoric and the politics of personal insults could prompt Republicans to reassess their tone and rhetoric. Too many pundits, elected officials and candidates seem to think that anger and rudeness are indicia of conservatism. Republicans should reject Trump's flight from reason and civility. The party of Ronald Reagan now faces off against a ticket with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who embodies the spirit of a happy warrior and projects a genial, kind demeanor. Republicans have a lout and a bully. In the future, they should find someone Republicans are comfortable letting their children watch on TV. 10. Maybe, finally, Republicans will realize that they cannot win presidential elections by appealing only to white voters. There is nothing like losing a winnable election to convince consultants and candidates that a minority party cannot survive without getting a larger share of the fastest-growing segments of the electorate. This domain has expired. If you owned this domain, contact your domain registration service provider for further assistance. If you need help identifying your provider, visit https://www.tucowsdomains.com/ On Saturday, a suicide attack killed more than 85 people and wounded more than 200 during a peaceful protest march by Shia Hazaras in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghanistan, which has been fighting the Pakistan-based and supported Taliban, is now also facing terror from Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the attack. Sadly, Afghanistan, which was once portrayed as United States President Barack Obamas good war, is now his forgotten war. He would rather contemplate sending 1,000 troops to Poland against a prospective, maybe imagined, threat from Russia. This is safer than having to bolster forces in Afghanistan, where Americans increasingly say they have no interest. The suggestion by Zalmay Khalilzad, former US ambassador to Afghanistan that the US should ignore Pakistan, cut off aid and military supplies to that country, will not be accepted in Washington DC, despite Pakistans dubious record as a US ally. The drone attack in May that killed Mullah Mansour was a surprise but that he was killed a few kilometres away from Quetta inside Pakistani territory was not. Mansour was not even the first malcontent to be found on Pakistani soil. It was simply the sort of action that the US should have begun a decade ago. Read | IS attack indicates more troubled times for war-torn Afghanistan Up until 2005 Pakistan pretended to help the US in its global war on terror by periodically handing over inconvenient al Qaeda operatives like Abu Zubeidah and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to the US for a ransom. Only time will tell if the attack was just a warning that US patience with Pakistan, for its support for Taliban and its attitude toward Afghanistan, was running out or a serious rerun of the Are you with us or against us? line. The chances are that this will not be a game-changer even though the Taliban accounted for 1,093 terror attacks in 2015, the largest number in the world. The US has far too many distractions in its election year and the world is otherwise occupied with multiple crises. The chances are that Pakistan will carefully calibrate its actions till the next president takes office and not pressure the Taliban in any substantial way. It will also use this window of opportunity to try to extend its control in Afghanistan and to exacerbate the situation in Kashmir. Read | After 6 weeks in captivity of Afghan gang, Judith returns Wars against international terror have to be fought by nations cooperating with each other. A major component of this is intelligence cooperation on the ground where all the hard work is done. The killing of Mansour without informing the Pakistanis, as in the case of Osama bin Laden, underscores the abysmal nature of the relationship between US and Pakistani intelligence agencies, wholly based on opportunism and acute mistrust. This has been a major problem on the ground that has hindered US ability to assert itself in Pakistan or to force a change in attitude, enabling Pakistan to extricate itself from many awkward situations. At the time of the Afghan jihad in the 1980s the Americans had outsourced the jihad to the ISI, who as the sole recipients of money and material, controlled the destiny of the various mujahedeen groups. Pakistan was looking for strategic depth against India after 1971 but the US was looking to defeat the Soviet Union. Their goals were different but relations between the two intelligence agencies were generally not strained. Pakistan was left free to pursue its quest for the nuclear bomb and abet Sikh terrorism. Read | Missing Kerala youth in Afghanistan, claim intelligence agencies The cooperation in the present phase started off badly because the first Pakistani emissary to Mullah Omar in 2001, the DG ISI Lt General Mahmood Ahmed sent on US insistence, gave the exact contrary advice to Omar. He urged the Taliban to fight on. Pervez Musharraf was at that time on a weak wicket and was unable to resist angry American demands that Ahmed be replaced. His successor, Lt General Ehsan ul Haq was the embodiment of cooperation. His replacement in 2004, the future army chief Lt General Ashfaq Kayani reverted to form, viciously. The CIA-ISI relations plummeted and Kayanis successor in 2007, Lt General Nadeem Taj made this worse. By then, the CIA became increasingly wary of the Pakistani establishment and its propensity to leak and double-cross, and stopped sharing vital intelligence. The only aspect that is new in the latest US drone attack is that this was in restive Balochistan where the situation on the ground remains volatile. Continued instability worries Islamabad fearing that the Chinese may walk away from the province along with their mega-billion projects. Read | Pakistan-based groups target India goals in Afghanistan This is happening at a time when Indias future in the region looks brighter following the tripartite Afghanistan-Iran-India deal on Chabahar. Indias stock has risen further with the inauguration of the Salma Dam in Herat and the Agriculture University in Kandahar. It is in Indias and Afghanistans interest that the Afghan National Security Forces be strengthened. India could be the bridge between the US and Afghanistan. India could help establish contacts among regional leaders. India needs to develop capabilities to carry on with its activities, regardless of Pakistani intentions. Pakistan can be expected to continue to pressure Afghanistan through the Haqqani networks and the Taliban. Pakistan probably presumes it has a window of opportunity to push forward with its usual activities against India. The escalation of terrorism in Kashmir could be a last attempt to draw US attention by raising fears of an ultimate nuclear escalation or try and regain its position in the Valley as the US remains preoccupied. Finally, most Indian analysts and the media have bought into the narrative that Islamic State is the new threat to India, relegating by implication, the threat from Pakistan-based jihadis. Islamic State is indeed a threat but to some extent it obscures Pakistans nefarious role in terror in the region and this is something the US should not lose sight of. Vikram Sood is former chief, Research & Analysis Wing. The views expressed are personal. Solar Impulse 2 (SI2) completed the first round-the-world flight by a solar-powered aeroplane, after touching down in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. In the last one year, pilots Betrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg travelled 40,000 km without one drop of fuel. The final leg of the journey (Cairo-Abu Dhabi) was a bumpy one, with turbulence driven by hot air, leaving 58-year-old Piccard fighting with the controls. The last leg was difficult. There was a lot of turbulence... I flew three nights and only managed 45 minutes of sleep each night. But we are extremely happy with what we have achieved, an elated Piccard told HT. Our flight is over but the real work of spreading the #futureisclean message across the world begins now, Andre Borschberg said . Our aim is to regroup clean tech forces to develop resource-efficient technologies. The duo has announced the formation of a foundation that will work towards developing clean technologies. The SI2 is a gorgeous silver-coloured single-seater airplane that has a wingspan of a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet, the weight of a family car, the power of a small motorcycle, and is the largest aircraft ever built with such a low weight. In pics | Back to Abu Dhabi, Solar Impulse 2 completes round-the-world trip The SI2, however, is not the first solar airplane, but it is the first to fly day and night, without any fuel, only using solar energy stored in its batteries. It is also the first to achieve an oceanic crossing: Five days and nights from Nagoya, Japan, to Kalaeloa, Hawaii. We started dreaming about this journey in 2002-03, beginning with a feasibility study, Piccard said. Read | Yoga gives them wings: Solar Impulse pilots source of strength Their goal: Show the world that talks sustainability but does nothing that if an airplane can fly several days and nights in a row with no fuel, then clean technologies can be used ground to reduce energy consumption, and create profit and jobs. We thought the aviation giants would be keen to collaborate with us on this journey because this is right up their alley. But they showed no interest, recounted Piccard, who comes from a family that has a long tradition of scientific exploration and protection of the environment. Read | Solar Impulse US touchdown: All about record-breaking sun warriors Piccard and Borschberg realised that to build such a special plane they would have to go out of the system and look for disruptors . So they reached out to non-aviation sectors: Chemical, insurance, engineering and even champagne firms. In the next 13 years, these companies put in their financial and technological forces to build SI2, an airplane of perpetual endurance. For example, the company we identified for building the carbon fibre plane specialises not in aircraft building but in yachts that participate in high-profile events like the Americas Cup. SI2 is insured by a company that is into insurance of renewable technologies such as windmills, Piccard explained. Even though the pilots were on his own in the plane during the flights, they were never alone . They were always in touch via satellite with the Monaco Mission Control Center , where the team, which included weathermen, mathematicians, air traffic controllers, planning engineers, flight director, monitored the route and managed performance and energy of the aircraft. Flying long hours in a coffin-sized cockpit was mentally and physically exhausting. To do such long hours, that too solo, youve to have the right body and the mindset, 64-year-old Borschberg told HT. To keep fit, I did yoga I learnt from my guru, Sanjeev Bhanot. Despite the stress of organising the adventure, getting a multi-disciplinary team together and flying long hours the duo is unanimous that the journey has been fantastic experience. The beauty of the project is that we have used the best of technology and integrated it with nature, added Borschberg. Piccard describes the feeling of flying SI2 as like a science fiction movie. Its ethereal, unreal. The propellers are turning, there is no noise, no fuel, and it is running from the sun. Its like being in a fairytale, its so addictive. Recounting his Atlantic crossing, Piccard said: It was difficult with lots of cloud turbulence but it was a symbolic journey for us; once upon a time, this journey from Europe to America opened a new world. Today, the reverse journey opened another new world: From fossil fuel to renewable energy. So when will we see solar commercial flights? I am absolutely certain that in 10 years, we will see solar-powered short haul flights, the pilots said. But they feel that the aviation industry will not invest in such technological changes. Look at Tesla. It is not a car company; it is technology company, which is building electric cars. Likewise, this electric plane will be built by probably Google or Facebook, said Piccard. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON After Udta Punjab and Great Grand Masti were leaked online prior to their release, the makers of John Abraham-Varun Dhawan-Jacuqline Fernandez-starrer Dishoom plan to combat the threat of piracy. They submitted an encrypted copy of the film to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and have sought high courts intervention to ensure the film is not leaked before it hits theatres. Varun Dhawan and Jacqueline Fernandez (R) arrive for a promotional event of their upcoming film Dishoom in Greater Noida. (AFP) Prominent Hindi film producers and studio representatives met last week to discuss the issue. The producers of John Abraham and Varun Dhawan-starrer Dishoom are in the process of obtaining John Doe order (order against anonymous entities) from the Bombay high court, directing Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Telecom Operators and other platforms to ensure that any illegal content from Dishoom is not made available on their services, Mukesh Bhatt, President of the Film and Television Producers Guild of India, said in a statement here. Read: CBFC chief Pahlajh bans submission of DVDs for certification He further said, This issue should not be treated in isolation as piracy for films, but the sheer impunity and brazenness with which this illegality is being propounded indicates a structured attempt to damage the industry on the whole and should be considered as a serious threat. We require the highest level of probe from the intelligence services of the country and even an intervention by the Prime Minister, he added. Watch Dishoom trailer Read: Latest updates from, Bollywood According to a Mid Day report, Dishoom was submitted in an encrypted format to the censor board when they sought the CBFCs approval. The report said filmmakers usually pay Rs 34,000 to the CBFC for certification of the films apart from shelling out Rs 3000 for food and beverages for the Board members at the screening. Earlier, films were submitted on DVD, which was cheap. Now the DCP-KDM format will cost the producer Rs 20,000 extra, Bhatt said. Follow @htshowbiz for more Bollywood star Salman Khan thanked his fans and well wishers for their support after the Rajasthan High Court acquitted him on Monday in two cases related to poaching of Chinkaras in Jodhpur in 1998. Two separate cases were registered against Salman under section 51 of Wildlife Protection Act for poaching of two chinkaras in village Bhawad on September 26-27, 1998 and one chinkara in Mathania (Ghoda Farm) on September 28-29, 1998. Read: Dear Salman, how do you expect fans to defend you? The high court held that the pellets recovered from the chinkaras were not fired from Salmans licensed gun. Taking to his Facebook account, the 50-year-old actor wrote, Thank you for your prayers and support. Read: Five points that won the day in Salmans chinkara poaching case Earlier, his younger sister Arpita Khan Sharma also thanked the actors fans for their love and best wishes. Thank U to all bhai's & the families well wishers for your prayers , support,love&best wishes.This wouldn't have been possible without you. Arpita Khan Sharma (@khanarpita) July 25, 2016 Thank You God for always showering us with your grace & blessings. Today is a big day for us @BeingSalmanKhan Arpita Khan Sharma (@khanarpita) July 25, 2016 Read: Salman celebrates Iulias 36th birthday with family? Follow @htshowbiz for more Indias largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India on Tuesday reported a 23% rise in net profit for the first quarter to Rs 1,486.2 crore, its best-ever quarterly result, on the back of material cost reduction and higher non-operating income. The auto major had posted a net profit of Rs 1,208.1 crore for the same period in the previous fiscal. Net sales rose by 12.1% to Rs 14,654.5 crore for the first quarter as against Rs 13,078.3 crore last year, Maruti Suzuki India said in a statement. The profit was helped by a higher turnover, material cost reduction, higher non-operating income and lower depreciation. Adverse foreign exchange movement reduced profits to some extent, it added. The firm said it sold 348,443 units during the quarter, a growth of 2.1% a year ago. This includes 3,22,340 units in domestic market, a growth of 5.4%. Exports during the quarter stood at 26,103 units. The growth in the first two months of the quarter had been 10.2%, but the unfortunate incident of fire at a key vendor of the company resulted in lower sales in June 2016, the company said. The company hopes to recover the lost sales during the course of the year, it added. Maruti Suzuki India stock was trading at Rs 4,478.00 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), down 1.60% from the previous close in late afternoon session. Trade unions on Tuesday decided to boycott retirement fund body Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) trustees meet protesting the finance ministrys decision to use unclaimed provident fund (PF) money for senior citizens welfare schemes. We have walked out of the Central Board of Trustees meeting today after they circulated a notification by finance ministry saying that a fund would be created from credit balance remaining in the unclaimed PF accounts for a period of over seven years from the date of declaration of those as inoperative accounts, All India Trade Union Congress secretary, DL Sachdev said. Another EPFO trustee and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh member P J Banasure said the issue has been deliberated upon in the Finance, Audit and Investment Committee (FAIC) meeting of the EPFO. FAIC has already rejected the proposal to use unclaimed EPF money for creation of any senior citizen welfare fund. FAIC had discussed the proposal after Prime Ministers Office (PMO) wrote a letter in this regard to labour ministry and EPFO. The EPFO trustees meet was called on Tuesday mainly to increase the proportion of bodys investment in exchange-traded fund in the current fiscal. EPFO has started investing in stock markets last year in August. It had already invested about Rs 7,400 crore in exchange-traded fund. Last year, the labour ministry had decided to invest 5% of EPFOs investible deposit in exchange-traded funds. EPFO is estimated to receive Rs 1.3 lakh crore as investible deposit this fiscal. NEW DELHI: Grappling to overcome call drops, telecom operators on Monday committed to install 100,000 towers within a year at an investment of 20,000 crore. Operators have installed 48,000 towers in the last 45 days, out of 60,000 towers they promised to install in 100 days, telecom minister Manoj Sinha said after a meeting with operators. Bharti Airtel chief (India and South Asia) Gopal Vittal, Vodafone India head Sunil Sood, Idea Cellular CEO Himanshu Kapania, Reliance Jio MD Sanjay Mashruwala and Telenor CEO Sharad Mehrotra were among those present at the meeting. Besides call drops, the focus was on providing mobile and broadband connectivity as apart of the Digital India initiative, and on afford ability and service quality. This was the second meeting between the government and operators on the call drop issue. At the first meeting with telecom secretary JS Deepak in June, the 100-day plan was chalked out. The call drop issue was just a part of a larger discussion, taking forwards the discussion from five weeks ago with telecom secretary JS Deepak, an executive with one of the top three telcos said . Sinha agreed to help telcos open up assets with the Department of Posts and Telegraph to be able to set up new towers. The meeting was very encouraging , said Rajan Mathews, director-general, COAI. On Digital India, the minister asked operators to update on providing connectivity in villages as apart of the National Optic Fib re Network, which hopes to connect 250,000 gram panchayats by 2030. He also discussed smart cities , a source said. BENGALURU: The Verizon-Yahoo deal is unlikely to affect the former Internet giants operations in India. There was a time when a whole new generation of India youth identified with the Yahoo mail. But the emergence of Google changed all that. Yahoo has two entities in India. The global corporations India office, which is called Yahoo India, and its software arm, Yahoo Software Development Centre. The former came to India at the end of 2000, while the latter arrived two years later. Google came to India four year later in 2004 with two centres each in Bangalore and Hyderabad. Yahoo India does not give out the number of people the company employs, or its contribution to the US parent in terms of technology or cost advantages. At its peak, Yahoos software arm in India employed over 2000 people. In 2014, the set up was dismantled, when a number of people moved to the US. But all this while, Google continued to expand its operations in India, the latest being the launch of its second Hyderabad campus in May, the largest outside the United States. The setting up of Wi-Fi hotspots across railway stations in the country (the service is currently available in 20 stations, and the search giant plans to cover 80 more by the end of 2016) has also helped Google grow in India. Besides, the rise of two domestic companies, Sify and Rediff, during 2002-2003, also halted Yahoos growth in India. By the time Yahoo came to India, Sify and Rediff had already well established themselves. There was very little Yahoo could have offered to Indians, which would have been unique or valuable, a senior IT industry executive told HT. Before it is forgotten and they can deny it was never this way I wish to place on record a behavioural trait of Tamil Brahmin men that was prevalent when I was growing up in Madras. When they wished to convey an insult they would hedge the risk by making it look like an ambiguous compliment or goodnatured joke. In this deceit lie the origins of the present universal appeal of Rajinikanth. The celebration of his superhuman abilities began as a cautious brahminical insult to the clown-deity of the masses, and it was a masked affront even at the inception of internet jokes. But the insult became a meme, the meme became tribute, the tribute became sacred until even its creators forgot its true nature. Many of the hip fans of Rajinikanth are fake fans, but many really do believe they love him. Rajinikanth is rare. The bottom to top transmission of a cultural phenomenon almost never occurs in India. That is in the heart of the reason why news that involves Dalits almost never interests you. You turn the page, flip the channel. We know. Even if editors use brute journalistic force to sustain the news, your interest is often so faint the news soon dissolves unless the Dalit response to an event escalates so much that it collides with what interests you, like Narendra Modi. If Dalits bore you, are you a bad person? You may wish to say that you do manage to absorb some Dalit news. Isnt it true after all that in the past few days you did get to know about yet another atrocity against Dalits. It began with a viral video. A disturbing graphic video that captures an assault is what marks our modern age. It is captivating. Even if you did not get to watch the video, journalists did and they knew instantly it was news, at least for a day. Also, it was in Gujarat, the most newsworthy state in India. Read | Five-fold jump in crimes against Dalits in Gujarat, UP has worst record In the film some malnourished bare-chested Dalit boys are methodically beaten by cow-devouts in Gujarat as a swift punishment for skinning dead cows. The attackers had posted the film online as an advertisement of their valour though they claimed it was a warning to others who skinned the sacred Mother Cow. Then something significant happened. Dalits started leaving cow carcasses outside government buildings in Gujarat. They began to gather in large numbers to protest. Some attempted suicide. But somewhere along the way you got bored, as journalists know, especially online and television journalists who have ways to measure your interest. The mainstream media is under enormous moral pressure to dig deeper into Dalit atrocities. News channels and newspapers are criticised by humanitarians for not investing in stories about the poor, which naturally include Dalits. The criticism is absurd. There is a reason why the humanitarians are not content with the coverage in niche leftist publications that only carry the type of the news they think is news. These publications are fringe. Mainstream media, on the other hand, has an enormous reach, hence clout. But then the media derives its clout from being relevant to its consumers. This relevance does considerable collateral social good but the objective of the media, and it is a correct objective, is to be interesting to its core audience, which includes not boring them. Such an objective is not corrupt. Editors and reporters do try to push important stories but important so often is no match for interesting. That is the way of the world. Mainstream media that does not respect human nature are doomed. Read | The new Dalit movement: Assertive, inclusive and beyond party politics So are you the problem? Should you not, as an Indian, be more involved in the misery of the miserable? But then you probably are not insensitive. It is just that all your life you have heard those grim tragic stories and wish to seek relief from them. But, it appears, you cannot escape them completely. That is not only because journalists think those stories are important, but also because increasingly Dalit stories contain elements that interest you immensely, like Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party. Over the past few months, Modi and the BJP have proven to be the greatest marketers of Dalit issues. For instance, the thrashing of the cow-skinners was in Modis fiefdom, Gujarat. Also, the Dalit leader Mayawati found media attention when a major BJP functionary compared her to a prostitute. A few months ago, after the Dalit student, Rohith Vemula committed suicide, his death captured your interest, partly because his suicide note was in English and chiefly because activists interpreted his death successfully as a response to the politics of a Hindu cultural cartel, whose deity Modi is. Read | Depression or oppression: What led to Rohith Vemulas suicide? Far worse than the middleclass indifference to Dalit issues, is the middleclass compassion for Dalits, which has the qualities of a moral formula. Some intellectuals, for instance, now state with Pavlovian correctness that Dalits should refuse to skin dead cows. This is glorious but stupid advice. In the first place Dalits skin cows not out of artistic instinct but out of economic compulsion. Also, the fact that no other castes would perform some tasks offers serious commercial opportunities to Dalits that they must in fact exploit in a more aggressive and corporate manner. In a way, isnt everyone entrapped by professions that class dictates, arent most of us merely in more sophisticated versions of cow-skinning. What are the professions of most fortunate of Brahmins software engineering, surgery, finance, endless doctorates. Some love these lines of work, most are only skinning cows because they are trapped by social class and peer scrutiny. Educated Dalits, too, are trapped in cow-skinning by other names. A devious alignment of college reservations, grants, false heroes, and left evangelism push them towards liberal arts academics, lament literature and activism, which are luxury professions that are firmly in the control of the posh. But there are Dalit stories that even Dalits wish not to see. Read | Guns for Dalits: Athawales demand is divisive and dangerous SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In urban India some imagine that caste demarcations have become history. We need to only check the caste identity of those employed to clean the toilets in our offices and homes to recognise how wrong they are. For centuries we have thrust chores we regard to be unclean and socially humiliating on people of the lowest, most oppressed castes. They alone carry the burdens of disposing of animal carcasses, skinning animals, and scavenging and disposing of human excreta. Today, although not written, theres virtually 100% reservation for the lowest castes in jobs as cleaners and sweepers. Young people born into these disadvantaged castes battle formidable barriers to enter and stay in school. Research demonstrates that they frequently endure humiliating caste discrimination in classrooms. However, even for many who persevere with their studies, and nearly all of those who cannot, their caste destiny forces them to clean toilets as the only employment available to them. Read | Toilets for all possible in 3 years: Sulabh founder Can we imagine an India in which cleaning toilets becomes an employment open to people of all castes ? A progressive social service institute in Ahmedabad did it. It issued a job advertisement for a sanitation worker, stating that preference would be given to candidates of higher castes. The institute knew that the notification would be controversial: They issued it to stimulate public debate and soul-searching about embedded social inequalities. What they didnt anticipate was violence and threats, forcing its director Prasad Chacko to go into hiding. The advertisement was issued by the Human Development and Research Centre (formerly Behavioural Science Centre), established in the seventies by a group of Jesuit priests. These St Xaviers College teachers were moved by the caste discrimination, untouchability and violence which they encountered across Gujarat. The institute tried to organise Dalit and tribal people, and promote gender equity. In 2002, it also became a hub for activists working with survivors of the communal carnage. Read | Una: Gujarat Dalits greet Didi Ben Mayawati while cornering state govt Some years ago, the position of a sanitation worker fell vacant in their Ahmedabad office. It was advertised, and as invariably happens, only people from the lowest-caste, Valmiki community, applied. Mukesh, a tenth-fail Valmiki youth was appointed, but Chacko and his colleagues felt it would be unjust for him to be trapped for a lifetime in only cleaning floors and toilets. They helped him learn computers and office errands and promoted him as an office assistant. This spring the position of sanitation worker fell vacant again. It was certain that if they issued a job call, only Valmiki candidates would apply. The audacious idea of stating in the advertisement that preference would be given to applicants of higher castes came up. They mentioned that Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Baniyas and Patels among Hindus; Syeds and Pathans among Muslims (priestly and warrior castes); Syrian Christians; Parsis; and Jains, would be preferred. Chacko, a Syrian Christian says that his community still claims its Brahmanical pedigree with the myth that St Thomas came to Kerala in AD 51 and converted 51 Brahmins, the ancestors of all later Syrian Christians. Read | Crimes against Dalits in Gujarat less but conviction record poor: Data Unsurprisingly, there were no high-caste applications, but one morning late in June three young men in jeans forced themselves into Chackos office, introducing themselves as members of organisations representing Brahmins and Rajput Kshatriyas, and challenged him: Do you believe that Brahmins and Kshatriyas should clean toilets? Dont you know what responsibilities are assigned to us by tradition? Would you ask Christian priests or Muslim maulvis to clean toilets? It is the Kshatriyas who protect the nation, how dare you insult them by asking them to clean latrines? they asked. Chacko said that there was no reason for priests and maulvis to not clean toilets, and that it is the army and police comprising men and women from every caste that defend the nation. They recorded Chackos views on their phones and left. Read | Vigilantes have no role here In a few hours, Chackos interview began circulating on the Internet, and a number of Gujarati TV channels arrived at the college campus where the institute is located. By afternoon, a crowd of around 20 angry young men gathered at the campus demanding that Chacko apologise. The police finally arrived and dispersed the men. The next day, more men gathered, and when they could not meet Chacko, they smashed windows and flower pots outside the office. Many joined in to condemn the advertisement, including Hardik Patels outfit and for good measure even a Muslim organisation. The institute issued a limited apology for unintentionally hurting sentiments, but did not retract the advertisement. Read | Bihar: Against family will, woman mortgages jewellery to build toilet in Rohtas Dalit and human rights groups on the other hand rose in solidarity across Gujarat issuing statements in support of this gesture for advancing the idea of social equality. Jignesh Mewani, a Dalit activist and lawyer said, Narendra Modi has declared that sanitation work is a spiritual exercise. Then why should the upper castes be denied this opportunity? The matter simmered for a while, and is now dormant, but Chacko continues to be on leave. The fury and indignation of upper caste organisations is instructive of how entrenched the idea of caste remains in India. On the other hand, simply the accident of birth into disadvantaged-caste households makes it fine for low-caste youth to be trapped in this work that the upper castes so despise. The country is building toilets in every rural school, which is welcome, but the responsibility for cleaning these toilets frequently fall on students from these oppressed castes, who are shamed into doing work that would so offend their higher-caste classmates. This too causes no outrage. It is evident that the value of different lives still varies infinitely in India based on the chance of where children are born. For some, the skies are within reach, and the idea of cleaning dirt is sacrilege. For others, clearing human waste is a fitting destiny, and reaching for the skies is sacrilege. Harsh Mander is convenor, Aman Biradari. The views expressed are personal. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Monday directed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to constitute a medical board of four doctors to examine a minor rape victim who sought permission to abort her 24-week pregnancy. Ordering the AIIMS medical superintendent to constitute a board consisting of three senior gynecologists and a clinical psychiatrist, the court said the panel should examine the girl to assess if there was a serious threat to her life, based on her mental and physical state in case the pregnancy was not terminated. In case the panel failed to reach a consensus, the majority view would prevail. The panel can decide to terminate her pregnancy keeping in view her physical and mental condition. In such a situation, tissue sample from the foetus has to be preserved for DNA analysis to be used as evidence in the kidnapping-cum-rape case, justice AK Pathak said. Asking the sixteen-and-ahalf-year-old girl to appear before the medical board on Wednesday, the court disposed of the petition filed by her father on her behalf. The order came hours after the Supreme Court allowed a rape victim from Mumbai to terminate 24-week pregnancy following a report by a panel of doctors that said the malformed foetus posed a danger to her life. The SC relaxed the 20-week legal restriction on abortions imposed by law. Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, a woman can be allowed to terminate her pregnancy between 12 and 20 weeks only if two registered practitioners express a unanimous opinion that continuing with it would threaten the mothers life or that the foetus had severe abnormalities. Justice Pathak had earlier directed the Delhi government to constitute a panel of three doctors to give its opinion on the physical and mental health of the teenager by Monday. Initially, it had asked Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital to constitute the panel. But later it directed AIIMS after it was informed that DDU hospital did not have a psychiatrist. The court directed the government to make arrangements for her stay at the hospital if her pregnancy was decided to be terminated. The Delhi governments counsel told the court the police had arrested two persons in connection with the kidnapping and rape of the minor. NEW DELHI: Brace for a manic Tuesday as autos and taxis are expected to be off the road in response a strike called by the joint action committee of auto-rickshaw and taxi unions. The union has warned of an indefinite strike if the Delhi government did not ban app-based taxi aggregators. There are about 85,000 autos and 18,000 yellow and black (kaali-peeli) taxis in Delhi and if they go off the road, commuters will face problems, especially at the airport, bus and railway stations. As per the joint action committee formed by 20 transport unions, auto and taxi (yellowblack taxis) unions of the domestic and international airports have lent support to the strike. In April, the AAP government had promised to ban app-based taxis still plying illegally. They provide services at cheap rates, due to which auto drivers are facing a crisis, said Rajendra Soni, general secretary, Delhi Auto-rickshaw Sangh and Delhi Pradesh Taxi Union. Soni threatened that the government failed to initiate talks in two days, they would go on a hunger strike. Kishan Verma, president of the All Delhi Auto-Taxi Transport Congress Union, said drivers of yellow-black taxis and autos had been asked to withdraw their vehicles from the airport, railway stations, ISBTs and Metro stations from Monday midnight. The Delhi government termed the strike politically motivated, saying banning app-based cab services was not under its ambit. It said the Centre should do something in this regard. A section of auto unions, apparently affiliated to the AAP, met transport minister Satyendar Jain to discuss the issue. NEW DELHI: Students who have already taken seats in Delhi University colleges can re-apply at institutions that have vacant seats without withdrawing the previous admission. The decision is contrary to the admission rules that students will have to withdraw their admission before applying at another college. The colleges are in a fix since the academic session has started and officials fear that the decision will trigger a wave of withdrawals. It will be additional work mid-session. Delhi University released five cutoff lists this year. After the final list, the colleges were asked to fill up vacant seats by making a merit list. This is certainly going to bring back the long process of admission withdrawals. Off-campus colleges will be the worst hit as students with 90% and above marks would like to study at a North Campus college, said a principal of a North Campus college, requesting anonymity. Read more: Ambedkar University Delhi launches Karampura campus The admission process under the merit list started Monday. Many students who had taken admission in colleges realised they could not re-apply until the earlier admission rule. Parents and students met the Dean Students Welfare (DSW) and objected to the rule. The university admission committee called for an emergency meeting and took a decision that students should be allowed to apply without withdrawing admission. The admission bulletin published by the university does not mention that we cannot apply to a college, if we have already taken admission, said VK Malhotra, a father whose daughter has taken admission in Shaheed Bhagat Singh College. If it was there, we wouldnt have taken admission earlier and waited for the merit list. My daughter could have applied to a college in North Campus. This rule was unfair, Malhotra said. Some principals said the university should have mentioned the rule clearly in the bulletin and clarified process before the admission process started. This change was necessary for the sake of fair play. As per cutoff lists, students with high marks might have taken admission in colleges not of their choice. Now, with no cutoff list we are giving all a fair chance, said Manoj Sinha, principal, Aryabhatta College. The admission under this process will take place till the fifth merit list, provided seats remain vacant. Some students organisations, however, have objected to the change in rule. They submitted a representation to DU vice-chancellor, saying this could encourage corruption. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: Indian diplomats have pulled their children out of schools in Islamabad after New Delhi declared the high commission a no school-going mission in June last year, a move Pakistan raked up to draw attention to bilateral relations strained by the recent unrest in Kashmir. The external affairs ministry confirmed a report on Monday in Lahore-based Daily Times about the high commission staff being asked to pull out their children from schools in Islamabad. The decision was taken six months after Taliban gunmen stormed a military school in Peshawar in 2014, killing 132 students and nine staff members. Although the decision was communicated to the mission last June, the staff waited a year for the academic session to end. As of June 2016, there are no children of Indian diplomatic staff studying in Pakistan. Pakistan has leaked the information now to show that India-Pakistan relations are in tatters, and that it has to do with the situation in Kashmir, a government official said. The decision is a year old and has no connection whatsoever to Burhan Wani or the current turmoil in Kashmir. The timing only smacks of an effort by Pakistan to internationalise the Kashmir issue. Relations between the two countries have worsened over the past few months, with violence in Kashmir over the killing of the 22-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen commander being the latest flashpoint. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made provocative statements over Kashmir, saying it will one day become Pakistan. India asked Pakistan last week to ensure the safety of its officials and their families stationed in Islamabad in view of threats from marches and protests outside the high commission. Around 50 children of Indian diplomatic staff studied in International School of Islamabad also known as the American School and another 10 in Roots Inter national School. The Indian government allows children of its mission staff to study only in these two institutions. It is normal practice for all countries to review staffing and related policies for their diplomatic missions, including in view of prevailing circumstances at those stations , external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said. Officials at the high commission have been advised to make arrangements for education of their wards outside Pakistan from the academic session that begins in August. Officials said the Pakistani foreign office and school authorities have requested the Indian government to reconsider the decision. This is an informal, internal, administrative arrangement we were informed of two months back. No other considerations were communicated to us, foreign office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said. The decision was prompted by security considerations. An Indian diplomat said: Having a big number of children under one roof is a problem. We could no longer expose our children as soft targets, because the security has deteriorated. There is security around the two schools in which Indian students were studying, but we have to take our own call and decided that we could not put the lives of our children at stake, another Indian diplomat said. Another reason for Indias move was the restriction on movement of Indian students. Whenever schools planned trips outside Islamabad, the students had to seek approval from the Pakistani foreign office, according to the Daily Times. Based on security assessments, diplomatic missions are categorised as no-spouse, and no school-going missions statuses reserved usually for stations in conflict zones such as Iraq and Libya. After a blast close to the American School in 2009, the children of foreign diplomats stopped going to the school for some time. The explosion targeted a university and killed many. The attendance of Indian children at the school had dipped in recent years because of security threats. Around that time, the Indian government bought bullet-proof buses that are now used by diplomatic staff to travel to their workplace. Their children are ferried to and from schools in these vehicles. JODHPUR: The Rajasthan high court acquitted Bollywood star Salman Khan on Monday in two cases of deer poaching, a huge relief for the popular but controversial actor who has had several run-ins with the law in the past. The court said the prosecution failed to prove the charges against Salman and that the evidence was too thin for convicting the actor in the nearly 18-year-old cases of killing chinkaras or Indian gazelles. Justice Nirmaljeet Kaur overturned two trial court verdicts that had handed the actor one and five years of imprisonment. Salman has spent 13 days behind bars so far. Sometimes there is immense pressure on the investigating agency to immediately arrest the alleged accused Under the circumstance, the facts and evidence are sometime concocted to nail the alleged accused, the court observed. In the process, either an innocent gets convicted or the real culprit gets away. The verdict comes seven months after the actor was cleared of all charges in a controversial 2002 hit-and-run case by the Bombay high court, triggering outrage and questions about whether the actor had used his star power to subvert the judicial system. Chinkaras are a protected species and hunting them is banned. The actor was accused of hunting two chinkaras on September 26, 1998 in Bhawad village area of Jodhpur and another one two days later at Ghora Farm. Seven other accused in the Bhawad case were let off. The actor was shooting for the film Hum Saath Saath Hain at the time. Two cases against Salman blackbuck hunting and possessing illegal arms are still being tried at trial courts in the state. The court observed that the prosecution failed to prove that a deer had even died as no carcasses were found. Moreover, the police couldnt zero in on either the weapon used for the alleged hunt or the place where it took place. Salman was framed by fabricating false evidence just because he was a celebrity, said the actors counsel Mahesh Bora. Counsel Nishant Bora said the high court had testified all the facts to prove Salman innocent. In October 1998, a driver who was working with the crew of the film told local police that Salman and other members had hunted the chinkaras. A forest department investigation followed, which was later taken over by police. The additional advocate general of the state, KL Thakur, said he would study the court orders in both cases and will then take up the decision on challenging the verdict in court. NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court allowed on Monday an alleged rape victim to terminate her 24-week pregnancy after doctors said the malformed foetus posed a danger to her life, an order that relaxes a 20-week legal restriction on abortions. A bench headed by justice JS Khehar permitted the abortion as a board of seven doctors declared that the foetus was a danger to the 26-year-old womans physical and mental health. The decision could have a bearing on an identical case, in which the Delhi high court on Monday directed the AIIMS in the Capital to constitute a board of doctors to examine a juvenile rape victim, who has sought permission to abort her 24-week pregnancy. The girl has been asked to appear before the medical board on Wednesday. The top court had on July 22 directed Mumbais KEM hospital to set up a panel of experts to examine the petitioner, a Maharashtra resident. Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, while submitting the report on Monday, said the medical termination of pregnancy act didnt prohibit abortion if the foetus posed a grave risk to the mothers life. The woman had told the court that the foetus was diagnosed with anencephaly, a serious birth defect in which a baby is born without parts of the brain and skull, but doctors refused her abortion as the pregnancy has gone beyond the 20-week legal ceiling. The court will continue to hear the womans challenge to the ceiling. The pregnancy termination law allows a woman to abort but only after doctors confirm it is necessary to save the mothers life. It, however, is silent on a remedy in case of an abnormal foetus. The woman told the court she was raped by her former fiance who went back on his promise of marriage. She found out about the pregnancy after 20 weeks had elapsed. The petitioner requested the court to ask the government to direct hospitals to assign doctors for assessing and offering medical termination of pregnancy to survivors of sexual violence even beyond 20 weeks. Internationally, a woman can seek an abortion of abnormal foetus. However, each country has its own limit, which in most cases is more than 20 weeks. Switzerland, Great Britain and the Netherlands are the only countries to not have such a ceiling. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON MUMBAI: The special branch of Mumbai Police claims that controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik and his non-profit Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) have illegally converted around 800 people to Islam by paying them using funds received from abroad. The allegation, if proved, could spell more trouble for Naik. The police learnt about this after the Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS) and Kerala Police arrested Arshid Qureshi, a guest representative officer of IRF, from his house at Seawoods in Navi Mumbai on Thursday. A day later, the same team arrested Kalyan resident Rizwan Khan, who allegedly played a crucial role in the conversions and weddings. Both Arshid and Rizwan were taken to Kochi on a transit remand as they were named in an FIR registered at Palarivottam police station in Kochi against Bestin Vincent, alias Yahya, a Christian from Palakkad who converted to Islam and is believed to have joined the Islamic State. Bestin and his wife Merin Jacob, alias Mariyam, have been missing for some time. The FIR is based on a complaint registered by Merins brother Ebin Jacob. According to Ebins complaint, Merin, who is from a Christian family in Edapally, Kochi, met Bestin while she was working in Mumbai in 2015. They got into a relationship and eventually married. According to a source in the Kerala Police, Bestin and Arshid converted Merin to Islam and radicalised her during her stay in Mumbai. Merin initially resisted but finally relented after she was taken to various classes, added the source. According to Ebins complaint, Bestin and Arshid then forced Merin to join the Islamic State, which she also resisted at first, expressing her desire to return to Kerala. Ebin claimed that Bestin and Arshid had tried to compel him to convert to Islam, too. Earlier, Merins parents had alleged that both Bestin and Merin had been radicalised by Naik, whom they had met in Mumbai. The special branch found that Rizwan also worked for an organisation known as Al-Birr Foundation at Mazagaon, allegedly a hub for conversions and marriages funded by IRF. After an initial indoctrination, (potential converts) would be taken to Arshids Navi Mumbai office for further indoctrination. Later, they would be taken to a Dongri office where Rizwan would complete the documentation for their conversion, said a police officer, who did not wish to be named. Investigators added that Rizwan, who is also a maulvi or a priest, would also conduct marriages for couples among the converts. Finally, he would send vouchers with individual expenses to Arshid, who would pay for them from IRFs funds, the police said. IRF gets funds from several countries, including Saudi Arabia, and these were used for such activities. Those converted would also get around Rs 50,000 in cash, added the officer. Investigators have also identified others who allegedly assisted Arshid and Rizwan and are questioning them. The latest revelations will be included in the polices final report that will be submitted to Mumbai police commissioner DD Padsalgikar. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The bureaucracy and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government have locked horns again. A special commissioner posted with the transport department has complained that transport minister Satyendar Jain misbehaved with him. Indushekhar Mishra, a 1993-batch officer of DANICS (Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service), went on leave for 15 days after filing the complaint. Mishra went to meet Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on Tuesday, a day after formally lodging his complaint. Sources said Mishra had an argument with Jain at his room in the Delhi Secretariat on Monday morning. He has also marked a copy to the chief minister and the chief secretary. He (the minister) shouted at me and asked me to leave the room. He also accused me of not doing any work, Mishra said. Similar incidents took place in December after Jain suspended two officers. Protesting the move, DANICS officers went on leave on January 1, the first day of the odd-even scheme of the transport department. Despite repeated attempts,the Delhi government spokesperson did not respond. Read | IAS officers having problem with govt should leave Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal Sources said Mishra angered the minister after he objected to Jains plan of opening the regional transport office from 7am to 7pm every day. He opposed the governments move to bring DTC drivers to RTOs to conduct driving tests. Mishra insisted these drivers were not trained to hand out driving licences. He had advised the minister to consult the labour department as drivers shouldnt work for 12 hours at a stretch as per the Motor Vehicle Act, said a source. Mishra said he was called for a meeting at the ministers office at a short notice on Friday, and he requested to postpone the meeting. I was out for an inspection at Sheikh Sarai office of the motor licensing officer. At 4pm, I was asked to attend a meeting at 4:30pm. I requested them to shift it to Monday as it was impossible to reach there at such a short notice. When I went to his office at 10.30am on Monday, the minister started shouting at me. I dont think, this was the right way to speak to an officer, said Mishra. Thereafter, Jain relieved him of the charge of administration and asked him to look after the enforcement wing of the department. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Already in police custody for allegedly threatening a woman, who visited his home to raise power cuts and water issues, more trouble is in store for AAPs Okhla MLA, Amanatullah Khan. The Jamia Nagar police have registered a non-cognizable report (NCR) against the Okhla legislator for allegedly threatening a group of locals, who were protesting in his assembly constituency. They were protesting against water scarcity, power cuts, underdevelopment and other civic issues. An NCR under section 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC has been registered against the AAP MLA. The complaint was filed directly to Delhi Police chief, Alok Kumar Verma, by one Syed Taseer Ahmad and two other protesters -- Sultaan Ahmad and Syed Abdul Ali. The copies of the complaint were forwarded to the offices of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, L-G, Najeeb Jung, Union home minister, ministry of minor affairs, DCP (southeast) and SHO of the Jamia Nagar police station. Read: AAP to move Delhi high court over cases against MLAs The police may not take any action against Khan since the offence is non-cognizable. In case of a non-cognizable report, the police cannot initiate an investigation or make an arrest without a court order. The complainants said that they along with other protesters had organized a protest between July 15 and 17 against the AAP-led Delhi government for ignoring development and other issues in their residential area. We were holding a peaceful protest to raise issues like underdevelopment of Okhla, worst civic condition, deteriorated condition of roads and lanes, improper drainage and garbage disposal system, and lack of basic amenities like electricity, water, health, hygiene and public schools, the complainants said in the complaint. On July 16 around 9.30 pm, the Okhla MLA along with 25 people arrived at the protest venue and allegedly got into a scuffle with the demonstrators. The legislator allegedly threatened the organizers with dire consequences if the protest was not called off immediately. One of the organizers and also a complainant, Syed Taseer Ahmad, is quoted in the complaint saying the MLA allegedly intimidated him using threatening words. ...agar dharna khatam nahi kiya toh tujhe main kaat ke Yamuna mein phenk dunga (if you dont call off the protests, I will cut you into pieces and throw the body parts into Yamuna), as mentioned in the written complaint. According to AAP, the complaint is politically motivated. There have already been FIRs against 12 AAP MLAs and 11 of them have faced arrests. The party is now planning to approach the Delhi High Court to complain against alleged cases of fake cases against its MLAs. The language used in this complaint and the earlier complaint is similar. Both cases are politically motivated. Delhi Police is towing the line drawn by the Centre, said an AAP leader. Passed on as a sex slave for almost a year and left to battle life-threatening injuries in a Delhi hospital, an 18-year-old from West Bengal cant wait to go back to school. But, that will have to wait. Doctors who treated her at Guru Teg Bahadur hospital have advised her complete rest. She still has trouble walking though she can now sit up and also talk. The six months she has been home, the teenager is religiously following the doctors orders. She has to get back to school at the earliest, she told HT over phone from her home in Magrahat village in coastal South Twenty Four Parganas district. Compensation given by the government state as well as the Union -- has helped her pick up the threads of her life torn apart after she was trafficked in 2014. After the state government, the ministry of home has now sanctioned Rs 5 lakh for me, which will help in getting the right treatment, she said. That is quite a change from December. When HT met her in the hospital, her legs were infected and doctors had to remove pus regularly to prevent the infection from spreading. She had gag wounds around her mouth. The likely cause of infection is repeated sexual assault, a doctor had said. The teenager said she was raped repeatedly, sometimes 10 times a day. I was taken to Rishikesh, Haridwar, Manali, Mangalore and many other cities, she said. The men who brought her to Delhi promising a job used to beat her up if she would refuse to meet customers, she said. She is one of the thousands of girls trafficked every year to Delhi from states such as Jharkhand, West Bengal and Assam. Some are forced to work as domestic helps, which are in huge demand, in inhuman conditions while many are pushed into prostitution. According to a global survey report, India has the largest population of modern slaves in the world, with more than 18 million people trapped as bonded labourers, forced beggars, sex workers and child soldiers. The Global Slavery Index by human rights organisation Walk Free Foundation said the number was 1.4% of Indias population, the fourth highest among 167 countries with the largest proportion of slaves. Battling poverty, young people, especially women, get taken in by the promise of a better life and fall prey to traffickers, who run a well-organised racket. Seven months after she was dumped in the hospital by a man who claimed to be family but disappeared soon after, the teenager has to visit the doctor regularly and is on medication. And it costs money. The central and state governments have done the right thing by extending financial help in form of compensation, said Rishikant, an activist with Shakti Vahini NGO that helped track the girl. This is the right way to deal with victims of sexual assault and trafficking and this case should be treated as model case and every trafficking victim should get immediate compensation like this case, he said. The government is working on the countrys first anti-trafficking law that proposes to compensate the victims of the widespread crime. But, for the teenager, the battle is fall from over. I want the accused to be behind bars and for that, I am ready to go to the court every day, she said. . The Supreme Court ruling permitting a rape victim to abort her 24-week foetus taking into account the danger to both mother and child if the pregnancy were taken to full term should reopen the debate on the need to review the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971. In this case, experts found the foetus to suffer from severe abnormalities and it would not have survived much longer. This raises the issue of not only pregnancies arising from rape but also those of foetuses which are either unviable or would result in children being born with abnormalities which would compromise their quality of life severely. The attorney generals remarks that any relaxation of the permission for abortion after the 20-week period would be subject to misuse, namely would facilitate female foeticide, may be right in letter but there are many instances in which both the foetus and the expecting mother are put in danger by the inflexibility of the law. Read | Supreme Court allows rape victim to abort 24-week foetus Today, doctors feel that terminations can be carried out safely even beyond 24 weeks, thanks to advances in medical science and technology. Many womens groups have raised the issue of amending the MTP Act. One occasion was when a couple approached the court for a termination after it was found that the foetus had congenital heart problems and would have required a pacemaker on birth. After a protracted legal battle which they lost, the woman in question suffered a miscarriage in her 27th month. The mental trauma of having a child which dies at birth or has no quality of life must also be kept in mind when deciding whether a woman should be forced to continue with a pregnancy. The health ministry has been cognisant of this and has, from 2014, been pushing to amend the law permitting abortions beyond 20 weeks under certain circumstances. The fear of female foeticide is not without merit, but there are laws to prevent this, though these have to be implemented more effectively. Read | Bring in law to allow abortion up to 26 weeks: Mumbai doctors The MTP Act which, is 45 years old now, should have been amended a long time ago so as to spare women the long, and often fruitless, pursuit of getting legal sanction for terminating pregnancies. This issue which is one of womens rights should be concluded so that women who legitimately need to terminate their pregnancies can do so without the further trauma of pursuing a legal solution. This is also an issue on which there should be no political differences and there is no valid reason why the law should not be in sync with both changing technology and greater autonomy for women. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) will set up the Lucknow chapter of Startup Accelerator India (SAI) to promote startups and to incubate innovative ideas among students, its vice-chancellor Vinay Pathak announced on Tuesday. The decision was announced at the inaugural session of the two-day Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Memorial International Youth Conference jointly organised by Kalam Centre and AKTU in Lucknow, a day before the Missile Mans first death anniversary on July 27. The university will sign a memorandum of understanding with Startup Accelerator India under Anand Govindaluri, managing director and chief executive of Singapore-based Govin Capital. Lucknow will be the third chapter of SAI and will fund startups in healthcare in general, big data and EdTech as well as social entrepreneurs. It is already supporting two such initiatives in Visakhapatnam and Pune. To invite ideas, a competition called Kalam Techno-preneurial Business Plan Challenge will be held to select the best workable ideas for funding. Read more: SBI signs MoU with IIT Bombay to promote startups We will help engineering college students, IITians and medical students to be a part of this grand initiative. As many as 40-50 ideas will be picked for the event, Govindaluri, who was appointed to the advisory board to mentor Kalam Centre, said. Srijan Pal Singh, a graduate from IIM Ahmedabad who co-authored several books with Kalam, convinced Anand to associate with the project. It will also invite women and those working in the social sector to participate in the event. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Facing a financial crisis, the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology has asked SC and ST students, undergoing MTech course, to pay their tuition fees, waived by the HRD ministry, failing which they would not get their degrees. The institute, however, said the human resource development (HRD) ministry has not waived 100% fees, and the students have been asked to submit the post-matric scholarship, which they get from the state government, and pay the rest of the amount. But, the students said they do not get the scholarship as the MHRD has waived their fees. Most of the students took admission in NIT as there is a 100% waiver of tuition fees, but this sudden demand for fees has raised our concerns, an MTech student, Pradeep Kumar Vimal said. MHRD has waived 100% fees of SC/ST and disabled students which is Rs 45,000 in the year 2014. It is almost impossible for some of the students to afford the fees. The students are left with no other option but discontinuing studies in between, said Manish Kumar Gautam. Another student Rajkumar Malviya said, We have talked with students of other NITs and nowhere MTech students are being charged fees but MANIT is following its own rule. We even requested the director N S Chaudhary, but he didnt acknowledge our problem and said that the fees cant be waived off as the institute is facing financial crisis, Vimal said. There is no provision of 100% fee waiver from MHRD MANIT, PRO, Ajay Verma said, There is no provision of 100% fee waiver from MHRD. These students get post-matric scholarship. We are just asking them to submit the amount of scholarship and the remaining amount. He also said that in the past years, some students had passed out from the institute without submitting any fees. However, Rajkumar said, We dont get post matric scholarship. A student cant get two financial assistances simultaneously. When MHRD has waived our fees, why will the state government provide us scholarship? Now, the institute is also taking undertaking from the students that if they fail to pay the tuition fee before the end of each semester, or if there are any dues with the institute, they will not be eligible to get the mark sheets and degree. The undertaking clearly is a signal to us that without fees, we cant complete our studies, he said. The students have also approached state science and technology minister Umashankar Gupta and the local MP, both of whom have written to the MHRD in this regard. The students of Malkatar village in MPs Barwani district have a new school building, but only on paper. The structure has been rented out to a dam contractor, who uses it to store his equipment. The present middle school building is in a dilapidated condition, and many of its rooms are flooded with rainwater. Teachers have been forced to hold classes in a tiny 60-square-feet room for the last three years, local residents said, adding that the contractor is using all his influence to stay put. School education department officials said the new middle school building was constructed in accordance with the prescribed design on the higher reaches of the village three years ago, but a former sarpanch rented it out to the contractor. Malkatar, situated on the Madhya Pradesh-Maharashtra border, has a population of about 700 people. Children dont attend classes for fear that the old school building might collapse Though the children here want to continue studying, they do not attend classes for fear that the old school building might collapse at any moment. This building is unsafe and stuffy, said Shalu, a Class 6 student. Ravindra Wagh, headmaster of government middle school, said the students apprehensions were well-founded. Besides, we cant even find the space to install a blackboard a basic requirement for schools in such a small space. It just doesnt have the atmosphere for learning. Three teachers have to stuff themselves in this tiny space along with 16 students. Thats hardly enough, he said. The infrastructure requirement is not extensive, considering that the schools total student strength from classes 1 to 8 is a mere 16. I approached the authorities on many occasions, but they just told me to be patient, Wagh said. Contractor is not ready to vacate the school Santosh Pawar, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan block resource coordinator of Pansemal, said the former village sarpanch cited the distance of the new middle school building from the village to rent it out to the contractor three years ago. As soon as we came to know about it, two notices were issued to the contractor. But he is not ready to vacate the school, Pawar said, adding that the village panchayat does not have the authority to rent out a school building to private parties. However, former sarpanch Vinod Parmar said he took the step because the new building was located 500 metres away from the village, and on a steep incline making access difficult for students. We believed that doing so would not only raise funds for the village panchayat but also ensure that the structure is put to some use. But now that the contractor is using it to keep his equipment and house his workers, he is unwilling to vacate it. He has been threatening people too, Parmar said. Pansemal sub-divisional magistrate Abhay Singh Kharari said he will take steps to get the building vacated, and ensure that it is run properly. In February this year, Canadian stand-up comic and YouTube sensation Lilly Singh (above), aka Superwoman, posted a picture with Hollywood actor Mila Kunis on Instagram. In the caption, Lilly revealed that she has a cameo in an upcoming American comedy, called Bad Moms, which stars Mila and Christina Applegate. SURPRISE! I have a small cameo in the new Mila Kunis/Christina Applegate movie called #BadMoms (sic), she wrote. Watch: Superwomans video that talk about the difference between you and your parents Lilly shot for the film around Valentines Day (February 14). She says working on the film was intimidating. I wont lie. I was intimidated, because Im from the digital space. But as soon as I walked in to get my hair and makeup done, Christina was nice. Mila said she had watched a bunch of my videos recently, says the comic. Watch: Lilly Singh on how women try clothes The Canadian-Indian Internet sensation goes by the pseudonym IISuperwomanII, and presently has 9,452,766 fans on her channel. So far, she has been featured on the Forbes Highest Paid YouTube Stars of 2015, and Time Magazines The 30 Most Influential People On The Internet 2016, among others. Lilly has even made multiple appearances on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, and most recently announced her book, How To Be A Bawse: A Guide To Conquering Life, on the same show. Watch: Lilly Singh on how to be a YouTube star Read: Superwoman Lilly Singh, PM Modi in Times most influential online list Read: 45 Indians in Forbes list of achievers under the age of 30 The YouTube star recently released a video with Dwayne The Rock Johnson, a collaborative effort announcing the latters entry on YouTube. Apart from doing a cameo in the upcoming Bad Moms, Lilly has also voiced two minicorns- Bubbles and Misty in the recently released Ice Age: Collision Course, and has also released a documentary, A Trip To Unicorn Island, which documents her worldwide tour. Mila Kunis with Lilly Singh. (Instagram) Sherlock and Doctor Strange star Benedict Cumberbatch finds his fans love overwhelming and utterly humbling. The 40-year-old actor was stunned to find a huge queue of people waiting overnight for his Doctor Strange panel at San Diego Comic-Con and insisted on getting the chance to spend time with them because they are the reason hes in the position he is, reported Female First. Benedict Cumberbatch attends the Dr. Strange panel on Day 3 of Comic-Con International on Saturday, July 23, 2016, in San Diego. (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) I came out and saw this huge line of people and said, Is that for some event? They said, No, its for what youre doing tomorrow. I was like, How long have they been there? What? All day? In this heat? Have they got water? They said, Some of them have, some of them havent? Are they going to be on the street tonight? Can I go and talk to them? Benedict Cumberbatch, director Scott Derrickson, and actor Tilda Swinton attend the Marvel Studios presentation during Comic-Con International 2016. (AFP) Read: Doctor Strange trailer - Benedict Cumberbatch stars in mind-bending fun Benedict Cumberbatch just visited fans waiting in line for Hall H. #SDCC #DoctorStrange pic.twitter.com/xCogxHKlB6 Dustin Sandoval (@DustinMSandoval) July 23, 2016 THIS IS SO UNBELIEVABLE I AM FREAKING OUT BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH JUST WALKED UP TO OUR LINE pic.twitter.com/H7IqsReYu3 JEnNA (@jenehmcee) July 23, 2016 More photos of Benedict Cumberbatch visiting fans in line for Hall H. #SDCC #DoctorStrange pic.twitter.com/zofNgTqHod Dustin Sandoval (@DustinMSandoval) July 23, 2016 Benedict Cumberbatch surprising fans waiting in line for Hall H is everything. #SDCC #DoctorStrange pic.twitter.com/BqIJoKfrE7 Dustin Sandoval (@DustinMSandoval) July 23, 2016 There were furtive looks between the security (they said) We can make that happen if you really want to. I said Hell I do. I want to meet the people who make this possible because its all about them and their enthusiasm and their devotion, its overwhelming and utterly humbling, whether theyve come from miles [away] or put all that effort into a cosplay, its really inspiring and humbling and reminds you what its all about. Follow @htshowbiz for more A 62-year-old man was killed in a lift mishap at the new OPD (out-patient department) of the Post Graduate Institute of Management Sciences (PGIMS) here on Monday. The deceased has been identified as Anand Swaroop of Rohtaks Janta Colony. According to his family, Swaroop had gone to the PGIMS for treatment of kidney stones. Sources said eight lifts at the new OPD stopped due to power cut while several patients were aboard. One elevator operator began rescuing the stranded patients from all the eight lifts. The lift in which Swaroop was aboard had stopped a little above the second floor and the stranded patients were asked to jump on the floor. While trying to jump out, Swaroop fell down in the shaft. Police said Swaroop suffered a head injury and the actual reason of his death would be revealed after the postmortem report. On the complaint of Swaroops son, police registered a case against the hospital authorities for negligence, a police spokesperson said. Meanwhile, leader of the Opposition in Haryana assembly and INLD MLA from Ellenabad Abhay Chautala demanded Haryana health minister Anil Vijs resignation over the mishap. Anil Vij should resign while taking moral responsibility for the death of the patient and strict action must be taken against the guilty. If an XEN could be suspended because of power cut at the ministers programme, why not strict action for the death of a common man, Chautala said. The INLD leader was addressing a Sadbhavna rally organised by the party at Kiloi village in the district. Read this news in brief form. Click here With the number of incidents involving gun violence taking center stage across the country, neighborhood and community organizers in Carlisle are gathering Tuesday night to host a community forum on the effects of gun violence. Shiloh Baptist Church Rev. Daniel Keys and Jill Sunday Bartoli, a write-in candidate against State Rep. Stephen Bloom for the 199th Pennsylvania legislative district, will co-moderate the roundtable discussion focusing on how gun violence affects the Carlisle community and the ways in which residents can respond to the problem. This forum is important because almost every week, it seems, theres another shooting. Almost every week, we send thoughts and prayers to another set of victims, another set of families. Almost every week, the scabs on my already broken heart tear open along very familiar lines, said community organizer Christina Kapp. Its timely, and its necessary, because we are almost coming to a point when shootings are commonplace, when they no longer collectively appall us. We are in danger of thinking that this is our new normal, and we simply cannot allow that to become the case. The forum will be held at 7 p.m. at the Democratic Headquarters in Carlisle, 46 W. Louther St. Residents are encouraged to attend and share their own stories or concerns with gun violence, both locally and nationally. According to a news release, Keys is especially encouraging Carlisles black residents to join in and attend the discussion. We, as black Americans, can no longer continue killing one another, he said in the release. We also can no longer continue to be killed by police, nor can we continue to kill police in retaliation. By doing so, we are destroying the progress made by those whose blood was shed for us. Things are spiraling out of control and it has got to stop. Our community and our country (the United States of America) cannot survive this war amongst ourselves. United we stand, divided we wall. Let us come together now to discuss ways to solve these problems. The search for Indian Air Forces AN 32 aircraft entered the fifth day but hopes for 29 defence personnel on board it are slim, officials indicated on Tuesday. A lot of resources are in place. All leads till now have turned out to be bad. We are trying to concentrate on some links or sound which has emitted from some area. Trying to find out, that needs to be ascertained but there were some false leads but false leads of similar type, said Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in Delhi. Parrikar refuted a senior Coast Guard officials claim that the AN 32s Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) had failed--a repeat of what allegedly happened when a Coast Guard Dronier aircraft with three crew members on board crashed a year ago. I think the submarine finally located the Dornier with the same beeps. Initially sound might not have come due to depth of water but when the submarine went in there, they identified the location. Cant say whether it is operating or not now but we have not been able to hear it, he said. Meanwhile, sources in the Air Force said weather could have played a role in the AN 32s disappearance. The weather was bad but the pilot had taken the required steps, said a senior official. He said that Sagar Nidhi, a research vessel of the National Institute of Ocean Technology, has been called from Mauritius to help in the search. Sagar Nidhi has a dynamic positioning system, which keeps its position stable and this is required for oceanographic research. The Russian-made aircraft took off at 8.30am from Tambaram in Chennai and disappeared over the Bay of Bengal a few minutes later. Read| Missing plane a painful reminder of risks taken by forces: IAF chief Indias newest naval warplane is plagued with engine troubles, airframe problems, deficiencies in its fly-by-wire system and is battling poor serviceability, the countrys top auditor has revealed. In a report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the Comptroller and Auditor General said the Russian-origin MiG-29K warplanes were being accepted despite a string of discrepancies. The deck-based fighter operates from INS Vikramaditya, a second-hand carrier bought from Russia. The MiG-29K is riddled with problems relating to airframe, RD MK-33 engine and fly-by-wire system, the CAG said. The deficiencies in the maritime fighter have compromised its battle-readiness. The report revealed that the serviceability of the single-seat MiG-29K ranged from an unimpressive 15.93% to 37.63 % while that of the twin-seat trainer MiG-29KUB hovered between 21.3% and 47.14%. The navy commissioned its first squadron of MiG-29K fighters at Goa in May 2013, ahead of the induction of INS Vikramaditya. It also plans to deploy the fighters on the indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) being built at the state-owned Cochin Shipyard. India has so for placed separate orders for 45 fighters. The service life of the aircraft is 6000 hours or 25 years, whichever is earlier. The CAG said the operational life of the fighters already delivered would be reduced due to the problems its grappling with. In another report tabled in Parliament, the auditor revealed how India had spent Rs 18,646 crore on 10 Boeing C-17 Globemaster III planes but failed to utilize them adequately. The annual average load airlifted by C-17 ranged between 13 tonne and 18 tonne per sortie, against the aircrafts payload capacity of 70 tonne Thus a costly national asset, procured for carrying heavy loads was not being used as per its capacity, the report said. The CAG found that a fork lifter weighing 13 tonne was always carried on the plane for loading and unloading cargo as IAF units did not have ground handling equipment. This fork lifter occupies 35% of the cargo space. Due to this space restriction, C-17 aircraft had to undertake more than one sortie on the same day to airlift cargo from same destination, on many occasions. With cost of Rs 43.19 Lakh per flying hour for C-17 aircraft, this was imprudent, the report said. The planes were inducted in IAF between June 2013 and December 2014. Maoist chairman and the man slated to become Nepals next prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, has said he would strive for balanced foreign relations with neighbours India and China. He added that Beijing too wants Nepal to have good ties with India, and Chinas main concern was the role of western powers. In an exclusive interview to Hindustan Times at his Kathmandu residence his first to any media outlet since the process of government change began he made a clear commitment that Nepal would not use one country against the other. The 61-year-old leader emphasised the unique nature of Nepal-India relations, saying the southern neighbour is a stakeholder in the post-2006 political process of the Himalayan nation. But he warned New Delhi against political micromanagement, and underscored a perception that India took up development projects, but its delivery was weak. His remarks came in the backdrop of contentions that the outgoing KP Oli government tilted strongly towards Beijing to counter Delhi. He said his priority would be concluding the peace process, especially the question of war-time cases; making the Constitution as widely acceptable as possible; and accommodating Madhesis and other communities. Read | Does Nepal PM exit mean Indias patience paid off? Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli shakes hand with Prachanda . The Maoist leader tells Hindustan Times his priority will be concluding the peace process. (Reuters) Competitive democracy Prachanda first became PM two years after ending a decade-long Maoist insurgency from 1996 to 2006. His party emerged as the single largest force in the 2008 elections; but within nine months of wresting power, he had to resign when other parties and India opposed his move to dismiss the army chief. So how is the second stint going to be different? The Maoist chairman said he made mistakes in the past, and there were now four major differences. Last time, I was inexperienced in the ways of competitive democracy. We still had a war mindset from the insurgency years. It took us 10 years of war to understand the nature and rules of war. Now, after 10 years in open politics, I have learnt the rules of competitive democracy. I have more experience and maturity. Second, at that point, the Maoist alliance with its key peace process partner, the Nepali Congress, had broken. I could not take all parties along, especially NC and its late leader, Girija Prasad Koirala, who had signed the peace agreement with me. Prachanda recalled Koiralas advice that if you lose your way in a jungle, it is best to go back to the starting point. We got diverted, but I returned to the point of origin and roots now, and am in partnership with Nepali Congress. Three, Prachanda admitted that in his first stint, there was lack of ideological clarity in his party. The Maoists were torn between factions committed to the peace process and those who believed in protracted peoples war. This time, the leader said, there is fundamental unity and maturity in the party. The fourth area of correction, for Prachanda, is ensuring good relations with neighbours. Read | Nepal PM Olis departure marks an Indian comeback Maoist chairman Prachanda (C) arrives at Parliament in Kathmandu on July 13. Nepal will not use one country against the other, Prachanda tells HT in an interview. (AFP) Delhi dynamics Back in 2009, it was a rift with India that eventually knocked down his government. Prachanda said Nepal-India ties were unique, but in the past 10 years, ever since the peace process began which was facilitated by India, both sides had shown some weaknesses. It is for the Indian establishment to think about its record. But I can say from Nepals side, there is a need for balance. We have to take the transitional process to a logical conclusion. And for this, all stakeholders have to come together. Asked if this included India, his answer is a strong Yes. When the Constitution was promulgated last year, Prachanda had disregarded Indian advice to pause the process to bring displeased parties on board. Instead, he resorted to a strong language on nationalism. He explained, Look, we were deeply concerned that the Constituent Assembly (CA) may not be able to write the Constitution. One CA had already failed. When India said stop the process, it was not possible. The CA members had already signed the Constitution. It is best if India does not get involved in this level of micromanagement. He criticised India when the economic blockade happened and there was a supply crunch. But Prachanda said he was not in favour of using these issues to prolong bitterness and build feudal and narrow nationalism geared against one country. Our geopolitics dictates we have to take a balanced view. As Maoists, we have been saying our challenge is to strengthen internal nationalism and respect all identities. Traditional, narrow nationalism is wrong. This was a pointed critique at Oli, who has used ultra-nationalism targeting India. The Maoist chairman spoke of the gaps in development cooperation. His agenda as PM this time would be economic development, infrastructure and employment generation. He sought Indian assistance and, at the same time, highlighted the perception that India takes up projects but does not work. Take the Terai roads. It is pending for years. The kind of investment and volume of support we should see from a neighbour as close as India has not happened. KP Oli Sharma (R) and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as Prachanda, (C-L) shake hands during a Parliament session in Kathmandu. (AFP) Beijing balance There is a growing sense in New Delhi that Nepal had been inviting greater Chinese role to counter India. But the Maoist leader allayed fears, saying a chill in ties with India and new agreements with China in recent months may have given that impression. But China does not want to turn Nepal against India. I have been speaking to top Chinese officials for 10 years now and they have always maintained that we should have good ties with India. The Chinese interest was in Tibet, which shares a long border with Nepal, and that is why it keenly watched Nepali politics and the role of foreign powers here. Chinas main concern is not India here. It is western powers, he said. Prachanda cleared another perception that Beijings role in domestic politics had increased. No one should get involved in micromanaging affairs in Nepal, he said. An impression may have gained ground, he said, because he changed his mind about withdrawing support to Oli in May and remained with the government. Many people suspected Chinese pressure. He clarified: The Chinese preference was for Left unity, but there wasnt any major pressure. Nepalese Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as Prachanda, (C), leaves the Parliament building in Kathmandu on July 24, 2016. (AFP) Madhes roadmap Prachanda laid out, for the first time, a two-phase roadmap to address Madhesi grievances. He said the first point of his seven-point understanding with the NC was about addressing aspirations of marginalised communities, including on the question of federal demarcation, having result oriented talks, reaching a political agreement and amending the Constitution. The Madhesi parties of the Terai region, contiguous with India, voted with Prachanda against Oli, and will support the new government. The Maoist leader recalled that he had recently gone to a Madhesi protest and felt he had returned home. I led these issues. We established it. I have no problem understanding it. I helped create that psychology. I think my move has already made the marginalised communities enthusiastic. Prachanda said certain issues could be addressed through the cabinet, including compensation to the dead, taking care of the wounded, releasing prisoners, withdrawal of political cases. We will do it unilaterally. He did not see any problems in revising citizenship provisions and ensuring proportional representation. Madhesi parties want foreign women married to Nepali men to get immediate citizenship. On the issue of demarcation, as PM, I have to bring all sides, including NC and UML. Here, we will have to look for a middle path. The first step, of amending some federal boundaries, can address the demands partly. This can create grounds for Madhesi parties to participate in elections. The next phase can address the other demands around boundaries. He did not spell it out, but the Maoist chairman hinted at the possibility that hill districts can be removed from a western Terai province in the first phase. This was politically easier to accomplish. But incorporating five other districts in the east and west may have to wait. No blanket amnesty A key issue that remains incomplete in the peace process is justice and reconciliation. Prachanda is often reported to be insecure about his own future and that of his cadre. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission has begun work, but there are obstacles. When asked what was holding it up, Prachanda said: The first issue is of principle. Should war cases be treated under criminal law or a special transitional justice process? Our peace accord is clear; all cases must go to the TRC and Disappearances Commission. Maoists want a law which will ensure this, to override a Supreme Court judgment which allows cases already in courts to be pursued there. Was he seeking blanket amnesty for all crimes that would be dealt by the TRC, as many in the human rights community suspect? No. We have never asked for blanket amnesty. We are not saying forget and forgive. If there are serious crimes, they can be prosecuted. This can be in representative cases both when violations were committed by us and by the state security forces. This, Prachanda said, would be a symbolic measure, as the focus should be on reconciliation. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Congress MP KVP Ramchandra Rao today moved a breach of privilege notice against Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi for allegedly letting ruling members go into the well of the House and disrupt proceedings. During Zero Hour, Rao said he has given a notice under Rules 187 and 188 against Naqvi for allegedly allowing BJP members to troop into the well of the Rajya Sabha on Friday to stall proceedings and thus committing a breach of privilege. Rao was piloting a private members bill for implementation of a special package for Andhra Pradesh, which got stalled due to ruckus created by the ruling side over the controversial filming of Parliament by AAP MP Bhagwant Mann. The House was the adjourned for the day and the bill was not taken up. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said Raos notice has been received and it will be examined by the Chairman who will convey a decision on it. Congress had yesterday threatened not to cooperate with the government on legislative business unless the private members bill on special package for Andhra Pradesh was taken up, while several other parties including the TDP and CPI(M) strongly objected to the disruption by the BJP. Curfew was lifted on Tuesday from most parts of Kashmir, except South Kashmir, after 17 days of unrest in the Valley in which 48 people were killed in clashes following killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. There will be no restrictions in any part of district Srinagar on 26 July 2016, said Dr Farooq Ahmad Lone, district magistrate, Srinagar. A police official however said that the restrictions will continue in South Kashmir. Curfew was imposed across Kashmir on July 9, a day after killing of Wani in an encounter in south Kashmirs Kokernag area, as a precautionary measure. However, violent clashes between protestors and security forces saw 48 people, including two policemen killed. Over 2,000 civilians were also wounded in the ensuing violence. Mobile telephony, mobile internet services and train services remained suspended for 18th day while schools, colleges and other educational institutions also remained closed due to a strike called by the separatist groups. Read| CRPF fired more than 2000 pellet cartridges in Kashmir after Wanis death Normal vehicular movement is expected later in the day as separatists have asked people to resume work after 2 pm. However, the separatists called for three days of shutdown from Wednesday to July 29. They have issued a call to residents to march towards south Kashmirs Kulgam district and Srinagars Jamia Masjid on Wednesday and Friday respectively. Read| Feel sorry for people injured by pellet guns in Kashmir, says CRPF (With PTI inputs) Wife of expelled BJP leader Dayashankar Singh, Swati Singh, was admitted to a hospital on Tuesday after she complained of fever, low blood pressure and severe pain in her spine. The Bharatiya Janata Party expelled Singh, who triggered a storm after comparing BSP chief Mayawati to a prostitute, from his post of the vice-president of partys state unit for six years. But BSP leaders protesting against Singhs remark retaliated with remarks directed at the Singhs minor daughter, wife and his mother. BSP national general secretary Siddiqui and other party workers allegedly demanded that Dayashankars wife and daughter her be presented before them. She took on BSP leaders for making the indecent remarks against her and her 12-year-old daughter. Her mother-in-law Tetra Devi lodged an FIR against BSP chief Mayawati and three other senior BSP leaders, including partys national general secretary Naseemuddin Siddiqui, at Hazratganj police station last Friday. The controversy has put her under acute mental pressure. She has not able to sleep properly for the last one week as she is concerned about her familys security, Puneet Singh, Swatis brother, said. He said that his sister was apprehensive that the BSP supporters might cause harm to her family. Swati, who married Dayashankar in 2001, has remained out of the political limelight so far. But, she put BSP leaders on the back foot by saying she was not defending her husband but was fighting for her daughter. A commerce graduate and an MBA from a reputed college in Allahabad, Swati is a qualified lawyer with a post-graduate degree in law. The couple has two children. Police secured an arrest warrant on Monday against Dayashankar from the court of a special judge. Police teams have left for Ballia, Gorakhpur and Mau in search of Singh, who has been absconding since July 19. An FIR was lodged against Singh and police carried out raids at his Lucknow and Ballia residences to arrest him. Singhs controversial statement evoked sharp criticism from the BSP and the issue rocked Parliament. Which are the cleanest villages in India? How many of them manage their solid and liquid waste effectively? Answers to these and more will form the basis of the first ever cleanliness survey aimed at ranking over 6.5 lakh villages in the country. Being conducted by the ministry of drinking water and sanitation, which implements Prime Minister Narendra Modis ambitious Swachh Bharat Mission in rural areas, the survey will roll out from August 15 across the country. An index of village cleanliness is being finalised based on which they will be ranked. There will be three broad parameters visual cleanliness of villages, if they are open-defecation free and how effectively they are managing their solid and liquid waste, said Parmeshwaram Iyer, the ministry secretary. The respective gram sabha functionaries will carry out the survey of the village swachhta along with state government officials, and the first result will be out October, an official said. So far, of the over 6.5 lakh villages in 677 districts, only about 60,000 villages across 16 districts have been declared open-defecation free. According to the 2011 Census, 67% of the rural households in India are without toilet. Under the Swachh Bharat Mission launched in October 2014 to make India clean and open defecation free by 2019, the government intends to build 12 crore toilets in rural settlements and 1.04 crore toilets in urban ones. The total budget of Rs 1.96 lakh crore has been allocated till 2019. In February 2015, a similar survey was conducted by the Union urban development ministry, spanning 476 cities and municipalities. Karnatakas Mysuru was found to be the cleanest city while Dhanbad in Jharkhand the filthiest. The ministry is implementing the urban leg of the program. A World Bank report on Economic impacts of inadequate sanitation, released in December 2010, had estimated that the total annual economic impact amounted to Rs 2.4 trillion in 2006, equivalent to 6.4 % of the gross domestic product. The per capita annual impact on account of poor sanitation in India was calculated at Rs 2,180, which is much higher as compared to some of smaller South Asian countries such as Vietnam, where the annual per capita losses due to poor sanitation facilities is Rs 421 (US$9.3), and Rs 761 (US$16.8) in the Philippines. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The capture of Tiger Hill signaled Indias victory in the short but sharp war between India and Pakistan over the icy heights of Kargil. It came at the end of a three-month-long battle that was initially marred by utter confusion. Unit after army unit had been pushed up the rugged heights with no clear instructions of the task at hand. The division headquartered in Kargil didnt know the extent of the intrusion. The corps headquartered in Srinagar was clueless and the then army chief, General VP Malik was in Poland. Some rats have come in. Throw them out, is what commanding officers were being told by the Kargil Brigade. In Delhi, then defence minister George Fernandes announced grandly that the infiltrators would be evicted in 48 hours. But the men on the ground knew there was something terribly wrong. Saurabh Kalia, a young army officer who went on a reconnaissance, never returned. His mutilated body was handed over by Pakistan. Other young men lay injured in the snow for over 48 hours because helicopters couldnt fly in for casualty evacuation. The intruders had the advantage of height and fired artillery shells with precision. The men on the ground finally realised the rats were not ordinary infiltrators but trained Pakistani army regulars who had set up bunkers and dug their heels in for a long haul. I was one among many journalists in the war theatre but fortunate enough to be stationed with 18 Grenadiers and 8 Sikh, the two units that were involved in the final assault on Tiger Hill. Its capture was a psychological and strategic victory but the Indian flag that finally fluttered atop this barren height was a testimony to what only the young officers knew: it was one of the fiercest fights in the Kargil operation. The enemy fought like tigers to retain it, but even while our men were in the midst of this battle, defence minister George Fernandes, announced the capture of Tiger Hill, an officer involved with the operations recalled, as he and the others pieced together the finite details of the battle. Indian Army soldiers at a gun post during the Kargil war on September 20, 1998 . (Pradeep Bhatia/ HT file photo) When the announcement was made, the peak, Tiger Top, was still in the hands of the enemy. The peak had not been recaptured. The troops of 18 Grenadiers--tasked to capture the top--were still short of the pinnacle. Two young, courageous officers, Lt Balwan and Capt Sachin Nimbalkar were at the very time, making repeated attempts to dislodge the intruders from Tiger Top. They were still fifty metres short of the peak when the message was conveyed to Brigade Headquarters: they are short of the Top. The message went up the line: through Srinagar and Udhampur to Delhi. Somewhere along the way, it became, They are on Tiger Top. The defence minister was told of this great victory while he was addressing a public meeting in Punjab. But up on the treacherous slopes leading to the Top, the battle still raged. The troops had struggled all night to make their way up a slope, using ropes to haul themselves forward, their guns tied to their backs. The lead party comprising six soldiers was hanging precariously to one side of a cliff. Craning their necks, they saw six of the Pakistani intruders. They had spotted the Indian soldiers too and had immediately opened fire and a cloud of smoke cut them off from the Top. Of the six soldiers, only one, Yoginder Yadav survived with bullet injuries. He tied his broken arm to his belt I was later told and continued firing. The fatalities meant, another assault had to be launched. Troops moved up the slope once again and 23-year-old Nimbalkar suddenly turning religious, muttering prayers for their success. Nimbalkar codenamed Sholapur after the Maharashtra town he came from led the assult. His men were able to reach the Top with minimum noise and the silence of their assault had taken the enemy by surprise. Within minutes, they captured the first of the seven to eight bunkers located on Tiger Hill. The assault team stormed the bunkers and as one of them recalled later, We were too close to the enemy for anything but a hand to hand combat. The enemy no longer had the advantage of height and it was every man for himself. The jawans fought like men possessed. The sounds of close combat of gunfire, of grenades exploding gripped the heights. After what seemed like hours of fierce fighting, Tiger Top was ours. Portions of Tiger Hill were still occupied by the enemy. The troops heard the echo of cheers from down below. The radio operator had conveyed the news of the victory. There would be no embarrassment for the defence minister now. On Tiger Hill, 8 Sikh troops were meeting with stiff resistance and one of the heaviest firefights of Operation Vijay ensued. An officer radioed a message saying it was difficult for him and his men to survive. There was nowhere to hide; no boulders to crouch behind. They had to innovate and they did. Read it in the words of the officer, We picked up the bodies of ten Pakistani intruders we had just killed and used them as human shields. Come shoot your own men, we screamed, and charged forward. We had to keep the momentum going. To stop now would have meant giving them a chance to regroup. They began retreating and finally as dusk started to fall in the mountains, the last intruder fled. Tiger Hill was ours. The tricolour was flapping in the icy wind. As the ministers rejoiced, the troops came back, to mourn their dead colleagues and collapse in exhaustion. (The author wrote a book on Kargil and tweets as @shammybaweja). (This story was first published in July 2016 .) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Tina Dabi, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) topper in 2015, will serve in Rajasthan, not her first choice Haryana. The government has allocated Dabi and her two colleagues - Athar Aamir Ul Shafi Khan and Jasmeet Singh Sandhu - who came second and third in the civil services examination, to the Rajasthan cadre of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). Dabi had hoped for a posting in Haryana where she wanted to focus on womens empowerment. We all know the sex ratio of girl and boy child is quite less and that is why I would like to contribute my efforts for the empowerment of women there (in Haryana), an elated Dabi had told reporters hours after the UPSC announced the results in May. Read: UPSC marks disclosed: Civil services topper Tina Dabi got 52.49% According to the 2011 census, Haryana had a sex ratio of 879 females to every 1000 males against a national average of 943. Dabi, who has passionately spoken of gender equality, however, can still make her mark in Rajasthan, a state that has a better sex ratio (923) than Haryana but is still below the national average. But the bright political science graduate from Delhis Lady Sri Ram College isnt the only topper who didnt get her choice of cadre. Son of a school teacher from Anantnag district in Jammu and Kashmir, Athar Aamir Ul Shafi Khan too wanted to serve his state. Quite like Shah Faesal, the first Kashmiri to top the exam in 2009. But a good rank is no guarantee. A high rank may ensure that candidates who crack the examination only one in over 400 aspirants clear the three-stage civil services test get the civil service of their choice. But there is no assurance that they would be posted to their preferred state. Read: UPSC topper scored less than 59 others in personality test The allocation of the cadre a state or a group of small states and union territories is a complex process that depends not just on the candidates rank, but also the vacancies, quotas and whether the candidate hails from the same state (and so, is an Insider) or from a different state (and thus, is an Outsider). Each state cadre has to have two outsiders for every insider officer. Dabi did not stand a chance to of being allocated the Haryana cadre because there were only two vacancies in the state. And both were for scheduled tribe candidates while Dabi is from a scheduled caste. Khan too could not get his home cadre because the two vacancies in Jammu and Kashmir were earmarked for Outsiders, one was an general slot and the second, reserved for an OBC candidate. As a result, the two officers allocated the J&K cadre were those who figured much lower in the pecking order; Ashish Dahiya of Delhi who got the 53rd rank and Suse Shrikant Balasaheb of Maharashtra, an OBC candidate who ranked 400. Read: Didnt force Tina to take science despite top grade: UPSC toppers mom SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Borough of Carlisle officials continue to move forward with efforts to fill two key positions. Borough Manager Matt Candland said officials recently held the first round of interviews for the open assistant borough manager position. The position opened up after Debra Figueroa resigned on June 3 to accept a position as city manager in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Candland said about 70 applications were reviewed for the position. A decision is likely by the end of this week. Candland said the borough has yet to hold interviews for the vacant chief of police position, which has been vacant since March 11 when Stephen Margeson retired from the Carlisle Police Department after 40 years on the job. After Margeson resigned, Lt. Stephen Latshaw stepped in as the interim police chief until a permanent chief could be named. When asked whether Latshaw had applied for the position, Candland said the borough cant comment on that on the grounds of confidentiality for the candidates. So far, Candland said borough officials have reviewed more than 80 applications for the position. We anticipate early August for interviews, Candland said. A decision on the new chief of police is expected to be made by the middle or end of August, according to Candland. An international tribunal has ruled that the Indian government had acted unfairly and inequitably in annulling a contract between Bengaluru-based multimedia firm Devas and ISROs commercial arm Antrix, making it liable to pay financial compensation. A Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) tribunal based in the Hague has found that the Indian governments actions in annulling the contract and denying Devas commercial use of S-band spectrum constituted an expropriation, Devas Multimedia Private Ltd. said in Bengaluru. In its ruling on Monday, the PCA tribunal also found that India breached its treaty commitments to accord fair and equitable treatment to Devass foreign investors, the company said in a statement. The PCA regularly administers cases involving states, including investment treaty claims brought under arbitration rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). ISRO officials in Bengaluru said they were yet to get details of the development. The ruling is the second by an international tribunal arising out of the cancellation of the Devas-Antrix contract. The unanimous decision included the arbitrator appointed to the tribunal by India, Devas said. In September 2015, in a jolt to Antrix, the International Chamber of Commerces (ICC) arbitration body International Court of Arbitration had asked it to pay damages worth USD 672 million (Rs 4,432 crore then) to Devas Multimedia for unlawfully terminating the deal five years ago on grounds of national security. The tribunal then had noted that Antrix had no legal justification to terminate the agreement and that Dr K R Radhakrishnan, who at the time of annulment, was Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman of ISRO, Antrix and the Space Commission, could have prevented the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) from approving the annulment. CCS had annulled the deal based on the recommendation of the Space Commission on the ground that it was not in the security interests of the country. The UPA governments action had come months after the Comptroller and Auditor General of India came out with a report on the 2G scam that had estimated a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore due to flawed spectrum allocation process. Under the deal signed in 2005, Antrix was to provide 70 MHz of the scarce S-Band wavelength to Devas for its digital multimedia services by leasing 90 per cent of the transponders in ISROs GSAT-6 and GSAT-6A satellites. Devas, in turn, was to pay Antrix a total of USD 300 million over 12 years. With this PCA award, two international tribunals have now unanimously agreed that financial compensation should be paid after the annulment of Devass rights, said Devas Chairman Lawrence Babbio, former vice chairman of Verizon, the largest telecommunications company in the United States. Other courts in France and the United Kingdom have agreed that the award against Antrix ought to be enforced. We prefer a mutually agreeable resolution of this matter. But until that occurs, Devas and its investors will continue to press their claims before international tribunals and in courts around the world, he said. Irom Sharmilas sudden decision to end her 16-year-old hunger strike against AFSPA next month has taken everyone by surprise, including her family members and close associates. Iroms elder brother Singhajit, who has been with her throughout her struggle said he never knew she was going to terminate her fast. I havent spoken to her in the last few days due to my bad health. I heard it from others about her decision, he told a news agency. Sharmilas long-time associate Babloo Loitongbam, Director of NGO Human Rights Alert Manipur, said he too was taken by surprise but can understand the reason behind her decision. If AFSPA has not been repealed in 15 years of her fast then it wont happen in another 30 years also, he said while admitting that he too was not informed about her decision. In Delhi, Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan said: We welcome Irom Sharmilas decision to end her fast. Fasting is a Gandhian way of protesting, but life is equally precious. If she steps into electoral politics she would play a useful role in the democratic process. CPI(M) central committee member Nilotpal Basu also welcomed her decision. We also hope that as a peoples representative she will have moral authority and courage to make a difference in the life of Manipuris, Basu added. However, some activists have raised serious questions about Sharmilas judgement on the issue. If the intention was to contest election why did she go on hunger strike for 16 years. Her strike did little except for raising awareness about AFSA. She could have negotiated with the government on repealing AFSA earlier instead of continuing with her hunger strike. Not only the continuation of strike was an error of judgement, so is the decision to contest elections, said Suhas Chakma of the Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR). In 2000 when the activist embarked on her hunger strike, she also had taken a vow to neither enter her house nor meet her mother till the government repealed the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. Since then, she has met her mother Sakhi Devi only once when she was also admitted to the same hospital in 2009. Her brother recalled that during the early years of her fast he regularly tried to convince her to end it. But she never listened to me. Finally I gave up and promised that I will be with her throughout her struggle. She used to say that she will break her fast only when they removeAFSPA. That was her promise, Singhajit said. Nobody is sure what prompted her to take the decision. Her associates say her British boyfriend may have played a crucial role in ensuring that she breaks her fast. But it is also her frustration at the government for not listening to the demands of the people. So she is changing her path from activism to politics. Her goal remains the same -revocation of AFSPA, another associate said. A team of her associates is planning to go and meet her at the government-run hospital, where she is forcibly nose-fed to keep her alive to discuss the future course of action. Sharmilas struggle has been at the heart of all protests against repel of AFSPA in the Manipur and the neighbouring North-eastern states. With inputs from agencies The Jharkhand anti-terrorist squad (ATS) has filed a charge sheet against one Ahmad Masood Akram Sheikh alias Monu, a suspected operative of al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), who was arrested by the city police from his residence in Razzaq Colony in Dhatkidih on January 25. Sheikh is currently lodged in Ghaghidih Central Jail in the city, along with fellow accused Naseem Akhtar alias Raju who was arrested from Azadnagar the same day. In its first ever charge sheet filed at the court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) in Jamshedpur, the ATS said there are 26 suspected AQIS active operatives in Jharkhand. According to the ATS, eight of these 26 are from Jamshedpur. The court granted the ATS the time it sought investigate the terror network. The ATS filed the charge sheet only against Masood. It also prayed for a 180-day extension of judicial custody for Abdul Rahman Ali Khan alias Abdur Rehman alias Maulana Mansoor alias Katki and Abdul Sami alias Ujjair alias Hassan, as they needed more time to investigate the network. The court granted their prayer, assistant public prosecutor Rajiv Kumar told HT. In their plea before the court, the ATS listed five-six key accused from Jamshedpur, Chatra, Lohardaga and Ranchi who are being tracked and investigated for terrorist activities, sources said. The development comes one and a half month after the Delhi Police had on June 10, chargesheeted 17 accused, 12 of whom are absconding, for allegedly conspiring, recruiting Indian youths and establishing a base AQIS. The Special Cell of Delhi Police charged the five arrested accused Mohd Asif, Zafar Masood, Mohd Abdul Rehman, Syed Anzar Shah and Abdul Sami for alleged offences under the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Among the 12 who are absconding according to the Delhi Police charge sheet are Abu Sufiyan from Chatra and brothers Zishan Ali and Arshiyan Ali who hail from Jamshedpur. The Ali brothers are related to the Glasgow bombers Kafil and Sabil Ahmad. The absconding 12 men have been charged with being in touch with terrorists from Pakistan, Iran and Turkey via social media and mobile phones, visiting these countries and financing AQIS and motivating the youth for jihad. Sami and Katki have reportedly told the ATS that Arshiyan is fighting with Islamic State in Syria, while Suifiyan is in Pakistan. The Ali brothers have been accused of routing finances to AQIS modules. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Irom Sharmila, whose 16-year hunger strike thrust rights abuses by Indian armed forces into public imagination, is set to end her fast, contest elections and, if everything goes to plan, also marry her Goan-British boyfriend. The 43-year-old has been campaigning to scrap a law that shields troops from prosecution, but on Tuesday she said her struggle had been lonely and unfruitful. This left her with little choice but to change my approach as I want to see success. In my 16 year of journey, I see no visible change except the routine detention, said Sharmila, speaking with her nose tube on that the authorities have used for years to force-feed her a sludgy mix of nutrients. She told reporters that she would eat again on August 9 -- ending probably what is the worlds longest hunger strike -- and contest assembly polls due next year as an independent candidate. Read | Here are 10 things to know about controversial legislation Afspa Sharmila stopped eating and drinking in 2000 after allegedly witnessing the army kill 10 people at a bus stop near her home in Manipur, which is subject to the controversial law that gives Indian forces sweeping powers to search, enter property and shoot on sight. My fight so far has been all alone and so I have decided to wage a war against the Act democratically by becoming a lawmaker instead of continuing with my fast, she told reporters, referring to the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA). From the days of Mahatma Gandhi to the more recent anti-corruption protests of Anna Hazare, India has a long history of activists using hunger strikes as a tool of protest. But Sharmilas fast caught global attention for its sheer duration. Read | Irom Sharmila has done the right thing by ending her fast Almost immediately after she began her fast she was arrested under a law that makes attempting suicide a crime, leading Amnesty International to call her a prisoner of conscience. She has been confined to a hospital ward in Manipurs capital, Imphal, and is force-fed via a plastic nasal drip several times a day. The controversial law, which traces its origins to a British-era ordinance used to suppress the Quit India Movement of 1942, is blamed by human rights groups for illegal killings and arbitrary detentions by security forces. The military denies misusing the law. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court dealt a blow to the armys immunity under a the law, saying it cant use excessive or retaliatory force even in troubled places, and agreed to an investigation into hundreds of alleged illegal killings by security forces in Manipur. Some of Sharmilas aides said her decision to call off her fast might have been influenced by her boyfriend, who is also an activist. She told a court, where she appeared on Tuesday in connection with her attempted suicide case, that she would like to marry. Sharmilas brother, Singhajit, said her family backed her new fight. Whatever she does we will support her as a family. Even our mother is hoping for the day when the act is abolished and Sharmila wins the cause she has been fighting for, Singhajit, who uses one name, said. (With agency inputs) Read | Irom Sharmilas family, friends surprised by her decision to end hunger strike Human rights activist Irom Chanu Sharmila on Tuesday said she was ending her fast-unto-death protest against the controversial Armed Forces Specials Powers Act (Afspa), and would instead contest elections in Manipur. Speaking to media outside the Imphal court, the 43-year-old announced her decision almost 16 years after she began her fast. I will break my fast as the government has failed to give any positive response... I will fight elections to resolve the issues, she told ANI. Known as the Iron Lady of Manipur, Sharmila began her non-violent protest in November 2000 after 10 people were killed by troops of the Assam Rifles near a bus stop at Malom, in the outskirt of Imphal. She was arrested under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code on charges of attempt to commit suicide, and held at a prison hospital where the government force-fed her through the nose for years. Read| Manipurs lost sons: Why Iroms fight against AFSPA is in 15th year Read | Sharmila is not allowed to die because her Santhara is political Read | Here are 10 things to know about controversial legislation Afspa The Afspa 1958 covers large parts of northeastern India and Kashmir, and gives security forces sweeping powers to search and shoot on sight. Seen by critics as a cover for human rights abuses, Sharmila was one of the strongest voices opposing the act. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court strongly rebuked the army, saying it cannot use excessive or retaliatory force even in troubled areas. With regards to Manipur, it said the situation was never a war-like threat to national security that warranted the act. The apex court further directed a thorough probe into the alleged fake encounter killings there. In March 2016, the Delhi court acquitted the Manipuri in a 2006 case filed against her for attempt to suicide after she held a fast-unto-death protest at Jantar Mantar. When she appeared in court for the matter in 2013, Sharmila expressed her desire to live a normal life and asked why the government was scared of giving her fundamental rights of a human being. I am just a simple woman who wants to follow the non-violent principle of Gandhiji, the father of the nation. Just treat us also like him and do not discriminate. As a leadership, dont be biased against a human being, she said at the time. Read | Manipur sees ray of hope in SC ruling on Afspa Read| In this field of war, I am crying for peace Even as the government is making fresh efforts to get the Kohinoor, the UK reiterated its position that there is no legal ground for the restitution of the precious diamond to India. It is our long-held position We think there are no legal grounds for the restitution of the Kohinoor, Alok Sharma, Britains newly-appointed minister in the foreign and commonwealth office responsible for Asia and the Pacific, said on Tuesday. The NDA government held a high-level meeting last week on the restitution of the diamond, gearing up to make a fresh pitch for it. Sharma is the most senior functionary of the new British government to visit India and he held meetings with a host of Indian ministers and officials. Sharma said the two governments are in touch on the matter of streamlining the extradition process. There are 13 extradition requests pending before the UK from India. He said India is a valued strategic partner of the United Kingdom spoke at length about the strength of the relationship. Sharma earlier served as special envoy of former PM David Cameron on infrastructure to India. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Indian Army does not have any plans for inducting women in combat roles, defence minister Manohar Parrikar informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. Presently, there is no proposal to raise a womens combat unit in the army, Parrikar said in his written reply. He also said there is no gender discrimination in the army. There is no gender discrimination in the armed forces as the working conditions, promotion prospects, pay and allowances and service conditions of women officers are same as those of the male officers, he said. Last week, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha to a question of inducting women in combat roles in the armed forces, Parrikar had mentioned the induction of three women Short Service Commission Officers as fighter pilots in the Indian Air Force. He reiterated that it was an experimental entry scheme, and will be valid for five years from the date of issue of government of India letter dated December 2, 2015. Further possibilities are being examined, the minister said. President Pranab Mukherjee, in his speech to the joint sitting of Parliaments two houses at the beginning of the 2016 budget session, said the government will soon be allowing women in combat streams in all three armed forces. My government has approved the induction of women as short service commission officers and as fighter pilots in the Indian Air Force. In the future, my government will induct women in all the fighter streams of our armed forces, President Mukherjee had said. At present, the army has 1,514 women officers, the navy has 439, and the air force has 1,584 women officers. The number totals 3,537. A high-level committee headed by Niti Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya is proposing scrapping of Medical Council of India (MCI) and replacing it with the National Medical Commission (NMC). Besides Panagariya, the panel, which is looking into the issue of poor regulation of medical education by MCI, includes Prime Ministers additional principal secretary PK Mishra, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and health secretary Bhahanu Pratap Sharma. The committee has firmed up its decision to scrap the MCI and replace it with the NMC, which will take over all its responsibilities. The main objective behind this is to end the inspector raj in the medical field in the country, a senior government official said. NMC will become the main regulatory body and will take over all roles and responsibilities of the MCI, he said. Another important aspect is that the new body will have eminent doctors and experts from related fields to suggest the direction that should be given to medical education in the country so as to ensure that the quality of education is at par with global standards, the official added. The committee has met and held detailed discussions on how to create a world-class professional structure of the new body. Consultations were held with eminent doctors, office holders of the MCI, former health secretaries and medical officers from the states, he said. Confirming the development, another senior government official said that the work on the restructuring is more than half way through on the draft. The biggest change will be that in the existing MCI, the members are elected and it has created the biggest problem as eminent doctors did not get a chance to participate in workings of the MCI, the official said. Another suggestion that the high-level panel is making is that the regulators in the new body will be selected and will not be elected. This selection will be done by a high level Search-cum-Selection committee, which will be a transparent process and will work on bringing the best. NMC will have around 19-20 members and their tenure will be about five years. It will also have members from other fields such as economics, law, etc in a bid to inculcate more professionalism in the body, he said. It will have a chairman as well as there will be four boards -- Under Graduate Medical Board, Post Graduate Medical Board, Accreditation and Assessment Board and a board for registration of medical colleges and monitoring ethics in the profession, the official said. These boards will be given autonomy and they will work on the fields for which they are formed. For someone whose cowvalued at Rs 20,000was killed by a tiger in August 2015, Mahadeva Gowda is calm, as is Shiva Murthy, whose sugarcane crop was trampled by elephants in July 2016, the fifth such pachyderm raid over the past year. Gowda and Murthy are the latest beneficiaries of a new programme called Wild Seve, or wild service, which deploys specially trained locals called field agents who hand-hold villagers to navigate formidable government compensation procedures. What once took up to 15 daysif farmers bothered to apply at allnow takes as little as four days. In doing so, Wild Severun by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), a nonprofit that works with the governments forest departments in 284 villages in Karnataka and Tamil Naduhelps soothe the tension and violence evident between Indias rising human population and falling population of wild animals. Earlier it was difficult to interact with villagers when there was wildlife conflict, as they used to get aggressive. From the time Wild Seve started, it has educated them about the importance of wildlife and sustainability, said a forest official, who asked not to be named, as he is not authorised to talk to the media. It has brought a sense of calmness in villagers while dealing with our department. In Murthys village of Chillakahalli and Gowdas Vadeyannapura on the bucolic outskirts of south Karnatakas largest national parkas on populated forest fringes nationwidehuman-animal conflicts are a growing issue, as IndiaSpend reported in May 2014. Gowda received Rs 9,000 as compensation for his cow, but he is satisfied. Previously, we had to pay money to get compensation, he said. First, we had to hire a photographer to take photos of crop raids or cattle kills. Then we had to travel by bus to the forest department, and there was no guarantee we would find them (officials). Farmer Mahadeva Gowda is seen standing next to the carcass of his cow, which was killed by a tiger in August 2015. Gowda is a beneficiary of a new programme called Wild Seve, or wild service, which deploys specially trained locals called field agents who hand-hold villagers to navigate formidable government compensation procedures. Murthy used Wild Seves toll-free number when elephants destroyed his sugarcane crop. Field agent Mahadevaswamywho also attended to Gowdas callinformed and brought along a forest official to validate and document the claim. Photos must be taken and official documents filled, all of which are handled by field agents. Mahadevaswamy said he gets a call a dayif not morefor crop raids and more occasional cattle or poultry kills. His jurisdiction extends to 70 villages within a 20-km radius of Bandipurs forests, and he attends to a call within eight hours of receiving it. Since its launch last year, Wild Seves team of seven field agents has helped file claims for 3,261 incidents of crop and property damage by elephants and other herbivores, 148 cases of livestock predation by big cats and wild dogs, 11 cases of injury and two human deaths. Of these, 2,998 toll-free calls came from Bandipur and 422 from Nagarahole. Until July 2016, nearly 1,000 families have either received or are about to receive compensation. The hope is that as villagers receive compensation for their losses quickly and clearly, they will be more willing to live with wildlife. The compensation is now coming in good time, and so it has built a sense of relief and confidence in us, Gowda said. Even if the crop is raided several times, we believe it will be compensated. In the absence of easy compensation, many species are attacked. There have been reports of villagers retaliating by poisoning tigers or forcing the government to shoot big cats. Krithi Karanth, the scientist behind Wild Seve In 2014, conservation scientist Krithi Karanth found that between 74% and 86% of households around five areas in Karnataka (Nagarhole, Bandipur, Dandeli, B R Hills, Bhadra) and one each in Madhya Pradesh (Kanha National Park) and Rajasthan (Ranthambore National Park) reported conflicts with wildlife. Her previous research found that less than a third of villagers who lost crops, livestock, property and family to such conflict received government compensation. Along with mitigation, compensation has a role to play, as conflict will continue to occur, said Karanth. My research showed that although people were trying multiple mitigation measuresfences, guarding fields, noise (firecrackers or drums)very few measures worked. Hence, the solutions have to include both pre- and post-conflict assistance to people. Using her data and research, Karanth, in July 2015, in collaboration with the WCS, launched Wild Seve, now running in 284 villages around Bandipur and its contiguous area in Tamil Nadu, the Nagarhole national park. Wild Seve is challenging because compensation procedures vary across forest ranges in Bandipur and Nagarhole. Some require a certificate from a veterinarian, confirming that cattle were indeed killed by wild animals. Others ask for proof of land ownership. Field agents now take care of these procedures, which often deterred villagers from seeking compensation. Recently, Wild Seve distributed identity cards with unique identification numbers to villagers who face repeated wildlife conflicts. Every conflict is now recorded against this number, building a conflict database, which allows easy tracking and follow-up of the compensation processes. Farmer Shiva Murthy receiving his unique identification number card from Wild Seves field co-ordinator Chikkaningaih and field agent Mahadevaswamy. Every conflict is now recorded against this number, building a conflict database, which allows easy tracking and follow-up of the compensation processes. Basically, Wild Seve has helped in simplifying the logistics and cutting down bureaucracy, said Ghanshyam Iyer, project coordinator of Wild Seve and a WCS member. Back in Chillakahalli village, near gently swaying saplings of sugarcane and cotton, women chat as they harvest tomatoes, aware that they share space with tigers, leopards, wild dogs and elephants and that, at some time, damage from visiting animals might set off a burdensome compensation process. As Gowda said, Now, all it takes is one phone call. (Padmanaban is a Bangalore-based journalist who reports on environment and energy.) IndiaSpend welcomes feedback. Please write to respond@indiaspend.org. IndiaSpend reserves the right to edit responses for language and grammar. This story was first published on IndiaSpend. Congress chief ministerial face in UP Sheila Dikshit on Monday expressed confidence that her party would spring a surprise in next years assembly elections in the state. She also expressed concern over the political ethics in UP, which she claimed was at its lowest ebb. The party will do well in the elections and it will surprise everyone, she said minutes after arriving in Kanpur to join the 27 Saal-UP Behaal yatra she left in Hapur on Saturday for health reasons. The support we have received in the course of this yatra is heartening and impressive, she said adding that the party was reaching out to the people and its visibility had improved much as compared to SP, BSP and BJP. The BJP finds itself relegated to the fourth spot just in a week after Congress entered the scene, said the three-time former Delhi chief minister. On the slugfest between the BJP and BSP over the Dayashankar Singh remark controversy, she said, The kind of discourse that has taken place in the aftermath has crushed civility. It is a new low. Congress has always opposed such politics. She admitted the Congress had weakened in last 27 years as a political entity in UP but said the time was changing. There was a time, she said, UP was considered a frontline state, which had industries and employment to give. It will be meaningless to speak about development in UP where governments can never find a solution to the power crisis. How can we talk about industrial development without addressing the energy issue, she said. Dikshit said development of the state and law and order issues would be the main focus of the party in the polls. On Priyanka Gandhis entry into UP poll scene, she said the party wanted her but it was a decision that she had to take. She said Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi would soon begin an aggressive campaign in UP. Asked about her bad health and that was being played out negatively, Dikshit said she doesnt feel old and frail. There are many people who are older than me and still doing politics, she said. A Carlisle man faces multiple charges after a vehicle and foot chase in the borough Saturday. Carlisle Police reported Tuesday that Terrance Maurice Ebo, 30, was charged with possession of a firearm prohibited, receiving stolen property, possessing a firearm with manufacturer number altered, firearms not to be carried without a license, fleeing police, recklessly endangering another person, resisting arrest and multiple traffic violations. Police said they attempted to stop a red Mercury Mariner at 9:57 p.m. Saturday in a parking lot off of the first block of East Locust Avenue. The driver, who was identified as Ebo, however, exited the parking lot and fled from police without turning on his headlights. Ebo led police on a chase that lasted a little more than half a mile, and it ended when he crashed into several parked vehicles in the 400 block of East Louther Street, police said. Ebo then fled on foot, attempting to scale a fence to get away from pursuing officers. Ebo did not obey commands from police and was subdued with a Taser, police said. Police found a stolen 9mm handgun in Ebos vehicle, and the handguns serial number had been partially filed off. Police also found marijuana packaged for sale and an amount of crack cocaine. Police said Ebo is a convicted felon who should not be in possession of a firearm. Ebo was arraigned and remains in Cumberland County Prison on $125,000 cash bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 3 p.m. Aug. 3 in front of Magisterial District Judge Paula Correal. Eight Humboldt penguins reached the Byculla zoo from Seoul, South Korea, in the wee hours of Tuesday, bringing the civic bodys Rs2.57-crore ambitious plan to reality. The Humboldt penguin is a south American species found in cold climate of coastal Peru and Chile. Officials from the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo said the three male, three female and two female baby Humboldt penguins reached the zoo around 4.30am. They reached the Mumbai international airport at midnight. The penguins were accompanied by a caretaker who will also train the zoo staff during the next three months. Officials said the penguins will be quarantined in a specially designed secluded space for a minimum of three months. The quarantined enclosure has been designed as per the climatic conditions where they are found, to make it easy for them to acclimatize to the change in location. These enclosures and quarantine have temperature controlled environment of 4-24 degrees Celsius. Watch: Humboldt penguins being transported from a refrigerated van to their quarantine in Byculla zoo Even as the penguins have arrived, visitors to the city zoo wont be able to see them before November, as a majority of the work on the enclosure is yet to be completed. This is first time in India penguins will be exhibited in zoo, said civic officials. Sudhir Naik, deputy municipal commissioner, in charge of this project, confirmed the arrival of penguins. He said, The penguins will be kept in a secluded area where they will not come in contact with any one. The caretaker, accompanying the penguins will be handling them with utmost care. The refrigerated van used to bring the penguins to the zoo. (Bhushan Koyande) Read more:Byculla Zoo not the place for Humboldt penguins: Activists While the quarantined space measures 250sqft , the exhibition area will be spread across an area of 1,550 sqft. The temporary structure will be a replica of the enclosure that will house the penguins, later this year. Animal lover and activist Anand Shiva, who is objecting to the move, said, We are shocked and surprised to hear this. The enclosures are not ready and the staff, too, is not trained to handle the penguins. How can they take such a risk without any preparation? The penguins need a different habitat. Shiva has challenged the zoo authorities to an open discussion on the issue, adding he would continue to protest against it. As part of the zoo modernization plan, the Shiv Sena-led civic body announced the introduction of the penguins to the zoo after the 2012 civic elections. The partys top leadership has been closely monitoring the construction of the zoo and other formalities to bring the penguins, keeping in mind the upcoming civic elections. In the past two months, Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray visited the zoo thrice to check the progress of work. An official from the zoo said, Penguins prefer three varieties of fish including Mackerel, Anchovies and Herrings, and will cumulatively need 7-8 kg of fish daily . The contractor has created a kitchen facility close to the quarantined section from where the maintenance staff can provide the food easily on a regular basis. The civic body has also planned to get biologists to train the train zoo staff. The BMC has appointed three separate firms for the project. An Australian agency called Oceanis has been given responsibility of taking care of penguins. Two other agencies-- SIVAT, a US-based company, and Hindustan Construction Company-- are designing and constructing the enclosure. After the BMCs contract with the three firms expires in 2021, the zoo staff will take care of the penguins. Six college students were killed when the car they were travelling in rammed into another vehicle and turned turtle on the Mumbai-Pune expressway early Tuesday morning. According to the police, the six students in their 20s were heading to Pune from Mumbai when their Maruti Suzuki Ciaz rammed into another vehicle near Pavana police chowky at Kamshet. The Ciaz was flipped on its top, killing four of them instantly. Two others died at the Lokmanya hospital at Nigdi while undergoing treatment, hospital sources said. Four of the deceased were identified as Aditya Bhandarkar, Yash Shirali, Akshay Bhilare, Abhishek Roy. Police said the mishap occurred after the driver lost control of his speeding vehicle. According to officials at the Kamshet police station, all of them were students at various college in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. Soon after Rohith Vemula, a research scholar at the Hyderabad Central University (HCU), had committed suicide in January this year, professor Prahlad Jogdand of Bombay University had told me this would be the last time Dalits would take it lying down. He had been discussing the fallout with various groups and he said, I can see that people are at the end of their tether. They are not going to stand for any nonsense anymore. Most of the experts I had spoken to then had been lamenting the lack of a credible leadership among these communities -- self-serving people had appropriated the movement to themselves and they worked at the behest of the mainstream political parties, not for the upliftment of their people but to serve their own interests and those of the the upper castes, they said. Prof Jogdand, however, was almost prophetic in his conviction that the Dalit movement no longer required any of these leaders. The people will rise on their own and demand their rights as equal citizens. At the time Vemulas friends at the HCU had thrown out Ramdas Athawale, now a Union minister in the Narendra Modi government, and Dr Bhalchandra Mungekar, a former member of the Planning Commission under the UPA, who had rushed to Hyderabad to offer their sympathies to Vemulas family. Prof Jogdand had cited that example as the reason for his optimism people had realised that such leaders were mere puppets of various ruling dispensations and they could no longer be fooled by such lip sympathy, he said. Under the circumstances, I believe, Prof Jogdand was almost prescient in neighbouring Gujarat where some Dalits were attacked and humiliated for doing just their jobs skinning dead cows I do not see any leadership of the movement. Yet, in district after district, Dalits have risen though it cannot yet be called an uprising as some have labelled it to assert themselves and their rights. Firstly, they have refused to skin dead animals any more. Moreover, they have been dumping cow carcasses at all government properties by the dozens creating a major spectacle and embarrassing the government no end. Even in Bombay when the trust running the Ambedkar Bhavan in Dadar unthinkingly brought down the building, where Dr BR Ambedkar used to run a printing press, for commercial exploitation of the land, Dalit assertion was overwhelming. The only time I had seen such a unified representation of their ire was when Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray was opposing the Maharashtra governments attempts to publish Dr Ambedkars collected works during his centenary. Among these was a volume titled Riddles of Hinduism, which raised some legitimate questions on Hindu myths related to discrimination against the lower castes like why should Dronacharya have sought Eklavyas thumb as guru dakshina and why should Lord Rama have listened to the priestly class in his kingdom and conducted a tapasya bhang of a lower caste so that the latter should not attain greater heights than the Brahmins. These are the reasons why Dr Ambedkar had concluded that Hinduism was not designed for liberty, fraternity and equality and so he wrote those values into the Indian Constitution. But something more was needed to equalise Dalits and soon he lit upon Buddhism in one fell swoop former untouchables became the equals of upper castes. They would no longer perform scavenging activities (like skinning dead cows) and Ambedkars followers took him seriously at his word to educate, organise and emancipate themselves. Aided by the principles of Buddhism, of course. No wonder, in recent weeks, as Dalit assertion rises, Bappa Rawal, the mouthpiece of the Rajasthan Vanwasi Kalyan Parishad, an RSS affiliate, has been raging against emperor Asoka, who popularised Buddhism in India and made it a tool of state craft, which the mouthpiece believed had endangered Hinduism. Not strictly true Hinduism, after all, still survives to this day and Hindus by far outnumber Buddhists or any other religions followers in this country. That is, if you include Dalits and OBCs in their ranks. But the fear is real, in view of the Gujarat incidents, that Dalits everywhere in the country might tear a leaf out of Dr Ambedkars book and take in large numbers to Buddhism to escape the poverty, untouchability, economic deprivation and discrimination that continues to dog them. After all Rohith Vemulas mother and brother did just that very recently. At the Ambedkar Bhavan. As Prof Jogdand told me, a new social churning has been unleashed in this country. This genie is not going back into its bottle. sanandan@hindustantimes.com SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: Controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik called himself a victim of media trial and promised to cooperate with any probe that the government agencies want to conduct against him. Naiks troubles started after it was reported that some of the accused in the July 1 Dhaka bakery attack that killed 20 people were influenced by his preachings. However, in a TV interview broadcast on Monday, Naik said he never supported terrorism and was, in fact, targeted by the media. I have heard many allegations against me in the Indian media... As far as being afraid is concerned... I am not afraid at all. So far, there has not been a single Indian government authority which has called me. Just because the media has labelled allegations against me... I am not going to come to India for a media trial, he told India Today news channel in Saudi Arabia. Naik also supported what he termed Prime Minister Narendra Modis efforts to improve relations between Hindus and Muslims and also between India and other Muslim countries. If PM Modi is trying to build harmony between Hindus and Muslims, I am all for it, Naik said, adding that Modi was the only Prime Minister who visited several Muslim countries in such a short span of time. Naik also questioned the use of Islamic State (IS) for describing the group that has taken over parts of Iraq and Syria. He said the group was basically Anti-Islamic State as it kills innocent people which is prohibited in Islam. The Quran says one who kills an innocent being, kills the entire humanity, said Naik. He said he never supported terrorism, whether it was in Dhaka, London or New York. Naik, who also runs Peace TV to broadcast his teachings around the world, said he was for Uniform Civil Code, provided it was fair. Lets have an objective panel and choose the best code. I believe the Islamic code is the best. I will argue on behalf of Islam, Naik told the channel. The government has launched a crackdown on Peace TV, asking cable operators not to broadcast it as it does not have a licence in India. The Gautam Budh Nagar district administration said on Tuesday that Noida will be carved out as a sub tehsil for better administration and residents convenience. At present, Noidas urban areas and 82 villages are part of the tehsil (administrative unit) office located in Greater Noidas Dadri, 40 km from Noida. Residents have to travel through congested areas to reach Dadri tehsil office for works such as plot mutation, land records, property verification, domicile certificate etc. We will prepare a proposal to carve out Noida as a sub tehsil of Dadri in the next few days and send it to the UP government in Lucknow for approval. It takes around 50 days to get approval for a sub tehsil, said Kumar Vinit, additional district magistrate (ADM) for administration, Gautam Budh Nagar district. Shivpal Yadav, UP irrigation and public works development (PWD) minister, had announced in Dadri on Monday that Noida would be made a tehsil. I had proposed to the government to make Noida a separate tehsil because Dadri is located far away. Why should people travel 40 km for getting all these works done in Dadri? The government agreed and the minister made the announcement. Now, Noida residents can comfortably get their work done in Noida itself, said Surendra Nagar, former MP from Noida and a Rajya Sabha member. However, Noida cannot be made a tehsil as it is not eligible for the same. One of the most important criteria to be eligible for a tehsil is the revenue that can be collected from agricultural activities. As Noida does not have adequate agricultural land, it cannot be made into a separate tehsil. Therefore, it will be carved out as a sub tehsil, said the ADM. The UP government has agreed to make Noida a sub tehsil as it is the window city of the state. Noida is a housing hub and buyers have to get land verification done in a tehsil office before buying property. Now, they can do it here, said Nagar. The sub tehsil office is expected to be opened in Sector 19 and a tehsildar-level officer will be posted at the office there to deal with the work. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A bank robber and serial murderer whose act of pumping 32 bullets into a rival gang leader, which inspired a similar scene in the film Gangs of Wasseypur, was finally nabbed during an attempted bank heist at Mahua, 25 km north of the district headquarters in the wee hours of Monday. Incidentally, Avinash, alias Amit Srivastava, 32, who confessed to have eliminated 20 rivals, including six of his fathers eight murderers, is the son of late ex-MLC, Lallan, alias Lala Srivastava, who was gunned down in Patna by the Pappu Khan gang in 2002. Avinash had pumped 32 bullets into Pappu Khan in one of the gruesome murders to date in Bihar crime history. Vaishali police, which got a tip off about Avinashs intentions of looting a branch of the Central bank at Harpur village despatched a patrol with alacrity and caught him in the act of boring into the cash chest after cutting through two shutters and grills at around 2 am on Monday. Three of his accomplices, noticing the polices sudden ingress, somehow managed to flee the place, Vaishali SP, Rakesh Kumar said, while terming Avinashs arrest as a major catch. Police said Avinash was fluent in English and Hindi and had done a masters in computer applications from New Delhi based Jamia Millia Islamia University. He was arrested red-handed while attempting the heist. Avinash is even credited with writing a book on The Maoist Jehanabad jail break during October 2005 polls, in which over 380 prisoners were freed. The book was sourced with first hand accounts of Maoists arrested after the incident and locked up in Beur Central jail in Patna, where Avinash shared a prison cell with them for some time. Kumar said Srivastava was also very IT savvy and even asked the SP to get details of his crime records from Google. Quoting Srivastavas confession, the SP said Srivastava planned to raid the bank to shore up cash to buy some sophisticated weapons on his list. Srivastava recalled the names of 14 out of 20 persons killed by him. He dresses tastefully in blue colured jeans and smart T-shirts, which he counts as being auspicious for him, the SP added. Police have recovered one 9mm pistol, 4 cartridges from Srivastavas possession, besides a motorbike, a red colored Scorpio used in the heist. Also recovered were a gas cutter, 17 cutter-blades, three packets of hand gloves, a drilling machine and a cell phone. Australian high commissioner to India, Harinder Sidhu, pitched for the civil-nuclear cooperation between the two countries, reiterating her countrys support to India for a seat in the nuclear suppliers group (NSG). Read more | Indias NSG bid: Too much diplomacy, too little action India is our (Australias) ninth largest trading partner and fifth largest export market with a mutual trade of (Australian) $20 billion in 2015, Sidhu, who joined as the Australian envoy in New Delhi earlier this year, told the media at the Chandigarh Press Club here. She said her objective was to keep this mutual trade rolling, besides exploring new areas, such as providing logistics support to the elite athletes of India for which a pact had been signed between the two countries. She acknowledged the reported immigration hassles that some Indian families faced. On stringent immigration laws for the parents of those who migrated on student visa or on work permit, she said the central government there (Australia) could not do in this regard much as such issues were mainly the subject of the respective states. Sidhu said the Australian police were now accustomed to the Indian culture and religions and were carrying out interactive programmes with the Asian communities on regular basis to counter racial attacks. Australia is the most beautiful destination (to work and to live in), she said in response to another query. Sidhu earlier called on Punjab agriculture minister Tota Singh, MLA from Moga. She said her ancestors were from Moga, but she was born in Singapore and brought up in Australia after her parents migrated there. The evenings this week in the city are abuzz with staging of plays by the Ajoka Theatre from Lahore. The ongoing Theatre for Peace festival has drawn a lot of attention, mainly because of the guests from Pakistan and their experiment with different genres of theatre. As the five-day festival progresses towards its second half, HT spoke to these artistes from across the border about their experiences in India and Pakistan. We were invited to Delhi for a festival in remembrance of Safdar Hashmi. We staged the play Eit (brick) in Delhi and it was a front page news, said Shahid Nadeem, who runs the theatre group with his wife Madeeha Gauhar. It was in 2004 that we brought Bulla to Punjab and it was a huge success. We were overwhelmed and people here were surprised as we were just like them with same language and legends. We travelled all the way to Kerala and Hyderabad after that, he said. There are few good theatres in Pakistan and we do not get any subsidy from the government. We feel we have a responsibility to give different flavours of theatre to the people in our country, said Madeeha. Madeeha says she finds Indian people supportive of artistes while she faces challenges in Pakistan. People here are warm and wonderful. They love theatre but we are not accepted easily in Pakistan, says Uzma Hassan, an upcoming television actor who feels like home in Chandigarh. In India people have respect for performing arts but in Pakistan we have to explain ourselves all the time. They often ask me aap kya kaam karte hain (what do you do) as if acting is not enough, said Nirwan, son of Madeeha and Nadeem. The couple is organising festivals like Humsaaya to bring theatre groups of both the countries on a single platform. Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Capt Amarinder Singh has said that wanton use of pellet guns by the CRPF against the protesters in Kashmir was unacceptable. Rubber bullets, he said, was a better option. He was talking to media on Tuesday after inducting Panjab University Students Council general secretary Rishi Bhardwaj, and Vinod Dahiya and Rohit Saini of the National Students Organisation into the Congress here. The function was organised by the National Students Union of India. Reacting to the CRPF DGP Durga Prasads statement that pellet guns will still be used, the Captain said they were proving lethal. We cant go on blinding our young boys no matter how much they provoke the security personnel. Young boys have been protesting and pelting stones at many places in the world even in Palestine, but they are not shot with the pellet guns, he said. Welcoming the student leaders into the party fold, Capt Amarinder said Punjabs future was in their hands. The party will give 35 tickets to the youth leaders, he said. Also read | Brar says will expose Captain; gets termed private detective of Jaitley The education department has decided to increase the reimbursement amount for admission of economically weaker section (EWS) students in Chandigarh by Rs 900 from the next academic session. The decision was taken during a meeting between director school education (DSE) Rubinderjit Singh Brar and representatives of private schools on Monday. Read more | Scholarship schemes for EWS, girl student: Chandigarh shows the way At present, an amount of Rs 750 per child is given as reimbursement to schools for enrolling the EWS children. The amount will be increased to around Rs 1,600 from next year, said Brar. But it is yet to be approved by a high-power committee constituted by the UT adviser. Once it is done, we will issue circulars. The committee comprises three senior officers education-cum-finance secretary Sarvjit Singh, Chandigarh Housing Board chairman Maninder Singh and transport secretary KK Jindal. Independent Schools Association president HS Mamik said, It was discussed during the meeting that the reimbursement amount will be increased to approximately Rs 1,700 from next session. Self-attesting of documents: Schools raise concern Mamik said he along with other private schoolheads also raised their concern over the recently announced self-attestation process for EWS admissions by deputy commissioner (DC). Schools are not supposed to verify their details. It is governments job. I have suggested time and again that the UT should do this with the help of its child mapping data as per the Right to Education (RTE), Mamik said. Brar said, Since we have not received any written order in this regard, we will assume that the EWS certificates will be prepared by the DC office/estate office. Saupins School director-principal ABS Sidhu said, How can the schools verify students details? What authority do they have to demand information? Are they expected to play detective now? SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The San Diego Comic-Con has become the place for major studios to announce or show off their upcoming projects, and while the convention was undercut last year by Disney moving Marvels announcements to the D23 convention and slightly overshadowed this year with Disney again opting to have Star Wars news announced at Star Wars Celebration a week before, Comic-Con still provided some new material for fans of movies, television and comics. And while there is the unusual announcement for dramas such as Oliver Stones Snowden, which had a panel this year most of the news coming out of Comic-Con is about movies falling in the science-fiction, fantasy and superhero genres. Given the popularity of superhero movies and comic book adaptations, this also happens to figure into the vast majority of blockbusters set to be released in the coming years. Of the numerous panels during this past weekends Comic-Con, there were quite a few announcements from studios regarding casting and first looks at movies set to be released this year and beyond. Here is a look at some of the movie news that came out of Comic-Con: Marvel Studios. Marvel returned to Comic-Con to give a spattering of news, including the casting of recent Academy Award winner Brie Larson in the title role of Captain Marvel and Danai Gurira (Michonne from The Walking Dead) joining the cast of Black Panther. The studio also revealed some new clips, including those from the first days of shooting on Thor: Ragnarok, as well as material from Spider-Man: Homecoming and Guardians of the Galaxy 2. The unfortunate news is that most of those will not be released online much like how the initial tease for Captain America: Civil War was not available for months after its premiere at D23. The only new public clip aside from its Netflix properties is a new trailer for Doctor Strange, which opens in November. DC. Unlike Marvel Studios, DC had no qualms about publicly sharing material from movies that would not premiere until next year. The studio released a new trailer for Wonder Woman set to be released in June 2017, as well as a lengthy tease to Justice League. Though Justice League wont be released until November 2017, the clips showed Ben Afflecks Batman and Gal Gadots Wonder Woman with new characters, The Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Cyborg (newcomer Ray Fisher), though did not show Henry Cavills return as Superman. The tease didnt necessarily reveal much about the plot, but it did show that Zack Snyder is dabbling in a little more comedy, mostly courtesy of Millers Flash. Movie monsters. Two well-known movie monsters that are actually scheduled for a new showdown in 2020 had some news come out of Comic-Con. The convention had a panel for Kong: Skull Island, which premiered the trailer starring Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson and John Goodman. The convention also featured news that Japans Godzilla: Resurgence, which premieres in Japan this Friday, will see a theatrical release in the United States, though that date has not been set. Both new versions of their classic movie monsters are the largest versions yet, with confirmed height for Godzilla and a towering presence for King Kong in the new trailer. Oh, the horror. Comic-Con also featured two horror movie panels, one on Lights Out, which opened this past weekend to rave reviews, and one that most thought was a new horror flick titled The Woods. The latter, however, turned out to be a sequel to The Blair Witch Project that had kept that association under wraps, even as the studio marketed the film for its Sept. 16 release date. Early reviews are promising, but the new trailer doesnt make it stand out too much from other found footage films. Sequels and where to find them. There was plenty of news on upcoming sequels, including the news that the Divergent sequel Ascendant would be a TV movie instead of being released in theaters. There arent many details aside from that, and the cast including Shailene Woodley who was present for the Snowden panel did not have much information on what that means for them. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. released its new trailer for Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them for those looking for another installment in the world of Harry Potter but cant make it to Londons West End for the new play. The trailer features plenty of new creatures and more of the cast in the movie set for release this November. Another trailer released at Comic-Con was Danny Boyles sequel to Trainspotting, which has a lot to prove as to why a sequel was necessarily needed for the cult film. The entire cast is back, though for some reason theyre branding it T2 an affront to any Terminator fan. Its a lot of news to take in over the course of a four-day weekend on the West Coast, but its always interesting to see and hear what studios want to reveal to the masses of fans at the convention. Based on the new trailers released at this year's Comic-Con, what movie are you most excited to see? Leave a comment or email me at ncreason@cumberlink.com. After struggling to get the central funds for the procurement of wheat and paddy in four consecutive crop seasons, the Punjab government proposes to form a special financial management cell to rid the state of cash-credit-limit (CCL) woes. Other than handling Rs 45,000-crore annual central grant for procurement, its mandate will be to end years of mismanagement of this money, which led the Centre to seek Rs 20,000 crore back and the state to resist. Pungrain (Punjab Grains Procurement Corporation) is the current nodal agency for disbursing the CCL to farmers. The proposed cell will take up with the Centre what we owe each other, said a food department officer. It is require because the stop-gap arrangement failed. The FMC, as it is already being called, will comprise experts from the food department and five state procurement agencies, possibly with a young IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer as head. It is expected to get functional by the paddy procurement starting October 1. As the financial mess is attributed to lack of coordination between procurement agencies, which are under different state departments (Pungrain and Punsup under food and supplies, Markfed under co-operation, and agro-industries and warehousing corporations under agriculture). The cell will track every rupee received from the Centre and every grain delivered to the Food Corporation of India for the public distribution system, said a top officer of the food department, not willing to be quoted until the council of ministers clears the mater. The cell will function under food department and the finance department will look at the feasibility before the proposal goes to the state cabinet. 25,000 cr sought for paddy procurement Expecting a bumper paddy crop (the five state agencies expect arrival of 140 lakh tonnes of grain in the markets), the state government is asking the Centre for a CCL of Rs 25,000 crore for its procurement. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Notorious gangster Davinder Bambiha alias Davinder Shooter who gave cops the slip on the wee hours of Sunday was booked for hatching a conspiracy to loot. Police seized the car of the accused that he abandoned during the police raid. Cops found three sets of fake number plates inside the car. Police is likely to take action against ex-sarpanch and nambardar Inderjit Singh for sheltering Bambiha. Assitant sub-inspector Mohan Lal, who is investigating the matter, said Bambiha along with his accomplices was at Inderjits house where they were planning a loot. Police raided the house early on Sunday morning but the accused managed to flee, he added. Bambiha is wanted for killing sarpanch Ravi Khwajke. He gunned down Khwajke on February 20 at a marriage function, pumping 14 bullets into his body. Bambiha is also an active Facebook user. Read more | Khwajke murder: killer flaunts achievement on Facebook Sadar police have registered a case under Sections 399 (making preparation to commit dacoity), 402 (assembling for purpose of committing dacoity) and 473 (making or possessing counterfeit seal, etc, with intent to commit forgery punishable otherwise) of the Indian Penal Code against Bambiha and his accomplices. With the entry of as many as 32 new patients a day after diarrhoea outbreak in three localities of Moga, the number of patients has risen to 61 at the Civil Hospital. Of 61 patients, three patients during preliminary treatment were found cholera positive, while the confirmation will come after the test report. Most of the patients were from same localities situated in Purana (Old) Moga including Khanne Ka Agwar, Kular Nagar, Preet Nagar and localities adjacent to them. Health authorities are blaming the strike by municipal corporation federation for the current state. The MC employees have been on strike since Wednesday and refused to lift the garbage dumps over the complaint by an RTI activist against their unqualified drivers. The rain this week has only made the situation worse. Moreover, the MC authorities have failed to keep a check on the illegal water connections which is also a major reason for water contamination that led to the supply of potable water mixed with the sewerage water. Waking after the outbreak, the MC authorities got lifted the strike with assurance to workers that they would get registered first information report (FIR) against the RTI activist. The MC team has also started disconnecting the illegal water connections from the affected areas while lifting garbage speedily from the whole city, which was dotted with the heaps of garbage dumps. On the other side, the health authorities have sent the water samples to the Chandigarh for a test, the report of which will come within two days. The health authorities have also installed two static outdoor patient departments (OPD) at worst affected areas including Khanne Ka Agwar and Preet Nagar while mobile team has been formed to tackle any emergency. Dr Naresh Gupta, district health officer (DHO) said that the situation was under control as so far no patient has come in critical condition. We have installed static OPDs, besides the ASHA workers have been deputed to distribute ORS sachets to that localities. We also appeal nearby residents to drink filter water or boiled water, he said. Meanwhile, due to unhygienic conditions at the civil hospital, most of the patients are preferring treatment at private hospitals and are shifting there. As many as 44 patients are still admitted in the civil hospital. Worst-hit Khanne Ka Agwar, Kular Nagar, Preet Nagari Action taken OPD set up in these parts Mobile team has been formed to tackle any emergency ASHA workers have been deputed to distribute ORS sachets in these localities. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The long-delayed challan (charge sheet) in the pesticide-scam case against former agriculture director Mangal Singh Sandhu was filed here on Monday. Filed in the court of additional sessions judge Parminder Pal Singh, the challan paves way for starting the trial. Bathinda senior superintendent of police (SSP) Swapan Sharma confirmed it. When challan against accused Vijay Kumar, Shubham Goyal, and Ankush was filed in May, police were waiting for the Punjab government to allow them to lay charges against Sandhu. Last week, the SSP said the permission had come. The FIR filed at Rama on September 2, 2015, mentioned that police had seized spurious pesticides from Vijay and Shubham, partners in fertiliser company Coromandel Crop Sciences. Later, they arrested Ankush as supplier. Vijay alleged he paid Sandhu Rs 8 lakh as bribe to ply his trade, after which the-then agriculture directors name was added to the FIR. Also read: Took all decisions with ministers nod, says ousted agri director In SAS Nagar, Sandhu was named in a case of Oberon-pesticide deal. Last October 4, Bathinda police arrested from Chandigarh in the Rama case. After the Punjab and Haryana high court granted Sandhu bail, he came out of jail in December 2015. Last year in Punjab, spurious pesticides allowed whitefly to ravage cotton crop over two-third of the total 4.5-lakh hectares. The total loss was Rs 4,000 crore, which triggered farmers suicides in the cotton belt. This year, fearing another pest attack, farmers planted cotton over just 2.56 lakh hectares. 3 agri officers sent to judicial custody A local court sent three agriculture department officers held with Rs 4.50 lakh on July 22 to judicial custody on Monday. Also read: No field visit, but extortionist agri officers had a field day Joint director Sarabjit Singh Kandhari and two agriculture development officers Vivek Shankar and Gurdyal Kumar were nabbed from a hotel here. Ex-agri joint director held The police have arrested former joint director of department of agriculture Nirankar Singh in connection with pesticide scam. Bathinda SSP Swapan Sharma said Nirankar Singh was arrested on Sunday night. He was sent to judicial custody by a Talwandi Sabo court on Monday. Nirankar is accused of giving license to pesticide firms against norms. A case under sections 420 and 186 (for cheating) of the Indian Penal Code, Prevention of Corruption Act, Essential Commodities Act, Khaad Control Act and Insecticides Act 1968 was registered at the Rama police station against four accused, including Vijay Kumar, Shubham Goyal, both pesticide dealers, Ankush, a pesticide supplier, and former director agriculture Mangal Singh Sandhu, in September last year. They were later arrested. A round of chitta (heroin) with friends in the night turned sinister for a drug peddler who was later hacked to death by the same people on the wee hours of Tuesday in Malakpur village. Angered by the poor quality of heroin supplied to them, his customers also left four of his family injured in their sleep. The deceased, Gurinder Singh alias Gindu, was a drug addict and supplier. He was already booked for drug peddling by Ladhowal police. The attackers smashed his head and chopped off his fingers. They also broke his leg with a sharp weapon. The 22-year-old was rushed to hospital where the doctors declared him dead. Also read | Facts, figures and falsehoods of Punjabs drug problem His mother Chinder Bai (42), wife Sandeep Kaur (26), aunt Jagir Kaur and cousin Laxman Singh have been admitted to the civil hospital. Laxman is paralysed. Sandeep said three of her husbands clients, who consumed chitta with him the night before, had a spat with him over money. They also complained about the quality of heroin sold to them and left the house. The three men returned at around 4am with four others in a car and motorbike and attacked us with sharp weapons, she said. The deceaseds father Hardeep is admitted to a de-addiction centre in Patiala. He is facing trial for drug peddling. Gurinder was taking care of the business in his absence. Assistant commissioner of police Surinder Mohan said, Gurinder was also booked for the rape and kidnapping of his own wife, on his father-in-laws complaint. She was allegedly kidnapped before they got married. They now have a three-year-old son. Must read | Chitta ve? Study shows Punjabi songs driving youth towards drugs Inspector Amarjit Singh, Haibowal police station house officer, said the family was infamous for dealing in heroin and poppy husk. The SHO further said a case of murder has been registered against seven unidentified persons. Police is investigating the matter, he added. Three-year-old hid under the bed Gurinders three-year-old nephew was also present when the incident happened. Varinder was sleeping beside his grandmother Chinder Bai who pushed him aside and asked him to hide under the bed. The boy did as he was told and escaped unhurt. The incident has left the child traumatised. Also read | Legalise opium, marijuana: Dr Gandhi to move bill in Parliament to change law SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A district court has directed the police to book a retired and two serving army officers for murder in a case of road rage that claimed the life of a Pathankot resident last year. Victim Anil Kapoor of Indira Colony had died on March 21, 2015, after he was allegedly pushed by the three accused when he tried to intervene in a quarrel they were having with a couple after their cars collided with each other. Cops had reached the spot at the time of the clash, and booked Brigadier Arun Kaistha (retired), his son Lieutenant Colonel Arjun Kaistha and son-in-law Major Rohit Palak under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. Pathankot station house officer Sukhjinder Singh had registered the case on the complaint of the victims friend Viney Kumar, who had accused the three of thrashing Anil Kapoor, leading to his death. Later, however, the police changed the charge to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, under Section 304 of the IPC, in absence of strong evidence, after which the victims family appealed in court, alleging involvement of high-ranking army officers. Ruling in favour of the victims family, the district court has now also issued summons to the three accused to be present in court for the next hearing on July 30. Reacting on the ruling, Mehak Kapoor, wife of the deceased, said she wants a stern punishment for the accused. She said another case, seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), is also pending in the Punjab and Haryana high court. It will come up for hearing on August 3, she said. A day after Navjot Singh Sidhu panned the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but stayed mum on reports of joining the Aam Aadmi party (AAP), the former MPs wife, Amritsar-East MLA Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, said he will clear the air in the next 10 days. She also repeated that leaving the Rajya Sabha seat means leaving the BJP; he will not go back to the BJP. Asked which party Sidhu will join, she said, Let him say that. Dr Sidhu was back in her constituency after meeting her husband in Delhi. She stressed that Sidhu was sidelined by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP. This was the only reason that he was unhappy and criticised the BJP on Monday, she said. I know that people want to know; and lots of speculations are done. But lets wait for Sidhu himself to announce his future course. He will do it in the next 10 days, she added. Asked about her earlier statement that she will follow Sidhu wherever he goes, she repeated the stand and said, Let him announce... then only I will do something. Navjot Singh Sidhu at a press conference in New Delhi on Monday, July 25. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo) To a question why Sidhu accepted the Rajya Sabha nomination if he wanted to work in Punjab, Dr Sidhu said, In the very first interview after the nomination, Sidhu had said that through Rajya Sabha he will work for Punjab. But if it took him away from Punjab, he will opt not going to the Rajya Sabha. Thats what happened when he was asked to stay away from Punjab he opted to leave it. She took a dig at the SAD saying, Akalis are saying so much about the AAP and him (Sidhu), that I will like to ask if the Akalis in constant touch with the AAP. Also read | Sidhus 6 sixes, in verse & wordplay: Slams BJP, shows love for Punjab Dr Sidhus score for SAD-BJP govt: 3 out of 10 Dr Navjot Sidhu, chief parliamentary secretary in the SAD-BJP government, said the people of Punjab are unhappy with the government because of its poor policies. Giving three on a scale of 10 to the SAD-BJP performance, she lauded the mohalla clinics being run by the AAP government in Delhi. Definitely, I like the concept by the AAP in Delhi, and our government failed to take such initiatives. Even basic infrastructure is missing at many places in Punjab. Must read | Sidhu will not be CM candidate, declare Punjab AAP leaders Thanks to all the hype, the Rajinikanth-starrer Kabali got off to a spectacular start becoming the biggest opener in India. However, the films Hindi-dubbed version was a no show. According to a DNA report, a source, while discussing the reason behind the poor performance, said, The reason Rajinis Tamil films dont do well when dubbed in Hindi is because they are very culture specific. Kabali is set in the Tamil community in Malaysia. The flavour, culture and dialogues are all particular to the Tamil community. It has been reported earlier that Bollywood biggie Amitabh Bachchan might do a full-fledged Hindi remake of Kabali. Now, many are asking if the poor performance of the Hindi dubbed version has a role to play behind the move. Read: Kabali has a different, definite ending in Malaysia A Rajinikanth fan displays body paint with a portrait of the actor on the first day of Kabalis release. (AFP) Speaking about Rajinikanths appeal, Bachchan said, Rajini is phenomenal. The largest, the best and truly the boss. Outside of Tamil Nadu, people have no idea what he is all about. The adulation, the following is incomparable. We are friends and colleagues. I abhor epithets, but for him I will make exceptions, for he is truly exceptional. Watch: How fans ace (or fail to do so) some of the classic Rajini-isms In the 1980s, many of Bachchans films such as Deewaar, Don and Namak Halal were remade into Tamil with Rajinikanth in the lead. So, if the Hindi remake of Kabali happens, then the things will be other way round for the first time. Read: Amitabh Bachchan to star in the Hindi remake of Rajinikanths Kabali? Many of Amitabh Bachchans hit films such as Don and Namak Halal were remade in Tamil with Rajinikanth as the lead. (Rajesh Kashyap/HT City) ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop Tamil superstar Rajinikanth on Tuesday expressed his gratitude to his fans, Kabali producer Kalaipuli S Thanu, director Pa Ranjith, theatre owners and distributors for the grand success of his latest outing. My heartfelt gratitude to all those who made Kabali a huge success. From my producer to director to fans and to the media, I thank each and every one of them, Rajinikanth said in a letter issued to the media. In the letter, he also wrote about his US sabbatical. Since I was working non-stop on Kabali, and Shankars 2.o, I was required to take mental and physical rest. Hence, I went on a two-month trip with daughter Aishwarya Dhanush, and during which time I had undergone a few medical tests, he said, and added that he feels revitalised and motivated now. Read: Will Kabali be actor Rajinikanths new touchstone? Rajinikanth visited the US with his daughter, Aishwarya. (Twitter) Read: Kabali review | Its a clash between signature styles of Rajinikanth, Ranjith Although Rajinikanth heard about the success of Kabali in the US, he said: To see and experience (it) in person gives me immense happiness. As on Tuesday, Kabali had grossed over Rs 200 crore worldwide. In the film, Rajinikanth plays a gangster who fights for equal pay rights for Tamils in Malaysia. ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop Rajinikanth-starrer Kabali opened to mixed reviews on Friday. While critics appreciated director Pa Ranjith for overpowering the star, Rajini fans are not too happy that Thailavar aint doing much to satiate their hunger for Rajini-antics. Rajinikanth and Radhika play husband-wife in Kabali. Other than Ranjiths subtle subtext of a voice against Dalit oppression in Malaysia, Kabalis female characters too stand out. While everyone is talking about Radhika Apte, the two other actors - Dhansika and Riythvika - who essay important roles in the movie also hold their ground in the film. Read: Kabali movie review Of course, we have seen stronger women in K Balanchanders Apoorva Raagangal (the 1975 film that marked Rajinis debut) and C Rudraiyaas Aval Appadithan (1978). However, Rajinis recent films like Enthiran (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) or Lingaa (Anushka Shetty and Sonakshi Sinha) had the women as mere showpieces who displayed no depth or strength. 1. via GIPHY Radhika Apte plays the fiery-yet-loving wife (Kumudhavalli alias Kumudha) of Kabali who orders him about, ticking him for his dressing and mannerisms. Towards the end, the scene where Rupa breaks down on seeing Kabali after 16 years is one of the best moments in the film. Radhikas eyes and her shrill screams are enough to give one goosebumps. 2. via GIPHY Riythvika is Meena - an orphan studying in a school funded by Kabali. Meena calls Kabali Papa and behaves like a doting, spoilt daughter around him. However, she does not hesitate to call the same man a coward when she realises he could not save a pregnant woman. Meena shouts at Kabali and the gangster seems visibly shaken to hear it all. Read: What does Kabali mean? Stop asking that, its blasphemy 3. via GIPHY The third and perhaps the most powerful female character in Ranjiths film is Dhansikas Yogi. She is a no-nonsense woman and well-trained to play independently in Malaysias gang war games. What warms up our heart is the fact that she has not been portrayed as a caricaturish hero in the process. Dhansikas body language and facial expressions are awe-inspiring. Follow the writer @swetakaushal Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Venice Critics Week will open with British director Alice Lowes drama, Prevenge. The Critics Week is similar to the Cannes Critics Week, and will run along with the Venice Film Festival -- August 31 to September 10. In Prevenge, which will have its world premiere on the Lido (the quaint little island off Venice where the festival takes place), Lowe herself will act as a heavily pregnant woman on a killing spree. The picture is supposed to have a comic strand as well. Lowe has been mainly known for her witty roles in the Garth Marenghi series, and in the 2012 movie, Sightseers. So, Prevenge will be an absolutely new kind of work for Lowe, a work that will have a liberal sprinkling of violence and vendetta in addition to humour. Read: Venice Film Festival to open with Hollywood musical La La Land The Critics Week will close with Xander Robins Are We Not Cats -- which was one of three genre titles to screen as a work-in-progress at the Cannes this year. The Critics Week will close with Xander Robins Are We Not Cats. (Venice Critics Week) Are We Not Cats is a peculiar story of a man who loses his job, girlfriend and apartment in a single day. And when he tries restarting his life, he meets a woman who shares his unusual compulsive habit - eating hair! The Critics Week -- dedicated to debut features -- will include seven titles from five continents. None from India, though! One of these seven will be the Iranian work, Drum, by Keywan Karimi -- who in October 2015 was sentenced to 223 lashes and six years in jail. This was subsequently reduced to one year. He was charged with criticism of the state. In one of his interviews, Karimi said that he was not afraid of being lashed, and that he would spend his time in prison writing a film script. Read: Jude Laws The Young Pope to premiere at Venice film fest The Critics Week website has this to say about Drum: The atmosphere is dreamlike, the characters have no name, neither the streets. Teheran is the only character whose name is constantly evoked. A lawyer, as many others, works and lives alone in his apartment, which is both his office and his home. In a cold and rainy day, a man burst into his apartment, speaks to him shortly and confusingly and gives him a package that will completely change his life. Of the seven films that form a part of the Venice Critics Week is the Iranian work, Drum. (Venice Critics Week) Iran is notorious for punishing cinema directors and other artists. Jafar Panahi is a classic case. He is now under house arrest of sorts in Teheran, and has been banned since 2010 from making movies. But this did not deter him from helming three films, one of which he smuggled in a pen-drive and hid it inside a cake The work titled, This is Not a Film, was screened at the 2011 Cannes. Panahis latest, Taxi, was part of the Berlin Film Festival in 2015, and this too was shot clandestinely, but with a touch of cocky guts. The work won the Golden Bear, Berlins top award. Read: Spectre director Sam Mendes to head 73rd Venice Film Festival jury As earlier reported, Spectre director Sam Mendes will chair this years Venice Competition jury. Assisting him will be American movie-maker Laurie Anderson, British actress Gemma Arterton, Italian screenwriter Giancarlo de Cataldo, German actress Nina Hoss, French actress Chiara Mastroianni, American director Joshua Oppenheimer, Venezuelan helmer Lorenzo Vigas, and Chinese star Zhao Wei. The festival will announce is complete list of films in Rome on July 28. Last year, Vetrimaarans fantastically powerful Tamil work about police brutality on migrant labourers from Tamil Nadu working in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh made a huge impact at Venice. In earlier years, Mani Ratnams Raavan/Raavanan (Hindi/Tamil) were shown at Venice, and many years ago in 2011, Mira Nairs evocative family drama, Monsoon Wedding, walked away with Venices top prize, Golden Lion. Will there be an Indian entry this year? Full List of Venice Critics Week: 1. Prevenge, Alice Lowe (United Kingdom) 2. Are We Not Cats, Xander Robin (USA) 3. Akher Wahed Fina / The Last Of Us, Ala Eddine Slim (Tunisia, Qatar, UAE, Libano) 4. Drum, Keywan Karimi (France, Iran) 5. Jours de France / Four Days In France by Jerome Reybaud (France) 6. Los nadie / The Nobodies, Juan Sebastian Mesa (Colombia) 7. Prank, Vincent Biron (Canada) 8. Singing In Graveyards, Bradley Liew (Malaysia, Philippines) 9. Le ultime cose, Irene Dionisio (Italy, Switzerland, France) ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop Four Indians have been detained by Malaysian authorities here for investigation after the seizure of more than 1,000 exotic turtles worth Rs 99 lakh during a sting operation. Natural resources and environment minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the Indian nationals were detained to assist in investigations. The seizure by the Wildlife Crime Unit was worth an estimated RM 600,000 (Rs 99 lakh). Wan Junaidi said two suspects were detained when a house in the suburb of Petaling Jaya was raided on Monday. A total of 1,011 star tortoises and 23 Indian roofed turtles were seized, he said. Two more suspects were picked from a budget hotel here on Tuesday. Wan Junaidi said enforcement officers found 36 black pond turtles in four bags. Checks showed all four suspects did not possess a licence from the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) to keep the reptiles. The suspects will be investigated under Section 68 of Malaysias Wildlife Protection Act of 2010 for keeping wildlife without a special permit. The offence carries a jail term of up to three years, a maximum fine of RM 100,000, or both. Bangladesh police raided a building in the capital on Tuesday and killed nine suspected militants possibly linked with the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), the countrys police chief said. One suspect was shot and arrested and was being treated in the state-run Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said inspector general of police AKM Shahidul Haque. Haque did not name the group the suspects belonged ,to but said their clothing and other evidence suggested they were members of the JMB, which was blamed for the July 1 attack on a cafe in Dhakas upscale Gulshan area. At least five gunmen killed 20 people, most of them foreign nationals from countries such as Italy, India and Japan, during that attack. A SWAT team stormed the five-storey building in Kalyanpur, police said, adding a search conducted within the structure after the raid ended at 6.51 am. Earlier, the militants intermittently exchanged fire with police through the night and shouted Allahu Akbar (God is great) as the neighbourhood was sealed off by hundreds of heavily armed policemen and personnel from the elite Rapid Action Battalion, officials said. The Daily Star newspaper reported the arrested man had been identified as Hasan and hailed from northern Bogra district. He reportedly told doctors at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where he was being treated for bullet injuries, that he used to cook for the nine other men living in the building. Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia told a news conference that primary evidence suggested the dead militants belonged to the group that was behind the July 1 attack on Holey Artisan Bakery. The dead men were aged between 20 and 25 years. Their photographs have been taken. We are working to identify them, Mia said. He described the operation as successful and said police recovered revolvers, 23 grenades, five kg of explosives, knives, a sword and two black flags. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack on Holey Artisan Bakery but Bangladeshi officials have blamed JMB for it. Bangladesh has been hit by a string of attacks by militants amid a political blame game that has further polarised the nation, with the Jamaat-e-Islami party being the central focus of the dispute. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and many of her senior ministers often blame the Jamaat and its partner, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by former premier Khaleda Zia, for the rise of militant activities in the Muslim-majority nation. The Jamaat has rejected these allegations. A Buddhist monk was sentenced Monday to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to embezzling more than $260,000 from the Louisiana temple he led and gambling most of the money at a casino. US District Judge Donald Walter also ordered Khang Nguyen Le, 36, of Lafayette, to pay nearly $264,000 in restitution, US Attorney Stephanie Finleys office said in a statement. Le pleaded guilty in March to one count of wire fraud, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Le served as presiding monk of the Vietnamese Buddhist Association of Southwest Louisianas Lafayette temple from 2010 through October 2014, when he stepped down amid the investigation. Les indictment said he lived and worked at the temple and earned a salary of $1,000 per month. Finleys office said Le, a Vietnamese citizen, may face deportation to Vietnam after his release from prison. A court filing in March said Le withdrew cash from the temples accounts to fund his frequent gambling trips to LAuberge Casino in Lake Charles. Le was arrested last September at LaGuardia International Airport in New York after he got off a flight from Dallas and before he could board a flight bound for Toronto. Le told federal agents he had a gambling problem and said he would spend up to $10,000 playing blackjack during his gambling trips, according to an affidavit filed in support of his arrest. Le said the church members would frown upon him even going to the casino if they knew; therefore, Le hid his gambling activity, an agent wrote. Le told investigators that he always went to the casino alone, and congregation members never asked to see bank account statements. A priest in his mid-80s was killed with a knife and another hostage seriously wounded on Tuesday in an attack on a church in northern France carried out by assailants linked to Islamic State. Both attackers were shot dead by French police and one person was arrested in connection with the knife attack in a church in northern France, a source close to the inquiry said on Tuesday. Five people in all had been taken hostage during the attack. A police source said it appeared that the attackers had slit the priests throat. Speaking at the scene of the attack in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, French President Francois Hollande said France should use all its means in its war against the militant group, against which France has launched air strikes in Syria and Iraq. The president called it a dreadful terrorist attack and told reporters the attackers had pledge allegiance to IS. The IS news agency Amaq said two of its soldiers had carried out the attack. We are put to the test yet again, Hollande said. The threat remains very high. The attack is the latest in a string of deadly assaults in Europe, including the mass killing in Nice, southern France, on Bastille Day and four incidents in Germany. Read | French church attacker had tried to reach Syria, was under surveillance Many of the attacks have had links to Islamist militants and IS has called for supporters to target countries that it has been fighting, mainly in Iraq and Syria. Tuesdays attack took place during morning mass at the Saint-Etienne parish church, south of Rouen in Normandy. The investigation was handed to the anti-terrorist unit of the Paris prosecutors office. . Map of the Rouen area in northern France locating a hostage taking in which a priest was killed - AFP / AFP / SOPHIE RAMIS (AFP) Slain priest The Archbishop of Rouen identified the slain priest as Father Jacques Hamel and said he was 84, although others sources suggest he was born in 1930. The Vatican condemned what it said was a barbarous killing. French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told France Info radio that the perpetrators have been killed by Frances BRI, an elite police anti-crime force, when they came out of the church. Read | French suburbs: Tinderboxes of terrorism? Bomb squad officers aided by sniffer dogs scoured the church for any possible explosives. Prime Minister Manuel Valls branded the attack barbaric and said it was a blow to all Catholics and the whole of France. We will stand together, Valls said on Twitter. The attack will heap yet more pressure on Hollande to regain control of national security, with France already under a state of emergency 10 months ahead of a presidential election. The Normandy attack came 12 days after a 31-year-old Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed his heavy goods truck into a crowd of revellers in the French Riviera city of Nice, killing 84 people. Islamic State claimed that attack. Horror. Everything is being done to trigger a war of religions, tweeted Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a former conservative prime minister who now heads the Senates foreign affairs committee. Hollande visited the scene with Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, meeting members of the emergency services. Cazeneuve has come under fire from Conservative politicians for not doing enough to prevent the Bastille Day Nice attack. French lawmakers approved a six-month extension of emergency rule after the July 14 attack while the Socialist government also said it would step up strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Read | Whos behind Nice attack? Islamic State warned of similar strikes twice US first lady Michelle Obama was classy, inspirational and moving. Senator from Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren was spunky as always and others were effective, right on the coin. But it was Bernie Sanders who delivered on the first day of the Democratic convention on Monday. He gave Hillary Clinton his endorsement, his blessings and, hopefully for the Clinton campaign, his supporters, ending talk of him using the Democratic convention to resurrect his campaign. It is no secret that Hillary Clinton and I disagree on a number of issues, Sanders said, addressing his supporters, some of whom had tears in their eyes and looked despondent. He assured them Clinton was his candidate now, who agreed he said repeatedly - with his, and their, ideas and would be a trusted surrogate of the revolution they had started. What we have done together is unprecedented, but our fight is not done, the senator from Vermont, who has made the word revolution trendy, in a typically American way, said. Two supporters of Bernie Sanders hug at the end of his speech (Reuters) Sanders endorsed Clinton a while ago, but his supporters hadnt, not up until now at least and dragged that battle to the floor of the convention, hoping to kick some life into it. They chanted Bernie, Bernie as they had at his rallies, wore T-shirts blithely warning, Feel the Bern, and booed the speaker yelling, She stole the nomination. Refusing to accept his exit, some of them still believe Sanders can, and will, get the nomination in the call of rolls a count of delegates on the floor of the convention on Tuesday. Robin Savage, a Montana woman, who ducked into a church offering protestors rest and respite downtown, told this reporter already inside, that she believed something was afoot. Read | Michelle, Sanders make a pitch for Hillary as Democrats struggle for unity There is going to be a contested convention and Bernie will get the nomination which he deserves, she said tucking back a clutch of sweat-drenched hair under her hat. But hasnt he already conceded, and asked his supporters to support and vote for Clinton? Oh, we have been told, Savage said, dropping her voice, to ignore him and what he is saying. Seriously? Yes, she said, Bernie (to his supporters, Sanders is always Bernie and Clinton is always Hillary) is saying things he has to but thats not how things will turn out. Sanders leaves the stage after his address at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia (Reuters) Their obstinacy, however, began to irritate Democratic party leaders and even Sanders surrogates, who were urging them to take the blow, let off some steam and move on. Sarah Silverman, a comedian who backed Sanders, had some tough words for her erstwhile fellow Bernie backers To Bernie or bust people (I say) you are being ridiculous. Perhaps they were. And they stared back, sullenly. The catcalls and boos quietened down during Michelle Obamas electrifying speech she has a temper, they also remembered that drove many to tears among the delegates. Senator Warren, who followed, started with a nod, and another, and yet another, to Sanders, as a leading surrogate, but failed to enthuse the audience, who stayed surprisingly quiet. They were just being impatient, it seemed. They had travelled from all over the country to see if their man could make a last stand, trying to get what he deserved and, according to a recent Wikileaks dump of internal Democratic Party emails, what he was unfairly robbed off. The Democratic party was not interested in democracy, Kathy Roemer, a delegate from California, said. There is justifiable outrage and absolute commitment from Bernie supporters. But did they expect Sanders to do keep fighting for his nomination? Some agreed, but a lot of others disagreed, acknowledging it was time to move on. One of the knifemen, who attacked a church in northern France on Tuesday, has been identified as 19-year-old Adel Kermiche, who was under close surveillance after two failed attempts to reach Syria last year, Frances anti-terror prosecutor said. After the last attempt in May, 2015, Kermiche, who was from the Normandy town where the attack took place, was detained until March. He was then released but forced to wear an electronic tag to track his whereabouts and was allowed to only leave his home for a few hours a day, prosecutor Francois Molins said. Police were still seeking to identify the second of the two attackers and raids were underway, Molins told a news conference after the attack in which a priest was killed. Pakistani police said on Tuesday they were investigating the murder of a British-Pakistani woman whose husband has accused her family of killing her to protect its honour. Mukhtar Kazim filed a complaint with police at Jhelum in Punjab province that alleged his wife, 28-year-old Samia Shahid, was the victim of an honour killing in her familys village last week. The couple had been married for two years and were living in Dubai. Samia was a beauty therapist from Bradford. Kazim said in his first information report (FIR) he suspected that Samia's family had killed her because she married without their consent. Read | Qandeel Baloch: Another statistic in Pakistans struggle with honour killings Samias parents have insisted she died of natural causes and her father told local media he did not want an investigation. Mohammad Aqeel Abbas, the station house officer for Jhelum district who is investigating the case, said an autopsy was carried out immediately after Samia died. She was then buried in the village graveyard. There were no visible injuries or signs of violence on her body, he said. A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed Samias death and said: We are providing support to the family of a British national who has died in Pakistan, and are in contact with the local authorities to seek further information. According to news reports, Kazim said Samia flew to Islamabad on July 14 after she was told that a relative was gravely ill in Pakistan. Samia was due to return last Thursday, but Kazam said one of her cousins called him on Wednesday and said she had died of a heart attack. Read | In a shocked Pakistan, mothers comfort scared daughters after honour killing The issue of honour killings has been in the spotlight in Pakistan since social media sensation Qandeel Baloch was murdered, allegedly by her brother, in Punjab province earlier this month to protect the familys honour. Hundreds of Pakistanis, the vast majority women and girls, are murdered every year by relatives after being accused of damaging a familys honour. Most suspects in honour killings are never prosecuted. The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has reported nearly 1,100 women were killed last year by relatives who believed they had dishonoured their families. Read | Pakistan honour killings grow more brutal as older generation challenges change Describing himself as a free trader, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he does not want the US to have trade imbalances with countries like China and Japan that has cost American jobs. At a town hall in Virginia, Trump blamed President Barack Obama and former president Bill Clinton, who is the husband of his presidential rival Hillary Clinton, for this trade imbalances, resulting in loss of large number of jobs. Im a free trader. I believe in free trade. You know, they get it all wrong because they just dont say it properly. But I want smart trade. I want to trade with other countries. But I dont want to lose $500 billion a year with China, Trump said in response to a question. His running mate Governor Mile Pence from Indiana also appeared at the town hall along with Trump. Thank you China, we love you very much. But were not going to lose $500 billion. I dont want to have a trade imbalance with Japan where they send us millions of cars and we send them some beef. Then they send it back. And then we send some wheat, wheat. They send cars we send wheat. Sounds like weve got to send a lot of wheat right? The trade imbalance is massive, Trump said. And with Mexico we have an unbelievably big trade imbalance. So they kill us at the border. They kill us. Theyre killing us at the border. And we have one of the biggest trade imbalances. And what happens? What happens? Im not even including the drugs right? The drugs are pouring across, he alleged. Trump alleged that Clintons going to have one of the biggest tax increased in the history of the country because that is what she is proposing. What shes proposing, she needs to have a massive, massive tax increase. Nobody every talks about that. Do you notice she never talks about whos going to pay for it and how theyre going to pay? But just statistically, shes going to need a very major tax cut, he said. Pence said that Trump knows that by lessening the tax burden on working Americans by cutting red tape and regulations by getting runaway Federal spending under control by having better deals with foreign countries would improve American economy. We dont need a president who promises to put quote a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business. We need a president who supports an all-of-the-above energy strategy. And we need a president who digs coal. So our choice is clear in this election, my fellow Americans, citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its change versus the status quo, Pence said. Trump mocked his Democratic rival and went after her middle name Rodham. Why did Hillary get rid of her middle name? Hillary? No, but why did she get rid of it? Hillary rotten Clinton. Rotten Clinton. Hillary rotten Clinton, right? Maybe thats why. Its too close. No, no. Its too close, Trump said. Islamic State is threatening more attacks against Afghanistans Hazara minority after Saturdays suicide blasts in Kabul that killed 80 people, pledging to retaliate against support by some in the mainly Shia group for the Assad regime in Syria. But assessing the threat from Daesh, as Islamic State is known in Afghanistan, is difficult. Some question whether it was really responsible for Saturdays blasts and some officials ask whether the ultra-radical Sunni movement, hitherto largely confined to an area near the border with Pakistan, poses a wider challenge. A Daesh commander who uses the name Abu Omar Khorasani said the bombing of the rally by thousands of Hazaras protesting about the route of a new power line was in retaliation for the support offered by some members of the community to the regime in Syria. Many Hazaras have gone through Shia-governed Iran to fight for the government of President Bashar al-Assad, a fellow Shia, against Islamic State. Unless they stop going to Syria and stop being slaves of Iran, we will definitely continue such attacks, the militant commander told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location. We can and we will strike them again. The government says it has been hitting Daesh hard even before Saturdays blasts, one of the most deadly attacks in the country since the beginning of the Taliban insurgency in 2001. It said government forces had killed hundreds of insurgents in the past two months in assaults on Daesh strongholds in the eastern province of Nangarhar, which straddles the highway from Kabul to the Pakistani city of Peshawar. In the latest fighting, at least 122 insurgents were killed in the past 24 hours, it said on Tuesday. The numbers could not be independently confirmed. Nevertheless, Saturdays attack on the Hazara minority adds a dangerous complication to the war the Western-backed government in Kabul has been fighting with Taliban insurgents. As well as the risk of dragging Afghanistan into Islamic States wider campaign in the Middle East, it raised the spectre of sectarian violence, something Afghanistan, a majority Sunni country, has largely been spared during decades of war. But while seeing the threat, officials are cautious about whether the attack represents a real turning point for Daesh, which has been under heavy pressure this year from both US air strikes and Afghan ground forces. Having a couple of people that youve hired put on a suicide vest and sneak into a crowd of many thousands really is not that sophisticated, said US military spokesman Brig Gen Charles Cleveland. Attacked in Pakistan as well On the ground, the NATO-led force advising government troops estimates the number of Daesh fighters at between 1,000 and 3,000, many of them former members of militant groups like the Pakistani Taliban, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the Afghan Taliban. Many Daesh fighters operating in Afghanistan are from the Orakzai tribe on the Pakistani side of the border. Those militants have also been hit hard by the Pakistani military, according to an Afghan security report seen by Reuters. While the movement may have been limited to eastern Afghanistan, that need not stop it from seeking to spread violence and raise its profile with more attacks on civilian targets, officials said. Thats our concern, these high profile attacks, they are effective because theyre not that difficult to achieve, Cleveland told reporters in Kabul. The Hazara, who have long suffered violence and discrimination in Afghanistan, have responded with fury to the attack, accusing the government of inaction or worse. Some even doubt Islamic States claim of responsibility. There is no evidence to prove Daeshs involvement. It could have been others, said Dawood Naji, one of the organisers of Saturdays rally. I dont think Daesh would be a major concern for Afghan people because they are not very active and have no foothold. With President Ashraf Ghanis unwieldy national unity government riven by infighting, their anger adds an unpredictable new threat of political instability. Government and NATO force officials insist, however, that Islamic State is being hit hard. The Afghan army has launched its first major offensive since the holy month of Ramzan in Nangarhar. According to the interior ministry, 654 Daesh and Taliban fighters, including several senior commanders have been killed in Nangarhar in the last two months. On Monday, Afghan special forces killed Sahad Emarati, a senior Daesh commander and destroyed training camps during a firefight in the province, said Attahullah Khogyani, a spokesman for Nangarhars governor. We think that Daesh is under pressure, Cleveland said. As their terrain gets restricted, you see them trying to conduct more external operations and attacks. : ; - CM ?; - A rash of attacks in Germany has emboldened political rivals of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who blamed her liberal asylum policy on Tuesday for exposing the country to a shocking week of bloodshed. Four brutal assaults in the south of the country, three of which were carried out by asylum seekers, have rattled Germans and revived a backlash against Merkels decision last year to open the borders to those fleeing war and persecution. It all appeared to be going pretty well for Merkel but the situation has changed dramatically in 10 days between the Nice attack and Sundays suicide bomber in Ansbach, the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung wrote, referring to attacks in France and Germany claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group. The chancellor must once again fear that she will be punished by the voters, with two pivotal state polls looming in September. Merkels aides were quick to point out that three of the four assailants arrived in Germany before the record influx that brought more than one million refugees and migrants last year. Graphic map showing attacks in Germany (AFP) The fourth, a teenager who went on a shooting rampage in Munich on Friday killing nine before turning the gun on himself, was born and raised in Germany, the son of Iranian asylum seekers who arrived in the country in the 1990s. Investigators say he was obsessed with mass killings including Norwegian rightwing fanatic Anders Behring Breiviks 2011 massacre. New asylum policy? The violence reignited political friction that had eased as the number of new arrivals to Germany slowed to a trickle in recent months due to the closure of the Balkans migration route and an EU deal with Turkey to take back migrants. Horst Seehofer, conservative premier of Bavaria state that saw three of the four attacks, on Tuesday called into question the principle that asylum seekers should never be sent back to war zones. We must seriously consider how such people should be treated if they violate the law or can be considered a danger, he told Muenchner Merkur newspaper. Seehofer leads the Christian Social Union, the sister party to Merkels conservative Christian Democrats, and has long been a vocal critic of the refugee influx for which Bavaria served as the primary gateway. He ordered tightened security at airports and railway stations following the suicide bombing near a music festival in Ansbach that wounded 15 people and an axe attack on a train in the city of Wuerzburg that injured four passengers and a passer-by. But while Merkels federal interior minister Thomas de Maiziere pledged to boost spot checks in border regions, Berlin made a point of resisting calls for a raft of new security laws. I will propose appropriate amendments when I think them necessary, he told reporters. The rule of law in Germany is strong and will remain strong at the national and regional level. Overcome our fears Merkel, who has led Europes economic powerhouse for nearly 11 years, sought to project calm by remaining at her holiday cottage north of Berlin this week. Her spokeswoman assured reporters that the chancellor was always on duty and could quickly return to the capital at any time if needed. The countrys top-selling newspaper, Bild, which has generally backed Merkels stance on refugees, praised the cool-headed approach. So IS terror has made it to Germany. It had to happen eventually. Germany couldnt remain a peaceful island with or without refugees, it said in an editorial. But it is also true that our state works better than most and that our people are quick to support each other in times of extreme stress. Our state and our society should therefore give us confidence to overcome our fears. However, analysts warned the strategy was risky with a poll in Merkels political fiefdom, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, held on September 4 followed by Berlins state election on September 18. The rightwing populist AfD party aims to make a strong showing in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in particular which would deal Merkel a powerful blow one year ahead of a general election. Martin Emmer, professor of political communication at Berlins Free University, warned that Merkels hyper-rational style which has endeared her to Germans in troubled times could be found lacking if fear takes hold in the wake of the attacks. Politics has to cover both aspects this emotional side in which you credibly pledge to protect citizens, and fact-bound policies that are able to ensure that, he told AFP. Michelle Obama was classy, inspirational and moving. Elizabeth Warren was spunky as always and others were effective. But it was Bernie Sanders who delivered, or tried to. He gave Hillary Clinton his endorsement, his blessings and, hopefully, for the Clinton campaign, his supporters, ending talk of him using the Democratic convention to resurrect his campaign. It is no secret that Hillary Clinton and I disagree on a number of issues, Sanders said, addressing his supporters at the convention, some of whom had tears in their eyes. But, he assured them, Clinton was his candidate now, who agreed - he said repeatedly - with his ideas and would be a trusted surrogate of the revolution they had started. What we have done together is unprecedented, but our fight is not done, said the senator from Vermont, who has made the word revolution trendy in a typically American way. Sanders endorsed Clinton a while ago, but his supporters hadnt and they dragged that battle to the floor of the convention, hoping to kick some life into it. They chanted Bernie, Bernie as they had at his rallies, wore T-shirts blithely warning, Feel the Bern, and booed speakers pitching Clinton, yelling, She stole the nomination. Refusing to accept Sanders exit. some of them said they still believe he can get the nomination in the call of rolls a count of delegates on the floor of the convention on Tuesday. Robin Savage, a Montana woman who ducked into a church offering protestors rest and respite downtown, told Hindustan Times she believed something was afoot. There is going to be a contested convention, she said, tucking back a clutch of sweat-drenched hair under her hat it was a hot and humid afternoon, and Bernie will get the nomination. But hasnt he already conceded, and asked his supporters to support and vote for Clinton? Oh, we have been told, Savage said, dropping her voice, to ignore him and what he is saying. Seriously? Yes, she said, Bernie (to his supporters, Sanders is always Bernie and Clinton is always Hillary) is saying things he has to but thats not how things will turn out. Their obstinacy, however, had begun to irritate Democratic leaders and even Sanders surrogates, who were urging them to take the blow, let off some steam and move on. Sarah Silverman, a comedian who backed Sanders, had some tough words for fellow Bernie backers to Bernie or bust people (I say)you are being ridiculous. Perhaps they were. And they stared back, sullenly. Paul Simon, who backed Clinton (Art Garfunkel supported Sanders) even sang to them the iconic Bridge Over Troubled Water. The catcalls and boos quietened down during Michelle Obamas electrifying speech she has a temper, they remembered that drove many delegates to tears. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who followed, started with several nods to Sanders, as a leading surrogate, but failed to enthuse the audience, which stayed surprisingly quiet. They were just being impatient, it seemed. They had travelled from across the country to see if their leader could make a last stand, and try and get what he deserved. The Democratic party was not interested in democracy, said Kathy Roemer, a delegate form California. There is justifiable outrage and absolute commitment of BS supporters. But did they expect Sanders to keep fighting for his nomination? Some agreed but a lot of others disagreed 85% of them have switched to Clinton already, according to a recent PEW poll. Nepal has beefed up security in and around the Koshi Barrage located near the border with India following a report that militant groups could target the structure which plays a key role in controlling the flow of water in both countries. Officials in Kathmandu and Sunsari district, where the barrage is located, told Hindustan Times they had received an intelligence report from the Indian side that the flood control structure might be targeted by terrorists. The Indian side alerted us about the possible security threat in areas along the Nepal-India border, particularly in Koshi Barrage area, but has not mentioned which group had issued such a threat, home ministry spokesperson Yadav Koirala told Hindustan Times. The Indian alert mentioned that terror groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Indian Mujahideen could target vital installations such as the barrage, Mohan Bahadur Chapagin, head of the administration in Nepals Sunsari district, was quoted as saying by the local media. However, a senior Indian embassy official in Kathmandu said on condition of anonymity that the Indian side had shared intelligence inputs with the Nepal government and urged it to increase security presence in the area without mentioning any particular group or organisations. Following the Indian alert last week, the Nepali side put in place foolproof security measures around the barrage which was completed in 1962. The Koshi, a lifeline for millions of people in the two countries, is currently flowing above the danger level after torrential rains. The Nepali Army, Armed Police Force, Nepal Police and National Investigation Department had been put on high alert to foil any terrorist activities, Koirala said. As part of a strategy to foil an attack, authorities had also banned fishing and collecting wood from the swollen river, another official said. The security establishment in Kathmandu has been on high alert since the July 1 terror attack on a cafe in the Bangladesh capital that claimed 20 lives, most of them foreigners. It has also been in touch with Indian authorities to prevent similar attacks. Nepal held a special meeting after the Dhaka attack to review the security situation and decided to increase vigilance along the frontier with India to prevent the entry of militants. An unidentified assailant shot and wounded a man in a shopping mall in the Swedish city of Malmo on Tuesday, police said. A Malmo police statement said the victim was shot in the leg and taken to a local hospital. His condition was not immediately known. Police said they had not identified a suspect or motive in the shooting and had made no arrests. The incident occurred in a mainly immigrant neighbourhood of Swedens third largest city. Europe has been shaken by a series of violent attacks on civilians in Germany, France and Belgium over the past 18 months by men of Middle Eastern or Asian origin. Many of the attacks were claimed by the Islamic State militant group. South Sudans president on Tuesday replaced his deputy and opposition leader Riek Machar, who fled into hiding this month amid renewed clashes with government forces. The move threatens an already fragile peace deal in a country ravaged by civil war. President Salva Kiir installed a new first vice president, Taban Deng Gai, who had been mining minister in a coalition government formed in April. The appointment raises fears of more fighting because most opposition generals and militia remain loyal to Machar. A faction of the armed opposition on Saturday selected Taban to replace Machar, claiming the coalition government could not function with Machar in hiding. The circumstances forced us to fill a vacancy so that we save our nation, Taban said in a speech following the swearing-in ceremony. But loyalists to Machar are alleging a conspiracy to remove him. Nyarji Roman, a spokesman for Machars faction, called the appointment of Taban totally illegal. Kiir, who had invited Machar to return to the capital, Juba, on Tuesday denied having a role in his ouster. Circles will take it that it is me in person...who has really conspired for the removal of Dr Riek Machar. It is not me, Kiir said after the ceremony. Roman also accused the government of sending troops to hunt down Machar in his hiding place. Machar has said he would not return to Juba until an outside force, such as an intervention force proposed by the African Union, was put in place to restore calm to the capital. The recent fighting killed hundreds and sent thousands fleeing. Security forces loyal to Kiir bombed Machars house, and more than 30 of his bodyguards were killed. Donald Trump is complaining about hot air at a Virginia hotel, and the hotel is pushing back. The Republican presidential nominee said he felt like he was in a sauna speaking to supporters at the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center on Monday and warned he might not pay the bill. Onstage, Trump, owner of luxury hotels, interrupted his remarks about free trade to berate the hotel about its air conditioning system. I dont know what hotel this is, but you ought to try turning on the air conditioning or were not going to get you paid, Trump said. Hotel officials told WDBJ in Roanoke that the air conditioning system was on and working properly throughout the event. The hotel said temperatures in the 90s did pose a challenge while doors were open for two hours to let hundreds of people enter the ballroom. It says staff did everything possible to keep guests comfortable. In his extended rant, Trump said he is really good at the hotel business and knows owners can save money by turning off the air conditioning. But this is ridiculous, Trump said. So then therell be an article, Donald Trump refuses to pay the bill. Of course. And you know what, the smart people say, Trump is smart. The other people would say, Oh, isnt that terrible. Ok. I think the ballroom and the people that own this hotel should be ashamed of themselves. Major Gen (retired) Ian Cardozo, a hero of the 1971 war that led to the creation of Bangladesh, paid tribute to BBCs coverage of the hostilities on Monday but recalled its one mistake that benefited India in taking on numerically superior Pakistani forces. At the time, Cardozo was a major in a 5 Gorkha Rifles battalion, comprising about 750 soldiers, that was tasked with capturing Atgram near Sylhet. It was short of artillery and food supplies, but ultimately managed the surrender of two Pakistan Army brigades, including three brigadiers, a colonel, 107 officers, 219 JCOs and 7,000 troops in one of the most incredible successes of the war. Speaking at a book release event here, he said: Today I would like to use this platform to pay tributes to the BBC. They were the only reliable broadcasting station at that time, giving news as it happened. The Indian Army had nothing to hide, so the British war correspondents were going along with our troops. They were reporting minute-to-minute the progress of the battle. But they made a mistake. They announced that a brigade of Gurkhas had landed at Sylhet. We heard it, as well as the Pakistanis. So we decided to pretend that we were a brigade. Taking advantage of the misinformation, Cardozos battalion built on small victories and created a situation where the Pakistani troops offered to surrender on December 15, 1971. Until it happened, Cardozo and others believed a Pakistani brigade was in the area, but they were surprised to discover the final number was more than twice the strength of a brigade. One of the most decorated officers of the Indian Army, Cardozo recalled the vital operation to capture Sylhet during a packed invitation-only event to celebrate the life of Lt Gen FN Bilimoria, former head of the central command and father of Karan Bilimoria, a member of the House of Lords. Cardozo, a contemporary of Lt Gen Bilimoria, penned the book Lieutenant General Bilimoria: His Life and Times, which was recently presented to Indian Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh in New Delhi. The book release event here was attended by leading lights of the British Army, including former chief of general staff, Field Marshal John Chapple, and several Bangladesh citizens, who became emotional on meeting the man who played a defining role in their countrys formation. One Bangladeshi member of the audience thanked Cardozo for the "great job you have done for us". Cardozo is expected to receive an enthusiastic reception at the Bangladesh high commission here on Tuesday. Answering questions, Cardozo said calmly but firmly: I do not like to use this platform to denigrate Pakistan. I think everybody knows what they are up to, what they have been up to and what they continue to do. I dont have to elaborate. But India believes in peace, people, progress, development, not in war. But if war is forced upon us, as it was in 1965, in 1971 and in Kargil, we were the victors in every war, he added to much applause. Retired British Army officers recalled their interaction with Lt Gen Bilimoria, who was the Indian Armys liaison officer in the School of Infantry in Warminster in the 1970s. A popular soldier, he saw action in the 1971 war and held several key posts, including GOC of the central command. Karan Bilimoria recalled the values passed on to him by his father, who died at the age of 72 in 2005. Cardozo's remarkable military career saw him losing a leg when he stepped on a landmine in the 1971 war. He cut off his mangled leg with his own khukri and told his Gurkha batman: "Now go and bury it." Determined not to let the disability affect his career as a soldier, he later became the first disabled officer in the Indian Army to command an infantry brigade. He has penned books on war heroes and the sinking of INS Khukri in the 1971 war. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON KABUL: Civilian casualties in Afghanistan soared to a record high in the first half of 2016, the UN said Monday, with children in particular paying a heavy price for growing insecurity as the conflict escalates. The UN report, which comes days after the deadliest attack in Kabul since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001, cited increasing ground combat around heavily populated areas as the leading cause of casualties. Between January and June, 1,601 civilians were killed and 3,565 were wounded a four percent increase in casualties compared to the same period last year, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said. The casualties have reached their highest level since the UN began issuing its authoritative reports in 2009. Every single casualty documented in this report people killed while praying, working, studying, fetching water, recovering in hospitals every civilian casualty represents a failure of commitment and should be a call to action for parties to the conflict to take meaningful steps to reduce suffering, UNAMA chief Tadamichi Yamamoto said. The casualties include 1,509 children roughly one-third of the total a figure the UN described as alarming and shameful . It was the highest toll ever recorded by the UN over a six-month period. BEIJING: The Chinese government on Monday maintained a studied silence on the unprecedented expulsion of three of its journalists from India, despite considerable debate on the issue on social media. The three journalists Wu Qiang, Tang Lu and She Yonggang were ordered to leave India by July 31. Officials said the three were involved in activities beyond their journalistic brief. Nationalistic tabloid The Global Times editorials, calling Indias decision a petty one and warning of retaliation, were shared numerous times across Weibo platforms. Many online users said Chinas neighbours were creating trouble, in part a reference to the recent South China Sea arbitration which Beijing lost to Philippines. Just one South China Sea arbitration and surrounding nations are all disturbing China now, one user said. Another wrote: Our nation will be facing an era of surrounding tensions, the Sino-India border issue will certainly tighten the pressure on South and East China Sea. Seriously, you really deem Indian people idiots? Some poured scorn on India, talking about polluted water and lack of safety for women. Journalists in Beijing and elsewhere reacted to the reports mostly with disbelief some with resentment. India has always been unfriendly to China. A colleague waited for more than six months to get a visa to work there, a journalist said. But the Communist Party of China (CPC)-led government hasnt prevented its media or censored the topic of expulsions from its heavily monitored and censored Twitter-like Weibo social media platforms. WASHINGTON:The Democratic convention to crown Hillary Clinton as nominee started on Monday under the shadow of leaked organisational emails that caused the resignation of the partys chair. The party moved swiftly to contain damage from the leaks that showed party officials sided with Clinton in the primaries against her major, and then the only, rival Bernie Sanders. Russias intelligence agencies were accused of obtaining the emails by hacking into the Democratic party s computer network, and releasing them to Wiki Leaks. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the nature and scope of the cyber intrusion, the agency said on Monday. Clinton campaign manager Roby Mook cited experts to allege in multiple TV interviews that this was done by the Russians for the purpose of helping (Republican candidate) Donald Trump. The Trump campaign pushed back, calling the allegations absurd, and tried to goad Sanders and his supporters into retaliating, which seemed unlikely to happen. Sanders said in a television interview he was not surprised as he had long known the party machinery was working against him. He said he had demanded the resignation of party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz a long time ago for the reason. And with her resignation, the issue stood resolved, he added. Sanders has appeared satisfied with issues his campaign forced the Democratic party, and Clinton, to adopt, such as higher daily wages, free college education and opposition to trade deals. The Farmington City Council approved a contract with Brockmiller Construction Company for design-build services at the west wastewater treatment plant during regular session on Monday. Farmington City Administrator Greg Beavers explained the design-build is not a typical format for the city, but the work that process requires made the most sense for the project. Were going to essentially reconstruct the headworks facility of the plant, which is where the sewage pumps into the sewer plant for processing, he said after the meeting. Were also making improvements to our aeration system so we can optimize the process to create the best water we can that is going out to that creek and we want to create the best bio-stabilized sludge that we can. The cost of the project is expected to be $3 million and work will begin in the spring of 2017. One thing we are going to evaluate also is whether we can use some existing facilities for treatment of nutrients the phosphates and nitrates that come into the plant through (the use of) detergents, he said. (The nutrients) currently arent regulated and we have a unique opportunity with one of our facilities to get ahead of those regulations just a bit. In order to save on construction cost, Beavers said the equipment for the project will be on the ground before starting. We dont want any delays and those additional costs, he said. Read more about Public Works projects underway in the city in this weeks edition of the Farmington Press. Other items approved in the consent agenda included a lease agreement with New Era Bank for an ATM at the Farmington Civic Center, member appointments to various boards and committees, as well as a sub-applicant agreement with the Missouri Community College Association for a Community Development Block Grant. The council with Ward III Councilman Dennis Smith sitting in as mayor pro tem approved through second readings and council action a boundary adjustment at Perrine Road and Four Seasons Mobile Home Park by Burgco Development, LLC; an alleyway vacation at 614 Perrine Rd. requested by AGC Holdings, LLC and a utility easement vacation at 515 W. Karsch Blvd. by Taylor Engineering on behalf of Belgrade State Bank. Council also approved an ordinance revising and approving the salary for the municipal judge to $25,000, up $5,000 from the previous amount. Finance Director Michelle Daniel also gave a June sales tax report showing receipts at $2.96 million up 8 percent from the previous year. Daniel noted last years June sales tax receipts were up 11.4 percent from the previous year. Farmington Public Library Director Travis Trokey, along with siblings Nancy Cozean and Jon Cozean, gave a presentation on the plank road once running from Iron Mountain to Ste. Genevieve. A portion of the road ran on what is now Columbia Streets and Ste. Genevieve Avenue in Farmington. Jon said the construction of the road began in 1851 and would take two years to complete. The total cost of the project was $200,000. Read more about the history of the plank road in this weeks Farmington Press. On an interesting side note, Public Works Director Larry Lacy said large pieces of oak were found deep beneath a portion of North Washington Street during the repair work currently underway. Lacy reported the work repairing the road should be completed by the end of next week. The council meet in closed session for real estate matters following regular session. The council is scheduled to meet on Aug. 2 for budget discussions. The next regular session meeting is scheduled for Aug. 11. LONDON: Flaying what she said was London s lack of planning for a Brexit vote, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Monday independence must be an option for the pro-EU Scotland if its interests were not protected in negotiations with Brussels. Scotland voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining in the European Union in the June 23 referendum and is keen to continue its access to the European single market and engagement in other levels of the union. British Prime Minister Theresa May s government started initial talks with EU leaders last week. The absence of any leadership and the lack of any advance planning both from the politicians who proposed the referendum and from those who campaigned for a leave vote must count as one of the most shameful abdications of responsibility in modern political history, Sturgeon said in Edinburgh. If we find our interests cant be protected in the UK context, independence must bean option and Scotland must have the right to consider it, she said. Scotland last voted in a referendum on independence in 2014, with 55% voting against leaving the UK and 44 % in favour. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON KATHMANDU: A day after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli put in his papers, President Bidhya Devi Bhandari on Monday called on political parties to elect a new premier through consensus within seven days. Olis government was relegated to a minority after a key ally, Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre, withdrew support and he announced his resignation in an address to parliament on Sunday, shortly before he was to face a no-trust vote jointly registered by the Nepali Congress and the Maoists, the largest and third largest political parties in the House. Bhandaris announcement came after a meeting with Oli, the chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist, Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba and chairman of the Maoist Center, Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda. During the meeting, Deuba and Prachanda urged the President to speed up the process of government formation senior Nepali Congress leader Bimalendra Nidhi told Hindustan Times. Though Prachanda is set to become the new prime minister, he might not able of form a government based on consensus as the CPN-UML and RPP-Nepal, the second and fourth largest parties in parliament, are unlikely to extend support to him. This means Nepal will not be able to install a new government within the seven-day deadline set by the president. Article 298 (2) of Nepals Constitution states that if parliament is in session, the new prime minister should be elected within seven days with political consensus. If political parties fail to reach consensus on forming a new government, Parliament will begin the process of electing a new prime minister on the basis of a majority vote. DHAKA: Bangladesh police on Monday arrested a spinning mill worker for allegedly torturing a nine-year-old boy to death with an air compressor, the second such incident in less than a year, officers said. Sagar Barman died of internal injuries in hospital late on Sunday after his family alleges eight mill workers were involved in forcing the compressor into the boys rectum and turning on the machine. The boy also worked at the mill in Rupganj town, just south of Dhaka, one of millions of child workers in impoverished Bangladesh, many of them employed in hazardous industries. Police said senior employees had been angry at the boy and his father who also worked there for entering a restricted area of the mill. Hours after the arrest, police also raided the mill, one of the countrys largest, and rescued 27 child workers, many of them aged under 14. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON LAHORE: Pakistani police on Monday arrested the sister and cousin of Qandeel Baloch for their possible involvement in the murder of the social media celebrity, who was killed by her brother to protect the familys honour. Shahnaz and Haq Nawaz, the sister and cousin of Qandeel, have been taken into custody, an officer told reporters. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON JAKARTA: Pakistan on Monday urged the Indonesian government to stay the execution of one of its nationals convicted of smuggling drugs, citing concerns that his 2005 trial had been unfair. Indonesian authorities are preparing to execute by firing squad at least three foreign prisoners, who are among 16 to be executed this year. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ANSBACH: A Syrian man whose asylum bid had been rejected in Germany recorded a cellphone video of himself pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group before he tried to get into an outdoor concert with a bomb-laden backpack. He was turned away and blew himself up outside a wine bar instead, injuring 15 people, authorities said on Monday. The Islamic State claimed responsibility. It was the fourth attack to shake Germany in a week three of them carried out by recent migrants. The 27-year-old, whom authorities have not identified, set off a backpack laden with explosives and shrapnel on Sunday night after being refused entry to the nearby festival in the Bavarian city of Ansbach because he didnt have a ticket. Bavarian authorities said a video found on the Ansbach bombers phone showed him pledging allegiance to the Islamic State. Germanys top security official, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, had said it was too early to rule out terrorism as a motive, but noted that the suspect had twice attempted suicide and had been receiving psychological care. Or it could be a combination of both, de Maiziere said. The attack was carried out by one of the soldiers of the Islamic State, the extremist group said. The bombing was the latest of the recent attacks that have heightened concerns about how Germany can deal with the estimated 1 million migrants who entered the country last year. Those fears had waned as the numbers of new arrivals had slowed this year dramatically, but already the nationalist Alternative for Germany party and others have seized on the attacks as evidence that Chancellor Angela Merkels migration policies are flawed. The attack in Ansbach, a serene city of about 40,000 west of Nuremberg, came near the end of the closing night of a popular open air festival being attended by about 2,000 people. Thoughts on History In our last issue we looked at an episode from George Washingtons Revolutionary War days. This time author John Ferling examines the generals final years. Though less exciting than his military service, Washingtons period of retirement offers its own small fascinations. Reading about Washingtons daily routine is something like seeing a marble statue come to life and sit down to breakfast. Today, when press and public alike routinely disparage politicians, its surprising to see how much his contemporaries idolized George Washington. For example, when President Washington visited Massachusetts in 1789, newspapers fell over themselves to publish songs and poems about him. One papers ode bore the title The Godlike Washington, while another contributed Glorious Father of the Glorious Age. Among its immortal lines: Columbias pridethe mighty chief draws nigh; The boast of earthand favrite of the sky! Let evry bard his tuneful numbers roll, And fames loud trump resound from pole to pole! During a 1791 visit Washington made to the Richmond Academy in South Carolina, young Edmund Bacon delivered an address entitled A Hero Great and Good. Bacon did it with such distinctness of articulation; such propriety of pauses and emphasies; and in a manner so truly pathetic, as to keep that illustrious hero and a numerous collection of gentlemen in tears almost the whole time the little orator was speaking. (I should point out that back then pathetic meant an ability to move to pathos rather than the more negative connotation it carries now.) How times have changed! Who writes odes about our leaders today? Yet even in this cynical age 200 years after his death, Washington resides on some rarified heights, paired with Lincoln as one of our nations true immortals. Lincoln achieved his status in part through his martyrdom; had he lived to finish his second term, would he be remembered as fondly? Washington died of natural causes in his bed, however, without a dramatic ending to seal him in our hearts. Still, there he is at the top of the American pantheon, somewhat grim and peevish-looking perhapshell never be a warm figure like Lincolnyet untouchable and iconic. Any number of factors have contributed to our changing responses to the countrys leaders. Some of them are quite justified; after all, its a good thing to question authority. Not even the Founding Fathers have escaped criticism. For instance, today its difficult to reconcile our image of Washington, the man who fought for the nations liberty, with the reality of him as a slave owner. (To his credit, its apparently an issue with which Washington wrestled, and unlike Thomas Jefferson, he did free his slaves in his will.) This year even saw press reports that Washington may have fathered a child, West Ford, with a slave owned by his brother. Its a story that I find hard to believe, although I must admit I didnt put much credence in a similar story about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings until recent DNA testing provided strong evidence to support the theory. Still, Jefferson was a more slippery character than Washington. George Washington had an acute self-awareness of his importance to a young, untested nation, historian Jean B. Lee told the New York Times in a recent article about the alleged relationship. He watched and modeled his behavior very carefully, and that would not comport with a liaison. In this age of tarnished heroes, I certainly hope thats the caseand that this country is the only thing he fathered. Tom Huntington, Editor, American History Stamp Sesquicentennial For philatelists, 1997the 150th anniversary of the U.S. postage stampis a big year. The hobby that attracts more Americans with a collectors instinct than any other owes a debt of gratitude to Postmaster General Cave Johnson, who urged Congress to authorize the use of stamps as a system of postage prepayment, as the British had been doing since 1840. On March 3, 1847, President James K. Polk signed into law a bill that authorized the printing of stamps, which, when attached to any letter or packet, would indicate that the sender had paid the necessary postal charges. The first two U. S. stamps printed were a five-cent version bearing the likeness of Benjamin Franklin and one for 10 cents with George Washingtons image. Americans did not immediately take to the new postage stamps, the use of which was not compulsory. Some postmasters resisted the new system. They had been content with the hand-stamping that had been customary since 1772 or with stampsknown as postmaster provisionalsthat were paid for out of individual postmasters budgets. This resistance continued for almost a decade after the first stamps were issued, until the federal government finally decreed that mandatory prepayment and the use of postage stamps for mailing would take effect on January 1, 1856. The federal governments Bureau of Engraving and Printing took over the printing of stamps in 1894, at a great savings over the previous system of private printing. Until then, stamps were considered strictly utilitarian and featured the likenesses of presidents or the Founding Fathers. But when someone realized that the stamps could be used as promotional tools, the Post Office Department issued the first commemorative stamps, mostly to call attention to international fairs and exhibitions. Gradually, public interest in such stamps grew, resulting in the wide variety of commemoratives, such as the new series on the history of aviation, that now provide the U.S. Postal Service with an important source of revenue. On the night of October 7, 1862, the eve of the Battle of Perryville, three Union officers sat around a campfire earnestly discussing the odds of being wounded in battle. Brigadier Generals James Jackson and William Terrill and Colonel George Webster decided to their satisfaction that such a likelihood was actually quite slim, given the thousands of men involved in any battle. By the next afternoon, all three would be dead, cut down in the massive Confederate attack on the Union left flank at Perryville. Of the three, the greatest lossgiven past performance and future potentialwas William Rufus Terrill, a tall, stern-faced Virginian who had brooked family pressure to remain loyal to the Union and would be killed in his very first battle as a newly promoted general. Terrill, the son of a prominent Bath County, Va., lawyer and legislator, graduated from West Point in the class of 1853, along with such soon-to-be-famous warriors as John Bell Hood, James B. McPherson, John T. Schofield and Philip Henry Sheridan. As a cadet sergeant, Terrill had angered Sheridan, and the two had a brutal fistfight on academy grounds. After graduation, Terrill fought against the Seminole Indians in Florida and served on the Kansas-Missouri border just prior to the Civil War. He also saw service as a mathematics instructor at his alma mater. The beginning of the war confronted Terrill with a moral decisionone faced by thousands of other Americans, North and South. Although born in Virginia, he had been educated at West Point and trained for a career in the U.S. Army. He could not go back on his pledge to the Union. Terrills father was enraged by his decision. I am overwhelmed by the position you have taken, he wrote. It is the bitterest cup that has ever been commended to my lips. You are surely dementedyou will never be permitted to revisit your native state but to die. Family bonds were further strained by the decision of Terrills younger brother, James, to join the Confederacy. A few days prior to Perryville, Terrill ran into Sheridan, who thrust his hand forward in a conciliatory handshake. Terrills regiment, the 123rd Illinois, was brand-new, organized only a month before, and its men were largely untrained. At about 2:30 on the afternoon of October 8, a Confederate brigade mostly of Tennesseans suddenly rose without warning and poured a devastating volley into the astonished Midwesterners. Inexplicably, Terrill ordered the 123rd to charge. Down the hillside they raced, then just as quickly dashed back uphill, leaving behind the bodies of nearly 200 comrades. General Jackson, attempting to rally the men, was killed instantly by two bullets to the chest. A few seconds later, Terrill was struck in the chest by a piece of shrapnel. Major, do you think its fatal? he asked a fellow officer. My poor wife, my poor wife, he muttered to himself. That night he died. Two years later, he was joined in death by his brother, James, killed at Bethesda Church, Va. A joint headstone at their family home sums up the anguish felt by many American families in that war: God alone knows which was right. Meeting in regular session on Monday night, the Leadwood Board of Alderpersons introduced the citys new police chief, William Dickey. After a brief introduction by Mayor Dennis Parks, Dickey stood up and greeted those present. Id just like to say hi to everybody, he said. Im a former deputy with Washington County and its an honor to come over here and serve with you guys. If you need anything at all, just get with me. The door will always be open, so just come speak with me. In other matters, resident Lisa White, who had made a formal request to speak, was allotted time toward the beginning of the meeting. She requested clarification about why city residents water/sewer bills had gone up as part of the pending project to replace the two systems. Parks attempted to address Whites concerns by reminding her that the city acquired a loan as part of the project and in order to pay it back, all residents bills went up by the same amount in order to satisfy the governmental requirement that billing reflect a specific percentage of the areas average household income. We had to raise all of our rates, he said. Your (bill) went up to $71 because we raised the sewer rates and the water rates. And the reason we raised them is, the government says our bill has to be two percent of the median household income. White mistakenly thought her bill had recently been raised again until City Clerk Charlotte Lewis explained that the extra $4 White referred to was simply an annual fee that is paid to the state every April. If you look, every year in April youve paid an extra $4.04 once a year, said Lewis. That was what was on the June bill. White also had a complaint about the deadline for paying the bill before a late fee is assessed. You have a cut-off time on Friday at 12 oclock, she said. Well, I dont get my check and be able to do it until Friday, so then therefore Ill be paying late fees. Parks explained the city rule requires that payments be made by noon on the due date to allow the water department clerk time to process and deposit all payments by the end of the business day. We have to set a time, he said, and we have to set a date. Alderman Charlie Lewis suggested that White may want to consider using the citys payment drop box to pay her bills the day before or the morning they are due. Taking up the formal agenda, Alderman David Henry gave a brief update on ongoing street repairs. Walnut Streets coming along, he said. Theres a lot of work that had to be done to it but its coming right along. It was the worst of the problems we had so we tackled it first. Repairs to numerous other streets will take place after the repairs to Walnut have been completed. Walnut Street was just collapsing, he said, and we were afraid someone would fall off into the creek and get hurt, so were putting everything on the back burner except for Walnut Street. In administrative business, board members discussed attending an upcoming training seminar for elected municipal officials. It was generally agreed that the city could benefit from at least one member attending the conference. The 82nd annual conference for the Missouri Municipal League takes place Sept. 11-14 in St. Louis. Board members voted to approve the trip for one member; the specific representative will be chosen by the board by the next meeting. Next, after a short discussion, the date for another city-wide yard sale was set for Sept. 10. In a discussion about excessive grass growing on residential hillsides and areas adjacent to city property, it was suggested by Henry that inmates from the Department of Corrections could assist in keeping the city looking tidy by mowing those areas that are often difficult for residents to maintain. Related to this issue, a previous conversation about purchasing lawn care equipment, including a utility trailer, was revisited. Board members agreed to table the decision to buy a trailer until a later date but voted in favor of buying two push mowers for use by city employees and inmate workers. In an update on the water/sewer system project, Parks reported he received information from the contracted engineering firm about progress on the undertaking and estimated dates for beginning construction and installation of the water portion of the project. He said the engineers expect to begin the design process in January 2017. They think theyll complete the design and theyre gonna apply for the construction permit and the plan review probably in July of 2017, he said. They hope to, by October 31 to receive their construction permit and approval from the rural development Theyd like to begin construction in (early) January 2018 and finish construction by December 31, 2018. That is what theyre trying to do. In other old business, board members considered pricing information for acquiring a debit/credit card payment system for city water/sewer bills and municipal court payments. Options included establishing a website and setting up automated monthly payments for customers wishing to make online and/or automated payments of their water/sewer bills. The board voted in favor of using a system operated by Sequoia payment processing management for customers wanting to pay their bills with a credit or debit card and, in a separate vote, to pay for a yearly data backup system. In lieu of a police department report, Parks announced that the city is still accepting applications for part-time and full-time police officers. In a discussion about the citys animal control facility, Parks informed those in attendance that a representative from the Missouri Department of Agriculture recently performed an inspection of the facility and found a couple of issues that need to be addressed. We havent talked to a veterinarian to set up a contract with them yet, said Parks. For treating the animals and also for giving them a shot. The inspection report also cited the city for a hole in one of the animal pens in the dog pound, which has already been repaired. For the final item on the agenda, board members voted in favor of providing portable toilet facilities for use by the public during the Leadwood Fall Festival in September and the Leadwood Bluegrass Festival slated for October. Last Friday, Prince George turned three. He and is already beginning to get a taste of public life as a royal. Kensington Palace released a few photographs of the celebratory party. But unfortunately, his parents Prince William and Kate Middleton had no clue that the photographs were going to create a storm. One of the photographs shows the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's firstborn giving his cocker spaniel Lupo an ice cream. This immediately raised the hackles of animal welfare activists. It was a dangerous act, said The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSCPA). Even if the child did not mean Lupo any harm. Of course, he did not. But still, he has to learn the lesson fast---seems to be the public opinion. "It is lovely that Prince George is trying to help keep his family dog, Lupo, cool in these high temperatures," RSCPA said in a statement. "We would advise people to be cautious when giving their dog food meant for human consumption as some items, like chocolate, can be highly toxic to dogs and dairy items can be difficult for them to digest." Dogs Trust charity's veterinary director, Paula Boyden, said that the prince was putting the dog in danger. "The cow's milk and sugar content in ice cream can sometimes lead to digestive issues," she was quoted by the Guardian as saying. "Whenever you do treat your dog, do consider the ingredients and always seek the advice of your vet." Even though Lupo is not actually eating the ice cream, a number of tweets actually called for George's "resignation," while a number of others said that he should be punished for "animal cruelty". It is not clear whether they were just joking, or whether they were seriously driving home a point. Tweeted Dawn Foster: "I will not rest until Prince George is brought to justice for feeding a dog ice cream." IFSP wrote: "Prince George needs chucking in prison for feeding that dog an ice cream, irresponsible animal cruelty paid for by the taxpayer." Fiona Natasha-Syms went on: "Prince George accused of animal cruelty for feeding ice cream to his dog. More cruelty say dogs." Robin Johnson said: "Two complaints about Prince George's official photos: you shouldn't feed dogs ice cream, and the monarchy is an archaic & undemocratic insti." Ronan McCann: "How dare #PrinceGeorge try to murderify Lupo by force feeding him a @MagnumUK ice cream. I won't rest until he is locked up." A number of counter-tweets followed, though. Wrote Nelson Armstrong: "For heaven's sake people! Lighten up! Royals criticized over a photo of Prince George feeding dog ice cream." The photographs during the party had been taken by Matt Porteous at the Duke and Duchess' family home in Norfolk. How he celebrated his birthday is not really clear. But messages from the photographer Matt Porteous is carefully worded: "I really enjoyed the opportunity to take these photographs of Prince George. It was a very relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere. I'm honoured that they have decided to share these images with the public to mark his third birthday." Ironically, Kensington Palace public messages too are formal, and they "thank" everyone for messages: "The Duke and Duchess hope that people will enjoy seeing these new photographs. They would like to thank everyone for all the lovely messages they have received as Prince George celebrates his third birthday." @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Hospitality Net today Sign up to our free daily newsletter, It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore). Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net. Go back to home Separating Signal from Noise in Emerging Technology PwC analysis identifies the 'Essential Eight' technologies that businesses should consider With no shortage of technological breakthroughs affecting businesses today and many more on the horizon, how can business leaders develop effective emerging technology strategies? For its new report, Tech breakthroughs megatrend, PwC evaluated more than 150 technologies globally and identified those most pertinent to individual companies and whole industries. The result is a guide to the Essential Eight technologies PwC believes will be the most influential on businesses worldwide in the very near future: Artificial intelligence Augmented reality Blockchain Drones Internet of Things Robots Virtual reality 3D printing The specific technologies that will have the biggest impact on each industry will vary, but PwC believes these eight comprises the technologies which will have the most cross-industry and global impact over the coming years. Sean Mahdi, digital and emerging technologies leader at PwC, commented: With the relentless pace of technological chance and a vast array of new innovations coming to market, it can be difficult for organisations to know where to start in selecting technologies that could reshape their future. The impact on each individual business will vary widely, but the Essential Eight are designed to give an idea of the most important advanced technologies to have on the radar. Its time to start having conversations about technology-driven innovation right at the very top of a business. To arrive at the Essential Eight, PwC filtered technologies based on business impact and commercial viability over the next five to seven years (as little as three to five years in developed economies). The specific criteria included a technologys relevance to companies and industries; global reach; technical viability, including the potential to become mainstream; market size and growth potential; and the pace of public and private investment. What makes technological breakthroughs a megatrend? Companies continually wait for the next big thing, believing that a particular technology trend either wont amount to much, or that it wont affect their industries for years to come. But disruption is happening today at a faster rate and higher volume than ever before. Innovations throughout history have tipped the balance in favour of the innovators. In that sense, technological breakthroughs are the original megatrend. The ubiquity of technology, with increased accessibility, reach, depth, and impact are what will expedite adoption of the Essential Eight. Key questions and actions for business leaders PwC believes the Essential Eight technologies will shake up companies business models in both beneficial and quite challenging ways. Across industries and regions, the emerging technology megatrend will influence strategy, customer engagement, operations and compliance. As a result, leadership teams should find effective answers to three fundamental questions: Do we have a sustainable innovation strategy and process? Have we quantified the impact of new technologies? If not, how can we do thatand how soon? Do we have an emerging technologies road map? If so, are we keeping it up to date? According to PwCs report, executives should not treat the Essential Eight technologies as a sort of checklist to delegate to the CIO or CTO. Rather, exploring and quantifying emerging technologiesand planning for themshould be a core part of a companys corporate strategy. Before developing an innovation strategy and exploring and quantifying emerging technologies, executives should educate (or re-familiarise) themselves with these technologies and what they can do. Sean Mahdi concluded: The recent success of Pokemon Go has shown us that augmented reality can be a complete game changer for a business with the courage to innovate. As with all of the Essential Eight, real success comes from being first to market. But this isnt just a problem for the technologists; UK business leaders shouldnt be waiting for others to make the first move - its their obligation to lead from the top to ensure that innovation is wired into corporate strategy. Explore PwCs Tech Breakthroughs Megatrend site and download the new report at www.pwc.com/TechMegatrend. The Parisian Macao to Open this September Sands China Ltd. will open The Parisian Macao, its latest integrated resort, on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016. Featuring a full array of integrated resort facilities, the property brings the companys portfolio to 13,000 hotel rooms, more than 850 duty free shops, Macaos most comprehensive MICE offering, more than 160 food and beverage outlets and restaurants, along with world-class entertainment. Sands China Ltd. (HKSE: 1928), the majority-held subsidiary of global integrated resort developer Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS), announced today that its elegant French-themed property, The Parisian Macao, will open its doors on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016. The launch of the newest addition to the Sands China Ltd portfolio of properties on the Cotai Strip marks yet another major milestone in the company's efforts to support Macao's development as a world centre of tourism and leisure. The Parisian Macao brings Sands China's total Macao investment to more than US $13 billion (MOP 104 billion) to date. Inspired by the magic and wonder of the famed City of Light, The Parisian Macao prominently features a half-scale authentic recreation of the Eiffel Tower. The property's full array of integrated resort facilities includes 3,000 guestrooms and suites, convention and meeting space, international restaurants, spa, kids' club, health club, pool deck with themed water park, 1,200-seat theatre, among other amenities. Its retail mall, Shoppes at Parisian, will offer the latest in fashion and couture in a setting reminiscent of the streets of Paris, with an eclectic mix of street artists and entertainers heightening the authentic experience. Set to become a skyline-redefining landmark on the Cotai Strip, The Parisian Macao fulfils the original vision of Sheldon G. Adelson, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands and Sands China Ltd. "Our goal to create a large-scale leisure and business destination in Macao, which started with the opening of The Venetian Macao nearly 10 years ago, will be fully realized when The Parisian opens its doors in a matter of weeks," Adelson said. "It's unlikely another tourism development with the size and scope of the Cotai Strip will ever be achieved again. I am grateful for the hard work and determination of the countless people involved in this amazing development and the unwavering support of the people and government of Macao. Together, we have truly made history." Sands China President Dr. Wilfred Wong said: "The Parisian Macao is a property that will help cement Macao's position as one of the region's must-see business and leisure destinations. With the launch of The Parisian Macao, Sands China remains committed to providing unforgettable experiences for our many guests and visitors from around the world and from right here in Macao. We thank the Macao government for their continued support of our company, and our team members for their dedication and professionalism which bring our properties to life, day in and day out." Cristiano Ronaldo's Pestana CR7 Hotel Opens in Madeira Pestana CR7 hotel Funchal features just 49 keys with 25 CR type rooms, 23 CR superior rooms and one CR7 Suite. In addition to all the facilities of the CR rooms, the CR7 Suite will include a Playstation 4, Virtual Reality Glasses and games, and equipment for cardio workouts complete with a self-developed workout plan. Inspired by Ronaldo's CR7 brand, the boutique hotel combines Art Deco with contemporary style and is designed with the modern day millennial traveller in mind. High-speed Wi-Fi will be available in all indoor and outdoor spaces and each room will include Apple TV as well as Bluetooth audio and HDMI connections. Pestana CR7 hotel Funchal features just 49 keys with 25 CR type rooms, 23 CR superior rooms and one CR7 Suite. In addition to all the facilities of the CR rooms, the CR7 Suite will include a Playstation 4, Virtual Reality Glasses and games, and equipment for cardio workouts complete with a self-developed workout plan. True to the brand, Pestana CR7 Funchal will also feature a customised programme Get In Shape at the outdoor gym and sauna for those keen on maintaining a healthy lifestyle during their stay. About this iconic opening, Dionisio Pestana, President of Pestana Hotel Group said: "This is an achievement that makes us all very proud". He added: "It's a dream come true in the city that is the birthplace of the Pestana Group and my own and reflects our innovation capability". "This is a winning team, a winning project. The huge hotel management experience of the Pestana Group guarantees the quality of this product that we are developing together", added Cristiano Ronaldo. "It has been a huge challenge for me to enter a new area in which I always had an interest and curiosity. I cannot wait to go to sleep in my Suite at Pestana CR7 Funchal in my hometown." The next Pestana CR7 is scheduled to open in Lisbon later this year, with two more to follow in Madrid and New York in 2017. With the addition of Pestana CR7, Pestana Hotel Group will manage four brands, including Pestana Hotels & Resorts, Pestana Collection Hotels, and Pestana Pousadas de Portugal. These new openings will bring the Pestana Hotel Group portfolio to over 90 hotels in 15 countries, solidifying its international expansion strategy. At first glance, Kweku Collins may seem in line with a certain wave of Chicago rappers his melodic, almost bluesy, but always rap-punctuated flow bringing to mind Chance The Rapper, Vic Mensa, and even former Closed Sessions labelmate Alex Wiley. However, it doesnt take long to fall into Kwekus unique world, which hes fully developed on Nat Love, a collection of songs he doesnt classify as a mixtape or an album, but simply a project. Collins, now 19 years old and only a year out of high school, is very careful with titles. At one point in our conversation he eschews the thought that hes a rapper at all, and with a listen through his new effort a dreamy, shape-shifting collage of self-production and fluid vocal techniques its not exactly the word you come away with as a listener either. While hes often mentioned in the Chicago conversation, hes actually just down the road in Evanston, Illinois, a place he describes as pretty segregated, making things particularly confusing for him, a biracial kid who found himself straddling the fence as he grew up alongside black and white friends. In music, hes found a place where theres no need for categorization; where the different aspects of his identity, influences, and talent can co-exist without the need to draw lines between them. Its a consuming sound thats better when not picked apart, but its also easy to see Collins drumming background, his early obsession with the vocal bassline on Kanye Wests Jesus Walks, and the African and Latin music his father always played, in his free-form arrangements. His vocals at times resemble the rumbling, chest-voice baritone of Kid Cudi, and other times the reverberating psychedelia of Avey Tare or Kevin Parker. Collins generally works alone, often in his bedroom, bringing a certain intimacy to his music. He says songwriting was a rare place he could find focus as a teenager with ADHD, and his music reflects the sounds of a constantly working mind reaching peaceful lucidity always containing many moving parts that probably shouldnt make sense, but just do. At one point, he compares the various elements of his songs to the currents of a stream, which is the perfect analogy for how his music works many tiny unique pieces coming together in one elegantly cohesive, yet ever-changing form. The title of his project comes from historical figure Nat Love, a black cowboy and writer Collins describes as an exclamation point of strength in the often white-washed lens of American history making for one of the rare lessons that really inspired Collins in school. Love was born a slave, but learned to read and write despite laws against black literacy, going on to publish an autobiography of his legacy as a cowboy and establishing himself as a folk hero. While the iconic Loves first name is actually said as Nate, Collins has decided to pronounce it how it looks on paper for his title. As a result, it could be read as an abbreviation of Natural Love, an emotion which is as unfiltered and all-encompassing as the music it describes the duality of the title once again playing into Collins masterfully unified world. In our conversation, Kweku spoke of his musical upbringing, his introduction to hip-hop, and the precise construction of his vision. Read the interview below. Could you tell me a bit about how you got into music? I come from a family of musicians on my dads side, going back generations. Ive been around music since I was a baby, all these drums African instruments in the house that I was able to play all day everyday. That was my introduction to music. Hip-hop came later; I didnt aspire to do music until like freshman year. That was when I seriously started doing it. Growing up in a musical family, was it expected of you to get into music? Or did it just kind of happen cause it was around all the time? It just happened. When I was a baby that was the shit that I did. And your dad was regularly performing? Yeah. What was your involvement in those performances? Sometimes he needed a little bit of rhythmic backup hed always bring me because I could keep a rhythm and I could be that support. On some father-son shit. Is there a reason why you picked up drums first? That was the only thing we had in the house really. We had didgeridoos and beaded gourds all that shit but the drums thats what my father played primarily. Being around him at the house all day was kind of like monkey-see-monkey-do in a way, but also that was just like what we do. Did you kind of just teach yourself? Or did your dad give you some lessons? A lot of it he taught me. Also just watching him. When I was a he used to make these trips to Africa because he had an African import store. When hed go to Africa, Id watch this instructional African drumming video he made for hours. Id just sit there and follow along and practice and practice. So there was that learning from him and also my own discovery as well. What was the first music listening that you got into that was your own thing it wasnt something that you saw in your family or something like an album or song that you just first got into Jesus Walks by Kanye West. Did that have anything to do with him being a Chicago artist? That was what I heard on the radio. I had a little portable radio, and I would kind of sneak my little rap station. And one day I just happened to click it to a station that was playing Jesus Walks. And I was like what the fuck is this, this is awesome. I told all the kids in school about that shit, I was just singing Jesus Walks, not even knowing what Im saying. That was the one. I remember hearing that and being like wow I just discovered gold. What was it about Jesus Walks that blew your mind? Oh man, the bum, bum, bum, buh, BUH, bum, bum, bum that was the hottest shit. I cant argue with that. Top 5 hottest moments in music is that shit right there. How old were when you at that time? Maybe like third grade. I was in elementary school, I remember that much. And did you start getting into hip-hop from there? Did that open the floodgates? Yeah. When did you start making your own music? Maybe like the end of elementary school I started dicking around on Garage Band with all the loops and dragging em tryna structure out some shit that sounded halfway decent. That kind of evolved into oh I know theres a keyboard function, I can kind of play my own stuff. And that carried on into middle school. And then in freshman year of high school I sat down, got some beats, made a mixtape, and dropped it on Soundcloud. Were you always producing as well? Nah, theres maybe two mixtapes somewhere on the internet I havent been able to find them and I lost them completely from my computer but its just like straight raps over motherfuckin youtube beats. So, you were doing more vocal stuff. At what point did you start doing everything? When that shit stopped being so fun to me. That was like the end sophomore year I think I took a break from making music, and it wasnt until maybe like the end-ish of sophomore year kind of into junior year I started to beast on my own beats, working on recording my own shit, incorporating more melody into the music that shit is so much more fun to perform. I kind of just revamped my drive. It seems like you dont do a lot of collaboration in terms of writing the music especially on the new material. Is that something you go out of your way to do kind of preserve your vision by doing everything yourself? Yeah, kind of. Its not intentional that I dont collaborate with people. Like you said, its like, well, not preserving the vision, but constructing the vision to an exact spot exactly where I see it going I want to try to take it there. But I definitely do like collaborating with people, thats for sure. How do you go about constructing your songs? Because youre doing so much of it yourself, do you try to build the instrumental first, and then you do the vocals? Or you try to write everything all at once? It really depends, sometimes I just get in the zone and the song will just unfold, and the lyrics will come. But then other times, like now coincidentally, I was just writing before you called, the song will kind of unfold in a very loose skeleton, and then I know if I put the words and the chorus in there I can just kind of build the rest of the song around that. It all kind of happens at once. Some of the time signatures in your music are crazy they go in so many different directions I feel like it must be hard to arrange vocals if youre not writing it all at once. I kind of think of it like currents in a stream and youre dropping something really really light, kind of pliable, into the stream. Youll catch it and just let it go. So fitting into one time signature will always mean that Ill fit into all the time signatures. So its kind of easy just because like when I make the beats the beat is my baby I know the intricate ends and the workings its easy to figure it out cause like I own this mufucka! Everyone seems to ask you about Chicago but youre from Evanston which isnt far but from the city but is very much its own place. Could you tell me a bit about what its like growing up there and how its shaped you as a person. Evanston is an interesting place. I definitely enjoyed growing up there for sure. That being said, its a bit segregated, and thats an interesting thing to carry especially being mixed, so Im on both sides of the fence, but at the same time, straddling fences, which isnt that fun. So you know, luckily I grew up in a pretty diverse neighborhood, I live on the South end of Evanston, and then theres the North End, which is the more affluent kind of wealthy area, the West End, and then the East End, which is just dumb money up there. But you know I definitely got to meet a lot of great people who have influenced me and shown me a lot of new things, new ways to expand on my art and make it better. Ive had the pleasure of meeting some amazing musicians who are doing some really really great things right now. And you know, its just like any place, theres a little bit of everything I guess. Is there a music scene like there is in Chicago? Kind of. Its budding, theres bubblings at the high school, like whos the best rapper in the fucking junior class but Im like the only one right now whos really out there from Evanston. Your music is hard to classify. Do you still consider yourself a rapper first and foremost? Not at all (laughs). Why is that? I wanna be able to do whatever it is I want. I want people to regard it as art from a person that they accept that kind of thing from. You dig what Im saying? Like more as just Im an artist, I might rap, or I might sing but cause you expect both or neither or whatever whatever it is will be like the response its hard to explain. The definition of a rapper is a grey area in itself, half of these rappers are singing so its hard to say these days. Yeah. Being able to rap is just a tool in my belt. Would you say your main instrument right now is vocals? What is the aspect you feel most confident in when you make music? I think I still have so much more work to do, so much more growth to see, so much more learning and evolving as a person and an artist Im confident in both my production and my lyrics right now I know that theres potential and room for it to be better for both of them to be better. The line between mixtapes and albums has never been blurrier. Do you consider Nat Love to be your official debut album? I would say so its my first project that has been seen by so many eyes so yeah I would say its my debut project, whether its an album or a mixtape I dont know. I just call it a project and leave it at that. What do you want people to take away from listening to your debut project for the first time? I dont know, any answer that I could give to that question would be annoyingly ambiguous. But really I want people to take what they can from it. I dont know everyone thats gonna listen to Nat Love ever. I dont now you know, I dont know their situations and I dont know what the circumstances of their life are or who they are or anything like that. So what I want people to take away from Nat Love is that there could be something that they dont need so I want people to take what they can and if they cant take anything then I hope they enjoyed the music, the production. I want people to take what they need or what they want from it. On Howl you say that you hated every minute of school. Did you find it hard to concentrate when you had a very serious passion that seemed more important than anything else? Yeah. Also that coupled with ADHD is just such a bad combination. I can focus for hours on music. Thats one of the few things that I can do for a while, but school hard as I try that shit just kept falling through, it didnt work. Did you find that making music helps almost treat your ADHD? Its a rare thing that you can just completely concentrate on? I dont know if it helps my ADHD. Im not sure if my shit was like a hindrance. It doesnt affect the way that I operate in my daily life. I may get a little spacey. It doesnt show at all. Yeah, I get what youre saying but it goes away I get so into it. Whats your current live set-up? Its me and a DJ, me and BoatHouse. But I have performed with a live band before. I fucking love that. I feel like you could definitely figure out some really cool arrangements with a live band. How much touring have you done at this point? Ive gone all over the place recently, and Ive done three stops, little mini-tours, but nothing extensive yet. Is that something you like doing? Yeah! Im ready to go on a big tour. A long tour-ish. What is it like going somewhere youve never been before and seeing people react to your music? Its fun I really like kind of feeling I like feeling like I have something to prove. It sucks, but I dig it. So that element it drives me to work harder, and kind of just leave shit out there like they say leave it all on the fuckin stage or whatever every performance I really do try to do what I did last time but better and do new things and really try to show people this is the why you should fuck with me application basically. Is it a weird adjustment going from recording in the privacy of your own home to doing it live? Yeah, its a lot different. In my bedroom Im alone, theres not even an engineer its just me. So I have the luxury of comfort in the way that I can be as open vocally as I want, cause nobody else is listening while I say these things while theyre in their rawest state. Once it really becomes a song, I dont really have a problem sharing that level of intimacy with other people. And by the time it becomes out, or its an unreleased song Im playing for people, Im okay saying these things because this is just a new song. So its not like difficult transitioning, but its definitely different. No I know, you definitely have a theres a lot going on for sure. When youre making your instrumentals, is that entirely on the computer? Or are there live elements to it? Its kind of like half robot half human at this point. So Im kind of the rap cyborg out here. I have a keyboard so I can play out all the chords, program the drums in a way thats familiar to me cause Ive played it with my hands, but different cause Im poking the keys. Its kind of live in a way but its also very electronic. Did you teach yourself piano as you began songwriting? Or is that something you were trained in? I wish I was. I should have gotten on that, my dumb ass. But yeah I had to teach myself. Could you explain who Nat Love is and why you decided to name your project after him? So Nat Love is kind of a derivative of the name Nat (pronounced Nate) Love. Its spelled exactly the same, but pronounced differently. So Nat Love was a black cowboy during Westward expansion, during that whole thing. He also was a writer, he went by the name of Deadwood Dick but learning about him in history class it was just really cool to see such a strong black figure at that point in history in the position he was in. That shit was damn near like it was a really empowering thing for me to see, especially because learning about history it always seemed very white washed. It was like an exclamation point of strength. So I said the name as Nat Love I was like holy shit this is the like coolest name Ive ever heard. Nat Love, so dope. And I couldnt get it out of my head and I then I learned it was pronounced Nate Love and Im like well, you know what, Im still saying Nat Love. For years, it just stuck with me like Nat Love, Nat Love, you gotta use this for something because its too cool. And then eventually after several fan names for the project, I was just one day sitting and going over everything, and I was like oh shit, this is perfect, there is no other name that would ever go over this. HWCH is putting out the call to all budding tech ventures to apply for the music festival HWCH Tech has grown significantly over the past four years and today the festival announces an exciting new opportunity for the growing music tech sector in Ireland. HWCH Tech looks to help in the development of world class Irish tech companies to establish themselves as leaders in the music tech sector on their journey into the global music market. Supporting some of the most innovative music tech companies in Ireland over the last three years, HWCH Tech 2016 takes a more hands on approach. Past tech alumni include Firstage, Muddy, Beatvyne, Soundwave, Whole World Band, Fan Footage, Gigstarter and more. HWCH Tech 16 will be two tiered. Firstly, HWCH will provide opportunities for a selected number of start-up companies to pitch and test their ideas to selected local and international industry over the weekend of the event. This group will have access to mentoring, panels and tip sessions, the same way bands have had over the past 14 years. Secondly, they will get to test their idea at HWCH 2016 as a live festival test of their product. Advertisement Do you have an idea? Do you need support to develop it? HWCH invite all technology innovators in the music sector to apply for HWCH pitch opportunities at the following link HERE Hard Working Class Heroes 2016 runs from Thursday 6 October to Saturday 8 October. Early bird tickets to Hard Working Class Heroes 2016 are priced at 35 via DICE https://dice.fm/ until August 10th. After which tickets will cost 45.00 (Weekend tickets) & 20 (Nightly tickets), no booking fees apply. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy With Rihanna, Metallica, and Selena Gomez Longitude hero Kendrick Lamar will headline another major festival; the rap superstar will co-headline Global Citizen Festival with Rihanna, Metallica, and Selena Gomez. The festival's aim is to combat the worldwide problem of poverty. It has occurred every September at New York's Central Park since 2012, with Beyonce and Coldplay being among last year's acts. Hugh Jackman will return as a speaker; he will be joined by Chelsea Handler and Salma Hayek among others. Usher, Chris Martin, Ellie Goulding, and Eddie Vedder will be among the guest artists. The event will be streamed live. Details about the film have been kept very hush hush. Michael Fassbender has never been one to disappoint fans, and in a recent interview revealed details about his upcoming film. Fassbender is one of the only characters returning from Prometheus. He will reprise his role as David in Alien. The film is set for release in 2017. Speaking to Collider, he teased that the film has "more of the sort of thriller, imminent disaster feel that Alien had, so its kind of a beautiful meeting of both of those films... Its gonna be super scary number one and then again with the massive scope of Prometheus." Advertisement If Fassbender is on board, then we should all be on board. Ukulele connaisseurs will descend upon Dun Laoghaire next month Thousands of ukulele lovers are set to descend on Dun Laoghaire next month for the annual Ukulele Hooley which takes place on Saturday and Sunday, August 20 and 21, in the harbour town. Dreamed up by local ukulele devotees, it is a unique event on the Irish festival calendar as it is a not-for-profit, community event for which you cannot buy a ticket as attendance is completely free! Based in Dun Laoghaire, the Hooley offers a host of music and events across the weekend with the highlight being theUkulele Hooley Open Air Concert in the Peoples Park on Sunday which will feature acts from America, Italy, England, Scotland, Holland and Ireland. On the bill will be Casey McGill, Francesco Albertazzi, Andy Eastwood, George Elmes, Holly Cooper, the Hat Trick String Band, James Clem, Gus & Fin Trio, The Mourning Glories and a host of others. Advertisement A local favourite is also back this year: the Ukulele Bus Busk which will see over 70 ukulele players hop onto an open-topped double decker bus and tour the Dun Laoghaire to Killiney coast, stopping off along the way to play and sing. People can learn how to play a ukulele or fine-tune their skills at the Ukulele Workshops or take part in the Ukulele Hooley Open Mic event which takes place on the Dun Laoghaire seafront on Saturday night. There will also be trade stands in the Peoples Park where enthusiasts can buy ukuleles. This is a very unique community, family-friendly event and its free, explained organiser Tony Boland, Ukulele lovers all over the world know about the Hooley and they come in their thousands to listen, learn and play. Another cut from the eagerly anticipated Boy King has arrived Wild Beasts forthcoming LP Boy King has us all sorts of excited, so the unveiling of another slice of swaggering rock from the album has brightened our Tuesday considerably. 'Tough Guy' got the World First treatment from Zane Lowe last night, and joins previously released tracks Celestial Creatures, Big Cat and Get My Bang in whetting our appetites for the full effort to drop. Give it a digital spin below. Exxon Mobil Corp. and a company owned by the government of Saudi Arabia are proposing to build a multibillion-dollar petrochemical complex along the Gulf Coast, the first U.S. joint venture for two of the world's biggest energy juggernauts. Exxon Mobil and the Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corp., known as SABIC, said Monday that they're considering sites in Texas and Louisiana to take advantage of cheap and abundant natural gas supplies in Texas and beyond. Natural gas is used as the primary feedstock for local petrochemical plants. Exxon Mobil and SABIC, which have partnered for more than three decades in Saudi Arabia, are looking in Victoria as well as the Corpus Christi area, specifically San Patricio County, Exxon spokeswoman Margaret Ross said. In Louisiana, talks have begun with officials in Ascension and St. James parishes, both of which are between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. SABIC is the largest publicly traded company in Saudi Arabia, but the government controls a majority stake. The Saudis, who are trying to diversify their economy from crude oil, are working to expand petrochemical capabilities worldwide so they can become a global player in refined products, as well as raw materials, said Ed Hirs, an energy economist at the University of Houston. For Exxon Mobil, it allows the company to split the costs and free up capital as low oil prices squeeze the company's revenues. It also gives Exxon Mobil a well-run partner with deep pockets. "It's a new facet and a new direction for an ongoing relationship," Hirs said. "The Saudi king has wanted to make it more of a global enterprise." The Gulf Coast petrochemical sector has taken off in recent years because of the shale gas boom began nearly a decade ago. The American Chemistry Council, a chemical industry trade group, estimates that counts more than 250 petrochemical projects are getting built or planned across the country through 2023, creating about 70,000 jobs. The combined cost is about $160 billion, including about $50 billion just in Texas. Global giants like Exxon Mobil and SABIC typically won't make such big announcements unless they plan for the project to come to fruition, said Dave Witte, senior vice president at the IHS research firm who focuses on the petrochemical industry. While Saudi Arabia is awash in oil, Witte said, its natural gas supplies are tightening, so tapping new sources through a U.S. expansion makes sense. The port access along the Gulf Coast would also allow the Exxon Mobil-Saudi joint venture to ship chemicals and plastic to developing countries in Asia and elsewhere. "That is vitally important as most of the chemical demand growth in the next several decades is anticipated to come from developing economies," Exxon Mobil Chemical President Neil Chapman said. The Exxon Mobil-SABIC project probably wouldn't start construction until 2018 or come online until after 2020, said Pavel Molchanov, an energy analyst at Raymond James in Houston. That might be just as well, since a global economic slowdown is hurting demand for plastic products, packaging and automotive parts, and contributing to a glut of petrochemicals. "What matters is not today's spot pricing but the expectation of where prices will be during the 2020-2040 time frame," he added. Saudi Arabia has a major Texas presence already through its Motiva Enterprises venture with Royal Dutch Shell. Saudi Arabia and Shell are negotiating an end to the venture, but the Saudis are expected to hold on to the Motiva brand, the Port Arthur refinery - the largest in North America - and 26 distribution terminals. As for the petrochemical proposal, Exxon Mobil and SABIC said the project would involve building a world-class steam cracker, which takes separated parts of natural gas, such as ethane, and uses steam to break them into petrochemicals like ethylene, the primary building block of most plastics. Before making a final decision on the project, Exxon Mobil and SABIC said they will do studies and work with state and local officials to help identify a potential site with adequate access to roads, pipelines and port facilities. Exxon Mobil also has existing petrochemical complexes in Baytown and Mont Belvieu. The woman whose company has put out a controversial "Mexican American Heritage" textbook says it is "not careless and is certainly not racist." In an interview with the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday, Cynthia Dunbar said she was saddened by the criticism and defended the work, saying "the last thing in the world that we want this book to do is to promote any kind of negative impression of Mexican-Americans." Dunbar said she had not agreed to interviews previously because the book is still being vetted by the Texas State Board of Education. "I never, ever heard of a book in the history of the Texas state board that has been attacked prior to completion," she said. "So the entire process seems a little bit unorthodox." Mexican-American educators in Houston are urging people to sign a petition against the textbook, which the state board will vote on this fall. But the book is already on sale, with a hardcover version going for $69 apiece, according to Lupe Mendez, a Mexican-American art teacher at a private school in Houston. Mendez found out about the price after contacting Dunbar, who is CEO of Virginia-based Momentum Instruction and a former member of the Texas State Board of Education. Mendez and Dunbar traded a series of emails, later obtained by the Chronicle. Dunbar told the Chronicle that "the book is not technically for sale yet. People can get review copies." But in the emails, Dunbar told Mendez that he can get copies right away, including a classroom set for 25 students priced at $1,650. "The final version is not completed," she said. "People can buy it in advance, I suppose, if they wanted it." 'Exploiting a narrative' Dunbar said that her company is working with experts to clarify or fix anything that needs to be changed, so as to put out a "most excellent book." Elizabeth Conley/Staff Mendez criticized Dunbar for not using experts who specialize in Mexican-American history. "She is just seeking to make money on the backs of Mexican-Americans, exploiting a narrative that is not her own," he said. Dunbar, a Christian conservative who opposes teaching evolution, was elected to the board in 2006. In 2008, while serving on the board, she published the book "One Nation Under God." In it, she described public education as "tyrannical" and said that sending children to public schools is like "throwing them into the enemy's flames, even as the children of Israel threw their children to Moloch." "Mexican American Heritage" has generated national attention for what critics describe as a flawed and offensive book, which depicts Mexican-Americans as violent and lazy people. Dunbar told Mendez, via email, that Momentum is also working on a textbook about African-American history. Agustin Loredo, vice president of the Goose Creek CISD board of trustees, said he found out by communicating with Dunbar that the company also has a book about women in history planned for release by the end of next year. Mendez and Loredo are Houston members of a coalition reviewing the Mexican American Heritage textbook. The coalition aims to have a detailed report before September, when the SBOE has a scheduled meeting. The board will hear recommendations from experts and the public before taking a final vote in November, though one board member last week tearfully asked colleagues to reject the textbook. Erika Beltran, a Democratic member from Fort Worth, cited the impact on Hispanic students should they be exposed to the language that appears in the book. One of the most cited passages describes Chicanos' role during the civil rights movement as people who "adopted a revolutionary narrative that opposed Western civilization and wanted to destroy this society." Another section says, "industrialists were very driven, competitive men who were always on the clock and continually concerned about efficiency," but, "in contrast, Mexican laborers were not reared to put in a full day's work so vigorously. There was a cultural attitude of 'manana,' or 'tomorrow,' when it came to high-gear production." Dunbar said the book doesn't promote that image. It was meant to reflect stereotypes that Mexican-Americans had to overcome, she said. "Personally, I think that every single minority group should have their history told. Being a Native American woman, I know what it is like a lot of times to not have your stories really told," she said. "And the goal of this book was to try to use a lot of original source documents to avoid controversy." 'This is a national issue' Tony Diaz, host of Nuestra Palabra (Our Word) radio program in Houston and director of intercultural initiatives at Lone Star College-North Harris, said the coalition is concerned that the textbook "is not just a Texas problem; this is a national issue." Although books listed by the SBOE are not required for school curriculums, Texas is a main player in the textbook business nationwide, and its materials are used as references for acquisitions in the state and around the country. If "Mexican American Heritage" receives final approval, Diaz said, "schools nationwide would be inadvertently choosing a racist book to teach their students." Coalition members say Dunbar hijacked the process by using her knowledge of textbook selection to step ahead of true historians, who are working on their own versions. The textbook now being debated is the only one on Mexican-American history ever vetted by the SBOE. Olivia.Tallet@chron.com Twitter: @oliviaptallet This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Police have identified a 27-year-old Houston man who was shot and wounded by officers Sunday when he pointed a gun toward them in southwest Houston. Police said Erick Michael Coonrod, 27, did not respond to police commands and reached for what appeared to be a gun stuck in the waistband of his pants. Officers fired multiple shots when he pulled the gun and pointed it at them, police said. The weapon turned out to be a replica pellet gun, police said. Based on a review of court records, Coonrod has a criminal record in Texas and Pennsylvania. He was arrested in October 2015 in Fort Bend County on two counts - criminal trespass and evading arrest. He remained in the Fort Bend County Jail for 10 days before pleading no contest to the charges. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail. Between 2008 and 2010, Coonrod also pleaded guilty to eight charges in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, ranging from a summary offense to a third-degree misdemeanor, according to court documents. Some of the charges included providing false information to law enforcement, possession of drug paraphernalia and retail theft. Coonrod spent time on probation and in jail for several of the charges. In a Facebook post in December, he made comments about having a rough year and going "back" to jail but pledged to turn himself around in 2016. Sunday's incident happened about 3:30 p.m. at 1100 West Alabama near Yoakum in the Montrose area, according to the Houston Police Department. Police officers were sent to the scene after residents reported a man with a gun was in the neighborhood. When officers arrived they spotted the man, later identified as Coonrod. The officers, identified as J. Baldwin and R. Naughton, opened fire on Coonrod, who was wounded more than once. Coonrod was rushed to Ben Taub General Hospital, where he was in critical condition. The officers, both three-year HPD veterans, were not hurt. As is customary in officer-involved shooting incidents in the city, the HPD Homicide and Internal Affairs divisions, as well as the Harris County District Attorney's Office, will investigate the case. Anyone with further information in the incident is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600. DURBAN, South Africa - The 21st International AIDS Conference convened here last week amid an emerging global consensus that the end to an epidemic that has killed 35 million people might be achievable. Just weeks before the conference, a high-level meeting of United Nations members in New York issued a declaration renewing commitments to end AIDS by 2030. That optimism faded as delegates arrived in Durban to news that donor countries had reduced global HIV funding by more than $1 billion from 2014 to 2015. The reduction could jeopardize the remarkable gains made from investments over nearly two decades, including tens of billions of dollars from the United States. That money has funded advances in and the distribution of life-saving anti-retroviral therapy. More than 17 million people are on treatment. The number of people newly infected with HIV each year has stalled at about 2 million, but it is down from 3.1 million in 2000. Washington again provided the majority of last year's HIV-related donations - nearly two-thirds of the $7.5 billion spent. But U.S. funding dropped $500 million from 2014, according to a joint report from the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS. They attributed it primarily to a timing issue, with the United States set to roll out new programs this year. Funding from Britain, the second-largest donor, fell by $135 million and from France, the third largest, by $39 million. Overall, 13 of the 14 donor governments analyzed in the report reduced spending on HIV. "Brexit" and the ongoing refugee crisis could significantly delay Western European governments from restoring the funding that traditionally accounts for the majority of the remaining global response. Nearly 20 million people are in need of anti-retroviral therapy, many in communities that are difficult and costly to reach. That includes gay men, sex workers and injection-drug users, especially in countries where their behaviors are criminalized. If funding restrictions continue, experts worry that those groups could be left out of the response. HIV could spread rapidly within the historically large generation of young people in the developing world who are just starting to become sexually active. "Challenging funding environments don't get us out of the reality of the situation that if we do not make the progress that is necessary over the next few years to ensure that [HIV prevention and treatment] targets are really being achieved, we will have a severe problem," said Brian Honermann, deputy director of policy at the AIDS research foundation AmFar. There are massive gaps between the treatment that experts say could stop the epidemic and the funding necessary to provide that treatment. The World Health Organization released guidelines late last year calling for all HIV patients to be started on drugs at the time of diagnosis. The research group Palladium presented a 97-country analysis at the International AIDS Conference showing that nearly half of the $44 billion cost of anti-retroviral therapy at the clinic level could be unfunded between 2016 and 2020. Ben Plumley, who heads Pangaea Global AIDS, which links people around the world to HIV services, said the looming challenges underscore how premature it is to be talking about the end of AIDS. "There's nothing worse than hearing governments congratulate themselves on a job well done, when the job has only barely started," he said. International donors are looking to middle-income countries to take more responsibility for funding their own HIV responses. Domestic spending made up $10.9 billion - or 57 percent - of total HIV resources in 2015, a significant jump from a decade ago. And experts continue to search for ways to save money through more efficient services. But ending the epidemic will probably require more resources from traditional donor governments, Plumley said. "I think the question for our leaders is whether they have the guts to say to electorates that, despite all the investments that have been made, we're still only halfway there," he said. The call for increased funding comes as European governments warn that much of the money earmarked for development efforts, including the HIV response, is now being spent domestically on the refugee crisis. Even maintaining current spending levels could be difficult. Instead, they are looking to the United States to hold fast. "The United States is doing more or less what it's supposed to do," said Lambert Grijns, the Dutch ambassador for sexual and reproductive health and rights and HIV/AIDS. His country has historically been among the five-largest contributors to the HIV response but saw a $44 million drop last year. "As long as the U.S. can maintain that position in terms of absolute figures," he said, "we don't need to be that worried." Activists at the meeting expressed frustration with Washington, which since 2014 has not increased funding for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) - the program that directs the bulk of the United States' HIV spending in the developing world. The 2016 election has thrown the future of the program into doubt. While Hillary Clinton, the presumed Democratic nominee, has championed PEPFAR, the program had its funding cut during her tenure as secretary of state by more than $300 million between fiscal 2011 and 2012, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The Republican nominee Donald Trump has been vague about his plans for international HIV funding. All of which adds up to a precarious international financial position, activists said. "AIDS isn't in recession, and we know wealthy governments have the budget space to increase their investments," said Asia Russell, executive director of the AIDS advocacy group Health GAP. AIDS experts are closely watching this year's drive to replenish the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria - the other major international player alongside PEPFAR - as an important test of donor interest, especially within the United Kingdom. Governments and private donors invest in the Global Fund in three-year cycles. Mark Dybul, the fund's executive director, said ahead of the Brexit vote last month that he was "hyper-confident" of reaching the $13 billion fundraising goal. There is uncertainty, though, about how much new British Prime Minister Theresa May's government will be interested in contributing to the fund or whether other sources will emerge. "I'm still confident we'll get to 13," Dybul said, "but we'll have to do a lot more work to get there." Despite flat funding for PEPFAR, the United States has signaled that it will not allow gains made on its earlier investments to be reversed. Last month, PEPFAR created a $100 million fund to expand services to specific communities that officials are most worried will be left behind in the global response, such as gay men and sex workers. AmFAR's Honermann cautioned against an overreliance on any one source, though. "If we don't continue the global funding, as well as pushing for domestic governments to reach their own funding, it does undermine everything that we've accomplished." Andrew Green reported from Durban on a fellowship with the International Reporting Project. DEAR ABBY: I have been married for almost three years to a woman who refuses to share the same bed with me. It started on our honeymoon when, after having sex, she chose to sleep in a different bed whenever there were two beds in the room. She's in her late 40s and had never been married before. We have been intimate only twice in the last year. Moreover, she doesn't let me sit next to her while we watch TV, and there is no kissing, no touching, no affection of any kind, physical or verbal. I have wracked my brain trying to figure out why she treats me like this, and I have a few suspicions. She's applying for permanent residence status and may have married me only for that, although she denies it. She can no longer bear children, so she may think there is no point in having sex or being intimate. She may have an aversion to being touched, although she doesn't show that when we're out in public. She likes to hug her female friends. (And no, I don't think she's a lesbian.) Any love that existed between us is nearly gone at this point, so am I justified in getting a separation? We have been to counseling, and that is what the therapist recommended. -- FEELING UNLOVED IN UTAH DEAR FEELING UNLOVED: Assuming you brush your teeth, use deodorant and shower regularly, I'm as mystified about your wife's behavior as you are. I know people who treat their dogs and cats better than this woman has been treating you. That you have tolerated it this long is surprising. Your therapist has advised a separation, but I would go further than that. Because you don't have a marriage, I think you should make it official. DEAR ABBY: I receive at least two or three telemarketing calls a day -- and sometimes even more on Sundays. Can you please tell me what to do to put a stop to this? I have written once before to an address to curb this situation, but no luck. These calls come as late as 9 p.m. Thank you for any advice. -- STRESSED OUT IN ILLINOIS DEAR STRESSED OUT: I agree that telemarketing calls are invasive when they come in multiples. The USA.gov Consumer Action Handbook includes a number you can call to restrict telemarketing calls permanently by registering your phone number. It is 888-382-1222. This can also be done online at www.donotcall.gov. If you receive telemarketing calls after your number has been in the national registry for 31 days, you can file a complaint using the same web page and toll-free number. This will cut back on some of the calls you receive, but not all of them. Political organizations, charities and telephone surveyors with which you have a relationship can still get through. However, if you still find yourself being inundated, contact your phone provider and inquire about call-blocking 800 numbers. Good luck! DEAR ABBY: Several months ago I spoke to a doctor friend about some medical issues my wife was experiencing. He specializes in this particular area. When he advised my wife to come into the office, I told him it was not a good time for us financially. He said not to worry about it. We made the appointment, and about two months later the bill arrived. We are on a high-deductible health plan and the bill is not cheap. How can I discuss this with my friend without offending? I don't want to sound presumptuous -- I know this is his livelihood -- but we would have stuck it out until we were better off financially. -- FINANCIAL DIFFICULTY DEAR "DIFFICULTY": Call your friend the doctor and explain the situation. If you do, he may reduce the amount of his bill or, alternatively, agree to a payment plan that you can manage. DEAR ABBY: Some time ago I was descending an escalator when a suitcase belonging to the woman ahead of me got stuck. She had put the bag in front of her, and the wheels had caught on one of the steps. When she reached the bottom of the escalator, she fell over her suitcase, and then I fell over her. I scrambled on my hands and knees as fast as I could to get out of the way of the dozens of people behind us, visualizing a pileup and injuries. Fortunately, an attendant quickly grabbed the suitcase, and no one was hurt. As he did he said, "NEVER put a suitcase ahead of you on an escalator! Always carry it behind you so you can control it!" I hope this letter will save others from what could be a dangerous situation. -- AVOIDED A PILEUP IN NEW JERSEY DEAR AVOIDED: Whoa! So do I. Thank you for the warning. DEAR ABBY: Recently my wife was out for some training all day on a Saturday. Our 11-year-old daughter had been invited to a birthday party on the same day, so I was to drop her off. My wife and daughter told me the birthday party "might or might not" be a sleepover party. My daughter would inform me at the end of the party if she were spending the night. I wanted to know at the time I dropped her off whether she was going to be sleeping over. My wife claimed I "didn't need" to know. She accused me of being unreasonable, and said it was OK for me to find out at the end of the party. I don't mean to be picky, but as a dad was I being unreasonable? -- RESPONSIBLE PARENT IN OREGON DEAR PARENT: No. As the parent responsible for your daughter that day, you had every right to know what the plans would be so you could plan your own evening. When the invitation was issued, that information should have been conveyed so your daughter would be prepared and take along her pajamas and toothbrush. DEAR MOM: If anyone thinks that an attitude of entitlement is strictly a problem in the United States, your letter should banish that notion. What you told your daughter makes perfect sense. If she wants independence, she should be prepared to accept the responsibility for living that way. I would, however, encourage you to continue the dialogue with her so you can understand why she feels the need to live apart from you, on the chance that a compromise might be possible. I'm sure it would be enlightening. Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069 Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. 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Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. quo;Transformational leadership to me is about enabling people to achieve a purpose, Paul Landy, chief of people and transformation at QSuper, told HRM.People have a need to be creative and to belong; this is a fundamental part of human nature in and out of the workplace.True transformational leaders tap into this, Landy said, by creating positive organisations where there is a high expectation for what employees can achieve.They walk the walk and demonstrate to their people that they can achieve great things and get satisfaction from their work, he said. They are instrumental in guiding and motivating them to do this.There is a vital partnership between HR and the transformational leader in which the HR team creates and sets up systems which are integral to facilitating this transformation.However, transformation in leadership cannot succeed unless the program itself is truly owned by the business, Landy added.HR can facilitate the process but the content, design and learning approach needs to reflect the voice of the business and be clearly aligned to the strategy of the business to be most effective.Because leaders often skip their own development within their hectic schedules, it is important for HR to build leadership development programs in which the content is relevant and practical application of the learned knowledge is available.This will help leaders in their daily routines as well as prepare them for the future, he said.With the function playing an essential role in business transformation, it is imperative that HR is established as a mutually supportive partner.HR teams need to spend time working with leaders in the business to better understand their individual operations and drivers.You need to listen broadly and take time to understand the playing field at all levels understanding the connectivity points across the business and the big levers to pull will result in not only great results for an organisation but also for its people.By demonstrating to the business that the transformation process will be handled from both an employee and business perspective, the business is much more likely to support HR with all transformational goals. loyee retention is a key focus for most HR professionals but it seems efforts may be falling short if one recruitment company is to be believed.A survey released today by Hudson New Zealand claims a huge 75 per cent of Kiwi workers are looking for a new job up more than 20 per cent in just six months.To see this level of unrest is surprising and disappointing, said Roman Rogers, regional general manager of Hudson New Zealand the recruitment company behind the study.The survey, which was completed by almost 1,400 employers and employees, found that 41 per cent of workers were actively seeking a new job while 34 per cent were looking passively.[It] does surprise us that the extent of engagement has dropped to where it has, particularly when organisations have been talking for a while now around the importance of communicating with their people and focusing on retention and keeping people engaged, admitted Rogers.The shocking revelation suggests the number of Kiwi workers discontented with their jobs is now at a ten-year high a shift the study says has been spurred on by a lack of career progression and good old-fashioned boredom."The impact is significant because if you do start to lose people within your organisation there's a time it takes to find other people that can come in, get up to speed, and deliver to meet the requirements of the organisation, warned Rogers.The other aspect too, and the hidden cost, is that if you have three out of four people in your workforce not currently engaged they are not focusing on the role you want them to perform for you right now - they're thinking about greener pastures so the impact on the quality, productivity and delivering to your customer base is significant, he added.According to Rogers, the steep 20 per cent jump in restless employees could be a sign that discontented workers had attempted to stick it out since Christmas."People take time over the holiday break to sit on the beach and reassess their career, he said.If they're considering a move, they either pull the pin straight away or stick it out and see how things go, he continued. If they get to the half-year mark and nothing's changed, then they look to move on. ty employees of a company in China were forced to eat gourd, a bitter vegetable, as punishment for not meeting their weekly sales target, Chinese media reports.The management at Leshang Decorations Corporation, in the Chongqing province, reportedly forced the workers to eat the vegetable, described as unpleasantly bitter, as motivation for the employees to meet future targets.The company ordered the bitter gourds in bulk so that they could use them to punish workers, according to the Shanghaiist.Reports claim that employees who spat the gourd back out as they were unable to swallow it were forced to eat more of the vegetable.People's Daily also reported that a worker who had been subjected to the punishment told them that she had also been made to do push-ups, squats and run around her office building multiple times in the past as punishments from her employer.A number of photos circulating on Chinese social media appear to show the workers being forced to eat the gourd as others look on.The incident is not the first report of harsh punishments among workplaces in China. In June, Sina News reported that a Chinese motivational trainer spanked employees of a bank live on stage for not working hard enough.A video purportedly showed the workers crying out in pain.On the recent reports, one Weibo user commented: "Employees got spanked last time when they didn't 'exceed themselves,' and now more employees are being forced to eat bitter gourd. Why do Chinese companies take such a liking for punishing their employees?"Despite the apparent trend for cruel workplace punishments, Chinese labour laws state that employers are held accountable for any damage that they inflict upon their workers. An Alberta judge overturned a ruling on a sexual assault charge and took the opportunity to deliver a scathing lecture on consent. "Consent in the context of sexual activity is not a difficult concept," writes Justice Juliana Topolniski in the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench judgment. "It is long beyond debate that in Canada that 'no means no.'" "Consent in the context of sexual activity is not a difficult concept." In October, a 15-year-old boy approached a 15-year-old girl during an after-school workout, according to Topolniski's judgment. Advertisement Both the accused and the victim's identities are protected by the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The boy made comments about the girl's body, then "told the complainant that she was sexy and fit and touched or slapped her buttocks several times." The girl said she initially "laughed it off because she was not expecting it. " He then pushed her into a locker, "grabbed at her buttocks, ran his hands over her body, and tried to kiss her." She removed herself, told him to go another way and turned a corner. Instead, he followed her, pushed her into a doorway and tried to kiss her again while he grabbed parts of her body. She tried to push him away and told him "no." At this point, she wasn't laughing. She removed herself and left the school, where the boy followed her and forced her to hug him. Advertisement "It is long beyond debate that in Canada that 'no means no.'" Most of the incident was captured on a camera inside the school. In April, provincial court judge Michael Savaryn found the boy not guilty of sexual assault. Savaryn, a former trustee with the Edmonton Catholic School District, rejected almost all of the girl's testimony, Topolniski noted. In Savaryn's initial ruling, he wrote "in fairness to the accused, the complainant tried so hard to laugh it all off, that I do not believe she was successful in communicating her discomfort which initially I find was totally internalized as she was literally and by her own admission laughing his grabs off." He said her complaint would have held more merit had she called for help, or put more effort into walking a different direction from the accused. He also questioned a text message sent by the girl after the incident, where she used a laughing while crying emoji to describe the events to a friend. 'Sexual stereotyping' about victim behaviour Topolniski slammed Savaryn's ruling, implying it blamed the victim. "The complainants state of mind after the incident is irrelevant to the question of consent. Indeed, the trial judges consideration on the complainants post-incident conduct is indicative of sexual stereotyping about how victims of sexual assault will behave," Topolniski wrote. "Even if one were to accept the trial judges findings that there was consent to the pre-doorway touching, there can be no doubt that... the complainant withdrew any consent she might have given by clearly conveyed physical and verbal cues." Advertisement The boy will be returning to Youth Court for sentencing. Also on HuffPost: A majority of Canadians believe it's likely a gay prime minister will be in charge within the next decade, a new poll suggests. Abacus Data recently asked respondents to weigh in on the probability of a number of possible scenarios in the next 10 or 20 years, including several related to Canadian politics. Advertisement Fifty-six per cent told the firm that it was "likely" Canada would have a gay PM within the next decade, while 58 per cent predicted it would happen within 20 years. It was considered the most likely development out of seven scenarios dealing with Canada's political and media landscape. New Democrats were the most bullish, with 67 per cent saying that the LGBTQ milestone was probable in the next decade. However, 50 per cent of Conservatives and roughly 60 per cent of Liberals also felt the same. And what about a Muslim leader of a major Canadian party? Forty-four per cent of respondents predicted that will also happen within 10 years, while 54 per cent said that it will happen within 20 years. Advertisement Fifty-six per cent of respondents said that scenario was likely in the next decade, compared to 47 per cent of Liberals and roughly 50 per cent of Tories. Abacus chairman Bruce Anderson said in a release that the numbers "signal at least some confidence that bias-based barriers to high office are limited and possibly reducing over time." Almost half of Canadians (46 per cent) also told the firm that women will have more power and influence than men in the next 10 years. By comparison, just 18 per cent of Canadians said they think Quebec will separate from Canada in the same time frame. Advertisement In terms of Canada's media, 22 per cent said there would be no more national news broadcasts on TV and 51 per cent said newspapers would cease to be printed by 2026. Gay politicians have made significant in-roads in recent years in Canada. Ontario's Kathleen Wynne became the first openly gay premier in Canada's history when she assumed the office in 2013 and won a provincial election the next year in which her sexuality was largely a non-issue. However, Wynne has at times opened up about "added responsibilities" she feels she has as a gay leader of the country's most populous province. At an anti-bullying rally in Toronto last year, Wynne told The Canadian Press that parents of gay kids sometimes tell her that her presence in the premier's office is "an important signal" that society is changing. Advertisement Scott Brison, who became the first openly gay MP named to cabinet in 2004, currently serves as Treasury Board president. The online survey was conducted between June 14 to 16 among a random sample of 1,500 adult Canadians. The margin of error for a similar poll is 2.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. With a file from The Canadian Press Also on HuffPost: Two vehicles had their windows smashed during the brawl. (Photo: Sooke RCMP) An apparent rental dispute involving tenants turned into a huge fight with an assortment of weapons, according to RCMP on Vancouver Island. On Friday night, a new tenant showed up at a home in Sooke and tried to convince the current occupants to vacate in a "brewing landlord/tenant dispute," said a police news release. Advertisement As a result, 10 people ended up in a fight with weapons that included: Bear spray Axes A steel pipe A baseball bat Knives Brass knuckles Handcuffs A hammer. Four people were injured and taken to hospital, while two vehicles at the scene had the windows smashed in during the brawl. The seven men and three women involved are all from Sooke, said RCMP. Charges are expected against nine suspects. Follow The Huffington Post B.C. on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Also on HuffPost: If you're looking for the ultimate escape, Montreal is where you need to go. There's river surfing, picnic adventures, a floating spa and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that will seriously blow your mind. In this episode of "Like A Tourist," host Dan Rodo tries to convince a local there's truly no place like home and shows him these hidden gems. Watch the full episode below. Advertisement What To Do: Surf's Up In The St. Lawrence River 7770 Boulevard LaSalle, LaSalle, Que., H8P 1X6 Try catching waves on the St. Lawrence River during your Montreal getaway. A session on these raging waters is good practice for an ocean adventure. Kayak Sans Frontieres (KSF) in Montreal offers river surfing lessons so you can master your technique in a safe environment. Where To Go: Spa Day At Bota Bota Quais du Vieux-Port de Montreal, Rue de la Commune O, Montreal, H2Y 2E2 After all that exercise, you're going to want to unwind in a hot jacuzzi. Do just that on board the Bota Bota, a floating spa housed in a transformed ferry boat. Life never looked so good. Advertisement What To Eat: PB&J At Le Fantome 1832 Rue William, Montreal, H3J 1R5 End the day digging into a foie gras peanut butter and jelly sandwich at Le Fantome. It's a relatively new restaurant that has critics praising its innovative menu. Like A Tourist Takes On Montreal Also on HuffPost So you've found yourself in Halifax. Perhaps you've recently moved to the city and want to get familiar with your new home. Or chances are you're a long-time resident in need of something new to shake up your routine. Or maybe you just came for the seafood. We don't blame you. But no matter what you're searching for, you're in good hands with Dan Rodo. The "Like A Tourist" host joins Haligonian Kuda Ndadzungira with one goal: explore Halifax with the hopes of uncovering a new perspective. Advertisement Here are a few highlights they discovered when it comes to sights, activities and what to eat (spoiler alert: it's seafood). Looking for more ideas? Check out the full episode below. What To Do: Surfing At The Lawrencetown Beach Lessons available at the Eastern Surf School, 4348 Lawrencetown Road, East Lawrencetown, N.S., B2Z 1P7 First-time surfers looking to get their feet wet in the water sport can make their way east of Halifax for a prime view of the Atlantic Ocean. And then they can get an up-close-and-personal look standing on top of an eight-foot board as they try to master the ocean's rolling waves. Heads up though! While the waves are milder than say, surf spots in Hawaii, the water is definitely a lot colder. Advertisement What To Eat: John's Lunch 352 Pleasant St, Dartmouth, N.S., B2Y 3S5 As far as institutions go, John's Lunch is one devoted to seafood. After all, the place has been around since 1969. Grab a seat by the counter and you'll literally see your food cook in front of your eyes as co-owner Fotis Fatouros fries up mounds of chips, fish fillets and scallops. Where To Go: Halifax Citadel National Historic Site 5425 Sackville Street, Halifax You want an Instagram worthy of that #ThrowBackThursday hashtag? Then make sure you stop by the Halifax Citadel as the site still features the original buildings built in 1856. The citadel was created to defend the nearby naval base, not the actual city itself, and visitors can get a feel for that by dressing up in the traditional uniforms of the 78th Highlander Regiment and practice their shooting skills with rifles. Like A Tourist Takes On Halifax Advertisement CORRECTION: An earlier version of the article incorrectly identified the Highlander Regiment at the Halifax National Citadel as the 70th. This has since been updated. Also on HuffPost Photography by Harry Traeger via Getty Images Vancouver with False Creek in foreground and Grouse Mountain and the North Shore Mountains in background. Photo credit: Fiona Kwan Vancouver is known as one of the top cities in the world for foodies. The city is home to everything from Michelin-starred, farm-to-table eateries to food trucks that are never seen without a line. Whether you're into high-class eats or down-home cooking, the following are six places you simply have to eat in Vancouver. Advertisement Hawksworth Restaurant -- 801 West Georgia St. Hawksworth Restaurant has reigned supreme as a five-time winner of the Best Upscale Restaurant title in Vancouver Magazine's Restaurant Awards. It's hard to explain just what type of cuisine Hawksworth serves, because each dish embodies the cultural diversity and unique natural beauty of the Vancouver area. The restaurant, named for its chef David Hawksworth, features a menu that is driven by the freshest local ingredients. You can find Hawksworth Restaurant in the famous Rosewood Hotel Georgia on West Georgia Street, and it's not just open for dinner. Enjoy breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner or a memorable bite to eat with your evening drink at the bar. Blue Water Cafe -- 1095 Hamilton Street If you ask a Vancouver local for the best seafood in town, they'll send you to the Blue Water Cafe. Named the "Best Seafood Restaurant" in Vancouver time and time again, this Yaletown favorite is known for more than its critically-acclaimed menu of fresh (and often rare) seafoods that are delivered to the restaurant daily. Visitors rave about the top-notch service, appealing raw bar and the restaurant's commitment to serving responsibly sourced food from the nearby ocean and beyond. Roaming Dragon -- Mobile Food Truck Advertisement Photo credit: Sombilon Photography Vancouver is known for the popularity of its growing food truck scene, but no mobile food source has created as many fans as Roaming Dragon. The Pan-Asian inspired truck took to the streets as one of the first food trucks in Vancouver in 2010, selling delicious, local and sustainable foods to neighborhoods across the city. Mouthwatering dishes like steamed pork buns and short ribs fly out of the window, but Roaming Dragon also consistently receives praise for its fun staff, music and atmosphere. Log onto RoamingDragon.com, to find out where the truck is parked right now. Cafe Medina -- 780 Richards Street You're repeatedly told that breakfast is the most important meal of day, so why not do it right for a change? Cafe Medina, in Vancouver's Library District, is often praised as the best breakfast in the city, and few will argue if you make the same claim. The restaurant made a name for itself as one of the few phenomenal breakfast, brunch and lunch places in the city. You can't leave without trying the famous Belgian waffles. And you can't go wrong by starting your day with one of the many other locally-sourced dishes and drinks, like the Le Complet (flatiron steak, sunny eggs, caramelized onion, piquillo goat cheese crostini, romesco and seasonal greens) or the Moroccan Maria, an unprecedented, handcrafted take on the traditional bloody mary made with Reposado tequila. Meat and Bread -- 370 Cambie Street This Gastown favorite for out-of-this-world sandwiches has become so popular that it spread to West Pender Street, nearby Victoria and south of the border to Seattle. There's simply no better place for sandwiches in the city (the Porchetta is a common favorite), but the daily soups and salads nearly steal the show. You probably don't want to eat every meal at a fancy, sit-down restaurant while you're exploring Vancouver, so this trendy lunchtime eatery fills the gap with affordable, fast and unforgettable 'wiches. Japadog -- 899 Burrard Street Advertisement Photo credit: Craige Moore Japadog has become such a popular Vancouver eatery that it has advanced from a simple food cart owned by an ambitious Japanese couple to multiple cart, trailer and food truck locations throughout Vancouver. Amazingly, Japadog carts can even be found on California's historic Santa Monica Pier and in the heart of Los Angeles. The iconic hot dog stand serves a huge selection of sausages (and non-meat-based dogs) ranging from the Croquette, made with Japanese Arabiki sausage, to the Ebi Tempura dog, made with crunchy shrimp tempura. There's a dog for everyone, and there's no better way to find your favorite than to stop at every Japadog stand you see in the city. VCG via Getty Images CHENGDU, CHINA - JULY 24: Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 major economies pose for a group photo at the close of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting on July 24, 2016 in Chengdu, China. The two-day meeting is a part of the 2016 G20 Hangzhou Summit which will be held in September. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images) Attending a G20 meeting is a rare opportunity for a teenage girl. It's an honour to be at an event where decisions are made that affect our entire planet and to have the chance to meet key decision makers. At every chance, I'm making sure to talk about the next generation's issues -- representing other teenage girls who have opinions on international affairs. So here I am, 11, 747 km away from Toronto, Canada in Chengdu, China for the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting. It's an exciting chance to see the inner workings of the global economy and provide a blog for G(irls)20 as they will soon be in Beijing for their seventh global Summit to discuss the economy and how girls and women are a key factor to growth. Advertisement First a few facts: 1. Chengdu is the capital of the Sichuan Province of China with a population of over 11 million people. It's well known as the habitat of giant pandas -- panda centers are a main tourist attraction in the region and even though they are here to work on some serious issues, the pandas will receive a visit from the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Govers! 2. The G20 is comprised of the European Union and 19 countries that meet to coordinate globally. There are several different discussion tracks that are part of the G20; this blog is about the 3rd of 4 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting which will take place under the Chinese Presidency. The fourth one will take place in early September, when they attend the G20 Leaders' Summit in Hangzhou, China. So now that you have the basics here are my initial observations. First, when we think about global meetings we often think about security. Upon arrival, it is clear that security is important -- in the airport, on the highway and at the hotel. There is security everywhere -- basically a ratio of one security personnel per person at the conference, and that's only the security that I can actually see! The intense security and hyper organization show the value that is placed on these meetings and the people attending, with everything planned down to the second in order to make the most of the precious time that is available for discussion. So what's happening at the Chengdu G20 meeting? The global economy is the agenda. Recent developments are the key focus, with a particular emphasis on the impact of the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union -- Brexit. Why is this important? Because as G20 members they need to work together to create balanced, sustainable and inclusive growth. Without growth, efforts to empower girls and women to improve the lives of citizens everywhere are immeasurably more difficult. Advertisement G20 meetings are also about planning for current and potential economic challenges, so the participants will discuss the progress that G20 countries have made in their efforts to strengthen the financial system and financial infrastructure. Making sure our economies are fair and don't encourage criminal behaviour is critical, which is why international tax agreements, ways to increase tax transparency and anti-terrorist finance are also on the agenda. Finally, young people will be pleased to know that climate finance -- thinking about how to create incentives for a better future environment -- is an important topic for discussion. Watch for my next blog when I'll report on some of the meetings I've had with conference attendees! Written by Clare Morneau, Author of Kakuma Girls. Wavebreakmedia Ltd via Getty Images Cape Town, South Africa By John Muscedere and Samir Sinha When the previous Health Accord expired in 2014, the Harper government unilaterally established a new funding model for federal health transfer payments to the provinces and territories based on an equal per capita basis. Built into the model was a guarantee that no province would receive less than its 2013 transfer amount with a further guaranteed minimum three percent growth rate from 2017 onward. So, what's not to love? Plenty. The truth is, in a country as diverse and varied as Canada, such a per capita funding model creates winners and losers. For provinces with flourishing economies and/or younger populations, the formula may be a welcome one. But for many provinces and territories, this funding formula fails to recognize and accommodate their particular challenges and needs. This is because per capita models fundamentally ignore the sometimes extreme variations in socio-economic, demographic and health status of regional populations across Canada -- a significant oversight. Advertisement The good news is that Health Minister, Jane Philpott has promised a new Health Accord to be finalized over the coming year. Atlantic Premiers have banded together to call for federal health funding based on the needs of their aging populations. Other organizations, such as the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions and pundits have similarly called for an asymmetrical fiscal transfer arrangement based on specific provincial demographic needs such as age. The health minister could and should craft a new federal arrangement for health funding based on age but should go one step further and include the more precise and evidence-based concept of "frailty." Here's why. Frailty is common in our aging population but it remains highly under-recognized. A model based on age alone is attractive because health-care spending rises overall with increasing age, but not all Canadians age in the same way. Consider an individual in their 60s with multiple medical problems requiring repeated use of the health-care system compared to a healthy octogenarian with few or no health problems. In a recent review published in the Canadian Journal of Aging, along with our colleagues, we highlight "frailty" as an essential concept that needs more attention in our health system in order to direct our precious health-care dollars efficiently -- and to provide the right care at the right time to the right populations. Advertisement Frailty is common in our aging population but it remains highly under-recognized. It's estimated that over one million Canadians are clinically frail. Clinical frailty can occur at any age and describes individuals who are in precarious health, have significant multiple health impairments and are at higher risk of dying. The hallmark of frailty is that minor illnesses such as infections or minor injuries which would be handled easily by non-frail individuals may trigger major deteriorations in health. Frailty is a better determinant of outcomes and health care utilization than age alone. Our health system came into existence when people generally died younger and more commonly with a "single system" illness. At that time, many more of us also tended to live in intergenerational households or close to other relatives who could provide help for living independently. Jump forward several decades and today, our health system is scrambling to meet the needs of older individuals with multiple simultaneous and often inter-related health and social issues that threaten their independence -- the essence of frailty. Simply put, our health system does not respond well to frailty. Our current health care structure excels at illness-specific interventions but many of these may pose higher risks and offer lower potential benefits in frail individuals. In this context, health-care systems may provide those with frailty both too much care and the wrong kind of care. This can be expensive and harmful and also could threaten the overall sustainability of our health-care system. So why should the new Health Accord include an understanding of frailty -- and base fiscal transfers on the concept -- along with other important factors? Because a large and growing proportion of our health-care spending is and will increasingly be focused around frail older Canadians, particularly those nearing the end of life. Advertisement Systematically recognizing frailty in Canadians and targeting federal health funding based in part on frailty would both help those provinces and territories who have more significant health and social care needs in this area, but also flag the issue of frailty as one that needs to be urgently addressed across the country. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFPOST: Handout . / Reuters FILE PHOTO - The Solar Impulse 2 plane is seen on a maintenance flight over Hawaii performed by the test pilot Markus Scherdel in a handout picture taken March 27, 2016, and released April 14, 2016. REUTERS/Solar Impulse 2/Jean Revillard/Handout via Reuters/File Photo ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. "This is a historic moment for the humankind," UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon said to the pioneer and pilot Bertrand Piccard during an Internet videoconference, few hours before the arrival of the airplane Solar Impulse in Abu Dhabi. "This landing is the start of what will come next" answered Piccard. On July 26 (at 00:05 UTC) this unique aircraft completed a 40,000 km, round-the-world journey propelled only by the energy of sun. The fuselage of Solar Impulse flies also the flag of the European Union and the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz promised to Piccard, in a videoconference on July 14, the commitment of the European Union to accelerate the energy transition. Put the sun at the glowing heart of progress! This is the message of Solar Impulse. For two centuries technological civilization has revolved around the energy of fossil fuels, but now humankind has the capability and knowledge to make the energy of the sun the centre of its development. If by rightly putting the sun at the centre of the solar system the "Copernican revolution" corrected a factual knowledge mistake, the "solar revolution" in technology must now correct an error in moral choice. This error consists in continuing to burn coal, oil and gas in order to provide eighty per cent of the world energy, whilst accepting the increasing damage this causes to people and environment. Advertisement Of course, thanks to fossil sources of energy, last century saw an unprecedented boost of the world's population, the average longevity of humans, and the well-being of the richest bracket of them. Yet, now we know that fossil fuels have unacceptable environmental consequences, such as the disruption of the climate and increasing pollution, as well as dramatic social consequences, such as the bloody conflicts over fossil fuels, the impoverishment of entire populations and exponentially growing mass migration due to climate change. This ecological and social harm makes the transition to a solar civilization an "energy imperative." This is the title of the last book by Herman Scheer (1944-2010), the pragmatic and visionary politician who perhaps did more than anybody else to implement the solar vision. When in the 80s he dedicated himself completely to the energy revolution, perhaps even Scheer did not dare to imagine the scene of July 26: a majestic electric butterfly with the same wingspan of a Jumbo jet and powered by two hundred square meters of photovoltaic panels, landing with a slight hum in Abu Dhabi, a few kilometres from the world headquarters of the International renewable energy agency (IRENA), the institution conceived and advocated by Scheer for decades, and finally established in 2009. Through its outreach program futureisclean this solar airplane aims to support, especially in schools, hundreds of initiatives which aim to educate people in saving energy and a transition to renewable energies. Kofi Annan, Mikhail Gorbachev, Achim Steiner (UNEP), Sir Richard Branson are among the prestigious initiators of this educational program, which testifies that the true mission of Solar Impulse is the communication of a message, rather than the development of a technology. Indeed, the technologies making this plane fly have been known for years and the novelty is "only" in having them assembled together, for doing something that was deemed impossible just a short while ago. This is a good approximate metaphor of our world, where we aren't certainly lacking technologies for the energy transition, but we rather lack political initiative and coordination, we lack real willingness to subordinate the vested interests to the common good, and we especially lack the individual and collective awareness for doing it. In order to arouse the latter in the whole population, symbols and images are more effective than graphs and statistics. To touch the hearts and minds, it is better to tell a story than to display calculations. Advertisement Some images become simultaneously icons and driving force of an era. For example, since the 70s the photograph of our Earth seen from the Moon, a small and pale blue marble floating in the dark, became the icon of a new awareness of its fragility. In order to truly discover the Earth, man needed that moon-landing? What are the value and the price of symbols? How much did the Eiffel Tower cost per meter? The cost and result of Solar Impulse would be "three thousand bucks wasted per kilometre" somebody said. But perhaps he did not grasp that dollars come and go, but there are some dreams coming true -- and staying with us. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFPOST: President Obama addresses Canada's Parliament. (Photo: Adam Scottie/PMO) President Obama ended his address to Canada's Parliament on June 29 with the words "The world needs more Canada." At this point in time, those words are very true. The U.S. election campaign has had both parties' candidates talking about protectionism over globalization. There is talk of building walls, renegotiating trade deals and punishing U.S. companies that import foreign goods and services. The Economist Intelligence Unit notes the potential for several years of instability as the Republican and Democratic parties wrestle over their policy positions on closed or open borders, and globalization versus nationalism. A Brookings Institution Blog makes clear "U.S. city and regional leaders should not back down on trade and global engagement. The global economy is hyper integrated -- enabled by technology, air and freight networks, and complex supply chains more widespread and faster growing than new trade agreements. Local leaders have a responsibility to help their firms and workers navigate, not ignore, the benefits and drawbacks inherent in globalization." Advertisement Europe is faced with its own challenges. The Brexit vote was to be a strong vote of confidence for the United Kingdom's participation in the European Union. Instead, there is a new prime minister after David Cameron resigned, and the Labour Party leader has also resigned. Post vote, the British pound faced a significant decline versus the U.S. dollar. Speculation continues that other EU countries may follow. The situation in both the U.S. and the U.K. indicates disenchantment with conventional political elites. Donald Trump has been playing heavily to white voters who have seen an erosion of jobs, and for those with jobs, no real wage growth. Blame is being placed on immigration and bad (for the U.S.) foreign trade deals. The U.K. vote saw the London region in favour of staying within the EU and areas outside London choosing to leave. The older demographic disliked EU immigration policies. Conversely, young people appreciated the mobility that those same policies offered. Against this backdrop of polarization, political discontent, uncertainty and nationalism comes Canada. The federal election of October 2015 saw the election of a Liberal government led by 43-year-old Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Liberals had run on a platform that included stakeholder consultation, deficits to improve city infrastructure, increasing trade and investment agreements, and a new openness in government. Advertisement Since the election, the government has shown its commitment to globalization. At the G7 summit in Japan, prime minister Trudeau confirmed Canada's commitment to free trade and foreign investment. The NAFTA Leaders' Summit in Ottawa saw a re-affirmed commitment to free trade and the continuing improvement of the relationship between the three countries. "The three leaders strongly support regional economic co-operation as a means to promote shared prosperity, create jobs, enhance North American industrial and agricultural production, and protect workers and the environment." Minister of International Trade Chrystia Freeland re-enforced Canada's commitment to its free trade agreement with the EU (CETA) at the recent G20 Trade Ministers meeting in Shanghai, and stated that "CETA will provide a strong foundation for Canada and the EU to demonstrate global leadership on a progressive and inclusive approach to trade. It is an excellent agreement and will deliver positive results and economic opportunities to our middle class." Canada is in an excellent position to demonstrate the global leadership identified by Minister Freeland. It is undergoing a consultation process that is examining how that can be achieved. Three suggestions are: 1. The Federal government should formally recognize that city regions are a primary driver of the Canadian economy and a valued partner of the government in achieving national economic prosperity. The top 11 cities in Canada represent 52.5 per cent of Canada's population, 56.8 per cent of its GDP and most importantly, 63.8 per cent of GDP growth. 2. Federal support to the attraction of foreign investment should be centralized and placed into an agency that has the operational and financial flexibility to improve targeted policy development, effective resource utilization and the approval times for initiatives and resources. Advertisement 3. Operational and project resources to city region organizations involved in trade and investment should be consistent across the country, increased, and provided in a framework that allows individual cities to maximize the effectiveness of the resource. Canada's value proposition as a destination of choice for the foreign investor is excellent and only going to get better. President Obama is correct. The world absolutely needs more Canada. Michael Darch is the founding President of the Consider Canada City Alliance Inc. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: Pacific Press via Getty Images MALLEVANGSTORGET, MALMA, SKANE, SWEDEN - 2016/07/21: Black Lives Matter demonstration. (Photo by Magnus Persson/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images) Renewed outrage followed the recent shooting of another black man, Charles Kinsley. This in the wake of the murder of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile in the United States. Meanwhile, in Canada, the Special Investigations Unit, a civilian law enforcement agency that only investigates incidents involving police and civilians, has launched an investigation after Abdirahman Abdi died yesterday, following a violent confrontation with Ottawa police. Advertisement Witnesses say, Abdi, a 37-year-old autistic man was beaten by multiple officers while handcuffed, and laid unconscious for 15 minutes before paramedics arrived. A short video shows Abdi unconscious on the ground receiving CPR. He later passed away in hospital, 45 minutes prior to receiving any medical attention. Another depiction of police brutality against a black man caught on tape, sparks outrage among black Canadians and the cycle of violence begins anew: a black person murdered by police is captured on video, the video goes viral and no changes are made to policing strategies or tactics. More importantly, no one is held accountable. Rather, the cycle of violence continues on an administrative level: SIU documents are concealed, police officers go unnamed; are seldom reprimanded and the victim's family and the black community never get justice. The videotaped murders of black people have been consumed nearly as much as black culture itself. Police brutality against black people is not a new phenomenon. What's new is, technology has finally caught up -- camera and video in handheld devices has allowed truth to speak for itself. And now that we have seen and heard the truth; the existence of anti-black racism and state sanctioned violence against black bodies, what has changed? Not much. Rather the killing of black men and women has become sensationalized and this sensationalism breeds desensitization. The videos and vignettes of slain black bodies have been viewed millions of times. They are the main feature on prime time news; played over and over, a trauma we must relive again and again. Whether we realize it or not, these types of videos have become a (social) media phenomenon and not for their saliency but for their sensationalism. Advertisement The videotaped murders of black people have been consumed nearly as much as black culture itself. State sanctioned violence against black citizens and anti-black racism continue to be ignored in Canada, discarded as an American epidemic that has no jurisdiction in this country. Each time a U.S. report of police brutality against a black individual is covered in Canadian news media, conversations resurge about "the American race problem." Thereby dismissing the lives of the dozens of black Canadians murdered by police. Alongside Andrew Loku, Jermaine Carby, and many others is now Abdirahman Abdi. The policing model and structure in this country must change. The taped violence breeds the same silence. Canadians are consumed with focusing on American racial contention, which allows them to ignore our racist past and to continue to position Canada as being only a safe haven for African-Americans, escaping slavery. Instead of having substantive discussions about how anti-black racism manifests in Canada, from the targeting of black people through carding, to the influx of black inmates in Canadian prisons, we tend to just ignore it altogether. In Canada, instances of police brutality parallel that which occur in the United States, particularly when dealing with mental health. The shooting of Charles Kinsley, an unarmed black man in North Miami, with his hands in the air, was the result of an emergency call for someone threatening suicide. Andrew Loku was fatally shot and killed in his Toronto apartment building; a residence known to house people with mental health. Abdirahman Abdi, said to be autistic, was fatally beaten by multiple police officers and later succumb to his injuries in an Ottawa Hospital. The policing model and structure in this country must change. Not only to address anti-black racism but to deal with the various intersections of oppression faced by black Canadians. Advertisement Toronto Police Service former Deputy Chief of police Peter Sloly made some recommendations specific to what these changes should look like and politicians should take heed. While Justin Trudeau believes Canada may be devoid of "colonial baggage," we should all know better -- we've seen the footage. #JusticeForAbdirahman Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFPOST: Sometimes it feels like the world is advancing at an unprecedented rate, but that isn't always a bad thing and in this case it is actually very positive. In April, the Nature Conservancy and scientists in the Arnavon Community Marine Conservation area tagged ten endangered Hawksbills with GPS trackers and have been collecting data on them ever since. The Arnavon area consists of a group of four isolated islands within the Solomon Islands. The area currently supports between 300 and 600 nesting females but according to Richard Hamilton of the Nature Conservancy, poaching in this area has been getting increasingly worse. Advertisement Hawksbill Turtles, so named because of their distinctive pointed beaks, are already dangerously close to becoming extinct and so the findings from this research project will no doubt become vital in the restoration of these underwater creatures. As it stands currently, it is legal for people to harvest Hawskbills for subsistence but despite the fact that national law bans the sale of their products and international trade is also illegal, shell products can still be found for sale across the islands. Previously, tracking Hawksbills has been incredibly difficult due to the fact that they only come ashore every two to seven years to nest and typically only gather in small concentrations. Should the new GPS tracking technology prove to be a success, these difficulties should be a thing of the past and in the future, rather than working out how to gather the necessary information, researchers will be able to simply work to preserve the species. The Sea Turtle Conservancy has estimated that there are between 20,000 and 23,000 turtles nesting worldwide but despite these figures, the overall population is expected to be down by ten percent of what they were a mere century ago. The decrease is thought to be down to a number of different factors as the Hawksbills face a frequent range of threats; from the illegal trading of their shells, to the poaching of their eggs, to beach erosion, to the degradation of the coral reefs that they feed within. The Hawksbills are being battered from every side with by human developments and the ever worrying threat of poachers still hangs eerily over their future, so it is about time something began to be done to help them. Advertisement Unfortunately two of the female Hawksbills that were tagged as a part of the research project were killed by poachers, but data from the other eight has already provided a wealth of information on the movements of the turtle species and has given researchers a much clearer insight into the feeding and nesting patterns of the turtles. So far the research has highlighted a number of interesting characteristics that the turtles share with one another: The sea turtles rarely stay in one place and actually seem to island hop between two main areas on the Kerehikapa and Sikopo Islands. Since discovering this previously unknown fact, rangers have been doubled on the islands to increase the protection in place for those turtles that come ashore. Despite this island hopping tendency, most of the nesting actually occurs on Sikopo Island and researchers have concluded that this is probably due to recent storm surges and rising sea levels that have left the Kerehikapa beaches largely eroded. Monitoring during the nesting period has shown that the turtles are spending a vast majority of the two week period laying their eggs between the protected area boundaries. Advertisement Interestingly, despite sharing some characteristics across the species, the GPS tracking has shown that migration patterns between individuals actually vary drastically. While one turtle remained in the Solomons, many others swam to Australia and others returned to home territory just a few months later. As it stands at the moment, the project is still very much in the early stages but there are already hopes to expand the turtle-tagging program in the future, especially as such informative results have already been collected in a matter of months. The hope is that if, or when, the program is expanded scientists and conservationists alike will be able to come to understand the movements of the Hawksbill turtles more accurately and devise successful plans for their protection. For the time being, the eight remaining tagged turtles will continue to provide invaluable information to the team recording their data. Meanwhile, conservation groups in the area plan to continue to inform the local people of the importance of the turtles and the devastating impact that the trade is having on the overall populations of the Hawksbills. Hamilton himself believes that if the community can be persuaded to take an active part in the preservation of the species, from the tagging of the turtles to the monitoring of the beaches, that the future will beam much brighter for these elusive yet beautiful sea creatures. If you would like to get involved in turtle conservation, take a look at our project in Costa Rica! By Shannon Clark - Online Journalism Intern Frontier runs conservation, development, teaching and adventure travel projects in over 50 countries worldwide - so join us and explore the world! Advertisement Stefan Wermuth / Reuters Conservative Voice, a Tory activist group, has officially launched their campaign to lift the ban on opening new grammar schools, introduced by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair 18 years ago. If Prime Minister Theresa May is serious about her recent rhetoric on the steps of Downing Street, when she said that her government would do everything it could to help "anyone, whatever your background, to go as far as your talents will take you", then she will halt this divisive campaign in its tracks. Advertisement Some Tories argue for more grammar schools as engines of social mobility, which propel kids from working-class, low and middle income families up the social ladder. But the facts argue otherwise. The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies has found that amongst those identified as high achievers at an early age, children who are eligible for free school meals or who live in poorer neighbourhoods are sigificantly less likely to attend a grammar school than their better off classmates. There are 163 grammar schools left in the country. In 161 of them, fewer than 10% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. According to research by the House of Commons library, around 2% of children at grammar schools are eligible for free school meals. Advertisement So they are not being drawn from the poorest backgrounds. It takes some gall to suggest that grammar schools, which divide children into 'successes' and 'failures' at the tender age of 11, is somehow good for social mobility. Some Tories argue that grammar schools allow the tiny minority of kids from low-income backgrounds to shoot to the top of society, as perfect examples of social mobility. Again, this is simply not true. In the heyday of grammar schools, just 0.3% of grammar school pupils with two A-levels were from the skilled working class. A measly three children out of every thousand. A third of all students in grammar schools who were from the most deprived backgrounds, left without a single O-Level. That's why Labour got rid of them - because they were failing all our children. They sowed division in our society, left too many young children feeling second best, and put a cap on aspiration, ambition and opportunity for millions. Advertisement They left no room for late developers, or children whose family or social circumstances later changed. And they failed to provide Britain with the dynamic, skilled workforce that we still need. The professed belief that new grammar schools will suddenly take on huge numbers of working class kids and deliver fantastic results is patently absurd. David Cameron said that those in his party who wanted to open more grammars were "splashing about in the shallow end of the educational debate." If only the party he used to lead would listen to him. I welcome Theresa May's words on social mobility, and what she, and her new Education Secretary Justine Greening, have said about education being the best engine we have for social mobility. I couldn't agree more. But we need action, not warm words. Rather than harking back to a mythical 'golden age' of grammar schools, the Tories must work tirelessly to improve every school in the country, to work with teachers to drive up standards, and to give our schools the investment they need in the 21st Century. Advertisement That's what Labour stands for. Selection belongs in the dustbin of history and has no place in modern society. There must be no going back. Sam Edwards via Getty Images I've always loved photography and really enjoy taking photos of my family and our life in Brighton. So it didn't take long for me to get completely addicted to Instagram and it's fast become my favourite social media platform. However there's one thing about it that bothers me. I look at some of these gorgeous profiles, their idyllic settings and picture perfect smiling kids and it's just not us. Advertisement This is one of my favourites pictures of this month - my little lady is snotty nosed and as ever not smiling, but this is her 100%. I hardly have any pictures of her really close up with her concentrated face. Although it's not filtered and certainly not the best light, it's the moment that has been captured. A moment we often have, as she tries with all her might to steal my phone and stop me from taking pictures of her! Photo Credit: Bridie By The Sea When I started writing Bridie By The Sea, it was to record our lives just as they are - no filter. I wanted to remember the days I felt overwhelmed as well as the ones where I managed to get the routine right. I always wanted this to be a balance of the reality of motherhood - that it's not all smiles and sunshine. The reality is that some days are utterly exhausting and I long for my bed. As much as I love sharing my photos and having a platform that is exclusively for that - it just makes me feel bad. It makes me feel like I'm the only one who has days where the only food consumed is half a yoghurt and a handful of raisins. Days when you stop for 30 seconds to down your lukewarm coffee and you find your fast-as-a-whippet daughter has climbed the stairs and is upstairs roaming free. I guess it just makes me feel like our perfectly normal family are not enough. Advertisement I know what you're thinking, why compare your life to these photos? I don't mean to, and I often wonder if other people do the same thing, as I always kick myself every time I do it! I know deep down that no-one's life is picture perfect but I really do get sucked into the world of Instagram and these beautiful photos of toddlers smiling in utterly beautiful fields. It gets me thinking that I have never been near a field of that sort with our kids, I mean unless I stopped on the side of an 'A' road specifically to have a mini photoshoot...now that wouldn't go down too well with the little lady. What strikes me is that no good comes of this comparing, and more to the point what does it matter anyway? But here's the thing: we are enough. We're all enough, every single one of us. We may not be the classic 2.4 children family but we have wonderful moments together - even if the kids hardly ever smile to camera, we always manage to spill food down our girl's clothes minutes after we dress her and invariably forget to take photos on a family day out. So this is me saying bye bye to feeling bad about our unfiltered and unedited life, and a vow to myself from now on to stop comparing. A vow to be kinder to myself, because normal is quite alright for me. This post first appeared on Bridie By The Sea This summer The Huffington Post UK is spearheading an initiative helping families thrive, with a focus on parent wellbeing, the challenges facing stay-at-home and working parents, friendships and navigating the landscape of modern parenting beyond the 2.4. To kickstart the campaign, Jamie Oliver guest edited the site, bringing a focus on feeding healthy families. Advertisement Traditionally the West Country and specifically Plymouth wouldn't be the first place that came to mind when thinking about wrestling. London sure, Glasgow - well who hasn't heard of ICW? Maybe Preston in the North or IPW in Kent but Plymouth? Well be prepared to have your frame of reference changed for good because slowly but surely over some seven years the little known Plymouth Wrestling Association (PWA) has been building a reputation and a roster and it looks like it's about to hit it big. The markers of PWA's impact have been promising. Earlier this year, for the first time WWE's NXT brand made its way to Plymouth, in what was a debut outing for the company. They sold out in around an hour and that momentum is something on which PWA is keen to build. PWA's mission as the company sees it is to provide "world-class local professional wrestling". As it was put it to us, the company's crew "bring in the best talent we can" and have the passion and desire to build the company into the West Country equivalent of the independent trendsetters Progress, PCW or RevPro. Advertisement PWA's Got Talent: Tyler Hawke with the Belt PWA aren't joking when they refer to the "best talent" they wish to secure. In April, the company hosted none other than Royal Ramblings favourite Drew Galloway defending his TNA World Title on their anniversary show. PWA see the use of British, above imported talent as a key selling point. With their biggest show to date, "Heat Wave" taking place on Sunday 31 July at the Plymouth School of Creative Arts, the company is trying to set another high bar in that regard. Two of the biggest UK stars will be there to entertain in the title bout, namely Tyler Hawke and Eddie Ryan. Chuck Cyrus of TNA British Boot Camp 2 fame will be in town as well as Kelly Sixx and a returning Chris Andrews. A quick scroll through PWA's previous roster pickings shows that the company has used the best of the British scene. From El Ligero and Martin Kirby to Dave Mastiff and Joel Redman there is clearly an interest from top talent in the goings on in Plymouth. At a previous event Jinny and Pollyanna went at it and hopefully PWA's women's roster will also be developing as the promotion grows. Advertisement PWA's Adam Sibley explained a little to us about the promotion's approach to their shows. "We have been running regular shows for seven years now, most recently on a monthly basis or so. There are two key parts to each event, the first is booking the best talent around and the second is the storyline elements that build and evolve each time. Similar to WWE's lead-up to Wrestlemania, a lot of our storylines build towards and culminate with our anniversary shows each April. We have recently moved to a new venue in Plymouth called the Plymouth School of Creative Arts and this Sunday's show (which will be our third at the venue) looks set to be our biggest and best yet". Questioned on why people should visit the South, Sibley continued "People should come south to see our shows as we showcase the best of local talent that you might not see performing anywhere outside of the South West at the moment, so there are some real hidden gems". "We also pride ourselves on only booking the best talent we can find so each card is stacked from top to bottom with brilliant wrestling. On top of this our new venue is very new and state of the art and is a great venue for wrestling". It's clear that Sibley and PWA as a whole are passionate about their promotion. Sibley concluded that: "PWA wants to put Plymouth on the wrestling map. We are run by fans of wrestling, so we want to give the people of Plymouth and further afield a top class promotion that is known for delivering great matches every time they put on a show". Local fans should already know of PWA which is involved in the community and has benefitted from local council funding (not to mention crowd-funding!). If not, its time to get to know it. There are still a few tickets left for Plymouth Wrestling Association's "Heat Wave" on 31 July at 1830. Make sure to check the Facebook page for details or get tickets from the PWA website with tickets starting from as little as 8! Advertisement It may seem that there has never been a better time to identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender (LGBT). Same-sex marriage is now legal, anti-discrimination laws offer more protection, and more people are out and proud in the public eye than ever before. Yet a significant new report out last week confirms what many feared. London's LGBT population are living in ever worsening conditions, with more complex needs. Worse, the specialist support people want is being eroded. There has been a huge reduction in specialist provision over the past few years, with 90% of providers stating trying to achieve adequate funding is their biggest problem, and over half having to implement dramatic cost-cutting measures. Two of the seven organisations behind last week's report - the only national LGBT domestic violence charity, Broken Rainbow, and community stalwart PACE - have had to close their doors. This in times where every single LGBT service provider is reporting a greater demand, and need to turn people away. This despite consistent evidence the majority of the LGBT population would prefer specialist services. Advertisement Why shouldn't the LGBT population access mainstream services instead? Well, homosexuality was seen as a diagnosable mental disorder until relatively recently, and there are reasons for distrust in mainstream services to continue. A large proportion of LGBT patients have experienced homophobia, biphobia or transphobia from NHS staff. A majority feel the need to mask their sexual or gender identity. Many fear, sometimes correctly, that staff's religious beliefs may mean they view homosexuality as a sin. The fear is perhaps worse in mental health services, where diagnosis and treatment is based on comparison to norms, and thus shaped by attitudes and presumptions. Staff members still sometimes erroneously situate bisexuality, for example, as an indicator of mood instability or so-called personality disturbance. Or assume that all sex is consensual if group sex and drugs are involved. Gender fluidity may have reached the pages of Grazia magazine, but it might not have reached your local health centre. And even if it maybe has, many will not risk finding out, without the clear messages of acceptance one finds in specialist services. Yet this heady mix of austerity cutbacks and institutional homophobia is not the only reason for the current crisis. As trust in professionals has waned, evidence-based medicine (EBM) has become the 'gold standard' of health and social care, an approach which sells itself on its objectivity. EBM is intended to optimise decision-making by using quantitative research for empirical support to ward off bias. Top points go to research which has a large participant population and a very tight, precise intervention so replicability can be assured. Now finding similar populations in mental health is notoriously difficult, as is offering the same intervention, but some services like IAPT do it better than others by providing treatment protocols for problems like anxiety, and manuals for clinicians to direct what they do session by session. As EBM is based on norms, it favours larger homogenous populations, allowing Lord Layard - for example - to promise millions can be cured with a particular approach (it turns out, a little too optimistically). Advertisement When money is tight, commissioners give funding to services best able to play the EBM game, at the expense of those which serve smaller, more diverse populations such as LGBT and BAME specialist services. Grassroots organisations are structurally unable to play the numbers game as well, meaning their services lose funding disproportionally (even when they have better results for a specific demograph). This problem is not just experienced by LGBT specialist services, but many providers that focus on intersectionality, the 'too complicated' cases where multiple, clashing discriminations such as racism and sexism interact with social disadvantage to create a perfect storm for embodied distress. We cannot afford to lose these organisations. It is these services, so embedded in their communities, which are best able to respond quickly to change. The sudden rise of chemsex in the gay community? A new refugee population due to a war elsewhere? It is grassroots services that respond first, reaching out and pioneering new approaches often years before mainstream services, and educating the NHS in turn. Social media gives us the impression that we live in a time of freedom, where diversity is celebrated, where refuge can be found with like-minded souls, where help for mental anguish is available. Yet the lived experience of many in the LGBT population is of ever greater poverty, more complex problems, more oppression, and less support. We must recognise that making funding decisions based on EBM produces a bias against those most disadvantaged, a bias against difference that should not be acceptable in any society that we can call progressive. With The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Heart back in the billboard album top 10, I started to wonder if there is a secret to rock n roll longevity. So I took my hair and my sunscreen along to this year's Ramblin' Man Fair to find out. Ramblin' Man is a two-dayer, held in Mote Park in Kent - a shortish walk from Maidstone East train station. Surely the perfect place to find out what keeps bands popular for decades. On the bill this year were Thin Lizzy - celebrating 40 years since the release of their breakthrough (sixth!) album - Jailbreak; Uriah Heep - 24 albums and counting; Whitesnake - who have been keeping rock chock full of knob gags since 1977; and those trusty New Year's Eve stalwarts, Europe! Someone HAS to know the secret here. It's 27 degrees Celsius, and as I made my way to the park through the streets of Maidstone, everyone I encountered was upbeat. This vibe stayed with me, with everyone it seemed, all day. The weather or the prospect of a Rock festival? A bit of both I think. Contrary to image, album titles and song lyrics, Rock isn't really dangerous. Not REALLY dangerous. In my experience, Rock and Metal fans are the nicest you can meet. Perhaps they've exorcised all their anger and insecurities in moshing and headbanging, but for me the exterior was always bark and not bite. As I make my way through the day, I feel that the peacefulness of Rock has reached its zenith here in the Kent countryside. Advertisement I'm 40 and I've been going to Rock gigs since Living Colour headlined the Town and Country Club (now The Forum) in Kentish town in 1990. Rock was everywhere then. Rock, metal, glam, thrash, you name it. If it had hair and guitars, it was making money. And it was naughty. Naughty like Kenny Everett was naughty. Rockers did things they weren't supposed to do. Any rocker worth their salt would have bent Terry Wogan's microphone given half a chance. So I'm in a field with a pint of cider, contemplating an ostrich burger, and I'm thinking - "this is great. This is really NICE. Is this where old rockers go to die?" But wait. This is no wake. This is no death. This is happening right now. This is actually a celebration of life and its bizarre and unlikely ability to continue, and to thrive. These people are happy because everyone's still doing the rock thing. And it's marvellous. I came here to see if Classic Rock - a genre that has aggregated all the 20th century rock bands that are still active into one handy pigeonhole - was on its way out. I came here to look lovingly at toothless zimmer-walkers wearing Twisted Sister T-Shirts and being a bit sick over themselves. 'That's me in ten years," I would guffaw. But that's not the truth. Advertisement Rock hasn't changed. That's not to say it hasn't developed. But there is a positivity to rock that transcends important obstacles such as politics, economics and time. The lines of coke may be etched indelibly onto their faces, but these guys on the bill today have a lifetime of stories, of experiences. From stereotypical 'whisky and women' yarns to the harrowing death of bandmates, these bands are living history, and many people here are the same age, and have been through their own trials, their own triumphs, but always to a soundtrack by the people that are taking the stage. The demographic is clearly at the business end of the rock market. But the bulletproof future is there, waiting in the wings also. The Rising Stage is the fourth stage at the festival - after the Main Stage, the Prog Stage and the Country Stage. And it's a showcase of the UK's best up-and-coming artists, including Colour of Noise, Cats in Space and Massive Wagons. And while many rock stalwarts head straight to the main stage to set up camp, there is a vibrant young audience watching these newer acts. "There are new bands, and they are amazing and important," says Europe's charismatic vocalist Joey Tempest. "They are young bands with power and soul and that's what we need to grab. We've got our back catalogue already." It's great to hear these elder statesmen of rock saying that young talent needs to be harnessed. And why not - it's not a Them and Us dialectic, the kids are also giving it back. "You see the mums and dads that used to hang around in the 80s in the back, and then the kids are up front," says drummer Ian Haugland. Advertisement Of course, in our current political climate, I couldn't let the opportunity of a BREXIT gag go by. I asked Tempest if, even though Britain is leaving Europe, Europe plan to maintain ties with Britain. "Definitely," he laughs. "We are deeply rooted with the UK - the cradle of rock!" And then the were off up onto the main stage, galloping around like teenagers. The crowd were baying for The Final Countdown and were not left wanting. And as Europe escaped from under the lights, the huge audience had just about enough time to hit the bars or the food outlets before a band celebrating two anniversaries of very different natures. 2016 is the 30th anniversary of the death of legendary Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott and also the 40th anniversary of "Jailbreak" - an album which saw them break into the US market. For these anniversary shows the band have enlisted the services of Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton. Is that cheating, I wondered. Are people allowed to be a more than one iconic band? "This is the first time I've done anything like this," says Hamilton. "I've never done anything outside of my band, outside of Aerosmith, which I'm kind of embarrassed to say. I should have been out exploring a long time ago!" Original Thin Lizzy member Scott Gorham, who has really kept the flag - and the brand - flying shares twin guitar duties these days with Damon Johnson, an intensely likeable and lucid man. Advertisement "We're happy for Scott Gorham," says Johnson. "He's been the sole bearer of the Thin Lizzy flag since Phil passed." The precociously talented Lynott died at 36 of heart failure and pneumonia. But his legacy lives on with these gentlemen, not least Gorham, who continue to give the tunes the live airing they deserve for the people who need them. And that's why, as Johnson outlines, the decision was made never to record new material under the Thin Lizzy name. "I don't think we wanted to suffer the wrath of the Thin Lizzy fan base," says Johnson. "I'm one of those fans...and if somebody comes to me and says 'hey Damon, you love Thin Lizzy, I hear they're making a new album without Phil Lynott', I wouldn't want to hear about it." So the Black Star Riders was formed in late 2012, as much to protect the Thin Lizzy brand as to be able to escape from it, I suspect. Even old rockers want to do something new. And perhaps this is the secret. For Hamilton, Rock can never die. "There was always a Rolling Stone cover story that said "This is the death of rock". It's annoying to hear people put that out there. But there's just something about it that keeps...it's persistent. It's like a bad rash that won't go away." Advertisement Johnson thinks rock is in pretty good shape in 2016 - and success is feasible as long as you - to quote Judas Priest - deliver the goods. "That's essentially what the Chili Peppers and Heart have done, and they're both great records...so if you're committed to continuing to express yourself like that, then yeah - it's a great time to be in a classic band." Johnson generously suggest that the current incarnation is a "tribute to Phil", and it's not untrue, but when they took to the stage as the sun began to dip behind the pie tent, you felt like you were watching something much more special. The twin guitars of Boys are Back in Town are always a highlight - but tonight saw the triple-whammy of a third guitar, played by one time member Midge Ure. The night was completed by David Coverdale's Whitesnake. Coverdale, never short of a bon mot or two, wanted something a bit cooler to shout that "Hello Maidstone" but he magnanimously made-do after deciding on "Hello Kent". Chris Ingham, the owner and Creative Director of the fair says the vibe is more important than the commercial success. Advertisement "We were determined to come up with a festival which catered to the older rock fan," he says. "People are just relaxing, taking their time, checking out all the different rock bands at their own pace." Official attendance figures were still being collated at the time of writing but Ingham is happy. "If you want to go into your commerciality, your business plans - that works", he says. Married couple Brian (61) and Katrina from Luton are part of the older demographic that Ingham targets, and it's working for them. "It's just such a lovely atmosphere, we really enjoyed it," says Katrina. And Brian isn't just here for the older bands. He was singing the praises of the opening act, Inglorious - who formed in 2014. "I only bought the album last week," he says. Rachel, a pharmacist from Southampton is in her 30s and chose the Ramblin' Man fair over this year's Download festival, which will please Ingham. "We were not inspired by the Download line-up which we normally are..so we thought let's try something different," she says, looking resplendent with crimped hair and glittering eyes. Advertisement And what about the whole family? Jon Ewen and his partner and two daughters hail from the south coast town of Hastings. The girls, 10 and 8, has their ear defenders handy but took them off for long enough to tell me how much they liked the music. For Jon, it's a relief to be able to find something that the whole family can enjoy together, particularly if beer and "meat" are easily accessible! With Bad Company visiting Britain in October and and the mighty Black Sabbath embarking on their last ever UK tour in early 2017, the future of Classic Rock appears, for the time being, to be live and safe rather than live and dangerous. And that's how the fans seem to like it. ---- Alija via Getty Images This summer, I visited Europe with six friends. I'm typically reliant upon a wheelchair, but this trip was different. The places I wanted to see, the things I wanted to do, weren't necessarily going to be handicap accessible. So, we left my wheelchair in Atlanta and flew across the pond with a modified backpack. My friends carried me around as we explored Paris, as well as some smaller towns along the Seine River. We did the same in England, visiting London, Oxted, and Westerham, then in Ireland, and Skellig Michael, in particular. All of the places we stayed in were up several flights of stairs, and I knew that I wouldn't have use of my wheelchair on the green, rolling hills of the English countryside. But it was the cities and the transit systems, even our time in the Irish coast, that gave me a new perspective on what it means to be handicap accessible. Advertisement In the early 90s, the United States came up with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which required businesses and public places to be handicap accessible. To this day, it is enforced in some parts of the country and not so much in others. It's interesting, though, because, like most laws, it can only do so much to affect the change it's hoping for. For example, even if a business complies to have a ramp at the entrance, they might only have barstool seating once you're inside. You can pour a sidewalk with laws, but it's a lot harder to change a mindset. So, on that note, I went to Europe. And here's what I found - it would have the ADA weeping and gnashing its teeth. Steps everywhere, wonky roads, narrow doorways, cluttered rooms. Whether it was historic, makeshift, or just a fancy design, Paris to Skellig Michael is a wheelchair's nightmare from start to finish. And yet... it was actually accessible for me. The accessibility came not from pavement, proper measurements, or hydraulics. It came from people working together to accommodate in otherwise difficult circumstances. We went out to dinner one night with our host in Oxted. Up to this point on the trip, I would sit in the backpack for meals, just on the floor by the table and the guys would feed me from there. As we sat down to eat, our host, Mike, expressed his desire for me to be "up with everyone else." With his help, our ingenuity, and the happy cooperation of the restaurant's staff, we found a way to put chairs together and set my backpack up to the table height. Advertisement Later, when I asked Mike about the trains and the London Underground, he explained how they are accessible. I had seen elevators and wide ticket gates for wheelchair access, but the cars themselves had a gap or step into them. He explained that ramps can be provided and spots in the cars can be cleared for wheelchairs, if handicapped individuals express the need. While I didn't ask, I assume by observation that the same goes for Paris. As a side note, we were met with similar hospitality at the cafes of Paris, accepting and accommodating our obvious needs without batting an eye. Finally, we came to Skellig Michael, a brooding island seven miles off the west coast of Ireland. This was the pinnacle of our journey, and certainly the greatest challenge. My friends had trained for this, to carry me 600 ancient steps to the top, around the sacred grounds of the great monastery, and then back down. It was a feat, to say the least, and we had some concerns whether or not the authorities would permit us to even go. But we were pleased to find our boatmen generous and helpful, and the guides on the island were thrilled at our ambition. As we climbed, they checked on us and gave us direction for some of the more difficult parts. Skellig Michael, with all its vertical climbs and winding paths, was suddenly accessible because my friends carried me and the guides pitched in with knowledge and moral support. This is the key to handicap accessibility. Elevators and handrails are nice, but at the end of the day limitations are overcome by people understanding, working together, and getting creative. Advertisement Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange control over $1trillion worth of Africa's resources in just five commodities - oil, gold, diamonds, coal and platinum. My research for the NGO, War on Want, which has just been published, reveals that 101 companies, most of them British, control $305billion worth of platinum, $276billion worth of oil and $216billion worth of coal at current market prices. The 'Scramble for Africa' is proceeding apace, with the result that African governments have largely handed over their treasure. Tanzania's gold, Zambia's copper, South Africa's platinum and coal and Botswana's diamonds are all dominated by London-listed companies. They have mines or mineral licences in 37 African countries and control vast swathes of Africa's land: their concessions cover a staggering 1.03million square kilometres on the continent. This is over four times the size of the UK and nearly one twentieth of sub-Saharan Africa's total land area. China's resources grabs have been widely vilified but the major foreign takeover of Africa's natural riches springs from a lot closer to home. Many African governments depend on mineral resources for revenues, yet the extent of foreign ownership means that most wealth is being extracted along with the minerals. In only a minority of mining operations do African governments have a shareholding. Company tax payments are minimal due to low tax rates while governments often provide companies with generous incentives such as corporation tax holidays. Advertisement Companies are also able to avoid paying taxes by their use of tax havens. Of the 101 London-listed companies, 25 are actually incorporated in tax havens, principally the British Virgin Islands. It is estimated that Africa loses around $35billion a year in illicit financial flows out of the continent and a further $46billion a year in multinational company profits taken from operations in Africa. UK companies' increasingly dominant role in Africa, which is akin to a new colonialism, is being facilitated by British governments, Conservative and Labour alike. Four policies stand out. First, Whitehall has long been a fierce advocate of liberalized trade and investment regimes in Africa that provide access to markets for foreign companies. It is largely opposed to African countries putting up regulatory or protectionist barriers to such investment, the sorts of policies where have often been used by successful developers in East Asia. Second, Britain has been a world leader in advocating low corporate taxes in Africa, including in the extractives sector. Third, British policy has done nothing to challenge multinational companies using tax havens; indeed the global infrastructure of tax havens is largely a British creation. Fourth, British governments have constantly espoused only voluntary mechanisms for companies to monitor their human rights impacts; they are opposed to enhancing international legally binding mechanisms to curb abuses. The result is that Africa, the world's poorest continent, is being further impoverished. Recent research calculated, for the first time, all the financial inflows and outflows to and from sub-Saharan Africa to gauge whether Africa is being helped or exploited by the rest of the world. It found that $134billion flows into the continent each year, mainly in the form of loans, foreign investment and aid. However, $192billion is taken out, mainly in profits made by foreign companies and tax dodging. The result is that Africa suffers a net loss of $58billion a year. British mining companies and their government backers are contributing to this drainage of wealth. Advertisement David M. Benett via Getty Images Dramatic changes in the UK's political climate in recent weeks have had a profound effect on everyone, both young and old. Naturally, there is an air of uncertainty about the future and it's unsurprising that recent polls show anxieties have been particularly felt by the younger generation. Over the last few weeks I have spent time listening to a variety of young people to try and gauge their perspectives on their futures. One of the biggest concerns I've heard is the lack of opportunities available to young people and a fear that ongoing economic uncertainties may make it harder for the next generation to find work. We simply cannot allow this to happen. The challenge is even harder for those young people who don't have the support or practical networks to help them on their way. So, we must continue to invest in the talent of tomorrow to ensure that our young people are given the tools they need to build a future they deserve. Advertisement Today, to mark our 40th anniversary, The Prince's Trust has released a report which illustrates how social immobility can be linked to a lack of "inherited opportunities". In fact, 44% of young people from poorer backgrounds said they didn't know anyone who could help them find a job, compared with 26% of their more advantaged peers. Without the right support, disadvantaged young people are falling further away from the jobs market and risk being left behind. These young people need our help and it's crucial that communities and organisations within the public and private sectors work together to deliver that support. The report also documented the impact of our work over the last 40 years. We are extremely proud of what we have achieved, having helped hundreds of thousands of young people break down barriers and gain the confidence and key skills essential to helping them into work or education - but we also know there is so much more to do. Over the next few years The Prince's Trust aims to extend its scope to support even more young people and as well as redoubling our efforts in the UK, we will continue to expand our reach around the world through Prince's Trust International. To achieve our goals we need to be innovative and open to change, and listen to what young people tell us. Over the last four decades, we have developed and refined our programmes and altered our focus in accordance with shifts in the political and economical spheres. Being flexible is a core ingredient to our work, especially when it comes to responding to the individual young people we support. All of them have potential and it's about giving each of them the individual guidance and training they need to fulfil it. These are young people like Adrian, 19, from South Wales, who experienced a turbulent childhood and adolescence. Adrian was placed in foster care from a young age and changed homes multiple times, leaving him confused, unmotivated and lacking self-esteem. With support from The Trust, Adrian secured permanent work, enabling him to move into his own flat and develop ambitions for the future. Adrian, like so many others, is living proof that our approach works and we want to continue to help others like him climb the ladder to success. Advertisement They're a remembrance of a time long since forgotten. They're a brief moment in history captured in perpetuity for future generations. They're a glorious celebration of humanity's inherent kindness. They're a painful reminder of the incomprehensible and intolerable cruelty of mankind. They're a recollection of society's greatest triumphs and its failures. Almost more than any of these though, they're an hour of such unfathomable tediousness, reliving every excruciating holiday excursion ever taken by a friend, relative, work colleague or next door neighbour. "This is Sheila in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza". "This is Sheila in front of the Taj Mahal". "This is Sheila in front of the Eiffel Tower." Happy, sad, uplifting, soul-destroying or plain banal - "This is Sheila in front of the Sydney Opera House" - they have come a long way from the early 19th century when merely a handful were taken to the present day when they are snapped in their millions on a daily basis. Advertisement From high end fashion and war-torn reportage to paparazzi and humble selfies, photography is everywhere. It captures, influences and documents the world we live in like never before. For better or worse - in the majority of cases, much worse ("Hell fire, exactly how many more monuments do we need to see Sheila standing in front of?") - we're all photographers now. Smartphones have made sure of that. And while conventional media may not quite be awash with our efforts, social media most definitely is. This wasn't always the case. Think of the most iconic images of the last 100 years and a few immediately spring into our visual mind. They include the Napalm scarred girl running from her Vietnamese village, Mandela walking free, the man standing in front of the tanks in Tiananmen Square, the raising of the US flag on Iwo Jima and Einstein sticking his tongue out. Not surprisingly, a number of them feature the dynastic Kennedys- Jackie, still wearing her blood splattered pink Chanel suit as she stands next to Lyndon B. Johnson as he's sworn in as the next President aboard Air Force One and JFK junior saluting the coffin of his dead father. In the future, famous images are just as likely to come from enthusiastic and talented amateurs as they are from seasoned professionals, which explains the inclusion of both among the contestants on Master of Photography (Thursdays at 8pm or via catch up) on satellite's premier cultural station. Advertisement Following on from Portrait Artist of the Year and Landscape Artist of the Year, Sky Arts has wisely eschewed Wax Fruit Artist of the Year and Dogs in Human Situations Artist of the Year and instead plumped for this new search for a star snapper. Airing over eight weeks, the aspiring Avedon's, budding Bailey's and emerging Erwitt's from across Europe are fighting for a prize of 150,000, plus a gallery show of their own. They are judged by a permanent panel of three experts, one of whom, Simon Frederick, seems to have the same look, not to mention, artistic temperament as Mugatu from the Zoolander films. Thank heavens then for Oliviero Toscani, who gave us the controversial advertising for Benetton in the 1980s and 1990s, with pictures of priests kissing nuns and AIDS sufferers to sell Sloane Rangers brightly coloured knits. Each week, the photographers visit a different city for their assignment. The first episode saw them in Rome and you'd rightly assume that anywhere so magnificent would have brought forth some spectacular results. Unfortunately not. They may as well have been in Rotherham for all the romanticism their respective pictures conveyed. The only photographer who gave us anything approaching relevant was Laura from Germany whose images apparently always involve her in some sort of self portrait, so in this instance she shot herself in the Trevi fountain in a tribute to Anita Ekberg from Fellini's La Dolce Vita. Advertisement We can only hope for greater inventiveness this week when the photographers find themselves in Berlin. Say what you like about this show, you must admit that the casting of the host is inspiring. If she'd been alive, you could have imagined Princess Diana hosting it. Undoubtably having maintained her position as the most photographed woman in the world, she would have been perfect. In her place, however, we have Isabella Rossellini, who remains radiantly beautiful in her mid sixties and floats in and out of shot as if on a 1950's movie set once inhabited by her mother. She exudes a level of sophistication the programme perhaps doesn't deserve, but no matter. If you ignored everything else about it, Master of Photography would be worth tuning into, if only to witness such style and grace in action. Like many traditions we've just become used to, the Clearing window for finding a university course has become an oddity that's looking more and more outdated. While the bulk of mainstream applicants get offers for three or four year degree places based on their predicted exam results, the rest get to scramble for what's left. Not a great use of resources in universities having to manage the process - and much worse, not a good experience for the new students as they embark on a whole new phase in their lives. But the British summer tradition of Clearing keeps rolling on for nervy applicants and their parents and the teams of staff manning the phones, putting in overtime, trying to squeeze out as much value for their institution as possible. A record number of students chose to go through the Clearing route last year, more than 61,000, so it's not a minor part of the applications system. Back in 2004 Professor Steven Schwartz, then vice-chancellor of Brunel University, called for a Post Qualification Admissions system, as a fairer approach, pointing to the stats that around half of all predicted grades are wrong. Students might have low predicted grades for different reasons, it might be because of poor relationships with teachers, a history of issues in school they were trying to overcome. But even if they've managed to transform their academic performance, they can miss out on places at more selective universities. And similarly, if perceived results are too optimistic, there's the shock, disappointment and disillusion that may roll into their student experience where ever they find themselves. Advertisement We're in a very different world from 2004, and one that makes it even more important that the approach to Clearing is shaken up. It needs to become a central part of the applications process for everyone, a service to place students with lower and higher than predicted grades. While the negative connotations of 'Clearing' as part of a clear-out of spare places remains, the truth is very different. Universities are making a much greater range of courses available via Clearing, launching new ones, recognising the value of promoting themselves to new 'customers', or as us academics prefer 'learners'. Because they know students are getting smarter when it comes to using the system, taking advantage of the flexibility it offers for 'trading up' for better options, for last minute changes in plans. For universities, Clearing is - or should be - an essential part of the recruitment cycle that demonstrates a commitment to offering a fairer system of access for more people, for the rising numbers of BTEC applicants and mature students. And no-one should be left feeling they're among the also-rans, outside of the mainstream. The Clearing system should be seen as a way for more students to get the best option, that they're not being channelled into one route with no going back. So there's an issue of perceptions. The Clearing 'brand' is tainted by its past. A new name is needed - something that actually reflects the realities of new opportunity and flexibility, that students making late choices are just as wanted and have the same potential as any other. Then there's the issue of Clearing as an experience. It can be a negative one in the context of that sense of the being part of the secondary application process, ringing round the hotlines, being offered courses on a 'first-come, first-served' basis or being shifted across to other leftover programmes. It's an experience that has the potential to set the tone for attitudes to people's courses and their institution, as part of something half-hearted, unwanted. It can affect a student's levels of commitment, just at the time when they're going to need to make a step-change in their approach to studying and adding to the risk of dropping out. Advertisement Which company has the most successful in-store customer experience? Apple, with its beautifully minimalist stores? John Lewis, with their renowned customer service and polite staff? Or perhaps you prefer the sheer opulence of Harrods? All worthy contenders. But my vote would go to a brand that rarely troubles awards judges or wins plaudits in the trade press - I'd pick the Bellagio. I believe the Bellagio, one of the largest casinos in Las Vegas, delivers the greatest customer experience. Every sight, sound and smell has been deliberately chosen to work towards a single goal: prising more money from its customers. And how? By relentlessly applying psychological insights to every element of its design, from the overall style to the tiniest detail. Advertisement The design nudges begin before the customer enters the casino, with extravagant fountains and opulent settings priming customers to think luxuriously. Who wants to bet a mere $5 in such palatial surroundings? As punters walk through the door the music that greets them has often been chosen, not on a manager's whim, but according to scientific learnings. Jenny Spenwyn, Doug Barrett and Mark Griffiths of Nottingham Trent University tested the impact of music on 56 undergraduates whilst they played roulette. The participants gambled with either high or low tempo music in the background: high tempo beats generated high tempo betting. In fact, the gap between bets was 19% shorter than when slow-paced music was played. Equally important are lighting levels: red lights have been found to boost gambling rates by up to 10%. The effect of sound and light are well known, but cutting edge venues go a step further to tap into the senses. Dr Alan Hirsch, a Chicago researcher, worked with the Las Vegas Hilton to measure whether pleasant aromas might impact betting behaviour. Although his test was small scale, he found that gamblers staked 45% more when he diffused pleasant smells around the slot machines. Advertisement Venues also encourage betting by manipulating the perceived probability of winning. Although the odds are stacked in the house's favour, it doesn't feel that way to the punter. Slot machines draw attention to every win; coins clatter into metal trays, accompanied by sirens or flashing lights. Many casinos take it further still. Jackpots have to be collected in person and winners are made to wait in a prominent place. Winning stands out, failure is silent. Digital fruit machines are even more sophisticated. While the payout is regulated, the volume of near misses is not. Kevin Harrigan, of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, found that near misses can occur twelve times more than chance alone would suggest. Dr Luke Clarke, from Cambridge University, told the BBC: A near miss causes a gambler to overestimate their chances of winning. If two cherries come up on a slot machine and they see the third almost click into place, they'll keep playing for longer. So why is all this of interest to marketers? Well firstly, it's a plea to scour unusual places for inspiration. Every brand looks to Apple for inspiration. Perhaps looking further afield gives brands a better chance of differentiating? Donald Trump has emerged as the Republican nominee in the US presidential race and Hillary Clinton is almost there with the Democratic National Convention to be held this month. Amongst the drama of a spirited and polarising race, what's there to learn about protecting and promoting your reputation online? Is there, by any chance, a correlation between the savvy acquisition of relevant domain names, and success? Particularly since Barack Obama's groundbreaking campaign in 2008, a strong digital strategy is considered integral to successful political campaigning -- in the US, and around the world. From building awareness through social media to collecting donations through a campaign website, the internet offers myriad opportunities to influence voters and build support. The humble domain name is a small but significant ingredient in this. It's both a signpost to a candidate's home on the web, and an element of their online brand. At Nominet we have been looking with interest across the Atlantic at all this high-profile domain name related activity, and we think it's high time for a round-up of candidates' domain name strategies. Or lack thereof: the failure of some to secure relevant domains is well documented. So, in no particular order, here are the best/worst (depending on your perspective) domain name antics from the US presidential primaries. Advertisement Early Republican favourite Jeb Bush, who bowed out of the race in February, didn't manage to obtain JebBush.com, which for a while redirected to Trump's campaign website. He also failed to register JebBushforPresident.com and JebBushforPresident.net, both of which were used to say unflattering things about the candidate. According to the Washington Post, the former is run by "a bearded gay couple who have been 'madly in love' since 1996", to criticise Bush's position on LGBTQ issues. Republican runner-up Ted Cruz probably wished he had purchased TedCruzforAmerica.com, a domain with a storied history. First, it redirected to the website for the Affordable Care Act (known as Obamacare, against which Cruz once led a government shutdown). Next, it redirected to the Canadian Government's immigration page. It's currently being used to peddle a dating service called 'Maple Match', which "makes it easy for Americans to find the ideal Canadian partner to save them from the unfathomable horror of a Trump presidency." Another former Republican contender, Carly Fiorina, suffered a similar experience. Visiting CarlyFiorina.org brought you to a page that read, "Carly Fiorina failed to register this domain. So I'm using it to tell you how many people she laid off at Hewlett-Packard"... via 30,000 'sad face' emoticons, which apparently take four and a half minutes to scroll through. This inspired its own hashtag -- '#domaingate'. But Fiorina fired back at media labelling it a "major gaffe" on the part of her campaign, telling reporters to check HillaryClinton.net, which had mysteriously begun redirecting to Fiorina's official campaign website. It now redirects to Donald Trump's campaign website, as does PresidentSanders.com. Trump himself purchased up to 3,000 domain names, in an effort to stop people discrediting him online. If you're running for president (or launching a business, product, campaign, or blog), it is a good idea to secure the most relevant domains before someone else does. But bulk-buying domain names in an effort to prevent criticism is perhaps going a bit far. It's impossible to cover all possible options, and Trump's strategy seems simply to have encouraged his detractors to get a bit more creative. Advertisement While we've been burning through hour after hour scrolling memes on Facebook, the identity thieves of this world have been getting organised. And it's to the social media battlefield that they've brought the war. On Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, where we live, love, learn and squabble, our personal details are being squirrelled away for someone else's winter. There's almost nothing that you can't do on today's mobiles - it's a well rehearsed line. Watching films, reading newspapers, tweeting, networking: it's all fair game if you've got a smartphone in your hand. Advertisement The once humble portable phone is morphing into a mobile wallet, allowing users to pay for goods and shop until we drop without cash - or until the battery dies. But with all this convenience comes a need for greater security. According to fraud prevention service Cifas, identity fraud was up 57% in 2015. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, they said, had become a "hunting ground" for identity thieves. The 94,500 UK victims in 2014 had rocketed up to a staggering 148,000 for last year. Occasionally, identities are fabricated altogether but, for the most part, thieves find personal information on social media (a more popular method than hacking) and use it to piece together profiles. So how do we protect ourselves? Unfortunately there's no silver bullet - the most effective way to go about it is to layer on security measures, creating a protective digital blanket around the really important stuff. Advertisement But layers are tricky - no one wants to spend hours keying in passwords and answering security questions. That's why so many financial services companies are working on voice recognition technology and other more efficient identification functions (BBC figures say financial fraud losses came to a cool 755 million last year). It's no wonder, then, that Atom Bank have launched authentication by selfie. Before the age of shop floor face-scanning arrives, though, there are plenty of precautions you can take to keep your details safe. First things first, check your security settings. If you don't have the right privacy measures in place on social media, for example, you might as well hand over your National Insurance card. Make sure you've set up a passcode or fingerprint ID to unlock your phone - it won't make your handset totally impenetrable but it does add an extra layer of privacy and protection, and may buy you a little extra time to block your handset with your network before a thief can rack up unauthorised calls. Watch out for public Wi-Fi. It's thrifty in terms of keeping your data usage to a minimum, but it's less secure. Never type in sensitive information like bank details while you're using it. Advertisement It's also a good idea to keep your operating system updated. You might not be hugely bothered by miniscule design changes these updates offer, but each development will most likely provide you with improved security. The Find My iPhone and Android Device Manager apps on your handset allow you to remotely erase your personal data if it falls into the wrong hands, and track your device too. They're eternally handy, and can be set up in minutes. And how about going back to basics? Where do you normally keep your phone when you're on the move? Are you a back-pocket-of-the-jeans kind of character, or do you like your smartphone to peep enticingly out of your jacket? Those are almost definitely the worst options from a safety perspective. Go for a bag with a zip or a crafty inside coat pocket instead. Have a look at the Get Safe Online campaign. It gives free advice on - you guessed it - getting safe online, and urges people not to give away details like phone numbers, dates of birth, addresses and pictures of their workplaces or schools. And I'd like to leave you with a golden oldie. SplashData, which collects passwords from data breaches in America and Western Europe, revealed (to no one's surprise) that '123456' has been the most popular password in those regions for five years running. Advertisement Steer clear of the options below, don't use the same password for every login... password qwerty 12345 football starwars There is a myth that the Islamic State claims every terror attack in the West as its own. But even its claims of responsibility for events should be accepted sceptically. Let's establish a criterion that distinguishes between directed attacks - that is those organised by ISIS and those attacks which are inspired by ISIS. When ISIS claimed responsibility for the Paris and Brussels attacks, it soon became pretty clear that it was directed by the organisation. All the signs and tropes were there. ISIS issued its press release in a seamless whole, the language of the press release was luxurious, full of detail from location, to weapons used and so on. The press release was almost a conclusion to an operation that had gone well. There was no doubt in any one's mind that ISIS had directed this operation from its head quarters in Raqqa and Mosul. In these cases the attackers were referred to as the 'Soldiers of the Caliphate'. With the Brussels attack ISIS was far more reserved probably due to its operatives still being active. But the level of detail offered suggested that this was something directed by ISIS itself. Let's take another more recent attack, the Holey attack in Dacca, Bangladesh. Four gun men took over a pretty exclusive restaurant in Dacca and caused devastation amongst Italian expats and others. Here too it possessed all the hall marks of ISIS direction. As Amarnath Amarasingham, a Fellow at the George Washington University's Programme on Extremism, points out: "as the attack was happening...ISIS media channels posted, almost in real time, photos and details about the assault that turned out to be accurate. These included the number of people killed as well as photos from inside the bakery. Shortly after the attack, ISIS media channels also posted images of five smiling attackers in front of the Islamic State flag. This was all accompanied by official claims of responsibility and a video promising more attacks." This then is how an organised ISIS terror attack looks like. Seamless. Advertisement Now compare the ISIS inspired operations, the lone wolf attacks that ISIS has retrospectively claimed responsibility for such as Magnanville, Orlando, Nice and the attacks in Germany. What it shows is a messy and an uncomfortable relationship that exists between ISIS and those who carry out operations in its name. When Larossi Abballa gave allegiance to Abu Muhammad al-Adnani and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Amaq claimed responsibility for the killing of a French police officer with a curt statement: "Islamic State fighter kills deputy chief of the police station in the city of Les Mureaux and his wife with blade weapons near Paris." Their channels were following events and gleaning as much information as they could and quoting sources as disparate as CNN to the Express. Their response wasn't real time, nor was it slick. This was also the case with Omar Mateen's action in Orlando. But the case of Mateen blew up in ISIS' face. Arguably, it was a propaganda own goal, whilst ISIS welcomed the damage inflicted on US civilians resulting in the loss of forty nine souls, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack perhaps a little too soon. After all Mateen had given his 'oath' of allegiance to ISIS. But this oath turned out to be problematic. As more details emerged regarding the killer, from being a practising closet homosexual to his wild threesomes, Mateen clearly hadn't renounced his sinful lifestyle for one of piety and abstinence. Instead Mateen, the sort of man ISIS throws down tall buildings, became one of their most successful 'blessed' soldiers and martyrs. It didn't sit too easy with ISIS media channels. From then on they exercised much more restraint in claiming responsibility for every act of terror in its name. Advertisement When Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel careered down the corniche in Nice, initially the Telegram channels affiliated to ISIS were cautious. This was not directed by the ISIS hierarchy but probably organised by low-level French fighters from Nice encouraging their mates to do lone wolf terror acts. But whilst the Telegram channels affiliated to ISIS revelled in the deaths of French citizens and the recycled memes were released in real-time some channels cautioned that one shouldn't be too quick to draw too many conclusions about the perpetrator. Why? Because lone wolves were wild cards. ISIS telegram channels just like every one else, were looking for proof that it was carried out by one of theirs. But equally hoping that 'their' own was sufficiently clean. Later as the Nice situation became clearer, whilst no press release from Amaq was forth coming, some Telegram channels suggested that Bouhlel was a Munasir, 'helper' not a soldier. In other words this attack wasn't directed from the upper rungs of ISIS command but rather this was a spectacular lone wolf attack. Moreover, as the channels were waiting for further details to emerge about this killer, Amaq still didn't claim responsibility. He was someone who didn't pray, drank, smoked cannabis all day, was a petty thief who abandoned his family and beat his wife not the ideal poster boy for an ISIS soldier. He didn't have ostensibly at least, any signs of 'tauba' or repentance where the man had renounced his past and made good. With Larossi, here was an intensely zealous man, before the killing he had to be kicked out of the mosque because he was reciting the Quran, he had links with Jihadists, there was a history of activism to say the least. With Bouhlel nothing. He was like Mateen, a man who picked up old men for possible sex sessions. But still his background was vague enough, Amaq decided to refer to Bouhlel as a soldier but gave him a degree of independence, in a carefully worded statement they said he 'responded' to the call of al-Adnani's speech that called on Muslims to attack the West in what ever way they could. The wording was precise and careful. They knew he could be a PR disaster. With Riyad Muhammad, a 17 year old Afghan refugee going on an axe rampage in Wurzburg, they started to follow an established formula. Again the Telegram channels whilst celebratory were careful to simply claim it out right. When responsibility was claimed the language was near identical to Nice and consistent with the idea that this was a lone wolf operation rather than it being directed. A similar pattern could be observed with Ali Sonoboly's mass shootings in Munich on the anniversary of Anders Breivik massacre in Norway. What was interesting was that the ISIS affiliated channels believed that it was indeed one of their own and kept on updating its followers on the channels willing the shooter to be an ISIS soldier. There were even pictures being uploaded showing how Germany was helping the 'apostate' Libyan fighters against them in Sirte. It was implied that this was possibly the reason for the attack in Munich. I am certain that had Ali David Sonboly pledged allegiance a similar press release would have been given. This is suggested by a similar press release for the suicide bomber of Ansbach, Mohammed Daleel. It was only released after their own ISIS affiliated Telegram channels mentioned that the suicide bomber had given the oath of allegiance which was around 3 PM UK time. Only after that did Amaq give out a formulaic press release using near identical language that they had used for Bouhlel- that is he is a soldier who acted in response to ISIS' calls to attack the Coalition. The truth is Amaq didn't know who the suicide bomber was. Otherwise they would have mentioned his name just like they did with the suicide bomber who carried out the recent attack on the Baghdad shopping centre that killed over a hundred people. ISIS mentioned the name Abu Maha al-Iraqi in the actual press release . With the Ansbach suicide bomber they may have claimed responsibility for it around 3 PM UK time, but they released his name and photograph around five and a video of the attacker reading out a martyrdom testament later. None of that information was forth coming immediately as an organic whole organised and directed from the top. It probably had some low level ISIS input perhaps a friend of the Ansbach bomber was guiding him in the way we have seen British ISIS fighters like Reyaad Khan and Junayd Hussein were doing with Britons in the UK. It suggests that this lone wolf attack whilst it may have low level contacts with ISIS members, was smothered with a heavy dose of hype. What exactly does this reveal about ISIS and its lone wolves? Firstly it's a tactical animal, rather than a long term, strategic animal. It looks at situations and takes advantage where there is advantage to be had without understanding the far reaching consequence to its goals. It has an uneasy relationship with 'lone wolves', it doesn't get too close to wolves because as the case of Omar Mateen has showed, it can damage ISIS' reputation. It wants to claim responsibility when there is tactical advantage even if that means its home constituency- that is Syria and Iraq gets some sort of catharsis from the West feeling the pain it feels every day. Advertisement Note: Our accounts contain the personal recollections and opinions of the individual interviewed. The views expressed should not be considered official statements of the U.S. government or the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. ADST conducts oral history interviews with retired U.S. diplomats, and uses their accounts to form narratives around specific events or concepts, in order to further the study of American diplomatic history and provide the historical perspective of those directly involved. The July 2016 attempted coup d'etat in Turkey was the latest in a series of military interventions in the nation's history. The military has forced out four civilian governments since 1960, when Premier Adnan Menderes was deposed. In 1971 the military forced Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel to resign; in 1980, the Turkish army launched the bloodiest military takeover in Turkey's history; and in 1997, after the military issued so-called recommendations during a National Security Council meeting, the prime minister agreed to some measures and resigned soon after in what is referred to as the "post-modern" coup. The Republic of Turkey's constitution grants the military the authority to intervene when needed to quell turmoil. After each coup, the military took charge of the government but returned it to civilian rule within a few years. This moment was compiled from interviews by ADST with Daniel O. Newberry (interviewed beginning December 1997) and Parker T. Hart (January 1989) were each serving in Turkey around the time of the 1960 coup, and Alfred J. White (September 1997), James W. Spain (October 1995), and Richard W. Boehm (June 1994) served during the coup of 1980. Advertisement You can read the entire Moment on ADST. This Moment was edited by Jesse Berman. NEWBERRY: The 1950 general elections in Turkey had been the first really free and unfettered democratic elections. The party of [Mustafa] Ismet Inonu and his colleagues who had inherited the traditions of Kemal Ataturk was voted out of power. A new party, called the Democrat Party, led by Adnan Menderes, came into power in 1950. When I arrived in Turkey, this new government was still very much in the "bloom" of its success and riding high. Of course, the American government was smiling broadly on this phenomenon of a freely and democratically elected government in the Middle East. This situation had its pitfalls. Adnan Menderes was very shrewd and quick to exploit this situation. He spread the notion that he was the "chosen instrument" of Washington. We played this game, consciously or unconsciously. The first thing we knew was that Adnan Menderes and his Democratic Party began to abuse their power; the American government was also tarred with the same brush.We were regarded as not only condoning but encouraging Menderes to abuse his power. There were very strong restrictions on the role of the other parliamentary parties and what they could do. There was a misuse of police power. Tax breaks were accorded to important members of the governing Democrat Party. One day, in the middle of a snowstorm, at the end of 1955, I guess it was, I had received a telephone call from this Turkish-American. He said that he had something "terribly important" to tell me and that he had to see me right away. From his point of view what he had to tell me was terribly urgent, because what he had picked up from the Turkish military garrison right next door to his wife's estate was an open discussion of the beginnings of a plot by the military to overthrow the Adnan Menderes government. As soon as I got back to the Consulate General, I made my notes and drafted a report about what I'd been told and what questions I'd asked my friend. I didn't talk to any of the military attaches assigned to the Consulate General. I felt that my Turkish-American friend was pretty astute, and he took this report very seriously, as did I. Advertisement I showed this report to the Consul General. He looked absolutely terrified. I sent it in the CONFIDENTIAL diplomatic pouch to Ankara, and that's as far as it went. It was never reported to the [State] Department. Then, lo and behold, the Turkish military overthrew the Menderes government [in 1960]. Washington might have had a good two years of lead time to collect additional intelligence on this event, because the report was in such detail. According to my friend, the military officers involved in this coup d'etat talked about their contacts throughout the Turkish military structure. At least this report could have assisted our intelligence people, if no one else, in tracking down what was going on. HART: Adnan Menderes was a very adept politician and who knew how to handle the United States so as to get the maximum aid possible. He spent it in ways which increased his popularity. Adnan Menderes' popularity had led him toward a kind of republican and democratic absolutism. In other words, he had gotten to the point where he wouldn't tolerate any opposition to his ruling party which had originally been an opposition party. For ten years he had had everything his own way. He was not only re-elected when he needed to be -- by crushing majorities - but he was also spending the country into bankruptcy on some good projects but also many that were not so well considered. He had used strong-arm tactics against people who had objected to his policies. Students began to agitate. He cracked down on the students very hard, with armed forces, and the officers didn't like that at all. Finally, he made the big mistake of arresting Ismet Inonu [opposition leader] who was making a speech against him. They even instituted a kind of star-chamber proceeding of judging and convicting the opposition in the parliament. All of this had just preceded my arrival but the military had gotten a new constitution prepared and put in force. They had handed back the reigns of authority to a civilian sector which was the Republican People's Party headed by Inonu. They had declared the Democrat Party of Adnan Menderes to be outlawed. They had put on trial all of the parliamentary members of the Democrat Party. Advertisement The military had done this on the grounds that the military in Turkey is by custom, and by [Mustafa Kemal] Ataturk, mandated as the guardian of the republic against all threats from within as well as from without. They felt that Menderes and some of his people were very guilty of violating the fundamental tenants of Ataturk and of what we call the pillars of the republic, more fundamental than any constitution in Turkey. The constitution in Turkey is a mechanism for governing the country, but its obedience to the principles of Ataturk is written right into the document and they may not be amended. One of the pillars is secularism. Another is code of dress-no more tarbush, or fez. Another is that the country shall always remain a republic and never go back to being an empire. The royalty and all of its trappings are gone. Women are to cease wearing the veil and have equal rights.In any event, the military tried a lot of these Democrats. They had imprisoned most of them on the island of Yassiada in the Marmara Sea. Menderes, and his finance minister, and foreign minister were all hanged after being judged guilty of violating the fundamental tenets of the republic. Then they had prepared a new constitution which provided what they call the d'Honte (Belgian) system of proportional representation, a national remainder system of utilizing excess votes to broaden political representation in parliament and to provide checks against excessive authority. Advertisement WHITE: The phone rang at about 3:00 AM. It was the Embassy Duty Officer saying: "Don't come to work tomorrow morning. Something's happened." Well, what had happened is that finally General [Kenan] Evren (seen right), in what is called a bloodless coup d'etat -- and it was really bloodless -- simply announced that the country was not being governed and that it had to be. He put the leaders of both major parties under house arrest and formed a government of technocrats. He also set a date for the promulgation of a new constitution. He made it clear that the Army would be back in its barracks within two years, or whatever the time period he set. Now if ever there was a reluctant general, General Evren was that person. The next morning I went down to the Embassy. I went a little later than usual, after I saw that there were no disturbances. Nothing was happening. I didn't take the car for some reason. I took the bus downtown. Traveling by bus is a nice way to find out what people are thinking. Advertisement The sense of relief among the people was palpable. For the first time I saw Turks smiling. There is an unwritten article in the Turkish Constitution that says, in effect: "If the government isn't governing, the Army has a moral responsibility to step in and make things happen." This is what General Evren did. He appointed a government of technocrats. He sensibly realized that the Army knew nothing other than the Army. So there wasn't a situation of colonels running ministries that they didn't understand. He brought in a man named Turgut Ozal and made him "Economic Czar." In effect, he told Ozal: "I don't know anything about the economy. They say that you do. So you run the economy." SPAIN: Security had been deteriorating again almost from the time I left in 1974. Right and left extremists were back to battling in the streets. Violence was growing; the politicians were squabbling; and the military was obviously growing more and more restless. Things were bad. We sat in the second floor sitting room in the Residence in Ankara and listened to gun battles going on all over the city. Americans were prime targets of the left. Between June 1979 and September 1980 eleven Americans were killed. Then on September 12, 1980, the military took over the government. In two days they had the graffiti scrubbed off the walls and all the agitators (as well as some innocents) locked away in jail. We were back to peace and quiet, if not democracy. And the military does let go of the situation after a while. As a policy the United States is opposed to this, but in your heart of hearts you must have felt soon rather than later they have to do it. Advertisement We tried to keep Washington up to date on events from day to day. There were complaints about military behavior from the human rights people, but these existed even before the military took over. It has always been true that the Turkish police and military take more than a legitimate amount of glee in banging students and other agitators over the head. But I don't recall that between January 1980 when I came and September 1981 when the military intervened that I ever had any instructions to tell them not to do it. I think most people in Washington recognized the situation for what it was. They didn't approve of military takeovers but if there ever was a case where one was justified, this was it. There was also less reason to be concerned about a military takeover in Turkey than in most other places because the Turkish military had a good record of intervening and getting out in a finite time. Each intervention took longer. If I remember correctly, the 1961 intervention when they hung Prime Minister Menderes lasted something like 18 months. The 1971 takeover, which happened when I was in Istanbul, ran 20 plus months. The 1980 takeover stretched to three years or so. So, this kind of thing is accepted by most Turks. There is a tradition dating to Ataturk, if not an actual constitutional provision for it. In 1961 they jumped a little fast -- Menderes was juggling the army promotion lists, not exactly a crime deserving the noose. But in 1971 and 1980 they waited until well after law and order had broken down under the elected governments. BOEHM: Turkey was a functioning parliamentary democracy. Within a few weeks of my arrival, [Prime Minister Suleyman] Demirel (seen right) was once again thrown out by the military. There had been a lot of terrorism, which was a very serious problem indeed -- bombs going off and assassinations, right in the heart of downtown Ankara. Advertisement The situation was getting very nasty, and the government wasn't controlling it. So in accordance with what you might call "tradition" in Turkey, the military, who regarded themselves as the guardians of democracy, thought that the threat required them to move in. Once again, Demirel was out. The military were in power then, throughout the rest of my stay there. As a diplomat, you get to know as many people as you can who might be able to help you out on the subject. You keep in touch with them -- especially military people. You find out what they're thinking. You analyze the causes which might lead to a takeover and see how that's going. Then you have intelligence sources as well. You have the military attaches, and our attaches always had very good connections with the Turkish military. The attaches would be prepared to find out from their best contacts what the thinking in the Turkish military was. You had CIA reports. You check all of these various intelligence sources and try to analyze the situation as best you can. Now, in the case of the 1980 takeover, which was in September, one of the Army attaches [gave us an indication]. We were examining this situation every day as to whether it was or was not going to happen -- is this the time, or when? One of our more junior military attaches spotted a column of tanks lined up along a road near downtown Ankara. He checked around and concluded, on the basis of what he saw and could find out, that the military was just about to take over. We looked at this report and checked with a few Turks as to what those tanks were doing. We were told that there was nothing unusual about that. The police had asked for assistance. They were expecting another terrorist attack, and the tanks were to assist the police. Advertisement That very night those tanks moved in, and the military took over. It was a coup. I would not say that we had rejected the report but I would say that we had not reached the same conclusion as our young military attache had reached. But he was absolutely right. He said, "This is it," and it was. Most of the Turkish people, I think, were not interested in revolution and basically approved of the military taking over for a specific purpose -- that is, to calm things down and move the terrorists out of the way and reform the political system. The Turkish people want democracy. They have shown that in elections and, in fact, the military recognize this. They moved out. They always have. They seize power, deal with whatever the crucial problem is that caused the coup, and then they move out. In the case of the 1980 coup, of course, they rewrote the constitution to eliminate some of the constitutional problems that had made it difficult for the Parliament to function. Wherever the art of Medicine is loved, there is also a love of Humanity. Hippocrates Integrative medicine is an ecosystem of support for pursuing your own health and well-being. Inside that ecosystem is someone who cares about you. Integrative medicine is emerging from a successful history of treating physical ailments that often eluded Western modalities of care to become an ecosystem of support for health and wellness. Possibly the most visible sign of this development is the increasing attention of integrative medicine to primary care, where prevention and regard for the whole person is most critical. What distinguishes integrative medicine as an approach is that it distances itself from the traditional model of a patient dependent on an expert. Rather, it embraces a genuine clinical partnership in which both the patient and the care provider have something to offer in pursuit of the patient's optimal health. The care provider embodies not only clinical knowledge, which is the result of his or her training, but also qualities not always associated with experts. These include curiosity, emotional support, collaboration, humor, and the ability to articulate options and alternatives without judgment. Patients are participants as well, offering knowledge of what has worked for them in the past, providing information that can't be quantified on a medical report, and finding meaning and purpose in their response to the challenges faced when confronted by illness. Advertisement The power of integrative medicine comes from acknowledging the multiple dimensions that can cause illness and an equal respect for the various modalities that can address healing and cure. Freed from a traditional repertoire of either pharmacological or surgical solutions (pills or knife), integrative medicine practitioners have expanded the treatment landscape to include nutrition, bodywork, chiropractic, mindfulness-based stress reduction, integrative psychotherapy, and ancient healing practices such as Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine. From exploring the optimal chemistry for our digestive tract to treating autoimmune conditions to finding novel ways to address trauma, integrative medicine is showing us a whole new way to educate ourselves about health and take responsibility for our own well-being. The emerging field of integrative care is as much an idea as a set of practices. The idea is of an ecosystem of support, an intersecting set of relationships that address the whole human package -- body, mind, heart, and soul. And at the center of this ecosystem of support are people who care about you. The ability to be seen by a team of providers and staff who value you as a whole person is a central premise permeating all other techniques and practices. I am reminded of the support that the poet W.H. Auden gave Dr. Oliver Sacks when he was composing Awakenings, a book about his work with a group of patients who had been in a decades-long sleep and were now coming back to consciousness. Auden wrote: "You're going to have to go beyond the clinical. ... Be metaphorical, be mystical, be whatever you need." I find here the implication that it is our deep regard for the human condition that moves us beyond the complacent and routine. It is in our profound respect for service to others that we touch mystery and wholeness. At the heart of integrative medicine is a bold invitation to go beyond the clinical, into regions that capture our hearts and imagination. Caring is fundamental. Nothing else really matters without love as an organizing principle. Or as one patient I know told her physician, "I just want someone who gives a damn." Advertisement Caring relationships can and should be with our care providers, but they must also be evident in our social networks, our family, and our community, and in our relationship with nature. Beyond the particular type of care we receive is a broader view of health that includes the social and relational. Caring is about how we manifest love in the form of looking out for each other, witnessing, supporting, provoking, and optimizing our capacity to face health and illness, life and death, with dignity. Wise old Hippocrates had it right: Where the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity. I had the opportunity to talk about all this with Dr. Jeff Draisin, co-medical director of the Institute for Health and Healing. IHH operates a network of clinics in Northern California and has pioneered integrative medicine practice there for nearly 25 years. Here are seven distinctions he articulated about the emerging field of integrative care. I think he captures something here of essence, particular themes that direct our attention to what matters most and the attributes that together make a whole. Integrative care does the following: It shifts our understanding of care from a focus on illness and shortcomings to a focus on well-being, personal growth, and transformation. It cares for the whole person by addressing mind, body, and spirit as three interacting elements that together result in health and well-being. as three interacting elements that together result in health and well-being. It helps individuals craft healthy relationships with their physical bodies, mental outlook, and emotional well-being. Beyond fitness and exercise is the relationship we have with our whole self. with their physical bodies, mental outlook, and emotional well-being. Beyond fitness and exercise is the relationship we have with our whole self. It treats nutrition -- what we put in our body -- as medicine . Beyond diets and supplements is an understanding of what helps our body to feel vital and how best to decrease the effects of toxins. -- what we put in our body -- . Beyond diets and supplements is an understanding of what helps our body to feel vital and how best to decrease the effects of toxins. It embraces the latest discoveries of neuroscience and mind-related health for personal well-being -- from mindfulness stress reduction to the benefits of awe and wonder. for personal well-being -- from mindfulness stress reduction to the benefits of awe and wonder. It creates a true partnership that joins the best of Western medicine with ancient healing traditions and complementary modalities . The guiding intent is to restore harmony and address imbalances that detract from optimal health. with and . The guiding intent is to restore harmony and address imbalances that detract from optimal health. It values psychological and spiritual forces as food for the soul. Feeling valued, having purpose, and finding meaning are all essential elements of healing and health. Around and around we go. Yesterday, an 18-year old man named David Ali Sonboly, born and raised in Germany with an Iranian immigrant background, carried out a shooting in Munich during which he yelled "I Am German!", complained about being bullied for years, reportedly made disparaging remarks about Turks, and ended up killing 10 people including himself. The killer was obsessed with mass shootings, and his room was full of documents exploring school shootings. Police also said there was an "obvious link between the gunman and Norway's mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, who murdered 77 people in July 2011," who was a white supremacist hoping to target "multiculturalism" in his killings. Sonboly appeared to have been attracted to his right-wing, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rhetoric, a fact that manifested in the fact that of the nine people he killed, at least three were reported to be Turks, three were Kosovans, and one was Greek. Advertisement And yet, suddenly, the fact that this boy was of Iranian heritage is a major story in the US media, and the usual suspects are calling for Muslim leaders and Islam to be put on trial for his actions. Disturbingly, during the rampage itself, an onlooker even yelled "fucking foreigners" at the shooter, as if throwing a slur his way would help calm the situation. Instead of having a conversation about violence in the West, about masculinity and gun culture, about bullying in schools particularly against children of immigrants, they want to talk about Islam. Why not ask: Why would a young man feel so bullied and targeted that he would feel the need to claim his Germanness while killing people? Advertisement What pushes victims of bullying to engage in acts of horrifying violence themselves? What effect does a climate of racist intolerance, in which the anti-immigrant rightwing is gaining unprecedented power across Europe and the US, have on second-generation immigrant children in the West? Why are 98% of mass killings carried out by men? It is much easier to look to Iraq and Syria to blame, it seems, than to investigate what factors in our societies causes such incidents. Make no mistake about it: this violence is a product of our own society. Beside these questions, another central problem is emerging, one that points to the complexities of identity for children of immigrants, particularly from Iran. It appears that the killer was influenced by the writings of right-wing extremists and was distinctly full of hate toward immigrants in general and Turks in particular. Many are now asking how a child of Iranian immigrants could have become infatuated with right-wing White nationalism. While nothing is certain, it is possible to speculate on the reasons for the emergence of such an ideology, or at least such a sympathy. Advertisement Some Iranians - particularly in the Diaspora - subscribe to the "Aryan" racial theory promoted by European thinkers in the earlier 20th century. This combines with their dislike for their own government - which too often translates into rabid Islamophobia, as they are unable to distinguish between the actions of the Iranian government and Islam as a whole - to emerge into a disgusting mix of pseudo-scientific racial ideology that sees "Iranians" as "Aryan brothers." Adopting this weird ideology is fundamentally an attempt by Iranians in the Diaspora assimilate, to distinguish themselves from other immigrants by claiming to be as close to Europe and Whiteness as possible. It is all-too-common in late-night chatboards frequented by young, male Iranian teenagers in Diaspora, i.e. people like David Ali Sonboly. I know this because as an Iranian-American myself, I have come face to face with these theories time after time, and tried my utmost to debunk them. Although it was largely abandoned in Europe after being put to use by Hitler in the Holocaust, in Iran (and India) the idea that Indians, Iranians, and Europeans shared a genetic Aryan lineage and that this lineage distinguished them from "mongrel" Turks, Arabs, and "Muslims" as a category more broadly still holds certain sway. Right-wing European extremism intersects perfectly with this Aryanist theory in its flagrant and violent Islamophobia, where hatred for Islam, for Arabs, for Turks, and for all others who don't fit into the "Aryan theory" all come together in a disgustingly racist maelstrom. Advertisement This is a wake up call for the Iranian diaspora: enough with these pseudo-scientific racialist theories, enough with this Islamophobia disguised as critique of the Iranian government, enough with these attempts to assimilate by aiming to prove our Whiteness by all means possible. But it is also, as I mentioned before, a wake up call for all of us - about how we think about violence, about how we think about masculinity, and about we think about identity. What circumstances drive a young man to cling to a theory of racial superiority and beg onlookers to a massacre he is perpetrating to recognize him as German, and not as a foreigner? You didn't seriously think they'd allow you to take over their party, did you? As we're both Chicagoans, we know how democratic the Democratic Party really is. Our former mayor covered for decades of systemic torture of black people by Police Commander Jon Burge and a host of his colleagues. Our current mayor covered for police killing so he could win reelection. This kind of ruthlessness with peoples' lives should indicate that no level of dirty tricks is beneath those who truly run the Party. It's not something that we needed the recent wikileaks revelations of DNC emails to figure out. Bernie, for decades a loyal Democrat in everything but name, was meant to be just a side-show to gin up enthusiasm for the party among an otherwise bored and apathetic base. When he threatened to take the primaries, something had to be done, and was. Advertisement But if the Democrats' protectiveness over their party seems ruthless, their defense of their state is far more so. A state which has repeatedly shown the utmost brutality at home and abroad in its two century existence -- committing genocide against Native Americans, mass slavery of African Americans, killing more than 3 million in Southeast Asia, to name a few examples -- will never allow itself to be peacefully taken over by the 99 percent. They've launched coups, invasions and wholesale massacres over far lesser slights. Anarchists (though I'm not one) have a good phrase for it -- if elections changed things, they'd make them illegal. This is the same state that had to be forced to recognize the rights of blacks, labor, Latinos, women, LGBTs, the disabled. These things weren't given to us. People fought and sometimes died to win them. Bernie, with his phony talk of a "political revolution" obscured the basic fact of what was at stake. Revolution is not a like a "revolutionary new cleaning product." Advertisement It's something that people in mostly poorer, black and brown countries have from time to time in history given their lives for. It's not something that can painlessly granted by a politician from on high after putting sufficient numbered of x's on ballot papers. They'd sooner slaughter all opposition rather than respect an election which fundamentally challenged their power and wealth. Though mostly separate from the Bernie movement, sections of the Black Lives Matters movement have been much more seriously grappling with these very issues. As black people are repeatedly gunned down by cops amid half-hearted promises of reform, many BLM activists have launched a far reaching analysis of the state which continues to kill them. Many have concluded that the cornerstones of the state -- the police and their prisons -- must be abolished. Those who have come to this conclusion have, at least for now, largely rejected the electoral arena. With Clinton's notorious role in mass incarceration and Bernie's phony talk of political revolution, one can hardly blame them. But the fact remains, the state which is capable of unspeakable brutality will not allow itself to be dismantled either one election at a time, or one reform at a time. Advertisement For that a real revolution is required. The scientific breakthroughs that have occurred in our lifetimes are stunning, but we are just getting started. Just look at this wishlist of 50 scientific breakthroughs that would transform the lives of the poor. Imagine if we had vaccines for HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, or Ebola. Imagine if we could use solar power to desalinate water or refrigerate crops in sub-Saharan Africa. Innovations like these would change the world. At USAID, we are working to close these gaps, investing $425 million in scientific research in 2015. Here are the top five reasons why: 1. Scientists Love to Solve Problems We are building a network of researchers inside and outside USAID-top scientists who get to the bottom of difficult problems. For example, the Feed the Future Initiative works with more than 60 universities through a network of Innovation Labs. Advertisement The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Integrated Pest Management, led by Virginia Tech, discovered an invasive pest - the papaya mealybug - that was destroying papayas, an important cash crop in India. The researchers found a way to deploy a parasitic wasp to eliminate the pest and save the papayas. The economic impact is now estimated at more than $1 billion over five years. 2. Evidence Doesn't Lie Researchers are obsessed with evidence. That's good news for us, because policy makers who rely on hard evidence make better decisions. USAID's Higher Education Solutions Network supported researchers at UC Berkeley who examined whether Ghana could reduce corruption among its police officers by increasing their salaries. Surprisingly, they found that higher pay for police officers in Ghana actually led to higher levels of extraction and corruption. Amit Gandhi of MIT, a partner university in USAID's Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN). Photo: Prithvi Sundar, USAID 3. We Need to Get Good Ideas Out of the Lab Some of the smartest people in the world are thinking about international development. But we have to make sure their good ideas don't get stuck inside the ivory tower. USAID helps scientists bridge the gap between their research and implementation on the ground. Advertisement Recently, a group of researchers funded by USAID's Development Innovation Ventures program studied community health worker recruitment. Through a randomized controlled trial, they found that recruiting messages that focused on career advancement led to stronger applicants and better job performance than messages focused on social incentives. During the first 18 months, workers recruited with career-focused messages made about 30% more household visits than those recruited with social messaging. They also hosted twice as many community meetings. Based on this research, the government of Zambia rolled out career-focused messaging to recruit 5,000 community health workers by 2018. 4. Building Local Capacity is a Win-Win There's a scientist born every minute, but we have to make sure they reach their full potential. That's why USAID is investing in scientists all over the world. Through the Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research program in the U.S. Global Development Lab, USAID provides grants for scientists in developing countries working in partnership with American researchers. For example, USAID supported Dr. Donald Grant who was researching Lassa Fever Virus, a hemorrhagic virus similar to Ebola, in Sierra Leone. When the Ebola outbreak hit, his team immediately pivoted to treat the influx of Ebola patients, piloting rehydration techniques that saved lives. As the virus spread, his hospital was the only one in the region equipped to take Ebola gene samples. The hospital's partners at American universities used these samples to track the outbreak and report the evolution of the virus in real time, enabling them to target more effective vaccines. Having scientists on the ground with access to global research networks helped turn the tide on the disease. 5. Partner Countries Are Ready to Do More Amazing discoveries are waiting to be made, but we need more scientists on the case. So, USAID is priming the pump to get governments in developing countries to invest more in science. For example, we recently established a partnership with South Africa to support science, technology and innovation as tools to advance development. South Africa's Department of Science and Technology increased its commitment to funding R&D, and continues to partner with USAID on Securing Water for Food: A Grand Challenge for Development and the Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research program. This partnership will build scientific research capacity in South Africa, boost the research ecosystem, and strengthen development-related research in the region. Advertisement We know that talent is everywhere but opportunity is not. And we know that research has the potential to transform lives for the better. But we have to accelerate the speed of discovery. During the early hours of June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old security guard, went on a shooting rampage inside Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The shooting was amongst the worst in American history but also one of the most horrific attacks against the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (" LGBT") community in the post-war Western world. It was a reminder that, even in one of the most legislatively progressive jurisdictions for LGBT people in the world, the LGBT community remained under threat and unsafe. It was a reminder to many that, despite decades of fighting for equality, homophobia continued to be rampant and posed a significant threat to the life and liberty of ordinary people. Orlando led to mass mobilizations within the LGBT community, raising once again, important questions surrounding homophobia, especially within a Western culture that, in the wake of equal marriage, had begun to increasingly dismiss it as a non-issue. Happening less than a fortnight before Pride celebrations kicked off in the Northern hemisphere, it dawned on many that, although Pride was important to highlight equality and identity, the annual celebration was wholly inadequate to deal with the complex issues faced by the LGBT community across the world. Pink Business In a world where 77 countries continue to criminalize homosexuality and trans* identities, the LGBT community, having lost faith in their governments, have been over the last several years banding together through associations and professional networks to promote equality through business. With the increasing influence of multinationals and corporations on the global stage, business has come to the forefront of the debate on equality. Advertisement With many big businesses having revenues greater than the GDPs of most countries, their mantra is simple and makes absolute economic sense. Equality is good for business. When employees spend less energy hiding in the closet, they become more productive at work. When societies treat all their citizens equally and fairly, irrespective of their differences, they become more stable. Increase in productivity and stability leads to better economic growth, and that's good, not just for business but for everyone. Business is fast becoming the main catalyst for progressive change across the world. In September 2015, a group of global businesses founded Open for Business. The initiative is led by a group of companies, including Tesco, IBM, Standard Chartered, Microsoft and Google that "share a deep-rooted commitment to diversity and inclusion in their own workplaces, and...are concerned about the growth of anti-LGB&T policies in many countries in which they operate." It aims to raise awareness about the situation of LGBT people in some countries and regions in which the participating businesses operate. In cities such as London, professionals in the legal, banking, tech, media and engineering sectors have come together to form their own distinctive LGBT networks - forming one of the most influential groups of professionals in their respective industries. Workplaces have also shown increasing support to staff starting LGBT professional networks. Studies have demonstrated that LGBT-supportive policies and workplace climates are linked to greater job commitment, improved workplace relationships, increased job satisfaction, improved health outcomes and better productivity among LGBT employees. Increasing inter-network relationships have also led to businesses treating LGBT professional networks not only as a talk shop to support their LGBT employees but as business development ventures. Helping the LGBT community through employment opportunities Although LGBT professional networks are helping to mobilise LGBT professionals within industry and initiatives such as Open for Business are useful in raising awareness on LGBT issues, they still fail to address how businesses can reach out to members of the LGBT community that are yet to become employees and inform them that they are truly welcome in the workplace. Advertisement A solution to such a communication gap seems to be available through platforms such as myGwork. The award winning website allows employers to showcase their LGBT friendliness and recruit LGBT talent from around the world. Described by some press as the "Pink LinkedIn," major global businesses, such as EY, Thomson Reuters, Diageo, American Express and eBay, amongst many others, have already become members of the platform to prove their LGBT friendliness, enabling them to recruit from a wide pool of candidates that includes not only the LGBT community but those who want to work for employers that take diversity and inclusion seriously. Gearing Lloyd-Taylor from law firm Lewis Silkin, one of myGWork's partner organizations says "it is great to have a specific portal for people who are looking for jobs in an LGBT-friendly organization." Launched in 2015 by the Gaubert twins in response to the discrimination they faced at a previous employer due to their sexuality, the platform already boasts 5000 member profiles and an increasing number of partner organizations. If you're a frequent visitor to Mexico, chances are you've heard bands play the popular Latin song "La Cucaracha" a zillion times at floor shows and parties. But you likely have no idea of what the song is all about. Someone said it's about cockroaches. Could that be right? La Cucaracha came from old-world Spain. Like most folk ballads, no one knows who wrote "La Cucaracha," nor when it was written, what the song's words were originally and what they meant. Among lots of different twists in the lyrics over the years, the song evolved into everything from a battle ditty - sung by Pancho Villa's rebels as they charged the cannons of the federales in the Mexican revolution (1910-1920) - to a plug for pot. La Cucaracha supposedly tells the story of a cockroach that lost one of its six legs and is trying to hobble around on the remaining five (actually a satirical metaphor for political or social issues of the times). The "hobbler" in one version is in reality a corrupt politician, in another version an adulterous priest and a drunken murderer in another. Advertisement Don Quixote might have sung or hummed La Cucaracha when fighting windmills. Thanks to Pancho Villa, the song is generally associated with Mexico, but it was likely written in Spain - and long before the revolution south of the border. For instance, in a book published in 1819, Mexican political writer Jose Joaquin Fernandez de Lizardi claims the song was brought from Spain to Mexico by a naval captain. And some lyrics from the song showed up in 1882 in a book by Spanish author Francisco Rodriguez Marin about popular Spanish tunes over the ages. The Moors ruled Spain for nearly 800 years. La Cucaracha also popped up in writings about Spain's civil wars of the mid-1800s and France's invasion of Mexico in 1861. Most remembered in the history books, of course, are versions of the song written during the Mexican revolution. Back then the cockroach was Victoriano Huerta, a heavy boozer who orchestrated the overthrow and murder of Mexico's beloved President Francisco Madero in 1913. Rebel armies led by Pancho Villa in the north and Emiliano Zapata in the south ousted Huerta the following year. The rebels, particularly Villa's troops, used La Cucaracha as their battle song - a sort of Mexican equivalent of America's Yankee Doodle. History is fuzzy on this, but some chroniclers of the revolution say Huerta was tagged as the song's wobbly cockroach because he drank so much. He was also said to be a stoner, which might have led to this addition to La Cucaracha's lyrics during the revolution: "The cockroach, the cockroach...now he can't go traveling Because he doesn't have, because he lacks...marijuana to smoke." Advertisement When was the last time that you looked forward to a business trip? Even if you are hoping to close a deal with a big client, once you get over the initial excitement the dread creeps in. You start to think about the security lines. Flight delays ... cramped seating ... babies crying in your ear ... lost luggage. (Feel your head starting to pound?) And that is all before you even get to the airport. Business travel can be stressful -- and it was once a necessary cost of doing business. The problem is that many people still think that it is. In fact, I just had dinner with a friend over the weekend who, despite his best arguments, was forced by the VP of Sales to fly to Singapore for a series of customer meetings that he knew would go nowhere. (Unfortunately, he was right.) But for every fruitless business trip, there is a company that knows their teams can be successful without leaving their office -- or better yet, their home office. In fact, at Aha! we built our company on the premise (and promise) of remote work and remote meetings. Our team has the freedom to work from anywhere and be happy. And our customers benefit from that happiness, too. Advertisement It was not always easy. At first, some customers were surprised that we weren't flying out for in-person meetings. But once they hopped on a video meeting with our customer success team, they found a high level of personal attention and a committed team ready to help. Ultimately, customers care about quality service -- and they should not have to wonder how a lavish travel budget affects your fee structure. Which begs the question: Why are so many companies burning money sending employees around the world to do what can be accomplished virtually? Some companies -- including startups -- still spend outrageous sums on travel and everything that comes with it, including expensive dinners and luxury hotels. They still believe that in-person meetings are required to make that genuine personal connection with customers -- even though that money and time could be better spent elsewhere. If you are still flying across the country to meet with customers, it may be time to reconsider the way you do business -- because you could better serve your customers from right where you are. Advertisement You are likely wasting: Time Have you ever calculated the cost of time spent planning, traveling, and meeting with clients? You may be better off staying put -- being responsive to your customers, providing value, and simply getting more work done.There is a ton of "waste" when you are traveling, not to mention the time it takes to recover from jet lag and catch up with work when you return. Money Business travel is a billion-dollar business in itself. In fact, U.S. employees spend more money on business travel than any other country (to the tune of $274 billion dollars.) Consider what you could do with that hefty travel budget. Those dollars could be better spent on building teams and investing in technology that will have a sustained impact on the business -- but not if you are wasting it on long-shot business deals halfway around the world. Resources Life does not stop when you board that plane -- while you are away, others must fill in for you at home and at work. Think about that: You have to arrange for someone to watch your kids and walk your pets. Back at the office, your employees and colleagues sometimes need to step in to fill the gap you left. It takes a village for you to even go on that business trip -- and is it really worth the trouble in the end? You may have always believed that meeting with customers face-to-face is a requirement to land the sale. But times have changed, and it likely no longer makes good business sense. Technology can revolutionize the way you do business. It is time to pay attention and explore new ways to serve your customers without wasting money on travel -- even if you will miss the frequent-flyer miles. Advertisement Cake tasting = fun. Dress shopping = fun. Crafting your dream reception playlist = fun. Wedding = fun times twelve. But while you're getting ready for your Best. Day. Ever, inevitably a concern or two about budget may arise. But hey, fear not. A) It's totally normal, and B) Yes, budgeting and reallocating funds can be a bummer and quite the lackluster task in your wedding to-do list, but there are nearly endless ways you can have your cake and eat it for free, too. Read on for some of our top tips for scoring free swag for your wedding from wedding and savings experts. Photo Credit: Red Letter Days 1. Snag a free suite #Suitelife, giddy on up! "If you have a lot of guests staying in a particular hotel, ask for a suite for you to stay in on your wedding night," advises Jeanette Pavini, Coupons.com Savings Expert, who offers additional tips on their wedding blog. "Most hotels will give you a complimentary room if you are securing a certain number of rooms for guests!" Hotel for your wedding night? Check. Nuptials-night romance? Check plus. 2. Stuff your welcome bag with awesome goodies You've pinned away for months now dreaming up your ideal bundle o' treats for your guests. Ever thought of this genius idea? "Welcome bag content can range from wine to water to maps. Why not visit your local chamber of commerce to receive a few complimentary contents such as a concierge magazine that will guide your guests on local restaurants and attractions?" offers Lydia Redmond, director of weddings at Ritz-Carlton, Naples in Naples, Florida. From vouchers to postcards, you may be surprised at all the neat and locally-fitting gifts they can offer! Advertisement 3. Upgrade your invites Between calligraphy dreamin' and reply card draftin', consider this: "Printed invitations are one of those costs that can add a lot to your budget," states Pavini. "Ask the printer for a complimentary upgrade of paper. Many times they will do this for you, especially if your total order is significant." Now, back to that creativity brainstorming sesh... 4. Get the future hubs a free tux Real talk: Your "Mr." probably hasn't been clipping photos of his ideal tux since, oh, age fourteen. "Many tuxedo rental companies will provide a complimentary tux for the groom with multiple paid tuxedo rentals for the groomsmen/bridal party," suggests Redmond. Talk to various menswear providers to see which best match your needs. 5. Reach out to your local college's music program "Check with your local college music department or music school to ask students to play for your ceremony," says Pavini. "Many advanced students will do this for the experience and exposure (although you should tip them) and some will play at a deeply-reduced cost." 6. Lean on your friends The Bill Withers song tells you to do so, and you know you'd do the same in a heartbeat (if you haven't already!) for your gals on their big day as well. "Weddings are the appropriate time to call in favors from friends. Do you have a friend that is a talented carpenter? Have you had your eye on that beautiful wooden bench for your ceremony, but can't quite fit it into your budget? Call upon your friend's expertise to create this for you," suggests Redmond. "This will provide a customized piece made especially for the two of you, and bragging rights for your friend." Advertisement 7. Score a comped honeymoon Dream on, you say? Dream up, we reply! If you're getting married at a hotel chain, inquire about any honeymoon specials -- The Ritz-Carlton, for example, will treat you to a "honeymoon on us" experience, which includes a stay any one of the 55 Ritz-Carlton hotels and resorts in the U.S., Caribbean or Mexico. Based on how much you spend, the hotel will give you a complimentary 3, 5 or 7-night honeymoon with airfare credit. To score a dream vacay of your own like this, simply inquire with the venue when booking your wedding about honeymoon specials. Even if they don't market the special, you may be pleasantly surprised with swoonworthy bespoke options available to you. 8. Do all your paper products with one vendor Not only will this save you the headache of dealing with extra vendors, but it can also give your wallet a big-time break. "Paper products, such as save the dates, formal invitations, place cards, menu cards and thank you notes, can add up fast. Combining these services with one vendor will give you the opportunity to receive the best possible value and your outcome of these important details will be seamless with a common theme running throughout," shares Redmond. 9. Ask about the venue's preferred vendor list's waiting list Yes, you read that right. "Getting on a venue's preferred vendor list is priceless for caterers and this can be a big money saving negotiating strategy for you!" exclaims Pavini. "Here's how it works: Most venues have certain caters that they work with. Caterers get on this list by having someone hire them to do an event or wedding at the facility. Ask the venue if there are any caterers wanting to get onto this list. Most of the time these caterers will offer you rock-bottom prices and in turn they are now able to be put on the preferred vendors list." This sneaky strategy can save you upwards of hundreds, even thousands of dollars for your wedding. 10. Book free glam squad services "When planning your trial hair and makeup appointments, inquire with your glam team if they can give you a credit towards the wedding day if you secure their services for the entire wedding party," suggests Redmond. Since trial hair and makeup runs can set you back a few hundred dollars (or more!), try shooting your engagement photos the same day while you're all gussied up. 11. Book free photo services Speaking of engagement photos, that leads us to our next point: Signing with a photographer is no small deal (here are some of the best questions to ask before booking one) and oftentimes sticker shock for their services can be overwhelming. Many photographers will throw in a free or heavily-discounted engagement shoot for singing, so enquire up front about any special offers that may be available and get hashtag planning. "Depending on the amount you are spending, some photographers will give this shoot to you at no charge." Advertisement 12. Get a free guest book Those beautifully-bound books your guests adorn with their love for you and your beau can set you back a pretty penny. But a little savviness goes a long way: "Check sites like Shutterfly for wedding deals like free guest books. Also, look for coupon codes at sites like coupons.com to save even more!" suggests Pavini. 13. Refer a friend! "Every vendor loves a referral, and caterers and venues are no different," explains Redmond. "Should the opportunity present itself to refer other couples, don't be afraid to ask for some type of concessions in return. Maybe it's an additional hour of a complimentary bar, a few additional options of passed hors d'oeuvres for the cocktail reception, or a confections table to satisfy your guests late night sweet tooth." Whatever it is, think about what the most meaningful freebie throw-in would be for your big day, and politely ask if it could be arranged in exchange for the successful referral. 14. Maximize your wedding registry Milk it, ladies! "You may get a free gift just for setting up your bridal registry. Some stores or manufacturers will give you dishware or other items for adding their items to your gift registry list," shares Pavini. When registering with various stores and websites, ask about their policy and see how you can cash in on that china set or blender you've been lusting over. 15. Choose your wedding day wisely "Many times, you can save up to 50 percent by simply foregoing the ever-so-popular Saturday," says Pavini. Sure, weekend dancing is fun. But think beyond the extravagant sit-down dinner, and you may be surprised at how much farther your dollar goes. 16. Rethink your floral arrangements As an engaged lady, you may quickly realize how much of a dent in your checkbook bouquets, flower arrangements can make. "Flowers can be expensive! It's interesting because it seems that just because it's a wedding, flowers are more expensive. Ask the florist if you let them choose the flowers, if you can get a discount," advises Pavini. "Many times, florists have certain flowers in excess and need to get rid of them before they die. So, they will offer a great deal to create your bouquets or arrangements out of what they have on hand." It's essentially like getting 20 dozen roses for free. Or, try newcomer bloomerent.com, a flower-sharing platform for weddings, charity events and more to score incredible discounts without compromising quality. Advertisement 17. Volunteer to be a video guinea pig It's more fun and less risky than it sounds, thanks to the autopilot abilities of many pro cameras and the young talent in the wedding industry looking to get started. "Offer your wedding as a test run for video production companies trying to break into the wedding business. In exchange for shooting a video at no charge of your wedding, the video production company can use your video for promotional purposes to get work," suggests Pavini. Win-win for all parties involved! 18. Rethink your wedding envelope size So, that whole postage thing... yeah. It's really adding up! "And you will use four for every invite: Save the date, the invitation, the RSVP, and the thank you. That is close to two bucks per invite!" says Pavini. "So, consider the size of your invitation: square cards require more postage and add on an extra 21 cents each." 19. Make staff meal more budget-friendly A little overlooked but important-to-remember newsflash: Everyone from your photographers to musicians have to eat some grub on your big day, too. "You are usually asked to provide a dinner for your musicians, bartenders, servers, and other workers of your wedding. But at meal cost of upwards of $60 a head, that can add up! Ask the caterer if they will provide vendor meals at a reduced rate. Most of the time you can save about half the cost of the meal," recommends Pavini. 20. Be savvy with your band selection "During the band selection process, ask if one of its members can DJ during the band's breaks or even take over the playlist for the after party at no additional cost to you," offers Redmond. For your after-party, also consider apps like Spotify, which even have lists of the top wedding songs and give you the ability to customize your tunes. "Crash Into Me" reprise, anyone? 21. Shine up that engagement ring Ready, set, let's sparkle! As a bride, chances are, you've been wearing your glistening stunner for a while before your big walk down the aisle. "Instead of doing a basic cleaning, the jeweler you purchased the ring from will usually [throw in a free upgrade to] a 'Wedding Day' cleaning which is a deeper, looks-like-new cleaning," shares Pavini. Like-new splendor for your nuptials and photographic wonder? Don't mind if we (say I) do. Advertisement 22. Score a better deal on your dress "When you're at the store, ask to look floor samples," says Pavini. "These are dresses that the store used for brides to try on. You can get good deals on these dresses!" Also, if you notice a slight imperfection on a floor sample (something practically imperceptible to most, so you can live with buying!), don't be afraid to ask for a steeper discount. 23. Dig into more heaping spoonfuls of cake Mmmmm... it's the moment your tastebuds (and uncle, college roommate, best friend from middle school, and swim team relay race partner) have been dreaming of. "Cakes can add an additional $800-$1,200 to the budget," says Pavini. "Here's a great tip so you can still enjoy the elegance of a wedding cake but the practicality of a sheet cake: Ask your baker to create a small decorative cake for you to put your cake topper on and for the two of you to cut. Then, have them make the rest of the cake to be served as a basic frosted sheet cake. It's the same cake but far less expensive!" It's pretty much like getting two or three cakes for the price of one. And in case you want to hold onto the tasty magic for another year, here's a refresher on preserving your cake! More from Bridal Guide: The Democratic National Convention is featuring not only many of politic's biggest names, such as President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and former President Bill Clinton, but also Hollywood luminaries. A dozen A List celebs - including starlets Lena Dunham, Demi Lovato, Chloe Grace Moretz, Katy Perry, Eva Longoria, Alicia Keys, and more - will speak or appear in Philadelphia in support of Hillary Clinton and the Democrats. Demi Lovato performs on stage during the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center on July 25, 2016 in Philadelphia. AARON P. BERNSTEIN/GETTY IMAGES Usually, the Democrats' ability to attract high profile celebrity endorsers is a strength: Millennials and others see the Democrats as the cool kids' party, and just as they mimic Hollywood fashion trends, they are supposed to take their cues for political preferences from larger-than-life celebrities, too. Advertisement Yet Democrats shouldn't bank on this phenomenon this year. Rather than an asset, the spectacle of millionaire celebrities hobnobbing with political elites reinforces the idea that the political system is run by and for one percenters--from big business to big media to political insiders--and regular Americans are given the shaft. Bernie Sanders fans have particular reason to object to their party's panache for elitism. They are supposed to fall in line behind their party's nominee this week, but that's become an even more distasteful chore after reading the thousands of DNC emails released by a hacker, which confirm that the fix was in against their preferred primary candidate. Simply put, Sanders never had a chance: The primaries were for show, and the party bosses--particularly Hillary bestie and former DNC head, Debbie Wasserman Shultz--were working behind the scenes to ensure Clinton's coronation, never mind what their peon primary voters might want. And it wasn't just the Democrat leadership that was in on the fix, some stalwarts of the supposedly objective press were also caught colluding with the Clinton camp. None of this is a surprise to conservatives. The Right has longed complained about the media serving as Democrats' lapdogs, but those concerns have been dismissed as paranoid delusions. Now liberals who were out of favor with the party machine are seeing the process up close--how the media works with favorite pols to craft whatever narrative they all see as helping lead to the desired conclusion--and they are finding that it isn't pretty and it's very real. Advertisement American voters are in a distinctly throw-the-bums-out mood, and don't trust the mainstream media any more than the trust politicians. Many are dissatisfied with their choice this November: They don't want the scandal-plagued Hillary Clinton at the helm of power, but also aren't thrilled about a wild card like Donald Trump. Ironically, the DNC's star-studded convention may encourage these unhappy, undecided voters to conclude that Mrs. Clinton represents a greater threat to the country than Donald Trump. After all, the mainstream media has already proven eager to pounce on any statements by Trump that suggest he would overstep the traditional power of the presidency. If, as president, Trump were to do something over the line--say by unilaterally rewriting immigration laws or using the IRS to punish political opponents or purposefully misleading the country about major legislation or international treaties--undoubtedly the media would forcefully push back and encourage Congress and the judiciary to intervene. Americans can also count on many Republicans, who have already withheld support from Trump, to cry foul and work to protect the institutions and constitutional framework from a power-hungry president. Not so with Hillary. Just as the media has given the Obama Administration a pass when it trampled on constitutional norms, rewrote law by executive fiat, mislead the public about proposed bills and treaties, and used agencies for political ends, these same media insiders are certain to look forgivingly on their pal Hillary. In fact, Hillary Clinton is the ultimate insider and uniquely beholden to all the other insiders--the bankers, foreign business leaders and heads of state--who have not only helped her rise to power and fueled her campaign, but even showered cash on her family personally. Undoubtedly, this week, Hillary will, like Obama did before her, position herself as the champion of the downtrodden. But voters have now lived through eight years of Democrat economic policies that have resulted in the politically-connected getting richer, while everyone else struggles not to fall further behind. If shaking up that system is what voters want, then Hillary Clinton is uniquely unsuited for the job. And, in spite of all the glitzy and political posturing--and, in fact, perhaps because of it--that may be viewer's biggest takeaway from this DNC convention. Advertisement By Thomas Kennedy Standing on the floor of the Democratic National Convention was surreal. I am a formerly undocumented immigrant whose parents remain undocumented. And yet here, I was on the floor of a national political convention as it kicked off Monday. And unlike the Republican convention last week, I saw myself reflected in so many of the experiences of the people who spoke on stage. The DNC had more diversity in its first hours than the RNC seemed to have in four days. It became apparent early in the night when mother and daughter Francisca and Karla Ortiz took the stage. Karla is an American citizen from Las Vegas, but her mom Francisca and her dad are undocumented and live in fear of deportation. Ortiz gave a moving speech in which she spoke about what it's like living in fear that her parents might be taken from her and that she hopes to grow up to be a lawyer in the hope that one day she can help immigrant families have a brighter future. In her closing, Karla said, "I don't feel brave every day. On most days I'm scared that at any moment my mom and my dad will be forced to leave, and I wonder what if I come home and find it empty?" Karla Ortiz with her mom Francisca. Photo credit: Astrid Silva "Hillary Clinton told me that she would do everything she could to help us," Karla said. "She told me that I didn't have to do the worrying because she will do the worrying for me and all of us. She wants me to have the worries of an 11-year-old, not the weight of the world on my shoulders." Advertisement That moment spoke to me. I grew up undocumented. I know what it is like to live with the fear and anxiety as a child that at any moment you could be separated from your parents and feel the crushing weight of it on your shoulders. Later in the night DREAMer and immigration activist Astrid Silva took the stage in front of a huge sign that read "NO HUMAN IS ILLEGAL", a common refrain in the immigrant community. Astrid spoke about her childhood experience living in the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant and the fear of having her family broken apart as they tried to pursue what the dream of all Americans, a better life. Astrid is now 28 and has overcome adversity to become one of the leading voices in the immigrant community. She has shown that our community can and will overcome the odds stacked against them. She closed her speech by warning of the dangers of a Donald Trump presidency and how important this election is in order to ensure that immigrant families like hers are protected. It was so striking and empowering to see these Latino voices elevated in this convention, especially after hearing the battering that our community took last week in Cleveland. The negativity, xenophobia and gloom that came out of Cleveland last week attempted to paint a dystopian society that blamed African Americans, immigrants and Muslims for violent crimes that threaten our way of life and security. It's such a stark contrast to the message of hope and unity coming out of the DNC in Philadelphia, where the Democrats seemed determined to show the nation and the world that the United States is better than that. The convention is focused on sharing the stories of all Americans and leading with compassion and dignity in order to move our political discourse in the right direction. Advertisement The voices of community members were aided by the repeated calls to denounce the bigotry of the Republicans and the calls for inclusion and compassion by party members. In one of the most passionate speeches of the night, Congressman Luis Gutierrez, of Illinois, denounced Donald Trump's bigotry and spoke of how the example of hard work of his Puerto Rican parents gave him the foundation to pursue a seat in Congress. He reflected on how no one spoke up in defense of his parents when they faced discrimination and hatred. "So you better believe I'm using my voice against the discrimination we hear today, I will raise my voice against a bigot who thinks a judge born in Indiana can't do his job because his parents were born in Mexico. I will raise my voice against a bully who calls hardworking immigrants criminals and rapists, someone who promises to round up and deport families, millions of families, and then put up a wall behind them and us," he said. Rep. Gutierrez has been one of the strongest voices in favor of comprehensive immigration reform and hearing his voice on that stage is a breath of fresh air for Latinos horrified by the anti-immigrant rhetoric that has permeated the American electorate discourse. The high point of the night was definitely Michelle Obama's speech, in which she took down the Republican nominee without once mentioning his name. Instead, she showed why Democrats are the better alternative for all communities, especially those of color and those that are struggling. Advertisement She spoke about the difficulties of raising two daughters in the public eye and teaching her daughters "to go high" when your enemies "go low" with hateful language, such as extolling racist ideas or questioning their father's citizenship and faith. The absolute most touching part of the speech was when she reflected on how far we have come as a nation. "I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters, two beautiful intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn." I, along with so many others in the great hall, was moved to tears. It may seem simplistic, but it is true that hope beats anger any day and love trumps hate all the time. Mrs. Obama and the powerful speakers Monday night demonstrated that fact. The first day ended on a buoyant note following a rocky start with the leak of the DNC emails and a protest by Bernie Sanders' supporters. The anger of the Bernie delegates was palpable as they booed in several moments of the night, but as Monday night drew to a close, there was a feeling of unity and focus in the convention. With each story of real Americans, we all understood that we have a goal this November to defeat fear, hate and xenophobia, but that we can only do it as a united front that embraces our diversity and leads with hope and compassion. Thomas Kennedy is a writing fellow at the Center for Community Change Action and a writer for Law at the Margins. He is attending the Democratic National Convention this week in Philadelphia. U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. July 21, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst Dear Mr. Trump: By the time you read this letter, delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio will have voted to make you the party's nominee as the 45th president of the United States. I'm sure that delegates offended by your callous and personal attacks against your primary opponents will have forgiven your unsavory comments, and you will leave Cleveland with a unanimous endorsement that will help immensely with fundraising. Of course, media executives, producers, and talk show hosts who salivate over ratings will spend the ensuing days, weeks, and months parsing every comment made by you and your surrogates, as well as those on the opposite side of the political aisle. Network and cable stations, national and local newspapers, social media platforms and bloggers, among others, will serve up heaping plates of political analysis and poll interpretations to eager listeners who never seem to sleep. When I see media hosts and pundits interviewing each other, once again, I know it's time to mute or change the channel. Advertisement As a close observer of political communications, I must admit that I have been both impressed and chagrined by your political rhetoric. I'm impressed by your ability to convey your message and to control the conversation, regardless of the questions you're asked, or the contradictions inherent in your responses. I'm chagrined because many of your responses appear to incite fear, while pitting one group of Americans against another. I'm chagrined because I don't feel that your political discourse is consistent with the values or the decorum adhered to by candidates across the political landscape. In reminding yourself and the electorate of just how smart you are, I believe it detracts considerably from that intellect when you portray others as dumb. At a glance your campaign slogan, Make America Great Again, has a ring that incites pride and patriotism among your supporters. On the other hand, for many of us black baby boomers it invokes an era when America was racially segregated and all aspects of our lives, from birth to death, were controlled by rich white men. And yet to others, America was at its most significant period of greatness during the Cold War era when its military dominance and industrial prowess manifested itself worldwide. Exactly what are the markers of greatness to which you refer: The Ozzie and Harriet fantasy where it was acceptable for women to be seen but not heard, or the racialized society where discrimination in education, employment, housing, and voting were rampant? Perhaps you're talking about an era with which most Americans are not familiar. Since you aspire to be a president for all Americans, and in the interest of full disclosure, I pray you'll take time to articulate with care what you consider to be the key dimensions of a Great America. As baby boomer with a history of voting for those candidates most likely to pursue a political agenda aligned with my views and values, rather than simply voting along party lines, I want to share with you 10 attributes which I believe define American greatness. It is my hope that you, as a very smart candidate, and I, as a very astute voter and patriot, can find common ground on American Greatness and recommit ourselves to making it a reality, and not simply rhetoric. Advertisement 10 Attributes of American Greatness: 1.The structural barriers that limit P-16 access to high quality education for racially and economically disenfranchised people have been acknowledged and addressed; 2. Support for a livable wage has precedence over a minimum wage; 3.The ability to vote is made easier, not harder; 4.High quality healthcare and housing are available to everyone, irrespective of their zip code, job status or financial assets; 5 .Diversity is celebrated as an asset, not a liability; 6 Women, not male-dominated legislative bodies, will be able to make their own choices about reproductive health; 7.Our political prowess in the world will be measured by our ability to be enforcers of peace rather than purveyors of war, and our care for the environment will take precedence over making a buck; 8. Policies and procedures in place to welcome new citizens while keeping our homeland safe will have precedence over keeping immigrants out; 9. The interests and needs of the country we all love will take precedence over partisan politics; 10.The right to bear arms is not accorded greater significance than the right to a life free from death or the effects of gun violence. Although far from perfect, America is already a great country. Thus, it would help immensely if you would pause long enough to tell the American voters exactly what you mean by the slogan, "Let's Make America Great Again." Just because America was great for you and your wealthy friends in some bygone era doesn't mean it was great for large numbers of the men and women whose support you seek. Finally, Mr. Trump, as you contemplate making American great again, I encourage you to reflect on the words of a great American poet, Langston Hughes, in his classic poem, "I Dream A World": I dream a world where man No other man will scorn, Where love will bless the earth And peace its path adorn I dream a world where all Will know sweet freedom's way, Where greed no longer saps the soul Nor avarice blights our day. A world I dream where black or white, Whatever race you be, Will share the bounties of the earth And every man is free, Where wretchedness will hang its head And joy, like a pearl, Attends the needs of all mankind- Of such I dream, my world! Advertisement Sincerely, We were led into a small dark office and questioned as to what we were doing with the baby. " I am his grandmother and we are taking him to live in the United States", my hands were beginning to shake uncontrollably as I produced all the papers we were told we needed to show Customs if any problems arose. "Where is the child's mother? We will need to speak to her." WHAT? "Why?" This was the one thing we had not prepared for. We had no idea where A was. I tried to call her on my cell phone. No one answered. I called Mia in the US. She tried to calm my rising hysteria. I called Tarn, who told me she would tell the officers she was the baby's mother. "No, you cannot do that. They can see from the cell phone you are not." Two more officers came into the room. One of them was accusing me of not being the baby's grandmother. He then looked at Rick's passport and surmised that Rick was not in Thailand with me when I first came to Phuket after Josh died. "So what? What does that have to do with anything?" He kept pointing to Rick's passport and saying, "You were not here March 1" "We need to speak to the mother." The smaller and nastier officer proceeded to look through a huge loose leaf binder filled with baby pictures....then looked at Christian. Christian began to wail and I picked him up to comfort him. Just then a female officer wearing surgical gloves reached in front of me for Christian. I yelled at Rick and Rick stepped in front of her. She backed away and I turned from her with the baby in my arms. I would sooner die than have them take Christian out of my arms. The papers that I had laid out for Customs to see had fallen off the counter and were all over the floor. As Rick stooped to pick them up, I noticed another computer with a picture of A on it! It looked like a mug shot: a very sullen Thai girl staring straight ahead. There were 3 male customs officers in this small room and one female officer, Rick, and me holding Christian. A younger taller customs officer entered the room....and then it was over. "You may leave." What? Just like that. You are free to go. We gathered up everything we could and proceeded to the gate too exhausted and strung out to even speak to one another. At one point Rick looked at me and said, "They were just fucking with us." In retrospect I think they were inept. There were so many papers it was just easier to make us jump through hoops, in case we were trying to leave the country with this little Thai baby. Thai-American baby. With a dual passport! Issued by The American Embassy! We sank into the lounge chairs with only minutes to spare before we boarded the plane for Seoul, Korea. It was then my cell phone rang. It was A! "Is everything OK, Mom?" She had received my voice message. I was only too happy to tell her that we hoped it would be. She promised not to turn her phone off until we were in the air. Christian was now wide awake and charming everybody, especially the flight attendants. I was never so glad in my life we had spent thousands of extra dollars to fly business class. Although the seats on this plane left much to be desired, in retrospect this was the best flight I had ever taken. The seats were lumpy and did not recline all the way but we were asked if we would like a glass of champagne before we took off. I never felt so in need of some form of relaxant. I gulped the champagne, changed Christian, asked for another glass, with one eye on the door waiting for it to close or for 5 angry customs officers to come barging up the aisle. The door closed. I cried and cried and wept with relief, as I nuzzled my grandson on my lap. Emotional supporters of former Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders listen as he speaks during the first session at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 25, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Young Day One of the Democratic National Convention is now over, and tonight seemed designed to allow Bernie Sanders supporters to vent their frustrations, given the lineup of speakers. All the most liberal and progressive speakers were lined up for the first night, which only served to concentrate the energy for Bernie Sanders. At first it was announced that Bernie would speak tonight, but not in primetime. Later this was changed to give Bernie the final speaking slot of the night (which was entirely the right move for the convention to make), but instead of getting into all of that I'm just going to jot down my initial reactions to the spectacle of the first night. The day started with the announcement that not only was Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepping down as the chair of the Democratic National Convention, but that she was (in the words of many) "fleeing the convention" entirely -- instead of assuming just a ceremonial role (but not giving a speech), she would not even gavel the proceedings open. She would not appear at all, in fact. This was pretty stunning news, but not all that much more stunning than the news of her stepping down. Advertisement The convention began with high feelings all around. Bernie supporters both inside and outside the arena were not shy about letting the world know how they felt, but Hillary supporters inside were also giving voice to their feelings. The chant outside was "Hell no, D.N.C. -- We won't vote for Hillary!" Inside, there were competing chants of "Bernie!" and "Hillary!" Far from the usual set piece of nothing more than an extended campaign commercial, what we appeared to have, at the beginning of the day, was an actual old-school divided political convention. I wrote all of the above before heading into the convention, just watching the news coverage on television. The early hours of the first day were rocky. Debbie Wasserman Schultz appeared before her own state's caucus, and the Floridians let her know in no uncertain terms that her presence was unacceptable. She apparently got the message, and soon announced she wasn't even going to gavel the proceedings open, the traditional start to any political convention. Later in the day, an even more extraordinary thing happened. The Democratic National Committee officially apologized to Bernie Sanders and his campaign for their shenanigans. This was an olive branch, one that (once again) I never would have expected to see. Advertisement But was it going to be enough? Bernie Sanders met with his own delegates and actually got booed by them, when he told them that he fully endorsed Hillary Clinton and begged them to do the same. A presidential candidate getting booed by his own delegates? There were a lot of surprising "firsts" on this first day of the Democratic National Convention, that's for sure. As people filed into the arena, there was a contingent of Bernie supporters outside the security perimeter making their disapproval known to all the delegates filing in. At one point, they even attempted to block access (by peaceful means) to the security gate. Things looked like they could spiral out of control. Bernie even texted his own supporters, begging them once again not to protest on the convention floor, and to follow his lead by supporting the party's nominee. Some protests did manifest inside the convention hall, but they were subdued at best. I personally saw some delegates on the floor standing in protest with tape across their mouths with the phrase "Silenced by the D.N.C." written across them. Many signs with the international "no" slash across "TPP" were being waved as well. Very early on, whenever either the name Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders was mentioned from the podium, scattered boos and cheers competed for dominance. Even the weather turned ugly, as a thunderstorm broke over the arena, and the rain pounded down. But then the speeches started in earnest. Although the crowd was initially restless (at best), at some point the pageantry started to work wonders. You may be a die-hard Bernie Sanders delegate, but it's hard to not be touched by an 11-year-old girl speaking from the podium about how she was putting her faith in Hillary Clinton to do everything she could to solve the problem of families being torn asunder by deportation. What are the die-hards really going to do at that point? Boo an 11-year-old girl who is quite obviously terrified of speaking in front of such an immense audience -- but at the same time remaining poised and brave as all get out? Seriously? You're going to protest that? There's "die-hard" and then there is "heartless" -- and virtually nobody crossed that line. In fact, she got one of the most rousing standing ovations of the entire evening, because Democrats' hearts remain in the right place. That was one turning point. Another might have been the speech given by Al Franken. Franken has (as I've noted before) only recently given himself permission to once again be funny in public. He did this tonight in fine style, and -- once again -- what are you going to do, protest Al Franken? After he does a hilarious riff on Trump University? What would be the point? It's a lot easier to sit back and laugh, which is precisely what the crowd did. The crowd, in fact -- in spite of all their political differences and squabbles -- started to actually have a pretty good time together. Unlike the first three days of the Republican convention, the house was absolutely packed to the rafters. Perhaps to draw attention to this, the lights were on throughout the whole arena, so the cameras would show every seat filled (by contrast, the GOP dimmed the lights in the upper tiers to try to hide all the empty seats). After a disabled woman condemned Donald Trump for making fun of a disabled reporter on the campaign trail, musical instruments were wheeled out and set up. Al Franken reappeared, and he had with him none other than Sarah Silverman -- who (unlike Al) has never had to give up being funny to further a serious political career. They took on the Bernie/Hillary division in highly amusing fashion, to fill the time while the band set up. At the end, they introduced none other than Paul Simon, who came out and sang "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" -- a far cry from the best musicians the GOP could scare up (G. E. Smith and his band). Shortly afterwards, Senator Cory Booker spoke, leading off the "A-list" of speakers. Booker gave a rousing address, and the crowd began cheering as one to his best lines. All around, it was a pretty good speech, but it would soon be overshadowed by the rest of the evening. After a short introduction to lead off the primetime hour of coverage by the broadcast networks, First Lady Michelle Obama walked onto the stage. A virtual sea of "Michelle" signs began waving, and she proceeded to absolutely knock it out of the park. It was the best speech I've ever heard her give -- by far. The pictures she verbally painted were absolutely flawless, beginning by talking about her children growing up in the White House, followed by a brilliant segue to defining what was most important about presidential elections: "Who will next have the power to shape our children's lives?" Advertisement Obama gave a not-so-subtle rebuke (an iron fist in a velvet glove) to Sanders supporters by reminding them what Hillary Clinton did eight years ago when she lost a close contest to Michelle's husband: "When she didn't get the nomination eight years ago, she didn't get angry or disillusioned!" Obama smacked Trump around a bit, noting that presidential leadership "cannot be boiled down to 140 characters." She made her moral and historical case, noting, "I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves." That's a pretty powerful image, you've got to admit. She ended up with something conservatives have always complained is lacking from the Obamas -- some classic American exceptionalism: "This right now is the greatest country on Earth." Michelle Obama's speech was easily the best of the evening. It may even become the best of the entire convention, in the same way that Bill Clinton's speech was the best of the 2012 convention. We've got three nights of impressive speakers to go, so such a conclusion is premature at best, but Michelle Obama's speech was truly good enough to be a contender for this prize. Again, she absolutely knocked it out of the park. There's just no other way to put it. Elizabeth Warren followed, after an introduction from Joe Kennedy III (who told an amusing story about being Warren's student). But even though I am a fan of Warren, I have to say she had an off night. Perhaps it was the fact she followed such a bang-up speech from the First Lady, but Warren's speech seemed a bit unemotional and flat, at least to me (I am, I should mention, operating on very little sleep, so I might just have been getting tired at this point). In fact, I wasn't the only one to comment afterwards that the order of the two speeches should really have been reversed. Warren would have done a better job giving her speech before Obama, rather than following her. A side note is necessary here, before I get to the keynote of the evening. I was sitting up in the rafters (better to view the entire crowd's reaction), and even up in the nosebleed seats, right before every speaker appeared, helpful volunteers appeared to distribute the proper placards to wave for that particular speech. We got "Michelle" sticks to wave, Hillary slogan posters, and -- most amazing of all -- "Bernie" signs to wave for the final speech. This is notable for two reasons. The first is the nuts-and-bolts of the organization, which was flawless. Not only were people down on the floor and the delegates in the lower tiers given stuff to wave for the cameras, but those of us in the upper decks were also not left out -- even though the cameras likely wouldn't even catch anyone up there waving their signs. That's an impressive feat of coordination and pre-planning, to put it mildly. Secondly, it was downright stunning to be provided with signs with the losing candidate's name on them -- by the convention itself. This, to put it plainly, is not normal. Usually, the fear of a divided message means only the nominee is featured on such paraphernalia. But thousands of "Bernie!" signs were handed out free of charge, for the runner-up's supporters. That is beyond impressive, and shows what an inclusive note Team Hillary is striving for. Kudos to them for going far beyond the norm, in other words. Bernie Sanders gave the speech of his life tonight. When he walked on the stage, the crowd went bananas. The cheering, the repeated standing ovations, and the thunderous chanting were unbelievable for a runner-up. The crowd just would not quit making noise for many moments (I'd love to time this, to see how long it took before he could even be heard over the din). But I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave everyone hanging there, because it is almost 2:00 in the morning, and I'd like to get this posted. I will try to post my thoughts on Bernie's speech tomorrow (early) as well as more than just the highpoints of the first day of the Democratic National Convention, but for now I simply have to get to sleep. As an overall observation, the day started with disunity on full display. It ended with the closest thing to unity as could be imagined, hours earlier. The crowd was split into two camps at the start of the evening, and while they were not fully unified by the end, large strides towards that goal had been achieved. We've got three days to go to fully get the party to rally around its nominee, but the progress that was made on the first night was absolutely unimaginable 12 hours earlier. If the rest of this convention follow the same trajectory, then Democrats won't have anything to worry about in November. At the start of the day, dark warnings were being issued and comparisons to 1968 were being dusted off for easy reference. By the end of the night, there weren't a whole lot of dry eyes in the house. Michelle Obama and Bernie Sanders more than rose to the occasion tonight, and the crowd -- and, hopefully, the party at large -- responded quite favorably. I never would have predicted so much progress could be made in such a short period of time, especially after the ugliness of the WikiLeaks fiasco and Debbie Wasserman Schultz's unprecedented exit just before the convention began, but tonight Obama and Sanders reminded a whole lot of people what the Democratic Party truly stands for, and why the stakes of this particular election are so high. So I apologize, but I'm going to have to leave it there, at least for now. Chris Weigant blogs at: What to do? Where to go? It's early summer in Athens and the July heat is in full swing. It's been in the mid-30s since last month. Not that I'm complaining. Having been born and raised in London, I'll take the heat without too much of a problem. To add to that, this past year has been an eventful one personally and I always find that travelling to new places is a great tonic and a chance to look back on certain events and at the same time look ahead. One of the wonderful advantages of living in Athens is its proximity to the countless islands the country boasts. So I have some time off now and decided to focus my attention on the Cyclades in the western Aegean. The word derives from the 'Kyklos', which is Greek for circle because the islands form one. The most well known in terms of tourism is probably Mykonos. I decide to go for the quieter ones - the ones that have retained a sense of simplicity. When you go to one of those islands, in a way it's almost like stepping back into the 70s or 80s with their somewhat basic infrastructure. First though, I wanted to look for a hotel that I could book with for the entire journey. It helps to be able to find some continuity when it comes to accommodation, especially when travelling from one island to another in a short time frame. After a few searches, one kept cropping up; a relatively new family-owned chain called Aria Hotels; ariahotels.gr/en/. They have a modest number of Boutique Hotels, Villas and Beach Houses. I guessed quality and not quantity. Advertisement So although I planned to visit three islands, it was as if all my bookings had been done under one reservation. You can't go wrong when it comes to simplifying. So with accommodation and travel all set (regular ferries go to all the Cyclades from Pireaus), I was off. Here's my short travel diary. First stop - Serifos. The main appeal is that this island still avoids mass tourism unlike some of the neighbouring ones - namely Mykonos or Santorini. After catching an early ferry from Pireaus, the main port of Athens, We arrived in Serifos around midday and checked into Aria Hotel's villa towards the north of the island and situated quite high up, which made for an impressive view. With the help of Stelios, who manages the villa, we managed to rent a car, which was lucky given the high demand. While getting around by bus and taxi isn't an issue in Serifos, renting a car is the best option if you want to see everything as it gives you the flexibility of your own schedule. Our first stop was Chora (the main town). As with most of the Cyclades, the main towns were originally built high up and out of sight from pirates who roamed the seas during that era. After walking around, we came across a small square and a restaurant 'Stou Stratou'. The turquoise chairs against the white stone pathways made it a unique setting for a restaurant. The owners were friendly and the food was good. A definite must when you feel like something good to eat and a cold beer. From there, we took a walk up to the 'Kastro' meaning castle, which overlooked the main port. The view made it worth the walk - you can't help but just take a few moments to admire it. Advertisement That was followed by a visit to a beach, 'Kalo Ampeli'. Due to there being no access by road, it ended up being a quite hike to get to, but it was worth it - quiet and peaceful. By the time we'd got back after a quick dinner, we were pretty pleased with an eventful day that had started at 4am in Athens. Our second and only full day in Serifos started early with another visit to one of its numerous beaches before venturing down to the port. The beach, 'Ganema', like the previous one we had been to, fairly quiet, which may have been due to it not being high-season. Nevertheless, it's worth a visit. That evening, we went back to Chora for an early dinner before heading back to the villa. The next morning it was a quick and seamless checkout. Stelios gave us a ride back to the ferry. Staying at Aria Hotels has been great so far and I'm looking forward to seeing the next hotel because I read that it's a converted windmill, which will be a new experience. All in all it was a good start to the hat trick of islands. It makes you realise how unique Greek islands are. You just can't find this anywhere else. Hillary Clinton will give her acceptance speech Thursday at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Clinton must present a strikingly different message to the one delivered last week by GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump. To do this, her speech should be short and sweet, in sharp contrast to Trump's rambling, "It's-Always-Darkest-Before-It-Gets-Pitch-Black" hooey. With his menacing tone and his chin jutting forward, Trump looked like Italy's fascist leader Benito Mussolini, who, according to a 1925 speech on a recently released newsreel, praised Italian immigrants in America for working "to make America great." Advertisement Clinton should tell Trump that America is already great -- and it achieved greatness because it has rejected demagogues like him who appealed to our fears. When Americans look back at our history, we find nothing but regret when we listened to demagogues. Never do we wistfully sigh and say, "If only we listened to Huey Long or Joe McCarthy or George Wallace . . . " We look back with shame and regret when we acted on our fears. We regret that we committed genocide on native-born Indians and enslaved African-Americans, that we arrested and deported Eastern-Europeans during World War I, and that we put Japanese-Americans in concentration camps during World War II. We regret that we lynched African-Americans who tried to vote and that we turned dogs on young African-American children. We regret when we turn on one another and when we attack our immigrants. Advertisement If you believe this is the stuff that made America great, then Donald Trump is your guy. Demagogues appeal to our fears. Leaders appeal to our character. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," President Franklin Roosevelt said during the Great Depression. America survived the Depression and won World War II and became the greatest country in the world. Clinton must remind Americans that we became great by ignoring demagoguery and following what President Abraham Lincoln called "the better angels of our nature." We became great because we had leaders who put the country ahead of themselves. What if the Founding Fathers had envisioned the republic as if it were their own real estate instead of something for the people and of the people? What if Lincoln had deported African-Americans instead of signing the Emancipation Proclamation? What if President Lyndon Johnson had refused to sign the 1964 Civil Rights Act because he thought that blacks were drug traffickers, "criminals," and "rapists." Trump's supporters say they like him because he says what he thinks. There's a glaring problem with this rationale: Trump doesn't think that often, and when he does, he only thinks of himself. While millions of ordinary people may like Trump, the feeling is not reciprocated. Trump only likes ordinary people if they're covered with butter and mushrooms and served with creme brulee. Advertisement Given Trump's penchant for self-aggrandizement, what will happen if he is elected president? The country formerly known as the United States will become Trump America. Trump and his family will live at the Trump House and fly on Trump One and spent their weekends at Camp Trump. If Trump is elected, he will remove the Statue of Liberty because it calls on America to welcome immigrants - and replace it with one of himself, the Statue of Trump, holding up a Trump steak or a diploma from Trump University. Trump has not included any specifics on how he will "Make America Great Again" so we can only surmise based on how he has lived his life and run his corporations. What does Trump know about addressing the national debt? He inherited his money. What does he know about putting his country before himself? He received four deferments so he could avoid military service while millions of other young people put their country before themselves. What does Trump know about democracy? He has sued and bullied his way to business success. No country ever sued their way to greatness and the only countries who bullied their way to greatness became dictatorships. If this happens, Trump can rely on his admirer Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump praised Putin "as a leader, unlike we have in this country." The Ukrainian startup scene is stronger than ever despite multiple currency devaluations, the loss of Crimea and the ongoing war in the east. According to the latest Ukraine Dealbook report by AVentures Capital and Ukraine Digital News total venture investment in Ukrainian startups increased 237% year-over-year from 2014-2015, after having dropped 56% between 2013-2014. Last year there were a number of notable deals involving Ukrainian startups, the most significant being the acquisition of Looksery by Snapchat for $150 million. With over 400 universities and colleges, Ukraine graduates around 15,000 IT professionals per year according to the recent IT Ukraine industry report. All large Ukrainian cities are home to coworking hubs and private IT schools that offer mentorship and courses taught by industry professionals. Evgeniy Vyborov is a business mentor at one of the coworking hubs in Dnipro, Ukraine, and is a great illustration of the kind of leaders who are pushing the Ukrainian technology sector forward. Recently, Vyborov served as a technical mentor with Boston Techstars and became CTO of a US-based company - but he's also the founder of WebiNerds (a Ukrainian software development company) and co-founder of the UA50 community that helps Ukrainian startups enter the US market. With such a broad range of experience, Vyborov is one of the emerging leaders who understand startups and remote software development from both the Ukrainian and US perspectives. Advertisement Over the past five years or so, according to Vyborov, Ukrainian outsourcing companies have developed a solid understanding of the US business environment and the US startup sector, and it's paying off. Though the legal environment in Ukraine is still a challenge, many companies are taking legal concerns seriously and, as a result, are winning the confidence of western partners. Vyborov explains that during due diligence, the legal documents and business relationships of US startups are scrutinized heavily by potential investors and any red flags, especially related to violation of intellectual property, pose a severe risk to raising money during the next round. Venture capitalists are understandably wary of startups working with remote teams, but that's mainly due to concerns about intellectual property and valuation. If those concerns are allayed, then working with professional remote teams from Ukraine or elsewhere can offer benefits to a startup or small business, including access to a level of developer talent that's hard for startups to attract (and afford) in the states. Vyborov explains that over the past several years US companies have increasingly been looking to Ukraine not just for cost savings -- as in the past -- but for quality and expertise. Top Ukrainian software developers and specialists are constantly being recruited by top international firms. There are now over 100 research and development centers in Ukraine, many connected to well-known global players including Boeing, Huawei, and Siemens. This shift from cost to quality is a trend across the Ukrainian IT industry, and is a promising sign for a country looking to build a brighter future as a well-educated, technologically-driven society. As Yevgen Sysoyev writes in the IT Ukraine industry report, "Technological advances born in Ukraine are having a profound impact both on the world's tech scene and in the country's own business, social, and political life." The outsourcing industry in Ukraine is booming, accounting for at least $2.5 billion in export revenue in 2015. The fruits of this labor can be felt as far off as Boston and Silicon Valley, where startups as well as large corporations are entrusting critical projects to Ukrainian IT specialists. IT offers honest work and a middle-class life in a country where the average GDP per capita is still only $3,900, and where many workers make far less. Advertisement Ukraine still has work to do, but the future's looking bright for Ukraine's tech industry leaders. With thousands of new IT specialists entering the labor market each year, a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the European Union, increasing fluency in English, and a booming outsourcing and R&D industry, Ukraine is bound to attract more investment with the promise of great returns for years to come. Sign up for Daily Pnut, an email on world affairs that will brighten your mornings and make you sound marginally more intelligent. Museums can be tough to navigate. Even with a docent, depending on who it is, a few hours might seem endless. So back in 2013, Nick Gray had an idea to make museums come to life in a new way. That idea led to the creation of Museum Hack. For weeks, Gray attended the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City with an iPad in hand, and researched the pieces he found most interesting. It started as free tours he led for friends, but it blossomed quickly into a business. Gray answered some of my questions via email about his self-proclaimed "unconventional approach" to museum tours: Q: I know you have expanded to new cities and museums. What prompted the expansion? Where are you heading next? Advertisement Gray: Museum Hack is on a mission to re-imagine the adult museum experience. We do that by consulting for museums around the world about how we "hack" tours, and by expanding our own offerings. Going to new cities and new museums means we can reach more people and help them fall in love with museums again. A personal note is that it's also really rewarding for me to provide great jobs for the talented guides that lead our tours -- to do that we need to grow our company. We currently operate in NYC, DC and SF, and the next stop is Chicago! How do you train your guides? Should they have some background in history, or art, or science, whatever the subject may be, or is it better to have guides who are coming in fresh and looking to pick up the background material as they go? Gray: Some of our guides have deep academic credentials and experience in areas like art history and science, but the number one trait we hire for is "connection." Our guides are leaders and storytellers that bring a small group through a big space and make it feel alive. Many of our guides are also performers -- actors, musicians, comedians, etc. that have developed talents for drawing people into an experience. We have an intensive training program at Museum Hack and many great candidates don't make the cut. Guides shadow tours and serve as co-hosts for weeks and sometimes months before they lead their own tours, and have allocated Creative Time each week for researching new pieces to talk about. We also do monthly Trainages where we hire an outside expert to teach us new skills like improv or understanding a specific type of art. Advertisement What do you tell the guides during their training, as they are assembling their main talking points and locations within the museum of interest to them? Gray: We have developed a few strict criteria that all of our guides follow, but it's better to think of this as a framework -- because each guide has a ton of leeway to create their own unique experiences. Examples include our 5 Elements of a Hack, which we use to tell stories that POP with engagement. Also, we aim for a two-hour tour to include 12 to 15 stops, which usually means the guide talks about some pieces a little longer and others just a quick stop to point out something neat. Another way we prioritize pacing is taking short breaks to recharge and overcome museum fatigue, and integrating games and activities into the tour. Where do you acquire new customers from, mostly? How has the marketing strategy been playing out so far? Gray: Work of mouth marketing is big for us. We work hard to create a unique, one-of-a-kind experience and we are fortunate that guests tell their friends about us. We are also a top 10 event on TripAdvisor which helps to introduce new guests to our tours. What have you learned about your business, customers, or museums that has surprised you? Gray: Museums are f***ing awesome! No kidding and no exceptions. Every museum on Earth has unique pieces in their collection with stories that need to be told. You may walk through a museum and see pottery, weapons, paintings, etc., but if you dive in with just a little bit of research you can discover amazing facts and backstories. Maybe that painting has a secret message encoded in the design and colors, or the pottery was actually part of an ancient and mysterious ritual. Finding the stories is critical to an amazing museum experience. Advertisement Bitcoin caught a very big break in legal land, and no one even noticed. While an admittedly small percentage of the Bitcoin world was busy ganging up on me for saying sensible, yet unorthodox things in my coverage... like the fact that most Bitcoiners expected the price to be much higher post-2016 halving, like the fact that the amount of energy Bitcoin users spend attacking Ethereum shows they might be threatened by its rapid growth in market share, like the ongoing blocksize issue that puts a freeze on future Bitcoin expansion... you know, topics that may not make Bitcoin look absolutely sterling perfect, but topics that a thinker and journalist and researcher might bring up if he had a space in which to do so on a major site. Bitcoin PR man I am not, but I'm also not out to "get" Bitcoin. It is just another technology in the growing fintech revolution, another tool in the sound money movement's arsenal. Where is its place, long term? Where do the newer technologies fit in? That's my job, deciphering that path, as it unfolds. And in that vein, there was a judge's ruling out of Miami, Florida that is phenomenally beneficial not only to the unfolding of Bitcoin's future place in the financial world... it is beneficial to all of the cryptocurrency and digital asset industry's stakeholders, at practically every level. Advertisement The Washington Post's headline sums up what happened: "Bitcoin's not money, judge rules as she tosses money-laundering charge." Wait, this sounds bad. How is this good, Seaman?! Are you saying more bad things about the precious Bitcoin? Right, so although it may sound superficially bad that a judge has ruled Bitcoin is "not money," experts tell me it bodes very well for the industry. The fear some developers had of ending up in court, or in prison, for innocuous transfers of value in crypto land -- that fear is now quelled, to a degree (at least in some jurisdictions) by this judge's ruling. Advertisement In an eight page opinion piece, the judge shared that "Nothing in our frame of references allows us to accurately define or describe Bitcoin." I could not agree more, and this is an unusual amount of humility to emerge from an influential judge's chambers. It vibes with the growing stance within Bitcoin and Ethereum that blockchain innovation should be "sandboxed" to prevent new regulation from encroaching too fast, too soon on brand new tools that are not fully understood yet. This is a view shared increasingly by policymaking friends of blockchain tech both in the United States and in Europe. We have to remember, Bitcoin is only seven years old. It was created and released to the world by an unknown person, or persons, in 2009. Ethereum is only one year old. It was invented by a 22 year old. So it's probably a good sign to see this humility from a state judge: we just don't know what cryptocurrency is, exactly. We know it has value. We know it could change a major segment of the modern financial landscape. But to treat some guy in Florida buying a little Bitcoin off an Internet stranger at his local Haagen-Dazs like a hardened mafia boss tumbling $100 bills in a basement dryer somewhere -- at least in the eyes of that judge, not so fast. But maybe I'm totally wrong, and this totally sucks for Bitcoin, because now the public will just think "this is not money, the legal system is not even taking it seriously yet." And that'd be bad. THE TALK I'll be giving several versions of the same presentation in San Francisco and in the Valley the 29th to 31st. It focuses on blockchain innovation and decentralized next generation social networks. Advertisement I hope you'll join me -- I'll tweet the addresses and times at least a day before each. I'm sure we will also figure out a way to stream it. And get my wildly popular crypto newsletter if you don't already. The trolls are getting me down on Twitter, they are out in full force lately, so I'll be sharing my views and market commentary less often over there: 140 characters is constricting, anyway. Although I don't give financial advice and I only own two coins myself (Bitcoin and Ether), the reality is that this is my job -- fintech research and innovation has been my M.O. for the past 3.5 years. We have to move away from the old crumbling financial systems and build new ones that serve us better, faster, cheaper. The movement to do this is already large and exciting, and it gets larger every day. I travel all over the world talking to people about their blockchain projects, learning from them. I've interviewed the founders of Ethereum and many other exciting crypto projects on my YouTube channel, I invest in crypto ideas that show promise -- some fail, some succeed wildly (like Ethereum, so far at least; readers are up about 1,600% since my issue in December analysing its prospects). This industry is what I love, and I have more time than almost anyone to devote to tracking it, so that explains the growth of the newsletter -- I never thought I'd be a "newsletter guy" in the media, either. I hated newsletter guys. If I start selling hats or bumper stickers, please shoot me squarely in the face. Advertisement WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 22: U.S. President Brack Obama speaks during a meeting with law enforcement officials in the Eisonhower Executive Office Building July 22, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) The prospects for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are not looking very good right now. Both parties' presidential candidates have come out against the deal. Donald Trump has placed it at the top of his list of bad trade deals that he wants to stop or reverse. Hillary Clinton had been a supporter as Secretary of State, but has since joined the opposition in response to overwhelming pressure from the Democratic base. As a concession to President Obama, the Democratic platform does not explicitly oppose the TPP. However it does include unambiguous language opposing investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms - the extra-judicial tribunals that are an integral part of the TPP. Advertisement If the political prospects look bleak there also is not much that can be said for the economic merits of the pact. The classic story of gaining from free trade by removing trade barriers doesn't really apply to the TPP primarily because we have already removed most of the barriers between the countries in the pact. The United States has trade deals in place with six of the eleven countries in the TPP, so tariffs with these countries are already at or very near zero. Even with the other five countries, in most cases the formal trade barriers are already low, so pushing them to zero will not have much economic impact. In its analysis of the TPP, the non-partisan United States International Trade Commission (ITC) projected that the gains from the deal in 2032, when its effects will be mostly realized, will be 0.23 percent of GDP. This is a bit more than a typical month's growth. In other words, the ITC report implies that as a result of the TPP we can expect to be as wealthy on January 1, 2032 as we would be on February 10, 2032 without the TPP. That's not the sort of thing that would ordinarily be a cause for big celebration. And the ITC model is explicitly a full employment model. It rules out the possibility that the TPP could lead to a higher unemployment rate as a result of increased imports displacing U.S. workers. The ITC analysis also failed to include the negative growth effects of stronger and longer copyright and patent protection. Advertisement Both of these are forms of protection which translate into higher prices for drugs, software, and other protected products. The losses from this increased protectionism can easily exceed the projected gains from the tariff reductions in the TPP. The stronger patent and copyright protection are really at the core of the TPP. This is a deal that was crafted by and for the pharmaceutical industry, the software industry, the finance industry, the telecommunications industry, and other major industry groups. We essentially asked the major firms in these sectors to tell us what they wanted in a trade deal and then the Obama administration tried to get it for them. That doesn't make the TPP look like a good trade pact to most people, which is why it faces such bleak political prospects. But there is a lot of money riding on the TPP, so the Obama administration is not about to let it die a quiet death. On the one hand President Obama has made numerous appeals to Democrats in Congress not to embarrass him by blocking his deal. As a president who is enormously popular among Democrats, this appeal carries some weight. The President is also pulling out the China card, arguing that the TPP is necessary to create a trading block as a counterweight to Chinese power. Furthermore, Obama is arguing that not approving the TPP will damage our credibility with countries in the region. Advertisement It is difficult to hear this argument and not think back to the Vietnam War. The original argument for the war was to protect the right of the people of South Vietnam to determine their own destiny. At some point it became apparent to everyone that the South Vietnamese government was hopelessly corrupt and had almost no support from the population. When it was no longer possible to argue based on democracy and self-determination, the Johnson administration argued based on credibility. They tried to make the case that if we allowed the South Vietnamese government to collapse, it would be devastating to our credibility in the region and the world. This argument was used to justify a war that cost the lives of tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers and millions of people in Vietnam and neighboring countries. In the end of course, we left and the South Vietnamese government collapsed. Who do you want choosing the Supreme Court membership: Hillary or Donald? That is the choice before us now. Look at what is already happening. Across the country, a flood of money is allowing a quiet Republican takeover. Government races that once required almost no money for campaign costs are suddenly expensive, and one-sidedly heavy with cash. A poor man or woman used to be able to run for office. Now, this is virtually impossible, unless they are clearly identified with the Republican Right, and can therefore find rich donors. Why? The "Citizens United" Supreme Court decision essentially removes all limits to how many dollars the millionaires and billionaires can spend to elect their servants. All they must do is set up a Political Action Committee (PAC) and pour in as many millions as they want. And if Donald Trump gets in, and packs the Supreme Court? The rich will own it altogether. You have seen the list, the ultra-conservatives from whom Trump has promised to pick: a more radical Republican group is hard to imagine. Advertisement Tragically, recent events have caused anger and division among the Democrats. This must not be allowed. Granted, liberals like me have long-standing grievances with the system. Just to name a couple: First, if we had direct democracy instead of the Electoral College, we would have had President Al Gore in office instead of George W. Bush. Imagine what a better world this would be right now! We would not have invaded Iraq, for one thing. Second, while I like and respect Tim Kaine, I truly wanted Elizabeth Warren for Veep -- her strength, intelligence, and compassion are unequalled.But the choice was Hillary's, not mine. Finally, Bernie Sanders has an absolute right to be angry about behind-the-scenes DNC trash talk and manipulations. But he is standing by his word to support Hillary, and fight Trump. He knows that when the Russian hackers released the unflattering DNC emails, it was an undeniable gift to Donald Trump who admires their boss, Vladimir Putin. It was nothing less than an attempt to give Trump the election. Advertisement These are legitimate reasons for anger. But like fights in a family, they must be resolved: if our union is to prevail. For no matter how frustrating our internal differences may be, the choice between Hillary and Trump is night and day. As the threat is vast, so is the opportunity. If a Democratic president selects the Supreme Court justices, we can overturn the Citizens United decision, and break the powers of the Super Pacs. Imagine what that would mean! For the Supreme Court to become truly neutral, to see both sides of an issue? We have grown too accustomed to a Republican-dominated Supreme Court, and have forgotten it is legal for our side to have a majority too. In one magnificent sentence, American Prospect author Peter Dreier sums up the possibilities: "A more liberal court could overturn Citizens United, restore voting rights and workers' rights, protect women's rights to abortion, allow the president to address climate change, keep affirmative action in jobs and education, and deliver many other important rulings." Advertisement Is that not worth fighting for? If Democrats come together now, we can make a brighter future for everyone. But if we allow anything to divide us now -- when we face this greatest opportunity and threat? Our children, and our children's children, will rue this day forever. The first straw poll to test the support of Security Council members for candidates vying to become the next United Nations secretary-general occurred July 21, amid strong interest by global media who report on the world body as well as the dozen candidates, the UN's 193 member states and people who follow international affairs. Beyond this coterie of foreign affairs aficionados, New Yorkers couldn't care less about the election. As one lawyer who lives in Brooklyn said, shrugging and laughing, "I didn't know this was happening." Advertisement Gleaning results kept the UN beehive busy the day of the straw poll. Results trickled in by word of mouth instead of officially: Antonio Guterres, a Portuguese who until recently was head of the UN refugee agency; Danilo Turk, who has been president of Slovenia and a former assistant secretary-general for political affairs; and Irina Bokova, who runs Unesco, were reported to be the top favorites: all UN veterans and safe, Western-leaning people in the post-Brexit era. Vuk Jeremic, a Serbian former foreign minister and past president of the UN General Assembly, and Srgjan Kerim, who has been a foreign minister for Macedonia, also tied for third. The first informal results could sorely disappoint efforts by women's groups internationally who are hoping a woman gets the job, changing course for the UN's 71-year history of male leadership. The secretary-general holds a five-year term, and Ban Ki-moon, the current one, finishes a 10-year term on Dec. 31, 2016. The first straw poll, conducted in papal secrecy by the 15 elected and permanent members of the Security Council (14 members are men), is intended to winnow the 12 candidates for the UN chief. It was done through confidential ballots marked "encourage," "discourage" and "no opinion." Advertisement The votes of the council's permanent five members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- were closely watched. "We are not going to preview our position on the individual candidates, needless to say, but we made no secret of the fact that we're looking for somebody with great leadership skills, great management skills, someone who has a commitment to fairness and accountability and who stays true to the founding principles of the United Nations," said Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN, before she went into the council chamber to participate in the straw poll. A total of 180 ballots were tallied by Japan, as rotating president of the council in July. The ballots did not show the names of the countries voting and the ballots were supposed to be destroyed after the results were counted. Japan's ambassador to the UN, Koro Bessho, revealed virtually nothing about the vote except to say it had taken place. For some Latin American delegates, waiting outside the council chambers to hear news on the results, the lack of transparency was insulting. "How do we even know the straw poll took place?" one delegate asked. The last time the council held a straw poll was 10 years ago, when it picked Ban, a Korean, as secretary-general. The format has not changed. Advertisement The British mission to the UN, which meets regularly with media who report on the UN, has been the most informative among all council members about the selection process. Matthew Rycroft, Britain's ambassador to the UN, who has repeatedly said that the next secretary-general should be a woman, suddenly switched gears, saying before he went into vote that it was time for a woman, but that he wouldn't veto a man. (Rycroft has a new boss, Boris Johnson, the foreign minister.) Despite the General Assembly's president, Mogens Lykketoft, spending most of his yearlong term prying open the highly secretive process of selecting a secretary-general, the Security Council is keeping the straw poll results quiet, regardless of obvious leaks by diplomats. Lykketoft had publicly iterated to UN member states his desire to be told the results. It didn't happen. "In my view, limiting the communication to the fact that the informal straw poll has taken place without any further detail adds little value and does not live up to the expectations of the membership and the new standard of openness and transparency," Lykketoft said in a letter posted right after the straw poll was held. The countries representing the 12 candidates -- six men and six women -- were apparently notified of the results immediately, but the media and many national delegations were left seeking clues like bloodhounds. Advertisement The contingent of delegates from Latin America, which has two candidates running from the region, Susana Malcorra of Argentina and Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica, found the refusal of the council to state the results a defiance of a large movement by non-Western members to turn the election into a transparent procedure. (Malcorra and Figueres placed below the top-six candidates.) "I would have liked to have more member states here pressuring the council to be more transparent," said one of the Latin American delegates. And Russia, which is keeping its grip on Eastern Europe's turn to choose the next leader of the UN, has demanded that candidates travel to Moscow to meet with Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister. Russia also reportedly asked all candidates, a day before the straw poll, to declare if they had dual nationalities. The Latin American candidates and an Eastern European candidate may have more than one nationality. The council is expected to do more straw polls with a final vote intended for October, when Russia holds the council presidency. Even that deadline is uncertain, as council members are unwilling to name a date should a more attractive candidate comes along. Advertisement When a candidate is chosen by the council, his or her name will be "recommended" to the General Assembly, whose 193 members cast the ultimate vote. Disrupting past traditions, the council's bow to more openness entailed holding informal "dialogues" with each of the 12 candidates in June and July. The interviews were held among all council members at off-site locations, and candidates were told not to utter a word to media about the contents. At meetings held at the Japanese mission to the UN, "a fine selection of teas and coffee" was served, a British delegate noted on Twitter. Some candidates dared to leak details, however, including that most questions posed by council members repeated themes voiced in public hearings with candidates in the General Assembly earlier this year. So, candidates were tested again on UN management and reform, terrorism, peacekeeping, gender equality, human rights and the new global development goals. One council member ventured to ask candidates to name which UN agency they thought did the best work. But most members fixated on the more burning question of how to make the UN "relevant again," according to one candidate. That question reflected, this person said, the council's growing, if belated, awareness that it has been unable to stop wars throughout the UN's history and peace remains a mirage. Advertisement If you build it, a city like no other to rise out of the sands of the desert, they will come. Whenever I'm in Dubai, I discover something new that makes me fall in awe of its grandiosity. This time around, in the full heat of an Arabian Peninsula summer -- and we're talking 110 Fahrenheit in the shade! -- I've been wondering how all the majestic buildings that fill the Downtown Dubai skyline (and now are featured in the just released Star Trek Beyond) could have been thought up, to rise quite literally from foundations dug in sand, in the middle of the desert. Then I realized that while I can't spend more than one full minute in the early morning sun, in these 100 plus temperatures, the inhabitants of what today is called the United Arab Emirates, can, do, and have, for centuries. They've thrived in an environment that seems impossible to an average westerner, and through their resilience, and imagination, they've made their dreams come true. In retrospect, I realize my mistake was perhaps doing all of this thinking outside. Two minutes in the Dubai heat turns me into a half cooked raisin flambe, so I quickly found great respite in the air conditioned, calm and private lobby of the Rove Downtown. Their tagline "exploring without borders" seemed perfectly in line with my own credo. Advertisement So there I settled on a comfy couch in the corner of their interactive lobby, filled with artwork and functioning WiFi for all, and almost like magic, found the everyone-is-included, all accepting, integrated world I'd just experienced the night before on the big screen Utopia of Star Trek Beyond's space station Yorkville. In an atmosphere that could easily have been somewhere in Seattle or San Francisco, I spotted three American grandmothers on their girls-only vacation, walking on their way from breakfast to the pool, crisscrossing paths with some young girls in shorts, sporting wet hair, clearly working that same itinerary backwards, all the while a Saudi couple in full national dress, the woman with her face covered, sat behind a wall and played video games plopped on a giant pillow the floor. Sometimes, in Paolo Sorrentino's films there are scenes reminiscent of this kind of cultural criss-cross, but to watch it unfold in real life, well, it's what I live for. I ran into Anne-Cecile de Chaumont, the Design Manager for Rove Downtown, and managed to have her explain what I could feel, put into words that ease of comfort and belonging that filled the lobby, and the halls of the place. She indulged me by describing that "Dubai is a mix of cultures, of heritages, the Arabic influence of course, but also with so many people living here, everybody adds layers to that," continuing that "we tried to reflect that in the artwork, tried to reflect the contemporary Dubai. That's why somehow when guests come in, each of us will find something that appeals to him or her." The final lightbulb moment for me came when she concluded that "even some of the things that may not be made in Dubai are used in Dubai, are meaningful and have a story behind it." Advertisement Within a series of artwork on the wall of the lobby lounge, I found a friend's work, Bahraini artist Nasser Alzayani's drawing on a page of Arabian Business, and it reaffirmed my theory that the world is becoming increasingly smaller, and we must find a way to get along, to avoid disaster. Actually, starting with a cup of tea in a lounge like this one, may not be a bad idea. Even the Sheikhs' portraits, a must for every building lobby in Dubai, are an artistic reinterpretation by Stephen Chambers at the Rove -- it's cool like that. On my way to get a photo taken with the falcon stencils that adorn the walls of the corridors that lead to the rooms -- more on the artists of those later -- I stumbled upon the guests' laundromat, framed by a beautiful design by Emirati artist Khalid Mezaina. The artwork alone kept me mesmerized and just as I was about to catch the next elevator back to the lobby, I heard a man's voice. "Excuse me" the Saudi gentleman in the white thawb said, "do you know how to use these machines?" Pointing to the washers. I didn't, but his kindness required some in return, and I stepped into the laundry room, only to find there his veiled wife, in colorful jogging pants (peeking out from under her abaya) and sneakers, sitting comfortably, not a care in the world, her designer bag by her side. We gave each other a quick glance of sisterhood and she continued sitting there, watching her man struggle to do laundry. Once we had worked out that he needed more tokens and the machine started working, I left. Giggling from the topsy turvy experience I'd just had, a Saudi man doing laundry. While his wife watched on. You don't hear about that in the media. But then again, this place is built on human stories, of how a Filipino artists' cooperative called Ape Creative stenciled their way around the lobby and throughout the floors, of Chambers' wandering camels in the lobby, and Capsule Arts, the property's art consultants, chasing down inflatable animals to fill the luggage locker room just behind the lobby, to pay tribute, and reinterpret those iconic seaside shacks selling inflatable toys by Jumeirah Beach Road. It is in fact with one of those inflatable animals that I closed my visit. I wanted to find Betty, the inflatable pink flamingo, who usually sits tied up in the Rove pool and about whom I've heard another great cultural bridge-building story. Advertisement Betty was so huge when she first arrived, she needed a tire pump to be blown up, no normal bike pump or human lungs would do. But once fully inflated, no one in the group of designers handling her had a car big enough to carry her back to the pool. Stuck at the local gas station, in Dubai's midday heat, the group that had brought Betty there, which included de Chaumont, finally found a Syrian man with a pick-up truck, and loaded Betty onto the truck's bed, only to watch him leave, pink giant inflated flamingo bopping and swaying in the wind. Would he come back? And if he did, would Betty still be all of her blown-up beauty, or just a deflated, soggy, dusty version of herself? Eventually, half an hour, respective language barriers and phone numbers never exchanged later, the Syrian man showed up with Betty in tow perfectly pumped and, as they say, everyone lived happily ever after. Or the rest is history, Who's Afraid of Immigrants? Reading about the Brexiteers' anger against immigration and globalization, we can easily recognize the similar kind of anger that draws huge crowds to Donald Trump's campaign. Fear reigns there, fear and anger. People who paid the price while the majority ate the fruit of globalization are angry they were left behind. They are fearful of no-end outsourcing, budget cuts, and bail-out of banks. And their fears are justifiable: the hated "politically correct" establishment seems not to care--therefore Trump-the-Protector appears their only stake in the future, so much so he had assured them, "I don't have time for political correctness and neither does this country." The longer I think of Mr. Trump, the better I understand that he is not an entirely anti-immigrant person, nor is he against globalization on principle. His son-in-law tried defending him on character issues but didn't reassure anybody--because of the persisting pattern. Whatever his character, pragmatic Trump is fanning the flames of fear and exploiting the anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, and anti-establishment attitudes -- targeting to glue supporters to his side and secure Presidential victory! Will he turn the back to his supporters if he wins? It's a big question. Remember, in January 2016 he said, "When I'm President, I can be the most politically correct person you've ever seen." Ha-ha! So, who should his followers--and the rest of Americans--be afraid of: immigrants or Trump-as-President? That is the Question! Advertisement 9 Audacity Lessons from the Fearless At the time of presidential elections -- regardless of the left or right political leanings -- the Americans as proud descendants of multiple waves of immigration need to reactivate the fearlessness gene which is part of their cultural DNA. Fear shouldn't cloud our judgment. Yet, only dummies never feel fearful, and John Wayne put it right: "Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway." I am no judge; I used to bear a lot of fear myself when coming to the US as a Fulbright Scholar and then staying as an immigrant: it was a colossal risk involving my family--but I had to act fearless, for their sake. I did, and it helped. Today, writing a book series about prominent American immigrant women, I researched them enough to tell that the most vulnerable US demographic, immigrant women of the first generation, set super standards of fearlessness. The infographic and comment summarize their lessons in overcoming fears. Let's look at the case in point -- an immigrant woman with remarkable audacity lessons to learn from. Advertisement Svetlana Kim, a Korean from Russia: Audacious All the Way By accident of birth, Svetlana (pictured) was born in Russia; they do things differently there. In America, she developed into a uniquely integral personality at the intersection of Russian, Korean, and US-American cultures. With little or no prospects for a good life in Russia, Svetlana now lives her dream in the U.S. as a well-respected author, columnist for global Perreault Magazine, radio talk show host, and consultant. What helped her to become an achiever? I think audacity. See for yourself: 1.Fear was never in Svetlana's vocabulary, although she must have subconsciously feared repeating the fate of her ancestors who survived Russian animosities towards minorities and the Koreans being persecuted for generations. Svetlana was painfully aware of racial humiliations: some hooligans beat her up in the street shouting "Go back to Japan or where you came from" while nobody paid attention. 2.Svetlana jumped at the first opportunity to emigrate: raised money to buy her way to New York; obtained a visa; and moved on, with one word of English in her vocabulary and one dollar in her pocket for starters. Her tenacity appealed to many Americans. Her advice now is, "Be genuine, be yourself." 3.Svetlana was brave enough to ask the right questions when she started her American life/career as a live-in companion at young intellectuals' family, where conversations became Svetlana's "best and truest education" about America. 4.After accumulating super sales experience at Macy's, Svetlana became Macy's spokesperson-2011, and then - a stockbroker at Paine Webber. She sought critical mentors--and got a wonderful one, receiving the Paine Webber Advisor Award for Outstanding Achievement as a result. 5.Audaciously seeking all things new, Svetlana felt "itchy feet" at the well-paying stockbroker position. Why? Income was an imperfect proxy for fulfilment, which had been her innermost goal. So she found a female role-model, won her interest - and went to work for her in the political consultancy company. Advertisement 6.Svetlana enjoyed her career which brought her into contact with many inspirational people at the higher echelons of American establishment. 7.Adopting a mindset of gratitude came naturally: Svetlana inherited it from her grandmother and described in her book, "White Pearl and I: A Memoir of a Political Refugee." She recently co-authored another book. "Give without remembering, take without forgetting" became her mantra. 8.Her first book is a vivid sharing of immigrant learnings: how to go on an ascending achievement spiral. Says Svetlana, "Dream impossible dreams, take actions every day. Seize every moment/opportunity, even a small one." 9.Her work is solidly rooted in continual self-exploration, meditation, and emotional intelligence--the imperative ingredients of success. Her radio talk show To the Stars through Adversity attests to that. Svetlana also shares her experiences by serving on several prestigious boards of directors. The Point Svetlana reinvented herself in America multiple times--and became a success story! Why? She's got a handle of how to go from the underserved and fearful to audacious and successful. Advertisement The New York Times of July 20th printed a photo by Todd Heisler. In the front you see part of a painted sign with the right eye, the right ear and a shock of blond-gray hair of Donald Trump. Behind that are two police officers visible in full riot gear with assault weapons and one less martially outfitted officer. In the back are Christian protesters, with signs which express in various ways the idea that America trusts only one God, the Christian one. Most prominent is a black sign with the text: Every Real Muslim is a Jihadist! The term jihadist is here used in the meaning of a warrior for Islam and not in the common translation from the Arab 'struggle' or 'effort', which refers most often to the inner struggle of the believer to become a good woman or man. The suggestion of the protest sign is however that Real Muslims are aggressively fighting western society and culture. I happen to know real Muslims. One is D., a black street vendor who came from Mauretania. He sells from eight in the morning till eight in the evening, day in day out, hats and gloves and umbrellas and scarves and wallets on the corner of my street in Brooklyn. He has a family, a wife and six kids. He works to pay for the education of his children. Three finished college, one of them in Lyon, France; the other three are on their way. He moved his wife and the kids who are still at home to a city in Ohio, because Brooklyn became too expensive. He never asked or received government support. He lives with a family member to save money. He reads on his small chair on the sidewalk the Qur'an or commentary on the Qur'an when there are no costumers. We talk with each other often about our families. He knows us very well: two gay white dads with two black adopted kids who pass him for years now, more than twice a day. He prays for all of us. And we buy as much umbrellas as we can. We saw D. suffer during Ramadan: 14 hours without food or drink while working in the hot summer sun. And when Ramadan ended he celebrated Eid al-Fitr with his wife in Ohio after a bus ride of nine hours. Two days later he was back on his post. Advertisement D. goes to a mosque in our street at least twice a day. Friends, who work in the neighborhood, take care of his stand. Most of his helpers are 'real' Christians or Jews, black and white. In that mosque I also know several other real Muslims. I know the imam, his wife and their children, and I know some of the members of the community, a medical doctor who works in a hospital, a toyshop owner, a taxi driver, a janitor. Being a stay at home dad, I took sometimes care of the youngest kids of the family and I - an immigrant from Holland - taught them once a Dutch game called Olleke Bolleke, where each of the players at his turn stack a fist on top of someone else's fist until the pile explodes in a big 'Boom'. On Facebook I follow the stream of Middle Eastern recipes of the wife of the imam and read the often concerned posts of her highly educated children on the plight of people of color in the US and of Muslims all over the world. I am not the only one who knows Real Muslims. Every year the neighborhood is invited during Ramadan to break the fast with the members of the mosque. Next to regular neighbors, local rabbi's, ministers and priests show up, and community representatives. There is prayer first and then there are the traditional dates to start at sunset a nice dinner with foods, ordered in from a Yemeni restaurant around the block. This year the horror in Orlando just happened and members of the Latino community were invited as special guests. There is a lot of speeching at these events, speeches that show a mix of soul searching and fun. Advertisement The Real Muslims I know are not fighting me or Christianity or the US. The Real Muslims I know do quite the opposite; they live in the longstanding Islamic tradition of respect and care for your neighbors, Muslim or non-Muslim. In the earliest years of Islam Imam and scholar Ali ibn al-Husayn (658-713) wrote in one of his works: "These are your duties towards your neighbor: Protect his interests when he is absent; show him respect when he is present; help him when he is inflicted with any injustice. Do not remain on the look-out to detect his faults; and if, by any chance, you happen to know any undesirable thing about him, hide it from others; and, at the same time, try to desist him from improper habits, if there is any chance that he will listen to you. Never leave him alone at any calamity. Forgive him, if he has done any wrong. In short, live with him a noble life, based on the highest Islamic ethical code." France's President Francois Hollande waves to soldiers of the anti-terror Vigipirate plan, dubbed 'Operation Sentinelle' at the fort of Vincennes, on the outskirts of Paris, on July 25, 2016. French President Francois Hollande met troops mobilised for anti-terror operation 'Sentinelle' on July 25, promising to increase financial measures for military purposes during the state of emergency. / AFP / POOL / IAN LANGSDON (Photo credit should read IAN LANGSDON/AFP/Getty Images) PARIS -- Faced with barbarity, can't our democracies choose not to seek safety only by sacrificing the very foundations of our society of law and freedom? By muting our deepest aspirations, are we not playing into the hands of terrorism? Even though most anti-terrorism specialists and a special parliamentary commission agree that a state of emergency is not an effective tool in the fight against terrorism, calling instead for more technical, human and financial resources to seek information and justice, the French government has once again chosen to extend a state of emergency in response to the terror aroused by the tragedy in Nice. Advertisement This will do nothing but lead to a regime in a permanent state of crisis, one that's characterized by lasting restrictions on rights and freedoms, democratic resignation and draconian measures. It is the same approach we've seen in the United States after the country's passage of the "Patriot Act," successive administrative detentions, and electronic monitoring of the planet. Add to that our cozy relations with regimes that are known to ignore human rights, on the basis that they can help us fight real terror. We must fiercely resist all attempts to destroy the society so reviled by the terrorist. If the long struggle we have committed to against radicalism and terrorism, which requires constant vigilance, does not fail to permanently change our ways of being, it might push us to become what the enemies of freedom want us to become: a people bent in on itself, close to others, barricaded behind walls of increasingly draconian laws, month to month, year after year. Especially since this security policy has failed. It hasn't prevented the recent attacks, and it has still bred jihadists. In France, the state of emergency that has mobilized 10,000 troops for more than eight months since November has resulted in 3,694 searches, only 7 percent of which have resulted in prosecution for violations of weapons or drug laws, 477 house arrests, 67 penalties, 56 detentions and only six cases brought by the terrorism prosecutor of Paris, according to the Interior Ministry. A meager balance sheet, in light of an ever more intense threat. An escalation that opens the door to all the excesses and fractures within French society. A situation that has been denounced for months, thanks to the vigilance of lawyers, sentinels of our freedoms. Advertisement The abandonment of entire neighborhoods to social despair has led to an entire generation of French people who have grown up marginalized and frustrated. Our policies are being guided by an insidious process in which administrative authority is taking over the judiciary. Exceptions are becoming common. But what has history taught us? Two things: that all special laws are subsequently diverted from their original purpose and that regimes that deny the legitimate aspirations of the people for individual freedoms always end up disappearing. Faced with a critical societal choice, our leaders and those aspiring to be our leaders would do well to ponder the words of the Norwegian Prime Minister in the wake of the Oslo bombings and on the island of Utya in July 2011: "The answer to violence is more even more democracy, even more more humanity." We must fiercely resist all attempts to destroy the society so reviled by the terrorist. This is the best answer. For what these new terrorists want is the end to the very strength of our society, namely our ability to consider the individual in his singularity, and to ensure his free expression. They want to cause fractures between the different components of our society and thus lead to its implosion. Advertisement Those who call for a strengthening of our legal arsenal are too quick to forget this. As if we had no choice but to fall forward into a downward spiral of increasing security, one guided only by a need for intelligence, infiltration and analysis, one in which justice is beefed up to enforce newly passed laws. The abandonment of entire neighborhoods to social despair has led to an entire generation of French people who have grown up marginalized and frustrated. These areas of despair have become a breeding ground for Islamic extremist propaganda, and should be addressed through appropriate economic and social policies, not by measures taken under the influence of emotion. We should not deny the things that constitute the very nature of our society of laws, that which the terrorists aim to destroy. The state of emergency remains a poor response to a lasting threat. Our nation was built from the Capetian kings around the notions of freedom and justice. To forget this basic truth is to renounce the very identity of France and to allow barbarism to triumph. When I was young, growing up in Brooklyn, I was taught that New York City, and America was "The Melting Pot," where as you entered New York Harbor, the grand lady -- The Statue of Liberty, welcomed the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to be free. I was young and took this literally. After all, I was not that far removed from this, as my grandparents on both sides arrived here from somewhere in Eastern Europe in the early 1900s. As a second generation American, I have been pretty thoroughly assimilated and certainly have as one of my core identities, a born and raised American. However I have never forgotten that was not true for people in my family who I remember. Advertisement Now I wonder how times have changed! When did I, and so many of my friends become the "Other?" ... I know I have talked about diversity before. There are many reasons that makes me feel it is important that I talk abut it once again, but perhaps now through a different lens. Perhaps it was only 5 years ago, when I "officially" reached my self-acceptance as a transgender woman that I became a part of the LGBT community and achieved my own "otherness." Five year ago, the challenges that I worried about included how my family, friends and co-workers would accept me. I knew there may be challenges and the political agenda was to help states pass non-discrimination laws, but I had no idea that there would be states that would actually do the opposite and start to pass laws that would allow discrimination against LGBT "others." I am not at all certain how I would have responded if what has been going on since SCOTUS passed marriage equality, had happened when I chose to transition. But that was then, and now I have found my voice in a variety of ways. Advertisement ... In his new book, Negotiating the Nonnegotiable, Daniel Shapiro, explains the challenges of one's tribal myths and core identity impact each of our world views and ultimately our relationships with others. I have shared the following picture below before in a slightly different manner. It shows primary and secondary characteristics of diversity. When I teach with this slide I always ask, what makes one of these characteristics more important than the others? Is gender or sexual orientation the most important? Is religion? Is race? Is ethnicity? Is income? And so on and so on..... My goal was to get people to really think about this, as personally I do not think any one is more important that the others. However it requires energy to think about this deeply and a willingness to go to a place of love rather than a place of fear. It is easy for many to not be willing to spend this energy. This saddens me. It seems there are some in our country that believe the term "melting pot" refers to raising the heat so high that the pot that holds all of us, of melts down to its base metal and leaves all of who were in it to jump overboard and try to find safety in the burning waters of hate; each on their own. Perhaps they feel threatened by all of the "others" out in the world and are trying to protect their own core identity and mistakenly believe there is no possibility that there is room for all. This is not and never can be a justification for hate and separation, and discrimination. Never!!! This is not my America. Not at all! We really all are One TR1BE. We are never just one thing. And no two of us are the same! I believe in the American melting pot that holds all of us; all of our differences; where we learn to mix, to accept and to learn from each other, so that we can all live and grow to become the very best version of ourselves. This is really what has made America great -- nothing else! Advertisement I believe in the America that shows hope and love to all of the "others" as much as it loves itself. I hope that you do too. ### In recent years there's been a lot of talk about the need to reduce sentences for non-violent drug offenders, which is laudable. However, the focus on the actions of the individual obscures the fact that illegal industries necessarily and inevitably involve violence regardless of the intentions of the participants. By legalizing drugs, nonviolent sales and consumption activities would no longer be defined as crimes, and we would lower the incidence of robbery and murder that occur only because drugs are illegal. The drug trade is a business--with producers, importers, distributors, and retailers. As with any business, there will be disputes--over contract interpretation and enforcement, assignment of sales territories, bad debts, poor quality merchandise, theft of product, etc. For legal businesses, most of these claims could be handled by lawsuits and adjudicated in court. Because drugs have been declared illegal, the entire industry is barred from using legal proceedings for dispute resolution and enforcement. The only option is private enforcement, and there are few options between "please" and retaliatory violence--whether assault or killing of the offending party or his associates (and bystanders caught in the crossfire). Advertisement A recent article in the Washington Post noted that the killing of five police officers in Dallas fits a pattern of private retaliation, common worldwide when authorities are seen as ineffectual in resolving disputes and delivering justice. In the case of drugs, it is not that the courts are incapable of resolving business disputes. Rather, the drug industry cannot utilize the courts, and participants are left to their own devices. We should not be surprised at the mayhem associated with the drug trade--from the headless bodies found outside Mexico City to the killings in Chicago as gangs fight over sales territories. We saw the same pattern during the Prohibition of Alcohol (1920-1933). Part of what Al Capone offered was dispute resolution and enforcement services. The day Prohibition ended, the local beer distributors took their contract disputes to court, and the violence subsided essentially overnight. Would those now engaged in the drug trade be willing to turn to legal authorities? My observation from my time as a Chicago prosecutor is that people were often quite creative in conceptualizing their disputes in terms that would allow them to call the police, a less risky strategy than undertaking private vengeance. For example, when the drugs were delivered but the customer did not pay, the seller might report a robbery to the police. The robbery claim was both retaliation against the buyer, and a cover story for the seller to explain to his supplier why the drugs were gone but there was no money received. This tied up police time figuring out the truth of the matter, and in any case is no substitute for routine access to official dispute resolution mechanisms. As long as we persist in keeping drugs illegal, the violence, especially in our inner cities, will continue, and there will be an endless supply of new non-violent offenders as well as those who take violent action. Only legalization can change the dynamic. Advertisement Legalization, regulation, and control of drugs would reduce the violence and the incarceration rate in the US, the highest on the planet. Besides ceasing to prosecute those now charged with drug crimes (currently 46% of those in federal prison), legalization would likely result in fewer violent crimes, such as robbery and murder, that would not occur if not for the illegality of drugs. Yes, this is a picture of the recent Hollywood fire. Yes, it is meant to be a depiction of the current state of Hollywood. Think about it; white buildings sprinkled with bits of color with white smoke turning the sky dark. This is what happens in Hollywood when white privilege doesn't get its way. I don't mean to a ''character assassinator'' or ''include someone in this narrative that they have never asked to be a part of'' but the thing is this - sometimes you never get control over the narrative that you are a part of. Advertisement So why does everything turn dark when white privilege doesn't get its way? Let's go back to this ''narrative one never asks to be a part of.'' On one side is the black hip-hop star. He runs on stage to defend a video by a black artist and does so while interrupting a white female accepting an awards. . He mentions words like bitch in his songs and is looked down upon by women. He states his mind on Twitter with no barrier and ripped apart by each and every word. On the other is the white ''protagonist.'' She has a song about overcoming people being ''mean.'' She rocketed to pop stardom for a song that preaches to just ''shake it off. She preaches feminism, like during her second album of the year Grammy speech, but is on stages with only male producers. She about ''female empowerment'' but has a hit song about having ''bad blood'' with a female and problems that they ''can't solve.'' Oh - and she is also known for a parading around with a group of women, known as her ''squad.'' This led me to ask ... What narrative does Taylor Swift want to be a part of? You don't need any PR specialist, Google, or even a friend to tell you the magnitude that Hollywood plays in just about everything. You don't ask for the attention, but it comes with the cost of performing on major stages and having your name known all across the world. You might asks to share your talent with everyone of the human race, but you might not ask to have their opinions shared to you in return. You can't control that though. Being someone in Hollywood gives you power, and unlike many other people, it gives you a voice. That's what Kanye West does so well. That's why people hate him. Kanye is not afraid to use his voice. Advertisement Taylor Swift, on the other hand, acknowledges that she has a voice, but only uses it on occasions. Sure, I know that this will cause me to hear about '''Oh she does so many things for her fans'' or ''Oh she has a literacy center,'' but when have you seen Taylor Swift use her voice to inform her audiences about the many ways the word ''bitch'' is used in hip hop culture? When have you seen Taylor Swift use her voice to inform her younger audience about the ways they can pay a part in this election even if they are not old enough to vote? When have you seen Taylor Swift use her voice in a way that did not involve throwing money at an issue? As a women who identifies as Latina, I feel just as upset with Selena Gomez. You're the most followed celebrity on Instagram, Selena. Why not try doing what Gina Rodriguez does and start your own #MovementMondays and feature a person of color in Hollywood every Monday on your Instagram page? I hear you're a UNICEF ambassador (with a bunch of great work from 2009 - 2014) and that's great and all, but why not share more of what that is and the type of work that entails on social media? And aren't you from Dallas? I'd love to know how you feel about the most recent incidents in your hometown. It doesn't matter that you don't know Spanish as a Latina, but why not try to encourage others to familiarize themselves more with their culture? And you were a part of a song for charity? Instead of just tweeting the link to purchase the song (that just makes you more money), why not explain the purpose of the song? Sure Twitter might not give you enough characters for that but you can always write two tweets instead of one. Oh and these videos of you talking about ''the issues that matter' during your concerts? Why not share them with people? Not everyone goes to your concerts. And if you already forgot, you ARE the most followed celebrity on Instagram. I'm sure your followers won't mind two Instagram posts instead of one. Photo courtesy of IDP Foundation "Non-government schools serving the poor are a universal phenomenon but are not always recognized as such...Non-government schools serving the poor should be treated as an integral part of achieving the objective of basic Education for All. It should be seen as a welcomed complement to an often overburdened public system." In September 2014, Dr. Kishore Singh, special rapporteur on the right to education, submitted a report to the United Nations General Assembly that focused on the privatization of education. Dr. Singh's position was that the State has responsibility for the provision of education and that "the principal responsibility of education lies with Governments, thus emphasizing a need to preserve education as a public good, which must not be reduced to a profit-making business." Dr. Singh also concluded that privatization undermines education as a fundamental human right, often excludes marginalized groups, who are unable to pay tuition/fees, and that the emergence of low-fee private schools further undermines public schools and the right of universal access to education. Since this report, Dr. Singh has continued to publish articles criticizing a sector he clearly does not fully understand. Advertisement The IDP Foundation's position is definitely not to advocate privatization of education. Without question, it is the responsibility of governments to provide free quality education for all children and to provide every child with an equal opportunity. However, when the reality is that this is not happening, governments, academics, and funders have a moral obligation to respect and include the efforts of operators of low fee private schools to fill the gap. When Governments lack According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics report released in July 2015, "the global number of out-of-school children of primary school age rose by 2.4 million between 2010 and 2013, reaching a total of more than 59 million. This serves as a grim reminder that the world has yet to fulfill its original promise to provide every child with a primary education by 2015." The failure to reach the Millennium Development Goal concerning education has led to Sustainable Development Goal 4, which states that by 2030 we must "ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all." Goal 4 has 10 targets, and once again the emphasis is on state provision of free education, without any specific mention of the private sector's role. Despite 70 years of international aid for education, governments in the developing world have not been able to achieve equal access to education for the most vulnerable populations of children. Countless billions of dollars have been wasted or unaccounted for and millions of children who could have been reached have not been reached. Advertisement This is as much the fault of the funders as it is of the recipient governments and the ways in which they choose to allocate the funding. There is much ignorance and waste in education funding by the global aid organizations because policies are decided by people who are either philosophically or politically motivated and often have little to no idea of the realities on the ground. As a result, market-driven demand by the poorest people in the world has led to a huge escalation in the number of individually owned schools in areas where the governments have either have not built schools, or where they are so badly governed that parents are willing to sacrifice as much as they can in order to educate their children in a privately owned low fee school. Contrary to the position of many critics of this sector, these schools are basically struggling social enterprises that operate at either no profit or a very small profit in order to try to serve their communities. They are among the most misunderstood of education providers and the subject of hot political debates by voices like Dr. Singh. Advocates for the low-fee private school sector know that Dr. Singh's position does not take into account that these low-fee schools in many cases are the only opportunity to offer a child the fundamental right to education. It is one thing to philosophize on what ought to be, but to ignore reality and continue to marginalize the most poor is not the answer. A case in point: Ghana Photo courtesy of IDP Foundation In Ghana, low-fee private schools are being established in rapidly increasing numbers. Parents choose to send their children to these schools because they feel they offer both access and a better quality of education - smaller class sizes, less teacher absenteeism due to better school governance and better value for money since the government schools are not, in fact, free. Advertisement However, these schools continue to be disenfranchised even though they are often the only viable solution, particularly in remote rural areas. This means that because of the poverty level of parents and the very low or no profit margins for the schools proprietors, there is little on offer in terms of qualified teachers and adequate teaching and learning materials. It is important to remember that in any country, only two groups of funders provide these goods and services in any kind of sustainable way: Governments or parents. In the case of these schools, the government does not provide any assistance and the parents are far too poor to contribute much at all. This hardly helps to serve these children. Given that low-fee private schools do exist in large numbers and receive such little help, the IDP Foundation established the IDP Rising Schools Program in September 2009 in partnership with Sinapi Aba Trust, the largest microfinance institution in Ghana. The goal has been to assist low-fee private schools owners improve their schools and provide support to a sector that in Ghana is attempting to educate hundreds of thousands of children. This program offers proprietors extensive training in school management and financial literacy, coupled with access to microfinance loans that are offered at below market rates to stabilize school infrastructure (i.e. purchase the land where the school resides, build floors, walls, roofs and new bathrooms and classrooms, purchase buses, etc.) Improved infrastructure leads to more days in school in harsh weather conditions and offers a more conducive learning environment. The IDP Rising Schools Program training also emphasizes the importance of registering with the Ghana Education Service (GES) and actively engaging with the district offices and circuit supervisors, alongside other topics such as community relations, savings and reinvestment, human resources management, and more. The program teaches school owners how to work with the government so they might be able to secure textbooks and some teacher training support, which the government is mandated to provide to all registered schools (public or private) but doesn't because of budget and management constraints. Advertisement The schools participating in the IDP Rising Schools Program are individually owned and are on average 10 years old, with the oldest school being more than 30 years old. The fees that are charged vary according to grade level, the number of children from one family and the ability of the parents to pay. Most schools offer free scholarships to a number of children. The program has proven that these school owners are not gouging the poor, but are responding to a clear market demand and filling a gap the government cannot. These school proprietors are passionate about education, so much so that they oftentimes subsidize the costs of operations with profits from their other businesses (i.e. cocoa farms). The IDP Rising Schools Program began as a three-year pilot that identified 105 existing poor primary schools with an enrollment of 27,000 students. To date, the program has proven to be sustainable and replicable with 522 primary schools that have entered the program, reaching about 123,000 students. In addition to improved learning environments and increased enrollment, the program has built the local capacity of these social enterprises to better serve their communities. There has been a 96% repayment rate of the loans and many schools have taken multiple loans, step by step improving their schools. The program is profitable to Sinapi Aba despite offering loans at below market rates. Photo courtesy of IDP Foundation While the IDP Rising Schools Program has been a dark horse on a crusade to provide a voice for inclusion of the low-fee private school sector, other advocates are also emerging. It is time for more of us to move beyond the politics and ideology of private versus public provision of education and demand quality across entire education systems. We need to recognize the reality of a growing low-fee private school sector and determine the policies required to support their improvement. The IDP Rising Schools Program offers one kind of education financing model that is sustainable and can potentially have a huge reach. As the funding gap for education grows, governments should leverage the cost savings provided by these schools and determine funding policies that ensure equitable access to private schools rather than focusing on building more public schools to replace them. Without more inclusion of the sector by both governments and funders in programs and education sector plans, many of the world's poorest children continue to be underserved, in turn, perpetuating the cycle of poverty and illiteracy. Advertisement Follow IDP Foundation on Twitter: www.twitter.com/idpfoundation Luke Cage is a 13-episode Marvel Netflix series releasing late September. The show is based off Marvel Comics' African American superhero Power Man (played by Mike Colter), marking the first black superhero film or series to date from Marvel Studios. Luke Cage is a hero with the abilities of superhuman strength and impenetrable skin. Although introduced in comics during the 70's, the Netflix series takes place in present day. Trailers feature Colter taking bullets head-on, bouncing off his frame with every shot and remaining unscathed. His ethnicity and his ability is a somber reflection of our time, and why he may be the hero the African American community needs. Luke Cage is a bulletproof, African American superhero. Recently, America has seen a number slayings by police officials of non-violent black men. Charles Kinsey of Miami, Florida was shot by police in the leg, despite Kinsey being unarmed, with his hands in the air. Another incident involves Philando Castile of Falcon Heights, Minnesota, shot three times fatally in the chest. He was stopped over a busted tail light and is survived by his girlfriend and young daughter, both of whom were in the car with him. The incident was streamed live on Facebook by his girlfriend. A day before Castile was killed, Alton Sterling, father of five, was shot down by Baton Rouge police. His eldest son cried beside his mother as she spoke live on television at a press conference about his late father. Personally, being a man and being black during these times is daunting. Waking up to tragic news involving a non violent black man being gunned down by supposed law bringers is soul sucking. But when incidents come in rapid succession, when there's no app or television show to escape from reality and you're forced to stare-down the ugliness for what it is--it's terrifying. Not to mention the equally as terrifying statements made from hateful and ignorant people on the Internet. It's difficult to feel safe, as compliance seemingly means nothing anymore to police. While the uncivilized tweets of the masses on these topics reveal some, even your closest friends, perpetuate the same misguided validations made for these type of killings. Advertisement What Luke Cage represents in his ethnicity, his stature, and his strength is subconsciously everything that makes him a hero and a target in today's racially fueled society. He's black, big, and strong. His representation as a hero means a great deal to the African American community, especially being the first to break mainstream, next to Black Panther who recently appeared in Captain America: Civil War. For all the respectability Black Panther brings to the table, being a regal king of a nation, Luke Cage is a more relatable reflection of the common black man. Cage deals with the same profiling and negative connotations of being a black man in America, the same any African American has the misgivings to deal with, and yet he still does good. He's still a hero. After weeks of witnessing disturbing events that exemplify how angry, vindictive and dangerous humanity can be when it turns on itself, Mars -- as an escapist adventure situated enticingly in our near futures -- looks great in comparison. Human exploration and eventual habitation of Mars is often described as the ultimate do-over, the proverbial slate wiped clean, a place where we can make a fresh start. When we get there, we will experience the unblemished purism of a new world and will have unprecedented opportunities to pursue science, increase our knowledge of the universe, extend our species beyond our native planet, perhaps even to preserve the human race if something untoward happens to our home planet Earth. Yes, we may die trying (Musk seems pretty certain of this). It may take the next few decades to do it successfully (NASA's road to Mars is a long meandering one). We may adopt altruistic values and a commitment to off-planet diversity and get near-laughed off the playing field for spending too much time selecting the humans and not enough raising the money or acquiring the tech (Mars One). Advertisement The drive to get humans to Mars is real. Plans are afoot. Odds of success are being calculated. Money is being spent. Gobs of it. The primary emphasis is on the hardware needed to get there: sturdy conveyances, unfailing life support systems, radiation shielding and robust boosters to get the whole thing off the ground. We calculate our readiness factor on advancements in technology, while paying much less attention to the minds and spirits of the fragile humans who will be on board. After a successful journey, safe landing, and initial check that pre-constructed habs and life support are operational, the forced unity and self-discipline required by a pressure-packed mission will begin to dissipate. Eventually, as more humans arrive, more infrastructure is put in place, and day-to-day survival becomes less stressful, some sort of social fabric will emerge. Will humans on Mars mirror and eventually become as divided and destructive as their Earthly counterparts? Will Mars become another Earth? (photo collage by author) Susan Ip Jewell is an L.A.-based physician whose organization "Mars Without Borders" seeks to prepare humans for off-world exploration, primarily via "analog experiences" in Mars-like environments that are not so difficult to find on Earth. She's done numerous stints at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah and is preparing for an even longer stay at the Flashline Arctic Research Station. Susan Ip Jewell, M.D. with robot companion Jewell insists we look at future space exploration -- and eventual human habitation of Mars -- as an opportunity to address the issues that divide humans on Earth. "We are so fractured, we are so disconnected from each other as a human race right now... How do you expect us to succeed on another planet?" Advertisement In an interview for the documentary Madame Mars: Women and the Quest for Worlds Beyond, Jewell describes the borders humans have constructed on Earth: geographical, political, cultural, belief-driven, racial and gender divides. "Earth normal" is distrusting those who are different from us. Our social values are built on divisiveness, not unity. Clearly this won't work on Mars. Jewell argues that a successful human mission to Mars and other deep space destinations will depend on a "space without borders." "If we have borders when we go out beyond space," Jewell said, "we would just replicate the disastrous systems that we have here on Earth." Those who seek opportunities in distant lands are often trying to escape the difficulties or challenges disrupting their present-day lives, in favor of finding a better life elsewhere. If Mars represents a better life -- even one with intense radiation, blood-boiling atmospheric pressure, frigid temperatures and global sandstorms -- we need to ask ourselves, will those who settle on Mars still be better off than if they'd stayed on Earth? Most debates to date over governance on Mars suggests the settlers will build their own society from within, develop and institute their own rules of behavior, and set up a way to settle the inevitable disputes. As much as all of humanity will be pulling for these first off-Earth settlers to succeed, many retain a nagging doubt over whether this will be possible. Humans may not be ready for Mars. Advertisement Before we climb on the expertly constructed spaceships, before we breathe the artificially generated air or reconstitute the dried packets of astronaut food, we need to repair the mental constructs that create Earth-based boundaries that have led to hatred of others, warfare, terrorism, subjugation of entire races or genders. Before we go to Mars, certainly before we soil another planet, let's reframe the human associations we live with daily, with an eye toward how we will represent our species when we travel to other worlds. Let's do anything we can on Earth to boost our own confidence that humans will succeed when they put their off-Earth lives together and build communities on a whole new planet. I was struck by a line from the women's prison drama, Orange is the New Black, when two white supremacist inmates talk about how the one can't read. The illiterate inmate ponders what she might learn from reading and says, "All of the sudden you're like 'what if other people are having experiences that are different than mine but are still totally legit?' And what if I'm supposed to think about them before I start judging their lives?" The other inmate replies, "That's chaos," to which the illiterate inmate quickly ends the thought with "No thank you!" This exchange was striking in light of all of the gun violence that has been erupting across the U.S. People of all races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations have been losing their lives to violence driven out of fear; out of the inability to empathize with another's situation except the perpetrator's own perceptions. And the more violence that is perpetrated, the more fear it creates and continues on as another form of violence surfaces again. I experienced what the power of fear can do first hand when I visited Rwanda last summer. No citizen is untouched from a gut-wrenching genocide that they experienced in 1994 that was driven by this exact type of divisiveness. Fear drove neighbors to slaughter neighbors. Every single person I met had either lost family members who were murdered or had family members who were in jail for perpetrating the murders. Advertisement The most common reaction that people have when I relate the horrific stories heard in Rwanda is, "how could anyone be capable of killing their neighbor?" In this case, a wedge was driven between two groups - Hutus and Tutsis - over decades, passed down from generation to generation. Then hate propaganda was spread via the radio to the Hutu, telling them that the Tutsi would take their food or harm their families. The propaganda was repeated over and over until many Hutu perceived that in order to save themselves, they had to kill the Tutsi, even if many were close friends, resulting in the deaths of approx. 1 million Rwandans in 100 days. During the time of the genocide, Hutus began to identify as Hutu rather than Rwandan. No. 9 on the list of the "Hutu Ten Commandments" states, "The Hutu, wherever they are, must have unity and solidarity and be concerned with the fate of their Hutu brothers." Imagine what the state of the world would be if we all adopted this narrow view. Or maybe we already have? When we start identifying ourselves by groups of people with similar characteristics, intentional or not, the lines are being drawn between our differences. The inmate in Orange is the New Black clearly had it backward, it would be chaos if we don't start considering that others might have experiences different to ours that are 'totally legit.' This cycle of fear is powerful, and as we've witnessed, it can be deadly. I've often wondered what would have happened if different propaganda spread, letting the Hutu know that the Tutsi shared the same challenges and fears. That ethnic boundaries wouldn't help but relationships with their neighbors is what would save them. When we make the choice to move away from fear, the greatest of all possibilities opens up; when fear is moved aside, the human capacity for empathy greatly increases. Empathy drives you to lift others up. Fear drives you to tear them down. Advertisement Outline of a crowd of angry people, In the media, Donald Trump and his allies have sought to "appeal" to Bernie Sanders supporters. But at GOP rallies and in Congressional votes, it's a different story. "I heard Bernie Sanders will drop out today," Donald Trump crowed to a Georgia audience at an Atlanta rally I attended in June of 2016. The crowd erupted in cheers. A bearded man with glasses yelled out only one phrase: "Feel the Bern!" That man was surrounded by angry Trump supporters who chanted "Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump!..". He was promptly escorted from the Fox Theater by security forces while some college students near me yelled "[Expletive] Commie!" Advertisement Picture of Protesters Outside A Trump Rally That was my first clue of how Trump and fans really feel about Bernie Sanders and his supporters. The second that day came later in that rally, when Donald Trump said he was in favor of free trade. "I'm not against free trade," he told his supporters. He also told a Manchester, New Hampshire rally in June "I am a free trader." It could mean more environmental protections, but given Trump's likelihood of selecting a fracker's fracker for Secretary of the Energy, probably not. He could want better wages and protections for workers. But given that he chose the anti-union Indiana Governor Mike Pence, that's not likely. Pence voted against raising the minimum wage to $7.25, voting no on restricting employer interference in union organizing, and it rated a 7% ally of the AFL-CIO, according to ontheissues.org. Trump and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie want sitting CEOs occupying government positions, instead of Wall Street, and getting rid of the EPA. How does that sit with you, Sanders supporters? Photo of a Trump Rally Donald Trump announced his opposition to the World Trade Organization recently. But given that he likes free trade, it isn't for the same reasons Bernie Sanders doesn't like the WTO. Advertisement In fact, while an Indiana Congressman, Mike Pence was a fan of TPP, the same trade deal that Sanders supporters have railed against. Trump is betting that he can campaign against free trade deals using the specter of targeting illegal immigration. But I attended a Bernie Sanders rally in Birmingham, Alabama in January of 2016, and spoke to many supporters. I couldn't find any xenophobes or anyone who thought building a wall to keep Mexicans out was a good idea. In fact, they were a pretty tolerant bunch, on racial and ethnic issues. Sanders himself didn't do any race-baiting or denigration of ethnic groups in his speech. In fact, his MLK Day speech was very liberal on race relations and appealing to all people. Nate Silver wrote that Sanders "voted with Clinton 93 percent of the time when the two were in the Senate together." Trump and Pence have given somber looks whenever they discuss "how Clinton treated Sanders." But there's no indication that they would have been any nicer. Both have had harsh words about Sanders' socialism that you never heard from Hillary Clinton. In fact, her campaign was much more professional toward Sanders than the insults Trump and other Republicans lobbed at the Vermont Senator, before he was even the nominee. Trump just called Sanders "weak and pathetic." Sanders called Trump "the worst candidate." Advertisement So I say this to the Bernie Sanders supporters. Support your candidate, your issues, and your passions, during and after the DNC. Just know that Donald Trump only wants your disgruntled vote, and wouldn't deliver a single policy that you value. He despises your candidate and what he stands for. Businesspeople standing in line Disney characters sing lofty messages about finding your true self, developing your special talent and becoming successful doing what you love. Their stories never say: study to become a highly-skilled Information Technician, work hard for years at Disney, train your foreign replacement, and don't forget to leave your benefits at the door when it slaps you on the back. Since October of 2014, Disney aggressively used "guest workers" for low-wage staffing to replace American workers. The H-1B, a 3-year work visa, allows foreigners to enter the country for specific jobs. Originally, H-1B visas were structured to bring in highly skilled, uniquely talented individuals if the American labor pool ran dry. But since 1990, employers have been abusing the visa program to reduce payroll and maximize profits. Advertisement Gary Beach, of the Wall Street Journal said the H-1B visa "was intended to complement, not replace American workers. It's gotten out of hand." Americans are losing jobs to foreigners and training their replacements. Disney laid off 850 American workers, some of whom were given 90 days to train their replacements with the threat of losing their severance pay if they didn't stay to the end. "We all felt humiliated when the foreign workers sat next to us and watched everything that we did," wrote one Disney employee going through the experience. The training sessions prove that the H-1B workers don't hold special skills that American workers lack. "If our own pool of IT professionals were so incompetent, then why would companies like Disney have us train our replacements and spend months teaching them?" wrote the displaced worker. So many staff spoke Hindi during their training period that a departing employee remarked, "I really felt like a foreigner in that building." Disney calls the practice "knowledge transfer" whereby IT professionals chart the step-by-step processes of the job, audiotaping conversations and recording their computer screens. "We were then astonished as everything that we did on our job was documented and read right back to us for further critiquing." By the end of the 90 days, new workers had an instruction manual to which they could refer after the Americans left. Advertisement Employers Have Reasons to Abuse Foreign Guest Visas Corporations such as Toys 'R Us, Xerox, Molina Medical, Pfizer, and Microsoft used H-1B "guest" workers to reduce their payroll costs. Utility company Southern California Edison laid off 500 employees, warning SCE workers to train their replacements in 90 days or they wouldn't receive severance. The Numbers of Replaced American Workers are Staggering In 2015, the number of visas issued to all immigrants crossing the borders legally was almost 11 million, according to statistics collected at Foreign Service Posts. Supposedly, the government has set a cap of 85,000 new H-1B's each year for the entire country. But many workers come in using other types of visas such as: OPT: Optional Practical Training F-1: student B-1: business J-1: exchange visitor CPT: (Curricular Practical Training) interns who are recruited later Q: Special Disney-invented visa for workers who are "authentic to the Epcot experience" Advertisement Workers then switch to an H-1B. Switches are not recorded as part of the 85,000 cap and there are no checks and balances in place to reign in visa clearances. When the Government Accountability Office studied the H-1B visa program in 2011, they reported reasons why the numbers of guest workers are impossible to track: The total number of H-1B workers in the U.S. at any one time--and information about the length of their stay--is unknown, because (1) data systems among the various agencies that process such individuals are not linked so individuals cannot be readily tracked, and (2) H-1B workers are not assigned a unique identifier that would allow for tracking them over time--particularly if and when their visa status changes. The AFL-CIO reported in 2009 that as many as 25% of imported workers have fraudulent visas. Today, this translates to as many as 17.5 million foreign employees gaming the system. Advertisement 9-11 Terrorists Arrived Here With Worker Visas Scariest of all, the visa worker program is poorly administered. Homeland Security doesn't screen applicants at the airport, so visa holders gain entry at airports, making a wall at the border obsolete. "The main, legitimate criticism right now -- which is one we would level as well -- is that the accountability mechanisms are not fully integrated and not seamless," says Dean Garfield, President and CEO of the Information Technology Industry Council. When the Government Accountability Office reviewed the H-1B program in 2011, they wrote "a recent Department of Homeland Security study reported that 21 percent of the H-1B petitions they examined involved fraud or technical violations." Potential Terrorists in Key Positions In March, 2006, David Huber, a worker who was replaced at ComEd in Chicago, testified in front of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, "Two of the three individuals who replaced me were from China. As part of my job, I had access to all the data communication switches that control the electrical grid for the Chicago area. Anyone with this access could shut down the entire telecom operations for the power company and possibly the power grid itself. It is very likely that my replacements will return to China, taking with them detailed knowledge about the inner workings of our electrical grid system. After the recent controversy over our ports, I can't believe that Congress thinks this is a good idea." Corporations with Record Profits Cut American Jobs Disney posted $7.5 billion in profit in fiscal year 2014, a month after major layoffs in October 2014. The company continued to lay more Americans off until 850 lost their jobs from Orlando, Florida to Anaheim, California. Advertisement Is this replacement of American workers for unskilled foreign workers a matter of greed? Or is it simply a global shift in workers in a flattened world? Ron Hira, Associate Professor of Public Policy at Howard University and author of Outsourcing America: What's Behind our National Crisis and How We Can Reclaim American Jobs, says it's shifting corporate goals. The stakeholders of companies used to include workers, the community, and the nation. Now the focus is on shareholder value and increasing profits. "Much of the compensation of 46 million dollars that Bob Iger [CEO of Disney] received is from stock," Hira said, explaining how management benefits from stock performance. "At some point, you have to ask the question, when are these CEOs and the shareholders going to be satiated? When are they going to share some of those profits and prosperity with the workers who have created that value? I think the answer is: never." "Staffing" Companies Find Cheap Labor Cognizant Technology Solutions, Inc. boldly states, "We have an active recruitment program in India" in their informational materials. Some staffing companies entice foreign nationals with high figures, but when they arrive, they make as little as $25,000 per year. Once in America where the cost of living is comparably expensive, living conditions are poor. Complaints are rarely filed against the staffing companies, since the workers often fear reprisals and removal from the country. Investigations into wrongdoings take years, and require an indictment by a grand jury before the Department of Justice will confirm or deny allegations. Advertisement How did abuse of the guest worker program start? Follow the Money Around Washington Before 1990, the visa program made it difficult for employers to hire guest workers. They had to explain why they needed a candidate with specialized skills, what training the specialist had that Americans don't have, and they screened the applicant. Then Microsoft went to Washington. Ostensibly to hide the trail of money, an organization named Business Software Alliance (BSA) acted as cover while lobbyists greased wheels in Congress. Microsoft spent more than $20 million during the critical years 1998-2000 to tweak H-1B legislation, such as giving students on an F-1 visa the ability to work. High tech firms and the staffing agencies who help job seekers come to the U.S. are still getting around the 85,000 workers-per-year cap through a "H1B cap-exempt" workaround. Companies lobby for loosened visa legislation, then abuse the loopholes they created. In Washington, two laws created exemptions from the cap (then set at 65,000 H-1B visas per year). The first was disingenuously titled "The American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act of 2000". One of the biggest funders of visa-friendly bills is the Information Technology Industry Council. Their member companies, some of the biggest names in the industry, hire, recruit, train, place, and/or subcontract foreigners. The following are just a snapshot of some of the bills making it easier to replace Americans with foreign nationals: S.2045 The American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act of 2000. Allowed more non-immigrant visas (H-1B's) for years 1999 through 2003, and made those who were already granted visas exempt from being counted toward the cap. HR. 4227 Amended the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate the cap on H-1B visas for 2000. HR. 4444 (1986) Repeals the visa application fingerprint requirement and certain related provisions. Repeals existing requirements that immigrant visa applicants submit supporting documentation in duplicate and that consular officers retain duplicates of all issued immigrant visas. In the works: HR. 2758 Allows non-agricultural immigrants a permanent exception to the annual limit. These changes have already hurt Americans. "Statutory changes made to the H-1B program have, in combination and in effect, increased the pool of H-1B workers beyond the cap and lowered the bar for eligibility," reported the Government Accountability Office in a 2011 study of the guest worker program. Presidential Candidates Need to Weigh In Unless Hillary Clinton states otherwise, she supports importing more foreign workers to replace and fire competent U.S. workers. In 2011, as Secretary of State, she assisted the U.S. Embassy in India by authorizing them to break federal law and accept every visa in excess of 60,000 to replace American workers. According to James Otto, labor rights attorney, Clinton also spent more than 40 million taxpayer dollars to educate foreigners and import them. Developer Donald Trump hires illegal aliens for his construction jobs. Trump hired 200 undocumented Polish workers to demolish the building that made way for Trump Tower in Manhattan. According a Reuters review of U.S. Department of Labor statistics, Trump sought to hire 1,100 foreign workers on the visa program. Much as he maligns Mexicans, if he wants cheap labor, he may use undocumented workers to build his wall. What can be done to improve the worker visa program? Hira said, "You have to have policies in place that give workers at least a fair shake. When you're bringing in guest workers, you're really creating unfair intervention in the labor market, unfair competition for those workers." He suggests raising the wage floor for guest workers, so that employers have to pay a premium for their specialized skills, following the spirit of the guest worker visa program. Advertisement Otto also suggests the law automatically recognize that all guest workers are employees of the U.S. corporation who hires them in addition to the staffing company. This creates a paper trail of how many foreign born workers are used by each corporation. A statute created by the state or federal government would thus give authorities the ability to track numbers. In addition, every H-1B applicant should be required to provide certified college transcripts that must then be verified by their agency or employer. Lawsuits In the meantime, 18 former Disney employees filed a lawsuit, hoping to shed light on the problem of insourcing, a topic that isn't getting much press. "The F-1, foreign student, used to be a non-working visa," says Otto, the attorney representing replaced Disney and Molina Healthcare workers in Southern California, "but because of change of the rules, the employer doesn't have to pay them minimum wage, and the foreign student doesn't have to pay any taxes." After 6 months as an F-1, the student can take a job in the U.S. and then change immigration status to an H-1B. "A foreign worker can take a non-specialty job, displacing one American worker, and then after 12 months, and without any experience, change status before he graduates to an H-1B, where he displaces yet a second American worker who is highly skilled." "There is no doubt that the imported guest workers are not the best or the brightest," said Otto. "I'd like to ask (Presidential candidate) Trump, what difference will it make to build a wall when so-called American companies are hiring illegals by the truckload through the H-1B workaround?" Foreign Workers Left Stranded If a company is done with an employee, guest workers often find themselves stranded in the U.S. without a job. After five years as an H-1B, employers are required to start paying social security, so the worker becomes less attractive. When the job is over, so is the visa, making them into illegals. Their staffing company may hold their paperwork hostage, forcing them to pay thousands of dollars to seek legitimacy. Advertisement Last week was pretty hard for Americans. Two young African American men were brutally killed by police and then five officers were killed in Dallas during a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest. Now we really need to talk about a major issue that is happening around the States and that is police brutality. I know more people are talking about and mourning the five police officers that died and that is the right thing to do and the human thing to do. But we are forgetting the two black men who lost their lives in a terrible way and these types of killings are happening more frequently in America. As one black activist put it, that black men are either being shot by police or being incarcerated. When he said that it really opened my mind to the constant challenges facing blacks. Black men and boys have to constantly follow a particular set of guidelines that will secure them their safety that no other men or boys really need to follow. The fact that parents live in constant fear for their sons lives and fear that one day their son is not coming home. The fact parents teach their son to not go out at night, to never wear a hoodie, to respect police officers even if they don't respect them back is a huge problem of itself and it's a societal issue that if we don't stop, will keep happening to more men and boys like Eric Garner, Alton Sterling and Philando Castle (may you all rest in peace). Advertisement Lets look at statistics, shall we: According to the Guardian in 2015 young African American men are more times likely than other Americans to be killed by police. There were 1,134 deaths that have occurred by the hands of police and African American man between the ages of 15 to 34 make up 15% of all death committed by police. 89% of death were caused by gun shot wounds, 4% were tasered-related, 4% were deaths in custody following physical confrontation and 3% due to people struck by police cars. Not only that, black men are more times likely to be unarmed when encountering the police. 32% of black men were unarmed when killed by police, 25.4% of Latinos were unarmed when killed by police and 15% of whites were unarmed when killed by the police. Among those are two cases in when the US Justice Department investigated two police departments in the States. In 2013 and in 2014 the US Justice Department issued a civil investigation in the police departments of the Albuquerque police department and the Cleveland police department. Both police departments had used violent and unnecessary forces towards citizens. In the Albuquerque police department between 2009 to 2012 officers were involved in 20 of the police shootings which majority of them were unconstitutional. And in their investigation, they have found that the police department often use deadly force where there is no threat. And police officers often use lethal weapons, like tasers towards citizen who are non-threatening. The civil investigation toward Cleveland police department is a simpler story. There were reports that the Cleveland police department were engaging in a pattern of using unreasonable and unnecessary force. Which include, shootings and head strikes, using lethal weapons like tasers, chemical spares and fists. They also used unnecessary force when dealing with a person with mental illness Advertisement When you have an alcohol problem, you often go to rehab to get better. The first thing they teach you before anything else is admitting that you have a problem. Before all the therapy, the doctors and you eventually being sober. You need to admit that you have a problem. When it comes to police brutality it is the same thing. There are some people that still don't think this is a problem and Police departments, Governors and even other politicians often don't admit there's a problem. When there is a police shooting and a Governor or chief of polices addresses the media, by saying and I quote, "I am deeply sadden, shocked and surprised that this happened." Does undermine the ongoing violence in the U.S. Now those words are not bad to use and some would say they are very kind words, which they are. But when you use the word shocked or surprised, it often means that it's recently been an issue and forget that this has been a huge problem for years. Another way that I think will solve the problem with police brutality, is stop criminalizing black men. When news reports of police shooting that killed a black men or boy, the news has to always treat them as criminals. He was selling cigarettes in the streets, he robbed a store, he had a gun on him. It somehow justifies the police's actions, by saying they're doing their job. NO YOU WEREN'T! Let me tell you when a police has the right to even take his or her gun off of his or her holster is when the suspect is pointing a gun at you or at the victim and is going to kill you or the victim in five seconds, that's the only time police have the right to raise their gun. If a black man is carrying a gun but he is doing no harm to anyone else (which in the South, is every Tuesday.) and you shot him or if a black man is running for his life and you shot him in the back that's your fault, not theirs. Earlier in the article I talked about the U.S justice department investigating the Cleveland police department and the Albuquerque police department and in the end they concluded and I 100% agree that the officers were not provided with good training, police guidance and supervision. Many police officers go to the academy, than complete a test and off they go to the field. Police officers and specially rookie police officers, don't know how to deal with hard situation and how to work with visible minority groups. So when they go to the field they could treat people differently and even act violently towards them and demonize them. Police training need to be adequate to prepare the officers to deal with many different situations. Advertisement There are many ways to end police brutality. Police do a lot of good in our communities and not all police are the same and we shouldn't paint all police by the same brush, just like we shouldn't paint all black, Muslim and Latino citizens by the same brush as well. But denying that there is police violence in the States, is going to have major consequences in the future. Polyandry, Witchcraft, Caste Discrimination & Deuki! Polyandry is a bizarre practice in Nepal, which is still alive. In polyandry, a woman marries simultaneously more than one legal husband in her life or more than one men share a woman as a wife. This is one of the marriage system adopted in the Nepalese society mostly in the Himalayan region. However, the young generation is not in favor of this system. Polyandry is two types that are fraternal and non-fraternal. In fraternal polyandry, all the brothers in one generation share woman as a wife. In non-fraternal polyandry, a group of like-minded men from different household gets married to a single woman. In Nepalese context, fraternal polyandry marriage system is still found in Humla, Dolpa, Mustang, Gorkha, Dhading, Okhaldunga, Samkhuwashava, Taplejung and other mountain districts or close to Tibetan border of Nepal. Witchcraft is another shame of modern Nepal, which is one of the worse tragic to women in the society of Nepal. Witch accusation, one of the traditional violence against woman, still practice openly in almost all the parts of Nepal despite being stated illegal by law. Witches are supposed to have some kind of magical powers and they tend to give troublesome to the local people. Women still usually face the charge of witchcraft, which compels them to leave homes, and families. There is no scientific proof of the witchcraft and the reason for women being only accused of such blind faith. Witchcraft is one of the main problems for women in the developing countries like Nepal where males are dominant. Advertisement Caste discrimination is another worse practice in Nepal. Dalits are at the bottom of the caste system in Nepal. They still face widespread discrimination in Nepal. They are also known as so-called 'Untouchables'. They are not allowed to enter temples. They are not allowed to touch food at common gatherings. And they are not allowed to use the public taps and drink water. Dalits are still beaten by upper caste people in Nepal. Caste-based discrimination and untouchability are also in practices within Dalit community that is intra-Dalit discrimination. However, the constitution has banned the practice of untouchability. Public funding, in its simplest terms, is funding that comes from the public treasury, that is, from taxpayers' money. Public funding in the form of grants or tax relief is known to be an important source of funding for any business or organization. Over the years, public funding has made a huge contribution to growing a country's economy, which is one of the goals that the EU has always worked hard to achieve. Currently UK businesses and organizations have access to three important sources of public funds namely, R&D Tax Credits, Innovate UK grants, and Horizon 2020. -Grants from the EU Horizon 2020, the EU's largest Research and Innovation programme ever, with nearly 80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020) - in addition to the private investment that this money will attract- promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from the lab to the market and helping Europeans to explore their creativity and ingenuity. Horizon 2020 is the financial instrument implementing the Innovation Union, a Europe 2020 flagship initiative aimed at securing Europe's global competitiveness. Advertisement Seen as a means to drive economic growth and create jobs, Horizon 2020 has the political backing of Europe's leaders and the Members of the European Parliament. They have agreed that research is an investment in the future and so put it at the heart of the EU's blueprint for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and jobs. However, since the Brexit referendum vote, there has been much speculation about the consequences of the UK leaving the EU. Knowing that the EU's Horizon 2020 programme contributes immensely to job creation, private investment and the British economy as a whole , we must face the question "Will Brexit put an end to the UK's access to Horizon 2020 funding?". The UK is one of the largest recipients of research funding in the EU. Many UK businesses, universities, and other research organisations are involved in R&D projects that receive funding from Horizon 2020. Many more have applied for future funding or are planning to do so. For a country with 0.9% of the world's population, the UK has 3.3% of the world's scientific researchers who in turn produce 6.9% of global scientific output. In the current EU Horizon 2020 research round, the UK secured 15.4% of funds second only to Germany. British researchers are increasingly taking part in international collaborations. Since 1981, the proportion of UK research papers with international collaborators has risen from 15% to more than 50% today. Technically speaking, the UK is still part of the EU even though the recent referendum vote was to leave. In order to start the process to leave the EU, which is expected to take several years, the British government will have to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty on European Union but it has not yet done so. According to Article 50, member states may announce their intention to leave, but the terms of leaving are subject to negotiation. Advertisement Therefore, the UK is still a member of the European Union and will enjoy the full benefits of membership, including continued access to Horizon 2020 funding, until it leaves the European Union. Even though the UK is still a member, the uncertainty over future funding for projects has begun to harm research, making researchers reluctant to carry on with bids for EU funds because of the uncertainties around Brexit. This has led to difficulties with research and development projects within the UK. In the longer term, UK participation in Horizon 2020 R&D funding will be a topic for negotiation. Several countries outside the EU, including Norway, Turkey, and Israel, are eligible to take part in all Horizon 2020 projects. Other countries, such as Switzerland, have more limited access to funding for some projects. The UK may join the list of non-EU countries with full or limited access to Horizon 2020, or may even find itself excluded completely. It is too early to say. Like everyone else, I'm heartbroken at the violence of the last few weeks, from Baton Rouge and St. Paul to Dallas and back to Baton Rouge. I want to hug a black person; I want to hug a cop. Everyone's so scared. Thoughts and prayers (for real) and all that... I've also had my eyes opened to a thing or two. Thing number one: I've experienced white privilege. Thing number two: I've been kind of a jerk. Thing number one: I've had hardships in my life, of course, but none of them has been based on the color of my skin (or my sexual orientation or my economic status...) I don't know what it's like to be profiled--pulled over for no apparent reason, followed in a store, bullied, accused of "taking someone's spot" because of affirmative action, stereotyped. I haven't served as the butt of bad jokes--or worse. I do know this: what most damages our souls is loss of dignity. Do I try to treat everyone I encounter with respect? Yes. I'd go as far as to say I sprinkle in warmth and a dose of empathy. Advertisement But, I'm realizing, that's not enough. Which brings me to thing two, the jerk factor: 1. Martin Luther King said "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." In general, there's been a lot of noise from white folk in the last few weeks, but the silence is deafening. We say things like all lives matter. That sounds reasonable, but scratch the surface and you'll find folly. Black Lives Matter doesn't mean white lives don't matter, but it does mean black lives are being taken down at a distressing rate. It means that while I don't get a warm fuzzy feeling when I see blue lights in the rearview mirror, I fear for my pride, not my life. Black Lives Matter means something is going on. It means, yes, all lives matter but--focus--we are talking about black lives right this second. 2. I live in a big, soapy, suburban bubble, and I do little to pop it. I feed my family, scrub my floors, play within a pretty homogeneous circle of friends. That's all fine and good, but it's probably not good for my soul to remain so sheltered. 3. Language is important. A low moment: I told an African-American salesman at hhgregg that I needed a refrigerator, and I needed an inexpensive one--a ghetto one. Now, this fellow could've grown up in a five-bedroom, four-bathroom, and not everyone who lives in the so-called ghetto is black. But. Describing a cheap appliance as ghetto is not a sensitive use of the term. I wanted to climb inside said fridge, stay there and die. I've since erased that word from my vocab. 4. I've asked the wrong questions. When the news reports are once again heart-wrenching, I say why? I say what next? When will this end? But I have a new question: What does love require of me? I'm all ears. Advertisement I'm glad we're talking. Dialogue is good, even when we don't all agree. But can I say this? It's time for non-blacks to err on the side of shut up and listen. We like to deny there's an issue with profiling or racism or discrimination or whatever you want to call it in this country. That's the equivalent of There, there, it's all in your head, dear. We get dismissive and defensive. How can the brokenness be repaired if we can't even admit it exists? Instead many of us cite the steps forward, the progress. Our president is black, some of my best friends are black... Barrier fence in Nogales, Arizona The much-anticipated, chaotic, sometimes laughable, but mostly terrifying 2016 Republican National Convention has come to end. And, oh, what a ride. There were certainly the highly publicized moments: Melania Trump's partially plagiarized speech and Ted Cruz being, well, Ted Cruz. And who could forget Laura Ingraham's apparent Nazi salute? There was also everyone's favorite political pundit and underwear model, Antonio Sabato, who said he "absolutely" believes President Obama is a Muslim. Advertisement Nativism (noun): the policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants. The event ended last night with Donald Trump accepting the Republican nomination for president. His speech contained the same dangerous undertones prevalent throughout the real estate mogul's campaign. He once again vowed to "build a great border wall to stop illegal immigration." He also claimed American children were "being sacrifice[d] on the altar of open borders." Citing recent attacks that killed and wounded police in Baton Rouge and Dallas, Trump promised to "restore law and order our country." He, however, made no mention of the fact that police continue to wrongfully shoot and kill unarmed (or lawfully armed) black people. Trump's speech aside, there was another element at the convention: a prominent nativist and extreme far-right presence. The themes of the four days were "Make America Work Again," "Make America Safe Again," "Make America First Again." Unfortunately the true theme seemed to be make America fear and hate again. Advertisement With that, let us take a walk down (a not-so-distant) memory lane and look at the who said what among the nativist and far-right presence at the RNC. WHITE NATIONALISTS CRASH THE PARTY There was a notable white nationalist presence in and around the RNC. As promised, Matthew Heimbach and his white nationalist outfit Traditionalist Worker Party, was seen hanging around outside the event. Notorious white nationalist figures Peter Brimelow and Richard Spencer, who run the vehemently racist VDARE.com and the National Policy Institute think tank, respectively, were spotted at off-site at the anti-Muslim 'Fab Party" on Tuesday. Inside the RNC, a tweet from VDARE.com was featured during a roll call vote. Media Matters for America also reported that a white supremacist figure obtained a guest pass to the convention and broadcasted from within. REP. KING SHOWS UP FOR WHITE PEOPLE Rep. Steve King (R-IA) made headlines during the convention when he questioned what contributions non-white people have made to civilization (spoiler: quite a lot. Maybe start here). Advertisement "This 'old white people' business does get a little tired, Charlie," King said during an interview at the RNC. "I'd ask you to go back through history and figure out, where are these contributions that have been made by these other categories of people that you're talking about, where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization?" This, of course, is par for the course for the Iowa lawmaker, as the folks at Right Wing Watch highlighted. Elsewhere at the RNC, King was spotted holding a "summit" with far-right, anti-Muslim Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders. What were these two anti-immigrant figures talking about? Considering Wilders holds similar views as King about Western civilization, and is currently on trial for allegedly inciting hatred against the Dutch Moroccan minority, they may have been talking about how superior they believe white people and Christianity are. As previously noted at Imagine 2050, this is hardly the first time King and Wilders have associated with one another. TRANSATLANTIC NATIVISM: GEERT WILDERS MAKES AN APPEARANCE Far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who heads the Party for Freedom, was in attendance and seen snapping selfies throughout the GOP event. Wilders is known for his party's draconian stance on immigration and disdain of Muslims, once saying Islam is not a religion but the "the ideology of a retarded culture." Leading up to the RNC, Wilders expressed his interest in attending the event, saying he is "encouraged" by Trump. The Tennessean later revealed the far-right figure attended the event as a guest of Tennessee State Sen. Bill Ketron and the Tennessee Republican Party. Advertisement While at the convention Wilders fielded interviews with the media, saying The Netherlands needs a leader like Trump. He was documented associating with several elected officials including Sen. Bob Corker and Gov. Bill Haslam of Tennessee as well as New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez. MOST 'FAB' PARTY OR MOST HATEFUL? An event billed as the "most fab party at the RNC" transparently attempted to exploit post-Orlando grief to foster Islamophobia. Rather than being a substantive rally on advancing LGBTQ rights, it turned out to be a glorified press conference for anti-Muslim opportunists to inject their agenda in the convention. Breitbart News' alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos headlined the event, which featured anti-Muslim figurehead Pamela Geller and Dutch politician Geert Wilders, a well-known and inflammatory nativist. The event promoted a narrative that Trump himself adopted in his acceptance speech, where he said, "As your President, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBT citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology." Sorry, Trump and friends, promoting anti-Muslim hate won't convince anyone that the far right supports LGBTQ rights. Advertisement ULTRA-NATIONALIST UK POLITICIAN NIGEL FARAGE SHOWS UP Wilders was not the only figure at the RNC representing Europe's far-right. Nigel Farage, the former leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) leader and one of the main spokesperson for the so-called "Brexit" campaign, also attended the convention as an observer. Like Wilders, Farage was also spotted meeting with Sen. Bob Corker. He was also busy doing interviews with various media outlets about the Brexit campaign, including this cringe-worthy one with McClatchyDC. KRIS KOBACH FLEXES HIS MUSCLE Anti-immigrant Kansas Secretary of State and GOP delegate Kris Kobach not only attended the convention, but successfully inserted nativism and other far-right language and policies into the GOP platform. Kobach was also seen schmoozing with other GOP delegates like those from Kentucky, which is concerning given his history of promoting voter suppression and draconian anti-immigrant measures in states across the country. During the convention on July 19, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Kobach's dual voting system that potentially disenfranchises 17,000 Kansans from voting in state elections. Advertisement SHERIFF JOE SPEAKS FROM THE MAIN STAGE Arizona's notoriously anti-immigrant Sheriff Joe Arpaio showed up at the convention to endorse Trump. During his speech, Arpaio who fancies himself "America's Toughest Sheriff," claimed Trump "will build the wall" in order to keep out the "terrorists." Elsewhere in his speech, Arpaio said his most "important mission is to elect Donald Trump." His speech came just one day after the judge presiding over the racial profiling case against Arpaio handed down the first round of punishments for the sheriff who was held in contempt of court. NATIVISTS CONTINUE TO TURN TRAGEDY INTO HATE The RNC featured three speakers who have suffered the tragedy of losing a loved one, and have unfortunately joined up with anti-immigrant group the Remembrance Project as a result. Groups like the Remembrance Project have long exploited the experiences of grieving families to promote nativism and policies aimed at rolling back rights for immigrants. The Remembrance Project has seen its profile soar after the death of Kathryn Steinle in California, who was allegedly killed by an undocumented immigrant. This high-profile tragedy provided the opportunity for nativist groups like the Remembrance Project and the Center for Immigration Studies to spread fear and promote anti-sanctuary city legislation nationally, undoing years of immigrant rights advocacy and trust built between local police forces and immigrant communities. SEN. SESSIONS' DISINGENUOUSNESS IS ON DISPLAY Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), who has repeatedly proved he is no champion of American workers, took to the convention stage to warn that immigrants are planning to "steal our jobs." His message sought to invoke a divide-and-conquer strategy and convince Black people and low-wage workers that immigrants are to blame for scarce opportunities instead of the shady employers and systems that exploit so many of us. Advertisement "Our middle class is steadily declining, with our African American and Hispanic communities being hurt the most," Sessions said, as if Black and Latino communities are his main priority. This is the same Sessions who is an advocate of "self-deportation." (Thought we were rid of that nonsense with Mitt Romney, did you? Think again!) In another interview during the RNC, Sessions referred to Trump as a "rational nationalist," whatever that is. Actually, arguably only one of those adjectives can used to accurately describe Trump. Can you guess which one? ANTI-MUSLIM ADVISER FLYNN WEIGHS IN Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Michael Flynn used his convention speech to be sure to fit in with the prevailing anti-Muslim sentiment. Flynn serves in an advisory role on the board of directors of ACT for America, a grassroots group whose brand of nativism is steeped in Islamophobia. Not surprisingly, Flynn used his time to rail against "political correctness" and blame "radical Islamists" for the problems the United States faces-two themes we've previously heard from ACT's founder and president Brigitte Gabriel. Advertisement MOVING FORWARD The Republican National Convention was a wild ride, indeed, and chock full of nativist undertones (and not-at-all-under tones). Now, onward to the Democratic National Convention. "Homemade soup y'all, and it's going to be good!" posts Iris to Snapchat, her followers eagerly waiting to see what she's up to this early afternoon. Sitting at her desk, slurping on soup one spoonful at a time as she works on a spreadsheet, is Iris. Iris, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, is currently in a webcam session working off a list that is sent to her weekly by one of the couple's that employ her as their "Dual Fetish Unicorn". This particular couple mandate everyday things they want to see Iris do while on camera for them, 3 times a week. Today their Unicorn is slurping soup. "I needed a way to make more money" say's Iris, "Working as a Secretary for an Energy Trading Company seems like it would pay all the bills, but it didn't, I was drowning!" she says. In her online search for a part time job to make ends meet, Iris ventured into private posts and came upon an ad in search of "Un Unicorno Ermafrodita Per Un Duplice Fetticio" for a play date. Having been a Language Major, she knew exactly what this post was about, written partly in English but with its description of what the job would be in Italian. Translation: "A Hermaphrodite Unicorn For A Dual Fetish". A specific type of Unicorn, a Hermaphrodite who would consent to being intimate with a heterosexual couple the ad further detailed, hence the descriptive advertisement. "No one, not even my immediate circle of friends knew I was Intersex, let alone that I was doing this for extra money!" Iris says emphatically. Iris's Intersex falls within a group of about 60 conditions in which one in 2000 births are neither boy nor girl because they are born with both female and male genitalia. Having a penis, scrotum and vagina, but not fully equipped as Iris's non-inclusion of testicles, ovaries and a uterus are evident. "I've never identified with the male side of my physical self, ever since I can remember, I've always been a girl. That part of my anatomy is so far removed from who I am that I don't even notice it" says Iris. A rush of fear overcame her intrigue as she continued reading the post and clicked off of it having never experimented with anything having to do with porn before. "It took me a month before I revisited the active post, only now they were offering an extra $5k a month for the real deal". Iris was hesitant about this invasive opportunity, but with bills piling up, it was as if she had blinders on and needing to bring in more money took precedence. "Against my strict Catholic upbringing, you know, touch your private parts and you'll go blind type of upbringing? I contacted them anyway via skype" she says. Both parties came to an agreement with Iris satiating their desires privately on camera. She asked why the ad had been written in English and Italian and the answer was simple, commands sound sexier in Italian. And someone who understood the language would perform better upon instruction. Soon after, Iris became a Webcam Sensation indulging clients with a similar fetish, all with different fantasies and each depositing $5k into her account monthly. Lists of what her new employers dictate in their sessions with her are emailed to private accounts she has created for each of them so there is never any confusion about who wants what that week. Each client feels like they are the objects of her sole attention during their time with her. "Keeping track of what Tom Dick AND Harry want is work!" giggles Iris. Well earned money keeping her afloat as a highly sought after online fetish for the past 2 years, making her own hours bringing in over $1 million a year. Something that took getting used to as Iris had been living her life un-noticed. "Being able to pay off my student loans within the first 6 months and no longer living off of Top Ramen was something that I thought would be impossible" she says. "Until now." Online webcam fetish sessions are a huge market for porn, contributing to an estimated $700 million to over a billion dollars in yearly revenue. An avenue in which its appeal is making quick money. Iris's religious fear coupled with her Intersex condition is what has kept intimacy at bay all these years. Had it not been for needing money, she wouldn't have considered being a Webcam Model. "I don't even date. I'd like to but I'm too afraid, what if they want children in the future? That's something I won't be able to physically provide. All my friends are getting married or engaged now. I'd like the fairytale wedding, the house and picket fence but maybe there isn't anyone for me" Iris's voice trails off. Iris's online persona is completely different than who she was as a demure Secretary. Sensible shoes, strawberry blond hair pulled back in a low ponytail, no makeup on her face and non-binding clothes that didn't give any indication to her enviable curves is who Iris was by day. She went un-detected most day's at her 40k a year job unless the right amount of copies hadn't been made, a spreadsheet had not been printed or there wasn't any creamer in the breakroom amongst other duties, a job that there really aren't any commendations for. But 20 sessions, one hour at a time, 20 times a week her employers wait patiently until they see her lightly curled hair, natural looking makeup highlighting her Green eyes framed by Cat eyed shaped prescription glasses and rose colored lips appear on camera as they are her biggest fans. Her list this Friday has her ironing clothes on camera. Light Blue pin striped blouse unbuttoned exposing her Red undies with the camera on her laptop catching just the right amount of her long legs in stilettos from under the ironing board while doing so. As Iris irons, seemingly alone, she hears "Buon lavoro Bella" from her audience and soon after, a ding from PayPal on her iPhone alerting her that she has money in her account. Iris smiles knowing that she's gotten paid for a job well done. Student loans trailing behind her she looks to the future, "One day I won't be doing this anymore, I'd like to retire in 4 years when I'm 30. Maybe I will be married one day, they say that there's someone for everyone right?" smiles Iris as she closes her laptop for the evening. Buonanotte a tutti. Goodnight everyone. By Nancy and James Chuda Founders of LuxEcoLiving and Healthy Child Healthy World When I say higher than a kite....believe me... a visit to Cape Town South Africa's Camps Bay will leave you breathless! There Are Five Red Carnation Hotels Recognized as "World's Best" This is one of my favorites If you had to choose a favorite company in which to use your bucket wish list ...this would be the one! Travel and Leisure has voted Red Carnation Hotel properties into thirteen different categories, including three No. 1 placements. And I can share why. The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa in Camps Bay is LuxEcoLiving's #1 Choice for Luxury and Fine Dining Advertisement "Rangani Musingosa is the personal assistant and butler to Mrs. Tollman. He was one of the most wonderful people we met on our trip. I was literally "blown away" when he showed us to our special Presidential Suite." WATCH! LuxEcoLiving photo credit/Swans created from towels with rose petals adorn the nightly turn down service. Advertisement Toni Tollman's sheer genius as the designer of all the Red Carnation Collection Hotels is to be treasured. Her taste in everything from fabrics, to antiquities, to lighting, and decor makes each guest feel like a royal. I was particularly enamored by her ability to edit the details; whether is was a crystal vase filled with Bea Tollman's classic candy selections, or the beautiful bedding with linens which welcomed the most restful nights sleep after a very long journey from America. Why The Tollman's Are Leaders In The Travel Industry... because they care about every single detail from top to tails. They are loved by the industry and revered by their staff. If I could say I found a mentor in life that I would like to emulate it would be Beatrice Tollman, affectionately known as Bea. She is the legendary founder and President of the ultra-luxurious Red Carnation Hotel Collection that includes three of the finest and most beautiful properties on earth: The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa in Cape Town, The Oyster Box Hotel in Durban and Bushmans Kloof located in the Cederberg Mountains of South Africa. I knew the minute I met her two beautiful and brilliant daughter's, Vicky and Toni Tollman, both intricately involved in the family business.Vicky oversees and manages the magnificent and world famous Bouchard Finlayson vineyard with its prestigious wines grown in the Hemel-en-Arde Valley, one of the most sought after regions for its rich terroir. The Oyster Box in Durban is exceptional! Advertisement Beatrice Tollman Founder of Red Carnation Hotels Collection LuxEcoLiving photo credit Bouchard Finlayson vineyard And I might add once you have experienced the Tollman girls you will dream of being adopted into their family. The Tollman's are one of the most fascinating family dynasties in the travel industry. Known for their unparalleled service and incomparable abilities to provide continuity of luxury, taste, and refinement of style across all of the collection's properties. The feeling you get at each location is like being at home except the service and interiors makes it very difficult to leave thanks to Toni Tollman's ingenious designs. At "41" in London (RCHC) with Vicky and Toni Tollman To experience any one of the Red Carnation Hotel Collection properties is a welcome mat into the precious and savored world of food. Bea's outstanding recipe's are featured in her cookbook, " A Life in Food," treasured recipe's family owned and others discovered from her worldly lifetime travel experiences. Whether its a bowl of the most delicious chicken soup or her trademark Honeycomb Ice Cream, a visit to any of her hotels is more than exceptional. It's a very special and unique experience. WHAT TO PACK? LET TRAVELSMITH HELP YOU DECIDE When you are planning a big trip and need advice about packing... there is no better place to shop then TravelSmith online. Light, colorful and easy. The best and most versatile clothes for safari wear and evening wear. The best T's and undergarments. Hats, shoes, luggage. Whatever you need they have it. Packing which is usually a nightmare for most women (men are the exception) this time, it was a breeze for me with their special insert organizers (The Eagle Creek Pact-It Specter Small Garment Folders and their signature TravelSmith Smart Envelopes) for socks, shirts and other items that usually get stuffed on the sides and take up weight and worse, get lost when unpacking. Jim was more then pleased with the vests and shirts and that fabulous, easy to pack Panama Hat.... and did I tell you that we slept so comfortably in our economy seats thanks to Travel Smith's blow up Super Snoozer Memory Foam Pillow and foot rests... a must for economy or premium economy. I might add the Air Tamer..a MUST HAVE!!! I'll share more TravelSmith tips throughout this series. "Cape Town's Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa... is pure magic!" One of the most beautiful hotels in the world. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean where the sea meets the sky, the hotel, with its brilliant white facade, is used by sailors as a nautical navigation point. Cape Town lies just fifteen minutes away by complimentary shuttle, and outdoor activities include walks and picnics in Table Mountain Park, helicopter tours and whale watching. Part of the Red Carnation Collection's family motto is something they call TNT. These "tiny noticeable touches," which you will discover throughout this hotel will leave absolutely no room for comparison. Advertisement "We have traveled the world and never have experienced this kind of luxury, service and most of all a deep respect for Beatrice Tollman's generosity for her staff and management. It shows. They just love her." Traveling to South Africa and Kenya for the first time in our lives was the best experience we have ever had. We are craving the memories and can't wait to discover other parts of that continent. The exceptional beauty and grandeur of Cape Town is unlike any place on earth. First, you are literally swept away by the geological formations of the Twelve Apostles which emulates, in the early morning sun, the silhouette's of spiritual muses that awakens one to the breathtaking beauty and natural landscape of what some call the 7th wonder of the world. As a tourist, before you plan your visit, one of the most important things you should do is research the people and places you would like to visit. For us Lion World Travel was the best decision we ever made not only for us personally but for the planet. WATCH Brett Tollman share his passion and learn how you can help too. LuxEcoLiving's Twelve Apostles "It was truly a journey of a lifetime thanks to The Red Carnation Collection of Hotels. The most incredible luxurious interiors of any hotel company in South Africa and the world!" Advertisement Brett Tollman, is the CEO of The Travel Corporation, one of the most respected companies in the world. Their mission is to spread and share the natural beauty and versatile cultures of Africa while providing guests the opportunities of their dreams; getting to see the Big 5, going on safari's in remote places that captures or I should say, ingrains a greater passion for social responsibility. Traveling throughout Africa for us was more than seeing the animals up close... it was an awakening to how and what we could do to help sustain their lives and the lives of people who are proud to call Africa home. "If we can all leave the world in a slightly better place, then we have left our mark on the world in a good sense.... by treading lightly, as opposed to leaving a heavy footprint with pollution or not caring about our planet. We all need to play a part. We should think about it a little each day." Brett Tollman "Here I am, where I ought to be." Karen Blixen, Out of Africa Editor's Notes: Up Next Bushmans Kloof Cederberg South Africa A very special thanks to Rangani Musingosa and staff The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa Victoria Street, Camps Bay, Cape Town, 8005, South Africa Phone: +27 21 437 9000 A very special thank you to both Arnelle Kendall and Lucille Sive from The Travel Corporation I have spent much time in postings discussing the anomalous objects seen on the International Space Station feeds and I think its time to put it into an article so I can stop repeating myself. I have been asked to analyze many such images and video so I want to clarify some information about these feeds before addressing the objects seen on the feeds. It seems that any article on the feeds from the ISS inevitably start with "NASA Cuts Feed! ..." or something similar. This points out how little people who write such garbage actually know. The feeds are not "CUT" as if they are hiding something. If you are reading this article because the title grabbed you then congratulations. You were the victim of needless sensationalism. Sensationalism with a point for once. The feeds are transmitted to the ground from the ISS of course. The ISS is moving at over 17000 mph in orbit and the orbit changes slightly with each pass such that the station doesnt go over the same spot with each successive orbit. The ground stations and satellites that relay the signal are occasionally out of range. The coverage network has all kinds of Swiss cheese holes in it where the coverage momentarily drops out or is lost. Advertisement Having watched these feeds for two years now almost daily I have come to be able to predict when they will go down based on the known holes in the feeds' groundstation network. I can usually tell where the ISS is roughly located by simply seeing if the feed is UP. Then consulting a sat mapper I can confirm that no it wasnt over Iran but over the Southern Indian Ocean for example. Both locations among others are known 'holes' in the feed. Here is the point: If NASA were cutting feeds at "critical times" as many articles dramatically claim, then WHY would we EVER see feeds from space that are live? Why would "NASA" ever take that chance? This is a simple "Oh yea...." moment you should be feeling right now. If UFOs were always seen in orbit as a matter of course, then "NASA", if intent on keeping it from us, would NEVER have allowed a live feed that could catch such an activity in the act of happening. Speaking of NASA, the other very important point that the conspiracy folks like to ignore is that the ISS crew is an INTERNATIONAL crew consisting of Japanese, Russian, and American astronauts. the ESA (European Space Agency), JAXA (Japan Space Agency) and Roscosmos (Russian Federal space agency) would all have to fully agree to such a coverup. And lets not leave out all the folks in DLR (German Space Agency) and the University of Bonn who are using the High Definition Earth Viewing Experiment (HDEV) data for their purposes. What is perplexing to those of us who remain logical about this is that the Russians are the ones from whom we have always traditionally wished to hide our technology from and a visit from a wayward alien in an UFO would certainly be one of those hidden items. Further, the feeds are not all managed by NASA. The downlinked feeds are picked up by hundreds of locations around the world and processed or passed on by many people who would ALSO have to be in on the big secret. Jet Propulsion laboratory, JAXA, Roscosmos, and a large international team of monitoring staff watch the feeds all day and all night when they are up. Saying "NASA Cuts the Feed!" is embarrassingly ignorant and short sighted of those who report such. It shows all at once the incredible LACK of knowledge on the part of the reporting organization. I guess we can call it sheer ignorance right? Advertisement You can routinely hear Russian controllers talking to Russian crew members on the station The more you look at it the more sinister of a coverup it has to become for the conspiracy for to work. It approaches absolute nonsense at some point. Why hide a secret UFO visiting the ISS? Well if it was a strictly NASA station it would make more sense unlikely as it would be. In such a case the USA would remain in control and in communication with an alien species that no other nation has access to. But that is NOT the case on the ISS considering its INTERNATIONAL nature... (The "I" in ISS remember) So NOW what is the reason that several countries would hide the technology? If you try to argue that they want it for themselves, it falls completely flat. By default the Russians, Japanese, and Americans would have it... There IS NO OTHER space faring people of substance right now. The Chinese Tiangong station is the equivalent of our 1970s vintage Skylab, and here is no other contender at the moment. We are the only ones with the Russians and Japanese. So what benefit would hiding a UFO visit to the ISS generate? NONE. I would caution against the urge to play the "world panic" card too because an alien presence on Earth would probably generate peace between warring nations not war or panic. It would be a comfort to most people on Earth to know there was a race that has been visiting us for a long time and now making contact. It would be CELEBRATED not FEARED. On the tech side we can easily figure out what we are seeing on the feeds. This includes a number of astronomical objects that are visible in the live video from the ISS. One such object is of course the Moon. The Moon as on Earth shows up day or night. Now night on the ISS is simply being on the backside of the Earth from the Sun. Astronauts are treated to 15 sunrises and sunsets per 24 hour period. An easy test to determine if an object is astronomical in nature or otherwise is to calculate how long it takes to move from place to place and determine which direction it is heading. One recent sensationalist article that went around the world claimed that an object appeared to be entering the Earth's atmosphere as seen from an ISS feed... And oh yes, "NASA Cuts Feed!" of course. The object was none other than the Moon setting as seen from the ISS and a simple calculation showed the object just happened to be setting at the same rate that the station was moving around the Earth. A remarkable coincidence wouldnt you say? Advertisement But it is not just the Moon that can be seen on the feeds. Bright stars and Venus show up plenty of times. On Earth during daylight the Moon is a familiar visible object to most people besides the Sun of course. Keen eyes can spot Venus if you know where to look. On the ISS however, Sun or no Sun, astronomical objects can be seen. There are no Nitrogen and Oxygen molecules in a sky to scatter the blue light from the Sun in a phenomenon called Rayleigh Scattering. This molecular content is the reason we have a blue sky on Earth and the corresponding lack of molecular content on orbit is the reason that the "sky" that the astronauts see is always black. Lets look at an example that is related to one that I analyzed for this upcoming season of NASA's Unexplained Files. It was called out as an anomaly near the station in the sky seen around the ISS and of course the notion that the "feed was cut" was trotted out because that adds drama. But here is that image: Looks interesting doesnt it? But, to borrow their own conspiratorial language, what you DIDNT get to see and what the authors of the many articles didnt want you to know was that moments later the image looked like THIS: Here we can clearly see that it is just an artifact from the bright rising Sun hitting the clear camera cover on the UStream Live ISS feed. You can see many other artifacts as well and this is due to particles that are floating around in space that adhere to the window or due to micrometeorite strikes that pit the glass covering the cameras. So read the articles if you must, provide click income to the purveyors if you want, but see these artifacts for yourself and watch them come and go like clockwork with every rise and set of the Sun as seen from the ISS. You can follow the ISS via http://www.isstracker.com/ or UStream's live ISS view or looking up the live feeds for the High Definition Experiment (HDEV) ... Be informed! Advertisement The redirection of capital is crucial to accelerate the transition to a new, value driven economy. What we invest in, will grow, what we divest from, will phase out - and it should. A significant shift in capital is underway and the year 2016 marks the beginning of a new chapter in history. At the end of last year, the United Nations presented 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the COP21 Paris agreement, agreed by 195 nations, to combat climate change set a new direction and scale for global goals. Both were, to a large extent, a message from and for the business world and leading companies have set their ambitions higher than ever before for 2020 and beyond. The SDGs are already providing clear direction and inspiration in this regard, and the tide is turning. The shift We are already seeing an increase in the growth of sustainable capital investments and a strong divestment from fossil fuels and other polluting industries. Sustainably responsible investing is on the rise as there are increasing indications that previously considered risky investments in sectors such as cleantech, are now leading to above average returns. Over 42 billion dollars in green bonds have been issued and the amount of sustainable investments has increased over the past two years by 60%. Market value is increasing rapidly with the low carbon market worth more than 5.5 trillion dollars today, showing growth of more than 3% per year. Last year alone 270 billion dollars was invested in low-carbon clean energy solutions, in addition to at least 130 billion in energy efficiency. At the same time, divestment from polluting industries is becoming more prevalent with examples such as the move by the largest pension fund in Washington D.C. They recently announced their divestment of 6.4 billion dollars from 200 of the world's most polluting fossil fuel companies. Business can and should be a driving force in the shift of capital. The market potential for business in the new, sustainable economy is literally a trillion-dollar business case. The new economy shows the potential to produce 1.8 trillion dollars' worth of revenue and create two million jobs in the EU alone. And we have only just begun. The report, "The Breakthrough Forecast" by John Elkington et.al., defined the most promising developments called the 21 'breakthrough sweet spots' - from 3D printing to sustainable air conditioning and drinking water management to genomics. Opportunities for business to be a force for good are plentiful. Start-ups with innovative ideas abound, and large multinationals are coming up with their own ideas to move their corporations away from the exploitation of resources to valuing and cherishing the world's environmental, social and financial assets. Unilever, for example, is striving to not merely become CO2 neutral by 2030, but be CO2 positive. And DSM Coating aims to see bio-based binders as the worldwide norm by 2030. Nespresso has introduced 'The Positive Cup' and the Nespresso Sustainable Development Fund. Advertisement Small and large individual companies are joining the movement and it is encouraging to see the acceleration towards a sustainable economy. But the challenges we are currently facing are so extensive and so urgent that collaboration and scale are crucial. The most radical solutions, often with disruptive impact at a fast pace are attributed to small innovative start-ups. However, those value-creating start-ups often do not scale up as they should, whereas the world desperately needs their solutions. They need and deserve our support, and the support of large multinational corporations, to rapidly scale up their innovative and highly effective disruptive solutions. Unilever is setting the right example with their establishment of a 200 million-dollar venture fund and their recently announced commitment to increase its use of crowdsourcing, with the launch of its Unilever Foundry IDEAS which enables innovative startups that are ready to scale up to partner with Unilever and its 400 brands in over 190 countries. It is important to note that Corporate Venture Capital from ambitious corporations means the world to these start-ups, not only because of the investment potential but also because of the tremendous value large corporations can offer them in terms of knowledge, global networks and other necessary means. In other words: access to crucial growth ingredients. The world needs businesses to take bold measures, scale up business solutions quickly and effectively, and collaborate to meet the challenges we face with strength and determination. The first of the celebrated Solvay Conferences was an invitation-only conference, held at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels, Belgium, in the fall of 1911. These conferences were named after Ernest Solvay, a successful Belgian industrialist and philanthropist, who founded an international school for physics and chemistry (as well as other important institutions). While the most frequently described is the fifth conference (on Electrons and Photons), that took place in 1927, the photograph (Figure 1) of the participants in the first conference, on Radiation and the Quanta, is remarkable in its own right. Here are a few notable facts (clearly, some more important than others): Advertisement First, even though Ernest Solvay himself was not present when the photo was taken, his head (third from the left among the seated) was later pasted onto the photograph! Second, of the 23 participants (other than Solvay), no fewer than nine won the Nobel Prize (one of them, Marie Curie, won it twice). Most of the others won other prestigious prizes, such as the Matteucci Medal, the RAS Gold Medal, the Smith's Prize, and more. The number of Nobel Laureates would have been even higher could four other original invitees (J. D. van der Waals, Lord Rayleigh, Joseph Larmor, Arthur Schuster) have attended. The first two of those won the Nobel Prize. Third, there was only one woman in the group, Marie Skodowska Curie. She was not only the first woman to win the Nobel Prize, but also the only woman to win it twice, the only person to win it in two different fields (physics and chemistry), and the first woman to be entombed in the Pantheon in Paris because of her own personal accomplishments. Fourth, Albert Einstein was the second youngest participant in the conference. The youngest was British physicist Frederick Lindemann, who went on to become scientific adviser to Winston Churchill. Advertisement Locked in a bitter struggle with House Speaker Michael Madigan over a reform agenda that's largely been ignored by Democrats, Gov. Bruce Rauner on Monday renewed his push for the reform he prizes above all others: term limits for state elected officials. It's a cause he took all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court in 2014, when he provided heavy support -- both financial and in his statements on the campaign trail -- for a citizen-led referendum to put a term limits question before voters that year. The court, as it had done with a similar effort led by then-Treasurer Pat Quinn in 1994, ruled the term limits question outside the narrow bounds of what citizen initiatives are allowed to change in the state constitution. Rauner, delivering a prepared speech at Raise Marketplace, a Chicago tech startup, again called on lawmakers to place a term limits amendment before voters. Advertisement "I've been governor of Illinois for a year and a half now. We've gotten some important things done. But I'm as frustrated as everyone else that we haven't been able to tackle the biggest challenges facing our state," Rauner said. "These past 18 months have been a humbling experience. I've learned just how entrenched the politicians holding power are. They don't want to change. They are focused on their own power, rather than empowering people. But I have also learned that you want me to keep working to fix our broken political system. That is just what I plan to do." Rauner spoke as the supreme court prepares to hear arguments on a new redistricting reform effort a week after Cook County Circuit Court Judge Diane Larsen ruled the measure unconstitutional. The lawsuit that led to that decision was filed by Michael Kasper, the same Madigan ally who successfully sued to stop Rauner's term limits amendment two years ago. While Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton have paid lip service to public demand for redistricting reform -- the House and the Senate each voted on their own redistricting reform bills -- Madigan has been emphatic about his opposition to term limits. But with the Illinois Supreme Court having ruled that term limits can't be imposed by a citizen-led ballot referendum, Rauner's only hope for enacting them on constitutional officers and members of the General Assembly is for the Legislature to pass an amendment. At the moment, Democrats control three-fifths of the General Assembly. Advertisement Rauner acknowledged the obstacle this presents but implored citizens to pressure their lawmakers to get on board. "Now, cynics will say this is an impossible dream to get term limits voted on by this legislature. But that dream can become a reality if the people of Illinois demand it," Rauner said. "And we are not stopping with term limits. We'll keep pressing every day to lower our property taxes, to protect all our taxpayers, to protect and grow our jobs, and to ensure every child has a chance at a great education. We can do this - if we work together for the reforms our state needs." The General Assembly is next scheduled to meet on Nov. 15 for its annual fall veto session. Here's video as well as the full text of Rauner's speech. Four years ago last Wednesday (July 20) James Holmes murdered 12 people and injured 70 more in a mass shooting in a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado. Acting alone, he was immediately declared by pundits and public alike to be mentally ill. A year earlier, in January 2011, Jared Lee Loughner opened fire at a political rally in a parking lot in suburban Tucson, killing six and wounding, among others, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Again, acting alone. Again, clearly mentally ill. Later in 2012, Adam Lanza murdered 20 first graders and six adults in Newtown, Connecticut before taking his own life. Again, acting alone, he was also assumed to have been mentally ill. The next year, in September 2013, military contractor Aaron Alexis killed twelve and injured four at the Washington Navy Yard. Again acting alone, he was said to have been delusional, and heard voices from aliens (the extra-terrestrial kind). Even when Dylann Roof murdered nine African-American churchgoers at a prayer meeting in Charleston, South Carolina just over a year ago, and proclaimed his actions as a call to political revolution, commentators worried about his mental health and wondered why no one had intervened. http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/06/22/charleston-why-didnt-anyone-help-dylann-roof.html This sort of begs a somewhat different question: why are there so many mentally ill people walking around our nation armed with assault weapons in the first place? Hint: one reason is that since the Reagan-era policy to deinstitutionalize the mentally ill, our prisons have become our new mental hospitals. Another reason might be our national allergy towards sensible gun control- for which the National Rifle Association is the chief pollinator. Advertisement But it also begs for comparison. In November, 2009, Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, murdered 13 and wounded 32 in Fort Hood, Texas. Although he acted alone, commentators worried that this was the act of a terrorist. And last month, when Omar Mateen, acting alone, murdered 49 and wounded 53 more in the Pulse night club in Orlando, media quickly declared it a terrorist attack before they backpedaled furiously when they realized that it was an anti-gay hate crime, with religious overtones, and more than a hint of closeted self-loathing. And then, just last week, when Micah Xavier Thompson, acting alone, murdered five police offers in Dallas, commentators have been gone as far as to announce a coming race war. (Indeed, the New York Post, never a beacon of measured restraint, blared "Civil War!" as their headline the next day.) This is how racism works. It's not intentional; it's just how we are taught to see. When white people, acting alone, commit mass murder, we disaggregate, assuming individual pathology. They must have been crazy. When people of color, acting alone, commit mass murder, we aggregate, assume that it is part of a larger pattern among "those people." Those people are declaring war. (Of course, just the fact that we even have so many mass murderers that we are able to see such patterns, surely the only country in the world, should alone be enough to inspire legislators to actually do something.) Micah Johnson's murderous rampage was disturbed, tragic, horrifying - but it was less a part of a larger pattern than Dylann Roof's deliberate efforts to ignite a race war. Even the "pattern" of police officers' murders of unarmed black men is attributed not to some systematic pattern of a ruthless occupying army, but rather to the bad actions of rogue cops who behaved badly (and have yet to be convicted of any crime). Did you know that in 2015 there were 990 people who were shot dead by the police in the United States - that's nearly double the entire homicide count in Britain (573). Advertisement https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/2015-homicides/ Sometimes, the deranged actions of lone gunman are correctly perceived as both mental instability and distorted political vision, as in Nidal Hasan's drift towards jihadism before the Fort Hood massacre. But most often, we see patterns among the marginalized, and random individual psychopathology among the majority. Whatever their motivations - real or imagined - it is necessary to see these terrible crimes as the product of mental illness. But there are two other commonalities among all these cases, and they may also contribute to the carnage we must confront every week. First, access to assault weapons. Nowhere on earth are there more weapons of mass assault in so many hands as in the United States. And nowhere is the rate of mass shootings higher. You think there's a relationship? These aren't hunting rifles as in Finland or military issue rifles as in Switzerland (where you keep your gun after military service). It's more that America is increasingly looking like a military installation. The militarization of American culture is more than a bunch of insecure men driving Hummers and dreaming in testosterone; it's the fact that our local domestic police forces are hard to distinguish from armies, either those attacing or defending our communities. Seeing these militarized police gives the impression that there are enemies within as well as without. http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-leads-world-in-mass-shootings-1443905359 But it cannot just be guns. Guns don't kill people; men with guns kill people. After all, women have just as much access to those weapons as men do, but they just don't seem to take out their grievances in the same way that men do. And there are just as many mentally ill women out there, but they don't seem to become mass murderers, do they? We have to pay attention to gender - to masculinity. White or black, self-professed political revolutionaries or deranged mentally ill (or both), they are all male. All the shooters and virtually all the police. About nine in ten murderers are men and about 98% of mass murderers are men. And when the police murder someone - it's close to 100% male. Black men's lives matter. http://theweek.com/articles/581371/men-mass-murder-what-gender-tells-about-americas-epidemic-gun-violence Advertisement What does masculinity have to do with these horrific events? Some part might be that violence is the way that men are taught to deal with grievances, injuries and humiliation. From boys on a playground, taunting each other, daring the other to "start something" so that we can "finish it," we are taught that violence is the way to right a wrong, to redress an injury. Real men don't get mad - or ashamed or humiliated - they get even. In my study of men who murdered their spouses or those men who 'went postal" and opened fire in their workplaces, I found that most experienced what I called 'aggrieved entitlement." Being fired, or being disrespected by their spouse was so humiliating that they felt they needed to restore their position by violence. Some of the mass murderers who have splashed their rage on America's consciousness may well have felt aggrieved, denied something to which they felt entitled: a job, respect, something else. And perhaps even those rogue police officers may have over-reacted when they murdered unarmed black men who dared to disrespect their authority. This toxic brew of entitlement and humiliation is what legitimated redress through violence, and access to guns certainly contributes to our nation's near-constant state of grieving. This is not to say, of course, that by understanding gender we can "explain" these rampage murders. But along with our reckoning on other crucial factors, we most assuredly cannot fully explain these horrific events without considering it. Poke Bowl If you've dined out recently, you've probably noticed the increasing appearance of raw fish on restaurant menus. While ceviche and crudo have been leading the raw movement, the Hawaiian dish "poke" (pronounced POH-kay) has recently graduated to trend-of-the-moment status, delighting diners from sea to shining sea. These raw seafood dishes originate from different regions, but what really sets these plates apart is the way they're prepared. Get to know the most popular raw fish dishes cropping up on menus across the country. Why the rise in poke popularity? No longer just an island dish, poke cropped up at West Coast restaurants just a few years ago and spread quickly across the country. There are a number of factors that worked in its favor in its rise to stardom. Raw fish is now widely consumed and accepted by many for its health benefits. Poke also marries two major food trends of the past couple of decades: sushi and grain bowls. It's convenient, easy to make and offers variety. Advertisement Understanding the Differences Raw fish is popular in many parts of the world, including Latin America, Asia and North America. A variety of raw fish dishes exist, and it's the diversity of ingredients, sauces and flavors used during preparation that make each of them uniquely delicious. Poke So, what is poke? The term "poke" is a Hawaiian word that means "chunk" or "cut." Traditionally, the Hawaiian snack was a mix of raw tuna chunks, soy sauce, sesame oil and sliced green onions. Its rise in popularity has led to endless variations, with different types of seafood like salmon and yellowtail, plus sauces and garnishes like Japanese mayonnaise, wasabi, Sriracha, rice adding unique twists. What sets poke apart from other raw fish dishes, despite the many variations that now exist, is its cubed cut and simple Asian-influenced marinade. Crudo An Italian and Spanish word meaning "raw," crudo is how Italians enjoy uncooked fish: thinly sliced and drizzled with olive oil, an acid like lemon and seasonings. Crudo is an ingredient-driven dish and because of its subtle simplicity, the quality of oil used to enhance the fish is important. Ceviche A popular seafood dish in Latin America (particularly Peru), ceviche is made from raw fish that's marinated in lemon or lime juice and often tossed with fresh herbs, onions and chili peppers. The acidity of the juices lightly cooks the fish in the same way it would as if the fish were heated, changing its texture and taste. Because there's no heat involved, ceviche is served chilled or at room temperature. Snapper, halibut, seafood, shrimp and scallops are among the most common types of seafood used. Ceviche, which reached the United States in the 1980s, is generally more acidic and spicier than other raw fish dishes. Advertisement Raw seafood lovers can rejoice at the variety of dishes available on menus from coast to coast. Here are 13 delicious raw fish dishes that'll take you for a swim under the sea: POKE DISHES Photo provided by Noreetuh. Hawaiian hot spot Noreetuh knows how to perfectly deliver one of the island's most popular dishes, offering a fresh, bold bigeye tuna poke garnished with macadamia nuts, pickled jalapenos and seaweed. Photo provided by A-Frame. Photo by Eric Shin. A Hawaiian soul food restaurant, A-Frame shows off acclaimed chef Roy Choi's creativity in its poke of the day dishes, which experiment with a variety of seafoods and toppings. Photo provided by Arbella. Arbella features small plates and snacks from around the world, including an ahi poke with tuna marinated in soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil and egg yolk, to pair with its notable cocktails. Photo provided by Grill 23. Grill 23 features a Tuna Poke on its bar menu that's spiked with bourbon barrel aged fish sauce and Sichuan spiced peanuts for a bit of savory, exotic flair. Advertisement CRUDOS Photo provided by The Metrograph Commissary. Photo by Mirella Cheeseman. A light, refreshing appetizer, the fluke crudo at The Metrograph Commissary is brought to life with fava beans, chili de arbol (a small and potent Mexican chili pepper) and citrus. Photo provided by Wolf. Reflecting the restaurant's seasonal, market-driven approach, the hamachi crudo at Wolf is decorated with nuoc cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce), kumquat (a small citrus fruit that grows in climates too cool for other citrus plants), radish, herbs and puffed rice. Photo provided by Bar Mezzana. Bar Mezzana delivers a coastal Italian-inspired menu that focuses on a daily changing crudo selection and handmade pasta. The crudo list runs the gamut of seafood -- yellowtail, sea bream, bluefin team, striped bass and more -- prepared with fresh garnishes like grapefruit oil, caviar and green apple. Photo provided by Sushiko Before diving into the restaurant's signature sashimi (very fresh raw fish with typically no garnishing), do a side-by-side comparison of different raw fish dishes with Sushiko's delicious cold tastings. These include a refreshing hamachi crudo with yellowtail, grapefruit and serrano pepper, a light shirome carpaccio (seasonal white fish) with myoga (Japanese ginger) and olive oil, and a more briny salmon ceviche with ikura (roe), red onion and yuzu (an East Asian citrus fruit) vinaigrette. Photo provided by Fairsted Kitchen. Fairsted Kitchen prepares its daily crudo dish depending on the market fish of the day, choosing garnishes like radish, avocado mousse, jalapeno and/or chraimeh (a blend of sweet and spicy tomato and chili) vinaigrette to enhance the flavors. Advertisement Photo provided by Kingsley. Offering a dynamic, market-driven French-American menu, Kingsley delivers a razor clam crudo with artichoke, brown butter, lemon, cynar (an Italian bitter liqueur made from 13 herbs and plants, predominantly artichoke) and shiso (an Asian plant in the mint family). CEVICHES Photo provided by Pepita Cantina. Photo by Greg Powers. Pepita Cantina marinates its tuna in coconut curry and lime and tops it with avocado and corn nuts to deliver a unique, tasty ceviche. Photo provided by Petty Cash Taqueria. One of many highlights of Petty Cash Taqueria's innovative Mexican street food menu is its ceviche bar, which uses simple, traditional garnishes to allow the flavors of its seasonal catches like hamachi, shrimp and sea bass to shine through. Photo provided by Comodo. Offering refined Pan-Latin plates drawn from Mexican, Spanish and South American recipes, Comodo prepares its ceviche based on what's fresh. It's currently serving a salmon ceviche with burnt tortilla, lime juice, serrano, avocado and pickled onion. Photo provided by Copita. Copita, located just north of San Francisco in Sausalito, dedicates a section of its Mexican menu to raw fish, offering seasonally driven selections. Choices include a charred chile ceviche with sea bass, white radish, cucumber and other herbs, a kumquat and borage (a flowery herb) ceviche with flounder, fennel, onion and serrano, and a sea bass citrus crudo with blood orange, Cara Cara orange and rosemary oil. Advertisement For all the latest on food, drinks and restaurants, visit the Reserve blog and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton reacts as Democratic vice presidential candidate Senator Tim Kaine speaks at a campaign rally in Miami, Florida, U.S. July 23, 2016. REUTERS/Brian Snyder I'm a pro-choice liberal who voted for Sanders in the primary, so it should surprise no one that Tim Kaine, a Midwestern white man who voiced personal beliefs against abortion, was not my first pick for Hillary Clinton's running mate. But maybe that puts me in a unique position to contribute some thoughts about why I'm voting for Clinton/Kaine, and doing so with enthusiasm, after voting for Sanders in the primary. First off, here's why I can get behind Kaine: if your personal belief stays your personal belief enough for you to get a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood in spite of the fact that your religious beliefs go against abortion, you're okay with me. I was hoping for Warren or Booker as Clinton's VP pick, but then I read up on Kaine. And let me tell you: the guy with the "A" from Planned Parenthood and the "F" from the NRA, who spent nearly two decades in fair housing law representing people discriminated against because of race and disability, has my support for VP. Advertisement There are a few basic reasons for this: I don't believe the Democratic primaries were rigged or stolen. (Neither, it stands to note--especially in the wake of the DNC email brouhaha--does Bernie Sanders' National Press Secretary.) I believe Hillary Clinton beat the guy I voted for in the primary this year, by millions of votes. A lot of those votes were from non-white and poor southern voters whom I am uninterested in labeling "uninformed". I also don't believe that a Clinton presidency is anything to fear like a Trump presidency is, because I believe the fact that Clinton voted 93 percent of the time with Sanders means exactly what it means. In short, I think asserting equivalency between Trump and Clinton, when Clinton voted overwhelmingly like Sanders and Sanders got the entire democratic platform to move farther left than ever before, is a dangerous cocktail of privileged liberal pouting and condescension to a huge swath of poor and non-white democrats. I'm not going to tell nearly four million voters that they "don't know the truth about what's good for them" because they voted Clinton and not Sanders. It's possible they know exactly what's good for them. Black women are the single highest-engagement voting block in America, and they didn't vote for Hillary Clinton in huge numbers by accident. In other words, Clinton didn't win the nomination because she cheated Sanders and rigged voting machines; she won because Sanders did not gain the trust of a key nonwhite voting bloc--or any nonwhite voting bloc, really, and the horrible news cycle making clear how different it is to live in America as a person of color than a white person gives me pause about the implications of the staggering extent to which Sanders primary voters were white. Sanders had the trust of the white, liberal left, but he failed to win anyone else's in significant numbers. And in 2016, the year of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, the deeper implications of the overwhelming whiteness making up Sanders' voting base is cause for some serious reflection. If so few Democrats of color voted for Sanders, maybe there's something that we white liberals who are so certain about how it should be Bernie up there as the nominee are missing. I think, this year especially, that it's important to cast my vote where most black and Latino Democrats are casting theirs, instead of assuming what a lot of "Bernie or Bust" people do: that a) those nonwhite voters must not know what I know (which smacks of racist condescension); and b) that if they did, they'd vote the way I do about it (which smacks of moral rectitude). Advertisement As a white Sanders fan, perhaps it's time for me to wake up and smell the coffee: that the great majority of poor non-white Democrats cast their vote for Clinton, and it wasn't because of a rigged machine, a purged voters list, or any other conspiracy. It's because Sanders did not win the trust of any voting bloc but the white, liberal left of the left, and that isn't most Americans. (Propane Jane elucidates more in her extremely well-written tweetstorm.) Maybe Jon Favreau, Obama's former speechwriter, had a point when he wrote that "a campaign which is largely about Main St. vs. Wall St. economics is too narrow and divisive for the story we need to tell right now." (Favreau has gone from writing unsavory things about Clinton for Obama's 2008 speeches to stating his unequivocal belief that it's more important to elect Clinton in 2016 than it was to elect Obama in 2008.) It was not fear of Trump that switched my vote to Clinton, or even the undeniably large margin by which she beat Sanders; it was the inescapably racial element of the demographic breakdown in Democrats' votes, and what that racial element implies. Another reason I will vote for Clinton is that her connections to money in America do not surprise me. Her history accepting large donations, like Obama did, does not render her unfit in my book to put her nearly 50 years of the study and practice of politics to work in the Oval Office. As Michael Arnovitz put it, "Listen, does Wall Street have influence with Hillary? Grow up, of course they do. Wall Street is one of the key engines of the American economy...[Clinton] was a two-term Senator of New York, and this made Wall Street an important corporate member of her constituency." Sanders did the indispensable and game-changing work of showing that it may indeed be possible, in my lifetime, to win the American presidency without huge campaign donations, but that does not mean that the majority of the American people were ready to elect a socialist. And when it comes down to it, that socialist and Hillary Clinton voted together 93 percent of the time, and this year that's more than good enough reason for me to vote for Clinton. Clinton has occasionally cast votes that disenfranchised already marginalized groups; I'm aware of that, but so is she, and so, probably, are her minority voters. My sense of Clinton's career is one of nearly 40 years of unglamorous compromise, occasional mistakes, and slow, indefatigable, center-friendly progressive steps in the face of doggedly horrendous and often subliminally sexist public scrutiny. She is privileged and wealthy. She has been strategizing the way all politicians do for decades, and that, to me, is the business of politics in America and not a strike against her. If I want the business of politics in America to be different than that, I believe that calls for a different kind of work from me, as much as from her. She worked within the system as it is, and I do not fault her for it. If enough of us clamor for a change, I believe she will listen: I think flip-flopping is the sign of a sellout sometimes, sure, but also of a listener willing to evolve lot of the time. Example: one of the ways Kaine is not like Warren? He didn't vote Republican for many years like Warren did. Talk about a flip-flop! Sometimes flip-flops are good. They mean progress. Warren voted Republican for years, and now she just gave a rousing speech at the DNC, all because she flip-flopped. I don't think she's a false or bad person for it, any more than I think Sanders or Clinton are false or bad people for the ugly things we've seen in their campaigns. And there has been ugliness. Sanders' staffers hacked into Clinton's donor database late last year in a "massive ethical breach". Last week, 200 out of 20,000 leaked DNC emails showed some short email chains throwing around ideas to paint Sanders in a negative light using his religion. But I do not begrudge either Sanders' staffers or the DNC for these grave missteps as much as I believe that the political game is dirty, and that one person would never have been able to clean it. This is another reason I accepted Clinton's win in primary season: I see political corruption as a systemic problem and not one specific to a certain candidate. That means I don't think Obama is any more corrupt than any other major party politician, and I think his presidency was both flawed and worth being proud of. And like Obama's, Clinton's flips-flops and compromises do not faze me; I think changing one's mind and changing course are what politicians do who are trying to listen and account for constituents who don't agree with each other, yet also win the support that is sadly still needed to head one of America's two main parties. (I certainly didn't begrudge Obama for courting that support.) I don't have any friends who have changed course since making their choice when Sanders endorsed Clinton. They either heeded Sanders's call for a unified party or they say "Never Hillary". But I do have conservative friends who are voting Democrat for the first time in their lives. Kaine was a choice that appealed to many of the people who hadn't already decided against Clinton no matter what, and from that perspective her choice was "boring" but sensible. "Frustrating" in that he is a male Democrat who is not Sanders, but sensible. A "throwback sellout" because he is a white Midwestern man famous in Washington for quietly progressive steps that don't alienate people on the other side of the aisle, but sensible. A "missed opportunity" for short-term progressive optics in favor of a long-term practical choice: how very like her career. Advertisement What differentiates me from the "Never Hillary" folks is that to me that's a compliment, not an insult. I believe being a liberal means understanding that most Americans (center plus right) disagree with me. Building a democracy means working with and listening to those people who disagree with me, not calling them stupid or uninformed (or throwing a tantrum about voting fraud because a lot of poor, nonwhite Democrats didn't vote like I did). Clinton/Kaine is a major party ticket, not a Green one. There is therefore a lot to take issue with, but there would have been if Warren were Clinton's VP pick, too: there's a lot of work to do to build a nationally visible and viable third party. But my personal belief is that no lasting political change will occur through the refusal to listen and compromise. I see that refusal on the far right and the far left this year. Even if Sanders had won, he would not have been able to dismantle systemic injustice and money in politics in a few years. Warren or Stein would not have been able to do so, either. No one person would have solved the issues with climate change or come up with a morally spotless policy about Syria. (And Sanders would probably not have swayed an entire Republican House and Senate on, ahem, gun laws.) The issues I have with corruption in the political structure as a whole are systemic ones, which means the work for change will take my lifetime. I'm here for it. I know, love, and respect people who believe that work begins with a vote for Stein. Or a write-in vote for Sanders. I believe it begins with a vote for Clinton/Kaine. Good thing this is a democracy where we can all vote. Let's protect that democracy from a racist, bigoted, sexist, bankrupt real estate developer, shall we? However we think that begins. In this photo taken May 20, 2015, Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., poses for a portrait before an interview with The Associated Press in Washington. For Democrats who had hoped to lure Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren into a presidential campaign, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders might be the next best thing. Sanders, who is opening his official presidential campaign Tuesday in Burlington, Vermont, aims to ignite a grassroots fire among left-leaning Democrats wary of Hillary Rodham Clinton. He is laying out an agenda in step with the party's progressive wing and compatible with Warren's platform _ reining in Wall Street banks, tackling college debt and creating a government-financed infrastructure jobs program. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) In March 2016, the Green Party nominated Dr. Jill Stein as their candidate for President of the United States. They have had female vice-presidential nominees on every single ticket since 1996, and ran all-female tickets in 2008 and 2012. But unfortunately, the highest the Green Party has ever performed in a general election was in 2000, when they garnered nearly 3% of the popular vote. The party was relegated to obscurity thereafter--decried as spoilers who bear responsibility for the election of George W. Bush and everything that followed. And while both the Democratic and Republican parties have previously nominated a woman to be their vice-presidential nominees (Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin, respectively), Hillary Clinton is the first woman to appear at the top of one of the major party tickets--making her the first viable female presidential candidate in U.S. history. Advertisement The significance of Clinton's achievement transcends mere symbolism: As a black man, the presidency of Barack Obama has impacted me in ways that are hard to describe, despite frequent political differences. Similarly, while adamantly opposed to Hillary's nomination, I appreciate how meaningful it could be for a generation to grow up experiencing a woman as the "leader of the free world"--even more so at this moment, when women seem poised to simultaneously head up Britain, France and Germany as well (the implications of the fact that most of these are center-to-far right leaning politicians is a matter for a different essay). However, throughout this political season I have also found myself both perplexed and outraged by how little discussion there has been about the historic nature of Ms. Clinton's principal Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders. Now, with the Democratic primary officially concluded, following Sanders' concession to Hillary Clinton and his full-throated convention endorsement--it is worthwhile to take a moment to reflect on just how significant his campaign has been, and what Sanders' supporters can take from it going forward. Advertisement America's first viable Jewish candidate, among other trails blazed While there have been a number of historical Jewish heads-of-government and heads-of-state, the only current example outside of Israel is Ukrainian PM Volodymyr Borysovych Groysman. Bernie Sanders was the first viable Jewish candidate for the presidency in U.S. history (setting aside Joe Lieberman's ill-fated VP nomination in 2000). And he made plenty of other history along the way: Every aspect of this is a big deal (one might even say YUUGE)--particularly given America's odious history of antisemitism, and the contemporary resurgence of anti-Jewish sentiments throughout the Western world. Building bridges This takes us to another profound, yet largely overlooked, aspect of Sanders' candidacy: the strong support he received from America's Arab and Muslim communities. Advertisement However, he also insists that the Jewish people's legitimate claim to Israel does not, in any way, invalidate the rights of Palestinians to enjoy autonomy, security and prosperity in that same territory. He believes that Israel's interests and values would be best served through the establishment of a Palestinian state, and by supporting inclusion of, and engagement with, Israeli Arabs (Muslim, Christian) in the domestic political process--as opposed to attempting to out-terrorize the terrorists or to grind the broader Palestinian population into submitting to the indefinite occupation and continued Israeli settlement of Gaza and the West Bank. At a moment when U.S.-Israel relations are strained, another conflict between Israel and Hamas seems to be looming and negotiations for Palestinian statehood have reached a dead-end, it is beautiful and powerful that America's first viable Jewish candidate had a radically different approach to one of the most persistent conflicts in modern history, and enjoyed some of his strongest support from the U.S. Muslim community--drawn together by a shared commitment to social justice and peace. Turning the page? Advertisement While Sanders has managed to gain a number of concessions vis a vis the Democratic Party platform, it remains to be seen if or how Hillary Clinton chooses to adhere to these principles (her recent VP pick hardly inspires confidence), or the extent to which the party's positions will be revised in 2020 should Hillary win the presidency in 2016 and face no Democratic challenger in the next election. The overdue resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, while emotionally satisfying, is similarly more symbol than substance. A rules-change regarding super-delegates could be impactful long-term, but assuming Clinton wins the 2016 election, such a reform wouldn't actually be relevant until 2024 (following her 2020 re-election bid). This article has been submitted as part of the Natural Capital Coalition's series of blogs on natural capital by Gemma Cranston, Senior Programme Manager at Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) There is a lot of chatter in certain business, conservation bodies and policy-making circles about the business case for investment in natural capital, but also a lot of uncertainty. Can we truly measure returns from investment in nature? Can we measure outcomes? And are we all talking about the same things? More and more businesses are beginning to realise that it is in their best interests to properly value the natural resources upon which they depend by starting to include 'natural capital' in their decision-making processes alongside other forms of capital. I certainly experienced this whilst leading the Natural Capital Protocol pilot testing program on behalf of the Natural Capital Coalition. I was genuinely encouraged by how many companies are interested in the subject of natural capital and were willing to 'have a go' at using the draft version of the Protocol. Advertisement Running the pilot program was no easy task. With over 50 companies across 5 continents from 20 sectors there was such a variety of challenges that businesses wanted to explore. Pilot testers included household names such as Nestle, Hugo Boss and Coca Cola. Each had their own unique take on what natural capital means to their individual business and how best to approach it. This resulted in a huge array of studies with contrasting scopes, ranging from companies that only really wanted to dip their toe in to those who are already advanced in their natural capital thinking and wanted to go further and apply their findings in the business. Not all of the pilot tester companies were willing to be named, but these companies were the ones who were really challenging themselves and simply aren't ready yet to share their findings with the outside world. I applaud them for having a go and not being afraid of what the analysis may tell them. I now encourage them to take the next step by beginning to take action on the areas of 'pain' that they have uncovered, so that they can then share their positive stories and begin to scale their successes. Insights, quotes and feedback direct from businesses that were happy to be named are shared in the Coalition's latest report authored by the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL): Business Insights, which is launched today. The day before the Protocol launch, the pilot companies came together for an event led by CISL to share their learnings and experiences of the Protocol in their different contexts. The buzz in the room was incredible, with companies enthusiastically sharing their ideas following their pilot tests and keen to learn from others. It was really interesting to see totally different companies challenging each other around their approach to natural capital. You'd never think the likes of Dow Chemical, LVMH, The Crown Estate and Thames Water would have so much in common and want to share! The single most important learning that I noted was the need for businesses to identify clear objectives before starting a natural capital assessment. Without defining the business relevance of addressing a natural capital impact and/or dependency it is difficult for an assessment to have real impact in a company. Advertisement The ambition to use the Protocol to inform decisions is an excellent starting point. For me, the next step is to look at the outcomes of applying the Protocol; these outcomes should reflect both the impacts upon business as well as the impacts upon the natural environment. Unfortunately, few pilot testers have yet been able to advance far enough to demonstrate either fully. This is a subject that CISL's Natural Capital Leaders Platform is also grappling with in their work and recent report on Operationalising Natural Capital. The piloting phase of the Protocol was not designed to assess outcomes or impacts but simply focused upon testing the content of the Protocol to ensure it was fit for purpose. So it is not surprising that the tester companies were not yet expressing their outcomes fully. A next step includes the Protocol Application Program, which CISL will be leading on behalf of the Natural Capital Coalition. We will run a business engagement process and explore the impacts and outcomes resulting from business using the Protocol. We still have some way to go to make natural capital assessment practical for business and for it to result it meaningful change for the environment. We need to articulate the 'commercial logic' for investing capital - financial capital - in measures to protect the environment. I'm looking forward to the next phase of work; my personal ambition is to move business one step further to gaining more clarity, discussion and action on investment in natural capital - a good thing for business and for the natural environment. Disclaimer: Articles in this series are submitted by people who work in organizations who are part of the Natural Capital Coalition, or people who are involved in the natural capital space more generally, the views expressed here do not necessarily represent the views of The Natural Capital Coalition, other Coalition organizations, or the organization that employs the author. Advertisement Follow the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership: @cisl_cambridge @CambridgeNATCAP Follow Gemma Cranston on Twitter: @GemmaCranston Gemma leads CISL's Natural Capital portfolio, which includes the Natural Capital Leaders Platform, a group of influential companies with a global reach working together with the support of the University to understand and manage their dependencies and impacts on natural capital. On 13th July 2016, The Natural Capital Coalition launched a standardized framework for business to identify, measure and value their impacts and dependencies on natural capital. This ' Natural Capital Protocol' has been developed through a unique collaborative process; a World Business Council for Sustainable Development consortium led on the technical development and an IUCN consortium led on business engagement and piloting. The Protocol is supported by practically focused 'Sector Guides' on Apparel and Food & Beverage produced by Trucost on behalf of Coalition. Keep up to date with the Natural Capital Coalition on Twitter: @NatCapCoalition Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing violence from forces loyal to the Islamic State in Sinjar town, walk towards the Syrian border on the outskirts of Sinjar mountain near the Syrian border town of Elierbeh of Al-Hasakah Governorate in this August 11, 2014. REUTERS/Rodi Said/File Photo Steven Simon and Jonathan Stevenson's op-ed in The New York Times, "Why the U.S. Military Can't Fix Syria," reveals many of the misguided assumptions that have guided the Obama Administration's policy of strategic restraint in the Middle East. While this policy of non-intervention is apparently a point of pride for President Obama and evidently for Simon and Stevenson as well, its results in the region, most glaringly in Syria, are far from self-evidently positive. Simon and Stevenson's analysis is based on a counsel of despair that the United States cannot "save the Middle East from itself." Therefore, they argue, it should not try to end the crisis in Syria, but should restrict itself to offering humanitarian assistance to Syria's neighbors. Concerns for civilian protection and accountability for human rights violations, which should be guiding principles for U.S. foreign policy, are airily dismissed by Simon and Stevenson as "strategically tertiary." They repeat the straw man argument that the only military options for the United States in Syria are all out war, or non-intervention. Advertisement It is worth examining some of Simon and Stevenson's questionable assertions. First, and most importantly, the case for greater U.S. engagement in the Middle East does not rest on the neo-colonial idea that the United States has a duty to save the Middle East from itself. The United States' own national interests are inextricably bound up with events in the region. In Syria, the United States should prioritize civilian protection and humanitarian access in accordance with the provisions of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2268, which Russia voted for. The United States should pressure Russia to act on its agreement to advance civilian protection and press forward multilateral efforts to bring an end to the conflict and a transition away from the Assad regime, while ensuring that Syria is not left to fall into the hands of Sunni extremist groups. The major external protagonists in the Syria conflict--Iran, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United States--are all united in their opposition to ISIS, which has been the major beneficiary of the disastrous years of conflict. That alone should provide motivation for renewed multilateral efforts to animate a peace process. Perhaps the most remarkable assertion in Simon and Stevenson's piece is the observation that the United States lacks the willingness and capacity to engage in "stabilization operations," because it "lacks the stomach for brutality." It is not at all clear why stabilization operations must entail brutality, but there is no doubt that they are challenging and require a sustained commitment that the U.S. government has often been unwilling to expend. Advertisement Nevertheless, the United States does not really have a choice. Authoritarian regimes across the Middle East are in varying degrees of crisis and have been collapsing under the weight of their own contradictions. These failing or failed states in Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, and even Egypt are in urgent need of stabilization. Simon and Stevenson say that the United States does have a direct interest in what they call "killing jihadists in Syria," and they suggest that the current air campaign against ISIS is working. This is a baffling assertion. Even while ISIS may be losing territory in Syria and Iraq, it has demonstrated its destructive reach in Iraq, Turkey, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia. The threat of ISIS-inspired terrorism will not be defeated by airstrikes alone. Without a broader countering violent extremism strategy that includes winding down the sectarian conflicts on which ISIS thrives, and promoting the development of inclusive, tolerant societies rooted in human rights and the rule of law, such measures risk being counterproductive. In short, there can be no effective strategy to counter terrorism without the stabilization and reconstruction programs that Simon and Stevenson so deprecate. In May 2011, President Obama said that U.S. support for universal human rights in the Middle East was "not a secondary interest... it is a top priority that must be translated into concrete actions, and supported by all of the diplomatic, economic and strategic tools at our disposal." Simon and Stevenson were senior White House officials at the time, in charge of implementing a policy they appear not to believe in, so it is perhaps not surprising that the results have been so poor. A dear friend took to Facebook, after the horrific week of violence and racial upheaval. She asked herself, and other white people, what they were going to do. This is someone who likely who has spent a great deal more time immersed in black culture than the average white American, who understands the systemic problems that blacks -- including her bi-racial daughter -- may face, but who has never been compelled to speak out, politically. In this moment, however, she gleans (like many of the rest of us) that doing nothing, saying nothing, and simply hoping for change, will not erase these centuries-old problems. So thoughtfully, authentically, she asked, "What are we going to do, white people?" It is a valid question we should all be asking ourselves, as we are all, to varying degrees, victims of societal racism. blacks are, of course, victims in a plethora of obvious ways that continue to result in discrimination, marginalization, and death. Whites are victims in that they have been spoon-fed the poison before birth; cogs in a cycle that hurts and oppresses entire groups of people, even without knowing. Last week we learned of another police shooting of an unarmed black man in Miami, Charles Kinsey. When asked why he fired, the officer replied, "I don't know." At least we get an honest answer. In response to recent events, Huffington Post published an inspiring list of twenty-three books compiled to help all of us arrest this overwhelming sense of injustice. Adding to that list are the following books, lovingly aimed at non-black readers who might be struggling to understand what these heated debates on race have to do with them, how they are complicit in the problem of race, why #blacklivesmatter is a necessity, and even how they can help. Advertisement These recommendations are offered (again) with love, not one ounce of blame, gratitude for anyone making even the tiniest effort to affect positive change, and hope for a better understanding in the not-so-distant future. Learning To Be White Thandeka 2000 Through a series of interviews, Thandeka's Learning to Be White unwraps the pivotal moments in individual's lives where racist attitudes are introduced -- often forced upon young children even when they feel something is wrong. One subject recalls an early childhood instance where he invited a black schoolmate to his birthday party, then was made to feel he had done something terribly wrong. These examples show how subtle ideas, introduced and enforced by families and communities, shape a sense of supremacy that becomes ingrained in the psyche throughout one's life. Learning To Be White is a short, but significant read in helping us to understand ourselves and our experiences with one another. The book nearly illustrates Rogers & Hammerstein's South Pacific which concludes, "To hate all the people your relatives hate, you have to be carefully taught." Thandeka points out how and where some of this careful teaching begins. White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son Tim Wise 2007 A self-described 'Angry White Male," Tim Wise is one of the most prominent and outspoken anti-racist activists of our time. His angle lies in his perspective as a white American male, who is willing to confront the issues that burden blacks and impede the progress of positive social change. A courageous and unflinching voice, Wise's highly-acclaimed memoir, White Like Me, uses family history and personal experiences to demonstrate how white privilege seeps into every aspect of American life and has shaped his own existence. He builds upon the arrival of his ancestors in America: Scottish immigrants who were given land upon arrival; land he describes as having been stolen from Native Americans and worked by black slaves, marking a cycle of oppression and privilege that propelled the family from the start. Perhaps the book does not offer any sweeping solutions but, what it does provide is a brutally honest analysis, and an opportunity to recognize and resist white supremacy. The revised version (2011) includes a new preface and updated chapters Advertisement Wise has authored seven books between 2005-2015. His titles examine racism as it affects economics, education, criminal justice, shifting demographics, and Obama. His latest work, Under the Affluence: Shaming the Poor, Praising the Rich and Sacrificing the Future of America (2015), analyzes the related issues of economic inequality and the villainization of those in need. Michael Eric Dyson describes the book as "a valiant call to arms against the vicious practices that undermine the best of the American ideals we claim to cherish." View all Wise titles HERE: From HuffPost's original list of 23, I'd like to recommend these two young authors who offer, through essays and fiction, a palpable sense of what it's like to walk in the shoes of a black American. Between the World and Me Ta-Nehisi Coates 2015 Known for his thoughtful and influential writing on race in America, Ta-Nahesi Coates delivers a series of essays, written as a letter to his teenage son, in his powerful memoir, Between the World and Me. In this award-winning book, Coates walks us through the course of his life from the tough Baltimore neighborhoods of his youth to Howard University, and into the broader worlds of New York and Paris, describing his observations and mapping the evolution of his thinking on race. The writer is, as usual, direct, insightful, and uncommonly original as he points to the tragic examples of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and others, as the results of a systematically-constructed assault on black people that includes slavery, mass incarceration, and police brutality as part of its foundation. This is a graceful, powerful, and potentially life-changing read for anyone, but especially those trying to gain a greater understanding of the racial dilemma in America, and what this feels like from the other side. Many critics and reviewers, including Toni Morrison have praised Between the World and Me and deemed it "required reading." Long Division & How To Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America Kiese Laymon 2013 Laymon's Long Division is a spell-binding work of fiction that weaves a wildly intricate tale of mystery and time travel. A fun, entertaining, and deeply skillful work of literature, the book, at the same time, gives voice to race relations and experiences often unheard. Released almost simultaneously, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America is a collection of Laymon's essays, touching on a range of subjects including family, race, violence, art, and coming of age in Mississippi. In this collection, Laymon delves deeply into his own personal story, which is filled with trials and reflections that bring under-appreciated aspects of contemporary American life to the fore. Straight from the Huffington Post newsroom, Jason Linkins says Laymon's books "will immerse you in a life lived without Caucasian skin, and (well, hopefully) change the way you look at the world." The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Michelle Alexander 2012 Legal scholar, Michelle Alexander's New Jim Crow forces us to take a hard look at the criminal justice system -- which flies largely under the radar, unless it has affected us, personally. The book breaks apart how the legal system has been re-organized and even commercialized to replace one devastatingly discriminatory institution with another. With remarkable candor, the author argues that "we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it." Cornel West describes The New Jim Crow as "a grand wake-up call in the midst of a long slumber of indifference to the poor and vulnerable." The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks Randall Robinson 2001 The Debt has remained one of my favorite and most memorable reads, since I first encountered it in the early 2000s. The distinguished political thinker, Randall Robinson, admittedly, has no concrete formula for the enigma, but lays out the issue of reparations with utmost sensitivity and precision. What blacks have lost and continue to lose as a result of the institution of slavery -- culturally, spiritually, psychologically and, certainly, economically -- is explored here with ease and unfaltering clarity. Drawing from research and personal experience, Robinson shows that only by reclaiming a lost past and proud heritage can blacks lay the foundation for their future. He goes on to make an impassioned call to our nation to make reparations for slavery (and the century of racial discrimination that followed) with monetary restitution, educational programs, and the assurance of equal opportunities that support the social and economic success of all its citizens. Despite its grave subject matter, Robinson is a light-hearted writer, which makes The Debt accessible and, well, almost fun to read. "Even the making of a well-reasoned case for restitution will do wonders for the spirit of African-Americans," Randall argues. "It will cause them to at long last understand the genesis of their history -- before, during, and after slavery -- into one story of themselves." Last night (July 25, 2016) opened a new week of politics with a notably more positive and hopeful tone - and our TV screens were filled with a wonderfully more diverse crowd than last week. This energetic diversity is the America I live in much of the time, and the vision I long to see spread across our entire nation in the future. Trump's rhetoric of negativity and hate will not go away just because our TV screens are filled with something better this week. Donald Trump continues his racist, sexist and xenophobic rant in his twitter feed today, in response to last night's hope-filled convention: "Crooked Hilary"..."Pocahontas"..."If Cory Booker is the future of the Democratic Party, they have no future!" As a long-time progressive, I am all about that future. But in our rush to embrace a more hopeful vision, we need to remain vigilant as Trump and his supporters will no doubt grow ever more strident between now and November. (What) are we learning from the past? Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesehttp://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/06/opinion/elie-wiesel-the-very-conscience-of-the-world.htmll, who died earlier this month, was known for his passionate pleas that as nations and as people we never forget the horrors of the Holocaust, lest we repeat them. Wiesel's words were powerful, but only a little over 75 years after Kristallnacht - the Night of Broken Glass - few Americans, especially those outside the Jewish community, knew or remembered what that was, or how it might still be relevant today. (Look it up if you're wondering, too.) I don't make comparisons to the Holocaust lightly, but I'm currently immersed in a period of history that feels eerily similar to the emergence of hate speech, violence, and demagoguery that we have been witnessing this election cycle. Others have made this comparison by now, but I don't take it lightly. Is it a fair analogy? Advertisement My research this summer, for a book on the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, and his Viennese circle's thoughts on religion, has brought me close again in remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust - and also the slow build-up toward Hitler's accession to power in 1933. Although I myself was raised as an Episcopalian and currently serve as an ordained Episcopal priest, my hometown had a large Jewish community. I had friends whose grandparents still bore tattooed numbers on their arms. The Holocaust, then, has never been abstract to me. I've been perpetually drawn to study Freud and his circle because the history of psychoanalysis is a place where one can try to make sense of the irrational - both personally and in social and political movements. And it's also a place haunted by religion as a much-contested theme. The rise of overt anti-Semitism and the fusion of church and state in turn-of-the-century Austria, together with Freud's adamant embrace of his Jewish heritage while utterly rejecting religious belief, make for fascinating but also disturbing research. So, here's the thing. Being immersed in the history of Austria and Germany between the world wars, I watch the nightly news in what feels like a kind of time warp. Now is beginning to feel a lot like then. And as a psychologist of religion, I see how religious hate is implicated in our time as it was in the run-up to World War II (with roots going back centuries.) At the end of World War I, the Germans and their allies were punished by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. They had lost over 3 million soldiers during the war, and at the end of the war the people were impoverished by a destroyed economy, literally starving, and further ravaged by Spanish flu that swept the continent in 1918. There was a profound, global economic depression. The imperial aggressors - especially the ordinary people who were neither politicians nor military leaders, but simply ground up by the consequences of war - found it easy to view themselves as victims, and Hitler's rhetoric of nationalism and making Germany a great imperial power filled a vacuum that felt irresistible. People blamed the more liberal democratic government - the Weimar Republic - along with Jews, Socialists and Communists, for collaborating with the Allied Powers and betraying the German cause. Advertisement Whipped up by Hitler's charismatic racial rhetoric, people's previously more private anti-Semitic words and deeds found permission to be released as hate speech and overt violence. Hitler's bizarre blend of pseudo-Christianity and Volkskultur (with Wagnerian opera as its grand art form) invoked a shared cultural narcissism on a massive scale. Gradually a consensus grew and it seemed less and less shocking (all the while rationalized by the scientists, the lawyers, the anthropologists, and Hitler's brand of psychologists) to purify the Aryan nation by gathering together, then deporting, and then killing, all Jews, along with the also long-hated Roma ("Gypsies"), homosexuals, persons with disabilities, Marxists and resistance fighters. For the Jewish upper class professionals and intellectuals, it seemed impossible to comprehend. Like the proverbial frog in the pot of water, as the heat was turned up, all too few - including Freud himself - realized the extremity of the inferno beneath their cultured feet. Some, like Freud - often with the help of outsiders - escaped with their lives. Six million - 2/3 of the population of European Jews as of the start of the war - were murdered. Consider the parallels today. During the Vietnam War and subsequent wars in the Persian Gulf, Iraq, and Afghanistan, Americans have sent millions of young family members overseas. While not rising nearly to the numbers lost during the two world wars, poor and working class families (especially since the end of the draft) have sent their loved ones and received back a disproportionate number of flag-draped coffins, and wounded warriors. Countless families cope with the invisible wounds of PTSD and "moral injury" (that is, young men and women who saw atrocities and were commanded to commit them, pitting their sense of honor and duty against their own deepest moral values). We have lived economically through a "great recession" and job loss, and the widening gap between rich and poor, have been resounding complaints in the current presidential campaign on both the right and the left. Many around the globe consider us, like the empires of the 20th century, to be the modern imperial aggressors - yet conservative political rhetoric, especially beginning with President George W. Bush's speech after 9/11, frames us as the innocent victims hated by the forces of evil in the middle east. Our common public discourse glorifies war and warriors; while at home, oppressed groups including both persons of color and women, have fought for their rights, eroding white middle-class American (especially white men's) sense of comfortable, invisibly maintained supremacy. So in America today, many who view themselves as ordinary people who are neither politicians nor military leaders - nor Wall Street financiers - feel ground up by global political, economic, and military trends far beyond their personal control. It is easy for middle Americans to view themselves as victims, and Donald Trump's rhetoric of nationalism and "making America great again" is filling a vacuum that feels irresistible. Trump's growing number of followers blame the liberal democratic government, Wall Street (which, again, invokes the specter of anti-Semitism against Jewish financiers), and immigrants, for taking away their jobs and destroying the comfortable white middle-class America, the myth of apple pie and picket fences and Yankee Doodle Dandy they thought they could rely on. Whipped up by Trump's charismatic racist, Islamophobic, and yes - anti-Semitic - propaganda, people's previously more private racist words and deeds have been finding permission to be released as hate speech and overt violence. The chilling spectre last week's crowds of jubilant Republican convention-goers chanting "Lock her up! Lock her up!" and even "Hang that bitch!"https://www.facebook.com/thenewrepublic/posts/10153553093736536 at a recent rally in Raleigh, have transformed a traditional democratic process into a witch trial. And what about those of us NPR-listening, latte sipping, multiply degreed professionals and media pundits, and liberal religious believers who do not see themselves or their open-minded beliefs represented by the more vocal conservative religionists and fundamentalists across multiple traditions? We who would have hung out in the coffee houses with Freud and Mahler and Klimt and Buber and Wittgenstein and the Social Democrats (or would have liked to!)? The expressions of surprise at every step of Trump's rise say it all. For us, too, all of this seemed impossible to comprehend, and yet we are witnessing rallies and conventions that look and sound like lynch mobs. Like the proverbial frog in the pot of water, how high will the heat be turned up beneath our feet? And will we notice while it's happening? Rather than heeding Elie Wiesel's plea to remember, it seems that with the rise of right-wing nationalism - both here and in Europe - we are re-enacting the trauma of the 20th century rather than thoughtfully remembering it. Freud would have called this the "return of the repressed." The "uncanny," as he called it - what is frightening, nightmarish - is in psychological terms the horror we have always already known about but banished from our minds because our own most destructive wishes are intolerable for us to acknowledge. Freud's prescient 1922 book Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, written between the wars, should be on every American's reading list now. In it, he shows how individuals with a sense of longing for a protective father all too readily surrender their own capacity for reason when presented with a charismatic leader who is willing to think and act on their behalf. If psychoanalysis is the "talking cure" for individuals who find themselves acting irrationally against their own best interests, what "talking cure" will we find to help us resist the blind repetition of the horrors of right-wing nationalism/irrationalism in the America and Europe of today? And what religious language(s) will we draw from the highest and best of our multiple religious traditions, to resist violence, and to restore justice the rule of love of the neighbor, the stranger, and the sojourner? In the words of the prophet Micah (6:8), "The Holy One has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what is required of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your G-d?" WHETHER ON THE SIDE OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS OR THE POLICE, THERE IS AN URGENT NEED TO SHIFT THE FOCUS FROM BLAME GAME TO INTROSPECTION--BEFORE MORE NEEDLESS LOSS OF BLACK OR BLUE LIVES. She: "Please stop by at the store and pick us up some apples and oranges." He: "Hmm, why?? Do you have a problem with bananas and grapes? Aren't all fruits good for you? Why are you favoring only apples and oranges?" Pardon the pun, but that's a darn fruity response, wouldn't you say? It's no different when your knee jerk response to "Black Lives Matter" (BLM) is "All Lives Matter" (ALM). And, unlike buying fruits, throwing out an ALM in response to BLM is more than just nonsensical--it's downright pejorative. It's like flipping the middle finger at the problem--an alarmingly disproportionate number of Black men being killed in police encounters, often in questionable circumstances: Michael Brown, Eric Garner, John Crawford, Tamir Rice, and now, back-to-back killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castille. And for each such high profile case, there are hundreds of others that remain under the radar. Advertisement Some of us--Asians, Hispanics, Whites or other--become part of the problem when we fail to recognize these feelings of anguish, and in our callous cluelessness shove an "All Lives Matter" in the face of "Black Lives Matter." The attitude that comes with ALM (versus the empathy that BLM evokes) prevents non-Blacks from understanding the pain, helplessness, fear, and anger that Blacks are feeling. It's an epidemic! Under the current circumstances, BLM is not only a valid movement, but a direly needed one. Corruption of the Black Lives Matter movement But as with every activist movement that involves the masses, there is the possibility of corruption of original values, objectives, and methods. In the case of BLM, its fringe has engaged in inflammatory rhetoric and hyperbole--making the entire police fraternity its enemy. That's a recipe for escalating--not solving--the problem! The overall Blacks-police dynamic can be reversed only if BLM shifts some of its energy from laying the entire blame on cops in general, to also introspecting to see the role and responsibility they have to improve the situation. (The reverse is also equally needed: introspection and correction of police procedures and culture). Introspection on the side of Black Lives Matter This brings us to a critical element at play in the dynamics between law enforcement and Blacks that is largely ignored in BLM activism: the conduct of civilians in a police encounter. In far too many high profile incidents of Black men being killed by police, there has been at least one or more of the following on the part of the victim: disobedience, defiance, arguing, resisting arrest, aggression, absconding, brandishing a weapon, etc. Let me be very clear on two points (a) I realize such is not the case in all encounters where the victim ended up dead. (b) Such bad behavior by itself cannot be reason enough for the police to use lethal force, in most cases. Advertisement And yet I am surprised that time and again videos are circulated on social media as evidence of police brutality--with not a single word about the fact that the encounter would not have escalated if the civilian would have simply avoided the above mentioned set of behaviors. I am not sure if it's an ingrained reaction to the history of slavery and the abuses suffered at the hands of the KKK during the segregation eras, but there seems to be widespread defiance and distrust of the police among African Americans. It's sad to think that many of the dead victims in these cases would have been alive if they had simply complied with an officer of the law. Yes, it's quite possible that you may be unfairly pulled over, or that the officer abuses his authority. But what civilians forget is that a police encounter is not a court of law. This is not the time and place to argue your case. The one and only thing to do when pulled over by the police is to obey their orders. That's the only way law enforcement can be effective. Will there be officers who will abuse this privilege? Of course. But if you have the misfortune of facing one of them, your chances of not being killed are much better if you are completely compliant. The civilian has far more control and responsibility in a police encounter than what BLM activism suggests. If the movement is serious about preventing such police abuse, it needs to put at least some emphasis on encouraging Black youngsters to cooperate with, instead of defying law enforcement. Introspection on the side of the police On the side of the police, it's disturbing to see, in some of these high profile encounters, trigger-happy officers apparently on a murderous rampage--as opposed to trained professionals who should know how to defuse a hostile fellow with a single strategic shot or two. Yes, yes, I understand the adrenaline rush, and how fear impairs judgement; but I am sorry if I hold professionally trained police officers to higher standards than civilians. Time and again we have seen officers gunning down a civilian who was clear no threat to anyone. While obedience to the police is the best advice for civilians, a civilian's insubordination alone should not be reason enough for a police officer to escalate an encounter to having to shoot him. Only the threat of bodily harm to the officer or others justifies pulling out Tasers or guns. Most everything else, such as insubordination, could perhaps be better addressed through summons, fines, and even jail time--after the fact, when the heightened tension of a roadside encounter has faded. But there seems to be a police culture in some circles that thinks otherwise. I'm no expert, but what I see is Tasers and guns coming out way too soon and often in disproportion to the offense at hand. Advertisement From better background checks to better training, there's much that police departments could do to improve the situation. Meditation, for example, has been found very effective by police departments in Canada and elsewhere in the world. Advanced practitioners claim that sustained practice brings a slow-motion-like trance in high adrenaline situations, giving one a better access to the gap between stimulus and response--the crucial factor for so many policing situations. Henley t-shirts for sale last night at the Greek. [photo by Paul Iorio] Don Henley blew his top last night. "If you want rock 'n' roll, you're gonna have to shut up and wait for it," he said angrily to a fan who'd shouted something like "rock 'n' roll!" after Henley unleashed a string of mellow numbers, including a Garth Brooks tune, mid-set on July 23rd. The crowd at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, California, cheered and Henley made good on his promise with a sizzling second half. But what was with his self-censorship on encore "Life in the Fast Lane" where he omitted the word "god" from the line "We've been up and down this highway, haven't seen a goddamn thing"? Advertisement On playback of my recording of the show, I can hear that he deliberately omits the word "god," leaving a gap and even throwing off the rhythm of the line. He didn't even bother to substitute a slug syllable (like "hot damn thing"). He clearly censored himself -- and took part of the punch out of a great rocker. Has Henley gone prissy in his old age? Is he growing more Texas and less L.A. with the years? After the show, I did a bit of research and found that the "goddamn" controversy dates back to 2009, when an Alabama classic rock radio station deleted the word "god" from the song. The response of the Eagles' Don Felder? "There are people who have extreme religious beliefs that would find it offensive. I can understand why they wouldn't like to hear it," Felder told The Birmingham Weekly, according to Rolling Stone in '09. Evidently, Henley is quite OK with the censorship of his music by Bible belt broadcasters -- and is even helping them in their holy mission to cleanse the airwaves. (For the record, "goddamn" is not one of the words prohibited by the FCC," as RS noted.) Advertisement Despite that off-key moment, the two-and-a-half hour show was mostly enjoyable. The show-stopper was "The Last Resort," which he knocked out of the park and into the hills above the open-air theater, where I heard the show. Performed only a handful of times in the U.S. by him and the Eagles since its release 40 years ago, the song, in '16, has added resonance in the wake of the refugee crisis and sounds something like the Eagles' crowning masterpiece. (Almost a perfect song, in my view, except for that unfortunate shift in focus to an ecology rant near the end.) "The Boys of Summer" was another highlight, much more effective than one might expect. And "All She Wants to Do Is Dance" and "How Bad Do you Want It" were lots of fun and had people dancing (even in the hills above the theater, where I heard the concert (but had limited sightlines)). And the set-closer was touching: "This one's for Glenn," he said, as the piano intro to "Desperado" rang out, referring to his band mate Glenn Frey, who died in January. (Though, frankly, I can't hear it anymore without thinking of that hilarious "Seinfeld" episode!) Then there were the words that struck fear in the hearts of thousands of fans: "Here's another track from 'Cass County'" -- "Cass County" being his latest album of very average songs. All told, a solid gig -- despite dead patches and that unnecessary self-censorship. A changing commercial relationship but Digital is still the king of power play The term digital transformation is used to describe the transition of several areas corporate, personal and market business models and user experience from new age technology seen in social media, smart phones, big data to connected wearables to augmented reality and artificial intelligence. It's a shift form what may be described as a 20th Century information technology era of activities connected through web pages to an early stage 21st Century explosion of mass data collection, social networking and technology enabled insight and intelligence. The UK has a long history of being a leader in digital creativity and innovation attracting entrepreneurs, several of the leading global creative agencies are based in the UK. Silicon Round-about in London Shoreditch district to the Cambridge Hub Silicon Fen; several cities across the UK have sought to foster innovation for startups as well as huge international companies such as Proctor & Gamble, Unilever in open innovation to MasterCard, Visa in developing Fintech digital labs. Digital technology is transforming business strategy in the small and the large, both in terms of how the private sector functions in a 247 always connected socially engaged digital multi-channel market as well at local , regional cities to country and international supply chains and public sector automation, job creation, employment productivity and impact on gross value-added GVA the measure of the value of goods and services produced in an area, industry or sector of an economy and ultimately after taxes and subsidies taken into account the impact on National Gross Domestic Product GDP. Advertisement If digital transformation represents the new digital economy then being able to succeed in this new connected market is absolutely critical. Even if ecommerce reports of 15 to 17% of total GDP is from digital activities, it is growing in many market categories at 20% or more and online transactions and the "knowledge economy" is impact in virtually all sectors by digital disruption. Bretix as it is termed from the political classes changes practical conditions of legislation for law and trade, access skilled workforce, access to markets including the managed single European market. It changes the basis of how geographic location and access to investment critical to both new value and competitiveness from new product and service innovation as well as improvement in reducing costs of supply and operations. Digital transformation impacts the megatrends that analysts speak of in terms of productivity replacing humans with robots, global warming and sustainability efficiencies, to privacy, ethics and cyber security and surveillance society; it crosses the digital divide from the digitally savvy millennials to the disenfranchised or jobless from globalization either perceived or real through migration and internationalism of business supply chains. The UK relationship to the EU and to the wider Global Digital Transformation will evolve in several areas because of the need for trading, cyber security and competitive innovation. Even with Bretix being a temporary issue, the continued rise of digital markets, online trading and digital products and services will not stop. Advertisement EU legislation such as the General Data Protection Regulation GDPR planned to be introduced by May 2018 will still need to be honored from the standpoint of privacy and consensus rights if this becomes a mandatory trade position. The new UK surveillance bill seeking mandatory access to company and consumer data through "back door" methods will be a legal issue for other countries irrespective of digital transformation as it challenges governmental controls. National security and corporate cyber protection will still need cross border collaboration in governments and industry and the UK will continue to be a leader in this field. Digital transformation will enable greater online trading access, the UK has a leading positions in the Financial Services market for example and the issues currently under discussion is whether barriers to stock trading to the EU will now be introduce seeing a flight of both skilled talent and Head quarters to main land Europe. This remains difficult to predict because of the negotiations before and after article 50 and the positions that the EU and other countries may take in making it more difficult for the UK to trade with them. On the UK side is its large open market economy and ironically the high level of market trading already with the EU. Dr Daniele Bianchi, Assistant Professor of Finance at Warwick Business School, UK empathized that 55% of the UK's trade is with EU countries and 30% with countries that have agreements with the EU, agreements which should be re-visited in case of a Brexit. Arguably, leaving the single market would place the UK in a worse situation in discussing trade agreements (4). Bretix changes the trade commercial agreements and access to markets and skills movement and its costs of sourcing and operation. But it also can be a huge opportunity for the UK to seek investment and competitive new models with EU and other countries on the UK terms not defined by EU conditions. This is the grey area at present and depends on negotiations in how the UK may become more outwardly aggressive in its stance and leverage of its existing trade quid-quo-pro. A different digital game but just got potentially bigger. The pillars of digital markets are driven across these intersecting issues, how to get the right human skills to create knowledge capital and financial investment to fund digital transformation. Dr Aleksi Aaltonen, Assistant Professor in Information Systems Management and an Expert in Startup Innovation had and article on Bretix impact on startup entrepreneurship (1) raised the double edge issue of the critical need for access to high skills that include a migrant workforce, this point is also strongly supported in the recent open letter in the United States on the need for an open inclusive workforce (2). But legislation changes by the UK government being currently considered may set a 35,000 earnings threshold for non-EU migrants living for over five years may face deportation (3). The early comments from the new Conservative government have suggested that EU residents will become part of the negotiation process with the trade block. Central to this will be the control of access to the single market yet being able to attract and retain a skilled workforce that is critical to its success. Advertisement Access to EU innovation Investment such as the EU program H2020 fund of Euros 80 Billion may be a casualty of the Bretix. Other concerns have been raised by the Academic and Science community not being able to participate on these programs or attract academics of caliber to the UK. Yet the UK is a world leader in these markets and so the negotiation and transformation may be to seek ways to lever this more. Its important to note that EU desire to create a Private-Public partnership deals to build larger stronger EU companies to compete against the USA and Asia has not been great. Its difficulties trying to use subsidiarity and standards to get countries in the 28 or 27 block is a logistical and organizational challenge. Ironically the UK outside this block may be a better way for the UK be build global digital scale and to help the EU move towards a better integrated market. Digital Transformation on the global scale has disrupted the big players like Microsoft and IBM, as seen in their recent changes in market performance (6) with falls but also high growth gains in the "digital products and services" area notably in cloud computing and big data analytics. It is this shift to the on-demand annuity model of income plus the push into new virtual reality and smart home, connected car and lifestyles that define the future. Navigating the impact of the value of Digital and currency swings The shift in currencies are highly volatile at the moment from the Bretix, US elections, south china seas and Turkey and Russia events. The recent Softbank purchase of ARM Holdings a leading British chip designer has been criticized for its timing when the Yen was 11% stronger and the purchase of the company at a lower rate due to exchange value in the Japanese favor (5). Yet I argue that this sort of acquisition that is not asset stripping or seeing to create competition monopolies is necessary for a progressive digital economy. ARM Holdings get access to more investment to scale in the next digital transformation era called the " Internet of Things" that is orders of magnitude bigger that the PC and Mobile eras before. Even if the stock analyst reduced their valuation of Softbank because they saw it as a "long bet" by the CEO Masayoshi Son and the nacient IoT market yet to grow. The reported 55% fall in Apple watches and Samsung doubles it market share (7) suggest a tiring consumer market in wearables but also the fact that in Digital Transformation it is all to play for. It may make UK companies cheaper in the short term but this may rebalance medium term. This may make UK products cheaper while reducing gross income from UK companies so it could be a benefit and a loss. The market sectors that are have been commenting most have been the Financial services and Education and Research sectors. Their concerns have been in the loss of partnerships and access to funds and skills. My view is that some arrangements for skilled workers may be changes by the UK government to retain the best features to preserve these industries. Advertisement The movement of skilled workers will change the physical location of people but will not change the need for the digital transformation that is still the imperative. Whether it's a connected car design , a new online market design service to the ability to financially trade, the shareholders and management boards will seek the best place. the Movement of offices is for access to markets and commercial legal reasons. The transformation It gets more of an issue if the loss of skills means the drift of globalization moves centers from the UK to other shores, yet this can also be reframed as a way for the UK to retain and investment in strong industries and a open free market economy that attracts investment preferentially to the UK, reversing this trend. New Private-Public Partner UK initiatives and legilsation My experience of technology teams and leadership can be summed up as "my kingdom for a good technical architect!". Having good quality tech skills is a vital necessity be it in digital or any other knowledge based industry. Just look a Silicon Valley and the famous or infamous alleged agreements of Steve Jobs with not poaching good employees from companies. Whether its true or not the point is that tech companies will pay for the best people anyway. The cost of visas and applications and living will be part of this in the senior ranks and critical skills. What is more of an issue is if the lower ranks of skills are also not available from the local UK employment base if these have to be sourced overseas currently. One can see shifts in government policy here again to stimulate strong regional and local industry and workforce development incentives. Again it is logical to assume that incentives to continue in open access to work force movement in EU will be part of the negotiations from both sides since approximately 50% trade between EU and UK exists on the table. There is a lot of regulation between the UK and EU from 40 years on integration that will need to be "unpicked". With recent political reports of the UK having "no trade negotiators" because they are in the EU (8) to commercial lawyers saying the UK does not have the number of people to administer the deals suggests this will be a gradual process. In terms of Intellectual Property Dr Alexis Aaltonen says "The intellectual property regime is relatively similar in developed countries so in principle there is probably not going to be massive changes due to Brexit. The difference may come from how companies manage and administer their IPR portfolios in the international arena. In the worst case, the UK companies have to file their patents again, maybe in multiple countries. Again, large companies can deal with the extra workload but for smaller companies it will be yet another headache they could very well live without" (1). Advertisement The CIO and the Bretix opportunity knocks The role of the CIO as the commercial "eyes and ears" of the technology portfolio and enabler or collaborator of digital trans formation will need to do several things. Firstly, conduct risk audits for establish commercial, staff skills and service exposure to market and legal changes from Bretix on their business. Secondly, establish a new Digital strategy refresh that includes now an economic model as well as the operating model and technology roadmap of solutions for the project pipeline. In this examine how the company products and services can be delivered in the UK and if working in the EU or elsewhere what changes in the infrastructure, digital workforce collaboration and knowledge tools need to be emphasized. Thirdly, plan ahead now with a new digital transformation partnerships and strategic plan to scale into the non-EU markets as an option. See investment strategies for co-funding and partner deals to drive this. Consider how these may be Advertisement Fourthly, keep digital innovation center of mind in terms of customers and customer-customers experiences and expectations. These may change in some behaviors because of bretix but in others it will only become more digital. The need for Leadership will be critical Reframing Bretix and Digital Transformation can be seen as a disruption trend that may be developed into a stronger driver for open commercial and competitive UK companies and partnerships that scale out beyond the EU domain. How industries that have been heavily integrated with EU skills or fundings will have post-trauma to be navigated as the new pathways are established. Digital transformation is central to the global connected economy as well as job creation. As shown in the USA elections and UK Bretix the impact on employment and popularism has to see ways that make digital inclusion for everyone, not the 1%. By its very nature digital is disruptive, the UK has and continues to be a strong player in high value technology insight and capabilities for markets to leverage innovation startup, entrepreneurship and work at a global scale. Whether the natural English speaking language advantage or the wealth of historical precedence, it is an evolving situation that with responsible actions and a little luck can push to new heights and enable the real issues of global sustainable society to be realized for all. Something or more likely someone has changed over the past 20 years. Way back in the mid-1990's I offered a development program titled INTEGRITY-DRIVEN Leadership. One of the exercises asked participants to list leaders they admired for their integrity and those that they didn't. Donald Trump, the 2016 Republican candidate for President, was a name that appeared often on the least admired list and only rarely on the most admired. The irony was hard to ignore as I watched his acceptance speech for the nomination. Perspective matters and it is important to understand the environment in which the question was asked back in 1992 - 1995. Advertisement Trump released the national bestseller The Art of the Deal in 1987.The Los Angeles Times review described him as "full of ferocious energy." Trump, we were told, had the biggest and most of everything: hotels, casinos, condominium developments, airplanes, and friends. The Times review went on to say that there were plans in place to acquire anything that was not yet on the list. That same year, the fictional character Gordon Gecko told the world that "greed is good" in the movie "Wall Street." Imagining Donald Trump giving that speech is not a stretch of imagination. Things changed in the late 1980's and early 1990's. The Savings & Loan crisis created financial disruption. Jim Wright, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, was investigated in 1988 and later resigned in disgrace after being found guilty of peddling influence. The next year five U.S. Senators, known as the Keating Five, were investigated for corruption for their relationships with Charles Keating, Chairman of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association. Then things went bad for Trump. The Trump Taj Mahal went bankrupt in 1991. This action cost him his 282-foot yacht, the Trump Shuttle, and half of his ownership in the property. Trump Castle Associates followed into bankruptcy the following year. This resulted in the loss of the Trump Plaza Hotel in New York, the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the Trump Castle Casino Resort. Trump also relinquished one-half of his interest in the New York Plaza to Citibank. Advertisement In the context of those events, it is easy to understand how the brash Donald Trump would come to be viewed as a negative role model when thinking about integrity in leadership. So what or who has changed in 2016? Donald Trump is an even bigger brand name today than he was in the 1980's. He is a master of all things media. His business fortunes have rebounded even as some of his practices - like Trump University - continue to draw scrutiny. The themes Trump laid out in The Art of the Deal are present in his campaign themes and widely accepted in the business self-help industry: Think big; Maximize your options, Know your market, Protect the downside. He still values greed. At a January 2916 campaign event, he said, "My whole life I've been greedy, greedy, greedy. I've grabbed all the money I could get." Even Trump's political positions are not that far removed from those he laid out in The America We Deserve back in 2000 when he was publicly considering a campaign for President. Advertisement That leaves us to consider this question: Have we as a society changed over the past 20 years? More specifically, was Milton Friedman correct that all economies run on greed? Was Trump all along? Do we now understand his financial failures as being more the product of the times and less about the brash immaturity of a young tycoon? Has Donald Trump successfully shown the integrity, vision, and performance we expect from the President of the United States? Do current conditions and other leadership options justify overlooking acknowledged weaknesses to attain perceived strengths? Is this our collective backlash against decades of ineffective leaders? Are we buying into the celebrity image at the expense of substance? You can't ignore the fact that more people would put Donald Trump on their list of leaders to be admired today. He secured the most votes of any Presidential candidate in history in the Republican primaries. So who has changed? Donald Trump or us? Bespectacled and bowtied, James Schamus introduced his movie, Indignation, his directorial debut from Philip Roth's novel, at MoMA, with the observation that a premiere at MoMA makes up for not having had a bar mitzvah. Hold that Jewish joke. In fact, the film starts with a brief image of war, and a Jewish funeral, a shiva--you can tell by the smoked fish at the buffet--for a fallen soldier. The grieving family is related to the Messners, the Newark butchers at the story's heart, and their only son Marcus who goes off to college in Winesburg, Ohio (Sherwood Anderson's fictional domain) where he falls hopelessly in love with a blond shiksa, Olivia Hutton, from a divorced family with a penchant for oral sex and self destruction. Schamus also introduced his actors, including Danny Burstein who goes from playing Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof before and after the Indignation celebration. With the formidable Linda Emond as the mother, he plays the over-protective father, but the movie belongs to the young couple with outstanding, break out performances from Logan Lerman and Sarah Gadon. At the Yale Club dinner, Lerman and Gadon each told me the most difficult part of making this period movie set in the 1950's was the dialogue. Toronto-based Sarah Gadon said saying the words and making them feel real was a challenge. And Logan Lerman noted the penultimate, lengthy scene with Winesburg's dean, a perfect Tracy Letts, was difficult, requiring many takes, each one going from beginning to end. That scene was like a poetic pas de deux, thanks not only to Schamus' excellent direction, but his superb adaptation. Advertisement Tovah Feldshuh, Ang Lee, Lena Hall, John Krokidas were among the many guests, as was Erica Jong, who with Philip Roth came to prominence as an author in the 1970's, he with Portnoy's Complaint, and she with Fear of Flying. She is now developing a television series with Julie Taymor based on her 1980 novel Fanny, Being the True History of the Adventures of Fanny Hackabout-Jones, a retelling of Fanny Hill. Leaving MoMA for the party, she opined, of the many Roth books turned to film (think Goodbye Columbus, The Human Stain, The Humbling), "Indignation is the best movie ever made of a Philip Roth novel." In remarks from the Democratic National Convention stage applauded by big media, Sarah Silverman lauded the Democratic Party primary process as "exemplary". I guess that's why she's a comedian. Perhaps she doesn't know who Debbie Wasserman Schultz is. Perhaps she doesn't know that Schultz just resigned as head of the Democratic National Committee after the release by WikiLeaks of DNC internal emails showing evidence of them conspiring against Sanders. Of course, Schultz was then immediately named "honorary chair" of the Clinton own campaign. Schultz as "honorary" anything -- now that's funny. Advertisement Still, Silverman insisted: "This Democratic primary was exemplary. No name calling ... that stuff is for third graders." Yes, name calling is for third graders. Which I guess is why she then blurted out "Can I just say, to the Bernie or Bust people, you're being ridiculous." Wow, there's a well-reasoned argument. "You're being ridiculous." I have mixed feelings about people shouting in a hall, but what was really ridiculous was that as I flipped from network to network, none seems to want to tell me what it was the delegates were chanting. After poking around my twitter feed, here's some of what they were apparently saying -- more substantial than the speeches from the podium: "Tax Wall Street!" and "Release the transcripts!" and "99 percent!" and, as it was claimed that Clinton would be tough on Wall Street: "Goldman Sachs! Goldman Sachs!" and "We trusted you! We trusted you!" (to Elizebeth Warren) and apparently, at one point, they referred to the DNC scandal -- "Wikileaks! Wikileaks! Wikileaks!" When Bernie Sanders talked about Hillary Clinton on crime, some shouted "super predators!" Advertisement But who wants to hear what delegates think when we have Sarah Silverman making STD jokes about "feel the burn"? Not that activists shouldn't be questioned. I've had my own criticisms of #BernieOrBust for some time. Some of them have made a cult out of an obviously flawed man, who it's been apparent for weeks if not months would not get the nomination. Backing Sanders should be a tactic, not the goal. His supporters now should use the VotePact.org voting strategy -- see in my piece "#BernieAndBoom." This would mean disenchanted Democrats and disenchanted Republicans who know and trust each other pairing up and vote for the independent candidates of their choice, like the Green or Libertarian candidates. Methodical action is the order of the day in the coming weeks, months and years. And I don't mean to be too hard on Silverman. After all, I don't think her performance with Al Franken was quite the unintentionally funniest bit on Monday night. I thought it was hilarious when Elizabeth Warren tried to paint Clinton as someone who would stand up to Wall Street. And I thought it was unintentionally uproariously funny when the much touted "first Muslim" member of Congress, Keith Ellison, introduced Sanders without a mention of perpetual U.S. wars -- which have killed hundreds of thousands of Muslims over the last several decades. Seeing the king of rhetoric, Bill Clinton applauding speakers like some kind of phony wise man was sickeningly priceless. And there was comedic irony in Cory Booker's endless empty platitudes about "courage" and such as grassroots activists showed some degree of actual courage -- struggling to find a way to be heard in a rigged system. Silverman also said: "My shrink says we don't get what we want, we get what we think we deserve." So, maybe that's what she thinks she deserves: a corporate, militaristic candidate serving the interests of the elite -- of which Silverman is a member at this point. Advertisement The sign many were waving last night -- "love trumps hate" -- was way off. Clinton -- "we came, we saw, he died" (about Qaddafi) -- is the candidate of love? Really? The Clinton message is actually "fear trumps Trump". Even as speaker after speaker at the DNC attacked Trump for instilling fear (true enough), their own go-to message was: Back Hillary because the Donald should arouse such fear in you that all other thought processes should immediately shut down. So it took extra chutzpah, and comedic gold, for Silverman to saying that "I will vote for Hillary with gusto" -- showing for all to see her extraordinary delusion. This is a world view in which substance, debate and democracy must be avoided. The New York Times headlined a piece "Sarah Silverman tames the Bernie beast" -- echoing the now fashionable founding money man of the one percent Alexander Hamilton's derision of the general public: "Your people, sir -- your people is a great beast!" Appropriately, just as Sanders ended his own sad speech, which induced tears of grief among his perhaps naive delegates, the choreographers of the evening's festivities chimed in a riff from "Taking it to the Street" -- perhaps they didn't think to look at the rest of the lyrics of the song: You, telling me the things you're gonna do for me I ain't blind and I don't like what I think I see Quite appropriate for an evening of promises on behalf of the corporate candidate of perpetual wars who has just again reiterated her actual big money allegiance with her vice presidential pick -- to the delight of a stage managed, big media driven system appalled by the threat of accountability and democracy actually breaking out. On the morning of February 16, 1992, my mother locked the front door to our house in Montevideo, Uruguay for the very last time in her life and mine. In tow were my two younger brothers and I, and a set of handmade suitcases the size of bloated water tanks, which we affectionately referred to as Los Chanchos. Our house was the modest space above my father's hardware store, which now stood dark and empty, all items liquidated in its final sale a month ago. On the sidewalk in front of the store, the green graffiti that my boyfriend had painted in honor of my sixteenth birthday two months prior still shone bright. Of course, he was the most handsome boy in my class (Note: I have since learned that I have questionable taste in men, so he may or may not have been the most handsome boy in my class). Advertisement As a sixteen-year old, I expected some agency in the matters of my life. But no one asked me whether I wanted to leave behind a rather pleasant life in Uruguay in pursuit of this mythical America-The-Land-of-Opportunity. My father beamed every time he spoke of America and ever more so once the papers had come through. I had no choice. When we arrived in Brooklyn, New York, my father showed us to our new rental apartment- unit 1 of a multi-unit brick row house in Brighton Beach, which perpetually smelled of burned chili con carne. The day was cold and dark, the elevated subway rumbled behind our apartment every ten minutes, and I was trying to find ground. In between noticing the cockroaches climbing the kitchen counter and unpacking my inadequate belongings (Note: no warm hat, scarf, gloves or down jacket for February in New York), it began to dawn on me that I had lost it all: my boyfriend, my friends, my school of ten years, my grandmother, my aunt, my cousins, dulce de leche, my identity and my sense of belonging. Most teenagers (Note: humans) want to feel they belong- I was no different. I had read that New York City was the melting pot of the world so I expected only a normal level of difficulty in making new friends. Not that I had ever had to make new friends - I had attended the same homogeneous and insular Jewish Day School in Uruguay since I was five years old. I started by speaking in Spanish to the Hispanic girls in my Spanish for Native Speakers class, but they told me I was "whiter than Snow White." Then, I spoke in English to the white girls in my AP Calculus class, but they struggled with my nascent English As a Second Language (Note: English was my third language as I had also learned Hebrew for ten years prior). The Russians only spoke Russian to each other and they loved pickles; I very much disliked pickles. Quickly, it became apparent that society had program us to seek sameness and detect differences. Well, I detected that New York City wasn't really the melting pot it claimed to be; instead, New York City was more like my little brother's divided dinner plate in which the carrots stayed in the carrots compartment, separated by a plastic ridge that would never allow them to touch the chicken or the rice. And, in the United States, I was neither carrots, nor chicken nor rice. I was the rarity that meant being a Caucasian Hispanic Jew from Uruguay who disliked pickles; so where was my compartment on this plate? (Note: The boys had no problem talking to me). Advertisement At that early time, however, I checked my lust for belonging and its entire carousel of emotional baggage into cavernous storage deep within myself. I neither had the capacity nor the time to deal with feelings; I was very busy. I had to study (hard), work (a lot), cook (stuffed chicken for my working parents, and sleep (when the subway was not screeching past my bedroom). I thought I could do without belonging. After all, I was fine with books, work, and stuffed chickens. And, I belonged to my family. Wasn't that enough? Plus, once I saved enough money from my slew of part-time jobs, I would get to return to Uruguay on vacation. Then, I could fill my bucket of belonging all at once. I would feel the warm embrace of my surroundings and connect with people who understood my past. Over the next year, I continued knitting my safety net of American Dream accomplishments one stitch at a time - good grades, admission to a decent college, applying and getting every scholarship I could possibly find, a couple of part-time jobs. I also started dating a Russian Jew who loved pickles. And slowly, I saved enough money to buy a ticket back to visit my homeland, Uruguay. At the Airport in Uruguay, I immediately went to the eerily short passport line for locals. I arranged to visit my grandmother and aunt, and meet with old friends. But as my old friends surrounded me, I noticed that the feeling of belonging I came to Uruguay to get kept eluding me. "You sound like you are from Ecuador,now" said one of my friends. For the record, Ecuador is not Uruguay. His honest remark, however, was pointing to a new reality: In the midst of trying to find my place in the world, the change itself had changed me. Advertisement I went for a walk on the boardwalk by Pocitos Beach and started thinking that maybe I would be just okay never belonging anywhere again, and I should just make peace with that instead of spending my short life's savings on an airplane ticket to chase belonging. Done with that. I still craved to belong but I didn't belong - not in the United States, not in Uruguay anymore. Not anywhere. Fine. But no, a part deep in me shouted. That is when it hit me that I was clinging to labels to find belonging; the labels of " Caucasian Hispanic Jew from Uruguay" were ones I had chosen for myself in the United States of America. Did I need these labels? Did they really tell about who I was or wanted to become? What if I could instead define myself as none of that. I could define myself as a "woman." Better yet, I could define myself as "human." Unlabeled. When I unlabeled myself, I discovered I could better connect to the parts we all share: That I feel things so deeply or not at all. That I avoid pain and seek comfort. That I am getting to know myself - slowly and haphazardly, like a life long love affair. That the intolerance in this world hurts my heart, brain and soul. As an unlabeled human, I can see the truth: I belong everywhere, among any and all humans on this planet, just like every other human trying to find meaning and happiness in this life. In the face of present chaos in the world, most of it based on the labels the human race has chosen as cling wrap, hasn't the time come for us to drop these labels and begin to see the basic humanity that connects us all? How could we cling to these labels (religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) when there is blood in our hands? All humans deserve a chance at a peaceful life. Dropping the labels we use to separate us is our life's work as a human race. Let's get to it. Advertisement With over 80 million people in the generational cohort, millennials compose the largest demographic of consumers in the United States. The sheer size and spending power of millennials -- which Accenture estimates to be about $600 billion each year -- makes this generation the main target of many consumer businesses. E-commerce brands that can capture the hearts, minds and wallets of millennials are poised to see incredible success. Conversely, those that fail to do so will quickly fall behind. There are many ways marketers can connect with millennials, and email marketing should be a key anchor of their outreach strategy. According to a survey from Adobe, 58 percent of of millennials say that email is their preferred way to be contacted by a brand. With this in mind, there are several tactics email marketers can implement to build a strong connection and foster customer loyalty with the millennial generation. Read on for tips to help reach the largest group of consumers and turn them into your brand's biggest fans. Meet Them on Mobile The millennial wave of consumers is the on-the-go generation fueling the explosive growth of the on-demand economy. They're shifting content consumption away from desktop and onto tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices. In fact, Adobe's study found that 88 percent of millennials use a smartphone to check email. Advertisement Email marketers need to optimize their content and campaigns for mobile devices to effectively convey their messages. They should leverage responsive design to ensure their messages automatically adjust to meet the constraints of a much smaller screen. Emails should be visual-based, light on text and quick to load otherwise millennials will be quick to dismiss content and move messages to the trash. A successful mobile marketing strategy should also take into consideration the nomadic nature of millennials. Marketers can leverage geolocation data and timely triggers to send personalized emails to consumers based on where they are and what they're doing. The more relevant the email to the consumer's current frame of mind, the more likely that individual will be to purchase a product. Make it Visual and Interactive The millennial generation is not only increasingly mobile, but also more influenced by visuals than words. Blogs have long been a medium for self-expression via written content, but they have been supplanted by platforms that enable visual self-expression, including YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat. A Forrester report on consumer interactions with branded social platforms revealed that Instagram -- which is completely image-based -- far surpassed other social networks for user interactions with its 4 percent engagement rate. Keeping pace with this trend, marketers should cut down on text in their marketing messages to keep the attention of their readers. Instead, they should use images, videos or other forms of interactive content like polls to creative a more immersive, engaging experience for their millennial subscriber base. The visual content will help consumers feel more connected to the brand, fostering a deep relationship that can transition into long-term loyalty. Advertisement Sync Up with Social Media Another differentiator of the millennial generation is the propensity to use social media to find information, communicate with brands and share thoughts. A Pew report about millennials found that 75 percent have created at least one social media account. As millennial consumers use social media to seek out products and brands on their own, marketers should prepare dedicated social media platforms that drive traffic to their site and newsletters as well as encourage email subscriptions. Email marketers should also factor millennials' social media content consumption into their design and content layout for email campaigns. If image-based sites like Instagram or Pinterest are the referral source for new subscribers, these subscribers should receive email messages with more images than text -- reflecting the end user's demonstrated preferences. If new subscribers are referred via a brand's YouTube page, they likely have a preference for video content and should be targeted accordingly. Marketers should make it easy for these consumers to continue the conversation with their brand by including links to their social media platforms in each message. Embedding social sharing buttons into the body of emails allows readers to easily share a brand's content with their own network of followers. The woman blogger writing reviews about places visited in the trip. Planning travel. Thirst travel Travel blogging is a fantastic way to document your journey, inspire the internet world and make an income to support your travels. While starting a travel blog is highly recommended, this article goes out to those of you who already have one. Whether you blog strictly for family and friends or your aim is to spread your message and bring in an income, here are some ways that you can improve your travel blog to reach your goals. Create Content That People Want This makes the top of the list as it's one of the most given bits of advice out there. It may seem obvious but the best way to have a successful blog is to create content that people actually want to see. If no one is interested in what you're sharing, you may find it difficult to gain recognition, have eyes on your work and generate any sort of income. So, how do you know what people want? Well, first think about the kind of content that you personally would like to read and start there. Make your content useful, relevant and easy to digest. A great way of finding out what people want is by searching "Google Keywords" to see what people are specifically typing into search engines. If you see that a ton of people are searching for the best cafes in Bali, and you happen to have spent a month traveling there, consider writing an article and posting some photos on this topic. Advertisement Offer Useful Resources Offering something useful or of value to readers is a great way to get them interested or coming back to your posts. Think about the information that travelers need to know like the best sightseeing spots, modes of travel, visa regulations and suggestions for vaccines and offer some content on it. It's helpful if you add in links to official websites or photographs that help explain certain bits of information. Keep up With Social Media Social media is huge in the travel blogging world and even if you aren't personally a fan, it's important to keep up. Make sure you have up to date profiles on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and constantly be on the lookout for upcoming trends like Snapchat and Periscope. Make the content slightly different across the various platforms and give people a reason to follow or share your content by making it visually appealing or entertaining. If you don't feel like you have the time to keep up with it all, consider getting help by using programs like Instagress, Buffer or Mass Planner to help you manage your accounts and schedule posts. Create Products It doesn't need to be done right away but creating relevant products to sell or give away on your blog can increase engagement, offer value and help you earn an income. Make yourself an expert by writing E-books, creating courses, devising your own travel products, offering tours or selling travel related services. Consider making your products stand out by offering intriguing infographics or explainer videos. These videos tend to be animations that depict what you are offering in an eye catching and entertaining way. The explainer video company, Again Studios, offers some great examples of the kind of videos that can make your products seem more interesting. Not many bloggers are utilizing this method of drawing attention to their products but it could really help to set you apart. Advertisement Be Unique Whatever you do, try to be unique. There are hundreds of travel blogs out there and many of them seem to blur together. Find your niche whether it be traveling as a vegan, gluten intolerant, book lover or animal enthusiast and stick with it as much as possible. Look for chances to layout your website differently than others or to offer products and services that others aren't. Think about ways to be different within your content, value and the way the site looks if you want to surpass the other travel blogs out there. Target Unusual Destinations A fantastic way to improve your travel blog, get noticed and make it more valuable is to visit destinations that are more unusual or less traveled. There are probably a million posts on "The Top Things to do in Bali," but maybe there aren't so many on Brunei. Keep safety as your top priority but try to adventure off to places that are covered on a less consistent basis. When people are looking to travel to them, your blog will most likely come up more often than if you had written about a more popular place. Also on HuffPost: A protest in New Delhi following the savage gang rape of a 23 year old woman in December 2012 which shocked the entire country. Photo by NARINDER NANU/AFP/Getty Images India, a country best-known for its rising economic might, is the worst place to be a woman. On Sunday, 25 July 2016, an Israeli woman was gang raped in Manali, India. The incident is a gruesome reminder of the uncomfortable truth that India is not prepared to deal with the deluge of crimes perpetrated against women daily - a woman is raped every 22 minutes. Consider this. Reports emerged this month that a young woman was gang-raped by the same men who had raped her three years earlier in Rohtak, Haryana in North India. Frankly law enforcement authorities should be ashamed of themselves. That the criminals were free all along and had the temerity to repeat the crime on the same victim can only point to the abysmal failure by Indian law enforcers to deal with rape crimes. Advertisement Clearly, the attackers' decision to track the victim and repeat the crime was meant to thumb their noses at her family and authorities, fully aware that they would get away with it again. There have been other equally disturbing cases. A mother and daughter in Kerala whose complaints of stalking were disregarded by police until the daughter was raped, mutilated and murdered. Or the father whose pleas for investigation into his teenage daughters' disappearance were ignored by police only for the girls to be found hanging from trees after being gang-raped. Women in India have been let down by the very institutions that should protect them against crimes like rape, and it is not surprising that that the country is now known as the rape capital of the world. Despite societal outrage and widespread media spotlight on the crimes, law-enforcement institutions have been slow to act, and at times lethargic. When will the state machinery wake up? What more needs to happen before the police react to crimes against women promptly? Advertisement To the credit of the authorities, significant steps have been made in reviewing outmoded laws regarding violence against women. However, these statutes must be accompanied by the will and resources for implementation on the ground. While legal reforms must be upheld, especially to speed up and assure prosecution of offenders, even more urgent is to change the attitude of Indian men towards women. From a Trotsky perspective 'the police is after all a copy of society and suffers from all its diseases'. The patriarchal, misogynistic Indian culture invariably condones, covertly or explicitly, violent acts like rape. Then there is the legacy question of class - the law and society favour the wealthy over the poor. Victims from lower castes and poor backgrounds are routinely threatened by families and allies of the accused from higher castes. In fact, the victim in the most recent case in Rohtak was forced to move after the first attack due to threats and pressure ostensibly because of her status as a Dalit (lower caste). The victim in Kerala was also of a lower caste. Numerous victims have reported that if the family of the accused is of a higher caste or is wealthy, police go out of their way to avoid filing a First Information Report (FIR) which compels them to investigate. Where a woman, against many odds, manages to file a complaint of rape or harassment, the law enforcement machinery is often shockingly apathetic towards the victim and her family, often displaying a unique eagerness to protect the accused and to disbelieve the victim. When they are not being discouraged, they suffer a double miscarriage of justice by being held somehow responsible for the rape. This cannot be allowed to go on. India's police is in urgent need for radical reform. The police must hire more women and ensure that female officers are present during reporting of rape crimes, samples are properly collected, kits secured and cases filed and investigated promptly. Assurance of speedy trials and prosecutions will deter criminals more than the harshest punishments that are never meted out. Currently, because of low arrest and conviction rates, lack of confidentiality and fear they won't be believed, only a tiny percentage of women report rape to the police. Even with sensitivity training for the police force, there will still be need for engaging the wider community for civic policing. Resourceful individuals such as military veterans could be co-opted in this campaign, as they are respected by communities. These veterans or ex-servicemen, acting as citizen wardens, can be a powerful deterrent and role models. The journey towards changing social attitudes, increasing the probability of punishment, improving reporting and taking better preventive measures will be a long one, but it is one that must be undertaken with urgency. For starters, from an early age, boys must be taught to desist from behaviour that objectify women, irrespective of their social standing. This must become mandatory learning in schools and communities. A country whose women are oppressed is unlikely to progress. If India wants to be the next global economic power, the equality, dignity and safety of all women must be at the very top of its national priorities. Photo by: Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/IPx 7/21/16 Donald Trump at day 4 of The Republican National Convention. (Cleveland, Ohio) Perhaps the most surprising moment in Donald Trumps acceptance speech and its only generous, humanizing moment came when he went off-script to thank the Republican convention delegates for cheering his call to protect LGBTQ persons from terrorist violence. It was the first time LGBTQ people have been mentioned positively in a Republican acceptance speech. Trump didnt need to emphasize the fact that most victims of the Orlando mass shooting were LGBTQ, but he did. And the audience cheered, while millions of Americans watched. As a Republican, it is so nice to hear you cheering for what I just said, Trump ad libbed. The moment did not seem planned or contrived. Advertisement Earlier the same evening, another prime-time speaker declared himself proud to be gay, and questioned the religious rights new obsession with transgender people and bathrooms. Something was notably different about the televised proceedings of this years Republican convention: LGBTQ people were treated with dignity, while anti-LGBTQ messages were muzzled. The convention thus highlighted an important political and social trend: the religious rights decades-long culture war against LGBTQ people has finally lost its power and relevance, even with much of the Republican base. The religious rights leaders and issues have traditionally held a place of honor at Republican conventions. In 2004 the year Republican leaders and religious activists worked hand-in-hand to engineer state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage President George W. Bush freely insulted gay Americans, telling his convention that [b]ecause the union of a man and woman deserves an honored place in our society, I support the protection of marriage against activist judges. Just four years ago, Rick Santorum was given time at the podium to denounce the gay assault on marriage and the family. Advertisement But such rhetoric no longer sells on the national stage. The religious right is facing unsustainable declines in both its numbers and influence. Consider that Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who describe themselves as conservative and highly religious account for 34 percent of the party (the number goes up to 49 percent if you also include moderately religious conservatives), and Republicans and Republican leaners are about 42 percent of the country. So the religious rights hard-core base is between 14 and 21 percent of Americans. Those numbers obviously are not a moral majority. For a long time, the religious right wielded power greater than its share of the electorate because Republicans and some Democrats believed that most voters agreed with its positions on gay marriage and other LGBT issues. (Even Barack Obama thought it was necessary to bullshit that he opposed same-sex marriage in order to get elected in 2008.) But no one believes any of that anymore. Gay marriage now enjoys solid and sustained majority support, and even support by Republicans continues to grow. In a survey this year, morality and religion ranked last among ten issue priorities for Republicans and Republican leaners. There are now more non-religious voters than evangelical voters in the United States. And the religious right increasingly finds itself in disarray. As a religion writer for The Atlantic observed back during primary season, the conservative Christian voting bloc is a splintered remnant of the kingmaking machine it once was. To be sure, the 2016 Republican platform is more harshly anti-gay than ever, demanding reversal of the Supreme Courts marriage equality decision (which anyone who understands the Court knows will never happen) and endorsing anti-gay conversion therapy. But this must be seen in context. Trump ceded the platform committee to extremists because he understands that statements in the platform have no practical consequences. Almost no one knows or cares what the platform says. A platform committee is just a sandbox where a partys most committed ideologues can be allowed to feel important for a week. Advertisement By contrast, prime time is where a party presents the face seen by millions of people. And in prime time even this undisciplined, shambolically mis-run convention steered clear of anti-LGBT messaging. Outside the spotlight, Tony Perkins, one of the religious rights star bigots, could flaunt his satisfaction with the platform. But in the three minutes he was given to address the convention, Perkins served up only a dull, generic little sermon about keeping God in public life. Not a word about gays, marriage, or bathrooms. He never even used the phrase religious liberty, which has become code for freedom to discriminate. The same was true for vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, who is best-known for his role in the anti-gay politics surrounding Indianas Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The same for Jerry Falwell Jr., one of Trumps evangelical stooges. And the same for the buffoonish benediction by South Carolina preacher Mark Burns. Not a word from any of them about gays, sanctity of marriage, religious liberty, or bathrooms. Even Ted Cruz stayed civil. The Texas senator who during the primaries stood by while a deranged preacher called for gays to be put to death made only a passing reference to religious freedom, telling the convention that whether youre gay or straight, the [Constitutions] Bill of Rights protects the rights of all of us to live according to our conscience. I dont want to overstate my argument or be misunderstood. Trump is a dangerous wanna-be authoritarian and a fraud. The idea that he would be better for LGBTQs than Hillary Clinton is absurd. He has shown no interest in advancing anti-discrimination laws. He claims to be against marriage equality. And the types of justices he says he would nominate to the Supreme Court would not have joined last years landmark marriage equality decision. Advertisement Moreover, the religious right retains strength in some state legislatures. It succeeded in pushing through anti-gay bills in a few places like North Carolina and Mississippi, overreaching and creating work for the federal courts that have been striking them down. All photos: Courtesy of M. William Phelps Christine Paolilla always felt like an outsider. By the time she entered high school, Christine had suffered the sudden death of her father and was diagnosed with alopecia--an irreversible disease that caused her to lose her hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes. Kids were cruel, calling her a clown due to her heavy makeup and unflattering wigs. But when popular classmates Tiffany Rowell and Rachael Koloroutis befriended Christine, things started looking up. Christine's happiness with her newfound friendship makes what happened next all the more shocking: On July 18, 2003, Christine and her boyfriend Christopher Snider went to Tiffany's home in Clear Lake City, Texas, and murdered Tiffany, Rachael, and two other friends in cold blood. Why would a young girl-who had already experienced such a deep loss-commit such a brutal act? Especially upon the two people she seemingly cared about most. Advertisement Christine Paolilla's best friends Rachael Koloroutis, left, and Tiffany Rowell, right. The discovery of the crime scene was just as shocking. From multiple gun shot wounds to Rachael's head being smashed in by the butt of a pistol, police were left wondering: Who would ruthlessly kill four innocent teenagers in broad daylight? Investigative journalist and true-crime expert M. William Phelps dives into the shocking mass murder in his book Never Seen Them Again by interviewing the victims'--and killers'--friends and family members, combing through trial transcripts and other reports. The result is an extremely detailed--yet compulsively readable--account of the lead up to the crime and its aftermath. KEEP READING FOR AN EXCERPT FROM NEVER SEE THEM AGAIN. IT WAS JUST after 6:00 on the evening of July 18, 2003. For the past 90 minutes, 18-year-old Brittney Vikko (pseudonym) had been calling Tiffany Rowell, one of her BFFs since middle school. Something was wrong, Brittney felt. She kept dialing Tiffany's number, but there was no response. Brittney had spoken to Tiffany's boyfriend of several years, Marcus Precella, earlier that day, after Marcus had answered Tiffany's cell phone. Advertisement "She's in the bathroom," Marcus said. It was close to 3:00 then. "I'll call back," Brittney told him. Thirty minutes later, Brittney started phoning her friend again. But no one--not even Marcus--picked up. "I was in the area, so I drove over to Tiffany's house," Brittney recalled later. Brittney's boyfriend, her nephew, and her boyfriend's cousin went with her. Brittney drove. They stopped at a McDonald's after leaving an appointment Brittney had downtown at 4:10 P.M. A few minutes after 6:00, Brittney pulled into Tiffany Rowell's driveway in the stylish suburban neighborhood of Millbridge Drive, Clear Lake City, Texas, and noticed immediately that Marcus's and Tiffany's vehicles were there. Tiffany's truck was parked in front of the house; its back wheel up on top of the curb. Marcus's car was positioned next to the garage. Why aren't they answering their phones? Brittney pulled in behind Marcus's car. Odd, she thought, looking at both vehicles. They must be here ... Brittney got out and rang the doorbell. No answer. She rang it again. Not a peep from inside the house. She knocked. Then she tried to look through a nearby window, cupping both hands over the sides of her eyes to block the light. But again, no movement or sound from anyone inside. Christine Paolilla, right, and her boyfriend at the time of the murders, Christopher Snider, left. Brittney kept banging, harder and louder, eventually forcing the unlocked door to creak open. Brittney's boyfriend and the others watched from inside Brittney's vehicle as she slowly walked into the house. "Tiff? Y'here?" Something seemed peculiar about the situation. It was eerily quiet inside the house. There was a steely, metallic smell in the air. READ MORE: THE TWISTED MIND OF FAMILY ANNIHILATOR JOHN LIST The door left unlocked and open? Both cars in the driveway and no one around? It was so unlike Tiffany. Advertisement Where was everyone? Brittney walked through a short foyer before entering the sunken living room. She took five steps. Then found herself standing and staring at a scene that, at first, didn't register. As Brittney's boyfriend got out of her vehicle, he watched Brittney run like hell back out the same doorway she had just walked through. Brittney Vikko was screaming, with a look of terror on her face. "Call the cops!" Out of breath, approaching her boyfriend, who was now looking toward the house, Brittney yelled again. "Call ... the ... cops!" She was hysterical. Her boyfriend walked up to the doorway and approached the inside of the house. Then he came barreling out of the same doorway, screaming. Brittney was on the ground by then, crying, smashing her fists into the grass. Her boyfriend noticed a neighbor across the street talking on his cell phone. So he ran toward the guy, yelling, "Call the police! Call the police!" Advertisement The man dialed 911. "There was blood everywhere," Brittney's boyfriend later said, describing what he had seen inside Tiffany Rowell's house. As an entrepreneur who trots the globe for business meetings and site inspections, or who has a chain of companies across the globe, from the UAE to the USA, then you MUST love suitcases. You recognize hostesses on different airlines, and you eat the food served on air. Chances are, you have struck a relationship with other giant industrialists and captains of industry while chatting mid-air. What are the vital tips for a 'suitcase' entrepreneur wishing to avoid overlooking the important points for a frequent business traveler? Advertisement Perhaps you got a job that requires a lot of travel, or you see it somewhere in the near future, then you need these tips. 1. Pack Early, Pack Light To avoid forgetting vital documents, start packing your suitcase at least one week before your travel date. Doing this helps when you want to take all the things that are important to your business travel such as your business cards, your phone accessories and chargers, camera and iPad. Forgetting these items could spoil your trip, so toss them in the bag early. You can easily buy new clothes or underwear if you forget them but your essential items must be packed ahead of time to risk being lost in transit or forgotten. Also make sure you always take only essentials. If a thought starts with; "I just might need..." then you don't need it. Less is more, the last thing you want is to be stuck struggling with luggage. This is true in spite of your gender. As a suitcase entrepreneur, travel light "less is more" when you are hauling luggage. 2. Book Your Flight Ahead Booking your flight at least one week ahead (or several months if possible) of travel is the best that can always happen in your travel journey. This is because you need good space, good flight and the best airline available in order to maintain your psyche and be well rested through your travels. Plus often times booking early can get you impressive discounts which you will need considering how often you will be traveling. Advertisement An awkward journey can make anyone cranky on arrival and you don't want to appear all messed up physically and emotionally at your destination. This is how important it is to have a good flight and not be hurried or harried. Early bookings can help you get a window seat too which for me is therapeutic and gets me in the right mood for productive thinking. Booking a window seat also gives you the chance to work on your iPad or listen to music undisturbed. You don't need to move your leg if your partner needs to use the loo. You can also Sleep better mostly because the air hostess doesn't brush your shoulders when she passes by. So, getting a good flight ahead of time is good on so many levels. 3. Get App Friendly Traveling when being lost in transit happens a lot when you have so much luggage to clear or get distracted receiving a long phone call. You may have to be put on the next available flight that may not work with your schedule. Using apps can make your consistent movements much easier. Apps like Tripit saves you enough time by storing and maintaining your reservation details which you can easily forward to anyone, instead of making long phone calls trying to reel out numbers. Stephen Molloy, the author of "How Apps are Changing the World" and an avid app strategist and user himself once made a long winded round trip in one month with just the aid of apps on his iPhone-From Sydney-Santiago-Bogota-Santa Marta-Cartagena-Medellin-Fort Lauderdale-Cancun-Playa del Carmen-Los Angeles-Sydney all the while not slowing down on productivity. Advertisement Image: Steve Molloy In His words, "Opportunities to work and travel and becoming increasingly easier, today it's systemizing your business to go mobile to become more agile" and I am inclined to agree as travel apps have helped me tremendously as well and there are just too many of them not to be bothered with living the app life. Appearing at your destination prompt is the habit of a good entrepreneur. Getting delayed when you could have avoided it will cost you time and additional money. 4. Eat Light Eat light before and during the trip. Alcohol intake or heavy food is not advisable for you. This way you stay light and on your feet. As soon as you get to your hotel room at your destination, you may eat to your heart's delight if you still have a day or two to your meetings, or knock yourself out after the meeting. 5. Maintain A Positive Relationship With Your Airline Of Choice And Hotel Staff This is important for times there could be emergencies. You may have to travel on a short notice and need to speak to a customer care personnel to help you get a seat. Alternatively, skyscanner is a great app for these purposes. It keeps you booked at the best available prices. The beauty of it is that you can also make comparisons and select a hotel with a fair cost. Being polite and building friendships with flight and hotel staff will save you more than once and this makes sense only if you maintain one regular flight and one hotel in every major city you visit often. Advertisement As is often the case, I opened the Monday newspaper curious to find out how the weekend had gone at the movies. The headline read, "'Ghostbusters' Is No. 2 Behind 'Secret Life of Pets.'" That meant Universal Studios' animated film had again been the big winner, taking in an estimated $50.6 million for a two-week domestic total of $203.2 million. In the industry, it was feared that China, the world's number two market and gaining fast, might not let another hit, Ghostbusters, be shown, given its paranormal themes. Still, all in all, it had been an upbeat week for one of the two dominant American product lines that go boom in the night and also have a remarkable grip on their respective global markets. The first of those -- think action films, superhero movies, and space operas -- comes out of Hollywood and, in multiplexes globally, one thing is guaranteed: you're not going to get the next Avengers sequel or Fast and Furious 23 from Russia, France, or China. Not surprisingly, since Hollywood rakes in billions of dollars annually from the rest of the planet for entertaining us all, weekly news about its business successes and failures is a regular feature of our world. And, oh yes, then there's that other business, the one that actually makes things that go boom in the night. I'm talking, of course, about the weapons trade. As TomDispatch regular Bill Hartung, author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex, points out in "There's No Business Like the Arms Business," it has an almost monopolistic grip on its global market and, like Hollywood, regularly has cheery news to offer about the billions of dollars it pulls in from countries at war or fearing future conflicts. In fact, for a business that -- bottom line -- kills people rather than simply thrilling them with bloody mayhem, it, too, has a remarkably upbeat sense of itself. Advertisement Take Thomas Kennedy, CEO of Raytheon, a major arms maker, presently cleaning up when, as Defense News reports, it comes to the "missile defense interceptor, as well as air-to-ground missiles and air-to-air combat missiles fired by fighter jets" that it's selling across the Middle East (and in some cases in Asia, too). The company is projecting a revenue rise of 3%-5% this year and, according to Defense One, "When investors visiting Raytheon's factories ask 'How's business?' Kennedy tends to respond like this: 'Did you notice you couldn't get a parking space?... 'Where else can you find a factory in America that you can't get a parking space?'" Every time a terrorist attack occurs outside of the Middle East (whether in America, Belgium, France, or anywhere else), some politicians and citizens seem to automatically disregard the provisions of the First Amendment and start to exhibit Islamophobia. Most recently, after the attack in Nice, former US Representative Newt Gingrich called for a test of every American with a Muslim background. To find out if they believed in Sharia law; and if they did, this would be grounds for deportation out of the United States. I will not list the many other examples of this behavior from numerous politicians, and I will also not digress into how I feel this infringes upon the people's right to freedom of religious expression. The scope of this writing will be about the underlying apprehension of the US by people in the Middle East and how Islamophobic behavior feeds the problem, which in my opinion is tantamount to letting the terrorists win. First, I think some background is needed. I think that the foreign policy of administrations in America since the end of World War II has been convoluted and cantankerous, at best. I can list the many dictators that the US supported for the mere fact that the tyrannical leaders of these countries were anti-communists, such as in Central and South America. And the most poignant example of this poor policy is the CIA backed coup in Iran in 1953. This coup removed a nationalist Iranian leader (Mohammad Mosaddegh), and put into power an Iranian pro-US leader as Shah (Mohammad Reza Pahlavi). All in the interest of securing Iranian oil for America, regardless of the official statements on the matter. The nationalization of Iranian oil scared the US government to such a degree, that it caused the United States to make one of the worst mistakes in its history of foreign policy decisions. Advertisement And what, in the end, did the Iranian people see? A foreign power controlling the course of a sovereign nation and neglecting the will of the people, and placing Reza Pahlavi into a position of near absolute power. Who would then go onto to become an oppressive tyrant that terrorized the civilian population of Iran. This situation led to the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini, and the Iranian Revolution in 1979; which caused the American people to nervously watch their TV's for 444 days. Incidents like this, and others, have become the backdrop of distrust and aversion of many Muslims towards America, Europe, and the Western world in general. This brings me to our current global problem with extremist Muslim factions. Daesh (and other organizations past and present) have a recurring theme in their propaganda, that Western civilization is completely incompatible with Islam. Using this line to convince young Muslim men and women that it is better to martyr themselves than to acclimate themselves into a Western society that could never accept them as equals because of their religious beliefs. And then turns these disillusioned individuals into cheap "smart" bombs, telling them to cause the most destruction and terror possible. And every time a terrorist attacks, right-wing politicians drive this wedge in further; showing young and impressionable Muslims that they are not welcome or accepted in our American society. Making the recruiters of these extremist groups smile because it adds to the narrative they are already preaching to the disillusioned and disenfranchised Muslim people and more specifically the younger members. Enabling the leaders of these groups to convince more and more people to commit atrocities against the Western world in the name of the "Caliphate. Advertisement And how do we the people protect ourselves and our families from this menace? Do we need to put more boots on the ground in these hotspots in the Middle East, and risk the lives of more US troops? Increase the number of drone strikes against suspected operatives? Punish the families of individuals who commit terrorist acts? In the end these policies will only cause more and more collateral damage to civilians in the region; as well as damage the image of the United States diplomatically throughout the world. And will only serve to validate the message of the extremists. Image credit: PicJumbo. We're used to living in a world where having a college or university degree has always been the minimum requirement to be considered for a job. No matter how skilled you are, it's hard to get noticed and have employers value your skills if you lack a degree. But times are changing. Today, the average high school graduate has the option to look beyond a run-of-the-mill degree. Alternative means of education -like online certification courses- are proving to be as effective in the long run. What has contributed to this change in perception? Simply put, online certifications deliver incredible returns for the investment, both in terms of time and resources. While a college or university degree takes three to five years to finish, online certification programs run for no longer than a few weeks or a couple of months, depending on the field of study. Increased employer recognition and the tangible benefits that follow from having a certification to your name have made this a popular choice for professionals around the world. Advertisement According to Upwork, 54 million people did freelance work in 2015, with the number as high as 75 million in 2016. That's 24% of the population of the United States! The pull of a freer lifestyle and flexible working hours have been the main reasons an increasing number of professionals are opting for freelance careers. And freelance professionals are among the biggest customers for online learning service providers. I'm exploring my professional education options. Which do I choose: university, online certification, or a blend of both? Attending university while pursuing an online certification course to add industry-relevant skills brings together the best of both worlds, naturally. But let's be honest - none of us have the time nor the inclination to commit to both. If you're passionate about a specific field and want to start working as soon as possible, choosing an online course or certification program is the way to go. Here are a few reasons I prefer online certification training to university degrees. Demands less of your valuable time As I mentioned before, getting an online certification takes anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. It depends on your chosen field and effort you put in. Also, it allows you to balance work, social life, and your family with professional education. At university, studies will take years to finish and will severely constrain your time. Advertisement Cost-effective learning According to the Top Universities survey, fees for 2014/15 at state colleges were an average of $9,139 for state residents and $22,958 for everyone else. In comparison, with online courses, you can get your professional certificate for less than $1000. Flexibility - learn anytime, anywhere One of the biggest benefits of online courses is that you can study from anywhere. Whether you're at home, on the commute, or are on vacation, e-learning affords you the flexibility to learn anywhere, and on any device. You don't have to get up early in the morning, go to class, & study for a university-stipulated period of time daily. Widely accepted & recognized Five years ago, few would have attached any credibility to an online certification. Today, online certifications like the PMP, CBAP, Lean Six Sigma, etc, carry more value and credibility than a university degree, even. One reason for this development is that large MNCs like YouTube & Facebook are entering into agreements with certification providers. Companies are struggling with a skills-gap crisis, with a dearth of suitably skilled professionals who have received industry-oriented training. Conventional education -university programs, college degrees, vocational training- aren't designed to cope with the changing needs of industry, while online certifications are devised specifically with this end objective in mind. Advertisement Last year, LinkedIn bought video site Lynda.com for $1.5-billion, giving further impetus to the theory that tech and education are working together. Too many certification options to choose from - which do I pick? Find an industry that is in its growth phase and has potential. A field like digital marketing, quickly becoming the biggest area of spending for companies in every industry, is a great place to start. According to a recent study on Yahoo Finance, digital marketing is number 6 on the list of top 10 careers for non-degree holders around the world. The study uses "the average salary of the top 8% of earners in each of these fields without an advanced degree" as the criterion for listing. The salary for skilled, certified digital marketers has no upper bound. While the average begins at $73,000, certified, knowledgeable marketers can expect to earn as much as $210,000. But these are only average figures. The best marketers in the industry can earn much more. But again, digital marketing is not for everyone. Identify a field of study you are comfortable with and one that best aligns with your long-term goals. Then look for courses and online training programs to get yourself ready for the industry. Advertisement Online education - the game changer The primary criterion for employers is to have a professional on their team. It matters little whether you learned your craft sitting four years in a classroom or spent three months learning with online courses. Industry standards, norms, and best practices are in a constant state of flux. Conventional pedagogy is always playing catch-up. By contrast, e-learning providers like Treehouse, Simplilearn, Codecademy and others help you improve & learn new skills quickly. In a few weeks, you will be able to get a new certification and launch your dream career. Online training for enterprises Online training programs are also proving hugely beneficial for enterprises. The availability of multi-modal delivery options, the elimination of logistical considerations, and ease of access translate to significant savings in employee training & L&D overheads. In addition, with most e-learning providers boasting of diverse catalogs, companies are able to further cut costs by opting for a single training provider for all business functions. In conclusion Crossposted from UN Women. In Quezon City, three out of five women experience sexual harassment in public spaces. For girls aged 18 24, the prevalence is even higher. As part of UN Womens Safe Cities Global Flagship Programme Initiative, the Metro Manila Programme held the first-ever hackathon in May 2016, to seek mobile technology solutions to sexual harassment and violence against women and girls in public spaces. The sun is setting over Quezon City, Philippines and a 13-year-old girl walks quickly towards the bus station, looking over her shoulders as she goes, worried the boys that hang out around the station will try to corner her again. She opens her phone safety app, ready to press the alert button if needed. The app will notify other app users nearby and activate a distress call for help. It could save her that day Clau Yagyagan, winner of the first prize for the Professional Category for Safe Cities Hackathon. Photo: UN Women Safe Cities Manila Programme In this sprawling city, street harassment and sexual violence against women and girls are rampant in public spaces. Three out of five women report having experienced various forms of sexual harassment such as catcalling, stalking and groping in public transportation. For girls aged 18-24, the prevalence is as high as 88 per cent. Quezon City, the biggest of 16 cities in Metro Manila, joined the UN Women Safe Cities Global Flagship Programme Initiative in 2014 to combat sexual harassment and violence, with funding from the Spanish Agency for Development Cooperation (AECID). This year in May, as part of the Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces initiative, the Metro Manila Programme held the first-ever hackathona computer programming challengein Quezon City to seek mobile technology solutions to sexual harassment and violence against women and girls in public spaces. In partnership with the Quezon City Local Government, UN Women brought together 56 seasoned and emerging hackers in Metro Manila to use their powers for good in a 24-hour hacking session at the Korea Philippines IT Training. The Safe Cities Hackathon challenged tech experts to develop mobile safety apps f to improve reporting and combat street harassment and sexual violence of women and girls in public spaces; find innovative ways to use data; develop offline functions for when the internet is not available; and to create a new stand-alone app for womens safety in emergency situations. I'm really happy that I joined the hackathon and I got a chance to be part of this movement to help make our cities safer for women, says Clau Yagyagan, 24, who won the #SafeCitiesHackathon: Tech the Path to Womens Safety Professional Category prize with her app DLock. The app features an easy-to-use lock screen with one-click buttons to send a message and make a phone call to an emergency contact. It also has a list of city directories to contact police stations, fire stations and hospitals in a specific city. The app has a reporting feature that allows a user to post messages and connect with other users of the app who are within a set radius, and request help if needed. Advertisement For the Students category, the Lesters Pips team of hackers won with their ScAFE app, which is able to show the user where the safe points are in an area, such as the nearest and most crowded places based on the users location. The user can also send a message to the nearest patrol area or alert family members and friends if she is experiencing harassment. Winners of the Student Category, Lesters Pips from PLM University. Left to right: Marc Joseph S. Avinante, Ma. Richelle B. Aguilar, Allen Benedict J. Magpoc, Roemil G. Cabal. Photo: UN Women Safe Cities Manila Programme All the winners at the hackathon will present their inventions to Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista later this month. The Safe Cities Metro Manila Programme is working to address the lack of security that women feel as they move about in the cityusing public transport, lining up in terminals, going to the markets, and even while walking in their own neighbourhoods. We are committed to work with UN Women to explore how we can use mobile apps to advance womens safety in our city, said Quezon City Administrator Aldrin Cuna. Vijay K. Mathur The GOP nominee for president, Donald Trump, opposes trade pacts like NAFTA and TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership (not yet approved by the Senate) in his campaign. These pacts reduce trade barriers and tariffs. Senator Bernie Sanders, contender for the presidency in Democratic primaries, campaigned vehemently against trade pacts. The presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton has also backed out of her initial support for TPP, perceiving that the American people are not very sympathetic with the idea of trade pacts even though most economists believe these pacts promote free trade and economic growth. Another recent example is the Brexit (exit of Britain) vote in a UK referendum on June 23, 3016. The majority of voters voted for UK to pull out of EU (European Union). This outcome was a surprise, despite warnings by concerned thoughtful politicians and economists that pulling out of EU will decrease economic growth and result in other adverse economic consequences for the economy. These examples demonstrate that a significant number of voters in US and UK do not support the idea of efficiency without due attention to equality in public policy. In 1970's Arthur Okun, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors in President Johnson's administration, wrote a celebrated book, Equality and Efficiency, The Big Tradeoff (1975) in which he discusses the conflict between efficiency and equality. In his view, efforts to promote efficiency end up creating inequalities in income and standards of living among its citizens. Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders both alluded to harmful economic outcomes of trade pacts and globalization, thus garnering support of a significant proportion of voters. Advertisement TPP is a trade pact between 11 countries, most of which are low wage countries. We have already experienced adverse disparate economic impacts of cheap imports from China and out-migration of businesses to Mexico due to NAFTA. Economic Policy Institute, December 9, 2013, reported that movement of production resulted in 700, 000 job losses. Most losses were concentrated in California, Texas and Michigan and in the manufacturing sector. Imports from China also led to closing of plants in US manufacturing sectors, for example, steel, textiles, and furniture in certain states. The same fear is associated with TPP. However, aside from globalization and trade pacts there are other reasons, such as skill-based technical change, decline of trade unions and low minimum wages for the increase in income inequality in the US. But the fact that free trade promoted by trade pacts is efficient and economically sound policy does not negate the other evidence that certain regions and labor force sectors in the country have faced detrimental economic consequences of globalization. The evidence on the outcome of the Brexit vote is mixed. Some are of the view that UK voters did not want to be governed by the dictates of EU institutions. Some were apprehensive about the free flow of people between EU countries, especially now when there is a large in-migration of people into EU countries from Middle-Eastern countries. One could argue that allowing free flow of labor is an efficient policy, however from equality perspective, free flow of labor, especially from low wage countries, has a downward effect on overall wages. Hence, free flow of labor from those countries poses a conflict between efficiency and equality, because it skews the distribution of income in favor of capital. Illegal immigration issue in the US also poses the same problem. A significant proportion of the American voters who support Donald Trump are also concerned about illegal immigration and its effect on wages and public benefits of citizens. However, the facts are that undocumented in-migrants from Mexico and other Central American countries provide low wage labor in certain sectors of the US economy where natives are not willing to work at those wages. Advertisement Nevertheless, the evidence also shows that for decades there is a redistribution of income from labor to capital. It may not be due to cheap illegal immigration, however labor does feel that lower wages of migrants, though efficient for businesses, is not improving their own standard of living. In addition, redistribution of income from labor to capital is also due to the increase in the industrial concentration and lack of competition in US markets. The Economist, March 26-April 1, 2016, points out that increase in monopoly power, and hence diminished competition, is not only inefficient but also inequitable. It results in higher profits and return to capital, high prices and/or lower wages. Therefore enforcement of Antitrust Laws against industrial concentration would improve both efficiency and equality. Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in Economics, in The Price of Inequality (2013), presents a cogent analysis of the inequality efficiency trade-off and states that "we could have a more efficient and productive economy with more equality" by curbing practices such as rent seeking, using political favors, and market failures. I am not against free trade and legal immigration. They do promote efficiencies and growth in the long run. Nevertheless, public policy requires evidence based decision making, accounting of costs and benefits and their adverse distributional consequences and remedial actions for those consequences. Even Arthur Okun in his 1970 book, The Political Economy of Prosperity, recognized that economist should pay due attention to equity while "preserving efficiency." By Matthew Mulrennan The Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOAON) with approximate locations for 'ApHRICA', a pilot project to deploy ocean pH sensors in South Africa, Mozambique, the Seychelles, and Mauritius for the first time. This project is a public-private partnership to fill in gaps for ocean acidification research in East Africa involving the U.S. Department of State, the Ocean Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, Schmidt Marine Technology Partners, and the XPRIZE Foundation and various research institutions. This week kicks off a groundbreaking workshop and pilot project to install cutting-edge ocean sensors in Mauritius, Mozambique, the Seychelles and South Africa to study ocean acidification in East Africa for the first time. The project is actually called "OceAn pH Research Integration and Collaboration in Africa - ApHRICA". Workshop speakers include the White House Science Envoy for Ocean, Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Dr. Roshan Ramessur at the University of Mauritius, and ocean sensor trainers and scientists Dr. Andrew Dickson of UCSD, Dr. Sam Dupont of University of Gothenburg, and James Beck, CEO of Sunburst Sensors. ApHRICA has been years in the making, starting with developing ocean pH sensor tools, engaging leading experts, and raising the funds to bring passionate people and new technologies together to take action, and fill much-needed ocean data gaps. Last July, XPRIZE awarded the $2 million Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE, a prize competition for developing breakthrough ocean pH sensors to improve understanding of ocean acidification. One year later, the winning team Sunburst Sensors, a small company in Missoula, Montana, is providing their 'iSAMI' ocean pH sensor for this project. The iSAMI was chosen due to its unprecedented affordability, accuracy and ease of use. Advertisement James Beck, CEO of Sunburst Sensors states, "Sunburst Sensors is both proud and excited to be working in this effort to expand the monitoring of ocean acidification to nations of Africa and eventually, we hope, around the globe." James Beck, CEO of Sunburst Sensors with the iSAMI (right) and tSAMI (left), the two winning ocean pH sensors of the $2 million Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE. The iSAMI is an easy-to-use, accurate and affordable ocean pH sensor, which will be deployed in ApHRICA. The Indian Ocean is an ideal location for this pilot project not only because it has long been a notorious mystery for oceanographers, but long-term monitoring of ocean conditions is also lacking in many regions of East Africa. ApHRICA will strengthen the resiliency of coastal communities, improve oceanographic collaboration in the region, and the data will contribute significantly to the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOAON) to improve understanding and response to ocean acidification. Mark J. Spalding, President of The Ocean Foundation, is a crucial partner on the project. Spalding says, "community food resources are being threatened by ocean acidification. This workshop is a critical step in increasing coverage for our network to forecast ocean acidification, especially in a place like East Africa that has a strong reliance on marine resources, but currently lacks the capacity to measure the status and progress of ocean acidification in the open ocean, coastal ocean and estuarine areas." Advertisement Each day, emissions from cars, planes and power plants add millions of tons of carbon into the ocean. As a result, the ocean's acidity has increased 30% since the Industrial Revolution. The rate of this ocean acidification event is likely unparalleled in Earth's history. The rapid changes in ocean acidity are causing an 'osteoporosis of the sea', increasingly harming marine life like plankton, oysters, and corals that make shells or skeletons from calcium carbonate. Dr. Roshan Ramessur, Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Mauritius, who is coordinating the training workshop believes, "this is an exciting project for us because it will allow us to build capacity in our countries for monitoring and understanding ocean acidification. The new sensors will allow us to contribute to a global network; something we haven't been able to do before. This is groundbreaking because regional capacity to study this problem is foundational for ensuring our food security futures." We know ocean acidification is a threat to marine biodiversity, coastal communities and the global economy, but we still need vital information about these changes in ocean chemistry including where it's happening, to what extent and its impacts. We need to urgently scale ocean acidification research to more countries and regions around the world from the Coral Triangle to Latin America to the Arctic. The time to act on ocean acidification is now, and ApHRICA will light a spark that makes this invaluable research grow exponentially. Matthew Mulrennan is the lead of the Ocean Initiative at XPRIZE - a commitment to conduct five ocean XPRIZE competitions, and put us on a path to making the ocean healthy, valued and understood. Hutchinson Zoo confirms avian flu in geese in its bird rehab center The virus was in geese being treated at the center. One animal was euthanized. The zoo's exhibit birds are being isolated indoors to protect them. Sections Airports Business & Regulation Business & Regulation Capital spending Chemical Plant Connectwise Digital Disruption 5G Sustainability Downstream Energy Fossil Gas Oil giw_hydrocarbons HSE Justrite Safety Group LNG Processing Manufacturing Materials Plastics Oil Refining Operation Operations and Maintenance Petrochemicals Process Plants Renewable Fuel Cells Hydro Solar Wind Technology Transportation Vessels Categories Cables, Hoses and Accessories Catalysts and Absorbents Chemicals, Additives and Raw Materials Compressors Corrosion, Cathodic Protection, Coatings and Insulation Environmental Services and Equipment Exploration and Production Filtration and Separation Equipment Fire and Explosion Protection Systems and Materials Health, Safety and Protective Equipment Heat Transfer Equipment and Pressure Vessels Heating and Thermal Equipment Ignition and Flare Systems Instrumentation IT Hardware, Software and Support Logistics and Transportation On-site Accommodation, Cleaning and Catering Facilities Pipeline and Tank Inspection, Maintenance and Rehabilitation Pipes and Pipelines Process Plants and Equipment, Control and Automation Processing Equipment, Control and Automation Project Management, Consultancy, R&D Pumps and Pump Equipment Safety Systems and Lighting Storage, Tank Maintenance and Transport Training and Simulation Valves and Actuators The most important thing to understand about the ghost producing phenomenon is that it is rooted in distribution. The current landscape of electronic music is as saturated as its ever been, with more and more musicians making and releasing content today than any other time in history. This has created a variety of consequences, the most pertinent one being: it is harder than ever before to cut through the noise as an electronic artist. The conventional thinking is that by ghost producing a newer artist can 1.) Earn extra income to help survive in an increasingly saturated music economy and 2.) Build relationships with high profile artists who they hope will then launch them into stardom with a co-sign or collaboration down the line. By ghost producing for larger artists, new producers feel that eventually these artists will connect the dots and open doors for them in the future. The problem with this mentality is that by ghost producing for more established artists, newer artists are actually reducing their odds of cutting through the noise even further. With each new hit an older DJ/producer releases, the expiration date on his/her career gets delayed. This means that instead of becoming outdated, older DJs will actually remain on the festival bills for a few more years than they would have otherwise. Ghost production allows the more established artists to have a steady stream of new, relevant music, which helps them to avoid one of the most common pitfalls any musician faces historically: an eventual change in consumer listening tastes. Many ghost producers are never lifted up into the public eye intentionally, as the more established artists tend to be fearful of the newcomers and defend their position in the EDM ecosystem to avoid becoming irrelevant. Ive had conversations with countless ghost producers who were promised future collaborations and show opportunities, only to be stuck years later wondering if those promises will ever come true. By allowing artists to persist through ghost production, the more established acts will consistently have a new, fresh sound to keep up with the times, which keeps them relevant for far longer than they could remain otherwise. With the headliners never truly retiring from the scene, more pressure and crowding occurs at the lower levels of the festival bill, making those slots even more precious and sought after. This makes the competition within dance music even more fierce, and the DJs who tend to succeed overwhelmingly in todays saturated market are increasingly the ones who have mastered the art of marketing (Dillon Francis comes to mind). Ghost production is especially hard for me to swallow, as Ive always been interested in empowering musicians to make better music and achieve their own dreams without spending years in the shadows of others. This mantra led be to launch my startup eMastered for online mastering, and Ive spent years building out my career in a world where people constantly told me my path wouldnt work and I wouldnt have lasting impact. Ive been able to earn a sustainable living off of my work in the face of a music landscape that told me my approach wouldnt let me accomplish my goals. Its heartbreaking for me to hear from talented musicians who think that ghost production is the only option they have to building a career. Recent history has shown us that by creating a unique stand-out sound that connects with listeners, incredible things are possible. This pathway can often lead to the same support that people aim to secure through ghost producing. Kygo began as a bedroom producer in Norway, and now he plays massive sold out shows worldwide on an incredible scale (he also secured support from Diplo early on in his career). Flume opted for a new style of R&B and electronic fusion, and it has carried him to brilliant heights he might not have reached if hed opted for the ghost producing approach. Its my hope that these same musicians understand that by continuing to ghost produce, they might in fact be making their dreams even harder to realize. David eventually beat Goliath, but what wouldve happened if David gave Goliath the slingshot instead of keeping it for himself? Each musician must make their own choices, but its important to understand how those choices might affect an artists futureand the future of the dance community as a whole. Allianzs new head of terrorism brings London expertise to US Retirees dont want guaranteed income in retirement, they want the potential for a pay rise too.A survey by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America shows that 80 per cent of respondents want a product that offers an income for life but 86 per cent said that they would like a product where income could rise over time.With consumers concerned about the cost of living rising, 50 per cent of respondents said that it was very or extremely important to have the potential for increased income.Our study revealed that many people depend on an annual pay raise to cover various increasing expenses and even build long-term savings, said Allianz Life Vice President of Consumer Insights Katie Libbe. Consumers facing retirement will need to explore options that create a similar income strategy by using a portion of their portfolio to obtain guaranteed income for life with the chance for increases.Without possible rising income, 53 per cent of respondents said they would be very worried, or even panicked, over their ability to maintain their standard of living through retirement.Chubb Global Markets has opened a new US office and expanded its existing team as part of a growth plan for its trade credit insurance offering.The new office is in Chicago and will focus on growing the firms presence and relationships in the Midwest especially in the industrial sector.Peter Hunter is heading the new office as VP, joining from AIG with 20 years of insurance industry experience. Yoon Koh will report to Hunter as senior underwriter and also joins from AIG.Meanwhile in New York, Brennan Elio joins as assistant VP, trade credit; he also joins from AIG.The president of Insurance and Retirement Solutions at Lincoln Financial Group is retiring after a decade with the firm.Mark E. Konen joined Lincoln as part of its merger with Jefferson Pilot in 2006; he had been with Jefferson for 12 years prior to the merger.I have greatly enjoyed my time at Lincoln and I am proud of what we accomplished during my tenure, Konen said. While making the decision to retire was not easy, I step away with confidence that the company's future is bright, Konen said.Global insurance and reinsurance firm XL Group has completed its re-domestication to Bermuda from Ireland. The holding company for insurer XL Catlin will now trade on the New York Stock Exchange and will be subject to the SEC reporting requirements. Parking meters were removed from the Center Street lot a decade ago in favor of kiosks. The council is being asked to return them now that the kiosks are broken. North Adams Panel Endorses Return of Center Street Parking Meters Councilor Keith Bona is encouraging the city to consider a smartphone app in addition to meters. NORTH ADAMS, Mass. The Public Safety Committee voted unanimously on Monday to recommend ordinance changes that will put parking meters back in the Center Street Parking Lot. The three members, however, sent a message during the discussion that the city should be looking at a parking plan for the entire downtown. "I tend to the agree that the idea of thinking about this longer term and making this move now are not mutually exclusive," said committee member Kate Merrigan. If the cost was exorbitant it would make sense to hold off, but this did not seem to be the case, she said. "The cost of installing the refurbished meters is less than $5,000. ... It seems to me that this could be moved forward and at the same time we could be talking about our next city planner about doing a comprehensive plan." The administration asked for the ordinance change to return the meters because of the difficulty in enforcement after the parking kiosk broke several years ago. Police Director Michael Cozzaglio had approached the Traffic Commission about restoring the meters last month, saying it was impossible to enforce parking limits in the short- and long-term areas. MaryAnn King, chairman of the Traffic Commission and former parking clerk, said two parking kiosks were installed in the lot in 2006 but were "not top of the line." The motherboard on the one behind the Mohawk Theater went bad about a year later and had to be replaced, but that one didn't last long. It was determined to remove it since there wasn't a lot of use at that end of the parking lot. It was used for parts for the kiosk behind 85 Main St. but that one finally died 3 1/2 years ago. "The enforcement was tough," she said. Because the parking included the first two hours free, she had to write down tags and come back two hours or so later. And those with long-term parking permits often used the short-term spaces. "You really have to have someone there all the time. Cozzaglio said re-installing the meters would allow officers to cruise through the lot and see immediately the expired meters. It would mean the end of the free two-hour parking; the new parking fees are 25 cents an hour. Mayor Richard Alcombright said the idea is to reuse the meters in the St. Anthony Municipal Parking Lot and make that underused lot free. "All the feedback I've gotten has been against putting in parking meters," said Councilor Lisa Blackmer, one of four other councilors attending the meeting, calling it a "hot button issue." She said customers have complained to business owners who in turn have complained to her. If the council went forward with the plan, she said the city needed to look at signage and plowing in the metered lot. As for enforcement, "I honestly think we should have a beat cop who works say 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. ... We should have a beat cop interacting with the residents and the tourists and people on the street when businesses are actually open." Councilor Keith Bona again urged the administration and police to consider automatic parking payments using a simple and free software. One example he showed the committee, Park Mobile, scanned a bar code to make micropayments and even sent an alert to the driver to let her know when the meter was running out. Superintendent Robert Putnam, in blue shirt, asked that the school district take the lead on a management study. Adams-Cheshire's New Leader Gives First Impressions CHESHIRE, Mass. The school district's new leader said on Monday that his first impression since arriving has been a strong sense of pride. "There is a deep and abiding pride in the community," interim Superintendent Robert Putnam told the School Committee. "A true sense of place and dedication to the towns and their institutions." Putnam was hired earlier this year as interim superintendent of the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District. He started in his post on July 1. He said he found a great sense of pride of the community after meeting with both employees of the district and residents in the two towns. His second impression was that there was an unease about the future of the district. "The unease is based on fiscal challenges facing the member towns, a decline in student population and a decline in student performance on state tests," he said. "These are issues I will be exploring in my entry plan." He said to implement this plan he will "rapidly" acquire as much information as possible about the community and the district. He said to do this he plans to reach out and interview stakeholders across the towns and district. "I am going to reach out to everybody and anybody who wants to speak to me because I think it is the only way I can really develop an understanding to guide my decisions," Putnam said. He has already met with some town officials, and introduced himself at last week's Selectmen meeting , and plans to execute more interviews over time. He said anyone interested in talking to him should contact him. Putnam said he will also conduct extensive observations in the classroom, review all documents related to existing initiatives and review financial and operational documents. He added that over the summer he has been working with the district's administrators and said he is impressed with their dedication and working relationships. "While they are keenly focused on their individual buildings and responsibilities they are willing to think beyond their individual needs for the good of the district," Putnam said. "They are always thinking of ways to make do with limited resources." He added that he was also impressed by all the staff who have been working through the summer to get the schools ready for the school year. He is trying to better understand the fiscal challenges that face the district. He noted that the staffing resources are "lean" at Adams-Cheshire, with a .2 (full-time equivalent) school phycologist for 1,361 students, high special-education caseloads, limited professional development funds, the absence of a curriculum director, a technology director, a facilities manager and reading and math specialists. "The fiscal challenges limit the services we can deliver to students, staff and the infrastructure," Putnam said. In other business, the School Committee voted to undergo a study to identify and analyze cost-saving alternatives for the district. Putnam asked the committee to pass a proposal that would ask the University of Massachusetts' Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management, the group facilitating the study, to look at specific questions and allow the district to spearhead the study. "What we decided was it's best for the school to basically be in the driver's seat for the design of the study and for the implementation of the study," Putnam said. Because of budget difficulties, the district has been looking for ways to consolidate, close out redundancies and regionalize to save money. One of these options may be too close an elementary school. The town of Adams secured money to hire the Collins Center to conduct the survey. Putnam said the study should address the stated goals and mission of the district, the anticipated population by both geographic areas and towns for the years 2016-2017 through 2024-2025. It would also look at possible alternative grade configuration and how that would affect academics, student support services and extracurricular; foreseeable revenue sources for the district; and the number of buildings the district requires and can afford that still meet student needs. Putnam said he has been in contact with the Collins Center and it is on board. School Committee member Stephan Vigna said if the district manages the study there will fewer biases. Both towns want to keep their elementary schools open. "I think the important point here is that the district is running the study, and it is not being run by one or the other or both of the towns," Vigna said. Chairman Paul Butler added that the study is to just find cost-saving measures and that this does not equate to closing a school. Putnam agreed. "The idea is not to recommend the closing of a building it is to present what are the possible alternatives based on data you can make a decision on," Putnam said. "So they are going to collect information and see what some of the alternative ways we could put this together." He said this decision will ultimately be up to the School Committee and that he hopes the study is complete by December "We need the information because as we go toward the budget season, we need to have alternatives available to us so as we look to the future we might be able to make some short-term decisions if necessary," Putnam said. Butler said there has been no talk about closing any specific school and if the conversation starts there will be time for public input. Putnam said after consulting with the district's administrators he made some changes to the fiscal 2017 budget to address shortfalls in grant funding and meet education needs. He said he added a fourth second-grade class at C.T. Plunkett Elementary to ensure manageable class sizes and added a paraprofessional at Cheshire Elementary to work with one of the larger classes. Also, he said 50 high school students had passed the Advanced Placement Exam in 2016 with a score 3 or higher. For the last few years, this number has never breached 40. Berkshire Reps: Unity Strong at Democratic Convention PITTSFIELD, Mass. Reports over the news are of a divisive and split Democratic National Convention, with chants and boos targeting some speakers. But on the vast floor of the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, state Reps. Paul Mark, D-Peru, and Tricia Farley-Bouvier, D-Pittsfield, aren't hearing that. Mark is attending the convention as a delegate for Bernie Sanders while Farley-Bouvier is serving as the Hillary Clinton campaign's Massachusetts whip. Both said the tone at the convention is one of unity backing Clinton and not filled with boos and negativity. "I'm not hearing it and I'm not seeing it," Mark said, though adding he'd heard of heckling secondhand. "I'm not hearing negativity and discord at all." A lot the perceived divisiveness at the delegation follows the apology and resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schultz as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Hacked emails released just days before the convention prompted accusations that the supposedly neutral DNC had been plotting to sabotage Sanders' campaign for the nomination. Mark said among Sanders supporters, there was some unhappiness regarding the emails but the resignation of the Florida congresswoman seemed to put people at ease. He said her departure showed the delegates that the party's leadership does take such accusations seriously and that justice was served. "You don't want people to feel like they got cheated," Mark said, adding that Sanders himself has helped put the issue to bed in his prime-time speech Monday night urging unity and making the case to support Clinton. "It's time now to start moving on." Farley-Bouvier heard about signs and protests outside, but inside the Wells Fargo Center, that's not the tone she's feeling. She said with the news leading into the convention there was apprehension among Democrats with how it all would play out on the floor. "During the day today, people were wondering how it was going to play out here," Farley-Bouvier said. Farley-Bouvier's role is to head communications between the national campaign and the Clinton delegates from Massachusetts. Monday was the busiest day for her, as she ensured delegates were in place for the close to a dozen votes being taken on the floor. "I needed to be on the floor early to get things organized," she said. "I would say it was smooth but hectic." One of those votes was a resolution in the party to reduce the number of superdelegates one of the most divisive issues during the primary. By 2020, the Democratic Party has plans to revamp the way the delegates are chosen or elected. The use of superdelegates played a large role during the campaign because Clinton received the majority of those votes while Sanders ran a fairly close campaign for the delegates chosen through the primary. "They agreed they would revise the number of superdelegates," Farley-Bouvier said. The two campaigns agreed to create a 21-member "unity commission" to revise the nomination process including superdelegates. Delegates would abide by primary results while elected officials would be unpledged. Sanders headlined the speaking portion of the convention a speech carried on news networks across the country. Mark said Sanders make a strong case for support of Clinton and a progressive agenda. Sanders called the Democratic platform the "most progressive" the party has had. But, to lose it by not supporting Clinton would undo all of the work his campaign put in, according to Mark. "He really stressed the idea that the progressive movement is not about one candidate for one office," Mark said. Sanders was one of dozens of speakers, including the state's U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and first lady Michelle Obama. Farley-Bouvier said the stage was like a revolving door of speakers with one coming on as another one exits the stage. The discussion ranged from a number of social and political issues from representatives from labor to the LGBTQ community. "The crowd is so diverse," Farley-Bouvier said. Mark attended a labor council meeting during the day Monday and has been talking with Democrats from all over the country and what he is hearing has been somewhat flattering. "It really makes you appreciate what we have here in Massachusetts. We truly are leaps and bounds ahead on so many issues," he said, adding that more often than not he is being asked questions from Democratic leaders from other states about various issues. "People here do really look up to us and a couple of other states as models." When it comes to issues like earned sick time, Massachusetts has passed that on a ballot overwhelmingly while other states are fighting just to keep workers' rights in existence now, Mark said. Massachusetts does have good representation. In the morning, the Massachusetts delegation held a breakfast and meeting with speakers such as Attorney General Maura Healey and U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, for whom there was a reception, was noted by both Farley-Bouvier and Mark for his remarks. "It's a thrill to be here. There is a lot going on," Farley-Bouvier said. Tonight: Elizabeth Banks, a Pittsfield native, is expected to speak along with several other Hollywood actresses. We work towards an equitable, gender-just, self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector We work towards an equitable, gender-just, self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector We work towards an equitable, gender-just, self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector We work towards an equitable, gender-just, self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector Edward Price Non-Resident Senior Fellow NYU Center for Global Affairs Contact email linkedin Edward Price, a former British economic official, teaches international political economy, financial systems and international relations at NYUas Center for Global Affairs. He is also an economic advisor for BritishAmerican Business (BAB). Educated at the London School of Economics (LSE), Edward holds an MSc in Finance and Economic Policy and an MA in German History. He has worked in both the British and European parliaments, was Americas editor at IFLR and has worked in the City of London. He speaks German, gets by in Italian and is a member of the Economic Club of New York (ECNY). Imperial Valley News Center Details Surface on Loss of WWII USS Indianapolis Washington, DC- Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) officials announced today a NHHC historian recently uncovered information that sheds new light on a dark episode in U.S. Navy history -- the loss of the World War II cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA 35). In the final days of the war, Indianapolis completed a top secret mission to deliver components of the atomic bomb used in Hiroshima to U.S. forces in theater. After dropping those components off at Tinian in the Marianas Islands, Indianapolis headed to Leyte, an island in the Philippines, when it was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine just after midnight July 30, 1945. Around 800 of the ship's 1,196 Sailors and Marines survived the sinking, but after 4-5 harrowing days in the water and suffering exposure, dehydration, drowning, and shark attacks, only 316 survived. While reviewing the Navy's holdings and other information related to Indianapolis, NHHC historian Dr. Richard Hulver found a blog post and photo online that recounted the story of a World War II Sailor whose ship passed Indianapolis less than a day before the ship was sunk. This corroborated an account by Indianapolis Capt. Charles McVay III that his ship passed an unspecified tank landing ship (LST) approximately 11 hours prior to the sinking. Hulver located the Sailor's service record from the National Personnel Records Center which identified the Sailor as a passenger on tank landing ship USS LST-779 during the period in which Indianapolis sank. That sent Hulver to the National Archives where LST-779's deck logs confirmed the story. The meeting between Indianapolis and LST-779 has been seemingly overlooked in previous studies of Indianapolis. "It's obviously gratifying to find a part of the story that hasn't been told -- to discover a new part of an important episode in U.S. naval history," said Hulver, "but more importantly, the Navy has an obligation to honor the sacrifice of those who serve. NHHC does this by expanding the body of knowledge about our Navy's history." "The LST-779 data sheds new light on where Indianapolis was attacked and sunk," Hulver continued. "This brings us closer to discovering the final resting place of the ship and many of her crew. It has been humbling and an honor to learn more about the crew of Indianapolis and do my small part to ensure that their story lives on. I'm honored to [be] a part of that effort." Hulver summarized the historical literature, conducted archival research, and prepared a report incorporating the new information gleaned from LST-779's brief encounter with Indianapolis. NHHC's summary was published online as part of a project to consolidate the entirety of NHHC's holdings on Indianapolis into an easy-to-navigate, online resource at http://go.usa.gov/xr57m, prepared in advance of the 71st anniversary of the ship's loss July 30. In addition to the summary of Hulver's research, the collection page includes links to high-level intelligence not made available to the crew because of operational concerns, rescue operations, the subsequent investigation and court martial proceedings against the ship's captain, artwork, Navy photos of survivors, oral histories and much more. Research into the sinking is ongoing. NHHC's holdings and online resources will be updated as new information becomes available. Although the loss of Indianapolis was a tragic moment, the ship and crew had served faithfully throughout the war frequently serving as the flagship of the U.S. 5th Fleet -- earning 10 battle stars, and successfully completing of a top secret mission that directly contributed to the end of World War II. The loss of the ship also resulted in several sweeping changes for the U.S. Navy, including improvements to reporting procedures for ship arrivals and non-arrivals, establishing requirements for ships of a certain size to be escorted, and a reevaluation of the lifesaving equipment used on combatant ships. The sinking of Indianapolis was dramatically retold by Actor Robert Shaw in the 1975 blockbuster motion picture "Jaws." There have also been a number of documentary productions and screen adaptations of the story, some more accurate than others. The Naval History and Heritage Command, located at the Washington Navy Yard, is responsible for the preservation, analysis, and dissemination of U.S. naval history and heritage. It provides the knowledge foundation for the Navy by maintaining historically relevant resources and products that reflect the Navy's unique and enduring contributions through our nation's history, and supports the fleet by assisting with and delivering professional research, analysis, and interpretive services. NHHC is composed of many activities including the Navy Department Library, the Navy Operational Archives, the Navy art and artifact collections, underwater archeology, Navy histories, nine museums, USS Constitution repair facility and the historic ship Nautilus. MIT scientists find weird quantum effects, even over hundreds of miles Cambridge, Massachusetts - In the world of quantum, infinitesimally small particles, weird and often logic-defying behaviors abound. Perhaps the strangest of these is the idea of superposition, in which objects can exist simultaneously in two or more seemingly counterintuitive states. For example, according to the laws of quantum mechanics, electrons may spin both clockwise and counter-clockwise, or be both at rest and excited, at the same time. The physicist Erwin Schrodinger highlighted some strange consequences of the idea of superposition more than 80 years ago, with a thought experiment that posed that a cat trapped in a box with a radioactive source could be in a superposition state, considered both alive and dead, according to the laws of quantum mechanics. Since then, scientists have proven that particles can indeed be in superposition, at quantum, subatomic scales. But whether such weird phenomena can be observed in our larger, everyday world is an open, actively pursued question. Now, MIT physicists have found that subatomic particles called neutrinos can be in superposition, without individual identities, when traveling hundreds of miles. Their results, to be published later this month in Physical Review Letters, represent the longest distance over which quantum mechanics has been tested to date. A subatomic journey across state lines The team analyzed data on the oscillations of neutrinos subatomic particles that interact extremely weakly with matter, passing through our bodies by the billions per second without any effect. Neutrinos can oscillate, or change between several distinct flavors, as they travel through the universe at close to the speed of light. The researchers obtained data from Fermilabs Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search, or MINOS, an experiment in which neutrinos are produced from the scattering of other accelerated, high-energy particles in a facility near Chicago and beamed to a detector in Soudan, Minnesota, 735 kilometers (456 miles) away. Although the neutrinos leave Illinois as one flavor, they may oscillate along their journey, arriving in Minnesota as a completely different flavor. The MIT team studied the distribution of neutrino flavors generated in Illinois, versus those detected in Minnesota, and found that these distributions can be explained most readily by quantum phenomena: As neutrinos sped between the accelerator and detector, they were statistically most likely to be in a state of superposition, with no definite flavor or identity. Whats more, the researchers found that the data was in high tension with more classical descriptions of how matter should behave. In particular, it was statistically unlikely that the data could be explained by any model of the sort that Einstein sought, in which objects would always embody definite properties rather than exist in superpositions. Whats fascinating is, many of us tend to think of quantum mechanics applying on small scales, says David Kaiser, the Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science and professor of physics at MIT. But it turns out that we cant escape quantum mechanics, even when we describe processes that happen over large distances. We cant stop our quantum mechanical description even when these things leave one state and enter another, traveling hundreds of miles. I think thats breathtaking. Kaiser is a co-author on the paper, which includes MIT physics professor Joseph Formaggio, junior Talia Weiss, and former graduate student Mykola Murskyj. A flipped inequality The team analyzed the MINOS data by applying a slightly altered version of the Leggett-Garg inequality, a mathematical expression named after physicists Anthony Leggett and Anupam Garg, who derived the expression to test whether a system with two or more distinct states acts in a quantum or classical fashion. Leggett and Garg realized that the measurements of such a system, and the statistical correlations between those measurements, should be different if the system behaves according to classical versus quantum mechanical laws. They realized you get different predictions for correlations of measurements of a single system over time, if you assume superposition versus realism, Kaiser explains, where realism refers to models of the Einstein type, in which particles should always exist in some definite state. Formaggio, a member of MITs Laboratory for Nuclear Science, had the idea to flip the expression slightly, to apply not to repeated measurements over time but to measurements at a range of neutrino energies. In the MINOS experiment, huge numbers of neutrinos are created at various energies, where Kaiser says they then careen through the Earth, through solid rock, and a tiny drizzle of them will be detected 735 kilometers away. According to Formaggios reworking of the Leggett-Garg inequality, the distribution of neutrino flavors the type of neutrino that finally arrives at the detector should depend on the energies at which the neutrinos were created. Furthermore, those flavor distributions should look very different if the neutrinos assumed a definite identity throughout their journey, versus if they were in superposition, with no distinct flavor. The big world we live in Applying their modified version of the Leggett-Garg expression to neutrino oscillations, the group predicted the distribution of neutrino flavors arriving at the detector, both if the neutrinos were behaving classically, according to an Einstein-like theory, and if they were acting in a quantum state, in superposition. When they compared both predicted distributions, they found there was virtually no overlap. More importantly, when they compared these predictions with the actual distribution of neutrino flavors observed from the MINOS experiment, they found that the data fit squarely within the predicted distribution for a quantum system, meaning that the neutrinos very likely did not have individual identities while traveling over hundreds of miles between detectors. But what if these particles truly embodied distinct flavors at each moment in time, rather than being some ghostly, neither-here-nor-there phantoms of quantum physics? What if these neutrinos behaved according to Einsteins realism-based view of the world? After all, there could be statistical flukes due to defects in instrumentation, that might still generate a distribution of neutrinos that the researchers observed. Kaiser says if that were the case and the world truly obeyed Einsteins intuitions, the chances of such a model accounting for the observed data would be something like one in a billion. So how do neutrinos do it? How do they maintain a quantum, identityless state for seemingly long distances? Andre de Gouvea, professor of physics and astronomy at Northwestern University, says because neutrinos move so fast and interact with so little in the world, relativistic effects as in Einsteins special theory of relativity are huge, and conspire to make the very long distances appear [to the neutrinos] short. The final result is that, like all other tests performed to date under very different circumstances, quantum mechanics appears to be the correct description of the world at all distance scales, weirdness not withstanding, says Gouvea, who was not involved in the research. What gives people pause is, quantum mechanics is quantitatively precise and yet it comes with all this conceptual baggage, Kaiser says. Thats why I like tests like this: Lets let these things travel further than most people will drive on a family road trip, and watch them zoom through the big world we live in, not just the strange world of quantum mechanics, for hundreds of miles. And even then, we cant stop using quantum mechanics. We really see quantum effects persist across macroscopic distances. This research was funded, in part, by the U.S. Department of Energy. Why we like the music we do Cambridge, Massachusetts - In Western styles of music, from classical to pop, some combinations of notes are generally considered more pleasant than others. To most of our ears, a chord of C and G, for example, sounds much more agreeable than the grating combination of C and F# (which has historically been known as the devil in music). For decades, neuroscientists have pondered whether this preference is somehow hardwired into our brains. A new study from MIT and Brandeis University suggests that the answer is no. In a study of more than 100 people belonging to a remote Amazonian tribe with little or no exposure to Western music, the researchers found that dissonant chords such as the combination of C and F# were rated just as likeable as consonant chords, which feature simple integer ratios between the acoustical frequencies of the two notes. This study suggests that preferences for consonance over dissonance depend on exposure to Western musical culture, and that the preference is not innate, says Josh McDermott, the Frederick A. and Carole J. Middleton Assistant Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. McDermott and Ricardo Godoy, a professor at Brandeis University, led the study, which appears in Nature on July 13. Alan Schultz, an assistant professor of medical anthropology at Baylor University, and Eduardo Undurraga, a senior research associate at Brandeis Heller School for Social Policy and Management, are also authors of the paper. Consonance and dissonance For centuries, some scientists have hypothesized that the brain is wired to respond favorably to consonant chords such as the fifth (so-called because one of the notes is five notes higher than the other). Musicians in societies dating at least as far back as the ancient Greeks noticed that in the fifth and other consonant chords, the ratio of frequencies of the two notes is usually based on integers in the case of the fifth, a ratio of 3:2. The combination of C and G is often called the perfect fifth. Others believe that these preferences are culturally determined, as a result of exposure to music featuring consonant chords. This debate has been difficult to resolve, in large part because nowadays there are very few people in the world who are not familiar with Western music and its consonant chords. Its pretty hard to find people who dont have a lot of exposure to Western pop music due to its diffusion around the world, McDermott says. Most people hear a lot of Western music, and Western music has a lot of consonant chords in it. Its thus been hard to rule out the possibility that we like consonance because thats what were used to, but also hard to provide a definitive test. In 2010, Godoy, an anthropologist who has been studying an Amazonian tribe known as the Tsimane for many years, asked McDermott to collaborate on a study of how the Tsimane respond to music. Most of the Tsimane, a farming and foraging society of about 12,000 people, have very limited exposure to Western music. They vary a lot in how close they live to towns and urban centers, Godoy says. Among the folks who live very far, several days away, they dont have too much contact with Western music. The Tsimanes own music features both singing and instrumental performance, but usually by only one person at a time. Dramatic differences The researchers did two sets of studies, one in 2011 and one in 2015. In each study, they asked participants to rate how much they liked dissonant and consonant chords. The researchers also performed experiments to make sure that the participants could tell the difference between dissonant and consonant sounds, and found that they could. The team performed the same tests with a group of Spanish-speaking Bolivians who live in a small town near the Tsimane, and residents of the Bolivian capital, La Paz. They also tested groups of American musicians and nonmusicians. What we found is the preference for consonance over dissonance varies dramatically across those five groups, McDermott says. In the Tsimane its undetectable, and in the two groups in Bolivia, theres a statistically significant but small preference. In the American groups its quite a bit larger, and its bigger in the musicians than in the nonmusicians. When asked to rate nonmusical sounds such as laughter and gasps, the Tsimane showed similar responses to the other groups. They also showed the same dislike for a musical quality known as acoustic roughness. The findings suggest that it is likely culture, and not a biological factor, that determines the common preference for consonant musical chords, says Brian Moore, a professor of psychology at Cambridge University, who was not involved in the study. Overall, the results of this exciting and well-designed study clearly suggest that the preference for certain musical intervals of those familiar with Western music depends on exposure to that music and not on an innate preference for certain frequency ratios, Moore says. NSC Spokesperson Ned Price on the Knife Attack in Japan Washington, DC - The United States offers our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed in the heinous attack today in Sagamihara, Japan. We also pray for the speedy recovery of the dozens of individuals who were wounded. There is never any excuse for such violence, but the fact that this attack occurred at a facility for persons with disabilities makes it all the more repugnant and senseless. The thoughts of the American people are with our Japanese friends as they mourn the lives lost. Liberia National Day Washington, DC - Secretary of State John Kerry: "On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I congratulate the government and people of Liberia on the 169th anniversary of your countrys independence. "The friendship between the United States and Liberia dates back to the founding of your Republic and is based on a broad array of shared interests and values. "Today, we are partners in supporting strong democratic institutions, promoting security and sustainable prosperity for our citizens, and - in the wake of the Ebola epidemic - striving to improve health care infrastructure and services to the benefit of all. The United States places a high value on our bilateral relationship and we look forward to working with you to make the most of future challenges and opportunities. "I extend my very best wishes to all Liberians as you celebrate your national day." Watch: This Sea Lion Gliding In Empty Swimming Pool Is Giving Weekend Vibes Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The atmosphere in the back of truck was one of nervous anticipation as it rumbled along the rough, potholed road, the suspension groaning with each bump, the rough old engine roaring with power. Around me, men in uniform sat in tense silence, gripping weapons in sweating hands. This was what we'd trained for. With a squeal of brakes and the crunch of dirt and gravel, the big truck skidded to a halt and the backboard swung down. "Out!" Men hoisted weapons, jumped to their feet and piled towards the exit. I watched as the first man gathered himself up to leap down and promptly tripped over the still-swinging backboard, landing face first on the gravel below. The rapid, orderly deployment quickly turned into dangerous chaos, with men trying to twist and leap to avoid their hapless comrade, many losing their balance as heavy equipment and weapons dragged them down. It was fair to say we were pretty much the sorriest group of soldiers ever to lace up a pair of boots. "Cut!" the director called, realising the take was well and truly blown. He glanced at his watch, made some silent decision. "Reset in half an hour." Will Jordan on the set of Max Manus Man of War A collective groan passed through the ranks as men picked themselves up, loosened tight collars, shifted helmets and webbing straps. Around us, film crew and lighting technicians sauntered back and forth in shorts and T-shirts in the Scottish Highlands looking absurdly out of place next to us Second World War soldiers. This was my first experience of a big-budget movie set. We were playing commandoes no less, in the Norwegian feature film Max Manus: Man of War (you neither?) and it was shaping up to be fascinating and frustrating in equal measure. Wed been put through an abbreviated military boot camp a few days earlier to prepare for our roles, taught the basics of soldiering by an Australian army officer who showed far more patience than we deserved. In a very short time we'd learned to march, handle weapons, tackle obstacles, put on our uniforms, even salute properly. Everything that looked so simple on screen was, it turned out, not. Most picked up these new skills quickly; those who didn't, or who marked themselves out as troublemakers, were politely asked not to come back. We who were left, though hardly an elite cadre, had nonetheless started to gel and solidify as a group. Personalities were emerging, quips and jokes were exchanged, a subtle pecking order was being established. A bit like high school, but with more guns. For me, it had all started a couple of years earlier. In need of some income to get me through university, I'd chanced on a casting call for movie extras and immediately went for it. To this day, I'm not sure why. I certainly didn't harbour dreams of Hollywood stardom, and lacked the self confidence to stand out in that way. But I went anyway and being young, tall and in reasonably good shape, I was accepted. Id become a hostage to the bizarre, frustrating and oddly enchanting world of make believe So here I was, sweaty and tired and uncomfortable, enthralled by the organised chaos that is a film set. And that's when it struck me. This movie had started as nothing. Or at least, as close to nothing as could be: just an idea in someone's head. But between then and now, through all the months or years of hard work, it had become something. Something potent enough to marshal this army of people figuratively and literally around it. Id become a hostage to the bizarre, frustrating and oddly enchanting world of make believe. One curious aspect of film is that people tend to linger in their fantasy roles even when the cameras stop rolling. During this lull, then, the officers remained aloof and distant, too good to mingle with the commoners, while the soldiers like me quickly shed our heavy gear and sprawled out in the shade to escape the heat. The banter was lively as it often is between young men, made easier by our all-in-the-same-boat situation, and eventually the talk turned to what we did when we weren't loitering around film sets. Frankly, this was unwelcome. What was I supposed to say? I'm on a gap year? I'm exploring my opportunities? Was there any vaguely truthful answer I could give that wouldn't make me sound like a ponce or a waster? Fortunately I was spared this ordeal when another young man spoke up. Late-twenties, tanned, with close cropped hair and lean of build, he'd distinguished himself by not even having to go through boot camp. And now we understood why. He was a real soldier. A soldier not long back from his second tour in Iraq, no less. The questions came, hesitant at first. What did you do out there? Infantryman, cross-trained as a sniper. What's it like in Iraq? Hot and dusty, and it smells bad. What are the people like? Really polite, but don't turn your back on them. His manner was simple, open and matter-of-fact, with no hint of bravado or self aggrandisement. Then someone thankfully not me asked him the most inappropriate of questions. Did you ever kill anyone? Yes. Three. That was where his simple, open manner changed. The last two had been easy enough to live with, he said, because they were grown men who knew what they were doing. But the first was different. The first was a kid, barely a teenager. Old enough to fire a gun, perhaps not old enough to understand what he was fighting for. How many young men would become killers in hot, lonely places like Iraq?

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It had been a long range shot in the midst of chaotic a fire fight. A split-second decision. There had been no way to know at the time. Only later when the dust settled did he find out he'd killed someone younger than his kid brother. That, he said, had messed him up for a long time afterward. And judging by the look in his eyes, I knew he was telling the truth. Sitting there listening to him, hanging on every word, I knew something else Id found what I wanted to do. I wanted to write. And I wanted to write about people like him, in situations like his. How many times every day were such tragedies playing out? How many young men would become killers in hot, lonely places like Iraq? How many kids would take up weapons in someone else's fight? As soon as the shoot was over and I returned to normal life, I went to work: writing, reading, researching, talking to anyone I could find with military experience. Luckily a couple of my good friends had done tours in Afghanistan with the RAF, providing a gold mine of first-hand information about the war there, not to mention other contacts I found in post-war reconstruction and even the arms manufacturing industries. Eager to lend authenticity to my descriptions of weapons and equipment, I sought out and toured arms ranges everywhere from the United States to the Czech Republic, allowing me to handle and fire the guns depicted in my stories. Nothing quite prepares you for the kick of an AK-47 firing on full automatic! Now it's 10 years later and I've got a bestselling six-book series under my belt. The road here hasn't been easy or quick. Sometimes it was exhausting, sometimes disappointing and frustrating, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I've found what I love doing and I intend to keep at it as long as I'm able. And, ironically enough, I've even sold the movie rights to my first book. Who knows? Maybe one day some young extra might find themselves on the set of my movie, and realise they too want to tell the same kind of stories. Ghost Target by Will Jordan (Canelo, 3.99) is out now Sign up to Roisin OConnors free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Roisin OConnors email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Several hours after their performances were cancelled at the sixth annual Governors Ball at Randalls Island, two Chicago emcees encouraged forlorn fans by announcing that they were planning surprise pop-ups show in New York City. Both Kanye West and Vic Mensa promised fans a second chance to see them live, this time at the intimate music venue Webster Hall, but only one managed to follow through on that promiseand despite the fact that it wasnt Pablo, it turned out to be the best rap performance of Governors Ball weekend. With fans flocking the venue as soon as Mensa announced the eventsome urgently tweeting and scouring Craigslist to purchase tickets (the show was sold out an hour after it was announced)Webster Hall and the surrounding area of lower Manhattan was alarmingly busy that h Sunday night. Waiting in line, it was hard to imagine that the crowd was there to see Mensa himself; the only names on peoples lips were Chance the Rapper, Travis Scott, and even Kanye. But by the time the show kicked off, my suspicions about the audiences true intentions were gone: as Mensa performed 12 Shots, only his second joint of the evening, his microphone malfunctioned. But even a technical issue couldnt damper the electric crowd, who rapped along with Mensa until he was gifted with a new mic. It was impressive that fans knew most of the words to the anti-police brutality anthem dedicated to LaQuan McDonald considering the single had dropped just five days prior. Mensa continued playing familiar hits: his Kanye team-up U Mad, his Flume collab Lose It, and Theres A Lot Going On, from his recent six track EP of the same name. The performance itself had the pure energy of a punk show, with fans bouncing off the floor and each other inside the showroom. As the pre-mosh vibes continued, it seemed like Mensa would launch himself into the crowd at any given momenta feat which he eventually accomplished while he performed the adrenaline pumping U Mad, rapping the lyrics while surfing on his back. Just when the energy seemed like it was reaching a plateau, the crowd nearly jumped through the damn roofMensa had introduced Ty Dolla $ign to the stage. The rapper-songwriter-producer performed Blase of syndicated radio fame, then both performers slowed it down, and, spitting bars over guitar samples, performed their recent collab Liquor Talk. With the release of his latest EP, Theres A Lot Going On, and his wide-ranging performance on Sunday, Mensa proved his versatility and willingness to become more than just crossover talent with pulsating club bangers. In the title track, he spits out his own personal demons at the expense of a traditional rhyme scheme, touching on internal struggles of past depression, addiction, and domestic disputes. Mensa explored these topics that night at Webster Hall, too, giving people in the crowd a much-needed moment to catch their breath when the tempo eased up and slowed down. By the time Mensa wrapped things up, none of his fans were willing to exit the venue, and a Chance The Rapper sighting fueled hopes of encores and more guest performances. Although those lofty wishes were never fulfilled, Mensa easily beat out his peersMac Miller, Action Bronson, De La Soul, and Big Boias the most entertaining rap performer during the three-day festival weekend. (It should be noted that Joey Bada$$ and Vince Staples never had the chance to step foot on stage after an ongoing NYPD investigation and inclement weather forecasts canceled both of their shows.) Although Webster Hall disappointed thousands when they cancelled Kanyes supposed pop-upthere was no way that more than five thousand fans would be able to cram into a 1,500 person venue, and the show could not go on hip-hop fans in New York City were more than satisfied ending their weekend with the dynamic performance from Mensa. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An execution drug obtained by the Arkansas prison system this month appears to have been made by a subsidiary of Pfizer, even though the pharmaceutical giant has said it doesn't want its drugs to be used in executions. The sale of the vecuronium bromide by an unknown third party may show how difficult it could be for manufacturers to prevent such sales in states such as Arkansas that have execution secrecy laws. The Associated Press on Monday obtained redacted photos of the vecuronium bromide label from the Arkansas Department of Correction. It matches labels submitted to the National Institutes of Health by Hospira, Inc., which Pfizer bought last year. The AP also obtained the purchase orders for the drug, but the name of the third party that sold the drug to the department was redacted, in compliance with the state's execution secrecy law. Pfizer announced in May it had put in place sweeping controls to make sure its distributors would not sell its drugs for use in executions. In an email Monday, company spokeswoman Rachel Hooper reiterated that position. We have implemented a comprehensive strategy and enhanced restricted distribution protocols for a select group of products to help combat their unauthorized use for capital punishment. Pfizer is currently communicating with states to remind them of our policy, Hooper wrote. She didn't address whether the company was aware of the sale of its subsidiary's drug to the Arkansas Department of Correction. Maya Foa, who tracks pharmaceutical companies for the London-based human rights advocacy group Reprieve, defended Pfizer and Hospira, saying no pharmaceutical company wants its drugs used in executions. It is possible that Arkansas Department of Correction was able to access a left-over supply of Hospira inventory that was sitting in old distribution channels. This is, of course, a finite supply. Pfizer's new distribution system is extremely robust, and the company is committed to preventing the misuse of its medicines in executions, Foa said by email. Records obtained by the AP show the state agreed to pay $1,849.33 for 100 vials of vecuronium bromide on July 11 and $2,982 for a purity analysis of the drug. That's almost 10 times less than the $18,478 the state paid in June 2015 for fewer doses of the drug. Solomon Graves, a Department of Correction spokesman, said he couldn't comment on the price difference. He confirmed by email that the new supply of vecuronium bromide was not bought at a pharmacy outside of the U.S. and was not made by or obtained from a compounding pharmacy. Asked whether the department knew or cared that a drug manufacturer said it didn't want its products used in executions, Graves responded: Under the law, we cannot identify the company that made or sold the drugs, and I will not engage in hypotheticals. The department already had a little more than 15 doses of midazolam, which expire in April 2017, and 16 doses of potassium chloride, which expire in January 2017. In September, the AP identified the likely makers of the drugs the state purchased last year by comparing redacted Department of Correction photos of their labels with labels archived at the NIH and U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It appeared that an India-based company, Sun Pharma, made the expired supply of vecuronium bromide. A subsidiary of the England-based company Hikma appeared to make the midazolam, and Hospira appeared to make the potassium chloride. At the time, neither Hospira nor Sun Pharma would say whether they would try to recall the drugs. Both issued statements saying they opposed the use of their drugs in executions, and their internal policies and controls were put in place to prevent the use of the drugs in lethal injections. Hikma in 2013 recalled different drugs that the Arkansas Department of Correction obtained from a third-party seller for executions. The company attempted to verify that its drugs had been obtained last year, but the department declined to answer the company's questions, citing the secrecy law. Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year. Executions in Arkansas had been largely halted since 2005 because of legal challenges and trouble obtaining execution drugs. In a bid to resume executions, the Republican-led Legislature passed the execution secrecy law last year. It requires the state to keep the details about its execution drugs secret, including the names of the drugs' makers and sellers. Nine inmates challenged the law, saying it could put them at risk of being subjected to unconstitutional cruel or unusual punishment and that it reneged on a previous agreement by the state to share information about the sources of the its execution drugs. The state Supreme Court upheld the law in a split decision last month. The inmates indicated they planned to appeal to the US Supreme Court. Eight of their execution dates had already been set, but their executions were on hold pending the outcome of that appeal. 2016 Associated Press Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Children from families who are not socially well-connected risk falling even further behind their more advantaged peers, experts warn, following a new report highlighting the lack of opportunities available to disadvantaged young people. New data released from youth charity The Princes Trust suggests the social bank of mum and dad can be as important as financial backing, since many young people find work experience or their first job through family contacts. The report raises concerns over the lack of inherited opportunities for poorer children, leaving them further behind in work and education and accentuating class divides. Martina Milburn, Princes Trust chief executive said: There is a social bank of mum and dad which can open as many doors as the financial bank of mum and dad. Sadly, not all young people have the same access to it, and all too often young people are locked out of jobs and other opportunities simply because of where theyve started in life. The research also suggests a correlation between absence of family support while growing up and negative self-confidence, coping skills and employment prospects for later life. Young people who have help with such things as finding work experience or a first job often go on to have higher aspirations and be more successful, a Princes Trust spokesperson said. Sadly, however, many young people dont have this support. Quite the opposite they may be struggling even to attend school to get basic qualifications, they may be busy caring for a parent or family member at home. Whatever the reason, doors are perhaps closed rather than opened for them. More than a third (37 per cent) of 16-24 year olds surveyed said their family had rarely or never talked to them about their ambitions, with more than one in ten citing that their family had held them back. The research indicates that many of these young people feel they are less able to cope with their problems, are more likely to feel destined to fail and are more likely to be unemployed. Teachers say goodbye to students with viral advert parody video Speaking at a TeachFirst conference in Leeds on Tuesday, Alan Milburn, Chair of the Social Mobility Commission, called for new social mobility tests to be put into place in education to help reduce the divide. He said: Over recent years there has been a growing sense that we have become an us and them society - where a few unfairly entrench power and wealth to themselves. Mr Milburn highlighted that with the current rates of progress it would take at least 30 years for the educational attainment gap in schools between poorer and better-off children to even halve. For the gap in access to university to completely close, it would take more than 50 years. He told the conference: The truth about our country is that over decades Britain has become wealthier but we have struggled to become fairer. The Social Mobility Commission has called on the government to set a new target for a least half of children from the poorest background to achieve five good GCSEs by 2020. This would be prioritised by the government giving equal importance to closing the gap between pupils from poorer backgrounds and their wealthier peers as increasing overall results, the group states, as part of a measure implemented by Ofsted inspection and school league table measures. Teaching groups have expressed their hesitations over the effectiveness of such policies, however, arguing that schools are under increasing amounts of pressure to produce top results despite lack of funding. Rosamund McNeil, head of education for the National Union of Teachers said: Education policy alone cant counteract the significant impact of poverty on children and their families. Fully funded schools that offer a rich curriculum and extra curricula activities alongside sustainable childrens services can make a huge difference to the lives of pupils from low income families. It is essential that the Government addresses the school funding crisis that is narrowing the opportunities and entitlements for children and young people... This situation is unacceptable for all students but in particular for families who cannot afford to replace the experiences and materials that schools should be able to provide. A spokesman for the Department for Education said: This government is focused on making Britain a country that works for everyone." We are determined that every child, regardless of background, gender or ability, has an equal opportunity to reach their full potential. The pupil premium, now worth 2.5bn a year, is being spent to improve the education provided to children from the poorest backgrounds. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The mother-in-law of Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has been kidnapped in Brazil, according to reports in local media. Aparecida Schunck, 67, the mother of Ecclestone's wife Fabiana Flosi, 38, was taken in Sao Paulo on Friday evening, a report by the Veja news magazine claims. The kidnappers are demanding a ransom of $36.5million (28m), according to a translation of the report obtained by The Independent. 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. The ransom is believed to be the largest demanded by kidnappers in Brazilian history. The news site GP Brazil said it would not publish any further details about the kidnapping in order to protect Ms Schunck. Mr Ecclestone, who married Ms Flosi in 2012, is worth an estimated $3.1bn (2.3bn). His spokesperson declined to comment on the report. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The actress and activist Susan Sarandon has been one of the most outspoken supporters of Bernie Sanders. And when the Democratic Party's nomination went to Hillary Clinton, she made little effort to hide her disappointment. When it was revealed via a number of leaked Democratic National Committee emails that party officials had been plotting against Mr Sanders, she was furious. Recommended Read more Read Bernie Sanders speech to the Democratic convention Thats so disgusting, she said in an interview with The Young Turks, a progressive online news network. The DNC emails showed that former DNC chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, called Mr Sanders' campaign manager a "damn liar", and that staffers were planning to "smear" him as an atheist. Ms Schultz has since been called a "friend" of Hillary Clinton and will likely join her campaign. "What does this really say about us if all of this goes by unattended?" Ms Sarandon asked. Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures First Lady Michelle Obama called on Democratic party members to trust in the 'steady and measured' Mrs Clinton, in a speech critics described as "show-stealing" Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures The first day of the convention was attended by a vast crowd of approximately 50,000 as the event got into full swing in Philadelphia Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Senator Bernie Sanders delivered an impassioned speech endorsing Mrs Clinton, and asking the party to unite for their prospective candidate REUTERS Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Two advocates of the former candidate Sanders were reduced to tears as details of an alleged conspiracy against his nomination were gradually revealed REUTERS Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Senator Elizabeth Warren was repeatedly heckled and booed as she endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential candidacy Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Former president Bill Clinton (left) looks pensive as the resentment against his wife's nomination appeared to grow during day one of the convention Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures A Bernie Sanders supporter taped her mouth shut in protest against his perceived mistreatment at the hands of the Democratic party AFP/Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Senator Cor Brooker called for unity within the party, saying: "We are called to be a nation of love" REUTERS Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Actress Eva Longoria gave a heartfelt speech in which she called upon members to trust in Mrs Clinton as their candidate Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Senator Al Franken was joined on stage by comedian and actress Sarah Silverman, with critics praising their double act Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Delegates danced joyously at the convention in the Wells Fargo Center as musical entertainment was provided Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Pop singer Demi Lovato told the DNC she was "living with mental illness" before performing her hit single 'Confident' Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon was another high-profile performer to entertain the crowd on day one Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Anastasia Somoza, an international disability rights advocate, also delivered remarks on the first day of the convention Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures A delegate holds a sign that reads "Stronger together" as the first day of the convention drew to a close Getty Images Some people were surprised to see the 69-year-old actress, who frequently appeared as a surrogate for Mr Sanders, appear at the convention in Philadelphia on Monday evening. Ms Sarandon has campaigned for the Democrat (Getty) Social media users pointed out that she did not look pleased with the convention result. Others went as far as to suggest she was having a terrible time - literally the worst time. Sarandon was quick to respond. Accurate, she tweeted. Ms Sarandon has been a strong critic of Hillary Clinton, claiming it would be "inevitable" that Ms Clinton would be indicted for the misuse of her personal email server. In the end, Ms Clinton was not prosecuted. The actress also said that Ms Clinton would be "more dangerous" as president than Republican Donald Trump. Bernie Sanders endorses Hillary Clinton in passionate plea Mr Sanders gave a rousing speech at the convention. Despite his "disappointment" to hear of the DNC scandal, he still urged attendees and delegates to vote for his former rival. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Got a deep burning question for Donald Trump you've always wanted to ask? Well dont fear, the Republican presidential candidate will be hosting his first Ask me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit this Wednesday at 12am GMT. For those who dont understand the significance and ever-growing clout of Reddit, the news site, where users can submit content, has 542 million monthly visitors, making it the 25th most visited website in the world. For this reason, AMAs have become a popular way for prominent figures to intimately engage with the wider public and answer questions which might ordinarily be off limits in a traditional press conference. President Barack Obama, Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates have all hosted their own AMAs. Nevertheless, Mr Trumps Reddit session will be slightly different to his predecessors as he does not appear to be taking the reign through the standard channels allocated for high-profile AMAs. Instead, he is appearing on a Subreddit (for Reddit virgins: a Subreddit is essentially a niche forum) titled The Donald. 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' Although The Donald bans outright bigotry and racism, it has been accused of providing a home for intolerance. In April, The New York Times wrote that visitors to the group will find a cascade of offensive postings. In recent months, the fast-growing group which has more than 180,000 subscribers has become one of the most powerful and influential communities on Reddit. Recommended Read more Michael Moore predicts Donald Trump will be President The event is titled as Its happening: Donald J Trump - The man, the legend, the 45th President of the United States of America and it describes Mr Trump as the God Emperor. It will kick off at 6.30 pm EST, with questions being answered by Mr Trump from 7pm EST onwards. The session will take place just in time for the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia and will coincide with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden taking the stage. A representative for Reddit and Mr Trump did not immediately respond to request for comment. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Dr Dre was cited after a man accused him of brandishing a firearm during a driveway confrontation outside of the producers Malibu home. The Associated Press reported that Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, asked the man to move his car that was blocking the entrance to his driveway. The man complied, but reportedly continued to berate Dre as he pulled away from the house. When Dre parked his car, TMZ explained, the man continued to shout obscenities at the rapper, who apparently pulled out his phone to record the motorist. Dr Dre In Pictures - The Rise Of Hip-Hop's Richest Man Show all 10 1 /10 Dr Dre In Pictures - The Rise Of Hip-Hop's Richest Man Dr Dre In Pictures - The Rise Of Hip-Hop's Richest Man Dr Dre Rise In Pictures Dr Dre receives Best Rap Video at the MTV Awards, presented by Madonna in 1995. Dr Dre In Pictures - The Rise Of Hip-Hop's Richest Man Dr Dre Rise In Pictures On stage as he collects the Legend Award at the 2000 Radio Music Awards. Dr Dre In Pictures - The Rise Of Hip-Hop's Richest Man Dr Dre Rise In Pictures At the launch of new radio station Shade 45 with 50 Cent and Eminem in 2004. Dr Dre In Pictures - The Rise Of Hip-Hop's Richest Man Dr Dre Rise In Pictures With Lady Gaga at the launch of her collection of headphones for Beats in 2009. Dr Dre In Pictures - The Rise Of Hip-Hop's Richest Man Dr Dre Rise In Pictures Seated with wife Nicole Threatt at the 2011 Grammy Awards. The couple have been married since 1996. Dr Dre In Pictures - The Rise Of Hip-Hop's Richest Man Dr Dre Rise In Pictures Eminem and Dre perform on stage at the 2011 Grammys. Dr Dre In Pictures - The Rise Of Hip-Hop's Richest Man Dr Dre Rise In Pictures With fellow businessman Richard Branson at Clive Davis and the Recording Academy's 2012 pre-Grammy Gala. Dr Dre In Pictures - The Rise Of Hip-Hop's Richest Man Dr Dre Rise In Pictures Performing with long-term collaborator Snoop Dogg at Coachella 2012. Dr Dre In Pictures - The Rise Of Hip-Hop's Richest Man Dr Dre Rise In Pictures On stage at Coachella in 2012. Dr Dre In Pictures - The Rise Of Hip-Hop's Richest Man Dr Dre Rise In Pictures Pictured with Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine and company COO Luke Wood in 2013. Here we go again, another black guy with a gun, the man allegedly said before calling 911. Sheriffs deputies responded to the call and searched Dre, leaving him in handcuffs throughout. No gun was recovered at the scene. The motorist still filed a citizens arrest for brandishing a firearm, a misdemeanor in California. Dr Dre was not placed under arrest. The district attorney will determine whether or not to proceed with charges against him. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Former leading amateur rider JT McNamara has died aged 41. McNamara was paralysed following a fall at the Cheltenham Festival in 2013, when he fractured two vertebrae in his neck when Galaxy Rock came down at the first fence in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup. Renowned as one of the best amateur riders the sport has ever seen, McNamara partnered over 600 winners during his career, including famous Cheltenham Festival successes aboard the likes of Teaforthree and Spot Thedifference. Adrian McGoldrick, senior medical officer for the Irish Turf Club, told Press Association Sport: "I've just spoken to his wife Caroline and I can confirm JT passed away peacefully during the night. "A press release on behalf of the Turf Club will be released shortly." McNamara enjoyed many of his big-race successes in the colours of owner JP McManus, riding Rith Dubh to victory in the famous green and gold colours in the 2002 National Hunt Chase at the Festival and partnering Spot Thedifference in the 2005 Cross Country Chase. He also wore McManus' silks when riding Drombeag to win the 2007 Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham and the owner's racing manager, Frank Berry, hailed McNamara's fortitude. He said: "It's so sad and all our thoughts go out to Caroline and the rest of the family. "A nicer fellow you couldn't wish to meet. He was in great form up until maybe a week ago and he's definitely been a fighter. He fought a great fight. "The boss and him and myself had so many great days together. He was a great rider, but he also did a lot of pre-training of a lot of our younger horses and was a great man to tell you whether they were good or no good." "JT had battled very bravely for the last few years of his life. It was a very, very tough time for him and his family and to have lost him at this stage is shocking.

Andrew Coonan, secretary of the Irish Jockeys Association

McNamara was initially treated in Britain following the Cheltenham fall that left him paralysed from the neck down before being transferred to the spinal unit of the Mater Hospital, Dublin and eventually moving to the North West Regional Spinal Injuries Centre in Southport. He eventually returned to his County Limerick home last June and had begun to establish a training operation at his Croom yard, although he required constant care. Andrew Coonan, secretary of the Irish Jockeys Association and a former amateur himself, paid tribute to McNamara's bravery in the face of such serious injury. He said: "JT had battled very bravely for the last few years of his life. It was a very, very tough time for him and his family and to have lost him at this stage is shocking. "I rode against JT and watched him, and he was an incredibly accomplished rider, one of the best. "It just serves as a reminder of the dangers the riders put themselves in for our sport. These things don't just happen to the less well-known jockeys, they happen to the best as well." McNamara is survived by his wife Caroline and children Dylan, Harry and Olivia. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Lindsay Lohan has asked for speculation over her personal life to stop after reports police visited her home at the weekend concerned for her welfare. On Saturday evening, the Metropolitan police responded to calls of a woman in distress reportedly at the actresses London home. In a statement, the Met said: Police were called to an address in [] SW7 on Saturday 23 July at 05.10 hours following a report of a woman in distress. 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. Officers attended and following concerns for the welfare of the occupants inside they forced entry into the address. There was no one inside but enquiries were made and the occupants were traced and found to be safe and well. The force added there were no offences and no arrests made. Reports suggested the officers attended the property after Lohan and her partner Egor Tarabasov were allegedly involved in a domestic dispute. On Monday, Lohan posted a cloud shaped in a heart on Instagram and asked for the speculation surrounding her relationship to end. She also asked that she and her fiance could be left alone to discuss our personal mattersa". Unfortunately, a private matter has become much more public than I can control and I would be extremely grateful if my fiance and myself could discuss our personal matters on our own. There are more important things going on in the world than our relationship, she wrote. Lohan and Mr Tarabasov, a Russian businessman, have reportedly been dating since the beginning of the year. The Mean Girls actress was spotted wearing an engagement ring in April. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Margot Robbie has described a controversial Vanity Fair profile of her as really weird, saying she left the interview with a sense of unease. The profile prompted a great deal of controversy and was branded misogynistic for its descriptions of the 26-year-old Wolf of Wall Street actress. In the piece, the writer Rich Cohen described Robbie as having a lost kind of purity and as sexy and composed even while naked but only in character. She is 26 and beautiful, not in that otherworldly, catwalk way but in a minor knock-around key, a blue mood, a slow dance, Cohen wrote. She is tall but only with the help of certain shoes. She can be sexy and composed even while naked but only in character. The piece was also criticised for his description of Australia, Robbies home country. Cohen referred to Australians as throwback people who live and die with the plot turns of soap operas and described the country as being America 50 years ago. 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. Speaking to Channel Tens The Project, Robbie said she remembered thinking that was a really odd interview after it came to an end. And then when I read it, I was like, Yeah, the tone of this is really weird like, I dont really know what hes trying to get at or play at," she explained. A number of comment articles and parodies were written in response but Robbie said she was surprised by the scale of the reaction. Ive read far more offensive, far more sexist, insulting, derogatory, disgusting things on a daily basis, she said. I dont know, maybe Im just desensitised to it now. While Robbie chose to stay out of discussions at the time she said she was thrilled to see Australians stand up for themselves. Robbie rose to prominence after starring alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the Wolf of Wall Street after launching her career in the Australian soap opera Neighbours. Cohen, who is described as a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, has since defended his observations about Australia, saying they were intended as a compliment. To the extent that the point is serious, its a compliment. I'm saying that Australia is still a unified country whereas our American culture has shattered into warring camps. Australia had what we lost, Cohen told Fairfax Media. I was mostly joking. It is a goof. Supposed to be funny, he also said. Representatives for Vanity Fair and Cohen did not immediately respond to request for comment. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A man has been arrested after a bodybuilder who recently won the Mr Scotland title was found stabbed to death on an industrial park in North Ayrshire. Michael OHanlon, who won the National Amateur Body Building Association (NABBA) title earlier this year, was found dead at Moorpark industrial estate in Stevenston in broad daylight on Monday. Emergency services were called but the 45-year-old died at the scene after attempts to resuscitate him failed. Notable deaths in 2016 Show all 42 1 /42 Notable deaths in 2016 Notable deaths in 2016 Debbie Reynolds was an American actress, singer, businesswoman, film historian, and humanitarian. She died on December 28 in Los Angeles Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Actress Carrie Fisher died on December 27 aged 60 Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Comedian and Actor Ricky Harris died on December 26 aged 54 Rex Notable deaths in 2016 British singer George Michael died on 25 December aged 53 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Rick Parfitt OBE was an English musician, best known for being a singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist in the rock band Status Quo. He died on December 24 in Marbella, Spain Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Lord Jenkin of Roding died at the age of 90 on the 21 December PA wire Notable deaths in 2016 Rabbi Lionel Blue died on the 19 December Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Zsa Zsa Gabor died on December 18 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Leonard Cohen died on 7 November Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Grand secretary of the Orange Order Drew Nelson died on 10 October aged 60 after a short illness PA Notable deaths in 2016 Aaron Pryor, the relentless junior welterweight died Sunday, Oct. 9, at the age of 60 at his home in Cincinnati after a long battle with heart disease AP Notable deaths in 2016 Polish Director Andrzej Wajda died on October 9, aged 90 Reuters Notable deaths in 2016 Stylianos Pattakos has died following a stroke on 8th October. He was 103 years old. AP Notable deaths in 2016 Dickie Jeeps, was an English rugby union player who played for Northampton. He represented and captained both the England national rugby union team and the British Lions in the 1950s and 1960s. He died on 8th October. He was 84 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Duke of Westminster Billionaire landowner the Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor has died on 9 August, aged 64 Rex Features Notable deaths in 2016 Christina Knudsen Sir Roger Moores stepdaughter Christina Knudsen has died from cancer on 25 July at teh age of 47 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Caroline Aherne The actress Caroline Aherne has died from cancer on 2 July at the age of 52 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Christina Grimmie Christina Grimmie, 22, who was an American singer and songwriter, known for her participation in the NBC singing competition The Voice, was signing autographs at a concert venue in Orlando on 10 June when an assailant shot her. Grimmie was transported to a local hospital where she died from her wounds on 11 June Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Kimbo Slice Former UFC and Bellator MMA fighter Kimbo Slice died after being admitted to hospital in Florida on 6 June, aged 42 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Muhammad Ali The three-time former heavyweight world champion died after being admitted to hospital with a respiratory illness on 3 June, aged 74 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Sally Brampton Brampton who was the launch editor of the UK edition of Elle magazine has died on 10 May, aged 60 Grant Triplow/REX/Shutterstock Notable deaths in 2016 Billy Paul The soul singer Billy Paul, who was best known for his single Me and Mrs Jones, has died on 24 April, aged 81 Noel Vasquez/Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Prince Prince, the legendary musician, has been found dead at his Paisley Park recording studio on 21 April. He was 57 Notable deaths in 2016 Chyna WWE icon Joan Laurer dies aged 45 after being found at California home on 20 April Notable deaths in 2016 Victoria Wood The five-time Bafta-winning actress and comedian Victoria Wood has died on 20 April at her London home after a short illness with cancer. She was 62 Notable deaths in 2016 David Gest The entertainer and former husband of Liza Minnelli, David Gest has been found dead on 12 April in the Four Seasons hotel in Canary Warf, London. He was 62-years-old PA Notable deaths in 2016 Denise Robertson Denise Robertson, an agony aunt on This Morning for over 30 years, has died on 1 April, aged 83 Notable deaths in 2016 Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Hadid, the prominent architect best known for designs such as the London Olympic Aquatic Centre and the Guangzhou Opera House, has died of a heart attack on 31 March, aged 65 2010 AFP Notable deaths in 2016 Ronnie Corbett British entertainer Ronnie Corbett has passed away on 31 March at the age of 85 2014 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Imre Kertesz Hungarian writer and Holocaust survivor Imre Kertesz, who won the 2002 Nobel Literature Prize, has died on 31 March, at the age of 86 REUTERS Notable deaths in 2016 Rob Ford Rob Ford, the former controversial mayor of Toronto, has died following a battle with a rare form of cancer. The 46-year-old passed away at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto on 22 March Notable deaths in 2016 Joey Feek Joey (left) passed away in March after a two-year cancer illness. She was part of country music duo, Joey + Rory, with her husband Rory (right) Jason Merritt/Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Umberto Eco Italian writer and philosopher Umberto Eco died 19 February 2016 aged 84 EPA Notable deaths in 2016 Harper Lee Harper Lee, the American novelist known for writing 'To Kill a Mockingbird', died February 19, 2016 aged 89 2005 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Vanity Vanity, pictured performing in 1983, died aged 57 REX Features Notable deaths in 2016 Dave Mirra The BMX legend's body found inside truck with gunshot wound after apparent suicide aged 41 Notable deaths in 2016 Harry Harpham The former miner became Sheffield Labour MP in May after many years as a local councillor. He died after succumbing to cancer, at the age of 61. Notable deaths in 2016 Dale Griffin The Mott the Hoople drummer died on January 17, aged 67 REX Notable deaths in 2016 Rene Angelil Celine Dion's husband and manager Rene Angelil has lost his battle with cancer on 14 January, aged 73 2011 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Alan Rickman Legendary actor Alan Rickman has died on 14 January at the age of 69 after battle with pancreatic cancer. He is largely regarded as one of the most beloved British actors of our generation with roles in Love Actually, Die Hard, Michael Collins, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and an illustrious stage career 2015 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Maurice White The Earth, Wind & Fire founder died aged 74. The nine-piece band sold more than 90 million albums worldwide and won six Grammy awards Notable deaths in 2016 Lawrence Phillips Former NFL star found dead in prison cell on 13 January in suspected suicide, aged 40 AFP/Getty Images Police Scotland detained a 43-year-old man and he is expected in court in Kilmarnock later today. Mr O'Hanlon ran a bodybuilding shop called Musclebox OHanlon in the east end of Glasgow with his partner Eileen Kirkwood. He won his first Mr Scotland title 23 years ago. After his body was found, a Police Scotland spokeswoman told The Independent: Police and emergency services responded to a report of a 45-year-old man having being injured in the Moorpark industrial estate in Stevenston. The man was pronounced dead at the scene by ambulance staff. A postmortem examination will take place to establish the cause of death, which is being treated as suspicious. Inquiries are at an early stage, however detectives are following a positive line of enquiry. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A manager for the British Council has reportedly criticised three-year-old Prince George, the third in line to the throne, for living a life free of hardship and benefiting from white privilege. Angela Gibbins, Head of Global Estates for the cultural relations organisation, which is partially funded by the taxpayer, made the comments in response to a photo on social media captioned: I know hes only two years old [sic], but Prince George already looks like a f****** d***head, according to The Sun. Posting a message beneath the picture of the young prince, she reportedly wrote: "White privilege. That cheeky grin is the innate knowledge he's royal, rich, advantages and will never know any difficulties or hardships in life". Lets find photos of 3yo Syrian refugee children and see if they look alike, eh? In response to criticisms online, the 52-year-old Ms Gibbins is said to have responded: "I'm sound in my socialist, atheist and republican opinions. I dont believe the royal family have any place in a modern democracy, least of all when they live on public money. Thats privilege and it needs to end. 7 of Prince George's most astounding privileges and powers A spokesperson for the British Council said in a statement: This comment was made on a private social media account. It has absolutely no connection to the British Council and does not represent the views of the British Council. That said we expect the highest standards of our staff and we will be investigating the matter further. Ms Gibbins is reported to have a salary of around 80,000 a year for her role at the organisation. The British Council works in more than 100 countries to provide educational opportunities and cultural relations and is sponsored by the Foreign Office. It has a Royal Charter and its patron is the Queen. Earlier this month, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George's parents, met schoolchildren in France who were taking part in a British Council programme. Prince George's third birthday Show all 4 1 /4 Prince George's third birthday Prince George's third birthday Matt Porteous/PA Wire Prince George's third birthday Matt Porteous/PA Wire Prince George's third birthday Matt Porteous/PA Wire Prince George's third birthday Matt Porteous/PA Wire The Independent could not reach Ms Gibbins for comment. Prince Georges official photo for his third birthday last week prompted the RSPCA to issue a warning about the dangers of feeding dogs food such as ice cream. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Wendi Deng has addressed her relationship with Rupert Murdoch and their mutual friends since their divorce, describing how she and Murdoch remain united as parents. The pair were married for 14 years but the 84-year-old billionaire News Corporation chairman and CEO filed for divorce from Deng in June 2013. Deng, a Chinese-born American businesswoman, said the couple now share childcare duties. Ruperts a very good father, the 47-year-old told Vogue magazine. Strict like me. Murdoch and Hall wedding blessing Show all 14 1 /14 Murdoch and Hall wedding blessing Murdoch and Hall wedding blessing Suzanne Accosta, Bill Wyman, Jeanne Marine and Bob Geldof AP Murdoch and Hall wedding blessing Rupert Murdoch with his sons Lachlan, left and James, right Murdoch and Hall wedding blessing Jerry Hall arrives at St Bride's for the ceremony to celebrate her marriage to Rupert Murdoch Murdoch and Hall wedding blessing Rebekah Brooks and her husband Charlie Murdoch and Hall wedding blessing Andrew Lloyd Webber and Madeleine Gurdon Murdoch and Hall wedding blessing Tracey Emin arrive at St Bride's Murdoch and Hall wedding blessing Michael Caine arrives for the service Murdoch and Hall wedding blessing Barry Humphries and Lizzie Spender Murdoch and Hall wedding blessing Justice Secretary Michael Gove Murdoch and Hall wedding blessing Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail AFP/Getty Images Murdoch and Hall wedding blessing Mick Jagger's daughter Jade Jagger PA Murdoch and Hall wedding blessing Georgia-May Jagger Georgia-May Jagger arrives for her mother Jerry Hall's wedding Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images Murdoch and Hall wedding blessing Chloe and Grace Murdoch Bridesmaids Chloe and Grace Helen Murdoch leave the wedding ceremony Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images Murdoch and Hall wedding blessing Bianca Jagger Bianca Jagger leaves St Brides Church Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images We attend school conferences together. We both make sure they learn Chinese, do well in math. We make decisions together about how they use social media. We never want them to say, Well, Mommy said this or Daddy said that. The pair have two children, Grace who is now 14 and Chloe who is 13. Deng said that mutual friends did not take sides in the divorce. She also said she had told her children to be kind to Jerry Hall, Murdochs fourth wife whom he married in the spring. Ive met Jerry only briefly once, when she dropped off Grace, she said. She seems very nice, and my girls like her. I always tell them to treat her kindly. Shes their fathers wife. Deng was born in Shandong in China but eventually came to the US to study after being sponsored by an American family for a student visa. There she graduated from Yale and landed herself an internship at Star TV in Hong Kong, part of News Corporation. She quickly worked her way up, leading Murdochs Chinese internet investments which totalled between $35 million and $45 million, according to a top News Corp executive. Deng met Murdoch at a company party in Hong Kong in 1997 and the pair married in 1999 on board his yacht The Morning Glory. Earlier this year, rumours emerged that Deng was dating Vladimir Putin however Deng has denied rumours she is dating the Russian president. Ive never met Putin, she said. But wow, so much press about it. Why did they choose me? For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} When Sarah Hurwitz sits down at her laptop, she puts on her noise-blocking headphones and imagines Michelle Obama's exacting voice in her head. The voice might say: No, that transition is clumsy. Or: Are we really telling this story in a way that honours these people? Hurwitz, the first lady's head speechwriter, has written for the Obamas for eight years and for Michelle Obama exclusively for nearly seven. The two have worked so closely together that nearly every word the first lady has spoken in public has been written or edited by Hurwitz. "As I write for her now, I'm sort of editing the speech with her voice in my head because she's given me so much feedback over the years and been so clear about what she wants," Hurwitz said between sips of water at a Penn Quarter coffee shop two blocks from the White House. The 38-year-old Harvard Law School grad is an Obama original, one of the few remaining staff members who joined the White House straight from the 2008 campaign. She started that cycle, though, as Hillary Clinton's chief speechwriter. Two days after Clinton conceded defeat with a memorable speech hailing "18 million cracks" in the "highest, hardest glass ceiling," the Obama team called to offer Hurwitz a job. Michelle Obama ringing endorsement for a first female President in Hillary Clinton She was first assigned to write for the candidate's wife when Obama was preparing to reintroduce herself to the world at the Denver convention, after a period when she had been caricatured as angry, elitist and unpatriotic. Hurwitz was hesitant and wondered whether Obama would be suspicious of her after the brutal primary campaign. She wasn't. Their second meeting was a 90-minute conversation in the living room of the Obamas' Chicago home. "She clearly said to me: 'Okay, this is who I am. This is where I come from. This is my family. These are my values, and this is what I want to talk about at the convention,' " Hurwitz recalled. "I realized then that Michelle Obama knows who she is, and she always knows what she wants to say." After trading a couple drafts back and forth -- Hurwitz writing, and then rewriting, based on Obama's edits -- they settled on a final version that told the story of Michelle Obama as a child of Chicago's working-class South Side, a woman who had long been skeptical of politics but who believed in her husband's ability to make a difference. Hailed as a high point of the convention, it sent Obama's popularity soaring. Speechwriters were not historically part of the first lady's staff -- not even for Eleanor Roosevelt, who gave at least 1,300 speeches during her time in the job, according to Myra Gutin, a historian and author of"The President's Partner: The First Lady in the Twentieth Century" -- until Lady Bird Johnson tapped press secretary Liz Carpenter to help her craft public addresses. First ladies these days are expected to deliver an increasing number of speeches, each with a distinct, newsworthy point -- yet not about policy and rarely about politics. Which is just fine as far as Michelle Obama is concerned. She and Hurwitz seem to have chosen an understated oratorical style, Gutin said. "It's a gentle way of making a suggestion. It's not the kind of thing that hits you over the head." In a commencement address before Tuskegee University, in Alabama, last year, the first lady took on the topic of race -- first by describing the pressure that students at the historically black college face trying to live up to the achievements of earlier generations of African American trailblazers, and then acknowledging that she could relate to that stress. "Back when my husband first started campaigning for president, folks had all sorts of questions of me: What kind of first lady would I be? What kinds of issues would I take on? . . . But, as potentially the first African American first lady, I was also the focus of another set of questions and speculations, conversations sometimes rooted in the fears and misperceptions of others. Was I too loud, or too angry, or too emasculating? Or was I too soft, too much of a mom, not enough of a career woman?" Tyler Lechtenberg, a speechwriter for the president who wrote for the first lady before moving to the West Wing, worked on that speech. "She really wants to connect and to be sure there's an emotional center in every speech," he said. "She's not interested in rattling off a bunch of statistics." Nor is she particularly interested in creating a sound bite. Hurwitz has become the gentle enforcer of the first lady's speaking style, and she takes pains to nix any lines that sound like something a politician would say. Obama is more interested in telling a story, and Hurwitz has come to know her personal story intimately. More often than not, Obama weaves tales of her working-class childhood in Chicago into her speeches. The key for Hurwitz is retelling that story and making it fresh. In addition to her intuitive sense of "the big narrative arc" of Obama's story, "she'll know some of the smaller stories -- like, what did the first lady and her brother, Craig, do at some moment," said Tina Tchen, the first lady's chief of staff. "That helps." The first lady "really shines, and she's at her best when she's talking to groups she identifies with," said Cody Keenan, the president's director of speechwriting. "She and the president are pretty normal people who somehow ended up in the White House. So whenever she gets to go to a place where people have never seen a president or first lady, it is meaningful. It's powerful. She and Sarah feel that. And it shows in their collaborations." A Wayland, Mass., native who got her start as a speechwriting intern for Vice President Al Gore, Hurwitz has kept a relatively low profile during her White House years, even as some of her colleagues -- notably Jon Favreau, who hired her -- have become personalities in their own right or taken their credentials to Hollywood in search of screenwriting careers. In the East Wing, she oversees just one other writer, David Cavell, who works in an adjacent office; they often yell through the wall to exchange thoughts on a project. The hours are long; there always seems to be some important event looming. Hurwitz has made efforts to focus on her personal life by taking classes on Judaism and exercising regularly -- although her time on the elliptical is sometimes interrupted by a burst of inspiration, and she will jump off the machine and tap out an email to herself with an idea of how to turn something the first lady brought up in a meeting into prose. Yet the first lady's lawyerly sense of organization has made the job easier. Michelle Obama has been known to practice big speeches word for word, weeks in advance, and rarely orders up last-minute changes. "This school was founded as part of a deliberate, systematic effort to extinguish your culture; to literally annihilate who you were and what you believed in. But look at you today," the first lady said to applause. "The native languages that were once strictly forbidden here now echo through hallways and in your dorm-room conversations at night." Hurwitz said she got lost in the moment even though she had helped to craft the words. "I thought to myself, 'I am watching the great-great-granddaughter of a slave give a speech to a room of Native American kids, [and] the vast majority of them are going to college, and many to Ivy League schools,' " Hurwitz said. "To see that -- this is a great country." Copyright: Washington Post For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Watching too much television might kill you, according to a new study. The hours of inactivity that are required to watch a TV series can raise the risk of dying from a blood clot in the lungs. For every extra two hours of TV watching per day, the risk of fatal pulmonary embolism was increased by 40 per cent, the researchers found. Watching five or more hours to TV programmes each day made people more than twice as likely to die than those watching less than 2.5 hours. The actual risk might be even worse than the findings suggest, because of the number of deaths from the disease. And the danger is set to increase yet further as people binge watch even more on streaming services. The worst jobs for your health Show all 10 1 /10 The worst jobs for your health The worst jobs for your health 10. Surgical and medical assistants, technologists, and technicians Overall unhealthiness score: 57.3 What they do: Assist in operations, under the supervision of surgeons, registered nurses, or other surgical personnel and perform medical laboratory tests. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 88 2. Exposure to contaminants: 80 3. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 69 The worst jobs for your health 9. Stationary engineers and boiler operators Overall unhealthiness score: 57.7 What they do: Operate or maintain stationary engines, boilers, or other mechanical equipment to provide utilities for buildings or industrial processes. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 99 2. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 89 3. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 84 The worst jobs for your health 8. Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators Overall unhealthiness score: 58.2 What they do: Operate or control an entire process or system of machines, often through the use of control boards, to transfer or treat water or wastewater. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 97 2. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 80 3. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 74 The worst jobs for your health 7. Histotechnologists and histologic technicians Overall unhealthiness score: 59.0 What they do: Prepare histologic slides from tissue sections for microscopic examination and diagnosis by pathologists. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 88 2. Exposure to contaminants: 76 3. Exposure to disease and infections: 75 The worst jobs for your health 6. Immigration and customs inspectors Overall unhealthiness score: 59.3 What they do: Investigate and inspect people, common carriers, goods, and merchandise, arriving in or departing from the US or between states to detect violations of immigration and customs laws and regulations. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 78 2. Exposure to disease and infections: 63 3. Exposure to radiation: 62 The worst jobs for your health 5. Podiatrists Overall unhealthiness score: 60.2 What they do: Diagnose and treat diseases and deformities of the human foot. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 87 2. Exposure to radiation: 69 3. Exposure to contaminants: 67 The worst jobs for your health 4. Veterinarians, veterinary assistants, and laboratory animal caretakers and veterinary technologists and technicians What they do: Diagnose, treat, or research diseases and injuries of animals and perform medical tests in a laboratory environment for use in the treatment and diagnosis of diseases in animals. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 81 2. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 75 3. Exposure to contaminants: 74 The worst jobs for your health 3. Anesthesiologists, nurse anesthetists, and anesthesiologist assistants Overall unhealthiness score: 62.3 What they do: Administer anesthetics or sedatives during medical procedures, and help patients in recovering from anesthesia. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 94 2. Exposure to contaminants: 80 3. Exposure to radiation: 74 The worst jobs for your health 2. Flight attendants What they do: Provide personal services to ensure the safety, security, and comfort of airline passengers during flight. Greet passengers, verify tickets, explain use of safety equipment, and serve food or beverages. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 88 2. Exposure to disease and infections: 77 3. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 69 The worst jobs for your health 1. Dentists, dental surgeons, and dental assistants Overall unhealthiness score: 65.4 What they do: Examine, diagnose, and treat diseases, injuries, and malformations of teeth and gums. May treat diseases of nerve, pulp, and other dental tissues affecting oral hygiene and retention of teeth. May fit dental appliances or provide preventive care. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 84 2. Exposure to disease and infections: 75 3. Time spent sitting: 67 The research has led scientists to warn that such habits watching back-to-back episodes of a TV series might be dangerous. The new study, conducted in Japan, looked at the TV watching habits of more than 86,000 people, studying them over time. Researchers followed people who were aged between 40 and 79 between 1988 and 1990, and then followed them through a 19-year period. In all, 59 deaths from pulmonary embolisms were recorded. Pulmonary embolism is a dangerous condition, which can be made worse by not moving around. It will often begin with a clot elsewhere in the body that can move towards the lungs, clogging up vessels and killing people. More than a quarter who suffer them without having treatment can die. Deaths are often sudden. "Pulmonary embolism occurs at a lower rate in Japan than it does in Western countries, but it may be on the rise, said lead researcher Professor Hiroyasu Iso, from Osaka University. "The Japanese people are increasingly adopting sedentary lifestyles, which we believe is putting them at increased risk." The scientists looked to account for the various other factors that could complicate the results, including levels of obesity, diabetes, smoking, and high blood pressure. They found that the other primary marker of pulmonary embolism, after the number of hours spent watching TV, was obesity. The researchers expressed concern about the danger posed by binge watching. "Nowadays, with online video streaming, the term 'binge-watching' to describe viewing multiple episodes of television programmes in one sitting has become popular," Professor Iso said. "This popularity may reflect a rapidly growing habit." As such, people binge watching TV should act like they would on a plane, he said. "After an hour or so, stand up, stretch, walk around, or while you're watching TV, tense and relax your leg muscles for five minutes," he advised. The research did the study before mobile computers and unlimited streaming services became popular. The researchers said that more work would need to be done to work out whether those technologies pose even more of a danger. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An alleged child murderer who fled the UK while on bail has posted photos of him drinking beer in the sunshine. James Watson was arrested in April on suspicion of the murder of six-year-old Rikki Neave who was found naked and strangled in a patch of woodland in Peterborough in 1994. But after being released on police bail, he absconded from a hostel in Northamptonshire last month and smuggled himself out of the UK in a mobile home. He is now believed to be hiding in Portugal from where he has posted a string of photos of him enjoying himself on the beach, the Mirror reports. In a string of messages on Facebook he said: "The best thing is I don't even have a passport. I just walked out of our country. "Me and a mate left the UK in a mobile home. "Booked it on the ferry, drove on and that was that. No checks, nothing." He said he was getting the sun on me and making some memories for dark days and said the recent months had been the most stressful of his life. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA 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 The 35-year-old said the charges were all b****** and claimed they came after an ex-girlfriend said he tried to strangle her during sex. Watson said she had made the allegations up because she was mad he later came out as gay. He was first arrested in April in connection with the murder and was held for several days of questioning before being bailed on 15 June. Police were made aware that he had breached his bail conditions on 15 July and said they were working with their Portuguese counterparts to find him and bring him back to the UK. Recommended Read more Man arrested over death of schoolboy Rikki Neave in 1994 Schoolboy Rikki went missing near the Welland Estate in Peterborough on 28 November 1994 and was found the following day in a woodland nearby. His mother, Ruth Neave, was originally charged with his murder but was found not guilty by a jury in 1996. A spokesman for Cambridgeshire Police said: "We have reason to believe that the 35-year-old man from Peterborough who was arrested in connection with the historic murder of six-year-old Rikki Neave left the country while on police bail. "We have been in communication with him and are working with him and partner agencies in order for him to return to the UK promptly." Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The treaty clause that triggers exit from the European Union was not actually designed to be used, its author has said. Giuliano Amato, a former prime minister of Italy, who later worked with the European Commission, helped draft the European Constitution, which became the Lisbon Treaty. He said he had written the now infamous Article 50 but that it was largely for show. I wrote Article 50, so I know it well, Mr Amato told a conference in Rome, according to Reuters. He told the meeting he had specifically inserted the article to prevent the British government complaining there was no way for them to leave the bloc. My intention was that it should be a classic safety valve that was there, but never used. It is like having a fire extinguisher that should never have to be used. Instead, the fire happened. Mr Amato went on to describe Brexit as a "disaster", called David Cameron "mad" for calling a referendum over it and urged other countries not to follow suit. Of impending talks, he said: "Don't give Britain the possibility of thinking that Brexit is a better way of doing what they have always done, grabbing what suits them [in the EU] and opting out of what they don't like. Brexit is a total opting out. They know this very well. What is Article 50? "The more they realise that they are losing, then the more chance there is that in 2020 [when there will be a general election] someone will do something about it." He conceded that this was an "absurd hope" however, and as such wants "the negotiations [to be] dragged on so they won't be wrapped up by 2020. (Prime Minister) May wants to wrap things up by 2019, but it will be easy to prolong matters." There has been speculation about when and how Article 50 will be triggered, prompting the start of exit negotiations. Ms May has signalled that the clause will not be invoked until 2017. She has also said it will not be used until Scotland's position in negotiations is clear. Patrick McLoughlin, the Tory chairman, said the process would be started before the next general election, but gave no further details. The process of invoking Article 50 is said to be irreversible. Once it has been used it is expected to take between two years and a decade for the secession to complete. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Unaccompanied child migrants living in squalid conditions across Europe should not be treated as somebody elses problem by the UK Government, a new parliamentary report has urged. The cross-party intervention, which condemns the UK and EU member states for shirking their responsibility to care for unaccompanied children, comes after Theresa May faced heavy criticism for scrapping the Syrian refugee ministerial post just 10 months after it was created by her predecessor. The report detailing the plight of unaccompanied children on the continent calls on the Government to take its fair share. Placing a particular emphasis on the missing children now estimated to be more than 10,000 the 113-page document, produced by the House of Lords European Union Committee, includes testimonies from witnesses that paint a harrowing picture of the squalor, destitution and desperation unaccompanied children face in the EU. Recommended Read more Theresa May criticised for scrapping minister for Syrian refugees post It pours scorn on EU member states for their reluctance to accept responsibility and share the burden of unaccompanied children. But the report singles out the UK for particular criticism, adding: We deplore the continuing resistance of the UK Government to show solidarity with its European partners in helping to relocate such children. It also criticises the lack of burden sharing between local authorities in Britain - while the 32 London authorities have taken in 1,304 children just 50 are cared for by the 16 authorities in the South West. Syrian children hold Pokemon pictures in the hope people will find them and save them We found that these children face suspicion on arrival. They are seen as somebody elses problem and the conditions they live in were described to us as deplorable and squalid, said the committee chair Baroness Prashar. We found a clear failure among EU countries, including the UK, to shoulder their fair share of the burden. We deeply regret the UKs reluctance to relocate migrant children to the UK, in particular those living in terrible conditions in the camps near the channel ports, she added. It is particularly shocking that so many unaccompanied child migrants are falling out of the system altogether and going missing. How can member states, including the UK, tolerate a situation where there are more than 10,000 missing migrant children in the EU? New Prime minister Theresa May has faced heavy criticism for scrapping the Syrian refugee ministerial post (AFP/Getty Images) The wide-ranging document also categorically dismisses the Governments argument that the prospect of family reunification could encourage families to send children to Europe unaccompanied in order to act as an anchor for other relatives. The report emerged as Ms May faced heavy criticism for scrapping the Syrian refugee ministerial post. The post was quietly abandoned when Ms May shifted Richard Harrington appointed by David Cameron as the first ever minister for Syrian refugees to become her new pensions minister. In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Show all 12 1 /12 In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee children at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees queuing for food at the Kara Tepe camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees' tents at the Kara Tepe camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees at the Oxy transit camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees waiting to board ferries to the Greek mainland in Mytilene, Lebos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees waiting to board ferries to the Greek mainland in Mytilene, Lebos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees waiting to board ferries to the Greek mainland in Mytilene, Lebos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos The graves of drowned refugees in Mytilene, Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos A building used to house unaccompanied children at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees queuing to register at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees arriving on smugglers' boats from Turkey in Lesbos Conservative backbencher Heidi Allen said the move was not a great start for Ms May, while the Liberal Democrats claimed it showed refugees would be treated worse than they had been under David Cameron. Owen Smith, the Labour leadership challenger, said it was utterly disgraceful to scrap the post at a time when men, women and children are still drowning in the Mediterranean. But Downing Street defended Ms Mays decision to scrap the post of Syrian refugee minister. The Prime Ministers official spokeswoman said the Home Office would retain responsibility to meet the Governments promise to take in 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020.She added: There was a role appointed to a specific MP to make sure that the commitment made previously to increase the number of refugees that we resettle got under way, got off to a good start and was delivered upon. The report, Children in Crisis: unaccompanied migrant children in the EU, recommends the establishment of an independent guardianship scheme at both an EU and UK level to ensure decision are taken in the best interests of migrant children. The committee also concludes that it is vital on moral grounds that the UK maintains good relations with the other member states to resolve the humanitarian crisis despite the Brexit vote. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Im a film-lover and a Blair-hater, so you put the two together... says former Labour and Respect MP George Galloway, who is currently reinventing himself as a documentarian. He is the co-writer and presenter of The Killing$ of Tony Blair, a documentary timed to coincide with the release of the Chilcot report that takes several pops at the former Labour Prime Minister. Anyone who saw Galloways stint on Celebrity Big Brother will know that he has a certain presence on camera miaow but if that series showed the, er, exuberant side of the politician, he wants to be more a Michael Moore for this appearance. I think docs are the future: they are already supplanting books, he says. The classic political documentaries, Fahrenheit 9/11 and Inside Job tell the story far better than any book could. He tried to get in touch with Moore before he started on the film, but they never met. We have taken some tradecraft from Moore, but he has more of a comic persona than I do. Thats one way of putting it. So its easier for him. Still, taking his lead from the American documentarian, Galloway does go in for some doorstopping of Blairs offices and residences. He occasionally talks to camera and provides the voiceover that connects the dots in the story he wants to tell. And that is? There are three killings in the film, he says. The killing of the Labour Party, the killing of a million people in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the financial killings made out of the first two. The film takes the former PM to task over the Iraq War In particular, those made by Tony Blair and his wife. Galloway believes thats what most interests the British public and such expert witnesses as Will Self, whom he quotes as one of several talking heads in the documentary: Im staggered by the avarice of Tony Blair. Hes bought more than 30 houses in the United Kingdom since he left Downing Street. Hes worth 100m. Galloway contrasts this situation with the one in which he has found himself through making this documentary. He raised 165,000 funding on Kickstarter; but with archive footage costs, the budget rose to 600,000. He says he sold his own house to fund the film. Im lucky that I have a wife who would allow me to do so, he says. We now live in rented accommodation. The long documented history of spats between Blair and Galloway will make some believe that this film cannot be impartial. But Galloway sees his battle honours as an advantage. More people will see it, or download it, because they know that Ive fought Blair, not just since the Iraq War but since 1994. And that of course flavours the film. But there are more people who agree with me about Tony Blair than agree with Tony Blair about Tony Blair. But how about those who probably agree more with Blair about Galloway than agree with Galloway about Galloway? For example, Naz Shah, the Labour MP for Bradford West, who accused him of making false claims about her at the last general election, when he campaigned to hold the same seat for Respect (the party he founded when he was booted out of Labour). He was also reported to the police by the returning officer for breaking the law when he retweeted his partys own exit poll before voting finished. There have been other reputation-damaging instances, too detentions, suspensions from Parliament, complaints against him which must diminish any case he puts. Galloway is aware of this credibility gap. We do acknowledge that there were some good things that New Labour did. But we are not pretending this film is anything other than a jaccuse. Its not an angry tirade. I think its a considered narrative, its intellectually coherent and it flows. Its an assembly of facts, which in itself is an indictment. We cant get him in the Hague, so well get him in the cinema. Galloway in his film The Killing$ Of Tony Blair Talking of war crimes, he has mixed emotions over reactions to the Chilcot report: Look at how Chilcot has completely disappeared from the news. Its only been two weeks since it was published. You would have thought that the British state would have been turned over. He puts that down to British indifference: that Iraqis lives are given less value than our own. But it could have been worse, if Tonys cronies had managed to oust Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn before the reports publication. And he fears that the partys current leadership battle proves that Blair still is alive and kicking. This is an existential turning point in British political history. If the Blairites come back and Jeremy Corbyn is defeated, it would be like nothing has changed and the same people are running things. If Corbyn wins a big victory and I think he will then that should be, and its important that it is, the final burial of Blair and Blairism. To achieve that, Galloway is willing even to cede the part of main talking head in the documentary to Seamus Milne, who was a journalist while it was being made but has since been appointed executive director of strategy and communications of the Labour Party that is, Corbyns spin doctor. When we interviewed him, he was not as well-known as he is now. And at the time, too, I did pass on an interview with a then little known backbencher called Jeremy Corbyn. I didnt interview him because I was sat next to him for 30 years. I feel like the guy who turned down the Beatles. Galloway is backing Corbyn in the leadership contest, although he says hed benefit more if Corbyn lost and his army of supporters formed a new party. He recently stood in the London mayoral race, still harbours political ambitions and says we shouldnt be surprised if we see him back in Westminster. Or we may just see more of Galloway the author and filmmaker. He has a book coming out on Blair to accompany the documentary and hes working on a novel about the current Labour leadership campaign: I think a novel is the best way to tell the story. As for filming, the most likely project is about the alleged MI5/right-wing conspiracy to smear Labour politicians in the mid-1970s. I knew Harold Wilson very well and used to visit his house in Victoria, so I have a lot of background and it has some contemporary resonance. And what does Galloway who has a wide constituency through his show on Talk Radio think about the fact that hes now employed by Rupert Murdoch, who is lambasted in the documentary, and recently bought the station? Will he resign like fellow presenter Colin Murray, a Liverpool-supporting broadcaster who felt that he couldnt work for the proprietor of The Sun? Who would have thought that I would be employed by Murdoch? Galloway chortles. I work for Russia Today, Press TV, Al Mayadeen TV and Talk Radio. Ill work for anybody else, as long as they dont try to interfere with what Ive got to say. The minute that someone tries to interfere with what I say, then Ill be off. I said that before Murdoch took over. And my guess is that Murdoch would be very foolish to interfere with my show. Its the biggest on the station. The advertisers are so happy that I complain I have too many ads. The Killing$ of Tony Blair has a world premiere in London tonight, at the Curzon Soho, followed by a Q&A hosted by Keith Allen and featuring a panel to include George Galloway, Michael Mansfield QC and David Davies MP. The film and Q&A will then be touring nationwide, with a DVD & digital HD released on 15 August Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} New Home Secretary Amber Rudd has announced a series of measures to tackle hate crime following a surge in reports after the Brexit vote. A raft of new measures entitled the Hate Crime Action Plan have been announced as Ms Rudd called on communities across Britain to "come together and stand united against those who use hate to divide us". Under the plan, there will be a new assessment of the level of racist, religious and homophobic bullying going on in schools and give them more guidance on how to report it. Teachers and students will be given "new tools" to fight prejudice and hatred and a new programme to equip teachers to "facilitate conversations" when terrorist incidents happen at home and abroad will be launched. In addition, 2.4m of funding will be made available to places of worship for extra help with security and installing equipment for mosques, synagogues and other religious institutions which need extra protection. The new measures will also include "targeted work" to help people who are abused on public transport. In addition to the action plan, the Home Office has also said it will ask Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary to assess the way police respond to all forms of hate crime. The study will look at how police forces around the country understand and deal with hate crime reports. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA 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 Ms Rudd said: "This Government is determined to build a Britain that works for everyone. "Those who practise hatred send out a message that it's ok to abuse and attack others because of their nationality, ethnicity or religious background. That it's ok to disregard our shared values and promote the intolerance that causes enormous harm to communities and individuals. "Well, I have a very clear message for them. We will not stand for it. Hatred has no place whatsoever in a 21st century Great Britain that works for everyone. Recommended Read more The three simple things Theresa May could do to stop hate crime "We are Great Britain because we are united by values such as democracy, free speech, mutual respect and opportunity for all. We are the sum of all our parts - a proud, diverse society. Hatred does not get a seat at the table, and we will do everything we can to stamp it out." Following the decision to leave the European Union on 23 June there has been a spike in the number of a reported hate crimes across the country. The National Police Chief's Council said it received over 6,000 reports of hate crimes in the four weeks from 16 June. Of these, young people were the victims of 10 per cent of faith hate crimes and eight per cent were subjected to race related abuse. Amber Rudd has unveiled the new Hate Crime Action Plan in her new role as Home Secretary (PA) At the weekend, the new Government urged prosecutors to press for tougher sentences for those convicted of hate crimes. The majority of the abuse since the referendum has been directed at Eastern Europeans and Muslim people. A Polish family in Plymouth had their shed set on fire with a note left on the doorstep telling them to go "back to your f***ng country" or the family would be attacked next. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Speaker of the House of Commons has poured cold water on claims by a Labour MP that there had been unauthorised access to her office by Labour staff loyal to the leadership. John Bercow told Seema Malhotra that claims of unauthorised entry into her office did not amount to a possible breach of Commons rules. Ms Malhotra was previously the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury under John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor. She was one of dozens of MPs to resign from the frontbench an attempt to oust party leader Jeremy Corbyn. John McDonnell pleas for Labour unity She last week accused aides of Mr Corbyn and Mr McDonnell of violating her security and effectively breaking into her office after her resignation. The Labour MP wrote to Mr Bercow demanding an investigation, alleging that her own researchers had suffered from harassment. Mr McDonnell said at the time his believed Ms Malhotra had moved out of her office following her resignation, on account of there being boxes outside it. The Speaker has now replied. He said: Having taken advice, I am satisfied that there is nothing in your letter or in the information subsequently elicited by the deputy Serjeant at Arms which would justify regarding these events as a possible breach. Ms Malhotra said: I acknowledge that the Speaker did not have sufficient evidence in relation to a breach of privilege. I believe a number of questions remain unanswered about who precisely entered my office and why. "I do want to see that this concern never arises for any Member of Parliament in the future. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn Show all 11 1 /11 The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn He called Hezbollah and Hamas friends True. In a speech made to the Stop the War Coalition in 2009, Mr Corbyn called representatives from both groups friends after inviting them to Parliament. He later told Channel 4 he wanted both groups, who have factions designated as international terror organisations, to be part of the debate for the Middle East peace process. I use (the word friends) in a collective way, saying our friends are prepared to talk, he added. Does it mean I agree with Hamas and what it does? No. Does it mean I agree with Hezbollah and what they do? No. Reuters The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Corbyn thinks the death of Osama bin Laden was a tragedy Partly false. David Cameron used this as a line of attack at the Conservative Party conference but appears to have left out all context from Mr Corbyns original remarks. In an 2011 interview on Iranian television, the then-backbencher said the fact the al-Qaeda leader was not put on trial was the tragedy, continuing: The World Trade Center was a tragedy, the attack on Afghanistan was a tragedy, the war in Iraq was a tragedy. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn He is haunted by the legacy of his evil great-great-grandfather False. A Daily Express expose revealed that the Labour leaders ancestor, James Sargent, was the despotic master of a Victorian workhouse. Addressing the report at the Labour conference, Mr Corbyn said he had never heard of him before, adding: I want to take this opportunity to apologise for not doing the decent thing and going back in time and having a chat with him about his appalling behaviour. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Corbyn raised a motion about pigeon bombs in Parliament This one is true. On 21 May 2004, Mr Corbyn raised an early day motion entitled pigeon bombs, proposing that the House register being appalled but barely surprised that MI5 reportedly proposed to load pigeons with explosives as a weapon. The motion continued: The House believes that humans represent the most obscene, perverted, cruel, uncivilised and lethal species ever to inhabit the planet and looks forward to the day when the inevitable asteroid slams into the earth and wipes them out thus giving nature the opportunity to start again. It was not carried. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn He rides a Communist bicycle False. A report in The Times referred to Mr Corbyn, known for his cycling, riding a Chairman Mao-style bicycle earlier this year. Less thorough journalists might have referred to it as just a bicycle, but no, so we have to conclude that whenever we see somebody on a bicycle from now on, there goes another supporter of Chairman Mao, he later joked. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn 'Jeremy Corbyn will appoint a special minister for Jews' False so far. The Sun report in December was allegedly based on a rumour passed to the paper by a Daily Express columnist who has written pieces critical of the Labour leader in the past. The minister did not materialise in his shadow cabinet. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Corbyn wishes Britain would abolish its Army False. Another gem from The Sun took comments made at a Hiroshima remembrance parade in August 2012 where Mr Corbyn supported Costa Ricas move to abolish it armed forces. Wouldnt it be wonderful if every politician around the worldabolished the army and took pride in the fact that they dont have an army, he added. The caveat that every politician must take the step suggests Mr Corbyn does not support UK disarmament just yet. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Corbyn stole sandwiches meant for veterans False. The Guido Fawkes blog claimed that the Labour leader took sandwiches meant for veterans at at Battle of Britain memorial service in September but a photo later emerged showing him being handed one by Costa volunteers, who later confirmed they were given to all guests. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn He missed the induction into the Queens privy council True. After much speculation about Mr Corbyns republican views and willingness to bow to the monarch, his office confirmed that he did not attend the official induction to the privy council because of a prior engagement, but did not rule out joining the body. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Corbyn refuses to sing the national anthem. Partly true. The Labour leader was filmed standing in silence as God Save the Queen was sung at a Battle of Britain remembrance service but will reportedly sing it in future. Mr Corbyn was elusive on the issue in an interview, saying he would show memorials respect in the proper way, but sources said he would sing the anthem at future occasions. The most ridiculous claims made about Jeremy Corbyn He is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Cheese True. The group lists its purpose as the following: To increase awareness of issues surrounding the dairy industry and focus on economic issues affecting the dairy industry and producers. My staff have been distressed by what has happened. I regret the distress that has been caused on both sides. "But I come back to what this is all about: Our office was entered without our knowledge and without my permission. And the Speaker has ruled today that should not happen. Mr McDonnell said in a statement following the Speakers decision: It's only right and fair that Seema now apologises for the stress she has caused to my staff over the last few days. As I said on the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday the Labour Party needs to unite and actions like this which are only being used to try to undermine Jeremy Corbyn's leadership must stop." Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith will go head-to-head in a husting for the first time next month. The two leadership conteders will meet in Cardiff on 4 August, party general secretary Iain McNichol confirmed. In an email to members Mr McNichol stressed that members would be choosing the partys candidate for prime minister and that the hustings would help them decide. The dates of televised hustings events are expected to be announced in due course by broadcasters. The Tories have failed working people over the last six years and now in choosing Theresa May who has been at the heart of the Tory Government since the beginning, they have chosen more of the same failed approach, he said. Labour members and supporters will now select a candidate for Prime Minister who can offer the change working people and Britain needs. We need a Labour government again to stand up for Britain and what we believe in: building a strong economy, defending our NHS and our public services, and fighting for fairness, equality and social justice. Owen Smith appears on Newsnight (BBC) The leader you choose in this contest will be Labours candidate for Prime Minister. They will lead Labour into the next General Election to fight for the change we need. The announcement comes amid a High Court battle over whether Mr Corbyn should be automatically included on the Labour leadership ballot paper. Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Show all 12 1 /12 Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn's reshuffle Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn and the Syria bombing vote Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn asks questions from the public at PMQs, meanwhile backbenchers plot to oust him Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn is unavailable to attend the Privy Council Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Conference rejects Corbyns call to debate Trident Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn At Labour conference Corbyn and McDonnell press for a Robin Hood tax Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyns hopes for a new politics look optimistic in the face of a media barrage Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn enters Labour leadership race A suit from a Labour donor argues that Mr Corbyn should seek nominations, as challengers have had to. However Labour ruling National Executive Committee ruled earlier this month that Mr Corbyn should automatically be on the ballot paper as the incumbent. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Labour leadership contender Owen Smith has refused to dismiss the suggestion there are "too many immigrants" in Britain - as he questioned Jeremy Corbyn's patriotism. Mr Smith, who is running his campaign against current leader Mr Corbyn on a save Labour platform, said that in some parts of the country the way in which we saw rapid influx of in particular eastern European migrants after accession of those countries to Europe definitely caused downward pressure on wages. Asked whether there are "too many immigrants" in Britain, he responded: "I think it depends where you are". He added, however, that there were ways to mitigate those impacts, through extra resources for public services, but the Conservative attempt to put a target on net migration was a "bone-headed" approach to policy-making. "I think in some places the way in which we saw rapid influx of in particular Eastern European migrants after the accession of those countries to the Europe definitely caused downward pressure on wages, definitely caused changes to local terms and conditions for some workers in some sectors," he said. "Weve got to acknowledge that. There are ways we can mitigate those effects extra resourcesextra money for doctors, schools places." Mr Smith, who on Monday criticised Theresa May for scrapping the Syrian refugees ministerial post, said: We should be honouring the great British tradition of being a place of refuge and sanctuary for people fleeing persecution across the world. It comes as Mr Corbyn fights a legal battle over his place in the contest, after he was automatically named on the ballot paper without having to secure nominations from the party's MPs. If Michael Foster, a Labour donor who is pursuing the challenge, emerges successful it could mean the whole leadership race is scrapped and restarted. Appearing on BBC Newsnight Mr Smith also questioned Mr Corbyns patriotism, suggesting it is not part of his make-up. He added that the embattled leaders metropolitan politics were were at odds with Labour traditions about national identity in England, Scotland and Wales. Mr Smith, who said he would meet the Nato target of spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence, renew Trident and be prepared to push the button to launch a nuclear strike if he was in Number 10, said: One of the weaknesses we have had recently is that people worry that Labour isn't serious about security, that it is a lesser issue for Jeremy. I'm not sure that's right, but he has certainly got a different perspective on some of those things on patriotism if you like; and on security, on defence I think I have got a more traditional Labour perspective on that an old-fashioned Labour perspective, if you like. Owen Smith doesn't support privatising the NHS He added: I think Jeremy, to be honest, doesn't really understand sometimes the way in which people have a very strong, perhaps socially conservative ... sense of place, sense of where they are from. I am not sure I've heard him talking much about Scotland and identity or about Wales and identity or indeed about England and identityI suspect that Jeremy has got a rather more metropolitan sense of that and that's not one I think is central to the Labour tradition. Asked if he was calling Mr Corbyn unpatriotic, Mr Smith said: "I am saying that I think it is something that is not core to his set of beliefs. He has got a set of liberal perspectives and left perspectives on things and nationhood and nationalism and patriotism aren't really part of his make-up." Mr Smith, who has faced criticism from Mr Corbyn and his allies over his previous work for pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, insisted he was committed to a 100% publicly owned NHS which would mean rolling back the involvement of the private sector in areas such as commissioning. "It allows profit and cost to become the principal driver of services, not clinical decisions or need," he warned. Owen Smith would press nuclear button The challenger, who faces a stiff task to overturn Mr Corbyn's support among the party's grassroots activists, warned Labour could be "destroyed" if it did not change course. "We have been the greatest force for social good for 116 years in this country and it would be a tragedy if we were wiped out," he warned. "And parties can be wiped out - it takes a long time for parties to rise but they can be snuffed out just like that." Mr Corbyn's leadership received a boost as Sarah Champion one of the senior MPs who quit their front-bench roles as confidence in his leadership disappeared at Westminster returned to her shadow ministerial role.The Rotherham MP had said Mr Corbyn's position was "untenable" and the party could be "doomed" as she quit in June But she has now returned to her post as a shadow home office minister, focusing on women, equality and domestic violence issues, and Mr Corbyn's office urged other rebels to follow her back to the front benches. Mr Smith dismissed Ms Champion's move, saying: The job of the leader of the Labour Party is to lead a united opposition at Westminster or to lead a government at Westminster. He couldn't do thatmost of those MPs have nominated me overwhelmingly to challenge Jeremy and Sarah deciding to go back in is a pretty minor part of this story." Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Theresa Mays Conservatives have extended their lead over Labour to 16-points in a new opinion poll, prompting fresh speculation the new Prime Minister may call an early general election. On current parliamentary boundaries, the latest of four surveys reflecting the premiers honeymoon period would increase the partys slender majority of 12 to a massive 102. Some 44 Labour MPs would lose their seats if the new ICM poll were borne out, leaving the party with only 188 MPs. For now, such figures are fantasy politics, and considered unlikely to change the Prime Ministers statement that she will not seek an election before the one due in 2020. A snap election this autumn would add to the uncertainty caused by last months vote for Brexit, putting at risk the stability that Ms Mays swift election as Tory leader brought. But some Tory MPs are starting to wonder whether Ms May would think again if her partys poll lead continues into next spring. She might find it hard to resist the temptation, one senior Tory said. She could argue that she needed her own mandate from the voters. The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address Show all 6 1 /6 The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address Brexit The big one. Theresa May has spoken publicly three times since declaring her intent to stand in the Tory Leadership race, and each time she has said, Brexit means Brexit. It sounds resolute, but it is helpful to her that Brexit is a made up word with no real meaning. She has said there will be no second referendum and no re-entry in to the EU via the back door. But she, like the Leave campaign of which she was not a member, has pointedly not said with any precision what she thinks Brexit means Reuters The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address General election This is very much one to keep off the to do list. She said last week there would be no general election at this time of great instability. But there have already been calls for one from opposition parties. The Fixed Term Parliaments Act of 2010 makes it far more difficult to call a snap general election, a difficulty she will be in no rush to overcome. In the event of a victory for Leadsom, who was not popular with her own parliamentary colleagues, an election might have been required, but May has the overwhelming backing of the parliamentary party Getty The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address HS2 Macbeth has been quoted far too much in recent weeks, but it will be up to May to decide whether, with regard to the new high speed train link between London, Birmingham, the East Midlands and the north, returning were as tedious as go oer. Billions have already been spent. But the 55bn it will cost, at a bare minimum, must now be considered against the grim reality of significantly diminished public finances in the short to medium term at least. It is not scheduled to be completed until 2033, by which point it is not completely unreasonable to imagine a massive, driverless car-led transport revolution having rendered it redundant EPA The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address Heathrow expansion Or indeed Gatwick expansion. Or Boris Island, though that option is seems as finished as the man himself. The decision on where to expand aviation capacity in the south east has been delayed to the point of becoming a national embarrassment. A final decision was due in autumn. Whatever is decided, there will be vast opprobrium PA The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address Trident renewal David Cameron indicated two days ago that there will be a Commons vote on renewing Britains nuclear deterrent on July 18th, by which point we now know, Ms May will be Prime Minister. The Labour Party is, to put it mildly, divided on the issue. This will be an early opportunity to maximise their embarrassment, and return to Tory business as usual EPA The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address Scottish Independence Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP are in no doubt that the Brexit vote provides the opportunity for a second independence referendum, in which they can emerge victorious. The Scottish Parliament at Holyrood has the authority to call a second referendum, but Ms May and the British Parliament are by no means automatically compelled to accept the result. She could argue it was settled in 2014 AFP/Getty Tory MPs believe the temptation would be greater if Jeremy Corbyn is re-elected Labour leader in September because they are convinced Ms May would defeat him in an election. Labour is unlikely to unite behind Mr Corbyn; a continuing Labour civil war would be another attraction of an early election for the Tories. A bigger Commons majority would mean that Ms May was no longer at the mercy of a hard core of about 30 Tory Eurosceptics, who are already worried that she wants a Brexite-lite deal with the EU and are demanding a hard Brexit. But allies of Ms May insist she will resist temptation. They say that she does not need a mandate because she was in the top team when the Conservatives won last years election and is now implementing their manifesto. Privately, they say there is no appetite for an election among Tory MPs. Ms May is seen as a cautious politician and so may judge that the risks of an early election outweigh the benefits. She will be reluctant to go back on her own words, which could alienate some voters. She knows that the three other prime ministers who took over in mid-term in the last 50 years James Callaghan (1976), John Major (1990) and Gordon Brown (2007) also enjoyed a poll bounce which took their party from a deficit to a lead over its main rival. Only one of them, Sir John Major, went on to win the next election, although Mr Brown might well have done if he had not dropped plans for an early poll after succeeding Tony Blair. Another reason for caution is that the Brexit vote is having a chilling effect on the economy, which could go into recession, which is hardly a good time to seek a mandate when you do not need to. The case for holding on until 2020 is strengthened by the new constituency boundaries that take effect then, and will be worth about 20 seats to the Tories. Sir John Major is the only person to take over as Prime Minister mid-term and win the next election in the last 50 years (Getty Images) Calling an earlier election would also involve a risk because the Fixed Term Parliaments Act says that an election is held every five years. A poll can take place earlier if two thirds of MPs agree, which would mean that both Tory and Labour MPs supporting the move, or if Tory MPs voted for a motion of no confidence in their own government. Such votes could be messy, and could even go wrong for example, if Mr Corbyns Labour critics did not back an election for fear of losing their seats. The ICM survey put the Tories on 43 per cent, Labour on 27 per cent - its lowest rating with ICM since 2009 - Ukip on 13 and the Liberal Democrats on eight. Martin Boon, ICMs director, said: Clearly, the relative calm associated with the handover of power from David Cameron to Theresa May, allied to the current Labour leadership challenge, weighs heavily on electors minds. In the other surveys conducted since Ms May became prime minister, YouGov gave the Tories an 11-point lead; another ICM poll showed a 10-point Tory advantage and Opinium a six-point one. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Suicide bombers killed at least 13 people at the gates of the African Union's main peacekeeping base in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, police said, in an attack claimed by the Islamist militants of al-Shabaab. The force of the explosions shattered windows at the nearby airport, showered arriving passengers with glass and forced the suspension of flights, police and witnesses said. Police said the first attacker detonated a car bomb and the second tried to storm the base on foot, but was shot and exploded at the gate. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty "At least 13 people mostly security forces died in the two car bomb blasts," and 12 others were wounded, Abdiqadir Omar, a police officer told Reuters. The guards were caught in the blast as they escorted UN personnel into the base, which is known as Halane, he added. Al-Shabaab, an Islamist militant group linked to al-Qaeda and fighting to topple Somalia's Western-backed government, said it set off two car bombs. The African Union's AMISOM force said on Twitter it condemned the "senseless attacks that aim to disrupt and cripple the lives of ordinary Somalis". There was no immediate comment from the United Nations. Reconstruction underway in Somalia's Mogadishu People arriving on international flights said the blasts shattered windows in the airport buildings. "We were greeted by two loud blasts. The glass of the airport building fell on us," said Ali Nur, who had just got off a plane from Nairobi. Al-Shabaab regularly attacks AMISOM, which is made up of about 22,000 military personnel from Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and other African countries helping to support Somalia's government and army. The country in the Horn of Africa was plunged into anarchy in the early 1990s following the toppling of military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. Reuters Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The US government destroyed a so-called CIA black site with a trial judges approval, according to accusations made by defence lawyers for the alleged 9/11 attack plotters. Defence attorney Cheryl Bormann said that the secret prison, or torture chamber, as she called it, was decommissioned by US agents, according to a report by the Miami Herald. Prosecutors were allowed to see top secret photographs and blueprints of one site in question instead of viewing the foreign held US prison in person to exercise our own professional judgment as to what to document about the black sites, according to defence attorney Jay Connell. By substituting photographs and blueprints, the prosecution, led by Army Brig Gen Mark Martins, would not risk divulging the secret location of the site and court processes dont squander national security and secrets. The process of substitution was created by Congress Classified Information Protection Act and continued in the Military Commissions Act. Confessions of a Guantanamo guard Show all 7 1 /7 Confessions of a Guantanamo guard Confessions of a Guantanamo guard 134197.bin Getty Confessions of a Guantanamo guard 134196.bin Getty Confessions of a Guantanamo guard 134195.bin EPA Confessions of a Guantanamo guard 134200.bin AP Confessions of a Guantanamo guard 134199.bin AP Confessions of a Guantanamo guard 134198.bin AP Confessions of a Guantanamo guard 134194.bin AFP Defence discovered that the classified no-name motions had requested permission to destroy the black site. The case, they thought, had been stalled in July 2014, until learning that the site had been decommissioned in Feb 2016. Nevertheless, prosecution maintained they had not done anything wrong by allowing the decommissioning of the site which involved removing fixtures from walls, described vaguely by defence as contraptions or devices. The location of the prison remained kept under wraps during the Sunday hearing. Were not going to let an individual criminal defendant ... mortgage the whole future of the country in one case, because theyve got something that could force government officials to try to figure out how to accommodate it, Gen Martin said. Were not allowed to compromise national security just to get to a result in a case. Thats what Congress is trying to prevent. USA: 'Close Guantanamo' - Protests hit the White House, Washington D.C. The defence are representing five men led by Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged 9/11 mastermind who they say were held at the decommissioned site at some point prior to prosecution. In the Sunday hearing, the defence also accused prosecution of holding a secret meeting with the judge, Col James L Pohl and consider the decommissioning of the site to be destruction of evidence. Four of five defence teams have asked that Col Pohl remove himself from the case. The only attorney who is not requesting his recusal is motioning to remove the death penalty from his clients possible sentencing. The decommissioned secret prison was part of a larger international network of CIA-run black sites hosted by foreign countries. Two of the sites were held on the Guantanamo base in Cuba. Prosecutors added that they did not want to reveal the location of the black site in order to preserve foreign relations. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Michelle Obamas powerful Democratic National Convention speech endorsing Hillary Clinton made for a commanding and passionate opening night for the event. During an address that hit hard on themes of childhood, race and gender, she spoke about the visit of a five-year-old black boy to the White House who wanted to know if the Presidents hair was like his. We know that our words and actions matter, not just to our girls, but to children across this country, Ms Obama said. Kids like the little black boy who looked up at my husband, his eyes wide with hope, and he wondered, Is my hair like yours? And make no mistake about it, this November when we go to the polls, that is what were deciding who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years. The incident itself took place during the early months of Barack Obamas presidency. During a visit to the Oval Office with his family, the boy, named Jacob, said to the President: I want to know if my hair is just like yours. According to an account in the New York Times, he spoke so quietly Mr Obama asked him to repeat himself. Then the President replied: Why dont you touch it and see for yourself, bowing his head level with Jacob, who hesitated. Touch it dude! Mr Obama said. The boy then felt the Presidents head. So what do you think? Mr Obama asked. Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures First Lady Michelle Obama called on Democratic party members to trust in the 'steady and measured' Mrs Clinton, in a speech critics described as "show-stealing" Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures The first day of the convention was attended by a vast crowd of approximately 50,000 as the event got into full swing in Philadelphia Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Senator Bernie Sanders delivered an impassioned speech endorsing Mrs Clinton, and asking the party to unite for their prospective candidate REUTERS Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Two advocates of the former candidate Sanders were reduced to tears as details of an alleged conspiracy against his nomination were gradually revealed REUTERS Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Senator Elizabeth Warren was repeatedly heckled and booed as she endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential candidacy Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Former president Bill Clinton (left) looks pensive as the resentment against his wife's nomination appeared to grow during day one of the convention Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures A Bernie Sanders supporter taped her mouth shut in protest against his perceived mistreatment at the hands of the Democratic party AFP/Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Senator Cor Brooker called for unity within the party, saying: "We are called to be a nation of love" REUTERS Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Actress Eva Longoria gave a heartfelt speech in which she called upon members to trust in Mrs Clinton as their candidate Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Senator Al Franken was joined on stage by comedian and actress Sarah Silverman, with critics praising their double act Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Delegates danced joyously at the convention in the Wells Fargo Center as musical entertainment was provided Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Pop singer Demi Lovato told the DNC she was "living with mental illness" before performing her hit single 'Confident' Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon was another high-profile performer to entertain the crowd on day one Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Anastasia Somoza, an international disability rights advocate, also delivered remarks on the first day of the convention Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures A delegate holds a sign that reads "Stronger together" as the first day of the convention drew to a close Getty Images Yes, it does feel the same, Jacob confirmed. The moment was captured by White House photographer Pete Souza and has become an iconic image that has remained on the wall in the White House ever since. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Democrats have congregated to nominate their next presidential candidate amidst scandal set off by a massive email hack, released by Wikileaks. Now, the FBI is looking into whether or not suspicions are correct that Russian operatives sponsored the hack in an attempt to undermine and sway the US election in Donald Trumps favour. The Friday data dump revealed some 20,000 emails sent by Democratic National Committee staffers that shone an embarrassing light on the party. In particular, the emails revealed that the Democratic organisation showed preference to presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton over her opponent Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook first linked the hack to the Russians in a Sunday morning appearance on CNNs Face the Nation. Whats disturbing to us is that experts are telling us Russian state actors broke into the DNC, stole these emails, and other experts are now saying that the Russians are releasing these emails for the purpose of actually helping Donald Trump, Mr Mook said, offering little more information. While connecting the recent DNC email hacks to Russian operatives may seem like a conspiracy fit for Hollywood, experts believe there is strong evidence strongly indicates this may be the case. Previous DNC hacks Crowdstrike, the contract cybersecurity firm employed by the DNC, identified two Russian intelligence agencies known as CYBER BEAR, or APT 29, and FANCY BEAR, or APT 28 who were responsible for a prior hack of DNC emails, leaked in June. How Wikileaks shone light on world's darkest secrets Show all 4 1 /4 How Wikileaks shone light on world's darkest secrets How Wikileaks shone light on world's darkest secrets 348711.bin PA How Wikileaks shone light on world's darkest secrets 348709.bin PA How Wikileaks shone light on world's darkest secrets 348710.bin GETTY IMAGES How Wikileaks shone light on world's darkest secrets 348708.bin AP Weve had lots of experience with both of these actors attempting to target our customers in the past and know them well, Crowdstrike wrote in a blog post. In fact, our team considers them some of the best adversaries out of all the numerous nation-state, criminal and hacktivist/terrorist groups we encounter on a daily basis. Crowdstrike did not wish to comment on the latest hack. At this time, we dont have any new insights or commentary to share, a spokesperson told The Independent. A separate cybersecurity firm, FireEye, determined the specific geography of APT 29, as the group appeared to cease operations on Russian holidays. Their work hours also appeared to align with the UTC +3 time zone, which includes cities like Moscow and St Petersburg. Timing Mr Mook found the timing of the release of the emails to be suspect, as the Democratic convention was about to get underway. I dont think its coincidental that these emails were released on the eve of our convention here, and I think thats disturbing, he said. Over the Top! Donald Trump Officially Named Republican Candidate According to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, US presidential campaigns have lately been the focus of state-sponsored foreign hackers, dating back to Barack Obamas 2008 bid for the White House. Mr Clapper predicted in May that cyber attacks would increase and the Department of Homeland Security and FBI were doing what they can to educate both campaigns against potential cyber threats, CBS News reported. Because of our heavy dependence on the Internet, nearly all IT systems will be perpetually at risk, he said. Russian capabilities It is well known amongst officials in the Intelligence Community that Russia often employs hackers for various foreign missions. It is certainly well known that the Kremlin uses Russian hackers for a variety of missions, retired four-star Adm Stavridis, who led Nato from 2009 to 2013, told NBC News. It is certainly well known that Russia possesses those kinds of capabilities. And it certainly seems sensible to assume that Russians would rather have a Trump than a Clinton presidency. And as the saying goes, crime is so often where motive meets opportunity. The Trump-Putin relationship Clinton campaigners stopped short of saying that Russia actually carried out the attacks to boost Mr Trumps presidential prospects. However, they suggest that if Vladimir Putin were to favour a presidential candidate it would be the Republican nominee given Mr Trumps position on Nato. Donald Trump praises Saddam Hussein for his ability to kill terrorists Hillary Clintons position on supporting our allies in Europe, Hillary Clintons position on energy security for Europe, Hillary Clintons position on advancing human rights and democracy around the world may not sit too well with certain actors in the Kremlin, Jake Sullivan, the senior policy advisor of the Clinton campaign, said at a Monday afternoon press conference in Philadelphia. Mr Trumps top advisor, Paul Manafort, also worked with close allies of the Russian president. Mr Manafort began working as a consultant for the pro-Russian Party of Regions campaign of Viktor Yanukovych in the Ukraine first unofficially in 2004, when he did commercial consulting, then officially in 2006. Yanukovych became the Ukrainian president in 2010, but was ousted in the 2014 revolution, after which he fled to Russia leaving behind an alleged trail of corruption. For his part, Mr Manafort told Fox News that his primary role in the Yanukovych administration was to bring Ukraine into Europe. In an interview with the New York Times, published during the GOP convention, Mr Trump said he would only come to the aid of Baltic states and recent Nato entrants if Russia attacked them under certain conditions. If they fulfill their obligations to us, Mr Trump said, the answer is yes he would come to their aid. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The mother of a Briton accused of trying to grab a policeman's gun in a bid to kill Donald Trump has pleaded for her son's return to the UK after he was placed on suicide watch in prison. Lynne Sandford said she would not abandon her son Michael and a crowdfunding campaign was being launched to seek support for his legal costs in the US. Her son, 20, allegedly tried to snatch the officer's weapon during a rally at a Las Vegas casino on 18 June, later telling officials that his plan was to shoot and kill Donald Trump. He is due to face trial in Las Vegas next month after pleading not guilty to charges of disrupting government business and official functions and being an illegal alien in possession of a gun. His mother, 41, from Dorking, Surrey, said she had spoken to her son once since he was detained. He had tried to call a number of times but faced technical problems. She said: We were both quite choked. He's only just 20. He's the younger side of that. To be so far away from home for so long and to have not even heard our voices. At the moment, it's only been me who's been able to speak to him. His nan would have loved to, his sister would have loved to speak to him. It must be very distressing for him to know other prisoners can phone their families and yet every time he tries to phone us, he says he cant. Especially because he's on suicide watch and it's not helping him at all, in any shape or form, not being able to speak to his family when we're already half the world away. Lynne Sandford and her son Michael (PA) Ms Sandford, who works a shop assistant, said she reassured her son that the family haven't abandoned him. She added: He sounded just like Michael any other time I've spoken to him but he said, obviously, he's not in a good place physically at the detention centre, or mentally or emotionally. I keep reading that hes kept in handcuffs and shackles even behind bars, which is just bizarre. Ms Sandford said she was hopeful that her son, who has Asperger syndrome, would be allowed to return to the UK. The ideal would be to take get him back to the UK as fast as possible. It's down to the US authorities, she said. 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' Ms Sandford said a crowdfunding campaign to support her son's legal costs was to be launched on the website Crowd Justice. It's our fight to get him home and to try and raise funds for the legal team, she said. Sandford is due to stand trial at a federal court in Las Vegas on 22 August. A pre-trial hearing is set for 11 August. PA Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Federal agents are investigating an incident at FBI field office in Pittsburgh after a man drove a dump truck through the security gate. The man was reportedly driving erratically before he was stopped by a police officers, whom he told he intended to drive into the building. He indicated to the officer that he was intending to ram the gate, FBI supervisory special agent Greg Heeb told WTAE. He did just that put his truck back into gear, took off and went through the gate here at our headquarters. The vehicle was disabled by security barriers after ramming through the gate, the Associated Press reported. The truck was registered in Ohio, but no other information about the driver has been released. Investigators are still attempting to determine the mans motive. The driver sustained minor injuries and was taken to an area hospital. Others were not harmed at the scene. The US Attorneys office said that they would prosecute if any federal charges are filed. We dont know yet how its going to play out, Mr Heeb added. Obviously the biggest focus for us is going to be his mental state and what was his history. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A man set off panic when he pulled a gun on a father and son during a screening of Star Trek Beyond at a Kentucky cinema. The boy was reportedly kicking the back of the mans chair. Recommended Read more Two teenagers shot dead in Fort Myers identified According to Paducah Police, a man got in an argument with the father and son pair at a local Cinemark theatre. He asked if the youth planned to continue kicking his seat. Witnesses told police that the father got the upper hand in the fight before the man pulled out his firearm. What the [expletive] are you going to do now, the man reportedly said as he held his gun. The man, who is from Illinois, did not fire the gun, however. He was escorted out of the theatre by three men, where he was met by police. Patrons were allowed back into the theatre after the incident was over. The man was not arrested, but police said they would seek charges after conducting an investigation. He was barred from the Cinemark property. The incident was reminiscent of the 2014 killing of a Florida man who was texting his daughter during previews before the military drama, Lone Survivor. Curtis Reeves, a 71-year-old retired police officer, shot and killed Chad Oulson, 43, after a fight broke out over the latters texting. Somebody throws popcorn. Im now sure who threw the popcorn. And then bang, [Mr Oulson] was shot, said Charles Cummings, who witnessed the encounter two seats away. I cant believe people would bring a gun to a movie. Reeves was charged with second-degree murder. After multiple delays, the trial during which Reeves plans to invoke Floridas Stand Your Ground law is set for 2017. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} There is shade. And then, there are intricately constructed avenues of shade so dense that entire shadow-loving plants germinate, sprout and flourish at triple speed. The latter is what Michelle Obama cast in the direction of Donald Trump on Monday night at the Democratic National Convention while reserving a special, at points emotional, type of praise for Hillary Clinton. Trump, an unnamed cartoon-character-like villain was referenced only indirectly as a kind of ego-driven, undisciplined potential president uninterested in both the rigors and goals of public service a sharp and telling contrast to Clinton, according to Obama's speech. The combination was enough to make Obama's the first speech of the night during which a mention of Clinton's name did not elicit cross chants and boos from Sanders supporters, according to several people in and around the convention hall. Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures First Lady Michelle Obama called on Democratic party members to trust in the 'steady and measured' Mrs Clinton, in a speech critics described as "show-stealing" Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures The first day of the convention was attended by a vast crowd of approximately 50,000 as the event got into full swing in Philadelphia Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Senator Bernie Sanders delivered an impassioned speech endorsing Mrs Clinton, and asking the party to unite for their prospective candidate REUTERS Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Two advocates of the former candidate Sanders were reduced to tears as details of an alleged conspiracy against his nomination were gradually revealed REUTERS Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Senator Elizabeth Warren was repeatedly heckled and booed as she endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential candidacy Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Former president Bill Clinton (left) looks pensive as the resentment against his wife's nomination appeared to grow during day one of the convention Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures A Bernie Sanders supporter taped her mouth shut in protest against his perceived mistreatment at the hands of the Democratic party AFP/Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Senator Cor Brooker called for unity within the party, saying: "We are called to be a nation of love" REUTERS Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Actress Eva Longoria gave a heartfelt speech in which she called upon members to trust in Mrs Clinton as their candidate Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Senator Al Franken was joined on stage by comedian and actress Sarah Silverman, with critics praising their double act Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Delegates danced joyously at the convention in the Wells Fargo Center as musical entertainment was provided Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Pop singer Demi Lovato told the DNC she was "living with mental illness" before performing her hit single 'Confident' Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon was another high-profile performer to entertain the crowd on day one Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Anastasia Somoza, an international disability rights advocate, also delivered remarks on the first day of the convention Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures A delegate holds a sign that reads "Stronger together" as the first day of the convention drew to a close Getty Images It was, to put it frankly, a rather skillful take down of one Donald J. Trump. Obama started in the anodyne terrain of parenthood, leadership and behavior modeling. Obama wound up reminding America that hers is a country she knows to be imperfect but great precisely because she a black woman and the descendant of slaves wakes up in a grand national house built by slaves. That is how far the country's sometimes difficult to sustain or fulfill commitment to universal equality has brought us, Obama told those listening. Why, the question was almost implied, would anyone think it would be a good idea to go in an entirely different direction now? In times of crisis, both Obama and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said in separate speeches Monday night, the country has essentially doubled down on those ideas. Who, really who, had any doubt at all that Obama was referring to Trump when she reminded America that complex problems are rarely resolved with simple solutions or absolute declarations and never properly handled in 140 characters or less? There are reasons that a Boston Globe political cartoonist promptly dispatched an image in which the Trumps are seated in front of a TV with Michelle Obama on the screen. Donald Trump beseeches Melania Trump to stop taking notes. This address is how political spouse speechmaking can and should be done. Copyright: Washington Post Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Fans of The Shawshank Redemption are mourning the loss of an iconic image from the movies touching conclusion: an oak tree that stood as a beacon of hope for Morgan Freemans character, Red. On Friday, heavy winds knocked down the tree, which stood on private land in Lucas, Ohio, a town between Cleveland and Columbus. The tree was an attraction for fans, who flocked to the monument every year since the movies 1994 premiere. Fans eulogised the tree on Twitter, posting photos and immortalising it through the hashtag #ShawshankTree. The tree symbolises hope [to its visitors], Jodie Snavely, who works for the Mansfield/Richland Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the New York Times. When they can actually come and see that, its very touching to them, and it means a lot to them. At the conclusion of the film, Red finds a hidden box with a letter and cash under the famous tree after he is released on parole, placed there by his prison escapee friend Andy (Tim Robbins). "Remember, Red, the letter in the box read. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." The feel-good film is regularly voted one of the best movies in history. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Ohio judge stared at Andrea Burton across the table and told the 30-year-old attorney that there had been complaints about the Black Lives Matter pin she was wearing. He didn't allow court officials to wear political pins in his courtroom, she recalled him saying, and he asked her to remove it. "He asked me if I would take it off and I told him I would not," Burton told The Washington Post. "And he said we would have to deal with that, and I asked how. And he said, 'We'll see.' " A few minutes later, after again refusing to take off the pin, Burton was convicted of contempt of court, placed in handcuffs and taken to jail and sentenced to five days. Now, Burton's community -- and as the story spread, the rest of the nation -- is trying to decide whether Burton was exercising her constitutional right to freedom of expression about the killings of black people by police officers or whether her pin was a political message unfitting of a court official. Judge Robert Milich told the CBS affiliate in Youngstown, Ohio, that his opinions about Black Lives Matter had nothing to do with his decision. "A judge doesn't support either side," he told the station. "A judge is objective and tries to make sure everyone has an opportunity to have a fair hearing, and it was a situation where it was just in violation of the law," he said. Milich issued a stay while Burton appeals to a higher court, according to the TV station. Burton is an attorney in Youngstown who works with police every day, and said she understands they're not as bad as some portray them. Like many people, she said, they have jobs filled with nuance. "I'm not anti-police," she told The Post. "I hold them in the highest regard, and I do believe all lives matter." Burton said she wasn't trying to cause a stir, but wanted to voice her opinion about the killings of blacks by police officers. Burton was raised in Youngstown. She went away for school -- ultimately getting her master's degree and a law degree -- but came back to her hometown and works mostly as a criminal defense attorney. Before Friday, she had only been in Youngstown's jail to see clients. For years, her state has been at the center of the debate about whether officers are too quick to use deadly force against minorities. In nearby Cleveland, 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot and killed by police while playing with a toy gun at a park. His death was one of several high-profile cases in the national conversation about police, minorities and the use of deadly force. Recently, anger toward the Black Lives Matter movement, which says it organizes peaceful protests, has grown after recent police shootings in Dallas and Baton Rouge. In consecutive days police fatally shot a black man outside a convenience store in Baton Rouge and killed another black man during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minn. Both shootings were captured in graphic videos showing the encounters or the aftermath, and led to protests across the nation. The following day, five officers were killed in a Dallas shooting. And a week later, three officers were killed in Baton Rouge, what police there called a targeted shooting. Police believe the killings of officers were retaliatory. Around the time of those shootings, an online petition was started asking the White House to formally recognize Black Lives Matter as a terrorist organization. Nearly 150,000 people have signed it. The White House's response to the petition includes remarks by President Obama on the Black Lives Matter movement: I know that there are some who have criticized even the phrase "black lives matter" as if the notion is, is that other lives don't matter. And so you get "all lives matter" or "blue lives matter." I understand the point they're trying to make. I think it's important for us to also understand that the phrase "black lives matter" simply refers to the notion that there's a specific vulnerability for African Americans that needs to be addressed. It's not meant to suggest that other lives don't matter. It's to suggest that other folks aren't experiencing this particular vulnerability. And so we shouldn't get too caught up in this notion that somehow people who are asking for fair treatment are somehow, automatically, anti-police, are trying to only look out for black lives as opposed to others. I think we have to be careful about playing that game, just because that's not obviously what is intended. DeRay McKesson, one of the most well-known leaders of Black Lives Matter, said the organisation denounces violence. "The movement began as a call to end violence," he told the New York Times. "That call remains." Matt Mangino, a criminal defense attorney who used to be a prosecutor in Lawrence County, which borders the county where Burton was arrested, told The Post that a judge has the authority to determine whether certain signs are "political." The judge can also determine whether wearing a certain button would be a distraction in the courtroom, or give the impression of bias. Mangino said: Judges obviously have wide latitude in their courtroom with regard to decorum and things like that as long as their rules are reasonable. It's not uncommon to have dress codes and other sorts of things. What you normally might find is a sign outside that says lawyers need to wear ties or no cutoffs or tank tops. With regards to protests or political statements, things that can be controversial if they're displayed in a courtroom, it may be akin to wearing a Hillary Clinton button in the court -- anything that could disturb the court or disturb the decorum within a courtroom or lead to either the impression of bias. But you have to balance that with First Amendment. I think that distinction is in the eye of the beholder. A judge obviously has great authority and latitude within his or her courtroom. He is the beholder. Black Lives Matter is so new, what does it mean to a judge? And how does a judge determine what that means. Amid the recent carnage, Burton says she logged onto the peer-to-peer e-commerce website Etsy and ordered a small Black Lives Matter pin. "I think that you can't remain silent or you remain a party to oppression," she told The Post. "I am usually a pretty agreeable person. I'm always smiling. I'm polite. I have manners. But at some point it eats away at you how any time people see you talk about Black Lives Matter, then you're being sensitive, you're the person who's racist." The pin arrived in the mail later and a little smaller than Burton expected. But she clipped it to her outfit and wore it to work. That was last Wednesday, a day Burton said went off without a problem. But on Friday, when she wore the pin again, she was called back into Judge Milich's chambers. "It was virtually hidden on Friday," Burton said. In one video, she can be seen wearing an oversized jacket. "I guess people knew to look for it though." Copyright Washington Post Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} On a day that began in Philadelphia with division and disunity, Bernie Sanders finished it by delivering a speech that may well have secured Hillary Clinton the White House. In a defiant, soaring address to end a day of intense and sometimes painful political drama, the Vermont senator urged those of his supporters who were disinclined to support Ms Clinton, to think of the alternative. He spelled out his case in a logical yet emotional appeal, in which he made clear the risk of permitting the victory of Donald Trump. Let me begin by thanking the hundreds of thousands of Americans who actively participated in our campaign as volunteers, he said, after cheers that lasted three or four minutes and prevented him from starting his speech. Many of Mr Sanders supporters were loathe to vote for Ms Clinton (AP) Let me thank the 13 million Americans who voted for the political revolution, giving us the 1,846 pledged delegates here tonight 46 per cent of the total. Mr Sanders was speaking on a day that had seen loud, often toxic divisions play out on the streets of Philadelphia and in the meeting rooms and conference chambers where the politicians and delegates gathered. More than 1,000 of his supporters took up a position outside Philadelphia City Hall, adamant that they would not vote for Ms Clinton. Others, heckled the Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was forced to stand down after the release of emails that showed the DNC had plotted against Mr Sanders and supported Ms Clinton. The 74-year-old former mayor of Burlington even found himself getting booed when he addressed his supporters and told them there was no alternative to voting for Ms Clinton. On Monday night, aware that the success or otherwise of Ms Clintons attempt to win the White House could depend on ensuring those who turned out for him in countless droves are persuaded to vote for her, said that America had a decision of great significance to make. Bernie Sanders endorses Hillary Clinton I understand that many people here in this convention hall and around the country are disappointed about the final results of the nominating process. I think its fair to say that no one is more disappointed than I am, he said. But to all of our supporters here and around the country I hope you take enormous pride in the historical accomplishments we have achieved. He suggested that the insurgent campaign that had caught everyone by surprise - the Democratic socialist had been promoting the same polices for more than four decades - was not going to end. We have begun a political revolution to transform America and that revolution our revolution continues. Election days come and go, he said. But the struggle of the people to create a government which represents all of us and not just the one percent a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice that struggle continues. And I look forward to being part of that struggle with you. Mr Sanders, who said he had secured a series of commitments from Ms Clinton to include many of the progressive policies he championed in the party's platform, said the election had not been about personalities. This election is not about, and has never been about, Hillary Clinton, or Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders or any of the other candidates who sought the presidency, he said. Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures First Lady Michelle Obama called on Democratic party members to trust in the 'steady and measured' Mrs Clinton, in a speech critics described as "show-stealing" Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures The first day of the convention was attended by a vast crowd of approximately 50,000 as the event got into full swing in Philadelphia Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Senator Bernie Sanders delivered an impassioned speech endorsing Mrs Clinton, and asking the party to unite for their prospective candidate REUTERS Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Two advocates of the former candidate Sanders were reduced to tears as details of an alleged conspiracy against his nomination were gradually revealed REUTERS Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Senator Elizabeth Warren was repeatedly heckled and booed as she endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential candidacy Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Former president Bill Clinton (left) looks pensive as the resentment against his wife's nomination appeared to grow during day one of the convention Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures A Bernie Sanders supporter taped her mouth shut in protest against his perceived mistreatment at the hands of the Democratic party AFP/Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Senator Cor Brooker called for unity within the party, saying: "We are called to be a nation of love" REUTERS Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Actress Eva Longoria gave a heartfelt speech in which she called upon members to trust in Mrs Clinton as their candidate Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Senator Al Franken was joined on stage by comedian and actress Sarah Silverman, with critics praising their double act Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Delegates danced joyously at the convention in the Wells Fargo Center as musical entertainment was provided Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Pop singer Demi Lovato told the DNC she was "living with mental illness" before performing her hit single 'Confident' Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon was another high-profile performer to entertain the crowd on day one Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures Anastasia Somoza, an international disability rights advocate, also delivered remarks on the first day of the convention Getty Images Democratic National Convention 2016 in pictures A delegate holds a sign that reads "Stronger together" as the first day of the convention drew to a close Getty Images This election is about and must be about the needs of the American people and the kind of future we create for our children and grandchildren. Even though he always some way behind his Democratic rival in the primary race, he insisted on campaigning and contesting every state, in order, he said, to make sure everyones voice was heard and every vote counted. We need leadership in this country which will improve the lives of working families, the children, the elderly, the sick and the poor. We need leadership which brings our people together and makes us stronger not leadership which insults Latinos, Muslims, women, African-Americans and veterans and divides us up, he said. By these measures, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} More than a hundred celebrities have vowed to join forces to try to deter Americans from voting for Donald Trump, including headline actors Julianne Moore, Lena Dunham and Mark Ruffalo. The high-wattage effort has been put together the #UnitedAgainstHate campaign which is part of MoveOn.org, the progressive advocacy group that was founded during the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton and whose biggest backers have included George Soros. Recommended Read more Cory Booker books his spot on a Democratic ticket of the future We believe it is our responsibility to use our platforms to bring attention to the dangers of a Trump presidency, and to the real and present threats of his candidacy, an open letter signed by the celebrities and released yesterday declared. We call upon every American to join us, the letter went on, to stand together on the right side of history, to use the power of our voice and the power of our vote to defeat Donald Trump and the hateful ideology he represents. Exactly what will be expected of the celebrities once the party conventions have wrapped up and the battle between Mr Trump and Hillary Clinton is engaged in earnest is not clear. There is, however, a long tradition of Hollywood stars and other notable artists venturing into the political arena especially when the White House is at stake, with varying degrees of success. Clint Eastwood made a widely derided appearance at the Republican convention four years ago in support of Mitt Romney. In 2008 the comedian Sarah Silverman embarked on the Great Schlep to encourage voters to back Barack Obama, notably in Florida, a key swing state. No one has risked more mixing politics with art than Jane Fonda who maddened many in America loudly opposing the Vietnam War in the sixties and early seventies. Some in America considered her activism akin to treason. Stuck for half her career with the nickhame 'Hanoi Jane', Ms Fonda is among those who has signed up to the anti-Trump initiative. Jane Fonda: 'It's my life I'm fighting for' (Rex Features) Ms Silverman was among those in Philadelphia this week in support of Ms Clinton. Once an ardent fan of Senator Bernie Sanders, she enraged his followers on Monday night with a raw scolding of those still refusing to turn their love towards the former first lady. Can I just say to the Bernie-or-bust people, you are being ridiculous? she declared from the stage. The newest campaign and the letter announcing it, offers a virtual roster of American celebrities who like to wear their progressive leanings on their sleeves. Ms Fonda, 78, aside, its recruits also include Neil Patrick Harris, Shonda Rhimes, Cynthia Nixon, Jane Fonda, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Macklemore. In any year it would be hard for the Republicans to summon such broad support from the A-list community. In this year of Trump it would be all but impossible. Donald Trump wants to take our country back to a time when fear excused violence, when greed fueled discrimination, and when the state wrote prejudice against marginalized communities into law, the letter declared. Some of us come from the groups Trump has attacked. Some of us dont. But as history has shown, its often only a matter of time before the other becomes me. Those groups that has already suffered harm from Mr Trump, the letter said, includes Mexican and Latino people, blacks, Muslims, LGBTQ people, women and their healthcare providers and refugees. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} They got them all on early - Sarah Silverman, Elizabeth Warren and, of course, Bernie Sanders. If the Democratic National Convention looked like it was heading towards chaos and disunity early on Monday morning, a clever timetabling of some of the most outspoken supporters of Mr Sanders appeared to act as a relief valve. With the anger, disappointment and frustration made vocal, the party and its delegates could then get on with the task of nominating Hillary Clinton and uniting around the candidate. That, at least, was the theory of one senior Democratic party, Governor Dannel Malloy of Connecticut, a vice chair on the so-called Standing Platform Committee, who himself addressed delegates on Monday. (Getty Images (Getty Images) Asked on Tuesday about the party disunity that had been on display earlier on Monday - with party officials being heckled and even Mr Sanders being booed by his own supporters when he urged them to vote for Ms Clinton - he said he believed the party was ready to move forward as the week progressed. It was a hot day in Philadelphia - people needed to blow off some steam, he told MSNBC. Once that had been done, it all calmed down. Monday had seen protests by Bernie or Bust supporters who said they would not vote for Ms Clinton and said they believed she will no better that the Republican candidates who had ran for the presidency. Their anger was heightened after the emergence of leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) which suggested a plot to smear Mr Sanders and support the establishments favourite, Ms Clinton. Mr Sanders found himself being booed when he urged supporters that their was no alternative but to support Ms Clinton if they wanted to avoid Mr Trump becoming president. On Monday night, the first person to declare herself as Bernie supporter was the comic, Ms Silverman, who said she had felt the Bern, but had applied cream to it. To the Bernie or Bust people, youre being ridiculous, she said. DNC 2016 - The Independent reports from the convention floor Elizabeth Warren, a favourite of progressives and someone whom many wanted to be on the Democratic ticket, also said she had been a supporter of Mr Sanders but was urging people to vote for Ms Clinton. Were here tonight because America faces a choice. On one side is a man who was given money by his father. Who cares only for himself. She added: On the other side, one of the toughest, most tenacious people. Our choice is Hillary Clinton. I am with Hillary Clinton. The stage was then taken by Michelle Obama, the First Lady, who electrified the crowd with a speech in which she said electing Ms Clinton would create an environment in which my daughters take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States. bernie-protest.jpg, by Gabriel Samuels (AFP/Getty Images) I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I watch my daughters - two beautiful intelligent black young women - play on the White House lawn, she said. The final speech of the night belonged to Mr Sanders, the 74-year-old Vermont senator whose insurgent campaign stunned observers and seasoned politicians - himself included. He campaigned until he very end of the primary process to ensure every vote was counted, very voice heard. Yet earlier this month, he endorsed Ms Clinton after securing an undertaking that many of his policies would be included in the platform. In his speech he said there was no alternative but to electing the woman he had fought hard to defeat. We need leadership in this country which will improve the lives of working families, the children, the elderly, the sick and the poor. We need leadership which brings our people together and makes us stronger not leadership which insults Latinos, Muslims, women, African-Americans and veterans and divides us up, he said. He added: By these measures, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The man suspected of a mass stabbing at a facility for the disabled that left at least 19 dead and at least 25 wounded was hospitalised earlier this year after he said he would kill disabled people if the government approved. Satoshi Uematsu was "involuntarily committed" to hospital on 19 February, when police in the town of Tsukui contacted him after he tried to hand a letter to the speaker of the lower house of Japan's parliament. Uematsu, 26, told police he would kill many severely disabled people if the national government approved such an action, a city official told Reuters. Stabbing attack outside Tokyo Show all 11 1 /11 Stabbing attack outside Tokyo Stabbing attack outside Tokyo Police officers stand guard outside the Tsukui Yamayuri En care centre where a knife-wielding man went on a rampage in the city of Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, some 50 kms (30 miles) west of Tokyo on July 26, 2016. TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images Stabbing attack outside Tokyo Broadcast television news relay vehicles are seen parked near the Tsukui Yamayuri En care centre where a knife-wielding man went on a rampage in the city of Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, some 50 kms (30 miles) west of Tokyo on July 26, 2016. TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images Stabbing attack outside Tokyo A rescue worker stands by beside ambulances near the Tsukui Yamayuri En care centre where a knife-wielding man went on a rampage in the city of Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, some 50 kms (30 miles) west of Tokyo on July 26, 2016. JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images Stabbing attack outside Tokyo Police officers walk outside the Tsukui Yamayuri En care centre where a knife-wielding man went on a rampage in the city of Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, some 50 kms (30 miles) west of Tokyo on July 26, 2016. TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Stabbing attack outside Tokyo Journalists gather in front of the Tsukui Yamayuri En care centre where a knife-wielding man went on a rampage in the city of Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, some 50 kms (30 miles) west of Tokyo on July 26, 2016. At least 19 people were killed when the knife-wielding man went on a rampage at the care centre for the mentally disabled in Japan early on July 26, a fire official said. TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Stabbing attack outside Tokyo TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty I Stabbing attack outside Tokyo The "Keep Out" tape by police is displayed at the Tsukui Yamayuri En, a care centre at Sagamihara city, Kanagawa prefecture on July 26, 2016. JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images Stabbing attack outside Tokyo Journalists await near the Tsukui Yamayuri En, a care centre at Sagamihara city, Kanagawa prefecture on July 26, 2016. JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images Stabbing attack outside Tokyo A facility for the disabled, where at least 19 people were killed and as many as 20 wounded by a knife-wielding man, is seen in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 26, 2016. Kyodo via Reuters Stabbing attack outside Tokyo Police officers are seen near a facility for the disabled where at least 19 people were killed and as many as 20 wounded by a knife-wielding man, in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 26, 2016. Kyodo via Reuters Stabbing attack outside Tokyo A police officer is seen in a facility for the disabled, where a knife-wielding man attacked, in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 26, 2016. Kyodo via Reuters In the letter, he advocated euthanasia for disabled people. "My goal is a world in which, in cases where it is difficult for the severely disabled to live at home and be socially active, they can be euthanised with the consent of their guardians," he wrote, according to Japanese broadcaster NTV. He also boasted he had the ability to kill 470 disabled people in what he called was "a revolution," and outlined an attack on two facilities, after which he said he will turn himself in. He asked to be judged innocent on grounds of insanity, be given 500 million yen ($5 million) in aid and plastic surgery so he could lead a normal life afterward. He was discharged on 2 March after a doctor deemed his condition had improved, the official added. Staff at the Tsukui Yamayuri En facility in Sagamihara, south of Tokyo, called police around 2.30am local time (5.30pm GMT Monday) after the suspect broke into the building and began his attack. Uematsu killed at least 19 and wounded 25 others in Japan's worst mass killing in decades. Kyodo news agency said the dead ranged in age from 19 to 70 and included nine men and 10 women. He was arrested arrested when he handed himself in to police at 3am local time, reportedly telling officials he wanted to "get rid of the disabled from this world". Other reports said he held a grudge after being fired from his job at the facility. He was carrying a bag full of knives and other sharp tools when he handed himself in, some of which were bloodstained. Mass killings are rare in Japan and typically involve stabbings due to the country's strict gun laws. Eight children were stabbed to death at a school in Osaka in 2001 and seven people died in 2008 when a man drove a truck into a crowd and began stabbing people in the Akihabara shopping district. Members of a doomsday cult killed 12 people and made thousands ill in 1995 in simultaneous sarin nerve gas attacks on five Tokyo rush-hour subway trains. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Germany must face the fact that Islamist terrorism has arrived and respond with tougher security and tighter immigration policies, Bavaria's state premier has said. Each attack, each act of terrorism, is one too many. Islamist terrorism has arrived in Germany, Horst Seehofer, a long-standing critic of Chancellor Angela Merkels open-door refugee policy, told a news conference. We need more security in Germany. People are riled up, full of fear, and that is completely understandable. They need reliable answers from politicians and not endless debates and justifications, Seehofer said after a meeting of party leaders. A spate of attacks in Germany since 18 July have left 15 people dead including four attackers and dozens injured. Two of the assailants had links to Islamist militant groups, German officials say. Two of the five attackers recently entered Germany from Syria, another was from either Pakistan or Afghanistan, stoking concerns about unprecedented immigration after one million migrants arrived last year, many fleeing conflict in the region. Immigration and security are sure to be big topics in next years federal elections, where the clash between Seehofer's Christian Social Union (CSU) and Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) may undermine conservatives' hopes of staying in power. Bavarian Interior minister Joachim Herrmann believes Germany should significantly lower hurdles to deporting refugees who break the law (DANIEL KARMANN/AFP/Getty Images) Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told the news conference Germany should rethink rules that limit deportations of refugees for medical reasons, and significantly lower hurdles to deporting refugees who break the law. We must push it to the edge of the envelope currently permitted under European law, and we have to think about whether the EU rules have to be changed, Mr Herrmann said. The 27-year-old Syrian who blew himself up in the southern town of Ansbach on Sunday had been spared deportation due to medical reasons for over a year, but had recently been told he would be deported to Bulgaria. He had also been in trouble with police for drugs and other offences. Bavarian officials said their state the site of three of the recent attacks would bolster police staffing and equipment, but would also push for federal restrictions on surveillance of potential suspects to be eased. Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, of Merkel's Christian Democrats, has said no changes would be made to changing asylum or immigration rules until investigations into the recent incidents are finished. Authorities said there was no Islamist link in Tuesday's incident at a university clinic in Berlin, in which a 72-year-old man shot a doctor before killing himself. The spate of violence in Germany followed the attack in the French city of Nice on Bastille Day, 14 July, when a Tunisian killed 84 people by driving a truck into them, an act claimed by Islamists. Isis also claimed responsibility for the latest attack in France, where an elderly priest was killed in a church. Reuters For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Italian army is growing large crops of cannabis in order to force the price of the drug down to about 8 per gram, according to the colonel overseeing production. In September 2014, the countrys government announced the army would help increase the production of medical marijuana, with the first secure growing facility unveiled in Florence in April last year. It is hoped the sterile chamber will produce up to 100kg of cannabis every year, strictly for use by cancer patients, multiple sclerosis sufferers and those with other medical conditions which could be alleviated by the drug. Colonel Antonio Medica is in charge of the Florence military base, which currently houses around 135 cannabis plants in carefully maintained conditions. My mission is to produce the best-quality cannabis on an industrial scale at a low price, he told The Times. We think we can get that down to 8 [per gram]. The colonel confirmed the army had been entrusted with the task due to the guarantee of tight security and because it has been involved in pharmaceutical matters since the 1800s, providing medicines and treatments for injured soldiers. He said the purity of the drug was a crucial factor in its production, adding: The police offered us cannabis they had seized but it was not up to the standards we want. The cost of medical marijuana is not covered by the Italian government, meaning patients are frequently left unable to pay the prohibitive costs of the drug. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The substance has been clinically proven to benefit sufferers of a variety of conditions, particularly those involving chronic pain and damage to the nervous system. Like in the UK, the possession, cultivation and sale of cannabis in Italy are illegal, with the latter crime punishable by imprisonment. However, Italian government may be about to legalise the home-growth of small quantities of marijuana if a law being debated next week is approved, according to the Local. According to the law, Italian people would be permitted to grow up to five cannabis plants for personal use and keep up to 15 grams of marijuana at home and five grams on their person. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Two knifemen who had pledged allegiance to Isis forced two nuns to watch as they filmed themselves slitting the throat of a French priest while they performed "a sort of sermon", it has emerged. The two killers reportedly demanded 86-year-old Father Jacques Hamel kneel before them while they carried out the atrocity at the church at Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen. He had retired aged 75 but helped out when necessary and was reportedly standing in for the regular priest, Father Auguste Moanda-Phuati, when two men wielding knives burst into the church at 9.43am French time on Tuesday. He was killed in front of two nuns and two worshippers after all five were taken hostage. Speaking on RMC - a French radio station, Sister Danielle, who escaped the scene said: "They forced him to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And that's when the tragedy happened." "They recorded themselves. They did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. It's a horror," she later told BFM television. Sister Danielle - who described the clergyman as a "great priest" - said she fled at the moment the attackers killed him. Born in the Rouen area, Father Hamel was ordained in 1958 and was assistant priest in the parish of St Etienne. France knife attack - what we know so far His killing has prompted calls for a fast-tracked sainthood for murdered clergyman. Italian politician Roberto Maroni urged the Pope to make the him St Jacques. In an appeal circulated on social media, the president of the Lombard region said: Father Jacques is a martyr of faith. The hashtag #saintosubito - #saintimmediately - began trending on Twitter as people expressed horror at the incident. One neighbour told weekly French magazine L'Express: This was a man who did his job to the very end. He was old, but always available for everyone. He was a good priest. He had been here for many years; he lived in the rectory here. Many parishioners knew him very well. Normandy church attack in pictures Show all 16 1 /16 Normandy church attack in pictures Normandy church attack in pictures The victim was the 84-year-old priest at the church, Jacques Hamel. AFP/Getty Normandy church attack in pictures French police at the scene of the attack on a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, northern France, on July 26 AFP/Getty Images Normandy church attack in pictures More police at the scene BFM TV Normandy church attack in pictures French President Francois Hollande shaking hands with security personnel at the scene AP Normandy church attack in pictures French soldiers standing guard outside the scene of the attack AP Normandy church attack in pictures A policeman secures a position in front of the city hall after two assailants had taken five people hostage in the church at Saint-Etienne-du -Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy Pascal Rossignol/Reuters Normandy church attack in pictures A policeman holds a HKG36 assault rifle as he secures the position in front of the local town hall following the attack REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures French judicial inverstigating police apprehends a man during a raid after a hostage-taking in the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy, France REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures AFP/Getty Images Normandy church attack in pictures REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures AFP/Getty Images Normandy church attack in pictures AP Normandy church attack in pictures AP Normandy church attack in pictures French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve visits the church REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures AFP/Getty Images A statement issued by the archdiocese of Rouen said. This man was a good man. Eulalie Garcia, who works in a beauty parlour on the same road as the church, told reporters he had taught her about Catholicism as a young girl. "My family has lived here for 35 years and we have always known him," she said. "He was someone who was treasured by the community. He was very discreet and didn't like to draw attention to himself." French newspaper Le Figaro reported the church was suspected to have been on a list of Catholic places of worship in the area around Paris drawn up as possible targets by Sid Ahmed Ghlam, an Algerian student arrested last year on suspicion of murdering a mother-of-one during a botched attempt to attack a church in Villejuif. Confirming Father Hamel's death, the Archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, who cut short a visit to Poland to return to his diocese, said: "I cry to God with all men of good will. The only arms which the Catholic Church can take up are prayer and brotherhood between men." For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Two Isis supporters armed with knives have been shot dead after murdering a priest at a Catholic church in Normandy. The French interior ministry said the attackers took hostages including nuns and members of the congregation after storming in during morning mass. One hostage was in a life-threatening condition, another was lightly wounded and three others were freed unharmed. Local reports said the elderly priest, Father Jacques Hamel, had served the church for decades and had his throat slit. France knife attack - what we know so far The attackers were neutralised by security forces, a spokesperson for France's Police Nationale said, adding that security assessments continued. The two attackers stormed the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray during a service at around 10am local time (9am BST) on Tuesday, taking the priest, two nuns and several members of the congregation hostage. The crisis continued for around an hour before the armed men were shot dead by police when they emerged in a courtyard outside the church. Speaking at the scene of the attack, interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said the church was being searched for bombs and booby traps as forensic investigations continued. Normandy church attack in pictures Show all 16 1 /16 Normandy church attack in pictures Normandy church attack in pictures The victim was the 84-year-old priest at the church, Jacques Hamel. AFP/Getty Normandy church attack in pictures French police at the scene of the attack on a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, northern France, on July 26 AFP/Getty Images Normandy church attack in pictures More police at the scene BFM TV Normandy church attack in pictures French President Francois Hollande shaking hands with security personnel at the scene AP Normandy church attack in pictures French soldiers standing guard outside the scene of the attack AP Normandy church attack in pictures A policeman secures a position in front of the city hall after two assailants had taken five people hostage in the church at Saint-Etienne-du -Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy Pascal Rossignol/Reuters Normandy church attack in pictures A policeman holds a HKG36 assault rifle as he secures the position in front of the local town hall following the attack REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures French judicial inverstigating police apprehends a man during a raid after a hostage-taking in the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy, France REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures AFP/Getty Images Normandy church attack in pictures REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures AFP/Getty Images Normandy church attack in pictures AP Normandy church attack in pictures AP Normandy church attack in pictures French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve visits the church REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures AFP/Getty Images President Francois Hollande and Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister, met the three uninjured hostages and families of the victims after visiting the town. Mr Hollande said the two attackers pledged allegiance to Isis, while the terrorist group praised them as soldiers of the Islamic State in a statement via its propaganda agency. The Paris prosecutor said the incident was being investigated by the national counter-terrorism task force (SDAT) and the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI) intelligence agency. One person has so far been detained in connection with the investigation. Manuel Valls, France's Prime Minister, wrote on Twitter: "Horror in the face of the barbaric attack on a church in Seine-Maritime. All of France and all Catholics are wounded. We stand together." (AP) The Vatican said Pope Francis shares the sorrow and horror felt over the incident, adding: We are particularly struck because this horrible violence has occurred in a church - a sacred place where we pronounce God's love - with the barbaric murder of a priest and worshippers affected. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, wrote on Twitter: Evil attacks the weakest, denies truth and love, is defeated through Jesus Christ. Pray for France, for victims, for their communities. The incident came under a fortnight after the Nice attack, when 84 people were killed and more than 300 injured by an Isis supporter who drove a lorry into crowds celebrating Bastille Day. France has been on high alert since the so-called Islamic State's bombings and shootings in Paris on 13 November last year. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Two armed men who murdered a priest in an attack on a French church claimed to be members of Isis, President Francois Hollande has said. Speaking from the scene of the attack in Normandy, Mr Hollande said France was at war with the terrorist group. He condemned the killing of the churchs 86-year-old priest, whose throat was said to have been slit by the attackers. A nun who was in the church identified as Sister Danielle said the priest was forced to the ground before two attackers slit his throat. Sister Danielle said: They forced him to his knees. He wanted to defend himself. And that's when the tragedy happened. They recorded themselves. They did a sort of sermon around the altar, in Arabic. It's a horror, she told BFM television. Of her fallen colleague, she said: He was a great priest. Praising the work of emergency services who killed the men and freed the rest of the five hostages, including one who is in a serious condition, Mr Hollande said he had spoken to the three uninjured victims in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. The cowardly assassination of the priest [was carried out by] two terrorists who claimed to be followers of Daesh [Isis], he added. I have met the family of the priest and I also wanted to talk to the people who had been held hostage and express pain, sadness and also the will to understand why this happened. The French President said Isis had declared war on his country and that the government would fight the group with all means possible. Isis issued a claim of responsibility minutes after Mr Hollandes statement via its Amaq propaganda agency. Normandy church attack in pictures Show all 16 1 /16 Normandy church attack in pictures Normandy church attack in pictures The victim was the 84-year-old priest at the church, Jacques Hamel. AFP/Getty Normandy church attack in pictures French police at the scene of the attack on a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, northern France, on July 26 AFP/Getty Images Normandy church attack in pictures More police at the scene BFM TV Normandy church attack in pictures French President Francois Hollande shaking hands with security personnel at the scene AP Normandy church attack in pictures French soldiers standing guard outside the scene of the attack AP Normandy church attack in pictures A policeman secures a position in front of the city hall after two assailants had taken five people hostage in the church at Saint-Etienne-du -Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy Pascal Rossignol/Reuters Normandy church attack in pictures A policeman holds a HKG36 assault rifle as he secures the position in front of the local town hall following the attack REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures French judicial inverstigating police apprehends a man during a raid after a hostage-taking in the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy, France REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures AFP/Getty Images Normandy church attack in pictures REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures AFP/Getty Images Normandy church attack in pictures AP Normandy church attack in pictures AP Normandy church attack in pictures French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve visits the church REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures AFP/Getty Images It called the two attackers soldiers of the Islamic State, echoing statements on the recent attacks in Nice, Ansbach and Wurzburg. The group frequently claims responsibility for attacks carried out by supporters or lone wolf attackers following media reports of their allegiance, regardless of any prior communication or organisation. Calling on citizens not to be divided by the attack, Mr Hollande added that his thoughts were with all Catholics and announced a memorial service on Tuesday evening. Dominique Lebrun, the Archbishop of Rouen, named the priest as 84-year-old Father Jacques Hamel and called for prayer and brotherhood in the face of terror. The French interior ministry said one injured hostage was in a serious condition in hospital, while another was also wounded. The two attackers stormed the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray during a service at around 10am local time (9am BST) on Tuesday, taking the priest, two nuns and several members of the congregation hostage. The crisis continued for around an hour before the armed men were shot dead by police when they emerged in a courtyard outside the church. French police at the scene of the attack on a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, northern France, today (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images) One of the attackers was reportedly jailed for attempting to travel to Syria to join Isis in 2015 and was wearing an electronic tracking device at the time of the attack, police sources told French media. The man was reportedly jailed for almost a year but released on parole, despite known links with extremists. The Paris prosecutor said the attack was being investigated by the national counter-terrorism task force (SDAT) and the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI) intelligence agency. One person has so far been detained in connection with the investigation. The Vatican condemned the barbarous killing, while the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, wrote on Twitter: Evil attacks the weakest, denies truth and love, is defeated through Jesus Christ. Pray for France, for victims, for their communities. The incident came under a fortnight after the Nice attack, when 84 people were killed and more than 300 injured by an Isis supporter who drove a lorry into crowds celebrating Bastille Day. France has been on high alert since the so-called Islamic State's bombings and shootings in Paris on 13 November last year. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A priest has been killed at a Catholic church in northern France during a suspected terror attack by two Isis supporters. The French interior ministry said the murdered man was among nuns and worshippers taken hostage on Tuesday morning, while a second victim was in a life-threatening condition. Another was lightly wounded and three others were freed unharmed. Father Jacques Hamel, 86, who had served the local area for decades, reportedly had his throat slit during the attack in Normandy. Dominique Lebrun, the Archbishop of Rouen, paid tribute to Fr Hamels service, calling for "prayer and brotherhood" in the face of terror. But the diocese of Rouen's website said he was born in 1930 and ordained in 1958, serving as the assistant priest of the parish of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. Eulalie Garcia, who works in a nearby beauty parlour, told reporters Fr Hamel was well-known by locals. My family has lived here for 35 years and we have always known him, she said. He was someone who was treasured by the community. He was very discreet and didn't like to draw attention to himself. Ms Garcia said she was shocked by the murder of the priest, who lived opposite his church. It can happen to anyone, she added. The two attackers stormed the church during a morning mass at around 10am local time (9am BST), taking the priest, two nuns and several members of the congregation hostage. The crisis continued for around an hour before the armed men were shot dead by police when they emerged in a courtyard outside the church. Police said officers"neutralised" both attackers an operation near Rouen, Normandy, on Tuesday morning and a terror investigation has been launched. Normandy church attack in pictures Show all 16 1 /16 Normandy church attack in pictures Normandy church attack in pictures The victim was the 84-year-old priest at the church, Jacques Hamel. AFP/Getty Normandy church attack in pictures French police at the scene of the attack on a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, northern France, on July 26 AFP/Getty Images Normandy church attack in pictures More police at the scene BFM TV Normandy church attack in pictures French President Francois Hollande shaking hands with security personnel at the scene AP Normandy church attack in pictures French soldiers standing guard outside the scene of the attack AP Normandy church attack in pictures A policeman secures a position in front of the city hall after two assailants had taken five people hostage in the church at Saint-Etienne-du -Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy Pascal Rossignol/Reuters Normandy church attack in pictures A policeman holds a HKG36 assault rifle as he secures the position in front of the local town hall following the attack REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures French judicial inverstigating police apprehends a man during a raid after a hostage-taking in the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy, France REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures AFP/Getty Images Normandy church attack in pictures REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures AFP/Getty Images Normandy church attack in pictures AP Normandy church attack in pictures AP Normandy church attack in pictures French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve visits the church REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures AFP/Getty Images Speaking at the scene of the attack, interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said the church was being searched for bombs and booby traps as forensic investigations continued. President Francois Hollande and Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister, met the three uninjured hostages and families of the victims after visiting the scene. Mr Hollande said the two attackers pledged allegiance to Isis, while the terrorist group praised them as "soldiers of the Islamic State" in a statement via its propaganda agency. Manuel Valls, France's Prime Minister, wrote on Twitter: Horror in the face of the barbaric attack on a church in Seine-Maritime. All of France and all Catholics are wounded. We stand together. The Paris prosecutor said the incident was being investigated by the national counter-terrorism task force (SDAT) and the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI) intelligence agency. One person has so far been detained in connection with the investigation. The Vatican condemned the barbarous killing, while the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, wrote on Twitter: Evil attacks the weakest, denies truth and love, is defeated through Jesus Christ. Pray for France, for victims, for their communities. The incident came under a fortnight after the Nice attack, when 84 people were killed and more than 300 injured by an Isis supporter who drove a lorry into crowds celebrating Bastille Day. France has been on high alert since the so-called Islamic State's bombings and shootings in Paris on 13 November last year. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Police are investigating after a patient shot and killed a doctor before turning the gun on himself at a hospital in Berlin, Germany. Berlin police initially said the doctor had suffered life-threatening injuries, but later said he had died. The attacker was a 72-year-old patient at the jaw and face surgery unit of the Benjamin Franklin campus of the Charite university hospital, located in the southwestern neighbourhood of Steglitz. There were "no signs at all" the shooting was linked to terrorism, police said. Timeline: Germany rocked by week of deadly violence A spokeswoman for the Benjamin Franklin campus of the Charite university hospital had no immediate comment. Winfrid Wenzel, a spokesman for Berlin police, said the crime took place in the jaw surgery area of an outpatient clinic where the doctor was in a treatment session with the patient. "In the course of the consultation, the patient pulled out a gun and fired several shots at the doctor. The attacker then directly turned the gun on himself and died as a result of the shots," Wenzel told Reuters TV. He said police did not yet have information on the suspect's background, history, personal details or motivation, but added: "We do not have a single indication that this crime was motivated by extremism or Islamists." The shooting follows four other attacks in Germany since 18 July that have left 10 people dead and dozens injured. A 17-year-old Afghan injured four people in an axe attack on a train in Wuerzburg on 18 July. On Friday, an 18 year-old German-Iranian "obsessed with mass shootings" killed nine people and injured 26 in a shooting spree at a shopping centre in Munich. On Sunday, a suspected suicide bomber blew himself up and injured 15 other people outside a crowded music festival. Earlier that day, a Syrian refugee killed a pregnant woman and injured two others in a machete attack near Stuttgart. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} One of the two attackers who slit the throat of an elderly priest in a church in France has been named as Adel Kermiche. The 18-year-old and his unnamed accomplice stormed the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy, and forced 86-year-old Father Jacques Hamel to kneel before they slit his throat on camera in the style of an Isis murder video. An 86-year-old woman, one of five held hostage on Tuesday, said the attackers handed her husband a mobile phone and demanded that he take photos or video of the priest after he was killed. Her husband was in turn slashed in four places by the attackers and is now hospitalised with serious injuries. The elderly woman identified only as Jeanine told RMC radio that her husband played dead to stay alive. Two nuns were held hostage along with the couple and the priest, while a third nun escaped and gave the alert. One of the terrorists had a handgun and began to shout Allah Akbar and the other had a fake bomb with a timer. They then gave a sermon in Arabic at the altar and were shot dead by police. Their four other hostages, including two nuns and two parishioners, were then rescued. Normandy church attack in pictures Show all 16 1 /16 Normandy church attack in pictures Normandy church attack in pictures The victim was the 84-year-old priest at the church, Jacques Hamel. AFP/Getty Normandy church attack in pictures French police at the scene of the attack on a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, northern France, on July 26 AFP/Getty Images Normandy church attack in pictures More police at the scene BFM TV Normandy church attack in pictures French President Francois Hollande shaking hands with security personnel at the scene AP Normandy church attack in pictures French soldiers standing guard outside the scene of the attack AP Normandy church attack in pictures A policeman secures a position in front of the city hall after two assailants had taken five people hostage in the church at Saint-Etienne-du -Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy Pascal Rossignol/Reuters Normandy church attack in pictures A policeman holds a HKG36 assault rifle as he secures the position in front of the local town hall following the attack REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures French judicial inverstigating police apprehends a man during a raid after a hostage-taking in the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy, France REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures AFP/Getty Images Normandy church attack in pictures REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures AFP/Getty Images Normandy church attack in pictures AP Normandy church attack in pictures AP Normandy church attack in pictures French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve visits the church REUTERS Normandy church attack in pictures AFP/Getty Images Family friend Jonathan Sacarabany said Kermiche grew up in a housing project in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. Mr Sacarabany said the jihadist was originally born in Algeria and had a sister who is a doctor in Rouen and a brother. Their mother is a professor. He said the family had previously told French authorities about his radicalisation to stop him going to Syria. He was arrested in 2015 while trying to get to Syria using his brother's passport and was sent back to France. This March he was arrested for plotting terrorist attacks. Kermiche had been put under judicial supervision after his arrest but the electronic bracelet was deactivated for five hours a day allowing him to leave the house during the day without surveillance, an unnamed police official said. The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Kermiche had been required to check in with police every day. The parish church where Father Hamel was murdered (Reuters) (REUTERS) In a statement to the media, French prosecutor Francois Mollins said an investigation had been launched into the cowardly actions of the terrorists and a number of people had been arrested in connection with the attack. Investigators believe the second assailant was a 19-year-old from south-east France who was previously unknown to police, a judicial source said on Wednesday. The source said the delay in formally identifying Abdel Malik P as the second attacker occurred because DNA tests were being carried out. His identity card was found at Kermiche's home on Tuesday, the source added. It comes as French President Francois Hollande has cancelled a visit to the Czech Republic for the second time following another terror attack on the country. He had planned to meet with Czech President Milos Zemand and Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka to discuss the security situation in Europe. France and Germany have come under a wave of attacks in recent weeks with at least three Islamist terror incidents in Germany in the past week and the events in Nice on 14 July where a lorry driver ploughed a car into the Bastille Day crowd killing 84 people. Following the Nice attacks, Mr Hollande announced the extension of a state of emergency which had been in place since 130 people were killed in a string of shootings and bombings in Paris in November. Mr Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls were booed at a memorial service for the victims of the attack after it was revealed the French government had denied a request by Christian Estrosi, the president of the region, for more security at the Bastille Day event. Additional reporting by agencies For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told EU leaders they must pay the promised 3bn (2.5bn) in aid if they want the refugee deal to stay intact. Under the terms of controversial one in, one out deal, Turkey has agreed to readmit all refugees who arrive on Italian and Greek shores after travelling across the Mediterranean in exchange for member countries accepting an equal number of refugees from its camps. The deal, agreed in March, also involved the speeding up of Turkeys application to join the EU, visa-free travel for Turkish citizens and aid money to help the country care for the estimated three million Syrian refugees it hosts in camps along the border. Mr Erdogan told German broadcaster ARM: Ask them, did you pay? Turkey still hosts three million people. What would Europe do if we let these people go to Europe? "The EU governments are not honest. Since the agreement the number of people making the dangerous journey across the sea to reach the shores of Italy and Greece has fallen from tens of thousands a week to just a few dozen. In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Show all 17 1 /17 In pictures: Turkey coup attempt In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish President Erdogan attends the funeral service for victims of the thwarted coup in Istanbul at Fatih mosque on July 17, 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey Burak Kara/Getty Images In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Soldiers involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge with their hands raised in Istanbul on 16 July, 2016 Gokhan Tan/Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt A civilian beats a soldier after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 July, 2016 REUTERS/Murad Sezer In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Surrendered Turkish soldiers who were involved in the coup are beaten by a civilian Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Soliders involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wave flags as they capture a Turkish Army vehicle Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt People pose near a tank after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 July, 2016 Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers block Istanbul's Bosphorus Brigde Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt A Turkish military stands guard near the Taksim Square in Istanbul Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Pierre Crom/Twitter In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers secure the area as supporters of Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in Istanbul's Taksim square AP In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Murad Sezer/Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers detain police officers during a security shutdown of the Bosphorus Bridge Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish Army armoured personnel carriers in the main streets of Istanbul Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Chaos reigned in Istanbul as tanks drove through the streets EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks to media in the resort town of Marmaris Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Supporters of President Erdogan celebrate in Ankara following the suppression of the attempted coup Reuters But the agreement, which was condemned by human rights groups at the time, has been thrown into disarray in recent weeks after an attempted coup provoked a furious reaction by the Erdogan administration. President Erdogans threat to bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in 2004 as part of its application to join the EU, has been condemned by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker who said all negotiations on Ankaras accession would cease immediately if it is carried out. This is despite other EU leaders saying the deal is unaffected by the situation in Turkey. A handful of soldiers seized control of both bridges over the Bosphorus in Istanbul and the state broadcaster in an attempt to oust President Erdogan from power on 15 July, but their coup failed when thousands of protesters streamed onto the streets to support the premier. The next day, President Erdogan began cleansing the army, the police and other state institutions of what he called Gulenists - named after an exiled cleric, Fetullah Gullen, who he claims masterminded the attempted coup. So far, Turkey has arrested 6,000 people, including judges, soldiers, journalists and even children, in connection with the plot and thousands more have resigned or been sacked. Several soldiers are also reported to have been tortured. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Russia could invade Poland "overnight" and easily overwhelm its Nato allies, a study has predicted. Even if Moscow currently has no immediate intent to challenge Nato directly, this may unexpectedly change overnight and can be implemented with great speed, following already prepared plans," the Atlantic Council report warns. "The capability to do so is, to a large extent, in place. Tensions between Russia and the Western world Show all 8 1 /8 Tensions between Russia and the Western world Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Vladimir Putin leaves G20 early after criticism from world leaders over Ukraine. David Cameron warned Vladimir Putin, face to face, that Russias whole post-Cold War relationship with the West is at a fork in the road over Ukraine Getty Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia A mysterious Russian object is being tracked by space agencies, giving new life to fears about the increase of space weapons. The satellite, dubbed Object 2014-28E, has grabbed the interest of official and amateur satellite-watchers because it is taking a confusing path and its purpose has not been identified Getty Images Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Russian warplanes are risking the security of civilian passengers as they play a dangerous game designed to test Western air defences, according to Natos secretary general FRA Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Russia has warned Ukraine that a resumption of hostilities against pro-Russian separatists in the east would be catastrophic for Ukraine Reuters Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia A Swedish minesweeper searches for suspected "foreign underwater activity" near Stockholm. A Russian sub in Swedish waters has slipped away into the sea...leaving recriminations in its wake Reuters Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Sberbank, Russia's largest lender, is taking the European Union to court in an attempt to loosen Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine crisis GETTY IMAGES Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Russian government agencies have been accused of editing a Wikipedia article to suggest the Ukrainian military was responsible for shooting down the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, a Twitter account monitoring state IP addresses has claimed AFP Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Australias prime minister Tony Abbott has promised he will shirtfront Vladimir Putin over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which killed 38 Australian citizens AP The timing of the Russian invasion could not be predicted, the US-based think-tank report goes on to say, but the country could attack swiftly when Nato and Europe are "distracted by another crisis" or as a reaction to "misperception of Nato's activities". The report, titled "Arming For Deterrence", claims the Alliance would be slow to respond if Russia were to invade and Polish forces would need "to delay and bog down an invading force and inflict unacceptable damage" to buy time for reinforcements. "Nato's presence in the region is not currently large enough to achieve this," the report states. Russia hold military drills It also suggests a number of measures to counter a resurgent Russia, such as modernising its military arsenal finding incentives to stop men of military age from leaving the country to find work abroad. The UK has promised to deploy hundreds of troops to "deter Russia from any further aggression" in the Baltic states. A battalion of 500 soldiers will be sent to Estonia while 150 troops will be based in Poland, with the UK assuming leadership of Natos standby force early next year. At the end of June, British personnel joined Natos largest military drill in Ukraine near the Polish border, an exercise designed to fine-tune joint combat operations. The drills saw 2,000 soldiers, helicopter gunships and armoured fighting vehicles take part in a series of staged war games, simulating battle conditions. Poland joined Nato in 1999, a decade after the demise of Moscow-backed communism in eastern Europe. Warsaw has been very critical of Moscow's actions in Ukraine and has repeatedly urged Nato to boost its presence on Polish territory. Nato has reiterated its commitment to install four new battalions in eastern Europe, a promise made following Russias annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Principal A recent addition to the Small Luxury Hotels of the World stable, The Principal arrived on the scene last year and has quickly established itself as one of Madrids must-stays. Occupying a Spanish Renaissance 17th century building on a corner of the capitals vibrant Gran Via, theres an intimate clubby atmosphere at this 76-room hotel. One of its standout features is its rooftop bar that has views of the capital and the sixth floor El Atico restaurant showcasing the talents of Michelin-starred chef Ramon Freixa. Marques de Valdeiglesias 1, Madrid (0800 0482 314; slh.com/theprincipal). Doubles from 330, room only. Totem Madrid Avid shoppers would be well advised to check into Totem Madrid, which opened in June in the Salamanca neighbourhood, where streets are lined with luxury stores, boutiques, restaurants and bars. With a pedigree that includes the citys Hotel Urso, Mallorcas Cap Rocat and Menorcas Torralbenc, expect low-key, sophisticated glamour throughout its 64 rooms and suites. Hermosilla 23, Madrid (00 34 91 426 0035; slh.com/totem). Doubles from 145, B&B. Totem in the Salamanca neighbourhood, near to luxury stores and restaurants Gran Melia Palacio de los Duques The celebrated Spanish master Velazquez has provided the decorative theme for Madrids latest luxury hotel, which swung open its distinguished doors this month. Fittingly, the palace was the former home of the Dukes of Granada de Ega and Villahermosa, who were long-standing patrons of the artist. Images of Velazquezs well-known works like the Infanta Margarita are innovatively applied to the walls of the hotel and its 180 rooms, set off by golds, whites and greys. The seventh floor rooftop pool has fabulous views over the city. Cuesta Santa Domingo 5, Madrid (00 34 91 541 6700; granmelia.com). Doubles from 320, room only. Gran Melia Palacio de la Duques The Hat Not all hostels are created equal as the interior of The Hat clearly illustrates. Budget travellers dont have to compromise on style at this 220-bed property spanning 42 rooms of a historic mansion right in Madrids historic centre. A gastro bar in reception, paella cooking classes on Sunday mornings and a rooftop bar are just a few of the perks that single this hostel-cum-hotel hybrid out. All the hot water is also generated from olive stones using biomass technology. Imperial 9, Madrid (00 34 91 607 201 981; thehatmadrid.com). Shared bedrooms from 20 per night with breakfast. Doubles from 80. The Hat proves not all hostels are created equal Only You From the witty white suitcase-adorned walls of the reception area to the 45 rooms that are all smart linens, geometric rugs, royal blue hues and tasteful touches, Only You is a fabulous reinterpretation of a 19th century palace by Barcelona-based tastemaker Lazoro Rosa Violan. Its cosy El Padrino bar is where to sample local wine and cured meats like the moreish jabugo ham, while the buzzing Chueca neighbourhood is right on the hotels doorstep. Calle Barquillo 21, Madrid (00 34 91 005 2222; onlyyouhotels.com). Doubles from 135, B&B. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} America's extraordinary 2016 election has already ventured where no others have trod. And now theres another first: one campaign accusing the rival candidate of being in cahoots with the countrys main global opponent in other words that Vladimir Putin is working to secure the election of his and Russias friend, Donald Trump, to the White House. Last weekend, doing the rounds on the Sunday talk shows, Hillary Clintons campaign manager Robbie Mook made the conspiracy theory official. He accused Russian hackers of leaking emails from the Democratic National Committee showing that the party was secretly working all-out to deny her rival Bernie Sanders the nomination. So much in fact had long been suspected, but the effect was as predictable as the timing of the leak was perfect done immediately after the fractious Republican convention in Cleveland, on the eve of this weeks Democratic gathering in Philadelphia that was supposed to be the epitomy of brotherly love. Instead, Sanderss diehard supporters were outraged and mutinous. The image of a united party vanished. With extreme difficulty, party managers patched things over on the conventions first night, thanks to a commanding speech by Sanders and a hymn of praise to Hillary by the First Lady Michelle Obama. And who was responsible for the leak? Almost certainly, experts say, the Russians, directly or indirectly. For one thing, the Kremlin has a long record in doing this sort of thing, meddling in internal politics across Europe. Back when the DNC hack became public, in mid-June, Russian agents were identified as prime suspects. The Kremlin has ample reason to desire a Trump victory. Russias prime geopolitical objective is to bring about the weakening or disintegration of Nato, and reassert control of countries that belonged to the old Soviet Union and the Republican candidates stated views would clearly further that aim. Not only has he praised Mr Putin as a man of strength and decisiveness (and received compliments from the Russian leader in return). Only last week, in an interview with The New York Times, Trump said the US may not defend the Baltic states, Natos newest members who are now under steady threat from Russia, unless they paid their way in the alliance. Nor is that all. Mr Mook further claimed that Trumps agents had weakened part of the Republican platform a loose equivalent of a British partys election manifesto that had promised tough action against Russian predations in Ukraine, another former Soviet republic that Moscow is seeking to bring back into the fold by all available means. None of this is to suggest that America has a Siberian candidate on its hands: a real life 21st century equivalent of the villain in The Manchurian Candidate, John Frankenheimers 1962 masterpiece, who had been captured by the Chinese and Russians in the Korean war and brainwashed, before being returned to the US as a sleeper agent. For one thing, it is impossible to imagine Donald Trump being brainwashed by anyone. Needless to say, the Trump campaign utterly rejects every insinuation. Donald Jr, the candidates son described them as lies, telling CNN that Mr Mook should be ashamed of himself. If a Republican did that, theyd be calling for the electric chair". Paul Manafort, the Trump campaign chairman, said talk of Russian help was absurd". But there is more fodder for the conspiracy theorists suggestions that the perceived community of interest between Mr Trump and Russia may extend beyond their neatly dovetailing views of Nato. First and foremost, the Manhattan property mogul is a businessman and much speculation surrounds his interests in Russia. In the past, he has spoken effusively about expanding into Russia, with the help of Soviet investors. Back in 2008, Donald Jr said that Russia made up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets". Whether that remains the case is unknown. Mr Trump has refused to make public either his business records or his tax returns, which might throw light on the subject. There is also Mr Manaforts own past as a lobbyist, when one of his clients was Viktor Yanukovych, the former pro-Russian president of Ukraine, ousted in the 2014 revolution that led to Russias annexation of Crimea. 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' What is certain is that this email affair just like the one that ensnared Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server for official State Department business will run and run. Once again the FBI is investigating, and similarities have emerged with hacks into unclassified systems at the White House and State Department. According to reports, Moscows digital fingerprints are all over the DNC cyber-intrusion. The clues, it is said, do not point directly to the Russian Government, rather to entities who have worked on its behalf (which of course allows the Kremlin a degree of deniability). It may be not until after the 8 November election that the FBI releases its conclusions. In the meantime one can only ponder Mark Twains celebrated dictum that while history does not repeat itself, it rhymes. Four decades ago, a break-in at the DNC led to the biggest political scandal in political history, ultimately bringing down a president. That intrusion was physical. This one was electronic. But who knows where it will end? Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Midway through the Democratic confabs first night, the lights dimmed and the once familiar oratory of Mario Cuomo filled the air. Clips of the former New York Governor delivering his still legendary speech to a party convention of yore played on jumbo screens above the throngs. The year was 1984. With rhetorical flights never before heard in the political arena and his relentless devotion to a progressive vision for the country, Mr Cuomo, who passed away last year, instantly transformed himself into a figure who one day, surely, would seek the presidency. As it happened Mr Cuomo, whose son Andrew is Governor of New York today, never made that leap, sparking speculation that he possibly had skeletons he didn't want unearthed. But he had already established a tradition that remains true today: speaking slots at party conventions becoming auditions for rising stars who one day might reach for that ultimate brass ring. No figure in recent political history, however, pulled this trick of auditioning as their party's next best hope as presidential candidate more successfully than Barack Obama. By all reckonings his gripping keynote speech to the 2004 Democratic Convention, when John Kerry was the nominee, was the moment that set the clock ticking on his decision to leap into the fray and seek the nomination in 2008. That, of course, pitted him, a first-time US Senator with scant experience, against Hillary Clinton, a battle she lost and he won. The Oval Office was his months later. This conventions first night, filled with the tumult of disappointment for supporters of Bernie Sanders and the frantic push to corral support for Ms Clinton, offered at least one of those moments. The question is posed: who on stage did most to earn that mantle of expectation? Michelle Obama, with her passionate defence of Ms Clinton, clearly stood out and ignited a wildfire of social media messages advertising her as a candidate in 2020 or beyond. Her speech brought tears to the eyes of delegates wherever their allegiances with Ms Clinton or Mr Sanders lay. But we have to believe what those close to her have consistently stated: the First Lady, whatever her potential as a candidate in the future, has zero interest in a political career. And so to the other soaring speech of the night that arguably received less attention than it deserved. Cory Booker set the Wells Fargo Centre alight, making the case that collective action not rugged individualism is the fuel that has given America its greatest gifts. Like Ms Obama, the US Senator from New Jersey who made the shortlist of possible running mates for Ms Clinton, built his argument while at the same time repeatedly contrasting its tenets with the kind of America that Republican nominee Donald Trump is offering. Hillary Clinton knows what Donald Trump betrays time and time again in this campaign: that we are not a zero sum nation, it is not you or me, it is not one American against another American. It is you and I together, interdependent, interconnected with one single interwoven destiny, he said, speaking with his own brand of oratorical fire and passion. And like Mr Cuomo more than 30 years ago, Mr Booker delivered a message that was unmistakably progressive, repeatedly returning to the theme of lifting the poor and ensuring equality. In that vein, the Senator artfully embraced one of the signature policy priorities of Mr Sanders free state college education for all and extolled Ms Clintons decision to alter her own thinking to embrace it. She knows that debt-free college is not a gift, it's not charity, it is an investment, Mr Booker said. It represents the best of our values, the best of our history, and the best of our party: all of our shared values together. In a clear reference to the Trump slogan, "Make America Great Again", Mr Booker intoned: When we respect each other, when we stand up for each other, when we work together against the challenges our neighbors face ... That is when we go from an already great America to an even greater America, drawing cheers and chants of Cory, Cory, from delegates. Elected to the Senate in 2013, Mr Booker, who is African American and previously served as Mayor of Newark, has also ensured that he will play in a top role championing Ms Clinton in the roughly 100 days that remain before Americans vote for a new president on 8 November. We cannot fall into complacency or indifference about this election, because still the only thing necessary for evil to be triumphant is for good people to do nothing, he said. By affording Mr Booker his tersest and most cryptic Twitter barb of the night, Mr Trump himself all but acknowledged the power of his address. If Cory Booker is the future of the Democratic Party, they have no future! I know more about Cory than he knows about himself, he chided. On Tuesday, Mr Booker responded without taking the bait. I love Donald Trump, he said on CNNs New Day. I dont want to answer his hate with hate. Im going to answer it with love. Im not going to answer his darkness with darkness. Before stepping off the stage on Monday night and returning to his seat in the partys VIP box to watch the First Lady, Mr Booker led the hall in a final, ringing admonition to the country. It may be the three words that will be remembered the longest and may have put him on a path to a still more significant future. They were: We. Will. Rise. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Angela Merkel's open-door policy towards immigrants fleeing Middle East war zones will, in the long run, make Germany safer from terrorist attacks. By showing compassion to hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees, the German Chancellor has sent a message to the world that Germany is not at war with Islam. More importantly, this means that the vast majority of Muslims resident in Germany have every reason to cooperate with the security services in the fight against terrorism. This is not something that can be said of the marginalised and radicalised Muslim communities of the run-down suburbs of Brussels or Paris which breed and harbour terrorist networks. Timeline: Germany rocked by week of deadly violence The key to beating terrorism is winning the hearts and minds of Muslims living in the communities that are vulnerable to radicalisation by hate preachers and terror groups like Islamic State and al-Qaeda. So while Merkel's critics have been quick to blame her for the recent attacks in Bavaria it is possible that her actions have already saved the country from the kind of organised mass-murder bomb and gun attacks which have taken place in France and Belgium. These attacks have sprung from the suburbs of Paris and Brussels which have become incubators of terrorism. The hatred and resentment which has taken hold there may take generations to overcome. Certainly the Paris banlieues and the Molenbeek suburb of Brussels are populated by Muslims who no longer feel they have a stake in mainstream society. Many of the young Muslims brought up there have already headed out to Syria and Iraq to live and fight in the caliphate. Those who have chosen to stay continue to nurse grievances against a state which sends more and more police into their communities to knock down doors and make arrests. Francois Hollande has frequently announced that he is at war with Isis. For many Muslims who feel they have become criminalised by their religion the French President might as well be declaring war on them. The truth is that foreign policy does play a vital role in the radicalisation and incentivisation of terrorists. It is a lesson that France benefitted from during the Iraq war when its government vehemently opposed that conflict. During this period France was free from terrorist attacks, whereas Britain who instigated and waged war against Saddam Hussein, suffered the London bomb attacks of 7/7. Spain too, a high profile supporter of the war, faced the Madrid train bombings in 2004. Refugees settle in Germany Show all 12 1 /12 Refugees settle in Germany Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat, a refugee from Syria, plays with his daughter Ranim, who is nearly 3, in the one room they and Mohamed's wife Laloosh call home at an asylum-seekers' shelter in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The Zayats arrived approximately two months ago after trekking through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans and are now waiting for local authorities to process their asylum application, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany A refugee child Amnat Musayeva points to a star with her photo and name that decorates the door to her classroom as teacher Martina Fischer looks on at the local kindergarten Amnat and her siblings attend on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The children live with their family at an asylum-seekers' shelter in nearby Vossberg village and are waiting for local authorities to process their asylum applications. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Kurdish Syrian asylum-applicant Mohamed Ali Hussein (R), 19, and fellow applicant Autur, from Latvia, load benches onto a truckbed while performing community service, for which they receive a small allowance, in Wilhelmsaue village on October 9, 2015 near Letschin, Germany. Mohamed and Autur live at an asylum-applicants' shelter in nearby Vossberg village. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Ali Hussein ((L), 19, and his cousin Sinjar Hussein, 34, sweep leaves at a cemetery in Gieshof village, for which they receive a small allowance, near Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat, a refugee from Syria, looks among donated clothing in the basement of the asylum-seekers' shelter that is home to Mohamed, his wife Laloosh and their daughter Ranim as residents' laundry dries behind in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The Zayats arrived approximately two months ago after trekking through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans and are now waiting for local authorities to process their asylum application, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Asya Sugaipova (L), Mohza Mukayeva and Khadra Zhukova prepare food in the communal kitchen at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is their home in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Efrah Abdullahi Ahmed looks down from the communal kitchen window at her daughter Sumaya, 10, who had just returned from school, at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is their home in Vossberg Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Asylum-applicants, including Syrians Mohamed Ali Hussein (C-R, in black jacket) and Fadi Almasalmeh (C), return from grocery shopping with other refugees to the asylum-applicants' shelter that is their home in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat (2nd from L), a refugee from Syria, smokes a cigarette after shopping for groceries with his daughter Ranim, who is nearly 3, and fellow-Syrian refugees Mohamed Ali Hussein (C) and Fadi Almasalmeh (L) at a local supermarket on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. All of them live at an asylum-seekers' shelter in nearby Vossberg village and are waiting for local authorities to process their asylum applications, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Kurdish Syrian refugees Leila, 9, carries her sister Avin, 1, in the backyard at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is home to them and their family in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Somali refugees and husband and wife Said Ahmed Gure (R) and Ayaan Gure pose with their infant son Muzammili, who was born in Germany, in the room they share at an asylum-seekers' shelter in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity, and are waiting for authorities to process their application for asylum 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany German Chancellor Angela Merkel pauses for a selfie with a refugee after she visited the AWO Refugium Askanierring shelter for refugees in Berlin Getty Images Now France and Belgium are being targeted by sophisticated terror operations planned from Syria and Iraq as well as home-grown lone wolf jihadis who have been radicalised on the internet. The untrusted French and Belgian security services have been unable to gather vital intelligence from these neglected parts of their cities. This means the intelligence failures that led up to attacks on Charlie Hebdo, the Bataclan, the Brussels transport system and Nice are likely to be repeated. Critics of Mrs Merkel argue that by announcing an immigration free-for-all she has endangered the lives of ordinary Germans. But the recent flow of refugees from war zones into Europe has not increased the risk of terrorism. This is supported by the fact that all three asylum seekers who carried out attacks in Germany this week had entered the country long before Mrs Merkel announced her immigration policy last year. Her open-door immigration approach has done more to protect Germany from terrorism than any counter-terrorism policy because it has helped to reassure Muslims (living inside German borders and jihadis living abroad) that the German government is not at war with Islam. While France and Belgium are caught in a vicious circle of ever-tougher policing and increasing terror attacks, Germany has the chance to forge a different future. George Bernard Shaw. Picture believed to have been taken in 1928. (Part of the Independent Newspapers Ireland/NLI Collection) The playwright and literary icon George Bernard Shaw was born 160 years ago today. Considered the foremost playwright and literary figure of the first half of the 20th century, the achievements of George Bernard Shaw range from receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925 and an Oscar in 1938 (making him the only person to receive both awards), a posthumous appearance an iconic Beatles album cover and his very own adjective- Shavian. Spanning theatre, film and literature his work is recognisable for an acerbic wit and dry humour that elevates his damning observations to lyrical social commentary. Now a celebrated stop on Dublins tourist trail, Shaws childhood home in South Dublin city was the setting for his unconventional upbringing. His mothers close friend George John Lee was a constant figure in the young Shaws life and introduced him to what would become a lifelong obsession for words and music. After school Shaw pursued a clerical career which he worked in until he relocated to London in 1876. His mother had moved there several months before with Lee and her daughters and Shaw would not return to Ireland for many years. The 1880s saw his foray into both playwriting and politics, both of which were characterised by his tendency to generate controversy. His views on everything from Home Rule in Ireland to Nazi Germany and the genteel ways of Stalin made Shaw a contentious figure in social circles, however his mastery of the English language saw his star rise. He wrote prolifically through the decades, first as a respected music and theatre critic for publications like The Star and The World before he began producing novels but it was his writing for the stage, and later the screen, that garnered him great acclaim. Despite his success with film his regard for the medium was not held high- he would not sell the rights to his screen plays but instead lease for five-year periods. His most celebrated screenplays are Pygmalion, Major Barbara and Caesar and Cleopatra, the last of which Shaw had the most involvement in and is considered to be one of the biggest film flops in Hollywood history. It is doubtful this had much impact on Shaws opinion of his own capabilities, as he said himself A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. The former president of the European Parliament has called for a rethink of "speculative" fears of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Dublin-born politician Pat Cox was a member of the legislature for 15 years and said the EU had already recognised existing travel arrangements between the UK and Ireland. British prime minister Theresa May has said nobody wants to return to the heavily fortified border of the past between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Mr Cox told businessmen in Newry, Co Down, that the authorities in Belfast, London and Dublin had committed to maintaining the common travel area (CTA) which allows free movement of people between Britain and Ireland. He said: "If the primary parties to the CTA, the UK and Ireland, share these views, Ireland is entitled to rely on existing EU law, custom and practice as a point of departure in its dialogue with the EU institutions and the twenty-six other member states. "Recalibrating the political debate from speculative expressions of fear and anxiety about hard borders to anchoring it in established EU rights and practice could be a useful point of departure." Mr Cox acknowledged uncertainty created by last month's Brexit vote. But he said: "The EU already, both politically and legally, formally has recognised the CTA between Ireland and the UK. It has accepted that established custom and practice and the balance of convenience of Irish and British citizens were served by its continued existence. "It has permitted in law a UK and Irish opt-out of the standard Schengen arrangements. The UK has now voted to opt out of the EU itself, which will be a rupture with the past, but Ireland remains fully committed to its membership, which signals a continuity with the past." He said the prospect of Ireland becoming a soft back-door entry point to the UK through its land border with Northern Ireland posed a valid question but added it had been dealt with by the British and Irish governments five years ago. The aim of the initiative was to facilitate the movement of legitimate travellers within the CTA and p revent individuals intent on abusing the arrangement from travelling to the area. Mr Cox added those objectives were to be achieved through working on common standards, data and information sharing, e-border initiatives and reinforced co-operation between the UK Border Agency and the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service. "These are the cornerstones for future bilateral negotiations with the UK and this is a wheel that already exists and does not need to be reinvented. "Between existing EU law, custom and practice and already established systems of co-ordination between Ireland and the UK on the CTA, it is high time to dial back the volume of anxiety and angst-driven comment and commentary and to begin the less voluble but ultimately more productive pathway to progress, established on the solid foundations of our legal and institutional inheritance, bilaterally with the UK and multilaterally with the EU." British Prime Minister Theresa May with Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness at Stormont Castle in Belfast. Photo: Reuters British Prime Minister Theresa May has indicated there will have to be some changes to the border in the wake of the Brexit result. Ahead of a meeting with Taoiseach Enda Kenny in London today, Ms May said that when the UK leaves the European Union "of course Northern Ireland will have a border with the Republic of Ireland". However, she added: "Nobody wants to return to the borders of the past." Her nuanced comments are not in sync with the Taoiseach's definitive stance that there "will not be a hard border from Dundalk to Derry". And Fianna Fail's foreign affairs spokesman Darragh O'Brien said the new Conservative leader appeared to be "walking a difficult tightrope". He described her statement after a meeting with members of the Northern Ireland Executive as "ambiguous". A significant part of Mr Kenny's meeting at No 10 Downing Street today will focus on the potential border arrangements. Officials in Dublin last night told the Irish Independent that if Ms May wanted to rule out a hard border, "she would have done so by now". However, they also noted that she has toned down her language on the border issue since the referendum result. Read more: Theresa May says no return to 'borders of the past' in post-Brexit Northern Ireland In advance of last month's vote, she said it would be "inconceivable" not to have any changes on border arrangements in the event of a Brexit. Senior Government sources accepted some changes to the current 'invisible' border may have to occur but insisted a hard border was "not an option". "One of the models available could be for sample checks at the border, like what happens in EEA countries, and that would allow the vast majority to still drive straight across," said one source. However, they added that what the UK government wanted from the Brexit negotiations in terms of the border was "only starting to emerge". The North's First Minister and 'Leave' campaigner Arlene Foster said the DUP wanted to see the free movement of people continue but warned that the "other issue of immigration [must be dealt with] in a very different way". Mr Kenny will be only the third EU leader to meet with Ms May since her appointment. Sources noted that she made just three phone calls to foreign leaders in the hours after becoming PM, to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Mr Kenny. "We are exactly where we want to be in this process. Our unique status has roundly been recognised," said a Government source. Today's talks will focus on trade, the Common Travel Area and the future of Europe post-Brexit. It is expected that the two leaders will make a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to the Good Friday Agreement. In her comments yesterday, Ms May said that she would get "a deal which is in the best interests of the whole of the United Kingdom", adding that Northern Ireland was a valued part of the UK. However, Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness was notably downbeat after the meeting at Stormont, saying: "There is absolutely no good news whatsoever about Brexit." The European Union, as it's currently constructed, is unsustainable in its current form, a global ratings agency has warned. Standard & Poor's said the Brexit referendum result "dramatically raised" the level of uncertainty about the future not only of the UK, but of the EU itself. In a new report, the ratings agency suggested that the solution is in a realignment of the sharing of the various dimensions of sovereignty into a more "natural, coherent and consistent" form. "The problem is this: the EU, as it's currently constructed and operates, doesn't embody a coherent 'pooling' of the various dimensions of nation-state sovereignty, and therefore it's unsustainable in its current form," said S&P global chief economist Paul Sheard. "The EU's leaders - and no doubt many of its citizens -widely accept this." The ratings agency proposed two visions for its future. The new post-Brexit EU must either be a looser form of political and economic federation, in which member states take back some sovereignty, or a stronger form, in which aspects of sovereignty that aren't currently shared are ceded to EU level, S&P said. "The time has come for Europe to 'think big' and to convene a 'constitutional convention'," Mr Sheard said. He said it should seek input "from a wide range of stakeholders and social partners, including opposition parties, business groups, trade unions, academics, think-tanks, and representatives of civil society (nonprofits and nongovernmental organisations), with a view to coming up with one or more recommendations for the future state of Europe and the outline of treaty changes necessary to bring it about". If this were to occur, S&P suggested the UK may want to delay triggering Article 50, and take part in the convention. "The Brexit vote will have far-reaching consequences for the future of the UK economy, society, and polity. But it's also a wake-up call to the rest of the EU. One can only hope that this wake-up call will be answered - and answered in a way that calls forth an abundance of clear-mindedness and statesmanship." Prime Minister Theresa May and Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny speak to the media inside 10 Downing Street, London, following the latest meetings on how Brexit will unfold. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire The Taoiseach has moved to allay fears of a return of a hard border between the Republic and Northern Ireland. Speaking following a meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May, Mr Kenny insisted that he would not allow a scenario involving the re-erection of customs posts every mile along the road. He added that he invited Ms May to visit Ireland during their meeting at Number 10 Downing Street on Tuesday, which lasted just over one hour. I do not favour, I would not agree to a hard border with a whole range of customs posts and neither does the Prime Minister, Mr Kenny said. What it means there will be no hard border from Dundalk to Derry in the context if it being a European border. And by that I mean customs posts every mile along the road. "There are other ways of dealing with modern technology in terms of checking trade, he added. In her statement, Ms May spoke about strengthening the external borders of the Common Travel Area [CTA], which is made up of Ireland and the British Isles. And alongside this, we should continue our efforts to strengthen the external borders of the common travel area, for example through a common approach to the use of passenger data, Ms May said. This would suggest that it could become more difficult for people outside of the UK and Ireland to travel to the Common Travel Area, if new agreements were reached surrounding tougher borders around the CTA. Poor winter barley yields will whip 7m out of grain growers' pockets this harvest, despite upward movement on quotes for fried wheat and barley. Industry sources report that yields range from 2.5t/ac to 3.5t/ac with only the best crops topping 3.8-4t/ac. James English from South Tipperary has three-quarters of his winter barley cut, with the 2-row averaging 3.2t/ac and the 6-row yielding 3t/ac."They're fine crops going in but the yields are very disappointing," Mr English said. Kildare grower Helen Harris said 2-row crops were yielding 3.3t/ac, with 6-row crops averaging 3.5t/ac. The expectation in Cork is that yields will struggle to average 3.2t/ac, IFA sources report. There is less cut in the northeast but the indications are that many crops are struggling to do much over 3t/ac. However, growers are hoping for better yields when they get further into the crop. IFA grain committee chairman Liam Dunne claimed the national crop average could be as low as 3.2t/ac, or 0.7t/ac below last year's average. "The fall in yield alone before factoring in a price drop will whip approximately 7m out of winter barley grower's pockets," said Mr Dunne adding urgent action was needed at both national and EU level to support struggling growers. "The Government must move to create a properly functioning banking system to give farmers and SMEs access to competitively priced funds. Many growers are forced to rely on expensive merchant credit because of Ireland's dysfunctional banking system," he said. He also called for GLAS payments for tillage farmers to be increased and the TAMS scheme for grain growers to be opened immediately. "The EU Commission must move to abolish anti-dumping and customs duties on fertiliser immediately as it now is the single biggest input cost for growers. This would introduce much needed competition into the EU's fertiliser market, which is currently highly protected," Mr Dunne said. Failure on the part of the both the Government and Commission to act would result in the continued drop in the Irish tillage acreage, he said. While green barley is currently making 120-130/t, Mr Dunne said growers would need a price of 152/t to break-even this harvest. Meanwhile, there was some positive moves on grain prices last week, with quotes for Irish dried wheat jumping 9/t to 169/t and barley 5/t on the week to 150/t on the back of poor harvest reports from France. Grain growers also report strong demand from livestock farmers for straw in Munster. Dairy farmers are reported to have paid up to 40 for 8x4x4 bales in South Tipperary, with 11-12 per bales being given for 4x4s. A similar price for round bales was quoted in Cork. Despite suggestions that the drop in milk price has hit straw demand from Northern Irish dairy farmers, up to 28-30/bale was talked of in the Louth/Meath area for 8x4x4 bales. However, as low as 16/bale was quoted in north Kildare for 8x4x4s and most growers were said to be chopping straw on owned land. In Carlow ex-field prices of 11-12 for 4x4 round bales were reported. Dundrum-owner Hammerson has been pleased by the level of leasing and investment activity since the EU referendum in the UK, its chief executive has said. Rental income at the UK-leasing firm has risen by 5.1pc to 167.7m (200.2m) in the first six months of its financial year. Hammerson alongside Allianz Real Estate completed the joint venture takeover of Dundrum Town Centre in July after concluding a consensual borrower agreement with previous owners Chartered Land. Hammerson chief executive David Atkins said he was pleased to deliver a set of "solid results" for the six-month period ending June 30. "We have confidence in the resilience of our business model, which will underpin our ability to deliver robust income returns during and beyond this period of political and economic uncertainty in the UK," Mr Atkins said. "We believe our European diversity, best in class retail portfolio and low capital commitments positions us to produce consistent operational results, as we have done in recent years." Profit including valuation charges fell by 50.2pc to 162.5m in the period. Hammerson said the major deviation in profit was down to one-off gains and losses made on the sale of properties as well as financing costs. The company's property portfolio rose in value by 7pc to 8.96bn. Earnings per share at the firm jumped by 5.1pc to 14.3p while the interim dividend per share rose by 6.3pc to 10.1p. In October Hammerson alongside Allianz purchased loans secured against a portfolio of assets that included Dundrum, the Pavilions in Swords, and the Ilac Centre from Nama. In order to manage its Irish assets Hammerson has opened a new office in Dublin that will integrate the portfolio into its existing operating structure. Dundrum, the prize asset of Project Jewel, has a 99pc occupancy rate, which is set to improve with the addition of burger chain Five Guys and a potential expansion of Brown Thomas. The Irish franchising rights of Five Guys is owned by the Desmond brothers who signed a lease to bring it to Dundrum in October of this year. Brown Thomas has also entered into talks to double the size of its BT2 store in the shopping centre after the lease ends on its Grafton Street outlet. Shares in Hammerson were hit by the Brexit vote, falling by around 7pc since June 23. Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) After starting the day with a strong rally, European equities pared most of their gains, with a decline in oil weighing on energy producers. By the close in Dublin, the ISEQ Overall Index increased 0.54pc, or 31.36 points, to end the trading session at 5,839.38. The leaders on the Dublin index included insurance group FBD, which increased 1.5pc to 5.54, while drinks group C&C rose 0.9pc to 3.67. On the other side of the board, the laggards included speciality baker Aryzta, which fell 0.3pc to 33.91, while insulation group Kingspan slipped 0.7pc to 21.33. Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.2pc at the close of trading in London, trimming a gain of as much as 0.8pc following confidence data that showed companies may have withstood the initial shock of the UK vote to leave the European Union. Oil firms sank the most since July 6, dragging the benchmark gauge down as much as 0.2pc before it recovered. The Stoxx 600 came within 1pc of erasing its Brexit losses earlier, after figures showed the Ifo institute's index of German business sentiment fell less than expected in July. But its gain was short-lived: the rebound stalled for a third day after the equity gauge hit a one-month high last week, with lenders' stress-test results looming. "I was a little bit surprised to see the market go up the way it did this morning," said Pierre Mouton, a fund manager at Notz, Stucki & Cie in Geneva. "We have the stress-test results for European banks, which might add to some worries about the financial health of the banking system." The Stoxx 600 has regained almost all of its Brexit losses, posting its first back-to-back weekly gains since March. Additional reporting by Bloomberg A William Hill store in London. Online gamer 888 Holdings and The Rank Group are considering a joint offer for the UK bookmaker Online gamer 888 Holdings and casino owner The Rank Group said they're considering a joint takeover offer for UK bookmaker William Hill Plc, proving that the recent wave of industry consolidation isn't over yet. The two gaming companies said they see benefits to merging their in-store and online operations. In a separate statement, William Hill said it received a "highly preliminary" approach from 888 and Rank over the weekend regarding a potential combination. It said it would listen to any proposal, yet said it wasn't clear if a deal would enhance its position in the industry. Rank's ceo, Henry Birch, said in January that he was looking for acquisitions. William Hill shares soared 10pc in early London trading, giving it a market value of 3bn (3.5bn). Shares in 888 gained as much as 5pc, while Rank advanced 5.4pc. The potential deal is the latest move in a rapidly-consolidating industry and comes during a difficult period for William Hill. The bookmaker ousted chief executive officer James Henderson last week as it struggles to keep pace in the fast-growing world of online betting, and its shares had fallen 21pc before yesterday. A bid could be worth 3bn, 'The Sunday Times' reported, citing unidentified people. "We did not think William Hill could be a takeover target for any competitor given its size, but we certainly did not expect two players to form a bidding consortium," Berenberg analyst Roberta Ciaccia said in a note. "The likelihood the deal actually goes through is not high," particularly as the merger of three big operators is "quite complicated." As governments ratchet up the tax burden at a time when companies are competing harder than ever for new customers, bookies are joining forces to achieve scale. Recent deals include Paddy Power's 2.9bn takeover of Betfair Group, and the merger of UK betting-shop leaders Ladbrokes Plc and Coral Group. Rank and 888 must formally announce its intention to make an offer or walk away by 5pm in London on August 21, under UK takeover rules. (Bloomberg) Volkswagen has so far rejected calls to compensate clients in Europe Europe's case against Volkswagen over the now notorious emissions scandal began in Mayo before anywhere else. Ballyhaunis-based O'Dwyer Solicitors became the first company in Europe to have its case relating to the Volkswagen scandal heard. According to a report in the Irish Examiner, O'Dwyer Solicitors represents hundreds of claimants against the German car giant. Volkswagen became embroiled in a major emissions scandal last year after it installed hardware in its cars to trick testers into thinking it was producing less emissions that it actually was. In June O'Dwyer was given the green light for the first court order for discovery by Judge Mary Devin of Castlebar District Court. The court order requires the German manufacturer to supply technical information that relates to scandal within a six-week period. Around 9,000 car owners in Ireland are understood to be affected by the scandal, which also affects Skoda, Audi and Seat. Two 2fm DJs pulled no punches when they launched an astonishing rant live on air. Chris and Ciara were standing in on Breakfast Republic this morning, while hosts Bernard, Keith and Jennifer were away. They went on a rant about an American student finding a rare 12th century brooch on Omey Island, off the coast of Connemara. Chris and Ciara are both from Connemara, and are livid that McKenna McFadden (20) from Arizona, USA found the brooch rather than a local person. They vented their frustration live on air, even taking swipe at the student's name. "Firstly the first name is McKenna," said Chris. "Can you imagine the parents that would name a kid 'Mc-something Mc-something'?" The two were incensed that the discovery hadn't been made by someone from the area. "Wouldn't it be better if someone from the local area found it?" said Claire. Chris added: "You find a thing that's about a thousand year old and McKenna McFadden finds it. "Probably wearing an auld Northface jacket, had probably been in Temple Bar and spent 9 on a pint of Guinness, probably only read about Ireland once in a book and watched The Departed and thinks they're Irish... and then comes to Ireland and finds part of our history, part of our culture!" McKenna happened to be in town today to present the brooch to The National Museum of Ireland... and she heard the on-air rant. She called in to set the record straight. Video of the Day "I was walking along and I was like, 'oh cool, somebody dropped this!'" she said, before explaining how her tour guide 'flipped out' when she showed it to him. The artifact has been confirmed as being about NINE centuries old by Galway City Heritage Officer, Jim Higgins. TV host Blathnaid Treacy has said she's often overwhelmed by the pressures of modern life and her job at RTE. "Sometimes it can get too much - some weeks I'm working six or seven days and it's funny because, believe it or not, I'm incredibly lazy," she told the RTE Guide. "I love lying in and sleeping until 12, so there are times I want everyone to leave me alone - I want to watch an episode of Girls, eat chocolate and escape the world." The Dubliner, who has been a fixture on RTE's TwoTube for four years, studied Irish and archaeology at UCD. She said the stress she experiences comes from graduating into the economic slump. Expand Close Blathnaid Treacy and boyfriend Charlie Mooney / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Blathnaid Treacy and boyfriend Charlie Mooney "I think it's our generation - you never switch off," she said. "You have to work your backside off to get a job - and the minute you get it you feel you have to work your butt off to keep that job. "It's a big part of why I sometimes get overwhelmed. "I always say 'Yes' to things. I think it comes from graduating into the recession - you just have to work harder." However, it hasn't been all work and no play for the 28-year-old, who has a string of holidays to look forward to. "Summer has been a well-learned break. I went to Lisbon for a long weekend for a few days," she told the Diary. "I went to Cornwall with my boyfriend, Charlie, and his family for a few days and then I'm going to Vietnam and Cambodia for a few weeks too, just before all the madness starts again in September." Although she's got her hands full at Montrose, Blathnaid admitted she would "never say never" to a move to Britain in the future. LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - OCTOBER 02: Chelsee Healey attends the Inspiration Awards for Women at Cadogan Hall on October 2, 2013 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Getty Images) Former Waterloo Road star Chelsee Healey has joined Hollyoaks. The ex-Strictly Come Dancing contestant, (27), will arrive on screen as Goldie McQueen this autumn. Goldie, who has 15-year-old twin boys Prince and Hunter, turns up in search of her rich relatives Myra, Mercedes and John Paul, who are unhappy about her arrival. A Hollyoaks spokesman said: "Tough, gobby and absolutely shameless, Goldie will never back down in a fight and she's always game for a good old-fashioned McQueen scam to make some fast cash. Expand Close LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - OCTOBER 02: Chelsee Healey attends the Inspiration Awards for Women at Cadogan Hall on October 2, 2013 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Getty Images) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - OCTOBER 02: Chelsee Healey attends the Inspiration Awards for Women at Cadogan Hall on October 2, 2013 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Getty Images) "Goldie's come to Hollyoaks in the hope of mooching off the family she's scarcely had anything to do with. But one thing she cares more about than making easy money is her twins, Prince and Hunter, who she had in her teens. She'd go to the ends of the Earth for her lads and will defend them like a lioness." Healey said: "I am absolutely thrilled to join Hollyoaks. I've grown up watching it so to be in it is unbelievable. It was an irresistible opportunity, especially to play this character. "I can't believe I am playing a mum but the boys are so fantastic to work with and we are all delighted by our new family unit.... I'm most excited by her wardrobe, which is a bit like mine in my younger days." Malique Thompson-Dwyer, 18, will play Prince while Theo Graham, (19), plays Hunter. A doctor was declared guilty of professional misconduct because he used fabricated sick notes as an excuse for not sitting an exam. A Fitness to Practice Committee of the Irish Medical Council cited the opinion of a medical consultant who stated such behaviour would be considered by experienced doctors to be disgraceful and dishonourable. The doctor faced five charges, including charges of forging the medical certificates and/or arranging for the forgery of the certificates. The doctors defending senior counsel Paul Anthony McDermott, S.C., said the Medical Councils chief executive officer failed to provide any evidence from a handwriting expert concerning the forgery charges. The committee found charges relating to committing forgery were found to be not proven beyond reasonable doubt. He was found guilty Tuesday of two charges of claiming the fabricated documents were genuine when he sent them to the Royal College of Ophthalmologist in London in October 2014. Barrister Eoghan OSullivan, appearing for the councils chief executive officer, told the committee there was no evidence that a name on one of the certificates was that of a qualified doctor or if he even existed. The accused doctor, whose name was not released by the committee, was referred to as Doctor A. He currently works at Limerick University Hospital and has worked at a number of Irish hospitals over the last 12 years. The hearing concluded yesterday at the headquarters of the Irish Medical Council in Dublin. Committee Chairperson Mary Duff said the committee will be making recommendations to the council for sanctions against the doctor in due course. At an earlier hearing, the committee was told the doctor has been on an ophthalmology training programme in Limerick since July 2012 and had applied to the college in London to sit the first part of the fellowship exams on October 6, 2014. The doctor did not sit the exam, for which the fee was 550 (650, approx). He later requested the college defer his exam, stating he had been ill. He emailed the college a handwritten certificate, signed with the name Dr Massood Khan, on headed notepaper from the South Infirmary University Hospital in Cork, indicating he had been admitted to the hospital on Oct 4 for treatment of an abscess on his tonsils. The college contacted the Cork hospital to investigate the authenticity of the certificate. No evidence was found that Doctor A had been admitted to the hospital and it was established there was no Dr Masood Khan working at the hospital. Doctor A later submitted a handwritten medical certificate to a medical consultant. It was on headed notepaper from a clinical service, based in Dublin, where Doctor A had worked some years previously. The committee found this certificate had also been fabricated. Professor Stephen Lane, a consultant respiratory specialist, called as an expert witness, told the earlier hearing the act of fraudulently writing out a certificate in the name of a non-existent doctor would be disgraceful and dishonourable, as would arranging such an act to take place, and would be deemed professional misconduct. A judge has been told he can impose sentences of up to a decade in prison on three former banking executives convicted for taking part in a 7.2bn fraud conspiracy involving Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P). Prosecution counsel Paul O'Higgins SC said there was an effective maximum sentence of 10 years for the offence. Expand Close Anglo chief executive David Drumm. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Anglo chief executive David Drumm. He was speaking after lawyers representing former Anglo executives John Bowe and Willie McAteer and former IL&P chief executive Denis Casey appealed for leniency for their clients. Barristers for the three men said none of them had gained from the scheme and that there had been no loss to the State or the banks. Judge Martin Nolan had been expected to impose sentences yesterday, but said he needed time to consider matters and adjourned proceedings until Friday. Last June, a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court convicted Mr Bowe (52), Mr McAteer (66) and Mr Casey (56) of conspiring to make Anglo's books look 7.2bn healthier than they actual were. The three men were involved in setting up a circular scheme of multi-billion euro transactions where Anglo moved money to IL&P and IL&P sent the money back, via their assurance firm Irish Life Assurance, to Anglo between September 26 and 30, 2008. The scheme was designed so that the deposits came from the assurance company and would be treated as customer deposits, giving the impression the bank was in a healthier state than it actually was. All three had pleaded not guilty to the charges. Diarmaid McGuinness SC, for Mr Bowe, told Judge Nolan his client was no longer employable in any financial business and his income had drastically fallen. The publication of the Anglo Tapes had led to vilification nationally and internationally which he would have to live with forever, said Mr McGuinness. Read more: Sentencing in Anglo 7.2bn fraud conspiracy trial adjourned until Friday Patrick Gageby SC, for Mr McAteer, said the prosecution had not made the case that his client was a driving force behind the illegal scheme. Nevertheless, he had not sought to wash his hands of it or lay the blame elsewhere, Mr Gageby said. Michael O'Higgins SC, for Mr Casey, said his client had already paid a high price. After leaving IL&P he had become a barrister, only to find himself being arrested. "For seven years he has had to live and endure a very difficult life," he said. Earlier, prosecution counsel Paul O'Higgins SC led one of the investigation team, Detective Sergeant Patrick Gillick, through a recap of evidence in the case. Mr O'Higgins said the evidence suggested Anglo chief executive David Drummwas "an active driver and probably the conceiver of the process". But he said that while Mr Bowe, who was effectively Anglo's head of treasury, did not carry out the transactions, he had a role in supervising them and liaising between higher and lower management. During interviews with gardai, Mr Bowe indicated he believed the transactions were lawful ones. Mr O'Higgins said evidence was scant on Mr McAteer's actual involvement in the scheme. However, there was a phone call on September 29 where, as chief risk officer, he directed Mr Bowe to continue with the transactions. The court was told Mr McAteer told gardai that "to a large extent" he couldn't remember details of the transactions. In relation to Mr Casey, Mr O'Higgins said there was evidence of regular contact between Mr Casey and Peter Fitzpatrick, IL&P's finance director, that pointed to his involvement in the transactions. Gay men were banned from donating blood in the 1980s A High Court case against the Irish Blood Transfusion Services policy of refusing to take blood from gay men has been dropped after a change in policy by the service. The case was taken by student Tomas Heneghan from Castlegar, Co Galway after he was told he was permanently deferred from donating blood after he disclosed having a sexual encounter with another man six months before he sought to give blood. The 24-year-old subsequently took a High Court challenge to the ban, which has existed since the 1980s. However, in recent weeks Health Minister Simon Harris signalled the permanent ban would be dropped and replaced with a 12-month deferral period. In court this morning, Michael Lynn SC for Mr Heneghan said it was a case where events had overtaken proceedings and there had been a change in policy. He asked for the case to be struck out with leave to refile should circumstances change. After the brief hearing, Mr Heneghan told independent.ie: Im a little stunned it is over so quickly. It was a year ago that we first came here with this case. I am happy things have been resolved so quickly. His solicitor Gareth Noble said it was now important that Mr Harris followed through on his commitment. As things stand we still dont know the timeline for the change in policy, he said. It is incumbent on the minister to deal with the matter expeditiously. Mr Noble said the decision was another important development in the equalisation of Irish citizens from the LGBT community. Mr Heneghan had brought the judicial review proceedings arguing he considered blood donation his civic responsibility. He argued the permanent deferral on blood donation imposed on him was discriminatory, disproportionate and contrary to EU law. Mr Heneghan said he had undergone various tests after having had sex, all of which proved negative, before attending at the IBTS clinic at DOlier Street in Dublin in May of last year. He was nonetheless informed he was permanently deferred. He argued that the permanent deferral was unreasonable, irrational and disproportionate in the absence of an inquiry into the actual sexual conduct and when the sexual activity in question presented no risk of infection. Mr Heneghan had begun donating blood shortly after turning 18 in 2010 and quite properly disclosed his sexual encounter when he attended to give blood, the court was told. Last month Mr Harris announced the decision to reform the donation rules for gay men after it was recommended in a report by the board of the IBTS. Under the changes planned, men who have sex with men will be allowed to donate blood a year after being sexually active or five years after they have been cleared of a sexually transmitted infection. A nine-year-old schoolgirl, who cut her forehead when she fell in a Dublin creche, has been awarded 40,000 damages in the Circuit Civil Court. Barrister Susan Lennox told the court that Blathnaid Morrison was almost two-years-old when the accident happened in November 2008 at Dublin West Childcare & Learning Services creche, of Bawnogue Enterprise Centre, Bawnogue Road, Clondalkin. Ms Lennox today said Blathnaid had been playing when she fell and hit the ground, lacerating her forehead. Counsel told Circuit Court President Mr Justice Raymond Groarke that Blathnaid was taken to Tallaght Hospital, Dublin, by her mother Linda Morrison. Blathnaid had been very distressed, shocked and upset. Her laceration had been cleaned and repaired with steri-strips. The court heard that Blathnaids wound has left a permanent one centimetre scar on her forehead. Blathnaid, through her mother Linda, of Russel Lane, Fortunestown, Tallaght, sued Dublin West Childcare & Learning Services Ltd, for negligence. She claimed the creche had failed to provide adequate supervision. Ms Lennox initially told the court that the Personal Injuries Assessment Board had valued the damages at 35,000 and the creche had accepted its assessment. Following a request by Judge Groarke to try to get an increased offer, as the scar was permanent and visible, Ms Lennox said that following talks between the parties, the defendants insurer had reluctantly agreed to an increased 40,000 damages offer. Judge Groarke, approving it, said he was satisfied it was a very good offer. Mr Redmond pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the two charges at the Central Criminal Court A 60-year-old man shot dead a mother of six and injured her daughter as they sat drinking tea because he believed they were calling him a paedophile, a murder trial jury heard. James Redmond (60), of Killinarden Estate, Tallaght, Dublin 24, is charged with murdering Mary Dargan and attempting to murder Karina Dargan at Killinarden Estate on March 15, 2014. Mr Redmond pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the two charges at the Central Criminal Court yesterday. The jury heard he has been in the Central Mental Hospital since the end of March 2014. Read more: Man (60) shot mum-of-six dead and injured her daughter as he 'thought they called him a paedophile', murder trial hears Karina Dargan told the court: "I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my mum, my sister Jessie and her son. We were having a giggle about Jessie's upcoming wedding. "I looked out at the corner of my eye and I saw him coming towards me. The blinds were open as it was a nice day out. I saw him walking in slow and calmly. He said: 'Are you f***ing laughing now'," she said. The court heard that Mr Redmond then shot her mother in the side of her face. Karina received a gunshot wound to the right-hand side of her head. "He looked at my mother like he was her worst enemy. I thought it was a joke at first then he pulled up the rifle and I knew he was serious. He looked like something possessed out of 'The Exorcist'." Her brother Gary said that he was on the sofa watching a rugby match when he heard two loud bangs. "I got into the room and I saw this filthy soul with the gun. "I walloped him with my right hand and knocked him out, he fell and the gun fell to the floor," he said. The trial continues before Mr Justice Robert Eagar. A YOUNG man who threw a pint glass at a Supermac's manager in Dublin, causing permanent damage to his eye, has avoided jail after a judge decided with great reluctance to give him a second chance. For far too long in this city, serious injury, particularly to the face, is caused by beer glasses being thrown late at night by young men who should know better, Judge Patrick McCartan told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today. Raymond Byrne (24) of Constitution Hill, Dublin pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Grzegorz Gazek at Supermac's restaurant on Westmoreland Street in the early hours of Christmas Eve, 2013. Garda Isobel Hannon told Fergal Foley BL, prosecuting, that Byrne and a number of other men entered Supermacs at 2.50am on December 24, 2013 before leaving shortly afterwards. Mr Gazek was at the door locking it, when the men walked out. One of them nudged Mr Gazek, while another knocked a poster off the wall. Once outside, Byrne turned around and threw a pint glass at Mr Gazek, which rebounded off the door and smashed, sending glass into Mr Gazek's face and eye. Mr Gazek, who was in court, suffered permanent scarring to his cornea in the wake of the assault. His sight was saved, but the damage could lead to later complications, the court heard. He suffers from headaches and sleeplessness in the wake of the assault, and Gda Hannon said he gave up his job. He wouldn't work in such an environment again which involved late nights and boisterous people, Gda Hannon said. She told the court that Byrne was identified from CCTV footage. He has no previous convictions. When questioned by gardai, Byrne, a father-of-one, couldn't recall much of the incident as he said he had been drunk, but he was very embarrassed when he viewed the CCTV footage, Gda Hannon said. James Dwyer BL, defending, said Byrne's actions were something of an aberration, a one-off. He said at the time of the offence, Byrne's father had been diagnosed with cancer. He was also struggling to cope with his partner's cystic fibrosis condition. In a letter to the victim read out in court, Byrne said: I find it very hard to forgive myself. I'm very ashamed. I let myself down and I let my family down...I'm a hardworking young man like you. I'm not that kind of person. Byrne had 200 in court as a token of remorse for his victim and would work to get more, the court heard. Judge McCartan said his first instinct had been to send him to jail. My immediate reaction was this is another one of those mindless thugs who deserves nothing more than an immediate custodial sentence to send the message to other young men never to raise their hand with a glass in it, he said. However, the judge said he had reflected on Byrne's case, noting he was an otherwise decent young man. Where a person makes one mistake in life, they're entitled to at least one chance, he said. He handed down a suspended three-year sentence and ordered Byrne to pay a further 4800 to his victim within six months. I hope you realise just how close you came to going to Mountjoy, he told Byrne, who thanked him and later shook hands with his victim. A doctor found guilty of professional misconduct has said his treatment during a public inquiry "will be fully paid for at an extremely bloody price for the people involved worldwide," the High Court heard. Dr Omar Hassan also wrote that there would be "a grave response from me and my family . . . to these events outside court and not necessarily in Ireland". The Sudanese doctor was found guilty of misconduct and poor professional performance on multiple grounds last January by an Irish Medical Council (IMC) fitness to practise committee. It followed a 10-day inquiry that arose from complaints about care of patients and his interactions with colleagues at the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise, Mayo General and Galway University Hospital between 2012 and 2014. Among the complaints were that he mistook an X-ray image of an ankle for an elbow during a teaching session at Galway. He protested his innocence and brought an appeal to the High Court against the misconduct findings, representing himself. He has been suspended from practice. High Court president Mr Justice Peter Kelly read out extracts of certain emails and documents authored by Dr Hassan, which he said he found disturbing. The judge fixed October 18 for the hearing of his appeal. In one of those documents, a written submission to the IMC protesting against the misconduct finding, Dr Hassan said he was "extremely and unfairly negatively portrayed by some media invited by the IMC to do so". He continued: "What have taken place will be fully paid for at an extremely bloody price for the people involved worldwide . . . me and my family will take things into our own hands in the future, as our local culture of fair revenge may extend down generations". In the submission, he also said he strongly rejected the findings of the fitness to practise committee. In an email to a High Court registrar dated July 11 last, Dr Hassan wrote: "There will be a grave response from me and my family to these events." Mr Justice Kelly said he was fixing October 18 for the hearing of his case. Sean Doran (10), from Rathmines, with his grandmother Miriam Doran as they signed a petition for Michelle Conlon from the Irish Housing Network outside Lynams Hotel yesterday. Photo: Frank McGrath Dublin's mayor is calling for an end to emergency accommodation for the homeless. Brendan Carr, a Labour councillor from Cabra/Finglas, joined homeless protesters yesterday in urging Nama to give five homeless families facing imminent eviction from a Dublin hotel a reprieve until they can be properly housed. Expand Close Dublins Lord Mayor Brendan Carr during the protest. Photo: Frank McGrath / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dublins Lord Mayor Brendan Carr during the protest. Photo: Frank McGrath He was among members of the Irish Housing Network and local councillors who are urging Nama to prevent the families from being forced to leave the hotel after it went into receivership. They were originally told they would have to leave by last Saturday but were given a week's reprieve. A Nama spokesman said the agency no longer had a role in the dispute after a receiver was appointed. However, Mr Carr said housing the homeless in hotels was no solution. "The emergency accommodation is where the problem lies. This is about the third time this has happened in recent times and families are being moved out of emergency accommodation. "Our main goal is to get long-term sustainable accommodation and Nama should be able to work with the State and the local authorities to ensure that this sort of a scenario doesn't arise," he said. Education Minister Richard Bruton and Sean McMahon, deputy chair of the Teaching Council, at a media briefing at the Department of Education and Skills yesterday. Photo: Gareth Chaney Efforts will be made to stop new 'fitness to teach' cases turning into lucrative events for lawyers, Education Minister Richard Bruton has said. The minister said school principals would still have the key role in dealing with day-to-day problems with teachers but serious incidents of misconduct would now be heard by a special Teaching Council committee. Mr Bruton noted that the current situation meant there were no provisions whereby a person can be found guilty of misconduct and struck off the professional register. Similar fitness to practise hearings are already commonplace for nurses, doctors and solicitors - but in recent times they have become increasingly legalistic. Read more: Minister defends department decision to write to school abuse victims "I think the Teaching Council in its approach to the way it handles, the way it screens decisions, the way it brings them to the final disciplinary committee, they will put in place procedures that makes it easy for members of the public to use this system," Mr Bruton said. "We all want to see a system that is accessible to people, that fair and natural justice must prevail. "The determination will be to avoid excess legalistic approaches in the council." Under the new rules, teachers could find themselves facing a fitness to practise hearing on a number of grounds, including professional misconduct, poor professional performance, convictions and being medically unfit to teach. Conduct Mr Bruton said that there would be "a presumption" that cases would be held in public unless there were specific reasons why it shouldn't, such as the involvement of a child. "I think we can have confidence. The Teaching Council has put together a register and a code of conduct. "Its reputation is on the line. It needs to ensure the standards it has set are observed by all the profession," he said. Director of the Teaching Council Tomas O Ruairc said professional standards in the classroom affected the lives of every single person. He said it was "vital that a formal mechanism exists for the investigation of complaints". "The fitness to teach complaints process, therefore, is about improving teaching, not punishing teachers." The Ombudsman for Children's Office said that up to this point there had been "no appropriate avenue of redress for complaints about allegations of inappropriate professional conduct of teachers and school staff". Almost half of all complaints received by the Ombudsman's Office in 2014 related to the education sector. "A comprehensive and consistent complaints-handling structure to deal with these types of complaints is badly needed and must be welcomed," said the Head of Participation and Education at the Ombudsman for Children's Office, Dr Karen McAuley. "It is expected that only very serious cases of improper professional conduct will be considered for investigation. "The Ombudsman for Children's Office will monitor closely the threshold set by the Teaching Council for a very serious complaint. It is important that parents, and advocates on behalf of children, are clear about how they can have their concerns addressed," he said. Mr Bruton also confirmed plans to create a Parents' Charter, which will help parents to navigate the school system. INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan said the council must strike a balance between professional standards and fair and due process. Photo: Frank McGrath The Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland was overruled in its ambition to have the new fitness to teach hearings held in private. In a recent article in its magazine, 'ASTIR', the union said it was its position that the hearings should not be public. But it said the minister decided they would be held in public, unless there was an overwhelming reason for a private hearing. It assured teachers the provisions would not replace disciplinary procedures and these would be exhausted before the council conducts an inquiry. The union vowed to ensure investigations into teachers by the council were "conducted fairly". The union, which is represented on the Teaching Council, emphasised that the new provisions were designed to deal with only the most serious allegations concerning teachers' conduct. INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan said the council must strike a balance between professional standards and fair and due process. This was critical, she said, to maintain the confidence of the public. Horse trainer Tom Cleary pictured at his stables in Carrickobrien which was badly hit by last year's Shannon flooding Farmers fear their livelihoods will be "washed away" by heavy rain this autumn as the River Shannon is already more than foot higher than this time last year, the Farming Independent has learned. New figures from the ESB confirm that water levels along the Shannon Callows - downstream from Athlone to Portumna - are almost 16 inches higher than July 2015. Water levels at Lough Ree are almost a foot higher. Although the ESB equate the rise in water levels to heavy rainfall in June, unease is growing on the ground. Sean Canney, Minister of State at the Office of Public Works and Flood Relief, this month, announced the commencement of public consultations for the newly published draft flood risk management plans, starting with the Shannon and South Western basin districts. The draft plans are the final stage of public consultation under the Catchment Flood Risk and Management Programme (CFRAM). The Government is providing 430 million for flood risk management measures as part of its overall capital investment plan 2016 - 2021. Total allocation for flood risk management projects and measures this year is 52.6m Minister Canney is urging all communities, businesses and environmental groups to engage in consultations running until September 23. Draft plans for the south eastern and north western river basin districts will be available in August, followed by the eastern and western districts in September. Although the OPW say "all options, including dredging," have been considered, farming organisations and local TDs are concerned that environmental designations will prevent or hold back necessary work in flood risk areas, particularly along the Shannon Callows, which are classified as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). For example, dredging is considered "environmentally unviable" along Meelick Weir, downstream of Banagher, and downstream of Rooskey Weir as the areas are part of an SAC. Speaking at a meeting last week, Joe Healy, IFA president told Minister Canney that the "public good must be paramount" in decisions on the protections of households, farmland and other businesses along the river and surrounding areas. He said consultation on the plans is an opportunity to address the flooding issues, which previous governments have failed to tackle. Turloughs - a type of disappearing lake found mostly in limestone areas west of the Shannon - have also become a serious threat. Padraic Joyce, IFA Flood Project Chairman, said there are "ongoing problems" where water levels on some turloughs in the west of Ireland have not sufficiently gone down. Michael Fitzmaurice, Independent TD for Roscommon-Galway, is "extremely disappointed" with the CFRAM plans. "If this is the best that experts can come up with after costing so much money then maybe it is time to call a halt. They conclude that local rivers cannot be dredged because of environmental concerns. That is totally wrong," he said, adding the plans contain "red-tape". "It's been proven that doing a small bit of remedial work every year has not worked and we've faced serious and worsening flood problems for the past nine years without achieving anything," he said. "There is huge sympathy and outpouring of anger when people are flooded but they're forgotten about until the next winter comes around and it's not good enough," he said. He claims a house in Roscommon is still flooded due to a turlough that never went down. Mr Fitzmaurice - a farmer, turf-cutter and agricultural contractor - is calling for "urgent action" from Minister Canney who he says must "stand up to the mantle". "There is a fear in communities that nothing is being done. It seems to be sliding down the scale. They're not intending to dredge the Shannon for environmental reasons, which flies in the face of common sense. It's full of bushes and silt," he said. "For farmers that want to cut meadow around Rooskey and in the Callow areas they're in trouble because the land is too wet and they won't get in to mow. If bad weather comes we're in serious trouble," he said. He is calling for "an overhaul" of the administration with responsibility for the CFRAM plans. "Not a bucket has been put in the ground since the 2009 floods. If they are not fit deliver then the Government have to make a hard call and get rid of them to speed up the process," he said. However, An Taisce, the national trust say dredging the Shannon is not the answer. "Given the nature of the Shannon basin and the languid flow along the majority of its length, increasing the speed with which water enters the river through drainage works will only exacerbate flooding along the main river and in the Shannon's lower stretches," said a spokesman. Tom Turley, IFA Connacht regional chairman who heads up the SAC and flood project teams says objections from environmental lobby groups should "not override" the peace of mind of people in their homes. "The channel is choked. Since the designation was put on these areas the grasslands have evolved into a different type of landscape than they started out protecting. "If a farmer's land continually floods they will just abandon it, then we'll have an environmental problem," said Mr Turley, who has farmed along the Callows near Banagher, Co Offaly all his life. 'We'll block the Shannon in protest if action isn't taken' Horse trainer, Tom Cleary, has spent 60,000, out of his own pocket, to renovate his stables, gallops, walkers, indoor arena, outdoor arena and farmyard - all left decimated by the Shannon floods earlier this year. Although business has returned to normal, Mr Cleary, who lives in Carrickobrien, Co Westmeath, fears the swollen waters will rear again this autumn unless action is taken to dredge the river. He says farmers, householders and business owners whose livelihoods were "turned upside down" when the Shannon burst its banks last winter were "reassured" by the Government that remedial work would start on the river this summer but, he says, "so far nothing has happened". "We've had ministers down but nothing has been done and there doesn't seem to be any real intention to do a whole lot in the near future. We are not happy to accept that," he said. "Right now the water is level with the banks, it would only take a couple of days rain for it to start pushing in. If they don't do something in the next 4-6 weeks we're in trouble come September, we could be wiped out again" he said. Communities feel let down. "After all that we went through, we're very surprised that not one spoon of silt has been taken out of the river yet, and there hasn't been in over 100 years. It was an emergency and it will happen again," said Tom, who is a member of the newly formed Shannon Flood Alliance. The group represents flood victims in Cork, Clare, Leitrim. Roscommon, Longford, Westmeath, Offaly, Sligo and other flood risk areas. The alliance group requested a meeting with Taoiseach Enda Kenny following the recent publication of the CFRAM draft reports. They hope to meet him this week to "stress the importance" of cleaning the River Shannon. He says if action is not taken they are prepared to organise further protests. Rallies were held in Athlone last February and in Banagher, Co Offaly, last April. "We are considering blocking the Shannon so that cruisers won't be able to pass through, we mean business, they have to do something for us," said the trainer whose horses are taking part in the Galway Races this week. "It's been a huge expense, everything had to be completely redone. Luckily our house wasn't affected but I've spent over 60,000 out of my own pocket, there is no insurance because we're not in a rateable area," he said. This video shows the eerie aftermath of a fire at one of the country's most treasured historic mansions. A suspected arson attack which destroyed an historic 18th Century Irish mansion has been described as a cultural tragedy. Massive damage was caused to Vernon Mount House in Cork after a blaze, suspected to be caused by vandals, erupted shortly before 10pm on Sunday night. At its height, seven units of Cork fire brigade were battling the fire which spread quickly throughout the interior of the property which has been empty for some time. Brigade units from Macroom and Carrigaline also rushed to Cork to assist city units. Prophetically, residents feared the structure, ranked as one of the Worlds 100 Most Endangered Buildings, was at imminent risk of loss. The Irish Georgian Society (IGS) placed it on its watch list in 2007 after it expressed concerns it was in a desperate state of neglect. Vernon Mount was built in 1784 and was a protected structure. The Georgian mansion was built for Cork merchant, Atwell Hayes, who named it after George Washingtons famous Virginia home as a mark of admiration for the American Revolution. However, far from emulating the scrupulously correct General Washington, the merchants son, Sir Henry Browne-Hayes, later abducted a young heiress, Mary Pike, to secure her 20,000 dowry. Browne-Hayes was eventually arrested and the young woman freed though she was so traumatised she suffered from mental illness for the rest of her life. The merchant was convicted, sentenced to death but then commuted to transportation to Australia. Legend has it that the Cork mansion has since been haunted by the spirit of the deranged young woman and it ranks alongside Loftus Hall in Wexford as one of the most haunted structures in the country. The Irish Georgian Society has described Vernon Mount as a neoclassical gem and an extraordinary suburban villa. Kate Ewart-Biggs, daughter of Christopher Ewart-Biggs, and her daughter Mairlie plant a tree in memory of the former British ambassador to Ireland. Photo: Paul Sherwood A former British ambassador to Ireland, who was murdered by an IRA bomb, was remembered with a tree-planting ceremony - 40 years after his death. Christopher Ewart-Biggs and his colleague Judith Cooke were killed by the bomb that injured two other people in 1976. Expand Close British diplomat Christopher Ewart-Biggs, who was killed by an IRA bomb in Dublin in 1976 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp British diplomat Christopher Ewart-Biggs, who was killed by an IRA bomb in Dublin in 1976 Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan was joined by outgoing British Ambassador Dominick Chilcott and members of the Ewart-Biggs family for the ceremony, which was held at the British residence in Glencairn, Leopardstown. "The two deceased individuals that we remember today demonstrate the great sacrifices which were demanded of too many during dark days in order to bring peace to Ireland," Mr Flanagan said. An Irishman was arrested after he was caught on camera engaging in a public sex act that appeared on Thai television. The pair were named by Thai police as 24-year-old Irish man known as Sullivan and an American called Natalie (21) who was a foreign exchange student. According to the Krabi police the pair turned themselves into police after realising the video went viral and police were searching for them. The two were charged for public nudity and acting inappropriately in public. Expand Close Pictures from video. Photo: www.pattayaone.net / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Pictures from video. Photo: www.pattayaone.net They were fined 2,000 baht each which is approximately 50. They said they were drunk at the time and stopped once locals approached them. Read More The pair are understood to have been outside the The Hussin House Hotel when a local man became angry with them. The Irishman responds, I apologise while putting his hands together. The locals then threaten to call the police and tell the couple to stay where they are. In the video they are asked where they are from and the man replies that he is from Ireland while the woman says she is American. The clip first appeared on Pattayaone.net and it has sparked a huge reaction online. An Irish- Italian woman critically ill with cancer is pleading with the public to help save her life as she urgently needs a stem cell donor. Nicole Di Pietro-Fisher (24) was diagnosed with leukaemia in January after first being diagnosed 14 years ago. She urgently needs a stem cell donor to save her life but her mixed race is making it impossible to find a match. Nicole currently lives in Sleaford in the UK but her family are from Ramelton in Co. Donegal. I had cancer when I was 10 but went into remission at 16. I was devastated when I found out the cancer was back again. I was just two years away from reaching the coveted ten year remission milestone, said Nicole. Over Christmas, Nicole started coughing up blood and suffering from aching muscles and lethargy. Doctors thought it was just a blood clot, but tests revealed the cancer was back. To make things worse, Nicoles partner Jenny, who works in the RAF, had just been deployed on exercise over the Christmas period. I had to tell her the news over the phone. It was really hard to tell her I might be dying, knowing she was thousands of miles away but we were both determined to stay strong, said Nicole. Nicole started radiotherapy and chemotherapy straight away, keeping in touch with Jenny over the phone. Nicole received the bad news that the cancer had spread to her brain and spinal cord and she desperately needed a stem cell donor. Doctors told me a stem cell transplant was my only chance of a cure. But because of my mixed-race heritage, the chances of finding a match were slim, she said. She contacted blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan, which matches potential stem cell donors to blood cancer patients in desperate need of a transplant. They searched the worldwide registers to find a match, but only 0.5pc of people on the Anthony Nolan register in the UK are from East Asian backgrounds and 1.5pc are from European backgrounds. There is a 25pc to 30pc chance of having the same tissue type as a sibling. Sadly, Nicoles brother is not a match. Now, Nicoles only hope of survival lies in the hands of strangers. Doctors think I need to find a donor urgently. Without a stem cell transplant, I will die. If anyone is reading this thinking about joining the register, please do it now. You have the potential to save my life. And even if youre not a match for me, there are thousands of people waiting for life-saving donors. Nicoles partner, Jenny urged people to help. Nicoles time is running out. We really need people, especially those from mixed-race backgrounds to join the register before its too late. Ann OLeary, Head of Register Development at Anthony Nolan said: What many people dont realise is how easy it is to join the Anthony Nolan register. It simply involves filling in a form and providing a saliva sample. "If youre one of the privileged few who goes on to donate, 90pc of the time this will now take place via an outpatient appointment which is similar to donating blood. People aged 16-30 can join the register online at www.anthonynolan.org The Government has been forced to drop a key plank of its new anti-corruption laws following advice from the Attorney General, the Irish Independent has learned. The Criminal Justice (Corruption) Bill proposes that politicians and civil servants found guilty of corruption will be forced out of office and banned from returning to their posts for up to a decade. The long-awaited legislation, which was first approved by Cabinet in 2012, comes on the back of virtually no convictions of public representatives . However, the Irish Independent understands that Tanaiste and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has been forced to significantly water down the bill following advice from Attorney General Maire Whelan. Ms Whelan told Ms Fitzgerald that the second core proposal - that those found guilty would be banned from running again - is unconstitutional. A memo being brought to Cabinet tomorrow will explain that the sanction must now be taken out of the legislation. The bill itself is due to come before the Dail later this year and will come into force in the spring if passed. The legislation will hand extra powers to the courts and strengthen the ability of the Director of Public Prosecutions to bring criminal charges against those suspected of corruption. It will also be a crime for public officials to use confidential information to corruptly obtain an advantage. The laws will help Ireland further meet its UN obligations. The move to tighten up anti-corruption measures was first put forward months after the publication of the findings of the Mahon Tribunal. Its report concluded that corruption affected every level of Irish political life - despite this, there have been very few convictions for political corruption. The Mahon Tribunal became a 14-year inquiry which cost 160m but only one person -former lobbyist Frank Dunlop - was convicted of corruption. Mr Varadkar has pledged to increase councillors pay from January in a move that will significantly boost his Fine Gael leadership prospects. Photo: Tony Gavin The country's 950 councillors are in line to receive pay hikes of around 4,000 under plans being considered by Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar. Mr Varadkar has pledged to increase councillors' pay from January in a move that will significantly boost his Fine Gael leadership prospects. The Dublin West TD has given councillors two options in relation to their PRSI liabilities, the Irish Independent has learned. At present, councillors take home gross salaries of just more than 16,500 per annum, plus expenses. Under the current system, they pay a 4pc PRSI rate known as Class K but aren't entitled to any benefits. The first proposal, known as 'Option A', will see councillors exempted from paying the controversial Class K PRSI, which was introduced by Fianna Fail in 2011. Such a move would see councillors save about 800 that they pay through these contributions every year. Read more: Varadkar: 'I want to talk policy - not childish, trivial nonsense about leadership' 'Option B' would see councillors still make a Class K contribution but in return they will for the first be entitled to a contributory pension. The details of the two options are contained in a letter sent to members of the Association of Irish Local Government (AILG) last week. Councillors are in the process of being surveyed as to their preferred option, which Mr Varadkar says he will introduce in October's Budget to take effect in the Finance Bill. Sources say the most likely option to be adopted is Option A, which would see councillors' take home pay rise by almost 4,000 over a five-year term. Mr Varadkar's announcement last month to introduce a review into councillors' pay was viewed as his first real move for the leadership. Councillors make up 10pc and the vote in the upcoming Fine Gael leadership contest, but they are seen as being particularly important in terms of influencing TDs, senators and grassroots members. However, the move is completely at odds with Mr Varadkar's public pronouncements on the issue. On Friday, the minister said he is waiting for the moment when he "sits on the toilet" and it gets linked to the Fine Gael leadership race. "No matter what I say or do for the last six months people are linking it to the leadership of Fine Gael," he said. "I'm just waiting for the moment that I sit on the toilet and some commentator somewhere decides that's part of some sort of strategy." Mr Varadkar also denied that he embarked on a solo run after he announced in Glenties significant future reforms to the social welfare system that weren't contained in the Programme for Government. Pledged Mr Varadkar firstly indicated proposals to index social welfare payments, which would likely result in annual increases in the dole. He also pledged for the State to pay a higher rate to jobseekers who have just become unemployed. Yesterday, a senior Cabinet colleague indicated the measure would receive careful scrutiny. "We decide at Cabinet. We will be looking at it obviously. We will look at Leo's (proposal and) his statement at the weekend," said Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell O'Connor. She also dismissed suggestions other Cabinet ministers were concerned that such a fundamental reform was raised before it was discussed at Cabinet. "No, I haven't. I am quite happy. Leo is a very competent minister," she said. Read more: Is serious Simon just the man to end FG's 'spin'? Leadership hopefuls chase limelight The five frontrunners in the leadership race have all generated positive headlines in recent days: Simon Coveney: His radical housing plan attracted only a handful of critics. However, if he fails to deliver on the plan - particularly in the area of homelessness - it will leave his legacy in tatters. Leo Varadkar: The frontrunner in the race has announced radical changes to the social system. His pledge to reward councillors will also assist him in his leadership bid. Frances Fitzgerald: Has seen her prospects slip, especially due to issues relating to rural and gangland crime. But she has put in a solid performance in relation to the threat of terrorism and her pledge to deport jihadis without a trial has gone down well. Simon Harris: His re-commitment to delivering 10,000 medical cards has curried favour. Paschal Donohoe: Handling warring public servants effectively. The budget will bring his time to shine. Minister Shane Ross and Independent councillor Deirdre Donnelly give the thumbs down to the proposed site adjacent to the grounds of Oatlands College and Primary School Transport Minister Shane Ross has helped block the construction of 45 new homes in south Dublin and is expected to object to another 63 in the coming days. The minister is "very pleased" that Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council turned down an application for a five-story complex on the site of the former Kiely's pub in Mount Merrion. It had been proposed that the site - owned partly by Paddy McKillen Jr - would be developed to include retail spaces, parking for 185 cars, a gym, a restaurant and other amenities. However, Mr Ross was among over 330 people who submitted objections to 46 residential units, which were mostly two-bedroom apartments. The Dublin Rathdown TD's office also confirmed to the Irish Independent that he is studying the details of a separate proposed development near Oatlands College in Mount Merrion. The application seeks approval for nine houses, 24 duplexes and 30 apartments as well as a children's play area. A spokesperson for the minister said that he was reviewing the plans and was "expected" to lodge an official complaint before the deadline of August 2. It comes after Mr Ross's Independent Alliance complained that they were excluded from the launch of the Government's housing action plan last week. His office said the minister was "listening to local residents and their concerns" and was working closely with independent Stillorgan councillor Deirdre Donnelly on the issue. Ms Donnelly told the Irish Independent that existing residents had a "huge problem" with the proposals by Balark Investments, a company associated with developer Greg Kavanagh. The site is in a land-locked space adjacent to the grounds of Oatlands College and Primary School, but the application includes a request for permission to demolish a house at Cherrygarth in order to provide access. The Property Price Register shows that the house was bought for 3.75m in January. "The fact that a developer can purchase a land-locked area and gain entrance by demolishing a perfectly good house in a cul-de-sac is absolutely outrageous," Ms Donnelly said. She said Mount Merrion had been plagued by high-density planning applications and the Oatlands proposal was "taking things too far". Among her concerns are apartments overlooking the school and "extra traffic in a quiet residential area". She said that large greenfield sites such as Cherrywood where thousands of homes are planned are "the way to go". In his submission on the Kiely's site, known as Union Cafe, Mr Ross warned it would be "negligent" to bring extra traffic into a "very quiet and peaceful suburb". "The size and style of this proposed development is completely out of character with the surrounding area," he wrote. Fine Gael TD Josepha Madigan and the Green Party's Catherine Martin also objected to this development. Two bags left unattended in a popular tourist spot sparked a security alert at Dublin Castle on Tuesday afternoon. The Office of Public Works (OPW) confirmed to Independent.ie An Garda Siochana were alerted and closed off the area following concern over two unattended bags. Staff were evacuated from the Print Works building. A spokesman for the OPW explained: An incident occurred this afternoon where two tourists' backpacks were left unattended for a period of time in the Lower Yard of Dublin Castle. As a precaution, An Garda Siochana were notified and they closed off the Lower Yard and evacuated the staff from the Print Works building. Moments later two tourists returned to claim their bags. The OPW said the Lower Yard of the popular tourist attraction was closed for approximately 45 mins. The spokesman also confirmed no other buildings within the Dublin Castle complex were evacuated during the incident. Four kids makes four times the trouble, as quadruplet mum Anita Kelly has been finding out. Not only is the 32-year-old mum to 17-month-old Tom, James, Charlie and Luke, she also has two-year-old son Matthew. Looking after five young children is no easy task, and Anita admitted it's only getting tougher as time goes on. "It's absolutely mad, it's just getting worse to be honest," she told the Herald. Expand Close Simon and the quads pictured yesterday / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Simon and the quads pictured yesterday "It's mad getting them all up, dressed, fed. They all want food at the same time. Sleeping has been a nightmare, they're only asleep the last few nights. " The Offaly native has struggled so much with sleeping that she was forced to seek professional help. "Nights have been a nightmare. I had to get a sleep therapist to help me out. I moved them all back into the same room again and now they're sleeping better," she said. Read More Although the mum-of-five can easily tell her children apart now, she admitted it wasn't so easy in the weeks after they were born. "They're all different looking, they're not identical. At the start it was difficult, we had little name tags on them. Expand Close Anita Kelly with her eldest son Matthew and the quads Tom, James, Charlie and Luke pictured in 2015 Photo: Orla Murray / Paul Sherwood Photography / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Anita Kelly with her eldest son Matthew and the quads Tom, James, Charlie and Luke pictured in 2015 Photo: Orla Murray / Paul Sherwood Photography "We had to write down everything. What bottles for who, what food." Although Anita has help from her husband, David, she was not shy about admitting who does most of the work when it comes to looking after the kids. "I just do everything to be honest. I've taken a year out and I'm back to work in January," she said. Read More Anita works as a nurse and although she is on a year's leave, she's already planning for her return in January. "I don't know what's going to happen. I'm looking for an au pair. I'll have to get two child minders, and the grannies will help out as well. Holidays "I'll do reduced hours, but I'll have to keep my job for when they're older." Anita said that one of the biggest struggles about having quadruplets is the cost. "It's about 25 nappies a day. Everyone says 'Where do you get the money?', but you have no choice. You can't go on nice holidays, you can't go on weekends away. You're always buying nappies and baby food." Read More Anita was speaking at the launch of Sudocrem's Baby Changing Room Awards 2016. Anyone who uses baby changing facilities in public venues are invited to vote for the best baby changing facilities on sudocrem.ie. A rail track fire at Gatwick airport caused huge delays to commuters and holidaymakers. Dozens of trains operating to and from the West Sussex airport - which is on the main line between London Victoria and Brighton - were delayed or cancelled due to the blaze. Southern, Gatwick Express and Thameslink services were affected. West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said it received a report of the fire at 7.07am on Tuesday but the blaze was already out when crews arrived at the scene. Gatwick is the second busiest airport in the UK, with 41 million passengers each year. Premium 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. 'Deciding to make the statement on the rape was so difficult because it meant admitting to myself what had happened." These words are part of the victim impact statement made by the wife in the marital rape case where sentence was handed down in the Central Criminal Court yesterday. That statement, as well as the 12-year sentence (with two years suspended) for rape are being widely reported. It is necessary to remember that this is the first hearing of this case and the convicted defendant may well appeal either his conviction or his sentence. So this article is not an examination of the case. However, because there are so few convictions of marital rape, the case has opened a discussion around the topic of rape within marriage or intimate relationships. Sexual violence of any kind is hard to endure. Never more so than in marriage or in another intimate relationship where the violence of rape and sexual assault means that a couple have moved from giving their trust as well as their bodies to a partner to the worst possible scenario where the trust of one is smashed by the violence of the other. In her judgment handing down the sentence in yesterday's case, Judge Isobel Kennedy said the crime of rape was an attack on "bodily and psychological integrity". Much of the work of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and our colleague centres around the country aims to restore that psychological integrity, sometimes over a very lengthy period. Not everyone will go on to report the sexual violence to the police. There is general acceptance that sexual violence is greatly under-reported. The last thorough baseline study in Ireland on the extent of sexual violence, in 2002, reckoned that 13pc of Irish women and 5pc of Irish men have experienced rape or attempted rape over their lifetime. Yet the Courts Service report shows that, in 2015, there were 379 rape verdicts. In the absence of badly needed up-to-date research, it seems we must conclude that only a tiny fraction of those affected by sexual violence will report it. Reporting sexual violence within an intimate relationship brings its own particular problems. There is the burden which it places on someone harmed by the rape or sexual abuse who is trying to rebuild their lives. There is the regular delay and complexity of the justice system. In addition, there is also the evidential burden of showing that the sexual activity was not on consent. Consensual sexual activity is a normal part of an intimate relationship. The absence of consent is what turns it to a crime of sexual violence. Often the proof will be the word of one formerly trusted spouse or partner against the other. The complainant must show that while consent may have existed on a myriad previous occasions, the relationship had now turned violent. The accused on the other hand may say that there was consent or that the sexual activity never took place at all. The accounts are then tested in the tough world of the prosecution of criminal offences. At the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre we have identified the difficulties of manoeuvring through the justice system for victims. We support people by accompanying them - to the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit at the Rotunda, to a garda interview, or to court - in a system where they never wanted nor expected to be. While highlighting the difficulties of giving evidence, particularly against a spouse or partner, it is at least now possible for a woman to make a criminal complaint of rape against her husband. We are reminded that the advances in equality for women in the middle of the 20th century were less than perfect when we know that it was only in 1990 that what was called the 'marital exemption' to rape was abolished. Until then, a husband could not be found guilty of the rape of his wife. Relics of all sorts of ancient thinking of the wife as the chattel or property of her husband were finally legally overturned. It was a fairly cautious over-turning. While abolishing the marital exemption, the law provided that no prosecution of a husband for the alleged rape of his wife can take place without the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The cautious approach is also evident in the fact that the first conviction of a husband for rape did not take place until 2002. That conviction was overturned and the man was re-tried and convicted for a second time in 2005. It seems that there may have been another unreported conviction between then and the case decided this month, but whether there was or not, marital rape convictions are a very rare species indeed. This conviction marks another notch on the posts of legal history, because it is only the third ever case under the 1990 law. But it marks something else too. It marks the public reminder that the victim of crimes of rape and sexual abuse within a marriage or other intimate relationship has the right to have these prosecuted as any other crime would be. It marks also the reminder to everyone who hears of it that there is no permission, ever, for sexual violence, not even in private and not in the home. Never. Noeline Blackwell is CEO of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre TV presenter Elaine Crowley opens up about losing her father to cancer and bonding with her mother Mary. Cancer is the word no one wants to hear. It strikes dread and fear into sufferers and their friends and family. But the disease can also can bring out the best in people. As Breast Cancer Ireland prepares for this years Great Pink Run in the Phoenix Park, Elle Gordon talks to four pairs of women about how, when they were brought to their lowest ebb by cancer, the females in their family stepped up to the plate, and supported them through the tough times and the tears with unconditional love, comfort and companionship. ELAINE CROWLEY Presenter and producer of TV3's 'Midday' When my dad died of cancer, that really knocked us all for six, and Mum was in pieces after that. More recently, her best friend Liz died of breast cancer. It was hugely upsetting for her. It's awful to say, but so many people have passed that are close to her, all from different types of cancer. There has been a bit too much of it in my family for my liking. I have a better understanding of cancer, I think, through my friend [the novelist] Emma Hannigan [who is currently going through cancer for the 10th time]. She's a very good friend of mine, and that's how I got involved in breast cancer Ireland, through Emma. My dad, he never spoke about his own cancer. It's something that is very difficult to talk about, because you don't want to face your own mortality and you don't want to talk about what might happen, so that was very difficult. I know the moment Dad passed away, my mother was in shock, because it never entered her head that he'd actually go. It was something they'd never spoken about, which, in hindsight, is ridiculous, but at the time, I suppose, your head is in a bit of a bubble. So, to meet Emma and the way she talked about cancer was an eye-opener. When I met her, she was on cancer number six or seven, and she was so matter-of-fact. She said, 'If I don't talk about it, what other way am I going to do it?' That's why I am very passionate about Breast Cancer Ireland. Video of the Day I know, statistically, I will get cancer at some point in my life. It's not a nice thing to say, but given the amount on both sides of my family, it probably will hit me. There is always that fear in the back of your head. Some families can fragment when someone dies; some families can get closer together. We went home straight after Dad died and my mum went up to the bed, because it just hit her. I was hugging her, it could have been five minutes, it could have been three hours. I was just kind of rocking her on the bed like she was my baby, as opposed to I was hers. Then, Mum dusted herself off and she tried to get on the best she could. It took a good few years, I'm not going to lie. Dad's death was utterly devastating for her. But then her best friend gets breast cancer, and the same thing happens over again. It was like history repeating itself, in a way. Sometimes I wonder how she gets out of the bed in the morning with so much pain. There are ten of us, so we keep her on her toes and entertained. But she has been through so much in her life. But she's still here and she's still with us, dusting herself off and getting on with it. Yes, she annoys me like bejaysus sometimes, but, my god, I admire her so much as well. I've only gone through a fraction of what my mum has gone through. The love of her life died, which is terrible. And then her sister, her father, and her best friend - and that's only the tip of the iceberg. How does anyone go through that? I'm surrounded by amazing women. I don't know why Breast Cancer Ireland asked me to be an ambassador because I don't feel worthy to be included with these amazing women. They have to live with it. The strength of some women just absolutely blows me away, and my mother would be foremost among them, and the bould Emma Hannigan. MARY V CROWLEY Elaine's mum When my husband passed away from cancer, all the family were with him. I didn't face it, because I was in denial. I knew it was cancer, I knew it was terminal, but you kind of get into a denial mode, and maybe some people cope better than I do. I'm great when I'm needed and when I need to be strong. But I suffered afterwards because I didn't face it, and speak about it. That's why I think it's very important for anyone that has cancer, if they can, and if the people around them can cope, to talk about it. Some people don't talk about it because they think they're saving you from worrying. The more you speak openly about it, the better it is, and the easier it is. I suppose every mother says this, but I couldn't ask for a better family. They rally around and they sense when they should be there and when to let go as well. They're always in the background, and you know if you're going to fall down any time, they will be there to lift you up. Elaine definitely was that person. More recently, my best friend died from breast cancer; she was very glamorous and she loved her make-up and her style. Elaine always had bags and bags of make-up and she would visit, and they'd be comparing eyeliners, and Elaine would say, 'Oh you can have that'. Elaine did a parachute jump for breast cancer shortly after Liz died, and Liz's death was one of the reasons she did it. When you know someone personally who has suffered from a terminal disease, you do your best for that cause then, because it has touched you. Liz was one of the family. Elaine - her heart, it melts, and she has an amazing feeling for people, and empathy for people. She can sense it. She was there for me when her father was sick and she had my back all the time. She has always been there in the background, and I knew I had someone that was stronger than myself at the time. If you have someone who understands, someone who you can talk to and who you can depend on, who you can be yourself with, and let go and kind of go to pieces when the ill person isn't there, that is important, and means a lot to people at the time. Actress Eva Longoria delivers remarks on the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 25, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania First lady Michelle Obama gives two thumbs up to the crowd after delivering remarks on the first day of the Democratic National Convention July 2016: US First Lady Michelle Obama gestures during Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. PActress Eva Longoria delivers remarks on the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 25, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Eva Longoria waves as she arrives on stage during Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia Eva Longoria took a not so subtle dig during her Democratic National Convention speech, describing her experiences as a Mexican-American. The newly married actress (41) was one of many to speak at Monday night's address in Philadelphia and she took particular aim at Donald Trump's anti-Mexico sentiments. "I'm from a small town in South Texas, and if you know your history, Texas used to be part of Mexico," she said. "I'm ninth generation American. My family never crossed a border; the border crossed us." "When Donald Trump calls us criminals and rapists, he's insulting American families. My father is not a criminal or a rapist, in fact, he's a United States veteran. Expand Close PActress Eva Longoria delivers remarks on the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 25, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp PActress Eva Longoria delivers remarks on the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 25, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania "When Trump cruelly mocked a disabled reporter, he was also mocking my special-needs sister Lisa and many like her." "When he said that a wife who works is a very dangerous thing, he not only insulted me, he insulted my mother who worked as a special-education teacher for 40 years and raised four children while being a wife." Read More Later in the evening, First Lady Michelle Obama took to the stage and delivered a powerful speech, which brought many in the crowd to tears. "The story of generations of people who have felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation but who kept on striving and doing what needed to be done so that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves and I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn," she said. Expand Close July 2016: US First Lady Michelle Obama gestures during Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp July 2016: US First Lady Michelle Obama gestures during Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Obama concluded with an endorsement for Democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton, saying: "And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters, and all our sons and daughters, now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States. "And as my daughters prepare to set out into the world, I want a leader who is worthy of that truth, a leader who is worthy of my girls promise and all our kids promise. A leader who will be guided every day by the love and hope and impossibly big dreams that we all have for our children." Video of the Day Chrissy Teigen had a huge fight with John Legend at Kim Kardashians wedding and Kim had a fight with Kanye West at Chrissys. Theyre just like a normal couple, so. Behind the perfectly-shot Instagram photos and the millions theyre worth, it turns out that Chrissy Teigen and John Legend and Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are just like us. In a video on Kims website, Chrissy revealed that her and John had the biggest fight at Kim and Kanyes wedding, saying it was the biggest fight you have ever seen in your whole life. The model and television host also revealed the big fight was before John sang for Kim and Kanyes first dance. This was before, 'cause I remember standing with your mom and being so mad at him and everyone was like, He's so amazing, isn't he amazing? and I was like, NO! she laughed. Chrissy even had The Fear that the fight had ruined the wedding, but was told that nobody had even noticed. We know that feeling. Kim went on to say that she had gotten into a fight with Kanye at Chrissys wedding because she was so fat after giving birth to North that she didnt go, and Kanye kept texting her what was going on without her. Expand Close Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's wedding day. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's wedding day. The reality star said she had major FOMO when Kanye text her saying Stevie Wonder had sang and that it was the most beautiful wedding. Chrissy and John married in Lake Como, Italy in September 2013 while Kim married Kanye in Florence, Italy in May 2014. Video of the Day Is it wrong that it makes us feel a *little* better knowing that two of the most famous couples in the world fight with their other halves at weddings too? Suicide bombers killed at least seven people in an attack on the African Union's main peacekeeping base in Mogadishu, Somalia on Tuesday, police said. Two suicide attackers set off bombs outside the African Union's main peacekeeping base in Somalia's capital Mogadishu near the airport on Tuesday, police said. The first detonated a car bomb and the second tried to storm the base on foot, but was shot and exploded at the gate, officers added. "AU forces sealed the area. There were many Somalis outside the gate and there were AU forces at the gate - we have not yet confirmed the casualty figure," police officer Major Nur Osman told Reuters. Al Shabaab, the Islamist militant group that is trying to topple the Western-backed Somali government, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had killed more than 12 people. Police officers are seen near a facility for the disabled where at least 19 people were killed and as many as 20 wounded by a knife-wielding man, in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 26, 2016 Picture: Reuters Nineteen people were feared dead and 45 injured after an attack by a knife-wielding man at a facility for the disabled in Japan in the early hours of this morning, national broadcaster NHK reported. Police in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, about 40km southwest of Tokyo, have arrested Satoshi Uematsu, a 26-year-old former employee at the facility, Japanese media reported. They said staff called police at 2.30am local time (5.30pm Irish time yesterday) with reports of a man armed with a knife on the grounds of the Tsukui Yamayuri-En facility. The three-hectare facility, established by the local government and nestled on the wooded bank of the Sagami River, cares for people with a wide range of disabilities, NHK said, quoting an unidentified employee. Asahi Shimbun reported that the suspect was quoted by police as saying: "I want to get rid of the disabled from this world." Fifteen people were confirmed dead while four were in cardiac arrest, the media reports said. The wounded were taken to at least six hospitals in the western Tokyo area. Twenty-nine emergency squads responded to the attack, Kyodo reported. A man identified as the father of a patient in the facility told NHK he learned about the attack on the radio and had received no information from the centre. least 19 people have been killed in the attack At least 19 people have been killed in the attack in Sagamihara Rescue services at the scene of knife attack which killed 19 A police officer is seen in a facility for the disabled, where a knife-wielding man attacked, in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 26, 2016 Ambulance crew and firefighters work outside a facility for the handicapped where a number of people were killed and dozens injured in a knife attack Tuesday, July 26, 2016 Police officers and rescue workers are seen in a facility for the disabled, where at least 19 people were killed and as many as 20 wounded by a knife-wielding man, in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 26, 2016 Ambulance crew and police officers are seen outside a facility for the handicapped where a number of people were killed and dozens injured in a knife attack Tuesday, July 26, 2016, in Sagamihara, outside Tokyo Ambulance vehicles and fire trucks are seen outside a facility for the handicapped where a number of people were killed and dozens injured in a knife attack Tuesday, July 26, 2016, in Sagamihara, outside Tokyo Police officers and rescue workers are seen at a facility for the disabled, where at least 19 people were killed and as many as 20 wounded by a knife-wielding man, in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 26, 2016 A facility for the disabled, where at least 19 people were killed and as many as 20 wounded by a knife-wielding man, is seen in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 26, 2016 An ambulance moves past in front of a facility for the handicapped where a number of people were killed and dozens injured in a knife attack Tuesday, July 26, 2016, in Sagamihara, outside Tokyo. (Kyodo News via AP) Police officers are seen near a facility for the disabled where at least 19 people were killed and as many as 20 wounded by a knife-wielding man, in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 26, 2016 At least 19 people have been killed and about 20 wounded in a knife attack at a centre for handicapped people near Tokyo - Japan's worst mass killing in generations. Police said they responded to a call at about 2.30am local time on Tuesday from an employee saying something horrible was happening at the Tsukui Yamayuri-en (Tsukui Lily Garden) centre in the city of Sagamihara, just west of the capital. A man turned himself in at a police station in Sagamihara about two hours later. Police said he left the knife in his car when he entered the station. He has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and trespassing. Local government officials identified the suspect as Satoshi Uematsu. Japan's national broadcaster NHK said he was 26 and another broadcaster, NTV, said he was upset because he had been sacked. Expand Close Police officers are seen in front of a facility for the disabled where at least 19 people were killed and as many as 20 wounded by a knife-wielding man, in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 26, 2016. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Police officers are seen in front of a facility for the disabled where at least 19 people were killed and as many as 20 wounded by a knife-wielding man, in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 26, 2016. A Kanagawa district official told a news conference that Uematsu entered the building at about 2.10am by breaking a window on the first floor of a residential building at the centre. Shinya Sakuma, head of the local authority's health and welfare division, said Uematsu had worked at the centre until February. Expand Close At least 19 people have been killed in the attack in Sagamihara / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp At least 19 people have been killed in the attack in Sagamihara Police said there were several casualties but did not provide any numbers but the Sagamihara City fire brigade said 19 people died in the attack and that figure was confirmed by doctors at the scene. A woman who lives opposite the centre told NHK: "I was told by a policeman to stay inside my house, as it could be dangerous. Then ambulances began arriving and blood-covered people were taken away." Expand Close A police officer is seen in a facility for the disabled, where a knife-wielding man attacked, in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 26, 2016 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A police officer is seen in a facility for the disabled, where a knife-wielding man attacked, in Sagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 26, 2016 Television footage showed a number of ambulances parked outside the centre, with medical and other rescue workers running in and out. A White House statement expressed shock at the "heinous attack" and offered condolences to the families of those killed. US National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said "there is never any excuse for such violence, but the fact that this attack occurred at a facility for persons with disabilities makes it all the more repugnant and senseless". Mass killings are relatively rare in Japan, which has extremely strict gun control laws. In 2008, seven people were killed by a man who drove a lorry into a crowd of people in central Tokyo's Akihabara electronics district, then stabbed passers-by. Fourteen were injured in 2010 by an unemployed man who stabbed and beat up passengers on two public buses outside a railway station in Ibaraki district, about 25 miles north east of Tokyo. Chikara Inabayashi, who lives near the site of Tuesday's attack, said he was shocked such an outrage had happened in the quiet, semi-rural area near Mount Takao, a mountain popular with hikers. "I never imagined such a horrible thing happening," he said. "I was astonished, that's the only thing I can say." People living nearby described the centre as a friendly place whose staff and residents joined in community events. Akie Inoue said her teenage daughter Honoka knew the suspect from events at the centre when she was at primary school. "I was surprised to hear that the culprit was a person from this neighbourhood," she said. "My daughter knew the culprit, I mean, they were acquainted. They would greet each other when they would meet and she tells me that he was a very kind person. We are all very shocked." Honoka said: "He had a cheerful impression. He was the kind of person that would greet you first." Japan's top government spokesman, chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga, said: "This is a very tragic and shocking incident where many innocent people became victims. "I sincerely pray for peace for the souls of those killed and extend condolences to the bereaved families as well as those wounded." He said police and the government would work hard on the investigation "to grasp the whole picture". Police officers leave a former hotel where a 27-year-old Syrian man who had been denied asylum lived before blowing himself up in Ansbach, Germany (AP) Top security officials in Germany have called for tougher screening of asylum-seekers and also announced that more police officers will be hired following four attacks in the country - two of them claimed by the extremist Islamic State group. Horst Seehofer, the interior minister of Bavaria - where three of last week's attacks took place - told the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper on Tuesday: "We must know who is in our country." Thomas Strobl, the interior minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg - where a woman was killed by a Syrian attacker on Sunday - also demanded a tougher stance toward asylum-seekers. "Those who abuse the right to hospitality must go back to their home countries - make no mistake about it," Mr Strobl told Funke media group. Three of the attacks were carried out by recent immigrants, rekindling concerns about Germany's ability to cope with the estimated one million migrants registered as entering the country last year. Mr Seehofer also announced that the state of Bavaria would hire more police officers. "The increase will be significant," he said. The demands for better security screening of migrants and increased police presence in Germany came after a 27-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker set off a backpack laden with explosives and shrapnel on Sunday night after being refused entry to a crowded music festival in the Bavarian city of Ansbach, killing himself and injuring 15 people. The extremist Islamic State group published a video early on Tuesday in which a man pledges allegiance to IS and vows Germany's people "won't be able to sleep peacefully anymore". It appeared to be the same as the one found by German investigators on the suicide bomber's phone. The man in the video, his face covered with a black scarf, threatens to make life intolerable and warned: "We will blow up your homes." German authorities could not immediately be contacted to confirm whether the video was the same. In the video, the attacker said he acted in response to IS's call to target countries of the US-led coalition fighting the group in Iraq and Syria. Germany is not involved in combat operations but has contributed reconnaissance aircraft to the effort. After the IS connection surfaced, federal prosecutors in Karlsruhe, who investigate all suspected terrorism, took over the case, saying they would seek to "determine if thus-far unknown accomplices or backers were involved in the crime". The suspect came to Germany two years ago and applied for asylum in August 2014, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said. It emerged that he had already registered in Bulgaria and later in Austria, so Germany rejected his request and ordered him to be deported to Bulgaria - most recently on July 13. Asylum-seekers are routinely deported to the first country where they registered if they do not follow proper procedures, even if they are considered to have a legitimate asylum claim. AP The UKs decision to withdraw from the EU effectively scuppers the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), which has been the cornerstone of extradition agreements between the two jurisdictions for more than a decade. Stock photo: PA Close policing co-operation between gardai and forces in Northern Ireland and Britain will be seriously hampered post-Brexit - unless the UK can successfully negotiate similar arrangements. The UK's decision to withdraw from the EU effectively scuppers the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), which has been the cornerstone of extradition agreements between the two jurisdictions for more than a decade. The EAW replaced cumbersome extradition arrangements, which regularly ran into legal difficulties. It has been used to extradite suspects facing charges for criminal and terrorist offences between Ireland and other EU countries, including the UK, since 2004 and has speeded up the process by removing political and administrative obstacles and turning it into a system run entirely by the judiciary. But Brexit means the EAW will no longer apply to the UK if a deal cannot be struck in the negotiations. It also spells an end to the UK's involvement in Eurodac, which is the fingerprint database for identifying asylum seekers and irregular border crossers. At the moment, all EU member states take part in Eurodac, as well as Norway, Iceland and Switzerland. But the UK's future involvement will again be determined by the negotiations over the next two years. Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald said she was ready to work with the UK authorities to sort out the issues arising from the Leave vote. Traces of cocaine were found at the popular Peppa Pig theme park in the UK Traces of cocaine were found in four out of seven bathrooms at the popular Peppa Pig theme park. According to the Sun Online, traces of the class A drug were found in the baby-changing and breastfeeding areas, as well as on toilet seats at the family park based on the popular TV character. A Sun Online reporter carried out tests on the seven bathrooms with drug testing wipes used by police that turn blue in the presence of cocaine. While some swabs showed only faint colouring, others had large bright blue patches which meant there were considerable traces of the drug present in some places at the Peppa Pig World in Romsey, UK. The attraction which is owned by Paultons Park was voted the UKs best amusement park on TripAdvisor earlier this month beating Alton Towers, Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Chessington World of Adventures. Peppa Pig World opened in April 2011 with seven rides, an indoor play zone, a muddy puddles water splash park, play areas and themed buildings. Paultons Park said they are investigating the claims but are not in a position to give further comment. Official photos from Kensington Palace to mark Prince George's third birthday.Photo: Matt Porteous / PA The British Council has moved to distance itself from comments, allegedly made by one its senior employees on Facebook, which criticise Prince George for living "on public money". Angela Gibbins, head of global estates at the charity, was reported to have commented on a picture of the young Prince which someone had captioned: "I know he's only two years old, but Prince George already looks like a f****** d***head." The British Council, which promotes the UK and the English language in more than 100 countries, said her alleged comments, in which she called Prince George "royal, rich" and "advantaged" and referenced "white privilege", were not representative of the organisation's views. A spokeswoman said: "This comment was made on a private social media account. "It has absolutely no connection to the British Council and does not represent the views of the British Council. "That said, we expect the highest standards of our staff and we will be investigating the matter further." Expand Close King in waiting: Prince George celebrated his third birthday last week, prompting his father Prince William to comment how spoilt hed been Photo: TPX Images of the Day / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp King in waiting: Prince George celebrated his third birthday last week, prompting his father Prince William to comment how spoilt hed been Photo: TPX Images of the Day Ms Gibbins' apparent comments, which were reported in The Sun, were on a photograph of Prince George - who has just turned three - taken for a set of stamps to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday when he was two years old. She allegedly said: "White privilege. That cheeky grin is the innate knowledge he's royal, rich, advantaged and will never know *any* difficulties or hardships in life. "Let's find photos of 3yo Syrian refugee children and see if they look alike, eh?" When she was criticised by other Facebook users, Ms Gibbins is said to have responded: "I'm sound in my socialist, atheist and republican opinions. "I don't believe the royal family have any place in a modern democracy, least of all when they live on public money. That's privilege and it needs to end." The British Council has a Royal Charter and its patron is the Queen. Earlier this month, Prince George's parents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge met schoolchildren in France who were taking part in British Council programme. The bell tower of the church is seen after a hostage-taking in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy, France, July 26, 2016. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol The bell tower of the church is seen after a hostage-taking in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy, France, July 26, 2016. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol Police officers close off a road during a hostage situation in Normandy, France (BFM via AP) Police officers speak to a driver as they close off a road during a hostage situation in Normandy, France (BFM via AP) A witness has described a horrific attack in which two men killed a priest with a blade and seriously wounded another hostage in a French church. The attack took place during morning mass at the Saint-Etienne parish church, south of Rouen in Normandy. Five people were initially taken hostage. The deceased priest has been named as Father Jacques Hamel and has been described as an "extraordinary priest and a great man". Sister Danielle told BFMTV the two men filmed the attack and asked Father Hamel to kneel down before their assault. Expand Close An undated photo shows French priest, Father Jacques Hamel of the parish of Saint-Etienne. Photo Courtesy of Parish of Saint-Etienne via Reuters / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp An undated photo shows French priest, Father Jacques Hamel of the parish of Saint-Etienne. Photo Courtesy of Parish of Saint-Etienne via Reuters A police source said it appeared that the priest had had his throat slit. The nun described how the two men "filmed themselves preaching in Arabic" from the altar after the attack. They didnt see me leave, she told the French channel BFMTV. They were busy with their knives. They were filming themselves preaching in Arabic in front of the altar. It was a horror. Jacques was an extraordinary priest. He was a great man, Father Jacques. There were no immediate details on the identity or motives of the two assailants but the investigation was handed to the anti-terrorist unit of the Paris prosecutor's office. A few hours after the attack, the so-called 'Islamic State' claimed two of its 'soldiers' were involved. Expand Close The bell tower of the church is seen after a hostage-taking in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy, France, July 26, 2016. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The bell tower of the church is seen after a hostage-taking in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy, France, July 26, 2016. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol The attack is the latest in a string of deadly assaults in Europe, including the mass killing in Nice on Bastille Day and four incidents in Germany. Many of the attacks have had links to Islamist militants. The Archbishop of Rouen identified the slain priest as Father Jacques Hamel. The Vatican condemned what it said was a "barbarous killing". Expand Close Police and rescue workers stand at the scene after two assailants had taken five people hostage in the church at Saint-Etienne-du -Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy, France REUTERS/Steve Bonet / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Police and rescue workers stand at the scene after two assailants had taken five people hostage in the church at Saint-Etienne-du -Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy, France REUTERS/Steve Bonet French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told France Info radio that the perpetrators have been killed by France's BRI, its elite police anti-crime force, when they came out of the church. He said that bomb squad officers aided by sniffer dogs had been scouring the church for any possible explosives. Prime Minister Manuel Valls branded the attack "barbaric" and said it was a blow to all Catholics and the whole of France. "We will stand together," Valls said on Twitter. Taoiseach Enda Kenny has also condemned the attack and described it as "brutal". He said: "For centuries the church has always been a place of sanctuary and its particularly brutal that terror and murder have been visited on people at time when theyve been so physically vulnerable and so spiritually hopeful." Read More The attack will heap yet more pressure on President Francois Hollande to regain control of national security, with France already under a state of emergency 10 months ahead of a presidential election. The Normandy attack came 12 days after a 31-year-old Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed his heavy goods truck into a crowd of revellers in the French Riviera city of Nice, killing 84 people. Islamic State claimed that attack. "Horror. Everything is being done to trigger a war of religions," tweeted Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a former conservative prime minister who now heads the Senate's foreign affairs committee. Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve arrived at the scene of the attack where they met with members of the emergency services. Cazeneuve has come under fire from Conservative politicians for not doing enough to prevent the Bastille Day Nice attack. French lawmakers approved a six-month extension of emergency rule after the July 14 attack while the Socialist government also said it would step up strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The suicide bombing by a Syrian asylum seeker who had pledged allegiance to Isis - the fourth act of extreme violence in the country in a week - has led to shock in Germany with recriminations over Chancellor Angela Merkel's controversial policy on refugees. The bomber, named as Mohammad Daleel, blew himself up outside a crowded wine bar in Ansbach on Sunday evening injuring 15 people. He had earlier tried to gain entry, with his rucksack packed with explosive, to an open air music festival attended by 2,500 people; he had only been turned away because he did not have a ticket. The attack left Europe facing a disturbing new threat: the lone suicide bomber. There was a yellow chalk outline on the ground where the 27-year-old Daleel had died instantly after detonating his bomb containing nails and shards of metal. "He would have taken many, many victims with him if he had managed to get into the festival, that is for sure," said Roman Fertinger, deputy chief of police from nearby Nuremberg. The Syrian was facing deportation to Bulgaria - the first state he had entered in Europe through Turkey - after being turned down twice in his attempt to seek asylum in Germany. A search of his room at a refugee centre in Ansbach led to the discovery of bomb-making material and a video found on his phone showed him pledging allegiance to Isis and its leader. He was also found to have six Facebook accounts, some under false names, and the same number of sim cards for his mobile. Read More: Killer's 'dark web' pistol sparks gun control calls Bavaria's security chief, Joachim Herrmann, disclosed that the footage also contained threats of "revenge" against Germany. He said: "A translation from Arabic shows that he expressly announces, in the name of Allah, and testifying his allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a famous Islamist leader, an act of revenge against the Germans because they are getting in the way of Islam. I think that after this video, there's no doubt that the attack was a terrorist attack with an Islamist background." Amaq news agency, a mouthpiece for Isis, declared that the attacker "was a soldier of the Islamic State who had acted in response to calls to target nations in the coalition" fighting the Islamist group. VIDEO: Shocking footage shows moment alleged gunmen opens fire in Munich The suicide bombing in Ansbach, a city of 40,000, came in the wake of an axe attack by a 17-year-old asylum-seeker, who claimed to be an Afghan but turned out to be a Pakistani, on passengers at a train near Wurzberg; the killing of nine people by German Iranian Ali David Sonboly in Munich; and the hacking to death of a woman with a machete in the city of Reutlingen by a Syrian refugee. The Wurzberg attacker had pledged allegiance to Isis; but no terrorist link had been found so far in the Munich and Reutlingen murders. However, critics immediately claimed that Chancellor Merkel's policy of offering refuge to Syrians fleeing the country's savage civil war had contributed to the upsurge of violence. Her decision had led to thousands of people, including other nationalities as well as Syrian, coming to Germany. Unravelling Challenged at a press conference in Berlin yesterday on whether Mrs Merkel's assertion that "we can manage it" was unravelling, interior minister Thomas de Maiziere wanted to stress that none of those who had carried out the attacks over the last week were among refugees who had arrived after the announcement of the "open door" policy last Autumn. Thus, argued Mr de Maiziere, the Chancellor's policy could not be held responsible. Mr de Maizere announced that security measures would be raised at train stations, airports and border areas across Germany. A US military garrison is based in Ansbach: all service personnel have been restricted to base or their homes for the time being. Those in the vicinity of the blast said they counted themselves lucky to survive. Witness Kevin Krieger said: "We were on the festival grounds. A band was playing when suddenly there was a loud bang. We all looked back. A man from security ran to the entrance. There were two people on the ground. They had injuries to their heads and necks. I tried to comfort them. The police cleared the area. Nobody was screaming. The explosion was very loud and I felt the shock waves on my body." Read More: Munich shooting: Gunman (18) an 'obsessed loner who planned rampage for a year' Daleel, a short and muscular man who invited fellow refugees at the centre where he stayed to call him "Rambo", had arrived in Germany in August 2014 seeking asylum after registering as a refugee in Bulgaria and Austria. He was given temporary leave to remain in Ansbach, but in December 2014 the asylum application in Germany was refused and deportation to Bulgaria ordered. The Syrian's lawyers then produced medical certificates to prove that he was suffering from psychological instability and had spent some time in a psychiatric hospital. It was also claimed that he had twice attempted suicide. The deportation order was suspended, but it was reactivated again and proceedings started on 13 July this year. One resident at the street in Ansbach where the refugee centre, Hotel Christl, is located said that Daleel had told her that his wife and children had been killed in the fighting in Syria. There was, however, no verification of this. Another resident, Alireza Khodadadi, had discussed politics and religion with Daleel, who had expressed views opposed to Isis saying the organisation did not represent Islam: "He always said, 'No, I am not with them, I don't like them'," she said. Credibility But Mr Khodadadi added that Daleel lacked credibility: "I think he had some issues because he told so many lies, so often without reason. He wanted to be the centre of attention, he needed attention." Mubariz Mahmood, a refugee from Pakistan, decried that an act of terrorism was carried out by an asylum seeker. "This is absolutely shameful. The German people are trying to help us and he gives thanks by trying to kill them. I don't blame them for being angry about this and I would not be surprised if there are some bad reactions to this," he said. "Mohammad [Daleel] had never expressed any political opinion to me. He was confident that he would get asylum in Germany. He would not be deported to Bulgaria, he believed, because it's a poor country and they would not have the money to look after refugees." There had been complaints from some residents of Ansbach that the asylum seekers had made little effort to assimilate into German society. Seventeen from the centre had turned up at first for lessons in German, a woman pointed out, but this had dwindled to just two soon afterwards. At Ansbach's centre, Henrik Muller, a 37-year-old computer technician, reflected on the implications of what had happened: "People are now afraid and you can't blame them for being afraid. I supported the initial plans to take in refugees, but there seemed to be no checks on who entered. Now people are suspicious of people they had tried to help, an ugly mood is developing in my country and I can only see it getting worse." A total of 84 people were killed in the Bastille Day attack in Nice Two more people have been arrested in connection with the Nice attacker who killed 84 people in the French Riviera city of Nice on July 14, a source close to the investigation told Reuters on Tuesday. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said last week the Bastille Day attacker, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, had been planning the attack for months. Five suspected accomplices already in custody have been put under formal investigation. None of the five had been known to intelligence services. The source said the new arrests took place on Monday in Nice. No other details were immediately available. Islamic State has claimed the Nice attack, calling Bouhlel one of its soldiers, but authorities say they have yet to find evidence that the 31-year-old, who was shot dead by police, had any actual links to the militant group. Jose Lopez (C) is taken into custody in a bulletproof vest and helmet. Photo: Getty An Irish priest has become involved in investigating a multi-million-dollar corruption scandal in Argentina after being tasked to find out if a group of nuns were involved in abetting a former government minister. The case came to light last month after the former minister for Public Works of the Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner-led government was arrested. Expand Close Jose Lopez during his time as a government minister. AFP/Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jose Lopez during his time as a government minister. AFP/Getty Images Jose Lopez had been seen throwing a number of bags into the Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima convent, located around 50km from Buenos Aires, and a concerned neighbour alerted authorities in the early hours of June 14 this year. It emerged that the bags contained almost $9m (8m)in cash and jewellery, while a .22 calibre rifle was also found in the back of Mr Lopez's car. A major investigation is now underway to determine how the ex-minister was in possession of so much money, with an Irish priest examining whether a group of nuns - one aged 94-years-old - were involved in the scandal. Fr Tom O'Donnell (64), who is originally from Templeglantine, Co Limerick, and has been working in Argentina since 1978, has said that the investigation would attempt to establish whether the nuns were aware of what was happening or if they were "being used" by Mr Lopez. Expand Close Fr Tom ODonnell. Photo: Irish Catholic. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Fr Tom ODonnell. Photo: Irish Catholic. "This gentleman Mr Lopez was the minister for Public Works, he had the cheque book and he was friendly with the founder of the congregation where this man threw the money over the wall," said Fr O'Donnell. "We are now aware that the government at the time helped the bishop and his congregation to build part of the convent so there was a relationship between the minister, his secretary and the founder of the congregation. "His wife had phoned the convent at 8pm roughly (on June 13) saying that Jose Lopez would be coming later with bags. Now, according to the nuns, they weren't sure if they were food items or what they were but he didn't turn up until late in the morning." A neighbour who saw Mr Lopez acting suspiciously near the grounds of the convent alerted police officers, fearing that the former politician was a burglar targeting the nuns. Bribe Expand Close Former President of Argentina Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. REUTERS / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Former President of Argentina Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. REUTERS When local police officers arrived at the scene at 4am, Mr Lopez identified himself as a priest before then allegedly trying to bribe the officers with $1m. He was arrested, with attention then turning to whether the nuns living in the convent were attempting to assist Mr Lopez in taking the money. "It's a canonical investigation. Now, did they commit a crime, these old nuns? These nuns, of course, have their statutes and their constitutions. It's only a new congregation but they still have fundamental law, constitutions and statutes," Fr O'Donnell told RTE Radio 1. "Our investigation is to find out if they comply with these promises of obedience, poverty . . . we have just started now, our local archbishop has formed the commission and we're just starting this coming week," he said. Mr Lopez was arrested for possession of a firearm on the morning of June 14 after police discovered a .22 rifle in his car. He has since appeared before court in a bullet-proof vest and helmet, but last month refused to testify in front of a federal judge. The corruption scandal took another bizarre twist late last month when former Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner publicly denied giving money to her former minister. "Lopez was in power, someone gave it (the money) to him. And it wasn't me," Ms Kirchner wrote on her Facebook page in the days after the convent arrest. Fr O'Donnell also told how the news had shocked the Argentinian people, with the events being covered around the clock by local and national media outlets. "People, of course, are shocked and we don't really know what happened. "The investigation is to find out what really happened. Were the nuns being used or were they aware of what was happening that morning. "We don't know what happened and what the next steps will be," he said. Judge David McHugh gave Mr Freer the formal warning that he must provide any alibi details to the prosecution within 14 days. An American father and son are facing criminal charges related to the alleged sexual assault of a young woman during a student orientation. Shawn Childs Jr (19) is charged with four counts of criminal sexual assault of the woman, who was also attending orientation at Illinois State University, His father, Shawn Childs Sr, is charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver for allegedly placing ecstasy in the womans drink. The incident allegedly took place between 10pm and 11pm on Tuesday, July 19. The Chicago Tribune reports that the father offered to buy alcohol for underage students who were visiting campus ahead of classes beginning in August. The group of incoming students were staying in residence halls overnight during the two-day orientation, and had gathered in one of the dorm rooms on Tuesday night. The First Assistant States Attorney Adam Ghrist told the McLean County Circuit Court that Childs purchased alcohol from a nearby store. The alleged victim told police she saw Childs Sr put a pill in her beverage that she then drank. However, she said she began to feel ill and returned to her room, where she claimed she was sexually assaulted by Childs Jr, who allegedly followed her into the room. The court heard that Childs Jr raped the woman twice and stopped her from leaving the room. She reported the alleged incident the following morning. Ghrist noted that Childs Jr had told police that the victim was messed up at the time of the alleged incident. Jay Groves, chief of staff at the university, said the alleged attack has nothing to do with mischief and everything to do with terrible criminal behaviour on the part of adults. The father and son were arrested the following day at a train station as they were heading back to Chicago. Childs Sr had 22 ecstasy pills in his pocket when he was arrested, according to Ghrist. Childs Jr is being held in lieu of $10,035 and his father must post $20,025 to be released. Ghrist said that the son has no prior convictions, but his father has previously been convicted for attempted murder, domestic battery and unlawful use of a weapon. Both men are being held in McClean County Jail and are scheduled to appear in court for arraignment on July 29. A man was told he had only 30 minutes to live by doctors, after a tapeworm was found in his brain. Luis Ortiz, from California had life-saving emergency surgery to remove the live tapeworm inside his head. Mr Ortiz was taken to Queen of the Valley Medical Centre after suffering with the "worst headache" of his life. A brain scan revealed a live tapeworm was living inside his brain causing the pain. The 26-year-old student was told he only had about 30 minutes to live by doctors and needed immediate surgery to remove the tapeworm. Ortiz neurosurgeon, Dr. Soren Singel said it was a close call and Ortiz was lucky he went to hospital when he did. The surgeons put Ortiz into a coma to perform the surgery. Using a camera, they discovered a sac of larvae from the tapeworm inside the brain. The parasitic tapeworm had formed a cyst that blocked the flow of water to Luis brain, which left any longer could have been fatal. Mr Ortiz said, The doctor pulled it out and he said it was still wigglingwhat are the odds Id get a parasite in my head? However, Singel said parasitic worms in human bodies are not uncommon, and are usually caused by eating infected pork, beef or fish. The surgery has impacted his life heavily. My memory is like a work in progress, Mr Ortiz said. It gets better from therapy, he added, but he has to remind himself to do his memory exercises. The headaches began in August, but Mr Ortiz said he"just ignored it at first. He is recovering from the surgery and hopes to finish university. Donald Trump soared into a poll lead in the race for the White House as Hillary Clinton's plans for a "Convention of hope" descended into infighting and angry protests, with some Democrats saying they would prefer to vote for her Republican rival. Ms Clinton is due to become the first female presidential nominee of a major US political party at the Democratic Convention, which began in Philadelphia last night. It was billed as a week of optimism, laying out a vision of unity and progress, contrasting with Mr Trump's dark and foreboding descriptions of a country in crisis. Former president Bill Clinton is due to laud the abilities of his wife in a speech tonight followed by a glowing endorsement from President Barack Obama tomorrow setting out how she would secure his legacy. But Ms Clinton's message, captured in the slogan "Stronger Together", was overshadowed by ugly scenes as thousands of angry party members loyal to Bernie Sanders, her left-wing rival for the nomination, took to the streets in 40C heat. The protests were much larger than those against Mr Trump - considered one of the most divisive politicians in modern American history - at the Republican convention in Cleveland last week. It followed a scandal in which leaked internal Democratic Party emails showed officials had plotted against Mr Sanders in favour of Ms Clinton. The furore centres around allegations, raised more than six months ago, that Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her staff at the DNC were biased in favour of Ms Clinton. Read More: Hillary Clintons new running mate a 'proud' Irish American who feels a deep connection with Ireland They said that the schedules of debates, fund-raising and access to a supporter database were proof that the DNC was tying to help the establishment candidate defeat the insurgent Vermont senator. And last night the Democratic National Committee offered its "deep and sincere apology" to Mr Sanders, his supporters and the entire party for what it calls "the inexcusable remarks made over email". Atheist The statement from incoming interim party leader, Donna Brazile, and six other officials said the comments in the emails "do not reflect the values of the DNC or our steadfast commitment to neutrality during the nominating process". On Friday, supporters of Mr Sanders received what they said was proof of their suspicions, when leaked emails revealed that members of the DNC had been plotting against Mr Sanders. Read More: Hillary's day of reckoning One exchange showed that they planned to try to expose him as an atheist. An email from May 2016 sent from DNC chief financial officer Brad Marshall suggested that they should "get someone to ask" Mr Sanders about his views on religion. "It might make no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief. Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist," wrote Mr Marshall. "This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist," he added. Ms Wasserman Schultz, who announced on Sunday night that she is to stand down as head of head of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), was repeatedly booed and mocked by supporters of Mr Sanders as she tried to speak yesterday morning. A 1,200-strong group of pro-Sanders delegates may also challenge the nomination of Tim Kaine, the Virginia senator, as her running mate, over his policies on trade and Wall Street regulations. A challenge to his nomination could lead to party infighting playing out on the convention floor. The pavement on Broad Street in Philadelphia was flooded yesterday with supporters of Mr Sanders as they marched to the convention hall. Among them was Corinne Dodge, a retired school teacher from New Hampshire who said Mr Sanders had "absolutely" been robbed of the nomination by the Democratic National Committee, and she was holding out hope of a convention coup to nominate him. Protesters chanted "Hell no, we won't vote for Hillary", wore "Hillary for Prison" T-shirts, and carried "You lost me at Hillary" signs. They also shouted "Lock Her Up", the same rallying cry used by Republicans about Ms Clinton. Shana Lin, a Democrat and Sanders supporter from Virginia, said: "The system is rigged. At this point I think Trump is a marginal step up." Mr Sanders addressed his delegates yesterday ahead of the opening of the convention, with cheers turning to boos when he said: "We have got to defeat Donald Trump and we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine." A national CNN poll showed Mr Trump on 44pc, Ms Clinton at 39pc, and the Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson on 9pc. A gleeful Mr Trump said: "The Democrats are in a total meltdown." Read More: The giant sitting on Hillary's shoulder Meanwhile, the FBI said it is investigating how the thousands of Democratic National Committee emails were hacked, a breach that Hillary Clinton's campaign maintains was committed by Russia to benefit Donald Trump. A statement from the FBI confirmed that it is "investigating a cyber intrusion involving the DNC", adding that "a compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously." WikiLeaks posted emails Friday that suggested the DNC was favouring Ms Clinton over her rival Mr Sanders during the primary season. Clinton's campaign pointed to a massive hacking of DNC computers in June that cybersecurity firms linked to the Russian government. Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta added fuel to the debate yesterday, saying there was "a kind of bromance going on" between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump. The Clinton campaign says Russia favours Trump's views, especially on Nato. Trump dismissed as a "joke" claims by Ms Clinton's campaign that Russia is trying to help him by leaking thousands of emails from the Democratic National Committee. "The new joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNC emails, which should have never been written (stupid), because Putin likes me," Trump wrote as part of a series of Tweets. "Hillary was involved in the email scandal because she is the only one with judgement (sic) so bad that such a thing could have happened." The hacking enraged die-hard Sanders supporters who have long claimed that the DNC had its finger on the scale throughout the primaries. The disclosures prompted the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz on the eve of the party's convention in Philadelphia, where Clinton is expected to officially accept the nomination for president. It wasn't immediately clear how WikiLeaks received copies of the internal Democratic emails. Democratic Party officials learned in late April that their systems had been attacked after they discovered malicious software on their computers. A cybersecurity firm they employed found traces of at least two sophisticated hacking groups on the Democrats' network - both of which have ties to the Russian government. Those hackers took at least one year's worth of detailed chats, emails and research on Donald Trump, according to a person knowledgeable about the breach who wasn't authorised to speak publicly about the matter. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has said US officials have seen indications of foreign hackers spying on the presidential candidates, and that they expect more cyber threats against the campaigns. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov would not comment on allegations that Russia is behind the leaked emails, instead pointing to statements by Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr, dismissing the claims. Clinton's campaign stood firmly behind their claims of Russian involvement yesterday. "There is a consensus among experts that it is indeed Russia that is behind this hack of the DNC," Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said. On Sunday, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said that it was "concerning last week that Donald Trump changed the Republican platform to become what some experts would regard as pro-Russian." Trump's senior policy adviser Paul Manafort called statements by the Clinton campaign "pretty desperate". "It's a far reach, obviously," Manafort told reporters. "To lead their convention with that tells me they really are trying to move away from what the issues are going to be in this campaign. It's pretty absurd." Trump told 'The New York Times' last week that he would decide whether to protect America's Nato allies against Russian aggression based on whether those countries "have fulfilled their obligations to us," hinting that he might pivot away from the decades-old agreement. Some Republicans opposed to Trump have indeed sought to cast him as pro-Putin, a position that would put him at odds with both Republican and Democratic foreign policy. The half-brother of Barack Obama has disclosed that he will vote for Donald Trump at the US election in November. Malik Obama, 57, an accountant in Kenya, used to live in Maryland and is still registered to vote there. He plans to travel back to the US to cast his ballot for the Republican candidate. Since 2009, his half-brother, Barack Obama, has served as President of the United States for the Republicans' main political rival, the Democrats. Mr Obama said the key reason for choosing to support Mr Trump was the scandal over Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was his half-brother's Secretary of State. Mrs Clinton is hoping to succeed Mr Obama as president when the US goes to the polls in November. Hillary Clinton says it would have been 'smarter' to use work email address as Secretary of State. Mr Obama also said he was "disappointed" at Mrs Clinton over the death of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, who was a personal friend. Mr Obama, who has several wives, also told the New York Post: "I feel like a Republican now because they don't stand for same-sex marriage, and that appeals to me." He added: "I like Donald Trump because he speaks from the heart." Mr Obama and the president had the same father but a different mother and the two men first met in 1985. Seven years later he was best man when the future president married his wife Michelle in Chicago. Reacting to the news, Mr Trump said: "Wow, he was probably treated badly by the president like everybody else." It came as the president launched a scathing attack on Mr Trump's "lack of preparedness" for the presidency. Mr Obama is due to address the Democratic Convention tomorrow night where he will focus in his speech on his America - the fruit of seven-plus years of his presidency. And the speech is one of his last major chances to defend his leadership in front of a mass audience before he leaves office. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas says he will sue Great Britain in an international court over the 1917 Balfour Declaration and its support for a Jewish national home in the Holy Land The Palestinian president says he will sue Great Britain over the 1917 Balfour Declaration and its support for a Jewish national home in the Holy Land. Palestinian foreign minister Riad Malki made the announcement on behalf of Mahmoud Abbas at Monday's opening of the Arab League summit in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott. Mr Malki said the suit would be filed in an international court. The Balfour Declaration laid the vision for the future state of Israel and sparked waves of Jewish migration to the British mandate in Palestine. Israel declared its independence in 1948 after the mandate expired and won a subsequent war against its Arab adversaries. Mr Malki said the declaration was a "fateful promise from the ones who don't own to the ones who don't deserve." AP Australia's prime minister has ordered a sweeping investigation into claims that teenagers were abused at a juvenile detention centre in the country's north. Malcolm Turnbull said he would launch the royal commission, Australia's highest form of inquiry, after graphic footage emerged of teenage detainees being tear-gassed and stripped naked. In one instance, one of the teens was shackled to a restraint chair with a hood placed over his head before being left alone for hours. The footage, shown on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's investigative programme Four Corners on Monday, was filmed largely at a youth detention centre in the Northern Territory city of Darwin between 2010 and 2015. "Like all Australians, we have been deeply shocked - shocked and appalled - by the images of mistreatment of children," Mr Turnbull told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio. "We will get to the bottom of what happened here." Human rights activists accused the government of ignoring the issue until it became public because the teenagers involved were indigenous. The Northern Territory has the highest rate of youth detention in the country, and 97% of detainees are Aboriginal. "Amnesty International has repeatedly raised concerns of abuse of children being held in youth detention centres in the Northern Territory," Julian Cleary, indigenous rights campaigner at Amnesty International Australia, said. "As this programme shows, these are not isolated incidents. The (Northern Territory) government has failed to deal with systemic issues with the treatment of children in its youth detention system." When the tear gas incident occurred in 2014, officials said guards had used the chemical to subdue six teenagers who had staged a riot. But CCTV and video footage filmed by staff at the centre appears to show that the tear gas was used after just one youth escaped from his cell, while the other five remained locked in their cells. The guards are heard laughing as the teens cough and cry after multiple shots of tear gas were fired into the isolation wing where they were housed. One of the detainees can be heard saying he cannot breathe. In another video, a guard is seen picking up a 13-year-old boy and hurling him across the room on to his bed. The same boy is also seen in footage from a different Northern Territory detention centre being stripped naked and held face-down on his bed by three guards after he apparently threatened to hurt himself. Northern Territory chief minister Adam Giles said he had never seen the footage before it Monday night and blamed a "culture of cover-up" within the corrections system for the government's lack of action until now. "I sat and watched the footage and recognised horror through my eyes," Mr Giles told reporters in Darwin. Mr Giles said he had removed Northern Territory corrections minister John Elferink from his position in the wake of the scandal. The royal commission is expected to begin holding hearings as early as September, with a final report due to be released early next year, Mr Giles said. AP Indigenous affairs minister Nigel Scullion said the footage was particularly shocking because the guards involved appeared cavalier about their actions. He said the officers should face criminal charges. "They knew ... that their behaviour was clearly not right, it was evil, but they also knew they had absolutely no chance of that being a problem to anyone," he said in Canberra, the capital. "Such was the culture of cover-up, such was the culture of brutality." US Democrats have made history tonight, triumphantly choosing Hillary Clinton as their White House nominee - the first woman to lead a major political party into the general election. Delegates erupted in cheers throughout the roll call of states on the floor of the Democratic convention in Philadelphia. It was a jubilant start to a night that will include former president Bill Clinton taking the convention stage to deliver a personal validation for his wife. An undated photo shows French priest, Father Jacques Hamel of the parish of Saint-Etienne. Photo Courtesy of Parish of Saint-Etienne via Reuters This is an undated image of French Priest Jacques Hamel made available by the Catholic Diocese. (Doicese of Rouen via AP) KNIFE-wielding attackers interrupted a church service in France, forced the priest to his knees and slit his throat on Tuesday, an attack that President Francois Hollande said showed the threat from Islamist militancy was greater than ever. Police shot and killed the attackers as they emerged from the church, freeing three hostages, one of whom was seriously wounded. Expand Close A woman lights a candle to place with flowers and candles at the town hall in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen in Normandy. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A woman lights a candle to place with flowers and candles at the town hall in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen in Normandy. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol The knifemen arrived during morning mass in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, northwest of Paris, where the 85-year-old parish priest Father Jacques Hamel was leading prayers. One of them has been identified as 19-year-old Adel Kermiche, who was under close surveillance after two failed attempts to reach Syria last year, France's anti-terror prosecutor said. After the last attempt in May, 2015, Kermiche, who was from the Normandy town where the attack took place, was detained until March. He was then released but forced to wear an electronic tag to track his whereabouts and was allowed to only leave his home for a few hours a day, prosecutor Francois Molins said. Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Police officers speak to a driver as they close off a road during a hostage situation in Normandy, France (BFM via AP) Police officers close off a road during a hostage situation in Normandy, France (BFM via AP) The bell tower of the church is seen after a hostage-taking in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy, France, July 26, 2016. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol The bell tower of the church is seen after a hostage-taking in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in Normandy, France, July 26, 2016. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Police officers speak to a driver as they close off a road during a hostage situation in Normandy, France (BFM via AP) Read More Police were still seeking to identify the second of the two attackers and raids were underway, Molins told a news conference after the attack in which a priest was killed. "They forced him to his knees and he tried to defend himself and that's when the drama began," Sister Danielle, who escaped as the attackers slayed the priest, earlier told RMC radio. "They filmed themselves. It was like a sermon in Arabic around the altar," the nun said. Speaking at the scene, Hollande called it a "dreadful terrorist attack," adding that the attackers had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, the militant group that he said had declared war on France. News agency Amaq, which is affiliated with Islamic State, said two of its "soldiers" had carried out the attack. Police said one person had been arrested. Tuesday's attack came less than two weeks after a Tunisian ploughed a truck into a crowd in the French Riviera city of Nice, killing 84 people. Islamic State claimed that attack. Read More France is a major partner in the U.S.-led military coalition bombing Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria. The White House condemned Tuesday's attack and commended the French police's "quick and decisive response." Several French media reported that one of the assailants was a local who had spent a year in jail on his return from Turkey after being intercepted trying to travel to Syria, but had been freed on bail with an electronic tag pending trial for terrorism offences. The prosecutor's office said the identification of the two suspects was still under way. A horrified local resident, Cecile Lefebre, said: "I have no words. How do you arrive at this point, killing people in cold blood like this? It's pure barbarity." Since the Bastille Day mass murder in Nice, there has been a spate of attacks in Germany, some of which appear to be Islamist-inspired. "In the face of this threat that has never been greater in France and Europe, the government is absolutely determined (to defeat) terrorism," Hollande said in a televised address. But former president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is expected to enter a conservative primary for next year's presidential election, accused the Socialist government of being soft. "We must be merciless," Sarkozy said in a statement to reporters. "The legal quibbling, precautions and pretexts for insufficient action are not acceptable. I demand that the government implement without delay the proposals we presented months ago. There is no more time to be wasted." The centre-right opposition wants all Islamist suspects to be either held in detention or electronically tagged to avert potential attacks. Far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who is also expected to run for the presidency, said both Sarkozy's and Hollande's parties had failed on security. "All those who have governed us for 30 years bear an immense responsibility. It's revolting to watch them bickering!" she tweeted. Hollande said France should "use all its means" within the law to fight Islamic State. Pope Francis condemned what he called a "barbarous killing". "The fact that this episode took place in a church, killing a priest, a minister of the Lord and involving the faithful, is something that affects us profoundly," Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said. In a telephone call with the pope, Hollande expressed "the sorrow of all French people after the heinous murder of Father Jacques Hamel by two terrorists," and said everything would be done to protect places of worship, the presidential palace said. Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a former conservative prime minister who now heads the Senate's foreign affairs committee tweeted: "Everything is being done to trigger a war of religions." Jennifer Pinckney poses for photo with a participant at the conclusion of the inaugural 4-H Clementa Pinckney Leadership Conference. SHARE Participants embrace at the conclusion of the 4-H Clementa Pickney Leadership Conference. The widow of Sen. Clementa Pinckney challenged a group of South Carolina 4-H students on campus to return home and strive to improve their communities as her late husband did. "This right here is what he was all about, you the young people," Jennifer Pinckney said at the conclusion of the inaugural 4-H Clementa Pinckney Leadership Conference at Clemson University. "Go back home and encourage others. Go back home and be the leader we know you can be. Go back home and be the mentor, be the role model, and be the next Clementa C. Pinckney." The weeklong 4-H Pinckney Leadership Conference brought 25 high school sophomores and juniors from across South Carolina to Clemson's campus to participate in numerous activities designed to promote teamwork, leadership and citizenship. They spent a morning white-water rafting and an evening playing "Capture the Flag." They made shoe soles from milk jugs and old bluejeans to donate to children in Africa. Some activities taught them teamwork and perseverance through failure. Participants had to run through a swinging jump rope in groups of four without hitting the rope. If one person hit the rope, the entire class had to start over. They failed many times but continued to encourage each other. They had candid discussions about race and stereotypes. The words "respect" and "dignity" became the themes for the discussion. A pastor, community leader and mentor, Sen. Pinckney was a strong advocate for 4-H, the youth development arm of the Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service. He's one of the organization's most notable South Carolina alumni. In April he received the 4-H Distinguished Alumni Medallion from the National 4-H Council. Jennifer Pinckney said her husband, a native of rural Jasper County, was molded as a youth by the four leafs of the 4-H emblem a green clover with a white letter H on each leaf to pay homage to the organization's pledge: "I pledge my Head to clearer thinking, my Heart to greater loyalty, my Hands to larger service, and my Health to better living, for my club, my community, my country, and my world." Sen. Pinckney was among nine churchgoers killed in June 2015 during a bible study group meeting at Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston. "Yes, a year has come and gone. Our family is still grieving," Pinckney said. "This is huge. Our family just wants to say 'thank you.' This is a proud moment for all of us." SHARE Dr. Ronnie L. Booth Dr. Ronnie L. Booth, president of Tri-County Technical College, will deliver the college's summer commencement address on Aug. 3, at 6 p.m. at the Civic Center of Anderson. Approximately 300 students will receive degrees, diplomas and/or certificates. In addition to families and guests of the graduates, alumni and other friends of the college are invited to attend the ceremony. SHARE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO By Charmaine Smith-Miles of the Independent Mail At the last meal he ate with them before he left Anderson for the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Trav Robertson Jr.'s parents made him promise to continue his support of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Robertson, who has been involved in politics since he was a student at T.L. Hanna High School in Anderson, is a congressional delegate at the convention. He is there representing the 3rd Congressional District, which covers nine Upstate counties including Anderson, Abbeville, Oconee and Pickens. He arrived at the convention Saturday and was anticipating the sounding of the gavel at 4 p.m. Monday the act that officially kicks off the convention. Robertson said South Carolina will be well-represented in the lineup of speakers at the event. He said U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, state Democratic State Party Chairman Jaime Harrison, Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, former S.C. Rep. Bakari Sellers and some of the families directly affected by the shootings at Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston will all speak at the convention. "It is an exciting time to be here," Robertson said. "You are going to see a clear difference between the Republican National Convention last week, with all of the vitriolic nastiness and the hatred that was spewed, and this week. This week, in comparison, you are going to see a vision for a better America built upon everything that is good in our country." Robertson is a 1991 graduate of T.L. Hanna High School, and his parents are Norm and Gladys Robertson. Gladys Robertson taught at T.L. Hanna, and Norm Robertson was the director of the Anderson-Oconee-Pickens Mental Health Center. Trav Robertson Jr. has a home in Anderson still, and an apartment in Columbia. He said he has been involved in Democratic politics for 25 years. While he was in high school, he was a volunteer for Mike Mullinax's campaign when Mullinax ran for South Carolina Senate. He worked for Debbie Dorn when she ran for Congress in the early 1990s. He has served as the deputy state treasurer for South Carolina, ran South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Vincent Sheehan's campaign in 2010, and was the South Carolina campaign director for Barack Obama in 2008. Robertson also worked with U.S. Rep. John Spratt throughout Spratt's tenure. The mood of the convention is exciting despite Debbie Wasserman Schultz's resignation as the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, Robertson said. The announcement was made Sunday after growing controversy over the release of party emails that at times depicted staffers favoring Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders in the primary campaign. "Everybody was surprised and shocked. But we are moving forward," Robertson said. "We are going to come together as a party. We are going to nominate Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine and we are going to move forward with electing them in November." Follow Charmaine Smith-Miles on Twitter @Charmaine_AIM SHARE By Nikie Mayo of the Independent Mail A blueprint for Anderson County's next 10 years will be presented tonight at the Civic Center of Anderson. Planners will discuss the in-progress comprehensive plan, which provides a snapshot of the county's existing resources and also lays out needs and priorities for the next decade. The meeting runs 6-9 p.m. in a Civic Center ballroom. The meeting will be hosted by Anderson County Council Chairman Tommy Dunn, but he said he plans to let county planning staff lead the conversation. The last time Anderson County made a comprehensive plan was 2007. South Carolina law requires that counties update those plans every 10 years, county planning manager Michael Forman said. The plan includes a look at the county's population, economy, natural and cultural resources, transportation options and community facilities. The plan also includes a study of existing land uses and housing availability. "Our No. 1 need right now is probably housing," Forman said. "We have had some population growth and some economic development that leaves people looking for places to live. I would say our need for housing is critical." A public hearing on the proposed comprehensive plan is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 16. The County Council has to vote on the comprehensive plan several times before it becomes final. The final vote could come in late August or early September. "This plan sort of helps us determine our goals for the next 10 years and gives us a path forward," Forman said. Follow Nikie Mayo on Twitter @NikieMayo SHARE By Ray Chandler, Special to the Independent Mail WALHALLA A former clerk in the Walhalla magistrate's office will spend a total of 30 days in jail after pleading guilty Tuesday to embezzling public funds. Constance Louise Weaver, 45, will be allowed to serve her sentence on weekends and must also repay the magistrate's office $1,395. After Weaver's plea, Judge Keith Kelly sentenced her to 13 months in jail, suspended to 30 days followed by 12 months of probation. Tenth Judicial Circuit Deputy Solicitor David Wagner had recommended a 30-day sentence in the case. The felony charge of embezzling public funds carried a possible sentence of up to five years in prison. Weaver was arrested in April 2015 after an investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. The investigation was requested by the Oconee County's chief magistrate, Judge Todd Simmons, and the Oconee County Sheriff's Office. Warrants in the case charged her with altering court documents and other records to take more than $2,300 for her own use during the period between June 2014 and March 2015. Weaver, an employee of Walhalla Magistrate Blake Norton's office since 2003, handled mostly traffic fines. Wagner said Tuesday the amount of restitution ordered stems from the original amount taken minus funds that were recovered from Weaver at the time of her arrest. The total restitution must be paid by the end of Weaver's 12 months of probation. SHARE By Charlie Bauder, WNEG FM 93.1/AM Special to Independent Mail Georgia's annual back to school sales tax holiday is this weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, Georgia will not charge sales tax on items including clothing and footwear with a sales price of $100 or less per item; computers, computer components and software purchased for noncommercial home or personal use with a sales price of $1,000 or less per item; and school supplies purchased for noncommercial use with a sales price of $20 or less per item. National Federation of Independent Business Georgia State Director Nathan Humphrey said his organization hopes the annual sales tax holiday will be a boon to businesses across the state. He said while parents could go back-to-school shopping regardless, the sales tax holiday could also attract cash-strapped shoppers who have delayed buying new clothes and devices. The sales tax holiday applies not only at large retail stores, but at small businesses as well. "Malls are great and some of the big box retailers are great to visit, but your small businesses are people that live and work in your community and those tax dollars and the money you spend are going to help businesses that employ your neighbors and people you see at church and in your neighborhood," said Humphrey. "It is a great opportunity to support people that you live with." Humphrey said not only should this weekend's back-to-school sales tax holiday help people get a bigger bang for their buck, it will also hopefully help the bottom line for businesses across Georgia. "It has not been a great year," said Humphrey. "Small businesses in general have just kind of been maintaining and trying to just hold on. They are risk averse right now; not sure what is going to happen with the economy, what new regulations and taxes are going to come their way. This year has been a little slower and this is a good opportunity, hopefully with the sales tax holiday, to get a good bounce and hopefully get an uptick in some business." For more information about the back-to-school sales tax holiday on Saturday and Sunday, visit the Georgia Department of Revenue's website at www.dor.georgia.gov. FILE - Ryan Harris, of Anderson, got off early from work and found a pile of crushed rock to stand on, at the end of the Brown Road boat ramp on Hartwell Lake in 2013. The boat ramp was one of several closed because of a low lake level. SHARE By Kirk Brown of the Independent Mail Drought conditions are worsening in the Upstate after weeks of hot weather with little rain. Lake Hartwell and the other two reservoirs on the Savannah River have entered the first drought stage, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Monday. The designation was triggered when Lake Thurmond's water level dipped below 326 feet above sea level. Discharges from Lake Thurmond were reduced Monday to a daily average of 4,200 cubic feet per second. A further reduction to 4,000 cubic feet per second is expected later this week, according to Corps spokesman Billy Birdwell. Because Thurmond, Hartwell and Lake Russell are managed as a single basin, Birdwell said, discharges from the Hartwell Dam also are expected to diminish. Lake Hartwell's water level was 656.59 feet above sea level on Monday, about 3.5 feet below full pool. As water levels drop, boaters are urged to use caution because submerged obstructions will be closer to the surface. The reduced discharges will lessen the amount of electricity being generated at dams on each of the three lakes. So far this month, the electricity generated at these dams has fallen about 13 percent short of the Corps' contract obligations for providing power, Birdwell said. Drought conditions also are hurting farmers in the region. Significant damage in corn crops is occurring across much of northwest South Carolina, according to a statement issued earlier this month by the National Weather Service. The statement also said hay quality is deteriorating rapidly, and pasture lands are increasingly brown and dormant. Cotton, peanuts and soybeans are on the brink of suffering significant damage, and farmers are reporting stunted growth of peaches, according to the weather service statement. At its last meeting, on July 8, the South Carolina Drought Response Committee said conditions in Abbeville, Anderson, Oconee and Pickens counties met the criteria for a moderate drought. Last week, drought conditions in those same counties were classified as severe to extreme by the U.S. Drought Monitor. State Climatologist Hope Mizzell said Monday that drought conditions "continue to intensify" in some parts of the Upstate. So far this month, Anderson has received slightly less than an inch of rain, which is about 2 inches less than normal, said Scott Krentz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in Greer. There is little relief in sight, according to this week's forecast. Temperatures in Anderson will remain in the mid-90s through the weekend, with only a 20 percent to 30 percent chance of rain each day. Follow Kirk Brown on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM University of South Carolina drops "of" in USC, adopts streamlined logo The University of South Carolina has issued a press release, announcing the changes being made to its brand mark. Tilaknagar Industries mulls Rs1 crore investment in SWIGGER; stock adds ~1% Tilaknagar Industries informed that the finance committee of the company has considered and approved an investment not exceeding Rs1 crore in Incredible Spirits Private Limited (ISPL). ... October 28, 2022 | 11:56 am IDFC inks pact to donate entire stake in IDFC Foundation to Upajeevan Sangathan; stock slips ~2% IDFC Limited has entered into a "Deed of Donation" for the donation of IDFC's entire equity stake in IDFC Foundation to Upajeevan Sangathan Foundation. IDFC Foundation is a wholly ow... October 28, 2022 | 11:40 am Dhruv Consultancy Services-led Infovibe Ventures consortium receive LoA of Rs5.19 crore Dhruv Consultancy Service Limited - Infovibe Ventures Private Limited Consortium has received the Letter of Acceptance ("LOA") from the Indian Highways Management Company Limited. As... October 28, 2022 | 11:30 am SBI Cards & Payments slumps ~7% on lacklustre Q2FY23 performance SBI Cards and Payment Services' shares fell as much as 7% to Rs799.90 on the BSE in intraday trade on Friday after the company reported a muted performance in the second quarter after market ho... October 28, 2022 | 10:56 am Indus Towers to raise Rs2,000 crore through NCDs; Stock slips 2% Indus Towers Limited has informed that the Board of Directors of the Company in its meeting held on Thursday has, inter alia, approved raising of funds by way of issuance of Non-Convertibl... October 28, 2022 | 10:54 am Michael K. Jones, Senior Pastor of Progressive Baptist Church and host of Community Connection, a daily talk show on AM 1310, passed away Tuesday of an apparent heart attack. Jones was born in St. Paul Minnesota on January 4, 1964 to parents Parenthia Jones and Sam H. Jones, a local civil-rights activist and former president of the Indianapolis Urban League. He was raised in Indianapolis and graduated from Park Tudor High School after which he attended Harvard University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics (1986). In 1994, he received a Master of Divinity degree from Christian Theological Seminary. In September of that same year, Jones began his tenure as Senior Pastor of Progressive Missionary Baptist Church in Indianapolis, IN where he served under the philosophy, You cant lead where you wont go and you cant teach what you dont know. until his untimely passing. As a pastor and community leader, Jones served in several social and civic capacities including; team chaplain for the Indiana Pacers, Adjunct Homiletics Professor at Christian Theological Seminary, Co-Chair of the Race Relations Leadership Network, board member of National City Community Development Corporation, special lecturer to the Baptist Ministers Alliance of Indianapolis and Vicinity and many others. Beyond his work from the pulpit, the microphone and the classroom, Jones authored two books; Lord, Teach Me to Pray: Exposing the Power and Practice of Daily Prayer and Abundant Relationships as well as two R&B/Smooth Jazz albums titled, Loving You and Smooth Sailing. In March of 2016, Jones took his talents to the airwaves as the host of Community Connection, taking over for the late Amos C. Brown, III. Of the appointment, Jones said, Im fortunate to stand on something I didnt build, to be able to continue something I didnt start. I could never fill Amoss shoes. I just hope to be a voice that his shoes will say, Thats what I want to see after me. Thats the best I can offer, Jones is survived by his mother Parthenia Jones, brother Sam H. Jones, Jr. and sister Marya Jones. Funeral arrangements and service details have not yet been released. If we are, it is just starting. But, which candidate would benefit from it the most? If Putin and Trump our bros or whatever then what is the benefit for Trump? It would seem to me, if we are in a cold war we would want a President who is on a friendly basis with the Russian leader. So, if your going to go with the Trump and Putin are buddies theme then what exactly does that mean if you think were in or heading to a cold war? I honestly can not see a Trump angle on this. Think about Hillary. What would she gain? Well we know she is without a doubt a wall street lackey. But,what if we could have a flag draped Hillary, leading the fight against those Russians who violated our sacred election process, and they were involved with Donald Trump. Talk about some old school Republican flag waiving. Yeah whats your take on itEDITinteresting read here Last week in Shrek's universe 'Far Far Away' #rollercoasters #shorttrips A photo posted by Twinkle Khanna (@twinklerkhanna) on Apr 26, 2016 at 10:08am PDT We had told you a while back about how Akshay Kumar was vacationing with his family in Switzerland, and that this time, he himself had organised the entire holiday. Especially after the arrival of his two kids, Aarav and Nitara, Akshay seems to have transformed into a total family guy. In a recent interview to Subhash K Jha, Akshay spoke about the importance of taking a holiday and spending quality time with family. He said, "I urge every working person on the planet to take time away from their jobs and spend quality time with their families. No, it doesn't ensure a stress-free domestic life, that's a myth. Holidays are stressful. But they are also the most important memories in any household." Early morning reading session #Ladybird A photo posted by Twinkle Khanna (@twinklerkhanna) on Nov 8, 2015 at 6:42pm PST And we are off #holidaymood A photo posted by Twinkle Khanna (@twinklerkhanna) on Oct 20, 2015 at 8:52pm PDT Not only that, Akshay also spoke about his strong bond with his kids. Talking about his last vacation experience, he added, "I learnt so much more about my daughter Nitara, being able to spend 24/7 with her, not just having to take her to school. I've now seen how she handles everyday encounters. She fascinates me progressively every day." He added, "I am completely under my daughter's spell. My son Aarav too is the greatest person on earth to spend every waking moment with. I'm struggling to stay unemotional as my son is not with me right now.He's training in London on a camp that would make most boys weep. As for feeling rejuvenated, you've got to be kidding, family holidays are when I work my hardest." True that, Akshay! 90s kids remember Yahoo! remember with a touch of nostalgia, almost like one remembers an old household pet they grew up. There were the seedy but functional chat-rooms, the clunky email that Gmail assassinated, and Yahoos attempt at being the first thing people did when they logged on (which Facebook killed). Yahoo's demise wasn't caused by the rise of Google - it was the result of a company that didn't know how to pivot out of their tiny empire that consisted of being a homepage, and a clunky email ID. Yahoo's struggles to resuscitate itself were feeble. As the company lurches into its first good decision of getting acquired by Verizon, let's look back at how it all went to hell. 1. Ignoring the easiest decision of all - buying Google when it was cheap Google's algorithm driven search had pretty much nailed the span of the web, and was a clear sign - this is how people WOULD search. Yahoo could have scored this amazing formula for a million dollars - which was nothing in the dotcom era. Instead, Yahoo! thought they'd own the web pretty much forever, and (according to The Google Story' by David A Vise), didnt want to lose traffic on their own sites to other sites that came on search results. Here's a passage from the book that explains Google's meteoric rise: reuters "...the firm wanted computer users to spend more time on Yahoo. The Google search engine was designed to give people fast answers to their questions by swiftly sending them to the most relevant Web site. The Yahoo directories were designed both to answer questions and to keep people on the Yahoo site, where they could shop, view ads, check their email, play games, and spend more money and time..." The signs were all there in 2006 - Facebook was going to be around for a while, and keep evolving. FB had survived, despite turning down bids from the likes of Google and Viacom. When Facebook investors showed up to sell the company, Yahoo depreciated the valuation they offered - founder-CEO Mark Zuckerberg expected a billion dollars, but Yahoo reduced it to $875 million. 3. Not salvaging their sinking ship with their last big bid - Microsoft 2016: Yahoo is being sold off for less than 5 billion dollars. 2008: Microsoft tried to buy Yahoo for 44 billion dollars - Yahoo refused. Erstwhile Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had noticed that "the stock market had declined and Yahoos business appears to have deteriorated". Yahoo fought back - with extremely ambitious future projections on a graph, and not much else. 4. Whatever the hell they did with Flickr Photographers use Flickr. The media community uses Flickr. That's pretty much it. The original site however, before Yahoo's acquisition was more of a community driven enterprise, instead of the image dumping ground it is today (before Facebook swooped into that territory) Yuko Honda flickr In the explanation given by a senior Yahoo exec, you can see that Yahoo didn't give a shit about #social: The theory behind buying Flickr was not to increase social connections, it was to monetize the image index. It was totally not about social communities or social networking. It was certainly nothing to do with the users. But do you know anyone who spends money on Flickr? Nope. 5. Trying too hard to be cool with Tumblr ap Realising that they were never going to be cool, Yahoo! tried to be cool by trying to acquire the then bleeding-edge of internet memes and viral content - Tumblr. Less than a year after newly appointed CEO Marissa Mayer joined, she pushed Yahoo to buy Tumblr for 1.1 billion dollars. But Tumblr didn't care about Yahoo, ads, or any corporate sounding buzzwords like "streamlining". Nah, they were here to chill, lurk, check out pages and pages of porn, funny memes, and confessional posts, and were pretty upset with any redesign attempts. 6. Letting Marissa Mayer have a free hand flickr/TechCrunch Marissa Mayer made more noise about being a empowered woman than her vision for Yahoo! In contrast, look at Microsoft's new lean machine Satya Nadella, who looks and sounds like ruthless C-Suite. Any critique of Mayer cannot leave out the legendary thrashing that the Internet's bad boy journalist Milo Yiannopoulos gave her It begins with pointing that Yahoo's own investor had suggested a hard hitting 10 point turn-around plan in December 2015 that sought to kick her out. In October 2014, Marissa had Yahoo pumping in 20 million dollars to get stake in Snapchat, a purely investment move without any tech wizardry that all other web leaders were striving for. An year later, Snapchat, which had signed up to use Yahoo! for its 'Discover' feature, had booted them off - Yahoo fucked up again with Livetext, "a hybrid of a German impressionist take on video chatting and this newfangled concept of texting. You could awkwardly watch, but not talk, as you texted your loved ones and friends." Did Mayer really have to care? Nope. rexblog flickr Only 3.3% of her compensation scheme "will actually be affected by her performance. So really, why should she care how well Yahoo! does? She can just fail upwards to a bigger company. Or even, Heaven for-fend, run for President." Four militants were killed and another apprehended alive by our security forces during an encounter in Kashmir, an Army official revealed. BCCL "Four terrorists have been killed while one has been apprehended alive during an operation in Naugam sector," the official said. Naugam sector is near the LoC in Kupwara district of Kashmir. He said all the militants were foreign nationals. The encounter was still in progress.The official said as the operation was still going on, it would be premature to say whether it was an infiltration bid or not. BCCL "We have got one of them alive and expect some vital information from him," he added. Responding quickly to a plea of assistance from a scared father, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar approved airlifting of a critically ill daughter of a retired naval officer from Chhattisgarh to the Army Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi. The girls'father had tweeted to him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking help. AFP Retired naval officer Ravi Kant Soni tweeted to PM Modi and Mr Parrikar earlier in the day, saying he had requested the Ministry of Defence for air evacuation of his daughter who is on ventilation at a hospital in Bhilai with insufficient medical facilities. Mr Soni, who served in the navy for 20 years, said she needs to be moved to R&R Hospital, Delhi as soon as possible. "All hopes due to the absolute positive response of the Air Force seem to have died down at the last moment due to some bureaucratic reason," he tweeted. "We're losing valuable time. It is not possible for civil air ambulance to operate in weather conditions prevailing at Raipur and Delhi with such a critical patient. Also, civil air ambulances are not allowed to operate/land at Delhi airport post 1800hours. Sirs you can still help." AFP "Your much needed help will go a long way in reinforcing the faith of lakhs of serving as well as retired defence personnel that they place in the Indian Armed Forces," he said in a series of tweets. Sources said Mr Parrikar swung into action as soon as he saw the tweet and ordered immediate air evacuation. He also spoke to Mr Soni's son and assured them of all help. Mr Soni tweeted back four hours later, saying, "Extremely grateful to the hon'ble Defence Minister @manoharparrikar and the entire IAF team which has always been supportive in getting us out of this emergency. This monumental support can never be forgotten. Proud to be a part of the Indian Armed Forces." Next month, eight Humboldt penguins will make their way to the Byculla Zoo in Mumbai. While animal activist Anand Siva gave an in-depth analysis into why it's the most bizarre decision ever, he has now shared a set of images that blow the lid right off this delusion. On Facebook, Siva writes, "Media persons calling me and complaining that BMC is not allowing them near the penguin facility, not even allowing them to shoot the premises! But why?? Facebook/Anand Siva "Is it because of the state the place is in?? I was there on July 3rd and got these pictures - and no way this place could have ever been ready in less than 3 weeks to house these birds? Facebook/Anand Siva "Can you imagine this place to have been made ready by a government agency?? Facebook/Anand Siva "Is that why they are keeping it a secret? Of the penguins arriving ahead of time, before the place got ready, before the team got trained?" Facebook/Anand Siva While the BMC continues to shun the media away, we can't help but wonder if the silence is proving productive in some other way - say, buying power from states other than the four that are already electrifying Mumbai? Or, finding a pool that's not 200-meter deep but large enough to provide the penguins a home away from home? Or, just planning to scrap the inhumane project altogether? Only time will tell. 250 Dalit families have announced plans to convert to Islam after they were reportedly denied entry into temples in Vedaranyam and Karur districts in Tamil Nadu, the New Indian Express reported. Reuters 200 Dalit families near Vedaranyam claim to have been banned from participating in the temple festival, while 35 Dalit families in Karur complai that they were barred from even entering the local Mahasakhthi Amman temple. They claim that the temple was built using their contributions. The Dalits also said that the state Thowheed Jamath, an organisation that preaches Islam, has met them to support their decision. Meanwhile, local Hindu organisations also reportedly contacted them. newindianexpress.com This is not the first time the Dalit community has played the conversion card. In August last year, around 100 families in Hissar district in Haryana, converted to Islam claiming that they were forced to take the step as the government failed to address their complaints against their khap panchayat's casteist remarks. More recently, over 800 Valmikis, fighting civic authorities to save their houses from demolition in Rampur, "converted" to Islam in April this year as a form of protest. Indiatoday According to villagers in Bihar's Madhubani district, the local NH 104 is so bad that it's better used for farming. And that's what they're doing, as a novel form of protest, after petitions to local authorities were ignored. The 160 km road is pretty bad, and it's 2-3 feet deep potholes and waterlogging becomes apparent during the monsoon, making it unmotorable. This is, embarrassingly, a road of some significance as it runs almost parallel to Indo-Nepal border, and used to deliver inventory to the local SSB camp. "This is the only road for almost 1,000 villages located on NH 104. Several accidents take place every day on this road," said Shiv Chandra Mishra, the local village head told India Today. The response to this protest is the default blame game "I came to know that villagers have started farming on the highway. I have informed my seniors about this. If the administration gives permission, we can fill the potholes at least and make this road motorable," said S.K Baitha, the Block Development Officer of Harlakhi. Whereas, local MLA from the Bihar's Rashtriya Lok Samata Party Sudhanshu Shekhar has blamed the Center. "There is a lack of coordination in between the Centre and the Bihar government, therefore development work is slow. Had there been a BJP government in Bihar, this road would have been constructed long ago." Bihar police arrested a 35-year-old psychopathic serial killer on Sunday. He has allegedly murdered 22 people in Patna, Vaishali and other districts of the state. eenaduindia Avinash Srivastava alias Amit, a former Bihar lawmaker's well-educated son, was arrested from Vaishali district when he was trying to steal cash from a bank. intoday Police said he did his MCA from Delhi's Jamia Milia Islamia university and worked for an IT major till his father Lallan Srivastav, a former RJD MLC, was murdered in Patna in 2003. Vaishali SP Rakesh Kumar said, "Avinash had pumped 32 bullets into the body of one Pappu Khan, who had killed his father. He turned into a serial killer after that. Four of his victims are those who were reportedly involved in his father's killing." indiatoday Avinash is said to have inspired the climax scene in Bollywood movie "Gangs of Wasseypur-2" in which a man pumps countless number of bullets into a politician to avenge his father's murder. Avinash also reminds many of serial killer Raman Raghav, who terrorised Bombay in the mid-1960s. Avinash was nabbed while cutting the main shutter of Central Bank of India in Vaishali. He had served three years in jail, and was released on bail in March this year. The success of 'Operation Vijay' in Kargil on 26 July 1999 against Pakistani army is certainly one of brightest chapter in the glorious history of the mighty Indian Army. The heroes who sacrificed their lives in the war were immortalised in annals of history. wikipedia/afp But only a few know that it was the 'Gang of Four' who planned the Kargil misadventure, not Pakistani establishment. Be it ISI, Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Navy, other generals of Pakistan Army or even the then Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif - nobody had a clue about their nefarious plans till mid May 1999 when war with India became inevitable. bp.blogspot/wikepedia Lieutenant General (retd) Shahid Aziz in his book 'Ye Khamoshi Kab Tak' has given various references about Kargil and how four Pakistani generals - Gen Pervez Musharraf, the then chief of general staff, Lt Gen Mohammad Aziz, FCNA (Force Command Northern Areas), Lt Gen Javed Hassan and 10-Corps commander Lt Gen Mahmud Ahmad had planned Kargil right under the nose of the Pakistani establishment. The majority of corps commanders and principal staff officers were kept in the dark, says Gen Aziz. Even the then Director General Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Tauqir Zia came to know about it later, he told Dawn in June 2013. At the time, he was serving as director general of the analysis wing of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). twimg The operation was so secretive, that had it been a success, it would have been regarded as great clandestine military operations ever. But... Kargil stemmed from India's capture of Siachen in 1984 India under 'Operation Meghdoot' had captured more than 1000 square miles of un-demarcated area of Siachen Glacier. This gave India an unprecedented leverage over both China and Pakistan. AFP Pakistan couldn't do much then, but a sense of failure always haunted these generals. In Kargil sector, both armies used to vacate their post during winters and re-occupy them on Line Of Control (LOC) in summers. The Pakistani generals wanted to avenge the fiasco of Siachen by capturing the posts in Kargil. They wanted to use them as bargaining chip for the return of posts in Siachen. The generals knew that India can't overlook Kargil because of the highway passing through the region, the main artery of Indian supply lines to its forces in the glacier. Similar plan was offered to Gen Zia-ul-Haq in 1987, but Pak didn't have nukes then AFP Pakistani general had offered a similar plan to General Zia-ul-Haq in 1987, but it wasn't approved since he feared that India might open another front at the international border in Jammu and Punjab. Pakistan was already engaged on the Afghan front against the soviets and Zia didn't want to take a chance. But this time, Pakistan had tested nuclear weapons in 1998, and the Generals thought India wouldn't dare to open another front on the IB. It started in October-November 1998 AFP According to various theories, the generals planned their misadventure in October-November 1998 when Indian Army started vacating their posts in the beginning of winters. A Pakistani general did recce of the area and found that there was no army presence for miles. This encouraged them. Initially they wanted to capture 10 posts, but ended up capturing 140 plus AFP After training for high altitude warfare in the thick of winters, an expected size of 200 infiltrators started their campaign in January. Crawling, they reached Kargil heights by March and saw scores of Indian bunkers empty. According to various theories, they had planned to capture 10 odd post, but they found them unoccupied, asked for reinforcements. Captured Kargil in thick of Vajpayee-Sharif's bus diplomacy thehindubusinessline In February 1999, the then Indian PM, AB Vajpayee went to Lahore in a bus in hopes that joint efforts of Sharif and Vajpayee would lay foundation of new Indo-Pak relations. By then Pakistani troops by then had captured over 140 posts in Kargil and none of the governments had a clue about it. How Sharif was fooled AFP If conspiracy theories are to be believed, Pakistani PM, Nawaz Sharif didn't know anything about what was going on in Kargil till May 15. Through he was taken to Skardu in POK in January but wasn't told anything about the operation. On May 16, Gen Aziz in a briefing explained the situation to various army officer and government, but didn't tell anything about Kargil heights or the fact that the intruders were Pakistani army regulars and not Mujahideen. According to other generals, who later revealed the information, Nawaz Sharif was shown the location of their men and Indian army but not the LOC. Sharif too believed that if these fighters get Kargil and later Siachen if not Kashmir, his political stature would rival that of the founder of Pakistan Mohammed Ali Jinnah himself. When Musharaff's phone was tapped in China AFP On May 26 and 29, Gen Pervez Musharraf made two phone calls to Gen Aziz from China, where he had gone for a state visit, to discuss the matter. His calls were tapped and if conspiracy theories are believed, the Chinese tapped his calls and the details were passed on to CIA who later informed Indians about it. Indians by then had only started the attempts to recapture Kargil and were facing stern retaliation from Pakistan troops sitting on the top. Great news for elephant lovers of India and especially God's Own Country, Kerala. Dakshayani, an 86-year-old female elephant from Kerala, is getting all set to enter the Guinness World Records as the oldest living elephant. Twitter/NoAnimalPoaching The Travancore Devasom Board (TDB) - the owner of the elephant - has already written to the Guinness authorities staking claim to Dakshayani being the oldest living elephant in the world. The TDB owns 1,250 temples in south Kerala districts, including the famed Sabarimala temple. They have 33 elephants which take part in the festivals of their temples. Addressing reporters in Thiruvananathapuram, on Monday, DB president Prayar Gopalakrishnan said that records available with them, including of the Kerala Forest Department, show that Dakshayani is the oldest. Twitter/NewsDistil "As a first step to enter the Guinness, we are honouring her on Wednesday, and we will be working towards this. On the day a special postal cover of Dakshayani from the Kerala Circle Postal Service would be issued," added the TDB president. As per the TDB, the oldest living elephant, which was 85 years old, died in 2003 in Taiwan. Twitter/Travancore Royal Family "Dakshayani and another elephant, are the only ones of the 10 that have been there with the TDB since its inception in 1949, which are alive now. She was gifted to the TDB by the erstwhile Travancore Royal family," said the TDB president. He also said on the same day three mahouts who tended to Dakshayani and are now retired would be honoured, along with the two mahouts who take care of her presently. "On the same day we will bring out a directory of the 33 elephants that are owned by us and would include the entire history of every elephant," said Gopalakrishnan, and added that nowadays there are scientific ways to determine the age of an elephant. On July 23, an undergraduate student at Jadavpur University in Kolkata exposed her sexual harasser on social media and levelled charges against the perpetrator in a formal complaint that she filed with the authorities. The girl, whose identity has been kept secret, strongly voiced her contempt for Ekalavya Chaudhuri - the accused - who studies in the English department and is in the same year as her. The girl had lodged a complaint in August last year as well but even after the efforts to set him straight, Eklavya continued with his efforts to make her life hell. In a post that shook Facebook - garnering over 50,000 shares - the victim confessed that she couldn't find a confidant to share her pain with. She said that she was repeatedly tortured - mentally and physically - as the accused had accomplices outside the university as well. eyeartcollective The girl's announcement thereafter helped several other women to open up and share in her pain. They talked about how even they suffered harassment at the hands of the accused and one of his accomplices from another university. On her post, the girls claimed to have had proof against the accused. The victim elaborated in her post how Eklavya's accomplice offered his victims internships at her father's firm, in addition to sitting in their classroom and harassing them even more. The girls also exposed a friend of the accused from Presidency University, Janhabi Mukherjee, who led online and offline campaigns against the victim. eyeartcollective Soon after the incident came to light, the victim posted the following post on Facebook, where she talks about Facebook deleting the entire thread of conversation between her and Eklavya, as it didn't meet their 'Community Guidelines'. eyeartcollective The victim's posts had gone so massively viral on Facebook that some 40,000 people were talking about it. Two of the survivors lodged a formal complaint against the accused today while many others seek legal counsel. A joint statement was also released by the survivors, which reads: "We are a group of (up till now,13) women and girls who have been harassed, both online and in person, by Ekalavya Chaudhuri, son of Chandrayee Niyogi, (Professor, Department of English) who is also a student of Jadavpur University, Department of English. We have been touched without our consent. We have been objectified filthily. We have been made to feel like pieces of meat by a man who is utterly despicable. He believes that his actions will not yield any consequences. In many cases, he has been aided and abetted by his acquaintance, Janhabi Mukherjee of Presidency University, Department of English. She has harassed and intimidated us both in virtual spaces and in person. Jointly, they have both used their privilege to try and keep us silent. Jointly, they have violated our bodies and our minds. Jointly, they have attempted to erase our own agency over our lives. Not anymore. Today, we speak out as survivors of these vile, poisonous human beings. Today, we take a stand against crimes against women, patriarchy, elitism, entitlement, privilege, and bullying. We take this stand to retake our agency, to re-establish the narratives that were taken from us. Ekalavya Chaudhuri, you are a molester. A sex offender. A sexual predator. Janhabi Mukherjee, you aided and abetted in his crimes, and are no less guilty. We hope that our stand will encourage others to come forward with their own experiences which they have kept silent about for whatever reasons. Its time we all spoke up, its time we ripped all their masks off. Thank you for your support." A Change.org petition has also gone live concerning the same. Gunjan Saxena and Srividya Rajan. Names that got lost in time. Names that we should have never forgotten in the first place. Names of India's first women combat aviators who went all guns blazing into the heart of the war zone that was Kargil, seventeen years ago. This is the story of their bravery. Gunjan Saxena Family Gunjan Saxena had grown up in a family of fighters ready to give their all for the nation. Even her father and brother were in the army so when she decided to join the armed forces after completing her graduation from Delhi University's Hansraj College, it was more like a natural choice. In 1994, Ms Saxena, along with Srividya Rajan became one of the 25 young women who formed the first batch of women IAF trainee pilots. Although women pilots got inducted in the fighter squadron only in 2016, these two set the precedent back in 1999. At a time when many were still apprehensive about allowing females into the Indian Air Force, citing extreme physical and mental stress as reasons, Ms Saxena and Ms Rajan helped turn things in India's favour before becoming the perfect role models that they are. Ndtv Times were tough back then. Not only was the male-dominated armed forces of the country hesitant to let females into the army, those females selected would also have to go that extra length to prove that they were not only qualified but as good as the men if not better in carrying out the assigned tasks. Saxena and Rajan were waiting for one such opportunity to shine, and they eventually got it when the war broke out with Pakistan in 1999 over Kargil. Ndtv The Experiences Of Gunjan Saxena Even though they never flew fighter jets, Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena and Flight Lieutenant Srividya Rajan did fly through an area where the Pakistani army was practically shooting at anything and everything. The battle was tense and the army needed each and every pilot of theirs during the battle. The women pilots were called in, tasked with medical evacuations, supply drops and spotting Pakistani positions in the war zone. Not worrying about the fact that their tiny Cheetah helicopters were unarmed and completely defenseless to enemy attack, the two brave hearts continued flying in and out of the danger zone in North Kashmir. Apparently, in one of the attacks the Pakistani Army fired a rocket at Gunjan's chopper that was ready for take-off at the Kargil airstrip. The missile barely missed the chopper and crashed into the hill right behind. This was just one of the many near death experiences that Saxena and Rajan encountered, but it never slowed them down. Like every other Indian soldier, they too were prepared to die for their country that day. Gunjan was carrying a fully loaded INSAS assault rifle and a revolver with her, in case they crash landed near the enemy base they would have gone down fighting. Talking to NDTV, she says it was the evacuation of the injured Indian Army soldiers that motivated her the most during the war. "I think it is the ultimate feeling that you can ever have as a helicopter pilot. That was one of our main roles there - casualty evacuation. I would say it's a very satisfying feeling when you save a life because that is what you're there for," she said. Facebook/ National Cadet Corps (NCC) The lack of opportunities for women in the army led to the end of Gunjan's tenure as a chopper pilot after 7 years of service. For her outstanding show of courage in the Kargil war, Gunjan was awarded the Shaurya Vir Award, a gallantry award presented for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice while not engaged in direct enemy combat. First Honour From The Indian National Army She was also the first woman to receive such an honour from the army. Gunjan and Srividya never got an opportunity to fly fighter jets, but they did pave the way for others like them who wanted to fight for their country shoulder to shoulder with the men. Life of Gunjan Saxena In Indian Air Force Academy Gunjan Saxena biography suggests was born in Lucknow into an Army family. Gunjan's father, Lt Col Ashok Kumar Saxena who is retired from the services, and her brother both served in the Indian National Army. She has done her graduation from Hansraj College, University of Delhi with a Bachelor of science degree in Physics. She was among a group of 25 women who joined the IAF in 1994. This was the first batch of women air force trainees for the IAF. In her batch among the six female trainees was Srividya Rajan. Her first posting was in Udhampur Air Force Camp, as part of the 132 Forward Area Control (FAC). Here she faced lot of hardships. However she recalls that the male pilots accepted the situation faster than she expected. Vestiya (35) of Sorva village in Madhya Pradesh's tribal belt of Alirajpur recently picked up his bow and shot an arrow at his friend when he was not invited for a beer party. patrika.com This is not the only case of its kind. Officials say the tribal belt, known for guzzling country liquor, is moving to beer bottles. And tribals are ready to fight for their new drinks. Beer consumption in the tribal belt of Alirajpur and Jhabua is much more than in Indore, excise department data says. Deputy commissioner (excise) Vinod Raghuvanshi said there was a shift from mahua and taddi to beer. "This calls for a social study to know the changing tastes of tribals," he said. paradisenews.in Anil Tawar, a photographer in Alirajpur, said, "Jhabua and Alirajpur have taken to beer because local drinks do not give them the kick. They prepare a mixture of a whiskey quarter and a pint of beer," he said. gaatha.com Tribal women drink beer differently. "They drink it from their palms. During the annual Bhagoria festival women are seen drinking beer along with their friends," said Raju Bhilka, a villager. Two attackers killed a priest with a blade and seriously wounded another hostage in a church in Normandy northern France today before being shot dead by French police. There were no immediate details on the identity or motives of the two assailants but the investigation was handed to the anti-terrorist unit of the Paris prosecutor's office. bbci Priest killed in France church hostage taking - AFP latest https://t.co/KVw9zFNiRx pic.twitter.com/bGcYUJmrUO AFP news agency (@AFP) July 26, 2016 A police source said it appeared that the priest had had his throat slit. facebook/Gehlot News "At one point, the two assailants came out of the church and that's when they were killed by the BRI elite force," Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told France Info radio, referring to France's specialised police group. A priest was killed and another hostage was "between life and death", the interior ministry said. The attackers have been 'neutralised' say police sources. independent Prime Minister Manuel Valls branded the attack "barbaric" and said it was a blow to all Catholics and the whole of France. "We will stand together," Valls said on Twitter. The attack is the latest in a string of deadly assaults in Europe. The motivations for the hostage-taking were not yet clear, but the Paris prosecutor's office said the case had been handed to anti-terrorism judges for investigation. In France, the Normandy attack comes 12 days after a 31-year-old Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed his heavy goods truck into a crowd of revellers in the French Riviera city of Nice, killing 84 people. ISIS claimed that attack. The knifemen launched their assault by taking five people hostage inside the church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, south of Rouen. Interior Ministry spokesman Brandet confirmed one of the hostages had been killed and said another was critical. French President Francois Hollande was on his way to the site of the attack. "Horror. Everything is being done to trigger a war of religions," tweeted Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a former conservative prime minister who now heads the Senate's foreign affairs committee. i.ndtvimg It was the fourth time the security measures have been extended since Islamic State jihadists struck Paris in November, killing 130 people at restaurants, a concert hall and the national stadium. Sid Ahmed Ghlam, a 24-year-old Algerian IT student, was arrested in Paris on suspicion of killing a woman who was found shot dead in the passenger seat of her car, and of planning an attack on a church. Prosecutors say they found documents about Al-Qaeda and IS at his home, and that he had been in touch with a suspected jihadist in Syria about an attack on a church. The success of 'Operation Vijay' in Kargil on 26 July 1999 against Pakistani army is certainly one of brightest chapter in the glorious history of the mighty Indian Army. The heroes who sacrificed their lives in the war were immortalised in annals of history. wikipedia/afp But only a few know that it was the 'Gang of Four' who planned the Kargil misadventure, not Pakistani establishment. Be it ISI, Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Navy, other generals of Pakistan Army or even the then Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif - nobody had a clue about their nefarious plans till mid May 1999 when war with India became inevitable. Read the details here. Here are 5 more stories that may interest you: 1 Banned From Temples, Dalits Decide To Lose Their Religion And Convert To Islam Reuters 250 Dalit families have announced plans to convert to Islam after they were reportedly denied entry into temples in Vedaranyam and Karur districts in Tamil Nadu. 200 Dalit families near Vedaranyam claim to have been banned from participating in the temple festival, while 35 Dalit families in Karur complai that they were barred from even entering the local Mahasakhthi Amman temple. They claim that the temple was built using their contributions. Read here AFP In a humanitarian gesture, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today approved airlifting of a critically ill daughter of a retired naval officer from Chhattisgarh to the Army Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi after the father tweeted to him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking help. Retired naval officer Ravi Kant Soni tweeted to PM Modi and Mr Parrikar earlier in the day, saying he had requested the Ministry of Defence for air evacuation of his daughter who is on ventilation at a hospital in Bhilai with insufficient medical facilities. Read more details here 90s kids remember Yahoo! remember with a touch of nostalgia, almost like one remembers an old household pet they grew up. There were the seedy but functional chat-rooms, the clunky email that Gmail assassinated, and Yahoos attempt at being the first thing people did when they logged on (which Facebook killed). Yahoo's demise wasn't caused by the rise of Google - it was the result of a company that didn't know how to pivot out of their tiny empire that consisted of being a homepage, and a clunky email ID. Yahoo's struggles to resuscitate itself were feeble. Read the complete list here 4. 10 Tigers Died In India Every Month In 2016, The Highest Number In A Decade #SaveTheTiger PTI Addressing the Rajya Sabha during the ongoing Monsoo session, the Minister for Environment, Anil Madhav, has stated that 73 tigers deaths have been reported in the country in 2016 alone this year. "73 cases of tiger mortality have been reported by the states till date which inter alia include 21 cases of confirmed poaching including seizure, seven cases due to natural and other causes while 45 cases are under scrutiny," Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. Read more here 5. 86YO Dakshayani From Kerala Is All Set To Enter The Guinness Records As The World's Oldest Living Elephant Twitter/NoAnimalPoaching Great news for elephant lovers of India and especially God's Own Country, Kerala. Dakshayani, an 86-year-old female elephant from Kerala, is getting all set to enter the Guinness World Records as the oldest living elephant. The Travancore Devasom Board (TDB) - the owner of the elephant - has already written to the Guinness authorities staking claim to Dakshayani being the oldest living elephant in the world. The TDB owns 1,250 temples in south Kerala districts, including the famed Sabarimala temple. They have 33 elephants which take part in the festivals of their temples. Read more from here Nineteen residents of a handicapped facility in Tokyo were stabbed to death by a knife-wielding man who also injured 25 others in his maniacal killing spree, reports Reuters. In what's been described as the worst mass killing in decades, the killer was a former employee of the facility in Sagamihara and had expressed his desire to euthanise the differently-abled. Reuters According to a Kanagawa official, Satoshi Uematsu (26) was arrested some 40 km southwest of Tokyo. The accused turned himself in after committing the crime in which 19 were killed, and 20 out of 25 were seriously injured. Reuters The victims of the Tsukui Yamayuri-En facility were aged from 19 to 70 and included nine males and ten females. While Japan's daily newspaper, Asahi Shimbun reported the killer as saying "I want to get rid of the disabled from this world", others reported that he had long nursed a grudge after he was fired from his job at the facility. Were excited to announce that indmin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com. A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets. Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials. If you already have a Fastmarkets account, youll still have uninterrupted access to your markets by logging in with your current details. A proposal by the main opposition New Democracy (ND) party for the establishment of a Parliamentary committee of inquiry into the reasons leading to the imposition of capital controls and a bank holiday in late June 2015 was rejected by deputies of the government coalition on Tuesday Femi Fani-Kayode, Director of Media and Publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign is standing trial alongside a former senator and former Finance Minister, Esther Nenadi, Danjuma Yusuf and a company, Joint Trust Nigeria Limited, on 17-count charges. After being released by the court on meeting bail conditions, the former Aviation Minister took too his Facebook page to share his experience in detention and the state of the nation. See Also; I Have Done Nothing Wrong Femi Fani-Kayode 1.He begged his followers to forgive him for his curious silence over the last few months but this was due to circumstances beyond my control. That he says is as a result of his being locked up in President Buharis gulag and was not allowed to write from there. 2.He says he want to share his views about Nigeria today because he is aware of the fact that President Buhari has not finished with him yet and may be picked up and thrown into detention on other trumped up charges very soon. 3.Mr Fani-Kayode noted that Buharis government will do and say anything to silence my voice but they shall not prevail. 4.The former Minister state his concern is not what happens to him but what happens to Nigeria and the millions of ordinary people that are suffering in our country from the daily oppression of our modern-day slave masters. 5.He talked about the gruesome deaths of a Christian trade in Kano, female evangelist in Abuja, a Christian traditional ruler in Plateau state in the hands of Muslims. Adding that the events are no longer isolated but has prevailed because our government appears to be encouraging it. 6.He says the EFC has become a tool of oppression in the hands of the core muslim north who are using it to crush dissent and silence the opposition and his assertion is confirmed by the fact that 98 per cent of those that are detained be the EFCC for 2 days or more are southerners and Middle-belters whilst 98 per cent of those that run the agency at the top are from the core Muslim north. 7.FFK added that the lingua franca of the agency is hausa whilst the overwhelming majority of detainees are christians both in Lagos and Abuja. Core northern detainees are treated like royalty whilst Middle Belt and southern inmates are treated like filth. 8.He asked if it is an wonder that every single one of the numerous security and intelligence agencies (the army, the navy, the air force, the police, the Department of State Security (DSS), the EFCC, the National Securiry Advisors Office or the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC)except one (Nigerian Iintelligence Agency, NIA,), in our country except for one is headed by a northerner? 9.He says the quest for expansion and domination and this insatiable desire to islamise our nation is best reflected by the words and actions of the three Mahdis of the north that is Usman Dan Fodio, the second was his great grandson Sir Ahmadu Bello and the third is Muhammadu Buhari. Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, on Tuesday unveiled another ambitious plan of his administration that he was working to replicate Dubai, a United Arab Emirate (UAE) city, in Lagos. He also revealed the plan to expand tourism potentials of Badagry and Epe which, he said, would bring new investors and at the same time boost the states internally generated revenue (IGR). He made the disclosures during an inspection of on-going projects across the state alongside some members of the State Executive Council during which he flagged off the Epe-Marina Lagoon reclamation project. He explained that the lagoon reclamation project was aimed at giving a fillip to the tourism potentials of the state, noting that the projects in Epe and Badagry would look like those of Dubai in United Arab Emirates (UAE) when completed. He said the reclamation project will be completed by the end of August, this year.The Epe-Marina Lagoon reclamation project is a complete redevelopment of project site to facilitate development of the area and promote tourism. The governor explained that the project comes with sand filling to the lagoon up to about 200 meters and dualization of the network of roads in the axis with functional walkways. Further details later Source: Thisday A Buddhist monk living in Lafayette was sentenced yesterday to 30 months in prison for taking more than $263,463 from his own temple to gamble at a casino. US District Judge Donald Walter handed down the penalty on Khang Nguyen Le, 36, a Vietnamese citizen who had pleaded guilty to wire fraud. Walter also ordered Le to pay full restitution. Le might also face deportation to Vietnam after release from prison, authorities said. From 2010 to October 2014, Le was president, presiding monk and resident of the temple of the Vietnamese Buddhist Association of Southwest Louisiana. According to his March 17 guilty plea, he wrongfully withdrew $263,463.36 from the temples bank accounts between January 2013 and August 2014 to gamble at a Lake Charles casino. He withdrew the money via automated teller machines and casino tellers. To hide his crime from colleagues, Le misrepresented the temples financial situation at meetings. He gambled in less-used areas of the casino to avoid being seen, authorities said. The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, yesterday threw his weight behind a plan by the Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, to set up Joint Operation Centres (JOCs) across the country. Buratai gave his blessings to the plan when he received Idris during a courtesy visit at the Army Headquarters in Abuja. The Joint Operations Centres is a very good concept. If pursued, we are going to have effective operations that will produce very, very effective results in pursuance of national security and defence, Buratai said. The Army chief said the centres should have representatives from the Force Headquarters and state command headquarters, which is vital in the coordination of various security efforts. It is a welcome development and the army will join you, even today, we have officers ready and trained to work with you to ensure that our operations are coordinated. We are going to give you full support, we all know that the police are the lead agency in internal security operations, this is recognized by the Nigerian Army and we will continue to give you support, he added. Earlier, Mr. Idris had disclosed plans to establish JOCs at the headquarters of police commands in the 36 states of the federation. The acting IGP noted that the centres would enhance continuous collaboration and dialogue with the army and other security agencies on a daily basis to address security challenges in the country. At least 13 people are feared dead following two deadly attacks in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu. Both bomb blasts targeted an army base for African Union troops and three of the casualties are civilians. The first blast went off near the entrance to the base while the second went off at a checkpoint close to the base. Terror group, Al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the bombings in a statement to news channel Al Jazeera. Our Mujahideen targeted Halane which is base to the foreign forces occupying our Muslim country. We have killed dozens of them, Abdulaziz Abu Muscab, a spokesman for the group, said. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, gubernatorial candidate for the Edo election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, has made some very damning allegations against governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state. The gubernatorial candidate revealed how Oshiohmole became Edo governor and some more. 1.Former Governor brought in Oshiomhole because he failed Lucky Igbinedion recommended him to some of us that people are saying he had not done well, let him appoint a man who is popular, who appears to have popularity among the people. Let it be on record that he helped him to become governor. That was how he introduced Oshiomhole. We did it for two reasons. 2. Oshiomholes part of Edo state has never produced a governor First was that because Edo is one and an Afenmai man has never become the governor. We felt it was time for an Afenmai man to become the governor. I also bought the story of Lucky Igbinedion that this man just left office as President of the NLC. This man will be interested in the masses, he will be interested in our pensioners, he will be interested in students. This man will excel. On that note, we supported him. He declared he had no money, we have to put all the resources together to support him. 3. He dared Oshiomhole to make known where he got money to finance his election campaign When he is busying talking about Lucky Igbinedion, let Edo people know that it was Lucky Igbinedion that brought him. In 2007, I want him to tell Edo people where he got the money he spent to become governor. In case, he has forgotten, I will like to remind him that most of the money comes from Lucky Igbinedion. Since he is saying Lucky Igbinedion stole Edo State money, can he please refund the money he collected from Lucky. 4. He pointed fingers at Oshiomhole and Jonathan for rigging election Four students from the Federal University of Technology Akure, (FUTA) and another from Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba, (AAU) have been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibadan Zonal Office for allegedly involving in N16million Internet fraud. The Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement said the suspects were arrested at an Off-Campus residence located at Anuoluwapo Close, Stateline Hotel Road, off FUTA South Gate, Akure, Ondo. The fraudsters who are between 20 and 23 years of age include: Adeleke Paul (21), Adebiyi Tayo Abudu (22), Akinsanmi Olusola Adeniyi (21), Ogundile Ademola James (23) and Okali Ugochukwu (21). The commission got wind of their activities through series of intelligence. Paul and partners-in-crime, who go about the name Tsunnami Gang and Young Pablo Money allegedly swindled unsuspecting foreigners and others to the tune of N16million recently. The suspected fraudsters engaged in fraudulent activities of obtaining money by false pretences through scam mails, the statement reads. Paul is a penultimate final years student of Building Technology while James and Olusola are both 400 level students of Agricultural Resources and Mathematics respectively. Okali is a 200 level student of Urban and Regional Planning, while Adebiyi Tayo is a 300 level Student of Mathematics of the Adekunle Ajasin University. Akungba, Ondo State. At the point of arrest, EFCC operatives recovered a 2006, black Toyota highlander with registration number(Lagos) LND 112 EG, 2010 light- green Toyota Camry (Muscle) registration number (Lagos) AAA 850 EF, laptops, three Apple iphone6 and three Blackberry phones from them. Some implicating documents were also found and downloaded from their laptops. They are to be arraigned in court as soon as investigation is completed, the statement added. A female Prisons staff attached to Kirikiri female prisons, Lagos, has been dismissed from the service for smuggling alcoholic beverages into the prison yard. A statement by a spokesperson for the prisons, F. Enobore, said on Tuesday that the dismissal letter signed on behalf of the Controller-General of Prisons, Jaafaru Ahmed, by the officer-in-charge of discipline, Agun Olatunji, said that the staff, whose name was not disclosed, was found guilty of negative activities which borders on trafficking, an act that contravenes the enabling provisions of Sections 14 (i) (a) and Section 82 (n) of Prisons Act Cap P.29 LFN 2004 and punishable under Sections 14 (i) (g) and Section 83 of same Act. Trafficking, in prisons parlance, is the act of smuggling prohibited item(s) or unauthorized information into or out of the prison yard. The offence is usually viewed seriously because of its potential threat to security, Mr. Enobore said. Cases of inmates making illegal phone calls from their cells, organising jail breaks, having access to weapons, escapes, etc are all traced to trafficking sometimes perpetrated by staff and this has often been a source of embarrassment not only to the Service but the nation at large. Such compromising acts no doubt, do not augur well for the security of a custodial institution like the Prisons Service and also put the lives of innocent staff and inmates in serious danger. The arrest of the wardress is certainly an indication of the dawn of a new era in prison management in Nigeria and a justification of the recent mass re-deployment of officers and men nationwide to strengthen security, the statement said. Pandemonium broke out in the early hours of Monday in Kubwa, a satellite town in Abuja, as residents woke up to the sound of sporadic shooting by daredevil armed robbers who robbed an Access Bank customer of N4.3million in front of the bank. The robbery took place at about 10 oclock at the bank branch at Phase 4, when the robbers, arriving in commando-style, blocked the car of the customer, who had come to deposit money. Jubril Mohammed, an eyewitness, told SaharaReporters that the victim was a staff of Total Filling Station who came to deposit the money in the bank. I was standing right here when I saw a car in high speed and stopped right in front of the bank and four men came out with guns and they started shooting at a car. One of them opened the trunk of the car and removed a bag filled with money. It was gathered that the robbers, who brandished sophisticated weapons, had followed their victim from the petrol station when they somehow learned he would be taking some cash to the bank. They carted away the sum of N4.3 million, leaving the victims vehicle perforated with bullets, but he received no injuries. SaharaReporters however gathered that a member of staff of Etisalat, who operates a mobile shop in front of the bank, received a gunshot wound during the melee and was rushed to the hospital. A policeman who attached to the bank also exchanged fire with the robbers as residents scampered for safety. Other policemen arrived at the scene of the incident after the assailants had fled. Cartridges of ammunition used by the robbers were taken away alongside the victims disabled vehicle. Business activities at the bank were put on hold as customers were turned back. Effort to get a comment from the bank manager proved abortive as the security guard said that the bank had been closed for operation and he could not allow anybody access into the premises. When journalists visited Area Commander R.O Kalu at the Phase 4 Divisional Police Station to ascertain if there have been any arrests in connection with the robbery, he declined comment, directing them to the FCT Commissioner of Police. Source: SaharaReporters Parenting can be quite an arduous adventure. It is hard enough with a committed partner, but when you are doing it alone, especially in Nigeria, the difficulty rises to a whole new level. It can be tricky, maintaining good mental health, thriving as an individual and nurturing your children in the best possible manner. There are quite a number of women in the country who are single parents through the death of a spouse, divorce, abandonment or choice. While some of these women often feel like they have got it really rough, or that they are doing just about everything wrong; there are others who are successfully and joyfully raising children by themselves. Wondering how they are scaling through? Jumia travel, Africas No.1 online hotel booking portal, shares a few suggestions to help smooth the journey of any single mother in Nigeria. HAVE A SOLID FINANCIAL BUDGET A majority of problems faced by single mothers in Nigeria is financially related and most times, it results from improper financial planning. As a single mother, it is essential that you draw up a financial budget per time and stick to it. Calculate how much you earn, what your main expenses are and figure out what is left over for saving and plan accordingly. This ensures that you live according to your means per time and you are do not always run into debt. PLAN AHEAD FOR EMERGENCIES Life is full of uncertainties and so it is important that as a single mother you have solid plans for emergencies. Aside from putting money aside for urgent situations, ensure you have you medicine cupboard filled with relevant medication for cases or allergy or infections. Look for emergency babysitting service in your area that can often provide help fairly quickly in situations where you are incapacitated and need care for your child. Also, create an emergency list of friends and family members you know you can call on for help in dire situations. ADJUST YOUR PRIORITIES A number of single mothers in Nigeria tend to fall into the superwoman trap, assuming they can pull off combining a 9-5 job with house cleaning, cooking meals, and tending to their childrens needs. As a single mother, it is important that they stay realistic about what you can and cant accomplish in a day and set priorities. Lower your expectations and give yourself time for a break. You do not even have to do everything on your own, free up some personal time by hiring help from time to time. AVOID COUPLE ENVY This might seem trivial but is a major cause of depression for many single mothers in Nigeria. You are a single parent, things are extra difficult and you most times get lonely; it is normal to feel envious of friends who have kind, involved husbands, men who actually want to be with them and pitch in, but it is important to avoid getting caught up in the illusion that everything would be perfect if you just had a partner. Remind yourself that everyone has problems, even married people. Constant envy breeds resentment and bitterness, which eventually drains your energy and causes you enough stress to ensure your situation gets even extra difficult. BUILD A COMMUNITY Do not be too proud or shy to rely on people around you when you need help or support. Forge a strong community around you, people who can provide emotional support and a sense of belonging the perfect antidote to the isolation brought on by solo parenting. Even if you are in a city like Abuja where social life is not over active, you can push yourself into social situations, join a church or a club, and attend events in your location. Do not be afraid to open yourself up to others. Just because you are a single mom, does not mean you or your child should not have other people to go to. Have a diverse social circle and keep a positive outlook on life. If you sit around and play victim to your circumstances things will just keep being difficult for you. Source:Vanguard Nasarawa State Governor, Umaru Al-Makura, has reiterated his earlier position on workers salaries. The governor spoke yesterday in Lafia during the swearing-in ceremony of the newly appointed Interim Management Committee (IMC) chairmen of 11 local government areas. Al-Makura, in his remark, asked the organized labour to choose between mass sack to allow implementation for the minimum wage previously enjoyed by workers or receive reduced pay. Noting that he preferred to pay full salary, Al-Makura explained that government cannot afford to do so due to the economic situation. We are faced with the difficult option of paying full salary and stopping all development projects and amenities, he said. Al-Makura begged the workers to adjust the hard stance and toe the line of reasoning on review of their salaries. Source: Dailypost A 46-year-old trader, Monsuru Abass has been charged before the Igbosere Magistrates Court with duping a prospective tenant the sum of N520,000 with the guise of renting him a mini flat. He was arraigned on Tuesday on a two-count charge of obtaining under false pretence and stealing, the offences he pleaded not guilty of. The Prosecutor, Inspector Ingobo Emby told the court that the alleged offences were committed on January 13, at No. 4, Ita-Faaji Street, off Isale-Gangan, Lagos Island. He accused the suspect of obtaining N520,000 as rent from one Lukmon Lawal with pretext to give him a room and parlour self-contained apartment situated at No. 34, Freeman Street, Lagos Island, a representation you knew to be false. He added the offence contravene the Sections 312(3) and 285(9)(b) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2011. However, the presiding Magistrate, Mr M.O Amos granted the accused N100,000 bail with two sureties in the like sum and moved the case to Monday, August 8. The palace of the Shehu of Bama, Alhaji Kyari Ibn Ibrahim Elkanemi, was in a jubilation mood when his wife and daughter abducted by the Boko Haram terrorists two years ago regained their freedom. Some relations wept, while others were joyous when they sighted the Queen and her daughter in the company of the General Officer Commanding 7 Division, Nigeria Army, Brig. Gen. Victor Ezugwu, who brought them safely to the palace at about 1:30p.m. yesterday. It would be recalled that Queen Hajju was abducted in 2014 alongside two of her children during deadly attacks on Bama town, which was later taken over by the insurgents. Unfortunately, her son died in the hands of the terrorists, leaving her daughter and the Queen in Boko Haram captivity, before troops rescued them during their operations around Damboa axis within the week. Some dignitaries who visited the resident of Shehu of Bama to welcome the returnees include wife of Borno State Governor, Hajiya Nana Shettima; Deputy Governor Usman Durkwa and other government functionaries. Punch A former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Chibudom Nwuche, has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, for an alleged N5.6bn contract scam. Vanguard ONITSHADetained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu yesterday, exploded from his prison custody when he insisted that his decision to restore the nation of Biafra was not his personal choice but a mandate from the Most High God (Chiukwu-okike-abiama) which was assigned to him from time immemorial. The Sun NATIONAL chairmanship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Chief Raymond Dokpesi yesterday in Asaba, Delta State explained why the party rejected former Governor of Bornu State, Ali Modu Sheriff as chairman. Thisday Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has explained that the reason the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is investigating some of the stalwarts of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is because the party diverted money meant for public services to fund political campaigns or other questionable purposes. Daily Times From the nations Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, came, on Monday, a declaration that the Federal Governments anti-corruption crusade was not targeted at the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its members. Guardian Protesting its innocence, the Senate yesterday declared that it could not have been complicit in the alleged padding of the N6.06 trillion 2016 budget by the House of Representatives when the National Assembly is the authority statutorily empowered to produce the nations fiscal plan. Daily Trust Controversial Enugu Roman Catholic Priest, the Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, yesterday denied holding any meeting with either President Muhammadu Buhari or his representatives before the 2015 general elections. Leadership President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday, in Abuja, said the federal government was working assiduously to ameliorate the challenges faced by the Nigerian economy within a short period, by understudying the experiences of countries like Iran who thrived in adversity. The Nation Chairman, Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism, Senator Mathew Urhoghide, has lashed out at former President, Olusegun Obasanjo for saying the National Assembly was made up of armed robbers and rogues. Obasanjo while addressing State House Correspondents after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja said the padding scandal rocking the National Assembly confirmed his earlier notion about the current federal lawmakers he described as thieves and rogues. Urhoghide, in his reaction said the lawmakers deserved an unreserved apology from the former President. According to the senator, I believe former President Obasanjo has premised his denigrating comment on the on-going sordid accusations on 2016 budget between Hon Abdumumuni Jibrin, the erstwhile Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations and the leadership of the House of Representatives. What is going on in the media is indeed disgraceful if actually the mentioned House members did the padding of the 2016 budget. I and others in the Senate deserve and demand unreserved apology from Chief Obasanjo for casting aspersions and denigrating our individual integrity and the institution we represent. Source: Dailypost Forgive her father for she has sinned! Oge Okoye donned a cleavage baring black dress to a London church last Sunday and Lord help her for the ultimate fashion faux pas. The actress, who has been revealing a lot recently, went a step further by confusing the entire congregation including her fans with her daring outfit. Unfortunately for her, this particular piece drew the wrath of her fans who pounced on her for exposing her cleavage. Some where of the opinion that such dress should not be worn to the house of God, a sacred place many like her dont respect anymore. While others wondered why she wore a dress like she was going to a night club. But even stylish Nigerians say the look needs an act of contrition. If Oge was truly going to the house of God, she could go without being fashion forward. Its disrespectful, they added. Others say, the actress should repent for her revealing look to the House of God except if she was going to show him the fresh b**bs he gave her. A theologian added, Our body is the temple of the Lord Dont let people deceive you Beauty without decency and a true heart of love for God and his words is vanity Another theologian wanted the Church to start canning people that dress like that to Church, while others who take a more modern approach to church dress codes believe Oge would have turned heads at church even if she was dressed conservatively. The chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Walid Jibrin, yesterday cautioned his predecessor, Chief Tony Anenih, over his statement on the alleged impeachment threat against President Muhammadu Buhari. Anenih had in a letter to the national caretaker chairman of PDP, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, urged him to call the PDP Senate caucus to order over its ill-advised threat to impeach the president. The former BoT chair said now was not the time for politicking but for all hands to be on deck to salvage the country from its present challenges. But Jibrin said Anenihs warning was misplaced, saying there was no such threat from the PDP senators. At a meeting of PDP BoT members in Abuja on Monday, Jibrin cautioned elders and members of the party to be mindful of their utterances, particularly about issues relating to the polity. The BoT chairman stressed that statement by the Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, and other senators, refuting the impeachment threat, should be enough to put the matter to rest. He, however, enjoined the PDP caucus in the National Assembly to play politics of issues instead of focusing on individuals. The opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari on the formal commissioning of the Abuja-Kaduna railway and the flag-off of commercial operations on it. The president earlier on Tuesday commissioned the standard-gauge rail line at the trains main station at Idu, Abuja with a promise to link all states and commercial centers in the country with rail lines. The project, which was conceptualized by the Goodluck Jonathan administration and had reached advanced stage of completion before President Buhari took over power last year May, cost a whopping $874million with the China Export-Import Bank providing the sum of $500million as a concessionary loan. The PDP, which congratulated Mr. Buhari via its official Twitter handle, also commended former President Jonathan, expressing the hope that the project fulfils his dreams of greater integration between the cities of Abuja and Kaduna. 1. Today, we congratulate @NGRPresident as he commissions the Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge rail line & flags off commercial operations on it. #VoteAndStay (@voteandstay) July 26, 2016 2. We particularly congratulate the people of Nigeria who can enjoy the benefits of this revolutionary project & service. #VoteAndStay (@voteandstay) July 26, 2016 3. We must commend former President @GEJonathan for the conceptualisation & inception of the project as a standard gauge rail line. 1/2 #VoteAndStay (@voteandstay) July 26, 2016 We sincerely hope the project fulfils the dreams he had of greater integration between the cities of Abuja & Kaduna. 2/2 #VoteAndStay (@voteandstay) July 26, 2016 4. We also commend @NOIweala for the work put into the structure & funding of the project. It is important to note that the structure1/2 #VoteAndStay (@voteandstay) July 26, 2016 structure used ensured it didnt suffer the fate of many projects before it which were abandoned by successive administrations. 2/2 #VoteAndStay (@voteandstay) July 26, 2016 5. The 185 km Abj-Kad standard gauge rail line is one of the first standard gauge rail lines in Nigeria & was constructed by CCECC. #VoteAndStay (@voteandstay) July 26, 2016 6. The project features cargo & passenger trains. 4000 people were employed during construction & at inception, the project was1/2 #VoteAndStay (@voteandstay) July 26, 2016 projected to employ 5000 people for its operations. 2/2 #VoteAndStay (@voteandstay) July 26, 2016 7. Passenger trains on the line can operate for speeds of up to 200kms per hr while cargo trains can travel at speeds up to 150kms per hr. #VoteAndStay (@voteandstay) July 26, 2016 8. Travel time between the two cities will be 1hr & 1hr30mins for passenger & cargo trains respectively. #VoteAndStay (@voteandstay) July 26, 2016 9. The rail line has 9 stations & cost $874m. Of this figure, $500m was provided by the China Exim Bank as a concessionary loan while1/2 #VoteAndStay (@voteandstay) July 26, 2016 Jonathan administration paid the balance as counterpart funding. 2/2 #VoteAndStay (@voteandstay) July 26, 2016 10. The rail line included the construction of 30 railway bridges, including 5 box bridges. Construction on the rail line commenced1/2 #VoteAndStay (@voteandstay) July 26, 2016 in February 2011 & ended in December 2014. The 9 stations were in advanced stages of completion when the Jonathan admin handed over. 2/2 #VoteAndStay (@voteandstay) July 26, 2016 Others soon to be completed include new terminals at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Int'l Airport, Abuja & Akanu Ibiam Int'l Airport, Enugu. 2/2 #VoteAndStay (@voteandstay) July 26, 2016 As President Buhari just completed and commissioned the Abuja Kaduna Rail project, we thought you might what to see some photos from event. Crowd cheers President Buhari as he commissions Operation of Abuja-Kaduna Rail Project Minister of Transport, Amaechi Rotimi stepping off the train Politicians cheering president Buhari during his speech President Buhari raises the flag The mixed service train will leave Kano for Port Harcourt every Thursday and from Port Harcourt to Kano every Tuesday. A Ghanaian Police officer the name not clearly stated , in the early hours of Today July 25th 2016 , did something devilish at Deftraco in Tema In Ghana. Social media sources have revealed that this Policeman shot his wife and two children to death. After killing them, he turned the gun ON himself and shot himself dead. WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOW Source: Vivian Gist The Obayuwanas have jetted off to Europe for a luxurious summer vacation with stops in Italy and France. In their first vacation picture, the CEO of Polo Luxury was all smiles in his signature white blazer, while his daughter, Jennifer flaunted her gorgeous body while arriving in Cannes. In another photo, the stunning beauty shared photos of her day out which included a wine tasting event and launch date. Not forgetting this stunning photo she shared on her Instagram page, which has got over a thousand Like. She wore the breathtaking dress for a dinner date with her friends at the tourist destination of Cap D Antibes. Thanks to Jennifer, her fans have been able to keep up with her fun and business moments including her selection for next season mens shoes for Polo Avenue. Its been quite a busy year for Jennifer Obayuwana. From being involve in the wedding planning of her aunt, Olori Wuraola to the Ooni of Ife, to the launch of new outlets for Polo Luxury Group, you can say the hardworking single lady has earned her place among the most influential CEOs of her generation. According to RMC Sport journalist, Mohamed Bouhafsi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was allowed to choose his number after signing for Manchester United. The Swedish striker wasted no time in picking the number nine, which was immediately assigned to him before the club informed last seasons No9 player, Anthony Martial. We now gather that the French forward is not appreciating the Swedes presence so much, given the way his number was snatched by the former Paris Saint Germain forward. See the tweets of the journalist who had inside knowledge of what transpired. So we took a look and this is what we found posted on Saturday, July 23. The Senate on Monday dismissed reports that it was planning to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari. The Senate Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South), dismissed the reports while speaking with journalists in Abuja yesterday. According to him, it is futile for anybody to think the Senate alone can impeach the president. Senator Ndume insisted that the Senate cannot impeach the president and that the idea was never even contemplated. He said, The impeachment process is a National Assembly matter not the Senate alone. Senate cannot impeach the President. It is the National Assembly that can impeach the President. The Senate cannot impeach President Buhari. It is the National Assembly and it is by 2/3 majority. It is a process, a long tedious process and in this country we dont even need that. We are not even contemplating it and even if anybody contemplates it, it is not going to work because this is an APC Senate. We have the majority. It is 60-58 senators and you need 72 senators to start off impeachment process. Where are they going to get the 24? Let me tell you as some of them are coming into PDP, many of them have their other legs with us in the APC. Ndume noted that President Buhari does not have issues of corruption, integrity or mismanagement that could be grounds for an impeachment process, adding We have a president that is straight forward and he doesnt have any mismanagement or abuse of due process. A mild drama played out in the Senate on Tuesday during the screening of Ambassadorial nominees as two of the nominees failed to recite the National anthem and pledge properly. The screening of the nominees commenced today after weeks of delay due to allegations that President Muhammadu Buhari did not comply with federal character in nominating the Ambassadors-designate. The stage was finally set for the important task of screening the nominee-envoys but it came as a surprise when the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Senator Monsurat Sunmonu, asked the nominee from Anambra State, Vivian Nwunaku Okeke, to recite the national anthem, but she could not as she mixed it up. The same fate befell the nominee from Niger State, Ibrahim Isa, when he was asked by Sen. Sunmonu to recite the National Pledge. A member of the committee, Senator James Manager (PDP, Delta South), however, corrected the nominees. The screening of the 47 career Foreign Service officers submitted for consideration as Ambassadors is still ongoing as at the time of publishing this report. The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) also known as Shiites, on Monday raised the alarm over the deteriorating health condition of its spiritual leader, Sheik Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, and wife, Zeenatuddeen, currently in the custody of the Department of State Security, DSS. The Chairman of the Resource Forum of the sect, Abdullahi Danladi, raised the alarm while addressing journalists in Kaduna. According to Danladi, a Professor of Textile Technology at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, the Shiite leader was in dire need of medical attention following life-threatening injuries he sustained last Decembers clash between El-Zakzakys followers and soldiers in Zaria, Kaduna State. He said: While the security agents recently told a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja that they were detaining him (El-Zakzaky) with his consent in protective custody and that they had spent close to N5 million on him, evidence glaringly point to the contrary, that the Sheikh is being held and allowed to gradually loose his sight and die in detention. The Resource Forum of the sect said in addition to the life-threatening gunshot injuries sustained by Mr. Zakzaky, his blood pressure was almost spiraling out of control and might result in death if not urgently attended to. There is also a complicated wound on his stomach which he sustained during his 1987 incarceration in Kirikiri, Mr. Danladi said. The don noted that the sect leaders wife also has a bullet lodged in her spinal cord and if not urgently removed, she might suffer paralysis. He, therefore, called on the authorities to give the El-Zakzakys urgent medical attention in view of the apparent danger they were facing. The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) is deeply concerned about the health of our incarcerated leader and believes that it is in the interest of the Nigerian state, and those holding him, to release him unconditionally to enable him attend to his health, Prof. Danladi pleaded. One of Africas most celebrated runway queens, Millen Magese is once again enjoying a relaxed break as she posted series of pictures of herself on Instagram. In one of the photos, Millen is spotted by the pool side in a gorgeous red two-piece swimsuit. In another snap, the supermodel can be seen giving us a taste of her supermodel physique in a black cut-out swimsuit with a lovely hat to match. Not forgetting her most recent, which shows the Tanzanian walking into the beautiful blue water in a yellow piece. An alleged thief known as Usman Bin Ladan (a name that notably sounds similar to the late famous terrorist, Osama Bin Laden) met his Waterloo yesterday in Kebbi state after he was killed while trying to steal a motorcycle at a market in one of the communities. According to sketchy reports by Rariya News platform, the thief was beaten mercilessly by an angry mob as he died in the process. Source: National Helm On this day in 2013, the Senate passed a resolution empowering it and the House of Representatives to take over the legislative functions of the Rivers State House of Assembly. In the resolution which concurred with that of the House on July 10, the Senate also flayed the attempt by five anti-Rotimi Amaechi lawmakers to impeach the state Assembly Speaker, Otelemaba Amachree. Also on this day in 2007, Court sentenced former Bayelsa State Governor, Dieprieye Alamieyeseigha to two years in jail on charges of corruption and money laundering and ordered him to forfeit millions in property and cash. Alamieyeseigha pleaded guilty before a Nigerian court to six charges and was sentenced to two years in prison on each charge; however, because the sentences were set to run concurrently and the time was counted from the point of his arrest nearly two years before the sentences, his actual sentence was relatively short. Many of his assets were ordered to be forfeited to the Bayelsa state government. According to Alamieyeseigha, he only pleaded guilty due to his age and would have fought the charges had he been younger. On July 27, just hours after being taken to prison, he was released due to time already served. The Federal Government in conjunction with the United States Government have commenced the training of 100 Nigerian public officials on the implementation of Nigerias cybercrime law. In the first week, U.S. government officials will train over 50 Nigerian investigators and prosecutors to strengthen cybercrime first responder and digital evidence skills, which will enable them review international cooperation, cyber security strategies and civil liberty issues. In the second week, the U.S. government officials will train 40 judges, 10 legislators and policy makers on legal proceedings and digital evidence, this will address cyber security campaigns, internet governance and countering violent extremism. Charge dAffaires of the U.S. at the West Africa Cyber-security Initiative Bilateral Workshop, Ms Maria Brewer, said that the two countries would collaborate to fight against cybercrime. She added that the workshop was aimed at building capacity of Nigerian law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, legislators, and policy makers to help with the implementation of Nigerias cybercrime law. Today, we aim to equip the investigators and prosecutors from across the Nigerian government with digital, forensic, and evidence tools they need to prosecute cases. At the same time, this workshop highlights international cooperation, cyber security strategies and civil liberty issues. Together, Brewer explained, we are committed to helping the Nigerian government fight cyber crime; boosting cyber security is critical to prosperity in our interconnected world. The U.S. official commended the Federal Government for the passage of the Cyber crime Act of 2015. I commend Nigeria for accomplishing the first and most important of these steps by passing the Cybercrime Act of 2015, which incorporated recommendations from the U.S. and the UK. We hope that this workshop will contribute to strengthening the abilities of investigators and increase our ability to cooperate across national boundaries. Nigeria, along with the U.S., must continue to address cybercrime in a manner consistent with core values of civil liberties and commitment to privacy, she said. She therefore, urged the participants to use the opportunity to strengthen the bonds within the Nigerian and U.S. law enforcement community. The more we understand each other and our respective bureaucracies, the less criminals can exploit loopholes based on our divisions, Brewer added. The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, yesterday warned that the Army will deploy full military action if the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) and other militant groups in the Niger Delta reject the federal governments call for dialogue. The federal government has ordered a suspension of all military operations in the restive Niger Delta region to allow for a window of dialogue with militant groups following months of bombings of oil and gas installations by the Avengers and other militants. Gen. Buratai gave the warning yesterday after inaugurating the two-storey administrative headquarters complex, Olympic-size swimming pool and two other projects at the 2 Brigade of the Army in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He also inaugurated four projects at the Military Hospital on Aba Road, Port Harcourt. The inauguration was attended by Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike, who was represented by Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chief Kenneth Kobani, and the immediate past Commander of the Brigade, Brig.-Gen. Stevenson Olabanji, now the Commander of 3 Brigade, Kano. The projects were started during Olabanjis 11-month stay at the 2 Brigade. The befitting administrative headquarters and other projects were started in January by the former commander, with the foundations laid by Gen. Buratai, and completed within six months. The swimming pool was constructed for intensive training of army officers and men, in view of the peculiar environment they are operating in with many of them unable to swim. Speaking through the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division, Enugu, Maj.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, the Army Chief said: Government is still committed to dialogue (with Niger Delta militants). Whereby this cannot go on, then there could be resort to other means. The non-kinetic means has always been the source first, before government can recourse to the kinetic means (dropping bombs and using bullets, using lethal force/full military action/war or killing people). So, there is the need for the Niger Delta Avengers to see reason and dialogue with government. Each time the army goes out to work, it works in support of the civil authority and we will continue to do that. If there is a need for the military authority to support the civil authority (during Rivers July 30 rerun), based on need from the police, we will continue to do just that. Attahiru declared that the army expected that the projects would translate to greater performance of soldiers, stressing that attention should be devoted to maintenance of the projects. In his remarks, Mr. Olabanji descried the commissioned projects as the highpoint of his stay as commander of 2 Brigade, Port Harcourt. The former 2 Brigade Commander recalled that some soldiers died due to their inability to swim, which necessitated the construction of the Olympic-size swimming pool in line with the vision of the Chief of Army Staff. He expressed optimism that the projects would enhance the capacity and capability of soldiers. Brig.-Gen. Olabanji revealed that Gen. Buratai chose the site of the headquarters building of 2 Brigade and followed the progress of work till completion. He also urged the army personnel in 2 Brigade to extend the same level of support and loyalty he enjoyed to the new commander. President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said the federal government is working round the clock to ameliorate the challenges faced by the Nigerian economy within a short period by understudying the experiences of countries like Iran, who thrived in adversity. The president made this known when he received in audience at the State House in Abuja, a Special Envoy from the President of Islamic Republic of Iran, Mohammad Javad Zarif. President Buhari said the Iranian economy remains an inspiration for Nigeria in the deployment of technology to harness and export gas, grow food for the populace and promote entrepreneurship in education. Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, quoted Mr. Buhari as saying The progress made by Iran within a short period of 30 years is really commendable. Within the period, you have been able to harness gas flaring, and you are now exporting. You have recorded strides in security, manufacturing, agriculture and technology. You have also achieved a lot in nuclear research. I must also congratulate you for successfully negotiating with America and the European countries on the development of your nuclear energy, he said. The president noted that Nigeria had all the potentials for growing into a great economy through more inclusive planning, consistency in government policies and commitment to the realization of development targets. In Nigeria, we are learning. We are learning the hard way through hardship, and we are learning very quickly on how to explore other sectors of the economy like gas, solid minerals and agriculture for growth. We are grateful for your support and cooperation in opening up the Nigerian economy for diversification, President Buhari told the envoy. In his remark, the Iranian envoy, who is also the Minister of Foreign Affairs, said the Iranian government would support the ongoing restructuring of the Nigerian economy. We are very keen to see a better and stronger relationship with Nigeria, which is the largest country in Africa and a major global player, he said. Mr. Zarif, who was accompanied to the State House by his countrys ambassador to Nigeria, Morteza Rahimi Zarchi, said he came into Nigeria with a delegation of more than 70 members of the Iranian business community, who he pointed out had already started discussions in investing in sectors like banking, education, scholarship, agriculture, energy, tourism and technology development. Verizon, which today announced its intention to purchase Yahoo for $4.8 billion, will be on the hook to Mozilla for more than $1 billion through 2019. According to Yahoo's CEO, Marissa Mayer, Verizon may be liable for partial payments even if Mozilla cuts ties to Yahoo and seeks another search provider. [ Read 'em and weep: 5 ways your ISP is screwing you | Cut to the key news in technology trends and IT breakthroughs with the InfoWorld Daily newsletter, our summary of the top tech happenings. ] Earlier this month, Recode and the New York Times claimed that the 2014 Yahoo-Mozilla contact gave Mozilla the right to switch to another search provider if Yahoo was sold. The contract, signed in November 2014, made Yahoo the default search provider for Mozilla's Firefox browser in the U.S. market. In return, Mozilla would receive $375 million annually for five years, or through the end of 2019. Yahoo's annual payment was about $100 million more than Google paid Mozilla during their last deal, which ran just three years, from late 2012 to late 2014. While Recode and the New York Times agreed on Mozilla's ability to get out of the Yahoo contract, they differed on the financials. Recode contended that Yahoo -- and thus any buyer -- was obligated to pay the full $375 million each year, even if Mozilla deemed the buyer unacceptable and switched providers in Firefox. The New York Times, however, said that if Mozilla dumped Yahoo, the latter would only have to make up the difference between its $375 million and the payment of Mozilla's new search partner. Both publications reported that Mozilla had the right to demand all remaining payments as a lump sum if it exited the Yahoo contract. Assuming Verizon closes the Yahoo deal in early 2017 -- as it intends -- under those terms, Verizon could be forced to fork over approximately $1.1 billion to cover the final three years of the Mozilla contract. But during a conference call with Wall Street analysts last week, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer disputed parts of the accounts by Recode and the New York Times. In her prepared remarks, Mayer clarified the contract's impact, citing "questions surrounding our Mozilla partnership," obviously referring to the media reports, to discuss the deal. "While we would certainly like to continue the partnership regardless of our strategic alternatives process, should Mozilla choose not to, our agreement does provide for certain mitigations, which would reduce our exposure," Mayer said. "Ultimately, it remains in our mutual best interest to maintain a healthy path forward, and we do hope to do just that." Mayer thus confirmed that the ball is in Mozilla's court -- it could nullify the partnership after a sale -- but also challenged the accounts that said Verizon would have to pay the full balance of the contracted payments. ("Reduce our exposure" is corporate-speak for reducing expenses.) When a Wall Street analyst later asked for more information about the Mozilla deal, Mayer repeated her assertions that the media got it wrong. "On Mozilla there's not a lot more that I can say because it is a confidential relationship," Mayer said. "But we did want to point out, because I think it has been misunderstood, at least with some of the analyses I've seen, it has been misunderstood that there is a mitigation in the contract that ultimately would reduce some of our exposure and liabilities." Mayer's comments did not explicitly confirm the New York Times narrative -- that Verizon would have to pay the difference between $375 million and whatever Mozilla received from a new provider -- but her use of "mitigations" when talking about the contract implied as much. Neither Mozilla or Yahoo immediately replied to questions today about the impact of the Verizon purchase on Yahoo's search sources. But one analyst believes the Verizon-Yahoo deal would not move Mozilla to strike out for another partner. "I don't see why the Verizon acquisition changes either the search or the browser dynamic in the market," said Al Hilwa of IDC. "I think it is mostly an issue of [Verizon having assessed] the risk and factoring that into the valuation of Yahoo." Mozilla might not have options if it did want to abandon Yahoo, a decision that in any case seems improbable, what with the premium it's being paid by Mayer's firm. The other two big players in search -- Google and Microsoft -- have browsers of their own to feed users into their engines. Of the two, Microsoft would appear to be the most likely to add Firefox: Bing badly trails Google in search share, and Microsoft's browser share has sharply slumped this year. This story, "Verizon must pay even if Mozilla walks from Yahoo search deal" was originally published by Computerworld . Cocoa (CC) Tries Forming Higher Oct Low VS Sep Low Tradable Patterns - Thu Oct 27, 11:57PM CDT Cocoa (CCZ22) bounced more than 1.5% yesterday, closing back above the psychologically key 2300 whole figure level. With the near complete weekly Doji, odds are now elevated for a higher Oct low versus... CCZ22 : 2,314s (+1.58%) NIB : 24.43 (+1.67%) Its Five OClock Somewhere Stock Market (and Sentiment Results) HedgeFundTips.com - Thu Oct 27, 7:53PM CDT While the Hang Seng plummeted, U.S. equities rallied and we wound up +1.5% on the day. How the hell that happened, Ill never understand, but its far different from the outcome I expected coming... RFD-TV Interview: Grain and Livestock Markets Blue Line Futures - Thu Oct 27, 5:19PM CDT Will the South American weather be the catalyst, or will the US Dollar take the cake? Oliver Sloup, Vice President of Blue Line Futures, explains the grain markets to RFD TV. Hogs Fall Triple Digits on Thursday Barchart - Thu Oct 27, 4:48PM CDT Front month lean hog futures worked lower on Thursday with Dec futures getting within 20c of a limit drop on the days low. Dec hogs ultimately closed down by $3.37, with $0.87 to $2.85 losses in the... HEZ22 : 85.125s (-3.81%) HEJ23 : 92.125s (-2.18%) KMZ22 : 95.775s (-0.98%) Cotton Weakens Triple Digits Barchart - Thu Oct 27, 4:48PM CDT Cotton futures closed off their lows by ~20 points, but were still down by 142 to 271 at the bell. The ($DXY) was higher on Thursday after a GDP growth of 2.6% for Q3. Cotton export sales were 68,437... $DXY : 110.57 (+0.02%) CTZ22 : 74.69 (-0.56%) CTH23 : 74.44 (-0.49%) CTK23 : 74.18 (-0.47%) Wheats End Red on Thursday Barchart - Thu Oct 27, 4:48PM CDT The KC HRW futures market pulled back on Thursday and closed with 5 1/2 to 8 3/4 cent losses despite improved export sales. CBT futures ended the day firmer with losses limited to 2 cents in the front... ZWZ22 : 831-4 (-0.83%) ZWH23 : 851-4 (-0.76%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.7193 (-0.26%) KEZ22 : 924-2 (-0.86%) KEPAWS.CM : 8.9049 (-0.94%) MWZ22 : 946-6 (-0.39%) We've written occasionally about controversies surrounding naming rights at the university level. As as far as controversies are concerned, they're relatively simple affairs. Donor in question gives a big gift in exchange for naming rights. Factions associated with the recipient organization disagree. Controversyand oftentimes, litigationensues. News out of Ann Arbor, Michigan reads like a textbook naming rights controversy with an added bonus: a provocative dollop of irony. Let's set it up for you. Back in late April, University of Michigan Regent Mark Bernstein and his wife, Rachel Bendif, gave $3 million to this school to fund a new building, Bernstein-Bendit Hall, to house the William Monroe Trotter Multicultural Center, a place where all students can "develop a better understanding and appreciation for the multicultural diversity of the university." At the time, the Board of Regents approved naming the new building Bernstein-Bendit Hall. There's just one problem. The William Monroe Trotter Multicultural Center is the only building named for an African American on U-M's Ann Arbor campus. Renaming it the diversity-focused Bernstein-Bendit Hall would leave the campus without a building honoring an African American at a university with over 43,000 students. The Detroit Free Press reports that after the gift was announced, U-M officials began to hear from students, faculty and staff who were glad for the gift, but displeased to have Trotter's name taken off the building. Bernstein was aware of these concerns as well. Faced with the pushback, Bernstein and his wife withdrew their gift, ensuring Trotter's name will remain on the building. "The intention of the gift wasn't to cause problems, but rather to support multiculturalism on campus," Bernstein said. "In our increasingly divided and divisive society, we feel not just motivated, but obligated, to stand publicly for a broad and inclusive approach to multiculturalism," he said. "What we saw as a gift, others thought of as a loss." Bernstein's choice of the word "loss" has added weight to it. The $10 million construction project, which is slated to open in 2018, is nonetheless $3 million in the hole. It's not clear how the university will make up the funding, but the project will continue, U-M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said. Bernstein's withdrawal underscores some of the thornier elements of naming rights. Obviously, it's not our money, and if the couple expects to secure their name on a building in exchange for their donation, that's their prerogative. We also aren't privy to the negotiating details between the couple and the university. But donors give anonymously all the time. Shouldn't the impact of the donation override the pomp and circumstance of simply putting a different name on a building? Maybe. As we noted in the aftermath of the Paul Smith's College naming rights imbroglio, there is no such thing as a "naming gift" in philanthropy. Nonetheless, we haven't heard the last of the Bernsteins. According to the school, he and his wife will "look for other ways to help support multiculturalism on campus." Atlantas Kendeda Fund has made green buildings a priority, and a recent grant backs a Georgia hospitals efficiency efforts with a green revolving fund, an increasingly popular strategy. Investment-like approaches to philanthropy are popular, seeking to align grantmaking or investment of assets with social benefits with economic returns. In the environmental arena, one breakout star is the green revolving fund, which has spread rapidly within the past 10 years or so, particularly among schools and hospitals. Its a simple ideaenergy efficiency saves money, but capital improvements to get there are initially expensive. A revolving fund is a pot that loans out money to make such improvements, the savings of which are used to pay back the loans and then some, due to resulting efficiency. That money can then go toward other improvements or back to the institution. One of the latest such examples comes from the Kendeda Fund, an Atlanta-based funder thats been doing some pretty interesting grantmaking lately. Kendeda is the philanthropy of Diana Blank, who gave anonymously for more than 20 years before going public and raising the foundations profile last year. At the same time, it announced its largest grant yet, $30 million for a groundbreaking green building at Georgia Tech. Related: Kendeda just granted $850,000 to benefit Grady Memorial Hospital, the largest safety net hospital in Georgia, by seeding a green revolving fund. The health system will match the donation and use the financing tool to invest in energy efficiency, water conservation and renewables. First up is replacing the hospitals light fixtures, the kind of thing that can be a real short-term burden on a nonprofit institution. Its not the first such move for Kendeda, as the foundation also recently backed Emory University for its own green revolving fund, with a grant of $500,000 Western Michigan University pioneered the idea of this kind of fund as far back as 1980, but the concept spread quickly in the late 2000sHarvards is one of the most successful to date, a $12 million revolving fund that yields average annual returns of 30 percent. Today, one authority tallies up 85 college-based funds with nearly $119 million combined. Schools are still the predominant participants, but more hospitals like Grady are getting involved. Theres now an affiliation of groups committed to the Billion Dollar Green Challenge, which asks participants to pursue a combined total of $1 billion in energy efficiency improvements, in exchange for planning resources and help. Green revolving funds arent always supported by philanthropy, but its certainly drawing the attention of foundations. The Billion Dollar Green Challenge, for example, is funded by John Merck Fund, Rockefeller Brothers, David Rockefeller Fund, Wallace Global Fund, and Kresge Foundation. The Jesse Ball DuPont Fund has embraced the strategy to help small colleges set up such funds. Related:More Than an Environmental Issue: One Place-Based Funders Approach to Energy Institutions are recognizing the fundraising potential as well, as theyre able to pitch a self-sustaining initiative that builds on itself. After all, theres nothing a financial backer, even a philanthropist, likes more than being told their support will bring back a healthy return. The global push for womens empowerment has been gaining steam since the mid-1990s, and in the just the past few years, we've seen a growing tempo of philanthropic activity in this area. Earlier this summer, for instance, we reported on the United State of Women Summit that the White House convened. The summit had a big domestic U.S. component, but also resulted in new major global strategies for womens economic empowerment overall: equal access to resources and services, promoting entrepreneurship, equal access to decent jobs, and addressing the roadblocks that prevent women from fully participating in the economy. A linchpin in achieving the strategic goals set forth at the summit is education. Related: A Look at the Global Aspect of that $50 Million Commitment to Women and Girls The gathering resulted in over $20 million in new commitments to the Let Girls Learn initiative. Launched in 2015, Let Girls Learn aims to educate adolescent girls living in countries impacted by conflict and crisis. This is incredibly important work, as only 50 percent of all refugee children are in primary school and only 25 percent are in secondary. Given the global disparity between the number of boys in school versus the number of girls, it stands to reason that a good percentage of refugee children who are out of school are girls. Refugee and internally displaced girls are only one piece of the puzzle. Even with the growing number of funders supporting the education needs of all refugee girlsthe U.N. Foundations Girl Up campaign, Girl Rising, and CARE are all early and continuing donors to Let Girls Learnthe global gap between the number of males in the school versus the number of females remains large and troubling. While around two-thirds of countries have achieved gender equality in primary education, the numbers decrease at the secondary level. One funder thats putting up big money to bend that secondary learning curve in favor of girls is the Childrens Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF). Related: Childrens Investment Fund Foundation: Grants for Global Development The CIFFs $17 million to the Global Partnership for Educationwhich is also a supporter of the Let Girls Learn initiativeaims to improve education for adolescent girls with a focus on moving them successfully from primary to secondary school. The funds will support gender-responsive, evidence-based education sector planning and innovative policy solutions to increase the number of adolescent girls moving into secondary education. The grant is part of a larger $22 million commitment from CIFF made at the Global Partnership for Educations Replenishment Pledging Conference in Brussels, Belgium in 2014. Those funds are earmarked for planning and policymaking to help girls transition to, and complete secondary school. According to the foundation, this work will allow for governments to better plan for gender equality, and will aid in capacity building efforts toward addressing the myriad obstacles that prevent adolescent girls from completing their education. Which is the main purpose behinds CIFFs support of the Global Partnership for Education. The second objective for the foundation is to encourage national education systems to quantify learning outcomes. Results are a big deal for CIFF as grants from the Global Partnership for Education will only be disbursed to recipient countries that have developed effective metrics and systems to measure those learning outcomes. Theres no question as to why education is such a crucial matter, here. Increased levels of education not only foster gender equality as a whole, but also improve maternal and infant health and nutrition. Not to mention that women who are better educated tend to earn higher incomes, delay marriage and have fewer children. All of which can contribute significantly toward ending generational cycles of poverty. A self-storage employee identified as a salesperson with RedBox Storage in Hong Kong has been arrested for allegedly violating the citys Trade Descriptions Ordinance (TDO). Customs officials began investigating after several customers complained staff exaggerated the size of the units at the companys facility on Shing Wan Road in the Sha Tin area of the city. The 32-year-old woman was taken into custody after renting a unit to an undercover agent, according to news sources. The size of the cubicle was about 20 percent smaller than what the undercover agent was told, an unidentified source with knowledge of the case told the South China Morning Post. He discovered this after making the payment and getting the key to the cubicle. The TDO prohibits businesses from presenting false or misleading statements to customers about products and services. Violating the ordinance carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a HK$500,000 fine. Management staff could also be held liable if a violation is committed with their consent or under their direction. Management could also be cited for negligence, according to a source. This is the first time we have arrested staff from a mini-storage facility in connection with false trade descriptions, the source told The Post. The investigation is ongoing, and the self-storage employee hasnt been charged. Two fires last month at Hong Kong self-storage facilities, in which two firefighters were killed and another treated for injuries, have increased the regulatory scrutiny on the local self-storage industry. Government officials have committed to spending two months examining 487 self-storage locations, primarily looking for safety violations. RedBox operates three self-storage facilities in Hong Kong. DUMAC, formally known as Duke Management Co., the asset manager responsible for Duke Universitys $14 billion of assets, including its $7 billion endowment, has long had a reputation for investing in new and emerging hedge fund firms. As part of Durham, North Carolinabased DUMACs public securities investment team, Geoffrey Keegan spent considerable time working with these smaller managers. Including developing a separately managed account program specifically focused on such funds. Given his experience, it makes sense that Keegan recently launched his own firm dedicated to emerging and start-up long-short fundamental equity funds. The son of an Eastman Kodak Co. executive, Keegan lived in Rochester, New York, for much of his youth. But he was born in London, and returned there for his last three years of high school to attend the American School in London in St. Johns Wood. A true Blue Devil, he spent three years after graduation from Duke with a major in economics working for DUMAC, where he learned the ropes of asset management before earning his MBA at Dukes Fuqua School of Business. Keegan, 38, then moved to Chicago for a three-year stint with alternative-investment and fund-of-funds firm Grosvenor Capital Management as a member of the arbitrage investment group. When DUMAC investment officer Neal Triplett was promoted to president and CEO in 2007, he asked Keegan to come back and join the hedge fund investment team. Keegan stayed at DUMAC for a further six and three quarter years before leaving in 2014 to form Creciente Partners Investment Management, based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Terrorism, Brexit, worries about banking stability. Plenty of these and other factors have been generating volatility in European financial markets in recent months. But one market sector has thrived amid the turbulence: smart beta exchange-traded funds. European investors are rushing to these factor-based ETFs, and low-volatility funds are among the most popular. The BlackRock iShares Edge S&P 500 Minimum Volatility ETF registered inflows of 200 million ($220 million) in May, the most that month of any smart beta ETF, according to a recent report from Ari Rajendra, a strategist at Deutsche Bank in London. Recent high levels of volatility in equity markets have been particularly favorable for minimum-volatility strategies, says Manuela Sperandeo, BlackRocks head of specialist sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Minimum volatility was one of the first smart beta strategies iShares launched, she says, so investors have had time to grow comfortable with it, to observe the performance and really monitor the behavior in different market conditions. Smart beta ETFs, which track some factor-based index rather than a traditional market capitalization index, have taken the investing world by storm in recent years, and although European investors came late to the party, they are catching up fast. European investors accounted for just under $21 billion of the $230 billion global market for such products at the end of September 2015, according to BlackRock, but the region is enjoying the strongest growth. Inflows into smart beta ETFs ran at an annual rate of 40 percent in Europe between January 2012 and September 2015, the firm found, compared with growth rates of about 30 percent in Asia and 25 percent in the U.S. Smart beta ETFs pulled in a total of 1.2 billion in June and more than 4 billion in the first six months of the year, according to Deutsche Bank. A recent survey by FTSE Russell, the London-based index provider whose products are used by growing numbers of smart beta ETFs, found that 52 percent of European asset owners surveyed were using such products, compared with 28 percent in North America and 38 percent in Asia-Pacific. There has been a move toward low-cost passive strategies in general, says Martin Weithofer, head of strategic beta at Deutsche Asset Management in Frankfurt, and investors see the potential for improved risk-adjusted portfolio performance with the strategic beta approach. Deutsche is particularly enthusiastic about the potential for smart beta in the fixed-income space, as many investors are seeking alternatives to classic market capitalizationbased indexes, which by definition are weighted toward the most indebted issuers. The firm recently launched a new ETF based on the Markit iBoxx USD Emerging Sovereigns Quality Weighted index, which grades sovereign issuers on a number of measures such as the inflation rate, history of default and sovereign debt as a proportion of gross domestic product. Vanguard Group, the U.S. passive investing giant, launched its first four smart beta ETFs focusing on minimum volatility, value, momentum and liquidity in Europe last December, hoping to capitalize on the booming market. We seem to be lagging the U.S., but if you look at the trajectory, we would expect things to evolve here in a way that they did there, says Mark Fitzgerald, the firms head of product, Europe. Its just theyre a few years ahead of us. The majority of investors are institutional, he adds, although the balance could swing as the retail market matures. Adam Laird, head of passive investing at Hargreaves Lansdown, a U.K. financial firm that works mainly with individual investors, says they have shown a good appetite for products in the equity income space, which invest in shares but aim to provide greater income than broad-based market indexes. It started off very much about institutions, but Hargreaves clients, who are mostly individuals, are doing more and more in this area, he says. Some analysts and investors worry that the rush of money into smart beta products could erode the market opportunities the products aim to exploit. Acknowledging the potential concern, Sperandeo says BlackRock seeks out factors that capture sustainable factors or behavioral anomalies that have influenced the outperformance of low-volatility stocks vis-a-vis their riskier counterparts. Laird points out the relative complexity of many smart beta ETFs, which could make it difficult for retail investors to understand where that risk is coming from and when it might hurt them. Still, these problems arent unique to smart beta, he says. Theyre just issues that investors need to be aware of, and I dont think that theyre going to stop these new products, he says. Its just the same old lesson: Make sure that you know what youre investing in, and you know how it works for you, and spend the time to choose the right investment. In the run up to two major central bank announcements, earnings season continues to rumble along. London-based oil producer BP reported second quarter financial results today with earnings that were 45 percent lower than the same period in 2015. The shortfall came as management cuts costs and underscores the dual headwinds of high debt levels and a stalled oil rally that continues to plague the energy sector. Shares of BP sold off by more than 3 percent in London trading after the announcement. In New York, alternative-asset giant KKR & Co. released earnings that were stronger than consensus analyst estimates as a result of assets sales, including the firms stake in drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance. The firm reported net income of $0.23 per share driven by divestitures that were offset by some underperformance among portfolio firms. Perhaps todays biggest story for investors will be Apples earnings release after markets close this afternoon. Apple stock has struggled with concerns over rising competition in Asian smartphone markets, and a perceived lack of compelling new products in the pipeline. Sanders endorses Clinton. Addressing a sometimes boisterous crowd at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Vermont Senator and presidential contender Bernie Sanders urged his supporters to back Hillary Clinton in her pursuit of the White House. Sanders worked to assuage the ire of supporters angered by leaked emails that indicated that Democratic National Committee officials had been biased against him during the primaries. First Lady Michelle Obama also delivered a well-received speech that urged unity in the race to defeat GOP nominee Donald Trump. Anheuser-Busch raises bid for SABMiller. Leuven, Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev today raised its offer price for its proposed merger with London-based SABMiller to offset the impact on valuation because of the fall in pound sterling following the U.K.s Brexit referendum. With a raised bid of 45 pounds per share, the total deal value exceeds $104 billion. The move comes as some SABMiller shareholders, including activist hedge funds, have raised concerns over the merger on the back of currency volatility. Federal Reserve to bring action against Goldman Sachs. Multiple media outlets, citing anonymous sources, today reported that the Federal Reserve is close to bringing action against the Goldman Sachs Group for improperly accessing classified documents. The documents in question appear to have been obtained by Goldman executives via a former colleague working at the New York Fed. Deutsche facing new suit over subprime products. In a ruling handed down yesterday, a federal court in New York cleared the way for an investor lawsuit against Deutsche Bank relating to mortgage-backed securities sold in late 2007 and early 2008. The suit alleges that the bank misrepresented the declining value of subprime assets underlying the more than $5 billion in placements. This content is from: Premium The year is shaping up to be one of the best ever for the master of macro mayhem. British brokerage giant Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) has announced a new overseas acquisition to reinforce its status as one of the largest global industry players.The company said its subsidiary JLT Re has acquired the portfolio of Perus Olsa Re, which has over 30 years of specialist experience in the aviation and cargo sectorsThe acquisition is seen to strengthen JLT Res position as a leading brokerage firm in Peru, with the addition of Olsa Res significant aviation industry expertise and established client portfolio.The Peruvian broker also serves clients in Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica."The acquisition of Olsa Res portfolio provides a strong strategic fit for our clients and further strengthens the range of services we offer in Peru, said Jose Miguel Gonzalez, CEO of JLT Re in Peru and Colombia.Olsa Res proven aviation expertise will add even greater depth to our already leading client offer in the marketplace.Olsas key aviation brokers, Jose Espinosa and Clara Escobar, have joined JLT Re Peru to manage the aviation line and ensure the continuity of the portfolio. The draft report found that a proposed subsidy on MPCI was most likely to drive a higher uptake, which could create an opportunity for brokers. Andrew Trotter, CEO of Latevo, said that following the draft report, there has never been a better time to get your farmers engaged in MPCI, never. This is a huge opportunity for regional insurance brokers. This is the biggest opportunity they have had in twenty years, Trotter told Insurance Business. This is the most exciting change in insurance in regional Australia in modern times. Where else have you had a new product? This is a brand new market. Trotter said that the report offered a well-designed and targeted nudge policy that has passed the independent review status in the New South Wales Government. We applaud IPARTs approach to increasing the uptake of multi-peril crop insurance in Australia, Trotter continued. IPART Chairman Dr Peter Boxall said that while a subsidy would most likely increase the uptake of MPCI, it would not have an impact on Government assistance programs. Our draft finding is that while providing an upfront subsidy could increase the take-up of insurance, it would not reduce reliance on government assistance programs, Dr Boxall said. This is because insurance is unlikely to be offered at affordable premiums during periods of drought, and because currently the main recipient of Government farming assistance is the livestock sector, which is not covered by multi-peril crop insurance. While the other measures provide varying benefits, none meet the criteria in terms of promoting greater uptake of multi-peril crop insurance. Trotter noted that a policy for livestock coverage is doable but it is going to take more time. We have been fully focused on the cropping industry to get the model right for cropping before we step across to livestock and other sectors, Trotter said, Shane Peasley, a farmer based in New South Wales and a MPCI policy holder for the last three years, told Insurance Business that the idea of Government assistance was absolutely fantastic as the cover has helped provide security for his business. I cant understand why more people havent taken it up, Peasley said. I think they havent got their head around what having an insurance policy will actually do for them, they just think it is another expense. I think with the Government backing, it will open their eyes and think that it deserves a better look than what theyve been giving it. I think that if brokers pick it up and run with it, then people with a trusted insurance broker, they might take it on and theyve probably got a rapport with their broker so there would be a higher uptake again. RELATED ARICLES: Growing insurer announces underwriting arrangement Insurance boom to beat oncoming weather Russias Central Bank has announced that Russian banks have lost 1.37 billion rubles (US$22 million) to cybercriminals from May 2015 to June 2016, reported The Moscow Times.Cyberspace monitoring service FinCERT said cybercriminals attempted to steal a total of 2.87 billion rubles (US$45 million) in the 20 major cyberattacks on Russian banks during the period.Along with ATM theft, many of the attacks were from phishing websites, fake SMS, and email messages claiming to be from FinCERT.In a warning issued last month, the monitoring service said national Mir payment cards which aimed to cut Russias reliance on foreign firms like Visa and Mastercard may be vulnerable to cyberattacks, said The Moscow Times.Both the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance are pushing for reforms in the federal laws to allow them greater power to combat cybercrime.In related news, Russian cyber gangs have been linked recently to a series of bank heists which culminated to the record-breaking $81 million theft from Bangladeshs central bank in February, reported Bloomberg.Sources familiar with the probe told Bloomberg the malware used in some of the attacks match to those deployed by the so-called Dridex crime gangs, which operate in Russia and parts of the former Soviet Union, including Moldova and Kazakhstan.Also implicated to the Bangladesh heist were North Korean hackers because of a malware linked to a 2014 breach on Sony Pictures, which US officials blame on that nation.An unnamed source told Bloomberg the presence of the malware may indicate the involvement of Russia or North Korea to the heist, or the sale of the malware to other parties in the black market. A western New York man struck by a Rochester police cruiser earlier this year has filed a $7 million lawsuit against the department. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported that 24-year-old Brian Norford claims in the lawsuit that police used excessive force when the cruiser rammed into him on a sidewalk in February. Court documents say the Rochester man suffered scarring and permanent disfigurement as a result. Police have said they were responding to a call for men selling drugs and when they approached Norford, he took off and dropped a handgun during a foot chase. Authorities say Norford was charged with a weapons offense and later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. The city and some officers are also defendants in the lawsuit. The department declined to comment. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits New York Law Enforcement New York state is launching an investigation into the working conditions of employees in the dry cleaning industry. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the effort will include the study of chemicals commonly used by dry cleaners that pose a health risk to workers. The effort will involve consideration of proposals to ban some chemicals deemed especially harmful. The Democratic governor also said the state is taking several other steps to protect workers, including new ventilation rules for nail salons. Cuomo also said that a state task force created last year to examine worker exploitation has so far ordered more than 1,500 businesses to pay nearly $4 million in back wages and damages. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics New York A man arrested for painting the letters AIM on an American flag that he flew upside-down at his house in protest has settled his free speech lawsuit against the township for more than $55,000. Supervisors in Allegheny Township, Blair County, have approved letting their insurance company pay Joshuaa Brubaker, the Altoona Mirror first reported Friday. The supervisors approved a resolution on July 12 advising township police to no longer enforce the states flag desecration laws as part of the settlement, notice of which was filed Tuesday in federal court in Johnstown. The problem is that every couple years we get a report that someones been charged with insulting the flag or desecrating the flag under Pennsylvania laws, said Sara Rose, the American Civil Liberties Union attorney who filed the lawsuit in February. The U.S. Supreme Court law is very clear that you cannot charge someone with using the flag for expressive purposes, like drawing on it or burning it. Brubaker, 39, is part Native American and says AIM stands for the American Indian Movement. Brubaker flew the flag on his porch in May 2014 about 90 miles east of Pittsburgh. He was protesting plans to route the proposed Keystone Pipeline through Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Wounded Knee is the site of a U.S. Cavalry massacre of some 200 Lakota Indians in 1890. In 1973, the Indian reservation town of the same name was seized by AIM and other activists in a 71-day standoff with federal law enforcement. The dispute with the township began when another resident an Army veteran who also happens to be part Native American was offended by the display and contacted police. Leo Berg III, who was then assistant chief but now heads the township department, seized the flag and charged Brubaker with violating two state laws: insulting the national flag, a second-degree misdemeanor that carries up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine, and flag desecration, a third-degree misdemeanor carrying up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine. A Blair County judge dismissed the criminal charges against Brubaker a few months after they were filed, finding they didnt apply in a case involving political speech. Brubaker told The Associated Press when the lawsuit was filed why he displayed the flag the way he did. I figured with this generation, if someone drove by this house and saw AIM that theyd search for the term online and learn more about the group and its causes, Brubaker said. Flying a flag upside-down is also a distress signal, and Brubaker said he believed the country is in distress. Brubaker must pay his own attorneys fees and expenses and any taxes out of the $55,844 hell receive, according to the settlement. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Carriers USA Vietnams 'fruit basket' is dying, and authorities don't have a solution. Vietnamese fruit farmers are facing tough choices on what to plant and how much after the prolonged drought and saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta. For farmers in Ben Tre Province, 87 kilometers west of Ho Chi Minh City, planting fruit trees such as rambutan and durian now constitutes a leap of faith. Farmers say that the little groundwater that is left is too salty for durian and rambutan. Van Cong Dao, a rambutan grower in Chau Thanh District, said his 8,000 square meter orchard had either withered or died due to saltwater intrusion, which has driven him to slash and burn the majority of the orchard. He plans to switch to growing grapefruit which is believed to be more tolerant to saltwater. Chau Thanh District lies deep inland surrounded by channels and fissures that provide both drainage and irrigation, said Nguyen Van Vang, deputy chairman of the local Peoples Committee. He added local farmers need a dyke system that surrounds the entire plantation area to prevent salt water from leaking into irrigation canals and affecting their fruit crops. Physical barriers like low-level dams and gates to block saline water from reaching the area are poorly constructed, Vang continued. Local authorities said the drought has so far damaged 550 hectares of fruit crops, with durian and rambutan the hardest hit. "We know local farmers have been quick to cut down their fruit trees, but we cannot advise them to replant them because without adequate defenses against saline intrusion, their crops may be killed again. I dont know how we would explain it to them," said Vang. In contrast, local agriculture authorities have advised local farmers to continue cultivating their traditional fruit crops rather than hastily switching to other crops, said Nguyen Huu Thiet, head of the Rural Development and Agriculture Department. Preliminary statistics show that some 13 percent of more than 7,000 hectares of fruit crops in Chau Thanh District has been badly damaged by saltwater intrusion. Vietnam has been struggling with its worst drought since French colonial administrators began recording statistics in 1926. A joint rapid assessment, carried out by the Vietnamese government, the United Nations and non-governmental organizations in March, estimated that in the 18 of the country's most severely affected provinces, as many as two million people have no access to clean water and 1.1 million are in need of food aid. The agriculture sector has taken a hit from the adverse weather conditions, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, adding that the sector recorded negative growth of 0.7 percent during the first half of the year. Tran Van Cua, a durian grower in Vung Liem District in the southern province of Vinh Long, said 60 percent of his 370 durian trees that had taken him between 12 to 15 years to grow had either withered or died due to saltwater intrusion. He added that last year he earned VND700 million ($31,000) from 30 tons of durian, but expected a sharp fall in output this year. So far this year, Cua has only been able to harvest 9 tons which may only fetch VND5,000 per kilogram due to low quality. Ho Van Dung, who owns a 4,500 square-meter durian plantation, said it will take him up to five years of assiduous cultivation to bring half of his farmland back to life. The Ministry of Planning and Investment forecasts that about 45 percent of Vietnams Mekong Delta, where more than half of the countrys rice is grown, will be affected by saltwater intrusion by 2030 if hydropower dams and reservoirs along the Mekong River stop water from flowing downstream. Related News: > Drought and salinity rock Vietnam's economy in first half of 2016 > Drought killing Vietnamese shrimp hits seafood exports > Saltwater threatens to drown nearly half of Vietnam's paddy fields Joseph Lachance has joined the sales team at Aspen Insurance Agency in Manchester, New Hampshire, where he will focus on personal lines and mid-size commercial lines business. Lachance is a licensed insurance producer with a background in education and law enforcement. Aspen Insurance Agency, formed in October 2001, is an Optisure Risk Partners affiliate. Topics New Hampshire Amazon Inc. and the British government have announced a partnership to test the e-commerce giants aerial drone parcel delivery system after run-ins over the technologys use. Supervised by the U.K.s aviation safety regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, the trial will test beyond so-called line-of-sight operations, the drones ability to identify and avoid obstacles and the level of operator success in flying multiple drones at once, Amazon said in a statement on Tuesday. We want to enable the innovation that arises from the development of drone technology by safely integrating drones into the overall aviation system, Tim Johnson, policy director at the CAA, said in the statement. These tests by Amazon will help inform our policy and future approach. In April, a U.K. government official criticized Amazon for not providing guidance about the safe operation of drones to customers. The company responded by saying such information was included on its website. Also that month, a British Airways pilot landing at Londons Heathrow airport reported a drone had struck the airplane, an incident that hasnt been confirmed, although a number of near-misses in 2015 were acknowledged. Amazon, which is trying to reduce its dependence on logistics companies such as UPS and FedEx Corp., applauded the U.K. for allowing drone delivery to move forward. The U.K. is charting a path forward for drone technology that will benefit customers, industry and society, said Paul Misener, Amazons vice president of global innovation policy and communications. The partnership with the U.K. came a month after the U.S. Department of Transportations Federal Aviation Administration finalized the first operational rules for commercial use of drones that require pilots to keep the unmanned aircraft within line of sight. Related: Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Aviation Amazon Boston-based catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide (AIR) announced it has expanded its Global Pandemic Model to include outbreaks of six additional diseases. The model now explicitly accounts for nine pathogens, including bacterial and viral diseases, in addition to previously modeled influenza, coronaviruses (such as those responsible for SARS and MERS), and filoviruses (including Ebola and Marburg). AIR also announced that the World Bank Group has selected AIR to model the innovative new Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF). Large-scale infectious disease pandemics can cause millions of deaths and billions-or even trillions-of dollars in economic and insured losses, said Doug Fullam, senior manager of life and health modeling at AIR Worldwide, which is a subsidiary of Verisk Analytics. The possible frequency and scale of these perils are shifting as global connectivity grows, animal habitats alter, medical advancements continue, the population ages, and the climate changes. Its important to assess the potential risk to todays life and health portfolios, Fullam added. The AIR Global Pandemic Model update includes the addition of two pathogens from the Bunyaviridae viral family [Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV)], Lassa (hemorrhagic) fever (LHF) from the Arenaviridae viral family, and bacterial-pathogens-associated cholera (Vibrio cholera), plague (Yersinia pestis), and meningococcal meningitis (Neisseria meningitidis). All simulated outbreaks in the AIR model can originate anywhere in the world, and AIR models the impact to 24,000 municipalities covering all corners of the world, the company said in a statement. World Banks Financing Facility AIR also announced that it is collaborating with the World Bank on the expected launch of the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF), a fast-disbursing global financing mechanism designed to protect the world against deadly pandemics. The PEF includes an insurance window, which combines funding from the reinsurance and/or insurance-linked securities markets, as well as a complementary cash window, said AIR. This is expected to be the first time the World Bank issues a financial instrument to combat infectious diseases. According to the World Bank, in the event of an outbreak, the PEF is expected to release funds quickly to countries and qualified international responding agencies. The analytic structure and modeling are the bedrock of risk-transfer programs like the PEF, said Priya Basu, manager, Development Finance, World Bank. Were confident that AIR Worldwides analytical and execution capabilities can help ensure that funds mobilized by the PEF are able to help prevent rare, high-severity outbreaks from becoming more deadly and costly pandemics. Modeling plays a crucial role in developing a facility such as the PEF, Fullam continued. Emerging infectious diseases pose some of the biggest threats to the life and health of people around the globe, and AIR models can help organizations anticipate the drivers of mortality and morbidity risk to facilitate optimal risk management, risk transfer, and risk mitigation decisions to help them better prepare financially and, more important, on a humanitarian level. The Global Pandemic Model is currently available in the CATRADER Version 18 catastrophe risk management software. Source: AIR Worldwide (AIR) Topics COVID-19 Pen Underwriting announced that Adrian Scott has been appointed to the newly created role of head of Cyber Liability. Scott takes responsibility for enhancing Pen Underwritings capabilities in cyber risk management and insurance, building a dedicated team of sector specialists and broadening the companys geographic reach. Bringing over 25 years experience in professional and financial lines, Scott has spent more than a decade involved in the cyber insurance arena, holding a number of senior industry roles in the U.S. at the forefront of this rapidly growing sector, said London-based Pen Underwriting in a statement. Most recently he was executive vice president and chief underwriting officer at Ridge Global, a cyber-security firm founded and headed by former U.S. Head of Homeland Security Tom Ridge. Prior to this Scott led the creation and implementation of a new professional & financial lines underwriting platform and capability at QBE North America, which he joined in 2011, having previously held senior roles at Valiant, Marsh and Aon in the United States. As part of Pen Underwritings Specialty division, Scott will report into Jennifer Martin, managing director of Financial Lines, which manages U.K. and international business across the spectrum of e-traded, individually underwritten and delegated authority solutions with expertise in crisis management, cyber liability, professional indemnity, directors & officers, and personal accident & travel. Strong broker demand for cutting-edge propositions to best protect their clients has seen cyber fast become a crucial and core capability for us, said Martin. Adrians appointment to build and lead a dedicated cyber practice, further demonstrates our commitment to actively attract and retain the industrys best talent for the benefit of our brokers and their clients, she added. Scott commented: In cyber insurance, the speed, efficiency and flexibility of your platform are just as important as the technical underwriting expertise that underpins it as is the need to take a holistic approach to client risk exposure. Pen Underwritings capabilities and determination to meet this challenge head on made for a compelling opportunity, and Im looking forward to building the team, broadening our capabilities and expanding our geographic reach. Source: Pen Underwriting Topics USA Cyber Underwriting Personal Auto A federal judge on Monday banned Uber Technologies Inc. and its Chief Executive Travis Kalanick from using information from a background check on a passenger bringing a price-fixing lawsuit, saying the investigative firm conducting the probe may have engaged in criminal conduct. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan also faulted the popular ride-sharing service for hiring the firm, Ergo, at all. Rakoff called it a sad day that Uber felt compelled to authorize what became an intrusive and clandestine, and ultimately unsuccessful, probe to unearth damaging information about the plaintiff Spencer Meyer and his lawyer. The court finds perfectly appropriate an order enjoining defendants from making use of the fruits of their own troubling conduct, Rakoff wrote. The court cannot help but be troubled by this whole dismal incident. Mondays decision may end a battle over how Ergo, a New York-based firm founded by a former director of counterterrorism at the White House National Security Council, tried to help Uber and Kalanick defend against Meyers civil lawsuit. Uber declined to comment. The San Francisco-based company and Kalanick have said they would agree not to use information from Ergos probe, so long as they did not admit wrongdoing. Ergo and its outside lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Andrew Schmidt, who is Meyers lawyer, said he is pleased with the decision. Meyer accused Kalanick of illegally conspiring with Uber drivers to coordinate high surge pricing fares during periods of heavy demand by agreeing to charge prices set by an algorithm in the Uber smartphone app for hailing rides. Uber takes a cut of revenue that drivers generate. The company is privately held, but in June conducted a funding round valuing it at $62.5 billion. Rakoff said Ergo crossed a line with lies its unlicensed investigator Miguel Santos-Neves told friends and acquaintances about Meyer and Schmidt in a bid to learn more about them. The judge faulted the investigator for pretending to seek information about up-and-coming environmental conservation researchers and labor lawyers, when the real purpose was more likely to intimidate Meyer or hurt his case. Ergo, in investigating plaintiff, was engaged in fraudulent and arguably criminal conduct, Rakoff wrote. Santos-Neves misrepresentations, moreover, were condoned by the highest levels of Ergo leadership, Rakoff added. Uber has said it hired Ergo over concerns about Meyers motivations for suing, including legitimate security risks facing Uber personnel and first-hand experience with malicious lawsuits against executives at high-tech companies. The case is Meyer v Kalanick, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 15-09796. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by W Simon and Bill Trott) Topics Lawsuits Legislation New York Bermudas Everest Re Group is selling its U.S. crop insurance company, Heartland Crop Insurance Inc., to CGB Diversified Services Inc., a crop insurance, transportation and storage firm in Illinois. Upon completion of the sale, Everest Re will provide quota share reinsurance capacity on the combined crop insurance portfolio of the Diversified/Heartland companies. CGB offers crop insurance products and services to farmers across 38 states. With the acquisition of Heartland, CGB will grow its footprint in a number of key states. This transaction is contingent upon all customary closing provisions, including all required regulatory and board approvals. Chubb ($1.75 billion in premium including ACE) and Zurich ($1.74 billion) lead the multiple peril crop insurance field, according to the Insurance Information Institute, based on 2015 data. Everest Re is the tenth largest writer of crop insurance, writing $210 million in premium. CGB is the seventh largest with $556 million in written premium. Combined the firms will rank sixth. The sale is yet another merger in the crop insurance field that is facing declining crop prices, uncertainty over government subsidies and concerns over extreme weather. In April, Zurich American Insurance Co. completed its acquisition of Rural Community Insurance Services (RCIS), one of the countrys biggest crop insurance providers, from Wells Fargo. It reported about $1.9 billion in premiums in 2015, or about 20 percent of the estimated $10 billion market. Last December, Cargill Inc. agreed to sell its crop insurance unit to Silveus Insurance Group. In January, Bermuda-based Aspen Insurance announced a deal to buy AgriLogic Insurance Services. Monsanto Co. sold ts crop insurer to AmTrust last year and Deere & Co. sold its unit to Farmers Mutual in 2014. Diversified Services is headquartered in Jacksonville, Illinois. It offers crop insurance, risk management and grain marketing expertise. Everest Re Group provides reinsurance to property/casualty insurers in both the U.S. and international markets. Related: Topics Carriers Agribusiness Federal officials have sued an oilfield services company for withdrawing a job offer to an applicant because of his diabetes. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charged in a lawsuit that Oilfield Instrumentation USA Inc. violated federal law by withdrawing the job offer. According to EEOCs lawsuit: On Feb. 4, 2013, Carl J. Devalcourt, III, a Type I insulin-dependent diabetic, applied for a service technician position at Oilfield Instrumentation. Two days later, he interviewed with Tom Walker, a hiring manager. Devalcourt received a job offer and informed Walker that he would like to move forward with the hiring process, which included taking a required drug test and physical examination. After that, Devalcourt went to Acadian Health Services Clinic for the physical examination. Dr. Francisco Silva examined Devalcourt and determined that he was in good physical shape and that his diabetes was well-controlled. Dr. Silva expressed his concern to Devalcourt that he had Type I insulin-dependent diabetes and wanted to work offshore. However, Devalcourt assured Dr. Silva that he was on an insulin pump, that he had two years of previous experience working offshore as a diabetic, without incident, and that he took necessary precautions to ensure his safety. After the exam, Dr. Silva contacted Oilfield Instrumentation to inform the company that Devalcourt was a Type I insulin-dependent diabetic. Dr. Silva then informed Devalcourt that Oilfield Instrumentation was no longer interested in proceeding with the employment process. In a letter addressed to Oilfield Instrumentation, Dr. Silva stated that Type I diabetics are fragile and determined that Devalcourt was not qualified for the position of service technician simply because he has that condition. Oilfield Instrumentation did not base its decision to withdraw the job offer on the type of fact-intensive assessment mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the EEOC asserted. In violation of the ADA, the company simply revoked the offer based on the assumption that Type I insulin-dependent diabetics could not work offshore, regardless of whether the employee could perform his job, the EEOC said. EEOC filed its lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana (EEOC v Oilfield Instrumentation, U.S.A., Inc., Case No. 6:16-cv-01089), after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. Oilfield Instrumentation is an oilfield services company that provides real-time drilling instrumentation. It has offices in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, North Dakota, California and Pennsylvania. Source: EEOC Topics Lawsuits USA Floridas insurer of last resort, Citizens, has expanded its efforts to curb increasing water loss claims with a new Water Mitigation Estimate Review Program. Citizens Chief Claims Officer Jay Adams said the new program will provide Citizens with certified and trained professionals to assess contractor expenses and/or invoices related to restoring residential and commercial properties due to water damage. Citizens Board of Governors awarded a contract of up to $1.8 million for three years to insurance claims servicing firm Lynx Services LLC, which will examine whether claim invoices associated with water damage are reasonable and adhere to industry standards. The actual amount of the contract will depend on the number of claims reviewed. The goal is to identify inflated or excessive charges on invoices from contractors that have performed water damage restorations for Citizens policyholders and to contest or adjust invoices so it comports with industry standards, Adams said of the action item presented to the Board on July 19. Citizens, as well as other Florida insurers, allege that unscrupulous contractors and water mitigation firms are taking advantage of the assignment of benefits (AOB) provision on insurance policies and inflating water damage claims. The problem has been dubbed by Florida industry and consumer advocates as an insurance crisis and has led to statewide rate increases for homeowners from multiple insurance companies, including Citizens. The Lynx contract was approved unanimously by the five of eight board members who called in for the teleconference. The yearly spend for the contract is $365,813 and the estimated cost is a budgeted expense that is paid as an Adjusting Expense under the claim file. The contract also features two optional one-year renewals after the three-year base term. Michael Peltier, Citizens Media Relations manager, said the disturbing rise in both the frequency and severity of non-related water loss claims led the insurer to launch a pilot review program in Sept. 2015 to see if it could help the company get a handle on the issue. After seeing success, we decided to go forward and award a contract. We think this will allow us to protect our policyholders while ensuring that repairs are reasonable and reflect industry-recognized standards, Peltier said. Citizens sought vendors capable of providing invoice and estimate reviews by certified IICRC (Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification) experienced and professional staff, the company said. Citizens notified Lynx Services on June 9 of its intent to award the contract, and listed Paul Davis Restoration as the contingent contract. Fort Myers, Fla.-based Lynx will provide objective analysis of estimates, invoices, and related documentation submitted to Citizens by third parties with respect to water mitigation and mold remediation services, as stated in the contract description. According to Citizens contract stipulations, Lynx will perform a comprehensive review of a third party estimate and assess whether it reflects services that are reasonable and customary, and in adherence to IICRC standards, practices and guidelines for water mitigation and mold remediation Lynx will be responsible for providing to Citizens individual written reports of each assessment that compares its findings to the third party estimate. Lynx will also negotiate directly with the third party vendor who submitted an estimate to reach an agreement as to the total fees payable to the third party. If there is a savings based on the negotiated price, Citizens will compensate Lynx a percentage of the negotiated savings. The contract stipulates that Lynx must maintain contact with the assigned Citizens adjuster throughout negotiations with the service provider. Citizens other recent efforts to address AOB abuse included policy contract wording changes regarding emergency services and notification requirements approved by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR). The new wording took effect on all new and existing Citizens policies on July 1. At least two dozen other insurers in the state have also filed for policy changes with OIR because of a rise in water claims using AOB. Just last month, Citizens board also approved an overall nearly 7 percent rate increase statewide because of AOB abuse for water loss claims, which has been particularly rampant in South Florida. OIR is expected to hold a public hearing for the proposed Citizens rates at some point this summer. Without significant reform, Citizens policyholders must brace themselves for continued rate hikes as water losses and increased costs surrounding assignment of benefits eat into surplus and force Citizens to repeatedly raise rates to fulfill its statutory obligations to set actuarially sound rates under the glide path, the company said in June. Related: Topics Florida Claims Profit Loss The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited the Nissan plant in Canton, Mississippi, for two violations. WLBT-TV reports a complaint inspection in March had one serious violation and one repeat violation. The total penalty was $32,000. Production technician Travis Parks tells Mississippi Public Broadcasting that the inspections uncovered slip hazards with oil and water on floors and an open pit, which was the repeat violation. Parks is a member of a group seeking to unionize workers at the facility. He says Nissan has addressed some safety hazards but more needs to be done. In a statement, Nissan said employee safety is their top priority. The company says it strives to comply with all safety laws and regulations while adhering to best practices. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Mississippi North Carolina courts have launched an online program to dismiss traffic tickets. The News & Observer of Raleigh reports that director of the state Administrative Office of the Courts Marion Warren announced the rollout of the Electronic Compliance and Dismissal program. The program will allow people to request dismissal of certain kinds of traffic tickets online including expired registrations, driving without a license, failing to have a license in the car or using an expired license. Officials will also be able to use the program to review the cases and approve or deny them. Warren calls the program a more efficient and convenient alternative to waiting in line at a courthouse. The program was developed over eight months with over $500,000 in state money. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics North Carolina Value of M&As in Vietnam expected to hit $6 billion this year Thai companies have been adding retail chains to their shopping baskets. M&As in Vietnam are expected to be worth $6 billion this year, rising 15.4 percent from 2015, the government portal cited data from the Vietnam M&A Forum as saying on Monday. The annual forum will be held next month by the Dau Tu (Investment) newspaper in coordination with AVM Vietnam, an investment promotion company, with the support of the Ministry of Planning and Investment. The country's M&A value in the first half of 2016 reached more than $3 billion, up 28 percent on-year. Among the foreign investors entering the market, Thai companies made two noticeable deals in the retail sector in the first six months. Central Group announced on April 29 that it had bought Big Cs operations in Vietnam from France's Casino Group at a cost of 1 billion euros ($1.14 billion). A taxi driver waits for customers outside a Big-C department store in central Bangkok. Photo by Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha Consumer goods group TCC Holding Co. Ltd also completed its acquisition of the Vietnamese operations of Metro for 655 million euros ($704.1 million) in January. Related news: > Big C Vietnam to change name next year > Thai Central Group denies rumors that Chinese own Big C Vietnam > Singapore invests big in Vietnam Zenefits reached its first settlement with a state government over its use of unlicensed health insurance brokers, an issue that prompted investigations in at least three other states and led its founding chief executive officer to resign this year. As part of the settlement, Zenefits said it will pay the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance $62,500 in fines. The company will continue to sell insurance in the state. Zenefits CEO David Sacks, who replaced co-founder Parker Conrad when he stepped down in February, described the settlement as tough but fair and a watershed moment that will help the company end its disputes in other states soon. The state explained that more severe fines or penalties were not warranted because Zenefits self-reported its violations and took extensive remediation measures, Sacks wrote in a company blog post. Before the controversies, Zenefits was one of the fastest-growing venture-backed startups. In a funding round last year, investors valued the San Francisco company, which creates HR software and sells employee benefits to businesses, at $4.5 billion. Then the company came under pressure from state regulators, who said Zenefits employees were selling insurance without the appropriate licenses. Zenefits said staff were using software allowing them to skirt training requirements. It cut some 350 jobs this year. Last month, Zenefits agreed to slice its valuation to $2 billion in exchange for investors waiving their rights to sue the company. Insurance agencies in California, Massachusetts, and Washington have opened investigations into Zenefits operations. The company said it reported company violations to regulators in every U.S. state on March 1. Since Sacks was promoted from chief operating officer, he has been touting how Zenefits has changed under new leadership. Sacks wrote in the blog post: As a result of the measures weve taken over the past six months, Zenefits has become a much stronger and more mature company. Related: Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Tennessee Oltre 26 milioni di americani hanno gia votato anticipatamente per le elezioni presidenziali che vedono in gara, in un testa-a-testa Donald Trump e Hillary Clinton. Si tratta di circa il doppio di quanti usarono learly voting (voto anticipato) una settimana prima delle presidenziali del 2012. A molti lentourage di Trump ha chiesto di rivotare in considerazione delle ultime rivelazioni sullex First Lady Grazia di Clinton a Rich, file Fbi su web LFbi ha infatti pubblicato via Twitter i documenti dellinchiesta sulla grazia concessa dallallora presidente Clinton (nellultimo giorno del suo mandato, il 20/1/2001) al finanziere Usa, Marc Rich, morto in Svizzera nel 2013, accusato di 60 reati, tra cui frode, evasione di 48 mln di tasse e traffico di petrolio con lIran. Rischiava 300 anni di carcere. I file sono stati diffusi a 7 giorni dalle elezioni e dopo la bufera scatenata dallannuncio dellFbi sullapertura di una nuova indagine sulle email della candidata Hillary Clinton. Fbi: carte grazia Clinton note per legge LFbi ha pero difeso la propria decisione di pubblicare a una settimana dalle presidenziali le carte di una inchiesta archiviata sulla controversa grazia concessa da Bill Clinton nel 2001 a un finanziere amico, Marc Rich, scappato in Svizzera per sfuggire alle accuse di evasione fiscale. Per procedura standard spiega lFbi questi materiali diventano disponibili per la diffusione e sono postati automaticamente ed elettronicamente nella sala di lettura pubblica dellFbi nel rispetto della legge e delle procedure Evocato limpeachment per Hillary Evocato anche lo spettro di una messa in stato di accusa per Hillary se fosse eletta alla Casa Bianca. Lo ha fatto il senatore repubblicano Ron Johnson, presidente della Commissione per la Sicurezza nazionale e per gli Affari governativi. Johnson ha detto al Beloit Daily News che Hillary ha deliberatamente aggirato la legge usando un server privato per trattare affari pubblici quando era Segretario di Stato. Il senatore ha accusato la candidata dem di aver intenzionalmente nascosto e distrutto materiale riguardante la difesa nazionale. Hacker, NYT: nessun legame Trump-Putin E Trump oggi ha piu di un motivo per sorridere. Non solo le nuove accuse alla rivale, non solo i sondaggi lo vedono in crescita, ma lFbi non ha trovato finora alcun legame diretto tra il candidato repubblicano alla Casa Bianca Trump e il governo russo. Secondo i servizi Usa, gli attacchi di hacker contro i democratici sono volti a minare le elezioni presidenziali piu che a favorire Trump. Lo scrive il NYT, citando fonti investigative. Queste rivelazioni, se confermate, sconfesserebbero le convinzioni dei democratici sui legami Trump-Putin. Vietnam seems to have enough of notorious Chinese deals that come with strings attached. Vietnamese ministries are carefully evaluating an offer from China that promises to provide more than $300 million to finance a road project in the northern province of Quang Ninh, Voice of Vietnam reported on Monday. Vietnam plans to construct a 96km expressway connecting Mong Cai City to Van Don Island District in the province. Mong Cai borders Chinas Guangxi Province. China, via the state-owned Export-Import Bank of China, has offered to lend Vietnam $304.6 million or nearly 80 percent of the total investment of $382 million to implement the project, Voice of Vietnam said. Vietnams Ministry of Transport supports securing the loan from China, saying it is an urgent and important project. It also wants to be given the authority to override Quang Ninh's provincial government and approve the expressway project. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance said the country should consider Chinas proposal carefully. It said normally China will demand the borrower use their contractors, technology and machinery as part of the terms of the loan. It is crucial to continue to negotiate with the Chinese side to clarify the conditions of the loan and ask for better terms than the latest offers, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said in a statement, adding that the deal should not include conditions that involve hiring engineering, procurement or construction contractors from China. Vietnams reluctance to accept the loan follows problems with a number of Chinese contractors in Chinese-funded projects here. China Railway 6th Bureau Group, the principal contractor of the Cat Linh-Ha Dong skytrain in Hanoi, for example, has come under fire for dragging its feet on the project, missing the 2015 deadline. Related news: > Vietnam to connect 2,000km expressway by 2020 > Chinese sky train contractor owes VND554 billion ($24.8 million) > Questions raised over quality of pipeline supplied by Chinese contractor Iraqi Ministry of Oil announced on Friday a new shipment of liquid gas and other gas condensate, to the tune of 1600 tons. Undersecretary of gas industry Hamed Yunis infomred, The ministry has exported a new shipment of 24 thousand cubic meters gas condensate from Umm Qasr Port in Southern Iraq and another shipment of liquid gas to the tune of 1600 tons. The exported quantity of liquid gas is a part of the total quantity of 10000 ton that will be exported from Basra Gas Company in July, Yunis added. | Soruce: IRAQI NEWS | What's the deal with summer beach reads and bad Irish American characters? Two years ago, the big book of the summer was Donna Tartts The Goldfinch. The book went on to sell like hotcakes and even win the Pulitzer Prize. But there was a problem with the book. Many of the Irish American characters did not come off very well. There were the moving company workers whom Thartts narrator describes this way: Most of them were New York City Irish, lumbering, good-natured guys who hadnt quite made it into the police force or fire department Mike, Sean Patrick, Little Frank (who was not little at all [and was] the size of a refrigerator). One is later described as likely at home in the historically Irish Manhattan neighborhood of Inwood with a hangover and a black eye. Then there is the apartment building where the doormen were still mostly Irish. One of them, Tartt writes was a likable guy but he was known around the building for having a drinking problem. Given what is going on in the world today, none of this necessarily amounts to a major problem. But given the effort many writers put into avoiding stereotypes, this seems like quite a lapse. Which brings us to one of the more popular beach reads of this year. The book is entitled Before the Fall and has been on The New York Times bestseller list since it was released last year. I picked it up because the author, Noah Hawley, is not only a best-selling author but he is the creative force behind the FX network drama Fargo, which for my money is one of the best shows on television. First things first, Before the Fall is a fine read. The plot revolves around a plane crash, the rich folks who perished and the unlikely man and child who survived the tragedy, only to get caught up in the media circus in the crashs aftermath. The novels conclusion is a little bit of a dud, but overall Hawley does a fine job capturing the way people live and the way the media creates a story when the real one may not quite be interesting enough. One more thing: At least Hawleys Irish characters arent drunks. Oh, there is a reference at one airport to working class men with Massachusetts accents who drink green beer on St. Patricks Day and eat hot dogs on July 4th. Sure, this is a little condescending. But the problems that emerge with the Irish American characters in Before the Fall are a little more political. Take the agent from the FBI who is called in to investigate the plane crash. His name is OBrien, which is fitting because federal law enforcement was traditionally a path to success for ambitious Irish Catholics. (See the work of historian Richard Gid Powers for more on this.) The trouble here is that OBrien comes off like a complete jerk. He is paranoid and authoritarian. The survivor of the plane crash happens to be an artist. So what does OBrien want to do? He wants to seize the artists paintings because they may prove to be evidence that the artist had something to do with causing the plane crash. Hes also a creep who wants to snoop into the artists personal life because, again, it may reveal some evidence. Theres not much mystery here. The reader is pretty clear that the artist is innocent and that OBrien is a nasty fellow. The problem is that Hawley is relying on a rather tired stereotype about law enforcement types in general and Irish Americans in particular. Want more? The bad guy in the book turns out to be a blustery TV news personality named Bill Cunningham. Not necessarily Irish, true, but quite quickly -- in a book with numerous characters based on real life figures -- it becomes clear that Cunningham is modeled on possibly the most famous Irish American blowhard in the media world, Bill OReilly. Again, theres no need to play the anti-Irish card here. Thats probably too strong. There is, in fact, an Irish-born character in Before the Fall who comes across as normal, multi-dimensional, even interesting. Too bad you cant say the same thing about the books Irish American characters. CNN presenter John King has been criticized for joking about an Irish Live Matter movement on Monday evening, apparently unaware his mic was still live during the Mayor of Philadelphias speech at the Democratic National Convention. While mayor Jim Kenney spoke about the Irish Catholic immigrant experience during the mid-19th century, drawing parallels between the anti-immigrant Know Nothing party then and todays Republican party, King was heard on a hot mic to say, Thats the Irish Lives Matter movement. In 1844, an early version of the Know Nothing political party held a rally here to protest the threat that Irish Catholic immigrants posed to the American way of life, said Kenney, who is of Irish Catholic descent. They claimed these immigrants, people like my family, were more like likely to commit crimes than native born citizens. This rhetoric led to riots. St Michael and St Augustine churches were burned to the ground. Some 20 people died. Im telling you this story for one reason: Its happening again. The Know Nothings have returned and last week in Cleveland they vowed to take their country back this November. But they got it wrong. It was never their country in the first place, Kenney continued. not realizing his mic is hot @JohnKingCNN laughing at the mayor of Philadelphia "hahah Irish Lives Matter movement" are you kidding me dude? Jeremy Wein (@thismyshow) July 25, 2016 John King's "Irish Lives Matter" "joke" mocked #BLM and all of the Irish who suffered during the Famine. Peak d-baggery reached. #DNCinPHL Kim Lofgren (@KimberLofgren) July 26, 2016 King, who is also of Irish descent, was quickly criticized for mocking the Black Lives Matter movement although he claims he wasnt laughing at the mayor and was simply drawing a comparison with todays world. of irish heritage & grew up w/these stories, wasn't laughing at mayor; equating his reference 2 today. https://t.co/3LSGt2CblW John King (@JohnKingCNN) July 26, 2016 The Know Nothing, or American Party, was an American political movement that operated nationally throughout the mid-1850s. It aimed to limit or end the influence of Irish Catholics and other immigrants and reflected an anti-Catholic and nativist sentiment. The movement grew amid fears that Catholics were controlled by the Pope and were hostile to Republican values. Mainly active between 1854 and 1856, the movement had little success. Boston-native John King is CNN's chief national correspondent and anchor of Inside Politics, who has covered the past seven Presidential elections and reported from all 50 states. oh look it's @JohnKingCNN on @CNN Will he belittle #blacklivesmatter again like when he got caught on tape making fun of #irishlivesmatter? peek a boo (@Run_IsHere) July 26, 2016 .@CNN need to apologize for the comments #irishlivesmatter and laughter after that. When the mayor of Phily was speaking #DemsInPhilly Juan Garcia (@JuanGarciaDTes) July 25, 2016 H/T: The Irish Times British Prime Minister Theresa May has assured Northern Irish leaders that there will be no return to old border posts and permanent structures. However, her attempt to keep the United Kingdom in place suffered a major blow when Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made it clear yesterday that Scotland's best option may be to leave the UK. May was visiting Northern Ireland as part of a visit to all four parts of the United Kingdom. No one wants a return to the border of the past. she said. What we do want to do is to find a way through this that is going to work and deliver a practical solution for everybody as part of the work that we are doing to ensure that we make a success of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union and that we come out of this with a deal which is in the best interests of the whole of the United Kingdom, she said Brexit means Brexit, but we will be making a success of it and I am clear that the Northern Ireland executive and the other devolved governments will be involved in our discussions as we set forward the UK position, she said. Read more news about Northern Ireland here Sturgeon, however, called the lack of planning by the leave side one of the most shameful abdications of responsibility in modern political history. She was addressing an Institute for Public Policy Research event. Sturgeon said she feared the UK government was pursuing a hard rather than a soft Brexit that could impact Scotland significantly. She said a vote of 62 percent in favor of staying in the EU made a Scottish decision to leave the UK very logical. I dont pretend that the option of independence would be straightforward. It would bring its own challenges as well as opportunities, said Sturgeon. But consider this: the UK that we voted to stay part of in 2014 a UK within the EU is fundamentally changing. The outlook for the UK is uncertainty, upheaval and unpredictability. In these circumstances, it may well be that the option that offers us the greatest certainty, stability and the maximum control over our destiny, is that of independence. Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, who met the British leader with First Minister Arlene Foster, said he told the prime minister that with Brexit, there was no good news for the people of the north of Ireland. Read more: Northern Ireland now a different place and my kids dont know The Troubles existed Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (C) witnessing the signing of the loan agreements between the State Bank of Vietnam and the World Bank on July 25. The funds will focus on competitiveness, climate change and water management. Vietnam has secured funding of more than $371 million from the World Bank for two programs and a project to support the countrys sustainable economic development. Le Minh Hung, governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, and Victoria Kwakwa, the World Bank's vice president for East Asia Pacific region, signed the agreements in Hanoi on Monday. Of the total, $150 million is allocated to the Third Economic Management and Competitiveness program. The loan provides flexible budget support to the government while reinforcing selected structural reform priorities in the governments socio-economic development plan. Meanwhile, $90 million will be earmarked for supporting climate change and green growth policy actions under the Vietnamese governments Support Program to Respond to Climate Change, led by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. The third is the additional funding of $119 million for the ongoing Urban Water Supply and Wastewater Project in Vietnam. Approved by the World Bank in 2011, the project includes 14 subprojects across 10 provinces. Related news: > World Bank backs Vietnam's climate change fight with $310 million loan > World Bank loans Vietnam $560 million to support Mekong climate fight 19 people are dead and 20 injured following a knife attack outside Tokyo, it is reported. A man attacked a centre for the disabled in Sagamihara, then turned himself in, police said, according to Kyodo news agency. Scottish views were not considered when former prime minister David Camerons Conservative government said it would end new subsidies for the technology, according to a report issued yesterday by the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee. Scotland currently hosts about 60% of the UKs onshore wind capacity. It is the UKs cheapest way to produce low-carbon electricity, according to analysts. The city council has asked the two hoteliers to go back to the drawing board and significantly reduce the height of the planned hotels that are proposed to deliver an additional 239 hotel rooms for Dublin. In May, the firm that owns the four-star Radisson Blu hotel off South Great Georges St, and owned by Galway-based developers the Rhatigan Group, lodged plans to add a 10-storey extension that includes 103 additional bedrooms. ODwyer Solicitors of Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo, was granted the first court order for discovery by Judge Mary Devins in Castlebar District Court last month. The order directed the German carmaker to provide technical and expert information in relation to the emissions scandal to the solicitors within six weeks. The order was granted to Evan ODwyer representing Eithne Higgins a nurse with an address in Boyle, Co Roscommon. The law firm, which employs five solicitors and a further 12 support staff, is representing more than 300 clients planning to take cases against Volkswagen (VW) over the issue which came to light in September 2015 when VW admitted it had fitted cheat software to 11m vehicles to disguise the extent of the harmful nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions its cars produced. More than 115,000 Irish motorists are estimated to be affected by the issue. The firms internal investigation into that admission uncovered another problem two months later as an issue with carbon dioxide testing in 800,000 cars was discovered. Some 9,000 Irish owners of VW, Skoda, Seat and Audi were estimated to be affected. The plaintiff in the case, Ms Higgins, is seeking damages in respect of underpayment of vehicle registration tax and of unpaid motor tax for the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 arising from an underdeclaration of the amount due based on alleged incorrect emissions data. Ms Higgins is also looking for damages in respect of motor tax for the years 2016 and 2017; depreciation costs caused by wrongful acts and/or omissions on behalf of Volkswagen Group Ireland and Volkswagen AG; as well as other damages. In the United States, VW has struck a 13.9bn deal with authorities to compensate affected car owners. The deal will see drivers receive up to $10,000 each but no such deal has been forthcoming in Europe. There is no compensation for European customers, a spokesperson for Volkswagen confirmed yesterday. The relevant facts and complex legal issues that have played a role in coming to these agreements are materially different from those in Europe and other parts of the world. Stricter regulations governing NOx emissions limits for vehicles in the US make the development of technical solutions more challenging than in other parts of the world, the spokesperson added. In Europe, Volkswagen has been able to agree with the authorities responsible for the issue of a timetable and action plan for the modification of the affected vehicles. The intention is that after the emissions modification, the vehicles will fully comply with emission standards. Implementation of these measures has also already begun. ODwyer Solicitors has also struck a deal with Hausfeld Lawyers, a firm which also represented VW owners in the US, to share information and co-ordinate their respective efforts on behalf of clients. Both firms will also be working with partner law firms across the EU and Australasia. Ms Higgins case is due back in court on September 6. The Italian government is looking for ways to support struggling lenders without breaking EU state aid rules that require investors to take a hit first to shield taxpayers. Monte dei Paschi, Italys third-biggest bank by assets, is likely to be found short of capital under an adverse scenario when EU stress tests results are announced on Friday. The fall in the value of sterling against the euro will have an immediate impact on the outlook here because it makes it more difficult for Irish firms to sell in the UK. The bank has cut its estimate for underlying growth this year to 4% from 5% and pared its 2017 forecast to around 3% from 3.7%. The long-term effects are hard to estimate. Our best guess is that a reasonably orderly exit process from the EU by the UK could subtract about 2% cumulatively from Irish GDP growth over a period of two to three years, said KBC. While Brexit is not a big bang event and, as such, seems unlikely to threaten a sudden stop in Irish economic activity, some significant effects on the Irish economy are likely to be seen through the second half of 2016, with a further impact felt before the end of 2017. Our expectations in regard to Brexits potential impact on the Irish economy primarily reflect the speedy and substantial weakening of Sterling because of the UK referendum vote and the implications of this reaction for Irish exports. Our forecasts also take into consideration the nature and extent of economic and cultural ties between the two countries that makes the UK decision closer to a domestic rather than a foreign development. "The associated domestic focus on Brexit within Ireland means its repercussions are likely to feed through to sentiment and business decision-making reasonably quickly. KBC said that the huge revisions in 2015 GDP had exaggerated the improvement in public finances, with gross debt dropping to under 80%. Nonetheless, it forecasts the economy can grow by an average 4% a year over the next few years. On the CSO revisions, KBC said that while we think there could be a marginally negative impact on 2016 growth numbers from last years outsized increase, it is also quite possible that there could be further developments of a similar nature that would act in the opposite direction- possibly in a substantive manner. Our forecasts for the Irish economy reflect a view that the 2015 outturn was exceptional in nature and wont have any consistent impact on prospective growth rates for future years, the bank said. KBC said its forecasts reflect underlying trends in the Irish economy and abstract from the particular distortions that influenced the 2015 outturn. The Cork-based centre saw a 65% increase in industry funding, which totalled 8m, while the EU contributed a further 5m. Expenditure also stayed relatively static in 2015 despite remuneration costs increasing 1.5m to 20.18m. As a growing innovation hub and leading RTO [research trade organisation], our role is to practically translate excellence for our partners, bringing them to the manufacturing process and proof of concept, said Tyndall chief executive Dr Kieran Drain. We also work with industry partners along all steps in European programmes, and act as consultants to SMEs to help them link up with the European funding ecosystem through instruments like Horizon 2020. In total, the institute participated in 26 EU Horizon 2020 projects worth over 140m during 2015 while also playing a role in three Europe-wide research and enterprise programmes launched last year. Horizon 2020 is the EUs largest ever research and innovation programme, backed by close to 80bn in funding over a seven-year period from 2014. Tyndall, recognised as one of just 23 competence centres in the European components and systems arena, also helped a number of SMEs gain funding during 2015. Cork-based PMD Solutions secured over 4m in funding to commercialise its respiratory monitoring device, RespiraSense. Limericks Fleming Medical leveraged Tyndalls partnership with Phillips on the Horizon 2020 InForMed programme to land extra funding for technology projects. The plant reflects Vietnam's views on environmentally-friendly building materials. Vietnam's first modern production line for energy-saving glass was put into operation on July 25 in the southern province of Binh Duong. Photo by Baoxaydung. According to construction experts, most of the world skyscrapers are designed with energy-efficient glass, and Vietnam has started to follow the trend. In addition to the aesthetic advantage, buildings covered in this type of glass are able to reduce electricity bills by preventing heat or cold air from escaping through windows. The glass also blocks 99 percent of ultraviolet rays that pose a threat to human health. Demand for energy-saving glass in Vietnam is on the rise now the real estate market is showing signs of a recovery. However, the country now depends entirely on external suppliers, so glass made here has great potential on the local market, said Nguyen Quang Phuc, deputy head of the Vietnam Association for Building Materials. Work on the first energy-saving glass plant in Vietnam as well as Southeast Asia kicked off in October 2015 with total investment of VND524 trillion ($23.5 billion). Technology and facilities for the plant were imported from Von Ardenne Company, a German manufacturer with around 90 years of experience in construction materials. State-owned Viglacera Cooperation, the plant's owner, widened its portfolio of modern building materials by introducing the first antibacterial sanitary ware in March this year. He said the programme feeds 80 million of the most malnourished people in 80 countries. It also plays a significant role in the UNs global campaign for zero hunger, and is at the forefront of dealing with the migration crisis. In Waterford, meanwhile, up to 40 jobs are being created at a multinational medical products company already employing more than 630 people. Minister for Jobs, Enterprise, and Innovation Mary Mitchell OConnor was in Ballincolliog, Co Cork, yesterday to confirmed 300 jobs at CoreHRs bases in Cork and Kilkenny. They will be created over the next three years. CoreHR has 250 employees and specialises in cloud-based human capital management and payroll software. It will fill the positions across a wide variety of roles, including product and development, professional services, customer support, sales, and marketing. Ms Mitchell-OConnor said the jobs boost was great news for the country. My priority is to ensure an environment for jobs growth is developed right across the country and in particular the regions of Ireland, she said. I believe only a strong economy supporting people at work can pay for the services needed to create a fair society. CoreHR chief executive John Goulding said the company had carved out a strong presence across a wide range of sectors to become a world leader at the forefront of developing innovative HR software solutions. After a number of years of strong performance, including 30% revenue growth last year, I am very much looking forward to the next stage of our success story, to expanding our talented team and to continuing our global growth strategy, he said. Julie Sinnamon, chief executive of Enterprise Ireland, which supports the expansion, said innovation is central to CoreHRs success in competing and winning global customers. Enterprise Ireland looks forward to continuing to support CoreHRs growth ambitions as they create new jobs, she said. Cork Chamber chief excutive Conor Healy said the news was hugely positive and showed Cork was a centre for hi-tech growth. Meanwhile, international medical products giant Sanofi is expanding its base in the southeast. It is to change the name of its Irish operation from Genzyme Waterford to Sanofi Waterford next month. Genzymes existing plant in Waterford, where the medical products giant will change its name to Sanofi Waterford Since Sanofi acquired Genzyme globally in 2011, the Waterford operation has been increasingly closely-integrated within Sanofi Industrial Affairs so this is the logical next step as we plan for the future and build on the track record of achievement and growth here since 2001, said Ruth Beadle, site head at Sanofi Waterford. Genzyme has been in Waterford since 2001. Products for people with rare diseases are among those on the production line locally. The site expansion continues at the plant which will allow the first Sanofi diabetes products and medical devices to be manufactured there. Judgment is sought against Joseph and Ann McGouran, Hillcourt Park, Glenageary, Co Dublin, and their daughters Ann, of the same address, and Bronwyn, who lives at Tubbermore Rd, Dalkey. Mr Justice Brian McGovern admitted the case to the Commercial Court list on consent between the parties. A hearing of the summary judgment application will take place in early October. Heritage groups described the destruction of Corks Vernon Mount House a unique architectural and artistic gem, a protected structure included in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, and on the World Monument Fund List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites as a mindless act of vandalism. That this should happen at a time when prospects for the house had never been better, is particularly devastating, leading local campaign group, Grange Frankfield Partnership (GFP), said. Spokesman Ger Lehane said the GFP had spent the last seven years building a coalition of interested partners, including Cork County Council, An Taisce, and the Irish Georgian Society, as part of wider plans to develop a public park on the southside of the city with the restored house as a central focus. Video via Evan Shelly Visuals Their efforts were bolstered by the custodians of the American mother house The Mount Vernon Institute in Virginia, USA, which was the ancestral home of George Washington from which the Cork house got its name who pledged support. A high-level deputation from Washingtons Mount Vernon executive was due to visit the house in a matter of weeks. But Mr Lehane said escalating incursions into the property vied with intensive efforts by campaigners and led to the seemingly inevitable. The alarm was raised at around 9.40pm on Sunday. Six units of the city fire brigade, backed by a unit from Carrigaline, and a water tanker from Mallow, spent up to 10 hours battling the blaze. The full extent of the devastation to the house became apparent at dawn yesterday. Its roof and internal floors are gone. Its noted internal features have been destroyed. Engineers declared the building unsafe for internal forensic inspection yesterday fuelling fears that it may face demolition. All that now remains is the historical record and a memory of what might have been. A cultural asset of incredible richness has been brutally and senselessly destroyed, said the GFP. The Irish Georgian Society, which has been lobbying for its protection since the 1950s, said it once stood as possibly the finest surviving example in Ireland of a Georgian classical villa on the outskirts of a major city. Its significance was further enhanced by the presence in the house of exceptional neo-Classical paintings of mythological subjects by Cork artist, Nathaniel Grogan, which sadly are now gone, said executive director Donough Cahill. Cork County Council said it had pumped tens of thousands of euro into what is a privately-owned building to try and preserve it. Acting county manager Declan Daly said in 2012, part of the roof was repaired at a cost of 106,000, funded by the local authority and the Department of Arts, Heritage, and Gaeltacht. Not long after sunset on Sunday, people in various parts of Cork city began to notice the fire at the stately home and landmark, Vernon Mount. Picture: Maura Ryan Storm damage to the roof in 2014 cost 63,100, of which 44,850 was paid by the department. Mr Daly said earlier this month, following further reports of further damage by vandals, the council alerted the owners representative, Olaf Maxwell, who subsequently advised the council that repairs were carried out. The council had also recently engaged consultants to conduct a further assessment of the house. Before long, the roof and interal floors had collapsed, and a ball of flames illuminated the stark outline of the shell of the 18th-century landmark Cllr Mary Rose Desmond described it as a very sad day for Cork and for members of the GFP who had fought to upgrade the house. I dont think the owners took enough measures to ensure proper security was there, otherwise this wouldnt have happened. There should be stronger mechanisms nationally for the state to take over such houses, she said. Its a massive loss of an historic house which will be felt nationally, said Cllr Eoghan Jeffers. I get extremely angry that it was a protected structure and wasnt properly protected. We need to address the legislation, said Cllr Marcia DAlton. The Mayor of County Cork, Cllr Seamus McGrath, said council officials would compile a follow-up report on what might be saved. Mr Lehane said they will consult with the wider community on what can be done next, and confirmed they plan to continue with their biannual Vernon Mount public lecture series in Douglas on August 24, at which future options for the site will be explored. Owners silence The man who owns Vernon Mount ignored a suggestion made just three weeks agolast month that he donate the property to the State. An Taisce wrote to Jonathan Moss on July 5, asking him to consider donating the property to Cork County Council. Irelands national trust suggested the move would, as well as being in the public interest, also resolve his own legal and financial involvement in the property in a way that would bring him public credit. Jonathan Moss: Was urged to donate house to the State Mr Moss did not reply. Nor did he reply yesterday to questions from this newspaper. Campaigners who have been trying to save Vernon Mount for years, and who have tried to engage with Mr Moss, and with his Cork-based agents, say this is typical of his attitude to the authorities here. Mr Moss, who holds degrees in Engineering and Maths from Trinity College Dublin, is based in La Jolla, California. According to online biographies, his first major venture was a computer services company, founded in 1983 with just two staff, which he built into one of the largest independent computer services companies in Ireland before selling it as part of an orchestrated management buyout in 1997. The biographies say he has, over the years, created and participated in many successful ventures, from hi-tech software to low-tech manufacturing operations and the development of residential property sub-divisions. Since 2010, he played a very active role with the Tech Coast Angels San Diego chapter, and today, he specialises in investing in hi-tech startups. In its letter to Mr Moss, An Taisce pointed out the legal responsibilities under Section 58 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, whereby the owner of a protected building has a legal obligation to protect it from endangerment. Firefighters remained at the skeletal remains of the building until 6.45am on Monday but there was nothing more they could do for the historic house. Picture: Larry Cummins It suggested that the only appropriate use for the site would be to secure the house for suitable cultural and community use and make the grounds into a public park and public amenity, and offered to work with him on the handover. Those who have tried to engage with Mr Moss in the past say its unlikely to happen. House history Vernon Mount house, which dates from 1784, was designed by architect, Abraham Hargrave, for wealthy Cork merchant, Attiwell Hayes. It was named after Mount Vernon, on the Potomac River, in Virginia, the home of the first president of the United States of America, George Washington. Noted for its curved facade and bows on either side, for its elegant, sweeping staircase and for its columned lobby at first-floor level, its interior features included painted wall-and-ceiling decorations of classical figures by Cork artist, Nathaniel Grogan. The property was passed on to Attiwell Hayes son, Sir Henry Brown Hayes, who became notorious after he was said to have kidnapped a local heiress, Mary Pike, in July 1797, and to have brought her to Vernon Mount for a fake marriage, before she escaped. Painted panels and doors on the semi-circular landing were among the details at Vernon Mount. Pictures: Denis Minihane / Dan Linehan The house and grounds passed through several owners, and survived the turbulent War of Independence and Civil War years, when many estate homes were burned. It remained a family home until it was purchased, in 1959, by the Cork and Munster Motorcycle and Car Club, which used it as its headquarters and staged motocross racing on its grounds. The house was bought in 1997 by VM Development Company Ltd, led by Jonathan Moss, and its condition deteriorated rapidly over the ensuing years, due to a combination of wood-rot, roof-damage, and vandalism. Mr Mosss group was refused planning permission, by Cork County Council, in the mid-2000s, to redevelop the house and to build houses and apartments on the site, and the property fell into further decline. In 2008, it was placed on the World Monuments Funds list of the 100 most endangered sites. This piece by Cork artist Nathaniel Grogan (c.1740-1807) adorned a Vernon Mount ceiling until last Sunday The voluntary Grange Frankfield Partnership was formed in 2010 to campaign for the conservation and restoration of Vernon Mount, which, it was hoped, would form the centrepiece of an ambitious parkland. Roof repairs were carried out by Cork County Council in 2012, with funding from the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. These upgrades involved the replacement of 60% of the roof and the repair of the rest. There are now fears that the gutted structure may be demolished, after Sunday nights fire. One couple who lost their home are to receive 50,000, while 12,500 is to be paid to another man in respect of a buy-to-let property that was repossessed. Smaller amounts, of between 3,400 and 6,500 are to be paid to three other persons who did not lose properties, the High Court heard yesterday. Ms Justice Caroline Costello yesterday approved the arrangement concerning compensation to several bankrupts over tracker mortgages they had held with Permanent TSB. The amounts to be paid out are to be split, with 70% going to the bankrupts and the remaining 30% going to the official administering their estates, to be distributed to their creditors. The arrangement comes in the wake of Permanent TSBs admission last year that it had wrongly moved customers on tracker loans onto more expensive mortgages. The admission followed an investigation by the Central Bank. The bank said it would compensate clients, return them to trackers and refund them under a scheme called PTSBs Mortgage Redress Programme. About 1,400 property owners were affected. It is believed the compensation scheme will cost the bank up to 50m. The largest sum is to be paid to a couple who lost their home, who are to each receive 25,000. Some 12,500 is to be paid to a person in respect of a buy-to-let property he owned which was repossessed, counsel said, adding that P TSB had consented to the arrangement. Ms Justice Costello said she was happy to approve the arrangement, adding that the court could see the benefit of the arrangement to all parties. The shell of the privately owned unoccupied 18th century Vernon Mount House in Cork was declared unsafe yesterday, fuelling fears it could face demolition after a huge fire destroyed the roof, floors, ornate plasterwork, and ceiling paintings by Nathaniel Grogan. It took almost 30 firefighters almost 10 hours to bring the blaze under control. The fire broke out on Sunday despite warnings to Cork County Council last month that vandals were still entering and damaging the building. Local campaigners also said it was clear wood was being stockpiled inside. The Grange/Frankfield Partnership, a voluntary group which had been building a coalition of partners in a bid to save the home, said it was devastated. A cultural asset of incredible richness has been brutally and senselessly destroyed in a mindless act of vandalism, said spokesman Ger Lehane. Last week, the Georgian mansion at Belcamp in Fingal, Dublin, designed by White House architect James Hoban and which has been vacant for 10 years, also suffered extensive fire damage. Both properties are part of An Taisces Building at Risk Project. Vernon Mount also appeared on the World Monuments Fund List of 100 Most Endangered Sites following the intervention of the Irish Georgian Society in 2008. Despite being privately owned by US-based investor Jonathan Moss, more than 100,000 of public money was pumped into the near-derelict property since 2012 in a bid to halt its decline. Campaigners said the State has legal powers to force the owners of such historic buildings to take steps to protect them. But they claimed there appears to be a lack of will, and a lack of resources, to fully implement the laws. The fire highlights the continuing failure of Irish planning legislation to enforce the maintenance of legally protected historic buildings, An Taisce said. Anyone with information should contact Togher Garda Station on 021-4947120. News: 3 At a special meeting to adopt the draft Clare County Development Plan 2017-23, councillors voted in favour of zoning parcels of land in the south-east and south of the county for housing against the planning advice from Mr Dollard. Cllr Cathal Crowe (FF) led the opposition against two of the three proposed rezonings, stating that one of the three, at the village of Meelick, was the talk of the pub over the weekend and everyone knows who is for and who is against it. One of the contentious rezonings related to lands owned by Eveleen Whelan at Blackwater, Ardnacrusha. Ms Whelan was seeking 12 acres of the 24-acre plot to be included for low density residential development. In his report, Mr Dollard said the quantum of zoned land, at 6.7 hectares, to meet the population target for Ardnacrusha during the lifetime of the plan has already been provided for. To exceed the quantum by zoning further lands would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area, he said. Cllr PJ Ryan (Ind) yesterday advanced the case for Mr Dollards recommendation to be put aside and the lands zoned for housing. Mr Crowe said: I oppose this rezoning and we have already discussed it three times at our own meeting. I dont believe that this should come in at the 11th hour. However, mainly driven on by the Fianna Fail members of the council, councillors voted in favour of the plan, 11-6, with seven members abstaining. In relation to lands owned by Kieran Aherne at Meelick in south-east Clare, the landowner was seeking the rezoning of 4.5 hectares of land to low density residential. In his report, Mr Dollard said there were already four parcels of undeveloped land zoned for low density residential within the current boundary of the area. He stated: I have further concerns in relation to the location of the subject lands on the periphery of the settlement. I consider it preferable to develop lands close to the core of the village before peripheral lands are zoned for development. Mr Crowe told the meeting that the zoning will lead to further sprawl in the area. Supporting the case that the lands be rezoned for housing, Cllr James Breen (Ind) said rezoning the lands doesnt mean that planning will be granted. Mr Dollard intervened to state that the lands are isolated and should not be rezoned. Mr Dollard said the councillors had to present a planning rationale for the lands to be rezoned. However, 16 councillors voted through the rezoning. The councillors also voted through a rezoning of 2.7 hectares of land owned by Michael Enright at Drumline, Newmarket-on-Fergus, for housing against the advice of Mr Dollard. Key areas of trade, the Good Friday agreement, the common travel area with Ireland, and the post-Brexit EU landscape will all be discussed at 10 Downing St. It will be the first face-to-face meeting between the leaders since Ms May succeeded David Cameron as prime minister following the June 23 Brexit vote. During a visit to Belfast yesterday, to meet leaders there, Ms May said nobody wants a return to the border of the past; comments seen as a boost for Mr Kennys position. Government sources expect the close relationship between London and Dublin regarding trade and economies will be emphasised during discussions. As home secretary and while campaigning for a remain vote, Ms May had said she found it inconceivable that border arrangements in the North would remain unchanged. However, her new position disclosed to the Norths leaders yesterday will add momentum to Mr Kennys insistence there will be no European border from Louth to Donegal following Brexit. But no quick or complete solution is expected from the meeting between the two leaders. Instead, sources expect that positions will be outlined and then later used in the run up to and during the next EU leaders summit in Bratislava in September. A Government source said: We will look after our own interest. But this is also about keeping a positive bilateral relationship. Theresa May. The London meeting comes as French President Francois Hollande last week backed calls for Ireland to be considered a special case in Brexit negotiations, given the peace process. DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson yesterday criticised Mr Kennys approach to the post-Brexit talks. Speaking to RTE, he said Mr Kenny had previously floated the idea of an all-island forum on Brexit because of internal party pressure on him and the need to compete with Sinn Fein. We need leadership and I hope we will see that from the Taoiseach, he said. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said the option of Irish unity must be on the agenda during talks. Brexit has the potential to undermine the Good Friday Agreement, undermine the all-Ireland economy, and undermine progress. The imposition of Brexit on Ireland again underlines the failure of partition, he said, urging Mr Kenny to advocate for all of Ireland. Mr Justice Brian McGovern fixed the hearing, which could have enormous implications for EU-US trade and the data privacy rights of millions of EU citizens, to open on February 7, 2017. It will run for up to three weeks. Commissioner Helen Dixon wants the High Court to refer issues concerning the validity of data transfer channels, known as standard contractual clauses and approved by various European Commission decisions, to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) for determination. She brought proceedings after making a draft finding last May that Austrian lawyer Max Schrems had raised well-founded objections as to whether the existing channels breach data privacy rights of EU citizens. That finding arose from a complaint by Mr Schrems as to what was happening to his Facebook data when sent to the US for processing. The commissioners case is against Mr Schrems and Facebook Ireland because Facebooks European headquarters are based here. Yesterday, the case was before Mr Justice Brian McGovern to make directions for exchange of legal documents between the sides for the full hearing and to fix a hearing date. The judge dismissed arguments by Eoin McCullough, counsel for Mr Schrems, that, before any High Court hearing, the Commissioner should make a full finding on facts. Mr McCullough said that, to date, Ms Dixon had only made a draft finding concerning Mr Schrems objections, and said her decision was subject to further submissions from Mr Schrems and Facebook. She should make a final decision on the facts before any High Court hearing to refer issues to the CJEU and that would save time and costs, he said. Paul Gallagher, for Facebook, described Mr Schrems arguments as extraordinary, misconceived, and made too late. Michael Collins, for Ms Dixon, agreed and said his client followed the correct procedure for seeking a reference. Unlike a normal reference to the CJEU, which is then returned to a national deciding authority, no national court can declare a decision of the European Commission invalid; only the European Court can do that, he said. The judge rejected Mr Schrems arguments and made the directions requested. He set October 17 to hear Mr Schrems application for a protective costs order. The judge refused as too late a request by Declan McGrath, for Indian-based IT trade representative body Nasscom, for leave to bring an application to be joined as amicus curiae (assistant to the court on legal issues). Nasscom only learned in recent days of the Irish court proceedings and was concerned about implications for Indian entities heavily reliant on data transfers, counsel said. Last week, the judge granted applications by the US government, US-based data privacy watchdog Epic, the Business Software Alliance, and Digital Europe to be joined to the case as amicii curiae. Only a party to the Irish proceedings can participate in any reference to the CJEU. Leave your raincoat behind and enjoy summer through the lens. The capital of Vietnam battles through a rainy, humid summer. Humidity hovering at around saturation point sends people running for cover during rush hour, and drivers are no exception. Stopping under the slightest hint of shade, they pull up in spots before red lights regardless of whether it's legal or not. But then the heavens open and a deluge engulfs the road. So what does one do? Pull over - wherever you are - and grab the raincoat tucked under your seat. VnExpress brings you the best of Hanoi, whatever the weather. Rainstorms are the norm in Hanoi during summer. Some pray for it, hoping the shower will lift the scorching heat. Some just hate being under a raincoat and driving through the flooded roads that become the talk of the town whenever they emerge. Photo by Nguyen Tuan Anh/VnExpress Photo Contest The raincoat: part of the urban survival kit. Photo by Cu An Binh/VnExpress Photo Contest Street business is somewhat affected, but it carries on regardless. Photo in Nguyen Chi Nam/VnExpress Photo Contest Even the huge trees on Phan Dinh Phung Street cannot protect a lone street vendor from the summer rain. Ha Thanh/VnExpress Photo Contest But after the rain, the sun always comes out. Rays of light cut through old trees on Phan Dinh Phung Street creating a symphony of light and color. A prevailing image seen throughout the city. Street vendors have long been part of the city's soul. But even if the summer rain fails to ease the boiling heat, the numerous lakes are the perfect refuge for Hanoians. Sunset by West Lake, where the breeze whisks away traffic smog. Related news: > Hanoi, Saigon in the 80s through a French lens: beauty lies in simplicity > Urban snoozes in Hanoi > The old markets that make Hanoi tick > Hanoi, a beautiful mess (a love letter) Last June, a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court convicted former Anglo Irish Bank executives John Bowe and Willie McAteer, and the former group chief executive of Irish Life and Permanent (ILP), Denis Casey, of conspiring to make Anglos books look 7.2bn healthier than they actual were. The three men were involved in setting up a circular scheme of billion euro transactions where the money moved backwards and forwards between Anglo and ILP. The deposits from ILP were credited as coming from Irish Life Assurance so they could be treated as customer deposits. The purpose was to mislead investors and depositors by making the banks corporate deposits figure, a mark of the health of a bank, look a lot better than they were. Bowe was Anglos former head of capital markets and McAteer was the banks then finance director at the time. During the trial, lawyers for the accused submitted that their clients had acted in line with the instructions of the financial regulator under a so-called green jersey agenda to circle the wagons to steer the Irish banking system through the catastrophic international credit crunch. John Bowe Bowe, aged 52, from Glasnevin, Dublin, McAteer, aged 65, of Greenrath, Tipperary, and Casey, aged 56, from Raheny, Dublin, all pleaded not guilty to conspiring together and with others to defraud by setting up a 7.2bn circular transaction scheme between March 1 and September 30, 2008, to bolster Anglos balance sheet with the intention of misleading investors. After a day-long hearing yesterday, Judge Martin Nolan said he would sentence them on Friday. Paul OHiggins, prosecuting, told the court that the effective maximum sentence was 10 years. Mr OHiggins said that, in early 2008, the Financial Regulator and the Central Bank had been encouraging Irish banks to support each other. However, at no stage was the regulator told about the impending transactions in September 2008, he said. He said Anglos then chief executive, David Drumm, had the major part in driving the transactions. Willie McAteer The court heard all three convicted men co-operated fully with the garda investigation by making lengthy statements and answering questions. All three had long careers in the financial sector and lost their positions and suffered personal loss after these events. Lawyers for Bowe said he was not the most significant player in the scheme, while counsel for McAteer said he was not the driving force behind it. Counsel for Casey said that he believed Anglo could not have approached ILP without the knowledge and approval of the Financial Regulator. Casey told gardai he only agreed to short-term loans with Anglo on condition that there was no risk to his company and that he did not know or intend that Anglo would misrepresent the loans as customer deposits. Denis Casey McAteer is the only one of the three to have a previous conviction. He was convicted in 2014 of providing unlawful loans from Anglo Irish Bank to 10 property developers, dubbed the Maple Ten, in July 2008 in breach of section 60 of the Companies Act. Lawyers for the men said none of them gained from the scheme and there was no loss to the State or the banks as the inter-bank loans cancelled each other out. Two years ago, the former businessman was given a seven-year prison sentence for inducing others to advance millions of euro to him for investment in bogus property deals. OBrien, with an address at Monkstown Grove, Monkstown, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 14 sample counts of making a gain or causing a loss by deception or theft of around 8.5m between 2003 and 2008. He was sentenced to seven years by Judge Patricia Ryan on October 8, 2014. Last December, his appeal against the length of the term was dismissed by the Court of Appeal. At the High Court yesterday, OBrien was ruled as being a bankrupt following an application made to Ms Justice Caroline Costello. It is understood OBrien owes approximately 25m in secured debt and 13.7m in unsecured debt to creditors. Barrister Keith Farry BL for OBrien said his client was seeking to be declared bankrupt on his own petition. The judge said she was satisfied to adjudicate OBrien as a bankrupt. She said OBrien would have to advertise the adjudication in both Insolvency Service of Irelands website and in Iris Oifigiuil, the official gazette of the Government of Ireland. Two years ago, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard OBrien had dishonestly induced five people to advance millions of euro to him to invest in bogus property deals in Manchester, Paris, and Hamburg. OBrien also got them to invest money in a bogus linen shipping insurance scheme. His actions were described as a classic pyramid scheme. Det Garda Eoin OToole charged them with having cannabis for sale or supply at a time when its street value exceeded 13,000. That is the threshold which allows for up to life imprisonment with a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years on conviction, unless the judge finds exceptional circumstances. Christopher Sexton, aged 41, and Paul Mannix, aged 51, were both charged with possession for sale of supply of cannabis resin at Corrin, Fermoy, Co Cork, on February 12, when the street value exceeded 13,000. It was an invasion of my privacy. I feel vulnerable. The word sex did not exist when I was growing up. Being my age, it is hard to break this taboo. I would rather be silent and forget what happened. I want to live in the present and get on with my life, but I need to break through the taboos, embarrassment, and shame. The broken being inside does not stop screaming in fear. I need to be rescued from drowning in the aftermath, the woman said. She said her life had been shattered and turned upside down. She described feeling like a child in the wilderness, with nowhere to go, having been sexually abused, terrified and in pain. She said she was fearful, felt stripped-naked and defiled and not well enough to live alone, yet my offender walked free. She described her home as her Irish paradise and felt she owed to it herself to work towards reclaiming it. I lost the trust in myself and in people. I live in fear, she said, before she added that she felt danger when someone called to her home. My body feels like it is on constant alert. A sudden noise, if a young man with dark hair or a hood passes by, my body tenses. I have to look the other way or cross the road, focus on my breathing, telling myself I am safe. I still see quite often, in the corner of my right eye, the slim, black-masked figure standing behind me. I have not managed to ignore it. I wish I was invisible, the woman continued. She said she felt sorry for Husseys parents and concluded that she was grateful for having been given a voice. I hope to get some closure today and to begin again and rebuild my life. The crest was finally passed to a man from Youghal, Co Cork, whose father had, by coincidence, served in the British Navy at the actual stone frigate base in Malta. And, very shortly, the LE James Joyce, on a humanitarian migrant rescue mission in the Mediterranean will return the crest to a Malta naval museum. The handing-over ceremony will take place aboard the Irish patrol ship. The crest represents the Maltese heritage site, Fort St Angelo. It was one of only two such forts categorised as stone frigates by the British. Two original crests were created for the fort, with the other now in private ownership. Fort St Angelo, about 1,000 years old, served as a British garrison from 1800 to 1979, during which time it was first classified as HMS Egmont (1912) and later HMS St Angelo (1933). Malta regained the fort in 1979 and it is now on a tentative list of Unesco World Heritage Sites. Made of solid bronze/brass casting and still mounted on its original base, it was created either during or shortly before WWII. It was discovered in an antique drawer chest brought from England to south Tipperary by a returning emigrant. The item gathered dust in a Tipperary home for 20 years. However, it came into the hands of a Youghal-based inspector of fisheries, Michael Faul. He retained it in his garage for 25 years before passing it to David Cooley, a member of Cork County Councils outdoor staff, who collects memorabilia. Mr Cooley stored the crest for three years before asking a friend and local businessman Hugh Carson to research its history. By peculiar coincidence, Mr Carsons father, also named Hugh, had served as a British Navy warrant engineer at Fort St Angelo, aboard the HMS Chequers during the Palestine crisis of 1948/49. Mr Carson had the crests authenticity confirmed by Fort Angelo museum curator, Mathew Balzan, who was delighted at he discovery and the plan to return the crest. Through the recommendation of Lt Gary Delaney of the Irish Naval Service, the crest is currently aboard the LE James Joyce. When the ship berths at Valetta shortly for storing, rest and restoration, Mr Colley will formally present the crest to Mr Balzan. The ceremony will form part of a reception by the Irish embassy to which the Cooley, Faul, and Carson families have been invited. James Redmond, aged 60, of Killinarden Estate, Tallaght, Dublin 24, is charged with murdering Mary Dargan and attempting to murder Karina Dargan at their home in Killinarden Estate on March 15, 2014. Mr Redmond yesterday pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the charges at the Central Criminal Court. Before the prosecution opened its case, Brendan Grehan, defending, made a number of admissions of fact on behalf of his client. He said Mr Redmond pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the two charges and admitted he had killed Mary Dargan and attempted to kill Karina. Ms Dargan told the court that, in March 2014, she was living with her own daughter in her mothers house, which had been the family home for many years. I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my mum, my sister Jessie and her son, said Ms Dargan. We were having a giggle about Jessies upcoming wedding. I looked out at the corner of my eye and I saw him coming towards me. The blinds were open as it was a nice day out. I saw him walking in slow and calmly. He said: Are you fucking laughing now? The court heard Mr Redmond then shot her mother in the side of her face. I ran to get Gary and I heard a bang and I went down, she said. I just saw Garys feet running by me and I got up. My daughter was at the hall door. I knew my mother died immediately, I knew when I looked at her. She suffered a gunshot wound to the right hand side of her head, but escaped with tissue damage. The court heard Ms Dargan knew the accused for the previous 28 years since they moved into the house next door. The trial continues today. It comes after Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin strongly indicated that he would be in favour of such a partnership in the future. In an interview with the Irish Examiner, Mr Martin raised the possibility of doing a deal with Labour and emphasised that the last government coalition between both parties had been a good government. Yesterday, Labours Willie Penrose said his party is focused on rebuilding support and ruled out a coalition with Fianna Fail, adding that it was nonsensical. The Longford-Westmeath TD said: I am not a bit interested, our only interest is trying to build the party. Our strong focus is to rejuvenate the party, we have to focus on that and getting new members in. We wont be talking about government for a long time, the people dont want us in government. Its far-fetched because we are still setting out our stall for the recovery of the Labour party. Labour senator Kevin Humphreys echoed this belief but did not fully rule out entering government. At the moment we are not thinking that far ahead, at the moment we are thinking about rebuilding, he said. Mr Humphreys said the party is not thinking of entering any coalition but added: The record of the Labour party in government has always been very good. Unfortunately we have always been in government in the worst of times. I would always consider entering government but we would want to make it very clear on the delivery of issues and social change. He said he believed the arrangement between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael will continue after the next election, but the roles of the parties would then reverse with Mr Martins party in power. We have a coalition at the moment the coalition of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, and Fianna Fail are pulling the strings, said Mr Humphreys. Certainly in relation to Micheal Martin, an awful lot of people have very short memories. Micheal Martin was at the cabinet table which crashed this country. He has always been a considered a conservative leader. Mr Martin told the Irish Examiner it was too early to focus on the next election but added that Labour had worked very well with Fianna Fail in the past. The Labour party 92-94 government was a very good government, he said. I was a backbench TD then and many people regret the manner in which that government broke up and a lot of good legislation came out of that combination of Fianna Fail and Labour. The 25-year-old man pleaded guilty on the morning of his trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to defilement of a child at his home on March 2, 2010. He was registered a sex offender. The man was 19 at the time of the offence. The investigating garda confirmed the girl did not want to give evidence at trial or provide a victim impact report. ODwyer Solicitors of Ballyhaunis was last month granted the first court order for discovery of documents by Judge Mary Devins in Castlebar District Court. The order directed the German carmaker to provide technical and expert information to the solicitors within six weeks, in relation to the global emissions scandal that rocked the company last year. Tina Kelly, who was in her 30s, and her 14-year-old son, Joey, were pronounced dead at the scene on a link road for the N63 in Ballygar. Gardai are still trying to establish the cause of the single-vehicle accident, which occurred at 9.45pm on Sunday when the car collided with a tree. The alarm was raised by a passing motorist and frantic but unsuccessful attempts were made to save the mother and son. Local councillor and mayor of Galway County Council, Michael Connolly, said the community is reeling following the tragedy. Its a terrible accident and a massive shock for the Ballygar area and the whole surrounding community, he said. It is especially difficult at this time of the year and we just want to send our deepest condolences to the Kelly family at this time. The Kellys are a well-known and respected family and both of these deaths will be mourned widely. Gardai are appealing any witnesses to the accident to come forward. In a separate accident in Maynooth, Co Kildare, a 38-year-old man died yesterday afternoon when the jeep in which he was travelling hit a ditch. A female passenger was taken to Naas General Hospital with minor injuries. No other people were involved Gardai at Leixlip have appealed for witnesses to contact Leixlip Garda Station on 01-666 7800, the Garda Confidential Telephone Line 1800 666 111, or any garda station. Meanwhile, a motorcyclist is in serious condition in Cork University Hospital following a crash at a race meeting on Sunday. Seamus Elliott from Ballymoney, Co Antrim, suffered head injuries and multiple fractures at the Faugheen 50 meet in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary. Mr Elliott was immediately airlifted to CUH. The rider had made his debut appearance at the Isle of Man TT earlier this year. The incident came a day after another crash at the same event, which saw Cork rider Brian Coomey also airlifted to CUH for treatment. Noel Carroll from Laois was also injured in the incident at Saturdays practice and was also brought to CUH for treatment. A soda ash manufacturer has discharged waste water into nearby ponds without permission. A group of top officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment announced their final conclusion on July 26 regarding a case involving a soda ash manufacturer in the central province of Quang Nam. The group said that fish are dying en masse in adjacent ponds belonging to locals. Many have died a long time ago and floated to the surface, while others drowned at the bottom. Scores of dead fish killed by sewage from the plant. Photo by VnExpress/Tien Hung The investigation found that the ponds were not connected to any natural water sources, just two sewage outlets from the factory that have recently been hidden under bricks and soil. After taking samples, the officials concluded that the samples had excess pH levels. The company also violated numerous rules like discharging waste water without permission from local authorities, storing sewage for more than six months without informing authorities and showing no documents related to toxic sewage. Officials from the ministry have yet to decide on a punishment, but have ordered the company to clean up the dead fish and the two outlets. In February this year, the ministry slapped a fine of VND730 million ($32,800) on Chu Lai Soda Joint Stock Company, the owner of the plant, for polluting the environment. The company was also forced to suspend operations for three months. However, to date, they have only paid VND200 million. The soda plant covers an area of 60 hectares with total investment of $120 million ($9,000). It produces soda ash, which is mainly used for making glass, paper and soap. Related news: > Fishermen demand compensation, medicals after mass fish deaths > Fish deaths hit Quang Binh for $179 million > Formosa in Vietnam: From billion-dollar steel factory to mass fish killer Romanian national Ciprian Grozavu, aged 42, with an address at Bridge House, Sean Hales Place, Bandon, Co Cork, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Jonathan Duke, 27, at Bridge House, Bandon, on November 12, 2011. Grozavu and his girlfriend at the time, Catherine OConnor, aged 40, of the same address, lived in an apartment next to a bridge over the Bandon river. Mr Duke was killed in that apartment on November 13, 2011, and his body dumped in the river. Another occupant, John Forrester, was killed in his apartment the previous evening. Grozavu and OConnor were charged and convicted of the murder of both men in four separate trials. Grozavu was found guilty of Mr Dukes murder by a jury at the Central Criminal Court and was given the mandatory life sentence by Mr Justice Paul Carney on July 17, 2013. He successfully appealed his conviction in respect of Mr Dukes murder yesterday. The Court of Appeal ordered a retrial after finding that the trial judge, in response to a question from the jury, should have said simply yes. Giving judgment, Mr Justice John Edwards said the jury, shortly after commencing deliberations, returned to court and asked two questions of the trial judge. The first concerned the legal definition of manslaughter; no issue arose in relation to advice provided. The second question was: If we believe that two people were involved in an unlawful killing, may we decide that one was guilty of murder without prejudicing the verdict in the case of the other? The other was a reference to OConnor, who was facing trial for the same murder. To this question, the judge said: Thats a difficult one. You are only concerned with the case against Mr Grozavu. You are only concerned with the case against him. Thomas Creed, for Grozavu, said the judge failed to just say yes. Grozavu has separately lodged an appeal in respect of his conviction of the murder of Mr Forrester. Social Democrats TD Stephen Donnelly reiterated yesterday that the State was losing as a much as 20m a week as some firms are using a loophole to pay just 250 in tax to Revenue. He has told the Dail that Irish charity status is being used by vulture funds, some of which have bought up distressed property loans, to avoid paying tax. Typical businesses here pay 30% tax on their profits. But some companies are using what is called Section 110 status, where profits go offshore, which allows them pay virtually no tax at all. Revenue yesterday confirmed to the Irish Examiner that interventions are currently under way in respect of a number of such companies. Officials said companies must notify Revenue in advance of their intention to avail of the status and are required to pay their taxes and file their tax returns in the same way as all other companies. Section 110 companies chosen for compliance investigations were selected based on certain risk indicators, Revenue said. Officials will not identify which companies are being scrutinised. Mr Donnelly has told the Dail that Section 110 structures are now being used by nearly all of the vulture funds to take profits generated in Ireland and, very frustratingly, to take profits generated in Ireland by ordinary, decent families trying to pay their way out of negative equity and distressed mortgages. The TD says Section 110 was never intended to be used to take profits out of the country. This is happening on a scale that is potentially worth tens of billions of euro. The Wicklow TD yesterday told RTE the tax loophole was set up with broad parameters and was not being monitored properly. What we are looking at is perfectly legal tax avoidance on a scale the Irish State has really never seen before. Ministers have said that the Department of Finance is examining if companies are abusing charity status to move their profits offshore. Education Minister Richard Bruton said any abuses of the tax system would be stamped out. The charities regulator is also examining any abuse of the Section 110 structures. The regulator said it was looking into several entities, or special purpose vehicles Sudanese doctor Omar Hassan was found guilty of misconduct and poor professional performance on multiple grounds in January by an Irish Medical Council (IMC) fitness to practise committee. It followed a 10-day inquiry which arose from complaints about care of patients and his interactions with colleagues, at Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise, Mayo General, and Galway University Hospital between 2012 to 2014. Among the complaints were that he misidentified an X-ray image of an ankle for an elbow during a teaching session at Galway. He protested his innocence and brought a High Court appeal against the misconduct findings, representing himself. He has been suspended from practise. High Court president Mr Justice Peter Kelly, after reading out extracts of certain emails and documents authored by Dr Hassan, said he was very disturbed by what the doctor had written and glad to know the IMC had informed gardai of these threats. When Dr Hassan protested his signature was not on an email the judge had referred to, the judge told him emails did not have signatures. He advised him the less you say at this stage the better. In one of those documents, a written submission to the IMC protesting against the misconduct finding, Dr Hassan said he was extremely and unfairly negatively portrayed by some media invited by the IMC to do so. He continued: What have taken place will be fully paid for at an extremely bloody price for the people involved worldwide as far it can gets, as it seems that following regulations and putting forward reasonable explanations did not work and do not work, so me and my family will take things into our own hands in the future, as our local culture of fair revenge may extend down generations. Mr Justice Kelly fixed October 18 for the hearing of his case and after being told the IMC had had difficulty serving papers on him, ordered they be served in court. When a box containing the papers was put beside him, Dr Hassan said he would not accept them as he was going to get a solicitor and they should be held by the IMC until then. He left court without taking the box. Ms May was speaking after talks with First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness on her first visit as PM to Northern Ireland. She said she would seek a Brexit deal with Brussels which was in the best interests of the whole of the United Kingdom. If you look ahead, what is going to happen when the UK leaves the European Union is that, of course, Northern Ireland will have a border with the Republic of Ireland, which will remain a member of the European Union, said Ms May. But, weve had a common travel area between the UK and the Republic of Ireland many years before either country was a member of the European Union. Nobody wants to return to the borders of the past. What we do want to do is to find a way through this that is going to work and deliver a practical solution for everybody, as part of the work that we are doing to ensure that we make a success of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, and that we come out of this with a deal which is in the best interests of the whole of the United Kingdom. Ms May said her talks with Ms Foster and Mr McGuinness, at Stormont Castle, had concentrated on the impact of Brexit, and she characterised the discussions as very constructive ... positive. She repeated her vow, made on the steps of Downing St moments after becoming PM, on July 13, that she would govern for the whole of the United Kingdom of which Northern Ireland is a valued part. She added: Im very clear that the government will deliver on the Stormont House Agreement and the Fresh Start Agreement. Ms May said: Brexit means Brexit, but we will be making a success of it and I am clear that the Northern Ireland Executive, and the other devolved governments, will be involved in our discussions, as we set forward the UK position. I recognise theres a particular circumstance in Northern Ireland, because, of course, it has a land border with a country, the Republic of Ireland, that will be remaining in the EU. Weve had constructive talks about the will that we all have to find a way through this, which is in the best interests of Northern Ireland and the best interest of the United Kingdom as a whole. In Northern Ireland, 56% voted to Remain and the UK-wide vote to Leave has triggered intense political wrangling in the region. The result has sparked a renewed debate on a potential referendum on Irish reunification. The Stormont Executive is divided on the EU issue, with Ms Fosters Democratic Unionists backing Brexit and Mr McGuinnesss Sinn Fein advocating Remain. Ms May insisted that the UKs departure from the European Union must work for Northern Ireland and said she would work with all the political parties as she prepares for withdrawal negotiations. Proposals for many years, for a bypass of Macroom and Ballyvourney, remain on the long finger. County councillors on Macrooms municipal district body have been contacted by councillors in Kerry to work together to get the proposed project back on track. Concerns were raised again after Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) chiefs said they did not envisage any funding for the project until at least 2022. Cllr Bob Ryan, chairman of the Macroom committee, yesterday told a full meeting of Cork Co Council colleagues he had been contacted by the chairman of Kerry County Council, Cllr Mike OShea, to organise a united front approach. Cllr Gobnait Moynihan said she had been very disgusted by the report where TII officials said they did not have the money to fund a newly-improved N22 main road between Cork and Kerry. Its very disappointing to see its not a priority. Its pushing it out post-2021. That word post upsets me very much because its so vague, she said. We should seek a delegation to the minister (for transport Shane Ross) and let him know how important this project is to us, she added. Cllr Ryan said funding for the new N22 had become a major issue. He said the current lack of it was absolutely and totally unacceptable. The lack of this road is a major impediment to economic development in the region. The current road is now a health and safety risk. We cannot have it long-fingered any more, Cllr Ryan said. Post-2021 could actually be post 2031, said Cllr Des OGrady. I propose we send a delegation from both counties. However, councillors Michael Creed and Ted Lucey said they believed the money for the project would be forthcoming and quicker than others think. Theres a lot of (negative) spin being put on this. Its my understanding that money will be allocated for this, Cllr Creed said. Cllr Lucey said: There has been a lot of negative press going on about this. Im confident that work is going on behind the scenes. Acting county manager Declan Daly said a telephone conversation had already taken place between council chief executive Tim Lucey and his counterpart in Kerry about the issue. We are very supportive of this road and its a priority in our eyes. We can work together but have to be mindful of the other projects we have in Cork which require our support as well, he added. West Cork-based mother, Fiona OLeary, who wants to block the films release in Ireland and Britain, said she was outraged to receive a legal letter from California-based Cinema Libre Studios over the weekend. The letter claimed that her public comments about the 90-minute film were defamatory and that her comments about the filmmaker were libellous. The CEO of the studios, Philippe Diaz, accused Ms OLeary of initiating a defamation campaign against the film and its makers. Moreover, you are attempting to prevent the film from being exhibited, which is a clear effort to harm our business, Mr Diaz said. Demand is made that you immediately cease and desist from interfering with the distribution of the film, as well as from making any statement to any person with regard to the film, Cinema Libre Studio and/or Autism Media Channel, its agents, representatives and/or employees, including Dr Andrew Wakefield, Del Bigtreet, and Polly Tommey. In the event that you do not comply with this demand, we intend to file an action against you. We will ask for punitive damages and financial compensation for all losses to our business directly resulting from your actions. The documentary alleges that the US government agency charged with protecting the health of US citizens destroyed data from a 2004 study that showed a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. It is directed by discredited anti-vaccine activist, Andrew Wakefield, whose controversial 1998 study first suggested a link between autism and vaccines. A substantial body of research has since suggested that there is no link between vaccines and autism. In 2010, Wakefields study was withdrawn, as was his medical licence. Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, described as the film they dont want you to see, was due to be screened at this years Tribeca Film Festival, but was withdrawn. Nonetheless, it closed the year with an improved reserves position of 521m, up 12% on 2014. The State-owned insurer said the strengthening of free reserves was attributable to key business initiatives in recent years, including improvements in claims and provider management. Gross earned premium for 2015 totalled 1.428bn, slightly down on the 1.451bn it achieved in the previous year. Total gross claims paid in 2015 came to 1.378bn, up 10% on a year earlier. VHI blamed the full effect of significant increases in public hospital charges introduced by the government in 2014 for the increase in claims as well as other factors including increased demand for treatment and procedures from our ageing membership. In fact, VHI chief executive John ODwyer questioned the future sustainability of Irelands healthcare model given the growth in the number of over-65s, expected to reach 1m in less than 20 years. There is an urgent need for policymakers, insurers, and healthcare providers to work together to plan for the future and adapt our models of healthcare to tackle our ageing population, said Mr ODwyer. VHI now has 1.068m customers. Some 926,000 claims were processed by the health insurer in 2015, with the highest expenditures going on cancer and related care at 188.2m, the heart and circulatory system at 159.8m, and orthopaedic care at 147.3m. Last year saw VHI Insurance DAC authorised as a non-life insurance company, and VHI Healthcare Ltd as an insurance intermediary by the Central Bank. The newly authorised entities commenced trading on July 31. Securing authorisation placed VHI on the same regulatory footing as others operating in the market and facilitated its move into new markets such as life insurance, an offering it introduced in May 2016. Mr ODwyer said securing authorisation was a major milestone. PES 2017 will feature Club Nou, and 3D photo-scanned player faces, including Messi and Neymar Jr. According to Konami, the core concept of PES 2017, Control Reality, will see players able to replicate Barcas distinctive and attractive style of play. By pre-ordering PES 2017 digitally, youll have the opportunity to sign an FCB player for use in the myClub playmode. Some people were forced to wait for 15 hours on gridlocked roads to reach the Kent port over the weekend. Helen Deeble, chief executive of P&O Ferries, said holidaymakers were delayed for unacceptable lengths of time and insisted the situation must never be allowed to happen again. Guo Boxiong was also stripped of his rank and forced to hand over all his assets to the Chinese government, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Guo, aged 74, is a former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, which is led by Xi Jinping, Chinas president and leader of the Communist Party. Heavy drinkers are at higher risk of contracting the life-threatening disease. Gastric cancer, also known as stomach cancer, is striking more people under 40 years old in Vietnam, and heavy beer drinkers are at a greater risk, health studies show. Statistics show that gastric cancer is the leading cause of male cancer deaths in Vietnam, just after lung cancer. The cancer is the third most common cause of cancer deaths in Vietnamese women, after cancers of the breast and cervix. And about two thirds of patients diagnosed with the cancer are in the advanced stages. Stomach cancer is among the 10 most common cancers in the Southeast Asian country. The Medical University Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City has in recent years received on average 300-400 new cases of stomach cancer, said Doctor Vo Duy Long. Long said there has been an increase in cases of stomach cancer among young adults under 40 years old. The hospital recorded the case of an 18-year-old student who had persistent stomach pains, and test results confirmed the shocking news. The cancer in her stomach was in its advanced stages. According to doctors, it was too late for a total gastrectomy, a complex surgery performed to remove the entire stomach. The patient was given prescription drugs to prolong her life. A 33-year-old female patient from Quang Ngai Province had experienced persistent symptoms of stomach pain and vomiting for over four months before she went to see a doctor. Dr. Long said the stomach cancer was diagnosed at an early stage, so the patient had a good chance of recovery. Alcohol abuse linked to stomach cancer There might be a link between rising beer consumption and the increasing number of people with stomach cancer. Of the total alcohol consumed in Vietnam, 94 percent is beer, so it is really part of the Vietnamese culture, news channel CNBC quoted Leo Evers, managing director of Vietnam Brewery Limited, as saying. The Vietnam Beer Alcohol Beverage Association has forecast rapid growth at which the country will raise annual beer output by 25 percent to 4 billion liters by 2020. Over the past five years, Vietnam has doubled its beer consumption to more than 3 billion liters per year. Each Vietnamese person drinks on average 27.4 liters, making them the heaviest beer drinkers in the Southeast Asian region, the third in Asia after Japan and China, and in the worlds top 25 heaviest beer drinkers. Last year, Vietnam produced an estimated 3.4 billion liters of beer and 300 million liters of liquors. Drinking alcohol, including beer and liquor, increases the risk of developing cancers of the mouth, upper throat, voice-box, bowels, liver and breast (in women), health experts said. Researcher Jennie Connor at the University of Otago in New Zealand said there is evidence that alcohol consumption directly causes cancer. She cited evidence that alcohol caused approximately half a million deaths from cancer in 2012, or 5.8 percent of cancer deaths worldwide. The highest risks are associated with the heaviest drinking, but drinkers with low to moderate consumption are also exposed to the risk. Related news: > Higher duties fail to stop Vietnamese from guzzling beer > Eating oily fish may boost bowel cancer survival > Can coffee cause cancer? Only if it's very hot, says WHO agency It was a blow to Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, who arrived in the city eager to show off a united party, after a tough campaign against Bernie Sanders. Debbie Wasserman Schultz quit a few days after the publication of 19,000 hacked emails, which Sanders said confirmed his belief that the national party had favoured Clinton. Clinton has been dogged by controversy over her use of a secret email server, when she was secretary of state. This led to chants of lock her up by delegates at last weeks Republican national convention. Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman, resigned as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) after Sanders urged her to go. The party now needs new leadership that will open the doors of the party and welcome in working people and young people, he said. However, he wants Clinton to defeat Donald Trump, and make it to the White House. Im going to do everything I can to defeat him, to elect Hillary Clinton, and to keep focusing, keep focusing on the real issues facing the American people, Sanders said on CNN. Ms Wasserman Schultzs abrupt departure was an effort to save the Democrats from the problems that marred last weeks Republican convention. Republican runner-up, Ted Cruz, pointedly and publicly refused to endorse Trump, and was booed by many delegates, while there was a plagiarism row involving the candidates wife, Melania Trump. Clinton and President Barack Obama both quickly praised the departed party chief, hoping to move past the controversy. Sanders addressed the convention late last night, and Obama will speak tomorrow night. The Philadelphia area has been hit by an oppressive heatwave, and supporters of Sanders were expected to hold major demonstrations. In one of the largest rallies planned for the day, a pro-Sanders group was expected to walk across the Ben Franklin Bridge, which connects Camden, New Jersey, and Philadelphia. The rallies have been peaceful, so far. On Sunday, throngs of people marched along a main road in the city to show their support for Sanders and their disdain for Clinton. They chanted Hell, no, DNC, we wont vote for Hillary and This is what democracy looks like. Never one to miss an opportunity to poke fun at his rivals, Trump relished the Democratic chaos, writing on Twitter: The Dems convention is cracking up. His campaign chief, Paul Manafort, went further and called on Clinton to drop out of the race altogether. Clintons campaign manager, Robby Mook, tried to put the blame for the email leak onto Russian state actors who, he said, might have breached party computers for the purpose of helping Donald Trump. It was concerning, last week, that Donald Trump changed the Republican platform to become what some experts would regard as pro-Russian, Mr Mook said. Party wrangles aside, Clinton is within days of her long-held ambition to become the partys official presidential nominee. After the DNC released a slightly trimmed list of superdelegates the party officials who can back any candidate it now takes 2,382 delegates to formally clinch the nomination. Clinton has 2,814, when including superdelegates, according to an Associated Press count. Sanders has 1,893. Sanders urges supporters for unity Bernie Sanders has urged supporters to line up behind Democrat Hillary Clinton while claiming victory in deposing and sidelining a top party official. Some of his supporters jeered in disapproval, indicating that turmoil at this weeks convention in Philadelphia will not end with the departure of the party chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida. Speaking to his convention delegates, just hours before the Democrats opened a convention to nominate his primary rival, the Vermont senator tried to settle growing tensions between his supporters and the party rank-and-file lining up behind Clinton. A fresh email controversy, appearing to show bias by party officials against Sanders, has made that task harder just as the national spotlight turns to the Democrats rally behind Clinton. Brothers and sisters, this is the real world that we live in, Sanders told his audience, raising his hand in an effort to quiet them. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is a bully and demagogue, he said, who must not win the White House. The remarks were met with boos and grumbling from supporters clearly not ready to give up the fight for what he calls his political revolution. Sanders tried to persuade them they had already won by helping to create what he called the most progressive Democratic platform in the history of the party. And he, too, celebrated the removal of Wasserman Schultz after the email hack. Her resignation opens up the possibility of new leaders at the top of the Democratic Party that will stand with working people, he said. For Democrats who spent last week voicing criticism over the Republicans troubled convention in Cleveland, the scene was a painful reminder of their own problems. Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, said he had full confidence in Cazeneuve, who, on Sunday, dismissed an assertion by the head of Nices video surveillance that ministry staff pressured her to indicate the presence of national police-force officers at certain sites where the attack unfurled. This has to stop. There can be no room for doubt in the fight against terrorism, Valls told BFM TV. I dont have any doubts about Bernard Cazeneuve. Valls Socialist government is under fire for not preventing a 31-year-old Tunisian from driving his rented truck through a crowd of revellers on a Nice beachfront boulevard, killing 84 people. The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attack. The ease with which Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel reached the pedestrianised Promenade des Anglais, in the 19-tonne truck, using an apparently unblocked route, has become a focus for criticism of security. Ten months ahead of general elections, conservative politicians from Nice, led by regional government president, Christian Estrosi, have aggressively criticised the strength of the police force presence on the night of July 14. Valls accused them of copying the tone of US Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, whose campaign has been marked by insults and inflammatory rhetoric, and which seeks to destabilise the government. Responding to Cazeneuves Sunday night comments, Estrosi told Europe 1: To insult elected officials is, in a way, to insult the memory of the victims. We are not instrumentalising anything, we are only demanding answers. The state has to stop obstructing the truth. Nice, a French Riviera city of 350,000 people, is Frances most heavily policed urban area and has an extensive network of surveillance cameras. Sandra Bertin, head of the citys CCTV camera network, told the Journal Du Dimanche that she had been harassed by an interior ministry official who wanted a report showing that national police could be seen at two particular sites which she said could not be confirmed by CCTV footage. The man, whose asylum bid was rejected in Germany, recorded a mobile phone video of himself pledging allegiance to the group before he tried to get into an outdoor concert with a bomb-laden backpack. He was turned away and blew himself up outside a wine bar instead, said authorities. It was the fourth attack to shake Germany in a week three of them carried out by recent migrants. The 27-year-old, who authorities have not identified, set off a backpack laden with explosives and shrapnel on Sunday night after being refused entry to the nearby festival in the Bavarian city of Ansbach because he did not have a ticket. Bavarian authorities said a video found on the Ansbach bombers phone showed him pledging allegiance to the Islamic State. Germanys top security official, interior minister Thomas de Maiziere, said it was too early to rule out terrorism as a motive, but noted that the suspect had twice attempted suicide and had been receiving psychological care. Or it could be a combination of both, said Mr de Maiziere. The attack was carried out by one of the soldiers of the Islamic State, said the extremist group. The IS-linked Aamaq news agency said the man carried out the attack in response to calls by the group to target countries of the US-led coalition that is fighting IS. The bombing was the latest of the recent attacks that have heightened concerns about how Germany can deal with the estimated one million migrants who entered the country last year. Those fears waned as the numbers of new arrivals had slowed this year dramatically, but already the nationalist Alternative for Germany party and others have seized on the attacks as evidence that Chancellor Angela Merkels migration policies are flawed. A 17-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker injured five with an axe before being killed by police near Wuerzburg last week in an attack that was claimed by Islamic State. On Sunday, a Syrian man killed a woman with a knife in the south-west city of Reutlingen before being captured by police in an incident that authorities said was not likely to be linked to terrorism. In between, the 18-year-old son of Iranian asylum seekers went on a rampage Friday night at a Munich mall, killing nine and wounding dozens. Authorities say he was undergoing psychological treatment and had no known links to terrorism. The attack in Ansbach, a serene city of about 40,000 west of Nuremberg, came near the end of the closing night of a popular open air festival being attended by about 2,000 people. Following the Munich mall shooting, city officials ordered extra security and bag checks at the entrance of the venue, but the man never got that far, being turned away for lack of a ticket, said Mayor Carda Seidel. Roman Fertinger, the deputy police chief in Nuremberg, said there likely would have been more casualties if the man had not been turned away. Four of the 15 victims suffered serious injuries. My personal view is that I unfortunately think its very likely this really was an Islamist suicide attack, said Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann. Mr Herrmann said the mans request for asylum was rejected a year ago, and a spokesman for Germanys interior ministry said he had received two deportation notices. Tobias Plate said the man was told on July 13 that he would be deported to Bulgaria, where he submitted his first asylum request. Mr Plate told reporters that the first deportation notice was issued on December 22, 2014, but it was not clear why he had not been deported then. Asylum-seekers are routinely deported to the first country where they registered if they do not follow proper procedures, even if theyre considered to have a legitimate claim for asylum. The unidentified man had repeatedly received psychiatric treatment, including twice for attempted suicide, authorities said, and had been known to police for drug possession. Authorities yesterday raided the asylum shelter where he lived in the suburbs of Ansbach and searched his room. One resident there said he had occasionally drunk coffee with the attacker and they had discussed religion. Alireza Khodadadi said the man, whom he would identify only as Mohammed, told him that the extremist Islamic State group was not representative of Islam. He always said that, no, Im not with them, I dont like them and such stuff. The state-run Anadolu news agency said the list of journalists wanted for questioning included prominent writer Nazli Ilicak, who is critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Mr Ilicak has opposed the government clampdown on a movement led by Fethullah Gulen, the cleric accused by Turkey of directing the July 15 coup attempt. Mr Gulen has denied any involvement in the failed insurrection that left about 290 people dead and was put down by loyalist forces and pro-government protesters. So far, five journalists have been detained for questioning, Anadolu reported. Prosecutors requested their detention to shed light on the coup plot and the warrants are not related to their journalistic activities, but possible criminal conduct, a senior official in Erdogans office said. The list of wanted journalists, according to the pro-government Sabah newspaper, also includes news editor Erkan Acar of the Ozgur Dusunce newspaper and news show host Erkan Akkus of the Can Erzincan TV station. Both media organisations are off-shoots of Bugun newspaper and Bugun TV, which were taken over by the government in an October 2015 police raid. Another journalist wanted by authorities is Hanim Busra Erdal, a former columnist and legal reporter for the daily Zaman newspaper, which was taken over by authorities in March for its links to Gulens movement. The 31 academics, including a number of professors, were detained for questioning in Istanbul and four other provinces, Anadolu reported. Security officials also conducted a raid against the militarys Istanbul-based War Academy, detaining 40 people. The government declared a three-month state of emergency and detained more than 13,000 people in the military, judiciary and other institutions following the foiled coup. Those rounded up include nearly 9,000 soldiers, 2,100 judges and prosecutors and 1,485 police. In addition, tens of thousands of workers have lost their jobs, suspected of possible ties to the coup plotters Police said a 26-year-old man attacked a centre for disabled people in Sagamihara, then turned himself in, according to Kyodo news agency. Another 45 people were reported to have been injured in the attack. Stephen Port, aged 41, was originally charged with four counts of murder and four counts of administering a poison. He is also accused of six further counts of administering a poison, seven of rape, and four sexual assaults against another eight men, it can be reported for the first time. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges, which allegedly took place between 2011 and 2015, at the Old Bailey yesterday. Port, of Cooke St, Barking, east London, sat with his hands clasped in front of him as each of the charges was read out in court. Appearing in court via video-link from Belmarsh Prison, wearing smart black trousers and a light shirt, he spoke only to confirm his name and enter pleas during the brief hearing. Port also faces four alternative charges of manslaughter for each of the murder counts, which he also denies. He allegedly met the men on gay websites and invited them to his house, where he is said to have poisoned them with the party drug GHB. Four of his alleged victims, all in their 20s, suffered overdoses and were dumped in or near a churchyard in east London. Port is due to stand trial on October 4, which is expected to last up to 10 weeks. Detectives launched an investigation after four men died over a period of 14 months. The first, 23-year-old Anthony Walgate, was found dead on Cooke St on June 19 2014. He was a fashion and design student at Middlesex University who was originally from Hull but living in Barnet. Gabriel Kovari, aged 22, was found by a dog walker near St Margarets churchyard on August 28, 2014. He was originally from Slovakia but lived in Lewisham, south London. Just under a month later, on September 20, 2014, the same dog walker discovered the body of 21-year-old Daniel Whitworth, from Gravesend, Kent, near the same churchyard. Then on September 14 last year, Jack Taylor, aged 25, a forklift truck driver from Dagenham, was found dead near the abbey ruins close to North St. The deaths were not initially linked but after further investigation they were referred to the Metropolitan Police homicide and major crime command on October 14 last year. The force has referred its handling of the case to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. New Zealand says its time to wipe them out. Every last one of them. Prime Minister John Key yesterday announced an ambitious plan to completely rid the South Pacific nation of rats and other nuisance animals, including possums and stoats, by the year 2050. The government is hoping a rat-free countryside will give a boost to native birds, including the iconic kiwi. Many bird species are threatened with extinction because rats and other pests feast on their eggs and compete with them for food. Speaking from a wildlife sanctuary in Wellington, Key said the goal would require the help of everyone from philanthropists to indigenous Maori tribes. He said the government would initially contribute NZ$28m (17.8m) over four years toward setting up a company to run the initiative, and would consider partially matching money contributed by local councils and businesses. New Zealands Department of Conservation has eradicated rats from several small islands using traps, poisons, and baits. And it has also intensively managed some areas on the main islands to make them safer for native birds. But it would require a massive escalation of those efforts to completely wipe out the pests. Ecologist James Russell, from the University of Auckland, has written about the idea before. I really do think its possible, he said. It will require people working in every nook and corner of the country. He said getting rid of the pests would make a huge difference to the health of native flora and fauna. The youth, who was questioned after he contacted police following the shooting, is under investigation for possibly having failed to report the plans of the gunman. Thomas Steinkraus-Koch, senior public prosecutor in Munich, told a news conference the youth had been in contact with the gunman via WhatsApp until shortly before the attack. He wiped the conversation, but officials were able to retrieve it. This [WhatsApp] chat and questioning of a suspect has shown that the Afghan met the gunman directly before the gun attack at what was later the scene of the crime, Mr Steinkraus-Koch told a news conference in Munich. The shooting was one of four attacks in Germany three of them by migrants since July 18 that have left 10 people dead and 34 injured, a toll that may heighten public disquiet over chancellor Angela Merkels open-door refugee policy. More than 1m migrants have entered Germany over the past year, many fleeing war in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq. The WhatsApp chat showed the Afghan teenager knew the German-Iranian gunman was in possession of a Glock 17 firearm, said Mr Steinkraus-Koch. They got to know each other last summer, in 2015, in a psychiatric clinic where they underwent treatment, he said. There, it also became apparent to the [Afghan] suspect that the attacker was interested in Breivik, Mr Steinkraus-Koch added, referring to Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in back-to-back attacks in Norway in 2011. The Afghan youths decision to delete his WhatsApp chat with the gunman and their meeting just before the Munich attack led investigators to suspect he knew of the planned shooting in advance. We will now pursue this suspicion, said Mr Steinkraus-Koch. Burma Ethnic Armed Group Summit Commences in Kachin State Leaders representing 17 ethnic armed groups gather in Mai Ja Yang to search for common ground in working toward a federal system in Burma. MAI JA YANG, Kachin State Leaders representing 17 ethnic armed groups gathered in Mai Ja Yang, Kachin State on Tuesday to search for common ground in working toward a federal system in Burma. Representatives from China and the United Nations also joined the meeting as international observers. The summit was held in preparation for the upcoming Union Peace Conference in late August in Naypyidaw. Khu Oo Reh, the secretary of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC)a coalition of nine ethnic armed groups who opted out of signing a nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) with the government in 2015spoke in Mai Ja Yang about the significance of the event. This could be historic meeting for our ethnic armed groups. We intend for this meeting to prepare for the coming [Union Peace] Conference, he said, adding that the organizations would negotiate to reach a common agreement during the four-day summit, which ends on Friday. Our conflict, Khu Oo Reh continued, can only be solved at the table, a reference to the need for peace talks over continued clashes. Not in attendance, however, were the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the United Wa State Army (UWSA), despite being invited to the event. They [the TNLA and MNDAA] did not come because the UWSA did not come, said UNFC vice chairman Nai Hong Sar. The UWSA is thought to be Burmas largest non-state armed groupwith an estimated 20,000-plus troops; the organization reportedly plans to meet government representatives in Naypidaw on Friday. The United Nationalities Alliancea coalition of ethnic political partiesand the Womens League of Burmaan umbrella group of womens organizations across Burmaalso joined Tuesdays session. Gen NBan La, who serves as the vice chairman of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA)which hosted the eventand also acts as the UNFC chairman, spoke about the importance of the upcoming Union Peace Conference for Burma and its ethnic communities. He attributed Burmas civil war, which began shortly after the countrys 1948 independence, to the former military regimes failure to abide by and implement the 1947 Panglong Agreement, which promised equal rights and self-determination to ethnic nationalities. The upcoming Union Peace Conference has been dubbed Burmas 21st Century Panglong Conference, in an attempt to replicate the spirit of the original 1947 summit. We have the Panglong Agreement, but we could not implement it. I have questions about who blocked the implementation of our agreement, said Gen N-Ban Hla. We all wanted to have equal rights. They [the military regime] used a unitary system, and therefore our country has problems now, he said. The KIA general also pointed out that not all ethnic armed groups could sign last years NCA with the former government; only eight armed groups became signatories to the agreementand the KIA was among those who opted out. Even though Burma now has a new, elected National League for Democracy-led government, NBan La highlighted the ongoing fighting with the Burma Army in the countrys northern regions. This time is important for us, and we all need to have unity, he said. The UN Secretary-Generals Special Adviser on Myanmar Vijay Nambiar, who joined the Mai Ja Yang summit, said that the UN will stand alongside ethnic armed organizations and the government in support of the peace process. Sun Guoxiang, from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that China will continue supporting Burma. Mai Ja Yang lies on Kachin States Chinese border, in area under KIA control. Fighting broke out between the Burma Army and the KIA in the area in 2011, and Mai Ja Yangs Chinese investors had to leave their businesses and projects behind, leading the town to become largely abandoned. Since then, fighting has continued sporadically outside of Mai Ja Yang between the KIA and the Burma Army. Burma Ethnic Youth Conference Organizers to Defy Government Ban The organizers of a National Ethnic Youth Conference to be held in Panglong in Shan State plan to defy a suspension order from the state government. The organizers of a National Ethnic Youth Conference to be held in the Shan State town of Panglong are planning to defy an order from the state government to suspend the event. On Monday, the organizers received a letter signed by Aung Than Maung, the Burman ethnic affairs minister in the Shan State government, stating that the conference could not go ahead as planned, according to an order from the Union government. The conference organizers claim no reason was given for the suspension order, and the letter did not state when in fact the conference could take place. In statements released on Facebook, and in comments made to The Irrawaddy, the various groups taking part have signaled their intention to go ahead with the conference, planned for July 27-31, in spite of the suspension order. More than half of the youth delegatesset to number more than 600have already arrived in the town. The rest are reportedly on their way. Panglong, in Loilen District of southern Shan State, was the site of the Panglong Agreement reached in 1947 between Burmese independence leader Gen Aung San and leaders representing the Shan, Kachin and Chin ethnic groups. The agreement promised equal rights and full autonomy in internal administration for the frontier areasthe borderlands where ethnic minorities predominate. Sai Aung Myint Oo, a conference organizer, told The Irrawaddy, We will go ahead and hold it because we have the right to do so, even under the 2008 Constitution. The government should be supporting us, but the state government dares not take responsibility and the Shan State chief minister is avoiding meeting us, he said. Through multiple statements delivered chiefly through social media, supporters of the conference initiativeincluding educators, political analysts, activists and politicianshave objected to the suspension order from the Shan State government. Kyaw Min Htike, who leads an ethnic Dawei youth delegation to the conferencecurrently traveling all the way from Tenasserim Division in Burmas far southtold The Irrawaddy that they condemn the governments act, and will continue on to Panglong regardless. It is ugly, Kyaw Min Htike said. [This] should never have happened under the government that promised change. Youth from Burmas ethnic minority regions began preparing for the conference four years ago, and held a preparatory ethnic youth conference in northern Shan State in 2014. The governments objection [to the youth conference] shows its lack of vision, said Sai Nyunt Lwin, secretary of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, the second largest party in the Shan State parliament after the Union Solidarity and Development Party. He has encouraged the youth taking part to calmly overcome the challenges and to demonstrate solidarity by making a collective decision. The new government need not be fearful, Sai Nyunt Lwin added. What are they afraid of? On Tuesday afternoon, the conference organizers went to the Shan State capital of Taunggyi to request talks with the state government. Late afternoon on Tuesday, one of the organizers, Mai Mai, informed The Irrawaddy that a government official [whose rank and identity they wished to keep anonymous] had told them that they now had permission to proceed with the conferencea seeming reversal. However, as of 5:30 pm on Tuesday, they had not received official confirmation. Indonesia is increasingly cracking down on illegal fishing in its waters, including blowing up foreign fishing boats. Indonesia on Tuesday handed over to Vietnam 65 fishermen who were arrested while fishing illegally in the formers waters in April and May this year, the Vietnamplus reported July 26. This is the biggest number of fishermen Indonesia has ever released to Vietnam. Vietnams Embassy in Jarkarta has closely cooperated with local authorities to send them home. Because the number of Vietnamese fishermen being arrested by Indonesia has increased significantly recently, many of them, apart from the 65 this time, are waiting to be back to Vietnam, the daily quoted Doan Van Nam, a consular official from the embassy. The 65 fishermen come from several northern and central provinces in Vietnam but worked for fishing boats in Ba Ria-Vung Tau southern province and were arrested while fishing illegally in Indonesias waters. Indonesia sinks foreign boats for illegal fishing in its waters. Photo by Reuters Indonesia often blows up foreign fishing boats that they seize in their territorial waters. Its Minister of Maritime and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti said last month a total of 176 foreign fishing boats have been sunk across the nation since October last year. Related news: > Indonesia defends opening fire on Chinese boat > Indonesia hopes fishermen can net its South China Sea claims > Thirty Vietnamese fishermen punished in Australia Burma MPs Asked to Seek Approval for Civil Society Engagements Lower House Speaker Win Myint appeals to parliamentarians to seek official approval for workshops and meetings with non-governmental and civil society organizations. RANGOON Lower House Speaker Win Myint has appealed to parliamentarians to inform him of workshops, meetings and trainings beforehand in order to gain official approval for such events; the request applies to sessions to which MPs have been invited by non-governmental and civil society organizations. Arakan National Party lawmaker Pe Than published the appeal on his Facebook page on Monday, saying, Its unclear whether it is a letter of appeal or instructions. Pe Than said that MPs had not received any explanation for the newly issued appeal. Questions were also raised when it was revealed that the letter had not been introduced to parliamentarians belonging to the Upper House. The previous Parliament had no precedent for this, and now, the new Parliament is trying to adopt new barriers, thats why I am saying we are losing our lawmakers rights, Pe Than said, describing civil society and non-governmental organizations as our partners. He added that generally, when representatives from civil society or non-governmental organizationsCSOs and NGOsorganize an event, they inform parliamentarians only two to three days before the workshop or seminar. This new restriction will cause detrimental delays, said Pe Than. On Tuesday evening, the Lower House released a second statement defending the earlier letter. It said that the parliamentary leadership was not intentionally restricting the rights of lawmakers or attempting to control the relationship between legislators and civil society organizations. However, legislators who represent one of the Lower House committees or are individually connected with outside organizations will not be permitted to use the Parliament hall for discussions, meet-and-greet sessions, or hosting outside organizations under a legislators name. A senior official within the Lower House Office also told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that Win Myints letter was not intended to restrict the legislators rights, but to inform the Parliament about any trips or absences. As far as I know, its just a misunderstanding [with the lawmakers], said the official, on the condition of anonymity. Actually, the purpose is not what they think. She said that a similar announcement had been made during former Lower House Speaker Shwe Manns term, in 2011. It came in the form of a letter to the legislators reminding them to inform Shwe Mann of trips abroad. But it is unclear whether the lawmakers had to inform the Speaker of all types of invitations, including local seminars. Parliament members are waiting to see how Lower House Speaker Win Myint will deal with legislators who disregard the appeal. Even if we dont follow his instructions, there is no law to take action against us, Pe Than pointed out. Dr. Khin Zaw Win, director of the Tampadipa Institute, which has provided capacity building workshops for lawmakers over the past five years, criticized the Lower House Speakers move as an attempt to control members of parliament. The Speakers main duty, he said, should be to work toward enacting or amending laws. I really dont like it, Khin Zaw Win said of the restrictions, also expressing concern about how MPs representing parties outside of the National League for Democracy (NLD) parliamentary majority would react to what he perceived as increased NLD supervision. Burma State-Run Newspaper Argues for Myitsone Cancellation An editorial in State-run paper The Mirror argues for the abandonment of the highly controversial Myitsone Dam because it harms Burma-China relations. RANGOON An editorial in the Burmese state-run newspaper The Mirror has argued that the construction of the highly controversial Chinese-backed Myitsone Dam in Kachin Statesuspended since 2011should be completely abandoned, because it harms relations between Burma and China. State-run media in Burma have previously taken a cautious line on the project, and avoided overt criticism. The editorial claimed that the message of the people of Burma to Chinadont mess up the Irrawaddywas crystal clear. The editorial backed the fourth option for the Myitsone Dam, namely the total cancellation of the project: both countries should look for hydropower projects that can be mutually acceptable, it concluded, echoing Kristensens recommendation. Popular approval of The Mirrors Sunday editorial was evident on social media. Moe Thway, who leads youth organization Generation Wave, wrote a post on Facebook urging the government to follow the editorials suggestions. I will stand with the public to support the new government, Moe Thway concluded. The US$3.6 billion hydropower dam project is situated just downstream of the confluence that forms Burmas most iconic river, the Irrawaddy, and was intended to supply power mainly to Chinas relatively underdeveloped southwest. The project was a joint venture inked between a Chinese state-owned corporation, China Power Investment (CPI), the Burmese Ministry of Electric Power and a Burmese conglomerate, Asia World, during the time of the military junta. In 2011, the project was suspended by President Thein Sein until the end of his term in 2016, after a sustained public outcry and claims that the dam would disrupt the flow of sediment in the countrys main waterway, disrupt agricultural livelihoods downstream, and pose grave flooding risks in the event of an earthquake, due to its proximity to a fault line. This editorial from a state-run newspaper comes on the back of renewed lobbying from China to resume the project. In early June, the Chinese Ambassador Hong Liang and representatives of CPI travelled to Kachin State to meet with local leaders. On April 5, five days after the National League for Democracy (NLD) government assumed office, Chinas Wang Yi became the first foreign minister of another nation to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmas new foreign ministeralthough the Myitsone Dam and other controversial Chinese investments were reportedly not discussed. The Mirror editorial was published on the same dateJuly 24that Suu Kyi held a meeting with Wang Yi in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the sidelines of the 49th Asean Foreign Ministers Meeting, although the Myitsone Dam was reportedly not on the agenda. After the meeting with Suu Kyi, the Chinese foreign minister addressed a press conference, saying that, the Myitsone Dam issue will not harm the two countries future relationship, as reported by Eleven Daily. Suu Kyi is projected to visit China, following an invitation from the Chinese foreign minister, prior to a planned trip to the US in September. During its tenure so far, the NLD has yet to utter a word on the eventual fate of the Myitsone Dam, leaving uncertainty on all sides. Back in 2011, when she was an opposition figure, Suu Kyi issued a statement encouraging public campaigns to save the Irrawaddy. She also appealed to the governments of both China and Burma to avoid endangering the lives and homes of the Kachin people, to take note of the earthquake risks and to consider the environmental impacts. In the interests of both national and international harmony, concerned parties should reassess the scheme and cooperate to fund solutions that would prevent undesirable consequences and thus allay the fears of all who are anxious to protect the Irrawaddy, she said. Win Myo Thu, director of environmental organization EcoDev Myanmar, said the Chinese company backing the dam would have to gather public consensus before proceeding with the projecta highly unlikely prospect. Sixty-percent of Burmas population would be affected by the project, Win Myo Thu claimed. The company should try to get a yes-vote from them, he said mockingly. The Chinese company must accept the harsh reality that they must shut down the project, he concluded. Burma Suu Kyi to Meet Wa and Mongla Armed Group Leaders The State Counselor will meet representatives from the UWSA and the Mongla Army in Naypyidaw to discuss their participation in the Union Peace Conference. RANGOON State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi will meet leaders of the Wa and Mongla non-state armed groups in Naypyidaw on Friday to discuss their participation in the Union Peace Conference, slated for late August. As the head of the National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC) and the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC), Suu Kyi has recently met with leaders of both signatory and non-signatory groups to the countrys 2015 nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA). The upcoming Naypyidaw meeting is a continuation of government delegation talks with the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the Mongla Army which took place in late June, said Khin Zaw Oo. The former lieutenant general is the current secretary of the governments Peace Commission and member of the sub-committee tasked with reaching out to NCA non-signatories regarding the Union Peace Conference. We invited them to meet our top leaders to build further relations, said Khin Zaw Oo, adding that the meeting would give the groups a chance to clarify anything we said, in order to prove the governments sincerity. We also invited them take part in the upcoming peace conference, he said. The Wa delegation will reportedly be led by Pao Yu Yi, a central committee member of the UWSA, and Sai Lin, chairman of the National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State (NDAA-ESS), also known as the Mongla Army, named for the township that serves as a stronghold for the group. Wa and Mongla leaders expressed a desire to speak with Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the Burma Army, during their trip to the capital, but such a meeting has not yet been confirmed. The UWSA and Mongla Army refused to sign the NCA in October 2015, saying that since they had already agreed to bilateral ceasefires with the Burmese government in 1989, they did not require a new pact, pointing out that neither group was engaged in active conflict with government armed forces. They said that they supported the peace process and would only participate in upcoming political dialogue. They are interested in the political dialogue, and shared their views on participating in the dialogue rather than signing the NCA, but we explained that the situation had changed, said Khin Zaw Oo. Before, it was only a ceasefire. Now the nationwide ceasefire is followed by the political dialogue. Given self-administration under the 2008 Constitution, the UWSAs area is known as the Wa Special Region 2 and the Mongla Armys is referred to as Special Region 4. Lifestyle Ten Things to Do in Rangoon This Week (July 26) A yoga workshop, a free English class, an LGBT club night, and a book fairall in Rangoon this week, as picked by The Irrawaddy. The Irrawaddy picks 10 interesting events happening in Rangoon this week. Free English Language Classes The Center of Excellence for Business Skills Development offers a free class called English Language Toolkit for Effective Communication every Saturday. Everyone who attends receives a certificate following completion of the class. Register by emailing [email protected]. or [email protected]. Where: Center of Excellence for Business Skills Development, Parami Road, Hlaing Campus. Tel: 09 976 114933 When: Saturday, July 30, 2pm to 4pm Anusara Workshop Series: Finding Transformation with Yoga This three-part weekend workshop series will focus on exploring effective alignment through Anusaras universal principles. There will be three sessionsSaturday, 10:30 to 1:30 pm; Saturday, 3:00 to 5:30 pm; and Sunday, 2:30 to 5:30 pm. The classes cost $45 for one session, $80 for two sessions and $110 for all three sessions. Where: Yangon Yoga House, Room 4, Yankin Lan Thwe, Yankin Tsp. Where: Saturday, July 30, 2016 Yangon Running Club Weekly runs leave from Balance Fitness 2 on Thursdays at 6:15 a.m. and Saturdays at 7:15 a.m. Runners of any level are welcome to join. Where: Balance Fitness 2, No 103, University Ave Road & Thanlwin Street, Bahan Tsp. When: Saturday July 30, 7am to 10:30am FAB 42 Club Night DJs will spin at J-One Music Bar at this party for LGBT patrons and friends. The entrance fee is 5,000 kyats. Where: J-One Music Bar, Bo Cho Street, behind Union Business Centre, Tamwe Tsp. When: Saturday, July 30, starts at 10 p.m. Book Fair About 160 vendors will sell books at discounts of 10 to 50 percent at a book fair organized by the Ministry of Information. Readings will also be held, with 18 papers on Burmese politics to be shared. Where: Printing and Publishing Enterprise Headquarters on Theinbyu Street (opposite the Secretariat) When: Friday, July 29 to Sunday, 31 July Trade Show Organized by the Myanmar Intellectual Proprietors Association, the Myanmar Famous Brands Expo and Promo will be held at Tatmadaw Hall. Where: Tatmadaw Hall, U Wisara Road When: Friday, July 29 to Sunday, July 31, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Open Mic Night For anyone who ever wanted to sing on stage, 7th Joint Bar and Grill hosts an open mic night every Tuesday night. Entrance is free. Where: 7th Joint Bar and Grill, Shwe Asia Building, 48th Street and Mahabandula Road, Botahtaung Tsp. Tel: 09261399933 When: Tuesday, July 26, starts at 8 p.m. New Vision Exhibition This group art exhibition at Lokanat Gallery showcases more than 80 paintings with prices between $200 and $500. Where: Lokanat Gallery, 62 Pansodan St, 1st Floor, Kyauktada Tsp. Tel. 095-1382-269 When: Wednesday, July 27 to Sunday, July 31 Comic Exhibition Myanmar Artists and Artisans Association features more than 80 works by 31 comic artists. Where: Myanmar Artists and Artisans Association, Bogyoke Market When: Wednesday, July 27 to Sunday, July 31 Korea-Myanmar Exchange Exhibition A graphic design exchange exhibition will be held at the New Treasure Art Gallery. Where: New Treasure Art Gallery, No. 84/A, Thanlwin Street, Golden Hill Avenue, Bahan Tsp. Tel: 01-526776, 503712 When: Sunday, July 30 to Friday, August 5 Over the past 6 years, I have traveled down to the San Juan mountains in Southern Colorado to take part in the Hardrock Hundred Endurance Run. The first time I saw the San Juans was close to 15 years ago while attending Fort Lewis College in Durango on an exchange program from my university in France. I was instantly taken by the unique splendor of the area, but also the warm welcome of the community. I felt at home, not in the visual sense, since I grew up by the ocean surrounded by vineyards and rolling hills, but there was something about the place that really struck a chord with me. During my year and a half in Durango, I only scratched the surface of what the area had to offer, but I knew in the future I would come back as often as I could. In 2011, I was living in northern Colorado just outside of Boulder with my wife and I was fortunate to gain acceptance through the lottery to run the Hardrock Hundred. I had not run much of the course, nor did I have much experience running 100 miles, but I was filled with an unreasonable amount of excitement at the thought of taking on such a challenge. During the race I struggled with stomach issues, the altitude, and got lost a number of times, including tagging an extra pass before Grant-Swamp, much to the dismay of my pacer Dylan Bowman. I did get around the course though and kissed the rock. My first thought was I hope I get in again next year. And, I did! In 2012, I came back much more prepared, battling with Hal and Dakota throughout, to run one of one my best races ever and certainly on a personal level one of the more exciting. It is difficult to not want more of a good thing so with my lottery tickets accumulating, I reapplied and got lucky again with the draw in 2013. Having now finished twice, and in both directions, I felt confident in my ability to tackle the course, but my preparation was compromised having just bought a new home and moved in during the weeks leading up to the event. I was stressed and preoccupied by a number of factors and neglected my health. At mile 40, I was peeing blood, thought I might have renal failure (in fact it was kidney stones), and dropped out shortly after. In 2014, I was back with more determination than ever. My good friend Seb Chaigneau was also in the race and came to visit me in Boulder three weeks prior to the start. We went on an intense training binge making our way down to the San Juans via the Indian Peaks and the Sawatch, running many 13ers and 14ers, and capping off the training block with a three-day, arduous run around the course. Needless to say, we showed up exhausted and over trained. I tore my quadricep in the first 25 miles and Seb suffered from adrenal fatigue. We both dropped at Grouse Gulch 60 miles into the race. In 2015, my lottery luck ran out so I got to see Hardrock from a different perspective, crewing and pacing for Bryon Powella great experience and a nice way to appreciate the race from another angle. This brings us to 2016. Ten days before Hardrock, I got a call from race director Dale Garland informing me that I had moved off the waitlist and was now in the race. Starting at number 7 on the waist list, I had high hopes of getting in and had trained throughout the spring as if I was already accepted. I went into this years event with confidence in my ability and my fitness as well as humility from my past experiences. I started conservatively with a simple plan to enjoy the race and make it back around to Silverton to kiss the rock. Everything was going well as I neared Ouray at mile 45. I was in 4th place, a bit fatigued from the heat and 9+ hours of running, but well in control and ready to take on the second half of the course. As I was crossing through the low tunnel past Box Canyon, I inadvertently stood up, smacking the top of my head hard on the tunnel roof and landing flat on my back. I lay there for a second dizzy and a bit confused, before stumbling out of the tunnel and running down to the aid station. With all the commotion and energy in Ouray I had a hard time gauging how I was feeling. My crew iced my head, fed me and re-packed my bag and I left with Dominic Grossman, who jumped in as a pacer just in case my head worsened. Within a couple of miles, I felt blurry and my balance was impaired. I stopped to soak in the river, before continuing on up Bear Creek Trail. Dominic was trying to provide as much encouragement as he could, from jokes and lighthearted puns, to more philosophical and existential ruminations. I mainly just grunted, not that I did not appreciate his efforts, but I simply could not do more than try to put one foot in the front of the other. At some point, and I forget exactly how his comment came about, he said something along the lines of isnt this what its all about? The pursuit of happinessnot the race as such, thats just an excuse to get togetherit seems to me that whats important is the shared experiencefor better or for worse this is an incredible moment. Shortly after that comment, I sat down in the shade, to rest, eat, drink, and assess whether or not I should continue. I had a hard time disassociating from my attachment to the race with the real risk that I might further damage myself and potentially cause a medical emergency high up on the mountain. It seemed inconceivable to me, and so frustrating, that here I was again contemplating dropping out of Hardrock for a stupid mistake. Many runners, Frosty, Nick Clark, Troy Howard, to only name a few, stopped in the middle of their race to sit for a moment and check on me. I was taken aback by their kindness and genuine concern, a sentiment representative of most of the interactions I have had on the course. The love and support of the community is tangible and extraordinary, from Roch Horton massaging my back on the top of Virginius Pass, to Jenny Vierling finding me an impromptu pacer, to so many others stepping in to help, voice encouragements or simply share the joy of being in the San Juans. Will Carlton, Rickey Gates, and Dom sat through the worst of it. I asked them for counsel on what I should do. No one will tell you to drop, but just know were all really concerned for you. Was Rickeys reply. After about an hour, I stood up, my headache had worsened, I felt nauseous and muddled, and my balance was shaky. I dont think I should continue. Im going to walk back down to the highway and call my wife to pick me up. I told Rickey, Will, and Dom. As I stumbled back down the trail, I thought to myself look how much people care, how strong and tight knit this community is. When feeling vulnerable, emotions are always heightened, but I think it is important to recognize in retrospect how meaningful and impactful these interactions truly are. Of course, I felt extremely disappointed with my race, but, then, perhaps, that is really just missing the point. I find that Jason and Kilian, finishing hand in hand, touched at the essence of what makes Hardrock so special. Ultimately, it is not about the race, how fast or slow we run, it is about the people and the shared experiences, and that togetherness is for me what makes running in the mountains so meaningful. The naval exchange is taking place amid growing tensions with China over disputed waters. Japanese coast guard ship the Kojima arrived in Vietnams central coastal city of Da Nang yesterday, starting a five-day visit to promote understanding and friendship between the maritime law enforcement forces of the two countries. The ship, with 91 crew members and trainees on board, is anchored at the citys Tien Sa Port. Vietnams Coast Guard Command, Border Patrol Directorate and the Peoples Committee of Da Nang gave the Kojima, captained by Colonel Hiroyuki Nanaura, a warm welcome on Monday. While in Vietnam, the Kojima's personnel will work side-by-side with Vietnamese officers from the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre No.2 based in Da Nang and the Regional Coast Guard Zone 2 based in Quang Nam to exchange expertise and experience in maritime search and rescue operations. During the trip, the Japanese crew will also pay a courtesy call to leaders of Da Nang People's Committee as well as participate in sporting activities with Vietnamese coast guard officers. This is the second time the Kojima has paid a friendly visit to Vietnam since 2013. Japanese coast guard ship the Kojima arrived in Vietnams central coastal city of Da Nang on July 25, starting a five-day visit to promote understanding and friendship. Photo by Le Phi. Vietnam and Japan signed a Memorandum on Cooperation between their coast guard forces in September last year. Tokyo promised to give Vietnam more second-hand patrol vessels to enhance the capacity of Vietnams civilian coast guard. Tokyo also inked an agreement to grant 200 billion yen ($1.9 billion) in non-refundable aid to Vietnam to maintain its maritime safety and stability in the 2015 fiscal year. The two countries are active members of the multinational agreement among 16 countries in Asia, known as the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against ships in Asia (ReCAAP). Vietnam and Japan have also worked together to enforce maritime law in the region. Another Japanese ship - the JSDS Shimokita (LST-4002) of the Maritime Self Defense Force - is currently anchored in Da Nang to participate in the Pacific Partnership 2016 (PP16). The PP16 is a multilateral humanitarian and disaster response exercise that the Vietnamese government is hosting in the central coastal city from July 15 to 28. Related News: >U.S. and Japanese marines land on mission to Da Nang >Vietnam accelerates military build-up >Vietnam strengthens naval muscle Tuesday, July 26th, 2016 (11:44 am) - Score 841 Aqua Comms comparatively new transatlantic subsea fibre optic cable system (AEConnect), which runs between New York (USA) and London (UK), has been given a boost after CenturyLink activated two 100 Gigabit waves of high capacity connectivity on the cable. The AEConnect cable, which only became ready for service in January 2016, runs from a landing station in Shirley, Long Island (USA) and traverses 5536km to a corresponding cable landing station in Killala (Mayo), Ireland. After that there are a number of shorter subsea and land-based diverse backhaul crossings to reach the final destination point in London. Transatlantic bandwidth between New York and London is said to still be in high demand and so its little surprise that customers are already taking advantage of the new route. Tom McMahon, Aqua Comms CTO, said: The circuits Aqua Comms has provided to CenturyLink from New York City to London are lit Point of Presence (PoP) to PoP with no intermediate or cable landing station regeneration. Traversing over 6,800 kilometers, the high capacity transatlantic route includes diverse terrestrial segments on both ends, enabling CenturyLink to provision end-to-end high capacity connectivity without regeneration, utilising advanced modulation techniques. The cable itself, which cost around 230 million ($300m) to build at todays exchange rate, is apparently rated to handle even more capacity and can reach 130 wavelength services at 100Gbps (Gigabits per second) per fibre pair. Tuesday, July 26th, 2016 (9:41 am) - Score 793 The UK Government has been accused of quietly suspending payments from the 3bn European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) due to the Brexit vote, which is despite both the EU and UK initially saying that it would be business as usual until we leave. A number of projects across the United Kingdom are currently making use of or planning to use public funding from the ERDF, which must be matched by other private and public sources of investment, to improve broadband connectivity in rural areas. One prime example of this is Cornwall, which has a long history of using EU investment to boost local connectivity and recently proposed to secure another 8-9m to further extend related coverage (here). But there are many others, although most are bidding for smaller amounts. In theory the Brexit vote to leave the EU should not have impacted this source of investment, not least because the UK will continue to pay hundreds of millions into the EU for at least another couple of years before we officially leave. Similarly the EU had pledged that it would be business as usual, precisely to prevent disruption and conflicts like this over funding. A Spokesperson for HM Treasury said in early July 2016: The UK remains a member of the EU and that means there is no immediate change to EU programmes. The government has ensured that EU funding is directed towards the UKs economic priorities. However a new report in The Independent alleges that the UK Government has suddenly suspended payments from the ERDF, which could significantly disrupt many current and proposed projects that had been banking on it as a crucial source of investment. The issue came to light after a group of London-based companies wrote to the Government in the hope of having the pause on their EU payments lifted. The letter itself referenced a March 2016 agreement for 3.7m of funding from the ERDF, which would be used to provide expert support to more than 600 tech start-ups in the City under a scheme called CASTS. Extract from the Letter Until last week we were on track to sign the full funding agreement in mid-July. So it was with alarm that we heard that, because of the referendum result, the Department of Communities and Local Government has notified the GLA [Greater London Authority] to inform Capital Enterprise that ERDF projects like CASTS, were to be put on pause for an indefinite period. We would urge you to unblock this funding which is vital to the tech community in London. [The referendum] result has created a lot of uncertainty and raised questions for what it means for tech businesses in London. Apparently both the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Mayor of Londons office have also written to the Treasury asking for the suspension of payments to be lifted. But at present the Government has yet to give an official explanation for the pause and thus its not known if the suspension affects only certain projects or all ERDF linked deals. We have also queried via the Broadband Delivery UK office and had no response. Such a suspension might explain why the Manchester City Council recently warned that around 300m worth of EU funding up to 2020 would no longer be forthcoming. Last week David Gauke, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, also advised parliament that he was unable to guarantee the future of EU sourced investment. A full statement from the Treasury is expected in the not-too-distant future. Admittedly the number and scale of active or planned ERDF funded broadband projects in the UK has diminished significantly over the past couple of years, although there are still a few seeking funding from that pot and until now it had been expected that these would not be affected until after the UK leaves (predicted for around 2019/20). The UK Government is likely to be concerned about any projects that run up to or past the expected leaving date (negotiations and a time-scale wont even be set until the process formally begins), which could result in the Treasury having to top up any shortfalls from its own pot. In other words the suspension may not affect all ERDF deals, but it could still have a sizeable impact. Tuesday, July 26th, 2016 (7:31 am) - Score 2,841 A framework for the next decade of UK telecoms and broadband regulation has today been set out by Ofcom, which will see Openreach improve service quality, become more independent and give rival ISPs more access to their cable ducts. But the regulator has yet to reach a solid agreement with BT and a split is still on the table. Naturally some of BTs most outspoken critics, such as TalkTalk, Sky Broadband and Vodafone, will be displeased if not surprised to learn that the telecoms regulator did not push forward with the option of completely splitting Openreach, BTs network access division, from the operators control. On the other hand Ofcom has managed to set out some major changes, not least to Openreachs governance structure, and this may deliver much of what BTs competitors desire. The proposed deal aims to make Openreach more accountable and independent, which is to be partly achieved through the adoption of a new board that would also include several independent directors (jointly appointed by BT and Ofcom). The new board will have control over Openreachs budget and strategy, although BT has yet to agree with Ofcom over the need for Openreach to also become a legally separate company and for Openreach to have confidential discussions with its customers without oversight by BT (further details below). However the regulator warns today that if BT fails to reach an agreement on these sticking points then they will reconsider whether BT and Openreach should be split into two entirely separate companies, under different ownership. Ofcom believes that its proposal will provide Openreach with the greatest degree of independence from BT Group that is possible without incurring the costs and disruption to industry and consumers associated with separating the companies entirely. Sharon White, Ofcom Chief Executive, said: Were pressing ahead with the biggest shake-up of telecoms in a decade, to make sure the market is delivering the best possible services for people and business across the UK. Openreach are generally responsible for maintaining, managing access to and upgrading BTs national telecoms and broadband networks across the United Kingdom, which theyve been required to do on a functionally separate basis since Ofcoms last Strategic Review in 2005. By contrast the most recent Strategic Review, which posted its initial recommendations in February 2016 (full summary), found evidence to show that Openreach still has an incentive to make decisions in the interests of BT, rather than BTs competitors, which can lead to competition problems. Ofcom also said that other telecoms companies have not been consulted sufficiently on investment plans that affect them. Since then a recent cross-party inquiry has further accused BT of not investing enough into its infrastructure (here) and the regulator supports the view that BT has been under-investing by hundreds of millions of pounds. BT has of course denied the accusations of under investment and point to their plan for deploying 300Mbps G.fast broadband technology to 10 million UK premises by 2020, with most of the UK likely to be done by 2025. On top of that they aim to roll-out 1Gbps FTTP to 2 million UK premises by 2020, but critics say this isnt enough and that they should be doing much more FTTP instead of cheaper hybrid-fibre G.fast. So far Ofcom has already proposed a series of changes to balance the market, such as requiring Openreach to give rivals better access to its cable ducts and poles (details), a more independent governance structure for Openreach, tougher minimum service requirements and better information sharing. Easily the biggest challenge is over the issue of governance, with Ofcom hinting that Openreach could become a ring-fenced, wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group, with its own purpose and board members, which was strongly opposed by BT and an agreement has yet to be done. In that sense todays proposal represents BTs final warning. Highlights of Todays Proposed Deal * Openreach to become a distinct company. Openreach should be a legally separate company within BT Group, with its own Articles of Association. Openreach and its directors would be required to make decisions in the interests of all Openreachs customers, and to promote the success of the company. * Openreach to have its own Board. The new Board should have a majority of non-executive directors, including the Chair. These non-executives should not be affiliated to BT Group in any way, but would be both appointed and removed by BT in consultation with Ofcom. * Executives accountable to the new Board. Openreachs Chief Executive should be appointed by, and accountable to, the Openreach Board not BT Group. The Chief Executive would then be responsible for other executive appointments. There should be no direct lines of reporting from Openreach executives to BT Group, unless agreed by exception with Ofcom. * Greater consultation with customers. Openreach would be obliged to consult formally with customers such as Sky and TalkTalk on large-scale investments. There should be a confidential phase during which customers can discuss ideas without this being disclosed to BT Group. * Staff to work for Openreach. Ofcoms principle for the new model is that people who work for Openreach should be employees of the new company, rather than BT Group. This would prevent any real or perceived conflict of interest, and allow Openreach to develop its own distinct organisational culture. * Openreach to own assets that it already controls. Openreach should own its physical network. This would allow the Openreach Board to make decisions that depend on investing in, and looking after, Openreachs assets. There may be costs in transferring assets or people to Openreach, which would need to be mitigated. * A separate strategy and control over budget allocation. Openreach should develop its own strategy and annual operating plans, within an overall budget set by BT Group. * Independent branding. Openreach should have its own brand, not affiliated with BT Group, to help embed the organisational culture of a distinct company. One of the key questions in all of this is whether or not the changes will truly make the UKs market for broadband connectivity more competitive, innovative, accessible and fair. The regulator is clearly trying to encourage more competition for BT at the infrastructure level, albeit without breaking BT itself into pieces, but even this wont be enough to silence some of their fiercest critics. Similarly not all of Ofcoms ideas have been given a warm welcome by BTs rivals (e.g. the semi-separate Dark Fibre proposal) and it may take a fair few years before we can truly gauge whether or not the scale of competition has significantly improved beyond existing levels of growth via ISPs like Gigaclear, Cityfibre, Hyperoptic and others. Meanwhile Sky has already said that it has no plans to build their own fibre optic network (here) and TalkTalks aspiration to deliver FTTP to 10 million UK premises continues to lack a firm strategy and financial foundation. Elsewhere some of the measures, such as the new requirement for Openreach to consult formally with customers such as Sky Broadband and TalkTalk on large-scale investments, might potentially slow down the introduction of new products and services. In the end Ofcom has attempted to balance a multitude of competing interests in what remains a highly complicated market. No one solution will deliver the magic bullet that people expect and thats particularly true for rural areas, which with a few exceptions (e.g. B4RN, Gigaclear) will always be stuck at the back of the pack due to the high cost of commercial upgrades. Suffice to say that we might well be back to this question again in another 10 years time, but in the meantime we can at least look forward to further service quality improvements, new systems for consumer compensation following major faults and an ever expanding choice of alternative broadband networks. Meanwhile BT faces an agonising week, with Ofcom attempting to force through some major changes that they clearly wont enjoy. A Government (DCMS) Spokesperson told ISPreview.co.uk: Nine out of ten homes and businesses now have access to superfast broadband, but our goal is to make sure the UK builds the right infrastructure to maintain our position as a world leading digital nation. We are clear that a more independent Openreach is needed to benefit consumers and the UKs digital infrastructure. We are concerned that BTs proposals do not go far enough and think it is right that full structural separation remains an option. Swift and clear action is needed to give certainty to consumers, industry and investors in the UKs broadband infrastructure, and which delivers rapid improvements in the level of investment and service. Ofcom are seeking views on the plans outlined today by 4th October 2016. In the meantime theyre also working to develop stricter minimum requirements for Openreach to repair faults and install new lines more quickly (a statement on this will follow later this year). Ofcom also intend to publish new performance tables from next year that will enable consumers to compare ISPs by quality of service over a range of measures. Finally, the regulator has published an update on their earlier proposed Cable Duct and Pole Access product (here), which Openreach have of course already started to trial (here). However this is perhaps less of an update and more of a summary of what the product aims to deliver. UPDATE 8:09am Both BT and Sky have given their response. Jeremy Darroch, Skys Group Chief Executive, said: Todays proposal to create a legally separate Openreach is a step in the right direction, although falls short of the full change that would have guaranteed the world-class broadband network customers expect and the UK will need. In particular, leaving Openreachs budget in the hands of BT Group raises significant questions as to whether this will really lead to the fibre investment Britain requires. At the end of the day, Ofcoms changes will only work if they deliver better outcomes for customers. Its now important that the changes Ofcom have mandated today are implemented rapidly, fully and without dilution. We are encouraged by Ofcoms stated commitment and willingness to use its powers to hold BTs feet to the fire. Gavin Patterson, CEO of BT Group, said: The UK is the most digitally advanced nation in the G20 and further investment is required if it is to keep and extend that lead. Thats why we are poised to invest a further six billion pounds in our UK networks over the next three years. We have listened to Ofcom and industry and are introducing significant changes to meet their concerns. These changes will make Openreach more independent and transparent than it is today, something both Ofcom and industry have requested. Openreach is committed to delivering better service, broader coverage and faster speeds and these changes will enable it to do just that. Our proposals can form the basis for a fair and sustainable regulatory settlement and we believe they can also enable Ofcom to bring its Review to a speedier conclusion. Proportionality has to underpin any regulatory solution and we believe our proposals are a bold and appropriate response to the concerns outlined by Ofcom and others. We have considered the more extreme solutions proposed by others but they would be overly complex, disproportionately costly and time consuming to implement. They would also undermine Openreachs ability to invest and create years of uncertainty. Interestingly BT has set out a rough summary of its own voluntary proposal and it notes that elements of this have been welcomed by Ofcom above, although we know that BT has not yet been able to agree on the demand for Openreach to become a legally separate company and for it to have confidential discussions with its customers without oversight by BT. BT believes its counter offer would help the UK to remain the leading digital economy in the G20 by investing a further 6bn in its fixed and mobile/EE networks over the next three years, which partly reflects their roll-out of 4G, G.fast and more FTTP connectivity. Heres roughly what Openreach has proposed. Openreachs Voluntary Proposal * More independent governance, with a responsibility to serve all customers equally BT will establish an Openreach Board as a board committee of BT plc, BTs main operating company. It will have a majority of independent members, including the Chair, all to be appointed in consultation with Ofcom. The Board will be accountable for Openreachs strategy and operational delivery. The Openreach CEO will be accountable to this Board and will report into the BT Group Chief Executive. An obligation for Openreach to serve all its customers equally will be included in the Articles of Association of BT plc. This will supplement the legal obligations set out in the current regulatory Undertakings and strengthen Openreachs purpose to serve all of its customers equally. * Increasing Openreachs autonomy over budget and decision making Openreach and its Board will enjoy a high level of autonomy. Openreach will produce Annual Operating and Medium Term Plans setting out its budgetary, strategic and operational objectives. The Openreach Board and CEO will also control how they deploy capital, within the overall budget agreed with the BT Board. This is in keeping with its wider corporate responsibilities and its legal duties as a public company * Improving Openreachs approach to consultation with customers A formal three stage process will be introduced whereby industry will be consulted in advance on substantial investment decisions and the development of new products. This process will include an early stage during which Openreach can engage with its communications provider customers on a confidential basis. * Enhancing Openreachs operational capacity Openreach will have access to sufficient capabilities and resources to make its own decisions and run its own operations. UPDATE 8:32am Statements from market analyst Ovum and Cityfibre have also been received. An Ovum Spokesperson said: In many ways, a voluntary agreement between Ofcom and Openreach, which is backed by the rest of the industry, would achieve more than years in court and a forced enhanced model of separation could. Many of the things proposed by Ofcom, and that are being offered by BT, could be enacted within months. Attention and money could then turn to getting on with delivering what this review is ultimately all about making sure Britain has the broadband infrastructure fit for the next decade. Nevertheless, for some, only full structural separation will be enough and it is important to note that Ofcom have kept this option on the table should its proposed model not deliver. Given the enormous costs and uncertainties, coupled with the weight of evidence, for Ofcom to proceed with structural separation now would be a disproportionate response, even if it could be practically delivered. Mark Collins, Cityfibres Director Strategy & Policy, added: Fundamentally, todays proposals do not address Ofcoms key objectives of reducing the countrys dependence on Openreach and encouraging essential investment in fibre. Whilst correctly identifying Openreach as the principal source of the industrys dysfunction, it is hypocritical of Ofcom to focus on a restructured Openreach as a panacea. Further debate and navel-gazing as to the appropriate structure of BT will continue to create a period of uncertainty at a time when the industry needs clarity, direction and competitive investment. Openreach has a critical role to play, but it is not prudent to entrust them with sole responsibility for our digital future. CityFibre has proven its commitment to delivering future-proof digital infrastructure across the UK through its significant investment in dark fibre assets. Unconstrained by the ongoing regulatory debate, CityFibre has the financial flexibility and independence to rapidly deliver the fibre infrastructure, innovation and challenger ethos essential to meet the UKs future digital needs. UPDATE 8:55am Now its TalkTalks turn. Dido Harding, CEO of TalkTalk Group, said: The creation of a legally separate Openreach is a step in the right direction, but we must not forget the history of the organisation. The intention ten years ago was to create a functionally separate division that served all customers equally, but that is far from what happened. The lack of clear rules and responsibilities meant that BT was (according to Ofcom) able to make 4 billion in excess returns in a decade, and I fear that were repeating the mistakes of the past. Legal separation still means that a highly complex web of regulation, and BT has proven itself expert at gaming this system. There is nothing to suggest they will not continue to do so in the new system. Structural separation is cleaner, with less red tape and removes BTs ability to exploit loopholes in the regulation. In taking one cautious step forward, I fear Ofcom may in practice have taken five steps back. However we should remember this is just a consultation. Now is the time for the country to make their voices heard, and we are going to help them do that over the course of the next few months. UPDATE 9:50am Heres one from the founder of the cross-party British Infrastructure Group (BIG). Grant Shapps MP said: Ofcoms continuing reluctance to act condemns hundreds of thousands of people to the slow lane of internet connections, meaning it takes longer to access information, download a movie or run a business from home. By now Ofcom should appreciate that high speed broadband is the fourth utility which no modern household should be without. You have to wonder how many times BT Openreach has to fail the public before the regulator acts. The idea of one more chance is being stretched to its limit while ordinary families and British businesses continue to suffer through poor or no super-fast broadband. UPDATE 10:50am Entanet has chimed in with some criticism. 5 Tips for Managing a Multi-Generational Workforce Last week I wrote about retired Air Force Col. Lee Ellis, a Vietnam War hero who spent five years as a POW, and who parlayed what he learned from that experience into a career spent in service to corporate America as a leadership adviser. In my recent interview with Ellis, whose forthcoming book, Engage with Honor: Building a Culture of Courageous Accountability will be released in September, he offered some sage leadership advice that I covered in that post. But as the interview progressed, he shared some additional insights that I found to be tremendously valuable. I began this portion of the interview by referring to a keynote speech Ellis had made in 2014, in which he recounted a war story about how the POWs commanding officer, who was collaborating with the enemy, had to be relieved of duty by his subordinates. So I asked Ellis if he had any advice for business leaders on how to deal with a situation in which it becomes clear that the CEO is unfit for command. He said the first step is to check yourself to make sure youre not overreacting: It may be against your standards, but is it really against the legal, moral and ethical standards of the business? You need to bounce that off of any trusted advisor that you go to, probably in your company, and say, Hey, this is what Im seeing are you seeing that? Do you think thats right? Think about Enron if those guys had talked it over and said, This is not right, weve got to confront these two guys early on, they might have helped save their company. But youve got to make sure you have your facts straight you cant go on feelings there. Then you might get someone to go with you to confront your CEO and say, This is what were seeing, and this isnt legal or ethical. What are you thinking, and why are you doing this? We need to straighten this out. The CEO could obviously fire you, but then you could really be a whistleblower if youve truly got your facts straight. Usually, though, when its somebody at that level, unless you know him personally and have relationship capital with him, hes probably never going to listen to you. Hes probably going to fire you. So youve got to be ready to pay the price. Ellis and I are from the same generation, so I was eager to get his thoughts on how he would compare the leadership strengths and weaknesses of our generation with those of the millennial generation. He said our generation was much more responsible at an earlier age, because we had to be: We had chores to do and we were depended upon by the family unit to meet our responsibilities. Our families generally werent as affluent, so when we finished school, we knew we had to get at it and go make a living for ourselves. Most people got married at age 20 to 22 or 23 back then, and they immediately had families that they were responsible for. Today, we dont have as much work for kids to do, so they havent learned about responsibility. Its not their fault, they just havent had the same experience. I asked Ellis if he has found that there are gender-specific leadership strengths that each gender can learn from the other. His response: I think women are much more willing to be vulnerable and open, and I think they have the two sides of the brain working more connectedly than men do. So theyre a little bit more flexible and versatile then men they multitask a little better than men. I think women leaders are doing a great job in general. I think they have stronger integrity than men men are concerned about what the other men are going to think. Women have their concerns about other women, but not so much on character and integrity. Men will go along with stuff, rather than call it out; women are more likely to call it out. On the other hand, men are more willing to take risks theyre a little bit more entrepreneurial, and a little bit less concerned about the financial aspects of it, sometimes to their detriment. But you have to take risk in business. Men can be more stubborn, which can be a good trait as a businessperson and an entrepreneur, because it makes them more persistent. You get started, and when it fails, youve just got to be persistent adjust it and change a little bit, and come back and try again. Just keep persisting. Finally, I asked Ellis for his thoughts on business leaders entering politics, including presidential politics, and whether business leadership is an adequate foundation for presidential leadership. He said it can be: Harry Truman was a business guy who was a military war hero, as well. But I think business leaders do understand a lot about budgets, money, power, and so on. I think theyre also typically going to be less concerned about trying to please everybody and look good, and less likely to say one thing and do another. They will get into that, because I think everybody who goes into politics gets into the mode of saying one thing to get reelected, and doing another, unfortunately. So I do think they bring some true assets to the role; the downside is they dont know how things get done in Washington, which is a plus and a minus. The minus is that things still have to be done by process, and theyre dealing with civil servants and all that mess. They dont know how the three branches work quite as well, and they dont have the relationships to fall back on that theyre used to having in business. A contributing writer on IT management and career topics with IT Business Edge since 2009, Don Tennant began his technology journalism career in 1990 in Hong Kong, where he served as editor of the Hong Kong edition of Computerworld. After returning to the U.S. in 2000, he became Editor in Chief of the U.S. edition of Computerworld, and later assumed the editorial directorship of Computerworld and InfoWorld. Don was presented with the 2007 Timothy White Award for Editorial Integrity by American Business Media, and he is a recipient of the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for editorial excellence in news coverage. Follow him on Twitter @dontennant. Nine Email Scandals that Underscore the Need for Proper Archiving Here in the U.S., we are in the midst of the insanity called a presidential election. It seems as though the Democratic Party is trying to commit suicide by email. First, we had the unsecure private email server with no tracking, which was most likely penetrated but no one can tell. Now we have the Democratic Partys email service that was hacked (probably as a result of phishing someone who had more access than they should have had). Both instances showcase a problem that we arent really talking about. Lets do that now. The Problem In the long term, the most damaging part of this email debacle isnt that some of the emails refer to favoring one candidate over another. Most damaging are the emails that make fun of donors or present them in a derogatory light. These are people who have given up to seven figures to help the Democratic party get their candidate elected and not only are their donations now public but so is what the Democratic party thinks of them. Good luck getting that next donation from, well, anyone, now. It isnt at all uncommon for people to share colorful thoughts about superiors, co-workers, subordinates and customers over email. But think for a moment: What business benefit does this add? Email is auditable. Having done some audits, I know theres a lot of stuff people feel free to share on company email that can, and does, get them fired. A few years ago, a couple of managers in a firm I was working for had an email exchange about a high-performing black female employee. She had asked for something and the email exchange between the managers referred to her inappropriately with racially charged slang even as it granted approval for her request. They then left this exchange intact when they sent her the approval. Imagine how productive she was when she found out her manager and managers manager were both extremely racist? It turned out her brother was an attorney specializing in racial discrimination and harassment cases. That email cost the company around half a million dollars in terms of a settlement and both managers lost their jobs. (How this didnt get caught sooner is a whole different column.) A few years back, a communications exchange between two Oracle sales managers was picked up in litigation discovery and made public. In that exchange, Sun hardware was referred to as unsellable crap. The disclosure of that email likely cost Oracle millions of dollars and, once again, the executive lost his job. Back when I was starting out as an analyst, I got an email from a Microsoft manager regarding a meeting we were to have. Shortly afterwards, I got a note from Microsofts PR firm asking me to not read the note below the information about the meeting. I hadnt even been aware there was a forwarded note and, of course, I immediately had to read it. It contained a personal profile of every analyst they were going to be talking about in their meeting. In regard to one really powerful guy, they went into some length explaining what an ass he was and how to behave around him. The analyst who theyd highlighted as vindictive was likely really pissed off. (Sadly, in my own case, it read like there was nothing interesting.) At the heart of the problem was that the Microsoft manager who had gotten the note in the first place accidentally created a bit of a firestorm. In short, the problem is that a lot of us treat email as if it is really, really secure and its not. It is like a loaded gun; folks need to treat it with far more respect. The Solution People need to be regularly reminded that if something is in writing theres a reasonably good chance it will get disclosed. This means that all of the rules in place for verbal communication also apply to email and texting. Employees should picture what would happen if an email became public then consider rewording it so that it doesnt cost them their jobs if it did. This means the same jokes theyre not supposed to tell in the office shouldnt be told or forwarded in email either. If employees are pissed at their boss, email ranting to another employee isnt wise. And employees should never, ever talk badly about a customer, stockholder, executive or other employee in email. If they have a problem, they need to share it verbally and behind closed doors. (More than a few people have been fired after being overheard at a public event.) By the way, this also means that employees need to think about attachments and email threads. If they are replying to an email, it is generally best to leave out the part that they are replying to and not include every email that came before unless they want to read it all first. Im sure they dont want security dropping by for a visit after someone finds a confidential element in an email thread they accidentally forwarded. Wrapping Up: Thinking Before Sending Ive watched a lot of people lose their jobs over written communications, whether its from getting ticked off at a manager and then forwarding a scathing note to the entire company (which is, fortunately, much harder to do now) to sending naked pictures. The majority of these written communications are not only inappropriate, theyre unnecessary and generally reflect poorly on both the sender and the organization. Regularly reminding employees that emails should be brief, focused on the subject, and that they should avoid any language that couldnt be shared with the employees department, family or priest would go a long way toward making sure what just happened to the Democratic Party doesnt happen to your firm. Put in place a good tracking product and regularly remind employees, unless they want to become unemployable, to treat email, and all forms of communication, with a lot more respect than they likely currently do. Rob Enderle is President and Principal Analyst of the Enderle Group, a forward-looking emerging technology advisory firm. With over 30 years experience in emerging technologies, he has provided regional and global companies with guidance in how to better target customer needs; create new business opportunities; anticipate technology changes; select vendors and products; and present their products in the best possible light. Rob covers the technology industry broadly. Before founding the Enderle Group, Rob was the Senior Research Fellow for Forrester Research and the Giga Information Group, and held senior positions at IBM and ROLM. Follow Rob on Twitter @enderle, on Facebook and on Google+. Save Apple is arguably one of the most recognizable brands in the world. It has taken over the tech industry, with its exclusive operating systems and simply designed gadgets. It has fought against both veteran Android-based companies, as well as up and comers. Which is why, the decline in Apple's figures are coming as a shock to the public and its investors. According to BNN, Apple's stock has declined by 6% in 2016, despite an overall industrial gain of 6.5%. However, that is not the most worrying figure the publication has put forther. Reportedly, Apple's third quarter revenue could decline by as much as 17%, when compared to its third number figures in 2015. This year's expected revenue of $41 - 43 billion, though quite notable on its own, is much lower than last year's experience of $50 billion. The decline is likely to be from the slow in iPhone sales. 63% of 3Q 2015 figures were from the 47.5 million iPhone units sold. On the other hand, the Cupertino-based company only sold 40 million units as of June this year. In addition, Apple's other products have failed to catch the losses that have resulted from the decline in iPhone sales. Last year, iPad and Mac units made up 9% and 12% of revenue respectively. China, one of Apple's main territories, has taken a liking to locally produced phones. Unfortunately for the company, this means a great loss in market share. In fact, Apple's Chinese sales are expected to drop as much as 20% this third quarter. On the other hand, a great chunk of the 2015 numbers resulted from the $13 billion revenue experienced from Chinese sales. Thereby, investors need to look into three particular factors, a Investor Place reports. Those are, iPhone sales, services and China. The numbers above are enough proof that the iPhone is still Apple's breadwinner. There is a lot of pressure for the upcoming iPhone 7 to do well upon its release this fall. Meanwhile, Tim Cook has also started that there is money in providing accessories and services, as opposed to focusing solely on the gadgets themselves. In other words, Apple needs to start cashing in on apps, digital music and its other features. Lastly, Apple needs to take back their Chinese market share. It has gone through a lot of trouble, but is now poised to take on the Chinese smartphone manufacturers again. Just weeks after its release, "Stranger Things" have gained a lot of positive reviews already. This effect has led to Netflix deciding to not just renew the show for its second season, but to even create several more seasons. When talking about the possibility of "Stranger Things" being renewed for a second season, the answer went way beyond what was expected. According to Screen Crush, executive producer of the show, Shawn Levy confirmed that there is indeed a multi-season plan for the show and even an additional of new characters. The plan is reportedly continue with the existing characters to date while slowly introducing new ones into the picture by the next season. Despite the first season recently ending just yet, the talks of following seasons are already currently being worked on. Digital Trends reported that even as early as less than a week after its premiere, actor Matthew Modine already gave the fans an unofficial confirmation of a second season. He also expressed that the show is indeed going to be an on-going series instead of what it was initially thought of, a stand-alone mini-series. Co-creator of the show "Stranger Things", Matt Duffer confirmed that the second season will be more of a sequel rather than an entirely new second season. There have also been reports that by the end of the first season, issues will be resolved to an extent although not entirely. This is to give a continuous storyline for the next season. Certain storylines of the characters are also going to be explored more on the second season. This includes the story of Eleven, who is a telepathic and telekinetic girl who sacrificed herself at the end of the first season. Another is Will Byers, whose condition could mean that the link between the two dimensions has been clearly cut off. There is currently no date set yet for the second season of "Stranger Things," nonetheless it is very much awaited for. The OnePlus 3 has, since its release, become a successful smartphone. In an oversaturated market, it managed to stand out and make a name for itself, much like the company that manufactures it. Now, a month after its official release, OnePlus is giving their latest flagship a second wind for the race - a new color variant that once again proves different from the rest. According to The Verge, the OnePlus 3 now has a Soft Gold version that is available in the United States, effective July 26. The Hong Kong and Canadian markets will follow on August 1st. The color, though not necessarily gold, is much softer than the gold versions of OnePlus' competitors. As Pocket Lint adds, OnePlus has warned interested customers to act quickly, as it expects that the OnePlus 3 Gold will sell out quickly. After all, the company describes the experience as one best understood personally. However, it does paint a pretty picture, as it calls the unit "light," "elegant" and "reminiscent of holding fine, silky-soft sand." It has a unibody design cut from just one block of aluminum, which puts its design well beside the likes of Apple and HTC. Naturally, it is not just design that keeps the OnePlus 3 Gold afloat. Under the surface, it really is a notable smartphone. According to GSM Arena, it runs on Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor. Further, it is quick with 6GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal storage. All around, the device is only 152.7 x 74.7 x 7.4 mm, with a 5.5 inch screen and weighs just short of 160 grams. Its rear camera is 16 megapixels, while the front camera is 8 megapixels. The battery is a standard 3000mAh, but is definitely enough to last the day on one charge. The Chinese ship carrying 100,000 tons of illegal gasoline was arrested by the Vietnamese Border Guard in March. Photo provided by the Border Guard. This isn't the first time Vietnam has intercepted such a high volume of smuggled gasoline. Vietnam's Coast Guard detained a Thai vessel carrying 260,000 liters of gasoline without legal papers in the countrys exclusive economic zone on July 22, the government online news portal reported. The TAKUZAN 111 was also carrying seven crew members without identity papers when it was captured. The captain testified that there were 260,000 liters of gasoline on board, but failed to provide legal documents. In a previous case, Coast Guard forces captured a Chinese ship on March 31, which was on its way supplying 100,000 liters of illegal gasoline to Chinese vessels fishing illegally in Vietnamese waters. The Coast Guard said that the TAKUZAN 111 was not a tanker and did not have fire safety equipment or pollution controls in place, posing a threat to Vietnams marine environment. The vessel and its cargo have been seized pending further investigations. The Ministry of Defense said that fuel smuggling is common along coastal provinces with international harbors like the northern provinces of Quang Ninh and Hai Phong and the southern province of Vung Tau. From 2013 to the end of 2015, Vietnamese forces seized about 21.3 million tons of illegal fuel, contributing more than VND270 billion ($12.1 million) to the state budget. Related news: > Vietnam raids boats carrying 100 tons of suspect oil in military port > Vietnam fires up oil product imports from regional neighbors > Vietnam Coast Guard chases down illegal Chinese fishing vessels Amazon may start its drone delivery in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe much sooner than in the United States. British authorities have also authorized a series of tests that were not allowed in the US. The drone delivery tests will be conducted in cooperation with the British civil aviation agency, according to The Verge. Amazon would like to fly drones capable of avoiding obstacles even if they are beyond the pilot's line of sight. The tests will also determine if it's feasible for a single human pilot to operate several drones at the same time. The series of drone delivery tests are part of Amazon's Prime Air project. The American online retailer is hoping that the use of drones will make its delivery faster and cheaper. Amazon Vice President Paul Misener envision the delivery time of their products down to 30 minutes with the use of drones. It seems Amazon has an easier time working its drone delivery tests in Europe than in its own country. Federal regulators in the United States have recently lifted the rule requiring drone operators to have a pilot license, according to The Verge. But many restrictions still remains making it difficult for Amazon to conduct the drone delivery tests in the US. Observers also believed that Amazon is using the British drone delivery tests to prove the safety of the program to the American civil aviation agency. Commercial drone delivery will require the operation of hundreds of drones going long distances and flown by only a handful of human operators. However, US authorities insist that drones in flight must always be in the direct sights of the operator. Multiple drones operated by a single operator are also not allowed. This is why Amazon is conducting its tests in Europe. It is also doubtful that Americans will have a drone delivery service anytime soon. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and his company got a reprimand from a US court on July 25. The San Francsico Company allegedly hired a private detective firm to gather information intended to harass the plaintiff and his counsel. Uber is currently being used by Spencer Meyer for price-fixing, according to Reuters. The company allegedly colluded with its drivers to charge higher fares when the demand for their service gets higher. Uber makes money base on the amount of earned by the drivers. Meyers filed the lawsuit late last year, according to The Verge. Judge Jed Rakoff laid out a ruling that any information obtained about Meyer and his counsel will be inadmissible if they are obtained by the security company Ergo. Uber hired the firm in order to gather professional and personal details from the plaintiff. The judge said he was saddened that a company such as Uber and Ergo would resort to such demeaning tactics in order to win their case. Kalanick is said to have agreed with the ruling as long as he and Uber will not declare that they did something illegal. Ergo and its legal representatives have preferred to remain mum on the issue. The judge pointed out that Ergo detective Miguel Santos-Neves conducted his investigation in a "deceitful and possibly illegal manner." It was also found out that Neves does not have the license to work as a private investigator at that time. Neves practically lied to the plaintiff's friends and colleagues in his bid to gather information. Rakoff also said that the detective's deceitful method could have only been permitted by his superiors at Ergo. Uber defended its decision to hire Ergo citing the dangers that executives of high profiles companies faced in the form "malicious lawsuits". The lawsuit is currently being heard in New York's southern district, case number 15-09796. Eight years after Microsoft made an offer of US$44 billion to buy Yahoo!, the company that once was synonymous with Internet search has been sold to Verizon for US$4.83 billion. The sale was announced on Monday US time and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2017. The sale does not include Yahoo!'s cash, its shares in Alibaba, its shares in Yahoo! Japan, its convertible notes, certain minority investments, and Yahoo's non-core patents (called the Excalibur portfolio). These assets will continue to be held by Yahoo!, which will change its name at closing and become a registered, publicly traded investment company. Verizon chairman and chief executive Lowell McAdam said: "Just over a year ago we acquired AOL to enhance our strategy of providing a cross-screen connection for consumers, creators and advertisers." He said the acquisition of Yahoo! would make Verizon a top global mobile media company, and increase its digital advertising revenue. Yahoo! will be integrated with AOL under Marni Walden, executive vice-president and president of the product innovation and new businesses organisation at Verizon. Yahoo! chief executive Marissa Mayer said: "Yahoo! is a company that has changed the world, and will continue to do so through this combination with Verizon and AOL. The sale of our operating business, which effectively separates our Asian asset equity stakes, is an important step in our plan to unlock shareholder value for Yahoo!. This transaction also sets up a great opportunity for Yahoo to build further distribution and accelerate our work in mobile, video, native advertising and social." She said Yahoo! and AOL had popularised the Internet, email, search and real-time media, adding, "It's poetic to be joining forces with AOL and Verizon as we enter our next chapter focused on achieving scale on mobile. We have a terrific, loyal, experienced and quality team, and I couldn't be prouder of our achievements to date, including building our new lines of business to US$1.6 billion in GAAP revenue in 2015. I'm excited to extend our momentum through this transaction." Mayer is unlikely to survive the acquisition but is likely to get a big payout even though she failed to turn things around in her four years in the top job at Yahoo! If you bought a HP Compaq, HP ProBook, HP Envy, or HP Pavilion notebook between 1 March 2013 and 30 August 2015, then its battery may be subject to a recall. The first characters of the unique number of a potentially affected battery are: 6CGFQ, 6DEMA, 6CGFK, 6EBVA, 6CZMB, 6DEMH, 6BZLU or 6DGAL. If you have one: Vodafone has alleviated more mobile phone blackspots with the completion of a new mobile base station at Invergowrie near Armidale in north-west NSW to deliver increased coverage to mobile users in the region. Vodafone chief technology officer Benoit Hanssen said the site would deliver 108 square kilometres of new handheld coverage to more than 400 homes, as well as additional coverage of Armidale Airport. The new site will also provide contiguous coverage between Invergowrie and Armidale. This means people travelling between Invergowrie and Armidale via Bundarra Road will receive reliable service on the Vodafone network, Hanssen said. He says coverage from the new site will also reach Saumarez Ponds and Arding, down towards the New England Highway. Through this site, weve actually been able to address two locations on the national database of reported mobile black spots at Invergowrie. Were proud to be participating in the Mobile Black Spot Programme as it makes a real difference to the lives of people living in areas such as Invergowie, not just through greater coverage, but also through more choice of provider due to increased competition. In total, Vodafone is building 26 new sites in the New England area, with 18 being rolled out as part of round one of the Mobile Black Spot Programme and an additional eight sites under a $2 million-plus investment by the telco. Hanssen said completion of the Invergowrie site follows on from the opening of the Armidale store and the switching on of a new site at White Rock Wind Farm near Glen Innes last year. Deputy Prime Minister and member for New England, Barnaby Joyce, said the tower was one of 28 new base stations being delivered in the electorate under Round 1 of the blackspot programme. Mobile coverage is vital to the people of New England, who are increasingly reliant on mobile devices to conduct business, manage farms and keep in touch," Joyce said. This tower will provide high-speed 4G mobile data and voice services in and around Invergowrie and is an important step forward for the region. Maps is always under construction. This means new features are always coming, though like many construction projects they dont always show up when expected. A staggered rollout is underway that brings an option to make Maps download data primarily over -Fi. If you have the feature (I was unable to see it even with the latest A) youll find a prominent -Fi only toggle in the settings menu. Theres also a small popup box that will tell you a small amount of data will still be used with this enabled, but far less than if you were downloading everything over a cellular connection. Android lice Take control over how you pull in all that Maps data. Some are also seeing a Subway Status setting that would let you get real-time disruption alerts when theres a delay on your local mass transit. Since this is an issue with pretty much every single system out there, it should be welcomed with open arms. Android lice Find out if you need to try catch a different train. If you want to give these new features a try, make sure you have version 9.32.1 of Maps from the ay Store or A Mirror. You may need to be patient, as these features arent showing up for everyone yet; it may be a staged rollout, or just limited testing. The impact on you: Maps can be a data hog, so the -Fi setting may save you from running over your plans limits. On the other h the mass transit notifications can be a lifesaver in a city, giving you an excuse to grab a cup of coffee on the way home instead of getting frustrated by trains that arent going to show up. While there's a lot of talk about Windows 10's new features for consumers, the forthcoming Anniversary Update also adds a pair of advanced security capabilities aimed at helping IT managers better lock down the computers in their organization. Windows Information Protection aims to make it possible for organizations to compartmentalize business and personal data on the same device. It comes alongside the general release of Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection, a system that uses machine learning and Microsoft's cloud to better protect businesses after their security has been breached. The two features are part of Microsoft's push to position Windows 10 as an operating system for security-conscious companies at a time when attacks against businesses seem to be more prevalent than ever. That could be a major selling point at a time when Microsoft is working hard to try and drive companies to deploy the new OS. Using Windows Information Protection, companies can encrypt their data on employee devices using keys that are controlled by IT. Doing so is supposed to bring several benefits, including the ability to selectively wipe only company data from a personal device when an employee leaves the company. Companies can also set policies about which applications can be used to handle business data, so users can't live-tweet the content of a company's HR system, for example. The whole system is designed to bring Windows 10 in line with the reality that many employees use their mobile devices for both personal and business use. For businesses to use Windows Information Protection, they'll need a Windows 10 Enterprise E3 subscription, which costs $7 per user per month. While Windows Information Protection is designed to help proactively guard company data, Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection is supposed to help companies detect and contain security breaches. It uses a combination of software running on client devices and a Microsoft cloud service to alert companies when it looks like their systems have been hacked. Once the system has detected a breach, it suggests steps that IT managers can take to solve the problem. That's important, according to Rob Lefferts, director of program management for Windows Enterprise and Security. Attackers will often try to place multiple back doors in a company's systems once they've broken in, and failing to get them out will cause problems. Windows Defender ATP requires a company be subscribed to the more expensive Windows 10 Enterprise E5 service, which is meant for companies looking for premium Windows 10 add-on features. Microsoft won't disclose the pricing publicly, but said its companies can find out more by asking one of its partners. It will be interesting to see how these features affect the rate at which businesses adopt Windows 10 -- if at all. Microsoft is betting big on security's enterprise appeal to try and get businesses to upgrade, but these advanced capabilities require both an investment of time and money in order to get off the ground. Daimlers Mytaxi and British firm Hailo, both ride-sharing companies, have merged to form what is being described as Europe's largest taxi hailing company with 70 million passengers and 100,000 registered taxi drivers in over 50 cities across nine countries. Subject to approval of European regulatory authorities, the newly formed company will operate under the Mytaxi brand, with headquarters in Hamburg, Germany. All Hailo operations in UK, Ireland, and Spain will be rebranded by mid 2017, the companies said Tuesday. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Mytaxi and Hailo describe themselves as taxi e-hailing companies as they work with registered taxis rather than informal drivers offering their services. Uber has expanded fast in Europe but has fallen foul of local regulators in some countries. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler Mobility Services since September 2014, Mytaxi is available in Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, while Hailo operates in the U.K., Ireland and Spain. Daimler was one of the first car makers to get into the ride app business, a market into which its rivals have entered more recently. Ride-hailing app Lyft said in January that it had received a US$500 million investment from General Motors, while Volkswagen invested $300 million in ride-hailing company Gett in May this year. The car companies seem to want to provide the hardware and jointly develop technologies for the new on-demand market. The deal between GM and Lyft also involved the joint development of an integrated network of on-demand autonomous cars. Daimler has invested 500 million euros ($548 million) over the last years to build mobility platforms and services, it said. Hailos current CEO Andrew Pinnington will be appointed CEO of the new company, while Mytaxi founder Niclaus Mewes will be taking a seat on the supervisory board besides leading Daimler Mobility Services as its managing director. Spam calls are the worst. You go to answer an unsuspecting number, suddenly youre getting hassled about unclaimed assets in Bolivia. The one app wants to help. An exclusive to Nexus Android One phones, the latest update uses the companys search smarts to flag bad actors. Youll see a large, red bar warn you when theres an incoming call that thinks is potential spam. Youre then able to reject it, report the number to , or choose to answer the call. + You cant miss the large, red warning when a spam caller tries to contact you. To get this working, says you need to enable caller ID update to the latest version. You can grab this from the ay Store or A Mirror. You can try to install this on a non-Nexus phone, but theres no guarantee that it will work. The impact on you: likes to give little perks to differentiate the Nexus line from others. The one app is one of the stronger exclusives, as it puts caller ID other location-aware smarts right into the dialer. Its an app wed love to see make available for others through the ay Store, but for now the company is keeping this one in the exclusive column. "We now have momentum in this fight [against ISIL] and clear results on the ground." That is the assessment of U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in a speech to the Counter-ISIL Foreign and Defense Minister Meeting. "Together," he said, "we are going to destroy the fact and the idea of an Islamic state based on ISIL's barbaric ideology." The coalitions military campaign plan has three objectives. First, to destroy ISIL in Iraq and Syria. As recent attacks make clear, ISILs safe havens threaten not only the lives of the Iraqi and Syrian peoples, but also the security of people around the world. And the sooner ISIL is defeated in Iraq and Syria, the safer everyone will be. But while its necessary to defeat ISIL in Iraq and Syria, it is not sufficient since this ideology can and in some cases such as in Afghanistan and Libya has spread. The second objective is to combat ISILs metastases everywhere they emerge around the world. And the third objective is to support diplomatic, economic, homeland and border security, intelligence, and law enforcement to protect innocent civilians at home from terrorist attack. A key aspect of the Coalition Military Campaign Plan is to identify local forces who can deliver ISIL a lasting defeat with coalition support. Only local forces can deliver and sustain such a defeat, said Secretary Carter, since it such forces who must hold and govern territory after it has been retaken from ISIL and restore a decent life to the people who live there. The coalition has pursued a plan to accelerate ISILs lasting defeat. A year ago, the entire campaign in Iraq and Syria was put under the single command of Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland.And since then the campaign has advanced, squeezing ISIL and rolling it back towards Raqqa and Mosul. "By isolating those two cities," said Secretary Carter, "were effectively setting the stage to collapse ISILs control over them." "Together," said Secretary Carter, "we will deliver ISIL the lasting defeat it deserves." Get unlimited access to all content and features at ivpressonline.com with our Full Online Access Subscription. Read our E-Edition, the digital replica of the print newspaper online, access content in exclusive sections including Family, Teen, Business, Databases, Farm and more. This option does not include daily home delivery of the Imperial Valley Press newspaper. For home delivery service, please select Premium or Premium Plus. This Week in Review A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more. Crude oil is the mainstay of Libyas economy. It is therefore good news for all Libyans that the National Oil Corporation signed an agreement to reintegrate eastern leadership under a unified, independent management structure. If implemented, the agreement could rejuvenate Libyas economy and benefit all Libyans. In Libya, oil is king, with 90 percent of government revenues generated by oil production. The National Oil Corporation and its subsidiaries traditionally controlled a vast majority of the countrys oil output and infrastructure, including oilfields, pipelines, refineries and production facilities. It is not surprising that once the alliance that ousted long-time dictator Muammar Qadhafi and his regime splintered, and began to fight among themselves over territory and resources, Libyas oil production plummeted. Oil infrastructure suffered frequent attacks by factional forces, as well as by Daesh and other violent extremists, hindering production and closing export terminals and ports. Over time, certain Libyan entities not recognized by the international community attempted to export oil illegally. Because Libya's resources belong to all of its people, not just those few who can get their hands on them, the UN Security Council passed a resolution condemning such illicit sales, and called on member states to take all necessary steps to prevent vessels carrying illicit Libyan oil from entering their ports. On July 6th, the Governments of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States issued a joint statement on Libya welcoming and supporting the agreement to reunify the National Oil Corporation, stating, We urge all Libyans to work together to restore Libyas oil production and exports, and stress the importance of Libyan resource wealth being used for the benefit of all Libyans. The six governments pledged to use all means necessary, at the request of Libyas Government of National Accord, to stop the illegal shipment of oil from Libya and to sanction those who would exploit or divert Libyas oil or wealth. Libyas national economic institutions, including the National Oil Corporation, must remain united under the sole stewardship of the Government of National Accord, and must use Libyas resources for the benefit of all Libyans. Once the fighting ends, peace treaties are signed, and armies are disbanded, the world assumes too often that life in former conflict areas will soon return to normal. But left-over landmines and unexploded munitions stand in the way of post-conflict stabilization and inhibit long-term development. They render thousands of hectares of land unusable and destabilize communities. To mitigate long-term damage and help war-ravaged communities move toward a sustainable peace, the United States has, since 1993, provided over $2.6 billion for conventional weapons destruction programs that help to safely clear landmines and explosive remnants of war, such as ammunition, artillery shells and air-delivered bombs. Still, in many countries, landmines and unexploded ordnance can kill and maim their victims decades after the original conflict is little more than an ugly memory. Completely ridding former battlegrounds of these explosives is therefore a long-term project. This effort cannot succeed without building local expertise in partner nations and training leaders that can take control of mine clearance programs in their own countries. The Center for International Stabilization and Recovery at James Madison University in the state of Virginia has, for many years, conducted management training for leaders in humanitarian mine action around the world. Since 2010, the State Departments Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement has sponsored the course, which seeks to integrate the latest ideas in business management with the practical experience of mine-clearance professionals. The goal is to train senior managers of national demining programs to make the programs function more effectively and efficiently. In late spring of this year, the University hosted 21 demining management professionals from Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Palau, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Tajikistan, Vietnam and Yemen. They honed their technical and managerial skill, which they will now apply improving their countries capacity to clear contaminated land. The United States is investing in mine and explosives clearance because by doing so, we not only protect civilians from explosive remnants of war, but we also enable lasting peace. ELKO A Safety Olympiad participant remains hospitalized after he was injured during an offsite mine rescue training exercise. Matt Baker, a Barrick Goldstrike employee, was portraying a victim in a mining emergency scenario during the annual Safety Olympiad at the Elko Convention Center, said Jorge Esteva, communications director for Barrick. Baker needed real medical attention after he was exposed to smoke during the scenario, Esteva said. Baker received immediate medical attention and is still under observation and medical care in a Reno hospital, Esteva said July 25. Baker's medical condition was not released to the media. Its especially concerning that this happened at a safety exercise designed to test and train our rescuers to protect our people, said Goldstrike General Manager Bill MacNevin. Our thoughts and wishes go out for Matt and his family at this critical time. The Safety Olympiad ran July 7-9 and involved nine mine rescue teams from Nevada, Colorado and Utah. The competition takes place at the convention center, but the mines rotate who is in charge of setting up the different scenarios each year, said Elko Convention and Visitors Authority Executive Director Don Newman. He said the incident occurred July 9, when ECVA office staff were not on the property. Since the Olympiad is to train for emergency situations, the people participating were safety responders for the mines. Barrick has told us its a Barrick sponsored event and they will handle the incident, Newman said. Barrick is conducting a full investigation and its safety and human resource departments are working closely with Bakers family to provide support. In Barrick, we are committed to achieve a zero-incident work environment with a safety culture based on teamwork and leadership, MacNevin said. Nothing is more important than the safety, health and well-being of our employees and their families. No other details were available on the incident. Elko Deputy Fire Chief Brian Burgess said the fire department was not notified of the incident until a couple days later. Elko County Ambulance acting Director Chris Mchan said he did not know if a county ambulance responded, and the agency did not have a stand-by agreement for the event. Esteva said since the injury occurred offsite, it is not considered a reportable incident to the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Barrick is not releasing any updates on Baker, out of respect to the family, Esteva said Aug. 16. Land and Space Journal Sentinel business reporter Tom Daykin talks about commercial real estate and development. SHARE By of the Charter Manufacturing plans to move some of its operations to a new Mequon location. Charter, one of the nation's largest specialty steel manufacturers, is seeking city permission to make some exterior renovations to an office building at 12121 N. Corporate Parkway, according to a city report. The company recently purchased the property, and will be moving part of its operations from other locations to the new building, the report said. It will initially house about 115 members of Charters information technology, human resources and fiA nance teams, the company announced Monday. They are expected to start moving into the new building Sept. 1, and continue in phases through early winter. Approximately 70 employees will move from Charter Manufacturing's headquarters and another nearby company-owned building. Both are on W. Glen Oaks Lane, about one-half mile north of the Corporate Parkway building. They will be joined by about 30 other employees currently working at Charter Steel, in Saukville. The company's executives will stay in the current headquarters, at 1212 W. Glen Oaks Lane. The Corporate Parkway building was previously owned by DentaQuest. That Boston-based company recently moved its area operations from Mequon and Grafton to Milwaukee's Liberty at Park Place business park. The company's plans, filed with city officials, indicate the Corporate Parkway building will eventually house 163 current employees within 32,000 square feet. Those plans also indicated 30 future employees could work within another 5,200 square feet. Charter Manfacturing operates 12 plants in the United States, China and the United Kingdom, including a Charter Wire factory in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley Industrial Center and a Charter Steel facility in Saukville's Dekora Woods Business Park. The company has annual sales of about $1.2 billion, and worldwide employment of more than 2,000 people. The Mequon Plan Commission is to review Charter's plans at its Monday night meeting. Wisconsin delegate Andie Aker from Kenosha wears a 'silenced' label across her mouth as former Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders speaks during the Democratic National Convention at Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia. Credit: Thomas P. Costello / USA TODAY NETWORK By of the Philadelphia Greeted by cheers and chants, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders urged his supporters at a breakfast gathering of Democratic delegates from Wisconsin to help elect Hillary Clinton and do everything they can to stop Donald Trump, calling him the worst, least prepared candidate for president in my lifetime. The morning after he addressed the Democratic convention, Sanders said his campaign will transition to another organization that will support candidates for school board, city council and state legislature. Sanders, who won the Wisconsin primary handily last April, said our job is to bring people into the political process around a progressive agenda, an agenda that says to the one percent, Sorry, you are not going to get it all -- this country, our government, belongs to all of us. Some Sanders supporters said Tuesday they thought his speech embracing Clinton Monday night would help unify the party. The people that were kind of on the edge that needed a little push probably got a good push Monday night, said Rob Hansen, a Sanders delegate who is the Milwaukee County Democratic chair, and was already prepared to back Clinton when she becomes the nominee Tuesday night. There are still a few folks out there that are maybe not on board but will eventually, probably, come around, he said. But some Sanders backers said they were unmoved. Alaska delegate Fay Herold said in an interview Monday that she would not support Clinton in November and she repeated that sentiment after hearing Sanders speak at the convention Monday night and at Tuesdays breakfast for the Wisconsin, Alaska and Montana delegations. In fact, she said she had not given up hope the convention might still nominate Sanders Tuesday. There is little that Bernie can say that I dont agree with until it comes to the (Clinton) endorsement, she said. He clearly acknowledged (their) differences last night, which is why we are his supporters, not hers. Former Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin told the same group Tuesday that, Weve got to come together. The other side is way too scary. Sanders convention speech was gratifying to Clinton supporters worried about displays of division in the party. So was the extra effort Sanders went to try to calm his most ardent supporters, including emailing them Monday to urge them not to jeer or act out, telling them that our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays. Thats what the corporate media wants. Thats what Donald Trump wants. Talking to reporters Tuesday, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Clinton supporter, praised Sanders convention speech and played down the signs of protest among his backers Monday. Democracy is noisy. I suspect the convention will continue to be a bit noisy, but I think were coming together, she said. July 25 Tabari A. Austin, 26, of San Francisco was arrested at the Elko County Jail for fugitive felon from other state. No bail listed. Jeffrey L. Jerome, 23, of Spring Creek was arrested at the Elko County Jail on a warrant for contempt of court and violation of probation or condition of suspended sentence. No bail listed. Braden L. Licko, 53, of Elko was arrested at 340 Commercial St. for disturbing the peace and false statement to obstruct a public officer. Bail: $1,495 Melisa I. Moore, 30, of Reno was arrested at 651 W. Idaho St. for trafficking in controlled substance, possession to sell controlled substance, use or possession of drug paraphernalia, and failure to maintain travel lane or improper lane change. Bail: $30,755 Joshua S. Morton, 24, of West Wendover was arrested at 3233 Skyview Drive for domestic battery. Bail: $3,000 Larry M. Russell II, 35, of Spring Creek was arrested at 1400 Mountain City Highway for false statement to obstruct a public officer. Bail: $1,140 Courtney Hartman poses for a photo with her children Lois, 2, and Declan, 4, as they wear gender-neutral clothing of Hartmans com pany in Seattle. Hartman owns Jessy & Jack, a collection of unisex T-shirts, and Free to Be Kids. Credit: Elaine Thompson SHARE By , New York Pink for girls. Truck motifs for boys. A growing number of parents want to get outside those parameters when it comes to dressing their kids. Kristin Higgins was adamant about not pushing "girly" stereotypes on her daughter, and painted her room in shades of green. Higgins later dressed her up in superhero costumes. But as her daughter got older, it took more work to locate items that broke the mold. For "Star Wars" pajamas, she had to go to the boys' section. "It's hard to find gender-neutral clothing," said Higgins, 35, of Little Rock, whose daughter is now 6. "I want her to just get up and put on the clothing without thinking of putting on a costume, an identity." Shopping for her 7-month-old son, Higgins finds clothes mainly have pictures like fire engines or sharks. What about cats, cupcakes or hearts? For parents looking for clothes that defy gender norms, the options for back-to-school shopping are still limited but they're growing. Some big retailers like Lands' End and Zara are making small changes to their offerings, while some frustrated parents have launched their own companies to make the items they wanted to find. "There is really a sharp divide between what is considered girls' stuff and what's considered boys' stuff," said Courtney Hartman. She started Seattle-based Jessy & Jack, a collection of unisex T-shirts for kids that have robots and dinosaurs, and Free to Be Kids, where a shirt with the slogan "I'm a Cat Guy" comes in blue, gray and yellow. Companies like Jessy & Jack and a collection called Princess Awesome, where dresses have trains and planes, are among nearly 20 online brands that formed a campaign called Clothes Without Limits last year that they're reprising for the back-to-school season. Many of the items are not cheap: T-shirts at $20 can be pricey for growing kids. Bigger companies are offering some options, after similar shifts in the toy and bedding aisles to more neutral signs and products. Dodgeville, Wis.-based Lands' End launched a line of science T-shirts two years ago after a customer complained on social media that there was only one version for boys. As part of its new Cat & Jack brand of children's clothing that kids helped design, Target offers unisex-fit T-shirts online with slogans like, "Smart & Strong" and "Future Astronaut." And fast-fashion chain Zara launched a collection in March for teens and older called "Ungendered" under its TRF line, which focuses on basics like T-shirts, sweatshirts and jeans. Experts and parents also notice that some images like dinosaurs are popping up on girls' clothing under the Boden brand and others. More has changed for girls' clothes than for boys, but the vast majority of children's clothing is still gender-specific, says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at market research group NPD Group Inc. A good portion of children's clothing buyers are grandparents who tend to embrace more traditional ideas, says Cohen, who doesn't expect large-scale change until the next generation starts having children. "Once we get past the cultural discussion, that's when you'll see the (major) brands step out," Cohen said. "No one wants to risk the chance of rocking the boat." Chris Guerin of Portland, Ore., says teaching his mother-in-law to buy clothes that don't reinforce gender stereotypes is a work in progress. "When she goes shopping with Nana, she comes back with princess (outfits) and tiaras," Guerin says of his 3-year-old daughter. "We don't care for that. But it's hard to bring up the issue." The differences crystallized in the late 1980s, according to Jo B. Paoletti, a professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland and author of "Pink and Blue: Telling the Girls from the Boys in America." Paoletti noticed it when buying clothing for her daughter, who was born in 1982, and her son, four years later. By the mid-1990s, "pink-washing was widespread," she said. Even disposable diapers came in blue and pink. In part, manufacturers and marketers wanted to boost sales to American couples having fewer kids, Paoletti said. She also reasoned that parents were rebelling against the more unisex fashions like corduroy pants they grew up with. But Paoletti said the change is harmful. "It encourages very young children as young as 2 to judge and interact with others in highly stereotyped ways," she said. "We know, based on nearly 50 years of social science research, that stereotyped thinking hurts all of us, whether we are dealing with racial, gender, or any other form of stereotype." Macy's says kids' clothes are generally separated into boys' and girls' sections, but with an array of colors and styles in each. "A lot of kids' apparel today is active sweatpants and sweatshirts, graphic Ts, etc. and are inherently unisex," spokeswoman Holly Thomas said in an email. Stores like J.C. Penney and Nordstrom say they listen to shoppers, but aren't getting customer requests to blur the gender lines. Those behind the new brands say they're seeing the demand. Hartman said annual sales are pushing six-digit figures. A two-bedroom apartment unit featuring Cream City brick is on the second floor of the Walkers Point building that once housed Prime Leather Finishes Co. and Lucky Joes Tiki Room. Credit: Michael Sears By of the Another project that's among a series of new commercial developments along S. 2nd St., in Milwaukee's Walker's Point neighborhood, is close to completion. Developer David Winograd is converting three adjacent buildings, at the northeast corner of S. 2nd St. and W. Pittsburgh Ave., into 12,000 square feet of restaurant and store space, and 10 second-floor apartments. Those renovations started last fall and are to be completed by Sept. 1, Winograd said. People began moving into the first batch of apartments in July, with more apartments ready to open in August, he said. The buildings being remodeled once housed Prime Leather Finishes Co., which shifted production to its Pewaukee facility in 2011, and Lucky Joe's Tiki Room, a tavern that closed in October. The apartments are mostly one- and two-bedroom units, with monthly rents starting at $1,450, Winograd said. The commercial space is divided into five storefronts. Winograd said the retail space is drawing a lot of interested prospects, but he said he isn't ready yet to announce any signed leases. The $3 million development is attractive in part because the property has 33 parking spaces on a neighboring lot east of the buildings, Winograd said. Also, he owns an additional parking lot about one block south of the development, on the east side of S. 2nd St., north of W. Oregon St. It also helps that the project is in a part of Walker's Point that continues to see strong demand for new apartments and commercial space. Just south of Winograd's development, at 133 W. Pittsburgh Ave., are three adjacent buildings that will be converted into apartments, offices and street-level retail by their new owner. An affiliate of Bloomington, Ind.-based Cedarview Management bought the properties in November for $2.2 million and in June received a city building permit to begin renovations. The three buildings, constructed in the 1890s, include a five-story, 58,800-square-foot building; a four-story, 20,936-square-foot building; and a two-story, 5,844-square-foot building. A Cedarview executive couldn't be reached for more information about the firm's plans for the property. Meanwhile, an affiliate of Pittsburgh-based Linden Street Partners LLC this month bought a vacant lot, at 324 S. 2nd St., east of S. 2nd St. and north of W. Florida St., for $475,000, according to state real estate records. Linden Street has preliminary plans to develop a five-story building with 68 apartments on the half-acre parcel, said owner Scott Richardson. The building would have an enclosed parking structure and around 1,500 square feet of retail space on its first floor. The development firm hopes to begin construction in early 2017 and complete the building about a year later, Richardson said. He said the site's close proximity to downtown employers, and nearby restaurants and bars, help make it a good location for housing. "I love the walkability of the Walker's Point neighborhood," Richardson said. Other nearby projects include the 2013 and 2014 openings of new stores for Indulgence Chocolatiers, 211 S. 2nd St., and Purple Door Ice Cream, 205 S. 2nd St. Meanwhile, Winograd's development hasn't been without its challenges. His buildings date to 1900, according to city assessment records. "It was a lot of work because the walls just kept crumbling," Winograd said, with a laugh. Winograd's other Walker's Point projects include plans for a 12-story, 164-unit apartment building at 234 S. Water St., and the South Water Works mixed-use development, south of E. Pittsburgh Ave., between S. Water and S. Barclay streets. Facebook: facebook.com/JSBusiness Twitter: twitter.com/TomDaykin Track it online To track this project and others, check out the Land & Space Development Database, at jsonline.com/development Milwaukee native Jarob J. Ortiz took this photograph of Little Carp River and Greenstone Falls in Michigans Porcupine Mountains. The National Park Service has selected Ortiz as its new photographer. Credit: Jarob J. Ortiz Mary Louise Schumacher Art City An online journal about visual art, the urban landscape and design. Mary Louise Schumacher, the Journal Sentinel's art and architecture critic, leads the discussion and a community of writers contribute to the dialogue. SHARE Jarob J. Ortiz, a Milwaukee native, will begin work as the National Park Services new photographer in August. Casey Paynter, a fellow Milwaukee Area Technical College alum, took this photo of Ortiz. Casey Paynter Related Photos Photography by Jarob J. Ortiz Thousands jockeyed to be chosen as the next photographer for the National Park Service, a coveted position not unlike the one held by famed nature photographer Ansel Adams. Milwaukee native Jarob J. Ortiz won the job. "This is, realistically, the exact job that I would like to do for the rest of my life," said Ortiz, 33, who studied photography, including the large-format cameras still used by the park service, at Milwaukee Area Technical College. The National Park Service a century old next month posted an opening for "Photographer, GS-1060-11/12" in December. Photography and news blogs were abuzz about what some called "Ansel Adams' job," also noting that the salary range topped out near $100,000. The story went viral, appearing in national media outlets, and photographers across the country imagined hoofing Yosemite and rushed to apply before the deadline later that month. The truth is, it's not precisely Ansel Adams' job. Adams shot photographs of the National Parks for the Department of the Interior. Many of his more famous photographs, which set standards for both black-and-white and nature photography, were made on an independent contract that gave him a good bit of artistic freedom. Still, while Ortiz won't be making beauty shots of Half Dome, there are similarities to what Adams did. Ortiz will make black-and-white photographs of important and at times endangered U.S. landmarks for the Library of Congress, though his subjects will be mostly man-made: architecture, urban design and engineering. "I could be shooting beautiful architecture and then the next day be in a sewer photographing," says Ortiz, who believes one of his first assignments may be to document Ellis Island, which has undergone restoration after damage from superstorm Sandy in 2012. He will also use the fussy, old-fashioned, cumbersome cameras historically preferred by the National Park Service, part of the Department of the Interior. He'll duck beneath a heavy curtain and look at his subjects upside-down as he focuses his camera and makes calculations regarding exposure and light. That also means he'll be using film for as long as it's made, he says. Film is considered stable for archiving purposes and not easily manipulated the way digital formats are, he says. "They are keeping it analog," says Ortiz. "It is the truest to history." While Ortiz does a lot of commercial photography, he has several ongoing personal projects that focus on the natural world and postindustrial architectural relics. He has, for instance, been making photographs of old factories in Milwaukee, Detroit and Gary, Ind., for several years. "I like how they documented and used the light quality to really capture the essence of dilapidated conditions," says Mark Saxon of Ortiz' photography of postindustrial sites. "The images showed the ending of a period of time." Saxon, John Glembin and Duane Manthei were the professors at MATC that Ortiz credits for this technical facility, which he believes was a critical factor in snagging his dream job. Manthei, who passed away after Ortiz studied with him, showed him how to use and manipulate Ansel Adams' famous "zone system," a systematic way to figure out the ideal film exposure and development in a given situation. "I cannot thank the institution enough for what they've done for me," says Ortiz. Ortiz has gravitated toward old architecture and the natural landscapes because of where he grew up, he says. His father, a former Milwaukee cop and detective, took him to see the great icons of Milwaukee's industrial past when he was a boy, including the Inner Harbor and the Menomonee Valley. "My dad wanted me to see all of the city," says Ortiz, who lives in Madison now but often returns to Milwaukee. "I know that growing up in Milwaukee has definitely played a huge part in the way that I approach photography, and it has played a huge part in the subject matter that I like." Growing up beside the expanse of Lake Michigan and hiking and fishing up north near Little Rice Lake, Butternut Lake, the Nicolet National Forest and the Porcupine Mountains also gave him an abiding love of the outdoors. "My mom gave me a Snoopy fishing pole when I was 2 years old," he says, adding that he prefers fly fishing these days. "When I think about how far that pole has taken me...." Ortiz will be based in Washington, D.C., and travel extensively for his job, which he'll begin in August. He will also play a role as an archivist. "Whatever they throw at me, it's going to take me to places I've never been," says Ortiz, sitting near the mouth of the Milwaukee River, taking a break from making photographs for an interview. "I'll get to experience so many different areas of this country." Mary Louise Schumacher is the Journal Sentinel's art and architecture critic. Follow her on Instagram (marylouises), Twitter (@artcity) and Rex (marylouise). The former Centro del Nino Head Start building at 500 E. Center St. Credit. Credit: City of Milwaukee By of the Moved by the threat of a lawsuit, the Milwaukee Common Council agreed Tuesday to sell a vacant public school building in the Riverwest neighborhood to a military-style voucher school for $223,000. Council members voted 9-6 to approve the sale of the former Centro del Nino Head Start building at 500 E. Center St. to Right Step Inc., saying they had no choice under a new state law aimed at forcing the city to sell vacant and underused Milwaukee Public Schools buildings to competing school operators. Right Step is proposing to open a boys-only campus for as many as 150 students in the building at N. Holton and W. Center streets. But the decision about whether it will actually get to occupy the building now goes to the city's Board of Zoning Appeals. Critics, including some nearby residents and members of the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association, had raised concerns about the school and the proposed location, saying it was not a good fit for the students or the neighbors complaints the city could not consider under the new law in deciding whether to approve the sale. CJ Szafir of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, the conservative public interest law firm representing Right Step, said he was pleased the council "followed state law," but that he knows the sale is not final. "The city and the teachers union will continue to play political games with us," he said. WILL had accused the city of dragging its feet on the sale and had threatened to sue if it did not comply with the law. The sale, if it goes through, would be the first under the new law passed by Republicans in an effort to expedite the sale of MPS buildings. Right Step needs a special use permit to occupy the building, which was built as a bank and is zoned for business. As part of that process, the Board of Zoning Appeals can consider several issues the council could not, such as public health and safety, traffic and pedestrian safety, and consistency with the city's comprehensive plan for the area. Right Step operates a school at 8684 N. 76th Place that last year served about 154 students in grades five through 12. All but a few were enrolled through the taxpayer-funded Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, which brought the school more than $1 million in taxpayer-funded vouchers for the 2015-'16 school year. The school is being sued by a group of students' parents who allege abusive practices. The lawsuit contends students were punched, kicked, slapped and forced to endure humiliating acts, such as lying in their own vomit or drinking from a cup filled with an instructor's spit during a 2014 boot camp. Right Step's attorney, Patrick C. Brennan, called the allegations "unfounded and unsubstantiated." Bernie Sanders supporters march through downtown Philadelphia on the first day of the Democratic National Convention on Monday. Credit: Jeff J Mitchell SHARE Democrats certainly have a problem with email, dont they? First, it was Hillary Clintons secret email server at her house in New York. Now, its a leaked trove of 19,000 emails that show that the Democratic National Committee was doing what Bernie Sanders claimed it was doing all along: laying a finger on the scale in favor of Clinton. The disclosure of the emails, courtesy of the renegade website WikiLeaks (and possibly hacked courtesy of the Russian government) comes at a bad time for Clinton, the former secretary of state who is about to officially claim the Democratic nomination to be president. After a disorganized and fitful Republican convention last week, the Democrats had hoped to portray sweetness and light. Its not happening. DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned Monday over the disclosures but that did little to placate furious Sanders supporters. If there was to be a lovefest between the Sandernistas and the Clinton team in Philadelphia, it wasnt happening as the convention opened. As Sanders spoke to supporters prior to the opening of the convention, he asked them to support Clinton, prompting a round of boos. Earlier, some Sanders supporters even reprised the lock her up, lock her up chant from last weeks Republican convention in Cleveland. In an email to supporters, Sanders warned our credibility as a movement could be damaged by such actions. Sanders and Clinton fought a long, difficult political battle Sanders repeatedly called for a political revolution, after all so its no surprise that feelings he encouraged and channeled may still be just a bit raw. But, given what weve seen so far in the leaked emails, the supporters of the Vermont senator have a right to be unhappy. The DNC, which is supposed to be neutral, was anything but neutral. The leaked emails show that DNC staffers appeared to coordinate with the Clinton campaign to oppose Sanders. At one point, they appeared to try to make Sanders faith an issue, hoping to score points with socially conservative voters in Kentucky and West Virginia. It might may no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief. Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps, wrote DNC chief financial officer Brad Marshall. At another point, Wasserman Schultz called a Sanders aide a damn liar and complained that Sanders had no understanding of the party. A lawyer for Clinton gave the DNC advice on how to respond to Sanders charges that the Clinton campaign was improperly using its joint fundraising committee with the DNC. In another message, a DNC staffer mocked Sanders push for a California debate. After the Sanders campaign said a deal had been reached, the staffer responded: lol. Would it have made a difference if the DNC had been truly impartial? Probably not. The Democrats were never likely to nominate a pseudo-Socialist, and Clintons overall support inside the party was strong throughout the primary season. But the Democrats treatment of Sanders insurgent candidacy was shabby. The DNC apologized to Sanders and his supporters Monday after Wasserman Schultz quit, and thats fine. As for Wasserman Schultz, she needed to go, and she may not be the only one who should be sacked. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Monday in Winston-Salem, N.C. Credit: Associated Press As Americans, we love nothing more than to declare things "historic." Before taking the stage at the Democratic National Convention this week, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker was hailed in some circles as the "first vegan senator" to address a national convention. At the Republican convention last week, numerous news outlets declared it "historic" when PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel became the "first person to publicly announce to the GOP convention that he is gay." (Fortunately, Wikipedia provideshandylists of recent Republican convention speakers if some of the speakers on those rosters aren't gay, I'll get a Rachel Maddow neck tattoo.) Of course, there are meaningful firsts in American politics. Barack Obama's election as the first African-American president was truly historic; it was a substantive rejection of the nation's racially troublesome past. (And, in the spirit of the "moral licensing" concept, gave everyone permission to go back to being horrible to each other, as citizens felt their work here was done.) At the DNC this week, the air is replete with references to the next major barrier to be broken in presidential politics. Hillary Clinton and her supporters mention the fact that she would be the first female president about as much as single guys mention that they only adopt rescue dogs. It is an emotional appeal meant to provoke a desired result. And, on paper, being the first woman president is a pretty impressive accomplishment. To imagine women went from not being able to vote to the presidency in little more than the length of Betty White's life is a reassuring sign of progress. But there are a few speed bumps on Clinton's march to the White House. For one, the idea of a female president really isn't all that radical. Of course a woman can be president nobody has seriously believed otherwise in decades. Females have led some of the world's greatest nations when the United Kingdom recently chose the impressive Theresa May as prime minister, her gender was an afterthought. (May's withering critiques of her socialist opponents already have made her conservative fans in the United States swoon.) It also doesn't help that Clinton herself is so personally unpopular. Her joyless, quarter-century march to the presidency owes more to her persistence than her ideology or likability. All right, enough, we'll make you president already. Yet perhaps most important, it may be Clinton's opponent who is ripping the historical moment from her fingers. As it turns out, Donald Trump may be even more of a historical anomaly than a female president. At first look, Trump is a grumpy old white guy and for centuries, American voters traveled that road pretty well. But Trump is a totally different creature than anything we've seen before, which is evidenced by the fact that he has the worst approval ratings of any major presidential nominee in recorded history. We all know that a woman can lead the U.S. military and sign government budgets and propose legislation and such. (Although many of us object to this specificwoman doing so.) But are we sure that a gaseous reality show star can do any of those things? Are we excited by the prospects of a vulgar, bombastic windbag who traffics in conspiracy theories having access to our nuclear codes? In America, we love a big story. And giving Trump the keys to the country would be the biggest story of this, or perhaps any, presidential election. Electing someone as seemingly unfit to lead America is unprecedented on a scale that actually breaks the scale and throws it into the Atlantic Ocean. Some day, America will have its first gay president, its first Latino president, its first gluten-free president, and on and on ad infinitum. (And who knows, maybe all three at once.) But when we look back a century from now, none of these breakthroughs will be as unlikely as America potentially electing its first Donald Trump. Christian Schneider is a Journal Sentinel columnist and blogger. Email cschneider@jrn.com. Twitter: @Schneider_CM SHARE By , A lifeguard and on-staff nurse rescued a 2-year-old from drowning Monday at the Hartford municipal pool, Hartford city officials said in a news release Tuesday. Just after 3 p.m., a lifeguard at the Hartford Veteran's Memorial Aquatic Center jumped into the pool after seeing the toddler struggle and was assisted by nearby swimmers in getting the child out of the water. The toddler was not breathing and had no pulse. A nurse performed CPR for four minutes and was able to re-establish a pulse and get the child to breathe. The child was taken to a hospital for further monitoring. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders acknowledges the audience during the 2016 Democratic National Convention at Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia. Sanders implored his supporters to vote for Hillary Clinton. Credit: Robert Deutsch By of the Philadelphia When Bernie Sanders told his delegates Monday afternoon that, "We have got to elect Hillary Clinton," the explosion of boos erased any pretense of unity here. "There is everything in the world I would do for Bernie, but that is one thing I cannot do," Fay Herold of Alaska said after Sanders asked her and the rest of his nearly 1,900 convention delegates to vote for Clinton this fall. For the second week in a row, a national party convened amid pained pleas for unity, divisions over its presumptive nominee and open displays of dissent. "If we just want to continue to flail around and not come together, I think the result could be drastic," Democratic congresswoman Gwen Moore of Milwaukee warned Monday, after making the case to Sanders delegates from Wisconsin that not voting for Clinton would be an empty protest. But there is a core of Sanders supporters that is not buying the argument. "I've been working for a long time trying to lobby 'Bernie or Bust' folks to eventually support the ticket, but they won't have any of it," said Matthew LaRonge, a Sanders delegate from Portage County in central Wisconsin. "I'll continue to try to sway (them) but I have given up all hope." Sanders used his convention speech Monday evening to make his most full-throated case yet for electing Clinton, saying that despite their disagreements, Clinton would be far better than Donald Trump on issue after issue. "Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close," said Sanders, who was greeted with a long ovation and repeated "Bernie" chants. "Our revolution continues," he vowed. But signs of discord were plentiful before and during the Monday night program. A Sanders delegate from Wisconsin, the Rev. John Stanley, was in the eighth day of a hunger strike, in the hope that somehow Sanders would be nominated in Clinton's place. According to news accounts, some pro-Sanders street protesters chanted, "Lock her up!" an anti-Clinton cry used by delegates at the Republican convention last week. Pro-Sanders chants broke out on the convention floor. And outgoing Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz was booed at a meeting of her home-state Florida delegation Monday morning. The DNC chair said Sunday she would resign after emails were hacked and released showing party staffers maneuvering to aid Clinton in the primaries. The party apologized for those emails Monday, and Wasserman Schultz said she would give up the gavel immediately. It made for a rocky opening at a convention that was supposed to be more harmonious than the GOP gathering last week in Cleveland. "I think it has taken unity a little bit (of) a step back," Heather Colburn, a Clinton activist in Wisconsin, said of the way the Democratic convention got off the ground and that was before Sanders delegates booed their candidate's call to elect Clinton. "For someone like me that's here to see one of the greatest historical moments of my lifetime, it makes me sad that others would be booing and unhappy during that time," said Colburn. "Hopefully by the time we get to Thursday we get everybody where we need to be excited about the next president of the United States." Sanders beat Clinton by double digits in Wisconsin and won 48 of 86 pledged delegates. While many of those delegates said they expect to back Clinton this fall, LaRonge estimated that about a quarter were implacable Clinton opponents. Slighted, disrespected In interviews, some Sanders delegates said they saw signs of progress over the party platform and rules reforms. But they also warned it would take more time and effort to win over Sanders backers who have felt slighted and disrespected by the party, mistrust Clinton on core issues like trade, or are unconvinced a Clinton presidency would advance their cause. "She won the primary. None of us can deny that," said the leader of the Sanders delegation from Wisconsin, Peter Rickman of Milwaukee. "There is no magical way to stop Trump without saying we need to elect Hillary Clinton." Rickman said he believed it would be possible to make progress on Sanders' agenda under a Clinton presidency. But he said the work of bringing more Sanders supporters on board would have to be done by pro-Sanders activists and organizers, not party officials or the Clinton campaign. "We need to be the ones that go out and do this," he said. "We're the only messengers that I think can move that 5 or 10 percent of the Wisconsin electorate who should be voting for Democrats by all rights, (but) who are not yet there for Senator Clinton." Herold was watching on TV as Sanders spoke to his delegates Monday afternoon. She whooped and cheered until he got to the part about backing Clinton in the fall. After the booing started, Sanders implored his supporters: "This is the real world we live in. Trump is a bully and a demagogue." Herold said she was unswayed. "We're feeling like we were disenfranchised, marginalized and ignored," she said. "Bernie is the choice of the country; Hillary is the choice of the money." Dorothy Krause, a Sanders delegate from Dane County, was at the Sanders speech Monday afternoon. She is willing to support Clinton in the fall because, "I am extremely aware that we need to win the presidency." But, she said, it won't be with any passion. "I may grit my teeth ... and kind of struggle to support Hillary," said Krause, a member of the Dane County board of supervisors. "But I had a volunteer that was kind of haranguing me this morning, saying, 'Oh, you have to get enthusiastic!' I'm like, 'I don't know if I can do that. I will support. I don't know if I can (summon) 'enthusiasm.'" Not like GOP Wisconsin Democratic chair Martha Laning said, "I think it's tough. People were really excited about their candidate. ... It's a process." Laning rejected the notion that Democrats were showing themselves to be just as divided as Republicans. "They can't even get their past president to come to their convention," she said. "President Obama is coming, President Clinton is coming. And Bernie has already endorsed. You don't hear that from Ted Cruz." As some Democrats noted, they're experiencing a different set of divisions than Republicans. Much of the GOP resistance to that party's nominee came from elected officials, prominent establishment figures or party professionals. On the Democratic side, the resistance to Clinton is coming from outside the party establishment and in some cases from outside the party altogether. "He's brought a lot of new people into the party who came in because they were Bernie supporters, not because they were joining the Democratic Party," said Bryan Kennedy, a Sanders delegate and mayor of Glendale. "A lot of Bernie people ... might normally go Green or Libertarian. Those folks might never have voted for Hillary anyway," said Kaja Rebane, a University of Wisconsin graduate student and Sanders supporter who sat on the convention credentials committee. In a Wisconsin poll this month by the Marquette Law School, almost half of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents still preferred Sanders to Clinton as the party's nominee. Of those Sanders backers, only two-thirds said they would vote for Clinton over Trump. The rest were divided among those who would vote for Trump (9%), neither (16%) or didn't know (6%). Rebane said trying to determine which party is more divided right now is "the wrong question." "I think it's more about: Are we a divided America? I think that what's going on in both parties right now shows that yes we are." JSOnline.com For a story on the hunger-striking delegate, go tojsonline.com. 'This is the right time to exhale': David Stearns ends seven-year run The 37-year-old cited a desire to spend more time with family in stepping back to an advisory role, but the New York Mets are sure to be interested. ELKO The nurses union is questioning the amount of security at Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital after the union claims an emergency room doctor used a Taser on an allegedly combative patient. The hospital told the Free Press it has security personnel 24/7 but wouldnt comment on the specifics of the incident. SEIU said the incident happened over the Fourth of July weekend and the doctor was on administrative leave until Wednesday. Sources close to the incident say combative patients at NNRH and a lack of trained security have resulted in staff resorting to Tasers, pepper gel and fisticuffs to protect themselves, requiring medical professionals to use force against the patients they are treating, SEIU claimed. Doctors and nurses, who are sworn to do no harm, are using force to incapacitate patients, said SEIU Nevada President Cherie Mancini. Its unheard of in the medical profession, where trained security traditionally take the lead in subduing unruly patients. Last week, SEIU Local 1107 distributed a press release referencing a recent security incident in the hospitals emergency department, NNRH Director of Marketing and Community Relations Bill Applegate told the Free Press Monday. This is an internal matter that we are actively investigating, and we cannot comment any further due to confidentiality. There is no question that the incidence of violence in our communities today is increasing, and hospital emergency rooms are no exception. At NNRH, patient care and safety are our top priority. We are committed to ensuring that every person who enters our facility staff, physicians, patients and visitors has the best possible experience, and we continually work to ensure that we have the necessary policies and security measures in place to make this possible. We consider it a privilege to continue our nearly century-long legacy of serving the healthcare needs of Elko and the surrounding region. SEIU said this was the 12th time Elko police responded to assist hospital personnel on graveyard shift this year. Police were not told about the alleged use of a Taser, according to the group. A Martin Mars is shown in this image made with a fish-eye lens Monday at the Experimental Aircraft Association's seaplane base during the annual AirVenture. The plane is the largest flying boat ever flown operationally, with a height of 38 feet, a length of 120 feet, and a wingspan of 200 feet. Credit: Mark Hoffman By of the Oshkosh Wayne Coulson has heard the urban legend and no, it's never happened to his plane. The "Hawaii Mars" is the world's largest flying water bomber and the biggest American warbird, a veteran that's logged countless hours dropping gallons of water on blazes in several countries, saving homes and lives. But the urban myth of a scuba diver somehow ending up in the middle of a burned-out forest allegedly scooped by an aerial tanker loading water to drop on a fire well, it's just that, a myth. "I've heard it many times," said Coulson, owner of Coulson Flying Tankers of British Columbia. "A scuba diver would have to be awful thin because we have two 8-inch scoops" to suck in water. The Hawaii Mars is visiting EAA AirVenture for the first time and drawing huge crowds eager to glimpse the massive flying boat anchored in a Lake Winnebago bay next to the seaplane base. With a wingspan roughly the equivalent of a Boeing 747, the Hawaii Mars casts a big shadow. Only seven of the gigantic Martin Mars aircraft were built and two are still flying, including the Hawaii Mars, which is being retired as a firefighter and put up for sale. While Coulson politely declined to reveal the asking price, he did say EAA AirVenture is a good place to find a buyer because of the tens of thousands of aviation enthusiasts who come to Oshkosh for the weeklong convention that began Monday. Originally built as long-haul Navy troop and cargo transports flying between Hawaii and the U.S., some of the Mars aircraft were converted into forest firefighting aircraft in the early 1960s. The Hawaii Mars fought fires in Canada, where it's based, as well as the U.S. and Mexico. Its most recent action was in British Columbia last summer where it flew 40 hours and made 65 drops. The plane requires at least a three-mile-long water body and a minimum depth of 10 feet. When Coulson Water Tankers decided to come to Oshkosh it meant mapping the depth of relatively shallow Lake Winnebago and finding a spot where it can land, take off, moor and scoop up 7,200 gallons of water in its massive tanks. It's performing during the afternoon air show on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and scheduled to demonstrate its water dropping capabilities. "When we flew in 2009 in southern California fighting forest fires, we operated out of the ocean. When you start looking there's actually a lot of places we can work from and there's a lot of water in British Columbia so we've never had a problem," Coulson said. The Hawaii Mars arrived in Oshkosh on Saturday, and on the first day of AirVenture Monday a steady stream of visitors to the seaplane base near Wittman Regional Airport stood at the edge of the water to snap photos. Some purchased $125 tour tickets to take a launch to the Hawaii Mars and walk around inside the massive flying boat. Boaters drew near for a closer look and floatplanes landing at the seaplane base motored around the Hawaii Mars like gnats buzzing around a giant swan painted red and white with four engines hanging from its wings. Special logistics Each year roughly 100 to 150 seaplanes come to AirVenture, but none as big as the Hawaii Mars. EAA officials spent a day measuring water depths near the seaplane base to map the lake for the Hawaii Mars arrival and obtained a Department of Natural Resources permit for a 6-ton anchor that required a crane on a barge to put in place, said Paul Seehafer, AirVenture Sea Plane Base chairman. "It was a big effort, but it was certainly worth the effort," Seehafer said. "I've been a seaplane pilot for 40 years, and to have that seaplane sitting out there has been a lifelong goal. I've been trying to get it here for the last 10 years." Flying in the Hawaii Mars is very noisy because all soundproofing has been removed and the plane stripped down to its essentials water tanks and cockpit. The four-person crew includes two pilots and two flight engineers. When water is being scooped and dropped, the flight engineers take control of the plane as it travels 70 mph sucking up a ton of water each second, said Pat Floyd, general counsel for Coulson, as he guided tours on Monday. It takes only a couple of minutes to load up with a combination of water and firefighting gel and then head back to flaming forests where a typical load covers 4 acres. "It's a frigate-sized boat. It's not bumpy bouncing along a lake at 70 mph, but it sure is noisy," said Floyd, pointing to the mix of modern and World War II-era avionics in the cockpit. "You can tell by the ignition switches. Anything that's not square is World War II." When Andy Anderman saw a picture of the Hawaii Mars in the AirVenture program on Monday he came to the seaplane base to ask one question was this the Hawaii Mars that flew in the late '40s and early '50s? It was. The 72-year-old Vietnam helicopter pilot from Florida smiled. He flew on the Hawaii Mars as a youngster when his father, a chief petty officer on submarines, was transferred from Hawaii to California. He doesn't remember how old he was, but judging by the height of the hand he held out for his size on that trip, Anderman was probably 6 or 7. The trip was "long, noisy. They told me I could go up to the navigation bubble and look out, but then I was told no. Then we found out we were running low on fuel because the California coast was fogged in," said Anderman, a longtime EAA member who flew UH-1 helicopters in the Army from 1964 to 1968. "We landed on an inland lake and waited for what seemed like a couple of hours for a tender," said Anderman, as he gazed at the Hawaii Mars. "To see it on the water again is great." EAA AirVenture runs through Sunday. The Hawaii Mars is scheduled to leave Oshkosh Monday. Jay Timmons (left) and Rick Olson hold their son, Jacob Timmons, on Friday at their home in McLean, Va. Credit: Amanda Voisard Melissa Brisman a leading fertility lawyer and CEO of Reproductive Possibilities has helped thousands of couples become parents through surrogacy over the past 18 years. But Brisman said she has never heard anything like the case of the same-sex couple who ended up spending $400,000 in legal fees in a protracted fight with a judge appointed by Gov. Scott Walker in their bid to become the parents of a son through surrogacy. "This is the craziest thing I've ever heard," Brisman said this week. "I've been doing this since 1998. I've had over 2,000 cases. I've never had this happen in any of my cases. Nothing remotely similar." Brisman even encouraged the same-sex couple to file complaints against the judge with state regulators. Reproductive Possibilities in New Jersey is the largest surrogacy agency on the East Coast. As I wrote earlier this week, Jay Timmons and Rick Olson a Virginia couple who has been married since 2008 expected little legal trouble when they filed papers in Dane County Circuit Court last year to become the fathers of a son through a surrogate mother in Wisconsin. The couple had a number of things going for them. They had good jobs. They already had two daughters born through surrogacy. They had more than 150 references. The case was not contested. But then-Dane County Circuit Judge Jim Troupis rejected their parental agreement in a March decision in which he repeatedly compared surrogacy to human trafficking. He also stripped the surrogate mother of her parental rights, rendering the infant an orphan. Before issuing his decision, Troupis appointed a guardian ad litem who has run up more than $100,000 in bills while spending months working on a report that raised questions about same-sex couples and surrogacy. In the end, the guardian ad litem found it was in the best interests of the infant, named Jacob, for Timmons and Olson to become his parents, but the guardian ad litem suggested Troupis reject the parental agreement on legal grounds. Since then, Troupis has resigned his post, and another judge has overturned his order, allowing the two fathers to become the legal parents of Jacob, who turns 1 in August. In an interview, Brisman said she has on occasion run into a judge who has personal or philosophical objections to surrogacy. But in most of those cases, she said, the judge simply rejects the pre-birth order and allows the couple to adopt. But that didn't happen here. Timmons and Olson asked Troupis if they could put a hold on the Wisconsin proceedings so they could pursue adoption in their home state of Virginian. Troupis rejected the request. "This is insane," Brisman said. "It's just crazy." As for the fees, the New Jersey attorney said she can't imagine a couple coughing up $400,000 in legal fees in a surrogacy case. Timmons and Olson covered the costs for nearly a dozen attorneys in addition to paying the surrogate mother $35,000 and the surrogate agency $12,500. Brisman said the most expensive case she had previously seen cost $10,000 in legal fees, something that she said was highly unusual. Typically, it costs a couple about $1,500 to $2,500 for an attorney to get a birth order. "Ten thousand (dollars) means we had a problem of some sort we got a bad judge or there was a long hearing," Brisman said. "Four hundred thousand (dollars) is off the wall. Most judges would let you withdraw and do the adoption." As for the guardian ad litem, she said the most she has seen one charge in a surrogacy case was $900. The attorney for Timmons and Olson submitted a brief saying guardians ad litems charge between $300 and $1,500 for services in uncontested cases involving parental rights. But Mark Knutson, the guardian ad litem in this case, and his associate deposed both Timmons and Olson, the surrogate mother, her husband and officials with the surrogacy agency. The associate is a graduate of the evangelical Liberty University Law School who has written that same-sex marriage is opposed to "God's law." Knutson's fees, which recently topped $100,000, are paid by Timmons and Olson. The pair repeatedly objected to those costs, but the judge found the fees were reasonable given "what's at stake the life of the child." Brisman said Troupis had to have known that he was running up the costs for the couple. She said it would have been interesting if, at some point, the couple said they could no longer pay the bills. Dane County Judge Paul Anderson, who took over the case from Troupis, was highly critical of his handling of the case, saying it could have been done "much more quickly than occurred here with much less expense and much more, I think, humanely." "I doubt this would have happened to a heterosexual couple," Brisman said. "I don't care what the judge said." Troupis had said early in the case that he had no objections to same-sex marriage. But Brisman said this case was unusual in several regards. Not only are Timmons and Olson gay they've been together for 25 years but neither of them is genetically related to Jacob. The frozen embryo came from a heterosexual couple who were friends. Brisman said Timmons and Olson should consider filing complaints with state regulators against the judge and guardian ad litem and then do what they can to recoup some of their costs. "This is just reprehensible," she said. "I would love to see this all over the news and for the judge and guardian ad litem to get some punishment." Brisman warned them to be aware of the state's legal climate before filing a complaint. Yet this dispute is not one between opposing parties. Both Timmons and Olson are active conservatives who worked for Virginia Gov. and Sen. George Allen, a Republican. Timmons is CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, a pro-business lobby. Troupis has long been active in Republican politics. Along with being appointed by the GOP governor, he represented Justice David Prosser in his election recount and worked for Republican lawmakers when redrawing congressional and legislative boundaries. Timmons and Olson issued a statement on Tuesday saying they hope state regulators look at their case. The Office of Lawyer Regulation is the arm of the state Supreme Court that polices lawyers. Judges are overseen by the state Judicial Commission. "We told our story to bring to light what happened to our family so that it won't happen to others," the pair said. "What happened to us certainly didn't feel ethical, and we would hope that regulators would conduct an investigation so that others can be protected from activist judges and unethical lawyers." Troupis and Knutson have declined to discuss the case. Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBiceor on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice. Reddit Email 0 Shares By Daniella Cheslow | ( RFE/RL) | PATERSON, New Jersey The president of the largest mosque in northern New Jersey says Donald Trumps campaign for the White House has galvanized his community to raise its profile and reach out to non-Muslim neighbors. Were cautious that we dont want people to know about us from Trump, says Omar Awad, president of the Islamic Center of Passaic County (ICPC) in Paterson, New Jersey. We want people to know about us from us. Trump, who accepted the Republican Party nomination on July 21 and is all but certain to face Democrat Hillary Clinton in the November 8 presidential vote, has had plenty to say about Muslims during his controversial campaign. In December, he called for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States. Also late in 2015, he advocated the surveillance of mosques, appeared to advocate the registration of U.S. Muslims in a database, and made the false claim that thousands and thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated the Al-Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center whose victims included many New Jersey residents working in the towers across the river on September 11, 2001. New Jersey has the second-largest Muslim population of any U.S. state a wide-ranging group that includes immigrants from the Arab world, Turkey, and Sudan as well as those born in the United States. Paterson, about 20 miles northwest of New York City, is a hub and Muslim life is thriving. Theres a Muslim candidate running for the first time for the board of education in Clifton, next to Paterson. The ICPC mosque opened a second campus, in neighboring Clifton, in June. The main street connecting the two towns is a bustling monument to diversity: Turkish hair salons share sidewalk space with Palestinian sweet shops, a Syrian bakery and Lebanese hummus joints. Halal Chinese eateries and grocery stores catering to Spanish-speakers are sprinkled throughout. During a recent visit, signs along the street wished visitors a Ramadan Mubarak, a blessing for the holy Muslim fasting month that ended in early July. Standing Tall At Istanbul Cafe, Turkish-born English major Nesibe Kilic, 20, says that growing up in this environment was kind of like youre in a bubble. Ringing up orders for the Turkish breakfast dish menemen scrambled eggs with tomatoes Kilic says that seeing Trump bumper stickers in the parking lot of Montclair State University, where she studies, felt like a betrayal in my own home. Honestly, if [Trump] becomes president, I dont even know if I would stay here, she said. I have opportunities. I can move back to my country, I could go to Canada, my dad works there. A country with him as president would go into chaos. Trumps campaign, and the prospect of a Trump presidency, has prompted the ICPC to step up its outreach to non-Muslim neighbors. Awad says his mosque, which is a spiritual home for about 2,000 regulars, has long been involved in such efforts, whether through blood drives, feeding the hungry, or inviting non-Muslims over for holidays. Now, he says, the mosque is seeking extra attention. Its sending out more press releases. Teens from the mosque have handed out Roses for Peace in New York City and offered to speak to people about their faith. Also, the mosque is recruiting four social media interns. Weve been doing a lot of great work for the past 25 years, Awad says. Maybe we need to have a better highlight and media exposure on the work weve been doing. At the same time, he said Trumps candidacy and comments have made New Jersey Muslims stand taller, not shrink from the spotlight. Egyptian-American Mona Ahmed, 55, who sat in the mosques lobby before midday prayers, says she has not hesitated to wear her hijab, the Islamic head covering, in the months of Trumps campaign. I feel more proud, she says. Believe me. And you know something? I have a daughter who doesnt wear hijab. But since [Trump] talks about Muslims like this, she comescloser to Islam. Ahmed predicts that if Trump wins, America will become a third world country because foreign investment will dry up. Not all Muslims in the area share her view of Trump. Elena Serbest, 41, a Bulgarian Muslim immigrant, says she will vote for Trump because she likes his ideas for the economy. Maybe under Trump she could get a better job than her current employment as a cafeteria monitor, she says. Rita Makhoul, 51, a Syrian Christian nanny originally from Damascus, says she plans to vote for Trump because she is sick of the Democrats and believes Clinton does not tell the truth. I know you are surprised because Im Arabic and Syrian, she says. I like to change. Spreading The Word Jim Sues, director of the New Jersey chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, says larger mosques in New Jersey are making efforts like those of the ICPC to connect with non-Muslim neighbors. There, of course, has been Islamophobia for decades, but someone in a leadership position like Donald Trumpit kind of green lights that kind of feeling, that posture toward Muslims, Sues says. He says the Council is running voter-registration drives out of mosques across the state of New Jersey, whose Muslim population he estimates at 200,000-300,000. On the local level, outreach efforts seem to be working. When the ICPC opened its new campus in Clifton, Awad says, town council members came to show their support. One of those was Lauren Murphy, a Democrat who is not a Muslim. Before the opening, the mosque sent out fruit baskets to neighbors, which Murphy says was an unprecedented gesture from a religious community. There was some hesitation about the mosque among non-Muslim neighbors who worried about the increased traffic on the streets, she says. Everybody is going to get used to it, says Murphy. Omar Awad, president of the Islamic Center of Passaic County (ICPC) in Paterson, New Jersey Omar Awad, president of the Islamic Center of Passaic County (ICPC) in Paterson, New Jersey Paterson resident David Read, 55, who is not Muslim, walked along Main Street with groceries. The retired chemist says he came to buy beer that he planned to drink while doing construction on his home. Living in Paterson gave him a peek at Muslims in America, Read says, and he liked what he saw. Theyre the same as me, he says. Under Trump, he worried, the way that people will look at different races, such as Muslims, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans especially I think youre going to see a very biased opinion from Trump trickle down. At the mosque, President Awad says the congregation was planning on renovating the building, originally a synagogue, to add more windows. The renovation was planned far before the election campaign, but it was a symbol of the communitys move to connect more closely with the community. Its not because of Trump, Awad says. The Prophet Muhammad, who Muslims believe revealed Islam, was a messenger of God and told his followers to spread that message. You can call it a marketing campaign, but its pretty much coming out of the book of Muhammad, Awad says. RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036. - Related video added by Juan Cole: Vote It!: Will Donald Trump Cause a Record Muslim-American Voter Turnout? Reddit Email 0 Shares Maan News Agency | BETHLEHEM (Maan) Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki urged the Arab League to help the Palestinian Authority to sue the United Kingdom over the Balfour Declaration of 1917 on Monday. Speaking on behalf of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, al-Maliki delivered a speech Thursday at the Arab Leagues annual summit, which is being held this year in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott. Al-Maliki apologized on behalf of Abbas, who couldnt attend the summit due to his brothers recent death, before urging Arab countries to help us bring a suit against the British government over the ominous Balfour Declaration which resulted in the Nakba (catastrophe) for the Palestinian people. Nearly a century ago, a letter sent from British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Baron Rothschild, a British Jewish leader, declared British support for the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. Palestinians have since viewed the declaration as paving the way for the creation of the State of Israel at the expense of the lands original inhabitants. The declaration was made before the British had wrested control of Palestine from the Ottoman Empire, and was not made public until several years after the World War I, in 1920. By that time, Britain had been formally granted a mandate over Palestine by the League of Nations, and was struggling with its contradictory obligations of rewarding Arabs for their support during the war, while also fulfilling their pledge to create a Jewish state. After World War II, British forces withdrew from Palestine, leaving it in the hands of the newly created United Nations, which favored partition, particularly as evidence slowly emerged of the vast scale of the Holocaust in Europe. The decision led to the 1948 war between Arab nations, including Palestinians, and Jewish immigrants, ultimately resulting in the creation of the state of Israel and the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homes inside its borders, an event known as the Nakba among Palestinians. In February, the Palestine Liberation Organization said in a statement that Great Britain bore the primary responsibility for historical injustice in Palestine. Via Maan News Agency - Related video added by Juan Cole: TeleSur from last year: Palestine: Demonstration Marks Anniversary of Balfour Declaration VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - July 26, 2016) - THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES Ultra Lithium Inc. (TSX VENTURE:ULI) ("Ultra Lithium" or "the Company") is pleased to announce assay results from recently concluded prospecting and sampling program at its 100% owned Georgia Lake Lithium Project located in the Thunder Bay Mining District, Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The results confirmed the presence of up to 2.73 % lithium oxide (Li2O) in grab surface samples in lithium pegmatites on the property. Highlights of the sampling program are (see table for details): Out of total 21 samples, ten samples showed over 1% lithium oxide and five samples over 2% lithium oxide with a maximum value of 2.73%. The lithium pegmatite dikes are dipping at steep angle over 76 degrees. Spodumene is the main lithium bearing mineral in these pegmatites. The fieldwork program was carried out last month. The purpose was to verify historically reported lithium pegmatites on the property and to execute the stripping, trenching and channel sampling plan upon receiving permitting from the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines of Ontario. Dr. Weiguo Lang, CEO of Ultra Lithium, stated that, "These excellent ground sampling results increase our confidence in the Georgia Lake hard rock lithium property as a good exploration target. The Company is looking forward to continue exploration in this area alongside its Big Smoky Valley brine lithium project in Nevada, USA." Samples were prepared by Actlabs' preparation lab in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and then shipped to Actlabs' analytical lab in Ancaster, Ontario, for analysis. Actlabs is an independent lab accredited by ISO 17025. The samples were digested using sodium peroxide fusion and analyzed for the major elements by ICP and trace elements by ICP/MS (Method: FUS-MS-Na2O2). The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Afzaal Pirzada, P.Geo., a qualified person, as defined by NI 43-101 who works as a consultant with the Company. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Kiki Smith, CFO About Ultra Lithium Inc. Ultra Lithium is an exploration and development company with a focus on the acquisition and development of lithium assets. The Company is currently focused on North American acquisitions and exploring its Georgia Lake and South Big Smoky Valley Projects. About the Georgia Lake Lithium Project: The Company holds a 100% interest in the Georgia Lake lithium property comprising 16 mineral claims covering approximately 2416 Ha in 151 units, located in the Thunder Bay Mining Division, Ontario, Canada. The project represents a stable and favourable mining jurisdiction, supportive First Nations and excellent infrastructure. It is located near provincial highway 11, 145 km from a deep water port in Thunder Bay. The spodumene-bearing pegmatites of this area were first discovered in 1955. A majority of the pegmatites are Lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) type where spodumene is the main lithium mineral. A total of eight historically documented lithium pegmatites are located on the property. View the Company's filings at www.SEDAR.com. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - July 26, 2016) - Riverside Resources Inc. ("Riverside" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:RRI) (OTC PINK:RVSDF) (FRANKFURT:R99), is pleased to announce that it has signed an option agreement (the "Option") with Centerra Gold Inc. ("Centerra") for the Glor Gold Project (the "Project"), located approximately 8 km west of Alamos' El Chanate Gold Mine in Sonora, Mexico. Centerra will have the opportunity to earn a 70% interest in the Project by funding US$3,500,000 in exploration work over the next four years. Riverside has completed mapping and sampling work on the project and will continue as the project manager for at least the first two years of the agreement with Centerra. Mineralization on the Glor Project is widespread with indications of gold mineralization in shear zones, favorable host-rock lithologies and high-grade gold-bearing quartz veins, as evidenced by initial field sampling and mapping, which returned assays from <0.005 g/t Au up to 18.9 g/t Au. A total of 155 rock chip samples have been collected to-date, returning an average grade of 0.51 g/t Au. There appears to be good potential for high-grade and bulk tonnage type gold discoveries, with geologic similarities to the nearby El Chanate Mine. Six prospective targets have already been identified on the Project through Riverside's generative exploration work and now can be built upon with an initial joint program of US$250,000 in work planned during the final months of 2016. The Project is accessed by paved highway and a network of gravel roads that make reaching the various targets highly cost-effective to explore in the easy to access rolling hills of the western Sonora desert region of Mexico. Riverside's President and CEO, John-Mark Staude, stated: "We are pleased to have Centerra as a partner and we look forward to continuing our joint exploration efforts to make a discovery in the Sonora Mega-shear Gold Belt. Riverside's prospect generation has taken advantage of the downturn in the market to acquire and develop excellent new gold, silver and copper targets and we look to the near future to push these ahead with additional joint venture option agreements." Project Details: The Glor Project was previously owned by Pediment Gold, which completed geologic mapping, rock sampling, and soil sampling. Pediment's soil sampling showed several gold and trace-element anomalies coincident with surface alteration, with rock chip samples returning assays from lower detection limits up to 15.3 g/t gold. In 2011, Argonaut Gold bought Pediment Gold, acquiring Glor in the process. Riverside will now look to build on past work and refine the target areas to focus in on the best discovery opportunities on the Project. Thrust faults, shear zones, vein orientations, and magnetic lineaments that run parallel with the documented regional controls on mineralization have been observed during initial visits to the Project. Field work has identified at least one NNW-striking, previously unmapped thrust fault that appears to be parallel to the El Chanate Fault that controls mineralization at the El Chanate Mine. Riverside's field work to date has also identified several large-scale shear zones, up to 300 metres in thickness, which appear to be part of the complex structural framework hosting mineralization on the Project. Option Terms: Centerra can acquire a 70% interest in the Project by completing $3,500,000 USD in total exploration expenditures on the Project by November 24, 2020 as outlined below: Time/Date Aggregate Exploration Expenditures By Nov 24, 2016 $250,000 By Nov 24, 2017 $750,000 By Nov 24, 2018 $1,500,000 By Nov 24, 2019 $2,350,000 By Nov 24, 2020 $3,500,000 Once Centerra completes earn-in and exercises the Option, both parties would enter into a joint-venture agreement at their respective project interest (70/30). In the event Riverside's 30% is ever diluted to less than 10%, its interest would convert to a 2.5% net smelter returns royalty (NSR). Riverside will still be responsible for the underlying commitments to Argonaut Gold Inc., which include a 1% NSR with 0.5% buyback (see Riverside's press release March 25, 2015). Qualified Person and QA/QC: The scientific and technical data contained in this news release pertaining to the Glor 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. About Riverside Resources Inc.: Riverside is a well-funded prospect generation team of focused, proactive gold discoverers. The Company currently approximately $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. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 26, 2016) - CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. (TSXV: CVV) (OTCQB: CVVUF) (FSE: DH7N), ("CanAlaska" or the "Company") is pleased to report that Cameco's exploration team will resume drilling shortly at CanAlaska's West McArthur project along trend from Cameco's high-grade Fox Lake uranium discovery. Makena Resources will also be drilling at the Company's West Patterson property to followup the first drill hole that encountered radioactivity along the entire length of rock tested. Cameco to Resume Drilling Along Trend of High-Grade Fox Lake Discovery Cameco's uranium exploration team has now established access to the C10 conductor targets south of drill hole WMA035, which was drilled in April of this year. This planned drilling, announced on May 31, has been delayed because of ground conditions which hampered summer access. Drilling is scheduled to commence in late July or early August. CanAlaska Cameco Option Map To view an enhanced version of CanAlaska Cameco Option Map, please visit: http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2864/21782_a1469481124026_33.jpg CanAlaska and Cameco are exploring the West McArthur Uranium project under a $12.5 million Agreement. The project covers 35,830 hectares (88,536 acres) commencing 6 kilometres (4 miles) northwest of Cameco's majority owned McArthur River uranium mine. Importantly, West McArthur is immediately adjacent to Cameco's recently disclosed Fox Lake uranium discovery with reported inferred resources of approximately 68.1 million pounds based on 387,000 tonnes at 7.99% U3O8. The Fox Lake discovery is within the Read Lake project operated by Cameco (Cameco 78.2%, Areva 21.8%). For more information about the West McArthur project visit http://www.canalaska.com/s/West_McArthur.asp?ReportID=560713. Makena to Resume Drilling on Large Gravity Target on West Patterson Property Makena Resources Inc. has scheduled the next phase of drilling at the West Patterson prospect in the Athabasca basin of Saskatchewan for early August. Makena anticipates the drill program to consist of at least three to five holes. A previous drill hole intersected a continuous section of anomalous radiometric response over the entire 113 metres of basement intersection. Shearing and brecciation occurs all along the 113 metres of granitic basement core, associated with clay alteration and alternating bleached and hematized sections down to the end-of-hole. Patterson Lake Project Radiometric Log To view an enhanced version of Patterson Lake Project Radiometric Log, please visit: http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2864/21782_a1469481124260_24.jpg CanAlaska's West Patterson Lake property is located in the southwestern Athabasca Basin, approximately 10 kilometres northwest of NexGen Energy's Rook I project and Fission Uranium's Triple R deposit. For further information see http://www.canalaska.com/s/News.asp?ReportID=731650. CanAlaska president, Peter Dasler states, "Cameco's drill program is aimed to test uranium mineralized alteration zones, which were intersected in previous drilling. This second round exploration has an excellent chance of intersecting further uranium mineralization closer to the centre of the mineral system in this highly prospective area. Makena's previous drilling has shown that there is anomalous uranium mineralization in the target area. We expect this drilling will vector towards a larger uranium target in the centre of a prominent gravity anomaly." About Cameco Corporation Cameco is one of the world's largest uranium producers, a significant supplier of conversion services and one of two Candu fuel manufacturers in Canada. The company's competitive position is based on controlling ownership of the world's largest high-grade reserves and low-cost operations. Cameco's uranium products are used to generate clean electricity in nuclear power plants around the world. Headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the company also explores for uranium in the Americas, Australia and Asia. Shares of Cameco trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges. Further information on Cameco can be found at www.cameco.com About CanAlaska Uranium CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. (TSXV: CVV) (OTCQB: CVVUF) (FSE: DH7N) holds interests in approximately 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres), one of the largest land positions in Canada's Athabasca Basin region - the "Saudi Arabia of Uranium." CanAlaska's strategic holdings has attracted major international mining companies Cameco, Denison, KORES, KEPCO, and the De Beers Group of Companies. CanAlaska is a project generator and is positioned for discovery success in the world's richest uranium district. For further information visit www.canalaska.com. The qualified technical person for this news release is Dr Karl Schimann, P. Geo, VP Exploration, for CanAlaska. On behalf of the Board of Directors "Peter Dasler" Peter Dasler, M.Sc., P.Geo. President & CEO ; CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. Contacts: Peter Dasler, President CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. Tel: +1.604.688.3211 x138 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. John Gomez, Corporate Development CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. Tel: +1.604.484.7118 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 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 information All statements included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions made by the Company based on its experience, perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate in the circumstances. In addition, these statements involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will prove inaccurate, certain of which are beyond the Company's control. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend to revise or update these forward-looking statements after the date hereof or revise them to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated events. Amnesty International (AI) on Monday condemned [press release] Turkeys decision to issue arrest warrants for 42 journalists following the recent coup attempt. AIs Deputy Director for Europe, Gauri van Gulik, claimed that by rounding up journalists the government is failing to make a distinction between criminal acts and legitimate criticism. AIs latest condemnations come a day after it announced [press release] that it had gathered credible evidence that detainees are being subjected to torture in official and unofficial detention centres in the country. According to the human rights organization, there are credible reports that detainees are being forced to maintain stress positions for up to 48 hours and are being denied food, water and medical treatment and are being subjected to severe beatings, rape and other torture. More than 10,000 people have been detained since the attempted coup, and AIs Deputy Director for Europe called on Turkey to allow for freedom of the press and end the most recent clampdown on human rights following the failed coup. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed that those involved in the coup [JURIST report] will pay a heavy price. Last week Erdogan ordered [JURIST report] the closure of thousands of private schools, charities and other institutions. Also last week Erdogan stated [JURIST report] that he would approve reinstating the death penalty so long as the measure had sufficient support in the Grand National Assembly. Some of John Wests tuna products are being removed from Tesco stores in the UK after the company failed to meet the retailers sustainability standards. Free Report What are the key consumer trends driving FMCG in 2022? Gain insight into the 12 most important trends across the FMCG value chain See the consumer survey data that underpins these insights Learn what early-movers are already doing in terms of NPD and product marketing Take a look at this report to give yourself the best standing in this developing market. The consumer landscape has permanently changed since the COVID-19 pandemic began, prompting trends to emerge or accelerate, causing subsequent macro-economic shifts. In order to stay relevant, Consumer Packaged Goods companies must stay abreast of these developments. It is here that GlobalData can offer valuable assistance. Download GlobalDatas Trendsights: Trends to Watch in 2022 report to:Take a look at this report to give yourself the best standing in this developing market. by GlobalData Enter your details here to receive your free Report. 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Visit our privacy policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address. Thank you.Please check your email to download the Report. Tesco said the move is in line with commitments the retailer has made to sustainability, including a new partnership with the international Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and the launch of more than 80 MSC eco-labelled seafood lines. However, Thai Union Group-owned John West told just-food today (26 July) Tescos move was driven by commercial negotiations as much as sustainability considerations. Tesco group quality director Tim Smith said the decision to de-list a number of core John West lines, with effect from the end of this month, followed a review to make sure all the tuna on our shelves including branded tuna products met our requirements, coming from pole and line, FAD-free or MSC-certified fisheries. Our customers will still see some John West tuna products on our shelves, and we are working with John West on a plan for these remaining lines to be converted to sustainable tuna sources as soon as possible, Smith said. Customers want to buy the best quality fish, caught in a way that keeps fish stocks healthy and doesnt harm the environment. Were helping to offer this. Were not experts on all the complexities of global fishery management, but we are committed to working with the right suppliers and non-governmental organisations so we can provide our customers with the high-quality sustainable seafood they want at affordable prices. To help make sure we source from the right places, we have a longstanding collaboration with the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, an independent body of experts with a detailed knowledge of sustainable global fisheries. They help guide our decision making on which fisheries to source from, and they also have an important role in bringing stakeholders together to make collective improvements. Smith said Tesco had also signed up to a major agreement between leading seafood retailers and suppliers that will protect the pristine areas of the Northern Barents Sea in the Arctic from the expansion of cod fisheries in the region. This will all help us achieve our clear ambition for 100% of our seafood to be sourced sustainably an ambition that can only be achieved with support from our partners and suppliers. Tuna is one of the most popular varieties of fish sold by Tesco, he added. Since 2012, all our own-label tinned tuna sold in the UK has been fished using sustainable catch methods, a commitment we extended to all tuna used as an ingredient in our own-brand sandwiches, pastas and salads. The tuna sources we will accept are pole-and-line, FAD-Free and MSC certified though to date all our own label canned tuna and tuna used as ingredient has been from pole-and-line fisheries since 2012. A spokesperson for John West said: Tescos review of the fish products it stocks, which has resulted in approximately 20% of the John West range being withdrawn, was driven by commercial negotiations as much as sustainability considerations. Indeed, six John West red salmon and pink salmon products which are being withdrawn will be fully MSC certified, meet all of Tescos sustainability requirements, and be available to consumers next month. The spokesperson said: Tesco is adding five new John West products including two Light Lunch products and three Creations products. The spokesperson said Tesco remains an important retail partner for John West and we share its aspiration to increase the level of sustainable seafood available to consumers. The spokesperson said John West had entered into a unique partnership with the conservation group WWF-UK in 2014 and is the only seafood brand in the UK to have taken this step. Through its seafood charter, WWF is supporting us on our journey to deliver environmental sustainability across all the fish we sell and to ensure all our products are on the path to the MSC certification by the end of the initial phase of the partnership in 2018, the spokesperson said. This is not the first time that John West has been criticised over sustainability issues. Last year, John West and UK food and drink group Princes came under fire from Greenpeace over their tuna sourcing and sustainability pledges. Greenpeace UK said yesterday John West was paying the price for breaking its sustainability promise to consumers. Greenpeaces oceans campaigner Ariana Densham said: Hundreds of thousands of people are calling on John West and its owner Thai Union to clean up their act, and its a credit to Tesco that they have put their money where their mouth is and taken John Wests tuna products off the shelves. Well be keeping a close eye on how John West plans to meet retailers sustainability requirements. Related Companies A pump has been installed to help release gas at Corta Guadiana. IGME The scene on the afternoon of August 21, 1986 in Cameroons northeast was idyllic: the crystal blue waters of Lake Nyos in the crater of an extinct volcano in glittered in the sun. Then, without warning, a deadly cloud rose from the lakes calm surface, spreading out across nearby villages, leaving 1,700 people dead in its wake and killing thousands of head of livestock. The cloud was made of concentrated carbon dioxide, which devoured the oxygen in the atmosphere, leaving villages strewn with the corpses of people and animals. Two years earlier at neighboring Lake Monoun, 37 people died in similar circumstances. Javier Sanchez Espana, a geochemist at Spains Institute of Geology and Mining says these are the only two episodes of limnic eruptions or exploding lake phenomena recorded to date. Initially, the threat is not to Puebla de Guzman's 3,000 inhabitants, but to the people who might be in the immediate vicinity of such an eruption But he and his team of scientists have now discovered that the Corta Guadiana lake near the tiny community of Puebla de Guzman, in Huelva province has the potential to expel a similarly lethal cloud from its depths. Sitting at the bottom of lake is 80,000m3 of carbon dioxide, which is seeping up from volcanic magma below. Its a serious danger to the public, says Sanchez whose team has published a report in Science of the Total Environment magazine. Initially, the threat is not to Puebla de Guzman's 3,000 inhabitants, but to the people who might be in the immediate vicinity of such an eruption. La Corta Guadiana is a peaceful spot with a history stretching back to 1893 when British mining company Bedel Metal & Chemical drilled down into the subsurface of the nearby Las Herrerias area in search of iron sulfide. After 1912, the mine was taken over by French company Saint Gobain and, in 1951, it fell into the hands of Herrerias Sociedad Anonima, which now belongs to BBVA bank and the Sundheim family. In the late 1980s, as Spains mining sector underwent reconversion, the pit was abandoned. The legacy is an artificial lake, measuring 17,500 m2 and with a maximum depth of 68 meters and a high concentration of minerals. On the lake bed there are 2.5 liters of CO2 dissolved in every liter of water. Thanks to the water pressure, the gas is trapped but the situation could change in the event of a landslide, as happened in Cameroon. And according to Sanchez Espanas study, the steep walls of the open cast pit are highly unstable. Javier Sanchez Espana and Bertram Boehrer at Corta Guadiana. IGME Sanchez has dived to the bottom of the Corta Guidiana lake with Bertram Boehrer, an expert from the Helmholtz Center of Environment Research in Magdeburg, Germany and a co-author of the report. We were scared at first, admits Sanchez. We didnt know what we would find or what the chances were of our tests provoking a limnic eruption. Its the first time this phenomenon has been discovered in Europe. The only precedents are the two lakes in Africa, he adds. Besides the two lakes in Cameroon, there is a third potentially explosive lake called Kivu between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The lake gained notoriety in 1994 when victims of the Rwandan genocide were dumped in it. Sanchez Espana says there is a strong possibility of a limnic eruption there. For the moment, if there were an incident at Corta Guadiana, says Sanchez Espana, a suffocating cloud of concentrated carbon dioxide would rise around five meters above the surface of the lake, which would not be high enough to rise above the walls of the pit. But anybody inside the wire that once fenced off the mine would be in danger. Which is why the gas has to be removed. Sanchez Espana says Institute of Geology and Mining is about to sign an agreement with the management of the regional government-run mining company to eliminate the gas stored in the lake. He says to do so it will cost 8,000 to anchor a 90-millimeter diameter pipe to the lake floor so that the gas can be released gradually over the course of nine months. His team has already experimented with a pilot pipe. We are not losing sleep over it but we do want to know what happens, says Jose Suarez, president of a local association that is trying to regain control of the mining heritage of Puebla de Guzman. Suarez was born just 100 meters from the Corta Guadiana lake and worked in mining all his life until his recent retirement. He say his dream is to set up a museum in the mining complex around Spains killer lake. Sign up for our newsletter EL PAIS English Edition has launched a weekly newsletter. Sign up today to receive a selection of our best stories in your inbox every Saturday morning. For full details about how to subscribe, click here English version by Heather Galloway. Dallas, TX, USA, 07/26/2016 /SubmitPressRelease123/ Until a few weeks ago, Texas drivers could refuse to consent to a blood or breath test in connection with a DWI arrest, says Dallas DWI lawyer John Helms, except that refusal would usually result in loss of driving privileges under Texas implied consent law. If you refused to consent, the police would have to get a search warrant to take your blood. A new decision by the United States Supreme Court changes the landscape, though. In Birchfield vs. North Dakota, the Supreme Court held that the police still need a search warrant before they can take your blood over your objection. The Court held that the same is NOT true for breath tests, which are less intrusive because they dont involve sticking a needle in your arm and drawing blood from your body. For breath tests, the Supreme Court said that the police can demand a breath test as part of a DWI arrest without a warrant complicating drunk driving defense. The Court also said that states could make it a crime to refuse to give a breath test, which some states have done, including North Dakota in that particular case. Texas does not currently make it a crime to refuse a breath test, although as noted earlier, a refusal usually means you lose driving privileges. And as noted above, if you refuse, the police can try to get a warrant to force you to provide a blood sample. But after the Birchfield decision, it would not be surprising if the Texas Legislature passes legislation making it a crime to refuse a breath test. The law in this area is complicated and changing. If you are arrested for a DWI, you should contact the best DWI attorney you can that handles DWI cases as soon as possible in order to protect your rights. If you or someone you know has been arrested DWI and need a skilled drunk driving defense or are facing other charges, contact Dallas DWI lawyer John Helms immediately. Call 214-666-8010. https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/102874298661508534943/+JohnHelmsLawFirmDallas Press Contact John Helms 214-666-8010 source: http://johnhelms.attorney/dallas-dwi-lawyer-answers-can-refuse-breath-blood-test-texas-dwi/ Newsroom powered by Online Press Release Distribution SubmitMyPressRelease.com Like Us on Facebook It's only fair to share... Pinterest Linkedin email Print A decisive week in Spanish politics has begun, with the first of several meetings between party leaders and King Felipe VI scheduled for Tuesday. The meetings aim to determine whether any one of the four leaders of Spain's main parties, the Popular Party (PP), the Socialists (PSOE), Podemos, or Ciudadanos, stands a chance of forming a government following the inconclusive election of June 26, which was itself a repeat of an equally indecisive poll in December. Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, whose PP won 137 seats but fell short of a congressional majority, has so far been unable to secure support from the main opposition Socialists or the reform party Ciudadanos. Rajoy is feeling reinforced by his double victory at the polls in December and June, and refusing to step aside to let someone else head the party In order to become the next prime minister, Rajoy needs other parties to cast yes votes or at the very least to abstain at the investiture vote that should take place in early August in Congress. But Rajoy seems set to follow the same strategy he adopted after December's gridlock: refusing to even stand for reinstatement if he is not previously guaranteed success. Rajoys ideal situation would be a yes vote from Ciudadanos in the first round of the investiture vote, which would add 32 seats to his own for a total of 169 out of the 176 he needs. This would pressure the PSOE into conceding an abstention in the run-off, when all that is required is more yes votes than no votes in the 350-seat chamber. But with just 48 hours to go before Felipe VI meets with the leaders of Spains four main parties including the anti-austerity Podemos Sanchez and Rivera are refusing to go along, saying that it is not up to them to do Rajoys job. There is no margin for negotiations. We would sit down to negotiate a government program if there were any margin for renewal of the PP leadership, said Ciudadanos deputy chief Jose Manuel Villegas, alluding to the fact that his party would be more open to a PP government under someone other than Rajoy. Sign up for our newsletter EL PAIS English Edition has launched a weekly newsletter. Sign up today to receive a selection of our best stories in your inbox every Saturday morning. For full details about how to subscribe, click here. We dont want the PP to govern Spain,said Socialist congressional spokesman Antonio Hernando, whose party says it will oppose a PP government no matter who is at the helm. Unambitious Although Felipe VI will likely ask him to try to form a government when they meet on Thursday, Rajoy has still not managed to get Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez and Ciudadanos president Albert Rivera to sit down with him for talks. Both Rivera and Sanchez feel that the working document they recently received from the PP as a basis for talks is unambitious, lacking detail and essentially nothing more than a summary of the conservative partys platform. Both opposition leaders also feel that Rajoy should take responsibility for all the corruption cases affecting his party, and see him as lacking leadership. Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera says Rajoy is not doing enough to secure congressional support. Ballesteros (EFE) Meanwhile, the PP is warning that it would be absurd for Rajoy to make a bid for office if he lacks the necessary support to be successful. Nobody agreed to sit down with us to negotiate the PPs document, and thats unreasonable, said Rafael Hernando, the party spokesman in Congress. Hernando said that all three parties were in touch almost on a daily basis, however. If they came up with an alternative, we would analyze that alternative, he added. But Socialist sources said there were no daily contacts between themselves and the PP. No alternative majority This time around, there are also no official talks between the PSOE and any other political party. Following the failure of Sanchezs overtures to Podemos, which did not support his investiture bid after the first election, relations between both parties have become frayed. Rajoy is feeling reinforced by his double victory at the polls in December and June, and refusing to step aside to let someone else head the party. Nor is he showing signs of offering alternative solutions such as submitting to a vote of confidence halfway through the term. Meanwhile, Sanchez is not talking to anybody, and Rivera notes that his 32 seats are not decisive, that he has already agreed to abstain rather than vote no, and that it is now up to the PSOE, with its 85 votes, to do the same in order to avoid a record third election in Spain. English version by Susana Urra. Un gesto de Mariano Rajoy durante la constitucion del nuevo Congreso. Uly Martin (EL PAIS) The week-long round of consultations between King Felipe VI and Spains leading political parties that open today take place amid absolute uncertainty. More than a month after a second general election in six months, it is deeply worrying that acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has not even bothered to set up a negotiation commission and that he has so far failed to sit down for serious talks with opposition leaders, notably Albert Rivera of Ciudadanos, who has shown himself the most willing to hammer out some kind of agreement that would allow Rajoy to form a government. This disturbing scenario is very much a replay of what happened in the months following Decembers inconclusive elections, when Rajoy twice refused to form a government, Pablo Iglesias of Podemos announced a coalition with the Socialists without having bothered to consult its leader, Pedro Sanchez, first, and finally, Sanchez unsuccessfully sought Congresss approval to form a government in coalition with Ciudadanos. It was to be hoped that the leadership of the main parties would have learnt from their mistakes, but the evidence suggests otherwise. Rajoy, as the man leading the party with the most votes in the June 26 election, is most to blame for a situation unworthy of an advanced democracy and cannot afford to waste any more time. What the electorate wants to know is whether he is the solution or the problem to Spains lack of government, and its wants to know sooner rather than later. Given that they seemingly are unable to offer an alternative to Rajoy, Ciudadanos and the Socialists are going to have to shift their positions. If they recognize this publicly, they might at least avoid accusations of responsibility for the current mess. Above and beyond the explanations each leader will have to provide to the electorate, what is of real concern is that their respective partisan strategies will once again mean that King Felipes consultations will lead to failure. Turning up at the Zarzuela royal palace without having done their homework or pressuring the head of state to somehow sort things out for them is imposing on the King an unwarranted responsibility. As with other constitutional monarchies, the role of Spains king is to ratify the decisions made by individuals and institutions constitutionally empowered to make those decisions, not to compensate for the shortsightedness of the countrys politicians, who seem unconcerned at the damage they would cause by condemning the Crown to accept the failure of this round of consultations. It is precisely because Spains Constitution is vague about establishing a time frame or procedures to create a government when no party has a majority that the countrys politicians must now take decision to unblock the current impasse. Instead, they are hiding behind the law to try to buy time that neither the country nor its people can afford. The task at hand is to clear Spanish politics of the mines that have been planted there. The countrys leaders must now start talking on the basis of shifting their positions, both in public and private: that is what we pay them for. English version by Nick Lyne. An illegal water deposit used for irrigation around Donana. JULIAN ROJAS It isnt the intensive agriculture, or the lack of alternative water resources, or the pressure from construction and tourism. Its not even all the illegal irrigation. Whats causing the deterioration of Donana, in southern Spain, is climate change. At least according to the Spanish government, which partly blames global warming for the state of the natural preserve. In response to a EU ultimatum to end the overexploitation of water resources in one of Europes most important natural spaces, the Popular Party (PP) administration has drafted a report listing 43 initiatives to be completed between now and 2027 at a cost of 430 million. The CHG is promising to adopt a technique for the teledetection of irrigation between this year and the next Madrid notes that it has already purchased an estate and sealed off 50 wells, out of 400 slated for closure. On April 28, the European Commission issued a two-month deadline for Spain to adopt effective measures or face a case before the EU Court of Justice. The EC describes the Donana marshlands as one of the few remaining wild regions in Europe, and without doubt the most important site in Europe for migratory birds. The European decision questioned the efficiency of measures adopted to date, their scientific rigor and even their allocated budget. A water transfer The key element in preventing the use of ground water by the regions strong agricultural sector is the series of water transfers planned for the near future. Around 4.99 cubic hectometers of water from Andalusias Atlantic coast are slated to be brought over to Donana, with one further cubic hectometer of surface water, all of which would cover the needs of 724 hectares of land. The investigation began in 2009, when European authorities noted that protected areas in Donana were deteriorating through the overuse of ground water in agriculture and tourism, most notably at the popular seaside resort of Matalascanas. Now faced with infringement proceedings, the Spanish government has drawn up a report to avert sanctions. EL PAIS has had access to this report, which was drawn up by the Guadalquivir Water Confederation (CHG), the government agency in charge of water management in the area. The 43-page report asserts that it cannot be ruled out that the process of global change triggered by climate change is not already having a direct effect on Donana. The document goes on to list several observable phenomena throughout the last 32 years, such as a 0.5% drop in average annual rainfall, or a rise in temperatures of one degree Celsius every 13 years between April and June. At the same time, the CHG denies that there has been an increase in illegal water use this year compared with 2015, and insists that it has shut down 50 wells. Of these, 11 are within the bounds of Los Mimbrales, an estate in Huelva province that the state paid 50 million for. The CHG denies that construction and tourism are affecting the park, and is promising to adopt a technique for the teledetection of irrigation between this year and the next. The agency also says it has carried out 209 inspections and issued sanctions in 700 of the 900 hectares of land that do not meet the governments irrigation regulations. Sign up for our newsletter EL PAIS English Edition has launched a weekly newsletter. Sign up today to receive a selection of our best stories in your inbox every Saturday morning. For full details about how to subscribe, click here. But the EC says that controlling irrigation is not enough to prevent habitat deterioration, and adds that urban development is the main factor in water extraction in some areas. The increase in the volume of ground water extracted for irrigation and for the tourist industry has led to the drying-out of a number of lagoons in the special protection area, said the EC in a press release. The Commission considers that the Spanish authorities have failed to take the necessary steps to prevent the pollution, the deterioration of habitats and the disruption of the bird fauna in the Donana region. English version by Susana Urra. Vinicius, the Games' mascot, at the entrance to the Olympic Village. M. Sayao (EFE) More information Rio 2016 reconoce que la Villa Olimpica esta sin terminar With just 10 days to go before the opening of the Olympics, the Rio 2016 organizing committee admitted on Tuesday there were still 15 unfinished buildings in the Olympic Village. Rodrigo Tostes, the executive director of operations for Rio 2016, told Brazilian leading daily Folha de Sao Paulo that five of the blocks used to house athletes would be finished today. Among them the Australian team, which on Sunday said that it wouldnt be staying in the official accommodation, saying it was in poor condition. Tostes said the Australians had since agreed to move in to their apartments in the Olympic Village on Wednesday. Around 10% of the expected 10,000 competitors have already arrived in Brazil, and have moved in to the village, but some athletes have complained of poor conditions, including damaging from flooding, elevators that dont work and mold on walls and ceilings. Stress tests due for completion at the beginning of the year, have not been carried out on more than half of the apartment blocks The remaining 10 buildings will be finished on Thursday, said Tostes. There are problems at the start of every Games due to the large number of people who arrive. This has happened in other places. We are working on this and will sort it out quickly. We see problems and we clear them up, he said. Stress tests due for completion at the beginning of the year, have not been carried out on more than half of the apartment blocks, which were delivered behind schedule. In many cases, utilities have only been recently connected. On Monday, Japanese athletes complained about problems with their accommodation, alleging that bathrooms were blocked and bedrooms dirty. By the opening ceremony on 5 August, the majority of competitors are supposed to have moved into the village, which Rio 2016 says is the biggest ever at an Olympics. But Brazils financial downturn and a corruption scandal have caused delays. Sign up for our newsletter EL PAIS English Edition has launched a weekly newsletter. Sign up today to receive a selection of our best stories in your inbox every Saturday morning. For full details about how to subscribe, click here The project, which has cost almost $1 billion was carried out by local property developer Carvalho Hosken and Brazils biggest construction firm, Odebrecht. They hoped to recover their investment by selling the apartments, until the property market started to fall as Brazils economy went into decline. As a result, corners were cut on the final stages of work on the buildings. At the same time, Odebrechts president was caught up in the Lava Jato corruption scandal and has been sentenced to 19 years in jail. English version by Nick Lyne. Senator Bernie Sanders bids farewell to his supporters at the Democratic National Convention REUTERS More information Sanders pide el voto para Clinton y promete continuar su revolucion As the Democratic Party brought one of its most difficult days in recent history to a close, its presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, finally received the blessing of her erstwhile rival, Bernie Sanders. In a speech before the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia,Sanders urged his supporters to vote for Clinton, promising that his progressive movement the political revolution, as he calls it will go on. Based on her ideas and leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States, he said before listing all the progressive positions Clinton has adopted on issues like education, healthcare, economy and climate change. Sanders speech was meant to give the progressives blessing to a candidate that many voters consider too much of a centrist and too close to the countrys economic and political elites. Sanders supporters, some of whom continued to protest even as speakers took the stage, have a long list of grievances Yet, Sanders also proclaimed: Together, my friends, we have begun a political revolution to transform America and that revolution our revolution continues. Despite his call for Democrats to rally behind Clinton, division was the theme of the day. Sanders supporters, some of whom continued to protest even as speakers took the stage, have a long list of grievances. The most recent ones are evidence in the form of internal Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails published by Wikileaks that show how party leaders worked in Clintons favor and Clintons choice of running mate, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, a centrist like herself. Those emails have led to the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Sanders pro-Clinton speech was yet another step toward reconciliation. Key arguments: CLINTON, THE PROGRESSIVE Sanders remarks were a painstaking act of persuasion of his supporters, many of whom flatly reject Clintons nomination. The goal was to show that progressive causes would would move backwards if Donald Trump wins and pull those most hostile to Clintons candidacy away from the siren call of Trumpism. Hillary Clinton understands that if someone in America works 40 hours a week, that person should not be living in poverty, Sanders explained. She understands that we must raise the minimum wage to a living wage, the Vermont senator said before listing his former rivals progressive credentials. Sanders also pointed out changes in the party platform that he and Clintons camp negotiated to create one of the most progressive electoral programs in years. Sanders pointed to changes in the party platform he and Clintons camp negotiated to create one of the most progressive electoral programs in years THE REVOLUTION For Sanders, supporting a pragmatic like Clinton does not mean giving up the revolution, the progressive movement that galvanized millions of citizens and forced the Democratic Party to lean further left. Election days come and go, he said. But the struggle of the people to create a government which represents all of us and not just the 1 percent a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice that struggle continues. From now on, Sanders and his ideals are part of the fabric of the Democratic Party. Neither the party nor Clinton - if she wins in November - will be able to do without him or those principles. SANDERS' IDEOLOGY This election is not about, and has never been about, Hillary Clinton, or Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders or any of the other candidates, the Vermont senator said. It is not about strategy or polls or any of those things the media loves, he added. This election is about and must be about the needs of the American people...ending the 40-year decline of our middle class...ending the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we currently experience. STRIKING A BALANCE Sanders tried to denounce the decline of the middle class and the evils of capitalism but he avoided painting the same catastrophic portrait Trump shared at the Republican National Convention last week. Sanders had to distance himself from Republicans pessimism without renouncing his vision of America which, in some respects, agrees with Trumps view. For example, both politicians have spoken about the negative effects of globalization on the working class. UNITED AT THE PODIUM, DIVIDED IN THE STANDS Few speakers spoke enthusiastically of Donald Trump in Cleveland last week. And some of the partys most prominent figures - former presidents and John Kasich, the governor of the state that hosted the convention- did not show up. Ted Cruz, Trumps fiercest rival in the primaries, was booed off the stage after he delivered a speech that avoided showing any allegiance to the presumptive nominee. There was a clear division at the podium but unity among delegates in the stands. This week Democratic convention speakers are showing strong unity on stage most speakers extol Clintons virtues even as protestors maintain a chorus of jeers against the candidate. Sanders did not act like Ted Cruz; he simply asked supporters to vote for Clinton. THE TRUMP ARGUMENT The recurrent theme at the RNC last week was total rejection of Clintons candidacy. Lock her up, became the unofficial slogan of the convention. And now Democrats in Philadelphia are focusing on Trump. He is the best argument to make the party close ranks around Clinton. For every point made in Clintons favor, Sanders provided a rationale against Trump. While Donald Trump is busy insulting one group after another, Hillary Clinton understands that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths, he said. Jenn Powell, a Florida delegate, is rather disappointed. I think its offensive that they need to call attention to Donald Trump in a room full of Democrats. We all know Donald Trump. Who were they speaking to? They could have talked about ideas for the future. I am disappointed that it was a show of oh, how scary is Trump. English version by Dyane Jean-Francois LEXINGTON - Dawson County District Court Judge James E. Doyle Thursday dismissed a lawsuit brought against the board of directors of Johnson Lake Development Inc. and three of its officers. It was the second of two lawsuits filed in connection with the Johnson Lake Sanitary Improvement District. Jerry Kreitz, Roger Rupp and R. Dan Niemoth, all of Johnson Lake, filed the lawsuit April 8, 2004. The three were members of the board at the time. Kreitz is no longer a member. They accused the board of directors and President Mick Schroeder, Vice President Larry Ossenkop and Treasurer Bob Olmstead of exceeding their authority when the JLDI board authorized a loan to help finance the startup of the sanitary improvement district. The minutes of the board meeting of June 13, 2003, state that Olmstead proposed the loan and suggested a 5-percent interest rate. Members of the SID formation group said the group was without funds to pay such things as postal costs that could not be deferred. By a vote of 15-14, the JLDI board approved an unsecured loan in the amount of $14,869.52. The lawsuit by Kreitz, Rupp and Niemoth asked the court to prohibit any future expenditure of funds from JLDI to promote or establish the sewer district. A second point raised was that the sanitary improvement district included areas that are not members of JLDI. The petitioners said that the JLDI board and officers had no legal authority to spend JLDI funds to benefit nonmembers. Doyle ruled that the three officers acted within their capacities, that the board of directors authorized the loan, and he said formation of a SID was permitted by JLDI's articles of incorporation. He ruled that there is nothing in the articles of incorporation, Nebraska's statutes or Nebraska case law that prevents a corporate act simply because it benefits others. Kreitz, Rupp and Niemoth are among approximately 65 property owners of who have fought formation of the SID. The Johnson Lake SID was approved Feb. 9, 2004. e-mail to: with Evan Kaufman Wearing a wedding ring; Your Love, Our Musical; Pokemon Go: the first person to catch em all, the danger, and Nintendos plummeting stock; Fallout 3 and RPGs reviewed; the British Royal Navy vs. Facebook; Verizon buys Yahoo!; manic NYC male model nude in Times Square; Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the rigged DNC; pulling a gun out in a theater; Katt Williams at it again; Justin Bieber lookalike overdoses; stubborn diner charges himself $131 million for food This episode and pictures related to it are only available to KATG VIP members. Not a VIP member? Click here to find out more. Login to VIP Police cordon opens fire: two members of Sasna Dzrer wounded: Founding Parliament The Founding Parliament shared the statement of Sasna Dzrer (Daredevils of Sasoun) armed group. The statement runs as follows: Today, at night of July 26 and in the morning two incidents happened in the territory liberated by Sasna Dzrer group. At about 2 a.m. the police cordon adjacent to that territory deceitfully opened fire, as a result of which two members of Sasna Dzrer group, Ashot Petrosyan and Hovhannes Harutyunyan, were wounded on their legs. They were taken to hospital. At about 7 a.m. a bravehearted Armenian, Arthur Sargsyan, loaded his personal car with food and crossed the police cordon, reached the entrance of the liberated territory, and policemen opened fire at Arthurs car in all the directions. Fortunately, Arthur wasnt injured and successfully took the food to the spot. Besides, secret lists were found in the territory of the regiment, which, according to the preliminary examination, are supposed to belong to agents and those involved in prostitution. According to the combination of the data, there are grounded suspicions that the officers of this police regiment, were involved in pandering. 146 alleged agents and 35 prostitutes are registered in the abovementioned lists. We call for continuation of struggle for consolidation. Victory is close. A1+ is trying to clarify this information David Daleiden, center, speaks with supporters outside the Harris County Criminal Justice Center, Tuesday, July 26, 2016, in Houston. A Texas judge on Tuesday dismissed the last remaining charge against, David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, two California anti-abortion activists who made undercover videos of themselves trying to buy fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood. (James Nielsen/Houston Chronicle 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... SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Google Ad Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully Google Ad The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens ANCA Issues National Call to Action to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Aliyevs Aggression SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully Google Ad The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens ANCA Issues National Call to Action to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Aliyevs Aggression Sos Gimishyan: Authorities must take steps (video) During the negotiations with Sasna Dzrer (Daredevils of Sasoun) armed group the authorities must do their best in order to meet the demands of the members of the group, which are also the demands of one part of citizens. According to Sos Gimishyan, the leader of the Armenian Christian Democratic Renaissance Party, it is within the interests of the state to carry out release of Erebuni police station without bloodshed. There shouldnt be any attack, as there will be victims from both sides as a result of that attack, there will be bloodshed, after which it will be impossible to negotiate, come to an agreement, understand, think. He says that the authorities must take steps and resort to political changes, They [authorities] should present their offers to the members of the group, say that they are ready to take this or that step, and let they lay down the arms and come to an agreement. Mr Gimishyan is sure that it is equally dangerous if the authorities remain inactive and dont take any steps, No one must be killed, each Armenian is important to us. He says that various international events have shown that in such cases sometimes snipers appear and two parties sustain many losses, and instability begins, It must be ruled out. Sos Gimishyan has recently noticed attempts of foreign intervention in the current processes, If there is such a situation, two parties must lay down the arms. 196 Shares Share Recent events seem to be signaling an increasing sentiment toward hitting the metaphorical pause button on immigration or perhaps even adopting more anti-immigrant postures in the US and in many other places around the world. The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) issued its deadlocked non-decision in United States v. Texas, No. 15-674 which will prevent Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents or DAPA from taking effect. As a result of this 4 to 4 tie, several million undocumented immigrants who have lived for many years in the United States and parent children who are U.S. citizens in a kind of legal and personal limbo. This deadlock, of course, occurred within a broader context. For instance, the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, has made caricaturing and denigrating Mexicans and Mexican-Americans a centerpiece of his campaign. Theres little need to rehearse how the candidacy was launched with the impetus of an initial statement promising to build a wall to keep out the people Mexico was sending to the U.S. who bringing drugs bringing crime. Theyre rapists. In contrast, my experience as an educator in a medical school suggests that the problem is not that we need to hit the pause button but that we have been stuck in inaction for more than a decade. The result is a crisis in which we risk wasting a generation of our most precious resource, the talent of young people who have grown up, been educated in our communities, and often wish to serve society by practicing medicine or other health professions. This should come as an affront to our sense of justice and concern us from an economic perspective. We must take our finger off the pause button as soon as possible and act to steward these precious human resources. At the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, we benefit from the fact that 21 of our current students are persons who are said to be DACA-mented. That is, they are undocumented immigrants who have a social security number and employment authorization document (a work permit) owing to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that President Obama create by executive memorandum on June 15, 2012. Fortunately, this program is not directly affected by the recent Supreme Court decision. Nevertheless, our experience with these students of DACA status shows how important a mechanism of bringing undocumented immigrants out of the shadows can be. And it shows that more action is needed to arrive at a long-term solution that advances the common good. Shortly after President Obama issued the executive memorandum creating DACA, we amended the admissions policy of our medical school to explicitly state that persons with DACA status were eligible to apply to our medical school and compete on a level playing field for admission. We were prepared to become the first medical school to take this step because we were aware of the assets these students might bring to our school. We had received an inquiry a year earlier from a mathematics professor describing a student who had a 3.9 grade point average, had completed a dual major in biology and Spanish, had a strong record of volunteer service, and who was simply the best student he had ever taught. He asked whether it was possible that such student might attend medical school given that she was undocumented. The reasons to include such students in our applicant pool are obvious. We want the best and the brightest in our physician workforce. And demonstrated resilience is important to meet the demands of treating sick patients for a career. Such students are also commonly bilingual and bicultural. They usually desire to serve patients in the communities in which they were raised, commonly communities that ae desperately underserved by our health care system. And having a critical mass of these students within our student body has promoted understanding of immigrant populations among all our students. This enables our graduates to serve the diverse patient population most will encounter in their practices. What is so striking in our experience is how it contrasts with recent anti-immigrant sentiment and rhetoric. Such sentiment seems driven by an assumption that immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants, are trying to take something from others that doesnt belong to them. Our experience suggests current immigrants are like previous waves of immigrants to the United States: talented, energetic, young people who wish to contribute to our communities and society. And it is our laws, laws that our government has so long failed to reform, that prevent them and limit their contributions. The barriers that remain are still formidable and choke off opportunities for many. Students with DACA status remain ineligible for federal student loans. Student loans are an enormously important source of financing higher education and without access to them, most of this student population will be unable to reach their educational potential. We have worked diligently with visionary partner institutions to create alternate loan opportunities for our medical students. But, such efforts are necessarily inadequate to the need. As a result, the investment made in their K-12 education cannot bear its full fruit and return on investment. Our failed immigration laws have taken on the role of Jim Crow laws segregating much of this population from the opportunity to participate effectively in their communities, often the only communities they can recall. Of course, more fundamental than the need to access student loans, those of DACA status need a more permanent immigration status. Their status should not vary with the results of each presidential election. Legislation such as the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education of Alien Minors) was first introduced in 2001 and has come close to passage on several occasions over the last fifteen years. Its key provisions were included in the comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the U.S. Senate in 2013 but never came to a vote in the House of Representatives. Year after year, these young people have watched these failures of political leadership and been prevented from taking their place as citizens of their country. Some wonder why we at Stritch are so aggressively investing qualified students of DAA status when DACA could be revoked at the whim of the next president. However, we believe that such thinking fails to prioritize the greater concern. We should be far more concerned that a generation of talent is being wasted by inaction. How much longer will our nation segregate these students from opportunity? We must be on the right side of history by directly creating opportunities whenever possible and call upon our fellow citizens to move beyond a caricature of their immigrant neighbors toward a beneficial policy of inclusion. Mark Kuczewski is chair, department of medical education, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, IL. He can be on Twitter @BioethxMark. Image credit: Shutterstock.com Gaspari doesnt rule out sit-in strike outside Levon Ter-Petrosyans house (video) For already three days, civil activist Vardges Gaspari has refused food and is holding action not far from the NA building and the Presidential Palace, near the crossroads of Baghramyan-Demirchyan streets. As long as Sasna Dzrer is deprived of connection, medical aid and food, I, in line with their condition, will refuse food. I will stop it, when they are provided with connection, food and medical aid, Vardges Gaspari told A1+. Gaspari reminds that the issue of food hasnt been solved starting from the moment, when the members of Sasna Dzrer group released the hostages. Gaspari is staging the action holding the poster with the photos of 10 victims of March 1. Serzh says that it is unacceptable to solve issues in our country by using violence. It proves that he came to power by violence and murders. Vardges Gaspari is also angry about the stance of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) party in connection with the events on Khorenatsi street. On that occasion he held an action outside the HAK office, I can apply to Levon Ter-Petrosyan, as he offered us that list of the candidates. I dont rule out that I may hold sit-in strike outside Levon Ter-Petrosyans house, in the end we bear responsibility. Gaspari is sure that if the lawmaker is elected by the people, he must stand by the people. Freeport McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX) reports a smaller quarterly loss after aggressive cost cutting. The company generally regarded as the worlds largest publicly traded copper company but also an oil producer and major gold producer -- reported a net loss of $479 million, or 38 cents per share, for the second quarter, compared with $1.85 billion, or $1.78 per share, in the same period a year ago. "We are pleased to report significant progress toward our immediate objective of strengthening FCXs balance sheet and enhancing shareholder value in a challenging market environment, says Richard C. Adkerson, president and chief executive officer. Our global team continues to execute on our strategy to constrain costs and capital spending in a manner that protects the long-term values of our large resources. Our announced asset sale transactions totaling over $4 billion year-to-date demonstrate the attractiveness of our high-quality asset base.Consolidated sales -- which include volumes from Tenke Fungurume, which is being reported as a discontinued operation, totaled 1.1 billion pounds of copper, 156,000 ounces of gold, 19 million pounds of molybdenum and 12.4 million barrels of oil equivalents in the second quarter. This compares with 964 million pounds of copper, 352,000 ounces of gold, 23 million pounds of molybdenum and 13.1 MMBOE for the same period in 2015. By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com Hecla Withdraws Bid For Dolly Varden After Commission Ruling Hecla Mining Co. (NYSE: HL) officials says the company has withdrawn its bid for Dolly Varden Silver Corp. (TSXV: DV; U.S. DOLLF) after a ruling by the British Columbia Securities Commission. According to Dolly Varden, the commission denied a request by Hecla to stop Dolly Varden from completing a previously announced private placement financing and agreed with Dolly Varden that Heclas unsolicited bid was an insider bid and therefore Hecla must obtain and disseminate to the companys shareholders an independent formal valuation. We now look forward to completing our year-long transformation of Dolly Varden into a well-funded junior exploration company with an exciting project, says Rosie Moore, director and interim president and chief executive officer of Dolly Varden. By eliminating our debt and properly funding our company, we will be able to re-focus on further exploration and expansion of our prospective Dolly Varden silver property. Phillips S. Baker, Jr., Heclas president and chief executive officer, says his company is disappointed with Dolly Varden's expensive debt financing followed by its planned dilutive private placement that effectively acts as a poison pill, raising the cost of acquiring Dolly Varden by more than 50%. Still, he says, Hecla will invest to maintain our 15.7% interest in Dolly Varden because of our long-term commitment to the Dolly Varden property. By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com Goldrock Shareholders OK Deal With Fortuna Silver Mines Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (NYSE: FSM; TSX: FVI) reports that Goldrock Mines Corp. shareholders have approved a previously announced acquisition by Fortuna. The deal was approved by 99.99% of the votes cast by Goldrock shareholders. Upon closing, Goldrock shares will be exchanged on the basis of 0.1331 of a Fortuna common share for each Goldrock share, and Goldrock's outstanding warrants will become exercisable for Fortuna shares based on the same exchange ratio. Fortuna looks for the acquisition to become effective around Thursday, subject to final regulatory and court approvals and other customary closing conditions. "The acquisition of Goldrock and its Lindero gold deposit in the Salta province of Argentina is consistent with our strategy of delivering disciplined growth and value for our shareholders by building on our existing portfolio of high-quality assets," says Jorge Ganoza, president and chief executive officer of Fortuna. By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com Banro Corp. Announces CFO Will Be Leaving Canadian gold miner Banro Corp. (NYSE MKT, TSX: BAA) announces that Kevin Jennings, chief financial officer, will be resigning after accepting a position at another firm. Banro will conduct a search for a new CFO and says Jennings will remain with Banro for the next couple of months to ensure a smooth transition. By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com (Kitco News) - Titanium has been a leading material for artificial joints because of its strong, wear-resistance and nontoxic properties, however, it may have been missing one key ingredient this whole time. That is, gold. Image source: Rice University Researchers in Texas have created a titanium-gold alloy that may be the new gold standard for artificial knees and hip joints. It is about 3-4 times harder than most steels, said Emilia Morosan, the lead scientist on the study, in a press release by Rice University where the research was done. Morosan described the properties of the alloy as being a 3-to-1 mixture of titanium and gold combined at a high temperature. Its four times harder than pure titanium, which is whats currently being used in most dental implants and replacement joints, she said. Whats more, the compound molecule (Ti3Au) has the ability to work well with ceramic parts in a way that can reduce both the weight and cost of medical components, like implants. It exhibits high hardness values, reduced coefficient of friction and wear rates, and biocompatibility, all of which are optimal traits for orthopedic, dental, and prosthetic applications, the study explained. However, the researchers noted that when titanium and gold were combined at lower temperatures, the results varied. At lower temperatures, the atoms tend to arrange in another cubic structure the alpha form of titanium-3-gold. The alpha structure is about as hard as regular titanium, the study said. Might be time for Marvel to make a new superhero: the Man of Titanium-3-Gold By Sarah Benali of Kitco News; sbenali@kitco.com Follow @SdBenali MICHAEL C. MOORE | KITSAP A&E John (Kirk Ballard, right) tries to conceal his identity from a visitor, until he realizes it's just his old friend Stanley (Gary Fetterplace). SHARE By Michael C. Moore, mmoore@kitsapsun.com PORT ORCHARD If you saw the raucous, very English Ray Cooney comedy "Run for Your Wife" at Western Washington Center for the Arts a couple of springs ago, you probably thought things could never possibly get any more complicated for its main character, John Smith. Well, you were wrong then, weren't you? Smith is a bigamist, who spent the entirety of "Run for Your Wife" commuting between his two happy homes, going to ridiculous extremes to keep his two loving wives oblivious to each other. Cooney liked dipping Smith's feet in hot water so much, apparently, that he wrote a sequel, "Caught in the Net," that wraps his protagonist in an even stickier web of deceit. See, his children by his two respective wives meet and hit it off on the Internet, and want to meet in person. All well and good for them, but a disaster for Smith himself. "I didn't even know there was a sequel when we did 'Run for Your Wife,'" said Dan Estes, who directed the WWCA production in 2014, and returns for The Further Adventures, which opens Aug. 5. "I was a little hesitant. I'm not a big sequel guy, in general. Sequels seldom seem to work as well as their predecessors. But I read this and I though it was really funny. So we never originally planned to do the sequel, but we are, and we're having a lot of fun with it." Estes benefits from having three of his four principles back in their "Run for Your Wives" roles Kristi Jacobson and Ericka Nicole Miller play the two guileless wives, and Gary Fetterplace is back as Stanley, a friend and ally in John's deceptions. Kirk Ballard, who's been a regular in WWCA productions the past couple of seasons (most recently "Something's Afoot," which kicked off WWCA's current season, and the lead role of Gomez in 2015's "The Addams Family"), plays taxi driver-bigamist John, taking over for Troy Turnley from "Run for Your Wife." The two youngsters, whose random on-line meeting threatens to topple John's double life, are played by Riley Lint, a veteran of several Kitsap productions who first worked with Estes several seasons ago at Bremerton Community Theatre in "On Golden Pond," and Emily Trop, who has several recent WWCA credits including Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" last summer. Further complicating John's life is a visit from his father (Don Olson) his Aged P, if you will. "It's really simple," Estes said. "In the first play this guy had two wives, and now he's also got two children. They want to meet, and it's his job to stop that. The lies begin, and they just keep piling up." There's plenty of potential for physical comedy. The set, designed by Tina Henley-Hicks, contains no fewer than eight doors. "The thing I especially like about this play, and what I liked about 'Run for Your Wife,' is how well-written and well-constructed it is," Estes said. "It's all so well thought out. It makes fun of people who make misconceptions about things and just go with them." Joining of Alliance to struggle of ultra-radical group is strange Bringing Alliance Party to the square, they want to bring the people, who will implement relevant functions during the marches and rallies, says political expert Stepan Safaryan. He tells not to forget that the leader of that party has family ties with the Head of the NSS, It is very interesting that a person, who was formerly against the street revolutions, is joining the street revolution, armed rebellion; a person, who used to say that Armenia needs revolution of consciousness. At present it is very strange that not being a follower of revolution, not being known for clear oppositional stance, it joins the struggle of ultra-radical group. In reply to the question by A1+, why he isnt joining the struggle, Stepan Safaryan answered, First, I wasnt in Yerevan, I was in Tavush, but when I returned, I visited Khorenatsi. He also explained why he didnt make any speeches, I am not a supporter of armed revolt, I am not an expert, I cannot go to the platform and defend something, which I cannot imagine myself. I can agree to the demands of Sasna Dzrer, but I cannot do more, especially, when I understand that the platform of Khorenatsi is somehow the continuation of the process, which the guys started. The political expert doesnt agree that the only way out is armed rebellion, I think that the political figure has no right to say that there is no way out. The politics is just for finding solutions. It is very easy to say that there is no way out. There have been many examples of peaceful disobedience, our country isnt so bad, that it is possible in all the places, but not in our country. It is easy to say that Serzh is to blame for everything, his policy is to blame; I think that he, who heads the process, should bear some responsibility, at least political responsibility. In this struggle, Stepan Safaryan can see himself only in the rows of the people in order not to allow use of force, I will defend the people, I can see my function in that, I must propose non-force solutions and I am doing so. By Kitsap Sun Staff PORT ORCHARD The owner of a historic tugboat that sank in 2013 in Eagle Harbor Marina, leaking hundreds of gallons of fuel, pleaded guilty Monday to criminal charges related to the sinking and was sentenced to 20 days in jail or electronic home monitoring. Anthony R. Smith was the owner of the Chickamauga, the country's first diesel-powered tugboat when it was built in 1915. He pleaded guilty to counts of causing a vessel to become abandoned or derelict and discharging polluting matter into state waters. Kitsap Superior Court Judge Leila Mills accepted Smith's guilty plea. The Chickamauga is believed to have spilled 200 to 300 gallons of diesel fuel in the water when it sank Oct. 2, 2013, in the Bainbridge marina, according to a statement from the Attorney General's Office. Smith told investigators that at the time the boat sank it had about 400 gallons of fuel and 10 gallons of oil, according to court documents. As part of the agreement with the state Attorney General's Office, which prosecuted the case at the request of the Kitsap County prosecuting attorney, a charge of first-degree theft for Smith's alleged $8,600 moorage and utility bill was dismissed. "If you break our state laws and pollute our environment, my office will hold you accountable," Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in the statement. His office plans to ask for more than $54,000 at a restitution hearing Sept. 9 in Kitsap Superior Court. That money is for the state departments of Ecology and Natural Resources to recoup money spent on recovering and destroying the boat. At the time the Chickamauga sank, Smith was working in Alaska. He told investigators he had agreements in place to have somebody make weekly checks on the boat. Investigators spoke to the person Smith said was supposed to check on the boat, and that person said Smith told him he had sold the Chickamauga, according to court documents. Smith bought the vessel for $1,000 in 2009, and had previously moored it in Seattle. It had been moored at Eagle Harbor since the beginning of 2013. Although some wanted the boat restored and saved for its historical value, the state took possession of it, finding it a derelict vessel, and the 70-foot hull was destroyed in a Port Townsend shipyard. Some items from the boat were saved for museums. It was the first diesel powered tugboat designed and built in the United States and plied Washington waters for its entire service life. SHARE By Andrew Binion of the Kitsap Sun BELFAIR A woman who apparently shot herself last week after being pulled over by a Mason County sheriff's deputy has been identified by the county coroner. Rojean Faye Paschal, 52, a massage therapist and physical therapist assistant from Tracyton, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said Coroner Wes Stockwell. As part of the autopsy, toxicology tests will be conducted. Thurston County sheriff's detectives are investigating the incident through an agreement with Mason County to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest, said Chief Deputy Sheriff Ryan Spurling. After the deputy pulled over the car, he had not yet reached it before he heard the gunshot, Spurling said. At first, the deputy was unsure what was happening, and in light of the recent shooting of police officers in Louisiana and Texas, thought he might be under attack. "It was just the first thing goes through his mind, 'Am I being shot at?'" Spurling said the deputy was placed on administrative leave and is being offered counseling. The deputy pulled over Paschal at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday on Trails End Road for a traffic violation, south of Belfair. Spurling said he did not know what violation. After the gunshot, the deputy found Paschal unconscious with a firearm close by, according to a statement from the office. Paschal was given first aid and died on the way to the hospital. Bryce Wilkinson writes at the NZ Initiative: Last week everyone in The New Zealand Initiative was amazed to read in the Otago Daily Times, recycled in The New Zealand Herald, that in effect we advocate the decimation of New Zealands welfare state. This ludicrous assertion was attributed to a Brian Roper at the University of Otago. Here is the full quote: If you look at the New Zealand Initiative, which is the successor to the Business Roundtable, they want government expenditure reduced to 20% of GDP or lower, which would be the lowest level percentage in the OECD. That could only be achieved through the decimation of New Zealands welfare state. There is no end-point to their demands. This was news to me also. Ive followed the Initiative since they were established and have never known them to demand government expenditure by reduced to 20% of GDP. Naturally we contacted this sage for clarification. It turned out that he could offer no New Zealand Initiative statement whatsoever to support his assertion. None. Zero. Zilch. It would be hard to conceive an emptier assertion. The pathetic best he could do was to claim that anything that the New Zealand Business Roundtable had ever written and we had not explicitly disowned must represent our position! Well we have some news for him. It doesnt. The same applies to statements made by The New Zealand Institute. (These two organisations merged to form The New Zealand Initiative and they did not have the same views.) So Roper is using something written by a previous organisation 20 years ago, to support his assertion. Perhaps we should add at this point that Brian Roper happens to be an associate professor in the political science department. According to this piece of staff information on the Universitys website he has been a political activist for more than twenty years, and has been involved in a wide variety of progressive struggles and campaigns. Apart from politics his listed research interests include; social inequality; gender and feminism and Marxism. OK, doubtless many readers will be thinking Say no more. What else could you expect from a Marxist ideologue? Move on. That reminds me of the research in the US which found eight times as many Marxist professors as Republican ones! Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr Stuff reports: The Government wants to make New Zealand predator-free by 2050, formally adopting a target to eradicate all pests that threaten New Zealands native birds. Prime Minister John Key announced the goal, alongside Conservation Minister Maggie Barry, as well as a $28 million funding injection into a joint venture company to kickstart the campaign. Rats, possums and stoats kill 25 million of our native birds every year, and prey on other native species such as lizards and, along with the rest of our environment, we must do more to protect them, Key said. By 2025, the Government has set four interim goals, which include: Having 1 million hectares of land where pests are suppressed or removed; The development of a scientific breakthrough, capable of removing entirely one small mammalian predator; To be able demonstrate that areas of 20,000 hectares can be predator free without the use of fences like the one at at Wellingtons Zealandia sanctuary; And the complete removal of all introduced predators from offshore island nature reserves. Introduced pests threatened the economy and primary sector, their total economic cost is estimated at about $3.3 billion a year, Key said. This is the most ambitious conservation project attempted anywhere in the world, but we believe if we all work together as a country we can achieve it. The Government has set up a new Crown Entity Predator Free New Zealand Limited to drive the programme alongside the private sector. That was on top of $60m to $80m already invested in pest control each year. This is a great initiative. I became aware of the proposal around two or three years ago and my first reaction was that you cant achieve it it only take one pregnant rat or stoat to reinfect an area. But if you go about it in a systematic way over two or three decades, it can be achieved. The cost is not insignificant $10 billion or so. But over 20+ years that is a very good investment to make NZ predator-free. Being lucky enough to live near Zealandia, I already see and enjoy the benefits of having some small areas safe for native birds. Extending this to all of New Zealand will really transform our country. Of course there will still be other predators (including humans) but rats, stoats, possums and ferrets kill 25 million birds a year and massively outweigh all other threats. Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce said New Zealand would prove itself a world leader in conservation science and technology. For the first time, technology is starting to make feasible what previously seemed like an unattainable dream. I think whats really exciting is for those of us watching this closely, is that the technology has moved dramatically, Joyce said. You used to have to put out a trap line across an area of land and send people back every time the traps were sprung. Now you can set them and leave them, link them through GPS, its about one seventeenth of the cost to maintain predator control over a piece of land, than it was just a few years ago. Barry said target was considered unachievable until recently. The potential for scientific break-throughs were what made the target achievable. Yep it has become achievable. Green Party conservation spokesman Kevin Hague said welcomed the target, but said research showed it would cost $9b to make New Zealand predator-free. The Government seems happy to once again put out the begging bowl to the private sector to fund what should be taken care of by the Government. Hague seems to think it is wrong to seek private sector support. Far from wrong, it is preferable to do so. Many companies would love the opportunity to invest in this initiative, which helps their brand. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr Rob Hosking writes in NBR: Nationals support jumped 10% in the Roy Morgan poll, which closed in the final week of the school holidays, and there was a small explosion among political junkies over the weekend as a result. It is wise to be dubious about any political poll which jumps 10% in any direction in the space of one month. And, of course, the Roy Morgan poll, when it comes to volatility, makes the New Zealand exchange rate look about as stable as a steam roller. Heh. The jump puts National at 53% support and that is what has caused a lot of fizzing from activists. The presumption had been that if there would be any movement, it would be against the government, mostly due to rising concerns, and certainly a lot of publicity, about house prices and home affordability. But what it does show is that despite what has been a pretty embattled couple of months for the government, its support is holding up. Disquiet = vote change Anecdotally, there is a lot of disquiet with the government even or over some issues, especially among the National Partys support base. But that disquiet is not translating into a shift in votes. Most people are capable of holding more than one idea in their heads at the same time, even if all too many political activists do not give people credit for being able to do this. Absolutely. There are many areas I disagree with the Government and think they could and should do better. But that doesnt mean Im going to shift my vote. The most important thing pointing to any change in the political mood tends to be not so much questions about individual political parties but a broad question about whether the country is heading in the right or wrong direction. This is up slightly from 54% to 57% saying the country is heading in the right direction. While not reaching the regular 62-67% heights of either 2009 10 or 2014, the numbers opting for right direction have, since the 2014 general election, been running on average above what they were in three years from the end of 2010 to the end of 2013. Rob Hosking is correct that the right vs wrong direction indicator is crucial. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr Shenandoah, IA (51601) Today Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High near 65F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight A mostly clear sky. Low around 35F. Winds light and variable. Jeremy D. Howard (back row, left) is one of the young comics starring in the CW's new "MADtv" premiering Tuesday on the CW. Next to him are: Adam Ray, and Amir K. (Middle row left to right): Michelle Ortiz, Lyric Lewis, and Chelsea Davison. (Front row left to right): Carlie Craig and Piotr Michael. SHARE By Luaine Lee, Tribune News Service Comic Jeremy D. Howard was not prepared for what he found when he arrived in Hollywood. The 28-year-old grew up in Alabama and Nashville, the middle child of seven. With a pastor for a mom and a Home Depot manager for a dad, Howard was the product of solid American values. "I was raised in the South, and there are certain things that Southern people are accustomed to, and do," he says in the sunny patio of a hotel in Pasadena, Calif. "I found myself in unique situations," he laughs. Those unique situations may have been jolting for the pastor's son, but they fueled his talent. Howard is one of the eight new comics to be featured on a brand new "MADtv," premiering at 9 p.m. Tuesday on the CW. His specialties are eccentric characters that he invents, like Lily Tomlin did with her ringy-dingy telephone operator, Dana Carvey with his prissy Church Lady, and Martin Lawrence with his elderly Big Momma. Hollywood folk are fine fodder for inspiration, says Howard, who creates his characters by observing carefully, taking notes, and then exaggerating their foibles. But the residents of Hollywood were his biggest shock, he says. "I just wasn't accustomed to how loose everyone's too free for me," he shakes his head. "They say, 'You gotta do what you want, be yourself.' Everyone has a weird type of opinion. The people are very unique " How unique? One of his first experiences on the West Coasts was probably something he wouldn't write home about. "It was New Year's Eve, and one of my friends said, 'I'd like to stop at my manager's house and say hello. Are you cool with that?' This was in my very beginning stages so we went to the house, opened the door, 'Oh, my gosh, what in the world!' Half of everyone's, like, naked. I was like, 'OK, I'm going to wait in the car.' She said, 'No, my manager's my rep.' I said, 'OK. I'm not used to this. I'm a little uncomfortable.' So I slowly backed up. "'What just happened? This is not what I expected.' That was the biggest shock for me. It made me know I need to ask a little more questions. When somebody says, 'Hey, you want to go over to my manager's house?' I have to say, 'What's going down over there?' But the people are very interesting. You think people make up this stuff in movies? No, it happens in regular life." Actually Howard led a "regular life" for eight years back in Nashville. He had a steady job at Lowes for seven years. "And everything started to pick up. I started booking a lot of (performing) work down there. 'OK, big fish in a tiny pond now it's time to be that little fish in a big pond,'" he says. "First I wanted to move to Atlanta, but my friend was moving up here, and he'd give me updates about the business. You know what? I'll give it a shot. I prayed about it. And everything lined up from me getting a better job right before I left to save the money. I started working at Nissan building cars. I was an inspector. I was making sure there weren't any mechanical problems inside the car, any scratches or dings. It was the same thing over again, 1,000 times a day. I said, 'I can't see myself doing this kind of work.'" So he set a deadline for himself: six months and then he'd leave. Piloting his Infinity G35 (which he still has) to L.A., Howard was able to bunk in a one-room apartment with two other guys for $350 a month. "I started doing brand marketing; I'd do things like pass out free chips to people." The pay was good and others would take his shift if he needed to audition. "Either I was passing out Haagen Dazs ice cream or chips or helping people learn how to use their phone. I would be the guy who would come to Best Buy and train all the Best Buy guys on the phone, and show them cool features about it. Then I'd go to the next store. So I was able to stay mobile just so I could jump to auditions, and then I'd go back to work." Howard still shares digs with two guys, only this time they're luxuriating in a three-bedroom apartment. Though he performs once a month in Los Angeles with an improv group known as the Mad Jackrats, Howard is hoping that "MADtv" will jettison him onto higher ground. "I've been truly blessed to not have to go through crazy stuff," he says with a big grin. "People tell you about these terror stories and you think, 'Oh, my gosh! I don't want to deal with any of that.' I didn't have any of that. The last two years have been phenomenal. That's when you know everything is right, when you're where you're supposed to be. Eventually if you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, things push in the right direction." SHARE Shawn Smoot Brooke Nicole Morris By Bob Fowler of the Knoxville News Sentinel KINGSTON This trial has been a long time coming, and the lead-up to it has included more than its share of twists and turns. Jury selection in the first-degree murder trial of former Knoxville insurance executive Shawn Smoot began Monday from a pool of some 400 prospective jurors, and that process may go into Wednesday, a court official said. Roane County Criminal Court Judge Jeff Wicks told potential jurors the panel will be sequestered, and the trial is expected to last two and possibly three weeks. Smoot, 44, dressed in a dark pinstriped suit and tie, was present during Monday's proceedings, taking notes on a yellow legal pad while sitting at the defense table. He is accused of killing his former lover, 23-year-old Brooke Nichole Morris of Powell, who at one point worked in his Allstate Insurance office. Shot three times, the woman's body was dumped on a rural road in the Dyllis community of Roane County and discovered there Oct. 11, 2011. Smoot quickly became the only suspect, and a search warrant was executed on his Knoxville residence the day after Morris' body was found. Authorities said Smoot was the last person to see Morris alive. The state has a witness list of up to 70 people, from Smoot's roommate at the time to law enforcement officials, but will likely ask some 25 to 30 people to testify, said Bob Edwards, the lead prosecutor. Evidence ranges from bullet ballistics to an order of protection Morris swore out against Smoot alleging he made death threats against her and physically attacked her. Smoot was indicted on the murder charge in June 2012 but didn't show up for his arraignment on June 25 and was ordered arrested. He was discovered the next evening in Mississippi, driving a pickup containing a loaded shotgun and camping gear. Smoot was jailed but then released in March 2013 after his parents posted a $250,000 cash bond. He had 13 months of freedom but that came to an end in April 2014 when he was arrested in McMinn County on a DUI charge. After posting a $2,000 bond, he disappeared, and his $250,000 bond was revoked. He resurfaced two weeks later in Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute in Chattanooga. SHARE The American Filed Service is looking for residents in East Tennessee who are interested in hosting foreign-exchange students for the upcoming fall semester. To become a host, residents must fill out a form that includes their name, email, phone number, address, city and which school is closest to them. Potential hosts will also be subjected to a background check. The organization says that anybody can be a host, including those who are married, single, with or without children, retired, widowed, home-schooled families and what the organizations calls "nontraditional" families. Although families who home school are allowed to host a student, the student they wish to host must attend a public or private high school. Students may be found by going to www.afsusa.org, clicking the "Host a Student" tab, then clicking the "Meet Students" tab while searching for an area code. A list of the students who will be coming to that area code will pop up, including information about where they come from, their age, what their interests are and a short bio. Families may host two students if they wish. All exchange students will be fully medically insured. Through the association, students come from more than 90 countries. All students are proficient in English, and stay with the family for 10 months starting in mid-August. Those who cannot host may also volunteer to help families that decide to host and students alike by participating in community outreach and helping host local events for exchange students. Those who are interested in volunteering must fill out a volunteer inquiry form. Just like hosts, volunteers will also undergo a background check. An aerial view of proposed sites for a new low-level nuclear waste landfill on the Oak Ridge Reservations. The U.S. Dept. of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management examined 16 sites to identify the best locations for onsite disposal and has selected four potential locations in the Bear Creek Valley. (DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY) SHARE By Bob Fowler of the Knoxville News Sentinel OAK RIDGE A U.S. Department of Energy plan to put another landfill on its Oak Ridge Reservation for low-level nuclear waste and hazardous materials will be the subject of a public information session Wednesday. The Energy, Technology and Environmental Business Association will host the meeting from 3-5 p.m. in the Pollard Auditorium, 210 Badger Ave., on the Oak Ridge Associated Universities campus. City officials and residents have voiced concerns about the DOE's plans to build the landfill, which would hold materials removed during the environmental cleanup of the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. A $69,000 study funded by the city on one of the proposed sites concluded it's too close to homes, it's on a slope with rock fractures causing complex groundwater flow, and not enough federal money is being set aside for the required 200 years of maintenance. That 92-acre site is east of an existing nuclear dump in Bear Creek Valley that's called the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility. It's near Y-12, a nuclear weapons plant, and is filling up with materials removed from a former uranium enrichment facility called the K-25 site. All four landfill options, identified after a study of 16 sites on the reservation, are in Bear Creek Valley. A DOE spokesman says the east Bear Creek Valley option has enough capacity to complete the environmental cleanup and is surrounded by "waste disposal and industrial activities in a designated brownfield land-use area." An option to the west also has enough capacity but is in a forested area designated as greenfield, according to the DOE. It's also removed from the current landfill's infrastructure. Another possible location, called the "dual site option," would require two sites, one in a brownfield and the other in a greenfield. The final option is an extension of the greenfield location in the dual site. Representatives of the DOE, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are expected to be present for the public information session. The meeting is "in preparation for the formal public comment period that will occur later this year," according to a news release. There's no timetable yet for a site decision, DOE spokesman Ben Williams said. "We're still working with regulators," he said. According to the consultant that conducted the city-funded study, the ideal location for nuclear waste is "high and dry out West." But the consultant also said the DOE has a policy of keeping such waste near where it originated. The lifetime cost of a new landfill has been estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. The Energy, Technology and Environmental Business Association is a nonprofit trade association of 130 companies that provide services and technologies to the DOE and other federal agencies, to state and city customers, and to commercial clients. Cocke County authorities recovered the body of a man from the Pigeon River just before 4 p.m. on Sunday (COCKE COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY). SHARE By News Sentinel Staff A South Carolina man and a Florida man have been identified as the victims of two separate drownings Saturday in the Pigeon River, according to incident reports. Richard William Arceneaux, age unavailable, of Aiken, S.C., was kayaking at 2 p.m. near the power house at Waterville when he got out of his boat and attempted to swim to shore, according to a Cocke County Sheriff's Department report. Arceneaux, who was described as a novice kayaker, was unable to swim through the swift water. Other kayakers pulled him to the riverbank and began CPR. He was later transported to Newport Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. According to the report, Arceneaux initially put on a life jacket and protective head gear. It is unclear in the report whether he removed his life jacket when he exited the kayak. According to the Cocke County Emergency Management Agency, Arceneaux possibly suffered a heart attack. His body was taken to the Regional Forensic Center in Knoxville for autopsy. Rescue crews responded to a second reported drowning at 7 p.m. Saturday near Pleasant Grove Road, where an intoxicated man was swept away as he waded into the river, according to a Sheriff's Department report. Emergency personnel searched the river for about three hours before suspending the search due to darkness. Search efforts resumed at 8 a.m. Sunday. The body of Ugler Rojas Garcia, age unavailable, of Wimauma, Fla. was located shortly before 4 p.m. Sunday approximately 1.5 miles downstream from where he was last seen, the incident report states. Garcia's body also was taken to the forensic center for autopsy. More details as they develop online and in Wednesday's News Sentinel. Delegates cheer during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Monday, July 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) SHARE Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe takes selfie with another delegate during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Monday, July 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) By Mark Harmon Former Knox County Commissioner Mark D. Harmon, a University of Tennessee professor of journalism and electronic media, is writing a "Delegate Diary" for the News Sentinel from the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Harmon, a columnist for the News Sentinel, was elected to attend as a delegate for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. PHILADELPHIA Red, white, and blue balloons are ready in the netting above Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia. The closing balloon drop is traditional, but lately I've been thinking about what is trending at this Democratic National Convention. Delegates here constantly are using their phones, checking on bus schedules, taking selfies, receiving text messages from campaigns, looking up something on the internet, taking a peek at email, or sending a quick note to friends and family. Monday night I even participated in a Facetime interview with a Nashville TV station. Brad Batt, a Johnson City delegate for Bernie Sanders, was pleased that at this convention he connected with some people he had known earlier only via Facebook. On a shuttle bus I met Michael Bearfoot from St. Paul, Minn. He used a GoFundMe campaign to help defer his delegate expenses. In our Tennessee delegation, Kae Robbins, a Sanders delegate from Johnson City, got a smartphone just so she could use it here. She practiced the features for about two weeks, but sill had something go wrong when using her phone to take a photograph with U.S. Sen. Al Franken. Both parties skew older in their electorates, though I did notice a trend at this DNC toward some prominent younger delegates. London Lamar is one. She is a force of nature, an energetic young woman who is passionate about politics and informed about public policy. If the Democratic Party wants to move young people to political awareness and action, the party will need to find and to inspire many more like her. She works for Stand for Children in her hometown of Memphis, but her road to this convention started in 2012 in St. Mary's College, near Notre Dame in Indiana. She started the College Democrats chapter, one outlet for her support of President Barack Obama's re-election. After graduation, she quickly rose in Tennessee Young Democrats and now is the organization's president, giving her a seat on the executive committee. Then the committee voted her an at-large spot as a Hillary Clinton delegate. Lamar describes her goal as assuring "black and brown children, and all children, feel accepted and wanted." She sees in Donald Trump a retreat to a pre-civil-rights-era racial divide. Regarding attracting young people, she advises, "The party has to take a look at itself and its platform, and ask if they are speaking to us." College affordability, quality elementary and secondary education for all, affordable housing and health coverage all are issues that she sees as meeting that goal. At Tuesday's delegates' breakfast meeting, Clarksville Mayor Kim McMillan laid out her city's success stories as one of the fastest growing in the country. She also reminisced of her time in the state Legislature. "When I was there, we respected the role of local government," she said. "I don't know if that's true anymore because of the actions of our state Legislature." Steve Cohen, Memphis-area congressman, took the microphone to say that the Republican Convention "looked like a Kiwanis Club in Humboldt" but the Democratic convention looks like America. State Rep. Mike Stewart, son of Knoxville's John and Nancy Stewart, also critiqued the Republicans. Stewart said the Ted Cruz and Koch Brothers wing of the party is at odds with nominee Donald Trump. "He's crazy," said Stewart, "but not their type of crazy." By Georgiana Vines of the Knoxville News Sentinel Amanda Kruel, an East Tennessee delegate for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders at the Democratic National Convention, was vetted for a visit by Florida Congresswoman and national party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz when she attended a private fundraiser in Knoxville in June. The vetting process and debate inside the Democratic National Committee staff as to whether Kruel should be allowed to attend were revealed over the weekend in emails by Wikileaks, a website devoted to leaking private and classified information. "I did not realize that (about the vetting process) and to my knowledge I was the only one vetted that way," Kruel said in a brief telephone interview with the News Sentinel in between meetings in Philadelphia on Monday. The DNC staff was aware Kruel was a field organizer for Sanders and made critical comments on social media about Wasserman Schultz. At the fundraiser at the home of Leanne and Rusty Comer in Deane Hill, Kruel was with a group of demonstrators at the subdivision's gated entrance prior to the event, for which she had paid $50 to attend. When it was time for the event, she went by car. A security person told her she couldn't go into the gated community with Bernie Sanders materials in the car and she said she told him, "I always have Bernie stuff in my car." She eventually was admitted. At the fundraiser, attended by about 40 people, Kruel said she had an opportunity to talk with Wasserman Schultz and they posed for a picture together, which she had as her Facebook picture on Monday. Kruel said she had the feeling Wasserman Schultz had been warned about who she was but the conversation was cordial. "There wasn't any incivility," she said. Kruel, an occasional student at the University of Tennessee, was elected a Sanders delegate at the 2nd Congressional District Caucus in March. Prior to the fundraiser, the Sanders campaign had made accusations that Wasserman Schultz and the national Democratic Party staff favored Hillary Clinton, expected to be officially nominated for president this week. Sanders felt the chair and the national committee should be nonpartisan; he also had come out in support of the congresswoman's opponent in her re-election bid as a U.S. representative. Wasserman Schultz announced after the leaked email dump that she would resign as chair at the end of the week. The emails show that staff discussed denying Kruel admission to the Deane Hill event and refunding her money. They allowed her to attend for fear of unfavorable publicity. The email quoted DNC chief financial officer Brad Marshall as saying, "on further thought, Kruel could turn this back on us and say she was denied attendance by the big bad establishment." The emails also show that the Knox County Democratic Party was not heavily involved in the event until longtime activist Sylvia Woods asked that Cameron Brooks, the county party chairman, be invited to take her place since she would be out of town. Kruel told the Washington Examiner that knowing what she knows now, she wonders if a man in the background of the picture of her and Waserman Schultz wasn't a security person. "I joked after the event that he seemed to have been 'assigned' to me, as he was never far from me. That joke may have been a fact," she said. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, addresses Tennessee's Democratic delegation Tuesday morning, July 26, 2016, during a breakfast at a hotel outside Philadelphia. (JOEY GARRISON/TENNESSEAN) SHARE By Joey Garrison, USA TODAY NETWORK Tennessee PHILADELPHIA U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, on Tuesday called for the firing of Democratic National Committee officials whose antagonistic remarks against Bernie Sanders were revealed in a batch of recently leaked emails. Cohen, addressing Tennessee's Democratic delegation at a Tuesday morning breakfast, took particular exception to emails that showed a top DNC official proposing that Sanders' Jewish faith be questioned in two late-primary states to expose him as an atheist. "For a party to question his religion, or lack thereof, as a way to defeat that person, those people should resign and if they don't resign they should be fired," Cohen said, drawing applause from Tennessee's Sanders' delegates. "And it's not just politics, it's what's right. What's right is you don't do those things. "Some people will think, 'Oh well, politically we shouldn't do it and those people have done X, Y and Z for the party.' But they crossed the Rubicon. They crossed the line." In one email to other DNC staffers that was leaked, the party's Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall said they should get someone in Kentucky or West Virginia to ask Sanders whether he believes in God. He wrote that he thought he had read Sanders was an atheist and that Southern Baptists would "draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist." DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has already announced her resignation over the leaked emails, effective at the conclusion of this week's convention in Philadelphia. In an interview with The Tennessean, Cohen said he wasn't sure how many party officials should lose their jobs over the content in the emails, nor did he have any particular names. He only pointed to the individual not identifying Marshall by name who was behind the atheist email. "It really turned my stomach and I don't want that type of mentality," he said. "I find that politics despicable, and I say it as an American but also as a politician who has had race and religion used against me." Cohen, who is a white Jew representing a predominantly black district, referenced past fights he had with the Democratic Party in the early 1980s to win his seat to the Tennessee state Senate. He said party official moved the date of his first Senate election in 1982 to try to sway the results, but he won anyway. "The party was against me in '82. And the party has been against me in other times. And I've been a victim of religion being used against me, so it pains me to see the party get involved to work against Bernie or anybody." Though he said he knows why some Sanders supporters are angry, Cohen, who is also a Tennessee super-delegate, called on them to get behind Clinton. "I know there's some Bernie folks here, and I know some of ya'll are upset that Bernie's not the nominee. Bernie wants you to be for Hillary." In other remarks Tuesday, Cohen blasted Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam over his free-tuition plan for Tennessee community colleges, continuing a line of attack the congressman has made since the governor rolled out Tennessee Promise two years ago. Cohen, who as a state senator helped create Tennessee's lottery to fund the HOPE Scholarship, accused Tennessee Promise of sapping away valuable dollars from the lottery surplus that he said should be reserved for the HOPE Scholarship, which helps qualifying students with tuition to four-year public universities in Tennessee. Meanwhile, Cohen slammed Republican presidential Donald Trump as a "sociopath, narcissist, egomaniac," and "embarrassment to the United States of America." He also got some laughs when he talked about the diversity of the Republican Party, which has struggled to gain support of minorities. "When I look at the Republican side of the aisle, just as when I looked at the Republican convention on television, it looks like a Kiwanis Club in Humboldt, later joking: "I hope none of you are in the Kiwanis Club in Humboldt. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump flash two thumbs up as he introduces his wife, Melania, during the opening day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Monday, July 18, 2016. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Last week I watched as the remnants of the Republican Party the same one that produced Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower nominated Donald Trump as their presidential candidate. They called it the Republican National Convention, as usual, but it would be more aptly named "The Donald Trump Extravaganza" or "The Greatest Reality Television Show Ever Produced." Hillary Clinton, during the first day of the event, may have received more mentions from speakers and delegates than she has been given by her own campaign over the past several months. Despite numerous Benghazi investigations that turned up no criminal activity, Clinton is still presumed guilty of something just because enemies want it so badly. Republicans know that if you tell a lie enough times, a lot of people will begin to believe it. On Day One, we heard from television personalities Willie Robertson, the wealthy, university-educated, bearded faux backwoodsman of "Duck Dynasty," and Scott Baio, who rode well into middle age on his fame as Chachi Arcola from "Happy Days" and "Joanie Loves Chaci." Well heck, everybody loves Chachi and apparently there are some people in the Trump campaign who respect Baio's lengthy experience in political science and matters of government. Maybe there will be an ambassadorship in his future. The big event of the first day other than candidate Trump breaking tradition by showing up to introduce his wife was Melania Trump's speech. Within a short time it was noted that passages seemed to have been lifted from a speech delivered by Michelle Obama to Democrats in 2008. Plagiarism is an ugly word that, in this case, could have been avoided by acknowledging the words that appear to have been taken from Obama's speech. The acknowledgment, of course, would have caused problems of another kind. I don't believe Melania Trump is guilty, because it never crossed my mind that she actually wrote the speech. Meredith McIver, reportedly a former ballet dancer, English major and Trump employee, stepped forward and explained how it happened. According to McIver, Obama was one of several women for whom Melania Trump had expressed admiration and the words were inadvertently put into the speech, barely changed and not acknowledged. It's plausible to me and at least we now have the truth a rarity in Trump circles. Because I'm only human and not as young as I once was, I mostly watched the evening events, not the entire affair. I don't know if the number of empty seats or the no-show politicians spoke louder to me. The absence of Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush and other prominent party members such as former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Gov. John Kasich, and Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio spoke volumes about the disarray in the Grand Old Party. As an American, it pains me to see what is happening in Cleveland, but as a citizen who votes, I will say that the spectacle is just what I expected from a self-serving, narcissistic opportunist like Donald Trump, who acquired this nomination by appealing to the worst in human nature. A poster of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Vilnius, Lithuania, on May 14, 2016. (Photo: Liutauras Strimaitis, AP) Call it the Putin Election if you want, because we have two candidates leading the pack who seem, in one way or another, likely to prove congenial to Vladimir Putin. On the Democratic side, we have Hillary Clinton, whose secret private-server emails are almost certainly already in the hands of Russian intelligence (probably along with several other nations spy services as well). What that means is Putin can embarrass Hillary or worse whenever he wants. Were getting a small foretaste of that in the release of hacked Democratic National Committee emails this weekend. The emails show dirty tricks aimed at Bernie Sanders, including a plan to go after his lack of faith. They also show the DNC and Clinton folks getting awfully chummy with some allegedly professional journalists, and putting pressure on news organizations and show how staff worried that letting a Florida lawyer with ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whose private island Bill Clinton had visited several times, host a fundraiser might cause trouble. These have already brought heat to the Clinton campaign, as Bernie supporters lash out at a system that looks rigged. But the real point, I suspect, is to deliver a message: Hillary is vulnerable, and if she crosses Putin shell pay. The leaks that are out are allegedly from a hacker calling himself Guccifer 2.0, but given that many suspect this is just a blind for Russian intelligence. And Hillary has some shady Russian deals in her background, too. Im pretty sure the message is received. So if you dont want a president whos likely to be influenced by Putin, you should vote for Donald Trump, right? Well, the good news is that Putin probably wont be blackmailing Trump. The bad news is that he might not have to, because Trump has openly admired Putin, and the two appear to be on the same page about many things. Trump has said that he doesnt think the Baltic States are worth going to war over, expressed dissatisfaction with NATO and suggested that the U.S. shouldnt get on its high horse (to use an Obama phrase) about other countries treatment of dissent, given our problems at home. So it seems possible, and maybe even likely, that our two main choices in November will be a woman whos subject to blackmail by the Russians, and a man who generally sympathizes with the Russians. Thats good news for Putin, but probably not such good news for the rest of us. Of course, Hillary could be harder to blackmail than Putin thinks its hard to blackmail someone who has no shame, and who is used to escaping the consequences of her actions. And the press is, as usual, on Hillarys side, soft-pedaling the WikiLeaks story while Twitter users accuse the platform of hiding it from the trending section. And Trump, as Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has suggested, might change his mind on Putin once he gets the classified intelligence briefings. Much of his pro-Putinism could stem from admiration of a strong, outspoken leader whos not afraid to stand up for his own country. Perhaps once Trump starts thinking about standing up for his own country, hell realize that Putin is generally an adversary. The other bright spot, if you can call it that, is that neither Clinton nor Trump represents a big change from the current administration. President Obama famously promised Russia more flexibility after the 2012 election, and in fact he has done very little to frustrate Putins ambitions in Eastern Europe or the Middle East. So theres that. Ive written about our dysfunctional system for choosing candidates for the White House, but this is just more evidence that we need to do better. Hope is not a plan, and when youre down to hoping that your candidates wont be as bad as they seem, something is deeply wrong. Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a University of Tennessee law professor and the author of The New School: How the Information Age Will Save American Education from Itself, is a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors. In late 1923 and early 1924, Knoxville's city government and its citizens were engaged in developing a modern city, according to newspaper reports at the time. Efforts were afoot to improve the water service, the telephone system, race relations and equality for women. There was even a discussion about hiring policewomen. On Dec. 14, 1923, Councilman A.D. Albright told City Council that he knew of families without running water who could be serviced with a length of one-inch pipe if extended just 100 feet or less from the main. Other councilmen echoed his sentiments, including W.E. Peters, who said that "In 'Mucktwon' the water mains had been laid right up to a section of the city occupied by negroes and carried no further." He said blacks were taxpayers, either directly or through landlords. Councilman E.E. Ailor commented, "In Lincoln Park a number of residents have come to me and offered to dig the ditches and fill them if the city would furnish the pipe and give them water connections." Four days later City Council was asked by the Water Works Committee to submit to the voters a referendum to approve a $2.1 million bond issue for a new water plant to be constructed on 10 acres of land on the Tennessee River near the mouth of Williams Creek. Telephone use in Knoxville had vastly increased by December 1923. The goal for new phones had been set at 600, but the total exceeded 800 and was project to reach 1,100 in 1924. "In our opinion 1923 was the greatest year in the telephone industry in Tennessee," declared E.F. Garrett, district manager of the Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph Company. "During the year the Bell System in Tennessee used 30 carloads of cable, two carloaeds of copper wire, and 134 carloads of poles," he said. On May 9, 1924, a group of black men met at the Carnegie Library on Vine Avenue to form a chamber of commerce. In attendance were 60 citizens who wanted to organization to affiliate with the Knoxville Board of Commerce. The Board of Commerce's manager, E.N. Farris, said, "The larger white organization will receive the cooperation of the negroes. The plans of the white people can be given directly to the negroes through their Chamber of Commerce and thus the work of all the people would be amalgamated in promoting a greater and better Knoxville." Mrs. L. Crozier French called a meeting on Jan. 29, 1924, at the Lyceum Building to present the principles of the Women's Party. She had recently attended the 75th anniversary of the first Equal Rights Convention in Washington, D.C. "There is no intention of putting out a woman's ticket, but the effort of the Women's Party will be directed to having political parties put out qualified women as candidates for office," she said. In an address to the Knox County League of Women Voters on Jan. 10, 1924, City Manager Louis Brownlow said Knoxville would have policewomen "just as soon as the proper survey of conditions can be made and its needs in this respect ascertained." Brownlow recalled some of his experiences in establishing the first policewomen's bureau in the country when he was a commissioner in Washington, D.C., where 95,000 women had come to the capital city to engage in war work. "The establishment of a women's bureau in any city will tend to suppress commercialized vice," he said. "It will make prohibition more effective. It wall add power to social work. But we ought to think about it in terms of young girls that can be saved, and this without policewomen in your community questionably will be limited." SHARE One would expect Bill Haslam, our Republican governor, to be out front, or at least prompt, in support of Donald Trump, our Republican nominee for president. Instead, like a typical politician, he procrastinates, losing the optimal opportunity for maximum effectiveness and leaving huge numbers of his Republican supporters across the state wondering if he is alive or just gone to Colorado. His silence quietly offers comfort to Hillary Clinton's supporters and clearly shows what kind of president he would make should he dare to run one who kicks the can on down the road. Smart, effective and diligent presidential leadership has been sorely and obviously missing for the past seven years under President Barack Obama. Why it takes our governor so long to see the right choice for president and get behind him is strange. Lack of action by our leaders doesn't go unnoticed and is not soon forgotten. James D. Stout, Kingston SHARE I am replying to the July 13 response from the writer advocating the "self-sustaining" attributes of induction heating power production. That response makes representations that are not supported by the records of the U.S. Patent Office. Additionally, the writer's claims of a "self-sustaining" power generation process would violate the second law of thermodynamics. The writer claims that "PENV has a patented reverse condenser." Online searches I conducted in the Patent Office's database revealed no patents assigned to Phoenix Energy of Nevada or PENV. In PENV's process, alternating current power from an external source is converted into thermal energy via induction heating (first conversion process). The thermal energy heats water into steam, which then flows into a turbine connected to a generator to produce electricity (second conversion process). Since energy can neither be created nor destroyed, the amount of electrical energy produced in the second conversion process can never exceed the initial amount of AC power. The writer describes PENV's process as "self-sustaining once operational" and states that "10-15 percent of the power produced would be diverted to operate the system." We would need an initial injection of 100 megawatts of electrical energy from some external source to produce the initial 100-megawatt output of electrical energy. In the next second, 15 percent of that output (15 megawatts) would be diverted to power the induction heaters, thereby producing only 15 megawatts of electrical output. This process would continuously scale down by 85 percent in each time increment until the plant no longer produces any measurable power. The writer's claim of a "self-sustaining" power plant is just another version of a perpetual motion machine that would violate the second law of thermodynamics. Richard T. Redano, Knoxville By Choi Sung-jin The two foreign businesses that are most talked about in Korea are German automaker Volkswagen and Swedish furniture company Ikea, criticized for allegedly having discriminated against local consumers. Volkswagen is suspected of having obtained local clearance for its cars with faked documents about their noise, fuel efficiency and emissions. The company has paid compensation to U.S. buyers but refused to do the same for Korean consumers. Ikea is pushing ahead with sales of chests and dressers that have safety problems here, although the company has stopped their sales in the United States and Canada, and extended the recall to China. In an Environment Ministry hearing Monday, Audi Volkswagen Korea officials said there could have been some mistakes in the process of drafting the reports, ministry officials said while wanting not to be named. Earlier this month, the ministry said it might revoke the certifications of 79 vehicle models of Audi Volkswagen Korea allegedly affected by the fraudulent documentation and suspend their local marketing until these problems are rectified. It will make the final decision on Friday. Volkswagen officials have said the sales ban on 79 models is excessive punishment for documentation errors through mistakes or carelessness. Government officials view it differently, however. "Although the company officials allege these have resulted from simple mistakes, these practices that ignore regulations and procedures contain grave problems that can shake the very foundation of the government's certification system," said Kim Jung-soo, head of the Transportation Environment Research Institute. "Sufficient administrative measures should be taken by related laws." Two weeks ago, Thomas Kuehl, president of Volkswagen Korea, said: "All these controversies have little to do with vehicle safety and functions. Most media stories are not true." The remarks caused even more controversy here, with angry consumers saying the automaker, which has agreed to pay compensation of 17.4 trillion won ($15.3 billion) in the United States, is trying to get away with a "social contribution" of about 10 billion won. On Monday, Audi Volkswagen Korea said it would voluntarily suspend sales of the 79 models in question. Market watchers interpreted the move as aimed at maintaining a low profile until public uproar settles and avoiding the heavy penalties, from a maximum 1 billion won to 10 billion won, imposed on a car sold from Thursday when the new rule goes into effect. Experts, while criticizing the opportunistic attitudes of the automaker, point out two factors behind its discriminatory treatment of Korean consumers. One is the lack of relevant rules and systems, such as the punitive compensation scheme in the United States. The other is some Korean consumers' selfish behavior. Immediately after the emissions scandal erupted, some motorists rushed to grab the automaker's discount sales opportunities, saying: "Volkswagen cars are still better than Korean vehicles in emission and noise." These consumers seemed not to care about the foreign company's dualistic stance and deceptive marketing. It was completely different from their boycott of humidifier disinfectant maker Oxy Reckitt Benckiser. "The difference between the two is Oxy can kill you and your family but the pollution by Volkswagen cars is shared by all," a commentator said. The Swedish self-assembly furniture seller's behavior also runs counter to the government's warning. Not only is Ikea pushing ahead with sales of the dressers with safety problems, it is also promoting similar furniture on its website. Ikea has recalled 360 million Malm dressers in the U.S. and 9 million in Canada, but has taken no similar steps in Korea, just promising refunds and providing fixing equipment to those who want them. An Ikea Korea official said: "The website screens are changed regularly by the headquarters office and have nothing to do with the promotion of specific items." By Lee Hyo-sik Nearly 300 people have filed a class-action lawsuit against Coway over its defective ice/water purifiers, demanding some 740 million won ($655,000) in compensation. Lawyer Nam Hee-woong submitted a petition to the Seoul Central District Court, Tuesday, on behalf of 297 users of Coway's three nickel-contaminated water purifier models: CHPI-380N (CPI-380N), CHPCI-430N and CPSI-370N. The lawsuit demands that Coway pay each plaintiff 2.5 million won: 1.5 million won in health examination fees and 1 million won in consolation money. Nam said Coway did not notify its customers of the defect even though it was aware that the purified water was contaminated by nickel, stressing that they suffered significant health damage. "We need to conduct a thorough health exam on those who drank nickel-tainted water to find out what physical damage they suffered," Nam said. "The court will side with the plaintiffs because they were traumatized by the fact that they were exposed to hazardous material for an extended period of time." The lawyer said another group of Coway customers, which could reach as many as 1,000, will file another class-action lawsuit against the company next week. Coway said it became aware of the lawsuit from media reports. "When we are formally notified by the court, we will deal with the matter in a faithful and responsible manner," a company spokesman said. On July 4, Coway issued a recall and apologized, saying that it would compensate all buyers of its three controversial water purifier models. It also said it would take full responsibility for health issues caused by the defect. However, the company has not been able to ease public outrage because it intentionally did not tell the users for more than a year about the defect. Instead of notifying consumers of its findings, Coway had repaired and exchanged the affected products through after-sales service. According to Nam, at the center of the lawsuit is whether users of the defective ice/water purifiers suffered any health damage from drinking nickel-contaminated water. The lawyer argues that even when consumed in small amounts, nickel can cause cancer, allergies, asthma and other illnesses. Currently, the Ministry of Environment and the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards are jointly conducting a study on nickel's harmful effects on humans. Coway said it has completed about 80 percent of the recall by collecting about 92,000 purifiers in question. It plans to take back the remaining 20 percent or 18,000 by the end of this month. By Choi Sung-jin Domestic biosimilar products are rapidly expanding their market share in many European countries and industry watchers are wondering whether the Korean makers also will be able to duplicate their success in U.S. markets. Biogen, a U.S. multinational biotechnology company, announced its second-quarter results last Friday, including the sales records of Benepali, an arthritis drug developed by Samsung Bioepis and marketed by it in Europe. The second-quarter sales of Benepali totaled about 17 billion won ($15 million), an increase of 7.5 times from the first quarter, Biogen said. Samsung Bioepis is expected to record sales of almost 100 billion won from Benepali alone. Samsung Bioepis has been making Benepali, its first biosimilar product, in Biogen's factory in Denmark. As its sales increase, however, the firm has signed a contract with its parent company, Samsung Biologics, for the production of the biosimilar medicine, company officials said. Sales of Inflectra, a rheumatoid arthritis treatment developed by Celltrion and marketed by Pfizer in Europe since 2013, are also growing steeply. Its share in the Norwegian market, for instance, was 9 percent in February but soared to 93 percent in April. The Oslo government reportedly is encouraging use of the biosimilar medicine to save money in its medical budget. Particularly, Celltrion's biosimilars are expanding their markets from Northern Europe to Western Europe. "The market shares of Inflectra have reached 97 percent in Denmark, 88 percent in Finland, 33.5 percent in Sweden, 27 percent in the Netherlands, 14 percent in Germany and 11 percent in France," said Steinar Madsen, a medical director in the Norwegian government. The Korean companies' robust performances in European markets are attributed to their swifter obtaining of permissions than their foreign competitors. They are contacting foreign governments and hospitals with global pharmaceutical companies as their marketing partners, offering bold price discounts. The brisk sales of Korean biosimilars in Europe are prompting other Korean firms to make additional applications for permission. Unlike Europe, however, sales of Korean biosimilar medicines in the U.S. market will likely face an uphill battle, industry executives said. Fortunately, patent disputes are almost over for Remicade's biosimilars, for which domestic companies have completed development and won marketing permission. Celltrion has obtained permission for its biosimilar medicine Remsima, and Samsung Bioepis applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its medicine in June. Although an FDA advisory body has recommended permission for biosimilars developed by Novartis and Amgen, their sales at market may not be easy, industry experts said. According to Bio Century, a market research agency, Abbvie, the marketing company of Humira, alleges its substance patent continues through 2022. Major patents for another original medicine, Enbrel, also expired in 2011 but its developer, Amgen, claims its patents should be protected until 2029. Even if Korean companies can surmount high patent barriers, they face fierce competition with foreign rivals because there are as many as 16 biosimilars for Humira. And companies that have developed two of the 16 biosimilar products have already applied for FDA permission Biocon, an Indian company, has applied by teaming with Italy's Milan, and Coherus of the United States has submitted its application. Indian and Chinese companies are strong challengers. Zydus Cadila and Reliance, two Indian pharmaceutical companies, are already selling Humira's biosimilars in their domestic market. 3S Bio, a Chinese company, has begun marketing its product in China and India. These biosimilar medicines are ready to challenge in U.S. markets, emerging as strong competitors for Korean companies, the experts said. This is the second of a series highlighting industry leaders that struggle to deal with their flaws and mistakes. ED. By Kim Tae-gyu In the global consulting world, McKinsey has been king of the lucrative market for a long time. In fact, McKinsey alumni are constantly invited as top management to Fortune 500 companies. Any consulting company's work with its clients is supposed to remain secret. However, the walls have ears and a few interesting stories have been disclosed to the general public and McKinsey is not an exception. The business bellwether, which was set up 90 years ago, may have bragging rights for many successful cases, but there were also debacles like its involvement with U.S. energy company Enron and its role in promoting the securitization of mortgage assets, cited as one of the main reasons for the 2008 financial crisis. The consultancy, which opened a Seoul office in 1991, also has been directly or indirectly involved in some corporate and financial failures in Asia's No. 4 economy. McKinsey would argue that it is up to the management team of its clients to decide whether or not to accept its advice. In response, criticism has risen that such a stance is not responsible for an entity, which charges prohibitively high prices for its services. Here are some cases related to Korean companies, which McKinsey may not be proud of. LG Electronics In the first decades of the new millennium, LG Electronics was touted as the closest rival of Samsung Electronics in Korea Inc. Yet, the firm lost the status in a dramatic way by failing to deal with the international transition to smartphones in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Surrounded by several consultants-turned-executives and McKinsey, then Vice Chairman Nam Yong opted to go for the conventional breadwinner of feature phones instead of the rising star. It was in line with the management style in his former workplace at LG Telecom -- without investing in next-generation networks, he focused on marketing and reducing costs to improve the bottom line of the country's smallest mobile carrier. The strategy worked for LG Telecom and appeared to work for LG Electronics soon after he took over the latter in 2007 as the electronics giant earned huge profits in handsets in 2008 and 2009. The firm's overall sales almost doubled by 2009 compared to 2006. But the popularity of smartphones crucified LG Electronics the next year and Nam was ousted from his job. After his departure, some even claimed that Nam should not take credit for the good performance of LG in the late 2000s. Instead, they contended that Nam's predecessor of former Vice Chairman Kim Ssang-soo's all-out efforts to improve technology bore fruit. In the aftermath of the voluntary but somewhat disgraceful exit from LG, Nam failed to take the helm of another company and once worked as an outside director of POSCO, a steelmaker. While he was in control of LG Electronics, top aides came from McKinsey and the company reportedly paid some $30 million for McKinsey's consulting services every year. The widespread belief is that McKinsey recommended Nam to bet on feature phones. There is still a controversy on how much McKinsey is responsible for LG Electronics' ill-fated disregard for the upcoming killer device -- the smartphone. But many LG workers seem to blame McKinsey and former Vice Chairman Nam for the fatal mistake. "There is no what if' in history. But I think LG would not lag behind like this if Nam did not depend on McKinsey that much," said an LG official. "I believe McKinsey contributed much to LG's freefall in the Korean corporate hierarchy." By contrast, some refuse to point the finger at McKinsey since LG Electronics' archrival, Samsung Electronics, also failed to predict the fast paradigm shift to smartphones. But the latter managed to catch up through its Galaxy products while the former has never done so. Doosan Group Doosan Group faced reputational risks last year with regard to its aggressive restructuring programs for multiple subsidiaries. Along with the conglomerate, McKinsey also grabbed headlines in newspapers. As one of the oldest groups in Korea, Doosan originally had a diversified business portfolio ranging from restaurants, beverages and breweries to the construction and defense sectors. However, it started to focus on heavy industry in the mid-1990s through 2000s by dumping such outfits as Oriental Brewery and Korean operations of 3M, Nestle, KFC and Burger King. With the cash, Doosan went on a shopping spree for heavy industry firms in the 2000s including Korea Heavy Industries & Construction, Koryeo Industrial Development, Daewoo Heavy Industries & Machinery and Bobcat, the world's top supplier of small construction equipment. The advice of McKinsey reportedly played a crucial role in Doosan's shift to heavy industry and that's why the consultancy also came under fire when Doosan had to extensively cut its payroll. The critics' rationale is that Doosan could have coped with the recent difficulties in a better way if it had not sold off the business-to-customer enterprises, which rake in cash nowadays. A Doosan spokesman said that it was not McKinsey but Doosan management, which decided to conduct the conversion of the corporate structure. "Doosan could grow at a fast pace because we focused on heavy industries," the spokesman said. Samsung Life Few are trying to outspokenly criticize McKinsey but there is an exception at Samsung Life, which struggled after almost halving the size of its sales network in the 1980s. In 1981, McKinsey advised the country's largest life insurer to restructure its sales organization, which was composed of mostly female agents, so as to care more about the quality of the sales rather than the quantity. The life insurer accepted the advice and reduced the number of agents from more than 60,000 to 35,000. But the results of the drastic step were far from satisfactory. "When former Samsung Life employees meet, we talk about the 1981 measure more often than not. The conclusion is always the same McKinsey led us in a wrong direction," said a former Samsung Life director. "After the unprecedented restructuring, Samsung suffered from great setbacks throughout the 1980s. I think the negative ripple effect still continues." Another former Samsung Life executive echoed the opinion. "Even those who spearheaded consulting with McKinsey and insisted on the acceptance of its advice now show regret," he said. "Samsung should not have asked for McKinsey consulting at all. Then, it would have been able to save exorbitantly expensive fees without losing market share. It was a hard lesson to learn." By Kim Jae-won The nation's tax agency has been auditing Chinese smartphone maker Huawei's Korean unit since last week, looking into transactions with its headquarters in Shenzhen, southern China, company officials said Tuesday. Huawei Korea said that a group of investigators from the National Tax Service (NTS) have been examining its financial documents as part of their regular tax audit of the company. Companies with sales of more than 500 billion won are subject to the agency's regular tax audits every five years. "We are under tax audit, but that is nothing unusual," said a Huawei spokeswoman. "No specific issues have been raised yet." The tax audit comes two months after Huawei sued Samsung Electronics in the U.S. and China, claiming that the Korean IT giant infringed on as many as 11 patents related to the industry standard for fourth-generation (4G) mobile devices. Sources familiar with international taxation said that the tax agency may look into Huawei Korea's internal transactions with its headquarters, examining whether they manipulated their transfer price to evade corporate taxes here. Transfer price is a key issue in international taxation as many global companies manipulate prices in their trading with overseas subsidiaries to cut profits intentionally in countries imposing higher corporate tax rates. The audit is the latest case of the Chinese company being hit by the Korean government. Last month, the prosecution raided Huawei's local unit in downtown Seoul, seizing documents related to a Korean executive of the firm suspected of stealing telecommunication technology from Ericsson-LG. In 2015, Huawei's revenue reached 395 billion Chinese yuan ($60.8 billion), up 37 percent from a year ago, according to the company. Its net profits reached 36.9 billion yuan. Huawei Carrier, Enterprise, and Consumer Business Groups all achieved strong growth. Huawei is a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) provider. It is the third-largest smartphone maker in the world, having a market share of 8.3 percent in the first quarter, following the global leader Samsung Electronics with 23.2 percent and the second-largest player Apple with 14.8 percent. The Chinese company has established a competitive ICT portfolio of end-to-end products in telecom and enterprise networks, devices and cloud computing. Its ICT products, and services are used in more than 170 countries and regions, serving over one-third of the world's population. By Nam Hyun-woo KDB Life, the insurance unit of Korea Development Bank (KDB), is failing to attract domestic investors to take over the bank's stake in the firm. The state-run lender is seeking to sell off its insurer as part of corporate downsizing, but according to industry sources Tuesday, low interest in the sales may force KDB to shed the unit for a less-than-ideal price. The book price of the stake is estimated to be 700 billion won ($615.7 million). KDB appointed Credit Suisse as lead manager to sell the 85.05 percent stake. The bank indirectly holds the stake through a limited liability company (60.35 percent) and a private equity fund (24.7 percent), both of which were organized with Consus Asset Management, when it acquired the former Kumho Life Insurance and changed it into KDB Life in 2010. Four years later, when the private equity fund was about to expire, KDB made two botched attempts to sell the insurer, but failed to narrow the price gap in negotiations. The maturity date was delayed to February next year. Should the third bid fail, KDB will be forced to delay the maturity again. KDB is selling the insurance unit in order to streamline itself and attract private investors. One of the investors in the private equity fund is the National Pension Service. Because other investors, including Korean Re and Kumho Asiana, placed significant amounts of money into KDB's acquisition of Kumho Life Insurance, KDB will be heavily blamed if it fails to recollect some 850 billion won it had invested into KDB Life. Despite the bank's efforts, the M&A market is tepid over KDB Life, dealing a heavy blow to hopes of selling the stake for 1 trillion won. Sources say the numbers show that KDB Life has no merit over other insurers. KDB Life posted a net profit of 45.7 billion won in the first quarter of this year, down 46.6 percent or 21.3 billion won year-on-year. Its net profit last year, 27.6 billion won, was less than half of the 2014 net profit of 65.3 billion won. The risk-based capital (RBC) ratio of KDB Life was 156.1 percent at the end of March, the lowest among 25 life insurers operating in Korea. The RBC ratio is a key index assessing insurers' financial soundness and a ratio below 150 percent is seen a problematic by the country's financial regulator. KDB Life posted 178.5 percent last year, but this plummeted by 22.4 percentage points in just three months. "The domestic insurance market is already saturated," said an insurance company official, asking not to be named. "Unless it is very attractive, investors are not likely to make aggressive moves." KDB said it will announce the bidding for KDB Life as early as next month and the process will begin in November. However, the timeframe is also not on KDB's side, overshadowed by local private equity MBK Partners' selling of ING Life. The bidding process for ING Life is reported to be scheduled for next month, with three Chinese investors vying for the 100 percent stake up for sale, three years after it was sold to MBK from ING Group for 1.8 trillion won. Since 2013, ING Life has shown substantial growth. The company's assets amount to around 30 trillion won as of April and it posted a net profit of 304.8 billion won last year. Yu In-chon in a scene from "Hamlet" / Courtesy of Seensee Company By Kwon Mee-yoo The year 2016 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of the world's most celebrated playwright, William Shakespeare. It coincides with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the late Korean thespian Lee Hae-rang (1916-1989). Lee is a pioneer of the modern Korean theater, who began as an actor and later made his name as a director. He staged Shakespeare's "Hamlet" in its full-length for the first time in 1951. The last play he prepared before his death in 1989 was also "Hamlet." To commemorate the two master thespians, the National Theater of Korea (NTOK) and the Seensee Company are staging an unprecedented production of "Hamlet," featuring a group of veteran actors whose average age is 66, at the Main Hall Hae of the NTOK. From the eldest Chon Moo-song, 75, to the youngest Han Myeong-gu, 56, the actors exude extraordinary presence on stage, taking the lead roles of Hamlet (played by the former culture minister Yu In-chon) and Claudius (Jung Dong-hwan) as well as the minor roles such as the actors of a traveling troupe. A scene from "Hamlet" / Courtesy of Seensee Company The play is packed with the cream of the crop in Korean theater all nine of the actors are winners of the Lee Hae-rang Award, one of the most prestigious awards given to Korean thespians. Director Sohn Jin-chaek and set designer Park Dong-woo are also winners of the Lee Hae-rang award. "Hamlet" is one of the longest Shakespearean plays, but playwright Bae Sam-sik trimmed it down to a two-hour and 40 minute production while maintaining the essence of the play within a play. Instead of using the traditional proscenium stage, in which a proscenium arch separates the stage from the audience, director Sohn chose to bring the audience onto the vast stage of the NTOK's main hall, installing a 600-seat Greek amphitheater style structure, immersing the audience in the play, despite its discomforts. This is the sixth time for actor-former minister Yu to play the anguished prince Hamlet, including Lee's posthumous production in 1989. Like the other actors in this production, Yu does not act out being young. Instead, he conveys the agony, despair and lunacy of the prince. Actress Yoon Suk-hwa, 60, plays the 17-year-old Ophelia, the ingenue who goes out of her mind as Hamlet rejects her and her father Polonius is killed by Hamlet. Director Sohn handed out two male supporting roles Hamlet's friend and aide Horatio and seasoned politician Polonius to top actresses Kim Sung-nyo and Park Jung-ja, respectively. This bold decision added a fresh twist to the show, representing how the thespians transcend age and gender. At the end of the play, the stage curtain separating the stage and the house goes up and the actors bow out to the front-of-the-house, the opposite of the traditional exit, spurring the audience to rethink the artistry of theater, acting and the time those actors spent on stage. The play runs for a limited run through Aug. 7. Tickets cost from 30,000 to 70,000 won. For more information, visit www.iseensee.com or call (02) 577-1987. Moon Chung-in, distinguished fellow of the Institute for Unification Studies at Yonsei University, stresses the importance of positive and creative diplomacy in solving the North Korean nuclear crisis, during a recent interview at Kim Dae-jung Presidential Library and Museum in western Seoul. / Photo by Choi Won-suk Guru calls for Koreas to resume talk to resolve problems on own initiatives By Choi Sung-jin The whole nation is seething with the scheduled deployment of a U.S. missile defense system by the end of next year. People mainly talk about whether the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system is environmentally safe, can actually intercept North Korea's nuclear missiles, and how Seoul must not let the U.S. missile shield alienate Beijing and Moscow, diplomatically and strategically, in a reversed priority of sorts. As at least one Korean guru of international politics sees it, however, the entire episode is like putting the cart before the horse, mistaking means for ends. Moon Chung-in, distinguished fellow of the Institute for Unification Studies at Yonsei University, thinks South Koreans might not have been involved in this dispute had the government genuinely strived to solve the North Korean nuclear crisis through dialogue instead of pressuring and blockading the reclusive regime. And he wonders why the Park Geun-hye administration is making the worst choice while it could make the best one. Sounds too obvious to be of much realistic help at this moment? Probably not. Moon, who was deeply involved in shaping inter-Korean relations under two liberal presidents, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, regards the ongoing political and social turmoil as the result of failed North Korea policies of their two conservative successors over the past eight-and-a-half years. And he still believes Seoul should, and can, take the lead in maintaining peace on this peninsula and keeping it from becoming a catalyst of a renewed Cold War. The internationally renowned scholar of political science was the only academician who accompanied the late Presidents Kim and Roh to their summits with former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Yet he declined offers from President Roh to head the National Intelligence Service or National Security Council, saying, "The cobbler should stick to his last." Moon retired after 35 years of teaching in the U.S. and Korea last month. The Korea Times met him at the Kim Dae-jung Presidential Library and Museum where he doubles as executive director. Q: What do you think of the ongoing political and social controversy? A: To me, all this has the appearance of putting the cart before the horse. Things would not have gotten as bad as they are now if the government had put more energy and wisdom into a negotiated solution of North Korea's nuclear issue. What it did instead was to shut all the doors to such possibilities, bent on only isolating and blocking the North till the end. I can hardly understand why Seoul is going toward the worst choice while it can move to better ones. Q: What are your views on the deployment of THAAD in this country? A: I don't think it is a good idea, militarily, economically and diplomatically. From a military utility point of view, a battery with 48 interception missiles alone cannot defend South Korea from hundreds of North Korean missiles arriving from numerous angles and directions. Those who believe in THAAD will soon call for introducing more batteries, which cost trillions of won each but cannot discern nuclear warheads from decoys, a huge waste of taxpayer money. And China and Russia would never believe it targets only North Korea, perceiving it as a grave threat to their national security. And such a "perception of threat" is highly subjective, which explains why the Chinese government has made clear that Seongju, a southeastern county as the proposed location for THAAD, could be its strategic target, in its first direct warning ever. I just hope the Korean Peninsula will not be the new divide between the northern axis composed of China, Russia, and North Korea, and the southern one of the U.S., Japan, and South Korea. Calamitous history can start from a seemingly trifling event. Q: The latest agreement between Seoul and Washington seems to have been made at the behest of the U.S. What could be the reasons for the U.S. to hurry? A: President Barack Obama might have wanted to complete his "pivot to Asia" policy with the deployment of THAAD in South Korea. And his military aides might have thought it would be safe to deploy while a conservative government is in power in Seoul. But I believe President Park Geun-hye might have wanted its deployment more badly than the Americans wanted it after North Korea's fourth nuclear test and Musudan missile launch in January this year. Q: What's the biggest reason North Koreans stick to their nuclear programs? A: It's the survival of the state and the regime through nuclear deterrence. North Koreans strongly perceive the U.S. will use nuclear weapons against them in the case of war. They of course know their dozens of warheads are nothing against America's several thousands, but want to maintain "minimal deterrence" by being able to hit U.S. troops in South Korea, Japan and Guam. The North's leadership also hopes it would solidify its legitimacy and regime security by enhancing its international prestige. And they want it to increase their bargaining leverage and gain bigger concessions from their adversaries. Q: Why is the relationship between the Koreas at its lowest in decades? A: I would characterize the two conservative governments of the past eight-and-a-half years by three "nos" no information, no competency and no responsibility. They were mostly ignorant of what's happening in North Korea. Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye said North Korea would collapse soon and unification is imminent. It was due to the dismal failure of intelligence about the North. Politicization and even purposeful distortion of intelligence about the North by collection and analysis agencies to please their final consumer, the chief executive, has been responsible for such failure. They were incompetent, failing to keep their promises to resolve the nuclear crisis peacefully through negotiations. Without really trying to denuclearize the North or at least freeze further progress, the two administrations dragged their feet, saying, "Time is on our side." While achieving almost nothing in inter-Korean affairs, they resorted to the (North's) collapse theory toward the end of their tenures. And they were irresponsible, putting all the blame on North Korea, and, to a less extent, China for failing to put the brakes on its communist ally. They believe South Korea and the U.S. have done nothing wrong, sharing not a modicum of responsibility, even a moral one. Q: Hawks oppose dialogue with North Korea, claiming it has never stopped developing nuclear weapons even when they had talks with the South and the U.S. A: I do not agree with them. Since the first nuclear crisis of 1994 was resolved by the Geneva Agreed Framework, North Korea had kept its promise of suspending nuclear development, freezing the plutonium plant in Yongbyon and letting IAEA inspectors be stationed in the country. The second nuclear crisis broke out in 2002 after the North felt the U.S. dragged its feet in implementing the Geneva Agreement. While sticking to its pledge to freeze the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, however, it turned toward the highly enriched uranium program as a hedge. Let's face reality. While the six-party talks were going on, the North made no nuclear provocations. It was in October 2006 when the U.S. tightened the financial noose around the North that the regime conducted its first nuclear test. As we all know, North Korea carried out the following three nuclear tests when the six-party talks stalled, and inter-Korean relations worsened. Q: What should South Korea do to turn the current situation around? A: To start with, the South and its leaders need to drop the wrong idea that the nuclear crisis is an issue between North Korea and the U.S. The truth is that only South Korea can alter the attitude of its biggest ally. Former President Kim Young-sam threatened to terminate the alliance unless the U.S. under the Bill Clinton administration abandoned its plans for a "surgical strike" on the Yongbyon nuclear facilities. Later, President Kim Dae-jung managed to revive his Sunshine Policy through tenacious persuasion of conservative U.S. President George W. Bush in February 2002, and even the allegedly anti-U.S. President Roh Moo-hyun pulled off the February 13, 2007, agreement to freeze the North's nuclear development through a summit with Bush in October 2006, pressuring the U.S. leader until the latter felt "mortified," according to the memoir of Condoleezza Rice. President Obama and his diplomatic aide, Jeff Bader, had some reservations about North Korea from the start, and the North's launch of a long-range rocket just before his speech on a "nuclear weapons-free world" in Prague on April 5, 2009, confirmed their convictions. As previous examples show, however, no one can influence Obama more than the South Korean president as far as US-North Korean affairs are concerned. It's clearly obvious that the two Koreas are the most important parties in issues related with the Korean Peninsula. With regards to the "intensity of preference," no one can beat North Korea. For its leader and elite, nuclear weapons and U.S.-North Korean relations are a matter of life and death. For the U.S. and China, however, the Korean Peninsula may be out of their top-10 priority issues. Even if South Korea is small fry compared with the G2, it can move the giant partners if its leader is determined enough. Instead the two conservative leaders went the opposite way, watching the faces of the big countries. Q: How should Seoul behave between Washington and Beijing? A: It has few other options but to take a balancing strategy while trying to maintain the status quo. But the current pattern of relying on the U.S. for security and depending on China for economy will not work any longer. All we can do is a "mini-max strategy," minimizing risks and maximizing benefits in our relations with the two superpowers. It would be good if South Korea could take the lead in creating a multilateral cooperation order for economy and the security of Northeast Asia which would allow Seoul to avoid the diplomacy of taking sides. But that is not possible without improving inter-Korean relations first. Q: How should Koreans seek the unification of their divided nation? A: It will be a long, gradual and complicated process, not coming all of a sudden as some conservatives think or hope. They cite the German unification as an example, which is completely wrong. The two Germanys had numerous and wide exchanges in political, economic and social areas before unification. The collapse of the Berlin Wall was like the last straw on the camel's back. Even if North Korea implodes, the North Koreans would never give up their sovereignty if inter-Korean ties remain as they are now. Q: Not a few compare the current Korea to that of about 120 years ago. What do you think? A: There are people who believe the four surrounding powers determine the fate of Korea. I don't agree with their balance of power determinism. The late 19th century should never recur. This is the 21st century and Korea is not the Joseon Kingdom. Koreans can change the security situation surrounding their divided peninsula, depending on what they think -- and do. Q: What are your plans for the future? A: I will be teaching at Yonsei University's Songdo Campus as a distinguished professor emeritus starting this fall semester. And I will also be teaching at the University of California in San Diego as a Krause Distinguished Fellow every winter quarter. And I am planning to write, at least one book each year hopefully. Q: No further plans to use your learning and experiences for the country? A: I am ready to play a role if needed, not as an administrator but as an advisor. I have so far been an unsuccessful scholar and professor because of too many outside activities. I don't want to end as one. An army commander was punished for referring to a female officer as "dol-sing" -- someone who has returned to being single. /Courtesy of Pixabay By Park Jae-hyuk An appellate court has backed a military court's penalty against an Army commander accused of sexually humiliating a divorced female officer. The Seoul High Court said it had found no legal fault with the military court's ruling, denying the commander's complaint. According to the court, the battalion commander, surnamed Choi, openly talked about the woman's divorce history to fellow officers when she came under his command in December 2013. The commander then described her as "dol-sing," a casual term referring to a divorced person that can be considered offensive, and said: "She is now available. Why don't you try?" "Dol" means return and "sing" means single. To put them together, "dol-sing" means "a person who returns to the league of singles." Feeling humiliated, the female officer filed a complaint against the commander with the Army headquarters and the commander was disciplined for "tarnishing the dignity of the military." He appealed, claiming he did not describe her as "dol-sing." Judge Kim Joo-hyun of the Seoul High Court rejected his bid, saying there were witnesses challenging the commander's claim. "Calling a female officer as dol-sing' was an act that could be considered derogatory and tarnishing the dignity of the military," the judge said. Park Cheon-wook, the head of an organization of Koreans in Catalonia, speaks to a National Assembly official at the National Assembly office on July 1, after delivering documents demanding the reopening of the South Korean consulate general office in Barcelona. / Courtesy of Park Cheon-wook By Lee Kyung-min Some 1,500 Korean residents in and around Barcelona, Spain, are calling for the reopening of the South Korean consulate general office in that city amid a growing number of Korean tourists there, Tuesday. Park Cheon-wook, the head of an organization of Koreans in Catalonia, Asociacion de Coreanos de Catalunya, said he recently submitted a petition with 9,201 signatures to both the National Assembly and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The consulate general was shut down in 1993, five years after it was opened in 1988, citing the small number of Korean residents there and the lack of a budget. However, the number of Korean tourists visiting the country is on a steep rise: 430,000 last year from 312,000 in 2015 and 167,000 in 2014. More than 70 percent of them visited Barcelona. Park said that reopening the office is crucial to help provide Korean tourists with the basic consular services involving visa, passport, notarization and other official documents needed to help their family members receive legal protection in a foreign country. "Currently, Catalonia comprising Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona with some 1,500 Koreans residents sees a daily average of 1,200 Korean visitors including students, business people, and tourists," Park said. "If any of them loses a passport, or gets into an accident, the nearest place they can go for help is the Korean embassy in Madrid which is located some 650 kilometers away from Catalonia. Until a new passport is issued, they are without any identification, which is very dangerous in a foreign country," he added. Last year alone, those who went to Madrid to get a new passport after losing theirs in Catalonia accounted for 60 percent of the total of 1,000 visas reissued by the embassy. The opening will help not only tourists, but also residents to ensure their right to vote in national elections, Park said. "Voting is an obligation and a right. Opening the office here would greatly help protect overseas Koreans' rights and interests, thus helping the country," he added. Twenty-three years after closure, Barcelona has become the largest city in Spain in terms of commerce, culture, art and tourism, Park stressed. "The government should promptly recognize its increased international profile and better meet the needs of residents and tourists alike," he added. The ministry said that it is considering reopening the office in recognition of the needs raised by the residents. Determining whether and when to reopen it will follow thorough deliberations on the accurate assessment of increased civilian-level interaction, volume of trade and investment, bilateral relations in general, and the interest of the country in the international community. The ministry said it would seek cooperation with related authorities including the Spanish embassy in making the determination. Moon Chung-in, distinguished fellow of the Institute for Unification Studies at Yonsei University, stresses the importance of positive and creative diplomacy in solving the North Korean nuclear crisis, during a recent interview at Kim Dae-jung Presidential Library and Museum in western Seoul. / Photo by Choi Won-suk Guru calls for Koreas to resume talk to resolve problems on own initiatives By Choi Sung-jin The whole nation is seething with the scheduled deployment of a U.S. missile defense system by the end of next year. People mainly talk about whether the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system is environmentally safe, can actually intercept North Korea's nuclear missiles, and how Seoul must not let the missile shield alienate Beijing and Moscow, diplomatically and strategically, in a reversed priority of sorts. As at least one Korean guru of international politics sees it, however, the entire episode is like putting the cart before the horse, mistaking means for ends. Moon Chung-in, distinguished fellow of the Institute for Unification Studies at Yonsei University, thinks South Koreans might not have been involved in this dispute had the government genuinely strived to solve the North Korean nuclear crisis through dialogue instead of pressuring and blockading the reclusive regime. And he wonders why the Park Geun-hye administration is making the worst choice while it could make the best one. Sounds too obvious to be of much realistic help at this moment? Probably not. Moon, who was deeply involved in shaping inter-Korean relations under two liberal presidents, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, regards the ongoing political and social turmoil as the result of failed North Korea policies of their two conservative successors over the past eight-and-a-half years. And he believes Seoul should, and can, take the lead in maintaining peace on the peninsula and keeping it from becoming a catalyst of a renewed Cold War. The internationally renowned scholar of political science was the only academician who accompanied the late Presidents Kim and Roh to their summits with former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Yet he declined offers from President Roh to head the National Intelligence Service or National Security Council, saying, "The cobbler should stick to his last." Moon retired after 35 years of teaching in the U.S. and Korea last month. The Korea Times met him at the Kim Dae-jung Presidential Library and Museum where he serves as executive director. Question: What do you think of the ongoing political and social turmoil? Answer: To me, all this has the appearance of putting the cart before the horse. Things would not have gotten as bad as they are now if the government had put more energy and wisdom into a negotiated solution of North Korea's nuclear issue. What it did instead was to shut all the doors to such possibilities, bent on only isolating and blocking the North till the end. I can hardly understand why Seoul is going toward the worst choice while it can move to better ones. Q: What are your views on the deployment of THAAD in this country? A: I don't think it is a good idea, militarily, economically and diplomatically. From a military utility point of view, a battery with 48 interception missiles alone cannot defend South Korea from hundreds of North Korean missiles arriving from numerous angles and directions. Those who believe in THAAD will soon call for introducing more batteries, which cost trillions of won each but cannot discern nuclear warheads from decoys, a huge waste of taxpayer money. And China and Russia would never believe it targets only North Korea, perceiving it as a grave threat to their national security. And such a "perception of threat" is highly subjective, which explains why the Chinese government has made clear that Seongju, a southeastern county as the proposed location for THAAD, could be its strategic target, in its first direct warning ever. I just hope the Korean Peninsula will not be the new divide between the northern axis composed of China, Russia, and North Korea, and the southern one of the U.S., Japan, and South Korea. Calamitous history can start from a seemingly trifling event. Q: The latest agreement between Seoul and Washington seems to have been made at the behest of the U.S. What could be the reasons for the U.S. to hurry? A: President Barack Obama might have wanted to complete his "pivot to Asia" policy with the deployment of THAAD in South Korea. And his military aides might have thought it would be safe to deploy while a conservative government is in power in Seoul. But I believe President Park Geun-hye might have wanted its deployment more badly than the Americans wanted it after North Korea's fourth nuclear test and Musudan missile launch in January this year. Q: What's the biggest reason North Koreans stick to their nuclear programs? A: It's the survival of the state and the regime through nuclear deterrence. North Koreans strongly perceive the U.S. will use nuclear weapons against them in the case of war. They of course know their dozens of warheads are nothing against America's several thousands, but want to maintain "minimal deterrence" by being able to hit U.S. troops in South Korea, Japan and Guam. The North's leadership also hopes it would solidify its legitimacy and regime security by enhancing its international prestige. And they want it to increase their bargaining leverage and gain bigger concessions from their adversaries. Q: Why is the relationship between the Koreas at its lowest in decades? A: I would characterize the two conservative governments of the past eight-and-a-half years by three "nos" no information, no competency and no responsibility. They were mostly ignorant of what's happening in North Korea. Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye said North Korea would collapse soon and unification is imminent. It was due to the dismal failure of intelligence about the North. Politicization and even purposeful distortion of intelligence about the North by collection and analysis agencies to please their final consumer, the chief executive, has been responsible for such failure. They were incompetent, failing to keep their promises to resolve the nuclear crisis peacefully through negotiations. Without really trying to denuclearize the North or at least freeze further progress, the two administrations dragged their feet, saying, "Time is on our side." While achieving almost nothing in inter-Korean affairs, they resorted to the (North's) collapse theory toward the end of their tenures. And they were irresponsible, putting all the blame on North Korea, and, to a less extent, China for failing to put the brakes on its communist ally. They believe South Korea and the U.S. have done nothing wrong, sharing not a modicum of responsibility, even a moral one. Q: Hawks oppose dialogue with North Korea, claiming it has never stopped developing nuclear weapons even when they had talks with the South and the U.S. A: I do not agree with them. Since the first nuclear crisis of 1994 was resolved by the Geneva Agreed Framework, North Korea had kept its promise of suspending nuclear development, freezing the plutonium plant in Yongbyon and letting IAEA inspectors be stationed in the country. The second nuclear crisis broke out in 2002 after the North felt the U.S. dragged its feet in implementing the Geneva Agreement. While sticking to its pledge to freeze the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, however, it turned toward the highly enriched uranium program as a hedge. Let's face reality. While the six-party talks were going on, the North made no nuclear provocations. It was in October 2006 when the U.S. tightened the financial noose around the North that the regime conducted its first nuclear test. As we all know, North Korea carried out the following three nuclear tests when the six-party talks stalled, and inter-Korean relations worsened. Q: What should South Korea do to turn the current situation around? A: To start with, the South and its leaders need to drop the wrong idea that the nuclear crisis is an issue between North Korea and the U.S. The truth is that only South Korea can alter the attitude of its biggest ally. Former President Kim Young-sam threatened to terminate the alliance unless the U.S. under the Bill Clinton administration abandoned its plans for a "surgical strike" on the Yongbyon nuclear facilities. Later, President Kim Dae-jung managed to revive his Sunshine Policy through tenacious persuasion of conservative U.S. President George W. Bush in February 2002, and even the allegedly anti-U.S. President Roh Moo-hyun pulled off the February 13, 2007, agreement to freeze the North's nuclear development through a summit with Bush in October 2006, pressuring the U.S. President until the latter felt "mortified," according to the memoir of Condolezza Rice. President Obama and his diplomatic aide, Jeff Bader, had some reservations about North Korea from the start, and the North's launch of a long-range rocket just before his speech on a "nuclear weapons free world" in Prague on April 5, 2009, confirmed their convictions. As previous examples show, however, no one can influence Obama more than the South Korean President as far as US-North Korean affairs are concerned. It's clearly obvious that the two Koreas are the most important parties in issues related with the Korean Peninsula. With regards to the "intensity of preference," no one can beat North Korea. For its leader and elite, nuclear weapons and U.S.-North Korean relations are a matter of life and death. For the U.S. and China, however, the Korean Peninsula may be out of their top-10 priority issues. Even if South Korea is small fry compared with the G2, it can move the giant partners if its leader is determined enough. Instead the two conservative leaders went the opposite way, watching the faces of the big countries. Q: How should Seoul behave between Washington and Beijing? A: It has few other options but to take a balancing strategy while trying to maintain the status quo. But the current pattern of relying on the U.S. for security and depending on China for its economy will not work any longer. All we can do is a "mini-max strategy," minimizing risks and maximizing benefits in our relations with the two superpowers. It would be good if South Korea could take the lead in creating a multilateral cooperation order for the economy and the security of Northeast Asia which would allow Seoul to avoid the diplomacy of taking sides. But that is not possible without improving inter-Korean relations first. Q: How should Koreans seek the unification of their divided nation? A: It will be a long, gradual and complicated process, not coming all of a sudden as some conservatives think or hope. They cite the German unification as an example, which is completely wrong. The two Germanys had numerous and wide exchanges in political, economic and social areas before unification. The collapse of the Berlin Wall was like the last straw on the camel's back. Even if North Korea implodes, the North Koreans would never give up their sovereignty if inter-Korean ties remain as they are now. Q: Not a few compare the current Korea to that of about 120 years ago. What do you think? A: There are people who believe the four surrounding powers determine the fate of Korea. I don't agree with their balance of power determinism. The late 19th century should never recur. This is the 21st century and Korea is not the Joseon Kingdom. Koreans can change the security situation surrounding their divided peninsula, depending on what they think and do. Q: What are your plans for the future? A: I will be teaching at Yonsei University's Songdo Campus as a distinguished professor emeritus starting this fall semester. And I will also be teaching at the University of California in San Diego as a Krause Distinguished Fellow every winter quarter. I am also planning to write, at least one book each year hopefully. Q: No further plans to use your learning and experiences for the country? A: I am ready to play a role if needed, not as an administrator but as an advisor. I have so far been an unsuccessful scholar and professor. I don't want to end as one. A picture of the victim's wounded hand posted by her mother. /Courtesy of Victim's parents By Park Jae-hyuk Three teenage students have been caught forcing a classmate to eat rubber eraser waste, grass and other substances. According to the victim's parents, the three students sixth-graders at an elementary school in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province covered the girl's eyes, forced open her mouth and thrust rubber eraser waste, grass and paper into her mouth during a field trip in May. The girl's parents discovered the bullying after she harmed herself following the trip. They revealed the story in a post on a popular online community, which prompted the school to investigate. After the investigation, the school ordered the perpetrators to apologize to the victim and do a five-hour disciplinary program. But the victim's parents vented their fury over the "lenient" penalty and asked police to investigate. "The controversial punishment was decided by other parents in a disciplinary committee," a school official said. "We will do our best for the victim's quick recovery." South Korea's Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, back row left, and other top diplomats stand arm in arm for a group photo during the East Asia Summit (EAS) foreign ministerial meeting in Laos, Tuesday. In the back row (left to right) are Yun, Sergey Lavrov of Russia and John Kerry of the United States. In the front row (left to right) are Fumio Kishida of Japan, Vijay Kumar Singh of India, Wang Yi of China and Julie Bishop of Australia. / EPA-Yonhap By Kang Seung-woo The planned deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here is sparking concerns that it would bring China and Russia closer to North Korea and ignite a Cold War-style confrontation. The latest sign of the conflict was detected at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Laos, Monday, when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi strongly blamed South Korea for hurting the foundation of their trust by pushing to deploy the battery. On the other hand, China showed signs of mending fences with North Korea, evidenced by Wang's bilateral talks with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho at the first ARF meeting between the two countries in two years. Ties cooled due to Pyongyang's military provocations, including its fourth nuclear test in January. In addition, Wang and Ri took the same flight from China to Laos and stayed in the same hotel located in central Vientiane. According to analysts, China used its meeting with North Korea as an indication that it will embrace its lone ally against an increasing U.S. military buildup in Northeast Asia under its "pivot to Asia" policy. China and Russia, regarded as the most influential countries in addressing the North Korean nuclear issue, oppose the THAAD deployment, saying that it could compromise their security interests. Recently, they jointly submitted a joint statement to the United Nations (U.N.) opposing the deployment. Ruling Saenuri Party floor leader Rep. Chung Jin-suk, center, makes his way through protesters after a meeting with residents of Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province, at the county office, Tuesday. / Yonhap Floor leader opens possibility of Assembly hearing on THAAD By Jun Ji-hye A group of senior members of the ruling Saenuri Party visited Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province, Tuesday, as part of the government's efforts to ease the anger and fear of local residents about the planned deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery there. During the visit, floor leader Rep. Chung Jin-suk held a meeting with local residents at the county office and vowed to pay utmost attention to safety concerns regarding the operation of the battery, including holding a National Assembly hearing. Chung also suggested forming a consultative group, comprised of residents, local officials, the United States Forces Korea (USFK) and the ruling party, to tackle safety issues together. "There is no reason why we cannot hold a parliamentary hearing to resolve the controversies surrounding the THAAD deployment," Chung said. "THAAD will always be on the top of the agenda at the National Assembly." The visit comes as the residents have been rising up in protest since Seoul and Washington announced July 13 that a THAAD battery will be placed in Seongju, located about 210 kilometers southeast of Seoul, next year to better deter the evolving nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. The residents claimed that the electromagnetic waves emitted from the AN/TPY-2 radar of the anti-ballistic missile shield can cause cancer, infertility and hurt their agricultural products. Rep. Ha Tae-keung of the ruling Saenuri Party explains to reporters about a humidifier sterilizer manufactured by Germany's Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, at the National Assembly, Tuesday. / Yonhap By Jun Ji-hye Rep. Ha Tae-keung of the ruling Saenuri Party called for an investigation into Henkel Homecare Korea, the Korean unit of Germany's chemical products maker Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, Tuesday. Ha claimed the firm sold humidifier sterilizers in Korea before the toxic sterilizer case was made public here in 2011, but was excluded from the government's investigation only because its sales volume was negligible. He said the company should also be included in an ongoing National Assembly investigation into the toxic sterilizer scandal surrounding the Korean unit of British firm Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, which is blamed for 103 deaths here. According to Ha, Henkel began its sales of humidifier sterilizers in 2007 and apparently sold them until 2011. "Henkel was excluded in the government inspection in November of 2011 because its sales volume was small," the lawmaker said. "So, whether or not the company's products were toxic has yet to be determined." Rep. Ha is a member of a special committee dealing with the investigation. Currently, there are no advertisements for the humidifier sterilizer on the website of Henkel Homecare Korea, while there is information about other products such as Persil laundry detergent and Bref toilet detergent. Ha claimed the company rejected his demands to disclose ingredients of its humidifier sterilizers, saying its Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) has been "lost." The lawmaker also said he requested a phone call from the person who was in charge of the development of the humidifier sterilizers, but this person has yet to call him back. "I doubt whether it is possible for a big company like Henkel to have lost the MSDS," he said. "The company should disclose the ingredients of its humidifier sterilizer products and explain whether or not they were safe." North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho speaks to reporters during the ASEAN Regional Forum in Vientiane, Laos, Tuesday. Ri urged the United States to drop its hostile policy toward North Korea, saying whether the North will conduct additional nuclear tests will entirely depend on the U.S. / Yonhap By Yi Whan-woo North Korea's top diplomat denounced the United States, Tuesday, for "blowing the chance for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," saying the North's additional nuclear tests will entirely depend on the U.S. "Our additional nuclear tests completely rest on the U.S.," North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho told reporters during the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Vientiane, Laos. Ri urged Washington to drop its hostile policy toward Pyongyang, saying the latest U.S. human rights sanctions on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un were the "biggest hostile act." He also reiterated North Korea's long-held demand that the U.S. pull its troops from the Korean Peninsula. However, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reportedly ignored Ri during a welcome dinner held at the National Convention Center in Vientiane a day earlier. The ARF, an annual security meeting among 27 countries, involves all members of the six-party talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons development. Refusing to acknowledge North Korea as a nuclear-armed state, Kerry warned earlier that there would be consequences if Pyongyang failed to stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Kerry said one of the issues that came up in nearly every meeting he had in Vientiane is North Korea's "very provocative and deeply concerning behavior." "North Korea alonethe only country in the world defying the international movement towards responsibility, continues to develop its own weapons, continues to develop its missiles, continues provocative actions," he said. From left, British Chamber of Commerce in Korea (BCCK) CEO Sean Blakeley, BCCK Chairman Steve Duckworth, Lord Mayor of the City of London Alderman Jeffrey Mountevans and British Ambassador to Korea Charles Hay cut the ribbon during the opening ceremony for the new BCCK office in Gwanghwamun, downtown Seoul, July 20. / Courtesy of BCCK By John Redmond Alderman Jeffrey Mountevans, Lord Mayor of the City of London, opened the new British Chamber of Commerce in Korea (BCCK) office in Gwangwhamun, downtown Seoul, last Wednesday. Together with British Ambassador to Korea Charles Hay, BCCK Chairman Steve Duckworth and BCCK CEO Sean Blakeley, the lord mayor cut the ribbon at the new office. Mountevans was in Korea representing the City of London. The new office will accommodate the BCCK's 10-person staff and allow for further recruitment as the chamber develops its market entry, networking and promotional services. "I am delighted to have opened the new BBCK office today. By expanding their operations with more staff, the chamber is going to be able to support even more U.K. companies to enter the lucrative Korean market," Mountevans said. "With Sean Blakeley leading a superb team and with the combined backing of the British Embassy, I am certain that we are going to see U.K.-Korea trade go from strength to strength in the coming years." Blakeley said, "After a year of great achievements, it is fantastic to move to a new office whereby we can grow further and deliver more services to our members and to U.K. companies seeking to enter the Korean market. In a post-Brexit context, the chamber is also well-placed to act as a voice and guide for U.K. companies in the market." The BCCK represents the business interests of its Korea-based members, which share significant commercial interests here. The chamber also works together with the British government to promote British trade, commerce and investment in Korea and encourage business development between Korean and British companies. Visit www.bcck.or.kr for more information on the BCCK. By Jon Dunbar Chadburger, Korea's most ferocious hardcore punk band active from 2007 to 2012, is reuniting this weekend. Made up of members from Korea, Australia and the U.K., their bassist Aaron Burger is back from Australia for a personal visit, and he and his bandmates were eager to schedule a reunion show. Burger previously worked in Korea as an English teacher, founding Chadburger in 2007 with his Korean friends Hong Gu on drums, Hyun-dong on guitar and Byung-hee on vocals. After Byung-hee left for law school, he was replaced by Tel, a gravity-defying, barefoot Welshman who turns into a wild beast on stage. "Chadburger was the first full band that I ever had the chance to play in, something that I'd always dreamed of doing when I was a high-school kid with no punk friends," lead vocalist Tel told The Korea Times. "So for it to happen, and then lead to eight years and counting of sporadically performing is indescribably awesome." Chadburger had its first show shortly after Tel came to Korea, and he considered them instant favorites before joining. "At the time, nobody else was playing that kind of faster, stripped-down hardcore punk," he said. "These days, there's quite a few bands playing faster or noisier kinds of hardcore and punk, but most of the time that we existed I think that people kinda felt like we were something of a novelty ... that sloppy, thrashy band with the dude who jumps around a lot." After Burger left Korea in 2012, the other members stayed together, rebranding themselves as Misawa. "Chadburger never really broke up. We sort of transitioned into being Misawa when Aaron went back to Australia," said Tel. "Aaron was a founding member of Chadburger, and was responsible for naming the band, so it felt wrong to continue as Chadburger without him." Burger, back in Australia, said he's been "living a quiet, boring but awesome life in Australia," working in community service and staying musically fulfilled with his new D-beat band Terania. The Saturday show will also see the release of a split 7" record by Misawa and Terania. It will be at GBN Live House in Mullae-dong, southwestern Seoul, Saturday. The show starts at 5 p.m. and costs 10,000 won. Other bands include touring French electropunk duo MYCIAA, plus local acts Find the Spot, Geeks, Gukdo, Dead Chunks, Tokki Jot, Tear Gas, Scumraid and Tel's additional band KJP47. Look up facebook.com/chadburgerSK for more information. "The guys in Chadburger are some of my favorite people in the world," said Burger. "I hope that any time we are all in the same place, a reunion is possible." By John Redmond Four local bands will come together for "Rock Out Vol. 12" to raise funds for North Korean defectors at Freebird Sonic Live in the Hongdae area of western Seoul, Saturday. Beginning at 8 p.m., the event will feature Sons of Tiger, Wasted Johnny's, A'Z bus and Rock n' Roll Radio. This charity concert was organized by the North Korean human rights NGO Korea PSCORE (People for Successful COrean REunification). The proceeds will be used to finance educational activities and social programs for North Korean defectors in South Korea. "Bringing local bands and the community together during a night of killer music for the sake of a meaningful cause," the event organizer says. "Proceeds will go towards PSCORE's English language tutoring program for North Korean defectors." Kim Young-il, a former North Korean soldier who managed to escape the country with his family, founded PSCORE in 2006. PSCORE is a nonreligious and nonpartisan NGO based in Seoul. "Along with a group of South Koreans and foreigners, Kim Young-Il brought PSCORE to life in order to advocate for the rights of the North Korean people and to provide North Koreans with a platform to discuss democracy and human rights," the organizer says. PSCORE works towards this mission through a series of programs such as a mentoring program and a human rights and democracy program. "We also provide emergency aid to North Korean refugees in China. All of our programs are designed to garner support for the reunification of North and South Korea. PSCORE helps North Korean defectors become self-sufficient because we believe that they can actively contribute to the reunification process," the group says on its homepage. Since its founding, PSCORE has been an active and outspoken advocate for the protection of human rights in North Korea. PSCORE is the only NGO focusing exclusively on North Korean human rights that has attained U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) special consultative status. Tickets can be purchased at the door for 10,000 won. Visit facebook.com/PscoreKorea or pscore.org for more information about PSCORE and its activities. Freebird is a four-minute walk from exit 1 of Sangsu Station on Line 6. Ruling Saenuri Party officials visited the southeastern town of Seongju on Tuesday, in a bid to find solutions to the on-going protests by residents who have opposed the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system there. "Saenuri aims to facilitate dialogue between the government and the residents to persuade the residents of Seongju," said Chung Jin-suk, the party's floor leader. During his visit, Chung said the residents, the U.S. Army and the party should establish a committee to discuss the issue, adding that the case cannot be settled by staging protests. Residents have been expressing discontent with the move, questioning the transparency of the decision-making process, as well as the potential risks to their health. They have also staged rallies in both Seongju and Seoul, urging the government to withdraw the plan. "Even taking the importance of national security into consideration, the party would not push for the THAAD system if such a move would impact the health of residents and the regional economy," the lawmaker stressed. Chung, however, said the system is guaranteed to be safe, adding that a similar radar has also been operating in the region without any ill effect. South Korea's defense ministry on Monday said it has also reviewed deploying THAAD in another location in Seonju with no inhabitants nearby as proposed by some but concluded the location was unsuitable. Earlier in the month, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn also visited the town to win approval from the residents, only to be met by strong resistance from the residents who threw water bottles and eggs at him. On Tuesday, residents also staged a mock funeral of the ruling party. (Yonhap) Daedonggang beer commercial in North Korea / Courtesy of Twitter By Lee Han-soo North Korea will host its first beer festival in what experts say is part of desperate efforts to develop new revenue sources amid drying cash reserves because of international sanctions over its nuclear weapon and missile programs. The festival, along the Taedong River in Pyongyang from August 15 to September 9, will be on the Taedonggang cruise boat, also known as the "Rainbow boat," according to Young Pioneer Tours, a British travel firm that specializes in North Korea. The North's famous Taedonggang beer will be served, it said. Experts say the festival is seen as the North's desperate bid to get more money to revive an economy that is going from bad to worse because of international sanctions. In February, the reclusive nation published an ad about Taedonggang beer in English magazine "Foreign Trade," which experts said was aimed at inducing consumption by visitors. The beer is available in parts of China, including Dandong and Shenyang. A tourist was killed and another injured in a tiger attack at a safari park in Beijing on Saturday. A surveillance video shows a woman getting out of a car in the tiger enclosure at Badaling Wildlife Park. The woman walks to the driver's side door and opens it, but a tiger suddenly attacks her from behind and drags her away. The male driver races after the woman and another passenger jumps out to join the rescue attempt. A vehicle with park staff speeds in to help out. But another tiger kills the second woman. The zoo has been closed as the investigation continues. The number of cyberbullying cases observed by local schools jumped in 2015 from three years earlier, data showed Monday, in line with the sharp increase in mobile messenger users. According to the data compiled by the parliament's education committee, the number of cyberbullying cases monitored by schools came to 1,462 cases in 2015, soaring from 900 cases posted in 2012. The rise contrasts with a drop in number of actual bullying cases, which dropped 19.1 percent over the cited period to reach 19,968 cases. Rep. Yeom Dong-yeol of the ruling Saenuri Party said cyberbullying involves social networking platforms such as KakaoTalk, one of the most widely used mobile messengers in South Korea. The bullying generally involves abusive language and forcing victims to take part in conversations even if they do not wish to do so. "In some cases, bullies post embarrassing photos of victims on social network accounts," Yeom said, adding local schools must pay closer attention and come up with plans to deal with it. In 2015, the majority of the bullying cases broke out at middle schools with 10,585 cases, trailed by high and elementary schools with 6,006 and 3,239 cases, respectively, the data showed. Observers, however, warn that the actual amount of abuse may be much higher as the figure only includes cases monitored by local schools. (Yonhap) Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida expressed pleasure at improved ties with South Korea since a landmark deal reached between Seoul and Tokyo late last year to resolve the sex slave issue. Kishida also said that communication has been smooth between the neighboring countries following North Korea's nuclear and missile tests earlier this year, saying that it indicates how much progress has been made. He made the remarks before starting bilateral talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se at the National Convention Center in the Laotian capital of Vientiane. Both are here to attend a series of regional meetings led by the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN). "I feel that our ties have been on a normal path since last year's deal, and I am happy about it," Kishida said in his opening remarks. "Following the missile launch, it was possible to maintain smooth communication since (I) talked with Minister (Yun) via phone. I think this is the outcome of our ties improving." On Dec. 28, South Korea and Japan reached a landmark deal in which Tokyo apologized for its colonial-era (1910-45) atrocities and agreed to provide 1 billion yen (US$9.4 million) for the creation of a foundation aimed at supporting the victims, euphemistically called comfort women. Most of the sex slaves used by the Japanese military were from Korea, with the issue cited as one of the main barriers to improving bilateral relations. The foundation that both sides agreed to set up will be officially launched Thursday, about seven months after the deal was reached. The agreement has been hailed by the international community as a step in the right direction given that the comfort women issue has been a long-standing obstacle to ties between the two neighboring countries. Still, victims and liberal civic groups have accused the government of striking a deal that lacks Japan's acknowledgment of legal responsibility. They also said the agreement was reached without enough consultation with the victims. Historians estimate that up to 200,000 women, mostly from Korea, were forced to work in front-line brothels for Japanese troops during World War II. (Yonhap) What happened on the night of 15 July 2016 in Turkey was an attempted coup by a small faction within the Turkish Armed Forces to overthrow the democratically-elected government and disrupt the constitutional order in Turkey. This attempt had nothing to do with the vast majority of the Turkish Armed Forces. The coup plotters were defeated by the bravery of the Turkish people, who in their thousands took to the streets to defend Turkish democracy. I am pleased to note that law and order in Turkey has been quickly restored and the culprits are being brought before the Turkish courts to face justice. The coup plotters are known to be the followers of Fethullah Gulen, who has been leading a secret organization known as the Fethullah Gulen Terrorist Organization or the "FETO". Under the leadership of Fethullah Gulen, this terrorist group has established a parallel state structure within the Turkish state apparatus, mainly in the armed forces and the police. Its associated institutions and commercial entities abroad are providing the FETO with financial resources. In all their treachery, the plotters bombed symbols of the Turkish state and democracy, including the Office of the President and the Turkish Grand National Assembly with F-16s. Out of desperation and driven by frustration, these traitors have turned their tanks, aircraft, helicopters and machine guns against their own people which they were supposed to protect. Unfortunately, 208 citizens and security personnel have lost their lives. From the very beginning, the chain of command and vast majority of the Turkish Armed Forces rejected the coup attempt. They stood by the people, the elected President, the Government, the Constitution and democratic institutions. All four political parties represented in the Turkish Grand National Assembly stood firmly in solidarity by the constitutional order. They adopted a Joint Declaration in defense of democracy during the extraordinary meeting of the General Assembly on 16 July 2016. Currently the judicial process is underway to bring the plotters before justice. Necessary measures are now being taken against all those involved in the coup attempt. This process will be conducted in full respect with fundamental rights and freedoms and the rule of law, as prescribed by Turkish law. In context of the ongoing measures for public order and security in the aftermath of this bloody coup attempt, a nation-wide State of Emergency has been declared on 21 July 2016 for three months in accordance with the Constitution. This measure had to be taken for the efficient protection of the constitutional order as well as fundamental rights and freedoms. I am pleased to note that the Republic of Korea, Turkey's friend and blood brother, has promptly lent its support to us in our difficult times. The Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement, condemning the coup attempt and expressing its support and solidarity for the restoration of the democratic and constitutional order in my country. Turkey, a founding member of the UN and the Council of Europe, member of NATO, OSCE, OECD and G20, an accession candidate of the European Union and a close partner of Korea within the newly formed MIKTA group, will always remain a trusted and leading actor of the international community and will continue to promote peace, stability and democratic values around the globe. Arslan Hakan Okcal Ambassador of Turkey to Korea By Nam Sang-so Some 300km northeast of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) lies a beautiful inlet of the South China Sea on the coast of Vietnam called Cam Ranh Bay. My first mission, when I arrived in Saigon in October 1965 as a member of an architect/engineer group under a contract with the Department of the U.S. Navy, was to design among others a staging facility along the bay. Standing on a hill overlooking the navy blue deep bay and white beach sand surrounded by low mountains, I felt I was standing on a hill at Masan Port overlooking Jinhae Naval Base in Korea. There was a flag pole stand raising high a faded yellow South Vietnamese flag by the side of a Stars and Stripes and a fresh new Korean taeguggi flying in the clear blue sky. Many of the 46,000 Korean military members first landed at the bay, as well as at Nha Trang and Qui Nhon, on their way to jungle battles in the Vietnam War. Cam Rahn Bay on the coast of Vietnam served as the nerve center of the U.S. Military's anti-communist infiltration operations during the war and the anchorage has long been seen geopolitically as a military strategic cove by Japan, France, the United States, and Russia. Some 60 years earlier the empires of Russia and the Japan had fought in the Russo-Japan War over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea. In October 1904, Russia dispatched its Baltic Fleet to attack Japan. The smaller vessels of the fleet, the First Fleet, took a short cut via the Suez Canal and the heavy tonnage battle ships, the Second Fleet, had to navigate around Africa and the two Soviet fleets were to rendezvous at Cam Ranh Bay before heading to Vladivostok. Crossing over the Indian Ocean and Maraca Straight with the greatly fatigued seamen on board, the Second Fleet finally reached the meeting point at Cam Ranh Bay some 30 days beyond the target arrival date. And the Second Fleet was surprised to see that the First Fleet which arrived earlier passing through Suez Canal was not moored in Cam Rahn Bay but anchored out of the bay waiting, at the mercy of the waves, for their arrival. France at the time didn't approve of Russian's port call. From the months-long voyage without shore liberty the Russian crews were utterly exhausted when the Baltic Fleet reached the Korea Strait. And they were virtually annihilated by the ambushing Japanese fleet of Admiral Togo at the Battle of Tsushima. If the Russians had won the battle, the Korean peninsula could have become a communist country. Time passed and in 1968 oil was discovered around Spratly Islands off Cam Ranh Bay. China estimates that it holds oil and natural gas reserves of 17.7 billion tons compared to the 13 billion tons held by Kuwait. China has now completed the construction of a runway on reclaimed land on a disputed reef in the Spratly Islands. It is big enough for fighter jets and transport aircraft that significantly enhancing Beijing's capability to patrol the skies over the South China Sea. In May 2016, President Barack Obama visited President Tran Dai Quang of Vietnam. They shook hands declaring that "the enemy of yesterday has become a friend today," and hinted that Vietnam will let the U.S. utilize Cam Ranh Bay again to check Chinese power rapidly expanding into their front sea rematerializing the old Chinese idiom "Bitter enemies in the same boat," while the waves of the far eastern sea are getting higher in a new geopolitical way. The writer is a retired architect. Write to sangsonam@gmail.com. By Lee Seong-hyon China and North Korea this month marked the 55th anniversary of the signing of a defense treaty the "Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance." The 1961 treaty was commonly referred to in China as the "China-North Korea military alliance treaty" (zhongchao junshi tongmeng xieyi), especially due to Section II that obligates China militarily to defend North Korea and vice versa. The defense treaty with North Korea is China's only formal military alliance treaty signed with another country that has not been rescinded since the founding of the People's Republic. When asked about it during a regular press briefing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang tersely said: "China and the DPRK (North Korea) have sent messages of congratulations to each other to commemorate this day." Oddly, he didn't elaborate. Most observers also noticed that China was not sending any high-level delegation to North Korea this time. Five years ago, on the 50th anniversary, China dispatched Zhang Dejiang, who is now China's No. 3 leader. The contrast was seen to reflect China's displeasure with North Korea's wayward nuclear development, and corroborate the widespread judgment by pundits that the couple were going through a low moment in their relationship. As the recent rift between the two has deepened and as China's patience with North Korea has been wearing thin due to the latter's various regionally destabilizing acts, a flood of international policy comments and media reports supported the concept that China no longer sees North Korea as a "strategic asset." Instead, the North has become a "strategic liability." Recently, China also joined the United Nations to implement "fully" sanctions against North Korea for its fourth nuclear test. The term strategic "asset" or "liability" is often used by alliance theorists. Alliance theorists research why alliances form or dissolve. For example, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt asserted that Washington's close ties to Israel have become "a strategic liability" as the United States has become the target of terrorists due to their alliance. A normative form of alliance involves signing a mutual defense treaty. While each partner agrees, explicitly or implicitly, to defend the other, all parties retain substantial discretion in the implementation of the agreement. In November 2010, for instance, North Korea shelled South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island, raising inter-Korean tension to the brink of war. According to former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's memoir, then Chinese leader Hu Jintao's emissary, Dai Bingguo, flew to Pyongyang and sat down face-to-face with the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Dai warned Kim: "If North Korea would first attack South Korea and, as a result, there were full-scale arms clashes, China wouldn't aid North Korea." Some observers interpreted this as Beijing considering a decoupling of their mutual defense treaty with North Korea they signed in 1961, effectively severing their alliance. President Lee, at that time, also took Dai's words as a significant sign. Lee observed in the memoir: "China's attitude toward North Korea is changing." Since then, North Korea's periodic and often raucous provocative acts in the region have been increasingly described as a liability for China. Scholars broadly agree that national interest is the key determining factor for a country to decide whether a particular nation is an asset or not. If judged as a liability, then, theoretically speaking, the nation can be "severed" from the alliance relationship. The question today is whether North Korea's "usefulness" to China has run out. Any policy and scholarly examination of contemporary China-North Korea relations should begin its inquiry here. The simple answer is no. Going back to Dai's warning to Kim, in fact, Dai was not diverting from the spirit of the defense treaty. The treaty's Section II stipulates that the aid will be provided only when either nation "is invaded by" a third country. The treaty does not obligate China to aid North Korea when the latter invades South Korea or any other country. To be blunt, Dai was reminding Kim to "play safe" and not to raise inter-Korean tension to the brink of war. It would be therefore a stretch of logic to use Dai's words to argue that China was "siding" with South Korea or warning North Korea about "severing" the defense treaty. Hours after the "uneventful" Chinese press briefing on the treaty anniversary, a true event happened when Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to Kim Jong-un. As he was personally addressing the North Korean leader as "Comrade Kim," Xi said: "The China-North Korea friendly ties are a mutually precious treasure. It is the steadfast policy of the Chinese (Communist) party and the government to continue to deepen and develop the ties." In a separate congratulatory message to Xi, Kim said he would develop the North Korea-China friendly ties "to meet the demands of the time." That certainly sounded like a coded word. Perhaps that explains something about the unusually firm handshakes and warm back-cuddling in front of the international media between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, at the ASEAN Regional Forum in Laos this week. /Courtesy of Twitter By Lee Han-soo Is watching porn always bad? People who watch porn weekly are more religious than those who watch it occasionally, according to research published in the Journal of Sex Research. Dr. Samuel Perry, the scientist behind the research, analyzed data from 1,300 Americans over six years to find a correlation between porn and religious belief. "Those who used pornography at the highest frequencies seemed to be more religious in terms of prayer frequency and worship attendance than those who used pornography at more moderate levels," Perry said. "Specifically, those who viewed pornography weekly or more in 2006 reported praying more often and attending worship services more often by 2012 compared to those who viewed pornography monthly or less earlier on." Perry suggested that this can be a result of people compensating for their guilt feelings by praying. However, people who never watch porn were the most faithful and religious, according to the research. The research stated that it did not find any signs that religion causes people to watch more porn, but that those who watch porn regularly may go to church more often than those who do not. Having made his way to our sunny island for the first time, Samuel Seo is here in Singapore for his first Asia Tour. Being the definition of the word "triple threat", Samuel Seo is a soloist who raps, sings & produces. He is currently under the label Craft and Jun, together with many other talented and known artists such as Kim Banjang, who is on MBC show program 'I live Alone' and rising Korean rock bandRaw by Peppers. Known as a 'genius artist' among the rookies in the Hip-hop scene in Korea, Samuel made his debut back in 2013 with the album 'Welcome To My Zone' and has also released numerous singles and albums. In February 2016, Samuel's album 'Frameworks', won itself the 'Best R&B & Soul Album' award in the 13th Korean Music Awards. He then released his latest album 'Ego Expand 100%', in May, with the songs 'B L U E' and 'Sandwich' as its title tracks. Kick starting his very first Asia tour off in Malaysia, Samuel will be visiting 4 different countries in total, including also Singapore, Indonesia & Taipei. Samuel will be having his first showcase and meet & greet in Singapore this week. Information are as stated below. Showcase @ Baliza Ticket Fee : $50 Date : Wednesday, 27th July Location : Baliza (6 Raffles Boulevard #01-04) Time : 8pm Meet & Greet @ Studio DeS (Only 50 tickets are available, sold on a first-come-first-serve basis) Ticket Fee : $50 Date : Friday, 29th July Location : Studio DeS (23 Kampong Bahru Rd #02-04) Time : 8pm For more information & payment details, check out Studio DeS's Facebook page. https://m.facebook.com/studiodes/ So get your tickets now and don't miss the chance to catch this talented artist live in Singapore. It'll definitely be a week packed with some good soul music, what more can you ask for? Stay tuned for our exclusive interview with Samuel Seo! The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary Read more Mollie Lowery. Photo: lacatholicworker.org. Steve Lopez has written a lovely column on his friend Mollie Lowery, the Skid Row organizer and housing advocate and co-founder of the LAMP Community. Lowery died Monday at home in Highland Park at age 70, after having cancer. Lowery had helped Lopez with his column subject Nathaniel Ayers back when Ayers was homeless on the streets of downtown. From Steve's column yesterday: For decades in Los Angeles, no one was more dedicated to comforting the sick, the destitute and the forgotten than Mollie Lowery. Mayors, supervisors and other public officials sought her out for policy advice. Countless addled, suffering souls who could not help themselves, or would not be helped by others, were reeled in by Lowery. Some of them joined her team, roaming the streets of Los Angeles on a quest to help more people. Tall and blade-thin, Lowery carried herself with great humility and spoke softly, but worked fiercely. She was determined to do, as she put it, whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to help homeless people -- especially those with severe mental illness -- rebuild their lives. From the LA Times obituary: Lowery was a fierce advocate for and friend of those she worked to help. In 1985, she founded Los Angeles Mens Place, a skid row drop-in center for people with mental illness, and later helped expand it to Lamp Community, which provided permanent supportive housing that included counseling and other social services. Lowery served as director of programs and then executive director of Housing Works, another homeless services organization, from 2006 to 2015, and continued as a consultant to the nonprofit until a few weeks before she died. Mike Neely, chair of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Commission, said that Lowery was one of the first people that said that homeless mentally ill people dont have to be condemned to life on the street. Lowery grew up in the Valley and attended Bishop Alemany High School. She received a masters degree in rehabilitation counseling from USC. Lowery, who briefly became a Catholic nun, got into community organizing with the Ocean Park Community Center in Santa Monica. Lowery and philanthropist Frank Rice founded the Los Angeles Men's Place, or LAMP, in 1985. Some tweets paying tribute to Lowery. The movement to end homelessness lost a hero this morn. in Mollie Lowery, whose fierce & brilliant legacy lives on. https://t.co/eNpSOwwWzY Sheila Kuehl (@SheilaKuehl) July 25, 2016 Mollie Lowery was a saint to those living on the streets. We will continue the fight for dignity in her memory. RIP https://t.co/PQmIKCX3DA Mark Ridley-Thomas (@MRTempower) July 26, 2016 An amazing & powerful woman RT Mollie Lowery, to the end, was a saint to those living on the streets - LA Times - https://t.co/w1x4QXjEby LA Family Housing (@LAFamilyHousing) July 25, 2016 Rest in Peace Mollie Lowery, a wonderful person and tireless helper of LA's poor. https://t.co/hxBHrNH4Ve Jonathan Parfrey (@jparfrey) July 26, 2016 PRESS RELEASE Statements from ASEAN Foreign Ministers, and ASEAN+China, Both Stress Dialogue; Reject Obama Push for Strife in South China Sea July 25, 2016 (EIRNS)The statements issued this week, both by the foreign ministers of the 10 ASEAN nations (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), and by the ASEAN-plus-China separate ministerial meeting, stress peace-seeking and dialogue in the region. They do not contain the references demanded by Obama envoys, to cite the Hague court ruling against China, contesting its claims in the South China Sea, nor do they make other belligerent points. This is rightly hailed as a diplomatic loss for the Obama Asia Pivot. The ASEAN foreign ministers met July 24 in Vientiane, Laos, for their 49th annual session. This has been followed by certain ASEAN-plus-One meetings with other countries, including, today, the China-ASEAN meeting, and United States-ASEAN session, and the Russia-ASEAN meeting. In addition, July 26 begins the 18-nation East Asia Summit (EAS)Foreign Ministers of EAS members, comprising the ASEAN 10, plus China, Russia, India, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. The EAS, too, customarily issues a summit statement, which is yet another moment for potential diplomatic truth. The new ASEAN ministerial communique speaks of the need to find peaceful resolutions to disputes, working through bilateral discussions, regarding the South China Sea. It acknowledges conflicting views, in general language: "We remain seriously concerned about recent and ongoing developments and took note of the concerns expressed by some ministers on the land reclamations and escalation of activities in the area, which have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions and may undermine peace, security and stability in the region." Todays separate China-ASEAN statement specifically calls for work on a "Code of Conduct" for the South China Sea, based on the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), in turn based on the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS, to which the U.S. does not belong). E.G. Point 2 of the China-ASEAN statement: "The Parties concerned undertake to resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to the threat or use of force, through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned, in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS." The document also states approval for national or "cooperative activities, in fields such as navigation safety, search and rescue, marine scientific research, environmental protection, and combating transnational crimes at sea...." Meantime, at the United States-ASEAN meeting today, the U.S. representatives stressed "the importance of adhering to the Philippines-China arbitration ruling on the South China Sea by the Hague...," according to the Voice of America. At todays Russia-ASEAN meeting, it is reported that there was discussion on advancing economic relations between ASEAN and the Eurasian Economic Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Council. It began with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying that Russia defends "the role of the ASEAN ten in regional affairs." Tass quoted him: "I would like to note that we closely coordinate our work with ASEAN in building a modern security architecture in the Asia-Pacific region, based on the principles of equality, openness and concern for the interests of all players." The Wall Street Journal, like other outlets of the war party in Washington, rants today that China is sabotaging ASEAN unity and openly calls for breaking up ASEANs policy of consensus, creating, "smaller coalitions that would allow an ASEAN majority to move forward on contentious issues"meaning to join Obamas confrontation with China. This is shown to be nonsense by the fact that all ten ASEAN nations signed the communique calling for dialogue of the "sovereign nations directly concerned," rejecting Obamas provocations and the western-controlled "arbitration" court in the Hague. PRESS RELEASE Signs of Crash in U.S. Debt Bubbles July 25, 2016 (EIRNS)Ominous signs have appeared of a renewed collapse of high-yield ("junk") bank debt in the U.S. economy, potentially in the trillions. At the same time, industrial production and manufacturing output have stagnated or fallen for more than a year, while 215,000 jobs have been eliminated in the "energy" (oil and gas) sector, until a year ago the only real source of real capital investment. The oil price, after its recovery of about one-third of its collapse since March, is again falling steadily (from $50 to $43/barrel, so far, for West Texas Intermediate crude), and this could turn into another steep drop. Despite continuous decline in U.S. crude oil production, gasoline demand keeps dropping. There is a renewed glut, now at a lower level, and refineries are now planning shutdowns earlier than the normal Labor Day point. Another 15,000 layoffs were announced this week by the big oilfield service firms; internationally, the loss is 385,000 jobs in this sector, reported the Wall Street Journal July 24. Morgan Stanley, the oil expert "bank," reported July 22 that the gasoline market is "severely oversupplied internationally." "Refineries are the true consumer of crude oil.... Given the oversupply in the refined product markets, fading refinery margins, and economic run cuts, we expect crude oil demand to deteriorate further over the coming months." But the oil sector extremely rapidly built up the biggest global debt bubble from 2004-2014, going from $4 trillion to $7 trillion indebtedness, with no increase in global revenue at $450 billion/year or so. In the U.S. the highest-risk parts of this debt are leveraged loans and junk bonds in the sector, together totaling about $1.4 trillion. So far, only about $100 billion of this debt has defaulted, but the defaults are still increasing month to month despite the brutal cost-cutting represented by all that vanished employment. A renewed oil price plunge, will blow out a much larger chunk of that debt than has defaulted so far. Meanwhile, the $1.4 trillion auto loan bubble, of which about $400 billion is now subprime and $150 billion "deep subprime," has been sailing along like Roadrunner off the cliffuntil an accident today, involving a division of one of the worlds biggest banks. Santander Consumer USA Holdings, the biggest subprime auto lender, suddenly pulled back its second-quarter report for "revisions and new consultations with its accountants." Reminiscent of JPMorgan Chase upon realizing its huge "London Whale" losses. The Santander stock plunged 16%. Some 18% of all subprime auto loans defaulted in the past year, including 30% of all "deep subprime" loans, so other lenders to follow Santander Consumer are already being named. PRESS RELEASE The Increasing Force of Glass-Steagall July 25, 2016 (EIRNS)Interesting comments on both sides of the Atlantic over the weekend reflected the increasing likelihood of the restoration of the Glass-Steagall principle in the near future critical for the future of the trans-Atlantic economies. The leading financial newspaper on the European continent, Handelsblatt, published an article by its Washington correspondent July 22 expressing the increasing force of Glass-Steagall: "Separate What Does Not Belong Together," meaning separate deposit/lending banking from securities speculation. Handelsblatt picked up from the American parties platforms but endorsed Glass-Steagall itself. Correspondent Frank Wiebe wrote that the debate on reintroducing Glass-Steagall is not new in the USA, but, "since Trump and the Republicans picked up the issue again, suddenly Wall Street takes it seriously. Until now Wall Street was confident that despite the large support for the concept, in the end there would be no political majority possible. Now they are no longer so sure." And in the United States, a Clinton Democratic superdelegate and long-time top campaign consultant, Elaine Kamarck, wrote in her Brookings Institution blog that something like Glass-Steagall will have to be enacted by the new Congress and President. Hillary Clinton opposed Glass-Steagall, Kamarck said, "But by agreeing to place reinstatement of Glass-Steagall in the Democratic platform, Hillary Clinton signaled that she too would support it.... To date there hasnt been much interest in this in Congress. But if the establishment heard one thing loud and clear in the 2016 primaries, it was that millions of Americans think that they were the victims of Wall Street and that the next president had better pay attention." The loss of Wall Streets control signifies the rising impact of EIR Founding Editor Lyndon LaRouches seven-year campaign demanding Glass-Steagall as the door-opening for national credit policies to revive economic productivity in the United States and Europe. Handelsblatts endorsement expanded the issue also to Germany and Europe. "Would a return to Glass-Steagall be justified?", Wiebe asks. The current system gives a universal bank more opportunities, but "more importantly, the bank separation concept would probably make the financial system safer. The decisive point is that large banks are too large and a separation would make them smaller again. The argument is valid for Europe, where very large banks sit in relative[ly] small states, even more than for the USA. The Deutsche Bank business model, where a large investment bank sits on the foundations of a not too strong traditional bank is being discussed over and over again." When Lyndon LaRouche began his push for Glass-Steagalls restoration in 2009, the only Americans or Europeans who knew its name were its Wall Street destroyers. His understanding of the future was critical in choosing the fight. He knew the trans-Atlantic economies only future, their only chance to revive "Hamiltonian" credit, production, and productivity after the crash, passed through Glass-Steagall, cutting the Wall Street and London giant banks of the globalization era down to size. Avoiding another general financial collapse, and the threat of world war, requires grasping that future now. You shall know the truth, Aldous Huxley once said, and the truth shall make you mad. Youd be hard-pressed to find a quote more emblematic of the late English author, who was born 122 years ago today. Best known for his dystopian novel Brave New World, Huxley predicted some of the most frightening aspects of modern society years before they came to pass. Huxley was born in Godalming, England, to a well-known family his grandfather, Thomas Henry Huxley, was a biologist and Darwinist who coined the word agnostic. Advertisement Aldous Huxleys brothers would become distinguished thinkers as well, although in different fields Julian Huxley was a biologist who served as the first director of UNESCO, and Andrew Huxley was a physiologist who won the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1963. Huxley fell ill as a teenager with an eye condition called keratitis; he would struggle with his eyesight for decades afterward. Huxley rarely wrote or spoke about his condition, but many speculate he was near-blind for most of his life. He burst onto the literary scene in 1921 with his novel Crome Yellow, a satirical novel that takes place at a manor house party. It introduced the world to Huxleys acid brand of cynicism. The surest way to work up a crusade in favor of some good cause is to promise people they will have a chance of maltreating someone, Huxley wrote in the novel. To be able to destroy with good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior righteous indignation this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats. A few other novels followed, including his 1928 book Point Counter Point, a complex satire that raised eyebrows at the time for its racy sexual content. The book wasnt any less pessimistic than his previous works. Everybody strains after happiness, and the result is that nobodys happy, one character notes. But it was Brave New World, published in 1931, that cemented Huxleys place in the pantheon of literature. The novel takes place in a dystopian, nightmare version of London, in which the populace is drugged and human beings are born in incubators. The novel is considered one of the best of the 20th century; the title has become a shorthand for ominous technological advances and futuristic controls. The book is frequently banned, and still makes regular appearances on the American Library Assn.'s list of most challenged books. Huxley moved to Southern California in 1937, where he found work as a screenwriter. His scripts include the critically acclaimed movie version of Pride and Prejudice, which was released in 1940, and a 1943 film adaptation of Jane Eyre. See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour >> It was in California that Huxley had a kind of spiritual awakening, joining the Vedanta Society of Southern California, where he learned meditation. (His friend Christopher Isherwood did, too.) Not long after, Huxley had his first experience with a psychedelic drug (many more would follow). His experience with mescaline would form the basis of his 1954 essay The Doors of Perception. To be shaken out of the ruts of ordinary perception, Huxley wrote in the essay, to be shown for a few timeless hours the outer and inner world, not as they appear to an animal obsessed with survival or to a human being obsessed with words and notions, but as they are apprehended, directly and unconditionally, by Mind at Large this is an experience of inestimable value to everyone and especially to the intellectual. The essay was published in a book, and inspired musician Jim Morrison to name his band the Doors. Huxley would continue to take mescaline and LSD until literally the day he died. That was on Nov. 22, 1963. Suffering for laryngeal cancer, he asked his wife to inject him with a psychedelic drug. He died not long after he was given the dose. Not many people heard about his death at the time, however. Huxley (as well as C.S. Lewis) happened to die on the same day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Huxley is buried in England, and years after his death, writers and philosophers still look to his unusual career for inspiration. Too much consistency is as bad for the mind as it is for the body, Huxley wrote. Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life.The only completely consistent people are the dead. MORE FROM ENTERTAINMENT Fox News may have just opened itself up to more lawsuits with Roger Ailes resignation The Late Shows Stephen Colbert tries (and tries and tries) to storm the stage at the DNC Toronto International Film Festival will spotlight female directors and people of color at this years gathering Roger Ailes resigned as the chairman and CEO of Fox News last week, leading observers of politics and the media to speculate what his next move would be. Now theres an answer: Hes writing his autobiography, according to CNN. CNN quoted an unnamed friend of Ailes as saying, The book is a priority for him now. Ailes, who had led the conservative cable news network since its inception in 1996, quit his job Thursday, two weeks after former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson sued him, alleging that he sexually harassed her. Advertisement Other women have also said that Ailes acted inappropriately. New York magazine reported that Fox News host Megyn Kelly had told investigators hired by 21st Century Fox that Ailes had subjected her to sexual advances when she first started working at the network. Its unknown whether Ailes autobiography will address the allegations, which he has consistently denied. But CNN cited an anonymous source who claimed that he wont be able to write negatively about Fox News or the Rupert Murdoch family, who owns the network, because of a non-disparagement clause in his exit agreement. That exit agreement is worth north of $40 million, according to Politco. Ailes autobiography has been in the works for years. In 2011, New York magazine reported that he had landed a deal for the book worth $3 million to $4 million with HarperCollins, which is also owned by Rupert Murdoch. Reporter Gabriel Sherman wrote then: [I]t would be difficult for Ailes to publish an unvarnished, tell-all autobiography while still running Fox News. How would the Fox talent or Rupert Murdoch feel if Ailes put into print what he really thinks about them? Although hes now best known for his years as Fox News CEO, Ailes has had a long career in journalism and politics. He was the executive producer of The Mike Douglas Show, a long-running talk show, in the 1960s. He later worked as a political consultant for George H.W. Bush in 1988, when he defeated Michael Dukakis in the race for president. Ailes isnt the only former Fox News figure with plans to write a book this summer. According to the Daily Beast, Laurie Dhue, a former Fox News anchor, is shopping a tell-all about her experiences with [Ailes] along with other Fox News personalities. Dhue was fired by Ailes in 2008. The Daily Beast claims that she had initially wanted to write her book as a novel but decided to write it as nonfiction after Carlsons lawsuit against Ailes was announced. Dhues lawyer, Bruce Schaeffer, said her book will candidly discuss her years at Fox News and her interactions and communications with Mr. Ailes and many other Fox News personalities, her involuntary departure from Fox News and her lack of success in continuing her career in the television news industry following her departure from Fox News. Theres no timeline yet for either of the books. Dhues autobiography would be her first book; Ailes is the author of one previous book, You Are the Message, which was published in 1987. Tech firm Mobileye, which makes chips and software for driver-assistance systems such as Tesla Motors Inc.s autopilot feature, will end its partnership with the electric car maker. In a call with analysts Tuesday, Mobileye co-founder Amnon Shashua said the Israeli companys work with Tesla would not continue past the EyeQ3 technology, though it would continue to support and maintain the current Tesla autopilot plans. That support includes a significant upgrade of functions related to crash avoidance and auto steering. Moving forward to full autonomy Level 3, Level 4 autonomy, we think that thats not in the interest of Mobileye to continue with Tesla in that area, Shashua said in the call. Advertisement Its not clear exactly when the partnership will end or why. Shashua said shipments of EyeQ3 would continue for the near future and maybe even the longer future. The end of the partnership will not have any material effect Teslas plans, Chief Executive Elon Musk said in a statement. He said his Palo Alto, Calif., company is laser-focused on achieving full self-driving capability on one integrated platform and with an order of magnitude greater safety than the average manually driven car. This was expected, Musk said. Mobileyes ability to evolve its technology is unfortunately negatively affected by having to support hundreds of models from legacy auto companies. Matt DeLorenzo, managing editor at Kelley Blue Book, said the end of the Tesla partnership could signal a shift toward more sophisticated driver-assistance systems and away from the camera-based systems peddled by Mobileye. A lot of the autonomous technology thats being developed these days will rely on other types of sensors, radar but more importantly, the big key component will be vehicle-to-vehicle communication, he said. Certainly, camera technology is pretty good, but it does have its limitations, especially when it comes to weather. See the most-read stories in Business this hour >> Mobileye recently announced a partnership with Intel and BMW on the German automakers iNEXT vehicle model, which wont require a human in the drivers seat. In Tuesdays call, Shashua referred to that new relationship, saying advanced autonomy requires partnerships that go beyond the typical OEM [original equipment manufacturer] supplier relationship and that Mobileye will continue to pursue similar such relationships. In May, a Model S using the autopilot feature was involved in a fatal crash in Williston, Fla., after a big rig made a left turn in front of the sedan. Tesla said the car passed under the trailer, and the bottom of the trailer hit the cars windshield. On Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board released photos from the accident, which showed the top of the Model S sheared off. Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor-trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied, Tesla said in a blog post shortly after news of the crash broke. samantha.masunaga@latimes.com For more business news, follow me @smasunaga MORE BUSINESS NEWS Chinas LeEco buys Irvine TV maker Vizio for $2 billion Stocks finish mixed; McDonalds plunges and Texas Instruments jumps The truth about healthcare premiums: Theyd be a lot higher without Obamacare UPDATES: 2:20 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Elon Musk. This article was originally published at 12:35 p.m. A Sherman Oaks real estate firm plans to revamp an aging 1920s apartment building near MacArthur Park, the latest investment in a neighborhood that big investors long shunned because of high crime rates. MWest Holdings acquired the Park Wilshire apartments in Westlake this month for an undisclosed sum. It plans to spend more than $1 million on renovations, including relighting the neon Park Wilshire sign affixed to the top of the 170-unit building. We feel it hasnt gotten the attention it deserves, MWest President Karl Slovin said of the building. Advertisement MWest, which purchased the property from a Bay Area real estate investment firm, will renovate apartments as tenants move out. Declining crime, along with rising land prices in adjacent neighborhoods, has sparked the interest of investors in the relatively cheap area sandwiched between booming downtown and Koreatown. Developer Sonny Astani, for example, recently opened a luxury apartment complex with more than 200 units a few blocks east of MacArthur Park. And MWest is wrapping up renovations to the lobby of the Wilshire Royale, a historic Westlake apartment building it purchased last year. We see the pressure coming from downtown, the pressure coming from Koreatown, and this middle area is now becoming ready for the investment of capital, Slovin said. The Park Wilshire was built as a residential hotel in 1924, a time when the neighborhood was one of Los Angeles toniest and the recreational landmark was called Westlake Park. In 1942, the park was renamed for Gen. Douglas MacArthur. After World War II, wealthy Angelenos and businesses left for the suburbs. The neighborhood fell on hard times in the following decades. Westlake has grown far safer over the last decade. The area is home to one of the nations largest populations of Central American immigrants, many of whom fled war in their homelands during the 1980s. andrew.khouri@latimes.com For more business news, follow @khouriandrew on Twitter. ALSO Californias small solution to the housing crisis: Small houses U.S. new-home sales climb to more than 8-year high Fox News may have just opened itself up to more lawsuits with Roger Ailes resignation EHarmony founder Neil Clark Warren left retirement four years ago to bring the struggling dating website back to relevance. Mission accomplished. The Los Angeles company announced Tuesday that Warren, 81, will step down as chief executive and return to retirement, though hes likely to remain the board of directors chairman. Grant Langston, vice president of brand marketing, assumed the CEO role Monday. Advertisement Langston, who got the promotion offer a week ago from EHarmonys three board members, said his focus will be on improving the companys website and app. Newer dating services such as Tinder, Bumble and Coffee Meets Bagel have attracted millions of young users with simpler interfaces, connection to Facebook and other modern features. Its time for EHarmony to catch up, Langston said. The product hasnt gotten the attention it needs, said Langston, 50, who started as a writer at the company during its founding in 2000. We want to match you on things below the surface, so were always going to be more involved than other dating services, but weve got to do that in a simpler way with a seamless mobile experience. Leading the effort is Ken Walker, a former executive at job search start-up ZipRecruiter who was named chief product officer last month. The deadline, Langston said, is ASAP. There has to be significant changes, he said. The product went neglected as Warren prioritized turning around other facets, Langston noted. For example, EHarmonys TV ads had become less effective in driving user sign-ups partially because they ran the same commercials all year long. The marketing effort has become more nimble, and social media advertising has take on a bigger role. SIGN UP for the free California Inc. business newsletter >> Langston, who led the social media team for a time as he rose in the ranks, acknowledged he may be the first person with that experience to become CEO of a company as large as EHarmony, which has over 200 employees. He doesnt expect other executives who may have been skipped over for the CEO position to depart, but hes sure that there will be personnel changes. What wont change is the companys nascent push into assisting people with job searches or its longtime positioning as the dating site that helps people find what he called a real relationship and real love. Warren in a statement described Langston as a guiding influence for the company. But Warren wasnt immediately available to elaborate on his decision to leave. Though the change was news to Langston when the board sprung the offer on him last week, he said it was clear the switch had been in the works for a while. Langston said he quickly provided the board a few product ideas. Then, he headed to the bathroom to tell his wife by phone that he guessed the CEO job was about to come to him. When he returned, thats just what happened. I was floored, he said. paresh.dave@latimes.com Twitter: @peard33 ALSO As the VCR finally dies, a lament for once-great technologies Chinas LeEco buys Irvine TV maker Vizio for $2 billion Volkswagens $15-billion settlement over emissions cheating gets preliminary OK A new foundation established in honor of Los Angeles painter Davyd Whaley, who died two years ago at age 47, will launch a special grant program to support midcareer artists in the greater Los Angeles area. Starting in early 2017, the Davyd Whaley Foundation will award a pair of $10,000 artist grants once a year: One for under-recognized midcareer artists; the other, for artists who are also teachers. Norman Buckley, Whaleys husband, who established the foundation and now serves as its executive director, says the grant program is a way of supporting artists directly providing them with the means to carry on their work. Advertisement Davyd cared deeply about the arts and other artists, says Buckley. He really believed in supporting other artists by buying their work the best way to keep him alive for me is to do something that would have been important to him. Whaley turned to painting after 15 years of working as an electrical engineer. A largely self-taught artist (he did some coursework at the Art Students League in New York and UCLA, but did not receive a degree in art), he often volunteered his time with cultural organizations geared at children and underserved communities. It was Whaleys role as a volunteer art teacher and the inspiration he drew from his own teachers that moved Buckley to gear one of the grants to teachers. Theyre not just working on their own work, but working on giving back to their own community, he says. Applications for the first grant, for under-recognized midcareer artists, will be accepted beginning Oct. 15, and the winner will be announced early in 2017. Applications for the artist/teacher grant will be accepted beginning Jan. 15. Artists from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties are eligible to apply. For more information, go to davydwhaleyfoundation.org. Find me on Twitter @cmonstah. ALSO An artists imposing new monument at Echo Park Lake honors Angelenos killed in violent crimes Why two artists surveyed the U.S.-Mexico border ... the one from 1821 Readers react: Do we need a Glendale Freeway that improves traffic or the environment? Creators, fans and death threats: Talking to Joss Whedon, Neil Gaiman and more on the Age of Entitlement Roger Ailes has stepped down as chairman of Fox News, but the fallout from his controversial tenure wont end anytime soon. The swift action to oust Ailes may bring a speedy conclusion to a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former anchor Gretchen Carlson against the former Fox News chairman. But the move could embolden other women to file complaints against Ailes and expose Fox News to lawsuits over the conduct of the once powerful TV executive, legal experts said. Advertisement Employment law experts say a settlement or resolution in the Carlson case appears more likely since Ailes resigned last Thursday, although he did so without acknowledging the claims against him. His departure came after an internal investigation by Fox News parent 21st Century Fox turned up other instances of harassment by Ailes from other employees, including star anchor Megyn Kelly. Just two weeks earlier, Carlson had filed a lawsuit against Ailes alleging that he had sabotaged her career in retaliation for rebuffing his sexual advances and complaining about a hostile work environment. You dont oust a person in that kind of a position based only on unproven allegations in a lawsuit. Joanna Grossman, professor of discrimination and gender law at SMU Dedman School of Law Ailes has denied all of the allegations. However, his resignation and rapid action by 21st Century Fox are seen as helpful to Carlsons case and a message to other women in the company that it recognizes that a sexual harassment problem existed. Fox is more or less conceding that at least some of what she says is true because you dont oust a person in that kind of a position based only on unproven allegations in a lawsuit unless you have pretty good reason to think those allegations are true and you dont want to keep dragging it out, said Joanna Grossman, professor of discrimination and gender law at SMU Dedman School of Law. I would expect this would make it more likely that this case would settle. Settlement of the lawsuit isnt the only cloud hanging over Fox. The bigger question is who will succeed Ailes permanently he was replaced last week by News Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch and whether the network will continue its combative brand of TV journalism that has built up such a loyal following among viewers. But the immediate problem is the fallout of Ailes alleged misconduct. The ouster of Ailes, who left with a $40-million parachute, is also seen as a defensive measure on the part of 21st Century Fox. Fox reduces its potential liability because the network can an argue that it took swift action to remove Ailes when it learned of the alleged misconduct, said Marcia McCormick, professor of employment at St. Louis University. Yet other women may feel encouraged to sue Fox News not just Ailes on the grounds that their careers also suffered because of discrimination at the network. Employment law in New York state puts a three-year statute of limitation on sexual harassment claims. It does validate the claims in some way and I think that that can potentially be a motivating factor for other women who have a similar story to come forward because they think theyll be believed, said Kate Gold, a partner in the labor employment group at Los Angeles-based Drinker Biddle & Reath. Much will hinge on whether Fox management knew Ailes was harassing women, McCormick added. Its possible they would be liable if anything bad happens for the women saying noSleep with me or you dont get a promotion, sleep with me or you dont get a raise, McCormick said. But if its just a hostile environment that was created with sexually charged language, but no employment consequences for their resistance, its more murky. A spokesperson for Carlsons attorneys said Monday that they are proceeding with their case against Ailes and are not commenting on the impact his resignation might have. Carlson is seeking unspecified compensatory damages, including lost compensation and damage to her career (Ailes would be indemnified by his former employer from paying damages). Aside from the lawsuit, Carlson may already have won in the court of public opinion. See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Whether she ever gets a penny out of this or not, gets her job back or has any remedy in the public eye -- she won, Grossman said. She came forward, she was vindicated, the network dismissed him and sent the message to other people that they would take swift action if they knew about a problem. Although they did not comment on the status of their case, Carlsons attorneys Nancy Erika Smith and Martin Hyman said Ailes resignation highlights the issue of harassment in the workplace. Within just two weeks of her filing a lawsuit against Roger Ailes, Gretchen Carlsons extraordinary courage has caused a seismic shift in the media world, they said. We hope that all businesses now understand that women will no longer tolerate sexual harassment and reputable companies will no longer shield those who abuse women. We thank all the brave women who spoke out about this issue. Kellie Boyle is among the 20 women who contacted Carlsons attorneys to relate past alleged incidents of sexual harassment involving Ailes. Boyle never worked for Ailes. But since 1989, the Virginia-based communications executive had been telling friends about an encounter she had with Ailes that year after a dinner meeting in Washington, D.C., in which he allegedly suggested that having sex with him would advance her career. At the time, Ailes had finished serving as a strategist for the successful 1988 campaign for President George H.W. Bush and was considered one of the most powerful men in Republican politics. After she rejected Ailes advances, Boyle said a business opportunity she secured with the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee disappeared. She shared the experience with Carlsons attorneys and then told her story to New York magazine writer Gabriel Sherman. After the news of Ailes resignation, Boyle said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that she was not seeking revenge for what happened to her. She said she simply wanted Carlsons claims to be taken seriously and to encourage other women to call out workplace harassment. Not only do I feel this will help women speak out, but I think it will discourage other perpetrators of sexual harassment, she said. The deterrent is as big as the empowerment. Boyle said she kept quiet about the incident until recently because she feared retribution. My husband and I had started a new business and Roger Ailes was an even more powerful person, she said. Boyle said she had no anger over what allegedly happened 27 years ago. I had to get past it, she said. I had to go on with my life. Ailes has denied Boyles story and all other published accounts of women who said he sexually harassed them. stephen.battaglio@latimes.com Twitter: @SteveBattaglio yvonne.villarreal@latimes.com ALSO Roger Ailes has resigned from Fox News; Rupert Murdoch will be acting chairman John Oliver: The Republican convention was a four-day exercise in emphasizing feelings over fact After a tense start, the DNCs opening night ends on a high note with unifying speeches and a party for all Those who come to Bodega seek it out. Theres no such thing as just happening upon it. The Boston retailer, which inhabits what would appear to outsiders as a traditional neighborhood convenience store selling paper towels and pickles, expands to the West Coast next year as the first retail fashion tenant to be announced for the 30-acre Row DTLA redevelopment project in downtown Los Angeles Arts District. The original Boston store, opened in 2006 at 6 Clearway St., embodies the opposite of everything streetwear-philes talk about when it comes to the Internet, retail and lack of discovery that once surrounded the hunt to find new brands. There used to be, especially in the sneaker game, wed take the Chinatown bus in New York and go to these stores in these bad neighborhoods. There was this cool sense of discovery, said Jay Gordon who, along with Oliver Mak and Dan Natola, founded the store. The negative [now] is you can shop every store across the globe from your house, in the woods somewhere, but the sense of discovery its sort of gone the way of the dodo. We, for a long time, didnt even have a website because we wanted people to come to the store and have that physical space. Advertisement Bodega makes people hunt for its store. Its wares are hidden behind the guise of a neighborhood bodega. Open the secret entrance and the real store is actually a high-end boutique selling items such as $850 pixel reflective jackets from Stone Island, $120 Nike Roshe Ones and $145 waxed cotton Fred Perrys. Venturing to L.A. will open the retailer up to a new customer, one that may be a bit more adventurous and avant garde when it comes to fashion, Gordon said, giving the retailer a greater runway to dabble with new brands or expand its offering of existing lines. Bodegas opening is still a ways away, with a moving target around June 2017, but the deal sets the tone for the mixed-use projects retail component, the leasing of which is being handled by developer and brokerage Runyon Group. The firm is the same group behind the Platform project in Culver City, which it developed and owns. The Bodega space totals about 8,000 square feet, some of which will be kept open for a possible gallery or some other nonretail use. The same secretive locale, in keeping with the retailers tag line of hidden in plain sight, that made the Boston store what it is will be translated to Los Angeles. Although, Gordon was tight-lipped on the exact location of Bodega within the project other than to say it will be near the Smorgasburg food and design market that takes place at the Row DTLA on Sundays. Its not that we dont play well with others, but were sort of used to being by ourselves, Gordon said. Well be hidden in the space. So I think a lot of people wont see it, wont get to it [and] wont know its there. Thats what we want. The people that really seek us out, will do it. Its not for everybody. Its like anti-retail 101. Or, its retail 101, depending on how one looks at it as retailers and shopping center owners scramble to change in the face of industry-wide alterations in how customers buy and what theyre buying from brands. Theres something to be said about the Bodega Boston store, which started out as a joke among the three founders thinking aloud about the possibility of doing retail. One thing led to another and we decided to do it, Gordon said. They found the space and built out the store. When we first opened, my father called me a moron on more than one occasion, Gordon said. The company around 2007 launched its own apparel line beginning with basic T-shirts and hats before expanding into cut-and-sew in 2009. It picked up a Japanese distributor but later pulled back, deciding to focus on selling direct in a move Gordon said ultimately allowed for the companys L.A. expansion: We wanted to get back to our core competency, which was straight retail. Name of restaurant: Dizin Persian Cuisine Dizin is one of the most popular ski resorts in Iran (hence the image of the snow-capped mountains on the logo). The owner, Kathy Roshanai, runs the kitchen and the accounts. Since its a family affair, you may see her husband, Kevin, drop in, still in uniform from his auto shop. Their 5-year-old son might be playing a game on his iPad. Kathys mom may just pop her head out of the kitchen while taking a break from making the house stews. Where you are: In a small mini-mall on the southeast corner of Reseda Boulevard and Vanowen Street. The restaurant is hidden behind the El Pollo Loco. The restaurant opened in April. What youre eating: The house fesenjoon (sometimes spelled fesenjan) is a dark and brooding stew of chicken, pomegranate sauce and walnut puree simmered into a sweet and sour concoction. Theirs has just the right amount of tart, while still maintaining a fruity sweetness that isnt overpowering. Order it served over the tadig (crispy rice) as an appetizer, or as an entree over basmati rice. Advertisement You also cant go wrong with either the ghemeh or ghemeh bademjan. The beef stews date back to Mesopotamian times and are a celebration of tomatoes, yellow split peas, saffron, onions and a couple hidden bits of preserved lemon. What else youre eating: The chicken, beef and lamb koobideh are ground in-house for a fresh and subtle flavor. All the entrees are served with a seasonal grilled vegetable, basmati rice, a small green salad and warm slices of pita bread with little pats of butter on the side. On a hot summer day, the rosewater and saffron scented Persian ice cream is the perfect end to a filling meal. If youre not a fan of rosewater, try a slice of the tiramisu. Kathy makes it in sheets and cuts out generous squares of the brew-soaked dessert, sprinkled with coffee grounds (because theres no such thing as too much coffee in a tiramisu). What youre looking at: The small and cozy dining room has exposed wood accents on the white and orange walls. The open stainless-steel kitchen is where the kebobs are grilled, while the rest of the culinary magic happens in the back kitchen. What youre drinking: Bottles of doogh, the savory Persian yogurt drink, are available in a refrigerated cooler. There are also plenty of soft drinks. Info: 6740 Reseda Blvd, Reseda, (818) 975-8071. ALSO: Cool off with this easy chilled cucumber soup recipe This Silver Lake doughnut shop is making all vegan doughnuts. And theyve got fritters too Where to find shaved ice and pastrami dumplings this weekend, plus a farmers market tour With a graciousness that impressed critics and brought supporters to tears, Michelle Obama on Monday night gave a perfectly pitched convention speech that was a ringing endorsement of Hillary Clinton, a backhanded slap at Donald Trump, and a powerful reminder of the historic nature of her husbands presidency. Obama praised Clinton, her fellow Democrat, as the only qualified candidate in the race for the White House. But she also managed to deftly answer those who have attacked her husband, while assailing the bleak world view and coarse tone of the Republican presidential nominee. She did this all with an overarching theme of what it is to be a parent living in the White House, and the challenges of keeping things as normal as possible for her two daughters, the heart of our hearts. Advertisement She shared a touching story about the first day she sent her children off to school in January 2009, after the Obamas moved into the White House: I will never forget that winter morning as I watched our girls, just 7 and 10 years old, pile into those black SUVs with all those big men with guns. And I saw their little faces pressed up against the window, and the only thing I could think was, What have we done? Without bitterness, she segued into how she and her husband handled the extreme level of vitriol that they have experienced as first couple. Every president and first lady face vicious criticism; most of them, however, have not had to explain it to small children. That is what Barack and I think about every day, Obama said, as we try to guide and protect our girls through the challenges of this unusual life in the spotlight. How we urge them to ignore those who question their fathers citizenship or faith. How we insist that the hateful language that they hear from public figures on TV does not represent the true spirit of this country. How we explain that when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you dont stoop to their level. No, our motto is, when they go low, we go high. Obama has been the object of withering scorn from right-wing detractors who have slammed her efforts to get kids to eat healthy as nanny-state hectoring. She has been knocked for the price of her clothes or for the cost of her vacations. She has never publicly answered those attacks. That did not change on Monday. Her job was to support the Democratic nominee, someone she has not always enjoyed an easy relationship with, particularly after the hard-fought 2008 Democratic primary. See, I trust Hillary to lead this country because Ive seen her lifelong devotion to our nations children, Obama said. Not just her own daughter, who she has raised to perfection, but every child who needs a champion. You see, Hillary has spent decades doing the relentless, thankless work to actually make a difference in their lives. Advocating for kids with disabilities as a young lawyer, fighting for childrens healthcare as first lady, and for quality child care in the Senate. Without saying his name, the first lady managed to zing the dystopian motto of the Republican nominee. Dont let anyone ever tell you that this country isnt great, Obama said. Because right now this is the greatest country on earth. She also took a dig at his temperament. I want someone who understands that the issues the president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters, she said. When you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military at your command, you cant make snap decisions. You cant have a thin skin or a tendency to lash out. Obama was at her most moving when she alluded to race, and the powerful message that a black family in the White House has sent to children, including, she noted, the little black boy who looked up at my husband, his eyes wide with hope, and he wondered, Is my hair like yours? She appeared to tear up, as did many delegates, when she compared the groundbreaking nature of Clintons candidacy to her husbands achievement as the first black president. Breaking glass ceilings, she said, is the story of this country the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today, I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters, two beautiful and intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. President Obama approved of her speech. As soon as she finished, he tweeted, Incredible speech by an incredible woman. Couldnt be more proud & our country has been blessed to have her as FLOTUS. I love you, Michelle. ALSO More than 50 cited in civil disobedience outside Democratic convention: Reporters journal FBI investigating whether Russians hacked Democratic Partys emails to help Donald Trump Dreamer Astrid Silva emerges as a new face of Democratic leadership ready to take on Trump UPDATES: 7:57 a.m.: This article was updated with a link to a transcript of Michelle Obamas speech. Confusion and uncertainty in the small town of Acton: This is the worst fire Ive ever seen Flames rear up in the mountains near Acton as nearly 3,000 firefighters converge on the Sand fire. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) Driving through the tiny town of Acton, nearly every roadway is blocked going into the canyons and mountains. Fire trucks line the street here and firefighters sleep in the city park. Tony Stubbins lives full-time in his RV, a dream he and his wife long had. His wife died a few years ago, and he kept to their plan. He stays in his RV at the Thousand Trails Soledad Canyon campsite near Acton, a site hes been around since he was a kid. On Sunday, Stubbins, 61, and the others in RVs were evacuated as the Sand fire burned closer. The sky turned yellow, Stubbins said. He knew the flames were near, and the sun was reflecting off them. Outside Original Acton Market, evacuees say there's been a lot of confusion about #SandFire road closures & location pic.twitter.com/fOmPbg3Ttn Hailey Branson-Potts (@haileybranson) July 25, 2016 The sheriff came through, Stubbins said, and said, Everybodys got to go. He grabbed his campsite neighbor, who was staying in a tent, and fled down Crown Valley Road, amid a traffic jam of RVs. In the four decades hes lived in the Acton area, he said, this is the worst fire Ive ever seen. It just keeps changing directions. On Monday afternoon, Stubbins and a few others who live in RVs were perched on chairs on the front porch outside the Original Acton Market, shooting the breeze with anyone who walked in. He parked his RV outside and stayed there for the night. The store owners, evacuees said, kept the shop open late, even as nearby businesses closed and employees left to evacuate. Evacuees were allowed to plug in a coffee pot and make themselves at home. When the owner finally left late Sunday, he put out a big pan of ribs for those on the porch. Its a small town, Stubbins said, and everyone looks out for each other. One cashier said people have been frantically calling the store, checking to see whether the store was open as seemingly all the highway exits into town closed. Uncertainty lingered in Acton over what was closed down and where exactly the fire was. Theres a lot of confusion, Stubbins said. We just want people to know the people of Acton are here. People are frustrated. Theres not been much on the news about Acton. With scant specific information in the news, people are asking firefighters at the barricades and along the streets for reliable information. As the group of evacuees chatted on the porch, a Beverly Hills fire truck rolled by on Smith Avenue. Hey, look, Beverly Hills! one man shouted. When a Beverly Hills firefighter in his yellow suit came to the stores front door, the men joked with him. Hey, Beverly Hills! one person said. From Coldwater Canyon Drive all the way to Acton! Two federal judges warned Monday that the California Supreme Courts practice in certain criminal cases was jeopardizing citizens constitutional rights. U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judges Jay S. Bybee, a George W. Bush appointee, and Stephen Reinhardt, who was elevated to the court by President Carter, expressed their frustrations in a ruling that will allow a state prisoner to challenge his detention in federal court. The case dealt with legal deadlines, and the 11-judge appellate panel found itself having to surmise why the California Supreme Court had rejected the habeas corpus filing the legal means by which inmates can win their freedom. Advertisement Bybee complained that communication between the two courts has devolved into a series of hints that the California Supreme Court obliquely telegraphs and that we struggle to decipher. Yet the 9th Circuits difficulties pale in comparison to the costs that the California Supreme Courts imprecision imposes on its own citizens and state government, because they have no more clue what the California Supreme Court means than we do, Bybee said. Overwhelmed by thousands of challenges from inmates each year, the state Supreme Court decides most of them with one-paragraph summary rulings that frustrate federal judges who later are asked to review them. In Mondays case, the 9th Circuit was examining the California high courts rejection of a challenge by Freddy Curiel, who was sentenced to life without parole for murder. If the state court had found the rejection was due to a missed legal deadline, the federal judges would have to dismiss the inmates challenge. The 2010 order said in its entirety: The petition for writ of habeas corpus is denied. (See In re Swain (1949) 34 Cal.2d 300, 304; People v. Duvall (1995) 9 Cal.4th 464, 474.). Ninth Circuit Judge Mary H. Murguia, who wrote Mondays majority opinion, said the appellate court had determined that the state justices did not find Curiels challenge untimely because neither of the two cases they cited had to do with deadlines. Reinhardt said in his concurrence that he understood the California high court was overwhelmed with work and strained financially and could not write full-blown rulings on every case. But he implored the court to provide more elucidation and suggested specific reforms. Perhaps what was not so long ago the most innovative court in the nation will once again be able to provide national leadership when it considers the problem of the untold numbers of habeas petitions raising substantial claims of federal constitutional violations, he wrote. Without a new approach, he said, even clearly erroneous constitutional decisions of state courts will remain uncorrected and leave defendants without the check on constitutional error that until recently the federal courts provided. Mondays complaints about the California Supreme Courts practice of denying habeas challenges known as postcard denials have been raised many times throughout the years by 9th Circuit judges. But Reinhardt and Bybee noted that the issue was now more important than ever, because recent rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court require federal courts to defer to state judges except in extremely limited circumstances. Until we can tell what the California Supreme Court has decided, Bybee wrote, we wont know how to afford California the deference to which it is entitled. He said that changes in the composition of the California court Gov. Jerry Brown has added three appointees will give it the opportunity to rethink how it disposes of its summary habeas docket. California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who was out of state on court business, could not be reached for comment Monday. Peter Allen, a state Supreme Court spokesman, declined to comment on the 9th Circuit decision. He noted, however, that the court follows what the state Constitution mandates to provide a ruling, not a written decision. Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen, an expert on the California Supreme Court, said the judges comments showed that the 9th Circuit was clearly in tune to the change in the California Supreme Court and probably sees this as an opportunity to tweak the court to finally address the problem and come up with some solutions. Uelmen predicted the state court would adopt some of the federal judges suggestions. I think it will, he said. I think the new majority clearly wants to position the court as a leading state court in the nation, and this is an opportunity to show some leadership. Reinhardt laid blame for the problem on the new rules limiting the authority of federal judges in criminal cases. Federal judges are less able to correct mistakes by their state counterparts, and state jurists dont have the time or staff to fully and carefully examine every inmate challenge, he wrote. One can only sympathize with the plight of the California Supreme Court with its massive potential caseload and severely strained resources, Reinhardt wrote. But, Bybee said, the addition of just a handful more words to the state courts orders might reduce their inscrutability. Even the California attorney generals office was befuddled when trying to interpret what the state court meant in Mondays case, Bybee said. He likened the efforts to divine the California courts decisions to the work of British mathematicians who cracked German code during World War II. Unless we discover a Rosetta Stone in the San Francisco Bay that helps us crack the California Supreme Courts habeas code, Bybee wrote, I worry that cases like this one will reoccur with some frequency and that federal courts will be forced to trot out their best Alan Turing impressions on a regular basis. maura.dolan@latimes.com Twitter: @mauradolan ALSO Whos governor of California? This week, its not Jerry Brown Judge: Yorba Linda residents cant use a referendum to void water rate hikes New law will require temporary license plates in California A man who gained fame for spending thousands of dollars on plastic surgery in a bid to look like pop star Justin Bieber died last year from a lethal mix of pain killers, alcohol and anti-anxiety medicine, authorities said. Tobias M. Strebel, better known as Toby Sheldon, was found dead Aug. 21, 2015, in a Motel 6 along Roscoe Boulevard in North Hills, according to an autopsy report issued Monday by the Los Angeles County coroners office. Strebel, 35, had been reported missing more than three days before his body was found. Advertisement When paramedics responded to the room, they found Strebels partly decomposed body, with some maggots around his head and neck. He was found with his arms outstretched and lying across the foot of the bed, according to the report. A desk inside the motel room had bottles labeled vitamin C, although the bottles contained diazapam, which is used to treat anxiety and seizures, as well as temazepam, a sedative used to treat insomnia. An insulin bottle and syringes were also in the room, according to the report. Lab tests showed Xanax, Valium, and Ativan in his liver, along with codeine and morphine. Analysis of Strebels death has been marked by delays. The Los Angeles County coroners office said last year that it had not conclusively identified the body as Strebels, partly because of difficulties reaching his mother in Germany and the decomposed state of his body. The toxicology report was not signed off on until May 19 nearly 10 months after his death. Strebel, a native of Nuremberg, Germany, came alone to the U.S. to pursue a songwriting career, according to his manager, Gina Rodriguez. Although he admitted to undergoing hair transplants starting in 2004, most of which failed, he said, his plastic surgery exploits didnt appear to ramp up until after 2008, when Bieber skyrocketed to fame. I didnt necessarily listen to his music or fawn over him as a celebrity, but his face was just so flawless; every change I made was modeled after him, Strebel told the Daily Mail in 2012. In addition to working as a Bieber lookalike, he was employed at a nursing home in Inglewood. For all the slings and arrows put forth against him, he always held his head high, Rodriguez said of Strebel after his death. He had a genuine talent and love for songwriting and it showed in everything he did. For more news in California, follow @MattHjourno. ALSO LAPD officer shot and wounded at South L.A. housing project; 1 civilian also shot Dr. Dre is handcuffed and cited after a man claims he pointed a gun; deputies find no proof Federal prosecutors hope theyve lassoed the Cowboy Bandits Novembers ballot will be crowded with tax initiatives, but a Los Angeles County proposal to fund efforts on homelessness with a tax on marijuana wont be one of them. County supervisors voted Tuesday to pull back an initiative they had previously approved for the ballot, which would have placed a 10% tax on gross receipts of marijuana businesses, with the money to be used for housing and services for the homeless. The supervisors voted 3-2 earlier this month to place the marijuana tax on the ballot. It was a last-ditch effort after several other tax options to raise money for homelessness ran into roadblocks. Advertisement The county first pursued a millionaires tax on high-income earners, which would have required a change in state law before it could go forward. County efforts to lobby for legislation granting that authority were unsuccessful. The supervisors also considered a quarter-cent sales tax and a property tax, but those proposals did not get the votes needed to place them on the ballot, in part because of concerns that they would compete with other sales and property tax proposals on the ballot. The marijuana tax would have raised less money than the other options. County analysts estimated that it would have eventually brought in $78 million to $130 million a year, with most of that coming only if California voters opted to legalize recreational marijuana in November. Even then, the taxes on recreational marijuana could not have been collected until 2018. Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, who proposed the marijuana tax measure, later changed course and asked her colleagues to pull it back. Kuehl said there had been pushback from some homeless service and drug treatment providers who thought the county should not be seen as promoting marijuana legalization. Kuehl said she was worried that without their support, the measure would not get the two-thirds voter support needed to pass. She pointed to $150 million in initial funding the board approved in February to carry out new efforts to reduce homelessness, including about $100 million in this years budget. Were still very serious about homeless services, Kuehl said. She and Supervisors Michael D. Antonovich and Mark Ridley-Thomas who both opposed the tax in the initial vote voted Tuesday to scrap the measure. Supervisors Hilda Solis and Don Knabe were absent. See the most-read stories this hour >> Marsha Temple, who runs the nonprofit Integrated Recovery Network, applauded the decision to pull back the marijuana tax. I was very worried that we were sending a very wrong message to our clients, who we encourage to take steps to reduce or eliminate their dependence on drugs, she said. But she urged the board to pursue a quarter-cent sales tax, which would raise an estimated $355 million a year. Ridley-Thomas had pushed for that option, but it fell short of the four-fifths vote required to put it on the November ballot. Some medical marijuana business owners and recreational marijuana legalization advocates supported the marijuana tax proposal, hoping that it would signal a relaxation of the countys current ban on both marijuana businesses in unincorporated areas. But others were skeptical of the proposal, saying the county should lift its ban before looking at taxes. Tomer Grassiany, a medical marijuana business owner and member of the Los Angeles Cannabis Task Force, said he wants to see the ban lifted and pointed out that if that occurred, the county would be able to share in taxes collected by the state. But he was skeptical of a special tax for homeless services. While I do think that homelessness is a big problem, I dont necessarily agree that cannabis is the one that should be paying for it, he said. Others questioned whether placing too many taxes on marijuana would discourage black-market operations from crossing into the legal economy. If legalized, recreational marijuana businesses would be subject to a state tax of 15% on gross receipts. A portion of the proceeds would go to local governments, but only if they do not ban marijuana sales within their boundaries. Marijuana businesses would also be required to pay existing state and local sales taxes. Elizabeth Hawley of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. told the supervisors another county tax could have the opposite of the intended affect. Homeless funding would be reliant on the legalization of marijuana, but the taxes on this product will disincentive existing illegal operators from trying to come out and comply with local law, she said. Although it appears unlikely that county supervisors will agree on another homeless tax measure in time to place one on the November ballot, voters in the city of Los Angeles will be deciding on a city proposal to issue $1.2 billion in bonds to build more housing for the homeless. That money, unlike the proceeds of the various tax proposals considered by the county, could not be used for services. Voters are also expected to decide in November on a countywide sales tax increase to fund transportation projects, a parcel tax for parks and a community college bond measure. The county could try for a March 2017 ballot initiative on homelessness. The makeup of the board will change after Novembers election, when Antonovich and Knabes seats will be up for grabs. abby.sewell@latimes.com Twitter: @sewella ALSO Man arrested on suspicion of sexually molesting 9-year-old boy in mall bathroom Lack of search warrant damages case against man accused of stalking Sandra Bullock State attorney general asks judge to weigh if 14-year-old should be charged as adult in sisters killing The Cowboy Gun Bandits had been on a tear of small-time gas station robberies across Southern California, terrorizing clerks and grabbing what little cash was in the register. One of the two men wielded a long-barreled Colt six-shooter like a character out of the Old West. They wore black masks, black hoodies, black gloves and dark-colored pants. They moved fast and never left behind clothing fibers, DNA or fingerprints that experts could analyze. Advertisement In just three months, authorities estimate, they committed more than 30 robberies from Los Angeles to Fresno. They rarely made off with more than a few hundred dollars. Then on Nov. 5, 2013, about 9 a.m., they had their big score. The pair walked into a Citibank in Glendale and ordered all the bank customers and employees to the ground at gunpoint. They emptied the tellers drawers and made off with more than $55,000 in cash. The robberies stopped after that. But investigators used witness statements and DMV and cellphone records to sharpen an initially fuzzy outline of the suspects. In June of 2014, federal authorities arrested Dominic Dorsey, 48, and Reginald Bailey, 71, on suspicion of being the Cowboy Gun Bandits. They were charged with eight robberies, including the Glendale Citibank heist. They were planning on moving up from liquor stores to a bank, Assistant U.S. Atty. Joseph Axelrad told a jury in a downtown federal courtroom last week. They were good, but they did make mistakes, and thats how they got caught. On Tuesday, the case will be handed over to the jury to begin deliberations for the second time. Their first trial earlier this year ended in a hung jury. Prosecutors admit that the case is almost entirely circumstantial. When Dorsey and Bailey were arrested in June 2014, authorities didnt find the black hoodies, dark pants, shoes or even the money associated with the robberies. A search of the mens homes and cars didnt turn up the gun used in the crimes, believed to be an 1873 Colt revolver. NEWSLETTER: Get essential California headlines delivered daily But evidence presented at the trial showed the mens cellphones were within miles of each of the robbery locations hours before and after each of the crimes. Investigators said the men turned off their phones during each robbery, leaving a hole in their whereabouts. In video from one of the robberies, Dorsey is seen exiting the passenger side of a car stopped at a gas station pump, then going inside the market and making a small purchase as a regular customer. He then gets back into the car, which drives off. Less than 10 minutes later, the gas station is robbed. Authorities say that was Bailey. The car used that day also matched one seen at many of the robberies. One witness was able to recite the last three numbers on the license plate, and records narrowed it down to a single black Nissan in the Los Angeles area. That car belonged to Dorseys wife. Then less than three weeks after the Citibank holdup, Dorsey put down a $9,000 cash deposit on a new Mercedes Benz. He listed Bailey whom he identified as his uncle as his emergency contact. A closer look at Bailey turned up a host of clues to his involvement in the crimes, prosecutors told the jury. Security video from the bank robbery showed that one of the robbers who matched Baileys height and build also walked with a similar limp and appeared to be missing his left ring finger when he was fleeing with the bags of money. Bailey has only four fingers on his left hand. When authorities arrested him they found black gloves in his backpack and a blue bandana similar to one worn during one of the robberies in his apartment. But there were no outward signs of wealth that would connect Bailey to the crimes. His L.A. studio apartment was small and cluttered. He didnt have a stove so he relied on a hot plate to cook and used rental cars to get around. Speculation is not proof. The government cant speculate, they have to prove the case, Baileys attorney, Jay Lichtman, told the jury. If convicted, Dorsey and Bailey face up to 120 years in prison because of the violent nature of some of the crimes. joe.serna@latimes.com ALSO LAPD officer shot and suspect dead after running gun battle at South L.A. housing project Justin Bieber lookalike died of drug overdose at Motel 6 in Los Angeles, coroner says U.S. judges say Californias top court is jeopardizing constitutional rights A Los Angeles County supervisor wants to look into addressing two intractable problems overcrowded animal shelters and offenders who cycle repeatedly through the county jail system by placing a new animal shelter in a detention center. Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich proposed that the county look into establishing a shelter for cats and dogs at Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic. He cited existing programs that combine animal rescue with job training for people who are incarcerated, including the Prison Pet Partnership in Washington and Paws in Prison in Arkansas. Advertisement A similar program is operated by Karma Rescue at the state prison in Lancaster, where inmates are now caring for nearly 50 deaf dogs from the Deaf Dog Rescue of America in Acton, evacuated due to the Sand Fire burning in the Santa Clarita Valley. The county has a unique opportunity to combine these programmatic benefits to the inmates with the need to expand the capacity and care for small animals abandoned and left to the responsibility of the Department of Animal Care and Control who may otherwise languish and be euthanized, Antonovich wrote in his proposal Tuesday. Such a program could be a cost-effective and progressive way to integrate the needed care of animals with positive benefits to our inmates. The countys department of Animal Care and Control has gradually lowered the rate of animals killed in its shelters, but a large number are still euthanized. Last year, 44% of animals brought to county shelters were killed. Cats, in particular, fare poorly 69% of cats brought to county shelters last year were euthanized, compared with 19% of dogs. Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Sheila Kuehl joined Antonovich in voting to ask for a report back in 30 days from county animal welfare officials and the Sheriffs Department on the feasibility of establishing a shelter at the Castaic lock-up. Supervisors Hilda Solis and Don Knabe were absent. abby.sewell@latimes.com Twitter: @sewella ALSO Amid outbreak, health officials want more gay men vaccinated for meningitis L.A. County supervisors pull marijuana tax measure from November ballot State attorney general asks judge to weigh if 14-year-old should be charged as adult in sisters killing Visitors to Pyramid Lake are allowed to go back into the water, though state water officials caution they should still enter at their own risk after a large algae bloom pumped toxins into the lake last month. The blue-green bloom was detected in late June and closed off the lake to swimming for weeks. Blue-green algae flourish in warm temperatures, calm conditions and plenty of sunlight, according to the state Department of Water Resources. The algae produce a toxin that in high concentrations can cause skin rashes, irritate the eyes, nose, mouth or throat, and trigger headaches and gastrointestinal issues. The toxin levels have dropped enough that the DWR said all recreational activity is allowed, though visitors are urged to still use caution. Advertisement Boiling the water does not remove the toxins so dont drink it, the agency said. Swimmers must also stay away from algae and its scum, DWR said. Eating fish or shellfish from the lake is not recommended, but if a person is going to eat marine life from the water, authorities say, the guts and liver must be removed and the fillet washed clean with fresh water. Blue-green algae appear as bright green in the water, with streaks that look like spilled paint. They can also appear as blue-green, white or brown foam or scum that can float on the water or accumulate along shore, state officials said. Pyramid Lake is north of Castaic Lake in Los Angeles County along the 5 Freeway. For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter. The California attorney generals office is asking a judge to consider whether a 14-year-old boy should be tried as an adult for the death of his younger sister, who was found by her mother last week in her bedroom at their Northern California home. The boy, who hasnt been identified because he is a minor, was charged with one count of murder in juvenile court, but he denied the charge, according to the state attorney generals office. Prosecutors filed a motion asking the judge to determine whether the boy is unfit for the juvenile court system and should be tried as an adult. A court date for the next hearing has not been set. Advertisement The attorney generals office took over the case after the Placer County district attorneys office was forced to recuse itself from handling the incident. Supervising Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff Wood was the father of 13-year-old Ashley Wood, who was found dead on July 19 in their family home in Rocklin. Police said the girl was killed by her 14-year-old brother. Citing an emotional connection to the Wood family, the district attorneys office said prosecuting the case would be a conflict of interest. Given our strong emotional connection to Mr. Wood and his family it is legally impossible for us to prosecute this case, the district attorneys office said in a statement. With the Attorney General handling the criminal case, it will allow our office to focus on giving Mr. Wood and his family the same love and support that he has given to crime victims during his 18 years of service to our county. Ashley was found at 10:47 a.m., dead from blunt force trauma to the head in the Monument Springs Drive home, Rocklin Police Capt. Lon Milka told KXTV. With the help of the California Highway Patrol and Roseville police, detectives found the boy in a field about a mile from the home. The boy was arrested and taken to the Placer County Probation Juvenile Detention Facility. Police declined to say what weapon was used in the attack, and a motive for the killing has not been determined. Ashley was described as a talented gymnast who competed around the country. Click here for a Spanish version of this story veronica.rocha@latimes.com For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter. MORE LOCAL NEWS Man arrested on suspicion of sexually molesting 9-year-old boy in mall bathroom Amid outbreak, health officials want more gay men vaccinated for meningitis Bicyclist from San Francisco Critical Mass ride gets probation for attacking motorists car A state of emergency was declared Tuesday for Los Angeles County, where the Sand fire has scorched 37,701 acres, destroyed homes and led to at least one fatality in Santa Clarita Valley. Acting Gov. Tom Torlakson, the states top education official who is filling in this week while Gov. Jerry Brown attends the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, issued the emergency order, a move that helps quickly get aid to affected communities. An emergency order was also issued for Monterey County, where firefighters are battling the Soberanes fire. Advertisement Nearly 3,000 firefighters continued Tuesday evening to battle the Sand fire, which was 25% contained, according to fire officials. Theres still a lot of firefighting to be done, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Justin Correll said. 1 / 76 Aurora Harris Heller, 62, left, comforts the owner of a home destroyed in the Sand fire in Santa Clarita. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 76 The charred remains of a statue stand on a drive on North Iron Canyon Road, where two homes were destroyed in the Sand fire in Santa Clarita. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 76 Firefighters battle a spot fire along Soledad Canyon Road near Agua Dulce on Tuesday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 76 Firefighters are enveloped in thick smoke while working along Soledad Canyon Road near Agua Dulce on Tuesday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 76 Two charred vehicles can be seen on Iron Canyon Road, near where a person died when the Sand fire swept through Santa Clarita. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 76 One of two homes destroyed by the Sand fire is reduced to rubble and ash on Iron Canyon Road in Santa Clarita. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 76 Aurora Harris Heller is distraught over the death of her neighbor, who was killed when the Sand fire tore through Iron Canyon Road in Santa Clarita. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 76 Riverside firefighter Mark Powell douses a smoldering structure on Iron Canyon Road in Santa Clarita. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 76 Robert Heller walks back with his neighbors horses after evacuation orders were lifted for the residents of Iron Canyon Road in Santa Clarita. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 76 Heat from flames pushes firefighters back as they monitor a flare-up along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton on Monday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 76 A helicopter drops fire retardant on a ridge above Placerita Canyon Road in Santa Clarita as firefighters work to gain the upper hand on the Sand fire on Monday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 76 Los Angeles County firefighters Kevin Bowers, left, and Pat Hanrahan are watchful as a plume of smoke builds in the mountains along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton on Monday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 76 A firefighting jumbo jet drops fire retardant on a ridgeline above Placerita Canyon Road in Santa Clarita on Monday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 76 A Los Angeles County sheriffs deputy checks identification of residents returning to their homes on Sand Canyon Road on Monday after evacuations were lifted. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 76 A burned-out machine shop destroyed in the Sand fire sits below a plume of smoke along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton on Monday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 76 Smoke blocks out the sun as flames consume dry brush near Soledad Canyon Road in the mountains near Acton on Monday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 76 Burned-out vehicles are left behind on Oak Springs Canyon Road in Canyon Country. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 76 Los Angeles County firefighter Ralph Solis of Engine 127 sprays foam onto a tree still smoldering along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton on Monday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 76 Stephanie Spalter looks at the remnants of a machine shop that was destroyed in the Sand fire near Acton on Monday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 76 Fire flares up in brush along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton on Monday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 76 Los Angeles County firefighter engineer Pat Hanrahan from Engine 208 works to put out a smoldering fire burning in equipment behind a home along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton on Monday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 76 Los Angeles County firefighter Roman Legaspi from Engine 208 works to douse hot spots behind buildings along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton on Monday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 76 The husks of mailboxes litter the charred ground on Soledad Canyon Road near Acton on Monday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 76 U.S. Forest Service firefighters Edward Perez, left, Jovanny Cruz and Derek Meyers work to douse hot spots. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 76 Los Angeles County fire crews put out hot spots in a storage building that burned along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton on Monday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 76 An intense fire left behind burned remnants along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 76 Nearly 3,000 firefighters converge on Golden Valley High School, the Sand fire command center, for deployment orders in Santa Clarita on Monday morning. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 76 Smoke from the Sand fire obscures the view in Santa Clarita on Monday morning. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 76 A helicopter makes a water drop on the Sand fire along Placerita Canyon Road near Santa Clarita on Sunday night. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 76 Firefighters remove brush as they battle the Sand fire along Placerita Canyon Road near Santa Clarita on Sunday night. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 76 Firefighters battle the Sand fire along Placerita Canyon Road near Santa Clarita on Sunday night. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 76 Onlookers gather at a shopping mall along Golden Valley Road in Santa Clarita to watch the Sand fire burn in the hills above the city on Sunday night. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 76 Evacuated residents watch as the Sand fire burns through the San Gabriel Mountains on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 76 A pall of smoke from the Sand fire hangs over the desert mountains as the sun sets near Acton. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 35 / 76 An L.A. County helicopter makes a water drop along Placerita Canyon Road as the Sand fire burns in the San Gabriel Mountains on Sunday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 36 / 76 Traffic from a shopping mall along Golden Valley Road in Santa Clarita is diverted away from the flames of the Sand fire as it burns in the hills above the city Sunday night. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 76 A firefighter keeps watch on the path of the Sand fire as it burns out of control along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 38 / 76 A firefighter sets a backfire as the Sand fire burns out of control along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton on Sunday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 39 / 76 The Sand fire burns along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton, threatening homes and other structures in its way. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 76 The Sand fire burns along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 76 The wildfire in the Santa Clarita Valley area has grown to more than 22,000 acres, prompting new evacuations. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 76 A firefighter keeps watch on the path of the Sand fire as it burns out of control along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 43 / 76 The brush fire in the Santa Clarita Valley area has burned 18 homes. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 44 / 76 A firetruck is parked in front of a home in the Santa Clarita Valley. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 45 / 76 A firefighting helicopter drops water on the Sand fire as it burns out of control along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton on Sunday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 46 / 76 Firefighters battle the Sand fire along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton on Sunday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 47 / 76 Ryan Alaniz, 6, waits for his parents to load the family car and evacuate the KOA Campground along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton on Sunday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 48 / 76 A firefighter sets backfires along a ridge as the Sand fire burns out of control along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton on Sunday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 49 / 76 A firefighting helicopter hovers close to the flames from the Sand fire as it burns out of control along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton on Sunday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 50 / 76 The husk of a burned-out residence sits along Little Tujunga Canyon Road. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 51 / 76 Vehicles and other objects consumed by the Sand Fire litter Little Tujunga Canyon Road. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 52 / 76 Sand Canyon evacuees wait to be allowed back to their homes. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 53 / 76 Firefighters put out hot spots at Sable Ranch in Santa Clarita after the Sand fire swept through the area on Sunday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 54 / 76 Firefighters chop down burned vegetation and put out hot spots at Sable Ranch in Santa Clarita on Sunday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 55 / 76 A charred tree stands over the ruins of a home along Little Tujunga Canyon Road near Santa Clarita. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 56 / 76 A burned-out shell is all that remains of a home along Little Tujunga Canyon Road near Santa Clarita after the Sand fire swept through the area on Sunday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 57 / 76 A smoldering home sits off the 26700 block of Iron Canyon Road on Sunday morning. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 58 / 76 Los Angeles County firefighter Anders Heinstedt mops up hot spots at Sable Ranch in Santa Clarita on Sunday. The ranch is used for movie and TV production. Several of the sets, including one for Foxs Utopia, were destroyed by the Sand fire. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 59 / 76 Buildings and cars are drenched in Phos-Chek, a pink fire retardant, at Sable Ranch in Santa Clarita. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 60 / 76 Rob Chauvie says he was helping his sister evacuate during the Sand fire when he was doused with Phos-Chek, a fire-retardant, in Santa Clarita. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 61 / 76 Sand fire evacuees pass the time at Hart High School in Newhall on Sunday. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) 62 / 76 A house burns along Little Tujunga Canyon Road as the Sand fire rages near Santa Clarita. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 63 / 76 AJ Moberg, 15, waters down the roof of his familys house Saturday as a plane dumping fire retardant flies overhead. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 64 / 76 A burned van and trailer sit along Little Tujunga Canyon Road. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 65 / 76 A truck and a house burn along Little Tujunga Canyon Road. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 66 / 76 Seth Moberg, 16, gathers belongings from his familys house on Sand Canyon Road as the Sand fire approaches in Santa Clarita. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 67 / 76 AJ Moberg, 15, waters down the roof of his familys house on Sanf Canyon Road as the Sand fire approaches in Santa Clarita on Saturday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 68 / 76 A view of the massive cloud from the Sand fire, as seen from Alameda and 6th streets in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina/ Los Angeles Times ) 69 / 76 Women evacuate horses along Sand Canyon Road as the Sand fire approaches in Santa Clarita. Hundreds of other animals also were evacuated. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 70 / 76 Flames from the Sand fire burn a hillside near Little Tujunga Canyon on Saturday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 71 / 76 AJ Moberg, 15, waters down the roof of his familys house on Sand Canyon Road. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 72 / 76 Charlie Erasmo takes pictures of water-dropping helicopters as they come in for water to battle the Sand fire in Santa Clarita on Saturday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 73 / 76 A water-dropping helicopter makes a run as the Sand fire burns in Santa Clarita on Saturday morning. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 74 / 76 L.A. County firefighter Joshua Miramontes with Engine 82 works the fast-growing brush fire east of Santa Clarita. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 75 / 76 A helicopter drops water on the fast-growing brush fire east of Santa Clarita. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 76 / 76 The Santa Clarita wildfire is visible from the Top of Topanga Overlook. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) Sand fire updates: More than 37,000 acres burned in Santa Clarita Valley mountains Although the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department allowed most residents to return home Monday evening, hundreds of residents in three areas were still under evacuation orders. L.A. County declared a local emergency Monday as the wildfire continued to grow. The massive blaze erupted Friday along the northbound 14 Freeway at Sand Canyon Road. At least 18 structures have been destroyed and one damaged in the Angeles National Forest near Bear Divide and Sand Canyon areas, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The fire has been blamed for one fatality. Robert Bresnick, 67, was discovered dead about 7:20 p.m. Saturday inside a burned car in a driveway outside a home in the 26700 block of Iron Canyon Road. Bresnick was visiting a friend when evacuation orders went out to residents, said Ed Winter, spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroners office. But Bresnick was apparently uncooperative and did not want to leave, he said. As flames approached, his friend began evacuating, but Bresnick went back inside the home. They were trying to get him to leave, Winter said. He later emerged from the home, but it was too late. Bresnicks friend ran for the hills, while Bresnick got into his car just as flames swept over the area. Twenty minutes later, firefighters found his burned body inside the car, Winter said. Neighbors on Tuesday said he was trying to rescue his dogs and got caught in the fire. Residents said his girlfriend fled with her pet before the flames ran through the home. Morgan Franklin, who lives across the street from the home, said the couple had three dogs. Her house is gone, her boyfriend is gone, Franklin said. Its crazy. Investigators used dental records to identify Bresnick, officials said. An autopsy will be performed to determine an official cause of death. Powerful winds have fueled flames, which were intensified by excessive heat and low humidity. The blaze scorched thousands of acres of forestland that hadnt burned in several decades. Ash from the fire fell throughout Los Angeles County, and smoke created an apocalyptic haze, even triggering air-quality advisories as far away as Reno. On Tuesday, the South Coast Air Quality Management District extended a smoke advisory for the Antelope Valley, Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the San Gabriel Mountains. Officials warned that the air could reach unhealthy levels because of the smoke. The fire already left scorch marks that could be seen from space, according to NASA. Satellites traveling above the Earth recorded images showing slightly darkened canyons and hills in the Santa Clarita Valley. The National Weather Service warned that 25 to 30 mph winds were expected through Thursday in the Santa Clarita Valley and area mountains. Strong winds were also forecast for the Antelope Valley. Elevated fire danger is expected to persist through late in the week and possibly through the weekend, the weather service said. The potential for rapid growth and extreme fire behavior will continue, for existing fires and for any new fire that occurs. The weather service urged extreme caution, especially in areas with heavy brush. The strong winds fed uncertainty about the fire. Along Agua Dulce Canyon Road, residents were under an evacuation order, but some were hunkered down in their homes, keeping a watchful eye on the blaze. Victoria Donohoe, 50, and her long-term boyfriend remained inside their home of more than two decades. Weve been through this before, Donohoe said. Her water supply was getting low, and like other residents here, she was prohibited from reentering the neighborhood if she drove past the police checkpoint. If the flames encroached, she said she had already set aside personal documents, pictures and clothes. We can tell when its going to get close, she said, and were prepared to leave. Times staff writer Veronica Rocha contributed to this report. brittny.mejia@latimes.com hailey.branson@latimes.com matt.hamilton@latimes.com For more breaking Southern California news, follow us on Twitter: @brittny_mejia, @haileybranson and @MattHjourno ALSO Federal prosecutors hope theyve lassoed the Cowboy Bandits LAPD officer shot and suspect dead after running gun battle at South L.A. housing project Justin Bieber lookalike died of drug overdose at Motel 6 in Los Angeles, coroner says UPDATES: 8:05 p.m.: This article was updated with updated figures on the acres burned and details from some residents who had yet to evacuate their homes. 6:05 p.m.: This post was updated with the issuance of a state of emergency for Los Angeles and Monterey counties. 5:00 p.m.: This post was updated with details on air quality advisories and minor editing. 11:05 a.m.: This post was updated with comments from neighbors. 10:27 a.m.: This post was updated with details from the coroners office. This article was originally published at 7:50 a.m. Within days of arresting a man who broke into Sandra Bullocks home, forcing her to call 911 from a bedroom closet, prosecutors charged the accused stalker with illegal possession of machine guns and other weapons he had stockpiled in his home. Now, two years after his arrest, much of the case against Joshua James Corbett appears to be falling apart because of a warrantless search of his home by Los Angeles Police Department detectives. Last week, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled the cache of high-powered weapons that the LAPDs Threat Management Unit recovered from Corbetts home cannot be used as evidence against him. Advertisement The decision could now result in 24 of 26 felony charges against Corbett being tossed out unless prosecutors can overturn the decision on appeal. If the weapons charges are dismissed, Corbett will face only burglary and stalking charges. We are disappointed with this decision, LAPD Capt. Andrew Neiman said. They obtained verbal consent from the suspect before conducting the search. They acted in good faith. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Edmund W. Clarke Jr. chose to exclude the evidence after determining the LAPD violated Corbetts constitutional rights in custody. The judge found that Corbett was forced to give detectives permission to search his Montrose home without a search warrant. Corbett also provided investigators with the combination to a safe that contained more than 30 weapons, after spending several hours in custody and repeatedly requesting a lawyer. Detectives had known, through records, that Corbett was a onetime hunter and had a gun permit from another state. They suspected he kept weapons and questioned him repeatedly about it while in custody. Det. Jeffrey Dunn told Corbett he would find the guns one way or another and that if he did not tell him where the guns were he would be forced to go the suspects parents home, according to a transcript of the recording. You want me to go there with a pry bar and battering ram and disrupt your mother and fathers life to get your guns? the detective asked. Police arrested Corbett on June 8, 2014, after Bullock was awakened by a strange knocking sound coming from her third-floor workout room. She peeked out of her bedroom door and saw a man clad in black sneaking down the second-floor corridor. Fearing for her safety, she retreated to her bedroom, hid in the closet and called 911. I am in my closet. I have a safe door, Bullock said during the 911 call. Im locked in my closet right now. Corbett was arrested at the scene by LAPD officers. They found photos of the actress in his pockets, a letter portraying himself as her husband and a concealed weapon permit from Utah. After Corbetts arrest, detectives told him they needed to obtain his weapons to comply with an emergency protection order. See the most-read stories in Local News this hour >> Corbett was not carrying a weapon when he climbed over a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire and onto Bullocks property about 5 on a Sunday morning. Corbetts attorney, Steve Sitkoff, had filed motions challenging the evidence and said that star-struck detectives tossed aside his clients rights, including his right to remain silent. Jane Robison, a Los Angeles County district attorneys spokeswoman, said the offices appellant unit is reviewing the ruling and deciding whether to challenge it. Prosecutors had argued that detectives would have inevitably discovered the weapons during further investigation. But the judge rejected that argument. Sitkoff said his client needs mental health treatment, not incarceration, and that is why his legal team is fighting so hard to remove the gun charges. Sitkoff said unless the prosecution successfully appeals, the case will be mostly gutted. In court testimony, Corbett recalled his interview with Dunn. He just kept telling me, I want them guns. He said he told the detective, I dont want to talk to you. Corbett testified that he cooperated with investigators out of fear. Sitkoff said that once the other charges are dismissed, defense attorneys will seek a reduction in Corbetts $2-million bail. He has been held in the county jail since his 2014 arrest. When Corbett was arrested he was holding a notebook with a love letter to Bullock. In it, he wrote, you are my wife by law, the law of God and belong to me. Security footage showed that Corbett had been to the home three nights in a row before his arrest. In a transcript of Corbetts interview with Dunn, he said he knew he had done wrong and told him why he went to Bullocks home. I did not go there to hurt her, he said. I dont think people protect her well enough. richard.winton@latimes.com Follow me on Twitter at @lacrimes. MORE LOCAL NEWS Sand fire updates: More than 37,000 acres burned in Santa Clarita Valley mountains Justin Bieber lookalike died of drug overdose at Motel 6 in Los Angeles, coroner says Federal prosecutors hope theyve lassoed the Cowboy Bandits Firefighters continued a five-day battle Tuesday against a raging wildfire north of Big Sur on Tuesday, fighting back flames that have spread to more than 19,000 acres and triggered several state park closures. Water-dropping helicopters and air tankers were grounded Monday by a thick layer of fog and smoke, fire officials said. Firefighters were pressed to work through the night, and tackle extreme fire conditions in Garrapata State Park in Carmel, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The Soberanes fire started burning Friday, scorching redwoods and sagebrush in Soberanes Creek. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Advertisement Time lapse of the 19,311 acre #SoberanesFire burning in Monterey Co. Fire activity above marine layer very active. pic.twitter.com/p3YG51vl1y Barry Parker (@bfireman5) July 26, 2016 Since the blaze erupted, hot temperatures and low humidity have plagued firefighters, who have struggled to gain access to the flames smoldering in steep and rocky hillsides. The blaze is 10% contained. We are starting to get into the fatigue time because of so many days on the fire, and just continually fighting this fire aggressively does take its toll on firefighters, Cal Fire Capt. Lucas Spelman told KSBW-TV. More than 1,600 structures remained threatened by the flames, which have destroyed at least 20 homes and two outbuildings. Some 300 residents have been evacuated in Palo Colorado and the areas of Rocky Creek, Weston Ridge Road, Garrapatos Road and Highway 1 at Old Coast Road south to Old Coast Road at Bixby Creek Road. Palo Colorado, Robinson Canyon Road and Weston Ridge roads at Highway 1 were closed. On Tuesday, crews received more resources to tackle the fire. At least 2,300 firefighters, 215 engines, 48 hand crews, 14 helicopters and six air tankers have deployed to the fire burning in rural Monterey County. Smoke from the blaze blanketed the region and affected air quality. When smoke settled over Carmel Valley overnight, air quality became worse than in Beijing, according to the National Weather Service in San Francisco. The large fire prompted the closures of several state parks. The following closures were listed: Andrew Molera State Park; Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park; Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park; Point Sur Lighthouse State Historic Park; Pine Ridge Trail to Sykes Hot Springs; and Mount Manuel Trail. veronica.rocha@latimes.com For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter. ALSO 16,100-acre wildfire destroys at least 20 homes near Big Sur Wildfire ripped through like freight train, destroying homes near Santa Clarita Fire seasons are becoming hotter, drier and longer When a white officer launched seven bullets into a black man outside a housing project here early this month, there were chants of black lives matter in the streets, accusations of racism, and demands for an investigation and answers. But unlike other police-involved deaths of black men across the country, the fatal shooting of Jai Jerry Williams on July 2 had no viral video. And instead of dividing a community between those who accept the police version of events and those who question it, Williams death has united residents in grief while opening wounds about race in this liberal Southern enclave. In Asheville, a majority-white city of 88,000 whose tourism board has touted it as a place where Americans can live life any way you like it, news of the shooting has gradually made its way through the community after being overshadowed by national events, shocking white residents into soul-searching and an identity crisis. Advertisement Hundreds of Ashevillians, familiar with loud protests over causes like gay rights, fracking and war, have taken to the streets to block downtown intersections and hold vigils. In a place whose liberal population prides itself on racial understanding, national trauma and local violence have collided. A shrine in memory of Jai Jerry Williams is displayed at the Block off Biltmore in Asheville, N.C., on July 12. (Susannah Kay / For The Times ) White churches that were pioneers in fighting for same-sex marriage are hosting Sunday dialogues on racism, inviting black pastors theyve never met to join. At the downtown organic store, white employees recently agreed to put up a Black Lives Matter sign. Massage therapists and yoga instructors are offering healing sessions for people traumatized by bloody viral videos and news coverage. At the same time, residents are unearthing long-simmering racial tensions in a city where many didnt realize they existed. Its somewhat of a startling revelation, said Esther Manheimer, mayor of the city thats home to the University of North Carolina at Asheville. We all walk in our bubbles and assume everybody is experiencing life the way I am experiencing life. Now, she said, the community is going through a necessary disruption. Like many Southern cities, Asheville, nestled amid the Blue Ridge Mountains, grew from the labor of slaves, who worked on its extravagant 19th century plantations and helped build downtown. The city once had a thriving black business district that declined amid development in the 20th century as new highways were built over black centers. The black community, largely poor and concentrated in housing projects and segregated neighborhoods, has lost more than a tenth of its members since 2000, and stands at around 13% of the city population. Family members and concerned citizens wear T-shirts in memory of Jai Jerry Williams, who was shot and killed by police in Asheville, N.C., on July 2, 2016. (Susannah Kay / For The Times ) African Americans have long complained about mistreatment at the hands of police, including after an officer was cleared of charges in 2014 for the deadly shooting of a 19-year-old black man after a foot chase. But the recent death has brought crowds of black residents and some white allies unlike before. People are tired of what they are seeing in this country, said DeLores Venable, a 37-year-old healthcare worker and Black Lives Matter activist who has led local protests asking police to release records into Williams shooting. Im fifth-generation from here. Its always been racist, said Venable, who had known Williams and said he was nothing like they make him out to be. He was always joking, the one to cheer you up. Everything that they say happened is completely out of character. White people are just waking up, added Johaunna Cromer, another Black Lives Matter activist who knew Williams. More of them need to. Williams shooting bears little resemblance to the recent deaths of black men that have captivated the nation, except in one sense: Nearly every detail has been disputed. According to police, officers responded to a call about shots fired at a public housing complex southwest of downtown and went on a three-mile car chase of a suspect, ending at another housing project. Officers said they saw Williams, 35, struggling with a woman who was trying to get out of the car they had been chasing. Then, they said, he ran the car onto a curb and displayed an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle. The white officer who shot Williams is on administrative leave, and the State Bureau of Investigation is collecting evidence. Family members and witnesses dispute much of the story, challenging the account of who was in the car and whether Williams threatened to use a gun or even had one. Jamal Cash leads Jai Jerry Williams family and community in song at Williams birthday party at the Block off Biltmore in Asheville, N.C., on July 12. Williams, who was fatally shot by police 10 days earlier, would have been 36. (Susannah Kay / For The Times ) Police say that the officer was not wearing a body camera, and that there was no dashboard camera installed in the patrol car. The police introduced an already-scheduled body camera program just days after the shooting. No bystander videos have been released. The local controversy, paired with the graphic videos that catapulted into social media prominence the deadly shootings by police of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota, has emboldened some white residents here to not only seek answers but explore their own attitudes toward race. How do we proceed, as a city and a country? asked Janet Quick, 70, who was spurred this month to go to her first meeting of the Asheville chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice, a national network of white activists that was founded in response to police shootings of black Americans. The retired clinical psychologist and lifelong member of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People had never marched in a Black Lives Matter protest, but now is looking for one to join. As the daughter of an FBI agent, shes also wary of being quick to judge law enforcement. Showing Up for Racial Justice meets in the muggy backroom of Firestorm, a cafe-bookstore whose regular events include an animal rights reading group and meetings of a queer womens book club. It often gets around five attendees for a weekly discussion group on race that it has held since shortly after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014. At a recent meeting, an overflow crowd of 30 people joined to strategize and air their views. I feel like I took a red pill from The Matrix. I cant go back, said Kriya Lendzion, a 45-year-old school counselor who moved to the city nine years ago from Orlando, Fla., after being attracted by Ashevilles high rankings for safety and the popularity of its holistic wellness community. Its taken me so long to understand that all of the things this city prides itself in, they dont include black people, said Lendzion, a white woman whose 18-year-old son is biracial and identifies as black. Were this progressive, white, hippie town, and everyone says, No, were not racist, said Rae Nebula, a 32-year-old performance artist and hairstylist. Im thirsty for a way to wake more people up. Its our job to make people uncomfortable, because this is how people of color feel all the time. Mic Collins, one of the founders of the group, chimed in, calling the moment a test for this community. I hold the tension of being unsure about what happened to Williams, said Collins, 28. But at the same time, we all know what happened because its happening around the country. Statistically speaking, the groups sentiments on race are unusual among white Americans. A Pew Research Center survey released last month showed stark contrasts in how white and black Americans see race. Forty-six percent of whites said race relations were generally good, while 61% of blacks said they were generally bad. About 4 in 10 blacks said they doubted the country would ever reach a point where they would be treated equally to whites. Nearly 4 in 10 whites said that had already happened. On a recent Tuesday evening, 10 days after Williams shooting had ignited protests and self-examination, activists, clergy and community members gathered downtown to pay tribute to his life and that of the two black men and five police officers who had died in the previous week in Louisiana, Minnesota and Texas. Jai Jerry Williams is honored by his aunt Terrie Williams, cousin Tristan Earle, mother Najiyyah Avery, center, uncle Michael Williams, and others at The Block off Biltmore in Asheville. (Susannah Kay / For The Times ) At the Block off Biltmore, a vegan bar and restaurant housed in the same building as the Young Mens Institute, a historic black cultural center, dozens came together to celebrate what would have been Williams 36th birthday. A DJ played old-school soul, Williams favorite music, and 50 Cent, as Williams mother, aunts and cousin stood at microphones to demand answers about their loved ones death before cutting a vegan chocolate-blueberry cake. It was festive yet somber, as attendees drank margaritas and ate sauteed kale over rice with cornbread. Im still waiting on the truth. I still havent seen his body. Im still waiting on the autopsy report. We have no funeral plans yet, said Williams mother, Najiyyah Avery, as she held Poopdy, the ragged teddy bear her son had kept since childhood. No city, county, government official has reached out. Her eyes lighted up when she talked about her son, who was a packer at an alcohol distribution company, and had dreams of writing novels and making rap CDs. Most attendees at the party were black. Community members attend the Interfaith Unity Gathering organized by the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance in memory of Jai Jerry Williams in Pack Square Park in downtown Asheville. (Susannah Kay / For The Times ) Two blocks away at Pack Square Park, a mostly white crowd of around 150 gathered with the mayor, police chief and clergy to offer prayers after the shooting, and the for the dead across the U.S. this month. Within eyesight of the crowd was the Vance Memorial monument, a historic 50-foot obelisk named after a former governor, U.S. congressman and slave owner thats been the site of controversy among black residents over the years. I cant imagine the grief this family is experiencing right now, said Mayor Manheimer, who is white. Once we have an encounter between a person and a police officer that ends in tragedy, we as a community have failed that individual and we have failed that officer. The two events were organized independently, and Avery said it was a slap in the face to have city officials put together a tribute to her son without her permission and without inviting her. As the vigil, organized by an interfaith coalition, closed, Manheimer walked down the street to the birthday party for Williams, mingling with guests and waiting in line to meet the Williams family. The family was surprised, and put off. Their pain and the citys divide was long from being healed, they said. Through a representative, they told the mayor they didnt want to talk to her on their sons birthday, and asked her to go home. jaweed.kaleem@latimes.com Jaweed Kaleem is The Times national race and justice correspondent. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. ALSO Florida police shoot caretaker who says he was trying to help autistic patient From Ferguson to Baton Rouge: Deaths of black men and women at the hands of police The Game doesnt care if he never sells another album - hes out to make the world a safer place The Obama administration announced an expansion Tuesday of a program that allows minors from three violence-plagued countries in Central America, and now some of their relatives, to apply for refugee status. The move is intended to bring refugee families together, officials said. But it could prove another partisan lightning rod in the debate over immigration in the U.S. presidential campaign. The rule changes appear more modest than some of President Obamas controversial efforts since 2013 to expand immigration opportunities. Advertisement Obamas attempt to broaden the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to include parents of children brought to the country illegally was shut down in 2015 by a federal judge in Texas. The U.S. Supreme Court let that ruling stand in a 4-4 tie last month. The latest push could help thousands of people in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala countries battling gang violence, political killings and severe poverty to enter and legally stay in the United States. Under a 2-year-old program, children and youths under 21 from those nations can seek asylum if they have a parent who is here legally. The applicants are interviewed and vetted in their home countries in an effort to prevent them from making the perilous journey north across Mexico, a route chosen by tens of thousands of minors and families in recent years. Under the expansion announced Tuesday, older relatives of those children, including caregivers, can also apply for refugee status. In a telephone briefing for reporters, U.S. officials acknowledged that the program is struggling with a backlog of applicants. About 9,500 minors have applied for U.S. refugee status in recent months from the three countries, said Alejandro Mayorkas, deputy secretary of Homeland Security. He says 2,884 applications have been approved, but only a few hundred applicants have entered the United States. Mayorkas says he anticipates substantially more people will apply under the expanded program. The volume could be significant, he said. The overarching goal here is family unification. Until now, the parent legally in the U.S. could apply for refugee status only for an unmarried minor younger than 21. The expanded program will allow that childs older siblings, his or her other parent or his or her caregivers, including aunts, uncles and grandparents, to also apply. This is recognition that families arent the traditional mom, dad, kids, especially in dangerous countries where [traditional families] can get disrupted, or in regions where a lot of parents have migrated to the U.S., said Faye Hipsman, associate policy analyst with the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute and author of a report on the program. But Hipsman said the number of people who will benefit from the new rules will be limited because of the requirement that a parent or relative already live in the U.S. legally. So while more people will certainly benefit, it will likely be on the margins, said Hipsman, the California program coordinator for the institute. Some critics saw cynical motives behind the new rules, saying they were timed to coincide with the start of the fall presidential campaign. The president is trying to make a political impression, said Jan Ting, a law professor at Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia. It can be construed as a trick to get people to stay in their home country at least for the next few months until after the election. See the most-read stories in National News this hour >> Ting said in a telephone interview he believed the Obama administration was concerned about the political fallout from another surge of migrants, including thousands of unaccompanied children, crossing the Southwest border before the November election. They are trying to send a message to Central Americans: Hey, dont come. At least dont come in the next 90 days and we will make it easier for you to apply, said Ting, a board member at the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank in Washington that advocates reducing legal immigration flows. The expanded program sets up a temporary transit shelter in Costa Rica, which agreed to periodically take 200 refugee applicants while they await processing. Mexico also agreed to accept more asylum seekers after Obama met with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto at the White House last week, Mayorkas said. Between 2013 and 2014, the number of Central American children caught attempting to cross the U.S. border jumped by 149% to 151,705. The flow then subsided somewhat, but began to grow again late last year. By themselves, todays actions will not solve this challenge, Anne Richard, assistant secretary of State for population, refugees and migration, told reporters on the call. But they are steps in the right direction. tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com brian.bennett@latimes.com MORE NATIONAL NEWS Whats at stake in the Democratic and Republican family feuds ADHD is now classified as a specific disability under federal civil rights law Michelle Obamas stunning convention speech: When they go low, we go high Last year, a group of Central American and Mexican immigrant parents sued Texas in federal court, claiming that the state had denied their children birth certificates and access to vital services. Now, Texas officials have agreed to expand the list of documents that allow immigrant parents who entered the country illegally to obtain birth certificates for their U.S.-born children. The parents lawsuit has now been stayed pending enforcement of the new policy during the next nine months. It is a victory absolutely for all of the U.S. citizen children who are born here in Texas to undocumented parents. I think they are going to get all their benefits to which they are entitled, said lead attorney Jennifer Harbury of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid Inc., which represented the children. We have a great deal of work to do in the transition state. But I think in the end, were going to get a better system out of it. Advertisement The 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship for children born on U.S. soil, but Texas authorities added significant barriers in recent years to undocumented immigrants seeking birth certificates for U.S.-born children. Hundreds of immigrant parents along the southern Texas border have been denied birth certificates during the last three years, the families attorneys said, as authorities made it more difficult for those lacking access to U.S.-issued identification to use alternatives. Without birth certificates, our clients lived in constant fear of having their families torn apart and their American-born children deported. They also struggled to get access to basic education, health and child-care services, said Efren Olivares, regional legal director of Texas Civil Rights Projects south Texas office, which represented the parents. This settlement will be life-changing for immigrant communities across the state. The stricter guidelines came as the state saw an influx during the last two years of Central American migrant family members into the Rio Grande Valley 34,289 since October and President Obama attempted to expand executive action immigration programs ultimately blocked by the U.S. Supreme court last month. According to state policy, registrars could not accept consular identification cards, popularly known as matriculas, issued to foreign nationals. Many immigrant parents in the country illegally did not bring identification issued in their home countries, lost them or had them stolen when they migrated, and could not return home to get them. In California, immigrant parents routinely use the matricula card to obtain birth certificates. In Arizona, lawmakers failed in recent years to pass proposals that would have denied or restricted birth certificates to children born to immigrants who entered the country illegally. Under the agreement, Texas registrars still will not accept matriculas, Harbury said. But they must accept two supporting documents and a form of secondary identification from immigrant parents, such as a Mexican voter registration card or Salvadoran national identification. More than two dozen new qualifying supporting documents include a recent utility bill with current address; school transcript; auto insurance card; lease; hunting license; marriage license; cellphone bill; or library card. Though the agreement doesnt change state law or policies, it expands the list of supporting documents significantly to include documents available to undocumented people, Olivares said. The state already accepted Mexican voter ID cards, but until this year, the Mexican government didnt issue them in the U.S. Olivares said the attorneys negotiated with the state to accept the new cards issued to Mexican migrants in the U.S. Some of the families that sued have documents that meet the new criteria and are reapplying for birth certificates. Others are applying for identification from their home countries, which Olivares said would probably take several weeks. We havent had any test runs yet, he said, adding, Thats one of the reasons the case will not be dismissed in case the state or the local registrars are not compliant, we can take it back to the judge. Hopefully no one will be turned away. The agreement comes at a time when birthright citizenship for the children of immigrants has been challenged by Donald Trump and other conservatives. This is yet another example of how our institutions are being asked to accommodate foreigners who think they are above the law, said Jon Feere, legal policy analyst at the conservative Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies. This entire issue could be avoided if people entered our country lawfully. Texas officials now are expected to become experts in a variety of foreign documents of questionable reliability. A spokeswoman for Republican Texas Atty. Gen. Ken Paxtons office, which handled the case, referred questions to the Department of State Health Services, the agency that supervises the roughly 400 local registrars across Texas that issue birth certificates. Chris Van Deusen, a department spokesman, said the agreement will allow the state to continue to provide necessary birth certificates to authorized people and do so in a way that maintains the security of state birth records. He said the department would accept certifications issued by Salvadoran consulates as secondary identification and was reviewing documents provided by the consulates of Guatemala and Honduras. In addition to accepting more forms of identification, Texas officials also agreed to train registrars, create posters and pamphlets explaining the requirements, and add a hotline for complaints that staff will review, Harbury said, making sure the rules are consistently applied. While the lawsuit has made its way through the courts, Harbury said, some of the children who were unable to get birth certificates missed out on medical services, while others had trouble registering for Head Start or Section 8 housing. Im hoping to get all of that straightened out in the next few weeks, she said. State Sen. Juan Chuy Hinojosa, a Democrat from the Rio Grande Valley who had called on state officials to change birth certificate requirements after the lawsuit was filed, praised the agreement as a step in the right direction. Im pleased that the state will now expand the types of documents that parents can present to obtain birth certificates for their children born in the United States, Hinojosa said. These children are U.S. citizens and are entitled constitutionally to receive their own birth certificates. Juanita Valdez-Cox, executive director of the nonprofit La Union del Pueblo Entero office near the border in San Juan, Texas, held a news briefing about the agreement at her office Monday with some of the families who filed the lawsuit. This is a critical victory for immigrant families, but it is also a victory for the constitutional rights of all of us, Valdez-Cox said. Questioning the citizenship of U.S.-born, citizen children of immigrant parents erodes our constitutional freedoms and protections, causes instability for parents and children, and undermines the guarantee that all of our children will unquestionably be citizens. She noted that more than 48,000 people signed petitions asking the state to stop denying birth certificates to immigrant parents. Standing in front of a handmade sign that said in Spanish, My children need their birth certificate, Valdez-Cox pointed to one of the mothers previously denied. She has since already received her voter card, which they said will be accepted, Valdez-Cox said, as those assembled applauded. molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com @mollyhf A Texas judge on Tuesday dismissed the last remaining charge against two California anti-abortion activists who made undercover videos of themselves trying to buy fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood. District Judge Brock Thomas dismissed the tampering with government records charges against David Daleiden, 27, and Sandra Merritt, 63, at the request of the Harris County prosecutors office, which determined that the grand jury had exceeded its authority by investigating the activists after clearing Planned Parenthood of wrongdoing. The grand jury took the investigation where the facts led it, however Texas law limits what can be investigated after a grand jury extension order is issued, Dist. Atty. Devon Anderson said in a statement. In light of this and after careful research and review, this office dismissed the indictments. Advertisement Defense attorneys said the pair never should have been indicted. And Merritt and Daleiden, who founded a group called the Center for Medical Progress, previously rejected plea deals offering them probation. Im glad the 1st Amendment rights of all citizen journalists have been vindicated today, Daleiden said after the hearing. And I would just note that Planned Parenthood is still under investigation by the United States Congress, as they should be, because they are the real criminals in this matter. Prosecutors alleged that Daleiden, from Davis, Calif., and Merritt, from San Jose, used fake drivers licenses to conceal their identities from Planned Parenthood during the 30-month undercover video operation. They said the two posed as representatives of a fake biomedical company and sought to show that Planned Parenthood illegally sold parts of aborted fetuses to researchers. Texas authorities initially began a grand jury investigation of Planned Parenthood after the undercover videos were released last August. But the grand jury cleared Planned Parenthood of misusing fetal tissue and instead indicted Merritt and Daleiden, who said he was working undercover as a journalist to expose illegalities in the handling of fetal tissue. See more of our top stories on Facebook Terry Yates, one of Daleidens lawyers, said the prosecutors office agreed with their contention that the grand jury improperly used its extended term to further investigate the case, meaning it didnt have jurisdiction. Regardless of however it came, were happy today this matter is over, he said. Merritt wasnt at the hearing. Asked whether the dismissal could be considered to be based on a technicality, her lawyer, Dan Cogdell, said it didnt matter. As long as my client gets a dismissal, I dont care what they call it, he said. But she really was not guilty. Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, in a statement, said just because the charges were dropped, it doesnt mean the defendants were innocent. President and CEO Melaney Linton said that Planned Parenthood has been cleared of any wrongdoing time and again, and that activists like Daleiden spent three years creating a fake company, creating fake identities, and lying. When they couldnt find any improper or illegal activity, they made it up ... in order to advance their anti-abortion agenda. The decision to drop the prosecution on a technicality does not negate the fact that the only people who engaged in wrongdoing are the extremists behind this fraud. The organization has said it never has and never would sell fetal tissue. ALSO Where does Kamala Harris stand on Planned Parenthood videos? Heres what happened when Texas cracked down on abortion clinics Without this Texas clinic, women with unwanted pregnancies would have to travel 230 miles or cross into Mexico UPDATES: 11:15 a.m.: This article was updated with additional background and quotes from David Daleiden and Terry Yates. This article was originally published at 8:05 a.m. Bernie Sanders hasnt grown much fonder of the media So what did Bernie Sanders make of all the booing on his behalf Monday night? Give his supporters time, Sanders told reporters at a Bloomberg Politics breakfast Tuesday. Most have never been involved in politics before. They are still working their way through the stages of grief. We have beautiful supporters, passionate supporters, he said. He figured some 90% of the delegates representing him had never been to a convention before. Sanders reiterated that he is going to campaign aggressively for Hillary Clinton. But dont expect him to stay a committed Democrat after that. He ran for the Senate as an independent, he said, and he will be serving out his term as one. The senator also hasnt grown any more fond of the media after a year in which he was in the headlines and cable news spotlight daily. I think you have a right to ask the question, dumb that it may be, he said kind of joking, but kind of not to a reporter who asked whether Sanders feels he can trust Clinton. Sanders said reporters should have been asking about climate change and healthcare. You are asking me about trust, so we can have a big article about controversy. Did anybody ask me about climate change? he said. Is it of some significance to anyone at this table? The senator also had some thoughts about the conspicuous display of special-interest money throughout the Democratic convention. It should be an embarrassment, Sanders said. Then he looked around the posh neoclassical conference room where he he was breakfasting with reporters. Who is sponsoring this? Moderator Al Hunt joked that one of his colleagues was picking up the tab. Then he decided best to be clear. We are, by the way senator to be serious we dont have any outside funder, Hunt said. Angry Sanders delegates drown out California speakers Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, upset over the disclosure of Democratic National Committee emails showing officials privately discussing ways to help Hillary Clinton beat Sanders, repeatedly shouted down speakers at the California delegations breakfast Monday morning. The ruckus came shortly after DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was similarly booed and heckled by Sanders supporters as she addressed the Florida delegation. At the meeting of California delegates, Sanders supporters waved Bernie or Bust signs and chanted Sanders name whenever a speaker mentioned Clinton. The first chants started over the speech of Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland, a progressive icon and the last member of the congressional delegation to endorse Clinton. .@RepBarbaraLee caps speech by saying Country will elect @HillaryClinton and crowd chants "Bernie" pic.twitter.com/3vsE0nmD0R Sarah D. Wire (@sarahdwire) July 25, 2016 Bruce Jones, 53, of Half Moon Bay, wearing a tri-corner hat, lead his table in chants of Bernie! Bernie! He said in an interview that until delegates vote on the nominee at the convention he doesnt think its right to talk about Clinton as if she were the nominee. We know that she is a presumptive nominee and hasnt gotten our votes yet, he said. We dont like to be told who to vote for. After the vote tomorrow night we can talk about who we should vote for in November, but right now were talking about who we should vote for Tuesday night. Jones said he became a Democrat because Sanders was talking about climate change. Bernie Sanders has brought a lot of passionate new energy to the party and the party should maybe consider their messaging on how to win us over, Jones said. Apparently their messaging today is not winning us over. The crowd also chanted over California Secretary of State Alex Padillas speech, yelling do your job and count our votes. Padilla said the complaints stemmed from a misunderstanding, spread on social media, about a new state law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by election day and arrive within three days. We have our work cut out for us to better explain to all voters, for that matter, how the process works, Padilla said. Bernie supporter chant SOS Padilla off the stage at #CA delegation breakfast pic.twitter.com/7ssarpAw3V Sarah D. Wire (@sarahdwire) July 25, 2016 House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (San Francisco) said that passionate supporters are often disappointed when their candidate does not win, but she downplayed the number of Sanders supporters who are upset. People get excited about the campaigns that they are in, and it doesnt turn off the day the determination is made, Pelosi said. Some people are new and just are not familiar with how things work. You make your case, you take your vote, you make a difference, you demand a compromise, you bring the policy or rules closer to you. That is success. Good morning. It is Tuesday, July 26. We like our avocado toast plain, but if youre looking for something a bit more indulgent, here are seven toasts to try in Los Angeles. Heres what else is happening in the Golden State: TOP STORIES Silicon Valley takeover Advertisement Verizon Communications purchased Yahoos core assets, including email service, news websites and advertising tools, for $4.83 billion. Its not quite the $45 billion that Microsoft offered for the company in 2008, but thats reflective of the companys troubles since then. Before Marissa Mayer took over in 2012, Yahoo blew through five CEOs in six years. Los Angeles Times Destructive blaze Most of the 20,000 residents who were evacuated during the Sand fire were allowed to return home last night. The fire has consumed more than 35,000 acres and was at 10% containment Monday, and the number of firefighters on the line had increased from 1,600 to 3,000. This is a big animal. Containment of the fire is going to be slow, said Mike Wakoski, a spokesman for the multi-agency wildfire effort. Los Angeles Times Readers, we always love hearing from you. You can keep up with Alice and Shelby during the day on Twitter. Follow @TheCityMaven and @ShelbyGrad. L.A. AT LARGE Of service to others: Mollie Lowery spent her life helping those who couldnt help themselves. In 1989, she co-founded the LAMP Community, where the most important principle was the idea that every person should be treated with dignity. Lowery spent decades getting homeless men and women into housing and treatment. She died Monday at the age of 70. Los Angeles Times Safety standards: Los Angeles County is suing the Southern California Gas Co. to get sub-surface safety valves installed on all of the utilitys gas wells in the county. Attorneys believe that such a valve could have stopped the Aliso Canyon leak much sooner than the four months it took crews to repair the problem. The gas company has demonstrated time and time again that theyre unwilling to uphold their responsibilities, said L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich. Los Angeles Times POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT Role of government: An Orange County Superior Court judge ruled Yorba Linda residents cannot avoid a water rate increase through a referendum. This finding, coupled with the finding that the essential governmental function of providing safe, clean, potable water might be impaired if the referendum is allowed to proceed, compel the court to deny the petition, Judge Robert J. Moss wrote in his opinion. The lawsuit was filed by the Yorba Linda Taxpayers Assn. Los Angeles Times Back to convention: Former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown has attended every Democratic National Convention since 1960. In this short documentary, he talks about how African Americans have influenced politics since that time. New York Times There you are: Rep. Loretta Sanchez, who is running for the U.S. Senate from California, wasnt given a speaking role at the Democratic National Convention, but she still managed to find a way to crash the stage she stood behind her sister, Rep. Linda Sanchez, as she addressed the crowd. Los Angeles Times Divided house: In the Fowler family, mother and daughter are both Democrats and both delegates to the DNC. But one supports Hillary Clinton and the other is for Bernie Sanders. 89.3 KPCC Our new leader: With Gov. Jerry Brown and so many other top-ranking state Democrats in Philadelphia for the Democratic National Convention, Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson is the acting governor. When it comes to succession, hes No. 9. Dont worry, youre in safe hands, Torlakson said. Los Angeles Times CRIME AND COURTS Love triangle: Six people in Orange County were charged in the death of a 38-year-old man who was romantically involved with one of the suspects. Police say Alvaro Rios was lured to an abandoned bike path, where he was stabbed multiple times and left for dead. Los Angeles Times ISIS recruitment: An Orange County man who lied on his passport application as part of a plan to join Islamic State was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Adam Dandach, 22, was arrested on his way to Syria via Istanbul. I believe it should be understood that I am just a hollow shell of what I used to be, he said at sentencing. Los Angeles Times BUSINESS A trendy fight: Ten years ago, Kitson was the Robertson Boulevard boutique frequented by starlets and the paparazzi who photographed them. Store founder Fraser Ross announced in December he was closing down the business, and now hes involved in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the companys former chief executive and attorneys. In the meantime, Kitross has replaced Kitson on Robertson. Los Angeles Business Journal DROUGHT AND CLIMATE Save the animals: Staff and volunteers had just two hours to evacuate camels, tigers and lions from the Wildlife Waystation after the Sand fire broke out. Some chimps and bears had to be left behind but were OK when staff went back a day later. It was short of a miracle. We were lucky, said Executive Director Susan Hartland. Los Angeles Times Well played: The city of West Hollywood won an Emmy for its Game of Thrones-themed PSA on the drought. I thought if we could leverage the popularity of Game of Thrones and use that for our PSA, we could reach a lot of people, said Public Information Officer Joshua Schare. LAist CALIFORNIA CULTURE School ties: In California, theres a perk for children born between Sept. 2 and Dec. 2 transitional kindergarten. Its a way to determine whether a child is ready to move on to the first grade, but because its for such a small group of children, its considered by many to be a luxury. The program has also become a kind of featherbed for parents who might have, in the past, considered redshirting their children. Voice of San Diego Nerd alert: Nerd culture is making a comeback. As evidence, check out the A-list names who have taken to Dungeons & Dragons. Nerds rule the world, and D&D is making a big comeback and Im excited about it, said actor Martin Starr. Hollywood Reporter CALIFORNIA ALMANAC Sacramento will be hot with a high of 107 degrees. San Francisco will have patchy fog and a high of 74. Los Angeles will have some fog before temperatures reach a high of 87. Riverside will be sunny with a high of 102. San Diego will be foggy and 81. AND FINALLY Todays California Memory comes from Gayle Hamrick: When I was 10 years old, my family took a trip to Los Angeles. I was excited to see my good friend who had recently moved to an exotic place called Anaheim. We drove out from Texas and as we got into California, distant fires were glowing in the night. We had to detour around the fire and I was very afraid. We stayed at Malibu amid the long strips of beautiful empty beach. We ate at a strange place with a giant statue of a Big Boy. We went to a thrilling, new place Disneyland! California was beautiful indeed. If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.) Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Alice Walton or Shelby Grad. The unauthorized release of 20,000 internal emails from the Democratic National Committee created a huge embarrassment for Hillary Clinton on the eve of the convention that will nominate her for president. Some of the emails confirmed the widespread view that party officials favored Clinton over insurgent Sen. Bernie Sanders. Their release led swiftly to the resignation of Democratic National Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a longtime Clinton ally. The risk for Clinton is that the stolen emails will exacerbate party divisions, further alienating Sanders supporters already angry about what they see as a rigged system. The convention opened on the same sort of raucous note as last weeks fractious GOP gathering, with Sanders supporters hooting and shouting Bernie! Bernie! Bernie! in response to pro-Clinton speeches. But some Clinton supporters see a political silver lining in the dissemination of the committees internal messages. Because the leaks are widely suspected of being the result of a Russian hacking operation, they can be used to reinforce the narrative that Russian President Vladimir Putin is rooting for Trump and that Trump, in turn, would be too accommodating to Moscow. Advertisement Over the weekend, Clintons campaign manager, Robby Mook, seemed to connect those dots in an interview on CNN. After citing experts for the proposition that the Russians were releasing the emails to help Trump, Mook added that we also saw last week at the Republican convention that Trump and his allies made changes to the Republican platform to make it more pro-Russian. And we saw him talking about how NATO shouldnt ... [necessarily] intervene to defend our Eastern European allies if they are attacked by Russia. So, I think, when you put all this together, its a disturbing picture. And I think voters need to reflect on that. The possibility that a foreign government might be engaging in cyber mischief to influence a U.S. election is indeed troubling. Several experts have concluded that the DNC email system was compromised by two Russian intelligence agencies that previously engaged in other operations directed at U.S. government agencies. The circumstantial case is strong enough that the FBI announced Monday that it is investigating a cyber intrusion involving the DNC. Presumably it will seek to determine whether there is Russian government complicity in the attack. (Determining whether the motive was to help Trumps election prospects would presumably be harder to establish.) But even if the Russian government played a role in this intrusion and even if the purpose was to help Trumps candidacy, that doesnt mean Trump is taking orders from Moscow. Tempting as it might be for Democrats to insinuate that Trump is a Russian version of the Manchurian Candidate, they need to avoid guilt by association. Trumps actual foreign-policy positions provide more than enough ammunition for Democrats who want to argue that his ill-informed approach to Russia would only embolden its leaders. In an interview with the New York Times, Trump suggested that the U.S. might not come to the defense of a NATO ally under attack if that country werent fulfilling its financial obligations to the alliance. Trump also has said that he would get along with Putin, and some of his advisors have ties to Russia. Paul Manafort, the chairman of Trumps campaign, worked as a political consultant for a pro-Russian government in Ukraine. (Manafort has described as absurd the notion that Trump is too cozy with Putin.) By all means Trump should be pressed to elaborate on how he sees Putin and how his policy toward Russia would differ from that of President Obama and Hillary Clinton. But Democrats need to be careful not to overplay their hand. It isnt that long ago that accusing Americans of being Russian dupes was a popular, and poisonous, political pastime. That tactic shouldnt be revived, even to score points against Trump. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Dear Mainstream Media and Democrats: Its your turn. Now that Donald Trump has been formally nominated, the formal responsibility to stop him passes from the right to the left, from Republicans to Democrats and the journalists that amplify their values. Youre going to find it a very tough slog. And its your own damn fault. During the primaries, the task of exposing the true nature of the Trump takeover fell disproportionately to a couple of conservative magazines, columnists, renegade radio hosts and behind-the-scenes activists. We all failed. There will be plenty of time for recriminations and we happy few speeches later. (If you detect a note of bitterness on my part, Im not being clear enough: I contain symphonies of bitterness.) Advertisement We failed in part because the mainstream media was having too good of a time to help. Last spring, Stop Trump operatives told me they brought damning stories to mainstream outlets. The response was usually: Were not interested in covering that right now. By May, Trump had already received roughly $3 billion worth of free media, thanks to ratings-hungry TV networks. CBS chief Les Moonves summarized it well at an investor conference in February: Trumps rise may not be good for America, but its damn good for CBS. Many in the media were so willing to put clicks and ratings before country because the conventional wisdom was that Trump would fade or implode eventually. Why not gawk at the spectacle? And, if Trump did get the nomination, many journalists calculated, all the better. What fun it will be to watch Hillary Clinton destroy Trump and Trump destroy the GOP. Only slowly has the media come around to the realization that Trump is an actual threat, but now it may be too late because it has a serious cry wolf problem. Millions of Americans firmly believe that journalists are water-carriers for the Democrats and will tune out much of what they have to say about Trump now that hes the nominee. You can start the timeline as far back as the World War II era. In 1944, Franklin Roosevelt told the country that if Republicans were returned to power even though we shall have conquered our enemies on the battlefields abroad, we shall have yielded to the spirit of Fascism here at home. The press nodded along. Every election cycle, the GOP nominee is smeared as a racist by the Democrats or the press or both. In 1964, CBS News Daniel Schorr claimed that Barry Goldwaters planned post-convention vacation in Europe was really an effort to coordinate with right-wing Germans in Hitlers one-time stomping ground. In recent years, as the distinctions between opinion and news, advocacy and analysis, reporting and click-baiting has blurred, the problem has only gotten worse. Every election cycle, the GOP nominee is smeared as a racist by the Democrats or the press or both. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia trades in a bit more of his hard-earned moral authority each time he insinuates that the GOP nominee is like George Wallace or wants to bring back Jim Crow; and political columnists relinquish a bit more of their claim to objectivity each time they let his comments pass without condemnation or criticism. George W. Bush revived for the left the paranoid style in American politics, and if you Google John McCain, racist, 2008 youll see he was lazily demonized too. In 2012, pundits said Paul Ryan wanted to throw old ladies over cliffs because he wanted to reform Social Security. When Romney spoke to the NAACP, the response from many in the media was, per usual,Racist! (Its ironic that many of the notable Republicans rebuking Trump this year are the ones pundits were only too happy to paint as racist not long ago.) I have no doubt many journalists would defend their smears and professional failures, but that doesnt change the fact that many Americans outside the mainstream media / Democratic bubble find it all indefensible. More important, they find it all ignorable because the race card and the demagogue card have been played and replayed so often theyre little more than scraps of lint. Already, editorial boards are preparing their indictments of what they believe to be Donald Trumps incompetence, bigotry and authoritarianism. The Trump campaign will undoubtedly respond, Thats what they always say about Republicans. And theyll be right. jgoldberg@latimescolumnists.com Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook ALSO Did Bernie Sanders help Hillary Clinton win over his voters? How the Democratic platform betrays millions of the party faithful Bernie or bust? His supporters are shouting through the convention They booed for hours on the floor of the Democratic convention Monday night: Bernie Sanders supporters unreconciled to the fact that he lost the nomination, fair and square. They booed nearly every time Hillary Clintons name was mentioned which, at a convention whose main purpose is Clintons nomination, was often. They booed so much that, by halfway through the evening, they began to grow hoarse. Advertisement Booooo, shouted Shawnee Badger, 22, an aspiring actress from Santa Clarita. (Thats my real name, she assured me.) Booooo, howled Ben Becker, 32, a consumer advocate from San Francisco, who sat behind her in the California delegation. I hiked across the convention floor to find out what the Bernie or Bust delegates wanted. Some talked of walking out of the convention in protest, or trying to nominate an alternative to Sen. Tim Kaine as Clintons running mate. Some wanted a deeper apology from Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz for openly favoring Clinton during the primary campaign. (Deeper than the resignation Wasserman Schultz turned in after her aides snarky emails surfaced.) But none of that was enough for Badger or Becker, or many of the other Sanders delegates who ignored their candidates own plea that they stop booing. What do you want the party to do? I asked. Choose a different nominee, Becker snapped. Almost two months after Clinton clinched the nomination, Sanders most fervent supporters still cant get over it. Theyre stuck at anger; they havent even reached bargaining, let along acceptance. Their sense of grievance is understandable. So is their hurt. But if they want to do the hard work of creating the political revolution Sanders has called for, their permanently hard feelings are going to get in the way. The most memorable line of the conventions first hours was delivered by comedian Sarah Silverman, who began the year as a Sanders supporter but came around with obvious reluctance to supporting Clinton once she became the nominee. To the Bernie-or-bust people? Silverman ad-libbed among a hail of boos. Youre being ridiculous. doyle.mcmanus@latimes.com Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook Rarely has a vanquished opponent offered such full-throated support for a rival as Bernie Sanders did for Hillary Clinton on Monday night. At a convention whose first hours were marked by incipient rebellion among die-hard Sanders delegates, the democratic socialist from Vermont did far more than merely utter an endorsement; he delivered a long and passionate speech that was designed expressly to move his supporters to Clintons side. He began by listing the premises of his campaign: the immorality of income inequality, the inadequacy of traditional liberal programs, the corruption of politics fueled by corporate money. Then, in a striking turn, he said Clinton whom he had excoriated for months as an exemplar of those problems now qualifies as the solution. Advertisement Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States, he said. The choice is not even close. Notably, he didnt cast the choice as the lesser of two evils. He praised Clinton at length on issues from raising the minimum wage and expanding Social Security to health, education and the Supreme Court. And he said, accurately, that Clinton had moved in his direction over the course of the campaign including in the last few weeks when she allowed convention delegates to adopt a platform that includes such Sanders policies as breaking up the biggest financial institutions and opposition to President Obamas trade deal with Asia, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. I am proud to stand with her tonight, he concluded. No caveat, no hint of reservation there. It sounded like the preview of speeches Sanders could deliver on Clintons behalf in the months to come a factor that could help her win the votes of die-hard Sanderistas, and of the less-than-enthusiastic young voters she needs as well. doyle.mcmanus@latimes.com Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook To the editor: Earlier this month, The Times reported that seven Latino gang members were charged with the 2014 fire bombing of the homes of black families in a Boyle Heights housing project. The prosecutors allege that the gang members wanted to drive African Americans out of the neighborhood. Where was Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Orange) when this kind of terrorism was being perpetrated against black people? Are we to accuse her of tacit approval of these horrific actions because she is a Latina? Of course not. Yet she has the audacity to accuse President Obama of endorsing her opponent for one of Californias U.S. Senate seats, California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, because both of them are black. This is a president who has tried to get Congress to act on immigration reform. (Rep. Loretta Sanchez implies Obama endorsed Senate rival because they are both black, July 22) Advertisement That kind of rhetoric creates more divisiveness and distrust between black and brown people when these two groups should be united in the fight against mindless and destructive racism. Sanchez should be ashamed. Rodney K. Boswell, Thousand Oaks See the most-read stories this hour >> To the editor: Being a daughter of Mexican immigrants does not grant Sanchez automatic entitlement to the Hispanic vote, but now she might get some Republican support for her Senate candidacy. Criticizing the president for endorsing Harris allegedly because they are both black shows a lack of integrity. This daughter of Mexican immigrants will donate, work for and vote for the best candidate to represent me in the Senate: Kamala Harris. Helen Aragon, San Fernando Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook MORE FROM OPINION The media has cried wolf about GOP candidates for ages. Now no one will listen to warnings on Trump Is homelessness a priority or not? Trumps opposition research firm: Russias intelligence agencies To the editor: In his piece supporting Donald Trumps tariff on Chinese imports, economist Professor Navarros disregard for facts is matched only by his disdain for long-standing treaty obligations. (Trumps 45% tariff on Chinese goods is perfectly calculated, Opinion, July 21) He complains that Chinas central bank keeps the yuan undervalued through blatant currency manipulation. In fact, China spent more than $400 billion in the last year to prop up the yuan. If we impose tariffs that violate, or walk away from, our international treaty obligations China will surely retaliate and have every legal right to do so, hurting our own workers. Building an illegal tariff wall wont bring jobs back to the U.S. Theyll largely go somewhere else in the global supply chain, just as President Reagans tariffs on Japan were a boon to South Korea. Advertisement Rather than blaming foreigners, the best way to make America more competitive is to invest more in our schools and infrastructure. David Loevinger, La Canada Flintridge The writer was a senior coordinator for China at the U.S. Treasury Department. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook MORE FROM OPINION The media has cried wolf about GOP candidates for ages. Now no one will listen to warnings on Trump Is homelessness a priority or not? Trumps opposition research firm: Russias intelligence agencies Eric Bauman, 57, Los Angeles County Democratic chairman Eric Bauman (Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times) (Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times) That was the most incredible and intense speech I've ever heard Michelle Obama give. When she talked about Hillary Clinton and breaking that glass ceiling, you could actually hear the glass breaking. Vicke Kepling, 50, college teacher from Springfield, Mo. Vicke Kepling (Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times) (Test) On the ouster of Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz: I got one word: Cheater. They're using [Schultz] as a scapegoat. It wasn't just her. It was Hillary too ... DNC should be talking about the election fraud. Victoria Bard, 50, a delegate from Longmont, Colo. Victoria Bard (Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times) (Test) I am a Bernie Sanders national delegate. Which is what I will do the entire convention. Sen. Sanders votes his values. He has consistently been voting the people. There is no other candidate we have had in my lifetime that I could vote for, as opposed to choosing the lesser of two evils. Julie Perry, 51, labor representative for National Nurses United from Kansas Julie Perry (Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times) (Test) We were selected as Sanders delegates, and we plan to leave as Sanders delegates. Ann Richardson, 62, a lawyer from Sacramento Ann Richardson (Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times) (Test) We got the right to vote after men did. And now we've waited long enough to elect a woman. This convention is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Sandy Pina, 69, of Murrieta, Calif. Sandy Pina (Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times) (Test) Pina says Sanders supporters are throwing a tantrum that distracts from efforts to defeat Donald Trump. It's like a bad divorce. Who's going to get the kids and the dogs? Benjamin Becker, 32, consumer advocate from San Francisco Benjamin Becker (Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times) (Test) Unrealistically, Id like Hillary Clinton to step down so we can have an actual chance of winning in November. Georgina McDonald, Army reservist from Wheaton, Ill. (Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times) (Test) I am out here to support Sanders because he is the only candidate that's telling the truth. Only one thing might change her mind: If [Clinton] made him her vice president, that's the only way I would shift gears. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, 63, chair of the DNC Southern Caucus in South Carolina Gilda Cobb-Hunter, right (Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times) (Test) A superdelegate, Cobb-Hunter says democracy is messy, but differences between voters make for a stronger final product. I'd rather they get it all out of their system here, rather than waiting and letting it fester, she said, sitting with Nebraska state Sen. Tanya Cook, left. If nothing else, the opening day of the Democratic National Convention showed that family feuds are not solely the province of the Republican Party. Party stalwarts arrived onstage only to be treated dismissively loudly so by many of the delegates. That followed a second day of protests by supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, the second-place finisher, who was booed by many of his own backers for suggesting they should cast their November ballots for the winner, Hillary Clinton. That followed Florida delegates yelling at the partys chairwoman, Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, on Monday morning, contributing to her decision to cancel her convention appearances. Advertisement Brothers and sisters, this is the real world that we live in, Sanders had implored his supporters as they booed. Real world or not, it should come as no shock after the campaign season America has witnessed that chaos has been visited upon both political parties as they seek to put their best faces forward in four-day television extravaganzas. But the lines of division are not the same in each party. Republicans saw last week that their party has been taken over by Donald Trump, the real estate impresario whose improbable campaign defeated more than a dozen candidates who, in more normal times, could have found success. Trump channeled the economic and cultural concerns of Americans who felt spurned by more traditional Republicans, attracting them with bombastic words and spraying insults across many voter groups. He succeeded to the point that delegates to his Cleveland convention roundly booed when his second-place finisher, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, failed to endorse Trump, saying that people should vote their consciences. The Democratic problem is the opposite in many ways: Rather than taking over the party, many supporters of Sanders here remain on the outside, protesting. They do so despite his dramatic successes in winning votes, raising money, successfully liberalizing the party platform and contributing to the deposing of Wasserman Schultz, who will leave her post at the conclusion of the convention, months before her term ended. Both feuds also look very different outside the convention halls. 1 / 97 Hillary Clinton celebrates at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 2 / 97 Balloons and confetti fall as Hillary Clinton and Senator Tim Kaine appear before the crowd at the end of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 97 Hillary Clinton and Senator Tim Kaine celebrates after accepting her partys nomination at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 97 Hillary Clinton embraces her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, after wrapping up the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 97 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton stands with her husband former President Bill Clinton on stage with Vice President nominee Tim Kaine and his wife Anne Holton at the end of the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention. (Alex Wong / Getty Images) 6 / 97 Hillary Clinton becomes the first woman to win the nomination for President for any party in America. Celebration begins after she finished her address to the delegation on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 97 Hillary Clinton becomes the first woman to win the nomination for President for any party in America. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 97 Hillary Clinton becomes the first woman to win the nomination for President for any party in America. Celebration with her family begins after she finished her address to the delegation on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 97 Hillary Clinton gets a hug from President Bill Clinton after becoming the first woman to win the nomination for President for any party in America. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 97 Hillary Clinton and Senator Tim Kaine appear before the crowd at the end of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 97 Hillary Clinton becomes the first woman to win the nomination for President in America. Celebration begins with Senator Tim Kaine after she finished her address. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 97 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks on stage during the fourth and final night of the Democratic National Convention. (Nicholas Kamm / AFP / Getty Images) 13 / 97 Hillary Clinton on the final night of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 97 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton delivers remarks during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention. (Jessica Kourkounis / Getty Images) 15 / 97 Hillary Clinton addresses the delegation on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 97 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton acknowledges the crowd as she arrives on stage during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention. (Alex Wong / Getty Images) 17 / 97 Hillary Clinton enters after her daughter Chelsea Clinton introduces her on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 97 Chelsea Clinton, embraces her mother, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, during the final day of the Democratic National Convention. (Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press) 19 / 97 Marc Mezvinsky, from left, President Bill Clinton, Senator Tim Kaine, and Anne Holton watch a video about Hillary Clinton at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 97 Chelsea Clinton speaks on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 97 Chelsea Clintons husband Marc Mezvinsky, former President Bill Clinton applaud as they listen to Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press) 22 / 97 Chelsea Clinton arrives on stage to address delegates during the fourth and final night of the Democratic National Convention at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. (Saul Loeb / Getty Images) 23 / 97 General Tim Allen speaks on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 97 Actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen speak during the final day of the 2016 Democratic National Convention (Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty Images) 25 / 97 Former NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabaar speaks during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Paul Sancya / Associated Press) 26 / 97 Members of the California delegation support Senator Barbara Boxer as she leaves the stage after speaking on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 97 Representative Nancy Pelosi speaks on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 97 Members of the California delegation cheer for Representative Nancy Pelosi as she speaks on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 97 Some of the United States Senate Women appear together after speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 97 California delegate holds up at sign that reads, A Womans Place Is In The White House, at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 97 Senator Barbara Boxer speaks to the delegates as one of the other U.S. Senate Women on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 97 Senator Barbara Boxer addresses the delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 97 Delegates embrace each other during the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 97 Singer Carol King performs Youve Got a Friend on the final night of the DNC in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 35 / 97 Delegates hold up signs on the fourth and final day of the Democratic National Convention. (Nicholas Kamm / AFP / Getty Images) 36 / 97 Kim Frederick, a delegate from Texas, wears a cape during the final day of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 97 Delegates cheer for Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 38 / 97 Wisconsin delegates cheer during the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 39 / 97 Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 97 PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA--JULY 28, 2016--Los Angeles Mary Eric Garcetti speaks on the accomplishments of Los Angeles on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 28, 2016. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times) (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 97 Political fashion styles on the floor of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 97 An anti-Trump fashion statement on the floor of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 43 / 97 Delegates embrace each other 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 44 / 97 Mayor Eric Garcetti, shown at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, is in Rio de Janeiro trying to gain support for Los Angeles bid to host the Olympics in 2024. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 45 / 97 Wisconsin Delegates watch videos on the mega screen at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 46 / 97 Former California Assembly member and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa speaks to delegates on the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 47 / 97 John West wears a suit with a picture of Hillary Clinton on the back at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 48 / 97 Members of the 3rd Regiment Intantry United States Colored Troops conduct the presentation of the colors on the final of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 49 / 97 Delegate Danielle Adams, of Durham, North Carolina, center, listens to the invocation on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 50 / 97 President Obama hugs Hillary Clinton at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 51 / 97 President Barak Obama is joined by Hillary Clinton at the end of his speech on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 52 / 97 President Barack Obama hugs the Democratic nominee for President, Hillary Clinton, at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 53 / 97 President Barak Obama is joined by Hillary Clinton at the end of his speech on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 54 / 97 President Barack Obama and Democratic nominee for President Hillary Clinton wave at the crowd at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 55 / 97 President Barak Obama is given a huge applause at the end of his speech on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 56 / 97 President Barack Obama speaks at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 57 / 97 President Barak Obama speaks to the delegates on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 58 / 97 Delegates listen to President Barak Obama deliver his speech on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 59 / 97 President Bill Clinton cheer as praises are sung about his wife Hillary Clinton, at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 60 / 97 President Barack Obama waves to the crowd at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 61 / 97 President Barack Obama arrives at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 62 / 97 Democratic Nominee for Vice President Tim Kaine is joined by his wife at the end of his speech on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 63 / 97 Tim Kaine, Democratic nominee for vice president, speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 64 / 97 Vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine acknowledges the audience. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP-Getty Images) 65 / 97 Tim Kaine. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 66 / 97 American flags are visible on stage as Tim Kaine arrives to speak on the third night of the convention. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 67 / 97 Tim Kaine walks onstage. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 68 / 97 Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, exit the stage. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 69 / 97 Vice President Joe Biden and wife Jill. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 70 / 97 Vice President Joe Biden. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 71 / 97 Vice President Joe Biden speak at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 72 / 97 Lenny Kravitz performs at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 73 / 97 Lenny Kravitz performs at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 74 / 97 Actor Bryan Cranston watching the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 75 / 97 A delegate sports a political hat at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 76 / 97 Musical Performance - What the World Needs Now at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 77 / 97 PHILADELPHIA, PA. -- WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016: Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly speak at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 78 / 97 A member of the Florida delegation shouts her support for gun control on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 79 / 97 California governor Jerry Brown speaks on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 80 / 97 California Governor Jerry Brown at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 81 / 97 California Governor Jerry Brown at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 82 / 97 Senator Chris Murphy speak about the tragedy of Sandy Hook massacre at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 83 / 97 A member of the Florida delegation gets emotional during the section on gun control and the shooting in Orlando on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 84 / 97 Director Lee Daniels, Christine Leinonen, mother of Christopher Drew Leinonen killed in the Pulse nightclub attack in Orlando, Florida, and survivors Brandon Wolf and Jose Arriagada leave the stage during the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 85 / 97 California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 86 / 97 Brandon Wolf, from left, Christine Leinonen and Jose Arraigada at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 87 / 97 Representative Maxine Waters appears with other members of the Congressional Black Caucus on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 88 / 97 Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid speaks at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 89 / 97 Sen. Harry Reid waves to the crowd before delivering remarks on the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Jessica Kourkounis / Getty Images) 90 / 97 Flint, Michigan Mayor Karen Weaver delivers remarks at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Shawn Thew / EPA) 91 / 97 Civil Rights Leader Reverend Jesse Jackson at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 92 / 97 Actress Star Jones waves at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 93 / 97 Louisiana delegates Rodney Mcfarland and Jim Harlan sing the national anthem during the third day session of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Wednesday. (Matt Rourke / AP) 94 / 97 New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio waves to the crowd after speaking on the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the 2016 in Philadelphia on Wednesday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 95 / 97 An attendee holds a sign that reads Girl Power on the third day of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphiaon Wednesday. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images) 96 / 97 Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, Chair, Democratic National Convention, calls the convention to order on the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Mark J. Terrill / AP) 97 / 97 Florida delegate Dianne Krumel from Pensacola shows her support for Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton before the start of the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Matt Rourke / AP) Many Republicans are decidedly not in Trumps corner, nor do they agree with the direction of the party. The representatives of that faction, including two former presidents and the last party nominee, boycotted the proceedings, which were fairly bereft of high-profile Republicans. By contrast, among the Democrats, most of Sanders supporters are already in Clintons camp, reluctantly or not, polls have shown. Those at the convention who have protested his endorsement of her dont represent the bulk of Democrats, although their televised protests give them outsized presence. A significant number of them are proud to say that they arent Democrats at all, having joined the party in the last year just to work for Sanders. Still, the protests in both parties have a grounding in dramatic, continuing shifts among American voters. Trump benefited from a political party growing more white and older by the year, giving it a distance from minorities but not from fears of their impact on the nations culture. By force of personality and a honed sense of connecting to their emotions he overrode any concerns about deviations from what has been decades-long Republican orthodoxy on issues like trade and foreign policy. The question that will be decided after this election either swiftly if Trump loses, or after years if he wins is whether hes a celebrity anomaly or represents a more lasting change of Republican policy. The Democratic future also depends on the winner in November. But already, the party establishment, including Clinton, has moved in the direction espoused by Sanders. While that has not stilled all the criticism of her at this convention, it has smoothed the path ahead. Most of the speakers on the opening night of the convention worked to bind up any lingering wounds. They spoke to the sentiment behind Sanders effort, even as they praised Clinton and reminded the delegates and television audience that only she stood between Trump and the presidency. Elizabeth Warren, Sanders choice for the vice presidential nomination, echoed Sanders words as she spoke to delegates about a rigged system. We fought and we won and we improved the lives of millions of people, she said of Democrats. But she was worried, she said, that opportunity is slipping away from people who work hard and play by the rules. For those steeped in Democratic politics, that was a reminder that, in some ways, Democratic goals have been constant even if the policies have moved left: Those were the exact words used daily by Bill Clinton in his first presidential campaign, 24 years ago. Michelle Obama delivered another kind of salve, reminding Democrats of whom they are united in loathing. She lanced Trump, without naming him, for the years of criticism he has leveled at her husband, casting Trump as a man she and President Obama had to teach their children to ignore. Michelle Obama, first lady of the United States, speaks at the Democratic National Convention. More coverage at latimes.com/trailguide. The first couple, she said, thinks about how we explain that when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you dont stoop to their level. No, our motto is, When they go low, we go high. With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching us. It was left to Sanders to try to persuade his heartfelt and somewhat unwieldy flock to gather behind Clintons candidacy. Sanders appeared anything but vanquished. He delivered a shortened version of his usual speech in which he railed against a nation where the rich reap sweeping benefits while the poor struggle. But he also leavened his message with a bit of the real world that hed warned his followers about hours before. He laid out the accomplishments of President Obama, the goals of his self-described political revolution and the extent to which those goals could be achieved with a president other than him. By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that - based on her ideas and her leadership - Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States, he said. The choice is not even close. Those lines provoked a giant, extended blast of applause from the audience. Bernie signs were raised toward him, even as shouts of Hillary! filled the arena. It had a cathartic feeling of unity, as if some of the emotion driving Sanders supporters had been released over the course of the long evening. But there was also another Sanders line. I think we can all agree that much, much more needs to be done, Sanders said. That spoke of decisions yet unmade by Democrats, and feuds yet fully eased. cathleen.decker@latimes.com Twitter: @cathleendecker ALSO Donald Trump aims at voters he already has, betting they will give him a win in November Updates on California politics Live coverage from the campaign trail Hillary Clinton made history Tuesday as the first woman chosen to lead a major-party presidential ticket as family, friends and old political allies took turns extolling her as a leader with the experience to keep the country safe and the heart to help those who have been forgotten. I give you a leader who can unite us as a nation, a leader who can break down barriers and build a better future for every American, said Democratic Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, a civil rights hero, as he helped formally place Clintons name in nomination for the White House. She will fight for us all with her heart, soul and mind. The longest and most lavish testimonial was delivered by Clintons husband, former President Bill Clinton, who offered a tribute that began, In the spring of 1971, I met a girl, and traced her career through her time as first lady and years as secretary of State. Advertisement Weve been walking and talking together ever since, he said. Hillary opened my eyes to a whole new world of public service by private citizens. Pivoting to the election, he addressed one of greatest challenges facing his wife: overcoming the image of a candidate whos been in the public eye for decades when so many voters want something new. People say, Well, we need to change. Shes been around a long time. She sure has, Clinton said, wagging a finger in emphasis, and shes sure been worth every single year shes put into making peoples lives better. Shes still the best change-maker I have ever known, he said. While Hillary Clinton has been pioneering, she has also been controversial, her achievements tainted by scandal. Polling over the years has found the former first lady, New York senator and Cabinet secretary to be one of the most admired women in the country but more recently, one of the most disliked and mistrusted. History was given its due. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, joined onstage by a number of women in Congress, placed Clintons victory in the arc that began in Philadelphia in 1776 and continued nearly a century ago when women were given the right to vote. We are preparing to shatter the highest, strongest marble ceiling in our country, the San Francisco lawmaker said. But most of the night was devoted to remedial repair work on Clintons image. One speaker after another from the assorted worlds Clinton has inhabited politics, womens advocacy, child welfare, education reform sought to offer a more human portrayal than that of a striving and scheming politician, embattled lately over her use of a private email server to conduct government business. There was talk of playing make-believe on family vacations. Comforting women whose children died violently. Fighting for health benefits for police and firefighters after Sept. 11. Hiring a foster child, who used a trash bag as his suitcase, to work as an intern in her Senate office. I felt seen and heard for the first time in my life, said the young man, Jelanie Freeman. The protest and anger that suffused the conventions first day seemed to fade at least inside the hall. Cheered instead of booed, as she was by some delegates Monday, Clinton officially secured the nomination after the suspense-less 90-minute roll call. The result was preordained when Clintons chief rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, abandoned his candidacy and gave an enthusiastic endorsement, then followed up Tuesday by urging his backers to end their rowdy resistance. It is easy to boo, but its harder to look your kids in the face who would be living under Donald Trump, Sanders said of the GOP nominee at a breakfast with California delegates. Trump is the worst candidate for president in the modern history of this country. It was a harsh view widely shared inside the convention hall, where repeated speakers characterized the Manhattan business tycoon as a heartless bigot who refused to rent apartments to minorities and a sexist who has incessantly demeaned women. Donald is not making America great again, said actress America Ferrera, one of a number of Hollywood celebrities sprinkled through the evening. Hes making America hate again. South Dakotas votes delivered the prize that eluded Clinton eight years ago when she first ran for president. The state-by-state balloting, traditionally a chance for local boosterism and some good-natured bragging the birthplace of pizza, the home of tax-free shopping briefly turned emotional when Sanders brother, Larry, cast his ballot as a delegate for Democrats living abroad. A politician in Britain, Larry Sanders voice grew thick as he discussed his parents, their hard life and how proud they would be of Bernard, the candidate for president. Bernie Sanders teared up as he watched. Hillary Clinton officially becomes the Democratic Party nominee for president. More coverage at latimes.com/trailguide. In a bit of stagecraft to promote the image of Democratic harmony, an announcement of the tally was delayed until Vermont which passed on its turn in the alphabetical order concluded the roll call by casting 22 of its 26 votes for Sanders. He immediately rose to his feet, took the delegation microphone and moved that the vote be made unanimous. As his wife, Jane, briefly embraced him, a sea of blue and gold Clinton signs blossomed on the convention floor and delegates, on a voice vote, roared their approval. Finally, finally its happening, said Ruth Musser-Lopez, 63, a Clinton delegate from Needles, Calif., who threaded her way through the states delegation, shaking hands and hugging strangers as tears streamed down her face. 1 / 97 Hillary Clinton celebrates at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 2 / 97 Balloons and confetti fall as Hillary Clinton and Senator Tim Kaine appear before the crowd at the end of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 97 Hillary Clinton and Senator Tim Kaine celebrates after accepting her partys nomination at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 97 Hillary Clinton embraces her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, after wrapping up the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 97 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton stands with her husband former President Bill Clinton on stage with Vice President nominee Tim Kaine and his wife Anne Holton at the end of the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention. (Alex Wong / Getty Images) 6 / 97 Hillary Clinton becomes the first woman to win the nomination for President for any party in America. Celebration begins after she finished her address to the delegation on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 97 Hillary Clinton becomes the first woman to win the nomination for President for any party in America. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 97 Hillary Clinton becomes the first woman to win the nomination for President for any party in America. Celebration with her family begins after she finished her address to the delegation on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 97 Hillary Clinton gets a hug from President Bill Clinton after becoming the first woman to win the nomination for President for any party in America. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 97 Hillary Clinton and Senator Tim Kaine appear before the crowd at the end of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 97 Hillary Clinton becomes the first woman to win the nomination for President in America. Celebration begins with Senator Tim Kaine after she finished her address. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 97 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks on stage during the fourth and final night of the Democratic National Convention. (Nicholas Kamm / AFP / Getty Images) 13 / 97 Hillary Clinton on the final night of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 97 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton delivers remarks during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention. (Jessica Kourkounis / Getty Images) 15 / 97 Hillary Clinton addresses the delegation on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 97 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton acknowledges the crowd as she arrives on stage during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention. (Alex Wong / Getty Images) 17 / 97 Hillary Clinton enters after her daughter Chelsea Clinton introduces her on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 97 Chelsea Clinton, embraces her mother, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, during the final day of the Democratic National Convention. (Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press) 19 / 97 Marc Mezvinsky, from left, President Bill Clinton, Senator Tim Kaine, and Anne Holton watch a video about Hillary Clinton at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 97 Chelsea Clinton speaks on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 97 Chelsea Clintons husband Marc Mezvinsky, former President Bill Clinton applaud as they listen to Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press) 22 / 97 Chelsea Clinton arrives on stage to address delegates during the fourth and final night of the Democratic National Convention at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. (Saul Loeb / Getty Images) 23 / 97 General Tim Allen speaks on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 97 Actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen speak during the final day of the 2016 Democratic National Convention (Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty Images) 25 / 97 Former NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabaar speaks during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Paul Sancya / Associated Press) 26 / 97 Members of the California delegation support Senator Barbara Boxer as she leaves the stage after speaking on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 97 Representative Nancy Pelosi speaks on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 97 Members of the California delegation cheer for Representative Nancy Pelosi as she speaks on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 97 Some of the United States Senate Women appear together after speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 97 California delegate holds up at sign that reads, A Womans Place Is In The White House, at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 97 Senator Barbara Boxer speaks to the delegates as one of the other U.S. Senate Women on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 97 Senator Barbara Boxer addresses the delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 97 Delegates embrace each other during the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 97 Singer Carol King performs Youve Got a Friend on the final night of the DNC in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 35 / 97 Delegates hold up signs on the fourth and final day of the Democratic National Convention. (Nicholas Kamm / AFP / Getty Images) 36 / 97 Kim Frederick, a delegate from Texas, wears a cape during the final day of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 97 Delegates cheer for Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 38 / 97 Wisconsin delegates cheer during the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 39 / 97 Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 97 PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA--JULY 28, 2016--Los Angeles Mary Eric Garcetti speaks on the accomplishments of Los Angeles on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 28, 2016. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times) (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 97 Political fashion styles on the floor of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 97 An anti-Trump fashion statement on the floor of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 43 / 97 Delegates embrace each other 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 44 / 97 Mayor Eric Garcetti, shown at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, is in Rio de Janeiro trying to gain support for Los Angeles bid to host the Olympics in 2024. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 45 / 97 Wisconsin Delegates watch videos on the mega screen at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 46 / 97 Former California Assembly member and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa speaks to delegates on the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 47 / 97 John West wears a suit with a picture of Hillary Clinton on the back at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 48 / 97 Members of the 3rd Regiment Intantry United States Colored Troops conduct the presentation of the colors on the final of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 49 / 97 Delegate Danielle Adams, of Durham, North Carolina, center, listens to the invocation on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 50 / 97 President Obama hugs Hillary Clinton at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 51 / 97 President Barak Obama is joined by Hillary Clinton at the end of his speech on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 52 / 97 President Barack Obama hugs the Democratic nominee for President, Hillary Clinton, at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 53 / 97 President Barak Obama is joined by Hillary Clinton at the end of his speech on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 54 / 97 President Barack Obama and Democratic nominee for President Hillary Clinton wave at the crowd at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 55 / 97 President Barak Obama is given a huge applause at the end of his speech on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 56 / 97 President Barack Obama speaks at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 57 / 97 President Barak Obama speaks to the delegates on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 58 / 97 Delegates listen to President Barak Obama deliver his speech on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 59 / 97 President Bill Clinton cheer as praises are sung about his wife Hillary Clinton, at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 60 / 97 President Barack Obama waves to the crowd at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 61 / 97 President Barack Obama arrives at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 62 / 97 Democratic Nominee for Vice President Tim Kaine is joined by his wife at the end of his speech on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 63 / 97 Tim Kaine, Democratic nominee for vice president, speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 64 / 97 Vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine acknowledges the audience. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP-Getty Images) 65 / 97 Tim Kaine. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 66 / 97 American flags are visible on stage as Tim Kaine arrives to speak on the third night of the convention. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 67 / 97 Tim Kaine walks onstage. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 68 / 97 Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, exit the stage. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 69 / 97 Vice President Joe Biden and wife Jill. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 70 / 97 Vice President Joe Biden. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 71 / 97 Vice President Joe Biden speak at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 72 / 97 Lenny Kravitz performs at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 73 / 97 Lenny Kravitz performs at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 74 / 97 Actor Bryan Cranston watching the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 75 / 97 A delegate sports a political hat at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 76 / 97 Musical Performance - What the World Needs Now at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 77 / 97 PHILADELPHIA, PA. -- WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016: Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly speak at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 78 / 97 A member of the Florida delegation shouts her support for gun control on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 79 / 97 California governor Jerry Brown speaks on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 80 / 97 California Governor Jerry Brown at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 81 / 97 California Governor Jerry Brown at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 82 / 97 Senator Chris Murphy speak about the tragedy of Sandy Hook massacre at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 83 / 97 A member of the Florida delegation gets emotional during the section on gun control and the shooting in Orlando on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 84 / 97 Director Lee Daniels, Christine Leinonen, mother of Christopher Drew Leinonen killed in the Pulse nightclub attack in Orlando, Florida, and survivors Brandon Wolf and Jose Arriagada leave the stage during the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 85 / 97 California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 86 / 97 Brandon Wolf, from left, Christine Leinonen and Jose Arraigada at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 87 / 97 Representative Maxine Waters appears with other members of the Congressional Black Caucus on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 88 / 97 Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid speaks at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 89 / 97 Sen. Harry Reid waves to the crowd before delivering remarks on the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Jessica Kourkounis / Getty Images) 90 / 97 Flint, Michigan Mayor Karen Weaver delivers remarks at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Shawn Thew / EPA) 91 / 97 Civil Rights Leader Reverend Jesse Jackson at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 92 / 97 Actress Star Jones waves at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 93 / 97 Louisiana delegates Rodney Mcfarland and Jim Harlan sing the national anthem during the third day session of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Wednesday. (Matt Rourke / AP) 94 / 97 New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio waves to the crowd after speaking on the third day of the Democratic National Convention at the 2016 in Philadelphia on Wednesday. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 95 / 97 An attendee holds a sign that reads Girl Power on the third day of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphiaon Wednesday. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images) 96 / 97 Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, Chair, Democratic National Convention, calls the convention to order on the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Mark J. Terrill / AP) 97 / 97 Florida delegate Dianne Krumel from Pensacola shows her support for Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton before the start of the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Matt Rourke / AP) But the careful choreography and the joy many felt did not ease the anger and disappointment of a relatively small but stubborn band of hard-core Sanders supporters. Several dozen delegates marched out of the hall into the nearby media center, where quickly swallowed up by a swarm of reporters they chanted, This is what democracy looks like! then sat down in silent protest. The state-by-state roll call was a concession to Sanders and his backers and an effort to help unify Democrats after the fractious primary fight carried over into the opening day of the convention. In contrast to Monday, when the mere mention of Clintons name drew jeers among some of them, Sanders supporters seemed more interested Tuesday in delivering one last hurrah for their candidate, cheering lustily when his name was formally placed into nomination. When it was their turn, Clinton supporters responded in kind. The more amicable atmosphere was due in no small part to Sanders. Hours after delivering a wholeheartedly pro-Clinton speech in Monday nights finale, he paid an unexpected breakfast call on the California delegation, a hotbed of resistance to Clintons pursuit of the nomination. As goes California, so goes America, so I know that you know that you have an enormous responsibility, the Vermont senator said, urging resistors to lay down their grievances and rally behind Clinton as he had. Not all were convinced. Victoria Thompson, 56, a Sanders delegate from Citrus Heights, outside Sacramento, welcomed Sanders visit but said she was not moved to overcome her resistance to Clinton. I cant vote for her. I will not vote for her, Thompson said. If Sanders was not an option, she said, she would defect to the Green Party. Times staff writers Evan Halper, Colleen Shalby and Sarah D. Wire contributed to this report. mark.barabak@latimes.com and chris.megerian@latimes.com For more political news follow @markzbarabak and @ChrisMegerian Live updates on the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia Play Democratic convention bingo with us! Thanks, but wed prefer not to arrest you: Reporters journal from the Democratic National Convention UPDATES: 8:30 p.m.: This story was updated with more comments from former President Bill Clinton. 7:30 p.m.: The story was updated with comments from former President Bill Clinton and others. 4:50 p.m.: The story was updated with details on a few dozen Sanders delegates marching out of the hall. 4:10 p.m.: The story was updated with Clinton winning the nomination. 2:40 p.m.: The story was updated with details about the convention hall atmosphere. The story was originally published at 2:30 p.m. Theyve followed Bernie Sanders for more than a year, from the college campuses of Iowa to the dusty fields of California, but as the Democratic National Convention began Monday, the army of loyalists the Vermont senator amassed during his insurgent campaign for president broke loose from his grasp. Sanders delegates marched the streets in Philadelphia, with some accusing Hillary Clinton of stealing the Democratic nomination and echoing Republican taunts to lock her up. Outside the convention hall, they waved Sanders signs and chanted, We wont vote for Hillary. And at a rally to thank supporters, Sanders himself was booed when he suggested that their best chance to further their movement was to cast a ballot for Clinton and her designated running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia. Advertisement Polls show most Sanders voters plan to cast ballots for Clinton in the November election, and even some of her toughest critics insist that they dont want Donald Trump to win the White House. The cacophony of outrage that marked the first day of the Democratic convention, however, underscored the entrenched resistance to Clinton among left-wing activists. The noisy protests, which preceded Sanders own long-sought speech at the convention, also suggested that he may no longer be the pied piper of a political movement that he transformed from a fringe campaign into a juggernaut. Hes not running the show, said Norman Solomon, the veteran activist who heads the Bernie Delegates Network, a group unaffiliated with the campaign. Live coverage from the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia The protests may have been the inevitable conclusion to a candidacy that for months stoked supporters belief that the process was rigged against them. When Sanders and his top lieutenants now ask his delegates to respect the outcome of that process, many reject the idea. Symone Sanders, the former spokeswoman for the Sanders campaign, tried to beat back concerns about the primary process with a message on Twitter. No one stole this election, she wrote. We lost. Its a hard reality for some. Its not a reality that some of Sanders supporters are willing to accept. In my eyes, he won the election; they just took it away from him, said Andrea Perez, who traveled from Miami to Philadelphia to protest the convention. The situation is harder to control because of the nature of Sanders candidacy, one that the senator has always described as a grass-roots crusade rather than a solo effort. And it reflects his campaigns roots in protest movements like Occupy Wall Street rather than party hierarchy. The Bernie delegation has never been a group to take marching orders, said Karen Bernal, the co-leader of Californias Sanders delegation. Sanders tried to tamp any outbursts within the convention hall, sending a text to delegates saying, I ask you as a personal courtesy to me to not engage in any kind of protest on the floor. In a longer email, Sanders wrote, Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays. But as the convention session began, some werent willing to heed Sanders call for civility, chanting his name and booing the mention of Clinton. The raucous behavior didnt surprise Abigail Field, 45, a New York delegate for Sanders who wore a Robin Hood-style hat to show her support for a new tax on Wall Street transactions. These are not party loyalists, she said. Its a bottom-up, small-d democratic push for social justice. After months of listening to Sanders rail against the political establishment, it wasnt surprising that his supporters have resisted backing Clinton. Some still hoped to make Sanders the nominee during the convention, raising questions about whether the primary process was fair. If the process itself was rigged and was not democratic, I think he has an opening, said Sanjay Patel, a delegate from Florida who modified his jacket with battery-powered lights to spell out Feel the Bern on his back. Many Sanders activists are convinced that one aspect or another of the primary was rigged against their candidate, pointing to rules they believe prevented his supporters from casting ballots in his favor. Their anger was rekindled in recent days by internal Democratic Party emails that showed party officials writing disrespectfully about Sanders and discussing ways to slow his progress, rather than remaining neutral. The continued tension was striking in light of high-profile agreements between Clinton and Sanders to advance many of the Vermont senators goals. The platform includes calls for a $15-an-hour minimum wage and stronger action on climate change. The party is creating a commission intended to sharply reduce the influence of superdelegates, elected leaders and party officials who can choose which candidate to support in the primary. And Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, is resigning over the leaked emails. What were watching happen reflects an ongoing tension between the left and Democratic Party politics, said Sally Kohn, a former grass-roots organizer who serves as a CNN commentator. The left is always going to say, we want more, we want more, we want more. Sanders supporters also remain sensitive to any slight, real or perceived. Some, for example, were furious Clinton named Wasserman Schultz as an honorary chair of her campaign. For them, putting Wasserman Schultz on her team, even in a symbolic capacity, felt like an insult. Its showing disrespect to Bernie Sanders, said Lauren Niedel, a delegate from Rhode Island. She helped circulate petitions to ensure Sanders gets a roll call vote on the floor Tuesday, allowing his delegates to show their support for him. The goal is to show his campaign is valuable and valid, Niedel said, not to be marginalized. Times staff writers David Lauter, Matt Pearce, Colleen Shalby and Sarah D. Wire contributed to this report. chris.megerian@latimes.com Twitter: @chrismegerian ALSO: Updates on California politics Updates from the campaign trail Will Sanders delegates take a stand or work with Clinton Democrats? Hillary Clinton has all kinds of policies thats the problem as she seeks a coherent message Not long ago, young immigrant Astrid Silva was at home in Las Vegas, writing heartfelt letters concerning her fears about being in the country illegally to someone who became an unlikely pen pal her home-state senator, Harry Reid. She never expected that one of the most powerful men in Washington would not only read her handwritten notes, but become so moved that he deepened his commitment to immigration reform. On Monday night, Silva, now 28, shared the prime-time stage with some of the countrys most prominent leaders, including First Lady Michelle Obama and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, at the Democratic National Convention. Advertisement Ive overwhelmed at how far our families have come, because we havent given up and weve become stronger, Silva said ahead of her speech. No matter how much we have been pushed around, we dont back down. Hers is an only-in-America immigrant story the unlikely rise of a child who arrived in the United States crossing the border with Mexico as a 4-year-old, carrying her Ken doll. Today she is widely seen as one of the new faces of Democratic leadership. My family believed so deeply in the promise of this country that we risked everything for the American dream, she told delegates Monday. A Dreamer, as young immigrants are called, Silva grew up in the shadow of the Las Vegas Strip having no idea she wasnt officially American until her lack of proper immigration paperwork began interfering with her opportunities as she approached adulthood. Astrid Silva, immigration activist, speaks at the Democratic National Convention At the time, attending college, she was afraid to attend political rallies, worried that without a proper identification card she would not be allowed to participate. Her father, a landscaper in Las Vegas, and her mother, who babysat and took care of the family, lived in constant fear of deportation. They had been in the United States for decades and were trying to get their immigration paperwork in order. And so she started writing letters to Reid. She founded Dream Big Vegas to push her states lawmakers to support immigration reforms that would allow families like hers to apply to remain lawfully in the country. When President Obama in 2012 granted deferred deportation to young Dreamers if they were studying or in the military, she applied and received a temporary work permit. Full convention coverage In 2013, she watched from the balcony of the U.S. Senate when the chamber passed a landmark immigration overhaul, only to see it stall and die later in the House. And she was tapped by Obama in 2014 to introduce him in Las Vegas when he announced a second executive action to provide expanded deportation relief for families.That program has been blocked by federal courts. When Donald Trump talks about deporting 11 million people, hes talking about ripping families apart separating families like mine, she told the convention in Philadelphia. Hillary Clinton understands that this is not who we are as a country. I know she will fight to keep our families together. Today, Silva supports the Clinton campaign. She also is the organizing director at Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, which works to promote social and environmental justice. Her day job at PLAN involves organizing immigrants to apply for citizenship and registering them to vote. Family and friends in Las Vegas are gathering Monday at the influential Culinary Workers Union hall home of the labor organization representing the casino workers for a watch party. Also from Las Vegas, 11-year-old Karla Ortiz, who is a citizen, and her mother, Francisca, who is in the United States illegally, will be on stage in Philadelphia. It shows an evolution in politics, said Laura Martin, PLAN Nevadas associate director. Astrids somebody who stood on a sidewalk afraid to go into President Obamas rally in 2008 because she was afraid shed be arrested for speaking on the stage at the Democratic convention. lisa.mascaro@latimes.com Twitter: @LisaMascaro Full convention coverage Pen pal inspires Sen. Harry Reid on immigration reform Reporters diary from the GOP convention UPDATES: 5:30 p.m.: The story was updated after Astrid Silva spoke at the Democratic convention. The story was originally published at 4:25 p.m. Few would doubt that, in the event of a major emergency in California over the next few days, Gov. Jerry Brown would be fully engaged and directing state personnel even as he sits thousands of miles away at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Theres just one problem with that scenario: Brown, under the provisions of the California Constitution, wont be the actual governor until he ventures back across state lines. Dont worry, youre in safe hands, said Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, who on Monday night became Californias acting governor. Advertisement Since its first constitution was drafted in 1849, California law has dictated that a governor must be within the state borders to have the powers of the office. Half a dozen times this year, Brown has left the state and officially transferred the job of governor to someone else in most cases, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. But Newsom also is in Philadelphia this week. As is Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), the next in the gubernatorial line of succession. As state schools chief, Torlakson is No. 9 on the list. Eight higher-ranking statewide officials, all Democrats, flew east to attend the four-day national convention. Its very, very rare to get anywhere past the first three, said Alex Vassar, a state policy analyst who also studies Californias legislative and constitutional history. The geographic requirement of being Californias governor dates back to the states inception in 1849, remaining untouched through successive eras of instant global communication. The state is not alone in its outmoded legal language; 19 other states also remove power from a traveling governor, although some do so only during a prolonged absence. California Politics Podcast: Philadelphia preview, Obama endorses Harris At times, the law has hindered quick action. In 1965, Gov. Edmund G. Pat Brown was in Greece when the riots in Watts erupted, leaving a largely inexperienced lieutenant governor to lead the initial response. His son, the current governor, left California for less than two days in 1979 to find the lieutenant governor a Republican had appointed a presiding appellate judge. Brown quickly returned and withdrew the appointment. No real drama has happened since then. In most cases, acting governors consult with the real governors top staff in the event of a crisis. More often than not, acting governors issue honorary proclamations, like the one De Leon issued this month honoring Dodgers announcer Vin Scully. Because the law specifies state borders, short trips can lead to a flurry of official executive authority notifications. Last August, Brown attended an environmental summit on the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe the Nevada side and had to, for several hours, formally cede his authority over the government a few miles away. A bill to allow a traveling governor to remain in power, championed by the Times editorial board and others, fizzled in the Legislature 2003. In 2008, three additional state officers were added to the list of who, if needed, may serve as governor: superintendent of public instruction, insurance commissioner and chairperson of the California Board of Equalization. The bill had no opposition, recalled Vassar, who helped draft the proposal. It was that much of a sleeper. On Monday, there were three different governors by the time the sun had risen and set on the Golden State. Browns midday departure left the reins of power in the hands of Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount), whose late afternoon flight to the East Coast meant the torch was passed to Torlakson. We got the memo from the governors office, he said. The 67-year old Democrat, a longtime state legislator, could throw the states governing system into limbo should he leave California before Brown or others return later this week. Thats because the two officials next in line, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones and Board of Equalization Chairwoman Fiona Ma, also are in Philadelphia. If he leaves the state, thats the end of the line, Vassar said. It would have to be interpreted by someone. Torlaksons message: Dont worry. Ill be in Sacramento, he said in an interview Monday. Its a different job, a different title, but its still me. john.myers@latimes.com Follow @johnmyers on Twitter, sign up for our daily Essential Politics newsletter and listen to the weekly California Politics Podcast ALSO: Brown, Garcetti among California Democrats speaking at the convention Acting governor declares Vin Scully Day Live convention coverage Updates on California politics Im Christina Bellantoni, here with your Essential Politics guide to the Democratic National Convention. Tonights theme is &ldqduo;A lifetime of fighting for children and families. The big event is a state-by-state roll call vote as convention delegates prepare to officially nominate Hillary Clinton. Its a moment, not so different from what we witnessed last week in Cleveland, that will allow Bernie Sanders supporters to show their support for the runner up in the primary. As Chris Megerian previews, the choreography has been carefully considered in hopes of pleasing Sanders delegates while also providing a show of unity for Clinton. Advertisement Speaking of the word, lets not forget the perfectly coordinated roll call vote in 2008, when Clinton took to the floor in Denver to make then-Sen. Barack Obamas nomination official. Two sides that had been bitterly divided for months were suddenly holding signs that said Obama or Clinton on one side and Unity on the other (I nabbed some later as souvenirs and still keep them in my office). The protests eight years ago were nothing like the loud displays we saw Monday in Philadelphia, but make no mistake that bringing those two candidates together at one point had seemed impossible. Also ahead for tonight: former President Bill Clinton, and mothers of black boys and men who have been shot and killed. Cathleen Decker takes a look at what the White House might look like with a former president returning to live there. Below is our quick look at what happened on Day 1 as speaker after speaker attempted to bridge the partys Sanders-Clinton divide. Or check out the video version. Well have a gavel-to-gavel livestream that will go live at 1 p.m. Pacific and robust live coverage round-the-clock on Trail Guide. Dont miss a moment. Ill present the best of the rest with a series of headlines. YOUR GUIDE TO CONVENTION NEWS Defying unity theme, Democratic convention opens amid shower of boos led by dissenting Sanders backers Trump takes lead over Clinton as GOP convention generates a bounce for its nominee As Sanders delegates ponder protests, Californias huge delegation takes lead role Dreamer Astrid Silva emerges as a new face of Democratic leadership ready to take on Trump Trump running mate Mike Pence gets hammered hard by DNC speakers right out of the gate Mother-daughter duo who could be separated by deportation try to humanize immigration issues at DNC New Hampshire grandmother puts prime-time spotlight on drug addiction epidemic YOUR GUIDE TO THE CONVENTION FLOOR Watch Sanders full convention speech Read the transcript of Sanders address A blunt message from Sarah Silverman Bernie Sanders lays out the policy rationale for supporting Hillary Clinton Michelle Obamas stunning convention speech: When they go low, we go high See the images from inside the convention hall Watch Elizabeth Warren go after Donald Trump, advocate for Hillary Clinton John Podesta, Clinton campaign chair, speaks at the Democratic National Convention California state Senate leader: We dont manufacture fear Watch Sanders backer Rep. Raul Grijalva talk about why he now supports Clinton YOUR CONVENTION PROTEST GUIDE More than 50 cited in civil disobedience outside Democratic convention: Reporter Matt Pearces journal See the images from the streets of Philadelphia Forget unity: Sanders himself is booed by his loyalists Angry Sanders delegates drown out California speakers SO, WHOS THE GOVERNOR? Every time Gov. Jerry Brown leaves the state, even if its a day trip to the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, someone else becomes governor. This week, Brown and nine of the 10 statewide officials who can serve in his place are all in Philadelphia. So whos the acting governor? Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson is the last one standing, under the provision dating back to 1849 that says a governor only has power when inside state lines. Youre in safe hands, he told John Myers on Monday, for a story on how efforts to change the law have rarely done more than add to the list of names for who can temporarily sit behind the desk in the corner office. WHAT WAS LORETTA THINKING? A White House spokesman on Monday said he isnt exactly sure of what to make of Orange County Rep. Loretta Sanchezs comments last week about President Obama endorsing her U.S. Senate rival, state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris. When asked about why Harris received the endorsement, Sanchez mentioned that both Harris and the president are black. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said its hard to know what Sanchez intended to imply. Harris on Monday called for Sanchez to apologize to the president for her remark. Meanwhile, Sanchez made a cameo on the convention stage Monday alongside her sister, Rep. Linda Sanchez, but she didnt speak. Watch the video. YOUR CONVENTION BINGO CARD From Love Trumps Hate chants to mentions that Clinton is a grandmother, we have you covered. WATCH THE CONVENTION WITH THE L.A. TIMES Join me, Sacramento bureau chief John Myers and columnist Robin Abcarian at a free convention watch party on Thursday in downtown Los Angeles. The free event runs from 6 to 9 p.m. Pacific and we will be playing bingo. RSVP here. TODAYS ESSENTIALS The FBI is investigating whether Russians hacked the Democratic Partys emails to help Donald Trump. Brown signed new laws aimed at more humane treatment of unclaimed stray animals and fighting dogs facing euthanasia. He also vetoed a bill by the late Sen. Sharon Runner (R-Lancaster) that would have allowed the governor to cancel an election to fill a vacancy in the Legislature if only one candidate makes the ballot. Who will win the November election? Give our Electoral College map a spin. LOGISTICS Miss yesterdays newsletter? Here you go. Did someone forward you this? Sign up here to get Essential Politics in your inbox daily. And keep an eye on our politics page throughout the day for the latest and greatest. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics? Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com. When it comes to ranking Hollywoods ties to Orange County, John Wayne swaggers at or near the top of the list. It should come as no surprise then that the Newport Beach Film Festival, which opens Thursday for its 17th year, has made a habit of paying tribute to the legendary actor known as the Duke, who lived in Newport Beach and is buried there. This year is no exception. Festival organizers will screen Waynes film El Dorado on Saturday at the Island Cinema. Orange County may not have a lot of classic film history, but it does have Wayne, and paying an annual tribute to him is a nice aspect of Newports festival, said Cade Russell, its associate director of programming. Hes a legend and icon in the film industry, Russell said of Wayne, who died in 1979 at age 72. Even the festivals offices on Quail Street have a Wayne connection theyre about a block from John Wayne Airport, which was named in the actors honor in 1979. Three years later, the airport erected a 9-foot-tall bronze statue of Wayne dressed in Western garb. Previous Newport film festivals have had events benefiting the John Wayne Cancer Foundation, also based in Newport. In 2007, festival leaders, who called Wayne one of Newports favorite sons, celebrated what would have been his 100th birthday. To mark the occasion, they held a news conference aboard the Wild Goose, a 136-foot yacht and former Navy minesweeper that Wayne owned from 1962 until his death. Conference attendees included four generations of the Wayne family. The following year, the festival launched a tribute series that included screening Waynes 1948 film Red River. Gregg Schwenk, the festivals executive director, said at the time that he hoped the series would introduce younger audiences to one of the great Hollywood legends of all time while attracting older audiences who will enjoy seeing John Wayne once again back on the big screen. Other Wayne films the festival has screened include The Searchers and Rio Bravo. Ethan Wayne, one of Waynes sons, said Tuesday that his father would have been touched by the festivals continuing tributes. Im sure my father would be humbled, appreciative and warmed by the fact that, 37 years after he passed, the community he loved and chose to live in honors his personality, career and impact by featuring one of his films, El Dorado, a great movie for any generation, Ethan Wayne said in a statement. I was on the set with him, and the memories of El Dorado are some of my earliest and fondest. Heres to you, Dad. You are loved and missed. El Dorado, directed by Howard Hawks, was released in the United States in 1967. It features Wayne as a gunslinger and Robert Mitchum as a sheriff. Leigh Brackett, also known for her work on The Big Sleep, wrote the screenplay. The film maintains a 100% tomatometer approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the review aggregator website. After its release, Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert called it about the most entertaining Western to turn up that year. You could call it, of course, a John Wayne Western, Ebert wrote. I guess that means it has the Duke in the saddle once again, drawl and all, making his laconic comments on the state of the universe and marching through old Western cliches. But El Dorado is more than that. It is a very good John Wayne Western. * IF YOU GO What: El Dorado When: 11:30 a.m. Saturday Where: Island Cinema, 999 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach Cost: $5 Information: newportbeachfilmfest.com, (949) 253-2880 What: Newport Beach Film Festival Where: Seven theaters in Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana When: Thursday through April 28 Cost: $15 general admission for most film screenings; $12 for students, senior citizens and military; some screenings are $5 general admission. Call or check the website for prices for other special events and parties. -- bradley.zint@latimes.com Twitter: @BradleyZint An Orange County Superior Court judge said Friday that a prior deed restriction on the St. James the Great Episcopal Church property in Newport Beach doesnt bar the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles from selling the property for another use because the restriction was not renewed. In the meantime, a developer that planned to buy the church site says it cant proceed with the purchase because its investment partner has dropped out. Ownership rights to the church property at 3209 Via Lido were transferred from the Griffith Co. to the diocese in 1945 with the restriction that the site remain a church. The Griffith Co. developed much of Lido Isle, beginning in the 1920s. Lawyers for the diocese argued in court documents that the use restriction expired when the Griffith Co. failed to file a notice of renewal within a time frame outlined in state law. The diocese said the church in 1984 negotiated removal of the use restriction from the deed, granting the diocese the right to sell the property for other purposes. Court documents indicate the restriction was lifted from several lots on the property. But one a courtyard that sits amid the church buildings was not listed in the 1984 agreement. The other lots included the main sanctuary, the parish hall and other church facilities, court records show. Neither of the two Griffith officers who signed the 1984 quitclaim, nor any other Griffith representative, could give an explanation for why Lot 1199 was left off the [document], court records state. A law enacted in 1982 mandates that deed restrictions be formally renewed every 30 years. For deeds in which the 30-year period for renewing a restriction had expired before 1982, the deadline was extended for five years until 1987, according to court documents. In short, the Griffith Co. had until 1987 to file a notice of renewal but failed to do so, Judge David Chaffee wrote in his ruling, which is tentative until he formally publishes it. Walter Stahr, a member of the St. James congregation, said attorneys for the Griffith Co. indicated they plan to appeal the ruling. Its disappointing, but its not the end of the day, Stahr said. The case is still in court, the building is still there. Weve lost a battle, but the war aint over. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Attorneys for the diocese and Griffith did not respond to phone calls seeking comment Tuesday. The dispute between the Episcopal Diocese and the Griffith Co. began after Bishop J. Jon Bruno announced during a church service in May 2015 that the church was being sold for about $15 million to developer Legacy Partners, which planned to build luxury townhomes on the site. Less than a month later, parishioners held their last service in the church, and days after that, Bruno had the locks changed and wouldnt allow the congregation back inside, churchgoers said. In June, the Griffith Co. sent a letter to Bruno asserting that the company had never released the deed restriction requiring that the property be used exclusively for church purposes. In response, Bruno sued Griffith for clear title and for interfering with the sale. A letter last month to one of Griffiths attorneys from Morgan Stewart of Manly Stewart & Finaldi, a law firm representing Legacy Partners, contends that Legacy, which was not a party to the lawsuit, was damaged by the situation. According to Stewarts letter, which was filed in court, Legacys investment partner in the deal, AIG Global Real Estate, decided not to proceed, citing the volatile position of the property and Griffiths claim to still hold a revisionary interest in one of the lots. AIGs decision came shortly after receipt of Griffiths June 10 letter, Stewart wrote. Following AIGs withdrawal from the agreement, Legacy also fell out of the contract for the property, according to the letter. At present, Legacy does not believe it can consummate the purchase of the property without a joint venture with another entity, Stewart wrote. He added that Legacy spent about $160,000 in consultant fees, investigation fees and legal costs during the time it sought to purchase the property. Read the latest headlines from the Daily Pilot >> It is unclear whether another possible buyer is interested. A representative of the diocese did not return a call seeking comment. Since being locked out of the church, the Rev. Canon Cindy Evans Voorhees, vicar of St. James the Great, has been holding Sunday services in a local park, in leased space at an art museum and at Newport Beach City Hall. Given that the purchase deal apparently began to fall apart at about the time parishioners were barred from the church property, Voorhees said: This is simply appalling. After all weve been through, to find out that it was all completely unnecessary well, Im speechless. -- hannah.fry@latimes.com Twitter: @HannahFryTCN Visitors to the 2016 Orange County Fair have a chance to be part of fair history, and it requires just two things an old camper trailer and a video camera. A project in the OC Promenade building at the Costa Mesa fairgrounds continues an effort launched during last years 125th-anniversary fair. The idea is to make a compilation video each year of guests talking about their memories or favorite things about the fair, said Joan Hamill, exhibits and education director at the OC Fair & Event Center. Though the fair previously put together historical exhibits about the annual festival using old news articles and artifacts, the best way to learn about its past is to hear from the people who have visited, Hamill said. The goal is to have it be an ongoing project and to have people access it, whether it be on YouTube or our website, she said. The fairgrounds bought the red and white camper from a private party in March 2015 and placed it near Plaza Pacifica during the fair that year. This year, the camper was moved to a place with a bit more shade and foot traffic. At the OC Promenade, the camper sits with a welcome mat at its front door and lights wrapped around its roof. Guests can step inside and be filmed sharing a favorite fair memory. A sign outside the trailer reads, Because your story is our story. We always thought the guest memories were a great way to learn about the fair, Hamill said. Maybe you went here on your first date with your husband and now youre here with your kids. We wouldnt have this event if it wasnt for the community. The 14 1/2-foot-long camper contains a twin bed, a stove/oven, a sink, cabinets, an icebox and a table with booth-like seats. When Yorba Linda resident Peggy Lacroix, 62, took her mother, Betty Carpenter, 83, to the OC Promenade last week so she could drop off her cookies for a baking contest, the two saw the camper. It was just like the one their family used in 1962 to move to California from the childrens birthplace in Missouri. We drove in one of those with five children, ages 2 to 10, Carpenter said. I saw it and thought, I just walked back into history, Lacroix said. Lacroix remembers how the trailers table could fold down so the booths cushions could shift and make a bed for her and her siblings. She walked into the fairs camper and found knobs on the cabinet doors that she had to squeeze to open the doors, just like in her familys trailer. The mother and daughter sat on the campers bed and filmed a short video about their familys move in their trailer. Fair employees filming for the video project also are walking around the fairgrounds to ask guests about their memories and favorite things, Hamill said. Vartouhi Tcholakian remembers hearing bombs passing over her home when the civil war started in Lebanon in 1975. Her husband had a corner shop in a commercial area in Bourj Hammoud, a district in Beirut heavily populated by Armenians, where he made pressed sandwiches filled with lebne, strained yogurt, halva, a sweet sesame paste, and sliced soujouk, a dry spicy sausage. But for months, no one came. People had stopped going to work. He was risking his life just to open up. Eventually, they sold the shop to a key maker for about $3,500. At home, Tcholakian converted her laundry room into a tiny factory to make soujouk and basterma, seasoned air-dried cured beef, which the pair then sold to local markets, all the while hearing bombs dropping nearby. They lived like that, between the targets, for two years. As terrifying as it was to live in a war zone, what felt more daunting was the unknown: The prospect of migrating to a foreign place with a new language and culture. The fear of failure. We were so scared to move, said Tcholakian, co-owner and chef of Carousel Restaurant. In 1978, a year after coming to Hollywood, where her two brothers-in-law already lived, a bomb fell on Tcholakians empty home in Lebanon and left a gaping hole. The same decision has been made by hundreds of thousands of Armenians, uprooting their families and fleeing their homes to escape persecution, war or economic hardship, all of which has created the mosaic of Armenians in America and beyond. The sun never sets on the Armenian diaspora, Khachig Tololyan, professor and founder of Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, wrote in 2000, pointing to the large Armenian communities in Russia, the United States, Georgia, France, the Ukraine, Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Argentina, Turkey, Canada and Australia, among others. In Glendale, Armenians make up about a third of the population. While almost the same number of Armenians live in the city of Los Angeles as do in Glendale, Los Angeles is 20 times its size. Meanwhile, Armenians make up more than 10% of Burbanks population. Since 1990, the number of Armenians in Burbank has nearly quintupled, from 2,780 to 13,846, while Glendales has more than doubled, from 31,402 in 1990 to an estimated 72,098 in 2013, according to the most recent Census data. When Osheen Keshishian, founder and publisher of the Armenian Observer, was a student at Glendale Community College in the 1950s, he couldnt find 15 Armenians to form a student club. Now, Armenian students make up more than a third of the school. While the local Armenian community has grown only in recent decades, Armenians have been finding their way to America for more than a century. The survivor generation The first recorded Armenian who arrived in the United States settled in Virginia in the early 1600s, according to Levon Marashlian, professor of history and political science at Glendale Community College. A few years later, several Armenians came to Virginia to develop the silk trade. But they didnt start coming to America in waves until the late 1800s, with many escaping the 1894 massacres of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire. Those immigrants arrived on the Eastern Seaboard, with many settling in factory towns, finding jobs at textile mills in New England, as well as at Ford Motor Company in Detroit. As several settled in one place, then others from same original community would follow them, said Richard Hovannisian, professor emeritus at UCLA and adjunct professor of history at USC, adding that many more came after escaping the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Genocide survivors then went to the same towns. They settled overwhelmingly in Worcester, Mass., which Marashlian dubbed the first Glendale. According to the most recent Census data, an estimated 1,263 Armenians out of more than 200,000 people still live in Worcester. The more adventurous immigrants added several extra days to their journey to travel by train to California, where they discovered Fresnos agricultural potential, planting vineyards and fruit orchards. Families stuck together, and supported one another in business endeavors. Every dollar earned would go into a family kitty, which could later be tapped to buy a family farm something no individual could have done alone, Hovannisian said. Theyre a community that tends to work very hard and to thrive, Hovannisian said. Part of that is I think the family ethicThis would allow them to get on their feet more quickly. Hovannisian was born in Tulare, a small farming community 40 miles from Fresno, in 1932. His father was the only member of his family to survive and escape the Genocide. Somehow, as a teenager, he amassed enough money to secure a third-class ticket to make the roughly month-long journey on the open sea to Ellis Island in 1920. They were truly a survivor generation, he said. The man lost his entire family, yet when he started our family ten years later, he was the life of the party, very hospitable. That generation learned to sing and dance, even though they had lost everything. The Los Angeles expansion Though they dont tell every immigrants story, several waves of immigration were instrumental in building the local Armenian community. Many early Armenian residents of Los Angeles had initially immigrated to other cities, some in other states. In the 1950s, Armenians began to leave the Middle East amidst political turmoil. For example, after the Egyptian revolution of 1952, when it was difficult for Armenians to keep their previous prominent position in the country, Marashlian said. The following three waves, during which larger numbers of Armenians came to the Los Angeles area, occurred around the same time those, like the Tcholakians, who fled the civil war in Lebanon, along with Iranian Armenians who left Iran after the revolution in 1979 and Armenians who left their homeland before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many immigrants from Iran, having been rooted there for generations well before the Armenian Genocide, immigrated with wealth, which allowed them to settle in the Glendale hills. Meanwhile, Armenians who initially settled in Hollywood moved to Glendale as they were able to afford higher costs. The last, most recent wave of Armenian immigration occurred after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when conditions in Armenia were deplorable. Electricity and water would be on for just two hours a day, and even then, water was only accessible on the first three floors of apartment buildings, some of which reached 12 stories, Marashlian said. Tenants had to walk down several flights of stairs to fill buckets with water to carry back up to use to flush their toilets or cook their dinners. Meanwhile, theyd heat their homes with portable kerosene heaters or theyd cut down trees for firewood, or burn books or furniture for heat. After 1991, about a third of Armenias population left, with a vast majority settling in Russia, Marashlian said. Of those who came to the United States, most settled in Glendale. Enclaves grew by word of mouth. Friends and family would send word back, providing newcomers with a robust support system. Cultural institutions like Armenian schools and churches proved hugely attractive to immigrants when choosing where to settle. Seemingly insignificant things were a draw, too, like the promise of pita bread on the dinner table on Sunday nights. When the Tcholakians arrived in Los Angeles, they stayed with family for less than two months before renting a two-bedroom apartment in Hollywood, where Vartouhi raised her young son and cared for her mother-in-law, whose health was deteriorating due to Alzheimers disease. For seven years, she handled roughly 200 pounds of meat a week to make soujouk and basterma among the more pungent Armenian foods in her living room, which required patience and a whole lot of Clorox. Soujouk was easy shed grind the meat, spice it, fill it into casings, which shed tie up and hang to dry. Basterma, meanwhile, was a process that included soaking the meat in salt for two days, pressing it for another two days to squeeze out the blood, hanging the pieces to dry, after which shed spice meat and hang it to dry again on the roof of their apartment complex, where inevitably, some batches would get stolen. Those that didnt, shed sell to her brother-in-laws market, where her husband worked. We came, we worked very, very hard, she said. We had very bad days. In the early 1980s, Tcholakians husband noticed a demand among the growing Armenian community for parties and gatherings. They consulted a book theyd checked out from the library that offered suggestions for business names. Among them, Carousel. The Tcholakians, who have since moved to Glendale, opened Carousel Restaurant and Banquet Hall in Hollywood on Christmas Eve, their only sons birthday, of 1984. Fourteen years later, he opened a second restaurant location in Glendale, now considered a mainstay in the citys restaurant scene. That journey, echoed by the thousands who have come before and after, left a permanent stamp on Los Angeles County, enhancing its diversity with their unique flavor. -- Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com Twitter: @atchek The Glendale school board gave high marks Tuesday night for a newly drafted proposed map that could be chosen to lay out new voting districts, as Glendale Unified transitions from an at-large voting system to one based on districts. During recent weeks, school board members have sought input from residents about how the new voting districts should be drafted. NEWSLETTER: Stay up to date with whats going on in the 818 >> The districts demographer, Glendale resident Douglas Johnson of National Demographics Corp., initially presented drafts of four maps. A fifth draft, Map E, was subsequently created after residents submitted their input during one of four community meetings held in March. Two more maps were drawn up after school board members discussed the initial five maps during a meeting earlier this month. Historically, Glendale Unified has used an at-large voting system, and school board members are elected regardless of where they live in the city. School officials were required to shift to a district-based system after they were sued by Malibu attorney Kevin Shenkman last year for allegedly violating the California Voting Rights Act, including a claim that the current at-large system illegally suppresses Latino representation on the board. The school district was sued 10 days after Glendale voters rejected the idea that Glendale Unified operate its own elections, ultimately paving the way for them to adopt a district-based voting system. Creation of the maps was part of the lawsuits settlement. On Tuesday, school officials closed in on Map G, in part because it gives La Crescenta its own voting district district 1 as opposed to other options that would split the community down Pennsylvania Avenue into two districts that each would have swooped down into Glendale. During the school board meeting, Leslie Dickson, president of the Crescenta Valley Town Council, said council members plan to endorse select maps during their meeting on Thursday that would keep Crescenta Valley High Schools attendance zone mostly intact. Those include Maps A, B, C, F and G. The Crescenta Valley Town Council would like to endorse the idea of community, cohesiveness and togetherness when choosing a map for trustee voting areas, Dickson said. School board member Greg Krikorian said Map G makes the most sense because of its balance. The second district in Map G encompasses the Verdugo Woodlands neighborhood, plus areas to the north and south. It includes much of the attendance zones for Fremont, Verdugo Woodlands, R.D. White and Marshall elementary schools. All of the maps partially divide some elementary schools attendance zones, which concerned board member Nayiri Nahabedian. There really isnt a perfect solution in a sense, she said. It varies. The third district in Map G is on the west side of Glendale and includes attendance zones for Mark Keppel, Balboa and Jefferson elementary attendance zones, and a small portion of R.D. Whites. The fourth district is located in the southwestern tip of the city, including the heart of downtown where major residential development has been occurring. It encompasses Columbus and Edison attendance zones, and much of Cerritos, with portions of R.D. White and Horace Mann zones as well. Franklin Elementary is located in the fourth district, but it draws students from across Glendale. The fifth district in Map G covers the southeast portion of the city and combines portions of Horace Mann, Muir, Marshall and Glenoaks attendance zones. The school board is expected to vote on adopting Map G during its May 3 meeting. -- Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com Twitter: @kellymcorrigan -- ALSO: Glendale police find person of interest, car allegedly used in fatal hit-and-run Teachers win laughs at Crescenta Valley Highs ComedySportz match Dignity Health Glendale Memorial Hospital receives patient safety award The Glendale Community College Welcome Faire for students attending the school in the fall semester will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Aug. 26. There will be workshops, student panels, student services booths, campus tours, free lunch, music, prizes and giveaways. Students will also be able to purchase their books, parking permits and student identification photos. RSVP online at glendale.edu/welcomefaire. Check-in is in front of the auditorium. The college is located at 1500 N. Verdugo Road. Registration for the fall semester continues through Aug. 26. Open courses can be found at www.glendale.edu/schedules. The fall semester begins Aug. 29. Questions about applying and registering can be answered on the colleges live chat. Click the Live Chat button found on the Glendale Community College homepage at glendale.edu. For information about tuition-free, noncredit programs offered at the Garfield campus, go to glendale.edu/ce. Open auditions for Elephants Graveyard Open auditions for the Glendale Community Colleges fall production of George Brants Elephants Graveyard will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday in the auditorium. Those who plan to audition only need to pick one of the dates. Actors will read sides from the play. Those selected to perform in the production are required to take two theater arts courses. Stage managers and technical operators are also needed for the production. Those interested in behind-the-scenes roles should call (818) 240-1000, Ext. 5635 or 3044. Crew members must enroll in a technical theater course. Elephants Graveyard, will run Oct. 27 through Nov. 6. For additional information about the auditions or the theater arts department, go to glendale.edu/theatre or call (818) 240-1000, ext. 5618. Auditions for the spring production of Anton Chekhovs The Cherry Orchard will be held in November. Lip-reading course offered A free lip-reading course is offered by Glendale Community Colleges Center for Students with Disabilities will begin on Aug. 29. The class meets Mondays and Thursdays from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the Glendale Adult Recreation Center, 201 E. Colorado St. through Dec. 5. Registration can be done online at glendale.edu/apply. Students are encouraged to bring a copy of their latest audiogram to class. The course is designed to improve communication skills for those who are hearing impaired by recognizing visible sounds on the lips. The anatomy of the ear and the hearing process will be discussed, and interpretation of an audiogram will be explained. Speech therapist Stela Fejtek will be the instructor. She holds a masters degree in communicative disorders from California State University, Northridge. She is a learning disabilities specialist at the college with extensive experience in aural rehabilitation. Additional information may be obtained by contacting the instructor at sfejtek@glendale.edu or calling (818) 240-1000, Ext. 5413. A bill making its way through the California Legislature would limit religious colleges ability to claim an exemption from federal Title IX laws barring discrimination against LGBT students and faculty. Under California Senate Bill 1146 which passed the state Senate in May and is currently undergoing amendments in the state Assembly only institutions preparing students for pastoral ministry would be allowed to claim a religious exemption. In any other religious school receiving federal money, students who believe they have been discriminated against due to their sexual orientation could sue the college. Human Rights Watch calls the Title IX religious exemption a license to discriminate. In California, at least seven religious colleges have applied for the exemption, including Biola University, Simpson University and William Jessup University. Some see the bill as a way to ensure LGBT students are protected, while others feel it would infringe on religious freedom. In many ways its an existential threat to religious colleges that want to live according to the principles of their faith in their community, Quincy Masteller, general counsel of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula told the Catholic News Agency. Q: Should religious colleges receiving money from the federal government be allowed to claim a exemption to Title IX regulations? Wow. Let us be clear religious institutions want the right to discriminate against the LGBTQ community. How does this relate to ethics; how is this American; how is this showing concern for humanity? They claim their values demand they discriminate. Why is this ridiculous notion even entertained? Since when is this country or religious freedom about allowing discrimination? I seem to remember slavery was justified dogmatically as well. Should we reinstate other discrimination on religious grounds? Lets understand this even further. If they dont get all-encompassing exemptions, they at least want special exemptions for pastoral care programs to have the right to discriminate? Consider what pastoral care is. Its emotional support for all gods children. How exactly is discrimination emotional support? I am sick and tired of churches playing the victim by reverse claims of religious discrimination. There is no such thing in this instance. They are being underhandedly and deceitfully polemical in order to redirect the issue. The religious right is so fond of saying the same thing over and over regardless of truth. So, please indulge me as I yet again repeat what David Silverman of American Atheists said: Cloaking your bigotry in religion doesnt make it any less bigoted and calling you out on your bigotry isnt persecution, its accountability. But, unlike the religious rights disingenuous mantras, this statement is actually true. Joshua Lewis Berg Humanist Celebrant First of all let me make clear that I am against all forms of discrimination be it sexual, national, racial or governmental. Looking at the Title IX exemptions for religious institutions being narrowed to only ministerial students looks like the government is discriminating against the universities who are discriminating against LGBT students in the first place. The 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the ultimate Federal law, states that, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. While discrimination in any form is wrong, the California Senate, which is supposed to act in concert with the Constitution, is for certain prohibiting the free exercise of religion by limiting the Title IX exemption to only ministerial students. The basic moral axiom here is two wrongs dont make a right. Now before I am attacked for supporting discrimination at all, let us remember that the Declaration of Independence also guarantees us inalienable rights, such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Being LGBT does not mean you give up any of your rights as an American. We dont know the sexual orientation of the blind lady with the scales. So, remember, red, white and blue are still resident colors of all rainbows. Rabbi Mark Sobel Temple Beth Emet Burbank When I attended Biola University, I had to sign a faith statement as well as agree to a particular moral code. If I recall correctly, the code was a no drinking/fornication/occultism policy for all students. Most new students signed the statements and agreed to never drink until they graduated. Devil worship was likely not going to be anyones practice who chose to attend Biola anyway, and sex-before-marriage was just off the table for most biblically obedient Christians (regardless of Biolas stated requirement). Now, as far as these codes went, they were incumbent upon all students. There were no provisions for applicants who wanted to learn at Biola, but who would sacrifice to Satan on their off hours, or who spent their study time getting hammered at dive bars, or who practiced promiscuity to their hearts desire. These were reasonable, moral prohibitions that the government had no problem with until now. But think, if there was to be no heterosexual sex, there certainly would be no homosexual, pedosexual, or beastiasexual, or Q-sexual (latest addition to LBGT) or any other sexual behavior or positive representation. Sex is morally confined to male/female marriage and nothing else, biblically speaking. This is a school that inculcates biblical morality, not one that teaches secular auto mechanics or which doesnt concern itself with the souls of its pupils. The point of the schools existence is to produce godly alumni. If then, there are those who would object to the schools moral code, then they ought to find themselves places to attend that dont mind immorality and have no objection to perverse lifestyles. This is what it boils down to: a politically motivated group, that defines itself by its peculiar sexual proclivities, striking out against the good morality of a Christian institution, simply because that institution receives government funding like every other university in the country, but requires them to sign the same moral statement I did. They hate the morality, so they hate the college, and they want to punish it by defunding its mission. Look, there are womens colleges, historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) and many institutions that receive aid, and which select their attendees based on gender or race yet they still qualify for government monies because they exist to benefit this country by providing education to distinct demographics (just like Biola). Suppose the school wanted to train chefs, but a lobby of food haters and anti-cooks demanded equal representation in the staff and student body, would that make any sense? No, it would be a recipe for disaster, and so is this ridiculously discriminatory California bill. Rev. Bryan A. Griem Tujunga I am opposed to exemptions to Title IX regulations or to the rules of any other federal aid programs. I do not want my tax dollars going to institutions who are allowed to discriminate. Religious colleges can very easily live according to the principles of their faith in their community by simply not accepting federal money. Attorney Mastellar gives two examples that he describes as conduct or activity that violated our Catholic character: a transgendered male seeking to live in a womens dorm or a same-sex wedding taking place in a campus chapel. In either scenario, it strikes me as extremely unlikely that the individuals would have any interest in using the facilities at a Catholic college. Be that as it may, if an institution is receiving federal assistance they ought to have to abide by all the laws and regulations that apply to any other recipients. This is not a threat to anyones personal freedom to practice their religion. This is equal treatment under the law. Roberta Medford Atheist Montrose Its official: The Internet is over. So is the Web. Its hard to believe, I know. Just last year, it seemed these two powerhouses ruled the world. But as of this summer, theyre done. Kaput. Over. Dead as e-mail. Meet their replacements: the internet and the web. Youll see these substitutes anywhere the Associated Press Stylebook is used. At the beginning of June, the latest edition of the AP Stylebook went into effect, ushering in style changes such as a lowercase I in internet and lowercase the W in web. The changes reflect a growing trend toward lowercasing both words, which have become generic terms, AP standards editor Thomas Kent told Poynter, a St. Petersburg, Fla.-based journalism institute. These new capitalization rules are just a few of the changes to the new AP guide, which include allowing spokesperson where before there were only spokesmen and spokeswomen and allowing DJ instead of deejay on first reference. The results will be seen far and wide, even if they wont be noticed. Many news outlets, magazines, wire services, business publishers and, of course, the Associated Press itself follow this style book. So the official guideline for those outlets is now to lowercase internet and web. But heres the thing most people dont get: Neither AP nor the publishers of the Chicago Manual nor the Modern Language Assn. nor any other stylebook publisher makes rules about language. They make rules about their respective editing styles styles that apply to anyone who wishes to follow them and to no one who doesnt. Style guides are playbooks with several objectives, a main one being consistency. For publishers, following a style helps avoid the appearance that the left hand doesnt know what the right hand is doing. Without these guidelines, you could have one article that reads A 9-year-old in Fresno, Calif., emailed the deejay on Tuesday next to one that reads A nine year old in Fresno, CA, e-mailed the DJ on 6/28. Many big names in publishing prefer to go their own way. The New York Times has its own style guide. So does the Los Angeles Times, which is similar to AP but has different rules for percentages, how to format phone numbers and other little publishing conventions youd never notice unless you were being paid to. Whats more, each style guide has its own default dictionary the reference to which it points users for any matter not covered in the style guide. These dictionaries sometimes disagree with each other. For example, Websters New World College Dictionary APs longtime go-to treats healthcare as one word. Merriam-Websters Collegiate prefers two words, health care, which you might hyphenate when youre using it as an adjective health-care policies. So no AP style rule restricts you if you dont want it to. But it does affect you. The more popular a language convention say, using email instead of e-mail the more ingrained it can become. If these trends gain enough momentum, they can become officially correct, the same way teen-ager and good-bye became teenager and goodbye. In fact, thats how email continues to emerge as the victor over e-mail. Some people will applaud the changes, arguing that internet and web have been generic terms for years. Others will lament them, perhaps wondering why things have to change at all. As someone whose job is to enforce style changes, youd think I would have an opinion. I dont. On most style points, Im happy to have someone else make the call. I wouldnt have wanted to be in charge of deciding when good-bye should lose its hyphen, just as I couldnt have known when Web would become a generic term. I just do what the style guides tell me right up until they tell me to do something different. -- JUNE CASAGRANDE is the author of The Best Punctuation Book, Period. She can be reached at JuneTCN@aol.com. Some of Burbank schools oldest phone systems, dating back to pre-millennial times, will be replaced with a new high-tech system, following the Burbank school boards approval Thursday night. As the school district continues to update its technological infrastructure, staff recommended the board approve a $1.4-million phone system, one that will take crews about two years to install campus by campus. Elementary schools such as Edison and Stevenson, whose phone systems date to the 1990s, will be among the first to make the switch. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Instead of carrying calls over digital or analog phone lines, the new system will carry them over the Internet, so employees across the district will be able to pick up calls to their work lines remotely on their personal phones. Teachers and staff can also conduct video calls. But should an emergency restrict Internet access, each school will still have access to four analog phone lines, said Roberto Jurado, assistant director of information technology for Burbank Unified. For other school-related emergencies, the new system comes with greater perks than the current one, Jurado said. Should a teacher call 911, responders will determine from which classroom the call was made, instead of seeing only the schools address, which is the extent of location information the responders receive currently. Its a very powerful system, and we think it would greatly benefit the district, Jurado said. School board President Larry Applebaum asked that staff consider selling the current system, instead of sending parts off to be recycled through an e-waste program. There is a very robust resale market, he said. The $1.4 million will be paid for using a combination of the school districts general fund and its Measure S bond, and school officials expect about $500,000 in savings during the next decade, according to a district report. -- Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com Twitter: @kellymcorrigan The July 17 On the Spot column (Who Pays? Law Is Clear by Catharine Hamm) was spot on, as rental car companies and insurance companies are not always stand-up places when you are involved in an accident with one of their clients. One warning: If the police report only lists a P.O. box for the offender, its near impossible to get them served. You have to make sure all the information is correct, otherwise youll be out the service fee and the small claims fee. Julie T. Byers, Arcadia Sicily scintillates Advertisement Great article on Syracuse, Italy [Sicilys Open Secret, July 3], but I was disappointed that author John Henderson did not mention the legend of Damocles and his sword. The legend stated that Damocles, the tyrant of Syracuse, had a sword hanging over his head tied with a horses tail hair. Another well-known legend involves Syracuses Ear of Dionysius cave. Its said that the tyrant Dionysius kept prisoners here and that the acoustics were such that he could listen to what they were whispering. The truly best cannoli are in the west coast of Sicily in Trapani or Palermo. Thank you for showing the beauty of Sicily. Paraphrasing Goethe, to come to Italy and not to visit Sicily is like you never went to Italy. Goethe loved Sicily. John Rosati, Simi Valley A tip on tipping Regarding Shelley Keiths July 3 letter on tipping: Her London taxi driver hit the nail on the head. Her letter quoted him as saying, We are not a tipping culture like the U.S. I get paid very well to do my job. That probably speaks for most in Britains hospitality service industry, if not Europe in general. Its also called pride. There is tipping, but it usually involves rounding up the bill. Remember too that not all countries have the same U.S. tipping culture. A tip can be insulting or embarrassing in some instances. Its always best to be informed of your destinations tipping culture. Carl Addicott, Altadena On a somnolent midsummer weekday, only a devout few had gathered for midmorning Mass at St. Etienne church in a quiet suburb of Rouen, a medieval French city best known for inspiring dreamlike Monet paintings. For the two men who arrived with knives just before 10 a.m., those few worshipers were audience enough. As the two parishioners and three nuns in attendance looked on in horror, the pair delivered an Arabic-language statement which they videotaped and then set upon the octogenarian priest who was presiding and slit his throat, according to officials and witnesses. It was a horror, one of the nuns, Sister Danielle, told French television. Advertisement Everyone was shouting, Stop! she said in an interview with BFM-TV. We cried Stop, stop, you dont know what youre doing! But they forced him to his knees. Amid the attack, Sister Danielle managed to slip away and raise the alarm, and a special contingent of a heavily armed anti-terrorist rapid-reaction force was on the scene within moments. The team attempted to negotiate with the hostage takers through a sacristy window and had considered storming the building, but the two men used three hostages as human shields, French public prosecutor Francois Molins said Tuesday. When the two attackers stepped outside of the church, police shot them dead. One of them was found to have a false suicide belt covered in aluminum and three knives. The other had a backpack made to look as if it contained a bomb and a timer. An officer recognized one of them, who was identified by French authorities as a young local named Adel Kermiche, 19, who twice had attempted to travel to Syria and join Islamic State but was returned to France and arrested. Fitted with an electronic bracelet and required to check in daily with police, he was allowed to leave his parents house for several hours a day and move about close to his home, which was near the church. As authorities searched for possible accomplices, they reported one arrest. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the grisly slaying of the beloved Roman Catholic priest, raising urgent new questions about the performance of the French security apparatus, especially while the country was in a state of high alert after recent attacks. The episode also added fuel to an already incendiary debate about Europes ability to assimilate immigrants from war-torn countries, and the seeming inability of European governments to stave off attacks inspired by jihadist ideology, regardless of whether they were organized by any particular group. Islamic State described the attack as a rebuke to crusader nations its code for members of the U.S.-led coalition carrying out airstrikes against the militant group. France is among them. French President Francois Hollande speaks to the media as he leaves City Hall in St.-Etienne-du-Rouvray. (Charly Triballeau / AFP/Getty Images ) At a time when terrorist attacks across Europe have unfolded seemingly with almost numbing repetitiveness, this one, though small in scale, was particularly shocking. For France, still reeling from the deaths of 84 people in a truck rampage in Nice on its most cherished national holiday, the slaying of 85-year-old Father Jacques Hamel a native of Normandy, born a few miles from the handsome 16th century church where he died brought a nationwide wave of revulsion and anger. One of the two parishioners, also slashed, was hospitalized in serious condition, officials said. Even before Islamic State claimed responsibility, President Francois Hollande cast blame on the Sunni Muslim extremist group. Hollande quickly traveled to the scene of Tuesdays assault, the suburban town of St.-Etienne-du-Rouvray on the outskirts of Rouen, about 70 miles northwest of Paris. He has come under heavy public criticism over perceived security lapses in connection with the July 14 truck attack in the French Riviera city of Nice. We are facing a group that has declared war against us, the French president told reporters, referring to Islamic State by its Arabic-language acronym, Daesh, which the group considers derogatory. It was not Catholics who were targeted, Hollande said. It was all the people of France. France is predominantly Roman Catholic, and the church remains a revered institution, even though many French Catholics adhere only nominally to its tenets. The attack brought swift and heartfelt expressions of solidarity from interfaith groups and from Jewish and Muslim leaders. I cry out to God, the archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, said in a statement, calling on people of all faiths to unite in this cry. The towns mayor, Hubert Wulfranc, wept as he spoke with journalists. France is grieving, he said. The claim of responsibility was issued via the Islamic State-linked Amaq News Agency which, in keeping with usual practice, quoted a security source in the group as saying the perpetrators of the church attack were its soldiers. But it was not known whether Islamic State had any specific knowledge of the attackers plans, or as in many other assaults simply seized on the opportunity to claim another atrocity. Parishioners described Hamel as a kindly, unassuming figure who had spent decades ministering to parishioners in Normandy. An auxiliary priest who had retired a decade ago, he sometimes filled in for the regular parish priest in celebrating Mass, as he was doing Tuesday morning. A priest was killed in an attack at the St. Etienne church on the outskirts of Rouen, France. (Francois Mori / Associated Press ) Denunciations of the attack poured in. The Vatican condemned the barbaric killing. Mourners gathered Tuesday evening at the main cathedral in Rouen, and a memorial service was to be held Wednesday at Notre Dame in Paris. The assault came as the country was still absorbing the sobering repercussions of the Bastille Day strike in the southern city of Nice, in which a Tunisian-born deliveryman barreled along a seaside promenade, mowing down spectators who had just watched a fireworks display. Hollande and his senior ministers have been pilloried by critics who said the event was too lightly guarded. Islamic State also claimed responsibility for the Nice attack, and authorities described the attacker as having been recently radicalized. Family members in Tunisia said he had a long history of violence and mental instability. Neighboring Germany, too, has suffered a recent wave of violence. On July 18, a knife- and ax-wielding Afghan teen injured five people before being killed by police. Four days later, the countrys third-largest city, Munich, was locked down for hours after an Iranian-German teenager gunned down nine people before killing himself; though investigators found no link to terrorism in that attack, it shook a nation that does not often experience mass shootings. Over the weekend, a Syrian refugee killed a woman with a machete an incident of violence also not linked to terrorism. The same day, another Syrian man blew himself up outside an open-air music event, injuring several patrons; Islamic State claimed responsibility for that attack. Few in Hamels grieving parish had believed such violence would touch them, or a caring minister many had known all their lives. Jacques was an extraordinary priest, Sister Danielle said. He was a great man, was Father Jacques. Special correspondent Willsher reported from Paris and Times staff writer King from Washington. Special correspondent Nabih Bulos in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report. ALSO At least 19 killed, 20 injured in knife attack near Tokyo Why teachers have been occupying one of Mexicos most alluring public spaces since May Tiger mauls grandmother to death at Beijing safari park UPDATES: 2:01 p.m.: This article was updated with new details about the attack. 12:45 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details throughout. 10:30 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details about the attack. 8:10 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details and comments on the attack. 5:55 a.m.: This article was updated throughout with staff material. 5:35 a.m.: This article was updated with Islamic States claim of the attack. 3:49 a.m.: This article was updated with additional information throughout. 2:54 a.m.: This article was updated with new details. 2:30 a.m.: This article was updated with two fatalities. This article was originally published at 2:15 a.m. The United States has led a successful charge to override a United Nations panels decision to deny accreditation to a well-regarded press freedom organization, and forcefully questioned the motives of some countries that were involved. A U.N. body, the 54-member Economic and Social Council, which grants accreditation to nongovernmental agencies, voted overwhelmingly Monday evening to add the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, to its approved list. In May, the councils smaller subcommittee had turned down the CPJs request after several years of delay. In that vote, countries with abysmal human rights records, including Russia, China and Venezuela, took the lead in rejecting the CPJ . Advertisement Accreditation gives a nongovernmental organization, or NGO, greater access to U.N. activities and venues, providing a vital and often unheard voice on behalf of civil society, dissidents, human rights activists, journalists and others whose rights often are infringed upon, advocates say. See the most-read stories in World News this hour After the May vote, U.S. diplomats lobbied other nations to bring the CPJ application to the full council, where they marshaled broader support. In the end, 40 countries voted in favor of CPJ and five voted against it: Russia, China, Vietnam, Zimbabwe and Rwanda. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power told the council that the CPJ was one of numerous human rights, health and other organizations that routinely get blocked by the subcommittee simply because their work is critical of governments. She said dozens of laws have been proposed or enacted in 60 countries that constrain freedoms of association or assembly, part of what she called a growing global crackdown on civil society. And it is no coincidence that many of the countries passing these laws are the same ones using the NGO Committee to block qualified organizations, Power said. In a statement, CPJ said accreditation will allow the organization to deliver a counter-narrative to states. The organization specializes in speaking out against attacks on journalists and on behalf of freedom of expression. Power, citing CPJ data, said that in the four years of delay when CPJ was blocked, 304 journalists were killed and hundreds more imprisoned or missing. ALSO Normandy church attacker twice attempted to travel to Syria to fight for Islamic State Heres why Netanyahu is apologizing to Israels Arab citizens Suspect in fatal stabbing of 19 wrote to a Japanese official about his plan to kill the disabled On the eve of the Summer Olympics here, 40 Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives published a letter Monday expressing deep concern about threats to democracy in Brazil. The letter, addressed to U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry, criticized the impeachment process that led to the removal of President Dilma Rousseff in May to stand trial in the Senate on charges of breaking budgetary rules. If convicted, she will be permanently removed from office. While she awaits trial, Vice President Michel Temer, an ally-turned-enemy, has taken over. Advertisement The U.S. lawmakers urged Kerry to exercise the utmost caution in your dealings with Brazils interim authorities and to refrain from statements or actions that might be interpreted as supportive of the impeachment campaign launched against President Dilma Rousseff. The letter, which was backed by the AFL-CIO and other labor union groups as well as nongovernmental organizations focused on Latin America, said that the impeachment process has come under fire for procedural irregularities, corruption and political motivations from its beginning. The U.S. government should express concern about the threat to democratic institutions unfolding in a country that is one of our most important political and economic allies in the region, it said. Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado, the Brazilian ambassador to the United States, had urged members of Congress to not sign the letter. In his letter to them, he said that the impeachment is proceeding rigorously in accordance with the mandates established by Brazilian law. Brazil sees with concern and rejects any attempt to discredit its institutions, or to question the rectitude by which a constitutional and republican legal instrument, such as the impeachment process is implemented, he wrote. The move against Rousseff came as much of Brazils political establishment including Temer and the majority of legislators who voted to oust the president faced more serious accusations of corruption or other crimes. Recordings leaked after the vote to try the president showed that congressmen hoped to use impeachment to stop investigations against themselves. The accusations against Rousseff are not considered crimes. Once Temer assumed office, he installed a much more conservative government, but three of its Cabinet ministers immediately were forced to step down amid corruption accusations. A recent poll by the Datafolha agency found that 62% of Brazilians would prefer new elections to keeping either Temer or Rousseff in office. Just under half of those surveyed believe the impeachment is constitutional. Over the last several months, few U.S. officials have weighed in on the controversy. The U.S. State Department has said it would not comment on Brazils democracy. Power struggles in Latin Americas largest country could play out for the world to see at the Olympic Games, set to start Aug. 5. Kerry is expected to attend, but many heads of state are reportedly planning to stay away, eager to avoid the awkward question of which Brazilian president to embrace. Bevins is a special correspondent. In the closing hours of Israels election last year, Benjamin Netanyahu rallied his supporters with a video warning that droves of Arab citizens were being bused to the polls to unseat his right-wing government. Now, about 16 months later, the prime minister has released a surprise on-camera apology in what amounts to an embrace of Israels 20% minority population. In a three-minute YouTube video in English and Hebrew with Arabic subtitles Netanyahu said that he misspoke on election day and that he understood why Arabs in Israel were upset by his remarks. Today, Im asking Arabs to take part in our society in droves, he said. I am proud of the role that Arabs play in Israels success. I want you to play an even greater role. Respecting minorities isnt just the right thing to do; its critical to our progress. Advertisement My vision is that young Arab boys and girls grow up knowing they can achieve anything in Israel, he said. The gesture, unexpected and seemingly at odds with Netanyahus past stances, was all the more jarring given that it follows months during which relations between Netanyahus right-wing government and Israels Arab citizens who say they suffer from decades of government neglect have become even more strained. Nobody fools themselves and thinks that now the Arabs will be big Netnayahu fans Aviv Bushinsky, former spokesman for prime minister If [Netanyahu] said this seven years ago, when he became prime minister again, you could say, here hes started with good intentions, lawmaker Ayman Odeh said in an interview with Army Radio. But after seven years of incitement and de-legitimization of the Arab population, how do you expect me to believe this person? This month, the Knesset, Israels parliament, passed a law allowing a special majority to dismiss a legislator who expresses support for an enemy of Israel legislation seen as targeting Arab lawmakers. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman last week compared the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, a Palestinian poet born in what today is Israel, to Hitlers Mein Kampf. And the government has delayed spending billions in approved funds in neglected Arab towns and cities. Arab citizens are also concerned about a bill sponsored by the government to crack down on houses in Arab towns that were built illegally. Indeed, after an Arab citizen attacked a Tel Aviv bar in January, Netanyahu said the minority group had created a state within a state, an accusation that still echoes. Arab political and human rights leaders said they are skeptical about the apology. The fact that the message was recorded in English indicates that the prime minister had an international audience: Officials in the U.S. and Europe have been increasingly critical of new Israeli legislation that they say will erode the standing of Arabs in Israel. One dimension is to improve Israels international image with respect to the Arab minority, said Ofer Zalzberg, an Jerusalem-based analyst at the International Crisis Group. Some international observers can find this credible. Zalzberg said there was a policy dimension to the statement as well: The government is planning to boost police presence in Arab towns that have been ignored by law enforcement for decades and where there are tens of thousands of illegal firearms. In the video, Netanyahu said that he had received personal appeals from Arab citizens for such a move, but it still could stoke clashes. See the most-read stories in World News this hour >> Netanyahus Arabic-language spokesman, Ofir Gendelman, said Israelis shouldnt be surprised by the outreach effort. This message clarifies what hes said to Arab citizens in a direct way: This government is committed to the goal of a radical change in Arab-Jewish relations and in the living conditions of the Arab community, he said in an interview with Al Shams radio. But one former Netanyahu advisor said the appeal is unlikely to make political converts or signal a true watershed in Israeli domestic policy. Nobody fools themselves and thinks that now the Arabs will be big Netanyahu fans, said Aviv Bushinsky, a former spokesman for the prime minister. Its a right-wing coalition and a right-wing leader, and he has priorities that he was elected on. Mitnick is a special correspondent. MORE WORLD NEWS Islamic State claims responsibility for attack on church and killing of elderly priest in France Tiger mauls grandmother to death at Beijing safari park Israeli soldier takes the stand at his court-martial for killing a Palestinian assailant As many as 20,000 people have been forced from their homes by wildfires in California described as having reached "almost unprecedented levels." Early Monday, authorities estimated that the blaze tripled in size since first breaking out around Santa Clarita early Friday evening and has now spread to consume more than 33,000 acres. The combination of hot, dry and windy conditions only made it more difficult for the nearly 2,000 firefighters battling the blaze to gain control over it. As of early Monday, authorities conceded that it remained just 10 percent contained. Numerous Homes Destroyed The blaze has already destroyed at least 18 homes and one person was found dead inside a burning vehicle, though authorities have not yet revealed his cause of death. One fire official described the ride through nearby Placerita Canyon State Park as now resembling a "drive through hell." Reports are smoke could be seen as far away as Las Vegas about 270 miles away. "We'd have to go back a long way to compare a fire to this. And, we're not through with this thing yet," said Los Angeles County Fire Department Battalion Chief Dennis Cross. Evacuations Growing Among the areas thus far ordered evacuated are Agua Dulce Canyon Road north to the Antelope Valley (14) Freeway, Crown Valley north to the Antelope Valley (14) Freeway and all of Soledad Canyon between those two areas.Battle Sand More recently, residents in the areas Golden Valley Road to Sand Canyon, excluding the Sand Canyon Mobile Home Park, were also ordered to leave their homes. Evacuation centers have been set up at Highland High School at 39055 25th Street West in Palmdale; at Hart High School at 24825 Newhall Ave. in Santa Clarita; and at Lakeview Terrace Recreation Center at 11075 Foothill Boulevard. Just up the road near Big Sur, another wildfire is raging that has already destroyed six home. As of late Sunday, fire officials estimated that it was just 5 percent contained. Bernie Sanders' work is far from done, with much of the heavy-lifting seemingly only beginning. Throughout Monday's opening night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia the onetime chief rival of nominee Hillary Clinton sought to allay the concerns of his many supporters and fully convert them into loyalists for the former first lady. It's a task that's proven an uphill battle, with some supporters even jeering their hero himself after he expressed his full-hearted support of Clinton. Disappointment Reigns "I understand that many people here in this convention hall and around the country are disappointed about the final results of the nominating process," Sanders told delegates and a TV audience of millions more during his prime-time address. "I think it's fair to say that no one is more disappointed than I am." He later added, "Our job is to do two things -- to defeat Donald Trump and to elect Hillary Clinton. It is easy to boo, but it is harder to look your kids in the face if we are living under a Trump presidency." Sanders was publicly joined in his new-found crusade for Clinton by the likes of First Lady Michelle Obama and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth, both of whom also endorsed Clinton in rousing first night addresses. By Tuesday morning, Sanders was expressing optimism that his message and the words of others may finally be starting to seep through. "The choice in this campaign is very, very clear and I think the overwhelming majority of my supporters will see it that way," he said. Much of the anger and frustration expressed by the Vermont senator's supporters has been reignited anew by the release of hacked emails showing the Democratic National Committee seemingly working in concert against Sanders. The revelation led to the resignation of committee chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz just prior to the start of the convention. Trump Makes Play Meanwhile, Trump sought to take advantage of the night's volatility, tweeting from afar, "While Bernie has totally given up on his fight for the people, we welcome all voters who want a better future for our workers." Throughout the night event organizers spliced in videos of some of Trump's most outrageous and controversial utterances to serve as a constant reminder of just how different his views are from any would-be democratic candidate. In one clip, a young woman with undocumented parents talked about living with the fear of facing deportation; in another a woman with disabilities derided him for comments that were widely seen as an effort to mock a disabled reporter and in another a satirical video mocked the various Trump-branded products that were made overseas. Following high demand for tickets, supporter events being held in LA and Stockholm before Leicester Citys ICC fixtures have now sold out. - LA and Stockholm supporter events sold out - Listen to match commentary of the Foxes ICC fixtures for free via LCFC Radio Following high demand for tickets, supporter events being held in LA and Stockholm before Leicester Citys ICC fixtures have now sold out. On Saturday 30 July, the Foxes are set to face French champions, Paris Saint-Germain at the StubHub Center in LA, before flying to Stockholm to take on Barcelona at Swedens national stadium, the Friends Arena on Wednesday 3 August. Supporters in LA and Stockholm were invited to join a special fans event the day before each fixture, where they would have the opportunity to have their photograph taken with the Premier League trophy and a LCFC Legend. Due to high demand, both events have now SOLD OUT. But you can still get involved in the ICC action by listening to matchday commentary of Leicester Citys remaining two fixtures for FREE on LCFC Radio. Matchday commentary of Leicesters fixture against PSG comes courtesy of Geoff Peters who will be live on-air an hour before kick-off, bring you all the build-up ahead of the match commentary. The Foxes final ICC fixture in Stockholm will see Chris Coles and former Fox Pontus Kaamark provide free match commentary from 7pm BST. Find LCFC Radio by . The Allentown School District will pay retiring Superintendent Russell Mayo $237,499 throughout his one-year sabbatical, more than twice as much as initially disclosed. Russell Mayo Three weeks after Mayo announced he planned to retire after the next school year, the school board in June voted 6-3 to grant Mayo a sabbatical for all of 2016-17 and pay him 60 percent of his salary, or $114,295. At that meeting, the school board approved a leave agreement but did not disclose the terms of the deal. "I have been under a doctor's care for several years now," Mayo, 68, said in a statement at the time. "He has recommended that I take this next year for health and restoration." When asked to provide a copy of the agreement, the district required lehighvalleylive.com to file a Right-to-Know request to obtain a copy. The district then asked for an extension of the five-day response time. A copy of the agreement was released to lehighvalleylive.com on Tuesday. The agreement shows that Mayo will be paid 60 percent of his salary and also receive lump sum payments for unused vacation and sick time, continued pension contributions and a contribution to his tax-deferred annuity. Those payments total $237,499. Mayo gets to keep his district-issued iPhone, iPad and laptop for free and he is responsible for all costs of the devices after June 30, 2017. No value is assigned to the electronics or the plans. On Oct. 31, 2016, the district will make a $25,000 employer contribution to Mayo's tax-sheltered annuity and make a $27,977 cash payment to Mayo. The district will also make a $17,250 contribution to his tax-deferred annuity by then. On Jan. 31, 2017, the district will contribute $52,977 into Mayo's designated tax-sheltered annuity. Throughout his leave, the district will continue to deduct pension contributions from Mayo's pay and make employer contributions on his behalf. Mayo and his wife will stay on the district health benefits through his wife's employment with the district, the agreements states. If she leaves the district prior to the end of the contract, Mayo will become the primary policyholder. Mayo will also continue to receive group term life insurance equal to two times his full salary fro the 2016-17 school year. No value is given for this. The agreement includes a disparagement clause, preventing either Mayo or the district from speaking ill of each other. It requires Mayo to submit a letter from his doctor no later than April 15, 2017, certifying whether he is fit to return to work or whether illness or physical disability prevents him from returning. Mayo's retirement is effective June 30, 2017. Mayo joined Allentown schools in as deputy superintendent in 2004 and was awarded a five-year contract as superintendent in July 2012. Pennsylvania schools allow sabbaticals for professional development and "restoration of health." The school code says educators who are approved for sabbaticals are entitled to half of their salary. Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. mass-audubon-Fisher_DavidLarson.jpeg A fisher cat (Martes pennanti) is seen in a tree in this undated photo from Mass Audubon. (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com) An omnivorous mammal spotted in Lower Saucon Township is nothing to fool around with, township police said. A fisher cat (Martes pennanti) has been reported roaming the area around Quail Court in the township, according to a posting Monday on the police department's Facebook page. "They have been known to attack cats and dogs but these occurrences are rare," police wrote. "They may also attack if they feel threatened or are cornered." Similar to the much smaller weasel, fishers have a long body with short legs, according to Bloomsburg University. Adults range in length from about 2 1/2 to 4 feet, with males weighing about 7 to 13 pounds and females, about 3 to 5 1/2 pounds. The fisher has a broad and flat head with a sharp, pronounced muzzle. The eyes face forward, and the ears are rounded. They are known to eat small mammals including white-tailed deer, primarily fawns during their first month, in addition to reptiles, insects, fruits and fungi, according to a Pennsylvania Game Commission species management plan in place through 2017. Fishers forage in the forest canopy and do most of their hunting on the forest floor. Videos online show their ferocity: Skeletal remains of fishers have been discovered at numerous paleontological and archeological sites in Pennsylvania, with the oldest records dating back 11,000 years, the plan states. Fisher populations are established and expanding throughout much of southwestern, central and northern Pennsylvania. Their populations have recovered from extirpation, or local extinction, thanks, in part, to reintroduction of fishers over the past few decades, according to the state's plan. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. West Easton and Wilson Borough officials have formed a committee to explore whether Wilson Borough could provide police coverage to West Easton. West Easton has been covered by Pennsylvania State Police since 2014 after Easton canceled its deal to cover the borough. West Easton at that time balked at an increase to its $158,000-a-year fee for coverage. West Easton considered forming its own department, but ultimately abandoned that plan. West Easton Councilman Dan DePaul said Tuesday the borough is looking to Wilson Borough police to provide local coverage and quicker response times. "There are some differences between council members about police protection being provided from Wilson. I hope to work through that," he said. Wilson Borough Council voted 7-2 at its June 27 meeting to explore an agreement with Wilson. In favor of forming the committee were council members Pamela Taylor, Scott Palinkas, Russell Lipari, Leonard Feinberg, Daniel Schaffer, Tony Verenna and David Jones. Opposed were Louis Starniri and James McGowan. The committee will hold its first meeting at 7 p.m. Aug. 1 at the Wilson Borough municipal building. Feinberg said he's open to the idea of providing coverage to West Easton, as long as the borough pays what it's worth. He opposes any deal for part-time or partial coverage. "It just depends on how much they want to pay," he said. Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. estimates the city would charge $198,000 to provide police coverage for West Easton. He said the city police department has assisted neighboring departments and will continue to do so. But primary police service is a cost that must be borne by the residents of the home municipality. "Our administration has a fiduciary responsibility to our residents. We cannot justify an officer on a call in another municipality when a call comes in from the city of Easton if they are not paying their fair share," Panto said. Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. An Easton man not welcome at a home in the 600 block of Walnut Street led city police in finding him wanted for simple assault. Aaron Charles Corley, 26, also of the 600 block of Walnut Street, was arrested just before 7 a.m. Tuesday. Corley was wanted for simple assault in Delaware County and had a New Jersey State Parole Board violation. Police said the assault occurred on July 14 in Delaware County. He was arraigned before District Judge Richard Yetter III, who set bail at $75,000. Corley was taken to Northampton County on an arrest prior to requisition charge. Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. The solar-powered plane that spent a few weeks moored in the Lehigh Valley completed its historic flight around the world early Tuesday morning, local time. Pilot Bertrand Piccard, who flew into Lehigh Valley International Airport on May 25, was at the controls of the single-seat Solar Impulse 2 as it arrived back in Abu Dhabi. It was March 9, 2015, when the Solar Impulse 2 took off from the capital of the United Arab Emirates in an effort to show a plane can fly around the world powered solely by solar power. There was no backup fuel for the plane, powered by 17,248 solar panels in the wings that charge four batteries so it can take off and fly at night. The final leg that brought the plane back to Abu Dhabi completed a trip more than 25,000 miles long, or 40,290 kilometers, according to the flight log. A handout picture made available by Solar Impulse shows the Swiss long-range experimental solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse 2 taking off July 24, 2016, from Cairo International Airport in Cairo, Egypt, as it heads to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, for the final leg of its round-the-world solar flight. The journey came to an end about 4 a.m. local time July 26, 2016. (European Pressphoto Agency | For lehighvalleylive.com) Piccard alternated legs with his co-pilot and fellow Swiss aeronautical pioneer, Andre Borschberg. Borschberg flew out of LVIA on June 10 for an overnight hop into JFK International Airport in New York City, on a leg that featured an early morning flyby past the Statue of Liberty. The journey came to a close about 8 p.m. EDT Monday, or 4 a.m. Tuesday in Abu Dhabi. Piccard and Borschberg, along with their mobile flight crew and mission control in Monaco, France, maintain the end of the flight is just the beginning of the future for renewable energy. Here is a look at what those behind the Solar Impulse 2 were saying on social media about the final leg of the trip: [&lt;a href="//storify.com/lehighvalley/solar-impulse-2-completes-historic-global-flight" target="_blank"&gt;View the story "Solar Impulse 2 completes historic global flight" on Storify&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;h1&gt;Solar Impulse 2 completes historic global flight&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Solar Impulse 2 touched down July 26, 2016, in Abu Dhabi, where the journey began March 9, 2015.&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;Storified by &lt;a href="https://storify.com/lehighvalley"&gt;lehighvalleylive.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;middot; Tue, Jul 26 2016 00:37:11 &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;This is the beginning of the future. A dream came true today. #futureisclean https://t.co/OughoXL762SOLAR IMPULSE&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Just landed and @andreborschberg goes to the cockpit to welcome @bertrandpiccard in #AbuDhabi #futureisclean https://t.co/BnAwy3ANfvSOLAR IMPULSE&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;It will be difficult to open the door after completing @solarimpulse's last flight #futureisclean https://t.co/fhHFAGRGO3Bertrand PICCARD&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;The Mission Control Center in #Monaco is really happy that this beautiful Round-the-World is complete! [?] [?] [?] https://t.co/YQn6SseKlBSOLAR IMPULSE&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Joy on the faces as we complete this incredible journey and are back in #AbuDhabi #futureisclean https://t.co/M3eupIGS4GSOLAR IMPULSE&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Our two pilots reunited in #AbuDhabi to complete this round-the-world journey! #futureisclean https://t.co/sAZj6hOBNySOLAR IMPULSE&lt;/div&gt; Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. The trial of a man accused in a 2013 Phillipsburg slaying is scheduled for the fall. Salim Newton's hearing -- set for Oct. 24, according to the county prosecutor -- will be Warren County's first murder trial in a year. Newton, 29, has pleaded not guilty to six counts including murder, burglary, criminal contempt and weapons charges in connection with the September 2013 shooting death of 22-year-old Melissa Williams, the mother of his child. Salim Newton appears in 2013 at the Warren County Courthouse in Belvidere. (lehighvalleylive.com file photo) He allegedly gunned her down inside her Spruce Alley home and eluded capture for more than a month before authorities eventually tracked him to Virginia, where he was reportedly staying with relatives. In 2014, Newton turned down a plea offer that called for 22 years in prison. Later that year, prosecutors rejected a counteroffer in which Newton would have pleaded to manslaughter and taken a five-year sentence. A first-degree murder charge in New Jersey generally carries a potential sentence of 30 years to life imprisonment. Newton previously served a three-year sentence on a Hunterdon County drug conviction and is now incarcerated in the Warren County jail. Court documents show he is being represented by a public defender. Newton's trial is to begin almost exactly a year after a jury returned a mixed verdict in the Andy Torres murder trial. Torres on Oct. 29 was acquitted of murder but convicted on a felony murder charge -- meaning the jury found he had a role in, but didn't necessarily cause, the death of a gas station attendant during in a 2012 robbery in Phillipsburg. He was sentenced in January to 40 years in prison. Another Warren County murder trial is scheduled for January. In that case, 28-year-old Daniel Lawrence is accused of killing 30-year-old Warren Moore, of Jersey City, with a 3-inch folding knife during a confrontation Sept. 2, 2014, outside Lawrence's East Washington Avenue home. Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) successfully prosecuted Irish Water at Portlaoise District Court for the discharge of deleterious matter into the Clodiagh River, on 18th August 2015, causing the deaths over more than 3000 fish. Judge Catherine Staines heard evidence from Mr. Michael Fitzsimons, a Senior Fisheries Environmental Officer with IFI that following a pollution report received from Irish Water, IFI carried out a detailed investigation on the Clodiagh River which rises in the Sleive Blooms and flows through Clonaslee. Over 3,000 fish mortalities were estimated over a four kilometre stretch of the river consisting predominantly of trout, along with other species such as salmon, lamprey, minnow and stoneloach. The fish kill was as a direct result of a chemical discharge from an accident at the Irish Water plant in Clonsalee, Co Laois. Irish Water entered a guilty plea. During the case heard on July 15 last Judge Staines directed Irish Water to pay IFIs legal costs of 5,016 and to cover the full cost of the rehabilitation works to be carried out downstream of the incident area. A development plan will be formulated by IFI in the coming weeks. Judge Staines did not impose a fine on the basis that it would be the Irish taxpayer paying for the incident. She also instructed Irish Water to carry out a full review of its Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP) and provide a report to her by 21st July 2017. Judge Staines stated that she did not want to see an incident like this happening again. Ms. Amanda Mooney, Shannon River Basin District Director with IFI said: This was a serious pollution incident which will take a considerable number of years for the river to recover. I am pleased with the outcome of the case and the provision for vital rehabilitation works to assist fish stocks to recover naturally. Judge Staines adjourned the case until the 21st of July 2017 to allow sufficient time for the rehabilitation works and WWTP Review Report to be concluded. Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) has a 24 hour confidential hotline number to enable members of the general t incidents - 1890 34 74 24 or 1890 FISH 24. This phone line is designed to encourage the reporting of incidents of illegal fishing, water pollution and invasive species. The outline agenda for Federal Conference in Brighton this September has just been published here, with the full agenda to follow mid-August. Highlights include a slot reserved to debate Europe with an extended deadline for a motion and amendments so that we may consider something topical. Federal Conference committee was concerned that the motions proposed in July might have been overtaken by events by September. Other policy debates include Welfare, Transport, PreP, Racism (with reference to the rise in hate crimes as a result of the Leave campaign), the Green economy and Parent Governors; there are consultative sessions on Nuclear Weapons and Sex Work. Speeches are from Norman Lamb, Alistair Carmichael, Kirstie Williams, Willie Rennie, Susan Kramer, Sal Brinton and Tim Farron, and finally four hours of debate has been allocated to the governance review and the constitutional amendments arising from that. Something for everyone! SATURDAY 17 September Opening of Conference / Federal Conference Committee Report 09:00 09:20 Federal Policy Committee Report 09:20 09:35 Federal Finance and Administration Committee Report 09:35 09:50 Members Subscription 09:50 10:00 Specified Associated Organisations and Associated Organisations 10:00 10:20 Federal Appeals Panel Report 10:20 10:35 Policy motion: Safe and Free 10:35 12:05 Policy motion: An End to Homelessness 12:05 12:50 Consultative Session Nuclear Weapons Consultative Session Sex Work Fringe Lunchtime 13:00 14:30 Policy motion: Tackling Corporate Corruption and Crime 14:40 15:25 Speech: Norman Lamb MP 15:25 15:45 Policy motion: Adopting Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis 15:45 16:30 Towards More Effective Party Governance 16:30 17:15 Constitutional Amendments: Party Strategy 17:15 18:00 CONFERENCE RALLY 18:30 19.30 SUNDAY 18 September Policy motion: Combatting Racism 09:00 09:45 Policy motion: The Opportunity to Succeed, the Power to Change 09:45 11:05 Speech: Alistair Carmichael MP 11:05 11:25 UK and European Collaborative Research and Erasmus 11:25 12:05 Education Q & A 12:05 12:50 Fringe Lunchtime 13:00 14:00 Policy motion: Campaign to Save Parent Governors 14:10 14:50 Speech: Kirsty Williams AM 14:50 15:10 Q & A Leader 15:10 15:55 Policy motion: Restoring Access to Justice 15:55 16:40 Federal Executive Report 16:40 17:15 Constitutional Amendments: Changes to the Leadership 17:15 18:00 MONDAY 19 September Emergency Motion or topical issue 09:00 09:30 Policy motion: Europe Motion 09:30 11:00 Speech: Baroness Kramer 11:00 11:20 Fringe lunchtime session 1 11:30 12:30 Fringe lunchtime session 2 13:00 14:00 Policy motion: Investing in the Green Economy 14:10 14:55 Speech: Willie Rennie MSP 14:55 15:15 Policy motion: Mending the Safety Net 15:15 16:45 Diversity Engagement Group Report / Campaign for Gender Balance Report 16:45 17:00 Constitutional Amendments: Diversity Quotas 17:00 18:00 TUESDAY 20 September Emergency motion or topical issue 09:00 09:45 Constitutional Amendments: Committees 09:45 10:35 Standing Order Amendments 10:35 10:50 Parliamentary Party Reports 10:50 11:30 Presidents Speech: Baroness Brinton 11:30 11:50 Policy motion: Future Transport 11:50 12:50 Fringe Lunchtime 13:00 14:00 Leaders speech: Tim Farron MP 14:10 approx. 15:30 Conference ends Timings may not be final. * Joe Otten was the candidate for Sheffield Heeley in June 2017 and Doncaster North in December 2019 and is a councillor in Sheffield. As a 20 year old, I stood up in a French classroom, to teach children two years younger than me, it was literally life changing. I have gone on to live abroad three more times, speak two other languages, marry someone from another continent and work in multinational companies where I get to travel the world. I want these opportunities for my children, but fear that due to the selfishness of the older generation, that things will never be the same after Brexit. Living overseas gives you a fresh perspective, it helps you to learn how to deal with other cultures in the work place and to cope with change. All of these things make us more rounded as individuals and working in business, understanding how other nationalities tick is vital to building cross border relationships and managing negotiations. One of the biggest risks of Brexit is that it spells the death of the Erasmus scheme for British students. This is a great pity as it will mean that thousands of students may never get the experience I had. We must fight with every breath to make sure that British students can stay inside Erasmus. An obvious additional benefit of living abroad is learning another language. Nigel Farage complains about people speaking other languages on the train, while his wife no doubt speaks German to the kids. Priti Patel jumped on the bandwagon about the cost of educating children with at least one EU parent. Yet neither can think of the positives of cultural integration. I will never forget the day we were told in 1981 by my headmistress, that we would have a new boy in our class who was black and how he was not different. Now my children go to school with other pupils who have parents from France, Switzerland, Japan, China, Germany, South Africa and Poland. The world has changed but now we have senior politicians who want to return us to 1981. Many of those Brexiteers have never lived abroad or bothered to learn another language. Just because they never exercised their chance to live in Europe why does that give them the right to deny that chance to the younger generations ? I hope that their tardis never arrives and that we remain a country where my kids can mix with the United Nations from a young age. No matter how hard we have to try, we the Liberal Democrats must continue to remind people that we are a mongrel nation and that is what makes us great. * Chris Key is dad of two girls, multilingual and internationalist. He is a Lib Dem member in Twickenham who likes holding the local council and MPs to account. LifeStyle The best LifeStyle shows are right here, from Australia and around the world. Catch up with the experts on home design and interiors, food and cooking, the property market, and get fresh ideas with the savviest of renovators. Whether you need inspiration for cooking up a storm, to refresh a tired room, or tips to sell your property, Foxtel LifeStyle will always something new for you to watch. Enjoy your favourite experts like Andrew Winter and Neale Whitaker, or Deb Hutton and Jamie Oliver live or On Demand. Get Foxtel A FORMER mayor has denied claims she tried to cling onto a high-profile job on the board of LIT after she was elected to the Seanad. A number of councillors have alleged Maria Byrne had sought to remain on the governing body at the Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT), and other roles, despite her April election. The Leader understands her Fine Gael party, which has three members on the Limerick/Clare Education and Training Board (ETB) which makes the appointments, were pushing for her re-selection. But after Fianna Fail and Independent members threatened to block this, Fine Gael changed tack. One councillor who did not wish to be named said: It is nothing against Maria. It is a principled thing. We believe if you are fortunate enough to go into national politics, you should not hold onto positions you had. While the remuneration for a position on the LIT board is nominal, it is a role which carries huge weight. At a meeting of the ETB in Raheen last week, the positions came up for appointment again, having been deferred in May when councillors say it was initially suggested Ms Byrne wanted to remain on the LIT board. Two members Cathal Crowe and Mayor of Ennis Ann Norton pushed for an immediate end to the matter. Cllr Crowe, Fianna Fail, said: We all stepped back from this two months ago. There are several reasons why Maria has not been replaced on the council, but the ETB should not lose out. But Fine Gaels Liam Galvin formally proposed to defer the matter again until Septembers meeting. Mayor of Limerick, Cllr Kieran OHanlon then proposed a five minute halt to avoid an unnecessary and divisive fight. In that time, intensive cross-party discussions took place, and it is understood it was formally agreed Ms Byrne would not be considered for the LIT job. The script has been rewritten, one councillor said after, The last day, it was all about putting Senator Byrne onto these boards. But today, they wanted to appoint Maria Byrnes replacement on the council to these positions. It is quite a concession. The co-option of Ms Byrnes council successor has been held up with Fine Gaels headquarters holding an investigation over voting eligibility of some members. One position Ms Byrne was appointed to was the board of management of Gaelcholaiste Luimnigh, at the schools own request. When contacted, Ms Byrne said: I had been put on the LIT board prior to the Seanad election, but I had since been informed that, since I was now a senator, I would not be able to go back on it. That was fine by me. UL HOSPITALS Group stated that it is committed to hiring more midwives, nurses and other staff, following the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisations decision to ballot for industrial action over the next three weeks. On Wednesday afternoon, INMO members at the Ennis Road maternity hospital voted unanimously in favour of balloting for industrial action, following a year and a half of concerns over staffing. The trade union has been calling for an additional 30 staff at the Ennis Road hospital since January 2015, INMO spokesperson Mary Fogarty said this week. The UL Hospitals Group stated that it has taken on 14 staff, and are currently in the process of recruiting the remaining 16. However, Ms Fogarty said that, while 14 people have been recruited, a large number of people have left. She said that she was recently notified by management that there 20 temporary vacancies at UMHL, which include people on sick leave and maternity leave. A spokesperson for the Group said that it confident in filling in the remaining 16 new posts. Of the 22 interviewed graduate staff midwives interviewed, it is believed that 19 will be stationed at UMHL. Colette Cowan, UL Hospitals CEO stated that it is operating in a challenging recruitment environment, as is the case for all Hospital Groups. We remain committed to hiring more midwives, nurses and other staff as agreed last November, and will continue in our efforts to do this whilst remaining in regular, monthly contact with the Unions throughout this important process. According to the spokesperson, monthly patient experience surveys show that there is a 97% satisfaction with service. LIMERICKS JP McManus has lead the tributes to jockey JT McNamara describing him as loyal to a fault either to man or horse". The acclaimed jockey passed away at his County Limerick home overnight. He was surrounded by his family. Speaking from his home in Martinstown outside Kilmallock, Mr McManus said the world is a better place because of the legacy left by the popular Croom jockey an absolute horse man. Mr McManus paid tribute to the wonderful kindness and loyalty of the 41-year-old. JT enjoyed many of his big race wins wearing Mr McManus' distinctive green and gold hooped silks. When JT had his accident in Cheltenham he could have died that day but the will of the man to live at the time, and the good that came out of that afterwards from the hundreds of people who rallied to support him and his family; that is his legacy, said Mr McManus. Its amazing how many people rallied around afterwards and wanted to support any event and anything that would make life that little bit better and that has brought about a huge awareness around people who suffer in this way. It was a terrible situation that brought good. The world is a better place because of JT and his situation and how hard he fought, he added. JT, a father-of-three enjoyed many of his big-race successes in the colours of owner JP McManus, riding Rith Dubh to victory in the famous green and gold colours in the 2002 National Hunt Chase at the Festival and partnering Spotthedifference in the 2005 Cross Country Chase. "While there have been many great rides at Cheltenham I have never seen a more delicate and kind ride then when JT literally kissed Rith Dubh over the finish line in the National Hunt Chase. Because of his temperament JT knew how to manage him and through sheer kindness cajoled him to the finish, he recalled. JT also wore McManus green and gold hooped silks when riding Drombeag to win the 2007 Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham He was a very caring person and very direct. He never used two words when one would do instead. He was loyal to a fault either to man or horse, he stuck with horses at times when he had the option of riding a better one but he felt he owed it to the horse, when often it might have been the horse that owed him. He had a great love for the animal he was riding, recalled Mr McManus. Its interesting to hear so many great jockeys who looked up to him as the absolute horse man. He knew when to be kind. He knew when kindness worked best with a horse. He knew the horse. He could be forceful when necessary and he could have ridden more fancy horses but he was extremely loyal to the horse. " The Turf Club, Irish Injured Jockeys, the Injured Jockeys Fund and JP McManus were all instrumental in assisting JT and his family adapt to his new life when he returned home to County Limerick in June 2013 after receiving intensive treatment at the North West Regional Spinal Injuries Centre in Southport, Merseyside. There were hundreds of people who showed support. He had a fan base he didnt know he had who all wanted to help in their own way, I was just one of hundreds, said JP McManus. Thousands of people from Limerick and beyond joined in chorus with rock star Bruce Springsteen in 2013 when he dedicated one of his songs - My Hometown - to the injured jockey during his sell-out Thomond Park performance. JT was a Springsteen fan. Shortly after the concert McManus picked the horse that would be named after the Springsteen song. JT wanted to name one of our horses he got to pick the horse who we named My Hometown after the Springsteen concert, Mr McManus revealed. TRAVELLER families in a city halting site have praised the Limerick Fire Service for their heroic act as they quenched a large caravan blaze that could have set the whole place on fire. In the early hours of Monday morning, the dining room of a caravan, which was parked on the footpath between two houses at the entrance of Rhebogue halting site, caught fire and gutted the vehicle in less than 10 minutes, according to residents. At 3.11am, emergency services were notified of the incident and three city fire service appliances were dispatched to the scene. Members of Limerick Fire Service quickly combatted the flames and remained at the scene until 4.23am. Gardai investigations are ongoing, but the fire is not believed to be suspicious at this time, according to a garda spokesperson. There were no reported injuries during the incident. Site residents, who do not wish to be named, said that a woman discovered smoke rising from the rear of the caravan as she woke up to get a glass of water, and called the emergency services straight away. A nearby caravan was also badly damaged by the flames. Behind the destroyed caravan was a brick shed with a number of young puppies. It was undamaged and no animals suffered any injuries during the halting site fire. We have children, so we had to get them out of the bed straight away, one woman said on Monday morning. It was a very frightening experience to see it. Because, at the back of the estate, there are a load of kids. They might not have been able to get out if the fire brigade didnt get here on time. Something else would have caught on fire and the flames would have spread then. Nobody might have been able to get out. There are fears that a future incident like this could lead to a situation similar to last years tragedy in Carrickmines, in which 10 people were killed as a result of a caravan kitchen fire. For a long time, people couldnt get out. There was panic because they were trapped. There were children screaming crying. Ever since Carrickmines, we have thought about it. But the fire brigade were lucky to arrive on time. When they came, it was completely up in flames. It burnt to the ground. But they were exceptional. They were very fast. But there are massive question marks over what happened here last night, a mother said. One resident added: If it wasnt for them [Limerick Fire Service], another caravan would have gone up in flames, also. Thank God the fire brigade got here on time. Because there was one very young kid in that house over there, and if one goes up, they all go up. Anyone with information in relation to the incident is advised to contact Henry Street garda station at 061-212400 or the Garda Confidential Line at 1800 666 111. FUNERAL arrangements have been announced for Limerick jockey JT McNamara who passed away at his home on Tuesday morning. The father-of-three of Toureen, Croom will be reposing at his home on Thursday from 2pm to 8.30pm followed by removal to St Michaels Church, Manister. Mr McNamaras funeral Mass will take place on Friday at 11am with burial afterwards in the local cemetery. Tributes have been pouring in for Mr McNamara, one of the leading amateur riders of his generation, since news of his death emerged on Tuesday morning. The multiple Cheltenham festival winner had been left paralysed following a fall at the Festival in 2013. He suffered complications at his home on Friday night and was rushed to University Hospital Limerick. He went home on Saturday to spend his final days with his family. Mr McNamara, 41, enjoyed many great racing wins in the colours of his long-time supporter, owner, JP McManus. He rode over 600 winners in total over his career. JP McManus lead the tributes to the popular jockey describing him as loyal to a fault either to man or horse. When JT had his accident in Cheltenham he could have died that day but the will of the man to live at the time, and the good that came out of that afterwards from the hundreds of people who rallied to support him and his family; that is his legacy, said Mr McManus. A minutes silence will be observed before the 5.45pm race at the Galway Races this Tuesday afternoon. JT McNamara is deeply regretted by wife Caroline, sons Dylan and Harry and daughter Olivia, parents John and Kathleen, brother Aongus, sister-in-law Vanda, mother-in-law Phil Maxwell, brother-in-law Declan and his wife Nicola, aunts, uncles, cousins, large circle of friends and the racing community. Family flowers only, donations, if desired, to the Irish Injured Jockeys Fund. Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up to our free email alerts for the top daily stories sent straight to your e-mail A 24-year-old from Sleaford is facing up to the fact she could die without an urgent stem cell donation after being diagnosed with cancer for a second time. Doctors found Nicole Di Pietro-Fisher had leukaemia again in January. She was first being diagnosed 14 years ago and given the all-clear at 16. The music producer, who first had cancer when she was just 10 years old, said: "Doctors think I will need to find a donor urgently. Without a stem cell transplant, I will die. "I was just two years away from reaching the coveted 'ten year remission' milestone." The cancer had spread to her brain and spinal cord. But because of her Italian/Irish mixed heritage, Nicole is finding it difficult to find a donor. She said: "Doctors told me a stem cell transplant was my only chance of a cure. "If anyone is reading this thinking about joining the register, please do it now. "You have the potential to save my life. And even if you're not a match for me, there are thousands of people waiting for life-saving donors." Over Christmas, Nicole started coughing up blood and suffering from aching muscles and lethargy. At first doctors thought it was just a blood clot but tests revealed the cancer had returned. To make things worse, Nicole's partner Jenny, who works in the RAF, had just been deployed on exercise over the Christmas period. Nicole said: "I had to tell her the news over the phone. It was really hard to tell her I might be dying, knowing she was thousands of miles away. But we were both determined to stay strong." Nicole started radiotherapy and chemotherapy straight away, keeping in touch with Jenny over the phone and text. Nicole contacted blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan, which matches potential stem cell donors to blood cancer patients in desperate need of a transplant. Jenny said: "Nicole's time is running out. We really need people especially those from mixed-race backgrounds to join the register before its too late.' Ann O'Leary, head of register development at Anthony Nolan, says, 'What many people don't realise is how easy it is to join the Anthony Nolan register it simply involves filling in a form and providing a saliva sample. "If you're one of the privileged few who goes on to donate, 90 per cent of the time this will now take place via an outpatient appointment which is similar to donating blood.' People aged 16-30 can join the register online here. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page. Participants at the press conference. (Photo: baodautu.vn) This was revealed in a press conference for M&A 2016 forum, held on July 25th in Hanoi.In his speech at the event, Le Trong Minh, Editor in chief of Vietnam Investment Review, head of the organizers for the forum, said that together with the restructuring process of the economy and Vietnams active international integration, over the past years, M&A activities in Vietnam have been increasing.Total value of M&A transactions in Vietnam only reached over USD1 billion in 2009, but the figure hit a record high of USD5.2 billion in 2015. The figure is expected to hit USD6 billion in the year.Retail, consumption industry and real estate continued to make up a high proportion of the M&A transactions. These sectors are also attracting the attention of foreign investors, as well as potential domestic partners.Professor Christopher Kummer, President of Institute of Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances (IMAA), said that so far this year, Vietnam has made big progress on the global M&A rankings when the country climbed to the 20place with nearly 400 transactions; up 4 grades from 2015 with 339 transactions.Lecturers at the event commented that in the current circumstance, removing burdens to develop a healthy M&A market which is expected to become an effective capital mobilization channel and is a factor to promote restructuring of the economy and enterprises is one of important solutions in order to achieve socio-economic development targets.The 8annual M&A forum, themed M&A in open economic space, will be held on August 18th, 2016 in Ho Chi Minh city. The event will feature investment connectivity programs, an M&A deal award, and a training course on M&A strategy.It is expected to attract about 500 representatives from domestic and foreign businesses and investment funds which contribute to 85 percent of M&A value in Vietnam./. Photo: Hoanh Hanh The signing ceremony was witnessed by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. The agreements cover Vietnams third economic management and competitiveness development policy financing, first climate change and green growth development policy financing, and additional financing for Vietnam urban water supply and wastewater project. Vietnams third economic management and competitiveness development policy financing is concluding a series of three operations which reinforced key government steps to bolster financial sector stability, reform the SoEs sector and create a better business climate. These reforms are critical to raise Vietnams competitiveness and medium growth potential. The series has served as the central platform for coordinated policy dialogue between the Government of Vietnam and several development partners, and has mobilized over USD1 billion from the World Bank and other partners, in flexible budget support financing, helping to meet some of the government fiscal needs. This final operation provides a USD150 million World Bank loan and USD12 million co-financing grants, provided by the Governments of Switzerland and Canada. The climate change and green growth development policy financing, value USD90million, is the first of a series of three operations to support climate change and green growth policy actions under the Vietnamese Governments support program to respond to climate change. Policy actions under this credit will help improve coastal zone resilience through integrated management, protection of water resources and greater water use efficiency, as well as coastal forest development. It also supports policies to improve air quality, energy efficiency and investments in renewable to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These policies will be important for the achievement of Vietnams COP21 commitments. While the USD50 million IDA credit and USD69 million IBRD loan of additional financing for urban water supply and wastewater project aims to support provision of more household connections in 10 cities across Vietnam. It will also improve drainage system and build wastewater collection and treatment system in Di An town of Binh Duong province to deliver better services to the 380,000 inhabitants of the town, and contribute to the control of water pollution into the surrounding Saigon and Dong Nai rivers./. Photo for illustration The promotion is applied for travel to Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Myanmar from August 1to December 31, 2016 (except national holidays). Tickets can be booked from 12h to 14h at www.vietjetair.com (also compatible with smartphones at https://m.vietjetair.com) or at www.facebook.com/vietjetvietnam (just click the Booking tab). Vietjet Air continues to increase its modern fleet, expand its domestic and international network in order to meet the increasing travel demand of tourists, individuals and businessmen./. This new species of palm pitviper (Bothriechis nubestris) lives only in a mountain range called Cordillera de Talamanca, on the border of Costa Rica and Panama. A previously unknown, green-speckled species of venomous snake has been found lurking in the high, misty forests of Costa Rica. The Talamancan palm-pitviper (Bothriechis nubestris) was discovered through genetics. The snake, which lives in a remote, forested region of Central America, was long mistaken for a closely related species, the black-speckled palm-pitviper (Bothriechis nigroviridis). But when University of Central Florida biologist Christopher Parkinson performed a genetic analysis of the black-specked palm-pitviper, he and his team found differences between specimens, suggesting that these might be two separate species. When two species look and behave nearly identically but are genetically distinct, it's called cryptic speciation. To uncover this particular case of cryptic speciation, Parkinson and his colleagues studied museum collections in the United States and Costa Rica, and also compared DNA from the palm-pitvipers to DNA of other Central American snakes. [The World's 6 Deadliest Snakes] The team found that what was believed to be one species was actually two lineages. The black-speckled palm-pitviper can be found across Costa Rica's Central, Tilaran and Talamanca Cordilleras (mountain ranges). The new Talamancan palm-pitviper, in contrast, is found only in the northern and central Cordillera de Talamanca, the mountain range that sits on the border of Costa Rica and Panama. The snake usually grows to less than 24 inches (61 centimeters) long and is patterned with black and bright green speckles. The species lives at high elevations in the cloud forests of the Cordillera de Talamanca, the researchers reported July 15 in the journal Zootaxa. The palm-pitvipers make up an interesting group because of their neurotoxic venom. The black-speckled palm-pitviper kills with a toxin called nigroviriditoxin, Spanish and Costa Rican researchers reported in January 2015 in the journal Toxicon. This toxin had previously been found only in rattlesnakes, raising questions about whether it evolved independently in rattlers and palm-pitvipers or was present in a common ancestor of the two. "It's certainly an interesting question, because it gets at some of the fundamental concepts in evolution," Andrew Mason, a doctoral student in biology at the University of Central Florida and one of the authors of the paper, said in a statement, describing the Talamancan palm-pitviper. "We are really interested in seeing how the venom of this new species compares to other palm-pitvipers." Original article on Live Science. Archaeologists from the Cambridge University Archaeological Unit remove river silts to expose the wood of the Bronze Age settlement at Must Farm in the fenlands of eastern England. A fire that destroyed a Bronze Age village in the marshlands of eastern England around 3,000 years ago may have been set on purpose, possibly in a raid by warriors from a hostile group, according to a new archaeological study. "We've been working with [a fire] investigator who works a lot with modern fires, and he thinks there's a good chance that the fire was set deliberately," said Selina Davenport, an archaeologist at the University of Cambridge. The researchers found four houses that were likely all burned at the same time, which suggests it was a large fire, they said. [See Photos of the Must Farm Site and Its Bronze-Age Treasures] "For that to have spread from something like a spark off a hearth is unlikely," Davenport told Live Science. "These people were really good at living in wooden houses, so I dont think they were just catching fire accidently very often." A reconstruction of the fire that brought about the end of the Must Farm settlement, based upon material recovered in the 2006 excavation. (Image credit: Cambridge Archaeological Unit) The original Bronze Age village at the Must Farm archaeological site in Peterboroughconsisted of up to eight circular wooden houses built on stilts above a river, and would have been home to several families, archaeologists said. Tree-ring analysis dated the posts from the houses to between 1290 and 1250 B.C., and showed they were all cut down in a single autumn, according to the researchers. A wooden wall, or palisade, near the houses was built at the same time, which the archaeologists think may be a sign that the villagers were living in hostile territory. But within a few years of being built, the prehistoric village was burned down and abandoned. It seems no effort was made to resettle the village, the researchers said, or to recover the many items that the villagers left behind in their hurry to escape, which included wooden boats, weapons, stone and metal tools, patterned sets of kitchen pottery, jewelry made from imported glass and amber beads, and clothes of finely woven fabrics. The abundance of artifacts found by the Cambridge Archeological Unit during a 10-month excavation at the Must Farm site has inspired the village's comparison with the Roman city of Pompeii, which was destroyed and preserved in ash when the nearby volcano Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79. "The analogy comes from the idea that there is one moment in time that has been captured by a destructive event," Davenport said. "At Pompeii, that's the destruction by the volcano, and here we have this fire that just rips through the settlement, and the settlement collapses and is perfectly preserved in the silt." Bronze Age sophisticates As at Pompeii, the disaster in the Bronze Age village has provided modern archaeologists with a wealth of information about the remarkably sophisticated people who lived there a little more than 3,000 years ago. [The 7 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth] The discoveries include many rare wooden tools and other artifacts preserved in the marshy ground of the fenlands, such as kitchen platters made from sewn layers of bark; wooden spoons and buckets; a bronze ax and a bronze-tipped spear with their wooden hafts intact; eight log boats; and one of the oldest wooden wheels ever found in Britain. Other finds include a matching set of kitchen pots, from very small bowls to tall storage jars, which appear to have been made by a single potter from local clay. The researchers also found the charred remains of several different woven fabrics, mainly of linen spun from flax plants, which were probably used for clothing and other purposes, such as traps and binding materials. Davenport supervised visits to the site by more than 2,000 members of the public during the recent excavations, including visits by schools and archaeological interest groups. "Non-archeologists who come here imagine that life 3,000 years ago was very simple, and the thing they're really excited about is the wealth of material culture, its sophistication, and how varied it all is," she said. The remains of one of the Bronze-Age roundhouses at the Must Farm site, showing the rings of posts from the walls and collapsed roof timbers "like spokes in a wheel." (Image credit: Cambridge Archaeological Unit/Dave Webb) Several items originated overseas, indicating the extent of international trade in the 1200s B.C., Davenport added. "We've got evidence of trade with the continent in some of our metalwork, but we've also got blue glass beads coming from Syria or Turkey, and amber beads probably coming from the Baltic," she said. It's not known what the villagers traded in return, but since they lived on a river, they may have traded in fish, which were an important food resource for the village, according to Davenport. The excavations also revealed that the villagers hunted deer and wild boar, grew crops of wheat and barley, and herded sheep and cattle, she added. Skull and bones A single human skull was found at the site, but the archeologists think it was probably a "curated item" kept in one of the houses a practice that was not uncommon in prehistoric Britain, Davenport said. [8 Grisly Archaeological Discoveries] The complete skeletons of two dogs were also found. "They were the only animals we believe were actually living on the site with the people, and they seem to have been the only casualties of the fire," she said. Pieces of wood from the buried Bronze Age village at Must Farm were first uncovered in the 1960s by workmen quarrying for clay. But it was not recognized as an archeological site until the late 1990s, by which time up to half the buried village had been destroyed by quarrying, Davenport said. Now that the excavation is coming to an end, the site will be backfilled and returned to its commercial owners, who have undertaken not to quarry there. But researchers will continue to analyze the artifacts that were found at the Must Farm site. "Even off-site we can continue analyzing it, we can continue studying it, and trying to figure out what was going on," Davenport said. "So, we'll be able to get a lot of information about life in the Bronze Age from our site, and we wouldn't be able to do that if it was still in the ground." Original article on Live Science. Police officers in the U.S. are more likely to stop or arrest black, Hispanic and Native American people than they are to stop or arrest non-Hispanic white people, a new study finds. The researchers also found that more blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans were killed and injured by police over the study period than non-Hispanic whites. "Both blacks and white Hispanics are four times as likely to be killed by the police as white non-Hispanics are," said lead study author Ted Miller, a senior research scientist at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Maryland. "Native Americans are six times as likely to be killed by the police as whites." [How to Talk About Race to Kids: Experts' Advice for Parents] Live Science reached out to the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) for a comment on the new findings, but NAPO's representatives did not provide a comment by press time. The new study "is only the second study to analyze health data on nonfatal injuries caused by police, and the first to do so using a national U.S. data set," said Justin Feldman, a graduate student at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, whose research focuses on using data about injuries and fatalities to monitor police violence. "This in itself is a welcome development," said Feldman, who was not involved in the new study. However, Feldman and other experts who were not involved in the study pointed out that there were certain limitations concerning some of the study's findings. In the study, the researchers looked at injuries and deaths that resulted from legal police interventions in the U.S. during 2012. Those interventions included arrests, stop-and-search incidents that occurred on the street, and traffic stops that involved a search. To conduct their study, the researchers analyzed national data from several sources: the 2012 Vital Statistics Mortality Census, the 2012 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, nationwide inpatient and emergency department samples, two newspaper censuses of police-related deaths, FBI reports for arrests and the 2011 Police-Public Contact Survey. The researchers found that, during 2012, there were 12.3 million arrests, 2.8 million street stop-and-search incidents and 1 million traffic stops involving searches. Police officers were more likely to stop or arrest black, Hispanic and Native American people than they were to stop or arrest non-Hispanic white people. The rate of stops and arrests was about 500 per 10,000 people for non-Hispanic whites. In comparison, the rates were 1,400 per 10,000 people for blacks; 1,000 per 10,000 people for Hispanics; and 1,140 per 10,000 people for Native Americans, Miller said. But to find out how often such incidents resulted in a death, the researchers turned to two news publications (The Washington Post and The Guardian), which have compiled statistics on such deaths by searching for news reports about these incidents. That's because previous research on federal databases shows that these databases tend to undercount deaths from police interventions, and other previous research (opens in new tab) has suggested that the news publications' reporting is reliable, the researchers said. The researchers estimated that during police interventions in 2012, the police killed a total of 1,000 people in the U.S. and injured another 54,300 people, who required hospital treatment for their injuries. When the researchers looked at how people died during police interventions, they found that almost all (95 percent) were killed with firearms. The remaining 5 percent of the deaths involved the use of tasers, the researchers found. Most of the people in the study with nonfatal injuries were harmed by blows or by being hit with blunt objects, the researchers found. Less commonly, a police officer's use of tear gas, mace or pepper spray led to someone being hospitalized, the researchers said in their study, published July 25 in the journal Injury Prevention. Together, those findings meant that 1 in 291 stops or arrests led to the injury or death of a suspect or bystander, the researchers said. [Fight, Fight, Fight: The History of Human Aggression] When the researchers looked at the number of people who were killed or injured as a result of police interventions per 10,000 stops and arrests that is, the rate at which these incidents occurred they found that the rates did not vary by the ethnicity of the people involved. In other words, black, Hispanic, Native American and non-Hispanic white people who were stopped or arrested were all equally likely to be killed or injured as a result of these interventions. "Consistent with our findings, simulation studies find police are no more likely to fire on unarmed blacks than unarmed whites, and high rates of black speeding citations per capita result from high violation rates," the authors wrote in the study. However, the numbers of black, Hispanic and Native American people who were killed or injured during interventions during the study period were still higher than the number of non-Hispanic white people killed or injured, because black, Hispanic and Native American people were stopped and arrested much more frequently than white people, Miller said. Limitations and racial bias Feldman and other outside experts noted that the study had certain limitations. For example, Feldman said, "The authors conclude that black people who are arrested are no more likely to be injured or killed than white people who are arrested," he said. "They interpret this as evidence that there is no racial bias in use of force." However, Feldman said, the researchers did not take into account important differences between the populations of black people who typically get arrested and the white people who typically get arrested. "Black people are much more likely to be arrested for nonviolent, low-level offenses such as drug possession or public transit fare evasion," and in police interventions for such nonviolent offenses, the use of force by the police is largely preventable, he said. Conversely, white people are much less likely to be scrutinized by the police for low-level offenses than black people, "so, while [white people] are arrested at lower rates, the average white arrestee is more likely to stand accused of a violent crime," Feldman said. "Comparing these two populations of arrestees is akin to comparing apples and oranges, and doing so will inevitably underestimate racial bias," he said. Moreover, the authors cherry-picked examples from scientific literature to support some of their statements, said Hannah Cooper, an associate professor of behavioral sciences and health education at Emory University who was not involved in the study. [Understanding the 10 Most Destructive Human Behaviors] For instance, the authors cited some research suggesting that black people are stopped for traffic infractions in a way that is proportionate to their violations of traffic laws, Cooper said. "That's just not true," she said. "There is a lot of literature on the fact that officers disproportionately target black men, in particular, when [black men] are driving and stop them for having a broken taillight or things that they don't stop white drivers for." Dr. Mindy Thompson Fullilove, a professor of clinical sociomedical sciences and psychiatry at Columbia University who was not involved in the study, said the authors didn't provide an adequate discussion of some of the findings presented in the study. For example, the authors did not discuss why black, Hispanic or Native American people are stopped and arrested more often than white people in the first place. This lack of discussion "sidesteps the racism that is involved in the excess rate of stops and arrests," of people of color, she said. For example, policies such as Stop and Frisk have been known to target young people of color, but the authors didn't discuss that, she said. Originally published on Live Science. BMW car components likely to be main cargo on twice-weekly round-trip service German freight forwarding company Senator International has announced the launch later this year of a scheduled freighter service between Munich and Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP) in South Carolina. The 'own controlled transatlantic freighter' service, to be named Senator Atlantic Bridge, is due to start on November 5 and operate two-weekly round trips. Senator International's CEO Tim Kirschbaum told Lloyd's Loading List that the type of aircraft operating the service would only be decided on when a carrier was appointed. "A decision will take place soon, most likely before September, he said. BMW has a production plant in Spartanburg and is a customer of Senator. But Kirschbaum stopped short of confirming that the car maker's German and European components suppliers were expected to account for the service's core business along with aerospace industry-related cargo, as one media report has claimed. Family-owned Senator has an annual turnover of around US$855 million and 58 branch offices. It employs approximately 1,000 staff. Check out our latest E-Edition Accessible anytime and anywhere on your desktop, tablet and smart phone devices. The Lodi News e-Edition is enhanced with the latest digital tools, including RSS feeds, social networking and much more. Check out our latest E-edition! Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. Family & Parenting, School & Education, Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases, Seasonal & Current Events By Long Island News & PR Published: July 26 2016 Boy Scout Troop 125 of Commack held an Eagle Court of Honor at the Commack United Methodist Church to honor Scout Joshua Isaac. Commack, NY - July 25, 2016 - Boy Scout Troop 125 of Commack held an Eagle Court of Honor at the Commack United Methodist Church to honor Scout Joshua Isaac who earned the esteemed rank of Eagle Scout by completing a labor intensive communitybased Eagle Scout project. Joshuas project was to provide signage and parking improvements at Temple Beth David in Commack, NY. Joshua built and installed a new welcome sign at the Temple. In addition, he cleared debris from the parking lot which provided eight extra spaces, as well as repainting the curbs and speed bumps and adding one way arrows in the parking lot. It is always an honor for me to be invited and attend an Eagle Court of Honor as Eagle Scouts attain this achievement while still a teenager and it is a recognition and an award that can never be taken away and will be highly regarded when one applies to college and for employment, said Legislator Rob Trotta. Joshua has demonstrated that he is an active member of the community and plans to stay involved with the scouts, which indicates to me that he wants the best for the youth of our great County of Suffolk, added Legislator Trotta. Suffolk County Legislator Rob Trotta presented Scout Joshua Isaac with a proclamation for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. Legislator Robert Trotta represents the 13th Legislative District, which includes Smithtown, Fort Salonga, Kings Park, San Remo, Nissequogue, Head of the Harbor, and St. James, as well as most of East Northport and parts of Northport and Commack. Legislator Trotta serves on the Legislatures Economic Development, Environment, Planning & Agriculture, Health, Public Works, Transportation & Energy, and Ways & Means Committees. Looking to stay up to date about all of the news stories and local headlines that are important to Long Islanders? We've rounded up the top coverage for all of the important topics from multiple sources around Long Island, so you can be sure you've got the most recent update on the top stories for Long Island. Have an idea for a news story? Email us at news@longisland.com Columnists Press Releases The Islamic States Amaq News Agency has claimed responsibility for two attacks in Europe. The first was a suicide bombing in Ansbach, Germany on July 24. More than one dozen people were injured, some of them seriously, when a bomber self-detonated outside of a music festival. The second assault was carried out earlier today during the morning mass at a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, which is in northern France. Initial reports say that an elderly priest was killed by a pair of terrorists, who took several people hostage before being shot to death by police. In both instances, Amaq News cited an insider source as saying that soldiers of the Islamic State were responsible. The language in both claims of responsibility is similar to past statements. The individual who carried out the martyrdom operation in Ansbach, Germany was a soldier of the Islamic State who executed the operation in response to calls to target nations in the coalition fighting the Islamic State, a July 25 statement from Amaq read. The 2 executors of the attack on a church in Normandy, France were soldiers of the Islamic State, Amaq said in a Breaking News update earlier today. They executed the operation in response to calls to target countries belonging to the crusader coalition. Counterterrorism and intelligence officials in Europe are investigating any possible ties between the self-proclaimed jihadists and the Islamic States international network. It is too early to tell if they acted on their own accord, or had help from the so-called caliphates external operations arm, which has been plotting terrorist operations inside Europe. German authorities have reportedly identified the Ansbach terrorist as a 27 year-old Syrian who had been denied asylum, according to BBC News and other media outlets. Video purportedly shows Ansbach bomber Amaq has released a video purportedly showing the Ansbach bomber, suggesting that he had at least one tie to the Islamic State, even if it was only a digital one. Either he, or someone he knew, sent the video to the jihadist media outfit. Amaq says his name was Mohammad Daleel. A screen shot of Mohammad Daleel from the footage can be seen below. Separately, Amaq also released a photo of the man identified as Daleel. The Long War Journal cannot independently verify his identity, or his role as the Ansbach bomber. I renew my pledge of allegiance to Emir ul-Muminin [Emir of the Faithful] Abu Bakr al Baghdadimay Allah protect him, the man identified as Daleel said in the clip. Daleel, whose face is covered, claimed that his attack is revenge for Germanys role in the international anti-Islamic State coalition. He claimed that Germanys bombs do not discriminate between men, women and children. And he called on his brothers, who are also soldiers of the Islamic State, to strike in Europe. The video of Daleel is similar to two other productions disseminated by Amaq after recent attacks. Last week, Amaq identified the teenager who slashed and hacked multiple people on a train in Wurzburg, Germany as Muhammad Riyad. The young man recorded a video of himself that either he, or someone he knew, delivered into Amaqs hands. As with Daleel, this suggests there was at least a digital tie between Riyad and the Islamic States network. [See LWJ report, Teenager who terrorized German train appears in Islamic State video.] Prior to his assault on the train, Riyad delivered a speech while brandishing a knife. He called on all Muslims to pledge allegiance to Baghdadi, saying that the Caliphate has been resurrected in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere. Riyad added that Muslims should join one of the Islamic States so-called provinces around the world, including in Libya, if they cannot reach the caliphate in Iraq or Syria. In mid-June, Amaq promoted a similar video from another Islamic State loyalist, Larossi Abballa. The video was recorded at the scene of a brutal double murder in Magnanville, France, which is less than 40 miles north of Paris. Abballa stabbed a police officer and his partner to death, recounting the horror show for the Islamic States audience and the rest of the world. The couples son was rescued when French forces stormed the home. Amaq has repeatedly described terrorists as soldiers of the Islamic State The wording of Amaqs claims of responsibility for the Ansbach and Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray attacks mirrors past statements by the Islamic States propaganda arms. Amaq and other outlets frequently describe the terrorists who carry out such deeds in the Islamic States name as the caliphates soldiers. For example, the Islamic State described the May 2015 shooters in Garland, Tex. and the couple who assaulted a holiday party in San Bernardino, Calif. in Dec. 2015 as the groups soldiers. The San Bernardino terrorists were also labeled supporters. The team of jihadists responsible for the Nov. 2015 assault in Paris was hailed as a group of believers from the soldiers of the Caliphate. Omar Mateen, who repeatedly pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi the night of his shooting at a LGBT nightclub in Orlando, Florida in June, was described as a fighter for the organization. Amaq said Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, who drove a truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France earlier this month, was a soldier of the Islamic State. The same wording was used for the Wurzburg slasher. After the Nice, Wurzburg, Ansbach and Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray attacks, Amaq also emphasized that the men responsible had acted in response to calls to target countries belonging to the crusader coalition. The Islamic State has repeatedly called on its members and supporters to strike the coalition of nations targeting its territory in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere. 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. 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. Abercrombie & Kent Acquired by Chinese Investment Firm July 25, 2016 Terms of the acquisition were not announced. Zhonghong is principally engaged in the development and operation of tourism-related properties and commercial real estate. Abercrombie & Kent will retain its brand, culture and operating independence under the leadership of founder Geoffrey Kent as chairman and CEO, who will maintain a meaningful ownership interest alongside his new partners. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016. "Since we began working with Geoffrey Kent in 2006, he has done a wonderful job of growing the business," said Fortress Co-Chairman Wes Edens. "This new partnership will help A&K take advantage of new opportunities to redefine the travel experience." Abercrombie & Kent's travel services extend in more than 100 countries on all continents. Fifty-two local offices provide services like Inspiring Expeditions cultural odysseys for the modern adventurer, Journeys Around the World by Private Jet and Connections Boutique Group Journeys that bring a destination to life through authentic local interactions. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is acting as legal advisor to A&K and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is acting as its financial advisor. DLA Piper LLP is acting as legal advisor to Zhonghong. Photo: Geoffrey Kent If an Apple product is sold in the forest and doesnt sell as well as the iPhone, how big a failure is it? Huge, of course. Why are you even asking, Terrance? Weve covered this. If youre not going to do the reading, why bother coming to class? Jeremy Bowman explains How Apple Lost TV. (Tip o the antlers to Paul Salzman.) They lost the TV? Wow. The Macalope can see losing the remote, he loses that thing all the time, but the whole TV? Someone needs to clean up Phil Schillers living room. Almost 10 years ago, Apple introduced a groundbreaking device in a new market, setting the stage for potentially skyrocketing growth over the next decade. Lets really play up the Apple TV so it sounds like an incredible failure even though, as well see, the comparison being set up is absurd. No, lets do that. Because its Tuesday. The device Im talking about isnt the iPhone, which did take over the world, but the Apple TV, which launched the same year as the iPhone but missed multiple opportunities to dominate a new industry, leaving a trail of disappointments for investors along the way. Note the implication that the iPhone is dominant. The only way the iPhone is dominant is in profit share. Is the Apple TV not dominant in profit share? The Macalope doesnt know and heck if Bowman does. Apple doesnt break out results from TV, instead lumping it in with its other products segment, that includes the Apple Watch, iPod, Beats products, and other accessories, which generated over $10 billion in revenue last year. Well, the Macalope doesnt think we need to know anything more than that, sounds like a failure to him. So lunch? With billions in revenue over its history, the product hasnt been a complete dud Not a complete dud. Because it had billions in revenue, you see. When shopping for ridiculous standards, please consider Neds Ridiculous Standard Shack, off the I-95 corridor in Yulee, Florida. Tell them Jeremy Bowman sent ya. but next to Apples marquee devices like the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, those numbers arent much more than a rounding error. Adding to the disappointment If it doesnt sell as many units as the marquee products of the most profitable technology company in the world, its a disappointment. You really are single-handedly keeping Ned in business, arent you? Even with solid growth from Apple TV last year, research firm Parks Associates estimated it to be fourth behind Google, Amazon, and Roku in streaming device sales last year. You probably can see this coming up de Anza Boulevard but for 10 months last year, Apple was selling a three-year-old device. The 4th generation Apple TV, although it was announced in early September, didnt ship until the very end of October (so thats almost two months of a holding pattern). Lets just say Apple might have had a slight disadvantage in 2015 in terms of unit sales. Not to mention the fact that its competitors sell more than one kind of device, including cheap streaming sticks that are less capable but cheap, cheap, cheap. Of course theyre going to move more units. But is Amazon making any money off their-HA-HA-HAAAAAA. Bowman faults Apple for not selling a TV set because clearly they would have produced one of those at a low price point in order to push units and for not magically creating a streaming video service. Apple has been in negotiations with networks and content creators, but the problem is that it waited too long to develop such a service. Apple waited too long or the networks and content creators still havent realized what world they live in? Apple sometimes seems to be able to works miracles (it cant) but only where it has complete control. Here it doesnt. Thats it. Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Burhan Killing Signals Shift in Counterterrorism Strategy by Iftikhar Gilani Even though the Army has downplayed its prized killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, questions arise as to whether it signals a departure from the age-old counter-insurgency doctrine. Barring Operation Bluestar in 1984, Indias counter-insurgency doctrine, modelled on the pattern of the British doctrine, did not entail hunting the top leadership, fearing emergence of splinter groups, difficult to control later. In contrast, the American way of tackling counter-insurgency involves targeting the top leadership for quick results. Right from the North-East to Jammu and Kashmir, India has relied on choking funds, arms supplies and hitting middle-rung leaders and close confidants to soften the top leadership, thereby forcing them into negotiations. While Hizb chief Syed Salahuddin is based in PoK for more than two decades, his top operational commanders in Kashmir Valley, Master Ahsan Dar and Abdul Majeed Dar, were deliberately allowed to escape security nets many times, sources said. While Ahsan Dar was arrested later, the other, instrumental in the July 2000 ceasefire, was killed by militants. Sources also recall JKLF supremo Yasin Maliks case. He was allowed to don a political mantle since the aim of the counter-insurgency doctrine is to create an atmosphere conducive to political solution, unlike in war, where a top commander is always a prized target. The 76-page doctrine, compiled by the Shimla-based Army Training Command, explains that the policy of velvet glove helps alienate terrorists from the public. The doctrines emphasis on people-friendly operations is its most important aspect, says Lt-General (retd) VG Patankar, who headed the Srinagar-based 15 Corps. The Armys counter-insurgency doctrine unveiled in 2006 had classified sub-conventional warfare into four categories: low-intensity conflict, proxy war, insurgency, and irregular war. What is happening in Jammu and Kashmir is described as a combination of proxy war and insurgency, supported by external elements and and a section of local population. The doctrine affirms that while force may help contain insurgency, political and economic measures are required to resolve counter-insurgency situations. Former civil servant and old Kashmir hand, Wajahat Habibullah, while appreciating Prime Minister Narendra Modis economic initiatives, believes that the political ingredient, involving track-II channels with ground elements, is missing since this government has taken over. Radha Kumar, who engaged with separatists in the aftermath of the 2010 summer agitation, says that dialogue process should be resumed so that there is a possibility of reaching a peace agreement. Intelligence sources here said that they had tracked Burhan, sometime on July 2, when he was observing the Shab-e-Qadar festival, somewhere near his home in Tral. Security forces, fearing retaliation from the general public, decided to postpone the operationtill he moves to some less-populated area. He and his two associates were lured to Bumdoora village in Kokernag on July 8, where he was to have reportedly received a cache of arms. We knew about the house of Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh, where Burhan and his team were staying, a senior officer said. The meticulously planned operation started around 4.30 pm and was over by 7 pm. Asked why he was not given a chance to surrender, the officer said Burhans associates lobbed grenades at the forces and one security personnel, Shamsuddin, received a bullet injury. Sources said Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was posted about the operation. (Courtesy: DNA, Mumbai) The abolition of the 10-day rule is sensible, but any further reform should target outdated kinks in the old paper-based system, attorneys say Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA) is an autonomous Government agency which operates under the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. EPZA is responsible for steering and implementing government policy on promotion of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Tanzania. Other functions of EPZA include the development of EPZ and SEZ infrastructure, provision of business services to EPZ and SEZ investors and issuing of EPZ and SEZ licenses. The Authority functions as a One Stop Service Centre for all prospective and existing investors. Interview with Colonel (Retired) Joseph Leon Simbakalia, Director General of Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA) EPZA was established in 2006 with the core objective of building a strong export-led economic development through industrialization. So far, it has attracted a total capital of US$ 1 billion. How many jobs were created? Our last count was of 36.000 jobs, but as we sit here it is changing to about 40.000. That is the latest intake. Since the program started, it has generated an export revenue of US$ 1,3 billion. It is clearly a significant project for the country. Do you think that it has put Tanzania on the map as an investment destination of choice? In Bagamoyo we are going to build a special economic zone project, with modern ports, linked to an industrial zone in hundreds of square kilometers. We have received attention, but still havent reached the size that we envision as our real top potential. The whole program started as part of an economic policy reform, to move away from a socialist-commanded economy to a more open and market-oriented economy. There was a shift in the policy to look into the industrial sites and create new zones. It was a major paradigm shift from import substitution and the inward look of a socialist-oriented economy to international competitiveness. The only way we could verify if we were internationally competitive was through exports. We killed two birds with one stone. First Tanzania starts to sell in international markets and to make its trade grow. Then the country is also able to protect its domestic market, but not through artificial protection of tariff and non-tariff barriers, but through competitiveness. And technology transfer Yes, that comes automatically. When you are forced to export, you must manufacture with a certain quality to meet international standards, so we have to upgrade our technology, our manufacturing methods, everything. What else can foreign investors bring to Tanzania in terms of capital and expertise? Well, you know, there is a whole social and economic transformation that goes with industrialization. We are largely an agricultural nation, so when we start industrializing, we also become more urbanized. The creation of industrial clusters and zones is drawing people into urban areas, the industrial workers. That may be a constructive disruption of the existing social order. Urban areas are multiethnic and also, you might say, multinational or cosmopolitan, because foreign investors, foreign workers, people from other countries get to mix with your own people and your own people come from different ethnic backgrounds. The fortunate thing about Tanzania is that people from different ethnic groups can speak and communicate in one language, the Swahili. In some African countries, it doesnt happen, because the common language is English, French or Portuguese, because of the former colonial governments. I think that doesnt do much to break ethnic barriers. Export Processing Zones Authority of Tanzania The EPZ Act and SEZ Act are legislations that provide a basket of specific incentives for investors. Can you outline some of them? There are two classes of investment: fiscal and non-fiscal. Fiscal incentives are intended to give tax breaks for investors to reduce financial risk and bring more investments. Non-fiscal incentives, in my opinion, are more important. For example, how efficient is our port and transportation system. How smooth are the customs proceeding operations, how quickly can the visitor come in and solve his issues and move around without government bureaucracy as before. We have a center to look after the investors, not only at the beginning, when they are coming in and registering their company and getting all the procedures. We also have ongoing customer care. Anytime the investor needs any kind of service from the government he can go to an office dedicated for that. In that office we also house people from the Revenue Authority, from Immigration and from Labor. EPZ also has the power to enter into contractual agreement with investors about incentives and the conduct of business. Can you highlight examples of when these joint-ventures worked well? 2025 is a national target for Tanzania. At that stage, we hope to have industry as the leading economic sector and as the engine of our economy. That is a very interesting question because, when we started this program, the idea was that if the government established policies for foreign investors, then the market, the private sector, would do the rest. It didnt work out quite so well. So the next idea was that the government must lead the way, acquire land, enabling the infrastructure, and then let them take initiative. A few years later, the general environment is getting better. Now we have two projects with the private sector. In Bagamoyo we are going to build a special economic zone project, with modern ports, linked to an industrial zone in hundreds of square kilometers. That is going to be the leading project of the entire program, and we have China Merchants Holdings International, a public-listed company of Hong Kong, as a partner. Another partner in the development of Bagamoyo is the State General Reserve Fund from Oman. There you have the PPP: the government of Tanzania is acting through EPZA and Tanzania Port Authority as one party and the other party is China Merchants Holdings International and the State General Reserve Fund. Right now, about 160 km from the city, in a municipality called Morogoro, we are creating another zone, and its construction is due to start in August. It is a development of 10.000 acres, 100% paid by private initiative, a partnership between local businesses, that have a share of 51%, and the other 49% comes from Hyflux, of Singapore, a company with a market cap of around US$ 3 billion. These are two testimonials of the private sector appetite and confidence. Are there more exciting projects in the pipeline? Those are the two biggest and there is another one coming in Mtwara, a region that has natural gas and petrochemical industry. Is it likely that the majority of foreign investors will concentrate on exports from Tanzania and therefore qualify for EPZ and SCZ acts? It depends on what they are doing. Not every industry is engaged in exports. We have screening criteria for projects that actually qualify for the acts, and we have priorities. For example, a project proposal for cement production perhaps wont qualify for EPZ or SCZ, for a good number of reasons. But if somebody came with a project for vehicle assembling, it would most likely qualify, because it is a new industry opening up new markets, new technology that would bring new skills and capital. Maybe the first movers in that sector would benefit from EPZ and SCZ. The third, maybe not, because the incentives and laws are improving over time. The license for the SCZ Act is more rigid than the one for the EPZ Act. Is that a barrier for investors? The EPZ threshold for exports is 80%. It means that one has to export 80% or more of its production, whereas the SCZ allows companies to explore our local market, it was designed to do that. Most of our companies follow the EPZ Act. We encourage the EPZ because the more companies export, the more they build our trade export capacity and make a significant contribution to keep our balance of payments positive. We really dont want to promote, within the zones, companies that will be net users of hard currency. We have to use hard currency earnings from selling agriculture goods or tourism to finance other activities. Tanzania sustains strong economy growth over the years and offers relatively stable conditions for investors in comparison to other African countries. Do you think SCZ and EPZ will favor international investors that attempt to diversify their operations to fasten growth in parts of the global economy? I think they will, but the idea is not to create industrial colonies in the country that will last forever. These are growth nodes, laboratories for reforms, that in time will induce the conditions that attract investors within the zones. It is all designed so that overtime the zones will blend to become one. Every region is finding and designating proper areas to develop their zones. We are doing that in partnership with local governments and authorities. There will be more clusters: in one area there will be more tourism, in another, agriculture, heavy industries, petrochemical etc. What is the projected timeline for this? Ten years, with significant transformation change envisioned to happen by 2020. 2025 is a national target for Tanzania. At that stage, we hope to have industry as the leading economic sector and as the engine of our economy. Marie Claire newsletter Celebrity news, beauty, fashion advice, and fascinating features, delivered straight to your inbox! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Thank you for signing up to . You will receive a verification email shortly. There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again. By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions (opens in new tab) and Privacy Policy (opens in new tab) and are aged 16 or over. Fed up of the make-up you're using and don't want the faff/expense of not finding a shade to suit your skin tone? Try these guys. Darker skins have long been ignored by the mainstream beauty industry. You know that, I know that anyone with skin that's darker than the colour of a digestive biscuit knows that. (I went biccy comparison because Im eating a pink wafer BTW.) The reasons that we're vastly ignored are multiple and incredibly vexing. From shelving space issues in high-street retailers, through to assumptions about the spending behaviors of people of colour (we dont all just shop at NARS and MAC, although we do shop there a lot mind, plus at Illamasqua/Becca/NYX etc too) theres so much BS rhetoric around make-up for darker skins that seriously needs to change. Thats why I wanted to celebrate a few brands starting to shake things up. Instead of making do with the selection weve been offered before, people are mobilising and making their own ranges. Or we're searching for alternative brands that do give AF about darker skins. With that in mind, here are my favourite brands right now, catering well to darker skins. Some youll probably know about, some you might not, but either way things are starting to look up. And if I've missed anyone that you LOVE, then drop me a tweet @itsmeanitab (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) Cake Cosmetics Cosmetic Artistry Keeping Effective (C.A.K.E) was started by Stevie Newman to create an affordable range for people of all skintones especially those with very dark skins that are constantly overlooked - even by brands claiming to cater to all skintones. The buzz around this British brand is growing and theyre launching into Superdrug soon. Check out the lipsticks for 7.99 theyre coconut oil based so theyre super moisturising and the foundations too which are only 13. www.cakecosmetics.co.uk (opens in new tab) Sacha Cosmetics Billed as make-up for people with medium to dark skin tones (specific, we like that) this make-up brand really excels in the base make-up arena. The foundations and powders are formulated to ensure theres no ashy tones and that theyre flash friendly too. Their Buttercup face Powder is a best seller and I have to say the base products form this brand are exceptional. As are the Intense Matte Lipsticks for 10. www.sachamakeup.co.uk (opens in new tab) Doris Michaels Though the brand have been around for 10 years (when there really was nothing good for darker skins) theres a huge array of foundations powders and colour cosmetics in this British range. The pressed powders (costing 10.99) are especially good if youre a fan of a super matte finish. www.dorismichaelscosmetics.com (opens in new tab) Black Up Billed as the first upscale brand for women of colour (Id argue Fashion Fair and Iman sit here too mind) Black Up is worth a visit if youve not seen it already. The French brand is stocked in some Debenhams stores in the UK, and is consistently good across the entire range in terms of quality. The Concealer Palette, 24.50 is brilliant as are the statement blush shades. These guys are probably the most trend-led out of all the beauty brands aimed at darker skins. www.blackup.co.uk (opens in new tab) Fashion Fair This brand was one of the first beauty brands available in the UK to cater to darker skins. It used to be thick, heavy and quite mask like with these amazing pink compacts, but things have changed and FF is seriously luxe and has created a great range across the board. The base products are lovely and there are a few coverage options to choose from I like the Oil Free Perfect Finish Souffle Make-up, 23. Despite the needlessly long name. www.debenhams.com (opens in new tab) Sleek If you have darker skin, you probably know Sleek. If not get yourself to Superdrug (and now Boots) pronto. Offering the most affordable range of products for darker skins on the high street, these guys are totally killing it, and have come so far from their early incantations. For me the heroes are the eye shadow palettes, 8.99. I still buy these religiously for the awesome colour pay off. www.sleekmakeup.com (opens in new tab) Nizz Vegetarian and hypoallergenic this brand is especially good for those with ethical concerns skin sensitivity. They do a few great darker shades (guys expand it, youre totally missing a trick here) but the payoff is brilliant on the colour cosmetics. They also do some cool grey, purple and blue shades that are a big more trend led. nizzcosmetics.co.uk (opens in new tab) U.S. Secretary of State Kerry says backs bilateral talks; Philippines says dispute does not involve United States. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday he supported the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea, following an international court ruling against Beijing over the dispute earlier this month. China did not participate in and has refused to accept the July 12 ruling by the U.N.-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration, in which U.S. ally Manila won an emphatic legal victory. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi had asked Kerry to lend his support for bilateral talks to restart between Manila and Beijing in a meeting between the two in the Laos capital of Vientiane on Monday. "The foreign minister said the time has come to move away from public tensions and turn the page," Kerry told a news conference. "And we agree with that... no claimant should be acting in a way that is provocative, no claimant should take steps that wind up raising tensions." Kerry said he would encourage Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to engage in dialogue and negotiations with China when the two meet in Manila on Wednesday. Kerry is due to travel to the Philippines later on Tuesday. China's dismissal of the court ruling as illegitimate presented a challenge, Kerry said. The international community, including the United States, sees the ruling as legally binding and a matter of law, he added. "So we still have a task ahead of us, a challenge, which is to try to work going forward to make sure that we are resolving the issues through diplomacy and the rule of law," he said. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims. China has repeatedly blamed the United States for stoking tensions in the region through its military patrols, and of taking sides in the dispute, accusations Washington denies. Speaking to reporters on a conference call, a senior U.S. administration official said at the end of a visit to China by National Security Adviser Susan Rice that she had emphasised all parties should take steps to reduce tensions and use the ruling to reinvigorate regional diplomacy. Rice also told Chinese officials, who included a top military officer, that U.S. military operations were designed to contribute to peace and stability wherever they happened, including in the South China Sea, the official said. "Those operations are lawful, they will continue, they've been longstanding, and again they're designed to impart confidence and stability," he added. VITAL SHIPPING LANE In a meeting on the sidelines of a gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Wang told Kerry that China and ASEAN had agreed the dispute should get back onto the "correct" track of being resolved by direct talks with the parties concerned. China "hopes the United States side takes actual steps to support the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines, and support the efforts of China and ASEAN to maintain regional peace and stability", Wang said, according to a foreign ministry statement released on Tuesday. Competing claims with China in the vital shipping lane and resource-rich sea are among the most contentious issues for the 10 members of ASEAN, who are pulled between their desire to assert their sovereignty while fostering ties with an increasingly assertive Beijing. China scored a diplomatic victory on Monday as ASEAN dropped any reference to the court ruling in a joint statement in the face of resolute objections from Cambodia, China's closest ASEAN ally. Speaking to reporters in Vientiane, Philippines Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay said the dispute was not between China and the United States but between China and the Philippines. "We would like to pursue bilateral relationships in so far as the peaceful resolution of the dispute is concerned that is between the China and the Philippines. The others are not concerned with that dispute," Yasay told reporters. China has also accused Japan of interfering in the dispute. China's foreign ministry said Wang again urged Tokyo not to intervene in the South China Sea, saying Japan was not a claimant in the disputes and should avoid interfering in up the maritime spats. "The China-Japan relations are still vulnerable and unsatisfactory," Wang told Fumio Kishida, Japan's minister for foreign affairs. By Simon Webb and Manuel Mogato Maritime Agenda 2010-20 has inter-alia set a target to increase percentage share of India to 5% in global ship building and 10% share in global ship repair for India by 2020. The Government of India had earlier extended shipbuilding subsidy scheme to all Indian shipyards on 25th October 2002. The scheme expired on 14th August 2007. Government decided in March 2009 to make payments for shipbuilding subsidy for shipbuilding contracts signed upto 14th August 2007 for which budgetary provision was made upto 31st March 2014. Out of 228 shipbuilding contracts signed during 2002-2007, subsidy amounting to Rs. 1142 Crores has been released for construction of 121 vessels. A new shipbuilding financial assistance policy has been announced for orders secured during April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2026. The Department of Economic Affairs has notified the inclusion of standalone Shipyards in the Harmonized Master List of Infrastructure Sub-sectors on April 13, 2016. Infrastructure status would enable Indian shipyards to avail cheaper and long-term financing of capital. The attendant tax benefits would enable the shipyards to reduce their cost disadvantage and invest in capacity expansion thereby giving a boost to the Indian shipbuilding industry. In early June, after a traditional blessing ceremony held in Valparaiso, Chile where SAAM S.A. is based, the company officially puts two more new Robert Allan Ltd. designed RAstar 3200 class tugs Yunco and Huairavo tugs into operation. Representatives of local authorities, the Chilean Navy, key customers, suppliers, executives and staff of SAAM attended the ceremony. SAAM identified these tugs as the most powerful harbour tugs in the entire West Coast of South America. The two tugs arrived in Chile after a 60 day crossing of the Pacific from China where they were constructed by Bonny Fair Development Limited. Equipped with winches for escort service, the two tugs will provide a full range of ship-handling service to the LNG terminal in the Bay of Quintero. During his speech at the ceremony, Mr. Cristian Rojas, Manager of the Chile Tugs Division of SAAM, noted: "These new units are part of the plan to renew and grow our fleet to meet the needs imposed by the arrival of large container ships. These vessels will also provide added safety in specialized Oil and Gas terminals. SAAM with tug operations in twelve countries has a strong presence throughout America by providing service in more than 70 ports. Overall SAAM has a fleet of over 180 tugs, making it the fourth largest operator in the world and a leader in the Americas. Ukraine has managed to get rid of its gas dependence on Russia, thus destroying the "energy weapon" of the Kremlin, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt has said. The Ukrainian authorities over the past few years have in fact destroyed Moscow's energy weapon, which used gas in this way, Pyatt said during a meeting of the discussion club "Open World" on the transformations in Ukraine, progress and tasks for the future in Kyiv on Tuesday. The diplomat said that Ukraine's national gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy currently purchases gas only if it finds the price acceptable, but the natural gas has ceased to be the instrument of manipulation. Ukrainians are no longer in the situation when the Kremlin uses energy resources as a weapon, as an instrument of manipulating Ukrainian politicians, so that they should take certain decisions, he said. Pyatt also said that the Ukrainian energy sector is undergoing serious transformations and this is very important to bring these changes to completion. As part of the ongoing Blue Star Delos Renewable Energy Innovation Project, Eco Marine Power (EMP) stated that the Aquarius Management & Automation System (MAS) installed on Blue Star Delos has been updated with new fuel oil consumption (FOC) and emissions monitoring software. This updated software combined with the Aquarius MAS hardware allows for fuel consumption data from all flow meters on the ship to be displayed and logged in real-time. In addition CO2, NOx and SOx emissions are calculated based on the fuel type being used. Data is logged every minute and via a connection to a dedicated GPS unit, the ships location and speed is displayed and logged. A trip-meter is also available so that fuel consumption can be monitored for a specific time period or voyage. On Delos the fuel consumption and emissions monitoring software is part of an overall solution which also monitors the power output and status of the marine solar power system (including batteries) that was installed on the ship in 2014. Blue Star Delos is a high speed Ro-Ro/Passenger ship owned and operated by Blue Star Ferries - part of the Attica Group. Delos operates daily from Piraeus, Greece, and is an important transportation link to a number of Greek islands in the Aegean Sea. Regarding this latest development, Mr. Myron Vergis, Director, Electrical & Electronic Department for the Attica Group said, This is another important step forwards in our project with Eco Marine Power and we are pleased that Blue Star Ferries is once again a pioneer in bringing innovative solutions to the shipping sector. Greg Atkinson, Chief Technology Officer at Eco Marine Power, said We are very appreciative of the co-operation and support we have received from Blue Star Ferries during the project on Delos. The company continues to demonstrate its commitment to embracing technologies that help make shipping more sustainable. The fuel and emissions monitoring software was co-developed in co-operation with KEI System Ltd., of Osaka, Japan. The updated software features will also be made available via a new hardware & software package - Aquarius MAS Compact. This solution is almost identical in terms of hardware and software to the Aquarius MAS but does not include the functions or interfaces to manage a marine solar power system. However these functions and interfaces can included later via a hardware and software upgrade. British importers and exporters prefer direct mainline container services calling at their national ports and tend to dislike feeder services, says a Drewry report. Is there a risk that a politically isolated UK will no longer benefit from direct vessel calls, particularly as there is no longer any large British container carrier based in the UK to champion their cause? Drewry believes that the container lines will continue to call directly at UK ports. Even if the UK enters a small recession, UK volumes are more than large enough to justify direct calls with mainline vessels, mainly in the South of England ports and it is in the lines own interest to call there direct. In fact, based on January-May statistics from Container Trade Statistics, the UK imports more containers from Asia than any other North European country, even Germany. Today, 15 of the 17 Asia-North Europe loops call at a British port; we expect this very high proportion to continue. British shippers are fearful of losing the benefits of free trade and customs harmonisation with the EU single market. They do not want to return to the days of red tape and single administrative documents. Drewry sees a risk of new inefficiencies and costs here, which trade negotiations with the EU will have to tackle. British companies are already lobbying their government to ensure that simplified trade processes are on the agenda. A return to tariffs for UK merchandise exports and imports, if this is the outcome of trade negotiations with the EU, will be detrimental to UK trade with the EU, and may result in a small reduction in UK-EU maritime volume. At a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Maritime and Ports Group on 19 July, Guy Platten, CEO of the UK Chamber of Shipping, said that the UK maritime sector can make Brexit work, and that although there will be some difficult issues, trade would continue. The UK Chamber of Shipping believes that nothing has changed at the moment and the UK is still subject to all EU directives relating to the maritime sector. As and when the UK exits, it will then have to be decided which directives are adopted within UK law. The EU ports policy will have to be reviewed. Platten said that the UK Chamber of Shipping has a feeling of optimism for a post Brexit world. British ship-owners support access to free trade and access to free movement of labour. But the UK Chamber of Shipping highlighted that, within the UK maritime sector, the UK relies heavily on skilled people from across the globe, and it felt that it is imperative the right to remain is invoked and that future immigration process should not deter European citizens wanting to work within the UK maritime sector. In Drewrys view, again, the impact will depend on what is negotiated between the UK and the EU. Restrictions on the right of EU workers to work in the UK maritime sector (an international sector by definition) could harm the UK shipping cluster. The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, fell on Tuesday on lower rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels. The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize shipping vessels, was down 13 points, or 1.83 percent, at 696 points. The capesize index was down 36 points, or 4.1 percent, at 841 points. Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were down $261 at $6,059. The panamax index was down 22 points, or 2.73 percent, at 784 points. Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, decreased by $174 to $6,276. Among smaller vessels, the supramax index was down 7 points to 690 points, while the handysize index rose 4 points to 390 points. Reporting by Eileen Soreng A barge sank east of the Galveston Causeway railroad bridge Tuesday, causing the U.S. Coast Guard to issue a safety zone and temporarily restrict traffic on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The restriction allows one-way and single-wide barges only, from mile marker 356 to mile marker 357. The owner of the sunken barge has contracted T & T salvage to remove the barge, which was being towed to be scrapped when it sank. BMT Designers & Planners, a subsidiary of BMT Group, an international maritime design, engineering and risk management consultancy, is leading the effort to repower the historic U.S. Coast Guard training barque, EAGLE. The $1.5M (approx.) project involves engineering, design, supply and logistics support to install a new MTU 8V4000 engine, ZF gearbox, propeller, automation system and other related components. While the vessel is frequently operated under sail by U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadets, she routinely employs an auxiliary propulsion system for use during manoeuvring and when sails cannot be utilized. BMTs scope includes providing the complete work package of design plans and specifications, engineering data for provisioning, technical manuals, training, on-site and post-availability technical support. With the support of its suppliers, BMT will also be providing all of the equipment to the Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, MD for installation on the vessel in the winter of 2017-18. The project presents some unique engineering challenges, and it is exciting to be involved in extending the life of this majestic historic vessel, says BMTs Project Manager Emily Whitman, PE. The project is Ms. Whitmans first major assignment since joining the firm five months ago. BMT will partner with Johnson & Towers (J&T), a fourth-generation family-owned business and the distributor for the Rolls Royce Power Systems Company, representing the full line of MTU engines. As BMTs sub-consultant, J&T is supplying the engine, gearbox and other components for the project. China's foreign minister has asked the U.S. secretary of state John Kerry to support the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea, following a ruling against Beijing over the dispute earlier this month. China did not participate in and has refused to accept the July 12 ruling by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, in which U.S. ally Manila won an emphatic legal victory. Meeting in the Laos capital Vientiane on Monday during a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Kerry that China and ASEAN had agreed the dispute should get back onto the "correct" track of being resolved by direct talks with the parties concerned. China "hopes the United States side talks actual steps to support the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines, and support the efforts of China and ASEAN to maintain regional peace and stability", Wang said, according to a foreign ministry statement released on Tuesday. China has repeatedly blamed the United States for stoking tensions in the South China Sea and of taking sides in the dispute, charges Washington denies. Competing claims with China in the vital shipping lane and resource-rich sea are among the most contentious issues for the 10 members of ASEAN, who are pulled between their desire to assert their sovereignty while fostering ties with an increasingly assertive Beijing. China's foreign ministry said Wang again urged Tokyo not to intervene in the South China Sea, saying Japan was not a claimant in the disputes and should avoid interfering in up the maritime spats. "The China-Japan relations are still vulnerable and unsatisfactory," Wang told Fumio Kishida, Japan's minister for foreign affairs. Japan and allies Australia and the United States issued a joint statement voicing their "strong opposition to any coercive unilateral actions" in the South China Sea and calling on both the Philippines and China to abide by the legally binding ruling. China scored a diplomatic victory on Monday as Southeast Asian nations dropped any reference to the court ruling in a joint statement in the face of resolute objections from Cambodia, China's closest ASEAN ally. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Simon Webb in Vientiane) National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri), the exclusive oil-shipper for Saudi Aramco, reported a 47.2 percent increase in second-quarter net profit on Tuesday. The company's net profit for the three months to June 30 was 504.18 million riyals ($134.44 million), up from 342.48 million riyals in the same period a year earlier, it said in a bourse statement. Alistithmar Capital forecast Bahri would make a net profit of 308.4 million riyals during the quarter. Bahri, one of five Saudi stocks not open to direct purchase by foreign investors, attributed the profit increase to a rise in operating revenues as a result of its enlarged very large crude carrier (VLCC) fleet, higher shipping rates in the spot market, and stronger performance in its general cargo division. The company also cited a rise in profits in Petredec limited, in which Bahri owns a 30.3 percent stake, as another reason for the Saudi shipper's higher profits. Saudi companies issue brief earnings statements early in the reporting period before publishing detailed results later. Bahri reported strong profit growth in the prior five quarters as it continued to grow its fleet. It signed financing deals worth around 2.1 billion riyals in the second quarter to help fund the purchase of VLCCs. Reporting by Hadeel Al Sayegh Piracy and armed robbery at sea has fallen to its lowest levels since 1995, despite a surge in kidnappings off West Africa, according to a new report from the International Chamber of Commerces International Maritime Bureau (IMB). IMBs global piracy report shows 98 incidents in the first half of 2016, compared with 134 for the same period in 2015. When piracy was at its highest, in 2010 and 2003, IMB recorded 445 attacks a year. In the first half of 2016, IMB recorded 72 vessels boarded, five hijackings, and a further 12 attempted attacks. Nine ships were fired upon. Sixty-four crew were taken hostage onboard, down from 250 in the same period last year. This drop in world piracy is encouraging news. Two main factors are recent improvements around Indonesia, and the continued deterrence of Somali pirates off East Africa, said Pottengal Mukundan, Director of IMB, whose global Piracy Reporting Centre has supported the shipping industry, authorities and navies for 25 years. But ships need to stay vigilant, maintain security and report all attacks, as the threat of piracy remains, particularly off Somalia and in the Gulf of Guinea, he said. The Damen Shipyards Group has received an order for a state-of-the-art, 74 m Fishery Research Vessel from the Angolan Ministry of Fisheries. This special vessel, which has Silent-A/F/R Class notation and features a basic design from Skipsteknisk. The Angolan Ministry of Fisheries has been a customer for many years and previously Damen delivered two 62 m Fishery Inspection Surveillance Vessels 6210 and a smaller Fishery Research Vessel (FRV 2808). This vessel represents the cutting edge of its type and Damen is confident that it will help develop and preserve the important Angolan fishing economy. Hein van Ameijden, Managing Director of Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding, commented that the yards vast naval building expertise can also be applied to this innovative research ship. Any successful research vessel has to operate extremely quietly and Damen has the expert knowledge needed to achieve the Silentnotation for the FRV, he says. Silent-A/F/R Class notation Special attention will be paid tothe design, construction and outfitting of the vessel to minimise underwater noise, as well as onboard internal acoustic noise and vibrations. Machinery components, including pumps and ventilation plants, will be resiliently mounted where necessary to reduce noise and vibrations. The stiffness of foundations and supports for all the noise critical components and pipe systems will also be thoroughly checked to ensure that they comply with the Silent notation. The FRV 7417 is suitable for various functions such as hydrographic operations, acoustics research, pelagic and demersaltrawling, plankton, water, environmental and geographical sampling, oil recovery and emergency towage operations. The new FRV has a service speed of 13 knots. Friso Visser, Damen Regional Director Africa comments: Angola was looking for a vessel which would help in researching its rich fishing grounds and fish stock. We are delighted to welcome them back to Damen. Damen has been active in Angola for several decades and has previously built two ferries, several tugboats, dredgers and offshore-related vessels for the country. Today, the Panama Canal marked another milestone with the transit of the first-ever liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier through its expanded locks. Shell-chartered Maran Gas Apolloniameasuring 289 meters in length and 45 meters in beamarrived Monday from the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal on the U.S. Gulf Coast, signaling the arrival of the highly-anticipated segment to the waterway. The transit of the first LNG vessel through the new Panama Canal locks is a milestone in the waterways history, said Panama Canal Administrator and CEO Jorge L. Quijano. LNG trade will greatly benefit from the Expansion, and we look forward to welcoming even more LNG vessels through our great waterway. This transit marks the beginning of a new era that will result in cleaner and lower cost energy for the world. The Expanded Canal can accommodate 90 percent of the worlds LNG tankers, which will have a major impact on global LNG flows and offer numerous benefits to shippers. For example, with the United States poised to become one of the worlds top LNG exporters in the next five years, the Canal will allow vessels departing the U.S. East and Gulf Coast for Asia to enjoy significant reductions in voyage times (up to 22.8 days roundtrip), making U.S. gas deliveries to major Asian importers very competitive. Vessels departing the U.S. Gulf Coast for the West Coast of South America will similarly experience generous time savings. In addition, LNG ships from the production plants in Trinidad and Tobago could head to Chile where LNG is regasified and distributed for energy-producing purposes. For this route, the Expanded Canal provides savings of 6.3 days in transit time compared to the Magellan Strait. Providing further advantage, the Canal instituted a new tolls structure to offer substantial cost savings to LNG vessels conducting roundtrip voyages. The new tolls reduce ballast fees for LNG customers who use the same vessel for a roundtrip voyage as opposed to using an alternate route, so long as the transit in ballast is made within 60 days after the laden transit was completed. The Panama Canal makes history today with the opening of its gates to new opportunities for world energy with the transit of the first LNG vessel, said Jose Ramon Arango, Senior Specialist for the Liquid Bulk Segment at the Panama Canal Authority. Our reliable connection is an important enabler in the development of new LNG trade by reducing the distances that link world LNG markets and providing access to clean energy resources. In addition to todays LNG transit, the Expanded Panama Canal has welcomed 53 vessels since its June 26 Inauguration, including 22 liquefied petroleum (LPG) vessels, 28 containerships and two vehicle carriers. And the number of reservations that the Canal has received thus far from various types of Neopanamax vessels is more than 229, and growing by the week. This increasing demand is further evidence of the maritime industrys continued trust in the Expanded Canal and the impact it will have on the future of global maritime trade. Ukraine, Italy discuss participation of Ukraine's Armed Forces in NATO mission as part of Italian contingent in Afghanistan Representatives of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and the delegation of the General Staff of Defense of Italy in Kyiv have signed a letter of willingness to intensify cooperation in 2017. The Defense Ministry's press service said during a meeting in Kyiv the Ukrainian and Italian sides held consultations on continuation of participation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the NATO mission "Resolute Support" in Afghanistan as part of the Italian military contingent, military-technical cooperation in the framework of the joint Ukrainian-Italian commission on military-technical cooperation. The sides also discussed further ways of the development of bilateral Ukrainian-Italian cooperation in the defense sphere, in military education, the training of Ukrainian military personnel, and cooperation within EU and NATO projects. The parties considered the issues of military-medical cooperation, in particular, treatment and rehabilitation of Armed Forces servicemen wounded during the ATO. The maritime software development company SDSD are launching a new web based VSnP - Vessel Sale and Purchase module, enabling Sale and Purchase brokers to buy and sell vessels from anywhere via a smartphone or tablet. VSnP can improve brokers trading margins through key features including powerful search and data retrieval, fast matching commercial advices and purchase inquiries, vessel matching with the IHS database or the users proprietary data, vessel value and market statistics, plus sales and valuation modules. Tony Odegbaro, CEO commented: Having focussed for 30 years on desktop software for brokers, the VSnPs cloud based architecture enables us to offer new applications cheaply and easily to our users who rely on smartphones and tablets to complete daily tasks and trade while on the move. VSnP is currently being used by early adopter clients in Greece and the UK and the company are now promoting the new module to SnP brokers worldwide. Chris Jackson, Senior Partner at London based SnP brokers RJ Shipping Ltd who are using the software commented: Brokers at smaller companies spend most of their time working remotely and a web based system is perfect for those who also are on the move a lot. Tony Odegbaro added: There are no upfront hardware costs, making VSnP a great tool for brokers looking for a powerful yet cost effective tool. SDSD are currently working on a Chartering version which the company plan to roll out to clients later in the year. UK Annuity competition has never been weaker The latest analysis of the annuity market by Moneyfacts has highlighted the challenging pricing conditions facing the sector and suggests that competition in the annuity market has never been weaker. The analysis conducted for the Moneyfacts Personal Pension and Annuity Trends Treasury Report shows a seeming lack of appetite among providers to compete for annuity business, a factor which is contributing to record low annuity rates. The report shows that the average annual income from a level without guarantee standard fell by 3.4% (based on a 10K purchase price) during Q2 2016. However, rates have fallen even quicker since, with average annual annuity income falling by 6.3% in the month following the outcome of the EU referendum. As a result, annuity rates are now at record lows and have declined by as much as 12% since the start of the year. Richard Eagling, Head of Pensions at Moneyfacts, said: The heavy gilt yield falls sparked by the EU referendum result and the more onerous capital requirement of the new Solvency II rules are having a dramatic and devastating impact on annuity pricing. Faltering competition within the annuity market has compounded the situation. The severe fall in annuity rates in Q2 2016 and in July have left many retirees facing a conundrum: they still want a secure sustainable lifetime income but are reluctant to annuitise at a time of record low rates. Table 1: % change in average annual annuity income Weaker competition Competition in the annuity sector has generally been on the wane since the Government announced its plans for pension freedoms in March 2014. The resulting decline in annuity sales has made aggressive pricing difficult, if not impossible. A useful indication of the lack of competition afflicting the annuity market is the narrowing gap between the highest and lowest annuity rates on offer. In Q2 2016 this gap fell from 16.1% to just 10.7%. It has now fallen to just 9.2%, the lowest level we have ever recorded. The last time that the gap was below 10% was in the aftermath of the switch to gender neutral pricing in Q1 2013 when annuity providers adopted an ultra cautious approach to pricing until the market had settled down. The reason that the gap between the most and least competitive annuities has closed significantly in recent months is that the market-leading rates have been cut more heavily than those at the bottom. Richard Eagling said: This reflects the fact that some annuity providers currently do not want annuity business, so are effectively pricing themselves out of the market. A trend that is not conducive to encouraging competition within the annuity market is the significant number of retirees who are still not shopping around for the best rate. With the majority of annuitants remaining with their existing pension provider and not seeking expert financial help, the motivation for annuity providers to compete on price has been reduced. A further sign of weaker annuity competition is the fact that the number of annuity providers active in the open market has started to contract again. The completion of the merger between Just Retirement and Partnership to create the JRP Group in Q2 2016 means the number of providers competing for pension annuity business on the open market has fallen to a new low of just 11, and has more than halved since 1994. Prudentials decision to withdraw from selling annuities on the open market through financial advisers will further weaken competition. Richard Eagling added: The reduced volume of annuity business and pricing challenges has meant that some annuity providers have been evaluating whether it is viable or attractive to play an active role in the market or whether they should concentrate on other product areas such as drawdown instead. Competition in the annuity market has never been weaker. The Q2 2016 Moneyfacts Personal Pension and Annuity Trends Treasury Report was published on 25 July 2016. www.moneyfacts.co.uk - The Money Search Engine Moneyfacts.co.uk is the UK's leading independent provider of personal finance information. For the last 20 years, Moneyfacts' information has been the key driver behind many personal finance decisions, from the Treasury to the high street. 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. Russias UN Envoy Blasts US Mass Murder in Syria All US wars kill many more civilians than combatants - the ugly truth Washington wants suppressed. America considers everyone in war theaters legitimate targets while claiming otherwise. Since summer 2014, US warplanes illegally bombed Syrian and Iraqi targets on the phony pretext of combating terrorism, killing unknown numbers of civilians, hundreds, maybe thousands - all the while disingenuously claiming to go all-out to avoid so-called collateral damage. Syria and Russia condemned the most recent example of US-led coalition warplanes massacring civilians in northern Syria - supporting ISIS and other terrorist groups, imperial foot soldiers, ravaging the country for over five years with no conflict resolution in prospect because Washington wants war, not peace while pretending otherwise. America remains unaccountable for mass murder in multiple war theaters. Despicable neocon UN envoy Samantha Power lied to Security Council members, saying: Washington will carefully and thoroughly review any and all credible information we can gather about the (most recent) incident, including information from organizations within Syria that document harm to civilians. She outrageously blamed Russia and Syria for US-led coalition warplanes bombing hospitals, clinics and medical personnel. Her comments to other Security Council members were a litany of despicable lies fooling no one. Russias UN envoy Vitaly Churkin responded diplomatically, showing great restraint to avoid exploding angrily to US imperial posturing - misinformation and Big Lies suppressing its ruthlessness. Washington and its coalition allies astonishinglydid not say a word about recent US-led imperial massacres in Syria, he said. Promised investigations into the mass slaughter of civilians in all US war theaters dont happen or whitewash findings when undertaken. Im sure the American military already very well knows the state of affairs about recent mass slaughter in northern Syria, Churkin explained. The truth will never be officially acknowledged, he added, important evidence swept under the carpet. So are there no American drones, no American- and their allies special forces in Syria, no satellite intelligence capabilities of the US, no videos which are being made by all modern fighter jets when conducting a strike? I would not want to believe that the military condition of the US-led coalition is so poor. Russia has complete information on all its military operations in Syria - publicly available for examination. Moscow upholds international law, principles and standards. America and its rogue allies consistently breach them. By Stephen Lendman http://sjlendman.blogspot.com His new book as editor and contributor is titled Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III. http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html He lives in Chicago and can be reached in Chicago at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday through Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national topics. All programs are archived for easy listening. 2016 Copyright Stephen Lendman - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors. 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. The Cabinet of Ministers will soon consider a draft law on mine action, which is based on international practice and reflects current standards in this field. According to the press service of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine, Deputy Defense Minister for Ukraine's European Integration Ihor Dolhov said this at a meeting with UN Humanitarian Coordinator Neal Walker. "The issue of mine action is very important for Ukraine, it is under constant control of the state leadership and the Defense Ministry. Ukrainian citizens live on the contact line and the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions uncontrolled by the government and we must take care of them," the Ukrainian official said. MARTINSVILLE A firearms ordinance amendment that Martinsville City Council will consider tonight has nothing to do with the city, according to officials. However, a general district court judge has determined that the city must add the amendment which pertains to deer hunting to its ordinance to comply with state law, said City Attorney Eric Monday. "The General Assembly is very particular about how it allows localities to regulate firearms," Monday said. Under the ordinance, it is illegal for anyone to fire a gun, cannon, pistol or any other type of firearm anywhere in Martinsville. The penalty for doing so is a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $2,500, as many as 12 months in jail or both. Class 1 is most serious class of misdemeanors in Virginia. The ordinance declares, though, that it doesnt apply to law-enforcement officers who use firearms while on duty or anyone who is protecting life and/or property under justifications specified by state law. The proposed amendment states that the ordinance also will not apply to someone using a firearm while killing a deer on at least five acres of land zoned for agricultural use. Martinsville is included in a special urban archery season established by the state to help cities curb problems with roaming deer. "Right many people participate" in it locally, Deputy Police Chief Eddie Cassady said to his understanding. He did not have statistics because the program now falls totally within the states domain. But there is no agriculturally-zoned land in Martinsville. Furthermore, neither Monday nor City Manager Leon Towarnicki could think of any vacant five-acre tract in the city on which someone might be able to hunt. Therefore, the amendment would have "no effect on the city," Towarnicki said. "I would imagine it would apply only to cities with a lot of vacant acreage," he said, citing ones along the coast as examples. "Nonetheless, a judge thought it should be in" the ordinance, Monday said. He said the amendment stems from a court case pertaining to the ordinance in which someone was charged under both state and city laws. Someone in court argued that the citys ordinance may not be valid because it doesnt mention the exception for deer hunters on five acres or more of agricultural land, he added. The council will consider adopting the amendment on first reading during its meeting at 7:30 tonight at the municipal building uptown. If initial approval is given, final approval will be considered during the councils next meeting on Aug. 9. Mickey Powell reports for the Martinsville Bulletin. He can be reached at mickey.powell@martinsvillebulletin.com Ukraine's Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Gunther Oettinger have discussed the issue of Ukraine's participation in information support of the European Union, spokesman for the Prime Minister Dmytro Stoliarchuk has said. "Ukraine is able to become a hub of information support of Europe a meeting of the Prime Minister with the European Commissioner for Digital Economy," he wrote on his Twitter page. As reported, Oettinger during his visit to Ukraine on July 25-26 intends to discuss the issues of cooperation between the EU and Ukraine in the field of digital economy and digital society. He will meet with Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, First Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv, chairman of the parliamentary committee on information and communications Oleksandr Danchenko. I read Sundays article about the school board with great interest. However, I hope we are not just tip-toeing around this festering issue. Saying that students of color do well with teachers who are like them is very, very probably true and unfortunately will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. But it is a bit glossy of a statement in the face of what lies ahead of us. It says that, in our current society, at least some students of color do not trust white teachers and administrators. And it is also probably true that some white students do not trust teachers and administrators of color. Students early in their academic career arrive at school mostly with attitudes derived from their parents. Im certainly no expert in this area, but Ill stand by that statement. If we are to teach our children to think, we must provide an environment that allows them to think for themselves what is true and what is not. Students need to be able to see not only teachers of the same color, but they need to see them interacting with teachers of other colors and cultures in a positive manner. It will do no good to tell them to respect people of other colors and cultures if they themselves are not in an environment that allows them to judge peers of other colors for themselves. They need to be able to figure out that some people are nice and some are not and this is true of people of all colors. They need to know that just about any attribute you can name positive, negative, or neutral can apply to anybody of any color. They need to see that equal opportunity is more than a phrase. They must live it. The school board needs to think through all of this, plus other sociological needs, before they proceed. Hiring black teachers and male teachers, as desirable as that may be, will not solve this problem all by itself Maybe I should just recommend that none of us should profile whites, blacks, browns, reds, yellows, or grays. Vince Stone Martinsville Democratic Party needs to be cautious The Democratic Party needs to be concerned about the hacking of their emails by the Russian government under Vladimir Putin. According to the DNC themselves, the hackers had support from Russia. Donald Trump has praised Putin and Putin has endorsed Trump. The same Putin who is most likely responsible for assassinating his fellow countrymen for committing the unpardonable crime of being critical of his government. Putin wants Donald Trump to be the next President of the United States for many reasons but foremost is Trumps irresponsible attitude toward NATO. Article 5 of the NATO treaty says an attack on one NATO member is an attack on all. Trump has said he would not necessarily honor the treaty unless all of the NATO members pay more for their defense. Putin wants Russia to be the most powerful country in Europe and if Trump wins the election in November Putin could get what he most desperately wants, a fractured Europe. In addition, an unstable Europe would be disastrous for the worlds economic markets. It has been reported Englands departure from the EU wiped out $2 trillion dollars in assets and cost the average 401k thousands of dollars. David Jones Bassett crimsontracea.png A Crimson Trace product. (Photo Provided) SPRINGFIELD -- Springfield gunmaker Smith & Wesson announced Tuesday that it has purchased Crimson Trace Corp., an Oregon maker of laser sights and tactical lighting for firearms, for $95 million. Founded 22 years ago to make laser sights for Smith & Wesson competitor Glock pistols, Crimison Trace has long supplied laser sights and gun-mounted flashlights to Smith & Wesson, the Springfield company said in a news release. Crimson Trace's operations and its more than 120 employees will remain at its 50,000-square-foot factory and headquarters in Willamsville, Oregon, after the deal is completed. Crimson Trace has generated a 10-year compounded annual revenue growth rate in excess of 10 percent, according to Smith & Wesson. Smith & Wesson said it intends to use its cash on hand to finance the purchase and close in a few weeks. Smith & Wesson has been in a buying mood recently, following through on its stated plan to diversify into sporting goods, camping and outdoors equipment as a way of shielding itself from the boom-bust cycle of firearm sales, a cycle largely driven by fears of tightening gun regulations. Earlier this month, Smith & Wesson announced that it will buy its knife-making partner Taylor Brands for $85 million. Founded in 1975 and based in Tennessee, Taylor Brands owns Schrade, Old Timer, Uncle Henry and Imperial knife brands. Taylor Brands also manufactures knives and a type of outdoor camp ax under the Smith & Wesson brand name through a licensing agreement. Taylor does its manufacturing in Asia. Smith & Wesson CEO James Debney said in a news release: "Crimson Trace provides us with an exceptional opportunity to acquire a thriving company that is completely aligned with our strategy to become a leader in the market for shooting, hunting, and rugged outdoor enthusiasts. As the undisputed leader in the market for laser sighting products, Crimson Trace serves as an ideal platform for our new Electro-Optics Division. Firearms purchasers frequently buy electro-optic accessories to enhance the capabilities and performance of their firearms. The growth that Crimson Trace has delivered is a testament to the high product quality and the robust product development capability that Lane Tobiassen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Crimson Trace, and his team have established. That capability, combined with Crimson Trace's leadership position in the market for laser sights, provides a solid framework for organic and inorganic growth." Shares of Smith & Wesson stock (SWHC) traded at $30.10 early Tuesday afternoon, down 73 cents, or 2.49 percent, on the day. Tobiassen, who joined Crimson Trace in 2005, will head the division for Smith & Wesson. Tobiassen is only the second president in the company's history, having taken over for founder Lew Danielson. Crimson Trace makes laser sights and lights for a number of handgun and for AR15-style rifles. The company said it sights are not a replacement for the regular gun sight. According to its promotional material, "Our products provide quick, clear sighting during threat-focused shooting, in unconventional shooting positions or in low light conditions where your fixed sights are not visible." Smith & Wesson has 1,758 full-time employees, most of them at its sprawling factory and headquarters on Roosevelt Avenue. The company was founded in 1852 by Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson. Smith and Wesson established the company in what today is Springfield's South End. The Smith & Wesson story stretches through the Old West to the present day. The company made guns for the Imperial Army of the Russian tsar and for the allies in both World Wars. Clint Eastwood made the Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver famous as "the most powerful handgun in the world." Smith & Wesson has manufactured handcuffs for generations and used to manufacture bicycles for police departments. In 2009, Smith & Wesson bought Universal Safety Response, a company that made automatic security gates, only to sell its gate division in 2011. In May 2014, Smith & Wesson bought Tri Town Precision Plastics, Inc. of Deep River, Connecticut, for $22.8 million. Tri Town had been a major supplier of plastic parts for Smith & Wesson. At the time, Smith & Wesson said it was trying to vertically integrate its operations and secure its supply chain once Tri Town went up for sale. In November 2014, Smith & Wesson bought Battenfeld Technologies for $130.5 million in cash. Battenfield develops and sells gunsmithing, gun-cleaning and shooting supplies and accessories. A former program director at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has been hired as the new executive director of the Dakin Humane Society. Carmine DiCenso Carmine DiCenso will take over for former Executive Director Leslie Harris following a national search. Harris left the position last October after 20 years on the job to pursue a new opportunity at Quonquont Farm & Orchard in Whately. "Carmine will be a terrific executive director. We're thrilled to have him here to lead Dakin and inspire this organization's future growth and achievements," Nancy Creed, the president of Dakin's Board of Directors, said in a prepared statement. DiCenso has extensive experience in animal welfare program management and innovative project development, most recently as executive director of the Providence (Rhode Island) Animal Rescue League, officials said. A former board member of the New England Federation of Humane Societies, he previously served as a board member of the Ocean State Animal Coalition and as the Rhode Island state representative to the Humane Society of the United States Companion Animal Advisory Council. "He has significant experience in both human services and animal welfare, and understands the need to serve the human as well as the animal population of our community," Creed said. As the executive director at Dakin Humane Society, DiCenso will oversee all aspects of the organization's work at its locations in Leverett and Springfield, officials said. Dakin has more than 50 employees and nearly 800 volunteers who shelter, treat and foster more than 20,000 animals annually. Dakin's adoption centers find homes for more than 4,000 homeless pets each year. In addition, the Dakin Community Spay/Neuter Clinic, located in Springfield, recently conducted its 69,000th surgery since opening in 2009, making it New England's largest spay/neuter provider. The organization also provides a Pet Food Bank, dog training classes and pet-related workshops, plus humane learning programs. DiCenso will start in his new position on Aug. 1. The former Prime Minister of Ukraine, leader of the People's Front party Arseniy Yatseniuk and European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Gunther Oettinger have discussed a wide range of issues. "To actively develop cooperation with the EU, we need to ensure the unity of political forces in the parliament, a stable operation of the coalition and the strict adherence to our course despite populism and provocation. I stressed the particular importance of supporting the activities of Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and the incumbent government. Political unity in Ukraine is not only necessary, it is vital," Yatseniuk wrote on his Facebook page. The ex-premier expressed confidence Oettinger's current visit to Ukraine would bring practical results. "I mean Ukraine's integration into the single digital EU market, reduction of roaming tariffs for our citizens in EU countries, exports of Ukrainian digital goods and services," he said. Oettinger arrived in Ukraine on a two-day visit. Groysman, Oettinger agree to set up ad hoc group on Ukraine's accession to EU digital community Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Gunther Oettinger have agreed to establish a working group to develop an action plan for Ukraine's accession to the European Union digital community. "We've agreed to create a joint working group, which will develop a common action plan, assess the requirements with respect to Ukraine's accession to the European Union digital community," Groysman said at the forum on digital economy in Kyiv. The prime minister said he was confident in Ukraine's ability to hold a leading position in the digital economy. In addition, according to Groysman, Ukraine's transition to e-government will allow promoting the development of the national economy. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko during a meeting with special forces soldiers has signed a law on amendments to some laws of Ukraine concerning the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (No. 4795), adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, according to the president's Internet portal. "Today there is an important and solemn event in the life of Ukrainian special forces soldiers, which is the fruit of the joint and coordinated work of many people. Today I've signed the law, which completes the process of creating the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Poroshenko said. The head of state stressed it is "absolutely essential in terms of protecting Ukraine against Russian aggression" and called the law "the requirement of time to make protection of Ukraine much more effective." The law defines the legal status and use of special operations forces independently or in conjunction with other types of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for special operations to create favorable conditions for successful military-political, economic and other activities in the interests of national security in the field of national defense. "This pilot program is intended to evaluate customer commitment," said Pete Pengilly, customer research and analysis leader for Idaho Power, in a news release. "It originated from customer interest in having a solar option provided by Idaho Power. Participation in the community solar pilot program is voluntary, and it gives participants the opportunity to use solar energy generated right here in Boise." By Cynthia Sewell [email protected] Full Story: http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/business/article91855892.html Ukrainian representative to the humanitarian subgroup, Verkhovna Rada First Vice-Speaker Iryna Gerashchenko has reported that all the released in 2016 Ukrainian hostages underwent medical treatment and rehabilitation at medical institutions of the Public Affairs Management Department. "As a member of the Minsk humanitarian group, I was involved in the release of 12 hostages from February until July 2016. All the freed hostages underwent medical treatment and rehabilitation at the hospitals of the Public Affairs Management Department," Geraschenko wrote on her Facebook page on Monday. She also said that they managed to release 80 hostages during 2015-2016. Mahen Seeruttun a pris part aux celebrations du 65e anniversaire de la presence Life Insurance Corporation Of India a Maurice en compagnie des hauts cadres et les employes ainsi que la Haute Commissaire de lInde a Maurice, Nandini Singla, le 1er septembre 2021 dans les locaux de la compagnie dassurance. It gives me immense pleasure to be here this morning and share a historic moment with you all. It is indeed a very special occasion, an occasion worthy of praise for the amazing accomplishment of the Life Insurance Corporation of India in its homeland, in Mauritius and abroad. From a household name across cities and remotest of villages in India, LIC has flourished into a global financial conglomerate and is today, firmly established in 14 countries across the world. I was truly impressed by your track record as I went through the financials yesterday. An asset base of over USD 440 billion, a family of more than 115,000 employees and 1.3 million agents, extending to over 300 million customers, what more can we say to epitomise success! It is nothing short of phenomenal when a company comes such a long way after a 65-year eventful journey from a monopoly to a hyper-competitive environment and all the time being a Government entity with all the procedures that this entails. With one in five Indians insured and a control over two thirds of Indias life insurance market, it is a matter of great pride that the LIC is so deeply anchored in Mauritius. Ladies and Gentlemen In fact, relations between India and Mauritius are so inextricably linked that the Mauritius branch was set up in the same year that it was instituted in India. This occasion, ladies and gentlemen, reminds us just how incredibly fortunate we are that businesses such as yours with strong social insurance responsibility have become such an integral part of our economy. And the LIC, ladies and gentlemen, was set up in Mauritius not just for business sake but to serve the community. Ever since our pre-independence days, the LIC has played an invaluable role in nation building, becoming part of the community and growing with the community. You were the first insurance company to start granting life insurance protection to our fellow citizens of Rodrigues. Every life assured meant that one more family could sleep better at night. You always delivered on your promises, stood by your clients not at the time of your choice but at the time of their need and maintained trust throughout your relationship with them. Her Excellency Distinguished Guests In the same manner that trust binds the LIC and the Mauritian people, trust also binds the political leadership of the two countries. Bilateral relations between India and Mauritius have never been so strong. India has been an important partner in our economic and social development and businesses. In particular, pioneers such as the LIC, play such an important role in this relationship, insuring the financial health and wealth of the population. More and more Indian companies are setting up shop on Mauritian terrain trusting the ecosystem and the conducive business environment. The Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement effective since last April is an important milestone in the trade and economic relationship between India and Mauritius. This institutional mechanism will further encourage and improve trade in goods as well as trade in services, and economic cooperation between our two countries. Ladies and Gentlemen Focusing more on the Mauritian market, as you are aware, the insurance industry contributed to 2.8 percent to GDP in 2020 and is a driver of growth for the economy. Insurance products and services, once perceived as a means to minimize risk factors, has progressed as investment vehicles. However, to keep abreast with Governments mission to boost economic growth, we have no choice but to improve insurance penetration both long term and general. There is still much room for us to improve insurance penetration so that we are at par with rates in jurisdictions with similar GDP. In this respect, my Ministry and the Financial Services Commission are working on reforms and creation of new insurance products. Furthermore, Financial Literacy and inclusion remains critical success factors. In this respect, the Ministry, in collaboration with the Financial Services Fund, is working on consumer education projects aimed at raising the awareness of consumers, entrepreneurs, investors, and retired people on the need and adoption of long-term insurance products and pensions. You will be hearing more in the media in days to come. Before I close, I wish to say a few words on employment and capacity building. The sector employs around 2600 people directly as employees and approximately 3000 people as brokers, accredited agents and other insurance professional. Improving market penetration means creation of more jobs in the sector. The insurance sector presents opportunities for employment and needs expertise ranging from underwriting, broking, claims, investment analysis, actuarial services, financial advice as well as customer service excellence to earn the publics trust and confidence. In this respect, I am happy to say that the Insurers Association of Mauritius has collaborated with the Financial Services Institute on a Skills Development Framework with a first cohort of 60 professionals currently being trained. I understand that the LIC is a regular customer of the FSI and has recently organised an-house training for 30 persons on AML/CFT and is regularly enrolling participants on our programmes. Ladies and Gentlemen COVID-19 which is still impacting our industry in more ways than we ever imagined. Over the last few months, you have been responding to the pandemic in numerous ways whether as employers or claims payers. The economic situation will evolve for the better I am sure my colleague Hon. Minister Padayachy will soon be giving you more insight in that respect. I am confident that the insurance industry will emerge even stronger in years to come and continue to act as an important shock absorber for the economy and society. Distinguished staff and agents of the LIC, In closing, I would like to share with you the words of the Indian mystic Jaggi Vasudev, who said and I quote: The success of businesses makes a nation live well. End of quote You are in the right place doing business in Mauritius and I look forward to continue celebrating your companys longevity here for many more years to come. Long may you flourish. Long Live India-Mauritius relations. I thank you for your time and attention. Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Articles similaires Candidate from the Nash Kray Party Serhiy Shakhov, who collected the largest number of votes in the midterm elections of people's deputies in electoral district No. 114 on July 17, does not intend to join a parliament faction. He said he intends to create a deputy group in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. "I was asked at the meetings which parliamentary faction or group I will enter. There can be only one faction or group the Nash Kray Party. We will take a constructive approach to draft legislation submitted in parliament. We will work for the benefit of the people. Today our task is to be business executives rather than populists," Shakhov said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine. Party co-chairman Oleksandr Mazurchak said in future Nash Kray will focus on combining healthy constructive forces in the Verkhovna Rada to protect local communities. The deputy group will also monitor the government's activities and fight for the reduction of unfair high tariffs. Nash Kray co-chairman, MP, a member of the Vidrodzhennia (Renaissance) Group) Anton Kisse said there is a need today for constructive opposition in parliament and for MPs to provide solutions to problems important for the citizens of Ukraine. Eleven militants have been killed in the anti-terrorist operation zone in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours, including two in a clash near Avdyivka, Ukrainian Presidential Administration spokesman Andriy Lysenko said. "In the past 24 hours [...] 11 invaders were killed and 14 suffered injuries," Lysenko said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday. The Ukrainian army clashed with eight members of a hostile reconnaissance-and-sabotage group in the Avdiyivka industrial zone on Monday, he said. The engagement lasted for slightly more than an hour and the hostiles retreated under cover of mortar fire, he said. "We did not suffer fatalities in that battle. The illegal armed unit lost two invaders and three were injured," Lysenko said. The OSCE Permanent Council has not held any formal discussions regarding the deployment of a peacekeeping mission in Donbas, OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier has said. "For several months, the working group on political issues of the Trilateral Contact Group [on Donbas conflict settlement] has been discussing the conditions for and assistance in organizing local elections in Ukraine's east, including the need to provide a fully stable and secure environment... The Normandy Group (Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia) has appealed to the OSCE asking them to develop options for promoting security on the ground in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions during and after the local elections. The possibility of placing an international police force is one of those options," Zannier said in an interview with the Segodnya newspaper which was published on Tuesday. However, according to him, the OSCE Permanent Council has not conducted any formal discussions of any of the options for the peacekeeping mission in Donbas. "A preliminary decision on this matter has not been submitted for consideration either. To deploy such a mission and to get a relevant decision of the OSCE Permanent Council, a consensus among all our member states should be reached," the OSCE secretary general said. He said a unanimous decision of all 57 OSCE member countries is required for the deployment of the international police mission, and stressed that no roadmap has been officially presented so far and the discussion on the subject is far from completion. He also said that the matter of the size of the contingent of international police forces can be discussed only after all 57 states will come to an agreement concerning the deployment of such a mission. Employees of the main department on economical protection of Ukraine's Security Service raided the premises of the State Aviation Service of Ukraine on July 26, the press service of the State Aviation Service has said. "Activities were carried out on the criminal proceedings, violated under Article 191 Part 5 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine in respect of certain officials of the International Boryspil airport, who, with the assistance of the State Aviation Service officials, committed embezzlement of budget funds allocated for the purchase of equipment in the amount of UAH 4.3 million," the report says. According to it, later funds were transferred to the company, controlled by a resident of the Russian Federation, followed by withdrawal from Ukraine in violation of the order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 829 p dated September 11, 2014. "The investigation is ongoing. More details will be provided at a later date," the State Aviation Service said. Residents of Kropyvnytsky to be urged to boycott new name of city, sign lawsuit to court KYIV. July 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) A collective lawsuit is being drawn up in Kropyvnytsky (former Kirovohrad) to challenge the renaming of the city, Head of nongovernmental organization Perspektyva Mista (Prospect of the City) Artem Stryzhakov has said. "Yesterday a first general city meeting was held in Kirovohrad We have decided to appeal to court. One of the decisions to boycott the name Kropyvnytsky," he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Monday. He said that the boycott means urging the public via various information channels not to use the name Kropyvnytsky in oral speech and mailing with authorities of the city. In turn, MP from Opposition Block Serhiy Larin said that there are two lawsuits today. "They are ready to be signed. The first one is from lawmaker that my rights as a lawmaker were violated. I was banned from making a speech. The requirements of the parliament regulations and the Constitution were violated. The second lawsuit is from residents of the city. I know that it is not sole. A lawsuit is being prepared in Kirovohrad. We will unite to annul the resolution," he said. He said that signatures for the lawsuit will be collected in Kirovohrad to challenge the renaming of the city. "We are preparing lawsuits to the ECHR, understanding the decisions of our today's courts. We see how they treat lawsuits regarding city renaming," Larin said. Earlier Larin was Head of Kirovohrad Regional Administration and lawmakers of the regional council. As reported, on July 14, 2016, Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada changed the name of the city of Kirovohrad to Kropyvnytsky in pursuant to the law on the condemnation of communist and national socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes in Ukraine and the prohibition of propaganda of their symbols. Verkhovna Rada Chairman Andriy Parubiy on the same day signed a decree on renaming Kirovohrad Kropyvnytsky. by Pam Danziger , Columnist, July 25, 2016 Lets face it. Most products positioned in the luxury sphere offer exceptional quality, workmanship and styling. These brands have aced the product-centric side of the marketing equation. As a result, luxury brands have largely become commoditized with comparable high-end products offering much the same features and benefits, with minor tweaks here and there. How, then, are luxury brands to differentiate themselves and stand above the rest of the field? By focusing on personalized, customized customer experiences. True luxury is a mindset, not a brand or a price point or a long list of product features. Luxury cant be quantified or measured; it must be felt. While product features can make a difference, the way to truly elevate a luxury brand today is by creating emotionally compelling experiences that make the brand memorable. The customer must feel the luxury before, during and, most especially, after the sale. advertisement advertisement Here are some ideas about how to elevate the luxury experience for their customers: The Lincoln Motor Company delights drivers with an unrivaled level of personalized service Over the last several years, Lincoln has worked at the product level to enhance its luxury reputation, releasing four new vehicles in four years, including the introduction of a reimagined Continental representing the pinnacle of its class. But, Andrew Frick, Lincoln North American director of sales and services, says, We've recognized a luxury brand is more than just the product side of things. We had to elevate the client experience. Lincolns big idea: personalized pickup and delivery service for all Lincoln owners across all 1,000+ Lincoln dealers nationwide. Its an unprecedented customer-service offering that builds on the brands commitment to providing human, warm and personal experiences at all Lincoln dealerships. Lincoln Service Valets will deliver a loaner when picking up the owners car for service, then bring it back fully serviced, spit-shined and in mint condition. Frick explains the importance of the personal touch, Our guiding vision is for us to create clients for life by delivering the world's most effortless experience. Laudi Vidni engages customers in the creative process Fashion-forward women have a seemingly endless assortment of luxe handbag brands to choose from. But while the customers pick a bag off the retailer shelf and spend a pretty penny to take it home, do they feel emotionally connected to the brand? Doubtful. It takes more than just selecting a bag off the shelf to get a customer deeply committed to a handbag brand. Laudi Vidni understands this and involves the customer personally in how the handbag is made. Using an online platform and supported by a hands-on home try-on service and expert guidance from stylists by phone, the customer is given the tools to design her own handbag, and not just its color and shape but hardware accents, too. Now she gets bragging rights, not just from the designer logo on the bag, but the pride of being her own handbag designer. Blogger Anna Talyzin shares the thrill of becoming part of the process, not just a passive buyer, So, at the moment when I realized that there was much more than having the new amazing 'bag', but the real design project, I wound up loving the process even more than the usual 'Paid. Shipped. Delivered' thing. Look to Main Street to model exceptional customer service Finally, when it comes to learning how to make a deep and lasting emotional connection with luxury consumers, you dont have to look much farther than your local Main Street. Across the country, one can find small independent retailers that have mastered the art and science of customer care, that hand-to-hand, personal interaction that creates lasting emotional bonds. Take gifts and home furnishings retailer Mary Liz Curtin, owner of Leon and Lulu, in Clawson, Mich., a Detroit suburb. Mary Liz understands that today success is less about what you sell and more about how you sell it. Her secret is delivering that personal touch that people today crave. The relationships we build with our customers, the service we offer and the careful selection of offerings keeps us in business. That personal interaction is huge, Mary Liz affirms. Ford Motor Companys Lincoln brand has made its largest investment ever in personalized experiences and service for consumers, known as The Lincoln Way. The Lincoln Experience Center, which allows guests to learn more about the Lincoln brand at their own pace, has opened on Fashion Island in Newport Beach, California. A second location will be announced later this year, according to Lincoln. "While we have some other locations in mind, we want to make sure we are starting slowly to truly focus on the clients in these first two core markets," according to a Lincoln spokesperson. A new suite of services, including valet pickup and delivery, begins this fall with the arrival of the all-new Lincoln Continental. Future initiatives include a dedicated app to provide even easier access to existing services and a suite of new services like parking solutions and new approaches for leasing. advertisement advertisement The Lincoln Way initially was a key pillar of the brands expansion into China, where full-service client care has helped differentiate the brand. Lincoln sold 11,630 vehicles in China in 2015, the first full year of sales for the brand in the country. So far this year, sales have already exceeded this number; more than 12,000 vehicles already have been sold and 45 dealerships are now open. In North America, The Lincoln Way builds off of Lincoln Black Label service, which provides personalized shopping with dedicated personnel in the showroom, online or in locations more convenient for clients. The latest addition to The Lincoln Way is the new Lincoln Experience Center in Newport Beach, a high-end shopping destination. Guests can explore the brand, discover the design inspiration behind the different Lincoln cars and SUVs, customize their perfect vehicle and take it for a test drive, around the block or for the weekend. They can also take advantage of the Lincoln connectivity lounge and partake of a complimentary beverage. Should they be interested in purchasing a vehicle, a host at the Lincoln Experience Center will connect them with the dealer. "The Lincoln Experience Center in Newport Beach opened in early July and the response has been overwhelmingly positive," said a Lincoln spokesperson. "So far, 50,000 people have walked by the Lincoln Experience Center and about 4,500 have spent time inside the space. The first three scheduled events to take place at the Lincoln Experience Center are already fully booked." The Lincoln Miles leasing service which allows clients to monitor miles via a mobile app and web site and earn rewards based on unused miles at the end of the lease is currently being piloted, according to the company. by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, July 25, 2016 Verizon's planned $4.8 billion acquisition of Yahoo's key assets should spur the Federal Communications Commission to move forward with tough privacy rules, consumer advocates say. Verizons recent buying-spree -- first AOL and now Yahoo! -- illustrates that ISPs are rushing to supplement their already robust data collection capabilities to better target marketing to their customers with highly personal and comprehensive data," New America's Open Technology Institute said today in a statement. "ISPs continue to seek ways to vertically integrate, the FCC must pass broadband privacy rules to give consumers the ability to choose whether they consent to their ISP engaging in such privacy invasive practices. Jeff Chester, executive director of the privacy group Center for Digital Democracy, adds the "proposed takeover of Yahoos core digital data advertising business, when combined with the capability to gather information from its wireless devices, broadband networks, and set-top boxes," gives Verizon "control over the key screens that Americans use today." advertisement advertisement The long-rumored deal, officially announced today, involves Verizon purchasing Yahoo's online services for consumers -- including email, Tumblr, search, finance and other properties. The takeover comes one year after Verizon announced it would purchase AOL for $4.4 billion -- an acquisition that consumer advocates said raised "substantial and urgent privacy concerns." At the time, advocates pressed the FCC to move forward with broadband privacy rules. Since then, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler proposed regulations that would prohibit Internet service providers from using information about consumers' Web activity for ad targeting without their explicit consent. Verizon seems to particularly rile privacy advocates due to its history of inserting unique tracking headers -- 50-character alphanumeric strings -- into unencrypted traffic on the mobile network. Ad networks were able to use those headers to send targeted ads to mobile users, even when they tried to avoid tracking by deleting their cookies. In March, the FCC fined Verizon $1.35 million for the headers. The agency said at the time that its investigation focused on whether Verizon violated the Communications Act's privacy provisions -- which require carriers to protect customers' "proprietary information" -- and whether the company violated a 2010 net neutrality rule requiring disclosure of broadband management practices. Verizon also promised to obtain subscribers' opt-in consent before sharing tracking headers with a third party for targeted ad purposes. The company will allow consumers to opt out of having headers inserted into mobile traffic, and to opt out of having the headers used for ad purposes by companies affiliated with Verizon. By the time the FCC moved against Verizon, the company had already changed its practice to allow customers to opt out of the headers; Verizon also had narrowed its targeting program by saying it will only send the header to Verizon companies. Not everyone says Verizon's purchase of Yahoo shows the need for privacy rules. The libertarian group TechFreedom says the FCC's proposed regulations would hinder Verizon's efforts to garner more online ad dollars. "The biggest challenge for the combined company is the FCCs proposed privacy rules, TechFreedom president Berin Szoka said today in a statement. The FCC would require Verizon to obtain a separate opt-in from its broadband customers for any Yahoo! service, regardless of how sensitive that data at issue is. That blanket rule will make it a lot harder for Verizon to innovate -- not just in advertising, but in other apps and services that it could offer to its customers." The blockbuster $4.8 billion sale of Yahoos core assets to Verizon Communications, announced on Monday, could generate deep shifts on the global advertising industrys playing field. Verizon plans to merge the Yahoo assets with AOL, which the company bought in 2015. AOL head Tim Armstrong will spearhead the integration of the two companies along with Verizon EVP Marni Walden, a process that is sure to be tedious and lengthy. The newly bolstered telecom giant hopes to compete with Google and Facebook in an industry where scale is imperative. advertisement advertisement Yahoo brings with it an audience of 1 billion active worldwide users -- including 600 million active mobile users, a host of influential consumer brand partnerships, a powerful programmatic advertising and data platform and a robust editorial team. Rivaling Facebook and Google is no easy task. Effectively integrating the myriad businesses will be paramount. The benefits from the deal to both Yahoo/AOL and to the advertising industry are many, Jay Friedman, Goodway Group's COO explained to Real-Time Daily via email: This is the best outcome marketers could have hoped for in the industry. This acquisition puts AOL on solid ground as the third platform CMOs must take a meeting with behind Google and Facebook. "Balance of power is good. If AOL keeps an open ecosystem, they stand a very good chance of taking budget from Facebook and Google. Verizon/AOL/Yahoo now boasts a stack with as much reach and more O&O [owned and operated] inventory as Google and Facebook. Verizon will have to address the SMB (small- and medium-sized business) self-service abilities that the two incumbent ad giants offer, Friedman added. Tackling the self-serve offerings is a must to sandwich the market with Fortune 100 plus the SMB market, continued Friedman. This could be good news for publishers, too. The industry will benefit as a whole from this deal, Rich Sutton, CRO, Trusted Media Brands, told Real-Time Daily via email. While Yahoo Finance and other Yahoo verticals are large in MUVs [monthly unique visitors], all are aggregators and curators of content -- not creators of content. Therefore, brands that are storytellers will win. With that said, brands and publishers that want to get their content distributed will now have the opportunity to, and it wont just be about Facebook Instant Articles. Yahoo also promises to bring with it a likeability that is not usually associated with telecom companies. For all the wobbliness of Yahoos brand identity, the Yahoo brand still hold a lot of consumer affinity. Consumers LIKE the Yahoo brand, explains Shar VanBoskirk, Forrester's vice president and principal analyst. Depending on how Verizon plans to leverage that, it could be a nice boost in an industry like telecom where most subscribers disdain even the providers they are quite loyal to." BEIJING, July 25 -- Heavy rain across north and northeast China last week has left 164 people dead and 125 missing, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. As of 9:00 a.m. Monday, 10 provincial-level regions had been battered by the bad weather. In the hardest hit provinces of Henan and Hebei, 514,000 people have been displaced and nearly 125,000 people are in urgent need of basic living assistance. Some 126,000 houses collapsed and 344,000 houses were damaged to varying degrees. Floods also destroyed 1.18 million hectares of crops. Total direct economic losses have been estimated at 31.14 billion yuan (4.7 billion U.S. dollars). Police have been urged to prepare for more rescue and relief missions, said Meng Jianzhu, head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, during a police inspection in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province. Meng praised the police's bravery and loyalty, but warned that the situation remained dangerous and the task ahead tough. Police should also focus on maintaining law and order in disaster-hit regions, he said. Two police officers were killed and a dozen injured during rescue and relief missions. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, July 26, 2016 The industry's Trustworthy Accountability Group said today it has accepted 100 companies -- including Google, Facebook, WPP and Omnicom Media Group -- into its registry of "legitimate participants in the digital advertising industry." The registry is a key component of the industry's program to combat online fraud, malware and piracy. The accepted companies, all of which underwent background checks, were awarded the TAG-ID -- an identifier that can be appended to online ads as well as ad inventory. TAG began accepting applications for the registry last October. Companies that applied were required to provide a tax ID number, corporate address, and the name of a "compliance officer" responsible making sure the company meets its obligations. TAG used Dun and Bradstreet to vet the accepted companies. The registry is open to marketers, ad networks, agencies and publishers in the supply chain. The cost of registering as a stand-alone service is $10,000 per year, or companies can purchase membership packages that cost $15,000 for marketers and publishers, or $25,000 for ad agencies and tech companies. The memberships let companies pursue certification with the TAG seals. advertisement advertisement "The difference in cost is due to the fact that agencies and ad tech companies are generally both buyers and sellers of inventory and would avail themselves of more of the TAG seals than a marketer or publisher would likely utilize," TAG CEO Mike Zaneis says in an email to MediaPost. by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, July 26, 2016 SteelHouse, an advertising software company, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in the Central District of California federal court accusing Criteo, a Paris-based retargeting company, of false advertising, intentional interference with contract, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage and unfair competition. The hearing date is set for Aug. 29, 2016. SteelHouse alleges in the counter filing that 52% of Criteos clicks do not originate from any known Web site or publisher. SteelHouse uncovered these findings after analyzing third-party customer data that showed the source of Criteos traffic for customers that were active with both SteelHouse and Criteo since January 2016. Criteo filed a lawsuit against SteelHouse in June, claiming that the U.S.-based company undercuts its business and stole potential clients by counterfeiting clicks, which often happens seconds after legitimate clicks are attributed to the France-based company. advertisement advertisement SteeHouse alleges in the lawsuit that 16% of Criteo clicks are from users clicking the same advertisement within a 30-minute period, eight times the industry standard. The suit also states that Criteos pricing model deceives customers into believing that increasing the cost per click (CPC) bid will yield better performance for the customer. Instead, the increased bid results in no additional traffic for the advertiser, according to SteelHouse. SteelHouse, of course, denies in the counter suit that it has made false statements and that it counterfeited clicks. The counterclaims state that Criteo stifles SteelHouses competition in the online advertising market. In the counterclaim it asserts that Criteo promises customers the most clicks per ad in the industry and "its click rate is somehow four times as high as the rest of the industry." In response to the suite, SteelHouse explains the difference of its targeting and attribution model when compared with Criteo's, which the company claims could be the crux of the suit. "Rather than follow Criteos click-based model, which only attributes value to the last click before a consumer arrives on an advertisers website (a practice that leads to unfair and inadequate results), SteelHouselike others in the industrytakes a more holistic approach and assigns value to ad impressions or view throughs. SteelHouse thus reports view throughs in its User Interface to its clients and reports those same view throughs to Google Analytics." SteelHouse's response also suggests the two companies share few customers, rely on different attribution models, and that Criteo has no basis to its click-fraud accusations. Search Marketing Daily reached out to Criteo. A spokesperson said the company doesn't make comments on ongoing legal investigations. by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, July 26, 2016 The opening of the Democratic National Convention teemed with emotion. Sanders supporters were unable to hold back tears as the leader of their political revolution forcefully made a case for a Clinton presidency. Americans of every stripe delivered moving speeches telling of struggle and hope. All underscored the same note: Even in adversity, Americans remain positive. First Lady Michelle Obama's speech was extraordinary. Cory Booker's inspiring message introduced him as a rising star in the party. Most poignant was the tangible break from the bleak outlook and angry tone that emanated from the Republican National Convention last week in Cleveland. The American electorate is violently divided between Republicans and Democrats, who have seemingly irreconcilable differences about how our nation should deal with uncertainty at home and instability abroad. Exclusion versus inclusion, hate versus love, were among the thematic story lines of the night. advertisement advertisement Other than a few interruptions from raucous Sanders supporters, the speeches and performances of the night ran smoothly. There was a sense of optimism about the future and a synchronized push for unity against the recently crowned Republican nominee Donald Trump. The clear message: We can only defeat Trump together. Democrats touted their multicultural and multiethnic party with speeches from Hispanic politicians, many of whom addressed the convention in both Spanish and English. Most impressive, the 11-year-old daughter of two undocumented Guatemalan immigrants appeared on stage with her mother and described her fear that at any moment, her parents might be deported, particularly in light of Trump's harsh rhetoric. The hope and optimism of the night was most powerfully embodied by the rousing speech given by Anastasia Somoza, a disability-rights advocate diagnosed with cerebral palsy and spastic quadriplegia at birth. Taking on Trump, Somoza showed pity for the GOP nominee, who has publicly made fun of disabled persons: I honestly feel bad for someone with that much hate in their heart. The stimulus of the pre-prime time speeches made the keynotes ever more poignant. Michelle Obama spoke of the type of country she hopes her daughters will inhabit in the next four or eight years and specifically, the role a president plays in shaping a generation of children. Stalwart progressives Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders also made an impassioned bid to unify the moderate and progressive wings of the party. Sen. Warren had a hard act to follow as Obama, in her disarming non-political style, electrified the Philadelphia crowd. Still, Warren, made a powerful case for why Hillary Clinton needs to be the next President of the United States: This is about our shared values with our candidates Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine. Bernie followed suit; there was no Ted Cruz repeat here. The leader of the progressive revolution and lifelong Independent, who confounded pundits with his unexpected rise in the Democratic Party, put all questions to rest about his direction moving forward. Hillary Clinton must be the next president of the United States Im proud to stand with her. The Vermont Senator made a powerful argument about the importance of the race: This election is about and must be about the needs of the American people and the kind of future we create for our children and grandchildren. Well see what transpires today during the roll call, as delegates cast their final votes for Democratic nominee for president of the United States. Fiery Sanders supporters may try something -- though it's clear their leader, Bernie Sanders, is now squarely in line behind Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. by Philip Rosenstein , July 26, 2016 VertaMedia, the online video supply-side platform, announced Tuesday the appointment of Ian Newfeld as new head of North American Sales, to be based in the company's New York headquarters. Previously managing the sales and business development for AniView and NTENT, Newfeld has over 11 years of experience in the selling and closing of new businesses. His aptitude for mentoring and motivating teams under a shared creative vision will see him become a driving force in VertaMedias growth in North America, stated VertaMedia co-founder and CEO Alex Bornyakov. Ian has an unrivaled understanding of online advertising and sales within the digital marketing industry. by Wayne Friedman , July 26, 2016 A new survey shows there were more than seven times as many negative TV commercials against Donald Trump than against Hillary Clinton in a recent seven-month primary season period. MapLight, a political research group, in analyzing data from Political TV Ad Archive, has found that Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, was the subject of at least 4,963 minutes of negative advertisements between Nov. 20 and July 14, in 23 TV markets totaling 83 hours of air time. In comparison, there were around 11 hours of negative ads aimed exclusively at Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, during that time period. But the survey says those negative TV commercials were unusual: Most of the attack ads came from a super PAC backed by the Republican party. Attack ads came from Principles, a super PAC backed by the Republican party -- at least 1,795 airings of commercials. advertisement advertisement Around 30% of that air time was devoted to one ad that attacked the Republican nominee's history of using undocumented workers on construction projects. Of the 95 individual TV commercials focused on Trump, the Political Ad Archive determined 71 were unambiguously negative, while 22 ads were considered strictly positive. The survey said anti-Trump ads aired at least 7,811 times during the primary season. Looking just at one Democratic-leaning super PAC, Priorities USA Action, it shows 527 attack ads on Trump, including one spot that has run 415 times. Hillary for America, the Clinton campaign, has backed more than 130 anti-Trump ads. by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, July 26, 2016 The advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center is asking a federal appellate court to revive iPhone user Ryan Perry's battle with CNN. The dispute largely centers on whether the 12 random numbers and letters that make up an iPhone's Media Access Control address should be considered "anonymous." EPIC argues in new court papers that the MAC address actually serves as a better way to identify iPhones' owners than their names. "In many cases a name would be insufficient, without more, to link a transaction to a specific individual," EPIC says in papers filed late last week with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. "For example, the name 'Ryan Perry' is insufficient on its own to identify which of the 425 Ryan Perrys in the United States brought this lawsuit," EPIC adds. "But a unique, persistent identifier such as a devices MAC address is a much better identifier than a name." EPIC makes the argument in a proposed friend-of-the-court brief siding with Perry in his fight with CNN. The dispute dates to 2013, when Perry alleged in a potential class-action lawsuit that CNN disclosed information about video clips watched by himself and other iPhone users, along with their 12-digit Media Access Control addresses, to the analytics company Bango. (In 2014, Apple began restricting third parties from accessing MAC addresses as identifiers.) advertisement advertisement Perry argued that CNN violated the Video Privacy Protection Act, which prohibits video rental companies from disclosing consumers' personally identifiable information. U.S. District Court Judge Eleanor Ross in Atlanta dismissed the case in April. She ruled that MAC addresses aren't "personally identifiable," and that Perry wasn't a "consumer" for purposes of the video privacy law. Perry appealed that ruling to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. On Friday, EPIC asked for permission to weigh in against CNN. The privacy organization argues that Ross "got it exactly backwards" when she ruled that device identifiers aren't personally identifiable information. Ross "simply did not understand the significance of the MAC address used by the service provider to track the activity of the customer," the organization says. EPIC also says Ross wrongly ruled that Perry wasn't a consumer. "Whether a user streams a video under a subscription plan or under an ad supported option, that user is still a 'consumer' of the video service," EPIC says. "Mobile apps have simply created another way for video service providers to obtain the personal data of users." CNN recently argued it is entitled to dismissal of the lawsuit due to the recent Supreme Court decision in a matter involving Spokeo. The Supreme Court ruled in that matter that consumers must show they were injured before they can sue in federal court. CNN says Perry doesn't identify a "concrete injury" or a risk of harm due to the alleged disclosures to Bango. Perry countered in papers filed earlier this month that "CNNs invasion of [his] legally protected interest" was a concrete injury. CNN is expected to file additional arguments by Sept. 1. This article looks at types of blood clot, their symptoms, and some treatment options. Blood clots are a serious public health concern. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as many as 100,000 people die from blood clots each year in the United States. However, when something disrupts normal bodily systems, blood clots can form and cause medical problems. Two major types in the veins are deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism . Clotting is a vital mechanism to prevent the body from harm. Without blood clotting, cuts would keep bleeding, and small leaks in the internal blood vessels could cause serious problems. When the blood clots, it turns from a liquid into a gel that stops it from flowing. This is important for preventing blood loss when someone gets a cut or scrape. Blood clots are a serious public health concern. To prevent complications, it is important to know the symptoms of blood clots and be able to identify them as quickly as possible. Many blood clots occur after surgery. In fact, the CDC say that 50% of all internal venous blood clots develop during or soon after a hospital stay or surgery. It is important to note that DVT does not cause heart attack or stroke. Blood clots in the veins and arteries have different effects on the body and different complications. When blood clots form directly in the arteries, two major medical events can occur: heart attack (wherein a blood clot prevents blood from flowing to the heart) and ischemic stroke (wherein a blood clot prevents blood from flowing to part of the brain). A blood clot in the lung can also occur in people without a DVT, and not all people with DVT will develop an embolism. Blood clots occurring in a vein can lead to DVT or pulmonary embolism. DVT is characterized by a blood clot in a deep vein usually in the leg, pelvis, or arm. In pulmonary embolism, a blood clot has traveled from a deep vein into a lung. Blood clots can result in a range of different medical conditions depending on where they travel in the body. The symptoms of a blood clot depend on the location and severity of the clot. It is important to know the symptoms and be able to identify them quickly. Early diagnosis and treatment can help prevent complications and death from blood clots. The symptoms of a blood clot vary depending on their location. Arm or leg The most common place for a venous blood clot to develop is the leg, most often in the calf, and the symptoms are similar in the arm. Around 50% of people with DVT have no symptoms at all. If they do occur, symptoms of a blood clot in the leg or arm can include: pain swelling a warm sensation tenderness flushing The pain can feel similar to a pulled muscle or heavy ache. Whether or not the symptoms indicate DVT, they are issues that need the attention of a doctor as soon as possible. To diagnose DVT, a doctor will perform certain tests, such as blood tests and ultrasound scans. They may look for more detailed signs of DVT, including the location and amount of swelling (and how this compares with the other limb) and how the sensations of tenderness relate to the form of the veins in the leg. Doctors commonly use medications to prevent and treat DVT. For a blood clot in the leg, wearing compression stockings for up to 2 years after the event can help with swelling and pain. In severe cases, a doctor may need to remove the clot surgically. Lung A blood clot in the lung is known as a pulmonary embolism. Some research suggests that in the U.S., over 200,000 people develop venous thrombosis each year. Around 50,000 of these cases are complicated by pulmonary embolism. The symptoms of a blood clot in the lung can include: Other serious symptoms can include: anxiety or a sense of dread collapsing sweating Pulmonary embolism requires emergency medical attention. Doctors can treat this condition using medications that dissolve blood clots, or thrombolytics. They may also prescribe medicines that prevent blood clotting, called anticoagulants. If the clot is small, people can recover from pulmonary embolism with effective treatment. However, it can leave some lasting lung damage. Large clots can prevent blood from reaching the lungs, which can be fatal. Abdomen Blood clots in the abdomen can cause the following symptoms: severe pain in the abdomen nausea vomiting diarrhea bloody stool It can be difficult to diagnose a blood clot in the abdomen or pelvis. Doctors may use a CT scan or other imaging studies to look for blood clots in this area and to rule out other causes of these symptoms. Heart A blood clot in an artery around the heart can lead to a heart attack. The symptoms of a heart attack include : chest discomfort such as pressure, fullness, or pain that occurs in the center of the chest and lasts for more than a few minutes pain or discomfort in other body parts, such as one or both arms, the back, jaw, stomach, or neck shortness of breath, with or without chest discomfort other signs, such as a cold sweat, nausea, or lightheadedness The symptoms can differ between males and females. Chest pain is the most common symptom overall, but females are more likely to experience shortness of breath, nausea or vomiting, and back or jaw pain. A heart attack is a medical emergency. People should seek emergency treatment if they notice any symptoms. Brain A blood clot in the brain can lead to ischemic stroke. This occurs when a blood clot blocks an artery, preventing blood from flowing to certain areas of the brain. Symptoms of ischemic stroke include a sudden onset of: numbness or weakness in the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body confusion difficulty speaking or understanding speech vision problems in one or both eyes difficulty walking dizziness or loss of coordination a severe headache with no known cause A stroke is a medical emergency. People should seek emergency treatment if they notice any symptoms. A large team led by researchers in the Netherlands and London conducted the largest-ever MND genetic analysis, which brought together the efforts of over 180 scientists from 17 different countries. Using DNA samples donated by over 12,000 patients with MND and over 23,000 by healthy individuals, millions of common genetic variations were profiled in all subjects. These were compared between MND patients and healthy individuals to help to understand what genetic variation may cause the disease. There are around 110 new cases of MND each year in Ireland, with those affected typically between 50 and 70 years old. Individuals diagnosed with MND suffer progressive paralysis, which ultimately leads to death, typically within 3-5 years of the first symptoms. Both genetic and environmental factors are known to play a role in the development of MND, but pinpointing and understanding the genetic causes will help to hasten the development of effective treatments for what is currently an incurable disease. The new study, published in leading journal Nature Genetics, pointed the scientists towards three previously-unknown genes, and also provided the best indication yet of how exactly scientists should continue their search for the causes of MND. Dr Russell McLaughlin of Trinity is one of the lead authors of the study. He said: "Some diseases, like schizophrenia, appear to be caused by the added effects of thousands of genes commonly seen in the population, each of which could not cause the disease on its own. With MND, it seems that a similar mechanism may be at play, but the genes that add up to cause the disease are much more rare." This apparent rarity of genes that cause MND means that scientists are now tasked with conducting even larger and more fine-grained studies to uncover the remainder of what causes the disease. Research is already under way in Trinity and several other countries that will expand the search beyond common genetic variation to include genes only seen in a small number of people. Project MinE (www.projectmine.com/country/ireland) is a crowd-funded initiative that will examine the full DNA profile, including rare genetic variation, in 1,000 Irish individuals to determine all of the genetic causes of MND. But genetic research is costly, and Professor Orla Hardiman, who leads the Irish MND Research Group, hopes that the public will help to fund the initiative. Professor Hardiman said: "With Project MinE, everyone has the opportunity to get involved in helping to discover the many causes of MND, in the hope that one day we will have a cure for this devastating disease." The information obtained in Project MinE will be shared freely with all collaborators in the initiative and made available to scientists researching drug development. Scientists at The University of Nottingham have demonstrated for the first time that it is possible to selectively sequence fragments of DNA in real time, greatly reducing the time needed to analyse biological samples. A paper published in the academic journal Nature Methods describes a novel technique for highly selective DNA sequencing, called 'Read Until'. The method, used with real-time nanopore sequencing, enables the user to analyse only DNA strands that contain pre-determined signatures of interest. Dr Matt Loose, of the Cell and Developmental Biology Research Group in the University's School of Life Sciences, has been working with the MinION, a new portable DNA sequencing technology produced by biotech company Oxford Nanopore Technologies (www.nanoporetech.com). All sequencing was carried out at The University of Nottingham Next Generation Sequencing Facility, DeepSeq. "This is the first time that direct selection of specific DNA molecules has been shown on any device," said Dr Loose. "We hope that it will enable many future novel applications, especially for portable sequencing. This makes sequencing as efficient as possible and will provide a viable, informatics based alternative to traditional wet lab enrichment techniques. The application of this approach to a wide number of problems from pathogen detection to sequencing targeted regions of the human genome is now within reach." The pocket-sized MinION device - the same technology which NASA recently sent to the International Space Station in an effort to investigate whether DNA sequencing is possible in microgravity - employs tiny molecular pores in a membrane that 'sense' the sequence of DNA fragments passing through these nanopores, producing minute fluctuations in a current trace. These current traces, termed 'squiggles' then need to be converted to DNA bases using base caller software, often located in the cloud. The University of Nottingham team used signal processing techniques to map these squiggles to reference sequences, by passing this step. In the paper, the Nottingham team go further, showing that this squiggle matching technique can be performed at a rate that enables decisions to be made about the fragment of DNA that is being sequenced before it has completely passed through the nanopore. Depending on the sequence, individual nanopores within the MinION can then be instructed to continue sequencing or to eject the current DNA fragment and start sequencing another. The Nottingham team show that this 'real-time selective sequencing', or as some have called it 'DNA tasting', can reduce the time needed to sequence key DNA fragments or enable the analysis of pathogen samples where there is host and other DNA present in the sample. The Read Until method/technique was developed by applying dynamic time warping to match short query current traces to references, demonstrating selection of specific regions of small genomes, individual amplicons from a group of targets, or normalisation of amplicons in a set. The ongoing development of this work is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). Please complete this form and we'll send you a personalised information that is requested You may use this for your own reference or forward it to your friends. Please use the information prudently. If you are not a medical doctor please remember to consult your healthcare provider as this information is not a substitute for professional advice. BEIJING, July 26 -- China will strengthen policy support for high-tech manufacturing during H2, a senior official has said. "The work of building the country into a global manufacturing powerhouse is moving from documents to implementation," vice minister of industry and information technology Feng Fei said on Monday afternoon. Emerging sectors, smart manufacturing and communications are expected to see specific guidelines in H2, while official five-year industrial plans on software, big data and new materials will also be rolled out, he said. Pilot projects will cover industrial Internet, manufacturing standards and aircraft engines. China plans to earmark 5.2 billion yuan (nearly 780 million U.S. dollars) from its central budget to improve manufacturing in 2016, up 50 percent from a year ago. The Chinese government in May 2015 unveiled a national plan, named "Made in China 2025", to develop more high-end products rather than churning out cheap, low quality goods. Advertisement The outer region of the brain known as cortex shrink in size and become thinner. As this happens, the levels of myelin increase within the cortex. Myeline was thought to reside mainly in the white matter. But the study revealed that myelin could also be found in the cortex and the levels increase during teenage years.The increase in myelin occurs in the association cortical areas or major connection points between different regions in the brain's network.Dr Kirstie Whitaker, of Cambridge University, said, "During our teenage years our brains continue to develop.When we're still children these changes may be more dramatic but in adolescence we see the changes refine the detail. The hubs that connect different regions are becoming set in place as the most important connections strengthen. We believe this is where we are seeing myelin increasing in adolescence."The MRI scans were compared to a 3D map called the Allen Brain Atlas which pinpoints genes.The researchers compared these MRI measures to a 3D map called the Allen Brain Atlas which pinpoints genes. The brain regions that exhibited the greatest MRI changes during the teenage years were those in which genes linked to schizophrenia risk were most strongly expressed.Professor Ed Bullmore, of Cambridge University, said, "Adolescence can be a difficult transitional period and it's when we typically see the first signs of mental health disorders such as schizophrenia and depression.This study gives us a clue why this is the case - it's during these teenage years those brain regions that have the strongest link to the schizophrenia risk genes are developing most rapidly.""As these regions are important hubs that control how regions of our brain communicate with each other, it shouldn't be too surprising that when something goes wrong there, it will affect how smoothly our brains work.""Disrupting the development of a brain hub could have as big an impact on the organ's function as disruption of a major airport, like Heathrow, will have on flow of passenger traffic across the airline network," he said.Dr Raliza Stoyanova, of the Wellcome Trust, which funded the study, said, "A number of mental health conditions first manifest during adolescence. Although we know the adolescent brain undergoes dramatic structural changes the precise nature of those changes and how they may be linked to disease is not understood.""This study sheds much-needed light on brain development in this crucial time period, and will hopefully spark further research in this area, and tell us more about the origins of serious mental health conditions such as schizophrenia."The study is published inSource: Medindia Advertisement The United States was one of the first wealthy countries to plateau, followed by others including Britain, Finland, and Japan. The height of men and women in Britain has increased by around 11 cm over the past century, while the height of U.S. men and women has risen by 6 cm and 5 cm. Meanwhile, people in Spain and Italy and many countries in Latin America and East Asia are still gaining height. East Asia has seen some of the biggest increases. People in Japan, China and South Korea are much taller than they were 100 years ago. Chinese men and women have gained around 11cm and 10 cm respectively.In contrast, some nations in sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East have seen average height decline over the past three to four decades. "The parts of the world where people haven't got particularly taller over this 100 years of analysis are in South Asia (such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) and in sub-Saharan Africa. Here the increase in height is between 1-6cm in those regions," explained co-author James Bentham from Imperial College London. In fact, in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, average heights have actually fallen since the 1970s. Nations like Uganda and Sierra Leone have seen a few centimetres come off the height of the average man.The height charts are now utterly dominated by European countries, but the data would suggest that growth trends in general in the West have largely levelled out. The smallest men on the planet are to be found in East Timor at 160cm (5ft 3in). The world's smallest women are in Guatemala, a status they also held back in 1914. According to the survey data, a century ago the average Guatemalan 18 year old female was 140cm (4ft 7in). Today she has still not quite reached 150cm (4ft 11in).Some of the variation in height across the globe can be explained by genetics, but the study's authors say our DNA cannot be the dominant factor. Human height is strongly influenced by nutrition and environmental factors, although genetic factors can also play a role in individuals. Children and teens who are better nourished and live in better environments tend to be taller. Research suggests a mother's health and nutrition during pregnancy may also play a role in how tall her children grow.Height also has lifelong consequences. Some studies have found that taller people tend to live longer, get a better education and earn more. But being tall may also increase some health risks, with studies linking height to a higher risk of developing ovarian and prostate cancers."This study gives us a picture of the health of nations over the past century," said lead scientist Majid Ezzati, a professor of public health from the Imperial College, London. He said the findings underlined the need to address children and adolescents environment and nutrition on a global scale.The research team, which included 800 members, worked with the World Health Organization, used data from various sources including military conscription figures, health and nutrition population surveys and epidemiological studies.The scientists use these to generate height information for 18 year olds in 1914 through to 18 year olds in 2014. The study also found thatSource: Medindia After the July 15 failed coup attempt in Turkey, Russian intellectual Fyodor Lukyanov[1] writes in an article, titled "People With Big Ambitions: What the Turkish Coup Means for Russia," that Moscow has grounds for satisfaction with the current situation. Lukyanov believes that Turkish president Recep Erdogan now needs to find reliable foreign partners to support his regime. However, Erdogan's "zigzag" policy has hardly gained him respect in any foreign capital, and Turkey might now regard Moscow as a possible strategic partner. Lukyanov writes that Turkey relations with the EU are worn down. The EU abandoned the idea of a common European home and if Turkey will reinstate the death penalty, as mooted after the failed coup, this would doom Turkey's chances of joining the EU and force Ankara to leave the Council of Europe. According to Lukyanov, the primary reason for the EU's diminished desire to cooperate with Ankara is that the European countries never fully accepted Turkey as "one of their own." Russia can sympathize with Turkey, as it as well has been treated by Europe as a "barbarian at the gate" notwithstanding the common cultural and historical heritage. Lukyanov views Erdogan's need for new allies, as an opportunity for a Turkey-Russia partnership, for offsetting and even reducing Western geopolitical influence. Lukyanov writes: "Europe is no longer the center of the world. Earlier, if Europe sneezed, the whole world caught cold. Now, however, three-fourths of humanity is simply uninterested in what ails these strange people with their oversized ambitions and diminishing ability to implement them properly." Below are excerpts from Lukyanov's article:[2] Fyodor Lukyanov (Source: Russiancouncil.ru) 'The Failed [Coup] Serves As A 'Super-Vote' Of Confidence For The Leader [Erdogan]' "...During the past five years of changes in the region, Turkey has come into conflict with practically all of its key partners, gotten mired in Syria's internal intrigues, confronted a sharp escalation of Kurdish dissatisfaction, and undermined its own economy that until then had enjoyed impressive growth. "Turkish President Recep Erdogan apparently realized some time ago that the country was heading nowhere, and this is what prompted recent attempts at reconciliation with Russia and Israel. However, he needed a weightier pretext in order to extricate the country from the dead end into which he had driven it, and the attempted coup came as a strange but convenient gift in this regard. "The failed attempt to overthrow the president serves as a 'super-vote' of confidence for the leader, blotting out his previous failures. He now has carte blanche to do what he had found so difficult to accomplish since the elections in June 2015. This primarily involves changing the constitution to transform Turkey into a presidential republic and entirely cleansing the state apparatus of disloyal or simply undesirable employees. "How will the impending changes affect foreign policy? The Turkish military has traditionally focused on the West, forming the cornerstone of Kemalism, the founding ideology of Turkey. The suppression of the uprising and its aftermath will most likely move the country in the opposite direction. Ankara practically demanded that Washington extradite Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric living in self-exile in the United States, whom Erdogan blamed for organizing the coup. However, the deportation of a person living in political exile violates U.S. principles and the request threatens to worsen the already strained relations between the two countries. "The Turkish authorities are speaking about reinstating the death penalty as if the question were already decided. This would end Turkey's chances of joining the EU because it would apparently force Ankara to leave the Council of Europe. It would also thwart Turkey's greatest aspiration of obtaining a visa-free regime with the EU. Brussels had promised to grant that request in return for Turkish cooperation on migration, but it had been frantically looking for a way to back out of the deal. Now Brussels will be only too happy to cancel it. "As for the Middle East, where Erdogan and his colleagues had taken steps toward reviving the Imperial Ottoman tradition, the new situation makes it possible to distance themselves from the disastrous results of that strategy. "Erdogan must have long ago realized that placing bets on the rapid fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime and increasing Turkey's influence there was a losing gamble. Now, against the backdrop of efforts by Moscow and Washington to find a joint solution on Syria - and, symbolically, as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held active talks in Russia on the subject even as the coup unfolded - Ankara can withdraw into the shadows and proffer support for the U.S.-Russian initiative process. Of course, that does not mean that Erdogan's ambitions will not resurface at the first promising shift in the regional situation. "It is possible that in the prevailing circumstances, Turkey will try returning to the path it had been sounding out prior to its Middle East gambit. That is, involvement in the affairs of Eurasia, a general shift toward the East and closer relations with Russia. Back in 2013, when Erdogan was still Turkish prime minister, he suggested during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that his country might join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The Russian president reacted with some surprise at the time, and Erdogan has yet to show any serious intentions on that account. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Erdogan (Source: Rt.com) 'Russia And Turkey Are... Two Great Powers Connected ... To A Europe That Never Fully Accepted Them As One Of Their Own' "What does all of this mean for Moscow? "If one overlooks Moscow's unflattering rush to return Russian tourists to Turkey after Ankara promised to guarantee their safety, the Kremlin has reason to be satisfied with the current state of affairs. Even if Erdogan mounts a hardline response to the attempted coup, his regime remains weakened. Shoring up his base at home also requires finding reliable partners abroad, and Erdogan's zigzagging will hardly win him respect in any foreign capitals. "Ankara and Moscow can now resume important joint economic projects that were suspended after Turkey downed a Russian fighter jet in November last year. However, tensions surrounding the so-called Turkish Stream [pipeline] project have not diminished,[3] and worsening Turkish-EU relations will not increase Brussels' desire to work with Ankara in such a sensitive area as the transit of strategic raw materials. At the same time, this might lend new importance to the Akkuyu nuclear power plant and Rosatom, having already invested money in the project, can now breathe a sigh of relief.[4] "Despite their obvious differences and even antagonisms, Russia and Turkey are united by one thing - the fact that they are two great powers connected historically, culturally and geographically to a Europe that never fully accepted them as one of their own. "Following the Cold War, they both fell out of the 'Greater Europe' project, based on European integration. Paradoxically, both Vladimir Putin and Recep Erdogan made great efforts in the early years of their rule to ensure that their countries were included in that project. "Three processes are now occurring simultaneously. Russia and Turkey refuse to orient themselves toward Europe, and the integration project has hit a severe structural crisis. The post-Cold War idea of a common European home has lost currency and European policy is backtracking all the way to the multipolar Europe of the 19th century. "Multipolar Europe was a time when competition between countries was the normal state of relations, small countries were a source of discord and a headache for everyone, and the 'barbarians at the gate' - Russia and Turkey - were torn by feelings of both love and hate toward Europe proper. That situation generated constant conflicts and wars. "Of course, history never repeats itself exactly, and today's situation differs in at least one way: Europe is no longer the center of the world. Earlier, if Europe sneezed, the whole world caught cold. "Now, however, three-fourths of humanity is simply uninterested in what ails these strange people with their oversized ambitions and diminishing ability to implement them properly." Endnotes: Following the release on July 1, 2016 of the Quartet report on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which called for the cessation of violence and advancement of the two-state solution, Ashraf al-'Ajrami, a former minister for prisoner affairs in the Palestinian Authority (PA) and a columnist for the PA daily Al-Ayyam, penned an article responding to the report. 'Ajrami condemned the report for holding the Palestinians and Israelis equally responsible for the impasse in resolving the conflict. At the same time, he also directed criticism at the PA leadership for allowing such a report to be released as well as for its governing of the West Bank. He noted that the security situation there is steadily deteriorating, and that popular support for the PA is considerably low. He stressed that the Palestinians should avoid targeting civilians - such the action of the Palestinian who broke into a home in a West Bank settlement and stabbed a young girl to death as she slept - because such attacks tarnish the Palestinian's image and benefit Israel. He advocated sticking to non-violent resistance that places Israel in a difficult position and advances the Palestinian cause in the world. Ashraf al-'Ajrami (image: pldf.net) The following are excerpts from his article:[1] "The Palestinians have every right to protest the Quartet report that [even] Israeli politician Yossi Beilin called 'shameful,' and this is the lightest term that can be applied to it. This meaningless report reduces the conflict to a discussion of the steps that each side must take, and holds both sides equally responsible for the situation we are in. The report reflects a significant retreat on the part of the Quartet and offers nothing that can help advance the political process. It does not discuss the need to address the heart of the conflict, namely the occupation and its actions on the ground. Though it notes that the settlements jeopardize the two-state solution, [it implies] that Israeli wants a solution and is merely taking [certain] measures that could delay or hinder it, while the Palestinian side is responsible for incitement and violence and is sabotaging the efforts to reach a solution, and perhaps is [even] responsible for the crimes of the occupation. This report effectively reflects a vague or passive position towards the conflict on the part of the Quartet, [a conflict] that is a fuse that could set the region on fire and affect the cycle of violence and terror it is currently [caught] in. "Israel's response to the report was not long in coming. Not only did Israel reject the notion that the settlements are detrimental for the two-state solution, it defied the international community by announcing an unprecedented [wave of] construction in the settlements, [namely] the construction of hundreds of housing units in occupied Jerusalem, in the settlements around it and in various parts of the West Bank, while issuing statements [describing] the reinforcement of settlements as a response to what it calls Palestinian terror. This recklessness, the encouragement of settlements and the efforts towards annexing a large part of the West Bank reflect a consensus between the Israeli public and government... "We can blame the Quartet, the international community and the superpowers forever, and hold all of them responsible for the results of the occupation that is oppressing our people and our land. We can accuse all the international elements of helplessness - but have we done what is required of us? Was the Palestinian diplomacy sufficiently responsible in fulfilling its duty to prevent the publication of such a report, as Israel did when it delayed its release and [had them] change its message and its language? Of course [we did not do enough]. We are preoccupied only with questions of... how to distribute funds, who will fulfill what position and who will be in charge. "The truth is that we are in the worst possible situation and are quickly sliding into an abyss. It's not just our domestic performance as a governing body that has reached a nadir in terms of its popularity, [for] barely a third of the public [supports it]. The security situation is steadily slipping [towards chaos]... that benefits Israel. [In addition,] our political and media message is confused, a sort of mixture of rationality regarding our national interest and an escalating extremism that is [the result of] being swayed by sectors of the public who are affected by the crimes of the occupation. It is difficult to see our media taking up a clear discourse reflecting a unified leadership stance that helps to shape public opinion [in ways that] promote our interests. "We can no longer distinguish between the mistakes that do us considerable damage and must be pointed out - such as attacks on civilians, like the murder of the girl in her sleep[2] - and measures that confront the occupation efficiently and effectively. We are dragged into doing [precisely] what the Israeli government wants, namely into the rubric of armed struggle, especially against civilians. This not only places us in conflict with the Israeli army, which has [military] superiority over us and is able to do us considerable damage, as happened in the Second Intifada. It can [also] absolve Israel of political responsibility and make us just as responsible for the situation as Israel [itself]... The violence of the Israeli authorities is aimed at preventing us from engaging in non-violent popular resistance that causes Israel distress, embarrasses it in the international arena and places it in conflict with a defenseless people that is demanding its rights of an occupation machine, armed to the teeth, that is persecuting it. "We no longer hear a brave and explicit Palestinian position that refutes the Israeli claims and stresses our patriotic and moral [stance], based on a decisive and unanimous realization that it is necessary to focus on popular resistance that will put Israel in a corner and expose its shame. Moreover, some people are carried away by declarations that sound very much like hollow and irritating slogans that cannot be implemented in any measure, and only [serve to make us] responsible for 'inciting violence'... Without a doubt, we must give some serious thought to shaping our political discourse, in terms of its content and language, so it will serve our interests and advance our cause in the international arena." Endnotes: ABU DHABI, July 26 -- Fully-solar energy powered plane Solar Impulse 2 (SI2), developed and flown by Swiss psychiatrist and adventurer Bertrand Piccard, landed here safely Tuesday morning, after completing the aircraft's world tour that started on March 9, 2015. The last and 17th leg of the 22-meter-long plane from Cairo to Abu Dhabi took around 48 hours. The aircraft arrived at Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), at 4:05 a.m. local time (0005 GMT). "The first thing I will do is after I land, I will thank the team," Piccard told the CNN in midair when he overflew Saudi Arabian airspace. Upon arrival at 36 degrees Celcius in the dark, the 58-year-old Piccard was greeted by his Swiss co-founder and pilot partner Andre Borschberg, UAE Minister of State Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Swiss Vice President Doris Leuthard and Prince Albert II of Monaco. Hundreds of media representatives, officials and corporate executives from the UAE, Switzerland and Monaco joined the arrival. "Andre Borschberg and myself waited for this moment for 15 years," Piccard said in his first address after landing. "We flew 40,000 kilometers without fuel. It is now up to everyone to change the world by using renewable energy. The future is clean," he added. During its 16-month-long world tour, SI2 made stops in Oman, India, Myanmar, China, Japan, the United States, Europe and Africa. The two Swiss adventurers took turns piloting the plane from trip to trip as SI2 has only one pilot seat. "During his last flight, we prepared 5 liters of water," said Gaelle Schlup-Olivier, head of Experimental Kitchen, with Swiss nutrition giant Nestle who developed the food for both pilots. She told Xinhua that Piccard's favorite meal was Swiss Muesli, while Borschberg preferred non-meat meals, "although he is not a vegetarian per se." Piccard is the son of the undersea explorer Jacques Piccard who beat at that time a world record, as he dived in 1960 with a two-man submarine to the descent of 10,916 meters on the floor of the Mariana Trench in the North Pacific Ocean. Piccard's grandfather is Auguste Piccard who beat the altitude world record with a balloon, reaching 15,781 meters during his first flight in 1931, and 16,201 meters during the second flight in 1932. SI2 was not the first Swiss innovative means of transport showcased live in the UAE. In 2007, Swiss teacher and green energy activist Louis Palmer did a stopover in Dubai when he logged over 54,000 km through over 40 countries with his Solartaxi, a car solely powered by the attached trail which carried a solar-panel. In January 2012, during the annual World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, MS Turanor PlanetSolar, the largest solar-powered boat in the world owned by Swiss company PlanetSolar SA, stopped at the coast of Abu Dhabi before it completed its two-year trip around the world without using a single liter of petrol, sailing home to its original port in Monaco. Hosted by Peoples Daily, the 2016 Media Cooperation Forum on One Belt & One Road is set to open on Tuesday morning. 212 mainstream media from 101 countries will gather at the China National Convention Center, in Beijing. (Photo/People's Daily Online) The IMF could provide cheaper loans to Azerbaijan - Minister of Finance Azerbaijan has criticised the International Monetary Fund for its response to the oil price crash,arguing that the stigma associated with borrowing from the fund has prevented it from supporting energy rich countries.The IMF said the decrease in oil price would have a positive impact on the global economy. It has not happened, Samir Sharifov, Azerbaijans finance minister, told the Financial Times.The stigma of [needing assistance from] the IMF prevents many countries from approaching the fund to address a very small problem before it becomes really big.Mr Sharifovs complaint hits at a concern for the IMF. In the wake of the collapse of global oil prices, a growing number of governments have shunned the IMFs emergency lending in favour of low interest loans from the World Bank. The bank said last week that its total lending in the fiscal year to the end of June surged to $61bn largely because of growing demand for such budgetary support.Azerbaijan, which has traditionally relied on hydrocarbons for 95 per cent of its exports, briefly flirted with a $4bn package of loans from the IMF and World Bank early this year. Mr Sharifov said the country, with little debt and a sovereign wealth fund worth $34bn, never needed bailing out. But he added the IMF could have provided Azerbaijan with much cheaper loans than the market rate.If we borrowed [at a rate of] around 7 per cent, and there is a funding which is available at much cheaper terms, for example, from IMF it would be . . . 1 per cent . . . why should I not blend it? he asked. For me it is not an issue of bailing out the economy, it is an issue of funding the way I can get cheap funding.The IMF tried to address the stigma attached to its emergency lending by creating new precautionary facilities following the 2008 global financial crisis. Those facilities have been tapped by countries such as Mexico and Kenya but their use remains relatively rare. Mr Sharifov said the IMF was working on four or five new products to address the issue. This is the kind of conversation which the IMF is having with many oil rich countries, he said. Some of course borrow from international capital markets. At the same time there is an institution sitting on cash which they cannot basically disburse.Baku is in talks with a range of international financial institutions, including the World Bank.The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Asian Development Bank, are investing $5bn in loans and guarantees to fund its share of a pipeline project that would deliver Caspian gas directly to Europe for the first time, Mr Sharifov said. Azerbaijan would be able to fund its share of the project, estimated at $13bn, even without support from international organizations, he added.Despite the shock that we have experienced, I believe we are resilient, Mr Sharifov said. President Aliyev directed the government to prepare for the so called post oil era. This is the policy which we now have to accelerate. The Belt and Road Initiative has helped to create 60,000 jobs around the world with its total investment of more than $1.4 billion so far, a top legislator said Tuesday. Chinese President Xi Jinping first proposed the Belt and Road Initiative during state visits to Central and Southeast Asia in the spring of 2013. The initiative has been widely supported since that time, especially in countries along the Belt and Road route, said Wang Chen, vice chairman and secretary general of the National Peoples Congress (NPC) Standing Committee. Wang made his remarks at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Media Cooperation Forum on Belt and Road that began July 26 in Beijing. Wang said that over 70 countries, regions and international organizations have actively participated in Belt and Road construction. He added that China has signed cooperative agreements with more than 30 countries, and over 20 countries have signed industrial capacity cooperative agreements. Some 46 overseas cooperation zones have been established in 17 countries along the Belt and Road route. Belt and Road construction has become a common dream, guiding us to pursue peace and development for people in many countries, Wang said. The annual media forum, which is hosted by Peoples Daily, has been held each year since 2014. It is the media forum with the greatest number of participants from various countries and foreign media organizations held by a Chinese media group in recent years, according Yang Zhenwu, president of People's Daily, at the opening ceremony. One Belt, One Road is claimed to be, up the now, the worlds largest global economic recovery plan, and marks Chinas contribution to the global governance and peace, said Yang Zhenwu, President of the People's Daily, while addressing the opening ceremony of the Media Cooperation Forum on "One Belt, One Road" in Beijing on Tuesday. The initiative aims to promote the efficient allocation of resources and deep integration of markets, and to encourage the countries along the Belt and Road to achieve economic policy coordination. Yang added. According to Yang, China has signed agreements with more than 30 countries to further this initiative. More than 70 countries and organizations expressed their support and willingness to join, essentially forming an international cooperation frame with extensive influences, Yang added. In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the initiative of jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, when visiting the Central and Southeast Asian countries. One Belt refers to a link stretching from China to Europe through Central Asia, while One Road refers to a link from China to its port facilities on Africas coastline and through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea. Collaborative construction of an infrastructure network connecting all sub-regions in Asia and between Asia, Europe and Africa is one of the main focuses of the economic initiative. Inspired by the vision, the Peoples Daily has been consecutively hosting the annual Media Cooperation Forum on "One Belt, One Road" since 2014. The forum aims at deepening the media cooperation among the Belt and Road countries. Expected outcomes of this years forum include the launch of a multi-language platform that facilitates global media collaboration and coverage about the Belt and Road initiative, founding a new media alliance, and seting up a secretariat for the Media Cooperation Forum on Belt and Road, Yang said. The Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Nikos Xydakis, noted during his intervention at the informal meeting of the EU General Affairs Council (GAC) that the latest developments in the EU and the wider European neighbourhood (UK referendum, attempted coup in Turkey) have increased political instability and created a variety of tension hotspots. We need to read these developments correctly and try to organize a European response, particularly ahead of the new presidential election in Austria and the referendum in Hungary. He continued, stressing that the new second-round presidential election in Austria holds the risk of an extreme-right presidents being elected, and that the referendum in Hungary, in the case of a positive outcome for the government in Budapest, means that a decision of the European Council can be called into question by a domestic referendum in a single country. The agenda for the GAC, which met today in Bratisalva, included a) assessment of the implementation of the European Councils Strategic Agenda (June 2014) and redefining of priorities for acceleration of the implementation of the Agendas goals, and b) finding ways to improve the EUs communication strategy, with the aim of halting euroskepticism and the centrifugal trends observed in the Union and expressed in the result of the British referendum. During his intervention, Mr. Xydakis talked of the technocratization of EU policy, clarifying that the political problems are reduced to a technical level, with a kind of EU idiolect prevailing an idiolect that cannot be understood by the wider public while instead of the problems being solved by the politicians themselves, who have democratic legitimacy, Euro-bureaucrats are trying to solve them. Favoring the community method over the intergovernmental, he stated that at such a critical time, the impression is being given that the struggle for convergence, cohesion and solidarity among the EU member states has definitively failed. For this reason, because such struggles must not be definitively lost, we need to persist in the community method and reject inter-governmentalism. We need to continue to strive towards communitization of the budget and towards the shifting of surpluses. Mr. Xydakis spoke of political instability that is due to the absence of a socially cohesive center in todays EU, noting that the prevailing image is of social fragmentation, with the exclusion of social strata and with impoverishment. Mr. Xydakis closed his intervention by making a call for defence of democracy (Republique) and of the religiously neutral state (Etat laique). Global media organizations demonstrate strong willingness to report on China's Belt and Road Initiative, according to attendees at a media forum hosted by People's Daily on July 26. In interviews with People's Daily Online, both Reuters and Bloomberg expressed their ambitions to cover this initiative, which will affect the global economy. Reuters plans to establish a specific section for Belt and Road Initiative, as its readers are both interested in and eager to better understand the initiative, as well as what opportunities it will produce, according to Johnathn Leff, Global Head of Financial News Strategy at Reuters in an exclusive interview with People's Daily Online. David Merritt, Executive Editor for Asia Pacific at Bloomberg News, said they will continue to cover each big event that is part of the initiative. He said that his organization is most interested in how the initiative will be funded and how it will impact the companies that have invested in the program. Discussing the Silk Road Fund, Merritt said the public did not currently have a sufficient understanding of how the fund operates. Bloomberg plans to follow the fund in the future, according to Merritt, who believed that Bloomberg plays an important role in keeping international investors informed about the Belt and Road Initiative. In a congratulatory message to the forum, President Xi Jinping said that media plays an essential role in communicating information, enhancing mutual trust and building consensus. Echoing Xi's opinion, Ahmed Elsayed, Chairman of Al-Ahram, an Egyptian daily paper, said that media should stick to the principles of objectiveness and balance to spread truth, to focus on the commonalities of human beings, and to avoid crisis. "Only by doing this can the press improve its credibility," said Elsayed in his keynote speech at the forum. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere addresses a press conference in Berlin, Germany, July 25, 2016. Thomas de Maiziere said Monday a terrorism link to the suicide attack in Ansbach could not be ruled out. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan) BERLIN, July 25 -- German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Monday a terrorism link to a suicide attack in southern Germany on Sunday night could not be ruled out. De Maiziere told a press conference in Berlin that the investigation on the attack outside a music festival in Ansbach, a city in southern German state of Bavaria, was still in an early stage. "It cannot be ruled out that it had a connection with international terrorism," he said. The attacker, a 27-year-old Syrian denied asylum in Germany, might also have mental disorder. It could be "a combination of both," De Maiziere added. Fifteen people were injured in the suicide explosion, according to the latest information provided by police. Four remain in serious condition. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told a separate press conference in Nuremberg on Monday that a video was found in the attacker's mobile phone. In the video, the attacker referred to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, spoke of "revenge" against Germany. According to De Maiziere, the Syrian arrived in Germany two years ago and applied for asylum protection in August 2014. His application was rejected by Germany in December 2014, as officials found records of similar asylum applications in Bulgaria and Austria. Germany tried to deport him to Bulgaria where his asylum application had been approved, said De Maiziere. However, the man managed to stay in Germany because he had medical certificates proving mental instability. The attacker had tried to commit suicide twice, according to De Maiziere, and received temporary treatment in a psychiatric hospital. NAIROBI, July 26 -- A half brother of U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday that he will vote for Republican nominee Donald Trump in the presidential election this November. Trump is "down-to-earth" and "cool," but Barack Obama has neglected his family since taking office in 2009, Malik Obama told reporters by phone from the western Kenyan village of Kogelo, President Obama's ancestral home. Malik Obama, born in Hawaii, has dual citizenship. He said he has voted in U.S. elections since the 1980s. "This Trump guy is a really cool guy. He appeals to me and also I think that he is down-to-earth and he speaks from the heart and he is not trying to be politically correct. He's just straightforward. It is not like someone is prompting him," said Malik. He also praised Trump's emphasis on national security, saying: "Trump is so much concerned about security and he wants to make America great." He said Trump's stance against Muslims coming to the United States was understandable. "I'm a Muslim, of course, but you can't have people going around just shooting people and killing people just in the name of Islam," he said. Malik, having visited the president in the Oval office and was also best man at Barack Obama's wedding, accused his sibling for not having done more for his Kenyan families and the African country. Last year President Obama paid his first visit to Kenya, but did not visit his extended family in Kogelo. "This is the time we need him most, not when he is out of the White House," said Malik. "I still love my brother, but it still baffles me that when he came to Kenya he told us that he can't associate too much with family back home just because he is the president of the United States. It does not make any sense at all," he said. PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Police chiefs of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathered in Malaysia on Tuesday to kick off a four-day conference with anti-terror high on the agenda, weeks after the host country suffered its first attack linked to the Islamic State. When addressing the opening ceremony of the 36th Conference of the ASEAN Chiefs of Police (ASEANAPOL), Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said terror-related incidents around the world is proof that terrorism is an even greater threat than it has been in the past. A grenade attack at a night pub near Kuala Lumpur, the country's capital, on June 28 was carried out on the orders of a Malaysian Islamic State fighter in Syria, Malaysian police has said. Citing the Jakarta attacks in early 2016, Najib said Malaysia is "far from immune to this danger," also urging the attendees to enhance cooperation and to share and analyze the best practices from various initiatives in combatting violent extremism. Malaysian authorities have announced plans to increase security at airports across Malaysia following recent terrorist events such as attacks at Turkey's Istanbul Ataturk Airport and Belgium's Brussels Airport in Zaventem. The conference also brought together police representatives from dialogue partner countries -- China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and those from INTERPOL Secretariat. Liao Jinrong, director-general of the international cooperation department at China's ministry of public security, said China will further enhance its cooperation with ASEAN police agencies to combat transnational crimes, including terrorism-related activities and telecom fraud. "Not a single country can deal with such kind of criminal activities alone," he added. The conference will also talk about issues affecting the region including human trafficking, fire arms control and wildlife smuggling. The arrests occurred at Saturday night's show at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. Investigators say 30-year-old Kimberly Goodman was charged with aggravated assault against two state troopers, who received minor injuries. State troopers say there were also arrests for solicitation without a permit, disorderly persons, criminal trespassing, simple assault, drug offenses, resisting arrests, open lewdness and harassment. It's unclear if Goodman has an attorney. The well-dressed men who gathered in Cleveland's Ritz-Carlton bar after Donald Trump's speech accepting the Republican nomination for president prefer the term "Europeanists," ''alt-right," or even "white nationalists." They are also die-hard Trump supporters. And far from hiding in chat rooms or under white sheets, they cheered the GOP presidential nominee from inside the Republican National Convention over the last week. While not official delegates, they nevertheless obtained credentials to attend the party's highest-profile quadrennial gathering. Several gathered in the luxury hotel well after midnight following Trump's Thursday address, a fiery appeal they said helped push the Republican Party closer to their principles. "I don't think people have fully recognized the degree to which he's transformed the party," said Richard Spencer, a clean-cut 38-year-old from Arlington, Virginia, who sipped Manhattans as he matter-of-factly called for removing African-Americans, Hispanics and Jews from the United States. Like most in his group, Spencer said this year's convention was his first. On his social media accounts, he posted pictures of himself wearing a red Trump "Make America Great Again" hat at Quicken Loans Arena. And he says he hopes to attend future GOP conventions. "Tons of people in the alt-right are here," he said, putting their numbers at the RNC this week in the dozens. "We feel an investment in the Trump campaign." He and his group chatted up convention-goers late into the night, including an executive from a major Jewish organization and a female board member of the Republican Jewish Coalition. They sat at the marble bar as Spencer explained his position on blacks, Hispanics and Jews. They challenged him repeatedly and expressed shock at how calmly he dismissed their rejection of his ideals. "We'll help them go somewhere else. I'm not a maniac," Spencer said of the minorities he wants to eject from the country. "I know in order to achieve what I want to achieve, you have to deal with people rationally." The New York billionaire has publicly disavowed the white supremacist movement when pressed by journalists. Asked to respond to the white supremacists presence at the convention, campaign spokesman Jason Miller said: "Donald Trump has a lifetime record of inclusion and has publicly rebuked groups who seek to discriminate against others on numerous occasions. To suggest otherwise is a complete fabrication of the truth." Sean Spicer, chief strategist for the Republican National Committee, said convention organizers release credentials in large blocks to state delegations, special guests and media outlets. Officials have little control over where they end up, he said, noting that even protesters from the liberal group Code Pink managed to get into the convention hall. "People get tickets through various means, including the media," Spicer said. "In no way, shape or form would we ever sanction any group or individual that espoused those views." Yet Trump's "America First" message, backed by his call for a massive border wall and focus on immigrants who are criminals, has energized people like Spencer. He described their mood as "euphoric." Seizing on that energy, former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke on Friday announced a bid for the Senate. The Louisiana Republican likened his policies on trade and immigration to Trump's in an announcement video. "I'm overjoyed to see Donald Trump and most Americans embrace most of the issues that I've championed for years," Duke said. "My slogan remains 'America First.'" "America First" was first used in 1940 by the America First Committee, a short-lived isolationist faction that formed to pressure the U.S. government not to join the Allies' war against Germany. Trump referred to "America First" repeatedly in his convention speech Thursday night, highlighting people murdered by immigrants in the country illegally and warning of rising inner-city crime. Earlier in the week, a convention screen displayed a tweet with the hashtag "#TrumpIsWithYou" from a self-described member of the alt-right, one of the thousands of tweets promoted over the course of the week. "Nearly 180,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records, ordered deported from our country, are tonight roaming free to threaten peaceful citizens," Trump charged in his speech. Such a message, combined with the Trump campaign's repeated brushes with white supremacist material on social media, has drawn criticism from Republican leaders. House Speaker Paul Ryan was among those who spoke out against a recent Trump tweet that showed an image shaped like the Star of David over Hillary Clinton's likeness and a pile of money. Trump has repeatedly re-tweeted messages from Twitter users with questionable profiles, including an individual with the handle "@WhiteGenocideTM." And late last year, he re-tweeted inaccurate and racially charged crime statistics that vastly overstated the percentage of whites killed by blacks. His team accidentally, it said selected as a delegate a white nationalist leader who paid for pro-Trump robo-calls during the GOP primary. He was removed. There are no indications Trump himself has consciously courted these groups, but the series of errors, compounded by Trump's muddled condemnation of supremacist supporters early in the campaign, have forced allies to answer uncomfortable questions as Republican leaders try to improve the party's standing with minority voters. When asked about Trump's white supremacist supporters, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump ally, noted that Trump has repudiated Duke. "He'll be more aggressive with Duke than you will have Hillary being with people who are saying terrible things with Black Lives Matter. Let's hear her condemn some of the guys who called for killing cops," Gingrich said. But Gingrich conceded it bothered him that white supremacists were drawn to the Republican National Convention this year. "I don't want white supremacists anywhere," Gingrich said. "Trump last night was pretty clear about that. This is a country that has to provide opportunity for everybody." Yet that wasn't clear to the group gathered at the Ritz-Carlton after the speech. Spencer and a handful of like-minded friends, most wearing convention credentials and Trump paraphernalia, said the nativist overtones and the series of tweets over the last year marked a clear nod to them. "Trust me. Trump thinks like me," Spencer said. "Do you think it's a coincidence that everybody like me loves Trump and supports him?" Chinese women have a long history of pursuing whiter and brighter skin. To achieve that luminous glow, generations of women have counted exfoliation, brightening and moisturizing as their three key steps. Here are some of the products ancient Chinese women used on their skin. 1. Rice water [Photo provided to China Daily] Chinese women utilized pan water used to wash rice to remove residue and brighten their skin, as early as the Qing Dynasty (1644-1944). The practice was described in the Book of Ritesor Liji, a collection of texts describing the social norms, administration and ceremonial rites, which recommended using warm panto wash one's face. The panhere refers to those produced from fine rice, in which its starch, vitamins and proteins are said to be beneficial to the skin. Even today, washing one's face with water used to clean rice is one of the most popular homemade skincare routines. Everyone at Rawson Memorial Library in Cass City, for helping adults enjoy coloring again. Those responsible for the kickoff of another Pigeon SummerFest. Nicole Franzel of Ubly, for once again keeping her wits and her place in the Big Brother house on CBS. All the police and other volunteers who helped children enjoy the summer Recreation Program in Elkton. The many local students who made the deans list at Saginaw Valley State University. Sherman Township farmer Darrin Siemen, who acted fast when his baler and farm field recently caught fire. Everyone responsible for the recent successful Bluewater Thumb Youth for Christ Auction. Pitcher Nikki Bauer and second baseman Kayla Gremel of Unionville-Sebewaing Area High School, who helped lead the states Red Team to victory in state softball all-star action. Bride Tara Gaeth, groom Phil Rorher and everyone else who enjoyed the annual Unionville Car and Bike Summer Fest. All the youth and adults who helped kids from Huron, St. Clair, Sanilac and Tuscola counties to attend the Thumb Area 4-H Camp at Camp Cavell in Lexington. The late Col. William H. Nelson of Filion, who died in Vietnam in service of his country 50 years ago. The many 4-H county delegates who attended 4-H Exploration Days. Everyone who helped Harbor Beach host its annual cart races. The hosts of Fridays Music in Rotary Park in Cass City. The official and employees who helped Hills & Dales General Hospitals Kingston Family Practice gain accreditation from the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities. All the folks who attended the Leitch-Haley family reunion recently at Ackerman Park in Elkton. Everyone who participated in the Marlette Regional Hospital spring walking program. The 2016 Summerfest Queen candidates Michaela Love, Kaitlyn Reinhardt, Karleigh Irion and Michelle Schulze. Marc Tenbusch, the grand marshal of the recent Ubly Homecoming Grand Parade. Hillary Clinton doubled down Monday on her commitment to preserve the full education benefits now provided by the GI Bill to post-9/11 veterans and their families to attend college. Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, also renewed a vow that as president she would oppose attempts to privatize health care for veterans provided by the Veterans Health Administration under the Department of Veterans Affairs. Clinton made the remarks at the annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Charlotte, North Carolina. Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, was to address the convention Tuesday. "I will protect, preserve and defend the post-9/11 GI Bill," Clinton said. "It has opened doors of opportunity to more than one million veterans and family members." "Unfortunately, there are some Republicans in Congress chipping away at it," Clinton said, referring to a proposal in the Senate that would cut the housing allowance for the family members of veterans. On the House side, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Washington state Republican, has a draft proposal that would not impact GI Bill benefits but would expand veterans' choices on health care and set up "a non-profit entity to manage the care provided to veterans at the VA," a spokeswoman said. Clinton's speech received what some news organizations described as "tepid" applause. Near the start of her address, someone in the audience shouted, "How about Benghazi?" Another man said "Can't stand her," and walked out as Clinton began talking, the Charlotte Observer reported. Clinton also took a position on veterans health care that was in stark contrast to that of Trump. "In a Clinton administration, "We're going to have a 21st century Department of Veterans Affairs," she said. "Like you, I was outraged by the VA scandals" that left veterans seeking health care "languishing on a waiting list for an appointment," she said. Reforming the VA "will be one of my highest priorities, Clinton said, "but I'll tell you this -- we are not going to privatize the VA, we are going to reform it and make it work for every veteran in America." Trump's website said, "Under a Trump Administration, all veterans eligible for VA health care can bring their veteran's ID card to any doctor or care facility that accepts Medicare to get the care they need immediately. Our veterans have earned the freedom to choose better or more convenient care from the doctor and facility of their choice." Clinton also pledged to improve the transition for troops from military health care to VA coverage, boost programs for female veterans and "end the epidemic of veteran suicide." She never mentioned Trump's name in remarks delivered as the Democratic National Convention was opening in Philadelphia, but took several swipes clearly aimed at the Republican nominee. Clinton portrayed herself as the optimistic candidate seeking to improve a nation that was already great, rather than one who would "Make America Great Again" -- Trump's campaign slogan. "I don't understand people who trash-talk America," she said. The U.S. has "capabilities that no other country comes close to matching" and "we have the world's greatest military -- don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct a reference to proposed benefits changes beginning in the fifth paragraph. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. 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. The U.S. Army has announced an 800-soldier aviation unit will deploy later this summer to Afghanistan. The service on Tuesday said soldiers from the 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, at Fort Riley, Kansas, will head overseas sometime after this month and before October, along with aircraft including AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and UH-60 Black Hawk utility choppers. The deployment is part of a regular rotation of forces to the country in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel, the name of the U.S. counter-terrorism operation against the remnants of al-Qaida, an emerging offshoot of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and other terror groups. Maj. Gen. Wayne W. Grigsby Jr., the commanding general of the 1st Infantry Division, said the unit is ready for the mission. "The Demon brigade has trained long and hard for this important mission, and the men and women of this great unit are prepared and ready," he said in the release. "I am extremely confident in this team and know they will be value added to the force in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel." President Barack Obama earlier this month announced a change in plans for U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan when he said 8,400 American service members would stay in the country into next year, leaving it up to his potential successor Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton to decide on the size of the military footprint there. The president initially planned to reduce the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan to 5,500 before he left office but changed course after a recommendation from Army Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in country. The current authorized level of U.S. troops in Afghanistan through the rest of the year stands at 9,800. The U.S. troops are split between two missions that will continue -- NATO's Resolute Support mission to advise Afghan security forces and the separate Freedom's Sentinel. -- Richard Sisk contributed to this report. -- Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Brendan_McGarry. Related Video: The retired U.S. Army general and former NATO commander accused of masterminding the recent failed coup in Turkey has an alibi -- he was having a beer with Fox News Channel's Geraldo Rivera. Yeni Safak, a Turkish tabloid known as friendly to the increasingly authoritarian regime in Ankara, hit newsstands Monday with a front-page blaring in Turkish "This man led the coup," alongside a picture of U.S. Army Gen. J.F. Campbell. It was news to Campbell, who retired in May after a distinguished, 37-year career that saw him most recently serve in both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Campbell served as commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force from August 2014 to earlier this year. "I haven't traveled outside the U.S. since I came back from Afghanistan in March," Campbell told FoxNews.com. "I have no idea why they picked me for this headline. "In fact, on the day of the coup I think I was in New York City with Geraldo having a beer," he added. The newsman corroborated the general's claim. "I absolutely vouch for General Campbell," Rivera said. "The only thing we were overthrowing were a series of Stella Artois [beers]." As bizarre as the claim may be, some experts said the accusation ratchets up tensions with the U.S. in a way that could put Americans at risk. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has used the coup to justify a massive crackdown on opposition, is playing a dangerous game by pointing the finger at the U.S. "This is absolutely nuts," said Fox News contributor and former Army Lt. Col. Ralph Peters. "Erdogan's cynical, though, and often plays the nationalist card. There's no easier target than the Americans." The State Department referred requests for comment to Campbell, who said no one from the U.S. government has contacted him about the matter. "This anti-American rhetoric reminds [me of] the '79 Iranian revolution and what happened afterward. It is a very dangerous approach," Ahmet Yayla, former chief of counter-terrorism for the Turkish National Police and a member of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism, tweeted Monday. Yayla said the irresponsible charge is part of Turkeys self-isolation from the West in the wake of the coup attempt. Erdogan has declared a three-month state of emergency after the failed coup and detained as many as 50,000 academics, judges, soldiers and civil servants. He has seized control of thousands of public and private institutions, rooting out all of those he suspects of sympathizing with his arch-enemy, U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. The U.S. response to the crackdown has been muted, and Secretary of State John Kerry is considering Turkeys demand that Gulen, who lives in a compound in the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania, be turned over. NATO and European leaders have expressed alarm at the breadth and rapidity of the crackdown, which critics fear is an effort by Erdogan, to cement his hold on power and move the constitutionally secular nation toward an Islamist government. Still, rumors and accusations of U.S. involvement in the coup attempt have been circulating for more than a week. Several of the fighter planes involved in bombing government facilities took off from the jointly operated Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, from which the U.S. conducts air strikes against the Islamic State. President Obama told Erdogan in a telephone conversation last week that reports the U.S. was involved in the coup were "unequivocally false." Obama also said he hoped "there is not an overreaction that could, in some fashion, lead to curtailment of civil liberties," according to a spokesman. Gulen, once a political ally of Erdogan, has a large following embedded throughout Turkish society and Erdogan believes he played a leading role in the coup. Gulen runs a global network of Islamist schools and charities. The United States says it will only extradite Gulen to Turkey if it receives strong evidence that he was involved in the coup. Campbell said he has never met Gulen. Before Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump took the stage Tuesday at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald made an impassioned defense of the department and argued that its transformation was "well underway." McDonald, a former Army captain who ran the consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble before becoming secretary in July 2014, didn't mention Trump by name, but he clearly took aim at his plan to "reform" the department. "You've heard many times that VA is broken," McDonald said at the event in Charlotte, North Carolina. "So I'll answer one question: Can the Department of Veterans Affairs be fixed? Can it be transformed? The answer is yes. Absolutely. Not only can it be transformed, transformation is well underway -- and we're already seeing results." Citing positive-trending statistics on everything from veteran homelessness to access to care, the secretary sought to highlight how the department was in the process of making sweeping change and improving the lives of those who had served in the military. For example, McDonald said the number of homeless veterans nationwide has decreased by more than a third -- 36 percent -- since 2000, with two unnamed states "effectively" ending the problem and Los Angeles reporting particularly strong declines. He didn't cite actual population figures, though the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2015 reported some 48,000 veterans across the country were homeless. Similarly, McDonald said the department has whittled down its one-time backlog of claims of 611,000 almost 90 percent by increasing staff, adjusting policies and implementing an automated filing system. He also cited his fact-finding trips to VA medical centers in places like Phoenix, where veterans were placed on secret wait lists to cover up delays in care. McDonald said almost all appointments -- 97 percent -- are now completed within a month of a veteran's preferred date and signaled a seemingly significant change slated to take effect later this year. "You should know that average wait time for primary care is around five days, six days for specialty care, and two days for mental health care," he said. "And by December, you can expect same day access in primary care and same day access in mental health care." The secretary also took aim at criticism from lawmakers such as Rep. Jeff Miller, a Republican from Florida and chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, who have highlighted cases in which the department was unable to fire under-performing employees, including executives who abused their positions. "Some claim there's no accountability at VA," he said. Don't think we hold people accountable? Tell that to the VA employee in Augusta, Georgia, recently convicted of falsifying health care records. He's facing sentencing that could include years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines. All told, we've terminated over 3,750 employees in two years." At the same time, McDonald acknowledged the limitations of such a management approach. "Some people think everything will be fine if we fire more people, more quickly," he said. "It's not true. We can't fire our way to excellence. Over my 33 years in the private sector, I've never encountered an organization where firing people was a measure of leadership." During his speech, McDonald also rapped House lawmakers for failing to fully fund the VA's $183 billion budget request for fiscal 2017 beginning Oct. 1, the media for "embellishing" stories and, in an indirect rebuttal of Trump, conservatives who want to give veterans more choice in seeking private health care. "Now, you'll hear lots more recommendations about VA's future," he said. "Some have argued VA can best serve veterans by shutting down VA health care altogether. They argue that closing [Veterans Health Administration] is the 'bold transformation' veterans and families need, want, and deserve. I suspect that proposal serves some parties somewhere pretty well. "But it's not transformational -- it's more along the lines of dereliction," he added. "It doesn't serve veterans well, and it doesn't sit well with me. So make sure there's substance to those discussions -- that they're about veterans' interests, and not something else. Make sure they're anchored to the service and sacrifice -- the sense of duty and honor -- that veterans represent, and only veterans understand. It's your VA. It always has been." -- Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Brendan_McGarry. A Chinese military court sentenced Guo Boxiong, former vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, to life in prison on Monday for accepting bribes. Guo, 74, was also deprived of his political rights for life and stripped of his rank as general, a statement from the court said. The military court ruled that Guo had taken advantage of his position to assist the promotion and reassignment of others, and had accepted huge amounts in bribes both personally and in collusion with others. His personal assets were seized, and all his illicit gains were confiscated and turned over to the State treasury. Guo's bribes were "extremely huge" and his crimes were "extremely serious", the statement said. However, he confessed to his misdeeds and repented in good faith, and all the proceeds of his crimes have been recovered, it added. Guo, who retired in 2012 and was expelled from the Party last year, pleaded guilty and decided not to appeal. His trial was not open to the public because it "touched on military secrets", it said. "We fully protected his rights, sending the indictment and telling him his litigation rights and duties after the case was filed on May 3," it said. "His lawyer was allowed to meet with him and look up materials for the case." The military court fully safeguarded Guo's legal rights in accordance with the law, it added. As for others implicated in Guo's case, the military court will deal with them in accordance with the law and mete out verdicts justly, according to the statement. The trial was believed to be China's highest-level prosecution of a military figure over the past few decades. Another former vice-chairman of the commission, Xu Caihou, died in mid-March last year before standing trial on corruption charges. VANCOUVER, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Vancouver International Airport(YVR) celebrated the inaugural flight of China's Xiamen Airlines to North America here on Monday evening. The new year-round, non-stop, Boeing 787 service will operate three times weekly between Vancouver and Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport (XMN). "We're delighted to welcome Xiamen Airlines as our fifth airline from mainland China," said Craig Richmond, president and CEO of the Vancouver Airport Authority. "It's no surprise that this very successful airline chose YVR as its first North American destination -- our city has close ties with Fujian Province, while our northwest location and world-class facility make YVR the best gateway to North America for any Asian airline." The new Chinese service originates from Xiamen Airlines' namesake city, which has a population of more than 3.8 million people. Located in southeastern China, Xiamen boasts a warm climate, tropical scenery and tree-lined beaches. It has long been a popular stop for Chinese tourists, but the city is now welcoming more and more foreign travelers. Next to serving Canadians and Americans whose destination is Xiamen, the new route will be bolstered by a 72-hour visa-free stopover program. Xiamen Airlines has been operating for 32 years and for the past three years, it has received the highest honor for service and won the China Quality Award in 2016. The new route to Vancouver was added as part of a rapid intercontinental expansion, and is operated on a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 4 First class, 18 Business class and 215 Economy class seats. Flight MF806 will depart Vancouver at 1:40 a.m. local time (0840 GMT) and arrive in Xiamen at 5:30 a.m. local time the following day (2130 GMT on the previous day). The westbound flight, MF805, departs Xiamen at 9:30 p.m. local time (1330 GMT) before crossing the International Date Line to arrive in Vancouver at 6:40 p.m. local time (0140 GMT on the following day). The new service will add 158 jobs to the British Columbia economy and 9 million CAD (6.84 million U.S. dollars) in gross domestic product for the province. In addition to strengthening business and trade ties, Canada is expecting to see more Chinese tourists taking advantage of the new, non-stop service. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a press conference after the meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister and the counterparts from 10 ASEAN members in Vientiane, Laos, July 25, 2016. (Xinhua/Liu Ailun) VIENTIANE, July 25 -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday urged an end to the political manipulation and sensationalization of the South China Sea issue. Wang made the call at a press briefing following his meeting with the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries in the Lao capital. Wang said the so-called award rendered recently by an ad hoc tribunal handling the South China Sea arbitration is tantamount to filling a wrong prescription for the South China Sea disputes. The South China Sea arbitration was unilaterally initiated by the former Philippine government. The ad hoc tribunal issued an award on July 12, sweepingly siding with Manila's cunningly packaged claims. China has dismissed the biased ruling as "null and void with no binding force." The Chinese top diplomat said the wrong prescription has led to increasingly hot ballyhoo over the arbitration and some countries outside the region have become extremely excited, as if running an unabated high fever. The normal regional order and the overall interests of the regional countries have been undermined, he added. According to Wang, all foreign ministers agreed at the meeting that the South China Sea disputes are not an issue between China and ASEAN and the disputes should not be allowed to affect the overall situation of the cooperation between the two sides. He pointed out that ASEAN, as a whole, did not make comments or take sides on the arbitration, and it expressed support for China and the Philippines to resolve the issue through dialogue and consultation. The Chinese top diplomat said China-ASEAN joint statement calling for full and effective implementation of the DOC has won support from all ASEAN countries. According to Wang, the joint statement embodies a "dual-track" approach, which stipulates that historical disputes should be handled peacefully and properly through direct talks between the parties involved, and China and the ASEAN members should join hands to safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea. Such an approach, first initiated by Brunei and supported by China. is the correct way to settle the disputes, Wang said. VIENTIANE, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called for an end to the political manipulation and sensationalization of the South China Sea issue. Wang also urged related parties to get back to the right track of implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), which was signed in November 2002 as a code of conduct for all parties involved in the South China Sea issue. Wang made the call at a press briefing Monday following his meeting with the foreign ministers of the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, The Philippines and Vietnam -- in the Lao capital. END TO POLITICIZATION OF SOUTH CHINA SEA ISSUE Wang said the so-called award rendered recently by an ad hoc tribunal handling the South China Sea arbitration is tantamount to filling a wrong prescription for the South China Sea disputes. The former Philippine government, headed by Benigno Aquino III, unilaterally initiated the South China Sea arbitration in 2013. The move has violated the Philippines' standing agreement with China to settle relevant disputes through bilateral negotiation, violated China's right to choose means of dispute settlement of its own will as a State Party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and abused the UNCLOS dispute settlement procedures. The ad hoc tribunal issued an award on July 12, siding with Manila's cunningly packaged claims and denying China's long-standing historic rights in the South China Sea. "The Philippines' territorial claim over part of Nansha Qundao is groundless from the perspectives of either history or international law," the Chinese government said in a white paper issued on July 13. "The arbitral tribunal established at the Philippines' unilateral request has no jurisdiction over relevant submissions, and awards rendered by it are null and void and have no binding force," said the document. Wang said the wrong prescription has led to increasingly hot ballyhoo over the arbitration and some countries outside the region have become extremely excited, as if running an unabated high fever. The normal regional order and the overall interests of the regional countries have been undermined, he added. In his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting Monday, Wang said he expected the United States to take steps to support China and the Philippines in resuming their talks over the South China Sea issue.x The United States will not take a position on an arbitral ruling of the South China Sea arbitration case, Kerry said, adding that his country supports the resumption of talks between China and the Philippines. In a separate meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, on Monday, Wang said Japan, which is not a claimant in the South China Sea disputes, should avoid interfering in and hyping up the maritime spats. China has always been maintaining the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, Wang said. RETURN TO NEGOTIATIONS According to Wang, all foreign ministers agreed at the meeting that the South China Sea disputes are not an issue between China and ASEAN and the disputes should not be allowed to affect the overall situation of the cooperation between the two sides. He pointed out that ASEAN, as a whole, did not make comments or take sides on the arbitration, and it expressed support for China and the Philippines to resolve the issue through dialogue and consultation. In a joint statement issued after the meeting between Wang and his counterparts from the ASEAN member countries, China and ASEAN reaffirmed their efforts to promote peace, stability, mutual trust and confidence in the South China Sea. According to the statement, the countries recognize that maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea region serves the fundamental interests of ASEAN member states and China as well as the international community. They are also committed to the full and effective implementation of the DOC and working substantively toward the early adoption of a Code of Conduct based on consensus. The statement said China and the 10 ASEAN members "reaffirm their respect for and commitment to the freedom of navigation in and overflight above the South China Sea as provided for by the universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea." It also commits all parties to undertaking to "resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to the threat or use of force, through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned." Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message on Tuesday to the 2016 Media Cooperation Forum on the Belt and Road, calling on media to play a positive role in pushing forward the progress of the initiative. President Xi said that the Silk Road is a common treasure for people from all over the world. In order to promote the spirit of the Silk Road, China has put forward the Belt and Road Initiative, which will be jointly carried out through extensive consultation so that it honors the interests of all, and promotes policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and person-to-person bonds between countries along the Belt and Road route. China is willing to join hands with these countries to build the mutually beneficial and cooperative network of Belt and Road, jointly found a new model of cooperation, explore the platform of multilateral cooperation, and push forward programs in key fields to build a green, healthy, intelligent and peaceful Silk Road, Xi said, noting that this will benefit all the people and countries along the road. "Media plays an essential role in communicating information, enhancing mutual trust and building consensus. This forum provides a platform for media from many countries to engage in dialogue and practice cooperation." The Chinese president added, "We hope to utilize this platform to promote the development of international relations, deliver public opinion and deepen mutual trust, as well as to push forward the progress of the Belt and Road Initiative." The Media Cooperation Forum on the Belt and Road, which is hosted by Peoples Daily, has been held each year since 2014. It is the media forum with the greatest number of participants from various countries and foreign media organizations held by a Chinese media group in recent years. Related: 2016 Media Cooperation Forum on Belt and Road opens in Beijing The 2016 Media Cooperation Forum on One Belt & One Road opens on July 26. 212 mainstream media from 101 countries will gather at the China National Convention Center, in Beijing. Belt and Road inks investment worth over $1.4 billion, creates more than 60,000 jobs The Belt and Road Initiative has helped to create 60,000 jobs around the world with its total investment of more than $1.4 billion so far, a top legislator said Tuesday. 'Belt and Road' Initiative important contribution to the global governance One Belt, One Road is claimed to be, up the now, the worlds largest global economic recovery plan, and marks Chinas contribution to the global governance and peace, said Yang Zhenwu, President of the People's Daily, while addressing the opening ceremony of the Media Cooperation Forum on "One Belt, One Road" in Beijing on Tuesday. 'Belt and Road' shares common vision with UN 2030 Agenda, says UN Under-Secretary-General Chinas Belt and Road Initiative will play a major role in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, according to Wu Hongbo, United Nations Under-Secretary-General. Chinas Belt and Road Initiative will play a major role in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, according to Wu Hongbo, United Nations Under-Secretary-General. In a July 26 speech at the 2016 Media Cooperation Forum on Belt and Road in Beijing, Wu explained that the initiative shares a common vision and common fundamental principles with the agenda. "Belt and Road is consistent with the goals and principles of the United Nations Charter. The core spirit of the initiative is to promote mutually beneficial cooperation, development and prosperity. Wu cited investment in infrastructure, a key area for the Belt and Road Initiative, as evidence of the initiative's role in eradicating poverty--a goal shared by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Investment in infrastructure will improve productivity and living standards. It will also introduce a better lifestyle and improved education opportunities to the people along the Belt and Road route, he said. President Xi Jinping said last month during his meeting with Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, that one purpose of the Belt and Road initiative is to facilitate the realization of the UN agenda. About 50 percent of the population situated along the Belt and Road route is currently living below the poverty line. To the surprise of industry insiders, the price of rice in Nay Pyi Taw continues to rise. As of the last week of July, the price of one popular brand had reached almost K850,000 per 100 tins (each tin holds 9 gallons), entrepreneurs said. Rates have been rising since May despite Chinas refusal to legalise rice imports from Myanmar. Ko Myo Linn Aung, who runs a rice storage facility in Pyinmana township, said the price of Ma Naw Thu Kha rice has reached almost K840,000 per 100 tins. It rose by K20,000 to K30,000 just this month. The brand was selling at K750,000 in May, reaching K800,000 in June, he said. The price of other strains is also rising. Pearl Thwe cost K550,000 per 100 tins in June, but was selling at almost K600,000 this week. Less sought-after brands are going for K500,000 to K600,000 per 100 tins. Myanmars most popular rice strains, Paw San Hmwe and Ayeyar Min, are not traded in Nay Pyi Taw. Dealers are scratching their heads over the price rise. This year is quite strange. The price is rising even though China has not issued any rice import permits. Usually, the value of rice goes up when the Chinese market opens, said U Nay Soe on July 24. Myanmar is trying to regain its position as a major world rice exporter and is encouraging farmers to sell to foreign markets. Rice strains such as Paw San Hmwe and Ayeyar Paday Thar have been particularly popular overseas, deputy agriculture minister U Tun Win told farmers in Magwe Region on July 12. However, some customers are questioning the quality of Myanmar rice, he said. A shipment to Indonesia was held at the Surabaya Port earlier this year for three months for failing to comply with Indonesian rules. We heard they were reconsidering how much rice they wanted from Myanmar. In the meantime, our rice does not meet the food safety criteria in a number of markets, and has occasionally been rejected, said U Nay Soe. Nay Pyi Taw is regarded as a relatively expensive market for rice and other foodstuffs. Ko Myo Lin Aung said, Prices are higher in Nay Pyi Taw than the rest of the country. The rice we store here is bought in from Bago Region. Traders believe prices are likely to continue to rise. U Nay Soe said, The highest prices in the year come in August, with the end of the summer paddy and before the rainy season paddy is harvested. Translation by Emoon The Ministry of Hotels and Tourism will cut licence fees by 50 percent from October, to support the countrys nascent tourism industry, director general U Tint Thwin told The Myanmar Times. All licence fees will be reduced by half from October 1, the second half of the financial year. We are also planning to streamline documentation for applicants to promote an increase in the number of operators in the industry, he said on July 22 during a meeting with industry associations in Yangon. A hotel licence now costs between K200,000 and K1.9 million depending on the size of the project; a tour company licence costs K400,000; a tour guide licence costs K50,000; and a tourist transportation licence costs between K50,000 and K500,000. Tourism expert U Aung Myat Kyaw said he supported the decision, adding that he hoped the ministry would remove a policy requiring every operator to become a member of a tourism association. To apply for a new licence or renew an existing one, tour companies need a recommendation letter from the Union of Myanmar Travel Association, while hoteliers must be a member of the Myanmar Hoteliers Association, he said. That is the policy of the ministry. Under the socialist regime people were forced to sign up to associations, but it shouldnt be like that now that Myanmar is a democracy, he said. As for me, I am pleased that the ministry will support small and medium enterprises in the tourism industry, but I would like to know more about how the licence application process will be changed. U Tint Thwin said the policy was intended to boost membership at the associations, unite the tourism industry and help the ministry to keep track of which tour companies were active. Tour guides have welcomed the decision to cut fees. A 50pc reduction in licence fees will make a big difference to new guides, as many struggle to raise the current charge of K50,000, Ma Swe Zin Oo, secretary general of the Myanmar Tourist Guides Association, told The Myanmar Times. We are pleased about this because existing fees make it very hard for new guides who are just starting out in tourism. Half of this amount K25,000 will be much more affordable for them, she said. However, she said, guides and tour operators also have to pay an annual tax at their local township office before they can renew their licence, but the taxation policy varies from township to township, even within the same region. Some townships collect a 10pc income tax, but others charge up to 50pc, Ma Swe Zin Oo said. This is how it has been in the past. We all want to pay tax to help develop our democratic country but we hope for the same taxation policy for all tour guides in the country. By the end of May the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism had issued 1351 hotel operator licences, 2130 licences for tour companies, 6309 for guides and 536 for tourist transportation companies. Foreign companies will soon be invited through a public tender to build low-cost housing projects in Yangon Region, according to the Ministry of Construction. This will mark the first time foreign contractors are given access to the affordable housing sector in Myanmar. Ministry officials have said they will prioritise building housing for the poor, after inheriting a chronic housing shortage from the former government. Construction minister U Win Khaing promised in May to build more than 8000 low-cost homes nationwide over the next two years, with each unit priced at less than K10 million. This supply will meet just a fraction of demand the ministry estimates that in Yangon alone, up to 1.8 million of the citys 5.21 million residents own no land and are in dire need of affordable housing. The government will need international investment and expertise to meet its housing targets, said U Min Aung Aye, deputy director at the Department of Urban and Housing Development. He said a tender would be called through state newspapers. We plan to offer construction contracts to foreign companies, on condition they can complete construction within two years, he said. Under the previous government, the average cost of building 1 square foot of affordable housing was quoted at K18,000. U Min Aung Aye did not want to comment on how much foreign contractors would be paid. He said the cost of building will depend on import costs for construction equipment, prices in the international market at the time of the tender, the exchange rate and the choice of building system. Prices also vary depending on whether the contractor is building low-cost housing or affordable housing. Once we have a master plan, we will call a tender, he said. The government is planning four major low-cost developments. The first three, in Mingalardon, Thanlyin and Dagon Seikkan townships, are still at the planning stage. Work on the fourth project a 293-acre residential estate in Hlaing Tharyar township called Kyan Sit Min started in February. The first 30 apartment blocks are being built this month by seven developers who jointly won a tender issued by the DUHD. International investor appetite will likely depend on the structure and perceived transparency of the tender. In the past, invitations to foreign developers have fallen flat, including a tender to build commercial developments and a new railway station on 63 acres of prime land in central Yangon. Smaller contractors also complain that past tenders have typically favoured large companies, as they have required a large upfront payment. Construction companies can only apply for a tender if they can put up the money in advance, said U Kyaw Kyaw Soe, joint secretary general of Myanmar Construction Entrepreneurs Association. It is not easy for small firms, as most government projects require the company to pay for the construction, with payment only settled in stages. More companies might take part if the government makes sure the rules are transparent and fair. In this instance, applicants will be judged on their company history, financial strength and whether or not they are on a blacklist, said U Min Aung Aye. He said the tender committee will also check that companies have enough skilled workers and machinery to complete the project. U Yan Aung, general manager of Asia Construction, told The Myanmar Times that he hoped the government would make its tenders transparent. In the past, many tender winners sold their construction permits to other companies at inflated prices, and the quality of buildings suffered as a result, he said. Translation by Emoon Yoma Strategic expects to have its multi-million dollar Landmark Development project finished in 2020 and will contribute up to US$156 million of the total cost, the firm said yesterday. The company unveiled the Landmark Development project back in December 2012, which will see residential, retail and office space along with serviced apartments built on a 10-acre site in Yangon. These will be constructed around the heritage-listed Burma Railways headquarters building, which will be converted into a luxury hotel. Ministerial changes and administrative red tape, however, resulted in Yoma Strategic spending more than three of the intervening years fighting to secure two 50-year lease extensions from the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The lease extensions are now in place and the firm expects to have the project finished before the end of 2020, it said yesterday. One lease extension is for the hotel The Peninsula Yangon and the other is for the mixed-use development, the firm said. The mixed-use section will cost around $660 million funded partly by $135 million in debt facilities and equity contributions of between $349 million - $400 million from the various partners, according to Yoma Strategic. The company announced in June that it had signed a shareholders agreement for the project. Signatories included First Myanmar Investment (FMI), which is also owned by Yoma Strategic chair Serge Pun, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Japanese firms Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi estate, which are forming a joint venture in Singapore. Yoma Strategic will own 48 percent of the mixed-use section of the project and expects to spend between $92 million and $117 million of its own money on that portion, spread between the 2016-17 and 2021-22 financial years, it said. The Mitsubishi companies will hold 30pc of the mixed-use section, FMI 12pc, the IFC 5pc and the Asian Development Bank 5pc. Winfried Wicklein, Myanmar country director for the ADB, said the banks involvement in the Landmark project involved an equity contribution of up to $20 million carried out under its private sector operations. Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels will own 70pc of the luxury hotel, Yoma Strategic will own 24pc and FMI 6pc, while Yoma Strategic said it will contribute $38 million of the funds for that project. The firms estimated total cash contributions for the Landmark Development take into account the fact that it has already spent around $24 million on consultation, design and preliminary project costs. Its partners will have to make pro-rata contributions for their share of the project, Yoma said. The estimates also take into account that Yoma Strategic holds an 80pc stake in the land development rights on the 10-acre site through its subsidiary Meeyahta International Hotel Limited. As a result Yoma Strategic will contribute its share of the land development rights as equity in kind. With the lease extensions in place Yoma Strategics next step is to ask the Myanmar Investment Commission to approve, amongst other things, the incorporation of its joint ventures, the company said. The firm expects to have its approvals in place and begin major work on the mixed-use portion of the project by the end of this year, it added. If the approvals schedule holds, Yoma Strategic will make use of $135 million worth of debt facilities for the mixed-use project by March 2017 and start pre-sales for the branded residences sometime after April that year, the company said. For all the talk about Myanmars emergence onto the global scene, theres been at least one aspect of the Golden Land slow to change: Good espresso is still hard to come by. Espresso Milano hopes to fill the void. A subsidiary of the Singapore-based EdyCom Solutions, the company launched sales of its espresso machines and capsules on July 4. Company CFO Eyal Mutznik told The Myanmar Times that he thinks Myanmar is ripe for learning more about the concentrated coffee shots. Its not penetrating the market, he said. Its educating the market. Aung Mingalar, the popular Shan noodle shop on Nawaday Street, has already purchased a machine and a back-order of hundreds of capsules. Foreigners seeking more than the watery, instant coffee mix available on the street can now order up a cup of joe, as strong as their choosing, for K2000. The coffee itself comes from Israeli company Cup of Joe, which sources Arabica and Robusta beans from Tanzania and from farmers in Central and South America. Cup of Joe began 20 years ago in a Tel Aviv cafe, growing to more than 250 coffee shops and developing its own line of products. For the Myanmar launch, Cup of Joe rebranded itself as Espresso Milano. A team of around 20 Myanmar and expat workers in Yangon receive the shipments of capsules and packaging material from the Israel headquarters, compiling the packages and delivering them for free to customers who order online. Mutznik said they are stepping into a black market, where expats craving their caffeine fix have been bringing in espresso machines from other countries. To get capsules, these espresso lovers have long relied on friends and visa runs. Now, the days of stuffing carry-on luggage with handfuls of cartridges look to be over. Here we dont have any competition because espresso is not in Myanmar yet, he said. Fans of Bar Boon or Craft Cafe might disagree. The downtown district has exploded with cafes over the past year, with the Yaw Min Gyi ward as its coffee central. Espresso is increasingly available but at costs of at least K3000 at most shops. Espresso Milano sells its capsules for K1000 apiece, with deals for bulk orders. The machines themselves run an average of K300,000, but for serious espresso lovers, the chance to brew your own cups is a rare one. As a long-time coffee drinker, I can vouch for the product. Popping the cartridge of a Saturino blend the companys most popular flavour into the machine is satisfying and mechanical, as easy as pressing a lever. The resulting aroma is enough to recall memories of Italian cafes, but the taste is what will keep people coming back. Try the Valentino or Fiorenza blends for softer, less bitter cups, while the Lorenzo is most comparable to professionally brewed espresso. Mutznik describes the espresso culture found in Europe in the same language you might use to describe teashop culture in Myanmar: At the start of every meeting, people drink a cup. Its a communal activity, and he thinks the similarities between the two worlds will make it easy for people to jump on board the espresso express. You have it once, you might not be so sure, he said. You have it a second time, you think, Okay, not so bad. By the third cup, youre hooked. For now, the espresso is available at Aung Mingalar and 7th Joint Bar, with plans for availability in the FMI lounge coming soon. Those interested in getting their own machine for home or office can contact Espresso Milano on their Facebook page. Asean unity may be under severe strain, but Foreign Minister Daw Aung San Suu Kyi emerged from her first ministerial meeting without a scratch on her international reputation, according to analysts, who praised the leaders diplomacy. By most measures, the ASEAN Foreign Ministerial Meeting in Laos this week represented a paralysis, if not a deterioration in relations among the bloc. The foreign ministers were confronted with providing a response to Chinas claims to territory in the South China Sea, and a recent ruling by an arbitral tribunal in The Hague in favour of the Philippines. The verdict, announced on July 12 just ahead of the foreign ministers meeting in Vientienne, was met by a smattering of individual responses by members of the regional group. While Myanmar has no stake in the maritime feud, the new government produced a statement that was considered more forward-looking than those of its neighbours. As Myanmars new government grapples with its international role and balances between more recent ally the United States and long-time deep-pocketed investor China, the territorial dispute is seen as a sort of mine field, one the previous government had largely avoided. But with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi asked to polish ASEANs international image, her take on the South China Sea could carry substantial influence. After hours behind closed doors, the ASEAN foreign ministers yesterday did eventually produce a joint communique. Cambodias foreign minister had reportedly stalled the consensus, the only country to oppose a joint statement on Chinas aggressive expansion into the disputed territory. After the initial stalemate, the foreign minsters eventually accepted a joint statement that briefly addressed the dispute, noting in one paragraph that some ministers had expressed concern over the escalation of activities in the area. U Than Soe Naing, a political analyst, said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi handled the political deadlock and the risk of alienating her Chinese counterpart with diplomatic aplomb. It would be very dangerous for Myanmar if she could not handle this situation diplomatically. Hanging in the balance was her image as a leader of the ASEAN, and her first visit to the ASEAN meetings, he said. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the regional blocs meeting on July 24. China has been trying hard to lobby Myanmar to restart several stalled projects, including hydropower dams and mines. Mr Wang invited the state counsellor on a trip to China. The two did not separately discuss the South China Sea, according to an official at the ASEAN affairs department. Kavi Chongkittavorn, a Thai journalist and ASEAN affairs expert, said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi bore her dual role as state counsellor and foreign minister with diplomatic restraint. Southeast Asias politics are changing, and Myanmar is leading the way, he said. Myanmar officials plan to submit land being claimed by Thailand for consideration as its own UNESCO World Heritage Site, U Than Zaw Oo, director of the Myanmar branch of the World Heritage Site committee, said yesterday. Thailand has been trying to get one of its national parks, the Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex, designated as a prestigious World Heritage Site but Myanmar officials have objected, claiming that one-third of the land in the map submitted by Thailand, including the Lay Nyar Forest Reserve along the Tanintharyi Region coastal strip, is in Myanmar. Myanmar officials will in turn submit a map of Lay Nyar Forest Reserve for consideration as a World Heritage Site, U Than Zaw Oo said. They are also asking for the border area to be fenced off, officials said. Representatives from Myanmar and Thailand discussed the concerns with the Thai map at the World Heritage Committee convention in Turkey but, after a failed coup attempt cut the conversation short, they plan to reconvene at a Paris convention in October. Both countries discussed the case at the convention, U Than Zaw Oo said. All 21 members of the World Heritage Committee also discussed it. But we did not have enough time to come to a conclusion. Moreover, the political condition of the country hosting the convention was not good, so we had to postpone the discussion. The convention, which was scheduled for July 10 to 20 in Istanbul, was cut three days short thanks to the failed coup attempt on July 15. The next session will be held in Paris in October, where the issue will likely be raised again, U Than Zaw Oo said. Thailand understands our concern, he said. We do not object to their national park. Weve just submitted a request to reconsider the area of the park. The existing border demarcation between Myanmar and Thailand was drawn in 1868, and it should be re-evaluated, he added. This dispute is because of the lack of a clear border fence between the countries, said U Kyaw Zaw, director of the Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation. So we submitted a request for Thailand to reconsider the area and also submitted a request for the appropriate Myanmar department to fence the border area. Translation by Thiri Min Htun A Cardinal is calling for minority religions to be better represented in the Ministry of Religion and Culture. The leader of Myanmars Catholics, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, suggested at an interfaith meeting on Martyrs Day that the ministry launch desks for other faiths besides Buddhism. The state counsellor hosted the interfaith prayer at her home on University Avenue Road, Yangon, in honour of her father, Bogyoke Aung San, and his eight colleagues who are commemorated on the anniversary of their deaths on July 19. The cardinal suggested that representatives of religions other than Buddhism should be available to advise the ministry, said U Aye Lwin, the leader of the Islamic Council of Myanmar Interfaith Friendship Group, who was also present at the meeting. Cardinal Bo said such representation could assist in national reconciliation, and with the peace process. His suggestion is good because the religion ministry has lacked the other religions representation. Im also satisfied with it, U Aye Lwin said National League for Democracy patron U Tin Oo, State Counsellors Minister U Kyaw Tin Swe, and leaders from each religion all attended the interfaith meeting and observed a minute of silence to show respect. According to data from the 2014 census released last week, of Myanmars enumerated population of about 50.279 million, 89.8 percent are Buddhist, 6.3pc, or about 3.172 million, are Christian, and only 1.147 million, or 2.3pc, are Muslim. However, more than 1.2 million people were not enumerated, and all or most of them are assumed to be Muslim, bringing the proportion of Muslims in the population to some 4.3pc, a slight increase on the 3.9pc recorded in the censuses of 1973 and 1983. Director of the Ministry of Religion and Culture U Aung San Win declined to comment when asked for a response to the cardinals suggestion. I would like to remind everyone that according to the 2008 Constitution, all citizens have freedom of religion. They are able to observe their religious holiday. For example, Christians can celebrate Christmas, and Muslims can observe Eid, he said. I think the law is clear. Complaints to police about a Yangon Region travel company from angry customers have highlighted the weaknesses of the law governing tour companies, industry experts say. They are demanding action from the government to rectify the problem. The fraud complaints centre around Tourbox Travel and Tours, in Sanchaung township, a member of the Union of Myanmar Travel Association (UMTA), which had recommended the issuance of a licence from the tourism ministry. Dozens of potential customers had contacted the agency to arrange tours abroad, including to Europe, Japan and Cambodia, but were cheated out of money with no resulting trip. Six customers have already complained to the Sanchaung police station, and we reported the cases to the district, police officer U Thein Win told The Myanmar Times. The district allowed us to continue the case but we have not yet received an official letter, which means we cannot actually launch an investigation into the [alleged] fraudster, who at this point may have already run away, he added. Daw Sabei Aung, managing director of Nature Dream Travels & Tours, told The Myanmar Times, This shows the weakness of the tourism law. We have yet to see any action from the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism. These matters should be resolved before the police are involved in order to protect our industrys reputation, she said, adding that the ministry should set up a complaints mechanism. Current ministry procedures are too long and complicated. An accused fraudster can disappear while the documents are still being filed, she said. Someone should have known that there was something not quite right, she added. Under existing law, unlicensed travel operators can be imprisoned for up to three years, fined K50,000 (US$42), or both, said U Myo Win Nyunt, director of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism. He said UMTA should first negotiate with the company and then inform the ministry if the problem cannot be resolved. The ministry can add the companys name to a blacklist and revoke its licence. No licence was granted to Tourbox for outbound tourism, so we can take action under the law after investigating, he said. Tourbox joined UMTA in April, and the association had supported the companys application for a licence, said UMTA chair U Thet Lwin Toh. I dont know if the ministry had granted the licence or not, but every outbound tour company has had to have an outbound licence since March, according to the ministry directive, he said. We invited the company to negotiate with us, but it appears the owner has already left the country. Another potential source of fraud was posed by online tour companies. We have no law that protects people from fraud by foreign companies. Such a law is needed for our protection, U Thet Lwin Toh said. Daw Hla Darli Khin, managing director of Tour De Myanmar, warned customers to be careful about who they deal with. If the price looks too cheap, something could be wrong. Customers should check the companys background before they pay, she said. More than 20 people complained to police after Tourbox offered a Cambodia-Bangkok trip for US$529 and a Japan package for $2000 on July 20. Observers are cautiously parsing two recent events featuring prominent military officers in the hope of reading their implications for national reconciliation and the success of the 21st-century Panglong Conference due to begin next month. On Martyrs Day, July 19, military Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing joined State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at her home in Yangon for lunch following a donation ceremony and meetings with several religious and interfaith leaders. The following day at a press event, Lieutenant General Mya Tun Oo, the head of military intelligence, admitted military involvement in the deaths of five Shan civilians. Some analysts warn against mistaking such apparently good omens for real progress unless and until they are followed by practical results. Following last Novembers election, relations between the military and the National League for Democracy were assumed to be edgy at best. The opposition partys landslide victory at the polls had stripped the military of its protective political cover afforded by the Union Solidarity and Development Party. But four months into the change of office, observers are seeking signs of a thaw. Martyrs Day was the first major public event conducted by the new government to be attended by the commander-in-chief. While ceremonies and the laying of wreaths occurred nationwide, Snr Gen Min Aung Hlaing chose to pay his respects alongside NLD dignitaries before joining the state counsellor. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi joined by the two parliamentary Speakers, the chief justice, former Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann and the commander-in-chief shared a meal with two prominent monks. Before the historic event, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visited the Military Museum in Nay Pyi Taw on July 15 and met with the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC). Photographs released by the commander-in-chiefs office showed the countrys two most prominent officials apparently smiling and joking together. Political commentator U Yan Myo Thein cautioned against reading too much into the highly publicised meetings. Everybody praised this close working relationship and believed it was the starting point for national reconciliation. But the photos dont necessarily mean relations are good, he said. The true test, according to analysts, will be how well the peace process goes. If relations really are good, well see more than a few photo opportunities. If we see progress in the peace talks, then we can say there is a good relationship between the two leaders, U Yan Myo Thein said. The state counsellor aims to hold the 21st-century Panglong Conference before the end of August, and has stressed that her government is seeking to make the conference as inclusive as possible. However, the Arakan Army, the Taang National Liberation Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army have been denied access by the Tatmadaw unless they give up their arms. Meanwhile, ethnic armed groups, and particularly those that did not sign last Octobers so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement, have urged the government to push for the inclusion of the three groups. Its important how Daw Aung San Suu Kyi negotiates with military chiefs over the conference. The inclusion of these three groups would be a sign of military support for government policy based on national reconciliation, said U Than Soe Naing, a political analyst. At Lt Gen Mya Tun Oos press conference, he declared government-Tatmadaw relations to be good, adding that the military had been actively participating in the implementation of government policy to build peace. However, he added that no specific one-on-one discussions had taken place between Snr Gen Min Aung Hlaing and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on the convening of the 21st-century Panglong Conference. But we have learned that the government understands they should pave the way to the peace process in accordance with the NCA, he added. Addressing the inclusivity of the Panglong Conference, Lt Gen Mya Tun Oo reiterated that the three armed groups had to demonstrate a desire to relinquish armed conflict as a way of dealing with the government. NLD spokesperson U Win Htein has said he believes the parties can find a way to convene the conference successfully on the basis of mutual understanding with the Tatmadaw. I understand relations between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the military leadership are better than last year, as our leader consistently seeks to achieve her goal of national reconciliation not only with the Tatamadaw but with all other parties. We will move forward with a positive attitude as the situation continues to evolve, he said. SYDNEY, July 26 (Peoples Daily Online) -- Residents and business owners of Chinatown in Sydney enjoyed a guided tour of the areas new people-friendly central plaza on July 24, 2016. Upgrades plans of Chinatown featuring greenery landscape and new artworks are warmly received by Sydneysiders. The plans were placed on public exhibition in August and September last year. The City of Sydney has transformed Thomas Street in Haymarket into a pedestrian-friendly walkway and public space, with more trees, lighting, seating and a new artwork. Ms Clover Moore, the Mayor of Sydney, who led the guided tour, said the work had created a beautiful public space and improved pedestrian features in Chinatown. This revamp will help secure Chinatowns place as one of our most popular destinations for tourists and visitors, she said. By making it easier to explore the area on foot and creating more lively public spaces, we will attract even more people to the area and further support business in and around Haymarket. Award-winning artist Lindy Lee is creating a gateway of dramatic circular shade sculptures suspended above Thomas Street, with the artwork to be completed later this year. The heart of Chinatown is where Sussex Street, Hay Street and Thomas Street intersect, Ms Lee said. I love the history of this area and the idea is to maintain the integrity of the street life to make Thomas Street a magnet for pedestrians, not just in Sydney but throughout Australia, so the space we want to create will be one of harmony, activity and excitement. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will meet with two powerhouse ethnic armed groups in the capital later this week, as the government lays the groundwork for the much-anticipated Panglong Conference slated for next month. The two-day meeting with representatives from the Wa and Mongla starting on July 29 will focus on arrangements for the August summit, according to U Khin Zaw Oo, one of the government negotiators and a retired lieutenant general. The two powerful ethnic armed groups, the Wa and the Mongla, have already agreed to attend the 21st-century Panglong Conference. Neither the United Wa State Army (UWSA) nor the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) signed the nationwide ceasefire agreement last year. However, the two groups enjoy full administration of areas carved out of Shan State under deals made with Myanmars former military regime. Last week, members of a Panglong Conference preparation committee visited the UWSA-controlled territory and the NDAAs administrative zone and invited the leaders of both groups to meet with the state counsellor in Nay Pyi Taw. I think the meeting [with the state counsellor] will be beneficial for the peace conference, said U Khin Zaw Oo. The ethnic armed group leaders will arrive in Nay Pyi Taw on July 27 and 28. The state counsellor will return to Yangon from Laos on July 27 and will go to Nay Pyi Taw on July 28, and then the meeting will be held on July 29 and 30. U Kyi Myint, spokesperson for the NDAA, said the groups leaders will be missing out on the Mai Ja Yang summit of all ethnic armed groups in order to meet the state counsellor. We chose the Nay Pyi Taw meeting. We cannot say what we will discuss in the meeting except that it will be about the peace conference. The meeting will the first time we will meet the state counsellor, he said. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi heads the 11-member National Reconciliation and Peace Center. Earlier this month she held a similar groundwork meeting with the leaders from the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), a bloc of nine ethnic groups that did not sign the NCA. From the Chulalongkorn period onward, members of the Thai royal family liked to ship their children off to be educated in the West. The goals were determinedly to catch up with Western modernity and to flaunt their own civilised veneer in front of their Western counterparts. King Vajiravudh and King Prajadhipok were sent to Eton College in England. Prajadhipok also graduated from the Woolwich Military Academy and thus became familiar with British society. This could have explained why he chose to retire in Surrey after his abdication in 1935. Prince Chakkrabongse Bhuvanath graduated from the Page Corps in St Petersburg, representing King Chulalongkorn at the tsarist court. Prince Mahidol Adulyadej pursued his medical studies in Massachusetts, where the current king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, was born. Bhumibol himself was raised in picturesque Lausanne, attending French-speaking schools and eventually enrolling at the University of Lausanne. But he never graduated. Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn was neither academic nor intellectual. King Bhumibol sent his son to private colleges in Great Britain and Australia. Reckoning that a career in the army would suit his personality, Vajiralongkorn undertook military training at the Royal Military College, Duntroon in Canberra. In my interviews with some of his classmates in Australia, they referred to him fondly. Vajiralongkorn still keeps in touch with his old colleagues there and welcomes them with a royal treatment when they visit him in Thailand. But it is the love of Germanys Bavaria that ultimately drew Vajiralongkorn back time and again over the years. While the primary reason for Vajiralongkorn making Munich his second home are his regular medical check-ups, the crown prince found the region relatively tranquil and far enough away from the sophisticated atmosphere he normally encounters elsewhere. In particular, withdrawing from maddening crowds provides him privacy. When King Frederick of Prussia yearned for a private residence where he could strip away royal ceremonies and customs, he ordered the construction of a palace called Sans Souci (Without Worries) in Potsdam, near Berlin, in 1745. At Sans Souci, Frederick was living a secret life in an all-male society away from the public eye, similar to what was seen within the royal court of King Vajiravudh. Sans Souci lent its idea to Prajadhipok, who built a summer royal residence outside Bangkok in Hua Hin construction commenced in 1926 and finished in 1933. Prajadhipok called the new palace Klai Kangwon, a Thai translation of Sans Souci. Vajiralongkorns familiarity with Munich was formed during the years he spent with his former consort, Srirasmi, whom he divorced in late 2014. It is also imperative to mention that the Crown Property Bureau has the majority holding in the Kempinski Hotels group and Vajiralongkorn often stayed at the Kempinski Munich, before he purchased an ultra-luxurious mansion at Lake Starnberg for 12 million euros (US$13.2 million). Named Villa Stolberg, it has a living area of 1400 square metres, houses at least 15 rooms and serves as a main home for his new consort, Major General Suthida Vajiralongkorn, nicknamed Nui, a former Thai Airways crew member, as well as for his son Prince Dipankorn Rasmichoti (from his previous marriage). Located about 30 kilometres southwest of Munich, the villa sits adjacent a beautiful lake. But Vajiralongkorns new mansion is considered much smaller than the one in Lausanne where his father lived during his childhood. Located in Pully, east of Lausanne, Villa Vadhana, named after King Bhumibols grandmother, Queen Savang Vadhana, occupied 3200 square metres with a view of Switzerlands famed Lac Leman. Today, Villa Vadhana no longer exists, having burned down and been dismantled many years ago. The less sophisticated lifestyle in Bavaria perhaps permits the crown prince to be himself, and to let loose. The latest photos of him wearing a skimpy undersized singlet barely covering massive Yakuza-styled tattoo stickers on his back, chest and arms reinforce this freedom of expression outside the rigidly royal traditions back in Bangkok. Yet, the beauty of the Bavarian scenic landscape refuses to treat his uninhabited lifestyle kindly. He has provided time and again much-sought-after stories to feed the appetite and curiosity of German tabloid readers. Royal life overseas is never free from intrusions. When Prince Chakkrabong Bhuvanath decided to marry his Kiev-born Ekaterina Ivanovna Desnitsky without the permission of his father, Chulalongkorn, he was compelled to hide his secret from the Russian media and those close to Tsar Nicholas II. He held a private marriage ceremony in Istanbul and left his new wife in Singapore on his journey back to Siam. Chulalongkorn was furious when he discovered that his son brought home a farang wife. In Lausanne, Princess Mother Sangwal, in the wake of the death of King Ananda in 1946, requested the Swiss police to guard Villa Vadhana 24 hours a day to ensure the safety of the young King Bhumibol. What she did not realise was that the content of the reports from the Swiss police on the familys daily activities inside the villa revealed many dark secrets she would rather have concealed from the public. Vajiralongkorns presence in Munich today is much more explosive. In 2011, the German court impounded a Boeing 737 aircraft at Munich Airport, which belonged to the crown prince, as compensation for a long-overdue debt of 30 million euros the Thai government owed a now-defunct German construction company for the Don Muang Tollway. The Thai government subsequently agreed to pay a deposit of 20 million euros to bail out the aircraft. Meanwhile, Vajiralongkorn took steps to prevent his Mercedes-Benz SLK being confiscated after the aircraft was seized, hiding it in a private carpark inside the Munich Kempinski, where it was protected by a dozen bodyguards. Like his father, Vajiralongkorn loves fast cars. German paparazzi often get snapshots of him driving expensive cars in the Bavarian region. For example, he was once spotted in Erding with a white Porsche 911 Turbo, which costs almost 200,000 euros. His extravagant and peculiar lifestyle has become a major attraction for the German media. Vajiralongkorn often makes headlines even on seemingly insignificant stories. For example, the German press once reported a dispute between Vajiralongkorn and a restaurant owner in Germany. Vajiralongkorn made a reservation at the restaurant and the owner, eager to please him, closed the entire place for the privacy of the Thai royalty. But Vajiralongkorn turned up very late and did not order a lot of food, thus upsetting the owner who claimed to have lost a substantial profit that evening. This week, a widely circulated tabloid paper, Bild, published a set of photos of Vajiralongkorn at the Munich Airport in a bizarre crop tank top with tattoo stickers on his body. A few days later, former Reuters reporter Andrew McGregor Marshall released another photo of the crown prince roaming Munich in a similar tank top with different tattoo prints on his torso. Although Vajiralongkorn is protected by Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code, better known as lese-majeste, these photos were shared widely on social media. In the age of social media, the private life Vajiralongkorn really wants, as if he were at Sans Souci, is nowhere to be found in Bavaria. In Thailand, many Thais lack opportunities to see the heir apparent going wild, as it is forbidden in Thailand to print news, reports or photos that potentially damage the reputation of the monarchy. But he is in Germany and there can be nothing to stop the German media from publishing his saucy stories and disseminating them through social networks. At the critical royal transition, royal image-making is vital, even if it is too late for Vajiralongkorn to reinvent himself. It might be true that Vajiralongkorn might care little about his own image in public. The mysterious death of Moh Yong seems to suggest this argument. But the recent episode revealing the crown prince in shocking dress has caused great anxiety, particularly among royalists who fear that the nations next reign will end in disaster. A throne in trouble is trouble for them too. New Mandala Pavin Chachavalpongpun is associate professor at Kyoto Universitys Center for Southeast Asian Studies. [July 26, 2016] Small Advertising and Media Businesses Rely on Insightly to Improve Customer Experience, Drive Revenue Insightly, a leading online customer relationship management (CRM) application for small and growing businesses, today announced that advertising and media businesses worldwide rely on its CRM platform to manage projects and clients, improve collaboration and productivity, and increase sales and revenues. More than 5,000 marketing and creative services businesses, such as Two70, Edge One Media, KerrvillePhoto.com and Full Chair Digital, are using Insightly to overcome project management and sales challenges. As a result, Insightly users are experiencing improved client satisfaction, more sales and higher revenues. Insightly surveyed nearly 400 creative professionals and business owners in marketing, communication, design, advertising, media and creative agencies worldwide to identify their top project management and sales challenges. Sixty-four percent of respondents cited organizing information as their top challenge, while 50 percent noted managing clients as the challenge they most need help to overcome. Project management, cited by nearly 40 percent of respondents, rounds out the top three pain points. Rather than using multiple tools, such as spreadsheets, email and Google (News - Alert) Apps, to address each concern, creative businesses are solving their challenges and reaping greater rewards with Insightly CRM. Company owners and creative professionals using Insightly report significant improvements across the board, including improved collaboration across departments (36 percent) and customer responsiveness (44 percent). Additionally, more than 60 percent report a 10 to 49 percent increase in sales, and nearly 75 percent saw a return on investment in their CRM in less than three months. "For growing businesses in the marketing industry, the challenges of juggling multiple projects, prospecting for new business and managing everything a business entails, such as payroll, billing and service, can be overwhelming and can put client satisfaction at risk," said Anthony Smith, founder and CEO of Insightly. "With its intuitive interface, robust contact and leads management, and built-in project management capabilities, Insightly is helping creative services professionals and business owners run their businesses better." Insightly helps media, advertising and marketing companies manage contacts and interactions across various channels, empowering a comprehensive customer experience from lead to loyalty. Insightly's automated workflows, task management and internal collaboration improves productivity, and helps creative professionals communicate and stay on track with projects and sales. With Insightly's new lead assignment rules, creative professionals can also automatically distribute assignments after they've entered leads into the system, improving the speed and accuracy of the entire sales process. Integrations with leading business tools, such as Google Apps, QuickBooks Online, MailChimp, Xero Accounting and others, make it easy for creative services professionals to manage every facet of their business within Insightly. Lastly, Insightly is now service organization controls 2 (SOC2) compliant, further ensuring security and privacy for customer data. Here's what customers have to say about Insightly: "Insightly has allowed our sales and production teams to integrate more effectively into a working unit. Our staff is often not together, so the automated workflows, task management and general account information are integral when it comes to managing our projects. It's hard to imagine living without it," said Nicholas De Salvo, owner of Edge One Media, a marketing and design agency in Portland, Oregon. "Insightly has become a key part of running our business and allows us to stay organized and in touch with our clients easily." Aaron Yates, owner of photography and videography company, Kerrvillephoto.com, said, "The biggest way we use Insightly is to help with customer service. Someone calls about a project, and anyone on the team can check progress. Also, I'm frequently away from my employees, so I can task them with work without being physically present and keep up with the progress on the go. Finally, we had a hard time meeting deadlines because there wasn't one single place to store that information - now we always meet deadlines." Lawrence O'Connor, owner of Full Chair Digital, a digital marketing firm that focuses on storytelling for online service companies, said, "Organization and client relationship management is everything when running as a solo entrepreneur. Insightly allows me to keep a tight focus on where clients are in the funnel and stay top of mind while integrating with my favorite software." Chase Clymer, founder of digital marketing agency, Two70, reports Insightly has improved his ability to manage projects across departments and has increased productivity by 75 percent. Clymer said, "Using Insightly has increased productivity and awareness of project status across the board. I feel a lot more comfortable working on more projects at once because all the information is in the same place so nothing gets forgotten." Additional resources: Creative services e-book Insightly customer Q&A About Insightly With more than 1.2 million customers in more than 200 countries, Insightly provides customer relationship management software to businesses of all sizes worldwide. Organizations leverage Insightly's cloud-based application to manage customer interactions, leads, opportunities, proposals and projects over the web and on mobile devices. Insightly continues to grow globally and is available on the web at Insightly.com, for iOS devices in iTunes, and for Android (News - Alert) devices on Google Play. Insightly is based in San Francisco. For more information, visit http://www.insightly.com or follow Insightly on Facebook (News - Alert): https://www.facebook.com/Insightly/. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160726005403/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Ghanaian international gospel act, Minister Sonnie Badu is set to release his fifth album on August 23. The album dubbed Soundz of Africa was recorded live in Maryland, USA on November 1, 2014, at the New Psalmist Baptist Church. The album was recorded as classical hymns under the theme African Gospel in Classical Hymns and Songs. Soundz of Africa features American stars Jonathan Nelson and Darwin Hobbs and wife of Minister Sonnie Badu, Annie Badu. The album was recorded by award-winning recording engineer Danny Duncan, who is behind Israel Houghton, Cece Winans and Marvin Sapps works. Armando is the sound engineer behind the album. Soundz of Africa has songs like Still You Reign, Free, Amazing God, Wone Alpha ni Omega, Angels Cry (Sonnies gift of worship to Jesus) and a French rendition of his famous Baba song. Sonnie Badu, in a press statement, explained that the release of the album has delayed because there were some inputs he wanted to make it on the album. It has been an awesome journey. The album has to do with my experience and everything I have learnt. I am very proud of myself and I am happy that we have been able to achieve this, he added. Ahead of the release of Soundz of Africa, Minister Sonnie Badu released Imani and Amazing God earlier this year. The album will be sold on platforms like iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby and Google Play. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com The Mayor of Massachusetts in the United States, has honored young Ghanaian actor, Abraham Attah, for his excellence, and presented him [Abraham Attah] with the key to the city. Abraham is currently on location in Atlanta, Georgia, shooting a movie, Sony-Marvel's upcoming 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' film. The 15-year old, shot to prominence after being cast in the 'Beasts of No Nation' movie alongside celebrated Hollywood actor, Idris Elba. The movie has since won several awards both in Ghana and Europe. The African Youth Excellence Awards took place in Worcester (Massachusetts). At the ceremony, the Mayor of Massachusetts, Joseph M. Petty, presented the young actor with a key to the city. The Mayor congratulated the Attah for his achievements in his acting career, and touted the inspiration that he (Attah) is to young people in a citation. Your award winning performance captivated world audiences; these profound strides serve as an inspiration for other young actors like you. You have a unique and bright future ahead of you, the mayor said. The African Youth Excellence Awards is one that highlights the accomplishments of young Africans who are making strides in art, education, information technology, entrepreneurship, innovation, and humanitarianism. Undercover investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas was also honored at the event. More awards for Attah Attah has already picked up the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor at Venice Film Festival 2015, and the Rising Star Award at the Black Film Critics Circle this past awards season. He also won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead for his breakout performance as a child soldier in 'Beasts of No Nation'. The 15-year-old in February this year, presented an award at the Oscars. By: Jeffrey Owuraku Sarpong/citifmonline.com/Ghana Follow @OJSarpong Blantyre (Malawi) (AFP) - Malawi police have arrested an HIV-infected man who was paid to have sex with more than 100 adolescent girls as part of a traditional ritual marking their passage to womanhood, officials said Tuesday. Eric Aniva, from the southern district of Nsanje, was held after giving a media interview confessing to have slept with the girls for a fee of between four and seven dollars, paid by each of their families. The little-known local practice lasts three days and is performed in southern Malawi by men known as "hyenas" at the request of a girl's parents after her first menstruation. The ritual is believed to train girls to become good wives and to protect them from disease or misfortune that could fall on their families or their village. "Aniva was arrested on Monday after he was summoned to my office," district commissioner Gift Lapozo told AFP. In a BBC interview broadcast last week, Aniva confessed to being infected with HIV and sleeping with at least 100 girls without using protection. "Some girls are just 12 or 13 years old, but I prefer them older," he said. "All these girls find pleasure in having me as their hyena. They actually are proud and tell other people that this man is a real man, he knows how to please a woman." It was unclear over how many years Aniva had been a "hyena". Malawian President Peter Mutharika had earlier issued a statement ordering Aniva's arrest and calling for an inquiry into the role of the parents involved. Aniva should "be investigated for exposing the young girls to contracting HIV and further be charged accordingly," Mutharika added. "Harmful cultural and traditional practices cannot be accepted." The sexual cleansing ritual is also performed on bereaved widows in Nsanje district to exorcise villages of evil spirits or to prevent another death occurring. Aniva, who has two wives and was reported to be in his 40s, said a "hyena" was selected by the community based on good morals and that custom did not allow him to use condoms. "There was nothing else I could have done," one girl told the BBC. "I had to do it for the sake of my parents. If I'd refused, my family members could be attacked with diseases -- even death -- so I was scared." Malawi, which has one of the highest HIV infections in the world, criminalises sex with a person under the age of 16. If found guilty of underage sex, Aniva could be imprisoned for life. Media from around the globe should join hands and take full advantage of Internet technologies In doing so it is possible to bring governments, companies and media closer together, so as to further assist the Belt and Road Initiative and serve the people in Belt and Road countries, said Wang Yibiao, Deputy Editor-in-Chief and Secretary General of Peoples Daily. Wang Yibiao, Deputy Editor-in-Chief and Secretary General of the Peoples Daily, addresses New Media and Technology Sub Forum, on Tuesday, Beijing. Photo/people.cn Wang was speaking to more than 200 media members from more than 100 countries attending the New Media and Technology Sub Forum on the sideline of the 2016 Media Cooperation Forum on Belt and Road on July 26, an annual event hosted by Peoples Daily. Wang is also chairman of the board of Peoples Daily Online. Mobile Internet, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are generating a new round of innovation. Media and enterprises shall use these new technologies to promote global information dissemination and communication, Wang added. Peoples Daily has Facebook and Twitter accounts in a number of languages, which have attracted a total of more than 22 million followers across the world. People.cn, the newspapers official website, will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year. According to statistics from the end of 2015, its monthly average number of visitors using PCs (desktop or laptops) has reached 160 million. Peoples Daily Onlines mobile Internet service, m.people.cn, has an average of 30 million visitors per day. As of May 2016, organization's official Sina Weibo account had attracted more than 74 million followers. A police officer with the Rapid Deployment Force in Tema, Lance Corporal Amuzu, has shot himself to death after killing his wife and two children. According to information picked up by Citi News, the police officer allegedly booked an Ak 47 rifle at his station on Monday for official duties. Hours later, the news of the gruesome act started making the rounds in the neighborhood. The reason behind the gruesome act is not yet known. One of the children, who is barely a year old, is seen lying lifeless in a bowl with blood stains. In the gory and offensive photos which cannot be shared, the wife, who was bathing the child at the time of the shooting, also lies lifeless with her legs in the bowl. The other kid, believed to be about three years old, was also found on the floor half-naked with blood stains. The police officer, fully clothed in his uniform with his helmet, was also found lying close to his son, in a pool of blood. When Citi News contacted the Public Relations Officer of the Tema Regional Police, ASP Juliana Obeng, she confirmed the incident saying they have commenced investigations into it, and will come out with an official position soon. Yes, I can confirm the murder involving a lance corporal with the RDF unit in Tema who shot and killed himself and three others. As we speak, investigations have commenced into the incident and we would come out with full details she said. By: Elvis Washington/citifmonline.com/Ghana President John Mahama on Monday inaugurated an ultra-modern library in memory of late President John Evans Atta Mills. The Atta Mills Memorial Library was inaugurated as part activities to commemorate of the death of the former President four years ago. As president he was Asomdwehene and father for all. A peace-loving man, he prioritized peace above all else because as he always rightly stated without peace, there can be no progress. He was our rock of Gibraltar, always calm even in the most adverse circumstances, said President Mahama about the late President. President Mahama also said his predecessor put himself above petty political quarrels and worked for all Ghanaians despite pressure from even his own party to take a tougher stance on the opposition. President Mahama said the library was a fitting tribute to Mills memory and provided the youth with a chance to improve themselves. It is befitting that as we try to recall the essence of his life of service to Ghana and the world, we are opening this library so that many others can access the portal of learning and with that, cross over the quagmire of poverty and illiteracy to prosperity and enlightenment, President Mahama said. As part of activities to mark the death of the late President, several high profile dignitaries over the weekend laid wreaths on his at the Asomdwee Park in Accra. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | GN 26.07.2016 LISTEN Monday, July 25, 2016 Folks, we have long speculated that the controversy provoked by the marauding activities of the nomadic Fulani herdsmen in the country would give rise to a political ambit to be created for the purposes of protecting the broad interests of Fulanis in Ghana. Oh, how true it is now!! And what implications and challenges doesnt that happening have for our country, especially in the context of the governments inability to amicably solve the problem? The controversy surrounding the activities of the Fulani herdsmen in Ghana is assuming frightening dimensions that we must not gloss over. Having plied their nomadic trade of animal husbandry all over the country and destroyed life and property, these Fulanis seem not to know the extent to which they have provoked public anger against them; neither do they care a whiff about the implications. What must really be propping them up this way? What must be giving them the conviction and confidence that they can continue stepping on toes without any fear of or regard for the repercussions? Those of us who have written opinion pieces on the Fulani menace havent minced words in saying that it is a major problem that has destabilized social and economic lives in many parts of the country where the Fulani presence is established and felt. We have questioned the lethargy of the political authorities (including the government and its functionaries, chiefs, opinion leaders, and prominent people in the areas so far invaded and devastated by the Fulanis and their marauding cattle). We will continue to do so until something drastic is done to solve the problem. We will do so in the context of the negative politics being done about this Fulani menace. Evidence exists that wherever these nomadic Fulanis go, chaos eruptsas their freely grazing cattle devour anything green in front of them, mostly the crops of Ghanaian farmers struggling to eke out their livelihood through their God-given asset. Of all the areas so far trampled upon, the Asante Akyim area in the Asante region stands out for comment because of the ramifications of the Fulani menace. We dont want to recount all the instances but we can say with all confidence here that nothing is happening to solve the problem despite the shedding of blood and the massive destruction of crops by the Fulani herdsmen. Several efforts at an amicable solution have failed. The governments deploying of security personnel hasnt solved the problem either. Neither will the NPPs Akufo-Addos impulsive promise to tackle the problem end it. So, where does it take us, even as many reports from other parts of the country indicate that the local people are gearing up to take on these Fulani herdsmen with what venom they can muster up? And why are these Fulani herdsmen so headstrong in pursuing their agenda despite the obvious threats posed to them and their cattle wherever they go or establish themselves? They are operating with impunity because they know they will prevail. But what makes them so confident? Some allegations have circulated that these Fulani herdsmen are operating on behalf of powerful people who have employed them to do their bidding and are weaving the safety net to protect them. If it were so, it must be stated here and now that no amount of pressure or resistance from the ground can uproot them. We know how unconscionable people pursuing their causes and supported by whatever means the system provides can do things. Is it really true that these Fulani herdsmen are mere messengers bearing messages given them by their faceless handlers? If so, will killing the messenger solve any problem? As if determined to protect their own interests, the Fulanis have now gone a step close to rationalizing their activities and establishing their kind of stranglehold on the situation. It has been reported that an Association of Fulanis has been formed to protect the interests of Fulanis in Ghana. Alarming, especially if viewed in the context of ethnicity. Are all Fulanis in Ghana engaged in animal husbandry to feel so threatened by what is happening? If so, wow!! If not so, then, what? Alarm!! Why are the Fulanis coming together now on the basis of public outcry against the devastating impact of the activities of the herdsmen and their cattle? Is this Association of Fulanis (in Ghana) merely going to work for the good of the nomads being accused of damaging the interests of Ghanaians whose means of livelihood their uncontrolled animal husbandry practices have threatened? What exactly is the need for this association? I smell a lot here!! Is this Association registered already? There is a lot to dig into to establish its real motives. If it is geared toward defending the interests of the herdsmen, a lot has to be fished out as to how it will do so. There is already knowledge about their arming themselves and doing a lot more that should be of interest to National Security. If the objective of this association is to protect the interests of all Fulanis in Ghana, then, the alarm level rises. Clearly, not all Fulanis are cattle rearers. So, if there is public concern about the activities of only the segment that is rearing cattle and moving about to destroy crops and other property of equally struggling Ghanaians, what will be the need for an Association of Fulanis to be formed at this stage? And more importantly, why should the matter involve all Fulanis worldwide? I foresee a lot here that the government should look into. I wonder why the impunity on the part of these Fulanis to do things this way. Demographically speaking, they are migrants, a settler community, and should know their station in the Ghanaian situation. This opinion is not aimed at denigrating them but at urging them to know how to pull strings so they dont end up stoking the fire that they themselves have lit to burn them. I dont want to prolong matters. At this point, it is important that the government stamp its control over the situation to ensure that this Fulani menace doesnt deteriorate into something terrible for the country. We have been talking about it ever since it emerged as a serious national security issue but little seems to be coming from the official quarters to solve it. Now that there is this international massing up of forces to defend the Fulani interest in Ghana, the issue is assuming a more terrifying dimension than expected. The government must act promptly to save a nasty situation in the near future. It is not that non-Fulanis dont want the Fulanis to live in Ghana and ply their trade (at least, those who are nomadic herdsmen among them). It is all because of how they operate with impunity, moving their animals about to destroy the property of those who are not what they are. If they can control their activities and live at peace with others, there should be no room for enmity, animosity, rancour, or bitterness. After all, their trade provides the meat that the poor farmers need while they also need the crops produced by the poor famers. It is a simple issue of symbiotic existence, which means that none should ply his/her trade to the disadvantage of the other. And it has to take a determined, purposeful, and well-informed government to secure the lines. Is that what we have in place? I shall return 26.07.2016 LISTEN Monday, July 25, 2016 Several efforts at an amicable solution have failed. The governments deploying of security personnel hasnt solved the problem either. Neither will the NPPs Akufo-Addos impulsive promise to tackle the problem when put in power end it. What can he offer now to solve the problem? Nothing!! So, where does it take us, even as many reports from other parts of the country indicate that the local people are gearing up to take on these Fulani herdsmen with whatever venom they can muster up? And when the Fulani herdsmen are arming themselves with powerful weapons (AK 47, for instance) that the local people dont have? And why are these Fulani herdsmen so headstrong in pursuing their agenda despite the obvious threats posed to them and their cattle wherever they go or establish themselves? They are operating with impunity because they know they will prevail. But what makes them so confident? Some allegations have circulated that they are operating on behalf of powerful people in government and the chieftaincy institution (or is it the local economic forces) who have employed them to do their bidding and are weaving and thickening the safety net to protect them. If it were so, it must be stated here and now that no amount of pressure or resistance from the ground can uproot them. We know how unconscionable people pursuing their causes and supported by whatever means the system provides can do things. Is it really true that these Fulani herdsmen are mere messengers bearing messages given them by their faceless handlers? If so, will killing them solve any problem? Not really. As if determined to protect their own interests, the Fulanis have now gone a step close to rationalizing their activities and establishing their kind of stranglehold on the situation. It has been reported that an Association of Fulanis has been formed to protect the interests of Fulanis in Ghana. Alarming, especially if viewed in the context of ethnicity! Are all Fulanis in Ghana engaged in animal husbandry to feel so threatened by what is happening? If so, wow!! If not so, then, what? Alarm!! Why are the Fulanis coming together now on the basis of public outcry against the devastating impact of the activities of the herdsmen and their cattle? Is this Association of Fulanis (in Ghana) merely going to work for the good of the nomads being accused of damaging the interests of Ghanaians whose means of livelihood their uncontrolled animal husbandry practices have threatened? What exactly is the need for this association? I smell a lot of ammonia here!! Is this Association registered already? There is a lot to dig into to establish its real motives. If it is geared toward defending the interests of the herdsmen, a lot has to be fished out as to how it will do so. There is already knowledge about their arming themselves and doing a lot more that should be of interest to national security. If the objective of this association is to protect the interests of all Fulanis in Ghana, then, the alarm level rises. Clearly, not all Fulanis are cattle rearers. So, if there is public concern about the activities of only the segment that is rearing cattle and moving about to destroy crops and other property of equally struggling Ghanaians, what will be the need for an Association of Fulanis to be formed at this stage? And more importantly, why should the matter involve all Fulanis worldwide? I foresee a lot here that the government should look into. We already to have too many crises verging on chieftaincy and ethnic problems. No need for a Fulani one!! I wonder why the impunity on the part of these Fulanis to do things this way. Demographically speaking, they are migrants, a settler community, and should know their station in the Ghanaian socio-cultural situation, the provisions of the national Constitution notwithstanding. This opinion is not aimed at denigrating them but at urging them to know how to pull strings so they dont end up stoking the fire that they themselves have lit to burn them. I dont want to prolong matters. At this point, it is important that the government stamp its control over the situation to ensure that this Fulani menace doesnt degenerate into something terrible for the country. We have been talking about it ever since it emerged as a serious national security issue, but little seems to be coming from the official quarters to solve it. Now that there is this international massing up of forces to defend the Fulani interest in Ghana, the issue is assuming a more terrifying dimension than suspected. The government must act promptly to save a nasty situation in the near future. It is not that non-Fulanis dont want the Fulanis to live in Ghana and ply their trade (at least, those who are nomadic herdsmen among them). It is all because of how they operate with impunity, moving their animals about to destroy the property of those who are not what they are. If they can control their activities and live at peace with others, there should be no room for enmity, animosity, rancour, or bitterness. After all, their trade provides the meat that the poor farmers need while they also need the crops produced by the poor famers. At a larger level, thei9r human resources also feed the Ghanaian population even as they benefit from whatever human facility pleases them. It is still a matter of symbiotic existence to sustaina simple issue of give-and-take for mutual benefits, which means that none should ply his trade to the disadvantage of the otherwhich all stakeholders must uphold and defend. And it has to take a determined, purposeful, and well-informed government to secure the lines. Is that what we have in place? The truth must be underlined here that those against the activities of the Fulanis are not schizophrenic or savages who hate to see others make progress in their chosen fields of human endeavour. They are simply unhappy that the Fulani presence undermines their own chosen vocations. They wont lose any sleep if their crops and other property are not endangered by these Fulani herdsmen whom they have accommodated for as long as the Fulanis have been in Ghana, moving their animals about to validate their existence as contributors to the economic index of human substance. But the problem now is that the devastation being caused by the uncontrolled grazing is intolerable. It is clear that the Fulani herdsmen have found some authority somewhere to move their activities a notch higher with the wrong impact. Nobody will take them on if they dont encroach on others legitimate means of livelihood. And rather painfully, they do so with an irritating an impunity that makes the victims wonder whether there is any system of law and order to secure individual rights to property and personal security in his/her own traditional home before the influx of the Fulanis. That is where the beef lies for the government to act on. Left to the aggrieved sections of the populace alone, anything could go; but it shouldnt be so in a democracy. That is why the ball is being pushed into the court of the government (the Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary) so something reasonably fulfilling can be done to solve the problem. So far, it has only been the Executive that has put in place some half-hearted measures. No closure. The Legislature isnt working on the problem to pass laws to be interpreted and enforced so the problem can be solved once and for all so those with a stake in space and resources in the country can have their peace of mind and do what will put bread on the table. Why are our public officials so callous? At this point, it is clear that the Fulanis will mobilize whatever forces (economic, political, ideological, etc.) that they can identify to fight their cause in Ghana. Then, when all is set for an explosion, the wailing, weeping, and gnashing of teeth will become the lot of those who have no political connections to exploit. Too pathetic for Ghanas democracy at this stage. Lets not be deceived. This Fulani menace cant be left for the Mahama-led administration alone to solve. That is why I implore the NPPs Akufo-Addo to show leadership by offering constructive ideas toward solving this Fulani menace instead of being evasive and childish to claim that he will solve the problem only if given the mandate to rule Ghana. What sort of patriotic citizen will go this way? I shall return Khartoum (AFP) - As she drove past an apartment complex on a street in Khartoum, Sara Jadallah turned silent. It was here that her late father, the legendary film-maker Jadallah Jubara, set up Sudan's first private film studio in the 1970s. But in 2008, following an eight-year court battle over ownership of the land, the government demolished Studio Jad. The demolition, shortly before the film-maker's death at the age of 88, left little trace of the studio. But stopping next to the blocks of flats that now stand in its place, Jadallah pointed at a white patch on an old wall among the new buildings. "The screen is still there," she said. With her father's studio gone, Jadallah has vowed to preserve his life's work. With help from German experts, she has started digitising his entire film collection to create what she believes is Sudan's first private archive of 15 and 35mm films. "Through his camera he documented Sudan's history. I want to preserve this legacy," Jadallah, 66, told AFP at her home in a southern Khartoum district. Jubara was once an officer in the British army. Shortly after World War II he began work as a projectionist in a British mobile film unit. He went on to capture iconic moments in Sudan's history, including the hoisting of the country's flag as it gained independence from Britain in 1956. In a career spanning more than five decades, he produced more than 100 documentaries and four feature films, including a famous 1984 love story "Tajooj". But years of storage in poor conditions have taken a toll on his film archives. "Film rolls have a life span and because of exposure to heat and dust they have been damaged," said Jadallah. - Journey into the past - In his early years, Jubara faced resistance from a conservative Sudanese society, making it difficult for him to find actors. But a determined Jubara encouraged family members to work with him, including Jadallah. "He believed that cameramen were the most important people in the world... and in their hands was the most important weapon," she said. Jadallah, who made a name for herself as a national swimming champion despite having polio as a child, also studied film in Cairo. She worked with her father when he began to lose his eyesight due to old age, helping him film part of an adaptation of Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables". Jubara's documentaries included films on Darfur, where a deadly conflict since 2003 has killed tens of thousands of people. His early films preserved a snapshot of Sudanese society before the 1989 coup that installed an Islamist-backed regime. Prior to the coup, Sudan was home to more than 60 cinemas, including 16 in Khartoum that often screened films from Hollywood and Bollywood. Today, after years of economic hardships and government restrictions on importing foreign films, just three cinemas operate in Khartoum. German film-maker Katharina von Schroeder, who is helping Jadallah to digitise Jubara's collection, said watching his work was like taking a journey into the past. "There were lot more enterprises and factories at that time, a lot more night clubs," she told AFP. "Without any judgement, it was a different place," she said as she showed footage from Jubara's collection. In one commercial, a young Jadallah is seen dressed in a red top and a skirt. In another clip, Sudanese couples in Western clothes danced at an late evening open-air party -- something rare in today's Sudan. "There is no conflict between religion and cinema," said Jadallah, "but some extremists reject cinema without even understanding it." "If you don't have cinema, you don't have a voice," she said. - A gift to Sudan - Over his five-decade career, Jubara produced more than 100 hours of film. Digitising them is an enormous job. Around 40 hours have been processed so far, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars. The project has received backing from a German foundation, the Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art, and the German embassy in Khartoum. "It was definitely worth saving this heritage... and Sara had this wish to preserve her father's legacy," said Schroeder. The processing was done in Berlin. Jadallah was initially hesitant to hand over rare footage. "I could understand that... in films as opposed to digital, you just have one copy and there's nothing you can do if it's gone," said Schroeder. "As far as I know this is the only private film archive for 15 and 35 mm materials in Sudan," she said. Tayeb Mahdi, director of a Khartoum-based film school, said the project was a fitting tribute to Jubara. "This government doesn't care about cinema, while the private sector is disinterested," he said. "Despite this, Jubara kept on making films." For Jadallah, preserving her father's legacy is a gift to Sudan. "I feel sad when I remember my father witnessing his studio being demolished... I feel sad when there is no cinema," she said, wiping away tears. "I want to preserve his films, because Sudan's future generations should see their country's history." A Deputy Minister of Finance, Mona Quartey has told Citi Business News that Ghana may have to renegotiate its deal with the IMF should Parliament approve a 5% financing of government's budget deficit. According to her, government is willing to accept the decision of the legislature on financing government's budget deficit from the central bank. It will mean renegotiations and discussions with the IMF because the preferred option is the zero percent from the central bank. But remember also that the zero percent is even so different from the West African Monetary zone convergence criterion which is 10%, she explained. Mrs Mona Quartey's comments come at a time that the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), is proposing 5% financing of government's budget deficit instead of zero financing proposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Parliament is also currently considering a proposal in the Bank of Ghana Amendment Act to cap the BoG's funding of the country's budget deficit at 5 percent of total revenue for the previous year from the current 10 percent. Madam Quartey who spoke to Citi Business News on the sidelines of the Finance Minister's presentation of this year's mid-year budget review in Parliament on Monday, was confident of a favourable outcome of the discussions. The debate has not taken place so we are expecting it to take place and hopefully, as a nation we will come out with what should be good for GhanaIf it has to be zero, it will be so. But if Parliament decides on another figure, we will equally work with that, she further stated. One of the conditions under the IMF's Extended Credit Facility (ECF) Program with Ghana is for the central bank to embark on a zero-financing of government's budget deficit. Currently, the BoG Act requires that the central bank's monetary financing must not exceed 10 percent of the previous year's total revenues. But, consistently, the BoG has not been able to keep to this limit. Some industry watchers have argued that the country's economic assistance program with the IMF could be curtailed if Parliament upholds the 5 percent financing decision. But Member of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Benjamin Kpodo has since dismissed such concerns. He rather believes that any issue with the IMF Board to possibly delay the release of funds will have to do with the countrys inability to pass the Public Finance Management Act. The Deputy Finance Minister was however of the view that a complete adherence to the IMF's suggestions could largely be practicable if it is limited to the period of the program with Ghana. If there is the need for the current practice to be curtailed, one would have even thought that perhaps the negotiations should be about curtailing for during the period of the IMF program. But the IMF is asking us to put it into law and I think that is where other members of the House are having a problem. So we have to justify to them why it should be zero percent in law, Mona Quartey stressed. Meanwhile Finance Minister, Seth Terkper on Monday said that the government's cash deficit of 2.5 percent for the first five months of 2016, which was up from a target of 2.2 percent, was for the first time not funded by the Bank of Ghana. By: Norvan Acquah-Hayford/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana Host of Radio Golds Alhaji & Alhaji political show, and Parliamentary nominee for the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Tamale North Constituency, Alhassan Suhuyini, has admonished electorates of the Northern Region, to vote massively for President John Dramani Mahama at the 2016 polls, because he's one of their own. He posited that, they will do the area a disservice if they reject President Mahama and the NDC at the polls. When a Voltarian stood to be President the whole of Volta Region voted for him until he stopped being President. Jerry John Rawlings and when Ashanti man stood to be President the whole of Ashanti Region rallied behind him until he stopped to become President, President Kufour. When Professor Atta Mills decided to run for President the whole of central region, his home region, voted massively for him before he could win in 2008, and do you know the sad news? When John Mahama from the northern region decided to be President in 2012, the NDC in northern region lost 11 constituencies. For the first time in the history of this country in the fourth Republic, we had a President who won to be President without the support of his home region. Alhassan Suhuyini was addressing students of the Northern School of Business (NOBISCO), where he presented relief items to victims of an inferno which recently gutted the Gbewaa Boys dormitory. The items comprised roofing sheets, mattresses, branded exercise books, blankets, buckets and mosquito nets. Mr. Suhuyini, host of Radio Gold's Alhaji & Alhaji political show, emphasized that President Mahama's unprecedented record in office warrants a renewal of his mandate to accomplish his changing lives agenda. We have a President who is our father and our brother. He is not only passionate about the development of this country, but in particular issues affecting northern region. He has demonstrated to us that he loves us. He has given us the Tamale International Airport, he has given us a teaching hospital, he is doing the road overlay, the Sawla-Fufulso road, and he is building the schools for us so let us also show that we love him. It is not as if he is biased because he is from the north, but it is also because he knows when he retires, he will come home and that is why it is incumbent upon us to vote for him. December 7 is just around the corner and God has given us a second chance. Maybe it is time for us to prove whether we love each other or we don't love each other, he stressed. He described the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) as anti-northerners, saying, In the NPP when they chose Paul Afoko to become their Chairman, when they didn't like Paul Afoko they used northerners to sign petitions to take him out. Alhassan Suhuyini named and shamed the petitioners, saying It was our brothers, the Anthony Karbos, the C.K Tedam's who signed the petition and got Afoko out, he alleged. Tribal card in election years Although campaigning along tribal lines have been repeatedly condemned as they are considered divisive, several politicians throw caution to the wind in their quest for power, and flagrantly engage in it. The two main political parties, the NDC and NPP, are largely guilty of this practice. Hajia Alima blasts Mahama over tribal politics Just recently, President John Dramani Mahama incurred the wrath of opposition NPP members when he allegedly used the tribal card during his visit to the Mamprugu Traditional area, as part of his 'Accounting to the people tour'. NPPs Parliamentary Candidate for the Gambaga/Nalerigu Constituency in the Northern Region, Hajia Alima Mahama, slammed the President following his call on Mamprusis to ignore the NPP's running mate , Dr. Mahamoud Bawumia, and vote for him at the 2016 polls. By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana New Castle, Delaware: The Association of Liberian Journalists in the Americas (ALJA) says the recent elections of the Ministers of Information Culture Affairs and Tourism (MICAT), Eugene Nagbe, and Labor, Nato Lighe, Sr.as well as other political appointees in the Johnson-Sirleaf Administration to senior posts within the ruling Unity Party (UP), constitute a flagrant violation of the Liberian government Code of Conduct. The Association said the elevation of Ministers Nagbe and Neto, as well as Director Bangole to high profile positions in the UP hierarchy would pose serious conflict of interest for them in the execution of their statutory duties in government. ALJA wondered what will be the disposition of Minister Nagbe, who is the Liberian Government Chief Spokesman, and his peers when confronted with critical national matters that hinge on the interests of the government and the UP as well as opposition political parties. ALJA maintained the elections undermine the principle of good governance and universal best practices. The Association in a press release issued on July 24, 2016 called on President Sirleaf to swiftly correct the political blunder. Ministers Nagbe and Lighe were recently elected UP Secretary General and Deputy Vice Chairman respectively. The MICAT boss and the other party executives were elected at the just ended convention held in Gbarnga, Bong County. The convention was held from July 7th through the 9th. During the Convention, the General Services Agency (GSA), Deputy Director for Administration, Cole Bangole, was also, voted in as the UP Vice Chairman for Inter-Party and NEC Affairs. ALJA called on the Liberian Leader to muster the political will to request the three senior public officials to immediately resign from their elected posts within the ruling party, or be dismissed from government because their recent elections contravene Section 5.1(A) of the nation's Code of Conduct, which regulates the activities of political appointees in government. Section 5.1(A) of the Code of Conduct states "All officials appointed by the President of the Republic of Liberia shall not: (a) engage in political activities, canvass or contest for elected offices; (b) use government facilities, equipment or resources in support of partisan or political activities; (c) serve on a campaign team of any political party, or the campaign of any independent candidate." The Code of Conduct was legislated and passed into law in 2014. President Johnson-Sirleaf signed the Code of Conduct. The law seeks to control and minimize malfeasance in the public sector of the Liberian society. Article 90(c) of the Liberian Constitution states, The Legislature shall, in pursuance of the above provision, prescribe a Code of Conduct for all public officials and employees, stipulating the acts which constitute conflict of interest or are against public policy, and the penalties for violation thereof. ALJA described as inconceivable Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf's decision to sit in and allow her direct supervisees proceed with the gross violation of the law she helped create while attending the UP convention in Gbarngba. The President is the principal signatory of the Code of Conduct. The Association said Minister Nagbe's ascendency to the position of Secretary General would create a serious credibility problem for the Johnson-Sirleaf Administration during the 2017 electoral period if; the situation is not promptly revisited by the President. The Association said 2017 would be a critical era in Liberia's quest for a peaceful and stable society; and the Administration must exert every effort in curtailing acts such as the UP recent gross violation of the Code of Conduct. Meanwhile, ALJA is urging the concerned public officials and all political appointees in the Liberian government to eschew tendencies that are inimical to peaceful co-existence in Liberia. ALJA is a conglomeration of current and retired Liberian Journalists residing in the Americas. The Association was founded in 1998 and it seeks to foster peace and unity amongst its members. Also, ALJA is dedicated to the advancement of press freedom through media development and training; and the principle of Good Governance in Liberia. Signed: __________________ Gardea Woodson National Secretary General ALJA 610-212-1935 Approved: ____________________ Moses D. Sandy National President ALJA 302-494-4688 Nana Akufo-Addo - NPP Presidential Candidate 26.07.2016 LISTEN This article seeks to confute Mr Sangaparees somewhat specious claims in his article (captioned: Should the Rawlingses and their children own everything in Ghana?) which appeared on ghanaweb.com on Monday 25 July 2016. Mr Sangaparee writes: For almost 8 years, the 31st December Womens Movement worked towards making the Movement a member of the Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC) of the U.N, the NGO Section and it takes a long time as they go through your books, they look for what you are doing and you have to go and defend it. When they finally agreed in 2 years time, to admit the 31st December Womens Movement in the ECOSOC as a member, Nana Akuffo Addo who was then Foreign Minister in the NPP government sent a letter to the Embassy that they should NOT ALLOW the 31st December Womens Movement to be a member of the ECOSOC. The NPP government sent another letter to the ambassador and to the UN that the Movement is only a political group even though they are a Social and Economic group trying to better the lives of the women in Ghana. Do you see how dishonest and wicked the NPP government was? Do you see how dishonest and wicked Nana Akuffo Addo is Do you see how ex-President Kofour is dishonest and wicked up to date 2016? When the UN received those false letters, the ECOSOC boss called Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings and said that he had received a letter from her government that 31st December Womens Movement are just a political group creating problems in the country, so they should not be allowed to be a member of ECOSOC. Actually, Mr Sangaparee cannot be entirely correct for claiming that Nana Addo and former President Kuffour managed to block 31st December Movements ECOSOC consultative status application. Even though I have little knowledge (only Masters degree)on Politics and International Human Rights Law, I would like to believe Mr Sangaparees claim is sophistic. It is worth stressing that United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is a Charter-based body. Charter-based bodies draw their strength from the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and have broad human rights mandates. The UN Charter-based bodies also focus on unlimited audience and often base their actions on majority voting (UN 1945). More importantly, ECOSOC brings people and issues together to promote collective action for a sustainable world. And at the centre of the UN development system, ECOSOC conducts cutting-edge analysis, agrees on global norms and advocates for progress. ECOSOCs collective solutions advance sustainable development. It must also be noted that the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) is NGO Branch with the focal point within the UN Secretariat for non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and for NGOs seeking status. DESAs aims include among other things, support to NGOs: informing them in a timely fashion on events and opportunities to collaborate with the United Nations; intergovernmental support: DESA services the Committee on NGOs, which meets twice a year to discuss accreditation of NGOs to the UN Economic and Social Council; Undertakes conference registration: through CSONet, facilitates participation of NGOs to most of the intergovernmental processes taking place at United Nations headquarters and beyond. Currently there are 3187 NGOs in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and some 400 NGOs accredited to the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), a subsidiary body of ECOSOC. NGOs in the CSD roster need to contact the NGO Branch of DESA in order to apply to consultative status. What is consultative status? Non-governmental, non-profit public or voluntary organizations may be admitted into a mutually beneficial working relationship with the United Nations by attaining consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). This status is based on Article 71 of the Charter of the United Nations and on ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31 adopted in 1996. The rights and privileges enumerated in detail in ECOSOC resolution 1996/31, enable qualifying organizations to make a contribution to the work programmes and goals of the United Nations by serving as technical experts, advisers and consultants to governments and Secretariat. Sometimes, as advocacy groups, they espouse UN themes, implementing plans of action, programmes and declarations adopted by the United Nations. In concrete terms this entails their participation in ECOSOC and its various subsidiary bodies through attendance at these meetings, and also through oral interventions and written statements on agenda items of those bodies. In addition, organizations, qualifying for General Category consultative status, may propose new items for consideration by the ECOSOC. Organizations granted status are also invited to attend international conferences called by the U.N., General Assembly special sessions, and other intergovernmental bodies. (The participation modalities for NGOs are governed by the rules of procedure of those bodies). What are the procedures for obtaining consultative status with the ECOSOC? In order to obtain consultative status an organization's application must be reviewed by the Committee on NGOs of the ECOSOC which meets twice a year. The Committee, composed by 19 States members of the United Nations, recommends to the ECOSOC which organizations should be granted one of three categories (General, Special, and Roster). The recommendation then goes to the ECOSOC meeting, with the full ECOSOC making the final decision To begin the process for applying for such status an organization must contact in writing the NGO Branch of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. This letter of intent should be on the organization's letterhead and signed by its secretary-general or president. Once the NGO section receives the letter of intent, an application package containing the questionnaire and all the background materials is mailed to the organization. The deadline for receiving completed applications is June 1 of each year. For example, complete applications, (which include a completed questionnaire and all the required supporting documentation) received by the NGO Branch before 1 June 2003, will be taken up by the Committee on NGOs in the year 2004. What are the requirements for obtaining consultative status? Non-governmental, non-profit voluntary organizations may be admitted into consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The types of NGOs that can apply for consultative status, the requirements for obtaining status, as well as duties and responsibilities of the NGOs in consultative status are enumerated in detail in ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31. Among other requirements, the organization's activities must be relevant to the work of ECOSOC. The NGO must have a democratic decision making mechanism. The NGO must be in existence (officially registered with the appropriate government authorities as an NGO/non-profit) for at least 2 years in order to apply. The basic resources of the organization must be derived in the main part from contributions of the national affiliates, individual members or other non-governmental components. What is the difference between General category, Special category and Roster? Organizations wishing to apply for General Category must be "concerned with most of the activities of the ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies". These tend to be fairly large, established international NGOs with a broad geographical reach. Special Category is granted to NGOs "which have a special competence in, and are concerned specifically with, only a few of the fields of activity covered by the ECOSOC". These NGOs tend to be smaller and more recently established. Organizations which "can make occasional and useful contributions to the work of ECOSOC or its subsidiary bodies" are included in the Roster. These NGOs tend to have a rather narrow and/or technical focus. Let us remind Mr Sangaparee that the United Nations believes : the recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. More so, UN places emphasis on the dignity and worth of the human person and the equal rights of men and women. Thus, ECOSOC, the Charter body charged to promote and protect the interdependence, indivisibility, inter relatedness and universality of human rights cannot and would not at any point in time refuse a consultative status application of a qualified International Non-Governmental Organization (INGO). K. Badu, UK. Credit: The Un (1945) The Charter of the United Nations The UN (1945) The Working Procedures of the Economic and Social Council Education is nothing but indoctrination to be aware of indoctrination. We are indoctrinated on theoretical and grammar-based education and we are now aware that an intransigent failure of Ghanaian educational policy-makers to deconstruct teaching and learning from its colonial framework has not yielded any dividends. Graduate unemployment is increasing at an alarming rate. One would have expected that the urgent need of cogitating and ferreting out exact factors responsible for graduate unemployment would have been made maximally efficient and factored into policies and programs. However, contrary is the case, as out of political expediency, our leaders remorselessly continue to joke with job creation, youth employment and the right form of education. The purpose of this article is to elucidate on the significance of technological education and the dangers associated with conversion of our polytechnics into technical universities without recourse to national interest (social insecurity due to graduate unemployment). Over the years, it has never been uncommon to hear agitations from the members of Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG) on what they described as an injustice and a discrimination. They want to be treated on level terms with the lecturers of the public research universities. They embarked on strike actions every now and then to augment their grievances over research and book allowances. Series of negotiations had been wriggled through bureaucratic bottleneck concerning their grievances mentioned above. The students of polytechnics have also joined the bandwagon of striving for educational equality and asked to be treated as their university counterparts. There is nothing wrong with POTAG members and Polytechnic students asking for equality or aspiring for a higher thing. Every individual is motivated to strive for superiority and its attendant final fictive goal in order to compensate for inferiority (Alfred Adler, 1870-1937). However, as a country did we establish polytechnics for their teaching staff and students to fight for equality with the faculty and students of public research universities or we did so for the purpose of technological education and its benefits? I love this quote from the former US Supreme court judge, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, If there is any principle of the constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other, it is the principle of free thought, not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate. Indeed the thought we hate include kowtowing to the whims and caprices of unmitigated self-seekers at the expense of national interest. Educational curriculum and its design must be directed towards the needs of society: development and job creation. Some of the major conundrums of educational pundits include: whether these conversions of polytechnics into technical universities are really necessary now considering the graduate unemployment level in the country or just to satisfy the demands of polytechnic students and members of POTAG. Are these conversions in the national interest? Polytechnic education was established in 1992 by the PNDCL 321.to provide tertiary education through full time courses in the field of manufacturing, commerce, science, technology, applied social science, applied arts and such other areas as may be determined by the authority for the time being responsible for higher education;(b) encourage study in technical subjects at tertiary level; and(c) provide opportunity for development, research and publication of research findings. The reasons behind the creation of polytechnic education were very strong. The imperative need to jettison other demands of polytechnics and concentrate on science and technology must not be shelved as it will have a far-reaching effects on the economy relative to job creation. History bears a favorable testimony to the contribution of science and technology to national and global developments. For example, science and technology laid a solid foundation for France. France between 1750 and 1850 had taken a lead in the scientific and technological research. The French became intensive researchers into every field of scientific exploration: mathematical, chemical, physical, biological and technological. Frances great mathematicians, physicists, chemists and biologists had contributed than those of any other country to increasing the frontiers of scientific knowledge (Thomson, 1957). Their characteristic faith was expressed by the great chemist, Antoine Lavoisier in 1793, when he submitted a memorandum on national education to convention to make science a vital national subject. France emphasis on science and technology contributed to the rise of that country as a dominant economic power in Europe. Every strong economy thrives on technical education and thus, the creation of technical universities is not a bad idea. However, where are the technical schools to feed them? What kind of faculty do the technological universities need and where are they? When the technical schools were converted into polytechnics, all the technical skills instructors were replaced with university graduates whose technical knowledge were very minimal or had no technical knowledge at all. As the polytechnics have been converted into technical universities, the faculty members will be Masters and PhD holders whose knowledge have no bearings with technical education. KNUST was established for the purpose of science and technology and how far has the university accomplished its objectives? Today, KNUST is offering courses in sociology, accounting, management, economics, geography, Akan, history, political science, religious studies and other related social sciences. The name technical university is irrelevant if the issue of right content is ignored. I have no intension to scandalize and bastardize any reputable educational policy-maker in the country even so Albert Einstein thinks: Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I think we could rather compel KNUST to redirect its focus to science and technology as we convert two or three polytechnics to support them. We still need polytechnic education in Ghana. Let us just think of the employment benefits of extending railways to northern Ghana. Africa and Ghana no exception has contributed substantially to the upsurge of the Wests industrial civilization while the rise of Africans own industrial culture has been hampered. Africas contribution to the wests industrialization ranged from the era of slave trade for western plantations to the new era of cobalt and chromes for western industries (Mazrui, 1986). Africas contribution to western industrial development inadvertently helped to create the White technological Brahmins of the world (Mazrui, 1986). We need pragmatic measures to transform our own economic and educational fortunes on the continent. In the view of Max Weber The fate of our times characterized by rationalization and intellectualization and above all, by the disenchantment of the world. Indeed, the disenchantment of Ghanaians world is youth unemployment. The hurried manner in which these transitions of polytechnics into technical universities were done will not help future graduate employment prospects. I think we need more industries to feed current university graduates not more universities. This conversion will end up putting a lot of pressures on the future governments relative to graduate unemployment. Reference Mazrui, A. A (1986). The Africans, a triple heritage, Boston, Toronto, Little, Brown and Company. Thomson, D (1957). Europe since Napoleon, New York, Alfred A Knope I am intelligent because I know that I know nothing (Socrates). I humbly stand for Corrections. Feedbacks must be emailed to [email protected] Nana Yaw Osei (Padigo), PhD Candidate, Psychology College of Doctoral Studies Grand Canyon University, Arizona, USA Baku. Azerbaijan. July 26 Trend: Armenian armed forces have 20 times violated the ceasefire on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops over the past 24 hours, said Azerbaijans Defense Ministry July 26. Armenian armed forces, stationed on the nameless heights of Armenias Noyemberyan and Krasnoselsk districts, opened fire at positions of Azerbaijani armed forces on the nameless heights of Gazakh and Gadabay districts. Azerbaijani positions also took fire from the positions located near the village of Ashagi Seyidahmadli of Fizuli district and Kuropatkino of Khojavend 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. 26.07.2016 LISTEN Two Fulanis, Bello Alahassan and Abubakar Mohammed, are currently in the grips of the Atebubu police in the Brong-Ahafo Region for allegedly pulling a pump action gun on a number of farmers. They reportedly resorted to that action after they (farmers) had complained that their (Fulanis) cattle were destroying their crops. The incident, which happened at Hiamantsine in the Atebubu Amantin District, is being investigated by the police whilst the suspects are in police cells. Brong-Ahafo Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Christopher Tawiah, told Daily Guide that cattle belonging to Alhaji Mohammed Denjuma destroyed beans and yam farm of one Kwaku Libaleyo at Hiamantsine. Mr Kwaku Libaleyo, together with 10 others, went to the cattle ranch and confronted the two Fulani caretakers on the farm and asked them why they allowed the animals to destroy the crops. This resulted in an argument. In the confrontation that ensued, Bello pulled out a pump action gun on the farmers, but they (farmers) managed to overpower him and seized the gun from him. They then arrested the herdsmen and handed them over to the police together with the gun. Fighting in South Sudan that broke out on 8 July between rival factions loyal to Salva Kiir and Riek Machar has to date forced 37,890 people to flee the country to Uganda. To put this in context: In the past three weeks there have been more refugee arrivals in Uganda than in the entire first six months of 2016 (33,838). Yesterday (25 July) an estimated 2,442 refugees were received in Uganda from South Sudan. 1,213 crossed at the Elugu Border Point in Amuru, 247 in Moyo, 57 in Lamwo, and 370 in Oraba. Another 555 were received in Kiryandongo Settlement. The majority of arrivals more than 90 per cent are women and children. People are coming from South Sudans Eastern Equatoria region, as well as Juba and other areas of the country. Inside South Sudan the intensity of the violence has subsided since early July, but the security situation remains volatile. The new arrivals in Uganda are reporting ongoing fighting as well as looting by armed militias, burning down of homes, and murders of civilians. Some of the women and children told us they were separated from their husbands or fathers by armed groups, who are reportedly forcibly recruiting men into their ranks and preventing them from crossing the border. The situation is extremely worrying. Daily arrivals were averaging around 1,500 ten days ago but have risen to over 4,000 in the past week. Further surges in arrivals are a real possibility. The influx is putting serious strain on the capacity of collection points, and transit and reception centres, which are too small for the growing number of arrivals. During the course of the weekend, humanitarian organisations worked to decongest the collection points, as well as installing temporary shelters to increase capacities. UNHCR has deployed additional staff, trucks and buses to assist. At its peak, more than 11,000 refugees were staying in Elegu, northern Uganda, in a compound equipped to shelter only 1,000 people. Over the course of the weekend, the centre was significantly decongested, with just 300 people sleeping there last night. Many of the refugees have been moved to the Nyumanzi Transit Centre, where they are receiving hot meals, water, shelter and other life-saving assistance, while others have been taken to expanded reception centres in Pagirinya. The management and expansion of reception facilities as well as the opening of a new settlement area remain key priorities. A new settlement area has been identified in Yumbe district that looks set to have the capacity to potentially host up to 100,000 people. Temporary communal shelters are also being constructed to accommodate the continuing arrivals. The humanitarian response to the influx of South Sudanese refugees is sorely lacking due to severe underfunding. The inter-agency appeal is only funded at 17 per cent, which is constraining UNHCR and its partners to provide emergency and life-saving activities only and causing limitations to the full breadth of humanitarian assistance that can be offered. South Sudans conflict, which erupted in December 2013, has produced one of the worlds worst displacement situations with immense suffering. Inside South Sudan, some 1.69 million people are displaced internally, while outside the country there are now 831,582 South Sudanese refugees, mainly in Ethiopia, Sudan, and Uganda. The decision by Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, flagbearer of the Progressive People Party (PPP), ahead of the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections, to subject himself to a medical check-up and publish the results was unnecessary and amounted to political gimmickry, Nana Akomea, Director of Communications of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), has said. Dr Nduom, at a press conference in August 2012, challenged all presidential aspirants to submit themselves to a medical check-up and make the results public after he underwent a similar exercise. He said in relation to his status: There are areas that there are no problems, there are areas I have to work on, and there are areas I have to watch. Also with blood works, I requested that they should do an HIV test and that test is negative. All the blood tests in terms of the blood sugar in my blood, prostate, those things are okay. He admitted having cholesterol problems in his family and promised to work on it, adding: I need to learn to take even better care of myself so that the cholesterol doesn't become a problem for me. He urged other politicians and flagbearers to emulate his initiative. His call came at a time when discussions regarding the health statuses of presidential aspirants became a topical issue following the death in 2012 of then-President John Atta Mills in office. But speaking to Moro Awudu, host of Inside Politics on Class91.3FM on Monday July 25, 2016, in connection with the commemoration of the fourth anniversary of the passing of President Mills, Mr Akomea said: That thing Kwesi Nduom [did] was just a gimmick. It was just some schoolboy thing. It was totally unnecessary. He added: If you are sick, you are sick, then you come under medical attention. As I sit here, I am not sick and, so, if I went to the hospital and said I have done check-up and I am fit so somebody else should also go and do a check-up, what is that for? It [sickness] is not a perpetual state of being. You go into it tomorrow and someone comes out of it tomorrow. Nana Akomea, however, said the National Democratic Congress did not handle the health status of the late president well. According to him, the NDC lied about the condition of Professor Mills whereas it was visible that he was not well, hence, the incessant pressure mounted on him to deliver as president of the land. He said: You are talking of a situation where the man (President Mills) is sick and its not just an ordinary man you are talking of [but] the president of the country. "...So the lesson learnt is that with the kind of sickness that the president had, and everybody could see he was sick, he would have benefited if he had told Ghanaians what was happening [to him]. He would have got a lot of sympathy and will probably have been less stressful to him." 26.07.2016 LISTEN The parts of a vehicle are many, the many parts assembled make the car go round. The Black African is gifted with a part of the vehicle each to use just as their European colleagues. The European loved explored and understood their possession so joined them together in concord. Alas, the car is made and ready to work. They formed a transport business to profit more from it. Meanwhile the Black African is washing, polishing, dusting, and displaying their spare part as a trophy. Other Africans have kept theirs securely hidden and protected, some may take it along in their coffin! Half of the rest are almost worshipping this strange part they have, while others do not see any value in them so have left them to rust and rot. The European had a car and now has cars that service Europeans, Africans and others in many ways than one. You envy the European for using their gifts to create and sell to you in exchange for your natural endowments? Then you wonder why the European cannot see a partner in you when you won't unite, create or explore? Monkeys play by their sizes; followers and the followed are not equals, neither are the divided and the united, the insulting and the insulted, nor the giver and the taker. Black African, why are you not giving more attention to health and the living more than sickness and the dead, so you too will assemble your African vehicle to benefit the Global Village? Last Saturday, I was at Great Hall of the University of Ghana. As an alumnus, I haven't been there for several years. The drive to the hall was slow, as it is typical of most graduation ceremonies. The sheer number of cars moving towards the same venue caused a bit of traffic and the large number of people who were trooping up and down the hill made it an interesting sight. There were all manner of people scattered on the lawns, in the pavements, along the many staircases and the frontage of the Great Hall. I noticed the older men and women taking calculated slow steps in order not to lose their balance and I also saw the middle-aged who took their moderate steps to the place. And of course, there was the young who were there in their numbers. Some had medium and flat shoes which are very suitable for walking up and down the hill and there were adventurous young women who came in their high heels. You don't walk to the Great Hall in high heels. I also noticed how the open field around the Great Hall had been turned into a big market with all sorts of food and drinks on sale. There seemed to be a fierce battle for supremacy between Kebab sellers and photographers who had lined up there with very creative banners of all shapes and sizes. Who says Ghanaians are not enterprising? Things have changed a bit although the changes took long in coming. When I left the university, I had to wait for several months for the graduation ceremony. Now the school has two sets of graduation ceremonies on the same day one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Another set of students will graduate in November. This is a smart move. As we hassled to find a place to park, I couldn't help but once again admire the nice architecture of the university which I had attended three times first in 1992, 1998 and 2006. I miss the white and not too white walls, the long heavy benches in the dining halls and the stone slabs on which we sat outside the departments. I miss the long walk in the evening around the Sarah Hall to the N blocks and the famous 'Accra by night'. In my time, there was no dumsor so you could enjoy the night out around Commonwealth Hall and the Great Hall. Now I don't know how the place looks like on a dumsor night. We found a good spot in front of the Great Hall to park. We sat waiting anxiously for the formal ceremony to end. Finally the students came out clad in their academic gowns filled with academic pomposity, whatever that means. I was there to support three people two young doctors- one was my husband's nephew and the other was a young man who was supported by the MTN Ghana Foundation. I had high hopes for them because as doctors, their jobs are already cut out. These young doctors could smile confidently and take their pictures and celebrate in style for the future looked bright and the prestige of being called a doctor was now a reality. I was there also to congratulate a friend from my church who had just graduated with a Masters in Information Studies. I was happy for her because I remember when she started her course and before I knew she called to inform me she had completed the one-year programme. How time flies. People like her who had their regular job need not fear graduation because the additional degree they had acquired will help enhance their skills in their workplaces. As I looked at the graduates I begun to analyse the fate of the last group the young school leavers who I believe are not sure of what sort of opportunities is available for them. It will not be an easy task finding placement after school. With the high rate of unemployment in the country and generally in many other countries in the world, it will be a Herculean task to find good jobs. In Ghana, many institutions, including the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER), have lamented and warned of the worsening graduate unemployment in the country. The increasing rate of unemployment is very worrying and with the challenging economic conditions, the ability for businesses and government to recruit more people is almost non-existent. Young graduates of today need to be extra skilful. They must add value to their certificates and this does not mean getting a Master's degree (the craze for acquiring MBAs have now become more of a fashionable trend than a necessity). They have to be clear about what profession they want to follow. Some have to experiment new ideas, think through the problems of society and create new business ideas. It will mean that most graduates will have to come together to start their own businesses. It will be difficult from the beginning due to lack of credit and knowhow but it is not impossible. Man must live and you can only live by thinking through today's problems and finding solutions to them. I believe that in as much as Ghana has many challenges that need solutions, there are equal or more opportunities in the midst of it. Young people have to be innovative in turning things around. Value addition also means that they could take up unpaid jobs to acquire the much needed experience and exposure to enhance their CVs instead of wasting years waiting for job opportunities only to miss out on some of them because they do not have the required experience. So if I were a young graduate, I will learn to exhibit the right attitude, manage my time profitably, improve my skills and learn fast even if I have to offer voluntary service in order to stay relevant. Young people have mobile phones and the internet at their disposal. All the skills they need are there. So to all those who graduated these past few days, I congratulate you and wish you the very best as you find a good place to serve and share your skills. Especially for the young doctors, I pray you will stay to serve the people of Ghana and I hope that government would work to improve your working conditions. And please no strikes. The Bank of Ghana (BoG) recently put the country's debt-to-GDP ratio at 66.4 percent as at May this year but the Ministry of Finance quoted a figure of 63 yesterday in Parliament. According to Seth Terkper, Minister of Finance, who read the mid-year review of the 2016 Budget to Parliament yesterday in Accra, government, by the inconsistent figures, had put the debt climb on a reverse course. We are proud to note that for the first time since the declaration of HIPC in 2001 we were able to first, slow down the rate of growth of debt accumulation between 2014 and 2015; and second, now reverse course, with the debt-to-GDP ratio falling from 72 percent of GDP at end-2015 to 63 percent at end-May 2016. Chastising critics who had indicated that the mounting debt-to-GDP ratio was likely to send the country back to the highly indebted poor country (HIPC) status, he said: Certainly, this is not the trajectory that will take the nation back to HIPC, as some had predicted only recently. We will persevere in bringing down the level of our public debt. The nation's public debt level rose rapidly from a very low 26 percent in 2006with the steepest post-HIPC increase of 31 percent in 2007to approximately 72.1 percent by end-2015. We note that HIPC reduced the public debt from over 150 percent of GDP to 26 percent and created significant borrowing space. That era ended with the increase in public debt above sustainable levels. GDP Bloomberg also recently quoted the Finance Ministry as saying that the country's GDP would end the year at 3.2 percent. But the Minister yesterday noted that in spite of unanticipated shortfalls in price and production of crude oil, GDP growth was projected to end the year at 4.1 percent or better. Government has continued to alter figures since the 2016 Budget was presented in November last year to the extent that a government which inherited a GDP growth of 14 percent now wants to be commended for downsizing it to 4.1 percent. Challenges galore Mr Terkper said there had been a number of challenges in the domestic and global economic environment since the presentation of the 2016 Budget to Parliament in November 2015 which had affected the assumptions underlying the budget. First, crude oil prices declined to a low US$28 per barrel (pbl) in January 2016 compared to the US$53.05 pbl used in the Budget. Even though the price has been rising from March 2016, the range of US$45US$48 pbl, at end-June 2016, is still below the oil price projection used in the 2016 Budget. Secondly, the defects in the turret bearing of the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah adversely affected crude oil and gas production for the first half of 2016. Thirdly, despite the repairs made to the broken West Africa Gas Pipeline, increased rebel and pirate activities continue to adversely affect the supply of gas to Ghana. This has a negative impact on power supply and, consequently, full recovery of the economy. These developments and in general, the sluggish commodity prices, will have implications for executing the 2016 Budget. By Samuel Boadi [email protected] The deficit in the countrys road infrastructure can be attributed to the unchecked expansion of communities, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Alhaji Inusah Fusseini, has said. The Minister opined that, the trumping of planning authorities by traditional leaders contributes to the population expansion, which in turn affects the Road Ministrys ability to keep up infrastructure development with community expansion. Expansion of this country in terms of settlement is at about 10 percent, and every year, this Ministry has about 10 percent catching up to do, Alhaji Fuseini noted in an interview with Citi News on the sidelines of the mid-year budget presentation in Parliament on Monday. Growth and expansion clearly ahead of planning authorities Alhaji Fusseini explained that, the reason for this expansion was because we have a constitutional system built on a traditional system where land ownership is vested in chiefs, stools and skins who partition and give out lands without recourse to the planning authorities. This meant development takes place in areas which are not part of the planning scheme of the various district assemblies according to Alhaji Fusseini, who lamented the fact that his Ministry always had to chase after the development. It becomes the responsibility of the Ministry and Local authorities to ensure that those roads are done so every year you would have challenges to deal with, he stated. What the mid-year budget said about road infrastructure The Finance Minster, Seth Terkper, during his presentation of the mid-year budget highlighted the progress made on major and minor road projects. According to him, the activities undertaken include the rehabilitation, reconstruction, construction and upgrading of roads and bridges, and that the under-listed projects are at various stages of completion as at May 2016. By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana At a dinner months before the late President John Atta Mills was elected as President of Ghana in 2008, I told a group of Nigerian senators that I believed he might win, but it won't be because he had a message. It would be because folks were tired of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). I voted for him. I thought long and hard about that choice because he didn't particularly have any distinct message or vision for Ghana. The NPP at the time had grown complacent and its officials too arrogant for my liking. Information Minister, Asamoah Boateng's go and eat konkonte comment was enough they needed to go and learn some humility. When he won, my friend Ato Kwamena Dadzie joked that he might either be a very good president or a very bad one based on his demeanor and lack of message. This was also before as Ato put it, the tumbling and mumbling at his inauguration. I had hoped the Mills administration would build on the very good foundation the Kufuor administration left. The NPP government which had never been in government until 2000 introduced some very good social interventions and policies aimed at lifting majority of our people out of poverty. They had managed to wean the country off its dependence on the International Monetary Fund and other such agencies. In spite of the NPP's many faults, the economy had boomed under it. Ghana could only blossom from that point. That was not to be. The National Democratic Congress's lack of message, policies and vision started to show soon as they assumed office. Most projects started under the Kufour government were dumped and new ones introduced. One of such was the STX affordable housing deal which never made it beyond the news. The first scandal was the payment of 51 million cedis as judgement debt to one of the party's financiers, Alfred Woyome. Shockingly the late President admitted at a presser that he had asked his officials not to pay the money but he had been ignored. This was followed by the GYEEDA scandals where millions were paid to companies owned by Roland Agambire and others for no work done. This and many more corrupt deals were made on Mills' watch. By the time of his death, the economy was in decline and the public debt was ballooning. Our present economic malaise started under Mills' government. His death was particularly sad. Ghana had never lost a sitting president in that manner. To complicate matters, we had no idea he had been very ill. We suspected it. But again, his communications team and his party aggressively denied all claims that he was unwell. Personally, I found his death very sad because every death diminishes all of us. Sixty-eight was still very young for me, and a part of me felt bad for writing a scathing piece about his check-ups abroad. Having only experienced him and his presidency from afar, I sensed he was a good man who may have been a good president had he had time. I was sad that history books would not have much to say about him besides the fact that he was good man who didn't live long to complete his term. I was wrong. His party, the NDC has been very busy working to ensure that history doesnt remember what a disaster the Mills period was. Since his death, they actively invoke his Asomdwoehene mantra every chance to cover the party's violent roots. They've named everything worthy and new after Atta Mills. There are schools, factories, streets and even an FPSO now . This year, they named a library in Cape Coast after him. He has more things named after him than the party's founder who they credit with this democracy. The language about him has also changed. Whenever they invoke him, they make him sound like Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first president who together with others fought for Ghana's independence and African unity. They make him sound like a president who built things and moved the country ahead. Atta Mills' image and history is presently being whitewashed. It seems like we're being conned into accepting the NDC's version of events Atta Mills, the good, peaceful man who transformed Ghana. President Mahama at the inauguration noted: As president he was Asomdwehene and father for all. A peace-loving man, he prioritized peace above all else because as he always rightly stated without peace, there can be no progress. He was our rock of Gibraltar, always calm even in the most adverse circumstances. He never responded when insults were cast at him. I believe I partly take from him, my stoicism in tolerating even the unkindest cuts from my opponents and detractors. Since 1992 Ghana has established itself as a beacon of democracy. It is forbidden to speak ill of the dead in our culture. It is however acceptable to speak the truth about the dead. And here are some truths about our late president. The corruption and mismanagement of the economy started when he was in office. No one person in his party was investigated or prosecuted for the Woyome or Isofoton mess. Some of those who oversaw that deal have gone on to occupy positions in the party and government while only two out of the group who profited from the mismanagement of GYEEDA are being prosecuted. When this happened, he was well enough to instruct as such. He was the one who handed a bunch of inexperienced young men political positions who together with the present administration have tanked the economy. Party officials have consistently told us that, Mills would have done more had he not been sick. We will never know. He never told Ghanaians that he was unwell. At one point, he jogged at the airport to prove he was well when opposition claims about his supposed sickness was at fever pitch. There was no autopsy after his death so I (and many Ghanaians) do not know whether his death was natural or from an ailment. In any case, even if he was sick while in office and did not tell us, that's not exactly presidential or honest. I do however understand why he may have hidden the truth. I feel great sympathy for him. I can imagine how hard it must have been, trying to govern a country, fighting opposition accusations about his health status and simply trying to stay well and alive. But being sick while in office and never disclosing it does not give his party and friends the right to change history. Sickness does not preclude any elected official from the fair assessment of their performance in office. John Evans Atta Mills may have been a good man to those who knew him very well. But good men don't always make great leaders. John Evans Atta Mills was good man but not a great president. The National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its communicators lied about the health of late President John Evans Atta Mills, who died in office in 2012, Nana Akomea, Director of Communications of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), has said. Ghana is at the moment marking the fourth anniversary since the passing of Professor Mills. A library has been built and inaugurated in Cape Coast in the Central Region in his honour. Before he died, there were several concerns expressed by some Ghanaians about his health. But government and NDC communicators kept denying that the president was sick. A series of social media and mainstream media publications were done to dispel rumours about the deteriorating condition of the President. But Nana Akomea, speaking in an interview with Moro Awudu, host of Inside Politics on Class91.3FM Monday July 25, 2016, during discussions on the commemoration of the fourth anniversary of his death, said there were visible signs that Professor Mills was sick because he interacted with people live on television and was also heard on radio, but his handlers kept denying the fact that he was sick. According to him, there was no point denying the deteriorating health condition of President Mills because it was obvious. He said if it had been admitted that the president was not well, probably the incessant pressure and criticisms levelled against him to deliver as president would have been moderated. He told host Moro Awudu: You are talking of a situation where the man (President Mills) is sick and its not just an ordinary man you are talking of [but] the president of the country. "...So the lesson learnt is that with the kind of sickness that the president had, and everybody could see he was sick, he would have benefited if he had told Ghanaians what was happening [to him]. He would have got a lot of sympathy and will probably have been less stressful to him." Blantyre (Malawi) (AFP) - Malawian President Peter Mutharika ordered the arrest Tuesday of a man paid to have sex with more than 100 adolescent girls as part of a traditional ritual marking their passage to womanhood. The order was issued after the man from the southern district of Nsanje gave a media interview confessing to have slept with the girls for a fee of between four and seven dollars paid by each of their families. "I order police to immediately arrest Mr Eric Aniva, investigate him and take him to court forthwith for defilement cases," Mutharika said in a statement. This little-known local practice is performed in southern Malawi by men known as "hyenas" at the behest of a girl's parents after her first menstruation. The ritual is believed to train girls to become good wives and to protect them from disease, or misfortune could fall on their families or their village. But it is blamed for spreading AIDS. In a BBC interview broadcast last week, Aniva confessed to being infected with HIV and sleeping with virgin girls without using protection. Aniva said that the girls were as young as 12. "All these girls find pleasure in having me as their 'hyena',' he said. "They actually are proud." Mutharika said Aniva should "be investigated for exposing the young girls to contracting HIV and further be charged accordingly." He also ordered an inquiry into the role of parents, saying "harmful cultural and traditional practices cannot be accepted." The sexual cleansing ritual by a "hyena" is also performed on bereaved widows in Nsanje district to exorcise villages of evil spirits or to prevent another death occurring. Aniva said a "hyena" was selected by the community based on good morals and that custom did not allow him to use condoms. Malawi, which has one of the highest HIV infections in the world, criminalises sex with a person under the age of 16. If found guilty of underage sex, Aniva could be imprisoned for life. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 Trend: The Azerbaijani Military Prosecutor's Office filed a criminal case under several articles of the Criminal Code in connection with the premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murders of Azerbaijani servicemen by the Armenian armed forces, Khanlar Valiyev, Azerbaijani lieutenant-general, military prosecutor, said. Valiyev made remarks at an extended board meeting July 26, dedicated to the discussion of the work as of January-June 2016 and the upcoming tasks, the Azerbaijani Military Prosecutor's Office said. He stressed that an investigative group was also established. Valiyev added that the Armenian armed units grossly violated the ceasefire and the requirements of international law. He said that the Armenian armed units fired on the settlements in the contact line and the settlements and civilian facilities which are not located close to the contact line by using the large-caliber weapons, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades. 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. 26.07.2016 LISTEN Parenting can be quite an arduous adventure. It is hard enough with a committed partner, but when you are doing it alone, especially in Nigeria, the difficulty rises to a whole new level. It can be tricky, maintaining good mental health, thriving as an individual and nurturing your children in the best possible manner. There are quite a number of women in the country who are single parents through the death of a spouse, divorce, abandonment or choice. While some of these women often feel like they have got it really rough, or that they are doing just about everything wrong; there are others who are successfully and joyfully raising children by themselves. Wondering how they are scaling through? Jumia travel , Africas No.1 online hotel booking portal, shares a few suggestions to help smooth the journey of any single mother in Nigeria. HAVE A SOLID FINANCIAL BUDGET A majority of problems faced by single mothers in Nigeria is financially related and most times, it results from improper financial planning. As a single mother, it is essential that you draw up a financial budget per time and stick to it. Calculate how much you earn, what your main expenses are and figure out what is left over for saving and plan accordingly. This ensures that you live according to your means per time and you are do not always run into debt. PLAN AHEAD FOR EMERGENCIES Life is full of uncertainties and so it is important that as a single mother you have solid plans for emergencies. Aside from putting money aside for urgent situations, ensure you have you medicine cupboard filled with relevant medication for cases or allergy or infections. Look for emergency babysitting service in your area that can often provide help fairly quickly in situations where you are incapacitated and need care for your child. Also, create an emergency list of friends and family members you know you can call on for help in dire situations. ADJUST YOUR PRIORITIES A number of single mothers in Nigeria tend to fall into the superwoman trap, assuming they can pull off combining a 9-5 job with house cleaning, cooking meals, and tending to their childrens needs. As a single mother, it is important that they stay realistic about what you can and cant accomplish in a day and set priorities. Lower your expectations and give yourself time for a break. You do not even have to do everything on your own, free up some personal time by hiring help from time to time. AVOID COUPLE ENVY This might seem trivial but is a major cause of depression for many single mothers in Nigeria. You are a single parent, things are extra difficult and you most times get lonely; it is normal to feel envious of friends who have kind, involved husbands, men who actually want to be with them and pitch in, but it is important to avoid getting caught up in the illusion that everything would be perfect if you just had a partner. Remind yourself that everyone has problems, even married people. Constant envy breeds resentment and bitterness, which eventually drains your energy and causes you enough stress to ensure your situation gets even extra difficult. BUILD A COMMUNITY Do not be too proud or shy to rely on people around you when you need help or support. Forge a strong community around you, people who can provide emotional support and a sense of belonging the perfect antidote to the isolation brought on by solo parenting. Even if you are in a city like Abuja where social life is not ver active, you can push yourself into social situations, join a church or a club, and attend events in your location. Do not be afraid to open yourself up to others. Just because you are a single mom, does not mean you or your child should not have other people to go to. Have a diverse social circle and keep a positive outlook on life. If you sit around and play victim to your circumstances things will just keep being difficult for you. Workers of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation are livid over the National Media Commission's (NMC) decision to clear the governing board of the corporation of any wrongdoing. The GBC workers union had written to the NMC to dissolve the board, accusing it of micromanaging the affairs of GBC. They also accused the board of misappropriating GBC's internally generated funds by illegally employing directors without recourse to due process.] George Sarpong, Executive Secretary of NMC subsequently debunked the claims, saying their investigations proved otherwise. But the Union in a statement described Mr. Sarpong's comments as scandalous and self-serving. The Ghana Broadcasting Corporations Divisional Union of the Public Service Workers Union (PSWU) wishes to exercise its right to a rejoinder to a misguided statement that, the Executive Secretary of the NMC, Mr George Sarpong, wilfully and without compulsion, made on your network on the date above, in reaction to agitations by workers of the state broadcaster. But for his scandalous and self-serving effusions, we would have ignored outright his disgraceful attack on the entire workforce of the GBC and the descriptions he sought the whole world to see the Corporations workers. To put it bluntly he, Mr Sarpong is not on top of his job and does not know the gravity of the billowing anger that is building up at the state Broadcaster, the statement said. Full statement is below GBC UNIONISED WORKERS' RESPONSE TO NMC EXECUTIVE SECRETARY'S EFFUSION ON CITI FM, The Ghana Broadcasting Corporations Divisional Union of the Public Service Workers Union (PSWU) wishes to exercise its right to a rejoinder to a misguided statement that, the Executive Secretary of the NMC, Mr George Sarpong, wilfully and without compulsion, made on your network on the date above, in reaction to agitations by workers of the state broadcaster. But for his scandalous and self-serving effusions, we would have ignored outright his disgraceful attack on the entire workforce of the GBC and the descriptions he sought the whole world to see the Corporations workers. To put it bluntly he, Mr Sarpong is not on top of his job and does not know the gravity of the billowing anger that is building up at the state Broadcaster. . May be a few words of advice to Mr George Sarpong, it will help you greatly when commenting on GBC unionised workers issues to do so in your personal capacity, and not in the name of your office (Nay, we are constrained because we hold that office in high esteem) Having listened intently to your effusions on Citi-FM, the GBC Unionised workers wish to react to a few statements you got all wrong: 1. That, staff of GBC are agitating, because they are afraid of technological change and D.T.T, that worker who have been on their jobs for 20 to 30 years, without upgrading themselves and learning new things? What an insult and insolence? On the broadcasting media landscape in Ghana today, MrSarpong, please, point to us, which house is technically superior to the GBC or can boast of technical engineers than the GBC? Capacity? Reach? Please, take a stroll through all media houses today and convince the world that you will not find one or two persons who did not have training or a stint with the GBC. To your information the GBC trained its engineers on Digital Broadcast Technology about 6 years ago and further piloted DTT projects in Accra and Kumasi with over 30 channels running since. These projects are being operated and maintained by the Carpenters and Welders you so described. Do you know it is the GBC, long before any institution or agency (be they private or public) who started work towards migration of Analogue TV signal to digital broadcasting in this country? Lawyer Sarpong, what is your personal interest in the whole DTT issue that GBC Union has raised the Red flag and even petitioned your office for months now? What relationship do you and some individuals have with the private company that was contracted to supply and install the National Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) Network, vis-a-vis the ruling that your office gave in our Petition on the DTT and other issues? Public Statement of that nature should not be coming from an occupant of that sensitive office. As an officer of the Law, Mr Sarpong, do the honourable thing by rendering a public retraction and apology to the good workers of the GBC. We hold this to your conscience. 2. Please, have you read the draft five (5) Year Strategic Plan, that your appointed Board contracted at a cost of several thousand Ghana Cedis.? What about a Scheme of Service that has been kept a secret and a guarded document, that workers of the State Broadcaster, have not set eye on before? A so-called strategic document and scheme which workers were not involved, consulted, educated on, in their formulation? 3. Who is saying GBC workers are afraid of Restructuring more so when there is a Collective Agreement (CA), the Labour Law and the GBC Act of Establishment? Staff are ready. Mr Sarpong, why shouldn't we be afraid? The GBC with all its challenges today, tell the whole world how much the State Broadcaster has pumped into the running of the NMC under the tenure of this board. A corporation, that is indebted to almost all its clients and suppliers Why shouldn't we be afraid, when the GBC that cannot pay its electricity bills, the Board, in its strategic wisdom and foresight, purchased six SUV's for some Directors of non-core Divisions of the Corporation? Why shouldn't we be afraid when the Corporation's fleet of operational vehicles has virtually broken down for various reasons, yet your appointed Board chose to sell off a 4 year old Four Wheel Drive vehicle to its user, contrary to existing directives in the public service against such a practice, at a price far below the market price of an over ten year (10yr) old saloon car? Why shouldn't we be afraid? When the current Board, contrary to the Financial Administrations Act, has turned GBC's IGF into a treasure trove that it is dissipating frivolously? We have at all times challenge the NMC to put in the public domain the audited accounts of GBC which followed workers agitation. We are not surprise the NMC has not been able to do that because the public will surely not take it kindly with the commission. Mr Sarpong, ask your board when was the last time an audit was conducted into GBC's Accounts, we Are very much interested in this question What about the rundown of Radio and Television Newsrooms! Where everything up to a pin, is a shred. Why shouldn't we be afraid, when we have an omni-present Board in GBC and the nerve centre of this country the newsroom are without telephone lines, having been discounted because we owe for several years now? We workers are afraid, because, your appointed Board by its conduct and scheming is deliberately running down GBC to serve an end. Why, shouldn't we be afraid when operational staffs have no dedicated vehicle for mobility and they have to foot certain errands at their own expense. For how long will these continue, we are angry and afraid, because newsmen don't have basic recorders, and have to buy (memory cards and chips) for video recording; Cameras have broken down and left to rot, decrepit computers and the few that are working, have no mouse. Mr Sarpong, are you aware that workers of the Corporation are by and large not picked at dawn and many have suffered robbery attacks, to the extent of being knifed? that the Corporation's drivers have virtually refused weekend operations because overtime is not paid ? that again , just recently, a newsreader closed late at night and there was no vehicle to drop her home and therefore decided to brave the night home, on her own and was knocked down by marauding motor riders leading to hospitalisation? 4. Mr Sarpong GBC workers are asking you to do us a favour. Please, kindly lead your appointed Board on an excursion to the newsrooms, studios, production offices, and transport and logistics hubs of the GBC to appreciate the good work of your appointed Board. 5. You have rightly pointed out that GBC staff are afraid. Yes! Why shouldn't we, when the Board has hired out or sold out (as some claim) our studios to private competitors, when our TV channels have no studio of their own? 6. Mr Executive Secretary, has your appointed Board ever told you that, many news reporters come back from assignment and had to stand on their feet to write and edit their stories and Sounds / Pictures, because there are not furniture in the offices? 7. Why shouldn't we be afraid when scores of GBC retirees have not been paid their benefits, and because of these many have refused to vacate their bungalows and flats, but your appointed Board from the IGF can afford to sit every week and move its sittings from one venue and town to top class hotels across the country at the expense of the GBC, paying themselves sitting allowances and other expenses, which cannot be considered a drain on GBC's resources? Workers are afraid, because your Board has employed a number of Directors and Deputies and some category of workers without clearance from the Ministry of Finance and paying these employees from the Corporations IGF, contrary to existing regulations; Workers are afraid because the staff seconded from controller and accountant general department (CAGD) to help protect our Leaking revenue has been frustrated by your board to leave the corporations finance in the hands of the board employee whom government has ask for the termination of his employment. Mr Sarpong, we are still afraid because of the overt and direct interference of your appointed Board in day today administration of the GBC; micro-managing the Corporation, engineering staff transfers from strategic offices to be replaced by pliant recruits; Has it also come to your notice that under your appointed Board, the Corporation is so broke to the extent that, it has even borrowed from deductions of workers Provident Fund? 8. Workers of GBC are not, the least afraid of any action because we have the truth and reality on our side. As workers of the state broadcaster. We are first and foremost the direct beneficiaries and victims of its fortunes and failures. We take salaries as workers, the Board of GBC are no employees of the GBC, at best they take their salaries elsewhere, we are therefore direct owners of our work, why shouldn't we take our destinies into our own hands. We are saying enough of the Board, NMC, change this Board!!!! Or is the Commission also afraid of changing this Board who is throwing his weight about and behaving as though, he has the NMC in his pocket? Mr Executive Secretary, this is the change that should be engaging your attention, because that is the change that the carpenters and welders of GBC want and have demanded so far. As Unionised workers, we restate our resolve not to work or negotiate or deal with this current Board. We shall only do these with a new Board !!!!! Mr George Sarpong, you should therefore stop using the Police to intimidate our Leaders, because that rather infuriates us the more. We are saying take your Board out of GBC. The Corporation is bleeding under this board. Much as the Commission has ensured the insulation of state owned Media Houses from governmental control, it should go further, to insulate State owned media Corporations from Board Administrative Interferences. 9. We are assuring Ghanaians of our determination to be law abiding and act strictly within the confines of the Labour Law, our CA and the Constitution of Ghana. 10. We Unionised Workers of GBC today are emancipated, we know our rights and responsibilities to ourselves, the good people of this country and our publics: we have long passed the years of docility, administrative intimidations and succumbing to disrespectful authority: Unionised Workers shall remain committed to solidarity forever, because: When the unions inspiration through the workers blood shall run, there can be no power greater , anywhere beneath the Sun, They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn. But without our brains and muscles not a single wheel could turn, we can break their haughty power; gain our freedom when we learn that the Union makes us strong. Thank you. Samuel Allotey S.N.Kevor (Divisional Chairman) (Local Chairman) By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana The soup just suddenly went cold and tastes tinny. I am sitting in the Accra Mall, behind a bowl of Singapore foofoo. I call it that for the want of a better description, but it is that wonderful dish of noodles and assorted meats that you get on the pricey side in any of the so-called high class Chinese restaurants in Accra. A plate of noodles that is usually the cheapest item on a take away menu in the USA and Europe, but which here in Ghana has been high-classed into a rich man's show of ability to afford what the sensible Ghanaian shies away from because she(he) can get the equivalent in worth from the Osu night market at a nano-fraction of the cost. So here I am, my rich self, consoling my soul with a broth of rich-mans Ghana-Chino soup, when the TV screen facing me lights up with the breaking news of yet another suicide bombing in Kabul. So many dead, people drenched in blood, the heading says, and the reporter holding back what is disgust written all over his face, in an attempt to pretend professional, when pissed-off reality says he would rather not be the messenger with this here news. And I wonder if the world would be any safer if Donald Trump takes over. My mind switches to another far off place and I long for a fantasy viewing of Beyonce's Who rules the World? That momentary fleshiness of gyrations of one of the world's most blessed women provides temporary escape to a place where talent is the key to life and being and we as global citizens have a choice of where to live and not be caught in a world of fishing trawlers, making a hazardous journey over nature's unforgiving waves irrespective of religion or creed. Vision of how great and serene, and vibrantly sexy our world can be. Now we have a whole destruction of terrorists hiding behind some jumbled message of religious fanaticism, telling me I would be better off in their Shania world, where they could cut off my hand without a trial and murder my sister in an honor tribute for daring to fall in love with someone her brother did not deem adequate for his world? Similar message carried by Trump in his address at the Republican conference when he accepted the nomination of President for his party. I kept hearing the same dangerous undertone of a leader gone Erdoghan, arresting fifty thousand people on suspicion of attempting a coup. Where did we go wrong and surrender our democratic freedoms to leaders of impending disaster? And I ask myself, What kind of world have we created? Will we ever rid the world yet again of another menace? Another fear, fuelled by, a have and have-nots divide? Poverty traps we have created because Western appetites and so-called Islamic derivatives of humanity have become so divided we can no longer see how to clear the blurred lines of wants and needs? I am in a quandary. I pose this question to all my friends and family everywhere we meet, asking, Will it ever be solved? What is the answer to all this needless death and destruction? Will we ever again see the brotherliness we once experienced until a group of gung-ho, gun-touting, oil invasionists thought it right to invade another country based on unfounded suspicions and a need to prove their testosterone hubris? I have lost my appetite. The soup now has this mercuric taste and the shrimps have turned sour to my buds. I see the playground with all the happy demanding children, suddenly turning crimson; parents yelling, looking for children as cameras pan the scene looking for the next most shocking image to prick our now numb consciences of a world permanently scarred from radical images planted in the minds of a younger more impressionist virtual world, where life is resurrected with a reset button and a new scoreboard after the first rush of murder is complete. And I am wishing in my heart that I could switch to better and more focused thought. I am distraught with Parliament's decisions to not see the better pictures, but constantly saddle us with headlong collision and thoughts of constitutional mayhem. These are our decisions; they belong to the people of Ghana. The one that says we want to vote early or late or not vote at all, is the property of the citizens of Ghana. We did not send persons to Parliament to go look after their selfish interests, provide lame reasons of what their constituents think and then tell us it is a secret ballot. How do they reckon it is not in our interest to demand a better and smoother route to peace? Our Parliament has reached stunted thought. What the common sense principle says on this matter is a clear path to how best to avoid previous drawn-out political battles, not politicians looking at soothing each other's battle wounds after they have hurled insults at each other for the previous four years. These decisions are for and about the people of Ghana. It is not the secret preserve of Parliament, and we must grow the process to a point where it focuses on the people of Ghana. Which is why those elected to show us the way and provide a better life for us must be up and doing. It is for them to figure out and not us to be dragged into their perpetual fears. We are the second largest cocoa producer in the world and yet we don't produce a chocolate bar worthy of praise. We have oil and gas resources, large hydro reserves with a shoreline of water from one end to the other and yet we dumsor every day. We are naturally blessed with a resource that replaces itself and is the largest bank of Shea butter, a product identified as one of the greatest skin agents in the world, yet we make nothing of it. We have an abundance of gold, diamonds, timber, mango, cashew and plenty other agricultural resource, which we can grow and triple supply, but if only we can choose the one most important ingredient in all of this. LEADERS. Leaders who can and will dedicate themselves to things progressive and figure out, without selfish indulgence for only them, their family and cronies. If Ghana can stop for a second and select the crop of persons, a team from wherever, and whichever political divide, capable of better, forward-looking positions, where economic development and wealth creation for the country is the single most important issue, we will get somewhere and provide a haven for the youth instead of driving them away, beating them with a poverty cane and the threat of denigrating them to a lifestyle of beggars and sea-faring suicide immigrants. When, if ever are we going to find the right mix? A team who can and will provide for us, and not their futures in a black politician's portfolio. I am tired of living like this. I cannot carry on with the dumsor, the exceptionally high cost of living, tortuous potholes and inadequate water supply and a complete lack of economic opportunity to better my lot. We have to do something sensible in this country, if for nothing, to at least build a feel-good factor to urge the next generation on to better heights and a brighter future. And our leaders need to figure this out. Ghana, Aha a y din papa. Alius atrox week advenio. Another terrible week to come! Sydney Casely-Hayford, [email protected] A priest has been killed in an attack by two armed men at his church in a suburb of Rouen in northern France. The attackers entered the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray during Mass, taking the priest, Fr Jacques Hamel, 84, and four other people hostage. Police later surrounded the church and French TV said shots were fired. Both hostage-takers are now dead. President Francois Hollande said the men claimed to be from so-called Islamic State (IS). Speaking in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, he said the attackers had committed a cowardly assassination and France would fight IS by all means. Pope Francis decried the pain and horror of this absurd violence. French interior ministry spokesman, Pierre-Henri Brandet, said one of the hostages had been critically wounded. He said the hostage-takers had been neutralised after coming out of the church. Police were now searching the church for explosives. Barbaric Police sources said it appeared the attackers had slit the priests throat with a knife. The area has been cordoned off and police have told people to stay away. Mr Brandet said the investigation into the incident would be led by anti-terrorism prosecutors. One of the men was known to the French intelligence services, French TV channel M6 has reported. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has expressed his horror at the barbaric attack. The whole of France and all Catholics are wounded. We will stand together, he wrote on Twitter. The Archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, who was attending a Catholic gathering in Poland, said: I cry out to God with all men of goodwill. I would invite non-believers to join in the cry. The Catholic Church cannot take weapons other than those of prayer and brotherhood among men. -bbc The National Democratic Congress parliamentary candidate for Tamale North, Alhassan Suhuyini, has apologised for doing politics on the campus of the Northern School of Business which is against the rules of the Ghana Education Service (GES). The Radio Gold broadcaster told the students, and Northerners in general, to go all out and vote for President John Dramani Mahama because he comes from the north since Ashantis did same when President John Agyekum Kufuor was seeking power. When a Voltarian stood to be President the whole of Volta Region voted for him until he stopped being President. Jerry John Rawlings and when Ashanti man stood to be President the whole of Ashanti Region rallied behind him until he stopped to become President, President Kufour, Suhuyini told a gathering of students from the Northern School of Business (NOBISCO) after presenting relief items to victims of an inferno at a boys dormitory. When Professor Atta Mills decided to run for President the whole of central region, his home region, voted massively for him before he could win in 2008, and do you know the sad news? When John Mahama from the northern region decided to be President in 2012, the NDC in northern region lost 11 constituencies, the award-winning journalist said. He has come under public backlash for allegedly playing the tribal cards going into the 2016 elections. Suhuyini has, however, rendered an apology to the GES, the school and the National Disaster Management Organisation. Below is the full unedited statement: I apologise to the Northern School of business, the Ghana education service and to the District chief executive and the officers of the national disaster management organisation. The Northern School of business and GES because parts of my address to the students during the presentation of disaster items ventured into politics which is against the GES codes. Officials of the national disaster management because the media reports have under highlighted the prompt response of the organisation when I approached it to seek support for the disaster affected students. I only assisted in transporting the goods and in supporting the district chief executive and District NADMO officials to do the presentation to the school. I, however, find some of the headlines by the media, especially citifm disingenuous. How they chose a headline that suggests that I said "Northern Region should vote for Mahama like Volta Region did for Rawlings" befuddling when, indeed, they would have still been correct if the headline was that "Northern region should vote for Mahama like Ashanti Region did for President Kufuor". Because I suggested so in the same sentence. Why they chose the former and not the latter may seem nuanced, but not to a clever mischievous political reporter. Meanwhile it is true that Volta Region Voted for Jerry Rawlings and Ashanti Region stood by John Kufuor. Central Region stood by John Mills before he could win and Eastern Region has always been won by Nana Addo but comparing the 2008 results of the NDC when John Mills was candidate to the 2012 election results when John Mahama was candidate it is again correct to say the NDC lost in the President's home region. I am hardly a conformist. I believe in speaking out my mind on issues I believe are right especially when the majority for fear of loud unprincipled condemnation victimisation, or isolation are unable to say it loud. What did I say that the Minorities in the USA did not say to our cheers and applause when they rooted for President Barack Obama in 2008 and 12? What did I say that the Minorities in SA did not say to our cheers and applause when they stood with Nelson Mandela? What did I say that the people of Kentucky did not say about Mohammed Ali? What did I say that Hillary Clinton did not say to New Yorkers or Donald Trump did not say to his home town folks in the just ended primaries in the USA? If what I said is not civil I'm sorry I read from the pages of all these people named above. Dr Mahamud Bawumia recently asked Muslims to vote for his party because he is a Muslim and I disagreed with him ONLY to the extent that he suggested that will lead to the resolution of challenges confronting Muslims and muslim communities in the country. I did not in my call suggest that a vote for President Mahama is a guarantee that people of Northern extraction will have all their problems resolved. When we support our national clubs like kotoko, RTU or Hearts of Oak to win games it is not because we hope bonuses the playing body will receive will make it possible for us to pay our wards school fees or pay our utility bills. Yes politics is different but not insulated from sentimentalism else NDC would have had less opposition in Ashanti Region and NPP would have had appreciable support in Volta Region based on their efforts at developing these regions when they have political power. Finally, when we root for our old schools and show our love, it is not as if we hate colleagues from other schools. My love for my Alma matter Ghanasco doesn't necessarily suggest I hate Tamasco. Your love for Accra Aca or Prempeh College is not an indication of your hatred for Presec or Mfatsipim. So to be proud of my heritage as a Northerner should not be misconstrued to mean hatred for people from other parts of the country. After all we are all proud patriotic Ghanaians with beautiful cultural, social and religious identities that in harmony have been preserved and transmitted over the years. I'm called Suhuyini, you are called Kwesi, Osei, Kodjo, Konlan because of your traditional heritage and there's nothing wrong with that. It is wrong when you disrespect and denigrate others' identities and suggest that on that basis alone they are not worthy of certain privileges in life not when you celebrate yours. A Kumasi Circuit Court has found former Asokwa MP, Maxwell Kofi Jumah, guilty of causing unlawful damage to electoral material. The court presided over by Afua Adu-Amankwa, on Monday, sentenced Kofi Jumah to a fine of GH1200 or in default, spend six months in prison. In a two-horse race between the sitting MP Patricia Appiagyei and the former occupant of the seat, Kofi Jumah disrupted the process after he suspected some wrongdoing during the New Patriotic Partys (NPP) parliamentary primaries held Saturday, June 13, 2015. Kofi Jumah had accused the Electoral Commission (EC) and some party executives for doctoring the voters register to favour the incumbent MP with whom he has a long-standing rivalry. He took the album from the EC officials, torn it into pieces and threw the pieces on the floor, the Asokwa Communications officer Edmund Kyei told Joy News. The former Mayor was handcuffed and whisked away by the police. Patricia Appiagyei eventually won after she polled 326 votes against his 158 votes. Two days later, Kofi Jumah was charged with causing unlawful damage to electoral materials that is a photo album belonging to the Electoral Commission. His campaign manager Oscar was also charged with resisting lawful arrest. They were both granted bail in the sum of GH10,000 each with a surety. More than a year after the incident, the one-time Deputy Minister of Local Government and mayor of the Kumasi was convicted Monday along with his campaign manager, Oscar Riches. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com 26.07.2016 LISTEN By Maxwell Ofori, Parliament House Finance Minister, Mr Seth Terkper has beseeched parliament once again for approval of GHS 1,888,203,307 as Supplementary Estimates for the 2016 financial year. He grounded his request in Article 179 (8) of the 1992 Constitution which states that, where, in respect of a financial year, it is found that the amount of money appropriated by the Appropriation Act for any purpose is insufficient or that a need has arisen for expenditure for a purpose for which no sum of money has been appropriated by that Act, a supplementary estimate showing the sum of money required, shall be laid before Parliament for its approval. Minister Terkper told the MPs that the supplementary budget would empower the President Mahama led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to continue with the many development and social intervention they have started. The Finance Minister indicated that, Ghana would not go into HIPC again, as is being predicted by some self-described economic cum financial analysts. He also noted that his government would revamp the economy through superior interventions and initiatives to ensure a solid economy. However, one thing the minister mentioned that forced the minority side of the House to ask questions was that about one thousand six hundred and forty two chip compounds have been built across the country. According to the Minority, the claim is false and that it is mere sugar coated words. The minister again mentioned that a total of ninety thousand (90,000) metric tons of fertilizers have been given to farmers as a move to improve on agriculture in the country. But the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kwadaso, Akoto Owusu Afriyie disagreed in an exclusive interview with The Chronicle. He was rather disappointed with the poor performance of the ruling government in the agric sector. I am disappointed at what the minister said about agriculture. The current growth of agriculture is 2.4% and I dont think that is enough. When we (NPP) were in power, it saw growth more than that. So they have done badly in that sector, not to talk of others, he stated. A Deputy Minister of Finance, Mrs Morna Quartey, defended that government would stick to its budget, though the country is in an election year. We can stick to the budget because we know how much we want to give to the EC and thats what they would have to work with, she said. She further told this paper that, the supplementary estimate would go into the energy sector and other areas and that, government is working to ensure that fiscal deficit comes down to 5% from 5.3%. This, she explained, would be a signal to investors that the economy was on track and it would be safe to trade business here. On the contrary, MP for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo Markin, rubbished all what the minister said, adding that government was still kowtowing to the IMF, which is doing the country more harm than good, but still wants to create an impression that the IMF programme is on course. MP for New Juabeng South, Mark Asibey Yeboah described the presentation as a way to throw dust into the eyes of the good people of Ghana. According to him, the minister only mentioned projects without giving us the costs of those projects. We are interested in how much have been spent on those projects. Dear Suhuyini, How are you and the family? Your address yesterday to students of the Northern School of Business (NOBISCO) was deeply tribalistic, regrettable and appalling. As a young parliamentary candidate, it was expected that you would have been key in promoting peace, unity, stability and development to your people. You rather decided to embarrassingly veer off the decency road and choose to engage in cheap tribal politics when you got the opportunity to preach peace and unity to your own people. I got disappointed with you hugely after listening to the audio. Why should Northerners vote for Northerner John Mahama who has been performing underwhelmingly in terms of service to the North? The debates must start now. You needed to tell the students what their brother has done to SADA alone. You needed to tell them that even though, their brother is receiving total care from the state he still went ahead and accepted a FordEx gift from a contractor who had business interest in the country. Are you aware the very students you were talking to have not received their feeding grants yet under Northern brother Mahama? Have you told them how under their brother huge sums of money got into rearing ghost guinea fowls and also went into cutting down trees and planting same? And are you aware of what happened at GYEEDA which is now YEA? Are you aware Suhuyini, that the NOBISCO students got hit by the floods which was the reason you went there because their brother President Mahama has been unable to construct drains to contain the overflowing water? Let's unite our people. Let's serve as politicians who can unite them and not the highly divisive politicians Suhuyini. I suggest you concentrate more on what you have done , what you are doing and what you will do when elected as MP. It will be better for you. As a journalist, it was unpardonable that you lied about who petitioned against the suspension of Paul Afoko. Karbo and elder C.K. Tedam were not the petitioners. How did you get this wrong Suhuyini? To describe a party that has always made Northerners running mates to their Presidential Candidates as not liking Northerners is the funniest stuff I yet have heard this year! For your information, R.I. Alhassan was running mate to Professor Adu Boahen in 1992. Late Aliu Mahama was running mate to J.A. Kufour in 2000. Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has been running mate to Nana Addo for three times. Is this what Suhuyini is referring to as the NPP not liking Northerners? Can it also be said by the yard stick of Suhuyini that his party the NDC hates Muslims and for that matter has consistently over the years failed to make a Muslim a Vice President in the party of which he is a PC ? The NDC is full of characters who have been insulting Muslims. What have you ever said about Fifii Kwettei who once said publicly that- a Muslim can NEVER be President of Ghana? What did you say about your Eastern Regional Minister who only recently insulted all Muslims in the NPP? Are you not a Muslim Suhuyini? Or you love politics more than your religion? Avoiding controversies in politics is positive. Be in politics to unite but not to disunite. Posterity will judge us if we use the small opportunity we have now in life to disunite rather than unit our who are obviously vulnerable. Do have a nice day Suhuyini as you ponder over the above. I am ready for debate with you on the above on any network of your choice. Akilu Sayibu Tamale North In a move to prevent a cholera outbreak from spreading, the Ministry of Health of South Sudan with support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and health partners are ramping up disease surveillance and treatment efforts. Across the country, 271 cholera cases have been reported, including 14 deaths since 12 July 2016. Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease that causes massive loss of body fluids and can be deadly within hours if not adequately treated. WHO is taking all the necessary control measures to support the Ministry of Health to respond to the situation urgently, and put an end to this outbreak, says Dr Abdulmumini Usman, WHO Representative to South Sudan. This work is vital because the conditions are favourable for transmitting the disease. These include increased population displacement, overcrowding, poor hygiene and sanitation. WHO is working with the Ministry of Health and other partners on ground to contain and prevent further spread of the disease, added Dr Abdulmumini. WHO has reinforced its cholera outbreak response capability to prevent the spread of the disease. A National Cholera Taskforce (comprising the Ministry of Health, WHO, UNICEF, MSF and other partners) has been activated and is providing oversight and coordination for the response to the cholera outbreak. With more than 270 cholera cases, providing swift treatment is essential. WHO, with support from partners, has established a cholera treatment centre capable of treating 100 patients at Juba Teaching Hospital. To improve access to timely rehydration, eight oral rehydration points have been established by Health Link South Sudan with support from UNICEF. Priority locations for oral rehydration points in Juba include Gurei, Munuki, Kator, Lologo, Mahad, Nyakuron and Gumbo. Additional points are being set-up in El Sabah, Giada and Gorom. WHO has strengthened disease surveillance and comprehensive disease investigation, including following up on people who may have come into contact with the disease. As a proactive preventive measure, WHO along with the Ministry of Health and partners are planning to conduct an oral cholera vaccination campaign to reach over 14 000 people. The campaign is set to start on 26 July 2016 at various sites including communities in Gorom and Giada and special populations such as internally displaced people in Tomping. Additionally, WHO and partners are supporting social mobilization and community engagement activities. The media is currently airing cholera prevention messages and a toll-free phone line to report cholera cases has been activated. WHO and partners have delivered supplies including tents and cholera kits that provide treatment for 400 people. To improve case detection and treatment of cholera, WHO has also distributed cholera preparedness and response guidelines. WHO is appealing to all partners to strengthen preventive and control measures before the disease spreads to other camps and host communities. This outbreak further exacerbates an already weak health system which is also battling malnutrition, measles and malaria. The risk of further spread of diseases is a major concern. With the coming rains, it is realistic to expect an increase in malaria and water-borne diseases. Consequently, we can expect medical needs to increase in an environment where WHO and partners are already working hard to keep up with existing health needs, says Dr Abdulmumini. With 4.4 million people in need of health assistance, funding is urgently needed to respond to the rising needs. The South Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan launched earlier this year requests US$ 110 million, of which US$ 31.3 million has been received (71% funding gap). Of this amount, WHO requires US$ 17.5 million for 2016, of which only US$ 4.3 million has been received. More funding will be required to respond to the additional needs arising from this recent crisis. We have this opportunity to save, improve and protect the health of millions of people before it gets worse, says Dr Abdulmumini. WHO is committed to containing the cholera outbreak in South Sudan but, without urgent funding, we cannot implement most of the planned interventions. We need donors and partners to urgently fund our operations. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency today appealed to donors for an additional $115.4 million to fund the voluntary return and reintegration of Somali refugees from Dadaab refugee camp, Kenya. Funding is also required for relocation of refugees from Dadaab to Kakuma refugee camp, as well as related projects and infrastructure in Kenya and Somalia. UNHCR had previously appealed for $369.4 million for the Somalia situation. With this additional ask, and with some reprioritization of projects, UNHCRs total revised 2016 requirements for this response in the affected countries (Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia) is now $484.8 million. Following the Government of Kenyas announcement on 6 May of its decision to close Dadaab Camp, UNHCR presented a plan of action at the meeting of Tripartite Commission (Kenya, Somalia and UNHCR) which took place in Nairobi at the end of June and was attended by the High Commissioner, Filippo Grandi. The plan outlines a process intended to reduce the population of Dadaab currently 343,043 (326,611 Somalis) by 150,000 by the end of 2016. The $115 million requested will go towards a number of activities, including: - Relocation of 16,000 non-Somali refugees from Dadaab to Kakuma - Relocation of 15,000 Somali refugees currently in the resettlement process to Kakuma - Relocation, reintegration of an estimated 42,000 Kenyans believed registered as refugees - Verification of the Dadaab population and a comprehensive Return Intention Survey - Support for an additional 50,000 voluntary Somali refugee returns from Dadaab to Somalia UNHCR is committed to ensuring that all returns to Somalia are voluntary and carried out in dignity, safety and with the protection of refugees paramount at all times, said UNHCRs Africa Bureau Director Valentin Tapsoba. In order to do this we are requesting the international donor community to support this additional appeal so that returning Somalis can go back to their home country with the best possible opportunities to re-establish themselves and their families in peace and stability, he said. This additional funding is also required for the proposed increase in the return assistance package before departure from Kenya and upon return to Somalia. It is proposed to increase the return grant from $150 to $200 for Somalis returning by road. Those with specific needs would receive an additional $75. For the smaller number of returnees travelling by air, the return grant would be increased from $100 to $150, with an additional $30 for those with specific needs. Returnees will also be provided with a package of non-food items. On the Somalia side, donor support is sought to fund an increase in the return assistance package there. It is proposed to remove the cap of $600 per family reinstallation grant and instead offer returnees $200 per person, regardless of family size, a move which should see more large families opt to return. In order to assist with initial reintegration, each returning family will be supported with a $200 per family monthly payment for six months in order to help cover basic needs. The possibility of providing health insurance for urban returnees will also be considered. It is proposed to increase the areas of return and UNHCR presence, with three additional Way Stations to be added in Mandera/Belet Xawa, El Khalow/Ceel Wak and Anumel/Raskamboni as well as including Afmadow, Dinsoor and Belet Xawa to the existing nine areas of return. Access to basic social services is vital for successful reintegration and interventions will be focused on quick-impact (less than six months) community-based projects to create community assets in areas of return for returnees, IDPs and host community. Rehabilitation and/or extension of schools, health centres and other basic infrastructure will be implemented to sustain return, in close liaison with respective development programmes and plans. It is also proposed to establish an online job placement cross-border platform to connect job-seeking Somali returnees with prospective employers. If the donor support is received, it is proposed to increase food assistance from three months support to six, possibly even further. An education assistance grant of $25 per child per month for nine calendar months is also proposed. Shelter and non-food item support will be augmented with the possibility of monetization of the existing NFI package and UNHCR intends to support 22,500 households to construct localized permanent shelters with $1,000 per family. Localised solutions for urban returnees through rent payment will also be considered. It is anticipated that the majority of the remaining refugee population, approximately 170,000 people, would return to Somalia during the course of 2017 and possibly in early 2018. To date, over 17,000 Somalis have returned to Somalia from Dadaab since December 2014. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Anvar Mammadov - Trend: All Azerbaijani people are concerned about the coup attempt in Turkey, Shahin Mustafayev, Azerbaijani economy minister, said in an interview with the Turkish Yeni Shafak newspaper July 26. Mustafayev expressed his condolences to the families and loved ones of those who were killed while opposing the coup in Turkey. "The organizers of this terrible crime remained helpless in the face of the unity demonstrated by Turkey and the Turkish people, he said. President Aliyev said that Azerbaijan is always close to Turkey and the Turkish people and supports the countrys government which was democratically elected, he added. Azerbaijan has immediately perceived the events as a coup detat and condemned them." On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. According to the latest reports, 265 people have been killed as a result of the coup attempt. The minister stressed that there are strategic relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey. He added that Azerbaijan will never take actions which can even slightly harm the relations between the two countries. "Azerbaijani and Turkish people have fraternal relations, while our countries - sincere friendship, he added. Our countries are close to each other and will further continue to render mutual support." Recently two states, Osun and Lagos, in South West Nigeria have been embroiled in a dispute over the Islamic veil, and as usual a tensed atmosphere has pervaded in the region as judges and politicians scramble to appease or to be seen to be appeasing the aggrieved religious groups. In Osun state, following a court order that upheld the right of Muslim girls to wear the headscarf, female Muslim pupils came to school with their hijab and their christian counterparts turned up dressed in choir and other religious costumes. The state governor, Rauf Aregbesola, a muslim, has distanced himself from the crisis while threatening to sanction any students, (not hijab wearing students) who disobeyed the school rules! In Lagos, an appeal court has overruled the judgment of a lower court that prohibited wearing hijab as part of the school uniform. In an earlier judgment, a Lagos High Court has ruled that the ban was not discriminatory and was consistent with the secular character of the Nigerian state as contained in section 10 of the constitution. Now that the appeal court has set aside this judgment, are we going to witness a replay of the Osun state scenario in Lagos? Are pupils going to attend schools in the hijab, choir, and aladura garments as school uniforms? Wole Soyinka has sued for peace by appealing to all the religious warring parties to sheath their swords and keep their religious battles off our children schools. But will they heed his thoughtful advice? I am afraid his appeal would fall on deaf ears. It will not change the minds and hearts of those who are agitating for more Islamic presence in our state schools. It would not persuade them to understand the divisive nature and implications of this agitation. This is because there is more to the quest for the Islamic veil than meets the eye of state schools. If there isnt, why are we not having gele crisis orshokotocrisis in states across the South West? Are these not cultural and religious wears? Why are the same people not going to court to seek an enforcement of their right to wear fila in classrooms? Why are parents not agitating for their children to put on buba as part of their school uniforms? Are such agitations not consistent with cultural rights? Why insist only on the religious right to wear hijab? So on the surface, one may think this is merely a controversy over the Islamic veil, hijab, but right beneath, it is much more than that. The hijab crisis is a religious crisis and has shown the intriguing dimensions and disturbing trends in interreligious relationship in South West Nigeria. Christians, Muslims and adherents of other religious and belief systems in the region have been known to have coexisted peacefully and harmoniously as compared to their counterparts in the North where the relationship between the adherents of the two religions is often characterized by violence and bloodshed. However, simmering tensions exist, persist and lurk beneath the surface of religious harmony. Frictions, rancor and fury due to religious differences rage and occasionally bubble to the surface. In the past years, there have been contentions and clashes over the position of the cross at the university of Ibadan, agitations for sharia law, the practice of indigenous religious rituals and as witnessed recently the dispute over the wearing of the Islamic veil in state schools. The contention over the wearing of hijab in state schools is indeed a long running and lingering issue, which states have continued to grapple with limited success. We have witnessed similar crisis in Kwara and Oyo state schools and institutions. The bone of contention here isnt that states banned the wearing of Islamic veil by female muslim pupils but that students are not allowed to wear it as part of their school uniform in state schools. Unfortunately, this school policy has not gone down well with some segments of the muslim population who see it as an abuse of the religious right of students. The hijab crisis indicates a problem in our educational system and a misplacement of our educational priorities. This is because the hijab crisis has more to do with the quest by muslim groups for more influence on the state school system than on the quest to improve the quality of education and learning. The hijab crisis is rooted in grievances that are connected with the way that formal school system was introduced in Nigeria. As in other parts of the country, christian missionaries introduced the formal educational system. They built schools, which they used as tools of evangelism and proselytization. The muslim groups later joined in this school business but the christian groups had more schools and parents from different religious backgrounds sent their children to these places to learn. Thus children from other religious families who attended these schools had to comply with the mode of worship and dressing that the various christian schools sanctioned. The take over of schools by the government in the 70s put parents from non-christian backgrounds in a better position to influence what goes on in the state school system and islamic groups have been agitating for more presence in the state school including agitating for the introduction of islamic religious knowledge and the construction of mosques and prayer centers where none existed before. Meanwhile, the state schools have retained what they call their tradition which in this case means the school uniform that largely does not indicate the religious or sectarian identity of pupils. This mode of dressing has not gone down well with some segments of the muslim population who think that their girls should put on hijab as part of the school uniform - as is the case in muslim schools- and they have been agitating to make hijab part of the school uniform for muslim girls in these state schools. Now let us take a critical look at this unfolding drama. First of all we need to ask: If muslim pupils are allowed to dress in accordance with their religion in Osun and Lagos states and other girls are asked not to do so, is that not discriminatory? Does one tackle purported discrimination against a group while sanctioning discrimination against others? As a state school, shouldnt the school uniform be religiously neutral, be at least in principle unbiased for and against any religion? What the Islamic enthusiasts are actually saying is that wearing the school uniform without the hijab discriminates against them, right? Are these state school uniforms christian clothes? Now in Osun state, if the government will not allow children from christian, aladura and ifa worshipping families to come with their religious wears as full or part of the school uniforms, why should muslim girls be allowed to use their religious clothes as part of the school form? In fact what is the educational value in asking all students to dress according to their religious or cultural beliefs? Does that improve their scientific or critical thinking? Are state classrooms religious houses? Is the state school a religious school? Why cant we keep church (mosque) and state separate? I ask again, how does wearing muslim or christian headscarf in classrooms improve the quality of their learning and add value to the education of our children? Why girls, and why not boys? Is it not sexist to insist only on hijab wearing for girls and ignore fila or shokoto wearing for boys? Why are the muslim groups more interested in what girls and females are wearing and not what muslim boys or males are putting on in schools? Why can't we allow our children to learn in an environment that is free from religious division and discrimination? Why cant religious groups leave state schools alone and allow state managers to determine school policies in line with the constitution? Muslim groups decide what goes on in the mosques and in muslim schools, right? They determine how women and girls dress, stay and pray when they are in these places. Muslim groups also want to dictate for the state what should be the school uniform. I mean, if the state does not interfere and try determining what muslims and christians wear in their churches and mosques or in their schools, muslim groups and their christian counterparts should stop interfering in the management and policies of state schools. They should take their christianization and islamization agenda elsewhere so that our state schools can remain free, open and secular for children from religious and non-religious families to learn and interact in an atmosphere that is characterized by dignity, equality and inclusiveness. Johannesburg (AFP) - The first black leader of South Africa's main opposition party on Tuesday accused the ruling African National Congress (ANC) of running a racist election campaign ahead of fiercely-fought municipal polls. Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane is hoping to lead his party to a breakthrough result on August 3, as the country struggles with record unemployment and flat-lining economic growth. "They say if you are black, you must vote for the (ANC) party," Maimane told an election rally in Johannesburg City Hall. "That's not the South Africa we want. To me that rings and sounds like racism." President Jacob Zuma last week told black voters to support the ANC and denounced the DA -- which is widely seen as a party of middle-class whites -- as the "spawn" of the apartheid government. Zuma has been engulfed by a series of graft scandals as well as anger over the country's poor economic performance, fuelling DA confidence that the all-powerful ANC could be dealt a major blow at the polls. The DA will defend the strategic metropolis of Cape Town, and is hoping to seize power in other major urban municipalities including Johannesburg and Tshwane, which includes the capital Pretoria. The opposition is polling about five points ahead of the ANC in Johannesburg, the economic powerhouse of South Africa, where the ruling party's grip on power has been steadily slipping. "The racial rhetoric reflects the ANC's concern about the possible performance of the DA," political analyst Daniel Silke told AFP. "The ANC is under the most pressure they have seen in an y electoral contest since (the first democratic election in) 1994. "It has limited options in terms of campaigning: service delivery has been weak and Zuma's leadership controversial." - Battle for Mandela legacy - Many of the ANC party's traditional supporters are among the poor who have been hit by a lack of jobs as the economy has ground to a halt. Last week, the central bank cut its 2016 growth forecast to zero percent. Speaking at a weekend rally in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth, which the DA is also targeting, President Zuma accused the opposition party of having the "same hatred" as the apartheid government. "They don't believe black people can lead," Zuma said. The ANC also released a statement on Tuesday calling the DA a "white supremacist party" and slammed it for invoking the name of former president Nelson Mandela at its rallies and in election adverts. "The DA is a haven for racists, and its upper echelons dominated by individuals who hark back to the days of apartheid," the statement said. The DA has fought back, saying it now represents Mandela's legacy better than the ANC party that he led in the struggle against apartheid. On Monday, the opposition unveiled an election poster in Tshwane, reading "Honour Madiba's dream. Vote DA". Madiba was Mandela's clan name. "When the ANC falls, Madiba will always stand because Madiba was bigger than just the ANC," Maimane told hundreds of supporters on Tuesday, speaking in front of a banner reading "We can win". Silke described the election as a "mid-term style vote of confidence" for the ANC, which retains strong loyalty in many rural areas. "It's not just a local vote -- it has national ramifications," he said. The radical leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party is also seeking to make a major impact in its first municipal elections. All three main parties hold their final rallies this weekend. Zuma, 74, will have completed two terms in 2019 and is not eligible to run for president again, but the ANC could replace him ahead of the next general election if the party scores poorly in the local polls. Minister Ellwood said: "I wholly condemn the Al Shabaab attack in Mogadishu. I send my deepest sympathies to the families of the victims and pay tribute to all those from the Somali security forces, AMISOM and the UN who daily put their lives at risk protecting civilians. This attack is yet another reminder of the importance of our work in confronting extremism. The UK remains as determined as ever to support efforts towards building a more stable, secure and prosperous Somalia." The West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo), has rejected claims that the government has paid some 30 million dollars as part payment of the over 100 million dollars debts owed the company. This is according to the Corporate Affairs Director for WAPCo, Harriet Wereko-Brobbey. Harriet Wereko-Brobbey who spoke to Citi Business News on Tuesday, explained that her outfit is yet to receive information from N-Gas, the government of Ghana's suppliers of gas, regarding such payment. On the issue of payments, WAPCo has not received any payment, but then I don't know if the Petroleum Minister is referring to payments made to the supplier that is N-Gas. We are transporters and we get paid by the supplier whose gas we transport. So it may be that payment has been made to the supplier and we are yet to receive payment for the transportation, but we haven't heard anything from even N-Gas on any payment, she explained. The Minister of Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah in an interview with Citi Business News on Monday, announced that Ghana had paid some 30 million dollars out of the reported 140 million dollars it owes WAPCo. Mr. Buah intimated that, the payment formed part of a payment plan government agreed on with N-Gas. WAPCo, in June, suspended gas flow to Ghana over unpaid bills by the government. Citi Business News understands that the Volta River Authority (VRA), owes Nigeria's N-gas around 180 million dollars, while N- Gas in turn owes WAPCo 104 million dollars. Harriet Wereko-Brobbey however indicated that, WAPCo is engaging N-Gas to facilitate the resumption of the transportation of gas to Ghana. The issue is that we are in a difficult situation and so we have suspended our transportation services to the supplier that is N-Gas. So we indicated to N-Gas that they should kindly pay us money so we can transport because we have been transporting on their behalf and there has not been any payment. So for us, we expect payment so we resume transportation. Meanwhile the company has also denied any damage to it pipelines, due to activities militants in Nigeria insisting that, the cut in supply is due to the unpaid bill. On the issue of pipelines, I think we all hear about pipeline sabotage and so on, but the point I am making is that, WAPCo's issue is on gas transportation on the WAP-P. The WAP-P is in good condition. We are in the position to transport and we have suspended transportation because of payment, Harriet Wereko Brobbey stressed. By: Norvan Acquah-Hayford/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana 26.07.2016 LISTEN Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Mental Health Authority, Dr. Akwasi Osei, is calling on the Ghana Police Administration to routinely examine the mental status of its officers. Speaking to Citi News, Dr. Akwasi Osei said, what I know is the routine medical checkup and physical checkup. I think we should go beyond that and include mental health checkup or psychological checkup. He added that, it is salient to know the mental status of individuals who handle arms. He noted that occupations which come along with a lot of stress can trigger mental disorder in the case of individuals with weak mental backgrounds. He said it is very important that we have a mental health check-up periodically. Dr. Akwasi Osei added that before you are recruited, you should have the check up and then routinely every year. He contends that the exposure of police officers to weapons and ammunition requires constant mental examination of officers, to prevent them from abusing the weapons. Dr. Osei's advice comes on the back of a horrific incident on Monday in Tema, where one Lance Corporal Amuzu, shot himself to death after killing his mother-in-law and two children. Background The gory incident involving a Lance Corporal, his mother in-law and his two children occurred on Monday July 25th at Tema in the Greater Accra Region. The officer booked an Ak-47 rifle at his station on Monday for official duties. But hours later, the news of the gruesome act started making the rounds in the neighbourhood. The two-month old child was seen lying lifeless in a bowl with blood stains. In the gory and offensive photos which cannot be shared, the in-law, who was bathing the child at the time of the shooting, also lies lifeless with her legs in the bowl. The other kid was also found on the floor half-naked with blood stains. The police officer, fully clothed in his uniform with his helmet, was also found lying close to his son, in a pool of blood. The Public Relations Officer of the Tema Regional Police, ASP Juliana Obeng, said investigations are underway into the incident. Wife of 'killer cop' accused of 'cheating' speaks out The wife of the 32 year old police officer with the Rapid Deployment Force in Tema, Lance Corporal Amuzu, who committed suicide after shooting his mother in-law and his two children, has told Citi News the late officer had been threatening her life repeatedly before Monday's gruesome act. By: Kuukua Buahin/Citifmonline.com/Ghana The Convention Peoples Party (CPP) has reiterated calls for a load-shedding timetable in light of recent, consistent power cuts in many parts of the country. According to the CPP, it was necessary for the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to publish a schedule to enable Ghanaians incorporate it into their daily activities. It would be very necessary that the Electricity Company of Ghana publish a load shedding table because it is going to help people in planning. One thing that has also contributed to the experiences that we go through as a result of the dumsor is that people cannot tell what time the light will go out, before you know, the light is off. If you wanted to use the light to do some work, it becomes quite difficult, the Communications Director of the CPP, Kadir Abdul Rauf told Citi News He believes the timetable is even more necessary as the governments constant assurances that the power crisis would be solved had lulled Ghanaians into a false sense of hope. From the perspective of the CPP, we know very well that it's appearing quite clearly that the government has failed in its promise to solve the dumsor crisis once and for all. Due to the massive failure of the government, the ECG should come out with a schedule and make it public so that people can plan on the basis of that information, he added. Mahama sitting on timetable Some workers of the ECG recently stated that a dumsor timetable prepared by the company has had to be shelved after a directive from President John Dramani Mahama. The timetable for the current load shedding also called dumsor is ready but the president says we should not publish it, they indicated. NPP wants dumsor timetable The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), had earlier demanded that the government release a load shedding timetable immediately. The NPP, in a statement signed by its Director of Communications, Nana Akomea, said a schedule is needed to allow businesses to plan. Ghanaians have been suffering a patterned load shedding over the last few months. Government's refusal to acknowledge it and publish a schedule has meant that consumers and industry cannot plan, thus imposing uncertainty on the Ghanaian consumer in the midst of dumsor. Dumsor is not back President John Mahama recently acknowledged that there were challenges with power supply in the country but stopped short of declaring that it marked a return to load-shedding. We are not declaring load shedding; I believe things will normalize but we are taking steps everyday to ensure that Ghana has security when it comes to power, he emphasized. The Power Ministry and Finance Ministry echoed the presidents comments stating that the current power outages are as a result of temporary difficulties caused by the delay in the supply of light crude among other things. By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana The independent Parliamentary Aspirant for the Savelugu Constituency in the Northern Region, Mr. Alhassan Iddrisu Bunglung, has revealed that he is still a card bearing member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and will campaign to make sure President Mahama remains President come December 7. According to Mr. Iddrisu, should he be elected as the MP, he would support the policies of the NDC in parliament. He revealed this in an exclusive interview with Tamale based radio station, Justice FM. Mr. Iddrisu polled 2,046 votes during the NDC Parliamentary primaries last year, losing marginally to Mr. Abdulai Alhassan Red, the current Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Savelugu District who polled 2,094 votes. Mr. Iddrisu intimated "the election was rigged", adding that if he stays aloof, the NDC will lose the seat which has been in their possession since 1996. He further stated that his decision to go into the December election as an Independent Candidate was not solely his but that of the good people of his constituency. Earlier this year, Mr. Iddrisu was asked to resign as the Northern Regional Accountant for the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and a lot of accusing fingers were pointed at the MCE for orchestrating his resignation. Mr. Iddrisu reiterated that though he could not say for a fact that the MCE masterminded his removal, a statement made by the MCE sometime ago when he visited him accounted for the reasons why he blamed the MCE. "The MCE told me that since I am in NCCE and I am campaigning, he can even write to my people to sack me from my work" Mr. Iddrisu said. When asked about the developmental projects he had in mind, Mr Iddrisu indicated that he had three major projects to undertake should he be elected. To him, "uplifting the academic standards of schools and support for Girl-Child education, expansion of agriculture and better living condition for Peoples with Disabilities (PWD)" would be his top most priorities. Being a renowned farmer, Mr. Iddrisu outlined what he intended to do in the Agricultural sector if elected. "Tractors, harvesters and other machinery needed for farming would be acquired to make the lives of farmers easy," he said. Speaking about post-harvest loses, he said, " I will provide farmers with good storage facilities for various crops being cultivated." He promised to eradicate social vices like smoking of marijuana, theft and prostitution when elected as Member of Parliament. Meanwhile, Mr. Iddrisu denied allegations that he had been asked to step down by some respected party leaders and that his campaign is being sponsored by Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, MP for Tamale South and the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, and Hon. Mary Salifu Boforo, incumbent MP for Savelugu Constituency. The MCE -cum- NDC Parliamentary Candidate and his supporters, Mr. Iddrisu alleged, were soiling their campaign with lies and deceit. He emphasised that "neither the First Lady, Her Excellency Lordina Mahama nor His Excellency, Council of State member for Northern Region, Alhaji M. B. Bawah (Vo-naa) had ever asked me to step down". The Head Pastor of New Jerusalem Congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana has urged Ghanaians to ask God to protect the peace in the country. Rev. Richmond Tettey makes this appeal as the nation prepares to go to the polls in December. With reference to some utterances of some politicians, he said believers and heads of religious institutions must intercede on behalf of the country when they pray. We need peace before, during and after the elections...if there is no peace in this country, you and I cannot do the work that God has called us to do and that is why we need peace, he stressed. Rev. and Mrs Tettey Rev. Tettey made the appeal when the church launched its 10th Anniversary at its premises at SCC, Weija. He urged politicians to desist from the use of abusive words during their campaign to avoid plunging the country into chaos. The church has a number of activities lined up between July and December 2016 to mark the Anniversary. The Anniversary planning committee The activities include Youthfest, a talk on the system of governance of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Photo Exhibition, and Food Bazaar and much more. Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline.com| AA The New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Ashanti Region has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to extend the period of re-registration of persons whose names have been deleted from the voters register, because they got onto the electoral roll using the NHIS card ahead of the 2012 polls. The EC has revealed that only 14,801 persons of the 56,000, whose names were deleted from the voters' register, have re-registered in the ongoing voters' register exhibition exercise. The low turnout has been partly blamed on the supposed poor publicity of the re-registration exercise. Addressing the press on Monday, the Ashanti Regional Secretary of the NPP, Sam Pyne, expressed fears that this would leave a significant number of people disenfranchised by the time the 10-day period is over. He complained that the EC never came out to give education on the time frame because when they announced that they were going to do the exhibition, they said 21 days. Mr. Pyne feels this has contributed to the low re-registration rate since the exercise commenced. A lot of people thought that even if you were going to re-register, it is going to be within the 21 days therefore a lot of people have slowed down in even going to do the registration, meanwhile they are doing it to for 10-days, and this is the eighth day. These are the concerns for which Mr. Pyne relayed the concern of the NPP saying We as a political party are calling on the Electoral Commission to extend the registration period for the re-registration, so those affected can get their names back on the register. He also indicated that the party would be satisfied with the re-registration process running concurrently with the 21-day exhibition process. Voter mistakenly deleted backs calls for extension Also speaking on Eyewitness News on Tuesday, a Ghanaian citizen, who gave his name as Jefferson, narrated to Richard Sky, how his name was deleted although he did not register with an NHIS card. Jefferson however narrated that, when he went to check his name, he was told that he wasnt the only person whose name had been mistaken deleted. According to him, he was however asked to go through a process to re-register, which he did and has been given a new voters ID card. Jefferson however believes there may be many more people who may have suffered a similar fate, hence the need for an extension of the period for re-registration. EC fears disenfranchisement With the deadline for the end of the re-registration two days away, the Head of Communications at the EC, Eric Dzakpasu, has publicly expressed fears that most of the deleted registrants could be disenfranchised if the situation does not improve. As at the close of work yesterday [Monday], out of the 56,762 names deleted, only 14,801 had re-registered, Mr. Dzakpasu revealed. He lamented that, the people are not coming. We are expecting them to come in their numbers so that we can get most of them registered so that they can vote, but they are not coming as we expect them to come. By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council Tuesday voted to task peacekeepers in the Central African Republic with supporting the newly elected government just as France prepares to end its military mission in the country. The council unanimously adopted a French-drafted resolution that extends the mission known as MINUSCA until November 15, 2017 and maintains the ceiling of 10,750 troops and 2,080 police. The resolution expressed support for President Faustin-Archange Touadera who took office in March and said the protection of civilians remained a priority task for MINUSCA. "Now that the transition has been successfully completed, we must now successfully complete the stabilization" of the country, French Ambassador Francois Delattre told the council. France earlier this month announced the pullout of the last 350 remaining soldiers from the Sangaris force, which was sent to the Central African Republic in December 2013 to quell violence. The mission, which involved nearly 2,500 French troops at its peak, is due to end entirely in October. Council members noted that the security situation is improving but remains fragile as armed militias continue attacks and national security forces are too weak to confront them. Earlier this month, Touadera marked his first 100 days since his election by declaring that entire regions of the country remained under the control of rebel groups and that "the country is in danger." The resolution said MINUSCA must "support the rapid extension of state authority over the entire territory of the CAR" to secure main supply routes and help police redeploy to more remote areas. It welcomed steps to enforce zero-tolerance of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers, following a wave of allegations against MINUSCA troops and police. UN peacekeepers will be tasked with promoting human rights and helping ensure deliveries of humanitarian aid. MINUSCA will support the new government's efforts to disarm the militias and reintegrate some of the fighters into the security and defense forces. Delattre said the United Nations must ensure that MINUSCA has the proper equipment and technology to fulfill its mandate. The resolution was drafted under Chapter Seven of the UN charter, which allows for the use of force and sanctions to enforce its provisions. The Central African Republic descended into bloodshed between Christian and Muslim militias following a coup in March 2013 that ousted long-time leader Francois Bozize. Thousands have died in the violence and more than 418,000 people remain displaced within the country. More than 480,000 refugees, a large number of whom are Muslim, have fled to neighboring countries. Details added (first version posted at 14:09) Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 Trend: All Azerbaijani people are concerned about the coup attempt in Turkey, Shahin Mustafayev, Azerbaijani economy minister, said in an interview with the Turkish Yeni Shafak newspaper July 26. Mustafayev expressed his condolences to the families and loved ones of those who were killed while opposing to the coup in Turkey. "The organizers of this terrible crime towards the will of people remained helpless in the face of the unity demonstrated by Turkey and the Turkish people, he said. President Aliyev said that Azerbaijan is always close to Turkey and the Turkish people and support the countrys government which was democratically elected, he added. Azerbaijan has immediately perceived the events as a coup detat and condemned them." By Kwamina Tandoh, GNA Accra, July 26, GNA - The Association of Methodist Men's Fellowships of the Methodist Church Ghana has instituted the 'Koomson/Ackah/Enchia Memorial Lectures' to honour the founding fathers for their hard work that had left an indelible mark for posterity. The Annual Memorial Lectures is also to honour God for raising men of vision; both Clergy and Lay, who initiated the idea and started the Men's Fellowship of Methodist Church Ghana 40 years ago. It is also to acknowledge and cherish the works of these visionary men and immortalise their names for the future generation. The founders; namely Right Reverend Thomas Wallace Koomson, Past President of Conference, Mr David T. Ackah, the first Connexional Chairman of the Association of Men's Fellowships, and Mr Albert Ernest Enchia, the First Chairman of the first branch of Men's Fellowship at Calvary Society of North Accra Circuit, started the Men's Fellowship in 1976 as a move to awaken the 'Sleeping Giants' to take their rightful place in the church. The Fellowship first started in the Calvary Society, Adabraka, Accra, on August 1, 1976, with 34 members and spread to the various dioceses. Speaking on the theme: 'Now Praise We Great And Famous Men,' Most Reverend Titus K. Awotwi Pratt, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana, praised the forefathers for mobilising men to strengthen the Methodist faith and work for the Lord. 'Their bodies are buried in peace but their names liveth forever. 'Their names will remain indelible on our minds and the depth of gratitude we owe them will remain alive in our heart. Methodist Church Ghana will pride herself under God that once upon a time we had such men of courage, vision, dedicated to the course and were able to stand the challenges to make a mark in the church's history,' he said. He, therefore, urged the youth to learn from the exemplary lives of the forefathers and apply them to the living conditions of today to make a contribution to the development of the Methodist Church and the entire nation. Most Reverend Pratt charged the leadership of the church to rediscover the Methodist heritage of teaching and imbibe them in the youth to enable them to do what the Lord expects of them. Citations were presented to members of the Association for their immense contribution to the growth of the church. GNA Accra,, July 25, GNA - Prophet Prince Kofi Okyere, President of the Faith Anointing International Ministry has charged contenders in the upcoming elections to adequately explain their development plans to enable the electorate to make well-informed decisions. He said he was confident that Ghanaians would cast their votes based on the performance records of the parties and how realistic their development proposals were for the nation. Prophet Okyere was speaking at the opening of a Peace Crusade of the church at Pantang-Abokobi, near Madina. The Seven-Day crusade is aimed at equipping the participants both physically and spiritually and also pray for peace ahead of election 2016. Prophet Okyere said the election was a process to promote the country's socio-economic growth and therefore the need for those aspiring to lead the nation to inform the citizenry of how they intend to effectively govern. He urged politicians to ensure that campaigning was issued-based and not about conflicts and insults and urged the youth to resist being used by some disgruntled politicians to score political points and cause mayhem. Prophet Okyere also urged the electorate to take the Voter's Exhibition exercise currently going on seriously, since it was the only way one can exercise his or her franchise. GNA you are here: Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 Trend: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree July 26 on the establishment of the state commission in connection with the explosion at the Araz arms plant owned by the countrys Ministry of Defense Industry. According to the decree, an explosion occurred at Araz arms plant in Azerbaijans Shirvan city July 26 and some people were injured as a result of the accident. The state commission will be established to investigate the causes of the accident and eliminate its consequences. Yagub Eyyubov, Azerbaijani first deputy prime minister, will be the chairman of the commission. The commission will consist of the following members: Yaver Jamalov, minister of defense industry Zakir Hasanov, defense minister Zakir Garalov, attorney general Madat Guliyev, head of the State Security Service Vilayat Eyvazov, first deputy interior minister Salim Muslimov, minister of labour and social protection of population Faig Taghizade, deputy minister of emergency situations Abbas Valibayov, deputy minister of health Mardan Jamalov, head of the executive power of Shirvan city According to the decree, the state commission must determine and take urgent measures to eliminate the consequences of the accident, investigate its causes and conditions, provide the treatment and render other necessary assistance to the injured. The state commission must also inform President Aliyev on the conducted work. According to the decree, the Azerbaijani General Prosecutor's Office together with the countrys interior ministry and the ministry of emergency situations must take urgent measures to investigate the causes of the accident. The decree will come into force from the date of signing. Morgan Hill Police arrested three people at a local hotel July 25 on suspicion of intent to sell narcotics and other offenses. About 9 a.m. July 25, MHPD officers were driving through the parking lot of Executive Inn, 16505 Condit Road, according to a press release. They saw a man walking in the parking lot who said, Oh the cops and ran toward the hotel as the patrol drove closer to him. The officers gave chase and detained the man, later identified as Antonio Vasquez, 41 of San Martin, according to police. The officers learned that Vasquez was on searchable probation and had multiple warrants for his arrest out of Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office. Two womenVanessa Cecena, 28 of Hollister, and Kayla Adams, 29 of San Josewere also contacted in the room associated with Vasquez, police said. Cecena had a warrant out of Gilroy for her arrest. Police found methamphetamine and evidence of narcotics sales in the subjects hotel room, according to the press release. All three occupants were arrested on suspicion of possession of narcotics for sales, being under the influence of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, police said. Cecena and Vasquez are also suspected of providing false information to a police officer. All three were booked at Santa Clara County Jail. Anyone with information about this incident can call MHPD Det. Del Moral at (669) 253-4964 or the anonymous tip line at (408) 947-7867. Seventeen Process Automation Engineering students of Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) are taking internship which started on Jul.14 and last until Jul.29 at Emerson Process Management. Elmar Gasimov, Rector of BHOS visited Emerson Process Management together with the schools staff to get acquainted with the internship process and the opportunities provided to students and met with Erkin Ibrahimov, Sales Manager and internship supervisor, who briefed on the internship and the students functions and responsibilities during the program. In quite an informal atmosphere, the rector called the students to be responsible and use effectively the opportunities they are provided. Mr. Gasimov thanked the company management for the internship opportunity. It should be noted that during the internship the students learn about the operation principles, studying the specifications of the field equipment and control devices produced by Emerson Process Management. Moreover, students study the theoretical basis and acquire practical skills on working with the devices applied in various technological processes (pressure sensors, heat sensors, flow sensors, control systems), as well as control valves sizing and selection through various specific software. The internship supports enrichment of the students academic knowledge facilitating their development as highly qualified potential specialists. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Ilhama Isabalayeva Trend: Eleven people, injured in the explosion at an arms factory in Azerbaijans Shirvan city, have been placed to the Shirvan city central hospital, the countrys Ministry of Health told Trend July 26. According to the message, the injured peoples condition is serious. Local health services have been mobilized in connection with the explosion which occurred at an arms factory in Azerbaijans Shirvan city, the countrys Ministry of Health told Trend earlier. According to the message, two ambulances have been already sent to the scene, while three ambulances are preparing to go there. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Ilhama Isabalayeva Trend: 17:15 (GMT +4) Eleven people, injured in the explosion at an arms factory in Azerbaijans Shirvan city, have been placed to the Shirvan city central hospital, the countrys Ministry of Health told Trend July 26. According to the message, the injured peoples condition is serious. 16:36 (GMT+4) The injured people are being hospitalized, Trend learned from Central Hospital of Shirvan city. One of the injured persons has been placed to the hospitals intensive care department. 16:01 (GMT+4) A huge explosion occurred at the Araz arms factory in Azerbaijans Shirvan city. The factory is owned by the Ministry of Defense Industry of Azerbaijan. Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investors point of view. We also respect individual opinionsthey represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive. To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research. Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process. In a clarion call to provincial and city governments, the federal housing minister said that Canadians will have significant input on the countrys long-term housing strategy.The proposed national housing strategy, which is the first of its kind in around four decades, will allow citizens to have their say via convened discussion and online consultations, as reported by The Canadian Press.The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) is also set to meet with housing experts and representatives of indigenous communities in the summer as well as early fall.No one government can address those housing needs alone. Today is a demonstration that we are there to listen and address the housing needs that Canadians have frankly expressed over the last few months and last few years, Jean-Yves Duclos said.The Minister of Families, Children and Social Development added that the federal government is slated to spend $2.3 billion on housingincluding social, shelter, transition, market, and homeless housingover the next two years.The housing strategy is expected to address the long-running affordability and supply crises that have been hounding Canadas real estate segment.Various quarters have called for new housing taxes to curb the out-of-control price growth in the countrys hottest markets, a notion that former Minister of Finance Joe Oliver dismissed as misguided in light of the ever-rising costs of housing and daily living.[The] last thing we need is for government to use a hyped-up crisis as an excuse to impose new taxes that would reduce housing affordability, Oliver warned. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Ilhama Isabalayeva Trend: 18:01 (GMT+4) There are killed as a result of the explosion at the Araz arms factory in Azerbaijans Shirvan city, according to the preliminary data, said a source in the law enforcement agencies. 17:47 (GMT+4) The number of those injured during the explosion at the Araz arms factory has reached twenty, Azerbaijans Health Ministry told Trend. There are no victims as a result of the explosion. 17:15 (GMT +4) Eleven people, injured in the explosion at an arms factory in Azerbaijans Shirvan city, have been placed to the Shirvan city central hospital, the countrys Ministry of Health told Trend July 26. According to the message, the injured peoples condition is serious. 16:36 (GMT+4) The injured people are being hospitalized, Trend learned from Central Hospital of Shirvan city. One of the injured persons has been placed to the hospitals intensive care department. 16:01 (GMT+4) A huge explosion occurred at the Araz arms factory in Azerbaijans Shirvan city. The factory is owned by the Ministry of Defense Industry of Azerbaijan. Standing in the ballroom at Midland Country Club, Jim Gibbs looked out over a crowd that contained both oil industry veterans and those getting their first experience with its business cycles. Gibbs, chairman of Five States Energy Co. and manager of Five States Energy Capital, acknowledged that his presentation was geared to younger professionals just entering the industry. Its no secret the industry operates on cycles, he told members of the Midland chapter, Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists. In my career Ive seen at least five major cycles. There are those industry veterans who remember down cycles as some of their most productive. Gibbs said he made some of his acquisitions in the aftermath of the 1986 price collapse, he said. We know in a down cycle, the only thing we can do is prepare for the next boom, Gibbs said. He quoted Abraham Lincoln, who said that, if given six hours to cut down a tree, he would spend the first four hours sharpening his ax. Now is ax-sharpening time in the oil business, Gibbs said. There are so many ways to make money in the oil business. Thats the beauty of it, he said. The barriers are low and opportunities are high. With the industry in pause mode is the time to prepare strategies, he said. Now is the time for geologists to gather data, catch up on technical papers, take a look at secondary producing areas that arent as popular as the core areas, he said. Consider going back to basics. Look at developing conventional resources unconventionally, he said. In hard times such as were in now, adversity forces us into thinking in ways we hadnt thought before, he said. He said that thinking creatively is not only most important aspect in surviving a downturn but also the most difficult. He urged operators to consider hiring those new petroleum engineering or geology graduates who have been laid off to look at prospects or projects, saying they could provide a fresh perspective and perhaps find possibilities that had been overlooked. They have such great skills managing geophysical data and systems applications. Think of hiring young professionals and bring them into projects, or turn over projects and see what they can see. Thats already been seen in the way new concepts and creative thinking led to new drilling locations and a lot of new production from unconventional reservoirs, he said. Gibbs said he has visited Midland extensively over his career, which began in 1962 when he joined The California Co. (now Chevron). He has been a consulting geologist and independent oil and gas producer based in Dallas since 1964, participating in the drilling of more than 600 wells. Following the oil price collapse of the 1980s, Gibbs said many took his advice to share their problems with another person. Many who were out of work gathered together to help each other, forming self-help groups. Those gatherings led to partnerships and companies and business relationships that continue today, Gibbs said. He said he believes Midland will similarly prosper after the current downturn. Of all the places in the world, its best to be operating in Midland. When operators shut their doors, theyll still be operating in Midland, he said. He quoted Scott Sheffield, chairman and chief executive officer of Pioneer Natural Resources, as estimating only 5 percent of what could ultimately be recovered from Permian Basin oil fields has been produced. Theres still a lot of oil to be recovered unconventionally. This will be a going place for the next century, he said. HONS ROUND ROCK, Texas (AP) Up to $30,000 in rewards have been offered for information leading to arrests in the fatal shooting of a Texas sheriff's deputy at his Austin-area home. Texas Crime Stoppers on Tuesday announced a $15,000 reward for information leading to suspects in the killing of Travis County sheriff's Sgt. Craig Hutchinson. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Elmira Tariverdiyeva - Trend: European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Gunther Oettinger intends to hold a meeting at the ministerial level with six Eastern Partnership countries in the beginning of autumn, said the message from the EU Delegation to Ukraine. Oettinger plans to meet with ministers of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine to continue discussing the idea of creating a digital community, according to the message. Relations between Azerbaijan and the EU are regulated based on the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement which was signed in 1996 in Luxemburg and entered into force in 1999. Currently, the EU is the main trade partner of Azerbaijan. European countries accounted for 46.96 percent of Azerbaijans foreign trade in 2015, according to the State Customs Committee. Currently, the EU countries account for 31.92 percent and 59.1 percent of Azerbaijans import and export, respectively. European countries primarily supply machinery and transport equipment to Azerbaijan and import oil products from the country. Azerbaijan has initiated signing a strategic modernized partnership agreement with the EU instead of the association agreement. It is not a legal document, but a program, or an action plan aimed at expanding the cooperation with the EU beyond the energy sphere. The agreement will determine the new areas of partnership such as education and so on. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Maksim Tsurkov Trend: Depositors of the four closed Azerbaijani banks Zaminbank, Dekabank, Kredobank and Parabank can apply to receive compensation from August 1, said Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund (ADIF) in a message July 26. The message says that insured event happened at the above-mentioned banks on July 25. According to the legislation, insurance payments are paid seven days after the bank is declared bankrupt, therefore, in this case from August 1. The licenses of DekaBank, KredoBank, Parabank and Zaminbank were cancelled in Azerbaijan, in accordance with the decision of the Financial Market Supervisory Body dated July 21, 2016. The licenses of those banks were revoked, as their assets were not classified in line with the law, they didnt create adequate reserves and the aggregate capital of these banks doesnt meet the minimum requirements [50 million manats]. In general, they havent fulfilled the regulators instructions. Temporary administrators were appointed to these banks July 22. Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund started to operate on August 13, 2007. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov We have independently selected these offers and products because we love them and we think you might like them at these prices. E! has affiliate relationships, so we may earn a commission if you buy something through our links. Items are Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Maksim Tsurkov Trend: The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) sold $50 million to 27 banks through an auction held by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA), SOFAZ said July 26. SOFAZ will continue selling foreign currency through auctions in 2016. The foreign currency is sold as part of SOFAZs transfers to the Azerbaijani state budget, which are envisaged to stand at 7.615 billion Azerbaijani manats in 2016. SOFAZ was established in 1999 with assets of $271 million. As of July 1, 2016, SOFAZs assets increased by 4.6 percent and amounted to $35.1 billion as compared to $33.57 billion in early 2016. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov Some government officials and politicians are ... Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Maksim Tsurkov Trend: Greek Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Panos Skourletis has accused the European Commission of delaying the deal on selling a share in Greece's DESFA gas transmission system operator to Azerbaijans state oil company (SOCAR), the Greek media reported July 26. In his speech in the Greek parliament, Skourletis said that a number of conditions, set by the European Commission, greatly slowed the privatization process of the gas operator, the message said. In particular, the company will become a passive shareholder, not entitled to vote in the management of the company, as a result of decreasing SOCARs share in DESFA up to 49 percent, the message said. According to the message, Greek MPs stressed that the problems with the privatization of DESFA may deprive the countrys economy of SOCARs huge capital injections. SOCAR won a tender in 2013 on the purchase of a 66-percent stake in DESFA for 400 million euros. Earlier, Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev said that the deal on SOCAR's purchasing the 66-percent share in Greece's gas transmission system operator DESFA will be completed after Italy's Snam purchases 17 percent of that share. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov Details added (first version posted at 14:09) Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Anvar Mammadov - Trend: All Azerbaijani people are concerned about the coup attempt in Turkey, Shahin Mustafayev, Azerbaijani economy minister, said in an interview with the Turkish Yeni Shafak newspaper July 26. Mustafayev expressed his condolences to the families and loved ones of those who were killed while opposing the coup in Turkey. "The organizers of this terrible crime remained helpless in the face of the unity demonstrated by Turkey and the Turkish people, he said. President Aliyev said that Azerbaijan is always close to Turkey and the Turkish people and supports the countrys government which was democratically elected, he added. Azerbaijan has immediately perceived the events as a coup detat and condemned them." On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. According to the latest reports, 265 people have been killed as a result of the coup attempt. The minister stressed that there are strategic relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey. He added that Azerbaijan will never take actions which can even slightly harm the relations between the two countries. "Azerbaijani and Turkish people have fraternal relations, while our countries - sincere friendship, he added. Our countries are close to each other and will further continue to render mutual support." Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 Trend: The term of the Azerbaijani parliament, elected in the snap election, may run less than five years, said a decision of the plenary session of the Azerbaijani Constitution Court on a draft Referendum Act "On Amendments to the Constitution of Azerbaijan July 26. According to the decision, in this case, the next election to the Azerbaijani parliament is held on the first Sunday of November of the fifth year of the term of the convocation of the parliament, elected in the snap election. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree July 18 on submitting the draft Referendum Act "On Amendments to the Constitution of Azerbaijan to the Constitutional Court. The Azerbaijani Constitutional Court approved the draft amendments to the countrys constitution at a session July 25. Calaveras County Sheriff's Office View Photos San Andreas, CA The Calaveras County Sheriffs Office, after arresting an alleged burglar in the Murphys area, is asking residents to help fill in more case details. According to Calaveras County Sheriffs spokesperson Sgt. Anthony Eberhardt, following a report on Friday about a burglary in progress, deputies responded to the 1800 block of French Gulch Road in Murphys. He adds that the actual burglary had been interrupted by the homeowner, which caused the suspect to flee on foot. However, as deputies arrived, numerous tips about the suspects location began flooding into the dispatch center. Sgt. Eberhardt states that some citizens were additionally able to detain the suspect, later identified as Joseph Michael Morgali, 26, of San Jose, until law enforcement officials arrived. In addition to items reported taken from the home on French Gulch Road, other nearby residents reported to deputies that possessions were missing from their residences. According to the report, one of allegedly stolen items was recovered from Morgalis path of flight. A backpack recovered during the incident was also found to contain more items for which investigators are still trying to identify ownership. Sgt. Eberhardt shares that Morgali, upon being questioned about his reason for being in the area, told deputies that he was involved with marijuana cultivation. The Sheriffs Office is interested in hearing from anyone with information about this incident as well as possible victims who may be missing items that the suspect might have taken. The number to call is 209 754-6500. Sacramento, CA As so many of Californias top elected officials have left the state to take part in this weeks Democratic National Convention, it has put the states Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson, in a unique position. California law requires that the Governor be physically in the state to carry out the duties of the position. With Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin de Leon, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, Secretary of State Alex Padilla, Attorney General Kamala Harris, Treasurer John Chiang and Controller Betty Yee all attending the convention in Philadelphia, Tom Torlakson, the states top school official, has become the Acting Governor. Torlakson is also a Democrat. Governor Brown has left the state six other times this year but on most occasions his role has been filled by Lt. Governor Newsom. Torlakson took over as Governor at 5:30pm on Monday and he is expected to remain in the position until the convention wraps up after late Thursday. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Anvar Mammadov Trend: Azerbaijan plans to increase investments in Turkey up to $20 billion until 2018, said Azerbaijans Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev in his interview with Yeni Safak newspaper. Currently, the volume of Azerbaijani investments in Turkey totals $8 billion, said Mustafayev. He also noted that Turkey has invested nearly $10 billion in Azerbaijan. Currently, more than 1,700 Azerbaijani companies operate in Turkey and the number of Turkish companies in Azerbaijan exceeds 2,700. These companies are operating in various spheres of economy, said Mustafayev. There is Turkish capital in more than 30 percent of foreign companies operating in Azerbaijan, and Turkey is in the first place on this indicator. Turkish companies are contractors of infrastructure projects worth $10.6 billion, he added. The minister said that relations between the two countries are developing within strategic partnership; trade and economic cooperation is also being built on this strong basis. Mustafayev added that the attractive environment for investments and joint business in both countries created opportunities for mutual investing. He noted that Azerbaijan and Turkey are initiators and participants of large energy projects in the region. The international community welcomes joint efforts of Turkey and Azerbaijan on the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project, aimed at ensuring energy security of Europe, he said. The minister noted that construction of another largest project Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will be completed in the near future. Such important projects serve for the economic well-being of not only Azerbaijan and Turkey, but also the entire region, he added. While the economies of other countries are going into a recession due to the last economic crisis in the world, Turkey came out of this crisis with minimal losses that once again proved the countrys strong financial stability, he said. Mustafayev noted that economic growth allows Turkey to implement many large projects in transportation, energy and other spheres and some of these projects will be completed in the near future. The current situation in Turkish economy will be able to withstand the impact of recent events. The government will be able to achieve its economic goals, added the minister. We believe that brotherly Turkey, as in the past, will remain as an attractive country for investors. Turkey is one of Azerbaijans main trade partners. Trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $685.71 million in H1 2016 and on this indicator, Turkey ranks the 3rd in the list of Azerbaijans main trade partners, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee. The military mom who had her children taken away and placed in foster homes has regained custody. Amanda Hurst has custody of children after long court battle Hurst's mom turned over kids to New Jersey family care Reunited, Hurst and kids now live together in New Smyrna Beach Amanda Hurst joined the U.S. Army in 2008 and gave custody of her children to her mother. The children's grandmother traveled to New Jersey and felt she could no longer care for Julianna and Romeo Patterson, turning them over to New Jersey family care. Hurst served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, but her biggest battle was on American soil as she fought to regain custody of her children and reunite her family. That battle included jurisdictional fights between New Jersey and Florida family courts, each claiming the other had jurisdiction. But that battle came to a happy conclusion this weekend when Hurst obtained custody and brought her children to her New Smyrna Beach home. "The only regret I have about serving my country is this happening," said Hurst, a relieved mother with her two children by her side. "It felt like she had been taken away from me," said Romeo Patterson, Hurst's 16-year-old son. Romeo and his sister, Julianna, 15, were separated and placed in foster homes. Both siblings were physically attacked while their mom continued fighting for custody. It was an emotional battle which at times would take its toll on all three. "I have tears of joy, because I'm here with my family and this is what I wanted for so long. But it's also tears ofsadness because sometimes I do think if my mom never went into the Army, we wouldn't have to go through this," said Julianna through tears, with a tearful mother at her side. "One of the main things we do as parents is protect our children. And when you're put in a position where you're not able to do that because they're not letting you do it, it's like running your head into a brick wall." Unlike their stay in foster homes, the two have a bedroom they can call their own. All three are battle weary but realize the battle is not over. "No matter what, never quit fighting for the ones that you love." said a proud mother surrounded by her children again. Both teenagers say the only thing that can separate them from their mom every again is college. "It's like a happy ending. The battle's not over, because we still have to learn to live with each other. We haven't been together in forever. So the battle is only half-won," Julianna said. Said Romeo: "We can call ourselves normal, everyday people. We don't have to say, oh, hang on, I'm in a foster home." Hillary Clinton made history at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night when she became the first woman to win a major party's presidential nomination. Erupting in applause and cheers, delegates at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia waved signs and danced to music as Clinton received the official nomination, marking a significant moment in history for women. In November, we will affirm that great truth of our country, when women succeed, America succeeds, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said. It was 96 years ago that women won the right to vote, and with another milestone on the horizon, women took the stage with a mission to elect Clinton. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, spoke about his wife's roles as a mother, leader and change maker. U.S. House candidate Val Demings, the first female chief of the Orlando Police Department, addressed gun control following the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub. Let me tell you, our city takes it personally that Congress refuses to disarm hate, Demings said. Gathering on stage with other mothers who have lost children, Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, spoke about courage in the face of profound loss. Hillary Clinton has the compassion and understanding to support grieving mothers," Fulton said. "She has the courage to lead the fight for common sense gun legislation. Tuesday night's program was devoted to framing the former senator and secretary of state as a working mom dedicated to children, families, health care and social justice. Clinton will always stand up for the right of every woman to access a full range of reproductive healthcare including abortion no matter her economic status, said Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Earlier this evening when the historic nomination became official, Clinton took to Twitter to say this moment is for every little girl who dreams big. This moment is for every little girl who dreams big. #WeMadeHistoryhttps://t.co/DRAJuUUhOr Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 26, 2016 Earlier Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders continued to try to quell his fiercely loyal supporters amid a party rift over embarrassing leaked emails that indicate the party favored Clinton over him. After the roll call of state, Sanders told the convention that he wanted the procedural rules to be suspended and that Clinton be selected as the party's nominee. The emails released by Wikileaks led to the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and have roiled Sanders supporters, hundreds of whom protested in the blazing heat Tuesday afternoon and chanted, "Bernie or bust." The morning after his rousing endorsement of Clinton at the convention, Sanders himself was booed as he arrived for a breakfast with California delegates. "It is easy to boo," Sanders said in response. "But it is harder to look your kids in the face who would be living under a Donald Trump presidency." Other Sanders supporters said they'll vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein before they vote for Clinton. Sanders had to send out text messages and emails asking his supporters to not engage in any kind of protest on the floor of the convention and warned that the movements credibility will be damaged by them booing or turning their backs or walking out. Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. The first night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia brought an array of speakers, from senators and the first lady, to A-list actors, comedians and real people, who shared stories of struggle or triumph. And with all of those speeches, many headed online to voice their opinions. What we heard: Policy, Facts, Respect, Inspiration, Support What we didn't hear: Inciting hate/fear, curse words, lies#DemsInPhilly Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) July 26, 2016 I feel so much better than I did earlier today. So much more encouraged. More proud of my country. Ready to keep working hard #DemsInPhilly Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) July 26, 2016 And although the night was filled with speeches centered around party unity coaxing Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' supporters to come on board not everyone was sold. The night often erupted in pro-Sanders cheers. Camera shots showed his supporters waving signs, visibly upset over the outcome of the primaries. To the Bernie or Bust people, youre being ridiculous, said comedian Sarah Silverman at one point, after some delegate uproar. Silverman said she, too, was feeling the Bern but now supports presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and urged the rest of the Democratic party to do the same. Thank you to all of the delegates representing our revolution in Philadelphia! #DemsInPhilly A photo posted by Bernie Sanders (@berniesanders) on Jul 25, 2016 at 5:17pm PDT As the first night of the convention rolled on, Republican leaders headed online to add their input. This felt more like a convention for Sanders than for Clinton w/ the convention floor descending into chaos most of the day #DemsInPhilly Reince Priebus (@Reince) July 26, 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump tweeted with vigor about DNC speakers, throwing insults at Sanders, New Jersey U.S. Sen. Cory Booker and others. Bernie Sanders totally sold out to Crooked Hillary Clinton. All of that work, energy and money, and nothing to show for it! Waste of time. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2016 Sanders shot back with a tweet of his own. However, Sanders wasn't the only one taking on Trump. First lady Michelle Obama took a few thinly veiled jabs at the Republican presidential candidate. Dont let anyone ever tell you that this country isnt great, she said, with an obvious reference to the GOP candidates campaign slogan. That somehow we need to make it great again. Because this right now, is the greatest country on earth. But Green Party presidential candidate Jill Green also reacted to Tuesday night's speeches with a number of tweets, such as this one against the Democratic Party: COLLEGE STATION - U.S. Department of Agriculture Texas Farm Service Agency Executive Director Judith A. Canales, reminds farmers and ranchers that they have until Aug. 1 to enroll in Agriculture Risk Coverage and/or Price Loss Coverage programs for the 2016 crop year. Producers have already elected ARC or PLC, but they must enroll for the 2016 crop year by signing a contract before the Aug. 1 deadline to receive program benefits, said Canales. Producers are encouraged to contact their local FSA office to schedule an appointment to enroll. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: Recent decrease in world oil prices and Russian ruble rates provoked fall of Kazakhstani national currency, tenge, according to Deputy Director of the National Banks Monetary Operations Department Adil Mukhamedzhanov, the bank reported on July 26. Moreover tenge rate has been influenced by some internal factors, such as expectations of market participants, the movement of budgetary funds, tax payment periods and de-dollarization in the past few months, Muhamedzhanov said. The exchange rate dropped to 351 tenges for one US dollar at the 26 July afternoon trading session at Kazakhstan's Stock Exchange compared to 344 tenges at 25 afternoon trading session. Kazakh media reported that tenge rate at exchange offices in Kazakh cities of Astana and Almaty fell to 360 tenge/$1. Edited by SI Follow the author on Twitter:@E_Kosolapova This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The ever-growing Duggar Family, who became popular on the TLC network, will soon add former San Antonio Scorpions player Jeremy Vuolo to the clan when he marries one of the nine daughters, Jinger Duggar. People Magazine confirmed the news on Tuesday that after "courting," the two are an engaged pair. "So excited to share this news that we are now engaged," the couple told People. "From both of us, thank you all for the countless well-wishes we've received during the courtship. We are excited to take this next step in spending our lives together." RELATED: San Antonio native, Los Angeles Laker Jordan Clarkson 'casually dating' Kendall Jenner On Vuolo's website, the 28-year-old Philadelphia-native wrote about how he met his 22-year-old bride-to-be. He said he first became friends with Jinger Duggar's sister, Jessa Seewald and her husband Ben Seawald, when they attended a church fellowship at Vuolo's San Antonio home. The three continued their friendship, leading Vuolo and Seewald's younger sister to meet sometime last May. RELATED: Ex-Spur Dejuan Blair cited in Las Vegas for alleged misdemeanor battery of a woman Vuolo joined the Duggars on a ministry trip to Central America and on December 11, 2015, he told the Duggar patriarch, Jim Bob, he had interest in his daughter which "opened the door for Mr. Duggar and me to build a friendship and begin this great new chapter," he said. Getting Jim Bob Duggar's approval for friendship, standard protocol within the family, also led to "courtship," which Vuolo describes a "dating with a purpose," "a beautiful and safe way to pursue God's will." Vuolo also explained his road to becoming an ordained pastor at Grace Community Church of Laredo, which included "sinful" high school and college party days, then a feeling and "call to ministry" while playing in San Antonio. RELATED: TLC pulls Duggar family series amid misconduct reports According to People, the newly engaged pair's courtship will be "a big part" of the new season of "Counting On," airing Aug. 23 at 8 p.m. The show is a spin-off of the family's original series, which changed names with the kid count: 17, 18, then 19 Kids and Counting. The show documented the lives of the devout Baptist family for 10 seasons before being cancelled in 2015 following allegations the oldest son, Josh Duggar, had fondled five underage girls during his teen years, according to the Associated Press. mmendoza@mysa.com Twitter: @MaddySkye This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate An R-rated animated Batman caused some controversy at the San Diego Comic Con when it premiered there Friday. "Batman: The Killing Joke" has always been one of Batman's most controversial stories, so adapting it from comic to movie is expected to come with a few bumps. SEE ALSO: 'Justice League' trailer: Watch Batman recruit Aquaman, The Flash and more Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) and Batman (Bruce Wayne) are reported to have a sexual relationship in the movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter website. The outlet reports fans overall reacted well to the film up until a question-and-answer session with screenwriter Brian Azzarello after the film's showing. According to The Hollywood Reporter, a fan asked Azzarello why the movie focused on the men she was dating rather than Batgirl herself. Azzarello responded by telling the fan Batgirl was "stronger than the men in her life in this story," wrote The Hollywood Reporter. SEE ALSO: Hottest cosplay costumes from San Diego Comic-Con 2016 When Azzarello told the crowd Batgirl "controls the men in her life in this story," a fan reportedly shouted by "using sex," causing the writer to challenge the fan to repeat himself, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Bruce Timm, executive of the movie, told The Hollywood Reporter that he didn't see an issue with the relationship between Batman and Batgirl. "Batman: The Killing Joke" is notorious for a scene that involves The Joker shooting Batgirl at close range, causing her to become paralyzed from the waist down. The movie has a 57 percent favorable rating from movie rating website Rotten Tomatoes. The movie is playing at various movie theaters around Houston. Whether you stream, buy or rent, heres a look at whats new or notable in home video. Movies are available on streaming sites such as iTunes, Amazon and Vudu unless otherwise noted. In theaters Lucha Mexico: Documentary presents the neverending struggle of Mexicos masked (and sometimes unmasked) wrestlers as a healthy release for fans who live in a country where good vs. evil is not always so well defined. Filmed over four years with the cooperation of Mexicos main wrestling promotions, the cast of characters include Shocker and Blue Demon Jr. Pre-theatrical Ghost Team: Napolean Dynamites Jon Heder is the ringleader of a group of bright but underemployed pals who put their smarts to use hunting ghosts in a spooky old barn. Was this low-budget comedy released to coincide with the new Ghostbusters? Is ghost slime green? (Available on Google Play) Rent It Now Barbershop: The Next Cut: Almost 2,000 people were shot in Chicago in the first half of 2016, a starkly unfunny fact that most comedies would just ignore. To its credit, the latest Barbershop sequel, set on the citys South Side, makes that violence its main subject, along with the fear, anger, frustration, despair and occasional bitter humor it creates. As always, the plot Calvins (Ice Cube) barbershop promotes a weekend cease fire is secondary to the urgent, timely talk. More home video: "The Mermaid" is the biggest hit you've never heard of The Boss: The plot of this comedy takes a twist or two too many, as a brief summary suggests. A disgraced CEO (Melissa McCarthy) gets back her mojo, and finds her humanity, by launching a door-to-door brownie busines in the face of sometimes violent competition from cookie-selling scouts and her former lover (Peter Dinklage). The first half is loaded with laughs, though, thanks to McCarthy closer in spirit to Donald Trump than Martha Stewart who unleashes her inner vulgarian. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Superman, that paragon of truth, justice and the American way, is a suspected terrorist. Batman describes himself as a career criminal. (Wonder Woman, at least, escapes unscathed). Since this is clearly not the movie comic-book fans wanted, who could it be for? While there may be no clear winners, director Zach Snyder does land a few blows. A Batman dream sequence is wild, and one of the movies central ideas comic book violence is still violence and has repercussions is worth thinking about. Also: Criminal, Elvis & Nixon, Hardcore Henry, Miles Ahead Reissues Crimes of Passion: The uncut VHS version of Ken Russell's follow-up to "Altered States," a lurid sexual psychodrama that went too far for '80s moviegoers, gets a Blu-ray release from cult film specialists Arrow Video. Kathleen Turner is more than memorable as stagy streetwalker China Blue. Anthony Perkins, as a priest who wants to save her, is forever psycho. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A woman in North Texas took on two snakes "mortal combat" style in her kitchen this week, sustaining a bite from one and killing both, according to media reports. Deborah Burdette, a Wilbarger County resident who lives less than 10 miles from the Oklahoma border, was greeted by a unwelcome visitor of the serpent type in her home Monday as she began her day, according to the Times Record News. RELATED: Photos capture rattlesnake biting groom during wedding day photoshoot She said she spotted a "large black snake resting on the counter" and while others may have cowered away, Burdette launched her attack. "I thought to myself, no one is going to believe this, so I went to get my phone to take a picture," she told the newspaper. "When I got back, it acted like it was coming after me, then it tried to get away by escaping through a hole behind the dishwasher." The snake wasn't fast enough for the skilled Burdette, who could be nominated as one of the badass women of Texas. (See other hardcore Lone Star lasses in the gallery above) RELATED: 26 rattlesnakes under this Texas deer blind is the making for a nightmare and a viral Facebook post The homeowner, who noted she has killed "several" rattlesnakes on her 20-acre property in previous years, said she didn't see any rattles on the serpent and grabbed a hold of it. "I grabbed the snake to keep it from getting away, and it was very hard to hold onto," the woman told the Times Record News. She said the grabbed a meat cleaver still in its packaging with her free hand, used her teeth to rip open the plastic and then hit the snake on the head to "immobilize" it. Later that day, as Burdette entered her dim kitchen, she lived out the saying "if it were a snake, it would have bit me." She told the newspaper she didn't see the second snake lying near the sink and it bit her hand. RELATED: Terrifyingly huge rattlesnake caught in Abilene "I killed it and called 911 because, at the time, I didn't know what kind of snake it was," she said in the interview. "But after the EMS arrived, we determined that it was a bull snake." Burdette consulted with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, who confirmed the first snake she killed was most likely a poisonous water moccasin. Since her encounters, Burdette has decided to fill the hole the snakes used to enter he home with Brillo pads and said "the experience has put pressure" on her to keep her large yard mowed. "I have a healthy respect for snakes as long as they are outside," she told the Times Record News. mmendoza@mysa.com Twitter: @MaddySkye Baku, Azerbaijan, July 25 By Aygun Badalova - Trend: After normalization of the bilateral relations between Turkey and Russia in June, official representatives from both sides made the statements, proposing some ideas for unfreezing the suspended Turkish Stream gas pipeline project. Refraining from concrete details, Russian and Turkish sides made it clear that the projects implementation is of interest to both countries. Russian Gazprom spokesman, Sergey Kupriyanov, said that Gazprom is "open for a dialogue" on the Turkish Stream project. Turkeys Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources told Trend that Turkey can unfreeze the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project initiated by Russia. Currently, this issue is under consideration, according to the ministry. The exact date of unfreezing the project is yet to be determined, said the ministry. The Turkish Stream project, which is meant to take the Russian gas to Turkey across the Black Sea, was suspended due to sharp deterioration of relations between Moscow and Ankara after the incident with downed Russian air bomber on the Turkish-Syrian border in November 2015. Despite the current obvious interest to implement the project, analysts nevertheless, think that there are serious difficulties for turning it into reality. Low oil prices, the global gas glut, and Western sanctions make gas revenues from Turkey important for Russia, Agnia Grigas, energy and political risks expert, non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council believes. But, as she told Trend, in the current economic climate faced by Russia, financing and implementing the Turkish Stream is problematic. However, she says, Russia is likely to revive plans for the Turkish Stream when economic conditions change. Amanda Paul, analyst at the European Policy Centre (EPC) and expert on Turkey also doubts that given the state of the Russian economy, Kremlin has billions of dollars to throw at this project. Russia itself also understands the problems it has.The deputy of Russias State Duma Sergei Obukhov sent an appeal to Russian president and prime minister calling to abandon the plans on imlementation of long term economic projects on Turkish territory, including the Turkish Stream project. He said that investing in such risky projects is not rational for Russia at the current financially difficult period. Experts also believe that the current political environment is not favorable for the projects implementation as well. Tightening of domestic policy in Turkey after the failed coup attempt seems to point in the direction of worsening its relations with the West, Marco Giuli, an energy issues analyst at the Brussels-based European Policy Centre told Trend. Main constraint for both parties to implement the project will be the position that the EU will take, Cyril Widdershoven, Middle East geopolitical specialist and energy analyst, partner at Dutch risk consultancy VEROCY and SVP MEA-Risk, believes. In the light of Gazprom's growing hold on European gas imports, this could be the main issue. It also could conflict or constrain ongoing discussions on Nord Stream 2, as both projects are filling in some of the European gas demand, while both also are blocking parts of current gas transport via Poland or Ukraine, Widdershoven told Trend. The recent military coup attempt in the country, threat of death penalties, or other issues will not be taken very lightly in Brussels and other European capitals, expert added. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Over 200 people have been killed in Turkey as a result of the coup attempt. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A brush-filled area on the summit of Enchanted Rock that caught fire last Thursday and completely destroyed the extensive plant life covering a vernal pool was set intentionally, officials believe. While emergency officials investigated the report of a fire at the state park around 6 p.m., Texas Parks and Wildlife Department employees said a suspect was not in sight when emergency crews arrived. RELATED: San Marcos residents arrested for allegedly defacing Enchanted Rock summit near Fredericksburg Full daylight allowed park officials to survey the extent of damage the fire caused and stated they were "sad to lose this vernal pool, a precious and delicate ecosystem." A vernal pool, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, is a seasonal collection of water that provides a unique habitat for a number of "rare plants and animals that are able to survive and thrive" in the conditions of the pool. The pool is typically covered by plants, and is sometimes filled with water due to a depression in the surface of the ground where the pool exists. RELATED: Texas Parks and Wildlife share photo of redheaded centipede snacking on a gecko A TPWD representative said there is currently not enough evidence to definitively conclude the fire was started intentionally, but that the preliminary investigation points to arson. "We can't prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt," Doug Cochran, Enchanted Rock State Park superintendent said. "We are looking into it as best as we can and are taking statements from people. As far as definitive proof, we don't have that right now. We don't believe it was a spontaneous combustion." Earlier this year two people were photographed while tagging a rock on the summit of Enchanted Rock. The vandals were later arrested because a photograph of the individuals was circulated by park officials and local media. In this case, Cochran said there was not similar evidence or witnesses, proving difficult in the search for justice. RELATED: From a West Texas oasis to a Panhandle canyon the best ways to exit or enter Texas Park officials shared a photo of the effects of the fire to their Facebook page and reminded park-goers that fires are only allowed in designated fire rings and that the entire park closes at 10 p.m. Those with any information are advised to call the park at (830) 685-3636 to give a statement. MMedina@mySA.com Twitter: @MariahMedinaaa Local housing authorities say theyve already been following guidelines recently handed down by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on how to handle applicants with criminal backgrounds. HUD said in April that housing authorities should not deny public housing applications solely on the basis of a criminal record because doing so might violate the federal Fair Housing Act. Housing authorities can consider criminal history when determining whether to grant someone housing, but sweeping bans against those with a criminal background discriminate on the basis of race, according to HUD. An arrest record in itself is not an acceptable reason to turn down an applicant, it said. HUD noted that African-Americans and Hispanics are arrested, convicted and sent to prison at a disproportionate rate as compared to the rest of the U.S. population. Consequently, criminal records-based barriers to housing are likely to have a disproportionate impact on minority home seekers, the HUD regulation said. While having a criminal record is not a protected characteristic under the Fair Housing Act, criminal history-based restrictions on housing opportunities violate the Act if, without justification, their burden falls more often on renters or other housing market participants of one race or national origin over another Danbury Housing Authority Executive Director Carolyn Sistrunk said most housing authorities already do not deny applicants on the basis of criminal backgrounds alone. That [HUD] regulation is an evolving one, she said. Housing authorities across the country have always looked at the whole of an applicants record. We look at the type of the crime, we look at the age of the crime and obviously we have some crimes that are direct bars to someone being admitted. These crimes include sex offenses or selling drugs. Yet, these people can present the mitigating circumstances for their case at a hearing and potentially be admitted into housing, Sistrunk said. HUD states that housing authorities should have case-by-case policies that take into account the severity of the crime, when it was committed and the likelihood of the applicant jeopardizing other residents safety. However, housing authorities would not violate the Fair Housing Act for denying those convicted of manufacturing or selling drugs because of an exception in the act. Alison Mosimann, assistant manager at the Ridgefield Housing Authority, said it does not have a blanket policy turning away those with a criminal background. If someone with a criminal history wanted to live in Ridgefield public housing, a real estate management company, The Simon Konover Co. would decide to deny or approve the applicant. However, Mosimann said she doesnt know of any former felons seeking public housing in Ridgefield, nor has the organization received complaints from residents about living next to someone with a criminal background. For us, weve been very lucky we havent come across it yet, she said. Robert Chesson, the managing partner of the Landlord Law firm in Milford, stressed that HUDs guidance is not a law, but could be one day. Right now, because its just guidance, it may have no impact, he said. It is certainly, however, a foreshadowing of what all landlords can expect to be HUDs position in respect to criminal background screening. This could then transfer over to the private sector, Chesson said. Housing policy that starts in the public housing arena usually ends up being in the private sector as well, he said. So private landlords cant ignore this anymore than anyone else can. The guidance has yet to affect the Brookfield Housing Authority, Executive Director Rich Groski said. The state sponsors this elderly and disabled affordable housing authority, rather than HUD. Groski said Brookfield looks at people with felony convictions on a case-by-case basis. If someone served time for a felony, he or she could still be given housing. The exception to this is someone on the sex offender registry, he said. [People with criminal records are] still encouraged to apply here, he said. No one is not allowed to apply here as long they are not on the sexual offender list. In his four years with the housing authority, Groski has only seen two instances where a person with a criminal background was turned away. One time a person was denied because he lied on his application about being convicted for making meth. Another time someone was not given housing for being on the sex offender list. Mosimann said she does not have a personal opinion on the guidance. Im a very open person, but my job is to abide by the law, she said. So whatever the laws are for the federal programs or state programs I just have to implement them. "Thank you." These two simple, monosyllabic words mindlessly slip off our tongues every day, almost reflexively. We utter them so much they've all but become meaningless, out and about, at home and especially at the office, says Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas, a veteran neuroscientist, happiness expert and the science director of UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center. If you merely grunt a quick, curt "thank you" to a colleague who just did you a solid, and then say nothing more, you might as well say "thanks for nothing." Related: 5 Science-Backed Ways to Be Happier at Work "This one especially applies to bosses, who often feel, 'I don't have to thank my employees because I'm paying them,'" Simon-Thomas tells Entrepreneur during a phone interview. "It goes a long way, starting at the top, where leaders can model gratitude, and not with employee-of-the-month programs that can cause animosity. It could be as simple as taking a few seconds to pop your head into someone's office and properly saying 'thank you' to them for expending their life-energy to make your business successful." Notice the operative word "properly" there? To properly, sincerely thank your employees like you mean it -- and in ways scientifically shown to increase their happiness and consequently their productivity on the job -- Simon-Thomas says you'd be wise to take the following simple, three-step approach: 1. Say "thanks" or "thank you" -- from the heart. This is best done face to face -- not by email, tweet, text, Facebook comment or even with a handwritten thank you note, she says. "When you say 'thank you,' really put your heart into it and think about it, make direct eye contact and do it in a more conscientious, careful way, like you're not just saying two basic words, because you're not," says Simon-Thomas. "It's so much more. You're expressing sincere gratitude." Bear in mind that Simon-Thomas acknowledges that some people might find it absurd or condescending to be instructed on how to express gratitude. "But we all need a reminder from time to time, particularly if our employees are disengaged," she says. "It's important to remember that superficial, casual thanks that don't mean much don't work for them, nor for anyone, really." Related: Why Saying 'Thank You' Is More Important Than Giving Employees a Raise Referencing the work of alternate reality video game developer and gratitude researcher Dr. Jane McGonigal, she also points out that one caringly delivered "thank you" can be contagious throughout the office. Per McGonigal, it packs the potential to spread positivity to up to 258 people. 2. Say what you're thankful for. Verbally specify the action, achievement or behavior you're grateful for. This is the time to applaud employees and colleagues for something that they did that you want them to do more of, and that you want others to do, too. "Say thanks for this and fill in the 'this,'" Simon-Thomas says. "'I know this is what you did. I know you put effort into X, Y or Z.' It may sound almost too simple, but it goes a long way." She offers the apropos example of correctly employing this step to properly thank my editor for editing this article, with an emphasis on specificity and genuineness: "Thank you for doing such a thorough job carefully reading through my work and for giving me that important feedback that I learn from and that benefits our readers." Related: 5 Simple Ways to Express Gratitude Every Day 3. Connect your thanks to how the person you're thanking influenced you. Tell the individual you're grateful to specifically how he or she impacted you and what value they provided. "Doing so really changes the narrative, the feeling of an impression of gratitude," Simon-Thomas says. "Not only does it strengthen camaraderie and cooperation, it also shows the person that you mean what you're saying, that you truly appreciate the value they bring to your work and to the workplace on the whole." Continuing her example of thanking my editor for closely combing through this article, Simon-Thomas says: "Don't be afraid to dig deeper than the terse, to get a bit personal and admit that you recognize the hard work and effort your editor put into this. You might say, 'Thanks to you, I have now produced a better article than I could have produced on my own. It really made me feel better about the end-product and I wouldn't have been able to do it without you. Thank you for that.'" Related: Is Your Remote Team in Trouble? Authentic Appreciation Can Help The result: "They'll likely feel, 'Oh, wow, [my coworker] personally acknowledged me and articulated that I am an important piece of this company. I certainly feel a sense of purpose and I feel essential,'" says Simon-Thomas. "You'll see, they'll give you their best work." Related: How to Thank Your Employees Like You Mean It in 3 Simple Steps The Startup Office Environment How Does An Organization's Customer-Oriented Culture Deeply Impact Customer Experience? Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Turkey will reassess all projects with Russia, said Turkeys Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak in his interview with Haber Turk TV channel. Turkey will reassess all projects with Russia after the crisis in relations, said the minister. He added that the normalization of relations is for the benefit of both countries. Turkey and Russia intended to implement a number of energy projects, such as the Turkish Stream pipeline and the construction of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant. These projects were frozen after the crisis in the two countries relations. The relations between Russia and Turkey deteriorated after the Su-24 bomber incident in 2015. On June 27, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter of condolences to Putin over the death of Russian Su-24 pilot and expressed regret over the incident. Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, commenting on the improvement of relations between Turkey and Russia, thanked Azerbaijan for its contribution to normalization of the relations. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate PHILADELPHIA Former rivals Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders urgently joined forces Monday to tamp down dissent among his supporters, as Democrats tried to keep infighting from overtaking an opening night featuring some of the partys biggest stars, including first lady Michelle Obama. Chants of Bernie echoed through the arena, and boos could be heard nearly every time Clintons name was raised. For Clinton, it was a turbulent start to a historic four-day gathering that will culminate in the nomination of the first woman to lead a major U.S. political party. It also sapped some of Clintons energy coming out of Republican Donald Trumps chaotic convention last week and the well-received rollout Saturday of her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine. Sanders scored a major victory with the forced resignation of party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz following the release of emails showing her staff favored Clinton during the primary despite vows of neutrality. But Sanders aides reached out to the Clinton campaign Monday afternoon to express concerns that the chairwomans ouster wouldnt be enough to keep supporters from disrupting the convention, according to a Democratic official. The discussions between the two camps prompted Sanders to send emails and text messages to supporters asking them not to protest. Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays, Sanders wrote. DNC issues apology Moments after the convention opened in sweltering Philadelphia, the DNC also apologized to Sanders and his backers for the inexcusable remarks made over email. The statement was signed by DNC leaders, though Wasserman Schultzs name was notably absent. The Florida congresswomans resignation is effective later this week, though she also stepped down from her official convention duties. The mere sight of her on stage had been expected to prompt strong opposition from Sanders backers. Sanders was a relatively unknown Vermont senator when he decided to challenge for the Democratic nomination. He stunned the Clinton campaign with his broad support among young people and liberals, as well as his online fundraising prowess. But he struggled to appeal to black voters and couldnt match the former secretary of states ties to the Democratic establishment that wields significant power in the primary process. Much of Mondays program appeared aimed at giving Sanders backers an opportunity to express their support for him and their frustration with Clinton. Sanders was delivering the nights closing address, just after Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, another favorite of liberals and one of the partys toughest critics of Trump. Sanders previewed his remarks during an appearance earlier Monday before supportive delegates. He implored them to vote for Clinton, generating a chorus of boos. Brothers and sisters, this is the real world that we live in, Sanders said as he tried to quiet the crowd. Trump is a bully and a demagogue. Make no mistake. We have made history, Sanders said, stressing that the accomplishments and progress would be lost if Clinton doesnt win. Many of Sanders delegates, frustrated with the primary process and furious with Schultz, were still weighing ways to disrupt the four-day event. They said they couldnt fathom backing Clinton at the Democratic National Convention. To tell us to do that, said Ryan Lopez, a California delegate, of Sanders request, it goes against everything that were fighting for. Amos Miers, 39, of St. Petersburg, Fla., expressed frustration that Sanders didnt elaborate on why they should support Clinton. We reject backing Hillary without some explanation, Miers said. Were going to express ourselves. Were not going to get steamrolled. Im with Bernie Others said Sanders was simply pushing them to consider the long-term implications. Im with Bernie. Im following his lead. He says weve got to defeat Trump, said Lawrence Hamm, a Sanders delegate from Montclair, N.J. I agree with Bernie. I respect those who dont. Strategically, at this point Trump represents the worst elements of American society. Clinton is promising a stark contrast to last weeks Republican gathering, an often chaotic affair that featured a heavy dose of pessimism about the economy and national security. I dont see how you run for president of the United States if you spend all your time trash-talking the United States, she told supporters at a rally in North Carolina. Were going to have a convention this week that highlights success stories. The controversy over some 19,000 leaked DNC emails, however, threatened to complicate those plans. The correspondence, posted by WikiLeaks over the weekend, showed top officials at the supposedly neutral DNC favoring Clinton over Sanders in the presidential primaries. Clinton campaign officials blamed the hack, which is now being investigated by the FBI, on Russian military intelligence agencies. The campaign also accused Moscow of trying to meddle in the U.S. election and help Trump, who has said he might not necessarily defend NATO allies if they are attacked by Russia. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: The construction of a Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, which would allow Turkmen gas supplies to Europe, will continue to be blocked by Russia and Iran as they do not want the competition from the resultant export corridor, Sijbren de Jong, analyst at The Hague Center for Strategic Studies and expert in energy security believes. So, even if Turkmenistan and Europe are interested in the project, the implementation will be surely be blocked by Iran and Russia on grounds of the unclear legal status of the Caspian Sea, de Jong told Trend by email. Earlier, a source close to the negotiations on the Trans-Caspian pipeline told Trend that Turkmenistan plans to hold a summit of heads of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Turkey by late 2016, where the prospects of the gas pipeline construction will be discussed. Turkmenistan, according to BP, has the fourth largest proved gas reserves in the world - 17.5 trillion cubic meters. Currently the country produces about 75 billion cubic meters of gas per year, and plans to increase production to 230 billion cubic meters by 2030, most of which will be exported. According to de Jong, Turkmenistan is right now in a bit of a difficult situation. He noted that the natural gas sector in Turkmenistan has seen large scale layoffs this year - revenues have been decreasing, yet the amount of gas Turkmenistan sells has been relatively stable. The country is now heavily reliant on the Chinese export market, and the expert believes it should diversify. But, it has been hesitant to sign up to 'small' deals of 10 bcm, 5 bcm etc. It would however be in Turkmenistans interest to sign up to such deals with Azerbaijan for example, de Jong said. According to BP, Turkmenistan exported 38.1 billion cubic meters of gas in 2015, including 27.7 billion cubic meters of gas sent to China and limited volumes of gas exported to Iran and Russia. Since the beginning of 2016 Russia has completely stopped gas purchases in Turkmenistan. Follow the author on Twitter:@E_Kosolapova As Bexar County continues to grapple with a rash of suicides at its jail, the Commissioner Court approved more than 17,000 hours of overtime for detention officers Tuesday worth $512,000 to be used through the end of the current fiscal year. Three commissioners and County Judge Nelson W. Wolff approved the request, which authorized 17,075 hours of paid mandatory overtime for uniformed detention officers. They have a little bit of a higher average daily jail population its just under 3,800 for this month but they also have almost 100 vacancies so whats happening is some of the detention officers are having to work overtime, said Tina Smith-Dean, the assistant county manager, in her presentation to the Court. Precinct 2 Commissioner Paul Elizondo said that its good to see the department and the Sheriff, in the recent unfortunate series of suicides and so forth, not blame it on staffing. It (staffing) may be a problem and it may be part of the reasons, but Im glad that it wasnt a knee-jerk blaming on staffing that comes from this court, Elizondo added. There have been four suicides in a period of 24 days in the county jail. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards which met with county jail and mental health officials July 20 said that they found no violations of standards related to the first three suicides, which occurred between June 28 and July 15. Wolff said he was concerned about the amount of time some inmates are spending in the jail awaiting trial. The last inmate to commit suicide 40-year-old Melvin McKinney had been awaiting trial in the Bexar County Jail since September 2013 in relation to multiple charges including aggravated assault against a public servant. We pulled a record of his trial, all the delays, Wolff said of McKinneys case. You can go through it, two pages of motions and delays and competency hearings and it just goes on and on. When youre holding somebody in jail who hasnt been convicted regardless of what the offense might be thats a long time for a person to wait in jail to have their trial. He stressed that the process needs to get better because, from what he could tell, the jail is doing everything it can to prevent such suicides. In this case here, three years in jail without a trial is just not right. Its just not right, Wolff said. rdruzin@express-news.net twitter.com/druz_journo This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Even the Alamodome, Olmos Park bars and Stone Oak liquor stores have trouble paying their tabs. Around San Antonio, 30 establishments made it to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commissions credit law delinquency list after failing to pay liquor distributors or wholesalers. No sales or deliveries may be made to these retailers on or after the effective date of the list, according to the TABC. The list went into effect July 18 and was last updated Tuesday morning, July 26. Click through the slideshow above to see the San Antonio bars and stores that can't buy any more booze until they pay up. Inclusion on this list reflects changes made to the TABC website as of Tuesday morning, July 26. The temporary ban on purchases affects alcohol deliveries until Saturday. The list is published twice a month and affects only purchases for liquor. rsalinas@mysa.com Twitter: @RebeccaLSalinas This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Small-business owners are the piston that drives the U.S. economy, experts say, and throughout the Metrocom, in Converse and other cities, many of those small businesses are owned and operated by veterans. Ed Homan served two years in the U.S. Army in Vietnam before getting hurt in battle and sent back stateside. He ended up at Fort Sam Houston, he said, a stones throw from Converse. And Converse is where I decided to make my home. Homan opened A To Z Rental 37 years ago when FM 78 was just a tiny little two-lane road, he recalled. Today, Homan has expanded his business dealings to include four area businesses A To Z Rental, Converse Mini-Storage, A To Z Pawn, and Precision Saw and Tool with 22 employees. Ive always liked to get in and work hard, which has paid off for me, Homan said. The Converse Economic Development Corp. took time July 14 to honor the citys 14 veteran-owned businesses during its quarterly business appreciation event, with a reception at the Greater Randolph Area Service Program center in Converse. Each of the former servicemen-turned-businessmen received a city of Converse Challenge coin from Mayor Al Suarez; a certificate of appreciation from Sen. Jose Menendezs office, presented by staff member Domingo Rodriguez; and a U.S. flag flown over the U.S. Capitol from Congressman Henry Cueller, presented by EDC Chairman Marc Gilbert. Back when I started, I thought I had to work harder than everyone else, and so I did, Homan said after the event. You do everything, until you get to the point where you can hire someone to do some of those things for you. And we finally got to that point. Converse has been good to us, and weve been glad to be a part of the business scene here. Air Force veteran Hank Alves has been a staple up and down FM 78 for nearly two decades. The former owner of an insurance office, Alves retired but was lured back into business and purchased KD Logo five years ago. He credits his time in the military for instilling in him the dedication, determination and drive to be a success. I dont know if I would be in the environment I am in today if I hadnt spent all that time in the Air Force. Its a different way of thinking, and I am proud of what Ive done, said Alves, who spent 24 years in the Air Force. When I thought about retiring, I knew I couldnt just sit around the house, he said. I still have the old military mentality: Youre up at 5 and you go until everything gets done. Then you get up the next day, and do it all again. He sold Alves Insurance Agency after 16 years, the last four in Converse after the city expanded its city limits. He sold it because he planned to retire. Or so he thought at the time. Actually, my son is the one who talked me into buying it (KD Logo). I was planning on retiring, but those plans didnt materialize. Business called me back, he said. So here I am, five years later, and I am probably putting in more hours than I did when I was in the insurance industry. Under his ownership, KD Logo has become Kreative Design and Logo, and he expects to move himself and his nine employees into a new office in September in Converse, of course. Among the speakers at the chambers event honoring the veterans was Suarez, a veteran himself. I would like to take time to extend congratulations for what veteran-owned businesses have done in Converse, the mayor said. Converse is a family-oriented community, and you guys, when you left your military careers, decided to invest in our city. Were at 22,000-plus, and youve played a large part, and we cant forget that. Bexar County Precinct 4 Commissioner Tommy Calvert said he could relate to the honorees ventures into the business world. Im a small-business owner, two times over. So I know what its like to be the CEO, the accounts receivable, the marketing department, the receptionist and the janitor, and everything else you have to do to keep going for your families and the employees that you have, Calvert said. Helping small businesses helps all of our economy, because you are the primary driver of jobs in our community, he said. It goes without saying, youve never given up on America. Youve served in our armed forces, and youre serving your community, not giving up on the American dream. EDC Executive Director Kate Silvas offered a sincere thanks to the veterans-turned-businessmen, from both a military and a business perspective. Youve given of yourselves for our country and now, for our community, creating jobs and making important investments in Converse, Silvas said. We enjoy tremendous freedoms because of your selfless sacrifice, and we just want to thank you for that. Those in attendance were entertained by the Mission Winds, a clarinet quartet from the Band of the West, stationed at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. The musicians also cycled through the songs of the military branches, having all servicemen and servicewomen, past and present, stand when their respective branch number was played. jflinn@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Friday was a big day for 200 veterans and their families as the Soldiers Angels organization a national veterans help group that got its start in San Antonio lined up its volunteers, tent canopies and tons of nonperishables to distribute via its mobile food pantry operation. One by one, veterans in their cars, trucks, SUVs, motorized scooters and bicycles made their way through the 100-foot-long mobile pantry. Volunteers at the first stop handed out boxes of bottled water. Next up were meats, fruits and vegetables, followed by nonperishable boxed and canned foods. Then loaves of bread were carried out to the cars before the last stop as one veteran said, our just desserts provided boxes of Girl Scouts of America Thin Mints and Samoas. Soldiers Angels is a little-publicized charitable agency that got its start here in San Antonio last year. Its mobile food pantry set the stage for national growth. The group, which supplies up to 50 pounds of food items to each of its veterans, is gearing up for its one-year anniversary in September. Our clients are homeless, at risk, low-income veterans, said Heather Krauss, Texas service area director for Soldiers Angels. Theres a vetting process we go through to reach the 200 veteran families we serve each month. So far were planned out through September. The group couples with the San Antonio Food Bank to distribute food such as lettuce, bottled water, bags of potatoes, hamburger buns, boxed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, canned soups and vegetables and loaves of bread to the always appreciative veterans we serve, because they served us first, Krauss said. The mobile food pantry project launched in San Antonio in September 2015, and since has spread nationwide. This month weve started them in Denver, Detroit, San Diego and Charleston. We built the program here, and are expanding throughout the country, Krauss said. It occurs monthly. Originally we tried different venues, but we wound up here in our parking lot (the Titan Building at Loop 410 and Perrin-Beitel Road) , and it seems to work the best, for both space and familiarity. R.V. Atkins is a Target employee who turned up Friday to both give and receive. The 20-year Air Force veteran said he found out about Soldiers Angels from a bulletin board at work, where a card was posted asking for volunteers. This is my first time volunteering for them. This is the first time Ive even heard of it, Atkins said. Im a veteran, and I know what weve been through, so this is something thats a worthwhile cause for the men and women who served already. This is a military city, and you wish they were able to help more, he said, adding, They do an outstanding job, reaching out to veterans and getting them some of the necessities of life. Michelle Julazadeh, Soldiers Angels online communications manager, said the agency already has a waiting list. Veterans on the regular list are informed of the food pantry date and distribution starts at 10 a.m. When the flow of recipients begins to trickle to a near standstill, organizers scan the remaining available items and put out the call to those on the waiting list. The first time we did it, we used shopping carts for each family. The drive-through setup is much easier., Julazadeh said. People stay in their car, the volunteers are here and just load up everything for us. It works wonderful. Groups and businesses looking for volunteer opportunities can circle Friday, Aug. 20, and Friday, Sept. 16, on their calendars, the agencys next two events. Weve had great community support, Krauss said. Weve had school groups come out with their National Honor Society programs and student councils. Weve had USAA, Valero; weve had churches come out to do it. To volunteer, call the Soldiers Angels corporate office at 210-629-0020; contact Krauss by email at hkrauss@soldiersangels.org; or go to the agencys website at: www.soldiersangels.org. jflinn@express-news.net Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Aygun Badalova - Trend: Russias proposed new gas supplies to Europe will compete with the US LNG export to that region, analysts of the US JP Morgan bank expect. Last week a cargo of US LNG landed at Spain's Murgados LNG import terminal, making it the second cargo to reach the European market since US LNG exports began at the end of February. From a more structural perspective and with the overall increase in natural gas consumption worldwide, the potential introduction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline toward the end of the decade, allowing for more Russian gas to reach Europe, certainly does present direct competition to LNG cargoes from Australia and the US, analysts said in their Natural Gas Outlook report, obtained by Trend. The Nord Stream 2 project includes construction of two lines of the offshore gas pipeline with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas a year from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, in addition to the existing two lines. The US analysts believe that European countries reliant on Russian gas will look to diversify energy sources for reliability purposes. However, they dont exclude that the potential tectonic shifts that could occur in the European Union (started by Brexit) could change strategies and the timing of the execution of those strategies for those countries. Most importantly, we will look to Germany, currently exiting their nuclear power program in the wake of the Fukushima disaster and importing over 60 percent of its 2015 natural gas demand from Russia according to the most recent BP Statistical Review, for signals as to the potential impact of this pipeline system on the global LNG market, analysts said. Europe has imported 401.4 billion cubic meters of gas via pipelines in 2015, according to BPs estimations. European countries imported 159.8 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia. Currently, the main factor of the EU energy policy is the diversification of sources and routes of gas supply. In this regard, the Southern Gas Corridor, which envisages the gas supply from the Caspian Sea region to Europe, is one of the priority projects for the EU. The gas produced as part of the Phase 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is the main source for this project. Other sources can also be connected to this project at a later stage. SAN ANTONIO A 42-year-old man has been identified as the suspect who was shot and killed during an attempted break-in on the Northwest Side last Thursday, according to the Bexar County Medical Examiners Office. Troy Dell Wilson died at the scene from a gunshot wound to the chest after he attempted to break into a home in the 9700 block of Autumn Dew at about 10 a.m. Thursday. SAN ANTONIO A 17-year-old boy was killed after being shot in the chest Tuesday morning by a 15-year-old boy who was playing with a handgun on the Northwest Side. Diego Rodriguez died at 5:10 a.m. at University Hospital, the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed Tuesday morning. The Castro brothers have been twinning this week at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. And we're only two days in. The West Side natives have been making the rounds on cable news and posing for selfies with supporters on the convention floor. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate For the first time, members of the Zetas drug cartel spoke openly about a 2011 massacre just across the border from Texas. The testimony came out last week in the San Antonio trial of Zetas plaza boss, or regional leader, Marciano Millan Vasquez. During the trial of Millan who was found guilty on all counts two traffickers-turned-informants for the Zetas testified about what they saw on the night in March 2011 when dozens, possibly hundreds, were killed in the Mexican border city of Piedras Negras. The killings spread across the border region, the witnesses said, including the small town of Allende, after which the massacre has been named. Click through the slideshow above to see the aftermath of the Allende massacre and other scenes from the drug war. RELATED: Jury finds Los Zetas boss guilty on all 10 counts Witnesses described the killings as part of a pattern of unrestrained violence by the Zetas from 2009 to 2015. They also named politicians who they claimed took bribes from the cartel. Millan was often a side note in the two-week trial as a parade of smugglers and hit men took the stand to describe horrific acts they said were carried out by Zetas members. There were disturbing details of a killing spree in 2013 in which one witness said he saw Millan hack a young girl to death. In terms of sheer numbers, however, none of the testimony compared to the Allende Massacre, when witnesses said people with nothing to do with drug trafficking including a martial arts instructor, his wife, children and a friend of his son were gunned down. RELATED: Social media sites censoring photos linked to cartel activity An important drug trafficker who had become close to a pair of brothers in the Zetas' highest echelons had defected to the U.S., the witnesses said, and the cartel's killers responded by kidnapping anyone who "smelled like" the traitor. One trafficker said he was allowed to leave the compound where the executions took place only because a founding member of the Zetas intervened on his behalf. As he left, one of the kidnapped women mouthed pleas of help. "But when I was at the car," he said, losing his composure on the witness stand. "They started to kill everyone." Read more about the Allende Massacre and the impact the San Antonio testimony is having in Mexico on ExpressNews.com. JBuch@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 Matthew Brown / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Matthew Brown / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Matthew Brown / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 5 of 5 STAMFORD A report of a downtown armed home invasion appears to have been part of an orchestrated robbery, police said. Police swarmed Court Street a short dead-end road near Scalzi Park for a report of a man barging into a home and forcing a woman at gunpoint to withdraw money from her Shippan bank about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Aygun Badalova - Trend: Energy ministries of Russia and Turkey will create the Working Group on the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project implementation, RIA Novosti reported July 26. Gazprom Management Committee Deputy Chairman Alexander Medvedev told journalists, that Turkish Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci during the meeting with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak confirmed interest in the implementation of this project. "Turkish Minister of Economy raised the Turkish Stream" issue and confirmed that Turkey is interested in implementing the project. It was agreed that the working group of the energy ministries of Russia and Turkey will be created in order to return the project to the implementation stage," Medvedev said. The Turkish Stream project, which is meant to take the Russian gas to Turkey across the Black Sea, was suspended due to sharp deterioration of relations between Moscow and Ankara after the incident with downed Russian air bomber on the Turkish-Syrian border in November 2015. On June 27 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to his Russian counterpart in which he expressed deep regret for the issue and expressed profound condolences to the family of the Russian pilot who was killed in the accident. Two days later the two leaders held the first phone conversation in six months and agreed on the resumption of trade and economic cooperation. 6,700 GSI Outdoors children's water bottles have been recalled due to concerns of lead in the exterior base of the bottle. About the Water Bottle Recall The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), issued a recall for five styles of the GSI Outdoors insulated water bottles sold exclusively at L.L. Bean. According to the CPSC, the bottles have high levels of lead in the solder at the exterior base of the bottle. Lead, if ingested by young children, is toxic and can cause adverse health issues. L.L. Bean is offering a full refund on the 6,700 bottles that were sold. According to its website, the bottles went under routine testing by the manufacturer and resulted in a positive reading for the presence of lead. So far, no injuries have been reported, but the company encourages anyone with the affected bottles to immediately stop using the bottle and return it to L.L. Bean. Description of the Recalled Water Bottles The following color prints are being recalled: oDino Bones oFlower Power oOrange Grid Camo oPurple Tie Dye Butterfly oRobo Shark The item identification number 297684 is printed on a sticker on the bottom of the suspect bottle. Also printed on the sticker are PO#844 and BB2D2-LLB-R45-0413. Affected unites were sold between July 2015 and May 2016 for roughly $20. Contact an Experienced Child Safety Recall Attorney Thomas J. Henry Injury Attorneys are leaders in the area of product liability litigation. Our Defective Drug and Products Division has extensive knowledge and resources in both product liability litigation and child injury. If your child has been the victim of a serious injury due to a recalled product, contact our offices. We are available 24/7, nights and weekends, and we represent clients/victims all over the country. Editors Note: This content is made possible by Thomas J. Henry Personal Injury Law. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of The San Antonio Express-News' or mySanAntonio.com's editorial staff. Learn more about our advertising products at www.hearstmediasanantonio.com. Posted on 07/26/2016, 9:00 am, by Farmscape.Ca Manitobas Agriculture Minister says discussions surrounding trade and the importance of international trade agreements at last weeks meeting of Canadas Agriculture Ministers were very encouraging. Canadas Federal, Provincial, Territorial Agriculture Ministers met last week in Calgary to discuss plans for Canadas next Agricultural Policy Framework. Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler says agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement would open a lot of doors and a lot of opportunities for his province. Were constantly seeking ways to enhance trade opportunities. We discussed our support for implementing CETA of course, which will enhance our Canada European trade, create jobs and benefit Canadian producers and we also talked about the Trans-Pacific Partnership which we brought a motion forward this spring as youre very much aware. Wed dearly love to see our opposition get on side and support us on that motion because its really important to create those jobs, that investment opportunity right here in Manitoba. Were positioned well as we move forward. Theres some concerns about whats going to happen with the U.S. election and how that may impact us as a country. Thats why these outside markets are so important as we move forward and we encourage the federal government to move forward on the TPP as soon as possible while ensuring that we the checks and balances in place to ensure that were ready as well. Its one thing to say youre open for business. Its another thing to be ready for that business. We were very encouraged by those discussions and look forward to the days and weeks ahead as we move forward on those. ~ Ralph Eichler, Agriculture Minister Manitoba Eichler say trade is key to the success of Manitobas agriculture and aerospace industries and the province is ready to take advantage of the opportunities these trade agreements would create. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) will lobby for a change in the route of the gas pipeline Power of Siberia-2 in order to preserve the UNESCO World Heritage Site Golden Mountains of Altai, WWF Russias extractive industry environmental policy officer Alexey Knizhnikov told Sputnik. In 2015, Russia's energy giant Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a supplementary agreement on the construction of a second Western route pipeline in addition to the main Power of Siberia project which is expected to come on stream in late 2019. The Power of Siberia-2 has a planned annual capacity of 30 billion cubic meters, with possible second and third legs bringing its annual capacity up to 100 billion cubic meters. "If the so-called Western route for the gas supply through the Altai to China enters an active phase of implementation, we will on our part do everything possible to prevent its development," Knizhnikov said. On July 14, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee said that the Golden Mountains of Altai, which include the Altai and Katun Natural Reserves, Lake Teletskoye, Belukha Mountain, and the Ukok Plateau would be put on the List of World Heritage in Danger if a decision on the extension of the pipeline in the Altai region is reached. "There are at least two options which could work very well [to build the pipeline] via the Black Sea or through Kazakhstan, which would solve the problems of our gas export and delivery," Knizhnikov said. The UNESCO World Heritage Committee gave Russia a deadline of February 1, 2017 to file a new report on the state of the site and the pipeline project. ALEXANDRIA, Va. According to Dr. Michael Mazzeo, associate professor of strategy at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management, theres only one iron-clad law of strategy. The correct answer to any strategic question is: It depends, he says. And convenience retailers can unlock the strategy behind how to run a successful store once they figure out what it depends on. Dr. Mazzeo, co-author of "Roadside MBA" and a previous speaker at the NACS Leadership Forum, will present a session on strategy for senior leaders at the 2016 NACS Show in Atlanta, October 18-21. Understanding that chasing trends is a race to the bottom, Mazzeo will talk about the merits of thoughtfully considering your existing capabilities and identifying ways to practically apply them to solve strategic business challenges. In this interactive, hands-on session, convenience retailers will be able to connect the dots on how others have shifted strategy and succeeded. Mazzeos Roadside MBA project was a series of eight road trips from 2010 through 2015 that focused on meeting with the owners of small and middle-market companies across the United States. The goal and outcome of his road trips was to develop materials that would deliver strategy ideas through the experience of small and middle-market firms (deliberately eschewing large companies). The project eventually led to a book of the same name in 2014. Similar to the companies he visited, Mazzeo notes that c-stores need to think about their business strategy, understand their companys competitive advantage and leverage that advantage for growth. But, be forewarned: The paths to growth can be different for different businesses. Mazzeo notes the importance of crafting a value creation proposition (VCP), a statement of how an organization can create distinct value for its target customers. Based on his research, he challenges c-store owners to build a competitive advantage around scalable resources, exploit their superior capabilities to facilitate growth and anticipate performance and growth conflicts. If you dont have the things that are necessary to provide value to your customers, then theyre going to go away, Mazzeo says. [But] you dont want to have too many things on your list when it comes to resources. Some resources are expensive and dont create value, he says. Make sure that every resource youve got has a reason and a connection to what the customers want and need on the other side. Learn more at Mazzeos NACS Show session, Strategy Lessons from the Roadside MBA, on Thursday, October 20 at 9:05 am in Atlanta. Education sessions are one of the top reasons the convenience store industry attends the NACS Show every year. Visit nacsshow.com to see the entire line up of speakers and to register today! A few weeks ago, Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times wrote on how state-level bills to increase private equity disclosure, including California Treasurer John Chiangs AB 2833, were being blocked or considerably weakened. Apparently Chiang was not pleased at getting less than glowing press. His letter to the New York Times editor ran last weekend under the header, A Look Behind the Curtain: In Keeping Private Equity Shrouded in Shadows (Fair Game, July 3), Gretchen Morgenson contends that the private equity fee disclosure legislation I am sponsoring in the California Legislature has been watered down. Should Assembly Bill 2833 become law, it would impose the most robust transparency requirements in the nation on private equity firms. For the first time, California public pension funds will be allowed behind the curtain to view previously hidden fees and charges that are paid to general partners and related parties. Ms. Morgenson cites the concern of a former Calpers board member that my measure presents less than a full picture because it discloses only the related-party costs allocated to California public pension funds. I am open to sponsoring future legislation requiring broader disclosure of related-party transactions affecting private sector or non-California investors. However, today, I am more concerned that our pension fund members and taxpayers are given a full picture of their share of total investment costs. A.B. 2833 does that. This type of disclosure is crucial given that every dollar paid in fees is one less dollar available for promised benefits. John Chiang Its difficult to know what to make of this. Who is the audience? The New York Times is not all that popular in California. Most readers consume the online version, where letters to the editor are hard to find. In searches, the Morgenson article will be prominent, while this missive will be comparatively obscure. Perhaps the motivation was that in the event that members of the public or the legislature cite the Morgenson article, Chiang can point to his letter as a retort. But more important, did Chiang even recognize that, even taking his letter at face value, all he was doing was whinging about the Morgenaon article rather than actually making a cogent argument about it? The opening paragraph repeats Morgensons observation that the bill was watered down and never once disputes that. Even worse, Chiang makes an admission against interest, confirming an unnamed critics (private equity expert Michael Flahermans) claim that the bill is flawed by saying he is open to sponsoring a future bill that would provide for fuller disclosure. Why wait till then and not fix this measure? In addition, the letter is misleading in claiming that AB 2833 would let public pension funds view previously hidden fees and charges. At best, it would allow them to view some previously hidden fees and charges. We described three flaws in bill at length: AB 2833 has gaping holes that will allow general partners to structure related party payments to escape reporting AB 2833s definition of portfolio company allows payment to be routed through other entities Reporting is at far too high a level of abstraction to allow for verification or cross-checks So Chiangs defense boils down to This bill is better than nothing. But is even that weak claim true? For the reasons listed above, its very likely that it will represent no meaningful change. Thats before you get to the fact that, in the June CalPERS Investment Committee meeting, as we wrote today, the board voted for an amendment, which if passed, would weaken the bill even further. Yet if AB 2833 is enacted, it will allow both general partners and limited partners to claim theyve made meaningful steps, and thus allow them to resist better legislation as unnecessary until its become clear this bill has failed, which will take at least a few years. The real tell that AB 2833 is no threat to private equity, as an effective bill would be, is the lack of opposition. Nary a vote has been cast against it. It would be one thing if Chiang and the bills author Ken Cooley had stuck with the original strong version, had forced opponents into the open, and made them show their faces and present their arguments. The more the fatuous defenses of private equity secrecy are on public view, the harder they are to support. And if Chiang lost, he could point to a hard-fought battle and demonstrate how powerful the private equity industry is, which is in and of itself a cause for concern. But whether due to lack of commitment, habit, or not understanding their opposition, Chiang and Cooley decided to handle as as much as possible behind closed doors, a game the private equity industry was sure to win. Once again, secrecy remains private equitys best friend. One of the benefits of seeing the battle over private equity transparency legislation in California play out is that it makes clear who is carrying water for the industry. Todays example is CalPERS board member Bill Slaton. As well show, Slaton sided with staff and the private equity industry to seek another amendment to the bill, AB 2833. His amendment strengthens CalPERS and the private equity industrys hand in more easily circumventing legislation that the industry could already evade. At CalPERS June board meeting, staff gave an update on AB 2833. Recall that this legislation was sponsored by Treasurer John Chiang, who sits on the boards of the giant public pension funds CalPERS and CalSTRS. Last fall, Chiang promised a bill that would achieve wide-ranging disclosure, including, critically, of related party transactions, which the media and SEC have identified as a major area of abuse. The initial version of the bill largely filled its stated aims. However, amendments, including ones sought by CalPERS, gutted the bill. We identified three major shortcomings. Based on one defect alone, former CalPERS board member and private equity executive turned reformer Michael Flaherman, who provided some of the language in the original version, has switched from being a supporter to an opponent. In its briefing, CalPERS lobbyist mentioned that it had not gotten one amendment that it had sought, which was to have the bill have what amounts to a fiduciary out, that California public pension funds can ignore the bill if it conflicts with their fiduciary duties. A discerning reader might wonder, how could a bill intended to have pension funds know the true cost of investing in private equity possibly interfere with that? In fact, a large body of case law has found that fiduciaries are required to weigh the costs of an investment, as well as its returns and risk. That means that fiduciaries investing in private equity have universally breached their fiduciary duty by not knowing all the fees and costs. AB 2833, as originally drafted, would have enabled them to remedy that long-standing failing. So how is what seems like an apple pie and motherhood statement in fact a huge gimmie to the private equity industry? The sleight of hand hinges on buying into the belief that private equity is an essential investment for public pension funds, and that if the private equity funds are made to disclose their various fees (which has also reveled what amounts to embezzlement, as the SEC has pointed out), some might refuse to let CalPERS invest with them. Well put aside the obvious question, Why should you be willing to make a long-term investment with someone who refused to make a full accounting of what theyve done with your money? The idea that private equity funds might refuse to deal with investors if forced to make more disclosures is a carefully cultivated urban legend. It rests on a widely misrepresented response when CalPERS, as a result of a 2002 settlement with the San Jose Mercury News, started publishing quarterly return data for all the private equity funds in its portfolio. Two fund managers, Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins, huffily said theyd never do business with anyone that published their returns. Why is that less meaningful than it sounds? It was only public pension funds that might be required to emulate CalPERS move. Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins are venture capitalists. While that technically makes them private equity funds, the fact is even the large venture capital funds are too small for a large majority of public pension funds to invest in them. Its also an open secret in the industry that the reason for Sequoia wanting to hide its results was that it had India and China funds that had done badly and didnt want that exposed. Industry stalwarts might nevertheless contend, But Sequoia is a top performer! If you did want to invest in Sequoia, youd have suffered. That is also inaccurate. It is true that Sequoias flagship fund is widely cited as regularly delivering impressive results. However, investors in Sequoias flagship fund are required to invest in other Sequoia funds that do not perform as well. The blended return is underwhelming. With that background, lett turn to the board meeting. As you can see on the recording of the session, starting at 8:55. CalPERS lobbyist Mary Anne Ashley provides an update on the bill, and said that all of CalPERS requested amendments had gotten the bill, except reference to fiduciary duties and responsibilities. Since this is cryptic, we must turn to Buyouts Magazine, in a paywalled article by Sam Sutton for details: .additional disclosure could result in some managers choosing to forgo California public pension plan partnerships and instead accept commitments from other investors without the same requirements, CalSTRS staff wrote in an April 12 memo. CalPERS staff noted a similar concern in a May memo. Chiangs designee, Grant Boyken, addresses this concern at 11:25: Grant Boyken, Deputy Treasurer: So right now I think weve satisfied all of the, all of the concerns, except the fiduciary language, which, in our view and the Treasurers view the fiduciary language stems from the plenary authority and the sole fiduciary responsibility that is authorized under the Constitution, and no statute changes that. So if we leave it out, the Constitutional authority of the system still stays. Translation: The Treasurer believes this amendment was unnecessary because CalPERS has the authority under the California constitution to give its fiduciary duty priority over the bill if need be. What transpires next? At 11:53: Investment Committee Vice Chairman Bill Slaton: Um, while I appreciate the Treasurers comments, the fact is we have a lot of issues from time to time that come up where the legislature expresses an intent. And I think its important in every time that occurs that affects our ability to either, to make an investment or to decide not to make an investment, that we repeat that authority that we have in the legislation. So I would move that we, we, given the current status, and I appreciate the other issues have been taken care of, that we change our position to support, if amended, for the fiduciary language. Note that Slaton does not deny Boykens point, that CalPERS has the authority in the Constitution to override the bill on fiduciary grounds if need be. Particular acts of legislation do not supercede that. Instead, effectively, he objects to the legislature having expressed a preference and he wants to stomp on that. Why is Slaton proposing a measure that is clearly unnecessary, and per our discussion above, isnt a plus as far as meeting CalPERS fiduciary duty is concerned, were it properly conceived? CalPERS is actively and knowingly violating its fiduciary duty ever time it commits to a private equity fund with the full understanding that many large charges remain hidden. By contrast, the concern that is the basis for Slatons amendment is purely theoretical. To curry favor with staff. Slaton is one of the most aggressive defenders of CalPERS staff. But as a board member, he has no duty to staff. His responsibility is to the funds beneficiaries, and indirectly, to California taxpayers To make clear that CalPERS and he are branded as staunch private equity backers. And perhaps, more specifically, to telegraph that CalPERS is all on board with ignoring the bill. Slatons amendment makes obvious what may not have been clear to private equity general partners thus far: all they have to do is send a note to the Chief Investment Officer of any California public pension fund, and say something along the lines of, Were not letting you invest in any future funds if you require us to comply with AB 2833. The CIO sends back a missive excusing them and everyone is back to status quo ante. Lynn Paquin, California Controller Betty Yees designee, seconded the motions. Ron Lind said he would vote against it. Priya Mather asked some questions, which included this one at 14:33: Board Member Priya Mathur: And if I could just ask a question also of our general counsel about the fiduciary language question. I know that theres been back and forth about what exactly the language would look like, and that the Treasurers office has drafted some language that refers to the, to Cal, to the Boards plenary authority, and whether that is sufficient to cover the fiduciary duty question in your mind. General Counsel Matthew Jacobs: Yes. Good afternoon. On balance, I would prefer to have the fiduciary language be explicitly in the bill. And I think Mr. Slaton makes a good point about the importance of the legislature recognizing every time that it wants to or potentially clip our wings that weve got something in there that acknowledges that. Having said that, I agree with Mr. Boykens analysis that, in fact, since we do have an overarching constitutional duty to proceed in a fiduciarily, fiduciary, forget it. Mathur: Fiduciarily responsible way? Jacobs: Thank you, that that would hold sway if this ever conflicted with that constitutional duty. See what happened here. Jacob concedes that the Treasurers legal analysis is correct, which means there is no need for this amendment. Yet he presses the argument that the legislature needs to be put in its place, basically just for the hell of it. And notice theres been no discussion whatsoever as to whether this fiduciary issue claim has any merit. Jacobs appears not to have given an iota of thought as to whether the benefits of understanding the full costs, which over time will help public pension funds curb abuse and push back against unjustifiable fees, as well as curing CalPERS ongoing breach of fiduciary duty in not know its private equity fees and costs, and whether those benefits outweigh the theoretical risk of being excluded from private equity funds by managers who feel the need to preserve their right to cheat. The vote was 5 to 5, and chairman Henry Jones broke the tie by voting in favor of gutting the bill. So once again, we see CalPERS board acceding to staff, not questioning the exaggerated claims made for private equity, and brushing aside its fiduciary duties rather than risk ruffling the feathers of the industry. Mind you, this legislation came about after Chiang, along with a group of state Treasures plus the New York state and city comptrollers, wrote the SEC seeking help in getting more disclosure of private equity fees. Apparently recognizing that the SEC is not positioned to act on behalf of supposedly sophisticated accredited investors like public pension funds, Chiang pursued forcing transparency on the state level, only to have captured public pension funds like CalPERS and CalSTRS act as the general partners stooges. With such lax oversight, it should come as no surprise that the giant pension fund is exhibiting basic operational failures, such as problems with record-keeping that wev seen first hand, and more recently, clinging to private equity as its potential savior from ZIRP and QE when it failed to deliver last year and private equity chieftans have warned that lower returns are coming. The inmates are running the asylum and getting more careless over time. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: Kazakhstan is building a spacecraft assembly and testing complex which will be commissioned in Astana in early 2018, RIA Novosti quoted Marat Nurguzhin, head of Kazakh National Space company Kazakhstan Garysh Sapary. The facility will allow carrying out all the tests of the spacecrafts at the same place, thus reducing possible transportation losses. All the cycle of spacecraft creation from its idea to its full commission will be fulfilled at this assembly and testing complex. The spacecrafts produced here will be delivered to Kazakhstans Baikonur Cosmodrome from where they will be launched into the space. It is planned that Astana assembly and testing complex will assembly first spacecrafts by 2021. Kazakhstan Garysh Sapary is implementing the spacecraft complex project jointly with Airbus Defense and Space (division of Airbus Group responsible for defense and aerospace products and services). Edited by SI Follow the author on Twitter:@E_Kosolapova Ancient eye in the sky (Nanowerk News) Light from a distant galaxy can be strongly bent by the gravitational influence of a foreground galaxy. That effect is called strong gravitational lensing. Normally a single galaxy is lensed at a time. The same foreground galaxy can in theory simultaneously lens multiple background galaxies. Although extremely rare, such a lens system offers a unique opportunity to probe the fundamental physics of galaxies and add to our understanding of cosmology. One such lens system has recently been discovered and the discovery was made not in an astronomers office, but in a classroom. It has been dubbed the Eye of Horus, and this ancient eye in the sky will help us understand the history of the universe ("A Spectroscopically Confirmed Double Source Plane Lens System in the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program"). Eye of Horus in pseudo color. Enlarged image to the right (field of view of 23 arcseconds x 19 arcseconds) show two arcs/rings with different colors. The inner arc has a reddish hue, while the outer arc has a blue tint. These arcs are lensed images of the two background galaxies. There are blobs in and around the arcs/rings, which are also the lensed images of those background galaxies. The yellow-ish object at the center is a massive galaxy at z = 0.79 (distance 7 billion light years), which bends the light from the two background galaxies. (Image: NAOJ) (click on image to enlarge) Classroom Research Pays Off Subaru Telescope organizes a school for undergraduate students each year. One such session was held in September 2015 at the NAOJ headquarters in Mitaka, Tokyo. Subaru is currently undertaking a massive survey to image a large area of the sky at an unprecedented depth with Hyper Suprime-Cam as part of the Subaru Strategic Program. A group of astronomers and young students were analyzing some of that Hyper Suprime-Cam data at the school when they found a unique lens system. It was a classic case of a serendipitous discovery. "When I was looking at HSC images with the students, we came across a ring-like galaxy and we immediately recognized it as a strong-lensing signature," said Masayuki Tanaka, the lead author of a science paper on the systems discovery. "The discovery would not have been possible without the large survey data to find such a rare object, as well as the deep, high quality images to detect light from distant objects." Arsha Dezuka, a student who was working on the data, was astonished at the find. "It was my first time to look at the astronomical images taken with Hyper Suprime-Cam and I had no idea what the ring-like galaxy is," she said. "It was a great surprise for me to learn that it is such a rare, unique system!" What They Saw A close inspection of the images revealed two distinct arcs/rings of light with different colors. This strongly suggested that two distinct background galaxies were being lensed by the foreground galaxy. The lensing galaxy has a spectroscopic redshift of z = 0.79 (which means its 7.0 billion light-years away, Note 1) based on data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Follow-up spectroscopic observations of the lensed objects using the infrared-sensitive FIRE spectrometer on the Magellan Telescope confirmed that there are actually two galaxies behind the lens. One lies at z = 1.30 and the other is at z = 1.99 (9.0 and 10.5 billion light-years away, respectively). "The spectroscopic data reveal some very interesting things about the background sources," said Kenneth Wong from NAOJ, the second author of the scientific paper describing the system. "Not only do they confirm that there are two sources at different distances from us, but the more distant source seems to consist of two distinct clumps, which could indicate an interacting pair of galaxies. Also, one of the multiple images of that source is itself being split into two images, which could be due to a satellite galaxy that is too faint for us to see." The distinct features for the system (several bright knots, an arc, a complete Einstein ring) arise from the nice alignment of the central lens galaxy and both sources, creating an eye-like structure. The astronomers dubbed it Eye of Horus, for the sacred eye of an ancient Egyptian god, since the system has an uncanny resemblance to it. The survey with Hyper Suprime-Cam is only 30% complete and it will collect data for several more years. Astronomers expect to find roughly 10 more such systems in the survey, which will provide important insights into the fundamental physics of galaxies as well as how the universe expanded over the last several billion years. Note Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, July 26 By Huseyn Hasanov Trend: Turkmenistan and Canada have discussed the prospects for expanding the trade and economic relations, especially, in the oil and gas and transportation sectors, said the message from Turkmenistans Foreign Ministry. This issue was discussed during the meeting with Canadas Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador John Holmes at Turkmenistans Foreign Ministry, said the message. During the talks, the parties also exchanged views on the international politics, regional and global security. The meeting participants expressed commitment to further expanding the cooperation in politics. The parties also emphasized the necessity of improving the legal framework between the two countries through regular meetings and consultations as well. Tashkent, Uzbekistan, July 26 By Demir Azizov Trend: Participants of the 39th session of the Islamic Commission for Economic, Cultural and Social Affairs (ICECS) of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) member states discussed the strengthening of multilateral cooperation within the OIC, including the spheres of trade, investments, tourism, agriculture, transportation and others. The session was held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on July 23-25 under the chairmanship of Uzbekistan, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said in a message July 26. An exchange of views on draft resolutions, included in the upcoming Tashkent session of the OIC Foreign Ministers Council, was held during the session. Uzbekistans delegation was headed by the countrys Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov at the OIC session. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was established in September of 1969 to ensure Islamic solidarity in social, economic and political spheres. The organization has 57 member states. Uzbekistan became an OIC member in 1996. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Emil Ilgar Trend: International companies expressed readiness to invest in the Iran LNG project, Alireza Kameli the managing director of National Iranian Gas Exports Company said July 26. He added that the technical appraisals will be completed in three months, Shana news agency reported. "Iran LNG" is the name of an LNG plant. Iran started construction of that plant before 2012, but stopped after the impose of sanctions. Iran has invested $2.5 billion into this project, which is 50 percent complete by far. The capacity of this project is producing 10 million tons of LNG per year. Some $2.5 billion has been invested into the project, $2.5 billion more is needed for completion of the project. "Some of foreign companies have announced readiness to establish the joint ventures to develop LNG projects in Iran, said Kameli. He further said that European and Asian companies expressed willingness to complete the project, adding that South Koreas Kogas recently signed a memorandum of understanding with NIGEC to participate in the project. Iran also has two other LNG projects. Pars LNG and Persian LNG projects which aimed to produce 25 million tons of LNG annually. On 27 June 2016, on the banks of Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan, the Head of the NATO Liaison Office (NLO) to Central Asia, Rosaria Puglisi, took part in the opening of the second edition of the International Summer School for Junior Diplomats. The event brought together 21 young representatives from the five Central Asian countries, Afghanistan and Mongolia. In the span of a week, junior diplomats met ambassadors and heads of international organisations as well as senior Kyrgyz diplomats. They addressed issues ranging from regional security to peacebuilding, from sustainable development to human rights, from Islamic radicalism to the protection of refugees. The course provided also an opportunity for potential future decision-makers to establish connections with their counterparts and further their understanding of neighbouring countries. Talking about the role of NATO in the region, the Head of the NLO stressed how good governance, effectiveness and accountability, also in the security sector, are crucial elements to guarantee the safety of a country. By assisting in the fight against corruption in the armed forces or by helping reform the defence education system, NATO is engaged in increasing the defence capability of its partners, also in Central Asia, Ms Puglisi said. The summer school was organised by the Kyrgyz Diplomatic Academy and co-sponsored by NATO, the United Nations Development Programme and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Farhad Daneshvar Trend: Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi has dismissed a recent allegation by the US government suggesting that three members of al-Qaeda are living in Iran. The Islamic Republic of Iran does not have any information on these individuals presence on its soil, IRNA news agency quoted him as saying. Iran has always announced its firm intention in fight against terrorism, he added. The official further noted that his country has taken essential measures in fight against terrorism. The US on July 20 blacklisted three members of al-Qaeda allegedly living in Iran. The report claimed that that the al-Qaeda members living in Iran had helped the militant group on the battlefield, with finance and logistics, and in mediating with Iranian authorities. Glyphosate herbicides linked to monarch butterfly die-offs Glyphosate killing main source of food for monarch butterflies (NaturalNews) Recent research has pinpointed Monsanto's glyphosate-based herbicide, Roundup , as one of the main contributing factors to the drastic population declines experienced by monarch butterflies in the past 20 years.Since 1997, monarch butterfly populations have decreased by a staggering 74 percent in California, home to one of the butterfly's most highly populated migrating grounds. A crucial natural pollinator of North American crops, the world cannot afford to lose these marvelous orange and black six-legged creatures.Aside from excessive commercial development of forested lands, the use of glyphosate-based herbicides has been a large reason for monarch butterfly population declines.The use of glyphosate in North American agriculture has increased 15 times since genetically modified Roundup Ready crops were first introduced in the 1990s. Consequently, a study conducted by Isabel Ramirez at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma in Mexico, revealed "significant decreases" in monarch butterfly populations in hibernation areas across North America between the late 90s and today.Ramirez's study found that in 1997, monarch butterflies "occupied 20.97 ha (hectares)" of designated hibernation lands, while in 2014, they occupied "just 0.67 ha," revealing a direct correlation between monarch die-offs and the introduction of glyphosate herbicides in the 1990s.Many believe that the reason for this correlation is that glyphosate herbicides are killing mass amounts of milkweed, an essential food source for monarch caterpillars.Viktoria Wagner, lead-author and plant ecologist at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic, conducted a study aimed at observing the decline in milkweed populations on 1.2 million acres of North American wildlands being treated with glyphosate herbicides in attempts to restore native plant species.In her research she found an enormous lack of record keeping detailing the effects of glyphosate on both milkweed and the native species the project was attempting to restore.More shockingly though, Wagner discovered that the "intensive use of glyphosate on farms has, for instance, incidentally destroyed tens of millions of acres of native milkweed ." Because of milkweed's crucial importance to monarch caterpillars, Wagner's study found the drastic losses of milkweed to be a "major factor in the dramatic decline of the butterfly species."What makes matters even worse, is that milkweed is widely considered a low-impact weed, meaning it contributes very little to crop loss, making its destruction and consequential impact on the monarch butterfly unnecessary.While measures are being taken to help restore milkweed populations, the extent of glyphosate's damage to monarchs is being completely downplayed by the pesticide industry.For instance, the Mexican government has prohibited illegal logging of forests where monarchs spend their winters, and the U.S. government has developed new programs to increase milkweed abundance, but neither addresses the problem that glyphosate poses.Independent scientists have vocally condemned these corporately funded measures for ignoring "the most evident cause of their [monarchs'] decline the destruction of their breeding grounds by widespread glyphosate-use in America's GM crop farms."Aside from contributing to declines in monarch butterfly populations, glyphosate has also been linked to a myriad of adverse human health conditions and alarming declines in honeybee populations. As the facts continue to pile up, the case for banning glyphosate is becoming increasingly overwhelming. Perhaps federal governments will wake up one day and realize that the protection of the world's habitats and its people is far more important than maintaining the interests of corrupt corporate lobbyists. Mosquitoes refuse to bite chickens Natural malaria control measures urgently needed (NaturalNews) A major species of malaria-carrying mosquito avoids the smell of chickens, according to a new study conducted by researchers from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, published inThe study suggests that living in close proximity to chickens may help protect against malaria and other mosquito-borne illnesses."We were surprised to find that malaria mosquitoes are repelled by the odors emitted by chickens," co-author Rickard Ignell said."This study shows for the first time that malaria mosquitoes actively avoid feeding on certain animal species, and that this behavior is regulated through odor cues."In the first part of the study, the researchers collected population numbers on humans and domestic animals in three Ethiopian villages. They also trapped mosquitoes and tested them to determine what species they had recently fed from.The study was performed on the mosquito species, one of the major sub-Saharan vectors of malaria.The researchers found thatpreferentially feeds on human beings and prefers to live indoors. When outdoors, however, the mosquito will also drink blood from cattle, sheep and goats. Not a single mosquito was found to have fed from chickens, however, despite the fact that the fowl were prevalent in all three villages.The researchers concluded from this survey that chickens are not a host species for, and that therefore the mosquitoes must have some mechanism for identifying chickens in order to avoid them.To test whether the odor of chickens might repel the mosquitoes, the researchers set up mosquito traps in several separate houses. They had a single human volunteer sleep under an untreated mosquito net beneath each trap, in order to draw mosquitoes in.Eleven of the traps were filled with chicken feathers, while a live chicken was suspended beneath another trap. Other traps were filled with human hair, wool, or non-chicken bird feathers to serve as a control.The researchers found that after 11 days, significantly fewer mosquitoes had been caught in the traps with chicken feathers, or in the one that had a live chicken nearby.The researchers suggested that homes with live chickens or chicken feathers inside them might be less likely to be visited by mosquitoes. Since many people in the villages studied do in fact bring livestock into the house at night, the suggestion is one that could easily and quickly be implemented.Although malaria rates have recently begun dropping, there are signs that this victory may be short-term. The parasite is rapidly evolving multi-drug resistance in southeast Asia, sparking fears that drug containment efforts may soon falter."The risks are significant," said Robert Newman, director of the WHO's Global Malaria Program, in 2013."If history is any guide, if we were not to contain this problem then it is very likely to spread elsewhere," he said. "Especially risky is to sub-Saharan Africa [sic] ... this really would be a public health catastrophe."Meanwhile, the mosquitoes that transmit the parasite continue to resist eradication efforts.has been particularly difficult to control."People in sub-Saharan Africa have suffered considerably under the burden of malaria over an extended period of time and mosquitoes are becoming increasingly physiologically resistant to pesticides, while also changing their feeding habits, for example, by moving from indoors to outdoors," Ignell said."For this reason there is a need to develop novel control methods."Further research will be needed to determine whether specific mosquito-repelling scents can be isolated from chicken feathers, and whether the smell of chickens also repels mosquitoes that carry other diseases, such as West Nile Virus or dengue.Backyard chickens may help keep mosquitoes away from your home, but for when you go out into nature, try the Health Ranger's Bugs Away Spray from the Natural News Store. This repellent spray is free of synthetic chemicals or fragrances, containing only organic witch hazel and essential oils. "Based on the lie that the graffiti was never abated, the City is asking the District Court for a Writ of Assistance to enter the Henry's property by force of the Oklahoma County Sheriff and is asking for what is in essence a 'General Warrant' to search the property for compliance of cited issues and for discovery of further issues. "Think about that for a moment. Graffiti on a fence seems to give the city the idea that they have the right to invade private property on a witch hunt for more code violations by which they can fine, force removal of private property or jail the property owner under the protection of the county Sheriff's office." (NaturalNews) Southeast Oklahoma City residents Charles and Julie Henry face a blatantly unconstitutional invasion of their rights thanks to a stifling change to a city ordinance making vandalism to their property essentially a crime by them.(Article by Claire Bernish, republished from www.thedailysheeple.com Though the Henrys complied with the code, albeit a bit late due to a prohibitive financial situation, an opportunistic code enforcer triggered a chain of events no law-abiding property owner should ever be subjected to including the possibility their property may be raided by Oklahoma County Sheriffs under a blanket warrant in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment.According to a GoFundMe page set up to assist the family's legal battle against the City, their low-income neighborhood typically experiences an outbreak of vandalism each spring which the city promptly cleans up to discourage other vandals from copying. [1]But a startling change in city code placed the onus of responsibility for covering up vandals' handiwork on property owners, essentially victimizing them twice particularly for Charles and Julie who don't have room in their budget to afford paint. And, as expected when spring came this year, the Henrys' privacy fence became a canvas for vandals.This time, however, the Henrys realized they'd run out of paint and had to buy more which, due to budgetary reasons, took longer than expected. During the week it took the family to procure paint, a city code enforcement inspector performing the annual sweep cited the Henrys for the violation and demand the graffiti be covered.But the inspector didn't stop there using his camera as a periscope, he peered behind the privacy fence and noted other minor violations of city ordinance and citing the Henrys for each one. Confronted by this blatant invasion of privacy, the inspector falsely claimed the "right of easement" allowed him onto the family's property . Knowing that claim didn't hold weight, Charles rightly told the code enforcer a warrant would be necessary for inspections and photographs and though the inspector left immediately, he forked over the lengthy list of violations.As proven in time-stamped pictures which appear on the GoFundMe page, the Henrys complied with the order to paint the fence less in less than a month, but responded to the additional violations with an appropriately-annotated list of U.S. Supreme Court rulings showing Fourth Amendment reasons the case had no merit demanding the city not proceed to enforce the inspector's citations.Two months without any response from the City, and the Henrys were never summoned to appear in Municipal Court. But it became clear the City simply ignored the legitimate, legal rebuttal of the citations when it filed the matter with Oklahoma County District Court, inaccurately claiming they supplied a written refusal to comply and falsely stating they failed to address any of the citations, including that the fence was never painted.As Steve Dickson, who started the GoFundMe page for the Henrys, explained, [2]In its egregious, overly-aggressive attempt to extort money and invade personal property under the protection of a gun and a badge, the city is acting no better than a common thug or, perhaps more accurately, as an organized criminal.Unfortunately, as the city's actions prove, knowing your rights doesn't necessarily guarantee the State the thug government will comply.Read more at: www.thedailysheeple.com Sources:[1] https://www.gofundme.com/2e3akuh3 [2] https://www.gofundme.com/2e3akuh3 A recent study revealed that smokers, especially female smokers, were more likely to suffer from subarachnoid hemorrhage, or bleeding inside the lining of the brain, compared to people who don't smoke. The study, published in the American Heart Association's journal Stroke, suggests that smoking has a dose-dependent and cumulative association with bleeding in the brain, with the highest risk in women that are heavy smokers. "Female sex has been described as an independent risk factor for subarachnoid hemorrhage, but we found strong evidence that the elevated risk in women is explained by vulnerability to smoking," Joni Valdemar Lindbohm, M.D., a physician in neurosurgery and public health at the University of Helsinki in Finland and lead author of the study, in a statement. "Our results suggest that age, sex and lifestyle risk factors play a critical role in predicting which patients are at risk for subarachnoid hemorrhage and emphasize the importance of effective smoking cessation strategies." For the study, researchers randomly selected 65,521 adults in Finish national surveys. Health information of the participants was obtained using questionnaires and physical examination. The study begun in 1972 with average follow-up of 21 years after the enrollment until first stroke, death or study completion on December 21, 2011. The researchers discovered that as the participants increase their daily smoking habit, so is their risk of subarachnoid hemorrhage also increases. This association is stronger in women. Female heavy smokers consuming 21 to 30 cigarettes a day were more than 8.35 times more likely to develop subarachnoid hemorrhage compared to non-smokers, while men who also smoked the same amount were 2.76 times more likely. Women who smoked 1 to 10 cigarettes a day were 2.92 times more likely to have subarachnoid hemorrhage, while those who smoked 11 to 20 cigarettes a day were 3.89 times more likely to have brain bleed. Men also smoke the same amount were 1.93 times and 2.13 times more likely to have bleeding in the brain, respectively, compared to non-smokers. However, researchers noted a significant decrease of subarachnoid hemorrhage risk among the participants who quit smoking. They noted that there is no safe level in smoking and recommended that people should never start or just quit the bad habit. There is another celestial show that stargazers will surely love to watch out before this month ends until mid-August. The Perseid Meteor Shower is expected to light the heavens with a celestial show most probably between July 13 to August 26 that will luster best depending on the location. The most amazing thing about this year's Perseid Meteor Shower is the number of meteors that are expected to paint the night sky. That is because according to the American Meteor Society, this year's meteor shower will appear double compared to that of last years. Experts say that would be an estimated of 150 to 200 meteors per hour. Because of the possibility that some hindrances could negatively affect the watchers' viewing conditions, Spacedex offered some tips to maximize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. One of these tips is for the watcher to get away from the city lights, and instead of going to a dark place with less pollution. Without the pollution, the sky would be clearer thus creating a good view of the show. Most of the meteors will be more visible after midnight that is why it is best to look up to the sky during that time. Another thing is to bring optical devices like telescopes for the show. Though the naked eyes can already perceive the meteor rain's beauty, having these at hand can surely help in creating a more unforgettable experience. Experts are also excited to experience this amazing and unique phenomenon, as posted by Daily Detroit. In fact, Stephanie Wirtz, the recreation programmer for the DNR said in a statement, "The Perseid Meteor Showers are one of the best opportunities to see shooting stars with the naked eye." Aside from the Perseid, Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower will also beautify the August's night sky. Probably by August 11 or 12, it is expected to overlap with Perseid creating a much more exciting celestial show to all skywatchers. For the first time since the 1920s, a group of scientists have captured on video an extremely rare wolverine roaming in the Tahoe National Forest in Sierra Nevada. The team decided to set up the cameras after receiving photos of unusual snow tracks from a field station, which they believe are from a wolverine, The Associated Press reports. "They were definitely wolverine tracks," Wildlife Biologist Chris Stermer from the California of Fish and Wildlife told the Sierra Sun. It was believed that wolverines have been wiped out in the early 1900s. However, in 2008, scientists have reported a sighting of the species but it's only now that it's been documented on camera. Stermer believes that the one they documented is the same wolverine spotted in 2008, but they are waiting for DNA results from collected saliva to confirm it. Im pretty certain--95 percent--that its the same animal, Stermer said. Nicknamed "Buddy," the wolverine is believed to have migrated from the Sawtooth Range located in Idaho. The two videos from the California Department of Fish & Wildlife show the carnivore scurrying away and climbing a tree to feast on a bait. Stermer added that the presence of wolverine species in California is "exciting," but is extremely hard to spot because its nature is to "typically avoid people wherever theyre found." With the population we have in California, thinking that we can have a wild wolverine amongst us is pretty amazing. It really begins to restore our larger carnivores back in California," he added. Wolverines in Danger? According to the Sierra Sun, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) have decided not to consider wolverines as threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. However, a U.S. District judge has ordered a reevaluation of the decision after calls from scientists and various environmental groups. Stermer said there have been plans for reintroducing wolverines in the wild after the FWS comes up with a new decision regarding the wolverine's status. For years, the International Space Station (ISS) served as the seat of science in space, regulated by the government. But NASA is currently looking for ideas to encourage and increase the ISS commercial use. .@NASA seeks ideas to boost commercial access to space station and foster space marketplace. https://t.co/bSzVKEtEjg pic.twitter.com/DMaWD4nWVL Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) July 23, 2016 This is a good call for businesses involved in commercial space technology and space flight services to explore the low-Earth orbit and to develop their product with the ISS in mind. This will turn the government-based space station into a business hub in space, according to Engadget. This move is an opportunity for commercial space technology service companies. It is not every day that NASA welcomes commercial space groups to use the ISS strategically located in space to accommodate other companies. Currently, there are about 300 active experiments happening on board and NASA thinks the ISS can handle more activities involving commercial use. A request for information (RFI) released this month wants to know how the ISS can be used to boost other activities for commercial use and in turn, create a self-sustaining marketplace in the low-Earth orbit (LEO). Because of that, NASA has now started looking for potential contracts and agreement structures to explore and enable commercial use of the ISS. "The space station was designed with what we thought was a full set of utilization capabilities. However, we are finding that industry is more innovative than we'd imagined and has ideas to use station in ways we never envisioned for research or commercial activities," William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate said in a press release. "We're asking industry to help us understand how best to offer these unique capabilities, such as unused attachment ports or non-standard attachment sites, to commercial users. I'm looking forward to seeing how the private sector responds," Gerstenmaier added in the same release. The request for information is to test whether the private sector is interested in the space business hub and it will give both the companies and NASA an idea how the future partnerships can be formed, according to Gizmag. The result of the RFI will help NASA to develop a sustainable marketplace in LEO. Star Trek actors Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto were challenged by NASA in a space-quiz-type of interview to see how much about space they know in real life. Embed from Getty Images NASA conducted the interview cum quiz show during a promotion of the 2016 movie of the popular franchise, Star Trek Beyond. Quinto who plays Commander Spock and Pine, the main lead as Captain James Kirk, were put to the test. The quiz will see if they know about the actual space and universe they live in compared to Vulcan and the universe that Enterprise traversed. And it looks like the NASA space quiz is more difficult that the training and exam conducted by the Starfleet Academy. Gay Yee Hill of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory conducted the multiple-choice question and answer portion that started with the question "What does the first A in NASA stands for?" to which both men answered correctly with Aeronautics. Chris Pine aka Captain Kirk looked like he knows his NASA trivia as he answered some question without waiting for the choices just like when Hill asked what planet's orbit did NASA sent a spacecraft on July 4. Pine answered Jupiter correctly instigating a competition between him and Vulcan-raised Spock or Quinto in real life. "Cool! You guys are good!," Gay Yee Hill of NASA media communications said in the video when the two actors answered the question about exoplanets correctly. But surprisingly, Pine got the Enterprise question wrong, Enterprise being the NASA's first space shuttle instead of Discovery, according to Space.com. Enterprise is an orbiter built in the 1970s although it wasn't flown in space. NASA is so keen in commemorating the 50th anniversary of Star Trek and even released a tribute article with which they fact-checked the science behind the popular TV and movie franchise. According to NASA, although Vulcan, the planet is most likely fiction, the agency said that the planetary system Vulcan supposedly belongs to exists in real life and it is called 40 Ediani. NASA also commends the futuristic technological references in the movie; the agency said some of it are existing today while some are ideally doable in the near future like virtual reality technologies, spacecraft engine systems and much more. A new research funded by NASA revealed that the hot gaseous halo of Milky Way Galaxy is actually spinning at the same direction and at comparable speed as the galaxy's disk. The discovery, published in the Astrophysical Journal, was made by astronomers at the University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science and Arts using the archival data obtained from the XMM-Newton of the European Space Agency. "This flies in the face of expectations," explained Edmund Hodges-Kluck, assistant research scientist, in a statement. "People just assumed that the disk of the Milky Way spins while this enormous reservoir of hot gas is stationary - but that is wrong. This hot gas reservoir is rotating as well, just not quite as fast as the disk." For the research, the astronomers measured the shifts in the wavelengths of light, which is produced by motion, around the sky using lines of very hot oxygen. They then discovered that the galaxy's hot gaseous halo is also spinning in the same direction as the Milky Way at 400,000 mph, which is comparable to the speed of the disk that spins at 540,000 mph. The new groundbreaking discovery could pave way to the better understanding on how the galaxy is formed. Astronomers have been long baffled why they could not find most of the matter they thought they would find in the disk of the galaxies. They believe that 80 percent of the matter in the universe is what they called as dark matter, which can only be detected by its gravitational pull. However, the remaining 20 percent of normal matter is still missing from the galaxy disk. Previous researchers found these missing matters in the galaxy's halo. By learning the direction and speed of the spinning halo, researchers can now determine how the matter got to where they are now and the rate at which they are expected to settle in the galaxy. "Now that we know about the rotation, theorists will begin to use this to learn how our Milky Way galaxy formed - and its eventual destiny," commented Joel Bregman, a U-M LSA professor of astronomy, in a press release. "We can use this discovery to learn so much more - the rotation of this hot halo will be a big topic of future X-ray spectrographs." Convenience store chain 7-Eleven has started to deliver a Slurpee, a chicken sandwich, donuts and other items via drone. The company has recently partnered with drone startup Flirtey to make its first commercial delivery via drone to a private residence in Reno, Nevada. According to 7-Eleven, the delivery is the first time a customer in the U.S. has received items via drone, representing a historic milestone in both American and global commerce. The delivery also coincided with the convenience store chain's 89th birthday, the company said. "This delivery required special flight planning, risk analysis, and detailed flight procedures ensuring residential safety and privacy were equally integrated," Chris Walach, director of operations for the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems (NIAS) said in a statement. NIAS is a government-supported non-profit autonomous vehicle advocacy group that worked with Flirtey to oversee the delivery. The package included Slurpees, a chicken sandwich, donuts, coffee and candies, and it took two drone flights to deliver all the items to the customer. When the items arrived, each container was lowered to the ground using a rope. The delivery was done on July 11, where the drone flew autonomously from the store to the residence using the vehicle's GPS system. "The convenience of having access to instant, 24/7 drone delivery is priceless," Michael, the Reno customer who received the drone-delivered items, said in a press release by 7-Eleven. "It's amazing that a flying robot just delivered us food and drinks in a matter of minutes." According to 7-Eleven, more drone deliveries are being planned with Flirtey, but did not mention a specific timeline or other regions where drone deliveries could be carried out. This was not Flirtey's first drone delivery. In July 2015, the company picked up medical supplies from a regional airport in Virginia and flew over rough terrain before dropping the supplies to a medical clinic. Last month, the company also completed its first ship-to-shore drone delivery. Nevada is one of the states that granted special FAA permissions and specified drone-testing sites where companies, universities and government agencies could freely test their drone services and technologies. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Farhad Daneshvar Trend: Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan has said that the implementation of the joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPOA/ nuclear deal) has prevented the West from imposing further restrictions on exporting Irans oil. If it wasn't for the JCPOA, Irans oil exports would've been cut down by 20% each six months, IRNA news agency quoted him as saying July 26. However, now with the implementation of the JCPOA, those who had imposed sanctions on Irans oil have turned into the Islamic republics oil customers, he added. Admitting that Iran still faces difficulties in money transactions, the minister ruled out the idea that the difficulties in banking ties with the rest of the world are linked to the possible shortcomings in the nuclear deal. Elaborating on the difficulties that Iran currently is experiencing regarding the banking ties, he noted that the issue is related to the embargo that the US placed on the Islamic Republic following the Iranian hostage crisis when a number of protesters stormed US embassy in Tehran, in November of 1979. As a result of the implementation of the JCPOA, some parts of international sanctions on the Islamic Republic were lifted. Many in Iran and around the world expected that the implementation of the JCPOA would give a huge boost to the countrys economy after almost a decade of isolation from the global economy. However, the countrys banking system is still facing considerable difficulties in re-establishing ties with major international banks. Our world is deteriorating and it is happening fast. Everyone in every part of the world can see it through extinction of certain species, mass deaths and even the natural catastrophes that our planet is experiencing at present. That is why more and more people are willing to become the voice of mother nature, and young people are no exemption. In fact, a poll was recently conducted showing nine out of 10 people with ages of 16 to 34 years old want their government leaders to take a stand for the benefit of our nature now. These youngsters longed to create a change and they want their leaders to act on it the soonest. The poll, which included 1,000 correspondents, also showed how two-thirds of the participants wanted to have a government that cares for nature. And that factor is what affects their voting decisions the most, as reported by Daily Mail. The study, which was entitled "A Focus on Nature," was conducted primarily to let the government know about the youth's stand for nature. That is to push every member to become the youth's voice and be able to do things about the matter for a better future. The senior editor of the study, Matt Williams, wanted every people to understand how fast nature's situation is getting worse, according to York Shire Post. "We're lucky to have so much wonderful wildlife and amazing places in the UK but study after study has shown that we're losing nature at a faster rate than at any other time in recent history," said Matt Williams. With the support of Sir David Attenborough, the first thing the campaigners want is for the Government to create a safer and better haven for the animals. They want at least 10 city national parks be built in UK to help every species especially those that are in the verge of extinction like lynx and beaver. For years, the mosquito-borne Zika virus became one of the diseases that threatened mankind. The problem does not just revolve around the country that was most hit by the virus, but the issue was brought about to every corner of the world. Unfortunately, even though the problem about Zika has still not ended yet, another mosquito-borne disease about is about to create a buzz once again. Officials in Monmouth County confirmed that there were evidences of West Nile Virus found in their place, as posted by New Jersey 101.5. That's why in order to control the disease, the local government decided to take action and step up by spraying pesticide to the affected areas. The Freeholder Deputy Director Serena DiMaso said in a statement how effective the step is saying, "the previous spraying operations have reduced the number of mosquitoes." That's why it is crucial for the affected areas to have ground spraying. "The goal of the ground spray program is to reduce the public health risk from WNV in the area," DiMaso added. According to NBC New York, if the weather is perfect and the wind is fine, the program will start 4 to 6 a.m. Tuesday. Schedule for the ground spraying will start in the residential streets of Middletown's Hillside section and Atlantic Highlands where the virus has first been discovered. After that, Mosquito Control crews will head towards Wall Township's West Belmar section, Lake Como, Spring Lake, and Spring Lake Heights for the second part of the ground spray program. To lessen the risk of getting infected with the virus, people who are susceptible to it should remain indoors as much as possible and apply insect repellant lotion in the skin always. It is also better to turn off the air conditioners' intake fan for safety and use pants and long-sleeved shirts more often. Frequent hearing of swooshing, buzzing, whistling, hissing and clicking sounds can be very irritating especially if no one other than you can hear it. Though it might not seem like a big problem, some intolerable cases can lead to lower quality of life, which can lead to anxiety and depression. Dr. Harrison Lin, University of California's expert in ear surgery and the head of the study, explained "Tinnitus is intimately tied to hearing loss." He added that Tinnitus only happens if the ears don't have the ability to hear all range of sounds anymore. The sounds that are created by the brain is like the body's cry in losing such ability, as noted by the National Public Radio. The study, which is entitled "Prevalence, Severity, Exposures, and Treatment Patters of Tinnitus in the U.S.," included about 76,000 people. After certain tests, data showed that out of all participants, 27 percent of them have already been suffering from this hearing disorder for almost 15 years. The information gathered also showed that almost one third of the total number of correspondents actually have Tinnitus ranging from mild to severe, as posted by Pulse Headlines. Aside from the tests, participants also underwent psychological therapy which Lin thinks is an effective way to clear the mind and reverse their mindset towards Tinnitus. That is because most people who suffer in this condition would just give up in their situation thinking there's no solution to their problem anymore. But Lin emphasizes that there's still hope for a more beautiful tomorrow and that is by undergoing to such therapy. Jennifer Gans, a psychologist in San Francisco agreed by saying, "There's this great quote that 'Pain in life is inevitable, but suffering is optional,' and it really stands true." She also added keeping an eye on negative things won't help any, so better yet change the person's view towards it. Larry the lobster was minutes away from being turned into a hundred dollar dish, but thanks to people with a heart for animals, the crustacean was saved. According to a Miami Herald report, Larry was found in the Tin Fish restaurant in Florida. Joe Melluso, the owner of the restaurant, bought Larry from a seafood supplier for $200. "We could feel bad about it, but when I saw him today I figured that I'd rather be the guy to buy him and have him in my restaurant than someone else," Melluso told Local 10 News. Larry caught the attention of seafood afficionados and a man from the town reserved him for dinner on the same week. Fortunately, Larry also caught the attention of animal lovers. Bob Crayfish discovers his cousin, Larry #Lobster in Florida just avoided being dinner too! https://t.co/59fnFfv4YP pic.twitter.com/WpWQVCZE4j Swamp Productions (@SwampCartoons) July 26, 2016 Amir Rossi was browsing the web when he saw the post about the massive lobster. Out of concern for the lobster, he immediately contacted his friends and John Merritt, founder of animal rescue organization iRescue Wildlife, to inform them about Larry's situation. Merritt immediately contacted Melluso to tell him he would buy the lobster to set in free in Maine, where the lobster was originally found. A day before Larry was about to be made into a buttery dish, Rossi and his friends arived at the restaurant. Larry was successfully saved from the pot and shipped from the restaurant to the Maine State Aquarium, where Larry will spend the rest of his remaining days. The Daily Mail said Larry weighs 15 pounds and is three times as big as an average lobster. The largest lobster recorded weighed 44.4 pounds and was between 3 to 4 feet long. It was caught off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. The National Geographic notes that lobsters generate a multibillion-dollar industry, with more than 200,000 tons (181,436 metric tons) of annual global catch, resulting in decline in commercial lobster's population. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack . Another person inside the church was seriously injured and is hovering between life and death, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. Police managed to rescue three other people inside the church in the small northwestern town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Brandet told reporters, and the two attackers were killed outside the church. The identities of the attackers and motive for the attack are unclear, according to a French security official who was not authorized to be publicly named. Brandet said the RAID special intervention force was searching the perimeter of the church ahead of entering for possible explosives and terrorism investigators had been summoned. "The investigations are ongoing. There are still unknowns," Brandet said. "There are dogs, explosive detectors and bomb disposal services and as long as there are still unknowns, the judicial police cannot get inside the site. It's a dramatic situation." It was the first known attack inside a French church in recent times. One was targeted last year, but the attack never was carried out. The anti-terrorism division of the Paris prosecutor's office immediately opened an investigation. French President Francois Hollande traveled to the town. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve was also visiting. Dominique Lebrun, the archbishop of Rouen, confirmed the death of 84-year-old Rev. Jacques Hamel. "I cry out to God, with all men of good will. And I invite all non-believers to unite with this cry," Lebrun wrote in a statement from Krakow, Poland, where Pope Francis was visiting. "The Catholic Church has no other arms besides prayer and fraternity between men." France is currently on high alert after an attack in Nice on Bastille Day - July 14 - that killed 84 people and a string of deadly attacks last year claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 147 others. France is also under a state of emergency and has extra police presence after the Nice attack, where man barreled his truck down the city's famed Promenade des Anglais, mowing down holiday crowds. Islamic State extremists have urged followers to attack French churches and the group is believed to have planned at least one church attack earlier. In April 2015, an Algerian student who was arrested after shooting himself in the leg was found with heavy weapons, bulletproof vests and documents linked to Islamic State. He is charged with killing a young woman inside her car the same day. According to French authorities, the suspect, Sid Ahmed Ghlam, was sent by the Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud to attack a church in Villejuif, just outside of Paris. A cell directed by Abaaoud later carried out the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead and the March 22 attacks in Brussels that killed 32 people. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Khalid Kazimov Trend: Iran has called for prompt resumption of banking ties with Armenia. Banking ties between Tehran and Yerevan should be resumed as soon as possible, Fars news agency quoted Irans First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri as saying at a meeting with Armenian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Levon Yolyan in Tehran. Tehran does not impose any restrictions on economic ties with Yerevan, Jahangiri added. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the nuclear deal, was reached between Tehran and the worlds major powers on July 14, 2015. As a result of the implementation of the JCPOA, some parts of international sanctions on the Islamic Republic were lifted. However, the countrys banking system is still facing considerable difficulties in re-establishing ties with major international banks. Many at the Democratic National Convention expected the historic significance of the first woman nominee to dominate the headlines. And while it didn't work out that way initially, one Hillary Clinton delegate from the East Bay still was hopeful the convention's theme would change course. "With everything going on, I dont think weve had that moment when it's really going to strike people of the history of it," said Monica Fitzgerald, a women's studies professor at Saint Mary's College and one of 495 California delegates. Fitzgerald, a Walnut Creek resident, is in Philadelphia for the convention, and she expected people to be talking about the fact that Clinton is officially the first female presidential nominee of a major political party. Instead, Bernie Sanders supporters overshadowed the California delegation breakfast Monday morning, protesting after emails from party chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz surfaced showing her anti-Sanders bias. "On the one hand, youve got to love the passion," Fitzgerald said. "If these people come into the political process, its going to be a win for everybody. ... The delegates too are feeling like they want to reach out to Bernie delegates and have a conversation. And try to bring the party together." Fitzgerald believes over the course of the convention, Clinton and Sanders delegates will come together. She also believes the highlight of the convention will be Thursday, when Clinton takes the stage - and that historic moment is realized. Health officials on Monday issued a warning to residents in Discovery Bay to stay out of the water due to the rising levels of algae blooms. According to the Central County Water Board and Contra Costa County Health Services, swimming in the algae infested waters should be off limits because recent tests prove the algae is in that area, and it has the potential to produce harmful and sometimes deadly toxins. "These toxins can produce gastrointestinal problems, skin problems and also neurological problems," said Dr. Marilyn Underwood, director of environmental health. "Thats why we dont want folks to go into the water right now." Some residents said the algae in the water is a way of life. Glen Capelli said it's there all the time. "Weve been here 20 years and never had an issue," he said. Others are heeding the warning. They say it smells bad and looks awful, and it can be seen in still waters when the sun sets. "It concerns me because Ive got 500 members that would like to know that," said Erlyn Lucas-Payne of Disovery Bay Commodore. "We all have dogs, we all go swimming, we all take our boats out every weekend." No one in Discovery Bay has reported becoming ill. Underwood said final tests from the water samples taken there should be available in about a week. The remarks were made following the latest attack in which a Syrian refugee set off a bomb near a music festival in the southern town of Ansbach late Sunday, killing himself and injuring a dozen others, PressTV reported. Earlier on Sunday, a machete-wielding Syrian refugee attacked several people in southwestern Germany, killing one person and injuring two others. On Friday, nice people were killed during a mass shooting by a teenager in a shopping mall in the city of Munich and on July 18, an ax attack injured several on a train on Wurzburg. Each of these cases is one too many, said de Maiziere, adding, I understand, that many people are unsettled and worried. I can assure you: our state is strong and will remain strong, on a federal level as well as on a regional level. Our security agencies are well prepared. They will continue to do whatever is necessary to ensure, that this kind of act will not happen again. Earlier in the day, he warned that his nation should not alter their behavior towards refugees, but should still remain cautious. We must not place refugees under general suspicion despite individual cases that are under investigation, he said. The search continued Monday for the person who opened fire on an Oakland police sergeant over the weekend. The officer was trapped in her patrol car after colliding with another car minutes before the shooting late Saturday. "I think this is a very cowardly attack by someone who took advantage of a situation where an officer was trapped in a vehicle to literally take a shot at a police officer," said Barry Donelan, Oakland police union president. Police said the suspect who shot at the officer was not connected to the collision. "Unprovoked deliberate act where the shooter walked right up to a marked police vehicle with a uniformed officer inside and fired a round into the vehicle," Oakland police spokesperson Johnna Watson said. An emotional and tense sound clip of the moment the officer called dispatch about the shots was obtained by NBC Bay Area. In the sound clip, the officer was breathing heavily, saying that she had been shot at and that she couldn't get out of the car. The incident occurred around 9:30 p.m. in the 1900 block of 73rd Avenue, near Weld Avenue. Police are now looking at other ways to keep officers safe and had already started requiring officers to ride with a partner in light of officer shootings in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The sergeant was in her vehicle alone because she is a supervisor. "Now we're going to revisit the conversation about having supervisors two to a car as well," Watson said. Donelan said police officers across the Bay Area need to be on guard. He is confident the shooter will be caught, but said the climate officers face is frightening. "The residents of Oakland their police officers are very fortunate the outcome in that incident wasn't worse than it was," Donelan said. Several people gathered Monday for a rally aimed at keeping an elderly man from being evicted from his San Francisco apartment. Steve Arevalo said he is being forced to move out after living rent-free in a South of Market apartment complex for nearly a year. The non-profit organization who owns the building said it cannot afford to continue offering low-income housing. "This building is a tribute to our elders," Arevalo said. "We are the stewards of this legacy and we need to protect and preserve it." Arevalo and the other dozen people who live at 106 South Park are all members of the Gran Oriente, a Filipino non profit organization that has offered low-income housing to immigrants dating back to the early 1900s. Gran Oriente Filipino said preserving the building comes with a huge cost. "The rents are so low and we're so tight -- we can't afford to maintain our buildings," said John Fields, a building trustee with Gran Oriente Filipino. Fields said he is open to selling the building to another non profit that specializes in affordable housing, but said an earlier offer was too low. "I can't take a half a million dollar less offer from the land trust if that happens," Fields said. "We want to get into education, scholarships. That's what we do as a non profit." While Fields works to find the right deal to bring in the most money for educational programs, Arevalo, who suffers from kidney failure, said he is not sure where he will call home. Arevalo is hopeful he will be able to stay in the Bay Area. "To see my young brothers and sisters out there supporting me, it touches my heart," he said. Bernie Sanders supporters in San Francisco were ecstatic to see the onetime presidential hopeful take the stage one more time Monday night at the Democratic National Convention, but it wasn't the speech they were hoping for. After an extended ovation, Sanders told a raucous crowd in Philadelphia it was time for the Democratic party to unite, that Hillary Clinton must win. "I'm depressed because I fought hard for Bernie Sanders," said Katherine Robert, a volunteer at Sanders' San Francisco headquarters. "I believe when he says he will work to get her elected," Robert added. "Will I vote for her? No way." Some Clinton supporters hope Sanders' endorsement makes a difference. "She has to do a lot of work to bridge that gap," said Veronica Vazquez of San Francisco. "She doesn't galvanize young people. She has an uphill battle." Brian Dill, of San Francisco, said Sanders' backing is key for the party as a whole. "He gave a lot of hope," Dill said. "He's still going to have a voice moving forward, that voting for Hillary will help him achieve some of his objectives." The hacking group OurMine has added another noteworthy target to its list of victims. The technology news website TechCrunch, headquartered in San Francisco, was breached Tuesday morning by the hackers Tuesday who pinned the following "important message" to the site's homepage: "Hello Guys, dont worry we are just testing techcrunch security, we didn't change any passwords, please contact us on https://ourmine.org/news/contact-us, Thanks." The hackers followed up their initial ploy with a picture of the OurMine logo displayed prominently on the TechCrunch website before casting a green banner with their message along the homepage. OurMine's message was posted around 4:20 a.m. PST and was taken down within two hours, according to The Guardian. TechCrunch isn't the only victim of an OurMine attack. Both Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter's chief executive Jack Dorsey have had their social media accounts breached in the past two months, The Guardian reported. Maneuvering stress-free through Transportation Security Administration security lines can present challenges to many travelers. For a San Francisco transgender rights advocate, that challenge turned into an alleged act of discrimination. Mia Satya, a LGBTQ spokesperson who is transgender, was making her way through security at the Reagan International Airport in the nation's capital when she was ceased by agents for having a "groin anomaly," the SF Examiner first reported. Satya claims that TSA agents then "touched my entire genital region" during a pat down search conducted next to the body scanners and directly in the view of other passengers. "I was traumatized from the first pat down because it was so invasive," she said. Satya, who was on her way to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, says that she was required to undergo two additional screenings, one in which she had to pull down her underwear while TSA agents inspected her genitalia behind a small, see through fabric for three seconds. The entire ordeal was described by Satya as embarrasing and a form of harrassment. Not only is this a painful memory for Satya, but she says that members of the LBGTQ community face similar treatment everyday. "It really shows me that we still have a lot more work to do," she said. TSA was unavailable to provide a comment on this specific case, but passed along its screening policies to NBC Bay Area. According to TSA policy, agents relay the gender of any traveler - either male or female - to the screening machines before travelers pass through the imaging portals because the machines scan male and female bodies differently. If any warnings trigger the systems, agents will conduct "additional screening." TSA policy also stipulates that transgender passengers "will not be asked to remove or lift any article of clothing to reveal sensitive body areas." Satya doesn't care much about receiving pity. She instead will focus her attention on filing a complaint with the TSA and pushing for the security body to change its practices. "TSA largely operates without civilian oversight and they need to be held accountable for singling out people who are trans," she said. Ethan Dean has always dreamed of being a garbage man. The 6-year-old, who has cystic fibrosis, lived that fantasy Tuesday, riding shotgun in a booster seat through Sacramento in a truck labeled "Ethan's Garbage Truck." He donned a big smile and a green cape that read "Hero Ethan" as the truck stopped to pick up trash and recyclables. It wasn't a chore for Ethan, who said his favorite part of the day put on by the Make-A-Wish Foundation was "cleaning up garbage." Hundreds of people gathered to cheer him on. After being surprised at his school, Ethan and the garbage truck made five stops. Sam Thurman, the Waste Management employee who drove Ethan, said when he agreed to take part, he had no idea how big the day was going to be. And as for Ethan? "He can't wipe that grin off his face," Thurman said. "He looks like it's Christmas morning and he's unwrapping his first present." Ethan was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis as an infant and began treatment at 8 weeks old. The genetic disorder is characterized by a buildup of thick mucus and frequent lung infections, and the median life expectancy is about 40 years old. When Make-A-Wish Foundation agreed to grant his wish in February, there was little doubt what he wanted it to be. "We pretty much knew it was going to be about garbage trucks," said Ethan's dad, Ken Dean, laughing. He's been watching them come down the street since he first learned how to crawl, Dean said. Ethan also has a garbage truck bedspread and pillow, garbage truck toys and has had a garbage truck birthday party. Ethan's big day comes three years after Make-A-Wish transformed San Francisco into Gotham for a 5-year-old boy who had battled leukemia for years and dreamed of being Batkid. Miles Scott traveled from one crime scene to another, rescuing a damsel in distress and thwarting the plans of The Riddler and The Penguin, as crowds of people cheered him on. Ethan's dream is being a less fantastic, more everyday superhero. When he visited Make-A-Wish and was asked about some of his dreams, almost all of his answers were garbage-truck related, said Jennifer Stolo, CEO of the local chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Ethan's uncle, Tim Dean, said it means a lot to the family to have people who don't even know him come out to celebrate. At least 500 people gathered at the Capitol for a press conference and VIP lunch at the end of Ethan's day. Erika Sizemore doesn't know Ethan and said she learned about his special day on social media. It hit home for her, she said, because she has two boys, Kane and Benny, who also love garbage trucks. "As soon as he got out of the truck I cried," she said, tearing up. "It could happen to any of our kids. He is an amazing little kid and I just think that any of could be in the same boats as his parents are." The Clinton campaign's call to unite to defeat Donald Trump ran headlong into angry supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders as the Democrats opened their convention in Philadelphia on Monday to protests inside and outside the Wells Fargo Center. Even as the camps worked together to bring the convention under control, Sanders' backers remained enraged after leaked emails seemed to show the Democratic National Committee working against Sanders during the primaries. wordclouds.com The opening night of the convention featured Sanders, first lady Michelle Obama, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker. "An Outstanding President" Sanders' endorsement was unequivocal: "Based on her ideas and her leadership Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States," he told the convention. The election for president was not about any of the candidates, he said, but about the needs of the American people and the kind of future that is created. "This election is about which candidate understands the real problems facing this country and has offered real solutions not just bombast, not just fear-mongering, not just name-calling and divisiveness," he said. The country needs leadership that will improve the lives of working families, the children, the elderly, the sick and the poor, leadership that brings people together and makes the country stronger, he said. [NATL-PHI] Scenes From the Democratic Convention in Philly "If you don't believe that this election is important, if you think you can sit it out, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate - and what that would mean to civil liberties, equal rights and the future of our country," he told his supporters. The last speaker of the night, he began only after a long ovation. The election is about the threat of climate change, moving the United States toward universal health care, passing comprehensive immigration reform and repairing a broken criminal justice system, he said. "Our job now is to see that strong Democratic platform implemented by a Democratic-controlled Senate, by a Democratic House and a Hillary Clinton presidency," he said. "And I am going to do all that I can to make that happen." "In this Election, Im With Her" First lady Michelle Obama told the convention that she trusted Clinton to lead the country because she had seen Clinton's lifelong devotion to the country's children. Clinton, she said, has spent decades trying to make a difference in their lives. First lady Michelle Obama called on Democrats to get out the vote in the fall, saying that the future of the country depended on having a leader who could protect the promise of America for its children. The election is not about Democrats or Republicans, she said. It is about "who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives." Eight years ago, when Clinton did not win the nomination, she did not get angry or disillusioned, Obama said. She did not pack up but became the secretary of state. "She never buckles under pressure," Obama said of Clinton. "She never takes the easy way out and Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life." Obama said she wanted someone as president who had proved she would preserve, not someone with a thin skin or a tendency to lash out. It was one of several times she took on Trump without using his name. She said she wanted in the White House "someone who understands that the issues a president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters." Addressing Trump's past insinuations that her husband wasn't born in the country, Obama said she urged her daughters "to ignore those who question their fathers citizenship or faith." "Our motto is: When they go low, we go high." Obama also riffed on Trump's slogan "Make America Great Again." "Don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great, that somehow we need to make it great again," she said. "Because this right now is the greatest country on earth." "Because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters, and all our sons and daughters, take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States," she said. Obama told the crowd: "In this election Im with her." The Keynote Speaker Warren, the Democrat from Massachusetts and a darling of the left, has memorably called Trump a "small, insecure money grubber." Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) slammed the Republican nominee Donald Trump at the Democratic National Convention, saying We will not be Donald Trumps hate-filled America. Not now, not ever. Monday's keynote speaker, she went after Trump again with fervor calling Trump University, the real-estate training program founded by Trump and now the subject of two class-action lawsuits, a "fake." His bankruptcies allowed him to protect his own money while his investors lost theirs, she said. "What kind of man would do that," she asked. "I'll tell you what kind of man, a man who must never be a president of the United States," said Warren, who remained neutral during the primaries and who endorsed Clinton in June. She said that Trump thought that he could win votes by fanning the flames of fear and hatred, by persuading the country that its problem was other Americans who look different or talk or worship differently. "Thats Donald Trump's America," she said. "An America of fear and hate. An America where we all break apart. Whites against Blacks and Latinos. Christians against Muslims and Jews. Straight against gay. Everyone against immigrants. Race, religion, heritage, gender the more factions the better." [NATL] A Look Inside the 2016 Democratic National Convention But when white workers in Ohio are pitted against black workers in North Carolina or Latino workers in Florida, who benefits? she asked. "When we turn on each other, bankers can run our economy for Wall Street, oil companies can fight off clean energy, and giant corporations can ship the last good jobs overseas," she said. "When we turn on each other, we can't unite to fight back against a rigged system," she said. "You're Being Ridiculous" Comedian and actress Sarah Silverman, a well-known supporter of Sanders, offered one of the most memorable lines of the evening. "To the Bernie or bust people, you're being ridiculous," she said to his die-hard backers. Hurricane Irma weakened slightly on Saturday as it battered Cuba's northern coast. Sanders showed the country what was possible and what it deserved but Clinton was now the Democratic nominee "and I will proudly vote for her," she said. Minnesota U.S. Sen. Al Franken, a former writer and performer for "Saturday Night Live," showed his comedy chops Monday night as he attacked Trump's business record, particularly Trump University. Franken joked that he had gotten a doctorate in megalomania studies from Trump University, paying for it by emptying his 401K and taking out a reverse mortgage on his house. "Sure he scammed a lot of people," Franken said of Trump. "But did you know that Trump's school of ripping people off is ranked second in the nation right behind Bernie Madoff University. That is no mean feat." Franken mocked the Trump business schools bankruptcy program, a reference to Trumps bankruptcies, and what he called its most popular course, Bankruptcy 101: How to Leave Your Partners Holding the Bag. At the end, Silverman and Franken waited awkwardly for Paul Simon to take the stage to sing "Bridge Over Troubled Water." Turmoil at the Democratic National Committee Debbie Wasserman Schultz's fall was complete on Monday, first as the Democratic national chairwoman and then as a speaker at the party's convention in Philadelphia. Wasserman Schultz was booed at the breakfast for Florida delegates, her home state, in the morning, and greeted with signs reading "E-MAILS" and "Thanks for the Help Debbie!:)." By the afternoon she had told the Florida newspaper, the Sun Sentinel, that she would step aside for the convention's opening. Two speeches that President Donald Trump made within 24 hours show a tale of two presidents: one preaching unity and "common values" in Reno, Nevada, on Aug. 23, 2017, the other the day before in Phoenix, Arizona, sharply criticizing the press and members of Congress as he defended his controversial reaction to Charlottesville. "I have decided that in the interest of making sure that we can start the Democratic convention on a high note that I am not going to gavel in the convention," she said. Sanders' supporters are furious about leaked Democratic emails that appear to show that the party had tried to undermine him a charge the Sanders camp made throughout the primary season. In one email, Wasserman Schultz said of Sanders' statement that he would oust her: "He isn't going to be president." President Donald Trump's job-approval rating in the U.S. counties that propelled him to victory in 2016 stands at 50 percent, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll looking at "Trump Counties." Fifty percent of adults in these counties consisting of Republicans, Democrats and independents approve of the president's job, including 29 percent who strongly approve. The poll also showed that 46 percent disapprove of Trump's job, including 35 percent who do so strongly. By comparison, last month's national NBC/WSJ poll had Trump's overall approval rating at 40 percent. The poll's sample was taken from 439 counties in 16 states Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin that either flipped from Barack Obama to Trump, or where Trump greatly outpaced Mitt Romney's performance in 2012. Wasserman Schultz agreed on Sunday to step down as chairwoman at the end of the convention. On Monday, the Democratic National Committee apologized to Sanders and his supporters for what it called "inexcusable remarks made over email." The emails went counter to the committee's "steadfast commitment to neutrality during the nominating process," it said. During the day on Monday, Sanders told his supporters: "Her resignation opens up the possibility of new leadership at the top of a Democratic Party that will stand with working people." Two soldiers were fatally shot Sunday while trying to protect a woman from a gun-toting man in a South Carolina bar, NBC News reported. Staff Sgt. Charles Allen Judge Jr., 40, and Sgt. First Class Jonathan Michael Prins, 29, were at the Frayed Knot Bar & Grill in Lake Murray, west of Columbia, when Jospeh Elijah Mills "physically assaulted a female companion and was physically separated from her by several bar patrons," according to arrest warrants obtained by NBC News. Among those who stepped in to help the woman were Judge and Prins, the warrants state. "Mills then presented a handgun" and allegedly fired the fatal shots. The 25-year-old suspect was arrested shortly after Sunday's double killing charged with two counts of murder. The sordid secrets in Dennis Hasterts past began to fully unravel in March 2015, when federal agents approached one of his alleged victims to find out why Hastert was paying him hundreds of thousands of dollars, documents show. That man, known publicly only as Individual A, had struck a $3.5 million hush-money deal with the now-imprisoned former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, agreeing not to tell the world that he had been sexually molested by Hastert as a 14-year-old. But Individual A managed to collect only $1.7 million before the feds blew the lid off the deal with a bombshell indictment last year. So Individual A sued Hastert for the remaining $1.8 million. Now, Hasterts lawyers say the breach-of-contract lawsuit should be thrown out, in part, because Individual A didnt keep his end of the bargain and told the feds what they wanted to know, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting. Plaintiff agreed to refrain from filing a personal injury suit arising out of decades-old conduct and further agreed to refrain from seeking public acknowledgement of that conduct in exchange for Defendants promise to pay him $3,500,000, Hastert attorney John C. Ellis wrote in a court filing earlier this month. Federal court records indicate Hastert first told the feds he was the victim of an extortion plot in February 2015 a month before agents approached Individual A claiming the former Yorkville High School wrestler had demanded $3.5 million over an alleged false claim. Hastert agreed to let agents record two of his phone conversations with Individual A the following month. Agents approached Individual A after they became suspicious of Hasterts claims. But Hasterts legal team is now pointing to Individual As breach of confidentiality as a reason his lawsuit, filed in Kendall County, should be tossed. That argument suggests Individual A would have been forced to either not cooperate with the feds or commit the crime of lying to federal authorities in order to hold up his end of the bargain. Ellis also argues that Individual A had no personal-injury claim when he first approached Hastert decades after the abuse because time limits for bringing such a claim had already passed. Ellis further argued that any agreement that takes more than a year to perform must be in writing under Illinois law, and he said a deal to sell silence is void, contrary to public policy and unenforceable. Hasterts lawyer appeared briefly before Kendall County Judge Robert Pilmer on Monday. The judge scheduled an Oct. 13 hearing on Hasterts bid to dismiss the lawsuit. Afterward, Ellis declined to comment on the hearing. An attorney for Individual A did not appear in court. A month has passed since Hastert, 74, wheeled himself into the Rochester Federal Medical Center in southeast Minnesota, where he is serving a 15-month prison sentence for breaking the law while trying to conceal his past sexual abuse of teenage boys. His fall from grace began in May 2015, when he was hit with the bombshell criminal indictment that accused him of illegally structuring bank withdrawals and lying to the FBI. He pleaded guilty to the structuring and acknowledged the lying last October. Then, during his sentencing hearing last April, he admitted to the judge that he sexually abused children in the 1970s. Individual A found himself at the center of Hasterts criminal case. He claims he was molested in a motel room by Hastert when he was 14 and later finalized a $3.5 million deal with Hastert to keep quiet about it in 2010. Individual A claims the men had a spoken contract because Hastert wanted nothing in writing. However, Hastert wound up acknowledging the pact in his plea agreement with federal prosecutors. Hastert was a trusted friend of Individual As family, according to Individual As lawsuit. And though Individual A had yet to start high school at the time of the alleged abuse, Hastert offered to take him to a high school wrestling camp, it said. Thats when Hastert violated the trust Individual A had placed in Hastert by sexually molesting and abusing Individual A in a motel room, according to the complaint. For years, Individual A suffered severe panic attacks which lead to periods of unemployment, career changes, bouts of depressions, hospitalization, and long-term psychiatric treatment, it said. Individual As lawyer has said he views the spoken agreement between the two men as a personal injury settlement. The feds say Hastert passed Individual A the cash first in his Yorkville office and later in a store parking lot. Mayor Rahm Emanuel will attend the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday and Thursday, the mayors office confirmed. However, Emanuel will not speak at this weeks convention. Only two Illinois lawmakers, Reps. Tammy Duckworth and Luis Gutierrez, will speak on the convention floor. The mayor will also reportedly host a Chicago Rockin Blues party Wednesday in Philadelphia. The event features performances by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Blues Traveler. Emanuel, who is still reeling from the Laquan McDonald controversy, has been persona non grata on the presidential campaign trail. Presumptive party nominee Hillary Clinton hasnt included the mayor in campaign events in the city, while Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clintons primary opponent, repeatedly condemned Emanuel. Chicago teen McDonald was shot and killed by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke in October of 2014. After dash cam footage of the incident was released in November of last year, there was substantial outcry for Emanuels resignation. Skipping the first two days of the convention means Emanuel will miss Tuesday's Illinois delegate breakfast. The delegation includes Emanuel critics like Cook County Commissioner Jesus Chuy" Garcia, who lost to the mayor in a 2015 run-off, and ousted CPS principal Troy LaRaviere, who chastised Emanuel while campaigning for Sanders. Emanuel previously served as a staffer in former President Bill Clintons administration. He also served as President Barack Obamas first chief of staff. Two men armed with knives have reportedly been shot dead after taking several people hostage at a church in France, The Independent reported. Local reports said the area around the church in the commune of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, had been cordoned off by armed units. The two attackers have been neutralised by security forces, a spokesperson for France's Police Nationale said, adding that security assessments continued. No further details of the operation were immediately given but Normandie 76 Actu reported that both suspects had been killed. At least one of the hostages, who included a priest, was seen being evacuated on a stretcher. Frances national police force issued a tweet urging people not to cross the security cordon or take photos or videos of the scene. In the year since Bobbi Kristina Brown died, a legal battle has raged between her family and boyfriend. The daughter of Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston was found unconscious and facedown in a bathtub on Jan. 31, 2015. She remained in a coma for seven months before her death on July 26, which was later revealed to have been the result of Lobar pneumonia, caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain and water immersion combined with mixed drug intoxication. Brown's family accused her boyfriend Nick Gordon of being at fault for what happened the night she was found unconscious, filing a $40 million lawsuit against him. After her death, they amended the lawsuit and alleged wrongful death. No charges have been filed, but as the lawsuit continues to play out, tension between Gordon and Brown's family, especially her father, continues to escalate. [NATL] Top Entertainment Photos: Best of the American Music Awards, and More Here's a timeline of everything that has transpired between them since her death: Bobbi Kristina Brown's Cause of Death Revealed July 27, 2015: Both Bobby Brown and Gordon spoke publicly about Bobbi Kristina Brown's passing. "Our loss is unimaginable," Bobby Brown told E! News. "We thank everyone for the prayers for Krissy and our family as we mourn my baby girl." Meanwhile, Michele Gordon, Nick's mother, said in a statement on his behalf: "The passing of Bobbi Kristina is devastating to Nick and our family. Nick loved and cared for Krissi deeply, and he has suffered greatly each and every day they've been apart. Nick and our family are in mourning, and we ask that you respect our privacy. Our thoughts and prayers are with both the Houstons and the Browns during this difficult time." Aug. 1, 2015: Friends and family of Bobbi Kristina Brown attended her funeral at the St. James United Methodist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. Men were seen carrying a silver casket into the church. A motorcade of up to 75 vehicles, led by police on motorcycles, was seen driving up to it. Security was tight. Guests had to go through three checkpoints manned by state troopers, E! News learned. Gordon did not attend. Aug. 7, 2015: Bobbi Kristina Brown's conservators added wrongful death allegations in the lawsuit against Gordon. Originally, Bedelia Hargrove who calls herself "conservator and next friend for Bobbi Kristina Brown" demanded at least $40 million in punitive damages on allegations including assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and conversion. After her passing, they made a 13-page amendment to the lawsuit, alleging wrongful death along with previous accusations that Gordon had physically abused his girlfriend and stolen nearly $11,000 from her bank accounts during her hospitalization. The estate accused Gordon of fighting with Bobbi Kristina Brown on Jan. 31, 2015 the night she was found unconscious in a bath tub calling her a "whore" and a "b----" and accusing her of cheating, before giving her a "toxic cocktail rendering her unconscious," after which he allegedly "put her face down in a tub of cold water causing her to suffer brain damage." Aug. 17, 2015: Gordon broke his silence on social media. "I look at our pics sometimes it makes me smile sometime I cry @REALbkBrown #happymemories," Gordon, whose tweets are protected, posted on the social media site. "I'm so happy/blessed that I had @REALbkBrown in my life. i will always &forever love you." Aug. 25, 2015: Bobby Brown performed for the first time after his daughter's passing and thanked fans for their support. "Thank you for all your prayers, everybody," he told the audience. Sept. 9, 2015: Gordon filed a response to the wrongful death accusations, calling the most serious allegations "slanderous" and "meritless." While he did admit to going out and partying the night before Bobbi Kristina Brown was found unconscious, he denied the wrongful death accusations, saying he did not give his late girlfriend a "toxic cocktail," then put her facedown in the tub of cold water. Sept. 12, 2015: Bobby Brown gave his first television interview after his daughter's death. "We prayed and hoped for six months for something better to happen," he said on The Real. "But when God calls you, he calls you." He added, "I'm pretty sure her mother [Whitney Houston] was... had a part with like, 'Come on, let's get her up here' in the best way possible. She was not comfortable by herself I guess and she just called my daughter with her." Bobby Brown Cries as He Describes Bobbi Kristina Brown's Final Days Sept. 25, 2015: Medical examiners determined the "cause and manner" of Bobbi Kristina Brown's death but said they would keep the autopsy sealed. "The Fulton County Medical Examiner has classified the cause and manner of Bobbi Kristina Brown's death based on information available as of Sept. 25, 2015," a press release stated. "However, a Fulton County Superior Court Order dated Sept.25, 2015 has been received Sealing the Autopsy Report and ordering the Medical Examiner to not release any further information to the public." Oct. 7, 2015: Gordon's attorney filed a motion asking the court to stop the civil lawsuit until the criminal investigation is over and proceedings are finished. The motion claims that because of the high profiles of Bobbi Kristina Brown and her famous parents, Gordon had become the victim of negative media attention that would make him "unfairly, legally and financially prejudiced should he be subject to parallel criminal and civil proceedings." The motion also stated Gordon "would enjoy nothing more than to defend himself in this lawsuit. However, the same individuals that have filed this suit are the same people who are actively seeking a criminal prosecution and he simply cannot defend both simultaneously as refusal to incriminate himself, the Fifth Amendment right guaranteed by both the United States Constitutional and the Georgia Constitution, would raise an inference, albeit incorrectly, of Mr. Gordon's guilt." Oct. 9, 2015: Bobbi Kristina Brown's conservators filed new allegations against Gordon in response to the motion. Her estate alleged that Bobbi Kristina Brown "died due to a violent altercation with [Gordon], after which he placed her in a bathtub, unconscious, after he injected her with a toxic mixture." Jan. 19, 2016: A nurse that was in charge of taking care of Bobbi Kristina Brown while she was at the Peachtree Christian hospice in Georgia was charged with practicing without a license. Feb. 24, 2016: Bobby Brown announced the news that he welcomed his third child with Alicia Etheredge-Brown, a baby girl named Bodhi. March 4, 2016: On what would have been Bobbi Kristina Brown's 23rd birthday, the sealed documents containing her autopsy were released. They revealed she died of Lobar pneumonia, caused by hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and water immersion combined with mixed drug intoxication of a cocaine-related substance, marijuana and alcohol. Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy is one of the most common types of brain damage caused by oxygen loss. Both Gordon and Bobby Brown spoke out after the results were released. Gordon told The Daily Mail, "I'm glad that s--- is all over. I just want to wish my girl a happy birthday. I can't say anymore but it's good." Brown released a statement saying, "For news affiliates to seek and obtain my daughter's autopsy report, before anyone has been brought to justice for her death is mind blowing to me. Please pray for my family." March 8, 2016: Gordon's attorney's released a statement regarding the autopsy results and ongoing investigation, saying, "The truth is that Nick tried to save Bobbi Kristina's life," the attorneys Joe Habachy and Jose Baez said. "The truth is that Nick cooperated with law enforcement since day one. The truth is that no one loved Bobbi Kristina more than Nick and no one has suffered more as a result of her death than Nick." April 26, 2016: Gordon spoke with Dr. Phil in his first on-air interview since Bobbi Kristina Brown's death. "Regardless of what everybody thinks, I made Krissy and Whitney's last few years on earth as happy as they would be," Gordon explained. "I gave them somebody to trust, to talk to, to be there, someone genuine." He also blamed Bobby Brown for Bobbi Kristina Brown's struggles. "[Bobby] hurt his own daughter, not me," Gordon claimed. "I was the one there for her while she was dealing with him not being there. He's not a reasonable person so I'm not planning on talking to him and I really don't want to." April 27, 2016: Gordon revealed Bobbi Kristina Brown suffered two miscarriages during an interview with The Daily Mail. "We had a couple of miscarriages. We would have loved to have a kid but we weren't planning on it yet and she was just such a young fragile person it took a toll on her," he revealed, adding that he doesn't believe that she intended to take her own life. "We wanted to get clean, settle down, get married, have kids." May 6, 2016: Bobby Brown joined the ongoing civil wrongful death lawsuit against Gordon. June 6, 2016: Bobby Brown continued to blame Gordon for Bobbi Kristina Brown's death. Sitting down for an interview with ABC's Robin Roberts, he said, "It's not a mystery to me. The same thing that happened to my daughter is what happened to Whitney... There's only one person that was around both occasions. Only one person who says they were there to protect them... and he didn't." July 6, 2016: Max Lomas the man who found Bobbi Kristina facedown in the bathtub shared his story in an interview with People Magazine. "I saw her there, and I picked her up out of the water and laid her on the ground," Lomas recalled. "I saw the color of her face and that she wasn't breathing. I called for Nick and called 911." He revealed that Gordon administered CPR and Bobbi Kristina regurgitated water twice. He also revealed that the pair had a "shaky" relationship and that they got into an intense argument the night before she was found unconscious. Bobbi Kristina Brown's Life in Pics An avid online shopper who frequently buys from Amazon says she was blindsided when the company closed her Prime account without warning, citing too many returns. "I was shocked," said Jenn, who asked to be identified by her first name only. "I said, 'What do you mean I am banned from Amazon? How is that even possible?'" Jenn says she was stunned when she received an email from Amazon that read, "We have closed this account because you have consistently returned a large number of your orders." "I did send a lot of stuff back," she said. "Im not going to argue about that, I did." But she had no idea what the limit was. Amazon told her it sent her a notice 30 days before the lifetime ban, but she says it never arrived. "The email was apparently a warning that I never saw," she said. Jenn isnt alone. Linda Hallstrom told NBC 5 Responds she, too, had a similarly surprising experience when she tried to return baby clothes at Carson Pirie Scott. "Out of the register came a slip that said, 'returns denied, the Sycamore woman recalled. I said to the cashier, What is this? I have never seen a slip like that before. And she said, Oh, we're getting a lot of them lately." The slip not only declined the return, but declared Hallstrom in a return timeout-- ineligible for other returns for two months. "They simply said I had returned too many items in a period that dated approximately from 2009," Hallstrom said. A spokesperson for Carsons parent company told NBC 5 Responds its posted policy does state it reserves the right to limit returns regardless of receipt. But on the same day as our inquiry, the company decided to immediately lift the restrictions on Hallstrom, and apologized for the inconvenience. The Amazon website, however, did not appear to have a policy posted on this issue. When asked how many returns will get a shopper banned, an Amazon spokesperson would only say Amazons practice is to work directly with the customer to handle any issues with their account. Amazon wouldnt confirm Jenn had been banned, but a few days later, the company reversed course. I did get an e-mail back from them saying, after reviewing my account, it has now been reinstated, Jenn said. Retailers have a number of reasons for getting tough on returns. The National Retail Federation estimates return fraud and abuse cost stores anywhere from $10 billion to $17 billion a year. Jenn says she simply wants Amazon to make its return policy clearer, so customers can adjust their buying and returning habits accordingly. I understand they were probably losing money on some of my returns, I get it, she said. Just get it. Just tell me. Dozens of members of the Latin Kings street gang have been charged in federal indictments alleging they used violent means, including murder, to protect their "territories" in the Chicago area and in northwest Indiana, authorities announced Tuesday. According to the indictments, 34 gang members were charged with racketeering conspiracy, a 35th was charged with selling a firearm without a license and a 36th with being a felon in possession of a firearm. In addition, more than 20 others were charged with similar crimes in northwest Indiana. The charges allege members of the gang "violently enforced discipline within its ranks and retaliated against rival and former members to prevent cooperation with law enforcement." Authorities accused members of murder, attempted murder, assault with dangerous weapons, arson, extortion and the attempted murder of a Melrose Park Police officer. "These cases are ultimately about one thing and that is violence," U.S. Attorney Zach Fardon said at a news conference. "Gang violence, gun violence, senseless violence that plagues our communities in Chicago and beyond." According to Fardon, the indictments involve two regions of the national Latin Kings organization: the Southeast Regions, which has chapters on the Southeast Side of Chicago, nearby suburbs and northwest Indiana, and the Midwest Region, also known as the "M-Town Section," which operates in areas including Melrose Park and Maywood. The Southeast Region charges involved three allegedly high-ranking Latin Kings, known as "regional enforcers" who enforced discipline. They include Raul Cavillo, 33, of Chicago; Joel Nunez, 39, of Chicago; and Carlos Padillar Jr., 35, of Chicago. They also involved numerous "chapter leaders," "caciques," and "soldiers" from the group. In the M-Town Section, alleged leaders charged include Piere Paolo Gennell, 30, of Melrose Park; Jose Hernandez, 45, of Maywood; and David Perez, 26, of Melrose Park. In addition, Edgar Velarde-Saldana, 33, of Maywood, is charged in the indictment with attempting to murder a Melrose Park police officer on July 6, 2014. The officer was assisting agents from the FBI at the time, according to the indictment. Officials said the investigations that culminated in the indictment lasted several years and involved numerous agencies across the area. Fardon called the charges the most "serious and impactful of federal charges as you can bring when it comes to violent crime and gang crime." "If you are a member or an associate of one of these criminal enterprises, I dont care what side of the border you live and I dont care what side of the border you commit your crimes on, we are coming after you and you are next," said U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana David Capp. Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said the indictments should serve "as a warning to others that we will continue to come after them with everything we have," but he noted there is still more to do to combat the city's ongoing violence troubles. While Fardon commended the officers and agents involved in the case, he also noted it does not address the "root causes of violence in Chicago" and is "one piece of the overarching solution." "This is not by itself a longterm solution to the violence problem in Chicago," he said. "This is an impactful case." A CTA bus driver was issued a citation after striking a woman and three young children Monday morning in the Lakeview neighborhood on the North Side. The CTA bus was heading north in the 3600 block of North Halsted at 10:09 a.m. when it struck the four pedestrians, according to Chicago Police. The 34-year-old woman and three boys ages 6, 2, and 8 weekswere all taken to Lurie Childrens Hospital, where their conditions were stabilized, police said. The bus driver was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where their condition was also stabilized, police said. A CTA spokeswoman said all the injuries appeared to be minor. The driver was cited for failure to avoid a pedestrian crossing the street in a marked crosswalk, police said. Sen. Dick Durbin deflected questions about a potential run for governor as Illinois Democrats gathered in Philadelphia to kick off the Democratic National Convention Monday. Durbin explained Monday that he was focused on the upcoming November election and not a potential gubernatorial bid. The election for governor of Illinois is about 30 months away, Durbin said Monday. I say to those who are focusing on that, theyve lost sight of the most important election that is going to be just a few months from now. The senator claimed that he was focused on his current job and the positive responsibility voters gave him in his last reelection bid in 2014. Nevertheless, House Speaker Mike Madigan called Durbin uniquely qualified" for the role of governor, the Chicago Tribune reports. Madigan noted that he and Durbin talked about the possibility as recently as a few months ago. Madigan also took the opportunity to tie Gov. Bruce Rauner to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. You can see theres a lot of interest among Democrats to improve the operations of the governors office of Illinois, Madigan said Monday. Given the record of Bruce Rauner, which dovetails nicely into the record of Donald Trump on extremism, youll find plenty of Illinois Democrats anxious to participate in the next election. Madigans daughter, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, has also been considered a potential Democratic gubernatorial candidate. However, Speaker Madigan said he hasnt talked to his daughter about a potential run recently. According to the Tribune, Chicago Ald. Ed. Burke, 14th, speculated Monday about Durbin potentially leaving the Senate if Democrats are able to regain the majority in the fall. He also called Valerie Jarrett an exciting possibility for a gubernatorial candidate. Jarrett has been a longtime advisor to President Barack Obama. Additionally, State Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, who occupies Obama's old seat, said that he would be interested in a gubernatorial bid. I would want any position that would put me in a position to solve problems and, as I said before, we have no shortage of problems in the state of Illinois, Raoul said. "No matter who the person is they've got to be able to talk to the entire constituency," Raoul added. Businessman Chris Kennedy, the son of former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, is also reportedly mulling a run for governor and meeting with potential donors. But with the gubernatorial election over two years away, it's clear that the Illinois Democrats are still searching for their candidate to take on Rauner in 2018. Editor's note: A previous version of this story said the Chicago Police Superintendent supported police officers turning down Labor Day weekend overtime. While the superintendent said he supports officers being with their families, he said he does think they should take overtime opportunities. Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said Tuesday he does not support the recent encouragement from the Fraternal Order of Police that officers turn down overtime shifts during this year's Labor Day weekend. "I do endorse officers spending time with their families," Johnson said. "Our responsibility and our oath is to back each other up out there. We are here to serve and protect." Officers have earned the time off and deserve to spend the weekend with their families, FOP President Dean Angelo said in a flier circulated by the police union. But the move is also meant "to show unity and to protest the continued disrespect of Chicago Police Officers and the killings of law enforcement officers across our country," Angelo said. Johnson said there has been an uptick in disrespect toward officers and that he does not feel officers get much support. This is a time when very few people have come out and supported police officers," Angelo said in the flier. "Very few people have spoken out against the murderous attacks or non-stop, anti-police rhetoric. No one is taking into account the spouses and children of police officers and the heightened concern they have for what their loved ones do every day." The announcement from the FOP comes after police officials touted a plan last month to have more police officers patrolling in areas like beaches, Navy Pier, McCormick Place, CTA stations and parks throughout the summer months, when city violence is typically at its highest. During this years Fourth of July holiday, around 5,000 officers were patrolling the city. There were fewer shootings over the holiday weekend than the previous year. In 2015, 10 people were killed and 63 were wounded. This year, there were four people killed and 62 wounded. The union flier requesting non-mandatory overtime to be rejected could be declared mandatory by Johnson if a number of officers decline the work. Every single officer who serves our city on holiday weekends plays a valued and important role in keeping Chicago safe, said Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. We do not expect any disruption in operations for Labor Day weekend. Johnson said he did not expect any "operational disruption" Labor Day weekend. "I'll be out there with them," he said Tuesday. The embattled Chicago agency that oversees police misconduct allegations has ruled that two more officer shootings were not justified, findings that may signal a greater willingness to hold officers accountable than in previous years. From its 2007 creation to early last month, the Independent Police Review Authority deemed two out of some 400 police shootings unjustified. But it has said in the last two months that three shootings including the two this week were unjustified, IPRA data shows. IPRA documents posted on its website Thursday said that one officer wasn't justified in the fatal 2013 shooting of Ryan Rogers as police investigated robberies in the area. It also said officers were wrong to shoot at Antwon Golatte in a 2015 incident, injuring him as he drove away from an alleged drug transaction. "I never thought this day would come," Golatte said Monday. "I've been portraying to everybody from day one that I did not do anything." After the November release of video showing an officer fatally shooting Laquan McDonald 16 times, critics singled out IPRA for nearly always siding with officers. Mayor Rahm Emanuel replaced IPRA's head last year with a reform-minded ex-prosecutor and said more recently he'd like to replace IPRA entirely with a new agency. In the 2015 shooting, officers who fired at Golatte said they perceived his SUV as a threat as drove off. But IPRA concluded they weren't in the path of the fleeing vehicle. Similarly, the officer who shot Rogers claimed he was "in fear of my life. I thought (his) vehicle was going to strike me." IPRA determined that officer may have been justified in firing the first three shots, though not the fourth and final shot because Rogers' SUV was far enough away to no longer pose a threat. "His rights were violated," said Golatte's attorney L. Chris Stewart. "He pulled off properly. His rights were violated. The officers tried to kill him." IPRA, which doesn't name the officers, says the Chicago Police Department's deadly force policy authorizes police to fire at moving vehicles only to prevent death or serious injury to officers or others. But it instructs officers to move out of the way if the "vehicle is the only force used against them." "it's real emotional," Golatte said. "Every day I ride down the street, I see a cop car, I wonder if it's them." IPRA's quarterly report released this month recommends changes to the use-of-force policy. Citing the McDonald shooting, which touched off weeks of protests, it says officers in some instances "have continued to fire their weapons without making any assessment of whether the additional shots fired were really necessary." Other things in the report include: Advocating for "incorporating provisions that express a stronger, clearer commitment to the sanctity of life." Stressing that officers should never draw their weapons merely to intimidate someone but only when they're convinced deadly force will likely be necessary because the act of pointing a gun at someone "has tremendous impact and, as such, is tantamount to the use of force itself." Authorities on Monday announced charges against six people from New York City who allegedly attempted to make purchases with stolen identities and counterfeit credit cards at Apple stores throughout the Chicago area. After Lake County authorities "obtained information" on the "organized criminal enterprise" from New York, detectives from the sheriff's department increased patrols and surveillance at the Apple Store in Deer Park, the department announced in a press release. Nicole E. Cannon, 21, of Manhattan was charged with burglary, possession of a counterfeit credit card, use of a counterfeit credit card, unlawful use of a fraudulent ID to commit theft, identity theft and forgery. She is being held at the Lake County Jail in lieu of $125,000 bail. Cannon is due in court on Aug. 17. Gisselle Diaz, 41, of Queens was charged with retail theft, identity theft and burglary. She is being held at the Lake County Jail in lieu of $75,000. Diaz is due in court July 28. Corbett Ortiz, 26, of Manhattan was charged with burglary, possession of a counterfeit credit card, unlawful use of a fraudulent ID to commit theft, identity theft and forgery. He is being held at Lake County Jail without bail. Ortiz is due in court July 25. Quintin Ortiz, 18, of the Bronx was charged with burglary, possession of a counterfeit credit card, unlawful use of a fraudulent ID to commit theft, identify theft and forgery. He is being held at the Lake County Jail without bail. Ortiz is due in court July 25. Melinda Aquino, 21, of the Bronx was charged with burglary, possession of a counterfeit credit card, unlawful use of a fraudulent ID to commit theft and identity theft. She is being held at the Lake County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail. Aquino is due in court July 26. Frank Aulet, 20, of the Bronx was charged with possession of a counterfeit credit card, possession of a fraudulent ID to commit theft and identity theft. He is being held at the Lake County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail. Aulet is due in court July 26. The La Porte County Sheriff's office says 10 people now face charges after taking part in a "fraudulent scheme" to bond inmates out of jail with stolen credit cards. An investigation was launched after a jail official noticed "unusual activity in an inmate's attempt to post bond" last July, according to a press release from the sheriff's office. The investigation, the sheriff's office said, lead to the discovery that jail inmates were using "an outside source" to obtain stolen credit cards in an attempt to post bond. "This case required countless hours of research and interviews, testifying in court, locating and interviewing victims and filing the paperwork for the search and arrest warrants," La Porte County Sheriff John Boyd said in a prepared statement. Authorities said Shakyia Bunch took credit card numbers from victims at her job in the Chicago area and Gregory Brown, an inmate in the La Porte County Jail, used the information to post bond for inmates using the third-party bonding system available to inmates. In exchange for an inmates bond being posted, authorities said, they would pay Jeneva Sutton. In one case a car was exchanged for an inmate's bond as collateral, according to the press release. The stolen credit cards belonged to victims across the country, Orange, Cali., St. Louis, Mo., Grand Rapids, Mich. and Granite City, Ill., according to the press release. All credit card transactions for posting bond were halted by "all judges in La Porte County," the release said. During the course of the investigation, a search warrant was executed on July 19 at a home in the 200 block of Vail Street in Michigan City, Ind., authorities said, where "evidence connected to the case" an a gun were recovered. Brown, 35, of Chicago, Bunch, 29, of Chicago, Sutton, 35, of Michigan City, Ind., Toni Dominguez, 34, Highland, Ind., Edward Jiminez, 34, Michigan City, Ind., Rischa Bonds, 36, of Michigan City, Ind., Williams Jackson, 35, Michigan City, Ind., Raynell Henry, 22, of Gary, Ind. Robert Lambert, 28, of Michigan City, Ind. and Daniel Gumns, 27, of Michigan City, Ind., were all charged with fraud. According to the press release, the United States Secret Service is assisting in the investigation because the fraudulent activity crossed state lines. Inmates involved in the fraud scheme had their bond revoked, authorities said, and all were taken back into custody. Fraudulently bonds posted ranged from $750 to $15,000. All victims have been notified, according to the sheriff's office, and new procedures are in place at the La Porte County court system to prevent future issue, authorities said. A semi-truck driver has been cited in a fatal, multi-vehicle crash that shut down Interstate 55 for hours Monday. Police said Tuesday that the 59-year-old, who was driving a semi truck carrying 40,000 pounds of frozen meat, has been issued citations for failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident and following too closely. According to Illinois State Police, the truck driver hit a pickup truck in front of him, causing that truck to strike a minivan, sending the minivan underneath the trailer of another semi, which was hauling 17,800 pounds of flammable paint. The semi burst into flames, causing all the first three vehicles to catch fire as it hit a fifth vehicle. The driver of the minivan was killed in the crash. Authorities are asking the public for assistance in identifying the person killed. The crash involving two semis took place just before 11 a.m. in the outbound lanes of the interstate near Cicero. Smoke could be seen for miles in the area, and police said that both the green mini-van and the body found inside are unidentifiable due to the crash and fire. According to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office, officials were unable to discern whether the victim was male or female, and police said they could not determine the make or model of the van, believed to be green. Anyone who believes they may know the victim or has any information is asked to contact the Cook County Medical Examiner's office at 312-666-0200 or the Illinois State Police at 847-294-4400. At least one other person was transported from the scene to an area hospital in stable condition, but it was not known which vehicle they were in. The roadway remained closed for hours. Headline changed, details added (first version posted on 12:54) Two men armed with knives have reportedly been shot dead after taking several people hostage at a church in France, The Independent reported. Local reports said the area around the church in the commune of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, had been cordoned off by armed units. The two attackers have been neutralised by security forces, a spokesperson for France's Police Nationale said, adding that security assessments continued. No further details of the operation were immediately given butNormandie 76 Actu reported that both suspects had been killed. At least one of the hostages, who included a priest, was seen being evacuated on a stretcher. Frances national police force issued a tweet urging people not to cross the security cordon or take photos or videos of the scene. A 6-year-old girl who was seriously wounded in a shooting on Chicagos South Side last week returned home to a celebration on Monday. Tacarra Morgan was playing with her family in front of her home in the 6000 block of South Paulina in the citys West Englewood neighborhood around 1 p.m. last Tuesday when shots rang out, police said. Tacarra suffered gunshot wounds to the stomach and was taken to Comer Childrens Hospital in serious condition, undergoing surgery that same day. She returned home to a party in her honor on Monday, with presents from friends, family, and even strangers. One well-wisher bought the young girl a new bike that she promptly rode during the festivities. The shooting began a block away from the girl's home, when a suspect in a white SUV opened fire. When people started running from the scene, the shooting continued onto the next block and Tacarra was struck. Chicago Police First Deputy Superintendent John Escalante called the shooting a "heinous crime" and asked for community members who may know something to say something. "This is unacceptable," he said. "This is a child, like any other child in the city of Chicago, who should be able to enjoy a warm summer day and play in front of her house and play on her porch with her family." Tacarra is one of more than 20 children under the age of 13 to be shot in the city this year. What to Know The mother of a Fort Myers club shooting victim had encouraged her son to stay safe after recent shootings, including in Orlando. Stephanie White clutched a stack of photos while sitting in a chair in her home. The television was on, loud, and turned to the local news. A story came on about the mass shooting at a nightclub that took her baby's life. "My son,'' said White, tired and dejected Monday afternoon. She waved a hand at the television. "There's another picture of him.'' Her son was one of two teenagers killed early Monday at Club Blu in Fort Myers, Florida, the latest in a string of mass shootings across the nation this summer. With the Orlando massacre at the Pulse nightclub still fresh on her mind, White had advised her 18-year-old on what to do if there was a shooting: "Hit the floor; find a table.'' But when gunfire erupted in the parking lot of the nightclub, 18-year-old Stef'an Strawder didn't have anywhere to hide. He was killed along with a 14-year-old boy. Seventeen people ranging in age from 12 to 27 were wounded during the swimsuit-themed party for teens. "I told him to look for all the exits if any kind of shooting would go off, to hit the floor, find a table and get out of the way ... because I thought about the people in Orlando. That was a big thing,'' White told The Associated Press. Because the shooting happened in the parking lot, "he didn't have that chance,'' she said. Florida is again reeling from a mass shooting at a nightclub, but instead of being committed by an extremist spouting Islamist ideology, this rampage may have started with an argument about a rap performance. Police have not yet released a motive. Monday's shooting was followed by a visit from the governor, makeshift memorials of flowers and prayer vigils. "It's difficult to understand and difficult to wrap your brain around,'' said Teresa Furlough, an elementary school teacher and the mother of three children, ages 18, 16 and 15, none of whom were at the club. Furlough attended one of three vigils Monday evening. "We're pro-life when it comes to certain situations, but we're not pro-life for every situation,'' she said. "These people didn't respect the sanctity of life.'' The shooting at a venue tucked in a strip mall also left 14-year-old Sean Archilles dead, and a state grappling with another tragedy. The massacre at Orlando's Pulse nightclub last month killed 49 patrons and wounded dozens. Fort Myers interim Police Chief Dennis Eads said the Club Blu shooting was not an act of terrorism. Police detained three people and were searching for others, he added. In a news release, officials said they investigated two suspicious vehicles near the club in the aftermath of the shooting; one vehicle fled and led officers on a chase, eventually stopping. Two men ran from the car, the release said, and the driver accelerated toward officers, one of whom shot the man in the abdomen. That man, who was treated and released from a hospital, was charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and fleeing. The two men who fled out of the car were charged with resisting arrest. Police haven't said whether the men were involved in the shooting. The chief declined to give a motive for the shooting or discuss details, saying the investigation is ongoing. The club shooting happened about 12:30 a.m. Monday, just as the club was closing and parents were picking up their children. Security guard Brandy Mclaughlin, who was hired for the event, said she saw someone with a semi-automatic rifle open fire, with the attack sounding like "firecrackers.'' "The rapper was upset, someone not being able to perform,'' she said. "It wasn't targeted, terrorist or gays, or anything like that. It wasn't a black or white situation. It was an idiot. An idiot with a firearm.'' Club owner Cheryl Filardi, who said she was in the back room when the shots rang out, said at least 10 security guards were hired for the party - two in the parking lot, one or two at the door and the rest floating inside. She said the club has had four or five teen parties over the past half-dozen years, and this was the second one this summer. She said the parties are something positive for a rough and often-violent neighborhood. "To be honest with you, every day someone's getting shot in this area. These days in Lee County, somebody's always shooting,'' Filardi said. "If we do teen parties, we always have a ton of security and we've never had a problem.'' State records show this wasn't the first time violence had broken out at Club Blu. Department of Business and Professional Regulation records show two separate shootings occurred just outside the club on the same night in May 2015. Two men were each shot in the leg but told police they did not want to press charges. Although beer posters still hung in its windows, Club Blu's alcohol license was revoked June 7 because of issues related to its business records, regulators said. The heat and humidity could be dangerous for some sensitive groups, especially the elderly. On Monday, NBC Connecticut got a first hand look at how medical professionals are making sure those groups are protected. Crews followed Megen Parrillo, a registered home care nurse for Hartford Hospital. She said she sees about six patients a day, some who need hospice care. Over the next several days, Parrillo has to keep in mind how her patients are being affected by the heat. So for instance it being 95 plus degrees, we want to make sure theyre hydrated, we want to make sure they have a family contact in case something happens like a power outage. Do they have air conditioning? Said Parrillo. Parrillo visited one of her Cromwell patients, Catherine Pratt who is receiving home case as she battles cancer. She checked to see if her air conditioning was on -- it was, thanks to friends and neighbors whove been checking on her. Parrillo then took Pratt's blood pressure. She noticed it was low and became concerned. Okay, so if you sit there at that low pressure then Im not so worried, but again, it being very hot out [you] definitely want you to drink as much as you can without feeling like youre going to get sick, Parrillo said. Pratt assured us Parrillo makes sure she's hydrated. If you have any sick or elderly neighbors, Parrillo recommends you to check-in with that person. Police said a 7-year-old boy reported missing from Carson Beach in South Boston on Tuesday afternoon has been found dead. The Coast Guard said the Kyzr Willis, of Dorchester, was reported missing from the L Street Bath House in South Boston by his parents around 3 p.m. He was last seen about an hour earlier from a summer day camp. After an extensive search by street patrols, K9 units, state police and Coast Guard air wings, the boy was found in the water near the beach house where he had gone missing. State and local police are searching the waters off South Boston for a missing boy. "We found the young boy in the water unfortunately and he was declared deceased," Police Commissioner William Evans said in an evening news conference. "Obviously our hearts break for the family." Evans said the boy had left the area on foot. The reason he left is not clear. He was reportedly playing with friends and brothers before he disappeared. Here's a picture of the missing child from Carson Beach.We ask anyone who sees him to call 911. Kyzr Willis - age 8 pic.twitter.com/2BRAHytFyf Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) July 26, 2016 "We're obviously going to conduct a major investigation into what happened here," Evans said. "The is the worst part of our job - dealing with a tragic death like this." Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, who is on his way home from the Democratic National Convention, expressed his sympathy in a statement: "The City of Boston is devastated to learn of the tragic loss of Kyzr Willis, and I will be working closely with Boston Centers for Youth and Families and the Boston Police Department until we know exactly what happened. My heart is broken for the Willis family and my thoughts and prayers will be with them." Carson Beach is a public beach located in the area of 1663 Columbia Ave. and maintained by the state. Donald Trump is running against Hillary Clinton, not her husband, but he has not shied from attacking the former president over his sexual misconduct. He accused Bill Clinton of rape during an interview in May with Fox News' Sean Hannity, tweeted that Clinton was "the WORST abuser of women in U.S. political history" and called Hillary Clinton an enabler who tried to destroy the women with whom her husband had affairs. Democrats turned to the former president to make a case for Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday -- and he did, not only as a fighter for children and families, but also as his wife. "In the spring of 1971, I met a girl," he began, and went on to describe trying to convince her to marry him. "We've been walking and talking and laughing together ever since," he said. "And we've done it in good times and bad, through joy and heartbreak.We've built up a lifetime of memories." But Trump wants to remind everyone of Clinton's seamier side and by Wednesday had said: "He left out the most interesting chapter. I won't get into that. The chapter that I really waited for -- because it was really boring -- the chapter I waited for, I never heard. And he left it out." Trump's impassioned supporters and the many Clinton haters among them might approve, but the Republican nominee is struggling to appeal to women. How will they react to denigrating Hillary Clinton over her husband's infidelities? Oda Tejeba, a Democrat from Queens, New York, who said she would vote for Clinton, does not like it. She called the line of attack petty. "Thats like a sucker hit," Tejeba said. "She was humiliated publicly," she said of Clinton. "If she can get past that, she can do anything." But Elizabeth Smith, an Ohio alternate delegate for Gov. John Kasich at the Republican National Convention last week, said that if she thought Hillary Clinton were an outstanding candidate with whom she agreed on other issues, she would probably dismiss the infidelities. As it is, the Clintons' behavior is a nagging problem for her. "You can go back and see whether she was instrumental or not," said Smith, a civil trial lawyer who said she would probably vote for Trump because she wanted to support the Republicans. "They trashed Monica Lewinsky." Smith said she did not excuse the behavior of Lewinsky, the White House intern with whom Bill Clinton had a relationship, but noted that she was only 22 at the time. "[Hillary Clinton's] a smart woman," Smith said. "They talk. Hillary could have done something to pull back on that and they could have pushed it aside but the fact that they didn't as a team tells me something." Polls show a striking gender gap between Clinton and Trump. Recent NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls of three battleground states show Clinton outpolling Trump among women in Iowa, Ohio and Pennsylvania by 16 percentage points or more. Trump leads among men by a similar margin in Iowa and Ohio, though not in Pennsylvania. Women appalled that Trump would try to hold Clinton responsible for her husband's behavior are for the most part voting for Democrats, said Christina Wolbrecht, an associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. Those open to the line of attack are for the most part not. "Frankly I think theres a big chunk of the electorate that just doesn't care," she said. "It's not clear to me that there's a group of independent women for whom this is going to be the thing." Once presidential nominees are chosen, partisanship usually determines how 90 percent of the people vote, she said. "But we're in uncharted territory here," she said. "We've never had a woman at the top of the ticket." At the Republican convention last week, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani joined enthusiastically in denouncing the Clintons. He called Bill Clinton "a predator president" and charged Hillary Clinton had gone after his accusers as head of "the bimbo squad." "You don't care about women, you don't care about feminism," Giuliani said of Hillary Clinton during a breakfast for the New York delegates on Thursday. "You don't even care about your own dignity. All you care about is power." Sharon Day, co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, tried to counter accusations that the attacks on Clinton, the first woman named as the presumptive candidate of a major party, were sexist. "As first lady, you viciously attacked the character of women who were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of your husband," she said. "I want to see a woman become president one day, and I want my granddaughters to see a woman president, but not that woman, Hillary Clinton. Not now, not ever." The attacks are meant to mobilize Trump's supporters and remind them how corrupt they found the Clintons. "It's a base mobilizing thing," Wolbrecht said. "And then often with your opposition it's not so much that you're trying to convince them to vote for you so much as plant enough doubt and uncertainty and discomfort that you dampen down that enthusiasm." Trump himself has been married three times. His first marriage to Ivana came to an end after he had begun an affair with Marla Maples, later his second wife. In an interview with Chris Cuomo on CNN in May, said Trump had started criticizing Hillary Clinton in retaliation, after she played the "womans card." "She is playing the woman's card to the hilt," Trump said. "She is going, I watched over the weekend, everything is about 'woman' and 'Donald Trump raised his voice.' And you know it's all nonsense. You know what? Women understand it better than anybody." A video released by the Trump campaign showed Bill Clinton chomping on a cigar with audio from two women who accused him of sexual assault: Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick. It ends with a photo of Hillary and Bill Clinton with Hillary Clinton laughing. "Here we go again?" it asked. Pressed by Cuomo about why he was talking about Bill Clinton's infidelities rather than the issues women care about, he defended his attacks. "He was impeached," Trump said of Clinton. "And then he lied about it." Clinton was impeached on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice but was acquitted by the U.S. Senate. The Clinton campaign has described the attacks as a way to distract from the election's issues and. Logan Nevonen, a 23-year-old Republican convention delegate from Texas who supported U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, said she did not approve of the attacks on Clinton. "I don't appreciate that rhetoric, getting at women with sexist comments and things," she said. "He diminishes everything I stand for." Trump does not yet have her vote, she said. To earn it, he would have to be less hostile, she said. Elaine Mcfalos, a Democrat from North Carolina who will vote for Trump, said during a visit to New York City that she did not find Hillary Clinton trustworthy but not because of Bill Clinton's scandals. "She's a strong woman and everybody in this world has had problems like that," Mcfalos said. "So that doesnt define her." But she thought Clinton should have been punished for her use of a personal server for her professional emails while secretary of state, she said. "Her integrity is in question in my mind," she said. Another woman, Marcia Freeman of Queens, New York, will vote for Clinton. The criticism directed against her is wrong, she said. "Any man can cheat," she said. "A marriage is a marriage. I'm a Christian and you forgive and forget." Freeman said she was "Hillary all the way," and called Trump a racist. Hillary Clinton weathered similar attacks when she first ran for office for a New York senate seat, against Giuliani. Giuliani ultimately dropped out of the race after he announced he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was separating from his second wife. In an MSNBC interview, Giuliani repeated his criticism of Hillary Clinton's behavior. "Very few women would attack Monica Lewinsky for three or four months when it turned out that Monica Lewinsky was quite correct and her husband had in fact taken advantage of her," Giuliani said. "Very few women would do that and to pose as a feminist and to say you care about women who are victims makes you in my view a phony." A man was fatally shot inside an Arlington apartment early Tuesday morning after a group of people knocked on his door and opened fire, police say.[[388233532,C]] Arlington police said the victim later identified as 32-year-old Leroy Miller was at another man's apartment in the 500 block of North Oak Street when they heard a knock on the door. Miller opened the door and was shot twice, according to police. He was transported to Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead just before 2 a.m. Police said the apartment resident injured his ankle when he jumped from the upstairs apartment to the ground while trying to escape the gunfire. The group who knocked on the door, including the shooter, remain at large, according to authorities. Police said they think the shooting was drug related. Anyone with information is asked to contact Homicide Detective Ben Lopez at 817-459-5373. Tipsters can also remain anonymous by contact Tarrant County Crime Stoppers at 817-469-TIPS. A volunteer is accused of sexually abusing children at a North Richland Hills church. Police are investigating three complaints of sexual abuse of children, two of which allegedly happened at Saint John the Apostle Church on Glenview Drive. All three complaints involve children who, at the time of the alleged misconduct, were between the ages of five and 10. Now, officers say the victims are teenagers. "We've had allegations of sexual misconduct and we take them seriously. But we also need information and evidence to move forward," said North Richland Hills Police Investigator Keith Bauman. "There are three specific situations that we are looking into." Two instances of sexual misconduct allegedly happened inside the Catholic church during evening prayer meetings. The third child was sexually victimized allegedly in Colleyville. Colleyville police have also joined the investigation. "As far as were aware, the three allegations are from several years ago. That does not mean the case will stay that way. We dont know the scope, if its going to grow," Bauman said. It is the same person allegedly responsible for all three instances of abuse. The person was a Saint John's Church volunteer. Police aren't saying if this person still lives locally or still attends worship services at the church. Sunday, a representative from the Fort Worth Diocese read a statement during church services, informing worshipers about the investigation and asking any other victims to come forward. I am Deacon Rigoberto Leyva, from the Central Offices of the Diocese of Fort Worth. I am here today on behalf of Bishop Michael Olson, who asked me to speak at each Mass this weekend. The Diocese of Fort Worth has received reports very recently of sexual abuse of children by a layman who is a member of St. John the Apostle parish. The abuse is alleged to have occurred over the last seven or so years. The allegations of sexual abuse do not involve a priest, or a deacon, but, instead, a lay volunteer. All authorities have been notified. An investigation is under way. The allegations have come from several victims. Some of the alleged abuse of minors is reported to have taken place on St. John the Apostle church property, during evening prayer meetings. The Diocese of Fort Worth asks anyone in St. John parish who has been abused in any setting, or if anyone has a family member or friend who has been abused at St. John the Apostle parish or by a layman who attends St. John the Apostle Catholic Church, please contact the diocesan Victims Assistant Office at the Victims Assistance Hotline: 817-945-9345 or the Victim Assistance Direct Line: 817-602-5119. I would also invite anyone from this parish who has been abused by any priest, deacon, employee or volunteer of the Church in any circumstance to contact Chancellor and Moderator of the Curia, Msgr. E. James Hart, so that the Church can reach out to you. Msgr. Hart can be reached at 817-945-4313. It is not easy to speak about the reports of abuse to a parish community. It is important, however, for you to know that the Diocese is ready to reach out to those who have been hurt and need help, that we might assist in any way we can. Thank you and God Bless. The abuse is not ongoing and has not happened in the recent past, according to police. In fact, investigators say the instances of abuse may have happened up to seven years ago. Police did not reveal the genders of anyone involved. It's unclear if the victims know each other or had recently spoken to each other. Police are not commenting on why they came forward now. Police say that while they were first made aware of the allegations two weeks ago, they didn't feel comfortable coming forward to the media or the public because the investigation was so new. "The children need an advocate. So if grown-ups dont protect the children, then nobody will," Bauman said. "But at the same time, we dont want to accuse an individual of a crime they didnt commit. So, we dont know where this case is going to lead." However, because the Diocese addressed the ongoing investigation during a Sunday worship service, police felt it proper to at least acknowledge the few details that they are able to share. Though evacuations have been lifted for most of the 20,000 people displaced by the Sand Fire raging through the Santa Clarita Valley, some residents won't have homes to return to. Little is left of the 18 homes burned in the fire. In a few, all that's recognizable are metal appliances. The homes of three firefighters were damaged in the blaze. Tanya Robledo, whose husband James is a firefighter, said she doesn't know what to do now that her home is gone. "It's devastating and it's shocking," Robledo said. "You don't know what's going to come next." Pat and Kathy McCrary were able to salvage a few items from the remains of their home of 18 years. Sculptures their son made when he was 10 were burned, but intact. A burned-out fireplace was all that was left of their living room, a space Kathy said held nearly two decades of memories. "Our main family area was right there," she said. "This was where my daughter grew up." "This was a beautiful place to live, until this happened," Pat said. The McCrarys managed to save a few pictures before they were forced to evacuate. Now they are searching for other valuables they had to leave behind. "I had a curio cabinet that was filled with collectibles," Kathy said. "I collected a lot of brass, and I'm finding just bits and pieces of that." Pat was relieved to find that his motorcycle survived the fire. "I had to get my Harley," he said. "It's perfect." Some residents were concerned that items that survived the fire might not be there when they get back. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department said more than 140 deputies are patrolling the area to make sure nothing is stolen while residents are away. The U.S. Forest Service said homeowners' losses will be fully covered through a claims process. At least three families living in the damaged homes are not owners. Senior firefighter Sergio Toscano with the Little Tujunga Hotshots was on an assignment when he learned his house had been destroyed Saturday by the Sand Fire in the Angeles National Forest. Toscano was fighting a fire in the Cleveland National Forest near San Diego at the time his home was destroyed. Toscano's friend and colleague, Brandon Opliger, set up a Go Fund Me page for Toscano and his family. In the one day the site has been up over $16,000 of $30,000 goal has been raised, with over 260 unique donors. Toscano discovered the Go Fund Me page and wishes to split funds with the family of two other firefighters that lost their homes in the same fire. Toscano has a young son who was with his mother during the fire. The Sand fire has burned more than 58 square miles and at least 18 homes in the Santa Clarita Valley north of Los Angeles. It was 25 percent contained Monday morning. What to Know Trump tweeted after Booker's DNC speech that if the NJ senator was the future of the party, the party has no future Cory Booker said he doesn't want to answer Trump's "hate with hate" The senator used his speech to call for Democrats to unite around Hillary Clinton Cory Booker on Tuesday responded to a tweet posted by Donald Trump following the New Jersey senator's Democratic convention speech, saying he prays for Trump and hopes he finds kindness in his heart. Trump tweeted Monday that if Booker is the future of the Democratic party, the Democrats have no future. Trump said he knows "more about Cory than he knows about himself." "He wants us to be speculating. It sounds so sinister," Booker said Tuesday on CNN. "I don't care, I love you Donald. I pray for you. I hope that you find some kindness in your heart, that you're not going to be somebody that spews out insults to your political opposition, that you're going to find some way to love." Booker used his speech to call for Democrats to unite around Hillary Clinton. He also took shots at Trump's business record, saying the Republican presidential candidate got rich while his Atlantic City casino companies declared multiple bankruptcies. Trump's daughter Ivanka has donated in the past to Booker's campaigns. Booker said that he doesn't want to answer Trump's "hate with hate," and wants to "answer it with love." "I love you. I just don't want him to be my president," Booker said. "I don't want you to have the White House to be spewing that kind of mean-spirited hate that doesn't even belong in a playground sandbox." Booker says that he will continue attacking Trump's policies on the campaign trail for Clinton. 17:02 (GMT+4) A doctor has been killed after being shot by a gunman who subsequently killed himself at a university clinic in Berlin. Police say the situation in the southwest of the capital is now under control and is not related to terrorism, RT reported. 15:43 (GMT+4) A shooting has taken place in Berlin with a doctor coming under fire, the Sputnik International news agency reported. The attacker shot himself dead, German Bild.de reported. Police have arrived at the scene. The shooting reportedly occurred at the University Hospital in the German capital's Steglitz district at around 11:00 GMT. 15:32 (GMT+4) A shooting has been reported at a Berlin hospital, RT reported. A 23-year-old Miami man is behind bars after being charged in the deadly wrong way wreck that killed a student from South Florida and severely injuring her brother. Franklin Chavez was arrested Monday afternoon and charged with three counts, including DUI manslaughter, for the December 13th accident on I-95 in Miami that killed 23-year-old Carmen Criales instantly. She was driving to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and heading to New Jersey, where she was set to begin orientation for medical school. Her brother, 22-year-old Bryan Criales, was seriously hurt in the crash and is still dealing with severe brain trauma. Their mother was also in the vehicle, but has recovered from her injuries. In March, the Florida Highway Patrol said Chavez had a blood alcohol level of .046, which is below the legal limit. The case handed over to the State Attorney's Office, who decided to charge him after more evidence was presented. Philadelphia Eagles linebacker and former Florida State University star Nigel Bradham was arrested following an incident at a Miami Beach hotel. Bradham, who plays for the Eagles but lives in South Florida during the offseason, turned himself in to Miami Beach police on Monday after allegedly assaulting a worker at the Hilton Bentley hotel last Thursday. According to a Miami Beach Police incident report, the 26-year-old was among a group of six people who started arguing with the employee over the time it took for the worker to bring them an umbrella they had paid for. The verbal argument escalated to a physical altercation. The worker, 50-year-old Jean Courtois, told NBC 6 he needed a drill to fix the umbrella but apparently wasn't moving fast enough for Bradham. "I saw the drill, then I'm going to try to take the drill to come to fix the umbrella for them," Courtois said. "He say 'hey, I pay my money for me to set up for me to fix the chair for me. You don't want to fix the umbrella for me.' Then I say 'ok, I'm going to try to take care of it for you.' Then he hit me in my head." A glass bottle was allegedly broken over Courtois' head, causing cuts and lacerations, including one to the back of his head, the incident report charges. Courtois said his nose is broken and his left eye is swollen shut as a result of the attack. An arrest report claims Bradham "without provocation, struck the victim in the nose with a closed fist, causing the victim to fall to the ground." The six people then fled the scene, running toward Ocean Drive and entering a vehicle before speeding away, authorities said. A phone was discovered at the scene, which was turned over to police as evidence along with a receipt showing Bradham paid for the umbrella with his credit card. The Eagles said in a statement that the team is aware of the incident and have been in contact with Bradham and the "proper authorities." "Due to the ongoing legal process, we will have no further comment at this time, the Eagles added. Cars were parked in the driveway at Bradham's home in Miramar Tuesday but no one answered the door. Bradham was an All-ACC linebacker during his senior season at Florida State before being drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 2012. After four seasons, Bradham signed a two-year deal with the Eagles earlier this year. It was not immediately clear if Bradham had an attorney. Police continued their search Monday for a Miami toddler who's been missing since last November and is feared dead. Detectives passed out flyers Monday evening with a picture of little Angela Dufrene, who would be two years old now. On Thursday, the girl's mother, Marjorie Dufrene, told a Miami-Dade judge that the girl had died and "was no longer with us," the Miami Herald reported. The 30-year-old mother said her daughter died "sometime last year," the Herald reported. Sources told the Herald that the mother provided investigators with conflicting accounts of what happened to her daughter. In one version, the girl suffered a fatal fall and her mother discarded the body in a dumpster, the report said. Authorities hope Angela is still alive and are continuing their search for her. She's listed as "endangered" on the police flyer. Dufrene hasn't been charged with a crime. In an email to NBC 6 Friday, Florida Department of Children and Families officials confirmed that the mother had a history with the state's child welfare system, but said the details are confidential. "We are very concerned about the well-being of this child," DCF wrote in statement Thursday. "The department has initiated a child protective investigation regarding the circumstances that led to the disappearance of the child and we will continue to work closely with law-enforcement." Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Miami Police at 305-397-4795. What to Know Prosecutors allege the landlord and contractors wanted the family out so they could renovate the apartment to command higher rent The trio began construction on the building -- removing floors, walls and fire escapes -- while the family still lived there, court docs say Defendants also threatened to reveal the family's status as undocumented immigrants, according to court papers A landlord and two contractors intentionally created "life-threatening" conditions at an East Harlem apartment to push a couple and their five young children out of their rent-stabilized home, prosecutors say. The landlord and East 115th Street building owner, Ephraim Vashovsky, along with property manager and contractor Adam Cohen, 32, and contractor Shaoul Ohana, 56, allegedly made conditions perilous and unlivable for the parents and their children, who range in age from 1 to 12, including leaving them without water and heat and the building at risk of structural collapse. According to an indictment announced Tuesday, the trio conducted ongoing illegal construction and renovation at the apartment, and harassed and intimidated the family, threatening to report their status as undocumented immigrants, in a conspiratorial effort to get them to leave or pay more. "These defendants are charged with turning an East Harlem apartment building into a death trap, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said in a statement. They forced a family with five young children to endure life-threatening conditions on some of winters coldest nights. As demolition continued around apartment 5E, the entire building was at risk of a devastating fire, or worse, collapse." The alleged concerted effort against the family began shortly after Vashovsky acquired the building in May 2014, according to court documents. Vashovsky and his associates wanted the family out so they could make renovations to the building that would allow the units to command higher rents, court papers say. Amid pending eviction proceedings and litigation, the defendants moved to begin construction while the family still inhabited the apartment. In an effort to expedite the Department of Buildings work permit applications submitted by Ohana, Cohen allegedly submitted falsified documents purporting that the building was unoccupied, while the defendants simultaneously moved for the familys eviction in housing court on the grounds that the apartment was overcrowded, court documents say. Based on the falsified filings, DOB approved a work permit in December 2014. From the start of construction until March 2015, when the DOB ordered the building vacated, the defendants are charged with recklessly endangering the lives of the tenants and their children through ongoing construction and demolition. Prosecutors say the defendants knowingly created gravely dangerous living conditions, including the risk of an entire building collapse, by removing structural and load-bearing elements. During demolition, the defendants allegedly removed critical fire retardant materials, fire escapes and internal walls and floors creating the risk of someone falling multiple stories. They also purposefully failed to address or only partially addressed critical violations, including the lack of electricity, heat, hot water, and running water, the indictment says. During this time, Vashovsky and Cohen collected and deposited the familys rent checks while failing to meet the terms of their lease, prosecutors say. Vashovsky is also charged with continuing to deposit more than $1,000 in checks issued in the familys name by the New York City Department of Social Services to subsidize the familys rent payments. Vashovsky cashed the last check from the DSS on May 8, 2015, two months after the family vacated the apartment, the indictment says. Vashovsky and Cohen are also accused of endangering the lives of the site's construction workers from February of this year until the DOB issued a full stop work order in March. Information on attorneys for Vashovsky, Cohen and Ohana weren't immediately available. The 20-count indictment charges them with varying degrees of reckless endangerment, coercion, grand larceny, conspiracy, endangering the welfare of a child and other crimes. The Manhattan District Attorneys Offices Asset Forfeiture Unit has filed a civil forfeiture lawsuit against the indicted defendants and their companies, seeking the forfeiture of more than $3 million in connection with the criminal case. A 19-year-old man is facing charges of making a terroristic threat after he allegedly announced that he had explosives on a New Jersey Transit train, authorities said. The man, whose name wasn't disclosed by Port Authority police, was taken into custody Monday evening after the train was stopped and searched by bomb-sniffing dogs. About 800 people were aboard the North Jersey Coast Line train. The man, who had been traveling with his father, was taken to an area hospital for a mental evaluation, police said. A 23-year-old man was shot and killed in Queens on Monday night, according to the NYPD. The man was shot at a home on 157th Street, near Brinkerhoff Avenue, around 9:30 p.m. When officers arrived, they found the man with a gunshot would to his back. He was rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The victim's identity has been withheld pending the notification of his family. Police said no arrests have been made and that an investigation is ongoing. What to Know The alleged thieves are accused of using blow torches to cut into banks in Queens and Brooklyn earlier this year. The two banks lost about $5 million in cash and valuables in the heists. The suspects charged Tuesday had been under FBI surveillance since 2014 Bank burglars reminded New York's top police official of a Hollywood movie as they pulled off two nighttime heists, snatching about $5 million in cash, diamonds, jewelry, coins and baseball cards from safe deposit boxes before they were caught, authorities said Tuesday as they announced the arrest of three men. NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton credited "painstaking persistence" by investigators left with few clues as they looked into a string of recent bank burglaries. He said they learned that plywood used by the burglars was bought at a nearby Home Depot and that torches from a Brooklyn welder were used to poke into bank vaults. "These heists resembled scenes from the movie 'Heat' the work of a crew that was well organized, meticulous, and elusive to law enforcement," Bratton said. Evidence in the case will include surveillance footage of the men as they prepared for and carried out the burglaries, as well as video surveillance of two of the men buying supplies used in one of the burglaries, authorities said. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the burglars used the darkness of night in an April attack against an HSBC Bank in Brooklyn and a May break-in at the Maspeth Federal Savings Bank in Queens to blowtorch their way through roofs and into the vaults of the banks. "Through their brazen bank heists, the defendants allegedly stole not just people's money, but their memories too, leaving in their destructive wake gaping holes and looted vaults," Bharara said. Bharara credited the NYPD and FBI for teaming up on the arrests of Michael Mazzara, 44, Charles Kerrigan, 40, and Anthony Mascuzzio, 36, all of Brooklyn. They were charged with conspiracy to commit bank burglary and bank burglary. Mazzara's attorney, Sam Talkin, said Mazzara denies the charges and maintains his innocence. A lawyer for Kerrigan also said his client was innocent. It was not immediately clear who would represent Mascuzzio when all three men appeared in Manhattan federal court Tuesday. At an initial appearance in Manhattan federal court Tuesday, bail was set at $150,000 for Charles Kerrigan and $2 million for Michael Mazzara. Electronic monitoring was ordered for both. Bail was not immediately requested for the third suspect. On a bank roof in Queens, the burglars left behind empty safe deposit boxes, grinding wheels and a fuel tank for a cutting torch. Near a hole in the roof was a black plywood structure that the burglars apparently built to shield themselves from view. In Brooklyn, the burglars cut interior vault alarm wires along with phone wires a block away, authorities said. Investigators said they relied in part on telephone and financial records, cellphone data and a confidential source to build their case. Two teenagers spray-painted graffiti on more than two dozen cars belonging to a Long Island dealership, causing an estimated $111,000 in damage, police said Monday. Nassau County police released an image of the two suspects captured by a surveillance camera at a parking garage at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream. The suspects entered the garage Sunday and spray-painted a racial slur to the garage walls and floor, as well as on 28 vehicles belonging to Advantage Toyota, investigators said. The cars were parked on the fourth level of the garage. Anyone with information about the suspects is asked to contact Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS. French President Francois Hollande said that the Europe is subjected to unprecedented threat from Islamist militants following a deadly Daesh hostage crisis in Normandy. Two knife-wielding men stabbed a priest to death after taking five people hostage inside a church in a small commune near Rouen. Daesh, banned in many countries including Russia, claimed responsibility for the murder. He said that war against terrorism will be long but France will win it. "This will be a long war. Its target is our democracy, but it will be our shiled. We should be united, and unity is our strength. Let us unite, all of us, Frenchmen and Frenchwomen. I assure you, we will win this war. Long live France!" He noted that "killing a priest and attacking a church means attacking entire France." According to the media reports, one of the attackers tried to go to Syria via Turkey in 2015 but was detained and extradited to France, where he was put in prison. "The terrorists want to divide us, to disunite us, to make us oppose one another, to hurt us. Facing this threat, which has never been this serious in France and in Europe, the government reaffirms its determination to fight against terrorism, using all the human and technical resources," Hollande added. Daesh is notorious for its human rights atrocities and brutal tactics, such as public beheadings and the stoning of women. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told NBC News on Monday "there is no proof whatsoever" that his organization got almost 20,000 hacked Democratic National Committee emails from Russian intelligence adding it's what's in the emails that's important, not who got them. Three cybersecurity experts have told NBC News that the DNC's servers were hacked by Russian intelligence. But Assange said Monday that DNC servers have been riddled with security holes for years and that many sets of documents from multiple sources are now in public hands, NBC News reported. Information in some DNC email messages led to the ouster of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Assange remains in exile in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid prosecution on sexual assault charges in Sweden. He denies the charges. Music producer and entrepreneur Andre "Dr. Dre" Young was briefly handcuffed after deputies responded to a report of a confrontation outside his Malibu home. Young was accused of pointing a gun at a man Monday morning outside the home on Pacific Coast Highway, authorities said. The man told deputies the rapper pointed a gun at him and told him to leave while he was stopped in his car on PCH, according to the department. Young told deputies the man was in front of his home, blocking his driveway, and that he asked the man to leave. The 51-year-old artist was searched, handcuffed and briefly detained in a patrol car while deputies investigated the claims, according to the sheriff's department. Deputies said Young was cooperative with deputies and consented to a search. Young claimed the man drove away after the initial encounter, but immediately returned and parked near the same location. Young said he pulled out his cellphone and started recording the man, who then drove away, and denied threatening the man, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The man insisted Young had a handgun, but a weapon was not found at the scene, authorities said. Young was not arrested or taken into custody by deputies, but the other man initiated a private person's arrest of Young for misdemeanor brandishing a firearm, according to the sheriff's department. Young received a citation and was not transported to the station. A representative for Young did not immediately return a request for comment from The Associated Press. Pink for girls. Truck motifs for boys. A growing number of parents want to get outside those parameters when it comes to dressing their kids. Kristin Higgins was adamant about not pushing "girly" stereotypes on her daughter, and painted her room in shades of green. Higgins later dressed her up in superhero costumes. But as her daughter got older, it took more work to locate items that broke the mold. For "Star Wars"-themed pajamas, she had to go to the boys' section. "It's hard to find gender-neutral clothing," said Higgins, 35, of Little Rock, whose daughter is now 6. "I want her to just get up and put on the clothing without thinking of putting on a costume, an identity." Shopping for her 7-month-old son, Higgins finds clothes mainly have pictures like fire engines or sharks. What about cats, cupcakes or hearts, she wonders. For parents looking for clothes that defy gender norms, the options for back-to-school shopping are still limited but they're growing. Some big retailers like Lands' End and Zara are making small changes to their offerings, while some frustrated parents have launched their own companies to make the items they wanted to find. "There is really a sharp divide between what is considered girls' stuff and what's considered boys' stuff," said Courtney Hartman. She started Seattle-based Jessy & Jack, a collection of unisex T-shirts for kids that have robots and dinosaurs, and Free to Be Kids, where a shirt with the slogan, "I'm a Cat Guy" comes in blue, gray and yellow. Companies like Jessy & Jack and a collection called Princess Awesome, where dresses have trains and planes, are among nearly 20 online brands that formed a campaign called Clothes Without Limits last year that they're reprising for the back-to-school season. Still, many of the items are not cheap T-shirts at $20 can be pricey for growing kids. Bigger companies are offering some options, after similar shifts in the toy and bedding aisles to more neutral signs and products. Lands' End launched a line of science T-shirts two years ago after a customer complained on social media that there was only one version for boys. As part of its new Cat & Jack brand of children's clothing that kids helped design, Target offers unisex-fit T-shirts online with slogans like, "Smart & Strong" and "Future Astronaut." And fast-fashion chain Zara launched a collection in March for teens and older called "Ungendered" under its TRF line, which focuses on basics like T-shirts, sweatshirts and jeans. Experts and parents also notice that some images like dinosaurs are popping up on girls' clothing under the Boden brand and others. More has changed for girls' clothes than for boys, but the vast majority of children's clothing is still gender-specific, says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at market research group NPD Group Inc. Martine Zoer, who founded Seattle-based Quirkie Kids because her sons wanted to wear pink, said that in response to her selling unisex shirts in that hue, she says she got emails saying "boys should not wear pink as it would turn them gay." [[125083194, C]] A good portion of children's clothing buyers are grandparents who tend to embrace more traditional ideas, says Cohen, who doesn't expect large-scale change until the next generation starts having children. "Once we get past the cultural discussion, that's when you'll see the (major) brands step out," Cohen said. "No one wants to risk the chance of rocking the boat." Chris Guerin of Portland, Oregon, says teaching his mother-in-law to buy clothes that don't reinforce gender stereotypes is a work in progress. "When she goes shopping with Nana, she comes back with princess (outfits) and tiaras," Guerin says of his 3-year-old daughter. "We don't care for that. But it's hard to bring up the issue." The differences crystallized in the late 1980s, according to Jo B. Paoletti, a professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland and author of "Pink and Blue: Telling the Girls from the Boys in America." Paoletti noticed it when buying clothing for her daughter, who was born in 1982, and her son, four years later. By the mid-1990s, "pink-washing was widespread," she said. Even disposable diapers came in blue and pink. In part, manufacturers and marketers wanted to boost sales to American couples having fewer kids, Paoletti said. She also reasoned that parents were rebelling against the more unisex fashions like corduroy pants they grew up with. But Paoletti said the change is harmful. "It encourages very young children as young as 2 to judge and interact with others in highly stereotyped ways," she said. "We know, based on nearly 50 years of social science research, that stereotyped thinking hurts all of us, whether we are dealing with racial, gender, or any other form of stereotype." Macy's says kids' clothes are generally separated into boys' and girls' sections, but with an array of colors and styles in each. "A lot of kids' apparel today is active sweatpants and sweatshirts, graphic Ts, etc. and are inherently unisex," spokeswoman Holly Thomas said in an email. Stores like J.C. Penney and Nordstrom say they listen to shoppers, but aren't getting customer requests to blur the gender lines. Those behind the new brands say they're seeing the demand. Hartman said annual sales are pushing six-digit figures. Higgins recalled that when her daughter was in day care, she came home crying because some boys made fun of her navy blue sneakers, calling them "boy shoes." She often puts together kid outfits from thrift shops, and as she thumbs through the racks reminds her daughter: "There are no boy colors. There are no girl colors." A Coast Guard recruit from Virginia who collapsed and died after a physical fitness run at a New Jersey training center donated his heart. Twenty-one-year-old Aaron Redd, of Stafford, was an organ donor whose heart helped save another through the Gift of Life Foundation, The Press of Atlantic City reported. His mother, Eileen, said she plans to write a letter to the recipient through the foundation explaining who her son was. "He wanted to save lives and now his incredibly strong, beautiful heart continues to beat on," Redd's family wrote in his obituary. It's unclear why Redd collapsed on July 1 after a 1.5-mile run at the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May. Medical personnel provided immediate aid, but he died five days later at Cape Regional Medical Center. Chief Warrant Officer John Edwards said the Coast Guard's investigation into Redd's death could take several months. Redd was just the second Coast Guard recruit to die at the training center in the past 30 years. His family is asking for donations to be made to the Coast Guard Enlisted Memorial Foundation Inc., a charity raising money to build a memorial in Cape May. "It's to honor the 1,500 Coast Guard enlisted members who lost their lives," Eileen Redd said. "Aaron will be part of that. Our family intends to make sure it's on target. Aaron's motto was always, 'I've got this.' Now we've got this. We're taking on what we can." Besides his parents, Redd left behind two brothers. "In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Coast Guard Enlisted Memorial Foundation, Inc. in Honor of SR Aaron N. Redd of Delta 193 at www.CGEMF.org or send a check to CGEMF, P.O. Box 476, Cape May, NJ 08204," said Redd's obituary. For dozens of police officers posted throughout Philadelphia working details for the Democratic National Convention, relief came on Monday in the form of a food truck. The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, Philadelphia's police union, is sending out trucks in shifts from its Northeast Philadelphia headquarters to deliver food, water and Gatorade to officers working 12-hour shifts. "We try to keep them going," Nick DeNofa, the FOP's legislative chairman, said. He said the first truck heads down to Lot Q near the Wells Fargo Center about 4 a.m. and stays until late afternoon, when a second truck loads up and heads out to the street. On Monday afternoon, FOP Financial Secretary Mike Trask and rep Tom Kutchner, a longtime food truck owner, piled into Kutchner's food truck -- usually stationed somewhere along his route in Port Richmond -- to hand out hot dogs, pretzels, fruit, snacks and drinks to officers around the city. Trask and Kutchner had Monday's second shift. At most every corner in Center City, Kutchner pulled the truck over, hopped out and opened its side and back doors, revealing rows of apples, bags of chips, boxes of Tastykakes and a bucket of Gatorade and bottles of water on ice. Dozens of officers working DNC details from the Pennsylvania Convention Center to City Hall flocked to the truck for something quick to eat in Monday's oppressive heat. "They make it easier for us," Officer Mary Powell, who usually works in Kensington's 24th District but is detailed to the Convention Center for the DNC, said as she stopped by the truck. Powell said the crowds on the DNC's first day weren't bad. "People are beautiful down here," she said. "Everybody's nice." Tom Kutchner, who owns the lunch truck, says he brought 120 hotdogs. Half gone after about an hour. @NBCPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/sqEI2erkY3 Morgan Zalot (@morganzalot) July 25, 2016 By City Hall about 6 p.m., a squad of bike officers stationed to watch over protesters finished the last of Kutchner and Trask's 120 hot dogs just before Monday evening's thunderstorms rolled in. Officers there, too, said protests they saw in that area hadn't been too contentious thus far. FOP officials said that donations started pouring in from the community this week, with civilians and local businesses bringing cases of water and snacks for the officers working the DNC. The garage at the FOP's headquarters is filled with cases of water stacked several feet high, and there's more coming: Cleveland's police union is sending extra water and supplies they have left over from the Republican National Convention there, FOP officials said. Back by the Convention Center, the lunch truck was a welcome sight for Powell and her fellow officers. "I love them," the officer said, grinning. "Everybody's beautiful." Philadelphia is getting a slice of Washington, D.C.'s pizza scene. Fast-casual pizza restaurant concept &pizza has signed a lease for 2,375-square-feet of space at 1430 Walnut St., MSC Retail announced Monday. It will be the pizza concept's first Philadelphia location. The pizza restaurant was founded by Steve Salis and Michael Lastoria, and it launched in Washington in 2012. It is our hope to not only become the neighborhood joint where people will want to dine, stay and play but a partner dedicated to enriching the community, Lastoria said. Philadelphia is such an amazing city with vibrant energy and soul, and we look forward to building on that energy and growing the tribe in the neighborhood. To read the full article, click here. For more business news, visit Philadelphia Business Journal. Editor's note: NBC10.com's Brian X. McCrone is following two delegates at the Democratic National Convention as they navigate the city and the "raucous" convention floor, as one called it. Check back throughout the afternoon and evening for updates on Matthew LaRonge of Wisconsin and Jene Jackson of Colorado.[[388311482, C]] Tuesday Evening - Votes Tallied, Protests Begun, Apologies Sought After nearly seven hours on the floor of the Wells Fargo Center on Day Two of the Democratic National Convention, Matthew LaRonge wasnt happy. His candidate, Bernie Sanders, who LaRonge represented as a delegate from Wisconsin, officially lost to Hillary Clinton two hours earlier. And within the last hour, dozens, perhaps hundreds by some estimates, of Sanders delegates walked out in protest. LaRonge wasnt one of them. Instead, he stayed behind and put up a motion for the DNCs party leadership to apologize onstage about Democratic officials emails exposed by a Wikileaks release last week. I have filed twice now with the party, he said, standing in front of the 90-plus Wisconsin delegates seats. That Wikileaks showed the DNC was actually working with the Clinton campaign, which is illegal, he said, All they basically gave so far is a nonchalant apology on a blog online that no one is going to read.[[388333892,C,600,554]] LaRonge is not a Bernie or Bust delegate, but on the second evening of his first political convention, he looked like a hardened political operative. Would he run as a delegate for the 2020 Democratic National Convention? He said it depends on one big factor. If there is another progressive candidate that excites me, maybe, sure, he said. But I need to know who the candidate is. Two days into his first convention, the 20-something married man from Plover, Wisconsin, now knows who the 2016 candidate is -- and he hopes her party apologizes for its behavior leading up to this political gathering. An apology would go a long way, he said, as he waited for Bill Clinton to take the stage. Well, wait might be a strong word. I dont even like Bill Clinton, he said.[[388333862,C,600,698]] Tuesday Afternoon At 2 p.m., LaRonge hustled into the Marriot Downtown to meet a waiting reporter. Hed missed a workshop he hoped to attend at 1 p.m. Instead, he and other Bernie Sanders delegate whips were trying to track down a rumor that all of Vermonts Sanders delegates were changing their votes to Hillary Clinton. Within minutes, he was getting on a subway at City Hall Station, but he wasnt done wondering about the Vermont delegation. Have you heard anything about Vermont delegates giving their votes to Hillary? He asked other delegates on the subway ride south to the Wells Fargo Center. He would arrive by 2:30, more than an hour and a half before the 4 p.m. Gavel Drop to begin the days convention proceedings. (Reporters note: As of 4:20, the gavel had yet to drop.) About 45 minutes after LaRonge entered the arena, Jackson and two delegate friends from Colorado arrived at the arena. Jackson, her roommate Angelina Hagan, and another delegate ran into Lena Dunham, the creator and star of HBOs Girls, within moments of entering. They found the entrance to their delegation seats on the arena floor, and joined LaRonge in the scrum of an eventual 4,000 delegates - though only a fraction had yet to arrive.[[388311332, C]] Tuesday Early Afternoon LaRonge and Jackson officially cast their vote for Bernie Sanders a couple hours earlier at their delegation breakfasts. The results will be announced later this evening on the floor of the convention. It was very emotional, Jackson said. Its what weve been waiting for. She said the entire time in Philadelphia has been emotional, including the first day on the floor, when she said she uncharacteristically lost her cool at one point during an argument with a Hillary Clinton delegate from Colorado. She saw him this morning at the breakfast. It was an intense breakfast, honestly, she said.[[388285762, C]] After a visit to the La Colombe coffee shop across from City Hall in Center City, the Colorado Springs mother of three headed back to her room for a short nap at Embassy Suites hotel on the Ben Franklin Parkway. Shell be catching a bus or subway down to the Wells Fargo Center for day two of the convention at about 3 p.m. LaRonge, a Sanders delegate representing the 3rd congressional district of Wisconsin, didnt have time for a nap. He attended a workshop called Working Families at a hotel near the Reading Terminal Market. LaRonge visited the market for a short walk through in the morning, and couldnt believe how many options there are. It was a little overwhelming, he said, happy to have so many foods in front of him. We dont have anything like that. As a whip for the Wisconsin delegation, he spent some of his time Tuesday early afternoon meeting with other states leaders. He said the Sanders delegates won some crucial concessions on day one related to the 2020 convention, including the elimination of two-thirds of the super delegates for the Democratic Party in the next presidential election cycle. Thats a big win, he said. After his workshop ends at 2 p.m., hes jumping on a subway to head to the convention. Jackson will head down sometime after 2 p.m. With her roommate for the week, Angelina Hagan, another Colorado delegate. The two became friends during the delegate election process a few months ago.[[388288082, C]] Tuesday Morning Matthew LaRonge wore a suit on the first day of his first political convention, expecting a shuttle bus from his hotel in Center City to the convention at the Wells Fargo Center. Thanks to throngs of protesters blocking the entrances to the Democratic National Convention on day one, however, the young Bernie Sanders delegate from Plover, Wisconsin, had to trudge it from 12th and Arch streets to the subway station at City Hall. "It was a lot of Bernie supporters blocking the entrances," LaRonge witnesses as he got off the subway, then walked a couple hundred yards in the sweltering heat to the Wells Fargo Center. "They were blocking the Bernie delegates, though, too." Today, he decided "to dress casual." He said he actually didn't mind the subway. But he and the rest of the Wisconsin delegation was able to ride a bus back to Center City. There, they went to the Constitution Center to party until 2 a.m. "I'm paying for that now," LaRonge said. He is a delegate whip for his delegation, which means he has some planning meetings before he heads back to the arena for day two. He is also going to a workshop called Working Families at a Center City hotel.[[388177812, C]] The delegates have plenty of meetings to attend this week, and many more optional workshops. Then there are the photo ops, as Colorado delegate Jene Jackson can attest. She got up after also staying out checking out the city until nearly 3 a.m. Tuesday. She sat in La Colombe at noon sipping a double espresso across from City Hall. "We have a group photo with all the Coloroado delegates at 1 p.m., I think in front of the Rocky Statue," she said. What are LaRonge and Jackson expecting today on the floor, as the roll call vote takes place. "The Bernie Sanders campaign told us not to be rude when the roll call happens," LaRonge said. "But when they announce Hillary Clinton is going to be the nominee, it's going to be ugly." A nine-year-old Carlsbad girl was killed and her mother injured in a boating accident on a lake in upstate New York. Charlotte McCue, 9, her mother, and five other family members were boating around 9:30 p.m. Monday when a second boat went right over the top of them, according to Warren County Sheriff Bud York. Their 28-foot boat was struck in what York described as a hit-and-run crash however as of late Tuesday, it was not clear if charges had been filed against the driver. "When you have a nine-year-old little girl who comes to Lake George to enjoy the lake and she doesn't make it home. If there's any criminal element in this case, people will be charged," York said. Sheriff's officials questioned five people who were in the second boat a 22-foot motorboat that was found abandoned about a mile and a half from the crash site. McCue's mother was taken to Glen Falls Hospital where she was expected to recover, officials told NBC affiliate WNYT. The local television station posted images of the damaged boats on Twitter. Damaged boat that was carrying 7 people when it was hit by another boat, killing 9 year old girl. @WNYT pic.twitter.com/p9TwPAMdEo Mark Mulholland (@MulhollandWNYT) July 26, 2016 Sheriff York identified the driver of the second boat as a local resident. Its not clear if either boat had running lights at the time of the collision. An Albany, New York newspaper reported that McCue and her mother were in the boat with other family members including the girl's father, grandmother and grandfather as well as two additional children. The boat was being driven by the girl's grandfather according to the TimesUnion. #Boat that was driven by Alex West. Notice damage on underside, caused by collision says Sheriff York. On @WNYT pic.twitter.com/3OlBJfodHt Mark Mulholland (@MulhollandWNYT) July 26, 2016 A neighbor to the McCue family said the focus should now be on helping his friends cope with their loss. "To lose a child is just unthinkable and we love those guys and we feel for them and we'll do everything we can for them," said Gary Clough. Turkeys prime minister said Monday that a number of small-scale constitutional changes are coming through the consensus of the parties whose leaders met with the president earlier in the day, Anadolu reported. Speaking to reporters in Ankara after the third Cabinet meeting since the July 15 coup attempt, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that the parties have agreed on the need for necessary changes to the Constitution to ease deadlocks in the system. Earlier the leaders of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP), and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Presidential Palace. We will work together to prepare the infrastructure for this [system], Yildirim said. On bigger changes to come, he added, We have decided to continue the unfinished process to make a new constitution. Yildirim announced that the Supreme Military Council (YAS), customarily held at the end of August, will be held this Thursday instead, and for the first time the venue will be the Prime Ministry. The premier also announced that the Cabinet had decided that Istanbul's Bosphorus Bridge will be renamed the July 15 Martyrs' Bridge. He said that two monuments will be erected in Istanbul and Ankara in honor of the martyrs of the attempted coup. Yildirim added that the Gendarmerie, Coast Guard Commands will be fully tied to the Interior Ministry. The total number of homicides at the 2016 mid-year mark in both San Diego county's jurisdiction and within the city's jurisdiction are on track to surpass the number of 2015 homicides, according to statistics from city and county officials. For the county, if homicides continue at their current pace, the number of murders could double from the 2015 total. There have been 17 homicides so far in 2016 in the countys jurisdiction, versus a total of 17 homicides for all of 2015. In the city's jurisdiction, there have been 28 homicides so far in 2016, versus 37 homicides for the entire year in 2015. 2016 has been a particularly violent and deadly year so far for San Diego, a city where homicide rates are usually among the lowest across the countrys largest cities, according to mid-year numbers. The visuals from the first half of 2016 serve as a stark reminder of the violence. Signs dotting a downtown street reading Justice for Shauna Haynes, a bright 21-year-old whose body was found stuffed into a suitcase and thrown away. Neighbors outraged and shaken, describing blood-curling shrieks of women held at knife point in a Del Cerro home. Aerials of a luxurious Rancho Santa Fe residence where irrational fears of bankruptcy led to a double murder-suicide. The locations are all over the board, said Lt. Kenn Nelson of the San Diego Sheriffs Department. Weve had them out in the East County. Weve had them in the North County. Weve had them in areas that are high-up in the socio-economic realm, but weve seen them in places that are also low on the socio-economic ladder, so its really all over the board this year. The homicide rate in the City of San Diego is relatively low compared to other major U.S. cities. In the City of San Diego, homicides are on track to be up nearly 50 percent, if the current pace continues. So far, there have been 28 homicides in 2016, versus 37 homicides for the entire year in 2015, according to San Diego Police Department. San Diego Homicide Captain Dave Nisleit was not available for a sit down interview Monday, but echoed Nelsons comments, saying that the murders are happening all over the map and without a stand-out motive that authorities could try to address. Both Nelson and Nisleit said the only identifiable trend is more knee-jerk violence happening between acquaintances in arguments or random disputes. It seems that people are turning to that violent act a lot sooner than they did in years past, said Nelson. Nelson said the lack of an identifiable trend contrasts greatly from 2015, when more than half the murders in the county were caused by domestic violence. San Diego Sheriff's Officials (SDSO) were able to recognize that trend in motives and provide additional resources to address domestic violence before it became homicidal. This year, Nelson said, is more difficult because not one specific motive stands out. Weve had equal number of homicides that were because of gang issues, because of domestic violence issues, because of mental illness and because of just anger and arguments, he said. The deadly violence isnt spilling into all areas of the county. For example, in Carlsbad, there were no homicides in 2015 or 2016. In Chula Vista, there have been no homicides so far in 2016, compared to two homicides in 2015. While the disruption at the Democratic National Convention, fueled by leaked emails, was absent in prime time coverage of the convention, security experts are concerned the DNC hack could have a far greater impact on the election. Although cyber security experts suspect the attack came from Russia, the FBI is still investigating. Experts say the danger is that this kind of attack appears to have been designed to influence the U.S. election. It's almost like we've evolved into the next version of the cold war, said retired Rear Admiral Ken Slaght, President of the San Diego Cyber Center of Excellence. It wouldn't surprise me if the Russians did something like this and it wouldn't surprise me if they are using it to their advantage to somehow influence our election. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange spoke to NBC News from an Ecuadorian embassy in London, commenting on the possibility of Russia being behind the attack on the DNC. Well there is no proof of that whatsoever. We have not disclosed our source and of course, this is a diversion that's being pushed by the Hillary Clinton campaign, he said. Other security experts told NBC News that Russian Military Intelligence and the new KGB were behind the leaked emails. The goal was to create chaos and help Donald Trump win the election, in part, because of his stance on NATO which is beneficial to Putin. Cyber security expert Ted Harrington, an Executive Partner with Independent Security Evaluations, said the purpose of a nation state attack is to do significant harm. To interact with and or disrupt the activities, the activities of their foes, he said. But despite much evidence pointing to Russia, there could be another group behind the DNC attack. Those same indicators could have been another organization intending to make it look like it was Russian in an attempt to cover their own tracks, Harrington said. The FBI announced it is investigating what they call "a cyber intrusion involving the DNC and are working to determine the nature and scope of the matter." Fans, friends and family members gathered to remember Washington Redskins superfan Zema Williams, better known as Chief Zee, on Wednesday. Williams' funeral was held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Glenarden's Worship Center in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, the church confirmed. A viewing was held before the service. Hundreds of attendees donned Redskins jerseys and hats at the funeral, Redskins.com reported. They closed the service singing "Hail to the Redskins." Our fans are some of the best fans in the world, and Chief was probably one of the best of all time, former Redskins MVP kicker Mark Moseley told Redskins.com. Fans echoed Moseley's sentiment, admiring the superfan's love of the team, the game and the community. "Nobody will be able to replace him. Ever," fan Tela Capri-Jones told Redskins.com. A GoFundMe page had been set up to cover funeral expenses. News4's Carol Maloney reports Redskins owner Dan Snyder is the anonymous donor who paid for the funeral. CONFIRMED - The anonymous donor who paid for Chief Zee's funeral this morning.. #Redskins owner Dan Snyder. @nbcwashington Carol Maloney (@carolmaloney4) July 27, 2016 Williams wore a faux Native American costume to Redskins games starting in 1978. He died last week, the team confirmed on July 19. Fans held a vigil to reminisce about the local celebrity. As Virginia delegates root for Sen. Tim Kaine at the Democratic National Convention, they also are poking good-natured fun at a distinctive part of his face -- his left eyebrow. Virginia delegates cheered on the senator carrying vivid orange signs bearing a smiley face with the left eyebrow cocked, just like Kaine's. Delegate Vivian Paige explained. "Tim Kaine gave us these in 2008, at the convention. He was governor at that point," she said. Kaine's eyebrow first rose to national prominence in 2006, when the newly sworn-in governor delivered the State of the Union response. His arched eyebrow grabbed attention. Not all of it was positive. "... That eyebrow is too distracting for the party to ever put him on national television again," political blogger Brendan Nyhan commented at the time. His fans in Virginia said they have observed the eyebrow over the years. "When he talks, his little eyebrow goes up on one side, so it's a little joke, but he goes along with it. He loves it. He's a good guy," delegate Susan Rowland said. Kaine himself made the first buttons with the arched eyebrow smiley face, passing them out to Virginia delegates when he spoke at the 2008 convention. "He's a fun-loving, down-to-earth, everybody-loves-him kind of guy," Paige said. "So, this is him poking fun at himself, and he's pretty good at that." At the convention this week, delegates may find their vintage buttons now are a hot commodity. But Paige says she will not give hers up. "Let's just say I would make a few bucks if I wanted to sell it. But I'm not about to sell it. Not now," she said. What to Know The museum seeks to help people understand and take pride in African American history, Bunch said. Bunch has spent nearly 11 years traveling the country to raise interest and capital for the new museum. Bunch said he hopes people will see visiting the museum as a "pilgrimage." As a young boy, Lonnie Bunch could not understand why he was treated differently. One of the few African Americans in a predominantly Italian New Jersey town, Bunch said some people were kind to him while growing up, but others treated him "horribly." That's what Bunch, now the director of the Smithsonian's upcoming National Museum of African American History and Culture, says first led him to his interest in history. "I thought that maybe if I could understand history... if I could understand how people interacted with people, it would help me live my life better," he said. Bunch spent nearly 11 years traveling the country to raise interest and dollars to help build a museum of African American history on the National Mall. Now, it's all coming to fruition. The newest Smithsonian will open Sept. 24, with a collection set to highlight history, community and culture through tens of thousands of artifacts. At the museum's opening, 33,000 items will be on display, out of the nearly 37,000 collected so far. "I think a lot of people will see this as a pilgrimage," Bunch said. "That is, a place to come to celebrate themselves, to feel better about themselves, and maybe to learn about themselves in a kind of rich way. And really what you hope is that this will contribute to the way people think about themselves and the way they think about America." Bunch wants to help others understand slavery as something that "in so many ways profoundly shaped the American experience." He said he wants people to take pride in their enslaved ancestors. "I wish I were as strong as my enslaved ancestors -- people who got up every morning and wouldn't let the fields strip them of their humanity and humor," Bunch said. "I wish I had that strength, and hopefully we can convey that to people who walk through this museum." Bunch said he's always wanted to learn about the past. He said he used to look at old photographs and wonder, "What was their life like? Were they happy? Were they treated fairly?" He remembers looking at photographs of children born in the 1870s with his grandfather as they read together. He said it "really hit me" when his grandfather pointed out that the children in the picture were unidentified. "I thought, 'You mean people can live their lives, die and then be forgotten?'" Bunch said one goal of the new museum is "to help people humanize enslavement." He said he tries to gather information on the identities and lifestyles behind people in the photographs, so museum visitors can grasp the pain of slavery and take pride in the progress since then. When he thinks of the dream of a museum finally becoming reality, "I cry," he said. "I get so emotional because for 11 years, my job was to make people believe. Believe that we could do this, believe that something would be here, believe that people would give money.... Now when I see it, it's just amazing to me. And I'll tell you what really did it -- the first time I drove up, and it was landscaped and there was grass, there were trees, and I thought, 'By God, it's real.'" Blake Richardson contributed to this report. A congressional committee has launched an investigation into a federal program that provides free computers to public schools after News4 exposed the initiative's potential vulnerability to misuse. The Computers for Learning program distributes nearly 30,000 pieces of computer equipment to schools and educational organizations annually. But as the News4 I-Team reported last month, people falsely claiming they are eligible to receive the computers have been able to fleece the program out of millions of dollars in equipment they receive for free and then resell. U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) asked program administrators in a letter sent Friday to turn over a series of documents detailing their management of the program and an accounting of the whereabouts of its bounty of government computer hardware. Chaffetz cited News4's story. The I-Team report found the program is potentially at risk of further abuse, theft or misuse, because it lacks background checks of its participants and allows the resale of the donated equipment. In at least two recent cases, men admitted creating fraudulent applications for the equipment, misrepresenting themselves as leaders of nonprofit educational groups, then reselling the donated computers for profit. Federal investigators stopped a series of schemes to fleece a federal government program that provides free computers to public schools. Scott MacFarlane reports. Computers for Learning is widely used nationwide, distributing hundreds of computers in the D.C. region alone. The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) manages the programs website, but no federal agency oversees the entirety of the program or its recipients. The GSA did not immediately respond to an inquiry. In his formal inquiry, Chaffetz asked the GSA for a formal accounting of its responsibilities for Computers for Learning and the costs it has incurred administrating the program. Chaffetzs letter requests records detailing the whereabouts of all of the thousands of pieces of donated equipment and any inventories and audits conducted by the agency. It is imperative that GSA takes immediate steps to address mismanagement of the program," Chaffetz wrote in the inquiry addressed to GSA Administrator Denise Turner Roth. "The agency must ensure that the excess computer equipment ends up in the hands of the children for whom it was intended. Chaffetz cited the findings of the I-Team report in his letter. The report stated there is no government-wide requirement of background checks or in-person visits of schools or non-profit agencies that apply for equipment," he wrote. Chaffetz' request was cosigned by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), who chairs a subcommittee with oversight of the GSA. His letter asks that the agency turn over its records to the Oversight Committee by August 5. In 2015, Steven Bolden of California pleaded guilty to a fraud charge for accepting more than 19,000 pieces of Computers for Learning equipment and then putting the equipment up for sale. According to a U.S. Department of Justice report on the case, Bolden misrepresented himself as a representative of a legitimate nonprofit organization in order to get the computers. In a separate case in spring 2016, Benjamin Twiggs pleaded guilty to a charge of making a false statement, after federal investigators accused Twiggs of submitting bogus information on his application to obtain Computers for Learning equipment. Twiggs also misrepresented himself as the head of an educational nonprofit, federal investigators said. He collected about 100 computers, including from a federal warehouse in Lorton, Virginia, and then resold the devices from his apartment in Philadelphia, according to the GSA's Office of the Inspector General. Surveillance video and photos obtained by the I-Team show Twiggs loading piles of computers into a U-Haul truck at the warehouse in Lorton. In a 2013 case, a representative of a nonprofit educational group in Silver Spring, Maryland, accepted a set of computers through the program, even though the group had stopped operating three years earlier. Federal agents found piles of the computer outside in a yard of a group members home in Montgomery County, Maryland. According to a memo produced by the GSA inspector general, the organization was able to continue applying to receive free computers. The free computer program is popular among public schools. At Governor Thomas Johnson High School in Frederick, Maryland, administrators estimate they have received more than 700 computer devices through the Computers for Learning program, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in budget expenses. "They don't give us the newest of the new. But everything we receive is generally in good performing standards. It saves us a lot of money," school technology manager Tevin Edwards said. Computers for Learning Equipment Distributed Fiscal Year 2015: What to Know A police officer went to Noodles & Company in Alexandria for dinner Monday. A cook told the person working the cash register he would not serve the police officer. Restaurant management met with the police chief and union Tuesday and is reviewing the employees involved. A cook at a restaurant in Virginia refused to serve a police officer in uniform Monday night, a police union says. An officer in the Alexandria Police Department stopped by Noodles & Company on Duke Street in Alexandria for dinner, Alexandria Committee of Police Vice President Peter Feltham said. As she stood in line, a cook exited the kitchen, approached the cashier and pointed at the officer, Feltham said he was told. "Youre going to have to take me off the line, I aint serving that," the cook allegedly said. The officer realized what was happening and rather than making an incident of it, the officer just left the business, Feltham said. Alexandria Police Chief Earl Cook and a representative of the Alexandria Police Union met with restaurant management Tuesday. These are very difficult times right now in our relations with everyone, and to have one of my officers treated in that manner unnecessarily, your first response is anger, Cook said. Then you calm down a bit and say, lets just find out what happened. Noodles & Company told News4 the company does not tolerate any form of discrimination. The restaurant said managers reached out to the officer but have not spoken with her yet. The restaurant said it is interviewing the employees allegedly involved. We will continue to look into the situation and will take the appropriate actions at the conclusion of this review, Noodles & Company said in a statement. The police union said the restaurant is already taking steps to amend the matter, and has "agreed to post signs on their door that they support blue lives, Feltham said. Cook said this kind of incident is rare for his officers. I must say we have tremendous support from the Alexandria business community, so this is an anomaly for one of my officers to walk into a business and run into this type of attitude, Cook said. He praised the officers response. In a statement sent Tuesday afternoon, Alexandria Mayor Allison Silberberg emphasized that the officer didn't publicize the incident herself and asked that the news media and the public respect her privacy. "We thank the company for reaching out to the Alexandria Police Department about this unfortunate situation, and we believe that our officers experience was not representative of the companys values or policies," Silberberg said. "At this point, further investigation is an internal matter for the company. We are grateful to her and to all who serve with honor every day so that we may live in safety and peace." Noodles & Company issued a statement: "Noodles & Company expects the highest ethical and personal behavior from its team members. We value each of our guests and are committed to treating every one with dignity and respect. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination. "We are working with the appropriate authorities and local police association representatives to get to the bottom of, and resolve this matter as quickly as possible. We have made efforts to reach out to the police officer involved, but have not yet spoken with her. We will continue to look into the situation and will take the appropriate actions at the conclusion of this review." A Maryland man has been accused of being a pimp for two teenage girls. Howard County Police arrested 46-year-old Arthur Coleman of Laurel after an investigation into online prostitution ads that featured a 13-year-old girl, police said. An undercover detective posed as a young girl interested in being a prostitute and arranged to meet the 13-year-old and a man in Columbia. Coleman was arrested after he arrived with the 13-year-old girl and a 15-year-old girl, police said. Police said they found condoms, cash and multiple cellphones in his car. Investigators believe Coleman rented hotel rooms for the prostitution of young girls and drove them to locations in Maryland, Washington and Virginia. Coleman faces multiple trafficking and prostitution charges. It's unclear whether he has an attorney. A Hooters restaurant in Rockville, Maryland, will surrender its liquor license and permanently close its doors after allegedly over-serving the man who fatally struck a Montgomery County police officer, a representative for the restaurant confirmed. State alcohol regulators accused the restaurant of allowing Luis Gustavo Reluzco to be served alcohol past the point of intoxication Dec. 3. Moments after getting behind the wheel, Reluzco slammed into Officer Noah Leotta, 24, sideswiping his police car before coming to a stop. Leotta, who had volunteered to work the special holiday drunk-driving patrol, died from his injuries a week later. Reluzco admitted drinking beer and bourbon for about three hours that night, police said. Hooters will close Nov. 1 and will not try to sell or transfer the liquor license. The Department of Liquor Control's Board of License Commissioners had scheduled an Aug. 4 show cause hearing to consider revoking the license. This situation has clearly had a profound impact on the community, and understandably so," Hooters said in a statement. "Weve been part of this community for a long time and it has impacted us, too. Therefore, after some reflection and in light of the tragic circumstances, it felt like surrendering the license was the right thing to do. Reluzco agreed to plead guilty to vehicular manslaughter in April and faces up to 10 years in prison. Many families in Prince Georges County, Maryland, with members who are disabled are concerned about the access of quality care needed for those people. When the Prince Georges County Council raised the countys minimum wage above the states minimum wage, it left a wage gap for workers in state-funded nonprofits. The state will only pay employees its minimum wage and not the wage of the county. Montgomery County jas supplemented that gap since it went above the state minimum wage, but Prince Georges County workers do not receive a supplement. It is causing a revolving door of trained workers who end up going to neighboring counties, where the pay is higher. For families with disabled members, it means not having consistent, quality help. Grace Williams daughter, Joyce, 24, has severe developmental and intellectual delays, is nonverbal and is partially blind. She said Joyce requires 24 hours a day, seven days a week care, which is more than her family can give at home. I had to quit my job a few years ago when I could not find staff, Grace Williams said. We are at the mercy of these nonprofit organizations to provide good care, which we could not provide at home. Ande Kolp and Ronnie Haskins work for Copmapass, Inc. and Arch, respectively, and want the county to supplement the more than $3 million gap in salaries. In the meantime, they are preparing for the worst as another county increase of $2 per hour is coming this October. We are on the edge of this cliff, barely hanging on, and if nothing happens, Im worried about services, said Kolp. The individuals that are transitioning out of high school, we cant accept, because we dont know if we will have the money, so where do those people go? said Haskins. I dont know. Its going to impact everybody in our county. A statement from the Budget, Finance, Economic Development, and Administration division of the Office of the County Executive acknowledged the issue but believes the issue should be solved on the state level. County Executive (Rushern) Baker personally understands the important service that our providers offer our residents. However, the disability providers should be working with the state of Maryland to improve wages paid to their employees since the contractual relationship for developmentally disabled services is actually between the providers and the state of Maryland, not Prince Georges County Government. The Baker administration has always believed that the way to resolve this problem would be a statewide increase to the minimum wage. A petition on Change.org is asking for county officials to address the funding gap and secure the future of services for people with disabilities in Prince Georges County. Turkish and American military-to-military relations are back on track after a failed coup attempt earlier this month, top US defense officials said Monday, Anadolu reported. Operations have in almost all manners returned to normal in terms of the operations we're conducting from Turkey, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford said at the Pentagon where he briefed reporters alongside Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. Dunford said his Turkish counterpart, Gen. Hulusi Akar, reached out to him twice last week and noted Turkeys commitment to the US-led coalition fighting Daesh. So clearly something that happened last weekend is going to have an impact across the board inside of Turkey. But we're going to work very closely to try to mitigate that as best we can, Dunford said. Carter also noted his phone call last week with his counterpart, Fikri Isik, and said, the coalition air operations are back on track at Incirlik. The defense leaders also addressed ongoing talks between the US and Russia to cooperate against Daesh and al-Nusra Front in Syria. Dunford said the current engagement with Russia is limited to military-to-military contact for the safe separation of aircraft and security of both countries forces on the ground. Secretary of State John Kerry, rather than the Pentagon, is leading the effort to push Moscow toward the USs goals in Syria, according to Carter. He said the US would like to see Russia cooperate with the US to find a political solution to end the violence that would allow Syrians to decide their future and to defeat extremist groups in Syria. The Russians are a long way from doing that, Carter said. On the other hand, Dunford said it is hard to say whether it would be viable before seeing the specific framework within which other contacts may be made. Kerrys proposal includes intelligence sharing between Washington and Moscow to coordinate airstrikes against Nusra and prohibit the Syrian air force from attacking moderate rebel groups. "We're not entering into a transaction that is founded on trust," Dunford said. "There will be specific procedures and processes in any transaction we might have with the Russians that will account for protecting our operational security." A woman was hurt Monday night after she plunged about three stories from a ride at a county fair in Virginia, police said. The 47-year-old woman was at the Frederick County Fair in Clear Brook, Virginia, near the West Virginia border. She was secured in a ride called the Super Shot about 7 p.m., the Frederick County Virginia Sheriffs Office said in a statement. The ride descended and the woman's seat "came detached from the main frame of the ride and struck the ground," police said. The victim fell about 40 feet, the equivalent of about three stories. She was rushed to Winchester Medical Center with multiple injuries, police said. The Super Shot is a vertical drop ride that slowly lifts 12 passengers 120 feet into the air and then releases into a free fall with a maximum speed of 47 mph, according to the website of Larson International, which manufactures the ride together with A.R.M. Inc. "Imagine sitting in mid air with your feet dangling, then CLICK! Now accelerating towards the earth you SCREAM! And then, you gently slow as the car glides in to the magnetic braking system, SMILES! That is the Super Shot drop tower experience that families are paying for again and again," the A.R.M. Inc. website says. The cause of the failure of the ride is under investigation by the Frederick County Building Inspections Department. Fair organizers declined to comment. Calls to Inner Shows, the North Carolina-based company that provided the rides, went unanswered. Neither Larson International nor A.R.M. Inc. immediately responded to inquiries. A coalition of the state's top teaching hospitals has come out in opposition to the proposed legalization of marijuana for recreational use in Massachusetts. The Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals on Monday announced that it has joined the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts, an organization of law enforcement agencies, lawmakers, community leaders and others opposed to legalization. The state's highest court has cleared the way for a question on the November ballot that would allow residents to vote on the issue. The measure would allow people 21 or older to possess up to an ounce of pot for recreational use and impose a 3.75 percent excise tax on retail marijuana sales. In their opposition, the hospitals cite the negative health effects and social costs of marijuana use. The third person charged with murder in the shooting death of a Boston 17-year-old had been ordered held without bail. Jaden Waiters, 20, was arraigned in court Tuesday. His arrest comes nearly two months after the death of Raekwon Brown, who was shot and killed when gunfire broke out near Jeremiah Burke High School in early June. Four other people suffered gun-shot wounds, but survived. Two others arrested in connection with the shooting last month, 23-year-old Jonathan Aguasvivas of Roxbury and 24-year-old Benzy Bain of Mattapan, allegedly have gang ties. All three suspects appeared in court Tuesday - Aguasvivas and Bain were in court for a probable cause hearing that was pushed back - and they're due back in court on Sept. 7. A Cranston, Rhode Island, police officer who said in a lawsuit against the city that he was tricked into accepting a demotion has settled the suit for $215,000 and will be restored to his former rank. The agreement between Patrolman Matthew Josefson and the city has been entered as a consent decree in a Providence federal court. Josefson will be reinstated to the rank of sergeant, effective Monday. Josefson sued after a state police investigation concluded that he was pressured and swindled into accepting a demotion from sergeant to patrolman over trumped-up or trivial transgressions that were based on non-existent policies. Mayor Allan Fung's director of administration, Robert Coupe, says the resolution will allow the city and police to avoid a "very expensive legal battle." Fire spotters remained on high alert Monday, as drought conditions created high fire danger across Massachusetts. "This summer has been really different for us," said David Celino, the chief fire warden for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. "We have had some abnormal fire occurrence levels, more than we have seen in 20 years for this time, this part of the summer." Firefighters had their hands full late last week battling a seven-acre fire near a scout camp. "Because it's so dry, the fire burns very deeply into the ground, takes a lot of water," said Sudbury Fire Chief Bill Miles. "In a spring or a fall brush fire, you might take the hose and spray it down for a minute or two and walk away. But this time of the year, because the fire burns so far into the ground, you spray it, and you think you have it out, and you turn around and it's rekindled again." At the Sudbury Fire Tower, firefighters monitor the horizon for any sign of trouble. Celino says spotters are key to controlling fires, getting firefighters to scenes as fast as possible. "Seven acres in April, you would come in and attack that and it would simply be the top layer of the leaf litter," Celino said. He estimates fighting that fire in April would take 300-800 gallons of water. But now? "That same fire, a seven-acre fire, could take as much as 30-60,000 gallons of water just to put those fuels out on the ground, and if we don't them out, the perimeters aren't secure," Celino added. Miles asked for common sense as he, and fire chiefs across the state look for some rain. "We need a lot rain, and not just an afternoon thundershower," Miles said. "We could really use a couple of days of steady rain." "These fires are burning as much as 8 to 10 inches into the ground," Celino added. "It is labor intensive but it is also a fire fighter safety issue." A 26-year-old East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, man is expected to be in court Tuesday after allegedly leading police on a wild chase that ended with the allegedly stolen car he was driving smashing into a Taunton home. Police say the incident started when Anthony Loto carjacked a 74-year-old woman in the parking lot of a Plymouth Stop and Shop. Loto allegedly told her that her husband needed her inside the store. When she stepped away, he allegedly pushed her, stole her keys and fled the scene. Loto led police on a chase weaving in and out of traffic through a number of communities while driving on Route 3, Route 3A, and Route 44. He was eventually taken into custody when police say the stolen Ford Fusion crashed into the foundation of a Taunton home. He was taken to a hospital for minor injuries. Loto was charged with carjacking, unarmed robbery, assault and battery on a person over 60, failure to stop for police, negligent operation of a motor vehicle and resisting arrest. New Hampshire State Police have arrested a man accused of driving under the influence of alcohol and leading police on a pursuit in Bow Monday night. Police attempted to pull over Gary Kenneson, 34, of Belmont, around 10 p.m. for a speed violation in his pickup truck. Kenneson then allegedly fled, crashed on Hall Street, and continues onto I-93 north at Exit 12. Police kept up the pursuit and Kenneson got off Exit 19. Stop sticks were deployed and cut the truck's tires. Kenneson got back onto I-93 and got off Exit 18, where he eventually went off the roadway and got stuck. He was arrested and charged with Aggravated DWI, Reckless Conduct and Disobeying a Police Officer. He was held on $15,000 bail pending his arraignment. Police in Bath, Maine, have arrested a man accused of stabbing two other men Monday night. Brandon Plummer, 34, is facing a charge of Elevated Aggravated Assault. Police responded to 27 Spring St. around 10:30 p.m. for a reported stabbing. One victim, 39, had multiple stab wounds to his arm and back. Another victim, 19, was stabbed in the hand. Both men were taken to area hospitals. Police say Plummer and the 39-year-old man got into a verbal argument before Plummer began to stab the man. The 19-year-old victim tried to intervene and was stabbed in the hand. Plummer went back inside his home, where he was arrested. Police say both of the victims are his neighbors. The incident remains under investigation. A convicted Massachusetts felon was arrested and charged Tuesday for allegedly making threats on social media to burn down a local mosque and hurt Muslims a day after the Paris attacks, authorities said. Patrick Keogan, 44, of Wilmington was ordered to remain in federal custody pending a detention hearing on Thursday after facing a judge in Boston Tuesday afternoon. Although a plea wasn't entered, Keogan faces a criminal complaint alleging he made a threat over Facebook to injure or intimidate another individual. He is also charged with unlawfully possessing ammunition. Federal prosecutors say Keogan's threat came just a day after terror attacks left 130 people dead and 360 others hurt in Paris in November 2015. ISIS claimed responsibility. Keogan allegedly posted a photo on the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center's Facebook page depicting a mosque in flames with the worlds "Burn Your Local Mosque" and wrote "hello scumbags" with a smiley face emoji in the caption. "Obviously when one of these threats happen, there's concern and concern for the safety of our community," said Yusufi Valiu, Executive Director of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center. The comments on social media had federal authorities at Keogan's home throughout the day on Tuesday. "It is kind of disturbing to see it in your own neighborhood," said Rosey Wolfe. "But I know it's not unusual." Lisa Dahlquist said she went to high school with Keogan. "I just take it as you know, just another comment from Pat, you know," said Dahlquist. "I think perhaps it was just talk. I don' know him to be a violent person." Investigators also found posts on Keogan's Facebook profile condoning the burning of mosques dating back to 2013, authorities said. Based on his Facebook activity, Keogan continued to buy, sell, trade, build, modify, possess and shoot firearms and ammunition, which, as a convicted felon on probation, is illegal, court documents show. This isn't the first time the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center has been threatened. Last December, an Iowa man was sentenced after threatening to kill Muslims on its Facebook page. Keogan told authorities he did not plan to harm any Muslims or cause damage to any mosque. He's being held pending a detention hearing later in the week. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that the coup attempt 15 July would not change Ankaras commitment to a refugee deal with the European Union (EU), Anadolu reported. Turkey stands by its commitment with regard to refugees, Erdogan said in an interview with German ARD television. Turkey and the EU signed the deal March 18, which aims to discourage irregular migration through the Aegean Sea by taking stricter measures against human traffickers and improving conditions of nearly 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey. The deal included a 6 billion euro ($6.8 billion) aid package to help Turkey care for millions of refugees hosted in the country. Ask them [the EU]. Did you pay? But Turkey still hosts 3 million people. What would Europe do if we let these people go to Europe, Erdogan asked. Hosting the most Syrian refugees in the world, Erdogan told ARD television that Turkey has spent nearly $12 billion from the state budget to care for them since the beginning of the Syrian crisis in 2011. He said the European Union has provided just 2 billion euros for the refugees and stressed that Turkey would continue to take care Syrian refugees even if the European Union does not provide financial help. During the interview, Erdogan criticized Europe for doing little in the face of terrorism. Saying that Ankara has fought against terror in the last 30-35 years, he accused Berlin of seriously supporting the PKK terror group. I handed over 4,000 dossiers to [German leader Angela Merkel]. When I asked her what did you do? she told me judicial process is underway, Erdogan said. He said terrorists have continued to live in Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, adding that although Turkey has provided intelligence on these people, they have not been handed over. He called on Europe for a joint effort against terror. The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization also by the US and the EU -- resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in July 2015. Since then, nearly 600 security personnel, including troops, police officers and village guards have been martyred and more than 7,700 PKK terrorists killed in operations across Turkey and northern Iraq. On terror attacks in Europe, Erdogan said while condemning them, he would not accept the label Islamic terror. Such label, according to Erdogan, would be an insult to all Muslims. On a question regarding the government mulling bringing back death penalty for plotters of the deadly July 15 coup, Erdogan said in democracies the decision rested with the people, pointing out that the capital punishment was being practiced in many democratic countries outside Europe. Police in Bridgewater are searching for the driver believed to be involved in a crash with a motorcyclist and his passenger over the weekend. The crash happened on Bedford Street at the intersection of Winter Place Plaza at about 8 p.m. When officers arriverd, the motorcyclist and a passenger of a Harley Davidson were suffering with serious injuries. Police said in an effort to avoid a collision with a vehicle that pulled out in front of it, the motorcyclist swerved and struck a nearby tree. The 49-year-old man from Middleborough, was transported to Brockton Hospital then taken by medical helicopter to Brigham and Womens Hospital. The passenger, a 53-year-old woman from Wareham, was transported to Boston Medical Center by ambulance, also with serious injuries. After looking at video surveillance from the area, police are now searching for a red, four door sedan, possibly a Honda Civic, that appears to be involved in the crash. Anyone with information, or who recognizes the vehicle, is asked to call Detective Sgt. Anne Schuster at 508-659-1514. Maine police say a New York man has been arrested and charged with murder in connection with an Augusta homicide from last year. Twenty-six-year-old Aubrey Armstrong was arrested in Queens and appeared in a New York court on a fugitive from justice charge on Monday. He is the fourth person to be charged in the death of 31-year-old Joseph Marceau. Police say Marceau was killed inside an Augusta apartment in November in a drug-related homicide. Police say two other men charged with murder face pending court proceedings. A woman who was charged killed herself in her cell soon after her arrest. Police say Armstrong will return to Maine to face the charge after court appearances in New York. It was unclear on Tuesday if he had a lawyer. A shark sighting off Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on Tuesday afternoon turned out to be a dogfish. The sighting was first reported around 11 a.m. An employee with the harbormaster's office walked into the water, grabbed the dogfish, and pulled it out of the water. Sharks, Orcas and Manatees: A Wild, Wild Summer Off Cape Cod Dogfish are small sharks that are abundant in New England waters. Swimmers were originally told to clear the water, but have since been allowed to return. The Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center is reportedly trying to revive the 3-foot animal. Earlier this month, the Coast Guard had to rescue a fisherman after he was bitten on the arm by a dogfish off the Gloucester coast. A fisherman had to be rescued by the Coast Guard after being bitten on the arm by a dogfish off Cape Ann in Massachusetts on Tuesday morning. A suspect in a road rage stabbing in Massachusetts has been arrested, according to Worcester police. Forty-four-year-old Homell St. Charles of Worcester was arrested at the district courthouse without incident on aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; police say he was at the courthouse for an unrelated matter. St. Charles is accused stabbing another man multiple times on Goldthwaite Road Sunday night after allegedly cutting off the victim's vehicle, which led to a verbal altercation and then both parties getting out of their vehicles, police said. The victim is in stable condition. The investigation is ongoing. Senator Bernie Sanders addressed the Democratic National Convention Monday evening. Here are his remarks as prepared: Good evening. How great it is to be with you tonight. Let me begin by thanking the hundreds of thousands of Americans who actively participated in our campaign as volunteers. Let me thank the 2 1/2 million Americans who helped fund our campaign with an unprecedented 8 million individual campaign contributions averaging $27 a piece. Let me thank the 13 million Americans who voted for the political revolution, giving us the 1,846 pledged delegates here tonight 46 percent of the total. And delegates: Thank you for being here, and for all the work youve done. I look forward to your votes during the roll call on Tuesday night. And let me offer a special thanks to the people of my own state of Vermont who have sustained me and supported me as a mayor, congressman, senator and presidential candidate. And to my family my wife Jane, four kids and seven grandchildren thank you very much for your love and hard work on this campaign. I understand that many people here in this convention hall and around the country are disappointed about the final results of the nominating process. I think its fair to say that no one is more disappointed than I am. But to all of our supporters here and around the country I hope you take enormous pride in the historical accomplishments we have achieved. Together, my friends, we have begun a political revolution to transform America and that revolution our revolution continues. Election days come and go. But the struggle of the people to create a government which represents all of us and not just the 1 percent a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice that struggle continues. And I look forward to being part of that struggle with you. Let me be as clear as I can be. This election is not about, and has never been about, Hillary Clinton, or Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders or any of the other candidates who sought the presidency. This election is not about political gossip. Its not about polls. Its not about campaign strategy. Its not about fundraising. Its not about all the things the media spends so much time discussing. This election is about and must be about the needs of the American people and the kind of future we create for our children and grandchildren. This election is about ending the 40-year decline of our middle class the reality that 47 million men, women and children live in poverty. It is about understanding that if we do not transform our economy, our younger generation will likely have a lower standard of living then their parents. This election is about ending the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we currently experience, the worst it has been since 1928. It is not moral, not acceptable and not sustainable that the top one-tenth of one percent now own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent, or that the top 1 percent in recent years has earned 85 percent of all new income. That is unacceptable. That must change. This election is about remembering where we were 7 1/2 years ago when President Obama came into office after eight years of Republican trickle-down economics. The Republicans want us to forget that as a result of the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street, our economy was in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Some 800,000 people a month were losing their jobs. We were running up a record-breaking deficit of $1.4 trillion and the worlds financial system was on the verge of collapse. We have come a long way in the last 7 1/2 years, and I thank President Obama and Vice President Biden for their leadership in pulling us out of that terrible recession. Yes, we have made progress, but I think we can all agree that much, much more needs to be done. This election is about which candidate understands the real problems facing this country and has offered real solutions not just bombast, fear-mongering, name-calling and divisiveness. We need leadership in this country which will improve the lives of working families, the children, the elderly, the sick and the poor. We need leadership which brings our people together and makes us stronger not leadership which insults Latinos, Muslims, women, African-Americans and veterans and divides us up. By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close. This election is about a single mom I saw in Nevada who, with tears in her eyes, told me that she was scared to death about the future because she and her young daughter were not making it on the $10.45 an hour she was earning. This election is about that woman and the millions of other workers in this country who are struggling to survive on totally inadequate wages. Hillary Clinton understands that if someone in America works 40 hours a week, that person should not be living in poverty. She understands that we must raise the minimum wage to a living wage. And she is determined to create millions of new jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure our roads, bridges, water systems and wastewater plants. But her opponent Donald Trump well, he has a very different view. He does not support raising the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour a starvation wage. While Donald Trump believes in huge tax breaks for billionaires, he believes that states should actually have the right to lower the minimum wage below $7.25. What an outrage! This election is about overturning Citizens United, one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in the history of our country. That decision allows the wealthiest people in America, like the billionaire Koch brothers, to spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying elections and, in the process, undermine American democracy. Hillary Clinton will nominate justices to the Supreme Court who are prepared to overturn Citizens United and end the movement toward oligarchy in this country. Her Supreme Court appointments will also defend a womans right to choose, workers rights, the rights of the LGBT community, the needs of minorities and immigrants and the governments ability to protect the environment. If you dont believe this election is important, if you think you can sit it out, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate and what that would mean to civil liberties, equal rights and the future of our country. This election is about the thousands of young people I have met who have left college deeply in debt, and the many others who cannot afford to go to college. During the primary campaign, Secretary Clinton and I both focused on this issue but with different approaches. Recently, however, we have come together on a proposal that will revolutionize higher education in America. It will guarantee that the children of any family this country with an annual income of $125,000 a year or less 83 percent of our population will be able to go to a public college or university tuition free. That proposal also substantially reduces student debt. This election is about climate change, the greatest environmental crisis facing our planet, and the need to leave this world in a way that is healthy and habitable for our kids and future generations. Hillary Clinton is listening to the scientists who tell us that unless we act boldly and transform our energy system in the very near future there will be more drought, more floods, more acidification of the oceans, more rising sea levels. She understands that when we do that we can create hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs. Donald Trump? Well, like most Republicans, he chooses to reject science. He believes that climate change is a hoax, no need to address it. Hillary Clinton understands that a presidents job is to worry about future generations, not the short-term profits of the fossil fuel industry. This campaign is about moving the United States toward universal health care and reducing the number of people who are uninsured or under-insured. Hillary Clinton wants to see that all Americans have the right to choose a public option in their health care exchange. She believes that anyone 55 years or older should be able to opt in to Medicare and she wants to see millions more Americans gain access to primary health care, dental care, mental health counseling and low-cost prescription drugs through a major expansion of community health centers. And What is Donald Trumps position on health care? No surprise there. Same old, same old Republican contempt for working families. He wants to abolish the Affordable Care Act, throw 20 million people off of the health insurance they currently have and cut Medicaid for lower-income Americans. Hillary Clinton also understands that millions of seniors, disabled vets and others are struggling with the outrageously high cost of prescription drugs and the fact that Americans pay the highest prices in the world for their medicine. She knows that Medicare must negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry and that drug companies should not be making billions in profits while one in five Americans are unable to afford the medicine they need. The greed of the drug companies must end. This election is about the leadership we need to pass comprehensive immigration reform and repair a broken criminal justice system. Its about making sure that young people in this country are in good schools and at good jobs, not in jail cells. Hillary Clinton understands that we have to invest in education and jobs for our young people, not more jails or incarceration. In these stressful times for our country, this election must be about bringing our people together, not dividing us up. While Donald Trump is busy insulting one group after another, Hillary Clinton understands that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths. Yes. We become stronger when black and white, Latino, Asian-American, Native American all of us stand together. Yes. We become stronger when men and women, young and old, gay and straight, native born and immigrant fight to create the kind of country we all know we can become. It is no secret that Hillary Clinton and I disagree on a number of issues. Thats what this campaign has been about. Thats what democracy is about. But I am happy to tell you that at the Democratic Platform Committee there was a significant coming together between the two campaigns and we produced, by far, the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party. Among many other strong provisions, the Democratic Party now calls for breaking up the major financial institutions on Wall Street and the passage of a 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act. It also calls for strong opposition to job-killing free trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Our job now is to see that platform implemented by a Democratic Senate, a Democratic House and a Hillary Clinton presidency and I am going to do everything I can to make that happen. I have known Hillary Clinton for 25 years. I remember her as a great first lady who broke precedent in terms of the role that a first lady was supposed to play as she helped lead the fight for universal health care. I served with her in the United States Senate and know her as a fierce advocate for the rights of children. Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her here tonight. When applications were exclusively hosted in the corporate data center, remote sites had much lower bandwidth and each required its own WAN optimization device. According to conventional wisdom, if we increase bandwidth, performance will improve. However, without decreasing latency, application performance will continue to sufferno matter how much bandwidth we throw at the network. Four main things contribute to latency: Propagation delay Serialization delay Queuing delay Processing delay Propagation delay This is the delay between two endpoints. For example, propagation delay is based on the speed of light measured at 5ms per 1000Km. The one-way propagation delay between a data center in New York and a branch in San Jose would be at least 24ms. This assumes a direct fiber path and no router hops, in which case the propagation delay will be significantly higher. For large carriers, one-way delays average 35-45 msec. Serialization delay Serialization delay is the amount of time required to clock a frame onto the transmission medium from the network interface. It is directly tied to link speed and is also affected by networks that use different data link protocols. The serialization delay is calculated by dividing the packet size in bits by the link speed in megabits per second (Mbps) and includes all packet, Layer 2 and Layer 3 overhead. For the sake of simplicity, well ignore the Layer 2 overhead in this discussion. It is likely to be different between a T1 and a 100Mbps link, and its sufficiently small to be negligible here. Table 1: The serialization delay for different packet sizes and transmission rates It is important to note that while the effective download rate may be different from and probably lower than the actual link-speed, the serialization delay is still dependent on the actual link speed only. Queuing delay This is the delay originating from packets sitting in the queues of intermediate routers between endpoints waiting to be serviced. It is the only delay component that is highly variable. Unlike propagation and serialization delays, which depend on the speed of light and the rate of a clock, queuing delays depend on the current volume of traffic. If a link or intermediate router experiences congestion, the queuing delay can increase from almost zero to several hundred milliseconds. Queuing delay swings depend on which class of traffic is being serviced and the configuration of the servicing router. Network designers often try to avoid congestion by overprovisioning bandwidth, which requires the average and maximum load on a network to be well understood. But congestion can still arise from incidents such as DDoS attacks or link failures that shift traffic to paths that are normally less utilized. A well-designed and implemented QoS policy along with properly marked traffic will help avoid congestion, at least for high-priority traffic, regardless of the overall load condition of the network. In extreme conditions, this may not hold true. Processing delay This is the time required to process packets as they transit a router. Processing includes the route lookup for forwarding, access list processing, cflowd flow data generation and recognition, and encryption. Processing delay may be slightly variable in software-based routers, but is usually static in hardware-based devices. For example, if a hardware-based forwarding engine has been designed to process 4 million packets per second, the processing delay naturally must be 1s/4M (250ns) for the forwarding engine to be able to keep up. To understand the delay between endpoints while taking all the previously discussed components into account, national carriers in the U.S. are a good reference point. Both AT&T and Sprint publish their latency data online and typically set the latency between New York and San Jose to ~70ms. Therefore, the latency between San Jose and San Diego is ~13ms. In reality, this might be different based on how the carrier network is laid out. For example, the connection between San Jose and San Diego might go through Phoenix, which would result in a delay between San Jose and Seattle larger than 13ms. Regional performance hubs Assessing latency data between different sites is a good way for enterprises to decide whether to deploy regional performance hubs based on user population density. Remotes sites that use performance hubs would connect to regional WAN optimization devices. For example, if a performance hub were placed at a colocation facility in San Jose, most branches in west coast cities such as Seattle, Portland, Los Angles and Phoenix would be within 20msec delay. Similarly, deploying performance hubs at colocation facilities in several cities across the country for would provide an enterprise with an optimal network and very few devices to manage. Instead of 5,000 WAN optimization devices, an enterprise could deploy a total of 20 or up to 50 based on experience spread across its performance hubs, keep latency down and achieve optimal application performance. Youd think that with a 3-year-old building, its fixtures and systems would be among the best on the market. Not necessarily so. As Atlas Global Solutions found out after conducting an energy audit of a relatively new manufacturing facility, the light fixtures were costing them more than aging manufacturing equipmentthe focus of the energy audit. + Also on Network World: How the IoT keeps Ben & Jerrys ice cream safe + Atlas, a global protective packaging company based in Sutton, Mass., knew its 200,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing facility was not as energy efficient as it could be, said Frank Tavares, the global process engineer for the company. He never thought the biggest waste would be from the lights in the building, though. That caught everybody by surprise, he said, especially with a 3-year-old facility with what we thought was the latest and greatest light fixtures. The facility had eight D5 lighting fixtures, which Taveres considered relatively new at the time of the audit in 2012. The fixtures energy consumption, however, was 1.3 million KW hours per year. To reduce energy use, Atlas turned to Digital Lumens and its intelligent LED lighting system. The company upgraded the lighting fixtures in the 3-year-old building near the same time it upgraded the lighting in a 15-year-old facility. For each project, Atlas installed intelligent LED fixtures and Digital Light Agents modular sensorsall connected wirelessly to Digital Lumens LightRules lighting and energy management software. The results were dramatic, Tavares said. Intelligent LED lights bring energy savings Atlas first upgraded the lighting fixtures in its 15-year-old facility. It is 110,000 square feet and had 105 400-watt metal halide fixtures, which Tavares said is typical of most manufacturing warehouses. The building was using about 160,000 KW hours per year. Tavares said they knew just switching to LED lights would save energy and money. LED lights are significantly more efficient than traditional lights. According to Digital Lumens, a typical 400-watt metal halide lighting fixture costs about $473 per year, while an LED-retrofit with a Digital Lumens CLE fixture costs $154 per year. So, Tavares could potentially reduce his yearly energy expense by $34,000 in the 15-year-old building. For the 110,000-sq.-ft. warehouse, Atlas installed a combination of DLE and ILE high-bay light fixtures. The estimated energy usage after making the switch was expected to be 18,000KW to 20,000 KW a year. The reduction turned out to be significantly more. The facility now uses about 7,200 KW a year, Tavares said. Three months later, Atlas upgraded the lighting fixtures in the 200,000-sq.-ft. facilityalso with a combination of DLE and ILE high-bay light fixtures. The estimated savings for switching out the D5 fixtures was expected to be about 500,000 KW per year. Since 2013, the building has averaged about 300,000 KW per yeara huge decrease from the 1.3 million KW hours per year it had been using. We went beyond what we estimated the savings were going to be, Tavares said. The savings are mostly because of the controls [provided in the LightRules software]the intelligence behind the lightingbeing able to control each light fixture pretty much individually if we want or as a group. Transformation of the lighting world LED lights have transformed the lighting world, said Kaynam Hedayat, vice president of marketing and product management at Digital Lumens. And the LED lights combined with less-expensive and easy-to-deploy wireless networks allowed Digital Lumens to combine the two technologies to create intelligent lights. The lights are all LED-based, all have small computers inside them with wireless networks, Hedayat said. The lights talk to each other, and through these conversationsthrough this mesh networkyou can interact with the lights for various applications. Basically you can control the lights, and you can collect data from the lights based on the sensors that are in the lights. The wireless network at the physical layer is 802.15.4 IEEE, which is ZigBee. Digital Lumens modified it for the scale and resilience required for the applications that run with the light fixtures. Not only are users better able to control the lights, but now they can devise strategies that enable them to save even more energy, Hedayat said. For example, sensors in the light fixtures sense occupancy and can be set to turn on only when a person enters the space. Sensors also detect daylight and can be programmed to adjust the brightness of the lights based on how much daylight is in the space. The sensors transmit the data through the mesh wireless network to the LightRules management software, which can run on an enterprise-based server or hosted in the cloud. All of the data comes into our light system, we aggregate it, analyze it and present it to [our customers] in the form of reports, such as energy savings reports and occupancy reports, Hedayat said. The software has an open API, so customers can also extract data from the system and import it into building management systems or building automation systems, he said. For example, a customer could use occupancy data in an HVAC system to control temperature. The customer could set controls so that the space isnt cooled as much during times when people arent in it. How Atlas uses Digital Lumens light sensors and software Controlling lights based on the time of day The light sensors and software allow Atlas, whose manufacturing facilities operate 24/7, to control individual lights or a group of lights. The company can control the timing and the dimming based on a certain time of day. For Tavares, that means he can turn off or turn down lights depending on employees shifts. We have areas that during certain shifts, depending on what the operation is, we dont need 100 percent light in the area. So, we are able to program the lights in those areas and bring them down to 20 percent or 50 percentor completely off, he said. Monitoring occupancy Atlas uses the occupancy sensors to automatically turn lights on and off. The lights are smart enough that they know if theres activity, Tavares said. You can program them to turn on if theres activity in the area. The occupancy sensors and the reports generated from the data collected have also improved Atlas distribution. Tavares can track how much activity is in each aisle of the warehouse and see where the traffic iswhere employees are going to pull product for distribution. Tavares positioned those in-demand products together in the warehouse. Tracking occupancy gave me the ability to consolidate product that is picked more often than others, he said. And rather than having people going from one side of the warehouse to the other, I can consolidate all of the busy products into a small number of aisles so all of the activity is in the same area. Doing that means Tavares lights only a section of the warehouse instead of multiple sections, further helping to reduce energy costs. Plus, it improves employee productivity and helps get the product out faster because workers dont have to go all over the warehouse to get it. With the lighting systems in all of the facilities, Atlas has saved 75 percent in lighting energy and gained 20 percent in productivity. Monitoring equipment usage Tavares also uses the data collected from the sensors to track equipment use. We have meters on each piece of equipment, and we track each one to see how often it is physically running. It allows us to see if we need a new piece of equipment or not, he said. That type of tracking prevented Tavares from having to buy a $500,000 piece of equipment. The team originally thought, based on employee reports, a new machine was needed to keep up with demand. The monitoring discovered, however, that the machine in the facility wasnt being used to its full potential. There were spikes in usage followed by long periods of downtime, Tavares said. What they actually needed to do was shift some of the work and do better planning when assigning work to the machine. Its easy for someone to say, Were busy. Were full. We need a new piece of equipment to keep up. But once you look at the data on what the machine actually runs, you can see what is really happening. You can see opportunities to do a better job planning and make better use of that piece of equipment, Tavares said. Monitoring equipment usage also helps Tavares plan maintenance, so he is proactive about it and doesnt have to deal with the crisis of unexpected machinery failures. The lighting market started out focusing on energy savings, but its evolving quickly towards non-energy applications, Hedayat said. Other non-energy applications Digital Lumens is considering: security, fire and safety, asset tracking, and humidity. Some people refer to it as Internet of Things applications, but for us, its all about the data we collect on the [light] fixtures, the analytics we do on the data, and the kinds of reports and information we provide to our customers, he said. Health care organizations were 114 times more likely to hit by ransomware infections than financial firms, and 21 times more likely than educational institutions, according to a new research report by Solutionary. The Omaha-based security firm detects millions of attacks a year, according to threat intelligence analyst Terrance DeJesus. But while health care accounts for just 7.4 percent of the company's client base, it saw 88 percent of all ransomware attacks during the first half of this year. "These numbers do not count all of the email delivery or exploit kit activity that happens pre-infection and would be attempts to deliver ransomware," he said. "These are confirmed ransomware outbreaks on directly affected systems." The overall numbers of successful attacks also increased, he said, by 198 percent from the beginning of February to the end of May. He attributed the increase to a combination of better detection and more attacks. The health care industry is a particularly attractive target for cybercriminals, said Jon-Louis Heimerl, manager of the company's threat intelligence communication team. Some ransomware attacks are random, designed to hit as many people as possible, he said. [ ALSO ON CSO: The history of ransomware ] "We normally think of ransomware as being more of a target of opportunity," he said. "But we are seeing hackers and attackers actually targeting the health care community." One reason is that there's a common belief that health care organizations are behind the technology curve, he said. "We have no empirical data to show that, but there is that perception," he said. For instance, health care organizations are often non-profit, and are thought to prefer to spend the limited amount of money that they have on directly helping patients rather than investing in security, he said. "There's a perception that they're less secure." Second, health care organization have a lot of valuable data. Other companies might store credit card information which quickly loses its value as issuers cancel compromised cards. But health care records include extensive personal histories, Social Security numbers, birth dates, names of relatives, addresses, health insurance account numbers and other data valuable to identity thieves and medical insurance scammers. "There's a lot of valuable information in that data set," Heimerl said. Finally, for health care organizations, losing access to their systems could literally be a matter of life or death. "With other companies, they want access to their systems so that they can keep selling stuff," he said. But in a hospital, people could die if the doctors didn't have immediate access to their medical records. If there's a chance that paying a ransom could result in restoring records, or in getting systems back up and running faster, they might be more inclined to pay up, he said. He urged health care organizations to invest in good, off-site backups not only for their data but for the systems used to access that data, and to test those backups regularly to make sure that they can be restored quickly. According to DeJesus, ransomware isn't just about the money, either. If attackers have other goals in mind besides making a profit, then the infections could be a lot more dangerous. "I think the future of ransomware will definitely continue to grow and develop," he said. "Hacktivists will use ransomware for other reasons which don't involve monetary gain, and it might be even more difficult to give them what they want." This story, "Health care organizations 114 times more likely to be ransomware victims than financial firms" was originally published by CSO . Baku, Azerbaijan. July 26 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: Turkey has launched reforms in its law enforcement agencies following the military coup attempt in the country, the Anadolu Agency reported July 26 citing the countrys Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. From now on, the Gendarmerie and Coast Guard will subordinate to the Interior Ministry, according to Yildirim. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. --- Follow the author on Twitter:@rhafizoglu Verizon, which today announced its intention to purchase Yahoo for $4.8 billion, will be on the hook to Mozilla for over $1 billion through 2019. According to Yahoo's CEO, Marissa Mayer, Verizon may be liable for partial payments even if Mozilla cuts ties to Yahoo and seeks another search provider. Earlier this month, Recode and the New York Times claimed that the 2014 Yahoo-Mozilla contact gave Mozilla the right to switch to another search provider if Yahoo was sold. + RELATED: + The contract, signed in November 2014, made Yahoo the default search provider for Mozilla's Firefox browser in the U.S. market. In return, Mozilla would receive $375 million annually for five years, or through the end of 2019. Yahoo's annual payment was about $100 million more than Google paid Mozilla during their last deal, which ran just three years, from late 2012 to late 2014. While Recode and the New York Times agreed on Mozilla's ability to get out of the Yahoo contract, they differed on the financials. Recode contended that Yahoo -- and thus any buyer -- was obligated to pay the full $375 million each year, even if Mozilla deemed the buyer unacceptable and switched providers in Firefox. The New York Times, however, said that if Mozilla dumped Yahoo, the latter would only have to make up the difference between its $375 million and the payment of Mozilla's new search partner. Both publications reported that Mozilla had the right to demand all remaining payments as a lump sum if it exited the Yahoo contract. Assuming Verizon closes the Yahoo deal in early 2017 -- as it intends -- under those terms, Verizon could be forced to fork over approximately $1.1 billion to cover the final three years of the Mozilla contract. But during a conference call with Wall Street analysts last week, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer disputed parts of the accounts by Recode and the New York Times. In her prepared remarks, Mayer clarified the contract's impact, citing "questions surrounding our Mozilla partnership," obviously referring to the media reports, to discuss the deal. "While we would certainly like to continue the partnership regardless of our strategic alternatives process, should Mozilla choose not to, our agreement does provide for certain mitigations, which would reduce our exposure," Mayer said. "Ultimately, it remains in our mutual best interest to maintain a healthy path forward, and we do hope to do just that." Mayer thus confirmed that the ball is in Mozilla's court -- it could nullify the partnership after a sale -- but also challenged the accounts that said Verizon would have to pay the full balance of the contracted payments. ("Reduce our exposure" is corporate-speak for reducing expenses.) When a Wall Street analyst later asked for more information about the Mozilla deal, Mayer repeated her assertions that the media got it wrong. "On Mozilla there's not a lot more that I can say because it is a confidential relationship," Mayer said. "But we did want to point out, because I think it has been misunderstood, at least with some of the analyses I've seen, it has been misunderstood that there is a mitigation in the contract that ultimately would reduce some of our exposure and liabilities." Mayer's comments did not explicitly confirm the New York Times narrative -- that Verizon would have to pay the difference between $375 million and whatever Mozilla received from a new provider -- but her use of "mitigations" when talking about the contract implied as much. Neither Mozilla or Yahoo immediately replied to questions today about the impact of the Verizon purchase on Yahoo's search sources. But one analyst believes the Verizon-Yahoo deal would not move Mozilla to strike out for another partner. "I don't see why the Verizon acquisition changes either the search or the browser dynamic in the market," said Al Hilwa of IDC. "I think it is mostly an issue of [Verizon having assessed] the risk and factoring that into the valuation of Yahoo." Mozilla might not have options if it did want to abandon Yahoo, a decision that in any case seems improbable, what with the premium it's being paid by Mayer's firm. The other two big players in search -- Google and Microsoft -- have browsers of their own to feed users into their engines. Of the two, Microsoft would appear to be the most likely to add Firefox: Bing badly trails Google in search share, and Microsoft's browser share has sharply slumped this year. This story, "Verizon must pay even if Mozilla walks from Yahoo search deal" was originally published by Computerworld . The FBI has launched an investigation into the hacking of the Democratic National Committees computers, even as more evidence surfaced of possible Russian involvement in the attack. The data breach was first disclosed last month, when hackers published confidential DNC files, including opposition research on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Then on Friday, Wikileaks published over 19,000 emails that were stolen from the DNC, some of which now threaten to damage the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The FBI confirmed on Monday that it was investigating the attack and said the perpetrators would be "held accountable." "A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously," the agency said in a statement. The FBI declined to elaborate, but the outcome of its probe could have huge implications. If Russia is found responsible, it would mean a foreign state had tried to influence the outcome of a U.S. presidential election, said Justin Harvey, chief security officer at Fidelis Cybersecurity. If a nation-state has crossed this line, and the FBI can show it was Russia, then it will be a watershed moment in cyber security, he said. Some security investigators had already blamed Russia for the attacks, and that charge has now been echoed by the DNC and by Clinton's campaign manager. I dont think it was coincidental that these emails were released on the eve of our convention here, campaign manager Robby Mook said in an interview with CNN on Sunday, referring to the start of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Trump has espoused foreign policy views that could be favorable to Russia, giving it an incentive to undermine Clinton's candidacy, the thinking goes. You have Trump out there saying he may leave NATO, Harvey noted. Russia has tried for over half a century to dissolve NATO. Security firm Crowdstrike, which was hired by the DNC to investigate the hack, has blamed the intrusion on two hacking teams with ties to the Russian government. Other firms including Fidelis have agreed with that claim. The cache of emails released by WikiLeaks on Friday adds to the belief that there was state-sponsored involvement. WikiLeaks A security alert from Yahoo to a DNC consultant In early May, the emails show, Yahoo alerted a DNC consultant that her email account was likely being targeted by state-sponsored actors. The consultant had been in contact with journalists in the Ukraine about Trumps campaign manager, Paul Manafort, apparently trying to establish an alleged link between Manafort and Russia. Theres still no smoking gun to prove Russias involvement, Harvey said. Fidelis reached its conclusion based on the malware that was used. The malicious code, including a reused IP address, was found in other attacks believed to have been carried out by the Russian hacking groups. Not everyone agrees with those findings. A lone hacker known as Guccifer 2.0 has tried to take credit for the breach and denies having any ties to Russia. To prove his claims, he leaked some stolen DNC documents last month and said additional files were sent to WikiLeaks for publication. But security experts are skeptical. Some believe Guccifer is part of a Russian-led misinformation campaign to divert blame from the country. Even if it turns out that state-sponsored hackers were not responsible in this case, they'll have learned from the DNC breach, said Yonatan Striem-Amit, CTO at security firm Cybereason. Nation-state actors are looking at this right now and realizing that they have a very important tool for political influence, he said. Russian officials have flatly denied any involvement with the DNC breach. Alan Masarek has been CEO of Vonage since November 2014. Since then, the company has undergone a transformation, building on its roots as a home phone replacement company to become a leading provider of cloud communications for business. Vonage jump-started its leadership position as a business communications provider through acquisitions and has been very active acquiring companies to complement the core consumer VoIP offering and early SMB offering the company had when Masarek assumed the role. Masareks vision is for Vonage to be the global leader in cloud communications by transforming the way people connect and businesses operate through integrated and contextual communications whenever and however people choose to communicate. The vision is simple: to deliver cloud communications that help businesses communicate more effectively and efficiently by providing greater flexibility, mobility and productivity in how they connect their employees and communicate with their customers. However, the implementation of this requires different tools for different segments. That has been the driving force behind Vonages aggressive merger and acquisition strategy. Prior to Masareks arrival, Vonage had a single service optimized for consumers and very small businesses. Since then, the company has been on a shopping spree akin to what one might see from the likes of Cisco. Every acquisition had a strategic purpose and filled a need that let the company address a new market segment. Vonages acquisitions and what they mean The purchase of Vocalocity gave rise to Vonage Essentials, a product focused on the needs of the SMB segment. Essentials is built on proprietary technology, and the company can quickly tweak and tune it for the needs of SMBs. Vonage chose a different route for its offering for the mid-market to large enterprise customer, Vonage Premier. The company rolled up three Broadsoft-based Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS) providers Telesphere, Simple Signal and iCoreto build Premier. Premier is as good or better than any other UCaaS offering aimed at large companies. Many UCaaS providers run over the top of the internet, but Vonage Premier rides the companys MPLS network or Vonages SD-WAN-based SmartWAN service to provide quality of service (QoS) guarantees and higher-quality service-level agreements (SLAs), giving the company a global reach with a consistent experience. Vonage bolstered its enterprise portfolio with the purchase of gUnify, which acts as middleware to tie communications to business applications. How it works: for example, if a law firm were a Vonage customer, all desk phone, soft phone and mobile phone calls could be automatically integrated into Clio, a software CRM solution tailored for law firms for recording and billing purposes. This can save a significant amount of time and be more accurate than logging things manually. An easy way to think about gUnify is that it provides integration into worker-facing productivity tools such as Google for Work, Zendesk, Salesforce, Bull Horn, the previously mentioned Clio and many other vertical applications. Vonages most recent acquisition, Nexmo, creates communications integration with customer-facing applications. Nexmo is one of a few Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) cloud providers. The most well-known vendor in the market is Twilio, which recently IPOed. Last year, Cisco acquired a private company called Tropo to move into the space, and earlier this year, privately held Avaya launched Zang.IO to add CPaaS to its portfolio. Communication via the cloud UCaaS offers full PBX functionality from the cloud. CPaaS can be thought of as delivering modules of communications from the cloud via APIs. Historically, if a company wanted to build an application with click to call or click to SMS capabilities, it would need to buy racks of hardware, deploy it and have developers that are telephony savvy. Now any developer can make a call to the cloud. CPaaS services have usage-based pricing, so theres little to no risk for an organization because the cost escalates as more customers use it. The low-hanging fruit for this market has been digital-native companies such as Uber and AirBnb, but recently more mainstream companies have started to make CPaaS a key part of their digital transformation plans. For example, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines incorporates Nexmo APIs to offer customer service through Facebook Messenger. The thesis behind CPaaS is that end users would prefer to communicate with companies without having to leave the application they are in. Its easier for the customer and allows the business to offer true omni-channel communications. I fully expect CPaaS to be a rising tide that lifts all of the boats in the market. In fact, IDC has forecast this market to grow from $123 million in 2013 to $7.5 billion in 2018. Even if its a portion of that, Vonage will be one of the main suppliers in this space and will benefit from the shift to digital. Also, as the Internet of Things becomes more commonplace and we start to see machines talking to people and vice versa, CPaaS will be a key enabler of this trend as well. There is a 1+1 = 3 scenario for Vonage with Nexmo. Vonage can use its global MPLS network to send messages, calls or video with greater quality of service than pure over the top solutions. Also,being able to traverse the Vonage network creates some cost advantages. For example, a call made from Singapore to the U.S. can ride the Vonage network and terminate in the U.S., saving the customer long-distance rates. Vonage has well over 70,000 business customers today and can leverage this installed base to grow the Nexmo business. Twilio has focused on digital companies and the long tail of small software vendors. Vonages best strategy is to mine its massive install base. The rollup of all of these acquisitions creates a uniquely positioned Vonage that can address the communications needs of consumers, SMBs, enterprises and developers. Communications is becoming an embedded part of every application we use, and its important that it can be consumed in many different ways and that Vonage can address each of them. I believe Vonage will grow ahead of market growth based on its ability to leverage the broadest cloud communications portfolio in the industry. Lieutenant Colonel Levent Turkkan, the aide of Chief of Turkey's General Staff Hulusi Akar, admitted having links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which he said was the main perpetrator of Friday's failed coup attempt, Anadolu reported. In his testimony released early Wednesday, Turkkan said he was a loyal member of the FETO group since his youth. "I am a member of the parallel state, or FETO. I have served this community for years voluntarily. I have obeyed the orders and instructions of the big brothers exactly," he confessed. Turkkan was detained earlier for his alleged link to the deadly coup attempt, which occurred on late Friday when rogue elements of the Turkish military tried to overthrow the country's democratically elected government. At least 240 people, including members of the security forces and civilians, were martyred in Istanbul and Ankara and nearly 1,500 others wounded as they protested against the coup. Turkkan said he comes from a poor family in the northwestern district of Bursa and met the group during his secondary school years while he was staying at a dorm. "Since I was five, my biggest wish was to become a military officer. [...] And my dream of becoming a military officer pleased them," he said, adding that he entered the military school entrance exam in 1989. Turkkan said he was a bright student and that he was sure he would pass the exams with his own efforts. "But the night before the exam, big brothers gave me the [answered] questions of the exam in a house belonging to them in Bursa," he said. Continuing to see his "big brothers" during and after his military school years, Turkkan said he "served them during missions in Istanbul, Trabzon, Diyarbakir, Lefkosa, Kiziltepe and lastly in Ankara." Turkkan also confessed he spied on Former Chief of Staff Necdet Ozel during his post between 2011- 2015. Turkkan said he initially served as deputy aide and later became an aide after his chief retired. Turkkan said he fulfilled the Gulen movements orders after becoming a close aide in the General Staff. "I was spying on [former] Chief of Staff Necdet Ozel all the time. I put a recording device in the room in the morning and took it back in the evening hours," Turkkan said. "The device has its own capacity and could wiretap for 10-15 hours." During the questioning by the prosecutors, Turkkan admitted he received the device by a person who claimed to be working at the Turk Telecom, Turkey's telecommunications center. [He] ordered me to eavesdrop on the general [Necdet Ozel]. He told me We will tap him for information purposes; nothing is going to happen. I did not question and took the device, he said. Turkkan said he had at least two recording devices and returned the device once its capacity was full. Lt. Col. Turkkan also admitted that Major Mehmet Akkurt whom Turkkan claimed to be a member of Gulen movement and worked closely with -- spied on high-ranking generals, including the Chief of Staff Hulusi Akar. He did not specify the exact time of when they tapped Akar. I think the movement has been spying on those generals to know what is going on inside the armed forces, Turkkan confessed. Once General Hulusi Akar was promoted as the Chief of Staff, Turkkan said he stopped wire-tapping. During the interrogation, Turkkan also provided information on how the Gulen movement was organized inside the Turkish military. I believe 60-70 percent of those people who have been accepted inside the armed forces since 1990s are Gulen-linked people, he said. Turkkan said he received information about the military coup on July 14 at around 10.00 am local time (1900GMT) from Staff Colonel Orhan Yikilkan, who served as an adviser to the Chief of Staff. "Yikilkan told me the President, the Prime Minister, the Chief of Staff and commander-in-chiefs will be arrested; that will be done [with] quietly; [the military coup] will be staged at 03.00 AM on early Saturday [July 16], Turkkan said. Turkkan said he visited his brother to check whether he was aware of military take-over, but failed to see him. He told the prosecution that he met with other members of the movement in his brothers home. When I asked them, they angrily told me How do you know? Who told you these? Did you tell anyone? They told me to keep quiet, Turkkan said. After the thwarted attempt, Turkkan said he surrendered to the military officials who turned him in to the police. Turkkan said he felt regret for taking part in the violent coup. "Until the coup, I thought Gulen movement was acting for only God's sake and Gulen himself had a spiritual identity," Turkkan said. "Until today, I never thought Gulen movement was a traitor. But now, I [have] realized what they really are. They [the members of FETO] are bloodthirsty. I have never seen Fetullah Gulen, but he is the same," he said. I feel regret not only for taking a part in this but also becoming a member of the Fetullah Gulen movement, he added. The government has repeatedly said the attempted coup was organized by followers of U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen, who is accused of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through supporters within the Turkish state, particularly the military, police, and judiciary, forming the so-called parallel state. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: Fethullah Gulen, who was involved in the military coup attempt in Turkey, has admitted that he has always supported the West, the Haber Turk newspaper reported July 26 citing Gulens interview published in the New York Times. Reportedly, Gulen has said that the West, including the US, has always needed moderate Islam. Fethullah Gulen attributed his movement to moderate Islam. Gulen also called on the US authorities not to extradite him to Turkey. Earlier, Turkish presidential administration told Trend that Ankara will do its best to extradite Fethullah Gulen, who is considered to be the organizer of the coup attempt. According to the administration, the coup attempt shows that Turkey was facing the threat of a terrorist attack. "The fight against Gulens movement still remains one of Turkeys main priorities," the administration said. The administration also stressed that if the US is a strategic partner of Turkey, it should extradite Gulen to Turkey. The administration added that the extradition of Gulen will greatly weaken the terrorist organization, which is hostile to the interests of the Turkish people. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 Trend: Russia and Turkey have agreed to hold the consultations at the level of the representatives of the foreign ministries and the law enforcement agencies regarding the visa abolition for Turkey, Arkady Dvorkovich, Russian deputy prime minister, told reporters, RIA Novosti agency reported July 26. "When the appropriate agencies reach mutual understanding on preventing the individuals, involved in extremism, terrorism, to penetrate into the territory of Russia, then it will be possible to make a decision to abolish the visa restrictions," Dvorkovich added. The relations between Russia and Turkey deteriorated after the Su-24 bomber incident in 2015. On June 27, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter of condolences to Putin over the death of Russian Su-24 pilot and expressed regret over the incident. Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, commenting on the improvement of relations between Turkey and Russia, thanked Azerbaijan for its contribution to normalization of the relations. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Orkhan Guluzade - Trend: Turkeys ambassador to Canada Tuncay Babali has been dismissed from his post, the Haber 7 newspaper reported July 26. The decision was made as part of the fight against the Fethullah Gulen movement. Earlier, Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the rebels have penetrated into the structure of the country's Foreign Ministry as well. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Over 100 supporters of Fethullah Gulen were dismissed at the Presidency of Religious Affairs in Turkey, Hurriyet newspaper reported July 26. Earlier, about 150 employees of the Presidency were dismissed within the fight against the Gulen movement. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in the country on July 20. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: Head of the Turkish oppositional Republican People's Party (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu has demanded Fethullah Gulens extradition from the US, the Anadolu Agency reported July 26. Gulen should be tried in Turkey, according to Kilicdaroglu. If Gulen considers himself innocent, he should come to Turkey and prove his innocence before the court, he added. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Three high-ranking employees of Turkeys state telecommunication company Turk Telecom have been detained within the fight against Fethullah Gulens movement, DHA agency reported July 26. The names of the detainees have not been specified. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in the country on July 20. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: The attempted military coup brought together all political parties in Turkey, said Deputy Chairman of Turkeys ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Cevdet Yilmaz, TRT Haber news channel reported July 26. Yilmaz said all political parties proved their commitment to democracy. He added that currently, there is normal atmosphere for political dialogue in Turkey. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in the country on July 20. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Baku, Azerbaijan, July 26 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has expressed gratitude to the Secretary General of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States [Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Kyrgyzstan] Ramil Hasanov for solidarity in the fight against the movement of Fethullah Gulen. The remarks were made by Cavusoglu on Twitter. Earlier, he also thanked Azerbaijan for supporting Ankara during the military coup attempt in Turkey. As we expected, Azerbaijan strongly supported Turkey during the military coup attempt. This support was reflected in the steps taken, said the foreign minister, adding that this shows the brotherly relations between the two countries. On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country. Meanwhile, a group of servicemen announced about transition of power to them. However, the rebelling servicemen started to surrender July 16 and Turkish authorities said the coup attempt failed. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people excluding the coup plotters and over 2,000 people were wounded. Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Tuesday that he expects more developed relations between Ankara and Moscow as the two countries are neighbors. "We will see more developed relations and that is what needs to take place, because Turkey is a neighbour to Russia. We have common interests, a common future," Yildirim told Sky News in an interview. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are expected to meet on August 9 in St. Petersburg for the first time since the bilateral relations deteriorated in late 2015. China eyes to be an aircraft carrier superpower. (Photo : Getty Images) China is moving up the navy power ladder with the upcoming completion of its first ever domestically built aircraft carrier that is expected to make the country a superpower in the field. A report from Asia Today posted in the Huffington Post indicates the progress of the construction of China's first indigenous aircraft carrier point to the direction of a more powerful People's Liberation Army Navy's (PLAN). Advertisement Meanwhile, the United States remain confident that the PLAN would not reach a point that it could overpower the Pentagon's clout in the sea though there may be some truth in the Asia Today report in terms of the Chinese naval power. China's Current Aircraft Carrier According to the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), China is currently using a second-hand ship from the Soviet Union which was originally built as a "heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser" called the "Liaoning." Its capability is way different than other countries' aircraft carriers in both capability and size, placing second next to the American's Nimitz-class carrier USS Ronald Reagan that weighs some 97,000 tons when fully loaded and spans to about 333 meters long. The Liaoning has a typical speed of about 20 knots and weighs 60,000 tons. Its capabilities are also limited due to its turbine power plant which hinders it from outrunning potential threats in the sea. Its aircraft launching system also have limited capabilities though the carrier's "air wing represents a significant leap in air capability for the PLAN," said CSIS. Despite this, the mere presence of the Liaoning and the inevitability of the completion of China's very own indigenous aircraft carrier is believed to have massive effects in the country's global power. "Already with China's so-called starter carrier, Liaoning, there is significant potential in the near future to take it overseas for some basic naval diplomacy . . . and this will already have tremendous symbolic and psychological effects," explained Andrew Erickson, of the U.S. Naval War College (NWC)'s China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI). The Type 001A In a May report, the Asia Times noted that China's aircraft carrier Type 001A is rapidly making progress particularly in its Dalian drydock. It is said to be designed after the Soviet Admiral Kuznetsov class carriers which means it would have about the same power as the Liaoning and displace around 60,000 tons to 70,000 tons. The Type 001A is also seen to be able to carry around 30 to 40 helicopters and J-15 fighter jets with its steam turbine-powered engines by the time it is launched sometime in 2017. Smuggling suspect's armored car auctioned in Beijing. (Photo : Getty Images) The most wanted fugitive in China is set to return after 13 years. Yang Xiuzhu has given up her fight to attain political amnesty in the U.S. According to a report by World Journal, Yang would like to get better medical treatment in China. She is now held at the Houston Immigration Detention Center. Advertisement Yang's lawyer filed for termination of her political asylum. Her lawyer expects to that Yang can return to China in August. She has been in the U.S. for the past 13 years because she has been avoiding a red notice from the Interpol. In 2003, she was accused of committing economic sabotage and was placed in the top 100 economic fugitives in the country. She was former deputy head of the Construction Bureau in Zheijang Province and the head of the Office of Urbanization. She was also Wenzhou vice mayor from 1995 to 1998. When her bother, Yang Guangrong, was arrested for taking bribes, she flew to the U.S. Nonetheless, it was discovered that she took 250 million yuan in bribes. Only 42.4 million yuan was returned. The sentence for her brother is imprisonment for 16 years and 6 months for getting 180,000 yuan in bribes. Liao Jinrong, director general of the ministry's International Cooperation Bureau, said, "The United States has become the top destination for Chinese fugitives fleeing the law." There are about 150 Chinese fugitives escaping conviction. Since there is no extradition treaty between the U.S. and China, the U.S. is reluctant to send these fugitives back. "We face practical difficulties in getting fugitives who fled to the United States back to face trial due to the lack of an extradition treaty and the complex and lengthy procedures," said Liao. A logo sits illuminated outside the Huawei pavilion during the second day of the Mobile World Congress 2015 at the Fira Gran Via complex on March 3, 2015, in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo : Getty Images) Apple's iPhone is losing sales in China because it is facing fierce competition from local manufacturers like Huawei. According to Bloomberg reports, iPhone sales continue to be dismal. The sales drop has happened for the second time in a row. Tim Cook, Apple's CEO will have to explain the full extent of Apple's market situation in China on July 26. Advertisement The consumer market in China accounts for a quarter of Apple's total sales. Consumers are preferring local brands like Huawei or Oppo because of the big difference in price. A smartphone from Huawei costs 2,000 yuan. This is a lot cheaper than iPhone's 7,000 yuan price tag. Both phones have similar features. Huawei is now the biggest phone manufacturer in the country. According to a report released by Kantar Group, one in every smartphone sold is manufactured by Huawei. Guangdong Oppo Electronics Co., another Chinese manufacturer quadrupled their market share. However, Apple is making sales through the App Store. A global finance and analysis site, App Annie stated that China has already surpassed Japan. The consumers who purchase in the App Store will likely upgrade their phones to an iPhone 6S or iPhone 7. However, Huawei is still competitive in price and specifications. The smartphone giant sells its top of the line P9 at 3,688 yuan. The P9 has 64 GB of storage, a fingerprint scanner, front and rear cameras. Apple's iPhone 6S is already at 5,288 yuan. Lauren Guenveur, an analyst at Kantar, said, "It is a fairly premium phone compared to the other models but it is a relatively lower price compared to the iPhone. There is also a sense of pride of being a Chinese phone user and owning a Chinese phone." Spare Change: Hard-working farmer Louis Escobar was one of a kind Louie performed the kind of job most try to avoid. And he did it with little, if any, complaint. Champaign, IL (61820) Today Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 63F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Clear skies. Low 37F. Winds light and variable. The fact that Ivanka Trump is also an attractive, fashionable woman has made her some sort of an icon for young Chinese women. (Photo : Getty Images) Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is known for his anti-immigration stand and has promised to build a fence in the U.S.-Mexico border if he wins in the November 2016 presidential election. However, Independent reported that his daughter, Ivanka, who made waves at the Republican National Convention (RNC) with her speech, presence and fashion style, appears not to practice what her father is preaching. Thats because the bulk of clothing produced by Ivankas fashion brand are actually made-in-China and -Vietnam. Advertisement These two Asian countries are notorious for their human rights abuses and poor labor conditions, with most of their factories sweatshops and paying wages ways below living standards. However, to hide that fact, most of the clothes are labelled just imported. The British daily inspected over 25 different items in Ivankas flagship store in New York City and found not one was manufactured in the U.S., a sales assistant confirmed. Given Ivankas popularity unlike her father who is more notorious and seen as a divisive figure the billionaires daughter has a similar effect as Kate Middleton, wife of Prince William, whose fashion influence is so strong that whatever clothes she wears on public occasions, is sold out after the event. Ivankas $138 Sleeveless Studded Sheath Dress that she wore at the RNC was sold out at Nordstrom. Her father, Donald Trump, had lamented so many times American jobs going to third world nations such as China and Mexico. If Trumps campaign has been quiet about Ivankas fashion brand manufacturing the clothes in China and Vietnam, its because Donalds ties and suits are also sewn in China and Bangladesh, the daily said. Meanwhile, Cosmopolitan reported that Aquazzura, an Italian footwear company, filed a lawsuit against Ivanka for allegedly stealing their design. The fashion brand charged her with repeated infringement and deceptive trade practices for copying the best-selling sandals of Aquazzura. The Italian store cited its Wild Thing sandal, priced at $785, which Ivanka sells as Hettie for $145. Vaccines are essential for any person looking to travel to another part of the world. Thanks to advances in medicine, safe and effective vaccines are now available for many infectious diseases. Getting vaccinated not only benefits the person who is traveling, but their family, friends and those in the community too, as it prevents the spread of infection. This article describes the most common infectious diseases and the corresponding vaccinations that Western travelers should receive before leaving their home country. Skip to: Cvijovic Zark | Shutterstock Which vaccinations do I need? The number and type of vaccinations that you will need will depend on the country that you reside in, whether you have been exposed to any infectious agents before and the country that you are traveling to. For example, you may have already received some of the required vaccinations as part of your national health program. Whether or not you need some vaccinations will also depend on the region that you are visiting, as in some cases, vaccinations are only required for rural regions. The number and type of vaccinations that a traveler will need may also depend on whether they have any pre-existing health conditions. If a traveler is pregnant or has certain illnesses or a weakened immune system, they may require additional vaccinations. How far in advance do I need to book my vaccinations? You should aim to receive your vaccinations no later than 4 6 weeks prior to your departure, although some vaccinations may need to be given further in advance. The reason for this is to allow your body to build up an immune response to the infectious agent, meaning that if you do come into contact with the disease, your immune system is able to recognize the pathogen and initiate an immune response immediately. Another reason to plan your vaccinations in advance is that some vaccines require multiple doses spread over a few weeks. What are the main vaccinations that most travelers will need? Routine vaccinations, such as those directed against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR); diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis; varicella (chickenpox); polio; rotavirus; and influenza are important for travelers and non-travelers. These vaccines are particularly important when traveling, as these diseases still occur commonly in many parts of the world. Common infectious diseases and corresponding vaccinations In addition to routine vaccines, specific vaccinations are needed for different destinations. The selection of such vaccines depends on the country you are visiting, duration of stay, and the purpose of the visit. The following list describes the vaccination needed for popular destinations. Hepatitis A A viral infection of the liver that is highly prevalent in developing countries How is hepatits A spread? Contaminated food and water (including ice cubes and fresh produce that has been washed in local water) Raw or undercooked shellfish Bodily fluids (including sexual intercourse or the sharing of contaminated needles) Which destinations require vaccination against hepatitis A? Africa The Carribean Russia and some parts of Europe America, especially South America Central Asia Countries in the Middle East Which destinations do not require the hepatitis A vaccination? Hepatitis occurs less frequently in Canada, Western Europe and Scandinavia, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. How many doses do I need? Two doses of hepatitis A vaccine given 6 months apart have been shown to be 100% effective in preventing the infection. Typhoid Typhoid fever is an infection caused by the bacterium Salmonella Typhi that can spread throughout the body and have life-threatening effects. How is typhoid spread? Typhoid is spread through contaminated feces that enters the water system and/or contaminates food items. Which destinations require the typhoid vaccination? South Asia Africa South America The Carribean Countries in the Middle East Europe Which destinations do not require the typhoid vaccination? The prevalence of typhoid is very low in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and Japan. How is the typhoid vaccine administered? Both injectable and oral vaccines are available, and your healthcare practitioner will advise you which one is suitable for your trip. However, the efficacy of this vaccine is only 50 80% so you should try to ensure that you only eat and drink from safe and clean sources even after being vaccinated. How many doses of the typhoid vaccine are needed? The dose of oral vaccine varies from country to country. In Australia and Europe, three doses of the vaccine (days 0, 3, and 5) are repeated every year for those traveling from non-endemic to endemic countries. For typhoid shots, a single dose of vaccine is injected intramuscularly, and revaccination is recommended every 3 years for better efficacy. In high-risk countries, the vaccine efficacies are 72% and 50% after 1.5 years and 3 years of vaccination, respectively. Hepatitis B Hepatitis B is a viral infection of the liver which is transmitted through the sharing of body fluids such as blood or semen. Which destinations require vaccination for Hepatitis B? Asia Africa South America The Caribbean Which destinations do not require the hepatitis vaccination? Hepatitis B is less prevalent in North and Central America, Europe and Antarctica. However, vaccination is recommended for travelers who may engage in high risk activities such as unprotected sex, getting a tattoo, or the use of intraveous drugs where needles may be shared. How is the hepatitis B vaccine administered? The hepatitis B vaccine consists of 3 doses wherein the second and third doses are given 1 month and 6 months after the first dose, respectively. The efficacy of the vaccine is almost 90%, and boosters are generally not required. Rabies Rabies is a life-threatening viral disease which is transmitted through the saliva of infected animals. Where is rabies prevalent? Cases of rabies can be found all over the world, but the risk of infection is significantly higher in: Africa Asia Central America South America Which destinations do not require the rabies vaccination? Rabies vaccination is not generally recommended for The United States, Europe, Japan, Canada, and Australia. However, travelers who engage in a lot of outdoor activities, especially those who may come into contact with wild or domestic animals or are performing work or research in endemic areas are at higher risk of contracting the infection and may choose to receive the vaccine. How is the rabies vaccine administered? The vaccines for rabies are of two types: pre-exposure vaccine and post-exposure prophylaxis. The pre-exposure vaccine is given before travel to protect travelers who are at higher risk of exposure to rabies. It consists of 3 doses that are injected intramuscularly on days 0, 7, and 21 or 28. The post-exposure prophylactic vaccine is given to prevent the development or rabies if a traveler is bitten or scratched by an infected animal. Such vaccination is given through intramuscular (deltoid muscle) or intradermal injections. The intramuscular vaccine consists of either 4 or 5 doses. The four-dose vaccine is given as two doses on day 0 followed by days 7 and 21 whereas the five-dose vaccine is given on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 28. The intradermal vaccination is administered on days 0, 3, 7, and 28 using the two-site intradermal method. Japanese encephalitis Japanese encephalitis is a mosquito-borne disease that has a high fatality rate. Who should receive the Japanese encephalitis vaccine? Anyone who is traveling to the following destinations should receive the Japanese encephalitis vaccine: India Korea Sri Lanka Thailand The risk of contracting Japanese encephalitis depends on the destination you are traveling to, as well as the nature of activity, time of year and duration of the trip. In northern Asia, the risk is higher in the summer and fall; whereas in tropical and subtropical countries, the risk remains high throughout the year. How is the Japanese encephalitis vaccination administered? The Japanese encephalitis vaccine consists of two doses that are given 4 weeks apart. The last dose should be administered at least 10 days before traveling. A booster dose is recommended after 1 year of primary vaccination. Meningococcal disease (Meningitis with septicemia) Meningococcal disease is a disease caused by the bacterium Neisseria meningitides. It occurs when the bacterium, which causes meningitis, enters the bloodstream. This results in a systemic, life-threatening infection known as sepsis. Who should receive the meningococcal vaccination? The incidences of this disease can be found all over the world, but vaccination is mainly recommended for those traveling to Sub-Saharan Africa and countries in the Middle East. The disease is highly prevalent during the dry season in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Saudi Arabia during Hajj pilgrimage. Meningococcal vaccination is also routinely given to teens in the US, because crowded conditions in college dormitories or on military barracks increase the likelihood of outbreaks. How is the meningococcal vaccine administered? Meningococcal vaccines are of three types: bivalent, trivalent, and tetravalent. A booster dose is recommended 5 years after the primary vaccination. These single-dose vaccines take at least 7 10 days to start working. I n Saudi Arabia, a proof of recent vaccination (tetravalent vaccine) is required to enter the country during Hajj pilgrimage. Cholera Cholera is a bacterial disease spread by contaminated food and water. Who should receive the cholera vaccine? The cholera vaccination is recommended for those traveling to: Haiti The Dominican Republic Africa Asia (some regions) What does the cholera vaccine consist of? The cholera vaccine comprises two oral doses given 7 14 days apart. If the second dose is delayed by more than 6 weeks, vaccination should be repeated. The vaccine takes 1 week to start working, and the efficacy is almost 90%. A booster dose is recommended after 2 years of primary immunization. Tick-borne encephalitis Tick-borne encephalitis is a viral infection spread by small insects known as ticks. Who should receive the tick-borne encephalitis vaccination? The prevalence of tick-borne encephalitis is high in several parts of Europe and Asia, including: Czech Republic Estonia Germany Hungary Latvia Lithuania Poland Slovenia Sweden Switzerland China Japan Mongolia South Korea Russia. The most likely time to become infected is the early and late summer when ticks are abundant in forest areas. How is the tick-borne encephalitis vaccine administered? The tick-borne encephalitis vaccine is only recommended for high-risk travelers, such as those who will be spending a lot of time in wooded areas. In Western Europe, the vaccine consists of three doses that are given intramuscularly at intervals of 4 12 weeks between 1st and 2nd doses and 9 12 months between 2nd and 3rd doses. In Russia, three doses of the vaccine are given at intervals of 1 7 months between 1st and 2nd doses and 12 months between 2nd and 3rd doses. Yellow fever Yellow fever is a mosquito-borne viral disease that can lead to serious complications, such as shock, organ failure, or even death. Where is yellow fever prevalent? Sub-Saharan Africa Tropical regions of South America There was also a recent outbreak of yellow fever in Brazil. Proof of vaccination at least 10 days prior to travel is required to enter specific countries where the disease is endemic. How is the yellow fever vaccine administered? The yellow fever vaccine is a single-dose vaccine given subcutaneously or intramuscularly. The efficacy of the vaccine is 100%, and it generally provides protection for life. However, for some people, a booster dose may be required after 10 years. Sources CDC. Travel Smart: Get Vaccinated. (2018). cdc.gov/features/vaccines-travel/index.html Vaccines.gov. Vaccines for Travelers. (2017). vaccines.gov/who_and_when/travel CDC. Need travel vaccines? Plan ahead. (2018). nc.cdc.gov/travel/page/travel-vaccines CDC. Disease Directory. nc.cdc.gov/travel/diseases/ World Health Organisation (WHO). International travel and health. (2019). who.int/ith/vaccines/en/ Further Reading Dutch men and Latvian women are the tallest on the planet, according to the largest ever study of height around the world. The research, led by scientists from Imperial College London and using data from most countries in the world, tracked height among young adult men and women between 1914 and 2014. Among the findings, published in the journal eLife, the research revealed South Korean women and Iranian men have shown the biggest increases in height over the past 100 years. Iranian men have increased by an average of 16.5cm, and South Korean women by 20.2cm. The height of men and women in the UK has increased by around 11cm over the past century. By comparison, the height of men and women in the USA has increased by 6cm and 5cm, while the height of Chinese men and women has increased by around 11cm and 10cm. The research also revealed once-tall USA had declined from third tallest men and fourth tallest women in the world in 1914 to 37th and 42nd place respectively in 2014. Overall, the top ten tallest nations in 2014 for men and women were dominated by European countries, and featured no English-speaking nation. UK women improved from 57th to 38th place over a century, while men had improved slightly from 36th to 31st place. The researchers also found that some countries have stopped growing over the past 30 to 40 years, despite showing initial increases in the beginning of the century of study. The USA was one of the first high-income countries to plateau, and other countries that have seen similar patterns include the UK, Finland, and Japan. By contrast, Spain and Italy and many countries in Latin America and East Asia are still increasing in height. Furthermore, some countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East have even seen a decline in average height over the past 30 to 40 years. How tall we grow is strongly influenced by nutrition and environmental factors, although an individual's genetic factors may also play a role. Children and adolescents who are better nourished and live in better environments tend to be taller, and height may even be influenced by a mother's health and nutrition during pregnancy. It has lifelong consequences for health and even education and earnings. Some research suggests people who are taller tend to live longer, gain a better education and even earn more. However, being tall may carry some health risks, as studies have linked height to a greater risk of certain cancers including ovarian and prostate. Professor Majid Ezzati from the School of Public Health at Imperial who led the research said: "This study gives us a picture of the health of nations over the past century, and reveals the average height of some nations may even be shrinking while others continue to grow taller. This confirms we urgently need to address children and adolescents' environment and nutrition on a global scale, and ensure we're giving the world's children the best possible start in life." He added: "Our study also shows the English-speaking world, especially the USA, is falling behind other high-income nations in Europe and Asia Pacific. Together with the poor performance of these countries in terms of obesity, this emphasises the need for more effective policies towards healthy nutrition throughout life." Mary De Silva, Head of Population, Environment and Health at the Wellcome Trust, who co-funded the study, said: "This is a unique analysis that shows the real power of combining a hundred years of population data sources that span the globe. The most striking finding is that despite the huge increases in height seen in some countries, there is still a considerable gap between the shortest and tallest countries. More research is needed to understand the reasons for this gap and to help devise ways of reducing the disparities in health that still persist globally." Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today The research team, which included almost 800 scientists and was in collaboration with the World Health Organization, used data from a wide range of sources, including military conscription data, health and nutrition population surveys, and epidemiological studies. They used these to generate height information for 18-year- olds in 1914 (who were born in 1896) through to 18-year- olds in 2014 (who were born in 1996). Among the findings the team found that: Dutch men are the tallest on the planet, with an average height of 182.5cm. Latvian women are the tallest on the planet, with an average height of 170cm. The top four tallest countries for men are the Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia and Latvia. The top four tallest countries for women are Latvia, the Netherlands, Estonia and the Czech Republic. Men from East Timor were the smallest in the world in 2014, with an average height of 160cm. Women from Guatemala were the smallest in 2014 with an average height of 149cm. The difference between the tallest and shortest countries in the world in 2014 was about 23cm for men - an increase of 4cm on the height gap in 1914. The height difference between the world's tallest and shortest countries for women has remained the same across the century, at about 20cm. The height difference between men and women has on average remained largely unchanged over 100 years - the average height gap was about 11cmin 1914 and 12cmin 2014. The average height of young men and women has decreased by as much as 5cm in the last 40 years in some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa such as Sierra Leone, Uganda and Rwanda. Australian men in 2014 were the only non-European nationality in the top 25 tallest in the world. In East Asia, South Korean and Chinese men and women are now taller than their Japanese counterparts. Adult height plateaued in South Asian countries like Bangladesh and India at around 5-10 cm shorter than in East Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea. The smallest adult men in 1914 were found in Laos, where the average male height was 153cm, a similar height to a well-nourished 12-year- old boy living today. In 1914 the smallest women were found in Guatemala, where the average female height was 140cm, a similar height to a well-nourished 10-year- old girl. The nations with the tallest men in 2014 (1914 ranking in brackets): 1. Netherlands (12) 2. Belgium (33) 3. Estonia (4) 4. Latvia (13) 5. Denmark (9) 6. Bosnia and Herzegovina (19) 7. Croatia (22) 8. Serbia (30) 9. Iceland (6) 10. Czech republic (24) The nations with the tallest women in 2014 (1914 ranking in brackets): 1. Latvia (28) 2. Netherlands (38) 3. Estonia (16) 4. Czech Republic (69) 5. Serbia (93) 6. Slovakia (26) 7. Denmark (11) 8. Lithuania (41) 9. Belarus (42) 10. Ukraine (43) Variations in a gene with multiple functions in neurons are present in approximately 3 percent of all cases of ALS in North American and European populations, both sporadic and familial, making it one of the most common genetic causes of the disease, according to a paper published in Nature Genetics. Led by John Landers, PhD, professor of neurology at UMass Medical School and Jan Veldink, PhD, at University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, the research was supported by The ALS Association through Project MinE, an international collaboration for gene discovery in ALS, and funded through ALS Ice Bucket donations. ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects neurons in the brain and the spinal cord. Eventually, people with ALS lose the ability to initiate and control muscle movement, which often leads to total paralysis and death within two to five years of diagnosis. While 10 percent of ALS is familial, meaning it's genetic, the other 90 percent of ALS cases are considered sporadic, or without a family history. However, it's very likely that genetics contribute, directly or indirectly, to a much larger percentage of ALS cases. The ALS Association announced funding for Project MinE, an international effort to sequence the genomes of at least 15,000 people with ALS, in October 2014, which established the U.S. arm of the initiative with Dr. Landers' research efforts. Project MinE was the brainchild of entrepreneur Bernard Muller, and Robbert Jan Stuit, both of whom have ALS. They saw an opportunity to expedite genetic understanding of the disease after a tour of the Research ALS Center in the Netherlands where thousands of DNA samples are not being used because it was too expensive to do the research the center wanted to do. "This study was only possible because of the collaboration of all of the scientists involved," said Landers. "It is a prime example of the success that can come from the combined efforts of so many people, all dedicated to finding the causes of ALS. This kind of collaborative study is, more and more, where the field is headed." The study involved contributions from more than 80 researchers in 11 countries, and was the largest-ever study of familial ALS. Exome data from the familial ALS cases in the study have been added to the ALS Variant Server, a publicly available database funded by The ALS Association. Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today "The discovery of NEK1 highlights the value of big data in ALS research," said Lucie Bruijn, PhD, MBA, of The ALS Association. "The sophisticated gene analysis that led to this finding was only possible because of the large number of ALS samples available. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge enabled The ALS Association to invest in Project MinE's work to create large biorepositories of ALS biosamples that are designed to allow exactly this kind of research and to produce exactly this kind of result." The new gene, called NEK1, was discovered through a genome-wide search for ALS risk genes in more than 1,000 ALS families, and was independently found through different means in an isolated population in the Netherlands. Further analysis in more than 13,000 sporadic ALS individuals compared to controls again revealed the overrepresentation of variants in the same gene. The variations discovered in the gene sequence are predicted to lead to a loss of function of the gene. NEK1 is known to have multiple roles in neurons, including maintenance of the cytoskeleton that gives the neuron its shape and promotes transport within the neuron. In addition, NEK1 has roles in regulating the membrane of the mitochondrion, which supplies energy to neurons, and in repairing DNA. Disruption of each of these functions through other means has been linked to increased risk of ALS. Understanding the role of NEK1 in disease will provide an important new target for therapy development. The ALS Association is currently funding Landers and Catherine Lutz, PhD, senior research scientist at the Jackson Laboratories in Bar Harbour, Maine, to develop novel mouse models to better understand the consequences of the loss of the protein's function for the ALS disease process. They will provide rapid access to these models for the broader ALS research community as soon as they are generated. These tools are important for ALS drug development. Two UCLA studies reveal that menopause--and the insomnia that often accompanies it -- make women age faster. The dual findings, respectively published July 25 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Biological Psychiatry, suggest these factors could increase women's risk for aging-related diseases and earlier death. "For decades, scientists have disagreed over whether menopause causes aging or aging causes menopause," said Steve Horvath, a professor of human genetics and biostatistics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, and a senior author on both studies. "It's like the chicken or the egg: which came first? Our study is the first to demonstrate that menopause makes you age faster." "Not getting restorative sleep may do more than just affect our functioning the next day; it might also influence the rate at which our biological clock ticks," said Judith Carroll, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, and first author of the sleep study. "In the women we studied, those reporting symptoms such as restless sleep, waking repeatedly at night, having difficulty falling asleep, and waking too early in the morning tended to be older biologically than women of similar chronological age who reported no symptoms." For their findings, both studies used a "biological clock" developed by Horvath, which has become a widely used method for tracking the epigenetic shift in the genome. Epigenetics is the study of changes to DNA packaging that influence which genes are expressed but don't affect the DNA sequence itself. The Menopause Connection In the menopause study, Horvath and first author Morgan Levine tracked methylation, a chemical biomarker linked to aging, to analyze DNA samples from more than 3,100 women enrolled in four large studies, including the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) a major 15-year research program that addressed the most common causes of death, disability and poor quality of life in postmenopausal women. They measured the biological age of cells from blood, saliva and inside the cheek, to explore the relationship between each woman's chronological age and her body's biological age. Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today "We discovered that menopause speeds up cellular aging by an average of 6 percent," said Horvath. "That doesn't sound like much but it adds up over a woman's lifespan." Take, for example, a woman who enters early menopause at age 42. Eight years later, he said, her body would be a full year older biologically than another 50-year-old woman who entered menopause naturally at age 50. "On average, the younger a woman is when she enters menopause, the faster her blood ages," explained Levine, a postdoctoral researcher in Horvath's lab. "This is significant because a person's blood may mirror what's happening in other parts of the body, which could have implications for death and disease risk." The Importance of Sleep In the sleep study, Carroll and her colleagues drew their data from more than 2,000 women in the WHI. Using the epigenetic clock, they found that postmenopausal women with five insomnia symptoms were nearly two years older biologically than women the same chronological age with no insomnia symptoms. "We can't conclude definitively from our study that the insomnia leads to the increased epigenetic age, but these are powerful findings," said Carroll. "In the future, we will need to carry out studies of the same individuals over an extended period of time to determine cause-and-effect relationships between biological age and sleep disorders." While both studies are bad news for many women, Horvath suggests that scientists in the future may use the epigenetic clock as a diagnostic tool to evaluate the effects of therapies, like hormone therapy for menopause. "The big question is which menopausal hormone therapy offers the strongest anti-aging effect while limiting health risks," said Horvath. "No longer will researchers need to follow patients for years to track their health and occurrence of diseases. Instead we can use the epigenetic clock to monitor their cells' aging rate and to evaluate which therapies slow the biological aging process," explained Horvath. "This could greatly reduce the length and costs of clinical trials and speed benefits to women." Trials to Investigate Cell Macroencapsulation Implantable Device to Deliver Islet Cells in People with Severe Type 1 Diabetes and Hypoglycemia Unawareness A new research funding agreement between the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and Sernova, a clinical-stage regenerative medicine biotech, aims to address people with severe type 1 diabetes (T1D) who are hypoglycemia unaware, a condition in which a person with diabetes does not experience the usual early warning symptoms of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) following an insulin injection. The purpose of the funding is to advance human clinical trials of Sernovas novel cell macroencapsulated implantable and scalable Cell Pouch System (CPS) with the hope to improve the quality of life and overall outcomes for these patients. Type 1 diabetes is a disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks and kills the pancreatic cells that produce insulina hormone that is essential for life because of its role to help the body use glucose. People with diabetes who have hypoglycemia unawareness are at a higher risk of acute life threatening consequences that can lead to coma and death following an insulin injection that reduces blood glucose to dangerously low levels. JDRF will provide Sernova $2.45 million USD to support a clinical trial at a major transplantation center in the United States. JDRF has previously provided funding to advance the development of Sernovas technologies through a preclinical collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital, and we are proud to continue our support as Sernovas technologies progress into new safety and efficacy clinical trials, said Derek Rapp, JDRF President and CEO. JDRF is excited about this collaboration, which advances research in encapsulated cell therapies, and will continue to drive progress toward our mission to accelerate life-changing breakthroughs to cure, prevent and treat T1D and its complications. Sernova and JDRF are tightly aligned in our vision to see cell-based therapies developed to reduce disease burden and significantly increase the quality of life for people living with T1D, remarked Dr. Philip Toleikis, Sernovas President and CEO. We see our work with JDRF on this important clinical trial as an exciting opportunity to more rapidly advance Sernovas therapies to treat people with diabetes and address many of the shortcomings and challenges of current insulin therapy. Understanding Hypoglycemia Unawareness There is no cure for T1D, and people living with the disease are dependent on insulin therapy to help keep their blood-sugar levels from spiking too high, which can lead to long-term complications such as kidney and heart diseases or an acute, potentially deadly health crisis. Present-day insulin therapy is, however, an imperfect treatment method that requires people with T1D to monitor their blood sugar throughout the day and take multiple, calculated doses of insulin based on food intake, exercise, stress, illness and other factors. A miscalculation or unexpected variable leading to high or low blood sugar episodes are daily threats, and only a third of people with T1D achieve their long-term blood glucose targets, placing them at risk for T1D-related health complications. Lab Diagnostics & Automation eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today Many patients with diabetes who experience insulin-induced drops in blood sugar levels which could reach acute dangerous levels have the typical early warning signs of hypoglycemia, which include sweating, trembling, butterflies in the stomach, tingling, numbness, and rapid pulse. People with diabetes who have hypoglycemia unawareness dont experience these symptoms in reaction to a severe drop in blood sugar levels. Instead, without warning, they can lapse into severe hypoglycemia, becoming confused or disoriented or falling unconscious into a coma followed by death. It has been shown that transplantation of new islets can reduce the incidence and severity of hypoglycemia unawareness. Sernovas progression to human clinical trials is an incredible accomplishment in the global diabetes research agenda, said Dave Prowten, President and CEO of JDRF Canada. I am particularly proud of this trial being a part of the JDRF portfolio because it supports advancements of the best and brightest research minds in Canada at Sernova. Also, this is a shining example of the international collaboration fostered by projects funded by JDRF. Working together with our global partners, we can accelerate this type of transformative research and ensure it becomes available for the T1D community. Cell Pouch System Technology Vs Existing Islet Transplant Technology Currently, islet cell transplantation is a procedure that involves transplanting islet cells from a donors pancreas into a diabetic patients liver through a blood vessel, basically a "big injection" into the portal vein of the liver. In this procedure infused islets can result in toxicities such as liver hypertension resulting from blockage of small blood vessels where the islets lodge. In addition, a large proportion of infused islet cells die during or after the process often requiring multiple treatments to achieve efficacy. Because of these and other issues as well as the low number of available islet donors in addition to diminishing efficacy over time, the procedure is available to only a small fraction of the most severely ill T1D patients. We hope with these trials to accomplish an improved quality of life for people with diabetes who also experience hypoglycemia unawareness, and to potentially increase the number of patients that could be treated, remarked Dr. Toleikis. This work will also lend important information as we continue our development of Cell Pouch System cell-based technologies to treat the broader T1D community. Source: http://www.sernova.com/ NewYork-Presbyterian has announced the rollout of NYP OnDemand, a new suite of digital health services designed to improve and expand patient care, while also extending access to the clinical expertise of NewYork-Presbyterian's physicians to their peers throughout the Hospital's vast healthcare network. NewYork-Presbyterian is one of the largest, most comprehensive medical institutions in the nation and the only one on this scale to implement an enterprise-wide, comprehensive digital health portfolio. The project was catalyzed by the visionary support of Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser, NewYork-Presbyterian's longtime philanthropic partners. This most recent gift builds on the couple's previous investments in telehealth infrastructure, further elevating the Hospital's ability to connect patients and clinical staff in new and innovative ways. "At NewYork-Presbyterian, we are looking to redefine the intersection of technology and healthcare and our new digital health platform is our way of strengthening traditional telehealth services," said Dr. Steven J. Corwin, president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian. "I would like to extend our deepest thanks to Rita and Gustave Hauser, for providing support for this platform. Together with ColumbiaDoctors and Weill Cornell Medicine, we are using data and technology to provide the very best care and treatment outcomes for our patients - wherever they may be - as well as seamless peer-to-peer access for our physicians across the entire organization." NYP OnDemand is comprised of telehealth services for both patients and providers, available on the NewYork-Presbyterian website and mobile app, and will ultimately include these key areas of service: Digital Second Opinion: NewYork-Presbyterian specialists from both ColumbiaDoctors and Weill Cornell Medicine can now offer their world-class clinical expertise for second opinions to patients around the country and eventually, the globe through an easy-to-access online portal. Patients are walked through the entire process without having to wait for an in-person appointment. Inter-hospital Digital Consults: Connecting patients at NewYork-Presbyterian's Regional Network Hospitals to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital specialists, Inter-hospital Digital Consults provide greater access to advanced, specialty care for patients across the New York City metro region and facilitate real-time communication between providers. Digital Emergency and Urgent Care: As part of a new pilot program, visitors to the Lisa Perry Emergency Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell now have the option of a virtual visit through real-time video interactions with a clinician after having an initial triage and medical screening exam. This will be done in a private room with a webcam/monitor, significantly reducing time spent in the Emergency Department. For any non-emergency conditions that require expedited treatment, patients will eventually also be able to access a separate virtual urgent care service from NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell doctors from the comfort of their home via the NYP OnDemand smartphone application. Digital Follow-Up Appointments: Launching in fall 2016, Digital Follow-Ups will provide patients a virtual follow-up option, instead of asking patients to come back to the office in person. The service offers a more convenient way to access care without another trip to the doctor. "When patients visit ColumbiaDoctors at NewYork-Presbyterian, they know they will see outstanding physicians who will combine the latest technologies with highly personalized care and caring. This new suite of digital health services will help to maintain and enhance that experience," said Dr. Lee Goldman, dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine and chief executive of Columbia University Medical Center. "NYP OnDemand extends the reach of our world-class doctors beyond their offices, ensuring that patients receive quality healthcare when and where it's most convenient for them," said Dr. Augustine M.K. Choi, interim dean of Weill Cornell Medicine. "We are proud to join NewYork-Presbyterian and ColumbiaDoctors in offering these vital telehealth services to our patients." Among the first services available for patients is NYP OnDemand Second Opinion. Launched earlier this summer in collaboration with ColumbiaDoctors and Weill Cornell Medicine, the service connects patients from anywhere in the country seeking a second opinion on their diagnosis from clinical experts at NewYork-Presbyterian. After a patient initiates the process online, they are assigned a care coordinator matched with the best physician for their condition, resulting in a written second opinion to the patient all without having to leave the comfort of home. Equipped with the second opinion, the patient can then make a more informed decision about their treatment plan and, if they choose, opt to receive care at NewYork-Presbyterian. To date, NYP OnDemand Second Opinions are offered by over 300 physicians in 80 medical specialties. In addition to the patient access services, NYP OnDemand also facilitates real-time peer-to-peer physician consults within the nine hospitals that are part of the NewYork-Presbyterian system. The NewYork-Presbyterian Telestroke Initiative, which has been deployed at NewYork-Presbyterian/The Allen Hospital and NewYork-Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital, uses video conferencing and data sharing to allows 24/7 coverage for acute stroke care with rapid evaluation by a neurologist with stroke expertise. To date, the telestroke service has resulted in improved door-to-treatment times, which has been shown to improve overall patient outcomes. In the coming months, additional digital consult services such as behavioral health, emergency medicine, and pediatrics will also be established. A new set of community-produced biological network models has been shown to allow a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying a range of diseases. The models, of which earlier versions have been described in detail in the past, have been shown to have importantapplications in toxicology and drug discoveryin a new paper in Gene Regulation and Systems Biology. The models arethe latest output of the Network Verification Challenge (NVC), a global crowdsourcing initiative designed to draw on expertise from many scientific areas in order to verify and enhance understanding of biological networks. The Network Verification Challenge represents a powerful new approach in the identification and validation of new drug targets, said Borislav Simovic, Quality Control at FM Pharma and one of the challenge best-performers. Due to the volume of data involved, only through structured, collaborative working are we able to achieve the best understanding of biological pathways. In bringing together leading experts in toxicology and systems biology, the Network Verification Challenge gives us valuable new insights into the complex relationships involved in these pathways. The NVC, which is led and funded by Philip Morris International, has involved online and in-person collaborations between a global network of scientists (173 individuals from 26 countries in the latest iteration of the challenge). Networks were built using the Biological Expression Language (BEL), which captures relationships between biological entities and provides information on activation or inhibition. Applications for toxicology and drug discovery come through the overlay of data onto pathways of interest and / or the use of computational inference techniques. The networks produced in the NVCoffer a detailed and comprehensive representation of selected biological processeswhich is not seen in other available network resources (eg, KEGG and Reactome). NVC networks are open to the crowd for editing, which facilitates a peer-review process which helps to ensure that networks are both comprehensive and current. They also contain many layers of information with direct causal, indirect causal, correlative and other non-causal relationships being captured. The networks explored in the NVC relate to lung biology and respiratory disease, but many also apply to other tissues and disease contexts and can be built on according to scientists specific needs. Drug Discovery eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today Participants were motivated to take part in the NVC due to the opportunity to further their understanding of the biology involved in the networks, to share their knowledge, to learn and use BELand to collaborate with leading experts in the fields of toxicology and systems biology. Gamification principles were employed to incentivize activity on the networks, with participants able to move up a leader board based on their contributions. Best-performers had further opportunities for collaboration, including contributing to peer-reviewed papers. As part of the Network Verification Challenge community I have been able to contribute to state-of-the-art research in network biology, said Aravind Tallam, Postdoctoral Fellow at TWINCORE Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research. As well as improving my own understanding of disease mechanisms and underlying biology, on a personal level the challenge has also allowed me to meet and collaborate with a diverse group of scientists who are working at the cutting edge of research. The NVC is the third challenge under the sbv IMPROVER umbrella. The two previous challenges were the Diagnostic Signature Challenge, which asked participants to identify robust diagnostic signatures across four disease areas, and the Species Translation Challenge, which sought to refine understanding of the limits of rodent models as predictors of human biology. The outcomes of a fourth challenge the Systems Toxicology Computational Challenge were recently presented at the Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology conference in Orlando, FL, USA. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed the first placenta-on-a-chip that can fully model the transport of nutrients across the placental barrier. The flash-drive-sized device contains two layers of human cells that model the interface between mother and fetus. Microfluidic channels on either side of those layers allow researchers to study how molecules are transported through, or are blocked by, that interface. Like other organs-on-chips, such as ones developed to simulate lungs, intestines and eyes, the placenta-on-a-chip provides a unique capability to mimic and study the function of that human organ in ways that have not been possible using traditional tools. Research on the team's placenta-on-a-chip is part of a nationwide effort sponsored by the March of Dimes to identify causes of preterm birth and ways to prevent it. Prematurely born babies may experience lifelong, debilitating consequences, but the underlying mechanisms of this condition are not well understood due in part to the difficulties of experimenting with intact, living human placentae. The research was led by Dan Huh, the Wilf Family Term Assistant Professor of Bioengineering in Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science, and Cassidy Blundell, a graduate student in the Huh lab. They collaborated with Samuel Parry, the Franklin Payne Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Christos Coutifaris, the Nancy and Richard Wolfson Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Penn's Perelman School of Medicine; and Emily Su, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the Anschutz Medical School of the University of Colorado Denver. The study was published in the journal Lab on a Chip. The researchers' placenta-on-a-chip is a clear silicone device with two parallel microfluidic channels separated by a porous membrane. On one side of those pores, trophoblast cells, which are found at the placental interface with maternal blood, are grown. On the other side are endothelial cells, found on the interior of fetal blood vessels. The layers of those two cell types mimic the placental barrier, the gatekeeper between the maternal and fetal circulatory systems. "That barrier," Blundell said, "mediates all transport between mother and fetus during pregnancy. Nutrients, but also foreign agents like viruses, need to be either transported by that barrier or stopped." "One of the most important function of the placental barrier is transport," Huh said, "so it's essential for us to mimic that functionality." In 2013, Huh and his collaborators at Seoul National University conducted a preliminary study to create a microfluidic device for culturing trophoblast cells and fetal endothelial cells. This model, however, lacked the ability to form physiological placental tissue and accurately simulate transport function of the placental barrier. In their new study, the Penn researchers have demonstrated that the two layers of cells continue to grow and develop while inside the chip, undergoing a process known as "syncytialization." "The placental cells change over the course of pregnancy," Huh said. "During pregnancy, the placental trophoblast cells actually fuse with one another to form an interesting tissue called syncytium. The barrier also becomes thinner as the pregnancy progresses, and with our new model we're able to reproduce this change. "This process is very important because it affects placental transport and was a critical aspect not represented in our previous model." The Penn team validated the new model by showing glucose transfer rates across this syncytialized barrier matched those measured in perfusion studies of donated human placentae. While useful in providing this type of baseline, donated placental tissue can be problematic for doing many of the types of studies necessary for fully understanding the structure and function of the placenta, especially as it pertains to diseases and disorders. "The placenta is arguably the least understood organ in the human body," Huh said, "and much remains to be learned about how transport between mother and fetus works at the tissue, cellular and molecular levels. An isolated whole organ is an not ideal platform for these types of mechanistic studies." "Beyond the scarcity of samples," Blundell said, "there's a limited lifespan of how long the tissue remains viable, for only a few hours after delivery, and the system that is used to perfuse the tissue and perform transport studies is complex." While the placenta-on-a-chip is still in the early stages of testing, researchers at Penn and beyond are already planning to use it in studies on preterm birth. "This effort," Parry said, "was part of the much larger Prematurity Research Center here at Penn, one of five centers around the country funded by the March of Dimes to study the causes of preterm birth. The rate of preterm birth is about 10 to 11 percent of all pregnancies. That rate has not been decreasing, and interventions to prevent preterm birth have been largely unsuccessful." As part of a $10 million grant from the March of Dimes that established the Center, Parry and his colleagues research metabolic changes that may be associated with preterm birth using in vitro placental cell lines and ex vivo placental tissue. The grant also supported their work with the Huh lab to develop new tools that could model preterm birth-associated placental dysfunction and inform such research efforts. "Since publishing this paper," Samuel Parry said, "we've reached out to the principal investigators at the other four March of Dimes sites and offered to provide them this model to use in their experiments." "Eventually," Huh said, "we hope to leverage the unique capabilities of our model to demonstrate the potential of organ-on-a-chip technology as a new strategy to innovate basic and translational research in reproductive biology and medicine." Source: University of Pennsylvania Wildlife Reserves Singapore Prepare To Open River Safari Attraction (Photo : Getty Images) Eight-four alligators that escaped from a flooded farm are at the risk of being the next meal of Wuhu residents in Anhui Province. At least one of the 92 reptiles has reportedly been captured, cooked and eaten by local residents even if the Chinese alligator is protected by national wildlife protection laws. Because of the possible violation of regulations, six people have been arrested as suspects in the illegal poaching and killing of the gator, reported Dajiang Evening Post. Advertisement The short video of a one-meter alligator being boiled in a cooking pot alerted police. One of the six suspects had surrendered to police and recounted finding an escaped gator in a grass area on July 5. He captured it, killed the reptile, brought the animal to a restaurant owned by his friends where the reptile was cooked and feasted on, according to South China Morning Post. Although alligators, like the one in Disneyland Florida that grabbed and killed a six-year-old boy, are dangerous, local authorities which deployed teams to look for the missing gators assured residents the reptiles are not aggressive animals. However, the Chinese alligator known as the Yangtze alligator has a historical record of attacking people. Their number had greatly diminished over the years because of overhunting and pollution. Despite being protected by wildlife laws, the breeder and restaurants could cook the Chinese alligator so long as they secure permits from forestry authorities. But Yangtze alligators with first-grade protection under national legislation could not be bred for commercial purposes. The overflow of the Yangtze River due to heavy rains brought by typhoon Nepartak caused water to rise 50 centimeters above the reptiles steel enclosure, releasing the alligators. One eight have been recaptures, one found on the doorsteps of an elderly farmers house in Huaqiao town, reported News 7. Researchers have revealed the molecular structure of a protein produced by the Zika virus that is thought to be involved in the virus's reproduction and its interaction with a host's immune system. The results provide scientists around the globe with new information about the NS1 protein's role in Zika virus infections, and expands scientists' understanding of the flavivirus family, which also includes dengue, West Nile and yellow fever. The study was led by the University of Michigan and done in collaboration with Purdue University. "Having the structure of the full-length Zika NS1 provides new information that can help guide the design of a potential vaccine or antiviral drugs," said senior author Janet Smith, director of the Center for Structural Biology at the U-M Life Sciences Institute, where her lab is located, and professor of biological chemistry at the U-M Medical School. "Researchers are still working to understand precisely how Zika and other flaviviruses interact with an infected person's immune system," she said. "Having these atomic-level details can help scientists to ask better questions and to design more thoughtful experiments as we continue to learn new information." The findings are scheduled for online publication July 25 in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. Earlier this year, scientists in China published a partial structure. The mosquito-borne Zika virus has been around for decades, but recently grew into an international health emergency following its association with severe birth defects and with Guillain-Barre syndrome, and its rapid spread in Central and South America. There is currently no treatment or vaccine, though several companies have announced plans to try to develop one. "Despite its similarity to other related viruses, we found the Zika NS1 structure had a few important differences," said W. Clay Brown, scientific director of the Center for Structural Biology's high-throughput protein lab and co-first author of the study. The new 3-D structure, which was obtained using X-ray crystallography and electron microscopy, revealed that the outer surface of the Zika NS1 protein has substantially different electrical-charge properties than those of other flavivirusesindicating it may interact differently with the members of an infected person's immune system. This study was also the first to capture the molecular structure of flexible loops on the wing domains of the protein, which had been hidden from view in previous studies. Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today "From NS1 structure studies in dengue, it was thought this loop flipped up, but our study in Zika virus shows it flips down from the wings," said co-author Richard Kuhn, professor of biological sciences at Purdue and director of the Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease. "This is very important because it indicates an interaction with the cellular membrane of the host and a possible mechanism by which NS1 carries out its multiple functions. "Seeing this difference provides new insights that help us better understand the NS1 protein," said Kuhn, who was a member of the research team that first determined the structure of the Zika virus. "Understanding its structure and functions help us identify targets for inhibitors to block important viral processes and treat infection." The team also looked at changes in the genetic sequence of the Zika NS1 protein over time, noted David L. Akey, a research scientist in Smith's lab and the study's other lead author. "Just as the common cold and flu viruses change over time, Zika virus changed during its spread around the world so that NS1 in Brazilian infections looks different to the immune system than its African ancestor," Akey said. The NS1 (nonstructural protein 1) protein plays several roles in viral infections. Inside infected cells, it is essential to making new copies of the virus to infect additional cells. Infected cells also secrete NS1 packets into the patient's blood stream, where higher levels have been associated with more severe illness. The cross-shaped protein has two distinct surfaces. The inner surface is "greasy" and is believed to interact with cell membranes, while the outer surface, once secreted into the blood, can interact with the patient's immune system. Even without the virus present, the secreted version of some NS1 proteins can create vascular bleeding, such as is seen in severe dengue infections. In 2014, many of the same team members participated in the first study to isolate and map the NS1 protein from dengue and West Nile viruses, which appeared in the journal Science. "Isolating the protein in order to study it has been a challenge for researchers," Smith said at the time. "Once we discovered how to do that, it crystallized beautifully." A new study published in the British Journal of Dermatology has shown that, on average, 70% of eczema patients are colonised with Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (S. aureus, including MRSA) on their skin lesions. Patients with more severe disease had a greater risk of being colonised. These results provide an indication of the importance of colonisation as a possible trigger in eczema. The systematic review from Erasmus MC University looked at 95 observational studies comprising over 9000 patients. Interestingly, 39% of eczema patients carried S. aureus on healthy skin, compared with 70% that carried it on lesional skin where the dermatitis is present. This is an almost twenty-fold increase compared to healthy controls. In addition, up to 80% of eczema patients were found to have a strain of S. aureus that produced a toxin. These toxins have been known to stimulate the inflammatory response, contributing to the skin barrier defects in eczema, and may therefore be a primary trigger of the condition. Currently, eczema is mainly treated with corticosteroids and in the case of infection, with antibiotics. However, these drugs can result in side effects, drug-resistance and damage to the skins normal beneficial bacteria, making them unsuitable for long-term use. Professor of Paediatric Dermatology at the Erasmus MC University Suzanne Pasmans, and senior author of the paper said: This review demonstrates the importance of colonisation with S. aureus, as a factor in the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis. To decipher the exact role of S. aureus, studies using targeted antistaphylococcal therapy for the skin need to be done. Micreos, a Dutch biotech company who helped fund the review, is leading the way with the development of Staphefekt, a bacteria-killing enzyme, or endolysin, specific to S. aureus, which is as effective in killing MRSA as other strains of S. aureus. The mechanism of action of endolysins is unrelated to that of antibiotics, so even resistant bacteria, such as MRSA, are susceptible. Staphefekt is the first endolysin registered for use on the skins microbiome, and is currently used as the active compound in Gladskin (a range of topical creams and gels for inflammatory skin conditions, such as eczema). Unlike antibiotics, bacterial resistance to Staphefekt has not been observed or expected, and its specificity means beneficial bacteria are preserved, making it suitable for long-term daily use. Prof Pasmans added: As cases of ADHD continue to rise among U.S. children, pediatricians at busy community practices are getting a much-needed assist from a web-based technology to improve the quality of ADHD care and patient outcomes. According to a multi-institutional study published online July 26 in Pediatrics, a new web-based software program is helping reduce ADHD behavioral symptoms in children receiving care at community pediatric practices by coordinating care and ensuring patients get the most effective ADHD medications. This is important for children with ADHD who rely on extremely busy community based pediatric practices where ADHD care is often poor - especially in the areas of medication management and monitoring, according to Jeffery Epstein, PhD, the study's principal investigator and director of the Center for ADHD at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. "Our data show the software not only helped improve the quality of medication care received by children treated at community based pediatric practices, but it also improved treatment outcomes for these children," Epstein said. "As a result of the improved quality of ADHD care, children treated by pediatricians using this new technology had significantly less ADHD symptoms than children treated by pediatricians who were not given access to this web-based technology." The ADHD care quality improvement (QI) software was developed by Epstein and research colleagues at Cincinnati Children's. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has selected this software for use in pediatric practices that are participating in a five-state QI learning collaborative to improve care for children with ADHD. Available through a web-based portal, the software helps community practices collect, score and interpret reports from parents and teachers regarding children's ADHD symptoms - allowing pediatricians to better gauge whether medications are working with their patients. Providers at community practices can customize the schedule of collection of these ratings for each patient. When ratings are completed, automated algorithms score and interpret data. Physicians then receive text and graphs charting patient response to medication and other related information, allowing them to determine if ADHD symptoms are improving in response to the prescribed medication and dosage. Lab Diagnostics & Automation eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today The current study involved a randomized clinical trial coordinated through Cincinnati Children's and Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where study co-author Kelly Kelleher, MD, serves as director of the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice. The trial was conducted at 50 community based pediatric practices involving 199 providers. The providers were randomized to either provide ADHD care using the technology assisted QI intervention or without the intervention. A total of 373 children with ADHD included in study were prescribed ADHD medications for their condition (165 children at practices using the software intervention and 208 at control practices not using the software). A standard rating scale (the Vanderbilt ADHD Parent Rating Scale) was used before and following treatment to rate ADHD symptoms. Medicated children cared for at control practices (which did not use the software) experienced an average 10.19-point reduction on the parent-rated scale of symptoms. Children at pediatric practices using the technology based intervention experienced an average symptom reduction of 13.19 points. Compared to children at practices not using the technology, children cared for at practices with the technology had significantly more treatment contacts with clinical staff and a greater number of parent and teacher ratings to monitor the effectiveness of medications. Researchers said that treatment effectiveness and outcomes were more quickly assessed at practices using the software. Researchers report that the study's community based nature led to some limitations involving the consistency of data collection - making it difficult to generalize the data to all community practices and providers, according to the authors. The study also focused only on the primary outcome of ADHD symptoms. It did not evaluate functional impairments (such as school performance), which are often why families seek treatment for ADHD. Epstein said that future goals for this intervention include extending the software's use to facilitate behavioral treatment. Researchers also want to explore strategies for expanding use of the technology to include all patients with ADHD (including integrating its use with electronic health records, pay for performance initiatives, etc.) and patients with other pediatric mental disorders. Kolkata: In the absence of any early flood warning system, villagers in Assam are banking on abnormal animal behaviour to predict and survive sudden inundation of their houses, say researchers. When insects like locust and grasshopper come out from their hideouts and fly randomly and enter houses, the situation suggests a sudden change in the weather condition, more occasionally flood with heavy rain, the scientists found. Similarly, when ants shift their shelter to higher places with their eggs and food stuff, it indicates a definite forthcoming flood. When a fox howls irritably at a higher place it indicates a forthcoming prolonged drier season but when it howls from a low-lying location it indicates a probability of high flood. The cry of doves and two particular species of birds are also warning signs, according to a report by Ludhiana-based Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology scientist Armaan U Muzaddadi. Toads and frogs make continuous sounds before torrential rain and devastating flood. "Indigenous technical knowledge has been the key rescuer of fishermen and common people of Dhemaji district of Assam from frequent floods in the region every year," the report said. Over the centuries, local people of Dhemaji have developed their own ways and means to deal with floods based on their experience and observations. These measures and techniques are locality specific, require no external help or support and are inherently scientific, according to the scientists. The group of researchers conducted a study in the region by interviewing fishermen of three most flood-prone development blocks of the district. Srinagar: Four terrorists have been killed and one captured, in an encounter with security forces in Naugam sector near the LoC in Kupwara district of Kashmir. The apprehended terrorist has been identified as Bahadur Ali from Lahore in Pakistan. Security forces have cordoned off the area. The gun battle is currently underway. "Four terrorists have been killed while one has been apprehended alive during the operation in Naugam sector," an army officer said, adding that the operation was still going on and it would be premature to say whether it was an infiltration bid or not. "We have got one of them alive and expect some vital information from him," the officer said. (With inputs from PTI) New Delhi: The government is considering bringing in a fresh policy for elderly people in the country, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday. Responding to supplementaries during Question Hour, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot said the government is considering a new policy for for the country's aged. As part of the policy, old age homes will have better environment for the occupants, in the presence of more recreational opportunities. Gehlot was responding to a question by Shiv Sena's Srikant Shinde, who said it was "shameful" that India had ranked poorly in a recent survey on elderly. In 1999, the country had adopted a policy for senior citizens, which brings people above the age of 60 years under its ambit and extends certain benefits to them. On Kargil Vijay Diwas I bow to every valiant soldier who fought for India till the very last breath. Their heroic sacrifices inspire us. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 India will never forget the fearlessness with which our courageous soldiers gave a befitting & unforgettable reply to the intruders. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 India will never forget the fearlessness with which our courageous soldiers gave a befitting & unforgettable reply to the intruders. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 As India celebrates 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas on Tuesday, a week-long tribute is being held at Kargil's Dras and the national capital to honor the brave martyrs of the 1999 war.Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay his respects at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate.Remembering sacrifices of the soldiers during the war against Pakistan, Modi tweeted, "On Kargil Vijay Diwas I bow to every valiant soldier who fought for India till the very last breath. Their heroic sacrifices inspire us. India will never forget the fearlessness with which our courageous soldiers gave a befitting and unforgettable reply to the intruders. We recall with pride, the firmness demonstrated by India's political leadership in 1999, which ensured a decisive victory in Kargil."Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar paid his tribute at the Amar Jawan Jyoti in the morning. Chief of Army, Navy and Air Force were also present.The Army is celebrating the 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas to commemorate the victory in the war against Pakistan. The week-long celebrations will end on Tuesday. Popularly known as the 'Iron Lady', Sharmila is being force-fed through a nasal tube over the last 16 years. Activist Irom Sharmila has said she will break her fast on August 9, nearly 16 years after she started her protest against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in Manipur.Sharmila told mediapersons outside the Imphal Court on Tuesday that she wanted to contest elections after breaking her fast. Sources close to her said she would contest as an independent.Activists associated with her said her decision would mark a new beginning in the fight against AFSPA in the state."It is a bit of a surprise. We are trying to get in touch with her for more details," said Babloo Loitongbom, an activist close to her.Sharmila's decision to contest in the elections is likely to have a huge impact on Manipur's political scene.Picture Courtesy: ReutersIn the past, she had always said there was no question of ending her fast till the AFSPA is withdrawn.It was in November 2000 that Sharmila began a hunger strike to protest against the gunning down by the Assam Rifles of 10 civilians waiting at a bus stop at Malom near Imphal airport.She has been demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which gives unbridled powers to the armed forces.The Centre welcomed her decision with Jitendra Singh, minister in charge for northeastern states saying, "Good that it has dawned on her that sensitive issues like AFSPA should be left to armed forces and not made a political cause. I welcome her decision to fight elections and separatists from Kashmir should take a cue from her."Earlier in July, the Supreme Court asserted that the situation in Manipur has "never been one of war".Picture Courtesy: ReutersThe apex court directed a thorough probe into alleged fake encounter killings there, saying the use of "excessive or retaliatory force" by the armed forces or police was not permissible in 'disturbed areas' under the AFSPA.Under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, in the 7 North-Eastern states and J&K, the armed forces can arrest, search without a warrant and use force on the basis of "reasonable suspicion" that a person is engaging in anti-national activities.Picture courtesy: TwitterThe Act has often faced flak from human rights groups as it gave sweeping powers and immunity to the army in conflict-ridden areas.November 2, 2000: Irom Sharmila first began her fast unto deathNovember 5, 2000: Irom was arrested three days after the fastOn November 21, 2000: She was force-fed through nasogastric intubation in order to keep her alive while under arrest, as her health had deteriorated severely Hyderabad: A large number of people from Andhra Pradesh travel to Gulf countries in search of better livelihood, and to sustain their families back home. But many vulnerable and innocent travellers are duped by agents and used as drug carriers. Some of them get caught and land up in jails, oblivious of the racket they have been unknowingly dragged into. They remain there for years, serving sentence. According to an estimate, already over 150 such people are serving various sentences at Gulf prisons for the crimes they did not actually commit. In one such case, Shamila's son Mohammad Rafeek had gone to Kuwait to work two years ago. She thought the money her son would send, will end all their miseries. Instead, he landed up in a jail. Shamila claims her son is innocent and has been falsely implicated in a criminal case related to drug trafficking. Rafeek, who belongs to Andhra Pradesh's Kadapa district, is not the only victim. Three years ago, Mallesh also went to Kuwait with a hope of a better future, but got arrested. Since then, both the families are facing a difficult time and waiting for their sons to return home. He had gone there to work. But we dont know what happened there. He was jailed. We are very poor and are facing a lot of problems. I want my son back. We appeal to the government to help bring him back, Shamila said. Malleshs mother claims that some packet was given to him for delivery and the police jailed him after finding it in his luggage. He had gone there to work. He has a little daughter waiting for his return, she said. Andhra Pradesh Police is not in denial of such victims being used as drug carriers. With the number of cases increasing, police have intensified the crackdown against agents who take advantage of innocent travellers and smuggle drug. In the last four months, Kadapa police have busted two gangs and arrested 11 people. According to police, travel agents or mediators target villagers who travel to the Gulf for work. Sometimes drugs are packed in boxes and sent out for delivery with travellers and at other times drugs are placed inside suitcases also. Police have appealed to the public to remain alert. Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Ambu Raja Pulivendhula said, We are counselling and asking the operators to explain the laws in those countries. More than 150 Indians reportedly from Kadapa, Nellore and Chittoor districts are lodged in a jail in Kuwait. The police are now maintaining a track record of mediators and travel agents in the districts who send people to Gulf countries. They are also conducting counselling and awareness drives, asking people to not accept any parcel from anyone while travelling. While police are making efforts to prevent such cases, the families are appealing to the government to help bring their children back. New Delhi: A high-level committee headed by Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya is proposing the scrapping of Medical Council of India (MCI) and replacing it with the National Medical Commission (NMC). Besides Panagariya, the panel, which is looking into the issue of poor regulation of medical education by MCI, includes Prime Minister's Additional Principal Secretary P K Mishra, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and Health Secretary Bhahanu Pratap Sharma. "The committee has firmed up its decision to scrap the MCI and replace it with the NMC, which will take over all its responsibilities. The main objective behind this is to end the inspector raj in the medical field in the country," a senior government official said. NMC will become the main regulatory body and will take over all roles and responsibilities of the MCI, he said. Another important aspect is that the new body will have eminent doctors and experts from related fields to suggest the direction that should be given to medical education in the country so as to ensure that the quality of education is at par with global standards, the official added. "The committee met for numerous times and held detailed discussions on how to create a world-class professional structure of the new body. Consultations were held with a lot of eminent doctors, office holders of the MCI, former Health Secretaries and medical officers from the states," he said. Confirming the development, another senior government official said that the work on the restructuring is "more than half way through" on the draft. The biggest change will be that in the existing MCI, the members are elected and it has created the biggest problem as eminent doctors did not get a chance to participate in workings of the MCI, the official said. Another suggestion that the high-level panel is making is that the regulators in the new body will be selected and will not be elected. This selection will be done by a high level Search-cum-Selection committee, which will be a transparent process and will work on bringing the best. NMC will have around 19-20 members and their tenure will be about five years. It will also have members from other fields such as economics, law, etc in a bid to inculcate more professionalism in the body, he said. "It will have a chairman as well as there will be four Boards -- Under Graduate Medical Board, Post Graduate Medical Board, Accreditation and Assessment Board and a board for registration of medical colleges as well monitoring of the ethics in the profession," the official said. These Boards will be given autonomy and they will work on the fields for which they are formed. Chinas Tariffs on EU, US and Japanese Steel Imports Seen as Reaction to Dumping A worker walks past a hot roller steel at a steel manufacturing plant in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province. (Photo : Getty Images) China has started charging tariffs on steel imports from the European Union, United States, South Korea and Japan, according to an announcement by China's Ministry of Commerce on Sunday, July 24. The announcement, which was made in the ministry's website, said that the levying on duties started Saturday, July 23, in which imports of grain-oriented electrical steel were charged duties ranging from 37.3 percent to 46.3 percent. Advertisement An article by Tim Worstall published in Forbes said that the move came as a reaction to the dumping imposed by other countries on China which it said was hurting the Chinese industry. Xinhua reported that the duties were imposed after a long and detailed investigation by the Ministry of Commerce had found evidence of dumping. The Forbes article said that China's move could be the start of a trade war that may affect the global economy such as the 1930s Depression or even worse. China's latest move is part of the heated exchange with other countries over issues with the special metal known as oriented electrical steel. The article saw this as a retaliatory move against similar duties imposed by EU in May last year on imports of Chinese oriented electric steel and products from other countries, with the aim to reduce competition for European products. EU's decision to impose duties on imports, especially on China's oriented electric steel, has pushed China to conduct an investigation into imported products made by European manufacturers. Countries should be more serious and mature, Worstall said. He cited what economist Joan Robinson had pointed out that it was not reasonable that because one country has imposed tariff on another, he would do the same. He said that the purpose of an economic policy is to improve the lives of people. According to Worstall, it was not a good idea for countries to place tariffs, whether it is punitive or not, on each other as it does not help consumers and the global trade. The practice of imposing tariffs to punish another country must be stopped before it becomes uncontrollable, the article added. The Supreme Court on Tuesday likened the Tamil Nadu bull taming sport of Jallikattu to child marriage. Coming down heavily on the proponents of the sport, who have argued that it is part of tradition, the SC said that child marriage was once a common practice, but that doesn't justify it in the modern day either. "By this logic should courts allow child marriage, which too was a part of custom for centuries," the top court asked. "The mere presence of tradition can't justify practices," the court said. The court's strong response was after Tamil Nadu argued that Jallikattu - the mostly southern bull-racing sport - should be permitted as it showcases a cultural tradition that has been part of the custom and culture of people of the state for 5,000 years. The four-year-old ban on holding of Jallikattu was lifted on January 8 by the Centre vide a notification. The notification had been criticised by animal rights' activists. The SC has posted final date of hearing in the matter to August 23. Animal rights activists want the sport to be banned across India. New Delhi: A special court on Tuesday convicted a Delhi-based Rathi Steel and Power Linited and its three officials over irregularities in the allocation of the Kesla North coal block in Chhattisgarh to the firm. Special CBI judge Bharat Parashar held the firm and its officials -- Managing Director Pradeep Rathi, Chief Executive Officer Udit Rathi and AGM Kushal Aggarwal -- guilty of offences including cheating (section 420) and criminal conspiracy (section 120-B) of the IPC. "I am holding you all guilty," the judge said and ordered that the convicts be taken into custody. The court has put up the matter for hearing on arguments on sentence for later in the day. The court had earlier framed charges against RSPL and its three officials for the alleged offence of criminal conspiracy read with cheating under the IPC, observing that they had conspired and furnished wrong information to get coal block and misappropriated nationalised natural resources. The three accused were earlier granted bail after they had appeared in court pursuant to summons. CBI had chargesheeted RSPL and Udit Rathi as accused for the alleged offences of criminal conspiracy and cheating. All the accused had denied the charges against them. This is the second conviction by the special court in a coal scam related case. In April, the court convicted RC and RS Rungta, directors of Jharkhand Ispat Private Limited. Lucknow: Suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dayashankar Singh on Tuesday has filed a petition in High Court seeking stay on his arrest. The hearing on the same will take place on July 28. On Monday, a Lucknow court has issued a Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW) against Dayashankar for making objectionable remarks about Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati. Singh was suspended from BJP recently after he criticised Mayawati's ticket distribution system and compared her to a sex worker. BSP members had then filed a case against Singh, who has been missing since the incident last week. Singh's wife Swati had alleged that BSP members were harassing her and her 12-year-old daughter after the incident. She also filed an FIR against the BSP chief for mental trauma. New Delhi: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday rejected as "wild" the charge by Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal that he "misbehaved" with her after Rajya Sabha had been adjourned for the day on Friday and said instead of her apologising she is seeking an apology. Badal has written to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari seeking "stern action" against Ramesh and another party MP Renuka Chaudhary, accusing them of using "derogatory language" against her which "violated her dignity both as a woman and a minister". Shiromani Akali Dal member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa also moved a privilege motion against the two in Rajya Sabha and it is pending before the Chairman. "I am sorry that the honourable minister and a senior leader from Punjab has levelled wild allegations against me. I didn't say anything offensive," he told reporters. Ramesh said he and Renuka will explain their positions to the Chairman when asked. The Congress leader said he still stood by what he had said to the Minister on July 22. "I told her that she is a minister but her attitude does not conform to the dignity of a minister, that Rajya Sabha could not do anything about the offensive act of a member of another House except condemn it, and that she was deliberately doing what she did to scuttle the passage of private member's bill on special status for Andhra Pradesh. If using words like dignity, scuttle and sabotage are offensive, I can't say anything," he said. In the Rajya Sabha, Dhindsa demanded that the two apologise for their behaviour or face privilege motion. He said a minister has the right to speak in any House and the permission for it was an issue strictly between the Chair and minister. Badal had sought permission of the Chair to speak on AAP MP Bhagwant Mann's act of making a video of Parliament, he said and asked "What right do they have to obstruct?" Dhindsa also alleged that the two had misbehaved with Badal outside the House. Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien said the Chairman was seized of the matter and, if he desired, the concerned parties will be called. Sources said Ansari is looking into the complaint and has asked for the other side's version. He is likely to seek the version of some independent members too before initiating further action. Ansari has also sought to hold a meeting of Ramesh, Chowdhury and Badal, but the SAD leader was not available on Monday and it will be held later. The alleged incident happened soon after Rajya Sabha was adjourned on Friday afternoon over ruckus created by the treasury benches on Mann's actions New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party MP Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday said the panel, set up by the Lok Sabha Speaker to examine whether his act of filming Parliament House complex and posting it online compromised its security, should also summon Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "inviting ISI" to Pathankot airbase. In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Mann said the Prime Minister was "100 times more guilty" than him for "inviting ISI" to probe the January 2 terror attack on the airbase that had left seven security personnel dead. "In 2001, ISI attacked the Parliament Complex. And in 2016, it launched an attack on the Pathankot airbase. The PM invited the same ISI and took them around the airbase. ISI made maps of the airbase and left," Mann alleged. "Does this not threaten security of the country? Is my video a threat to the security of the nation or PM inviting ISI and taking them around the airbase is a bigger threat? "The Committee should summon the PM along with me. If I am guilty, then the PM is 100 times more guilty than me," he alleged. The panel had on Monday given the Sangrur MP time till July 28 to respond to the charge that his action had compromised security of the Parliament House complex even as it decided to seek the views of experts on the issue. A five-member Joint Investigation Team had visited Pathankot in March to probe the attack carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group. New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday took a dig at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi by raising the issue of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination. Congress created uproar and protested during Swamy's speech. Swamy, in turn, took a dig at the Gandhi family saying he won't be naming any other Gandhi except the Mahatma. Swamy said facts must be presented to prevent to any assertion citing documents which say no post-mortem was done on Gandhi's body. "Recently, Narendra Modi government has put most of the files related to Mahatma Gandhi's assassination in the national archives. A lot of scurrilous comments are being made even by Parliamentarians. The Supreme Court has to pull them up and give them a stern warning. Records show that Mahatma Gandhi was not subjected to any post mortem which is why there is discrepancy in the bullet shots fired," Swamy said. Rahul had earlier refused to apologise for saying Rashtriya Swayamdevak Sangh murdered Mahatma Gandhi. Washington: Terrorism is a "real threat" but one of the best ways of preventing it is by making sure that Americans do not succumb to fear and sacrifice values that make US "exceptional", President Barack Obama has said while criticising the campaign rhetoric of Donald Trump. "Terrorism is a real threat. And nobody knows that better than me," Obama told CBS News. Asked if the Munich attack suggests Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is correct in his dark outlook, Obama said, "No, it doesn't". "One of the best ways of preventing it is making sure that we don't divide our own country, that we don't succumb to fear, that we don't sacrifice our values, and that we send a very strong signal to the world and to every American citizen that we're in this together," the US President said. "If we start engaging in the kinds of proposals that we've heard from (Republican presidential nominee) Mr Trump, or some of his surrogates like Mr Gingrich, where we start suggesting that we would apply religious tests to who could come in here, that we are screening Muslim Americans differently than we would others, then we are betraying that very thing that makes America exceptional," Obama explained. Earlier in the day, Obama refuted the statistical claims by Trump on the rise in crime in the country, illegal immigration and others. "We're not going to make good decisions based on fears that don't have a basis in fact," Obama told reporters at a joint news conference with his Mexican counterpart. "America is much less violent than it was 20, 30 years ago. Immigration is much less a problem than it was not just 20 or 30 years ago, but when I came in as president. That doesn't mean we haven't solved those problem, but those are facts," Obama said in response to a question. "Although it is true that we've seen an uptick in murders and violent crime in some cities this year, the fact of the matter is that the murder rate today, the violence rate today is far lower than it was when Ronald Reagan was president and lower than when I took office," he said. New York: Further needling India, Pakistan has demanded an independent inquiry into the "extrajudicial" killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani and claimed that the denial of "plebiscite" to Kashmiri people was behind the flare-up in the Valley. Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi met representatives of a Kashmiri delegation here last week and said the country stands firm "in its principled policy of providing moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmir cause", according to a statement issued by Pakistan's Mission to the UN. Lodhi called for an "independent inquiry into the extrajudicial killing of Wani and protestors". She said Pakistan was actively pursuing the Kashmir issue at various forums at the United Nations. Denial of the "right of self determination" to the people of Kashmir through an "independent plebiscite", promised to them by various Security Council resolutions, was at the heart of the current flare-up, which threatened regional peace and security, Lodhi told the delegation as she called for the UN to implant its resolutions on Kashmir. The statement claimed that members of the Kashmiri delegation "appreciated Pakistan's consistent support and its efforts of taking up the issue" at different international forums. Lodhi has been raising the Kashmir issue and the killing of Wani in her various statements at the UN and in meetings with top officials at the world body. Lodhi briefed President of the Security Council for July Japanese Ambassador Koro Bessho, Ban's Chief of staff and Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman on the situation in Kashmir. Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz also wrote to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to "express Pakistan's serious concern on the alarming situation" and alleged human rights violation in Kashmir. India and Pakistan are witnessing growing bitterness after Pakistan and its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made provocative statements on the Kashmir situation in the wake of Wani's killing on July 8. Not only did Sharif praise Wani but he also remarked that "Kashmir will one day become Pakistan", a comment which evoked a sharp reaction from External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who said his dream of the state becoming a part of his country "will not be realised even at the end of eternity". APPOMATTOX Gettysburg native Ashton Farrell is no stranger to national parks and Civil War era history. My parents told me, Go play, and I found myself at the national park, he said. Growing up, Farrell got his feet wet in park service as a junior park ranger at various national parks his family would visit on vacations. One of those trips was to Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, where he now finds himself daily, greeting guests and soaking up the rich history the site has to offer as the parks first AmeriCorps Volunteer in Service to America or VISTA for short. The only junior park ranger badge I could find was the one I had from Appomattox, so thats kinda interesting, said Farrell, now 30. The program is funded through the Department of Interior. Farrell will provide one year of service to the park working to expand community partnerships and create programs to support education and engagement. Its part researching, part grant writing, but, most importantly, its connecting with the people in the community. Its basically a year of living just above the poverty line, said Robin Snyder, park superintendent. They do that because that might [be] part of the audience you serve. Farrell said that part doesnt bother him. The park provides housing, a big expense he doesnt have to worry about. Plus, Farrell said, he spends a lot of time canoeing and hiking. Snyder said Farrell was one of five applicants for the program. Because of his experience at Appomattox and other historical sites such as Yorktown, he was an obvious choice. He stood out, said Ernie Price, chief of education and visitor services. [Ashton] hit all the right buttons. His living history experience was a big part of it. Farrell studied political science at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania, and has a Masters in applied history from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania. Since graduating, he has focused his career path on historical interpretation. Farrell described the VISTA program as a giant Eagle Scout project. Since starting in March, he has already created new projects for the park, including things that aligned with his own interests. Im very passionate about hiking, Farrell said. I had this idea for a fun run. We ended up picking Wednesdays. Then we have nature walks, which Im no expert in, but I try to answer a wide range of questions. Snyder said the focus is for the greater Appomattox community to understand that the park isnt just a tourist attraction. Its theirs to take advantage of. We want people to learn about all the opportunities here, she said. This is their park. Snyder said part of Farrells duties include sitting down with her to discuss how to meet new goals. They really set you up for success, she said. The value of the program is [to] help get him a permanent job within the park service. For Farrell, thats the ultimate goal. At a young age, he said he knew he wanted to be a park ranger. Both my parents were government employees, he said. So to me, a government job was a good job. China and ASEAN agree to peacefully resolve South China Sea maritime issues. (Photo : Getty Images) China has come into an agreement with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) days after it successfully dodged direct criticism from the group. A report from the South China Morning Post revealed how China and the ASEAN released a joint statement implying their agreement that the uninhabited features in the South China Sea should remain as such. Advertisement The statement comes just days after media reported about a gridlock among senior ASEAN officials regarding the international ruling released by the Permanent Court in The Hague on the South China Sea maritime disputes. Diplomatic Win China maintained its position and came out stronger after the international ruling was released in July. Since then, the United States and its ally countries that are also members of the ASEAN have tried to push for the release of a joint statement calling onto Beijing and highlighting the ruling. Unfortunately, the ASEAN encountered a gridlock over the weekend, leading to China's "diplomatic victory" as described by an article from Reuters. According to the outlet, the gridlock involving ASEAN foreign ministers was undone only when the Philippines withdrew the U.S.-backed request in mentioning the ruling in a statement. Apparently, Cambodia, China's closest ally, tossed in a resolute opposition on the request. Since the ASEAN worked strictly on consensus, the opposition brought the group in a gridlock. Instead, the ASEAN opted to express its concerns on the disputes on the South China Sea, a topic that the ruling defined as well. "We remain seriously concerned about recent and ongoing developments and took note of the concerns expressed by some ministers on the land reclamations and escalation of activities in the area, which have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions and may undermine peace, security, and stability in the region," ASEAN said in a statement. China and ASEAN Agreement Days after the ASEAN gridlock, the member countries' leaders also came to an agreement with China that all parties should avoid any "action of inhabiting on the presently uninhabited islands, reefs, shoals, cays, and other features and to handle their differences in a constructive manner." The joint statement also states a vow from both parties to continue respecting the freedom of navigation in the waters as well as the peaceful resolution of disputes in the said territory. According to SCMP, both parties will continue to push for the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea where a binding code of conduct is expected to be drafted and finalized by 2017. In his first post-convention campaign event, Donald Trump headed out to U.S. Sen. Tim Kaines home turf Monday and flogged Kaine as a political hack and lousy governor. U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice visits China. (Photo : Getty Images) President Xi Jinping met with U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice last Monday. Xi pointed out that both countries should be able to manage their differences and protect core interests. Rice's visit to China is to prepare for the visit of U.S. President Obama in September. The trip is for the G20 Summit that will be held in Hangzhou. Advertisement A top military official also told Rice that sensitive issues between the two countries must be resolved. Failure to do so might "very likely to disturb and undermine" military relations. The military official is referring to the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on the South China Sea, and rejecting China's territorial claim. The decision was made on July 12. The independent court stated that China's claim had no historical basis. Four other countries are competing for boundaries in the South China Sea namely Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. However, Rice said that China and the U.S. are willing to have a harmonious working relationship, as proven in the past on the issues on climate change and trade. "At the same time," Rice said, "we are confronting our differences with candor and clarity and we believe that clarity produces predictability, and predictability produces stability." Xi reaffirmed Rice and said that both countries will work towards a "bilateral relationship on the basis of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation." Rice also met with Fan Changlong, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission. He told Rice that both countries still faced problems on their bilateral relations. "We should be honest with ourselves that deep down in this relationship we're still faced with obstacles and challenges," said Fan. He admitted that sensitive matters are affected by complicated factors. Washington recently deployed naval vessels on the outskirts of the boundaries that are being claimed by China. Chinese traditional arts have captivated the minds and hearts of many Egyptians and Arabs during the first Afro-Chinese Arts and Folklore Festival held in Cairo, as part of the 2016 Sino-Egyptian Culture Year. The arts festival, which kicked off on July 21 and will last till July 26, is aimed at shedding light on the culture and heritage of all participating countries from Africa and China. Advertisement The second day of the festival solely focused on Chinese arts and folklore and therefore was dubbed "China Day." "It is the first time seeing a live Chinese art show and I really love it... The music and the instruments are very strange to me, but I sensed the music because it is a language that everyone understands," Fatima Hakim, a Moroccan lady in her 30s living in Cairo told Xinhua. Held at the Opera House in Cairo, "China Day" featured colorful Chinese traditional performances, including bamboo flute playing, acrobatic kung fu and others shows. To welcome the audience, two female artists played "The Butterfly Lovers," a modern piece of Chinese music adapted from an ancient Chinese legend. The performers used the traditional Chinese string instrument the Gu Zheng, also known as the Chinese zither, which is listed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Another show that really attracted the audience was the bian lian, or Mask-Changing dance, an ancient Chinese dramatic art. Zhang Chuanlei, a bian lian artist told Xinhua that the "Egyptian audience here is marvelous, and they really like our show very much. It makes me happy and proud." Mohamed Negm, a 47-year-old professor, brought his wife and children to watch the show. "I am so interested to know more about the Chinese traditional folklore. It's a good chance to get close to the Chinese folklore. The Chinese performances are similar to ours," Negm said. An art sculpture brought from China was unveiled at the Opera House yard during the festival as a symbol of Chinese-Egyptian friendship and cultural communication between the two ancient civilizations. The 2016 Sino-Egyptian Culture Year was celebrated to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations in a bid to intensify their already strong cultural ties. Event organizers said holding such a festival emphasizes Egypt's role as a window to cultures, arts, heritage and history. "We thought of a cultural gathering not only between Egypt and China, but between Africa and China, since Egypt is in Africa and China is a friend that cares for Africa," Sohair Abdel-Qader, founder and president of the festival told Xinhua. "We held the first edition in Cairo and we expect to hold it in China next year and rotate it among participant countries," she said. Credit: China Daily Why Marvel Comics' Daredevil: Born Again may be difficult to adapt to the MCU Frank Miller's original comic book storyline will likely see significant changes for Marvel Studios Disney Plus version The aquarium is home to polar and marine animals, including polar bears, whales and dolphins, as well as endangered species such as Yangtze alligator, Chinese sturgeon, and giant salamander. It is set to open officially this week. Bank cooperating with police in ATM fraud probe Sources reveal that officers, led by Senior Superintendent Totaram Dookie, were working closely with Antonio Ventour head of the Banks Corporate investigations unit and it was expected that by the end of yesterday, it would have been determined exactly how much money was illegally removed from the ATM cardholders. The bank, yesterday, also handed over surveillance footage to the police to assist them in their investigations into what is believed to be a multimillion dollar scam involving the larceny of millions of dollars from the accounts of ATM cardholders. Early Sunday, a security guard at Tropical Plaza, Marabella observed two men, one with a hoodie over his head, and the second, who appeared to be a Caucasian, with two bags inside the ATM machine of RBC. The officer alerted the police resulting in PCs Farnhum and Mc Shine responding to the report. At about 3.30 am, when officers arrived at the ATM machine, the Caucasian man fled the scene. However, the man who had the hoodie over his head was arrested with a bag containing a quantity of ATM cards and a sheet of paper containing PINs (Personal Identification Numbers). The second suspect ran towards the Marabella river and threw away a bag containing over 400 ATM cards and cash. He managed to escape but the police were able to retrieve the bag. Newsday understands that the suspect, who managed to elude arrest yesterday, could be a foreigner, possible from Venezuela. Newsday understands that the suspect, who was held, has not yet been identified and continues to give police false names and addresses. Due to the mans non-cooperation, police were unable to do a trace on him to ascertain if he has a criminal record. Police believe that after extensive investigations they may be able to make a major breakthrough into widespread larceny of cash from ATM card holders. Police believe that it is an organised global operation involving workers and foreigners who continue to fleece cardholders of large sums of cash. At least two Newsday employees were robbed of cash from their accounts on Saturday. The matter was reported to the Fraud Squad and investigations are continuing. Trou Macaque man gunned down Prescott, who worked as a PH (private hire) taxi driver in the area, was described by relatives as a generous, helpful person who, despite small arguments, was never involved in any criminal activities. Kriston Lessey, Prescotts cousin, said she was at home a short distance away and heard when the gunshots rang out. He was in the yard of his home... talking to a few other relatives when a vehicle pulled up and fired about three shots and sped off. One of my cousins came over to my house and told me what happened. Right now I am still trying to understand how this could have happened. He wasnt the kind of person to find himself in any kind of trouble. He was just a cool person to be around, a visibly distraught Lessey said. Prescotts aunt, Jennifer Lessey, said she was deeply hurt over the killing of her nephew and denounced the killing, saying she leaves the fate of Prescotts killers in the hands of the Lord. This is not a nice thing they did at all. I dont believe in reprisals or retribution at all. I will let the Lord deal with them accordingly, but what they did to my nephew was not a good thing at all. Inspector Hunte and Sgt Lopez of the Besson Street Police Station are carrying out further investigations into the matter. Williams on 3 months leave Yesterday, Minister Dillon confirmed signing the vacation leave . Yes, I have signed the vacation leave for which Commissioner Williams applied for, which was three months, Minister Dillon said . Newsday understands from sources in Police Administration that Acting CoP Williams has accrued in excess of 500 days leave and when he returns to the job, he can continue applying for more leave . Newsday also understands that Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Wayne Dick returned to the job last week and is now the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Crime. He fills the spot left vacant by the pre-retirement of Deputy Commissioner of Police Glen Hackett . In a release issued on Friday last, the Police Service Commission stated it decided at its 14th Statutory Meeting on July 21, that it shall proceed with the process for the Recruitment and Selection of the Commissioner of Police and Deputy Commissioner of Police, by way of open tender, as determined and prescribed by the Commission . Yesterday, President of the Police Social and Welfare Association Insp Michael Seales told Newsday, it is my fervent wish that the process for the selection of a Commissioner of Police and Deputy Commissioner be completed in the shortest possible time so there can be stability in the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service. This stability can aid the Police Service in charting a strategic course in order to achieve its goal . Inspector Seales said he is interested in applying for the post of Police Commission if and when such is advertised We will find a way Dont you worry. We will find a way. The new chairman was speaking with reporters moments after receiving her instrument of appointment from President Anthony Carmona at Presidents House. In 2015, it was estimated that about 10,000 of the 32,000 posts in the State sector were vacant. As chair of the Public Service we would like to really fill more positions, vacancies, according to what is required of us in the Constitution and to assist the Ministry of Public Administration to work collaboratively with them as far as Public Service reform is concerned and accordance with our remit, Manchouck said. As far as we can work with them to effect proper public service reform in accordance with our remit under the Constitution we will work with them. Things, from my experience, they do take a while but for a variety of reasons. And whatever we as a commission can do to expedite we are going to do that. Asked how long her tenure will be, she said, I have not even opened the envelop so I cant tell you. Manchouck has a degree in chemistry and zoology. She rose to become NIHERST President. In 1989, she oversaw the launch of the science exhibit called Yapollo, which toured Trinidad and Tobago and seven countries in the region. Over the years, she held influential positions with several national, regional and international agencies. The PSC is the body that appoints, promotes, disciplines, and transfers. The previous chairman was Dr Marjorie Thorpe, who was appointed three years ago. Also receiving instruments yesterday were: Parvatee Anmolsingh- Mahabir, a former Independent Senator, and Kay Dorothy Charles a long-standing public servant. They join Martin Gordon Franklin and Clive Pegus, members. Earlier, in brief remarks, Carmona said PSC members held an onerous responsibility. He paid tribute to Thorpe. I want to thank Dr Marjorie Thorpe for her yeomans service, Carmona said. He said the commission was fortunate to have such experienced members Jamaica trip showed politics of change, Prakash Speaking to Newsday yesterday about being part of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowleys delegation on his recent official visit to Jamaica, Ramadhar said, I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in something that may bring longer term benefits, and not just talk about it, but live it. Ensuring the nations well-being into the future, he said, will only happen if we do the right thing today, that is, to cross political lines when necessary in the interest of the country. On the five-day visit, he deemed it successful following commitments made by Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness, the leadership of the Jamaica Manufacturers Association, and Jamaicas opposition Peoples National Party to improve relationships between Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, particularly in trade. To do otherwise would be detrimental to both sides, he said. Before they arrived in Jamaica, he said, there were reports that things were very bad on the ground, and that Jamaicans were refusing to purchase goods manufactured in Trinidad and Tobago. Having met with some of the leading businessmen in the Macoya Industrial Estate, who shared their insights, fears and concerns, Ramadhar said he saw it necessary to travel with the delega- tion to set the record right and to heal the wounds of the past. As the only member of the opposition, he said, he knew full well that the mission was about country. We have to do things differently where we do not make decisions only on the basis of party politics. I am of the firm view that the political divide ends at the boundaries of (TT) and our political differences must not cloud our judgment and intent as we proceed to make (TT) better, he said. In accepting Rowleys invitation, he said, he followed former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessars example when she invited Rowley, then opposition leader to attend the State funeral of Nelson Mandela in South Africa. I do not know of anyone who criticised that. In fact I think that the country felt far better, he said. Asked about Persad- Bissessars comments that he did not consult with her as Leader of the Opposition, Ramadhar said, there was no need to consult with her to make a decision as the COP was an independent party. Out of courtesy and respect, he said, I called for her. I left a voice message for her. I texted her. I reached out to her. The total story has not been told, and I think that the former prime minister could add great value to this conversation. The COP, he said, does not support one party or the other till they dead. They will support what is best for the country. The COP under my leadership attempted to do that. As a member of the COP, he said, he will continue to work towards serving that interest. Without that interest, nobody goes into government other than the Peoples National Movement. Whatever I am doing now, is to strengthen the legitimacy and the credibility of that movement which will ensure that come the next elections, we have a much healthier political landscape for which the population can make a decision. Noting that some have said that he has softened his views on the PNM, Ramadhar said he was not a member of the PNM, he will not be one, and that he stood firmly against the PNM in terms of many of its policies of the past, and he was sure many of its policies into the future. However, he said, Government has to be supported when things are right and must be criticised and condemned when things are wrong. US: We See No Signs Putin Will Use Dirty Bomb New Zealand to Exterminate All Rats, Stoats and Possums by 2050 Stoat New Zealand is waging a war of extermination against rats, stoats and possums and expects to wipe-out these invasive species by 2050. And why this extreme measure? New Zealand wants to protect its native bird species, including its iconic kiwi birds, some 25 million of which are killed by these ravenous mammalian predators each year. Advertisement This goal of "Predator-Free New Zealand" was announced July 25 by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key who explained that rats, possums and stoats (also known as the short-tailed weasel) aren't native to New Zealand. "While once the greatest threat to our native wildlife was poaching and deforestation, it is now introduced predators," said Key. Apart from killing tens of millions of birds, these invasive species cost New Zealand over $2.3 billion per year, said the government's estimates. Rats, stoats and possums can also carry diseases. Keys noted that eliminating all invasive predators is "the most ambitious conservation project attempted anywhere in the world." He said the government believes that if New Zealanders all work together as a country, this goal can be achieved. Funding for this ambitious project will come from the federal government, local governments and the private sector. The federal government will contribute $20 million apart from the tens of millions already spent on pest control each year. Some are optimistic the goal might be achieved in 25 years. They admit the project is doable and won't be that difficult but the public has to get behind it to ensure the project's success. Rats have already been exterminated on some of New Zealand's smaller islands. The conservation effort has saved some species of birds from extinction. Stoats were introduced in New Zealand in the late 19th century to control rabbits and hares. Possums, more specifically the Australian possum, were brought to New Zealand in an effort to start a trade in their furs. The construction of a hydroelectric dam is underway in Ethiopia, which Egypt claims could affect its share of Nile water Sudan's President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir said there is no discord between his country and Egypt regarding their respective shares of Nile water and that the relationship between the two countries is "excellent." Al-Bashir made his remarks during a TV interview on Sky News Arabia channel, parts of which were aired on Tuesday. A giant hydroelectric dam project Ethiopia is building has been a source of contention between Cairo and Addis Ababa. Egypt, which relies almost exclusively on the Nile for farming and drinking water, fears the dam would significantly diminish its share of the river's water. Sudan, which like Ethiopia already has dams of its own on the Nile river system, has given its support to the project, saying it would benefit from electricity. During the interview, Al-Bashir quashed accusations that Ethiopia would take control of the Nile water through the dam, according to state news agency MENA. Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan signed a principles agreement in March 2015 in Khartoum on the sharing of Nile waters and Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam. Search Keywords: Short link: (Newser) "Who buys someone they're dumping a Vitamix?" That's the question of a Brooklyn woman selling a certified reconditioned 5200 series Vitamix online, Daily Dot reports. The applianceasking price just $400indeed was a break-up gift of sorts. "He clearly wants to break up, but makes you do it," the woman writes in her Craigslist ad, which is part sales pitch and part therapeutic purge. "It's the day after your birthday. A few days later, this Vitamix arrives at your door. Either he wants you back, or he does not understand the human species." Her conclusion: "He does not understand the human species," and also, "He wants me to remember him fondly. I can't abide it." And despite entertaining thoughts of destroying the Vitamix, "I'm not gonna ruin a perfectly good blender," she writes. The seller, who advises "never date a corporate lawyer," does acknowledge getting involved with the guy may have been a mistake, especially when "he ghosted you after one date." But he apologized, has nice hair, "claims to hate True Detective, and laughs at all your jokes." She goes on to say that he is kind, "not like other corporate lawyers," but his fear of commitment manifests itself while watching a "movie about the futility of monogamy." The relationship begins to crater, and eventually the blender arrives at her door. "It comes in the box with a 5-year warranty and a recipe book," the ad says. "I am also available for dates." Vocativ is rooting for her true love to appear, and New York is waiting for the movie adaptation into Vitamix Blender Love Story. (The seller may want to consider moving to one of these cities.) (Newser) Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who's made a part-time job of sorts taking on Donald Trump on social media, laid out two choices for the American people Monday night in Philadelphia. "On one side is a man who inherited a fortune from his father and kept it going by cheating people ... a man who has never sacrificed anything for anyone, a man who cares only for himself every minute of every day" she said, per KCRA. "On the other side is one of the smartest, toughest, most tenacious people on this planet." Warren went on to describe "Donald Trump's America," where fear and hate rule and every faction is pitted against every other oneand where it's "everyone against immigrants." While the various sectors are infighting, Warren noted that "bankers can run our economy for Wall Street, oil companies can fight off clean energy, and giant corporations can ship the last good jobs overseas," per the Boston Globe. But that's not going to happen, Warren says, as she informed the crowd that Hillary Clinton would return American to the people and that "we are not going to be Donald Trump's hate-filled Americanot now, not ever." As for Trump's attempts to sow division, Warren concluded, "I've got news for [him]: The American people are not falling for it." (Read more Democratic National Convention stories.) (Newser) The world's first around-the-world flight to be powered solely by the sun's energy made history Tuesday as it landed in Abu Dhabi, where it first took off on an epic 25,000-mile journey that began more than a year ago, reports the AP. Since its March 2015 takeoff, the Swiss-engineered Solar Impulse 2 has made 16 stops across the world without using a drop of fuel to demonstrate that using the plane's clean technologies on the ground can halve the world's energy consumption, save natural resources, and improve quality of life. "Our mission now is to continue to motivate people, corporations, and governments to use these same solutions on the ground wherever they make sense," Solar Impulse Chairman and pilot Bertrand Piccard said ahead of landing the plane in Abu Dhabi. The aircraft is uniquely powered by 17,248 solar cells that transfer energy to four electrical motors that power the plane's propellers. The plane's wingspan stretches 236 feet to catch the sun's energy. Over its entire mission, Solar Impluse 2 completed more than 500 flight hours, cruising at an average speed of between 28mph and 56mph. It made stops in Oman, India, Burma, China, Japan, the US, Spain, Italy, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. "By flying around the world thanks to renewable energy and clean technologies, we have demonstrated that we can now make our world more energy efficient," co-pilot Andre Borschberg said. The pilots would rest a maximum of 20 minutes at a time, repeating the naps 12 times over each 24-hour stretch. It took 70 hours for Piccard to cross the Atlantic Ocean, which was the first by a solar-powered airplane. Borschberg's flight over the Pacific Ocean at 118 hoursor five days and five nightsshattered the record for the longest flight duration by an aircraft flying solo. (Read more Solar Impulse stories.) (Newser) Michelle Obama appeared on the periphery of the GOP convention last week when Melania Trump was accused of plagiarizing a speech the current first lady made in 2008. Monday night, Obama took her own place in the spotlight at Philly's Wells Fargo Center, telling the crowd that Hillary Clinton is the only person she trusts to "have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives." As for Trump's cribbed speech, no mention from Obama. She also didn't mention Donald Trump by name, though her target was clear when she said: "When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, we don't stoop to their level," the AP reports. "When they go low, we go high," she said. Obama praised Clinton for having the "guts and the grace to keep coming back and putting cracks in that highest and hardest glass ceiling until she finally breaks through." The Guardian reports that she finished on a note strong enough to spur "Michelle 2020" speculation: "I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I watch my daughters, beautiful, intelligent black young women, playing with their dog on the White House lawn," she said. "And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters, now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States. So dont let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great. That somehow we need to make it great again. Because this right now is the greatest country on Earth." (Read more Democratic National Convention stories.) (Newser) A Colombian described as one of history's biggest cocaine dealers was sentenced to 35 years in prison Monday by a Manhattan judge who called the scope of his crimes "staggering." Known as El Loco, Daniel Barrera Barrera, 48, was sentenced by Judge Gregory Woods, who rejected a defense lawyer's request for leniency on the grounds that his client tried to cooperate, urged others to surrender, and had rescued victims of kidnappings, the AP reports. The sentence included a $10 million forfeiture and a $10 million fine. "He is dangerous," Woods said as he imposed a sentence requested by the US government. "Too short a sentence would provide him the opportunity to commit additional crimes." The judge said evidence demonstrated that Barrera used to threaten or kill individuals who owed his drug organization money or who posed a threat to his business. Prosecutors said he shipped at least 720 tons of cocaine from Colombia to the US as part of a massive drug dealing operation that sent drugs to four continents and utilized a submersible vehicle to transport drugs. Barrera had admitted distributing 400 tons of cocaine worldwide annually from 1998 to 2011 with an organization backed by lethal drug cartels and terrorist groups. Barrera was captured in Venezuela in 2012 and extradited to the US in 2013. He pleaded guilty a year later. Miami US Attorney Wilfredo Ferrer said Barrera's reach worldwide was unprecedented. "Today's sentencing closes the chapter on Barrera's reign as one of the largest cocaine traffickers in history," he said. (Read more drug cartel stories.) (Newser) If Red were to get out of Shawshank State Prison today, he'd never be able to find the big oak tree "like something out of a Robert Frost poem" where Andy Dufresne told him to dig, because that tree is history. Authorities say what was left of the tree in Lucas, Ohio, made famous by the movie was toppled last week by strong winds, the Mansfield News Journal reports. Half of the tree, which was on private property but could easily be seen from the edge of Malabar Farm State Park, fell down in July 2011 when the tree was split by lightning. Authorities believe the tree, which attracted thousands of visitors every year, was around 200 years old. The tree was part of the "Shawshank Trail" of Ohio locations from the beloved 1994 movie, and tourist authorities say the loss will leave some visitors heartbroken. "The tree symbolizes hope" to visitors, Jodie Snavely, an official with the Mansfield/Richland Convention and Visitors Bureau, tells the New York Times. "When they can actually come and see that, it's very touching to them, and it means a lot to them." But all hope is not lost: Snavely says the half of the tree that came down in 2011 is on display at the former Ohio State Reformatory, which was Shawshank in the movie and is now a museum. (Read more Shawshank Redemption stories.) Egypt will celebrate Eid Al-Adha, the second of two major religious holidays celebrated by Muslims around the world after Eid Al-Fitr, on 11 September, Egypts Astronomical and Geophysics Institute said on Tuesday. In statements to the state-owned MENA news agency, the head of the institute, Hatem Ouda, said that based on astronomical calculations conducted by the institutes observers, the Day of Arafah will be on Saturday 10 September. The Day of Arafah marks the second day of the Islamic pilgrimage at the holy site of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The Day of Arafah precedes the start of Eid Al-Adha in the Islamic world by 24 hours according to the Islamic calendar. Eid Al-Adha, which lasts for four days, honours the willingness of the Prophet Abraham to sacrifice his first-born son Ismail as an act of submission to Gods command. Search Keywords: Short link: (Newser) Minnesota Sen. Al Franken and comedian Sarah Silverman introduced Paul Simon before his performance of "Bridge Over Troubled Water," with Silverman giving an impassioned speech about how she was a Bernie Sanders supporter, yet how Hillary Clinton had "heard the passion of the people" and incorporated it into the Democratic Party's platform, earning Silverman's vote. But as Simon prepped backstage, Silverman and Franken were instructed to fill time, at which point Silverman delivered an off-the-cuff line that FiveThirtyEight.com pegged as the "generated the biggest cheer of the night." "Can I just say, to the Bernie-or-Bust people, you're being ridiculous." "They told us to stretch, so I figured I'd add that," she noted to Franken as the crowd roared. (Read more Democratic National Convention stories.) (Newser) Japan has been stunned and sickened by what the Guardian reports is the country's biggest mass killing since World War II: The murder of 19 people at a center for the disabled just outside Tokyo. Satoshi Uematsu, a 26-year-old former administrator at the Tsukui Yamayuri-En facility in Sagamihara, surrendered at a police station after the Tuesday morning rampage, in which victims with ages ranging from 19 to 70 were stabbed to death and another 26 people were injured, the BBC reports. The Kyodo news agency says Uematsu wrote to the speaker of Japan's House of Representatives in February, threatening to "obliterate 470 disabled people" during a night shift at the facility, which cared for people with a range of mental and physical disabilities, reports Reuters. "My goal is a world in which the severely disabled can be euthanized, with their guardians consent, if they are unable to live at home and be active in society," wrote Uematsu, who allegedly attacked his victims as they slept after he broke into the center at around 2:10am. Kyodo says that in the letter, Uematsu also claimed killing the disabled would help the world economy and prevent World War III, the AP notes. Authorities say Uematsu was committed to a mental hospital after sending the letter and telling colleagues that he wanted to harm disabled people, but was released on March 2 after doctors decided he had improved. The Washington Post reports that an hour before the attacks, Uematsu tweeted what is believed to be a photo of himself, with the message: "Wishing for world peace. beautiful Japan!!!!!!" (Read more Japan stories.) (Newser) More misery in France: Two attackers took hostages inside a French church during morning Mass on Tuesday near the city of Rouen, killing an 86-year-old Catholic priest by slitting his throat before being shot and killed by police, reports AP. The Islamic State claimed responsibility. Another person inside the church in Normandy was seriously injured and is hovering between life and death, said Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet. Police managed to rescue the only three other people inside the church in the small northwestern town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, he told reporters. It was the first known attack inside a French church in recent times. A church was targeted last year, but the attack never was carried out. French President Francois Hollande, arriving on the scene, called it a "vile terrorist attack" and said it's one more sign that France is at war with the Islamic State, which has claimed a string of attacks on France. "We must lead this war with all our means," he said, adding that he was calling a meeting on Wednesday of representatives of all religions. France is currently on high alert after an attack in Nice on Bastille DayJuly 14that killed 84 people and a string of deadly attacks last year claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 147 victims. A statement published by the ISIS-affiliated Amaq news agency said the attack was carried out by "two soldiers of the Islamic State" who acted in response to calls to target nations in the US-led coalition fighting in Iraq and Syria. (Read more Normandy stories.) (Newser) A Colorado dad who'd planned to surprise his family with a trip to Disney World was headed to the airport with them early Thursday when an alleged drunk driver crashed into their minivan, dashing the Disney plans and putting all four family members in the hospital, CBS Denver reports. Per GoFundMe, Ryan Bragazzi was stuck in traffic with his fiancee, Jessica, and their two young daughters, 7-year-old Graelyn and 5-year-old Abriella, around 2:30am as, coincidentally, police were investigating a different DUI incident near Monument. Suddenly, a speeding vehicle smashed into them, shoving their minivan into and underneath a FedEx semi-truck. "They did absolutely nothing wrong and they received the brunt end of this for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time," Colorado State Patrol Trooper Josh Lewis tells CBS. All four were taken from the scene by ambulance with severe injuries, including a head wound for Jessica and broken ribs and vertebrae for Bragazzi, as well as a laceration on his back. Graelyn was admitted to a local children's hospital with unspecified injuries; CBS notes her younger sister was also treated. The GoFundMe page, which has already raised more than $6,000 toward an $8,000 goal, was reportedly put in place by a relative who notes Bragazzi, the family's main breadwinner, will be laid up and out of work for a couple of months. Meanwhile, Lewis reminds people that a drunk driver can strike at any time. "It is not limited to just a Friday or Saturday night or a special weekend," he tells CBS. (A Houston man got life in prison for his string of DWIs.) (Newser) Debbie Wasserman Schultz may have been at the center of the Democratic Party's so-called civil war, but she now faces what the Miami Herald labels "the political battle of her lifetime." On Aug. 30, the Democratic National Committee chairwoman, who will leave her post after the party convention, will go up against a strong primary opponent in South Florida, who's benefited from her recent struggles. Tim Canova has Bernie Sanders' strong endorsement, and he's not only raised a reported $100,000 since Wasserman Schultz announced her resignation, but he's also used the Democratic National Convention to taunt her. "I have not left the district in eight months," he said Sunday. "That's not going to change between now and Aug. 30. I don't think there's going to be a great need for me to go up to Philly and chase the spotlight. We're making friends on the ground every day." The primary isn't the only hurdle Wasserman Schultz may need to clear. Canova's camp is considering filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission based on leaked emails that suggest the DNC was tracking Canova's campaign. In one email, DNC communications director Luis Miranda wrote "we need the state party to do some digging" in reference to a speech Canova was to give to Democrats in Alaska. "She was using DNC resources to monitor what my campaign was doing [and] how it was doing," Canova tells ABC 10. "It's sad that this is what's become of Wasserman Schultz's career." No polls have focused on the Miami-Dade/Broward district, but one supporter says Wasserman Schultz is "loved" there. "I don't see a world where Debbie's longtime constituents don't stand with her again." (We know how Sanders would vote.) (Newser) Criminals hoping for a share of Bernie Ecclestone's fortune have reportedly kidnapped the racing billionaire's mother-in-law in Brazil. Local media say the criminals, in touch with the 85-year-old Formula One head, are demanding $36.5 millionthe highest ransom ever in a Brazilian kidnapping, per the Telegraph. The BBC reports 67-year-old Aparecida Schunck was seized near her Sao Paulo home on Friday. Police and Ecclestone have yet to comment. Schunck is the mother of Ecclestone's 38-year-old wife, Fabiana Flosi, whom Ecclestone married in 2012. That same year, a man was jailed for threatening to abduct one of Ecclestone's daughters if he wasn't paid $262,500, reports ESPN; Ecclestone, one of the UK's richest men, is worth an estimated $3.1 billion. Similar demands were once made daily in Brazilthere were 321 kidnappings in Sao Paolo alone in 2002but are now less common due to a police anti-kidnap division, reports Reuters. (Read more Brazil stories.) (Newser) Bitcoins may be valuable in tech circles, but to a judge in Miami-Dade County, the virtual money is nothing more than shadow currency. On Monday, Judge Teresa Mary Pooler discarded felony charges against website designer Michell Espinoza, who had been accused of transmitting and laundering $1,500 in bitcoinsan impossible-to-prove charge since bitcoin isn't actual "tangible wealth" that can "be hidden under a mattress like cash and gold bars," per the Miami Herald. Espinoza had allegedly transferred the bitcoins to undercover detectives for cash, the Washington Post reports; the detectives said they were going to scoop up stolen credit-card numbers with them. The paper explains how Florida law forbids exchanging money for "illicit" activity such as the credit card fraud Espinoza was accused of trying to abet. But in her eight-page ruling, Pooler noted that while she couldn't "accurately define or describe Bitcoin"and also couldn't deny that in some (but not all) circumstances it could be "exchanged for items of value," like moneyneither could she deem that it was actual money, rendering the charges against Espinoza moot. Quartz notes how Pooler isn't the only one confused about how to categorize bitcoin, with the legal system still struggling with how to deal with the concept. Espinoza's lawyer, not surprisingly, called the judge's decision "beautifully written" and said all Espinoza had done was "sell his own personal property." The Miami-Dade state attorneys office is deciding whether to appeal. (What about Ethereum, aka "Bitcoin 2.0"?) (Newser) A Florida schoolteacher has filed a workplace discrimination lawsuit against her employer for turning her down for a job teaching Spanisheven though she doesn't speak Spanish, the News & Observer reports. Tracy Rosner, who teaches third grade at Coral Reef Elementary in Palmetto Bay, alleges in her federal complaint against the Miami-Dade County School Board that she applied to be reassigned to teach the extended foreign language (EFL) trackone of three tracks the school offers its students, in addition to college prep and gifted, per the Miami New Timeswhich would require her to teach one hour of Spanish per day. Rosner says her request was denied, even though she's "otherwise fully qualified" for the job, and that after she was rejected, the principal upped her workload in retaliation. How Rosner says she would get around that pesky fluency requirement: She'd have another Spanish-speaking teacher come in for that one hour a day to instruct her students. She notes in her suit that non-Spanish speakers are in the minority in Miami-Dade County, which "disproportionately affects" her ability to find a suitable job. "Ms. Rosner was provided a less desirable position and has damages including emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, [and] loss of enjoyment of life," the suit states. It's not clear which track Rosner had previously been teaching or why she had asked for the reassignment. (The owner of a Milwaukee frozen-custard stand doesn't want any language other than English spoken at work.) (Newser) Sheralynn Neff took part in at least five skydives over the weekend, so her last on Sunday should have been routine, reports the Hutchinson News. Instead, the 26-year-old's parachute landed without her. Crews in Cushing, Okla., searched for 16 hours before discovering the body of the Kansas womanwhom officials describe as an experienced skydiver who was participating in a program with the Oklahoma Skydiving Centerin a grassy area about a half-mile from the drop site, report KFOR and KJRH. "There was no harness with her at all. So she came completely out of whatever and dropped to the ground," a sheriff says. Officials say Neff was the last of five people to jump out of the plane, at about 10,000 feet, around 3:45pm. They believe her parachute opened at about 4,000 feet. News 9 reports it was found in a tree about five miles north of where her body was later discovered and is being examined to find out what went wrong. The FAA is also investigating. Meanwhile, a faculty member at Kansas' Hesston College, where Neff graduated with a degree in Bible and ministry in 2011, describes her as "one of the kindest people you could ever hope to meet. I feel such profound sadness for her family and the people who knew her." (This skydiver had 1,800 jumps under his belt when he died.) (Newser) The first name on your family treein fact, on the family tree of every living creatureshould technically be LUCA. As the New York Times explains, the acronym stands for the Last Universal Common Ancestor, an organism that lived about 4 billion years ago and became the ancestor of all life forms. Now, a new study in Nature Microbiology provides what its authors say is evidence that settles the debate about where this first life began: near hydrothermal vents, like those found near deep-sea volcanoes. Researchers at Germany's Heinrich Heine University say their genetic sleuthing has revealed that LUCA was tailor-made to live in such an environmentit was essentially "a heat-loving microbe that fed on hydrogen gas and lived in a world devoid of oxygen," in the words of Science. To figure out this genetic profile, the scientists examined 6 million genes associated with two simple and ancient forms of life, bacteria and archaea. After identifying genes that were shared between the two groups, they whittled the figure down to 355 gene families that met their criteria for having originated in LUCA, their joint ancestor. It was flabbergasting to us that we found as many as we did, says lead researcher William Martin. This smaller group of genes allowed them to create a snapshot of sorts of LUCA, one hailed as "remarkable" by a UCLA evolutionary biologist. But don't expect the debate to end. The study is all very interesting, but it has nothing to do with the actual origin of life, Cambridge chemist John Sutherland tells the Times. (In less ancient but still ancient news, the remains of more real-life hobbits have been found.) Egypt is keen on promoting cooperation with Pakistan and benefitting from that countrys military experience in fighting terrorism, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi told Pakistans army chief of staff General Raheel Sharif during his official two day visit to Cairo. On Tuesday, El-Sisi received General Sharif with the attendance of Egypts defence minister Sedki Sobhi and the Pakistani ambassador to Cairo. El-Sisi praised the special relationship between the two countries, expressing his hope for more mutual cooperation that would meet the aspirations and expectations of the two nations. From his side, the Pakistani general expressed his countrys pride in its cooperation with Egypt in various fields, especially on a security and military level. He expressed Pakistans hope to bolster military relations with Egypt to strengthen security cooperation and exchange experience in combating terrorism. According to the Pakistani armys Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) directorate, Sharif held separate meetings with his Egyptian counterpart Sobhi and chief of staff Mahmoud Hegazy, where both sides vowed to synergise all efforts and resources to fight and eliminate terrorism. According to Pakistani news outlets, the Egyptian officials expressed interest in benefiting from the Pakistan armys experience in countering improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Both Egypt and Pakistan have been fighting Islamist militants within their borders in recent years. In the fight against militants in North Sinai, hundreds of Egyptian security personnel have been killed by IEDs. Egypt has adopted a policy of expanding its sources of armaments to aid in its fight against terrorism in the governorate. Last May, Egypt received the first batch of mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles from the United States, with a total 762 MRAPs delivered at no cost to help in the countrys fight against terrorism. Search Keywords: Short link: (Newser) Harrison Ford got crushed by a hydraulic door and pinned to the ground while filming Star Wars: The Force Awakens in London, and though he recovered in time to finish the movie, a court heard this week that he could have been killed in the incident, the Guardian reports. Ford walked onto the Millennium Falcon set in June 2014 not knowing it was live, and as he passed underneath the doorwhich weighs as much as a small carit "came down and hit me on my left hip because I was turned to my right," Ford explained to talk show host Jonathan Ross in December. "And then it flung my left leg up and it dislocated my ankle and as it drove me down to the floor, my legs slapped on the ramp up to the Millennium Falcon and broke both bones in my left leg." It's not clear exactly how the incident happened, but someone was operating the door at the time. Variety says that "someone pressed a button that caused the door to close on him." Per Ford in December, "They built a f---ing great hydraulic door which closed at light speed and somebody said, Ooh I wonder what this is?" Foodles Production, the company responsible, pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations, and during court proceedings, a prosecutor said the breaches caused a "risk of death" and that Ford could have died had the emergency stop not been pressed in time. The defense acknowledged that the production company was pleading guilty, but denied the level of risk that was said to be involved. (Read more Harrison Ford stories.) (Newser) The name organizers hope will be on everyone's mind during the second night of the Democratic National Convention on Tuesdaybesides Hillary Clinton's, of courseis that of her husband. Bill Clinton will headline the evening four years after giving what CBS News calls a better pitch for President Obama than even Obama himself gave during the 2012 DNC. For a generation now, this has been a safe bet: If its a Democratic convention, Mr. Clinton will be making a speech people will remember," the New York Times states. But there's another name that could once again take center stage: Bernie Sanders. The Washington Post reports the Clinton and Sanders campaigns are working together to give Sanders a bigger role Tuesday, including Sanders possibly being the one to formally nominate Clinton, in order to calm protests. Tuesday will see the state roll call to officially nominate Clinton for president. In 2008, Clinton stopped the roll call to allow Obama to be nominated without further delay. CBS reports Sanders isn't expected to do the same. It's possible giving Sanders' delegates the chance to officially vote for him will be enough to soothe some vocal Clinton critics, according to the Times. Either way, the roll call will mark a historic moment: the first time a major party has nominated a woman for president. The official theme for Tuesday is "a lifetime of fighting for children and families," with a focus on gun violence. To that end, the mothers of Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin are scheduled to speak. Other speakers include Jimmy Carter, Nancy Pelosi, and Lena Dunham. (Read more Democratic National Convention stories.) (Newser) A 9-year-old factory worker in Bangladesh was killed Sunday when other employees allegedly inserted an air compressor's nozzle into his rectum and turned it on, AFP reports. Police say senior employees were upset Sagar Barman went into a restricted area of Zobeda Textile Mill in Dhaka. But Sagar's father, also a worker at Zobeda, tells the New York Times his son was killed because he complained about the beatings they received from senior employees over small mistakes. An assistant administrative officer was arrested Monday in connection with Sagar's death, and police are looking for seven more employees said to have been involved. An administrative officer at Zobeda denies Sagar was killed, telling the Dhaka Tribune Sagar may have died when he tried to use the air compressor to clean his mouth. Despite child labor being illegal in Bangladesh, UNICEF estimates there are 4.9 million children under the age of 14 working in factories and elsewhere. Sagar had been working at Zobeda for seven months when he was killed. I thought, as we are poor, it will be helpful to run our family if my son Sagar can do some work in this factory, his father tells the Times. Two-dozen child workers were sent home from Zobeda, which supplies yarn for Western clothing, when police came to investigate Sagar's death. It's believed hundreds of children work there. Sagar is the second child worker in Bangladesh to be killed by having an air compressor inserted into his rectum this year. Two men were sentenced to death for doing the same thing to a 13-year-old boy in another town last August. (Read more child labor stories.) The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574. New Delhi: India today is celebrating Kargil Vijay Diwas, the day Indian Armed Forces declared victory over Pakistani troops and militants in the Kargil war. On 26 July, 1999, India successfully took command of the high outposts which had been lost to Pakistani intruders. The 60 day long war incurred loss of lives on both sides and resulted in India gaining the reign over the Kargil sector. But why was this war fought in the first place? The Kargil War was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan that took place between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LOC). In India, the conflict is also referred to as Operation Vijay which was the name of the Indian operation to clear the Kargil sector. The cause of the war was the infiltration of Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants into positions on the Indian side of the LOC, which serves as the de facto border between the two states. During 1998-1999, Pakistan sent several soldiers in militant disguise. The aim of these specially trained troops was to capture key posts and severe the link between India and Ladakh, which will force India to withdraw from Siachen glacier and eventually negotiate Kashmir dispute. During the initial stages of the war, Pakistan blamed the fighting entirely on independent Kashmiri insurgents, but documents left behind by casualties and later statements by Pakistan's Prime Minister and Chief of Army Staff showed involvement of Pakistani paramilitary forces, led by General Ashraf Rashid. The Indian Army, later on supported by the Indian Air Force, recaptured a majority of the positions on the Indian side of the LOC infiltrated by the Pakistani troops and militants. With international diplomatic opposition, the Pakistani forces withdrew from the remaining Indian positions along the LOC. The war was rare and unique for many reasons: -The battleground Kargil-Dras is one of the most difficult mountainous terrains where a war has been fought. The high-altitude of Kargil and Siachen posed significant logistical problems for the combating sides. -It is one of the very few instances of direct, conventional warfare between nuclear states (i.e., those possessing nuclear weapons). India became nuclear power after first successful test in 1974 and Pakistan conducted its first known nuclear test in 1998. -It is also one of the few instances of direct, conventional warfare between two democracies, as Pakistan had a democratically elected government at the time. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Russian flight safety experts may visit Egypt in September to inspect airport security in the country's airports, Russian transport minister Maksim Sokolov said Monday. "Different experts in various fields are there [in Egypt] quite often. I think the next visit should be planned for somewhere in September," Sokolov told reporters. Following his visit to Russia last week, Egyptian civil aviation minister Sherif Fathy invited Russian experts to conduct their final inspection of security at Egyptian airports to expedite the resumption of direct air traffic between Egypt and Russia. On October 31, Airbus A321 operated by the Russian air carrier Kogalymavia crashed in the Sinai Peninsula. The plane, carrying 224 people, was heading to St. Petersburg from the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh. Russia's Investigative Committee has officially classified the plane crash as a terrorist attack. The Egyptian tourism industry has been hit hard after a number of countries, including Russia and the United Kingdom, suspended flights to Egypt over safety concerns following the crash. Search Keywords: Short link: Kochi: Kerala Police has claimed that Arshi Qureshi, Guest Relations officer of Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation, who was arrested from Mumbai last week in connection with a missing Kerala woman, has links with terror outfit ISIS. Zakir Naik, a Mumbai-based televangelist, runs the foundation. In a report filed before the District and Sessions Court here seeking police custody of Qureshi and Rizvan Khan, who was also held from Mumbai last week, police claimed both had facilitated recruitment of Merin alias Mariam, who is missing along with her husband Bestin Vincent alias Yahia from the state, to ISIS. While Qureshi has been made first accused, Bestin Vincent is the second accused and Rizvan Khan the third accused in the missing case. Both Qureshi and Rizvan Khan were sent to 14 day police custody by the court. Police claimed Qureshi and Bestin Vincent had jointly hatched a plan to traffick Merin to Mumbai to convert her to Islam from Christianity and recruit her to ISIS to carry out terror activities both inside and outside the country. The religious conversion of Merin and her marriage with Yahia was facilitated by Rizvan Khan, police said. Police claimed it had proof that the accused had facilitated religious conversion of Merin and others through Juma Masjid of Bombay Trust, from a raid conducted at the residence of Qureshi. Aarshi Qureshi has been working as the Guest Relations Officer of Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation. A thorough probe is required to find out whether this organisation has any role in the case, the report said. Kerala police had traced Qureshi to Mumbai following a complaint lodged in Kochi by the brother of a young woman, who is suspected to have joined ISIS along with her husband. Ebin Jacob (25), brother of Merin who is missing along with her husband Bestin Vincent from Kerala, had told police in Kochi that there was an attempt to forcibly convert him to Islam and make him join ISIS, and that Bestin and Qureshi were behind it. Based on this, Kerala Police slapped charges under Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on the duo and booked them under sections of the IPC. Both Qureshi and Rizwan Khan, arrested by Kerala Police and aided by Maharashtra Police in two separate operations last week, were brought here yesterday by air under tight security for questioning. While Qureshi was arrested on July 21, Khan was picked up from his residence at Kalyan in Thane district on Friday night. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Beijing: Amid Americas move to deploy THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea, China has released footage of its first-ever test of ballistic missile interception system conducted six years ago to flaunt its own expertise in the complex technology. The ballistic missile defence system is a critical link in our strategic defence, and is also an important chip in the contest between big powers. It makes a world of difference whether you have it or not, PLA researcher Chen Deming said. The system itself is one of the keys of Chinas domestic defense capabilities, Deming was quoted as saying by China Radio International (CRI). The anti-missile system has undergone more successful tests since 2010, including another test in January 2013, said china-org.cn website which published the photo of the test. Footage of the original test has been released on the heels of the US and South Korea agreeing to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system before the end of next year. While the US insists the system is to defend South Korea from possible attacks from North Korea, Chinese officials have condemned its planned deployment, saying it threatens Chinas security. Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi has warned his South Korean counterpart the THAAD deployment also diminishes the level of trust between the two countries. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Twinkle Khanna has had enough of Naseeruddin Shah-Rajesh Khanna row. The actress, who had slammed Naseeruddin Shah over comments about her father Rajesh Khanna, tweeted: "This has gone far enough, can everyone please stop, we have all stated our opinions. Now can everyone go play Pokemon. Actor Naseeruddin Shah, who in a recent interview called Rajesh Khanna a "limited, poor actor", was slammed by the latters daughter Twinkle Khanna and director Karan Johar. After the backlash, Naseeruddin had apologised. "I apologise to those who were personally offended, and my intention was not to attack him (Rajesh Khanna)," he was quoted as saying. However, Twinkle had refused to forgive him and accept the apology as she said in a tweet: "All due regard toMrShah's reality,mine=a man who loved cinema& did films likeAnand,AmarPrem,KatiPatang thank u folks for all the love." Twinkle had earlier said in a tweet that Shah should not disrespect someone who is no more and cannot respond to such disparaging comments. This has gone far enough,can everyone please stop,we have all stated our opinions now can everyone go play Pokemon! https://t.co/Jf1fKSHcBq Twinkle Khanna (@mrsfunnybones) July 25, 2016 All due regard toMrShah's reality,mine=a man who loved cinema& did films likeAnand,AmarPrem,KatiPatang thank u folks for all the love Twinkle Khanna (@mrsfunnybones) July 24, 2016 Sir if u can't respect the living ,respect the dead-mediocrity is attacking a man who can't respond @NaseerudinShah https://t.co/4EdyWmwiNj Twinkle Khanna (@mrsfunnybones) July 23, 2016 For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Srinagar: Security forces on Tuesday gunned down four militants and arrested one during an encounter in Naugam sector near the LoC in Kupwara district of Kashmir, an army official said. Four terrorists have been killed while one has been apprehended alive during an operation in Naugam sector, the official said. He said all the militants were foreign nationals. The operation was in progress when reports were last received from the encounter site. The official said as the operation was still going on, it would be premature to say whether it was an infiltration bid or not. We have got one of them alive and expect some vital information from him, he added. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Kanpur: Congress chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh Sheila Diskhit has said Congress would form government after 27 years in the state in the 2017 Assembly elections and BJP would stand fourth in the polls. Dikshit, who reached here Monday night from Delhi as part of Congress poll campaign, said the state has been going backwards all these years under the regimes of Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and BJP. She asked the people to vote for Congress if they want the state to progress. She claimed that the party was receiving a good response and BJP has dropped to fourth position in the state.On the basis of the development work done by the Congress government in Delhi, the party will replicate it in the state if it comes to power, she said while addressing a gathering here after three-day bus yatra 27 saal UP behaal reached here tonight. UP Congress chief Raj Babbar said Dikshit would work for the development of the state just like she did in Delhi. He also attacked SP, BSP and BJP for their failure to make Uttar Pradesh a developed state. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New York: Yahoo will be bought by American telecom giant Verizon Communications for nearly USD 5 billion (about Rs 32,358 crore) in cash, ending a two-decade run as an independent company for the Internet pioneer. Yahoo will be combined with AOL, another faded Internet star that Verizon bought last year. Verizon chief executive Lowell McAdam said this will create a top global mobile media company, and help accelerate our revenue stream in digital advertising. The acquisition, expected to close in early 2017, pending shareholder and regulatory approval will exclude Yahoos cash, certain patent holdings, as well as its share in Chinas Alibaba Group and stake in Yahoo Japan. Yahoo, which was the entry door to the Internet for an early generation of web users, has been coping with years of decline and struggled to keep up with rivals like Google and Facebook. Yahoo chief Marissa Mayer said the company, that changed the world, will continue to do so through this combination with Verizon and AOL. On a conference call, she said the agreement is an exceptional outcome for Yahoo shareholders and that Verizon was chosen because it believed in us the most. In a mail to employees, she said she would be open to staying on with the company, even though no decision has been made on her future following the acquisition by Verizon. Im planning to stay... Its important to me to see Yahoo into its next chapter, she wrote. Yahoo will operate independently until the acquisition and then fall under the aegis of AOL unit chief, Tim Armstrong, a former Google colleague of Mayer. Yahoo has been a long-time investor in premium content and created some of the most beloved consumer brands in key categories like sports, news and finance, Armstrong said in the statement. According to documents filed with regulators, Mayer would get a severance package of USD 55 million if removed within a year of a change of control. Mayer was brought on board in 2012 from Google seeking to revitalise the Silicon Valley icon, which at its peak had a market value of over USD 100 billion. New Delhi : The citys auto and taxi unions today went on an indefinite strike against app-based taxi services, causing hardship to thousands of commuters.Twenty unions of autos and taxis have formed a Joint Action Committee, which has called for the indefinite strike. The Committee claimed about 85,000 auto and 15,000 yellow-black taxis have gone off the capital roads. The Delhi government has termed the strike as politically-motivated, saying banning the operation of app-based cab services does not come under its ambit and instead the Centre should do something in this regard. The strike hit commuters hard with many stranded in several places including Connaught place, railway stations, and ISBTs. Kishan Verma, president of All Delhi Auto-Taxi Transport Congress Union (ADATTCU), said the drivers of auto and taxi drivers are protesting against app-based services. Uber and Ola dont have permit to run their taxis in Delhi, but despite that the government is allowing them to take away our livelihood, Verma said. Rajendra Soni, general secretary of Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh and Delhi Pradesh Taxi Union, said there is now no room for talks with the Delhi Government and the Kejriwal dispensation will realise what is the power of auto and taxi drivers. Its perhaps for the first time that the unions, which are affiliated to major political parties including BJP and Congress, in the city, have come together and given a call for a strike. Government has assured us on several occasions that it will take action against app-based taxi services, but they have not fulfilled their commitment so far, Soni whose unions are backed by the RSS, said. A Delhi government spokesperson said it had written to the Centre demanding that the server of Uber be blocked. The operations of Ola and Uber are illegal in Delhi as they dont have permit from the Delhi transport department to ply their taxis. We have already written to the Centre to block server of Uber, but the Union government said it cannot do so as its main server is in USA, said a Delhi government spokesman. During the second phase of odd-even, the Chief Minister had also threatened to take action against app-based cab services over complaints of surge pricing, said the spokesperson. Philadelphia: First Lady Michelle Obama today endorsed friend Hillary Clinton as the only one truly qualified to be the next US President even as she lashed out at Republican Donald Trump of being thin-skinned and taking snap decisions in a veiled attack. Michelle made a passionate plea for the former secretary of state in front of thousands of delegates and members of the Democratic Party at its national convention here and hailed the power that having a first female president would bring to the country. I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States, she said. I am here tonight because in this election there is only one person who I trust with that responsibility, only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is our friend Hillary Clinton. The four-day convention, which began yesterday would nominate Clinton as its presidential candidate. The 68-year-old former secretary of state would deliver her acceptance speech on Thursday, thus, becoming Americas first woman presidential candidate of a major political party. If elected in the final race against Trump in November, she would be the first US woman president. Without naming Trump, the First Lady appeared to be critical of the 70-year-old real estate tycoon who once questioned the birth of her husband and US President Barack Obama. Make no mistake about it, this November when we go to the polls that is what were deciding, not Democrat or Republican, not left or right. No, in this election and every election is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives, she said amid cheers and applause. We urge them to ignore those who question their fathers citizenship or faith, she told delegates and a national television audience, in a clear reference to Trumps remarks targetting Obama. We insist that the hateful language they hear from public figures on TV does not represent the true spirit of this country, she said, apparently referring to the new kind of standards in terms of lingo set in this years campaign unlike of a US election. Having been a resident of the White House and seen Obama running the country for seven and half years, Michelle said when she thinks of the kind of president that I want for my girls and all children, its someone who takes the job seriously - someone who understands that the issues a president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters, in an allusion to Trumps tweets. Because when you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military in your command, you cant make snap decisions, she said, adding: You cant have a thin skin or a tendency to lash out. You need to be steady and measured and well-informed. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Imphal: Sixteen years after starting her path-setting hunger strike demanding repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, Manipurs Iron Lady Irom Chanu Sharmila has decided to end her fast on August 9 and contest Assembly elections as an Independent candidate. The 44-year-old iconic rights activist, who has been forcibly fed through a nasal tube since 2000, said she would join politics as she no longer believes that her fast will lead to the repeal of the draconian AFSPA. I will end my fast on August 9 and contest elections on an independent ticket, Sharmila told the media after coming out of a local court here where she is facing a trial for attempting suicide. I will join politics and my fight will continue, Sharmila, who has refused to eat or drink anything since November, 2000 and is forcibly fed through a nasal tube in Imphals Jawahar Lal Nehru Hospital, a special ward of which acts as her prison. Assembly elections in Manipur are scheduled early next year. In the past, many political leaders have met Sharmila and tried to cajole her into joining politics but she has rejected all offers. She also expressed her desire to get married after coming out of prison on August 9.The civil rights activist is known to have a boyfriend, a British national of Indian origin, who has in the past been in trouble with Sharmila supporters. On the charge of attempting suicide by means of a fast unto death in 2006 at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, she has been arrested, released and then re-arrested from time to time. The maximum punishment under Section 309 of IPC is a one-year jail term. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. A request submitted by independent MP Mostafa Bakri has called on parliament and the government to recognise the the death of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman state in 1915 as a 'genocide' Independent Egyptian MP Mostafa Bakri said that he and 336 MPs have called on parliament to approve a draft resolution in favour of recognising the death of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman state in 1915 as a "genocide." "Parliament must hold a special session on this subject because it was a crime of mass extermination that should be condemned by all world parliaments," said Bakri. "New historical evidence has exposed the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks between 1915 and 1922," Bakri said, adding that his proposal comes after the German parliament voted last month in favour of recognising the 1915 massacre as a genocide, and many other countries are expected to follow suit. Turkey does not officially recognise that the Armenian genocide took place. Following Germany's recent recognition of the genocide, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recalled Turkey's ambassador to Germany for "consultation," with the Turkish government saying that the move by Berlin was "null and void." Bakri concluded that "while the Ottomans committed the 1915 massacre, the Erdogan regime is now moving to commit another crime against his political opponents and minorities that seek independence." The proposal comes after another Egyptian MP, Emad Mahrous, demanded on Sunday that the government grant political asylum to exiled Turkish opposition figure Fethullah Gulen. Mahrous accused Erdogan of exploiting the failed coup against him this month to detain hundreds of his political opponents and turn Turkey into a Muslim Brotherhood dictatorship. Talaat Khalil, an MP who supported Bakri's draft resolution, told reporters that genocide should be condemned by all world governments and parliaments. "Besides, the perpetrators must admit their crimes or even apologise for them," Khalil added. "But it is clear that the arrogant Erdogan regime will never admit that this massacre [took place] because he believes himself to be a new Ottoman sultan," said Khalil. Khalil added that Egypt had close relations with both the Armenian people and the Turkish people. "Egypt has always been a shelter for the Armenians since the 1915 massacre," said Khalil, arguing that "out of its political responsibility, Egypts parliament must move to recognise the [genocide] against Armenians." Khalil concluded by saying that "this should not be taken as a hostile move by the Egyptian parliament against Turkey, but should be seen as a move that comes out of purely humanist considerations." Relations between Turkey and Egypt have been strained since the 2013 ouster of Egypts Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood group and a close ally of Erdogan's AKP government. Erdogan has repeatedly slammed Morsi's removal as an "unacceptable coup." Cairo has repeatedly accused Ankara of "interference" in its domestic affairs and supporting Islamist militants who carry out terrorist attacks in Egypt. Turkey provides a safe haven for leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been banned in Egypt. Ankara also allows TV stations run by sympathisers of the Brotherhood who criticise the government of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to broadcast out of Turkey. Search Keywords: Short link: New Delhi: It was not a full-scale war but it threatened to snow-ball into one. It was hard to imagine Pakistans nefarious designs at a time when shunning traditional animosity India moved into top gear to redefine its relationship with its neighbor. The then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee took a bus of hope to Lahore, to infuse an extra coat of warmth into a cold Indo-Pak ties. Lahore Bus had barely covered lost ground when Pakistan pulled the rug from under Indias feet. Before it sunk in, Pakistan had already occupied strategic heights in the Kargil sector in Jammu and Kashmir taking advantage of the winter snow when troops on either side of the LoC climb down only to reclaim their positions once the snow melts. But in the summer of 1999 as Indian troops went back to claim their positions, they were in for a rude shock. The enemies had infiltrated into the Indian side of the LoC. Armed Pakistani infiltrators and army men had been lying in wait to attack the Indian troops. It was clear Pakistan had rejected Indias hand of friendship. India retaliated. After initial losses, Indian troops gradually gained upper hand. The battle to reclaim Tiger Hill proved decisive. Pakistan had to eat humble pie. The eight-week long conflict ended in a tame withdrawal by the Pakistani forces. As a correspondent for a major news network I covered the war in the Drass and Batalik sectors of Kargil which had turned into a war zone. In the midst of roaring Bofors guns and retaliatory fire from across the border, I often found myself caught in the line of fire but miraculously survived to bring you this story when the Indian Army flew the Tiranga again on Tiger Hill. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : At a time assaults on Dalits have turned into a political hot potato, the Aam Aadmi Party has decided to launch Dalit Manifestos in poll-bound Punjab, Goa and Gujarat to expose the anti-Dalit and Manuwadi side of BJP. Party sources said that the manifestos, which would be specifically targeted at the Dalit community, will deliberate extensively on the systemic oppression against them in the states and the highlight the lack of an agenda to include them in the societal development. AAP will also bring out a Youth Manifesto in Goa like the one in Punjab. Since the Centre is not interested in taking any action against the perpetrators of crime against Dalits, then what options are left? In Gujarat, it is not the first time that Dalits were beaten up so badly. But how many people know that this has been going on? a senior party functionary asked. AAP believes that the time has come to expose the anti-Dalit and Manuwadi side of BJP, the leader said, adding that people should know that it does not have any inclusive agenda of which Dalits will be a part of. Why did they insult Mayawati?... I think the time has come that people should know that BJP is anti-Dalit. Its basically a Manuwadi party and it does not have any inclusive agenda to include Dalits in its developmental agenda, he said. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who visited Gujarat twice in the recent past, had dubbed BJP as anti-Dalit and accused it of trampling upon the depressed sections after meeting the Dalit victims who were thrashed by cow vigilantes at Gir Somnath district for allegedly skinning a dead cow on July 11. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Kargil: Asserting that Pakistan has direct role in fuelling terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, Army today warned of more infiltration bids along the LoC in the coming weeks in view of the volatile situation in the Valley. Pakistan is interfering in Kashmir and has direct role in what we call as proxy war in Kashmir and there is absolutely no doubt in it, General Officer Commanding in Chief (GoC-in-C), Northern Command, Lt Gen D S Hooda told reporters here. He was paying homage to the martyrs of Operation Vijay on the 17th Kargil Vijay Diwas at the historic War Memorial here. We have seen it everywhere.. along the borders. We have seen it in the matter in which the support is given to infiltrating groups. We have seen how ceasefire violations have been used as a support to the people infiltrating into this side, Hooda said while replying to a question about Pakistans role in current unrest and terrorism in Kashmir. In short, if there is an internal disturbance here, they will directly take advantage of it. You have heard the statements of Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toiba, trying to say that they are supporting whatever is happening in Kashmir, the Northern Command Chief said. He said the support (from Pakistan) is not only moral but it is absolute physical and there is no doubt about it. He also expressed concern over the increasing radicalisation of youth in Kashmir Valley. We have seen there is an increase in radicalisation mostly driven by social media and people are quite active on it, Hooda said, adding everyone at all levels has to put their heads together to reduce this trend. The Army official warned of more infiltration bids in the coming weeks along the LoC. Hooda said, We are seeing regular attempts to infiltrate groups into this side. We have foiled some infiltration bids. One group which had infiltrated two or three days back and we have neutralised four terrorists inside the hinterland. We are seeing repeated attempts. We recently lost two soldiers during this infiltration bids. I dont see a slow down in this (level of infiltration). During this internal disturbance they will try and push in more and more infiltrators and we are well prepared to deal with it, he said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Egypts Grand Mufti Shawki Allam condemned on Tuesday a "terrorist operation that took place in a Church in northern France following a hostage situation, resulting in the death of a priest and critical injuries to another. In a statement, Shawki Allam said that "what the extremists did was a criminal act that dissents from what God has commanded in all religions," adding that, "all divine religions maintain the necessity of preserving religion, life, intellect, progeny, and wealth." Egypt's top cleric extended his sincere condolences to the families of the victims and the French people, wishing speedy recovery to the injured. Earlier on Tuesday, two assailants slit the throat of an 84-year-old priest at a church in in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. Five people were inside the church when it came under attack, French interior ministry spokesman Pierre Henry Brandet said. Three of the hostages were freed unharmed, and another was fighting for their life according to the spokesman. The Islamic State group said on Tuesday that two assailants who stormed the church were its soldiers. Search Keywords: Short link: The Egyptian president says that he is looking forward to cooperating with the new British cabinet Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met earlier Tuesday with a five-member British parliamentary delegation currently visiting the country, discussing the latest developments in Egyptian-British bilateral relations, the Egyptian presidency announced. During his meeting with the British delegation led by Gerald Howarth -- a member of the UK House of Commons and head of the Friends of Egypt in British parliament -- president El-Sisi stated that he has followed the developments that took place following the Brexit referendum. He also added that he was looking forward to cooperating with the new British cabinet led by PM Theresa May The Egyptian President also discussed with the delegation economic bilateral relations, including the British ban of flights to Sharm El-Sheikh, according to presidency spokesperson Alaa Youssef. The UK suspended air travel to the Red Sea resort last November after a Russian plane crashed above the Sinai Peninsula with all of its 224 passengers and crew killed. England and Russia demanded tighter security measures in Egyptian airports before air flights and tourist traffic would be resumed. The British delegation's visit is slated to last five days. Search Keywords: Short link: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday he hoped to announce in early August details of a U.S. plan for closer military cooperation and intelligence sharing with Russia on Syria. Kerry, speaking after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a meeting of Southeast Asian nations in Laos, said there had been progress in recent days on moving forward with the plan. The proposal envisages Washington and Moscow sharing intelligence to coordinate air strikes against the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front and prohibit the Syrian air force from attacking moderate rebel groups. Kerry has defended the proposal despite deep skepticism among top American military and intelligence officials, including Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford, over working with Russia. "My hope is that somewhere in early August we would be in a position to stand up in front of you and tell you what we're able to do with the hopes it can make a difference to lives of people in Syria and to the course of the war," Kerry told a news conference in the capital Vientiane. During the discussions, he and Lavrov outlined the next stage of implementing the plan, including a series of technical-level meetings to address concerns by the U.S. military and intelligence community. "We are doing our homework, and a lot of that homework has been done in the last few days, and I will tell you has been done successfully," Kerry said. Kerry's State Department and White House allies say the plan is the best chance to limit the fighting that is driving thousands of Syrian civilians, with some trained Islamic State group fighters mixed in, into exile in Europe, and preventing humanitarian aid from reaching tens of thousands more. The meeting in Laos comes amid accusations that Russia is behind the hacking of Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails released by Wikileaks on Friday. Kerry said he raised the issue of the emails with Lavrov during their meeting. Earlier, Lavrov brushed aside the accusations that Russia was involved, saying: "I don't want to use four-letter words." Cyber security experts and U.S. officials have said there is evidence that Russia engineered the release of the emails in order to influence the U.S. presidential election. The FBI said it was investigating a cyber intrusion at the DNC, which has led to discord as the party's convention in Philadelphia opens on Monday to nominate former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton as its candidate. Although the hacking of the DNC was known to officials and cyber security experts a month ago, the timing of the release of the contents of communications within the party is the concern for U.S. authorities. Search Keywords: Short link: It all started with a story Brean Cunningham, a Bridgeport filmmaker, read about a prison dog program, Dont Throw Us Away, in Massachusetts. Founded by Michelle Riccio, it placed stray dogs with inmates, so they could help heal and train the animals, preparing them for adoption. Some dogs were beyond shy; others had been abused. One had cigarette burns on its hind quarters. Another had been left in a dumpster with her puppies. Not only did the program benefit the animals, it gave the inmates a chance to experience the timeless connection between man and dog. It also helped them build confidence as they learned to train the dogs. I pitched Michelle the idea of doing a documentary on this, Cunningham said. She was very receptive, and thats how we got the ball rolling on this project. Three years later the inspiring film, Dogs on the Inside, was finished. It follows the relationships between some minimum security prisoners and the dogs they prepared for new lives with loving owners. Cunningham, who directed and produced it with Doug Seirup, of Dallas, said some of it was filmed at the North Central Correctional Institution in Gardner, Mass. The prison was very cautious and it took nine months to get approval; there was so much red tape, he said. We were only given three days to film there, so we had to make the most of it. We were like chickens with our heads cut off, trying to get everything we needed. It was definitely a challenge, but we rose to the occasion. Cunningham said they made sure to film one day when new dogs arrived to capture inmates meeting their pooches. Since the training process takes two to three months, they stopped in again during the middle of that period to record what progress had been made. They returned again when the prisoners handed their trained pets to new owners and shared tips with them about the dogs personalities. More Information Bethel Cinema, 269 Greenwood Ave. Wednesday, Aug. 3, 7 p.m. $10.50 film and after-party, seniors $9. $25 for 6 p.m. VIP reception, film, Q&A and after-party. 203-778-3100, bethelcinema.com See More Collapse The prisoners were happy for the dogs, but also sad (to lose the animals they had bonded with). But a new set of dogs would come in a week later, so the prisoners knew the more dogs they trained, the less that would be euthanized. Dogs on the Inside will be screened at Bethel Cinema Wednesday, Aug. 3, and includes a Q&A with Cunningham, plus a VIP reception to aid DAWS, the animal rescue/adoption agency in Bethel. This documentary has so many themes, said Cunningham, adding how it also shows the resiliency of a dogs trust and the generosity of the human spirit. lkoonz@newstimes.com; Twitter: @LindaTKoonz This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 Carol Kaliff / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Carol Kaliff / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Carol Kaliff / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 5 of 5 Brookfield has rejected a lawsuit from its former Republican registrar of voters, who is demanding that the town pay him more than $65,000 in legal fees stemming from his decision to oust a resident from the GOP. Former GOP Registrar Thomas Dunkerton and his attorney Ward Mazzucco have been billing the town since February for the registrars defense in a lawsuit filed by Jane Miller. The Syrian army sent text messages to residents of rebel-held eastern Aleppo saying it will grant safe passage to people wishing to leave the area, which has been effectively besieged by pro-government forces, state media said on Tuesday. The army called on residents to push "mercenaries" out of the city -- a reference to rebel fighters -- and said it would give safe passage and temporary accommodation for anyone wishing to leave the area, state news agency SANA said. The messages also called on armed groups to lay down their weapons, SANA said. Concern has been growing for at least 250,000 people who have been trapped in rebel-held eastern Aleppo since heavy fighting effectively closed the last supply route, the Castello Road, in early July. Syria's most populous city before the war, Aleppo has been divided for years between rebel and government-held zones. Full control of Aleppo would be a significant prize for President Bashar al-Assad. On Monday, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the U.N. Security Council that by day people in the eastern areas of Aleppo can move to the western part of the city, "where the situation is significantly better". Churkin's comments came in a session during which the United Nations aid chief asked the Security Council to push for a weekly 48-hour humanitarian pause in fighting to allow food and other aid to be delivered to eastern areas of the city. Search Keywords: Short link: This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DANBURY Like many hospitals, Danbury Hospital offered palliative care mainly to inpatients. But these days the hospitals palliative-care team works directly with outpatients in one of its associated primary-care practices and in its pulmonary-outpatient office in Danbury. Bringing palliative care to the patient at an early stage in a serious illness is vital to enabling each individual to live life as he or she chooses, said Dr. Damanjeet Chaubey, the hospitals medical director of the palliative-care services. Palliative care not to be confused with end-of-life hospice care helps patients and their families deal with chronic illness by treating physical and emotional symptoms and reducing suffering at different stages of the disease. Physicians have classically been trained to diagnose and to treat, Chaubey said. But then the skill of how to have a conversation about the future, what to expect, what might go well, what might go wrong and how do you prepare for that, thats not something we have traditionally done well in our education and training. Rose Scorsone, 67, hospitalized with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, expects to work with the palliative-care team when she leaves the hospital. She already has met with a team member, Dr. Jeanine Famiglietti. She puts me at peace, Scorsone said. I didnt expect to be this much of an invalid this early in my life. Besides receiving drugs to treat her chronic disease and to soothe her symptoms, Scorsone said, she has been provided with valuable information she didnt have before her hospitalization. The things (Famiglietti) says teach me and educate me about what I am going through, Scorsone said. If she hadnt talked to me, Id be a nervous wreck. The hospital launched its palliative-care program in 2004, creating a team of doctors, social workers, chaplains and advanced-practice registered nurses who provides support to about 1,000 patients each year. Since March, the team has helped about 10 patients at the two outpatient practices. In Americas health care system, all too often patients arent asked what is important to them, especially when a cure is not an option, Chaubey said. We ask patients to articulate their goals and values so that our medical team can put in place a treatment plan based on their wishes. I like to talk about this not only as planning for my end of life in terms of how I want to die, but I think the conversation needs to be about how I want to live, Chaubey said. The programs expansion outside the hospital setting allows the team to see patients at an early stage in the physicians office rather than in the hospital. This helps to ensure their preferences will be clear if they reach the point where they are unable to make decisions for themselves, Chaubey said. Having a holistic plan for symptom control and quality of life earlier on can help reduce hospital readmissions a key goal of the Affordable Care Act. Our goal is to help more patients address their physical, emotional and psychological needs from the time of diagnosis until their illnesses reach a final stage, said Karen Mulvihill, the hospitals director of palliative-care services. Palliative care can and should be included early. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DANBURY - The surveyors who are evaluating trees in a high-elevation neighborhood west of Danbury Airport are not to be confused with vegetation managers working across greater Danbury to clear branches from power lines. The surveyors seen on Briar Ridge Road and Miry Brook Road are part of an expensive and complicated mission to remove trees that have grown into the western approach of Danbury Airports Runway 8. The problem trees - one dozen stands of them on eight private properties - have become such hazards that the Federal Aviation Administration has banned all bad-weather night landings at Danbury until the obstructions are removed. Since the city cannot cut back the problem trees without property owners permission, it is negotiating with homeowners to buy the rights. It was not clear on Tuesday when the city would reach agreements with the homeowners and begin cutting back the trees. When our attorney says we have these documents in hand, we can move to the next phase, said Paul Estefan, the citys airport administrator. The project is budgeted to cost $1 million - 90 percent of which is expected to be reimbursed by the federal government. Another 7.5 percent will be reimbursed by the state, Estefan said. Although Danbury is not a commercial airport, it is important to the regional economy. With 70,000 combined takeoffs and landings each year, it is the busiest airport of its kind in Connecticut. When the FAA banned bad-weather night landings in November, it had an immediate impact on the charter aviation business. One Danbury company said it was losing up to $50,000 each month because it had to divert flights to Westchester County Airport on the Greenwich border. Estefan said the FAA had previously allowed the city to warn aircraft of tree obstructions on the airports western approach with blinking lights on 70-foot poles. Now, they change the rules, Estefan said on Tuesday. He added Danbury was not unique. There are 580 airports across the country that have the same problem, he said. Thank goodness I dont have buildings to deal with. I only have trees. There have been no obstruction related crashes, the airport said. A small plane did land upside down in the neighborhood in 2011. The crash was equipment related. The last time the city removed this many trees in airport space was 2007, when it bought 10 acres on Miry Brook Road for $500,000. The FAA reimbursed the city most of the cost. The surveyors in the neighborhood are double-checking calculations before any cutting is done. The surveyors are there to make sure we dont go beyond the limits of what the FAA is looking for, Estefan said. I am not interested in taking down every tree - I am only interested in the ones that are safety issues. rryser@newstimes.com; 203-731-3342 Michelle Obama, who ditched the boxy jackets and dowdy style of so many first ladies before her, addressed the Democratic National Convention in a custom, royal blue dress by designer Christian Siriano. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Siriano has a vacation home in Danbury, Conn. with his new husband, Brad Walsh. It's a picture perfect Sunday at our Connecticut country house. #weekend #Sirianohome A photo posted by Christian Siriano (@csiriano) on Jul 17, 2016 at 9:03am PDT Never predictable or boring when it comes to clothes, her choice was in line with the modern and cool approach she has taken for the last eight years. "Stuffy is not her signature, and in that sense her fashion choices reflect that sensibility and the mood of the times," said Avril Graham, executive fashion and beauty editor for Harper's Bazaar magazine. Mrs. Obama wore her hair loose, parted to one side, with the cap-sleeve, A-line dress. Her jewelry was minimal, large silver earrings a prominent touch. The look was low-key, Graham said, calling it "of the people, not stiff, simple, appropriately elegant, mannerly so as not to upstage." Fashionistas will miss this first lady, Graham said. "I think it's fair to say Michelle Obama has been the darling of the fashion set. She has championed young design talent and highlighted existing designer names with a very confident approach to her wardrobe choices," she said. The 30-year-old Siriano, who won the fourth season of "Project Runway" in 2008, has been growing his New York-based brand ever since. His custom convention creation included high-belt detailing, a tight bodice and a flared hem that lent the look movement. Siriano and his husband tied the knot at their Danbury house earlier this month. The crowd included Christina Hendricks, Alicia Silverstone, Kelly Osbourne, Danielle Brooks and Anna Chlumsky. "When it came time to pick their wedding venue, Christian and Brad looked no further than their own backyard. 'We wanted to have the wedding at our vacation house in Connecticut because it's got plenty of serene outdoor space and it's our favorite sanctuary away from the noise of the city,' the couple says. "Many of our friends and family members have been to the house as guests so it's a comfortable place for everyone to have a good time," brides.com writes. Siriano dressed Mrs. Obama for the first time for a much sadder occasion: a black dress for the July 12 memorial service for five police officers killed by a sniper in Dallas. Mrs. Obama wears color and prints with confidence and mixes up the clothing shapes, or silhouettes, she chooses. She has worn an eclectic roster of designers, from the Europeans to the home-grown. Among her favorites: Jason Wu, Michael Kors, Narciso Rodriguez, Thakoon, Azzedine Alaia, Sophie Theallet, Naeem Khan and Junya Watanabe. "Right from her early days as first lady she made the fashion elite take note," Graham said. But she's no label snob, donning mom cardigans and other pieces from J. Crew and Gap. And she's been clever in her attitude to beauty, Graham said, experimenting with different hair and makeup styles that are of the moment. Iran on Tuesday said it was not aware of the presence of three al Qaeda operatives who the U.S. Treasury alleged last week to be living in the country. Last Wednesday the U.S. Treasury said it was blacklisting a Saudi, an Egyptian and an Algerian who it said were members of al Qaeda living in Iran. Their activities included liaising between the Pakistani Taliban and al Qaeda, and sending funds to al Qaeda fighters in Syria, the Treasury said. "The Islamic Republic of Iran has no information about the presence of these people on its own soil," foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi was cited as saying by the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA). Iran has held several al Qaeda members, both high-ranking and lower-level, since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, although U.S. officials say the precise conditions of their confinement are unclear. Iran, a Shia Muslim theocracy, considers al Qaeda a terrorist group and Iranian security forces periodically report the arrest of al Qaeda members. Senior U.S. officials have previously accused Iran of cooperating with the group, but Tehran denies this. The hardline Sunni Islamist group considers Shia to be heretics and has targeted them in the past. The U.S. blacklisting freezes any property of the three men in the United States, and bars U.S. citizens from dealing with them. Search Keywords: Short link: TORONTO, July 26, 2016 /CNW/ - Redknee Solutions Inc. (TSX: RKN), a leading provider of real-time monetization and subscriber management software, is pleased to announce the completion of an upgrade project at Hrvatski Telecom (HT Croatia), part of the Deutsche Telekom Group. The Redknee Unified upgrade modernizes HT Croatia's real-time charging system to provide agile capabilities to subscribers, while supporting future growth opportunities, the introduction of new and innovative services and real-time marketing campaigns. This new software solution provides HT Croatia with the flexibility to react quickly to market conditions, increase its competitiveness, and foster future growth. With the completion of this project, HT Croatia can now focus on pursuing its growth strategy, including the delivery of new solutions for prepaid and postpaid voice and data to subscribers on the BonBon MVNO and HT Croatia networks. This upgrade demonstrates Redknee's ability to successfully deliver complex upgrade projects on-time and on-budget. Communications Service Providers (CSPs) are modernizing their BSS stacks as they expand their business services and functions. Gartner Research from August 2015 highlights the growth of enterprise application software, as service providers modernize their core applications, extend their capabilities into new areas, and undertake digital transformation projects. Redknee's experience helping service providers with large-scale transformation projects combined with its real-time monetization and subscriber management solutions, provide service providers such as HT Croatia with an end-to-end solution to support their business goals and growth strategies. Redknee Unified enables service providers to quickly launch new brands and innovative service offerings, using one centralized platform, in a matter of days. Redknee Unified offers product catalog, order management and advanced customer and self-care capabilities, enabling the creation of tailored offerings, communications and support across multiple channels. Davor Tomaskovic, CEO of Hrvatski Telekom "HT Croatia is pleased to announce the launch of the latest version of the Redknee Unified Charging system. This launch is a significant milestone as our customers will benefit from better quality services and our business will now have the flexibility to evolve to the changing demand and expectations of consumers. Redknee has been an invaluable partner and we look forward to continuing our partnership in the future as we grow and achieve our business goals." Lucas Skoczkowski, Redknee's CEO commented: "In today's competitive market having a modern and agile monetization solutions is critical for any communications service provider. We are proud of the long-term partnership with HT Croatia and are pleased to deliver a solution capable of transforming their business. By leveraging the Redknee solution, HT Croatia will be able to increase its competitiveness and quickly react to market opportunities that contribute to long-term growth and profitability, while nurturing customers through a consistent high quality omni-channel experience." About Redknee: Redknee monetizes today's digital world. We provide a complete portfolio of mission-critical monetization and subscriber management solutions and services that allow communications service providers, utility companies, auto makers and enterprise businesses of all types to charge for things in new and innovative ways. Redknee's real-time billing, charging, policy and customer care offerings provide the agility and scalability to drive a unique user experience, increase profitability and support any new product or business model. Available on premise, cloud-based, or as a Software-as-a-Service, Redknee's low-risk, flexible solutions power more than 250 businesses across the globe. Established in 1999, Redknee Solutions Inc. (TSX: RKN) is the parent of the wholly-owned operating subsidiary Redknee Inc. and its various subsidiaries. References to Redknee refer to the combined operations of those entities. For more information about Redknee and its solutions, please go to www.redknee.com. About Hrvatski Telekom Hrvatski Telekom (HT) is the leading provider of telecommunication services in Croatia, serving 1.1 million fixed lines, 2.2 million mobile subscribers and nearly 720,000 broadband connections through its Residential and Business divisions. SOURCE Redknee Solutions Inc. For further information: Redknee Solutions: Michaela Radman, Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications, [email protected], +1 905 625 2190; Investor Relations: Lawrence Chamberlain, NATIONAL | Equicom, T: (416) 848-1457, [email protected] TORONTO, July 26, 2016 /CNW/ - Restaurants Canada applauds the draft trade agreement negotiated by the premiers last week which will improve the free flow of goods and services between provinces. While the agreement is a giant step forward in breaking down provincial trade barriers, the restaurant industry is disappointed that beer, wine and spirits have specifically been excluded from the agreement. "The omission of alcohol is frustrating," said Joyce Reynolds, Executive Vice President, Government Affairs at Restaurants Canada. "However, we're pleased that British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec have agreed among themselves to let customers buy wine produced in other provinces." Consumer tastes and preferences don't stop at provincial borders, and Canada's restaurants, bars and caterers serve customers who want to enjoy unique products from different regions of the country. "Provinces must consider businesses, as well as individual customers, when studying alcohol," added Reynolds. "Freer interprovincial trade would also lead to more competitively priced products, which would be a win for restaurant customers across Canada." Restaurants Canada will be meeting with federal officials this week regarding the agreement and next steps. Restaurants Canada's Raise the Bar report card on provincial liquor policies, released in Nov. 2015, identified interprovincial trade barriers as a detriment to doing business across the country. Restaurants Canada is a growing community of 30,000 foodservice businesses, including restaurants, bars, caterers, institutions and suppliers. We connect our members from coast to coast, through services, research and advocacy for a strong and vibrant restaurant industry. Canada's restaurant industry directly employs 1.2 million Canadians, is the number one source of first jobs, and serves 18 million customers every day. SOURCE Restaurants Canada For further information: Media contact: Beth Pollock, Communications Specialist, 1-800-387-5649 ext. 4254, or [email protected] YVR is first airport in North America and Europe to be served by five airlines from Mainland China RICHMOND, BC, July 25, 2016 /CNW/ - Today, Vancouver International Airport (YVR) celebrated the inaugural flight of Xiamen Airlines to North America. The new year-round, non-stop, Boeing 787 service will operate three times weekly between YVR and Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport (XMN). "We're delighted to welcome Xiamen Airlines as our fifth airline from Mainland China," said Craig Richmond, President and CEO, Vancouver Airport Authority. "It's no surprise that this very successful airline chose YVR as its first North American destination our city has close ties with Fujian province, while our northwest location and world-class facility makes YVR the best gateway to North America for any Asian airline." The new Chinese service originates from Xiamen Airlines' namesake city, which has a population of more than 3.8 million people. Located in southeastern China, Xiamen boasts a warm climate, tropical scenery and tree-lined beaches. It has long been a popular stop for Chinese tourists, but the city is now welcoming more and more foreign travellers. It is a sophisticated destination, with hip boutiques and cafes alongside traditional temples and attractions. In addition to serving Canadians and Americans whose destination is Xiamen, the new route will be bolstered by a 72-hour visa-free stopover program. Xiamen Airlines has been in operation for 32 years and for the past three years it has been named the Best Airline in Mainland China and received the highest honour for service, winning the China Quality Award in 2016. The company operates an all-Boeing fleet of narrow-body and wide-body aircraft. The new YVR route, added as part of a rapid intercontinental expansion, is operated on a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 4 First class, 18 Business class and 215 Economy class seats. Flight MF806 will depart Vancouver at 1:40 a.m. and arrive in Xiamen at 5:30 a.m. local time the following day. The westbound flight, MF805, departs Xiamen at 9:30 p.m. before crossing the International Date Line to arrive in Vancouver at 6:40 p.m. The chairman and CEO of Xiamen airlines Mr. Che Shanglun pointed out that Vancouver-Xiamen route was the first route that enables Xiamen airlines to extend its network towards the North America in company's history. The new service will add 158 jobs to the B.C. economy and $9 million in Gross Domestic Product for the province. In addition to strengthening business and trade ties, Canada stands to see more Chinese tourists taking advantage of the new, non-stop service. Vancouver Airport Authority secured the new route under its new five-year airline rates and charges program, ConnectYVR, which began on January 1, 2016. This program offers airlines the lowest landing and terminal fees of any competing airport in Canada and the U.S., while incenting and rewarding airline growth. Xiamen Airlines is the first new airline attracted to YVR under the program. In April 2008, the City of Richmond signed a Friendly Cooperation Agreement with Xiamen, and in 2012, Xiamen became its official sister city. The Sister City Program fosters mutual understanding and meaningful connections with other cities and cultures. -YVR- About Vancouver Airport Authority Vancouver Airport Authority is a community-based, not-for-profit organization that manages Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Canada's second busiest airport, YVR served more than 20 million passengers in 2015. Fifty-four airlines serve YVR, connecting people and businesses to more than 120 non-stop destinations worldwide. YVR was voted Best Airport in North America for the seventh consecutive year in the 2016 Skytrax World Airport Awards. Vancouver Airport Authority is a dedicated community partner and in 2015 donated more than $900,000 to local organizations. We are committed to creating an airport that British Columbia can be proud of: a premier global gateway, local economic generator and community contributor. For more information, please visit www.yvr.ca. SOURCE Vancouver Airport Authority Image with caption: "Xiamen Airlines Ribbon Cutting (from Left): Xiamen Airlines Cabin Crew; Dayna Miller, Director of Sales, Leisure Travel, Tourism Vancouver; Mr. Ben Stewart, British Columbia Special Representative in Asia; Mr. Shanglun Che, Chairman & President, Xiamen Airlines; Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities; Craig Richmond, President & CEO, Vancouver Airport Authority; Ms Liu Fei, Consul General of Peoples Republic of China; Mr. Weidong Zhou, Vice President, Xiamen Airlines; Xiamen Airlines Cabin Crew (CNW Group/Vancouver Airport Authority)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160726_C5875_PHOTO_EN_741553.jpg Image with caption: "Xiamen Airlines: YVR welcomes Xiamen Airlines' first service to North America. (CNW Group/Vancouver Airport Authority)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160726_C5875_PHOTO_EN_741549.jpg For further information: YVR Media Relations, 604.880.9815, [email protected], Twitter: @yvrairport Just weeks ago, Commander Adem Huduti was inspecting Turkish troops on the Syrian border and being praised in the media for his role in the fight against Islamic State and Kurdish militants. Now, the head of Turkey's second army, responsible for its borders with Syria and Iraq, is in prison in Duzce, some 216 km (134 miles) east of Istanbul, the most senior serving general arrested for suspected involvement in a failed military coup. At least 246 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured on the night of July 15, when a faction within the army used fighter jets, helicopters and tanks to try to seize airports and bridges, attacking buildings including parliament and the intelligence headquarters in a bid to seize power. The plot crumbled quickly. But it exposed and exacerbated divisions within the second largest military in the NATO alliance, raising questions about its ability to contain a growing threat from Islamic State in neighbouring Syria and a renewed insurgency by Kurdish militants. "The Turkish military is now a broken force and it will take years for it to heal," said Aaron Stein, resident fellow at the Washington-based Atlantic Council, whose research focuses on Turkey and regional security. "The plot extends beyond a rogue faction ... Beyond the loss of Huduti, the entire security apparatus now has another threat to focus on, in addition to Islamic State and the on-going insurgency in the southeast." Huduti is one of around a third of Turkey's roughly 360 generals to have been detained since the abortive coup, more than 100 of them already charged pending trial. Authorities have also launched mass purges of state institutions, from the police and judiciary to academia and the civil service. Huduti has denied being involved in the plot. In eight pages of testimony published by the Hurriyet newspaper, he said armed coup plotters tried to force him to join them but he refused, ordering his men to stay in their barracks. Huduti was "an experienced commander in border security and regions of crisis", the Haberturk newspaper said last December. The pro-government Sabah daily in March hailed him as "the commander who has cleansed Cizre and Sur," two southeastern areas that saw the heaviest clashes with Kurdish militants. Guilty or not, the coup plot and the detention of thousands of soldiers have shaken the armed forces in a country where the military long saw itself as the ultimate guardian of secular democracy, and where there had not been a violent military coup for more than 30 years. "What we have seen in the last few days is the start of a process which will have an impact on Turkey and its armed forces for the next 20-30 years. It is monumental," said Gareth Jenkins, an Istanbul-based writer on Turkey's military. "We will see a very highly politicized military now, just as the civil service has become. Dismissals and detentions have a knock-on effect on the whole chain of command ... The inevitable loss of trust has a big impact on operational capabilities." Former NATO Supreme Commander James Stravridis said the fallout from the coup attempt would have a chilling effect on Turkeys military readiness. "There will be a strong negative impact on the ability of the Turkish military to perform its duties across the spectrum of alliance activities," he wrote in the latest issue of Foreign Policy magazine. "Unfortunately, it is likely that the military in the wake of the coup will be laser-focused on internal controversy, endless investigations, and loyalty checks and simply surviving as an institution." "NOBODY LISTENED" In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, President Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged there had been intelligence failures and said the armed forces would now have to be restructured quickly to bring in "fresh blood". The Supreme Military Council (YAS), the highest body responsible for appointments in the armed forces, will meet under Erdogan's supervision on July 28. There are likely to be significant personnel changes. Akin Ozturk, head of the air force until 2015 and a member of YAS, was one of the masterminds of the plot, Turkish officials have said. Erdogan's aide-de-camp is also among those to have been detained. At least a quarter of the generals who have been formally arrested are from the air force, a part of the military crucial not only in the fight against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in Turkey's southeast, but also in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State. Erdogan has blamed the coup plot on U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, an ally-turned-foe whose network of millions of followers have built influence over decades in the military, police, judiciary and parts of the state bureaucracy. Erdogan's critics say he and the Islamist-rooted AK Party he founded allowed Gulen's followers to rise to key positions within the state apparatus to help curb the power of the military, which had ousted four governments since 1960 for posing what it saw as an Islamist threat to the secular order. Critics say it was mainly Gulenist prosecutors who, around the time in 2008 when Erdogan's AK Party narrowly escaped being banned, built two big conspiracy trials targeting the upper echelons of the army. Hundreds of officers were jailed. It later became clear, after many charges were dismissed, that bogus evidence had been used in the two cases, known as "Ergenekon" and "Sledgehammer". Those jailed were released, but several former senior officers said the cases weakened the armed forces and helped the Gulenists to rise through the ranks. "We knew there was a Gulenist structure within the army, I knew some of them by name. But now I realise the situation was more grave than I thought," said Ahmet Yavuz, 61, a retired major general who was jailed in the Sledgehammer trial. "The government and those who ran the armed forces ignored our warnings. They ruined the genetic makeup of the army and this created a space for the Gulenists to move within the army as they pleased," he told Reuters. Gulen, now 75 and living in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania since 1999, denies any involvement in the failed coup. Turkey wants him extradited but the United States says it must first provide firm evidence of criminal wrongdoing. Echoing Yavuz's comments, Mehmet Ali Celebi, a former army lieutenant also jailed over the Sledgehammer case, said many officers were angry that their warnings about the Gulenists' deepening grip in the military had been ignored. "Nobody listened to us. It is now clear that those who accused us (in the Sledgehammer and Ergenekon trials) of plotting coups were the real plotters," he said. SECURITY CONCERNS The shake-up in the security apparatus is likely to see an increased role for police special forces, who have already taken on a more significant presence in and around Erdogan's presidential palace in Ankara. The military presidential guard will be abolished, while the gendarmerie and coast guard will fully come under the authority of the Interior Ministry, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said. Turkey has suffered bomb attacks this year, including in Ankara and its biggest city Istanbul, some blamed on Islamic State, others claimed by Kurdish militants. A triple suicide bombing and gun attack blamed on Islamic State killed 45 people and wounded more than 200 last month at Istanbul's main international airport. "Turkey faces remarkable security concerns: the conflict with the PKK, Islamic State and other jihadis and now the danger of remnants from the coup itself," said Howard Eissenstat, a Turkey expert at St. Lawrence University in New York. "The government really has no choice but to engage in broad purges of the military: it can't afford the possibility of "dead enders" remaining within its ranks. Rebuilding these forces will take a few years, but rebuilding the structures and trust will take even longer," he said. Two senior Turkish officials said that while the priority was to cleanse the whole security apparatus of coup plotters, there was no risk to national security and that replacements were already being put in place for those detained. But a third official was more cautious. "The police headquarters is missing its front and back sides," he said, referring to one of the buildings bombed by the coup plotters during the events of July 15. "There is not even a stable building. Will there be a security problem under these conditions...? You tell me." Search Keywords: Short link: Lyon have announced that they have rejected an Arsenal bid for striker cand have insisted that their star striker is not for sale.Referring to a Le Progres report that said Arsenal had offered 48 million for Lacazette, 25, the Ligue 1 club issued a statement saying that was untrue and that the bid had actually been only 35m.Lyon said they had not followed up on Arsenal's offer because the France international is "irreplaceable."The statement read: "Olympique Lyonnais categorically denies having received an offer of 48 million from Arsenal for the transfer of Alexandre Lacazette as Le Progres claims in this morning's edition."The club regrets once again that Le Progres did not bother to contact the club before publishing this false information which creates confusion on the day that the [ownership] group, on the stock exchange, publishes its annual turnover of 218.1 million, up 111 percent compared to 2014/2015."The reality is that Arsenal formulated an offer of 35 million which Olympique Lyonnais did not follow up on for one reason only: OL will keep Alexandre Lacazette who is irreplaceable and who is one of the main leaders of Bruno Genesio's squad."Lacazette has regularly been linked with the Gunners after scoring 48 goals in Ligue 1 over the past two seasons.He signed a new contract last summer that ties him to Lyon until 2019.Arsenal boss Arsenal Wenger, who failed in an effort to sign Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy earlier this summer, has said the club are willing to "spend big money."The Gunners' only major signing so far ahead of the new season has been Switzerland midfielder Granit Xhaka, although Japanese striker Takumo Asano has also joined from Sanfrecce Hiroshima as well as defender Rob Holding from Bolton Wanderers. A former governor of old Anambra State, Chukwuemeka Ezeife has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of pushing Ndigbo out of Nigeria. A former governor of old Anambra State, Chukwuemeka Ezeife has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of pushing Ndigbo out of Nigeria.According to the elder statesman, the continuous killing of Ndigbo in the country were clear indications that they were no longer needed in Nigeria.In an interview with Vanguard, Ezeife said the current government had never offered job to people from the southeast regionHe said, Igbo people are not building everywhere for nothing, it is our culture and tradition. There is an Igbo adage which says, Ebe onye bi ka ona awachi (where you live, you mend). Essentially, where you live you build, where you live you take care of the interest of that place.So, if you push the Igbo out of Nigeria like Buhari is doing, pushing Ndigbo hard to leave Nigeria, and then he turns back to say that the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable, what kind of nonsense is that? You are pushing some parts of Nigeria out of Nigeria and you are turning around to extol the unity of Nigeria.First, he swore the oath to protect and defend the constitution, he is not defending the constitution, he is not offering any job to people from the Southeast.That is called denial, he is corrupting the constitution through the appointments he is making and the best policy Buhari is known for is anti-corruption policy.He is corrupting the policy he rolled out in many ways. One of these is unfairness in the distribution of jobs. As I am talking to you now, people sit in national security council of Nigeria, the Igbo are described as one of the third legs of the tripod in Nigeria, not one Igbo is in the national security council.You dont kill people and expect them to be with you. The Nigerian Army massacred our people in Aba, they also massacred our people who carried the Bible to go and do memorial service in Onitsha area.Fulani herdsmen went and killed our people in Enugu. Olisa Metuh was going to court handcuffed when people who have greater charges against them, were swaggering into the court. What are you telling his people?So, please, I am no longer interested in blaming Buhari, all I am interested now is asking Nigerians from all parts of the country to pray for Buhari because he is the President. May God give him the idea to change; may God direct him to the right path of Nigerias developmental governance. Embattled Congolese musician, Koffi Olomide has got a beautiful daughter who is said to be one of the most influential young fashionista... Embattled Congolese musician, Koffi Olomide has got a beautiful daughter who is said to be one of the most influential young fashionistas in Paris. 16-year-old Didi Stone Olomide is an aspiring fashion designer who was featured on the international fashion and lifestyle magazine, Vogue, earlier this year where she talked about her fashion taste and her different hairstyles. See more photos of Didi after the cut. Foundation for Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Crusade, FHRACC and Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice, CEPEJ, both in Delta State... Foundation for Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Crusade, FHRACC and Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice, CEPEJ, both in Delta State, on Tuesday, called on the Adaka Boro Avengers, ABA, to abort their intention to declare a Republic of Niger Delta, August 1.The groups in separate statements in Warri, said the move does not enjoy the support of right- thinking indigenes of the region. FHRACC national president, Alaowei Cleric, asserted: The growing threats by some militants groups , particularly the Adaka Boro Avengers to declare Niger Delta Republic on the August 1, 2016 does not conform with the tenets of the Niger Delta struggle. The foundation of the struggle is well captured in the various Declarations by the ethnic nationalities in the region such as the Kaiama Declaration, the Ogoni Bill of Rights etc.Although all the Declarations anchored their demands on self-determination within the Nigerian Federation, none of them proposed to declare Niger Delta as an independent state from Nigeria.Niger Deltans are requesting for economic and political autonomy within the Nigerian state. If the militants are fighting for the genuine cause of the region, then they should not make matters worst for the people, the group said.It added: If an independent Niger Delta Republic should be an option, then they must use civilized means to pursue their agenda. FHRACC noted: Already, Maj. Jasper Adaka Boro of blessed memory had raised the bar for armed confrontation and for over the years, militants in the region have been engaging the Federal Government in armed conflicts. There are times armed struggle is not lucrative to achieving ones aim. The world has evolved from armed struggle into intellectual struggle.Let the militants use non-violent approach to pursue their aim. All the various ethnic nationalities in the country have lent their voices to the need for Nigerians to renegotiate our unity.Niger Delta militants should also toe the same line by joining other Nigerians to push for our twin demands of Sovereign National Conference and Referendum. In the world today, struggle for independence through referendum is the only acceptable platform. The militants should take a cue from the recent world history, it emphasized.The group, however, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to commit genuine effort to addressing the impasse, adding, Federal Governments divide and rule tactics or better still lackadaisical attitude towards the region cannot resolve the crisis.The Presidents body language has so far shown that he does not care about the plight of the people other than the oil in region. We fear that government is deliberately keeping silence to the bombings of oil facilities by the militants in order to justify military response,it further stated.It said, We sensed Mr President has given in to mischief makers who are averse to dialogue and have commended military approach.For the sake of peace and our corporate existence, the group appealed, President Buhari should not shy away from dialoguing with the militants. What is happening in the Niger Delta has further supported the need to renegotiate the Nigerias unity.Mr President, please save Nigeria from the imminent precipice by allowing Nigerians to decide their future existence through a referendum, it added. Meanwhile, CEPEJ coordinator, Sheriff Mulade, has urged Adaka Boro Avengers to give peace a chance and take advantage of the federal government dialogue because no meaningful development can take place in a rancorous environment.Its words: Adaka Boro Avengers should abort their alleged plan to declare Niger -Delta Republic on August 1 because Niger Deltans do not support it.We know successive governments neglected, deprived and underdeveloped the region in spite of her huge contributions to the national economy.But what we needed now is constructive engagement with the federal government since President Buhari has considered dialogue as the best option to engage the stakeholders and find a lasting solution to the lingering quest for development towards ending militancy, CEPEJ asserted.The group also implored government to shown sincerity of purpose for people to have confidence in what he is doing, while Mr President should personally lead the dialogue process to achieve the desired result. The Police in Lagos State on Tuesday said it foiled an attempt by unknown gunmen to attack Igando Community in the state. The Police in Lagos State on Tuesday said it foiled an attempt by unknown gunmen to attack Igando Community in the state.Spokesperson of the Command, Mrs Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent of Police, confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). Some group of people invaded the Igando area in the early hours of today (Tuesday).Our operatives positioned in strategic places in the community, were alerted and they swiftly moved in and foiled the attack. Right now, normalcy has returned to the community, Badmos said.NAN recalls that two suspected militants who attempted to attack the same community on July 3 were arrested, while three guns and ammunition were recovered from them.The community also alerted the police of the attempted attack by suspected militants, who came in a boat through the waterways. Femi Fani-Kayode, Nigeria's former aviation minister believes that his trial his political. Femi Fani-Kayode, Nigeria's former aviation minister believes that his trial his political.The PDP Chieftain has written a new piece to buttress his point.I have chosen to share my views about our nation today because I am aware of the fact that President Buhari has not finished with me yet and I may be picked up and thrown into detention on other trumped up charges very soon. This government will do and say anything to silence my voice but they shall not prevail.Forgive me for my curious silence over the last few months but this was due to circumstances beyond my control.As you know I was locked up in President Buhari's gulag and I was not allowed to write from there.Needless to say I missed all my readers. I have chosen to share my views about our nation today because I am aware of the fact that President Buhari has not finished with me yet and I may be picked up and thrown into detention on other trumped up charges very soon. This government will do and say anything to silence my voice but they shall not prevail.Whatever the case my safety, life and future lies in the hands of God and not theirs. Despite the obvious dangers and various warnings that I have received from both my persecutors and well-wishers I shall continue to write as long as God gives me life and liberty.It is not what happens to me that matters but rather what happens to Nigeria and the millions of ordinary people that are suffering in our country from the daily oppression of our modern-day slave masters. That aside, permit me to share my views.A couple of weeks ago a 73 year old Christian grandmother was beheaded in Kano because she asked some muslims to stop washing their feet in front of her door before their prayers.A few days later a female pastor of the Redeemed Church of God was hacked to pieces by a mob of muslims in the Kubwa district of Abuja simply for doing her morning cry of evangelism and urging the people to give their lives to Christ.Not too long after that two hundred muslim youths burnt down a Catholic Church and attacked worshippers in Niger state claiming that they had no right to go to church on a friday because it was the muslim day of worship.A few days later a Christian traditional ruler in Plateau state was matcheted to death by a group of Muslim militants and Fulani herdsmen.Such attacks are now common place in our country and they are no longer isolated events.Worse still cases of institutional racism and religious bigotry are on the rise because our government appears to be encouraging it. Permit me to share one example.During my prolonged detention at the EFCC a group of cell mates were conducting an all night christian prayer. All of a sudden the cell guards burst in and screamed at them saying that this "nonsense" must stop and they must go to sleep immediately.The inmates complied sheepishly out of fear and the prayers stopped. It was one a.m. in the morning. I was in the opposite set of cells but I heard all the noise and warnings of the guards.I sent for one of them and I asked him why he stopped the inmates from doing an all night prayer. His response was that that was efcc policy because the prayers were too loud and they may be planning an escape. I told him that all he had to do was to ask them to lower their voices.And that God and prayer was all they had. I also told him that if the inmates that were prayingwere muslims he would not have ordered them to stop. He stormed off in anger.The efcc has become a tool of oppression in the hands of the core muslim north who are using it to crush dissent and silence the opposition.This assertion is confirmed by the fact that 98 per cent of those that are detained be the efcc for 2 days or more are southerners and middle belters whilst 98 per cent of those that run the agency at the top are from the core muslim north.Worse still the lingua franca of the agency is hausa whilst the overwhelming majority of detainees are christians both in Lagos and Abuja. Core northern detainees are treated like royalty whilst Middle Belt and southern inmates are treated like filth.Just as the Nigerian military was an institution that was designed and used to suppress and intimidate all the so-called lesser ethnic groups in Nigeria between july 29th 1966 and May 29th 1999 so it is with the EFCC today.That is how emboldened the hegemonists in our midst have become and that is the level of barbarity that we have descended to as a nation.Yet it gets even worse. Just a few weeks ago, the Minister of Internal Affairs told a bewildered nation that the Sultan of Sokoto (the leader if rhe Muslim community in Nigeria) "directed" him to declare a particular day of the week a public holiday. Without any hesitation he complied with despatch and, with pride, he announced it to the public. Welcome to the Islamic Republic of Nigeria where the caliphate rules.Is it any wonder that every single one of the numerous security and intelligence agencies in our country except for one is headed by a northerner?Whether it be the army, the navy, the air force, the police, the Department of State Security (DSS), the EFCC, the National Securiry A'dvisor's Office or the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), they are all headed by individuals that are from the north.The only exception to the rule is the Nigerian Iintelligence Agency (NIA), the agency which is responsible for external intelligence and international espionage and which is headed by a southerner.Can such a state of affairs be justified under any circumstances? Are southerners and Chrustians not Nigerians as well? Are they not qualified to head more security agencies?Does the concept of Federal Character have any meaning in President Buhari's Nigeria? For how much longer will our people tolerate such reckless impunity, racism and injustice from those who believe that they are the Boers and supremacists of what is fast turning into apartheid-Nigeria?My father's generation fought the battle for independence from our erstwhile British colonial masters.It was indeed my father, Chief Remilekun Fani-Kayode, that succesfully moved the motion for Nigeria's indepence in Parliament in 1958.The battle that must be fought today by my genertion is the battle for independence from the sons of Futa Jalon: our internal colonial masters who are relentless in their quest to subjugate and enslave others and who believe that they were born to rule.This quest for expansion and domination and this insatiable desire to islamise our nation is best reflected by the words and actions of the three Mahdis of the north.The first was Usman Dan Fodio, the second was his great grandson Sir Ahmadu Bello and the third is Muhammadu Buhari. The hegemonists must be stopped. It is our duty to either restructure or break Nigeria and to ensure that Buhari is the last of the northern Mahdis through a peaceful and democratic process.Consequently the prayer is no longer "God bless Nigeria" but rather "God break Nigeria". It is no longer "God defend Nigeria" but rather "God restructure Nigeria". It is no longer "God deliver Nigeria" but rather "God deliver us from Nigeria".It is no longer "God preserve Nigeria" but rather "God redefine Nigeria". It is no longer "God remember Nigeria" but rather "God dismember Nigeria".We must break our chains of oppression because no one else will break them for us. We must reject slavery. We must rise up and resist our oppressors.We must break the yoke of servitude and set ourselves free. For this great cause no price is too high to pay. If it means laying down our lives or suffering the bitter pain of persecution then so be it.No price is too high to pay and no mounatain is too high to climb for attainment of freedom and the restoration of our self respect and collective dignity. No matter what it takes we shall carve out and build our own nation and we shall be free.The heavy yoke of the last of the Amalekite kings must be broken. The rulership of the third and last Mahdi must be brought to an end in a free and fair election. That is the challenge that we face today.That is the great work that the Lord would have us complete. That is our duty and our calling: to bring the unbelieving pagans to heel and to pull down the evil structures of caliphate power.Those that joined forces with the internal colonial masters and helped to enslave their own people shall pay a heavy price for their treachery, collaboration and betrayal.Our new nation has no room for such people. They will be herded into labour camps and ultimately deported. They are a shameful eyesore: animals with no sense of dignity and pride. They are not fit to live amongst us.Yet blessed are the courageous and faithful who speak nothing but truth, who despise the oppressor and who champion the cause of the oppressed. They shall flourish like the palm tree in season and their seed shall excel.Blessed are those that are persecuted for their faith and that are regarded as the "hewers of the wood and the drawers of the water": so-called ethnic inferiors in their own nation.They shall inherit the land and, in the fullness of time, they shall be liberated from their tormentors and they shall rule over their adversaries.That is the promise of the Alpha and the Omega and the Ancient of Days. That is a sure word from He that is known as the Lord God of Hosts and the Man of War. That is the counsel of the God of All Flesh: the Adonai, the Elohim and Jehova El Shaddai. None can resist Him. President Muhammadu Buhari has said that he will not spare any member or supporter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, caught in any ... President Muhammadu Buhari has said that he will not spare any member or supporter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, caught in any act of corruption. Buhari who defended his administrations style of government which has earned him the nick name Baba go slow further said in the interview with The Interviewer that members of his party that anything is established against he will not be shielded from prosecution, even as he showered praises on former Lagos state governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN).There is still a lot of wisdom in the saying, slow and steady wins the race. If they say we are slow, do they also say we are steady? Then, it means we will win the race eventually. There is no wisdom in being in a rush and messing up everything. You will make avoidable mistakes and end up with a lot of regrets,.On Prosecution of Corrupt personsDo you just grab people along the road and take them off to court for trial just because you want to create a semblance of balance? Buhari said. First, there has to be an accusation which must be properly investigated, and when a prima facie case has been built, you prosecute. If any of my backers or party (APC) members has anything established against them, lets see whether I will shield anyone from prosecution. There seems to be a preponderance of the People Democratic Party members standing trial because they had been in power for 16 years, they had access to the public treasury and abused the trust reposed in them. You can be assured that anybody caught in corruption will answer for it irrespective of party, tribe or religion.You will recall that shortly before the 2011 presidential election, I had said it was the last time I would offer myself for elective position and I meant it, but the following years, we saw our country virtually falling apart on all fronts. People felt a rescue exercise was necessary and a large number believed I could do it. They made overtures to me and the pressure was so enormous that I could not say no. As they say, the rest is history. We will note the recommendation of the Attorney General of the Federation. We do not want to deliberately disgrace people. All we want is public money back, he explained.On Economic RealitiesThe economic realities demanded that we merge ministries and we did. Putting three critical ministries under one man was determined by the ability to perform. This is a man who had ruled a state excellently for eight years and as they say, the reward for hard work is more work, he said. Source: theinterview.com.ng Israeli troops early Tuesday destroyed 11 Palestinian homes in an area on the outskirts of Jerusalem divided from the city by Israel's separation wall, residents and an NGO said. A convoy of Israeli security vehicles and bulldozers carried out the overnight demolitions in Qalandiya,presumably because authorities allege the owners did not have building permits. Israeli occupation forces did not respond to requests for information on the demolitions. Two of the homes are considered part of the occupied West Bank and nine part of annexed east Jerusalem, Israeli NGO Ir Amim said. Two of the east Jerusalem homes were inhabited, it said. Clashes broke out during the demolitions, leaving several Palestinians wounded, according to the NGO. Among the structures destroyed was a two-storey building, leaving 44 people homeless, including 11 children, said Ir Amim. "The family claims to have received a building permit in 1983 from the Jerusalem municipality covering an area of 4,000 square meters, only half of which has been developed," it said. Mohammed al-Jouri, a resident whose home was destroyed, said Israeli occupation forces "warned us Monday afternoon that they were going to destroy our houses, some which were still under construction." Piles of rubble and metal rods could be seen in the area on Tuesday where houses previously stood. Residents sought to collect mattresses, electronic equipment and furniture still intact. Imad Abu Shalbek, whose brother's home was destroyed, said a notice had been posted by authorities behind the house that they had not seen until after the demolition. Shalbek was planning to take in his nephews for the time being. "The father invested all his life and his savings in that house and now he doesn't know where he is going to go," Shalbek said. Israel this year has ramped up demolitions of Palestinian structures it says lack permits. Permits are however nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain in the part of the West Bank under full Israeli control, which amounts to some 60 percent of the territory, UN officials say. Demolitions in east Jerusalem and the West Bank so far this year have already surpassed the amount for 2015. In east Jerusalem alone this year, 78 demolitions have occurred compared to 74 in 2015, Ir Amim said. "These efforts to break the contiguity of Palestinian east Jerusalem with the West Bank pose a severe threat to the two state solution," it added. Beyond the Qalandiya demolitions, others were also carried out in east Jerusalem on Tuesday. They included a home under construction and an auto repair business in the Issawiya area as well as a residential building in Ras al-Amud, the NGO said. Search Keywords: Short link: On December 18, 2013, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, Mr. Abdulmumin Jibrin, hired me to come up with som... On December 18, 2013, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, Mr. Abdulmumin Jibrin, hired me to come up with some 50 questions the House Committee on Finance wanted to slam on the then Coordinating Minister of the Economy and the Minister of Finance, Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to prove to the world that she has been mismanaging the countrys economy.As a well-known critic of Ms Okonjo-Iweala, Mr Jibrin told me that after the committees long deliberations, they decided that there was no one better than I to come up with these 50 questions covering all sectors of the countrys economy.Notwithstanding his flattering, I insisted that for me to come up with these 50 questions within the shortest period of time, and the fact that the 50 questions should reflect all sectors of the economy, I have to be paid the sum of N100 million. With Mr Jibrin and I agreeing on my fee to be N100 million, I quickly went to work, suspending all my engagements, including an important meeting with some foreign diplomats.As if not enough, three months later when Ms Okonjo-Iweala submitted her response to the 50 questions, Mr. Jibrin calling from Switzerland, insisted that since I came up with the 50 questions, he was further hiring me to react to her response. He went further to inform me in advance that as soon as he returned to Nigeria, he would call for a public hearing with my reaction to her response to the 50 questions forming the basis for the would be well publicized public hearing.In fact, he told me that the goal was to humiliate this so-called Coordinating Minister of the Economy. While I had no disagreement with whatever his committee intended to achieve, I had to let him know that that too should be paid for. After long argument, he agreed on N15 million as my fee to react to her response, bringing the total agreed consulting fee to N115 million. As he bragged on the phone, a public hearing by the House Committee on Finance was scheduled in March 2014.But to my great shock, the public hearing which I was invited as a major resource person along with other Nigerians was suddenly called off two days to the day of the hearing. And to my greatest dismay, I only read the announcement on the pages of some national newspapers. I was not happy that I was not informed by Mr Jibrin who had always called me, including sometimes three times a day. I was not happy because I had to cancel a foreign trip and had to travel and return the same day from Lagos since Mr Jibrin needed me to hold a meeting with his committee to discuss the modality of posing the questions to her. While reading it, I quickly called Mr Jibrin, but he didnt pick.The shocker of my life came when after several trials to talk to Mr. Jibrin to ascertain the authenticity of what I was reading in the newspapers, he finally picked my call with response, why must you be informed? His tone on the phone, almost made me lose breath. But calmly I thanked him and told him that maybe he wasnt in his best mood. Since then on he never picked my calls.I became worried. When eventually I got him on the phone, I politely requested for an urgent meeting with him regarding my consulting fees. But he quickly asked what consulting fees should we be meeting for? I responded by reminding him that it was about my consulting fees for the 50 questions. But while I was asking him when and where he would like us to meet, he hung the phone on me. He called later to give me a date and time to come over to his private office in Ministers Hill, but made it clear to me that he did not know what fees I was talking about. Calmly, I accepted his proposed date and time for the meeting.At the meeting he openly but arrogantly told me that as smart as I thought I was, including having an MIT education, that I was a fool who could be easily used and dumped. To quickly drive this home, he asked me to produce any form of written agreement or contract to show that I did the 50 questions not to mention agreement to be paid N115 million consulting fees. I appealed to him to recognize the work I did which I did believing in his being an honorable member of the House of Reps. Laughingly, he told me the meeting was over and that I should never ever contact him on my so-called consulting fees. I quietly left his office.While leaving his office, I told him that maybe he needed some time to recall our meetings and phone calls where he hired me and assured me that as an honorable member of the House of Representatives his word should be his bond. I went further to tell him that he should better start putting the money together because nothing would make me not to demand to be fully paid my fees, whether we signed an agreement or not; and that agreements either in writing or oral are legally binding. As if I knew he would negate on this oral agreement, to safeguard my intellectual property, I introduced five questions into the 50 questions from my previous newspaper articles.When every effort to have the house to pay me or agree on when to pay me fall through, I discovered that I had no other option but to write the Speaker a letter which I copied the committee chairman demanding for my payment and inserting the five question along with the pages of the newspapers were they were lifted verbatim. Once he got my copy, Mr. Jibrin who had been avoiding my calls, called me late that day, which I asked my assistant to pick and hear him out.He rained on me with insults and as God could have it, he sent series of blackmailing SMS, telling me that his lawyers would soon descend on me for trying to extort money from him as a member of the House of Representatives. But when I threatened him with plagiarism, as luck would have it, his text message response was, you are sick for plagiarizing yourself. In other words, he has officially told me that in fact, I have a case against him, the speaker and the House.Efforts were made by me and my lawyers to meet with the speaker on this matter. Eventually through a powerful clergyman, an agreement was reached for a meeting with the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal who called me and confessed never to be aware of the case. I reminded him of a copy of my letter that was sent to him, which he denied seeing. He promised a meeting in his residence and gave me his media assistants number Mr. Imam Imam. On the day of the meeting, every effort to reach both the speaker and his media assistant, failed.In the meantime, my lawyer during his investigation of who was the House of Representatives lawyer in this case, came to know that it one of the countrys foremost lawyers. When a meeting with the powerful SAN eventually took place, I was shocked by how much the SAN knew about the case, and in his usual humorous way, told me that as a human rights lawyer, he would do everything within his power to make sure that the case was settled out of court and that I am fully paid for the job well-done, a job that the whole House was proud of for having embarrassed Okonjo-Iweala on her poor handling of the countrys economy.But every effort by Falana to organize a meeting with the speaker, who he told me was readily willing to settle the issue, never materialized. As a result, my lawyers had no option but to sue Mr. Jibrin, Mr Tambuwal, and the House of Reps. Understandably, it was a time everyone, including the speaker was fighting for their political life because the powerful PDP was determined to render the speaker a political orphan for having used the party to become the speaker and now dumping the party to join the newly formed APC.Given the nonchalance attitude exhibited and the colossal abuse of office by both the Speaker and the Committee Chairman all these months, I finally decided it is high time I sought a redress in the Court of law; hence the lawsuit no. CV/890/14 instituted at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on December 23, 2014. What still baffles me to date is why the well-publicised March 2014 public hearing was called off? It was so unbelievable that after the 120 paged reactions to the Okonjo-Iwealas response to my earlier 50 questions the whole was just suddenly called off without any form of explanation. Could one be left to wonder if some kind of settlement took place?I am yet to recover from my encounter with this serial blackmailer and liar, who calls himself an honorable member of the House of Representatives. It is unbelievably how people like Jibrin could have made it to the countrys House of Representatives. I am not surprised that he has been sacked from being the House Committee Chairman on Appropriation. I am equally not surprised to read his ongoing effort to blackmail the leadership of the House, after all that is his specialty.I think that the people of Kano should do this country a great favor if they should recall this dishonourable man, so that he stops using his constituency as the platform to terrorize the country. Also, let me use this opportunity to invite EFCC and DSS to fully and thoroughly investigate this mans enormous wealth, his bank accounts including how he made the money he used in buying his numerous latest luxury cars; his expensive properties in Ministers Hill, Maitama where he locates his private office and his expansive and expensive Wuse 2 residence.Here is a man who as the Chairman of the House Committee on Finance was alleged to be extorting billions of naira from ministry, departments, and agencies of government under his committee, and those refusing to play along were threatened with a public hearing with the goal of blackmailing them. Thank God for President Buhari, the era of using budget padding to steal billions from our commonwealth by people like Mr. Jibrin is fast becoming a thing of the past.Enwegbara, a development economist and Chairman/CEO Pan Africa Development Corporate Company can be reached at basil_enwegbara@yahoo.com or 07038501486 Mamadou Sakho has been sent home from Liverpool's tour of the United States by Jurgen Klopp with concerns about his attitude.The 26-year-old was not due to take part in any of his side's warm-up fixtures against Chelsea, AC Milan and Roma because of an Achilles problem and will also miss the start of the new Premier League season.However, Liverpool included Sakho and other injured players on the tour to keep the squad together ahead of the new campaign.But those plans have been thwarted with concerns raised over the France international's attitude on the tour and he has been sent home early to continue his recovery from injury at Melwood.Sakho angered Klopp by turning up late for Liverpool's flight to the United States before another incident in San Francisco.He recorded himself on Liverpool's tour of Alcatraz Island where he interrupted an interview with Klopp, who was laughing, but also made reference to the fact that the defender turned up late for the flight."Actually I don't have to think about it. You should think about it," Klopp said in the video. "Because only one of us came late last night, for departure in Liverpool. It was not me, it was you by the way." Yenisafak, a Turkish newspaper, has alleged that the United Bank of Africa (UBA) played a key role in the distribution of funds for the fa... Yenisafak, a Turkish newspaper, has alleged that the United Bank of Africa (UBA) played a key role in the distribution of funds for the facilitation of the failed coup.But a spokesman for UBA has told TheCable the report is false and that the bank would issue a statement on Tuesday to deny the allegations.John F. Campbell, a general in the US Army, is alleged to have orchestrated the military coup attempt in Turkey, which took place on July 15, but he has described the allegations as ridiculous.CIA operatives were said to have transferred millions of dollars from Nigeria to Turkey within six months.The funds which were relayed by an 80-person special team of the CIA, was used to win over the generals predisposed to the coup, led by Campbell, former U.S. commander of a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan, the newspaper alleged.In total, over $2 billion dollars were distributed during the process leading to the coup, the report said.The information was reportedly obtained from sources close to ongoing legal process of detainees in the governments custody.Campbell was said to have organized and managed the soldiers behind the attempted coup.TheCableCampbell also managed more than $2 billion money transactions via UBA Bank in Nigeria by using CIA links to distribute among the pro-coup military personnel in Turkey. After taking money from their bank accounts, the CIA team hand delivered it to the terrorists under the military dresses, it said.The failed coup plot was organized by the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) led by cleric Fethullah Gulen whos on self-exile in America.The report also inferred that American intelligence, military and other institutions supported the FETO leader Gulen and his gangs for the military coup.While the coup shook Turkey, the joint efforts of the countrys citizens, politicians, media and police forces averted the potential forceful takeover of the government.President Recep Tayyip Erdoga on Monday ordered the detention of 42 journalists, a post-coup crackdown which has affected more than 60,000 people in the European country.Several military bosses, soldiers, police, judges and civil servants have been arrested in the past two weeks. As if from nowhere, a dozen young people surge out of a tunnel, Kalashnikov assault rifles in hand, to launch a surprise assault on a military post. This is the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave that suffered three Israeli assaults since 2008, but this time the attack is not real. The young people, aged between 15 and 20, are taking part in a summer training camp for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, the Islamist movement which runs Gaza. It is the first time that Jihad, 16, has entered one of the underground tunnels, which Hamas considers a major strategic asset in its conflict with Israeli occupation forces and which are usually kept well hidden. The young Palestinian comes from Shejaiya, a Gaza neighbourhood ravaged by war two years ago, and is carrying out a drill to kidnap fake Israeli soldiers. At the Yarmuk base of the Al-Qassam Brigades east of Gaza City, dozens of young men descend 20 metres (66 feet) from a tower on ropes, as others navigate burning roadblocks. The base is near the sensitive border between Israel and Gaza, which has been controlled by Hamas for around a decade and is subject to a strict Israeli blockade. In a week, Al-Qassam says it will train nearly 30,000 young people in basic fighting techniques. These young recruits to the summer camps are a key part of Hamas's attempts to prepare the population for "the battle of liberation of Palestine", a member of Al-Qassam told AFP. "Our message to this (young) generation is that the future is yours," he said, his face concealed by a black balaclava. "It is thanks to you that we will be victorious." Khalil al-Haya, another Hamas official, argued that "there is no choice but the gun". "The enemy destroyed houses and imposed a blockade hoping that people would turn against us, but the people closed ranks around the resistance and Al-Qassam and send their children to our camps," he added. "We are completely opposed to children's participation in military camps," said Issam Younis, who heads the Gaza-based Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights. "Children are meant to have fun and learn to develop their thinking. They must absolutely be kept away from violence and anything that may disrupt their childhood." The camps take place every summer, but this year Al-Qassam has also opened the doors to some of its bases for other interested local residents. Rows of weapons are displayed to the hundreds of people who flock to see rockets, missiles and drones emblazoned with the "Qassam Manufacturing" symbol. Debris from tanks and Israeli drones allegedly shot down or captured in the 2014 war are also displayed. Members of Al-Qassam's communications branch welcome young people and explain the different divisions: there are infantry, snipers, and missile and rocket brigades, among others. "Some young people have relatives who were killed or imprisoned, others have seen their homes destroyed before their eyes, and that's why they decided to come here," said another masked fighter, who says he leads a youth group. One 16-year-old told AFP his father was killed by an Israeli bombardment during the 2008-09 assault. Four years before that, his brother had carried out a suicide attack. "I joined this camp because that is how we will free our country from the occupation and I can avenge my father and my brother," he said. "I am participating in this camp to learn how to fight the enemy," Mohammed al-Bitar, 15, told AFP, before seizing a grenade from a stand. "I'd like to kill the enemy with this." *The story was edited by Ahram Online. Search Keywords: Short link: Libya's chief of staff on Tuesday threatened to target foreign oil tankers if they entered territorial waters, after a controversial deal was struck between the United Nations envoy and a militia commander in control of the oil terminals. The agreement between U.N. Envoy to Libya Martin Kobler and militia leader Ibrahim Jedran, has been widely criticized amid accusations that it empowers the warlord who is viewed by many as having held Libya's oil hostage for the past three years. Brig. Gen. Abdel-Razek al-Nadhouri warned foreign companies against signing oil deals with any party except for the state-run National Oil Corporation (NOC) branch in Benghazi. "Any movement of any vessels or oil tankers toward the Libyan territorial waters without prior agreement with the NOC affiliated to the Libyan parliament, will be targeted," the statement read. Libya's oil corporation like the rest of the oil-rich North African country's state bodies has been split between eastern and western branches. Benghazi's branch falls under the authority of the internationally-recognized parliament seated in the eastern city of Tobruk. The western one falls under the Tripoli-based, UN-brokered government which together with a presidency council was formed after rival factions in Libya signed a peace deal last year aimed at ending the country's rift. The eastern parliament has so far failed to give a crucial vote of confidence to the government, because of objections over a key article in the peace deal that determines who would wield authority over the armed forces. Al-Nadhouri who answers to the eastern parliament made his threat days after Kobler and Jedran struck their deal. Many from both sides believe that the deal the terms of which haven't been publicly laid out empowers the militia commander and undermines the government. Jedran commands a large force named the Petroleum Facilities Guards (PFG). In 2013, he closed Libya's three major terminals, Ras Lanuf, al-Sidra and al-Zueitina, causing a sharp decline in oil output from 1.6 billion barrels a day in 2011, before the ouster of Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi, to less than a quarter of that production in 2016. Revenues have been dealt a major blow and Libyans lost over $100 billion in potential profits over the past three years, according to NOC officials. According to official figures, Libya exported a total of 146 million barrels of oil in 2015 in contrast to 531 million barrels in 2012. While the deal remains unclear, political figures have speculated that it involves hefty payment for Jedran and his militiamen in return for opening the ports, as was the case under successive transitional governments prior to the closure. Unconfirmed reports suggested that the PFG will receive 241 million dinars or $180 million. The spokesman for the NOC in Benghazi, Mohamed al-Munifi, said that both branches of the NOC oppose the deal with Jedran, because it, "sets a precedent for other militias to take a similar approach by holding the Libyan people's income hostage." In a letter to the U.N. and the unity government, the head of NOC in Tripoli, Mustafa Sunallah, expressed strong opposition to the deal and described Jedran as a "criminal." "He has an entirely malevolent influence, with no concept of a national interest. His only motive is what is good for Jedran," he wrote, adding, "My only conclusion is that you are either ignorant of the consequences of what you are doing, or you have set an almost unbelievably low standard for your achievements in Libya." Jedran responded with a brief statement obtained by The Associated Press, saying, "The letter is not worth the ink written with." Search Keywords: Short link: Washington's top envoy John Kerry warned North Korea on Tuesday that it faced "real consequences" over its ongoing nuclear and missile testing programme. "Together we are determined... to make absolutely certain that DPRK understands that there are real consequences for these actions," he told reporters on the sidelines of a summit in Laos, using the official acronym for the authoritarian hermit state. Tensions have soared since Pyongyang carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by a series of missile launches that analysts say show the North is making progress toward being able to strike the US mainland. UN sanctions against the reclusive state have been ratcheted up in response, but Pyongyang has continued to carry out missile launches, with the most recent one last week, trying to prove that sanctions are ineffective in curbing its weapons development. The continued sabre-rattling by the North prompted Washington and Seoul to agree earlier this month to deploy a sophisticated anti-missile system in South Korea, which can shoot down incoming enemy projectiles. Search Keywords: Short link: Two more people have been arrested in connection with the Nice attacker who killed 84 people in the French Riviera city of Nice on July 14, a source close to the investigation told Reuters on Tuesday. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said last week the Bastille Day attacker, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, had been planning the attack for months. Five suspected accomplices already in custody have been put under formal investigation. None of the five had been known to intelligence services. The source said the new arrests took place on Monday in Nice. No other details were immediately available. IS group has claimed the Nice attack, calling Bouhlel one of its soldiers, but authorities say they have yet to find evidence that the 31-year-old, who was shot dead by police, had any actual links to the militant group. Search Keywords: Short link: Two assailants slit the throat of an 84-year-old priest at a church in northern France on Tuesday in a hostage-taking drama that has shocked the country. The attack in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray came as France was still reeling from a massacre in the French Riviera city of Nice claimed by the Islamic State group. The motivations for the hostage-taking were not yet clear, but the Paris prosecutor's office said the case was being handled by anti-terrorism prosecutors. Five people were inside the church when it came under attack, interior ministry spokesman Pierre Henry Brandet said. He said the church was surrounded by France's anti-gang brigade the BRI, which specialises in kidnappings, and that "the two assailants came out and were killed by police". The priest died after having his throat slit, sources close to the investigation told AFP. The archbishop of the nearby city of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, named him as 84-year-old Jacques Hamel. Three of the hostages were freed unharmed, and another was fighting for their life, said Brandet. Pope Francis voiced his "pain and horror" at the "barbaric killing" of the priest. France remains on high alert nearly two weeks after Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel ploughed a truck into a crowd of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 84 people and injuring over 300. President Francois Hollande, who is from Rouen, and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve were on their way to the scene, their offices said. An AFP journalist said the scene of the attack was crawling with emergency vehicles and police. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls expressed his horror at what he called "a barbaric attack on a church". "The whole of France and all Catholics are wounded. We will stand together," he wrote on Twitter. Lebrun urged all non-believers to join those of the church in "calling to God". "The Catholic Church can take up no other weapons that prayer and fraternity between men," he said in a statement. The Nice attack was the third major strike on France in 18 months and was claimed by the Islamic State group. Two attacks in Germany claimed by the IS militants since then have also increased jitters in Europe. After Nice, France extended a state of emergency giving police extra powers to carry out searches and place people under house arrest for another six months until January. It was the fourth time the security measures have been extended since IS jihadists struck Paris in November, killing 130 people in a wave of bombings and shootings at restaurants, a concert hall and the national stadium. Valls had warned earlier this week that the country will face more attacks as it struggles to handle extremists returning from jihad in the Middle East and those radicalised at home by devouring propaganda on the internet. France has been concerned about the threat against churches ever since Sid Ahmed Ghlam, a 24-year-old Algerian IT student, was arrested in Paris in April last year on suspicion of killing a woman who was found shot dead in the passenger seat of her car, and of planning an attack on a church. Prosecutors say they found documents about Al-Qaeda and IS at his home, and that he had been in touch with a suspected militant in Syria about an attack on a church. As part of beefed up security operations in France, some 700 schools and Jewish synagogues and 1,000 mosques are under military protection. However with some 45,000 Catholic churches, and thousands more Protestant and evangelical churches, protecting all places of worship is a massive headache for security services. The Nice massacre triggered a bitter political spat over alleged security failings, with the government accused of not doing enough to protect the population. Search Keywords: Short link: Bangladeshi police Tuesday killed nine suspected Islamist extremists believed to be planning another mass attack following a deadly cafe assault this month, the country's police chief said. Police who stormed their hideout said the men belonged to a Bangladeshi group blamed for the Dhaka cafe attack in which 20 hostages, mostly foreigners, were killed. "From police intelligence sources we learnt that they were planning to carry out a major incident. We conducted the operation to foil any such incident," national police chief A.K.M Shahidul Hoque told reporters. Police said the men were aged between 20 and 25 and wore the same clothing and backpacks as the group that carried out the cafe attack in the city's upscale Gulshan neighbourhood. One other suspected extremist was shot and arrested during the raid in the capital's Kalyanpur neighbourhood. Hoque said all 10 were suspected members of the homegrown extremist group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which local authorities blamed for the Dhaka cafe attack. But a police official said one wounded survivor of the raid had said all of those inside the hideout were followers of the Islamic State group. "His name is Hasan. He said they are IS members," the police official told AFP on condition of anonymity. He said the 25-year-old was a cook and came from the northern district of Bogra, home to two of the five cafe attackers. IS claimed responsibility for the July 1 attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan in which two policemen and 20 hostages were killed, among them nine Italians and seven Japanese nationals. Gruesome images of the carnage were posted on media sites who have links to IS before the military stormed the cafe. But Bangladeshi authorities have rejected the IS link, saying international jihadist networks have no presence in the world's third largest Muslim-majority nation. Hoque said the nine killed in Tuesday's operation had no connection with the IS, even though they were wearing the group's signature black robes and Islamic turbans. "We have not found any link with IS. They are all local Bangladeshi militants," he said. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina thanked police for a "very successful operation" and said their swift action had saved the country from a "terrible situation". "We don't want Bangladesh to become a sanctuary for the terrorist activities," she said, adding her government would eliminate extremism at all costs. Police said they had cordoned off a five-storey apartment building in Dhaka after suspects threw a small bomb at officers who had asked them to surrender. A gunfight ensued during which cries of "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Greatest") could be heard through the night as hundreds of heavily armed police and elite security forces sealed off the area. Police said they had found university identity cards at the scene and were checking whether they were genuine. Three were from the North South University (NSU), which hit the headlines when seven students were convicted and jailed for the killing of an atheist blogger. Two of the Gulshan cafe attackers were also former students of NSU. "We are now checking whether these university ID cards are genuine or they just used the cards to rent the flat," deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Masud Ahmed told AFP. Police said they had also recovered grenades, pistols and knives from the flat, as well as two black flags inscribed with the words "Allahu Akbar". Bangladesh is reeling from a wave of deadly attacks by Islamist extremists. Days after the cafe siege, gunmen attacked the country's largest Eid prayer rally where some 250,000 people were marking the end of Ramadan, killing at least three people. Some 80 secular activists, foreigners and members of religious minorities have been killed since 2013, with IS and the South Asian branch of Al-Qaeda claiming responsibility for many of those attacks. The government and police, however, say homegrown extremists are responsible. They have launched a nationwide crackdown, arresting more than 11,000 people. Among them were over a dozen suspected extremists including one of JMB's regional heads. Search Keywords: Short link: Malawian President Peter Mutharika ordered the arrest Tuesday of a man paid to have sex with more than 100 adolescent girls as part of a traditional ritual marking their passage to womanhood. The order was issued after the man from the southern district of Nsanje gave a media interview confessing to have slept with the girls for a fee of between four and seven dollars paid by each of their families. "I order police to immediately arrest Mr Eric Aniva, investigate him and take him to court forthwith for defilement cases," Mutharika said in a statement. This little-known local practice is performed in southern Malawi by men known as "hyenas" at the behest of a girl's parents after her first menstruation. The ritual is believed to train girls to become good wives and to protect them from disease, or misfortune could fall on their families or their village. But it is blamed for spreading AIDS. In a BBC interview broadcast last week, Aniva confessed to being infected with HIV and sleeping with virgin girls without using protection. Aniva said that the girls were as young as 12. "All these girls find pleasure in having me as their 'hyena',' he said. "They actually are proud." Mutharika said Aniva should "be investigated for exposing the young girls to contracting HIV and further be charged accordingly." He also ordered an inquiry into the role of parents, saying "harmful cultural and traditional practices cannot be accepted." The sexual cleansing ritual by a "hyena" is also performed on bereaved widows in Nsanje district to exorcise villages of evil spirits or to prevent another death occurring. Aniva said a "hyena" was selected by the community based on good morals and that custom did not allow him to use condoms. Malawi, which has one of the highest HIV infections in the world, criminalises sex with a person under the age of 16. If found guilty of underage sex, Aniva could be imprisoned for life. Search Keywords: Short link: 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. Islamic State group (IS) is threatening more attacks against Afghanistan's Hazara minority after Saturday's suicide blasts in Kabul that killed 80 people, pledging to retaliate against support by some in the mainly Shia group for the Assad regime in Syria. But assessing the threat from Daesh, as Islamic State group is known in Afghanistan, is difficult. Some officials question whether an ultra-radical Sunni movement largely confined to an area near the border with Pakistan can sustain more attacks. Omar Khorasani, a Daesh commander, said Saturday's bombing at a rally by thousands of Hazara protesting about the route of a new power line was in retaliation for the support offered by some Hazara to the regime in Syria. Many Hazara have gone through Shia-governed Iran to fight for the government of President Bashar al-Assad, a fellow Shia, against Islamic State group. "Unless they stop going to Syria and stop being slaves of Iran, we will definitely continue such attacks," he told Reuters via telephone from an undisclosed location. "We can and we will strike them again," he added. The government says it has been hitting Daesh hard even before Saturday's blasts in Kabul, one of the most deadly in the country since the start of the Taliban insurgency in 2001. It said government forces had killed hundreds of insurgents in the past two months in assaults on Daesh strongholds in the eastern province of Nangarhar, which straddles the highway from Kabul to the Pakistani city of Peshawar. In the latest fighting, at least 122 insurgents were killed in the past 24 hours, it said on Tuesday. However, the numbers could not be independently confirmed. Nevertheless, Saturday's attack by Islamic State group on the Shia minority adds a dangerous complication to the war the Western-backed government in Kabul has been fighting with Taliban insurgents. As well as the risk of dragging Afghanistan into Islamic State's group wider campaign in the Middle East, it raised the spectre of sectarian violence, something Afghanistan, a majority Sunni country, has largely been spared during decades of war. But while seeing the threat, officials are cautious about whether the attack represents a real turning point for Daesh, which has been under heavy pressure this year from both U.S. air strikes and an Afghan ground offensive. "Having a couple of people that you've hired put on a suicide vest and sneak into a crowd of many thousands really is not that sophisticated," said U.S. military spokesman Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland. ATTACKED IN PAKISTAN AS WELL On the ground, the NATO-led coalition advising government forces estimates the number of Daesh fighters at between 1,000-3,000, many of them former members of militant groups like the Taliban Movement of Pakistan (TTP), the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan or the Afghan Taliban itself. On the Pakistani side of the border, many Daesh fighters operating in Afghanistan are from the Orakzai tribe that have also been hit hard by the Pakistani military, according to an Afghan security report seen by Reuters. According to Afghanistan's interior ministry, 654 Daesh and Taliban fighters, including several senior commanders, have been killed in Nangarhar province in the last two months. But while the movement may have been limited to Nangarhar, that need not stop it from seeking to spread terror and raise its profile with more attacks on civilian targets, officials said. "That's our concern, these high profile attacks, they are effective because they're not that difficult to achieve," Cleveland told reporters in Kabul. The Hazara, a minority that has long suffered violence and discrimination in Afghanistan, have responded with fury to the attack, accusing the government of inaction or worse. With President Ashraf Ghani's unwieldy national unity government riven by infighting, their anger adds an unpredictable new threat of political instability. Government and coalition officials insist however that Islamic State group is being hit hard. The Afghan army has launched its first major offensive since the holy month of Ramadan in Nangarhar. According to an interior ministry report, 654 Daesh and Taliban fighters, including several senior commanders have been killed in Nangarhar in the last two months. On Monday, Afghan special forces killed Sahad Emarati, a senior Daesh commander and destroyed training camps during a firefight in Kot district of the province, said Attahullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the Nangarhar governor. "We think that Daesh is under pressure," Cleveland said. "As their terrain gets restricted, you see them trying to conduct more external operations and attacks." Search Keywords: Short link: Community Its now easier than ever to connect and chat with others in your local area. You can connect with your community by asking general questions, give area updates and recommendations and even let your community know about local events that are taking place. The United States is looking at ways to increase counter-terrorism cooperation with China, including information exchanges and helping bring stability to places like Iraq, a senior U.S. administration official said on Tuesday. China was angered last month at a report by the U.S. State Department that said there was a lack of transparency or information from China about incidents it called terrorism, and said counter-terrorism cooperation was limited. China has tried to encourage Western nations in particular to help in its fight against what it calls Islamist extremists in the violence-prone far western Chinese region of Xinjiang operating as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). But Western countries have been reluctant to share intelligence with China or otherwise cooperate, saying China has provided little evidence to prove ETIM's existence and citing concern about possible human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Speaking to reporters on a conference call, a senior U.S. administration official said at the end of a visit to China by U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice the threat of terrorism had been discussed in "some detail", along with the importance of Sino-U.S. cooperation in the area. "Both sides recognise that we, as many others in the international community do, face a threat from international terrorism," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We discussed some ways that we could work together to counter that threat. Both in specific areas such as increasing exchanging of information, but also in other ways to contribute to stability in places like Iraq which can also have a positive goal here," he added. "Certainly, the Chinese did raise their concerns regarding certain organizations like ETIM and both Ambassador Rice and her counterparts had a candid exchange on that as well," he said, without elaborating. Both countries recognise they and the rest of the international community face a clear danger from the threat of terrorism and will keep looking for ways to increase cooperation in tackling it, he added. Hundreds of people have been killed in recent years in Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur people, in unrest blamed by Beijing on Islamist militants and separatists, though rights groups say the violence is more a reaction to repressive Chinese policies. China says ETIM is behind the unrest, though many experts have questioned whether ETIM exists as a cohesive militant group. China strongly denies abusing anybody's rights in Xinjiang. Search Keywords: Short link: A patient shot and killed a doctor before turning the gun on himself at a Berlin hospital Tuesday, police said, adding there was no sign the incident was a terrorist attack. A police spokeswoman told AFP that several shots were fired at a university hospital in the well-heeled southwestern Steglitz neighbourhood of the German capital. "According to preliminary information, a patient at the hospital shot a doctor and then killed himself," she said. "The doctor is in intensive care," the spokeswoman said, adding there was "no indication this was a terror attack". Berlin police later tweeted that the doctor had died of his wounds. The shooting came with Germany already on edge after four brutal attacks in the south of the country. A Syrian asylum seeker blew himself up outside a music festival and wounded 15 other people in Ansbach on Sunday, six days after four passengers on a train and a passer-by were wounded in an axe attack by another asylum seeker in Wuerzburg. The Islamic State group claimed both attacks. On Friday, nine people were killed in a shopping centre shooting spree in Munich by a German-Iranian teenager with a history of psychological problems but no apparent links to jihadists. And a Syrian refugee killed a 45-year-old Polish woman with a large kebab knife Sunday at a snack bar in the southwestern city of Reutlingen. Police concluded that the incident, in which three others were injured, was likely a "crime of passion".German police said shots were fired at a university clinic in Steglitz, a southwestern district of Berlin, at around 1100 GMT on Tuesday. German newspaper Bild said on Twitter that a doctor had been shot at and the gunman had killed himself. Police did not immediately give any further details. A spokeswoman for the Benjamin Franklin campus of the Charite university hospital had no immediate comment. The incident follows four other attacks in Germany since July 18 that left 10 people dead and dozens injured. Search Keywords: Short link: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday said Budapest supported the foreign policy plans of U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump over those of his rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, mainly because of different views on migration. Orban said Democrats supported migration and nation-building across the globe, while Hungary - like Trump - opposed both, "which makes it clear where Hungary's interests lay,' Orban told a press conference. The remarks extended Orban's earlier, more limited expression of support for Trump's security policies. Search Keywords: Short link: The killing of a French priest on Tuesday is the latest of a string of attacks against Western targets claimed by or blamed on the Islamic State jihadist group. Here is a list of recent such assaults. Attackers slit an elderly priest's throat in a hostage-taking at his church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, with another person fighting for their life. French President Francois Hollande says the two attackers, killed by police, claimed to be from IS, while the group says they were its "soldiers". A failed Syrian asylum seeker blows himself up outside a music festival in the German city of Ansbach, wounding 15 others. The Bavarian interior minister says the man "pledged allegiance" to IS, while the militant-linked Amaq news agency said he was a "soldier" of the group. A 17-year-old asylum seeker, believed to have been Afghan or Pakistani, attacks passengers on a Bavarian train with an axe, injuring five people, two of them critically. He is shot dead by police. IS releases a video the following day purportedly featuring the attacker announcing he would carry out an "operation" in Germany. Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian, rams a 19-tonne truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 84 people and wounding more than 300. IS said Bouhlel staged the attack "in response to calls to target nations of coalition states" fighting the jihadist group. A triple suicide attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport kills 47 people. Authorities blame IS, though there is no claim of responsibility. A man claiming allegiance to IS stabs a police officer to death before slitting his partner's throat in front of their young son at their home in Magnanville, west of Paris. A gunman claiming allegiance to IS opens fire inside a gay bar in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people in the deadliest mass shooting in US history. Suicide attacks claimed by IS kill 32 people and wound more than 340 at Brussels airport and Maelbeek metro station, near European Union headquarters. The attackers have links to the cell that carried out the November 2015 jihadist attacks in Paris. Twelve German tourists are killed in a suicide attack in central Istanbul. On March 19, three Israeli tourists and an Iranian are killed by a suicide bomber at an Istanbul shopping centre. Turkish authorities attribute both attacks to IS. Syed Farook and his Pakistani wife Tashfeen Malik open fire at a Christmas party in San Bernardino, California, killing 14 people. IS hails the attack, but does not claim direct responsibility. Coordinated suicide attacks in Paris kill 130 people and wound more than 350 at a concert hall, cafes and the national stadium. IS claims responsibility. An Airbus passenger jet owned by a Russian company crashes in the Sinai desert after a bomb rips a hole in the plane, killing all 224 people on board. IS claims responsibility. Gunmen kill 38 people, including 30 British tourists, at a beach hotel in Sousse, a little more than three months after a similar attack at the Bardo museum in Tunis kills 22 people, including 21 foreign tourists. IS claims both attacks. Gunman Amedy Coulibaly, claiming allegiance to IS, kills a policewoman in a Paris suburb before attacking a Jewish supermarket the next day, where he kills four more people. He is killed in a police assault. On January 7, the Al-Qaeda-linked Kouachi brothers had killed 12 people at the headquarters of the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly in Paris. Search Keywords: Short link: Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Our free email updates are the best way to get headlines direct to your inbox A Nottingham landlady has had her licence revoked after a string of violent incidents and late night lock-ins at her pub. Marilyn Lee has run the Queen Adelaide in Windmill Lane, Sneinton, for four and a half years, after being in charge of a number of pubs in and around the area, including Bunkers Hill and The Fox. But Nottinghamshire Police complained to the city council, saying she had "seriously undermined" licensing objectives to prevent crime and disorder" and the premises was "dangerously out of control." The decision to take away her licence was made by the council's licensing panel, who met at Loxley House on Tuesday. The panel heard how a number of violent incidents had occurred at the pub without being reported to police, including a 17-year-old having his jaw broken in two places and another man being punched and knocked out, without an ambulance being called. The force's solicitor, Matthew Green, told the panel: "Why Mrs Lee can't answer whether the pub is being run properly is because it isn't. The premises is getting to a situation where it is seriously and dangerously out of control. "It is only a matter of time in my belief that something even more serious happens. It is a miracle it hasn't already." Mrs Lee, who also lives in a separate house in Windmill Lane, was also discovered to be holding late night drinking sessions after hours, breaking licensing rules. One incident saw police discover people in the pub at almost 8am - six and a half hours after it should have closed. She told the panel: "Every pub in Nottingham does it and I was the only one who got caught. I have to pay the bills. "But I have admitted it. I have got no excuse. When I first took over I knew they always had lock-ins at the pub so I just carried it on. I know it was wrong now." The pub's CCTV was also not up to scratch, as all the areas of the pub were not covered and Mrs Lee wasn't keeping the footage for the minimum 31 days she should. PC Simon Jones, who has visited the pub multiple times to talk about the issues with Mrs Lee said: "On almost every occasion there has been some problem with the CCTV. Mrs Lee has tried to remedy it but due to her lack of technical knowledge, and her staff's, the premises has been in breach and CCTV footage has been lost. "It has a huge impact not only on the individual investigations where the perpetrators are more likely to get away with it, but it gives the idea to customers at the pub that violence can be gotten away with." Mrs Lee defended her time behind the bar to the panel. She said: "I am well liked in Sneinton and I am not on drugs. I don't drink as I like to stay focused so I can see what's going on. "There are only four houses opposite the pub and some of them are regulars. One of those is a woman who holds her kids' parties here. We all help each other. "It would be a shame if the pub was forced to close. I took it on four years ago when it was run down and full of drug dealers. I enjoy what I am doing and I want to keep it." A petition of around 170 signatures was also submitted to the council calling for the landlady to keep her licence. But the panel, made up of three councillors - Councillor Brian Grocock, Councillor Mohammed Ibrahim and Councillor Linda Woodings - made a unanimous decision to revoke the licence. Mrs Lee did not want to give a full statement to the Post after the panel, but said she was "very upset" by the decision. The pub remains open until further notice. Panthers five-eighth Bryce Cartwright says he is ready to hand playmaking duties back to injured young-gun Te Maire Martin as soon as the latter is ready to return to first grade duties following a shoulder injury. It has been a year of significant change at the foot of the mountains, with senior men Jamie Soward and James Segeyaro granted releases to move to the UK Super League, Peter Wallace making a successful shift to hooker and boom young playmakers Nathan Cleary and Te Maire Martin stamping themselves as stars of the future. With Martin out injured he hasn't played since suffering a shoulder fracture in Round 8 back-rower Bryce Cartwright has slotted in at five-eighth and enjoyed considerable success. Though he's been far from perfect the team has looked more dangerous with him getting his hands on the ball more in the halves. However with Martin seen sharing kicking drills with Cleary at Penrith training on Monday morning, the former Junior Kiwi is expected back on the field in reserve grade as soon as this weekend with a first grade return not far away. Cartwright said as soon as that happens he expects to revert to his back row role and he has no complaints. "When he's fit I think he'll definitely be back in the team, he was playing some great footy when he was there and that will make my job a lot easier pushing back into the forwards and it will be a pretty smooth transition," Cartwright said of Martin. Hard to see but that's Te Maire Martin having a kick round with Nathan Cleary. Chance of reserve grade this weekend pic.twitter.com/VIc1nKQj8W Chris Kennedy (@CKennedy80) July 25, 2016 Cartwright said he had enjoyed getting his hands on the ball more since switching to the halves, though with an extra ball-player in the side and plenty of ball-playing forwards on deck he doesn't expect the point-scoring opportunities to dry up any time soon. "It will be exciting to see those two young fellas play together and it's something I've wanted to watch for a while now, so I'm looking forward to when he gets back," Cartwright added. Fullback and captain Matt Moylan doesn't expect to be donning the No.6 jersey for the club any time soon despite a relatively successful shift there in Origin III, and the skipper was noncommittal on Martin's short-term role in the side. He said Cartwright had been good in the role and had arguably his best game there in the team's dominant 25-12 win over the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium last Friday. "When he's taking the line on and playing a bit squarer he's just showing his class there. He's a big man to stop and when he's threatening that line it adds another dimension to us as a team," Moylan said of Cartwright. As to Martin's short term chances, Moylan added: "I'm not too sure, I think he's not too far off. It's only going to help us when he is back. There's a bit of competition there for spots but I'm not sure when he's back playing." Moylan added Martin's return shouldn't result in Cartwright being pigeon-holed into one area of the field. "[Cartwright] is one of those players you want him playing on both sides of the field, you don't really want to stick him on an edge and limit what he can do in a game. "I'm not sure what will happen with all that sort of stuff but you want a guy like Bryce getting his hands on the ball and getting involved." If anything, the return of Martin could add another dimension to what is a rapidly improving Panthers attack, according to the skipper. "Just having another ball player in there or someone that's going to threaten the line could help us out a bit more but still not sure what will happen there or when 'T' is back," Moylan said. Germany must face the fact that Islamist terrorism has arrived and respond with tougher security and tighter immigration policies, Bavaria's state premier said on Tuesday. "Each attack, each act of terrorism, is one too many. Islamist terrorism has arrived in Germany," Horst Seehofer, a long-standing critic of Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy, told a news conference. "We need more security in Germany. People are riled up, full of fear, and that is completely understandable. They need reliable answers from politicians and not endless debates and justifications," Seehofer said after a meeting of party leaders. A spate of attacks in Germany since July 18 have left 15 people dead - including four attackers - and dozens injured. Two of the assailants had links to Islamist militant groups, German officials say. Two of the five attackers recently entered Germany from Syria, another was from either Pakistan or Afghanistan, stoking concerns about unprecedented immigration after 1 million migrants arrived last year, many fleeing conflict in the region. Immigration and security are sure to be big topics in next year's federal elections, where the clash between Seehofer's Christian Social Union (CSU) and Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) may undermine conservatives' hopes of staying in power. "To The Edge" Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told the news conference Germany should rethink rules that limit deportations of refugees for medical reasons, and significantly lower hurdles to deporting refugees who break the law. "We must push it to the edge of the envelope currently permitted under European law, and we have to think about whether the EU rules have to be changed," Herrmann said. The 27-year-old Syrian who blew himself up in the southern town of Ansbach on Sunday had been spared deportation due to medical reasons for over a year, but had recently been told he would be deported to Bulgaria. He had also been in trouble with police for drugs and other offences. Bavarian officials said their state - the site of three of the recent attacks - would bolster police staffing and equipment, but would also push for federal restrictions on surveillance of potential suspects to be eased. Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, of Merkel's Christian Democrats, has said no changes would be made to changing asylum or immigration rules until investigations into the recent incidents are finished. Authorities said there was no Islamist link in Tuesday's incident at a university clinic in Berlin, in which a 72-year-old man shot a doctor before killing himself. The spate of violence in Germany followed the attack in the French city of Nice on Bastille Day, July 14, when a Tunisian killed 84 people by driving a truck into them, an act claimed by Islamists. Islamic State group also claimed responsibility for the latest attack in France, on Tuesday, where an elderly priest was killed in a church. Search Keywords: Short link: The National Wildlife Federation brings nature to life in the pages of our publications, inspiring people of all ages and reading levels to develop a deeper relationship with our natural world. To learn more about receiving magazines from the National Wildlife Federation, please visit our subscription page. For information about rights and permissions, visit our Permissions page or contact permissions@nwf.org. BP lost $1.4 billion in the second quarter, its third straight quarterly loss. The international energy giant has lost $5.29 billion over the last nine months after crude oil prices crashed. The London-based company, which employs more than 1,850 oil workers and thousands more contractors at the BP Whiting Refinery, was able to narrow its year-over-year loss from $5.8 billion in the second quarter of 2015. BP reported underlying operating cash flow of $5.5 billion and underlying replacement cost profit at $720 million, compared to $532 million during the previous quarter. Much of the loss was the result of a pre-tax non-operating charge of $5.2 billion for liabilities from the Deepwater Horizon, the largest marine oil spill in history with more than 4.9 million barrels discharged into the Gulf of Mexico. We are very pleased to have finally drawn a line under the material liabilities for Deepwater Horizon, CEO Bob Dudley said during a conference call with investors. We will always be mindful of what we have learned from that tragic accident. BP today is a stronger, more focused and more disciplined company. We continue to actively develop a strong, balanced portfolio and we are managing the business for value over volume. BP will pay a quarterly dividend of 60 cents per share sometime in September. We continue to reset our capital and cost base and are moving steadily towards our aim of rebalancing organic sources and uses of cash by 2017 in a $50 to $55 per barrel oil price range, Chief Financial Officer Brian Gilvary said. This underpins our confidence in sustaining our dividend going forward. The energy company has called off drilling projects and laid off thousands of employees worldwide after crude oil prices cratered and cheap gasoline returned. BP says it has reduced its cash costs by $5.6 billion over the last four quarters, as compared to 2014, and that they should be $7 billion lower by 2017. We are delivering significant improvements to the business that will stick at any oil price, Dudley said. U.S. Steel agreed not to discipline steelworkers who report injuries later because they didnt initially know they were injured. The U.S. Department of Labor reached an agreement in a federal court case with the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker last week. U.S. Steel, which has mills in Gary, Portage and East Chicago, has updated its company-wide injury reporting policy so that steelworkers can report accidents after they become aware of their injuries. OSHA is extremely pleased with this settlement, which requires the payment of back wages to U.S. Steel employees who were disciplined after reporting of injuries to their employer, along with significant changes in US Steels injury and incident reporting policies, Occupational Safety and Health Administration regional administrator Richard Mendelson said. OSHA and the regional Office of the Solicitor partnered to negotiate this outstanding agreement, which ensures that employees can properly report on-the-job injuries without fear of retaliation. The United Steelworkers union objected after U.S. Steel disciplined three of its steelworkers, who were all punished for late reporting of minor injuries they received at work in separate accidents in 2014. The workers filed complaints with OSHA with the help of the USW, arguing that they reported the injuries as soon as they knew about them. OSHA sided with the workers. The disciplinary action was rescinded and they received full back pay with interest. This is an excellent settlement, said Tom Conway, USW International Vice President, who heads the unions bargaining committee. Not only does it give justice to three brave union members who stood up for their rights, but it will lead to more complete and accurate injury records and improved safety. The USW says the settlement has important ramifications, since workers will no longer be discouraged from reporting injuries, potentially leaving unsafe working conditions in place. In a plea agreement filed Monday in U.S. District Court, Patricia Tellez admits to coercing the girl into engaging in sex with an unidentified man in 2014. She faces maximum penalties of 10 years in prison, five years supervised release and a $250,000 fine on the charge. Tellez stated she made arrangements for the man to meet with the girl using her cell phone. She said she took lascivious photos of the girl using the same phone, which she sent to the man. The Gary woman's involvement in producing the child pornography is to be considered in calculating her sentence. LAPORTE Posting bond online at the LaPorte County Jail has been discontinued for now after seven inmates with help from people outside were released on bail posted with stolen credit card numbers. Ten people, including two from Chicago and one from Highland, are charged with fraud. According to LaPorte County police, Shakyia Bunch, 29, of Chicago, acquired the credit card numbers from her job at a hotel in the Chicago area. Her inmate boyfriend, Gregory Brown, 35, also of Chicago, recruited offenders who paid a fee for having their bond posted with the stolen account information. After hearing back from Brown, police said Bunch entered the credit card numbers into the online bonding system for each participating offender released once the data entries made their way into the jail record books. Once they got out, the inmates forwarded their payments to Jeneva Sutton, 35, of Michigan City, who placed some of the money on the commissary account at the jail for Brown, said LaPorte County police Officer Andy Hynek, who helped unravel the scheme. Sutton is another girlfriend of Brown, police said. She kept whatever she didnt place on his account, he said. Commissary accounts are used by inmates to pay for snacks and personal hygiene items and other things like online video visitation from their cells with loved ones at home. Hynek said theres no evidence Bunch received anything except Brown having the financial ability to visit with her online and call her on the telephone from the jail. He told her to do it and she did it, said Hynek. The scheme was run from April until the middle of this month when a jail officer, Cpl. Ryan Jones, noticed unusual activity during an inmates attempt to post bond and contacted Hynek. Hynek said he discovered two withdrawals for $7,500 apiece from the same account belonging to a woman from St. Louis, who didnt know the money was taken from her account until contacted by police. Everyone who fraudulently posted bond has been taken back into custody, police said. One of the suspects, Toni Dominguez, 34, of Highland, delivered a car to Sutton as collateral for the $3,500 fee owed for the $15,000 bond posted for her inmate boyfriend, Edward Jiminez, 34, of Michigan City, Hynek said. Dominguez and Jiminez are both charged along with inmates Rischa Bonds, 36, William Jackson, 35, Robert Lambert, 28, Daniel Gumns, 27, all of Michigan City, and Raynell Henry, 22, of Gary. Hynek said the inmates charged were originally in the jail for a variety of offenses. The credit card numbers belonged to people from as far away as the Los Angeles area, Granite City, Illinois, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, police said. All credit card transactions for posting bond have been discontinued under a 30-day order issued by all of the judges in LaPorte County. Once changes are made in the system to make it more secure, a decision will be made whether to lift the order. GARY Police are seeking a 55-year-old man for questioning in a case in which a 47-year-old Gary man was shot in the abdomen Saturday morning. Police said Joseph Raymond Harris, known as Ray, is wanted for questioning as a person of interest in the case, according to Gary police. Harris is described as a black male, 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing 220 pounds. Police said he is known to frequent the Brunswick area of Gary. According to police, Harris should be considered armed and dangerous and people should not attempt to detain him. The case is being investigated by Detective Sgt. Gregory Wolf of the Gary Violent Crimes Unit. Anyone with information is urged to contact the detective at (219) 881-1210 or call the crime tip line at 1-866-CRIME-GP. The 47-year-old victim was discovered outside a home by police after responding to the 500 block of Ralston Street at about 8:17 a.m. Saturday. Police said the man was taken in stable condition to an area hospital for treatment. GARY Police are investigating two armed robberies in the past couple of days near the scene of a recent homicide in the citys Tolleston neighborhood. Two women were robbed Sunday and Monday in the 1900 block of McKinley Street, police Cpl. Douglas Drummond said. Police are investigating all leads for a possible link, he said. In the homicide case, Lafayette Watters, 25, of the citys Horace Mann neighborhood, died early Monday in the 2000 block of McKinley Street after he was shot multiple times, officials said. The first robbery occurred about 8:45 p.m. Sunday, when two men approached a 40-year-old Gary woman as she got into a vehicle and displayed a gun, Drummond said. The woman handed over her wallet, and the men fled north. One of the men was wearing tan Army fatigue pants, and the other was in all black. Both wore hoodies and masks over their faces. About 11:30 p.m. Monday, a 44-year-old Gary woman was outside near her vehicle when a man dressed in all black approached her and pointed a black pistol at her, police said. The man demanded everything she had, and he left with her purse and its contents. Anyone with information about the robberies is asked to call Detective Sgt. William Fazekas at (219) 881-1210. To remain anonymous, call (866) CRIME-GP. Detective George Dickerson, of the Lake County/Gary Metro Homicide Unit, is investigating Watters death and can be reached at (219) 755-3855. VALPARAISO Porter County Deputy Prosecutor Trista Hudson said she did not intend any wrongdoing last month when she failed to reveal that one of two alleged victims made up at least part of the accusations in a child molestation case. The failure, however, resulted in the accused being acquitted on all charges and it has now cost Hudson her job with the prosecutor's office. "Prosecutors are held to a higher standard than other attorneys," Porter County Prosecutor Brian Gensel said Tuesday in a prepared statement requested by The Times. "The decision not to disclose exculpatory information to defense counsel in a recent case fell below the standard I expect my deputy prosecutors to maintain," he said. Hudson said, "it was an inadvertent mistake not intended, nor meant to be malicious." She acknowledged the unfortunate impact the outcome has had on the alleged victims in the case. Hudson said she has a strong ethical track record during her nearly 14 years with the prosecutor's office in Porter County and four years in Lake County. Porter Superior Court Judge Bill Alexa said last month he intended to refer the matter involving Hudson to the Indiana Supreme Court's Disciplinary Commission for an ethical review. Hudson also serves on the Valparaiso City Council. The withheld evidence came to light during the last week of June as Eric Knowles, 39, of Portage, was on trial for four counts of child molesting involving two children. Defense attorney Larry Rogers said Tuesday he noticed when one of the alleged victims was being questioned by Hudson during the trial, the 12-year-old boy did not describe the sex act that was at the center of the case and that led to the most severe charge. "I had a feeling that the young man was lying," Rogers said. "I thought if I probed around I could get him to admit to it and he did." The boy testified his father told him to make the false accusation, Rogers said. He also said he shared that with Hudson and Portage Detective Cpl. Janis Regnier at least a week earlier. "The decision not to disclose was ultimately decided by the prosecutor," Portage Police Chief Troy Williams said Tuesday. "It was not our detective's call to make." Rogers said he responded to the discovery of evidence by referring to a law requiring prosecutors to present the defense with any evidence that may indicate the accused is not guilty. That resulted in Alexa acquitting Knowles and ordering him immediately released from jail on his own recognizance while awaiting disposition of a final molestation count involving a third child. "I was just doing my job," Rogers said, pointing out his client was facing 20 to 50 years. "I'm sad that she got fired," he said of Hudson. "I certainly don't have any ill will toward her." Knowles had spent three years behind bars and was held without bond after he was accused of molesting four different children. A jury found him not guilty in one of the cases in August and Alexa scheduled a Nov. 28 trial, and Sept. 30 and Oct. 21 hearings in the final case. Alexa explained as he dismissed the jury in last month's trial that the acquittal makes no determination of Knowles' guilt, but he cannot be retried on the charges. When Knowles thanked the judge last month for the acquittal, Alexa chastised him and said it was not being done for him. "It's for our system," he said. Rogers said all the cases are related and are part of a coordinated effort to frame his client. Iconic Egyptian director Mohamed Khan died on Tuesday morning at a hospital in the upscale Cairo district of Maadi following a sudden health crisis. The prominent cinematographer Said Shimi confirmed the death via his personal Facebook page. A funeral and a prayer will take place on Tuesday noon. Khan, 73, was one of Egypts most prominent directors belonging to a generation of neorealist filmmakers that represented a hallmark in Egyptian cinema. His movies tackled social issues that often revolved around female central characters. Among the most acclaimed films of Khan's two dozen motion picture productions are: ElHarreef (The Street Player, 1984), Zawgat Ragol Mohem (The Wife of an Important Man, 1987) and Ahlam Hind wa Camilia (Dreams of Hind and Camilia, 1988) which were named among the "100 Greatest Arab Films of all time" by the Dubai International Film Festival. His latest (Before the Summer Crowds), premiered in Egypt at the 5th Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF). In December 2015, Khan released a book titled Journey of a Director (Mokhreg Aala Al Tareeq). The book, which was published by Kotob Khan publishing house, comprises a selection of articles written by Khan between 1990 and 2014 and published in different newspapers such as Al-Hayat, Al-Qabas and Al-Tahrir. Mokhreg Aala Al Tareeq covered a large array of topics, including discussions of independent cinema, low-cost film production, and the problem of film distribution locally and in the Arab region. Born in Cairo in 1942 to an Egyptian mother and a Pakistani father, Khan was educated in Britain before beginning his film career in the Egyptian capital in the 1960s as a scriptwriter. He acquired the Egyptian nationality by a presidential decree in March 2014. 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 Search Keywords: Short link: INDIANAPOLIS Twenty-two Hoosier Republicans will make a decision today in secret that could shape the future of Indiana for decades to come. The Republican State Central Committee is set to select a candidate for Indiana governor to replace Gov. Mike Pence on the ballot, since he is prohibited by state law from running for re-election and vice president of the United States at the same time. Four candidates are vying for the GOP nomination: Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb; U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita, a Munster native; U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks; and state Sen. Jim Tomes. They each will have only a few minutes to make their case to the committee, which includes two representatives from each of Indiana's nine congressional districts, plus the four state party officers, before being subject to what are expected to be intense questions about their political positions, fundraising and electability. Holcomb is believed to be the front-runner for the nomination after being endorsed Friday by both Pence and U.S. Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind. Nick Barbknecht, of LaPorte, who holds one of the precious 22 votes, also is in Holcomb's corner due to Holcomb's past experience at the state and federal levels as a top aide to former Gov. Mitch Daniels and Coats, as well as his current role as Pence's deputy. "I like his ideas the best," Barbknecht said. "He understands how to bring people together for solutions and make things happen." Barbknecht's informal head count of his fellow committee members puts Holcomb at the 12 votes he needs to win the nomination, though only four publicly have committed to Holcomb. Still, that's four more votes than any of the other candidates are known to possess. "I have a hard time seeing where Holcomb does not get to a majority," Barbknecht said. Nevertheless, both Rokita and Brooks are pulling out all the stops trying to win the nomination for themselves, including paying for statewide polls of Indiana voters. Rokita's July 16-18 survey of 600 likely voters by Public Opinion Strategies found the former two-term secretary of state leads Democrat John Gregg, 45 percent to 43 percent, and Rokita's lead grows to 54 percent when voters are told more about his record. "The choice must come down to who has the best opportunity to win and help down-ticket, the accomplishments to build a campaign around and the conservative record and vision to keep Indiana moving forward," Rokita said. "From cutting taxes to reducing the size and scope of government to enacting policies that promote free enterprise, Im a conservative. You can count on me to defend our values, including life and the Second Amendment." Brooks' poll, which saw The Tarrance Group sample 503 registered voters on July 20-21, determined Gregg leads Brooks, Rokita and Holcomb in initial head-to-head match-ups, but Brooks is running closest to the Democratic former Indiana House speaker. The former deputy Indianapolis mayor and U.S. attorney also got an assist Sunday when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who likewise was an U.S. attorney during the George W. Bush administration, endorsed Brooks for governor. "To win this race, you will need the strongest possible candidate. Susan has a demonstrated record of winning tough elections," Christie said in a letter to GOP committee members. "I also believe that having an accomplished woman at the top of your statewide ticket in Indiana will draw even more support and attention to this race from across the country." Tomes, meanwhile, has made little public effort to promote his candidacy. GOP insiders suggest the two-term state senator, known best for his enthusiastic support of gun rights, is most likely to be the lowest vote-getter and eliminated after the first round if no candidate claims a majority. Whoever wins the nomination is expected to be financially supported by Pence's $7 million campaign fund and the Republican Governors Association, though it is not yet known to what extent. In any case, the new nominee will have just a few weeks to ramp his or her campaign up before the final push begins after Labor Day. Gregg and his running mate, state Rep. Christina Hale, a Michigan City native, have kept up their television advertising and daily campaign stops in recent weeks, despite not knowing who their opponents will be. The GOP state committee is scheduled to pick a lieutenant governor nominee Aug. 1. LAPORTE A LaPorte landlord has been fined $14,625 for illegally bringing a pesticide not registered for use in Indiana into the United States from China. Zai Feng Kevin Yang was cited on 16 counts of spraying apartments with dichlorvos and six counts on giving the Chinese pesticide to tenants with no regard for their use or personal protective equipment, according to a report issued by the Office of the Indiana State Chemist. The fine resulted from an investigation by the OISC and LaPorte County Health Department and the findings were presented to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for review. Brian Baker, an agent with the OISC and lead investigator in the case, said Yang could face additional federal penalties, including criminal prosecution, and must undertake an expensive cleanup of the contamination. Baker said dichlorvos is difficult to obtain in the U.S. and when applied in Indiana it must be done by someone licensed through his office and at safe levels as part of a continuous pest management program. Yang applied the pesticide at high levels to try to eliminate the insects all at once and save from having to pay for the periodic visits from a professional exterminator, he said. He didnt want to pay for all of that pest control, Baker said. Yang did not respond to calls for comments Monday placed to his phone and at his business. Triggering the probe was a complaint from Margaret Loomis, who lives in an apartment building with more than 30 units owned by Yang at 701 Maple Ave. in LaPortes downtown area. Loomis said she was alarmed by puddles of the liquid pesticide left after Yang applied it inside her apartment in February to kill an infestation of bed bugs and cockroaches. She was also suspicious about the Chinese lettering on the box the pesticide came in and Yang leaving her with some of the chemicals to apply herself to help control the bugs, she said. According to the OISC report, other tenants were also given the pesticide labeled only as cockroachkiller for self application after Yang treated their residential units. In the spring, Loomis and her husband, Frederick, relocated to another apartment in the same building not treated with the Chinese pesticide, but they still have problems with bed bugs and cockroaches that shes trying to combat with over-the-counter pesticides. They are everywhere in the building, Loomis said. Yang was also cited for use of the pesticide at another apartment building he owns at 606 Tipton St., according to the report. LaPorte County Health Department administrator Tony Mancuso would not confirm if any of the treated apartments are condemned due to the matter still being investigated. Its an ongoing investigation so we cant saying anything about it, said Mancuso, who said that to his knowledge nobody has become sick from exposure to the pesticide. Since exposed to the chemical, Loomis said her asthma has gotten worse and her husband has been experiencing wider fluctuations in his platelet count from a blood condition hes had a few years, but shes not sure if it has anything to do with the pesticide. Yang admitted smuggling the pesticide in his carry-on luggage from China in September and January, and failing to notify customs personnel at the airport about its presence, according to the OISC report. According to researchers, exposure to dichlorvos can produce symptoms ranging from weakness, headache, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea and, in higher amounts, convulsions and even death. When asked if Yangs tenants could become ill or face health problems, those are absolute possibilities, Baker said. In 1995, the EPA restricted the use of dichlorvos in many domestic uses and all aerial applications and more restrictions followed in 2006, 2008 and 2010. Studies in 2010 linked dichlorvos exposure to higher risks for children developing ADHD, according to researchers. ST. JOHN The towns sign ordinance was designed to keep the town clean and orderly, Council President Michael Forbes said. Unfortunately, the section dealing with political signs is probably unconstitutional. Forbes said, if the political label were removed, the ordinance would be fine. The council voted at its April 28 meeting to repeal the section of the sign ordinance dealing with political signs after Councilman Christian Jorgensen said a ruling in an Arizona case probably means the ordinance is unconstitutional. The repeal has to go through the process of consideration by the plan commission and the council before it can officially be removed from the books, but the council agreed not to enforce it in the interim. The issue arose when more than 40 signs calling for the firing of Forbes, Councilman Mark Barenie and Town Manager Steve Kil were removed from polling places by Kil on the eve of the November 2015 election. The St. John Homeowners PAC, which posted the signs, sued the town seeking $75,000 in damages. The town agreed to allow the signs to be posted during future elections. Kil was charged by the Lake County Prosecutors Office with conversion, but a motion to dismiss the charges was filed by Kils lawyer William Padula and a hearing on the motion is scheduled for August. In the meantime, the plan commission members said they wanted to make sure removing the political sign references wont create problems for the remaining sign regulations. Forbes said the ordinance should specify that signs can only be placed on a property with the owners permission. He said some are confused after finding signs placed in their yards whether they have the authority to remove them. Commission member Jason Williams asked about regulating personal messages on temporary signs. Kil said that was more difficult and would take longer to draft properly. For now, the town just wants to eliminate the political sign reference. Members wanted to make sure the remaining language of the ordinance still gives the town control over signs, especially temporary ones. Kil said he gets requests every day for sign permits. Town Attorney David Austgen has said all the restrictions in the political sign section are touched on in other sections of the ordinance. Councilman Greg Volk asked Kil to get Austgens notes that show the applicable cross references. Member Robert Birlson said he preferred that the commission not make any recommendation to the council but leave it entirely to the council because it is a policy decision. Forbes said the ordinance was written by the commission, and the commission needs to act on it. He could not recall a case of the commission not making a recommendation to the council. If the commission makes no recommendation, Forbes said the council would have to return the ordinance to the commission for further consideration. Kil said the council could do that or it could decide to act on its own, either accepting a recommendation from the commission or rejecting it. If the commission makes a recommendation and it is not acted on by the council within 90 days, it is considered approved. The commission is expected to consider the sign ordinance again at its Aug. 3 meeting. LOWELL Lowell Town Council members are looking to recreational impact fees and short-range planning as possible means of controlling growth and maintaining quality of life standards for residents. Chuck Lehman, of Lehman and Lehman, a Mishawaka-based landscape architecture and planning firm which has guided many communities through the impact fee process, recently gave the council a brief overview of impact fees, the reasoning behind them, their value to a community and the cost to implement. Lehman said the recreational impact fees work 10 years ahead and are driven by the number of "residential rooftops" which determine them. A great benefit of the fees, Lehman said, is they reduce and sometimes eliminate the financial burden on existing residents because they are funded by new development. The fees are often collected with building permits. The money collected can be used for infrastructure such as trails and parks; however, they may not be used to fund staffing, programming or maintenance. Lehman offered Chesterton's $889 recreational impact fee as an example, but he said they vary greatly. He suggested a $6,000 feasibility study might be in order before committing to the more expensive recreational impact fee process which can cost from $18,000 to $25,000. The council also gave its unanimous support behind State Senator Rick Niemeyer's effort to rid Lake and Porter counties of the current emissions testing by urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to revise or eliminate the requirements. Indiana Senate Resolution No. 12 was passed unanimously in February to urge that change. "We're one of two counties of 92 counties required to do this," Council Vice President LeAnn Angerman, R-2nd, said. WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP Showing 4-H animals at the Porter County Fair comes as second nature for Carson Roeske. Roeske, who represents four generations of fair involvement, was one of some 100 exhibitors who participated Tuesday in the 4-H swine show. The 16-year-old Hebron High School junior had shown the reserve champion Duroc on Monday night and was getting ready to show in the heavy weight Yorkshire category later Tuesday. Hundreds of people stood or sat in bleachers inside the livestock arena watching the swine judging by Jim McCoy as he deftly looked over the merits of each animal before announcing placements. Those watching in the audience included Roeskes father, Dan Roeske, and other family members who came to cheer him on. He (Carson) has learned quite a lot about what to look for as far as the breed and he doesnt get too attached when he has to sell them, Dan Roeske said. The hogs Carson is showing were purchased in early April with preparation for the fair taking two to three hours a day. Carson Roeske, who has been involved in 4-H since he was 9, said his hopes are to continue following in his dads career footsteps. Im hoping to farm and raise show pigs, Carson Roeske said. Coming to the fair to watch the swine show is a longtime tradition for the Sutter family, of Kouts, Sarah Sutter said. My father-in-law, Steve, has been coming to this show for 27 years in a row. I married into the family so have only been coming the last 10 years, Sutter said. Sutter, who lives with husband, Jared Sutter, outside of Peoria, Illinois, brought their daughter, Bria, 2 1/2, to the fair for the first time. We wanted to support my brother-in-law, Eric, Sutter said. Eric Sutter, a 15-year-old LaCrosse High freshman, is the youngest of four Sutter brothers and one sister. His dad, Steve Sutter, who has been farming for more than 30 years, helped his son prepare his lightweight Duroc for showing by spraying a shining oil on its flanks. Attending the fair is something Steve Sutter said he enjoys because it gives him a brief time during the year to break away from work and have fun with family members. Its all about family, Steve Sutter said. Sarah Sutter, who grew up outside Boston, said she loves the family ties and community camaraderie that comes with growing up on a farm. She said she witnessed that community spirit earlier in the week when fair officials gave the family copies of four different 4-H plaques from 2003-2009 that had been destroyed when the Sutters barn burned. All their 4-H stuff had been burned in the fire, Sarah Sutter said. VALPARAISO A woman missing for about five hours was returned home safely, police said. Police were searching for an 82-year-old woman who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and apparently walked away from her home. Valparaiso police Sgt. Mike Grennes said her family realized she was missing from her home in the 600 block of Orchard Avenue about 10 a.m. Valparaiso police were joined by the Valparaiso Fire Department and the Porter County Search and Rescue Team in the search for her in the area around Kirchoff Park. A command center had been set up at the Valparaiso VFW at 705 Roosevelt Road. Details about here whereabouts were not immediately known, police said. PHILADELPHIA Undeterred by Sen. Bernie Sanders' plea for party unity behind Hillary Clinton, Sanders supporters chanting "Bernie or bust!" took to the streets under the hot sun Tuesday for more demonstrations on Day 2 of the Democratic convention. Several hundred gathered around noon in a rally at City Hall with plans to join up in the afternoon with groups decrying police brutality and economic injustice. Together they planned to march the 4 miles down Broad Street to the convention site. Speakers at the rally charged that Clinton cheated her way to the nomination with the complicity of the "corporate media." Demonstrators said they weren't swayed by Sanders' speech at the convention Monday night, in which he said: "Based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States. The choice is not even close." "He persuaded no one to vote for Hillary," said Greg Gregg, a retired 69-year-old nurse from Salem, Oregon. He said he intends to vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, quoting the turn-of-the-last-century socialist labor leader Eugene Debs as saying, "I'd rather vote for what I want and lose than what I don't want and win." On Monday evening, police cited 54 people for disorderly conduct for trying to climb the barriers outside the convention center during a pro-Sanders protest that reflected the tensions inside the hall between the Vermont senator's supporters and Clinton's. The Sanders camp was angered when a trove of hacked emails released over the weekend showed that officials at the supposedly neutral Democratic National Committee played favorites during the primaries and worked to undermine Sanders' campaign. Black Men for Bernie founder Bruce Carter said Monday's speeches from Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren did not persuade him to support Clinton. "They really agitate people more every time they stand up and do the Hillary Clinton, hoo-rah hoo-rah," he said. Carter, a Dallas resident, said he doesn't fear a Donald Trump presidency: "I've lived under nine white presidents in my lifetime." With temperatures climbing again toward the mid-90s, Chris Scully, a 28-year-old an engineer from Troy, New York, held a "Jill Before Hill" outside City Hall and said he opposes Clinton because of her war record as secretary of state. As Scully spoke, a passer-by called out: "That's a vote for Trump!" Police estimated 5,500 people took part in Monday's protests. Many of the marchers chanted, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, the DNC has got to go!" and carried signs reading "Never Hillary," ''Just Go to Jail Hillary" and "You Lost Me at Hillary." Clash was the only Egyptian film to be screened at the 69th Cannes Festival and was chosen to open the Un Certain Regard section One day prior to the release of his new film, Mohamed Diab, director of Eshtebak (Clash), published a note sent to him from actor Tom Hanks praising the film. The photo of the note signed by Hanks was accompanied by a statement from Diab, sharing some thoughts on trouble the film is facing before its release. This message was sent to me by Tom Hanks, about the artistic level of my film, Clash. He did not send me an e-mail, it was so important to him that he sent me a signed letter, saying the movie had the capacity to change the Western world's typical vision of Egyptians, Diab writes. The famed director added that actor Daniel Craig had also sent him a similar letter, which contradicts what people are saying about this movie ruining Egypt's reputation. Clash premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May and was listed by the Hollywood Reporter as one of the 10 best films at the festival. It is set for release in Egyptian cinemas on 27 July. The highly anticipated film explores -- in an unusual manner -- the confrontations between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and opponents that emerged after the removal of former president Mohamed Morsi from power in June 2013. Most of the film takes place inside an eight metre long police truck, with detainees representing different societal groups. Nelly Karim, alongside Tarek Abd El-Aziz, Hany Adel, Ahmed Malek, Ashraf Hamdi, Mohamed Abdel Azim, and Gamil Barsoum star in Clash. Diab listed a number of incidents that led him to believe the film is at the center of many attacks, inlcuding the "National Censorship insisted on putting a sentence with political implications at the beginning of the movie, implying that the film was siding up with a group over another." He also mentioned "non-stop campaigns at the time of the Cannes Festival, defaming the film," and "the delay in national censorship's agreement and the delay in their agreement to the poster," as evidence of the political blowback from the film. Clash was also the target of negative criticism on an episode of the television programme Ana Masr, presented by TV host Amany El-Khayat on state-owned Nile TV. Diab stated that even if all of the above instances are to be seen as coincidences, or even a fear of hysteria, the last incident seems to show bad faith towards the film. When the film distributor retreats a few days before the release, and a wide number of cinemas don't show the film's poster even the weekend before its release, I am obligated to think there a lot of coincidences, and maybe this is all done on purpose. The director went on to say that a film without a distributor can be removed from cinemas after two or three days under the pretext of unpopularity, suggesting that this was done in order to avoid a national scandal of not screening the film at all. If this plan succeeds, I don't think anyone will make movies fighting mainstream opinions, or any opinions at all, because what director wants to risk his money on a project that gets shut down before it can even make any money? Diab asked. Though the film was celebrated at Cannes and was sold for international screenings across Europe, Latin America, North America and Asia, Diab stresses that the most important success is its success in Egypt, among the people whom the film was made for. 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 Search Keywords: Short link: SPRINGFIELD Illinois lawmakers appear unlikely to answer Gov. Bruce Rauners call for a vote on a proposed amendment to the Illinois Constitution that would create term limits for elected officials. The first-term Republican governor wants the Democratic-controlled General Assembly to vote on the issue when members reconvene in Springfield following the Nov. 8 election. Rauner renewed his call for term limits Monday during a news conference in Chicago. These past 18 months have been a humbling experience for me, Rauner said. Ive learned just how entrenched the politicians holding power are. They dont want to change. Theyre focused on their own power rather than empowering people. Rauner backs proposals that would limit lawmakers to 10 years of service in the House, the Senate or a combination of the two and prohibit anyone from serving more than eight years in any executive office or combination of offices. Term limits would ensure that new faces and new ideas have a chance of entering state government, he said, noting a widespread lack of competition for legislative seats. A poll earlier this year from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University showed that 78 percent of voters, including 71 percent of Democrats and 89 percent of Republicans, favor term limits for lawmakers. Our people want term limits now more than ever, and thats why Im so committed to continue the fight to make it happen, said Rauner, a frequent critic of House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, who was first elected to the General Assembly in 1970, and other long-serving lawmakers. Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said the speaker believes term limits are unnecessary for state representatives because they have to face the voters every two years. A spokesman for Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, couldn't comment Monday. While campaigning for governor in 2014, Rauner bankrolled an unsuccessful attempt to put a term limits amendment on the ballot through a petition campaign. That effort was blocked when the courts ruled that it went beyond the structural and procedural changes to the General Assembly that can be made through a voter-driven initiative. More than a dozen term limit proposals have been introduced since the current General Assembly was seated in January 2015, but none has made it to the House or Senate floor for a vote. Chris Mooney, director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois, said that shouldnt come as a surprise. Its not just Illinois, Mooney said. Legislatures do not pass these laws. Two state legislatures that did approve term limits Louisiana and Utah did so only because more restrictive measures were coming down the pike through voter initiatives, he said. Mooney said research has shown that many claims from proponents and opponents of term limits arent borne out by the facts. For examples, they dont seem to increase electoral competition as proponents argue, he said, nor do they appear to concentrate more power in the hands of lobbyists as opponents claim. The most significant impact of term limits is that theyve resulted in an increase in power of the executive branch at the expense of the legislative branch, Mooney said. Its excellent politics, he said. Its questionable for governance. The new call for a vote on term limits comes days after a Cook County judge dealt a blow to another item on the governors turnaround agenda: legislative redistricting reform. A judge ruled Wednesday that a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would take the power to draw boundaries away from lawmakers is unconstitutional on the similar grounds to Rauners earlier effort on term limits. The Illinois Supreme Court has agreed to hear a direct appeal of that decision. If lawmakers approve a measure asking voters to enact term limits, it wouldnt appear on the ballot until the 2018 election. INDIANAPOLIS Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb was selected Tuesday to replace Gov. Mike Pence on the ballot as the Republican nominee for Indiana governor. The 22-member Republican State Central Committee picked never has won an election, following more than three hours of secret interviews with the four candidates and debate among committee members. Holcomb beamed as his appointment was announced to reporters and vowed to hit the campaign trail immediately with Election Day less than four months away. This year ... has taken many twists and turns, but Im ready to answer this next call, Holcomb said. We cannot, cannot and (this is) the reason I am running cannot allow our state to slip and drift and go backwards. Holcomb pledged, if elected, to maintain Pences focus on economic development, community development and quality state services. We will continue to balance budgets, we will continue to right-size our tax code, we will continue to invest in education, in infrastructure and work every day to make Indiana the best place to live, work, play and stay, Holcomb said. He shrugged off Pences repeated conflicts with Glenda Ritz, the Democratic state superintendent of public instruction, by declaring that hes willing to work with anyone who wants to make sure that every kid in Indiana has access to the best education available. On social issues, which have been an overriding concern for Pence often to his political detriment Holcomb indicated hes satisfied with the states current balance between religious liberty and its limited anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Hoosiers. He declined to adopt the social issues truce that once was proclaimed by his former boss, Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, and suggested he will not interfere with the Republican-controlled General Assembly if lawmakers propose new restrictions on abortion, immigration and other hot-button issues. Well play it as it comes to my desk should I be honored to be the next governor of this state, Holcomb said. The former top aide to Daniels and U.S. Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., and past state GOP chairman, is having a heck of a year. Six months ago, Holcomb was running third in a three-way Republican primary for U.S. Senate until Pence appointed him to replace Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann, who had resigned to become president of Ivy Tech Community College. Then last week, at the Republican National Convention, Holcomb officially nominated Pence for vice president of the United States, alongside Donald Trump, creating a gubernatorial ballot vacancy that he now will fill. Indiana Republican Chairman Jeff Cardwell refused to say how the state central committee came to its decision among Holcomb, U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita, a Munster native, U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks, and state Sen. Jim Tomes. Unofficial reports suggest the final vote was extremely close between Holcomb and Brooks, and at least two ballots were required before Holcomb reached a majority. In any case, Brooks and Rokita insisted they are united behind Holcombs candidacy for governor. I love Eric Holcomb. Im going to support him. Its going to be a great race. We are unified, because we cannot go backwards as a state, Rokita said. The same Republican committee is set to meet Monday to select Holcombs running mate. Among the possible candidates is LaPorte Mayor Blair Milo, who strongly supported Holcombs bids for U.S. Senate and lieutenant governor, and is a Navy veteran like Holcomb. Both Rokita and Brooks said they are not interested in becoming lieutenant governor, and instead will participate in an upcoming caucus in their congressional districts to regain their ballot slots for re-election to the U.S. House. John Gregg, the Democratic nominee for governor, said having the Pence-endorsed Holcomb as his opponent doesnt change his campaigns focus. For too many Hoosier families, wages arent keeping up and the good paying jobs we are losing arent being replaced, Gregg said. Eric Holcomb wholeheartedly embraced the failed approach that embarrassed our state, cost us jobs and has left the middle class behind. My economic plan sets our state on a new path forward, one that puts jobs and the middle class first. On day one of its convention in Philadelphia, Democrats tried to unite behind their presumptive nominee, with Bernie Sanders in particular having to sell Hillary Clinton to his faithful supporters. The entire day, he had mixed results. Courtney Gross filed the following report. Working hard to get his supporters behind his former opponent, Bernie Sanders spoke out forcefully at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night, repeatedly praising Hillary Clinton by name and trying to make sure that the cheering would be louder than any boos. "By these measures, any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States," Sanders said. His pleas came on the heels of another email scandal for Democrats. Emails leaked over the weekend had suggested leaders at the Democratic National Committee favored Clinton over Sanders during the primary. Throughout the first day of the convention, some of Sanders' supporters made their displeasure quite clear. They first booed Sanders at a speech in the afternoon. "We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine," Sanders said during that speech, a remark that was met with boos. They then razzed the comedienne Sarah Silverman, a Sanders supporter, as she praised Hillary Clinton on the main stage, eventually prompting this reaction: "To the Bernie or bust people, you are being ridiculous," Silverman said. Sanders had urged his supporters not to boo or walk out during the night's speeches. When he took the stage, he was cheered for minutes before beginning his remarks, bringing some attendees to tears. While he had the mic, he said the two campaigns had come together to make a progressive platform. "To all of our supporters, here and around the country, I hope you take enormous pride in the historical accomplishments we have achieved," he said. As Sanders was speaking, Donald Trump tweeted that is was sad to see him "abandon his revolution." PHILADELPHIA (AP) Taking on the role of devoted political spouse, former President Bill Clinton declared his wife Hillary Clinton an impassioned "change-maker," serving as character witness for her on the night she triumphantly became the first woman nominated for president. "She's been worth every single year she's put into making people's lives better," he said of his partner of more than 40 years and the Democratic Party's new standard-bearer in the race for the White House. For a man more accustomed to delivering policy-packed stem-winders, Clinton's deeply personal address underscored the historic night for Democrats, and the nation. If she wins in November, the Clintons would also be the first married couple to each serve as president. FULL COVERAGE: 2016 Democratic National Convention Photos from Bernie or Bust Protest | Bernie Delegates Take Over Media Tent | The Clinton Marriage | She will take on Donald Trump, who won the Republican nomination a week ago. Trump, who campaigned Tuesday in North Carolina, mocked the former president's speech in advance, calling him "over-rated." Referring to Trump, though not by name, Clinton said there are real and affordable solutions to problems facing the nation but "we won't get to them if America makes the wrong choice." The former president traced his relationship with his wife back more than 40 years, recalling in great detail the first time he spotted her on campus and the impact she had on pushing him into politics. "Hillary opened my eyes to a whole new world of public service by private citizens," he said, addressing a convention hall packed to the rafters with delegates listening raptly. He closed the second night of the Democratic convention, a jubilant celebration of Hillary Clinton's formal nomination for president. In an important move for party unity, her primary rival Bernie Sanders helped make it official when the roll call got to his home state of Vermont, prompting delegates to erupt in cheers. It was a striking parallel to the role Clinton played eight years ago when she stepped to the microphone on the convention floor in Denver in support of her former rival, Barack Obama. This time, Clinton shattered the glass ceiling she couldn't crack in 2008. She leads a party still grappling with divisions. Moments after Clinton claimed the nomination, a group of Sanders supporters left the convention and headed to a media tent to protest what they said was their being shut out of the party. At the same time, protesters who had spent the day marching in the hot sun began facing off with police. Trump cheered the disruptions from the campaign trail. In North Carolina, he told a convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars that, "our politicians have totally failed you." Indeed, Clinton's long political resume secretary of state, senator, first lady has sometimes seemed an odd fit for an electorate deeply frustrated with Washington and eager to rally around unconventional candidates like Trump and Sanders. Many voters have questions about her character and trustworthiness, suggesting her years in power give her the impression she can play by different rules. President Clinton spoke after three hours of testimonials from lawmakers, advocates, celebrities and citizens who argued otherwise. Each took the stage to vouch for Clinton's commitment to working on health care, children's issues and gun control. "Hillary Clinton has the passion and understanding to support grieving mothers," said Sybrina Fulton, whose son Trayvon Martin was killed in 2012. "She has the courage to lead the fight for commonsense gun legislation." The significant time devoted to the character testimonials underscored the campaign's concerns about how voters view Clinton. Public polls consistently show that a majority of Americans don't believe she is honest and trustworthy. That perception that was reinforced after the FBI director's scathing assessment of her controversial email use as secretary of state, even though the Justice Department did not pursue charges. President Clinton complicated the email controversy last month when he met privately with Attorney General Loretta Lynch in the midst of the FBI investigation. Republicans cast the meeting as a sign that the Clintons play by different rules, while Democrats bemoaned that at the very least, it left that impression. The former president has campaigned frequently for his wife during the White House race, but mostly in smaller cities and towns, part of an effort by the campaign to keep him in a more behind-the-scenes role. His convention address was his highest profile appearance of the c Clinton's landmark achievement saturated the roll call with emotion and symbols of women's long struggle to break through political barriers. Jerry Emmett, a 102-year-old woman born before women had the right to vote, cast the ballots for Arizona.ampaign. Martha McKenna, a Clinton delegate from Maryland, said the night felt like a celebration for Sanders' campaign as well as Clinton's. She added, "The idea that I'm going to be here when the first woman president is nominated is overwhelming." The Democratic convention drew the party's biggest stars to sweltering Philadelphia for the week-long event. On Monday night, first lady Michelle Obama made an impassioned case for Clinton as the only candidate in the presidential race worthy of being a role model for the nation's children. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will speak Wednesday, along with Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, Clinton's new running mate. Shortly after Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel killed 84 people by driving a truck through the crowd gathered on Nices seafront, Frances president, Francois Hollande, announced he would ask Parliament to extend for another three months the state of emergency declared immediately after the Paris terrorist attacks last November. This was an abrupt reversal for Mr. Hollande, who had planned to lift the current state of emergency this week. But with presidential elections in France less than a year away, politicians on the right leapt to accuse Mr. Hollandes Socialist government of failing to do enough to protect French citizens. They insisted on more. On Thursday, Parliament, in addition to extending the state of emergency for six months, added measures to expand already broad police powers of search and detention, like increasing pretrial detention periods for children; allowing searches without the approval of a judge; and authorizing the police to seize data from computers and mobile phones, and to search luggage and vehicles without judicial approval. These changes will do nothing to help France fight terrorism it already has sweeping counterterrorism laws and may do permanent damage to the very things the Islamic State wishes to destroy: Frances democratic freedoms and its social cohesion. Cool off under the heat dome with Ice Fantasy, a new Chinese drama with The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones in its DNA. Watch former President Bill Clinton speak at the Democratic National Convention. Or punk out with the Sex Pistols. Whats Streaming ICE FANTASY on DramaFever. Need a fire-and-ice fix during the Game of Thrones off-season? Check out this romantic new Chinese drama and brush up on your Mandarin about a young prince (Feng Shao Feng) who reluctantly ascends the throne of the Empire of Snow after a vicious battle leaves much of his family dead. The turmoil prompts his half brother (Ma Tian Yu) to assume leadership of the Fire Tribe, the empires mortal enemy. Then the prince loses the woman he loves because she (Victoria Song) is a commoner, while a royal daughter (Zhang Meng) spells danger for the tribes new ruler. Dan Hennah, a production designer on The Lord of the Rings, created the sets for this wonderland of a series based on Guo Jingmings best seller City of Fantasy. Pixomondo, who worked on The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones, conjured the special effects, including mystical beasts. With English subtitles. Whats on TV The vast gulf between the candidates spending isnt likely to shrink much, according to the Trump campaigns national finance chairman, Steven Mnuchin. I think this is a very different campaign, starting with the fact that Donald has a broader following than just the traditional Republican Party, Mnuchin told me. We dont think its necessary to spend the kind of money on ads that the Clinton campaign is spending. And Donald doesnt think we need 900 people on the campaign staff. But Dowd argues that the Trump campaign could use some discipline and focus to actually say, here are the eight states everyone in this building ought to be focused on. Mnuchin scoffs at so narrow a projection. Donald is saying hes not taking New York and California off the table those are not states Hillary should assume she will win, he says. There are states where hes within five or 10 [percentage points], where traditionally theres been a much wider gap. Id say we think there are more like 15 battleground states. I think hes doing extremely well in New Jersey, better than most Republicans have done. And I think he can win New Jersey. Obviously it would be an extraordinary thing if he won California or New York if he could win either of those, the election would be over. Donalds appeal is so widespread that there is tremendous crossover potential like never before. Of late, the Trump campaign has taken steps to demonstrate that it knows the difference between a 17-candidate primary brawl and a general-election contest. It has added pollsters, communications advisers, Teleprompters and, in Mike Pence, a reassuringly predictable running mate. But his operation remains not just small but devoid of traditional campaign hierarchy. Although Paul Manafort has cemented his role as the campaigns primary strategist, Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner maintains an ad hoc portfolio de facto adviser, speechwriter and gatekeeper that is as broad as his political experience is limited. For more than a month now, the Trump operation has lacked an actual campaign manager, and a senior adviser says that there are no plans to replace the previous one, Corey Lewandowski. Trump receives advice from Manafort and Kushner, but also occasionally from media personalities, and at times seems to give equal weight to all of them. When I spoke to Obamas 2012 campaign manager, Jim Messina, on the phone just after he landed in Philadelphia to attend this weeks Democratic convention, he seemed confident that Trumps operation was too small to succeed. Look, if you dont follow him on Twitter, youre missing one of the best tech lessons of a generation, he said. He just won an entire primary based on social media. But organization matters. The average swing voter needs to be touched eight to 10 times, and swing voters arent on Twitter. Republicans have lost five of the last six presidential elections, and the one they won 2004 was because they built a machine and blew out the roof on turnout. Then again, Messina conceded, he could be wrong. Just a month ago, he worked on the Remain campaign lobbying to keep Britain in the European Union. Instead, British voters opted to Brexit, and Trump gloated on Twitter: They took their country back, just like we will take America back. No games! Probably the most remarkable and unexpected thing about the Bernie-or-busters showing at this weeks Democratic National Convention so far has been their ability to make a noisy, newsy spectacle out of the dullest of convention rituals, the delegation breakfast. Normally, these events are a forgettable festival of Sterno-heated sausages, sweaty carafes and hangover gas. A veteran politician with a national profile will probably hit between 12 and 16 of them in a week like this, if you assume about three or four a day multiplied by four convention mornings. I once asked Tom Harkin, then a Democratic senator from Iowa, whether any of the dozens of convention breakfasts he had attended in his career were memorable for any reason. He shrugged and simply said, Blurrrr. But the delegation breakfasts have provided the backdrops for some of the Bernie-or-busters most insistent booing and haranguing of speakers in the early days of this sweltering confab. What the Bernie Sanders holdouts have figured out is that in this day and age of Twitter, iPhones, Everywhere Breaking News these breakfasts have become a place for the silenced (as the tape stuck over their mouths declares) to be heard. Yesterday, their target was Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose heckling at her home-state delegation breakfast made for a raucous final scene in the embattled tenure of the now-former Democratic National Committee chairwoman. This morning, the Elvis of democratic socialism himself confronted a wall of boos and thumbs-down from fans insisting his candidacy was still alive. Sanders was making the rounds of delegation breakfasts, a grueling regimen that would make any politician cranky and a cranky politician (like Bernie) even crankier. At the California breakfast at a Marriott ballroom, he reinforced the message he conveyed in his speech last night but that many of his supporters were still not buying: that they should support Hillary Clinton. Boo. Hell, no. Never Hillary. The Berners held up a big We want Bernie sign. It has become an open question how much Bernie wants them back at this point; he has seemed rather exasperated. But true belief is true belief. My colleague Michael Shear pointed out a woman dressed as Princess Leia holding up a sign that said Bernie is our only hope. Daniel Barrera, described by prosecutors as one of Colombias most notorious, prolific and violent drug traffickers, was sentenced on Monday to 35 years in prison and fined $10 million for running a brutal cocaine syndicate that spanned four continents and lasted more than a decade. Simply put, the scope of the offenses here is staggering, said Judge Gregory H. Woods of Federal District Court in Manhattan. Its hard to exaggerate the quantity of narcotics for which he was responsible. Prosecutors estimated that Mr. Barrera, known as El Loco, earned tens of millions of dollars of profits annually running an operation that produced thousands of kilograms of cocaine each year. The illicit enterprise involved a network of terrorist groups that supplied the raw ingredients for creating powdered cocaine, protected Mr. Barreras facilities for processing the cocaine and eased the transport of the drugs out of the country. At the time of his indictment, Loretta E. Lynch, then the United States attorney in Brooklyn, said Mr. Barreras organization was marked by its worldwide reach, ruthless criminality and staggering profits. When Ubers chief executive was sued last winter in an antitrust case, the companys general counsel, Salle Yoo, wanted a bit of intelligence on the opposition. She wrote to Ubers chief security officer, asking, Could we find out a little more about this plaintiff? Uber ultimately hired an outside agency, Ergo, to begin investigating the background of the plaintiff, a conservationist associated with Yale University named Spencer R. Meyer. Ergo told Uber that it would start digging and would ultimately prepare a report that highlights all derogatories. Ahram Online highlights five plays from the second week of the National Theatre Festival, an event that runs until 8 August The 9th edition of the National Theatre Festival attracts large audiences interested exploring offerings from a variety of troupes: independent creators, university theatre groups, troupes operating under the culture palaces scattered across the governorates, private theatres and others. Ahram Online picks a few plays not to miss during the second week (27 July 2 August) of the festival. Scroll to the end of the recommendations to see the festivals complete programme. Aqnat El-Malaeka (The Masks of Angels) Produced by the Palace of Culture Qasr Al-Tawzoq in Alexandria, directed by Refaat Abdel-Alim, the play won an award from the local theatre club. The play was written by Notis Peryalis in 1959. In the intro, the playwright clarifies that he wrote the play to bring justice to the frustrated and disadvantaged. Masks of Angles tells the story of two Greek mask vendors Margo, a former prostitute, and Petro a crippled beggar who meet and talk about their memories and misfortunes. Each sells four masks symbolizing an angel, happiness, sadness and death. Tuesday 26 and Wednesday 27 July, 7pm Zaki Tolaimat Hall in Taliaa Theatre, Attaba, Cairo Written and directed by Ahmed Abu Kheneiger and directed by Mohamed Fouad, Mohamed Shahat and Ossama Abdel Raouf, the play Al-Leil Ghona wa Al-Dahab is staged by a local troupe of the southern border town of Shalateen on the Red Sea. This is the first time for Shalatine to participate in the National Theatre Festival. During the 45-minute performance, the creators introduce us to the folkloric and traditional cultural elements of the region, presented through a simple story. Sunday 31 July and Monday 1 August El-Midan Open Air Theatre, Cairo Opera grounds, Zamalek, Cairo Kawalees (Backstage) Written and directed by Dalia Basiouny and staged by Sabeel troupe, the performance evokes the secrets of the theater scene in Egypt. Through the story of an independent theatre company, the play seeks to highlight the many problems experienced by actors and theatre owners, whether they are social issues faced particularily by women performers, or the hardships that come with the theatrical production process. In the background of the play, the troupe also describes the political situation in Egypt in recent years and its impact on the art scene. Wednesday 27 July and Thursday 28 July 9pm Hanager Theatre, Cairo Opera Grounds, Zamalek, Cairo Inbox In his new play titled Inbox, playwright and theatre professor Sameh Maran takes us behind the screens of laptops and computers. As actors relive on stage the world of Facebook, they reveal its effects on todays society. Moving continuously between the reality and illusion, and discovering the details of this unique hyperreality, we meet the real and fictional characters from Facebook pages and groups. The play was produced by Al-Ghad and directed by Galal Osman featuring the renowned actor Hassan Abdel-Rehim as the protagonist. Friday 29 Saturday 30 July, 7pm El Ghad Theatre, near Agouza Circus and El-Ballon Theatre, Agouza, Cairo Saheb El-Somow (His Highness) His Highness, directed by Mohamed Morsi, is produced by the Cultural Development Fund as part of the art project Theatre in All Spaces. The project aims at infusing the historical locations that are also used as artistic centres with theatre performances. Within the same initiative, last year the Fund presented a play titled Al-Amir (The Prince) which centred around the life of Prince Taz from the Mameluk era, and was performed at Amir Taz Palace. In its turn, Saheb El-Somow follows the story of Sultan Qansuh El-Ghouri, the last Mameluk sultan. Thursday 28 and Friday 29 July, 9pm El-Ghoury Complex, El-Azhar Complete programme of the 9th National Theatre Festival: 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 Search Keywords: Short link: 1. Democrats formally nominated Hillary Clinton for president in a roll-call vote of delegates on the floor of the Democratic National Convention, making her the first female candidate to represent a major American political party. Senator Bernie Sanders, with his wife, Jane, sitting by his side, teared up. The speakers tonight were hoping to address Mrs. Clintons low favorability ratings by portraying her as an appealing leader. They included Jimmy Carter (by video), women who have lost children to gun violence, the former Attorney General Eric Holder, Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood, Lena Dunham and, finally, Bill Clinton, who described Mrs. Clinton as the best darn change-maker I have ever known. Tom R. Tyler, now a professor at Yale Law School, first framed the idea in his 1990 book, Why People Obey the Law. He wrote that people obey the law not because they fear punishment, as commonly thought. They obey it largely because they believe the authorities have the right to tell them what to do; in other words, the law has legitimacy. And what gives the law legitimacy is how people are treated. What people actually pay attention to when assessing behavior of people in legal authority is not how good they are in reducing crime or whether they get a ticket, said Tracey Meares, also a professor at Yale Law School and a leading researcher of, and advocate for, procedural justice. What people care about is how theyre treated and how theyre treated in particular ways. All the research converges on the same basic points, said David M. Kennedy, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. The National Network for Safe Communities, which he co-founded and directs, runs the pilot project that includes Stockton. People want to believe whatever action police and authorities are taking is being done for good reason that its equitable and fair rather than personal and prejudicial. They want to be treated with respect, he said. And they want to have a chance to speak their piece. But you dont learn this in the first instance from social science literature, Kennedy continued. You learn it from your mother. Although it was not reflected in the Republican convention that nominated Donald J. Trump for president last week, Americans have been experiencing a rare moment of bipartisan convergence on the toxicity of maximum-force policing. Procedural justice has become one of the most important strategies for changing direction perhaps the most important. In 2014, the White House convened the Presidents Task Force on 21st Century Policing, which published its report (pdf) last year. Its first recommendation: build trust and legitimacy, using procedural justice. Now many major police forces, including New York Citys, are starting to use it. I talked to Sammy Nunez, the executive director of Fathers and Families of San Joaquin, and to Pastor Curtis Smith of People and Congregations Together. Both groups work with Stocktons most vulnerable communities among other things, to track police abuse and campaign against it. Both men said that while problems remain, Jones was doing a good job as police chief. Its a big change for me to say this, said Nunez, but I believe we do have an opportunity to actually change the department in Stockton. Jones began to try new approaches. The force began to work closely with clergy and the community. Then Jones learned about procedural justice. The Chicago Police Department had developed a course and was training all its officers. Stockton sent three officers to take the course, and then three more. We expect the presidents wife to be a devoted spouse and mother and nothing short of the embodiment of American womanhood. Lady Bird Johnson summed up these impossible expectations best when she said Americans wanted their first lady to be a showman and a salesman, a clotheshorse and a publicity sounding board, with a good heart, and a real interest in the folks. The reason Mr. Clinton would be exempt from such impossibly high standards is partly that he is who he is, but it is also that he is a man. He exists outside of all norms: His gender and his membership in the elite fraternity of ex-presidents (he is one of only four former presidents alive) are inextricable. A male spouse who wasnt a former president would have been a way to tiptoe into this uncharted territory, said Gahl Hodges Burt, social secretary under Ronald Reagan, instead of blasting our way into it. The role will shift to accommodate Mr. Clinton, both as a man but perhaps more important as a former president. There is little doubt that Mr. Clinton will be involved in policy and have an important role to play while he is in the White House. Mrs. Clinton has said she will give him the heavy assignment of revitalizing the economy. Mr. Clintons exceptionalism would make it easier for the next man married to a president to continue his career while living in the White House something no first lady has done. For example, Senator Elizabeth Warrens husband, Bruce Mann, who is a law professor at Harvard, would have a far easier time continuing to teach if his wife ever became president because of the way Mr. Clinton could transform what it means for a man to be married to the leader of the free world. A HUNDRED years ago this week, Georgia Ann Robinson joined the Los Angeles police force, making her, to the best of anyones knowledge, the nations first African-American policewoman. At first she worked for no pay, with no official uniform, and, as The Los Angeles Times reported, her duties were limited to caring for delinquents of her own race. Before entering law enforcement, she had founded civic groups for African-American women, and pressured homes for unwed mothers and orphanages to accept African-Americans. In my present position I expect to accomplish much good, she told the newspaper. In fact, so much has already been done through this new office that there is no end to its possibilities. In 1916, police departments were changing because citizens demanded it. Officer Robinson and her pioneering sisters insisted that adding women to the police force would make for better, safer policing. A century later, theyve been proved right. Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992 with an agenda that drove the Democratic Party decisively toward the center. Now, as Hillary Clinton comes to Philadelphia to collect her own nomination, historys pendulum, with a shove from Bernie Sanders, is pressing her party back the other way. They are hardly satisfied, but supporters of Senator Sanderss failed campaign for president have scored some victories in framing what is the most left-leaning party platform in many years. Party platforms are usually exercises in posturing and euphemism. They aim to herd rival factions into a common statement of principles easily forgotten by November. But just as Republicans defined themselves starkly a week ago as a far more extreme and intolerant party, the Democratic platform shows a party transforming itself on social, economic and political issues. During the 1992 campaign, then-Gov. Bill Clinton, seeking to present himself as tough on crime, flew home to Arkansas to preside over the execution of a mentally disabled man, Ricky Ray Rector, who had fatally shot a police officer. In 2016, Hillary Clintons Democrats are for the first time flatly condemning capital punishment as a criminal justice policy. On a recent summer evening in Berlin, the artist Rirkrit Tiravanija and the former model and self-trained cook Dalad Kambhu, both from Thailand, were cooking in the professional kitchen and HQ of Freunde von Freunden, a Berlin-based design blog. The two friends were happily tweaking Thai recipes by replacing traditional ingredients with local staples to make dishes like jungle venison curry, a green papaya salad that used kohlrabi rather than young papaya and a glass noodle salad with smoked trout. They ended up with about a dozen dishes for their two-week-long pop-up restaurant that opened today at Dottir, a Nordic dining room in the Mitte borough of Berlin. They will take the place of Dottirs young chef Victoria Eliasdottir (the half sister of the likewise culinarily inclined artist Olafur Eliasson, who has his own cookbook); she will be cooking in Hong Kong for the next two weeks. Food has been a consistent medium for Tiravanija since his first solo show at Manhattans Paula Allen Gallery in the early 90s, when he served pad thai to guests. Sharing meals with strangers in unexpected venues has been a way for the collaborative artist to express an important theme in his work: the communal. In 2010, he came out with a cookbook called Just Smile Dont Talk, which doubled as a catalog of dishes served at his installations. Im not a chef, the artist says. Im interested in using food as a platform for other ideas, for different interactions and relationships. PHILADELPHIA Bernie Sanders likes to boast that he has ignited a fiery movement. At times on Monday, it seemed that even he had lost control of how it burns. On the opening day of the Democratic National Convention, the ragtag coalition of liberals that Mr. Sanders is supposed to deliver to Hillary Clinton heckled from the convention floor. They marched in the streets. They protested outside the arena. They refused to go quietly. Im booing now, and Im going to boo for four more days, said Jody Feldman, a delegate from California, as she sat on the convention floor. Sanders followers erupted into expletive-laden taunts of the partys chairwoman, issued acid denunciations of Mrs. Clinton and, most vividly of all, offered a lukewarm and recalcitrant reaction to his prime-time endorsement of Mrs. Clinton. Bernie for president! a few shouted. We are so disappointed! a woman yelled. Bill Clintons change pitch Former President Bill Clintons speech offered an intimate tribute to Mrs. Clinton, describing for a rapt audience their courtship and early marriage and their upward climb together in politics. His most telling praise, however, was about Mrs. Clintons grit as a reformer. With Donald J. Trump casting the 2016 election as a choice between drastic change and an unhappy status quo, the former president insisted that Mrs. Clinton, rather than her opponent, is best prepared to wrest change from an unwilling system. Mr. Clinton asked voters to cast aside the cartoon version of Mrs. Clinton promoted by Republicans, and urged them to think optimistically about the future. Life in the real world is complicated, and real change is hard, he said. Of his wife, Mr. Clinton said, She is the best darn change-maker I have ever known. Democrats have long aimed to beat Mr. Trump by discrediting his promises of change. But Mr. Clintons speech confirmed that Democrats know they must do more than that, and that they must compete hard for the votes of people who want Washington overhauled from top to bottom. Whites against blacks and Latinos, Ms. Warren said. Christians against Muslims and Jews. Straight against gay. Everyone against immigrants. Seeking to calm supporters of Mr. Sanders who have not decided to back Mrs. Clinton, she portrayed Mr. Trump as the embodiment of the 1 percent who fueled the Occupy Wall Street movement and drew young voters to the Vermont senators message. When we turn on each other, we cant unite to fight back against a rigged system, she said. Liberals protested on Friday when Mrs. Clinton announced that Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia would be her running mate, passing over Ms. Warren and other candidates, including Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez, who shared Ms. Warrens liberal positions on strong regulation of Wall Street and opposing trade deals. A network of Sanders delegates sent out an email on Monday titled A Kaine mutiny? that denounced Mrs. Clinton for not putting Ms. Warren or another liberal on the ticket. WASHINGTON As Donald J. Trump prepared to take his beauty pageant to Moscow in 2013, he relished the participation of one man above all: President Vladimir V. Putin. Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow if so, will he become my new best friend? he wrote on Twitter. Mr. Putin did not attend in fact, Mr. Trump has yet to meet him, by all accounts but his admiration for the Russian leader, shared by some of his campaign advisers, is clear. It stems from an affinity for brash, swaggering politics and business dealings in Russia that has overturned decades of Republican orthodoxy about Russia and its leader as an aggressive authoritarian whose values are inimical to those of the United States. Hillary Clinton, by contrast, has a far more contentious history with Mr. Putin, despite the reset President Obamas administration pursued with Russia during her tenure as secretary of state. In 2011, Mr. Putin accused her of instigating the huge protests that erupted after parliamentary elections marred by fraud. She set the tone for some actors in our country and gave them a signal, he said darkly, going on to accuse her of engaging in active work, an old term of art for covert K.G.B. operations. When she compared Russias intervention in Ukraine to Hitlers moves in the 1930s, he said she had never been too graceful with her statements. Tonight at the El-Manestirly Palace overlooking the El-Roda Nile Corniche, UNESCO will celebrate the Egyptian winner of "The Photo and Story" contest held in 2015 as part of the global #Unite4Heritage campaign. Ahmed Ebeid, general supervisor of the minister of antiquities office, told Ahram Online that the competition, which attracted more than 10,000 entries from all over the world, involved participants posting on social media their most inspiring photos of cultural heritage and explain why they matter to them. The entries were narrowed down to the top 20, Ebeid said, and from there the winner was selected. The winning photo, captured by Egyptian photographer Mohamed Abdel-Gawad, shows traditional moulid dancing in Egypt. The photo shows a woman dancing at El-Sayeda Fatimah El-Nabawiyas moulid in Cairos El-Batiniya to a song by one of the local bands. Women frequently dance and sing during moulids. Moulid celebrations involve rituals dating back to ancient Egypt, such as receiving the blessings of awliya, henna and lighting candles. They are also an important place for Egyptians from urban and rural areas and of different sects and ages to gather, dance, celebrate and listen to chants and prayers. The ceremony will be attended by Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany and Egypt's UNESCO candidate Moushira Khatab as well as top governmental officials. Search Keywords: Short link: PHILADELPHIA They began as adversaries, with Michelle Obama often fuming about what she viewed as brutal, unfair attacks by Hillary Clinton on her husband during the 2008 primary campaign. Those grievances have faded, though the two have never spent much time in each others company they and their husbands last dined together at the White House in 2013 and friends do not describe the two women as close. But their fates have become increasingly intertwined. Much of President Obamas legacy rests on America choosing Mrs. Clinton as his successor. And for that to happen, Mrs. Clinton will need the kind of public affirmation from the White House that no one can convey more forcefully than the first lady. Delivering one of the most stirring speeches Monday night at the Democratic National Convention before a sea of delegates waving purple signs that read Michelle, she urged the party to do for Mrs. Clinton what they did for her husband. When Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia ordered the blanket restoration of voting rights to more than 200,000 former felons in April, Republicans who control the state legislature swiftly filed a petition in court, accusing him of exceeding his authority. And when the states highest court agreed on Friday, voiding the governors declaration in a biting ruling, that briefly seemed to put the matter to rest. But Mr. McAuliffe is not giving up so easily. And the decision may have laid the groundwork for more legal and political maneuvering in a state that both presidential campaigns regard as a major prize. After the Virginia Supreme Court said on Friday that the governor could restore voting rights only on a case-by-case basis, Mr. McAuliffe said he would forgo his blanket declaration and, instead, individually sign about 206,000 restoration orders for ex-felons, including 13,000 who had registered after his April order. I cannot accept that this overtly political action could succeed in suppressing the voices of many thousands of men and women, the governor said in a statement. The struggle for civil rights has always been a long and difficult one, but the fight goes on. BOGOTA, Colombia Health officials here on Monday declared an end to the Zika epidemic in Colombia, the first time a South American country had turned the tide on the disease, they said. The Zika virus, which causes an illness related to dengue and is spread by mosquitoes, has infected roughly 100,000 Colombians and is linked to more than 20 cases of microcephaly, a birth defect that causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads. While health officials said the number of new infections had decreased to 600 new cases a week, they added that they still expected a limited number of new cases in the coming months as the disease wound down. The period the disease will remain local still hasnt been determined, Fernando Ruiz Gomez, the deputy health minister, said at a news conference. There may eventually be extended outbreaks. DHAKA, Bangladesh A supervisor at a textile mill was arrested after a 9-year-old worker died over the weekend, and the boys father accused the supervisor and others of killing him because he had protested against abuse. Ismail Hossain, the officer in charge of the Rupganj police station in Narayanganj District in central Bangladesh, said that Nazmul Huda, an assistant administrative officer at the Zobeda Textile Mill, had been taken into custody for questioning, and that others would also be detained as the inquiry continued. The father of the boy, Ratan Barman, 70, filed a complaint on Sunday with the Rupganj police, accusing supervisors at the mill of killing his son by pumping air from a compressor machine into his rectum. The boy, Sagar Barman, had been working at the mill for seven months, along with his parents, his father said in a telephone interview on Monday. DHAKA, Bangladesh Nine militants were killed in a gun battle with police officers who had surrounded their hide-out in Dhaka, the capital, the authorities said Tuesday. Another militant was wounded and in custody. A spokesman for the Dhaka metropolitan police, Masudur Rahman, said the police had learned of the hide-out, a house in the Kallyanpur neighborhood. Under the cover of darkness, a large force mobilized around the house, including a bomb squad and other specialized units, Mr. Rahman said. About 5 a.m., gunmen in the house opened fire and threw explosives. The police returned fire, leading to an hourlong gun battle, Mr. Rahman said. The bomb squad later entered the house to dispose of any explosives. Mr. Rahman did not identify the gunmen. We are not sure what group these militants belong to, he added. NEW DELHI Chinese state-run news media on Monday criticized a decision by the Indian government to not renew the visas of three Chinese journalists from Xinhua, the state news agency. An editorial in The Global Times, a Chinese tabloid known for its hawkish views, said the decision sent a negative message and was a possible retaliation for Chinas opposition to having India join the Nuclear Suppliers Group last month. We should take actions to display our reaction, it said. We should at least make a few Indians feel Chinese visas are also not easy to get. Reports of the visa denials surfaced on Saturday. The editorial identified two of the journalists as Wu Qiang, the Xinhua bureau chief in New Delhi, and Tang Lu, the chief correspondent at the Mumbai bureau. An article on Monday in the newspaper The Hindu, in New Delhi, identified the third as She Yonggang, a reporter in the Mumbai bureau. All three must leave India by the end of the month, The Hindu said. PARIS Day in and day out for the past 18 months, two or three French soldiers have been posted by the doors of a small synagogue on the Rue St.-Lazare in central Paris, where they have become as much of a fixture as the bar on the corner and the place selling rotisserie meats across the street. If people hadnt noticed the synagogue before, they certainly do now. Rabbi Salomon Malka tells the story of his grandson who was lost in the neighborhood until he spotted the soldiers. Now I know where you are, he told his grandfather. Code named Sentinelle, the deployment of 10,000 French military personnel at potential targets around the country, which was ordered after terrorist attacks in and around Paris in January last year, was already under review when a 31-year-old Tunisian drove a 19-ton truck into crowds in Nice on Bastille Day, killing 84 people. In the aftermath of the attack in Nice, a plan to reduce the number of soldiers assigned to Sentinelle to 7,000 was immediately shelved, and Frances state of emergency, scheduled to expire on July 26, was extended again for six months. STOCKHOLM Thorbjorn Falldin, a pipe-smoking sheep farmer who became prime minister in Swedens first non-Socialist government after World War II, died on Saturday at his farm in Ramvik, in northeastern Sweden. He was 90. His death was announced by the Center Party, which he once led. As head of the agrarian Center Party, Mr. Falldin led a center-right coalition to power in 1976, ending 40 years of Social Democratic government. Two years later, his coalition collapsed amid disputes over nuclear power, which Mr. Falldins party strongly opposed. He was reappointed prime minister after the 1979 election, serving until 1982, when his government was defeated by Olof Palmes Social Democrats. Mr. Falldins calm, quiet manner contrasted with Mr. Palmes wit and sometimes aggressive debating style. The two dominated Swedish politics until Mr. Falldin resigned as party leader in 1985 after a dismal election result. Mr. Palme was assassinated a year later, a killing that remains unsolved. MADRID A woman infected with the Zika virus gave birth on Monday to a baby with microcephaly in Barcelona, in what is probably the first case of its kind in Europe, according to the hospital where the infant was born. The woman is believed to have caught the Zika virus while traveling in Latin America, the region where Zika has spread most widely. She was not identified, and her exact itinerary was not disclosed. The microcephaly, a brain-damaging disorder, was diagnosed after the baby was born with a head circumference that is smaller than the norm, Dr. Felix Castillo, the neonatal chief at the Vall dHebron hospital in Barcelona, said at a news conference on Monday. The doctor did not specify how much the circumference was below normal measurements, but for microcephaly to be diagnosed, a babys head needs to be significantly smaller than normal. BAGHDAD The Islamic States latest suicide attack in Baghdad, which killed nearly 330 people, foreshadows a long and bloody insurgency, according to American diplomats and commanders, as the group reverts to its guerrilla roots because its territory is shrinking in Iraq and Syria. Already, officials say, many Islamic State fighters who lost battles in Falluja and Ramadi have blended back into the largely Sunni civilian populations there, and are biding their time to conduct future terrorist attacks. And with few signs that the beleaguered Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, can effectively forge an inclusive partnership with Sunnis, many senior American officials warn that a military victory in the last urban stronghold of Mosul, which they hope will be achieved by the end of the year, will not be sufficient to stave off a lethal insurgency. To defeat an insurgency, Iraq would need to move forward on its political and economic reform agenda, Lt. Gen. Sean B. MacFarland, the top American commander in Iraq, said in an email. A return to guerrilla warfare in Iraq, while the United States and its allies still combat the Islamic State in Syria, would pose one of the first major challenges to the next American president, who will take office in January. American public opinion has so far supported President Obamas deployment of roughly 5,000 troops to help Iraq reclaim territory it lost to the Islamic State in 2014, but it is not clear whether political support would dissipate in a sustained effort to fight insurgents. After the plane crash in late October, Russia cancelled civilian flights to Egypt after all 224 people on board were killed Egypt's Aviation Minister Sherif Fathy and the country's public prosecutor Nabil Sadek flew to Moscow on Tuesday to provide Russian officials with the latest findings on Cairo's investigation into the crash of a Russian airliner in Sinai last October. State news agency MENA said the chief of an investigation committee probing the plane crash, Ayman Al-Moqadem, is among the Egyptian delegation. Fathy paid a multi-day visit to Russia last week during which he briefed Russian officials on recent security measures adopted at Egyptian airports and looked into the resumption of Russian civilian flights to Egypt, halted over security concerns in the wake of the October 2015 plane disaster which killed all 224 on board. Egypt said it has fulfilled 85 percent of Russias demands regarding aviation safety and is now expecting steps to be taken by the Russian side towards resuming flights. Russia said a bomb destroyed the airliner, and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi eluded in February that the plane was downed due to "terrorism." Egyptian tourism, a pillar of the economy and a key source of hard currency, has taken a blow since the plane crash, with the Red Sea Resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, from which the passenger jet had departed, believed to be suffering the most. The Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the October crash, saying it had smuggled a bomb on board. Search Keywords: Short link: Born into a wealthy German Jewish family, Florine Stettheimer had no need to sell her art during her lifetime, and the way her paintings were distributed after her death in 1944, at 72 with most going to institutions has meant that few of her important works have been offered for sale since. Painted in 1920, Asbury Park South is set at a restricted beach in New Jersey. Most of the figures are African-American, but Stettheimer included herself and white friends like Marcel Duchamp and the writer and critic Carl Van Vechten in the crowded and lively scene. A central figure in the Harlem Renaissance, with close ties to Fisk, Van Vechten suggested to Stettheimers sister Ettie that the painting be donated to the university, just as he encouraged OKeeffes larger gift from her husbands collection of modernist art. Both gifts were made in 1949. But 61 years later, Fisk was in crisis. Ms. OLeary approached Mr. Albano, whose gallery represents many African-American artists, about brokering the sale of one of Rockwell Kents Greenland paintings and Asbury Park South. I wish I had just bought it, Mr. Albano said of the Stettheimer. (Ms. OLeary, who retired from Fisk in 2013, said she was not well enough to speak and suggested The Times call her back but she did not return the subsequent calls.) The exact amount Fisk made is unclear, since none of the former or current administrators contacted would discuss the sale. But a former curator at Crystal Bridges, which passed on buying the Stettheimer from Gerald Peters, the dealer who acquired it through Mr. Albano, recalled that it was offered to the museum for a low six-figure amount. Stettheimers auction record is $375,000, set in January at Skinner in Boston for a floral still life, but not a major work like Asbury Park South. If an important Stettheimer came to auction, said Elizabeth Beaman, head of the American art department at Christies, I think we would see an unbelievable response. But Mr. Simons lullaby felt like more than crowd control. The protests were noisy, but the first nights planned program had a distinctly different tone from the Republican convention, which exhorted the faithful to embrace their anger. (Guilty! Lock her up!) It was going after different emotions and using different rhetoric: tear-jerking rather than raging grief, mockery rather than prosecution. The tone seemed to be part of a larger argument, a kind of recasting of Republican attacks against political correctness. In Mr. Trumps worldview and his conventions, mealy-mouthed P.C. Democrats refused to call things the way they saw them and name dangers for what they are. The Democrats argued back that the way you say things is a mark of character. Footage of Mr. Trump mocking a disabled reporter played over and over. Speakers repeatedly called out Mr. Trumps insult-comic campaign, calling him a bad role model for children. You cant love your country, said Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, without loving your countrymen and countrywomen. Michelle Obama, the first of three headline speakers, was emotional, valedictory and hopeful as she described watching her daughters two beautiful, intelligent black young women playing with their dogs on the lawn of the White House, which was built by slaves. She rebutted Mr. Trump without using his name, playing against his slogan, Make America Great Again: This, right now, is the greatest country on earth. But the internet, mass transportation and globalization destroy everything. If you do not believe this change is about brand, experience and disruption, know that you can buy razors directly from Dorco, presumably the same brands sold by Dollar Shave Club. Now it is possible to leverage technology and transportation systems that never existed before. Dollar Shave Club used Amazon Web Services, a cloud computing service started by the online retailing giant in 2006 that encouraged a proliferation of e-commerce companies. Manufacturing now is just as much a line item as is a distribution apparatus. This is the business strategy of many other disruptive companies, including the home-sharing site Airbnb, which upends the idea of needing a hotel. The ride-hailing start-up Uber could never have been possible without a number of inventions including the internet, the smartphone and, most important, location tracking technology, enabling anyone to be a driver. It means that the riches will be split among the select few who have the education and skills to be at the heart of the new decentralized company. The Korean razor company that manufactures Dollar Shaves razors will not be sharing the $1 billion deal price with its employees. It was not even an investor (the investors here will also profit, with returns of up to 20 times their investments). This is a scary time for a company. But the state of play creates the potential for mass and creative disruption. Again, in the past, challenging Gillette would have been impossible. It would have required billions of dollars to invest in a distribution network and advertising to get the product on store shelves. No more. Now you can get free advertising through YouTube, easy distribution through the mail system and low-cost sales through the internet. Factories and distribution can be bolted on throughout the globe. This means all companies should be fearful, but not all is lost. In this world, intellectual property and unique assets like Facebooks more than one billion users become paramount. Unique technology means you have a right that cannot be taken away or commoditized. Gillette sued Dollar Shave Club for patent infringement, but it is hard to patent a simple razor. David Pakman at Venrock, one of the initial lead investors in Dollar Shave Club, noted its uniqueness on a blog post celebrating the sale. Mr. Pakman said that most subscription services fail, particularly because Amazon looms. But Dollar Shave Club was able to build brand loyalty and fight off Gillette, which was dependent on distribution through retail outlets. LONDON Deutsche Borse said on Tuesday that it had gathered enough support from shareholders for its merger with the London Stock Exchange Group to proceed. The approval of the transaction came just over a month after Britons voted to leave the European Union, which cast doubt about the viability of the deal. The outcome of the June 23 vote has raised questions among investors about whether the London Stock Exchange-Deutsche Borse merger can be completed under its current terms, and in particular whether the combined entitys holding company should be based in Britain, as planned. Two weeks ago, the exchanges agreed to reduce the threshold for investors in Deutsche Borse to agree to exchange their stock in the German exchange for shares in a new holding company for the combined entity. A private equity firm is suing Goldman Sachs, accusing it in court documents filed on Tuesday of improperly trying to curry favor with the scandal-plagued prime minister of Malaysia. The firm, Primus Pacific Partners, said Goldman provided bad advice to one of its clients to help the financial fortunes of the Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak. The prime minister and people close to him have been previously accused by American authorities of embezzling billions of dollars from a Malaysian state investment fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB. Last week, American authorities moved to seize multiple luxury properties that were believed to have been bought with the embezzled money by people close to Mr. Razak. Some of the money also went to fund the Hollywood film The Wolf of Wall Street and to buy valuable paintings by Van Gogh and Monet, authorities said. LAFAYETTE, Calif. It was only two years ago that Elroy Holtmann spent about $20,000 on a home solar array to help cover the costs of charging his new electric car. With the savings on his monthly electric bills, he figured the investment would pay for itself in about a dozen years. But then the utilities regulators changed the equation. As a result, Pacific Gas & Electric recently did away with the rate schedule chosen by Mr. Holtmann, a retired electrical engineer, and many other solar customers in this part of California. The new schedule will make them pay much more for the electricity they draw from the grid in the evening, while paying those customers less for the excess power their solar panels send back to the grid on sunny summer days. As a result, Mr. Holtmanns solar setup may never pay for itself. Theyve taken any possibility for payback away, he said with resignation, looking up at the roof of his 1970s ranch-style house in this suburb a short drive east of Berkeley. The paradox is playing out around the country. Even as policy makers at the federal and state levels promote clean energy to fight global warming, the economics of electricity can often be at odds with those goals. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, the largest regional trade accord in history, would set new terms for trade and business investment among the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations a far-flung group with an annual gross domestic product of nearly $28 trillion that represents roughly 40 percent of global G.D.P. and one-third of world trade. But the agreement, which requires the approval of Congress, has become a flashpoint in the United States presidential campaign, opposed by the nominees of both major parties as a symbol of failed globalism and the loss of United States jobs overseas. The product of years of negotiations that culminated last fall with the endorsement of the 12 nations trade chiefs, the Trans-Pacific Partnership was a hallmark victory for President Obama, who has pushed for a foreign policy pivot to the Pacific rim. It seeks to bind Pacific nations closer through lower tariffs while also serving as a buttress against Chinas growing regional influence. An independent study said that it would raise incomes and exports in the United States, but not jobs over all. Many Democrats in Congress have voiced skepticism over the benefits. And opposition to the pact became a popular rallying cry in stump speeches by both Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee, who has promised to tear up the deal, and Bernie Sanders, who argued during the Democratic presidential primaries that it would lead to a loss of jobs and competitive wages. Youree Dell Harris, whose Jamaican-accented character Miss Cleo was the face (and voice) of ubiquitous psychic hotline commercials in the late 1990s before the company was fined by the federal government, died on Tuesday in Palm Beach, Fla. She was 53. The cause was cancer, William J. Cone Jr., a lawyer for Ms. Harris, said in a statement. TMZ, which originally reported her death, said she had died in a hospice center. Ms. Harris first entered the pop culture zeitgeist in the late 90s, arriving with a humble set of tools built for late-night TV audiences: a deck of tarot cards, a skeptical facial expression and an oft-uttered catchphrase Call me now! As a vividly colored background swirled or candles burned, Miss Cleo sat and provided counsel to often-sheepish callers. Many of the commercials followed a cheating-lover theme: Who asked you to go out of town, the stupid young one or the married one? she asked a caller in one commercial. Headliner Paowalla In the five years since he closed Tabla, the chef Floyd Cardoz has cooked at North End Grill and opened Bombay Canteen in Mumbai, India. Now he is back in New York with a restaurant he describes as more Indian than Tabla. Its focus is the food of Goa on Indias west coast, where he grew up, which is notable for its Portuguese influence. Take the name: Pao are Portuguese buns, usually made with cheese. Here they look like elongated Parker House rolls and can be ordered with fillings, in the street-food style called wada pao. Much of the menu adapts local seasonal ingredients to Indian dishes, like fried squash blossom pakoras. Pork dishes include ribs vindaloo and a sausage and bacon biryani that suggests fried rice. Theres a bread bar in the middle of the simply decorated room, which Mr. Cardoz said is meant to suggest his grandmothers house. It had a yellow front, just like we have here, he said: 195 Spring Street (Sullivan Street), 212-235-1098, paowalla.com. Opening Atoboy Heres an updated Korean banchan-style restaurant that offers a tasting menu of small plates with a choice of rice. The chef, Junghyun Park, was chef de cuisine at Jungsik in TriBeCa. His wife, Ellia, will manage the restaurant. (Opens Thursday): 43 East 28th Street, 646-476-7217, atoboynyc.com. Casa Apicii Casey Lane, who owns the Tasting Kitchen in Los Angeles, comes to New York with local partners to serve seasonal Italian dishes. The executive chef is Adam Nadel, who was at Lincoln Ristorante. The restaurant takes over the townhouse space that was the Lion, with vintage accents and a double-height ceiling. The name refers to the followers of an early Roman gourmand and writer. (Thursday): 62 West Ninth Street (Avenue of the Americas), 212-353-8400, casaapicii.com. City Vineyard City Winery opens a year-round indoor-outdoor bar and restaurant with wines and beers on tap and cocktails. In addition to seating on the ground floor, theres a 4,000-square-foot rooftop cafe. Hummus, oysters, lobster rolls and arancini are among the drink-friendly options. (Friday): Hudson River Pier 26, 233 West Street (Hubert Street), Hudson River Park, 646-655-8350, cityvineyardnyc.com. The first night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday was, rightly, not about the clothes: It was about trying to unify the party, rise above the opponent and so on, as many of my colleagues have described. Which is not to say it lacked a fashion statement or two. The loudest may have come early in the evening, courtesy of a video starring the economist Austan Goolsbee and the actor Ken Jeong in which Mr. Goolsbee reveals to Mr. Jeong that most of the Donald Trump-branded clothing line is not Made in the U.S.A., but rather in Bangladesh, China, Mexico and other countries (facts that seem to undermine Mr. Trumps assertion of America First but also seem to have had no impact on his supporters). But the most pointed came, not surprisingly, from Michelle Obama. Not that you would have known it at first. Like her speech, in which she castigated Mr. Trump without ever saying his name, her dress spoke volumes while appearing, at first glance, to be entirely subdued. Cobalt blue silk crepe, with cap sleeves, a flared skirt and a neat waist, it was by the designer Christian Siriano, and it pretty much matched the backdrop, playing down Mrs. Obamas appearance and playing to the patriotic theme, especially when contrasted with the bright red jacket that Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts wore during her speech. (Beijing) A group led by the chief executive of Chinese online search giant Baidu Inc. withdrew its US$2.8 billion bid for the company's video unit iQiyi after failing to agree on final terms, killing a deal that was criticized by a New York hedge fund as grossly undervalued. Baidu said on July 25 that it received a letter from the buyer group revoking the proposal to acquire all outstanding shares of the popular video-streaming service, saying the two sides could not agree on the deal structure and price. The buyer group was being led by Baidu Chairman Robin Li and iQiyi CEO Gong Yu. In February the group offered to buy 80.5 percent of the online video service, a move that would improve Baidu's profits by shedding the loss-making unit while also setting up iQiyi for potential IPO on the Chinese mainland. The withdrawal came after hedge fund Acacia Partners LP, which owns more than US$400 million in Baidu shares, issued an open letter earlier this month complaining the sale price was "far too low." It cited a valuation by Shanghai-based research firm 86Research saying iQiyi was worth US$5.8 billion, more than twice the US$2.8 billion offered by Li's group. The video company is comparable in size to rival Youku Tudou, which was valued at US$4.8 billion when it was bought by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. last year. Baidu told Caixin the consortium's decision to drop the bid was unrelated to Acacia's open letter. Insider deals like Li's bid for iQiyi are common in China, and often benefit major stakeholders at the expense of smaller investors. Similar complaints of undervalued bid prices have been made by minority investors of many of the dozens of US-listed Chinese companies now attempting to privatize and relist in China at higher values. Baidu has been diversifying beyond its bread-and-butter search business into areas like driverless cars, artificial intelligence and online-to-offline (O2O) services. It launched iQiyi with U.S. private-equity firm Providence Equity Partners LLC in 2010 to tap into the burgeoning online video industry that is now challenging traditional broadcasters. But the service has not turned a profit due to fierce competition. A sale of iQiyi might help Baidu's profits in the short-term, but Acacia said such a strategy was shortsighted. It added "the short-term improvement to Baidu's earnings produced by iQiyi's sale is trivial compared to the potential long-term value created for Baidu shareholders of owning iQiyi within Baidu." China's online video market will almost triple to 90 billion yuan (US$13.4 billion) by 2018, according to Internet information provider iResearch. The market was led by iQiyi with 526 million users in 2015, followed by Youku Tudou and Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s video arm. Investors have complained in the past that Baidu's many loss-making units, including iQiyi, as well as its O2O take-out dining service and group buying site, are all losing big money and undermine the company's profits. Most of those businesses compete with well-funded rival services operated by China's other big Internet companies. (Rewritten by Chen Na) Every summer as Americans slather on sun lotion, they are reminded of the dangers of skin cancer. This year alone, more than 76,000 people in the United States will develop melanoma, the deadliest form of the disease, and about 10,000 will die from it. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said on Tuesday, however, that there still isnt enough evidence to recommend total-body screenings and declined to take a position on the practice. In short, the 17-member independent panel said that it could not determine after reviewing thousands of research papers and studies from around the world whether the benefits of screening outweighed the potential for harm if unnecessary or excessive procedures were performed. One particular study that the task force relied upon concluded that full-body screenings only reduced deaths from melanoma by one death per 100,000 people screened. Two years after the actor Harrison Ford was badly injured on the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens by a hydraulic door on the Millennium Falcon starship, a Disney subsidiary has accepted responsibility for workplace safety breaches at Pinewood Studios, near London. On Tuesday, the subsidiary, Foodles Productions a name chosen to hide the filming from Star Wars fanatics pleaded guilty to two criminal charges in a British court. This was a foreseeable incident, Britains Health and Safety Executive office, the workplace safety regulator, said in a statement announcing the pleas. In its own statement on Tuesday, Foodles said it had cooperated with the investigation, adding, The safety of our cast and crew was always a top priority throughout the production. By any measure, the de Blasio administration has blown this out of the water, said Alicia Glen, the deputy mayor for housing and economic development. Were ahead of schedule and slightly under budget. Affordable for whom, of course, remains a question. Some housing activists have complained that the administration has not done enough to create homes for the poorest New Yorkers, focusing instead on moderate-income residents. But according to the citys housing commissioner, Vicki Been, one-quarter of the affordable units created during Mr. de Blasios administration are reserved for tenants making less than $31,100 for an individual and $40,800 for a family of three; of those, half are for tenants who earn less than $19,050 for an individual or $24,500 for a family of three. Nearly a quarter of affordable apartments preserved with city financing last year were in two Manhattan projects, both devoted to middle-class tenants: Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, on the East Side between 14th and 23rd Streets, and the Riverton Houses, in East Harlem. To the Editor: The headline from your July 22 editorial, Kashmir in Crisis could not sum up the situation in Kashmir better. You noted that The unrest is a major setback for peace in the long-troubled region claimed by both India and Pakistan. We would like to stress that the urgent goal of finding the solution of the current situation in Kashmir cannot be left to India and Pakistan to achieve. It requires the engagement of a multilateral effort on American initiative. We believe that it would be a striking demonstration of the global statesmanship which the United States can summon in the cause of peace, international security and human betterment. Here is why: Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, said on July 22: We are waiting for the day when Kashmir becomes part of Pakistan. Shushma Swaraj, minister of external affairs in India, said on July 23: The whole of Jammu and of Kashmir belongs to India. Kashmiris wish to emphasize that their land is not real estate that can be parceled out between India and Pakistan, but the home of a nation with a history far more compact and coherent than Indias and far longer than Pakistans. No settlement of their status will hold unless it is explicitly based on the principles of self-determination and gives the people the choice whether to join India or Pakistan or remain independent. GHULAM-NABI FAI Fairfax, Va. The author is the secretary general of World Kashmir Awareness. To the Editor: Re Democrats Fight to Pull Together on an Unruly Day (front page, July 26): While the disruptive behavior of some particularly vocal Bernie Sanders supporters at the Democratic National Convention has been childish, there is an important warning lurking within those choruses of boos. The Republican Party dismissed its angry fringe, only to find that fringe much larger than it suspected. That the Republican elites were surprised by Donald Trumps ascendancy only underscores how out of touch they were with the concerns of much of their constituency. The Democrats should not make the same mistake. Regardless of Bernie Sanderss own calls for unity, there are thousands of very angry progressives feeling that their desires and fears are not being addressed. If Hillary Clinton and the Democratic establishment are wise, they will find as many ways as possible to reassure this demographic, rather than (as WikiLeaks reveals) trying to suppress them. Dolly the Sheep started her life in a test tube in 1996 and died just six years later. When she was only a year old, there was evidence that she might have been physically older. At five, she was diagnosed with osteoarthritis. And at six, a CT scan revealed tumors growing in her lungs, likely the result of an incurable infectious disease. Rather than let Dolly suffer, the vets put her to rest. Poor Dolly never stood a chance. Or did she? Meet Daisy, Diana, Debbie and Denise. Theyre old ladies. Theyre very healthy for their age, said Kevin Sinclair, a developmental biologist who, with his colleagues at the University of Nottingham in Britain, has answered a longstanding question about whether cloned animals like Dolly age prematurely. In a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications, the scientists tested these four sheep, created from the same cell line as Dolly, and nine other cloned sheep, finding that, contrary to popular belief, cloned animals appear to age normally. The technology industry is constantly dealing with the push and pull of two opposing forces: ascendant stars counterbalanced by declining players. Both of these forces are on display this week. One of those dynamics the fading competitor has already played out. On Monday, Yahoo announced, finally, that its core internet business would be sold to Verizon for $4.83 billion in cash, writes Vindu Goel. The deal, due to close early next year, caps a long downward spiral for the onetime pioneering web portal, which at its height in 2000 was valued at $125 billion. Image Done in partly by indecision over what kind of company it truly was a search company or a digital content company Yahoo instead became something of a mishmash. Marissa Mayer, who was appointed chief executive of Yahoo four years ago and whose fate with the company now is unclear, was ultimately unable to reverse the internet firms faltering growth. Americans arent very enthusiastic about using science to enhance the human species. Instead, many find it rather creepy. A new survey by the Pew Research Center shows a profound distrust of scientists, a suspicion about claims of progress and a real discomfort with the idea of meddling with human abilities. The survey also opens a window into the publics views on what it means to be a human being and what values are important. Pew asked about three techniques that might emerge in the future but that are not even close to ready now: using gene editing to protect babies from disease, implanting chips in the brain to improve peoples ability to think, and transfusing synthetic blood that would enhance performance by increasing speed, strength and endurance. The public was unenthusiastic on all counts, even about protecting babies from disease. Most, at least seven out of 10, thought scientists would rush to offer each of the technologies before they had adequately tested or even understood them. When a homeless teenager named Fred Barley rode a bicycle some 50 miles into Barnesville, Ga., this month, he set up a small tent in a clump of bushes near Gordon State College, where he had registered. When two police officers found him, he told them he wanted to get a job before classes started. Two police officers checked the 19-year-old into the Sun Inn nearby for a couple of nights, paying out of their own pockets, the motels owner, Ansuya Pandya, said in an interview. That good deed caught the attention of another resident, Casey Blaney, who fired up a GoFundMe page and paid to extend Mr. Barleys stay. I thought that helping find him a job, giving him some money and paying for his motel was going to be it for me, Ms. Blaney wrote on the Success for Fred campaign page. I just couldnt stop thinking about how lonely and rejected he must feel. Mr. Barleys story, reported in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSBTV, an Atlanta TV station, was spun out onto news sites across the internet, and had all the ingredients of a viral feel-good tale. Mr. Barley told reporters he had ridden his younger brothers bike six hours into town from Conyers, Ga., but little else is known about his life. A committee of top Indiana Republicans picked a new candidate for governor on Tuesday, filling a sudden gap left when Gov. Mike Pence was tapped as Donald J. Trumps running mate. Eric Holcomb, the lieutenant governor, was chosen by the committee, 22 local and state Republican leaders who voted on the issue during a private meeting in Indianapolis. The departure from the race of Mr. Pence, who was until this month seeking re-election this fall, had opened a frenzy of jockeying for his job in a state where Republicans control the capital. Four people sought to be picked, setting off a cascade of uncertainty and chaos about other races around the state. Some vying to be governor dropped out of other races only days ago, and those not selected say they will seek to return to the races they left. The committees selection, Mr. Holcomb, will in November face John Gregg, a Democrat, who lost a close race against Mr. Pence in 2012. Mr. Holcomb, appointed to that post by Mr. Pence this year, said in a news conference after Tuesdays announcement that he intended to campaign on an agenda that included economic and community development. Weve got work to do, he said of the campaign ahead. An intense battle for control of China's largest, publicly traded developer China Vanke Co. has exposed flaws in the nation's financial supervision system that demand urgent attention. Vanke management and Baoneng Group, a property and insurance conglomerate, have been battling since July 2015 over stock purchases through which Baoneng rose to become Vanke's largest shareholder. Against management's wishes, Baoneng over the course of several months gradually raised its stake to more than 25 percent. Vanke countered by suspending the trading of all its shares on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange a suspension that began last December and ended in early July. Vanke management put more pressure on Baoneng July 19 by asking the stock exchange and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to investigate the stakeholder's insurance subsidiary Shenzhen Jushenghua Co. for allegedly breaking securities laws and failing to meet information disclosure requirements. The bitter controversy has focused on Baoneng's funding arrangement. Many want to know exactly where the money has been coming from, but so far neither Baoneng nor government regulators have straightforwardly revealed Baoneng's funding course. Baoneng apparently used a complex financing mechanism that included high-interest-rate borrowing. Knowledgeable sources told Caixin that separate investigations by the CSRC, China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) and China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) found no irregularities tied to Baoneng's means of fundraising. But market players and analysts have expressed skepticism. The Vanke-Baoneng saga has underscored the need to reform financial system supervision in the face of increasingly complex and risky fundraising strategies. China's current supervisory framework divides tasks among the central bank, CSRC, CBRC, CIRC and other agencies. But the system has been losing its effectiveness against the backdrop of increasingly interconnected financial services, products and related businesses. Indeed, it could be argued that China's traditional, fragmented regulatory framework has now become too weak for such a heavy load of responsibility. Some experts have sharply criticized the supervision framework, arguing that it actually compounds risks and, whenever a problem surfaces, lets officials at one agency pass the buck to their counterparts at another. The framework's key problem is a lack of information sharing and coordination, especially among CSRC, CBRC and CIRC officials. Another weakness is that the framework's laws and regulations are fragmented, challenging each agency's ability to enforce the rules. What's needed is a mechanism that encourages supervisory bodies to make decisions and plot out implementation steps based on consensus. Until that mechanism is in place, however, the combined effects of weak coordination, redundancies and regulatory gaps will continue bogging down the system. Today, each supervisory agency is obsessed with guarding its oversight "territory," and exerting its authority within that territory's boundaries. It's thus natural for resistance to flare whenever an outsider tries to intervene or reforms are proposed that threaten to undermine an agency's power. And while protecting territory, a supervisor may become intentionally blind to some risks and simply unaware of others. China's 2015 stock market selloff shed light on the supervisory system's failures, including its inability to adequately monitor risks associated with margin trading, peer-to-peer lending websites, and the stock-buying spree that triggered the Vanke-Baoneng controversy. Policymakers have already come to realize the huge risks associated with the current framework of financial supervision. Thus, a reform plan has been high on the central government's agenda since late 2015. Moreover, an urgent call for reform was included in the government's 13th Five-Year Plan for the period that began this year. The market responded cheerfully to the initial reform signals from Beijing. Since then, the reform campaign has fallen short of expectations. Moods can rise again, though, if the promised reforms are implemented and put into practice. Changing the supervisory framework will undoubtedly be difficult and costly. To do the job properly, the government will need legislation with a clear focus that spells out well-defined responsibilities and puts the right people in charge. Further delays to the reform process will increase risk, especially since China's economy is continuing to decelerate. Government officials must now choose whether to retain the traditional, fragmented supervisory framework or actively reform the system to suit the market climate. Officials and scholars are still debating the future of financial regulation. Some support a unified monetary and financial system supervisory body that gives the leading role to the central bank. Others favor a system that relies on several agencies with specific duties. A robust discussion of all options, pros and cons should be encouraged. But even more important is that the discussion lead to a firm decision, as soon as possible. The first step toward decisive reform, regardless of which plan is chosen for future oversight, should lead to a cross-market supervisory system. For instance, unified oversight by the central bank of short- and medium-term bank notes, corporate bonds and enterprise bonds would close the current loopholes that have been caused by fragmented supervision. Trading in these products is currently monitored by the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors, CSRC and the National Development and Reform Commission. Some have argued that it would be more cost-effective to improve cross-agency coordination rather than implement wide-ranging reforms of the supervision system. But that kind of change has been tried and failed before. Systemic risks have mounted as the financial industry becomes more complex. Some of the world's major economies reformed their financial supervision systems after the 2008 global financial crisis. None found a panacea. But their experiences point to the importance of risk prevention from a macroeconomic perspective, and the need to coordinate prudent macroeconomic management with monetary policies and cross-market supervision. Resolving the Vanke-Baoneng controversy will require cross-sector coordination as part of an improved framework for financial supervision. And the saga itself should serve as a wake-up call for reform against the backdrop of an increasingly risky investment climate. Reforming the system can no longer wait. Hu Shuli is the editor-in-chief of Caixin Media HOUSTON A judge dismissed Tuesday the last of the charges against two anti-abortion activists who covertly recorded a video of themselves meeting with Planned Parenthood officials, effectively ending a case that had drawn national attention from both opponents and supporters of abortion rights. The activists, David R. Daleiden, 27, and Sandra S. Merritt, 63, were indicted in January by a grand jury here in Harris County on charges of tampering with government records for using fake identification and offering to buy fetal tissue at a meeting at which Planned Parenthood officials explained how they provided the tissue to medical researchers. Their video, one of several widely circulated on the internet, said Planned Parenthood was guilty of selling fetal remains, accusations Planned Parenthood has denied. After the videos surfaced last year, Dan Patrick, the Texas lieutenant governor, a Republican, asked the Republican district attorney in Harris County to open a criminal investigation into Planned Parenthood in August. A grand jury ended up indicting Mr. Daleiden and Ms. Merritt, and taking no action against Planned Parenthood. At a hearing in the case on Tuesday, prosecutors with the Harris County district attorneys office asked the judge to dismiss the charges, citing a potential legal issue with the grand jurys term, which had been extended during the investigation. Mr. Daleidens lawyers had argued that the grand jury did not have the authority to indict Mr. Daleiden and Ms. Merritt during the extension, and prosecutors appeared to have agreed. WASHINGTON Six weeks before the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks published an archive of hacked Democratic National Committee emails ahead of the Democratic convention, the organizations founder, Julian Assange, foreshadowed the release and made it clear that he hoped to harm Hillary Clintons chances of winning the presidency. Mr. Assanges remarks in a June 12 interview underscored that for all the drama of the discord that the disclosures have sown among supporters of Bernie Sanders and of the unproven speculation that the Russian government provided the hacked data to WikiLeaks in order to help Donald J. Trump the disclosures are also the latest chapter in the long-running tale of Mr. Assanges battles with the Obama administration. In the interview, Mr. Assange told a British television host, Robert Peston of the ITV network, that his organization had obtained emails related to Hillary Clinton which are pending publication, which he pronounced great. He also suggested that he not only opposed her candidacy on policy grounds, but also saw her as a personal foe. Im so proud to be a Democrat tonight, Mr. Insalaco said, and so proud that we can call this woman one of our own. Mrs. Clintons primary rival, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, played a symbolic role in hopes of unifying the party behind her. After Vermont arranged to go last in the roll call, Mr. Sanders joined its delegation to roars of Bernie, Bernie and called on the party to rally behind Mrs. Clinton. But it was the appearance of Mr. Clinton, shortly after 10 p.m., that stirred the crowd most, as he set out to share a more personal side of the sometimes-reserved former secretary of state. Unspooling memories of their 45 years together, Mr. Clinton used warm and detailed anecdotes to argue that the couples political enemies had spent decades creating a cartoon of his wife that he was now determined to puncture. Mrs. Clinton is among the most unpopular presidential nominees in modern history, and the former president appealed to the audience to see through the political attacks on her. PHILADELPHIA On issues and ideology, the center of American politics has shrunk drastically. The vast majority of voters know which side theyre on. On temperament and character, however, the electorate isnt nearly as polarized. Many voters who diverge on party alignment agree broadly on threshold qualities they want in a president: steadiness, judgment, maturity, understanding, honesty. It is in that personal center where Hillary Clinton aims to defeat Donald J. Trump and where her new running mate, Tim Kaine, may be able to help. Mrs. Clinton begins with a huge obstacle. The broad public regard she enjoyed in her nonpartisan role as secretary of state has melted in the heat of the campaign. WASHINGTON When Michelle Obama said in her prime-time televised address to the Democratic National Convention on Monday night that the White House had been built by slaves, she was citing a little-discussed fact that dramatized her own African-American familys place in history. But the first ladys assertion was met with derision and disbelief by some, who questioned whether it was true and said her choice to mention it amounted to an attempt to divide the country along racial lines. There is little dispute among historians that slaves had a role in the building of the White House. According to the White House Historical Associations website, planners had initially intended to import workers from Europe but had trouble recruiting any, so they turned to African-American enslaved and free to provide the bulk of labor that built the White House, the United States Capitol, and other early government buildings. Republicans said the Obama administration should be focused on tackling what they called a border crisis. The expansion would instead essentially open an entirely new channel for Central American families escaping endemic violence to gain legal entrance to the United States. What we have seen is that our current efforts to date have been insufficient to address the number of people who may have legitimate refugee claims, and there are insufficient pathways for those people to present their claims, Amy Pope, a deputy Homeland Security adviser, said in a conference call to announce the changes. She said the revisions showed a recognition that the criteria is too narrow to meet the categories of people who we believe would qualify under our refugee laws, but they just dont have the mechanism to apply. The White House also said it had reached an agreement with Costa Rica to serve as a temporary host site for the most vulnerable migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras while they wait to be processed as refugees. These migrants would first undergo security screening in their home countries. Costa Rica would accept up to 200 people at a time among those who are found to be eligible, for periods of six months. The United Nations high commissioner for refugees has agreed to set up an unusual process to review requests from potential refugees while they are in their home countries. Administration officials also said they would begin reviewing applications from refugees in their home countries, a step they hoped would discourage people from making the dangerous trip to the United States border. Republicans said the expansion was the latest example of the White Houses misuse of its authority. Once again, the Obama administration has decided to blow wide open any small discretion it has in order to reward individuals who have no lawful presence in the United States with the ability to bring their family members here, Representative Robert W. Goodlatte, Republican of Virginia and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement. Rather than take the steps necessary to end the ongoing crisis at the border, the Obama administration perpetuates it by abusing a legal tool meant to be used sparingly to bring people to the United States and instead applying it to the masses in Central America. The Philadelphia Fire Department said that it did not keep specific numbers for heat-related illness but that it had made 41 contacts for first aid. Seventeen people were taken to medical facilities. The thunderstorm sent delegates and members of the media running for cover. The Uber tent, designed to more efficiently ferry conventiongoers between downtown and the arena, became a crowded impromptu shelter and evacuation hub as dripping guests waited patiently, and then tearfully impatiently, for their rides. With the subway stop closed, protesters had to dash to the next one. But when they got there, the line to buy tokens wrapped around the block as the rain continued to pour. (The subway station closest to the arena had reopened by Tuesday morning.) By contrast, the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last week went relatively smoothly. Walks from bus and car drop-off points were far shorter. Roads were traffic-free. Food was not hard to get. PHILADELPHIA The young man in the gray T-shirt grabbed a metal barricade outside the Wells Fargo Center on Monday afternoon and tried to haul himself over. Police officers on the other side pushed him back. Again, the man tried to cross the barrier, only to be pushed back a second time. On his last attempt, he succeeded, as the officers appeared to accept that he would get over the barricade. But then he was promptly handcuffed using plastic ties and led calmly away. Arrests and detentions during national political conventions have often spawned complaints that the police were too arbitrary in taking people into custody. But during this summers conventions, the police seem to be more restrained. WASHINGTON While serving stateside during the Vietnam War, David Cortright took to the streets in his uniform, on base and off, to pass out pamphlets describing atrocities committed by American troops and calling for an end to the fighting. It was not easy, he said. When I was in the Army and speaking out, the commanders didnt take it lightly. Nearly five decades later, Mr. Cortright is still protesting the Pentagons actions. For two years, he and other former antiwar demonstrators have been exhorting the Defense Department to correct what they call a rose-colored portrayal of the conflict on an extensive Pentagon website commemorating the wars 50th anniversary. Pentagon officials made a few small changes almost immediately after a committee formed by the activists met with them in 2014. But the activists and leading Vietnam War scholars say the revisions have done little to acknowledge the complexities and disagreements at the heart of the American memory of the war. LA VENTOSA, Mexico At night, Juan Pineda Lopez hears the hum of a wind turbine that churns 300 yards away from his adobe house. Sometimes he catches the stench of lubricant that spews down the turbines mast. Beyond that, Mr. Pineda said, the forest of turbines that has sprung up on the plains here in the southern state of Oaxaca in recent years barely affects him. And that is the problem. Eight years after Mexico embraced the fight against climate change, setting off a wind rush in Oaxacas Isthmus of Tehuantepec, people in poor, indigenous communities are divided over the benefits of the green revolution. Some are even turning wind projects away. More than 1,000 residents of Juchitan de Zaragoza, a mainly indigenous Zapotec city about 20 miles from Mr. Lopezs home in La Ventosa, have blocked plans to build one of Latin Americas biggest wind farms close to the city. (Beijing) - A former vice chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) of the ruling Communist Party of China was sentenced to life in jail by a military court for bribery, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on July 25. Guo Boxiong is the highest ranking military official to fall in the anti-graft campaign launched by the party's General Secretary Xi Jinping in late 2012. Guo, 74, was also stripped of his rank as an army general for taking kickbacks involving "an extremely huge amount of money," on his own or with accomplices, in return for using his influence to help associates secure promotions, Xinhua said citing sources from the military court. Guo was one of the two vice chairmans of the CMC who overlooked the daily operations of the Chinese military, one of the largest in the world, for eight years before he retired in late 2012. He was tried behind closed-doors because military secrets were involved, Xinhua said, but the news agency did not say when or where the trial was held. Guo was also a former member of the party's Politburo, its top decision-making body. He was expelled from the Communist Party at the start of the graft investigation in July last year and his case was handed over to military prosecutors immediately. But he was only charged by the military prosecutor's office on May 3, Xinhua reported. The court has confiscated all assets and proceeds deemed illegal, according to Xinhua, and Guo said he would not appeal the verdict. Xi's campaign to weed out corrupt officials has ensnared dozens of senior military personnel, including Xu Caihou, who also served alongside Guo as the other vice chairman of the CMC from 2007 to 2012. Xu died of bladder cancer while under investigation for bribery and misusing his position. The deputy head of the army's logistics department, Gu Junshan, was also charged with corruption, misuse of state funds and abuse of power and stripped of his rank. Anti-graft watchdogs found that he owned several properties, including a home in the central province of Henan, modeled after one of the imperial palaces, the Forbidden City, and decorated with gold artworks and statues. In a commentary published on July 25, the CPC mouthpiece People's Daily said Guo's verdict as another example highlighting the party's resolve to manage its cadre and the military strictly in accordance with its internal disciplinary rules and the country's law. "The military, which controls the gun, should be made less of a place for the corrupted to hide," the paper said. (Rewritten by Li Rongde) ANREN, China To many Chinese, Liu Wencai is the archetype of the despotic landlord from pre-Communist days, one who exploited his tenants, tortured those who fell behind on rent in a water dungeon and forced new mothers to breast-feed him as a longevity therapy. But his grandson Liu Xiaofei, 70, has spent the past two decades trying to prove that his grandfather was not only a good man, but actually aided the Communist forces in Sichuan Province. The ruling party has no integrity, so I have to tell the truth, Mr. Liu said in an interview. He said he was not seeking his grandfathers formal rehabilitation but simply trying to establish that the government fabricated stories to advance its political goals. By inciting hatred through propaganda, they turned humans into beasts, he said. I want to tell the truth so our nation wont repeat these mistakes. Her resignation was followed by that of one her top investigators, and the commission was forced to cancel its annual dinner after most employees decided to boycott. Image Simon Peh oversees the anticorruption agency. He demoted the head of the department overseeing an inquiry into the citys top official, and she later resigned. Credit... Alex Hofford/European Pressphoto Agency The commission, set up in 1974 to combat rampant corruption in what was then a British colony, became a model of independent law enforcement and helped earn Hong Kong a reputation for clean, efficient government. After Hong Kongs return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, it continued to operate under an arrangement known as one country, two systems, in which China promised the city a high degree of self-rule until 2047. A Defiant Tone: At the opening of Chinas Communist Party congress, President Xi Jinping At the opening of Chinas Communist Party congress, President Xi Jinping defended his hard-line reign , presenting himself as a leader focused on securing the countrys rise amid global threats. Moving Backward: A decade ago, many of Chinas political, business and intellectual elites hoped that Mr. Xi would usher in openness and reform. Today, some of them believe A decade ago, many of Chinas political, business and intellectual elites hoped that Mr. Xi would usher in openness and reform. Today, some of them believe he has created a totalitarian state Lonely at the Top: As Chinas most powerful female politician prepares for retirement, few other women can hope to As Chinas most powerful female politician prepares for retirement, few other women can hope to make it to the upper echelons of Chinese politics But people here are increasingly concerned that Chinese influence, especially under the uncompromising rule of President Xi Jinping, is already chipping away at the citys institutions, including the universities, the press and the police. Those concerns set off protests this year after several book publishers based in Hong Kong vanished, only to reappear weeks later in Chinese custody. In 2014, when Chinas legislature set election rules all but ensuring that only pro-Beijing candidates could run for Hong Kongs chief executive, tens of thousands of protesters paralyzed the city center for months. Although the anticorruption commission has proved independent enough to take down tycoons and top civil servants, Ms. Lis departure highlights how potentially vulnerable it may be to outside political influence, including from the mainland. The link to both, critics say, is Mr. Leung, a Beijing loyalist who has extraordinary power over the commission, enough to bend it to the mainlands will or shield himself from scrutiny should he be so inclined. Mr. Leung nominates the leader of the commission, as he did with Mr. Peh, who is then appointed by Chinas central government. HONG KONG Violent crime in Japan, like the deadly knife attack at a center for the disabled in a Tokyo suburb on Tuesday, is all the more shocking because of its rarity. The country is one of the safest in the world, where the murder rate, for example, has declined steadily for half a century. Researchers say several factors have contributed to that security. A 2013 United Nations study of global homicide rates pointed to decades of prosperity and relatively low economic inequality, strict gun laws, a tough criminal justice system with a good record of solving homicides, a postwar rejection of violence, and the social stigma connected to criminality as having all played a role. Last year, the number of crimes reported in Japan was the lowest since World War II, Kyodo News reported in January, citing the National Police Agency. The homicide rate in 2013 was 0.3 per 100,000 people, compared with 3.8 in the United States, according to data from the World Bank. Also in 2013, there were 13 gun murders in Japan, the National Police Agency said, while the United States had 8,454 firearm murders, the F.B.I. reported. But even though murders with multiple victims are uncommon in Japan, the country is not immune to them. Here are some of the mass killings in the country in recent decades. SYDNEY, Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced an investigation on Tuesday into the treatment of juvenile detainees in Australias far north, saying he was shocked and appalled by a news report that showed boys being stripped, sprayed with tear gas at close range and, in one case, shackled to a chair while forced to wear a hood. The report, broadcast on Monday night on Four Corners, a news program of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, documented abuses at a number of facilities in the Northern Territory, including the Don Dale childrens prison in the town of Berrimah, near the city of Darwin. That prison was closed in 2014, but previous inquiries into allegations of abuse there had not uncovered some of the details shown in the report, and some of the new video contradicted official accounts of past episodes. This is a shocking state of affairs, Mr. Turnbull said in an interview on ABC radio on Tuesday morning. Like all Australians, Ive been deeply shocked, shocked and appalled by the images of mistreatment of children at the Don Dale center. We will be establishing a royal commission into these events. A royal commission has the power to compel witnesses to give evidence. ST.-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, France Attendance was sparse at the 9 a.m. Mass on Tuesday at the Eglise St.-Etienne, a 17th-century church in a working-class town in Normandy. Many parishioners were on vacation; so was the parish priest. Mass was ending around 9:30 a.m. when two young men with knives burst in. They forced the auxiliary priest, the Rev. Jacques Hamel, 85, to kneel. When he resisted, they slit his throat. They held several worshipers and at least one nun hostage, while another nun escaped. Officers from a specialized police unit descended on the church. A short while later, officers shot the young men dead as they emerged from the church. The brutality in St.-Etienne-du-Rouvray, a suburb of Rouen in northern France, was the latest in a series of assaults that have left Europe stunned, fearful and angry. The Islamic State took responsibility for the killing. Two of its soldiers, it said, had attacked a church in response to the call to target Crusader coalition states. By killing a priest as he celebrated Mass, the group framed the assault as an act of religious war between Muslims and Christians. Whether it will be perceived by the French as a struggle between religions and cultures is less clear. For now, some French politicians seemed willing to take the bait and use the language of sectarian and cultural division. But the Roman Catholic Church, the French government and several professors said churches were, above all, a symbol of France, much like other iconic French milieus attacked by the Islamic militants, who also reject secular life. Still, before this week, many were inclined to put faith in Chancellor Angela Merkels exhortation that we can do this when it came to integrating the nearly one million migrants and refugees to whom she had opened the countrys doors. It is not clear that is the case any longer. It all appeared to be going pretty well for Merkel, but the situation has changed dramatically in 10 days between the Nice attack and Sundays suicide bomber in Ansbach, the daily Suddeutsche Zeitung wrote, referring to a rampage that killed 84 in Nice, France. The chancellor must once again fear that she will be punished by voters. Sensing Germans insecurity, Ms. Merkel has shifted to a more forceful tone. We will resolve this and do everything possible to protect the safety and freedom of all people in Germany, she said on Saturday. But the statement coming more than 17 hours after President Obama had offered his condolences for the Munich attack did little, it seemed, to blunt a wave of criticism that she and her administration had failed to get a handle on the refugee situation and the potential problems it had invited into the country. Like many people who enjoy their work, the Rev. Jacques Hamel did not want to stop. At 85, he was well past retirement age, but he kept in shape and kept on going baptizing infants, celebrating Mass and tending to parishioners in St.-Etienne-du-Rouvray, the working-class town in Normandy where he had spent much of his life. He could have retired at 75 years old, but seeing how few priests were around he decided to stay and work, to continue to be of service to people, up until it all ended, tragically, the Rev. Auguste Moanda-Phuati, the parish priest of the Eglise St.-Etienne, where Father Hamel worked as an auxiliary priest, said in a phone interview. He was loved by all. He was a little like a grandfather. We were happy when he was around and worried when we hadnt seen him in a while. Father Hamel was celebrating Mass on Tuesday morning when two men with knives entered the small church and slit his throat, an attack that horrified people across France and the world. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that the two assailants who were shot dead by the police were soldiers retaliating against the United States-led coalition fighting the group in Iraq and Syria. Pope John Paul II, born Karol Jozef Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland, and canonized in 2014, remains among the most venerated and beloved figures in his countrys history. World Youth Day, which is being held in Krakow and which takes place every two or three years, was begun by him in 1985. But the current popes more tolerant and inclusive language preaching a welcoming message to gays and refugees, for instance, and opening a way for divorced Catholics to receive the sacraments is sometimes at odds with the way the faith is taught and understood in Poland. We need to understand that the Polish Catholic Church, and a majority of Catholic Church clerics, are not so close to Pope Francis, said Michal Boni, a member of the European Parliament representing Civic Platform, the center-right party that governed Poland for eight years before being soundly defeated by Law and Justice in elections last fall. The church is changing, and I think many leaders of the Polish church are not in line with the direction of that change. Polish church officials reject this interpretation, saying they remain, as always, in line with the Vatican, and they dispute that the church here is driven by a desire for political power. The pope does not look on the left or on the right, but looks up, said the Rev. Pawel Rytel-Andrianik, a spokesman for the Conference of the Polish Episcopate. In our mentality, the pope is the pope. Every Pole has two capitals, Warsaw and Rome. An American in Paris is bidding adieu to Broadway earlier than expected. The musical, featuring songs by George and Ira Gershwin, had announced that it would close on Jan. 1, but on Tuesday the producers told the cast that it would instead close nearly three months earlier. Although it was our intention to play through the end of the year, in reconsidering the current theatrical landscape, we decided it best to close our production of 'An American in Paris on Broadway on Oct. 9, 2016, the producers Stuart Oken, Van Kaplan and Roy Furman, said in a statement. The musical, with a book by Craig Lucas, began performances March 13, 2015, and won four Tony Awards. It was capitalized for up to $11.5 million; it is not clear whether it will fully recoup before closing. Last week, it grossed $643,523, or 44 percent of its box-office potential, according to the Broadway League. A production of the show is scheduled to begin a national tour this fall, and another production to open in London next year. The words meaning wasnt entirely literal when it first came into being; minimalism was popularized in 1965 as an insult. In an essay for Arts Magazine, the British philosopher Richard Wollheim used it to describe a group of artists whose work was characterized by minimal art content that is, a lack of art. Arranging bricks on a gallery floor (as Carl Andre did) or manufacturing metal boxes (Donald Judd) or fluorescent light fixtures (Dan Flavin) simply wasnt, in Wollheims estimation, enough to make an object worthy of the title. For good reason, the artists singled out in the essay didnt identify with Wollheims appellation. They used industrial materials to remove themselves from their work, intentionally. In their eyes, this formal frugality was a necessary correction to the heroic individualism of New York School Abstract Expressionism. (After some time, what can you see in a Pollock but Pollock himself?) But the name stuck. Still, the artists were maximalists of a sort: The austerity of their objects freed the viewer to experience the work in any way they wished. Minimalism can return you to this basic state where youre perceiving purely, says David Raskin, a professor of contemporary art history at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Less is more because you strip away the familiar, opening an opportunity to see the world without preconceptions. The objects might look mundane, but rather than the plain metal box on the floor, its the stark sensory experience the object incites that is the art, no previous knowledge necessary. The artist opens a radical infinity of possibilities. Minimalism in the 1960s was very much along the lines of taking LSD, says Miguel de Baca, an associate professor of art history at Lake Forest College. Minimalism was eventually canonized as an art-historical movement, but the name came to mean something different as it was adopted into consumer culture and turned into a class signifier. What was once a way artists shocked viewers became over the decades a style as delimited and consumable as any Martha Stewart tablescape. The word was defanged, no longer a critical insult and no longer a viable strategy within art though it never quite gave up its veneer of provocation. Even austerity can be made decadent: To wealthy practitioners, minimalism is now little more than a slightly intriguing perversion, like drinking at breakfast. One of the real problems with design-world minimalism is that its just become a signifier of the global elite, Raskin says. The richer you are, the less you have. The minimalists aesthetic of raw materials and aggressive simplicity leaked into fashion, design and architecture, where it became a luxury product, helped along at times by the artists themselves. Judds SoHo loft building is now an icon of sanitized minimalism, open to tourists. His Chinati Foundation, a permanent installation of concrete and metal boxes in and around a decommissioned military base in Marfa, Tex., is a site of hipster pilgrimage. It even appears in Ben Lerners 10:04, a novel redolent of late-capitalist anxiety. The protagonist visits the town on an artists residency, where he wanders the desert landscape, parties with young people and accidentally ingests ketamine but its Judds installation that provides an epiphany. The sculptures, he writes, combined to collapse my sense of inside and outside. Judds work had itself come to contain the world. It is possible to recognize the relative semantic flatness of these images they tend not to be as complex as photographs from the 60s by Charles Moore or Bruce Davidson and still value them. In the American media landscape, black heroism is rarely portrayed. The press will often accompany an article on a murdered black man with a mug shot, while his murderer is presented in uniform or in some other neutral or flattering guise. Black women are often seen not at all. The stage of the street, the drama of protest, the theatrical image caught on the fly: These become means of seizing back the visual initiative. Of course, life is not like comic books. People are beaten, charged, arrested, jailed. No one is actually a superhero; nobody can fly or catch bullets. Iron Man, Wonder Woman, Captain America: They are no more real than Achilles or Arjuna. We know this. But the role of fantastic stories of battle has not changed in the millenniums we have been telling them. Images of supernatural heroism dont confuse us about what the human body can accomplish or endure. What these images do is make elaborate internal states like patience, fearlessness, anger and dignity temporarily visible. Edward Crawford handles fire in Ferguson, Bree Newsome goes airborne in Columbia and Ieshia Evans generates a force field in Baton Rouge. We read in these images the necessity of justice. For the brief moment immortalized by a photograph, the impossible happens, and we are encouraged. Or so I thought. But one morning in mid-July, news began to filter in of an attack on police officers in Baton Rouge. Three officers were killed. I was stunned, but also startled: I had just finished the latest draft of my essay, which read essentially as it appears above. Surely, following this horrific news, I would have to pull it. I called my editor. Looking at the line of cops in the picture featuring Ieshia Evans, I now saw them differently. Perhaps among them were those who were to die just days after that picture. The image was now doubly shadowed by death: Alton Sterlings, as well as that of the officers. Any reading of the image would be affected by this double shadow, which I didnt see coming and which my argument had not accounted for. My editor understood my conundrum, but she didnt think the essay should be pulled. She asked me to think of a solution. The easy thing would have been to fix it: put in a sentence here or there, take out the unfriendly term storm trooper, adjust the essays tone to make it more sympathetic to the plight of the police. But I did not want to smooth away what was now an interesting problem. I decided instead to leave the essay as it was, but to write, below it, about this question of reception. My essay interpreted an intriguing but comparatively minor photographic phenomenon. But it was also, implicitly, an argument for the continued relevance of Black Lives Matter. I stand by the argument. Rightful protests against murder are not to blame for other murders. I had written, after the horror in Dallas, that our collective grief, always complicated, took on wicked new fissures. The word that began the next paragraph was nevertheless. That was a word that, in the wake of the new killings in Baton Rouge, now troubled me. The word referred to photographs, not murder. But I knew that it might be read as a too-quick moving along. People died; nevertheless I want to discuss photographs. It was unseemly. And yet (nevertheless), the things we think of as intriguing but comparatively minor must also be attended to, in part because of how they illuminate what is not at all minor. These celebrated photographs of black superheroes are actually about something more important and more real: the existence of many unacknowledged everyday black heroes. When I write about these images or about anything else, I do so without knowing how unanticipated events will alter the reception of my words. But the words must be set down anyway. The duty of critical writing is to listen to the noise of life without being deafened by it. July 18 Wurzburg, Bavaria Ax Attack on Train Five Injured A 17-year-old who entered Germany as an asylum seeker last year attacked several people with an ax and a knife on a train. He fled the train, then attacked a woman walking her dog before he was killed by the police. The teenager was from Afghanistan and had apparently become upset after hearing the news of the death of a friend from home. Investigators say they believe that he was a sympathizer of the Islamic State because they found a hand-drawn flag of the militant group in the room he had at the home of his German foster family. Within hours of the attack, the group claimed responsibility and called the teenager an Islamic State soldier. PHILADELPHIA Kamala Harris on Monday called for Democratic U.S. Senate rival Loretta Sanchez to apologize to President Barack Obama for suggesting he endorsed Harris because they are both black. I think she should apologize to the president of the United States, Harris, the state attorney general, said from the Democratic National Convention. The more you think about what she said the more clear it becomes that that is not the perspective or the voice of a leader, especially in these times. Sanchez, a veteran congresswoman from Orange County, said in a Spanish-language interview airing last weekend that Obamas endorsement was in part based on race. She noted that Obama and Harris are longtime friends, and then added: She is African American. He is, too. Sanchez said in a statement after the report on Univision 19 that she did not intend to imply Obama endorsed Harris for racial reasons. Sanchezs comment touched on the long-running, yet seldom discussed, tensions between blacks and Latinos in California politics, and came as she aggressively seeks the votes of Latinos in her campaign to replace outgoing U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, asked about Sanchezs response Monday, said he wasnt sure what she intended to imply. The presidents endorsement, though, I think spoke volumes about his deep appreciation for Attorney General Harris service and her skill, Earnest said. And thats what led President Obama to conclude that she would make an excellent successor to Barbara Boxer in representing California in the United States Senate. The president certainly stands by that endorsement and is quite enthusiastic about it. On Monday in Philadelphia, Sanchez evaded a reporter who tried to speak with her, ducking out a back door of the downtown Marriott, where the California delegation is staying. Her spokesman has not returned repeated requests over the last several weeks about her schedule at the national convention. Harris, the the states top law enforcement official and its highest-ranking black politician, said Sanchezs remarks fit a troubling pattern. Sanchez has been criticized for making previous comments about Muslims, Native Americans and Asians. Its troubling. Its incredibly troubling, Harris said. That is not the voice of a leader. Added Harris: I think theres a pattern. BEIJING National Security Adviser Susan Rice was in Beijing on Monday to talk about the South China Sea, the scene of a deepening territorial dispute that pits China against some of Washingtons most important Southeast Asian allies. But Rice did not talk about the South China Sea at least not publicly. The diplomatic sidestep was a clear sign of just how sensitive the standoff has become. For Beijings leaders, control of the South China Sea is a critical show of resolve. For the United States and its Asian allies, it marks a test of how much they can push back against Chinas growing military and regional ambitions. In the highest-level U.S. visit since an international tribunal issued a ruling earlier this month invalidating Chinas expansive maritime claims, Rice met with President Xi Jinping, Chinas state councilor, Yang Jiechi, and other senior officials. She alluded to issues and challenges, but avoided actual references to the long-simmering conflict. In opening remarks before her talk with Xi, Rice played up interdependence and called the U.S.-China relationship the most consequential in the world today. Xi told Rice: China remains strongly committed to building good relations based upon the ideas of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation. China asserts historic sovereignty over the South China Sea also surrounded by the Philippines, Vietnam and other nations and vows to ignore international rulings backing counter claims. Meanwhile, the United States and allies have become increasingly alarmed over Chinese land reclamation and construction on reefs and rocks, worried they could become footholds for military bases and disrupt shipping lanes. The most pointed if indirect reference to the dispute came in an earlier meeting between Rice and Fan Changlong, a top Chinese general. We should be honest with ourselves that deep down in this relationship were still faced with obstacles and challenges, Fan told Rice. If we do not properly handle these factors it will very likely disturb and undermine this steady momentum of our military-to-military relationship. The meetings in Beijing coincided with Secretary of State John Kerrys trip to Laos, where he met with Southeast Asian leaders and Chinas foreign minister to begin delicate discussions about how to move forward after the divisive ruling. In another display of the high stakes at play, the host of the talks, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, issued a statement that carefully avoided the July 12 court ruling against Beijing. The international arbitration panel based in the Hague found there was no legal or historical basis for Chinas claims to a vast swathe of one of the worlds most important waterways. They also ruled that China had violated the Philippines sovereign rights by constructing artificial islands and had caused permanent irreparable harm to the coral reef ecosystem. China dismissed the ruling as trash paper and denounced the process as a farce. They have vowed to ignore the ruling altogether. The United States now must find a way to support its Southeast Asian allies, particularly the Philippines, without completely alienating Beijing. The U.S. is trying to calm things down while at the same time encouraging support for the arbitration ruling, said Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines Institute of Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea. They know China is super sensitive right now, so they are trying to handle it delicately. Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said Washington is waiting for the dust to settle. They want to see how the Philippines responds and what next steps China might take, he said. The Chinese response so far has been a mix of mostly symbolic moves, such as sending civilian aircraft to new airports in the South China Sea, and scathing rhetoric. On the sidelines of a recent summit, China reportedly told the Philippines that Beijing was ready to negotiate if Manila ignored the ruling an offer the Filipino foreign minister roundly rejected. On Monday, the Philippines new president, Rodrigo Duterte, vowed to use the ruling as part of ongoing efforts to pursue a peaceful resolution and management of our disputes. Members of the 10-country ASEAN group met over the weekend in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, for their most significant conclave since the tribunal decision was announced. Over the weekend, Liu Zhenmin, Chinas vice-minister of foreign affairs, made an apparent jab at the United States for interfering in Southeast Asian affairs. ASEAN should in particular guard against the intervention in regional cooperation by big powers outside the region, he said, without citing a specific country. The Washington Posts Xu Yangjingjing contributed reporting from Beijing. WP Bloomberg SAINTE-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, France Two attackers took hostages inside a French church during morning Mass on Tuesday near the city of Rouen, killing an 86-year-old priest by slitting his throat before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. Another person inside the church in Normandy was seriously injured and is hovering between life and death, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. Police managed to rescue the only three other people inside the church in the small northwestern town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, he told reporters. A regional Muslim leader said one of the two attackers who were killed outside the church was known to police. It was the first known attack inside a French church in recent times. A church was targeted last year, but the attack never was carried out. A statement published by the Islamic State-affiliated Amaq news agency said the attack was carried out by two soldiers of the Islamic State who acted in response to calls to target nations in the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria. The RAID special intervention force was searching for possible explosives in or around the church. The investigations are ongoing. There are still unknowns, Brandet said. There are dogs, explosive detectors and bomb disposal services and as long as there are still unknowns, the judicial police cannot get inside the site. Its a dramatic situation. Dominique Lebrun, the archbishop of Rouen, confirmed the death of 86-year-old Rev. Jacques Hamel. I cry out to God, with all men of good will. And I invite all non-believers to unite with this cry, Lebrun wrote in a statement from Krakow, Poland, where Pope Francis was expected. The Catholic Church has no other arms besides prayer and fraternity between men. French President Francois Hollande, arriving on the scene, called it a vile terrorist attack and said its one more sign that France is at war with the Islamic State, which has claimed a string of attacks on France. We must lead this war with all our means, he said, adding that he was calling a meeting on Wednesday of representatives of all religions. He expressed solidarity with local Catholics, saying they have been terribly hit by the killing of the parish priest by two terrorists claiming to belong to Daesh. I have met with the family of the priest. A police official said one of the attackers was turned back after trying to go to Syria. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal details of the investigation, said the man wore an electronic bracelet to monitor his movements. Mohammed Karabila, head of the Regional Council of the Muslim Faith for Haute-Normandie, said French security services knew the name of one of the attackers. The person who committed this odious act is known and he has been followed by the police for at least 1 1/2 years. He went to Turkey and security services were alerted after this, he told The Associated Press by phone. He refused to divulge mans name and had no information on the second attacker. The pope condemned the attack in the strongest terms. Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said in a statement the attack hits particularly hard because this horrific violence took place in a church, a sacred place in which the love of God is announced, and the barbaric murder of a priest. France is on high alert and under a state of emergency after an attack in the southern city of Nice on Bastille Day July 14 that killed 84 people that was claimed by the Islamic State group, as well as a series of attacks last year that killed 147 others around Paris. Islamic State extremists have urged followers to attack French churches and the group is believed to have planned at least one church attack earlier. The attack once again demonstrates the challenge of combating the threat. French authorities increased security at churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship after attacks in Paris last year, but ensuring constant, blanket security is difficult in a country with a church in every town and village. In April 2015, an Algerian student who was arrested after shooting himself in the leg was found with heavy weapons, bulletproof vests and documents linked to Islamic State. He is charged with killing a young woman inside her car the same day. According to French authorities, the suspect, Sid Ahmed Ghlam, was sent by the Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud to attack a church in Villejuif, just outside of Paris. A cell directed by Abaaoud later carried out the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead and the March 22 attacks in Brussels that killed 32 people. Angela Charlton, Lori Hinnant, Thomas Adamson in Paris contributed to this report. Irvine-based Vizio has agreed to be bought by Chinese video streaming company LeEco for $2 billion, the companies announced Tuesday. Vizios hardware and software business will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary. Its data business, Inscape, will operate as a privately owned company. Vizio is a leading brand in North America for budget-priced television and sound-bar sales. LeEco believes in breakthrough technologies, a complete ecosystem and disruptive pricing. Acquiring Vizio is an important step in our globalization strategy and building our North American presence, Yueting Jia, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of LeEco, said in a statement. From its inception, Vizio introduced a disruptive business model that changed the industry and aligns with our vision of breaking boundaries to deliver consumer-focused products, software and services. Jia is also behind Faraday Future, an electric car company building a massive plant near Las Vegas. Vizio was founded in 2002. Its management team will remain in Irvine. Vizios distribution agreements will remain in place. William Wang, the founder, chairman and CEO of Vizio, will become the chairman and CEO of Inscape. LeEco has been growing its presence in the U.S. In April, the group established its North American headquarters in San Jose. The 80,000-square-foot facility can hold 800 employees and will be home to LeFuture AI Institute, the companys autonomous driving research center. It has also hired Samsung executives Danny Bowman as chief revenue officer and Shawn Williams as chief administrative officer. The acquisition, which is expected to close at the end of the year, continues an already busy year for local companies being acquired by foreign companies. Aliso Viejo-based Sequent Medical Inc. has been acquired by Terumo Corp. for $280 million, the companies announced in June. Irvine-based Ingram Micro Inc. is being acquired for $6 billion by Chinese shipping company Tianjin Tianhai. Irvine-based Broadcom was sold to chipmaker Avago Technologies for $37 billion. Kurion Inc., the Irvine company known for helping stabilize the contaminated Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan after a 2011 tsunami, was sold for $350 million to Veolia, a Paris-based nuclear cleanup specialist. Multi-Fineline Electronix, an Irvine-based maker of circuit boards, said it would be acquired by a Chinese manufacturer for $610 million. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Appellate justices ruled Monday that the Orange County District Attorneys Office can disqualify Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals from 46 murder cases, though the justices also said the practice is abusive and disruptive of the court system. The three-member panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal asked the state Supreme Court to revisit its nearly 40-year-old precedent that allows the blanket papering of judges, referring to a practice in which a prosecutor or a defense attorney can demand a judges removal from a case. RELATED: Inside the Snitch Tank: O.C. jailhouse informant fallout Justice David A. Thompson dissented in the 2-1 vote, writing that the district attorney in Orange County is papering Goethals specifically because the judge has cracked down on the prosecutors misuse of jailhouse informants. The district attorneys motions were based on the fact (Goethals) called them out on their misconduct. District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and his lawyers began demanding Goethals removal from murder cases in February 2014, after he kicked a former prosecutor off two cases for misconduct. Local prosecutors continued to paper Goethals after the judges March 2015 ruling to remove the entire District Attorneys Office from the case of confessed mass murderer Scott Dekraai, who admitted to killing eight people at a Seal Beach hair salon in 2011. Goethals, who was looking into allegations that police and prosecutors illegally used jailhouse informants and withheld evidence favorable to defense attorneys, said at the time that local prosecutors could not be trusted to oversee a fair trial. In a prepared statement, Rackauckas office said Monday there has never been an organized effort to blanket paper Goethals, and that the prosecutors who work for him chose on their own to seek the judges removal from their cases. Any exercise of peremptory challenge made by any member of the OCDA has been the individual prosecutors decision to do what is in the best interest of the people, public safety, and crime victims, Rackauckas said. The district attorneys chief of staff said the office wouldnt comment beyond the press release. The state Supreme Courts 1977 ruling that allows papering suggested such peremptory challenges can be a reasonable way of balancing the bench, bar and public interests. On Monday, the appellate panel questioned whether the concept was archaic, but said it felt bound to follow Supreme Court precedent. The appeal was brought by the District Attorneys Office after Superior Court Judge Richard King in December refused to accept the peremptory challenges of Goethals. King, like Thompson, accused prosecutors of retaliating against Goethals. King also said the practice has clogged courts in the nations sixth largest county. Rackauckas countered at the time that King had no legal authority to interfere with the prosecutors challenges. The appellate court concurred. But it also warned that economics made it difficult to accommodate the district attorneys efforts to take a judge out of the mix. Years of budget cuts to the California trial courts have taken their toll on all court operations. The chaos that has resulted from the abuse of (peremptory challenges) is all the more troubling because of the judicial branchs current funding reality, said the appellate ruling. As courts work to keep doors open and to provide timely and meaningful access to justice to the public, the extraordinary abuse of (peremptory challenges) is a barrier to justice. Contact the writer: tsaavedra@ocregister.com MISSION VIEJO A week after speaking at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn was in Mission Viejo speaking in front of a crowd of approximately 200 at the Norman P. Murray Community and Senior Center on Monday night. Flynn gave his insight on radical Islam and his new book, Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies, which was released July 12. Flynn, a 33-year veteran of the U.S. Army who was most recently the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency before retiring in 2014, spoke at an ACT for America Mission Viejo chapter meeting, but plenty of others outside the non-profit organization came to get an inside look at radical Islam in relation to the war on terror. ACT is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan national security group. I like his views, he speaks from knowledge because hes been there and done that, said Norm Dangelo, 76, of Laguna Hills. I wanted to get insight into what the government is doing in terms of minimizing the dangers in the world and not calling this for what it is. Flynns discussion spanned 30 minutes promoting the book. Capistrano Beach resident Judy Busch stopped by to pick up a copy of the book, which is a New York Times bestseller. I want to know what hes seeing on the inside, she said. Hes the best interpreter we have, and he represents a view most political media dont share. Flynn, a registered Democrat, has backed Trump in this election, doing so because of what he calls Trumps strategic leadership and vision, his approach to problem-solving and how he thinks about decision making. I vote for leaders, Im not a label guy, Flynn said. When we first met, he didnt talk about Trump. He talked about the country in a serious discussion and over time, I began to see those qualities. To me, its very impressive. After speaking, Flynn signed copies of his book. Flynn said the 208-page book took five months to write, starting in July 2015. Strategically, he wanted it released before the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. Flynns book discusses the alliance between radicalized Islamist groups and dictatorships. In the book, he also formulates what he calls a winning strategy, one he hopes will be implemented by a Trump administration. Were losing this war because were failing to identify the enemy, Flynn said, but the message is that we can win this war. Contact the writer: npercy@ocregister.com ANKARA, Turkey Turkey on Monday issued warrants for the detention of 42 journalists suspected of links to the alleged organizers of a failed military uprising, intensifying concerns that a sweeping crackdown on alleged coup plotters could target media for any news coverage critical of the government. While the Turkish government said it is investigating the journalists for possible criminal conduct rather than their reporting, critics warned that a state of emergency imposed after the July 15 coup attempt poses a threat to freedom of expression. We fear there will be a witch hunt which would include journalists known as critical against the government. Because they are putting all journalists into one bag, said Ahmet Abakay, president of the Progressive Journalists Association, a media group based in the Turkish capital Ankara. He said the situation was very dangerous for every journalist and that government warnings to reporters to be careful would lead to self-censorship. By rounding up journalists, the government is failing to make a distinction between criminal acts and legitimate criticism, said Gauri van Gulik, Amnesty Internationals deputy director for Europe. More than 13,000 people in the military, judiciary and other institutions have been detained since the uprising, which killed about 290 people. In the latest purge, Turkish Airlines, the national carrier, said it has terminated the contracts of 221 employees. It said the contracts were ended for problems including conduct contrary to the national interest, such as sponsoring the movement of Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric accused by Turkey of fomenting the insurrection. Those fired included seven people in managerial positions and 15 pilots, according to the private Turkish news agency Dogan. Also Monday, security forces caught seven fugitive soldiers accused of raiding a hotel in the resort town of Marmaris shortly after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan left it on the night of July 15, bringing the number of those detained for the attack to 25, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. Security forces were searching for 10 others believed to be on the run near Marmaris. Erdogan has said that he would have been killed or captured if he had he stayed at the hotel for an additional 10 or 15 minutes. Berat Albayrak, the energy minister and Erdogans son-in-law, said the government would take care to ensure that anyone not involved in the coup conspiracy is not harmed during the crackdown. He told CNN Turk television that it is doubtful this can be ensured 100 percent and that some minor difficulties can occur. Gulen, who lives in the United States, has denied any involvement in the failed insurrection that was put down by loyalist forces and pro-government protesters who converged on the tanks of rebel units. On Monday, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced Turkey has renamed Istanbuls Bosporus Bridge July 15th Martyrs Bridge in honor of civilians who were killed resisting the coup attempt. He said monuments dedicated to the civilians would be built in Ankara and Istanbul. Yildirim also announced a decision to place Turkeys paramilitary force and coast guard under the Interior Ministry instead of the military as part of efforts to restructure the Armed Forces. He said in another decision reached, the government would work with opposition parties represented in parliament to pass a series of amendments to the Constitution. Journalists wanted for questioning include Nazli Ilicak, whose columns in the Ozgur Dusunce newspaper criticized Erdogans allegedly autocratic behavior as well as the crackdown on suspected supporters of Gulens movement. Turkish officials allege the movement infiltrated the state as part of a long-term plan to seize power. Other wanted journalists include Erkan Acar, news editor of the Ozgur Dusunce, and news show host Erkan Akkus of the Can Erzincan TV station, according to the pro-government Sabah newspaper. Both media organizations are offshoots of the Bugun newspaper and Bugun TV, which were viewed as sympathetic to Gulen and were taken over in a police raid in October. Another wanted journalist is Busra Erdal, a former columnist and legal reporter for the daily Zaman newspaper, taken over by authorities in March for alleged links to Gulens movement. In a series of tweets, Erdal said police raided her house Monday morning and that she would head to the office of state prosecutors in Istanbul to testify. She said she had not committed any crime and that the only organization she is affiliated with is the Istanbul Bar Association. Five journalists on the wanted list have so far been detained, Turkish media reported. Nedim Sener, a journalist once jailed after investigating alleged infiltration of the Turkish state by Gulen supporters, noted that backers of the cleric targeted reporters such as himself in the years when they controlled parts of the police and judiciary. Newspapers allegedly sympathetic to Gulen, including Bugun and Zaman, supported investigations that were based on forged evidence, he said. There were concerns about media freedom in Turkey well before the coup attempt. The government, arguing that it acts in the name of national security, has prosecuted Kurdish journalists under terror laws for alleged links to Kurdish rebels. Since the coup attempt, the government has blocked 20 websites suspected of being a threat to security, including those of six news outlets and two television channels. Last week, Turkish police halted distribution of LeMan magazine and went store to store, collecting already distributed copies. The satirical weekly had published a special coup edition whose cartoon cover showed a big hand pushing small soldiers across a board or table to confront a larger number of civilians, also being pushed into the fray by a big hand. The magazine has often lampooned the government. Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan, has also been a target of its satire. The magazines editor, Zafer Aknar, says hes concerned about the future. Who is going to protect us? There is no judiciary, there is no independence, the 51-year-old told The Associated Press on Monday. Donald Trump and his family took charge of the GOP Convention last week. His sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump Jr., and daughter Ivanka Trump Jr., were great. I kid, but if anyone else were to name all his kids Donald Trump Jr. in a George Foreman-style child naming scheme, it would be Donald Trump. One thing was clear: Against the backdrop of immense wealth, which often makes raising good kids harder, The Donald has raised some good ones. The liberal media were on heightened alert to jump on anything Trump did. It was show time and serious for CNN, which elevated its investigative drive-by media reporters to Full Blitzer, knowing they could rest later at the DNC convention. But nothing came of it. It turned out that the Trumps are a solid and rather normal family. Bummer, says MSNBC. Well, we can continue to call them racist, since they are white. Ivanka Trump wore a $138 dress and looked post-baby great. Contrast that to Hillary Clinton, who gave a speech in New York on income inequality in a $12,485 Giorgio Armani tweed jacket. Aside from the fact that Hillary always looks like she has her jacket on backwards, this tells the real story. People who earn their own money spend it wisely. Grifters like Hillary, who pretend to care about the little people, have no qualms wearing ostentatious $12,000-plus outfits. The way that outfit looked on Hillary, Armani must be planning on getting a Department of Defense contract to make tents. During the GOP convention, Trump had great African-American speakers, presumably because polls in swing states show that Trump is polling at less than 1 percent with blacks. I examined those poll numbers, and they seem high. African-Americans long ago sold out to the Democrat Party, no matter what it does. This is sad and not well thought-out. I hope some of them see Dinesh DSouzas new documentary, Hillarys America; it documents how, from Abraham Lincoln to now, Republicans were the real champions for black causes. Democrats control their blind loyalty by repeating lies about Republicans, so blacks are a lost cause for Trump. However, he is counting on getting some legal immigrant support, since they tend to be like Republicans: hard-working, entrepreneurial and family-oriented. And once they become more assimilated and have to do all these U.S. holidays with the family, they might warm to the idea of a wall to keep their in-laws out of America. Debbie Blabbermouth Schultz, who reminds every American male of the ex-wife from hell, was caught cheating Bernie Sanders and fired from the DNC. We all know her Super-delegate system is rigged to help the old political hacks. Yet, in the grand tradition of Lois Lerner Democrat ethics, Wasserman did not lose her job. Hillary hired her not for her personality, for her silence. This should outrage all Americans. There are two things we Americans can no longer handle: arrogant, out-of-touch politicians and portion control. Debbie Wasserman Schultz continued to do what Democrats do best: deny. She said, I was fair to both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bernie Unelectable Sanders I mean Bernie Sanders. What sort of crazy primaries do the Republicans run, allowing an outsider with the most votes to win? This is why Bernie supporters, who value authenticity, wont willingly get into the get-away clown car Hillary is driving. The GOP convention had themes: Make America Safe, Work, First, Great, etc. The Democrats had to come up with a convention theme, too. I suggested room service and hookers charged to lobbyists. But they seldom listen to me. The first night Bernie Sanders showed up at the Democrat Convention, he wandered onstage in his bathrobe. And Michelle Obama said, Dont let anyone tell you this country is not great. I must have missed the day she became proud of her country. Maybe it was on her first $5 million vacation to Spain on Air Force One. The Democrats will continue their hollow refrain that anyone not for them is therefore a racist. Remember when Obama said at a previous DNC convention, There is no black America, no white America, no Latino America ? Well, after seven years of Obama, there is now. This will be an interesting election. Watch Hillary and The Donald debate in Las Vegas in October. It should favor Hillary, since Las Vegas is a city whose whole existence is based on people making bad decisions. Advantage: Hillary. Ron Hart is a libertarian op-ed humorist and award-winning author, Ron is a frequent guest on CNN. He can be contacted at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter. IRVINE Frough Jahid could hear the claps of thunder approaching as he and his family trekked the Afghan desert toward the Pakistan border. Occasionally, smugglers ordered them to lie still as Soviet fighter jets flew over them, Jahid recalled. When they reached the border, his father and pregnant mother took extra caution to make sure Pakistani officials didnt recognize they were Afghans. They actually gave (us children) sleeping pills so we can be asleep during the crossing of the border so we dont talk, Jahid said. Because as young kids, we are just going to talk. We dont know the gravity of the situation we are in. They were among millions of Afghan refugees who fled their country in the 1980s during the war with the Soviet Union. Jahid, who had yet to turn 5 at the time, and his family then moved to the United States, sponsored by their relatives, and started their new life in Orange County. Decades later, Jahid has achieved his American dream by following his passion to help others and staying loyal to his inner voice. Youll see him on the streets of Irvine waving at children and showing up at businesses and schools to keep the community safe. Jahid, a sergeant at the Irvine Police Department and a Muslim, also works as a liaison with the Islamic community. My background has helped me connect with different members of the community no matter where they are from, Jahid, 37, said. It makes me happy to see these people living together, getting along together. At a recent interfaith dinner at the Islamic Center of Irvine, Jahid showed up in uniform to represent the police. Members of the center greeted and hugged him as he walked around and joined a prayer. He can relate to the Muslim religion and understand many of the cultural nuances that exist in the community, said Issa Edah-Tally, a past president of the Islamic Center of Irvine. He understands what people come to do at the Islamic Center. He can relate to people young and old, and that is great. Jahid grew up in Costa Mesa. Upon graduation from Estancia High School, he went to Orange Coast College and then Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He began working on his teaching credential and was a substitute teacher for the Newport Mesa Unified School District. But he couldnt give up on his childhood dream: becoming a police officer. It grew on him as a child to see police officers offering small acts of kindness, like pushing and jump starting a stranded car and helping a woman pick up her dropped bag. Thats just something that stuck to me my whole life, he said. His mother, however, had frowned on the idea. Being a police officer isnt considered high on the job scale in their culture, Jahid said. Still, when he saw an opening at the Irvine Police Department, he jumped at it. I had to give it a shot and see how I did, he said. Jahid has since moved up the ranks, working in patrol, as a field training officer, a detective, a school resource officer and a SWAT team member. He now oversees the departments violent-intruder preparedness program, which provides training to public schools, faith groups and businesses. Frough is a people person, Irvine police Cmdr. Mike Hallinan said. It doesnt matter what peoples background is. He has innate ability to connect with them. He has also won his mother over. Now she says, I cant see you do anything else, seeing how happy Ive been in my career, Jahid said. Contact the writer: 949-445-6397 or tshimura@ocregister.com SANTA ANA An Orange County jury Monday failed to reach a consensus on charges against a man charged with raping and strangling an 18-year-old acquaintance in her Buena Park bedroom 28 years ago, forcing a mistrial. Jurors, who began deliberating Wednesday afternoon, deadlocked 11-1 for guilt in the trial of Daniel Edward McDermott, who is charged with murder with a special circumstance allegation of murder during a rape. Earlier votes of the panel were 7-5 for guilt, then 8-4 for guilt, then 10-2 for guilt. The 47-year-old defendant would face life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of the Jan. 11, 1988, killing of Gehmine Chandler. The victim had been staying with her father, Thomas Edward Patraw, but was planning to move back in with her mother in Texas, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Steve McGreevy. She spent the afternoon with a boyfriend and then went house hunting in Brea with her father, McGreevy said. The father and daughter had dinner, spent some time in the backyard spa, and then she took a shower while her dad went to bed, he said. Chandler, who was a bit of a night owl, stayed up to watch TV and took a call from her boyfriend about 11:30 p.m., McGreevy said. Investigators suspect she was attacked sometime between midnight and 5 a.m. on Jan. 11, McGreevy said. Her father and a neighbor heard screams, but Patraw thought it sounded like a cat and didnt get out of bed, the prosecutor said. Later, when Patraw got up to get ready for work, he found his daughters body and tried to revive her with CPR before paramedics arrived and pronounced her dead at the scene. McDermott was among those who knew Chandler who were questioned at the time, but the case went cold. The defendant told police in 1988 that he did not know the victim well, but was acquainted with her through his close friend, Sean Falk, who was dating her, McGreevy said. Later, when the case was reopened in 2009, advancements in forensics technology allowed investigators to collect key DNA evidence, but there were no immediate matches, McGreevy said. Police interviewed McDermott again by phone in 2010 he was living in Albuquerque, N.M., at the time and the defendant again reiterated that he only knew the victim through Falk, McGreevy said. McDermott, in a face-to-face interview with detectives in October 2012, denied ever having sex with the victim, McGreevy said. They were not just denials, they were adamant denials, McGreevy said. Investigators got genetic material from McDermott and were able to make a DNA match with the victims body, resulting in the defendants arrest on Oct. 28, 2012, the prosecutor said. An autopsy on the victim showed the cause of death was strangulation, McGreevy said. The defendants attorney, Darren Thompson, said his client had an ongoing consensual sexual relationship with Chandler behind his longtime friends back and was too embarrassed to cop to it when questioned. They had consensual sex on several occasions before that night, Thompson said. But Mr. McDermott did not kill Gehmine. He had no reason whatsoever to kill Gehmine. The defendant lied about his relationship with the victim because he was embarrassed, he was ashamed, and because even though he had nothing to do with her death, he knew they had consensual sex that night and he was scared, Thompson said. He was afraid because he didnt want to be accused of something he had absolutely nothing to do with. The defense attorney said Chandlers father took out a life insurance policy on his daughter a few weeks before her death, and the two had a horrible relationship while living together. Patraw did not tell anyone about the insurance policy until the insurers demanded that he provide proof that he could be ruled out as a suspect before paying on the claim, Thompson said. Patraw could not be excluded as a suspect for some time and never was able to collect on the policy, Thompson said. He said Patraw was asked if he had insurance on his daughter to pay for the funeral, and he said he did not. McGreevy countered that the victims father also took out policies on himself and other family members at the time, and said the payout would have been a modest $10,000. What does the Democratic Party stand for in this presidential election year? We asked readers a similar question about the Republican Party last week, when the GOP held its national convention and nominated Donald Trump, the New York billionaire, for president. Now its the Democrats turn, as party leaders and activists gather in Philadelphia to nominate Hillary Clinton, the former first lady, U.S. senator from New York and secretary of state. Democrats expect to have an easier time than Republicans have had in achieving unity on the issues going into the general election campaign. Still, the longer-than-expected primary season battle between Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont did expose divisions between the Democratic Partys more moderate and more progressive factions, and between older and younger voters. Sen. Sanders popularity with young and progressive Democrats prompted Mrs. Clinton to shift to the left on some issues, and the partys platform reflects its most progressive stances ever on the minimum wage, health care, college costs, the death penalty, anti-climate-change measures and marijuana legalization. What has the Democratic Party stood for historically, considering the candidates it has nominated and the platforms it has promoted in recent decades? How has the party changed from say, the era of presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson? Is it different from the days of President Bill Clinton? Is it different from eight years ago when Barack Obama first ran for president? Is Hillary Clinton, who has been on the national scene for a quarter-century and contended for the Democratic nomination in 2008, still a good spokesperson for the partys principles? Is the Democratic Party moving closer to, or farther from, your principles? Email your letters to letters@ocregister.com. Please provide your name, city of residence and phone number (phone numbers will not be published). Letters of about 150 words will be given preference. Letters will be edited for length, grammar and clarity. PHILADELPHIA Bernie Sanders tried to calm tensions among his delegates Monday at the Democratic National Convention but some werent in a listening mood, seething over a lengthy primary campaign and a damaging email disclosure. Sanders delegates chanted the Vermont senators name during the start of the convention and booed lustily at any mention of rival Hillary Clinton. Behind the scenes, Sanders and his campaign tried to persuade his delegates not to disrupt the proceedings. Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays, Sanders said in an email to the delegates, calling it a personal courtesy to him. He was speaking later Monday and as the evening dragged on, the signs of dissent were less visible. Yet many die-hard backers of Sanders they werent ready to coalesce around Clintons presidential bid despite his pleas. Their frustration was on display a day after Democratic party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced she would step down at the end of the convention. Sanders loyalists heckled her at a Florida delegation breakfast and many expressed dismay that Clinton had given the Florida congresswoman the position of honorary chair of the campaigns 50-state program. She did not appear at the convention podium and later watched the proceedings from a private suite. Im really annoyed, said Michigan delegate Bruce Fealk. I want to support Bernie, but I also want to voice my displeasure with the Democratic Party. Fealk said he viewed the emergence of hacked DNC emails, which suggested favoritism of Clinton, as a revelation and evidence of the partys disrespect for progressives. Others said they simply couldnt support Clinton. No, never, not in a million years, no. I wouldnt vote for her for dog catcher, said Melissa Arab, of Shelby Township, Michigan. From the podium, however, some of Sanders allies noted their progress in influencing the partys platform and moving to reduce the influence of superdelegates, party leaders and elected officials who help decide the nomination. I stand with my Democratic family in making sure we win this fall, said Maine lawmaker Diane Russell, a Sanders supporter. We are all in this together and we will all have a voice in the Clinton administration. Earlier, at a raucuous meeting with his delegates, Sanders implored them to get behind Clinton and her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, and defeat Republican nominee Donald Trump. Make no mistake. We have made history, Sanders told the crowd, stressing that their progress would be lost if Clinton doesnt win. That appeal elicited boos and some cheers, as delegates shouted, We want Bernie! Aides to Clinton and Sanders met before the start of the convention to find ways to prevent an open display of dissent, prompting the Vermont senator to send text and email messages requesting that they refrain from protests on the floor. That was enough for Deborah Adams, of Cheraw, South Carolina, who served as a whip for the 14 Sanders delegates from her states delegation. I think every delegate should follow Senator Sanders request, Adams said. Weve worked hard as a movement. It gives us a black eye if we dont control our emotions. Orange County supervisors are expected to vote Tuesday to add a countywide initiative to the November ballot asking voters to change their offices term limits. The change would institute a lifetime limit of three four-year terms, which could be served consecutively. Currently, supervisors can serve only two consecutive terms but there is no lifetime limit. Supervisor Shawn Nelson, who proposed the initiative three weeks ago, has argued that the new term limits would allow supervisors to serve long enough to wield their experience, while preventing politicians from jumping to the statehouse and back. Opponents of the ordinance, including Supervisor Todd Spitzer and local Republican activist Jon Fleischman, have called the proposal a naked ploy for Nelson and other supervisors to allow themselves more time in office. When the initiative was proposed, it was written in a way that would have allowed all current and past supervisors to serve an additional three consecutive terms, because state law requires term-limit changes for county supervisors to apply only going forward, not retroactively. A new version of the initiative, however, includes language that attempts to apply the proposed term-limit changes to current and past supervisors potentially preventing Spitzer from ever again running for supervisor after his current bid and allowing past supervisors only one more term should they decide to return. The change would allow Nelson, who is otherwise set to be termed out in 2018, to run for an additional term. But Nelson said he plans to run for judge, not supervisor, that year. The initiative would work around the state law, Nelson said, by keeping the current ordinance intact. Instead, supervisors will vote to add an ordinance to the countys municipal code. He said County Counsel Leon Page has supported the ordinance and its legality in a written opinion, which Nelson said he will ask his colleagues to vote to release on Tuesday. But Fleischman and county political watchdog Shirley Grindle both fear that Pages legal interpretation will be challenged and wont hold up, allowing current supervisors three more terms in office. Grindle called for the county to seek a legal interpretation from the California Attorney Generals Office before proceeding. He has made public no legal analysis so the only legal opinion available tomorrow is the one that works for Shawn Nelson and the board, Fleischman, president of California Term Limits, which lobbies for term limits statewide, said Monday. If I had a dime for every term-limited politician who wanted to change term limits and said they werent going to run, Id re a rich man. According to county records, Spitzer is the only county politician ever to be termed out as supervisor, leave for another office, then return to run again. The countys term limit rules were passed in 1996, and before that some supervisors served as long as two decades. Contact the writer: jgraham@ocregister.com or 714-796-7960 ANKARA, Turkey Turkeys polarized factions should learn from their mistakes and overcome their antagonism, the main opposition leader said Tuesday, reflecting fragile efforts to reconcile in a shaken country where the opposition has for years accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of authoritarianism. In an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who has previously compared Erdogan to a dictator, said Turkeys political parties could re-boot tense relationships after the trauma of the July 15 insurrection. However, he warned the government against a witch hunt in its crackdown on suspected associates of the coup plotters, echoing concerns that anyone critical of the president could be caught in the purges. We all need to engage in self-criticism, said Kilicdaroglu, head of the opposition Republican Peoples Party, which was close to secularist generals who used to control Turkeys military. The party, which backs a Western-style liberal democracy, has lost by wide margins to Erdogans Justice and Development Party, which took power more than a decade ago with the votes of an Islamic base sidelined under past secular governments. Erdogan, whose efforts to channel more executive power to the presidency have alarmed his opponents, thanked political foes who condemned the coup attempt. The spectacle of Erdogan shaking hands with Kilicdaroglu in a rare meeting Monday at the presidential palace startled commentators. Still, there are deep divisions between followers of Erdogan, who advocates a pious Muslim lifestyle, and secular Turks who think the president wants to impose Islam on the country. Also, the leader of a Kurdish political party accused of links to Kurdish rebels in Turkey was not invited to the meeting with Erdogan, an indicator of tensions following the collapse of peace talks a year ago and a resumption of the long-running insurgency. The Kurdish political group, the Peoples Democratic Party, has alleged that the government is using the attempted coup as an opportunity to weaken all opposition groups under a three-month state of emergency that grants Erdogan the power to issue decrees without parliamentary approval. You dont become a democrat automatically when you stand against the coup, said Selahattin Demirtas, co-chair of the Peoples Democratic Party. Turkey has detained more than 13,000 people in the military, judiciary and other institutions in purges after the uprising by some military units on July 15 left about 290 people dead. Tens of thousands of others have been suspended from their jobs in sectors including education, health care, city government and even Turkish Airlines. The government blames the uprising on followers of Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric who lives in the United States and runs a global network of schools and foundations. Gulen has denied any knowledge of the coup attempt. Muna Kassim is used to shattering stereotypes and opening doors. After she earned top scores in math and science her final year of high school in Baghdad, Iraq, Kassim told her father she wanted to be a mechanical engineer. Her father balked in 1991, it was not a path women took. Why dont you go for a liberal arts degree? he asked her. Kassim shot back: No father! I want to be an engineer. Ive worked so hard to get these scores. Thanks to her fathers ultimate support, Kassim was the first in her family to go to college, the first engineer in her family and the very first woman in her 2,000-member Al Jawaber tribe to get a doctoral degree. Now an assistant professor at The University of Al-Mustansiriyah in Baghdad, Kassim wants to open doors for other women in higher education. Women now comprise 90 percent of her mechanical engineering class, she says. Kassim is part of a six-member team from Iraq that is visiting Vanguard Universitys Costa Mesa campus for a week for a series of workshops led by The Global Center for Women & Justice at Vanguard. The goal of the workshops funded by a $50,000 grant from the U.S. Department of State is to build a working group consisting of women within the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education to increase the number of women in leadership roles in Iraqi universities. Its been challenging because our society is not ready to accept leadership from women, said Faoud Kassim Mohammad, an official with the Ministry and the only male member of the working group. While there are many women who serve as heads of departments or deans, its rare to find women in the roles of presidents or chancellors of Iraqi universities, Mohammad said. Women are competent, they have the abilities that are required to lead universities, he said. Whats wrong if they lead? Thats a question were asking ourselves as a society and as a country. The working group is a unique mix of participants representing different geographic regions of Iraq. That makeup met with some pushback and was challenging to accomplish, said Sandra Morgan, director of The Global Center for Women & Justice, who got the funding for the project and is helping lead it. Morgan, who had traveled to Iraq seven times, received a $97,000 grant from The British Council in 2010 to work with the University of Duhok. As part of that project, women conducted research to demonstrate how the image of a womans role in society is formed as early as third grade. The project culminated in a presentation to the Kurdish Ministry of Education, which passed a mandate to re-do all primary readers which portrayed women holding either a dish or a child to properly reflect the role of women. In Iraqi homes today, most women work outside the house and share duties with their spouses. During that project, Morgan witnessed the limitations women face when a young female law student who was picked to do an all-expenses-paid internship at Georgetown University couldnt go because her parents refused to let her. They were worried that no one would marry her and her reputation would be ruined if she went abroad to do that internship, Morgan said. So, when you look at an Iraqi mans resume, he has all this other experience in addition to academic credentials. But a womans resume has none of that. So, she doesnt seem as qualified. Its a vicious cycle. Members of the group also want to let the rest of the world know that Iraqi women are educated, motivated and ambitious. Contrary to the way the world stereotypes Middle Eastern or Muslim women, theyre not all the same said Sonya Sherzad Hassan, an assistant lecturer at the University of Sulaimani in northern Iraq, close to the Iranian border. For example, I dont wear a hijab and practice Islam differently, said the Kurdish woman, who on Monday wore her silky hair in a long ponytail and was dressed in jeans, a black blouse and matching high-heel sandals. She hopes to break stereotypes built around Iraqi women and become an advocate for women in higher education. Right now women lack the access and the resources, she said. That has to change. Contact the writer: 714-796-7909 or dbharath@ocregister.com PHILADELPHIA A quick look will, in fact, give you a hint that fewer people at this convention have traveled as far as Stephen Woodruff has traveled to cast a vote for Bernie Sanders. Maybe the flowered shirt and bright leis give it away. As Woodruff entered the Wells Fargo Arena Tuesday, people noticed. Which is saying something, given that Uncle Sam outfits and cheeseheads, and hats that look like they lost a fight with a glitter gun arent rare here. Woodruff flew 32 hours and had four flight transfers to get to Philadelphia from his home in the Northern Mariana Islands more than 12,000 miles away. Saipan to Guam to Honolulu to Denver with a stop in Orlando and then Philadelphia, he said. The Orlando stop, he explained, was to help craft the Democrats platform. Woodruff was inspired by Sanderss speech Monday night and will proudly cast his vote for the Vermont senator. The pledged delegates from the Mariana Islands were split 4-2 in favor of Clinton, with the remainder of delegates being unpledged. But once the general election begins, Woodruff says hell support Clinton. He doesnt want to see Donald Trump become president. That would be a gigantic step backward to ugliness, he said. Ive got problems with Hillary, he added. But sometimes you have to make deals with people you dont necessarily like to get things accomplished. The Northern Mariana Islands are a U.S. territory with a population of about 52,000. In the primary, Clinton won the popular vote there by 20 points. Woodruff said his long journey went without a hitch. Amazingly, he lost no luggage so far. Hopefully, it all makes it back, he said. Thousands of editorials have been written regarding what took place at the Republican Convention in Cleveland. Here are some views that might be helpful and can serve as a supplement to what you've already read and seen. Robert Dilenschneider 1. Going into the GOP convention, Hillary Clinton was leading Donald Trump by five points and was ahead in most of the crucial swing states. Polls released on Monday show Trumps convention bounce has put him in front, but you can expect Clinton to get her own bounce this week, so the lead could switch yet again. Much will depend upon how sharp a contrast the Democrats can show between themselves and the Republicans, whose convention was not as focused as it could have been. But the Democrats are off to their own stumbling start with leaked emails forcing the resignation of the partys National Chairman, so we may be in for another week of political turmoil. 2. Donald Trump likes to seize the moment and make news every day. That said, there wasnt a unified message coming out of Cleveland. 3. Keep in mind as we move toward November that no Republican has ever won the White House without winning Ohio. Right now, Trump and Clinton are in a dead heat in the Buckeye State. Ohio Governor John Kasich did not attend the convention and refused to endorse Trump. Whether in the weeks ahead he changes his mind or not will be critical. 4. The brushing aside of the rules to deny delegates the chance to vote for other candidates even though it was a far-fetched effort may make it harder for Trump in another key swing state, Colorado. 5. The plagiarism of Michelle Obamas speech by Melania Trump will not be an issue in November. 6. The choice of Mike Pence will result in more support in the Midwest for Trump, because Pence will appeal to evangelicals. 7. Trumps views on NATO, China and protectionism in an increasingly global world may win him some votes. But law and order, immigration, job creation and rebuilding the middle class are issues that are most likely to capture the imagination of voters. 8. Curiously, there was little mention at the Republican convention of healthcare (soon to be in excess of 25 percent of the U.S. economy) or of education. Both will be key issues for the next administration. 9. While there was talk about how to help our veterans, there was little discussion as to what our role should be going forward in the Middle East. 10. Continued bashing of Hillary Clinton will not have an impact on voters who have become numb to all the endless charges against her. Republicans will make a serious mistake if they think attacking her is all they have to do to win. Bottom line: This will be a close election. Clintons well-organized ground game gives her an advantage over Trumps still-building campaign. But Trump has a knack for capitalizing on unexpected events like terrorist attack, riots and police shootings. And who knows how an October surprise might work in one candidates favor or the other. * * * Robert L. Dilenschneider is chairman and founder of the Dilenschneider Group, Inc. Loading... OilVoice will be with you shortly... ALDA, Neb. Kyle may be young, but he knows he wont live forever. Kyle Arndt, 5, of Alda, was diagnosed with T-cell leukemia in January. A benefit took place Saturday for his family, although they couldnt attend because of treatments in Omaha. Casey and Amanda, Kyles parents, had to move the family from their home upon learning Kyle's diagnosis. They said the space wasnt safe for Kyle with his fragile immune system. We found out about Kyle, and we just dropped everything, Casey said. Casey and Amanda each owned a business, but they had to close temporarily them to take care of their son. The couple also has a 4-year-old daughter, Ruby. It pretty much changed everything for us, Amanda said about Kyles diagnosis. She said the family might have gotten by with only one parent out of work, but Kyle wanted both of his parents with him. Before the diagnosis, Casey said, he wasnt at home a lot because of work. He has to have us both, Amanda said. Before his diagnosis, Amanda said, Kyle kept getting sick. She first thought he had mononucleosis, so she took him to his doctor. Kyle was given medicine and then felt better. He swelled up. Then the swelling went down. The same scenario went in cycles. She didnt know what was wrong until the doctors suspected leukemia and referred Kyle to a hematologist in Omaha. Amanda said Kyle has said things 4-year-olds wouldnt usually say. He would say his bones hurt, she said. She and Casey didnt think it was anything serious then, but they now understand why Kyle was saying those things. He looks pale now. He was paler then, Casey said. The family spent one month at the Nebraska Medical Center after he was diagnosed, and returned often for treatment. Now hell start going once a month. Casey and Amanda have to give Kyle countless pills. He was on a steroid to help his blood counts. They said sometimes Kyle doesnt want to eat, but when he was on the steroid, he was hungry all the time. Amanda said Kyle once ate six burritos from Amigos. Kyle said being on the steroids wasnt so bad because he could really pack away food. Almost all the time after I take it, I get hungry, he said. When the family is in Omaha, they try to go outside as much as possible. They go to parks or other semi-deserted places. Options are limited. There was no more going out to eat, no more going to places where people are. If somebody comes, we kind of have to just duck tail and run, Casey said. However, if Kyles blood counts are up, he likes to go to the zoo but not without a mask. If he gets sick, it often means a trip to the emergency room. Casey and Amanda said theyve never kept anything from Kyle. Casey said Kyle has even brought up that some people with cancer dont make it. He made the connection and said he might not live. We have to give him pep talks when he doesnt want to do anything, Amanda said about when Kyle gets sad about having leukemia. It would be very hard for him if he didnt have both of his parents and Ruby, Casey said. Casey said Kyle is very strong and remembers all the protocols he has to do. He has stacked up more than 200 courage beads for the treatments and needle pricks he has had so far. Kyle has said that hes fighting T-cell like a T-rex, since hes a fan of dinosaurs. Amanda and Casey said the community came together to put on Saturdays poker run benefit. They didnt even know some of the people in charge. Its awesome that our community would do that when we need it, Casey said. Casey and Amanda said it was hard to accept help at first because they didnt want a handout. But they said, financially, they really do need the help. Theyre just waiting for their turn to give back and help someone like this. The family is trying to keep positive through it all, as Kyle will still get treatments for at least two more years. He probably wont be able to have kids because of his leukemia, and that hit Casey and Amanda hard. They said not having their own home is the hardest part. But theyre spreading encouragement to each other through the tough times. Casey said the silver lining of Kyles leukemia is the time the family spends together. Were around each other all the time, he said. You just have to stay positive. Amanda and Casey said Kyle has been great throughout the whole process. He takes everything like a champ. I always knew hed do amazing things. I just didnt know itd be this, Amanda said about her son. The idea that sadness somehow kindles creativity is a popular and long-lasting one. Its roots go back to antiquity; even Aristotle noted that those who excelled in the arts, politics and philosophy had a tendency toward "melancholia." The artistic canon appears to be full of people whose dark mental states kindled their brilliance but also brought their lives to an early end such as Vincent van Gogh, Anne Sexton, Mark Rothko, Ernest Hemingway and Virginia Woolf. This notion is widespread, but in science it remains controversial. Past studies have suggested that negative feelings can provide fodder for art and trigger more self-reflective thought. Others have shown that influential figures in science and art have a tendency toward depression. But research has not really demonstrated a direct link between sadness and many of the most lasting achievements in art history. Now, a fascinating new study from an economist at the University of Southern Denmark appears to show that link. The researcher, Karol Jan Borowiecki, examined the emotional state of three of the West's most influential composers through the full course of their lives. Using linguistic analysis software that scanned the text for positive and negative emotions, such as joy, love, grief and hurt, he analyzed 1,400 letters written by Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Liszt to their friends, colleagues and loved ones. He then compared that data with the compositions they produced in a given time period, looking in particular at their most influential and transformative works. What he found appears to bear out popular ideas about creativity and melancholy: a link between periods of negative emotions, especially sadness, and artistic brilliance. The three composers that Borowiecki studies lived in roughly the same time period and region of Europe, and all had turbulent lives, sometimes tragic and sometimes jubilant. Mozart was lauded as a child prodigy but was driven to depression when he was forbidden from marrying a girl he loved and his mother suddenly died. After the death of his father, Liszt became his family's sole breadwinner at a young age; he was never able to marry the woman he loved, and he saw his children pass away before him. After a period of poverty, Beethoven discovered at 30 that he was going deaf, and he was emotionally stricken when at the end of his life a nephew under his care tried to commit suicide. The translator of Beethoven's letters said he fluctuated emotionally between "explosions of harshness and almost weak yieldingness, while striving to master the base thoughts." For all their extraordinary achievements, Borowiecki's analysis suggests that the causes of these composers' happiness and sadness were the same as any ordinary individual. Their letters reflected high emotional states when they had stable and engaging employment, solid personal relationships and good health. Negative emotions appeared when they fell on hard times financially, when their health became poor or especially when a close relative died. Borowiecki's analysis suggests that negative emotions are not just correlated with creativity but that they actually have a causal effect on it. Using econometrics, he calculates that a 9.3 percent increase in negative emotions leads to a 6.3 percent increase in works created in the following year. To generate an entire important composition in the next year, the composer would need to see his negative emotions increase by about 37 percent. "Creativity, measured by the number of important compositions, is causally attributable to negative moods, in particular to sadness," he writes. The analysis turned up a few other interesting findings. For one, composers appeared to write more letters in times of negative emotion especially when they were angry and fewer when they were happy. The data also showed that getting a permanent, tenured position and being married or cohabiting were associated with less productivity and less creative output. Of course, this shouldn't be a rationale for anyone who has depression to stop taking their medication. But it appears that the most lasting inspiration for artists may come from the most difficult moments. Rural emergency medical technicians face the frightening prospect of responding to calls in which peoples lives are in their hands. Many are volunteers who rarely see a specific illness or injury, and they must make immediate decisions and take quick action. The Helmsley Charitable Trust on Tuesday gave the University of Nebraska Medical Center a three-year, $5.5 million grant for four trucks and 20 simulators mannequins that mimic patients to help train rural EMTs and small-town hospital personnel. The program will enable training to take place in towns across Nebraska so that volunteers dont have to travel to Kearney or Omaha, where such continuing education for EMTs typically takes place. The program gives support to a diminishing breed. Information distributed by UNMC said that between December 2013 and April 2016, the number of licensed emergency medical service providers in Nebraska dropped 18 percent, from 8,436 to 6,959. The Helmsley grant also bolsters UNMCs commitment to simulators, which enable students and practitioners to work on their skills without the risk of injuring real patients. UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey Gold is a proponent of the concept and aims to build a major simulation facility on his campus. The simulators acquired through the Helmsley grant will be based in Scottsbluff, Kearney, Norfolk and Lincoln, where UNMC has nursing programs. The units are expected to be delivered in January. EMTs and other medical workers will have the chance to practice on trauma cases and catastrophic illnesses that they dont normally see, said Shelley Stingley, director of the Helmsley Trusts Rural Healthcare Program. We will do this by taking the training to them, Stingley said. Volunteering as an EMT is a big commitment with huge responsibility. They get off the tractor and they go to town to help their neighbor, Stingley said. Dr. Paul Paulman, UNMCs associate dean for clinical skills and quality, grew up in Sutherland, Nebraska, where one (EMT) ran the filling station and one ran the grocery store, he said. Getting 20 hours of continuing education every two years means driving to cities and sometimes paying for ones own registration, motel, food and travel, said Jen Wolsleben, a volunteer EMT in Cedar Bluffs, Nebraska. The conferences can cost an individual hundreds of dollars or a town thousands of dollars if it pays for multiple EMTs to attend, Wolsleben said. Meanwhile, those EMTs miss work and family during the 2-day continuing ed conference. And they arent available for emergency calls. Speakers at the announcement included Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert, Lt. Gov. Mike Foley, NU President Hank Bounds, Gold, Stingley, Paulman and Wolsleben. The Helmsley Trust has funded similar programs in South Dakota, North Dakota and Montana. Each truck will contain five simulators a pregnant female that produces a baby, an adult male, an infant and a child. The trucks will cost $500,000 apiece, the simulators a total of about $900,000. The enclosed trailers have compartments to simulate an ambulance and an emergency room. Brian Monaghan, UNMCs program manager for the project, said the additional $2.6 million will pay trainers salaries, program travel costs, maintenance, truck insurance, conventional equipment such as defibrillators and other items. Paulman said UNMC will seek other partners and funding sources to maintain the program for the long run. The trust, generated by the Helmsley real estate empire, has distributed more than $1.6 billion to various initiatives around the globe. They include health programs, educational programs and other initiatives in the United States, Africa, Israel and elsewhere. Close to $45 million in Helmsley grants have funded projects in Nebraska. They include distribution of automated chest-compression devices to ambulance services, digital mammography technology, CT scanners, 12-lead electrocardiogram devices and other initiatives. NUs Bounds said that the program would prove to be an important health initiative. Its hard to put a value on training thats going to save lives across the state. WASHINGTON (AP) Britains decision to quit the European Union has elevated the risks to U.S. financial stability, though they remain moderate, U.S. Treasury Department experts say. The report issued Monday by Treasurys Office of Financial Research comes a day after global finance officials promised to protect the world economy from the shockwaves of Britains Brexit referendum last month and to boost sluggish growth. The vote, which surprised financial markets and was a negative shock to investor confidence, will usher in months or years of uncertainty over British finance, trade and investment, the OFR report says. Because Britains economy and financial system are so closely connected with the U.S. and the rest of Europe, distress in Britain could threaten U.S. financial stability, it warned. Brexit was a shock, OFR Director Richard Berner said. It creates uncertainty both in financial markets and among businesspeople. ... Theres still uncertainty to come. Financial markets, especially the U.S. stock market, were rocked by the June 23 vote in Britain. Markets later recovered, and U.S. stocks mounted a robust rally in recent weeks. But the new report warns that markets may be underestimating the risks ahead. In a severe adverse scenario, shocks from Britain and Europe would threaten the stability of the U.S. financial system through disruptions in trade, financial connections among the countries and in investor confidence, the report says. Officials from the Group of 20 major economies including the U.S., China, Britain and Germany met in Beijing over the weekend against a backdrop of a weak global recovery that was rattled by the Brexit vote and trade tension over Chinese exports of low-priced steel. U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said ahead of the meeting that it was not the right time for coordinated action similar to that in 2008 and 09 following the global crisis because economies face different conditions. Overall, the general sense was that the outlook remains uncertain, Lew said in a statement Sunday. There is now broad consensus that what the global economy needs is growth not austerity and the discussions here have focused on how best to achieve that outcome. Copyright 2016 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Dozens of American restaurant chains, supermarket chains and dining service companies have committed in the past two years to ending their use or sales of eggs laid by caged hens. On Monday, one of the worlds largest food service suppliers, Paris-based Sodexo, upped the ante, saying it would switch to cage-free eggs in all its global operations by 2025. The announcement by a major international company is a sign that the rapid shift in the United States to cage-free eggs, led by consumers but long championed by animal rights activists, is going more global. It came after talks with animal rights groups, as well as an international animal rights coalition recently formed by the Humane League, a small American farm animal rights organization that has driven several U.S. companies pledges to swear off eggs from caged hens. Sodexo had already pledged last year to use only cage-free eggs and egg products in its U.S. operations by 2020. The new decision will affect both liquid eggs and the 250 million shell eggs the company purchases annually for use at 32,000 schools, hospitals, corporations and other sites it services in 80 countries. Its unclear how many of those eggs already come from uncaged hens. The European Union bans the battery cage a small wire enclosure whose floor is smaller than a sheet of letter-size paper and Sodexo said in a statement that it already uses only cage-free eggs in Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. But about half of egg-laying hens in the EU are housed in larger enriched cages, and David Coman-Hidy, executive director of the Philadelphia-based Humane League, said Sodexo had agreed to stop purchasing eggs from farms using those systems. In a statement, Sodexos senior vice president of supply management, Michel Franceschi, said the company plans to support and contribute to the progressive transformation of the whole industry. He said it would take advice from the Humane Society, Compassion in World Farming and the Humane League to accompany the conversion and the evolution of the local industry so that by 2025 we will be able to source cage-free eggs from local producers in each country where we operate. In the United States, increasing consumer concern about how animals are raised for food has driven demand for meat and poultry that is free-range, antibiotics-free, grass-fed and otherwise perceived as healthier or more humane. Last month Perdue, the countrys third-largest chicken producer, said that it would change the way it raises and slaughters chickens, including by giving them more exposure to natural light, in response to customers animal welfare concerns. Whether the issue of hen housing conditions will have the same traction at a global level remains to be seen. Coman-Hidy, whose group also negotiated a commitment from Grupo Bimbo in Mexico, said he thinks the issue of caging animals in cages that are just barely larger than their bodies is universally reviled by people. Cage-free eggs, however, do not come from hens pecking and clucking in verdant pastures. They are able to roam freely in large, crowded barns, stretch their wings and dust bathe. But their beaks are often still partially cut off to prevent them from pecking each other, and they do not go outside. And as the corporate timelines suggest, the switch wont affect hens for many generations to come. Egg producers say the process of converting caged systems is logistically mammoth and unlikely to happen by 2025, corporate commitments notwithstanding. Currently, less than 10 percent of eggs sold in the United States are laid by cage-free or free-range hens. There should be no illusion that these animals live great lives. Theyre still on factory farms, Coman-Hidy said. But this is such a meaningful improvement that we feel strongly its worth fighting for. Its six months before Christmas, and every retail creature is stirring. Yes, even the mice. Few consumers have holiday shopping on the brain this time of year, but retailers and manufacturers across the country are already in the trenches. Despite sweltering weather, digital snow sets the mood at the offices of Lego, where holiday displays line the hallways. At Mattel Inc., manufacturer of the iconic Barbie, spirits are bright as second-quarter revenue outpaced analyst projections, in large part due to doll sales. Within the toy industry, the Christmas shopping season never really ends, but its unofficial start is September of the year before. Yes, 16 months ahead of time. Thats when company leaders meet at the Fall Toy Preview in Dallas, put on by the Toy Industry Association. That gives buyers and manufacturers a chance to really work with each other, association spokeswoman Adrienne Appell said. At the preview, toy makers can make changes based on feedback from buyers as orders are placed. Almost a year and a half ahead of the holiday season, a toys destiny is defined. In mid-July, manufacturers are gearing up for the preview to plan for two Christmases down the line and simultaneously make sure all their toys are delivered for the more immediate holiday season. Theres also all the design and production to worry about: toys can take years to get just right. KEARNEY, Neb. Peggy Flores had to order another Pink Panther. The Kearney, Nebraska, woman speculates someone mightve stolen her 5-foot-tall, coconut-wearing Pink Panther that was part of her ninth-annual summer yard display. This year, she combined the theme of the circus with Star Wars. I ordered another Pink Panther. As for the yard display, I just thought it would be funny to do a comical side of the circus, so I figured why not call it, Welcome to the Circus, the Dark Side? she said. The lawn at 550 30th Ave. is covered in circus animals ranging from a motion-activated lion, an elephant that sings Wild Thing and The Lion Sleeps Tonight, to Yoda holding a crystal ball projecting how well the Huskers will play this year. Some of the yard displays include Darth Vader and Storm Troopers next to signs asking passersby to support Kearneys fire and police departments. I wanted to do something that would cheer people up and maybe get a laugh out of them, she said. The California native made bags of cotton candy with spray-painted pillow stuffing to hang from the trees and made a bobbing-for-onions station. She said gawkers often ask how she keeps her displays from blowing away. Flores said she wouldnt be able to do her yard display without the help from friends and businesses who donate items each year. A friend of mine made a kit for me filled with metal stakes, zip ties and rubber bands. These work great, but during storms, I take the display down, she said. The Bellevue City Council on Monday unanimously approved a $16,000 settlement to end a lawsuit with the citys former police chief. Former Police Chief John Stacey sued the city in 2013 after the City Council denied his claim for payment of unused sick leave and recalculation of his retirement benefits. Stacey was seeking about $23,000. After the council denied Staceys claim, he appealed in Sarpy County District Court. Under terms of the settlement, Stacey will have to release his claims against the city and dismiss the lawsuit. The money for the settlement will come out of the Police Departments general fund. Stacey has already received $1,357,520.80 from the city for unused vacation leave, unused sick leave and his pension fund. Stacey retired in May 2012 amid controversy. He had been suspended for allegedly making an inappropriate comment to a young teenage girl at a fire station. He also was charged with a misdemeanor after he lent then-Gretna City Administrator Colleen Lawry a gun. Stacey was acquitted on the gun charge. In other action, the council approved hiring Envision Retail by World Group as the listing agent for the citys properties in Olde Towne. In March, the city asked for proposals from commercial real estate brokers to market Olde Towne and sell the city-owned buildings along West Mission Avenue. The city is moving its offices to several buildings on Wall Street. Hike Real Estate, Colliers International and Envision Retail by World Group submitted proposals. Envision Retail by World Group was selected after all three were interviewed by the mayor, two council members, the city attorney and several city staff members. And Bellevues new conference and event center will officially be known as the Beardmore Event Center of Bellevue. The council unanimously approved an agreement with Beardmore. Beardmore will pay the city $500,000 in annual installments over a 10-year period. The new event center, which is owned by the city, offers 18,000 square feet of flexible space that is attached to a Courtyard by Marriott hotel with 121 rooms. The Beardmore Event Center of Bellevue will host its first event this week. Contact the writer: 402-444-1192, emily.nitcher@owh.com People in the Benson-area neighborhood where a house exploded Monday, killing a property inspector, met Tuesday with insurance adjusters who assessed the damage to their homes. The explosion, which was reported at 12:17 p.m., obliterated the house at 3858 N. 65th St., knocked others off their foundations, shook a wide area of Benson and left at least two people injured, including a neighbor pinned in debris. Clara Bender-Rinehart, 30, was killed. She died after being taken to the Nebraska Medical Center. City Public Works Department crews cleared North 65th Street of debris Tuesday afternoon. Neighbors who had not been allowed back in their houses were allowed to return. The exceptions were the residents of the two houses north and the two houses south of the explosion site. The investigation into the blast continued Tuesday, with members of the Omaha Fire Departments Fire Investigation Unit, the State Fire Marshals Office and the Omaha Police Department seeking the cause of the explosion. Rachel Eadie, 46, who lives just north of the house that exploded, was injured when part of her house fell in on her. She also was taken to Nebraska Medical Center, where she was treated and released. Eadie, who works graveyard shifts, was asleep in a bedroom when the blast occurred. "All of a sudden, crash, and that was obviously the roof falling on me," she said Tuesday morning. "And I just think its a bad dream. "I couldnt breathe, and I could smell a weird smell, and its not a dream and this is for real, theres something wrong," she said. Two of Eadies children, ages 6 and 11, also were in the home. They were not injured. Eadie said she heard her children screaming, "so I knew they were alive ... "I looked up just a little bit because thats all I could move, like Id seen the sky, so I knew the whole roof had come in." Eadie's husband, Jeffery Blount, said he was washing dishes when the explosion occurred. The house was knocked sideways, off its foundation. I thought lightning hit the house, or a car, he said. Eadie said her husband broke a back window open and got the children out, telling them to run across the street. Blount said he couldn't get to his wife through the wreckage of his house. It was just a mess, he said. Everything was just crooked. A dresser had been knocked down and blocked the bedroom door, Eadie said. So Blount had to crawl out the back window and come around to the side. Blount called out to Eadie. At first she didnt say anything, but then said, Im right here. Blount said he frantically pulled away debris. Neighbors arrived and helped. I was focused on my wife. I didnt care about myself. I just wanted to get her out of the room, he said during a tearful interview Monday afternoon. Blounts green T-shirt was torn and he had scratches on his legs and dried blood on his gray shorts. I was just pumped up, adrenaline going. God was with me. Eadie was removed from the home and taken away on a stretcher, Blount said. By Monday evening she was back in the neighborhood, surveying the damage. An investigator told the family the house will have to be demolished. "You say were all safe and healthy," Eadie said, "but then its like you have nothing, nothing." Bender was an inspector for Certified Property Management, said Jeremy Aspen, the companys president. She had gone to the house to check its condition after the evicted tenant had cleared out. Bender was married to her childhood sweetheart, Jake Rinehart, another CPM employee, Aspen said, and was the mother of a son. She was a great mother, a fantastic employee, a really good person to be around, Aspen said. We just love her. CPM set up a GoFundMe page for Bender's family. By Tuesday afternoon, more than $11,800 had been donated. Representatives from insurance companies surveyed the damage Tuesday morning, accompanied by homeowners. Minarni Finkelstein, who lives directly behind the house that exploded, said she was home Monday with her 10-year-old son. Finkelstein said she was just starting to make lunch. "Suddenly, there was a blast, like a bomb," she said. Her immediate thought was that her microwave had blown up. Almost all of the windows on the back of the house were shattered, Finkelstein said: "There was glass everywhere." Some of the walls also are cracked, she said. An insurance company representative inspected the house Tuesday morning. "He has to tally things up," she said. St. Bernard's Catholic Church and School, 3601 N. 65th St., had seven windows broken out in the blast, said the Rev. Walter Nolte, the parish pastor. Window air conditioners also were shaken and moved by the impact, he said. An architect and structural engineer will be out to assess the damage, Nolte said, and window companies are coming to submit bids to replace the windows. No children in the church's daycare were injured in Monday's blast, Nolte said, but police officers came to the church and said everyone would have to evacuate. Aspen, with Certified Property Management, said the tenant had been evicted on June 22. On Saturday, Bender unlocked the house so the tenant could have the weekend to gather possessions, Aspen said. Bender was back at the home Monday to check its condition, he said. According to court documents, the tenants name is Kiwana Toussaint. Toussaint could not be reached for comment. All that was left at the destroyed house was a pile of wood and a foundation. A Nissan Xterra sport utility vehicle with its hood peeled back toward the windshield sat in the driveway. The four most heavily damaged homes were each side of the house that exploded and two houses behind it. Debris from the explosion ignited fires in nearby homes, and late Monday night the home immediately south of the blast site caught fire. Law enforcement officials cordoned off the area and continued to push back onlookers Tuesday morning. Immediately after the blast Monday afternoon, confused neighbors wandered into the street. A plume of grayish-brown debris hung in the air like a fountain, and hunks of wood fell to the ground. Little yellow pieces of insulation drifted down like snowflakes. Also injured was a 14-year-old boy, who was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center. Its not known where he was when the blast occurred. People in the area for blocks around reported that they heard the blast, comparing it to a bomb. It shook my whole house, said Laura Winters, 25, who lives about a block and a half away. She was sleeping on her day off, and the explosion woke her. It sounded like a military-grade bomb went off. It was so intense. I never felt my whole house shake like that, and me shaking in my own bed. She grabbed her glasses and ran outside. Everyones ... running out, walking out, and asking neighbors Did you hear that? Winters said. The smell of gas was everywhere, she said in your face, like you couldnt even breathe. The blast ruptured a gas line to the house, but the rupture did not cause the explosion, said Battalion Chief Tim McCaw, a spokesman for the Fire Department. A Metropolitan Utilities District crew shut off gas to the house after digging up part of 65th Street to gain access to a valve. MUD crews surveyed the area and detected no natural gas leaks. McCaw said 50 firefighters were on the scene. No firefighters were injured, he said. People with information about the blast were encouraged to contact the arson hotline at 402-444-FIRE. Electric power to the area also was cut. It was restored in the evening. At Atchley Ford, about a half-mile away, at 72nd and Pratt Streets, We thought somebody hit the dealership really hard, said Dave Minor, a manager. Yahaira Peralta was in her house near 63rd and Manderson Streets when she heard a loud explosion and the house shook for about five to 10 seconds. The whole neighborhood heard it, Peralta, 16, said not long after the blast. You can step outside and smell the fire. Sanjaya Bolton was picking up her room when she felt her body shake. I didnt see anything, but I felt like something really heavy in my house dropped down the stairs, said Sanjaya, 14. World-Herald staff writers Jay Withrow, Emily McMinn, Alia Conley, Nancy Gaarder and Dan Golden contributed to this report. Flames roared through a Bellevue apartment building Tuesday, collapsing its roof and leaving the residents of two dozen units homeless, either because of the blaze itself or water damage. Three people were taken to the hospital, a Bellevue firefighter who wrenched his back and two people who suffered health problems, said Jack Syphers, spokesman for the Bellevue Fire Department. It was not clear how the firefighters injury occurred. This was the second fire in less than a week at the Gateway Park Apartments, located in the 300 block of Fort Crook Road South. Authorities were working under the theory that this fire started on the second floor. On Friday, a fire ignited on a third-floor balcony, but caused much less damage. Both fires are under investigation by the State Fire Marshals Office. Residents had last weeks fire in mind when they heard the alarms Tuesday. Taysha Hubbard, 24, was in the shower when the fire alarm sounded. She said she thought the alarms were being tested due to Fridays fire, and waited five minutes to leave her second-floor apartment. When she looked out her doors peephole, she said she saw a police officer in the hallway blocking access to the staircase on the north side of the building. Out of her balcony window, she said she saw chunks of fire fall toward the ground. She grabbed her dog and left the building, still wearing her robe. Hubbard said someone passing by gave her clothes. Kimberly Frederick, 51, was in her third-floor apartment when the fire alarm sounded. She looked up and saw flames shooting outside her north-facing window. Frederick said she screamed as she left her apartment with nothing and exited the south side of the complex. She rounded the building to see the damage but moved away. I couldnt watch it anymore, she said. Its devastating to watch everything burn. Kathy Consbruck, 59, was at work in west Omaha when a friend called, saying the apartment where Consbruck lived was on fire. When Consbruck arrived at the scene 30 minutes later, the road was blocked with emergency response vehicles. She did not see flames. She said her two small dogs were rescued from her first-floor apartment. Consbruck, who works for Bellevue University, said she planned to stay with her children in Lincoln Tuesday night. Its just kind of numbing. Until I can get in there and actually see, I dont want to think the worst, she said of the damage. Tuesdays fire occurred in a different section of the same building as Fridays fire. The two sections are separated by a fire wall and each section has 12 units. The 12 apartments in the section that caught fire Tuesday were heavily damaged. Only two units were damaged in Fridays fire, but the rest were affected by water damage from Tuesdays fire. The number of displaced people was not available. Tuesdays fire began about 4 p.m. and was under control in about an hour, Syphers said. The names and conditions of the people taken to Nebraska Medicine-Bellevue were not available. The firefighter is in his 20s. One of the civilians had a diabetic episode, and the other experienced breathing difficulties. While putting out hot spots, the firefighters inside the building had to evacuate out of fear the roof would collapse. Bellevue Fire Department Capt. Brian Staskiewicz said about 90 percent of the fire had been extinguished when crews decided to enter the building to put out spots that could rekindle the fire. I felt the floor shift, the floors buckled and some of the trusses came down, he said. He called for the evacuation. Staskiewicz said the firefighters knew the roof collapse was possible; the structure was weakened by the fire and under significant water weight. You just have to be prepared for anything when youre up on the third floor, he said. Firefighters from Omaha, Papillion and Offutt Air Force Base assisted at Tuesdays blaze. Contact the writer: 402-444-3106, emerson.clarridge@owh.com Capt. Michael Trubilla was, quite literally, a rocket scientist, who also flew Air Force RC-135 jets in far corners of the world. But it was orphans in Haiti who changed his life. During a weeklong missionary trip last summer, he became a godfather to a dying little girl named Isabel Elizabeth. Michael rocked babies, changed diapers, scraped cribs, moved rocks, held the hands of the dying, and never once complained, said his friend, Katie Garrett of Omaha, who traveled with him. His faith came alive and radiated out for all of us to see. Trubilla, 27, died Sunday afternoon when the twin-engine Beechcraft Baron aircraft he was piloting on a check ride with an FAA instructor plunged into a soybean field near Leshara, west of Omaha. The flight instructor Ron Panting, 61, of Papillion also was killed. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are now on the scene, examining the wreckage of the aircraft and its engines, said Terry Williams, an NTSB spokesman. A preliminary report is expected in about a week. Trubilla grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania, one of four sons of an Air Force veteran. He was selected for an appointment to the Air Force Academy, where he made a giant splash with an undergraduate research project creating a fuel system to propel certain types of small satellites. NASA had been unable to use the satellites after Russia cut off shipments of the plutonium that fueled them. Trubillas new fuel system allowed them to run on an alternate fuel, rescuing the space agencys $50 million investment in the satellites. Trubilla received a major Air Force science and technology award for his work. Its the best piece of research Ive ever seen a cadet do, Ken Siegenthaler, one of his professors, said at the time. He graduated in 2011, and following training to fly RC-135 jets was assigned as a pilot with Offutts 45th Reconnaissance Squadron in May 2013. Rebecca Weber, 32, of Omaha met him through an Air Force neighbor, and they became close friends between his frequent overseas deployments. She remembers his lively personality and wacky sense of humor. On Halloween, he dressed as Rich Uncle Pennybags, the wealthy tycoon pictured in the Monopoly board game, and handed out play money. He just couldnt sit still, she said. He was always doing something, taking his car apart and putting it together. Weber said he was famous for his long and entertaining stories, but he would listen and offer sound advice for friends who needed it. When you had a problem, he was the friend you called or texted, she said. Weber said Trubilla was a devout Roman Catholic. She remembered how the Haiti trip affected him. It bothered him that there were little kids who were so sick, and there was no one to hold them, Weber said. She didnt see Trubilla last weekend. He was supposed to come to her birthday party Saturday, but he didnt make it because of a flat tire. He told her he would meet her the next day, after his check flight. He said, Im OK, Weber recalled. Thats the last I heard from him. Trubillas family hasnt announced services yet. His squadron is planning a private memorial ceremony in his memory, a 55th Wing spokeswoman said. Papillion man was living the dream when around planes If anyone lived for flying, it was Ronald Panting. The 61-year-old flight instructor from Papillion had held a pilots license for 40 years, including a 23-year career in the Air Force and nine more years as a commercial pilot. He has just been obsessed with flying his whole life, said his daughter, Stephanie Panting. It was really wonderful to see him doing what he was passionate about. Ron Panting grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, but his Air Force career took him around the world. His last stop was with the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base in 1998, including a tour as chief of wing safety. He stayed in Nebraska with his wife, Lynne, and two children after retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 2004. In recent years, he flew as a contractor for the Army Corps of Engineers and served as a check airman for the FAA. Panting enjoyed golf and umpired high school and college baseball games. But when he wasnt flying airplanes, he could often be found tinkering on home and vehicle projects. He loved seeing how things worked, he loved working with his hands, Stephanie Panting said. When he was around planes, it was something special. He was living the dream. Panting is survived by his wife, Lynne, of Papillion; daughter Stephanie of Washington, D.C.; and son Matthew of southern California. Services are pending. Contact the writer: 402-444-1186, steve.liewer@owh.com A Westside High School social worker and some school colleagues have established a funeral expenses fund for the family of a 17-year-old Omahan who drowned last week in the Missouri River just north of N.P. Dodge Park. Sarah Fehringer said the Security National Bank fund will help with burial expenses for Adrian Boatman, who would have been a Westside senior starting next month. Donations can be dropped off for the Adrian Boatman Memorial Funeral Fund at any Security National branch. All proceeds will go toward expenses, Fehringer said. Fehringer said funeral arrangements in Chicago, where the Boatman family has relatives, were pending because Boatmans body was sent to Des Moines for an autopsy. The body was found Saturday on the Iowa side of the Missouri River. A Go Fund Me account to handle expenses also has been established. PHILADELPHIA (AP) Ending months of animosity, Bernie Sanders robustly embraced his former rival Hillary Clinton on Monday night as a champion for the same economic causes that enlivened his supporters, signaling that it was time for them, too, to rally behind the Democratic nominee in the campaign against Republican Donald Trump. Any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States, he declared in a headlining address on the opening night of the Democratic Convention. Former President Bill Clinton, watching from the audience, leapt to his feet and applauded, as did most of the delegates filling the convention arena. Sanders joined a high-wattage lineup of speakers, including first lady Michelle Obama, who delivered a forceful, impassioned defense of the Democratic nominee. Obamas address all but wiped away earlier tumult in the convention hall that had exposed lingering tensions among supporters of Clinton and Sanders. I want someone with the proven strength to persevere, someone who knows this job and takes it seriously, someone who understands the issues a president faces are not black and white, Obama said without mentioning Trumps name. Referring to Trumps penchant for tweeting, she said of the presidency: It cannot be boiled down to 140 characters. While Sanders had endorsed Clinton previously, his remarks Monday marked his most vigorous and detailed praise of her qualifications for the presidency. It came at a crucial moment for Clintons campaign, on the heels of leaked emails suggesting that the party had favored the former secretary of state through the primaries despite a vow of neutrality. Sanders scored the resignation of the party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a nemesis in the primaries, but that wasnt enough to quell the anger of supporters. As the convention opened, they still erupted in chants of Bernie and booed Clinton the first several times her name was mentioned. Outside the convention hall, several hundred supporters marched down Philadelphias sweltering streets with signs carrying messages such as Never Hillary. Police briefly detained more than 50 people after they tried to storm the barricades outside the convention. By the time Sanders took the stage for the nights closing address, much of the anger had been overshadowed by speeches promoting party unity. Sanders did his part, imploring his supporters to consider a country under Trumps leadership. If you dont believe this election is important, if you think you can sit it out, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate and what that would mean to civil liberties, equal rights and the future of our country, he said. Sanders spoke just after Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a favorite of liberals who has emerged as one of the Democrats toughest critics of Trump. Donald Trump has no real plans for jobs, for college kids, for seniors, she said in the keynote address. No plans to make anything great for anyone except rich guys like Donald Trump. The first lady was one of the nights standouts. While she has often avoided overt politics during her nearly eight years in the White House, her frustration with Trumps rise was evident. She warned that the White House couldnt be in the hands of someone with a thin skin or a tendency to lash out or someone who tells voters the country can be great again. This right now, is the greatest country on Earth, she said. Clintons campaign hoped the nighttime lineup would overshadow a tumultuous start to the four-day convention. The hacked DNC emails fed the suspicion of Sanders supporters and sapped Clintons campaign of some of its energy following a well-received rollout Saturday of her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine. Campaigning in North Carolina, Trump seemed to revel in the Democrats commotion, telling supporters that Clinton made a mistake by not choosing a more liberal running mate to appease Sanders base. Crazy Bernies going crazy right now, he said. But in Philadelphia, delegates waved Love Trumps Hate signs and cheered as immigration supporters, gay rights advocates and labor leaders took the stage. Comedian-turned-senator Al Franken, a Clinton supporter, and actress Sarah Silverman, a Sanders supporter, made a joint appearance to promote party unity. I am proud to be part of Bernies movement, Silverman said as the crowd roared. And a vital part of that movement is making absolutely sure Hillary Clinton is our next president of the United States. Trump was a frequent target throughout the night, though the jabs were often more mocking than mean. The tone was a sharp contrast to the Republican convention, where the attacks against Clinton was bitingly personal, including chants of Lock her up. Wasserman Schultz had planned to be among those taking the stage, despite the email hacking controversy. But she stepped aside, bowing to pressure from Democrats who feared that the mere sight of her on stage would prompt strong opposition. The outgoing chairwoman did watch the gathering from a private suite at the arena. Discussions between the Clinton and Sanders camps prompted him to send emails and text messages to supporters asking them not to protest. Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays, Sanders wrote. Im really annoyed, Michigan delegate Bruce Fealk said. I want to support Bernie, but I also want to voice my displeasure with the Democratic Party. Fealk said he viewed the emergence of hacked DNC emails as a revelation and evidence of the partys disrespect for progressives. Others said they simply couldnt support Clinton. No, never, not in a million years, no. I wouldnt vote for her for dog catcher, said Melissa Arab of Shelby Township, Michigan. From the podium, however, some of Sanders allies noted their progress in influencing the partys platform and moving to reduce the influence of superdelegates, the party leaders and elected officials who helped decide the nomination. I stand with my Democratic family in making sure we win this fall, said Maine lawmaker Diane Russell, a Sanders supporter. Copyright 2016 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. * * * Voters voices and viewpoints In presidential politics, the views of voters are often drowned out by the bluster and fury of national campaigns. The World-Herald would like to give Midlands voters a chance to be heard in this election, whether you support Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton or neither of them. Were looking for people who are willing to answer a few questions about what theyre looking for in a candidate and what they have found. If interested, send an email and tell us a little bit about yourself, such as your name, age, occupation and hometown. Send to: Leia.Mendoza@owh.com. PHILADELPHIA The fear of Donald Trump works on some Bernie Sanders supporters but not all of them, as the former presidential candidate found the hard way. Sanders was booed by his own delegates Monday after he urged them in a private meeting to vote for Hillary Clinton, describing Trump as a bully, a demagogue and a danger to this nation. Several Sanders delegates from Nebraska and Iowa said that while they still love the Vermont senator, they cant be manipulated by the founder of their revolution. Were not puppets on a string, said Ingrid Olson, a 38-year-old Iowa delegate from Council Bluffs. Nor do they think Clinton has given them a good enough reason to vote for her. She has not earned my vote. She hasnt really tried, said Abby Davis of Grand Island. Sanders supporters continued to make their presence known Monday, the opening day of the Democratic National Convention. However, their opposition appeared limited to chanting Sanders name in the convention hall and booing whenever Clintons name was mentioned. Despite the noisy opposition, it was clear that pro-Clinton delegates represented the majority in the convention hall. And it was also clear that Sanders supporters were not trying to stop or disrupt the convention on its path to nominating Clinton. For his part, Sanders tried to argue in a meeting with his delegates and in a speech at the convention that it was now time for Democrats to unite against Trump, the Republican nominee. His message was echoed by others who urged Sanders delegates to get behind Clinton. That included Sanders former spokeswoman, Symone Sanders. She took to Twitter Monday night, decrying the belief among some Sanders supporters that the election was stolen by fraud. The fact is, she said, Clinton won and Sanders lost. No one stole this election. There are other qualms, other valid arguments, but a stolen election is not one. I worked there. No one stole this election from us, said Symone Sanders, who is an Omaha native and who is not related to Bernie Sanders. Clinton is going to need Sanders primary voters to win in November against Trump, several political scientists said. If the partys liberal base stays home, Clinton could lose in the same fashion that former Vice President Al Gore lost in 2000, when third-party candidate Ralph Nader seemed to siphon off Democratic votes and George W. Bush won. If enough Sanders supporters refuse to support her, it would be like Nader all over again, said Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University. However, several polls taken in mid-June showed that 40 percent to 55 percent of Sanders supporters already were ready to back Clinton. That number will probably grow as the November election draws nearer and Democrats realize that their choice is between Clinton and Trump, said Kevin Smith, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I would imagine those numbers would drift up the closer we get to the actual election, said Smith. Sanders supporters have been vocal in Philadelphia. The pro-Sanders demonstrators number in the thousands. Sanders delegates have also been vocal. Many say they are angry that Clintons nomination is being treated as a foregone conclusion. It feels more like Hillarys coronation than a Democratic Convention, said Adrian Sanchez, a Sanders delegate from Lincoln. Of course, Clinton clearly entered the convention with enough delegates to win the nomination, and Sanders has conceded the race. But even the calls for unity irritated some Sanders delegates. Brian Whitecalf of Grand Island described Mondays opening night as a series of overly scripted calls for unity and togetherness mixed with scaremongering about Trump. Not that hes a fan of Trump. He said hes a special education paraprofessional in an elementary school that is overwhelmingly Hispanic. Whitecalf said those kids see their homes permeated with fear of what he characterized as Trumps racist and xenophobic rhetoric. He said he would do everything possible to stop that. Including vote for Clinton? No, he quickly responded. I dont want that (fear of Trump) to be the motivation. He said Clinton has not reached out for his vote enough. And he said he simply cant support her after email leaks that suggested party leaders had favored Clinton during the primary campaign. The email issue prompted the resignation of Democratic chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz this week. It shows a lack of credibility, he said. However, not all Sanders supporters were immune to the anti-Trump message and not all were comfortable booing whenever Clintons name was invoked. Pastor Janet Goodman Banks of Lincoln said Sanders warnings about Trump hit home. We have to defeat Donald Trump and thats the bottom line, said Goodman Banks, saying that she agrees with Sanders priorities. His No. 1 goal is to defeat Donald Trump. Thats my No. 1 goal. Contact the writer: 402-444-1309, robynn.tysver@owh.com * * * WHAT TO WATCH TODAY The roll call Hillary Clinton is to become the first woman nominated for president by a major party. Bernie Sanders delegates have pushed to have their votes fully tallied in the formal state-by-state roll call. First dude Bill Clintons speech tonight will pique extra interest since he hopes to be the first first man, as opposed to a first lady. Watch how hes introduced: Hillary Clinton has joked that she might call her husband first dude if elected. How to watch Watch Omaha.com/DNC for complete coverage from The World-Herald and its two political reporters in Philadelphia, Robynn Tysver and Joseph Morton. The World-Herald and AP * * * Voters voices and viewpoints In presidential politics, the views of voters are often drowned out by the bluster and fury of national campaigns. The World-Herald would like to give Midlands voters a chance to be heard in this election, whether you support Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton or neither of them. Were looking for people who are willing to answer a few questions about what theyre looking for in a candidate and what they have found. If interested, send an email and tell us a little bit about yourself, such as your name, age, occupation and hometown. Send to: Leia.Mendoza@owh.com. Michelle LaMere Age: 49 / Hometown: Winnebago, Nebraska / Occupation: project manager for Ho-Chunk Renaissance Q. Its the last day are you ready to go home? A. Yes I am. Its been pretty rough. Hectic. But its also a really good learning experience. It was challenging, but I enjoyed it. Q. Were you able to do anything outside of the convention? A. We went and visited the (pro-Bernie Sanders) protesters yesterday. They were talking about trying to encourage people to run for office and supporting the down-ballot candidates that are more progressive. It was really encouraging because all the races were represented there. I saw little grandmothers sitting in lawn chairs and the kids running around. It was a really good place to be. Q. As a Sanders delegate, how do you feel about leaving here and carrying the campaign into November? A. Im just focused on the down-ballot candidates right now. Adrian Sanchez Age: 35 / Hometown: Lincoln / Occupation: looking for work Q. Hows your week gone? A. The week has been a whirlwind. Its been a surreal experience. I took the opportunity not only to attend the DNC convention but also to see the people that were at FDR park, and it was quite an eye-opening experience. Im glad I was able to see both sides first-hand. Q. The FDR park folks are the pro-Bernie Sanders protesters? A. They are the ones who came to support Bernie from across the nation. I got to meet people from Tennessee, Indiana, Georgia. I met a young woman with cerebral palsy. I met a woman who traveled from Georgia and shes walking with a cane trying to navigate these barriers. And just to be able to understand what drove these people to come all this way to express their voices to the Democratic national party. Q. Are you going to come back in 2020? A. Well see where Im at in three years. Im still recovering from this one. Im exhausted, Im drained, but Im exhilarated and rejuvenated at the same time. Im very fortunate and I want to thank those who supported me in getting me here. Q. Do you feel like Democrats leave on the same page for November? A. I dont think were all on the same page. I think there has been some splintering. Now, can that be repaired? Well see how things go through November. If more progressive Democrats, as we like to consider ourselves, are brought into the fold and are given consideration and treated as partners in this pursuit, then I can see it being repaired. Tanya Cook Age: 51 / Hometown: Omaha / Occupation: state senator Q. How has your week gone? A. It has been fun-filled, sometimes tense, sometimes emotional, but a good affirmation of our democracy and how its supposed to work. And I think the president hit on all these points ideally (Wednesday) night when he thanked the Sanders supporters for being such awesome community organizers. My favorite line from the speech was Dont boo, vote. Because weve heard quite a few murmurings this week. And of course its always fun to see movie stars and musical performances, so Ive enjoyed it thoroughly. Q. Which performances were your favorites? A. Andre Day after the mothers of the movement that seemed like a perfect segue. And then I love musical theater and when all the Broadway stars came out last night, I was rather theater geeked out to see Audra McDonald, and Ben Vereen was up there, and Idina Menzel and with their new recording to honor the victims in Orlando. They were all wonderful, because its just such a nice surprise to see all this talent engaged. Cindy Pollard Age: 59 / Hometown: Newton, Iowa / Occupation: retired nurse Q. Youre a Clinton supporter. Have you learned anything new about your candidate? A. No. I knew about her a long time ago, but I am hearing more personal stories. Weve been talking (in the Iowa delegation) about the personal letters weve gotten from her. Q. Youve gotten a personal letter from Hillary Clinton? A. Yes. She was coming to my hometown Uncle Nancys. Its a coffee shop. The fire marshal came and said there was one over (the limit). So I stepped out. She got wind of it and said, "I heard what you did." I have the letter. Q. Why do you think so many people dislike Clinton? A. I dont know. I dont get it. They dont know her. They havent spent any time with her. Q. Best speech of the convention, so far? A. Oh man! Barack Obama, man! Oh my God! Q. Taking home any souvenirs? A. Everything we could get our hands on. If it said Hillary on it, its mine. Scott Brennan Age: 53 / Home: West Des Moines / Occupation: lawyer Q. Who was better? Joe Biden or Michelle Obama? A. They were very different speeches, but both were very personal. Ive seen Vice President Biden a lot over the years. Hes always good, but thats the best Ive ever seen Michelle. Q. Youre a Clinton supporter. Have you seen any evidence Bernie Sanders supporters will unite behind Clinton? A. Yes. Its a process. It was a hard-fought battle. I saw this in 2008 when Hillary Clintons supporters had great difficulty supporting now-President Obama. These people are so passionate. Its hard to step back. Q. What do you think of Philadelphia and the Wells Fargo Center? A. Certainly, Iowa has a very nice spot on the floor. From the sight perspective, it has been wonderful. But the transportation logistics have been miserable. There should be a way to get the shuttle buses to the arena (in a timely fashion). Q. Are you taking home any mementos? A. They handed out Joe signs for Biden last night. My wife and I have a son named Joe, so we grabbed a couple of those. We think hell get a kick out of it. Marta Nieves Age: 78 / Hometown: Bellevue / Occupation: retired, part-time human relations Q. Hows your week going? A. Its going very well. I went to the Latino leaders luncheon yesterday and it was awesome. I met so many new people. I made some new contacts for one of our candidates back home to get him some exposure, some money, that kind of thing. I met a gentleman who is running for office in Lancaster County (Pennsylvania) and I have relatives in Lancaster County, so Im going to get him some votes. Q. Have you had a cheesesteak this week? A. Not yet, but I plan to. Somebody in the hotel told me where the best place is, so Ill find time to do that. But I did go to the Reading Market. It was awesome. I had the best Chinese dinner. It was exceptional. The noodles that they used Id never tasted something like that. Q. Who has been your favorite speaker so far? A. Cory Booker was outstanding. Of course Mrs. Obama Michelle was amazing. She probably was the best. And also Elijah Cummings (a congressman from Maryland). There is not just one favorite. For me, they each spoke very eloquently. Patty Pansing Brooks Age: 57 / Hometown: Lincoln / Occupation: attorney and state senator Q. Outside of convention business, do you have any tourist plans for the week? A. I have been here as a tourist, so if we get time well try to hit a couple of the museums, and of course to see the Liberty Bell is always moving. Q. Any political souvenirs youre on the lookout for? A. I think Im so new at this, I dont know what to look for. Q. This is your first convention? Whats your first impression? A. Its really exciting and I feel so privileged and honored to be here. And I really do thank my constituents for this opportunity because it would not have happened had they not elected me. Mary Hoyer Age: 67 / Hometown: Salem, Iowa / Occupation: currently retired from sales and marketing Q. When Bernie Sanders stood up and asked his delegates to unanimously support Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee, were you surprised? A. No. I bet somebody $5 that he would do it. Q. Youre a Sanders supporter. Will you be voting for Clinton? A. Im going to be voting for the Democratic ticket. Q. Does that mean Clinton too? A. Shell be on the Democratic ticket, so the answer is yes. Q. What is the craziest thing youve seen at this convention? A. When the person who was the chairman at the convention came out and talked about our nominee Hillary Clinton on the first day. We hadnt even started the nominating process yet, and Clinton hadnt been nominated yet. Q. When you came to the convention, did you think Bernie Sanders still had a chance at winning the nomination? A. No. Q. Would you ever want to attend another convention? A. No. Id let someone else have a shot. I think I learned a lot about this election. Ako Abdul-Samad Age: 65 / Hometown: Des Moines / Occupation: Iowa state representative and chief executive officer of Creative Visions Q. What did you think of Bill Clintons speech? A. I thought he accomplished what he set out to do: to tell us about his wife and why she should be president. I was impressed that he kept the focus on her. Q. You doubted he could keep the speech focused on her? A. I did doubt it. I know its hard. Sometimes its difficult. Q. They all have egos... A. Yes, we do. Q. What do you think of the angst being felt among Sanders supporters? A. I look at it as growing pain. You have people who are getting involved in politics for the first time. I hope they grow out of this and realize that in this situation, you cant look at it as a win or a loss. Q. Whats the craziest thing youve seen at the convention? A. Running out of food. A lot of the concession stands ran out of food on the first night. Michelle Magyar Age: 50 / Hometown: Davenport / Occupation: owner of a glass fabrication company Q. You picked a good convention as your first. A. Amazing. I dont have enough brain cells to process. Its amazing. Q. Is there one memory of this convention that will stick with you for a long time? A. Just the overall good feeling and well wishes. I almost think Im still in Iowa. Everyone cares about each other. The Clinton delegates, no matter who I meet in different states, the Clinton delegates are like family. Q. How about the Bernie Sanders delegates what do you think of them? A. No comment. Mama always said if you cant say something good, dont say anything at all. Q. Have you tried to reach out to the Sanders supporters? A. No comment. Q. Who has been your favorite speaker, so far? A. Whos the next speaker? Everyone has been my favorite speaker because each speaker in succession has been better and better. Q. Why do you think so many people dislike Hillary Clinton? A. It has been said: People who are so effective in making change certainly attract the attention of people who dont want that change to happen. Amy Buchanan Age: over 45 / Hometown: Omaha / Occupation: raising two kids and looking for employment Q. Any tourist plans this week? A. Ive been here only once before, so Ive done south Philly, but I have not seen the Liberty Bell or Independence Hall. Also, all the national delegates for Bernie are meeting in front of the art museum Tuesday to get a delegate photo taken. Q. Why did you want to come to Philadelphia? A. To serve Sen. Sanders. One of my big motivations was Im a Nebraska native and moved away for about 20 years, living in democratic socialist countries, the last was in Canada. So now Im here and really miss universal health care and all the things that democratic socialist governments offer their citizens. And I know America can do better. I cant believe that people arent marching in the streets to get universal health care. Q. I believe a few people are actually marching in the streets this week in Philly. A. Exactly, right here. The other thing that motivated me to serve Sen. Sanders and jump into this political arena was my brother. I moved from Canada to Omaha to help take care of him. It was a long process, took two years of planning to make this international move, and right before we moved he ended his life. Instead of dedicating my time to him, now I decided to dedicate it to making the world a better place. Kenneth Allen Age: 57 / Hometown: Omaha / Occupation: pastor at Zion Baptist Q. Hows your week going so far? A. Its going just great. Im really enjoying it. I lived in Philadelphia for eight years. My family has been here for 37 years so this is my adopted home and Im in familiar territory. So its great to be back and to see how the city is expanding and growing. Q. Do you have any plans outside of convention business? A. I came a couple of days early and started my week off by going to church. My father is a retired pastor he just retired in December so I went to the church where he is pastor emeritus. And my sister-in-law was delivering the morning message. So I had a great start to my week. Q. As a Clinton delegate, what did you think of Bernie Sanders speech to the convention? A. It was a raucous night. Bernie Sanders was outstanding. I thought he focused on the issues and really gave us an agenda for this revolution thats taking place within the Democratic Party and thats going to reverberate all across this country. I thought he presented himself to his followers, if you will, his disciples, and explained to them how important it is for us to come together to support our nominee. Because some of them are too young to remember 1980 when Ted Kennedy ran and there was a division within the Democratic Party, and it was laid bare at the convention and the party never recovered from it. And as a result of that, we got Ronald Reagan. Janet Goodman Banks Age: 59 / Hometown: Lincoln / Occupation: pastor at The Women in the City Ministries Q. Hows your week going? A. My week has been fantastic. I love Philly. I love the people here, theyve been very kind and good to us. And the convention has been great. Q. Why come to Philadelphia? A. I wanted my voice to continue to be heard. I am a nurse and health care is very important to me. With that said, tied with it is the justice system and law enforcement so I want to hear what the speakers have to say on those issues, and what Secretary Clinton is proposing concerning health care and the justice system being reformed. Q. You are a Sanders delegate, what did you think of his speech? A. He knocked it out of the park. I think he did well to acknowledge what this revolution has done. I think some might have had a problem with him acknowledging that and maybe taking a little bit longer to confirm Secretary Clinton as far as getting behind her and encouraging us to get behind her. But I think the things he stated needed to be at the forefront first, and save the best for last. Christina Blackcloud Age: 37 / Hometown: Tama, Iowa / Occupation: director of Meskwaki Senior Services Q. What did you think about the opening night of the convention, with all its booing and chanting wars between supporters of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders? A. People are passionate. Thats what I like to see in politics. Q. It was a great night of speeches. Who was your favorite? A. Michelle (Obama)s speech was really good and Cory Booker was great. Q. Was there anything about the convention that surprised you? A. Just how long it took. Q. Do you think Sanders supporters might come around to Clinton after Bernie Sanders endorsement of her last night? A. I would hope so. Keep an open mind and do whats best for the country. Ingrid Olson Age: 38 / Hometown: Council Bluffs / Occupation: federal investigator Q. Who gave the best speech last night? A. It was not Elizabeth Warren. The best speaker for me would have to be Cory Booker or Michelle. Michelle spoke about the future of her girls (and knowing they can be president some day), which was the same as my son growing up and knowing about LGBT rights. Q. What do you think went wrong with Elizabeth Warren last night? She seemed kind of low energy. A. Tired like the rest of us. Q. Did you score any food or water last night. Those lines outside the concession stands were brutal. There were reports of hour-long waits. A. To be honest, our Bernie delegates took very good care of each other. They brought sandwiches and food to us. Q. What did you think of all the booing and chanting last night between Sanders and Clinton supporters. And, for the record, you are backing Sanders. A. Its part of democracy, part of the process. I asked (Iowa Senate Majority Leader) Mike Gronstal if this was more rambunctious than in past presidential years. He said no. Hillary and Obama in 2008 was very parallel. That was interesting. I thought we were outliers. Q. Who would you like to share a desert island with? Clinton, Sanders or Donald Trump? A. Bernie Sanders, because we know hes going to at least share parts of his coconuts and well work together as a team, opposed to top down. David Johnson Age: 51 / Hometown: West Branch, Iowa / Occupation: senior associate registrar at the University of Iowa Q. How loud were the boos on the floor last night? A. It depended on where you were. Obviously, California has a lot. Q. Do you think the boos of Clinton by Sanders supporters will continue throughout the convention? A. Yes, to various levels. Q. Do you think Bernie Sanders full-throated endorsement of Clinton last night will sway any Sanders delegates to support her? A. It may have. The Bernie delegation had a sampling of what Sanders was going to say earlier in the day when he met with delegates. If you ask me if all of them are going to be in lock step with the Democratic Party, probably not. Thats Hillarys job to win them over. Q. As a Sanders supporter, will you be able to vote for Clinton in the fall? A. Id like to keep that secret. Thats between me and my vote. Q. Met any celebrities? A. Tom Brokaw. Q. How was he looking? A. He was looking good. Peg O'Dea Lippert Age: 78 / Hometown: Papillion / Occupation: retired clinical social worker Q. Do you have any tourist or social plans for the week? A. I plan to sit there (at the convention) from beginning to end. To me, thats why Im here. I can go party anytime I want to. Q. Which speakers are you looking forward to the most? A. Elizabeth Warren is just dynamite. Ill be interested in hearing Tim Kaine. I dont know that Ive ever really heard him give an address. Of course Hillary. And Bill. And Bernie. I think it will be interesting to see what Bernie has to say. And Michelle. And the president of course. And Joe Biden. Q. I think thats pretty much the entire line-up. A. And whoever else fills in between, thats fine too. * * * * * Frank LaMere Age: 66 / Hometown: South Sioux City, Nebraska / Occupation: semi-retired, does consulting work on social welfare and the tribes Q. How many conventions have you attended? A. This is my eighth convention. I have attended every convention since 1988. Theyre all exciting. Theyre all interesting. Q. Any time for any tourist stops? A. I expect to go about 12 to 14 hours a day, and from now until Saturday I can see very little time where well be able to do any sightseeing. Q. Any souvenirs? A. I will probably grab one or two for some folks at home and maybe take a photo or two for folks at home, but Im not too much into that. * * * * * Corey Jones Age: 19 / Hometown: Anamosa, Iowa / Occupation: studying political science at the University of Northern Iowa Q. This is your first convention. How hard was it to get here and what did you have to do? A. I would say it was pretty hard. I had to compete against 27 candidates. Three of them were Grinnell students and a lot of them were minority or youth status. (Democrats require diversity in their delegations.) I had to prepare a tough speech at district conventions and I handed out 80 fliers and talked to a lot of people. Q. Are you a Clinton or Sanders supporter? A. Sanders. He brings integrity to politics. Q. Have you come to accept that Sanders will not be the nominee? A. I will at the end of the convention. Q. Are you going to engage in any protests when Hillary Clinton takes the stage? A. Currently, no. But I may be involved in some way. Q. Like what kind of protest? A. Ive heard of efforts to turn away (when Clinton speaks), but I dont think Ill do that. I like to hear everybody out. * * * * * Priscilla Ruhe Age: 70 / Hometown: Des Moines / Occupation: retired physician Q. This is your first convention. What brought you here? A. I can really identify with Hillary Clinton. Were about the same age. She grew up in Illinois and I grew up in Wisconsin. And Ive had to overcome some discrimination because of gender. Q. What do you think of the Bernie or Bust people? A. Theyre very adamant about their candidate, and it makes it very difficult to have a conversation. Q. If you were trapped on a deserted island, who would you want to share the island with: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump? And why? A. Hillary. Because she would find a way to cooperate (with me) and solve problems. Q. What speaker besides Clinton are you looking forward to hearing? A. At this point, (Tim) Kaine. I want to get to know him some more. Bengaluru engineers questioned by Mayor for bad roads Bengaluru oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Bengaluru, July 26: Bengaluru has finally found hope when it comes to bad roads. Bengaluru mayor B.N. Manjunatha Reddy, disgruntled at the condition of the roads, warned area engineers of dire consequences if they were not repaired immediately. The Mayor went on a surprise inspection in the Nayandahalli area, after numerous complaints from the people. He was accompanied by Deputy Mayor S.P. Hemalatha, ruling party leader R.S. Sathyanarayan and the joint commissioner of Rajarajeshwari Nagar zone. He was angry at the potholes and the ill-maintained roads on Magadi Road and quashed the engineers for not filling them. He said that the roads were constructed by the BDA and then handed over to BBMP for maintenance. The BDA had, in fact, given permission to the BBMP to remove weeds from the side of the roads. But nothing was done. He also saw water seeping from the Nayandahalli BDA flyover and complained the lack of attention being paid by the engineers. He further added that he would write to the government for repairing it at the earliest. He also assured that the Palike will give sufficient funds for development of roads to ensure a hassle-free driving. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, July 26, 2016, 13:06 [IST] New India is well-equipped to give a befitting reply to anyone: Rajnath Singh at Kargil event Exuding confidence, Rajnath says India will emerge victorious in case of any war Kargil Vijay Diwas 2022: 12 things to know about India's great victory over Pakistan India hails its Heroes on #KargilVijayDiwas Feature oi-Oneindia By Oneindia India today recalls the might displayed by the Indian army, as the young soldiers had fought and won against the intruders in the 1999 Kargil War. Indians took to Twitter to salute the brave hearts who laid supreme sacrifice while guarding our borders on the 17th #KargilVijayDiwas. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, celebrities and common man took to Twitter to express their thankfulness towards Kargil War heroes. On Kargil Vijay Diwas I bow to every valiant soldier who fought for India till the very last breath. Their heroic sacrifices inspire us. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 India will never forget the fearlessness with which our courageous soldiers gave a befitting & unforgettable reply to the intruders. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 26, 2016 #KargilVijayDiwas, marks the success of Operation Vijay. On this day, let us remember & pay our war heroes a respectful tribute. Jai Hind. Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) July 26, 2016 . !! pic.twitter.com/IUczFdgEEY Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) July 25, 2016 My salute to the victorious Kargil war heroes who sacrificed their lives for our motherland. #kargilvijaydiwas . pic.twitter.com/ihjJRNiY9u Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) July 26, 2016 I salute the supreme sacrifice & exemplary courage of our soldiers who laid down their lives in Kargil war.They are our nation's true heroes Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) July 26, 2016 Defence Minister @manoharparrikar & three Service Chiefs pay homage to #Kargil martyrs at Amar Jawan Jyoti,New Delhi pic.twitter.com/Dhc3eaC0Tq Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) July 26, 2016 Salute to the brave sons of mother India who protected every inch of her territory in Kargil from enemies. pic.twitter.com/faeukb2gco BJP (@BJP4India) July 26, 2016 On Kargil Vijay Diwas, I salute to nations soldiers for their valour & sacrifices...... pic.twitter.com/zY4Sy2BzBX Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (@naqvimukhtar) July 26, 2016 Nation will always be deeply indebted to each soldier of Kargil who fought valiantly to thwart the nefarious designs of our enemies. ShivrajSingh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) July 26, 2016 Homage to all our brave martyrs and a salute to all our brave soldiers on #KargilVijayDiwas Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) July 26, 2016 I salute those jawans who laid down their lives during Operation Vijay;their sacrifice will continue to inspire entire generation #Kargil Virbhadra Singh (@virbhadrasingh) July 26, 2016 Salute to those brave soldiers who fought and won for the nation and our pride. pic.twitter.com/SwPlGnx8KE CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) July 26, 2016 On the occasion of #KargilVijayDiwas, humbly bow my head to pay tribute to all the martyrs who laid down their lives for our motherland. ShivrajSingh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) July 26, 2016 On Kargil Vijay Diwas,I salute our Jawans who gallantly fought for the Nationtheir bravery & sacrifice shall be remembered for generations! Vasundhara Raje (@VasundharaBJP) July 26, 2016 Ram Vilas Paswan (@irvpaswan) July 26, 2016 My tributes to soldiers who had fought valiantly along the Line of Control in the Kargil War. I bow to their supreme sacrifices. #VijayDiwas Rao Inderjit Singh (@Rao_InderjitS) July 26, 2016 Salutes to our ever vigilant,dedicated, motivated Jawans, proud of all our armed forces #kargilvijaydiwas .Jai Jawan Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) July 26, 2016 Paying tribute to the heroes of Operation Vijay on #kargilvijaydiwas. Harsimrat Kaur Badal (@HarsimratBadal_) July 26, 2016 At the Kargil War Memorial in Drass with some serving and former war heroes pic.twitter.com/G3vy2CU1bC GAURAV C SAWANT (@gauravcsawant) July 26, 2016 On #kargilVijayDiwas today, we salute all the martyrs and warriors who fought for the nation and led us to victory. pic.twitter.com/WtYh87ZhX2 Prasar Bharati (@prasarbharati) July 26, 2016 Bow down to the selfless heroes of our country on #KargilVijayDiwas We r at peace only bcoz of ur efforts&sacrifices pic.twitter.com/uGFdzRcr0S Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) July 26, 2016 Salute to brave soldiers of Indian Army who won us this decisive battle 17 years back!! I bow in humility #kargilvijaydiwas Saurabh Bhat (@saurabhbhat) July 26, 2016 My #SaluteToIndianArmy on #kargilvijaydiwas . Indebted for life to #IndianArmy for relentlessly saving every inch, while we sleep peacefully Rj Vineet (@RjVineet) July 26, 2016 Salute to Indian Armed Forces on #kargilvijaydiwas the brave sons of our motherland Proud of u...Thank u pic.twitter.com/JxQ8bhBoFz bikash mishra (@bikash86) July 26, 2016 Army arrests wanted terrorist in Assam India oi-PTI Guwahati, July 26: In a major success, the Army has arrested Commander-in-chief of United People's Liberation Army (UPLA) Nikunja Kathar along with two cadres. In a joint operation by Army and police on Monday, Kathar, who was wanted in the brutal killing of Nityananda Goswami, the Superintendent of Police of West Karbi Anglong district, in June 2014, was arrested along with two accomplices, Army officials said. Continuous inputs from various intelligence agencies about planned sabotage activities in Assam during the period preceding Independence Day were being monitored closely, the officials said. Kathar is suspected to be involved in several acts of killing, extortion and abductions. He is an ex-UPDS cadre who was instrumental in raising, training and illegally equipping terror outfit UPLA. Kathar was arrested in 2014 but went absconding since he was granted bail in November 2014. Preliminary interrogation has confirmed his recent visit to Myanmar, where he was in talks with NSCN(K), ULFA(I) and KPLT under umbrella of the UNLFWSEA (United Liberation Front of Western South East Asia) to revive UPLA in the hill districts and also to execute sabotage activities, including IED blasts in Assam in the run up to Independence Day next month, officials said. Kathar was also carrying out reconnaissance of specific areas in East amd West Karbi Anglong for establishment of training camps and recruitment of new cadres. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, July 26, 2016, 9:22 [IST] Justice delayed is justice denied: How many Hindu leaders will be killed before justice prevails? Bajrang Dal goons thrash Assam migrants in Chikkamagaluru India oi-Shreyas By H S Shreyas Chikkamagaluru, July 26: Close on heels of an attack on Dalits for allegedly storing beef at home, Bajrang Dal activists on Monday night attacked migrant Assamese workers who had just landed in Aldur in the district to work in the coffee estates there. The attack was carried out on the pretext of sending the Assamese back to their state to save the jobs of locals on the estate. A case has been registered at the Aldur police station, invoking charges of rioting and attempt to murder, Aldur police station sub-inspector Arif told OneIndia. Five Bajrang Dal activists have been arrested in this connection, he added. While local sources said, the five had attacked the migrants mistaking them to be Bangladeshis, the police said investigations are on. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, July 26, 2016, 16:40 [IST] Bengaluru bus strike: Call off strike, we'll talk, else ESMA, warns Govt India oi-Shreyas By H S Shreyas Bengaluru, July 26: The Siddarmaiah government is in no mood talk to the protesting bus unions unless they call off their strike, sources close to the Chief Minister told OneIndia on Tuesday afternoon. Instead, the CM has called for a meeting of officials at 4 pm to decide what action to take against the striking workers if they don't call it off by then. The CM's aide said the government was thinking of invoking the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) to get the bus drivers and conductors back to work. The workers were on strike for a second day on Tuesday and threatened to continue with their agitation unless the government agreed to talks. To show its resolve, the government has already given show-cause notices to trainees and probationers, who constitute nearly 20 percent of the total staff of some 1.25 lakh employees of the four road transport corporations, asking them why their services should not be terminated. If the unions continue the strike despite ESMA, their members, too, will be terminated, the sources in the chief minister's office (CMO) said. According to the sources, Siddaramaiah won't talk to the unions unless they call off the strike. The CM is also not keen to raise wages beyond 13 percent as doing so could spark a chain reaction, leading state government workers to demand a pay revision in line with the Centre's Seventh Pay Commission. "The CM had on July 22 convened a meeting with the union leaders. He was present for over 35 minutes in the hall. But union leaders failed to present their point of view, with each union leader wasting time on lengthy, unnecessary speeches," the CM's aide told OneIndia. "Vice President Hamid Ansari was visiting Mysuru that day and that was a bigger priority for the CM than listening to pointless speeches. He had to leave the meeting without resolution of the issue," he added. The union leaders say the CM has to sit with them at least for an hour and listen to their issues. The government's threat of invoking ESMA won't work, they said. "We will not withdraw the strike even if the government invokes ESMA," one union leader said. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, July 26, 2016, 15:33 [IST] Bengaluru bus strike: Government adamant, not to go beyond 10% hike India oi-Shreyas By H S Shreyas Bengaluru, July 26: The state government is not in a position to hike wage above 10% for the protesting staff of the four corporations. This was stressed in the much-waited cabinet meeting that was held in the evening hours of Tuesday. According to sources, the government has resolved to request the protesting staff to withdraw the strike in view of general public's interest. Transport Minister Rama Linga Reddy has been delegated by the Chief Minister to negotiate with the union leaders. Reddy also briefed about the situation on the ground, while many ministers expressed disappointment over the handling of the issue. The meeting which mainly deliberated on bus strike decided to give another call to union leaders to withdraw the protest. However in the meeting, the Transport Minister said some drivers have resumed work. But union leaders told OneIndia that it is not drivers but men selected by the government to nullify the gravity of the protest before the public. The government has already increased the hike percentage from 8% to 10 %. This hike is causing over RS 400 crores burden to the exchequer. The government financially is in no position to hike the wage above 10%. The government will request the union leaders to withdraw the protest presenting the commotion faced by public due to strike, sources added. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, July 26, 2016, 19:25 [IST] Man booked for tweets against Maha CM; has a history of such posts against leaders BJP MLA seeks 'Maharashtra Bhushan' for Rajinikanth India oi-PTI Mumbai, Jul 26: BJP MLA Anil Gote today said Maharashtra government should give the state's highest award, 'Maharashtra Bhushan', to superstar and "son of the soil" Rajinikanth. Raising the issue in the Lower House, Gote said Rajinikanth, who was born Shivaji Gaikwad in Kolhapur district, went to Tamil Nadu in search of career and carved out a demi-god status among film buffs. The release of his movie 'Kabali' in 8,000 screens around the world is proof of his stature in Indian cinema, Gote said. The Assembly should also pass a resolution, asking the Centre, to give 'Bharat Ratna' to Rajinikanth, the MLA added. PTI Centre will not harm Odisha's interests: Uma Bharti India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, July 26 Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti on Tuesday said the state of Odisha is very close to her heart and asserted that the central government will not do anything or allow anything to happen that will hamper its interests. "Odisha is a beloved state of ours. We cannot do anything or allow anything to happen that will put the state into any crisis," Bharti told the Lok Sabha while replying to a motion moved by agitated members of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD). Calling for the minister's "attention" on the impact of the Hirakud dam being constructed by the state of Chhattisgarh on the Mahanadi river, BJD floor leader Bhartruhari Mahtab and his party colleagues including Tathagatha Sathpathy and Kalikesh Singh Deo wanted to know if Odisha was being discriminated against because it chose a "different socio-political path" and elects a regional party government. Bharti also maintained that water should not be made a reason for a "fight", rather it should be used as a unifying factor. "Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a slogan of 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas' (A government with all and for development of all). And thus we will try to take all the states along," Bharti maintained. Minister of State for Water Resources Sanjeev Kumar Balyan said the central government came into the picture only about one and a half months ago after Odisha wrote formally seeking the union government's intervention. "We proposed a tripartite meeting in June as a mediator. While Chhattisgarh government agreed to come, the Odisha government sought more time. Now the meeting is slated on July 29. Hence all issues can be brought there," Balyan said. Criticising the Chhattisgarh government for launching construction activities without taking into account the interests of the people of Odisha, Mahtab said the central government should intervene. On July 20, BJD members had staged a demonstration in Parliament House complex against the barrage project. BJD leaders said there was "an agreement" in 1983 between the then governments of Madhya Pradesh and Odisha on how the river water is to be shared if new embankments or new reservoirs are to be constructed. Mahanadi contributes the maximum water for irrigation in Odisha and sustains the livelihood of the farmers of 15 districts, including Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Sundergarh and Bolangir. IANS Did Zakir Naik's aides pay Rs 50,000 for every conversion? India oi-Vicky Bengaluru, July 26: The arrest and the subsequent interrogation of two persons suspected to be aides of Dr Zakir Naik has revealed the scale of the conversions (to Islam) that took place. Currently the police are scanning at least 5,700 conversions that have taken place in the past five years. Out of this the police suspect that at least 800 were carried out allegedly by Naik's aides. Further it has also been learnt that those who converted were paid Rs 50,000 each. How Zakir Naik is building up an anti India propaganda? The question now is where has this money come in from. The police are trying to find out if the funds were sourced out of the Islamic Research Foundation run by Naik. Rs 50,000 per conversion Sources in the investigating agency tell OneIndia that they have learnt that Rs 50,000 cash would be paid to people who would convert to Islam. "We believe that these were forced conversions which is against the law. Moreover the law on conversions does not permit monetary benefitsm" sources said. These details were revealed following a complaint by Ebin Jacob from Kerala, who alleged that his sister had been converted. The lady in question was born as Merrin. However, following her marriage she was taken to meet Naik's aide, Arshi Qureshi. She had converted and her name was changed to Mirriam. The police suspect that it was during her meeting with Qureshi in Mumbai that she had been both converted and radicalised. She is now suspected to be in Syria and may have joined the ISIS along with her husband, the police suspect. How a marriage bureau became a front for conversions and radicalisation A marriage bureau under the scanner A marriage bureau became the platform for two persons through which conversions were taking place. Rizwan Khan and Arshi Qureshi who were arrested from Maharashtra last week are being questioned for their alleged role in enforcing a large number of conversions and also luring youth to join the ISIS. While the ISIS has been making calls all over the world for Muslims to join the outfit, there is still a lot of preference given to recruits who are converts. The ISIS has several times asked non-Muslims to shun their existing religion. "Take up Islam and join the ISIS," they have always said. Qureshi was arrested for his links with the Zakir Naik run Islamic Research Foundation. Khan on the other was picked up for allegedly being a sympathiser of the ISIS. The scanner is on whether they had converted a large number of Hindus and Christians. While Khan and Qureshi during their interrogation have denied being involved into forced conversions, investigators say that there are documents to prove otherwise. Police officials say that they suspect it was through the marriage bureau that Khan ran where the conversions took place. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, July 26, 2016, 11:08 [IST] Bengaluru: Govt fails to end logjam, bus strike to continue for third day India oi-Shreyas By H S Shreyas Bengaluru, July 26: Reluctance of both state government and unions failed to end the stalemate resulting the strike to continue for the third day. The government's decision of delegating Transport Minister Rama Linga Reddy to hold talks with union leaders did not go down well with the protesting leaders. The unions expected from the Cabinet meeting, it will resolve to convene a meet of Chief Minister with union leaders. A union leader said the protest will continue. "Unless the government display concern towards the staff of corporations, we will not withdraw the protest," he informed. He added CM should talk with the union leaders. Concerned authorities in the state government have spoken to Deputy Commissioners (DC) of the districts regarding declaring holiday. DCs have given free hand to on deciding holiday to schools and colleges. However, it is learnt that DC from Bengaluru Urban has decided to grant holiday. The schools and colleges of Bengaluru likely to operate on Wednesay. OneIndia News Govt not considering strategic sale of IDBI Bank: Santosh Kumar Gangwar India oi-PTI New Delhi, Jul 26 (PTI) The government today said it is not considering any proposal of strategic sale of state-owned IDBI Bank. Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha said: "No" to a question whether the government is proposing strategic sale of IDBI Bank. The Minister, however, said that public sector banks including IDBI have been allowed to raise capital through follow on public offer or qualified institutional placements. This, he added, could result in dilution of "government holding up to 52 per cent in a phased manner based on their (public sector banks') capital requirement, their stock performance, liquidity, market conditions etc". According to media reports, global lenders, Asian Development Bank and International Finance Corporation, as well as other investors are in talks for state-owned IDBI Bank's Rs 3,771-crore stake sale via qualified institutional placement route. PTI LVM3 exemplifies Atmanirbharta, says PM Modi as he congratulates ISRO on successful launch of OneWeb 'Devas'tated: India may have to pay close to a billion dollars for ISRO folly India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia India could end up paying close to a billion dollars in penalties to a private company for services it never rendered, thanks to a weakly written contract that the company - Devas Multimedia - is now holding against the government and the Indian Space Research Organisation! An international tribunal in The Hague on Monday ruled against the Indian government's cancellation of a contract between telecommunications company Devas Multimedia and Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), calling it "unfair", "inequitable" and an "ex-propriation" of Devas' foreign shareholders' investments. Devas and Antrix had entered into a contract in 2005 wherein Devas would provide satellite-based broadband internet services in India on satellite, transponder and spectrum provided by Isro. In 2011, however, in the midst of the 2G scam revelations, the alleged "sweetheart deal" for the S-band spectrum also came under the spotlight following a leaked draft audit report that said there were irregularities in the agreement, including conflict of interest and non-compliance of standard contractual norms. In the wake of the report, the then Isro chairman Dr. K. Radhakrishnan declared that the promised S-band spectrum was needed for "larger national and strategic purposes". Isro/Antrix terminated the contract that was signed during Radhakrishnan's predecessor Dr. Madhavan Nair's time. The annulment was approved by the Union government's Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on national security grounds. In the meantime, Isro had also failed to launch the geo-stationary satellite that would have carried the S-band transponder as its GSLV rocket launch had failed. Devas Multimedia then initiated international arbitration in the matter. The Hague tribunal's ruling was unanimous and even the arbitrator appointed to the tribunal by India had concurred, Devas said. The tribunal noted that Antrix had no legal justification to terminate the agreement and that Dr. Radhakrishnan could have prevented the CCS from approving the annulment. The PCA regularly administers cases involving states, including investment treaty claims brought under arbitration rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). The Hague tribunal ruling is the second ruling against India in the matter. Earlier, in September 2015, the International Chamber of Commerce's (ICC) arbitration body International Court of Arbitration had asked Antrix Corporation to pay $672 million (Rs 4,432 crore then) in damages to Devas Multimedia for "unlawfully" terminating the deal on grounds of national security. While Devas has issued a statement on the tribunal ruling, PTI reported that Isro officials on Tuesday said they were yet to get details of the development. Ironically, Bengaluru-based Devas Multimedia is a creature of former Isro executives. It was founded in 2004 by Isro's former Scientific Secretary Dr. M.G.Chandrasekhar and former Isro director Kiran Karnik is on its board. Its foreign investors include Deutsche Telekom, Columbia Capital and Telecom Ventures. OneIndia News No more politics? Irom Sharmila plans to lead a peaceful life as an ordinary woman post marriage At 46, Iron Lady of Manipur Irom Sharmila gives birth to twins on Mother's Day Will end fast, marry and contest elections, says Irom Sharmila India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Imphal, July 26: Irom Sharmila, who had long been on a hunger fast against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, on Tuesday surprised people with her announcement that she will end her fast on August 9, the next date of her court hearing. Making the announcement in the court of the chief judicial magistrate, Imphal west, she further said that she will marry and contest the Manipur assembly elections next year as an independent candidate. "I will break my fast as the Govt has failed to give any positive response, will fight elections to resolve the issues," Irom Sharmila told a news agency. The 42-year-old activist has been arrested, tried and released several times on the charge of trying to take her own life. Sharmila is also undergoing trial in the Patiala House court in Delhi on the same charge. She has declined food or drink for the last 16 years, seeking repeal of the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958. She is on forcible nose feeding. Sharmila had started her hunger strike on November 4, 2000, following the killing of 10 civilians by security forces. She was arrested by the Manipur government in 2000 under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, which prohibits an attempt to commit suicide. I will break my fast as the Govt has failed to give any positive response, will fight elections to resolve the issues: Irom Sharmila ANI (@ANI_news) July 26, 2016 OneIndia News JU students take out rallies against police action in Jamia It's a painful moment: West Bengal Guvs car blocked at Jadavpur University for second day in row JU, Presidency students take out rallies against JNU violence When will Jadavpur University shift from online to offline classes Jadavpur University girl students' group alleges harassment by professor's son India oi-PTI Kolkata, July 26: A group of girl students of Jadavpur University today alleged they were harassed by the son of an English professor and held protests over the issue. "We have been touched without our consent. We have been objectified filthily...," the students alleged. Protests were held within the campus and the students complained to university authorities seeking action against the accused. University authorities said they were looking into the matter. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, July 26, 2016, 19:00 [IST] As per constitutional norms: Goa Speaker on merger of Cong MLAs with BJP Mining crisis in Goa pulls primary sector growth into negative India oi-PTI Panaji, Jul 26: Turmoil in Goa's iron ore mining industry has led the primary sector tumbling into the negative zone during 2014-15, according to the State's Economic Survey 2015-16 report. The report, tabled in the Legislative Assembly here yesterday, stated that the growth in the primary sector slipped largely due to continued crisis in state's major revenue earner iron ore mining industry. "The growth rate under primary sector, which was around 10 per cent during 2013-14 (provisional), fell drastically to minus (-) 16.44 per cent during 2014-15," the 233-pages Economic Survey report read, which diagnoses the financial health of the State. "This can be attributed to a huge fall in mining and quarrying sub sector," it said. After the ban of over two-and-a-half years on mining, the Supreme Court had conditionally allowed export and extraction of iron ore in the coastal State in 2015. Vedanta Ltd was the first company to resume operations in the mining industry at its Codli site in South Goa, but despite that, lull prevailed over the exports due to after-effects of such a long cease. The report mentions that overall Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) growth was not encouraging for FY 2014-15 as compared to 2013-14. "The GSDP for FY 2014-15 reflected a growth of 7.37 per cent as against 7.71 per cent in 2013-14," the survey read. State's economy found its saviour in the form of secondary sector which grew to 6.73 per cent during FY 2014-15 from 5.60 per cent in the previous year. The growth rate was 4 per cent in fiscal 2011-12 and 2012-13. "Similarly, growth rate under Tertiary Sector which was 35.56 per cent in FY 2011-12 slowed down to 10.26 per cent in FY 2012-13 and further to 8.46 per cent in FY 2013-14. During FY 2014-15, growth rate in tertiary sector improved and stood at 9.55 per cent," the report said. Overall, during 2014-15, primary sector accounted for 3.84 per cent, secondary sector 31.67 per cent and tertiary sector 64.49 per cent of the total revenue earnings. PTI No corruption in defence procurements in last two years: India oi-PTI New Delhi, Jul 26: The government today asserted that no case involving corruption in defence procurements undertaken during the last two years has come to light. In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar also said new Defence Procurement Procedure incorporates provisions to ensure the highest degree of probity, public accountability, transparency, fair completion and level playing field. "No case involving corruption in defence procurements undertaken during the last two years has come to light," he said. The DPP 2016 envisages signing of an integrity Pact between Government and the bidders for all capital procurement/schemes of Rs 20 crore and above. Earlier such pacts were required only for cases involving Rs 100 crore and above. DPP 2016 provides that a foreign vendor is required to disclose full details of any such person, party, firm or institution engaged by them for marketing of their equipment in India, either on a country specific basis or as a part of a global or regional arrangement, Parrikar said. It also stipulates conditions for appointment of agents. It further provides that the seller has to confirm and declare to the buyer that it is the original manufacturer of the stores contracted and that no agent has been engaged to influence or manipulate award of the contract, or indulge in corrupt and unethical practices. PTI Panel should also summon PM: Bhagwant Mann India oi-PTI New Delhi, Jul 26: AAP MP Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday said the panel, set up by the Lok Sabha Speaker to examine whether his act of filming Parliament House complex and posting it online compromised its security, should also summon Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "inviting ISI" to Pathankot airbase. In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Mann said the Prime Minister was "100 times more guilty" than him for "inviting ISI" to probe the January 2 terror attack on the airbase that had left seven security personnel dead. "In 2001, ISI attacked the Parliament Complex. And in 2016, it launched an attack on the Pathankot airbase. The PM invited the same ISI and took them around the airbase. ISI made maps of the airbase and left," Mann alleged. "Does this not threaten security of the country? Is my video a threat to the security of the nation or PM inviting ISI and taking them around the airbase is a bigger threat? "The Committee should summon the PM along with me. If I am guilty, then the PM is 100 times more guilty than me," he alleged. The panel had yesterday given the Sangrur MP time till July 28 to respond to the charge that his action had compromised security of the Parliament House complex even as it decided to seek the views of experts on the issue. A five-member Joint Investigation Team had visited Pathankot in March to probe the attack carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group. PTI BJP became elder brother by climbing up Nitish's ladder: Uma Bharti on Bihar results Uma Bharati's Bureaucracy is there to pick up our chappals remarks sparks controversy MP: Uma Bharti spots saffron flag outside liquor shop, gets cops to remove it | VIDEO Prioritise projects on inter-linking of rivers: Uma Bharti India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, July 26 Calling for prioritising the inter-linking of rivers, Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti on Tuesday said the issue has to be sorted out in consultation with different states. Bharti also sought finalisation of the concept of "surplus river water", while chairing the 10th meeting of a special committee on inter-linking of rivers here. "Till this issue is decided, the dispute over surplus water will continue to crop up time and again." The minister also urged for a detailed study of the country's agricultural land, including irrigated and non-irrigated, agricultural produce and their market. She said her ministry will take a final decision on the issue after detailed deliberation with states and called for a "jal manthan" (seminar on water-related issues). "I hope that the National Water Devlopment Agency will work with more vigour and complete the delayed interlinking projects in a time-bound manner," Bharti said while stressing the need for speedy implementation of interlinking of river projects. Bihar Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh also sought prioritisation of the interlinking of rivers and raised the issue of flood in rivers flowing into Bihar from Nepal. He suggested that the projects with the potential to irrigate more than two lakh hectare of land should be declared as national projects. Uttar Pradesh Water Resources Minister Surendra Singh Patel called for starting work on the Ken-Betwa link at the earliest. --IANS kd/tsb/vt Knife attack at Japan care centre: 19 killed International oi-PTI Tokyo, July 26: At least 19 people were killed in Japan when a knife-wielding man went on a rampage at a care centre for the mentally disabled early Tuesday (July 26), officials said. Another 25 were wounded, 20 of them seriously, in the attack in Sagamihara city, 50 kilometres west of Tokyo, a local fire department spokesman said. A 26-year-old man who said he was a former employee of the centre later turned himself in at a police station, admitting to officers: "I did it." Police said they had received a call from the Tsukui Yamayuri-en centre sometime after 2:30 am about a man armed with a knife entering the facility. According to police cited by the Asahi Shimbun daily, the suspect said: "The disabled should all disappear." "Doctors confirmed the deaths of 19 people," the fire department official told AFP. The alleged assailant turned himself in after 3:00 am (local time), admitting he had carried out the attack, a police spokesman said. Kyodo news agency identified the attacker, who it said was arrested, as 26-year-old Satoshi Uematsu. "We are still confirming details of the case," a police spokesman told AFP. Police had cordoned off the centre, with yellow "Keep out" tape around the one-storey building nestled against forested hills. Japan has one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the developed world, and attacks involving weapons of any kind are unusual. But the country has seen outbursts of random as well as planned violence. In 2008 in Tokyo a man ploughed a rental truck into a crowd of shoppers in Tokyo's bustling Akihabara district before he stabbed passers-by, killing seven people and injuring 10 others. After that rampage, Japan banned possession of double-edged knives with blades longer than 5.5 centimetres (about two inches), punishable by up to three years in prison or a 500,000 yen fine. In 2001, eight children at a primary school in Osaka were stabbed to death. In 1995, members of a Japanese doomsday cult released sarin gas in the Tokyo subway system, killing 13 people and causing thousands of commuters to fall ill in a crime that deeply dented Japan's sense of security. But Japan has recently seen an increasing number of cases of attacks on the weak and vulnerable. In February, a former nursing home worker was arrested for allegedly throwing an 87-year-old resident from a balcony to his death. The former employee also reportedly admitted killing two more residents in their 80s and 90s by throwing them from balconies in 2014. There have also been cases of family members killing ailing and ageing spouses or parents suffering from dementia in Japan's rapidly ageing society. AFP 9 Islamic militants shot dead in Dhaka International oi-Vicky Dhaka, July 26: Nine Islamic militants were killed in Dhaka when they were trying to storm a building on Tuesday. The raid took place at a five storey building at the Kalyanpur area in Dhaka. The police in Dhaka say that the building was being used as a hideout by the militants. Based on concrete intelligence inputs the police stormed the building and killed nine militants. The police in Dhaka say that the militants were wearing turbans and had backpacks. As the police entered the building, the militants began chanting Allahu Akbar and shot at the officers. The police suspect that the militants had gathered at the building and were plotting a major attack on the lines of the Gulshan strike. The police however, managed to foil the plot thanks to concrete intelligence inputs. While the police managed to kill nine militants, one was captured alive and is being treated for injuries at hospital. He has been identified as Hassan. One more person has been taken into custody. The police are now collecting evidence from the building. While it appeared that the militants had pledged allegiance to the ISIS, police say that they could be home grown terrorists part of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, Bangladesh. The police have briefly questioned Hassan who is in hospital. He told them he used to work as a cook and joined militancy a year back. He further said that he was part of the ISIS. The police say that after receiving the tip off they formed a team and reached the building early on Tuesday morning. The area was cordoned off completely to reduce the risk of casualties. The bomb disposal squad was called in, following which the operation commenced at around 5 am.. OneIndia News Pak committing atrocities against people in PoK, will have to bear consequences: Rajnath Singh Pak editorial slams Sushma, Modi over FM's remarks on Sharif International oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Islamabad, July 26: An editorial in Pakistani daily Dawn on Tuesday (July 26) slammed the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) over Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj's "highly personal attack" against Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. In the wake of Sharif's remark at an election rally in Muzaffarabad in Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK) that Kashmir will become a part of Pakistan one day, Sushma said the former was "delusional" in thinking so. [Only people of Kashmir can give verdict on Kashmir's future: Pak] The editorial, titled "Indian FM's Remarks" took Sushma on to say: "A war against the people in India-held Kashmir has now also expanded into a war of words against the Pakistani government by the Indian foreign ministry." It said Sharif's twin remarks on slain separatist Burhan Wani, whose death triggered a massive protest in Jammu and Kashmir, and the state itself "have raised hackles" in India but justified them as "anodyne". [Rajnath Singh asks Pakistan to behave] The editorial said the Pakistani premier's remarks should be seen more in the context of his PML-N's election campaign in PoK region and the party politics in Pakistan rather than "a debate on the future status of an undivided Jammu and Kashmir". [Hizbul Mujahideen's obsession with young militants: The real reason] It also said the "plight of the oppressed people" of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (which is called India-Held Kashmir in Pakistan) did not come up in the way it would have been during the election campaign. Talking about Sushma's remarks, the Dawn editorial said that their "undiplomatic tone" was "almost designed to shut down bilateral diplomacy, which is already in limbo". Sushma must have sought clearance from Modi, says editorial The editorial didn't stop with Sushma either. It also said the latter must have sought approval from Prime Minister Narendra Modi before taking on Sharif and held that New Delhi was looking to complicate ties with Islamabad further. "After all, Mr Modi himself recently cast doubt on the prospects for bilateral dialogue by questioning the internal powers dynamics of Pakistan," the editorial said, taking a dig at Modi. It also said that the Pakistani said has taken a "largely sensible line" on what has been happening in Kashmir. Oneindia News At UNSC, US calls on world to tell Russia to stop its nuclear threats US polls: Is Russia trying to make Trump's road clear, asks CNN piece International oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Philadelphia, July 26: Is Vladimir Putin's Russia trying to influence the election procedure which is underway in the United States? An article published on CNN has raised this question after the Democratic Party members met an "explosive fallout from a suspected Russian hack on the Democratic National Commitee that exposed emails---published by Wikileaks---of top officials scheming against Bernie Sanders". It was in the wake of the email leak that Democratic leader Debbie Wasserman Scultz decided to quit as the Democratic National Committee Chair at the end of the four-day party convention here and she was even booed by her own Florida delegation on Monday (July 25) morning. The CNN article said the email episode also revived the wounds of the bitter rivalry between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and threatened to throw the Democratic Party convention into deeper disarray. The question which was hence raised: Is the Kremlin eyeing to influence the outcome of the US election? The Democrats have already accused Putin of trying to help Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to win this election. Hillary's campaign manager Robby Mook cited the experts saying that Russian state actors provided the emails to hackers to help Trump, the CNN reported. Another top Democrat on the House intelligence committee Adam Schiff even said Putin preferred Trump for the latter's warm words on him and also his questioning the significance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation---a strategic question liked by Moscow, the CNN article said. Schiff said Trump is a "dream candidate for Moscow" and that the Russians are "very afraid" of Hillary, the CNN article said. Oneindia News Two suspected IS sympathisers sent to Kerala Police custody Kochi oi-IANS By Ians English Kochi, July 26: A court here on Monday sent the two suspected Islamic State sympathisers to police custody till August 8. Arshid Qureshi and Rizwan Khan, who are known to be close to controversial preacher Zakir Naik of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), were last week picked up in Mumbai in a joint operation of Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad along with a team of Kerala Police. "It was Sunday that the two were brought here and they were produced before the court on Monday. Now we will begin our job," Inspector General of Police, Ernakulam, S.Sreejith told IANS. The arrest took place after a police complaint was raised by Ebin Abraham, brother of Kochi resident, Merin alias Mariyam, who along with her husband, is reported to be missing and is alleged to have joined the Islamic State. Since the past few days, the police officials have been questioning the two, who have not admitted that they had forcibly converted Merin. They have also denied any knowledge of about 19 other youths, including women and children who have mysteriously disappeared from the state. The police probe team plans to now seek the help of the National Investigation Agency in finding out more about the duo and their acts. IANS Manipuri human rights activist Irom Sharmila will finally break her fast after long 16 years on 9th August. She was protesting against alleged army atrocities in Manipur and against controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act known as AFSPA. As per the reports, she has now decided to contest elections to solve the matter. Kerala CM accuses Gov of 'acting as RSS tool' on his order to VCs to resign CPI(M) state secretary courts controversy Thiruvananthapuram oi-PTI Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 26: CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has courted controversy over his reported remarks that party cadres should not remain "mere spectators" to attacks by political rivals, drawing the ire of Congress and BJP, who demanded that a case be registered against him for "exhorting violence". The CPI(M) leader allegedly made the statement yesterday while addressing a meeting against "RSS attacks" on CPI-M workers at Payyannur in politically sensitive Kannur district. He made the remarks while referring to the murder of party leader Dhanaraj allegedly by BJP workers on July 11. Reacting to Balakrishnan's statement that party cadres should defend themselves during attacks, KPCC President V M Sudheeran said it was a public call for violence and challenge to law of the land. "A case should be registered against Balakrishnan for exhorting violence," he said. KPCC also sent a letter to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, demanding registration of a case against the CPI(M) leader. BJP State President Kummanon Rajasekharan alleged that the CPI(M) was encouraging violence in Kerala. The statement was an indication that CPI(M) would extend all support to party cadres in their attacks on BJP-RSS activists, he said while inaugurating the new party headquarters building here. A BJP delegation led by former state president P K Krishnadas met state DGP Loknath Behra and lodged a complaint against Balakrishnan for his "inflammable" speech. Krishnadas demanded that Balakrishnan be booked under Section 108 of IPC (abettor). The DGP assured the delegation that necessary steps would be taken after examining the issue, Krishnadas said. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, July 26, 2016, 11:05 [IST] KC(M) 'boycotts' UDF meet Thiruvananthapuram oi-PTI Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 26: Differences between Kerala Congress (M) and Congress, which is heading the UDF, over the bar bribery scam seemingly came to the fore today with KC-M 'boycotting' the Front leaders' meeting here. KC-M sources, however, said party leader and former finance minister K M Mani, against whom an FIR had been lodged in the case during the previous UDF rule, abstained from the meeting due to 'personal reasons'. Mani had also conveyed to UDF leaders his inability to attend the meeting, sources said. KC-M is the third largest partner in the UDF. Briefing reporters after the UDF meeting, Front Convener P P Thankachan said Mani did not attend the meeting due to some personal reasons. "The decisions taken in today's meeting was conveyed to Mani," he said. The already sour relations between the two parties over the scam sharpened recently after Congress leader and former chief minister Oommen Chandy and Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala attended the betrothal ceremony of the daughter of controversial hotelier Biju Ramesh with the son of Congress leader and former minister Adoor Prakesh. Biju Ramesh, working President of Kerala State Bar Hotel Owners Association, was the person who had levelled the bar bribery charge against Mani, which finally led to his resignation in November last year. Significantly, the KC-M mouthpiece had recently come out with two articles accusing Congress behind the scam. KC-M has always said a conspiracy was behind the scam. PTI 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. SeattlePI.com 25 Oct 2022 OMAHA, Neb. (AP) Nebraska Republicans are expected to dominate as usual at the polls in November and retain control of the.. Zee News 26 Sep 2022 After Jonas Brothers performed on the stage of the Global Citizen Festival, Joe Jonas called Priyanka on the stage. euronews (in English) 12 Oct 2022 Fuel shortages in France are set to continue after the CGT labour union vowed to continue industrial action and challenge the.. TMZ.com 12 May 2022 Sarah Silverman has a fascinating take on whether Trump should be allowed back on Twitter -- and it all has to do with what George.. Specialist finance and advisory firm Florida-based TCA Fund Management Group Corp. has spent the past 10 months working on a new fund that will lend to small companies. The fund will invest in companies ranging in size from $25 - 100 million in the US and the UK. TCA Opportunities Fund I, LP, registered with the Guernsey Financial Services Commission will seek just to target 15 to 20 companies, using a US Dollar based vehicle as well as having a US based feeder. The target size for the fund was not disclosed. According to the US census, there are more than 28 million small businesses with revenues between $25-$150 million who fall short of capital requirements from banks, peer-topeer lending, traditional private equity and crowdfunding. We feel like with the lack of liquidity available to small businesses today, that we can put together something that offers really transformational capital to the companies we partner with, explains Bob Press, Founding Partner and CEO of TCA in an interview. TCA already has a $400M+ Credit Master Fund that will continue to invest in opportunistic credit transactions. Some investors from the Credit Master Fund will sign on to the new vehicle as well. TCA will use its origination platform, as well as synergies with their existing TCA Global Credit Master Fund, to make strategic and controlling investments in the $5 to $15 million range. The fund will be industry agnostic but Press says that they will be looking for companies in industries that have high barriers to entry and are likely to sell. There have been tremendous developments in small business financing for growth companies at the level of $1 million and below, but access declines greatly once the need for capital rises beyond that threshold, Press adds. Were saying, what can we do to take these companies to the next level?" integrity (Image by drumminhands) Details DMCA Last night (Sunday, June 25) I posted a comment on Deena Stryker's article "Trump/Putin Part 1" and added a link to Paul Craig Roberts' article "Armageddon Approaches ," which is headlined this morning on OEN and which I thought supported my point that Europeans, at least Germans, were still a long way from acting independently of the US. Roberts writes: "Eric Zuesse reports on a German newspaper leak of a Bundeswehr decision to declare Russia to be an enemy nation of Germany." I clicked on the link to Zuesse's article, which was indeed alarming. The headline is "Germany Preparing for War Against Russia." The first sentence reads: "According to a report issued on June 6th in German Economic News (Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten, or DWN), the German government is preparing to go to war against Russia, and has in draft-form a Bundeswehr report declaring Russia to be an enemy nation." However, Zuesse provides no direct link to this "report," so I had to search for it on the DWN website, and found it here. This article is unsigned, in German, and has a quite different headline, namely: "Merkel Declares Russia a Rival of Germany." The word "Rivale" means the same thing as the English equivalent, and does not mean or imply anything like "enemy." The rest of this article, which Roberts refers to as a "newspaper leak," is not about the German "White Paper 2016," which had not yet even been published, but about a Twitter message posted by Alexei Puschkow, who, according to DWN and duly reported by Zuess, had read a draft copy of this document provided by Russian intelligence. Zuess reports this much accurately: "DWN says: 'The Russian secret services have apparently thoroughly studied the paper. In advance of the paper's publication, a harsh note of protest has been sent to Berlin: The head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma, Alexei Puschkow, has posted the Twitter message: "The decision of the German government declaring Russia to be an enemy shows Merkel's subservience to the Obama administration."'" Deciphering this quote-within-a-quote, it means that Puschkow, who according to the German Wikipedia article about him "is known for his sharp and often polemical criticism of European and American policies," made this comment based on something he heard or read from Russian intelligence agents who somehow supposedly got hold of a "draft" of the official German document which would not be published until more than a month later (July 13). Now, let's summarize, because it is confusing. Zuesse writes on June 6 about "Germany Preparing for War Against Russia," citing a "report," published on the same day, in German, about a Twitter message by Alexei Pushkow, who had supposedly read a "draft" of an unpublished official German document given to him by Russian intelligence that, in Pushkow's words, declares Russia to be an "enemy" of Germany. Roberts writes on July 24 about "Armageddon" approaching, citing Zuesse's June 6 article, referring to it as a "report" on "a German newspaper leak of a Bundeswehr decison to declare Russia to be an enemy nation of Germany." The link that Roberts provides is not to the "leak," however, but to Zuesse's article, which does not provide a link to what he is "reporting" on either, and which turns out also not to be a "leak" at all but merely the report of a Twitter message by Pushkow. Note that during all of this "reporting," none of the "reporters," neither Roberts nor Zuesse nor his source (DWN), nor even, as far as we know, DWN's source, Pushkow, have actually read the document that they are talking about, the German White Paper 2016, because it was not published until July 13 (in German and English, here). Roberts is the only actor in this chain of rumor-mongering (to put it mildly) who could definitely have read what they are all talking about, but I doubt very much that he did because he does not quote from or link to it but refers only to Zuesse's article, and Zuesse definitely had not read it. If either Zuesse or Roberts had actually read the document, they could have had plenty to say about it (e.g., see the wsws.org critique), but I doubt that they would have indulged in the same degree of hyperbole if they had actually read it because it simply does not express the extreme position that Roberts, following Zuesse, following DWN following Pushkow's Tweet, attributes to it. So what does the 144-page German White Paper actually say about Russia? It is not fascinating reading and contains no surprises, reiterating and emphasizing Germany's commitment to NATO and its "close security partnership with the United States" (p. 23 and passim), but it does not say that "Germany is preparing for a war against Russia" (Zuesse) or anything about a "decision of the German government declaring Russia to be an enemy" (Zuesse quoting DWN quoting Alexei Pushkow's Tweet) -- or in fact anything like that. It does say a number of things that deserve serious critique, but nothing on the order of the exaggerated "reporting" of Roberts and Zuesse. For example: "Russia is openly calling the European peace order into question with its willingness to use force to advance its own interests and to unilaterally redraw borders guaranteed under international law, as it has done in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. This has far-reaching implications for security in Europe and thus for the security of Germany. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Senior HIV activists who have not only helped shape HIV responses on the ground over the years, but also have been living with the virus for several years, shared their personal battle against self-stigma at a press conference session hosted by The Work For Change (www.theworkforchange.org) and partners at the 21st International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016) held in Durban, South Africa. Self-stigma or internal stigma (or internalized stigma) is an extremely neglected, yet critical, issue. Almost all of the 50 people living with HIV (PLHIV) Stigma Index Reports, from different regions of the world, report high levels of self-stigma, ranging from 20% to 75%, manifesting in feelings of shame, blame, fear and denial. Is this true? Masimba Nyamucheta, of Zimbabwe National Network of People living with HIV (ZNNP+), said that while many studies report high rates of self-stigmatisation of PLHIV, they do not give any recommendations on how to address it. So with support from Trocaire, the official overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland, a pilot intervention study based on Inquiry-Based Stress-Reduction Intervention (IBSR), developed by Byron Katie of The Work fame, was done. This meditative process, named 'The Work', revolves around 4 questions and a turnaround of experiencing the opposite of what the participant believes. "You deal with one worrying thought at a time, ask and answer 4 questions - 'Is this true?', 'Are you absolutely sure that it is true?', 'How do you react when you believe it is true?' 'What kind of a person would you be without that thought?' Then turn the thought around and find opposites. For the first question 'is this true?' the answer is generally 'Yes', but for the second one they are not very sure and so things start changing, although slowly. Within 3 six months of working with the people have given impressive results in terms of daily work, satisfaction, and dealing with depression," explained Masimba. There is a pill for HIV, but not for self-stigma! Shaun Mellors from International HIV/AIDS Alliance recalled the times when growing up in a conservative Christian family and discovering his sexuality at a very young age, and also being diagnosed as HIV positive, he harboured within himself feelings of being bad, evil, promiscuous, and sinful, as that is what his family and society thought of PLHIV. "It is even a harder struggle to address self-stigma than living with HIV. To deal with HIV I can take a pill, but I cannot take a pill for self-stigma. Overcoming self-stigma was a constant and often painful work for me - understanding it and finding options to address it. When you hear labels like 'f*ggot (gay person)' 'AIDS victim' or 'AIDS patient', it pushes a nerve and no matter how confident you feel it breaks you down, as it did for me. Looking at myself now at the age of 51 years, I am okay. Yes I am a 'PLHIV f*ggot', as some people may think. But it is much easier to not get affected by it now than it was 20-30 years ago." Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). The United States owes a large portion of its continental size to Haitian freedom fighters that defeated Napoleon's army at the turn of the 19th century. Had the Haitians not succeeded in liberating their island from the French, Napoleon's New Orleans-based forces might have reconquered Britain's former colonies on the eastern seaboard. The Louisiana Territories were, in a sense, purchased with Haitian blood. This article previously appeared in Thought Merchant. "Napoleon's defeat forced him to give up his plans of conquering North America and the United States." With the rise of Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for the 2016 presidential election, a reactionary nativism has taken hold in America. Resentment towards immigrants and Muslims has found solace in Trump's promises to "build a wall" between Mexico and the United States, as well as deny further entry to Muslim immigrants. These themes have generated a white nationalistic fervor among Americans who believe they want to "take their country back," and "make America great again." What is both ironic and comical about the pleas of these reactionary American nativists is that they are premised on ridiculous white settler colonial myths about the founding of America. The mythology assumes America was founded on notions of liberty and freedom when, in reality, those rights were originally only assured to land-owning white males. What is more important in deflating this pedestrian narrative about American history's "debt" to its bourgeois slave-owning revolutionary origins, is that the most important person in assuring this settler colonial project called America was not aborted less than 30 years after the July 4, 1776, Declaration of Independence, was a former black slave who helped lead an army of his fellows against three European empires to free his people: Jean-Jacques Dessalines, founder of the independent nation of Haiti. "But the prejudice of race alone blinded the American people [to] the debt they owed to the desperate courage of 500,000 Haitian Negroes who would not be enslaved." -- Henry Adams, direct decedent of John Adams and America's foremost historian of the 18th and 19th centuries After defeating one of the greatest military expeditions in the history of the British Empire, "The most important person in assuring this settler colonial project called America was not aborted less than 30 years after the July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence, was a former black slave." L'Ouverture's second in command, General Jean Jacques Desssalines, was charged with the task of ultimately defeating Napoleon Bonaparte's massive army from the years of 1802-1803, after Toussaint was captured by Bonaparte's emissaries and sent back to France to die imprisoned. What is lost on most Americans is that Napoleon Bonaparte, renowned as one of the greatest military minds in western history, was not merely intent on conquering the former African slaves in Haiti, but also using the opportunity to plant a military expedition in New Orleans large enough to conquer North America and then president Thomas Jefferson's United States. Hence making the newly independent United States a subject and colony of the French empire. "[Napoleon] set his sights on a new goal: restoring the imperial crown's finest jewel, the lost Saint-Domingue/Haiti. In 1801, he sent the largest invasion fleet that ever crossed the Atlantic, some 50,000 men, to the island under the leadership of his brother-in-law Charles LeClerc. Their mission was to decapitate the ex-slave leadership of Saint-Domingue/Haiti. "No more gilded Africans," Napoleon commanded. Subdue any resistance by deception and force. Return to slavery all the Africans who survived. Napoleon had also assembled a second army, and he had given it a second assignment. In 1800, he had concluded a secret treaty that "retroceded" Louisiana to French control after 37 years in Spanish hands. This second army was to go to Louisiana and plant the French flag. And at 20,000 men strong, it was larger than the entire U.S. Army. Napoleon had already conquered one revolutionary republic [France] from within. He was sending a mighty army to take another by brute force [The United States of America]." -- The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism, Edward E. Baptist In the eyes of many Americans today, deluded with America's current military prowess, the notion of Thomas Jefferson and the United States ever being concerned about a threat from France may seem ridiculous. What such ahistorical analysis ignores is that Thomas Jefferson himself, drafter of America's Declaration of Independence, was so terrified at the prospect of Napoleon's army in Louisiana that he publicly stated that Napoleon's mere presence may force the newly independent United States to run back to cower under the protection of Great Britain's military. "And yet, as Jefferson now instructed his envoy to Paris, Robert Livingston, 'there is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans.' Jefferson had to open the Mississippi one way or the other. 'Should a French army occupy New Orleans,' wrote Jefferson, 'we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and Nation.'"-- The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism , Edward E. Baptist Thomas Jefferson, America's founding father, was cowering in fear about the prospect of fighting Napoleon's Army. The same army the Haitian former slaves had been bravely vanquishing and eventually totally defeated under the leadership of Jean Jacques Dessalines. So much for the idea of American exceptionalism. "Dessalines planned a war of extermination of every Frenchman on the Island." The capture of Toussaint L'Ouverture on June 7, 1802, instead of weakening the Haitian resistance in fact strengthened it. Toussaint was one of the more moderate Haitian Revolutionary leaders, and he was replaced as head of the black rebellion by the most feared and brutal of his generals: Jean Jacques Dessalines. Dessalines planned a war of extermination of every Frenchman on the Island using the revolutionary call "Koupe Tete, Boule Kaye" meaning "Cut off their heads, and burn their houses," -- referring to all French soldiers and Frenchmen in sight. "By the middle of 1802, the first wave of French forces had withered away [in Saint Domingue/Haiti]. Napoleon reluctantly diverted the Louisiana Army [20,000 soldiers] to Saint Domingue/Haiti. Then this second expedition was also destroyed. So even as Toussaint L'Ouverture shivered in his cell across the ocean, the army he left behind [under Jean Jacques Dessalines] became the first to deal a decisive defeat to Napoleon's ambitions. Damn sugar, damn coffee, damn colonies," the first of the whites [Napoleon] was heard to grumble into his cup at a state dinner."-- The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism, Edward E. Baptist. After vanquishing Napoleon's forces in Port Au Prince and Les Cayes, Napoleon's remaining army retreated to Au Cap, Haiti, to be defeated in the final battle of the Haitian Revolution, the Battle of Vertieres, November 18, 1803. This final defeat of the remains of Napoleon's massive expedition was so demoralizing that it not only forced Napoleon to give up his plans of conquering North America and the United States, it compelled him to enter an agreement that would change the history and trajectory of the United States forever, literally giving birth to the nation it was to become: Napoleon consummated the Louisiana Purchase. Again, this was only possible because of the Haitian Army lead by Jean Jacques Dessalines. "The treaty would change the trajectory of the United States forever." Thomas Jefferson expected to only benefit from the situation by acquiring the city of New Orleans. So important was that port to the potential development of the United States, he was more than thrilled with the possibility of acquiring merely that city from Napoleon. The extent of Bonaparte's demoralized defeat at the hands of Jean Jacques Dessalines and the Haitian army was demonstrated by the dimensions of the deal he consummated with Thomas Jefferson's representative in Paris: "Napoleon's minion shocked Livingston [Thomas Jefferson's representative] almost out of his knee breeches with an astonishing offer: not just New Orleans, but all of French Louisiana--the whole west bank of the Mississippi and its tributaries. now the United States was offered--for a mere $15 million--828,000 square miles, 530 million acres at three cents per acre. This vast expanse doubled the nations size. Eventually the land form the Louisiana Purchase would become all or part of fifteen states. It still accounts for almost a quarter of the surface area of the United States. By the late twentieth century Jefferson's windfall would be feeding much of the world. One imagines that Livingston found it hard to hold his poker face steady. He immediately agreed to the deal. -- The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism," Edward E. Baptist. The efforts of Jean Jacques Dessalines and the Haitian Revolutionary army not only protected the fledgling United States from impending French conquest, the defeat of Napoleon by the brave Haitian former slaves gave America the land mass that would propel it into being one of the most powerful nations in history. None of this would have been possible without the bravery of the Haitian people, who would not be enslaved. "To the deadly climate of Saint Domingue/Haiti and the courage and obstinate resistance made by its black inhabitants are we indebted... [The] truth is, Bonaparte found himself absolutely compelled"--and not by Jefferson--"to relinquish his daring plan of colonizing the banks of the Mississippi." -- Alexander Hamilton. Quote from: "The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism," Edward E. Baptist. The Haitian Revolution saved Jefferson's United States from eventual conquest by Napoleon, who placed 20,000 soldiers (more than the entire United States Army at the time) in New Orleans to invade North America after he foolishly thought he could defeat the Haitian Revolutionary Army. Those 20,000 soldiers had to be sent to Haiti to quell the rebellion and were subsequently defeated. Napoleon then sold all the Louisiana Territory west of the Mississippi to Thomas Jefferson for three cents per acre. This is the real story of how America was made great. Next time some Trump supporters wish to pop off about "taking their country back," just remind them they should thank God and the Haitian people that they even have a country. Reprinted from To The Point Analyses Benjamin Netanyahu (Image by twitter.com) Details DMCA Part I -- From Bad to Worse Zionism's range of influence is shrinking. One can see this progression worldwide. At a popular level the Israelis have lost control of the historical storyline of Israel-Palestine. They may teach their own citizens their version of the story, the one wherein the Jews have a divine and/or historical right to all of Palestine's territory. But beyond their fellow Zionists and the loony Christian right, no one else believes this story. Significantly, an increasing number of Jews no longer accept it either. None of this means that the Zionists are not still influential. Yet their influence no longer has a broad popular base. It is now largely restricted to Western government circles. Of course, that is still impressive, and such lobby power does a lot of damage in the West through the corruption of elites and the perversion of state policies. We are seeing examples of this in the many stories of American police officers being trained by Israelis while (coincidentally?) episodes of police brutality in the U.S. multiply. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Special student rate for RNA Nanotechnology conference https://www.fusion-conferences.com/conference47.php Fusion Conferences and the Chairs of RNA Nanotechnology have introduced a Special Student Rate for their conference on 01-04 August 2016.The conference, to be held at Wokefield Park in Berkshire, UK, sold out earlier this month with registrations being closed off to the public, but Fusion have opened up some spaces to allow students to enjoy the conference at a discounted rate.Dr. Peixuan Guo of Ohio State University and one of the conferences chairs, says, It is really important to us that the discussions and unpublished work being showcased in this conference are shared with the bright minds of the future. We want to be able to support students by providing access for them to attend and engage in such a vital topic.After chemical drugs and protein-based drugs, it is believed RNA drugs will be the next milestone in pharmaceutics. The field of RNA Nanotechnology was first realised and demonstrated in 1998 by Dr. Peixuan Guo, and since then it has grown into a mature field composed of several subfields covered by many disciplines such as chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology and many more. Dr. Guo says There is a need for an all-encompassing conference of RNA nanotechnology that brings together all scientists in the field.Key sessions to be discussed include Biophysical approaches in RNA Nanotechnology, RNA Nanoparticle structure and folding, RNA Modeling and Nanoimmunology, amongst others.The cost for a student to attend will be 300 and this will cover registration for all four days of the conference, daily refreshments, lunch and dinner on 01, 02 and 03 August. Accommodation (if required) and transportation to and from the conference venue will need to be arranged independently.The deadline for students to register is Wednesday 27 July.More information can be found atTo register please contact laura@fusion-conferences.com.Fusion Conferences specialise in organising scientific based conferences within the academic and corporate industry for those working at the frontiers of physical, medical, life sciences and their related technologies.Fusion Conferences Ltd, Unit 5D, Lynx Business Park, Fordham Rd, Snailwell, Cambridgeshire, CB8 7NYContact: Stephanie Scottsteph@fusion-conferences.com01638 724137 Telecom API Market will grow at CAGR of 24% from 2015 to 2022 https://www.marketresearchengine.com/reportdetails/global-telecom-api-market-analysis https://www.marketresearchengine.com/ New York, July 24: Market Research Engine has published a new report titled as Global Telecom API Market Analysis by Service, End User, Size, Share, Geography, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2022.The global mobile application development community is becoming more aware of Telecom Application Programming Interface (API) as a means of accessing data for a variety of services.The global telecom API market will grow at CAGR of 24% from 2015 to 2022 and it is expected to reach US$325 Billion by 2022.Browse the full report here:Telecom API market speaks to a general Application Programming Interface (API) services provided by telecom carriers, service providers and aggregators to application designers keeping in mind the end goal to make user friendly mobile applications. Telecom API offers application designers to coordinate different administrations, for example, payment integration, some assistance with voicing, SMS and WebRTC into their mobile application. This helps application engineers to upgrade their client experience and advertise their mobile applications among their end-clients. Telecom API gives numerous advantages to telecom bearers as income era and upgrading end-client experience. Telecom API confronts rivalry from Over-The-Top (OTT) administration suppliers and because of developing selection of open API stage. Notwithstanding, the expanding appropriation of M2M gadgets among end-clients is foreseen to help the business sector for telecom API in coming years.The telecom API market is categorized based on service types into payment, SMS, MMS and RCS, maps and location, voice/speech, identity management, WebRTC and others. Further, the research report provides complete insights into different users of telecom API such as enterprise developers, internal telecom developers, partner developer and long tail developers. The report analyzes each of these segments for various geographies considered under the scope of the study.Scope of the Report:The report includes detail company profiles of the major companies which are providing telecom API services.Key business strategies adopted by these companies, their market positioning, and various recent developments have also been identified in this research report.The global telecom API market is segmented as below:By Service Type Payment SMS, MMS and RCS Maps and Location Voice/Speech Identity Management WebRTC Others (Device Information and Do Not Disturb)By User Type Enterprise Developer Internal Telecom Developer Partner Developer Long Tail DeveloperBy Geography North America Europe Asia Pacific Latin America Middle East and AfricaFurthermore, the report analyzes factors that drive and restrain the growth of telecom API market. The report also discusses the prevailing market trends, prospective growth opportunities, and major strategies resulting in the popularity of telecom API services. It also provides the market estimates and forecasts for all the segments in terms of revenue. Also provided in the report is the market positioning of key players in the global telecom API market.The key market players profiled in this study include telecom carriers, aggregators and service providers. The major telecom carriers providing telecom APIs profiled in the report include AT&T, Inc. and Orange. The major service providers and aggregators of telecom API profiled in the study are Apigee Corp., LocationSmart, Alcatel-Lucent, Twilio, Inc., Tropo, Inc. (Cisco, Inc.), Aepona Ltd. (An Intel Company), Fortumo OU, Nexmo, Inc. and Comverse, Inc.About MarketResearchEngine.comMarket Research Engine is a global market research and consulting organization. We provide market intelligence in emerging, niche technologies and markets. Our market analysis powered by rigorous methodology and quality metrics provide information and forecasts across emerging markets, emerging technologies and emerging business models. Our deep focus on industry verticals and country reports help our clients to identify opportunities and develop business strategies.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862, +91-860-565-7204Website:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States Parking Reservation System In Advance Technology #IOT #Sensor #Current trend http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=11588 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Growing 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.About UsTMR 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. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.ContactTMR90, State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Telecom Cloud Billing Services - Market Research Report 2015-2019 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/analysis/517518 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/517518 Technavio market research analysts estimate, telecom cloud billing services reached a market size of USD 2.3 billion in 2014. The market is dominated by prepaid subscribers with close to 79% of GSM subscribers using these services. Most telecom operators cater to the requirements of this market. Currently, many telecom service providers are adopting a customer-centric business model to increase their prepaid customer base. As a result, they are combining multiple services and offering bundled services based on individual requirements.View Full Report:Such business models require real-time billing for every individual service usage. Because of the customer-centric approach, the demand for bundled services is increasing rapidly in the prepaid customer segment. The market is experiencing the growing prevalence of many operation support systems (OSS)/ and business support systems (BSS) solutions that accommodate multiple services and a large subscriber base for real-time and online billing processes. As per the market forecast, most telecom operators are likely to shift to an online billing process for bill generation and payment receipt during the forecast period.Research scope of the global telecom cloud billing services marketTo calculate the market size, Technavio market research analysts have considered revenue generated from the sale of cloud billing services, that include subscription and update charges. The revenue from the following segments is considered:Embedded billingConvergent billingD2C billingPrepaid billingPost-paid billingGeographical segmentation of the global telecom cloud billing services marketAPACAmericasEMEAIn terms of telecom billing, APAC leads the market with approximately 35% market share due to the increase in the number of mobile subscriptions in the region. In China, the increasing adoption of multiple telecom services by customers drives the market. In India, due to the increased competition, many communication service providers are providing flexible tariff plans and multiple services. The market scenario in APAC will present a significant opportunity for cloud billing services companies in the region through 2019.Get Sample Copy:Vendor landscape of the global telecom cloud billing services marketThe increased usage of data services being provided by telecom operators has created a need for a robust billing system. Intense competition in the global telecom billing software market drives the adoption of telecom billing software. To counter the declining average revenue per user, telecom operators are expected to capitalize on value-added services (VAS). It is expected to emerge as a key revenue channels in developed markets such as North America and Europe.AmdocsCSCCGINetCrackerOracleOther prominent vendors in the market include Amazon, Aria Systems, BMC Software, Cerillion, ChargeBee, Chargify, Cloudability, Comarch, Convergys, cVidya, Ericsson, IBM, Recurly, Redknee, SAP, Vindicia, and Zuora.Key questions answered in the reportWhat are the key factors driving the telecom cloud billing services market?What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the telecom cloud billing services marketWhat are the various opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the telecom cloud billing services market?Trending factors influencing the market shares for EMEA, APAC, and Americas?Key outcome of the five forces analysis on the telecom cloud billing services market?Growth forecast of the telecom cloud billing services market until 2019?Technavio also offers customization on reports based on specific client requirement.Marketresearchreports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. Marketresearchreports.biz services are especially designed to save time and money of our clients.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Global Shale Gas market Size, Shares, analysis & trends up to 2020 http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/shale-gas-market-by-technology-z38366 http://goo.gl/bS2snF http://goo.gl/xIqyzz http://www.marketresearchstore.com Zion Research has published a new report titled Shale Gas Market by Technology (Horizontal Drilling, Hydraulic Fracturing, and Water Usage Issue) for Power Generation, Residential, Industrial, Commercial, Transportation and Other Applications: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis, and Forecast, 2014-2020. According to the report, the global demand for shale gas was valued at USD 63 billion in 2014 is expected to reach USD 105 billion in 2020, growing at a CAGR of around 9% between 2015 and 2020. In terms of volume, the global shale gas marketstood at around 10.0 trillion cubic feet in 2014.Browse the full "Shale Gas Market by Technology (Horizontal Drilling, Hydraulic Fracturing, and Water Usage Issue) for Power Generation, Residential, Industrial, Commercial, Transportation and Other Applications: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis, and Forecast, 2014-2020" report atShale gas is also known as natural gas and it is derived from shales. Shale is fine-grained sedimentary rocks and it is highly loaded resources of petroleum and natural gas. Shale gas is generally obtained from the various shales like are marcellus, eagle ford, niobrara, barnett, and bakken. It is primarily used as a feedstock for production of ammonia and ethane gas. To extract shale gas from the source rock, the oil and gas industry uses two proven techniques: horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing involves injecting high-pressure water to crack the source rock and release the natural gas it contains. 99.5% of the injection fluid is a mixture of water and sand, while the rest is a small quantity of additives needed to prevent bacterial contamination of the reservoir and make the process more efficient.The major driving factor for shale gas market is rapidly increasing demand across the world. In an attempt to lower down dependence on crude oil as source of energy, U.S. is highly focused on shale gas. Moreover, government funding coupled with large investment by many private players is expected to fuel the growth of this industry. However, high cost of production as compared to any other conventional source of energy is expected to limit the growth of this industry. However, ongoing research & development and introduction of new technologies in the field of shale gas are expected to bring down cost of production. Large number of proven reserves for shale gas in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific is expected to provide future growth opportunity to industry participants.Free Request Sample @Horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing, and water usage issue are the key technologies involved in the shale gas extraction process. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing are extensively used for extraction process across the globe. Power generation, residential, industrial, commercial, and transportation are the key applications of shale gas market. Industrial applications segment was the largest segment of global shale gas industry and accounted for more than 30% share of the entire market in 2014. The power generation is the second largest application segment for the global shale gas market. Residential applications segment is also expected to exhibit rapid growth during the forecast period.North America dominated the production and consumption of shale gas in 2014. North America accounted for over 75% share in production and consumption of shale gas in 2014. North America. North America is followed by Europe and Asia Pacific respectively. However, with commencement of shale gas production in China, growth of shale gas industry in Asia Pacific is expected to grow at a robust growth. Latin America and Middle East & Africa are expected to remain smallest regional market for shale gas during the forecast period.Get Illustrative Sample before buying:Some of the key players in the global shale gas market include Baker Hughes Incorporation, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, BHP Billiton Limited, Devon Energy, EnCana Corporation, ConocoPhillips Co, Royal Dutch Shell plc, ExxonMobil, Chesapeake Energy Corporation, and BP plc.Market Research Store is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations. Market Research Store is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air. We have market research reports from number of leading publishers and update our collection daily to provide our clients with the instant online access to our database. With access to this database, our clients will be able to benefit from expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Email: sales@marketresearchstore.comWebsite: Global Healthcare Analytics Market to Derive Growth Prospects from Rising Need to Curb Healthcare Expenses http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=5309 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com A new research study by Transparency Market Research presents a complete overview of the global market for healthcare analytics. The report, titled Healthcare Analytics Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2015 - 2023, is available for sale on TMRs website.According to the research report, the increasing pressure to control healthcare expenses is the key driving force behind the growth of this market.The study analyzes the global healthcare analytics market on four fronts: type, application, end user, and regional spread. On the basis of analytics type, the report classifies this market into descriptive analytics, predictive analytics, and prescriptive analytics. Among these, the descriptive analytics segment is likely to occupy a dominant share of the market over the forecast period.Based on application, the healthcare analytics market is segmented into predictive analytics, big data analytics, HIPAA, and genomics. Public health systems, accountable care organizations (ACOs), private healthcare providers, monitoring agencies, health insurance firms, clinical research organizations, medical research bodies, and technology vendors are the prime end users of healthcare analytics across the world, states the report.Regionally, the report divides the global market for healthcare analytics into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Rest of the World. Among these, North America has acquired the leading position at present. The high number of market players present in the U.S. is the prime factor behind the dominance of the North America healthcare analytics market.Analysts at TMR expect this regional market to retain its leadership during the forecast period. The U.S. healthcare mandates providing quality care and aimed at controlling the increasing healthcare costs are likely to boost the healthcare analytics market in North America in the near future.Download Complete Healthcare Analytical Brochure:The report further states that the markets for healthcare analytics in Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Rest of the World have also been gaining impetus due to the rising demand for the treatment of diseases in their early stages, better clinical outcomes, and the increasing efficacy of the healthcare procedures in these regions.The research report also presents a study of the competitive landscape of the global healthcare analytics market, by analyzing the company profiles of major market players. According to it, this market is fragmented and highly competitive. The presence of a large pool of market participants is the key factor behind this.Truven Health Analytics Inc., Allscripts Health Solution, Cognizant, Oracle Corp., Mede Analytics Inc., Cerner Corp., IBM Corp., Verisk Analytics Inc., MedAssets Inc., Health Catalyst, Inovalon Inc., Mckesson Corp., Optum Inc., and SAS Institute Inc. are some of the key players operating in the worldwide healthcare analytics market, states the market study.About UsTransparency 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.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: mailto:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Dental Caries Market 2016-2026 Shares, Trend and Growth Report http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1416 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1416 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/dental-caries-market www.futuremarketinsights.com The scientific term dental caries is known for the tooth decay or cavities. Tooth decays are generally caused by the specific endogenous bacteria such as Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus. It occurs by the production of acid that later destroys the layer and enamel of the tooth. The bacteria continues to grow to produce acid that gets into the inner layer of the tooth if the decay is not removed on time. In the U.S, approximately 90% of young adults have dental caries, while out of all dentate adults approximately 94% suffer from coronal caries. According to the estimation of WHO, on a global basis, 200,335,280 teeth were either decayed, filled or missing among just that age groupFactors contributing in the growth of Dental Caries Market are increased proportion of sugar based medication and existing life style factors. Additionally the increasing population in the Asia Pacific region is also the major factor to drive the growth of global dental caries market. However, according to WHO, it was observed that the cases with dental caries are declining due to the number of public health measures and improved self-care practices in the developed countries. These are the major restraints for the dental caries market. The increase in caries commonly occurs in the children, lower socio economic group and the new immigrants.Request Free Report Sample@The global market for dental caries is segmented on basis of types, treatment and regional presence:By TreatmentChemoprophylactic AgentsAntimicrobial PeptidesVaccinesExpectorantsProbiotics and Replacement TherapyOral CorticosteroidsBy End UserHospitalsDental ClinicsWith increasing base of dental caries prevalence, the dental caries market is expected to witness remarkable growth during the forecast period (2016-2024). The antimicrobial peptides are expected to hold maximum share in the overall treatment market for the dental caries owing to its high effectiveness. The chemoprophylactic agents includes antibiotics such as penicillin and vancomycin. New technologies that are evolving in the market such as mineral-binding micellar drug delivery system are developed which binds to the tooth surface and releases the encapsulated drug. The investment of companies in developing such technologies are also expected to contribute maximum share in the dental caries market during the forecast period.Request For TOC@On the basis of regional presence, Dental Caries Market is segmented into five key regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa.Currently, North America dominates the global market for Dental Caries due to high prevalence rate of dental caries, followed by Europe. According to WHO, 90% people are diagnosed with dental caries in North America. However factors such as lack of knowledge and lack of awareness among people about the prevention will hamper the market growth in regions like Asia-pacific.Dental Caries Market: Key Market Players:Some of the key market players in the manufacturing of the treatment products for dental caries includes Sanofi, Abbott Laboratories, Bayer AG, Eli Lilly And Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck & Co, Inc., AstraZeneca Plc., Reddys Lab, and Novartis AG.Browse Full Report@ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Medication Management System Market Growth, Forecast and Value Chain 2016-2026 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1419 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1419 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/medication-management-system-market www.futuremarketinsights.com Medication management systems are the systems that are intended to support the medicine management cycle. The medicine management systems are used by the healthcare service provides in order to prevent the adverse drug events. The medication management system in hospitals can be used for supplying, prescribing and administering of medicines. This procedure helps in reducing error rate during medicine administration of prescription based and over-the-counter drugs. The introduction of new products and technologies are gaining attention of healthcare service providers to reduce the complications in drug administration and clinical decisions. For example, the CSC's Medication Management solution which provides a complete web base solution, helps the hospitals to easily extend its operations. The developing countries provides enormous potential for the medication management system market owing to the high rate of adoption of medication management system.Medication Management System Market: Drivers and Restraints:Increasing prevalence of infectious disease, autoimmune disease and others has significantly enhanced the outpatient visits across the globe. This increase in number of outpatient visits has ultimately increased the drug prescription which requires continuous monitoring during the course of treatment. Moreover, the increasing number of aging population suffering from chronic disorders would results in elevated demand for the medication management system. Thus, driving the growth of medication management systems market. Medication management systems facilitates drug management by reducing the cost and time. The restraining factors for the medication management system market are high cost of services and limited adoption rate of the systems.The medication management system market is anticipated to grow with a significant CAGR owing to the increase in number of prescriptions, rising pressure to reduce medication errors and increasing healthcare expenditure.Request Free Report Sample@Medication Management System Market: Segmentation:The global medication management system market are classified on the basis of type of system, end use and geography.Based on the type of system, the global medication management system market is divided into following:Automated Dispensing SystemsInventory ManagementAdministration systemClinical Decision Support SystemBased on end user, the global medication management system market is divided into following:HospitalsClinicsRetail PharmacyEcommerceMedication Management System Market: Overview:The increased awareness about medication management system is giving rise to the adoption of these systems. The elimination of errors in medication helps the patient in getting better treatment and cure. The adoption rate of medication management system in hospitals is comparatively high and is estimated to be the fastest growing segment. The automated dispensing system segment are used forthe administration of unit dosage to the patients. These system have higher adoption rate owing to the effective utilization of resources and thus has a positive impact on medication management system market. Inventory management system segment is expected to hold significant share in the medication management system as it deals with the management of medications stored, which is a time consuming task.Request For TOC@Medication Management System Market: Regional Overview:On the basis of geography, the global medication management system market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. North America hold major share in medical management system market. European countries are expected to represent significant growth rates due to the growth in healthcare practices. Amongst the Asian countries, India and China are more promising countries owing to large population pool, increased prevalence of infectious diseases, increasing awareness, rapid improvement in healthcare services and saturation in the developed markets.Medication Management System Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in medication management system market are Cerner Corporation, Siemens Healthcare, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc., CareFusion Corporation, McKesson Corporation, Swisslog, Omnicell, Inc., Becton, Dickinson and Company, Mindray Medical International Limited, and Koninklijke Philips N.V. The focus of these manufacturers is to develop new technologies which would reduce the medication errors and improve medication safety as compared to that of the products available commercially.Browse Full Report@ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Market Forecast Report on Vibration Sensor, 2016-2026 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1432 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1432 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/vibration-sensor-market www.futuremarketinsights.com Vibration sensor can also be termed as vibration transducer that converts vibrations into an electrical equivalent output (such as voltage). Vibration means any motion of object from its mean position. It can be caused due to number of reasons such as external excitation, unbalanced centrifugal force, friction between surface and wind. Vibration has various advantages as well as disadvantages. It is used to detect any catastrophic events and to take preventive measures. However, in industrial and commercial sector this vibration is undesirable as it causes damage to machines. Furthermore, excess damage is also unsafe for human beings. Hence, to avoid this dangerous situation vibration level should be measured with the help of vibration sensor.Vibration Sensor Market: Drivers and RestraintThe global vibration sensor market is expected to witness significant growth over the period of forecast. Factors which are driving the growth of global vibration sensor market are wide range of frequency, self-generating capability and long service life. Furthermore, rapid improvement and customization options are few additional drivers of global vibration sensor market.On the other hand, major factor hindering the growth of global vibration sensor market is maturity of end-user segmentRequest Free Report Sample@Vibration Sensor Market: SegmentationThe global vibration sensor market can be segmented on the basis of product type, technology, material and application. On the basis of product type, the global vibration sensor market can be segmented into accelerometers, electrodynamic velocity transducer and non-contact displacement transducer.On the basis of technology, the global vibration sensor market can be segmented into piezoresistive, strain gauge, variable capacitance, hand probe, tri-axial sensorsOn the basis of material, the global vibration sensor market can be segmented into doped silicon, quartz and piezoelectric ceramics.On the basis of application, the global vibration sensor market can be segmented into automobile, aerospace, consumer electronics, coal & quarry sector, oil & gas, machine & structure monitoring, medical & pharmaceuticals and others. The global vibration sensor market growth is accelerated because of high adoption of vibration sensors in aerospace industry. Furthermore, vibration sensors are used in wide areas such as vibration in shock treatment, breathing monitoring, measuring machine vibrations and other applications. Vibration sensors are also used in digital displays and touch screens.Request For TOC@Vibration Sensor Market: Region wise outlookOn the basis of region, the global vibration sensor market can be seven regions which include North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan and Middle East & Africa. North America is dominating the global vibration sensor market and expected to remain dominant throughout the forecast period. However, Asia Pacific is expected to expand at highest compound annual growth rate over the forecast period.Vibration Sensor Market: Key PlayersKey players in global vibration sensor market are ASC GmbH, Dytran Instruments, Inc., TE Connectivity Ltd., Honeywell International Inc., FUTEK Advanced Sensor Technology Inc., National Instruments Corporation, Colibrys Ltd., Hansford Sensors Ltd., Robert Bosch GmbH and others. Key players are focusing on development of new technologies in order to gain competitive advantage. For example, in November 2015, Hansford Sensors Ltd. launched new compact vibration switch to protect machinery against unexpected shutdown and repair cost. In July 2015, Colibrys Ltd., released its new vibration sensor, The VS1000 the second generation vibration sensor of the Colibrys VS family. The market is also witnessing a trend of customization of vibration sensor as per its size, frequency range and load capacity. Therefore market players are focusing on providing the vibration sensors as per the need of different applications.Browse Full Report@ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Global Health Care Social Media Marketing Market Rising Thanks to Improved Availability of High-speed Internet http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=5807 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Transparency Market Researchs new market research study details the global health care social media marketing market. The report, titled Health Care Social Media Marketing Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2023, presents historical and present-day data about the market and bases future projections on it.Social media marketing is an upcoming field; the emergence of which has been fueled by the rapid rise of social media in recent years. Over the last decade, social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others have gone from being a novelty to an everyday necessity. Due to the ease of sharing information with the masses, social media marketing has caught on in the last few years.Health care is the latest sector to join the social media marketing bandwagon. The ease of sharing information on social media has led many medical equipment manufacturers and other entities in the health care field to advertise their products and services on social media and interact with the customers about the same.The increasing number of social media users is responsible for the rising demand from the health care social media marketing market. The high proportion of the global population with access to high-speed internet and the requisite amount of tech literacy has led to high demand for the availability of medical knowledge on the internet, thus spurring the global health care social media marketing market.Download Complete Healthcare Analytical Brochure:However, the market is held back by restraints such as the possibility of fraudulent information being passed as genuine and the concern for privacy. The lack of privacy in social media is a well-debated topic already, lending weight to the reluctance of some users to post sensitive medical information on the internet.Apart from advertising, social media marketing is also a powerful tool for interacting with potential customers. Customer feedback about upcoming products and procedures can even be directly implemented in health care products, making them more in line with what the customer actually needs and wants.Regionally, North America emerged as the leading market for health care social media marketing in 2014. The high number of tech-savvy customers and rising usage of and government support for telehealth systems are the main factors driving the North America health care social media marketing market. In the coming years, the Asia Pacific and Rest of the World market for health care social media marketing are expected to emerge as strong contenders in the global scenario, due to the rising availability of high-speed internet and growing social media user base in developing countries such as China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile.About Us:Transparency 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.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesUSA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: New Research Report on Liquid Chromatography Systems Market, 2016-2026 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1434 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1434 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/liquid-chromatography-systems-market www.futuremarketinsights.com Chromatography methods are used to organic and inorganic compounds such as separate proteins, nucleic acids, or small molecules in complex mixtures and others. Liquid chromatography (LC) separates molecules in a liquid mobile phase by means of a solid stationary phase. It is basically a technique which separates a sample into its individual parts. This separation takes place based on the interactions of the sample with the mobile and stationary phases. Liquid chromatography procedure can be directed in various combination of possible mobile phases and stationary phases. The combinations are categorized with more than one name and the names focus on many different aspects of liquid chromatography methods. Liquid chromatography generally uses small particles packed and operating at comparatively high pressure, and is denoted as high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Modern Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) methods use HPLC instrumentation, basically for sample introduction. Liquid chromatography can be used for analytical or preparative applications. Irrespective of the interactions that are being brought, liquid column chromatography is taken up in six steps: Column equilibration, Sample loading, Washing, Elution, Final column washing and Column regeneration.Liquid Chromatography Systems Market: Drivers and RestraintsLiquid chromatography is a less expensive procedure than HPLC and Gas Chromatography. This could be considered as a most significant driving factor responsible for the growth of liquid chromatography systems market. Moreover some instruments for liquid chromatography are readily available in laboratories which is further providing boost to the growth of growing liquid chromatography systems market. However, limited sensitive and specific of detectors in applications involving complex samples could be the major restraints for liquid chromatography systems market.Request Free Report Sample@Liquid Chromatography Systems Market: SegmentationLiquid chromatography systems market is segmented based on product type, applications, end user and geography.Based on product type, liquid chromatography systems market is segmented as follows:Normal-phase liquid chromatography (NPLC)Reversed-phase liquid chromatography(RPLC)Ion Exchange Chromatography (IELC)Size exclusion liquid chromatography (SELC)Based on applications, liquid chromatography systems market is segmented as follows:BiomedicalAnalysisFood Product AnalysisOils and fats AnalysisOthersBased on end user, liquid chromatography systems market is segmented as follows:Research laboratoriesClinical Research LaboratoriesFood Safety LaboratoriesDiagnostic centersEducational InstitutesContract Research OrganizationsLiquid Chromatography Systems Market: OverviewIn partition chromatography method, the stationary phase and the mobile phase both are liquid. The stationary phase liquid would be an incompatible liquid with the mobile phase. Liquid-solid chromatography is related to partition chromatography. The only difference is that the stationary phase has been substituted with a bonded rigid silica or silica based component. Ion-exchange chromatography technique is used to separate and determine ions on columns that have a low ion exchange capacity. Size exclusion chromatography separates molecules by their size. Further technological advancements have improved the convenience and ease of use of liquid chromatography devices.Request For TOC@Liquid Chromatography Systems Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global liquid chromatography systems marketis classified into seven regions namely, North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, Middle East and Africa (MEA). North America is expected to dominate the liquid chromatography systems market in terms of both revenue and demand generation owing to greater awareness on technological advancement followed by Western Europe. However, markets in Latin America and Asia-Pacific could prove lucrative in terms of market opportunities considering factors like organized healthcare structure in terms of disease diagnosis, increasing initiatives for food safety and food detection and increasing healthcare spending.Liquid Chromatography Systems Market: Key PlayersSome of the major companies operating in manufacturing of liquid chromatography systems include Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Agilent Technologies, PerkinElmer, Inc., Shimadzu Corporation, Waters Corporation, Phenomenex, Inc. among others.Browse Full Report@ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Cytology and HPV Testing - Healthcare Better Infrastructure, Facilities and Industry survey and Revenue Analysis 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=2216 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Cytology and HPV Testing Market: SnapshotOver the years, the level of awareness among the global population regarding the various types of cancer has increased tremendously. The significance of early detection and diagnosis is not lost on them, resulting in the increased adoption of screening tests such as cytology and human papillomavirus (HPV) testing.The global market for cytology and HPV testing is presented with a host of sustained growth opportunities arising mainly from several emerging economies, where factors such as rapidly developing healthcare infrastructure and a strong local manufacturing base serve as major advantages. In addition to this, these markets still have immense scope for growth, unlike the near-saturated markets in developed countries.Low-cost Labor in APAC a Major Attraction for Cytology and HPV Testing CosThe cytology and HPV testing market can be geographically segmented into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. North America is by far the largest market for cytology and HPV testing accounting for a 52.5% share in 2015. This can be attributed to the rising incidence of HPV infections and cervical cancer, the increasing number of awareness programs by government and private organizations, and the availability of technologically advanced diagnostic test kits. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that an estimated 79 million people in the U.S. are infected with HPV, with around 14 million people newly infected each year. Each year, more than 11,000 women in the country are diagnosed with cervical cancer.The rising adoption of cytology and HPV testing is driven by the same factors as those fueling the North America market. In addition to these, the soaring demand for advanced imaging modalities and sensitive screening tests such as liquid-based cytology are anticipated to further accelerate the Europe market. Germany is the largest contributor to the Europe cytology and HPV testing market owing to the recent introduction and enhancement of various new technologies in the field of diagnostics. Government screening programs have also favorably benefited this regional market.Download Free exclusive Sample of this report:Emerging as one of the most attractive destinations for cytology and HPV testing as well as for the manufacturing of testing kits and systems, Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness immense growth during the forecast period. Thanks to the availability of low-cost and highly-skilled IT labor, leading companies such as Qiagen N.V. and Hologic Corporation have been setting up shop in APAC to capitalize on the opportunities presented by this region.Although the RoW segment is also anticipated to witness a rise in the demand for cytology and HPV testing, especially in Africa, the narrow distribution network as well as the low awareness and adoption rate in several underdeveloped regions are likely to hamper market growth.Modest Growth on the CardsHPV testing services dominate the HPV testing market, accounting for a whopping 78.2% share in 2015 owing to an increasing number of women undergoing HPV tests for the detection and diagnosis of cervical cancer. Similarly, cytology testing services led the cytology testing market with a 78.7% share in 2015. This is due to the large number of PAP tests performed across the globe.The soaring incidence of HPV infections and cervical cancer can be attributed to several risk factors, including the weakening of the immune system due to illness and a high number of sexual partners. Technological advancements in healthcare and growing awareness among the general population are also encouraging people to opt for high-accuracy diagnostic tests. Driven by these factors, the HPV testing market is expected to grow from US$7.9 bn in 2015 to US$10.5 bn by 2024 at a 2.9% CAGR therein.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. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office ContactTransparency Market ResearchTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Cleanroom Technology NextGen Frontier for growing Pharma and Biotech industry: Industry survey and Revenue Analysis 2024. http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=4000 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com A new market research report by Transparency Market Research, titled Cleanroom Technology Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 2023, encapsulates an in-depth analysis of the market for cleanroom technology. The study is an amalgamation of both primary as well as secondary research and presents the current scenario and the development prospects of the market for cleanroom technology. In order to calculate the markets size, the report considers the revenue generated in the overall market by the major vendors. Moving further, the vendor landscape section includes an extensive analysis of the key vendors operating in the market. The prime factors impacting the growth of the market, along with the chief challenges faced by the prime vendors, form an integral part of this study.As per this report, the market for cleanroom technology is predicted to rise owing to the expansion in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, the increasingly favorable regulatory framework, and the increasing demand for cutting-edge products. In addition, the increasing healthcare spending, the rising occurrence of infectious and contagious diseases, and the growing demand for sterilized pharmaceutical products are also amongst the major factors propelling the cleanroom technology market.In terms of equipment, the market is segmented into cleanroom air showers, laminar air flow/hoods, fume hoods, HEPA filters, dessicator cabinets, environmental monitoring systems, gloveboxes and isolators, cleanroom filters, softwall cleanrooms, cleanroom pass through systems, and particle counters. In terms of consumable, the report segments the market into beard covers, bouffant caps, shoe covers/boot covers, wipes, cuff sealers, gloves, swabs, and face masks. On the basis of apparel, the cleanroom technology market is segmented into suits, Nomex suits, Tyvek garments, shoes, cart covers, polypropylene garments, chemical suits, blankers, and aprons.This report states that cleanroom technology finds its application in a number of industries. The major end users of cleanroom technology are the biotechnology industry, the hardware industry, the pharmaceutical industry, hospitals, medical device manufacturers, the food industry, the optical industry, the electronics industry, the plastic industry, and others.Get Free PDF Brochure for more Professional and Technical industry insights:On the basis of geography, the report segments the market into Europe, Asia pacific, North America, and Rest of the World (RoW). Amongst these, North America led the market in 2015 and was trailed by Europe. The reasons for the superiority of the North America market include the increasing disposable income of consumers and the stringent regulations on healthcare within this region. On the other hand, Asia Pacific is also experiencing swift growth in the market due to the expansion of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries in this region.According to this report, the chief players operating in the cleanroom technology market are Alpiq Group, Azbil Corporation, Ardmac Ltd, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Illinois Tool Works, Inc., E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Taikisha, Ltd, and, Royal Imtech N.V., among others.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. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office ContactTransparency Market ResearchTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Research report covers the Disposable Incontinence Products Market share and Growth, 2016-2026 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1476 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1476 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/disposable-incontinence-products-market www.futuremarketinsights.com Incontinence means inability of the body to control the evacuative functions of urination of defecation is called as Incontinence. Incontinence Products are manly used in the treatment of urinary tract and nephrological disorder of patients such as chronic kidney Disease, Kidney Stone, End stage renal disease and benign prostatic hyperplasia.According to the National Kidney Foundation globally 2 million people worldwide currently receive treatment with dialysis or a kidney transplant to stay alive, but this number may only represent 10% of people who actually need treatment to live, globally more than 80% of all patients who receive treatment for kidney failure are in wealthy countries with universal access to health care and large elderly populations.Global Disposable Incontinence products mainly contains Disposable adult Diapers, Disposable Adult Sheilds, Disposable under Pads, and Disposable Pull up pants.Global Disposable Incontinence Products Market: Drivers and RestrainsGlobal Disposable Incontinence Products market is driven by the raising prevalence of chronic kidney Disease, End stage renal disease, and benign prostatic hyperplasia. According to the WHO reports more than 190 million patients are suffering with chronic renal failure and undergo renal dialysis and more than 220 million males suffer from disease associated with prostate gland such as swelling that results in blockage of the flow of urine through the body. According to the Nation Kidney Foundation 10% of the population worldwide is affected by chronic kidney disease (CKD), and millions die each year because they do not have access to affordable treatment.Request Free Report Sample@Global Disposable Incontinence Products main restrains is awareness about this products are very less.Global Disposable Incontinence ProductsMarket: SegmentationGlobal Disposable Incontinence Market segmented based on product type, ApplicationBased on Product Type,Disposable Adult DiaperDisposable Adult SheildsDisposable Under PadsDisposable Pull up PantsBased on ApplicationChronic Kidney failureKidney StoneEnd stage renal failureBenign prostatic HyperplasiaBladder CancerGlobal Disposable Incontinence ProductsMarket: OverviewWith increasing use of Disposable Incontinence Products in Kidney Disease conditions will boost the growth of the Global Disposable Incontinence Products market. North America is contributing more income to the Global Disposable Incontinence Products and Asia region is showing fastest growth rate because of having more population base in this region.Request For TOC@According to the National Kidney Foundation, Globally 2 million people who receive medication for kidney failure, the mostly are treated in only five countries which includes United States, Japan, Germany, Brazil, and Italy. These 5 countries represent 12% of the world population. Only 20% are treated in about 100 developing countries that make up over 50% of the world population. In the US, treatment of chronic kidney disease is going to exceed $48 billion per year. Treatment for kidney failure consumes 6.7% of the total Medicare budget to care for less than 1% of the covered population.Global Disposable Incontinence ProductsMarket: Region wise OutlookDepending on geographic regions, Global Disposable Incontinence Products market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. North America is having more market for Disposable Incontinence Products Market, In North America, U.S. represents the largest market because of increasing prevalence rate for Chronic Renal Failure Disease.Asia region is expected to have more growth rate in upcoming years because of increasing awareness about Disposable Incontinence Products in this region. In Asia region India, China, Japan are expected to have more growth rate for Global Disposable Incontinence Products Market.Browse Full Report@Global Disposable Incontinence ProductsMarket: Key PlayersSome of the key market players in Global Disposable Incontinence Products market are C. R. Bard, Inc, B. Braun Melsungen AG, Coloplast UK Ltd, Kimberly Clark Group, First Quality Enterprises, Inc, Covidien, and Hollister Incorporated.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: High-Availability Server Market 2016-2026 Shares, Trend and Growth Report http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1484 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1484 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/high-availability-server-market www.futuremarketinsights.com In Information technology, high availability system means any system or device capable of doing continuously work for a long period of time without failure or breakdown. As server consists of various parts such as various hardware and software, therefore in order to make a server high availability server, all the parts used in server must be designed to meet high availability criteria. These parts should be well designed and thoroughly tested before implementing in high availability server. In short, high availability server can be defined as a server that provides high flexibility, great stability, reliability and higher speed with a zero probability of system failure. For storage purpose, redundant arrays of independent disk (RAID) approach is popular one used in high availability server and recently invented storage area network (SAN) is the latest approach being used in high availability server. High availability server has wide applications in banking, financial services and insurance, telecommunications services and others which work with a critical data all the time and the system failure in such organizations can cause big loss for the organizations. Therefore the demand for high-availability server is increasing from different vertical and is expected to grow with a tremendous CAGR over forecast period.High-Availability Server Market: DynamicsNow a days, research and development is more oriented towards advanced and true fault tolerant infrastructure. The high-availability server market acquires a great potential across various applications. The key drivers responsible in the growth of high-availability server market include the high adoption rate of highavailability server by banking, financial services and insurance because of the advantageous features provided by these highavailability servers such as low or almost zero risk of system failure that enables organizations to run their business without interruptions, protect companies from lost revenue when process of accessing their business application and data resources get disrupted. On the contrary side higher installation cost of high-availability server, lack of awareness are proving to be the key restraints hindering the growth of global high-availability server market.Request Free Report Sample@High-Availability Server Market: SegmentationSegmentation of high-availability server market is done on the basis of availability level, operating system, verticals and Geography. On the basis of availability level of high-availability server, high-availability server market is segmented into availability level 1, availability level 2, availability level 3, availability level 4 and availability level 5. These level has been segmented on the basis of configuration of servers such as number of virtual CPUs, storage capacity of HDD and also the size of Random Access Memory (RAM), which may vary application to application.On the basis of operating system, segmentation of high-availability server market is done as; windows, UNIX, Linux, FreeBSD and others (CentOS, Desbian and Fedora). Among all these operating systems, windows operating system based high-availability server segment is dominant over the rest of OS based servers.On the basis of vertical, global high-availability server market is segmented into banking, financial services and insurance, telecommunications, manufacturing, retail sector, healthcare and medical and public sector. In terms of revenue, among all the above given vertical, BFSI vertical is estimated to be a dominant segment of the market.Request For TOC@On the basis of Geography, segmentation of high-availability server market is done as; North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), and Middle East and Africa (MEA). Among which, North America is having largest market share of high-availability server and Asia Pacific is the second largest market of high-availability server & Asia Pacific is expected to become a leader of market of high-availability server by the end of forecasting period.High-Availability Server Market: Key PlayersThe key players of the high-availability server market are CenterServ, International Business Machines Corporation, Dell Inc., HP Development Company, L.P., NEC Corporation, Unisys Global Technologies, Oracle Corporation and other.Browse Full Report@ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Global Intrusion Alarm System Industry 2016 Market Trends, Sales, Supply, Demand, Analysis & Forecast to 2021 Intrusion Alarm System http://goo.gl/TxkNHh http://goo.gl/1IGaNl Global Intrusion Alarm System Industry 2016 Market Trends, Sales, Supply, Demand, Analysis & Forecast to 2021The Global Intrusion Alarm System Industry report gives a comprehensive account of the Global Intrusion Alarm System market. Details such as the size, key players, segmentation, SWOT analysis, most influential trends, and business environment of the market are mentioned in this report. Furthermore, this report features tables and figures that render a clear perspective of the Intrusion Alarm System market. The report features an up-to-date data on key companies product details, revenue figures, and sales. Furthermore, the details also gives the Global Intrusion Alarm System market revenue and its forecasts. The business model strategies of the key firms in the Intrusion Alarm System market are also included. Key strengths, weaknesses, and threats shaping the leading players in the market have also been included in this research report.The report gives a detailed overview of the key segments in the market. The fastest and slowest growing market segments are covered in this report. The key emerging opportunities of the fastest growing Global Intrusion Alarm System market segments are also covered in this report. Each segments and sub-segments market size, share, and forecast are available in this report. Additionally, the region-wise segmentation and the trends driving the leading geographical region and the emerging region has been presented in this report.Get Complete Report with TOC :The study on the Global Intrusion Alarm System market also features a history of the tactical mergers, acquisitions, collaborations, and partnerships activity in the market. Valuable recommendations by senior analysts about investing strategically in research and development can help new entrants or established players penetrate the emerging sectors in the Intrusion Alarm System market. Investors will gain a clear insight on the dominant players in this industry and their future forecasts. Furthermore, readers will get a clear perspective on the high demand and the unmet needs of consumers that will enhance the growth of this market.Table of ContentChapter One Intrusion Alarm System Industry Overview1.1 Intrusion Alarm System Definition1.1.1 Intrusion Alarm System Definition1.1.2 Product Specifications1.2 Intrusion Alarm System Classification1.3 Intrusion Alarm System Application Field1.4 Intrusion Alarm System Industry Chain Structure1.5 Intrusion Alarm System Industry Regional Overview1.6 Intrusion Alarm System Industry Policy Analysis1.7 Intrusion Alarm System Industry Related Companies Contact InformationGet Sample Copy of Report @About Us:QYResearch Group is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. QYResearch Group also carries the capability to assist you with your customized market research requirements including in-depth market surveys, primary interviews, competitive landscaping, and company profiles. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics. QYResearch Group is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651 Duodenoscope Market Growth, Forecast and Value Chain 2016-2026 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1667 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1667 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/duodenoscope-market www.futuremarketinsights.com Duodenoscope is a side viewing endoscope primarily designed for Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) to diagnose diseases associated with pancreas and bile ducts with the help of fluoroscopic imaging procedure. Duodenoscopes are flexible, light weighted tubes that are relieved through the mouth, throat, and stomach till the duodenum portion. Duodenoscopes are being used in more than 500,000 gastrointestinal procedures in the U.S each year as a minimally invasive way than traditional surgery to drain fluids from biliary and pancreatic ducts which are blocked by cancerous tumors, gallstones or other gastrointestinal conditions.The Duodenoscope is a more complex device than other endoscopes and more tough to clean and disinfect. While these devices play an essential role in the treatment of patients, there is an evidence that some patients have been transmitted with hospital born and other infectious agents, including antibiotic drug-resistant infections. In 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) alerted the FDA regarding possible association of multidrug resistant bacterial infections and duodenoscopes. Even before FDA was reported of the infections by the CDC, FDA was working to reinforce cleaning and disinfection protocols of complex duodenoscopes devices to maximize patient benefit and reduce safety risks. Recently American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) brought together experts in epidemiology, infection control and endoscopy, FDA and CDC representatives, hospitals that practiced epidemics, and device manufacturers. The purposes of these organizations to confirm current FDA and industry guidelines for cleaning duodenoscopes and identify gaps in knowledge and issues to address going onward.Request Free Report Sample@Based on product type, global duodenoscopes market is classified as follows:Flexible Video DueodenoscopesFlexible Non- Video DueodenoscopesBased on End User type, global duodenoscopes market is classified as follows:HospitalsPediatric CentersClinicsAmbulatory Surgical CentersCurrently, owing to extremely spread of infection of Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) bacteria, through duodenoscopes, the procedure is probably not performing in an outpatient facility such as clinics and ambulatory surgical centers.Increasing incidences of pancreatic, bile duct cancer tumors and various gastrointestinal conditions are the major origins contributing to the growth of the global duodenoscopes market. In addition, increasing FDA activities and CDC and manufactures collaboration is in identifying the causes and risk factors for transmission of infectious agents with duodenoscopes and developing new solutions to minimize patient exposure is another major driver, fueling the global duodenoscopes market growth over the forecast period. However, increasing FDA recalls for duodenoscopes owing to challenging cleaning and high-level disinfection procedures associated with complex designed duodenoscopes and rising multidrug-resistant bacterial infections caused by Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) such as Klebsiella species and Escherichia coli are major factors are expected to hamper the growth of global duodenoscopes market over the forecast period.Request For TOC@Geographically global duodenoscopes market has been segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific & Japan, Middle East Africa regions. North America region has been estimated as most dominant region in the global duodenoscopes market owing highly developed healthcare infrastructure and high rates of awareness regarding duodenoscopes and its associated infections among physicians. Asia-Pacific & Japan is a lucrative market for global duodenoscopes. Countries in the Asia Pacific regions include, greater China and India together account for largest population pool in the world and thereby have large pool of geriatric population are expected to fuel the growth of duodenoscopes market in the region.Some of the key companies contributing to global duodenoscopes market are Fujifilm Holdings Corporation, KARL STORZ GmbH & Co. KG., Olympus Corporation, PENTAX Medical Company, and Hoya Corporation.Browse Full Report@ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Smart Pulse Oximeters Market Dynamics, Segments and Supply Demand 2016-2026 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1665 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1665 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/smart-pulse-oximeters-market www.futuremarketinsights.com Smart pulse oximeter is one of the fastest growing product type in the vital sign monitoring devices segment. Smart pulse oximeter is a non-invasive medical device used to measure the oxygen saturation level and heart rate in human. Smart pulse oximeter is a clip like device also known as a probe and is placed on body parts such as fingertip or ear lobe to measure the heart rate and oxygen level. It uses infrared light to measure the oxygen level and heart rate. The measurement of oxygen level and heart rate are very important while performing surgeries and injecting the anaesthesia, because the changes in the oxygen level in such a conditions may cause life threatening effects. Smart pulse oximeter also used to check the human health with a conditions such as heart attack, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), anaemia, lung cancer and asthma. However, the readings of smart pulse oximeter may not accurate in peripheral vascular diseases. Smart pulse oximeters products market is segmented into handheld pulse oximeters, finger pulse oximeters, paediatric pulse oximeters and wrist pulse oximeters.. Hand held smart pulse oximeters are useful for pilots to check the oxygen level when they are operating at above 10,000 feet. These devices are also useful to the mountaineers and athletes to check the oxygen level. Paediatric pulse oximeters mainly used in the hospitals and these devices are separately designed to measure the oxygen saturation level and heart rate in the infants.Smart pulse oximeter market has been segmented on the basis of product type, and end userRequest Free Report Sample@Smart Pulse Oximeter Market, by Product TypeFinger Pulse OximeterHandheld Pulse OximeterPaediatric Pulse OximeterWrist Pulse OximeterSmart Pulse Oximeter Market, by End UserHospitalAmbulatory surgical centresHome Care SettingThe use of pulse oximeter in the home care settings has expanded over the last few years and is expected to register a healthy growth rate during the forecast periodOver the past few years, leading players in the vital sign monitoring devices segment are manufacturing devices with new technology such as Bluetooth which displays the readings in the smartphone. Moreover, the availability of cost effective smart pulse oximeters are the factors driving growth of overall smart pulse oximeter market., World Health Organization (WHO) started safety pulse oximetry project to improve the health in middle-income countries also expected to boost the smart pulse oximeter market. Increasing incidence rates of trauma conditions and increasing prevalence of heart related diseases are also expected to drive the smart pulse oximeter market. However, availability of high end devices to measure the heart rate is expected to hamper the overall market.Request For TOC@Depending on geographic region, Smart Pulse Oximeter Market is segmented into five key regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America is estimated to contribute maximum revenue share in the global market of smart pulse oximeter followed by Europe. Asia Pacific regions are expected to grow at a higher growth rate owing to high occurrence of chronic disease. Middle East & Africa is expected to show a healthy growth rate during forecast period.Smart Pulse Oximeters Market: Key PlayersKey players of smart pulse oximeter market are Nonin Medical Inc, Shenzhen Creative Industry Co.,Ltd, iHealth Labs Inc. Indiegogo, Inc., Technocare Medisystems, Contec Medical Systems Co.,Ltd., and MasimoBrowse Full Report@ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Genesis Healing and Energy Cleansing with Eliana Eleftheriou -Internationally acclaimed Master Theta Healer and Master Sacred Activation practitioner scheduled for Dubai - Eliana Eleftheriou http://www.elianaeleftheriou.com/ http://www.elianaeleftheriou.com/ Eliana Eleftheriou, an internationally acclaimed Master Theta Healer, Master Sacred Activation practitioner and teacher, will be in Dubai from 25th July to 1st August 2016, to conduct private sessions. Her extensive experience has allowed her to develop Genesis Healing, a unique method that combines theta healing, Sacred Activations and Energy reset and other techniques. This procedure cleanses energy, chakras and negative emotional debris stored in our subconscious energy system to achieve personal transformation, reset the body to its optimum state and self-enhancement. The techniques that Eliana uses taps into the unconsciousness to release pain, fear, anger and frustration created by our accumulated negative density that we took on from the moment of our creation, inherited or absorbed from our environment. Genesis healing cleanses such blockages to evolve and manifest relationships, health, career and spirituality affecting our physical, emotional and mental blockage."Connecting with our divine consciousness allows us to evolve personally and spiritually. Clearing blockages means we raise our vibrations thus empowering and enabling us to better connect with our intuition and reality in life. Genesis healing is life changing, a powerful system that helps release emotional obstacles, fears, anger, resentment and anything that stops us from moving forward with the life we want to live. Energetic restoration at this level means we can tap deeper into sub consciousness, emotional hindrance and manifest quicker said Eliana Eleftheriou, Master Theta Healer.Eliana Eleftheriou started her spiritual journey at age 6 when she discovered her ability to read psychic energy of other people. Curious about this gift, Elianas quest for knowledge took her to ancient texts of ascended masters and Greek scholars like Aristotel, Plato and Socrates. At aged 11, she was accepted by a Holy Shaolin master as a disciple and spent 2 years studying ancient texts, martial arts and the art of connecting with divine consciousness. Her spiritual journey took her to Peru, working with local healers to enhance her control and understanding of universal energy. At 22, Eliana discovered her connection with angelic realm and realized that her journey needed to continue further to fully understand her lifes purpose.In 2009, Eliana quit her highly successful job a general manager of a hospital, to pursue healing full time. She begins her journey with Theta Healing in 2009 and with Sacred Activation in 2013.Today Eliana is one of the 12 teachers worldwide for Sacred Activations. Since becoming a facilitator Eliana has facilitated over 5700 personal sessions and hundreds of workshops worldwide inspiring people to live a life of abundance, success, free of pain and suffering.For more information or booking for your private or group session please write to eliana.aspelia@cytanet.com.cy or visit websiteAbout: Eliana EleftheriouA Master Theta Healer, Master Sacred Activation practitioner and teacher, Eliana Eleftheriou has travelled the world touching lives of many. Apart from Theta Healing, Eliana has trained in other modalities like Pranic Healing, Bert Hellinger Family Constellation, Shamanic Healing, Be Life, Esoteric Acupuncture, Energy Reset and Sacred Activations. She is one of the 12 teachers for Sacred Activations worldwide. She works with crystals to magnify the power of healing in specific cases. She is connected with spirit and angelic realm and is able to call upon the guides for guidance and protection. She works with highest form of energy, unconditional love and combines different elements of spiritual tools available to bring resolution to issues that block and create obstacles in a persons life.Rahma HimidGrace & GarboP.O.Box 119027;Capital Golden TowerBusiness Bay,Dubai- UAE Warburg Capital Group Announces Expansion into Asia Pacific Region Warburg Capital Group, a leading investment firm, today announced its expansion plans into several key financial APAC financial centers. With this client driven expansion, Warburg Capital Group will be able to meet the huge institution and retail demand for the companys investment products and services.This is an extremely exciting time for Warburg Capital Group and we cannot wait to develop further our client base in the APAC region. said Mark Anderson, Senior VP of International Trading. We already have a strong foundation in the region and an established partnership network in Hong Kong, China and South Korea. We know our research track record and experience is a huge advantage and we ability to deliver exception returns to this growing market. He added Our initial due diligence has been satisfactorily completed and by the last quarter 16 will have decided on the locations and undertaken the necessary regulatory and compliance process. Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Australia are the key financial locations within the APAC region and each is currently being fully evaluated.With partner companies in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul that provide research assistance, consultation and trading services Warburg Capital Group have a solid regional footing and market awareness to expand from. The outlined expansion in APAC is key component in the five year retail and institution development strategy announced earlier this year.Warburg Capital Group is a Washington DC based investment management firm providing investment advisory and wealth management related services. Warburg Capital Group diversifies its investment services through multiple channels to retail and institutional investors in the US and internationally. Warburg Capital Group has grown to become one of the premier financial services companies with a proven strategy of client driven research and investment strategies.Lucy ChenCommunications & Media RelationsWarburg Capital Group1100 13th StreetWashington DC 20005 PVDF is the Future www.dyna-mesh.com In the "SCENIHR Report", the European Commission calls for novel, improved materials for uro-gyneacological mesh implants.PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) is explicitly mentioned as a promising and new synthetic material that is well established in hernia surgery.In April 2016, PVDF was first mentioned in the guideline Diagnosis and Therapy of Genital Descensus in Women of the DGGG (German Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians), OEGGG (Austrian Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians) and the SGGG (Swiss Society of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians).The final version of the European Commission's "SCENIHR Report" on emerging and newly identified health risks in uro-gyneacological surgery was published recently. Among other aspects, it analysed the safety of mesh implants in uro-gyneacological surgery.The report shows the results of an intensive discussion of the previously published proposal of the European Commission that incorporates feedback from general practitioners, scientists and professional associations from all over Europe.A general assessment of risks of a given indication, recommended surgical procedures, level of knowledge required by the surgeon and especially the mesh material used in incontinence and prolapse surgery, was critically surveyed.The report calls for the development of novel techniques and materials for meshes and their introduction (up until recently meshes were mainly manufactured from polypropylene) as well as, in this case, specifically refers to the recommendations of the IUGA (Slack et al.).A statement issued by the IUGA on this report explicitly highlights PVDF for its reduced foreign body reaction, increased elasticity and stability compared to other common materials used in this clinical context. Therefore, the essential requirements of the SCENIHR report are met. Additionally required research on the use of PVDF in uro-gyneacology are in progress, both in international and multicentre clinical studies.The withdrawal of the US company Astora (formerly AMS), as well as the discontinuation of polypropylene mesh production at several other mesh companies, are indications of how problematic the use of this mesh material is in the medium to long term.PVDF not only reduces the foreign body reaction but also exhibits superior long-term stability and durability. Therefore, surgical suture material made from PVDF has been used for particularly delicate applications: cardiac surgery and eye surgery. In hernia surgery, PVDF has also been used successfully for over a decade.For this very reason, FEG Textiltechnik Forschungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (Aachen), decided right from the start to manufacture its implants for hernia, incontinence, and prolapse surgery from PVDF. Its products have been "Made in Germany" and have been sold for more than twelve years under the brand name DynaMesh by FEG Textiltechnik mbH.# # #FEG Textiltechnik Forschungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH is the leading company in research and development of textile human implants made of PVDF (Polyvinylidene fluoride). All products are manufactured exclusively in Aachen, Germany. The implants are distributed worldwide under the brand name DynaMesh.The product range includes specific textile implants and instruments for various applications in the fields of hernia surgery, stoma surgery and pelvic floor surgery.contact:Dr. Boris ObolenskiFEG Textiltechnik Forschungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbHPrager Ring 70, 52070 Aachen, GermanyTel: +49/0241/18923740; Fax: +49/0241/189237458Email: b.obolenski@feg-textiltechnik.deWebsite: Applied Cleaning Solutions Providing the Best Industrial Vacuum Cleaner Variants www.cleaningmachine.com.au Applied Cleaning Solutions is a recognised company that has been supplying high-quality industrial vacuum cleaner equipment for a period of more than 15 years. The company has always understood clients requirements with efficacy. It has successfully developed strong partnerships with its clients.It is well equipped with an extensive pool of knowledge and experience in the deployment of high-pressure vacuum for providing an environment friendly vacuum cleaning solution. In doing so, the company has consistently had the backing of local expertise. It has also been supported by international partners for continuing to invest in product development.The company has successfully supplied commercial vacuum cleaner systems that are proven, reliable, and durable. The cleaners offer the highest productivity with low maintenance necessities. Applied Cleaning Solutions is known to have manufactured an assortment of systems on the industrial front. It has also represented some of the biggest brand names in the world of Industrial Vacuum System Manufacturers. It has offered clients with vacuum cleaning solutions that optimally comprise of Glutton Zero Emission vacuum cleaning for commercial use.Several local government-cleansing departments have purchased industrial grade vacuum systems for their sturdiness and the portability attributes they offer. The cleaning systems also ensure continuous duty. Central vacuum cleaning systems are required in several commercial establishments including the mining, aluminium, brick, cement, coal, and flour and grain plants.Applied Cleaning Solutions has also offered clients with custom-engineered systems specially patterned for specific applications. Its gutter vacuum cleaner inherits special design skills and technical expertise to match exactly what suits the needs of the client. It has high-end features that include the best in class vacuum performance and advanced filtration technologies. The company supplies the best equipment for cleaning single or multi level homes and offices.It has supplied the best equipment to commercial and industrial complexes at affordable rates. Its 1030 and 1530 Gutter Vacuum system is specially equipped for liquid level shut down to protect vacuum producer. The Teflon coated filtration system is easy in functionality and can be washed without difficulty. The equipment is embodied with remote wireless vacuum start-stop system, with inherent Gutter cleaning wands and tools.All the equipment in vacuum cleaning are Australian designed and manufactured with the best built. Clients can adopt them in their day-to-day commercial use without much maintenance and for uninterrupted income potential. The companys vacuum cleaning variants are appropriate for maintenance to satisfy standard tasks as well as heavy industrial vacuum loading.Customers can engage in equipment leasing and financing. Several clients have tailor-made financing options to meet specific financial requirements in 100% leasing their choice of vacuum cleaning equipment. Visitfor additional information.Applied Cleaning Solutions is a recognised supplier of highly graded industrial vacuum cleaner solutions with its operations since 1997. The company has been successful in presenting the best range of Industrial Grade Vacuum Cleaning Equipment to all business sectors. Some include industrial, municipal, and manufacturing sectors.Contact :10-14 Tower Court,Noble Park, Melbourne,Victoria, 3174, AustraliaPhone : 03 97691211Fax : 03 97691211 Carborundum Market 2016 - Global Industry Size, Trends, Growth, Share and Forecast by 2021 Carborundum http://goo.gl/wBKBH6 http://goo.gl/KHx7F1 Global Carborundum Industry 2016The report provides a basic overview of Carborundum industry including definitions, applications and industry chain structure. Global market analysis and Chinese domestic market analysis are provided with a focus on history, developments, trends and competitive landscape of the market. A comparison between the international and Chinese situation is also offered.Global Carborundum Industry Research Report 2016 also focuses on development policies and plans for the industry as well as a consideration of a cost structure analysis. Capacity production, market share analysis, import and export consumption and price cost production value gross margins are discussed.Browse Complete Report With Toc @A key feature of this report is it focus on major industry players, providing an overview, product specification, product capacity, production price and contact information for Global Top15 companies. This enables end users to gain a comprehensive insight into the structure of the international and Chinese Carborundum industry. Development proposals and the feasibility of new investments are also analyzed. Companies and individuals interested in the structure and value of the Carborundum industry should consult this report for guidance and direction.The report begins with a brief overview of the Global Carborundum market and then moves on to evaluate the key trends of the market. The key trends shaping the dynamics of the Global Carborundum market have been scrutinized along with the related current events, which is impacting the market. Drivers, restraints, opportunities, and threats of the Global Carborundum market have been analyzed in the report. Moreover, the key segments and the sub-segments that constitutes the market is also explained in the report.Get Free Sample @Table of ContentsChapter One Carborundum Industry Overview1.1 Carborundum Definition(Product Picture and Specifications)1.2 Carborundum Classification and Application1.3 Carborundum Industry Chain Structure1.4 Carborundum Industry Overview1.5 Carborundum Industry History1.6 Carborundum Industry Competitive Landscape1.7 Carborundum Industry International and China Development ComparisonChapter Two Carborundum Market Data Analysis2.1 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Carborundum Price List2.2 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Carborundum Gross Margin List2.3 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Carborundum Capacity and Market Share List2.4 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Carborundum Production and Market Share List2.5 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Carborundum Production Value and Market Share ListChapter Three Carborundum Technical Data Analysis3.1 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Carborundum Product Quality List3.2 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Carborundum Product Line Capacity and Commercial Production Date3.3 2016 Manufacturing Base(Factory) Global Regional Distribution3.4 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Carborundum R&D Status and Technology Sources3.5 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Carborundum Equipment Investment and Performance3.6 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Carborundum Raw Materials Sources AnalysisChapter Four Carborundum Government Policy and News4.1 Government Related Policy Analysis4.2 Industry News Analysis4.3 Carborundum Industry Development TrendAbout Us:MarketResearchStore.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact US:Joel JohnSuite #8138, 3422 SW 15 Street,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803 Global Anti-money Laundering Software Consumption Market Analysis and Research Report 2016 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=576742 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=576742 http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Anti-money Laundering Software Consumption Industry 2016 Market Research Report" to its huge collection of research reports.The Global Anti-money Laundering Software Consumption 2016 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Anti-money Laundering Software market.First, the report provides a basic overview of the Anti-money Laundering Software industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. And development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Secondly, the report states the global Anti-money Laundering Software market size (volume and value), and the segment markets by regions, types, applications and companies are also discussed.Third, the Anti-money Laundering Software market analysis is provided for major regions including USA, Europe, China and Japan, and other regions can be added. For each region, market size and end users are analyzed as well as segment markets by types, applications and companies.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information. WhatTable of Contents1 Industry Overview of Anti-money Laundering Software1.1 Definition and Specifications of Anti-money Laundering Software1.1.1 Definition of Anti-money Laundering Software1.1.2 Specifications of Anti-money Laundering Software1.2 Classification of Anti-money Laundering Software1.3 Applications of Anti-money Laundering Software1.4 Industry Chain Structure of Anti-money Laundering Software1.5 Industry Overview and Major Regions Status of Anti-money Laundering Software1.5.1 Industry Overview of Anti-money Laundering Software1.5.2 Global Major Regions Status of Anti-money Laundering Software1.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Anti-money Laundering Software1.7 Industry News Analysis of Anti-money Laundering SoftwareMake an Enquiry of this report @2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Anti-money Laundering Software2.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of Anti-money Laundering Software2.2 Equipment Suppliers and Price Analysis of Anti-money Laundering Software2.3 Labor Cost Analysis of Anti-money Laundering Software2.4 Other Costs Analysis of Anti-money Laundering Software2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Anti-money Laundering Software2.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Anti-money Laundering Software3 3 Global Market Size (Volume and Value), Sales and Sale Price Analysis of Anti-money Laundering Software3.1 Global Market Size (Volume and Value) and Growth Rate of Anti-money Laundering Software 2011-20163.2 Global Market Size (Volume and Value) of Anti-money Laundering Software by Regions 2011-20163.3 Global Market Size (Volume and Value) of Anti-money Laundering Software by Types 2011-20163.4 Global Market Size (Volume and Value) of Anti-money Laundering Software by Applications 2011-20163.5 Global Sales Volume and Sales Revenue of Anti-money Laundering Software by Companies 2011-20163.6 Global Sale Price of Anti-money Laundering Software by Regions 2011-20163.7 Global Sale Price of Anti-money Laundering Software by Types 2011-20163.8 Global Sale Price of Anti-money Laundering Software by Applications 2011-20163.9 Global Sale Price of Anti-money Laundering Software by Companies 2011-20164 USA Market Size (Volume and Value), Sales, Sale Price and End Users Analysis of Anti-money Laundering Software4.1 USA Market Size (Volume and Value) and Growth Rate of Anti-money Laundering Software 2011-20164.2 USA Market Size (Volume and Value) of Anti-money Laundering Software by Types 2011-20164.3 USA Market Size (Volume and Value) of Anti-money Laundering Software by Applications 2011-20164.4 USA Sales Volume and Sales Revenue of Anti-money Laundering Software by Companies 2011-20164.5 USA Sale Price of Anti-money Laundering Software by Types 2011-20164.6 USA Sale Price of Anti-money Laundering Software by Applications 2011-20164.7 USA Sale Price of Anti-money Laundering Software by Companies 2011-20164.8 USA Regional Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Anti-money Laundering Software 2011-20164.9 USA End Users with Contact Information and Consumption Volume of Anti-money Laundering Software by ApplicationsAbout 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 @ Market Research Report on Global Pharmacovigilance Industry Analysis and Trend 2015 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=479362 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=479362 http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Pharmacovigilance Industry 2015 Market Research Report" to its huge collection of research reports.The Global Pharmacovigilance Industry 2015 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Pharmacovigilance industry.The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions and classifications. The Pharmacovigilance market analysis is provided for the international markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins.The report focuses on global major leading industry players providing information such as company profiles, product specification, price, cost, revenue and contact information.With 146 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.Table of Contents1 Industry Overview1.1 Basic Information of Pharmacovigilance1.1.1 Definition of Pharmacovigilance1.1.2 Classifications of Pharmacovigilance1.1.3 Applications of Pharmacovigilance1.1.4 Characteristics of Pharmacovigilance1.2 Development Overview of Pharmacovigilance1.3 Enter Barriers Analysis of PharmacovigilanceMake an Enquiry of this report @2 Pharmacovigilance International and China Market Analysis2.1 Pharmacovigilance Industry International Market Analysis2.1.1 Pharmacovigilance International Market Development History2.1.2 Pharmacovigilance Competitive Landscape Analysis2.1.3 Pharmacovigilance International Main Countries Development Status2.1.4 Pharmacovigilance International Market Development Trend2.2 Pharmacovigilance Industry China Market Analysis2.2.1 Pharmacovigilance China Market Development History2.2.2 Pharmacovigilance Competitive Landscape Analysis2.2.3 Pharmacovigilance China Main Regions Development Status2.2.4 Pharmacovigilance China Market Development Trend2.3 Pharmacovigilance International and China Market Comparison Analysis3 Environment Analysis of Pharmacovigilance3.1 International Economy Analysis3.2 China Economy Analysis3.3 Policy Analysis of Pharmacovigilance3.4 News Analysis of Pharmacovigilance4 Analysis of Revenue by Classifications4.1 Global Revenue of Pharmacovigilance by Classifications 2010-20154.2 Global Revenue Growth Rate of Pharmacovigilance by Classifications 2010-20154.3 Pharmacovigilance Revenue by Classifications5 Analysis of Revenue by Regions and Applications5.1 Global Revenue of Pharmacovigilance by Regions 2010-20155.2 2010-2015 USA Revenue and Revenue Growth Rate of Pharmacovigilance5.3 2010-2015 Europe Revenue and Revenue Growth Rate of Pharmacovigilance5.4 2010-2015 Japan Revenue and Revenue Growth Rate of Pharmacovigilance5.5 2010-2015 China Revenue and Revenue Growth Rate of Pharmacovigilance6 Analysis of Pharmacovigilance Revenue Market Status 2010-20156.1 Revenue of Pharmacovigilance 2010-20156.2 Revenue Market Share Analysis of Pharmacovigilance 2010-20156.3 Revenue Overview of Pharmacovigilance 2010-20156.4 Gross Margin of Pharmacovigilance 2010-2015About 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 @ Updated at 1:04 a.m., Wednesday, July 27 A public safety officer at an Oregon college has been accused of killing a 23-year-old Bend woman following his arrest Tuesday in Northern California, where police there say he shot a man, carjacked a family and led officers on a high-speed chase. Edwin Lara Edwin Lara, 31, a part-time officer at Central Oregon Community College, was arrested Tuesday near Redding in the death of Kaylee Sawyer, who was last seen early Sunday in the parking lot of her apartment complex near the Bend college. Bend Police Chief Jim Porter said investigators believe they know where Sawyer's body is and are concentrating their efforts in an area of Deschutes County. The medical examiner will confirm whether the body is hers, Porter said. Lara's wife, Isabel Ponce-Lara, is a Bend police officer, according to media reports. She told Redmond police he was acting strangely Sunday after work and that she questioned him the next morning, according to court records. He started crying, she said, and told her Sawyer walked out in front of him while he was driving in the dark Sunday and that he hit her with the vehicle's front bumper, according to court records. Ponce-Lara said her husband told her he panicked and disposed of Sawyer's body, according to court records. He didn't indicate where he put her body. Lara told his wife some of Sawyer's things were in a shed at the Redmond home they share, records show. Ponce-Lara found a bag with a purse and shoes inside it in the shed. Police found the purse covered in blood in the shed, according to the records. They said the purse was Sawyer's and that it contained her driver's license and passport. Authorities also found blood, grass and a security uniform covered in blood in the trunk of Lara's vehicle -- which he used to leave his home around 11:30 a.m. Monday, his wife told police. Lara took his 9mm Glock pistol when he left home and said things leading his wife to think he might be suicidal, she said told police. Ponce-Lara went to police right away, records show. "Officer Ponce-Lara is not suspected to be involved in the disappearance of Kaylee Sawyer," Bend police said, adding that she "has been cooperative throughout the investigation." Porter said Tuesday that Ponce-Lara was on administrative leave, The Bulletin reported. The leave isn't because of any policy violations, he said. Lara has family in Los Angeles, Ponce-Lara told police, and may have been headed there. He apparently didn't make it that far. Police in Yreka, California, say he shot and critically injured a man at a Super 8 motel, then stole a car with a family still inside. The wounded man called 911 about 5 a.m., police said in a news release. Five minutes later, another man at a gas station called to report his car was stolen with three family members still inside. At 5:41 a.m., three family members were dropped off unharmed on Interstate 5. Later that morning, California Highway Patrol found the family's car and arrested Lara north of Redding, police said. The man in the motel shooting is in critical but stable condition, police said early Tuesday evening. Lara was arrested with Aundrea Elizabeth Maes, a 19-year-old from Salem, who also was taken into custody. Police said Tuesday they were processing the paperwork for her release because "it is evident" that she is a victim. Her status Tuesday night -- and how she and Lara are connected -- was unclear. Sawyer was a dental assistant at Awbrey Dental Group, according to her Facebook profile. A vigil in her honor was set to be held Tuesday night at Bend's Discovery Park, said Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel. Lara has worked for Central Oregon Community College since December 2014, said spokesman Ron Paradis. The community college primarily serves residents of Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson counties, as well as parts of Wasco, Klamath and Lake counties. In 2014-15, it served more than 16,700 students; 10,070 credit and 8,353 non credit, according to the school's website. Lara faces charges including attempted murder, kidnapping, carjacking and burglary in California, police said. -- Francesca Fontana and Jim Ryan ffontana@oregonian.com; jryan@oregonian.com The Associated Press contributed to this report The cab driver who picked up Dwight Holton and his family at the Philadelphia airport asked if they were delegates on their way to the Democratic National Convention. Not quite, the former Oregon U.S. attorney replied. Yes, they were heading to the convention -- but as special guests of vice presidential pick Tim Kaine. Holton's older sister, Anne Holton, is Kaine's wife. "The cab driver demanded we take a picture with him, and he called his wife to tell him he was driving Tim Kaine's in-laws," Holton said. "We're basking in unearned reflected glory - we're just lucky to be related to Tim." Kaine is now a major political figure after Hillary Clinton's announcement last week that the former Virginia governor and current senator would join the race against Republican Donald Trump as her running mate. Kaine is set to address the nation Wednesday night. But to Holton, Kaine's the guy who's loved his sister for more than 32 years. He's served as an inspiration throughout Holton's legal career, and was one of Holton's most high-profile backers during his failed bid for Oregon attorney general in 2012. And to Holton's kids, ages 9 and 12, he's the "fun uncle," Holton said. The family has had a good laugh, he said, at the media reports calling Kaine "boring." "My daughter and son think of him as the guy who throws them around the pool on family vacations," he said, "the guy who will break out the harmonica and lead us in family sing-alongs. ... He's anything but boring." Among Bernie Sanders supporters, the concern with Kaine isn't that he's boring, but rather that his stances on trade and Wall Street aren't progressive enough. U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, was also tossed around as a potential vice president. Merkley was the only senator to endorse Sanders, though he has since come to support Clinton. "Tim Kaine is enormously capable ... very powerful intellect and very easy to work with," Merkley told the Associated Press. "But there are issues that we would love to have him be in a different place on." Questions about his progressive values are unfounded, Holton said, citing Kaine's years fighting against the gun lobby, housing discrimination and tobacco companies. "The progressives who know Tim best love him," he said. "Our neighbors in Oregon are going to love Tim. Never before has there been a nominee in the VP slot with Tim's track record of advancing progressive causes in a very challenging environment like Virginia." Kaine's values align with Oregon's, Holton said. And after several trips to visit family, Holton said Kaine "knows Oregon unlike any candidate in modern times." He's hiked Mount Hood, leaped into Punch Bowl Falls and slurped down chowder at Mo's, Holton recalled. "Our core progressive values in Oregon run through Tim's veins," Holton said. Holton, who serves as CEO of the suicide-awareness nonprofit Lines for Life, knew politics even before his statewide run in 2012. His father, a Republican, served as Virginia's governor from 1970 to 1974. Both Holton and his wife held jobs in President Bill Clinton's White House. The convention has brought some memories back. To get to their hotel room, Holton and his wife had to clear a Secret Service checkpoint. On Wednesday, Holton said he hopes millions of Americans see his brother-in-law as a "reminder of what politics can be and hopefully will be again." "We've teased him that, no pressure, but this is the most important election of our lifetime," Holton said, "so go win." - Talia Richman @TaliRichman Democratic National Convention: Day One Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) delivers remarks on the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 25, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Philadelphia, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Democratic National Convention kicked off July 25. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, the only sitting senator to endorse Bernie Sanders during the primary campaign, called for the Democratic party to come together behind Hillary Clinton as he panned Republican candidate Donald Trump in remarks at the Democratic National Convention. Merkley spoke after a somewhat tumultuous start to the Democrats' gathering in Philadelphia Monday with multiple speakers being booed after mentioning Clinton in the wake of an email scandal that showed the Democratic National Committee had conspired against Sanders. Merkley gave a prominent nod to Sanders as he preached politics of unity to a group of delegates that had seemed anything but unified for most of the day. "We owe an enormous debt to Bernie Sanders. Bernie provided leadership on progressive issues and galvanized a grassroots movement that is here tonight and will last long past November," Merkley said. "The platform that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders forged is the most progressive in party history." Merkley hit many of the expected Democratic talking points -- he called for increased investment in renewable energy, for the Supreme Court to overturn Citizens United, increased rights for the LGBTQ community and an end to mass incarceration for communities of color -- but he also took a fair amount of time to point out the faults of Clinton's rival and his treatment workers. "Where I come from, people like Donald Trump aren't part of the solution," Merkley said. "They are the problem. He's no more a champion of worker's rights than a lion is a champion of the gazelle." Still, Merkley ended on a positive note, calling for the somewhat fractious party to unite around those at the top of the ticket. "Together we must fight for a government of, by and for the people. Not for the powerful, not for the privileged and that's what we're going to do when we elect Hillary and Tim Kaine in November," Merkley said. "We must do this together." -- Kale Williams kwilliams@oregonian.com 503-294-4048 Outdoor school Sandy River An outdoor school student collects water insects at Camp Collins, on the Sandy River. (Ross William Hamilton/The Oregonian) A proposal to permanently fund statewide outdoor education is the latest measure to qualify for the November ballot. Supporters turned in 93,102 valid signatures, more than the 88,184 signatures required to get the proposal currently known as Initiative Petition 67 on the ballot, according to the Secretary of State's office. The Elections Division finished verifying signatures for the measure Friday. In a press release Monday, backers of the measure described outdoor school as "a 50-year Oregon tradition of hands on field study" and said the ballot measure would give voters "a chance to create a legacy for Oregon that has direct and immediate benefits for all children statewide, helps support Oregon's natural resources and outdoor way of life, and contributes strongly to the region's economy." "We're just excited, and it's time now to rock the vote," said campaign communications manager Darcie Meihoff. The campaign's political action committee, Save Outdoor School for All, has so far raised nearly $737,000 in cash and $119,000 worth of in-kind contributions, according to state campaign finance disclosures. The largest contributors are the Gray Family Foundation, which promotes environmental literacy and gave $200,000, and the Outdoor School for All political action committee which contributed $93,000. The Legislature already created a new fund in 2015 to pay for weeklong outdoor school for every fifth or sixth grader in the state. However, lawmakers did not put any money into the fund. The outdoor school measure would send up to $22 million annually in state lottery money to the new outdoor school fund, according to a draft financial impact statement. The measure is the third to qualify for the November ballot, after the corporate tax measure Initiative Petition 28 and a proposal to spend more money to improve high school graduation rates, known as Initiative Petition 65. Only one initiative -- a proposal to ban the sale or purchase of certain wild animal parts and products, currently known as Initiative Petition 68 -- is still undergoing signature verification, according to Molly Woon, a spokeswoman for the Secretary of State's office. The Secretary of State's Office will assign official measure numbers to the ballot initiatives by Aug. 5. -- Hillary Borrud 503-294-4034; @hborrud Shuffle through the past 14 years of jail mugshots taken of 32-year-old Matthew Medlin, and it's clear he's struggled with drug use and homelessness. Mugshots of the fresh-faced 18-year-old starkly contrast with the Medlin of more recent years -- tattoos gracing his eyebrows and cheek. Wounds mar his face, either bandaged or not. Medlin is almost unrecognizable from his former self -- a transformation so eye-opening that his jail photos have been featured in publications ranging from The Daily News in New York City to The Daily Mail in the United Kingdom. The last mugshot taken of him may have marked a new low for Medlin: His eyelids droop, a large burn cuts across his right cheek and his hair flares out wildly. Earlier on that Jan. 30 day, Medlin had held Portland police at bay for five hours as he holed himself up in a railcar in Northwest Portland's industrial district, armed himself with shards of metal and, at one point, even injected himself with meth. On Monday, a Multnomah County Circuit judge could have sent Medlin to prison for 2 1/2 years for that latest spree. But instead, Judge Stephen Bushong approved a deal hammered out between the defense and the prosecution, in an effort to get at the root of Medlin's problems. Bushong sentenced Medlin to 60 days in jail, three years of probation and 120 days in a relatively new intensive probation program that aims to connect him with any needed drug and mental-health treatment and find him a stable place to live. He also could be considered for participation in Mental Health Court, in which he'd have to regularly check in with a judge and go to mental health counseling. Medlin has been booked into Portland-area jails 28 times, convicted in 10 separate cases and served four stints in prison. Although one of his convictions is for first-degree attempted sexual abuse when he was 19, the details of that crime weren't accessible. Most of Medlin's convictions have been for property crimes, such as theft and burglary. In 2014, Medlin made headlines for scaling a prison fence at Columbia River Correctional Institution before getting caught at a North Portland Jack in the Box restaurant hours later. Defense attorney Jon Martz told the judge that Medlin might have schizophrenia. Court records show Medlin had been offered drug treatment before, but Martz said Medlin was homeless and with all the chaos that comes with that, drug treatment didn't take. Prosecutor Mike Botthof said his office took Medlin's long and mostly property-crime-related history into consideration in agreeing to allow Medlin to avoid prison and get intensive treatment. During Medlin's latest encounter with the criminal justice system, Medlin was caught inexplicably letting the air out of the compression brake system for railcars on Union Pacific tracks in the 3500 block of Northwest Yeon Avenue. By the time police arrived, Medlin had jumped into a railcar of scrap metal -- his defense attorney later said -- "looking for signs of life." For hours, Portland police officer Bradley Nutting tried to talk Medlin out of the railcar -- offering him food, water and a blanket. "I have to give the cops a lot of credit," said Martz, the defense attorney. "They could have gone in there with Tasers blazing, but they didn't. ...They were very patient." Officers eventually tried to use police K9s and pepper spray to subdue Medlin, but neither worked. After about five hours, police finally resorted to Tasering Medlin so they could take him into custody. Last month, Medlin pleaded guilty to felony first-degree criminal mischief. On Monday, he declined to make any statements to the judge. But his defense attorney said he's noticed a "huge change" while Medlin's been sober and in jail. "I think he's struggled his adult life with mental illness, substance abuse and homelessness. And now we got a chance to address all three of those issues in one shot. If we can do this I think we're all going to be better off." -- Aimee Green 503-294-5119 A 37-year-old man pleaded not guilty Monday to an allegation of pointing a laser at a Portland police aircraft over the weekend. David Martinez is facing a misdemeanor charge of unlawful directing of light from a laser pointer, records show. He was booked early Sunday morning into Multnomah County's Inverness Jail. The laser strike was one of two on the police aircraft Saturday night, Sgt. Pete Simpson, a Portland police spokesman, said in a news release. He said a 7-year-old child pointed the second laser and that officers told the child's mother about the perils of pointing a laser at an aircraft. Doing so, he said, is unlawful and presents "a serious safety concern for pilots." The first strike was from around Southeast 162nd Avenue and Stark Street around 9:50 p.m., and the second came from around Southeast 84th Avenue and Stark Street. Police were flying patrol support at the time. Martinez was also held in the jail on a parole violation, Simpson said. Gresham police seized a laser pointer from him. Martinez also pleaded not guilty last month to heroin delivery and possession of heroin and methamphetamine charges, court records show. That case remains open. His criminal record includes felony unauthorized use of a vehicle and first-degree failure to appear convictions, court records show. -- Jim Ryan jryan@oregonian.com 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 lightbar Jordan Douglas Hibler was hit and killed by a freight train near Northeast 82nd Avenue and Halsey Street in Portland on July 23, 2016, police said. (The Oregonian/OregonLive/file photo) Jordan Douglas Hibler is shown in a 2010 photo. Police have publicly identified the person hit and killed by a freight train Saturday in Northeast Portland as a 27-year-old man. The train hit Jordan Douglas Hibler while he was lying between the train tracks near 82nd Avenue and Halsey Street, Portland police said in a news release. They don't know why he was lying there. Police said the medical examiner determined Hibler's official cause of death was an accident. He was hit around 2:40 p.m. and died at the scene. -- Jim Ryan jryan@oregonian.com 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 On Monday the Democratic National Committee issued an apology to "Senator Sanders, his supporters, and the entire Democratic Party for the inexcusable remarks made over email." The DNC has come under fire after a massive email leak that revealed the Democratic party favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary. That leak resulted in the resignation of Democratic Party chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. "These comments do not reflect the values of the DNC or our steadfast commitment to neutrality during the nominating process," reads the statement, posted on Twitter by BuzzFeed's Andrew Kaczynski. "The DNC does not--and will not--tolerate disrespectful language exhibited toward our candidates." The Democratic National Convention began Monday with calls for unity, even as delegates booed the new chair of the Convention, Rep. Marcia Fudge. The committee echoed those sentiments, ending their statement by saying, "Our focus is on electing Hillary Clinton, Tim Kaine and Democrats across the country, thanks to Democratic Party that is strong, unified, and poised for victory in November." You can read the full statement here: -- Lizzy Acker 503-221-8052 lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker APTOPIX France Hostage Taking In this grab made from video, emergency services workers transport a person into a waiting ambulance in Normandy, France, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Two attackers seized hostages in a church near the Normandy city of Rouen on Tuesday, killing one hostage, a priest, by slitting his throat before being killed by police, a security official said. The identities of the attackers and motive for the attack are unclear, according to the official, who was not authorized to be publicly named. (BFM via AP) SAINTE-ETIENNE-DU-ROUVRAY, France -- Two attackers took hostages inside a French church during morning Mass on Tuesday near the city of Rouen, killing an 86-year-old priest by slitting his throat, before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. Another person inside the church in Normandy was seriously injured and is hovering between life and death, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. Police managed to rescue the only three other people inside the church in the small northwestern town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, he told reporters. A regional Muslim leader said one of the two attackers -- who were killed outside the church -- was known to police. It was the first known attack inside a French church in recent times. A church was targeted last year, but the attack never was carried out. A statement published by the Islamic State-affiliated Amaq news agency said the attack was carried out by "two soldiers of the Islamic State" who acted in response to calls to target nations in the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria. The RAID special intervention force was searching for possible explosives in or around the church. "The investigations are ongoing. There are still unknowns," Brandet said. "There are dogs, explosive detectors and bomb disposal services and as long as there are still unknowns, the judicial police cannot get inside the site. It's a dramatic situation." Dominique Lebrun, the archbishop of Rouen, confirmed the death of 86-year-old Rev. Jacques Hamel. "I cry out to God, with all men of good will. And I invite all non-believers to unite with this cry," Lebrun wrote in a statement from Krakow, Poland, where Pope Francis was expected. "The Catholic Church has no other arms besides prayer and fraternity between men." French President Francois Hollande, arriving on the scene, called it a "vile terrorist attack" and said it's one more sign that France is at war with the Islamic State, which has claimed a string of attacks on France. "We must lead this war with all our means," he said, adding that he was calling a meeting Wednesday of representatives of all religions. He expressed solidarity with local Catholics, saying "they have been terribly hit by the killing of the parish priest by two terrorists claiming to belong to Daesh. I have met with the family of the priest." A police official said one of the attackers was turned back after trying to go to Syria. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal details of the investigation, said the man wore an electronic bracelet to monitor his movements. Mohammed Karabila, head of the Regional Council of the Muslim Faith for Haute-Normandie, said French security services knew the name of one of the attackers. "The person who committed this odious act is known and he has been followed by the police for at least 1 1/2 years. He went to Turkey and security services were alerted after this," he told The Associated Press by phone. He refused to divulge man's name and had no information on the second attacker. The pope condemned the attack in the strongest terms. A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said in a statement the attack hits particularly hard "because this horrific violence took place in a church, a sacred place in which the love of God is announced, and the barbaric murder of a priest." France is on high alert and under a state of emergency after an attack in the southern city of Nice on Bastille Day -- July 14 -- that killed 84 people that was claimed by the Islamic State group, as well as a series of attacks last year that killed 147 others around Paris. Islamic State extremists have urged followers to attack French churches, and the group is believed to have planned at least one church attack earlier. In April 2015, an Algerian student who was arrested after shooting himself in the leg was found with heavy weapons, bulletproof vests and documents linked to Islamic State. He is charged with killing a young woman inside her car the same day. According to French authorities, the suspect, Sid Ahmed Ghlam, was sent by the Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud to attack a church in Villejuif, just outside of Paris. A cell directed by Abaaoud later carried out the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead and the March 22 attacks in Brussels that killed 32 people. -- The Associated Press A job portal launched July 11 to help workers impacted by layoffs from The Dow Chemical Co. and Dow Corning, Corp. has had very strong participation, according to a company press release. Dow announced June 28 that it would be cutting 4 percent of its global workforce, with 700 of those jobs coming from the Great Lakes Bay Region. This follows the companys acquisition of Dow Corning, and as Dow prepares for an impending merger with DuPont Co. Dow also said it would be closing silicones manufacturing facilities in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Yamakita, Japan. According to the press release, the customized job portal is an opportunity for employers to post jobs and for workers to search for open roles around the state and the region. Dow and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation collaborated with local economic development corporations, including Midland Tomorrow, Saginaw Future and Bay Future, to create the job portal. The press release said more than 145 Michigan employers have posted 450 open jobs in the portal, with the State of Michigan accounting for close to 300 of these jobs. Rich Wells, vice president for Dows Michigan Operations, said the company is pleased with the response it has seen so far. It is a true testament to the strength of our business community, and the commitment shown by the State of Michigan, to retain these highly skilled talents here in the Great Lakes Bay Region and across the state, Wells said in the press release. Use of the job portal is free for both workers and potential employers, and Midland Tomorrow is administering the website. This is the first time we have created such a customized portal, and it shows the power of the state, the local economic development corporations and the company coming together to help affected employees while strengthening our workforce and talent retention efforts throughout the State of Michigan, stated Michigan Economic Development Corporation CEO Steve Arwood in the press release. Another opportunity for affected workers is a virtual job fair planned for Wednesday, Aug. 10, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sponsored by Pure Michigan Talent Connect, the virtual job fair will bring employers and employees together to connect talent. A similar event earlier this year involved more than 20 state employers and over 200 job openings. More information can be found at www.mitalent.org/virtualcareerfair For those wanting face-to-face contact with potential employers, Saginaw Valley State University will host a Great Lakes Bay Region Entrepreneurship Fair on Sept. 16. It will be hosted by the Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance and The Dow Entrepreneurship Institute at SVSU, with small business start-up experts on hand to talk about funding and planning sources for starting a small business. Employers who want to know more and get involved with the online job portal can contact Tracy Gallagher with Midland Tomorrow at gallagher@midlandtomorrow.org or the MEDC talent team at talentassist@michigan.org Following the tradition of medieval times, everyone is welcome to view the updated Shroud of Turin exhibit, only this time it is a replica and being seen as never before. The display, at the Sacred Heart Activities Center, 300 N. Silverleaf, in Gladwin, made its debut Monday. The exhibit previously was on display as a 14-foot Kodak image of the original Shroud. The image is now on a 14-foot piece of fabric and Sacred Heart viewers got the first tour date. The Shroud of Turin is believed to be Jesus burial cloth. Yet, it remains controversial. It was a matter of luck, said Sacred Heart Mission Board Chair Joel Vernier, about being the first stop to view the new exhibit. Vernier said Father Marcel Portelli and the Sacred Heart parish community were instrumental in making the visit a reality. Vernier saw the Kodak exhibit last year in Clare and was so deeply moved that he wanted to bring it to Gladwin County. It is on loan from the Center for the Study of the Passion of Christ and the Holy Shroud and Conventual Franciscan Friars of Marytown. In addition to the Shroud, the display accompanies 64 scientific displays and a cross with a replica of Jesus corpse, created using forensic information. It looks very real, Vernier said. After hearing about the Shroud of Turin years ago, Anne Wolford, of Farwell, was excited an exhibit would be within driving distance. She was one of the more than 125 who viewed the display Monday. There were 33 in the first hour. It was spiritually moving, Wolford said. Vernier said, It is one of those things after hearing about it, you want to see it. There is an optional 40-minute video on the history and scientific findings about the Shroud. Vernier said with the video, the exhibit takes about an hour and a half to go through. There are some benefits of the updated exhibit. The new exhibit is easier to transport and offers a more realistic view, Vernier said. The other was extremely heavy. From Gladwin, the exhibit will return to Illinois and then head to Georgia, Texas and is booked for the remainder of the year in other states. The exhibit is on display from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free. The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department. Sunday, July 24 3:04 a.m. Police were called to an assault at Whiffletree Lane and East Wackerly Street. 7:39 a.m. Police investigated a hit and run traffic accident at West Wackerly Street and Sturgeon Creek Parkway. 12:42 p.m. A Jerome Township man, 27, reported his neighbor, age 78, caught his cat in a live trap. The neighbor has set out the trap to catch critters, not cats. The cat was freed and the man was asked to keep his cat on his own property. 2:11 p.m. The glass was smashed out of the top of a patio table at a Lincoln Township home. 8:44 p.m. A deputy was sent to Homer Township for a report of driver who might have been drunk. The vehicle was stopped in Jerome Township; the driver was not drunk but had been trying to eat a snack. 9:34 p.m. A Homer Township woman, 25, reported an incident of fraud involving a charge of $70.50 made to her credit card. 9:49 p.m. Deputies were sent to a Homer Township address for a report of a domestic assault and damaged property. A report is being sent to the prosecutor. 10:21 p.m. Police made an arrest for marijuana and amphetamine possession at East Lyon Road and Lincoln Street. Saturday, July 23 10:30 a.m. A cell phone was reported stolen from a Lincoln Township church. 11:03 a.m. A deputy was sent to a Midland Township home for a report of fraud involving contact from a foreign computer company offering to remove computer viruses for a $177 payment by credit card. 12:51 p.m. Deputies were sent to a Coleman home for a report of a domestic assault. A report is being sent to the prosecutor. 1:28 p.m. A Warren Township couple reported receiving phone calls from Texas in which a caller claiming to be from the government stated $6,000 was owed. The call is a scam. No personal information was given out. 7:14 p.m. A Homer Township man, 58, reported his neighbor, age 21, was shooting guns and there was a loud explosion. The younger man said he had purchased exploding targets and he would be more cautious in the future. 9:29 p.m. A Gaines man, 21, was assaulted in Edenville Township by two suspects who fled the area. The victim was hurt but his injuries did not require medical attention. 11:31 p.m. A Lee Township man, 34, was arrested on multiple warrants at an Edenville Township home while a deputy was at the home on another matter. Friday, July 22 4:55 a.m. A 58-year-old man was arrested in Lee Township for drunken driving. The man had driven away from a home where he was arguing with his ex-wife. 10:51 a.m. Air was let out of all four of a vehicles tires while it was parked at a Lee Township church. 11:57 a.m. A deputy was sent to Lee Township for a report of a personal protection order violation, and found no violation occurred. 7:55 p.m. A deputy was sent to a Greendale Township home for a report of a fight involving two women, ages 30 and 40. There were no injuries. A trespassing notice was issued to the 40-year-old. In the chaos of battle, few things bring comfort to American and allied forces like the sound of a circling close air support aircraft. Service members breathe a sigh of relief as hardened structures and enemy strongpoints disappear in a cloud of dirt and smoke, granting freedom of movement to ground troops in the most desperate of situations. Every second of enemy suppression amplifies the sinking feeling of isolation; a feeling broken by a single radio transmission, "Callsign flight, checking on station." Though these aircraft arrive with a distinct sound, the force multipliers responsible for bringing their affects to bear do not. They are the "Quiet Professionals" of Air Force Special Operations Command, the combat controllers. Professionals at calling in air support in hostile, complex environments, combat controllers with the 353rd Special Operations Group and Force Reconnaissance Marines with the III Marine Expeditionary Force were able to showcase their joint terminal attack control skills and enhance partnerships during RIMPAC 2016. It is the job of these controllers to use the weapons of the sky to shape the battlefield. They are liaisons capable of changing the tide of a battle, only to slip back into the shadows of secrecy from where they came. "The close integration of air power and ground forces has the potential to quickly turn the battlespace into a deadly three-dimensional environment and is a critical component to any major operation," said Capt. John Rulien, mission commander for the 353rd SOG participation in RIMPAC. "To be able to share our expertise in the field with our joint partners is an opportunity worth investing in." Over a series of training events, combat controllers synched up with their Force Reconnaissance partners to pursue advanced JTAC qualifications. Instructors pushed controllers through progressive scenarios with increasing levels of complexity to ensure each combat controller and joint terminal air controller is prepared to meet the demands of the ever-changing battlefield. Knowing from experience the humbling responsibility of being charged with survivability of a team of special operators, combat controllers demand the utmost efficiency and accuracy throughout each training iteration. The role of a JTAC is a life or death responsibility. Observing the training battlefield, the combat controllers and JTACs relayed target locations to the air support with a nine-line report. Once each target was hit, they relayed a battle damage assessment, which assists in collecting information about the enemy's capabilities in the aftermath of a conflict. For Force Reconnaissance Marines with III MEF, JTAC qualifications are not a primary mission set for a unit which specializes in deep area reconnaissance. However, according to U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Joshua Winters, platoon commander of 2nd Platoon, Force Reconnaissance Company, III MEF, the opportunity to partner with combat controllers for both integrated CAS training and reconnaissance missions helps develop skills and perspectives they can only obtain from working with the subject matter experts in the field. "With the information they offer, we can not only hone our own skills as JTACs, but also benefit from direct access to a unit we may support in the future, giving us a better understanding of their reconnaissance needs," Winters said. "Ultimately, this makes us a more effective force and captures the versatility of the conventional and special operations force relationship we are trying to showcase here at RIMPAC." Twenty-six nations, more than 40 ships and submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The world's largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain he cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's oceans. RIMPAC 2016 is the 25th exercise in the series that began in 1971. NORMAL A Busey bank executive painted an upbeat picture for the McLean County economy, despite an increased unemployment rate from a year ago. Ed Scharlau, vice chairman of Busey Bank, presented the 18th annual Economic Outlook for McLean County on Tuesday morning at Illinois Wesleyan University. Overall, people should feel pretty good about the bright and strong future of McLean County, Scharlau told the gathering of about 150 in the Hansen Student Center. McLean County remains a very strong economic engine to help continue moving this area forward, said Scharlau. Figures presented at the meeting showed McLean County's unemployment rate was 5.2 percent in May, compared to 4.4 percent the year before. But Scharlau noted that McLean County was not alone in posting higher jobless figures. Of 102 counties in Illinois, 89 had jobless rates in May that were the same or higher to the year before, said Scharlau. And, he pointed out, McLean's figures were better than the statewide average of 5.6 percent and rates of 6.3 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively, in Tazewell and Peoria counties. After the presentation, Scharlau said it will take a while for Central Illinois to recover from the closing of the Mitsubishi Motors North America auto assembly plant. However, the fact that many of those employees lived outside of McLean County, and that cushioned the blow. Tempering the bad news on the unemployment front are projected increases in retail sales, new home construction and average home prices in 2016. Scharlau said retail sales for 2016 are projected to climb to $2.51 billion, the highest since 2012 and 2 percent over last year's $2.46 billion. The average home price in McLean County is projected to climb to $174,000 in 2016, compared to $171,000 in 2015, he reported. The final figure might wind up better than the projection, said Scharlau, pointing to the year-to-date average of $175,000. In 1999, when Busey Bank started the McLean County economic seminar, the average home price was $130,000, according to Scharlau. You have a relatively healthy housing market here in McLean County, he said. Pointing to how McLean County hopes to improve its economic picture, Kyle Ham, CEO of the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council, gave an update on the BN Advantage initiative. More than 200 volunteers are involved in the project to bring together various sectors of the McLean County to promote collaboration rather than competition among communities, he said. Ultimately, innovation is what drives job growth, said Ham, citing the need for a common vision and shared goals. He said the initiative is targeting five areas for economic growth: business services, information and communication technology, entrepreneurship, agribusiness and transportation logistics. We're focused on what we know we can achieve, he said. BLOOMINGTON Bloomington resident Susan Rush has an older home on Bloomingtons south side and, given an opportunity, she likes to compare it to similar housing. On Sunday, she toured one of Bloomingtons most famous Victorian homes, the former residence of Supreme Court Justice David Davis. This is nothing compared to mine, she said. This house is so amazing and beautiful. Rush was on one of two special mansion tours, where site superintendent Jeff Saulsbery explained the behind-the-scenes mechanical workings of what once was the most up-to-date home in Bloomington. "Sarah Davis described her new house as 'comfortable and convenient,' said Saulsbery, referring to Davis wife. With its central heating, gas lighting, indoor bathrooms, hot and cold running water, and mechanical call-bell system, the mansion boasted the latest in home improvements. The three-story, 36-room mansion was completed in 1872 and combines Italianate and Second Empire architectural features. At the time, it was one of the first modern homes in Central Illinois. Everything was top of the line, Saulsbery said. They didnt settle for anything less than the best. During the tour, Saulsbery explained how the plumbing system, a maze of lead pipes, delivered hot and cold running water to a shower and bathtubs. Davis had flush toilets installed that are still in place, but not used by the public. Among the highlights of the tour was a look at the original two-man pump that rests in the basement over a well. Two men would work it, Saulsbery said, to pump water to a storage tank in the attic to supply the running water. Hot water for showers and baths came from letting gravity and steam pressure circulate the water through a coil in the kitchen. The mansion has eight fireplaces, but it was heated by a central heating system that used coal to heat water in a low-pressure steam system that circulated warmth to the family quarters through wooden conduits. The light fixtures were once powered by natural gas, and the Davis home was one of the first in the area to have such a system. This is all fascinating, said Victoria Krause of Bloomington, who was celebrating a birthday by touring the house. Its such a beautiful house which is one thing, but then to remember that they lived a totally different way is very interesting to see and take note of. Susan Rushs father, Bill, of Tinley Park, said the trip from the south suburbs of Chicago, was worth it, to tour the mansion while visiting his daughter. I love old houses and you cant find many like this, he said. This tour is different, too, because you dont always get to spend as much time looking through parts of the house that arent normally seen. This was the second time the mechanical tour had been offered, but due to its popularity, Saulsbery said similar tours would likely be scheduled in the future. Regular tours are free and available between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Each tour lasts about 45 minutes. Reservations are required for groups of 10 or more. BLOOMINGTON A cry for help prompted a McLean County deputy to open a storage tub in a rented moving truck Friday, finding two sweaty children as the vehicle traveled on Interstate 55 north of Bloomington. Samuel Watson, 44, of Michigan, and his sister, Lapiera Watson, 54, of Tennessee, were arrested on initial charges of child endangerment. Lapiera Watson is the mother of a 5-year-old girl and grandmother of the 2-year-old boy. She and her adult daughter were in the back of the truck driven by Samuel Watson, according to police reports. Assistant State's Attorney Jacob Harlow clarified the relationships between the children and the suspects on Wednesday, adding that the investigation is ongoing. The children have been taken into custody by the Department of Children and Family Services. Authorities said the children did not require medical treatment. Harlow said the matter is under review for formal charges. Both suspects posted $185 to be released on the misdemeanor charges. Sheriff Jon Sandage said Deputy Jon Albee stopped the southbound truck near Towanda for following too closely and improper lane usage. Samuel Watson agreed to allow the officer and his police dog to search the truck, said the sheriff. "During the search, the officer heard 'Help me' from inside a plastic tub that contained a small fan," said Sandage. The children were "very sweaty" but uninjured, said the sheriff. Officers "were very concerned, given the heat that day," he said. Lapiera Watson told officers the children were put inside the box "to hide them from police" but offered no explanation for her action, said Sandage. The cargo area included a bed, dresser and small refrigerator, according to police reports. Statements from the Watsons indicate the children may have been placed in the tub after Albee stopped the truck. The Penske truck was rented on July 6 in Michigan and was due to be returned July 7. The sheriff said the firm was getting ready to report the vehicle as stolen. SPRINGFIELD Marijuana possession in small amounts in Illinois will be punishable by fines, but not jail time, after Gov. Bruce Rauner signed legislation that makes the state the third largest to decriminalize minor pot offenses. The new law, which takes effect immediately, makes having 10 grams or less of marijuana a civil offense, punishable by a fine of up to $200. The Republican governor was expected to sign the bill because it included language he requested after vetoing similar legislation last year. In his message to lawmakers at the time, Rauner said that existing penalties for petty marijuana offenses were too severe and that "criminal prosecution of cannabis possession is also a drain on public resources." The new law, signed Friday, also sets a standard for what's considered too impaired to drive. Currently, any trace of marijuana is enough to be considered impaired, but marijuana advocates have long criticized zero-tolerance states' approach because marijuana can stay in a person's system for several weeks. The new law makes the standard 5 nanograms of THC, marijuana's intoxicating chemical, in a driver's blood within two hours of consumption. With Rauner's signature, Illinois joins 16 other states, including New York and California, that have decriminalized marijuana possession in small amounts. The governor's office said Rauner did not have a statement on the bill signing. Police chiefs and sheriffs have expressed reservations about changing the law and worked with Rauner for weeks to prepare for its implementation. One police chief said he's concerned more people will have access to marijuana because of the change. "You're giving individuals more opportunities for drug usage," said Laimutis Nargelenas, a former lobbyist for the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and the current police chief for the Springfield Park District. He said authorities are working on developing paperwork for traffic infractions to track how many people are driving high across the state because of the change. The sponsors of the bill praised Rauner's action, saying the state should focus on punishing and treating people for more serious drugs. "Fundamentally, this is about how we utilize our limited law enforcement resources," said Rep. Kelly Cassidy, a Chicago Democrat. About 100 Illinois communities, including Chicago, already give police discretion to issue citations instead of making arrests for having small amounts of the drug. Lawmakers said they were concerned that minorities were being treated differently by police when handling marijuana offenses. "We're treating people really differently across the state, and we should be really getting out of that," said Chicago Democratic Sen. Heather Steans, another bill sponsor. The law also would require municipalities to purge citation records for possession every six months, unless local governments decide against it. Supporters argue people shouldn't be saddled with lifelong criminal records for minor offenses that make it difficult to find employment or housing. EL PASO It was about a week ago when someone from Gov. Bruce Rauners office called El Paso farmer Dale Schlipf, asking for a favor. They asked if we would mind hosting a visit by the governor and we immediately agreed, Schlipf said. We support him and he has been a big supporter of agriculture so we are glad to do it. The Schlipf family farms, known as Tree Lane Farms, about three miles west of El Paso along U.S. 24, was one of four stops the governor made Tuesday as he attempted to gather support on a constitutional amendment for term limits in the fall veto session. Rauner encouraged a crowd of about 100 people to contact lawmakers and demand they push forward for reform on term limits and fair maps that would give the people of Illinois more control over what he called a broken political system. The only way to overcome entrenched political power is for the people of Illinois to never give up, to keep pushing forward for reform, he said. Term limits is an issue I believe in deeply and is supported by 80 percent of the people I talk with. Thats why Im calling on the General Assembly to vote on a term limits constitutional amendment when members return for the fall veto session. State Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington, said he thinks the rural setting worked to Rauners advantage. People are concerned about term limits and fair maps, he said. And a farm is a natural setting for kind of removing some of that political environment that people are tired of and connecting with real people who are dealing with real-world issues. Standing on a hay wagon under some trees, Rauner explained why he wanted to send his message on term limits to the rural, agriculture community. I love coming to farms because I come from a dairy farm family, he said. My grandparents were dairy farmers and corn. Agriculture is the backbone of the Illinois economy. Its important to come here today on the farm. Schlipf agreed. We appreciate the governors interest in the state fair, Schlipf said. Last year, he was on the Illinois State Fairgrounds 22 times, but he didnt show up in the Republicans' tent. He came down to the cattle barns and walked through the barns, talking to the kids. That is what is appreciated and we have never had a governor do that. He is big on agriculture and we are proud to host him. McLean County Chamber of Commerce CEO Charlie Moore was among those who attended Rauners speech. To have the governor being present in our area is very impactful, he said. Its good that he is focusing on fair maps and term limits and those are things the chamber has supported in the past and will continue to do so. iOS 9.3.3 has been officially released by Apple. All the hopes that Pangu will release a iOS 9.3.2 Jailbreak is doused now. iOS 9.3.3 is the final version released by Apple. Most hacking groups are now desperate to get jailbreaks for the remaining two operating system versions. Pangu has no other go now. After the release of iOS 9.3.3 by Apple, it only makes sense to work on an iOS 9.3.3 jailbreak. Since the iOS 9.3.2 Jailbreak turned out to be a disappointment, Pangu announced boldly that iOS 9.3.3 jailbreak will be "coming soon," reported Neuro Gadget. This was the twitter announcement that it made: We are going to release Pangu jailbreak tool for iOS 9.2 - 9.3.3 very soon. Please check its website at pangu.io and be patient. Thanks all PanguTeam (@PanguTeam) July 24, 2016 Based on this it can be assumed that there could be a number of tools ranging from iOS 9.2 to 9.3.3. iOS 9.3.3 Jailbreak: Is A Chinese Version Already Available? There are reports that there is a Chinese version of the iOS 9.3.3 jailbreak that is already available. This is a tethered semi-tethered jailbreak. This is totally different from the US tool versions. However, nothing can be assumed until a working jailbreak does come out. Will iOS jailbreak be released during Black Hat USA 2016? After the announcement that Pangu made, a frenzy was seen amongst the hacking community. Multiple speculations are being pondered upon. It was revealed in early July that there are three iOS jailbreaks for 9.3.2, 9.3.3 and 10 at MOSEC 2016, reported 9to5 Mac. However, iOS 9.3.2 jailbreak is now stale owing to the fact that the company has already released iOS 9.3.3. Now, the chances to prove that they are good are getting slim for Pangu as there are only two versions of the OS left. Further, it is expected that Apple will release iOS 10 in the Fall. This leaves Pangu with very less time to release an iOS 9.3.3 jailbreak. If this version is released only just before iOS 10 is released, it would not make much sense. After the release of iOS 9.3.1 jailbreak, there is not much that Pangu can boast about. The recent announcement is viewed with high anticipation. Pangu has to put its acts together to get their game right. To back the claim, Pangu has to now pull their socks up. It is anticipated that iOS 9.3.3 jailbreak will come out before Black Hat USA 2016. So will we see it releasing in another week's time? A noticeable personality change may be a cause of worry, according to a new study. If a person's personality has taken a turn for the worse---becoming overly unrealistic, irritable, aggressive or lifeless over the course of a couple of months---then it may be signs of an early stage of dementia. A research group proposed at the Alzheimer's Association of International Conference held in Toronto a new diagnosis that will look at mood and behavioral changes in determining a person's risk to develop dementia. They also prepared a 38-question checklist that would be indicative of a person's dementia risk depending on his/her answers. According to The New York Times, the diagnosis would be called mild behavioral impairment (M.B.I) that would be done before mild cognitive impairment (M.C.I.). According to Dr. Zahinoor Ismail, member of the research group, mood and behavioral changes are "stealth symptoms" and part of why dementia patients suffer. Nonetheless, people are reminded to be cautious and not wary of all mood swings. In terms of quantity, the changes should have been experienced for at least six months and; in terms of quality, the behavioral changes should be fundamental. However, the danger of the proposal is overdiagnosis. If people are wrongly diagnosed, people become more worried of their situation and would waste lots of money for diagnosis and treatment (via The New York Times). As per Alzheimer's Association, symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, a common form of dementia, include mood and personality changes. The patients suffering from dementia can become confused, suspicious, depressed, fearful or anxious. Lewy Body Dementia Association says that a patient suffering from dementia could not express themselves verbally and do so through their behavior. A caretaker should determine the reason for the behavior before he/she can respond to it. The association recommends to back away if the patient becomes aggressive and to remember to respond to the emotion, not the behavior. According to Institute for Dementia Research & Prevention, there are about five million Americans suffering from dementia. It said that 1 in 6 women and 1 in 10 men who live over the age of 55 might develop dementia in the future. Samsung fans need not worry anymore as early confirmation on the expected release date for the next Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has been already revealed. However, keeping in mind the Samsung ingenuity, the smartphone giant has skipped the next line, directly calling it the Note 7. Samsung's last known Note was released last 2015, and has since then been keeping its customers updated with newer offerings, according to Digital Trends. Gear up fans, as we share the latest known specs and design changes, plus cool new features for the soon-to-be-released Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Samsung Galaxy Note 7 already in the Middle East Early leaks as to what the new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 stated that pre-orders have already been going on in the Middle East, Dubai to be precise, even though the Samsung Galaxy Note 7's release date would be on August 2nd. Samsung has been reportedly accepting advanced orders for its latest gadget at a retail outlet at the Emirates Mall in Dubai. Starting at close to $136, customers were already able to pre-secure their own Samsung Galaxy Note 7 since July 21st till its release on August 2. In the U.S. alone, Samsung also has made several quiet announcements in terms of its marketing strategy for the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Carriers like T-Mobile have also been accepting pre-orders for the new gadget, even ahead of its actual release date. Media sources have also gotten wind of Samsung conveying out invitations for an August 2nd event, and that would most likely be the Samsung Galaxy Note 7's official unveiling. It is also set for a worldwide release on the same date, as revealed through several FCC notations showing up to 6 model numbers. A Glimpse Into The Samsung Galaxy Note 7's Over-all Look, Specs, Case Designs and Features Samsung's products are widely noted for its durability and long-life, working together with known smartphone case-maker Spigen, says Trusted Reviews. The company has also released image snippets of available cases for the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 earlier than expected, as a way to invite customers to pre-select the best phone protection for new gadgets. The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 would be in its natural dual curved-edge look, with some similarity to the Galaxy S7. Plus, there's a slot for a stylus and will have an iris scanner feature. And because of its 5.7" screen, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will allow more user face-time and spacier personal and business-related interactions. The Verge also reported on Samsung adding a new font across its gadgets, called the SamsungOne. Comparison between Roboto for Android and the SamsungOne, Samsung aims to create its own identity and make it an enjoyable user experience for everyone with support for 400 languages worldwide. Word has it that the official invitation to the Samsung Galaxy Note 7's official unpacking on August 2nd would also be taking place in New York at 11 AM EDT, as well as same time launches in Brazil (12noon) and London (4PM). So, can't wait to grab one? Marvel on Netflix TV has been eagerly showing its fans new series releases, with teasers for everyone at the recent SDCC. And one of its upcoming series features a ghost from Game of Thrones', none other than Finn Jones' Ser Loras Tyrell. So far, numerous media releases on Marvel's Daredevil have it confirmed as renewed for a third season this 2017 on Netflix, with the valiant Matt Murdock (played by Charlie Cox) taking the law into his hands as he tries to maintain peace in Hell's Kitchen. Cox also unassumingly brings light into his seemingly dark role as Daredevil in the renewed Netflix series, although looking helpless at the same time, according to Cheat Sheet. At the same time, Mike Colter aka Luke Cage would be using his acquired superhuman strength, unbreakable skin, and ex-prison experience to make it in Harlem City. Rosario Dawson, Alfre Woodard, and Mahershala Ali also join the ensemble cast. Luke Cage is going to air this September 30th on Netflix. The first of many Netflix series to feature a female lead character, Jessica Jones is another Marvel offering that highlights the radioactively-acquired femme fatale skills of Krysten Ritter in the title role, where she uses her detective know-how to deal with NYC's baddies. The series has just been renewed for season 2, with much praise to Ritter and David Tennant aka villain Zebediah Killgrave's portrayal in season 1. Another Netflix original to look out for is Iron Fist this 2017, who is Daniel Rand in the series and Finn Jones (the deceased GOT's Ser Loras Tyrell) in real life, says WPTZ. With a backstory featuring his eventual mastery of the martial arts learned from K'un L'un and becoming the Iron Fist after piercing the heart of a mystical dragon with his hands, this we all got to see. The Punisher would also be coming to Netflix real soon (also by 2017), with Jon Bernthal (from The Walking Dead series) somehow still unconfirmed as to if he's playing Frank Castle aka Punisher in the series. Close to 2 years in the making, The Defenders would soon grace Netflix's screens in 2019, as well as Inhumans, The Avengers: Infinity Gauntlet 2, and Justice League 2. The story behind The Defenders on Netflix would bring together the superhero team efforts of Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, and Mr. Daredevil to uphold peace and justice all over New York City. Take your pick on which Netflix series to check out as early as now, and make sure to let us know who's the best in the comments below. More than 10,000 Turkey soldiers have been arrested for the failed coup attempt on Friday, July 15. Of these arrests, 62 have been identified as teenagers ranging from 14 to 17-years-old. It is alleged that authorities have not allowed the children to contact their parents. Their crime? Treason. Turkey Coup: The Children Were Coerced According to The Sun, the teenagers are actually students of the Kuleli Military school in Istanbul, known as one of Turkey's oldest institutions. Allegedly, the students had been instructed to wear camouflage uniforms and carry guns without bullets. Their parents believe the kids have been forced and used to carry out the coup attempt. One mom told the press that her son, Emre (not his real name), 15, was invited by the military school to a cocktail party before the coup, as a way to celebrate after an exam. Emre went, but by dawn, her mother received a worrying phone call from the boy. "They made us wear uniforms and gave us empty guns. They told us to guard the school," said Emre to his mom, per Telegraph. Emre's mom described the act as "worse than any other terror attack." She has not yet spoken to her boy since that phone call, and along with the families of the other kids and their lawyers, they worry that the children will not get a fair trial in court. Turkey Coup: Detainees Tortured, Raped, Starved According to News Corp Australia, there have also been alarming reports that other detainees are being tortured, raped and starved by Turkish authorities. Amnesty International is already on the case of these alleged human rights violations and have asked for access to the coup prisoners. Ten thousand Turkey coup prisoners 'raped, starved and hogtied' https://t.co/ttd7gTmQ9h pic.twitter.com/shGiFM4MQ9 Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) July 24, 2016 Turkey Coup: Who Was Behind It? Turkey's failed coup that Friday was said to be carried out by Gulenist officers or supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a prominent political figure in the country who has exiled in the United States. Gulen's supporters are allegedly part of a cult with its own set of rules and objectives. According to Al Jazeera, Gulenist members follow both religious practices and government laws in Turkey in an effort to cover their affiliation. They even became part of government service, including the military. But the group has a long-established plans to infiltrate the government. However, the coup attempt last Friday was carried out prematurely after learning that the current government was aware of their plans. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the public to protest the coup and by evening, the uprising has been "repelled," her Vox. It was not without any casualty though. CNN reports that the failed Turkey coup attempt resulted in 290 deaths and 1,400 injuries. Then there's the matter with the thousands of detainees and the teenagers who have yet to speak to their parents. Turkey has declared it is under a 3-month state of emergency, which means laws to curb rebellion will be strictly enforced. While President Barack Obama has endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, his half-brother is on the opposing side. Malik Obama, 58, who hails from Kenya but is registered to vote in Maryland, is reportedly going with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. The president's older brother also expressed disappointment with the way Barack Obama handled his government. Malik Obama revealed his choice via New York Post. He said that Donald Trump "speaks from the heart" and hopes he would be able to meet the Republican one day. Malik Obama Feels More Republican Than Democrat Although Malik Obama is a Democrat just like his high profile brother, he chose to switch to the other side especially after the current U.S. government failed to prosecute Hillary Clinton for her lapses as the former Secretary of State. Malik Obama also thinks his brother's government killed the Libyan leader, Moammar Khadafy, whom Malik treats as a best friend. But for a more personal reason, Malik Obama doesn't support same sex marriage, which Barack Obama's government upholds. "I feel like a Republican now because they don't stand for same-sex marriage, and that appeals to me," he told New York Post. Wow, President Obama's brother, Malik, just announced that he is voting for me. Was probably treated badly by president-like everybody else! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 24, 2016 Barack Obama and Malik Obama's Strained Relationship Malik and Barack have the same father, but only met each other in 1985 for the first time. Malik was even Barack's best man when he married Michelle in 1992, per Telegraph. CBS News reports that Malik Obama worked as an accountant in Maryland before moving back to his home country in Kenya. But the brothers' relationship has been strained for years, especially after a controversy surfaced over the Barack H. Obama Foundation, named after their dad. Allegedly, Malik Obama was the director of the charity organization, which didn't have a state registration and got him in trouble with the IRS. The president reportedly didn't help him fix this. "He wanted me to shut it down when I set it up," Malik said. It is now easier for undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Central America to obtain birth certificates for their children born in Texas. The ruling comes after a lawsuit settlement involving Texas being accused of denying birthright U.S. citizenship to kids with parents who are in the country illegally. Easier Process Lawyers for the Texas Civil Rights Project said the state will now accept more forms of identification and supporting documents that are easier for undocumented immigrants to obtain, the Associated Press reported (via ABC News). Texas, however, is still not accepting ID cards given by Mexican consulates, but they will take valid Mexican voter ID cards issued by United States consulates. The U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment gives citizenship to children (also called birthright citizenship) born in the country regardless of their parents' status. An order signed by U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman puts the lawsuit away as long as Texas maintains the new agreement. Fears OF Immigrant Parents Quashed The plaintiffs claimed that Texas had a vague and inconsistent process for issuing birth certificates to undocumented parents, the Texas Observer reported. Some forms of documentation were considered valid due to the state's existing rules, but they weren't consistently acknowledged at Texas offices, which told the parents that their proof of identification isn't suitable enough. It was in 2013 when Texas started imposing stricter rules for obtaining birth certificates. Prior to that year, undocumented parents can easily obtain birth certificates by using ID cards issued by Mexican consulates and foreign passports without U.S. visas. For instance, plaintiffs said they were able to use the "matricula" consular to obtain birth certificates for their Texas-born children. The matricula is an ID issued by Mexico's consulates to Mexican nationals in the U.S., but Texas refused to validate that document in the early 2010s. Efren Olivares, the lead attorney in the lawsuit, said their clients constantly fear that their families will be torn apart and "their American-born children deported" if they don't have birth certificates, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Aside from these, undocumented parents have a harder time getting basic education, health, and childcare services for their kids. Olivares said they never knew what pushed Texas to change their rules. The state will also accept certification documents from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, the Texas Observer listed. The Texas Department of State Health Services said the agreement only adds minor details to the state's list of acceptable documentation forms. They said it will not require them to change DSHS' current rules or policies. One in five parents in the United Kingdom will skip meals this summer so their children can eat, according to a study by a non-government organization. The summer holidays means that school-aged children will not be receiving their free school meals. Trussell Trust is an organization working to end hunger and poverty in the United Kingdom. Daily Mail reported that they surveyed almost 1,000 parents and found that parents aged between 25 and 34 were most concerned about feeding their children and more likely to skip a meal for their children. The Trust reportedly estimated that 1.5 million would be skipping meals in the summer holidays. Holiday hungerhttps://t.co/XGrcvunQ98 Parents 'will skip meals' to feed children over summer, @TrussellTrust says pic.twitter.com/AvUAmCj5ud BBC Wales News (@BBCWalesNews) July 25, 2016 Summer Holidays Can Mean Hunger "Families who rely on free school meals during term time can find themselves facing hunger in the school holidays," said Adrian Curtis, foodbank network director of the Trussell Trust, as per a report in Metro. "No one knows the full scale of hunger in Wales during the school holidays, but these figures make one thing clear: many families are closer to crisis than we think," Curtis added. Curtis said that existing foodbanks are already catering to the need of families who have difficulty getting food even during the school year and that they now have a summer pilot of holiday clubs to extend more assistance. Still, Curtis stressed that foodbanks are not enough and that all stakeholders need to work together to address the problem of hunger. Demand For Food Increases In Summer BBC reported that the demand for the 35 foodbanks of Trussell Trust in Wales is highest during July and August. Last year, the Trust is said to have given out out 4,703 three-day emergency food supplies for children during these two months, compared to May and June's 4,415. Trussel Trust's holiday clubs reportedly to give out nutritious meals, have activities and learning for children and their families and even additional support for families. The Trust has holiday food clubs in its Ebbw Vale, Port Talbot and Llandrindod food banks. A special needs school in Mesa, Arizona for children with learning differences, will be having its second branch that will open next month in Tucson, still in Arizona. It promises education services, occupational therapy and speech and language services. Tucson.com reported that Pathways School is a private academy wherein in children are given individual or small group therapy with an individualized learning in a small environment. The plan to open Pathways School's second branch, which will serve 20 children, reportedly came about after three families "strongly appealed to the director." The director, Debra DeLabio, was quoted as saying that they are preparing their students for a bigger environment ahead. DeLabio said the new branch of their special needs school has a state-certified teacher, behavior specialist, speech and language assistant, occupational therapist, speech and language pathologist, counselor and psychologist. Pathways, currently in #MesaAZ, will be opening up a second location in #Tucson . https://t.co/WRIDuvLn3u AZ Autism Coalition (@azautzmcoalishn) July 25, 2016 First Of Its Kind In The Tucson Area In a promotional poster posted in Pathways School's website, the second branch is said to be the first special education program of its kind in Tucson. Its education services include a specialized curriculum, Montessori applied program with individual education plans and positive behavior support for children with special needs. For occupation therapy, the Tucson branch is said to provide therapy for sensory integration, coordination and balance and attention and concentration skills, among others. Children with special needs will also be helped in their oral motor and auditory challenges. New Special Needs School Building in Michigan Meanwhile, special needs education in Grand Rapids Michigan also takes a boost as Pine Grove Learning Center has an additional building to accommodate for special needs students. M Live reported that the center now has 29,600 square feet more space than before. According to the report, Pine Grove Learning Center caters to students from age five to 26 who have autism spectrum disorder, severe cognitive impairments and severe multiple impairment. The new building will have its open house in September. Marissa Mayer may be busy with her duties and responsibilities as Yahoo's CEO. But the business executive ensures that she also has time for her husband, lawyer and investor Zachary Bogue, and their three children. Marissa Mayer's Blended Lifestyle In an interview with Bloomberg's Emily Chang, Mayer talked about how her experience as a mother influenced her leadership and business methods. According to the 41-year-old computer scientist, motherhood is "an incredible experience" and having children is "amazing," but she also loves to have "an impact" at work. Mayer said that she is proud of her "blended lifestyle," where she spends quality time with her kids and watch them grow and learn new things, while also fulfilling her role as Yahoo's CEO. Watch Mayer's interview with Chang below. Mayer, who has served as Yahoo's CEO since July 2012, has a three-year-old son named Macallister and twin girls Sylvana and Marielle, who are nearly one. Mayer didn't take Yahoo's 16 weeks of paid maternity leave during both pregnancies and instead just availed two weeks to accommodate her childbirth, Bloomberg reported. Mayer's take on pregnancy and her duties at work were both criticized and applauded by other women. Carol Hochman, a former CEO of Danskin and chairman of Women in America, said Mayer established "a new path for younger, smarter women coming up behind her," the news outlet added. Alison Davis-Blake,the dean of the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, said Mayer's approach mirrors how male executives juggle both fatherhood and work in equal measure. Elaine Eisenman, the dean of executive education at Babson College, doesn't approve of Mayer's method. Eisenman said Mayer's dismissal of Yahoo's 16-week paid maternity leave could lead her employees to think that work is more important than family. Marissa Mayer Slams Sexist Reporting Yahoo's core internet assets were recently sold to Verizon for $4.8 billion. In an interview with the Financial Times after the sale, Mayer criticized the media for reporting about her in a "gender-charged" way. Mayer told Financial Times that she's been trying to be "gender-blind" and maintain her belief that technology is "a gender-neutral zone," but she's finding it hard to do it now after the media's gender-biased reporting. There are speculations that Mayer will not join Verizon after the deal closed sometime in 2017. Silicon Valley has been accused of a wide gender gap. Only 30 percent of its workers are women and there are few female CEOs in Fortune 500 companies, Fortune wrote. Menopause can actually be reversed, according to a team of researchers. The researchers are claiming that the use of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) can stimulate ovaries of women in their menopausal stage to produce eggs. "It offers a window of hope that menopausal women will be able to get pregnant using their own genetic material," said gynecologist Konstantinos Sfakianoudis, as per New Scientist. Sfakianoudis works at the Greek fertility clinic Genesis Athens. His team reportedly found that PRP can rejuvenate older ovaries. Scientists REVERSE the menopause and 'turn back the fertility clock' for older women https://t.co/y1cFSUZBC4 pic.twitter.com/SYQcwAkNgR The Sun (@TheSun) July 22, 2016 Menopause Reversal In 40-year-old Woman The Sun reported that Sfakianoudis was able to do the experimental treatment using PRP to a 40-year-old woman who had menopause when she was 35. Six months after being treated with PRP, the woman menstruated again. According to the report, PRP is believed to generate growth in bones and muscles. Sfakianoudis and his team were then able to collect eggs produced from the 40-year-old woman and fertilized these using her husband's sperm, the report added. The eggs will eventually be implanted in the previously menopausal woman's womb in the following months. New Treatment Works In Two-Thirds Of Cases According to a report from Mirror, 30 other women underwent the same treatment using PRP and it had apparently worked two-thirds of the time. Roger Sturmey at Hull York Medical School in the United Kingdom was quoted as saying that the discovery is "potentially quite exciting" but raises ethical questions on how old mothers should be. New Scientist reported that there are concerns on the safety and effectiveness of using PRP as their have not been prior animal testing. Sturmey being quoted as saying that an experiment of this nature would have been prohibited in the United Kingdom. Sfakianoudis and his team discussed some their findings at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology annual meeting this month. It is already a given fact that gender inequality still continue to persist in the field of education. Despite the government's efforts to ensure that all students should have access to high quality education, gender gap remain notable, particularly in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering And Mathematics)-related and CTE (Career and Technical Education) curricula. Fortunately, artificial intelligence (AI) has been considered as a powerful tool in bridging the gender gap in STEM education. That's why, Stanford has launched a tuition-free AI camp called SAILORS to encourage young girls, as well as "underrepresented minorities" to explore STEM-related fields. Stanford Artificial Intelligence Outreach Summer (SAILORS) Initially launched on the summer of 2015, Stanford Artificial Intelligence Outreach Summer aka SAILORS was created by computer science professor Fei-Fei Li and Postdoc (postdoctoral scholar) Olga Russakovsky. This AI camp was created to invite "rising high school sophomore girls from 20 states and three countries" to participate in lectures and to conduct research in the Artificial Intelligence Lab. "SAILORS is built on the hypothesis that a humanistic mission statement would attract more diverse students," Li said, Stanford Daily quoted. "In turn, their values and perspectives are injected into the technology that will impact our society." STEM Education Needs Diversity Aside from bridging the gender gap in STEM education, Stanford's artificial intelligence camp SAILORS also aims to encourage diversity among its staff and students. In fact, women only control less than 25 percent of STEM occupations compared to men. Furthermore, STEM-educated women are also less likely to land STEM employments than men. The reason? According to U.S. Department of Commerce, STEM fields lack diversity and gender gap is prevalent because of insufficient "female role models," as well as the rampant "gender stereotyping and less family-friendly flexibility." Artificial Intelligence Camp To Eliminate Gender Gap In STEM Education With Standord's artificial intelligence camp, however, Li is hoping that young girls will be encourage to engage and explore their interests in STEM-related fields. Aside from the "rigorous lectures and research projects," the AI camp also offers personal growth sessions to ensure the girls that they don't feel out of place but be more comfortable in STEM environments. "I could express my inner geekiness," SAILORS alumna Rachel Guo said. "I felt completely included because everyone was so understanding, and we've all been in similar situations." Other Artificial Intelligence-Related Updates Speaking of artificial intelligence, several scientists have recently attended the Annual International Conference on Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures (BICA 2016) in New York to discuss creating AI based on "biologically inspired cognitive architectures," Phys.org revealed. This simply meant that scientists have proposed to conduct social emotions test for AI. In addition, artificial intelligence is also believed to play a significant role in international aid distribution. As a matter of fact, Premise CEO and cofounder David Soloff told Devex that AI's potential is "yet to be maximized," noting that predictively technology like Google can help organizations "to distribute aid in a more efficient, accurate and timely manner." Can artificial intelligence really bridge the gender gap in STEM education? Sound off below and follow Parent Herald for more news and updates. "Outlander" Season 3 will begin production in August and dating rumors about Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe are heating up online. In a recent Q&A with fans of the Starz time traveler series, the 36-year-old Scottish actor shared his excitement over Jamie and Claire's reunion. Are they really dating in real life? This article contains spoilers. Read on if you want to learn more about the details of this story. "Outlander" stars Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan have long been rumored to be dating in real life because of their onscreen and behind-the-scenes chemistry. Celeb Dirty Laundry notes that these two stars have been constantly plagued by dating rumors because of their intimate scenes in the Starz drama. Fans continue to believe that Heughan and Balfe are dating in real life despite the stars' denial of having any romantic relationship. The publication notes that fans remain optimistic that these two share more than a professional relationship in "Outlander" because of the way they talk and act towards each other. Heughan also recently conducted a Q&A with fans on Twitter, which revealed the scene he is most looking forward to filming for "Outlander" Season 3. According to Scotland Now, Heughan said that he is excited to see his reunion with Balfe. Heughan's statements stirred controversy among fans of "Outlander" since they were not sure whether the actor was looking forward to his reunion with Balfe or if he was referring to their characters' reunion in Season 3. Heughan also revealed that filming for the third season will begin in August. "Outlander" Season 3 will be based on Diana Gabaldon's third book "Voyager." The upcoming season will also see an older Claire and Jamie and what happens when they see each other for the first time in 20 years. Do you think "Outlander" stars Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe are dating in real life? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Mental health is a significant aspect at every stage of life. Unfortunately, almost 350 million of the world's population are suffering from mental health problems including depression and anxiety. Luckily, experts have found an effective and cheaper therapy called behavioral activation for depression. As Parent Herald previously reported, the global economy is losing almost $1 trillion in productivity cost annually due to mental health issues like depression. But a new study has recently found an equally effective and inexpensive psychological intervention for depression known as behavioral activation. What Is Behavioral Activation? Cognitive behavioral therapy is considered as the "gold standard" for depression intervention. However, a team of researchers from the University of Exeter in London has found an inexpensive yet equally effective approach called behavioral activation. Behavioral activation is a form of talk therapy based on the theory that depressed individuals "tend to engage in increasing avoidance and isolation," which only worsen their symptoms. With that said, this psychological intervention approach fort depression aims to gradually reduce depressed individuals' avoidance and isolation by increasing their engagement in activities that have proven effective to improve mood. These activities may include exercising, going out to dinner, working toward specific work-related goals, learning new skills and activities, among others, as per Rogers Memorial Hospital. Since this depression intervention approach can be provided by mental health workers with minimal training, it is more cost-efficient than CBT. "Behavioral activation is an 'outside in' treatment that focuses on helping people with depression to change the way they act," University of Exeter Medical School's NIHR Senior Investigator and lead study author David Richards said, The Inquirer Daily News quoted. "The treatment helps people make the link between their behavior and their mood," Richards added. "Therapists help people to seek out and experience more positive situations in their lives. The treatment also helps people deal with difficult situations and helps them find alternatives to unhelpful habitual behaviors." Treating Depression At Low Cost Is A Global Priority The new study, which was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment Program and published in The Lancet journal, does not only aim to find an effective therapy for depression but also an inexpensive one. Although CBT has been proven effective, access to the treatment is often limited, Psyche Central revealed. "Effectively treating depression at low cost is a global priority," Richards said. "Our finding is the most robust evidence yet that Behavioral Activation is just as effective as CBT, meaning an effective workforce could be trained much more easily and cheaply without any compromise on the high level of quality." There's Hope For Battling Depression Worldwide Richards also added that their study also offers hope to nations that are currently struggling from the impact of depression on their economies. Through behavioral activation, access to high quality depression therapy globally can be improved, Daily Mail noted. What are your thoughts on behavioral activation as an effective and inexpensive therapy for depression? Sound off below and follow Parent Herald for more news and updates. The recent Prisma app launch on Android broke the internet for a few hours. Previously launched for iOS, the Prisma app now reaches out to selfie addicts on Android gadgets. According to BT, the attraction of the Prisma app for both Android and iOS users is its ability to turn any photo into a work of art. Given the phenomenal success of filter apps for selfie photos, the Prisma app provides Android and iOS users the ability to apply art patterns of real-life artists. BT points out that in this, the Prisma app bears similarities to Instagram. Like the Prisma app, Instagram offers Android and iOS users a wide selection of filters for photo uploads. The first time we transformed a selfie with Prisma, we were left speechless. So. Good!https://t.co/5uMgVfXdqH pic.twitter.com/Ky5m76ZmDl App Store (@AppStore) July 25, 2016 Directions for use of the Prisma app is similar to most photo-editing apps available on Android and iOS. The main difference is in the type of filters that the Prisma app allows Android and iOs users to apply to their images. The media agency further points out that the Prisma app applies artificial intelligence (AI) in assessing and applying the filter requirement for each image. According to PC Mag filter types on the Prisma app include patterns based on such artists as Edvard Munch and Roy Lichtenstein. Sign up for our Newsletter to be the first to know about the Android app release . https://t.co/45st4w9ItL pic.twitter.com/uGpe6kL0mu Prisma (@PrismaAI) July 19, 2016 Piet Mondrian and Hokusai are also among the styles that the Prisma app offers Android and iOS users on filter. The media outlet reports that images edited with the Prisma app are social media-ready. The Prisma app is described by Google Play for Android users to uniquely combine technology and art. "A unique combination of neural networks and artificial intelligence helps you turn memorable moments into timeless art," the Prisma app description stated. PC Mag further reports that the launch of the Prisma app on Android had been remarkably well-received. So much so the Prisma app had to go offline the day after it was launched on Android presumably because of the number of users and amount of photos that were being processed with the new Google Play offering. Both iOS and Android users were temporarily affected by the Prisma app halt. If you have tried the Prisma app on Android and iOS, were you satisfied with the filters provided? "Black Widow" might be filmed into a standalone movie soon. If Marvel is interested in the project, Joss Whedon, who was the director of "Avengers" is ready to take up the project. Whedon was speaking at the San Diego Comic-Con. He said that there are reasons why he would like to head a project like "Black Widow." First and foremost, the director feels that the "Black Widow" will be a character that many people will relate to as it is more "human." He thinks that the character is very interesting and earthbound. Because of these characters, it will be easier to make a stand-alone movie. "Black Widow" does not need on supernatural abilities that other members of the Avengers have, reported Independent. To add to this, Whedon likes to work with Scarlett Johansson. She appeared as the "Black Widow" in "Iron Man 2." According to Whedon, Scarlet is a very committed actor. Also, she is very easy going with a great sense of humor which will make working with her easier, reported IGN. As the "Avengers" gained popularity, the fans started discussing many stand-alone movies of the characters. The talks of a "Black Widow" movie were also circulating. Also, there were people who are part of the franchise who would like to see the spy heroine in action. This includes Whedon, Anthony Mackie (Captain America: Civil War), writers Joe and Anthony Russo, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige and many more. Recently, we have seen the rise of female protagonists. Marvel and DC are competing to bring in more female characters onscreen. We also read news about Iron Man being portrayed by a woman now on. Wonder Woman of DC Comics is also making headlines. It is only a matter of time that Marvel decides to make a stand-alone for "Black Widow." Also, there are various options that Joss Whedon can explore to characterize "Black Widow" when she goes solo. Whedon can change the character totally and build a new persona for the character. This can be a complete deviation from the character played in the "Avengers" movies. He can also retain the same character but there is a risk that it could turn boring. The next option is to create a prequel and help in the creation of the character from the very beginning. While Jos is busy building her solo character, "Black Widow" will be seen in "Avengers: Infinity War Part 1" on May 4, 2018. This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions In further signs that North Korea's relations with its sole ally China are at an all-time low, the North Korean press drew a sullen veil over Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong's meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. The official [North] Korean Central News Agency on Monday reported on Ri's meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Burma but made no mention of his meeting with Wang at the event. It was the first meeting among the two top diplomats since Ri became foreign minister. Until now, North Korea's foreign minister always met his Chinese counterpart first on the sidelines of the annual ARF. But this year, they did not meet until the plenary session was over. China, on the other hand, featured the meeting prominently on its Foreign Ministry website. The ongoing debate. Julia Duln over at Get Religion examines a series of articles in The Christian Science Monitor tackling a festering issue in our nation today. This is one of those subjects you can tell the Media is not happy to cover. The ongoing story, where an individual with religious convictions is at odds with liberal morality has been one that the mainstream, has received muted coverage at best. Somehow, even supporters of LGBT rights arent together on the idea that a person should be punished, even having his livelihood destroyed, simply because he doesnt want to involve himself in a ceremony officially endorsing a morality he rejects. Some are more than happy with retribution against the owners, others are not so sure. Because the media isnt giving it top puff billing, and what we hear on TV debates or in publications is often less than objective, its been tough finding all of the details in these cases. Enter The Christian Science Monitor. With a whopping seven part series on the subject, it has unpacked angles and perspectives that are all but lost in the drive through coverage the press has given subject. The main focus of Julia Dulns post is the uncomfortable story of Barronelle Stutzman, a florist who couldnt bring herself to service a gay wedding, even though one of the spouses was a loyal customer. Its noteworthy that the plaintiff, Robert Ingersoll, was an unwilling participant who was contacted by the AG and the ACLU. It sheds light on a tactic of the ACLU: target small, relatively isolated communities or individuals and bring a cadre of lawyers into play that ramps up legal fees, in this case to the tune of 1 million dollars. If Ms. Stutzman loses, those fees belong to her, and she is destroyed. But a couple points came out that caught my eye. One was the idea that a photographer would push back against being compelled to photograph a gay wedding on the grounds that photography is an art. No art, after all, can be forced or interfered with by the government. Anyone more than ten years old knows that the pure and untouchable sacredness of art in America has been a liberal staple for decades. How that clash is resolved will be worth watching. The other came from Ms. Stutzman herself: In effect, the judge said that belief is personal, but if individuals seek to express those beliefs in action, the anti-discrimination law would trump any claim for a religious exemption. The judge told me I could have my faith but I couldnt practice it keep it in the four walls of the church, Stutzman says. Thats like me telling Rob and Curt you can be gay, but once you leave your house you can no longer be gay. That is the heart and soul of the great conflict of our age. Right now, much of liberalism is based on advancing rights not written in the Constitution, but merely understood to be in the heart of the Constitution. Now it is coming to the point where those rights specifically written in the Constitution are at risk of being compromised to advance those rights rights not specifically written. To tell Christians they can believe in their minds what they want, but once you step foot outside of the church, synagogue, mosque or private domicile you belong to the State, could be a step down the same sad path that too many 20th Century revolutions ended up traveling.* Whether we insist on going that same direction, or come to the conclusion we are on the verge of selling our birthright of freedom for a bowl of gender stew, remains to be seen. *Note the similarities between the ruling of the judge against Stutzman: In ruling against Stutzman in 2015, the state judge drew a distinction between a citizens freedom to believe, which he said was absolute, and a citizens freedom to act in public on those beliefs, which he said can be regulated by the government. and Article 39 of the Constitution of the USSR: From Article 39: Enjoyment by citizens of their rights and freedoms must not be to the detriment of the interest of society or the state. What the Turkish Coup Means for Iran 07/26/16 By Shireen T. Hunter (source: LobeLog) File Photo: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Iran was among the very first governments to express its support for the democratically elected government of Turkey during the recent failed coup d'etat. High Iranian officials such as the president, foreign minister, and the speaker of the parliament also spoke to their counterparts in Turkey. Considering that Iran's relations with Turkey, especially its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have been rather frosty in the last several years, why was Iran so eager to register its opposition to the coup attempt? One reason is that Iran itself is potentially vulnerable to coup attempts. Although the likelihood of a military coup is not very high, since the Revolutionary Guards are the real military power in the country, powerful military or civilian factions could resort to unlawful means to undermine a legitimate government, especially if it were of a more moderate or reformist leaning. Therefore, a principal reason for Iran's reaction was opposition to unlawful and especially military means of altering the character of governments. Iran's other reason was the uncertainty regarding the identity of the coup plotters. If the plotters were Kemalists, Iran could not have expected better treatment from Turkey under a new ruling class than it has gotten from Erdogan. Iranian leaders remember the tense state of relations with Turkey throughout 1980s and 1990s when the generals wielded the real power in the country either openly or behind the scenes. The only exception was the very brief interlude of the Erbakan government (June 1996-June 1997). If, as Erdogan claims, the plotters were the followers of Fethullah Gulen, Turkey's relations with Iran almost certainly would have deteriorated. Gulen is very anti-Shia in his views. Erdogan's own anti-Shia tendencies, which also extend to Turkey's Alevis, are partly because he himself was once a bona fide Gulenist. In addition to being anti-Shia, Gulen is also reportedly anti-Iran. According to one account, Gulen has said that if going to heaven requires passing through Iran he will refuse to go. This report may not be true, but clearly Gulen and his followers have no love for Iran. In fact, some Turkish newspapers supporting Gulen have in the past referred to Iran as the Persian Satan. Therefore, a Gulenist leadership would have followed a much more anti-Iran policy and cooperated even more closely with Iran's rivals and enemies in the region. In short, a Gulenist government would have undermined Iran's security political and regional position. A further reason could be that Iran had realized that in the last few months Erdogan had suffered some serious setbacks in his foreign policy. As a result, he was beginning to mend Turkey's relations with its neighbors, including possibly with Syria and even its leader Bashar al-Assad. Therefore, a somewhat humbled and conciliatory Erdogan would be better for Iran than a new government with anti-Shia and anti-Persian tendencies. Now that Erdogan has reestablished power, will he respond positively to Iran's show of support or he will revert to past policies? A more positive Turkish policy toward Iran would have clear economic and other benefits for both countries. Turkey, for example, can increase its import of Iranian gas and invest in Iranian industries and other ventures. Iran could also help mediate in Turkey's relations with Iraq and the three countries could have many joint and profitable economic ventures. A more cooperative Turkish -Iranian relations could also result in mutually advantageous ventures involving South Caucasian countries, especially Azerbaijan. Similarly, Turkey, Iran, and Russia could engage in cooperative ventures. Better Turkish-Iranian relations would also improve Iran's position vis a vis Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Arab States. If some Arab states were indeed involved in the coup attempt, as some regional media have speculated, Turkey might move closer to Iran. However, there are limits to closer Turkish -Iranian relations and their cooperation on regional issues. The coup has not changed Erdogan's deeply sectarian and, to some degree, ethnic dislike of Iran. Nor has it eliminated his competitive impulses. More important, Turkey must keep in mind its Western ties. A good part of Turkey's recent power and prestige has derived from its relations with the West, including its membership in NATO. Therefore, Turkey and Erdogan must be careful that policy shifts do not endanger these ties. Beyond its potential implications for the future of Turkey-Iran relations, the failed coup in Turkey could especially influence Europe's approach to Iran. With Turkey entering a difficult and uncertain future at least in the short to medium term, Europe might look differently at Iran and be more willing to take a chance on it, which could mean a more robust policy of economic engagement with Iran. Turkish events, coupled with other developments in the Middle East such as the almost inevitable succession crisis in Saudi Arabia, should dissuade Europeans from putting all their eggs in one or two baskets and make them realize that spreading the risk is a better strategy. However, Turkish events will not likely have much influence on US approach to Iran. The opponents of better relations with Iran are much stronger in the US than in Europe. And of course, there is the uncertainty of the forthcoming presidential elections in the United States. About the Author: Shireen T. Hunter is a Research Professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. Her latest book is Iran Divided: Historic Roots of Iranian Debates on Identity, Culture, and Governance in the 21st Century (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014). Iran self-sufficient in wheat for 2nd year 07/26/16 Source: Press TV Iran expects its state-sponsored purchases of wheat from domestic farmers to surpass 10 million tonnes this year, Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Hojjati says. Harvests in the 2016/2017 crop season are on track to make the country self-sufficient in wheat for the second year running, the government's official news website said. Harvesting wheat Lorestan, western Iran (July 2016 photo by Islamic Republic News Agency) "We are predicting that wheat purchases this year will exceed 10 million tonnes, which will certainly render the balance between the country's wheat production and consumption positive and increase wheat stocks," Hojjati said. Purchases of wheat at guaranteed prices so far have hit 8.6 million tonnes, which are 500,000 tonnes more than the volume bought a year before, he added. Last year, the government bought 9 million tonnes of the strategic commodity from domestic wheat growers which did away with the need for imports. In February, Ministry of Agriculture banned state imports of wheat for the current Iranian year, ordering officials to stop registering new purchase orders. For imports of basic commodities such as wheat, rice, raw sugar, crude vegetable oil and medicine, Iranian traders usually get foreign exchange at concessionary rates from the government. To protect farmers against cheap imports and to prevent imported grain being re-sold to the government at higher prices, the government has imposed import duties on wheat and barley. Iran's wheat production has experienced a cycle of boom and bust. Largely self-sufficient in wheat a decade ago, the country has turned to one of the world's biggest importers. While drought has taken a heavy toll on the Iranian agriculture, years of focus on oil revenues has left the sector underperforming as many farmers have abandoned their fields and moved to cities in search of alternative work. Many producers, meanwhile, rely on the whims of weather and rudimentary operations for growing their crops. Erratic practices as such have left many of the country's water tables, formed over hundreds of thousands of years, hitting bottom amid the protracted dry spell. cartoon by Marzieh Tajizadegan, Etemad daily According to Agriculture Minister Hojjati, the government has a raft of plans to improve irrigation and seed technology. They include a target to introduce modern irrigation systems to 450,000 hectares of farmland. "Given the area devoted to wheat, our problem is more to do with yields. We hope to be self-sufficient in wheat by raising yields," he was quoted as saying in January. Iran has approached a number of countries for cooperation in food production. France, a leading producer of crop seeds, is one of them which Iran hopes would help improve its agricultural yield. A French delegation visited Iran last September with a focus on farming and food. While Iran's costly oil industry has siphoned investment away from agriculture, it has been employing few people. Unemployment has prompted the government to look again at agriculture as a key area to diversify economy and create jobs. Iran has further launched agricultural cultivation overseas amid the lingering drought. According to Hojjati, the government has envisioned investment on 500,000 hectares of farmland in a number of countries to secure food supplies. Kazakhstan, Ghana, Brazil and Serbia have been cited among the countries where Iran is seeking to grow crops. Water-intensive rice and corn crops as well as oilseeds and livestock inputs have been cited by Agriculture Ministry officials as the target products which Iran seeks to grow on farmlands overseas. Food security is a serious matter for Iran, given the size of its population which has grown over 80 million while its food basket has begun shrinking. 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 AMD is set to release three new professional GPUs as it looks to begin sunsetting its FirePro lineup. The company said Monday night at graphics trade show SIGGRAPH that its new Radeon Pro WX 4100, Radeon Pro WX 5100, and Radeon Pro WX 7100 will be based on its latest Polaris architecture and are aimed at professional users. Specs and pricing of the new cards werent immediately available, but the images dont indicate that AMD is going for the jugular in terms of performance, unlike arch-rival Nvidia. AMD officials didnt talk performance, but they did say the Radeon Pro WX 7100 will hit Steams VR performance requirements. Perhaps more importantly, said AMDs head of Industry Alliances David Watters, is the way AMD has organized its graphics unit going forward. Watters said competitor Nvidia must contend with its consumer GeForce products competing with its professional Quadro and Tesla lines. AMD The new Radeon Pro WX 5100 will focus on the traditional workstation market. AMD has been organized so that it now operates as a single unit. The Radeon Pro WX is focused on the traditional workstation market. AMD will also maintain its Radeon Pro lineup which bridges the consumer and professional customers. Why this matters: Radeon Pros appeal, company officials said, will be to those who dont have buckets of money. Theres a billion content creators in the world in the world, not all of them can afford a [$6,000 Nvidia Quadro] M6000k, said Watters. Its our job to sell them a Radeon Pro. Watters said FirePro will continue to be sold and will get support, but AMD will transition to the Radeon Pro and Radeon Pro WX cards for professional users. Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly quoted how many content creators Watters said there are in the world. PCWorld regrets the error. Microsoft made an interesting decision with Windows 10s Anniversary Update, which is now in its final stages of development before it rolls out on August 2. Cortana, the personal digital assistant that replaced Windows 10s search function and taps into Bings servers to answer your queries with contextual awareness, no longer has an off switch in Windows 10 Home and Pro. Cortanas settings in the Anniversary Update. The impact on you at home: Similar to how Microsoft blocked Google compatibility with Cortana, the company is now cutting off the plain vanilla search option. That actually makes a certain of amount of sense. Unless you turned off all the various cloud-connected bits of Windows 10, theres not a ton of difference between Cortana and the operating systems basic search capabilities. Microsoft even says as much: With the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, the search box is now Cortana, Microsoft said in a statement. Customers can expect the same great search experience powered by Bing and Microsoft Edge with the added benefit of Cortanas personality. In fact, the biggest functional difference is that Cortana is far more useful than plain search thanks to the digital assistants handy voice commands, reminders, the ability to send text messages, and so on. That said, Microsofts move is probably less about the practical differences between Cortana and search, and more about pushing people to use Cortana. But what if you still dont want to use Cortana at all? Refusing to download the Anniversary Update is not an option. You can delay it, but since Windows 10 updates are mandatory for home users, youll eventually receive the update. Cortana works best when you sign in, but if you choose not to, you can still use her to chat, search the web and your Windows device, Microsoft told PCWorld. If you like, you can also easily hide Cortana and the search box in the taskbar altogether. (Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet notes, ironically, that Cortana is off by default and cannot be turned on in specific editions of Windows 10 for education, even with the Anniversary Update applied. But unless you work for an educational institution, you wont be able to use them.) Set limits on Cortana The privacy section of the Settings app in the Anniversary Update You can also take a few steps to limit Cortanas reach on your system. First, head to Start > Settings > Privacy > Speech, inking, & typing. Now click on Stop getting to know me and then select Turn off. This effectively makes Cortana deaf to the sound of your voice as well as blind to your typing history andfor stylus wielders handwriting patterns. It also turns off system-wide dictation. If youre going to keep the search box on your taskbar open Cortana and then click on the settings cog in the lower-right corner. On Cortanas settings screen, disable every slider that can be set to Off, such as search history and device history. That helps prevent some data usage and tracking, but Cortana will still be working. To wipe Cortanas memory of you, click on Change what Cortana knows about me in the cloud, which is at the very top of the settings panel. On the next screen, scroll down to the bottom and click Clear. This orders Microsoft to delete any information it has saved about you via Cortana, including personal interests, browsing history, and so on. If youre going to use Cortana but feel uneasy about its data collection you should clear this option periodically. You can even get rid of Cortanas presence entirely, as Microsoft said. To do this right-click on the Cortana search box, and select Hidden. (Note that if you leave Hey Cortana turned on, the Cortana box will re-appear when you say those words, or you can use the Cortana app.) After thats done you can also go to Bing Maps to edit your saved places (if you have any) as well as Bings search history page to clear information stored about your search habits. Use an alternative Everything If youre still unsatisfied after youve crippled as much of Cortana as possible, consider ditching it completely and going with a third-party system search utility instead. If you arent using Cortanas web-connected features all you really need is file and folder search, anyway. One of our favorite third-party search tools is Everything. This wonderful donationware is small, simple, easy to use, and (most importantly) fast. You can also pin Everything to your taskbar to make searching as easy as Microsofts built-in solution. Of course, another alternative is to dump Windows 10 altogether and switch to Linux. Thats certainly a valid alternativeas commenters on this article will no doubt mention before long. PCWorlds guide to the best Linux distros for beginners and Windows XP refugees can help get you up to speed if you decide to opt for that drastic solution. Updated at 4:54 PM to add a statement from Microsoft as well as a tip to hide the Cortana search box altogether. Updated again at 9:55 AM on July 29 to note that Cortana is off by default in specific editions of Windows 10 for educators. Protracted policy questions. Big-money battles. Contradictory proposals that are difficult to discern. Its shaping up to be an all-too-typical fall election, once again confronting California voters with an unwieldy ballot. This wasnt supposed to happen. After polls confirmed that California voters were frustrated by ballot overload, lawmakers two years ago made changes aimed at pre-empting at least some initiatives from landing on the ballot and improving those that do. One change gave the Legislature extra time to hold hearings to try to compromise with interest groups pitching complex issues. Were taking an important step to modernize and strengthen direct democracy, Gov. Jerry Brown said as he signed the changes into law in 2014. Yet just two years later, Californians face a messy ballot that is likely to inspire the same frustrations the changes were meant to resolve. In November, voters will decide the fate of 17 ballot measures, including conflicting approaches to the death penalty, a proposal specific to the pornography industry, and an initiative to legalize recreational marijuana that runs 65 pages. So are the reforms really working? With one major exception, the answer is not yet. The exception: Elected officials reached a significant compromise this year with labor unions backing an initiative to raise the statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour. The proponents pulled their measure off the ballot after Brown signed a bill that raised the wage while providing safeguards for the state budget that werent in the initiative. But other than on that issue, its really hard to find an example this year of the (initiative) reforms making a difference, said Mark Baldassare, president of the Public Policy Institute of California. The reforms were sensible ones. But this election is not a sea change. Many factors contributed to the long ballot this year. Its easier to qualify an initiative this time around because the number of signatures needed is relatively low, since the threshold is based on the previous state elections turnout, which in 2014 was meager. Also, many liberal interests prefer to put their issues before voters in a presidential election year, when Democratic turnout is high. Some policies, like the death penalty, can be changed only by voters because they were created through initiatives in the first place. And at least two measures one challenging a plastic bag ban and another advocating for condoms in pornography landed on the ballot because interest groups are dissatisfied with the Legislatures decisions. Most initiatives fail because voters opt for no when they feel overwhelmed by long ballots and confusing campaigns, Baldassare said. He said he expected more compromises between lawmakers and initiative proponents to keep some issues off the ballot, particularly marijuana legalization, gun control and school construction. Instead, the November ballot has a school bond the governor opposes and a gun control measure lawmakers tried to replace with legislation. Lawmakers largely took a pass on the issue of recreational marijuana, putting that question to voters, too. There were plenty of opportunities this year for really looking under the hood of the initiative by the Legislature to see if there would be opportunities for compromise or rewriting or revising, Baldassare said. Why didnt it work in more cases? Those who supported the changes in 2014 say its too soon to say theyre not working. One (election) cycle is not enough to render a definitive judgment, said Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, who carried the bill that made the changes during his final year as leader of the state Senate. I am confident that over time (the bill) will be the safety valve that we intended it to be. There will be numerous instances where initiative proponents and representative government are able to work out their differences and create a law that is good public policy. Steinbergs bill was supposed to improve the process by giving interest groups and lawmakers more opportunities for give and take, so that initiatives could be changed before they reach voters or lawmakers could come up with solutions that would avoid the ballot altogether. It created a new public review period to allow for amendments at the early stage of the initiative process, extended the time period for gathering signatures, gave proponents more time to remove measures from the ballot and gave lawmakers more time to hold hearings about the initiatives. Backers of an initiative to extend income taxes used the new review period to tweak their measure early this year after criticism from Brown. The changes helped create a positive climate for negotiation on another issue this year, said Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Los Angeles, who advocated for the reforms two years ago. After proponents started gathering signatures for an initiative to give the public better information about lobbying and political fundraising, Hertzberg worked with them and introduced a similar bill. He acknowledged that the new process could have worked better if the Legislature had taken advantage of the longer time period for reviewing measures. Instead, many of the hearings were held just a few weeks before the deadline, reducing the likelihood that any meaningful changes could come out of them. Waiting until the last minute did end up killing the opportunity for negotiations, said Kathay Feng, executive director of California Common Cause, an open-government group that supported the 2014 changes. For the initiative reforms to work, she said lawmakers will have to learn a new role, and that is to play the role of facilitator of discussions and negotiations and not just one of the warring parties. CALmatters is a nonprofit journalism venture dedicated to exploring state policies and politics. Blood centers are facing a summer shortage in Southern California and across the country, with the drop in donations leaving a critically low one- to two-day supply at a major blood bank. That might not be enough blood if the region were hit by another catastrophe like the Dec. 2 terrorist attack or the mass shooting in Orlando last month, a blood center official said. The American Red Cross in Southern California made an emergency appeal for blood donors after its nationwide average of red blood cells dipped slightly below the normal five-day stockpile. An official with LifeStream which provides blood to more than 80 hospitals in Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange, Los Angeles and Imperial counties said its one- to two-day supply would make it tough to provide enough blood in a big emergency. http://launch.newsinc.com/js/embed.js var _ndnq = _ndnq || []; _ndnq.push([embed]); The donation surge that comes immediately after a calamity wont help the community where tragedy strikes that day because of a two-day processing delay. By the time that happens, its too late, said Dr. Rick Axelrod, medical director and president/chief executive officer of LifeStream, a private, not-for-profit blood bank set up by Riverside and San Bernardino county medical societies in 1951. LifeStream already is importing blood from other independent blood banks through a national organization, Americas Blood Centers. In an emergency, LifeStream would ask neighboring centers to send blood, especially universal type O, by road. They often can because a crisis spurs blood donations nationwide and inventories would soon be replenished. Yet supplies at other blood banks, including the Red Cross, may be too low now to help or have too little type O blood, Axelrod said. We have been working with some of our partners to get some extra blood in the region, but there isnt a lot available, he added. PEOPLE NEED IT The Red Cross has had a national shortage since July 4, said Tony Briggs, the organizations regional communications director for Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties. Blood supply numbers fluctuate daily. No figures were available for the Red Cross Southern California region, he added. At about 2 p.m. Thursday, July 21, 19-year-old Jonas Pinon of Riverside was among seven people giving blood or blood components at LifeStreams Riverside Donor Center on Van Buren Boulevard. The freight company package handler began giving blood during high school to help his community and because his mother received blood after a miscarriage years ago. She wouldnt be living if she didnt have blood donors to donate her blood type, he said, squeezing a red rubber heart with his right hand to send platelets and plasma streaming into plastic bags hanging beside him. People need it, and if I have it, I want to be part of the solution and help people, Pinon added. The Red Cross supplies about half the blood that hospitals use throughout the country. Independent blood banks such as LifeStream collect and provide the other half. Nationally, an average 4 percent of a U.S. communitys residents donates blood. Urban areas such as those in Southern California always have fewer donors than rural areas like Iowa, Indiana and Nebraska. In the Inland region, about 2.5 percent of people give blood, Axelrod said. SUMMER SLUMP Supplies typically drop each summer when people go on vacation and school is out. Donating blood just isnt on many peoples minds now, said LifeStream spokesman Don Escalante. LifeStreams inventory, which needs 500 daily collections to serve hospitals and maintain the banks five-day supply, decreases by a third each summer. High school students donate 20 percent and Coachella Valley snowbirds donate 10 percent. The supply fell by about 3 percent after new U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules took effect May 23 to help protect blood recipients from the Zika virus and to protect male donors from losing too much iron, Axelrod said. Briggs agreed the situation is a bit worse than the usual summer drop, but he couldnt say why. Blood centers are trying to recruit new donors or appeal to those who havent given blood in a year or two to help increase the supply. Were trying to make sure we have the right amount of blood on the shelves for an emergency, Briggs said. An Orlando blood bank asked LifeStream to send blood after the June 12 nightclub shooting. They literally didnt have enough for that tragedy, Escalante said. Unfortunately, we were unable to do so because of our shortage. Our priority has to be for our hospitals and our patients. Contact the writer: 951-368-9444 or shurt@pressenterprise.com How good are you at using Disneys Fastpass? Disneys ride reservation system provides fans the chance to skip a lot of lines at the Disneyland Resort. Many annual passholders and experienced fans have become experts at using Fastpass to maximize the number of rides and shows that they can get to on each visit to the parks. Smart visitors make a trip to a Fastpass machine their first stop of the day, to grab return times to a popular ride even before heading into other empty queues when the park opens. They also know exactly when they can collect their next Fastpass, in order to skip as many lines as possible during the day. But what local fans have learned about Fastpass at Disneyland wont necessarily help them at other Disney theme park resorts around the world. Fastpass operates differently at each resort, and given Disneys fondness for standardizing its theme park operations (notice how many souvenir bags now say Disney Parks instead of Disneyland?), fans might wonder if some of those features might one day come to Anaheim, too. DISNEYLAND: Do single rider lines help shorten waits at theme parks? The Walt Disney World Resort started replacing Fastpass with Fastpass+ in late 2013. Under Fastpass+, visitors can hold return times for up to three attractions at once. Plus, they can choose return times and make those reservations before getting to the park. Disney Worlds registered hotel guests can make Fastpass+ reservations up to 60 days before their visit while annual passholders and day guests can make reservations up to 30 days in advance. To use Fastpass+, there are no more of those paper return time tickets familiar to Disneyland fans. Instead, you schedule your return times using Disney Worlds smartphone app, or by logging into an account on your computer. Your return times are associated directly with your theme park ticket, which contains an RFID chip that allows you to tap it at the front gate and each attraction for entrance. By allowing you to bank three return times in advance, Fastpass+ frees you from having to rush to collect a popular Fastpass as soon as you enter the park. Other Disney resorts continue to use paper return time tickets, but Disneyland Paris now uses a 30-minute return time window, instead of the 60 minutes currently used at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. That can cause problems. On my last visit to Paris, I ended up with Fastpasses to both Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain in the same 30-minute return window. I had to hightail it through Fantasyland after riding Big Thunder to make it to Space Mountain on time. Disney Worlds Fastpass+ system eliminates the possibility of such overlaps, which also happen at Disneyland from time to time, even if you do have an extra 30 minutes to get to both places. In Japan, at Tokyo Disneyland, its pretty much impossible to get two Fastpasses for the same time, because its often impossible to get two Fastpasses on the same day. The first time I visited Tokyo Disneyland, I was surprised to see all the Fastpass kiosks covered and closed when I arrived (straight from the airport) at 10:30 am. I wondered if there had been some system failure, but soon learned that the reason that all the Fastpass kiosks were closed was because guests had all ready claimed all the return times for the day! Tokyo Disneyland fans are the worlds experts at visiting Disney theme parks. They dont mess around. Everyone knows to rope drop the parks, and everyone knows how to use the Fastpass system. If youre smart, early and lucky you might pick up a second Fastpass two hours after grabbing your first at park open. But thats it. So if you ever get frustrated trying to get a Fastpass at Disneyland, just be thankful that youre not at Tokyo Disneyland. In that crowd, youd never have a chance. Robert Niles is the founder and editor of ThemeParkInsider.com. Follow him on Twitter @ThemePark. RELATED POLL: Do single rider lines help with crowd control at theme parks? DISNEYLAND: New Luxury hotel planned New Soarin Around the World debuts at Disney California Adventure Whats really going on at the Democratic National Convention? Several Inland delegates in Philadelphia wrote diaries about their experiences. They have been edited for space and clarity. Here are their observations about events during the day on Monday. Angelov Farooq, Riverside, Hillary Clinton delegate: I am grateful for all of the support from the 41st congressional district and honored to represent our community at this historic Democratic convention. The essence of the speeches throughout the evening have focused on embracing the growing diversity of our county as an asset and an aspirational vision to transcend the areas where improvement is necessary. This theme is directly evident to everyone watching the convention but what might not be clear is the background on some of the more controversial topics related to Day 1 of the convention. As a result, I will focus on sharing insights on these matters. The resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, as chair of the DNC, commanded all of our attention upon the Sunday arrival in Philadelphia. The overall timing is unfortunate but there is wide consensus, among Clinton and Sanders delegates, that this decision was absolutely necessary. It seems that the media has been focusing on the potential motivations for the leak of the DNC correspondences but delegates are more concerned with the fact that this nature of communication was even occurring at all. It is unacceptable and there must be a strong demonstration of accountability. Every morning our California delegation convenes for breakfast together and supporters of Senator Sanders disrupted several speakers including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and California Secretary of State Alex Padilla. I had gotten the sense that there was a genuine effort from both sides to come together prior to the convention but these demonstrations at the California breakfast were a prelude to the broader contention on the convention floor. California is the main source of those delegate protests but these expressions need to be framed in context. Many delegates for Sen. Sanders informed me that their objective is to continue advocating for the maximum progressive agenda. They shared with me that their concerns are to an internal audience of the Democratic Party so that the agenda continues to advance for future election cycles beyond Senator Sanders candidacy. The media seems to generalize that this behavior is purely indicative of a deep fracture in the Party when it is a minority. Paul Simon singing Bridge over Troubled Water, as a Sanders supporter, was a powerful symbolic gesture that resonated across the delegates. The video footage that featured Donald Trump, in his own words, serve as the backdrop of the unifying objective moving forward. Sen. Sanders and First Lady Michelle Obama are still scheduled to speak today and their message will only underscore the sense of value to be stronger together. Sen. Cory Booker was sensational, as highlight of the day, with a soaring speech that galvanized the delegates to rise beyond the dissent. RELATED Democratic leadership has no compass, Inland GOP leader says Follow the convention LIVE Thoughts from Inland Bernie Sanders delegates Sanders, Clinton supporters clash at California delegation breakfast Riverside County Republican Party Chairman Scott Mann has been asked to offer observations on the Democratic National Convention. Manns thoughts: What an incredible development on day one of the Democratic National Convention. The entire convention, all speakers, and Secretary Clintons campaign itself have been undermined by the hacking of the DNCs computer system revealing an overt and deliberate subversion of Sen. Sanders campaign by pro-Clinton, old-guard leadership who will stop at nothing to get her elected. The hacking of the DNCs server and the deliberate activity perpetrated upon the Sanders campaign by pro-Clinton leadership highlights how serious Secretary Clintons server breach truly was. More importantly, it truly reveals her irresponsibility and flawed judgment, and demonstrates that she will employ any and all tactics to steal this election and disenfranchise the electorate. The question I have for Secretary Clinton and Sen. Sanders supporters is this are you feeling burned yet? Like molasses, the irony here is thick, dark, and sticky. In a span of a few short hours, DNC Chair Wasserman-Schultz gets fired (then gets hired) over an e-mail scandal. Secretary Clinton not only escapes prosecution for similar activity, but seems to be poised to accept her partys nomination for president. I wonder what JFK would think of his party today? A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. John F. Kennedy. The Democratic Party has lost steerageway and is headed for a rudderless breakup on the shoals of our Republic. Its leadership has no compass. RELATED Inland delegate for Hillary Clinton reflects on Day One Follow the convention LIVE Thoughts from Inland Bernie Sanders delegates Sanders, Clinton supporters clash at California delegation breakfast A transient man was arrested Monday morning, July 25, on suspicion of assaulting a Hemet store manager while stealing candy bars and soft drinks. Employees of the Family Dollar store at 2249 E. Florida Ave in the Hemet Shopping Center called police about 9 a.m., claiming that a man was actively assaulting the store manager and the manager was bleeding,' according to a Hemet Police Department news release. When officers arrived, they saw the suspect later identified as 20-year-old Jaime Lopez jumping over a wall into the playground of the Trinity Lutheran Church on South Columbia Street, the news release said. Thats where officers took Lopez into custody without incident. The stolen items candy bars and soft drinks were recovered, and Lopez was identified by the Family Dollar employees as the robbery suspect. The store manager suffered minor injuries in the robbery, the news release said. Update: The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for this killing, the Associated press reports. Two attackers invaded a church Tuesday during morning Mass near the Normandy city of Rouen, killing an 84-year-old priest by slitting his throat and taking hostages before being shot and killed by police, French officials said. Another person inside the church was seriously injured and is hovering between life and death, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. Police managed to rescue three other people inside the church in the small northwestern town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Brandet told reporters, and the two attackers were killed outside the church. The identities of the attackers and motive for the attack are unclear, according to a French security official who was not authorized to be publicly named. Brandet said the RAID special intervention force was searching the perimeter of the church ahead of entering for possible explosives and terrorism investigators had been summoned. The investigations are ongoing. There are still unknowns, Brandet said. There are dogs, explosive detectors and bomb disposal services and as long as there are still unknowns, the judicial police cannot get inside the site. Its a dramatic situation. It was the first known attack inside a French church in recent times. One was targeted last year, but the attack never was carried out. The anti-terrorism division of the Paris prosecutors office immediately opened an investigation. French President Francois Hollande traveled to the town. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve was also visiting. Dominique Lebrun, the archbishop of Rouen, confirmed the death of 84-year-old Rev. Jacques Hamel. I cry out to God, with all men of good will. And I invite all non-believers to unite with this cry, Lebrun wrote in a statement from Krakow, Poland, where Pope Francis was visiting. The Catholic Church has no other arms besides prayer and fraternity between men. France is currently on high alert after an attack in Nice on Bastille Day July 14 that killed 84 people and a string of deadly attacks last year claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 147 others. France is also under a state of emergency and has extra police presence after the Nice attack, where man barreled his truck down the citys famed Promenade des Anglais, mowing down holiday crowds. Islamic State extremists have urged followers to attack French churches and the group is believed to have planned at least one church attack earlier. In April 2015, an Algerian student who was arrested after shooting himself in the leg was found with heavy weapons, bulletproof vests and documents linked to Islamic State. He is charged with killing a young woman inside her car the same day. According to French authorities, the suspect, Sid Ahmed Ghlam, was sent by the Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud to attack a church in Villejuif, just outside of Paris. A cell directed by Abaaoud later carried out the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead and the March 22 attacks in Brussels that killed 32 people. Power lines wont be running through a Jurupa Valley housing project under a deal that removes one obstacle to the transmission lines proposal. Riverside and Southern California Edison reached an agreement last week with the home developer. An overhead transmission line that would have gone through Lennar Homes planned 466-home Riverbend project south of 68th Street and east of the 15 will now avoid the development. Under the agreement, which the Riverside City Council was set to announce Tuesday night, July 26, a 2-mile portion of the power line will be built underground and on city right-of-way instead of through the 211-acre housing project. 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. Lennar had filed a protest to the power line project with the California Public Utilities Commission, which is reviewing the application. As a result of the agreement, it will now withdraw its protest, the agreement states. Donald Johnson, principal manager overseeing the project for Edison, said that objection was one of the key issues to resolve for the parties. George Hanson, engineering manager for the Riverside Public Utilities, called the pact a positive step forward. A Lennar representative could not be reached for comment. The agreement does not resolve differences with Jurupa Valley, where opposition has been strong since before the community became a city in 2011. About half the project would be in each city. Our question is why are they even coming through (Jurupa Valley) at all if there are other alternatives that would avoid it, which theyve discarded long ago, Jurupa Valley City Manager Gary Thompson said. Jurupa Valley officials say the project would do irreparable economic harm to the city because its path includes an area planned for major retail and commercial development. Project backers hope the agreement will bolster their chances with the the public utilities commission, which has sought more information from the utility before deeming its application complete. Jurupa Valley has asked that the application be dismissed. The decision to bury the utilities is expected to increase costs, though its not yet clear by how much, Johnson said. Edison ratepayers will shoulder the projects cost, he said. Contact the writer: 951-368-9558 or ighori@pressenterprise.com The U.S. Forces Korea will deploy new PAC-3 missiles with intercept altitude about twice as high as the current ones here next year, a source said Monday. The move aims to quell criticism that the controversial Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery to be deployed here will only defend U.S. equipment and personnel but do little to keep Seoul safe. The source said the USFK will deploy PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptors "in response to the mounting nuclear and missile threats from North Korea." The USFK currently has 64 PAC-2 and PAC-3 missiles at its bases in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, and Waegwan, North Gyeongsang Province. The PAC-3 MSE's intercept altitude is 40 km, twice as high as the existing PAC-3 missiles'. Its accuracy has also been improved with enhanced rocket engines and missile control fins. The U.S. Army signed a contract on the purchase of PAC-3 MSE missiles worth US$611 million with Lockheed Martin in 2014. Once they are deployed, the USFK will have a three-stage missile defense system ranging from PAC-3 to PAC-3 MSE to the THAAD to intercept incoming ballistic missiles at altitudes of 40 to 150 km. Re: The wrong idea for government and religion [Opinion, July 23]: I would like to thank you and congratulate you on your intelligent rebuttal of the First Amendment Defense Act. Indeed, we can practice any form of religion that we choose, but should not ask the government to impose our religious views or interactions with other people. This has been stressed by the documents our country signed with Barbary Coast in 1796 known as the Treaty of Tripoli. This is the only official document ever signed by the United States stating whether the principles of our government were based on religion. It plainly said that no, they were not. Thus, even though the majority of the people belong to a religion, our government is based on secular principles. Jerry Lassoff Hemet Thomas Jeffersons view of the wall separating church and state is actually more about keeping the state out of the church than the other way around, as the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which he authored in 1779, states: No man shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities. In my opinion, this reads like the First Amendment Defense Act. Michael Sanchez Hemet Creative capitalism Re: Uber, Lyft offer options to carless drivers [Business, July 23]: That is creative capitalism at work. Thirty-five years ago I spent some time in Taiwan. Noticing that something like 90 percent of all cars on the crowded roads of Taipei were taxis, I asked a police officer I had met why there were so many. He told me that private ownership of cars for personal use carried high taxes. However, if the car was a taxi, it was exempt. As I continued to observe, it became apparent that many taxis were being used for personal family businesses. Proving again that capitalism works and makes people creative. Larry Palmer Norco An 18-year-old has been arrested on suspicion of shooting a woman to death on Interstate 10 between Indio and Blythe on Sunday, July 24. UPDATE: Man arrested in I-10 killing pleads not guilty to involuntary manslaughter Riverside County sheriffs deputies were called about 5:45 p.m. to I-10 about two miles west of Eagle Mountain Road which is about halfway between the two cities according to a news release from the Sheriffs Department. They found a woman suffering from a gunshot wound. She was air lifted to Desert Hospital, where she died. Her family told investigators that her name was Delores Baez-Meraz, that she was 57 and she lived in Chandler, Arizona. Riverside County coroners officials, using legal records, identified her as Delores Stygar, 59, of Nogales, Mexico On Monday, investigators arrested Kyler Jeffrey Arnold, 18, also of Chandler, in Blythe. Arnold was booked into the Indio Jail on suspicion of murder, jail records show. Bail was set at $1 million. Deputies ask anyone with information about the incident to contact the sheriffs central homicide unit at 760-393-3524. There is no hope for the country in the supplementary budget presented to Parliament on Monday July 25, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, the minority spokesperson on finance has said. The minister of finance, Seth Terkper, during the presentation of the supplementary budget, announced that the Government of Ghana was seeking an additional GHS1.8billion to supplement the 2016 budget for the second half of this year. He said the amount would help the government make up for its revenue shortfall. The November budget projected oil revenues at $53/barrel but oil prices are still hovering under the $50 mark, which means the expected oil revenue has not been met. In addition to the sharp fall in oil prices, technical faults that bedevilled FPSO Kwame Nkrumah in the Jubilee oil fields also frustrated oil production and gas supply, which in turn had a negative impact on expenditure. Also, the third tranche of the $918million IMF bailout money is yet to be released. Further, the delay in launching another $1bn Eurobond has also created a revenue shortfall, which needs plugging. Mr Terkper said most of the targets set by the government for 2016 were not met, thus the need for GHS1.8billion more to shore up things. According to him, tax revenue of GHS11billion fell by 6.4 per cent to GHS10.3billion, while the cash deficit increased to 2.5 per cent as against the 2.2 per cent target. According to him, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rate grew by 3.8 in 2015, while the economy grew at 4.9 by the first-quarter of 2016, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2015. But speaking in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom on Accra 100.5FM Tuesday July 26 in relation to the mid-year budget, Dr Akoto Osei said: Last year, the finance minister said we were growing at 3.9 per cent but in 2000, when the [first] NDC government was exiting office, the growth rate was 3.5 per cent. After almost sixteen years, we havent been able to reach even 4 per cent. According to him, the mid-year budget presented nothing concrete to deal with the challenges Ghanaians were saddled with. How can we deal with unemployment and economic hardship and erratic power supply that have affected several businesses? The only option now left for businesses is to lay off workers, he said on the show. 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. Featured Video Political scientist, Dr. Richard Amoako-Baah has questioned the logic behind President John Dramani Mahama's decision to reinstate nurses trainee allowances with barely four months to a crucial general poll after the ruling party strenously justified the scrapping of the policy. He believes it is not a "smart move to please the nurses after all these years" and accuses the government of indulging in "political posturing". Dr Amoako contends the current administration has proven it cannot be trusted by its decisions and wonders which "rightful thinking person will vote for the president based on that". "...What were they (NDC) waiting for? he quizzed. Government announced last week to the shock of many, its plans to reintroduce allowances for nursing trainees. The allowances were withdrawn some years back after government complained they limited intake by nursing training institutions. It was further argued that it was unfair for nursing and teacher trainees to receive allowances when other tertiary students didnt enjoy same. Since the withdrawal, the government has lauded itself for taking a prudent decision which resulted in exponential growth in enrollment figures at nursing and teacher training schools across the country, thereby expanding access nursing and teacher training. The opposition New Patriotic Party strongly kicked against the decision describing it as senseless and imposed needless hardships on students and parents. Its vice-presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has been campaigning tirelessly in nursing and teacher training institutions, promising that the allowances will be restored if given the opportunity to rule the country again. But just last week, the health ministry issued a statement saying, A Technical Committee set up by President John Mahama to review the issue of nursing students' allowances has recommended the payment of an abated allowance with a possibility to migrate them onto the students Loan Scheme. The payment which will amount to about GHC150 a month is aimed at supporting 34,500 students who are currently pursuing various levels of health professional training across the country, Health Minister, Alex Segbefia explained. The payment amount would serve as a bridging mechanism pending the amendment of the Students Loan Trust Act, to enable students in non-tertiary Health Training Institutions access loans to support their education. Political Posturing? However, speaking on NEAT FMs morning show Ghana Montie Dr Amoako Baah noted that the approach by government will not inure to the benefit of the ruling party in this year's polls. Why must they wait for them to strike before they heed to their plight? Reintroducing their allowance doesnt mean they [nurses] are going to vote for him [Prez Mahama]. If you are a government you have to be proactive. Its not all about money but sweet talks and good planning. What government did is just a political posturing. And no rightful thinking person will vote for the president based on that, 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. Featured Video Members of CAC at Abule-Ijesha in Yaba local government, Lagos state yesterday Sunday July 24th, threw their pastor Micheal Oni out of the church during the service, over disagreements on the disbursement of church funds and his monthly salary. According to a member of the church, the pastor who was recently transferred to their church from Ibadan, was demanding for a certain amount of salary which they refused to pay him. They accused him of insulting them and causing trouble in the church. "He has been giving the church problem, causing chaos in the church and fighting members, insulting and raising bad covenant between members"Badejo Adelu, a member of the church told TVC According to the pastor, the church members refused to render accounts of the church to him "I asked them that I want to see the account of the church which they failed to render. I told them they should not spend any money without approval by me, they refused". Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video There was panic at a parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God at Santos bus stop in the Isawo, Ikorodu, Lagos State, on Sunday after some gunmen walked in and abducted the pastor during the service. PUNCH Metro learnt that the pastor, identified only as Bajomo, was whisked away by the gunmen, who came to the church as if they were new members. Our correspondent learnt that the pastor, who was abducted around 7am, was the first to reach the parish and was preparing for a workers meeting which usually preceded the Sunday service. It was gathered that when the other members arrived at the church, the pastor was nowhere to be found. Our correspondent gathered that the matter was reported at the Owutu Police Division. A witness, who identified herself only as Esther, said the gunmen wore attractive clothes as if they had come for the church service. She said, The pastor came earlier around 7am to prepare for a workers meeting. The shocking thing was that the men walked in quietly like new members. They dressed like people who had come to church. They had Bibles with them. They did not shoot or display any weapon. It was when they got to the pastor that they brought out their guns and ordered him to come with them. The pastor got to the church before anyone else and only three members had arrived before the abduction. We discovered after they had left that they were Ijaw militants. They have taken away our pastor. Some members, after the incident, went to the pastors house to inform his family members. It is a sad occurrence in our area that residents are being abducted, raped, assaulted and even killed every day. It is a problem that has been left to become a calamity. I think the state government and the police really need to do something about these recurring incidents. We are at the mercy of the Ijaw boys. Our correspondent learnt that the Sunday service did not hold at the parish as a result of the pastors abduction. The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, said she would get back to our correspondent on the matter. She, however, had yet to get back as of press time. The RCCG Head, Media and Public Relations, Pastor Segun Adegbiji, confirmed the abduction. He said the church would invite Gods anger on those who troubled its members and pastors. He said, RCCG will not take abduction or murder of our pastors and members any more. We like to warn murderers and abductors that God will show up with anger and fire. He will consume them speedily. Source: Daily Guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Sundays heavy downpour left parts of Tamale, the Northern Regional capital, flooded, especially Kulnyevilla and the Sagnarigu Districts. Azaara Alhassan, 68, a trader, was reported missing and her dead body was Monday morning found in a different community. She was reportedly coming back from the market when the incident happened in the Kulnyevilla community. The body of the woman had since been handed over to the family for burial in accordance with Islamic faith. The rains, which started in the early hours of the day, left areas like Sawaba, a suburb of Dungu in the Sagnarigu District, heavily flooded as well as Shishegu and Kulnyevilla. About 70 households were affected, with properties worth over thousands of Ghana cedis destroyed. Many residents have also been displaced. Nyankpala, the premier campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS), was not spared. Most market women were trapped on their way home and had to take shelter in nearby houses until the rains stopped. The Ghana Fire Service personnel, who went out on a rescue mission to assist affected victims, had a tough time due to the bad road network to some of the affected areas. The Sagnarigu District Nadmo Coordinator, Mr. Sulemana Musah, told DAILY GUIDE that about 20 staff had been dispatched to the affected areas to ascertain the extent of damage caused by the rains. Source: Daily Guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-ho briefly shook hands on the sidelines of the Asian Regional Forum in Vientiane, Laos on Monday. It was the first face-to-face encounter between the two foreign ministers since Ri took the post. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se (above) and his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-ho (below) arrive at Wattay International Airport in Vientiane, Laos on Sunday. /Yonhap A Foreign Ministry official said Ri and his entourage were heading out to a bilateral meeting and passed Yun, "creating a natural environment for the encounter." Yun extended his hand first. The two muttered a polite formula but there was no further exchange of words between them. A bodyguard wears a stun gun at his waist in Vientiane, Laos on Sunday. /Yonhap The ARF was Ri's first international meeting as foreign minister, and unlike his predecessors he seems to have a more active style. As soon as he arrived in Vientiane he headed straight to a meeting with Laotian President Bounnhang Vorachith. He returned briefly to his hotel room and proceeded to meet Laotian Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith. His main aim seems to have been to water down a statement by the participating foreign ministers criticizing North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The host nation wields significant power over the statement. One diplomatic source said, "Ri Yong-ho appears to have gone to Laos with a brief to weaken international cooperation bolstering sanctions against the North." The largely rural communist country is North Korea's closest ally in ASEAN and could be influenced to some degree." Laotian security wielded tazers at South Korean reporters who attempted to approach Ri for comments. Prophetess Faith K. Owusu-Bonsu, President of Awesome Grace Network (AGN), has called on African leaders to seek the face of God to fulfill their destiny. She said ignorance, greed and spiritual blindness have been the bane of Africas leadership. Prophetess Owusu-Bonsu made the call when she addressed the third edition of the churchs yearly conference held in Accra. It was dubbed: Africa in Prayer and Praise of Our Maker, Africa, your redemption is now. The purpose was to intercede for Ghana and other African countries to seek the face of God. It was attended by multinationals from Ghana, Code dIvoire, Central African Republic, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Gabon, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso among other countries. Prophetess Owusu-Bonsu said: After more than half a century of independence and self-rule, there is no improvement in the lives of the average African, because the new political leaders have still remained ignorant, greedy and spiritually blind like their predecessors, she said. She said there was the need to share the truth with the new political leaders that took over from the traditional leaders who were the custodians of the people and their resources. She said the church which is empowered by God to lead the transformation of society and nations unfortunately seems to be sleeping. In a sermon, Rev Dr Emmanuel James Owusu-Bonsu, the Founder of AGN said it is time for Africa to depend on God in all her ways to bring spiritual sanity into the continent. He said the late Kwame Nkrumahs declaration: Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked with the total liberation of the African continent, though very potent and profound has spiritual implications. The African Union, he said, has not succeeded with its objectives because the knowledge of man is not enough to propel it to the desired height and therefore needed a spiritual backing. Rev Owusu-Bonsu said there is the chance for Africa to regain his lost glory, adding that the Africa is the cradle of civilization. He said if Africa decides to worship God alone or if it had depended on God from the onset before the arrival of the colonial masters it would have been more blessed. Rev Owusu-Bonsu said Africans should take bold decisions and change their ways and turn to God and make Him the centerpiece of all their activities for Africa to obtain its God-given prosperity. The clergy, he said, should lead the crusade to redeem Africa from its spiritual, social, economic and political doldrums by preaching salvation and repentance. African leaders should understand that there is a spiritual dimension to rulership and unless they take note of this we will continue to remain in the dark, he said. He disclosed that the conference would be replicated in all African countries for intercessory prayers for the leaders of the continent. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The opposition New Patriotic Partys (NPP) Parliamentary Candidate for the Gambaga/Nalerigu Constituency in the Northern Region, Hajia Alima Mahama, has slammed President John Dramani Mahama following his call on Mamprusis to ignore the NPPs running mate, Dr. Mahamoud Bawumia, and vote for him at the 2016 polls. President Mahama made the plea when he addressed the chiefs and people of Mamprugu land as part of his Accounting to the people tour of the Northern Region. In a sharp rebuttal in a Citi News interview in Nalerigu, the former Minister for Women and Childrens Affairs, described President Mahamas call as an act of desperation and implored her kinsmen to massively vote the NPP at the polls. As a former Member of Parliament for the Gambaga/Nalerigu Constituency who has staged a comeback in the parliamentary race, Hajia Alima asserted that President Mahama has failed the people of Mamprugu land. She said a Nana Addo/Bawumia government will transform the Mamprugu land to an appreciable level as demonstrated by the erstwhile Kufour led NPP administration. She added that, Ghanaians are fed up with President Mahamas political rhetoric and will kick him out at the polls. She is optimistic the NPP will win the 2016 elections with overwhelming parliamentary majority with or without a credible voters register. WeII resist manipulation of election results Hajia Alima She nonetheless cautioned the Electoral Commission against any attempt to skew the register in favour of the governing NDC. She served notice that the NPP will resist any calculated attempt to manipulate the election results. Hajia Alima insisted that, the EC must demonstrate fairness and neutrality in all processes leading to the elections. She vowed to wrestle the seat from the NDC to accomplish her unfinished agenda in the constituency. According to her, women empowerment and girl child education which she started as a former MP are part of her priority areas. She is in the race with her direct cousin on the ticket of the NDC called Alhaji Baba Issifu. Meanwhile, the Coalition of Mamprugu Constituency Executives of the NPP in a statement copied Citi News, condemned President Mahama for attempting to denigrate Dr. Alhaji Mahamadu Bawumia. The statement signed by the Walewale Constituency NPP Secretary, Simon Ali, cautioned President Mahama against tribal politics. Below is the full statement STOP THE DIRTY TRIBAL POLITICS AGAINST BAWUMIA The coalition of Mamprugu constituency Executive of the New Patriotic Partys attention has been drawn to news headline on the 13th July 2016 edition of citifmonline.com Ignore Bawumia and vote for me.John Mahama. The coalition wishes to state that, the people of mamprugu are decending and well informed people who not vote on tribal lines but on achievements of governments and on various policies and programmes of political parties. The people of mamprugu vote on major developmental indicators such as 1. Improvement on their road infrastructure. 2. Access to health care. 3. Provision of safe portable drinking water. 4. Improvement in agriculture especially the cotton industry which has died a natural death as all the cotton gineries have now turned to worshipping centres. We are by this statement calling in the president to invest his energies in revamping the collapsed Agro processing factories such as the Zuwaringu meat factory, the Kparigu tomatoes factory, the cotton gineries in Tumu, Tamale and Bolgatanga, the Sheanut processing factory in buipe to help bridge the developmental gap between the North and the south and stop the dirty tribal politics crusade is waging in the north. Source: Citi News Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video President John Dramani Mahama did the unexpected during his recent tour of the Upper East region when he on his own accord lay on a student mattress inside a new boys hostel. And the authorities of the Fumbisi Senior High Agric School in the Builsa South District, where Starr News captured the surprise, are considering making more than just a memorial out of what the president did. The hostel was among a number of projects the president commissioned and inspected during a two-day tour that also saw him cut the sod for work to begin on the Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmakom Road and the Tamne Irrigation Dam in the Garu-Tempane District among others. The president, moments after he had commissioned the hostel block, took a walk into one of the rooms which were already stuffed with bunk beds, accompanied by traditional chiefs and government officials. And in what is perhaps the first time in recorded history that a Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces has laid on a student mattress, the president sat on the edge of a metal bedstead for about 10 seconds and, then, curled up into a foetus position on a cushion with neither a pillow nor a bedspread. Applause greets surprise Applause greeted the surprise from those who saw it as the president lay down, wearing his trademark smile and dark spectacles, in a display that lasted about 40 seconds. We have not given that dormitory a name yet. I will propose the name of the president in our next board meeting. We are very happy about what has transpired. And I was just joking with some of the staff that the first-year student who is likely to lie on that bed may be a future president, the headmaster of the school, Francis Adajagsa, told Starr News. But it is yet uncertain if any student will ever use that mattress from the next academic year when the 250-bed dormitory block will be occupied for the first time. This is because the headmaster also did indicate that the school might withdraw the mattress from the dormitory and keep it as a token of remembrance. Mr. Adajagsa, who looked overjoyed for his school being the only secondary school in the region to host the president throughout that tour, appeared to be equally over the moon as he was also privileged to sit next to the president on a red-carpeted dais that held about 15 people. Among the notable government officials on the dais with the president were the Minister of Communications, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, the Head of the Citizens Complaints Unit and parliamentary candidate of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak as well as the Member of Parliament for Builsa South and Minister of State at the Presidency, Alhassan Azong. Welcoming the crowd, the headmaster singled out Dr. Clement Apaak for a shower of praise he said he deserved for the role he reportedly played in the infrastructural growth the school had seen recently. Im happy to inform you that the school has received its fair share of projects which with the help of our son, Dr. Clement Apaak, has increased access to secondary education in the last two years. And we have witnessed massive infrastructural development in that area, the headmaster said, as Mr. Azong, wearing a smock and sitting two rows behind the president, bowed his head and turned his eyes to and fro in attentive silence. The projects mentioned are still under construction and they include a 2-storey administrative block with a library and an ICT laboratory, a 2-storey boys dormitory, a 1-storey girls dormitory, a dining hall complex with a kitchen and a 4-unit staff quarters. Reasons for the omission were not immediately known as the MP maintained his silence even after the headmaster had finished with an address that took about 4 minutes. But many believed it may have been induced by earlier protests staged by an angry group believed to be NDC youths who could be heard all over the place with placards, openly questioning the involvement of Mr. Azong, who is a member of the Peoples National Convention (PNC), in the NDC Government. The omission obviously was not to say the MP had not done anything for the development of his area, but, as observable facts suggest, it was only a smart posture employed by the headmaster to prevent further protests from turning the school's rapture into ruin. Dr. Apaak, who is in a tight race against Mr. Azong for the seat as the 2016 polls near, may not care much who rejects his political opponent. After all, the open rejection his rival suffered, and the baffling omission that followed soon after, would mean nothing else for him but a boosted approval, especially from the voting public. Wild jubilations as Mahama promises tractor At the core of the headmasters speech was a unanimous desire for one of the major assets that define the identity and also awaken the potential of any agricultural school. A tractor. And the schools head did not fail to ask for it. The school has a vast parcel of land reserved for farming and said to require at least one tractor to boost up food production to a level where the institution can rely on harvests sold to generate internal funds. Your Excellency, like Oliver Twist, we wish to state that we shall be grateful if you could help us with a tractor to enhance our performance as an agricultural school. We equally appeal for a bus to facilitate movement of staff and students for competitions and field trips, the headmaster requested in front of an electrified crowd of teachers, students and members of the surrounding communities many of whom said they had not seen the president face to face until that day. In response, President Mahama, who extolled the school as gender-friendly because it has an encouraging number of female students with 740 girls and 690 boys, promised to satisfy the tractor proposal. Let me commend your headmaster. Im proud of this school and Ive acceded to his request. Im going to ask the Minister of Food and Agriculture to donate an agricultural tractor to your school, the president announced, as loud cheers and applause from the crowd, punctuated with the blowing of vuvuzelas, trailed the assurance. It was an unrestrained rhapsody in the crowd soon again when the president threw a challenge back at the school as he added with laughter: And I will come myself at the end of the harvest season to see what youve been able to do with the tractor. Source: starrfmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video On Tuesday July, 24 2012, at about 2:15p.m., the entire world was thrown into a state of mourning. The death was reported of his Excellency John Evans Atta Mills, president of the republic of Ghana. This was the first time a sitting president of the Republic of Ghana passed on. He was a great man. President John Evans Atta Mills was without an iota of doubt, a unique African leader. Even as Ghana continues to mourn because of the unfortunate passing of Professor J.E.A. Mills, Pulse.com.gh brings you five of his top memorable quotes. 1. "I have always said that I will be President for all Ghanaians whether they voted for me or not, and without consideration for which part of the country they come from. It will be my duty as President to heal wounds and unite our dear nation. I intend to pursue relentlessly all avenues for entrenching peace and unity in all parts of the country as I am enjoined by the constitution to do." 2. "As we approach the December Presidential and Parliamentary elections, it is my prayer and hope that we shall continue to preserve and maintain the peace, remain united and focused as people with one destiny. We can hardly achieve meaningful development if the citizenry on whose behalf we are managing the country do not support and cooperate with us." 3. "I will not condone actions that will pitch one citizen against the other as a way of settling political scores. That is unacceptable and will not be the Ghanaian way of doing things. The Ghanaian way should be that, under the Rule of Law, and with the benchmark of due process, any violations of the laws of Ghana will be addressed in the manner that is fair, balanced, and right in the sight of God." 4. "As a people, our greatest achievements have come when we have lived up to the ideals that unite rather than divide us and have attached ourselves to a common sense purpose. Let this day not just see us enjoying just the holiday part of it; let us find time to reflect on the way forward as we strive to build a Better Ghana. We must reflect on the legacies that our forebears bequeathed to us; consider what we have added to that legacy, and commit ourselves to leaving a solid legacy for the generations after us." 5. "As a nation, we have no other option but to sustain the peace we are enjoying in order to broaden the frontiers of our democracy and development. At no point in time should we take the peace we are enjoying for granted. Our fallen heroes and Founding Fathers toiled to give us this dear nation and we dare not destroy what they have toiled to build. Standing here every 6th March as President since 2009, and watching our youth partake actively in this celebration, there is no doubt in my mind that they are filled with dreams; big dreams of taking over from us and becoming responsible adultsWe must not destroy their dreams." Source: pulse.com.gh Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Tamale North parliamentary nominee of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Alhassan Suhuyini, has issued an apology to students of the Northern School of Business (NOBISCO) and the Ghana Education Service (GES) for veering into politics when he recently interacted with them. In a statement issued Tuesday July 26, Mr Suhuyini said he deemed it fit to apologise to the students and the GES because his comments veered into politics contrary to rules of the GES. Mr Suhuyini made the comments as he presented relief items to the school towards renovation of its Gbewaa boys dormitory, which was decimated by fire. The former Radio Gold broadcaster however, took issue with some media houses over the manner of their reportage of his comments. I, however, find some of the headlines by the media, especially Citi FM disingenuous. How they chose a headline that suggests that I said "Northern Region should vote for Mahama like Volta Region did for Rawlings" [is] befuddling when, indeed, they would have still been correct if the headline was that "Northern region should vote for Mahama like Ashanti Region did for President Kufuor". Because I suggested so in the same sentence. Why they chose the former and not the latter may seem nuanced, but not to a clever mischievous political reporter. Below is Mr Suhuyinis full unedited statement: I apologise to the Northern School of business, the Ghana education service and to the District chief executive and the officers of the national disaster management organisation. The Northern School of business and GES because parts of my address to the students during the presentation of disaster items ventured into politics which is against the GES codes. Officials of the national disaster management because the media reports have under highlighted the prompt response of the organisation when I approached it to seek support for the disaster affected students. I only assisted in transporting the goods and in supporting the district chief executive and District NADMO officials to do the presentation to the school. I, however, find some of the headlines by the media, especially citifm disingenuous. How they chose a headline that suggests that I said "Northern Region should vote for Mahama like Volta Region did for Rawlings" befuddling when, indeed, they would have still been correct if the headline was that "Northern region should vote for Mahama like Ashanti Region did for President Kufuor". Because I suggested so in the same sentence. Why they chose the former and not the latter may seem nuanced, but not to a clever mischievous political reporter. Meanwhile it is true that Volta Region Voted for Jerry Rawlings and Ashanti Region stood by John Kufuor. Central Region stood by John Mills before he could win and Eastern Region has always been won by Nana Addo but comparing the 2008 results of the NDC when John Mills was candidate to the 2012 election results when John Mahama was candidate it is again correct to say the NDC lost in the President's home region. I am hardly a conformist. I believe in speaking out my mind on issues I believe are right especially when the majority for fear of loud unprincipled condemnation victimisation, or isolation are unable to say it loud. What did I say that the Minorities in the USA did not say to our cheers and applause when they rooted for President Barack Obama in 2008 and 12? What did I say that the Minorities in SA did not say to our cheers and applause when they stood with Nelson Mandela? What did I say that the people of Kentucky did not say about Mohammed Ali? What did I say that Hillary Clinton did not say to New Yorkers or Donald Trump did not say to his home town folks in the just ended primaries in the USA? If what I said is not civil I'm sorry I read from the pages of all these people named above. Dr Mahamud Bawumia recently asked Muslims to vote for his party because he is a Muslim and I disagreed with him ONLY to the extent that he suggested that will lead to the resolution of challenges confronting Muslims and muslim communities in the country. I did not in my call suggest that a vote for President Mahama is a guarantee that people of Northern extraction will have all their problems resolved. When we support our national clubs like kotoko, RTU or Hearts of Oak to win games it is not because we hope bonuses the playing body will receive will make it possible for us to pay our wards school fees or pay our utility bills. Yes politics is different but not insulated from sentimentalism else NDC would have had less opposition in Ashanti Region and NPP would have had appreciable support in Volta Region based on their efforts at developing these regions when they have political power. Finally, when we root for our old schools and show our love, it is not as if we hate colleagues from other schools. My love for my Alma matter Ghanasco doesn't necessarily suggest I hate Tamasco. Your love for Accra Aca or Prempeh College is not an indication of your hatred for Presec or Mfatsipim. So to be proud of my heritage as a Northerner should not be misconstrued to mean hatred for people from other parts of the country. After all we are all proud patriotic Ghanaians with beautiful cultural, social and religious identities that in harmony have been preserved and transmitted over the years. I'm called Suhuyini, you are called Kwesi, Osei, Kodjo, Konlan because of your traditional heritage and there's nothing wrong with that. It is wrong when you disrespect and denigrate others' identities and suggest that on that basis alone they are not worthy of certain privileges in life not when you celebrate yours. Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Audio Attachment: Listen to Kwesi Pratt Finance Minister, Seth Tekper presented a mid-year budget review and a supplementary budget to Parliament on Monday. The Minister asked Parliament to approve GHC 1.8 billion to help run programmes and policies for the rest of the year. Mr. Tekper is however optimistic the economy is rising contrary to views by opponents that it is sinking. But Kwesi Pratt, Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper says Ghanaians should not be looking for a "heaven" anywhere in this government. According to him, there are serious problems in the economy which should not be undermined. Recounting the challenges confronting the economy, he noted that the economic problems didn't originate from the Mahama administration but it however behoves the government to put pragmatic measures in place to revamp the economy. Speaking on Peace FM's Kokrokoo, Mr. Pratt advised the managers of the economy not to "create the impression that theres a heaven somewhere. The Ghanaian economy is in serious trouble, very serious trouble which is prudent that we have to adopt a populist evaluation of the Ghanaian economy. We need to sit and ask ourselves; what ways can we adopt to pluck this economy from this quagmire. It doesnt mean that the problem is their problem but for not acting now. It doesnt also mean that the problem did not exist before they came. It doesnt mean that others who handled the problem much earlier handled the problem much better than theyre handling. That is my approach to empirical serious discussion of the national economy. 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. Featured Video Last nights Four Corners report into the abuse and mistreatment of young men in juvenile detention in the Northern Territory shocked the entire nation, and the fallout has been swift: John Elferink has been sacked from his role as Corrections Minister (he still holds other portfolios) and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has ordered a Royal Commission into the horrific abuse at the Indigenous youth custody. Its obviously not enough, but its a start. Now Dylan Voller, the 19-year-old teen whose abuse was detailed in the Four Corners report and will now become part of the Royal Commission, has penned an open letter to thank all Australians for their compassionate response, and to the Four Corners team in particular for bringing this issue to light. Posted by his lawyer Peter OBrien on Twitter, Voller wrote: I would just like to thank the whole Australian community for the support you have showed us a boys (sic) as well as our families. I would also like to take this opportunity to apologise to the community for my wrongs and I cant wait to get out and make up for them. He also thanked the ABC, Four Corners, his lawyers and the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency among others, for all the help in getting the truth out there to the public, and his family for all the support through the hard times. Dylan Voller has instructed us to release this letter: pic.twitter.com/yJoZHoAgJn Peter OBrien (@OBrienSolicitor) July 26, 2016 The ABC documented a timeline of the horrific abuse Voller has endured since age 13, when he was held up by his neck and thrown into a cell at Don Dale Youth Detention Centre. (The officer was charged but not found guilty of assault, and later had his contract renewed.) The years that follow are dotted with other violent incidents, including multiple incidences of being grabbed round the neck and forcibly stripped naked, being tear-gassed in 2014 after another inmate ran amok, and being strapped to a chair for two hours age 17. Turnbull has promised to get to the bottom of these events via the Royal Commission, but many including his lawyer are worried changes wont happen quickly enough. Three of the guards from #DonDale are now working at the Darwin Correctional Centre where Dylan is being held. Hes scared for his safety. Peter OBrien (@OBrienSolicitor) July 26, 2016 OBrien is seeking Vollers immediate release from detention. Source: Twitter. Photo: ABC. Australia has been put into a state of shock by last nights 4 Corners report on ABC, which showed us the horrendous torture and illegal treatment of young men in juvenile detention centres in the Northern Territory. Footage in the report showed boys as young as thirteen being forcefully shackled while in obvious pain, tear gassed repeatedly inside their locked cells, being verbally abused, put into disgusting and unhygienic rooms for solitary confinement and being routinely denied basic necessities. In footage shown by the ABC, guards and staff at the facility can clearly be heard encouraging each other to gas the teens, repeatedly calling one an idiot and a little fucker. One officer is heard in the footage saying hell pulverise the boy. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull this morning announced there will be a Royal Commission into the horrific abuse at NT juvenile detention centres, saying, Like all Australians, we are shocked by the report, by that evidence on Four Corners lay night. We have moved swiftly to get to the bottom of it. We need to get all the facts out as quickly as we can. We need to expose the cultural problems, the administrative problems. Now, John Elferink, who is responsible for the detention of the young boys, has been fired from his role of Corrections Minister by NT Chief Minister Adam Giles. Giles gave a press conference this afternoon, saying, Can I start by saying that anybody who saw that footage on television last night on 4 Corners would undoubtedly describe it as horrific footage. I sat and watched the footage and recognised horror through my eyes. He said that the footage on 4 Corners had been withheld from himself and many officials in government, so he first saw the footage at the same time as everyone else in Australia. I think theres been a culture of cover-up going on for many a long year. The footage we saw last night [went] back to 2010 and I predict this has gone on for a very long time. What were changing is a culture of an organisation within the youth detention system and I think weve come a long way in that time. Thats not to discredit any of that terrible footage we saw on Four Corners last night. It was terrible footage but were seeking to improve the system. Acting Commissioner of Corrections Mark Payne told press that some of the correctional officers implicated in the footage were still working with NT Corrections. A number of the staff, particularly those who have become the subject of previous investigations, a number of those staff members are no longer with us in the organisation. Theyve either been terminated in their employment or have chosen to resign. A number of staff members who may have been implicated to sustain charges, criminal or internal, remain with us. There were only two staff members identified in footage last night that still remain within the youth justice sphere. According to the ABC, one journalist asked Giles if he was personally okay with children being strapped into restraint chairs, and he wouldnt answer the question definitively: Were going to have a look at that as part of the royal commission. We will have a review into that. I cant talk about individual cases. Prison officers need the ability to be able to de-escalate issues when children are not in a calm environment within themselves and at all times those kids wellbeing is being put at the best possible place. Having said that, there is certainly footage last night, particularly the footage dating back to 2010, 2012 and 2014 where I dont think the standards have been upheld. Giles confirmed that he had now taken over the Corrections and Justice portfolio, and that Elferink would retain the Health, Children and Families and Mental Health portfolios. We will update you with all further information as it arises. Source: ABC. Photo: Facebook / John Elferink. Its been a real shit 24-hours. Stabbings, shootings, reports of horrific abuse of teens in detention, tragic untimely deaths in a shocker of a year (2016 is already being considered the antithesis of 2016s Summer of Love), its been a particularly dire couple days. So, if you want some good news instead (where you absolutely *will* believe what happens next, its called photographic evidence), read on. This is the tale of a couplea goddamn Aussie heroes who rescue a lost lil doggo from the Queensland bush by MacGyvering the absolute shit out of it. Reddit user Dangerm0use posted this ultimate of feel good stories two days ago online, and its going extremely viral. She, her husband and her dad were hiking in the bush when they came across a dog in desperate need of rescue. My husband and I took my dad to see some rock pools in a fairly secluded section of Mt Glorious National Park, she wrote. As we walked along the creek bed, we noticed a disturbance in one of the deep pools ahead. Thinking it might be a roo or a platypus, we approached quietly, only to see this forlorn little face looking back. It was honestly the saddest sight. We approached cautiously, not knowing whether this was a domesticated or wild dog. Either way, we couldnt leave it there in the freezing water. It was completely exhausted from its attempts to struggle out of the deep section it had fallen into, and theres no way it wouldve survived the night. We erred on the side of caution and armed ourselves with a BFS (big fucking stick), just in case it wanted to defend itself when we pulled it out of the water. We gently looped a rope around its head/shoulders, and with a slight struggle, dragged it out onto the rocks. The dog wasnt aggressive at all, and in fact very timidly lumbered away from us, up the bank and into the thick lantana beside the pool. As it turned away from us, we saw that she was a desexed female at some stage she mustve been domesticated. We figured if shed been someones pet, there was a chance she had been dumped or lost. Even though she wasnt interested in coming to us, we knew again that we couldnt leave her there. She was in a completely inhospitable section of bush, in a gully with cliff face and hectares of national park on one side, and a scrubby, rocky, unscalable bank up to a busy road on the other. There were also no houses within at least a 5KM radius, and no obvious way for her to make her own way out of the gully. We saw her podgy little rump disappear into the lantana, giving us no other option than to wade in after her. Because the scrub was so thick we lost sight of her. Occasionally we could hear her bashing her way up the bank, and eventually we spotted her around 10 meters up, laying low in the thick undergrowth. We approached from 3 sides, to try to keep her from escaping again. When we crept up to her hiding spot, we saw that shed made herself a little dugout in the bank, and shed even made a tunnel through the lantana, down to the waterhole. At this stage, we still werent sure if shed let us get close to her, so we sat with her for a little while to see how shed respond. She was very dejected, and obviously still exhausted. I snapped away the lantana from her little nest, and gradually got in closer, letting her get used to us being there. She was still apprehensive, but not aggressive, so after a while I took a chance and gave her a scratch on the head and she rewarded me with a lick on the hand. Despite obviously having been camped there for at least a few days, we noted that our little companion wasnt exactly lacking in mass, leading us to dub her Miss Piggy. We spent a bit more time getting acquainted with Miss Piggy, while we started to hatch a plan to get her out. The prospect of coaxing her back along the creek bed seemed pretty poor, given how tired and rotund she was, and given the difficulty of getting her round waterholes and over large rocks. We had ropes with us for climbing down waterfalls, and so figured that if we could tie her up securely, we might be able to make a run for the road above us. We created a makeshift harness with non-slip knots, and tried to coax Miss Piggy to slowly climb through the scrub and loose rocks with us. She (predictably) wasnt overly keen on that, so we set about carrying/nudging her along one person leading her and another pushing/carrying her from behind. We secured the long end of rope to some trees above, to prevent her from slipping down the bank, and tried to make some slow progress. Dangerm0use writes that the bank was extremely steep and laced with vines, making progress slow and difficult. Miss Piggy kept slipping out of her harness, meaning the author had to dive to catch her before she ran away. Miss Piggy was understandably frightened and worn out, so we sat a bit longer trying to give her some time to calm down, with lots of pats and reassurance, she wrote. The little sweetie showed her appreciation of our patience by wriggling over to me and resting her head on my leg. I hadnt wanted to be too familiar with her to this point, but she gave me the go ahead to give her a reassuring cuddle. It was becoming pretty obvious that she wouldnt be able to make it up the bank unless we carried her, and so we were throwing around options for a harness and hammock set-up, using towels and ropes. My husband had a brainwave, remembering that we had a large canvas bag in our car (15 mins walk back up the creek). We figured that if we could get her into the bag, we could MacGyver together some apparatus to transport her out. The boys scavenged a strong branch and threaded it through the handles, lifting Miss Piggy in her bag up above the lantana and vines. Rather than scramble directly up the bank, we took the path of least resistance and followed a slightly less steep angle towards the road. I didnt take any action shots because I walked in front, taking out vines and lantana to clear a path. The boys put in a mammoth effort, including the 3 meter vertical climb to the road. Miss Piggy was successfully delivered to the side of the road after about a 30 minute climb up through the bush. Note the disapproving glance at the compression sock/thong combo. During the trip home she seemed to relax a lot more. When we opened the back of the car, we were greeted with a different dog the little tail was going a mile a minute. We gave Miss Piggy some dinner, and set about seeing whether we could track down her owners. I posted on a FB page for lost pets in the area surrounding where wed found her, and miraculously, got a message about 30 mins later. The guy was from a suburb about 15KMs north of the creek where shed been hiding out. He was absolutely sure this was his dog, whod been lost since Jun 30 after wandering our of their yard. We were stoked until he referred to the dog as Bob, and our hearts sank thinking he had lost a male dog. However, he confirmed that Elly-Bobby (named after Ricky Bobby) was indeed his little girl, with various physical characteristics to prove it. Bobbys dad had mounted massive FB and poster campaigns to find her, and had been searching for hours every evening since she went missing, never giving up hope that hed find her. Bobbys happy reunion with her much loved dad. She was overwhelmed with joy to see him such a beautiful thing. We have no idea what shed been doing between 30 June and 23 Jul when we found her. Her condition was surprisingly good for a pup that had been homeless for nearly a month. We also have no idea how she came to be in such an isolated part of the bush, with no signs of injury and only basic signs of exposure. Wed speculated that perhaps she was picked up and later dumped, or that shed found a temporary home but hadnt stuck around. Whatever the story, we were just happy to have been in the right place at the right time to be able to help her. WERE NOT CRYING YOURE CRYING. (Also we are definitely 100% crying.) Source: Reddit. Photos: Reddit / Dangerm0use. DO YOU LIKE ESPRESSO MARTINIS? Of course you fucking do. This is Australia in 2016 and the only people who dont like Espresso Martinis are the ones bitching about how everybody else loves them. They might cost a bomb, but they combine coffee and alcohol and taste like goddamn rainbows, if rainbows tasted like alcoholic coffee. Well, heres some good news for ya: Sydneys getting the first ever bar dedicated to the caffeinated cocktail. Called Tuxedo (although tbqh were huge fans of the OG name, Dead Man Walking), its opening in the old Cadbury Chocolate factory in The Rocks, with the place going through a huuuuuuuge refurbishment to use all the original features including the elevator. It better be one fancy elevator, because otherwise thats worrying in the extreme. Six Espresso Martinis will be on offer, with the classic coming straight to your glasses / mouths via tap. The rest include a Cadbury Chocolate one (for obvious reasons) complete with shaved chocolate and coffee liqueur, a cold-drip coffee / 666 Pure Tasmanian Vodka one, and a rum-based / single-origin espresso one with coffee liqueur and chocolate bitters. Young Henrys are also working on a beer-based Espresso Martini, which will either be weird or wonderful but hopefully both. Food includes everything from Southern fried chicken and smoked tacos to super-food salads, and if you get bored / find yourself with too much energy (???) pool and ping-pong will be on offer. Tuxedo is slated to open August 12, but it doesnt seem to have a social media presence just yet. Keep an eye on the Kansas City Shuffle Facebook page (the owners current venture) for more info as and when. Source: Broadsheet. Photo: Getty / The India Today Group. The National Tax Service is investigating the Korean subsidiary of Chinese smartphone maker Huawei. The NTS on Monday declined to make detailed comments on the matter, but tax investigators are apparently probing overseas transfers of funds by the Korean office. The focus of the probe is whether Huawei doctored the transfer price between the Korean office and headquarters in China. NTS investigators want to see if the Korean office exported products to other overseas affiliates at low prices and imported products at prices listed higher than the actual amount to boost the balance sheets of headquarters. Huawei is the world's No. 3 smartphone maker after Samsung and Apple. The Korean subsidiary employs around 150 staff and primarily offers communications equipment to mobile phone service providers. Huawei has been at the center of controversy in several countries recently. Last month, the U.S. government ordered Huawei to reveal a cargo shipment list on suspicion that it violated regulations on exporting products to North Korea. Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei is a former People's Liberation Army officer who apparently maintains strong ties with the Chinese military. Yesterday, we reported that Lindsay Lohan had gone on an Instagram rant spree, posting images and captions about her fiance of just under a year, Russian millionaire Egor Tarabasov. In the posts, she accused him of cheating with Russian stylist Dasha Pashevkina who she referred to as the slur hooker and captioned another photo, Thanks for not coming home tonight. Fame changes people. Now, stories have emerged overnight about a dramatic altercation at Lindsays UK home in Knightsbridge neighbours phoned police after hearing Lindsay allegedly screaming that her fiance was trying to kill her. The neighbour filmed the couple on their balcony, and doing the obvious neighbourly thing, sent the footage to UK tabloid The Sun. Lohan screams her name and address across the street, begging for assistance from her neighbours: Please please please. He just strangled me. He almost killed me. Everybody will know. Get out of my house. Do it. I dare you again. Youre fucking crazy. You sick fuck. You need help. Its my house get out of my house. Im done. I dont love you anymore. You tried to kill me. Youre a fucking psycho! We are finished. No Egor youve been strangling me constantly. You cant strangle a woman constantly and beat the shit out of her and think its OK. Everybody saw you touch me. Its filmed. Get out! Get out! Police arrived to the residence ten minutes later and broke down the door in order to reach the woman in distress as reported by neighbours, but neither Lindsay nor Egor were there anymore. The police reports states no crime was committed and no arrests were made. Today, Lohan has posted another image to Instagram, begging for her privacy on the issue. She states, Unfortunately, a private matter has become more public than I can control and I would be extremely grateful if my fiance and myself could discuss our personal matters on our own. There are more important things going on in the world than our relationship. Please leave us be to solve our personal matters. I would appreciate if these speculations regarding my personal life would respectfully come to a halt. Unfortunately, a private matter has become more public than I can control and I would be extremely grateful if my fiance and myself could discuss our personal matters on our own. There are more important things going on in the world than our relationship. Please leave us be to solve our personal matters. A photo posted by Lindsay Lohan (@lindsaylohan) on Jul 25, 2016 at 10:05am PDT Oodles of Lohans followers are going pretty HAM and pointing out that it was the actress herself that made her relationship issues public on Instagram yesterday. But lets think of it this way: Yeah, famous people alleging infidelity and airing their dirty laundry on social media is a big dramatic celebritah fun time for those who love their Hollywood goss, anyway. Absolutely. But, thats a whole different thing to domestic violence claims. Once a person alleges they are struggling with domestic violence in their relationship, thats all bets off. Their safety comes first, yo. Be kind to one another that includes Lindsay Lohan. Source: Instagram / The Sun. Photo: Instagram / @lindsaylohan. Dauphin County Corner Graham Hetrick press confrence Pictured is Dauphin County Coroner Graham Hetrick Tuesday, July 28, 2015, during a press conference. (James Robinson, PennLive.com) (James Robinson) This week's episode of "The Coroner: I Speak for the Dead" was the first to involve a serial killing. The second episode of Dauphin County Coroner Graham Hetrick's forensic series, which aired Monday on Investigation Discovery, detailed a case that involved the stabbing death of a West Hanover Twp. resident. Police found 42-year-old Darlene Ewalt with stab wounds and a slashed throat early July 13, 2007, on the patio behind her house along Manor Drive. Her husband initially was a suspect. Her blood was later found on a knife that belonged to Adam Leroy Lane, a North Carolina trucker who was already sentenced to 50 years for killing a woman in New Jersey and 25 to 40 years for an attack on a teenager in Massachusetts. Authorities said Lane committed random attacks along his truck route, which "The Coroner" said often took him through Harrisburg. He later pleaded guilty to the murder of Darlene and the attempted murder of a York resident. Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover sentenced him to life imprisonment for her death and a consecutive 10- to 20-year term for the other case. The episode, however, detailed the investigation into Darlene's death chronologically from when it happened up to when Lane was arrested. Chet Gerhart called police that morning to report Darlene's death. Gerhart had been talking to Darlene at 2 a.m. about their upcoming vacation and later heard her struggling with somebody. He went over to Darlene's home to investigate and found her dead. Police ruled him out as a suspect based on phone records and his wife's alibi that he was with her. Darlene's husband and son, Todd and Nick Ewalt, were asleep in the house when the murder happened. The both of them told police that they didn't hear the struggle. Investigators did not discount them as potential suspects, though, as the television series showed them looking into their increasingly distant relationships with Darlene. Hetrick made a number of observations about Darlene's wounds throughout the episode, which he used to draw conclusions about Lane. He said the stab wound to her heart and the slash wound across her throat told him that Lane was a "disturbed individual." Hetrick could also tell from how efficient the murder was that Lane was skilled and experienced. This led Hetrick to suspect that a serial killer might be involved in Darlene's death, which was later confirmed when Lane is revealed to be her murderer. Investigators believed that Lane had been looking for a victim and chose Darlene as his victim when he saw the light on in her patio. The television series, however, did not focus solely on the investigation. It interviewed several of Darlene's family members to talk about what she was like as a person, saying that she was "a good listener" and "always had a smile on her face." It also described the impact that Darlene's death had on those who were close to her, including one reenactment that showed her mother washing the blood off the patio. Next week's episode of "The Coroner: I Speak for the Dead" will look at a case involving a young married couple found in the remains of a house fire, according to Discovery Communications' website. Hetrick, however, suspects that the fire is no accident. The episode, titled "Trial by Fire," will be shown 10 p.m. Monday, Aug. 1, on Investigation Discovery. The Foreign Ministry here is warning missionaries and other activists who assist North Korean defectors in the Chinese border area that North Korean agents could try to abduct them. The North Korean regime has been rattled by recent group defections of elite workers in North Korean restaurants in China and could be minded to avenge itself, the ministry fears. According to sources in China, North Korea recently dispatched agents or joined hands with local criminal gangs targeting South Koreans who are conspicuously active in the border area. "The key targets of abduction or terror appear to be South Korean missionaries and businessmen who have frequent contact with North Koreans abroad," a source said. "But South Korean tourists in the border region could also become accidental targets." The South Korean Consulate in Beijing is holding a session on Tuesday to educate students, residents and missionaries in China on how to stay safe. The ministry recently urged travel agencies to refrain from selling group tours to parts of China near the North Korean border. A former Utz Quality Foods Inc. executive admitted to defrauding the Hanover-based snack producer out of about $1.4 million in federal court Tuesday. Kevin Myers, 38, formerly of Abbottstown, pleaded guilty to wire fraud before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan E. Schwab in Harrisburg. Myers and Jonathan Haas, 45, the former owner of Bethlehem-based Haas Packaging and Design Inc., were charged with wire fraud last month, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Haas Packaging and Design was a vendor that produced shelving and packaging products for Utz between January, 2007 and August, 2014. Myers and Haas conspired to submit about 83 fake invoices and 43 false purchase orders to Utz for products the company never received, the U.S. attorney's office said. After Myers approved fake payment invoices submitted by Haas, he would get a kickback from Haas, the U.S. attorney's office said. Haas received about $1.4 million through the fake invoices and kicked back about $651,000 of it to Myers, the U.S. attorney's office said. Myers and Haas also allegedly tried to hide kickbacks Myers received as payments for consulting services. Some of the kickbacks were directed by check to "Myers Packaging Consulting," a face business Myers created, the U.S. attorney's office said. The specific wire fraud charge stemmed from a $26,000 check that was deposited into a Myers Packaging Consulting bank account in January, 2014. The federal government also is seeking restitution of about $1.4 million. Myers and Haas could be sentenced up to 20 years in prison, followed by supervised release. Each also could be slapped with a $250,000 fine. The Amish vote The PAC's creation comes years after Republican strategists worked to court Amish voters on behalf of president George W. Bush in his 2004 reelection campaign. (PennLive.com/file) UPDATED: Additional information was added to this post at 4:42 p.m. Wednesday The question is, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton? And the Amish Political Action Committee has made their choice with a new billboard. The Amish PAC has come out in support of Trump, the Republican nominee for president. The billboard -- which reads "Hard Working, Pro-Life, Family Dedicated... Just Like You" -- has been installed around Lancaster. "Amish PAC supports Trump for the same reasons we believe many Amish voters do," said Amish PAC's Ben Walters. "Plain voters appreciate Trump's business savvy, strong work ethic and commitment to his family. They also see a lot of appeal in Trump's decision to pick Mike Pence as his VP which adds a principled Christian conservative with a strong pro-life voice to the ticket." Lancaster has one of the largest populations of Amish in the United States. Additional billboards have been installed in Akron and Quarryville. Bernie Sanders at DNC Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT., hugs his wife Jane after asking the delegates to make Hillary Clinton the unanimous choice for President of the United States during the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) (Mary Altaffer) Hillary Clinton was nominated for president of the United States. And her rival, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, closed the book on the matter. Sanders joined the Vermont delegation of the Democratic National Convention to close out the nomination roll call vote on Tuesday. Sanders -- who was clearly emotional during the vote -- asked that the DNC support the first woman nominee for president by a major political party. WATCH: "I move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the nominee of the Democratic Party for president of the United States," Sanders said over the cheers of the crowd. His closing comments were meant to solidify a Democratic Party that has been split by the contentious primary election and the recent DNC email hack. Protesters in favor of Sanders have plagued the convention thus far. Clinton received 2,842 votes and Sanders received 1,865 votes. Clinton will now face outspoken Republican nominee Donald Trump in the November election. Bernie and Michelle at DNC.jpg U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders exited the presidential race to the sound of cheers and applause. First Lady Michelle Obama inspired those to dream big and never give up. (Associated Press) U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders exited the presidential race to the sound of cheers and applause. First Lady Michelle Obama inspired those to dream big and never give up. The Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia had a bevy of powerful speakers during its first night on Monday. But none were more powerful than Sanders and Obama. They spoke about what needs to change. They spoke about the future of the country. They spoke about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. And they called on Americans to support Hillary Clinton. Twitter was on fire after Obama and Sanders spoke. Here's a selection of tweets regarding their performances. To Whom It May Concern: You can plagiarize her words, but that wisdom, spirit and delivery?! #Inimitable Our @Flotus is EVERYTHING! #DNC yvette nicole brown (@YNB) July 26, 2016 What I so admire in Sanders: he's worked in the system for decades, made a million tactical compromises & never lost his revolutionary fire. Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) July 26, 2016 Chuck Schumer says #BernieSanders speech cauterized the wounds of DNC hack & @DWStweets. Jim Roberts (@nycjim) July 26, 2016 My First Lady has reduced me to a sobbing mess. That speech meant more to me than ANYTHING I have ever heard. #DemsInPhilly #FLOTUS Robin Thede (@robinthede) July 26, 2016 Did the #DNC seriously just swap the Chair fired for anti-Sanders bias with a different anti-Sanders official? pic.twitter.com/kTAntcz4NM Edward Snowden (@Snowden) July 25, 2016 Pro-Sanders protesters are still holding on to hope. Chanting, "We are unstoppable! Anything is possible!" #DNC pic.twitter.com/SSwfDAuNwc Michaelle Bond (@MichaelleBond) July 26, 2016 When you just shaded someone within an inch of their life without ever using their name #FLOTUS #DNC pic.twitter.com/bij4T09BYf Hispanic Pixie Dream Girl (@mathewrodriguez) July 26, 2016 Screen Shot 2016-07-25 at 6.36.53 PM.png Protestors converge on one of the entrances to the Wells Fargo center during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, July 25, 2016. James Robinson, PennLive.com (James Robinson, PennLive.com) The first night of the Democratic National Convention has proved to be a lively one as protests have erupted in and outside of the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Inside the convention, supporters of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders booed and chanted in an attempt to disrupt the event's proceedings. Outside, thousands of protesters gathered and marched in support of numerous causes. While a number of protesters were arrested earlier in the day, the protests outside the Wells Fargo Center seemed to be starting to wind down by 7 p.m. The Democratic National Convention was expected to be a relatively quiet occasion compared to the recent Republican National Convention in Cleveland. However, the DNC has already made headlines for all the reasons organizers didn't want. Here's a selection of tweets showing what's going on at the convention: Protester w 'Just go to jail, Hillary' sign pic.twitter.com/hyfWmKoxkH Trip Gabriel (@tripgabriel) July 25, 2016 Wow, Elijah Cummings gets heckled by a bunch of Bernie delegates who are waving signs and shouting "No TPP! No TPP." pic.twitter.com/ibX9awxb2n Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) July 25, 2016 UPDATE: Hillary Clinton nominated for President of the United States Hillary Clinton could officially become the Democratic presidential nominee thanks to Sen. Bernie Sanders and his home state of Vermont. While Clinton had essentially secured the nomination in June with a combination of superdelegates and pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses, the Democratic National Convention roll call vote is likely to cement her as Donald Trump's opponent in the 2016 presidential election. At the Republican convention, Trump's home state of New York cast the deciding votes to secure him the nomination. All eyes will be on Vermont during the vote to see if the state goes for Sanders or Clinton. The Wall Street Journal reports: After the long, bitter fight, the Vermont delegation is expected to move that Hillary Clinton be nominated by acclamation, an official with Sen. Bernie Sanders's campaign said, making her the nominee by unanimous consent. During the roll call, each state's delegates will be called upon to cast their votes. The voting will continue until one of the nominees secures 2,382 delegate votes. PennLive's John Micek and Candy Woodall will be covering the vote in Philadelphia. Follow them on Twitter @ByJohnLMicek and @CandyNotCandace. VEON ART.jpeg Former Rep. Mike Veon of Beaver County works the room at the Doubletree Hotel in Philadelphia (PennLive photo by John L. Micek) PHILADELPHIA -- The sharp suit, the neatly trimmed goatee and shock of gray hair was unmistakable. Moving through a crowd of Pennsylvania delegates at the Doubletree Hotel here on Tuesday morning, Mike Veon paused, laughed, shook hands and took the occasional kind word. The former western Pennsylvania lawmaker, who went to prison in 2010 after his conviction in the Bonusgate public corruption scandal, is back in the thick of things at this week's Democratic National Convention. "It's a chance to see a lot of people I haven't seen for a long time," Veon, 59, said in a brief interview. "It's a chance to visit with people from Pennsylvania and across the country." This week's Democratic National Convention is Veon's ninth party gathering. He missed the DNC in 2012 because ... "I was in jail," he finishes the sentence. And, naturally, that's led to some awkward interactions with his fellow Democrats. But most, he said, have taken it in stride. Veon, who was released from state prison last year, has been paying the bills by doing a mix of lobbying, consulting and some real estate developing. He counts Local 5 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Pittsburgh, among this clients. He said he's also trying to raise funds to film a documentary about Jordan Miles, a Pittsburgh teen who won a $110,000 settlement with Pittsburgh police in a wrongful arrest lawsuit. Because Miles is black and the officers who arrested him were white, the federal case had racial overtones and split public opinion in Pittsburgh. Veon said he sees the 2014 case as presaging the current debate over police-community relations. And while he's enjoying his time in Philadelphia, Veon says he doesn't miss the Pennsylvania General Assembly, where he served 22 years, eventually rising to become the second-most powerful Democrat in the state House of Representatives. "I was elected for the first time when I was 26 years old," he said. "I enjoyed it. I worked hard at it. And I tried to be good at it. It's a part of my life that I appreciate." The staff at Berry & Smith Trucking are contributing a combined $30,000 to the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundations campaign to supply medical equipment for the Penticton Regional Hospital expansion. This follows a similar donation announced by the company earlier this year. Wayne MacKay, a Dalhousie University law professor, addresses a conference session on cyberbullying in Halifax on Tuesday, July 26, 2016. The International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law is holding their international conference dealing with individual privacy and collective security. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan A police officer talks with visitors in front of a facility for the handicapped where a number of people were killed and dozens injured in a knife attack Tuesday, July 26, 2016, in Sagamihara, outside Tokyo. (Kyodo News via AP) Thank you! You've reported this item as a violation of our terms of use. This content was contributed by a user of the site. If you believe this content may be in violation of the terms of use, you may report it. Second Hand Drugs shuns mainstream with 'regressive rock' Michigan band Second Hand Drugs aims to make a splash by doing things its own do-it-yourself, back-to-the-future way from the regressive rock it creates to the way it markets and distributes its Peru eyes renegotiating natural gas contracts Repsol An LNG tanker loading up at Peru's Pampa Melchorita liquefaction facility, which draws gas from Camisea. LIMA Petroleumworld.com 07 26 2016 Peru's President-elect Pedro Pablo Kuczynski may try to renegotiate natural gas production and export contracts to boost revenues for the Andean country, the incoming finance minister said in a broadcast interview Monday. Alfredo Thorne, a former JP Morgan Chase executive who will be sworn into Kuczynski's cabinet Thursday, said Peru could sell liquefied natural gas (LNG) at better prices if it diverted its shipments from Mexico to other countries in Latin America. Peru agreed to export LNG to Mexico before the shale gas boom in the United States brought down prices. "Mexicans today are connected to very cheap gas from the United States...we've seen several possibilities of selling it in the region at prices that are much more attractive for us," Thorne said in an interview with local TV channel Canal N. Royal Dutch Shell exports Peru's LNG, and the consortium Peru LNG, controlled by Hunt Oil Co, operates the country's natural gas liquefaction plant. Thorne added that the next government also plans to propose setting a higher reference price for natural gas produced by the Camisea consortium, which is controlled by the Argentine energy company Pluspetrol, in exchange for a higher share of royalties. "We will probably start announcing all of this between now and December of this year," Thorne said. If one envisions a calm, soothing environment in which to breast-feed or pump breast milk, the chaos of the Wells Fargo Center this week probably is not it. But fear not, lactating conventioneers: Philadelphia's Maternity Care Coalition is staffing eight curtained breast-feeding stalls on site, complete with comfortable chairs, side tables, and electrical outlets. There is even a refrigerator so mothers can store pumped milk until it can be delivered to the baby, and bottled water so they can replenish lost fluids. "We're going to be there and help wherever we can, with whatever mom needs," said Katja Pigur, the group's director of breast-feeding services. For those who need assistance, a representative from the nonprofit will be at the stalls each day from 3 p.m. until late at night, whenever the speeches conclude. Any breast-feeding mother is welcome, whether she is a delegate, a member of the media, or some other convention-goer, Pigur said. The curtained stalls are on the mezzanine of the arena. It all started because Democratic National Convention officials received inquiries about breast-feeding accommodations from delegates and media outlets, said JoAnne Fischer, the Maternity Care Coalition's executive director. The convention then contacted the group, which agreed to help. Republicans had similar accommodations in Cleveland. Also available for mothers at the Philadelphia event: Palm-size cards with the texts of two city ordinances related to breast-feeding. One dictates that breast-feeding is permitted in public. The other states that employers must provide employees with a clean, private nursing space that is not a bathroom. "It's to reassure them that this is a breast-feeding-friendly city," Pigur said. So if someone would rather breast-feed on the convention floor than in the stalls, she can. Call it an early civics lesson for the baby. There is precedent in the political realm. In late February, at a rally for Bernie Sanders in Barberton, Ohio, a woman achieved a measure of fame when she nursed her 6-month-old daughter in the second row. A photo of the mother and daughter soon went viral, with the hashtag #boobsforbernie, and the candidate also tweeted his support. tavril@phillynews.com 215-854-2430 @TomAvril1 A father approached NYPD Officer Ariel Zaremba outside the 44th Precinct stationhouse in the Highbridge neighborhood of the Bronx around 3:30 p.m. Saturday begging for help. He said his son wasnt breathing, a police source said. Zaremba and Officer George Lippi checked for the boys pulse and made sure his airway was clear. Zaremba then began to perform CPR, but quickly realized the boy needed professional help. As an ambulance was still on its way, Sgt. Anthony Lombardo ordered the officers to take the child to the emergency room. The officers climbed into a patrol car and raced the boy to Bronx Lebanon Hospital, where medical staff was able to revive him, police told the New York Post. Officer Luke Kleinlein of the Gettysburg, SD, Police was killed Sunday in an off-duty motorcycle crash. A crash in Potter County, SD, involving a pickup truck and a motorcycle killed the motorcyclist, an off-duty Gettysburg, SD, police officer. According to the Gettysburg Police Department, Luke Kleinlein, 23, was killed in a crash at 10 p.m. on Sunday when his 1983 Honda VF1100C motorcycle collided with a 2016 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup. The Highway Patrol says the pickup was making a turn on U.S. Highway 212 about 6 miles east of Gettysburg when it collided with the motorcycle about 10 p.m. Sunday, KDLT TV reports. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print There was no Ted Cruz moment in Bernie Sanders speech. Instead, Sen. Sanders said goodbye to his presidential campaign and moved his supporters towards voting for Hillary Clinton in November. Sanders supporters erupted in joy and ecstasy at the sight of their candidate. After several thank yous, Sen. Sanders started. From the beginning, the speech felt like a final goodbye to his campaign. Sanders thanked Michelle Obama for her service and said that she made us proud. Sen. Sanders rolled off a greatest hits list for his supporters who he thanked for their $27 donations. Sanders soothed his disappointed supporters: I understand that many people here in this convention hall and around the country are disappointed about the final results of the nominating process. I think its fair to say that no one is more disappointed than I am. But to all of our supporters here and around the country I hope you take enormous pride in the historical accomplishments we have achieved. Together, my friends, we have begun a political revolution to transform America and that revolution our revolution continues. Election days come and go. But the struggle of the people to create a government which represents all of us and not just the 1 percent a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice that struggle continues. And I look forward to being part of that struggle with you. Sen. Sanders contrasted Clinton and Trump, and he made the case for why his supporters should vote for Hillary Clinton. Sanders saved the best for last: Our job now is to see that platform implemented by a Democratic Senate, a Democratic House and a Hillary Clinton presidency and I am going to do everything I can to make that happen. I have known Hillary Clinton for 25 years. I remember her as a great first lady who broke precedent in terms of the role that a first lady was supposed to play as she helped lead the fight for universal health care. I served with her in the United States Senate and know her as a fierce advocate for the rights of children. Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her here tonight. Sen. Sanders speech was technically perfect. He made his supporters feel good about what they have done. Sen. Sanders praised his opponent. He gave the rationale for supporting Hillary Clinton, and he did his best to redirect his supporters efforts towards getting Hillary Clinton elected. Bernie Sanders came to the Democratic convention and more than did his part to get his primary voters ready to choose Clinton in November. Sen. Sanders didnt change who he was, but there was no Ted Cruz moment in this speech. Sanders made it clear that he is supporting Hillary Clinton, and with one final sentence, the Senator from Vermont killed the media chatter about a divided Democratic Party. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Donald Trump has very little to offer the American people, particularly in terms of actual policy proposals. Sure, he has his fantasy wall that Mexico will magically pay for, and of course that unconstitutional ban on Muslims from entering the country. But these arent really policy proposals as much as they are attempts to appeal to peoples fears and prejudices in order to win votes. To distract from his campaigns utter emptiness, he often says things ranging from ridiculous and offensive to reckless and childish. Today in Virginia, Trump hit the childish end of the spectrum head on in an attack on Hillary Clintons middle name. Video: During the campaign stop, Trump asked the crowd (in the same tone a child would ask a knock-knock joke), Why did Hillary get rid of her middle name? No, but why did she get rid of it? The GOP nominee went on to say that she doesnt go by Hillary Rodham Clinton anymore because it sounds too close to Hillary Rotten Clinton. Even in Trumps attempt to mimic a fourth-grade bully, he couldnt get the facts straight. Rodham is not Hillary Clintons middle name; its her maiden name. Diane is her middle name. For a man who constantly repeats his own middle initial, youd think he would know the difference the two. In the same speech, Trump also bragged about his sleeping habits and attacked Clintons. Video: Shell go home, shell take a nap for four or five hours then come back, he said in his speech. No naps for Trump! Like the small children Trump emulates on a daily basis, perhaps a nap is just what this spray-tanned buffoon needs. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print In 2004, Barack Obama delivered a speech at the Democratic National Convention that sent him on a meteoric rise to the presidency just four years later. Tonight, another star by the name of Cory Booker was born, and his future in the Democratic Party looks brighter than ever after an optimistic and rousing address to the DNC. Video: Tough act to follow? Sen. @CoryBooker gives a rousing speech to the DNC audience. #DemsInPhilly https://t.co/n4diVk85QX The Last Word (@TheLastWord) July 26, 2016 When we are divided we are weak, we decline, yet when we are united we are strong, Booker said. Let us declare, so that generations yet unborn can hear us, We are the United States of America, our best days are ahead of us! And together with Hillary Clinton as our president We. Will. Rise, he added to raucous applause. Booker was able to weave his message of hope with valid criticisms of Donald Trump. Weve watched Donald Trump, our children, our daughters, our nieces, and grandkids have watched him calling women women degrading names: dog, fat pig, disgusting, animal,' Booker said. It is a twisted hypocrisy when he treats other women in a manner he would never, ever accept from another man speaking about his daughters or his wife. Viewers and journalists were quick to draw parallels between the New Jersey senators speech on Monday night and Obamas address in 2004. I think Cory Bookers speech in Philadelphia tonight will be favorably compared to Barack Obamas speech at the Boston convention in 2004. Roger Simon (@politicoroger) July 26, 2016 In one speech, Cory Booker was able to bring an optimism about America that not one speaker at the RNC even attempted to do and set himself on a path to a bright future in the Democratic Party. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Its not easy supporting Donald Trump. I dont say that out of experience I certainly dont support one of the most unqualified and unstable candidates to ever seek the presidency but I say it because the list of reasons people have for supporting Donald Trump is mind-boggling. When broken down, these reasons unravel quickly. Hell surround himself with people much smarter and more level-headed than he is. If you bring up the fact that Donald Trump is erratic, childish, reckless and doesnt really know much (or care to) about foreign or domestic policy, the defense youll hear from the diehard Trumpites is that he will surround himself with people that know better. Dont worry about Trump having access to the nuclear codes, they say, because those around him will actually be the folks in charge. Let me get this straight: Trump is so irresponsible that we shouldnt trust him to be commander-in-chief, but we should trust him to surround himself with the right people? Not to mention the fact that, when we cast our votes in November, we are voting for the candidate at the top of the ticket not some nameless list of advisers that will supposedly keep the president in line. This decades-old video clip shows who Trump really is. There have been no shortage of inflammatory comments and dangerous policy proposals put forward by Donald Trump throughout this campaign. He has insulted minority groups, proposed barring an entire religion from entering the country, and mocked a reporter with a disability to name only a few. Ask a Trump supporter about these things and theyll somehow work their way to blaming the media for it. Its not fair to characterize him based on what he has said and proposed in this campaign, youll be told. Instead, theyll show you some decades-old video clip of Donald Trump acting semi-normal and even somewhat appealing in an interview with Oprah. Theyll say that is the real Trump. So that must mean Trump is either pretending to be a buffoonish bigot now or he really is one. Neither of those options should be acceptable to voters. If hes elected, he wont really do what he has promised to. The big wall on the Mexican border? A sweeping ban of Muslims? Bombing innocent family members of terrorists? Torturing our enemies? These ideas range from ridiculous to offensive to illegal, but its okay because Trump supporters truly believe he wont really do anything of those things if hes elected president. Its essentially just for show, and theyre okay with that. So either Trump is lying to win votes or he really will act on the promises hes made in this campaign. Again, neither should be acceptable. Its okay Congress will stop him if he tries to do anything insane. Trump supporters have become huge lovers of our system of checks and balances, because you have to be in order to support a man who cant be trusted with any level of power. Its okay that the GOP nominee is unstable Congress wont let him do anything too crazy, the argument goes. Its sort of like leaving a toddler and a gun in the same room and claiming that everything will be okay because the little tike doesnt know how to pull the trigger. All of these silly reasons speak volumes about the man the Republican Party has nominated for president, and they only underscore just how important it is to keep him out of the White House. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print The drama that cable news is playing up isnt accurate. The view from inside the hall is very pro-Hillary Clinton. Here are some observations from Day One of the DNC so far: The Bernie supporters have come to Philly and brought the protests. Here are a few pics of protests that I snapped on Sunday: The Bernie Bus: The Sanders protesters are making their voices heard, but they are outnumbered. What isnt coming through on the cable news coverage that is being heard loud and clear in the hall is that this convention is Hillary Clintons. One of the striking early elements of this convention is the sheer volume of Hispanic speakers who are speaking Spanish. The contrast with the white fear driven lily white speakers on the stage at the Republican convention is stark. The last stand of the Bernie supporters is getting a ton of play, especially on cable news, but the reality is that the Democratic convention is not greatly divided. The truth of the Democratic convention in Philadelphia is that Democrats are coming after Donald Trump. Controversy sales, but the real story of day one is Bernies last bow on Hillarys stage. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Many experts agree that the DNC hackings have the marks of the Russians. The question of motive is up in the air. Yes, Donald Trump is sucking up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, changing the Republican Party platforms pro-Ukraine proposals and talking about weakening NATO. And Putin has been pushing to install leaders just like Donald Trump, that is to say, easily manipulated buffoons whose egos are easy to stroke. But Michael Crowley and Julia Ioffe at Politico reported on another very real possibility behind the hacking of the DNC the hackings could well be revenge by Russian President Vladimir Putin on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton because shes so tough. Clinton was tough on Putin, so much so that Putin blames Clinton for protests that broke out in 2011, accusing Putin of having rigged elections. Now Putin might be out for revenge. Clinton was a more skeptical voice on the reset, former United States Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul told Politico. She was tougher on the Russians. She pushed back. She was a difficult interlocutor with both [foreign minister Sergei] Lavrov and Putin and I say that as a compliment. In fact, according to former U.S. officials, Putin sees Clinton as a forceful proponent of regime change policies that the Russian leader considers a grave threat to his own survival. Putin expects Hillary Clinton to win and hes sending her a message that Russia is a power to be reckoned with and can mess with her at will, according to a diplomat with extensive Russia experience. Its not difficult to see Putin actually trying to interfere with U.S. election so that he can avoid having to deal with a much tougher negotiator, that is to say, Hillary Clinton. To this end, he would want Donald Trump because hes so easily controlled, as Putin has been doing with other European leaders. By hacking the DNC servers, Putin didnt quite get what he wanted as in, no dirt on Hillary Clinton. But he sent her a message, or tried to. The fact of the matter is, Hillary Clinton isnt easily intimidated. And that is why a leader like Putin fears her and wants Donald Trump to win. It makes perfect sense and the evidence is piling up. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print The mainstream media didnt spend a lot of time on the disaster that was the GOP convention; even as evidence for Russian interference on behalf of Donald Trump mounts, it has been much more interested in painting the Democratic convention in the most negative light possible. As reported earlier, much is being made by the mainstream media of a supposed divide between Sanders and Clinton supporters at the Democratic convention. Trump is also in action, selling the same sort of divide and conquer stratagem. He tweeted Monday night as the Democratic convention got underway, and Sanders appealed to his supporters to elect Clinton, Hard to believe that Bernie Sanders has done such a complete fold. He got NOTHING for all of the time, energy and money. The V.P. a joke! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2016 This is, of course, untrue, as Sanders campaign actually accomplished quite a bit. Besides forcing a restructure of the DNCs super-delegate system, he pushed the Democratic platform to the the left; Maryland Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings told MSNBC Bernie got about 90 percent of what he wanted in platform. The result is the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party. Last but not least, Sanders was the catalyst that pushed out Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was widely disliked by the Democratic base. And now, he acting as a unifying force against Donald Trump. And such a unifying force, as his speech Monday night showed, when he turned earlier boos into rousing cheers. The Sanders movement is the factor that really has Trump worried about his own so-called movement. The last thing Trump wants to see is a unified Democratic Party, with the supporters of Sanders and Clinton making common cause against his destructive agenda. It is amusing to see the guy who picked Mike Pence as a running mate calling one of the most qualified vice presidential candidate in American history a joke but then Trump also thinks attacking Sanders is the way to get Sanders supporters to vote for him. Trump would have Sanders supporters believe that Bernie has not only folded, but has totally given up on his fight for the people, but that he welcome[s] all voters who want a better future for our workers. Even though Trump thinks those workers are overpaid and that small businesses shouldnt get paid at all. Donald Trump is desperate. He knows his own campaign is a mess. He has made a terrible choice for a running mate, one easily trumped by Clintons selection of Tim Kaine. He received a modest post-convention boost but there is a long road ahead of him, one that will force him to debate not fellow GOP deadbeats, but a time-tested, highly experienced Hillary Clinton. His last best hope is to force a divide between Democrats, and as of Tuesday morning, unless he is as much a victim of cognitive dissonance as his followers, Trump will see that hope is fleeting. Clinton is receiving ringing endorsements last night from not only Sanders, but Elizabeth Warren, Michele Obama, and others, while Trump watched his main opponent dump Trump and endorse himself at the GOP convention. As Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) pointed out to MSNBC Monday night, differences in the Democratic Party pale in comparison to the GOPs Trump woes. Trump is in this for himself, not for the American people. Leave it to Trump to think only in terms of personal gain. Sanders, unlike Trump, wasnt in it for personal gain. What he did, he did for the American people and judged in those terms, he did a whole helluva lot. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Were all familiar by now with all those special editions of Bibles, the United States Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence possessed by conservatives. These editions are full of things that arent present in the copies the rest of us possess. David Barton is especially infamous for reading false material into documents, like claiming the Founding Fathers settled the issue of evolution before the theory of evolution was a thing. They of course did not such thing. And then there are all the material in the Constitution he claims comes from the Bible. Now he is wanting us to believe that The Declaration Of Independence had two clauses condemning slavery and that the nasty old British were the real bad guys, preventing us from freeing our slaves: Great Britain would not allow us to end slavery. A number of the states passed anti-slavery laws and King George III struck them all down, said, No, no, no, youre part of the British Empire, as long as youre part of the British Empire youre going to have slavery, which is why a number of Founding Fathers got involved because they did not want slavery. Thats why the Declaration of Independence had two clauses condemning slavery as a reason we were leaving Great Britain. Now, we always hear about taxation without representation, thats one clause, but twice as often in there youll hear about slavery being an issue. We dont cover that. The reason we dont cover that is because it is not there to be covered. You can readily see for yourself that no such clause exists. You will search in vain for mention of slaves or of slavery. As PFAWs Kyle Mantyla observes at Right Wing Watch, though the original draft did contain a passage on slavery, it was removed from the final version, not because of British opposition of course (that would have been absurd since the Declaration removed the colonies from the oversight of Parliaments desires in any case), but because of opposition from Georgia and South Carolina. In fact, though the British brought millions of slaves into the colonies (a fact Jefferson condemned in his draft), it is ridiculous to claim Britain is the lone villain of the piece; as the BBC informs us, That the British benefited from the Atlantic slave system is indisputable. Yet, paradoxically, it was also the British who led the struggle to bring this system to an end. Although there was a public anti-slavery movement before the end of the American Revolution, and the Slave Trade Act of 1807 made it illegal for British ships to transport slaves between Africa and America, it was not until 1833 that an Act of the Parliament, the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, abolished slavery in the British Empire. This was still 30 years before Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation, and the United States did not abolish slavery until 1865, after the bloodiest war in American history had been fought to end it, when the Thirteenth Amendment was finally ratified. It is a fond wish of conservatives that the United States be pure of any blemishes, but the historical record denies them this. Facts matter, however much people like David Barton try to insulate themselves from them. The simple fact is that the U.S. did not get rid of slavery sooner because so many white people had a vested economic interest in the continuation of slavery. Rich white people, not to put too fine a point upon it. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print In light of the FBI investigating the possible Russian hacking of DNC emails, a security expert called on both parties to support President Obama in standing up to Russia if the initial impressions are proved correct. So basically he is calling on Republicans to stand by President Obama and Democrats when it comes to matters of an outside actor trying to manipulate U.S. elections. The FBI is investigating the hacked emails of the DNC, which were released on the eve of the Democratic National Convention. Officials say the hacking carries the fingerprints of Russian groups associated with Russian intelligence. If the investigation corroborates that Russia is behind the attack, the nation will need to take a firm stand against such interference in a U.S. election. Chris Finan, CEO and Co-Founder of Manifold Security, a former Obama administration cybersecurity official, and a Truman National Security Project fellow wrote in Time that the nation should be unified in its outrage if Russia is indeed the perpetrator. Finan, perhaps overly optimistically given the Republican Partys inability to even fund the Zika emergency without adding insane partisan riders, suggested that all Americans regardless of political affiliation, should find this egregious, If the early evidence pointing to Russia as the perpetrator is corroborated, all Americansregardless of political affiliationshould be outraged. It would mean the U.S. election was the target, and the nation should be unified in its response. Finan continued, saying that if Russia is indeed the perpetrator, Both parties should support a firm response by the Obama administration. He added that if they can attribute these actions with confidence, the administration should refer this matter to the U.N. Security Council, and if necessary, consider unilateral measures against Russia in response. In other words, Russian President Vladimir Putin should be made to pay for using hacking as a political weapon and interfering with a U.S. election. Putin should be warned that doing so has a harsh cost. It makes sense that Putin would do this, specifically to Hillary Clinton, whose tough stances against his regime have displeased the Russian President in the past. In fact, Putin is reportedly holding a grudge because he blames Clinton for protests that broke out in 2011, after she accused Putin of having rigged elections. If you picture Putin as a Russian Donald Trump but with more brains and more political knowledge, this all makes perfect sense. Odds are not good that Republicans would stand up to Russian interference, since it is helping their pro-Putin candidate Donald Trump. But if this comes down the way its looking right now and Republicans once again take the cowardly way out and invite foreign interference in our elections, they will paint themselves as weak, cowardly traitors. Aligning your party with Putin is pretty much everything Republicans have been accusing Democrats of since the late 50s. And here they are Making sure to damage their brand even more than the racism, bigotry and misogyny of Donald Trump has already damaged it by using what look to be Russian hacked emails as a political tool against the Democratic Party. Portfolio English Edition's premium content is available only for subscribers Learn about the hottest news of the day, along with immediate follow-up analyses and 1000's of exclusive articles with full access to the premium content. Register and apply for a 14 days free trial period. Just as the Presidential election begins to heat up, my time as a Post-Bulletin columnist has come to an end. I have written a variety of pieces, each with its own intent and purpose. But upon brainstorming for my final article, I found myself at a standstill. I knew what I wanted to write about, but the question was, should I? Hours ticked by as I sat staring at my blank Word document, contemplating my next step. I could play it safe and write a humorous story, laced with puns that would be the easy route. Or, I could speak my mind and possibly make a few enemies. Those were my choices. But as I thought, several lines of a poem by Dylan Thomas that I had studied in high school came to mind. "Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." And with that, I chose to be blunt. ADVERTISEMENT Donald Trump must not become the next president of the United States of America. We live in a world where hatred, violence and bigotry run rampant. And each and every week, that hatred, violence and bigotry seems to spill right out of the Republican presidential nominee's mouth. And that is unacceptable. Because racism is wrong. Sexism is wrong. Discrimination based on one's sexual orientation, religion and heritage is wrong. Most people disavow these things. And everyone, including Donald Trump, should know better. But Trump has made disparaging remarks about people of color. Trump has made disparaging remarks about Muslims. Trump has made disparaging remarks about women. And looking at his statements over the past year alone, it is clear that unless you are a white, heterosexual, upper-class male, Trump has made disparaging remarks about you. So why does Donald Trump have so much support, even as he makes these unpopular remarks? I thought long and hard about this question, and here's what I came up with: His supporters genuinely agree with what he says. They agree with his words; they agree with his actions. And they won't be swayed by "some kid's article" in the Post-Bulletin. His supporters are reluctant. Perhaps they would never vote for a Democrat, or maybe they usually do vote blue, but despise Hillary Clinton. Either way, they are not open supporters of Trump. And to those of you where this applies, I say this: You may not be a bigot, but by voting for Trump in November, you are saying that you are OK with his bigoted ways. Now I'm not implying that you should vote for Clinton. Go ahead and vote Johnson, Stein, or any other third-party candidate. But Trump is not the person you should vote for if you don't want to be associated with his hatred and crude language. ADVERTISEMENT His supporters truly believe that he either misspoke or that his comments are ambiguous. These supporters likely think that he has made mistakes, but is genuinely a good man, and a good candidate for president. "He's not actually a racist; he's just made some mistakes." I'll let the July 23 New York Times article by Nicholas Kristof help shut down this misconception. In his piece, Kristof shares that, "Here we have a man who for more than four decades has been repeatedly associated with racial discrimination or bigoted comments about minorities, some of them made on television for all to see. While any one episode may be ambiguous, what emerges over more than four decades is a narrative arc, a consistent pattern and I don't see what else to call it but racism." Donald Trump has had chance after chance decades, in fact to change his bigoted ways. But he hasn't. And that's why his supporters must realize who he is and choose a different candidate. If you agree with what I've shared today, do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. If you support Trump, and felt any hesitation about your choice upon reading my article, it's OK to change your mind. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. And if you're preparing an angry email to me, please, send it. For me, disagreement is not hatred. Dialogue is so important, and voicing your opinion, as hard as it may be, is always worth it. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. ADVERTISEMENT Thank you to Jeff Pieters and the Post-Bulletin for the wonderful opportunity to be a teen columnist over the past year. It was an excellent experience that I will be forever grateful for. Four sex offenders are relocating within or to the Rochester area, according to the Rochester Police Department. The police department will hold a community meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday in conference room 104 of Rochester City Hall, according to an email from Lt. Craig Anderson. Level 3 predatory offender Michael James Costa was released from the Minnesota Department of Corrections Tuesday. He will live in the 1400 block of SE 4th Ave. Level 3 predatory offender Bryan Patrick Six recently moved within Rochester, from the 200 block of NW 14th Street, he recently registered as "homeless," in the vicinity of Silver Lake, near 7th Street NE and Broadway Avenue. Two other offenders, Sadik Yasin Hussein and Kevin Tyrone Williams have also had recent notification updates. ADVERTISEMENT For more information visit https://coms.doc.state.mn.us/Level3/Search.asp. Olmsted County Sheriff's deputies and the Southeast Minnesota Violent Crime Task Force arrested a 20-year-old man on Monday after large amounts of cocaine, Xanax and promethazine were allegedly found in his home. Morgan Xavier Malibago was taken into custody and could face charges of sale of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of a pistol while being a known user of controlled substances, according to Olmsted County Sheriff's Capt. Scott Behrns. Authorities searched the home at 3429 Chalet View Lane NW and discovered 34.7 grams of cocaine, about $1,600 worth; 869 Xanax tablets, worth about $3,500; and 22 bottles of promethazine syrup, an antihistamine used to treat allergies, the sheriff's report said. Authorities also recovered a 9MM handgun and $1,000 in cash, Behrns said. Malibago is expected to be arraigned today. A 17-year-old Rochester man was taken into custody Monday after allegedly chasing a group of younger kids around his apartment complex with a knife. Police responded to a call in the 2000 block of 41st Street Northwest, around 9:45 p.m., according to police Lt. Mike Sadauskis. The group of children was playing near a pool area on the complex when a 15-year-old boy tried to "pants" a 13-year-old boy. The two pushed each other and scuffled, but the 15-year-old ran off, according to the police report. When the 15-year-old came back, he returned with a 17-year-old boy, who was holding a knife, the report says. The 17-year-old pointed the knife at the 13-year-old and chased after some of the kids in the group. They ran away and called police. ADVERTISEMENT Police located the 17-year-old and took him into custody. He could face 2nd-degree assault and disorderly conduct charges. The 15-year-old could face charges of disorderly conduct. 200 people died on Minnesota roads so far in 2016 ST. PAUL Preliminary figures from the Department of Public Safety show that 200 people have died on Minnesota roads in 2016. The Office of Traffic Safety says the 200 mark was reached Saturday, putting the number of road deaths on pace with last year, when 201 fatalities were reported on July 20. Officials say drunken driving, lack of seat belt use, distractions and speed are contributing to a majority of fatalities. Officials say each one of these factors is preventable. The deaths included 27 motorcyclists, compared with 37 reported at this time last year and 26 pedestrians, compared with 16 last year. Four bicyclists have also been killed this year in Minnesota. Associated Press ADVERTISEMENT Prosecutors defer charges in death of 2-year-old MINNEAPOLIS Prosecutors in Hennepin County say they don't have enough evidence at this time to charge a man who was arrested in the death of a 2-year-old boy. Prosecutors deferred charges and the man was released. They say police will continue investigating the death of Le-Vonte King Jason Jones and will consider charges if more evidence comes in. Le-Vonte was shot in the chest July 8 while sitting in his father's van. His father, 25-year-old Melvonte Peterson of Brooklyn Center, is charged with illegally having a firearm and drive-by shooting. Authorities say Peterson returned fire at a black Chevrolet Impala after its driver pulled next to Peterson's van in north Minneapolis and fired shots. The Impala's driver fired the shots that killed Le-Vonte and grazed his 15-month-old sister in the leg. Associated Press 2 workers hurt when trench collapses MINNETONKA Two construction workers are hospitalized after a trench they were digging collapsed in Minnetonka. City spokeswoman Kari Spreeman says the men were working on a road reconstruction project when the dirt gave way around 10 a.m. Monday. ADVERTISEMENT One man was covered in dirt and the other was buried in soil up to his waist. Both were rescued and taken to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. Spreeman said one worker is in "moderate" condition while the other is in "very serious" condition. The men are contract workers for the city and not city employees. The Department of Labor and Industry will investigate. Associated Press Man pleads guilty to trying to kill 2 young sons HASTINGS A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to trying to kill his two young sons during a suicide attempt last year. Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom says 28-year-old Jay Anthony Ernst of Lakeville pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of attempted murder. Sentencing is set for Sept. 16. Police say Ernst tried to kill the boys and himself by rigging a car's exhaust pipe. A family member interrupted Ernst's attempt after finding the three in the running vehicle in a closed garage early on Oct. 29. The family member called police, but Ernst had fled with the boys, ages 2 and 4, by the time officers arrived. ADVERTISEMENT The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension issued an Amber Alert to help locate the three, and an officer in Burnsville spotted the vehicle. Associated Press Blaine man charged with fatally shooting adult son ANOKA A 61-year-old Blaine man is charged with fatally shooting his adult son last week. Joseph Effertz was charged Monday in Anoka County with second-degree murder in the death of his 38-year-old son, Joshua Effertz. Court documents say Joseph Effertz called 911 on Friday morning to report he had just shot his son. Officers found Joshua Effertz lying in the road in front of the home. Authorities say he had been shot three or four times and died at a hospital. According to the complaint, Joseph Effertz told investigators his son came into his room looking for a videotape and appeared to be on drugs. The father told officers he grabbed a gun and "kept shooting until I couldn't shoot anymore." Court records don't list a defense attorney who could comment. Associated Press Man dies in Wisconsin motorcycle crash ELLSWORTH, Wis. A Minnesota man has died after he was hit from behind while riding a motorcycle in Wisconsin. The crash happened at about 4 p.m. Sunday on Highway 10 in Pierce County's Trimbelle Township. Sheriff's officials say 64-year-old Michael Joyce from Vadnais Heights was driving a Harley Davidson when he stopped to make a turn. A sport utility vehicle hit him from behind, ejecting Joyce from the motorcycle. Joyce was pronounced dead on the scene. ADVERTISEMENT The driver of the other vehicle was treated for injuries River Falls Area Hospital and released. Authorities are still investigating the crash. Associated Press Pizza delivery driver shot MINNEAPOLIS A pizza delivery driver was critically injured when he was shot after making his last delivery of the night. Thirty-year-old Andrew Gryskiewicz works for Dulano's Pizza. The restaurant owner identified him and posted on Facebook that Gryskiewicz was found in his car slumped over early Sunday. He was rushed to the hospital and had to have surgery to repair a hole in his heart. Gryskiewicz is in critical condition. No one has been arrested and Minneapolis police are asking anyone with information to come forward. Police say the motive for the shooting is still unclear. Associated Press ADVERTISEMENT Church hopes to rebuild after lightning strike, fire SACRED HEART Members of a church in Sacred Heart are hoping to rebuild after a lightning strike destroyed their historic building. Hawk Creek Lutheran Church was struck by lightning Saturday morning and caught fire. There were no injuries. Church members were able to salvage some items, such as a decades-old Bible and records of church members' names. The fire was stopped before it burned the church's altar. A fundraising page has been set up to help the church rebuild. One girl said she was setting up a lemonade stand to help raise money. For now, the 100-member congregation will attend church services in a nearby town. Associated Press Rescuers find body of man who fell into St. Croix TAYLORS FALLS Authorities have recovered the body of a 26-year-old Chisago City man a week after he slipped on a rock and fell into the St. Croix River near Taylors Falls. ADVERTISEMENT Chisago County officials say Andrew Remley's body was found Friday near Rock Island by searchers with the National Park Service. Remley fell into the river on July 15 while taking a photo with his girlfriend and two young children. High, fast-moving water hampered efforts to search for him. Associated Press Thousands still without power after storm DULUTH Thousands of residents in Duluth are still without power after a storm toppled trees and power lines four days ago. Some residents were told they may not see power restored until Thursday. Areas of Woodland, Hunter's Park, Morley Heights and Lakeside may be without power until Thursday. Other Duluth neighborhoods could see their lights come back on sooner. At one point, more than 46,000 customers were without power, but most have seen that restored. As of Monday morning, Minnesota Power says about 3,500 of its customers are still affected. Associated Press The race for a Rochester Public Schools school board seat narrowed unexpectedly Monday. One of the three Rochester school board candidates set to run for seat 3 in the Aug. 9 primary announced he no longer will run. John League sent an email Sunday evening to the League of Women Voters to inform them of the decision, which left two candidates Bobbie Gallas and incumbent Deborah Seelinger. "I will not be attending the League of Women Voters candidate forum on July 25, I've decided not to run for seat number 3 on the Rochester School Board," League wrote. "I do apologize to the League of Women Voters and candidates for such short notice and any inconvenience this has caused. "In discussing the topic further with my family, it's simply not the right time," League said in an email to the Post-Bulletin on Tuesday morning. "Like many families with school-age children in the RPS district, we do care and have a vested interest in performance of the school board as it effects the daily and future outcomes in the Rochester public school system." The seat is the only contested seat of the three school board races and the only one requiring a primary. ADVERTISEMENT Budget at issue The Rochester Public Schools' budget and school district communication were the points that set the race's two remaining candidates apart during Monday's debate. While candidates Bobbie Gallas and Deborah Seelinger agreed on most things, they have differing views on how the school district is doing with communication and transparency with the community and the budget. Gallas, 52, a paraprofessional for Rochester Public Schools who also ran for school board in 2010, said her background "uniquely" qualified her to address district issues, such as a perceived lack of transparency and poor communication. "As your school board member, I will continue to put student needs first, I will foster a stronger relationship between district and community, like I've done building relationships with parents and families through school interactions," Gallas said. She said she believes a lack of trust in the district is directly tied to the handling of its budget, particularly the district's bid for a 10-year, $9.6 million referendum last fall. The district told voters the extra money would be saved to prevent budget cuts until the 2019-20 school year. Now, financial projections show the district likely will have to make cuts sooner or levy additional money, previously unlevied, that is within the school board's authority . Seelinger, 48, a community volunteer and one-term incumbent, said she trusts the administration and thinks the administration has communicated the last few months the reasons for the budget discrepancies. "I don't believe under the current circumstances that the district misled voters, I believe that the communication that is coming out in the last few months is very clear," she said. "A lot of time has passed, a lot of things have come into play and I think the public needs to realize that." ADVERTISEMENT Seelinger said she feels the district's budget is sound, and Gallas didn't disagree, but she noted her role as a school board member would be to question the district administration about budget items. Seelinger was elected in 2012 and said since that time she "continues" to educate herself on the "issues that are impacting our students," pointing to workshops and leadership conferences offered by the Minnesota School Board Association, equity training, PTA work and work with the Minnesota Department of Education. "At the core of what I think about and work for everyday, it is to assure that students are receiving great education and great opportunities for learning and personal growth in Rochester," Seelinger said. With Rochester poised to see growth because of Destination Medical Center and other initiatives, community members asked about the district's role in that growth. Seelinger said it's important to "show off" what the district has to offer, and Gallas said it's important the school district is one of the reasons families are coming here. In her closing remarks, Seelinger said she feels it's important to continue the work that's happening in the district. "As a school board member, I am charged with seeing the 30,000-foot view; I consider educational trends and philosophies," she said. "But the on the ground work, the students and the families that we are impacting every day are what motivates me to work harder to create a phenomenal school district." Gallas feels the district needs to mend relationships and "restore confidence" by taking on a role that includes asking questions and having conversations. ADVERTISEMENT "We need to foster stronger relationships, not only with the community, but with the staff and students by proactively communicating district direction," Gallas said. "I will be accountable to the citizens of Rochester for my decisions." The city of Rochester could implement broadband internet access as a public utility, but it would come with a capital cost estimated at more than $50 million to install the needed infrastructure, including fiber optic cables. The Rochester City Council and Rochester Public Utility Board have each heard conceptual presentations from private companies about the possibility of adding broadband service as a utility. Phone and cable television services could be added, as well. Peter Hogan, RPU director of corporate services, on Monday gave the city council an updated report on the costs for implementation and early looks at customer fees, should the city decide to pursue the concept. Hogan presented the information on behalf of Alcatel-Lucent, a private company that had compiled the research based on local information and meetings in December last year, Hogan said. The report included a capital investment of about $53 million on the city's behalf, a cost that would have to be issued in bonds, raising the total investment to near $67 million. Alcatel-Lucent's assumptions were also based on the new public utility securing a 30 percent market share of internet customers. While a low-cost and lower service option would see customers pay about $10 per month for broadband internet service, the study showed about 58 percent of customers paying $50 or more per month for service. ADVERTISEMENT Given a 30 percent market share, Alcatel-Lucent projected the utility would be cash-flow positive within about four years, depending on whether phone and cable services were included. The benefits of improved service and competitive costs was a prospect Council Member Michael Wojcik saw as very positive, given reports from customers of incumbent services in Rochester. "Right now the core neighborhoods, the places that need good broadband access, just aren't getting it from any incumbents," he said. A more detailed market study would give more accurate information on the potential market share a Rochester utility could capture, as well as more detailed cost information, Hogan said. That study would be paid for by the city and conducted by a third party. Wojcik had contacted another municipality that he called a model example of public utility broadband, Longmont, Colo. He requested the council take three actions to move forward: ask city or RPU staff to work with Longmont staff to analyze similarities between the cities; fund the market study; and research any questions related to bonding for the capital costs. Hogan estimated it would cost near $1 million to advance the city's plans to the point of selling bonds, including the market study. Council Member Mark Hickey asked for more information before the city committed to any more costs. Other Minnesota municipalities, including Monticello, had attempted to implement broadband utilities, with mixed results, Hickey noted. "I'd like to know what a ballpark (cost) is on a market study before we commit to that step, because I assume that's going to be a rather expensive next step," Hickey said. "So far I've got a lot more questions than anything else, even before I'm willing to take that step of the marketing study." ADVERTISEMENT The council has more work to do before it could authorize a market study and that includes consulting with the RPU Board of Directors. RPU, due to its charters, cannot fund study of broadband as a utility. To commit further staff time to studying broadband would require the board's support, said RPU General Manager Mark Kotschevar. The council agreed to seek the RPU board's input on moving forward with a market study. The board's next meeting is today, but it would likely defer the topic to its August meeting, Kotschevar said. ------ The broadband picture What is it? Broadband, or high-speed Internet, offers data transmission rates higher than 25 megabits per second (Mbps) for downloads, and 3 Mbps for uploads, based on current FCC benchmarks . What does Rochester have? Charter Communications advertises download speeds "starting at" 60 Mbps. Another provider, CenturyLink , which offers DSL service, advertises speeds up to 40 Mbps. Actual speeds will vary by location, equipment, and traffic on the network. (https://www.inconsistentbabble.com/isp/) ADVERTISEMENT What level of service would the city offer? Rochester City Council member Michael Wojcik, a proponent of a city-based service, says the service would "easily" offer 1 gigabit that's 1,000 megabits per second for both uploads and downloads. That would be 40 times faster than the FCC's benchmark for downloads (and more than 300 times faster than the upload benchmark) and 16 times faster than the current available levels of service in Rochester. Do other cities offer broadband Internet? More than 450 communities do, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance . Longmont, Colo ., offers a service similar to the one being considered in Rochester. See PostBulletin.com for links to supplement this information. Post-Bulletin staff A routine informational meeting became emotional Monday as Viola Township residents learned about a proposal to develop a 2,400-hog feedlot in the area. Farmers Craig and Kevin Scanlon are planning a feedlot of about 102 feet by 200 feet that would hold about 2,400 hogs. The plan is now headed through the approval process at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Because of the proposed feedlot's size, a public information meeting was required. At the meeting in the town hall in Viola, township residents and neighbors of the Scanlon farm asked questions and raised concerns, mainly regarding environmental impacts on air and water quality. When it comes to the environmental impacts of a feedlot, the amount of animal waste being stored in large quantities can result in the release of several types of gas emissions into the air, including ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and methane, which can affect human health in a variety of ways. Air quality and odors are what concern Cheryl Winters, who lives a half-mile from the Scanlon farm. Winters heard about the possible feedlot about two weeks before the meeting when a neighbor went door-to-door to inform those who may be affected. That's when Winters and her husband Brian began doing research on how a feedlot would affect them and what they could do to stop the approval process. ADVERTISEMENT "The more research I did, the more alarmed I became," Winters said. "All these things kept popping up that I had never thought about before." Winters and her husband were among many people who spoke at the meeting. Although the meeting originally was set to be more informational and to answer questions, community members soon became emotional, many times talking over each other and the presenter of the meeting. Martin Larsen, Olmsted County feedlot technician, was the presenter at the informational meeting. He explained the process that a request such as this has to go through, the requirements of a feedlot and the rules and regulations when it comes to factors such as waste management. Larsen said he has experienced similar emotional meetings, saying a change to people's lives is never taken lightly. "When you talk about people's livelihoods, which is farming, and you talk about people's homes, it's very passionate," he said. He said although a lot of concern was been expressed at Monday's meeting, it was strictly informational and probably will have no impact on the decision to approve a feedlot. "Rules and laws are tangible, they're real, they have to be tangibly based," Larsen said. "So concerns from the community can only help in the rule-making process when the new rules may be made." Winters said although she recognizes there is not much she and other community members can do to convince the MPCA not to approve the request, she is not done looking for ways to spread information about feedlots and voicing her concerns. "It doesn't sound like we have a lot of recourse," Winters said. "However, I'm not willing to just go home and throw up my hands." AUSTIN It was the first day of the rest of their lives. Enki Fernandez set up his room at Dorothy's Hope. A small area with windows facing the front yard. After struggling with "all kinds" of addictions, Fernandez wanted to change. It was either face prison time, or receive help. He came to Dorothy's Hope, a sober house in Austin that was recently opened this month. Sober houses are group homes for addicts. While many are privately owned, some can be owned by businesses and may be owned by non-profit organizations. Now seven months sober, Fernandez will be serving as a house manager at the house. He wants to be an artist, and was able to rekindle his passion for it. Instead of using drugs, he uses self-expression. While it wasn't an easy transition, Fernandez continues to search for his own purpose in life. ADVERTISEMENT "He's the living testament of Dorothy's Hope," said founder John Gould. When a woman dropped off a desk while the house was being put together, Fernandez immediately wanted it for his own to create art. He didn't realize until later that the table belonged to another young man, named Johnathon Weivoda, a 25-year-old from Chatfield who died from a heroin overdose in a restroom at the Apache Mall in Rochester on July 6, 2015. Two different individuals, a similar story and a sobering reminder of what could happen from addiction. As Gould puts it, "the desk found Enki." It wasn't just a piece of furniture. It symbolized the start to a new life. "it's finally kicked in, I guess. I've changed," Fernandez said. "I've turned around completely. I lost myself, didn't know who I was or what I wanted ... anything. I just started to find myself again, my passions and goals in life. With the right guidance with the right support, it's helped me get to a place where I feel comfortable with myself again." 'These people have a future' Ideas for the house came to Gould while he himself served some time at the county jail. Now 18-months sober, the man wants to help others find a safe place. Enter broken, leave changed and healed. "These people have a future," Gould said, "and they'll leave their addictions in the past." Named after his grandmother who died before Gould committed to a life of sobriety and one of his main inspirations, Dorothy's Hope was created. It's a place where men can start their road to recovery with a clean slate. ADVERTISEMENT After meetings with the city of Austin's Planning and Zoning Board, Gould said he was able to put together a new place for people to focus on getting sober. Most of the response from residents have been positive, he added, with an "occasional negative comment." While Dorothy's Hope only allows men who are 18 years old or older, Gould eventually hopes to expand and add more homes that will be specific to women. The rules are simple: To live at Dorothy's Hope, an individual must choose to be there, be ready to commit to sobriety willingly, and be completely serious in their efforts. They will be allowed to live there for a year, and will receive assistance in finding a new job and finding another place to live. Essentially, Dorothy's Hope is helping men transition back into society. Those living at the house must also attend different support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous and volunteer at least 20 hours weekly. At most, eight men will be living at Dorothy's Hope. Nine, if including the house manager. Those living in the house deal with different addictions, ranging from alcoholism to heroin. Some believe that a place like Dorothy's Hope is needed in southeast Minnesota. Christina Jean of Circle of Hope a family support group working with Dorothy's Hope learned more about addictions after seeing a family friend lose their child to a heroin overdose. "We've never really needed one (a sober house)," Jean said, who's also an Austin resident. "But, it's here, and it's rampant. A lot of people are affected by it." Back in May, the Minnesota Department of Health released a report that showed an increase in drug overdose deaths in the state. According to that report, 572 Minnesotans died from drug overdoses within the last year, 216 of which was related to prescription opioid medications and 114 were heroin related. ADVERTISEMENT Within the last 15 years, drug overdose deaths in the state have quadrupled, but those that showed the most increase involved prescription or illegal opioids. At the state level, the House of Representatives passed a bill to confront opioid misuse to allow pharmacists to prescribe and dispense Narcan, which essentially is an antidote for opiod overdoses, and the other allow pharmacies to serve a volunteer collection sites for unwanted medications. Never having known much about addictions, Jean now continues to reach out to families and continue the conversation about educating younger generations about the dangers of drug addictions, and the potentially tragic consequences from them. "I wanna help families get help and show how dangerous and addictive drugs can be," she said. "I want to prevent another family from ever having to experiencing losing a loved one to addiction." 'That's what I need to be' A man named Nick last name omitted for privacy moved into Dorothy's Hope last week. His room tucked into a corner on the first level of the house, and on the other side, will be his roommate. He struggled with alcoholism for several years. Recently, Nick found himself in a "dark spot," which, prompted Gould to meet with him and Nick's family to give him a choice: Live the life you're living, or rebuild and start over. Nick, chose the latter. The walls are bare, and not many personal belongings personalize the room. Among the few possessions, was a framed photograph of Nick's family. He sat on his bed, pointing down to a metal bracelet that encircled his wrist. On it, inscribed in plain script reads: Dad. A gift from Nick's daughters. A constant reminder of why Nick decided to rebuild his life without alcohol, and a reason why he chose to find hope in sobriety. "That's what I need to be," Nick said. "I don't need to be an alcoholic. I need to be a dad." It won't be an easy road to recovery, but the men at Dorothy's Hope are determined to turn their lives around and be there for the people they love now that they're given a second chance. "Just because somebody's doing some stuff they shouldn't be doing. It doesn't mean you just give up on them and throw them in jail," Nick said. "Fill out some workbook pages and read steps one through five, there's hope, and you can find it at Dorothy's Hope." The Belau Report: City Council President Randy Staver, Olmsted County Board Chairwoman Sheila Kiscaden and interim Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce President Kathleen Harrington share information on budgets and infrastructure and offer updates on legislative needs, transportation and housing from city and county public and private sector leadership. The Belau Report may be seen on Charter Spectrum channel 181 at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Rochester, Byron, Eyota, Kasson, Mantorville, Stewartville and Zumbrota. Although the amount of forfeitures in Rochester has increased, that doesn't mean that crime is on the rise. The Criminal Forfeitures Report for Minnesota was released on Thursday and provided information on the amount of funds and property seized by Minnesota law enforcement in 2015. A forfeiture is the seizure of funds or property due to criminal acts. Under Minnesota Law, property associated with designated criminal offenses may be forfeited. In Minnesota, 320 law enforcement agencies reported a total of 6,722 forfeitures in 2015, resulting in $6,855,052 in net proceeds. This is compared to the 6,874 completed forfeitures in 2014, which resulted in $6,8880,633. Vehicles accounted for about 59 percent of the property seized through the forfeitures, cash 27 percent, firearms 12 percent and other property accounted for one percent. In 2015, the most common criminal activity in Minnesota that resulted in a forfeiture were related to controlled substances and DUIs. This accounted for 3,013 reported forfeitures in 2015. ADVERTISEMENT The Rochester Police Department saw a small uptick of completed forfeitures from 2014 to 2015, going from 132 to 156. The net proceeds increased from $64,738 in 2014 to $91,532 in 2015. The Southeast Minnesota Narcotics and Gang Task Force, a multi-jurisdictional crime unit that covers eight counties in southeastern Minnesota, also saw a small decrease, with 222 in 2014 and 236 in 2015. The task force's net proceeds declined from $239,739 in 2014 to $172,581 in 2015. The Southeast Minnesota Narcotics and Gang Task Force is comprised on 14 police departments and sheriff offices, including the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office, to destroy illegal drug, gang activity and violent crime in southeastern Minnesota. John Sherwin of the Rochester Police Department said that although there has been a small increase of forfeitures in 2015, this does not necessarily mean that there has been an increase in crime. Most likely, he said, the increase is due to a more focused effort by the Rochester Police Department to hold criminals accountable for the crime that they commit, especially by focusing on criminals that have committed repeat offenses and the assets that they accumulated through those crimes. "If you do the crime you can expect repercussions," Sherwin said. However, Sherwin said, the seizing of funds and materials that criminals have gained through criminal activity does not necessary affect criminals when it comes to repeating offenses. In the bigger picture, he said, forfeitures are not really a deterrent when it comes to committing crimes. Rochester's own American Ninja Warrior is headed to Las Vegas. Andrew "Roo" Yori, 39 otherwise known as the K9 Ninja advanced to the Las Vegas Finals after competing in the Indianapolis City Finals of American Ninja Warrior, which aired on NBC Monday night. The Mayo Clinic employee has been competing on the show to raise awareness for homeless dogs in need of loving families. "I was pretty shocked to be pretty honest," Yori said. "I was on the bubble. The guy who had the fastest time in the qualifier was going through, and I expected to be disappointed, but cheered for him. So, when I saw the splash on the screen, I was kind of in shock. I was speechless." The Indianapolis City Finals had 30 competitors, but only half advanced to the national finals in Las Vegas. While already difficult, the course offered even more challenging obstacles. Yori's run ended with the "ninja killer" Hourglass Drop essentially a redesign of the Unstable Bridge obstacle with a mini trampoline in the middle of the planks. A slight miscalculation caused Yori to propel himself off the trampoline too far to the right. ADVERTISEMENT "That trampoline was a hit or miss," he said. "I don't have a lot of experience dropping onto one and accurately propelling yourself back into the air, that's not gonna be pretty stable. It's pretty much a ninja killer. Not many people made it past there." Despite that setback, the K9 Ninja still clinched one of 15 spots for Vegas. The episode was already filmed and is waiting to be aired sometime in late August. If Yori wins the competition, then he could go home with $1 million. Yori and his wife, Clara, have non-profit organization called Wallace the Pit Bull Foundation. When Yori returned from Indianapolis, it was pretty difficult to keep the results of the competition from his friends and co-workers. "Hardest part was going back to work, and my co-workers knew that I went and competed and asking, 'Oh, how's it going?'" he laughed. "It was so hard trying to keep this a secret. At the same time, people were putting the puzzle pieces together, and I had to cover my bases wherever I go. It was awesome." His least favorite obstacle: the rolling log. "That log, you had no idea where you were," he said. "I got scrapes, bruises and cuts behind the ears. You're being tossed from it." Yori didn't change up his workout routine too much to prepare for Vegas. He mostly kept to working out at facility up in the Cities to practice running over unstable objects, and rock climbing to improve his grip. While Rochester won't know until late August what Yori's fate might be, the warrior considers the experience a valuable one to share his mission of helping dogs find loving families on a national platform. ADVERTISEMENT "It's been kind of a dream come true," he said. "It's fun going out there, and the ninja community is a really cool group of guys and gals. ...it's been a really great experience so far, and hopefully I can keep going." MANCHESTER, Iowa When buyers heard that the money from an Iowa steer auction would go toward a scholarship fund named for a young car accident victim, they repeatedly donated the steer back to be resold. Jamie Nefzger, 19, took his Black Angus to the auction ring at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Manchester, Iowa, on July 16. A letter was read aloud about the June 24 death of his 13-year-old cousin, Anna Nefzger, and stated that the proceeds would go toward the scholarship. "I wanted to do something for her," Jamie Nefzger said. "I thought we could make a couple thousand dollars to go towards her scholarship." Transport company owner Greg Preussner bought the 1,710-pound Black Angus at $4 per pound. Other animals auctioned off earlier in the day had gone for an average of about $1.50 per pound. "He had come down, and we thought that was the end of it," said Randy Nefzger, Jamie's father. "Then, all of a sudden, Greg turned to me and said, 'Randy, you sell that steer again.'" ADVERTISEMENT The scene repeated itself several times, until the auction raised more than $40,000. "There wasn't a dry eye in the show ring," Jamie Nefzger said. "It was something to see how a tragedy like this can bring people together." Afterwards, people were invited to make individual donations to the scholarship. Maquoketa Valley Dollars for Scholars, which set up the scholarship, says more than $41,000 has been raised so far. Pleussner said he didn't expect so many others to follow his lead, but he was glad to see the generosity. "I think we all wanted to show our support in some way," Pleussner said. "All that money isn't going to bring that family's girl back, but at least it will allow something good to come from it. DES MOINES, Iowa A transgender prison worker filed a complaint with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission on Thursday saying state Department of Corrections officials violated his constitutional rights by refusing to allow him to use the men's bathroom and showers at work. Jesse Vroegh has worked for the state since 2009 and is a nurse at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville. The 34-year-old says he's been required to use a unisex private restroom that doesn't have a shower, preventing him from showering at work if needed, a benefit others have. He also is challenging denial of medical treatment and procedures including chest surgery by his state-provided insurer. In his complaint, Vroegh alleges violations of state law and his Iowa constitutional rights. Filing a civil rights complaint is the first step to challenging civil rights violations in court. After 60 days Vroegh may file a lawsuit. The Iowa Department of Corrections declined to comment on the complaint because it is still pending. "As a very important part the Department of Corrections mission, the department strongly focuses to protect and treat with respect the public, staff and offenders," spokesman Fred Scaletta said. ADVERTISEMENT In denying Vroegh's request last year to use the men's restrooms and showers, corrections officials told him it was because of concerns for the male officers at the prison, according to the complaint. Vroegh said he's known since age 7 that he was a male and started using a male name in the third grade. Since 2000, he has dressed and cut his hair as a male. He was diagnosed in March 2014 with gender dysphoria, a medical diagnosis for the discomfort and distress that results from a mismatch between a person's biological sex and gender identity. He experiences depression and anxiety and is receiving medical treatment including hormone therapy. He said his doctor has advised him to socially transition to living full time as a male. As a result, he notified his supervisors and asked them to develop policies relating to use of restroom and locker rooms for transgender employees. Vroegh said his supervisor notified him in April that officials would not be drafting such a policy. "All I want is for my employer to treat me like my co-workers by allowing me to use the work restrooms and locker rooms that match my gender and by offering me insurance for medical care I need," he said. "I don't want different treatment. I just want the same treatment and facilities as every other employee." He filed the complaint with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, the ACLU LGBT Project and West Des Moines lawyer Melissa Hasso. Rita Bettis, ACLU of Iowa legal director, said the state should be setting an example by creating a work environment that is free from discrimination on the basis of gender identity instead of allowing an agency to violate a protection written its own civil rights law. Iowa is one of 18 states with gender identity protection in civil rights laws, Bettis said. She said more than 200 cities nationwide offer similar protection. Rochester City Council President Randy Staver and Sean Allen, a businessman and neighborhood activist who's challenging Staver for that job, will debate local issues in a Post-Bulletin Dialogue a week from today at the Rochester Art Center. Staver and Allen will join Post-Bulletin Managing Editor Jay Furst for a moderated conversation about key issues facing Rochester in the Destination Medical Center era and what the candidates would do about them. Furst will invite advance input and questions from the public to lead the conversation, and the final 30 minutes of the 90-minute session will be direct Q & A with audience members. The event is set for 6:30 p.m. Aug. 3 at the Art Center, 40 Civic Center Drive SE. Dialogue meetings are typically held at the Rochester Public Library, but this one is expected to draw a larger audience. The event will be videotaped by the library staff for posting at www.rochesterpubliclibrary.org . Staver , 59, has been council president since May 2013, when he won a special election to complete the term of Dennis Hanson, who died in June 2012. Staver was first elected to the council in November 2010 from the 5th Ward. He's a Rochester native, a 1975 graduate of Mayo High School and is a unit head in information technology at Mayo Clinic, where he has worked since 1980. Allen , 45, is co-owner of Forager Brewery and Kutzky Market in Rochester and also is a partner in a real estate consulting business, Midwest Landing. He was executive director of the Rochester Area Foundation's First Homes affordable housing initiative from 2001 to 2012. He's a graduate of St. Olaf College in Northfield and was chairman of the Northfield Planning Commission. ADVERTISEMENT If you have questions or topics you want addressed at the event, send them to furst@postbulletin.com or go to the Furst Draft blog at Postbulletin.com. RED WING The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission will host a public hearing at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Southeast Technical College in Red Wing. The hearing is to gather public input and answer questions concerning a rate increase application made by Northern States Power Company for electric service rates in MInnesota, said Matthew Lindstrom, media relations representative for Xcel Energy. Xcel has already held several public hearings on the topic throughout the state, Lindstrom said. A decision will be made later this year by the PUC on the rate increase based on Xcel's application and input collected at the meetings by the PUC. PHILADELPHIA A glass ceiling is shattering at the Democratic National Convention as Hillary Clinton ascends to the presidential nomination with Tuesday's roll call of the states, making her the first woman to lead a major party into a White House race. But as history is being made, hostility is being heard, too. Rhetorically, at least, die-hard Bernie Sanders' supporters also are breaking some glass, loudly protesting his treatment by the party and still cold to Clinton even as Sanders appeals for Democrats to unify and defeat Republican Donald Trump, "a bully and a demagogue." What was expected to be a tightly orchestrated convention, run with all the professionalism and experience that were lacking at Trump's often-chaotic affair in Ohio, instead showed its rough edges in the early going, starting with chants of "Bernie" during the opening invocation and boos at numerous mentions of Clinton's name. First lady Michelle Obama gave a heartfelt endorsement of the candidate who engaged her husband in a fierce struggle for the nomination in 2008. "I trust Hillary to lead this country," she said in a speech that provided a parent's-eye view of the White House and its power. "She is just a uniting figure for the party," said delegate Keith McLain, of Byron. "She stood up there and talked about why we need to do this without mentioning Donald Trump's name." ADVERTISEMENT "She didn't use fear," McLain said. "She didn't have to. You can motivate people without using fear. You can motivate people by using hope." Liberal favorite Elizabeth Warren, senator from Massachusetts, and Sanders himself also gave the party something to cheer about Monday night. While Mrs. Obama has often avoided overt politics, her frustration with Trump's rise was evident. Without naming him, she warned that the White House couldn't be in the hands of someone with "a thin skin or a tendency to lash out" or someone who tells voters the country can be great again. "This right now, is the greatest country on earth," she said. 'We love you, Bernie' Sanders took the stage to a sustained roar and shouts of "We love you, Bernie." Some of his supporters were in tears. While asserting "our revolution continues," the Vermont senator implored his restive followers to get behind Clinton. On issues of poverty, immigration, environmental protection and more, he said, Clinton's election counts. "If you don't believe that this election is important," he said, "take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate." Rochester delegate Randy Schubring, a Clinton supporter, said his hopes that Sanders and Clinton supporters can come together were bolstered by Sanders' appearance. He said the first day offered Sanders supporters a chance to grieve their candidate's loss. "Yesterday was cathartic for Bernie Sanders' supporters. They needed it," he said. ADVERTISEMENT Democrats made a pronounced effort to showcase their diversity, salting the lineup from the stage with black, Hispanic, gay and disabled speakers in an obvious counterpoint to Trump and the various groups he has upset with his remarks. The convention opened in a dustup over leaked emails showing the party's pro-Clinton, anti-Sanders slant during the primaries, when it was supposed to be neutral. In the uproar, party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida went swiftly into exile, first giving up her position, then the convention's opening-day gavel after being roundly booed by Sanders partisans at a meeting of her home-state delegation. Sanders delegate Gian Carlo Espinosa, 29, of Key West, Florida, said he would not abandon protests, as Sanders urged. "Why else are we here?" he asked. "The people that we're representing are displeasured with the party. We have to get that across somehow." This, despite Sanders telling his backers in an email and text message: "Our credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays." Next chapter In roasting heat, spirited protests unfolded outside, another echo of the Republican convention in Cleveland. Several hundred Sanders backers marched down Philadelphia streets, with signs saying "Never Hillary." One said, "Just go to jail, Hillary," a takeoff on cries at the Republican convention to "lock her up." Nevertheless, Clinton was firmly on track to write the next chapter of a story that left off in 2008, when she conceded the Democratic presidential race to Barack Obama in a speech that lamented "we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time," but added proudly, "it's got about 18 million cracks in it," a tally of her primary votes. The roll call, when each state announces its delegate totals from the primary season, will affirm a nomination Clinton locked up weeks ago. One question of the day was whether Sanders would press for a count by all the states, as his delegates want, or interrupt the process to ask that her nomination be approved by acclamation. That's what Clinton did on Obama's behalf in 2008 to indicate their rivalry was truly over. Clinton promised an uplifting counterpoint to Trump's dark portrayal of the state of the nation, but the fallout from some 19,000 leaked Democratic National Committee emails threatened to complicate those plans. ADVERTISEMENT Michael Buratowski, an analyst with the cybersecurity firm the Democrats employed, said he found evidence of Russian involvement, such as the use of a Russian-language keyboard and time-offs that coincided with Russian business hours in what he described as an attack too sophisticated to be the work of freelance hackers. The hackers took at least a year's worth of detailed chats, emails and research on Trump, according to a person knowledgeable of the breach who wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the matter. As the convention began, the DNC released a statement apologizing to Sanders and his supporters "for the inexcusable remarks made over email." The statement was signed by DNC leaders, though Wasserman Schultz's name was notably absent. ST. PAUL At the Republican National Convention last week, delegates wearing hard hats went wild when Donald Trump's running mate Mike Pence said, "Donald Trump digs coal!" Pence was showing support for the West Virginia coal industry, which has declined in recent years. Republican Party officials went even further in the party's platform, declaring coal an affordable and clean form of energy. But many conservatives have said a strong focus on protecting coal isn't giving Republicans enough opportunities to weigh in on the country's energy future. So a new group designed to give conservatives a voice on energy policy has been formed, and their message is far different from those at the RNC. "Let's get away from the standard talking points for Republicans that focus on one area of energy production," said Amy Koch, a former state senator who served as majority leader when Republicans controlled the chamber earlier this decade. ADVERTISEMENT Koch recently joined the board of the Minnesota Conservative Energy Forum, a group that wants to push for market-driven, consumer-friendly energy policies. The group will join the Citizens League this afternoon to host a discussion about growing interest among conservatives to embrace technological innovations that are making energy cleaner and more affordable. Koch said, at first, she was unsure about how the group would be received by fellow Republicans, but she believes it's a good fit. "When you talk about consumer-driven electric generation and getting the cost down, that's actually completely in our wheelhouse. It shouldn't be a surprise." While the forum's statement of principles says it embraces all forms of energy, it also acknowledges consumers are demanding cleaner energy, and Americans want to spend part of their wealth on a clean environment. "If you look at polling, everybody conservatives, independents and liberals really share the same goal, which is to have a cleaner energy mix going into the future," said David Strom, executive director of the Conservative Energy Forum. Republicans and Democrats in Minnesota came together a decade ago to boost renewable energy by implementing a renewable energy standard and setting goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But since then, Minnesota Republicans have followed a national trend away from action on climate change. Strom said the group aims to reframe the debate and get conservatives back to the table. "We just want to stay away from the whole argument over global warming, which we think is kind of a dead end," he said. "We just want to get back to the issue of energy policy." Pat Garofalo, GOP chair of the energy committee in the Minnesota House, is one of the speakers at Monday's discussion. He said energy must be both clean and affordable. ADVERTISEMENT "Historically, we've had to spend more money to clean up our energy," Garofalo said, "and with the breakthroughs in technology, that's just simply not the case." Coal-fired power plants throughout the country are being retired, not just because of emissions regulations, but also because they're too expensive to run, especially when compared to natural gas and wind power. The cost of solar power also has dropped in recent years. This has led the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board to conclude that increasing the state's renewable energy standard would be the best way for Minnesota to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A 2007 law calls for a 30 percent reduction by 2025, a goal the state is not currently on track to meet. Catrina Rorke, who directs energy policy at a free-market, Libertarian think tank called R Street, said the government setting higher standards isn't the answer. "It seems about time that we can allow the market to take over, and that's what conservatives want to see," Rorke said. Democrats in the state don't appear to share that view. Last week, Lt. Gov. Tina Smith told nonprofits and business groups that the state should look at increasing its renewable energy standard to 50 percent. PHILADELPHIA Seeking to bridge deep Democratic divides, Bernie Sanders robustly embraced his former rival Hillary Clinton Monday night as a champion for the same economic causes that enlivened his supporters, signaling it was time for them, too, to rally behind her in the campaign against Republican Donald Trump. "Any objective observer will conclude that based on her ideas and her leadership Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States," he declared in a headlining address on the opening night of the Democratic convention. Sanders joined a high-wattage lineup of speakers, including first lady Michelle Obama who made a forceful, impassioned case for the Democratic nominee. Mrs. Obama's address all but wiped away earlier tumult in the convention hall that had exposed lingering tensions between Clinton and Sanders supporters. Mrs. Obama, who has spent nearly eight years in the White House avoiding political fights, took numerous swipes at Trump, all while avoiding mentioning him by name. "This election and every election is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives," she said. "There is only one person I trust with that responsibility, only one person I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is Hillary Clinton." ADVERTISEMENT While Sanders had endorsed Clinton previously, his remarks Monday marked his most vigorous and detailed praise of her qualifications for the presidency. It came at a crucial moment for Clinton's campaign, on the heels of leaked emails suggesting the party had favored the former secretary of state through the primaries despite a vow of neutrality. Sanders scored the resignation of party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a nemesis in the primaries, but that wasn't enough to quell the anger of supporters. As the convention opened, they still erupted in chants of "Bernie" and booed Clinton the first several times her name was mentioned. Outside the convention hall, several hundred marched down Philadelphia's sweltering streets with signs carrying messages such as "Never Hillary." Behind the scenes, Sanders and Clinton aides joined forces to try to ease tensions. Clinton's campaign quickly added more Sanders' supporters to the speakers lineup. Sanders sent urgent messages to supporters asking them not to protest. By the time Sanders took the stage for the night's closing address, much of the anger had been overshadowed by speeches promoting party unity. Sanders did his part, imploring his supporters to consider a country under Trump's leadership. "If you don't believe this election is important, if you think you can sit it out, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate and what that would mean to civil liberties, equal rights and the future of our country," he said. President Bill Clinton, watching from the audience, leapt to his feet and applauded, as did most of the delegates filling the convention arena. Sanders spoke just after Massachusetts. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a favorite of liberals who has emerged as one of the Democrats' toughest critics of Trump. "Donald Trump has no real plans for jobs, for college kids, for seniors," she said in the keynote address. "No plans to make anything great for anyone except rich guys like Donald Trump." ADVERTISEMENT Mrs. Obama was one of the night's standouts. While she has often avoided overt politics during her nearly eight years in the White House, her frustration with Trump's rise was evident. She warned that the White House couldn't be in the hands of someone with "a thin skin or a tendency to lash out" or someone who tells voters the country can be great again. "This right now, is the greatest country on earth," she said. Clinton's campaign hoped the nighttime line-up would overshadow a tumultuous start to the four-day convention. The hacked DNC emails fed the suspicion of Sanders' supporters and sapped Clinton's campaign of some of its energy following a well-received rollout Saturday of her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine. Campaigning in North Carolina, Trump seemed to revel in the Democrats' commotion, telling supporters that Clinton made a mistake by not choosing a more liberal running mate to appease Sanders' base. "Crazy Bernie's going crazy right now," he said. But in Philadelphia, Delegates waved "Love Trumps Hate" signs and cheered as immigration supporters, gay rights advocates, and labor leaders took the stage. Comedian-turned-Sen. Al Franken, a Clinton supporter, and actress Sarah Silverman, a Sanders supporter, made a joint appearance to promote party unity. "I am proud to be part of Bernie's movement," Silverman said as the crowd roared. "And a vital part of that movement is making absolutely sure Hillary Clinton is our next president of the United States." Trump was a frequent target throughout the night, though the jabs were often more mocking than mean. The tone was a sharp contrast to the Republican convention, where the attacks against Clinton was bitingly personal, including chants of "Lock her up." ADVERTISEMENT Wasserman Schultz had planned to be among those taking the stage, despite the email hacking controversy. But she stepped aside, bowing to pressure from Democrats who feared the mere sight of her on stage would prompt strong opposition. The outgoing chairwoman did watch the gathering from a private suite at the arena. Rochester aims to be the 21st century destination city with opportunity for everyone. Yet despite these best intentions, we have some of the worst achievement and opportunity gaps in the nation. Unfortunately we have state legislators who are failing to address this. The recent Voices for Racial Justice report card shows that both Sen. Carla Nelson and Rep. Nels Pierson scored an "F" for equity this last session. We can do better. If Rochester is to become the forward-looking, successful city it aims to be, it must deliver on a promise to be inclusive. Who we are as a city is changing, and all our children must reach their full potentials if Rochester is to develop the skilled workforce we need. Rochester also needs to recruit outstanding talent. Savvy leaders understand that diversity expands the ideas at the table, resulting in better outcomes in both the classroom and workplace. It will add to the vibrancy of our city. We need people in St. Paul who will work for all of us, no matter our race, religion, ethnicity, or gender identity. Let's elect new representation and together we can build a community that will elicit the best from every one of us. ADVERTISEMENT Aleta Borrud Rochester Five decades ago an idea sparked the eventual creation of Quarry Hill Nature Center. Fifty years after science teacher Harry Buck started teaching on the west side of Quarry Hill Park, the program continues to demonstrate the power of cooperation. Since the idea sprouted in 1966, Rochester Public Schools staff and the city's park and recreation department has been growing a facility that gets students engaged in science, as well as the outdoor world. It's an ideal example of melding common goals. Quarry Hill Nature Center Executive Director Pam Meyer, a part-time RPS staff member, says time hasn't changed the cooperation or the goals of the program. Meyer recently highlighted that fact for the Rochester school board, noting photos from the 1970s show the common threads throughout the years. "They are engaged in the same activities our students are engaged in today," she said. "It's still relevant. It's still exciting. It's still all about getting kids engaged in their sciences." At the same time, the creation of a storm shelter with indoor class space, the planned revitalization of the interpretative center and new programs show the center continues to grow. "We are at max capacity for what we are able to offer," Meyer said. Classes range from kindergarteners learning about bees to eighth-graders studying Karst geology, as well as summer programs that expand into opportunities for high schoolers. ADVERTISEMENT However, opportunities go beyond the classroom, thanks to the cooperative effort. Students frequently encourage their parents and other family members to visit Quarry Hill Park to show them what they have learned. Just as the program has been building throughout the past 50 years, the daily programs build enthusiasm for outdoor spaces and science beyond the classroom experience, encouraging families to explore what other city parks have to offer. It's a true jewel in Rochester, as was recognized in 2014, when Quarry Hill was named a park of regional significance, which sparked work on the park's master plan another cooperative effort between the Friends of Quarry Hill organization and the city. Looking back at how far the program has come since one Rochester teacher taught classes in the park to the continuing efforts to challenge young minds, the cooperative efforts cannot be highlighted enough. After hearing Meyer's presentation on the park's past and its future goals, school board member Dan O'Neil noted other opportunities are available for similar cooperative efforts, pointing specifically to ongoing discussions about transportation in the city and school district. Too often those cooperative opportunities get bogged down. They either don't move fast enough, or different entities fear change is coming too fast. Quarry Hill should serve as an example of what can happen when a common goal is shared and people are willing to work together. It starts with an idea, and a willingness to move forward. 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 The South Sudanese President, Salva Kiir, on Tuesday in Juba swore in opposition leader, Taban Deng, as his Vice President to replace Riek Machar. Mr. Machars whereabouts have been unknown ever since his Juba residence was attacked earlier this month. The swearing in came less than 24 hours after dismissing Riek Machar, the man who held the office until he went missing earlier this month. The opposition spokesman, William Ezekiel, said shortly after the swearing-in ceremony that there was no immediate reaction from Machar. Deng was until recently the Countrys Mining Minister and also the oppositions Chief Negotiator in difficult, months-long peace talks with government. Meanwhile, the opposition said Deng is meant to step aside from the vice presidency once Machar returns to the capital. A fresh outbreak of violence between soldiers and opposition supporters erupted across the country just as South Sudan marked the fifth anniversary of its independence from Sudan on July 9. The clashes dealt a blow to hopes of peace that had grown after Kiir and Machar signed a peace agreement last year and formed a national unity government in April, which saw Machar appointed as vice president. A power struggle between Kiir and Machar escalated into a military conflict in December 2013, killing tens of thousands and displacing more than 2 million people. (dpa/NAN) Nineteen people were killed at a care home in the Japanese city of Sagamihara after a former employee of the centre attacked residents with a knife. Local police report that the attacker drove to a police station and confessed he had carried out the attack. Reports said he broke a window at the facility to gain entrance and started stabbing residents. When Uematsu turned himself in, he was found carrying kitchen knives and other types of knives stained with blood, a Kanagawa official told reporters. Local media have identified the attacker as Satoshi Uematsu, 26. The police said he left a handwritten note to politicians in February where he vowed to kill hundreds of disabled people. After the note was discovered, he was admitted in hospital for about two weeks and was later released. The Kyodo news, quoting the Sagamihara City Fire Department, said those killed are said to be between 19 and 70. Some 25 others were said to be injured after the attack, 20 of them seriously. One doctor told NHK: The patients are very shocked mentally, and they cannot speak now. According to the BBC the killing is the worst in the country, where mass killings are extremely rare, in decade. Japan is one of the safest places in the world. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, said it was a very heart-wrenching and shocking incident in which many innocent people became victims. Officials have ruled out any links to terrorism. Embattled former chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has struck again, this time with new revelations about how Speaker Yakubu Dogara allegedly perpetrated a massive shakedown of administrators of government agencies and multinational firms operating in the country. Mr. Jibrin raised the allegations in an email to PREMIUM TIMES on Monday evening, as tension intensified in the House of Representatives over the unfolding budget padding scandal. The revelations, which are the latest in a series of similar ones from Mr. Jibrin in recent days, marked strong indications that the fallout from the budget padding scandal may be far from over. Mr. Jibrin took the scandal and his battle against Mr. Dogara to the media after the Speaker announced his departure in a statement on the floor of the House on allegations that the Kano State lawmaker serially betrayed the trust reposed in him by the House leadership and his colleagues. But Mr. Jibrin repeatedly denied that he committed treachery or that he was fired, saying he had earlier informed the Speaker of his intention to step down. Mr. Jibrin said Mr. Dogara had repeatedly victimised him for being an independent voice in the lower chamber, saying he would work to ensure that the Speaker either resigns or is disgraced from office. To achieve his aim, Mr. Jibrin said he would reveal to Nigerians all the corrupt practices involving Mr. Dogara, which he said were well documented. In the latest attacks, Mr. Jibrin said the fraudulent tendencies of Mr. Dogara and some other House principal officers had become so pervasive that President Buhari would not hesitate to isolate and investigate them if he were to be briefed about them. Speaker Yakubu Dogara and his senior cabal namely Deputy Speaker Lasun, Whip Doguwa and Minority leader Ogor have promoted corruption so badly in the House that if President Muhammadu Buhari with his disdain for corruption and corrupt people has the slightest idea, he will ban the quartet permanently from the Villa before they eventually allow for proper and unbiased investigation by the House, Mr. Jibrin said. Mr. Jibrin detailed how Mr. Dogara and others allegedly diverted funds meant for legislative functions to service their guest houses and official apartments, saying the Speaker was once engaged in an open brawl with a lawmaker over the matter. Mr. Speaker and Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun diverted millions of naira all in the name of paying for guest houses and official residence, the lawmaker said. The issue became so messy that the Deputy Speaker openly accused Hon Herma Hembe of short changing them of millions of naira in the deal to the shock of many Hon Members. Also revealed about Mr. Dogara were details of how he allegedly blackmailed government agencies and multinational companies into succumbing to his demands for financial and material gratification, in a clear case of conflict of interest, Mr. Jibrin said. Speaker Yakubu Dogara frequently abuses his office amounting to conflict of interest by soliciting for inappropriate favours from agencies and Multinational companies. He forced an agency to grant loans and a construction company blackmailed to do some work at his Asokoro plot. Mr. Jibrin said Mr. Dogara devised a means of shaving funds from lawmakers salaries into his pocket on the premise of putting a mortgage system in place for members. Mr. Jibrin said, Mr. Dogara runs the financial management of the House like a cult aided and abated by the Chairman House services Hon. Babanlle Ila. It is no longer news that all over the House, Hon Members are aware of the monumental fraud perpetrated by Speaker Yakubu Dogara in this regard. Mr. Ilas mention in todays allegations marked the first time Mr. Jibrin would introduce another lawmaker to the controversy that was not in the initial quartet. We are even told that this is a childs play compared to the mess and allegations of money laundering he left behind as Chairman, House Services in both the 6th and 7th Assembly. The EFCC should have something to start working with in respect to his tenure as Chairman House Services if they properly dust their files, Mr. Jibrin said. Mr. Jibrin also revealed another first in his statement today, a call for lawmakers to commence thorough investigation into the allegations against the Speaker and others. I am therefore once again calling on honourable colleagues and well meaning Nigerians to prevail on Speaker Yakubu Dogara and his three other cohorts to put the interest of country first and allow the House to conduct a thorough investigation into the allegations on them. This is the first time Mr. Jibrin would support a House investigation. He used his previous statements to prevail on Mr. Dogara to allow EFCC and other relevant agencies conduct detailed investigations of all allegations arising from the budget padding scandal. Civil society groups have also called for thorough investigation. In separate interviews with PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, Transition Monitoring Group, and the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, said only a thorough inquiry into the alleged sharp practices would unravel the circumstances under which they were perpetrated. Despite growing demand from Nigerians for his explanation, Mr. Dogara has maintained silence, saying he would rather allow the House to deal with the matter as an institution instead of engaging in political mudslinging with Mr. Jibrin. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday advised President Muhammadu Buhari against releasing funds meant for constituency projects to federal lawmakers. Mr. Obasanjo said shortly after visiting Mr. Buhari at the Presidential Villa that the current crisis in the House of Representatives confirmed his allegation that there were thieves in the National Assembly. The former president spoke as the rift between the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and former Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, intensified. Mr. Jibrin is accusing Mr. Dogara and leaders of the lower legislative chamber of padding the 2016 budget. But in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES from his Abeokuta home later on Monday, Mr. Obasanjo said on no account should Mr. Buhari release any money in the name of constituency projects to the National Assembly. The former president said Nigerians should continue to protest the move by federal lawmakers to use the budget to illegally enrich themselves. Since Mr. Buhari is the only person empowered to release money under the law, Mr. Obasanjo advised the president to only make funds available for expenditures that were legally budgeted for. That is criminal and they should be held accountable for it, Mr. Obasanjo said. There should be a showdown between what is right and what is wrong. After such a showdown, what is right will definitely prevail and the criminals will be put to shame. He said the constituency projects, as being canvassed by the lawmakers, were illegal, criminal and wrapped in corruption. They are the contractors, the jury, the judge and prosecutors, Mr. Obasanjo said. They put the projects in the budgets and they do the projects by themselves or through contractors they nominate. Where is integrity? Where is honesty? the former president asked. Still carpeting the lawmakers, Mr. Obasanjo said members of the National Assembly were simply trying to hijack the job of the executive arm of government. Who supervises the job? Who ascertains that the job has been done? It is not in their place to execute projects. It is illegal, he said. Mr. Obasanjo advised lawmakers interested in having projects executed in their constituencies to go to the executive and make their cases. He argued that constituency projects were illegal and that Nigerian lawmakers only use them to steal money. They are thieves. I have always held the view that they are thieves, can you all see it now? he said. He also said once lawmakers perform the functions of the executive, they would not do justice to lawmaking and would not be able to pass budgets the way they should be done. The former president lamented that the national lawmakers were using the constituency projects to crowd out legitimate and genuine capital projects the executive would have used to develop the country. The former president said during his tenure, he did not release funds for constituency projects. I explained to them that it was the job of the executive to execute projects to develop the country, while that of lawmakers was to approve the budget. Mr. Obasanjo was president between 1999 and 2007. He said he also advised federal lawmakers that if they wanted to be in a position to award contracts or execute projects like those in the executive arm of government, they should go and contest elections as local government chairmen, governors or president. He warned lawmakers against usurping the functions of the executive out of greed, selfishness, lawlessness and criminality. They should be lawmakers, not law breakers, Mr. Obasanjo said. The former president described the so-called constituency projects as a waste of public funds that should not be condoned by any leader. The question to ask is: assuming they execute the contracts, although we know they dont, they usually pocket the monies. But assuming they execute the contracts, what becomes of the projects in future when they cease to be in the National Assembly? Who maintains them? When a project is not built by states, local governments or federal governments, they do not have a future, he said. This is not the first time Mr. Obasanjo had descended heavily on Nigerian lawmakers. In 2012, the former president lashed out at the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly, describing them as institutions filled with rogues and armed robbers. Mr. Obasanjo spoke at an event in Lagos attended by two former Heads of State, Yakubu Gowon and Ernest Shonekan. He again lambasted the countrys lawmakers at the Fourth Annual Conference of the Academy for Entrepreneurial Studies, attended by former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola and retired Chief Justice Nigeria, Muhammadu Uwais. At that event, Mr. Obasanjo referred to the legislature as among the the nations most corrupt and inefficient institutions. Integrity is necessary for all systems and institutions to be strong, the former president had said. Today, rogues, armed robbers are in the state houses of assembly and the national assembly. What sort of laws will they make? Mr. Obasanjo again took lawmakers to the cleaners sometime in 2014 at a book launch in honour of a former Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, Mustapha Akanbi. At the event, the former president said the National Assembly was populated by corrupt persons. Apart from shrouding the remunerations of the National Assembly in opaqueness and without transparency, they indulge in extorting money from departments, contractors and ministries in two ways, he said. They do so during visits to their projects and programmes and in the process of budget approval, when they raise budgets for ministries and departments, who agree to give it back to them in contracts that they do not execute. They do similar things during their inquiries. In January this year, the former president wrote Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker Dogara accusing the federal lawmakers of corruption, impunity, greed and of repeatedly breaking the nations laws. In a letter dated January 13, Mr. Obasanjo specifically accused the lawmakers of fixing and earning salaries and allowances far above what the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission approved for them. He also alleged that most of the 109 senators and 369 members of the House of Representatives were receiving constituency allowances without maintaining constituency offices as required by law. In the letter, exclusively published by PREMIUM TIMES, the former president said on a few occasions, both in and out of office as president, he had agonised over the massive corruption and lawlessness at the National Assembly and other arms and tiers of government. He said the practices in the National Assembly which detracts from distinguishness and honourability because it is shrouded in opaqueness and absolute lack of transparency and could not be regarded as normal, good and decent practice in a democracy that is supposed to be exemplary. Nigerian senators like to refer to themselves as distinguished while members of the House of Representatives like being addressed as honourables. The House of Representatives Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions says it is awaiting a petition from a former chairman of House Appropriations Committee chairman, Abdulmumin Jibrin, who has accused the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, and other members of massive corruption. The chairman of the ethics committee, Nicholas Ossai (PDP-Delta), told PREMIUM TIMES by phone on Friday that it would need a petition to investigate weighty allegations of budget fraud against Mr. Dogara; deputy, Yusuf Lasun; deputy majority leader, Ahassan Doguwa; and minority leader, Leo Ogor. He however said it was wrong for Mr. Jibrin to claim that lawmakers padded the 2016 budget. He said the budget was merely amended. Mr. Jibrin, who was removed from his position last week, said the speaker, Mr. Dogara, and the other three principal officers, inserted layers of fictitious projects worth N40 billion into the budget for fraudulent reasons. He has called for their resignation. In legislature, you dont talk about padding, Mr. Ossai said. Budget is an appropriation bill and is like other bills that you amend. You know in bills you talk about clauses. Every head in the budget is a clause. So legislators have power to amend it. He said lawmakers were allowed to introduce constituency projects as effective representatives of the people. Pressed on Mr. Jibrins claim that besides constituency projects, chairmen of 10 committees padded over N284 billion through 2000 projects, into the budget, Mr. Ossai said he could not comment because that is part of investigations. We are waiting for petition and I know pages of newspapers are not petitions, said Mr. Ossai. The ethics committee looks forward to receiving petition. No petition has been brought before the committee; the committee must receive petition before it dabbles into any issue. Asked whether his committee could not act proactively given the seriousness of the allegations, Mr. Ossai said a petition would still be better. Petition formalises everything. Without recourse to letter that comes from the House (after it received petition), the ethics committee can move into and investigate the matter but it is better empowered if a petition is forwarded to it, he said. EFCC cant probe Mr. Ossai faulted calls for investigation of Mr. Dogara and other lawmakers involved in the scandal by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and related offences Commission. Anything done at plenary or premises of the House cannot be investigated by external bodies. The House can regulate itself using its rules and procedures. Nigerians are yet to appreciate what the legislature is. We have mechanisms to discipline ourselves, he said. He said external investigation can only happen after the house ethics committee probe. In its report it can recommend prosecution by relevant security or anti-graft agencies. The constitution gives the House the power to solve its problem, he said. He said the House could convene for an emergency sitting in wake of the scandal on one of two conditions: if one-thirds of the members petition the Speaker or leaderships of majority and minority parties make the demand. The dreaded Nigeria-based terrorist group, Boko Haram, established links with some international terrorist groups, including Al-Qaeda, the Presidential Fact-Finding Committee on the Abducted Female Students of Government Secondary School, Chibok, has said. The committee stated this in its report submitted to former President Goodluck Jonathan before he left office. The 50-page report, which details were never made public, was obtained exclusively by PREMIUM TIMES. The 27-member panel, chaired by Ibrahim Sabo, a retired brigadier general, was inaugurated by Mr. Jonathan on May 6, 2014, to, among other things find out the circumstances leading to the abduction of the 276 female students of the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State on April 14, 2014 by Boko Haram terrorists. The establishment of the committee was sequel to claims and counterclaims about the circumstances and the actual number of students abducted by the terrorists. Before the committee was set up there speculations were that Boko Haram had established ties with other terrorist groups across the world. For instance, in 2002, the late Osama bin Laden reportedly dispatched his aide to Nigeria to distribute $3 million to Salafi groups and the Boko Haram founder, Mohammed Yusuf, was thought to be a recipient of the money. By 2006, members of the group were also reported to be training in the Sahel alongside al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb. It is on record that Boko Haram has regional and international links with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), an Al-Qaeda affiliate, and has cooperated with other terrorist groups, the committee said in its report. It said a collaborative and cooperative regional approach would be most effective in ensuring that there is no safe haven for terrorists in and around the shores of Nigeria. It said the approach was adopted 15 years ago by ECOWAS in conflict prevention, resolution and management. The committee asked the government to involve consultations and collaboration with neighbouring countries, multilateral organisations such as African Union, ECOWAS, United Nations and countries that are already assisting with representatives of most of these organisations in both open and closed-door interactive sessions. The committee further recommended that Nigeria should use its influence to ensure the rapid operationalisation of the Regional Counter-Terrorism Strategy (RCTS). Under the prevention of the RCTS, it suggested, Nigeria should as a matter of urgency, establish its early warning mechanism/system in line with the October 24, 2013 Abidjan Declaration of ECOWAS member states. This will ensure that appropriate social, political, environment and economic indicators are identified, regularly monitored, analysed and reported in a way that elicits action to prevent and/or mitigate threats to peace and security by appropriate authorities, it said. It further said Nigerian border posts required urgent evaluation and intervention by the federal government. It stated that with Para-military staff avoiding to serve in states that border other countries, because those posts were access for the insurgents, government may need to consider how to strategically deploy troops and hardware as back-up for border security, without provoking the neighbouring countries. The committee said it took special note of the Youth Volunteer groups, also known Civilian Joint Task Force, JTF, in the North East region. It said the positive role of the groups in giving support to the government and the security agencies in the fight against Boko Haram had been lauded by many. It said the military and other security agencies should be advised to incorporate the local security organisations and vigilantes in the rescue efforts as they are more conversant with the terrain, particularly the Sambisa Forest. It however warned that care should be taken in ensuring that members are persons of integrity and, in the long run, a lot of thought has to be given to Demobilization, Disarmament, Reintegration and Resettlement. The Committee also recommended that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should sensitise the international community on the sensitive issue of Human Rights and Rules of Engagement (ROE) should there be an intention to re-strategise the current counter-terrorism approach, in order to avoid a backlash from the international community. The House of Representatives on Tuesday gave further explanation for its decision to replace the Kano lawmaker, Abdulmumin Jibrin, as chairman of House Committee on Appropriation. The House said Mr. Jibrin was removed last Wednesday for his incompetence, abuse of budgetary process and serial betrayal, including a proclivity to blackmail'. In the explanation, which was detailed in a press release by its spokesman, Abdulrazak Namdas, the House said Mr. Jibrins highhandedness could no longer be tolerated, hence his dismissal. Mr. Namdas also responded to Mr. Jibrins allegations that Speaker Yakubu Dogara severely padded the 2016 budget to the tune of N40 billion. Read the full press statement below: TEXT OF PRESS CONFERENCE BY CHAIRMAN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON MEDIA & PUBLICITY, HON. ABDULRAZAK NAMDAS ON 26 JULY 2016: You will recall that on Wednesday, July 20, 2016, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin was removed from his position as Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations and replaced by Hon. Mustapha Bala Dawaki. This was done in exercise of the powers conferred on Mr. Speaker by the House Rules to appoint and remove Committee Chairmen and Deputies in consultation with the House Leadership. On that occasion, the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, had stated that Jibrins removal was a decision of the House Leadership and that incidentally, after that decision, Hon. Abdulmumin himself approached him on the floor of the House, just before he made the announcement, notifying him that the pressure on him was beyond what he could bear and that he no longer desired to continue as Chairman. Strangely, after this, Hon. Abdulmumin went into a press war in which he is maligning, misrepresenting and denigrating the Speaker, the Leadership, the entire members of the House and indeed the House of Representatives as an institution. It has become imperative that we clarify some of the issues he has raised to set the record straight. 2. SOME REASONS WHY HON. ABDULMUMIN JIBRIN WAS REMOVED: His removal was based on sundry acts of misconduct, incompetence, immaturity, total disregard for his colleagues and abuse of the budgetary process, among others. a. Immaturity and lack of capacity to handle the Office of Chairman, Appropriations: One of the fundamental reasons why the House Leadership removed him is that, he was found not to be fit and proper person to hold such a sensitive office which exposes him to high officials of government at all levels. Furthermore, in the course of the performance of his duties as Chairman of Appropriations Committee, it became evident that he does not possess the temperament and maturity required for such a high office. b. Tendency and proclivity to blackmail colleagues and high government officials and misuse and mishandle sensitive government information: He was in the habit of collating, warehousing and manipulating sensitive information to blackmail people sometimes apparently for pecuniary purposes. And by virtue of his position as Appropriations Chairman, he usually met with very high and senior public officers at all levels. The Speaker and the Leadership were inundated with complaints by heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) over harassment from the House Appropriations Chairman to engage in conduct and acts unbecoming of their offices. The Leadership launched an internal investigation into these allegations and was largely satisfied that action had to be taken to remove him, in the interest of the integrity of the House. One clear example is the insertion of Funds for the so called Muhammadu Buhari Film Village in his Constituency in Kano without the consent or solicitation of Mr. President. This has brought both Mr. President and the government to disrepute. Again, it was found out that he was fond of inserting projects into prominent persons constituencies without their knowledge to curry favour and possibly use it as a means of blackmail against them when necessary. One of such is the numerous projects he claimed in a Channels TV interview in April 2016, to have cited in Mr. Presidents home town of Daura, Katsina State without Mr. Presidents solicitation or knowledge, in a desperate attempt to blackmail Mr. President as an answer and justification for allocation of N4.1 billion to his constituency when confronted by the interviewer. He did not stop there. Hon Abdulmumin went about soliciting Honourable members to nominate projects for him to help them include in the Budget. When called upon to defend his actions as Appropriations Chairman, all he did was to be calling names of those members and the amount he helped include for them in the Budget in an unsuccessful bid to silence them. Most of the affected members took serious exceptions to his despicable antics and sundry acts of blackmail and protested to the Leadership to prevail on Hon Abdulmumin to expunge from the Budget what he claimed he allocated to them since they did not solicit for those projects. To attempt to drag the name of Mr President, Honourable members and others to his new low through sundry acts of blackmail was one of the matters the House Leadership found off limits and totally unacceptable. c. Unacceptable Mismanagement of the 2016 Budgetary Process: i. It was also discovered that the former Chairman, Appropriations, discreetly and clandestinely allocated monies for projects that are not clearly defined in the budget for the purposes of exploiting the ambiguities for personal gains. ii. Furthermore, he was found to be responsible for some bogus allocations in the budget for projects that have no locations and were apparently never meant to be executed. iii. Hon. Jibrins mishandling of the 2016 budget process nearly fractured the otherwise cordial relationship between the Executive and the Legislature and brought the National Assembly and the government to public ridicule. iv. For reasons that were not noble and not in the Public Interest, Hon Abdulmumin had initially inflated the Budget by adding about N250b more to the total figure as submitted by Mr President. This, the National Assembly Leadership out rightly rejected as a form of financial recklessness and inability to appreciate the dwindling resources available to government necessitating that we act prudently. He was directed therefore to make even further cuts below Mr Presidents total figure. v. Hon Abdulmumin, in his desperation to ingratiate himself into the good books of the Presidency, unilaterally entered into commitments on the structure of the Budget, without the knowledge of the National Assembly Leadership, in the full knowledge, not only that he had no authority to do so, but dishonestly had no intentions of keeping to those commitments, having done the exact opposite in processing the budget details. This brought the House into disrepute as it portrayed the National Assembly and its leadership as persons who couldnt keep their word. vi. He displayed crass ineptitude and general lack of capacity to handle the work, thereby serving as a clog in the appropriations process. He contributed significantly to the delays in the passage of the Appropriation Bill. No one, not even his Deputy and Members of the Appropriations Committee, could reach him at certain periods during the budget process. Indeed on the last day of the exercise, he went underground to avoid being compelled to show areas he had hidden most of the cuts he claimed he made, an act which amounted to gross insubordination and an attempt to hold captive, all involved in the budget chain to the point of entirely frustrating the passage of the Budget. The tripartite Committee of the Senate, House and Executive thus completed the 2016 Budget without Hon Abdulmumin as he was hiding, believing that the job could not be done without him. vii. Confirming some of the reasons for his removal and true to type, Hon Abdulmumin has since after his sack, resorted to blackmail, his stock in trade. He has released documents from dubious sources in a desperate bid to lure gullible members of the public to his side. Mr Speakers inputs to the 2016 Budget was signed and delivered to him. If he has honour, let him release the signed inputs of Mr Speaker and not pieces of paper that bears no acknowledged authorship. Our counsel to Hon Abdulmumin is for him to be real as a man by bringing up credible, authentic and verifiable documents or stubborn facts which disclose the commission of crime on the part of any Member or Leader of the House. If he cant, then let him go and sulk in secret over his sack. 3. LOSS OF CREDIBILITY: a. It also came to the knowledge of Leadership that the allocations for these developmental projects meant for the Appropriations and Finance Committees members were neither disclosed nor properly and equitably distributed by Hon. Jibrin to them which contributed to massive agitations for his removal. b. The Leadership was also in receipt of complaints about his activities as Chair of Finance Committee in the 7th Assembly, which had potentials to embarrass the House because of his current position as Chair of the Appropriations Committee. Investigations found that from 2011 2015 Hon Abdulmumin domiciled with Hadejia Jamaare River Basin Authority and few other MDAs some of the allocations meant for his former Finance Committee members some of whom are still members of the 8th Assembly. He was alleged to have aided the use of front companies that collected funds without executing most of the projects. The Projects have been compiled and will at the appropriate time be referred to the Anti Graft Agencies to establish why the projects were fully paid for and not executed, who collected the funds and why has Hon Abdulmumin not raised any alarm about the non execution of the projects even now? c. Twice, in Executive Sessions, members unanimously and vehemently demanded that the Speaker remove Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin from the Appropriations Committee for gross abuse of his position as Chairman.However, the Speaker, tried to manage the situation but members did not relent on their agitations for his removal not only for gross abuse of his position but also for the poor and incompetent handling of 2016 appropriation process. d. The Leadership also observed with embarrassment that since his mismanagement of 2016 Budget process, every time Hon Abdulmumin gets up to speak on the floor of the House, there was spontaneous chorus of ole! ole,! ole! or thief! thief! thief! Barawo! Barawo! Barawo! from Hon. members which climaxed in a motion to have him removed as Chairman, Appropriations. e. It is regrettably true that Hon Abdulmumin was entrusted with critical aspects of the budget, but he is not the sole author of the budget as he appears to be portraying himself. Every reasonable person knows that it is a bare faced lie. His stories without corroboration from anyone who was deeply involved in the Budget process is, mere tales by moon light, a fitting story for bed time. If he has any witness, let them speak up in his support. Apparently, he doesnt know that no one can be convicted even in the court of public opinion based on the evidence of one man. 4. ZONAL/CONSTITUENCY INTERVENTION PROJECTS IS NOT PADDING: Zonal/Constituency Intervention Projects have their origins in constitutional provisions as encapsulated in the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy requiring the government to ensure equitable distribution of resources and infrastructure. The idea of Zonal/Constituency Intervention projects arose as a result of the need to carry every part of the country along in allocation of projects in the budget, and to address the imbalance in line with federal character principles as enshrined in the Constitution. In recent years, there has always been standing lump sum allocation for the implementation of Zonal/Constituency Intervention Projects in every budget proposal from Mr. President including the 2016 budget, as mutually agreed between the Executive and the Legislature. The entire annual budget estimates once presented by Mr. President, is referred to the Appropriations Committee for further legislative input and scrutiny at the conclusion of the Second Reading. While it is prerogative of National Assembly members to decide the projects and their locations, it is the prerogative of the relevant MDAs to choose the contractors, award the projects and to execute. For emphasis, the general impression that monies are given to members of the National Assembly to execute projects is incorrect and unfounded. The allocation of the funds earmarked for Zonal/Constituency intervention projects has customarily and traditionally been distributed between the Senate and the House in the ratio of 40-60 as done in the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Assemblies. The leadership of both Chambers, including the Appropriations and Finance Committees are normally and traditionally allocated certain percentages of these funds, for inclusion in the Appropriation Bill for projects. The remaining are distributed to members of the National Assembly for inclusion of their preferred projects in the Budget. This has also been the established tradition over the years. For the avoidance of doubt, the 8th House of Representatives under the leadership of Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has not deviated from established practices, precedents and traditions in this matter. It is necessary to emphasise that these budgetary allocations are meant for developmental projects under the purview of these leaders in their Constituencies and at other levels and not for their personal benefit. And certainly they are not allocations of money or contracts! These projects include roads, bridges, water supply, electricity, schools, skill acquisitions etc. They are projects that can be located either in the Exclusive Legislative List or Concurrent List. It should be noted also that arising from oversight and House Resolutions on specific critical needs, the Leadership is obliged to accommodate some projects that may have been omitted or are not captured in Mr. Presidents proposal. 5. POWERS OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ON APPROPRIATION: The powers of the National Assembly on appropriation are clearly spelt out in Sections 4, 59 and 80 (4) of the 1999 Constitution. Section 4, empowers the National Assembly to make laws for good governance of the federation while Section 59 confers on the Legislature final say on the budget. Section 80 (4) on the other hand, which confers on the legislature absolute power of control over public funds, states that: No money shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public fund of the Federation, EXCEPT IN THE MANNER PRESCRIBED BY THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. The word MANNER confers absolute legislative discretion. When therefore, the National Assembly appropriates funds in the budget, it CAN NEVER under any circumstances or guise be deemed or regarded as tinkering or padding. The legislature is therefore constitutionally incapable of padding the budget. What the Executive submits are mere estimates and proposal as stipulated in Section 81 (1). It is obvious that the Constitution uses the word ESTIMATES advisedly. Consequently, it is therefore an exhibition of crass ignorance, abuse of language, outright mischief and or blackmail for a legislator especially one who chaired the Appropriations Committee to use the word PADDING to describe the action of parliament on the budget. The removal, introduction of projects or the amendment of Mr. Presidents estimates in the Appropriation Bill CANNOT AND SHOULD NEVER BE CONSTRUED AS AN ACT OF CORRUPTION OR IMPROPRIETY because it is at the core of appropriation powers of the National Assembly as aptly enshrined in the 1999 Constitution. It is therefore clear, that no crime or wrong doing can be legitimately imputed on the actions or conduct of Mr. Speaker, the Leadership or Members of the House of Representatives before, during and after the passage of the 2016 Appropriation Bill. 6. CONCLUSION: After the House Leadership reviewed all the issues raised above, it was left with no option but to respect the wishes of the overwhelming majority of Hon. Members to remove Hon Abdulmumin as Chairman, Appropriations Committee of the House. It was clear to the entire Leadership that in this government of change, Hon Abdulmumin lacks the character and credentials to chair the House Committee on Appropriations. I am aware that in accordance with the Rules of the House, this matter will at the appropriate time go to the Committee on Ethics and Privileges where Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin will be afforded the opportunity of fair hearing. The Nigerian governments new foreign exchange regime has affected the population of Nigerian students studying abroad, particularly in Britain, officials of Abbey DLD Group of Colleges, a UK-based college, have said. At a press conference in Lagos, Monday, the officials said they were considering opening up the East African markets to complement the Nigerian market. I just visited Kampala, Uganda, we are trying to see how we can open up the East African markets Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and maybe Tanzania, said Muazu Jalaluddeen, Students Admissions Manager Africa, Abbey DLD Group of Colleges. We already have a lot of clients in Nigeria, Nigeria happens to be the most important market for the colleges in the UK in the whole of Africa. That is why the focus is much more in Nigeria than any other country in Africa. Like I told you, Nigeria has been the foremost market before, in most of the colleges in the UK, so because of what was happening to the Nigerian economy, that was why the owners of the college agreed to explore the African market at least for this period to complement the Nigerian market. Mr. Jalaluddeen said UK schools had relied mostly on Nigerians for their international students. His school bills 20,000 and 11,000 yearly for tuition and accommodation respectively for a two-year programme that prepares Nigerian students for UK universities. So, based on what they noticed, what is going on in Nigeria, the numbers are seriously going down so that was when it was agreed that something needs to be done in Africa, let other African markets be involved. We had serious issues, right now there are students that are there and the parents are having difficulties paying their tuition fees, paying for their accommodation, even as little as sending them pocket money. Its becoming a serious issue right now. There are four UK universities among the top 10 universities across the world, according to the QS World University Rankings 2015/2016. Charles Johnson, Marketing Director, Abbey DLD Group of Colleges, said parents should research on the schools they want to send their children to abroad. The first thing you do is go to their website and you see where is the destination of their leavers, Mr. Johnson said. If that school is not prepared to share with you where their children are going on to study, then they are hiding something. In other words, look at the calibre of universities that those students are going to after that college, and that will tell you an awful lot about the calibre of teaching, and I would also add, the calibre of pastoral care, because if your child is not happy, he or she will not work hard. So it is just as important to look after them properly as it is to make sure they work hard, because the two go hand in hand in my experience. Mr. Johnson said no school in Nigeria is affiliated to a leading university in the UK. When I was the head of a secondary school in Abuja, I was asked on NigerianInfo radio station, whether my school had any affiliations to leading universities in Britain and America, I said no school anywhere in the world is affiliated to a leading university, Mr. Johnson said. Even a school like Eton College is not affiliated to anybody. The best students from Eton College compete with the best students from all the other colleges in the UK to get into the best universities. Nobody is given an easy ride because they go through certain schools. The most important thing in preparing children for university is to prepare them for not only the best university they are capable of going to, not every child can get to Oxford, Harvard, or Cambridge; but every child should be able to get to an aspirational university to do a course which also stretches them. Justice David Wyoms of the Kaduna State High Court will rule on September 26 whether to allow army witnesses testify in private in the trial of members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria. The court gave the date on Tuesday before adjourning the trial. Eighty one members of the Shia sect are standing trial for culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, disturbance of public peace, and wrongful restrain punishable under the Penal Code Law and Laws of Kaduna State, 1999. The trial began amidst concerns by the sect over the deteriorating health of their leader, Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, who has been held by the government since December last year. Dari Bayero, counsel for the prosecution, argued for a permission to allow their witnesses, who are military officers, to give their testimony in private. Mr. Bayero informed the Court that the witnesses, amongst them Sani Usman, the Nigerian Army Spokesperson, are principal officers in charge of their units and formations in the Nigerian Army. He said that because of the role they played in the events leading to the charge, they received various threats to their lives and the threats were received online. He urged the court to protect the witnesses. In opposing the motion, Maxwell Kyon, the defence counsel, said the issue before the court does not bother on the personal liberty of the witnesses, adding that any person charged with the commission of a criminal offence ought to be given a fair hearing. One of the fundamental ingredients of fair hearing is that such an individual must be tried in the open, said Mr. Kyon, who held the brief for Festus Okoye. The fundamental question to be asked in the circumstances of this case is: whether the facts as put forward by the applicants have placed before my lords sufficient material as a basis for the granting of the application. We dont know who the Muslim Brothers are as the prosecution stated that they are the ones threatening them. Mr. Kyon said his clients are members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria and that those allegedly threatening the armys witnesses had no business with the courts proceedings. Paragraph 6(B) of their affidavit is that they know the leadership of the Movement that is threatening them. The leadership of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria is either in detention or were killed during the events of the 12th to 14th December 2015, Mr. Kyon said. We have stated clearly that they killed the leadership of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and the rest are in detention. They have not denied these facts. On the basis of that alone without more we urge my Lord to find that the application is lacking in merit and to throw it out. We further state that if the threats were online, the prosecution should have printed same and exhibited it. Since the applicants know those threatening them, they should have arrested them and brought them to justice. Mr. Kyon noted that the same officers testified before Judicial Panel of Inquiry set up by the Kaduna State government in January. The prosecution also moved a motion to consolidate its charges before the court because they contained the same offences, the same witnesses, the same counsel, and the same judge. Since some of the accused persons involving mainly women and children have been dropped from the charges, the inconvenience no longer exists, said Mr. Bayero. We urge my Lord to consolidate the two cases. Mr. Kyon opposed the motion. The defence lawyer also told the court he had filed a motion requesting the court to direct the prosecution to make available to him photocopies of the extra judicial statements made by the accused persons. Responding, Mr. Bayero said granting the application will lead to the inspection of the case diary contrary to section 122 of the Criminal Procedure Code and urged the court to refuse the application. The judge adjourned till September 26 to rule on the applications. The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan-Kukah, on Tuesday said the government was fighting the symptoms of corruption and not the disease. Mr. Hassan-Kukah made the disclosure at a programme organised by the Book Readers Club of Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP) in Ibadan on Tuesday. According to him, government is only fighting corrupt people and not corruption because corruption can only be fought if the nations institutions are strengthened. Government should begin the fight against corruption from the institution, so that we will not continue to have the same result, he said. He said that the fight against corruption would be meaningful if it could be tied to governance, noting that corruption was the product of a malfunctioning system. Mr. Hassan-Kukah thereafter read from his 519-page book `Witness to Justice: An Insiders Account of Nigerias Truth Commission (2011). Revealing his memoirs of Oputa Panel, the bishop said reconciliation required probing and interrogation of the past. He said that Nigerians have failed to understand that they were all wounded, irrespective of ethnicity, religion or political parties. Almost all bad things in Nigeria have validation and a lot of Nigerians have gone through several harsh treatments without charges. Many of those ethnic leaders are ethnic entrepreneur, who use their people to get what they want. Mr. Hassan-Kukah said the book also revealed the miscarriage of justice on Bagauda Kato, Dele Giwa and MKO Abiola. He said the nation could not get reconciliation without putting in place mechanism of distributive justice. There is need for mechanism that will guarantee justice for victim, perpetrator and larger society, likewise seeking God. Nigerians like blaming the nations woes on some persons and are always obsessed of a messiah. We need to create elasticity to be able to accommodate the various agitations across the country, he said. Mr. Hassan-Kukah stressed the need for Nigerians to always respect their leaders, adding that the solution was not to denigrate President Muhammad Buhari. The cleric called on the media to set agenda for the leaders, while also reminding them of their electoral promises. Earlier, Tunji Olaopa, the Executive Vice-Chancellor of ISGPP, said the school was an independent think-tank that undertake research on issues of governance. We focus on problem-saving around issues on governance, democracy and development through executive education, seminar, conferences and policy dialogue. We create platform for community engagement with a view to getting government to work better and to raise bar of discourse on issues of development, he said. Prof. Akin Mabogunje, Prof Bolanle Awe, Archbishop Gabriel Abegunrina among others attended the event. (NAN) The deputy Senate leader, Bala Ibn NaAllah, has dared former President Olusegun Obasanjo to prove his allegations of corruption against him as a member of the National Assembly. The former president had said on Monday that the budget padding scandal in the House of Representatives confirmed his position that the National Assembly was filled with thieves. Mr. NaAllah, a former member of the House, who now represents Kebbi south district, said in a statement on Tuesday that he took exception to the impression that there were no men of integrity in the National Assembly. I am respectfully taking exception to the statement which I express the hope is not true, the lawmaker said. To start with it is not in my character to join issues with an elder statesmen who have had the privilege of superintending over the affairs of our great country Nigeria. This exception has become necessary in view of the enormity of the alleged statement to my person and integrity. If former President Obasanjo can come out with one proven record of corruption against me as a person, I promise to vacate my seat as a senator of the federal republic of Nigeria. For the records, I was the only member from Kebbi State who did not find it worthy at that time of collecting the sum of N50 million as an inducement to subvert the constitution and provide a constitutional framework for the third term ambition of President Obasanjo. I find this statement if it is true to be reckless and terrifying. The implications of the statement is to say that the entire over 170 million Nigerians have not elected a single person with integrity among the 469 members of the National Assembly. This is definitely rhapsodic and does not conform to common sense and reason, he added. An Appeal Court in Abuja has ordered that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State remain on seat pending the determination of suit challenging his earlier removal from office. A five-member panel of judges, led by Morenike Ogunwumiju, said the parties in the matter must remain as they were before the case got to the court. She said the ruling did not mean a stay-of-execution order. A Federal High Court had on June 27 nullified Mr. Ikpeazus election after finding him guilty of tax offenses. The court, presided by Okon Abang, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to issue Samson Ogah a certificate of return. On Tuesday, the counsel to Mr. Ogah argued that Mr. Ikpeazu was not legally the defacto occupant of the Abia state house. He said there were conflicting judgments on the matter. But the judge, Mrs. Ogunwumiju, said the court considered it important to avoid a misinterpretation of its ruling. She said the decision of the court was for parties to remain as they were should not be misconstrued as meaning that the appellate court had issued a stay-of-execution order. A female Prisons staff attached to Kirikiri female prisons, Lagos, has been dismissed from the service for smuggling alcoholic drinks into the prison yard. A statement by a spokesperson for the prisons, F. Enobore, said on Tuesday that the dismissal letter signed on behalf of the Controller-General of Prisons by the officer incharge of discipline, Agun Olatunji, said that the staff was found guilty of negative activities which borders on trafficking, an act that contravenes the enabling provisions of Sections 14 (i) (a) and Section 82 (n) of Prisons Act Cap P.29 LFN 2004 and punishable under Sections 14 (i) (g) and Section 83 of same Act. Trafficking, in prisons parlance, is the act of smuggling prohibited item(s) or unauthorized information into or out of the prison yard. The offence is usually viewed seriously because of its potential threat to security, Mr. Enobore said. Cases of inmates making illegal phone calls from their cells, organising jail breaks, having access to weapons, escapes, etc are all traced to trafficking sometimes perpetrated by staff and this has often been a source of embarrassment not only to the Service but the nation at large. Such compromising acts no doubt, do not augur well for the security of a custodial institution like the Prisons Service and also put the lives of innocent staff and inmates in serious danger. The arrest of the wardress is certainly an indication of the dawn of a new era in prison management in Nigeria and a justification of the recent mass re-deployment of officers and men nationwide to strengthen security, he said. The Kogi State Government lost N213 billion to 18, 211 ghost workers in the past 13 years, the state Auditor-General, Okala Yusuf, has said. Mr. Yusuf made the disclosure on Monday in Lokoja while presenting the report of the just-concluded screening and verification of the state workforce undertaken by the government. He said the ghost workers were discovered in Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs) and in the 21 local government councils in the state. He said 7, 606 of the ghost workers were discovered in the work force of local councils, 5,872 were discovered in the state work force while pensioners account for 1,040 of the ghost workers. The A-G said the exercise had reduced the joint workforce of the state and local governments from 88, 973 to 63, 870. He added that the monthly wage bill had also been reduced from N5.8 billion to N4.6 billion. Yusuf said the 929 workers who were illegally employed in the state in 2015 and 2016 were also among those categorised as ghost workers. He said some workers categorised as being in the Diaspora, who had been collecting their salaries for years while residing in Abuja, Lagos, Kaduna and other cities across the country were also affected. He said the committee relied on employees bio data verification form and the Nigeria inter-bank payment settlement system to identify the ghost workers. He accused some `vested interest of muddling the report of the screening committee by omitting the names of 14, 147 genuine workers and replacing them with the names of uncleared staff. Mr. Yusuf, who served as chairman of the back-up committee that reviewed the report of the screening committee, suggested the adoption of the integrated and automated payroll system to curb leakages. The A-G also suggested the establishment of pre-disbursement audit unit before payment of salaries. He said all those who abetted and aided the fraud in the workforce of the state and local governments should be identified and made to face the consequences of their actions. Speaking after the presentation of the report, Governor Yahaya Bello said the discovery had justified the good intention of the government to embark on the screening and verification. He inaugurated a 15-member committee to review the report, saying that anybody with genuine complaint should channel it through the committee. He promised to correct lopsidedness in the state civil service and block leakages. Less than two per cent of the population should not be allowed to continue to corner the resources meant for 3.4 million people. This is unsustainable; the choice we have is to either reform the service or continue with the distortions in the socio-economic life of our people, Bello said. The governor accused previous administrations in the state of abandoning governance, saying that his administration was determined to carry out comprehensive reforms of the civil service. This is a way of saying that we are not ready to continue with the past and put permanent stop to the syndrome of ghost workers, he said. While reiterating the determination of his administration to adhere strictly to the principles of transparency and accountability, Mr. Bello said that government would endeavour to enhance the capacity of the successful workers. (NAN) 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. VANCOUVER, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- (All amounts in US$ unless otherwise specified) Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone" or the "Company") (TSX: CS) today announced its financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2016. Operating cash flow before changes in working capital [(1)] was $21.6 million or $0.06 per share, with a net loss of $13.4 million and an adjusted net loss of $7.5 million after adjusting for certain non-cash and non-recurring charges. Copper production for the quarter totalled 28,157 tonnes (27,200 tonnes of payable copper) at a C1 cash cost [(1)] of $1.51 per payable pound produced with copper sales for the quarter of 22,549 tonnes at a C1 cash cost [(1)] of $1.66 per payable pound sold. Capstone will hold a conference call and webcast on Wednesday, July 27, 2016 at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time (8:30 a.m. Pacific time) to discuss these results; call-in details and information on associated slides are provided at the end of this release. This release should be read in conjunction with Capstone's consolidated financial statements and management's discussion and analysis ("MD&A") for the quarter ended June 30, 2016, which are available on Capstone's website at http://capstonemining.com/investors/financial-reporting/default.aspx and on SEDAR. An updated corporate presentation, including results to June 30, 2016, in addition to the Q2 2016 webcast slides, will also be available at http://capstonemining.com/investors/events-and-presentations/default.aspx. Overview Q2 2016 Q2 2015 2016 YTD 2015 YTD Revenue ($ millions) 100.2 112.5 226.5 215.4 Copper produced (tonnes) 28,157 21,100 52,704 44,777 Payable copper produced (tonnes) 27,200 20,367 50,900 43,220 C1 cash cost per payable pound produced (1) ($/lb) 1.51 2.22 1.61 2.09 All-in sustaining cost per payable pound produced (1) ($/lb) 1.91 2.69 2.06 2.54 All-in cost per payable pound produced (1) ($/lb) 1.92 2.98 2.07 2.99 Fully-loaded all-in cost per payable pound produced (1) ($/lb) 2.01 2.92 2.19 3.01 Copper sold (tonnes) 22,549 20,473 50,534 40,555 Realized copper price per pound sold ($/lb)* 2.21 2.67 2.20 2.57 Adjusted realized copper price per pound sold ($/lb) ** 2.21 2.67 2.28 2.57 C1 cash cost per payable pound sold (1)($/lb) 1.66 2.09 1.72 1.99 All-in sustaining cost per payable pound sold (1) ($/lb) 2.13 2.56 2.17 2.46 All-in cost per payable pound sold (1) ($/lb) 2.15 2.84 2.19 2.95 Fully-loaded all-in cost per payable pound sold (1) ($/lb) 2.26 2.78 2.30 2.97 Net income (loss) ($ millions) (13.4) 1.3 (26.2) (16.0) Net income (loss) per common share ($) (0.03) 0.00 (0.07) (0.04) Adjusted net income (loss) (1) ($ millions) (7.5) 1.3 (9.0) (7.6) Adjusted net income (loss) (1) per common share ($) (0.02) 0.00 (0.02) (0.02) EBITDA [(1)] ($ millions) 13.0 26.4 41.4 39.1 Operating cash flow before changes in working capital (1) ($ millions) 21.6 21.8 40.5 38.3 Operating cash flow before changes in working capital per common share (1)($) 0.06 0.06 0.11 0.10 Cash and cash equivalents ($ millions) 100.2 97.6 100.2 97.6 Net debt (1) ($ millions) 243.9 202.0 243.9 202.0 * Q2 2016 includes a negative provisional pricing adjustment of $5.8 million (2015 - negative $0.9 million) related to prior shipments, equivalent to $(0.12) per pound (2015 - $(0.02) per pound) of copper sold during the quarter. 2016 YTD includes a negative provisional pricing adjustment of $11.5 million (2015 - negative $13.6 million) related to prior shipments, equivalent to $(0.10) per pound (2015 - ($0.15) per pound) of copper sold during the six month period. The Q2 2016 and 2016 YTD negative provisional pricing adjustments were predominantly related to assay adjustments. The Q2 2016 figure of ($5.8 million) is broken down as $0.1 million related to price adjustments and ($5.9 million) related to assay adjustments. This translates into adjustments of ($0.00) and ($0.12) respectively on a per pound sold basis. The YTD Q2 2016 figure of ($11.5 million) broken down as ($0.2 million) related to price adjustments and ($11.3 million) related to assay adjustments. This translates into adjustments of ($0.00) and ($0.10) respectively on a per pound sold basis. ** Q2 2016 Adjusted realized copper price includes the realized gain of $0.2 million related to maturing forward contracts (2015 - nil). 2016 YTD Adjusted realized copper price includes the realized gain of $9.8 million related to the put contracts the Company exercised and maturing forward contracts (2015 - nil). "Operational performance in the second quarter was strong, with record setting production," said Darren Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone. "Costs trended down from the first quarter and our focus on operating efficiencies across the Company resulted in both C1 cash costs [(1)] and all-in costs [(1)] coming in better than planned." "Operating cash flow for the quarter was $21.6 million and the short term price fixing and hedging we did earlier this year protected our financial position and liquidity through the volatile commodity price environment in the first half of the year," continued Mr. Pylot. "Improved mill reliability and consistency at Pinto Valley has demonstrated its upside potential and Minto is set up to access the high grades at Minto North, positioning us well for strong second half performance." Financial Highlights for the Three Months Ended June 30, 2016 Net loss of $13.4 million or $0.03 per common share which included: Earnings from mining operations of $2.8 million , Production costs included a $6.4 million non-cash charge related to the write-down of inventory at Minto , Share-based compensation expense of $3.1 million , driven primarily by an increase in Capstone's share price and the effect this has on the share unit liabilities, $1.4 million in current and deferred tax expense. or per common share which included: Working capital decreased marginally to $160.6 million at June 30, 2016 from $163.4 million at March 31 , 2016. Financial Highlights for the Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 Net loss of $26.2 million or $0.07 per common share which included: Earnings from mining operations of $4.8 million , Production costs included a $7.9 million non-cash charge related to the write-down of inventory at Minto and Pinto Valley, Share-based compensation expense of $5.5 million , driven primarily by an increase in Capstone's share price and the effect this has on the share unit liabilities, A gain on commodity derivatives of $3.2 million , comprising $1.7 million on new copper forward contracts and $1.5 million on $2.60 copper puts, which expired in February 2016 , $4.3 million in current and deferred tax expense. or per common share which included: Working capital decreased marginally to $160.6 million at June 30, 2016 from $162.4 million at December 31 , 2015. Production and Additional Highlights for the Three and Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 Pinto Valley Mine: Produced 18,776 tonnes of copper in concentrates and cathode during Q2 2016 at a C1 cash cost [ (1) ] of $1.45 per pound of payable copper produced, setting a quarterly production record. of per pound of payable copper produced, setting a quarterly production record. Produced 35,141 tonnes of copper in concentrates and cathode during 2016 YTD at a C1 cash cost [ (1) ] of $1.54 per pound of payable copper produced. of per pound of payable copper produced. During Q2 2016, mill throughput continued above plan, setting a third consecutive quarterly record of 55,667 tonnes per day and contributing to lower costs on a per pound basis. With the mill operating at steady state and above plan since September 2015 , the primary focus at Pinto Valley has been on optimizing operations. A consideration for any potential further increase in mill throughput is the availability of additional water. Capstone's goal is to determine the surplus water that would potentially be available to consider low-cost expansion opportunities in the range of 10% beyond the mill throughput level currently contemplated in the PV3 pre-feasibility study ("PFS"). Cozamin Mine: Produced 3,288 tonnes of copper in concentrates during Q2 2016 at a C1 cash cost [ (1) ] of $1.52 per pound of payable copper produced. of per pound of payable copper produced. Produced 6,948 tonnes of copper in concentrates during 2016 YTD at a C1 cash cost [ (1) ] of $1.51 per pound of payable copper produced. of per pound of payable copper produced. At Cozamin, production continued to be challenged by a shortfall in mine development. The mine underwent a reorganization in the quarter and a number of additional process improvements and training resources were implemented with mine development rates consistently improving. Minto Mine: Produced 6,093 tonnes of copper in concentrates during Q2 2016 at a C1 cash cost [ (1) ] of $1.70 per pound of payable copper produced, which excluded $0.01 per pound of cost allocated to stockpile. of per pound of payable copper produced, which excluded per pound of cost allocated to stockpile. Produced 10,615 tonnes of copper in concentrates during 2016 YTD at a C1 cash cost [ (1) ] of $1.91 per pound of payable copper produced, which included $0.01 per pound of cost allocated from stockpile that was spent in prior periods, bringing the actual cash expended during 2016 YTD to $1.90 per pound of payable copper produced. of per pound of payable copper produced, which included per pound of cost allocated from stockpile that was spent in prior periods, bringing the actual cash expended during 2016 YTD to per pound of payable copper produced. Minto production was better than planned, led by strong mill throughput and recoveries. Mining continues to advance in the Minto North pit, with copper grades above 2% reaching the mill by early June, resulting in significantly higher production planned for the second half of the year. Underground mining continued through the second quarter and is planned to extend into Q3, to take advantage of high-grade underground ore. Operating Outlook Capstone's 2016 guidance to produce 108,000 tonnes (5%) of copper from its Pinto Valley, Cozamin and Minto mines at a C1 cash cost [(1)] of $1.45 to $1.55 per pound of payable copper produced, an all-in cost [(1)] of $1.90 to $2.00 per pound of payable copper produced and a fully-loaded all-in cost [(1)] of $2.05 to $2.15 per pound of payable copper produced remains unchanged. However, the production distribution by mine is expected to be different than originally guided, with outperformance at Pinto Valley and Minto expected to make up for an anticipated shortfall at Cozamin for the year. Pinto Valley guidance is being increased to 66,000 tonnes of copper, Minto guidance is being increased to 28,000 tonnes of copper and Cozamin guidance is being reduced to 14,000 tonnes of copper, all 5%. Lower costs at Pinto Valley and Minto are expected to offset higher unit costs at Cozamin so consolidated cost guidance has not changed. Conference Call and Webcast Details Date: Wednesday, July 27, 2016 Time: 11:30 am Eastern Time (8:30 am Pacific Time) Dial in: North America: 1-888-390-0546, International: +416-764-8688 Webcast: http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=1186432&s=1&k=A468B7DF9F7C38CB231D23E4E75DC74B Replay: North America: 1-888-390-0541, International: +416-764-8677 Replay Passcode: 301819# The conference call replay will be available until Wednesday, August 3, 2016. The conference call audio and transcript will be available on Capstone's website within 48 hours of the call at http://capstonemining.com/investors/events-and-presentations/default.aspx. About Capstone Mining Corp. Capstone Mining Corp. is a Canadian base metals mining company, focused on copper. We are committed to the responsible development of our assets and the environments in which we operate. Our three producing mines are the Pinto Valley copper mine located in Arizona, US, the Cozamin copper-silver mine in Zacatecas State, Mexico and the Minto copper mine in Yukon, Canada. In addition, Capstone has two development projects; the large scale 70% owned copper-iron Santo Domingo project in Region III, Chile, in partnership with Korea Resources Corporation, and the 100% owned Kutcho copper-zinc project in British Columbia, Canada, as well as exploration properties in Chile and US. Capstone's strategy is to focus on the optimization of operations and assets in politically stable, mining-friendly regions, centred in the Americas. Our headquarters are in Vancouver, Canada and we are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Further information is available at http://www.capstonemining.com. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This document may contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this document and Capstone does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect our expectations or beliefs regarding future events. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the estimation of mineral resources and mineral reserves, the realization of mineral reserve estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production and capital expenditures, the success of our mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses and title disputes. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words and phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology. In this document certain forward-looking statements are identified by words including "guidance", "anticipated", "planned", "potential", "positioning" and "expected". By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, amongst others, risks related to inherent hazards associated with mining operations, assumptions related to geotechnical condition of tailings facilities, future prices of copper and other metals, compliance with financial covenants, surety bonding, our ability to raise capital, counterparty risks associated with sales of our metals, use of financial derivative instruments and associated counterparty risks, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, changes in general economic conditions, accuracy of mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates, operating in foreign jurisdictions with risk of changes to governmental regulation, compliance with governmental regulations, compliance with environmental laws and regulations, reliance on approvals, licences and permits from governmental authorities, impact of climatic conditions on our Pinto Valley, Cozamin and Minto operations, aboriginal title claims and rights to consultation and accommodation, land reclamation and mine closure obligations, uncertainties and risks related to the potential development of the Santo Domingo Project, increased operating and capital costs, challenges to title to our mineral properties, dependence on key management personnel, potential conflicts of interest involving our directors and officers, corruption and bribery, limitations inherent in our insurance coverage, labour relations, increasing energy prices, competition in the mining industry, risks associated with joint venture partners, our ability to integrate new acquisitions into our operations, cybersecurity threats and other risks of the mining industry as well as those factors detailed from time to time in the Company's interim and annual financial statements and management's discussion and analysis of those statements, all of which are filed and available for review under the Company's profile on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those described in our forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause our results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that our forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as our actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. National Instrument 43-101 Compliance Unless otherwise indicated, Capstone has prepared the technical information in this news release ("Technical Information") based on information contained in the technical reports, news releases and MD&A's (collectively the "Disclosure Documents") available under Capstone Mining Corp.'s company profile on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com. Each Disclosure Document was prepared by, or under the supervision of, a qualified person (a "Qualified Person") as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101"). Readers are encouraged to review the full text of the Disclosure Documents which qualifies the Technical Information. Readers are advised that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The Disclosure Documents are each intended to be read as a whole, and sections should not be read or relied upon out of context. The Technical Information is subject to the assumptions and qualifications contained in the Disclosure Documents. The technical information in this news release ("Technical Information") was prepared by, or under the supervision of, a qualified person (a "Qualified Person") as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101"). The disclosure of the Technical Information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Gregg Bush, P. Eng., Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Technical Information related to mineral exploration activities has been reviewed and approved by Brad Mercer, P. Geol., Senior Vice President, Exploration. Both are Qualified Persons under NI 43-101. Alternative Performance Measures The items marked with a "[(1)]" are alternative performance measures and readers should refer to Alternative Performance Measures in the Company's Consolidated Management's Discussion and Analysis for the quarter ended June 30, 2016 as filed on SEDAR and as available on the Company's website. Cautionary Note to United States Investors This news release contains disclosure that has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of Canadian securities laws, which differ from the requirements of US securities laws. Without limiting the foregoing, this news release may refer to technical reports that use the terms "indicated" and "inferred" resources. US investors are cautioned that, while such terms are recognized and required by Canadian securities laws, the SEC does not recognize them. Under US standards, mineralization may not be classified as a "reserve" unless the determination has been made that the mineralization could be economically and legally produced or extracted at the time the reserve determination is made. US investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of indicated resources will ever be converted into reserves. US investors should also understand that "inferred resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and as to whether they can be mined legally or economically. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of "inferred resources" will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Therefore, US investors are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of inferred resources exist, or that they can be mined legally or economically. Accordingly, information concerning descriptions of mineralization and resources contained in this news release may not be comparable to information made public by US companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements of the SEC. (1) This is an alternative performance measure; please see "Alternative Performance Measures" at the end of this release. Cindy Burnett, VP, Investor Relations and Communications, +1-604-637-8157, cburnett@capstonemining.com SOURCE Capstone Mining Corp. PEORIA, Illinois, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT / NYSE Euronext: CATR) informs its stockholders that today, a Form 8-K has been furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") with respect to second quarter 2016 financial results. Caterpillar files electronically with the SEC required reports on Form 8-K, Form 10-Q, Form 10-K and Form 11-K; proxy materials; ownership reports for insiders as required by Section 16(a) of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended; and registration statements on Forms S-3 and S-8, as necessary; and other forms or reports, as required. All of the forms and reports filed electronically with the SEC are available on the SEC Internet site (http://www.sec.gov). Caterpillar also maintains an Internet site (http://www.Caterpillar.com) and copies of its annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and any amendments to these reports filed or furnished with the SEC are available free of charge through Caterpillar's Internet site (http://www.Caterpillar.com/secfilings) as soon as reasonably practicable after the relevant document has been filed with the SEC. CONTACT: Rachel Potts, Corporate Public Affairs, +1-309-675-6892 This is a disclosure announcement from PR Newswire. SOURCE Caterpillar Inc. LONDON, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- SDX Energy (SDX) is a London/Toronto-listed company with interests in two producing onshore fields in Egypt. Crucially for a small E&P, it will be cash flow positive in 2017 and is unlikely to return to the market for more equity to develop assets. The current work programme (of new wells, workovers and water flood) could see a more than doubling of recoverable volumes and is both cheap and relatively low risk. Once this work starts to bear fruit (later in 2016/17), the low-cost production will put SDX in the enviable position of being able to largely fund development of exploration prospects, while giving it resources and operational credibility to add further assets in Egypt. Our analysis indicates that the share price is more than supported by current operations, giving upside potential for the near-term production increases we see as likely and free exposure to exploration upside. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130417/608168 ) Our analysis indicates the shares are supported by existing production. Successful re-invigoration at Meseda/NW Gemsa should lead to unlocking further (low-risk) value. Our core NAV of 41p/share includes risked value for the reinvigoration programme but could see further upside (to 56p/share) if the water flood programme is effective (not including risked exploration value at South Disouq). Value from any acquisition(s) will hinge on the size/price and possible upside of the targets, but SDX should be well placed to take part in consolidation within Egypt given the large number of opportunities in-country. Its policy of accepting payments in Egyptian pounds reduces payment risk and funds internal growth in the mid-term, but could limit potential for dividends/other corporate activity in the longer term. Click here to view the full report. All reports published by Edison are available to download free of charge from its website http://www.edisoninvestmentresearch.com. About Edison: Edison is an international equity research firm with a team of over 110 analysts, investment and roadshow professionals and works with both large and smaller capitalised companies, blue chip institutional investors, wealth managers, private equity and corporate finance houses to support their capital markets activity. Edison provides services to more than 420 retained corporate and investor clients from offices in London, New York, Frankfurt, Sydney and Wellington. Edison is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Edison is not an adviser or broker-dealer and does not provide investment advice. Edison's reports are not solicitations to buy or sell any securities. For more information please contact: Will Forbes Edison Investment Research +44-(0)20-3077-5749 Elaine Reynolds Edison Investment Research +44-(0)20-3077-5713 oilandgas@edisongroup.com Contact details: Learn more at http://www.edisongroup.com and connect with Edison on: LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/edison-investment-research Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Edison_Inv_Res YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/edisonitv Google+: https://plus.google.com/105425025202328783163/posts SOURCE Edison Investment Research SEOUL, South Korea, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Close on the heels of launching a new abstract and cover letter development service for Korean authors, Editage has been working actively with Korean universities to help authors overcome language barriers and publish successfully. From July 18 to 22, Donald Samulack, President, US Operations of Editage/Cactus Communications, visited Korea for a series of educational workshops and seminars. On Monday, July 18, Dr. Samulack addressed over 140 researchers and professors at the Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine. His 2-hour presentation dealt with how Korean authors can improve their chances of successful publication. On Tuesday, July 19, the educational tour continued at the Korean Library Association workshop held at the Korean Institute of Science and Technology Information that was attended by 30 librarians from universities all across Korea. Dr. Samulack's insights on issues such as unethical and irresponsible publication practices, predatory journals, and the role that librarians can play in informing authors on issues surrounding research integrity were enlightening for many. Dr. Samulack also discussed Editage Insights, an educational resource for authors and researchers, and showed how it helps inform authors on how to publish their work in high-impact, SCI-indexed journals with international readership. The next stop was Youngnam University College of Medicine on Wednesday, July 20, where about 60 faculty members discussed publication strategies and educational resources being adopted by researchers globally. The final stop was the 3rd Asian Science Editors' Conference and Workshop conducted by the Council of Asian Science Editors (CASE) on Thursday, July 21. In the context of good publication practices, Dr. Samulack elucidated an editor's role in ensuring the integrity of manuscripts. Here's what Dr. Samulack had to say about this series of events: "It is a worrisome time for the global scientific community, with the integrity of research and publication practices coming into question. Apart from a chance to experience this great country and its culture, this week gave me a special opportunity to reach out to hundreds of Asian researchers, editors, and administrators. These hundreds can now leverage this knowledge and help spread the word to thousands more. Predatory publication practices are becoming a serious concern for Korean academics and institutions, and it is hoped that such awareness generated by Editage's efforts will help in the development of successful publication strategies and preparedness to identify some of the irresponsible commercial publishing practices on the global landscape." With the impetus that scientific research has received globally, competition to publish has increased among Asian countries. Thus, the timing of Editage's educational activities in Korea is perfect. About Editage: Editage, the flagship brand of Cactus Communications (CACTUS), is well recognized in the publication and academic communities, globally. Cactus Communications offers many services such as English language editing, translation, transcription, and medical communication. Please visit: https://www.editage.com/ Related Link http://www.editage.co.kr Media Contact: Donald Samulack PhD, President, US Operations, Editage Phone: +86-21-5820-9795 Fax: +86-21-5820-9785 Email: PR@cactusglobal.com SOURCE Cactus Communications Pvt Ltd LONDON, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Customers who share the love to be rewarded with referral scheme powered by Mention Me eHarmony, one of the leaders in the online dating industry has selected Mention Me to run its new referral programme. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392457LOGO ) The science based relationship site is committed to helping singles find the best possible match via its unique Compatibility Matching System. With over 80 per cent of eHarmony relationships in the UK becoming long term and a third ending in marriage, it's certainly getting something right. Therefore, the company is keen to provide its 4m UK members with a platform where they can share their positive experiences and drive new customer acquisition. They have partnered with the referrals specialists Mention Me, and will use their leading technology to maximise the opportunity. Rachael Lloyd, Senior PR & Communications Manager, explained: "In the dating industry we offer a clear differentiator in that we aim to build relationships that last. Similarly, we were looking for a referral partner that we could work with long term to optimise and develop Word of Mouth as a new marketing channel. The Mention Me platform provides us with the tools to AB test different rewards, messages and sharing mechanisms to identify what resonates best with our customers." eHarmony joins a growing number of companies who have chosen Mention Me to help them translate positive brand sentiment into a customer acquisition tool. Andy Cockburn, CEO of Mention Me, said: "We are delighted to be working with eHarmony. Their approach to dating should translate well into building referrals into a growing part of their business. We look forward to working closely with them to help them reward their happy customers." About Mention Me: Mention-Me.com provides retailers with a referral platform which enables them to turn word-of-mouth into a marketing channel. They work in partnership with retailers to ensure best practice and testing result in world class referral programmes. For further Information, please contact: Courtney Wylie at Mention Me Courtney@mention-me.com Phone Number: +44-20-3745-5344 https://mention-me.com/ SOURCE eHarmony.co.uk and Mention Me There are 44 million people (12.9%) living with diabetes in North America today and by 2020 it will be 60 million (14.7%). DR is the leading cause of blindness among working age adults. Yet, DR is one of the most preventable blinding diseases in the world; with early detection and treatment, 95% of vision loss cases can be prevented. Unfortunately, only half of the patients comply with annual diabetic retinal exam (DRE) referrals to the eye specialistwhich is why diabetic retinopathy is still a leading cause of blindness. Low DRE compliance rates also reduce quality of care metrics and could reduce financial incentives associated with those metrics. To make retinal exams more convenient for physicians and patients, Welch Allyn obtained rights to RetinaVue software applications and extended a management relationship with RetinaVue P.C. when it acquired the original developers, Hubble Telemedical. Furthermore, Welch Allyn developed the RetinaVue 100 Imagerthe world's most advanced handheld, non-mydriatic fundus camerawhich costs three times less than traditional desktop fundus cameras. Any primary healthcare staff member can quickly capture high-quality fundus images on the RetinaVue 100 Imager after a free, brief training provided by Welch Allyn. The images receive an image-quality score between 0 and 100 and a color code (red, yellow, and green) to help clinicians determine if the image is viable for clinical assessment by the retina specialists at RetinaVue P.C. "After acquiring fundus images, clinicians transfer them via the RetinaVue software application on a connected computer that automatically syncs with the fundus camera," said Frost & Sullivan Vice President of Research, Siddharth Saha. "They then obtain a comprehensive diagnostic report and referral/screening plan for the patient via the clinic's online portal the same day, often within 90 minutes." The RetinaVue 100 Imager is designed to work exclusively with RetinaVue Network Software and requires a software license and a contract for diagnostic interpretation services with either RetinaVue P.C. or your affiliated ophthalmologist(s). Every RetinaVue software subscription includes access to new and historical retinal reports on the clinic portal, where users can receive, store, and manage retinal reports as well as review statistics on exam volume, diagnoses, and image quality. Clinics are not charged for images deemed unreadable, and there is no minimum monthly charge for services. Additionally, an industry-standard HL7 interface is available for integration into commercial electronic medical record platforms. "RetinaVue P.C. is the only retinal screening network provider comprised entirely of fellowship-trained, board-certified retina specialists," noted Saha. "In addition to identifying, classifying, and documenting all levels of diabetic retinopathy, from very mild to vision threatening, retina specialists sometimes find indications for other systemic diseases such as papilledema, hypertension, macular degeneration, and cancer." All Welch Allyn-supplied fundus cameras come with a minimum one-year warranty. When customers need to return their devices for service, the company sends them a refurbished device for use until their device is serviced. Welch Allyn tracks and analyzes customer feedback, report turnaround times, and image quality metrics to ensure that healthcare providers receive consistently high service. Significantly, the RetinaVue software applications are vendor-neutral, enabling their use with any fundus camera. Due to its breakthrough camera technology, high-quality images, and industry-leading turnaround times, Welch Allyn is fully deserving of Frost & Sullivan's 2016 North America Customer Value Leadership Award in the diabetic retinopathy screening market. Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in implementing strategies that proactively create value for its customers with a focus on enhancing their return on investment that customers make in its services or products. The award recognizes the company's pronounced focus on enhancing the value its customers receive, beyond simply good customer service, leading to improved customer retention and ultimately customer base expansion. Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets that demonstrate 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 to identify best practices in the industry. About Welch Allyn, Inc. Since 1915 Welch Allyn has brought a unique perspective to developing diagnostic solutions by combining pragmatic knowledge with a visionary spirit of innovation and ongoing improvement. As a leading global manufacturer of physical examination instruments and accessories and EMR-connected vital signs and cardiac monitoring solutions, the company has a steadfast commitment to delivering superlative medical products, services and solutions that help healthcare professionals provide better care for their patients. Now a division of Hill-Rom, Welch Allyn is headquartered in Skaneateles Falls, N.Y. (USA) and employs more than 2,500 people in 26 different countries. Visit www.welchallyn.com for more information. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. About Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc. Hill-Rom is a leading global medical technology company with 10,000 employees worldwide. We partner with health care providers in more than 100 countries by focusing on patient care solutions that improve clinical and economic outcomes in five core areas: Advancing Mobility, Wound Care and Prevention, Clinical Workflow, Surgical Safety and Efficiency and Respiratory Health. Around the world, Hill-Rom's people, products, and programs work towards one mission: Every day, around the world, we enhance outcomes for patients and their caregivers. Visit www.hill-rom.com for more information. 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 Join Us: Join our community Subscribe: Newsletter on "the next big thing" Register: Gain access to visionary innovation Contact: Chiara Carella P: +44 (0) 207.343.8314 F: 210.348.1003 E: chiara.carella@frost.com Related Links http://www.frost.com SOURCE Frost & Sullivan DUBLIN, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) Block Copolymer - Global Strategic Business Report" report to their offering. The report provides separate comprehensive analytics for the US, Canada, Japan, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Rest of World. Annual estimates and forecasts are provided for the period 2015 through 2022. Also, a six-year historic analysis is provided for these markets. Market data and analytics are derived from primary and secondary research. This report analyzes the worldwide markets for Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) Block Copolymer in US$ Thousand and Tons by the following End-Use Markets: Adhesives, Sealants & Coatings, Asphalt Modification, Polymer Modification, and Others. The report profiles 29 companies including many key and niche players such as Asahi Kasei Corp. ( Japan ) ) Chi Mei Corp. ( Taiwan ) ) China National Petroleum Corporation ( China ) ) Dynasol Elastomers (US) En Chuan Chemical Industries Co., Ltd ( Taiwan ) ) Firestone Polymers LLC (US) INEOS Styrolution Group GmbH ( Germany ) ) Kraton Performance Polymers, Inc. (US) LCY Chemical Corp. ( Taiwan ) ) LG Chem ( South Korea ) ) RTP Company (US) Sinopec Corp. ( China ) ) TSRC Corporation ( Taiwan ) ) Versalis S.p.A. ( Italy ) Key Topics Covered: 1. Industry Overview 2. Key Market Trends & Growth Drivers 3. Product Overview 4. Product Introductions 5. Recent Industry Activity 6. Focus On Select Global Players 7. Global Market Perspective Total Companies Profiled: 29 (including Divisions/Subsidiaries 35) The United States (8) (8) Japan (3) (3) Europe (12) (12) - France (1) (1) - Germany (4) (4) - Italy (2) (2) - Spain (1) (1) - Rest of Europe (4) (4) Asia-Pacific (Excluding Japan) (10) (Excluding Japan) (10) Latin America (1) (1) Middle-East (1) For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/jn4777/styrenebutadiene Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com SOURCE Research and Markets NEW YORK, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Continuous Expansion of City Gas Distribution (CGD) Network Coupled With Increasing Accessibility & Availability of Natural Gas to Drive City Gas Distribution Market in India Through 2021 According to recently published TechSci Research report "India City Gas Distribution Market Forecast & Opportunity, 2030", the City Gas Distribution (CGD) market in India grew at a CAGR of 6.25% during 2013 - 2015, owing to easy availability as well as accessibility of Natural Gas, an colourless and odourless gas which can be easily transported via pipeline. Moreover, backed by increasing number of vehicles, growing population and increasing urbanization, the country's CGD network is anticipated to grow at a robust pace over the next five years. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140117/663730 ) Browse 108 market data Tables and 45 Figures spread through 257 Pages and an in-depth TOC on "India City Gas Distribution Market" https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/india-city-gas-distribution-market-forecast-and-opportunities-2030/568.html In CGD, Natural Gas is converted to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), which is used in transportation sector, and Piped Natural Gas (PNG), which is used as a fuel by domestic consumers (households), commercial consumers (hotels, offices, canteens, etc.), and industrial consumers (dryers, boilers, furnace, etc.). In 2015, CGD market in India is majorly dominated by the transportation sector on account of growing environmental concerns among consumers coupled with increase in the number of CNG vehicles. Moreover, PNG segment is projected to grow at around 5% through 2030 due to anticipated advancements in CGD sector and increasing government focus to expand PNG network throughout the country. Download Sample Report @ https://www.techsciresearch.com/sample-report.aspx?cid=568 Customers can also request for 10% free customization on this report. Power sector is the leading consumer of natural gas in India. The sector consumes nearly 30% to 35% of the total natural gas supply in India annually. Demand for natural gas in power sector is projected to grow at a CAGR of 10.69% during 2015-2020 due to implementation of a new policy reform known as "e-bid RLNG". In addition to power sector, fertilizer sector is another major consumer of natural gas in the country. Demand for fertilizers is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 6.25% during 2015-2025 due to announcement of new pooling gas policy, which is expected to address the demand from fertilizer sector. Hence, backed by booming power and fertilizers sectors, the country's CGD network is anticipated to witness robust expansion during 2016-2030. "Owing to the presence of huge reserves of Natural Gas in the country, the expansion of CGD network in India is among the government's top-most priorities. The country's government aims to make India a natural gas based nation as it is more economical and environment friendly as compared to other liquid fuels. As a result, to promote Natural Gas imports, the government is taking various initiatives such as long term contracts, signing MoUs with various countries and building regasification terminals." Said Mr. Vipul Tiwari, Consultant with TechSci Research. "India City Gas Distribution Market Forecast & Opportunity, 2030" has evaluated the future growth potential of City Gas Distribution (CGD) market across India and provides statistics and information on market structure, industry behavior and trends. The report includes market projections and demand forecasting. The report is intended to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers to take sound investment evaluation. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes drivers, challenges and opportunities available in India CGD market. Browse Related Reports China LNG Market Demand & Supply Analysis, By End-User, By LNG Terminals Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021 https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/china-lng-market-demand-supply-analysis-by-end-user-by-lng-terminals-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/693.html India Industrial Gases Market By Type (Oxygen, Argon, Nitrogen), By End User (Metallurgy, Medical, Petrochemicals, Welding, etc.), Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021 https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/india-industrial-gases-market-by-type-oxygen-argon-nitrogen-by-end-user-metallurgy-medical-petrochemicals-welding-etc-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/669.html India LNG Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2025 http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/india-lng-market-forecast-and-opportunities-2025/592.html Global Natural Gas Compressors Market By Technology (Positive Displacement Compressor Vs. Dynamic Compressor), By Application (Upstream, Midstream and Downstream), By Region, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021 http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/global-natural-gas-compressors-market-by-technology-positive-displacement-compressor-vs-dynamic-compressor-by-application-upstream-midstream-and-downstream-by-region-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/658.html About TechSci Research TechSci Research is a leading global market research firm publishing premium market research reports. Serving 700 global clients with more than 600 premium market research studies, TechSci Research is serving clients across 11 different industrial verticals. TechSci Research specializes in research based consulting assignments in high growth and emerging markets, leading technologies and niche applications. Our workforce of more than 100 fulltime Analysts and Consultants employing innovative research solutions and tracking global and country specific high growth markets helps TechSci clients to lead rather than follow market trends. Contact Mr. Ken Mathews 708 Third Avenue, Manhattan, NY, New York - 10017 Tel: +1-646-360-1656 Email: sales@techsciresearch.com Connect with us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/TechSciResearch Connect with us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/techsci-research SOURCE TechSci Research DUBLIN, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Middle East and Africa (including North Africa and South Africa) HVAC Market - Forecast & Analysis, 2016 - 2022" report to their offering. The scope of this report is focused towards Middle East (including North Africa and South Africa) heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) market. The study includes the analysis of HVAC products, in addition to the market study of the HVAC industry across different regions. The study presents a detailed examination of HVAC products in different countries in the region along these lines: market value, market volume, drivers, growth opportunity and challenges. The market is expected to generate over $16.23 billion value by 2022, as per the forecasts of the analysts. Rising population, revival in the housing markets, growing commercial and industrial units are some of the key drivers pushing towards the growth of the Middle East and Africa (including North Africa and South Africa) HVAC market. The demand for HVAC products in the region are forecasted to remain on high demand for various applications including commercial, residential, industrial, and institutional, among others. The governments, emerging green/smart building criterions and growing consumer concerns are pushing HVAC manufacturers, developers and system integrators to build and provide energy efficient, technologically advanced HVAC units for major commercial, residential, institutional and industrial applications, among others. To present an overview and a comprehensive outlook of the HVAC market in the region, the study has been segmented according to different types of HVAC products including window & portable air conditioners, split air conditioners, single packaged units, chillers and fan coil unit (FCU) & air handling unit (AHU). Further, the market is fragmented into different regions and major countries. Major regions covered in the report are Middle East, South Africa and North Africa. In addition to investigating the promising side of the market, the research examines various facets of the market dynamics which covers major drivers, challenges and opportunities present in the Middle East and Africa (including North Africa and South Africa) HVAC industry. Key Topics Covered: 1 REPORT SCOPE 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 MARKET DYNAMICS 5 COMPETITIVE INSIGHTS 6 MIDDLE EAST, NORTH AFRICA, AND SOUTH AFRICA HVAC MARKET, BY PRODUCT 7 COMPANY PROFILES 8 APPENDIX Companies Mentioned - Daikin industries Ltd. - Gree Electric Appliances Inc. - LG Corporation - Midea Group - Panasonic Corporation - Samsung Electronics - United Technologies Corporation (Carrier) - Zamil Air Conditioners For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/q986h6/middle_east_and Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com SOURCE Research and Markets The Moscow brand store, located in Techno Mall Gorbushkin Dvor, Bagrationovski Proezd, 7 is Midea's second store in Russia. With an area of 90 square meters, the store is open daily from 10:00-21:00 and brings comprehensive modern home appliance products including microwave ovens, hoods, hobs & ovens, dishwashers, and vacuum cleaners to Russian consumers at reasonable prices. Qualified counselors will help customers choose the appliances that meet all demands and arrange delivery and installation after purchase. Midea's long-term strategy in Russia is to develop a large retail network that not only collaborates with major federal and regional retail chains such as M.Video and Poisk, but also operates exclusive brand stores to improve its recognition among Russian consumers. With sales of 25,000 units in 2012, Midea has been expanding in Russia and has become the third largest in the country. According to Alexey Obukhov, general director of Midea Russia, the company has already sold 675,000 units in 2016, and this amount is expected to reach two million by 2020. To ensure that its innovative products are reliable and time-tested, Midea adopts strict quality control measures and has also established an after-sales service network of 266 authorized service centers across Russia. "It is our goal to bring comfort and warmth to the home by introducing our home and kitchen appliances to our customers in Russia," said Ekaterina Korableva, Midea brand manager in Russia. "Midea is helping people rediscover the modern concept of 'home' and contributing to people being able to enjoy every moment spent at home." About Midea Kitchen Appliance Division Midea Kitchen Appliance Division is affiliated to Midea Group, one of the largest household appliance manufacturers in China. Founded in 1968, Midea is one of the world's largest kitchen appliance suppliers with annual sales revenue exceeding USD 2.7 billion, and is the world's No.1 microwave oven and No.3 dishwasher manufacturer. It operates three production bases and two R&D centers in China in addition to a production base in Belarus and an R&D center in Bologna, Italy. SOURCE Midea Kitchen Appliance Division PUNE, India, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The global neoprene market 2016-2020 research report says a trend which is expected to boost market growth is shifting of production to APAC. Demand for fuel-efficient tires has increased due to the rise in environmental issues as well as modifications in the labeling regulations for tires in Japan and the European Union. By an increase in production capacity, neoprene manufacturers are able to meet this demand and introduce production lines to manufacture other grades of the product. Many neoprene manufacturers based in Europe are setting up production plants in APAC because of the low cost of production. Complete report on neoprene market spread across 75 pages, analyzing 5 major companies and providing 54 data exhibits now available at http://www.sandlerresearch.org/global-neoprene-market-2016-2020.html. The analysts forecast global neoprene market to grow at a CAGR of 5.53% during the period 2016-2020. According to the 2016 neoprene market report, a key growth driver is the rising demand from emerging countries. The demand for neoprene in emerging economies will increase at a steady pace during the forecast period. APAC is the largest consumer of neoprene, and China is one of the leaders in neoprene production and consumption. The neoprene market in APAC will grow at a rapid pace during the forecast period. It is anticipated to account for more than half of the production and consumption of neoprene driven by the demand from the automotive and construction industries during the forecast period. Neoprene is a synthetic polymer of chloroprene and possesses features such as excellent mechanical quality, high ozone and weather resistance, aging resistance, low flammability, high resistance to chemicals and fuel, moderate resistance to oil, and good adhesion to different type substrates. These characteristics have augmented the consumption of neoprene as an adhesive in the automotive, construction, and cable and wire industries. APAC dominates the global neoprene market and is likely to occupy more than 53% of the total market revenue by 2020. Factors such as high consumption of synthetic rubber, increase in a number of tire plants in Asia, and growth in vehicle production are promoting high consumption of neoprene products in this region. One of the latest trends gaining grounds in neoprene market is the growing use of sulfur-modified grades. Sulfur-modified grades are used in components that remain unprotected and are susceptible to dynamic stress such as driving belts, timing belts, and conveyor belts due to their excellent mechanical properties. These grades are vulcanized to make them more durable and less resistant to aging. Sulfur copolymer with good crystallization resistance are increasingly being used in building tracks owing to the presence of neoprene in it, which is used extensively for friction materials The following companies are the key players in the global neoprene market: Chongqing Changshou Chemical, Denka, LANXESS, Shanxi Synthetic Rubber Group, and Tosoh. Other prominent vendors in the market are: Mitsui and Showa Denko. Order a copy of Global Neoprene Market 2016-2020 report @ http://www.sandlerresearch.org/purchase?rname=56646. Global Neoprene Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. This 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. This report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global neoprene market for 2016-2020. Another related report is Global Geosynthetics Market 2016-2020; rise in demand for roadway and railway infrastructure is one of the major drivers in the market. A majority of the infrastructure spending is toward the construction of roadways and railways. The use of geosynthetics reduces the costs associated with engineering construction and prolongs the life of the roadways and railways. As the global geosynthetics market is highly competitive, manufacturers are creating innovative geosynthetic products and are involved in exploring potential markets to enhance their market share. Browse complete report @ http://www.sandlerresearch.org/global-geosynthetics-market-2016-2020.html. Explore other new reports on Advanced Material Market @ http://www.sandlerresearch.org/market-research/advanced-material. About Us: SandlerResearch.org is your go-to source for all market research needs. Our database includes thousands of market research reports from over multiple leading global publishers & in-depth market research studies of over several micro markets. With comprehensive information about the publishers and the industries for which they publish market research reports, we help you in your purchase decision by mapping your information needs with our huge collection of reports. Contact: Ritesh Tiwari UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune - 411013 Maharashtra, India. + 1 888 391 5441 sales@sandlerresearch.org Connect with Us: G+ / Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/106598308303011242341/posts Twitter: https://twitter.com/SandlerResearch Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sandler-Research/524957830948790 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCQLoqvZE2Py7AxNeNlBXoA Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/SandlerResearch/ SOURCE Sandler Research SINGAPORE, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent Frost & Sullivan study showed that by 2020, customer experience is projected to overtake price and product as a key brand differentiator. This is relevant as companies globally lose over US$300 billion each year due to poor customer experience with more than two-thirds of this being spent with competing entities. Poor customer experience results in customer churn and also negatively impacts a brand's reputation. Customers today want timely, personalized and easy access to services anywhere, anytime, through any device. They also expect their queries to be handled by qualified staff, irrespective of the channel they choose. Over 71% of customers surveyed view timeliness as key to services, which should also be simplified and efficient. Truly understanding the Customer Experience means having a grasp of the customer's interaction history and demographics, and looking at the entire journey from the moment the customer initiates contact (via any channel) through to issue resolution. "Organizations that aim to offer a consistent experience across multiple channels capturing interactions across each touch-point and making the conversation with the customer contextual will hold a significant advantage. The power of understanding and moving toward an Omni-channel customer journey combines everything we know about a customer's past, current and subsequent interactions from all touch-points into actionable information for the enterprise," noted Vineeth Nayak, Founder and Managing Director, Tetherfi. "Customers want their interactions to be uniform, consistent, personalized, secure & timely irrespective of the channel, whether through self-service, support agents or face-to-face. Such expectations are forcing brands to rethink their customer contact strategy and establish one that delivers a truly Omni-channel experience," explained Jayesh Pajwani, Chief Strategy and Growth Officer, Tetherfi. "All businesses should aim to provide a unified Omni channel experience across all channels so that the process is seamless, consistent and integrated as customers move through them," mentioned Krishna Baidya, Associate Director, Digital Transformation, Asia Pacific, Frost & Sullivan. Frost and Sullivan discusses above and more in the White Paper it wrote in discussion with Tetherfi titled 'Omni Channel Customer Experience Not An Option, But a Strategic Necessity'. The topics discussed include how the Omni Channel customer experience can help organizations with their growth as well as cost containment objectives. Using Frost & Sullivan's Customer Experience 3.0 reference architecture as a guideline, it also discusses the right solutions to offer rich experience, intelligent self-service and collaborative engagement and cloud enablement. The complimentary White Paper can be downloaded here. 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 Join Us: Join our community Subscribe: Newsletter on "the next big thing" Register: Gain access to visionary innovation Media Contact: Melissa Tan Corporate Communications Asia Pacific P: +65 6890 0926F: +65 6890 0999 E: melissa.tan@frost.com www.frost.com Related Links http://www.frost.com SOURCE Frost & Sullivan KUWAIT CITY and ZURICH, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Loylogic, the global leader in e-commerce and e-payment solutions for loyalty programs, and Ooredoo, the leader in providing telecommunications in Kuwait, have entered into a strategic partnership to redesign Ooredoo's award winning loyalty program, Nojoom. In a first phase, Loylogic together with its partner Related Inc., will review and redesign parts of the fast-growing Nojoom program to increase effectiveness for Ooredoo and attractiveness for the over 500,000 program members. In a second phase, Loylogic will take over the ongoing management of the Nojoom program. Awny Elafghany, Regional Head, Middle East, expresses his excitement about the new partnership: "We are very thrilled about our partnership with Ooredoo to redesign Nojoom loyalty program. Rewarding Nojoom members in a unique way and via a brand new loyalty program is a top priority for Ooredoo, and with our innovative e-commerce and e-payment solutions, Loylogic is well positioned to help Ooredoo do so. With the launch of the improved loyalty program, Nojoom members will start enjoying a new and unique experience, where we will bring together the world's leading brands in a reward solution that is completely customized for Ooredoo's customers." "The partnership with Ooredoo is also in line with our strategic focus to strengthen our presence in the Middle East. We know the region very well and we have the right technology, knowledge and resources to help leading loyalty programs achieve their goals," added Elafghany. Stay tuned for additional information by subscribing to our newsletter: http://www.loylogic.com About Loylogic Loylogic is the world's leading innovator and creator of points experiences, insights, commerce and engagement. By tantalizing members with more choices and arming programs with insights on behavior - anticipating both present and future needs - we deliver powerful solutions that amplify engagement and build loyalty. Founded in 2005 with offices around the world and a global content network of more than 500 merchants and 2,000 online stores offering millions products and services, Loylogic, the new paradigm of points-based e-commerce and e-payment solutions, is the partner that the world's leading loyalty programs trust with making their points and miles loved more. For more information please visit loylogic.com. SOURCE Loylogic Proven HetNet Technology Set to Facilitate Urban and Rural Connectivity NASHUA, New Hampshire, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Parallel Wireless, Inc., the pioneer in making cellular network deployments as easy and as cost-effective as Wi-Fi today announced a collaboration with Telefonica I+D, an innovation unit of one of the largest telecommunications providers globally. The agreement will allow for trials of Parallel Wireless virtualized RAN (vRAN) solution to provide digital services in dense urban and remote areas in European and Latin American markets. Based in Madrid, Spain, Telefonica is a worldwide leader in the telecommunications market with presence in 21 countries and more than 320 million accesses around the world. Mobile operators are innovating to discover new ways to connect people in heterogeneous geographies with networks that can deal with exponential growths in traffic demand. A further connected world will enable new generations of wireless services to flourish and continue transforming modern life. This new partnership will advance Telefonica's ongoing innovation, including both rural and urban HetNets. Parallel Wireless will enable low cost coverage allowing efficient spectrum management. These services will leverage the unique capabilities of Parallel Wireless vRAN with ease of install, backhaul flexibility including resilient wireless mesh and real-time network orchestration. Steve Papa, Founder and CEO, Parallel Wireless, said, "As one of the innovative communication providers, Telefonica understands the true potential of improving coverage with global reach by embracing new network architectures, such as virtualization. We are proud to have been selected for these innovation trials to connect the previously unconnected without making extensive capital investments associated with legacy network deployments. Low-cost wireless coverage will fuel economic growth, improve infrastructure, and reduce costs for consumers ensuring access to connectivity with the best technology and leaving nobody behind." About Parallel Wireless Parallel Wireless is reimagining the wireless infrastructure market, enabling carriers to deploy cellular networks as easy and as cost-effective as enterprise Wi-Fi whether for rural, enterprise, public safety, M2M, Smart Cities, or dense urban. Currently, the company is live or in trials with major leading operators on five continents. Parallel Wireless' innovation and excellence has been recognized with 23 industry awards and a nomination to the "Fierce 15" top emerging technology startups list. Connect with Parallel Wireless on LinkedIn and Twitter. For more information about Telefonica I+D, please visit: http://www.tid.es/ SOURCE Parallel Wireless Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160726/392901 The space industry is going through a transformational evolution. The industry whose products and services used to be affordable to large enterprises only is quickly evolving to include small businesses and everyday individuals as potential customers. "The small-satellite technology has played a key role in re-establishing the ground rules of operation for space industry participants", - notes Arun Kumar Sampathkumar, Team Leader, Aerospace, Defence and Security at Frost & Sullivan. He continues: "The growth of the small-satellite market will be responsible for the birth of multiple space industry segments, while also imposing changes on the existing industry participants." The future brings new opportunities and threats approaching the existing and incoming space industry participants. Small-satellite technologies will be a connecting key for most of Mega Trends in motion. This calls for an immediate look into the small-satellite side of the space industry to make an assessment of opportunities and threats for participants, so that they can be better prepared to confront the threats and capitalise on the opportunities. Why You Must Attend: Small satellites are looking to bring down the price of Earth-observation and communication products, which means the competition for existing products and services is rising. Small satellites are also looking to complement existing Earth-observation and communication offerings; Multiple small-satellite operators look to launch their payloads will contribute to the spike in demand for launch services. Air-launched rocket technologies operating out of spaceports are looking to play a key role in meeting the growing demand for small-satellite launches Regulatory frameworks are evolving to accommodate small-satellite systems in an effort to help develop the space industry. Learn more about the regulatory frameworks that will help developing the space industry. A live question and answer session will follow the presentation. To attend the webinar and to receive a copy of the presentation slides and link to the audio recording, kindly email evgenia.oleynikova@frost.com your full contact details. 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 organisation 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 Join Us: Join our community Subscribe: Newsletter on "the next big thing" Register: Gain access to visionary innovation Contact: Evgenia Oleynikova Corporate Communications Europe Frost & Sullivan P: +48 22 481 62 10 E: evgenia.oleynikova@frost.com Twitter: @Frost_Sullivan Facebook: FrostandSullivan http://www.frost.com Related Links http://www.frost.com SOURCE Frost & Sullivan NEW YORK, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Award-winning online video supply-side platform (SSP), VertaMedia, today announced the appointment of Ian Newfeld as Head of North American Sales at their New York head office. A renowned sales leader in the ad tech space, Newfeld has over 11 years' of expertise in selling and closing new business. Previously he managed the sales and business development efforts of New York based companies AniView and NTENT. Commenting on his new appointment, Newfeld said: "I feel honored to have been given the opportunity to contribute to the success of VertaMedia and to join a company so committed to making the ad tech market more transparent and efficient. I look forward to working with the VertaMedia team to build, develop and grow the North American branch." VertaMedia CEO and Co-Founder Alex Bornyakov commented: "Ian has an unrivalled understanding of online advertising and sales within the digital marketing industry and we are delighted to welcome him to VertaMedia. His aptitude for mentoring and motivating teams under a shared creative vision will see him become a driving force in VertaMedia's growth in North America." Newfeld will be joined by senior executives in New York in due course to strengthen the existing management team and continue to deliver a dedicated and efficient service to partners. About VertaMedia VertaMedia (https://vertamedia.com/) is a video supply-side platform designed to facilitate the balance between video ad buyers and sellers by supplying them with extensive technology and dedicated services. The SSP technology offers publishers an out-of-the-box white-label solution for efficient inventory management, access to a marketplace with 100+ demand-side partners for profitable ad serving, and the one-of-a-kind VertaMedia Intelli algorithm, which ensures publishers effective yield optimization by utilizing dynamic waterfalls logic. In seven years in the market, the company has grown to become one of the most trusted partners for thousands of online publishers. VertaMedia is headquartered in New York, with offices worldwide. Emma Gould, +441892-882208 SOURCE VertaMedia Collaboration to Combine IBM Advanced Analytics, IoT Capabilities, And the IBM Cloud with Weatherford Production Software BAAR, Switzerland, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Weatherford International plc (NYSE: WFT) today announced that it has signed a Joint Initiative Agreement (JIA) with IBM (NYSE: IBM) to collaborate on the development of new products and services for oil and gas producers that leverage IBM advanced analytics and Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities on the IBM Cloud and further strengthen Weatherford's industry-leading production optimization technologies. Through the joint initiative Weatherford and IBM will develop new analytics solutions, all available via IBM Cloud, that are based on Weatherford's extensive production optimization and engineering software platform, its supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), and its sensors and controllers. The jointly-developed solutions will be part of the Company's new Reservoir Solutions global business unit, which was launched in early 2016 and is dedicated to providing integrated offerings that help its clients lower their operating costs and increase production. "As part of our commitment to helping operators get more out of their assets, Weatherford is expanding on our existing, industry-leading offerings with world-class analytics software and IoT infrastructure," said Oscar Rivera, Vice President of Reservoir Solutions. "This unprecedented stack of integrated technologies has the potential to revolutionize production optimization and places Weatherford in the best position to address the challenges oil and gas producers face." "As oil and gas producers look for more cost-effective solutions, there is an increasing need for more advanced analytics that enable better decision making," said John Brantley, Global General Manager for the Chemicals and Petroleum Industries, IBM. "The combination of Weatherford's engineering software and IBM's data analytics software in IBM's cloud will enable the next evolution of production optimization." About Weatherford Weatherford is one of the largest multinational oilfield service companies providing innovative solutions, technology and services to the oil and gas industry. The Company operates in over 100 countries and has a network of approximately 1,000 locations, including manufacturing, service, research and development, and training facilities and employs approximately 32,000 people. For more information, visit www.weatherford.com and connect with Weatherford on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube. Weatherford Contacts Krishna Shivram +1.713.836.4610 Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Karen David-Green +1.713.836.7430 Vice President Investor Relations, Corporate Marketing and Communications IBM Contact Michael Zimmerman +1.914.766.4935 IBM HQ Communications Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/19990308/WEATHERFORDLOGO Related Links http://www.weatherford.com SOURCE Weatherford International plc LAS VEGAS, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Through the 1000 Books Foundation, the law firm of Luh & Associates (www.luhlaw.com) is proud to announce its inaugural year of giving to the North Las Vegas Library District. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160725/392495LOGO The 1000 Books Foundation is a 501(c)(3), Nevada public charity, which was founded in 2013 to promote reading to newborns, infants and toddlers and seeks to encourage parent-child bonding through reading. The 1000 Books Foundation helps facilitate the implementation of 1000 Books Before Kindergarten (www.1000BooksBeforeKindergarten.org) reading programs nationwide and in Canada. Numerous studies over the years have demonstrated the connection between reading and early stimulation for brain development, the acquisition of key literacy and language skill as well as a child's increased proclivity for future academic success. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics urges parents to read aloud to children daily. The goal of the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten challenge is to help guide parents and children on their paths toward developing and sustaining a healthy daily dose of reading aloud age-appropriate literature. "Literacy is the most important skill that a student can have for academic success, and children should be introduced to books as early as possible. The 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program was created to teach parents about the importance of Early Childhood Literacy through an engaging reading incentive program. The ultimate goal is to ensure that young students are at or above reading level by the time they enter Kindergarten," said Forrest Lewis, Director of the North Las Vegas Library District (www.nlvld.org). In addition to being a founding and sustaining sponsor of the 1000 Books Foundation, Luh & Associates will be donating 500 activity journals, 200 t-shirts, and a variety of other educational materials to the North Las Vegas Library District promoting the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten challenge. "I regularly speak on behalf of the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten challenge nationwide. Our gift to the North Las Vegas Library District is especially near and dear to me because my law firm has served the local community since 2003 and we remain committed to engaging the youngest children of our community," said Charlie H. Luh, Managing Partner of Luh & Associates. Luh & Associates is a Las Vegas-based law firm that was founded in April, 2003 with a commitment to providing cost-effective legal representation. Luh & Associates is a Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated law firm and is listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. 1000 Books Foundation Partnership Contact: Wesley Su Email 702-625-0584 SOURCE 1000 Books Foundation CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- This year's MIT Sloan CFO Summit, the nation's premier CFO event, will be held Thursday, November 17, from 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Boston Marriott Newton in Newton, MA. The theme for the conference is "Always On: The Digital CFO." Click here to register. The CFO Summit attracts more than 500 of the nation's top chief financial officers and senior financial executives. The event provides an opportunity to learn and discuss high level strategies and practical insights relevant to financial decision makers. This year's outstanding speakers include CFOs from GE, PayPal, Pandora, UPS, Zillow and many more. "In this highly mobile, always on, digital world, CFOs are helping their companies connect in new and exciting ways," said Jeremy Seidman, Co-Chair of the MIT Sloan CFO Summit. "Attendees will learn how to enhance their company offerings, better market to customers, and navigate this increasingly complex digital landscape." Summit Highlights (click here for full agenda): Morning keynote: Jeffrey S. Bornstein , SVP & Chief Financial Officer, General Electric Company , SVP & Chief Financial Officer, General Electric Company Luncheon session: "Run DMC: CFO Leadership in a Digital-Mobile-Connected World" with The Wall Street Journal's Kimberly Johnson and CFOs Mike Herring, Pandora; John Rainey , PayPal; Richard Peretz , UPS; Kathleen Philips , Zillow and CFOs Mike Herring, Pandora; , PayPal; , UPS; , Zillow Break-out panels: "Software Systems: Renew or Replace," "Maximizing Shareholder Value," "Anticipating Disruptions: External and Internal Threats to Data," "Talent Management: How To Attract, Retain & Optimize Employee Relations," "Convergence of Budgeting & Strategic Planning," "How to be a Quiet Leader and Have a Meaningful Impact" Afternoon keynote: Fireside chat with Bill Aulet , Managing Director, Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship; Brad Dickerson , CFO, Blue Apron; Chris Nielsen , Chief Financial Officer, Redfin About the MIT Sloan CFO Summit The MIT Sloan CFO Summit is the nation's premier CFO event. Each year, the event offers a day of cutting-edge programming that addresses the changing role of the CFO. The event is rich with opportunities for practical education and peer networking in a time-efficient format. The summit is part of the CXO Series produced by the MIT Sloan School of Management, one of the world's leading academic sources of innovation in management theory and practice, and the MIT Sloan Boston Alumni Association. The annual events are organized 100% by alumni volunteers. By promoting the MIT philosophy of "mens et manus," or "mind and hand," they are able to bring together the academic research from MIT Sloan with today's corporate financial leaders. Media Contacts: Caroline Legg, Warner Communications, 978.255.4488, [email protected] Sadie Smith, Warner Communications, 717.298.1865, [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150909/264837LOGO SOURCE MIT Sloan CFO Summit Related Links http://www.mitcfo.com MIAMI, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A federal judge in Miami gave final approval to a settlement negotiated in the class action lawsuit brought against Taurus International that alleged faulty design in a number of pistols that make them likely to discharge when dropped, even with the manual safety engaged, and allow them to be fired with the safety in the on position. A settlement website (https://www.tauruscartersettlement.com) is available for owners of Taurus pistols with safety defects alleged in a class-action lawsuit. Bailey & Glasser attorneys David Selby, of the firm's Birmingham, Alabama, office, and John Barrett, of its Charleston, West Virginia, office, along with co-counsel Todd Wheeles with Morris, Haynes, Wheeles, Knowles & Nelson, represented Chris Carter of Scott County, Iowa, as the named plaintiff on behalf of others who purchased these defective handguns. U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz granted final approval on July 22, 2016. In her order, Judge Seitz overruled all objections to the settlement's fairness, reasonableness and adequacy, as well as to the mechanism to notify class members of the settlement. In addition, she approved attorneys' fees of $9 million, payable by the defendant over three years and a $15,000 service award to be paid to Carter. The total value of the settlement to class members is $239 million. The settlement allows owners to obtain an enhanced, lifetime warranty on the covered pistols. Under the enhanced warranty, owners can submit a warranty claim at any time. Taurus will pay to ship a covered pistol to its Miami facility, where it will be repaired or replaced. Pistols that cannot be repaired will be replaced with similar new pistols. At this time, there is no repair for the safety defects and all pistols submitted to Taurus will be replaced with a new Taurus G2 pistol. The G2 model includes a safety mechanism which is designed to prevent an unintended discharge. Finally, the settlement allows owners to exchange their pistols for a cash payment, the value of which would depend on how many owners return their pistols. The website allows owners to fill out a contact form to ensure they will be sent information about how to submit a claim form when the settlement is given final approval. Owners wishing to claim the cash benefit option will have a limited time period in which to make a claim. This will be clearly set out on the settlement website once the claim period begins. Taurus pistols subject to the defects include the Millennium, Millennium Pro, Millennium Pro Compact, Millennium Pro Sub-Compact, 24/7, and others. Owners of these pistols should check the settlement website to determine how to file a claim: https://www.tauruscartersettlement.com. Founded by Ben Bailey and Brian Glasser in 1999 in Charleston, West Virginia, Bailey & Glasser LLP has grown to include 52 lawyers, with offices in nine states and the District of Columbia. The firm's complex litigation practice focuses on high-stakes commercial litigation; class actions for consumers, insureds, investors, and retirement plan participants; catastrophic injury and defective product cases; antitrust; and whistleblower lawsuits. The firm has extensive experience in energy law, and litigates energy cases in trial courts, bankruptcy courts, regulatory agencies, and appellate courts. It has a major corporate practice, and handles business matters ranging from assisting Chinese investors in acquiring US assets, to IPOs, to the negotiation and execution of billions of dollars in commercial transactions. Contact: David Selby (205) 988-9253 [email protected] SOURCE Bailey & Glasser, LLP Related Links http://www.baileyglasser.com MILWAUKEE, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Water technology company A. O. Smith Corporation (NYSE: AOS) today announced record second quarter net earnings of $87.1 million or $.98 per share on record second quarter sales of $667.0 million. Second quarter 2015 net earnings were $71.1 million or $.79 per share. Sales in the quarter ended June 30 grew approximately two percent compared with sales of $653.5 million during the same period in 2015. Sales increased approximately four percent when adjusted for the impact from the stronger U.S. dollar against the Chinese and Canadian currencies. "Our strong year-over-year earnings growth of 23 percent continued to demonstrate solid execution by our business teams in North America and China," noted Ajita G. Rajendra, chairman and chief executive officer. "We achieved year-over-year sales growth in China of 16 percent in local currency in the second quarter thanks to increased sales of water heating and water treatment products," Rajendra added. North America segment Second quarter sales for the North America segment, which includes U.S. and Canadian water heaters and boilers, declined approximately two percent to $432.8 million compared with second quarter 2015 sales of $442.7 million. The decline in sales was primarily due to lower volumes of residential water heaters in the U.S. This was partially offset by price increases implemented in April 2015 in the U.S. related to a regulatory change and in Canada throughout 2015 related to weakness in the Canadian dollar, as well as higher volumes of boilers and commercial water heaters in the U.S. Segment operating earnings of $104.2 million were over 21 percent higher than the $86.0 million earned in the second quarter last year. Higher prices in the U.S. and Canada and significantly lower material costs contributed to the improved segment financial performance. The positive impact to profits from higher U.S. commercial volumes essentially offset lower U.S. residential water heater volumes. As a result, second quarter 2016 operating margin was 24.1 percent, which was higher than the second quarter 2015 operating margin of 19.4 percent. Rest of World segment Sales of this segment, which is primarily comprised of China, Europe and India, increased approximately eight percent in the second quarter of 2016 to $239.8 million from $221.3 million in the year-ago quarter. Continued strong customer demand for the company's premium water heating and water treatment products drove China sales nearly 16 percent higher in local currency and approximately 10 percent higher as measured in U.S. dollars. Operating earnings for this segment were $33.0 million compared with $30.9 million earned in the 2015 second quarter. The impact to profits from higher China sales was partially offset by higher selling costs to support expansion in tier 2 and tier 3 cities and the e-commerce platform in China, as well as larger losses in India. Segment operating earnings were negatively impacted by approximately $2 million due to China currency translation. As a result of these factors, second quarter 2016 operating margin of 13.8 percent was modestly lower than the 14.0 percent operating margin in 2015. Share Repurchase and Other Items During the first half of 2016, the company repurchased approximately 1.1 million shares of common stock at a total cost of $82.2 million. Approximately 1.5 million shares remained on the existing discretionary authority at the end of the second quarter. The company continues to expect to spend $175 million in 2016 on share repurchases. Total debt as of June 30, 2016, was $282.0 million, resulting in leverage of 16.0 percent as measured by the ratio of total debt to total capital. Cash and investments, located outside the U.S., totaled $667.2 million at the end of the second quarter. Cash provided by operations during the first half of 2016 was $155.1 million compared with $61.2 million during the same period last year driven primarily by higher earnings and lower outlays for working capital in the 2016 period. 2016 Outlook "We've had a record quarter once again thanks to our premium consumer product business in China, as well as our strong financial performance in North America. Our positive organic revenue growth continues to differentiate us from other U.S. industrial companies," Rajendra shared. "With solid results in the first half of the year, we upgraded the midpoint of our 2016 guidance range and now expect full-year 2016 earnings per share to be between $3.58 and $3.64. We will continue to live our values, focus on the customer, retain and hire the best people, and innovate to achieve profitable growth," concluded Rajendra. A. O. Smith will broadcast a live conference call at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) today. The call can be heard on the company's web site, www.aosmith.com. An audio replay of the call will be available on the company's web site after the live event. Forward-looking statements This release contains statements that the company believes are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "forecast," "guidance" or words of similar meaning. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated as of the date of this release. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these expectations include, among other things, the following: a further slowdown in the growth rate of the Chinese economy; potential weakening in the high efficiency boiler segment in the U.S.; significant volatility in raw material prices; inability for the company to implement or maintain pricing actions; potential weakening in U.S. residential or commercial construction or instability in the company's replacement markets; uncertain costs, savings and timeframes associated with the company's implementation of the new enterprise resource planning system; foreign currency fluctuations; the company's ability to execute its acquisition strategy; competitive pressures on the company's businesses; and adverse general economic conditions and capital market deterioration. Forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date of this release, and the company is under no obligation to update these statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributed to the company, or persons acting on its behalf, are qualified entirely by these cautionary statements. A. O. Smith Corporation, with headquarters in Milwaukee, Wis., is a global leader applying innovative technology and energy-efficient solutions to products manufactured and marketed worldwide. The company is one of the world's leading manufacturers of residential and commercial water heating equipment, as well as a manufacturer of water treatment products. For more information visit www.aosmith.com. A. O. SMITH CORPORATION Statement of Earnings (condensed consolidated financial statements - dollars in millions, except share data) (unaudited) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30, June 30, 2016 2015 2016 2015 Net sales $ 667.0 $ 653.5 $ 1,303.9 $ 1,272.0 Cost of products sold 383.3 391.1 757.5 780.4 Gross profit 283.7 262.4 546.4 491.6 Selling, general and administrative expenses 160.0 159.4 319.4 306.6 Interest expense 1.9 2.5 3.6 4.4 Other income (2.3) (2.7) (4.3) (5.4) Earnings before provision for income taxes 124.1 103.2 227.7 186.0 Provision for income taxes 37.0 32.1 67.1 56.5 Net earnings $ 87.1 $ 71.1 $ 160.6 $ 129.5 Diluted earnings per share of common stock $ 0.98 $ 0.79 $ 1.81 $ 1.44 Average common shares outstanding (000's omitted) 88,499 89,825 88,702 89,995 A. O. SMITH CORPORATION Balance Sheet (dollars in millions) (unaudited) June 30, December 31, 2016 2015 ASSETS: Cash and cash equivalents $ 287.4 $ 323.6 Marketable securities 379.8 321.6 Receivables 493.9 501.4 Inventories 237.8 222.9 Other current assets 50.1 45.9 Total Current Assets 1,449.0 1,415.4 Net property, plant and equipment 451.7 442.7 Goodwill and other intangibles 708.8 711.9 Other assets 62.7 59.2 Total Assets $ 2,672.2 $ 2,629.2 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY: Trade payables $ 402.0 $ 424.9 Accrued payroll and benefits 68.7 81.6 Accrued liabilities 92.7 90.1 Product warranties 44.8 43.7 Debt due within one year 7.4 12.9 Total Current Liabilities 615.6 653.2 Long-term debt 274.6 236.1 Pension liabilities 131.2 134.2 Other liabilities 170.1 163.4 Stockholders' equity 1,480.7 1,442.3 Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity $ 2,672.2 $ 2,629.2 A. O. SMITH CORPORATION Statement of Cash Flows (dollars in millions) (unaudited) Six Months Ended June 30, 2016 2015 Operating Activities Net earnings $ 160.6 $ 129.5 Adjustments to reconcile net earnings to net cash provided by (used in) operating activities: Depreciation & amortization 32.1 31.6 Pension income (3.1) - Stock based compensation expense 6.9 6.8 Loss on disposal of assets - 0.2 Net changes in operating assets and liabilities: Current assets and liabilities (44.8) (94.3) Noncurrent assets and liabilities 4.1 (12.0) Cash Provided by Operating Activities - continuing operations 155.8 61.8 Cash Used in Operating Activities - discontinued operations (0.7) (0.6) Cash Provided by Operating Activities 155.1 61.2 Investing Activities Capital expenditures (37.7) (31.0) Investment in marketable securities (310.1) (237.7) Net proceeds from sale of marketable securities 244.2 156.1 Cash Used in Investing Activities (103.6) (112.6) Financing Activities Term debt (repaid) incurred (10.5) 64.4 Debt incurred (repaid) 42.6 (7.2) Common stock repurchases (82.2) (47.3) Net proceeds from stock option activity 4.6 4.2 Dividends paid (42.2) (34.0) Cash Used In Financing Activities (87.7) (19.9) Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents (36.2) (71.3) Cash and cash equivalents - beginning of period 323.6 319.4 Cash and Cash Equivalents - End of Period $ 287.4 $ 248.1 A. O. SMITH CORPORATION Business Segments (dollars in millions) (unaudited) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30, June 30, 2016 2015 2016 2015 Net sales North America $ 432.8 $ 442.7 $ 856.7 $ 871.9 Rest of World 239.8 221.3 457.3 417.2 Inter-segment sales (5.6) (10.5) (10.1) (17.1) $ 667.0 $ 653.5 $ 1,303.9 $ 1,272.0 Earnings North America $ 104.2 $ 86.0 $ 196.1 $ 157.2 Rest of World 33.0 30.9 59.8 57.1 137.2 116.9 255.9 214.3 Corporate expense (11.2) (11.2) (24.6) (23.9) Interest expense (1.9) (2.5) (3.6) (4.4) Earnings before income taxes 124.1 103.2 227.7 186.0 Tax provision 37.0 32.1 67.1 56.5 Net earnings $ 87.1 $ 71.1 $ 160.6 $ 129.5 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130724/CG52107LOGO SOURCE A. O. Smith Corporation Related Links http://www.aosmith.com Plaintiff Office Depot is a corporation organized under Delaware law, with its principal place of business in Florida. It functions as an office supplies retail organization, with approximately 2,000 stores and e-commerce sites. Plaintiff NACCS is an LLC organized under Virginia law, with its principal place of business in Florida. Office Depot is the sole member of NACCS. NACCS issues stored value gift cards ("SVC"). Per the Complaint, the Limited Liability Agreement of NACCS provides in pertinent part as follows: "By virtue of its actions as the Member, the Member shall not be personally liable for the debts, obligations, or liabilities of the Company, including, but not limited to a judgment, decree or order of a court." Prior to 2002, Office Depot issued its own gift certificates and gift cards. In its unclaimed property reports due March 1, 2001 and March 1, 2002, Office Depot reported and remitted property to Delaware, including unredeemed gift certificates issued by Office Depot where addresses of purchasers and recipients were not obtained. In 2001, Office Depot and Delaware entered into a voluntary disclosure agreement (VDA) whereby Delaware released Office Depot from any unclaimed property claims for property for report years due before March 1, 2000. NACCS was formed on May 10, 2002, and it issues gift cards, gift certificates, and merchandise credits. NACCS and Office Depot entered into an agreement effective August 1, 2002, pursuant to which NACCS appointed Office Depot to promote and sell NACCS's gift cards and gift certificates and issue merchandise credits in exchange for a commission. NACCS acquired the assets and assumed the liabilities of Office Depot's gift card and gift certificate business per agreement dated December 30, 2002. Background of Delaware Audit Plaintiffs allege that Delaware, through its contract auditor Kelmar Associates LLC ("Kelmar"), commenced an audit of Office Depot's compliance with the Delaware Escheats Law ("DUPL") in February 2013. Kelmar allegedly requested voluminous records for periods back to 1995, including documents concerning property under the jurisdiction of other states. In an April 2014 letter, Kelmar notified Office Depot that Office Depot and The Office Club, Inc. would be the primary focus of the examination. However, in June 2014, Kelmar issued an "SVC Initial Request," which asked questions about NACCS, and Plaintiffs indicated they provided a complete response. Subsequently, Kelmar issued additional document requests, seeking considerable information about NACCS's activities, even though, per the Complaint, NACCS was not within the scope of the audit and was a Virginia LLC that did not obtain names or addresses of purchasers or recipients of gift cards or gift certificates. Plaintiffs communicated numerous objections to Delaware, including (i) producing copies of unclaimed property reports filed in states not participating in the audit, and (ii) pointing out that in New Jersey federal court litigation, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a preliminary injunction against New Jersey enjoining it from enforcing an amendment to its unclaimed property law that purported to authorize New Jersey to claim by escheat unredeemed gift cards that were issued by special purpose entities organized in other states. Plaintiffs allege the documents they produced showed that they have no outstanding liability for unredeemed gift cards/certificates to Delaware. In a March 7, 2016 letter to Defendant Whitaker, Plaintiffs' legal counsel objected to the voluminous requests, asserting it sought irrelevant information. On June 24, 2016, Kelmar sent Plaintiffs an email stating that the matter had been referred to the Delaware Attorney General's Office for consideration of enforcement action. Plaintiffs further allege that the DUPL does not provide for pre-compliance review of a document request, and that Defendants have admitted that their only other alternative is to file a lawsuit under the Delaware False Claims Act, which authorizes treble damages and recovery of attorneys' fees. Thereafter, Plaintiffs filed the Complaint. Relief Sought by Plaintiffs Plaintiffs request that the District Court enter an Order declaring that the DUPL violates, and is preempted by, the federal common law established in the Texas v. New Jersey line of cases. Plaintiffs seek a declaration that the DUPL violates the unreasonable search and seizure provision of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Plaintiffs also seek an order enjoining each Defendant, preliminarily and permanently, from enforcing the document requests against Plaintiffs. Finally, Plaintiffs seek an order enjoining each Defendant from assessing penalties or interest, as well as an award of such further relief as the court deems just and equitable. Plaintiffs' Arguments Plaintiffs allege, among other things, the gift cards and gift certificates issued by NACCS were issued by a Virginia LLC, which does not obtain names and addresses of purchasers or recipients of their gift cards/certificates. Note: Gift cards/certificates, which are redeemable in merchandise or services or through future purchases, generally are exempted under Virginia law from being reported as unclaimed property. As such, Plaintiffs contend that Delaware lacks standing to claim any unredeemed gift card and gift certificates issued by NACCS, pursuant to the federal common law rules, which preempt state escheat laws. In support of this assertion, Plaintiffs state the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in pertinent part in 2012 in the N.J. Retail Merchants Ass'n. v. Sidamon-Eristoff case that "the ability to escheat necessarily entails the ability not to escheatWhen fashioning the priority rules, the Supreme Court did not intend togive states the right to override other states' sovereign decisions regarding the exercise of custodial escheatand such conflictwould stand as an obstacle to executing the purpose of the federal law." Plaintiffs assert that the DUPL violates the Texas v. New Jersey line of cases by permitting Delaware to claim property lacking an address held by a Virginia LLC. Thus, Plaintiffs state Defendants take the position that the DUPL authorizes Delaware to claim unredeemed gift cards/certificates issued by NACCS, even though Delaware lacks standing to claim unredeemed gift cards/certificates issued by NACCS under federal law. Plaintiffs argue the DUPL violates and is preempted by federal law. Furthermore, Plaintiffs state that the Defendants' practice, of including property where it lacks standing to claim under the priority rules to estimate a liability to Delaware, was one aspect of Defendants' overall conduct that the recent decision in the Temple-Inland case stated "shocks the conscience." Other arguments raised by Plaintiffs, such as the allegation that the DUPL is unconstitutional because there is no procedure for pre-compliance independent administrative or court review, are outside the scope of this news alert. It remains to be seen what response will be forthcoming from Defendants. In addition, it is not clear if this case will ultimately be heard by the federal court, or whether the Defendants will seek to have this matter resolved in Delaware state court. The Complaint is another illustration of the increasing tendency for holders aggrieved by a state's audit actions to seek redress through litigation. Holders seeking additional clarification on how these matters relate to their specific factual situations may contact their designated Ryan Abandoned and Unclaimed Property (AUP) representative or one of their Ryan contacts below. In particular, holders in the process of any unclaimed property audits that involve detailed and substantial gift card documentation requests should consider reaching out to discuss the possible implications of this case, as well as related and ongoing litigation in this area. About Ryan Ryan is an award-winning global tax services firm, with the largest indirect and property tax practices in North America and the seventh largest corporate tax practice in the United States. With global headquarters in Dallas, Texas, the Firm provides a comprehensive range of state, local, federal, and international tax advisory and consulting services on a multi-jurisdictional basis, including audit defense, tax recovery, credits and incentives, tax process improvement and automation, tax appeals, tax compliance, and strategic planning. Ryan is a five-time recipient of the International Service Excellence Award from the Customer Service Institute of America (CSIA) for its commitment to world-class client service. Empowered by the dynamic myRyan work environment, which is widely recognized as the most innovative in the tax services industry, Ryan's multi-disciplinary team of more than 2,100 professionals and associates serves over 12,000 clients in more than 40 countries, including many of the world's most prominent Global 5000 companies. More information about Ryan can be found at ryan.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160125/325377LOGO TECHNICAL INFORMATION CONTACTS: Mark A. Paolillo Principal Ryan 857.288.1976 [email protected] Susan Han Principal Ryan 442.244.2447 [email protected] Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link. Mark Paolillo http://www.profnetconnect.com/markpaolillo SOURCE Ryan Related Links http://www.ryan.com SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Acalvio Technologies, an innovator in Advanced Threat Defense, today announced that the company has closed $17 million in funding from top tier investors including Accel Ventures, Ignition Partners and Eileses Capital. This investment will accelerate deployment and adoption of its Deception 2.0 technology. Deception 2.0 leverages dynamic deception and data science technologies to deliver high fidelity and cost-effective detection solutions that address an organization's most important security needs. "A winning formula in venture investing is to start with a proven team and a highly innovative technology addressing a large shift in market requirements in this case, the shift from Perimeter Defense to Internal Active Defense. Acalvio has delivered on a series of compelling innovations to address this large emerging market opportunity," said Arthur Patterson, founder Accel Partners and Acalvio Board Member. "Accel has had excellent prior success with Ram Varadarajan and is proud to again be his partner as he guides Acalvio to be the market leader." "We see Acalvio as a potential game changer with their Deception 2.0 approach," said Nick Sturiale, Managing Partner of Ignition Partners and Acalvio Board Member. "With a series of patented innovations and a track record of execution, we are very excited to support Acalvio in its goals to achieve a leadership position in the Deception space, an area that has immense potential and promise." According to TechSci Research, the global market for deception technology is projected to exceed $1.7 billion by 2021. This projection is based on an increasing number of cyber-attacks such as malware, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), zero day attacks and more. Acalvio leverages its patented technologies in the areas of dynamic deception and data science to detect, engage and respond to malicious activity for IT and Internet of Things (IoT) environments. The result is fewer false positives, improved threat intelligence and actionable Indicators of Compromise (IOCs). "Gartner believes that more lean-forward organizations should also leverage deception in-depth as a new strategy for comprehensive threat defense against the onslaught of advanced attackers and attack techniques," states Lawrence Pingree, Gartner Research Director in his report entitled Emerging Technology Analysis: Deception Techniques and Technologies Create Security Technology Business Opportunities published July 15, 2015. Acalvio's solution leverages its patented Fluid Deception technology to enable authentic and cost-effective deception at scale, which can now be delivered in a DevOps model. In addition, it allows for full engagement with threats to study attack tactics and tools. Adversary Behavior Analytics (ABA) enables automated response allowing IR teams to react to malicious activity in near real time. ABA Data Science algorithms leverage Deception events and other data available in Enterprise security solutions (SIEM, Privileged User Management systems, etc.) to deliver valuable intelligence around adversary travels, latent vulnerabilities, etc. Acalvio's solution also includes smart blending of data and credential lures across enterprise servers and endpoints. These lures both detect data theft and redirect attacks to Fluid Deception for engagement. "We are on a journey to bring technological advantage to help customers get precise detection and automated resolution of threats; and we are pleased to have the backing of luminary investors such as Accel Ventures, Ignition Partners, and Eileses Capital," said Ram Varadarajan, CEO of Acalvio Technologies. "Today's attackers are easily able to get past traditional defenses and remain undetected for an average of 200 days. Deception 2.0 is truly revolutionary. It overcomes staleness and delivers high quality deception, at scale in a cost effective fashion. We are confident that our disruptive innovation and holistic approach will give customers a winning hand." "Deception technologies have been used very effectively by the US Defense Agencies for years. While they have offered tremendous promise for commercial businesses, they have had serious limitations in key areas notably detection efficacy, deployment efficiency, scalability and cost-effectiveness. Acalvio has addressed these issues at a systemic level, we are very pleased to work with them in their product launch," said Paul Calatayud, Chief Information Security Officer, SureScripts. "Their Data Science capabilities and their integration with the rest of the security eco-system, SIEM, etc. is of enormous value." "Most CISOs worry about an undetected compromise in their network. Acalvio's vision of combining Deception Technologies, Data Science and SIEM data is a very innovative way to do compromise detection. I look forward to partnering with them," said DD Dubey, Chief Information Security Officer, Reliance Industries. Acalvio Technologies will be participating at Black Hat USA 2016 and attendees are invited to stop by booth (#1165) to learn more about the company and its Deception 2.0 solutions. For more information, please visit www.acalvio.com and follow the company on Twitter at @AcalvioTech and on LinkedIn. About Acalvio Acalvio provides Advanced Threat Defense (ATD) solutions to detect, engage and respond to malicious activity inside the perimeter. The solutions are anchored on patented innovations in Deception and Data Science. This enables a DevOps approach to ATD, enabling ease of deployment, monitoring and management. Acalvio enriches its threat intelligence by data obtained from internal and partner eco-systems, enabling customers to benefit from defense in depth, reduce false positives, and derive actionable intelligence for remediation. The Silicon Valley based company is led by an experienced team with a track record of innovation and market leadership and backed by marquee investors. Media Contact: John Kreuzer [email protected] (408) 896-3307 Company Contact: Rick Moy [email protected] (408) 458-9795 SOURCE Acalvio Technologies Related Links http://www.acalvio.com CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Accutype Services, Inc. (ACCUTYPE), a leading Medical Transcription firm, is pleased to announce that they have been awarded GSA Schedule 36 Contract (GS-03F-094CA) and are now certified to supply Medical Transcription Services to the Federal Government. Acknowledging the growth in federal spending through the GSA, Accutype Services have listed their Medical Transcription Services on the government's electronic ordering system, GSA Advantage!. "This contract opens up significantly more markets throughout the country and affords us an opportunity to provide Veteran Affairs (VA) as well as other government operated healthcare facilities with accurate medical transcription services," states Deborah (Debbie) H. Walton, Operations Manager at Accutype Services, Inc. She adds: "We've serviced the State of Virginia for the past 30 years and this contract will expand our reach beyond the state level and to federal, county, and municipal agencies, as we can now offer our medical transcription services at fixed government pricing." Accutype Services work with physicians when it comes to dealing with all of the additional requirements found with the implementation of Electronic Health Records systems (EHR). This allows a physician do what they do best - patient care - NOT data entry. This process is further enhanced by deploying the resources of their technology partner, EMDAT, (now a part of Nuance Communication), affording a seamless interface with electronic health records systems in an effort to comply with the HITECH Act and Meaningful Use guidelines. About Accutype Services, Inc.: Founded in 1983, Accutype Services has rapidly expanded from a small team to the well-developed transcription company it is today. A Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB), Accutype Services provides a HIPAA-Compliant, flexible, seamless and cost-efficient web-based solution to fully manage dictation and transcription data delivery and storage. Accutype Services operates efficiently; with a medical transcriptionist team based across the USA and is very proud to say that all work is securely transcribed in the United States - Nothing is sent overseas! Visit www.accutypeservices.com for more information. Contact for Accutype Services, Inc.: Deborah Walton, Operations Manager at: (434) 971-2963 SOURCE Accutype Services, Inc. Related Links http://www.accutypeservices.com PUNE, India, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The report "Acoustic Insulation Market by Type (Stone Wool, Glass Wool, and Foamed Plastics), End-Use Industry (Building & Construction, Transportation, and Industrial), and by Region - Global Forecast to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, The market size is estimated to grow from USD 9.86 Billion in 2015 to USD 13.57 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 5.50%. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 165 market data Tables and 60 Figures spread through 195 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Acoustic Insulation Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/acoustic-insulation-market-41399747.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The market size of acoustic insulation is driven by the growing infrastructural activities in the building & construction industry, especially in the commercial segment, and growing standards of living. Building & Construction: The Largest End-use Industry of the Acoustic Insulation Market In 2015, the building & construction end-use industry accounted for the largest market share, in terms of value, followed by transportation and others. Commercial buildings consume more than 80% of the overall consumption of acoustic insulations in the building & construction industry. Acoustic insulation significantly reduces the levels of external noise entering homes, offices, and other commercial buildings, allowing for peaceful environment. The transportation end-use industry is estimated to register the highest CAGR, in terms of value, between 2016 and 2021. Growing demand for acoustic insulation in the automotive industry is mainly driven by the use of soundproofing application in engine components and sound systems. Aerogel and Cellulose: The Fastest-growing Type Segment of the Acoustic Insulation Market Aerogel and cellulose insulation products are estimated to register the highest CAGR between 2016 and 2021. The high growth is attributed to excellent sound absorption properties, easy handling, and technological developments. The aerogel and cellulose segment is projected to grow at a higher rate among all types, in terms of both value and volume. Make an Inquiry @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=41399747 Asia-Pacific: The Largest Market for Acoustic Insulation Currently, Asia-Pacific is the largest market for acoustic insulation. China is the largest while India is the fastest-growing market for acoustic insulations in the region. The following factors are the main driving forces for the Acoustic Insulation Market in Asia-Pacific: Increasing standard of living and demand for acoustic insulation for noise cancellation properties Growing infrastructure activities with soundproofing applications in the commercial building & construction industry Government regulations set for various industries for controlling noise pollution Rockwool International A/S (Denmark), Knauf Insulation GmbH (Germany), Saint-Gobain SA (U.S.), Owens Corning Corporation (U.S.), Johns Manville Corporation (U.S.), Kingspan Group PLC (Ireland), Armacell GmbH (Germany), BASF SE (Germany), Paroc (Finland), and Fletcher Insulation (Australia) are the key players of the acoustic insulation market. Browse Related Reports: HVAC Insulation Market by Type (Glass Wool, Stone Wool, Phenolic Foam, Elastomeric Foam and Others), Application (Residential, Commercial, Industrial) & by Region - Global Trends and Forecast to 2021 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/hvac-insulation-market-75521260.html Roof Insulation Market by Application (Flat Roof, Pitched Roof), Type (Batts & Rolls, Rigid Insulation, Spray Applied, Reflective Systems, Others), Material (Glass Wool, Stone Wool, Plastic Foam, Others), Region (Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, MEA, Latin America) - Global Forecast to 2021 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/roof-insulation-market-267780489.html Know More About our Knowledge Store @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide 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. Contact: Mr. Rohan Markets and Markets UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India Tel: +1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @ http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/chemical Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets SOURCE MarketsandMarkets SOUTH JORDAN, Utah, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Alliance Health, a digital health and wellness company, announced today the appointment of Scott Klossner as Chief Financial Officer. In this role Klossner will focus on cash flow management strategies, partnerships within the financial community and implementing systems and processes to help the company scale. He will also help guide the overall direction of the company as a member of the executive team. "As we conducted an extensive search for potential CFO candidates, we prioritized the ability to work through unforeseen challenges," said Jeff Smith, CEO of Alliance Health. "Scott has demonstrated an ability to translate a company vision into real business results throughout his career. We are confident that he has the right mix of experience and drive to give the company a significant competitive advantage in the coming years." Klossner will initially focus his efforts on creating systems and procedures to empower employees to make smart business decisions. "I'm excited to build on the success that the company has had in recent years," said Klossner. "I will be finding ways to facilitate the highest level of service for our customers and manage the immense growth of the company." Klossner has over 30 years of experience in finance and operations. He has helped small startups and large corporations alike (such as HomeClub and Backcountry.com) to grow and achieve significant outcomes. At Backcountry.com he joined the company when it was doing $26 million a year in revenue and was part of the team that spurred its growth to over $400 million the year he left. He currently serves on the board of Sidewalk, a software provider for content distribution in higher education. For more information, please go to alliancehealth.com. About Alliance Health Alliance Health is a leading provider of digital health solutions for people with chronic conditions. With an independent network of pharmacies and condition-specific online communities, the company connects individuals to prescriptions, resources and support to help them stay on therapy. The Alliance Health customer experience is driven by professional customer care focused on improving health outcomes. Headquartered in South Jordan, Utah, Alliance Health is a privately held company with more than 800 team members. For more information, go to www.alliancehealth.com Media Contact: Brian Watkins 801-727-0080 [email protected] SOURCE Alliance Health Related Links http://www.alliancehealth.com WASHINGTON, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Halo Privacy of Chicago, Seattle and Washington, D.C. is pleased to announce the appointment of Andrew Turner to its Board. Mr. Turner currently serves as the Chief Security Officer at Vantiv, a leading payment processor and merchant acquirer, where he is responsible for developing and executing Vantiv's physical and information security programs globally. Prior to Vantiv, Mr. Turner developed and led Visa's global Cyber Security organization, protecting one of the largest brands in the world with over $7 trillion in payment card transactions processed annually. In addition to providing cyber support to the U.S. Intelligence community, Office of the President and other high-profile organizations, he has previously served in other roles including, Director of Cyber Intelligence at Microsoft and Director of Services EMEA at IOActive. In 2012, Mr. Turner was appointed by Governor Terry McAuliffe to serve on the Virginia Cyber Commission, where he led the subcommittee on Cyber Education and Workforce Development. Mr. Turner graduated from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University with a degree in Economics. He holds various security related certifications, and serves on a number of advisory and company boards. L. Kevin Kelly, Halo Privacy CEO, said, "Andrew is one of the first people we thought of for our board. His dual experience in the private and public sector make him a natural match for us. He is helping us develop the commercial sector market for the tradecraft and tools that we have been using to support DoD and DoJ for years. Halo's philosophy includes the idea that private citizens and commercial companies should have access to the same level of privacy as government entities. Having Andrew help us navigate the two worlds has already been a tremendous benefit. I have to say, Andrew really is the 'perfect fit' for our board and I'm thrilled he's agreed to join us." Mr. Turner added, "Halo is in exactly the right space to capitalize on the democratization of strong crypto. Building out Halo's core Corona Platform in such a way that it can securely host business-friendly communications and workflow tools all the way up to Halo's government-grade One-Time Pad VPN makes it the most agile secure server platform in the market. The one-size-fits-all solutions are no longer competitive, so having a platform that is customized to each client and scaled to each use case is much more responsive to real-world requirements. I see a bright future for Halo and I'm happy to accept their offer to join the board." About Halo Privacy Halo Privacy was founded by like-minded experts with many years of experience in government and industrial secure communications who believe that genuine privacy is still possible. The Halo approach to securing privacy goes beyond just hardware and technology. A keen understanding that the greatest threats to privacy are often human, coupled with the know-how to assume an attacker's perspective, have allowed Halo to protect the most sensitive information for grateful clients in the government and private sectors. Through a combination sophisticated intelligence tradecraft, streamlined training and proprietary disruptive technology, Halo offers every client a tailored privacy solution. For customers from government entities to corporations to family offices seeking a low profile, we place a secure "Halo" around our clients' smartphones, laptops, smart homes and businesses that protects the information, intellectual property and personal privacy of everyone and everything inside the "Halo." Simple training and concierge-level staff support ensure frictionless client use of the Halo systems. In fact, anyone who can manage email and a smartphone is already savvy enough to communicate securely within the Halo. For more information, please contact: [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160308/341910LOGO SOURCE Halo Privacy